ecause he said Fouchd was a man not to be relied upon and the creature of the director Barras. Bonaparte supported his cause and kept him in lis post. He engaged thus in his behalf from a regard to services Fouche" had rendered him during the events of the 18th Brumaire. More ban this, Fouche" joined to an acute mind a pro- bund knowledge of men and things connected with ;he revolution. He was marked out for minister of police ; as Talleyrand, with his court-habits, practised in important state-business, his mind ;ubtle and conciliatory, was the minister indicated as best fitted for foreign affairs. Though Fouche" continued in his office, the anger of the revolution- sts was so great against Talleyrand, whether because of his connexions among the moderate jarty, or on account of the part he had played in ;he late events, that he was obliged to defer for some weeks his return to the ministry for foreign affairs. Reinhart was for a fortnight longer con- ;inued in his post. General Berthier, the faithful companion of the conqueror of Italy and of Egypt, ,iis inseparable chief of the staff, who so well understood and delivered his orders, received the war portfolio, in place of Dubois-Crance", who was udged to be too strong in his opinions. In the ministry of the interior, Quinette was replaced by an illustrious man of science, De la Place. This was a great and just homage paid to science, but it was of no serrice to the government ; his noble and elevated genius being little fitted for the petty details of state business. Forfait, an able engineer, well skilled in naval construction, replaced Bour- don, of the Oise, as minister of the marine. At this time, perhaps, the most important selec- tion to be made was that of the minister of finance. To the departments already indicated, the consuls were able to supply by themselves two of the most considerable, those of war and foreign affairs. Bonaparte himself could perform the duties both of Berthier and Reinhart. It was not so with the finances. This was a department of the state in which experience and knowledge were indispensa- ble. There had not been in the late Directory any person who was able to labour usefully at the re-organization of the finances, though BO urgent and necessary. There was, however, a first clerk, with a mind not so brilliant as solid, and of long experience, who had rendered under the old go- vernment, and during the early days of the revo- lution, those administrative services little known, but extremely valuable, which the heads of affairs cannot do without, and consider of great im- portance. The first clerk, of whom mention is thus made, was Gaudin, afterwards Duke of Gaete. Sieyes, well able to judge of men, although little capable of controlling them, had known Gaudin before, and had willingly offered him the portfoli of finance towards the end of the Directory Gaudin, an excellent financier, but a timid citizen was unwilling to accept the office thus tenderec to him under an expiring government, wanting the joint conditions of credit, strength, and th aspect of stedfastness. But when power appeared without contest or opposition, to fall into able au strong hands, he no longer felt the same repug nance to office. Bonaparte, having a decided predi lection for practical men, partook at once in th pinion of his colleague Sieyes, and offered to audin the administration of the finances; which le accepted, and in which office for fifteen years e rendered the state the most important ser- ices. The ministry was thus complete. One only lomination was added to those already recorded, t was that of Maret, afterwards Duke of Bassano, who became secretary to the consuls under the itle of " Secretary of State." Ordered to prepare or the consuls the elements of their labours, often put in order their resolutions, to communicate hem to the heads of the different departments, ,nd to keep all the state secrets, he held a species of ministry, destined at times to supply, complete, and control all the others. A cultivated mind, , certain knowledge of Europe, with which he had Iready conducted negociations, principally at Lille dth Lord Malmesbury, an accurate memory, a fidelity above all proof, formed him to become near Bonaparte, one of his companions in labour the most serviceable, and the most constantly em- >loyed. ' Bonaparte preferred near him those who displayed in service exactness and intelligence, rather than brilliancy of mind. This is the taste of superior genius, ever desiring to be compre- icnded and obeyed, not to be supplanted. Such was the cause of the great favour of Berthier during twenty years. Maret, not equalling Berthier on the whole, had, in the civil line of duty, most of the merits of that illustrious chief of the staff in the military career. General Lefebvre was placed in command of the seventeenth military division. It will be recol- lected that at first he had shown hesitation on the morning of the 18th Brumaire, and that afterwards he blindly threw himself into the arms of the new dictator. He was recompensed by the seven- teenth military division, and by the government of Paris. His fidelity might afterwards be safely counted upon. Members of the two councils, who were sig- nalized by their co-operation on the 18th Bru- maire, were sent into the provinces, to explain and justify that event ; and in case of necessity, to re- place those agents in authority who might show themselves refractory or inefficient. The result of the 18th Brumaire was every where received with joy ; still the revolutionary party had, in men compromised by then 1 excesses, friends that might become dangerous ; above all, in the direction of the southern provinces. There when they showed themselves, the youth who were styled the " gilded youth," or doree, were ready to come to blows with them. The defeat or victory of one or the other party would have produced serious inconveniences. Certain changes were brought about in the distribution of the great military commands. Mo- reau, deeply angry at the Directory, which had so ill recompensed his patriotic devotion during the campaign of 1799, had consented to act as the lieu- tenant of Bonaparte, in aiding him to consummate the revolution of the 18th Brumaire. At the head of three hundred men, he descended to the cha- racter of guardian of the Luxembourg, in which palace the directors found themselves prisoners, whilst their doom was decided at St. Cloud. Bona- parte, who, in flattering with skill the pride and resentment of Moreau, thus led him to accept so Moreau and Massena ex- change commands. TRIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. Conduct of M. Gaudin. Loan to the govern- ment. 1799. NOT. singular a part, owed him an indemnity. He, therefore, united the two armies of the Rhine and j of Helvetia in one, and conferred upon Moreau the command. It was the most numerous and finest army of the republic, and it was impossible to be placed in better hands. Moreau had gained little fame in the last campaign. His sterling services, above all, when with a handful of men he stopped the victorious march of Suwaroff, were, notwith- standing, deemed no victories, and had not been appreciated at their just value. At this epoch the battle of Zurich effaced every other deed. Again, the political conduct of Moreau in the affair of the 18th Fructidor, when he denounced Pichegru, either too soon or too late, had cast a cloud upon him in the general opinion, and caused him to be esteemed a feeble character every way unworthy of himself, when he was absent from the field of bat- tle. Bonaparte re-elevated him in giving him so extensive a command, which besides involved another very wise determination. The legions of the Rhine and of Helvetia comprehended in their ranks the warmest republicans of the whole army, very jealous of the glory acquired in Italy and Egypt. Massena, who commanded them, had little love for Bonaparte, although he was subdued by his genius. He passed by turns from admiration to ill humour in regarding him. Some vexatious demonstration too was to be feared on the part of Masse"na, in consequence of the 18th Brumaire. The choice of Moreau cut short every possible chance of this nature, and took from a discon- tented army an ill-disposed general. The choice was equally good in a military sense, because this army of the Rhine and Helvetia was destined, in case of the renewal of hostilities, to operate in Germany, and no one had so well studied as Moreau that part of the theatre of the war. Massena was sent to the army of Italy, to the places and among the soldiers that were perfectly well known to him. It was also honourable to himself that he should be chosen to repair the faults committed hi 1799, and be the continuator of the exploits of Bonaparte in 1796. Separated from the army in the midst of which he had conquered and obtained supporters, he was now transported to the midst of a new army, to which the Directory was odious, and where none were found who did not approve of the 18th Brumaire. This selection, like the preceding, was perfectly wise in a military point of view. The Apennines were to be disputed with the Austrians, and for a war of such a nature on this theatre of operations Massena had no where his equal. After having agreed upon these indispensable appointments, the consuls continued to apply them- selves to a business not less urgent, that of the finances. Before obtaining money from capitalists, it was necessary to afford them satisfaction, by sup- pressing the forced progressive loan, which, like the hostage law, had incurred universal reprobation. The forced loan, as well as the hostage law, was far from having produced all the evil attributed to it. But these two measures, scanty in utility, bore th(! mischief, under a moral sense, that they re- cal led the most odious recollections of the reign of terror. Every body agreed in condemning them. The revolutionists themselves, who in their pa- triotic ardour had demanded them of the Directory by a reaction, very common to party, suddenly de- nounced the measures of which they saw the bad success in the unpopularity. Only just installed in office, the minister Gaudin, at the command of the consuls, presented to the legislative commissions a resolution, the object of which was the suppression of the law of the forced progressive loan. This suppression gave rise to universal plaudits. The loan law was replaced by a war tax, consisting of an addition of 25 centimes to the principal of the " foncial " taxes, or those on land, moveable, and personal property. This was ! payable in the same way as the other taxes, in money or paper of any kind ; but in consequence of the exigency of the moment, it was settled that half the amount should be paid in specie. The war tax, thus substituted for the forced pro- gressive loan, could not yield immediate returns, be- cause it could not be collected but through the lists of assessment of the direct contributions, to which contributions, at the same time, it was in reality no other than an augmentation of one-fourth. For the current service above all, for the use of the armies it was necessary to have funds in the treasury immediately. Gaudin, under the new measures, that pleased in a particular manner the great capitalists, made an appeal to the principal bankers of Paris, soliciting that aid, the necessity of which struck every body. Bonaparte himself, too, intervened with them directly, and the sum of 12,000,000f. in specie was immediately advanced to the government. The debt was to be repaid out of the first receipts of the war tax. This aid was a great advantage, and did honour to the public spirit of the bankers of the capital ; but it was no more than a subsistence for a few days ; more durable resources were necessary. It has been seen at the commencement of this chapter, how the suppression of the indirect con- tributions, decided upon at the beginning of the revolution, had reduced the treasury to the sole revenue derived from the direct taxes ; how this revenue was itself nearly annulled by the retarda- tion of the completion of the lists of assessment ; how, in fine, the assignats, the ordinary means adopted to cover all deficiencies, having totally disappeared, their service was replaced with paper of different kinds, which, though not having in currency the power of money, did not straiten pri- vate transactions more than the paper which was in use before, but left the government without resources, and gave birth to the most hideous stock-jobbing. It was necessary to get out of such a state of things, and to reorganize the collection, or, what is the same thing, to re-open with the sources of the revenue those of public credit. In every country where taxes exist on property and person, named in France "direct contribu- tions," there must be a list of property returned with an estimate of its product, and a list nominat- ing individuals, with the value of their pecuniary ability. Every year this list or statement must be modified, according to the transmission of pro- perty from hand to hand, or according to accidents in birth, death, or removal. Every year there must be repartitioned between property and per- son the amount decreed as the impost ; and lastly, there must be a collection made exact and prudent at the same time ; exact to insure the receipts, 1799 Nov. Disorders in collec- tion. Vingtiemes re-established. CONSTITUTION OF THE YEAR VIII. Mode of receiving and paying in the taxes. prudent to spare the persons taxed. Nothing of all this existed in the year vm. (1799.) The cadastre, or register of property, the labour of forty years, had not then been commenced. There were hi some communes old roll-books, and a general statement of their property, undertaken in the time of the Constituent Assembly. These, given with little correctness, were still turned to some account. But the operations, which consist in revising the lists of property and of persons fol- lowing their incessant changes, and in repartition- ing annually between them the taxation decreed under each impost these operations, which pro- perly constitute that which is denominated the making up of the assessment lists, were delivered over to the municipal administrations, of which the disorganization and inefficiency have been already explained. The collection was not in less disorder. The office was adjudged by abatement of the charge, that is, to those who would collect at the smallest ex- pense. The persons appointed gave the money col- lected into the hands of receivers, who acted intermediately between them and the receiver- general. They were both one and another in arrear. The disorder that governed every thing, at the time, permitted but a slight examination into their accounts. Moreover, the non-comple- tion of the lists of assessment always furnished a plausible excuse for retarding the payments, and stock-jobbing gave a means of acquitting them in depreciated paper. In a word, they received little and paid in less. On the advice of Gaudin the consuls were not fearful of returning to certain practices under the old system, which experience had proved to be sound and useful. Upon an ameliorated model of the old administration of the twentieths ( Vingtiemes}, there was an agency for direct taxes formed, a plan al- ways until now rejected, from the unhappy idea of leaving to the local administrations the care of taxing themselves. A director and inspector in each department, eight hundred and fifty comp- trollers spread in a larger or smaller number over the arrondissements, were themselves to frame the lists of assessment, or, in other words, draw up the lists of properties and persons, stating the changes occurring annually, and charging the proper proportions of the impost. Thus in place of five thousand cantonal commissioners, who were obliged to solicit from the communes the perfect- ing of the assessments, there were to be ninety-nine directors, ninety-nine inspectors, and eight hundred and forty comptrollers, doing the duty themselves, and costing the state but 3,000,000 f. in place of 5,000,000 f. It was hoped that in six weeks this administration would be perfectly organized, and that in two or three months it would achieve the remaining third, yet unmade, of the lists of the year vn., or the past year, all those of the year vm., the current year, and lastly all those of the year is., the next year. Courage was demanded to overcome certain pre- judices; Bonaparte was not a man to stand still before any prejudices. The legislative commis- sioners, debating with closed doors, adopted the proposed scheme after a few observations. Guaran- tees were granted to those of the tax-payers who had reclamations to urge, guarantees since ren- dered more secure by means of the institution of the councils of the prefecture. The base of every regular constitution being thus well re-established, and this task completed, it was required to organize the collection, and to carry the product into the treasury. Now, thanks to the perfect order that the em- pire and the subsequent governments have suc- cessfully introduced into the finances, the collection of the treasury funds is executed with a facility and regularity which leave nothing to wish. The collectors receive, month by month, the " direct" contributions, that is, the taxes levied upon lands, houses, and persons. They hand them over to the particular receiver in each chief place of the ar- rondissement, and he to the receiver-general in the chief town of the department. The collectors of " indirect" taxes, composed of the produce of the customs established on the frontiers, arising out of foreign merchandise, the duties of registry on the transfer of property or on judicial acts, lastly, the dues payable upon articles of consumption of all kinds, such as liquors, tobacco, salt, &c. the collectors of these pay, as fast as they are taken, to the particular receiver, and this last into the hands of the receiver-general, who is the real state banker. It is his office to centralize the public money, and set it in movement, according to the orders he receives from the treasury. The equal re-partitions of public duties, and the general prosperity, have rendered the acquittance of the taxes easy at the present time ; and still more the accountability, which is but the sum- mary of the operations of receipt and disbursement. The last are become so clear, that the taxes are paid on the given day, often sooner, and besides this the precise date of the receipt and appropria- tion is known. It was time to establish a system founded on the truth of facts, as they are them- selves accomplished. It is in the nature of the " direct taxes," raised upon property and person, to be as a species of rent, fixable hi advance both in amount and term of payment. They are de- manded in monthly twelfths. The collectors or receivers are debited or made debtors for them every month. But it is presumed that they have not received the amounts due for two or three months after each twelfth payment thus due has expired, in order to leave the collectors a means to spare the payers, and also to create in them- selves a motive for getting the impost paid early. Thus, if they received it before the term when the tax was due, they gathered by interest a profit pro- portioned to the celerity of the payment. It is on the contrary hi the nature of the " indirect" taxes, that they are known and paid as fast, and hi the same proportion, as the entry into France of foreign productions, and the amount of the duties on the property, or on the goods of all kinds for consump- tion that arrive irregularly ; and they follow the movement of that on which they are dependent The receivers are debited ; that is to say, they are constituted debtors, accountable at the moment when the goods arrive, and not by twelfth payments monthly, as is practised in case of the " direct " taxes. Every ten days the receiver-general is constituted debtor for the amount entered hi the ten days just expired. From the time that he is debited, no matter for 10 Bill* of the receiver- general, and their operation. TRIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. Securities and credit system. 1799. Nov. what kind of contribution, the receiver-general pays interest upon the sums for which he is debited, until the day when he converts them for the ac- quittal of the public service. The day when he pays, on the contrary, any sum whatever on ac- count of the state, and before he is in debt to it, the state in turn allows a credit for the interest. The interests due by the receiver-general and treasury are afterwards balanced upon the sums left in his hands beyond the time prescribed, and the interest due by the treasury on the sums which have been advanced to it by him. This is done in such a mode as that not a day's interest is lost either by one or the other; and the receiver-gene- ral becomes a real banker, in account current with the treasury, obliged to keep always at the disposal of the government the funds which the necessities of the state may require, no matter to what amount. Such is the system that experience on one part, and growing ease among the tax-payers on the other, have successively wrought out in collecting and applying the money of the public. But at the period of which the history is now narrating, the imports were most irregular in re- turn, and the accounts obscure. The collector who had not paid up, was able to allege delay in per- fecting the lists of assessment, or the distresses of the tax-payers ; he could deceive in the amount of his receipts, owing to the confusion in the returns of the operations. The government never knew then, as it knows now, what passes every hour in the coffers of several thousand receivers composing the great exchequer of the nation. Gaudin proposed, and Bonaparte adopted, an in- genious system, in a great part borrowed from that under the old monarchy, which led almost in- sensibly to the organization actually in existence. This system was that of the bills of the receivers- general. The receivers, the real bankers of the treasury, as we have already styled them, were bound to give bills, which fell due monthly, for the entire value of the direct taxes, or for 300,000,000 f. upon 500,000,000 f., which then composed the state budget. When these bills became due they were paid at the receiver-general's office. In order to meet the delay conceded to the tax-payer, each twelfth part was supposed to be paid about four months after it became due. Thus the bills for the taxes due January 31, were drawn payable on May 31, in such a way that the receiver-general, having before him a term of four months, had at the same time a means to indulge the payer, while he was himself stimulated, for the sake of the interest, to collect it in earlier. Thus if he could get in the tax at the end of two months, he secured the two additional months' interest. This system had not only the merit of sparing the payer and interesting the collector in obtain- ing the payment ; but it had the advantage of pre- venting the receiver-general from delaying the payment to the state, because the treasury had in its chests the bills of exchange to be paid at a fixed period, obliging them to be taken up under the penalty of being protested, if not regularly < wet. Such a combination as this was not to be contemplated, it is true, until after the lists of assessment were rendered perfect as well as the collection. The receivers-general could not pay with exactitude if they did not receive. That being done in the mode already stated, the system of giving bills was of easy fulfilment, and had the advantage, independently of these already enu- merated, of putting, on the first day of the year, at the disposal of the treasury 300,000,000 f. in bills from the direct taxes, which it was not difficult to get discounted. To establish credit for this paper, designed to fulfil the office of the royal notes in France and the exchequer bills in England, the sinking fund * was invented. This, which was before long to receive the contents of the whole of the public debt, had at first no other object to answer than to guarantee the bills of the receivers-general. It was thus managed. The collectors of taxes, as a security for their trust, gave it in immoveable property. This sort of guarantee, in case of default, placing the state in the difficulties of enforcing an eject- ment, when it was obliged to come upon the security, was found not to fulfil satisfactorily the object of its institution. Security in money was therefore required to be given. The receivers-general were making so great a profit by jobbing with the tax itself, that they submitted most willingly to the condition rather than lose their posts. These securities paid into the sinking fund were devoted as a guarantee to the bills of the receivers- general. Every bill on falling due was to be paid at his office, or, in case of non-payment there, at the office of the sinking fund, the moment it was pro- tested, and paid out of the security of the defaulter. Such a bill, therefore, was rendered, in this way, as valuable as the best commercial paper. This was not the sole advantage of the plan. It was probable that a very small amount of the security monies would suffice to support the credit of the bills, because few indeed of the receivers-general would ever suffer their paper to be protested; the surplus, therefore, would remain at the disposal of the trea- sury, which might arrange for its use with the smking fund, by ceding to it immoveable or funded property. By this institution the advantage was obtained of giving a secure currency to the bills, and of realizing at any moment a certain sum of money, a resource at that period most seasonable. Such was the mode of collection and payment which placed the treasury in a short time at per- fect ease. It consisted, as shown above, in perfect- ing the lists of assessment and putting them in collection with rapidity and exactness ; next, in drawing upon the principal receivers for the total amount of the tax bills easily discounted through the means devised to enable the receivers-general to discharge their responsibilities themselves, or which the smking fund would discharge for them. We have only spoken of the direct taxes. As to the indirect, which neither came in regularly nor by twelfths, the receivers-general, after their re- ceipt, but not until then, were to forward to the treasury bills payable at sight at their office. Thus the indirect taxes were not available until the amounts had beeu received. This part of the service, which left in the receiver-generals' hands too large an enjoyment of the funds, was afterwards ren- dered more perfect. There are naturally, upon the introduction of any Caisse d amortist ement. 1799. Nov. Modes of paying the debts a* the state. CONSTITUTION OF THE YEAR VIII. Council of finances held weekly. 11 new system, difficulties of transition, arising from the labour of adjusting the present state of things to that which is about be created. Thus the bills of arrear delivered to the fundholders, those of requisition to the farmers, from whom their goods had been taken off the premises, and, lastly, the com- mission on the funds to be paid into the coffers, delivered with culpable license to contractors, it was possible might derange all the calculations. Different modes were taken to meet such incon- veniences as might result from the pressure of all these kinds of paper in circulation. The bills of arrear paid to the fnndholders had alone the favour to be received still in payment of the taxes; but the amount of them for the current year being ascertained, by that amount the sum which the receivers-general were to pay was diminished. The bills of requisition and of commission, paper of doubtful origin and unknown amount, were all submitted to a peculiar liquidation. They were paid later than the former, part out of the national property, and part in value received of a different nature, but with a proper regard to equity. In paying the fundholders in money, as it was proposed to do as soon as the receipt of the taxes was secured ; in providing for the army and dis- pensing with the system of requisitions ; in firmly refusing to contractors the irregular commissions which they had received on the treasury receipts ; the sources of the paper issues could not fail to be quickly dried up, and the collection of the taxes to be every where re-established in specie. To these means, thus had recourse to for se- curing the state revenues, were joined certain measures, some legitimate at all times, but others carrying only the character of expediency or the excuse of necessity. Those who had acquired any of the national domains, doing what every body did at that time, namely, without regarding the law, holding back the price at which they had made their purchases, were compelled to pay Tip in four months under the penalty of forfeiture. This ne- cessity could not fail to bring in a great part of the out-standing paper which was specially re- ceivable in payment for the national domains. There were classes of purchasers who were bound to acquit their debts in specie, who for this pur- pose were forced to subscribe negotiable obliga- tions. Such paper was good and easy to dispose of, because it was issued by persons who were me- naced with the loss of their purchases in case of their paper being protested. There still existed unsold national domains to the value of 300,000,000f. or 400,000,000f. This value was founded hypothetically on the estimates made in 17^0, and would, if more flourishing times were awaited, be doubled, tripled, and still more aug- mented in value. It would have been better not to dispose of them, had not the necessities of the moment obliged that step to be taken. It was settled that bills of rescriptionj representing the sum at which it was proposed to tender the sale of the property, should be negotiated among those inclined to speculate in them to the extent of 1 50,000,000 f. It was fortunate that only a small part of this amount was put into circulation. A plan was conceived, lastly, to represent by paper of the same nature, the capital of certain ground- rents belonging to the public, of which the former laws had permitted the redemption by the debtor. This resource amounted to about 40,000 ,000 f. hi value. The holders of the property still owing the rents, had left off paying them, although they had not effected their redemption. There was made, in consequence, a paper issue representing this capital of 40,000,000f., negotiable, like that upon the national domains, through the agency of money-brokers. These creations of artificial wealth were the last concessions to the necessities of the hour. Cir- culated among speculators, they were applied to procuring resources until the re-establishment of the finances, which there was reason to hope would take place upon the accurate completion of the lists of assessment and the bill system of the re- ceivers-general. This paper was issued with great caution, and had not, as we shall see, the common inconvenience of depreciation and the alienation at a low value of the state resources. These different schemes, although good in them- selves, depended for their benefit upon the strength of the government itself. Established upon the supposed return of order, they could only answer their expected end, if order were really restored ; if the executive displayed vigour and constancy in following out its plans ; if it organized quickly and well the new administration of the direct taxes ; if it directed constant care to the accuracy of the assessment lists within the time prescribed for the collection, in order that the bills of the receivers- general might be subscribed and paid when they fell due ; if the securities promptly paid in should be deposited in the sinking fund coffers in sums sufficient to sustain the credit of the bills ; if, finally, it for ever abandoned those ruinous expedients, the bills of arrear, bills of requisition and com- missions, which it now proposed to renounce if all this were realized the state was certain of a happy result awaiting the new financial system. It was further reasonable to hope much from the personal intelligence and firmness of Bonaparte. All the foregoing plans he had himself discussed, approved, and frequently modified and ameliorated ; he was sensible of their merit and importance, and was fully determined to watch over their strict execution. As soon as they were agreed upon they were sent to the legislative commissions, which formed them into laws without the loss of a moment Twenty days sufficed to project, con- sider, and give them the full legal character, so as that they might commence to be in force. Bona- parte himself worked with the minister of the finances several times a week, thus taking the best method of putting an end to those mischievous commissions which were too often granted at the instance or through the corrupt influence of the contractors. Every week he made the ministers bring him a statement of their required expendi- ture, which he compared himself with the probable receipts of the treasury, and made in proportion to the necessities of each a distribution of the actual assets. He thus disposed of that only which was certain to be received, and by this firmness of pur- pose, the principal abuse, that cf the contractors' commissions, was soon seen to disappear. In awaiting the completion of the assessments, the time of their collection, and until the bills of the receivers-general could be remitted to the 12 Results of new system. Succours to the army. Law of hostages abrogated. THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. Enlargement of the im- prisoned clergy. treasury and discounted, the government had for present use, besides the 1 2,000,000 f. lent by the bankers, the payment of the new securities, the negotiation in the market of the resources recently created, and the current collection of the taxes, which last, imperfect as it was, had sufficed the state until that time. The confidence imparted by the provisional consuls satisfied the men of busi- ness; and means were taken to negotiate among them new securities, at which a few days before nobody would have looked. By the union of such means it was that the go- vernment was able to relieve the naked and starv- ing armies, and to procure them the first supplies, of which they were in such urgent need. The dis- order that reigned was so great in the office of the minister-at-war, that he had no returns of the con- dition of the soldiers, their number, or quarters. The artillery alone possessed such returns as far as related to its own particular corps. As the army was neither clothed nor fed ; as the battalions of conscripts, raised in the departments and fitted out by means of bills of equipment, had been often organized without the intervention of the principal authority, the last knew next to nothing about them. Bonaparte was obliged to send staff-officers to the different armies to procure the documents which he required. At the same time he sent a few supplies to the suffering corps, but too small in the aggregate to meet their great necessities; and he addressed them in a proclamation, couched in those terms which he so well knew how to render im- pressive to the soldiers, conjuring them to have patience but for a few days longer, and to display amid their sufferings the same fortitude which they had shown in battle. He said to them : " Soldiers, your necessities are great measures are taken to supply them. The first quality of a soldier is fortitude in supporting fatigue and pri- vation ; valour is but the second. Corps have quitted their posts; they have been deaf to the voices of their officers. The 17th light infantry is of the number. Are they then all dead ! the heroes of Castiglione, of Rivoli, of Newmarck? They would have perished sooner than quit their colours they would have recalled their young comrades to honour and duty. Soldiers ! Say you your rations are not regular? What would you have done, if, like the 4th and 22nd light, and the 18th and 32nd of the line, you found yourselves in a desert, without bread and water, feeding upon horses and mules ! ' Victory will give us bread, they exclaimed ; but you you quit your colours ! " Soldiers of Italy ! a new general commands you; he was ever, in the brighter days of your glory, in the vanguard. Surround him with your confidence ; he will restore you to victory ! " A daily account will be sent me of the conduc of each corps, and more especially of that of the 17th light, and of the 63rd of the line ; they will remember the confidence I once had in them !" The administration of the finances and also of th< army were not the only branches of the govern ment which pressingly demanded the attention of th( new consuls. It was necessary to recal the severe measures, so unworthy a wise and humane adminis tration, which had been snatched by the violence of party-feeling from the weakness of the expiring directory. It was also needful to maintain the rder threatened by the armed Vende'ans here, here by the revolutionists exasperated at the affair if the 18th Brumaire. The first political measure of the new consuls re- ated to the law of the hostages. This law, which made the relations of the Vende'ans and of the houans responsible for the deeds committed in lie revolted provinces, inflicted on some imprison- ment, on others transportation. It partook of the jublic censure, with the law of the forced progres- sive loan, though with a better title. It could only under the influence of the blind passions of the ime, that men could have dared to render the re- ations of revolters responsible for acts of which they had not been guilty, even if they had wished them success. The consuls treated this law as they treated that of the forced loan; they proposed its repeal to the legislative commissioners, and it was directly decreed. Bonaparte went himself to the prison of the Temple, where many of the hostages were in captivity, to break their chains with his own glorious hands, and to receive those reiterated benedictions which the healing acts of the consul- ship so constantly and so justly effected. To this measure were joined others of the same kind, which marked with a parallel character the policy of the provisional consuls. Many priests, although they had taken the oath required to their civil constitution, which became the cause of the schism, had nevertheless been persecuted. These priests, who were distinguished by the epithet of "sworn," were some of them fugitives or con- cealed, others were imprisoned in the islands of Re" and Ole"ron. The consuls ordered the enlarge- ment of all that remained in custody. This step caused the return to France or the re-appearance in open day of all the priests of that class who had sought security in flight or concealment. Certain emigrants, shipwrecked in the neighbour- hood of Calais, had been for some time past objects of lively public interest. These unfortunate men, placed between the horrors of shipwreck and those of the law of emigration, had flung themselves upon their native shore, little thinking that their country could be less merciful to them than the tempest. The supporters of rigorous measures said, that these emigrants were going into La Vendde to take a part in the renewal of the civil war, the fact was nearly certain, and that thence it was perfectly right to enforce against them the terrible emigration laws. Public humanity, happily revealed at that moment, opposed this mode oi reasoning. The question had been several times reversely decided. The new consuls determined that these emigrants should be enlarged, and con- veyed out of the territory of the republic. Among them were members of the greatest families in France ; one was the Duke de Choiseul, whom we have always found since in the number of those attached to a rational freedom, the only freedom that good men can love and uphold. These acts were universally applauded. Le 1 us admire the difference between one governmen and another. Had such acts as these emanatec from the directory, they would have been esteemec unworthy concessions to the emigrant party Emanating from the new consulate, at the head o which stood a great general, whose presence wherever he appeared, indicated strength ant The Manege. Errors of the consulate towards the re- CONSTITUTION OF THE YEAR VIII. volutionary party. Prompt submission of the revolutionists. Their sentence revoked. 13 power ; such actions were taken for symptoms of a strong, but moderate policy. Thus true is it, that to be moderate with honour and good effect, it is necessary to be powerful. At the first moment it was alone in regard to the revolutionary party, that the policy of the pro- visional consuls was wanting in moderation. It was with this party that the contest had occurred on the 1 8th and 19th of Brumaire. Against it very naturally a degree of mistrust and anger might be felt ; still amidst acts of conciliation and repa- ration, that only was destined to feel the severity of the new rulers. The news of the 18th Bru- maire struck into the patriots of the south a deep sensation. The societies affiliated to the mother society in Paris, or the Manege, exhibited still stronger indignation. It was reported that the deputies, deprived by the law of the 19th Bru- maire of the rank of members of the legislative body, had determined to meet at Toulouse, there to reinstall a species of directory. Bonaparte, now he had the supremo command of the army, was not afraid of any thing. He had shown on the 13th Vende'miaire, that he knew how to suppress an in- surrection ; and he did not trouble himself about all that a few hot-headed patriots were able to do without soldiers. But his colleagues, Sieves and Roger-Ducos, did not feel his confidence. Several of the ministers joined them in opinion, and per- suaded the first consul to adopt precautions. In- clined himself, for that matter, to energetic mea- sures, although moderate from motives of policy, he consented to pronounce a decree of banishment against thirty-eight members of the revolutionary party, and to the detention at Rochelle of eighteen others. Among this number there were some vile wretches ; one of them had been heard to boast of having been the assassin of the Princess de Lam- balle : but in the number there were good men as well, members of the two councils, and above all a distinguished and respectable personage in General Jourdan. His public opposition to the 18th Bru- maire had, at the moment, inspired some degree of fear. To include the name of such a man in such a list was a fault upon a fault. Public opinion, although not well disposed to- wards the revolutionists, received this proceeding with coldness, almost with censure. It feared so much rigour and re-action ; the step was dis- approved even when exerted against those who had been guilty of the same rigour. Remonstrances were sent from all parts, some of them in a very high tone, in favour of names that were found on the list of the proscribed. The Court of Cassation remonstrated regarding one of its members, named Xavier Ardouin, who had not deserved that such a precaution should be taken against him. Talley- rand, always mild in character, always adroit in his conduct Talleyrand, whom the revolutionary party had, from its aversion, contributed to keep out of the ministry for foreign affairs, had the good feeling to remonstrate in favour of one Jorry, who had publicly insulted him. He did it, he said, for fear they should attribute to his own revengeful motives the insertion of this vulgar man's name upon the proscribed list. His published letter on the subject did him high honour, and saved the individual from the sentence. In compliance with the public feeling, the name of General Jourdau was also erased. Fortunately the turn taken by public affairs permitted the revocation of an act, which was but an accidental deviation from a march otherwise just and straightforward. Bonaparte had sent General Lannes, his most devoted lieutenant, to Toulouse. At the simple appearance there of this officer, all the prepara- tions for re-action disappeared at once. Toulouse was tranquillized, and the societies attached to that of the Haneije in the capital, were silenced in the south. The ardent revolutionists saw that public opinion was in opposition to them, having ceased to favour their views ; and they saw too at the head of the government one whom nobody had the means to resist. The most reasonable among them could not forget that he was the same man who, on the 13th Vunde'miaire, had dispersed the royalists of the Paris sections, who were armed against the convention, and who, under the directory, in lend- ing his strong hand to the government, had fur- nished it with the means to bring about the 18th Fructidor. They, therefore, submitted : the more violent, venting their rage in exclamations, were soon silenced ; the others hoping that at least under the military government of the new Cromwell, as they styled him, the revolution and France would not be vanquished for the gain of the Bourbons, the English, the Austrians, and the Russians. One act of resistance, not by force, but by legal means, was offered to the 18th Brumaire. The president of the criminal tribunal of the Yonne, named Barnabas, imitated the example of the old parliaments, and refused to register the law of the 19th Brumaire, constituting the provisional govern- ment. This president's audacity was brought be- fore the legislative commisioners ; he was accused of having refused to execute his duty, suspended, and then removed. He submitted to his sentence with resignation and dignity. The speedy end of every attempt at resistance enabled the government to abrogate a measure which was in opposition to its prudent course of policy. Upon the report of Cambace'res, the minis- ter of justice, that order was re-established in the departments, and that the laws were every where executed without any obstacle, the sentence of transportation pronounced against the thirty-eight revolutionists, and the detention of the eighteen others at Rochelle, was altered to a simple sur- veillance. Soon afterwards this surveillance was removed. This act of indulgence was speedily eclipsed by a series of others, wise, able, and vigorous, sig- nalizing in a particular manner the bias of the new government. La Vendee had, in turn, at- tracted its whole attention. A rising had been lately attempted, just at the close of the reign of the 'directory. The elevation of Bonaparte to power changed the face of things there altogether, as well as the direction of the public mind in every part of the republic. The chiefs of the new royalist insurrections had been excited to take up arms as much by the later severity of the directory, as by the hope of the approaching overtures of the government : but on one side the revocation of the hostage law, the setting the priests at liberty, the grant of their lives to the shipwrecked emigrants at Calais, tended to cause a reconciliatory spirit ; while on the other side, the presence and power of Boua- 14 State of La Vendee. Overtures of the chiefs. THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. Their interview with Bo- naparte. - Suspension of arms in La Vendee. 1799. Nov. parte tended more than ever to stifle all hope of seeing the dissolution of that order of things effected which had been caused by the revolution. The 18th Brumaire had modified the ideas in La Vende'e, as well as elsewhere, and given birth to new inclinations. The royalist party, some of whom combated hi La Vendee, while others were in Paris occupying themselves with political intrigues, delivered itself, like every party which seeks to overturn a govern- ment, to continual mental activity, and, without cessation, went in quest of new combinations to ensure the triumph of their cause ; it now imagined that perhaps there was some means in its power of coming to an understanding with Bonaparte. Its chiefs thought that one so eminent had no great taste for figuring for a few days in the changing scenes of the French revolution, to disappear, like his predecessors, in the abyss opened before their steps ; and that he would prefer to take his place under a peaceable and regularly constituted mon- archy, of which he might be both the support and ornament. They were, in one word, credulous enough to imagine that the character of Monk suited a personage who did not think the character of Cromwell great enough for Ms ambition. They in consequence obtained the mediation of one of those ministers of the foreign diplomacy, who, under the pretext of studying the country where they are accredited, have a hand in every party intrigue, and they thus obtained an introduction to Bonaparte. Hyde de Neuville and D'Andigne" were the parties that took this step. It is not needful to show how very erroneous was the judgment thus formed of Bonaparte. This won- derful man, sensible now of his own power and greatness, would not be servant to any party. If he had no love for disorder, he loved the revolution ; if he did not credit freedom to its full extent for all it had promised, he desired in entirety that social reform, which it was his object to ac- complish. Therefore he desired to see the revolu- tion triumphant ; he desired the glory of terminat- ing it, and to make it lead to a quiet and regular course of things ; he desired to be its head, no matter under what name nor what form of govern- ment but he did not desire to be the instrument of any other power save Providence ; he had already too much glory and too much conscious strength to consent to that ! He received De Neuville and D'Andigne", heard their insinuations, more or less clear, and declared to them frankly his intentions, which were to put an end to persecution, to rally all parties around the government, but to suffer none save that of the revolution, to be master of the revolution un- derstood hi its better sense. He declared to them his willingness to treat with the Vende"an chiefs on reasonable terms, or his determination to exter- minate them to a man. This interview effected nothing, except that it made the royalist party better instructed in the character of Bonaparte. Whilst these negotiations were proceeding in Paris between Bonaparte and the friends of the Bourbons, there were others begun in La Vende'e itself, between the chiefs of the revolt and those of the republic. Towards the end of the directory, when nobody knew who they were to obey, a kind of relaxation, very closely approximating to treason, had crept into the army occupying that country. More than one officer of the republican forces, imagining the republic could not much longer exist, had turned his eyes towards the party of the royalists. The elevation of Bonaparte to the state changed this position of things, which was about to become very dangerous ; but now, upon the contrary, the communications to which they gave rise, and the interchanges between parties, took a new direction. The royalist chiefs, who drew to them at first the officers of the republican army, were themselves attracted in their turn to the side of the republican officers and their government. It was represented to them how slight a chance they had of overcoming the conqueror of Italy and of Egypt, and the hope they might indulge of ob- taining under the first consul a mild and restora- tive system of government, which would render the condition of every party agreeable and peaceable. This language was not destitute of use. There was at that moment at the head of the army of the west, a conciliatory, judicious, and trustworthy officer, general He'douville, who had seen much service under general Hoche, at Ihe time when the first peace was brought about hi La Vende'e. He mastered all that was proceeding between the two parties, saw its worth, and offered to send the re- sult to the new consul. Bonaparte instantly availed himself of this open- ing for a negotiation, confiding full powers to general He'douville for treating with the chiefs of the insurgents. These chiefs felt the strength of Bonaparte in office, and showed a disposition to come to terms. It was not easy to sign a capitula- tion at once, and to agree in a moment upon ar- ticles for such a purpose ; but a suspension of arms did not include the same obstacles. The insurgent chiefs offered to sign one immediately. The offer was accepted on the part of the government, and in a few days, De Ch&tillon, D'Autichamp, and De Bourmont, signed- a suspension of arms for La Vendee and a part of Brittany. It was settled that Georges Cadoudal and De Frotte' should be invited to adopt the same course in the Morbihan and in Normandy. This act of the new government was not long delayed, for it was accomplished at the com- mencement of Frimaire, in twenty days after the installment of the provisionary consuls. It in- spired general satisfaction, and made the entire pacification of La Vende'e be thought nearer than it was possible to be. Rumours of the same kind, relative to foreign powers, led to the hope that, under the fortunate star of Bonaparte, there would be seen the prompt re-establishment of European peace. As before observed, at the commencement of this book, Prussia and Spain alone were hi bonds of amity with France ; the first always showing coolness, the second embarrassed by its commu- nity of interests with her. Russia, Austria, Eng- land, and all the little powers in their train, whe- ther in Italy or in Germany, sustained an unre- lenting contest with the Republic of France. Eng- land, with whom the war was merely a question of finance, had resolved that question for herself in the establishment of the income-tax, which already produced a great revenue. She wished for the con- tinuance of hostilities, in order to have tune to gain 1799 tfov. First European nego- tiation*. Paul I. of Russia. CONSTITUTION OF THE YEAR VIII, Importance of Prussia. Frederick-William. Malta, which she had blockaded, and also to re- duce the French army of Egypt to surrender by the same means. Austria, in possession of all Italy, was determined to risk everything rather than re- sign the conquest ; but the chivalrous Paul I. who had thrown himself into the war under the impulse of a foolish enthusiasm, saw his arms humbled at Zurich, and from thence imbibed a feeling of lively resentment against everybody, but above all against Austria. He had been persuaded that this power was the sole cause of his misfor- tune; because the Austrian army, bound, in virtue of a concerted movement, to advance to the Rhine, and cede Switzerland to the Russians, had too quickly abandoned the position of Zurich, leaving Korsakoff exposed to Masse'na's attack, who having beaten him, had afterwards given a good account of Suwaroff. Paul I. saw in this as he imagined an act of treachery on the part of a faithless ally, and suspicion being once excited, every thing appeared hi a mistrustful light. He had only taken up arms, he said, to protect the feeble against the strong, and to replace on their thrones those princes who had been hurled from them by the French republic. Austria too had kept her flag every where flying in Italy, and had not recalled to their places any of the dethroned princes. He asserted, that having acted out of pure gene- rosity he was made the dupe of the allied powers, who were moved solely by self-interest. Fickle hi the extreme, he gave himself up entirely to his new opinions as violently as he had before delivered himself to those opposite. A recent occurrence ex- asperated him to the highest pitch: this was the pulling down the Russian flag at Ancona, and its replacement by that of Austria. The circumstance arose from the error of an inferior officer: but that did not matter, the act was keenly felt, however it originated. The sentiments of absolute sovereigns, despite their efforts at secresy, explode as quickly as those of a free people ; the one will not be much longer repressed than the other. This new consequence of the battle of Zurich got wind all over Europe, and was not unfortunate for France. Austria and England at the news redoubled their attentions to Paul I. They loaded Suwaroff, the " invincible Suwaroff," as he was called before he was encountered by Masse"na, with all sorts of distinctions. But they had no more soothed the grief of the Russian general than they had dis- armed the czar's resentment. An entirely new incident on the part of Paul I. gave reason for the apprehension that he would soon abandon the coalition. In the first glance of his zeal for the coalition he had declared war against Spain, because she made a common cause with France, and he had very nearly declared against Sweden, Denmark, and Prussia, because those powers had remained neuter. He had broken off his relations with Prussia entirely. Since the recent events he ap- peared to be much mollified in his disposition towards the courts against which he so lately felt a bitter animosity ; and he now sent M. Krudener to Berlin, an envoy in whom he had great con- fidence. Krudener was desired to proceed thither as a simple traveller, but had a secret mission to re-establish relations between the two courts. France had then at Berlin an able and clever agent in M. Otto, who was subsequently connected with the more important proceedings of that pe- riod. He apprised his government of the new state of affairs. It was evident, that if we were inclined to peace rather than war, the key of the position for that end was Berlin. Spain, flung to the extremity of Europe by her geographical position, and to that of politics by the feebleness of her government, could be of no utility. But Prussia, placed in the centre of the belligerent powers, remained neuter in spite of their liveliest solicitude: thought ill of at first by all the cabinets in the heat of the coalition, but thought better of when that became cooler, Prussia grew into a centre of influence, above all w'iou Russia appeared to court her alliance. That which had been denomi- nated pusillanimity on her part now appeared to be wisdom. If she were to adopt energetically the character which events seemed to assign her, she might serve for the link connecting France and Europe ; she might be able to appear in season among weary opponents intermediately ; a method subsequently employed with great suc- cess, and thus to gather the fruits of the war which one party had not made, and of the peace which the other had dictated. If Prussia had ventured to do this, the character she would have played would have been the most important since the time of the great Frederick. There was then upon the throne of Prussia a young king, sincere, and possessing good intentions, loving peace as a passion, and never ceasing to lament the fault which his father had committed in scattering upon a foolish war against the French republic, the military fame and treasures accumu- lated by the great Frederick. Replaced at this time in pacific relations with the French republic, the king availed himself of the opportunity to re- lieve by economy the losses of the treasure left by his great uncle and squandered by his father. He possessed near his person an able and wise minister, experienced in a high degree, with the skill of evading difficulties; a partisan, like his master, of a pvtific policy, but more ambitious than he was, in believing that a neutrality well directed would ob- tain /or Prussia greater aggrandisements than war itself. At that tune this might have been correct. He urged on his sovereign, therefore, to take upon himself the character of an active mediator and pacificator of the continent. To play this part was no doubt a very grand one for the young and timid Frederick-William: but this prince was able to fill, more or less, a portion of the character, if he were unequal to the whole. Bonaparte, perceiving all this, immediately di- rected his attention to please the court of Prussia. It had formerly been convenient for him to be a member of the institute, that he might appear by that title at some particular ceremonies where he could not be seen in his political character, more especially at the fetes given on the 21st of Ja- nuary : it was now equally convenient for him to be a general, and to have aids-de-camp to send wher- ever he saw it was required. This idea was de- rived from the example of princes, who on mounting the throne announced the event by sending dig- nitaries as envoys for that purpose. He did the same thing, though with less parade, and dispatched Duroc sent to Berlin. 1Q Talleyrand takes ac- tive office. TRIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. to Berlin one of his atds-de-camp, which, as mili- tary head of a state, most assuredly was a proper act without going out of his character. Among these who bore the title there was one, wise, dis- creet, and prudent, joining to an agreeable exterior of person perfectly good manners ; this was Duroc, who returned from Egypt with his general, and bore a reflection around his brow of the glory of the Pyramids. The first consul ordered him to proceed immediately to Berlin, to compliment the king and queen of Prussia, and present himself as bearing a mission of respect and compliment ; while at the same time he was to profit by the occasion to explain the result of the last revolution in France, to represent it as a return to order, to a healthy state of things, and, above all, to pacific ideas. Duroc was directed to flatter the young king, and to show him, that if he pleased he might become the arbitrator of peace. The republic, re- posing upon the victories of the Texel and Zurich, and on all those for which the name of Bonaparte was a pledge in future, was well able, without wounding her dignity, to present herself with the olive-branch of peace in her hand. While he dispatched Duroc to Berlin, Bonaparte performed several acts under the provisionary consulship calculated to produce an effect abroad. Having for some time delayed the entry of Talley- rand upon the ministry for foreign affairs, he at length placed him in that office. It was impossible to place there a more conciliatory person, more proper to treat with the European powers, more willing to please, even to flatter them, without depressing the dignity of the French cabinet. We shall have other opportunities for painting this singular and remarkable character ; it suffices to say now, that the choice of this minister alone clearly proves, without passing from strength to weakness, that the policy of the passions was moving into that of calculation. There was nothing, down to that elegance of manners peculiar to Talleyrand, which was not of some advantage in the new aspect which the government wished to assume towards foreign powers. Bonaparte made other diplomatic arrangements, conceived in the same spirit. Although M. Otto, charge" d'affaires at Berlin, after Sieyes had quitted that post, was an excellent envoy, he was no more than a simple charge d'affaires in rank. To him was assigned another destination, in which he soon made himself very useful. The appointment of minister at Berlin was given to General Beurnon- ville, the old friend of La Fayette, long imprisoned in Austria, and one of those members of the mi- nority of French nobles, who had in 1 789 embraced with sincerity the side of the revolution. General Beurnonville was a frank soldier, loyal, above all disguise, of moderate opinions, and perfectly well adapted to represent the new government. Austria, where he had been so long detained a prisoner, filled him with the hatred which was a sort of passport to Berlin, where, towards that power, there was the same feeling prevalent which had existed in the time of the great Frederick. The representative of France at Madrid was an old demagogue, destitute of all influence, and who baring no name in the diplomatic career, had been flung where he was by the chance of events. He waa replaced by one of the Constituent Assembly, M. Alquier, a clever man, lively and intelligent, who had begun with credit in the diplomacy of that time. Finally, at Copenhagen, where the principles of maritime neutrality, openly violated by England, were likely to work out our advan- tage upon being cultivated, M. Bourgoing was nominated in place of a creature of the directory, named Grouvelle. Each of these selections was excellent, and perfectly indicative of that spirit of moderation and prudence which had begun to pre- vail in the relations of France with foreign powers. To the choice of these individuals the consuls wished to make the addition of some acts which might serve as an answer to a reproach widely circulated throughout Europe, that the French republic violated incessantly the rights of nations and the treaties they concluded with them. Most assuredly France had been guilty of less violation of the rights of nations than the Austrians, the English, and all the courts at war with her. It was the custom to pretend that it was not possible to have any relations with an unstable, passionate government, represented continually by new men, who never regarded themselves as bound by any treaty or by the traditions of European public law. This reproach might have been returned with more justice upon the cabinets of Europe, that had done so much worse, without the excuse either of revolutionary passions or of continual changes in government. To give a better idea of the policy of the consuls, Bonaparte performed a first act of justice towards the unfortunate knights of Malta, to whom he promised, on taking possession of the island, thsit they should not be treated in France as emigrants, at least those among them who be- longed to the French language. They had not until now been benefited by this article in their capitulation, neither in respect of goods nor person. Bonaparte gave to them the full and entire terms to which they were entitled. In respect to Denmark, the first consul adopted a measure both excellent in itself, kind, and equit- able. There were in the ports of France a num- ber of Danish vessels, stopped by the directory in consequence of reprisals under the law of neu- trals. They were accused of not respecting the law of maritime neutrality, of submitting to be searched by the English, and of permitting goods that were French property to be seized on board of them. The directory had declared that it would make them subject to the same violence which they suffered from the English, hi order that they might uphold with more energy the principles of the rights of nations, under virtue of which they navigated. This would have been but just, if they, having the power to make themselves respected, submitted to it ; but these unfortunate men did all they could do, and it was hard to punish the violence of one party by the violence of another. In consequence of this system, a number of their merchant-vessels being detained, Bonaparte re- leased them, in order to exhibit the sign of a more equitable and moderate policy. Duroc arrived promptly at Berlin, and was pre- sented by M. Otto, who was still there. According to rigorous etiquette, Duroc, a simple aid-de-camp, could not be put in immediate communication with the court, but these regulations were laid aside to receive an officer attached to the person of Bona- 1799. Dec. Rumours of Peace. Armistice of the Rhine. CONSTITUTION OF THE YEAR VIII. Bonaparte's influence upon those around him. 17 parte. He was well received by the king and queen, and immediately invited to Potsdam. Curiosity had as much to do as policy with these attentions, since glory has, in addition to its own brilliancy, a considerable advantage in affairs of state. To see and hear the aid-de-camp Duroc, resembled an approach, though distant, to the extraordinary man of whom the world was full. Duroc had taken a part in the battles of the Pyramids, Mount Tabor, and Aboukir. A thousand questions were addressed to him, which he answered without ex- aggeration, in truth and simplicity. He appeared polished, mild, modest; profoundly submissive to his superior, and gave a most advantageous idea of the manner of bearing which that officer imposed upon those nearest him. The success of Duroc at Berlin was complete. The queen testified for him the greatest kindness; and people began to talk afterwards in a much better strain of the French republic. Duroc found the young king was pleased to discover that a strong and moderate government was at last established in Paris, and felt flattered to be at the same time courted both by Russia and France. He desired much to act the part of a mediator, but had more the wish than the talent for such a purpose, without being at all deficient in the ardour and zeal requisite for its performance. The success of Duroc engaged the attention of Europe, and was re-echoed to Paris itself. The idea of an approaching peace soon took posses- sion of every mind. A specious circumstance, in itself of small moment, singularly contributed to propagate this idea. The French and Austrian armies were in presence of each other along the Rhine and on the coasts of the Alps and Apen- nines. On the Rhine they were stayed by an obstacle sufficient to hinder any serious operations, since the passage of that river was a task too great for either army unless for the purpose of opening the campaign. It was now Frimaire or December, the passage could not therefore be contemplated ; skirmishes along the river became under such cir- cumstances a useless effusion of blood, and there- fore on that frontier an armistice was agreed upon. In the Alps and Apennines circumstances were different; there, where the country was so varied, a movement well combined might procure to the successful party a good position for the commencement of operations. The belligerents, therefore, would not bind themselves there hi a similar manner, and no armistice took place. But the public attention was directed to that signed upon the Rhine ; and among the number of for- tunate changes which attended the course of the new government, people classed the possibility and even probability of an approaching peace. There arc always in public evils one that is real and one that is imaginary, while one contributes to render the other insupportable. It is a main point to do away with the imaginary evil, because by that means the sentiment of the real evil is di- minished, and he who suffers from it is inspired with the hope of a cure, or, above all, with the dis- position to accept it. Under the directory, it was decided that there was nothing to be expected of a feeble, disreputable government, which to repress faction adopted violence without attaining any of the effects of energy. Every thing it did was re- garded as bad ; nobody would credit good of it, nor believe it when by chance some little good was done. Even victory, which seemed to return to it near the close of its existence victory, which to others would have brought glory, conferred no honour upon it. The elevation of Bonaparte, of whom the world was in the habit of expecting every thing suc- cessful, changed this disposition. The evil in imagination had ceased ; confidence was abroad ; every thing was understood in good part. Most assuredly the things performed were good in them- selves, since it was good to release the hostages, to set the priests free, to show pacific dispositions to Europe ; but people, above all, were inclined to consider that they were good. A token of approach in feeling, such as the welcome given to an aid-de- camp, an armistice signed that really meant no- thing, such as that upon the Rhine, passed already as pledges of peace. Such is the prestige of con- fidence! It is every thing with a beginning go- vernment, and to that of the consuls it was of immense advantage. Thus money came into the treasury, from the treasury it went to the armies, that, content with the first succours, waited with patience for those that were to come afterwards. In presence of a power, the strength of which was reputed superior to all resistance, parties submitted : the oppressor party without any power to oppress again ; the party oppressed, with the confidence that oppression would no more be exercised upon it. The good accomplished was thus great, and hope added all that tune had not yet permitted to be done. One thing was already rumoured in all quarters, on the daily report of those who transacted business with the young consul. It was said that this soldier, above whom no general of modern times can be ranked, and but few hi those which are passed, was a consummate ruler, a profound poli- tician. All the practical men by whom he was sur- rounded, whom he heard with attention, whom he even enlightened by the justness and promptitude of his views, and whom he protected from opposi- tion of all kinds, never left him without being subdued and filled with admiration. They said this the more willingly, because it became the fashion to think and say so. Sometimes false merit is seen to captivate the public for a time, and command extravagant praise ; but it also some- times happens that true merit, even genius itself, inspires this sort of popular caprice, and then the caprice becomes a passion. It was only a month since Bonaparte had taken the direction of affairs, and the impression around him, produced by his powerful intellect, was deep and general. The good-tempered Roger-Ducos spoke of nothing else ; the humoursome Sieves, little inclined to stoop to the fashion of the hour, especially when he was not its favourite, acknowledging the superiority, the universality of the governing genius, paid it the purest homage, by conceding to it the entire power of action. Those who were panegyrists from con- viction joined those who were such only from in- terest, and all seeing in Bonaparte the evident head of the new republic, set no limit to the measure of their enthusiasm. Bonaparte had among his ad- mirers, and hi truth very sincere admirers, Talley- rand, Regnault de St. Jean d'Angely, Roederer, Boulay (de laMeurthe), Defermou, Real, Dufresne, 18 Sieyes' long-meditated project of the consti- tution. THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. It is at last promulgated. and others, who every where said that they had never seen any one of such promptitude, such decision, such extent of mind, such prodigious activity. It is true, the business he had accom- plished in one month in every brancli of the government was enormous, and, which seldom hap- pens, that the flattery bestowed did not, in this instance, exceed the reality. It was every where considered that he was the man on whom the new constitution must bestow the larger part of the executive power. A Crom- well was not desired by the people, for this must be conceded in honour of the men of that time. The friends of Bonaparte said aloud that the parts of Csesar and Cromwell were wholly " played out," and were not worthy of the genius and virtues of the young saviour of France. Still, they desired that there should be a sufficient autho- rity placed in his hands, to secure their heads, or the national property which they had obtained : and that he might have time enough left him to repel the Bourbons and Austrians. The royalists hoped he would save them from the revolutionists, and re-instate the old absolute power, with a wild wish that after he had reinstated it, he would hand it over to them ; in which case they were disposed to make him a good bargain for the restitution; they would even go so far as to confer upon him the dignity of constable to Louis XVIII., if it were positively necessary. Thus, every body awarded to him the supreme power, in more or less of integrity, for a longer or shorter term, though with different objects. The new legislator, Sieyes, thus had to make a place for him in the new constitution which he was preparing; but Sieyes was a dogmatical legislator, working on behalf of the nature of things, at least he conceived so, and not according to existing circumstances, still less for any single man, no matter whom. This may easily be judged from what followed. Sieyes, while his indefatigable colleague governed, was occupied with his own assigned task. To give to France not one of those ephemeral constitutions, provoking ridicule from ignorance of passions and parties, but a wise constitution, founded on obser- vations of society, and on the lessons of past expe- rience ; this had been the waking dream of his whole existence. Amid his solitary and morose meditations he laboured without cessation. He had weighed it in the midst of the sincere and inconsiderate proceedings of the constituent as- sembly, in the midst of the frantic gloom of the convention, and in the midst of the feebleness of the directory. At each period he had new-modelled his labour ; at last it was fixed, and once fixed he would not alter his plan. He would sacrifice nothing to the circumstances of the moment, to the prin- cipal of these circumstances, to Bonaparte, for whom it was evidently necessary to find a post, adapted to the genius and character of him who was to fill it. This singular legislator, always meditating, al- ways writing, but not writing much more than acting, had never yet written out the scheme of his constitution. It was in his head, and he must now bring it out. This was to him a task by no means easy, however much he wished to see it produced and embodied as a law. He was much pressed to make it known, and at last decided to com- municate his ideas to one of his friends, M. Boulay de la Meurthe, who took upon himself the trouble of transcribing it as fast as it was delivered in the conversations they might have with each other. It was thus that this remarkable conception was correctly obtained, and preserved for that posterity of which it was worthy. Sieyes made a powerful mental exertion to unite the republican and the monarchical principles, in order to borrow what was useful or necessary from each ; but in borrowing he showed a strong distrust of both. He had taken great precautions against the demagogue spirit on one hand, and against the power of the crown on the other. He had thus produced a clever and complicated work, but one in which every thing was balanced ; so that if this constitution, modified by and for Bonaparte, were deprived of one or the other of its counterpoises, it might, against the intentions of its framer, lead on to despotism. The first care of Sieyes was, amid his combina- tions, to guard against the influence of demagogue passions. Without denuding the nation of that large participation in public affairs, which unhappily for itself it had before enjoyed, he wished to leave it a power which it could not abuse. A phrase, which, for the first time, perhaps, was in every body's mouth, that of "a representative government," gives an exact idea of the state of the public mind at the moment. By that word was understood that the nation ought to have a share in its own government, only throogh intermediate means, that is to say, that it should be represented ; and, as we shall see, it was, indeed, very indirectly that such a representation was intended. The elections under the directory had been drawn by degrees into the hands of the royalists at one time, and of the Jacobins at another, and violence had been deemed expedient to exclude the first of these on the 18th Fructidor, the second, on the 22nd Flore"al. Thus the election system, and, above all, that of the direct elections, had become highly suspicious in the public view. Perhaps, had they dared to reduce the number of the electors to a hundred and fifty or two hundred thousand, the attempt to meet again the agitation of the elections might have been ventured upon ; but the electoral body, reduced to about the present proportion, would have imparted offence rather than security. Two hundred thousand electors only attached to a nation, which so recently possessed universal suf- frage, would have appeared an aristocratic allow- ance; at the same time that the electors, however small their number, nominating directly their repre- sentatives, with the power to yield to the passions of the hour, would have borne the appearance of being but the renewal of the continual reactions which had been witnessed under the directory. Direct election restricted, such as exists at present was thus out of all the combinations. Sieyes, with his habitual dogmatism, had made the maxim for himself, that " confidence should come from below,, and power from above." He therefore conceived, in order to realize this maxim, the system of national representation which is about to be de- scribed. Every individual of the age of twenty-one, having a French birthright, was obliged, if he desired to enjoy his rights, to inscribe his name in a register 1799. Dec. List of notables. CONSTITUTION OF THE YEAR VIII. Formation of the powers of the state. 1!) called the " civic register." This list might hold five or six millions of citizens' names admitted to the exercise of political rights. The persons thus inscribed were to meet in their arrondissements ; this limit, which did not then exist, was to be pro- posed ; they were then to choose a tenth of their number. This tenth would produce a primary list of five or six hundred thousand; and these numbers, meeting in turn in their departments, and again choosing a tenth among themselves, would form a second list of fifty or sixty thousand. These last proceeded to a third and last list limited to five or six thousand, and the three lists were denominated the " lists of notability." The first list of five or six hundred thousand individuals was called that of the communal nota- bility ; from it were to be taken the members of the municipal bodies, those of the councils of the arrondissements, and others on a par in equality with them ; such were the mayors, the officers since styled sub-prefects, the judges of the first instance, and others. The second list of fifty or sixty thousand citizens, was denominated the list of the departmental notability; and it was from it that the members of the councils of the depart- ments, the functionaries since styled prefects, the judges of appeal, and similar officials, were taken; in a word, all of that class. Finally, the last and third list of five or six thousand persons, con- stituted the list of national notability, from whence all the members of the legislative body must be taken, all the higher functionaries, counsellors of state, ministers, judges of the tribunal of cassation, | and the like. Sieves, borrowing a geometrical [ figure to give an idea of the national represen- tation, called it a pyramid, broad at the base, iind narrow at the apex. It is thus seen, that without -conceding to the nation the right to select itself the national dele- gates, or the government functionaries, Sieves re- duced himself to the formation of a list of candi- dates, from which were to be selected the repre- sentatives of the nation and the agents of govern- ment. Every year the mass of citizens was to meet for the purpose of excluding from the lists the names which were not deemed worthy to con- tinue there, and to replace them with others. It is observable, that if, on one part, the power of designation was very indirect ; on the other it em- braced not only the members of the deliberative assemblies, but the functionaries of the executive themselves. It was at once more and less than j ordinarily exists in the system of a representative I monarchy. The agents designed for special offices, i and who were not supposed to possess any of the i public confidence, such as those belonging to the j finances, for example, or persons called to fulfil | offices so difficult, that merit, when it could be met with, ought to be chosen, no matter where found such as generals or ambassadors ; such agents it was not obligatory to select from the lists of notability. We have shown how Sieyes realized his maxim of making " confidence come from below," we will now show how he made " power come from above." He dreaded elections, under the influence of the feeling of the time, because he had witnessed how the electors chose representatives as headstrong as themselves. He therefore renounced elections, and decided, that out of those ou the lists of notability framed by public confidence, the legislative and executive powers should be enabled to choose their own members, and thus to constitute themselves. He laid no otherobligation upon them, than that they should select from the lists of notability. But before stating the mode in which the powers were formed, it is necessary to describe their organization. The legislative power was to be organized thus : First, the legislative body, properly speaking, placed between the tribunal and the council of state : se- condly, above and apart, the conservative senate. The legislative body was to be composed of three hundred members, designed to hear the discussion of the laws, not to discuss them itself, and to vote silently. How and among whom the discussion was to take place, will be here shown. A body of one hundred members, styled the tribunate, empowered to represent in this consti- tution the spirit of free, innovating examination, received the communication of the laws, discussed them publicly, and put them to the vote, merely to decide whether or not it should support their adoption or rejection. It then appointed three members of its number to support its private opinion before the legislative body. The council of state, the origin of that which now exists, but more considerable in its importance and duties, was connected with the government for the purpose of embodying proposed laws ; it was to present them to the legislative body, and to send three of its number to discuss them in oppo- sition to the speakers in the tribunate. Thus the council of state pleaded for, the tribunate against, the proposed law, if the last disapproved it. The legislative body then voted silently either on one side or the other, as to the rejection or acceptance of the measure. Its vote alone gave the cha- racter of a law to the proposition of the govern- ment. The council of state besides had the duty of completing the laws by attaching to them the regulations necessary for their execution. Last of all came the senate, composed of one hundred members, that took no part in the legis- lative labour. It was deputed ou the denunciation of the tribunate, or of its own accord, to cancel every law or act of the government to which, in its own view, any thing unconstitutional might be at- tached. It was on this account that it bore the name of the " conservative senate." It was to be composed of individuals who were of ripe years, deprived from the circumstance of belonging to the senate of all active functions, being exclusively con- fined to their character of conservators, and being interested in attending well to their duties, because Sieyes intended that a good income should be attached to the place. Such were the offices of the deliberative func- tionaries. The mode of their formation was as fol- lows: The senate completed itself by electing its own members, out of the list of notability formed by the nation. It named also the members of the tribunate, of the legislative body, and of the tribunal of cas- sation, choosing them by the scrutiny or ballot from the same list of national notability. The executive power was thus the author of its own formation, from choosing all its agents out of the three lists of notability, which corresponded to c2 M The grand elector. THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. Analogy of Sieyes' and other constitutions. 1799. Dec. the functions which were to be executed. It took the ministers, the councillors of state, and all the superior officers from the list of national notability. It took from the list of the departmental notability, first, the councillors of the department, who, the same as with the council of state, were considered purely administrative authorities ; it took from them, besides these, the prefects and all the functionaries of the same particular order; and lastly it searched in the list of communal notability for the municipal councillors, the mayors, and the functionaries be- longing to their class. Thus, as Sieyes would have it, " Confidence came from below, power came from above." But as above the legislative power there was a head or creator in the senate, so there was wanting above the executive power a supreme creator to name the ministers of state, who were then to no- minate the subordinate officials down to the lowest in the hierarchy. At the head of the executive power there must also be a generative power. Sieyes had given the holder of this power a name analogous to his function, he had entitled him the grand elector. This supreme magistrate's duty was reduced to one single exclusive act; he was to elect two superior agents, alone in their species and rank, one called the peace, the other the war consul. These nominated the ministers immediately; they, under their personal responsibility, selected from the list of notability all the agents of power, governed, admi- nistered, directed in a word all the affairs of state. A great and brilliant career was destined for the grand elector. He was the generative principle of the government, and he was also its external re- presentative. That inaction, to which Sieyes desired to confine the senators in order to secure the just and impartial fulfilment of their duties, and to whom he assigned an annual revenue of 100,000f. from the national domains ; that inaction imposed also upon the grand elector from a similar motive, was yet more richly endowed, because he represented the entire republic. Sieyes, therefore, assigned to him a revenue of 6,000,000fs. and sumptuous palaces, such as those of the Tuileries at Paris, and Versailles in the country, with a guard of three thousand men. In his name justice was to be ad- ministered, the taxes promulgated, and the acts of the government executed. To him the foreign mi- nisters were to be accredited, and the signatures to all treaties between France and foreign states were to be his execution. In a word, he joined to the important act of observing the two more active heads of the government, the e"clat, vain though it might be, of external pomp. In him was to glitter personified all the luxury of an elegant, polished, and magnificent people. The grand elector himself, was he to be an elected or an hereditary potentate] In the last case he must be in every sense a king, and thus would monarchy be re-established in France. This, whe- ther or not he wished it, Sieyes would not dare openly to propose. He, therefore, assigned to the senate, the most impartial of the public bodies in the government, the choice of that supreme magis- trate, who was himself thus elevated that he might be as impartial as possible in his selection of the two heads whom he was to appoint. A last and most extraordinary provision finished this complex labour. The senate, which had the power of abrogating any unconstitutional act or law of the government, received, besides, the power to deprive the grand elector of his functions by nominating him a senator in despite of his own will. This Sieyes denominated " absorption." The senate had the power to do the same thing in respect of any citizen, of whom the talents might cause a jealousy in the republic. Thus there was given to the citizen, that had been reduced to forcible inactivity by absorbing him into the senate, the penalty of the importance, of the rich idleness, of the members of a body, which could not act by itself, but still was able, by its veto, to stop every kind of action in others. In this singular but profound idea, who does not recognise the image in design, obscure and indis- tinct as it may be, of a representative monarchy I The legislative body, the senate, the grand elector, are but commons, peers, and king ; all reposing upon a sort of universal suffrage, but with such precautions, that democracy, aristocracy, and royalty, admitted into the constitution, are ad- mitted, then annulled by its operation. The lists of notability, from which the deliberative bodies and the executive functionaries are to be chosen, are universal suffrage, nullified, because they formed a circle of candidateship so extensive that the obligation to choose in such a circle is an absolute power of election conferred upon the government and senate. The dumb legislative body, listening to the discussion of the law, and not discussing the law itself, having by its side the tribunate, that is to oppose it in the council of state, is but a species of house of commons cut in two, one-half having the vote, the other half the debate, and both annulled by the separation ; for the first is exposed to the chance of falling asleep amid its own silence, the second to waste itself in a useless agitation of the question. The senate nominating itself and all the deliberative bodies, appointing the head of the executive power, and, when necessary, absorbing him into its bosom ; the senate being able to do this, but deprived of active functions, taking no part in making a law, but bound to cancel it if unconstitutional ; the senate reduced thus to a sort of inaction, that it may be more disinterested, and solely animated with the idea of conservatism, this senate is but a clever exaggerated imitation of an aristo- cratical peerage, taking little part in the progress of affairs, stopping it sometimes by its rcto, and receiving into its bosom those who, after a wild career, come voluntarily to repose in the midst of a grave, influential, and honoured body of men. The grand elector, lastly, is no more than royalty reduced to the inactive, but considerable office, of choosing the chief actors in the government ; it is royalty, but with wonderful precautions against its origin and duration, since it issued from the senatorial urn, into which, upon occasions, it may be returned. In a word, this universal suffrage, this legislative body, this tribunate, this senate, this grand elector, thus constituted, weakened, neutralized the one by the other, attested a pro- digious labour of the human mind, to unite in one constitution all the known forms of government, only to annul them all afterwards by the energy of its precautions. It must be admitted that representative mon- 1-rnn T - v >. ..,. c;.v2,c> Th e plan communicated Dec!' constitu^on ' CONSTITUTION OF THE YEAR VIII. to the legislative com- 21 archy, with less trouble and effort, by trusting more to human nature, has procured for two cen- turies a lively liberty, not subversive, for one of the first nations in the world. Simple and natural in its means, the British constitution admits of royalty, aristocracy, and democracy ; and these being admitted, leaves them to act freely, imposing upon them no other condition than to act in unison with the common will. It does not limit the king to such and such an act ; it does not advance him by election to swallow him up afterwards ; it does not interdict to the peerage its active functions, nor does it deprive of speech the elective assembly ; it does not grant universal suffrage to aunul it by rendering it indirect ; it permits royalty and aris- tocracy to take their natural hereditary course ; it admits of a king, and of a succession in the peer- age, but it leaves the nation, in return, the care of selecting directly, according to its own taste and the feelings of the day, an assembly, that, master of the power of giving or refusing to royalty the means of governing, obliges it to take for ministers the men who possess the public confidence. All that the legislator Sieyes sought was here almost infallibly accomplished. Royalty and aristocracy do 110 more than he wished them to do ; they are merely the moderators of a too rapid progress ; the elective assembly, full of the feeling of the country, but restrained by the other two powers, in reality chooses the heads of the government, car- ries them into their post, maintains them there, or overturns them, if they cease to respond to its sentiments. Here is a simple, true constitution, because it is the product of nature and time ; and not, like that of Sieyes, the clever artificial work of a mind disgusted at monarchy from the reign of the later Bourbons, and fearful of a republican government from ten years of storms. But supposing a period more calm, and imagining the constitution of Sieyes to be put quickly into practice at a time when a powerful hand, such as that of Bonaparte, was not wanted, and therefore did not overrule all other motives ; supposing that enormous notability established, the senate freely giving out from its own body the other governing bodies and the head of the state, what would then happen 1 Before long the nation would get to feel little interest in the renewal of the lists, which could very inefficiently express its sentiments ; the lists would become nearly permanent ; the senate would have chosen from them the state bodies, and the grand elector, and naming the chief of the executive power,being able at any moment to remove him, would keep him in dependence : the senate would be every thing it would bo wliat ? the aristocracy of Venice, with its book of gold, its weak and pompous doge, every year bade to marry the Adriatic a curious sight, and worthy of being con- templated ! Sieyes, with an elevated and deeply reflective mind, sincerely attached to his country's freedom, had, in ten years, run round the entire circle of political agitation, of terror, and disgust, which led most of the republics of the middle ages, and that of Venice, the more celebrated of them, to the golden book and the nominal chief. He had at last arrived at the Venetian aristocracy, consti- tuted for the advantage of the men of the revo- lution, as it gave for ten years to those, who had exercised political functions since 1789, the privi- lege and right of being upon the lists of notability ; and he proposed to keep for himself, and the three or four of the more noted individuals of the day, the power of making, for the first time, all the bodies that were to exorcise the state govern- ment. An aristocracy is not to be made off-hand; des- potism alone is to bo improvised. The tortured social state could only find ease in the arms of a powerful man. Every thing was admired, and every thing admitted in this excellent constitution, every thing except the grand elector, so richly endowed and so idle in his post. The grand elec- tor's place was supplied by one sufficiently energetic and active in Bonaparte; and by a single change this constitution was doomed, without any participation in the result on the part of its author, to lead to the imperial despotism, that, with a conservative senate and a dumb legislative body, we saw govern France for fifteen years in a glorious but despotic manner. When Sieyes, with great effort on his part, had drawn these combinations from the profound of his mind, where they had long lain buried, he ex- plained them to his friend M. Boulay de la Meurthe, who wrote them down, and to members of the two legislative commissions; they communi- cated them to others around. The two legislative commissions were divided into sections, and in each of the two there was a constitutional section. It was to these sections in union that Sieyes, when he had become master of his idea, explained his system. It seized upon every mind by its novelty, its singularity, and the infinite art of its combi- nations. In the first place, the interests of the auditors of Sieyes were fully met ; for he had, as will be seen, adopted a transitory disposition of things which was in every respect necessary. With the object of preserving the revolution, by keeping in power those who had been its actors, he proposed a resolution, much resembling that by which the national convention had perpetuated itself hi the two councils of the ancients and of the five hundred. He desired that all who since 1789 had exercised public functions, who had been members of different assemblies, legislative, departmental, or municipal, should have a right to inscription on the lists of notability ; and that these lists should not be made up for ten years. Further, that Sieyes, Roger-Ducos, and Bonaparte, were to nominate for the first time the various members of the state bodies, in virtue of the right which they attached to themselves of framing the new constitution. This was a bold but requisite provision, because it must be remarked, that all the new men who would come in through the elections, moved by the spirit of reaction then abroad, and yielding to the com- mon inclination to blame that which they had not done themselves, would openly exhibit hatred both against the acts and actors in the revolution, even when they partook of the same sentiments. Sieyes, therefore, had taken these precautions against the necessity for any renewal of the 18th Fructidor, by thus for ten years keeping the working of his constitution in hands of which he was sure. The ideas of Sieyes were thus suited to every interest. Every body thought that he was himself certain of being a senator, legislator, counsellor of state, or 2-2 Praises bestowed upon Sit-yes' constitution. THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. Disapprobation of Bonaparte. 1799. Dec. of the tribunate, for to these duties liberal appoint- ments were attached. Leaving out interest, the combinations appeared to be skilful as well as new. Men enthusiasti- cally imbued with admiration for military genius, discover an enthusiasm with equal readiness for what seems to arise from profound mental re- seai-ch. Sieyes had his enthusiasts as well as Bonaparte his. The lists of notability appeared the happiest of all combinations, and yet more from the state of discredit into which the elective sys- tem had fallen since the elections in which the " Clichyens 5 " were returned, who were excluded by the revolution of Fructidor, and the Jacobins excluded by means of the " scissions " (sections of Paris). The counsel of state and the tribunate pleading pro and con before a dumb legislative body, were amusing to those whose minds were fatigued with discussions and pressingly in need of repose. The senate, placed so high and so useful for the preservation of unity, getting rid by ostra- cism of eminent or dangerous citizens, all these things found admirers. The grand elector alone appeared a singularity to the men who, not having reflected much on the English constitution, could not comprehend a ma- gistracy reduced to the single function of choosing the superior agents of the government. They found he possessed too little power for a king, and too much state for the simple president of a re- public. Nobody in fact could find the place adapted for him who should fill it, or in other words, for Bonaparte. The elector had too much of the appearance without the reality of power : too much of appearance, because it was necessary to avoid awaking public apprehension, and rendering too manifest the return to monarchy : not enough of real power, because an authority almost without limit was required by the man who had the task of re-organizing France. Some persons, incapable of comprehending the impartiality of a profound thinker, who never dreamed but of making his ideas accord with themselves, not binding up the objects of a constitution in personal interest, some affirmed that the grand elector could never have been invented to suit a character so active as Bonaparte, and that therefore Sieyes had invented it for himself, and that he reserved the place of war consul for his young colleague. This was a malevolent and pitiful conjecture. Sieyes joined to great strength of thought a remarkable acute- ness of observation, and he too well judged his own personal position and that of the conqueror of Italy, to believe that he was able to be, himself, this species of elective king, and Bonaparte simply his minister. He had obeyed merely the spirit of his system. Other interpreters, less malevo- lent, believed in their turn, that Sieyes destined the place of grand elector for Bonaparte, with the view of tying up his hands, and above all making him speedily become"absorbed " in the conservative senate. The friends of freedom did not on that account regard him with ill will. The partisans of Bonaparte were unable to speak of the charac- ter of the grand elector without crying out loudly against it, and among them was Lucien Bonaparte, who by turns served or opposed the head of his The members of the club of that name. family, as he was prompted by caprice, without discretion or measure ; playing at one time the brother, passionately anxious for the aggrandise- ment of his relative, at another the citizen who was opposed to all despotism. Lucien declaimed violently against the project of Sieyes. He de- clared loudly that a president of the republic was wanted, with a council of state, and very little besides ; that the country was tired of vain talkers, and wanted men of action alone. These incon- siderate speeches were of a nature to produce a very ill effect ; but happily few attached any im- portance to the sayings of Lucien. Bonaparte, in the midst of incessant toils, ga- thered up the rumours circulated around respect- ing the project of Sieyes. He had left his colleague to proceed, according to a species of division of their duties between them, declining to interfere with the constitutional scheme, until the time should arrive when it came to be definitively considered, no doubt promising himself to adapt his taste to the place it assigned him. Nevertheless the ru- mours which reached him from every side at length irritated him, and he expressed his dis- pleasure with his ordinary warmth of language, a warmth to be lamented, but of which he was not always the master. The disapprobation he expressed at some parts of the constitutional scheme reached its author, who was much hurt by it. He was afraid, in fact, that having lost, by the ignorance and violence of past times, the occasion of being the legislator of France, he should again lose it through the despotic humour of the colleague he had given himself in effecting the 18th Brumaire. Although destitute of intrigue, and inactive, he made himself busy to gain over one by one the members of the two legislative sections. In the interim, his friend Boulay de la Meurthe, and two intimate friends of Bonaparte, Rcederer and Talleyrand, were desirous of maintaining harmony between men of such importance, and employed themselves actively to bring about ac- cord. Boulay de la Meurthe had accepted the office of transcriber of the ideas of Sieyes, and he was thus become the confidant of his scheme. Rosderer was one of the old constituent assembly, a man of sound mind, a true politician after the fashion of the eighteenth century, fond of reasoning on the organization of social bodies, and of framing projects of constitutional government, joined to very decided monarchical predilections. Talley- rand, capable of comprehending and judging of minds the most opposite to his own, was equally affected by the genius of young Bonaparte for action, and the speculative mind of the philosophic Sieyes, and he had a great regard for both. He besides believed that each had need of the other; all three strove with sincerity to promote the success of the new government. All three, there- fore, employed themselves in reconciling the soldier and the legislator. An interview was planned to take place at the residence of Bonaparte, in pre- sence of Rcederer and Talleyrand. It took place, but did not at first succeed. Bonaparte was under the influence of the reports which had been made to him of a grand elector, inactive, and liable to be absorbed by the senate. Sieves was full of the ex- pressions attributed to Bonaparte, condemning his 1799. Dec. Vexatious differences 1). 'tween Sieyes and Bonaparte. CONSTITUTION OF THE YEAR VIII. The legislative sections determine to make the 23 constitution. plan expressions no doubt greatly exaggerated. They parted in bad humour, using bitter language. Sieves, who required calmness to express his ideas, did not explain them in the lucid manner and order of delivery which was most adapted to his purpose. Bonaparte was, on the other side, im- patient and blunt. They inveighed against each other, and parted very nearly enemies. The mediators were alarmed, and now set to work to remedy the ill success of this interview. They told Sieyes that he ought to have had patience in the discussion, and taken some trouble to con- vince Bonaparte, and above all, made him some concessions. They told Bonaparte that he wanted in the matter more caution thai i he had shown ; that without the support of Sieyes and his authority in the Council of the Ancients, ho would not have obtained, on the 18th of Bramaire, the decree which had placed the power in his hand ; that Sieyes, as a political character, had an amazing influence over the public feeling ; and that in case of a conflict between the legislator and himself, a great many persons would prononnce themselves for the legislator, as the representative of the revo- lution, and of liberty endangered by the man of the sword. The first moment was not favourable for effecting a reconciliation ; it was better to wait a little. Boulay de la Meurthe and Roederer planned fresh schemes for the fulfilment of the executive power, that might remove the two difficulties upon which Bonaparte appeared inflexible the inaction of the grand elector, and the menace of ostracism suspended over his head. They first imagined a consul with two colleagues for his as- sistance ; then a grand elector, as Sieyfcs wished, who named the peace and war-consuls, assisted at their deliberations, and decided between them. This was not enough for Bonaparte's satisfaction, and it was too much for Sieyes, whose plan was thus reversed. Every time it was proposed to Sieyes to make the chief of the executive par- ticipate in the government, he said, " That is the old monarchy which you would give, I won't have it." He would hear of no royalty but that of England without the title of king, immobility, and hereditary succession. This was not the thing; and Sieyes, with that promptitude of discourage- ment attached to speculative minds when they encounter obstacles which are placed in their way by the very course of things, Sieyes said he would give up the whole, quit Paris for the country, and leave young Bonaparte with his buddiug despotism bare to every eye. ** He means to go," said Bo- naparte ; " let him ; I will go and get a constitution planned by Roederer, propose it to the two legis- lative sections, and satisfy public opinion that demands the settlement of the question." Here he deceived himself by speaking in such a mode, for it was yet too early to exhibit his drawn sword to France ; he would have met on every side an unforeseen resistance. Nevertheless these two men, who, despite their instinctive repugnance, had agreed for a moment, in order to consummate the 18th Brumaire, were still designed to meet again to draw up a constitu- tion. The reports in circulation had awakened the legislative commission ; they knew well what doc- trine Lucien held, what a decided tone Bonaparte took in the matter, and what a disposition Sieyes showed to abandon the whole affair. They said with reason that, after all, the care of framing a constitution belonged to them definitively, being specially confided to them ; that they would accom- plish their duty, prepare the plan, present it to the consuls, and force them to agree, after bringing about a rational compromise between them. They set to work in consequence ; and many of the members composing their body having had communicated to them the ideas of Sieyes, they adopted his scheme as the basis of their plan. The man who works upon a system, feels that the adoption of all his ideas save one, occasions him as much vexation as if the entire system were re- jected. The adoption of the scheme of Sieyes for a basis of the new constitution was still an import- ant point gained by himself. He grew a little calmer, and Bonaparte, seeing the commissions proceed right earnestly and resolutely, became sensibly milder in his expressions upon the sub- ject. The moment was seized in order to attempt a reconciliation between the two great men. A second interview took place between Bona- parte and Sieyes, in presence of Boulay de la Meurthe, Roederer, and Talleyrand. This time the two interlocutors were less passionate and more disposed to mutual comprehension. In place of annoying each other by dwelling upon those points on which they disagreed, and placing their differences foremost, they tried , on the contrary, to reconcile their differences, and to show where they agreed in their opinions. Sieyes was moderate and full of tact ; Bonaparte displayed his great good sense, and his ordinary originality of mind. The subjects of the conversation were the state of France, views of the former constitutions, and the precautions to be taken in a new constitution, to prevent the recurrence of the disorders of the past. On all this they could not fail to be in accord. They retired satisfied, and promised, as soon as the sections had completed their labours, to unite their own, and adopt or modify the propositions, and to abandon, as soon as possible, the provisionary sys- tem, which began to displease the public. Sieyes had from that time the certain knowledge, that ex- cept the grand elector, and some attributes attached to the conservative senate, his constitution would be adopted in entirety. In the ten first days of Frimaire, or between the 20th of November and the first of December, the sections had finished their project. Bonaparte then summoned them to his house, to a meeting at which all the consuls were present. Some of the mem- bers of the sections thought this proceeding was little in conformity with their dignity ; and yet, having determined to overlook many difficulties, and to concede much to a man who was so neces- sary to them, they attended on the occasion. The sittings immediately commenced. Sieyes was in the first instance requested to disclose his plan, as that was the foundation of what had been done by the commissions. He did this with a strength of thought and of language, which pro- duced a strong impression on his hearers. " All this is very fine and very profound," said Bonaparte, "yet there are some points which deserve very serious discussion. Let us proceed in an orderly manner, and treat each part of the project conse- cutively, first choosing a secretary. Citizen Dauuou, 24 state powen designated. TRIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. Discussions on the constitution. 1799. Dec. take the pen !" Thus it happened that M. Daunou became the drawer up of the new constitution. The work was continued for numerous sittings, and the resolutions following were immediately agreed upon. The lists of notability, communal, departmental, and national, were adopted successively. They were but too well fitted to suit the apprehensions of the moment and the ideas of Bonaparte, by negativing the popular influence, from rendering it indirect. Two accessory resolutions, one agreeable to, the other contrary to the ideas of Sieyes, were agreed upon. It was settled that the functionaries of all kinds should not be necessarily chosen from the lists of notability, save when the constitution should have nominally designated them. No objection was made to the selection of the deliberative bodies, of the consuls, ministers, judges, and administrators, from the lists, but that of the generals and ambassadors seemed to be going too far. This point was con- ceded. The second provision or resolution bore re- lation, not to the main ground of the plan, but to the necessity of its adaptation to the present state of things. In place of putting off the reformation of the lists for ten years, it was postponed to the year ix. or only for one year, and it was resolved that all the members of the great bodies of the state should, by an act of constituent power, be nominated at once, and that those who were so nominated should have the right of being entered upon the lists. The revision of the lists, instead of being annual, was to be triennial. The organization of the great powers came next to be considered. Sieyes' maxim, " that confidence ought to come from below, power from above," pre- vailed every way. On high was placed the right to elect, but with the obligation to choose from the lists of notability. The senate of Sieyes was adopted, as well as the legislative body placed between the council of state and the tribunate. The senate was to choose from the lists of notability ; first the se- nators themselves, next the members of the legis- lative body, of the tribunate, of the court of cas- sation, of the commission of accounts, since called the court of accounts, and finally the head or heads of the executive power. The senate was to nomi- nate the members of its own body only upon the presentation of three candidates, presented respec- tively by the consuls, the legislative body, and the tribunate ; this was a considerable limitation of its attributes. The council of state, being a part of the executive power, was to be nominated by that power. Independently of possessing the right to make the more important nominations, the senate received the supreme attribute of abrogating any laws or acts of the government that might be deemed un- constitutional. In no respect was it to have any part in making the laws, nor could its members exercise any active function. The duty of the legislative body, silent, agreeably to the plan of Sieyes, was to listen to the opposing arguments of the three councillors of state and three tribunes, and to vote afterwards, without debate, upon the propositions of the government. The tribunate alone had the faculty of publicly discussing the laws, but it could only vote for the purpose of deciding what opinion it should sustain before the legislative body. In case of its nega- tive vote, it could not prevent the passing of a law if it were adopted by the legislature. The tribunate had not the power of initiating any legal propo- sition, but might express its desires, and receive petitions, which it might transmit to the different authorities with which they were more imme- diately connected. The members of the senate were to be eighty, in place of one hundred, as Sieyes had at first designed ; and sixty were to be immediately nominated, the other twenty in the course of the following ten years. The legislative body was to consist of three hundred members, and the tribunate of one hundred. The senators were to have a fixed salary of 25,000 f. each, the legislators 10,000f., and the members of the tri- bunate ] 5,000 f. Thus far, therefore, the original plan of Sieyes might be considered, with a trifling difference, respecting the more limited power of the senate, as having been adopted. In the or- ganization of the executive power, the alteration made was, on the other hand, very considerable. Here was the great point upon which Bonaparte was inflexible. Sieyes, who Was fully prepared to meet the rejection of this part of his plan, was asked nevertheless to state his ideas. He in con- sequence proposed the institution of the grand elector. Nobody, it must be granted, not even Bonaparte himself, had at that time sufficiently reflected on the nomination and organization of the head or chief power in a free government, to understand the depth of the character conceived, or to discover the analogy it exhibited with the king at the head of the English monarchy. Bona- parte, had he considered and perfectly understood the character thus conceived, would on no account have assented to its adoption, from motives easy to be comprehended, and altogether personal. He criticised the grand elector severely. He said of his wealthy idleness as all kings would say, only with less wit than he spoke and less ground to go upon, because amid an upturned society to be organized, sanguinary factions to subdue, and a world to con- quer, the wish was perhaps excusable to have the exercise of his talents and genius unfettered. But if in those first days of the consulate he were right when he had reason to wish his genius unfettered, there being so much to be done ; afterwards, the sublime victim of St. Helena, he might have re- gretted the power that was thus conceded to him to exercise it so freely. More confined in the employment of his faculties, he might not have accomplished such great things ; but he would have been prevented from attempting those of so much extravagance, and his sceptre and his sword would have most probably rested in his own glorious hands until his death. " Your grand elector," he said to Sieyes, " is a lazy king, and the time for lazy kings has passed away. What man of spirit and intellect would submit to a do- nothing life for 6,000,000 f. and a habitation in the Tuileries? What, nominate those who act, and do nothing oneself ! It is inadmissible. Then you imagine by this means that your grand elector will be prevented from interfering in the government. Were I your grand elector, I would be bound, not- withstanding, to do all you desired me not to do. I would say to the consuls of peace and war, ' If you do not choose such a person, or if you do not perform such or such an act, I will turn you out !' I would soon oblige them to act :vs I desired. I 1799. Dec. First consul agreed upon. His func- tion*. CONSTITUTION OF THE YEAR VIII. ArroniHssamcnt divi- sions. Council of state. would make myself master again only by going roundabout to my end." Bonaparte, with his wonted sagacity, penetrated here iuto the truth, discovering as he did that the grand elector was not an absolute nonentity, since, as supreme magistrate, he had the power and means, at certain times, of appearing again all potent upon the arena, where party was squabbling for power, and of taking it from one that he might confer it upon another. This lofty surveil- lance of English royalty over the administration was not adapted for the ardour of young Bonaparte ; he may be pardoned for it, because this was neither the time nor place for constitutional royalty. Thus the grand elector fell under the sarcasm of the young general, and under a power still greater than that of his sarcasm ; that of the existing necessity. A dictatorship was at the time really required, and the authority to be con- ferred upon a grand elector was very inadequate to meet the necessities of the moment. Another part of the plan of Sieves was objected to by Bonaparte in the most decided manner, be- cause he regarded it as a snare, it was the power of " absorption " attached to the senate, not only as it affected the grand elector, but every citizen of note, whose greatness might give offence. Bonaparte would not consent that, after years of toil and service, any one should have the right to bury him alive in the senate, and for a pension of 25,000 f. constrain him to idleness. This point was conceded, and the executive power was organized in the following manner : The adoption of a first consul was decided upon, and he was to be accompanied by two others; in order to conceal somewhat the great power of the first functionary. The first consul had the direct and only nomination of the members of the republican administration generally ; of the mem- bers of the councils of departments and munici- palities ; of the official persons since called pre- fects, sub-prefects, municipal agents, and the like. He nominated all the officers in the naval and military services, the counsellors of state, and the ambassadors, the judges, civil and criminal, except the justices of the peace, and those of the court of cassation. He could not remove the judges who were once appointed ; their immutability being substituted in place of election as a guarantee for their independence. Besides the nomination of the administrative offices, judicial and military, the first consul held the full and entire government of the country, the direction of war and of diplomacy ; he signed treaties, without prejudice to their discussion and adoption by the legislative body, according to the legal forms. In his various functions he was to be aided by the other two consuls, who had only a consulting voice in the matter, but who could place their opinions in a register kept for the pur- pose of recording their deliberations. The other two consuls were clearly appointed for the purpose of masking the enormous authority confided to Bonaparte. This authority, given for a term of considerable duration, it was possible might become perpetual after the ten years, for which the consul was at first elected, should expire ; the consuls, too, were all perpetually re-eligible. One vestige alone of the " absorption" of Sieves remained. The first consul, on vacating office, from whatever cause, became a senator in plenitude, and was thenceforward excluded from public functions. The other two consuls, not having attained the highest office in the state, were free to accept, on retiring, this well-endowed neutralizing appointment, but they were not obliged to become senators against their inclinations. The allowance made to the first consul was 500,000 f.-, and to each of the others 150,000 f. They were all to reside in the Tuileries, and to have a consular guard. Such were the principal provisions of the cele- brated constitution of the year vm. Thus Sieyes saw the attributes of the senate abridged, and a powerful head of the state substituted for his idle grand elector, a circumstance which a few years afterwards caused his constitution, in place of leading to the rule of an aristocracy, to become the instrument of a despotism. No declaration of rights distinguished this consti- tution, although by means of certain provisions of a general character it guaranteed individual liberty, the inviolability of the citizen's house, the respon- sibility of ministers, and that of their inferior agents, except, without prejudice in the case of the last, to the previous approbation of the council of state. The constitution stipulated that a law in any department, under extraordinary circum- stances, might suspend the constitution in its re- gard, a proceeding now denominated " putting in a state of siege." Pensions were secured to the widows and children of soldiers ; and finally, by a species of return to ideas for a long tune pro- scribed, it acknowledged as a principle that national rewards might be accorded to those who had ren- dered eminent services to their country. This was the dawn of the institution once so celebrated the legion of honour. The constitution of Sieyes contained two strong and excellent ideas, which have been both retained in our administration, namely, the division of the country into arrondissesients, and the council of state. Sieyes was thus the author of all the boundaries adopted in France for the purposes of the govern- ment. He had before invented the departmental divisions, and obtained their adoption ; and on the present occasion he desired that the cantonal governments, which were no less in number than five thousand, should be superseded by those of arrondissements, which, less numerous, were far more convenient, from being intermediate between the commune and the department. No more than the principle of this change was to be traced in the constitution ; but it was agreed that before long a reform of the existing law in the administrative principle of France should take place upon this point, and terminate the anarchy of the communes, of which a painful picture has been given above. A tribunal of the first instance was to be fixed in each arrondissement, and for a certain number of united departments there was to be a tribunal of appeal. The second of Sieyes' creations, and belonging to himself exclusively, was the council of state, a deliberative body attached to the executive power, preparing the laws, and sustaining them before the legislature, adding to them the regu- Bonaparte first consul. 26 Cambaceres and Lebrun second consuls. THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. Constitutional arrange- ments submitted to the public. 1799. Dec. lation* that must accompany the laws, and render- ing t\tj> laws administrative. It is the most practi- cal of his inventions, and with the preceding just described, must survive the present and pass into future times. To the honour of this legislator, be it spoken, time has swept away all the ephemeral revolutionary constitutions, and the only fragments of those constitutions which have survived have been the work of his hands. But to settle the distribution of the new consti- tution was not enough, it was indispensable to add to it those who were to wield its powers, to seek for them in the men of the revolution, and to designate the whole in the constitutional act. It was necessary also, after completing all the dispo- sitions that have been stated, to direct attention to the selection of the individuals. Bonaparte was nominated consul for ten years. It was impossible to say that he was chosen, so forcibly did the situation indicate the person who was best fitted to fill it ; he was accepted from the hands of victory and necessity. His appointment fixed, the next thing to do was to find one for Sieves. This great personage had not much love for business, and still less for playing a secondary part. He did not feel himself inclined to become the assistant of young Bonaparte, and he in conse- quence refused to be the second consul. It wiii be seen presently what place more suitable to his cha- racter was assigned to him. Cambaceres was chosen second consul, a lawyer of eminence, who had acquired great importance among the political personages of the time by his deep knowledge, prudence, and tact. He was at that moment minister of justice. Lebrun, a distinguished writer, who was editor of the Maupeou edicts, and be- longed under the old government to the party that was disposed to reform ; attached to the cause of moderate revolutions, well versed in matters of finance, and too mild to contradict in any trouble- some degree, Lebrun was made third consul. Cambaceres was an able assistant to Bonaparte in the administration of justice, and Lebrun was equally useful in the administration of the finances, both being of essential aid to him without crossing any of his intentions. The men intended to form the new government could not have been better associated, while from these appointments all others in the organization of the executive were neces- sarily to flow. Proceeding next to the appointment of the de- liberative bodies, the part for Sieyes indicated it- self. It was written down in the constitution that the members of all the deliberative bodies were to be elected by the senate. The point now to be arranged was who should compose the senate for the first time. It was settled by a particular article of the constitution, that Sieyes and Roger-Ducos, who were about to cease from being consuls, unitedly with Cambace'res and Lebrun, who were about to become so, should nominate the absolute majority of the senate, or thirty-one members of the sixty of which it was composed. The thirty-one senators elected in this mode were afterwanls to elect by ballot the twenty-nine senators wanting to complete the total number. The senate, when completed, was to nominate the legislative body, the tribunate, and the court of cassation. By these various combinations Bonaparte found himself at the head of the executive power, while at that moment a proper delicacy wajs observed, by his exclusion from the formation of the deliberative bodies called upon to control his acts. This care was left mainly to the legislator of France, Sieyes, whose active duties then ceasing, he would receive the presidency of the senate as his retiring post. Appearances were thus preserved, and the re- spective positions of each individual conveniently arranged. It was decided that the constitution should be submitted to the national sentiment, through re- gisters opened at the mayoralties, at the offices of justices of peace, the notaries' offices, and those of the registers of the tribunals; and that till its ac- ceptance, which was not doubted, the first consul, the consuls going out of office, and the two conning in, should proceed to make the required appoint- ments, in order that, on the 1st Niv6se, the great powers of the state might be ready to put in force the new constitution. It had become absolutely needful to put a termination to the dictatorship of the provisional consuls, which began to cloud the minds of some persons, and also in order to satisfy the general impatience to see a definitive govern- ment. In fact, every body now wished to see a just and stable administrative system established, which might insure strength and unity of power without extinguishing all freedom, and under which honest and capable men of every rank and party might find the place which was their due. Those desires, it must be acknowledged, it was not impossible to gratify under the constitution of the year viu. That constitution might even have given them perfect satisfaction, but for the violence which was done to it at a later period by an extra- ordinary genius, that, favoured as it was by circum- stances, could have overturned far stronger barriers than those which the labour of Sieyes could oppose to it, or any other which it was possible to imagine for such a purpose. This constitution, decreed in the night of the 12th and 13th of December (21 and 22 Frimaire), was promulgated on the 15th of December, 1799 (24 Frimaire, year viu.), to the high satisfaction of its framers and of the public. It charmed the minds of all by the novelty of the conceptions and the artificial skill it displayed. Every body began to feel confidence in it, and in those who were about to carry it into execution. It was preceded by the following preamble : "CITIZENS! A constitution is now presented to you. It terminates the uncertainty caused by the provisional government in regard to foreign rela- tions, and the interior and military situation of the republic. " It places in the institutions which it establishes the first magistrates, of whom the devotedness has appeared necessary to its activity. " The counstitution is founded on the three principles of representative government, on the sacred rights of property, equality, and liberty. " The powers which it establishes will be strong and durable, as they must be, in order to guarantee the rights of the citizens and the interests of the state. " Citizens ! The revolution is fixed to the prin- ciples which commenced it; IT is FINISHED!" Men like Bonaparte and Sieyes proclaiming in 17W. Dec. Establishment of the constitution. GOVERNMENT OF THE INTERIOR. Honour conferred on Sieyes. 1800, "the revolution is finished!" What a sin- gular proof does it disclose of the illusions of the human mind ! Still it must be acknowledged that something was finished, and that was anarchy. The pleasure felt by all those who had a hand in that work, when they saw it terminated, was in- deed great. It is true some of the ideas of Sieyes had been rejected, yet nearly his entire constitu- tion had been adopted. Without absolute power, such as Solon, Lycurgus, or Mahomet possessed, a power that in our times of distrust, by which every individual prestige is destroyed, no man can obtain without absolute power, it was hardly pos- sible to infuse a larger part of any individual con- ception into the constitution of a great people. If the victor of Marengo had not subsequently made two very considerable changes in it, the imperial hereditary accession, in addition, and the excision of the tribunate, such as it was, this constitution would have had a career which might not have ended in the triumph of absolute power. Sieyes having put the sword which had over- thrown the directory into the hands of Bonaparte, and having framed a constitution, was about to deliver France to the activity of the young consul, and, as far as he was himself concerned, to retire into that meditative state of idleness, which he preferred before the turmoil and stir of business The new first consul, wishing to confer on the legislator of France some testimonial of the na- tional gratitude, the consideration of the estate of Crosne as a gift, was, by his proposition, laid before the legislative commissions for their sanc- tion. The estate was decreed, and the an- nouncement of the gift made to Sieyes with noble expressions of the national gratitude. Sieyes ex- pressed high gratification, for, despite incontestable probity, he had a regard for the enjoyments of fortune, and he could not but be affected with the delicate and dignified way in which this national recompense was awarded to him. Every thing was now disposed so as to put the constitution in the full vigour of activity during the first days of January, 1800 (Niv6se, year vin.), that is, in the first days of the year which was about to close that wonderful century. BOOK II. GOVERNMENT OF THE INTERIOR, THE CONSULAR GOVERNMENT DEFINITIVELY ESTABLISHED. COMPOSITION OF THE SENATE, OF THE LEGISLATIVE BODY, OF THE TKIEUNATE, AND OF THE COUNCIL OF STATE. MANIFESTO OF THE FIRST CONSUL TO THE EUROPEAN POWERS. PUBLIC TENDERS OF PEACE TO ENGLAND AND AUSTRIA. PROCLAMATIONS ADDRESSED TO LA VENDEE. OPENING OF THE FIRST SESSION. RISING OPPOSITION IN THE TRIBUNATE. SPEECHES OF THE TRIBUNES DUVEYR1ER AND BENJAMIN CONSTANT. A CONSIDERABLE MAJORITY APPROVES THE MEASURES OF THE CONSULS. NUMEROUS LAWS FOR THE ORGANIZATION OF PUBLIC BODIES. INSTITUTION OF PREFECTURES AND SUBPRE- FECTURES. CREATION OF TRIBUNALS OF THE FIRST INSTANCE, AND OF APPEAL. CLOSE OF THE LIST OF EMI- GRANTS. ESTABLISHMENT OF THE RIGHT OF MAKING WILLS AND DISPOSING OF PROPERTY. LAW OF INCOME AND EXPENDITURE. BANK OF FRANCE. SEQUEL TO THE NEGOTIATIONS WITH EUROPE. REFUSAL OF ENGLAND TO LISTEN TO NEGOTIATIONS FOR PEACE. WARM DISCUSSION ON THE SUBJECT IN THE BRITISH PARLIAMENT. AUSTRIA REFUSES IN MILDER BUT NOT LESS POSITIVE TERMS THAN THOSE OF ENGLAND. NECESSITY FOR RECOMMENCING HOSTILITIES. UN ABLE TO SUCCEED WITH THE BELLIGERENT POWERS IN BRINGING ABOUT PEACE, THE FIRST CONSUL ENDEAVOURS TO ATTACH PRUSSIA TO FRANCE, AND EXPLAINS iflS VIEWS TO HER IN A FRANK MANNER. HE APPLIES HIMSELF TO TERMINATE THE WAR IN LA VENDEE BEFORE OPENING THE CAMPAIGN OF 1800. SITUATION OF PARTIES IN LA VENDEE. CONDUCT OF THE ABBE BERNIER. PEACE OF MONTFAUCON. AUTICHAMP, CltATILLON, BOURMONT, AND GEORGES CADOUDAL, PROCEED TO PARIS AND SEE THE FIRST CONSUL. DF, FROTTE IS SHOT. FINAL SUBMISSION OP LA VENDEE. TROOPS PUT IN MOTION FOR THE FRONTIERS. THE SESSION OF THE YEAR Till. CLOSES IN TRANQUILLITY. REGULATIONS OF THE POLICE IN REGARD TO THE PRESS. FUNERAL CEREMONY ON THE OCCASION OF THE DEATH OF WASHINGTON. THE FIRST CONSUL TAKES UP HIS RESIDENCE IN THE PALACE OF THE TUILERIES. THE day appointed for the entrance of the consuls upon their functions, and for the first sitting of the conservative senate, was the 4th Niv6se in the year VHI., or the 25th of December, 1790. It being necessary to organize both the executive power and the senate before they could perform their duties, numerous public appointments neces- sarily took place before that day. Bonaparte, whose business it was to nominate the agents of the executive power, and Sieyes, Roger- Ducos, Cambace'res, and Lebrun, entrusted with the choice of the members of the senate, that in its own turn had to select the members of the legis- lative body and of the tribunate, were besieged with solicitations from all quarters. Appointments were sought to the senate, to the legislative body, the tribunate, the council of state, and the pre- fecture. It must be confessed that such offices, yielding no slight emoluments, all to be filled up at one time, were well calculated to tempt ambition. Many of the more ardent revolutionists, enemies of the 18th Brumaire, were already become won- derfully reconciled to the new state of things. Waverers, of whom there were many that took this side as soon as success had declared itself, began to express their opinions aloud. An expres- sion at that time current, as particular expressions at such times are certain to be, depicted perfectly the state of the public mind. " We must show ourselves," was the phrase in every mouth. " We must prove, that far from desiring to create ob- stacles in the way of the new government, we are Ambitious candidates for 28 office. Censures of the Moniteur. THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. Composition of the dif- ferent orders. 17D9. Dec. ready to assist in overcoming those which encircle it ;" thus signifiying how much they wished to attract towards themselves the attention of the five personages who possessed the power of nomi- nation to the good things of the state. There were some among the applicants who, in order to obtain an appointment to the tribunate, promised their devoted support to the consular government, having already resolved to direct towards it the most annoying opposition. When in a revolution the flame of the passions begins to lower itself, cupidity succeeds to vio- lence, and fear is suddenly metamorphosed into disgust. If actions of the greatest virtue, and if heroic deeds, did not cover by their brightness the melancholy details, above all, if the great and beneficial results which nations obtain from social revolutions, did not compensate the present evil by the immensity of the future good, it would become us to turn away our eyes from the spectacle they offer to mankind. They are the trials to which providence submits human society in order to effect its 'regeneration. It is, therefore, our duty to study with care, profitably if we can, the picture, repulsive and sublime by turns, which is thus pre- sented to us. The impulse at this moment imparted to the ambition of all classes was, it appears, very con- siderable indeed, fully strong enough to attract the attention of the writers of the day, and to afford a subject for their animadversion. The Moniteur, not at that moment the official organ, though in a few days afterwards, on the 7th Niv6se, it became such, stigmatized the baseness of the period. It said : " Since the constitution has created a num- ber of well-paid places, how people bestir them- selves ! How many unfamiliar visages are now fonvard in showing themselves ! How many for- gotten newly-revived names bustle about amid the dust of the revolution ! How many fierce republi- cans of the year vn. humiliate themselves, that they may be heard by the man of power, who can bestow places upon them ! How many Bruti are begging appointments 1 How many men of small abilities are extolled to the skies ! What trivial services are exaggerated ! What stains of blood are concealed from view ! This astonishing shift of scenery has happened in an instant. It is to be hoped that the hero of liberty, who has been hitherto marked in the revolution by the benefits which he has conferred, will see these manoeuvres with the disgust they must excite in every lofty mind, and that he will not tolerate, in a crowd of obscure or disreputable persons, their envelope- rnent in the rays of his glory *." But let the good bo separated from the evil ; let us not believe that such a picture was exhibited by the whcie nation. If there were persons who de- graded themselves, there were others who, without self-degradation, came forward, waiting not un- worthily the appeal that the government would make to their zeal and intelligence. If Benjamin Constant, for instance, sought admission to the tribunate, with great earnestness and assurances of devotion to the family of Bonaparte, De Tracy, Volney, Monge, Carnot, Ginguene", and Ducis made no such applications, but left to the free will 1 Moniteur, 3d Xivose. of the constituent power the act of including them or not in that extended nomination of public functionaries. On the 24th of December, being the 3rd Nivose, the new consuls met for the purpose of proceeding to the composition of the council of state, so that the installation of the government might be effected on the day following, or on the 25th of December, the 4th Niv6se. Sieyes, Roger-Ducos, the retiring consuls, with Cambace'res and Lebruu, who were about to enter upon office, proceeded to the Luxem- bourg in order to nominate the half, and an addi- tional one of the members of the senate, so as to constitute the majority ; this being done, it enabled the portion of the senate elected to complete itself on the morrow, and proceed to the composition of the great deliberative bodies of the state. The council of state was divided into five sections, namely, those of the finances, of civil and criminal legislation, of war, of the marine, and of the interior. Each section had a councillor of state for president, and over all the first consul presided in person, or when absent, one of his colleagues, CambaceVes or Lebrun, took his place. Each of the sections was to draw up the pro- posed bills and the regulations which might belong to matters within its own competency. These bills and regulations were to be afterwards discussed in a general assembly of the united sections. The council of state was charged besides with the de- cision of all the points in those administrations which might chance to be contested, and also was to settle questions of competency, whether between the civil tribunals and the administration, or among the tribunals themselves. These are the self-same powers which it exercises at the present time, but it then possessed alone the privilege of drawing up the laws, as well as the exclusive right to dis- cuss them before the legislative body ; and still further, the great questions that arose iu the government were communicated to it, sometimes even to the extent of those involving foreign policy, of which instances will appear hereafter. At this time, therefore, the council of state was not merely a council of administration, but, in the full sense of the term, a council of government. Some of the members of the council were charged in the different departments of the ministry with any special services to which more than common importance was attributed, or that required more than extraordinary attention. These departments were those of public instruction, of the national domains, the treasury, the colonies, and the public works. The counsellors of state, to whom the charge was committed of the management of these different branches, were placed under the control of the proper minister. . The members of the council of state were well paid, receiving each 25,000 f. annually, and their president 35,000 f. These sums, it should be recollected, were more considerable at that time than they would be now. The post of a councillor of state was an object of higher ambition than a senatorial seat, because, with emoluments equal to those of senators, and with equal public consideration, the members of that body were admitted as fully as the ministers themselves to the management of the most im- portant public business. The principal members of the council of state 1799. Dec. Election of the senate. GOVERNMENT OF THE INTERIOR. Legislative body and tri- bunate elected. Places of meeting. were, for the section or department of war : Brune, Lacue'e, and Marmont ; for that of the marine, De Champagny, Ganteaume, and Fleurieu ; that of finances, Defermon, Duchatel, Dufresne; of justice, Boulay de la Meurthe, Berlier, Re"al ; of the in- terior, Rcederer, Cretet, Chaptal, Regnault St. Jean d'Angely, Fourcroy. The five presidents were: Brune, Ganteaume, Defermon, Boulay dela Menrthe, and Roederer. It would not have been possible to select individuals of greater note, nor possessing more various and sterling talents. Here it is but just to remark, that the French revolution showed itself wonderfully prolific in men of ability of every kind; and that if no attention were paid to exclusions dictated by party feeling, either on one side or on the other, there were the means at hand for composing a most able, varied, and it may be said, glorious government, as far as con- cerned individual talent. The course pursued by the first consul was marked by this feeling. M. Devaisnes, censured loudly for his royalism, but professionally a man of practical knowledge in finance, was appointed to office, in which he proved himself afterwards highly useful. On the same day, December 24th, or 3d Nivose, Sieyes, Roger-Ducos, Cambace"res, and Lebrun, met together in order to nominate the twenty-nine senators, who, with the consuls about to vacate office, should number in all thirty-one of the mem- bers. As may be supposed, the list had been drawn out previously, and contained names of high repute, such as those of Berthollet, Laplace, who had recently quitted the ministry of the in- terior, Monge, Tracy, Volney, Cabanis, Kellerman, Garat, Lace"pede, and Ducis, but the last declined accepting the honour. Upon the morrow, December 25th, or Nivdse 4th, the council of state met for the first time, the con- suls being present, accompanied by the ministers. The subject of their deliberations was a proposed law to settle the relations of the great bodies of the state towards each other. Various projected measures to be presented to the legislative body in the approaching session were also agreed upon. On the other hand, the senate met at the palace of the Luxembourg, and elected twenty-nine new members, which carried up the senators to sixty. It will be remembered that this number was after- wnrds to be increased to eighty. In this additional list were comprehended very distinguished names: Lagrange, Darcet, Francois de Neufchateau, Dau- benton, Bougainville, Perre'gaux, the banker, and De Choiseul-Praslin, an individual of very ancient family. The formation of the legislative body and of the tribunate by the senate, occupied several successive days. The men of the most moderate character were preferred for the legislative body, out of those who had been so distinguished in the con- stituent and legislative assemblies, in the national convention, and council of five hundred. Care was taken to choose from these different bodies men who had been regardless of making a stir in public affairs, who bad not sought popularity too much, and had shown little inclination to be distin- guished ; those of a contrary character were re- served for the tribunate. In consequence, the names that were enrolled in the legislative body were not remarkable for brilliancy, so that it would be a difficult task to point out in the three hundred of which that body consisted, only two or three names known at the present time. The modest and brave Latour d'Auvergne was, it is true, one of them, a hero worthy of antiquity for his virtues, his actions, and his noble end. The hundred individuals of the tribunate were selected with the natural object of affording active, stirring minds, emulous of renown, an opportunity for the display of their abilities, an object after- wards bitterly repented of. Some of their names may be faded a little in remembrance, but are not forgotten at the present time. Among them were Che"nier, Andrieux, ChauvelSn, Stanislas de Girar- din, Benjamin Constant, Daunou, Riouffe, Be"ren- ger, Ganilh, Ginguen, Laromiguiere, Jean-Baptiste Say, and others. As soon as the formation of these bodies had terminated, the places for their meeting were as- signed. The Tuileries was reserved for the three consuls ; the Luxembourg was appropriated to the senate ; the Palais Bourbon to the legislative body, and the Palais Royale to the tribunate. The Tuileries was rendered habitable at the expense of some hundred thousand francs; and while this was achieving, the consuls lived in the Petit- Luxembourg. Since his return from Egypt, Bonaparte had al- ready effected a good deal. He had overthrown the directory, and had acquired an authority infe- rior in appearance, but in reality superior to a con- stitutional monarchy. But scarcely was he in pos- session of this authority before it was necessary for him to legitimatize its possession by useful labours, and the performance of great actions. He had still a vast deal to accomplish ; his first essays at re-organization were but as a single effort, beyond doubt fortunate so far, but they left the nation still in great disorder, suffering grievously with a strait- ened treasury, misery in the armies, and the flame of civil war in La Vendee, hesitation among the neutral powers, and a relentless struggle determined upon on the part of the belligerent powers. Never- theless, the possession of authority, coming after his first labours, and preceding the mighty task which he felt a confidence of very soon performing, gratified his ambitious spirit. In order to celebrate his installation in the govern- ment, he performed a series of acts accumulated with that design, in which deep policy may be per- ceived, heartfelt pleasure, and that generous feel- ing which satisfaction affords to every benevolent and sensitive mind. These were made known in succession, between the 25th of December, the 4th of Nivdse, the day of the installation of the consular government, and January 1st, 1800, the llth Nivose, the day of the opening of the first legislative session. A judgment of the council of state in the first place, under date of the 2?th December, or 6th Ni- vdse, decreed that the laws which excluded the relations of emigrants and the former nobility from public functions, should die as a thing of course, be- cause they were contrary to the principles of the new constitution. A number of persons attached to the revolution- ary party, had been sentenced, as already stated, to transportation or imprisonment, in consequence of a step taken under too little reflection, shortly after Directorial victims re- 30 called. The priests' oath modified. TRIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. Obsequies of Pius V[. Revolutionary festival abolished. Dec. the 18th Brumaire. The transportation and im- prisonment had been before changed to a surveil- lance of the high or political police. A decree was now issued, dated the 5th of Nivdse, for the termi- nation even of this surveillance. Having made re- paration thus far to those who were so near expe- riencing his severity, the first consul fulfilled a more important and necessary act of justice to- wards the victims of the directory and the govern- ments which preceded it. These unfortunate per- sons, who had been sent off without a trial, were permitted to return home under the obligation of residing in the places assigned to them. This permis- sion included individuals proscribed at every period, but in a particular manner those banished on the 18th Fructidor. Boissy d'Auglas, Dumolard, and Pastoret, thus recalled, were authorized to reside, the first at Annonay, the second at Grenoble, and the third at Dijon. Carnot, Portalis, Quatremere- Quincey, Simeon, Villaret-Joyeuse, Barbe'-Marbois, and Barrere, were also recalled, and ordered to re- side in Paris. The care to place in the capital, which was not their native place, such men as Carnot, Simeon, and Portalis, plainly showed that the government had its eyes upon them, and intended to make use of their talents. Other measures were taken relative to public worship and its free exercise. On the 28th of De- cember, or 7th Nivose, it was decreed that the buildings devoted to the ceremonies of religion should continue to be set apart for that purpose, or should be again appropriated to that use, in case they had not been restored already to the minis- ters of the various persuasions. Some of the local authorities having a desire to obstruct the Catholic worship, forbade the opening of the churches ex- cept upon the " decadi" in place of the Sunday. The consuls reversed these decisions of the munici- palities, and in addition to the free use of the re- ligious edifices, they added the right of opening them on the days customary in the particular form of worship to which they belonged. They did not yet venture to interdict the ceremonies of the Theo- philanthropists, which took place in the churches on particular days of the week, and were regarded by the Catholics as profanations. The form of the civil engagement required from the priesthood or clergy, was modified by the con- suls. They had been compelled before to take an especial oath to a civil constitution of the priesthood, an oath which obliged them to acknowledge a le- gislation at variance, as some of them contended, with the laws of their church. It was conceived best to impose upon them only a simple assevera- tion of obedience to the state, which could not raise a just scruple in any of them, unless indeed they refused that " obedience to Csesar," which is so ri- gorously commanded by the Catholic religion. This was afterwards styled, " the promise," as contra- distinguished from " the oath," and it recalled to their religious duties, almost immediately, a great number of the priesthood. Those who had taken the oath before, styled the " sworn 1 ," were already reconciled with the government ; the others who were styled "unsworn 2 ," were now in their turn received into favour. To measures similar with the preceding, the Assermentes. 1 Non-assermenttis. first consul added one which in a peculiar manner attached to himself, because it recalled things which were in some sort personal to him. ~ He had nego- ciated with the defunct Pope Pius VI., and signed the treaty of Tolentino, at the gates of Rome. From the year 1797> he had affected to show great regard for the head of the Catholic church, having re- ceived marked testimonies of the kindness of his holiness. Pius VI. died at Valence, hi Dauphine', but had not at that time received the rites of se- pulture. His mortal remains were deposited in a sacristy. Bonaparte, on his return from Egypt, met Cardinal Spina, at Valence, became acquainted with the circumstances, and determined to make early compensation for the unseemly neglect which had occurred. On the 30th of December, 9th Nivose, he got the consuls to join in a decree founded on the high- est considerations. The decree was as follows : " The consuls reflecting that the body of Pius VI. has been left in the city of Valence without having had granted to it the rites of sepulture : " That though this old man may have been the enemy of France for a moment, from being misled by the counsels of those who were around him in his advanced age : " That it is worthy the dignity of the French na- tion, and in conformity with its character, that re- spect should be shown to him who occupied one of the first offices upon earth : the consuls there- fore decree," &c. Then followed the provisions, ordering at the same time funeral honours to the pontiff, and that a monument should be erected as a record of the dignity and rank of the deceased. This demonstration of respect for the mortal remains of the Pope, produced, perhaps, a greater effect than the most humane measures would have done, because it struck the public mind habituated to different spectacles. A vast number of persons flocked in consequence to Valence, to take advan- tage of the authority thus given for a manifestation of a religious character. The catalogue of the revolutionary festivals con- tained one conceived in the worst possible spirit, celebrated on the 21st of January 3 . Whatever might be the opinions of men of every party in re- gard to the tragical event which connected itself with that date, it was a barbarous festival, kept to commemorate a sanguinary catastrophe. Bonaparte had exhibited a great dislike to attend it in the time of the directory, not that by doing so he had any notion of paying honours to the royalty he was afterwards to establish for his own advantage, but because he was fond of publicly defying similar feelings in which he did not share. Now become the head of the government, he obtained the deci- sion of the legislative commission, that there should be no more than two festivals, that of the first day of the revolution kept on the 14th of July, and the festival of the 1st Vende'miaire, the anniversary of the first day of the republic. " These days," said he, " are imperishable in the minds of the citizens ; they have been greeted by every Frenchman with unanimous transports, and arouse no recollections tending to carry divisions among the friends of the republic." Death of Louis XVI. Dec. Marshal Augereau sent to Holland. Vendean truce. GOVERNMENT OF THE INTERIOR. Army sent to La Vendee. Consular proclamation. It required all the power and resolution of the chief of the new government to hazard a series of measures, which, though in themselves just, moral, and politic, appeared to hot-headed persons but as so mauy precursory acts to a counter-revolution. But, in effecting all this, Bonaparte took care to give himself the foremost example of the forgetful- ness of political animosity, to awaken at times with e"clat that sentiment of glory by which he led cap- tive the men of that time, and snatched them away from the base fury of party feeling. Thus he ap- pointed general Augereau, who had offended him by his conduct on the 18th Brumaire, to the com- mand of the army in Holland. * Show," he wrote him in a letter, which was published, " show in all the acts that your command will give you occasion to perform, that you are above all these wretched party dissensions, the recoil of which has been so unfortunate for ten years past in tearing France to pieces. * * * * * If circumstances force me to take the field in person, you may rest assured that I shall not leave you in Holland, and that I can never forget the glorious day of Castiglione." At the same time he instituted the presentation of " arms of honour," the prelude to the establish- ment of the legion of honour. French democracy, after having displayed a horror of personal dis- tinctions, could barely tolerate at that time rewards for military exploits. In consequence of an article of the constitution, the first consul caused a reso- lution to be passed, that for every distinguished ac- tion, a musket of honour should be presented to the infantry soldier, a carabine of honour to the ca- valry, grenades of honour to the artillery, and swords of honour to the officers of all ranks. The first consul carried out this resolution, which was decreed on the 25th December, or 4th Nivose, by positive acts. On the following day he presented a sword to general St. Cyr, for a brilliant affair by which that general distinguished himself in the Apennines ; " Receive," said he, " as a testimony of my satisfaction, a handsome sabre, which you will wear on the day of battle. Make known to the soldiers under your command, that I am satisfied with them, and that I hope to be so still more." By these acts that announced the taking posses- sion of power, he marked the character of his government, and showed his determination to be above the feelings of party. The first consul added immediately to these, proceedings of still more im- portance in regard to La Vende'e and the foreign powers of Europe. A truce had been signed with the Vende'ans, conferences had commenced, and yet peace had not been concluded. Bonaparte had left no doubt in the minds of the royalists, who had applied to him with the view of discovering his intentions as to whether he would be satisfied with being the restorer and supporter of the house of Bourbon. He had undeceived them by showing himself irre- vocably attached to the cause of the revolution, and this frankness in his declarations had not tended to aid the work of conciliation which had been begun. The Vende"an chiefs hesitated, being placed between the fear inspired by the rigour of the new government and the instances of the emigrants in London, authorized by Pitt to promise them arms, money, and men. It was on a new insurrection in La Vende'e that England particularly calculated. She proposed making upon this part of our coast an attempt similar to that which she had attempted in Hol- land. The ill success of the last attempt did not discourage her, and she requested, with great earnestness, of the emperor Paul, the assistance of his troops, though without much chance of ob- taining it. Prussia, which began to testify a species of interest for the consular government, never ceased repeating to the aid-de-camp Duroc, and M. Otto, charge" d'affaires of France, " Finish the business of La Vende'e, for it is there that you will receive the most serious blow." Bonaparte was well aware of this. Independ- ently of the mischief that was done by La Vende'e occupying a part of the military force of the republic, a civil war seemed in his view not only a misfortune, but a species of dishonour to the government, as it bespoke a deplorable internal condition of the country. He had therefore taken the most effectual measures to put an end to it. He had recalled from Holland a part of the army, that under general Brune had beaten the Anglo- Russians, and had joined to that force a part of the garrison of Paris, which he was able to di- minish considerably without any apprehension, supplying the diminution by the influence of his own name. By this means he was able to assemble in the west an army of 60,000 men. General Brune was placed at its head, with the recommen- dation to retain as his principal lieutenant the wise and conciliatory He'douville, who held all the threads of the uegociation with the royalists. The name of general Brune was a reply to those who counted upon a new Anglo-Russian descent. But before striking the decisive blow, if the con- ditions of the pacification were not finally accepted, the first consul believed it his duty to address the Vende'ans on the very day of his installation. On the 29th of December, 8th Nivose, he ad- dressed to the departments of the west a decree of the consuls, accompanied by a proclamation, to the following effect : " An impious war threatens for the second time to set the western departments on fire. The duty of the supreme magistrates of the republic is to hinder the spreading of the conflagration, and to extinguish it in its focus ; but they are unwilling to use force until they have exhausted the means of persuasion and justice." Distinguishing between guilty men sold to the foreigner, for ever irreclaimable with the republic, and the misguided who had joined in the civil war to resist cruel persecution, the first consul recalled every thing which was likely to gain the confidence of the last, and bring them beneath the rule of the new government; such as the revocation of the law of the hostages, the restoration of the churches to the priesthood, the liberty granted to all for the observation of Sunday ; he promised, lastly, a full and entire amnesty to those who submitted, and delivered up the arms furnished them by England. He added, that the most severe measures would be taken against those who persisted in the insur- rection. He announced the suspension of the constitution; in other words, the employment of extraordinary jurisdictions in those places where insurgent bodies continued to show themselves in arms. " The government," said the conclusion of Foreign relations of France. 32 Mission of envoys to foreign TRIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. states. Letter of Bonaparte to George III. 1799. Dec. the proclamation of the consuls, " will pardon, it will show favour to the repentant ; its forgiveness shall be entire and absolute ; but it will strike down whoever after this proclamation shall dare to resist the national sovereignty. But no, we will acknowledge only the sentiment the love of our country. The ministers of a God of peace will be the first means of conciliation and concord. Let them speak to all hearts the language which they learned in the school of their Master ; let them visit those temples which are re-opened for them to offer the sacrifice which shall expiate the crimes of the war and the blood which has been spilled !" This manifesto, having at its back a formidable force, was calculated to produce an effect, above all, as proceeding from a new government, a per- fect stranger to the faults and excesses which had served as the pretext for civil war. Having acted thus hi regard to the enemy within, the first consul next addressed himself to the enemy without the frontiers, fully resolved to take a formal step towards the only two powers that had not shown any sign of desiring amicable relations with France, but, on the contrary, were obstinately bent upon war, namely, Austria and Great Britain. Prussia, it has been seen, had received Duroc in a very flattering manner, and daily gave fresh testi- monies of her sympathy with the first consul. Satis- fied as to her existing relations with his government, Prussia wished him success against anarchy, suc- cess against the forces of Austria. As to offering herself as a mediatrix, she still nourished the thought, but dreaded to take the first step, think- ing that peace was yet far off, and unwilling too soon to engage herself in a course of which it was impossible to foresee the tendency. In fact, who- ever at that time observed closely the state of things in Europe, might easily see that to unloose the ties between England and Austria would re- quire another campaign. The court of Madrid had seen with equal satisfaction the accession of Bonaparte to the consulship, since with him the alliance between Spain and France seemed both more honourable, as well as more profitable. But the horizon was not completely clear. Bonaparte resolved, therefore, on the same day that the con- stitution invested him officially with new authority, to address himself to those powers who were de- cided enemies, to offer them peace, and thus to place them in the wrong if they refused it. After that he could appeal to arms, with the opinion of the world upon his side. First he gave orders to all the agents of France, already appointed, who had not quitted Paris, because it was deemed right they should be ac- credited from the government definitively consti- tuted ; General Beurnonville to set out for Berlin, M. Alquier for Madrid, M. de Se"monville for the Hague, M. Bourgoing for Copenhagen. General Beurnonville was ordered to compliment adroitly the king of Prussia, by requesting from him a bust of the great Frederick to place in the grand gal- lery of Diana in the Tnileries. The first consul was at this time arranging there the busts of the great characters whom he held in particular admi- ration. M. Alquier, in bearing to Madrid the kindest assurances to the king and queen, was charged to add to them a present for the Prince of Peace, who exercised considerable influence in the court, although he was no more minister. The present consisted of some beautiful arms from the manufactory of Versailles, then noted all over Europe for the perfection to which the manu- facture there was carried. This being done, the first consul took the step he had projected in regard to the two courts of Eng- land and Austria. It is the general custom to dis- guise such proceedings by previously making side- long overtures, in order to spare the humiliation of a refusal. Bonaparte, in communicating thus with England and Austria, intended to address the whole world ; for which purpose he wanted a serious overture out of the way of accustomed forms, addressed to the hearts of the sovereigns themselves, and thus either to flatter or embarrass them. In consequence, he did not transmit a note to Lord Grenville or M. Thugut, but he wrote two letters directly to the king of England and the emperor of Germany, which the ministers at those courts were requested to present to their respective sovereigns. That addressed to the king of England was as follows : Paris, 5th Nivose, year vni. (Dec. 26, 1799.) " Sire, Called by the desire of the French nation to fill the chief magistracy of the republic, I think it fitting, on entering upon office, to make a direct communication on the subject to your majesty. " Is the war which, for eight years, has ravaged the four quarters of the globe, to be eternal ? Is there, then, no mode of coming to an under- standing ? " How can the two most enlightened nations of Europe, stronger and more powerful than their safety and independence require, sacrifice to ideas of vain greatness the blessings of commerce, in- ternal prosperity, and domestic happiness ? How can they help feeling that peace is the first of wants, as well as of glories ? "These sentiments cannot be strange to your majesty, who governs a free nation, with the sole aim to render it happy. " In this overture, your majesty will discover only my sincere desire to contribute efficaciously, for the second time, to the general pacification by a prompt procedure, entirely confidential, and di- vested of those forms which, necessary perhaps for disguising the dependence of weak states, be- tray only hi strong states a mutual desire to deceive each other. " France, England, by the abuse of their strength, may, for a long time to come, to the misfortune of all nations, retard its exhaustion ; but I dare as- sert, the lot of all civilized nations is attached to the termination of a war which lias thrown the whole world into a conflagration. (Signed) " BONAPARTE, " First consul of the French republic." On the same day the first consul addressed the following letter to the emperor of Germany : "On returning to Europe, after an absence of eighteen months, I find the war rekindled between the French republic and your majesty. " The French nation calls me to occupy the chief magistracy. Jan jaa. . GOVERNMENT OF THE INTERIOR. The opposition in the tribu- nate.-Madan.e de Stael 33 and the nrst consul. " A stranger to every feeling of vain-glory, the first of my wishes is to stop the effusion of the blood that is about to be spilt. Every thing pro- claims that, in the next campaign, numerous and ably directed armies will triple the number of the victims hitherto sacrificed, by the resumption of hostilities. The known character of your majesty leaves me no doubt respecting the wish of your heart. If that wish alone is consulted, I perceive a possibility of reconciling the interests of the two nations. " In the communications which I have pre- viously had with your majesty, you have personally testified some regard for me. 1 request you to consider the step which I am taking as proceeding from a wish to make a return for it, and to con- vince you more and more of the very high respect which I entertain for your majesty. (Signed) " BONAPARTE, " First consul of the French republic." Such was the mode in which the first consul announced his accession, both to the domestic parties that divided France, and to the foreign cabinets which coalesced against her. In offering to make peace, he was prepared to secure it by con- quest if it could not be got by amicable negociation. His intention was to employ the winter in making a short and decisive campaign in La Vende'e, that in the following spring he might be able to send over the Rhine and Alps the troops which at the termination of the war at home might become dis- posable for foreign operations. While awaiting the result of these proceedings, lie opened the legislative session on the 1st of January, 1800, the llth Nivose, year vm., end he determined to devote this session of four months to perfect the administrative organization of France, which had scarcely commenced, by means of whole- some legislation. He substituted his brother Lucien for the scientific La Place, in the ministry of the interior ; and M. Abrial for the ministry of justice, in place of Cambace"res, now become consul. The new minister of justice was an upright man, much attached to business. On the 1st of January, 1800, the senate, legis- lative body, and tribunate assembled. The senate elected Sieyes president ; the legislative body Per- rin des Vosges ; the tribunate Daunou. Nume- rous outlines of proposed laws were immediately laid before the legislative body. A sort of anxiety was exhibited to witness the new meeting of these deliberative assemblages. The people were tired of agitation, and desired repose ; they possessed no more that strong love for politi- cal oratory which they showed in 1789, when Mirabeau, Barnave, Maury, and Cazales, opened a new career of glory that of the tribune. The animosity against the bar was universal, and men of action alone found favour, who were capable of procuring victory and peace for the country. Still the public had not yet decided upon the establish- ment of absolute power, nor did they desire that all freedom, all rational discussion, should cease. If the power of action which a new legislator had planted in the constitution by creating the first consul, and by choosing for the magistracy the greatest captain of the age, if this power were in- compatible with freedom, they were ready to sacri- fice it ; although every body would have been pleased at the reconciliation of freedom with sub- stantial strength, if it were possible. Those who thought so were not the vulgar agitators and obsti- nate republicans ; for there were eminent men, of enlightened, sober minds, who would have felt pain to see the revolution belie itself so soon, and so completely. Meanwhile the neutral party inquired with curiosity, the well-disposed with real anxiety, how the tribunate, the only body which had the power of speaking, would conduct itself towards the government, and how the government would bear an opposition, if any resulted from it. When a reaction comes on, however general it may be, it cannot carry every one along with it; while it irritates as well as annoys those whom it does not. Che"nier, Andrieux, Ginguene", Daunou, and Benjamin Constant, who had seats in the tribunate, De Tracy, Volney, and Cabanis, who were members of the senate, while they all de- plored the crimes of the reign of terror, were not disposed to think that the French revolu- tion was wrong in its conduct towards its adver- saries. The monarchical and religious doctrines, which were beginning to show themselves once more, nettled them, the more especially from the pre- cipitancy and want of moderation with which this return to ancient ideas was coming into action ; and they felt a discontent which they were at no pains to conceal. The majority of them were sincere. Strongly attached to the revolution, they desired to preserve it nearly entire, save its blood and rapine ; and they by no means desired what they thought they could discover in the secret intentions of the first consul. To stop the per- secution of the priests was well ; but to favour them to the extent of restoring them to their altars, was too much for these faithful followers of the philosophy of the eighteenth century. Again, it was good to give greater unity and strength to the government ; but to push the wish for this to the extent of re-establishing a monarchical unity for the advantage of a soldier, was also, in their eyes, going too far. For the rest, as always hap- pens, their motives were different. If these were the opinions of Che"nier, Ginguene", Daunou, Tracy, and Cabanis, such could not be those of M. Constant, who certainly, in the society of the Necker family, in which he lived, had imbibed neither an aversion to religion, or a special taste for the French revolution. Placed in the tribunate at the solicitation of his friends, he became in a few days the most active and talented of the new opposition, a course to which he was inclined by the natural bent of his disposition towards raillery, but more especially by the discontent of the Necker family, of which he himself partook. Ma- dame de Stael, who then represented in herself alone that illustrious family, had been a great admirer of Bonaparte ; nor would it have cost him much trouble to make a conquest of one, whose imagination was sensibly alive to all that was great ; but, though endowed by nature with a mind as noble as his genius, by some expression not too delicate, he had offended a woman, whose pretensions beyond her sex displeased him ; and liad thus excited in her heart an angry feeling D First sittings of the tribunate. Its effects. THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. First sittings of the tribunate Its effects. 1SOO. Jan. against himself, which, even if not formidable, might be annoying. Every fault, however slight, has its fruits; and the first consul was soon to reap the fruits of his, in meeting with an inconvenient opposition from those who were placed under the attractive influence of Madame de Stael of this number was Benjamin Constant. The tribunate had been located at the Palais Royal, certainly without any intention, and solely from necessity ; the Tuileries had been restored to the head of the government ; the Luxembourg, in former times belonging to the council of ancients, had naturally been given to the senate ; the Palais Bourbon was set aside for the legislative body ; there remained then only the Palais Royal to be ap- propriated to the tribunate. Such was the disposition in certain minds to take in bad part, acts the most simple, that they complained bitterly of a wish to depreciate the tribunate, by placing it in this gene- ral haunt of disorder and debauchery. In the dis- cussion of some formal matters on the 2nd and 3rd of January, one of the members, M. Duveyrier, suddenly rose to speak, and complained of certain measures, which he said were injurious to many proprietors of establishments that had for years existed in the Palais Royal. Now the interest of these claimants was but trifling, and more than this, they had already been indemnified; neverthe- less, the tribune, Duveyrier, eagerly inveighed against this pretended injustice, and said that the national representatives ought not to be rendered unpopular by being made responsible for acts of severity committed in their name. Then passing on to the choice of situation, " I am not," he said, " of the number of those who are offended that it has been chosen to place the tribunate here, in a place usually the theatre of disorders and excesses of every kind. I see in this neither danger nor dis- respect to us; on the contrary, I give its due to the patriotic intention of those who desire that the tribunes of the people should hold their sittings in the midst of the people ; that the defenders of li- berty should be placed in a place which witnessed the first triumph of that liberty. I thank them that they have given us to see from this very tri- bune, the spot where the noble-spirited Camille Desmoulins gave the signal for our glorious move- ment, and displayed the national cockade, that most glorious of our trophies and our rallying sign for ever ; that cockade which has given birth to so many prodigies, to which so many heroes owe the honour of their arms, and which we never will lay down but with life. I thank them that we can see that spot, where, if we wished to raise an idol of fifteen days, we could call to mind the fall of an idol of fifteen centuries." So rough an attack naturally created a lively sensation in the assembly, and quickly after in Paris. The tribunate passed on to the order of the day, the majority of the members disapproving uch a aally, but its effect was not thereby lessened. It was a bad beginning for an assembly, which, if desirous of preserving liberty from the dangers by which it was menaced in so general a re- action, needed to use much circumspection, both in regard to the readiness of many minds to take alarm, and to the head of a government easily irritated. A scene like this could not fail of consequences. The first consul was much enraged, and the humble worshippers of his rising power were loud in their exclamations. Stanislas, de Girardin, de Chauvelin, and some others, who, without wishing to surrender their independence to the new govern- ment, yet disapproved of so ill-timed an opposition, spoke at the next sitting; and, to correct the effect of the discourse of the tribune Duveyrier, they pro- posed the taking a kind of oath to the constitution. " Before we proceed to our labours," said M. de Girardin, " 1 think that we ought to give the nation some striking evidence of our attachment to the constitution. I do not propose to you that we swear to maintain it; I know, and so do you, the inutility of oaths; but I believe it to be useful that, when we assume duties, a promise should be given to perform them faithfully. Let us follow the ex- ample of the conservative senate, and of the council of state : in so doing, we shall confirm the opinion that should be entertained of us, and silence the malevolence which now gives out that the tribunate makes an organized resistance to the government. No ! the tribunal is no focus of opposition, it is a focus of intelligence. No ! it is not the wish of the tri- bunate to be ever attacking the measures of the government; on the contrary, it is ready to wel- come with pleasure whatever may be conformable to the interests of the public. The tribunate will apply itself rather to calm passions than seek to irritate them. Its moderation will place it .between all the factions, to reunite and break them up. It was the moderate party who brought about the 18th Brumaire, that day of safety and of glory which preserved France from domestic anarchy and foreign invasion. Let us return, in order to save the republic, to the principles on which it was founded ; but let us avoid a return to those excesses which have too often brought it to the verge of destruction. If we can see from this place the spot where, for the first time, was displayed the signal of liberty, from hence, too, we can equally see the place in which were conceived those crimes which have fixed the stain of blood on our Revolution. Myself, I am far from applauding the choice that has been made of this palace for our sittings; on the contrary, I regret it; but, for the rest, the me- mories which it recalls are happily far away from us. The time has gone by for vehement harangues or appeals to the seditious groups of the Palais Royal ; nevertheless, if a certain style of declamation can no longer destroy us, it may retard our pro- gress towards prosperity ; resounding from this tribunate through Paris, from Paris through all Europe, it may awaken alarm, and furnish a pretext for delaying that peace which we all de- sire Peace," added M. de Girardin, " peace should occupy our minds unceasingly; and when this great interest shall be always present, we shall not permit ourselves any more expressions such as the other day escaped one of our colleagues, and which none of us took up, since there was no one to apply them to, for we know of no idol in France." The speaker concluded by moving, that each tri- bune should make a declaration as follows : " I promise to perform with fidelity the functions which the constitution has assigned to me." This proposition was adopted ; and M. Duveyrier, annoyed at the scandal his speech had excited, The government plan for the Speeches of M. Con- method of discussing the GOVERNMENT OF THE INTERIOR. "tat and the tri- laws. Attacks on the plan. bune Kiouffe. 35 attempted to excuse it, expressing his wish to be the first to make the declaration suggested by M. de Gi nirdin. All the members of the tribunate hastened to repeat it after him. The effect, then, of the first scene, was some- what remedied ; nevertheless, the first consul con- ceived an insurmountable aversion to the tribunate, which, indeed, he would have equally felt for any free assembly using and abusing the liberty of speech : he caused, therefore, the insertion in the Moniteur of some very bitter remarks on the tri- bunes of France and Rome. The sittings that followed were distinguished by fresh manifestations, as much to be regretted as the preceding. The first measure proposed by the government had for its object the regulation of the forms to be folio wed on the introduction, the debating, and the passing of the laws. This had been one of the subjects neglected in the constitution of the year vrii., and had been left to the legislature. In the proposed arrangement, not much regard was had to the tribunate. The plan of the government settled that the laws were to be brought in to the legislative body by three counsellors of state ; that they were to be thence communicated to the tri- bunate ; and that, on a day fixed by the govern- ment, the tribunate was to be prepared to discuss them by its three orators before the legislative body : the tribunate, however, might require a delay from the legislative body, whose duty it was to decide whether such delay should be accorded. It must be confessed, that a great slight was here shown towards the tribunate, since the government wished it to fulfil its task by a day fixed, a thing which it dared not have required of a section of the council of state or a ministerial department. No one, at this day, would venture to fix a day for a deliberative assembly so as to limit its discussion; this is a point which is left to its own understand- ing, and in case of urgency to its zeal. But the courtesies of parliament, like politeness, are the growth of usage, and could not with us precede the actual practice of representative government. From the violence of the revolution we passed almost without transition to military roughness. The com- missions which, during a month, exercised the legislative power, by their discussions with closed doors, and their carrying laws through in four and twenty hours, had fully shown the taste of the first consul, which desired to be served and satisfied at once. This may suffice to explain, though not to excuse, the otherwise singular details of the go- vernment plan. The new-born opposition in the tribunate was right, then, in combating this proposition ; but it was unfortunate, after its indecorous commence- ment, that it should have to oppose the first pro- position emanating from the consuls, as it gave rise to a notion that it was ever on the watch to attack ; while to this misfortune was added the defect of the vexatious manner of the opposition. The most violent attack came from Constant, who, in one of those witty and ironical speeches for which he was famous, demanded that the tri- bunate should have some time allowed it for an examination of what laws were submitted to it, nor be expected to go through them at a gallop. He recalled to the consideration of this subject, the memory of those " laws of urgency " which were brought in during the revolution, and which had always led to most disastrous results : he demanded why there was such an anxiety to have done with the tribunate ; why was it already considered as so hostile, that the passage of the laws through it must be cut as short as possible? " All this," added he, " is in accordance with the false idea that the tri- bunate is only a body in opposition, destined to do nothing more than unceasingly run contrary to the government ; this is what it is not, this is what it shall not be, this it is which lowers us in the opinion of the public. This false idea has stamped on every article of this bill a restless and un- reasonable impatience ; we shall have bills pre- sented to us, as it were, on the wing, in the hope that we may not catch them; they will traverse our examination like an enemy's army, to be made into laws before we can come up with them." Many such cutting reflections were in this long speech ; and it produced a sufficiently great sen- sation. Constant took great pains to maintain that the tribunate was not a body especially de- voted to contradiction, and that it only opposed when compelled to do so by the public interest ; but these protestations were delivered in a manner and a tone which gave them little credit, and ren- dered it evident that he all the while intended that systematic opposition which he took such pains to deny. The tribune Riouffe, conspicuous for his faithful and generous friendship to the proscribed Girond- ists, was one of those whom the horrors of 1793 had so powerfully affected, that they were ready to throw themselves blindly into the arms of a new government, whatever that government might do. He was, therefore, desirous of repelling the attacks of Benjamin Constant, which, in his opinion, were indecorous. "Suspicions," said he, "so injurious as those shown here yesterday, would be enough to break off all further communication in the relations be- tween man and man ; and it will be impossible for authorities, destined to live and act together, long to have intercourse with each other, if mutual respect be not regarded as a sacred duty with which they must never dispense." He went on to say that he had, as far as he was concerned, an absolute confidence in the govern- ment ; and here he undertook to deliver an eulo- gium on the first consul, which, though true, was too long, and couched hi too strong terms: "When this orator," said he, " praises Camille Desmoulins, and that, the national convention, I will not shut myself up in the silence of conspiracy ; I, too, will praise him, whom the whole world praises ; and having hitherto confined myself in this place to celebrating proscribed virtue, I will assume a boldness of a different kind, and speaking the praises of genius in the bosom of power and victory, I will con- gratulate myself on seeing at the head of the re- public the man who has obtained for the French nation the title of the Great Nation ; I will pro- claim him grand, clement, just." M. Riouffe went on to compare Bonaparte to Caesar and Hannibal ; and by these expressions of an admiration, just, but unreasonable, provoked a manifestation suf- ficiently vexatious. He was frequently interrupted by cries of " question." " I wish," replied M. Dl Speech nf M. de Chauvelin. The bills for the adrr.iuis- 36 Majorities in the tribunate THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. trative and judicial or- and legislative bodies. ganization of France. 1800. Jan. Kiouffe, " to speak of the man whom all the world admires." " Speak of the law," repeated his in- terrupters ; and he was compelled to return to the subject. Whether this lengthy and ill-timed, though sin- cere, expression of RioufFe's sentiments provoked the impatience of his interrupters, or whether the admiration he showed, was not shared in the same degree by the tribunate, the effect of this speech was by no means happy. Chauvelin en- deavoured to remove it, by a speech in favour of the bill before them. He confessed its faults, but " the circumstances," said he, "the circumstances which surround us, the condition of many of the departments, which require prompt as well as urgent measures; power- ful political considerations ; the calumny which watches our every action ; the divisions which it is pleased to find amongst us ; the pressing need of union between the powers of the state ; all call upon us to pass the bill which is brought before us." The bill was, in fact, put to the rote, and passed by a majority, which ought to have assured and tranquillized the government : a majority of fifty- four against twenty-six, decided that the orators of the tribunate should be commissioned to speak in the legislative body, in support of the proposed law. The legislative body- receired it with still greater favour, and passed it by a majority of two hundred and three against twenty-three. Nothing more could be wished, since, after all, a majority of two-thirds of the tribunate (a body whose oppo- sition decided nothing, as they did not pass the laws), and a majority of nine-tenths of the legis- lative body, the only body whose vote was decisive, ought to have satisfied the first consul and his adherents, and have inclined them, by this ex- hibition of a spirit of liberty, to look with in- dulgence on these faults of manner, which, after all, were merely a right of that same liberty. But the first consul, though he could not be seriously alarmed, seemed, nevertheless, sorely mortified, and expressed himself in no measured terms. He began to make a frequent use of the press, which though by no means partial to, he yet knew how to turn to his own advantage. He caused to be inserted in the Moniteur of the 8th of January, the 18th Nivose, a highly improper article, in which he undertook to show the little weight of this oppo- sition, and to make it appear as no part of a settled plan to run counter to the government; imputing it to that desire, in some minds, of a perfection impossible in human laws, and to a wish in others to make a noise. " Thus," added the official journal, " every thing allows us to con- clude that there does not exist in the tribunate an opposition combined and systematic ; in a word, a real opposition. But every one has his thirst for glory ; eJvery one wishes to commit his name to the hundred tongues of fame ; and some persons have yet to learn that they arrive less surely at dis- tinction by an ambition of fine speeches, than by a perseverance in duties useful, though obscure, which the public applauds and values." This manner of treating a great body of the state was by no means decorous, and evinced, on the part of the first consul, an intention to do as he pleased ; while, on the part of France, it showed an inclination to put up with it. These impressions, however, soon gave place to others. The vast labours of the government, in which the legislative body and the tribunate were i called upon to take their share, soon attracted the attention of all minds, and occupied them to the exclusion of all other considerations. The first consul caused two bills of the greatest importance to be brought into the legislative body. One had for its object the departmental and municipal ad- ministration, and became the famous law of the 28th Nivose, year vni., which established an ad- ministrative centralization in France ; the object of the other was an organization of justice, an organization which exists to the present time. To these two bills others were added on the emi- grants, whose condition it was pressing to settle ; on the right of bequeathing by will, of which all families called for the re-establishment ; on the tribunal of prizes, which it was necessary to erect from our relations with the neutral powers ; on the creation of new officers of account, who were known to be required ; and, lastly, on the receipts and expenses of the year vm. The administration of France, as we have shown above, found itself, in the year 1799, in a state of frightful disorder. There are in all countries two kinds of business to be dispatched : that of the state, which consists in recruiting, taxation, works of general utility, and the application of the laws ; that of the provinces and communes, which consists in the management of the local interests of all kinds. If a country be left to itself, that is to say, if it be not ruled by a general administration at once strong and intelligent, the first part of this business, that of the state, is not done at all ; the second meets with, in the provincial or communal interest, a principle of zeal, but of a zeal capricious, unequal, unjust, and seldom intelligent. The pro- vincial or communal administrations, assuredly, sel- dom fail in inclination to busy themselves in what concerns them particularly ; but they are extra- vagant, meddling, and always opposed to the com- mon rule. The tyrannical peculiarities of the middle age in Europe, had no other origin. From the time that the central authority withdraws itself from a country, there is no kind of disorder to which the local interests will not give themselves up, even to their own ruin. In 1789, wherever the communes enjoyed any liberty, they were in a state of bank- ruptcy; and most of the free cities of Germany, when suppressed in 1803, were completely ruined ; thus, without a strong general administration, the business of the state is not done at all, and local business is badly done. The constituent assembly and the national conven- tion, after they had successively re-modelled the administrative organization of France, arrived at a state of things which was anarchy itself. Collective administrations, at every step, perpetually delibera- ting and never acting, having at their side commis- sioners of the central government, charged to urge them, either to the dispatch of the business of the state, or the execution of the laws, but deprived of the power of acting themselves, such was the depart- mental and municipal regime on the 18th Brumaire. As to the municipal regime in particular, there had been devised a kind of cantonal municipalities, which added still further to this administrative confusion. The number of the cantonal municipalities was 1800. Jan. Ill success of the cantonal municipalities. Insti- tution of prefects, sub- GOVERNMENT OF THE INTERIOR. prefects, and mayors. Sup- pression of the cantonal mu- [\~ oicipalitiei. found to be too large, as it amounted to forty thousand ; and certainly the superintendence of such a number of small local governments, in itself sufficiently difficult at all times, became impossible for authorities constituted as they were at that time. At present, the prefects, with the assistance of the sub-prefects, are adequate to it, provided they be sufficiently assiduous. But let any one sup- pose the prefects without sub-prefects, and in their place petty deliberative assemblies, and it will be easy to see the disorder which must reign in such administrations. These forty and odd thousand communes were reduced to five thousand cantonal municipalities, composed of a re-union of several communes into one. It was thought that this uniting several communes under the same govern- ment would, besides giving them a governing power, place them nearer to the central authority, and more under its superintendence ; but it resulted in a disorder even more frightful than that to which it sought to put an end. These five thousand can- tonul municipalities were too numerous, and too far removed from the central authority, to be under its eye, and were vexatiously placed at a distance from the population they were intended to rule, without being brought sufficiently near to the go- vernment. A communal administration is made to be placed as near as possible on the spot : the ma- gistrate who takes account of the births, deaths, and marriages, who watches the police and the health of a city, who has the care of the fountains, the church, the hospital of a village, should reside in the village or the town itself; in short, live in the midst of his fellow-citizens. These cantonal muni- cipalities, then, had resulted in uselessly displacing the domestic authority, without bringing the local affairs sufficiently near for the eye of the govern- ment to observe them : add to this, (thanks to the disorder of the times,) that nothing was done properly, and it will be understood how much con- fusion was brought about by the vice of the institu- tion, added to the vice of circumstances. A last cause of disorder was added to all the others. There is not only a necessity for an ad- ministration on account of the state and the com- munes, but also of a court for judgment; since the citizens may have reason for complaint, either that their property has been encroached upon in mark- ing out a road or way, or that in rating them to llie taxes, the rating has been made unjustly, lluder the old regime, the ordinary justice', then the only restraint on the executive authority which well explains the resistance of the parlia- ments to the court the ordinary had claimed for itself authority in all cases that are called disputes with the administrative justice 7 . This was a grave inconvenience; as civil judges, from their want of knowledge on the subject, are bad dispensers of administrative justice. Our first legislators of the revolution, rightly appreciating this inconvenience, thought they could resolve the difficulty by aban- doning all administrative disputes to the petty local assemblies, to which they had handed over the administration. When we imagine, then, these collective administrations in the place of those whom wt now call prefects, sub-prefects, and mayors, G Justice ordinaire. 7 Contentieux administrative*. and charged with the duties of all these, with the jurisdiction besides of the councils of prefecture, we can form an idea of something approaching to the confusion which then reigned. Even with the spirit of order which prevails at this day, the result would be a chaos ; add to this the passions of the revolution, and what an extra chaos would ensue ! It was thus that the returns of the contributions were never completed, that the receipt of the taxes was many years in arrear, that the finances were in ruin, and the armies in misery. The recruiting alone was occasionally carried out, thanks to the passions of the revolution, which, having done the mischief, contributed in part to repair it ; for having as its principle a love, disorderly but ar- dent, of France, its greatness, and its liberty, it forcibly urged on the population to arms. It was in such a state of things that the first consul was, it may be said in truth, an envoy from Providence. His mind, simple and just, under the guidance of a character active and resolute, was formed to lead him to the right solution of these difficulties. The constitution had placed at the head of the state a legislative power and an executive power ; the executive concentered almost in a single chief, and the legislative, divided amongst many deliberative assemblies. It was only following the natural order of things, to place at each degree of the administrative scale one who should represent the executive power, specially charged to act, and at his side, to control or to furnish him with information only, not to act in his place, a small deliberative assembly, such as the council of the department, of the arrondissement, or of the commune. We have in this simple, clear, fruitful idea, the excellent administration which exists to this day in France. It was the wish of the first consul to have in each department a prefect charged, not with urging on a collective adminis- tration to despatch the business of the state, but to do it himself ; he was also to be charged with car- rying on the departmental business, but jointly with the council of the department, and with re- sources to be voted by that council. As the system of cantonal municipalities was universally condemned, and as Sieyes, the author of all the local divisions of France, had in the new con- stitution laid down the principle of the division by arrondissement, the first consul determined to employ it as a means of doing away with the can- tonal administrations. The communal adminis- tration was first of all replaced where it ought to be, that is, in the commune itself, town, or village ; and between the commune and the department, an intermediate administrative degree, that is to say, the arrondissement. Between the prefect and the mayor it was thought necessary to have the sub- prefect, charged, under the superintendence of the prefect, with the direction of a certain number of communes, sixty, eighty, or a hundred, more or less, in proportion to the importance of the depart- ment. Lastly, in the commune itself, there was to be a mayor, who was also an executive power, having at'his side a deliberative power in a mu- nicipal council, a mayor, the agent for the de- sp:itch of the business of the state, directly dependent on the general authority, an agent of the com- mune as regarded its local affairs, managing its interests in conjunction with it, under the super- Councils of the prefecture es- tablished. The nomina- tion of all the ajrents of administration, and all the ,. 38 lavished. The nomina- TRIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE, members of the local courts, w - )f is left to the first consul. Jan ' intendence, however, of the prefect and the sub- prefect, and by consequence of the state. Such is this admirable hierarchy to which France is indebted for an administration incomparable for its energy, the precision of its working, and the exactness of its accounts, and which is so excellent, that it was sufficient, in six months, as we shall soon see, to restore order in France, under the im- pulse, it is true, of the extraordinary genius of the first consul, and favoured by circumstances as ex- traordinary; for there was every where a horror of disorder, a thirsting after order, a disgust with idle babbling 8 , a taste for prompt and positive results. There remained still the question of the admi- nistrative disputes, that is to say, the administra- tive justice 9 , charged with the care, that those liable to be taxed should not be rated beyond their means; that those holding property on a river-bank or on the side of a street, should not be exposed to encroachments, and that the contractor for the works of a town or of the state might not find a judge of his contract with the commune or the government a difficult question, as the ordinary tribunals were known to be improper for dispens- ing justice of this kind. The principle of a wise division of power was again employed here with great advantage. The prefect, the sub-prefect, and the mayor, charged with the actual admi- nistration, were open to the suspicion of partiality, as if inclined to enforce their own will, for it was usually of their own acts that those seeldng justice would have to make complaint ; the councils of the department, the arrondissement, and the commune, were also properly liable to suspicion of the same kind, as their interest too often ran contrary to that of the complainant. The administration of justice is, besides, a long and continuous operation, and there was no desire to see the councils either of the department or the commune made perma- nent,since the first consul only required their attend- ance for fifteen days in the year, just time enough for them to go through their business, give their advice, and vote their expenses. On the other hand, there was need of a tribunal to sit without interruption. A special court of justice was there- fore established, a tribunal of four or five judges, having their seats by the side of the prefect, and judging conjointly with him ; a species of council of state assisting the administration of the laws by the prefect, as the council of state enlightens and supervises that of the ministers; and subject, moreover, by way of appeal, to this supreme council. These are the tribunals now called the councils of prefecture, whose equity has never been disputed. Such was the principal and communal govern- ment of France a single head, in a prefect, a sub- prefect, or mayor, for the despatch of all business ; a deliberative council, in the council of the depart- ment, of the arrondissement, or of the commune, to vote the local expenses; next, a small judicial body, placed by the side of the prefect only to carry on the administrative justice; a government entirely subordinate to the general government in all matters of state, and under its supervision and direction, but having its own proper views, in the e Bavardage. Justice administrative. management of the affairs of the departments and the communes. Order has never ceased to reign, as well as justice, during the time this excellent institution has existed among us, that is to say, for nearly half a century ; it being well understood that the expressions order and justice, like all other words of human language, have only a relative meaning, and signify that there has been in France, in the administrative department, as little of dis- order, and as little of injustice, as it is possible to hope for in a great state. It was naturally the wish of the first consul that the nomination of the prefects, sub-prefects, and mayors, should rest with the executive power ; for since they were its direct agents, they ought to be endowed with its spirit; and as regarded local mat- ters, which they had to conduct according to local views, that they should conduct them in accord- ance with the general spirit of the state. But it would not have been in due course of the nature of things for the executive to name the members of the councils of departments, of arrondissements, and of communes, whose duty it was to control the agents of administration, and to vote their expenses. The constitution led to this preten- sion, and also justified it. " Confidence must come from below," said Sieyes ; " power must come from above." According to this maxim, the nation showed its confidence by the inscription on the lists of notability ; the superior authority conf erred the power, by choosing its agents from these lists. The senate was charged with the election of all the political deliberative bodies ; but as the councils engaged in the conduct of local interests were reckoned part of the general administration of the republic, it devolved upon the executive power, according to the constitution, to nominate them by a choice from the lists of notability. By virtue, then, of the spirit as well as of the letter of the con- stitution, it devolved upon the first consul to cboose, from the lists of notability of the departments, the members of the councils of the departments; from the lists of the notability of the arrondisse- ments, the members of the councils of the arrondisse- ments ; and, lastly, from the lists of the notability of the communes, the members of the municipal councils. This power, in ordinary times excessive, was at that moment necessary. An election, in fact, for the formation of these local councils was altogether as impossible as for the formation of great political assemblies. It would only have given rise to the most dangerous agitations, to petty triumphs to the extreme parties, alternately, on one side or the other, in place of a peaceable and hopeful fusion of all moderate parties a fusion which was indispensable in thus founding a new society from the reunited fragments of the old. The judicial organization was equally well- planned. It had the double object of placing justice near those who required it, and of giving them an assurance, nevertheless, beyond the local justice, if they desired to have recourse to it, of a court of appeal, at some distance certainly, but in a high position, and possessed of enlightenment and impartiality by reason of that very height of position. Our first legislators of the revolution, from the aversion they were inspired with against parlia- ments, suppressed all the tribunals of appeal, and 1800. Jan. The tribunals of the first instance and of appeal are established. GOVERNMENT OF THE INTERIOR. Passing of the laws for the administrative and judi- 39 cial organization. placed one tribunal only in a department, to afford the first degree of jurisdiction to complainants iu the department; and a second degree of jurisdiction, a tribunal of appeal for the neighbouring depart- ments. This appeal took place, then, not from an inferior tribunal to one superior, but from one neighbouring tribunal to another. Below were the justices of the peace, the tribunal of cassation above. The single tribunal for each department being found to be too far from those seeking redress, the jurisdiction of the justices of the peace had been extended so as to dispense with the citizens having to travel too often to the chief town. There had also been created three or four hundred correctional tribunals, charged to repress small crimes. The criminal jury held its sittings at the principal town near the central tribunal. This judicial organization had very slight success in the municipal cantonments. The justices of the peace, whose jurisdiction had been extended, were not competent to the task. The justice of the first degree found itself placed too far off by residing in the chief town ; the justice of appeal had become nearly illusory ; for appeal does not hold, unless it be made to men of superior minds. The supreme courts, like the parliaments formerly, and like the royal courts of our day, numbering amongst them eminent magistrates, and about them a renowned bar, exhibit a superiority of knowledge, to which a man might be tempted to have recourse ; but no one would think of appealing from one tribunal of the first instance to another tribunal of the first instance. The tribunals of correctional police were also too numerous, and limited, moreover, to a sin- gle object. It was necessary to reform this judicial organization. The first consul, adopting the ideas of his colleague Cambaceres, to which he gave the support of his own good sense and courage, caused that organization to be adopted, which exists to this day. The limit ot the arromiissement planned for the departmental administration, offered great con- venience for the judicial administration. It pre- sented a means of establishing a primary local justice, placed sufficiently near to litigants, without interfering with the recourse to tribunals of appeal placed far from it, and much higher. There was established, therefore, a tribunal of the first in- stance for the arrondissement, forming the first stop of jurisdiction ; next, without the dread of seeming to re-establish the old parliaments, it was resolved to establish a tribunal of appeal. One for each department would be too many in number, too little for the importance and elevation of the jurisdiction. Twenty-nine were established, which gave them nearly the importance of the old parlia- ments ; and they were placed in spots which had formerly enjoyed the presence of those supreme courts. There was an advantage in restoring them to places which had been thus deprived : they were the old depositories of judicial traditions, the ruins of which deserved to be collected. The bars of Aix, of Dijon, of Toulouse, of Bordeaux, of Rennes, and of Paris, were the heartlis of science and of talent which it was necessary once more to kindle. The tribunals of the first instance, already es- tablished in each arrondissement, were charged, at the same time, with the correctional police ; a plan which, while it doubled their usefulness, placed in the arrondissement the administration of civil justice, and that of the repressive in the first degree. The criminal justice was always to be confided to a jury, and have its seat only in the chief town of the department, by means of judges coming from the tribunals of appeal, whose oftice it was to direct the jury ; in a word, to hold assizes. This part it took some time to complete. In accordance with these arrangements, it be- came necessary to reduce within more restricted limits the department known as the justice of the peace ; but, as it was impossible to do all at once, the law for the remodelling of these courts was postponed until the following session. The wish of the legislature, however, was to preserve, while it improved, the paternal spirit of a system, so especially popular, so expeditious, and so cheap. As the crown and coping-stone of this edifice of justice, there was maintained, with some modifications, and a restraining jurisdiction over all the magistrates, the tribunal of cassation, one of the finest institutions of the French revo- lution; a tribunal, whose scope is not the judging a third time what the tribunals of the first instance and of appeal have already twice given their judgments upon, but which, putting on one side the facts of the case, interposes only when a doubt has been raised in the meaning of the law, de- termines that meaning by precedents, and thus adds to the unity of the text as emanating from the legislature, a unity of interpretation as issuing from the supreme jurisdiction, and so common to the whole country. It is, therefore, from this year 1800, a year so fruitful in events, that we date our judicial organi- zation ; since which time it has consisted of nearly two thousand justices of the peace 1 , a magistracy for the people, rendering justice, at a small expense, to the poor ; of nearly three hundred tribunals of the first instance, one for each arrondissement, that administer civil and correctional 2 justice, in the first degree ; of twenty-nine supreme 3 tribu- nals 4 administering the department of civil justice as courts of appeal and criminal justice by judges sent out from it who hold assizes at the chief town of each department ; lastly, of a supreme tribunal, placed at the head of this judicial hierarchy, to in- terpret the laws, and complete the unity of the legislature by the unity of jurisprudence. The two laws for these purposes were of too pressing a necessity, and too complete in their plan, to meet with any serious obstacles ; yet they nevertheless had to sustain more than one attack in the tribunal. Objections the most trifling were raised against the proposed system of admi- nistration. There was not much complaint of the authority placed in the hands of the prefects, sub- prefects, or mayors, as that was in accordance with the notions of the time, and was in imitation of the constitution, which placed one person as chief at the head of the state; but a grievance was found in Juges de paix. * Police. Souverains. We give here only round numbers, as the number of the tribunals has constantly varied, in accordance with the dif- ferent changes of territory which France has undergone ; at present, for instance, there are no more than twenty-seven cours royales, or tribunals of appeal. 40 Appointment of the ad- ministrative and ju- dicial officers. TRIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. The c'osing of the pro- scription list. 1800. Jan. the creation of three degrees in the scale of admi- nistration the department, the arrondissement,and the commune. The opposition went so far as to assert that the communes must be reconstituted, as it would not be possible to find men of sufficient en- lightenment for mayors. It was, however, a resto- ration of self-government, of domestic authority, and in this view the plan was more popular than ^ can even be imagined. As regarded the judicial organization, some cried out against it as a resto- ration of the parliaments; others complained of the jurisdiction over the inferior magistrates which was given to the tribunal of cassation, with other such objections; all of the mnot worthy of mention, since, in spite of all, the two proposed laws were passed. Twenty or thirty votes, the main body of the opposition in the tribunate, were given against those laws, but three-fourths voted in their favour. The legislative body adopted them almost unani- mously. The law relating to the departmental admi- nistration bore the date since celebrated, of 28th Pluviose, year vm., that relating to the judicial organization was dated 27th Ventose, year vm. The first consul, determining not to leave them a dead letter in the list of laws, appointed forthwith the prefects, sub-prefects, and mayors. He was liable of course to many mistakes, as generally happens where a number of functionaries have to be appointed at once ; but an enlightened and vigorous government can speedily rectify any error of its first choice. It is enough that the general intention of it be good, and in this instance the intention shown in the choice was excellent; it was at once firm, impartial, and conciliatory. The first consul sought out in all parties men of reputed honour and capacity, excluding none but the vio- lent, and even adopting some of these last, if expe- rience and time had reduced them to such a mo- derate tone as then formed the essential charac- teristic of his policy. To the prefectures, offices of importance and high salary, the prefects then received 12,000, 15,000, and up to even 24,000f. of income, being in value double what these amounts now are, he ap- pointed personages who had figured with honour in the great political assemblies, and whose appoint- ment would most clearly show the intention of his choice; for men, though they be neither actions nor principles, yet represent them in the eyes of the people. To Marseilles, for instance, the first consul named M. Charles Lacroix, ex-minister of foreign affairs ; to Saintes, M. Fran9ais, of Nantes ; to Lyons, M. Verninhac, formerly an ambassador; to Nantes, M. Letourneur, formerly a member of the Directory ; to Brussels, M. de Ponte"coulant ; to Rouen, M. Beugnot ; to Amiens, M. Quinette ; to Ghent, M. Faypoult, formerly minister of finance. All these men, and others, who were found in the Constituent Assembly, the Legislative Assembly, the Convention, and the Five Hundred, and who were taken from amongst the ministers, the directors, and the ambassadors of the republic, were ready to give a fair start to the new administrative func- tions, and to confer on the government of the pro- vinces the importance which it deserved. The greater part of them retained their offices during the reign of the first consul and of the emperor. One of them, M. de Jessaint, was a prefect within the last four years. For the prefecture of Paris, the first consul made choice of Frochot, and gave him for a colleague at the prefecture of police, M. Dubois, a magistrate whose energy was useful in purging the capital of those ill-doers whom fac- tion had thrown within its bosom. The judicial appointments were made in the same spirit. Men of honoured name, acquired in the former bar and the former magistracy, were as- sociated, wherever it could be done, with new men of renown and probity. Wherever he could throw a lusti-e on these offices by noble names, the first consul failed not to do so, for he liked idat in all things ; and the time had come when, without danger, something might be borrowed from the past. A magistrate named Aguesseau headed the list of judicial appointments, as the chief of the tribunal of appeal of Paris, now the " Royal Court." These functionaries received instructions, imme- diately on their appointment, to depart on the instant, for the purpose of taking possession of their seats, and of contributing their part to that work of re-organization which formed the constant occupation of the young general, out of which he wished to create his fame, and which, after so many prodigies of victory, has remained, in fact, the most stable of his glories Where society had been turned so completely topsy-turvy, it became necessary to handle every matter at the same time. The emigration, at once so blameable and so pitiable, a just object alike of sympathy and aversion, since in its ranks were to be found men cruelly persecuted, and bad Frenchmen who had conspired against their country, the emigration required the earnest attention of the government. According to the last law, a decree, either of the directory or of the administration of the department, was in itself sufficient to place any absent individual on the list of emigrants, from which moment his goods be- came confiscated, and the law pronounced his death if he were again found on the territory of the republic. A great number of individuals, who were actually emigrants, or had only secreted themselves, and who had not been inscribed on the fatal list, either because they had escaped notice, or no one had been found to denounce them, were, however, still liable to be placed upon it ; and thus there were numbers of Frenchmen who were living in a continual anxiety. It wanted but an enemy to meet them, and they might be instantly on the list, and subject to the laws and penalties of pro- scription. As regards those who had been already placed on the list, justly or not, they were arriving in great numbers to have their names struck off. Their eagerness, and their very rashness, showed their confidence in the humanity of the govern- ment ; but was rather annoying to certain of the revolutionists, some of whom were conscious of excesses committed against the returning emi- grants, others of having obtained possession of their property. This was a new source of difficulty in the arrangements ; for while it was necessary that proscription should cease, it was also necessary not to expose to continual uneasiness those who had taken a part, especially a violent one, in the con- flicts of the revolution, which owed to those who had compromised themselves for it a complete security ; since, unfortunately, men in general are either cold and selfish, or passionate partisans of 1 1800. i Jan. Some emigrants still proscribed. GOVERNMENT OF THE INTERIOR. Right of bequeathing by will re-established. 41 the cause they take up ; in which latter case they can ordinarily claim little merit for their mode- ration. To such a state of things it was urgent to apply a remedy ; and the government introduced a bill, whose first enactment was to close the famous list of emigrants. On and after the 4th Nivose, year vin., or December 25, 1799, the day on which the constitution came in force, the list of emigrants was declared to be closed ; that is to say, the fact of absence posterior to that date was no longer to be construed as emigration, or to be liable to the same 1 punishment : liberty was granted to come and go, to travel from France to a foreign country, and from a foreign country to France, without com- mitting a punishable offence ; for it is a fact, that for ten years absence had been a crime. The liberty, then, of coming and going was thus restored to every citizen. To this first enactment a second was added : i individuals more or less liable to the charge of emigration, whether from having left the country for a short time, or simply concealed themselves, to keep out of the way of persecution, and who by good fortune had been omitted in the proscription list, were now no longer to be placed upon it but by au- thority of a decision of the ordinary tribunals ; that is to say, of a jury. This was tantamount, in some measure, to closing the list for them also, as there was little risk that many names would be added to it in the then spirit of the tribunals. Lastly, while the handing them over to the tri- bunals insured to those whose names had not been inscribed, the guarantees of the common law, those who had been unjustly placed on the list, or who pretended to be so, in their wish to have their names struck off, were referred to the administra- tive authority. The intended indulgence of the new government in favour of these parties was evident in this ; for the new administrative autho- rities, created by it, and imbued with its spirit, could not fail to lend a ready ear to claims of this nature : the presenting a certificate of residence in any part of France (and there was no difficulty about false certificates) was all that was necessary to prove that the party had been wrongfully de- clared absent, and to cause him to be erased from the list of emigrants. With the general good- natured inclination to violate tyrannical laws, this means of obtaining their erasure seldom failed those who sought it. More than this, emigi-ants who wished to procure their erasure, were allowed to re-enter France "under surveillance" of the chief police; in the language of the times, this was called " obtaining surveillances ;" they were given in great numbers, so that those of the emigrants who had most need of it, were enabled thus to an- ticipate the moment of their erasure; and, indeed, many of them went no further, but made use of these " surveillances" as a definitive recall. Emigrants, however, there were, whose names could not be cut out from that fatal list, because of the notorious scandal of their emigration. In respect of these the existing laws were still main- tained. The spirit of the times was such, that it was not possible to do otherwise. For the unfor- tunate there was pity ; but anger only for the guilty who had quitted the territory of France to bear arms against their country, or invite against her the arms of the foreigner. For the rest, whether erased or not, no man could recover his property if sold. All sales were irrevocable, both by virtue of the constitution, and the enactments of the new kiw ; those only who, after their erasure, found their property had not been sold, though seques- tered, were enabled to indulge the hope of recover- ing it for themselves. Such was the law as proposed and adopted by an immense majority, despite objections made in the tribunate, on the part of some, who found shown in it either too much or too little favour towards the emigrants. Among the legal enactments then in force, there was one which appears insupportably tyrannical a restraint on the power of bequeathing by will. As the laws stood, no man at his death could dis- pose of more by will than a tenth portion of his property if he had children ; of a sixth if he had none. These enactments resulted from the first indignation of the revolution against the abuses of the old state of French aristocratic society, where paternal vanity, sometimes from a desire to aggrandize an elder son, sometimes to force the affections of children to ill-assorted mar- riages, would despoil some for the benefit of others. Under the natural influence of anger thus aroused, in place of reducing the power of a father within due limits, the revolution completely fettered it. It was no longer in the power of a parent to re- ward or punish. If he had children, there was nothing, or little more than nothing, which he could leave in favour of the child that merited all his affection; and, what is more extraordinary, if he had only nephews, whether nearly or distantly related to him, he could only leave them a portion of his property the most insignificant, that is to say, a sixteenth. This was in truth an attack on the rights of property, and, of all the rigorous en- actments of the revolution, the one most keenly felt; for the hand of death strikes down every day- its victims; and thousands who died, breathed their last sigh in regret at an inability to obey the last dictates of their hearts towards those who had served them, cared for them, and consoled them in their old age. A reform like this could not possibly wait the drawing up of the civil code. A law to re-establish the right of bequeathing by will, within certain restrictions, was at once brought in. By virtue of this law, a father who had less than four children was empowered at his death to be- queath a fourth of his property ; if less than five, a fifth ; and so on in the same proportion. He might dispose of :v half if he had neither ascending nor collateral relations, and of the whole when he had no kindred qualified to succeed him. This measure was much attacked in the tri- bunate ; above all, by the tribune Audrieux, a man of honesty and sincerity, but with more en- thusiasm than judgment He spoke of it as a return to the abuses of primogeniture, to the violent in- justice of the ancicn rigime, in the case of the chil- dren of men of rank; but this law, like the others, was passed by an immense majority. By another law the government instituted a tribunal of prizes, which had become indispensable for rendering impartial justice to the neutral powers, and conciliating them towards France by better treatment. The attention of the two assem- Laws relating to finance. Budget of 1800. TRIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 1800. Jan. blies was, lastly, invited to the laws respecting the finances. The government had but little to address to the legislative body on this subject, as the two legis- lative commissionei's had already returned the necessary laws. What had been done by the government in working out the administration of those laws, was scarcely a matter for discussion. It was, however, necessary to decree, if only as a matter of form, the budget of the year viu. Had the taxes been regularly collected, had the regu- lar imposts been exactly paid, and not only regu- larly paid by the contributors, but duly handed over by those who received the public monies, the finances of the state would have been in a tolerable condition. The ordinary taxes would give about 430,000,000 f., to which amount the government hoped to reduce the public expenses in time of peace ; indeed they promised themselves to bring them down still lower. Experience soon proved that this was not possible even in time of peace, but it has also shown that it was easy to bring up the receipts from the taxes to this amount, without in- creasing the rate of taxation. We exclude from this calculation the expense of collection, and local expenses, which, reckoning them as they are reck- oned now, would bring the budget of this date up to 600,000,000 f. or 620,000,000 f. The great and certain insufficiency of the re- ceipts was only apparent in the expenses of the war a result not to be wondered at, as it always must be the case. In no country can a war be supported on the ordinary revenues of peace. If this were the case, it would sufficiently prove that the taxes were too great in a time of tranquillity. But, thanks to the disorder of the past, no one could tell, whether with a war the budget would rise to 600,000,000 f., 700,000,000 f., or 800,000,000 f. One party said 600,000,000f., the other 800,000,000f. Every one had a different conjecture on this sub- ject. Experience here also proves that about 1 50,000,000 f. added to the ordinary budget, are enough to furnish the expenses of a war, especially with an army always victorious, and living on the enemies' country. The budget for the year was, therefore, made out at 600,000,000f. of expences and receipts; and as the ordinary revenues amounted to 430,000,000 f., there was, therefore, a deficiency of 1 70,000,000 f. This, however, was not the real difficulty. It would have been too much to pre- tend, on just emerging from a financial chaos, to aim at an immediate equalization of the receipts with the expenditure. What was first necessary was to get in the ordinary taxes. If this first result could be reached, the government was sure to have resources soon to meet the most pressing wants ; for credit would quickly feel the effect ; and with the different bills and securities, the creation of which we have elsewhere enumerated, it would have, in its hands, means of obtaining from capitalists the necessary funds for every depart- ment. For this M. Gaudin worked unremittingly; seconded, in all the difficulties which he met, by the firm and sustained purpose of the first consul. The board of direct constitution, recently esta- blished, displayed the greatest activity. The as- sessment papers were well sent out, and already in course of collection. The bills of the receivers- general began to find their way into the treasury, and were discounted at a rate of interest not too usurious. The difficulty in establishing this sys- tem of bills consisted always in the amount of paper in circulation, which it is difficult to fix, especially as regarded each general receipt. A re- ceiver, for instance, who should collect 20,000,000 f., could not sign bills for that amount, if he was liable to be called upon for six or eight millions of dead securities, either bonds of arrearage, bonds of requisition, or similar obligations. The minister applied himself to retiring these obligations, and when he had made an estimate how much they would enter into of each general receipt, he drew upon the receivers-general for the amount which he calculated would come into their coffers. There were created, in the same session, a new class of accountable officers, whose duty it was to bring about greater exactness in the transmission of monies to the treasury; these were the receivers for the arrondissement. Hitherto there had been no intermediate officer between those who collected from the tax-payers, and the receiver-general placed in each chief town, than the clerk of the receipts, the receiver-general's own agent, dependent upon him, and telling the truth to him alone. This was exactly one of the points at which the entry of the money into the public coffers could be best noted and ascertained, and this very point was miserably neglected. Special receivers were now appointed to each arrondissement, who were dependent on the state, owing to it an account of what they re- ceived and handed over to the receivers-general; they were thus well-informed and disinterested witnesses as to the progress of the sums collected, since to them no advantage could arise from a stag- nation of the public monies in the coffers of the accountable officers. By these appointments the government obtained the advantage of knowing the exact state of the receipts, and of having in its hands new securities in cash ; a matter of indif- ference now, but not so just then ; it had, lastly, the advantage of finding a new employment for the lately devised division into the arrondissements. The courts of civil and correctional justice, and a great portion of the communal administration, had already been established in the centre of the arrondissement; by fixing also a part of the financial administration in the same place, a still further usefulness would be given to this division, which the malicious were attempting to disparage as being only an arbitrary subdivision of the country. And since for particular reasons it had been con- sidered a necessary step, there could be nothing better than to multiply its uses, and so render real what was charged with being artificial. The prefects and sub-prefects received orders to visit the re- ceivers, and themselves to watch, by an inspection of the books, over the exactitude of their trans- actions. Fortunately it is not so in our time ; but at that moment, when the whole plan was but as it were a rough sketch, the sending a prelect and sub-prefect to inspect their accounts, was by no means a useless stimulant to employ with account- able officers. The re-organization of the finances thus went on with all possible rapidity ; but assemblies can only understand results when they are realized. They could not perceive how much that was actually useful was doing in the interior of the administra- 1800. Jan. The bank of France established. GOVERNMENT OF THE INTERIOR. Reply of the British ca- binet to the first con- sul's letter. 43 tion. In the tribunate they were eloquent without end on the great question of the equalization of receipts with expenses ; they complained of the deficit ; they brought forward a thousand plans ; and there were some persons so senseless as to incline to a rejection of the finance laws until the government should propose some means of bringing the expenses and receipts to a balance. But all these propositions led to no result ; the proposed laws were passed by a great majority in the tri- bunate, and almost unanimously by the legislative body. An institution, worthy of mention in history, was added next to those of which we have just recounted the foundation; this was the bank of France. The old establishments for discount had fallen in the midst of the disorders of the revo- lution ; it was impossible, however, that Paris could remain without a bank. In every centre of commerce, where any activity exists, there must be a money convenient for payments, or, in other words, a paper-money, and an establishment to discount on a large scale the drafts of commerce. These two branches afford to each other a mutual assistance ; for the funds deposited against bills in circulation, serve at the same time to aid com- mercial transactions in the way of discount. In fact, where any business is stirring, however in- considerable, a bank cannot fail to make a profit, if it discount good bills only, and do not issue more notes than are required ; in a word, if it pro- portion its operations to the true wants of the place where it is established. This is what was wanted in Paris, and its success was certain if it were properly constituted. The new bank, be- sides transactions with private individuals, was to have transactions with the treasury, and conse- quently, while making profits, it had to give ser- vices in return. The government consulted the principal bankers of the capital, at the head of whom M. Perre"gaux placed himself, a financier whose name connects itself with all the great ser- vices rendered at that time to the state ; and there was soon formed an association of rich capitalists for the creation of a bank, called the bank of France, the same which is in existence at this day. Its capital was settled at 30,000,000 f. ; it was to be governed by fifteen directors and a managing committee of three persons, which committee after- wards gave place to a governor. It was, by its statutes, to discount commercial bills representing legitimate not fictitious transactions, to issue notes circulating as money, and was interdicted from engaging in any business foreign to discounts and dealing in bullion. Faithful to its statutes, it has grown up into the finest establishment of this kind in the world. It will be seen presently what was done by the government to push on the ope- rations of this bank with a speed which made it prosperous in the earliest days of its existence. Pending these great operations for the improve- ment of the internal administration, to which the consular government, hi concert with the legis- lative body, sedulously applied itself, negotiations with foreign powers, friendly or belligerent, were carried on without interruption. The letter of the first consul to the king of England was followed by an immediate answer. The first consul had written on the 26th December, the 5th Nivose ; he was answered on the 4th January, the 14th Ni- vose : indeed, the resolution of the English cabinet had been taken beforehand, and it had no neces- sity for deliberation. England, in 1797, when her finances were in a state of embarrassment, and when Austria had been compelled to sign the treaty of Campo Formic, had been inclined to think of treating, and sent Lord Malmesbury to Lille ; but now that the income-tax had restored ease to her exchequer, now that Austria, placed again in a state of war with us, had carried her arms to our very frontiers, now that England was strenuously occupied hi wresting from us our important positions in Malta and Egypt, and in avenging the affront of the Texel, peace was but little to the taste of that power. She had, besides, another reason for this refusal, which was, that war was suited to the passions and the interests of Mr. Pitt. This illus- trious head of the British cabinet had made a war with France his object, his glory, and the basis of his political existence. If peace were necessary, possibly he must retire. He brought to the con- flict that firmness of character, which, united to his talent as an orator, had made him a statesman, powerful, though not enlightened. The answer could not be a matter of doubt ; it was dis- courteous, and in the negative. The English cabinet did not do the first consul the honour of addressing the answer directly to him, but keeping up the custom, in most respects an excellent one, of com- municating from minister to minister, they replied in a note addressed by Lord Grenville to M. de Talleyrand. In this note, with some want of skill, the chagrin was allowed to be seen which this challenge to peace, not to war, addressed to England by the first consul, had occasioned to Mr. Pitt. It contained a recapitulation of the original causes of the war, eter- nally reproduced, year after year. It imputed the first aggression to the French republic; reproached it in violent terms for the ravages committed in Germany, Holland, Switzerland, and Italy, making especial mention of the rapine carried on by the generals in the latter country; it added to this charge that of a desire to overthrow the throne and the altar every where ; and then, coming to the last overtures of the French consul, the English minister said that these feigned demonstrations of pacific intentions were not the first of the same kind, for that the different revolutionary govern- ments, successively raised up and pulled down within ten years, had more than once made similar proposals; that his majesty the king of Great Bri- tain could not yet observe, in what was passing in France, any change of principles capable of giving satisfaction and tranquillity to Europe ; that the only change which could thoroughly re-assure it, would be the restoration of the house of Bourbon, since then only would social order appear to be no longer endangered; that, nevertheless, the re-esta- blishment of that family was not made an absolute condition of peace with the republic of France ; but that until there were new symptoms more signifi- cant and more satisfactory, England would continue ; the contest, as well for her own safety as that of her allies. This discourteous note was disapproved of by sen- sible men in all countries, and reflected little honour on Mr. Pitt, as showing him more in anger than Fruitless correspondence be- 44 tween the first consul and TRIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. Lord Grenville. Communications with Austria. J800. Jan. he was wise. It showed that many indeed are the victories required by a new government before it can be respected; since, though the government then existing had already won victories both nu- merous and brilliant, it was evident that more were still wanted. The first consul was not dis- concerted, and in his desire to profit by the good position which the moderation of his conduct gave him in the eyes cf the world, he prepared an an- swer at once mild and firm, not in the form of a letter to the king, but as a despatch addressed to the minister of foreign affairs, Lord Grenville. Recapitulating in a few words the first events of the war, he proved, in very guarded language, that the sole object of France in taking up arms had been to resist an European conspiracy directed against her safety ; granting the misfortunes which the revolution had brought upon the whole world, he insinuated, in a passing way, that those who had persecuted the French republic with such eager hate, might possibly reproach themselves de- servedly with being the true causes of the vio- lences so often deplored. " But," added he, " to what good are these remembrances I Behold, now, a government disposed that war should cease. Shall this war have no end, because the one party or the other was the aggressor ? and if it be not to endure for ever, should we not put an end to these incessant recriminations ? Surely there can be no hope of obtaining from France the re-esta- blishment of the Bourbons ; is it then suitable to the purpose to throw out hints such as those which have been allowed ? Nay, what would be said if France in her communications were to call upon England to re-establish on the throne that family of the Stuarts, which only left it in the last cen- tury? But to pass over such irritating questions," added the note dictated by the first consul, " if you deplore, as we do, the evils of war, let us agree to a suspension of arms; let us fix a town, Dunkirk for instance, or any other of your own choice, where negotiations may be carried on; the French government will place at the disposal of Great Britain passports for the ministers she may invest with proper powers." The very calmness of this attitude produced the usual effect which coolness has upon angry men. It provoked a reply from Lord Grenville, more angry, more bitter, and even worse in reason than his first note. In this answer, the English mi- nister, seeking to palliate the fault which he had committed in speaking of the house of Bourbon, responded, that it was not for that family the war was carried on, but for the safety of all go- vernments ; and he declared anew that hostilities would be continued without relaxation. This last communication bore the date of the 20th January or 30th Nivose. Nothing more could be said. Bo- naparte had done enough ; confiding in his glory, he had not feared to offer peace ; he had made the offer with not much of hope, but in good faith; and had gained by this step the double advantage of unveiling to the eyes of France, as well as to those of the English opposition, the unreasonable passion of Mr. Pitt. Fortunate would it have been, if at all times he had united with his power, so skil- fully calculated, the same moderation of conduct. The communications of Austria were more cour- teous, but gave no greater hope of peace. This power, convinced that the intentions of the first consul, however pacific, would not go to the extent of abandoning Italy in her favour, was resolved to continue the war ; but, having some experience of the conqueror of Castiglione and of Rivoli, and knowing that with such an antagonist victory could not altogether be considered a certainty, she was desirous of not closing every path to ulterior nego- tiation. As if Austria and England had an understand- ing about formalities, the answer of the emperor to the first consul was by a despatch from M. de Thugut to M. de Talleyrand, dated 15th January, 1800, or 25 Nivose. In substance it was the same as the English notes. Both only made war, they said, to guaranty Europe against a general overturn ; there was nothing they more desired than to see France disposed towards peace : but what gua- rantee could be given of this new disposition ? The cabinet of Vienna admitted that there was hope, under the first consul, of greater moderation at home and abroad, more stability in purpose, and greater fidelity to engagements entered into, and that from these might in time result the chance of a solid and lasting peace. This happy change they expected from his great talents; but without saying it in words, they gave him to understand that when the change was completely brought about, it would be time enough to negotiate. Dealing with Austria as he had done with Eng- land, the first consul did not let the matter rest with this evasive exposition. Not discouraged by the vagueness of the answer, he felt inclined to put the cabinet of Vienna under the necessity of explaining itself positively, and of either refusing or accepting peace in a categorical manner. On the 28th February, or 9th Ventose, Talleyrand was instructed to write to M. Thugut, and to offer him the adoption, as the basis of a negotiation, of the treaty of Campo Formic. This treaty, he observed, was an act of great moderation on the part of Bonaparte towards the emperor of Austria, since when in 1797 he had it in his power, from the menacing position of the French army at the gate of Vienna, to require from that prince great sacrifices he had, in the hope of a lasting peace, preferred moderate advantages to those of a more extensive nature ; he had even, added the French minister, incurred, by his con- duct to the imperial court, the blame of the direc- tory. Lastly, M. de Talleyrand declared that the house of Austria should receive in Italy the in- demnification which, by the treaty of Campo For- mio, had been promised to it in Germany. To comprehend the bearing of these proposals of the first consul, we must recall to mind that the treaty of Campo Formio ceded to France, Belgium and Luxemburgh ; to the Cisalpine Re- public, Lombardy, Mantua, and the Legations ; and that Austria received as an indemnification, Venice and a great portion of the Venetian states. As regards the line of the Rhine, embracing be- tween Belgium and Luxemburgh the country com- prised within the Meuse, the Moselle, and the Rhine, in a word, those we now call the Rhenish Provinces, Austria was to use her mediation to have them ceded to France by the Germanic em- pire. Austria, at the time, ceded, on her own part, the countship of Falkenstcin, lying between 1800. Jan. Reply of Austria to the first consul's proposals. GOVERNMENT OF THE INTERIOR. Further correspondence. 45 Lorrain and Alsace, and engaged to open to the French troops the gates of Mayence, which she occupied as a count of the empire. As a com- pensation, Austria was to receive the bishopric of Saltzburg, contiguous to Bavaria, as soon as the ecclesiastical provinces were secularized. These different arrangements formed the subject of ne- gotiations at the congress of Rastadt, which ter- minated so tragically in 1799, by the assassination of the French plenipotentiaries. Such was the treaty of Campo Formio. In offering this treaty as the basis of a new ne- gotiation, the first consul did not surrender the question of the frontier of the Rhine, as far as concerned the Rhenish provinces : he only decided the question of Belgium, which had been irre- vocably conceded to France, while he left that of the Rhenish Provinces to ulterior negotiation with the empire ; and by offering in Italy the in- demnification formerly stipulated for in Germany, he insinuated that the success obtained in Italy by Austria might be taken into consideration, and place her in a more advantageous position in that country. He added, that for the secondary powers of Europe there should be stipulated a system of guarantees, proper to re-establish in all its force that law of nations on which the security and well-doing of nations so essentially depend. This was an allu- sion to the invasion of Switzerland, of Piedmont, of Tuscany, the Papal States, and Naples, which had afforded matter for a heavy charge against the directory, and had been taken as the pretext for the second coalition ; it was a sufficiently clear offer to re-establish those states, and to give Europe an assurance against the pretended usurpations of the French republic. To such offers no addition could be made ; and the necessity of peace for France could have alone induced the first consul to make them. Not to do things by halves, he addressed to Austria, as well as to England, a formal proposal for a suspension of arms, not only on the Rhine, where sucli a suspension already existed, but also on the Alps and the Apennines, where it was not yet in being. On the 24th of March, the 3rd Germinal, M. Thugut replied in terms, otherwise very moderate, that the treaty of Campo Formio, which had been violated as soon as concluded, did not comprise a system of pacification, which could give assurance to the belligerent parties ; that the true principle adopted in all negotiations was to take as a basis the position in which the success of their arms had left each power, and this was the sole basis to which Austria could agree. M. Thugut added, that previous to going any further, he had to demand an explanation relative to the form of the negotiation ; that it behoved him to know if France were willing to admit negotiations from all the states engaged in the war, for the purpose of arriving at a general peace, the only peace which would be fair .and prudent, and to which alone Austria would accede. This language proved two things. Firstly, that Austria, by wishing to take as a starting-point the actual position ', that is to say, the situation in which the last campaign had left each power, fos- tered great pretensions in regard to Italy. Secondly, that she would not separate herself from England, ! 1 L'etat actuel. to whom treaties of subsidy closely bound her. This fidelity to England was, on her part, a duty made necessary by her position ; and influenced, as will be seen before long, the fate of the nego- tiations and the war. Such an answer, however civil its terms, left little hope of an understanding, especially as it made the conduct of a power disposed to listen to some mention of peace, dependent on that of an- other, resolved not to listen to any. Neverthe- less, Bonaparte sent a new reply, in which, while offering in Italy the compensation before stipu- lated in Germany, he proposed implicitly to take the starting-point of the treaty, not from the status ante bellum, but from the status post bdlum; that is to say, to take into account the success of Austria in Italy. He further observed, that the overtures he had made to England showed his desire for a general peace ; that there was little to be hoped from a negotiation common to all the belligerent powers, since England would not hear of an accom- modation; that he had admitted plainly and simply the proposals of Austria ; that he waited, in con- sequence, the fixing a place where they might treat ; but that, as they wished to go on fighting, it must be settled for some place beyond the theatre of war. Austria declared, that as such were the inten- tions of the French cabinet, she must communi- cate with her allies, but that, until she had consulted them, it was impossible for her to name any place positively. This was postponing the negotiations to an indefinite period. In making these overtures to England and Aus- tria, the first consul never deceived himself as to the result ; but he was inclined to try pacific steps, firstly, because he had a desire for peace, regard- ing it as necessary to the organization of his new government ; secondly, because he judged such a step would place him better in the public mind of France and Europe. His calculations were completely justified by what passed in the parliament of England. Mr. Pitt, by his brutal 3 manner of replying to the overtures of Framce, had brought upon himself attacks the most vehement, as well as justly grounded. The opposition of Fox and Sheridan had never felt a nobler inspiration, never had shed such glory, or more justly deserved the esteem of honourable men in all countries. There was, in fact, a great dearth of motives for the continuance of the war; since England was then in a position to obtain all she could reasonably desire. She would certainly not have obtained the abandon- ment of Egypt; but as she, four months later, offered to resign it altogether and leave us to do as we liked with it, as the subsequent negotiations will prove, she might have consented to this at once, and at that price have preserved her conquests, the Indies included. She would thus have been spared the immense danger to which her obstinacy after- wards exposed her. It was therefore, at bottom, nothing but the interest of the ministers which induced the British cabinet to support the war with such eagerness. The remonstrances of the opposi- tion were strong and unceasing. They demanded and obtained the papers relating to the negotia- * Brutale. Vehement debates in the British parliament on THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 1800. Jan. tions, and these led to the most violent debates. The ministers maintained that it was not in their power to negotiate with the French government, since there could be no certainty in entering into a treaty with it ; that it had drawn upon itself, by its breach of faith, a war with the whole world, Denmark and Sweden alone excepted, and that even with the latter of these two countries its relations were much impaired ; that peace with such a government would be treacherous and fatal, as evidenced in the Italian States; that, after having been the aggressor against every sovereign in Europe, it desired to dethrone them all, devoured as it was by an incessant craving after destruction and conquest ; that Bonaparte offered, no more guarantees than his predecessors ; that if the new French government were no longer terrorist, it was equally revolutionary, and that with the French revolution neither truce nor peace could be hoped for ; and that if it could not be totally annihi- lated, it might at least be so worn out, as to be- come at last, from its weakness, no longer an ob- ject of terror. In regard to the first consul the English ministers, and especially lord Grenville, made use of language the most outrageous; indeed they spoke of him as they might of Robespierre. Fox, Sheridan, Tierney, the duke of Bedford, and Lord Holland, replied with much reason to all these allegations, " Do you ask who was the aggressor V said they ; " of what importance is that? You say France ; France says England. Must we go on destroying each other until this historical point is settled ? And what matters it who was the aggressor, if he, whom you call so, offers first to lay down his arms? You say it is impossible to treat with the French govern- ment ; you sent, yourselves, Lord Malmesbury to Lille, to treat with the directory ! Prussia and Spain have had treaties with the French republic, and make no complaint of it. You talk of the crimes of this government ; but your ally, the court of Naples, commits crimes which are more atrocious than those of the convention, while it has not the excuse of popular fury. You talk of am- bition ; but Russia, Prussia, and Austria have shared Poland amongst them, and Austria is aiming to reconquer Italy, without restoring their states to the princes whom France has dispos- sessed of them; for yourselves, you have made yourselves masters of India, of a part of the colo- nies of Spam, and of all the Dutch colonies. Who will have the audacity to proclaim himself more disinterested than the ro^t in the struggle of anger and greediness, in which all the states are engaged ? Either you will never treat with the French republic, or you will never find a moment more favourable than the present, since a man of power and authority has taken the reins of govern- ment, and seems disposed to use it with justice and moderation. Is it worthy of the English go- vernment to heap abuse on an illustrious personage, the head of one of the first nations of the world, and who, at least, is a great soldier, whatever may be the vices or virtues which time may bring to light in him ? Unless we are prepared to say that we will exhaust Great Britain, her blood, her treasures, her most precious resources, in re- establishing the house of Bourbon, it will not be easy to assign a good reason for refusing to treat at this time." To arguments so pressing and so true there was no replying. Mr. Tierney, taking advantage of the fault committed by the English minister, in speaking, in his note, of the re- establishment of the house of Bourbon, made a special motion against that family. He proposed the adoption of a formal resolution, declaring that the cause of England was distinct from that of the Bourbons, a family so fatal to the two countries, " to Great Britain," exclaimed he, " as well as to France." " I have heard," he continued, " many partisans of the administration of Mr. Pitt say, that as the French government had not proposed a joint negotiation, there was good reason for re- fusing to negotiate separately, as it would weaken us, by alienating our allies ; but I have not seen the man who has not severely blamed thus fixing the termination of the war at the date of the re-establishment of the Bourbons on the throne ! " It is true, as Mr. Tierney said, that every one blamed this error; and that the cabinet of Vienna, less actuated by passion than that of Great Britain, took care not to follow its example. The English ministers replied, that they had never proposed this condition as one absolute and indis- pensable; but they were met with the rejoinder, that the very mention of it was a sufficient viola- tion of the rights of nations, and an outrage on their freedom. " And what would you say," ex- claimed Mr. Tierney, repeating here the argu- ment of the French cabinet, "what would you say, if general Bonaparte, in an hour of victory, were to declare to you, that he would not treat but with the Stuarts? Moreover,*' added he, "is it from gratitude to the house of Bourbon that you are thus prodigal of our blood and treasures ? Do you remember the American war ? Or rather, is it for the principle which that house represents ? Are you then about to let loose against yourselves those passions which raised up all France against the Bourbons? Are you about to have upon your hands all those who desire no more nobles, who wish for no more tithes nor feudal rights; all those who have purchased national property ; all those who for ten years have borne arms for the French revolution ? Do you then wish to drain France of her blood to the very last drop, before you think of peace ? I make a formal motion,'' said Mr. Tierney, in conclusion, " that England do separate her cause from that of the house of Bourbon." On another motion, the celebrated Sheridan, always the boldest and most sarcastic of orators, turned the debate on a very tender point for the British cabinet, the expedition to Holland, at the close of which the English and Russians, after a defeat by general Brune,, had been reduced to capitulate. " It would seem," said Sheridan, " that our go- vernment, if it cannot conclude treaties of peace with the French republic, can at any rate conclude capitulations. I ask it to explain to us the motives of that which it has signed for the evacuation of Holland." Mr. Dundas, thus called upon, assigned three reasons for the expedition to Holland. The first, to detach the united provinces from France ; the second, to dimmish the maritime resources of France and to increase those of England, by taking the Dutch fleet ; the third, to create a diversion 1800. Jan. Sheridan's speech. Pitt obtains ample supplies. GOVERNMENT OF THE INTERIOR, France and Prussia. which might be useful to the allies ; and he added, that the British cabinet had succeeded in two objects out of three, as it had taken the fleet, and had contributed to the gaining the battle of Novi, by drawing upon Holland the forces destined for Italy. The minister had scarcely ended, when Sheridan, rushing to the attack, retorted with un- equalled point, " Yes, you have listened to the ac- counts of emigrants, and you risked on the conti- nent an English army to cover it with disgrace ; you wished to detach Holland from France, and you have attached it just so much the more, by filling the whole country with indignation at your iniquitous robbery of its fleet and its colonies. You have seized, as you say, the Dutch fleet, but by what unheard of, by what odious proceedings ? by exciting their crews to revolt, and presenting the most terrible of all spectacles, that of sailors in mutiny against their officers, in violation of that discipline which constitutes the strength of naval power and the greatness of our own nation. You have carried off this fleet, to the disgrace of the name of Britain ; not for England, but in any case for the stadtholder ; for you were obliged to declare it was for him, and not for England. Lastly, you rendered a service to the Austrian army in Italy. It may be so; but do you, the minis- ters of the king of Great Britain, boast of having saved an Austrian army by giving up an English army to slaughter 1" These attacks, however virulent, did not prevent Pitt from obtaining immense financial resources, about 1 100,000,000 f. 1 , or nearly double the budget of France at that period; with an authorization for subsidizing Austria and the states of the south of Germany ; important additions to the income- tax, which already produced 1 80,000,000 f. 3 a year ; a new suspension of the habeas corpus act; and, lastly, the grand measure of a union with Ireland. But the public mind of Eng- land was deeply excited by so much reason and eloquence. All reasoning men throughout Europe were struck with the wrong done towards France ; and victory ere long siding with justice, Pitt was destined to expiate, by cruel humiliations, the haughtiness of his policy towards the first consul. Meanwhile Pitt had to furnish the coali- tion with means for a new campaign, the last campaign, it is true, for all the parties were exhausted ; but the more fiercely fought, __ for the very reason that it was the last. In this grave conjuncture, the first consul was desirous of making as much use of the court of Prussia as was to be expected at the moment. It was not in the power of this court, in the face of such powerful adversaries, to bring about a peace, unless through an armed intervention ; a part not impossible for it to play, but at present unsuited to the views of the young king, who applied himself to recruiting his treasury and his army, while all the nations around him were exhausting themselves. This prince had already sounded the belligerent powers, and, as he found them so out of reason, had given up all idea of interposing between them. The Prussian cabinet itself, moreover, had its own interested views. It had a great desire to see Austria weakened by France, and that she should > 44,000,000. * 7,500,000. exhaust herself in the long struggle ; it also wished that France should renounce a part of the frontier of the Rhine, and that, contenting herself with Belgium and the Luxemburg!! on that side, she should not require the Rhenish provinces. Prussia strongly pressed this advice upon the first consul, dropping a hint, that France and Prussia would agree the better for not being too close to each other ; and that the cabinets of Europe, feeling re-assured by this moderation, would be the more inclined towards peace. But though the first con- sul was very reserved in explaining his intentions on this point, there was at the bottom but little hope of inclining him to such a sacrifice ; and the Prussian cabinet could not see, in all this, a peace which would satisfy it for meddling too much in the question. It continued, therefore, to give a quantity of advice, clothed in a dogmatic style, yet in a very friendly manner ; but it did nothing. But still this cabinet might be useful in main- taining the neutrality of the north of Germany, in obtaining the association of as great a number possible of the German princes in that neutrality ; lastly, in entirely detaching the emperor Paul from the coalition. As far as this, it acted with zeal, especially as its own wish was to preserve and aggrandize the neutrality of northern Germany; and, above all, bring over Russia to this system. Paul, who carried every feeling to excess, grew more irritated every day against Austria and England ; he declared loudly that he would compel Austria to replace the Italian princes on their thrones in Italy, which she had reconquered with the arms of Russia ; and oblige England to replace the order of Malta on that island fortress, of which she was just about to make herself master : he showed a remarkable affection for this ancient order, and caused himself to be made grand mas- ter. He blamed the manner in which the over- tures of the first consul had been received in Vienna and London ; and in his despatches to Prussia, now grown confidential, he allowed it to be seen that he wished similar overtures had been ad- dressed to himself. The first consul, in fact, had not ventured to do so, from distrust of the conse- quences with such a character as the czar. Prus- sia, advised of all these particulars, gave informa- tion to the French cabinet, which made advan- tageous use of them. Before opening the campaign, as the season for military operations was approaching, the first con- sul sent for M. de Sandon, the minister of Prussia, and had with him, on the 5th March, or 1 4th Ven- tose, a positive and complete explanation. After recapitulating at length all that he had done to re-establish peace, and the discourtesy and in- vincible obstacles that had been brought to bear against him, he stated in their full extent his military preparations, and, without disclosing the secret of his profound combinations, he suffered the Prussian minister to obtain an insight into the greatness of the resources yet remaining to France. The first consul also told M. de Sandon that he had full confidence in Prussia, and expected it to make new efforts to reconcile the belligerent powers, while they should be engaged in fighting ; that in default of a general peace, of which there was little pro- bability before a new campaign, he hoped for two ervices from King Frederic-William, the re- 48 AB .'!S l1 K, r ! t .. l !! tween France THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. Affairs of La Vendfa. and Prussia. 1800. Jan. conciliation of the republic with Paul I., and an effort made in regard to the elector of Bavaria to break away that prince from the coalition. " Bring about an accommodation between us and Paul," said Bonaparte ; " decide, at the same time, the elector of Bavaria to refuse his soldiers and his territory to the coalition, and you will render us two services which we will not forget. If the elector accede to our proposals, you may promise him that all the consideration he desires shall be shown him during the war, and the best treatment at the peace." The first consul now laid before the Prussian envoy his ulterior views. He told him that as the treaty of Campo Formio was offered as the basis of future negotiation, the Rhenish frontier would afterwards form a question for a treaty with the empire ; and that the independence of Holland, of Switzerland, and of the Italian states, should be formally guarantied. Without entering into ex- planations as to the point where the Rhine would cease to be the French frontier, he only said, that no person could imagine that France would require less than as far up as Mayence ; but that down from Mayence, the Moselle or the Meuse might possibly serve her as a boundary. Belgium and Luxem- burgh he considered as beyond all question. He added, in conclusion, that if Prussia rendered France the services which she was in a position to render, he would pledge himself that the cabinet of Berlin should exercise a considerable influence in the negotiations for peace. This, in fact, was the point which Prussia held most in regard, as she was desirous of taking a part in any such ne- gotiations, for the purpose of having the German frontiers defined in the manner which best agreed with her own views. A communication, so frank and well-timed, had the best effect at Berlin. The king replied, that as respected the emperor Paul, he had already em- ployed his good offices, and would do so still to reconcile him to France ; that as regarded Ba- varia, surrounded as it was on every side by Aus- tria, he could do nothing ; but that if the emperor Paul should declare himself, it might be possible, with the double assistance of Prussia and Russia, to withdraw the elector from the coalition. After these prudently concerted steps, there remained nothing but to commence hostilities with all possible promptitude. However, as the season for them had not yet arrived, and was likely to be later than usual, since France had to re-organ- ize her armies, in part disbanded, and Austria to fill up the chasm left by Russia, in the ranks of the coalition, the first consul thought the time had arrived when the war in La Vendee was to be finished : in order, firstly, to put an end to the odious spectacle of a civil war; secondly, to render disposable, and transport upon the Rhine and the Alps, those excellent troops which La Vended de- tained in the interior of the republic. The intimations which he had caused to be ad- addressed to the insurgent provinces, concurrently with his overtures for peace to the foreign powers, had produced amongst them a very great effect, supported as they were by an imposing force of nearly sixty thousand men brought together from Holland, from the interior, and from Paris itself. The flret consul ventured so far as to leave Paris, which at that moment was crowded by the refuse of all the factions, with a garrison of two thousand three hundred men ; and he even went to the ex- tent of making this fact public. As an answer to the English ministers, who pretended that the con- sular government was not more stable than those which preceded it, he caused a comparative state- ment of the forces in London and Paris to be printed, the result of which showed that London was guarded by fourteen thousand six hundred men, Paris by two thousand three hundred, a number scarcely sufficient to furnish the guards, which for merely police purposes are stationed at the great public establishments, and the residences of the chief officers of the state. It could be plainly seen that in Paris the name of Bonaparte was suf- ficient guard. But however this was, the insurgent provinces found themselves on a sudden surrounded by a for- midable army, and placed between the option of a peace immediate and generous, or a war of exter- mination. In such a choice there could be no delay. D'Andigne" and Hyde de Neuville, after an interview with the first consul, had entirely got rid of their illusions, and no longer believed that he had any inclination to restore the Bour- bons, or supposed any more that they could con- quer such a man. Hyde de Neuville, who had been commissioned by the Count d'Artois to give an opinion on the state of affairs, decided on return- ing to London ; not that he wished to abandon the cause of the Bourbons, but that he saw the impos- sibility of continuing the war. He left his advice with the chiefs to do what the necessity of time or place might urge them. D'Andigne" returned to La Vende'e, to report what he had seen. The duration of the cessation of arms was on the point of expiring, and it became incumbent on the royalist chiefs either to sign a definitive peace, or at once to enter upon a war to the death, against a formidable army. In 1793, in the first enthusiasm of the insurrection, they had not been able to conquer sixteen thousand men of the garrison of Mayence, nor had they obtained any results save those of engaging in combats, certainly heroic, but bloody, only to succumb at last. What, then, could they effect at this period against sixty thousand of the first troops in Europe, one-half of whom had sufficed to drive the Russians and the English into the sea ? Clearly nothing ; and this opinion was general in the insurgent provinces, or in any case, more or less, in each of them. On the left bank of the Loire, between Saumur, Nantes, and Sables, in a word, in old La Vende'e, they felt wearied of the war, from the exhaustion of men and means; while they regarded as a folly, its right value, the late taking up arms, which never would have happened but for the weakness and severity of the directory. On the right bank, about Mans, which had been the theatre of a desperate struggle, these sentiments predominated. In Lower Normandy, where the insurrection was of recent date, and where d* Frotte", a young chief, active, subtle, and ambitious, was the leader of the royalists, they showed more disposition to con- tinue the war. This was the case also in Mor- bihan, where the distance from Paris, the vicinity of the sea, and the nature of the country, gave them greater resources, and where Georges Ca- 1800. Jan. State or opinion in La Vendee. GOVERNMENT OF THE INTERIOR. The abbi Bemler, cure of Saint-Laud. ^The peace of Montfaucon. 49 doudal, a chief of a ferocious and indomitable energy, kept up their courage. In these two last countries a very frequent communication with the English contributed to render their resistance more obstinate. From one end of La Vende'e and Britany to the other, they were discussing what part they should take. The emigrants in the pay of England, whose devotion consisted in continually coming and going, and who had not to suffer all the consequences of the insurrection, were in angry dispute with the people of the country, on whom the burden of the civil war fell without relief. The former contended that the struggle must be continued; the latter, on the contrary, that it must be brought to a close. These representatives of an interest rather English than royalist, declared that the consular govern- ment would come to an end like all the other revolutionary governments after some days of imposing appearance ; that it would fail from the disorder of the funds and the administration ; that detachments of the Russian and English armies would be sent to La Vende'e to give a helping hand to the French royalists ; that it only required a few days' patience to reap the fruits of eight years' labour and fighting ; and that by holding out they would probably have the honour of conducting the Bourbons in victory to Paris. The insurgents, men who did not go habitually to seek refuge in London and live there upon English pay, who re- mained in the country with their peasantry, who beheld their lands ravaged, their houses burnt, their wives and children exposed to famine and hunger, these said that Bonaparte had never yet failed in what he had undertaken ; that at Paris, in place of thinking that all was going to pieces, they believed all was reorganizing under the fortunate hand of the new chief of the re- public, the consul Bonaparte ; that this republic, which was said to be exhausted, had just sent them an army of 60,000 men ; that the Russians and the English, of whom there was so much boasting, had just laid down their arms before the half of this very army; that it was easy for the emigrants in London to lay down fine plans, and talk of devotion and of constancy, when they were far from the country, from events and their consequences ; that on this account they should use some restraint in what they said before men, who, for eight years, had en- dured alone the ills of civil war m all their horrors. Amongst the worn-out royalists, there were some who went so far as to insinuate, that Bona- parte, in his inclination towards the good cause, would, after he had re-established peace, put an end to persecution, and restored their altars, raise up the throne again. They repeated these fabulous tales, which after the interviews of Andigne and Hyde de Neuville with the first con- sul no longer found admission amongst the prin- cipal royalists, but which still had some credit in the lower ranks of the insurgent populace, and contributed to draw them towards the government. There lived in the heart of old La Vende'e, a simple priest, the abbe" Bernier, cure" of Saint- Laud, destined ere long to take a part in the affairs of the republic and the empire. The abbe", from his great intelligence and natural capacity, had ac- quired a powerful influence over the royalist chiefs. From attentive observation of that protracted in- surrection, which had resulted only in calamities, he regarded the cause of the Bourbons as lost, for a time at least, and was of opinion that out of the general confusion of the French revolution, nothing more could be saved than the ancient altar of Christianity. Feeling clear on this point from the acts of the first consul and frequent communica- tions with general He"douville ; he no longer hesitated, but calculated that by submission they would obtain peace, an end to their persecutions, and toleration at least, if not protection, for public worship. He advised, therefore, all the chiefs on the left bank to submit, and he silenced by his in- fluence the harangues of those who came back- wards and forwards between London and La Vende'e. A meeting took place at Montfaucon, at which in a council of the officers the abbe" Bernier decided M. D'Autichamp, a gentleman young and full of bravery, but open to conviction from superior minds, to lay down his arms on the part of the province. The capitulation was signed on the 18th January, or the 28th Niv6se. The republic promised an entire amnesty, respect for religious worship, an abandonment of taxation on the ravaged provinces for some years, and that the names of the chiefs should be erased from the list of pro- scriptions ; the royalists on their part undertook for a complete submission, and an immediate sur- render of their arms. On the same day, the 1 8th January, the abbe" Bernier wrote to general He"douville : " Your wishes and mine are accomplished. At two o'clock this day the peace has been accepted at Montfaucon with thankful acknowledgment by all the chiefs and officers of the left bank of the Loire. The right bank without doubt will follow this example ; and the olive of peace will replace on both sides of the Loire the mournful cypress, planted there by war. I charge MM. de Baurollier, Duboucher, and Renou, with the bringing to you these happy tidings, and recommend them to the kindness of yourself and of the government. Falsely inscribed on the fatal list of 1793, they have seen themselves despoiled of all their property. They make this sacrifice to the necessity of circumstances, and are not the less desirous of peace. This peace is your work : maintain it then, general, by justice and good deeds ; your glory and your happiness are combined with it. I will do all in my power to carry out your excellent views ; prudence com- mands it, humanity wills it : my heart is with the country in which 1 dwell, and its happiness is the first of my wishes. BERNIER." This example produced its effect. Two days afterwards, the insurgents on the right bank, who were commanded by an old and brave gentleman, M. de Chatillon, and disgusted, like him, with serving England more than the cause of royalism, surrendered. All of the old La Vende'e was thus in a state of peace. The joy was extreme, whether in the country places where royalism reigned, or in the towns where reigned, on the other hand, the spirit of the revolution. In many towns, such as Nantes and Angers, the royalist chiefs, bearing the tricolor cockade, were received in triumph, and feasted as brothers. On all sides they began to give up their arms, and to submit in good faith, under the influence of an opinion, which was gra- dually becoming general, that the war, without 50 The war still carried on in Britany. Surrender of Georges Ca- THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. doudal. Arrest and death of M. de Frotte. 1800. Feb. bringing back the Bourbons, would have no other end than bloodshed, and the ravaging of the coun- try, while submission, on the contrary, would procure for them repose, security, and the re- establishment of their religion, which, beyond all other things, they desired. The obstacles to pacification were greater in Britany and Normandy. In these places the war, as we lately observed, was more recent, and had less exhausted their courage ; moreover, in these parts, it brought with it certain infamous emoluments, while in La Vendee it produced nothing but suffering. The Chouans, a set of scoundrels whom insurrection had accustomed to robbery, and who knew no other method of getting a living, had- all of them taken refuge in the centre of Britany, and towards Normandy. These men always made war on the tax-gatherer's chest, on the diligences, or on those who had possessed themselves of the national domains, and were in communication with a party of bad characters at Paris, receiving from them intelligence which served to guide them in their expeditions. In Morbihan, lastly, where the insurrection had the most obstinate hold, Georges, the only implacable chief of the Vendeans, received money and supplies from the English, which seconded his resistance, and he was thus little disposed to submission. But preparations were made to crush the chiefs who still held out. On the 24th of January or 1st Pluviose, general Chabot broke the suspension of arms, and marched upon the bands in the centre of Britany, under the command of Bourmont and De la Prevalaye. Near the commune of Me"- lay he came up with Bourmont, who, at the head of a thousand Chouans, defended himself vigorously, but was nevertheless compelled to give way to the republican soldiers, accustomed to conquer far different troops to peasantry. He himself escaped with great difficulty, after incurring the greatest danger ; and being soon after obliged to acknowledge that he could do no more for his cause, he gave up his arms on the 24th of January or 4th Pluviose. General Chabot next marched upon Rennes, on his way thence to the extremity of Britany, where General Brune was concentrating a great force. On the 25th January or 5th Pluviose, a number of columns, despatched from Vannes, D'Auray, and D'Elven, under generals Harty and Gency, met with the bands of Georges at Grandchamp. The two republican generals were escorting to Vannes convoys of grain and cattle, raised in the insurgent country ; and the Chouans, while endeavouring to retake these convoys, were surrounded by the co- lumns of the escort, who, in spite of their vigorous resistance, slew four hundred men and many of the chiefs, putting them completely to the rout. Two days after, on the 2?th, a very smart engage- ment at Hennebon caused the slaughter of three hundred Chouans, and served completely to destroy all the hopes of the insurgents. Off the coast were lying an English eighty-gun ship and some frigates, which could see how chimerical were all those hopes with which the British government had been deluded. As far as this, both parties had mutually cheated each other ; the British government in promising another new expedition like that to Hol- land, the Bretons in announcing a general rising. The royalists, so recently landed, had much trouble in getting back to the English squadron in a small vessel, where they met with the reception of emi- grants who have promised much and performed little. Georges found himself reduced to lay down his arms, and delivered up twenty thousand mus- kets and twenty pieces of artillery, which he had just received from the English. In Lower Normandy, De Frotte", a young chief strongly devoted to his cause, had been, like Georges, very resolute in continuing the war. He was followed up by generals Gardanne and Cham- barlhac, with detachments from the garrison at Paris. Many sharp engagements took place be- tween them on different points. On the 25th Ja- nuary, or the 5th Pluviose, general Gardanne came up with De Frotte" at the forges of Cosse 1 , near De la Motte-Fouquet, and destroyed great part of his force. On the 26th or 6th Pluviose, one of the chiefs, named Duboisgny, was attacked at his chateau of Duboisgny, near Fougeres, and sus- tained, like De Frotte", a considerable loss. Lastly, on the 27th, or the 7th Plnviose, general Charn- barlhac, in the environs of Saint Christophe, not far from Alenjon, surrounded some companies of Chouans, and put them to the sword. De Frotte" saw, like the others, but unfortu- nately too late, that all resistance was vain against the numerous columns which were thrown upon the country, and thought it time to surrender. He wrote to general He"douville to ask for peace, and proposed, while awaiting an answer, a suspension of arms to general Chambarlhac. This officer replied, that as he had no power to treat, he would apply to the government for them, but that he could not take upon himself to suspend hostilities in the interval, unless De Frotte" would consent immediately to deliver up the arms of his troops. This was exactly what De Frotte" most dreaded. He readily consented to submit, and to sign a pacifi- cation for the moment, but on condition of remaining armed, so as to seize without delay the first favour- able occasion for recommencing the war. He even wrote to his lieutenants letters, in which, while enjoining them to surrender, he advised them to keep their muskets. In the mean while, irritated by the obstinacy of De Frotte", the first consul had given orders that no quarter should be shown him, and that an example should be made in his person. De Frotte", uneasy at not receiving an answer to his proposals, was desirous of placing himself in communication with general Guidal, who was in command of the department of the Orne ; and, while seeking an interview with him, was arrested with six of his companions. The letters found upon him, containing the order to his officers to surrender but to preserve their arms, sufficed for a charge of treason. He was con- ducted to Verneuil, and handed over to a military commission. When the news of his arrest reached Paris, a crowd of intercessors surrounded the first consul, and obtained from him a suspension of the pro- ceedings, which was equivalent to a pardon. But the courier who carried the order of the govern- ment, arrived too late : for, as the constitution was suspended in the insurgent departments, De Frotte" had been tried summarily, and by the time the order to suspend the proceedings had arrived, 1800. Feb. End of the civil war. The chiefs' interview with Bonaparte. GOVERNMENT OF THE INTERIOR. Close of the session oi the year vm. 51 fhis young chief had already suffered the penalty of his obstinacy. The duplicity of his conduct, how- ever clearly proved, nevertheless is not sufficiently culpable to prevent our deeply regretting such an execution, the only one, it must be stated, which stained with blood that fortunate termination of the civil war. By this time the departments of the west were entirely pacified. The prudence of general H- douville, the vigour and promptitude of the means employed, the exhausted condition of the insur- gents, the mixture of confidence and fear which the first consul inspired, effected this rapid pacifi- cation. It was brought to a perfect termination by the end of February 1800 or 1st Ventose. The disarming was complete ; there remained only highway robbers, whom justice, active, and without mercy, would quickly overtake. The troops who had been employed in the west, began their march towards Paris, to take their part in the great designs of the first consul. The constitution, which had been suspended in four departments, the Loire-lnfe'rieure, the Ille-et- Vilaine, Morbihan, and the Cdtes-du-Nord, was again put in force ; and the majority of the chiefs, who had just laid down their arms, were, in suc- cession, induced to visit Paris, and report them- selves to the first consul. He well knew that it was not enough to pluck arms from their hands, but that he must make himself master of minds so enthusiastic, and direct them towards some noble object. He desired to carry these royalist chiefs along with him, in the extensive career at that moment opened to all Frenchmen ; to lead them to fortune, and to glory, by that path of danger which they were accustomed to tread. He invited them to an interview. His renown, which made all, who had an opportunity, desirous of approaching him, and his beneficence, so celebrated at that time throughout La Vendtfe, which they had to invoke in favour of many victims of the civil war, were honourable motives for the royalist chiefs to pay him this visit. The first consul graciously received, first, the Abbe" Bernier, next Bour- mont, D'Autichamp, and Chatillon, and, lastly, Georges Cadoudal himself. He paid marked at- tention to the Abb Bernier, and determined to attach him to himself, and employ him in difficult affairs connected with the church. He held fre- quent conversations with the military chiefs, whom his lofty language affected, and some of them he decided to serve in the armies of France. He suc- ceeded even in gaining the heart of Chatillon, who retired from public life, took to himself a wife, and became the ordinary and successful mediator for his fellow-citizens, whenever they had any act of justice or humanity to solicit from the first consul. Thus it is by glory, clemency, and beneficence, that men must put an end to revo- lutions. Georges alone bore up against this high influence. When he was conducted to the Tuileries, the aid- de-camp, who had to introduce him, conceded such alarm at his looks, that he would not close the door of the first consul's cabinet, and went in every now and then to steal a glance at what was passing. The interview was a long one. The consul Bonaparte tried vainly on the ears of Georges Cadoudal the words " country " and " glory ;" in vain he essayed even the bait of ambition on the heart of this savage soldier of the civil war ; he made no impression, and felt himself convinced that he had not, when he looked on the counte- nance of him whom he addressed. On quitting him, Georges departed for England with Hyde de Neuville, and often, while recounting this inter- view to his travelling companion, he held out his vigorous arms, exclaiming, " What a blunder I made in not strangling the fellow within these arms !" This prompt pacification of La Vendee produced a great effect on the public mind. Certain of the evil-disposed, who did not wish to explain it by natural causes, the energetic physical means em- ployed, the prudence of the policy, and, above ail, the influence of the great name of the first consul, pretended that there was a secret connexion with the Vende'ans, in which a promise was given them of some important satisfaction. They did not say plainly, but insinuated, that there might possi- bly be something, even more than a restoration of the principle of the old regime, than even of the Bourbons themselves. These ridiculous fables were spread about by the newsmongers of the revolu- tionary party. But men of sense, with a better ap- preciation of the acts of Bonaparte, said that no man would do such great deeds for another to reap the fruits ; and expressed their belief, that if his labours were not solely for France, they were at least for himself, and not for the Bourbons. For the rest, the pacification of La Vende'e was, in the eyes of all, a very fortunate event, as pre- saging that peace, the most important and difficult a peace with Europe. Before opening the campaign of this year the consul, in his haste to close the session of the legislative body, pressed on the passing of the numerous bills which had been introduced. Some of the members of the tribunate complained of the rapidity with which they were called upon to dis- cuss and vote. " We are," said the tribune Sedil- lez, a man of impartiality and moderation " we are carried along in a whirlwind of hurry, which moves rapidly in the direction of our wishes. Is it not better to yield to the impetuosity of this move- ment, than to risk impeding its progress ? We can next examine with more mature deliberation the bills presented to us, and correct them where it may be necessary." In fact, all went rapidly on, as the first consul wished. The laws were put into operation as soon as passed ; the functionaries appointed repaired to their posts. The new pre- fects entered on their charge, and the administra- tion assumed, in every part, a unison of action and an activity hitherto unseen. The taxes in arrears came into the treasury, since the completion of the assessment enabled the collectors to call upon the tax-payers with a legal right. Every day some new measure gave clearer evidence of the direction of the government policy. A second list of the proscribed obtained the benefit of a recall. A great number of writers who figured on this list, De Fontanes, De la Harpe, Suard, Sicard, Mi- chaud, and Fie've'e, were either recalled from their exile, or authorized to come forth from their re- treats. The members of the constituent assembly, known for having voted the abolition of feudal rights, were exempted from all the severities which F. 2 Carnot becomes minister of 52 war. Last opposition in TRIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. the tribunate. Regulations regarding 1800. the periodical press. March. had been inflicted on them by the convention and the directory. A famous prescript of the 18th Fructidor, Barthe"lemy, the ex-director, who nego- tiated and signed the first treaty of peace for the republic, was named a senator at the instance of the consuls ; and, lastly, another of the proscribed of the same date, Carnot, but recently brought back from exile, and appointed inspector of re- views, was called to the office of minister of war, in place of general Berthier, then on the point of departing to take the command of one of the armies of the republic. The name of Carnot was, at that day, one of great militai-y reputation, to which attached the recollection of the victories under the convention in 1793 ; and while the name of general Bonaparte was sufficient alone to make the coalition tremble, the addition to it of that of Carnot produced, in truth, a remarkable sensation in the foreign staffs. As the session was tending to its close, the op- position in the tribunate made a last effort, which created some excitement, though defeated by a large majority. The legislative body sat for four months only, but no term had been assigned to the sittings of the tribunate. The latter might thus assemble, though the vacation of the legislative body left it without business. It was proposed that it should make some employment for itself out of the petitions, which it was alone empowered to receive, and the expression of its wishes on matters of public interest, for which it had au- thority. Benjamin Constant moved that the petitions should be handed over to separate com- mittees, that they should be kept constantly at work, and should contrive by this means, not only a discussion of all the acts of the government (a thing in itself legitimate), but their permanent dis- cussion through the twelve months of the year. All that was really important in this proposition was negatived. It was decided that the tribunate should meet once a fortnight to receive petitions, and that this should be done through a bureau of the assembly, composed of a president and secre- taries. Reduced within these limits, the propo- sition no longer gave occasion for uneasiness. Saving this last effort, the end of the session was perfectly peaceable, even in the tribunate. So large had been the majority in favour of the go- vernment, that it required some touchiness to be displeased with an opposition not numbering more than twenty members. The first consul, though little disposed to put up with it, determined to make no account of it ; and thus this first session of the year Tin. by no means corresponded with the fears to which certain propagators of bad news affected to give utterance. If, at a later period, matters had remained in this state, people would have accommodated themselves to this last sem- blance of a deliberative assembly, and it would have been supported equally by that alarmed gene- ration, and the chief whom it had chosen. A short time before the closing of the session, the first consul adopted a measure in regard to the periodical press, which at present would be little else than an impossible phenomenon, but which, at that time, from the silence of the constitution, was a measure perfectly legal, and, from the spirit of the time, was almost insignificant. The constitu- tion, in fact, said nothing of the press. It may seem surprising that so important a point of liberty as that of writing was not even specially men- tioned in the fundamental laws of the state ; but at that time the tribune, as well of the assemblies as of the clubs, was, owing to the passions of the revolution, the favourite means of publishing opi- nion ; and there had been so much use made of the right of speaking, that there was no thought of that of writing. At the epoch of the 18th Fruc- tidor, the press had been rather more made use of, but as it was so by the royalists in particular, it created an irritation against itself among the revo- lutionists, which afterwards sunk into indifference. They suffered it, therefore, to be proscribed at the 18th Fructidor ; and when the constitution was framed in the year Tin., it was omitted, and thenceforth left to the pleasure of the government. The first consul, who had endured with much im- patience the attacks of the royalist journals, while he was merely a general of the army of Italy, began now to feel annoyed at the indiscretions committed by the press respecting his military operations, and the virulent attacks which it permitted itself to make on some foreign govern- ments. Applying himself specially to reconcile the republic with Europe, he feared that the bitter invectives of the republican press against the cabinets, particularly since the refusal of the over- tures made by France, would render vain all his efforts for an arrangement. The king of Prussia, in particular, had made a complaint against some of the French journals, and expressed his displeasure at their attacks. The first consul, in his desire to efface completely all traces of violence, and, moreover, unrestrained in regard to the liberty of the press by a firm and established public opinion, such as at this day exists, came to a resolution by which he suppressed a great number of journals, and pointed out those which should have the privi- lege of appearing. The journals allowed to remain were thirteen in number. These were, the Moni- teur Unmrsel, the Journal des Debats, the Journal de Paris, the Bien-informe, the Publicise, the Ami des Lois, the Clef du Cabinet, the Citoyen Franfais, the Gazette de France, the Journal des Hommes Libres, the Journal du Soir, the Journal des Defenseurs de la Patrie, the Decade Philoso- phique. These favoured journals moreover received notice, that whichever of them should publish articles against the constitution, or the armies, their glory or their interests, or promulgate in- vectives against foreign governments, the friends or allies of France, would be immediately suppressed. This measure, which now-a days would appear so extraordinary, was received without murmur or surprise, so true is it that the value of things depends on the spirit of the times. The votes required from the citizens on the subject of the new constitution were taken and counted, and the result of the casting up com- municated to the senate, the legislative body, and the tribunate by a message from the consuls. No one of the former constitutions had been accepted by so great a number of suffrages. In 1793, for the constitution of that epoch, there had been given one thousand eight hundred suf- frages in its favour, eleven thousand against it ; in 1 795, for the constitution under the directory, one 1SOO. Mnrch. Funeral ceremony in honour of Washington. GOVERNMENT OF THE INTERIOR. Eulogium by De Fontanes. 63 million fifty-seven thousand suffrages in its favour, and forty-nine thousand against it. On this occa- sion more than three millions of voters presented themselves, of whom three millions voted in favour of the constitution, arid only one thousand five hundred opposed it 1 . It is true, that such empty formalities have no im- port with thinking men : it is not from such vulgar and often counterfeited demonstrations, but from its moral aspect, that we form a judgment of the feeling of society ; yet the difference in the number of the voters bore, in this instance, an incontes- table signification, and proved, at least, how general was the sentiment which called for a strong and restorative government, competent to give assu- rance of order, victory, and peace. Before departing for the army, the first consul decided upon an important step : he established himself at the Tuileries. With the disposition of some minds to see in him a Caesar or a Cromwell, whose destiny it was to terminate a reign of anarchy by one of absolute power, this taking up his abode in the palace of the kings, was a step of boldness and delicacy, not because of the resistance it might provoke, but from the moral effect which it might perhaps produce. The first consul caused this to be preceded by an imposing and well-imagined ceremony. Wash- ington had just died ; and the decease of this illus- trious personage, who had filled with his glory the close of the last century, formed a subject of regret to all the friends of liberty in Europe. The first consul, judging that some manifestation on this subject would be opportune, addressed to the army the following order of the day : " Washington is dead! That great man fought against tyranny, and consolidated the independence of his country. His name will be always dear to the people of France, as well as to all free men of the two worlds, and especially to the soldiers of France, who are fighting, like him and the soldiers of America, for equality and liberty." Ten days of mourning were directed in, conse- quence, which consisted in all the colours of the republic being hung with black crape ; nor did the first consul stop here. He directed a fete, at once simple and noble, to be got up in the church of the Invalides, a church named, in the fugitive nomenclature of the time, the temple of Mars. The colours taken in Egypt had not yet been pre- sented to the government. General Lannes was charged to receive them on this occasion, by direc- tion of the minister of war, under the magnificent dome raised by the great king for his aged warriors. On the 9th of February or 20th Pluviose all the authorities being assembled at the luvalides, gene- neral Lannes presented to the minister of war, Berthier, ninety-six flags, taken at the Pyramids, at Mount Tabor, and at Aboukir ; and pronounced a brief and martial harangue, to which Berthier responded in the same style. The latter was seated between two invalids, each a hundred years old, and had in front of him a bust of Washington, 1 The exact numbers were : in 1793, 1,801, SIS in favour, and 11,610 against; in 1795, 1,057,390 in favour, and 49,955 against; in 1800, of 3,012,569 voters, 3,011,007 in favour, and 1562 against. over-shadowed by a thousand flags, won from Europe by the armies of republican France. Not far from this spot a tribune was erected, and this was ascended by one of the proscribed, who owed his liberty to the policy of the first consul. This was De Fontanes, a pure and bril- liant writer, the last who made use of that French language, once so perfect, but which in the eighteenth century has gone into the abyss of the past. De Fontanes, in studied and profound lan- guage, pronounced the funeral oration of the hero of America. He celebrated the warlike virtues of Washington, his valour, his wisdom, his disin- terestedness ; he placed far above the military genius, whose knowledge is that of gaining victories, the genius which can restore, which knows how to put an end to civil war, to close the wounds of a country, and give peace to the world. By the side of the shade of Washington he evoked those of Turenne, of Catinat, and of Conde ; and speak- ing after a figure, in. the names of these great men, he' gave utterance to encomiums which were as full of noble spirit, as they were replete with lessons of wisdom and prudence. " Yes," he exclaimed at the close of his speech, " yes, thy counsels shall be attended to, Wash- ington, warrior, legislator, citizen without reproach ! He who, while yet young, surpasses thee in war, like thee, shall close, with his triumphant hands, the wounds of his country ; soon we have assurance in his will, and his genius for war, should it unhappily be necessary, soon shall the hymn of peace resound in this temple of war ; then shall one universal sentiment of joy efface the memory of all injustice and oppression, then may even the oppressed forget their wrongs, and look forward with confidence to the future. The applause of every age will accompany the hero who confers this blessing upon France, and upon that world which she has too long thrown into commotion." At the close of this discourse, black crape was attached to all the colours, and the French repub- lic was considered to be in mourning for the founder of the American republic, as monarchs put them- selves in mourning for each other. And what was there wanting in this ceremony that was present to those funeral scenes where Louis XIV. came to listen to an eulogium on one of his warriors, from the lips of Fl&hier or of Bossuet ] Certainly not the grandeur of the oc- casion or the men, for the speech was of Wash- ington, in the presence of Bonaparte, and delivered in the midst of men who had seen a Charles I. ascend the scaffold, and even crowned women fol- lowing him there. The words Fleurus, Arcola, Ri- voli, Zurich, the Pyramids, could at that time be pronounced ; and those magnificent words would assuredly shed as great a lustre on the discourse as those of Dunes and Rocroy ! What then was want- ing in this ceremony to make it completely great I There wanted what the greatest of men could not bring there, there wanted especially religion ; not such as men labour to affect, but what they really feel, and without which a funeral is but a cold solemnity: there wanted also the genius of Bossuct; for there is a greatness which comes not again in nations, and if Turenne and Conde" have had their successors, Bossuet has not : there wanted, lastly, a certain sincerity; for this homage to a hero, 54 The consuls resolve to occupy the Tui- leries. TRIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. Their installation. Household of the palace. 1800. March. renowned especially for the disinterestedness of his ambition, was too visibly an affectation ; yet let us not believe, with the vulgar crowd of thinkers, that all in this instance was mere hypocrisy ; doubtless there was some, but there were also the ordinary illusions of the time, ay, and of all times ! Men cheat themselves oftener than they cheat others. There were many Frenchmen, who, like tne Romans under Augustus, believed still in the republic, because they heard its name diligently pronounced ; and it is by no means certain, that he who directed this funeral ceremonial, that even Bonaparte did not deceive himself in celebrating I Washington, and that he did not imagine, that it was possible to be the first man in France as in America, without becoming a king or an emperor This ceremony was the prelude to the installa- tion of the three consuls at the Tuileries. The necessary repairs had been for some time going on at this palace ; the traces left there by the con- vention were effaced, and the red caps, which it had placed in the centre of the gilded ceilings, removed. The first consul was to occupy the I apartments on the first floor, the same as the royal family, now reigning, occupy for evening parties. His wife and her children were to be lodged over him, in the entresol. The gallery of Diana was, as now, the vestibule which leads to the apartment of the head of the state. The first consul caused it to be decorated with busts, representing a suc- cession of great men, and endeavoured to mark in his choice of these busts the bent of his own genius ; there were Demosthenes, Alexander, Han- nibal, Scipio, Brutus, Cicero, Cato, Csesar, Gustavus Adolphus, Turenne, Conde", Duguai-Trouin, Marl- borough, Eugene, Marshal Saxe, Washington, Fre- derick the Great, Mirabeau,Dugommier,Dampierre, Marceau, Joubert, in a word, warriors and orators, the defenders of liberty and conquerors, heroes of the ancient monarchy and of the republic, lastly, four generals of the revolution, who had fallen on the field. To assemble round him the glories of every time, of every country, in the same manner as he desired to assemble round his government men of all parties, such was on every occasion the inclination he loved to manifest. But he was not to occupy the Tuileries alone. His two colleagues were to reside there with him. The consul Lebrun was lodged in the pa- vilion of Flora. As for the consul Cambace'res, who ranked with the consul Lebrun, he refused to take up his quarters in the palace of the kings. This personage, a man of consummate prudence, possibly the only man of his time who did not give himself up to any illusion, remarked to his col- league Lebrun, " We must not go and settle our- selves in the Tuileries ; it is not at all suitable for us ; and, as for me, I shall not go. Bonaparte will soon want to live there by himself, and we shall have to go out ; it is better not to go in at all." Nor did he go, but had a handsome house given him in the Place du Carrousel, which he kept as long as Napoleon kept the empire. When all was in order, and some days after the funeral ceremony at the Invalides, the first consul resolved to take possession publicly of the Tuileries, and did so in great state. On the 19th February, the 30th Pluvidse, he left the Luxembourg to repair to his new palace, pre* ceded and followed by an imposing cortege. The fine regiments which had passed from Holland to La Vende'e, from La Vende"e to Paris, and which were about to render themselves illustrious for the hundredth time on the plains of Germany and Italy, led the way under the command of Lannes, Murat, and Bessieres. Next came, in carriages (almost all of them hired), the ministers, the coun- cil of state, and the public authorities ; lastly, in a splendid carriage, drawn by six white horses, the three consuls themselves. These horses were es- pecially appropriate, from the circumstance of their having been presented to Bonaparte by the em- peror of Germany, on the occasion of the peace of Campo-Formio. He had also received from the same prince a magnificent sabre, which he took care to wear on this day. He had thus about him all that recalled to mind the warrior and peace- maker. The crowd collected in the streets and on the quays leading to the Tuileries greeted his pre- sence with loud cheers. These acclamations were sincere, for in him they hailed the glory of France and the commencement of her prosperity. On its arrival at the Carrousel, the carriage of the consuls was received by the consular guard, and had to pass between the two guard-houses, erected the one on the right, the other on the left of the court- yard of the palace. On one of these yet remained this inscription, "ROYALTY is ABOLISHED IN FRANCE, AND SHALL RISE UP NO MORE." On entering the court-yard, the first consul mounted a horse, and passed in review the troops drawn up in front of the palace. When he came in front of the colours of the 96th, the 43rd, and the 30th demibrigades, all blackened as they were with smoke, and torn by balls, he saluted them, and was saluted in his turn by loud huzzas from the soldiers. Having gone through the ranks, he took up a position in front of the pavilion of Flora, and saw them defile before him. Over his head, in the balcony of the palace, were the consuls, the principal authorities, and, lastly, his own family, who now began to hold a rank in the state. The review over, he proceeded to his apartments, where the minister of the interior presented to him the civil authorities ; the minister of war, the mili- tary authorities ; and the minister of marine, all the officers of the navy then in Paris. In the course of the day entertainments were given at the Tuileries and at the houses of the ministers. The service of the consular palace was regulated as follows : Benezech, a councillor of state, and formerly minister of the interior, was charged with the general administration of this palace. The aids-de-camp, and especially Duroc, were to do the honours, in place of that multitude of officers of every kind, who ordinarily throng the vast apartments of European royalty. Every fort- night, on the 2nd and 17th of each mouth, the first consul received the diplomatic corps. Once in the decade en different days but at certain fixed hours, he received the senators, the members of the legislative corps, the tribunate, and the tribunal of cassation. Functionaries desirous of an audience had to address themselves to the ministers of their department, to be presented. On the 2nd Ventose or 24th February, two days after his installation at the Tuileries, he gave audience to the diplomatic 1800. March. Preparations for war. ULM AND GENOA. Errors of the Austrian government. The archduke Charles. 68 body. Surrounded by a numerous staff, and with the two consuls at his side, he received the envoys of the states who were not at war with the republic: having been introduced by Be"uezech, and pre- sented by the minister for foreign affairs, they delivered their credentials to the first consul, who handed them to the minister, somewhat in the manner of a sovereign in a monarchical government. The foreign agents who figured in this audience were M. de Musquiz, ambassador of Spain ; M. de Sandoz-Rolliu, minister of Prussia ; M. de Schini- melpenniuck, ambassador from Holland ; M. de Serbelloni, the envoy of the Cisalpine republic ; and lastly the charges d'affaires of Denmark, of Sweden, of Switzerland, of Hesse-Cassel, of Rome, of Genoa, and others. (JUoniteur, 4 Ventdse, year vin.) After this presentation the different ministers were presented to madamo Bonaparte. Every five days the first consul passed in review the regiments marching through Paris on the route to the frontiers. It was here that he could be seen by the troops and the multitude, who were ever eager to run after him. Thin, pale, stooping on his horse, he impressed and interested them by a severe and melancholy beauty, and by an ap- pearance of ill-health, which began to occasion much anxiety; for never was the preservation of any existence so much to be desired as his. After these reviews the officers of the troops were admitted to his table. To these repasts, where reigned a decent luxury, were invited also the foreign ministers, the members of the assemblies, the magistrates, and the functionaries. There were not yet at this nascent court either ladies of honour or chamberlains. The tone of it was severe, but yet somewhat refined : it purposely avoided the usages of the directory, under which a ridiculous imitation of antique costume, united to a disso- luteness of manners, had banished all dignity from the external representation of the government. Silence was observed, and men regarded and fol- lowed with their eyes the extraordinary personage who had done such great things, and who gave hope of still greater. They waited his questions, and replied to them with deference. The day which followed his establishment at the Tuileries, Bonaparte, while going over the palace with his secretary De Bourrienne, said to him, " Well, Bourrienne, here we are at the Tuileries ! and we must now stop here." BOOK III. ULM AND GENOA. PREPARATION'S FOR WAR FORCES OF THE COALITION IN 1800. ARMIES OF THE BARON DE MELAS IN LIGURIA, OF MARSHAL KRAY IN 8WABIA. AUSTRIAN PLAN OF CAMPAIGN. IMPORTANCE OF SWITZERLAND IN TBIS WAR. PLAN OF BONAPARTE. HE RESOLVES TO MAKE USE OF SWITZERLAND TO COME DOWN ON THE FLANK OF KRAY, AND IN THE REAR OF MELAS. WHAT PART HE INTENDED FOR MOREAU, AND WHAT FOR HIMSELF. CREATION OF THE ARMY OF RESERVE. INSTRUCTIONS TO MASSENA. COMMENCEMENT OF HOSTILITIES. THE BARON MELAS ATTACKS THE ARMY OF LICURIA ON THE APENNINES, AND DIVIDES IT INTO TWO PARTS, THE ONE OF WHICH IS DRIVEN BACK ON THE VAR, THE OTHER ON GENOA. MASSENA BEING SHUT UP IN GENOA PREPARES FOR AN OBSTINATE DEFENCE THERE. A DESCRIPTION OF GENOA. HEROIC ENGAGEMENTS OF MASSENA. THE FIRST CONSUL URGES MOREAU TO SET ABOUT COMMENCING OPERATIONS IN GERMANY, TO BE ABLK THE SOONER TO SUCCOUR MASSENA. PASSAGE OF THE RHINE AT FOUR POINTS. MOREAU SUCCEEDS IK UNITING THREE DIVISIONS OF HIS ARMY OUT OF FOUR, AND FALLS UPON THE AUSTRIAN'S AT ENGEN AND 8TOCKACH. BATTLES OF ENGEN AND MOZSSKIRCH. RETREAT OF THE AUSTRIAN'S ON THE DANUBE. AFFAIR OF ST. CVR AT BIBERACH. KRAY ESTABLISHES HIMSELF IN AN ENTRENCHED CAMP AT ULM. MOREAU MANOEUVRES TO DISLODGE HIM. MANY FALSE MOVEMENTS OF MOREAU, WHICH HAPPILY ARE ATTENDED BY NO BAD RESULTS. MOREAU SHUTS UP MELAS IN ULM, AND TAKES UP A STRONG POSITION IN ADVANCE OF AUGSBURG, INTENDING TO AWAIT THE EVENTS IN ITALY. A BRIEF ACCOUNT OF THE ACTIONS OF MOREAU. CHARACTER OF THAT GENERAL. AFTER all the earnest solicitations he had ad- dressed to Europe for peace solicitations hardly to be expected from a general covered as he was with glory, nothing was left to the first consul but to make war, for which he had been preparing during the whole of the winter of 1799 1800 (year vm). This war was at once the most legiti- mate, and the most glorious of all in those heroic times. Austria, all the while she observed in matters of form more moderation than England, had never- theless arrived at the same conclusion, and refused peace. The vain hope of preserving in Italy the advantageous position which she owed to the victories of Suwarrow, the English subsidies, the erroneous impression that France was exhausted of men and money, and could not furnish means for another campaign, but, above all, the fatal obsti- nacy of Thugut, who represented the war party at Vienna with as great a degree of prejudice as Pitt did in London, and who brought to this question much more of personal feeling than of true patri- otism ; all these causes combined, led the Austrian cabinet into committing one of the gravest political faults, that of not profiting by a good position to negotiate. It required a great degree of blindness to expect that the successes which it owed to the incapacity of the director)', it could again obtain in the face of a new government, already completely reorganized, active to a prodigy, and under the direction of the first captain of the age. The archduke Charles, who united with his true military talents much moderation and modesty, had pointed out the danger attached to a con- German princes subsi- 5(: di7ed The imperial armies. THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. Distribution of the troops of the coali- tion. Their plan. 1SOO. March. tinuance of the war, and the difficulty of making head against the celebrated adversary who was about to enter the lists. His only answer was the withdrawal of the command of the Austrian armies, by which they deprived themselves of the only general who was able to direct them with any chance of success. His disgrace was masked under the title of governor of Bohemia. The imperial army bitterly regretted this prince, even though there was given them as his successor baron Kray, who had greatly distinguished himself in the last Italian campaign. Kray was an officer of bravery, competency, and experience, and showed himself not unworthy of the command with which he was entrusted. To fill up the void left by the Russians in the ranks of the coalition, Austria, by the aid of sub- sidies from England, obtained a sufficiently large supply of forces from the states of the empire. A special treaty, signed on the 16th of March, by Mr. Wickham the British minister, with the elector of Bavaria, bound that prince to furnish a supple- mentary corps of twelve thousand Bavarians be- yond his legal contingent as a member of the empire. A treaty of the same kind, signed on the 20th of April, with the duke of Wurtemberg, procured another corps of six thousand Wurtem- bergers for the army of the coalition. Lastly, on the 30th April, the same negotiator obtained from the elector of Mayeuce a corps of from four to six thousand Mayen9ais on the same financial conditions. Beyond the expenses of recruiting, equipping, and maintaining their troops, England guarantied to the princes of the German coalition, not to treat with France without them, and pledged herself that their states should be restored to them, whatever might be the result of the war, making them promise in return not to listen to any pro- posal for a separate peace. Of these German troops the best were the Bavarians ; next to those came the Wurtem- bergers ; but the troops of Mayence were militia, without discipline or valour. Independently of these regular contingents, the peasantry of the Black Forest had been roused to arms by the terrible aceounts of the ravages committed by the French, who at that time caused much less devastation than did the imperial armies, on the cultivated plains of unhappy Germany. The imperial army of Suabia, all the auxiliaries included, amounted very nearly to one hundred and fifty thousand men, of whom thirty thousand were in garrison, and one hundred and twenty thousand present on active service. It was pro- vided with a numerous artillery, good, though in- ferior to that of France ; and, above all, with a superb cavalry, as is usual in the armies of Austria. The emperor had above one hundred and twenty thousand men in Lombardy under Melas. A great number of English ships assem- bled in the Mediterranean, and, cruising incessantly in the gulf of Genoa, supported all the operations of the Austrians in Italy. They were to transport an auxiliary corps consisting of English and emi- grants, already assembled at Mahon, and amount- ing, as was said, to twenty thousand men ; it was arranged that this corps should even be landed at Toulon, in case the imperial army, charged with the operations against the Apenniue frontier, should succeed in forcing the line of the Var. There had been a hope of a junction of some Russian troops with those of England, to be landed on the coast of France, for the purpose of exciting insurrections in Belgium, Britauy, and La Vendee; but an inaction on the part of Russia, beyond doubt voluntary, and the pacification of La Vendee, caused a failure of this plan, on which the allies had greatly counted. It was, then, a mass of three hundred thousand men, or thereabouts ; one hundred and fifty thou- sand in Suabia, one hundred and twenty thousand in Italy, and twenty thousand at Mahon, seconded by the marine power of England, which was to prosecute the war against France. Such a force, it must be confessed, would have been exceedingly insufficient against France, reorganized, and hi possession of all her resources : but against France just emerging from the chaos into which she had been cast by the weakness of the directory, it was a considerable force, and one with which great results might have been achieved, had the enemy known how to use it. It must be added, that this was the actual force, liable to very little deduction, since the three hundred thousand men who com- posed it were inured to hardships, and were al- ready upon the very frontier they were to attack ; a circumstance of importance, inasmuch as every army, at its first campaign, can with difficulty endure the early trials of war ; and if it has a long march to make before joining battle, grows less in number, in proportion to the distance it has to traverse. We have now to ascertain the distribution of the troops of the coalition, and the plan on which they were about to act. Kray, at the head of the one hundred and fifty thousand men under his command, occupied Suabia, taking up a position in the middle of the angle formed by the Rhine in that country, when after running from east to west, from Constance down to Basle, it turns sharply towards the north, running from Basle to Strasburg. In this position Kray, having Switzerland on his left flank, and Alsace on his right, could watch all the passes of the Rhine by which the French army might penetrate into Germany. He made no show of forcing the line of this river, and invading the territory of the republic; the part he had to play in opening the campaign, was to be of a less active kind. The commencing operations was reserved for the army of Italy, one hundred and twenty thousand strong, and already, in consequence of the advantages which it gained in 1799, almost at the foot of the Apennines. It was to blockade Genoa, to carry it if possible, then cross the Apen- nines and the Var, and show itself before Toulon, where the English and the emigrants of the south, under the command of general Willot, one of those proscribed in Fructidor, had arranged to meet the Austrians. Another invasion of that province of France which contained our greatest marine establishment, was so especially agreeable to the English, that it is to them we must, in great part, attribute this plan, that was afterwards so severely criticised. When the Austrian army of Italy, which, owing to the climate of Liguria, could com- mence the campaign before that of Suabia, should 1SOO. March. Description of the Alpe. ULM AND, GENOA. Importance of the neutrality of Switzerland. have penetrated into Provence it was supposed that the first consul would withdraw his troops from the Rhine to cover the Var, and that Kray would then have an opportunity for action. Switzer- land, when she found herself thus outflanked, and, as it were, strangled between two victorious armies, would fall, as a matter of course, without there being any necessity to renew against her the fruit- less efforts of the preceding campaign. The ex- ploits of Lecourbe and Masse'ua in the Alps had given Austria a strong distaste for any great ope- ration specially directed against Switzerland, and they were desirous to confine themselves to a mere observation as regarded that country. The ex- treme left of Kray was charged with this duty in Suabia; the cavalry of Me"las, useless in the Apennines, was to undertake the same duty in Lombardy. The plan of the Austrians consisted, then, of temporizing in Suabia, and carrying on the operations with all speed in Italy ; to advance on this side as far as the Var, and then, as soon as the French being drawn upon the Var should leave the Rhine unprotected, to cross the river, and thence advance in two great divisions, the one upon Basle, the other to the south by Nice, and so reduce, with- out attack, the formidable barrier of Switzerland. Practical judges of military operations have greatly blamed Austria for its neglect of Switzer- land, which allowed Bonaparte to open a way there for himself, and fall on the flank of Kray, and on the rear of Me"las. We believe, as will soon appear from the facts, that it was impossible for any plan to be quite certain in the presence of Bonaparte, and with the irreparable inconvenience of Switzerland being in the hands of the French. To form a just comprehension of this memorable campaign, and a. sound judgment on the plans of the belligerents, we must figure to ourselves ex- actly the position of Switzerland, and the influence which it must have on the military operations, especially at the point to which they had arrived. Towards the eastern frontier of France, and in the centre of the European continent, the Alps take their rise; whence stretching towards the east, they separate Germany and Italy, throwing from the one side the Danube and its tributaries, from the other the Po and all the rivers of which that noble stream is composed. That part of the Alps nearest to France forms Switzerland ; further on they constitute the Tyrol, which for ages has be- longed to Austria. When the Austrian armies are advancing to- wards France, they are compelled to ascend the valley of the Danube on one side, the valley of the Po on the other, being separated in two masses, acting on the long chain of the Alps. So long as they are in Bavaria and in Lombardy, these two masses can communicate across the Alps, by the Tyrol, which belongs to the emperor ; but when they reach Suabia, on the upper Danube, and Piedmont, on the upper Po, they find themselves separated one from the other, without the power of communication across the Alps; since Switzer- land, being independent and neuter, is usually to them forbidden ground. This neutrality of Switzerland is an obstacle which the policy of Europe has wisely placed be- tween France and Austria, to diminish the points of attack between those two formidable powers. Thus, if Switzerland be open to Austria, the latter can advance her armies, with a free communica- tion between them from the valley of the Danube to the valley of the Po, and menace the frontiers of France from Basle as far as Nice. This, a serious danger for France, would oblige her to be always in readiness from the mouths of the Rhine to those of the Rhone ; whereas, whilst the Swiss Alps are closed, she may concentrate all her forces on the Rhine, careless of attack from the south, seeing that no operation on the Var has ever been successful with the Imperialists, because of the length of the circuit. There is, then, a great advantage to France in the neutrality of Switzer- land. But it is not the less important to Austria, perhaps even more so ; in fact, if Switzerland be- came the theatre of hostilities, the French army can invade it the first ; and as its foot-soldiers are intelligent, agile, and brave, and as well adapted to a mountain warfare as to that of plains, it has every chance of being able to maintain itself there, as was proved in the campaign of 179J). If, in fact, the Alps are attacked by the great chain from the side of Italy, they oppose a resist- ance such as Lecourbe showed to Suwarow in the passes of St. Gothard; if attacked on the side of Germany, by the lower ridge, they oppose, behind their lakes and rivers, a resistance such as that of Masse'na behind the lake of Zurich, which ended in the famous battle of that name. Thus, when- ever the French army is master of Switzerland, it commands a very threatening position, and one of which it can take advantage to bring about results the most extraordinary, as we shall soon see in reciting the operations of Bonaparte. In fact, when two Austrian armies are the one in Suabia, the other in Piedmont, separated by the massive rocks of Switzerland, they have no means of com- munication between them; while the French, mak- ing their way by the lake of Constance on the one side, and the great Alps on the other, can throw themselves either on the flank of the army of Suabia, or the rear of the army of Italy. This danger it is impossible to avoid, whatever be the plan adopted, without going back for fifty leagues, by retrograding as far as Bavaria on the one side, and, on the other, to Lombardy. It was, then, necessary for the Austrians to do one of these things; either that, losing their advan- tages in their last campaign, they should abandon to us at one time both Suabia and Piedmont ; or that, refusing to make such sacrifices, they should endeavour to carry Switzerland by a main attack in which they could not hope for success, as it was to attack hi front an obstacle almost insurmount- able, before which they had already been baffled ; or, lastly, that they should divide themselves into two grand armies, as they did, being separated by Switzerland, which was thus placed on their flank and rear. They were thus enabled, it is true, by following this last course, to diminish to some extent one of their two armies for the purpose of increasing the other; to leave, for instance, .Mc-ias with but small means, sufficient merely to keep AlasKc'nu in check, and to raise the army of Suabia to two hundred thousand men ; or to do the contrary, by uniting their principal forces in Piedmont. But, in the one case, this was to desert Italy Italy, the only object and the so ardently 58 Erroneous views of the Austrians concerning the Freuch resources. TRIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. Vast plans of Bonaparte. desired prize of the war ; in the other, it was to abandon, without a battle, the Rhine, the Black Forest, and the sources of the Danube, and to shorten, besides, the road of the French to Vienna: it was, lastly, in both cases, to do that which was most to our advantage ; since, by bringing up either one of the two armies to the number of two hun- dred thousand men, the victory was given to that one of the two powers which had Bonaparte on its side ; for he was, in fact, the only general who could, at that day, command two hundred thousand men at one time. There was then no plan for Austria which could be perfectly sure of success, so long as the French were masters of Switzerland, which, to speak in passing, is a proof that the Swiss neutrality is a most important device for the interest of these two powers. It adds, in fact, to their means of defence, while it diminishes their means of offence ; that is, it gives to their safety what it takes from their powers of aggression. Nothing could be better conceived for the interests of a general peace. The Austrians then had little choice in taking their course; and whatever may be said, they took perhaps the only possible one, of deciding to tem- porize in Suabia, and carry on active operations in Italy, remaining separated by the obstacle of Swit- zerland, which it was impossible for them to dis- place. But there was even in this position, iuore than one manner of conducting their operations, and it must be acknowledged that they did not adopt the best, nor even cast a glance before them at the dangers with which they were menaced. Obstinate in believing the French armies ex- hausted ; not supposing that of Germany was capable of assuming the offensive and passing the Rhine in the face of the one hundred and fifty thou- sand Austrians posted in the Black Forest; think- ing still less that they could cross the Alps, without a road, and in the season of snow-storms ; not see- ing, moreover, the third army which might be tempted to cross them ; they gave themselves up to a confidence which proved fatal. In jus- tice to them, it must still be acknowledged, that most men would have been deceived as they were, since their security was based on obstacles appa- rently insurmountable. But experience soon dis- closed to them, that before such an adversary as Bonaparte, all security, though founded on barriers insurmountable, rivers, or mountains of ice, was deceitful, and might become fatal. France had two armies; that of Germany, which amounted, by the junction of the armies of the Rhine and Helvetia, to one hundred and thirty thousand men ; and that of Liguria, reduced to forty thousand at most. In the troops of Holland and La Vende"e she had the scattered and disjointed elements of a third army. None but a capacity for administration of the very highest order could bring this together in time, and, above all, unexpect- edly, at the point where its presence was required. These were the means which it was the plan of Bonaparte to employ as follows : Masse"na, with the army of Liguria, not aug- mented, but with fresh stores only of provision and ammunition, was ordered to maintain his position on the Apennines, between Genoa and Nice, and to maintain it like a Thermopylae. The army of Germany, under Moreau, augmented as much as possible, was to make pretended demonstrations on the banks of the Rhine from Strasburg to Basle, from Basle to Constance, as if about to pass over ; then to march rapidly forward in a parallel course with the river, ascend it to Schaffhausen, throw over it four bridges at the same moment, open at once on the flank of Kray, take him by surprise, drive him back in disorder on the upper Danube, outstrip him if possible, cut him off his road to Vienna, surround him if practicable, and cause him to suffer one of those memorable disasters of which there is not more than one example in the present age. If the army of Moreau did not succeed so far as this, it would at any rate drive Kray upon Ulm and Ratisbon, constrain him thus to descend the Danube, and separate him from the Alps, so that it would be out of his power to send succours in that direction. This done, it was ordered to detach its right whig towards Switzerland, to second there the perilous operation, the execution of which Bona- parte reserved for himself. The third army, called the reserve, the very elements of which could scarce- ly be said to exist, was to form itself between Geneva and Dijon, and await the issue of these first events, in readiness to succour Moreau if there was ne- cessity. But if Moreau succeeded, in one part at least of his plan, this army of reserve, marching under Bonaparte to Geneva, from Geneva to the Valais, joining there the detachment taken from the army of Germany, and next passing the St. Ber- nard over the ice and snow, was by a prodigy greater than that of Hannibal, to fall on Piedmont, take Melus in the rear, while he was occupied with the siege of Genoa, surround him, engage him in a decisive battle, and, if it won the victory, com- pel him to lay down his arms. Assuredly, if the execution did but correspond with such a plan, never had a finer conception re- flected honour on the genius of a soldier of ancient or modern days. But it is the execution only which gives their value to grand military combi- nations; for, deprived of this merit, they are no- thing but vain chimeras. The execution here lay in conquering an infinity of difficulties, in the reorganization of the armies of the Rhine and Liguria, in the creation of the army of reserve, in keeping the secret of its crea- tion and destination ; finally, in the double passage of the Rhine and the Alps, the second equal to the most extraordinary efforts ever attempted in the art of war. The first care of Bonaparte was especially to recruit the army. Desertion to the interior, sick- ness, and battle had reduced it to two hundred and fifty thousand men, a number scarcely credible at a time when France had to make head against a general coalition, were it not proved by authentic documents. Happily, these two hundred and fifty thousand men were seasoned warriors, all of them able to contend against an enemy double their number. The first consul had demanded one hun- dred thousand conscripts from the legislative body, and it had granted them with an enthusiasm truly patriotic. The war was so legitimate, so evidently necessary, after the rejection of the offers of peace, that merely to hesitate would have been criminal. But there was nothing of this kind to fear, and the eager haste of the legislative body and the tribunate amounted to enthusiasm. These one 1800. March. His appeal to the volunUerg. Important military reforms. ULM AND GENOA. Unfortunate state of the army of Liguria. hundred thousand young conscripts, combined with two hundred and fifty thousand old soldiers, would form the materials of an excellent army. The pre- fects newly appointed, and first arrived at their posts, impressed an activity on the recruiting department hitherto unseen. But these conscripts could not be with their regiments, drilled and ready to serve under the period of six months. The first consul adopted the plan of retaining in the in- terior the regiments which had been exhausted, and employing them as skeletons, which he filled up with the new levy. He moved, on the other hand, towards the frontier the regiments which were competent to the field, taking care to transfer, from the ranks of those which were to stop in the interior, to the ranks of those which were about to march to the field all the soldiers who were in a fit state for service. By so doing, he could scarcely muster two hundred thousand men to place im- mediately in line. But in powerful and competent hands these were sufficient. He appealed at the same time to the patriotic sentiment of France. Applying himself to the soldiers of the first requisition, whom the general discouragement, consequent on our reverses, had drawn back to their homes, he compelled by force to rejoin their regiments all those who had left them without permission ; he laboured besides to re- awaken the zeal of those v.-ho had regular furloughs. He tasked himself to arouse a military spirit among the young, whose imagination was inflamed by the name of Bonaparte. Greatly as the enthusiasm of the first days of the revolution had cooled down, the sight of the enemy on our frontiers reanimated all hearts ; and the succour which might possibly be again procured from the devotion of the volun- teers was by no means to be despised. To the attention bestowed on recruiting, Bona- parte added other useful reforms in respect to the administration and composition of the army. He first created inspectors of reviews, whose duty it was to keep account of the number of men present under arms, and to take care that the treasury did not pay for soldiers who were only present upon paper. In the artillery he made a change of very great importance. The carriages of the artillery were at that day under the conduct of drivers belonging to the waggon train, who not being under any restraint from a feeling of honour, like the other soldiers, cut the traces of their horses, at the very first danger, and fled, leaving their guns in the hands of the enemy. The first consul considered, that the conductor charged to bring a piece to the place of battle, was rendering a service as great :is the cannoneer charged to fire it off ; that he ran the same danger, and stood in need of the same moral motive the same honour. He therefore converted the drivers of the artillery in- to soldiers, wearing the uniform, and forming a portion of that arm. There were thus ten or twelve thousand horsemen who were to show as much zeal in bringing their guns up to the enemy, or rapidly carrying them off, as those whose duty it was to load, point, and fire them. This re- form had been only just made, and all its useful consequences were not developed until a later period. The artillery and the cavalry were thus in want if horses. The first consul having neither time nor means to make purchases, decreed a forced and extraordinary levy of every thirteenth horse. This was a hard but inevitable necessity. The armies were to provide themselves from their own vicinity in the first instance, and then, go further and further, from the surrounding pro- vinces. The first consul had sent to Masse'na what funds he had at his disposal, to succour the unhappy army of Liguria. From sixty thousand men, of which it was composed by the junction of the army of Lombardy with that of Naples, after the bloody battle of Trebia, it was reduced, by pri- vation, to forty thousand at the most, not muster- ing more than about thirty thousand fighting men. Corn, as it could not come either from Piedmont, which the Austrians occupied, or by the sea, which the English guarded, was very scarce. The un- happy soldiers had nothing for their support but the crops of the Alps, which, as every body knows, are next to nothing. They would not go into the hospitals where there was a want of the chief articles of food, and were to be seen along the road from Nice to Genoa, devoured by famine and fever, pre- senting the most pitiable of all spectacles, that of brave men left to die of want by the country they we defending. Masse'na, when furnished with the funds sent him by the government, made some purchases at Marseilles, bought up all the corn in that town, and sent it to Genoa. Unluckily, during this winter, the winds, as rigorous as the enemy, blowing contrary without cessation, prevented their arrival at Marseilles, and replaced in some sort the block- ade which the English could not keep up at that bad season. Nevertheless, as some cargoes suc- ceeded in getting in, the troops of Liguria had bread once more dealt out to them. Arms, shoes, some clothing, and hopes were sent to them. As for military energy, there was no need to inspire them with that ; lor never had France seen her soldiers endure such reverses with so much firmness. These conquerors of Castiglione, of Arcola, and of Rivoli had borne, without being staggered, the defeats of Cassano, of Novi, and of Trebia ; the temper they had acquired could not be changed by the strokes of fortune. Moreover, the presence of Bonaparte at the head of the government, and of Masse'na at the head of the army, would have put them in heart again, if there had been necessity. They wanted but food, clothing, and arms, to per- form the greatest services. In this respect the best that was in their power was done by the government. Masse'na, by some acts of severity, re-established discipline, which was shaken amongst them, and assembled above thirty thousand men, impatient to march once more under his orders on the road to fertile Italy. The first consul prescribed to this general an ably conceived plan for the conduct of his ope- rations. Three narrow passes lead across the Apen- nine from the inland side to the maritime : these are that of the Bocchetta, opening upon Genoa; that of Cadibona, upon Savona; that of Tende, upon Nice. The first consul enjoined Masse'na to leave only weak detachments in the pass of Tende, and that of Cadibona altogether just enough to watch them and to concentrate his force of twenty- five thousand or thirty thousand men upon Genoa. CO The army of the Rhine. TRIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. Character of its generals. 1800. March. Tliis town being strongly occupied, an invasion of the south of France became less probable, and in any case less to be feared ; since the Austrians would not be so rash as to advance beyond the Var upon Toulon and the mouth of the Rhone, with Massena left in their rear. Besides, Massena could, with his thirty thousand men in one body, fall upon any corps which was crossing the denies of the Apennines. It would be difficult for him, seeing the narrow and steep nature of the country, to meet with more than thirty thousand at one time. He had, then, the means of making head every where against the enemy. This excellent plan was unhappily not capable of execution but by a general who had the prodigious dexterity of the conqueror of Montenotte. For the rest, the first consul felt assured of having in Massena an obstinate defender of the heights of the Apennine, and of preparing employment for Melas, which would detain him in Liguria during all the time necessary for the skilful combinations of his plan for the campaign. Nevertheless, it must be acknowledged, that the army of Liguria was in some little degree treated as a sacrificed army ; not one man more was sent to it, only supplies, and, as respects these, no more than was just necessary. The principal efforts of the government were directed to another quarter, for it was in another quarter that the grand blow was to be struck. The army of Liguria was ex- posed to the risk of perishing, that others \night gain time to be victorious. Such is the stern fatality of war, which passes from one head to another, compelling these to die that those may live and triumph. The army to which the most special care was devoted was that, which, under the orders of Moreau, was destined to act in Suabia. All the men and materiel possible were sent there. The greatest efforts were made to ensure it a complete artillery, and large means of passage, that it might find itself in full possession of resources for crossing the Rhine on a sudden, and, if possible, at one point. Moreau, of whom men said the first consul was so jealous, was to have under his orders the finest and most numerous army of the republic, about one hundred and thirty thousand men, while Masse"na was to have thirty-six thousand, and the first consul forty thousand at the most. This was not, however, an empty compliment ad- dressed to the pride of Moreau. Such a distribu- tion of the forces had been decided upon the most serious mo.tives. The operation, whose object was to drive Kray upon Ulm and Ratisbon, was of the very highest importance to the general success of the campaign ; since, in the presence of the two powerful armies of Austria which were advancing upon our frontiers, it was necessary first to drive one off, before being able to cross the Alps to fall upon the rear of the other. The first ope- ration, then, must be carried out by decisive means, which placed its success beyond doubt. The first consul, with all his estimation of Moreau, esteemed himself still higher ; and if one of the two could dispense with great means, he thought tht he could do better without them than Moreau. The feeling that actuated him on this occasion is better in great affairs of state than generosity itself, it was a love of the public weal ; this he placed above all private interest, whether that of others or his own. This army of the Rhine was a superb one, though, like the other armies of the republic, it wore the tatters of privation. The few conscripts who had joined were just enough to give it the spirit of youth. It was composed of an immense number of veterans, who, under the orders of Pichegru, Kle'ber, Hoche, and Moreau, had con- quered Holland and the banks of the Rhine, had crossed full many a time this river, and had shown themselves on the Danube. It would be an in- justice to say that they were braver men than those of the army of Italy ; but they exhibited all the qualities of accomplished troops. They were prudent, sober, observant of discipline, well-drilled, and intrepid. The chiefs were worthy of the soldiers. The formation of this army into detach- ments, complete in every branch of the service, and acting in separate corps, had, by that means, developed in a greater degree the talents of the generals of division. These generals were men of a merit equal, yet different. There was Le- courbe, the most able officer of his time in moun- tain warfare Lecourbe, whose glorious name the echos of the Alps still repeat ; there was Riche- panse, who united with an audacious bravery a rare intelligence, and who to Moreau, soon after, rendered on the field of Hohenlinden the greatest service that a lieutenant ever rendered to his gene- ral ; there was St. Cyr, cold in disposition, but profound, a character of little social feeling, but endowed with all the qualities of a general-in- chief ; there was, lastly, the youthful Ney, whom his heroic courage, directed by a happy instinct of war, afterwards rendered popular in all the armies of the republic. At the head of these lieutenants was Moreau, a man of a slow mind, occasionally indecisive, but solid, and one whose indecisions ended in a wise and firm resolution as soon as he was face to face with danger. Practice had, to a singular extent, formed and extended his military glance. But while his warlike genius every day grew greater under the trials of war, his civil character weak, and open to every influence, had already succumbed, and would yet succumb still more, to the trials of politics/ which minds truly elevated alone soar above. For the rest, the un- happy passion of jealousy had not yet altered the purity of his heart, and corrupted his patriotism. From his experience, from his habit of command, his high renown, he was, after Bonaparte, the only man then competent to the command of one hun- dred thousand men. The details of the plan which the first consul had prescribed for him, consisted in entering into Suabia at a point which would allow him best to act on the extreme left of Kray, so as to outflank him, to cut him off from Bavaria, and to enclose him between the Upper Danube and the Rhine; in which case the Austrian army in Suabia was destroyed. To succeed in this, the Rhine was to be crossed, not at two or three points, but at one only, as near as possible to Constance ; an operation of singular boldness and difficulty, since it con- sisted in transporting across a river, and in the presence of an enemy, one hundred thousand men at one time with all their materiel: and it must be granted that, previous to Wagram, no general had 1800. March. Creation of the array of reserve. ULM AND GENOA. Its organization. fil passed a river under such an assemblage of circum- stances and with such resolution. It wanted also much address to deceive the Austrians as to the place chosen ; with great address, much bold- ness in the execution of the passage over; and, lastly, what is always necessary, great good for- tune. The first consul had directed the collecting together on the rivera flowing into the Rhine, es- pecially on the Aar, of a great quantity of boats, that three or four bridges might be thrown across at once, at a distance of a hundred fathoms from each other. It remained to find admission for these combinations into the cold and cautious mind of Moreau. After this attention to the troops of Liguria and Germany bestowed with unremitting zeal, the first consul applied himself to form, almost out of no- thing, an army which, under the title of the " army of reser\'e," afterwards accomplished the greatest achievements. That it might fulfil its object, it was necessary not only to create this force, but to do so without any one crediting the possibility of its being effected. It will be shown what mode Bonaparte took to obtain that double result. The first consul had found in Holland, and in the troops accumulated in Paris by the directory, the means to pacify La Vende"e in good season : and he also contrived to discover in La Vende'e, as soon as it was restored to peace, the necessary resources for creating an army, which, thrown on a sudden upon the theatre of military operations, might change the destiny of the campaign. In writing to general Brnne, who had the chief command in the west, he addressed him in these beautiful words, so well expressing hie own manner of operating, and that of other grand masters in the art of adminis- tration and of war : " Let me know if, indepen- dently of those five demi-brigades which I have requested from you by my last courier, you will be able to dispose of one or two more, on the condition of their being sent back in three months. We must resolve to stride over France as we did formerly over the valley of the Adige ; it is only bringing the decade into a day 1 ." Although the English must have felt a distaste for new expeditions upon the continent, since their adventure at the Texel, arrd more than all since the separation of the Russians from the coalition, the vast extent of our coasts, from the Zuyder-Zee to the gulf of Gascony, could not be abandoned without some means of defence; the pacification of La Vendee had been too recent. The first consul left in Holland a force, half French, half Dutch, to guard this valuable country, and gave the com- mand of it to Augereau. It was formed into divi- sions for active service, ready-armed and prepared to march. When it seemed certain that by the course of operations there was no descent to be feared, this force under Augereau's command was to march up the Rhine, and cover the rear of Moreau in Germany. Out of the sixty thousand men drawn from the coasts of Normandy and Britany, the first consul chose the weakest demi- brigades, and left them to watch the country of the insurrection. He reduced their strength yet further i From the DepSt de la Secretairerie d'Etat, 14 Vent6se, an vin. (5th March, 1800.) by sending to the army in actual service the sol- diers best capable of duty; thus rendering them fitter for receiving conscripts, whom they were to instruct, while they guarded the coast. He formed of these men five small encampments, uniting ca- valry, infantry, and artillery, ready to march at the first signal, and commanded by good officers. There were two of those encampments in Belgium, one at Liege, another at Maestricht, both designed to secure the country kept in disturbance by the priests, and, if required, to aid in the defence of Holland. Another of those camps was formed at Lisle, ready to fling itself upon the Somme and Normandy, a second at St. Lo, and a third at Rennes. The last was the most numerous, and numbered from seven thousand to eight thousand men ; the others from four thousand to five thou- sand, and all the camps together about thirty thousand. These would soon be doubled, at least, by the arrival of the conscripts, and all were in- tended to do the duty of police in the countries recently subdued, such as Belgium, and the pro- vinces of Normandy, Britany, and Poitou. The first consul ordered a search to be made for arms con- cealed in the woods, and began to form, through the attraction of high pay, three or four battalions out of the men who had contracted adventurous habits in the civil war, intending them for the army in Egypt. Then' leaders had residences assigned them at a dis- tance from the scene of civil war, and received pen- sions amply sufficient to maintain them in comfort. The arrangements completed, there remained about thirty thousand excellent soldiers out of sixty thousand, collected for the pacification of the interior of the country ; they were embodied in the demi-brigades which had suffered least. Some had returned to Paris after the operations were completed in Normandy against De Frotte" ; others were in Britany and La Vende'e. They were formed by the first consul into three fine war-divisions, two in Britany, at Rennes and Nantes, and one hi Paris. These divisions were to prepare them- selves for service with the utmost speed, providing themselves with such appointments as were at hand, and procuring the rest on then: march, by means which will be presently explained. They had orders to repair to the eastern frontier, with rapid " strides," to use the words of the first con- sul "as the army of Italy once strode over the Adige." Their arrival in Switzerland in the month of April was certain. There was yet another resource in the depots of the army of Egypt stationed in the south of France, which had never been able to forward recruits to their corps, it having been impossible for them to pass the sea in consequence of its being conti- nually watched by the English. Fourteen fine bat- talions ready for service -were drawn from those depots by adding a few conscripts to them. The order was given for them to march to Lyons, where they would be completed. This was a fourth and a capital division, capable of performing good service. The most difficult and longest task in the form- ation of an army is the organization of the ar- tillery. The first consul having resolved to form the army of reserve in the east, had in the dep6ts of Auxerre, Besanpon, and Brianjon, the means of collecting in men and appointments a force equal to sixty pieces of cannon. Two able artillery Measures taken by the first consul to con- TRIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. armyof reserve^ th& M^ch! officers, who were greatly attached to him, Mar- mont and Gassendi, were sent from Paris, with orders to get ready sixty pieces of cannon in the different depots, without saying where they were to be united or concentrated. It was necessary to point out some place where all these corps were to be collected together. If an attempt had been made to conceal the pre- parations by silence about them, it would have had a wrong effect, and spread an alarm. The first consul deceived the enemy by the very bustle of his preparations. In the Moniteur, a decree of the consuls was inserted by his orders, for the formation of an army of reserve at Dijon, to be composed of sixty thousand men. Berthier went post-haste to Dijon, for the purpose of commen- cing its organization, his duty now drawing less upon his time by the entry of Carnot upon the ministry of war. An exciting appeal was made to the old volunteers of the revolution who after one or two campaigns had retired to their homes, beseeching them to repair to Dijon. A small quantity of the munitions of war, and a few con- scripts, were sent there with much parade. The old officers despatched to that city gave the idea of being sent to commence the instruction of the skeleton battalions of conscripts. The newspaper writers, who were only permitted to interfere with military matters in the most circumspect mode, had full liberty to write what they pleased about the army at Dijon, and to detail in their columns whatever concerned it This was enough to attract all the European spies to that quarter, where there was no want of them, since they repaired thither in great numbers. If the divisions formed at Nantes, Rennes, and Paris, and the troops drawn from La Vende'e; and if the division formed at Toulon, Marseilles, and Avignon, with the depots of the army of Egypt; and the artillery prepared at Besan9on, Auxerre, and Brian9on, with the materials in their arsenals, had been united at Dijon, the secret of the first consul would have been out ; all the world would have believed in the existence of the army of reserve. But he took good care not to act in that manner. The divisions were sent towards Lau- sanne and Geneva by different roads, in such a way that the public attention was not particularly attracted to any point. They passed for reinforce- ments going to the army of the Rhine, which, being spread over the country from Strasburg to Constance, might well appear to be the point to which they were all proceeding. The muni- tions for the war, ordered from the arsenals of Auxerre and Besanyon, passed for supplemental artillery destined for the same army. Those col- lecting at Brianyon were in the same way supposed to be for the army of Liguria. The first consul sent a quantity of spirits to Geneva; but this did not indicate its real destination, since the German army of France had its base of operations in Swit- zerland. Four millions of rations of biscuit were ordered to be made in the departments on the banks of the Rhone, destined to feed the army of reserve, amid the sterility of the Alps ; and one million eight hundred thousand were secretly sent up the Rhone to Geneva, while two hundred thou- sand were ostentatiously sent down to Toulon, in order that it might be supposed they were intended for the naval service at that port. Lastly, the di- visions were marched slowly, and without fatiguing them, in the direction of Geneva and Lausanne. They had the half of March and the whole of April to complete the distance, receiving as they proceeded shoes, clothes, muskets, horses, and the necessaries of which they might stand in need. The first consul having arranged in his own mind the route which the troops were to follow, and having carefully made himself acquainted with the nature of whatever they wanted, sent to every place through which they were to march, sometimes one thing, and sometimes another, of such kinds as were necessary, taking care not to raise suspicion by too large a collection of stores at one place. The correspondence relating to these preparations was kept back from the war office, and confined between himself and the com- mander of the troops, being sent by trustworthy aids-de-camp, who travelled backwards and for- wards by post, saw every thing themselves, and did every thing immediately, possessing the irre- sistible order of the first consul, ignorant them- selves all the time of the general plan which they were carrying out. The real object, confined to the first consul, Berthier, and two or three generals of engineers and artillery, to whom it was absolutely needful to communicate the plan of the campaign, was kept a profound secret. None of them would betray it, because secrecy is an act of obedience that govern- ments obtain in proportion to the ascendancy which they possess. Upon this ground the first consul had no indiscretion to fear. The foreign spies who flocked to Dijon, seeing only a few conscripts, volunteers, and old officers, thought themselves wonderfully acute in discovering that there was nothing serious to be apprehended ; that the first consul evidently made all the stir to terrify Mdas, and prevent him from penetrating the Jura by the mouths of the Rhone, under the belief that he would find hi the south an army of reserve capable of stopping him. This was the comprehension of the business by such as deemed themselves ex- cellent judges ; and the English newspapers were soon filled with thousands and thousands of jests upon the subject. Among the caricatures designed on the occasion, was the army of reserve repre- sented by a child leading a wooden-legged invalid. The first consul desired nothing better than to be jested upon at such a moment. In the mean time his divisions were marching, and his warlike stores were preparing on the eastern frontier. In the beginning of May, an army formed in a mo- ment would be ready either to second Moreau, or to throw itself over the Alps, and change the face of events in that quarter. The first consul had not neglected the navy. After the cruise which had been made, during the preceding year, in the Mediterranean by Admiral Bruix, with the combined fleets of France and Spain, this fleet had entered Brest. It was com- posed of fifteen Spanish and about twenty French, in all, nearly forty sail. Twenty English men-of- war blockaded it at, the moment. The first consul availed himself of the first financial resources which he had succeeded in creating, to send some provisions and a part of the pay that was in arrear to this fleet. He urged it not to suffer itself to be 1800. March. Resistance of Moreau to the plan proposed. ULM AND GENOA. His own plan. Mediation of general Dessoles. blockaded, but if it had only thirty sail against twenty, to put to sea at the first moment, even if it were forced to give battle; and, if unable to keep at sea, to pass the straits, sail to Toulon, assemble there some vessels charged with stores for Egypt, and then go and raise the blockade of Malta and Alexandria. The way thus cleared, commerce would of itself victual the French garrisons on the coasts of the Mediterranean. Such were the attentions he directed to military affairs, at the same time that with Carabace'res, Sieyes, Talleyrand, Gaudin, and others, who shared in his labours, he was employed in the reorganiza- tion of the government, in re-establishing the finances, in creating a civil and judicial adminis- tration, and in negotiating with Europe. But it was not sufficient to conceive plans and prepare for their due execution ; it was necessary to im- print his own ideas on the minds of his lieutenants, who, though answerable to his consular authority, were not then so perfectly subordinate as they afterwards became, when under the title of "mar- shals of the empire " they obeyed him as emperor. The plan prescribed to Moreau more particularly, had upset his cold and timid head ; he was alarmed at the boldness of the operations he was ordered to perform. The country has been spoken of already in which he was about to operate. The Rhine, we have said, runs east and west from Constance to Basle, and turns to the north at Basle, passing by Brisach, Strasburg, and Mayence. In the angle which it thus describes, is situated the tract called the Black Forest, a woody and mountainous region, intersected by defiles, which lead from the valley of the Rhine to that of the Danube. The French and Austrian army occupied, to a certain de- gree, the three sides of a triangle. The French army held two sides, from Strasburg to Basle, and from Basle to Schaff hausen. The Austrian army occu- pied one side only, or from Strasburg to Constance. The last had therefore the advantage of a more easy concentration. General Kray had his left, under the prince de Reuss, in the environs of Constance, his right in the defiles of the Black Forest, nearly as far as Strasburg, his centre at Donau-Eschingen, at the point where all the roads intersect, and thus could concentrate his army rapidly before the very spot where Moreau wished to cross the Rhine, either between Strasburg and Basle, or between Basle and Constance. This position was the subject of uneasiness to the French general. He feared that Kray, presenting his whole force at the place where he crossed, would render the passage impossible, perhaps disastrous. The first consul thought nothing of the kind, believing, on the contrary, that the French army would be able to concentrate itself with ease on the left flank of Kray and overwhelm it. To that end he wished, as we have already seen, that profiting by the river-curtain, or in other words, by the Rhine, which covered the French army, he should ascend that river on a sudden, should unite his forces be- tween Basle and Schaffhausen, and with boats pro- vided secretly in the tributary waters of that river, throw over four bridges the same morning, by which he might pass across eighty thousand or one hun- dred thousand men between Stockach and Donau- Eschingen, coming upon the flank of Kray, cut- ting him off from his reserves and his left wing, and driving him in confusion upon the upper Danube. The first consul thought that by this operation, executed with vigor and promptitude, the Austrian army of Germany might be destroyed. That which he proposed at a later period around Ulm, and that which he did the same year, by Mount St. Bernard, showed that this plan had nothing in it but what was practicable. He thought that the French army not having to move in an enemy's country, as it would ascend the Rhine by the left bank, having only to move without fighting, might steal two or three marches upon Kray, and be at the point of crossing before that general could assemble means sufficient to prevent it. This was the plan that troubled so much the mind of Moreau, little habituated to such bold combinations. He was fearful that Kray, learning his object time enough, would bring down the mass of the Austrian army to encounter him, and drive the French into the Rhine. Moreau preferred to avail himself of the bridges already existing at Strasburg, Brisach, and Basle, to pass in several columns over to the right bank. In this manner he should divide the attention of the Austrians, and drive them principally towards those defiles of the Black Forest which were correspondent to the bridges of Strasburg and Brisach ; then, after having lured them into the defiles, he proposed to steal away of a sudden, pass parallel with the Rhine those of his columns that had crossed the river, and post himself before Schaffhausen to cover the passage of the rest of the army. This plan of Moreau was not destitute of merit, nor was it without serious inconveniences. Although it might tend to the escape of the danger following a passage in one place executed with the whole body of the army, it had, by dividing the operation, the inconvenience of dividing his forces, of throw- ing upon an enemy's territory two or three de- tached columns, and of making them perform a hazardous flank march as far as Schaffhausen, where they would have to cover the last and most dangerous passage of the river. Lastly, the plan had the disadvantage of giving few or no results, because it did not throw the French army entire and at one time upon the left flank of Kray, which would have been the only means to overthrow the Austrian general and cut him off from Bavaria. It is a spectacle well worthy of historical regard, to see two men, thus opposed to each other on a question of great moment, bringing out so well their differences in spirit and character. The plan of Moreau, as it often happens with the plans of second-rate men, had only the appearance of pru- dence. It might succeed in the execution ; for it is right to repeat continually that the execution redeems all sometimes causing the best combina- tions to fail, and the worst to succeed. Moreau persisted in his own idea. The first consul wishing to act upon him by persuasion, through an inter- mediate agent, carefully selected, summoned gene- ral Dessoles to Paris. This officer was chief of the staff in the army of Germany, and possessed an acute, penetrating intellect, well worthy of serving as a link between two susceptible and powerful men, having that desire to conciliate his superiors not always found in subordinate officers. The first consul sent for him to Paris about the middle of March, the end of Yeutose, and kept 64 The first consul yields to Moreau. TRIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. Positions of the army in Liguria. 1800. April. him there some days. Having explained his ideas to general Dessoles, he made him perfectly under- stand them, and prefer them even to those of Moreau. The general did not in consequence less persist in advising the first consul to adopt the plan of Moreau; hecause, in his opinion, it was better to leave the general who was to act, to do so agreeably to his own character and ideas, especially when he is worthy of the command with which he is entrusted. " Your plan," said general Dessoles to the first consul, " is grander, more decisive, probably more certain ; but it is not adapted to the genius of him who is to execute it. You have a mode of making war which is superior to any other, and Moreau has his, which, without doubt, is inferior to yours, but yet excellent. Let him act; he will act well ; slowly, perhaps, but surely ; and he will obtain all the results which you will require for the success of your general combinations. If, on the other hand, you impose your ideas upon him, you will annoy him ; you will oifend him, and will obtain nothing from him by the desire of obtaining too much 1 ." The first consul, as deeply versed in the know- ledge of men as in his own profession, appreciated the soundness of the advice given by general Dessoles, and yielded. " You are in the right," he observed; " Moreau is not capable of catching and executing the plan which I have conceived. He may do as he sees fit, provided he will throw Kray upon Ulm and Ratisbon, and then send back his left wing in seasonable time upon Switzerland. The plan which he does not understand, and dares not execute, I will carry into effect in another part of the theatre of war. What he will not dare on the Rhine, I will do on the Alps. He may possibly, by-and-by, regret the glory which he abandons to me." Proud words, of deep meaning, containing a whole military prophecy, as it will soon be easy to discover. The mode of crossing the Rhine thus left to Moreau himself, there still remained another point to arrange. The first consul had a strong desire that the right wing, commanded by Lecourbe, should remain in reserve on the Swiss territory, ready to second Moreau if he required it, but not to penetrate into Germany unless its presence there was indispensable, in order that it should not have to retrograde for the purpose of co-operating in the Alps. Still he knew how difficujt it is to take from a general-in-chief a detachment of his army, when operations have commenced. Moreau in- sisted ou having Lecourbe, engaging to send him back to Bonaparte as soon as he had driven Kray upon Ulm. The first consul agreed to his request, determined to concede every thing to promote harmony ; but he requested that Moreau should sign an agreement, by which he pi-omised, after driving back the Austrians upon Ulm, to detach Lecourbe, with twenty thousand or twenty-five thousand men, towards the Alps. This agreement was signed at Basle between Moreau and Berthier, the last being considered as acting officially in his character of general-in-chief of the army of reserve. General Dessoles left Paris, after having settled completely every point of discussion with tlie first 1 In my youth I had the honour to receive this recital from the mouth of general Dessoles himself. consul. All was in accord, and every thing ready to open the campaign, and it was of importance to commence operations immediately, in order that Moreau having executed as early as possible that part of the plan arranged in which he was con- cerned, the first consul might be able to throw himself on the other side of the Alps, and disen- gage Masse"na before he was crushed, fighting with only thirty-six thousand men against one hundred and twenty thousand. The first consul wished that Moreau should commence operations by the middle of April, or at the latest by the end of that month. His wishes were vain ; Moreau was not ready ; he had neither the activity nor the mind capable, out of its own resources, of supplying the insufficiency of his means. While he thus deferred commencing operations, the Austrians, faithful to their plan of taking the initiative in Italy, flung themselves upon Masse"na, and commenced a strug- gle with that general, which the disproportion of strength between the two renders worthy of mi- mortal remembrance. The army of Liguria at most numbered about thirty-six thousand men, in a fit state for active service, distributed in the following manner : Thirteen or fourteen thousand men under gene- ral Suchet formed the left of that army, occupying the Col de Tende, Nice, and the line of the Var. A detached corps from this wing, of about four thou- sand men, under the orders of general Thureau, was posted on Mount Cenis. Consequently there were eighteen thousand men engaged in guarding the French frontier, from Mount Cenis to the Col de Tende. Ten or twelve thousand men under general Soult, forming the centre of the army, defended the two principal passes of the Apennines, that which coming down from the Upper Bormida, descends on Savona and Finale, and that of the Bocchetta, which comes down upon Genoa. About seven or eight thousand men, under the intrepid Miollis, kept Genoa, and a pass which opens near that city on the side opposite to that of the Bocchetta. Thus the second moiety of this army, in number about eighteen thousand men or nearly, under the generals Soult and Miollis, defended the Apennines and Liguria. The danger of a separa- tion between these two portions of the army, that occupying Nice, and that which held Genoa, was very evident. These thirty-six thousand French had opposed to them Melas, the Austrian general, witli one hundred and twenty thousand men, refreshed, well- fed, and re-victualled, owing to the abundance of everything in Italy, and to the subsidies which Aus- tria received from England. General Kaim, with the heavy artillery, the cavalry, and a body of in- fantry, in all thirty thousand men, had been left in Piedmont to serve as a rear-guard and watch the approaches from Switzerland. Melas, with seventy thousand men, the greater part consisting of infan- try, had advanced towards the openings in the Apennines. Besides his superiority in numbers, he had the advantage of a concentrical position ; Mas- se"ua was obliged to occupy thirty thousand men in guarding the semicircle, forty leagues in extent, formed by the maritime Alps and the Apennines, from Nice to Genoa, the surplus of his force occu- pying Mount Cenis. Melas, on the contrary, placed 1800. April. Bonaparte's instructions to Masiena. ULM AND GENOA. Commencement of hostilities. The French line divided. on the other side of the mountains, in the centre of this semicircle, between Coni, Ceva, and Gavi, had but a short distance to go before he could reach any point of his opponent's line which he might choose to attack. He was also able to make false demonstrations upon any one of these points, and then, rapidly moving upon another, act against it with his whole force. Masse'na, menaced in this way, Irad no less than forty leagues to march from Nice to the succour of Genoa, or from Genoa to succour Nice. It was upon considering all these circumstances that the first consul grounded the instructions he had given to Masse'na, instructions already alluded to in a general manner, but which it is now neces- sary to re-state in a more particular way. Three roads, adapted for artillery, led from one side of the mountains to the other : that which by Turin, Coni, and Tende, opened upon Nice and the Var ; that which ascending the valley of the Bormida conducted by the defile of Cadibona to Savona ; lastly, that of the Bocchetta, which by Tortona and Gavi descended on the left of Genoa into the valley of Polcevera. The danger to be appre- hended was, lest Melas should be seen bringing down his whole force by the second of these open- ings, and thus, by cutting the French army in two parts, fling one half upon Nice, and the other half upon Genoa. Seeing this hazard, the first consul wrote Masse"ua instructions in a correspondence displaying admirable foresight, under date of the 5th and 12th of March, instructions of which the following is the substance : " Take care not to have a line too extended. Keep few men upon the Alps and the Col de Tende; the snow will defend you there. Leave detachments near Nice and in the surrounding forts. Have four-fifths of your troops at Genoa and its environs. The enemy will march upon your right towards Genoa, upon your centre towards Savona, very probably upon both points at once. Refuse one of the two attacks, and fling yourself with your whole force upon one of the enemy's columns. The ground will not allow him to avail himself of his superiority in cavalry and artillery ; he can only attack you with his in- fantry ; yours is infinitely superior to his, and, favoured by the nature of the ground, that will supply the place of numbers on your side. In this rugged country, if you manoeuvre well, you will be able with thirty thousand men to beat sixty thou- sand. To carry into Liguria sixty thousand infan- try, MtJlas must have ninety thousand, which sup- poses a total army of at least one hundred and twenty thousand ; Melas has neither your activity nor your talents ; you have no reason to fear him. If he appear towards Nice, while you are at Genoa, let him march on ; he will not dare to advance, while you are in Liguria, ready to fall upon his rear, or upon the forces he will have left behind in Piedmont. " Mure thau one cause operated to prevent Mas- seua from following this sagacious advice. First, he was surprised by a sudden irruption of the Aus- trian^, before he had time to perfect the disposal of his troops and effect his definitive arrangements ; secondly, he had not sufficient provisions in Genoa, to concentrate his whole army there. Fearful of consuming those of which the city stood in need in case of a siege, he rather desired to secure the re- sources of Nice, which were much more abundant. Finally, Masse'na did not appreciate sufficiently the deep wisdom of the instructions of his superior, to disregard the real inconveniences of a concen- tration upon Genoa. Masse'na, on the field of battle, was, perhaps, the first of his contemporary gene- rals ; in character equal to the most resolute sol- dier of any age : but though he had a great deal of natural talent, the extent of his views by no means equalled his mental energy and the promp- titude of his visual glance. Thus, for want of tune, provisions, and a suffi- cient impression of the importance of the measure, he did not concentrate his forces upon Genoa with sufficient rapidity, and he was surprised by the Austrians. Melas opened the campaign on the 5th of April, or 15th Germinal, which was much earlier than it was expected active hostilities would be resumed. Melas advanced with seventy thou- sand or seventy-five thousand men, in order to force the chain of the Apennines. His lieutenants, Ott and Hohenzollern, directed twenty-five thou- sand men upon Genoa. Ott, with fifteen thousand ascending the Trebia, approached by the defiles of Scofiera and Monte-Creto, which open upon the right of Genoa. Hohcuzollern, with ten thousand men, threatened the Bocchetta. Melas himself, with fifty thousand, ascended the Bormida, and attacked simultaneously all the positions of what has been called above the " middle road," which led by Cadi- bona to Savona. His intention, as the first consul had foreseen it would be, was to force the French centre and separate general Suchet from Soult, who were in communication at this point. A violent struggle ensued, from the sources of the Tauaro and of the Bormida, as far as the scarped hill-summits that overlook Genoa. The Austrian generals, Melas and Elsnitz, carried on a fierce encounter with Suchet at Rocca-Barbena, Sette-Pani, Melogno, and Santo- Jacobo ; and with Soult at Montelegino, Stella, Cadibona, and Savona. The republican forces, profiting by the mountainous nature of the country, and covering themselves well by the rugged and broken character of the ground, combated with incomparable courage, and caused to the enemy a loss tliree times greater than they themselves sus- tained, by reason that their fire plunged into dense and deep masses of men ; but they were obliged to fight ceaselessly against numbers continually re- newed, and were worn out by fatigue at last, rather than beaten by the Austriaus. Suchet and Soult were constrained to separate, the first re- tiring upon Borghetto, the second upon Savona. As was easy to be foreseen, the French line was broken, one half of the Liguriaii army being thrown upon Nice, the other half compelled to shut itself up in Genoa. On the side of Genoa the success had been ba- lanced with tolerable equality. The attack of Ho- henzollern on the Bocchetta was made with too few troops to overcome the French, there being but ten thousand Austrians against five thousand French. The Austrians were repulsed by Gazan's division. On tile right of Genoa, towards the positions of Monte-Creto and Scoffers, which afford access to i the valley of Bisagno, general Ott, having beaten the division of MiolUs, who had but four thousand 1 men to oppose to his fifteen thousand, descended I the reverse side of the Apennines, and surrounding F cr, Description of Genoa. TRIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. Its defences. Measures 1800. of Massena. April. all the forts which cover the city, displayed the Austrian colours to the terrified Genoese. The English squadron at the same time hoisted the British flag. If the inhabitants of Genoa itself were patriots and partisans of the French, the peasantry of the valleys, attached to the aristocratic party, like the Calabrians of Naples were to queen Caroline, or the Vendeans in France to the Bourbons, rose at once at the sight of the soldiers of the coalition. The alarm-bell was rung in the villages. A certain baron, named D'Aspres, attached to the imperial service, and having some influence in the country, excited the revolt. In the evening of the 6th of April, the unfortunate people of Genoa, seeing the Austrian fires on the hills around them, and on the sea the flag of England, began to fear lest the oli- garchy, already full of joy, should again quickly establish its detestable power. But the intrepid Masse"na was among them. Se- parated from Suchet by the attack directed upon his centre he had still from fifteen thousand to eighteen thousand men ; and with such a force he could defy any enemy whatever to force the gates of Genoa in his presence. In order to understand perfectly the operations of the French general during this memorable siege, it is needful to describe the theatre where it hap- pened. Genoa is situated at the bottom of a beautiful bay, which bears its name, at the foot of a spur of the Apennine mountains. This spur projecting from north to south down to the sea, before it plunges in, separates into two ridges, one turning to the east, the other to the west, and thus forming an inclined triangle, of which the summit is in connexion with the Apennines, while the base rests upon the sea. It is at the base of this tri- angle, and be it understood, with the usual natural irregularity, that Genoa displays itself in long streets, lined with magnificent palaces. Both nature and art have done much to aid in its de- fence. On the side next the sea, two moles carried out in a direction that nearly cross the one with the other, form the port, and defend it against a naval attack. On the side of the land, a rampart with bastions surrounds the part of the city which is built upon and peopled. An outer rampart of great extent, and bastioned like the first, is carried along the heights, which, as before observed, de- scribes a triangular figure around the city. Two forts, disposed in terraces, one above the other, called the Spur and the Diamond forts, are placed at the apex of this triangular configuration of the hill summits, and cover with their fire the centre of the fortified works. But this was not all that had been done to keep an enemy at a distance. On turning the back to the sea, and regarding Genoa, the east will be on the right hand, and the west on the left. Two small rivers, the Bisagno on the right hand or east, and that of Polcevera on the left or west, bathe the two sides of the exterior ramparts. The Bisagno descends from the mountain heights of the Monte-Creto and of Scoffera, which must be passed when coming from the back of the Apen- nines in ascending the Trebi*. The side of the valley of the Bisagno which is opposite to the city is called Monte-Ratti, and presents several posi- tions from which much injury might be inflicted upon Genoa, if they were not occupied. Care had been taken, therefore, to crown them with three forts, namely, those of Quezzi, Richelieu, and St. Tecle. The valley of Polcevera, on the contrary, lying on the left of Genoa, offered no dominant position which it was necessary to oc- cupy in order to protect the city. A large suburb on the sea-shore, that of San Pietro d' Arena, pre- sented a mass of building useful and easy to defend. The fortifications of Genoa thus presented a tri- angle, inclined to the horizon about 15, being about nine thousand fathoms in extent, connected by its summit with the Apennines, its base washed by the sea, and bordered upon its two sides by the Bisagno on the east, and the Polcevera on the west. The Spur fort, and above that Fort Diamond, covered the summit. The forts of Richelieu, St. Tecle, and Quezzi prevented a destructive fire being poured from Monte-Ratti on this city of marble palaces. Such was Genoa then, and such were its de- fences, which art, time, and contributions imposed upon France have since greatly improved. Massena had still under his command about eighteen thousand men. If with such a garrison, in so strong a place, he had possessed a sufficiency of provisions, he would have been impregnable. It will be seen how much char-acter can effect in warfare towards repairing a fault in foresight and combination. Masse"na was resolved to oppose to the enemy a most energetic resistance, and he proposed imme- diately to execute two very important things ; the first was to drive back the Austrians who had pressed too closely upon Genoa beyond the Apen- nines ; the second was to effect a junction with Suchet by a combined movement with that general along the line of the Comiche. To execute his first design it was necessary that he should drive the Austrians from the Bisagno on the one hand, and from the Polcevera on the other, and that he should drive them by the Monte- Creto and the Bocchetta to the other side of the mountains, from whence they had come. Without the loss of a day, on the very morrow of their first appearance, being the 7th of April, or l?th Ger- minal, Massena sallied forth from Genoa, and traversed the valley of the Bisagno, followed by the brave divisions of Miollis, which ten days be- fore had been obliged to retire before the very superior force of general Ott. He was now re- inforced with a part of the reserve, and marched in two columns. That of the right, under general Arnaud, marched by the sea towards Quinto; that of the left, under Miollis, directed itself towards the declivities of Monte-Ratti. A third column, under general Petitot, followed, marching up the bottom of the valley of Bisagno, which winds at the foot of Monte Rat ti. The precision in move- ment of the three columns was such, that the fire of all three was heard upon every point at the same moment. General Arnaud by one slope, and general Miollis by another, forced their way with great vigour to the heights of Monte-Ratti. The presence of Masse"na himself, and the desire to revenge the surprise of the preceding day, ani- mated the soldiers. The Austrians were driven into the torrents, and lost all their positions. Ge- neral Arnaud marched on, following the mountain 1800. April. His success. He endeavours to unite with Suchet. ULM AND GENOA. Soult's struggle with Melas. 67 crest, and reached the extreme summit of the Apennines at the pass of Scoffera. Masse'na fol- lowed with some reserve companies, and descended into the valley of Bisagno, to join the column of general Petitot. The last thus reinforced repulsed the enemy upon every point, and, remounting the river, seconded the movement of Arnaud upon Scoffera. Precipitated into these tortuous valleys, the Austrians left Masse'na one thousand five hun- dred prisoners, and at their head the instigator of the revolt of the peasantry at Fonte-Buona, the baron d'Aspres. On entering Genoa in the evening, Masse'na was heartily welcomed by the patriotic Genoese, whom he had delivered from the sight of the enemy. Bringing with him as a prisoner the very officer whose speedy triumphant announce- ment had been before made to the population, it could not conceal its joy, and the commander of the French was received with loud acclamations, while the inhabitants provided litters to carry the wounded, and wine and broth for their refresh- ment, the citizens disputing the honour of receiving them into their houses. After this energetic action on the left, by far the most important to be performed, because upon that side alone the city was closely pressed by the enemy, Masse'na determined, after the respite he had obtained by his recent success, to make an effort on the left towards Savona, and thus to re- establish his communication with Suchet In order to secure Genoa from attack during his absence, he divided his forces into two bodies, the one on the right under Miollis, the other on the left under Soult. The corps of Miollis was to guard Genoa in two divisions. The division of Arnaud was to defend the east facing Bisagno, and that of Spital the west, facing Poleevera. The corps upon the left under Soult was ordered to take the field with the two divisions of Gardanne and Gazan. With this last force of about ten thousand men, Masse'na proposed to approach Savona, to open his commu- nication with Suchet, to whom he had secretly sent notice of his intention, with orders to attempt a similar movement simultaneously upon the same point. Gardanne's division proceeded by the sea shore, and that of Gazan along the crests of the Apennines, with the intention to induce the enemy, at the sight of the two separate columns, to divide his own forces. Manoeuvring with great rapidity directly afterwards upon ground of which he had a perfect knowledge, Masse'na intended, according to circumstances, to unite his two divisions in such a manner as to destroy, either on the heights of the Apennines or by the sea-shore, that division of the enemy which might be most exposed to his attack. Masse'na was in person with Gardanne's division, and confided that of Gazan to Soult. His design was to follow the coast by Voltri, Varaggio, and Savona ; his lieutenant Soult had orders to ascend by Aqua-Bianca and San Pietro del Alba, upon Sassello. On the 9th of April, in the m motion at once. They ascended the acclivity of the Mettenberg with unparalleled steadiness. The Austrians, at the sight of the French climbing the formidable position with such coolness, whence an army three times their number might have pre- | Kray retires upon Ulm. Grand results of the actio State of the two armies. Moreau's army about to be reduced. Carnoi " mission to Moreau. 1800. May. cipitated them into the marshes of the Reiss, were struck with astonishment and fear. Kray ordered a retrograde movement; but his troops did not execute the order as he intended they should do; for after some firing they abandoned the field of the Mettenberg, and finished in a disorderly flight, leaving to St. Cyr many thousand prisoners and immense magazines, which served the French army for a long time afterwards. Night stopped the pursuit. In the midst of the affair Moreau arrived; and, notwithstanding the coolness between him and St. Cyr, on the morrow, in presence of Carnot, the minister of war, he stated to him his high satisfaction at his conduct. Moreau, disembarrassed for a mo- ment from the mischief-making friends who sur- rounded him at head-quarters, could thus be just to a lieutenant who had fought and conquered in his absence and without orders. The French army completely victorious, the Austrians were no more able to resist, and it might now march forward without opposition. Kray had sent it is difficult to comprehend for what reason a detachment to defend the maga- zines of Memmingen. Memmmgen was in the route of Lecourbe. That place was taken, the de- tachment routed, and the magazines secured. This was on the 10th of May, or 20th Floreal. The llth and 12th, Kray definitively retired upon Ulm. Moreau continued his march in a long line, nearly perpendicular to the Danube. The 13th of May he was beyond the Iller, without encountering any serious resistance to the passage of that river. The right and the reserve were at Ungerhausen, Kell- miintz, Iller-Aicheim, lllertissen. 8t. Cyr was placed at the confluence of the Iller and Danube, across the Iller, occupying the bridge of Unter- kirchberg, and connecting himself with St. Suzanne, who was advancing along the left bank of the Danube. From the head-quarters of St. Cyr, where Key's division was placed, in the abbey of Wiblingen, the Austrian troops might be distinctly seen afar off, in their vast intrenched camp of Ulm. The two armies were now rejoined by all their detached corps. Kray had recalled to himself Kienmayer but a few days before, and afterwards Sztarray. Moreau, having close at hand the corps of St. Suzanne, was now in full strength. Both armies had sustained losses, but those of the Aus- trians were far more considerable than those of the French. They were estimated at thirty thousand men, killed, wounded, and prisoners. Upon this matter history is reduced to conjecture, because, on days of battle, generals always diminish their losses ; and when they want reinforcements from their governments, they constantly exaggerate the numbers of the dead, the sick, and the wounded. No one knows with perfect accuracy the total num- ber of soldiers really present under arms. Kray commenced the campaign with one hundred and ten or one hundred and fifteen thousand efficient men ; and reckoning thirty-five or forty thousand in fortresses, he could have now but eighty thou- sand at most, these worn out with fatigue, and completely demoralized. The loss of the French army was estimated at four thousand killed, six or seven thousand wounded or dead of fever, and some made prisoners ; in the whole, twelve or thirteen thousand rendered unfit for service, four or five thousand of whom might again return to duty after a little rest. This cal- culation reduces Moreau's active force for the mo- ment to ninety thousand men, or somewhat less. But he was soon about to part with a considerable detachment, consonant to an agreement with general Berthier at the opening of the campaign. It was stipulated in that agreement, that as soon as Kray was driven to the distance of eight or ten marches from the Lake of Constance, Lecourbe should fall back upon the Alps, to join the army of reserve. The position of Masse"na rendered the fulfilment of this engagement urgent ; and it was not any silly desire to check Moreau in the midst of his suc- cesses, that caused the demand to be made for the corps of Lecourbe, but the most legitimate of rea- sons that of saving Genoa and Liguria. The army of reserve, collected with so much labour, consisted of no more than forty thousand men inured to war. It needed a reinforcement in order to place it in a condition to attempt the extraordinary operations beyond the Alps in which it was about to be em- ployed. The first consul, impatient to act in the direction of Italy, and wishing at the same time to avoid offending Moreau, and yet to secure the due execu- tion of his orders, made choice of Carnot, the war minister himself, for that purpose, sending him to the head-quarters of the army of the Rhine, with the formal injunction to detach Lecourbe to- wards the St. Gothard. The letters accompanying this order were cordial in manner and irresistible in argument. The first consul well knew that it was not Lecourbe and twenty-five thousand men that would be sent to him; but if he obtained fifteen or sixteen thousand he would feel satisfied. Moreau received Carnot with chagrin; still he executed faithfully the orders which were brought him by the war minister, who took care to remove any feeling of dissatisfaction on the part of the feeble-minded general, who was easily deceived ; and that confidence in the first consul was thus revived which detestable mischief-makers were striving to destroy. Some historians, who flatter Moreau, but only his flatterers since 1815, have elevated the detachment taken from the army of Germany to twenty-five thousand men. Moreau himself, in his reply to the first consul, did not estimate it at more than seven- teen thousand eight hundred, and this number was exaggerated; not more than fifteen or sixteen thou- sand entered Switzerland to climb mount St. Go- thard. After that, Moreau had about seventy-two thousand men left ; and soon afterwards, by the recovery of the sick and wounded, seventy-five thousand l . This number was more than sufficient to beat eighty thousand Austrians. Kray had no more, and those were dispirited and incai>able of standing the least serious rencounter with the French. 1 It it from Moreau's own correspondence that I state these numbers. All the calculations are exaggerated on the side of Moreau. He estimates the battalions retained by him at 650 men, and those sent to Italy at /OO each. This calculation cannot be correct ; for if he tent the corps just as they were, ana" the battalions in his army were reduced to 650 men, there could not be 700 in those which were detached from him. 1800. May. Lorges, with a detachment, marches towards the Alps. Kray's posi- tion at Vim. ULM AND GENOA. St. C\ r's bold proposal to storm the Austrian camp, refused by Moreau. 81 In order that the enemy might remain ignorant of this diminution of his force, Moreau determined not to alter the position nor the existing distribu- tion of liis battalions. He took the sixteen thou- sand men which he designed for the first consul out of all the existing corps. Each of these corps furnished its contingent; and thus the diminution of his force was concealed in the best mode possible. Moreau wished to keep Lecourbe, who was worth in value more than some thousands of men. Le- courbe was accordingly left to him, and the brave general Lorges had the command of the detach- ment which marched for Switzerland. Camot im- mediately set out for Paris after he had seen on their way the troops destined to pass the St. Gothard. This operation occurred on the 1 Ith, 12th, and 13th of May, being the 21st, 22ud, and 23rd of Flore'al. Moreau's army was now seventy-two thousand strong, or nearly so, without counting the garrisons hi the different fortresses, the Helvetian divisions, or those who might return to service from the hospitals. It was still of the same strength as before the arrival of the corps of St. Suzanne, a strength which had sufficed to make it uniformly victorious. Kray had established himself at Ulm, where for a long time an entrenched camp had been pre- pared as a stronghold for the imperial troops. Of the two modes of defence of which mention has been made, that of retreating by the foot of the Alps, thus covering the army by the tributary waters of the Danube, or keeping on both sides of that river in order to operate on both banks, the Aulic council of Vienna decided for the last, and Kray followed his orders with considerable skill. The first mode would have been the best, had it been necessary to keep up a permanent communication between the two armies of Germany and Italy. In the first stages of retreat its positions offered no great strength, because the Iller, the Lech, the Isar, and the Inn, are the only obstacles of moment coming in succession; and the Inn alone offers very considerable impediments, for invincible obstacles no longer present themselves in war. But an army which is free from every communication with Italy should be placed upon the Danube itself, having all the bridges at its command, destroying them in succession as it retires, while still possessing the means of crossing from one bank to the other, the enemy being confined to one bank. It is thus able, if the enemy go forward direct upon Vienna, to follow him under the shelter of the Danube, and fling itself upon the invader's rear, to punish him for the first fault he may commit. Thus placed, an army has been generally thought in the best position for covering Austria. Kray was posted at Ulm, where extensive works had been carried on for his support. At this point it is well known that the left bank of the Danube is formed by the first declivities of the mountains of Suabia, which are always dominant over the right bank. Ulm is on the left side of the river at the foot of those heights, and upon the Danube itself. The walls had been repaired, and a redoubt had been constructed, to defend the bridge on the opposite or right bank. All the heights behind Ulm, more especially the Michelsberg, had been covered with artillery. If the French ap- peared on the right bank, the Austrian army L having one of its wings resting upon UJm and the other upon the lofty convent of Elchingen, covered by the Danube, and its artillery sweeping the low level ground on the right shore, it was in a position impossible to be assailed. If the French presented themselves on the left bank, the Austrians were in a position equally strong. In order to comprehend this, it is right to recollect that the position of Ulm is covered on the left bank by the river Blau, which descends from the mountains of Suabia, and falls into the Danube close to Ulm, its bed forming a deep ravine. If the French crossed the Danube to attack the Austrians by the left bank, they would change their position, and, in place of facing the Danube, would turn their backupon that river, and cover their front by the Blau. Their left wing would be in Ulm, their right at Lahr and Jungingen, and their centre at Michelsberg. It would require several marches on the Danube to turn this po- sition, abandoning wholly the right bank, which might frustrate all the previous combinations for the campaign, since it would uncover the Alps, and leave the road open to Italy. Into such a secure camp Kray now marched his exhausted army. St. Cyr was at the convent of Wiblingen, and from its windows could distinctly see the Austrian position without the aid of a telescope. Relying upon the confidence and boldness of the troops, he offered, and several generals offered with him, to storm the enemy's camp. They would, they said, answer for the success of the effort with their lives; and it must be acknowledged that if the daring of some of them, such as Ney and Richepanse, excited some doubts of the success of such an effort, the opinion of St. Cyr, a cool methodical tactician, me- rited regard. But Moreau was too prudent to ven- ture upon an assault of such a nature, and give Kray the choice of winning a defensive battle. It was true that if the French were victors, the Aus- trian army flung into the Danube would be half- destroyed, and the campaign would be ended. On the other hand, if the attack failed, Moreau would be obliged to fall back ; the campaign in Germany would be endangered, and, worse than all, the decisive campaign in Italy would be rendered im- practicable. Moreau acted in war with safety rather than boldness. He suffered the brave sol- diers who offered to throw the Austrians into the Dumbe, to talk on about it, but he refused to suffer si>ch an attempt to be made. A war of manoeuvres al ne remained. If was possible to pass the Da- ni.be to the left bank above Ulm, as already de- scribed ; but then, in order to turn the Austrian position, the French would be obliged to proceed so far along the left bank, that Switzerland would be opened, and the detachment sent towards the Alps would be endangered. By remaining on the right bank, they might descend the Danube some way below Ulm, cross it out of the way of the Austrians, and master their position by cutting them off from the Lower Danube. By descending the river, the rear of the army would be exposed, and the road to Switzerland. Moreau therefore gave up all idea of dislodging Kray from Ulm. Though with such an army as his he might have hazarded any attempt against the enemy, he was right in his caution, and fully justified in pursuing the plan which securely covered the operations of the first consul, his superior and rival. G Moreau manoeuvres before Gallant conduct of Levas- 82 Ulm. - Serious error. - TRIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. seur.-St. Cyr succeeds Danger of St. Suzanne. in rescuing St. Suzanne. Moreau resolved to execute a manoeuvre, which was very right under his circumstances. This was to march upon Augsburg, or, in other words, to abandon the course of the Danube, to cross its tri- butary waters, and render useless all the Austrian lines of defence by a direct march into the heart of the empire. This movement would inevitably oblige Kray to leave the Danube and his camp at Ulm, and draw him after the French army. The idea was a bold one ; and it did not uncover the Alps, Moreau being constantly at their foot. He had, under the circumstances, no half measures to pursue. He must either remain inactive before Ulm, or march boldly upon Augsburg and Munich. A single demonstration would not deceive Kray, and only expose to danger the corps of observa- tion necessarily left at Ulm. Here Moreau com- mitted an error which was nearly productive of serious consequences. On the 13th, 14th, and 15th of May, Moreau crossed the Iller, leaving St. Suzanne alone on the left bank of the Danube, and St. Cyr at the confluence of the Iller and Danube : he pushed forward a corps of reserve on the Guntz, towards Babenhausen. Lecourbe he pushed beyond the Guntz to Erkheim, and sent out a corps of flankers to Kempten, on the road to the Tyrol. In this sin- gular position, extending twenty leagues, touching Ulm on one side and menacing Augsburg on the other, he could not instil into Kray the smallest apprehension of his marching upon Munich, nor do more than tempt him to throw himself in full force upon St. Suzanne, whose corps remained alone on the left bank of the Danube. Had Kray given way to the temptation, and attacked St. Suzanne with his entire masses, the French would have been entirely destroyed. The orders given to St. Cyr on the 15th or 25th Flore"al were executed on the morning of the 16th, when St. Suzanne was attacked at Erbach by an enormous mass of cavalry. His right division, commanded by general Legrand, was at Erbach and Papelau, along the Danube ; his left division, commanded by Souham, was at Blaubeuren, on both sides of the Blau ; the reserve, under general Colaud, was a little in rear of the two divisions. The action began by a vast number of horse surround- ing the French columns on every side. While the troops of St. Suzanne were charged by numerous squadrons, masses of infantry, sallying out of Ulm, and ascending the Danube, gave fears of a still more serious attack. Two columns of infantry and one of cavalry advanced, the one upon Erbach, to attack and surround the two brigades, which com- posed Legrand's division ; the other upon Papelau, to separate the division of Legrand from that of Souham. Legrand made his troops fall back. They retired slowly through the woods, and then had to come out on the level ground between Donaurieden and Ringengen. The troops executed this retreat with great steadiness. They were some hours yielding a small space of ground, halting every moment, forming in squares, and annoying the cavalry sent in pursuit of them with a tremendous fire. Souham's division, attacked on both flanks, was obliged to execute a similar movement and to concentrate itself upon Blaubeuren, behind the Blau, driving into the deep ravine of that river such of the Austrians as pressed them too closely. It was the division of Legrand which encoun- tered the greatest danger, from its having been placed nearest the Danube ; and for that reason the Austrians wished to overwhelm it, in order to intercept all succour that might arrive from the other side of the river. The two brigades of which it was composed defended themselves with great resolution, until at the moment when the infantry was retreating, and the light artillery was replacing its guns on the fore part of the carriages to retreat also, the enemy's cavalry, returning to the charge, dashed suddenly upon the unfor- tunate division. The brave adjutant-general Le- vasseur, who had been dismounted in a charge, sprung upon a horse, gallopped to the 10th regi- ment of horse, which was some distance from the field of battle, brought it up against the enemy, charged the Austrian squadrons ten times their number, and checked them. The artillery had thus time to carry off their guns, take a position in the rear, and protect in turn the cavalry which had rescued it. During this Hiterval, general St. Suzanne had arrived with a part of the division of Colaud to the aid of Legrand. General Decaen, with the remainder, had gone to Blaubeuren to succour Souham's division. The action was renewed, but it might still end in a disastrous manner, since there was every reason to fear that the Austrian army would fall in a body upon the corps of St. Suzanne. Fortunately, St. Cyr, who was posted on the opposite side of the Danube, did not leave his comrades to be routed as he had before been accused of doing ; he hastened to them with all speed. Hearing the cannonade on the left bank of the river, he sent off aids-de-camp on aids-de-camp to bring his divisions from the banks of the Iller to those of the Danube. He ordered not a mo- ment to be lost in making the advanced corps fall back immediately, and the main body of the troops to be despatched without waiting for their out-posts, a corps being left behind to collect them. He placed himself on the bridge of Unterkirchberg, upon the Iller, and as soon as one corps arrived, infantry, cavalry, or artillery, as it might chance to be, he sent it towards the Danube as quickly as possible, preferring the disorder of a moment to a loss of time. He then went himself to the banks of the Danube. The Austrians, not doubting but that St. Suzanne would receive assistance, if prac- ticable, destroyed all the bridges as high up as Disehingen. Seeing St. Cyr endeavouring to cross by a ford, or to re-establish a bridge, the enemy drew up a part of his forces facing those of St. Cyr on the right bank, and commenced a heavy cannonade, to which St. Cyr lost no time in re- sponding. The fire of artillery on both sides the river made the Austrians who had sallied out of Ulm begin to fear that their retreat would be cut off, and caused them to fall back some distance ; this disengaged St. Suzanne a little, and diffused a feeling of joy in his ranks as soon as it was known, as for twelve hours they had kept up a contest almost hopeless; their ardour revived once more. They cried out for permission to advance, which was granted them. All the French divisions then moved on together, and drove the Austrians under the batteries of Ulm ; but in traversing the field of battle, which they were so overjoyed to recover, 1800. May. Movement* of Moreau. He refuses to attack the Aus- trian camp. ULM AND GENOA. Moroau's position while awaiting news from the first consul. they found it covered with their own dead and wounded. The loss of the Anstrians had not been less than that of the French. Only fifteen thou- sand of the latter had fought all day against thirty- six thousand Austriaus, of whom twelve thousand were cavalry. Kray was himself present the whole time on the field of battle. But for the extraordinary courage of the troops, with the energy and talent of the officers, the fault which Moreau had committed would have been punished by the loss of his left wing. Moreau immediately went to that wing himself, and, as if his thoughts had been only drawn to that quarter by pure accident, he resolved to pass his entire army over to the left bank of the Danube. On the 17th, or 2?th Floreal, leaving St. Suzanne to rest in the position of the day before, he led the corps of St. Cyr back between the Iller and the Danube. The reserve, under his own command, he sent in advance to Unterkirchberg, on the Iller, and commanded Lecourbe to fall back between the Guntz and Weissenhorn. On the 18th, the army made a second movement to the left St. Suzanne moved beyond the Blau, St. Cyr beyond the Da- nube, and the reserve to Gocklingen, on the Danube itself, ready to cross over. On the 19th the man- wuvre was still more developed, St. Suzanne had turned Ulm completely, having his head-quar- ters at UrspriBg ; St. Cyr was on both banks of the Blau, with his head-quarters at Blaubeuren ; the reserve had passed the Danube between Erbach and the Blau ; and Lecourbe was ready to cross tliat river. Every thing now denoted an attack upon the entrenched camp of Ulm. In this new position Kray had his left at Ulm, his centre on the Blau, and his right at Elchingen. Thus he had his back to the Danube, and defended the reverse of the position of Ulm. Moreau, having reconnoitred the whole attentively, disappointed his lieutenants, who imagined that they saw in the movement of the left a serious operation in progress, and were desirous of a bold attack on the camp of Kray, because they believed the success of such an attempt was certain. St. Cyr insisted again upon its practicability, but he was not heard. Moreau determined to retire, unwilling to risk an attack by hard fighting along the Blau, and not willing to turn the position by the left, for fear of uncovering Switzerland too much. He ordered the army there- fore to return once more to the right bank of the Danube. On the 20th of May and the following days the army decamped, to the great displeasure of the officers and men, who calculated upon the assault being made, and equally to the astonish- ment of the Austrians, who were in dread of it. These false movements were attended with the great inconvenience that they elevated the courage of the Austrian army, although they did not shake that of the French, which felt too conscious of its own superiority. Moreau might then have at- tempted the movement which has been already mentioned, and which, afterwards executed, ob- tained for him such a signal triumph. This move- ment was to descend by the Danube, threaten Kray to pass below Ulm, and thus oblige him to dcamp by disquieting him about the line of his communications; but Moreau was always fearful of V ocovering the road of the Alps. He had thought of making a second demonstration upon Augsburg, and thus once more of endeavouring to deceive the Austrians and to persuade them, that leaving Ulm behind him he was going definitively upon Bavaria, probably upon Austria. On the 22nd of May, or 2nd Prairial, all the French army repassed the Danube. Lecourbe with the right wing threatened Augsburg by Landsberg ; St. Suzanne with the left wing kept himself at some distance from the Danube, between Dellmensingen and Achstetten. The same day prince Ferdinand with twelve thou- sand men, half of whom were cavalry, either with the view of keeping the French near Ulm, or to discover their intentions, made an attack upon St. Suzanne, which was warmly repulsed, the troops acting with their customary vigor, and general Decaen distinguishing himself greatly. The follow- ing days Moreau continued his movements. On the 27th May, or 7th Prairial, Lecourbe with equal skill and courage made himself master of the bridge of Landsberg, over the Lech, and on the 28th entered Augsburg. Still Kray was not to be moved by this operation, and remained immovable in Ulm. This was the best of all his resolutions, and did most honour to his firmness and judgment. From that time Moreau remained inactive, cal- culating events in Italy. He rectified his position, and greatly improved it. In place of forming a long line, one extremity of which touched the Danube, a position which exposed his left corps to unequal conflicts with the entire of the Austrian forces, he executed afterwards a change of front facing the Danube, ranging himself parallel with that river, but at a considerable distance, his left resting upon the Iller, his right upon the Guntz, his rear-guard in Augsburg, and a corps of flankers observing the Tyrol. Thus his army formed a mass sufficiently dense to fear nothing from any isolated attack upon either of his wings, and it had nothing to risk but a general .engagement, which was all that it desired, because such a contest could not fail to terminate in the utter ruin of the Austrian army. In this unapproachable position, Moreau determined to await the result of the operations which Bonaparte was at the same moment carrying on upon the other side of the Alps. His lieutenants pressed him to abandon his inaction, but he persisted hi replying that it would be imprudent to do more until he received intelli- gence from Italy ; but if Bonaparte succeeded in that part of the theatre of war, they would then try a decisive movement against Kray; for that if the French army on the other side of the Alps was not fortunate, they would be greatly embarrased by any progress they should now make in Ba- varia. The enterprise of Bonaparte, the secret of which was known to Moreau, carried something very extraordinary in it to a mind constituted like his; and therefore it is not at all improbable that he felt inquietude, or that he was unwilling to advance without knowing for a certainty the fortunes of the army of reserve. Moreau, in consequence of these resolutions, had warm altercations with some of his lieutenants, and more immediately with St. Cyr. This officer com- plained of the inactivity in which mean while they were kept, and still more of the partiality that was prevalent hi the distribution of the rations to the different corps of the army. He communicated to 02 Misunderstandings among the Moreau's character com- 34 French generals. Moreau's TRIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. posed of weaknesses letter to Bonaparte. and great qualities. 1800. May. Moreau that his division was frequently without bread, while that of the Commander-in-chief close by it was in want of nothing. There was no lack of resources since the capture of the enemy's magazines, but only of the means of conveyance. St. Cyr had upon the same subject more than one dispute ; there was evidently a difference between him and the staff that surrounded Moreau ; and this was the real cause of these unfortunate dis- putes. General Grenier had just joined the army, and St. Cyr wished moreover to give him the com- mand of the reserve, that Moreau might be free from the occupations and partialities which are the inevitable consequences of holding so particular a command. Moreau unfortunately would do no- thing of the sort. St. Cyr then retired, and thus ths army was deprived of the ablest of its general officers. St. Cyr was himself made more to com- mand than obey another. General St. Suzanne retired too in consequence of similar misunder- standings. The last was sent to the Rhine to form a corps, designed to cover the rear of the army of Germany, and to keep the forces of baron D'Albini in check. Grenier succeeded to the place of St. Cyr, and Richepanse to that of St. Suzanne. Moreau, who was strongly established in his new position, and whose troops wanted for nothing, determined to wait where he was, and wrote to the first consul, well expressing his situation and inten- tions, as follows : Babenhausen, 7 Prairial, an vm. (May 27, 1800.) " We wait with impatience, citizen consul, for the tidings of your success. Kray and I are groping about here he to keep near Ulm, I to make him quit that post. " It would have been dangerous for you in par- ticular, if I had transferred the war to the left bank of the Danube. Our present position has forced the prince de Reuss to move off to the openings of the Tyrol and to the sources of the Lech and Iller ; so that he cannot inconvenience you. " Give me, I beg you, news of yourself, and let me know how I can serve you .... " If M. Kray moves in advance, I shall fall back as far as Memmingen ; there I shall make general Lecourbe join me, and we shall fight. If he marches upon Augsburg, I shall do the same ; he will lose his support of Ulm, and then we shall see what is to be done to cover you. " It would be more advantageous to make the war upon the left bank of the Danube, and to force Wurtemberg and Franconia to contribute to our support ; but this would not suit you, since the enemy might send detachments into Italy, while leaving us to ravage the territory of the empire. " Be assured of my attachment. " (Signed) MOREAU." A month and two days had now elapsed, and if Moreau had not obtained those prompt and de- cisive results which terminate a campaign at a blow, as he might have done by passing the Rhine at a single point towards Schaffhausen, throwing his entire force upon the left of Kray, and fighting the battles of Engen and Mosskirch with undivided forces ; or as he might have done by throwing the Austrian army into the Danube at Sigmaringen, dislodging it by main strength from the camp at Ulm, or obliging it to decamp by a decided move- ment upon Augsburg; still he had fulfilled the more essential conditions of the plan of the cam- paign, he had passed the Rhine without accident, in presence of the Austrian army ; he had fought two great battles, and, though the concentration of his forces had been defective, he had gained both battles by his firmness and good generalship on the field of action ; lastly, despite his "gropings" about Ulm, he had, notwithstanding, shut up the Austrians around that place, and kept them block- aded there, cutting them off from the route to the Tyrol and Bavaria, still having himself the power to await in a good position the result of events in Italy. If we do not find in him those superior talents and that decision which distinguish the greatest soldiers, we discover a calm, prudent mind, repairing by its coolness the faults of an intelligence too nar- rowed, and of a character somewhat irresolute: we find, in fact, an excellent general, such as nations often wish to possess, and such as Europe had none to equal. It was the fortune of France to possess at this time of France which already pos- sessed Bonaparte to possess also Moreau, Kle"ber, Dessaix, Masse"na, and St. Cyr, in other words, the best second-rate generals ; and it must be re- collected that she had already produced Dumou- riez and Pichegru. Time of wonderful recollec- tions ! which ought to inspire us with some kind of confidence in ourselves, and prove to Europe that all our glory in the present century is not due to a single man, that it is not the result of that rare fortune which produces such men of genius aa Hannibal, Csesar, or Napoleon. What might be chiefly alleged against Moreau was a want of vigour in commanding ; above all, his suffering himself to be surrounded and con- trolled by a military circle, his permitting mis- understandings to have birth around him, thus depriving himself of his best officers ; and his not correcting, by the force of his own will, a bad or- ganization of the army, which tended to make his lieutenants isolate themselves, and be guilty of acts importing bad military brotherhood. Moreau erred in character, as we have before observed several times, and as we shall too often have to repeat. We would there were a veil to hide from us, and as well conceal from others, the sad sequel time discloses ; and that we might be permitted to enjoy, without any thing to make the feeling painful, the noble and prudent achievements of the soldier, whose heart jealousy and exile had not yet altered. We must now transport ourselves to a different theatre, to witness a scene of a very different kind. Providence, that is exuberant in contrasts, will there exhibit another mind, a different character, and a different fortune ; and, for the honour of France, soldiers still the same, that is to say, always intelligent, devoted, and intrepid. 1800. May. The first consul impatient to march. Massfna's distress. Ott's bra- vado revenged. MARENGO. Disastrous sally of the garrison of Genoa. BOOK IV. MARENGO. TBK FIRST CONSUL IMPATIENT FOR NEWS FROM GERMANY. RECEIVES INTELLIGENCE OF MOREAU's SUCCESS, AND RESOLVES TO DEPART FOR ITALY. EXTREME SUFFERINGS OP THE GARRISON OF GENOA. MASSES A*S FORTI- TUDE. THE FIRST CONSUL HASTENS TO HIS BELIEF, AND EXECUTES HIS GRAND DESIGN OF CROSSING THE THE VALAIS. CHOOSES ST. BERNARD TO PASS OVER THE ALPINE CHAIN. MEANS ADOPTED FOR TRANSPORTING ARTILLERY, AMMUNITION, PROVISIONS, AND MATERIEL OF THE ARMY. COMMENCEMENT OP THE PASSAGE. THE GREAT DIFFICULTIES SURMOUNTED BY THE SPIRIT OF THE TROOPS. UNFORESEEN OBSTACLE IS THE FORT DU BARD. SURPRISE AND GRIEF OF THE ARMY AT THE SIGHT OF THE FORT. THOUGHT AT FIRST TO BE IMPREG- NABLE. THE INFANTRY AND CAVALRY MAKE A CIRCUIT, AND AVOID THE OBSTACLE. THE ARTILLERY DRAWN BY HAND UNDER THE FIRE OF THE FORT. IVREA TAKEN, AND THE ARMY ARRAYED IN THE PLAINS OF PIED- MONT BEFORE THE AUSTRIANS ARE AWARE OF ITS EXISTENCE OR MARCH. PASSAGE SIMULTANEOUSLY OF THE ST. GOTHARD BY THE DETACHMENT FROM GERMANY. PLAN OF BONAPARTE WHEN DESCENDED INTO LOMBARDY. HE DETERMINES TO PROCEED TO MILAN, TO RALLY THE TROOPS FROM GERMANY, AND ENVELOPE MELAS. THE LONG ILLUSIONS OF MELAS DESTROYED AT A SINGLE BLOW. MORTIFICATION OF THE OLD GENERAL. ISSUES ORDERS FOR EVACUATING THE BANKS OF THE VAR AND THE ENVIRONS OF GENOA. LAST EXTREMITY OF MASSENA. ABSOLUTE IMPOSSIBILITY OF SUPPORTING LONGER THE SOLDIERS AND PEOPLE OF GENOA: HE IS FORCED TO SURRENDER. HONOURABLE CAPITULATION. THE AUSTRIANS, GENOA BEING TAKEN, CONCENTRATE IN PIEDMONT. IMPORTANCE OF THE ROAD FROM ALEXANDRIA TO 1'IACENZA. EAGERNESS OF THE HOSTILE ARMIES TO OCCUPY PIACENZA. THE FRENCH ARRIVE THERE FIRST. POSITION OF LA STRADELLA CHOSEN BY THE FIRST CONSUL FOR ENVELOPING MELAS. HALT IN THAT POSITION FOR SOME DAYS. BELIEVING THAT THE AUSTRIANS HAVE ESCAPED, THE FIRST CONSUL GOES TO FIND THEM, AND ENCOUNTERS THEM UNEXPECTEDLY IN THE PLAIN OE MARENGO. BATTLE OF MARENGO LOST AND GAINED. HAPPY IMPULSE OF DESSAIX, AND DEATH. REGRET OF THE FIRST CONSUL. DESPAIR OF THE AUSTRIANS, AND CONVENTION OF ALEXANDRIA, BY WHICH ALL ITALY AND ITS FORTRESSES ARE DELIVERED OVER TO THE FRENCH ARMY. THE FIRST CONSUL REMAINS SOME DAYS AT MILAN, TO REGULATE AFFAIRS. CONCLAVE AT VENICE, AND ELEVATION OF PIUS VII. TO THE PAPAL CHAIR. RETURN OF THE FIRST CONSUL TO PARIS. ENTHUSIASM EXCITED BY HIS PRESENCE. SEQUEL OF OPERATIONS ON THE DANUBE. PASSAGE OF THE RIVER BELOW ULM. VICTORY OF HOCHSTEDT. MOREAU CONQUERS ALL BAVARIA AS FAR AS THE INN. ARMISTICE IN GERMANY AS WELL AS IN ITALY. COMMENCEMENT OF NEGOTIATIONS FOR PEACE. ST. JULIEN SENT BY THE EMPEROR OF GERMANY TO PARIS. FETE OF THE HTH OF JULY AT THE INVALIDES. THE first consul waited only for news of the suc- cess of the army of the Rhine, in order to descend into the plains of Italy; for, unless Moreau were fortunate, he would not be able to spare the de- tachment of his troops ; besides, Kray was not so far separated from Me"las, as to make it safe to manoeuvre freely on the rear of the last. The impatience of the first consul was great, being re- solved to quit Paris, and take the command of the army of reserve the moment he was certainly assured of the success of the army of Moreau. Time pressed, seeing that Masse'na, in Genoa, was reduced to the most cruel suffering. We left him there, contending against the whole Austrian force, with an army worn out by fatigue, yet daily inflict- ing considerable loss upon the enemy. On the 10th of May general Ott indulged in an unseemly bravado, informing Masse'na that he should fire his guns for a victory obtained over Suchet a piece of news utterly destitute of truth ; the gallant defender of Genoa replied to some purpose. He sallied out of the city in two columns. The column on the left, commanded by Soult, ascended the Bi- sngno, and turned the Monte-Ratti ; that under Miollis attacked Monte-Ratti in front. The Aus- trians, thus vigorously assailed, were precipitated into tlie ravines, and lost that important position, with fifteen hundred men made prisoners. Mas- se'na entered Genoa triumphant the same evening, and the next morning wrote to general Ott, that lie would fire his cannon for the victory of the pre- ceding day ; an heroic revenge, worthy a great soul. This was the last of his successes : his soldiers could scarcely sustain the weight of their arms, they were so debilitated by famine. On the 13th of May, or 23d Florlal, this energetic officer, yield- ing to the advice of his generals, consented, in spite of himself, to an operation, the result of which was exceedingly disastrous. This was, to storm the Monte-Creto, an important post, which it would, no doubt, have been most desirable to take from the Austrians, because they would, by this means, be removed to a considerable distance from Genoa. Unhappily, there was but little chance of success in such an undertaking. Masse'na, who had the greatest confidence in his army, for he daily re- quired and obtained from it the most strenuous efforts, did not think it was capable of carry- ing a position which the enemy could defend with all his strength. He would have preferred fin expedition to Porto Fino, along the coast, to seize a considerable quantity of provisions, which were known to be in that quarter. He gave way, however, contrary to his custom, and on the morning of the 13th marched upon the Monte- Creto. The battle at first was brilliant : but, un- fortunately, a violent storm, which lasted for some hours, broke down the strength of the soldiers. The enemy had concentrated upon this point a large body of troops, and drove back the French, who were dying of fatigue and hunger, into the valleys. Souk a prisoner. The Genoese The first consul prepares to 86 women riotous.-Massena's ex- THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. march. His address to ertions to procure subsistence. the legislative bodies. Soult, making it a point of honour to succeed in an expedition which he had advised, rallied the third demi-brigade, and led it back against the enemy. He had, perhaps, been successful, but a ball, having fractured his leg, extended him on the field. His men would have carried him off, but they had not time. Thus the general, who had so well seconded Massena throughout the whole siege, was left in the hands of the enemy. The troops entered Genoa with deep mortifica- tion, bringing in some prisoners. While they were absent, the women in the city had become riotous. These unhappy creatures, driven by want, ran through the streets, ringing bells and calling for bread. They were very quickly dispersed ; but the French commander was thenceforward almost wholly occupied in providing support for the popu- lation of Genoa, which showed, in all other respects, the most devoted conduct. There had been corn procured, as already said, for a fortnight at first, and afterwards for a second term of the same length. After this a vessel brought in enough to last for five days : thus supplies had been obtained for more than a month. Blockaded from the 5th of April, these resources had lasted to the 10th of May. Seeing the provisions diminish, the daily rations had been reduced both to the military and to the inhabitants. Soup made with herbs and a little meat still left in the city, were substituted for bread. The richer inhabitants found means to supply them- selves with victuals at an enormous price, out of those which had escaped the search of the police for the purpose of applying them to the general use. Thus MasseYia had only to trouble himself about the poor, by whom the famine was severely felt. He had imposed a contribution upon the rich in their behalf, and had thus won the hearts of the poor to the French side. The majority of the population, dreading the Austrians, and the political system of which they were the supporters, deter- mined to second Masse'na in this emergency. Struck with the energy of his character, their obedience to him was equal to their resignation. Still the aristocratical party endeavoured, by every possible means, to embai-rass and annoy him, by making tools of some hungry wretches for that purpose. To overawe them, he made his troops pass the night in the principal streets at their guns, with matches lighted. But the bread on which they still supported themselves, made of oats, beans, and any grain that could be procured, was very nearly exhausted ; of meat, too, the city was as near being destitute. On the 20th of May there would be only such things as it would be almost impossible to use for human sustenance. It was therefore necessary to relieve the place before the 20th of May, unless Massena and his whole army were allowed to fall into the hands of the enemy, when Me'las would thus be able to dispose of thirty thou- sand men more, who might return into Piedmont, and block up the passages of the Alps. The aid-de-camp Franceschi, who had gone to state to the government the position of the garri- son, had succeeded by boldness and address in passing through the Austrians and the English, and he had communicated to the first consul the deplorable situation of the city. The first consul, in consequence, neglected nothing to put the army of reserve in a state to cross the Alps. It was for this end he had sent Carnot to Germany with the formal order of the consuls, to send the detach- ment forward which was to pass over Mount St. Gothard. For himself, he laboured night and day with Berthier, who organized the divisions of cavalry and infantry, with Gassendi and Marmont, who organized the artillery, and with Marescot, who was busy reconnoitring along the whole line of the Alps. He urged them all forward with that power of persuasion which enabled him to lead the French from the banks of the Po to those of the Jordan, and from the banks of the Jordan to those of the Danube and Borysthenes. He did not mean to quit Paris until the last moment, being unwill- ing to relinquish the political government of France longer than he could help, and thus leave free quar- ters for intriguers and plotters. In the mean time the divisional troops from La Vendee, Britany, Paris, and the banks of the Rhone, wore traversing the whole extent of the republican territory. Al- ready the heads of the columns had made their appearance in Switzerland. There were always at Dijon, the depots of different corps, certain con- scripts and volunteers, who had been sent there to spread abroad the opinion, that the army of Dijon was a mere fable, solely destined to alarm Melas. Thus far, then, all had succeeded to admiration the delusion of the Austrians was complete. The movement of the troops towards Switzerland was scarcely noticed. In consequence of these troops being widely dispersed, they passed for.no more than reinforcements intended for the army of Germany. At length every thing was ready, and the first consul made his final arrangements. He received a message from the senate, the tribunate, and the legislative body, conveying to him the wishes of the nation, that he might soon return as " conqueror and peace-maker." He replied to them with studied solemnity. His reply was intended to agree with the articles in the Moniteur, proving that his journey, about which so much parade was made, like the army of reserve, was a feint, and nothing better. He charged Cambace"res, the consul, to preside in his place over the council of state, which was at that time in a good measure the entire government. Lebrun was commissioned to super- intend the administration of the finances. He said to each of them : " Be firm ; if any event happens, be not troubled. I will come back like lightning, to crush the audacious persons who shall dare to lay their hands upon the government." He par- ticularly charged his brothers, who were bound to him by a more personal interest, to make known every thing to him, and to give him the signal to return, should his presence be required. While he was thus publishing his departure with r-o much ostentation, the consuls and ministers, on t he con- trary, were to let the newsmongers know iliat the first consul had quitted Paris for some days, merely to review the troops ready to take the field. He himself set off, full of hope and highly satis- fied. His army contained a good many conscripts, but it contained soldiers inured to war in a fax- greater number, accustomed to conquer, and com- manded by officers formed in his own school. He had also, in the deep conception of his plan, a lull and entire reliance. According to the latest information, Me'las ob- 1800. May. Bonaparte's confidence. Feint at Dijon. Interview with Marescot. Why St. Bernard preferred as the route. Preparations for the march. Dis- MARENGO. position of the array. Nature of the country. 87 stinately continued to push his troops deeper into Liguria, half towards Genoa, the other half towards the Var. The first consul at this moment doubted less than ever the success of his enterprise; already seeing, in his ardent imagination, the very place where he should meet and destroy the Austrian army. One day, before he set out, laying open his maps, and placing upon them marks of different colours, to represent the positions of the French and Austrian corps, he said, in the presence of his secretary, who heard him with curiosity and sur- prise, " That poor Me"las will pass by Turin will fall back upon Alexandria : I shall pass the Po encounter him on the road to Piacenza, in the plains of the Scrivia, and I shall beat him there there ! " On saying this he placed one of his marks on San-Giuliano. It will soon be easy to appre- ciate what an extraordinary glance into futurity prompted these words. Bonaparte quitted Paris on the 6th of May before daybreak, taking with him his aid-de-camp Duroc and kis secretary Bourrienne. On arriving at Dijon he passed the conscripts in review, assem- bled there without stores, or any of the appoint- ments necessary to take the field. After this, which was only intended to confirm the spies in the belief that the army of Dijon was no more than a fiction, he proceeded to Geneva, and from thence to Lausanne, where every thing bore a serious aspect. There was sufficient to undeceive the most incredulous there, but too late for the information to be sent off and made available at Vienna. On the 13th of May Bonaparte reviewed a part of the troops, conferring with the officers, who received orders to meet him, in order to state what they had done, and receive his final com- mands. To general Marescot had been committed the duty of reconnoitring the Alps, and the first consul was most impatient to hear him. On a comparison of all the passes, that of St. Bernard was considered the most favourable by this en- gineer officer, but even here the operation he thought would be extremely difficult. " Difficult ! is it possible V inquired Bonaparte. " I think so," replied the general of engineers, " but with extra- ordinary efforts." " Then let us start !" replied the first consul. It is proper to explain the motives which decided the first consul in choosing the passage by Mount St. Bernard. The St. Gothard pass was reserved for the troops that were on the march from Ger- many, of which general Moncey had the command. This passage lay in their way, and was only capable of furnishing subsistence at most for fifteen thou- sand men, because the higher Swiss valleys had been entirely ruined by the presence of belligerent armies. The passages of the Simplon, of the Great St. Bernard, and of Mount Cenis were left, but these were not, as in the present time, crossed by high roads. It was necessary to dismount the carriages at the foot of the mountain, and to send them forward upon sledges, remounting them on the other side. These passages presented all three nearly the same difficulties. Mount Cenis, being more frequently crossed and the track better beaten than on the others, was perhaps the most easy of access of all three; but then the road by that mountain opened upon Turin, in the midst of the Austrians, and consequently was not well adapted to the plan for enveloping them. The Simplon, on the other hand, was the furthest of the three from the point of departure, presenting re- verse inconveniences : it opened, it is trae, the road to Milan, in a fine, rich country, far from the Austrians, in fact, quite in their rear ; but the distances were too great ; and even to get to it the ascent of the whole Valais would have been neces- sary, together with conveyances for the stores of the army, none of which could be obtained. Amid the desolate and ice-covered valleys to be travelled every individual must carry his own baggage, and a score of leagues more to march was a matter of great consideration. In regard to the passage by the St. Bernard, there was only the distance to pass from Villeneuve to Martigny, or from the ex- treme end of the lake of Geneva, the point where navigation ceases, to the foot of the mountain. The distance across was very small. The St. Bernard road, besides, opened into the valley of Aosta upon Ivre"a, between the roads of Turin and Milan, in a very favourable direction for coming upon the Austrians. More difficult, and perhaps niore dan- gerous, it deserved the preference on account of the shortness of the passage. The first consul determined therefore to lead the main body of his army over the St. Bernard. He took with him the best men of the army of reserve, in all, about forty thousand, five thou- sand being cavalry and thirty-five thousand ar- tillery and infantry. Wishing, at the same tune, to distract the attention of the Austrians, he con- ceived the idea of sending some detachments through other passes, that could not be connected with the main body of his army. Not a great way from the Great St. Bernard is the passage of the Little St. Bernard, which opens also into the valley of Aosta from the heights of Savoy. The first consul directed the 70th demi-brigade to proceed by that pass, and some battalions from the west, consisting principally of conscripts, all under the command of general Chabran. This division mus- tered five or six thousand men, and at Ivrea it was to rejoin the principal column. Lastly, general Thureau, who with four thousand men defended the pass of Mount Cenis, had orders to attempt to penetrate to Turin. Thus the French army was to descend from the Alps by four passes at one time, by the St. Gothard, the Great and Little St. Ber- nard, and Mount Cenis. The principal body, forty thousand strong, acting in the centre of this semi- circle, was certain of being joined by the fifteen thousand men coming from Germany, as well as by the troops of general Chabran, and perhaps those of general Thureau, which would compose a total force of about sixty-five thousand men, a force that would not fail to disconcert the enemy, who could not know, from the appearance of all these corps, on what point to direct his means of re- sistance. The choice of the passes over the mountains being fixed upon, it became necessary to attend to the operation itself an operation which consisted in throwing sixty thousand men with all their ap- pointments, to the other side of the Alps, destitute of beaten paths, over rocks and glaciers, at the worst season of the year on the thawing of the snows. It is never a pleasant thing to have a park of artil- lery to drag along, since every gun requires several Great difficulties to be en- The monks of Great St. Ber- ,,, 88 countered. - Means of THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. nard.-Review of the army JJJ conveying the materiel. at the foot of the mountain. waggons after it ; thus, for sixty pieces three hun- dred waggons were required : but in those high valleys, many of them sterile from the reign of an eternal winter, others scarcely extensive enough to furnish the means of livelihood to their scanty in- habitants, it is necessary to carry the bread for the troops, as well as the forage for the horses. The difficulty therefore was enormous. From Geneva to Villeneuve all was easy, thanks to Lake Leman and a navigation of eighteen leagues equally speedy and commodious. But from Villeneuve, the extremity of the lake to Ivre"a, the opening by which the rich plains of Piedmont are entered, there are forty-five leagues to pass over, of which ten are over the rocks and glaciers of the great chain. The route to Martigny, and from Martigny to St. Pierre, was good for carriages. At St. Pierre they would begin to ascend paths covered with snow, and bordered by precipices scarcely more than two or three feet, wide, exposed in noon-day heat to the fall of frightful avalanches. There was nearly ten leagues to be travelled over these paths, to arrive on the other side of the St. Bernard, at the village of St. Remy, in the valley of Aosta, where a road practicable for carriages would be found, leading through Aosta, Chatillon, Bard, and Ivrea, to the plain of Piedmont. Of all these points there was but one supposed likely to offer a difficulty it was Bard, where it was said there was a fort of which some Italian officers had been heard to speak, but which was not supposed ca- pable of offering any serious obstacle. There were then, as we have said, forty-four leagues to be passed over, the troops carrying every thing with them, from the lake of Geneva to the plain of Piedmont, and of these forty-five leagues, ten were destitute of roads, and not practicable for carriages. The following were the dispositions made by the first consul for the transport of the materiel of the army, and carried into effect by generals Marmont, Marescot, and Gassendi. Immense stores of grain, biscuit, and oats, had been sent to Ville- neuve, by the lake of Geneva. Bonaparte, well knowing that for money the assistance of the hardy mountaineers of the Alps might be easily obtained, had sent to the spot a considerable sum in specie. All the chars-a-banc of the country, all the mules, had been drawn at a high price to the spot, but only during the last days. By these means bread, biscuit, forage, wine, and brandy, had been conveyed from Villeneuve to Martigny, and from thence to St. Pierre, at the foot of the pass. A sufficient quantity of live cattle had also been conducted thither, and the artillery with its waggons. A com- pany of workmen, established at the foot of the pass of St. Pierre, was employed in dismounting the guns, and taking the carriages themselves to pieces, that they might be carried by mules, the pieces being marked with numbers. The guns, separated from their carriages, were placed upon a species of sledge with low wheels, previously prepared for the purpose at Auxonne. For the convenient carriage of the am- munition of the infantry and artillery, there had been provided a great number of small boxes, easily placed upon mules, for the purpose of transporta- tion by the beasts of burden used in that country, in the same way as the other articles were to be conveyed. A second company of workmen, pro- vided with camp forges, was to pass the mountains with the first division, and establish itself in the village of St. Remy, where the beaten track on the route began again. There the guns and carriages were to be re-united. Such was the enormous task that had been undertaken. There had been united to the army a ponton company, who, though destitute of materials for the construction of bridges, were ready to avail themselves of such as might be obtained from the enemy in Italy. The first consul had besides taken care to obtain the assistance of the monks resident in the hospital of the Great St. Bernard. It is well known that this pious cenobitical community had been es- tablished for ages in that fearful solitude, above the habitable region of the earth, in order to give their aid to travellers overtaken by storms or buried in the snow. The first consul, at the latest moment, had sent them a sum of money, in order that they might collect together a large quantity of bread, cheese, and wine. A hospital was got ready at St. Pierre, close to the foot of the pass, and another on the reverse side of the mountain, at St. Remy. These two hospitals were to receive and forward the sick or wounded, if there should happen to be any, to larger hospitals at Martigny and Villeneuve. These arrangements being completed, the troops began to make their appearance. Bonaparte placed himself at Lausanne, to inspect the men ; he spoke to them, infused into them a portion of the ardent spirit which animated himself, and prepared them for that immortal enterprise which will be ranked in history with that of the grand expedition by Hannibal. He had taken care to appoint two inspections, the first at Lausanne, the second at Villeneuve. There every soldier of the infantry and cavalry was passed in review, and by means of magazines temporarily formed in those places, they were furnished with such clothing, shoes, and arms, as were required. This was a good pre- caution ; because, in spite of the trouble he had already taken, the first consul often saw old soldiers arrive, whose clothes were worn out, and their arms unfit for service. He made heavy complaints upon this head, and caused the omissions, arising from the haste or negligence of the agents, always to a certain extent inevitable, to be supplied. He carried his foresight to such an extent, that he placed saddlers' workshops at the foot of the pass to repair the artillery harness. He himself wrote letters upon a subject apparently of such small moment : the incident being mentioned here for the instruction of those generals and governments to whom men's lives are confided, and who often, from idleness or vanity, neglect similar details. Nothing that can contribute to the success of the operations or the safety of the soldiers is beneath the genius or rank of officers who command. The divisions marched in echelon from the Jura to the foot of Mount St. Bernard, in order to avoid embarrassment. The first consul was at Martigny in a convent of Bernardins. From thence he directed every thing, and continued in constant correspondence with Paris and with all the armies of the republic. He received intelligence from Liguria, by which he found that Melas, always under the greatest illusions, directed all his efforts to take Genoa, and force the bridge of the Var. Well satisfied upon this important subject, he gave 1800. My. Lannes passes the mountain without accident. Passage of other divisions. MARENGO. Their manner of proceeding. Zeal of the soldiers. orders at last for the passage to begin. He himself remained upon this side of the St. Bernard, in order to correspond as long as possible with the government, and to expedite every thing himself across the mountain. Berthier, on the other hand, proceeded to the opposite side of Mount St. Ber- nard, to receive the provision and materiel which were sent over. Lannes went first at the head of the advance- guard, in the night between the 14th and 15th of May, or 24th and 25th of Flore'al. He commanded six regiments of chosen men, that, perfectly armed, gaily set out on their adventurous march under their fiery leader, who was sometimes insubordinate, but always valiant and able. They set out between midnight and two in the morning, in order to pass before the time when the sun's heat dissolving the snow brings down mountains of ice on the heads of the rash travellers who enter among these frightful gorges. It required eight hours to reach the summit of the pass as far as the hospital of St. Bernard, but only two to descend to St. Remy. There was time enough, therefore, to escape the greatest danger. The troops surmounted with spirit all the difficulties of the road. They were heavily laden, being obliged to carry biscuit for some days, and in addition a large quantity of cartridges. They climbed the steep rocks, singing amid the precipices, dreaming of the conquest of Italy, where they had so often tasted the pleasures of victory, and having a noble presentiment of the immortal glory they were on the point of acquiring. For the infantry the toil was not so great as for the cavalry. These last walked, leading their horses by the bridle. In ascending there was no danger ; but hi the descent, the path being very narrow, they were obliged to go before their horses, and thus, if the animal made a false step, they were exposed to be dragged with him down the preci- pices. There were a few accidents of this kind, but very few ; some horses were lost, but scarcely any of the men. Towards the morning they reached the hospital, and there a surprise, provided by the first consul, renewed the strength and good temper of the soldiers. The monks, furnished before with the necessary provisions, had prepared tables, and served out to every soldier a ration of bread, cheese, and wine. After a momentary rest they proceeded on their route, reaching St. Remy with- out any disagreeable accident. Lannes instantly established himself at the foot of the mountains, and made all the needful disposition for the recep- tion of the other divisions, and more particularly for the munitions and stores. Ever day one of the divisions of the army passed over ; an operation which occupied many days, be- cause of the materiel which it was necessary to take over with each division. While the troops were ascending in succession, others were set at work. The provisions and ammunition were first sent off; as this part of what was to pass could be divided and placed in boxes upon mules, the difficult}' was not so great as for some other things. Then there was not a sufficiency of the means of conveyance ; for, notwithstanding the money prodigally expended, the mules required for the conveyance of the enormous weights to be transported over, could not be procured in a sufficient number. Still the pro- visions and ammunition having crossed along with the divisions, by the help of the soldiers, the artillery was the last to occupy attention. The gun-carriages, taken to pieces, as already said, were placed on the backs of mules. The guns them- selves remained, and their weight could not be lessened by dividing the burden. With the twelve- pounders and the howitzers the difficulty was still greater than had been imagined. The sledges, constructed partly upon wheels, could not be used. A mode was thought of, and directly adopted on being found to answer. It consisted in splitting the trunks of fir-trees in two, hollowing them out, and encasing between every two demi-trunks a single gun, which might, thus encased, be drawn along the ravines. By this means the gun was secured from harm ; no shock could injure it. Mules were harnessed to this odd burden, and thus drew several pieces to the summit of the pass. But the descent was more difficult, and could only be effected by strength of arm, running at the same time great danger, because it was necessary to hold the gun back, that it might not fall over the pre- cipices. Unfortunately the mules began to get weak, and the muleteers, of whom a large number were required, became equally exhausted. Other means were then had recourse to. The peasants were offered a thousand francs for every gun which they would agree to draw from St. Pierre to St. Remy. It required a hundred men to every gun ; one day to draw it up, and another to make it descend. Some hundreds of the peasantry came forward and transported several pieces of cannon across, directed by the artillerymen; but even the stimulus of gain was not powerful enough to make them renew their labour. They all disappeared ; and notwithstanding officers were sent in search of them, and large offers of money made to induce them to return, it was in vain. It was then found necessary to request of the soldiers themselves to drag the artillery of the divisions. From such devoted men any thing was obtainable. In order to encourage them, they were promised the money which the disheartened peasantry declined to earn ; but they refused it, saying it was the duty of the troops to save their guns, and they took hold of the forsaken pieces. Bodies of a hundred men came successively out of the ranks, and each dragged them in turn. The music struck up animating airs in the most difficult passes, and encouraged them in surmounting obstacles of such a novel nature. On arriving at the summit of the moun- tain, they found refreshments prepared for them by the monks of St. Bernard, and took rest, before com- mencing the descent which required their greatest and most perilous efforts. Thus it was that Chambarlhac's and Monnier's division dragged their artillery themselves; and as the day was too far ad- vanced to permit them to descend, they preferred to pass the night in the snow, rather than separate themselves from their cannon. Happily the sky was serene, and they had not to sustain besides that of the place, the additional rigor of bad weather. During the 17th, 18th, 19th, and 20th of May, the divisions continued to cross with provisions, ammunition, and artillery. The first consul, still stationed at Martigny, pushed on the conveyance of the materiel, which was received by Berthier on the other side of St. Bernard, and put in order by the workmen. The first consul, whose foresight Their progress stopped by the 90 fort of Bard, found to be THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. impregnable. The news transmitted to the first consul. His energetic reply. May. never rested, thought immediately of pushing forward Lannes towards the opening from the plain, in order to secure it ; his division being united, and having some four-pounders all ready to move. He ordered that officer to advance as far Ivre"a, and to take that town in order to secure the entrance into the plain of Piedmont. Lannes moved ou the 16th and 17th of May, upon Aosta, where he found some Croats, whom he drove into the bottom of the valley, after which he marched towards the little town of Chatillon, where he arrived on the 18th. A battalion of the enemy, which he found there, was routed, and lost a number of men, who were made prisoners. Lannes then entered the valley, which, as the troops de- scended, enlarged considerably, and exhibited to the delighted eyes of our soldiers, habitations, trees, and cultivated fields, all the forerunners of Italian fertility. These brave fellows marched along in high spirits, when the valley, again becoming narrower, presented a contracted gorge, closed in by a fort bristling with cannon. This was the fort of Bard, already mentioned as an obstacle by several Italian officers, but still as an obstacle that might be overcome. The engineer officers attached to the advance-guard went forward, reconnoitred the place, and, after a short examination, declared that it completely obstructed the road through the valley, which could not be passed without forcing it, a task that seemed impossible to execute. The intelligence circulated through the division caused a painful surprise. The nature of this un- foreseen obstacle was as follows : A river flows through the valley of Aosta, which receives all the waters of the St. Bernard, and under the name of the Dora Baltea falls into the Po. In approaching Bard the valley becomes more narrow; the road running along between the foot of the mountains and the bed of the river gradually contracts, and a rock, which appears to have fallen from the neighbouring heights into the middle of the valley, closes it up almost entirely. The river runs on one side of this rock, the road passes on the other. This road, lined with houses, constitutes the whole town of Bard. On the sum- mit of the rock a fort, impregnable from its posi- tion, although badly constructed, commands with its fire, on the right the course of the Dora Baltea, and on the left the long street which forms the little town of Bard. Drawbridges close the entrance and the outlet of this solitary street. A garrison, not numerous, but well commanded, occupied the fort. Lannes, who was not a man to be thus stopped, immediately sent a few companies of grenadiers, who let fall the drawbridge, and entered the town in spite of a brisk fire. The commandant of the fort then poured a shower of balls, and particularly shells, upon the unfortunate town ; but at last stopped, out of consideration for the inhabitants. Lannes sta- tioned his division outside the place. It was clearly evident, that under the fire of the fort it would be impossible to pass the materiel of the army, as its fire swept the road in all directions. Lannes in- stantly made his report to Berthier of the circum- stance, and the latter hastened to the spot, and saw with apprehension how difficult the object thus suddenly disclosed would be to overcome. General Marescot was sent for; he examined the fort, and at once pronounced it to be impregnable, not on ac- count of its construction, which was very indiffer- ent, but from its being wholly insulated. The steepness of the rock almost forbade an escalade, and the walls, although not covered by earth-works, could not be battered in breach, because there was no means of establishing a battery in a place where the guns could be effective. Still it was possible to haul by main strength a few guns of small weight of metal upon a neighbouring height, and orders were given by Berthier to that effect. The soldiers, who were made for difficult enterprises, laboured hard to haul up two four and two eight-pounders. They succeeded at last in getting them on the mountain of Albaredo, which commands the rock and fort of Bard, and a downward fire suddenly opened, and caused great surprise in the garrison. Still it was not discouraged; it replied, and dis- mounted one of our guns which was of small weight of metal. Marescot declared he had no hope of taking the fort, and that it would be necessary to find- some other mode of overcoming the obstacle. The long sinuosities of the mountain of Albaredo on the left were reconnoitred, and at last a path was found, which having many difficulties, much more than the St. Bernard itself presented, led to the high road of the valley, which it rejoined at St. Donaz below the fort. After traversing a mountain of the secondary order as difficult to pass as the St. Ber- nard, if it should be required to perform the opera- tions a second time, which the army had gone through on Mount St. Bernard, by again dismounting and remounting the artillery, and dragging it along with the same efforts, the strength of the army might not be adequate to the performance, and this materiel itself, so many times taken to pieces and put together again, might be rendered unserviceable. Berthier, in a state of alarm, immediately issued counter-orders to the columns, which were arriving in succession, to suspend the forward movements every where, both of troops and stores, in case of its being ultimately necessary to return. The alarm immediately spread over the rear, and all believed that they were stopped in their glorious enterprise. Berthier sent off several couriers to the first con- sul, to make known to him their unforeseen disap- pointment. The first consul was still at Martigny, not having an intention of crossing the St. Bernard, until he had himself seen the last of the stores belonging to the expedition sent forward. The announce- ment of an obstacle deemed insurmountable stng- gered him at first ; but soon recovering himself, he refused, in the most determined manner, to admit the thought of a retrograde movement. Nothing upon earth should make him submit to such an extremity. He thought that if one of the highest mountains on the globe had not arrested his design, a secondary rock could not overcome his genius and courage. " They will take the fort," he ob- served, "by a bold dash; or if not taken, they will turn it. Besides, if the infantry and cavalry can pass with a few four-pounder guns, they will pro- ceed to Ivre"a, at the entrance towards the plains, and halt there until the heavy artillery can follow them. If the heavy guns cannot pass free of the obstacle thus presented, and if to replace them that of the enemy must be captured, the French 1SOO. May. He himself passes Mount St. Bernard. His benevolent act to his guide. MARENGO. Hu proceeds to examine the fort of Bard. Fruitless attack. Dl infantry is both sufficiently brave and numerous to fall upon the Austrian artillery and supply themselves." Bonaparte then studied his maps anew, ques- tioned a great many Italian officers, and finding from them that other roads led from Aosta to the surrounding valleys, he wrote again and again to Berthier, forbidding the interruption of the for- ward movement of the army, and indicating to him, with wonderful precision, the observations necessary to be made around the fort of Bard ; satisfied that no serious danger could arise except from the arrival of a body of the enemy. To close up the outlet at Ivra, he enjoined it upon Berthier to send Lannes to Ivrea, by the way of Albaredo, and to make him take up a strong position, covered from the Austrian artillery and cavalry. " If Lannes," added the first consul, " will guard the entrance of the valley, it little matters what may happen; it can only be a small loss of time at most. We have provisions in a sufficient quantity to allow of waiting ; and we shall come round in the end, either by turning or vanquishing the impediment which delays us at this moment." These instructions being sent to Berthier, he addressed his last orders to general Moncey, who was to cross by the St. Gothard ; to general Cha- bran, who, taking the pass of the Little St. Bernard, would come direct upon the fort of Bard, and then, at last, he determined himself to cross the moun- tain. Before he departed, he received news from the Var, that on the 14th of May, or 24th of Flore"al, Melas was still at Nice. As it was now the 20th of May, it was not to be imagined that the Aus- trian general could have hurried from Nice to Ivrea in six days. He therefore set out to cross the moun- tains on the 20th, before daybreak. His aid-de-camp Duroc, and his secretary Bourrienne, accompanied him. The artists have painted him clearing the Alpine snows upon a fiery charger. The truth is, that he crossed the St. Bernard mounted upon a mule, dressed in the grey great-coat which he commonly wore, conducted by a guide belonging to the coun- try. He exhibited, even in the most difficult passes, the abstraction of a mind otherwise occupied; then conversing with the officers on the road, then ques- tioning his guide, and making him relate the his- tory of his life, of his joys and troubles, just as an idle traveller would do who had nothing better with which to beguile the time. The guide, who was young, gave him a simple narrative of the particulars of his obscure existence, and, more than all, of his vexation, because, from want of the small means, he was unable to marry one of the girls of the valley. The first consul, listening at one time, and at another questioning the passen- gers with whom the mountain was covered, arrived at the hospital, where the good monks gave him a warm reception. Scarcely had he descended from his mule, when he wrote a note, which he gave to his guide, desiring him to be very careful of its delivery to the quarter-master of the army, who remained on the other side of the St. Bernard. In the evening, the young guide, on returning to St. Pierre, discovered with surprise who the great traveller was whom he had escorted in the morn- ing, and that Bonaparte had ordered that a house and piece of ground should be immediately given to him, with the means of marrying and realizing all the dreams of his modest ambition. This mountaineer died recently in his own country, proprietor of the land bestowed upon him by the raler of the world. This singular act of kindness, at a moment when his mind was filled with such weighty occupations, is worthy of remark. If it were no more than the caprice of a conqueror, flinging good and evil about at random, by turns oversetting an empire or building a cottage, such a caprice it may be useful to record, if only to tempt the lords of the earth to imitate similar actions : but actions such as this reveal something besides. The heart of man in those moments, when it experiences strong desires, tends to kind- ness, doing good in the way of meriting that which it solicits of Providence. The first consul stayed a little time with the monks, thanked them for then? attentions to his army, and made them a magnificent present towards the relief of the poor and of travellers. He descended the mountain rapidly, and following the custom of the country, he suffered himself to slide down over the snow. The same evening lie reached Etroubles. On the following day, after having directed his attention for a short time to the park of artillery and the stores of provisions, he departed for Aosta and Bard. Having found that all he had been told was correct, he determined to send on his infantry, cavalry, and four-pounders, by the way of Albaredo, which was possible, if the path were made good. All the troops were to march forward, and to take possession of the moun- tain opening in advance of Ivrea, the first consul ha the mean time intending to make an attempt to take the fort, or find some means of turning it, by getting his artillery over the neighbouring passes. He ordered general Lecchi, at the head of the Italians, to- mount on the left, and penetrate by the way of Grassoney into the valley of the Sesia, which terminates near the Simplon and Lago Mag- giore. The object of this movement was to keep open the Simplon road, communicate with the detach- ment which was descending from thence, and, finally, to observe all the roads that were capable of admitting carriages to pass over them. The first consul then directed his attention to the fort of Bard. The army was in possession of the only street composing the town, but they must pass through it under such a shower of balls, that there was scarcely any possibility of getting along with artillery, though the distance was not more than two or three hundred fathoms. The commander was summoned, but he firmly replied, as fully sensible of the importance of his post, that force alone should make the French masters of the pass. The artillery, which had been placed upon the mountain of Albaredo, produced no important effect. An escalade was attempted on the outer- work of the fort, but some brave grenadiers and an excellent officer, Dufour, were uselessly killed or wounded. At the same time the troops had boon moving forward over the path on the Albaredo. Fif- teen hundred workmen having completed the most urgent repairs, enlarged the places that were too narrow, by removing banks, diminishing the slopes that were too rapid, cutting steps for the feet, and in some places throwing the trunks of trees in the way of bridges over ravines too difficult to cross They succeed in conreying the Engagement at Chiusella. lgn , 92 artillery before the fort. TRIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. The passage of the '' Ivre carried by Lannes. Alps completed. without. The troops advanced in succession, one after another, the cavalry leading their horses. The Austrian officer commanding in the fort of Bard began to despair at seeing the columns pass, without power to stop their march, and wrote to Melas, that he had seen a whole army, cavalry and infantry, march on, without being able to obstruct them ; but he would engage his head for it, that they would arrive without a single piece of cannon. The artil- lery, in the mean time, made the bold attempt to take on a piece of cannon in the night, under the fire of the fort. Unluckily, the enemy, discovering by the noise what was passing, threw light-balls, which made the road as visible as if it had been noon-day, and enabled them to cover the ground with a hail-shower of projectiles. Of thirteen gun- ners, who were so adventurous as to draw the piece, seven were killed or wounded. This was enough to put out of heart the boldest men, until an inge- nious mode, but still exceedingly dangerous, was conceived. The street was covered with straw and stable dung, and bands of tow were placed round the gun in such a manner as to prevent the least clash of the mass of metal upon the carriage. The horses were detached, and bold artillerymen dragged them by main strength, venturing to pass under the batteries of the fort, along the street of Bard. The plan perfectly succeeded. The enemy, who occa- sionally fired in a precautional way, struck some of the gunners ; but in no long time, in spite of the fire, the heavy artillery was removed to the other side of the defile, and this formidable difficulty, which had caused the first consul more anxiety than the passage of the St. Bernard itself, was thus overcome. The artillery horses had been taken round by the Albaredo path. While this bold plan was in execution, Lannes, marching in advance at the head of his infantry, had, on the 22d of May, carried the town of Ivre"a, that had not been repaired since the wars of the time of Louis XIV., but which, from a presenti- ment much too late, the Austrian staff had just began to arm. The defensive works of Ivrea con- sisted of a citadel unconnected with the body of the place, and of bastioned walls. The brave general Watrin, at the head of his division, as- saulted the citadel, while Lannes advanced against the body of the place, and both were taken by scalade. There were about five or six thou- sand Austrians in the town, half of which were cavalry, who retreated in a great hurry. Lannes made some prisoners, drove the Austrians out of the valley, and took up a position at the opening upon the plains of Piedmont, at the point designated by the first consul. A few days later, Ivre"a, defended by the Austrians, would have be- come, though not an insurmountable obstacle, a serious embarrassment. Cannon and provisions were found in the town. Lannes completed its armament, and victualled it in such a manner, that, in case of a check, it might become one of the supports of the line of retreat. While these things were performing, general Chabran descended with his division by the Little St. Bernard. As his division contained a good many conscripts recently incorporated, the blockade of the fort of Bard was confided to his hands; for it could not be long before it surrendered when it saw itself cut off from all resources, and the artil- lery, which it could not stop, gone beyond its reach. General Thureau, at the head of a corps of four thousand men, carried the outlet of Suza, making one thousand five hundred prisoners, and taking several cannon. He was obliged to halt at the entrance of the valley between Suza and Bus- solino. General Lecchi, with the Italians, turned the valley of the Sesia, repulsed Rohan's division, taking some hundreds of prisoners, disengaged the outlet of the Simplon, and connected itself to a detachment of the division left in Switzerland at the commencement of the campaign. Finally, the corps of general Moncey, in echelon over a great length of the valley of St. Gothard, clambered -up the heights to the summit. Thus the general movement of the army was every where effected with perfect success. It was at last necessary to quit the valley of Aosta : Lannes, always in the advance-guard, left the valley on the 26th of May, or the 6th of Prairial, no longer hesitating to show himself in the plain. The Austrian general Haddick had the charge of closing this outlet of the Alps, with some thou- sand infantry and his numerous cavalry ; he was covered by the little river Chiusella, which falls into the Dora Baltea. A bridge crossed this stream, to which Lannes briskly pushed with his infantry. The fire of artillery, well-pointed and sudden, greeted the French, but did not stop their advance. The gallant general Macon entered the bed of the river with his demi-brigade, and crossed both above and below the bridge, clambering up the opposite bank. The Austrian cavalry, com- manded by General Palfy, charged the demi- brigade ; but the general fell dead, and his cavalry were dispersed. The French, rejoined by the rest of Lannes' division, advanced in pursuit of the enemy with their accustomed spirit. General Haddick, profiting by the disorder of the pursuit, pushed on his squadrons at a very favourable mo- ment : the 6th light was obliged to halt ; but the 22d, in close column, repulsed solely by its fire this new charge of the Austrian cavalry. Some thou- sand horse then dashed on at once to make a last effort against the French infantry. The 40th and 22d demi-brigades, formed into a square, sustained the formidable charge with wonderful firmness ; they were thrice charged, and as many times they repulsed the cavalry with their bayonets. Haddick, finding himself incapable of resisting the advance- guard of the French, gave the order to retreat, after losing a great many men, killed and wounded, and others made prisoners ; thus relinquishing the plains of Piedmont to Lannes, and retiring behind the Oreo. Lannes continued his march, and on the 28th of May, or 8th of Prairial, he ad- vanced towards Chivasso on the banks of the Po. The Austrians, alarmed at this unexpected inva- sion, quickly evacuated Turin. Lannes seized a numerous convoy of barques descending the Po, having on board corn, rice, ammunition, and wounded men. The abundance designed by the Austrians for their army was thus soon affording resources to the French. Thirteen days were now over, and the stupendous enterprise of the first consul had fully succeeded. An army of forty thousand men, infantry, cavalry, and artillery, had passed by unbeaten paths over the highest mountains in Europe ; dragging its 1800. May. Bonaparte harangues his troops, and lays aside all disguise. Conduct of Melas. MARENGO. His illusions gradually dis- pelled. His critical situa- tion and consequent alarm. artillery by main strength along the snow, or pushing it forward under the murderous fire of a fort, almost close to the muzzles of its guns. One division of five thousand men had descended the Little St. Bernard ; another of four thousand had passed over Mount Cenis ; a detachment occupied the Simplon ; and lastly, a corps of fifteen thousand men, under general Moncey, was on the summit of St. Gothard. There were thus sixty thousand soldiers and more about to enter Italy, still, it is true, separated from each other by considerable distances, but assured of soon rallying round the principal mass of forty thousand, who had come by Ivre*a, in the centre of the semicircle of the Alps. Nor was this extraordinary march the whim of a general who, in order to turn his enemy, exposed himself to be turned in a like manner. Master of the valley of Aosta, of the Simplon, and of St. Gothard, Bonaparte had the certainty, that if he lost a battle, he should be able to return to the point whence he had set out, at the utmost by the sacrifice of some part of his artillery, in case of being closely pressed on his retreat. Having now no movement to conceal, the first consul went to Chivasso, harangued the troops, congratulated them upon their firmness before the Austrian cavalry, announced to them the great results which he saw approaching, and showed himself, not only to his own troops, but to the Italians and Austrians, that he might alarm, by the knowledge of his own for- midable presence, the enemy whom a little before he wished to remain in the profound repose of their own self-assured security. What in the mean while was Melas about ? Continually by the cabinet of Vienna and by his own generals made easy on the subject of the fabulous army of reserve, he pushed the siege of Genoa and the attack of the bridge of the Var. He had suffered considerable losses at both these points, but still persisted in thinking that the levies assembled at Dijon were composed of no more than a body of conscripts, destined to fill up the vacancies in the regimental skeletons of the two armies of the Rhine and of Liguria. Some news that reached him about the middle of May was calculated to cre- ate an uneasiness about the position of affairs in his rear, but he soon recovered from his apprehensions, and cherished the notion, that the troops collected at Dijon were intended to descend the Rhone directly, in order to join the corps of Suchet on the Var. In place of sending his forces by the Col de Tende into Piedmont he kept them all with him before the bridge of the Var. Nevertheless, the French columns issuing from all the valleys of the Alps at once, seen and recognised with perfect certainty by general Wukassowich, at length roused him from his illusions, but still without wholly con- vincing him. He left general Ott with thirty thou- sand men before Genoa, and general Elsnitz with twenty thousand before the bridge of the Var. The last were to be reinforced by the troops under general St. Julien, which had become disposable by the reduction of Savona. Me'las now returned with ten thousand men across the Col de Tende to- ward Coni. On the 22d of May he entered that place, and, until that moment, really believed that the French troops which had shown themselves were only conscripts employed to make a demon- stration in the rear of his army, in order to induce him to raise the siege of Genoa, and he could scarcely credit even now that it was Bonaparte at the head of a great army. But this illusion was soon dissipated. One of his officers, who knew the person of the French commander-in-chief per- fectly well, was sent to Chivasso on the banks of the Po. There he saw with his own eyes the con- queror of Castiglione and Rivoli, made his com- mander acquainted with the whole extent of his danger, and that it was not an assemblage of con- scripts of which the first consul had deigned to take the command. This was not all; for, it having been doubted whether the French had cannon, the noise of their artillery was now distinctly heard at Chiusella. This estimable old officer, Me'las, who had displayed superior military qualities in the preceding campaign, was thus subjected to the most cruel anxieties. Every day added to his troubles, since he soon learned that the heads of the columns of general Moncey were descending the St. Gothard. Me'las was in an extremely critical situation. Of one hundred and twenty thousand men he recently commanded, he had lost at least twenty-five thou- sand before the Var and Genoa. Those which he had left were dispersed ; Otto, with thirty thou- sand, was before Genoa ; Elsnitz, with twenty-five thousand, before the bridge of the Var ; general Kaim, guarding the outlets of Suza and Pignerol with about twelve thousand men, had lost Suza, and retired upon Turin. Haddick, who had about nine thousand, watched the valleys of Aosta and Sesia, and was now retiring before Lannes; Wu- kassowich, who had ten thousand men, was in observation of the valleys of the Simplon and St. Gothard ; what would be his fate before Mon- cey? Me'las himself was at Turin with ten thou- sand falling back upon Nice. Was it not Bona- parte's intentions to throw himself among all these dispersed corps, and beating them one after an- other, to destroy them I There was yet time, per- haps, to take safe steps, provided they had been executed as soon as they were conceived ; but the Austrian general lost some days in coming to him- self, and forming a definitive opinion regarding the plans of his opponent, then in forming his own, and, last of all, in resigning himself to the sacrifices attending the concentration of his forces ; since it was necessary for him to abandon at the same time the Var, probably Genoa, and, most as- suredly, the larger part of Piedmont. While Me'las was deliberating, Bonaparte had made his determinations with his customary promptness and resolution. His determinations were not less grave than those of his enemy. If the Austrians were dispersed, the French were so too, since they descended by Mont Cenis, the Great and Little St. Bernard, the Simplon, and the St. Gothard. It was afterwards necessary they should unite and cut off all retreat from Me'las, or, lastly, set Massena free, who at this moment was reduced to the last extremity. Having descended the St. Bernard, Bonaparte had upon his right mount Cenis and Turin, on his left the St. Gothard and Milan, fifty leagues in his front Genoa and Masse*na. What course would he now take ? Inclining to the right upon mount Cenis, to rally the four thousand men under general Thureau, would be of little moment. He would Determinations of the first 94 consul as to his future proceedings. THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. Further illusions of Melas. Passage of the Tessino. 1300. May. thus expose himself to an encounter with Melas immediately, though in the present dispersed state of his forces this would not be very hazardous; but by inclining to the right he must relinquish to the Austrian general on the left, the roads of Milan or Piacenza, by which he might effect a retreat. It was little worth his while, having made such great efforts to cross the Alps and throw himself upon the communications of the enemy, if after thus occupying them, he were to leave them free. To proceed straightforward, pass the Po, fly to Genoa among the dispersed corps of the Austrian army, neglecting general Thureau on his right and general Moncey on his left, and com- promising every one of his own communications, was not consistent with that great prudence which had combined all the parts of the plan thus far followed with so much reflection and boldness. He was ignorant what number of troops might be met with upon that route ; he would sacrifice his line of retreat upon the Alps, by abandoning gene- rals Thureau and Moncey to themselves, and, in all probability, reducing them to the alternative of falling back upon Mount Cenis and St. Gothard, Who shah 1 say after what adventures ! It would have been better to succour Masse'ua direct by Toulou, Nice, and Genoa. Under all these cir- cumstances, there evidently remained but one part to take; and this was to incline to the left towards St. Gothard and Milan, and form a communication with the fifteen thousand men commanded by gene- ral Moncey. In this mode he would unite him- self to the principal detachment of the army, which would carry up the number to sixty thousand fighting men ; he would occupy the capital of upper Italy ; he would raise the population in the Austrian rear ; he would take all then* magazines ; he would become master of the line of the Po, and of all the bridges on that great river ; and, finally, by thus putting it in his power to attack the enemy upon either bank, he woujd stop Melas by which- ever road he might attefapt au escape. It was true, that by this plan no succour could, for eight or ten days, be sent to Masse'na, which was to bo regretted; but Bonaparte thought that his own presence in Italy would suffice to disengage the army of Liguria, because he supposed Melas would lose no time in hastening to collect around him the corps that were investing Genoa and the bridge of the Var. In any case, the generals Masse'ua and Suchet had fulfilled the object which was assigned to them, had retained Melas on the Apennines, fatiguing and exhausting him, above all, prevent- ing his closing up the outlets of the Alps. If the defender of Genoa must yield, it would but con- summate the long series of sacrifices imposed upon the noble and unfortunate army of Liguria for the success of a vast combination. His resolution formed, Bonaparte made his ar- rangements with the greatest promptitude, direct- ing his entire army on the left bank of the Po. He assembled his park of artillery which had just been put in an efficient state ; he enjoined Lannes to collept all the boats taken at Chivasso, to dispose of them in such a manner as if he was about to throw a bridge across, and to pass into Piedmont. His object was a second time to deceive Melas in regard to his intentions, and in this he was as successful as he had been before. On observing the movements of Bonaparte, Melas, trying to flatter himself to the last moment, indulged the hope that the French had only descended the Alps in a small number. He believed that Bonaparte, as every thing induced him to think, had only passed the Po to enter Turin, and communicate towards Mount Cenis with general Thureau, and imagined he could make head against him, by destroying the bridges and disputing the passage of the Po with about thirty thousand men. He had thus the hope that he should be able to defend himself on this line, without making the double sacrifice of the positions occupied on the Var, and the advantages obtained before Genoa. In consequence, Melas united general Haddick, who had returned from the valley of Aosta, general Kaim before posted at the outlet of Susa, the ten thousand men he had himself brought from Nice, with a new detachment from the Var, thus forming, together, a force of thirty thousand men, and, thinking the French were not more numerous, he trusted to dispute with this number, the river which separated the two armies. The first consul did not seek to destroy this new illusion of his enemy, and leaving him to employ himself towards Turin, in this partial concentra- tion of his forces, fell back suddenly himself upon Milan. Lannes, who was apparently about to ascend the Po in order to march from Chivasso upon Turin, on the contrary suddenly descended the river. He advanced by Crescentino and Trino on Pavia, where the Austrians possessed immense magazines of provisions, ammunition, and artillery, and still more the most important of their commu- nications, for it commanded at the same time the passage of the Po and the Tessino. Murat marched by Verceil on the point of Buffalora. The whole army followed the general movement upon Milan. On the 31st of May it arrived at the Tessino. This river is large and deep ; there were no boats to pass over ; and on the opposite side a numerous cavalry appeared, belonging to the corps of Wukas- sowich, which guarded the Simplon and that part of the opening of the Alps. Behind the Tessino ran the Naviglio-Grande, a broad canal which crosses the country as far as Milan. This canal for some distance runs a parallel course with the river from which it branches, and approximates to it very closely. The enemy's cavalry, cooped up on a narrow tongue of land between the Tessino and the canal, was extremely confined in its movements, and could scarcely make use of its strength. The adjutant-general Girard took some of the small boats which the peasantry of the vicinity had con- cealed near Galiate, with which they were desirous of furnishing the army, crossed with a few troops, and fell upon the Austrian advance-guard. Suc- cessively reinforced by these boats, which were kept continually passing and repassing, and sup- ported by the fire of the artillery, the general re- pulsed the cavalry, which dared not advance upon a ground so unfavourable, and obliged it to repass the Naviglio-Grande at a place called the bridge of Turbigo. Thus he cleared at once the Naviglio and Tessino. But general Wukassowich brought up Laudon's infantry-brigade, and attempted to penetrate into the village of Turbigo. The adju- tant-general Girard had but a few hundred men to oppose to this force. He defended himself for 1800. June. The approach of Bonaparte on Milan. Surprise and joy of the Milanese. He enters Milan, and re-establishes MARENGO. the republican government. Fur- ther movements of the army. several successive hours with great spirit and ! courage, finally succeeding in saving the bridge of Turbigo, the loss of which might have thrown the French on this side of the Naviglio-Grande, and perhaps of the Tessino itself. While he thus gal- lantly defended himself, general Monnier, who had contrived to cross a little below, came to his aid, fell upon the troops of Laudon, and drove them from Turbigo. The line which was to check the French army was thus passed at the cost of a simple skirmish of the advance-guard. The next day, the 1st of June, or 12th Prairial, Boudet's division crossed near Buffalora, and the whole army advanced upon Milan. Wukassowich, fearful of being entrapped between the main army while advancing in Lombardy, and the corps of Moncey descending from the St. Gothard, retired vith great haste, and commanded Dedovich's brigade, which was at the foot of the mountains, to fall back behind the Adda at Cassano. He himself went to seek shelter behind the Adda by Milan and Lodi, after leaving a garrison of two thousand eight hundred men in the citadel of Milan. There was now nothing to impede the progress of the French army. It could enter freely into the capital of Lombardy, which had groaned for above a year under the yoke of the Austrians. Thus far the unhappy Italians had heard of nothing but the successes of Melas and the distress of the French. Caricatures of the army of reserve had been circulated in Milan as well as in London and Vienna. They represented it as a rabble of boys and old men, armed with sticks, mounted upon asses, and having for their artillery a couple of blunderbusses. At the same time the derision of the French republic, inoffensive enough, was thus poured out, the Italians were the victims of grievous oppression. All the men in Lombardy, any way distinguished by talents or fortune, were imprisoned or exiled, particularly if they had been at all concerned in the affairs of the Cisalpine republic. It was not a little remarkable that the persecution fell less heavily upon the infuriated pa- triots who corresponded with the French Jacobins, than upon moderate men, whose examples might be more catching among the people. Excepting a few who were the creatures of the Austrian go- vernment, and some of the nobles attached to the oligarchy, every body sighed for the return of the French. Yet for this they could scarcely venture to hope, particularly when they saw Melas advanced so far in Liguria, so near the capture of Genoa and the passage of the Var, and the first consul so occupied, at least as far as appearances went, with the dangers of the invasion which threatened France upon the side of the Rlune. A report had been circulated among the people, that Bonaparte, so well-known in Italy, had died in Egypt ; that, a new Pharaoh, he had been engulfed in the Red Sea ; and that he who figured in Paris, bearing the same name, was one of his brothers. The surprise of the Italians, when they were suddenly told that a French army had shown itself at Ivrea, may be easily divined ; that it was issuing forth below that town, that it was in march for the Tessino; and, lastly, that it had passed that river. It may be imagined what agitation prevailed in Milan ! The affirmations, the contra- dictions, that for forty-eight hours succeeded each other ; and, last of all, the delight that appeared when the news was confirmed by the presence of Bonaparte himself, marching with his staff at the head of the advance-guard. On the 2nd of June, or the 13th Prairial, the entire population came out to meet the French army, and recognise the illustrious general, whom they had so often seen within their walls, welcoming him in transports of enthusiasm, and receiving him like a saviour from heaven. The feelings of the Italians, always lively and demonstrative, had never broken out with such force, because so many circumstances had never, until now, concurred to render the joy of the people so quick and deep. The Frencn general, on entering Milan, hastened to open the prisons, and to restore the government of the country to the friends of France. He gave a pro- visional administration to the Cisalpine republic, and composed it of the most respected men. Still faithful to the same principles in Italy to which he adhered in France, he would neither allow violence nor re-action ; and in restoring the power to the Italians of his own party, he did not permit them to exercise it against those who were of the con- trary side. After having thus first taken care of the Milanese, he made haste to push out columns in every direction, on the lakes, on the Adda, and on the Po, so as to extend the rising in favour of the French, seize the enemy's magazines, cut off then? communications, and shut up every road in their retreat. Up to this point every thing went well, as Lannes, who had been ordered upon Pavia, had entered that town on the 1st of June, and carried off immense magazines. This general found in Pavia, the Austrian hospitals, a large store of grain, forage, ammunition, arms, and especially three hundred pieces of canuon, one-half being field- pieces. He was able also to procure thence many materials for making bridges, which the pontoon companies, who had been started off without materiel, could usefully employ on the Po. The division of Chabran, which had been left before the fort of Bard, captured it on the 1st of June, and found there eighteen pieces of cannon. General Chabran, leaving a garrison there, as well as at Ivre"a, went on to occupy the course of the Po from the Dora Baltea to the Sesia, beyond which point to Pavia it was occupied by Lannes. The corps of general de Belhencourt, which had marched from the Simplon, took up a position be- fore Arona, towards the point of Lago Maggiore. The Italian legion was despatched from Brescia to follow up the Austrians who were retreating in all haste. At the same time the Duhesme and Loison divisions passed the Adda, and appeared at Lodi, Crema, and Pizzighittone. General Wukassowieh, giving up all pretence of guarding the Adda, re- treated behind the Mincio, under the canuon of Mantua. There was nothing to check the progress of general Moncey, always excepting the difficulty of finding subsistence in the barren valleys of upper Switzerland. His first columns were just making their appearance, but it was necessary to wait some days yet for the others, and this, as things stood, was a most convenient point, for it became im- portant to press on, lest Genoa should fall into the hands of the Austrians. Bonaparte was now certain Mi-Us, thoroughly undeceived, x In all their sufferings the ,-fl,. 96 relinquishes half measures.- TRIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE, garrison hope for rescue '*"" Dreadful state of Genoa. from Bonaparte. of bringing all his columns together, with the ex- ception of one only, that of general Thureau, which, in entrenchment at the fort of mount Cenis, was un- able to proceed. In all other respects, the army was strongly posted in the centre of the Milanese, having its retreat assured by mount Cenis, the St. Bernard, the Simplon, and St.Gothard, in possession of the Adda, the Tessino, and the Po, victualled from the magazines of the Austriaus, whom it cut off on every road, and could bring to a decisive engage- ment, after which they would have no other re- source, if beaten, than to lay down their arms. The surrender of Genoa, if it took place, would be a vexatious circumstance; vexatious, first, because of the brave army who were its defenders, and secondly, because the body of Austrians engaged at present in the siege would not fail to re-inforce Melas, and so render more arduous the great battle which was to put an end to the campaign. But if Bonaparte carried off the victory, Genoa and Italy were reconquered at the same blow. Nevertheless he placed a high value on the pre- servation of Genoa ; but there was scarcely a hope of assembling the corps of Moncey before the 5th or 6th June, and no one could flatter himself that Genoa would hold out to that time. Melas, whom the last news had thoroughly en- lightened, and who saw his adversary entering into Milan and joining all his columns as they succes- sively came down from the Alps, now comprehended the vast plan which had been projected against him. To increase his misfortune, he just now re- ceived intelligence of the ill-fortune of Kray, and his retreat upon Ulm. He threw away at once his system of half measures, and issued imperative orders to general Elsnitz to abandon the bridge of the Var, and to general Ott to give up the siege of Genoa, and concentrate both their forces at Alexandria. It was in this that Bonaparte had placed his hope for the safety of Genoa. But it was fated that the noble and unfortunate army of Liguria should pay to the last, with its blood, its sufferings, and finally with the mortification of a surrender, for the triumphs of the army of reserve. Masse'na to the last supported his great reputa- tion. * He will make us eat his very boots," said the soldiers, " before he surrenders." When the butchers' meat was consumed, they ate their horses, and when these had gone they fed upon animals the most unclean. The sorry bread, made of oats and beans, had been already devoured. From the 23d May, or 3d Prairial, Masse'na had collected the starch, linseed, and cacao which were in the maga- zines of Genoa, and caused them to be made into a bread, which the soldiers could hardly swallow, and very few digest. Nearly all of them crowded into the hospitals. The people, reduced to soup of herbs for their only aliment, experienced all the agonies of famine. The streets were strewed with the bodies of men dying from inanition, and emaciated women, who exposed to charity the children whom they could no longer nourish. A spectacle of another kind created terror in the city and the army; it was that of the numerous pri- soners whom Massena had made, and to whom he had no food to give. He was not inclined to dis- miss them on their parole, since he had seen those to whom he did so again appear in the ranks of the enemy. He proposed to general Ott, and then to admiral Keith, to furnish the provisions neces- sary for their daily consumption, on his giving his word of honour that they should not be misapplied for the support of the garrison. The word of such a man might certainly have been taken ; but so inveterate were the enemy, that they resolved to impose upon Masse'na the charge of supporting his prisoners. The enemy's generals had thus the barbarity to condemn their soldiers to the horrible sufferings of famine, for the purpose of augmenting the dearth in Genoa by leaving him some thousand more mouths to provide for. Masse'na supplied these prisoners with the herb-soup which he gave the inhabitants ; but this was not sufficient for robust men accustomed to the plenty of the rich plains of Italy. They were continually on the point of breaking out into revolt ; and to prevent any fear of this, Masse'na had them shut up in the old hulks of some vessels, which he placed in the middle of the port, and on which a numerous artillery was constantly pointed, in readiness to pour forth death. These wretched men kept uttering a hideous howling, which deeply moved the population of the city, even in the midst of their own sufferings. The number of our soldiei's each day diminished. They might be seen expiring in the streets; and such was their weakness, as to render it necessary to allow them to sit while mounting guard. The Genoese were too discouraged to perform any longer the duties of a national guard, believing that they would be compromised, as the Austrians would soon restore the aristocratic party. From time to time vague rumours gave token that the despair of the inhabitants was about to break out ; and to prevent an explosion, the principal places were occupied by battalions with loaded cannon. Masse'na imposed awe on the people and the army by his imperturbable attitude. The respect which this hero inspired eating the vile bread of the soldiers, living with them under the fire of the enemy, and enduring, besides their physical sufferings, with undaunted firmness the anxieties of his command the respect which he inspired controlled all men ; and in the midst of desolated Genoa he exercised the ascendancy of a great mind. Yet a feeling of hope still supported the be- sieged. Several aids-de-camp from the general, by efforts 'the most courageous, had passed the enemy's lines, and brought in newe. Colonels Reille, Franceschi, and Ortigoni had passed in and given information : at one tune that the first consul was on his way; at another, that he was passing the Alps ; one of them, Franceschi, had left him descending the St. Bernard. But since the 20th of May there had been no more news. Ten or twelve days passed in such a situation appeared like ages, and men began to ask in despair, how it could be possible, that in ten days Bonaparte had not crossed the space between the Alps and the Apennines. " They knew the man," they said; " and by that time he was either victor or van- quished ; if he had not arrived, it was because he had failed in this daring enterprise. If he had succeeded in coming out upon Italy, he would have already pounced upon the Austrian general, and forced him from the walls of Genoa." Others asserted that Bonaparte had regarded the army of Liguria in the light of a corps to be sacrificed to a 1800. June. Massena's proclamation to the soldiers. He is reduced to the last extremity, and com- MARENGO. pelled to surrender the city, but on the moat honourable terms. grand operation; that all he wanted was to detain Me"las on the Apennines; and that, this effected, he gave himself no further care to raise the siege, but marched on to carry out grander objects. " Well," added the Genoese, and our soldiers also, "we have been sacrificed to the glory of France: so be it ; but now that object is attained, are we to die to the last man ? If it were in battle, with arms in our hands, we should give death a welcome ; but of famine, of sickness, we cannot bear it ! The time has come for a surrender." Many of the soldiers in their desperation went so far as to break their muskets. About the same time information was given of a conspiracy of several persons who were irritated by suffering. Masse'na addressed them in a fine proclamation, in which he reminded them that the duties of a soldier consist as much in the endurance of privations and of sufferings, as in the braving of danger ; he also pointed out to them the example of their officers, who ate the same food, and were killed or wounded each day at their head. He told them that the first consul was ad- vancing with an army to their deliverance, and that to capitulate now would be to lose in one in- stant the result of two months of exertion and devotion. " A few days more, perhaps a few hours," said he, " and you will be delivered, and have ren- dered eminent service to your -country." Accordingly, at every sound, every echo in the air, they thought they heard the cannon of Bonaparte, and ran towards it with enthusiasm. One day they persuaded themselves of the sound of cannon at the Bocchetta ; a madness of joy broke out on all sides. Masse'na himself went to the ramparts. Vain illusion ! it was the sound of a storm in the gorges of the Apennines, and they relapsed into a still deeper depression. At last, on the 4th June, there remained no more than two ounces for each man of the wretched bread, made of starch and cacao. The place must be surrendered; for it was impossible to reduce our unfortunate soldiers to devouring each other, and there was thus, in the actual im- possibility of subsisting, an inevitable limit to the ' resistance. Moreover, the army had a feeling that it had done all that could be expected from its bravery. It felt an internal conviction, that it was no longer covering the Thermopylae of France, but that it was subservient to a manoeuvre which must, at the time, have either succeeded or failed. It began to suspect, in addition, that the first consul thought more of extending his combinations than of affording them succour. In these sentiments Masse'na shared, though he did not avow them; but he regarded his duty as not entirely completed until he had reached the last possible limit of re- sistance. When these two miserable ounces of bread which remained for each man were consumed, he was forced to surrender. He resigned himself to this at last with bitter sorrow. General Ott sent a flag of truce to Mm; for the Austrians were as much pressed to terminate the siege as the French themselves. Ott had re- ceived the most peremptory orders to raise the siege and fall back upon Alexandria. These offers coming from an enemy, some historians say, ought to have opened the eyes of Massena. There is no doubt that the general knew if he waited a day or two more he might perchance be relieved, but those two days were not at his disposal. " Only give me," he said to the Genoese, " two days' pro- vision only one day's and I shall save you from the yoke of the Austrians, I shall save my army, too, from the mortification of surrendering." At last, on the 3rd of June, Masse'na was obliged to negotiate. Hia enemies spoke of a capitulation, but he rejected the proposal in such a manner aa did not allow them to renew it. He would have for his army the permission to retire freely, with arms and baggage, their colours flying ; he would be at liberty to commence active service the mo- ment he should have passed beyond the lines of the besieging army. ** If this cannot be," said Masse'na to the Austrians, " I will sally from Ge- noa, sword in hand, with my eight thousand famished men, I will come to your camp, and will fight until I shall force my way through." The Austrians then permitted the garrison to march out, but de- sired that their commander should himself remain a prisoner, fearing lest, with such a leader, the garrison proceeding from Genoa to Savona might unite itself with the troops of Suchet, and then make a formidable attack upon the rear of Melas. To tranquillize the indignation such a wish must excite, they stated to him the motive of the con- dition, which was in every way so honourable to himself. He would not listen to it : they then in- sisted that the garrison should retire by sea, that it might not have time to join the corps of Suchet; to this he still replied that he would cut his way through them. At last they agreed to suffer eight thousand men to depart by land, or, in other words, all who were not too enfeebled to support the weight of their arms. The convalescent were to be successively embarked and conveyed to the head- quarters of general Suchet. There were left behind four thousand sick, whom the Austrians agreed to supply with provisions, to take care of, and restore to the French army. Of these general Miollis was left in the command. Massena also stipulated, in behalf of the Genoese, that none should be molested for the expression of opinions exhibited during the French occupation of the city, and that persons and property should be faithfully respected. A distinguished citizen of Ge- noa, M. Corvette, subsequently minister of France, was admitted to the conferences, that he might witness the efforts made in favour of his country- men. Masse'na wished to obtain for them the existing form of government, for which they were beholden to the French revolution, but on this head the Austrian generals refused to concede any thing. " Very well," replied Masse'na, " do as you please ; but before fifteen days are past, I assure you that I shall again return to Genoa ;" a pro- phetic speech, to which an Austrian officer, M. St. Julien, made the delicate and noble reply : " You will leave in this place, general, men whom you have taught how to defend it." The definitive conference took place on the morn- ing of the 4th of June, in a chapel at the bridge of Cornegliano. The article which provided that a part of the army should retire by land gave place to a last difficulty. Masse'na leaving the Austrian generals the alternative to consent to what he de- sired, or to expect a desperate battle the next day, they gave up the point. It was stipulated that this convention of evacuation, from which the word ''--. H Massena and the French quit Retreat of the Austrians 98 Genoa. Mutual losses in- TRIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. from the Vir. Move- curred during the siege. ments of Suchei 1800. June. capitulation had been carefully excluded, should be carried into effect the same evening. The officers of the Austrian forces, struck with ad- miration for the French general, showed him marks of the highest respect and attention. Evening came ; Massena still felt reluctant to sign, indulging to the last moment the hope of de- liverance. At last, when without breaking his word it was impossible to avoid doing so, he set his sig- nature to the document. On the morrow the French troops marched out with general Gazan at their head, and found rations provided for them at the advanced posts. Masse'na embarked in order to reach the head-quarters of Suchet more ex- peditiously. He left Genoa in a vessel carrying the tricoloured flag, and within reach of the guns of the English squadron. Thus finished this memorable siege, during which the French army distinguished itself by such important services and such distinguished victories. This army had taken more prisoners and killed more of the enemy than the amount of its own numbers. With fifteen thousand men, more than eighteen thousand Austrians had been killed or taken. It had more particularly destroyed the confidence of the imperial army in itself, and constrained it to make continual and extraordinary efforts. But at what cost did the brave garrison of Genoa perform all these things I Of fifteen thousand soldiers it had lost three thousand killed; four thousand were lightly or severely wounded ; eight thousand only remained fit for service. The second in command, general Soult, remained in the hands of the enemy with a broken leg. Out of three generals of division, one had died of an epi- demic disease, general Marbot; another, general Gazan, was severely wounded : out of six generals of brigade, four were wounded, Gardanne, Petitot, Fressinet, and Amaud : of , twelve adjutants- general, six were wounded, one taken, and one killed. Two officers of the staff were killed, seven taken, and fourteen wounded ; eleven colonels out of seventeen were killed or made prisoners, and three-fourths of the officers had met the same fate. Thus it may be seen that it was by giving an example of their own devotion that the leaders of this brave army supported it in the midst of such severe trials. It proved how worthy it was of those who led it ; the French soldier never on any occasion displaying greater constancy or he- roism. Let there be honour, then, given to that unfortunate courage which, by a devotedness with- out limit, contributed to the triumph of that more successful courage, the exploits of which it will be our province to recount. While thus urged to raise the siege of Genoa, and while general Ott was granting to Massena the honourable conditions just recounted, general Els- nitz, recalled by the order of Melas, abandoned the bridge of the Var. The Austrian attacks upon this point had been tardy, because their heavy artillery had been long on the passage. Attempts had been successively made on the 22nd and 27th of May to carry this object. The last attack was ft despairing effort on the part of general Elsnitz, who was desirous before he retreated not to spare any efforts. These attacks were bravely repulsed; and general Elsnitz, knowing he had no chance of success, began to think of crossing the mountains. Suchet, judging promptly and rightly the intentions of the Austrian general, made his arrangements so as not to permit him to retire in security. He saw plainly enough, that by manoauvring with his left wing along the mountains, he could place the Aus- trians in a perilous situation, and probably might be able to cut off from them some of their detach- ments. In fact, beyond the line of the Var which had stopped the invaders, the line of the Roya ran in a parallel, the source of which river is in the Col de Tende itself. If the French went beyond the Var, and preceded the Austrians at the sources of the Roya, they would oblige them to avoid the Col de Tende, and force them to move along the coast of the Apennines to find a passage. This happy idea, vigorously executed, was productive to general Suchet of the happiest results. He began by dispossessing general Gorupp of Ronciglione; then continuing to march rapidly by his left on the right of the Austrians thus shaken, he took in suc- cession the Col de Rauss, which affords a passage from the valley of the Var into that of the Roya, the famous camp of Mille Fourches ; and being master of the Col de Tende, found himself on the 1st of June upon the line of retreat of general Elsnitz. General Gorupp, thrown in confusion upon the Upper Roya, had yet time to gain the Col de Tende, but left on tfre way a number of dead and of prisoners. General Elsnitz, with the rest of his army, had no other resource than to follow the turn of the maritime Apennines as far as Oneglia, and to return by Pieva and St. Jacobo into the valley of Tanaro. He had to traverse frightful mountains with troops already demoralized by this kind of flight, and having close behind him an enemy full of joy at passing from the defensive to the offensive. During five entire days the Austrians were pursued without intermission, receiving con- tinual checks. At length, on the 6th of June, general Elsnitz arrived at Ormea, his force not numbering more than ten thousand men. On the 7th he was at Ceva, and general Gorupp had re- tired upon Coni with a very weak division. The loss sustained by the Austrian forces since they left the Var was considered to be not less than ten thousand men. General Suchet, so long separated from Mas- se'na, found him once more in the environs of Savona. The twelve thousand French from the Var, united with those from Genoa, eight thousand in number, composed a body of twenty thousand men, very well placed for falling upon the rear of Melas. But Massena had received upon landing a very severe wound, so that he was unable to mount his horse ; the eight thousand men who were with him were worn out with fatigue ; and it must be admitted, that all the defenders of Genoa felt a secret irritation against the first consul, who was known to have been triumphant in Milan, while the army of Liguria was . so reduced as to be obliged to capitulate. Masse'na was not willing that general Suchet should run the risk of a descent into Italy, while in ignorance of the movements about to be made beyond the Apennines by the two generals opposed to each other. Melas, joined by his lieutenants, Haddick, Kaim, Elsnitz, and Ott, at the head of a very formidable force, might fling himself upon general Suchet, and crush him before he went to engage Bonaparte. Masse'na, 1800. June. Suchet occupies a threatening position. Critical situation of the Austrians. Melas endeavours to concentrate his MARENGO. forces. Bonaparte intercepts the Austrian despatches. therefore, permitted Suchet, his lieutenant, to pass the Apennines, and place himself in advance of Acqui, but to remain in that position, observing, disquieting the Austrian army, and hanging over its head like the sword of Damocles. It will pre- sently be seen what service the army of Liguria rendered merely by its presence on the summit of the Apennines. Mass^na thought, this brave army, in terminating by a menacing movement the memorable defence of Genoa, had done enough for the triumph of the first consul; and that without great impru- dence it could do no more. This great soldier was correct. He had delivered over to Bonaparte the exhausted Austrians reduced one-third. Of seventy thousand men who had passed the Apennines, there returned no more than forty thousand, in- cluding the detachment brought back to Turin by Melas. The fifty thousand that remained in Lom- bardy were much reduced, and dispersed about. Generals Haddick and Kaiin, who guarded the one the valley of Aosta, the other that of Suza, had sustained considerable losses. General Wukasso- wich, thrown beyond the Mincio, and separated from his commander-in-chief by the French army which descended from Mount St. Bernard, was paralyzed for the rest of the campaign. A corps of some thousand men had ventured into Tuscany. By uniting at once with the troops of generals Haddick and Kaim, who were coming from the valleys of Aosta and Suza, those of generals Elsnitz and Ott, who were returning from the banks of the Var, Melas might form a body of seventy-five thousand men. But it was necessary to leave garrisons in the fortresses of Piedmont and Liguria, such as Genoa, Savona, Gavi, Acqui, Coni, Turin, Alexandria, and Tortona. There would remain to him after this no more than fifty thousand men, a thousand or two more perhaps to place in line on the day of battle, if it be supposed that he did not sacrifice too many to keep the fortresses, and that the generals formed a junction without accident. The situation of the Austrian general, therefore, was very critical, even after the surrender of Genoa. It was so not only by reason of the dis- persion and diminution of his forces, but under the aspect of the route he must follow to get clear of the confined limits of Piedmont in which Bonaparte had enclosed him. He would be obliged to cross the Po in the face of the French, and to regain, by traversing Lombardy, which they occupied, the great road of the Tyrol, or of Friuli. The diffi- culty was enormous, from the presence of an ad- versary who excelled in war principally in the art of great movements. Melas had preserved the Upper Po from the source as far as Valenza. It was easy for him to cross that river at Turin, Chivasso, Casale, or Valenza, it was no matter which ; but in passing at one of these points he would fall upon the Tessino, which was occupied by Bonaparte, and upon Milan, the centre of all the French forces. He had but little chance for an escape in that direction. He might still incline to his right in order to proceed towards the lower part of the Po ; in other words, to march on Piacenza and Cremona in order to gain the great road to Mantua. If he did thus, Piacenza would become for both the contending parties the grand point to occupy. For Melas it was almost the only way of escape from the Cau- dine Forks ; for Bonaparte it would be the means of gathering up the price of his audacious march across the Alps. If Bonaparte suffered the Aus- trians to escape, though he had delivered Pied- mont, the result would be little, compared to the perils which he had braved : he would even incur ridicule in the eyes of Europe, that were BO attentive to this campaign, since his manoeuvre, the intention of which was at present so manifest, would be defeated. Piacenza was consequently the key of Piedmont. It was necessary equally for him who wanted to get out of that country, and for him who desired to shut up his enemy there. Under these motions Melas fixed two points for the concentration of his troops ; Alexandria, for the troops stationed in Upper Piedmont, and Piacenza, for those that were in the vicinity of Genoa. He commanded generals Kaim and Had- dick to march from Turin by Asti upon Alex- andria ; general Elsnitz, retiring from the banks of the Var, was to proceed by Ceva and Cherasco. These three corps, when united, were to march from Alexandria to Piacenza. General Ott, re- turning from Genoa, was ordered to descend directly by the Bocchetta and Tortona to Piacenza. A body of infantry, disembarrassed of all the in- cumbrances of a military body, was ordered to proceed more directly still by the route of the Bobbio, which runs along the valley of the Trebia. Lastly, general O'Reilly, who was already about Alexandria with a strong detachment of cavalry, received instructions not to wait for the concen- tration of the troops of Upper Piedmont, but to go to Piacenza at the utmost speed of his horses. The small corps which had ventured into Tuscany was commanded to repair to the same place through the duchy of Parma, and by the route of Fiorenzuola. Thus as the principal part of the Austrian army was concentrating itself at Alex- andria, to march from thence to Piacenza, the corps nearest to that place had orders to march thither immediately on a direct line. It was doubtful whether it could be possible to anticipate Bonaparte in so important an object. He had lost five or six days in Milan, to wait for the troops coming by the St. Gothard ; a time most valuable, seeing that in the interval Genoa had surrendered. But now that general Moncey, with the troops drawn from the army of Germany, had passed the St. Gothard, he was not to lose another moment. Placed on the road of the couriers that came from Vienna to Melas at Turin, and from Melas at Turin to the imperial government, he had become well acquainted with all the ideas of the court of Vienna. He had read, for example, singular despatches, in which M. de Thugut re- assured the Austrian general, recommending him to be easy in mind, and not to be turned aside from his objects by the fable of the army of reserve ; to take Genoa as quickly as possible, as well as the line of the Var, that he might be able to spare a detachment for the aid of marshal Kray, driven back upon Ulm. Bonaparte had also read the despatches of Melas, at first brimful of con- fidence, and soon afterwards of anxiety and in- quietude. The pleasure he felt at this news was troubled, when he found on the 8th of June, through this same correspondence, that Masse"na had Plans of Bonaparte. Lannes taken by Murat. Move- 100 crosses the Po. -O'Reilly TRIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE, ments of the Austrian leaves Piacenza, which is generals. been obliged to surrender Genoa on the 4th. This intelligence, however, did not change in any thing the plan of the campaign. Having fixed to get into the rear of the enemy, in order to envelope him and make him lay down his arms, Italy and the city of Genoa would be reconquered at a single blow. The real inconvenience that arose from the surrender of Genoa was the setting free the troops of general Ott, whom he should have in addition to contend with. But the intercepted despatch car- ried with it the consolation that Masseua's forces were not prisoners of war. So that if on one part a more considerable body of Austrian troops were about to descend from the Apennines; on the other, the French troops, on which he could not at first calculate, were to descend too at the heels of the Austrians. Now that Genoa had fallen, the first consul was in a less hurry to encounter Melas. But he was extraordinarily pressed to occupy the line of the Po from Pavia as far as Piacenza and Cremona ; he therefore made his dispositions with as much activity as Melas, in order to possess himself of points of such importance. While he was occupied at Milan in collecting the troops which had come from the different points of the Alps, he placed upon the Po the forces which had come with him by the St. Bernard. Lannes had already taken possession of Pavia with Watrin's division. That general was ordered to pass the Po a little below its union with the Tessino, or, what is the same thing, at Belgiojoso. Murat, with the divisions of Boudet and Monnier, had orders to pass at Pia- cenza ; Duhesme, with the division of Loison, to cross at Cremona. On the 6th of June, Lannes, having assembled at Pavia on the Tessino all the disposable boats, brought them into the Po, and on arriving between Belgiojoso and San Cipriano commenced the pass- age. General Watrin, who was placed under his orders, crossed with a detachment. He was no sooner arrived on the right bank than he was attacked by the Austrians which had come from Valenza and Alexandria, and were hastening to Piacenza. He was in danger of being thrown into the river, but he held firm until the boats, passing and repassing, brought him reinforcements, and he remained at last master of the field. The remain- der of Watrin's division, led by Lannes, passed the Po afterwards, and took a position a little further on, menacing the high road from Alexandria to Piacenza. Murat arrived before Piacenza the same day. All the Austrian stores, guarded by some hundreds of men, together with the different army adminis- trators, were in the town. On the approach of danger the Austrian commander there ordered cannon to be planted at the head of the bridge on the left bank of the Po, and endeavoured to defend himself until the troops, which were advancing from all sides, should arrive to his support. The advanced guard of Monnier's division, which con- ceived it was moving upon an undefended position, was received with a horrible fire of grape-shot, and could make no impression on the post by a front attack. The further attempt upon it in form was postponed until the next day. On the 7*h of June, the following day, general O'Reilly, who had received orders from Melas to ride full speed to Piacenza, arrived with his cavalry. The other Austrian corps, that which ascended from Parma by Fiorenzuola, that which descended with general Gottesheim by Bobbio, and that which was coming with general Ott by Tortona, were not yet arrived. General O'Reilly was scarcely equal with his squadron alone to defend Piacenza. The few hundreds of men who had offered resistance at the head of the bridge had lost one-fourth of their strength. Under these circumstances the Austi'ian commandant ordered the artillery to be taken away, and the bridge, which was of boats, to be divided; thus when gene- ral Boudet attempted to remedy his repulse of the day preceding, he found the work at the bridge head evacuated and the bridge destroyed. A part of the boats of which it had been constructed yet remained. Murat took possession of these, and made use of them for transporting Monnier's brigade to the other side of the Po, at Nocetto, a little lower down, by repeated trips across. This brigade then attacked Piacenza, and got in after a sharp contest. General O'Reilly retrograded in haste, that he might be in time to save the park of artillery in its way from Alexandria; because if it came on to Piacenza, it would be hi danger of falling into the hands of the French. He pro- ceeded with such speed as to effect his object, and thus prevented the park from getting into the possession of Murat or Lannes. He had to make more than one charge of cavalry against the ad- vanced troops of Lannes, which had passed the Po at Belgiojoso ; but he disengaged himself from it, and giving counter-orders to the park, it sought refuge in Tortona. While general O'Reilly, almost untouched in passing through the French advanced posts, was on his way to Alexandria, the advanced guard of general Gottesheim, which had descend- ed the Trebia by Bobbio, appeared before Pia- cenza. It was the regiment of Klebeck which thus came upon Boudet's entire division, and was severely handled. This unlucky regiment, at- tacked by superior numbers, lost a good many prisoners, and fell back in disorder upon Got- tesheim's principal corps, of which it was in ad- vance. General Gottesheim, taking alarm at this rencontre, ascended the slope of the Apennines in great haste, in order to reach Tortona and Alexandria, which caused him to lose his way for several days. Lastly, the regiment returning from Tuscany, by the route of Parma and Fiorenzuola, arrived the same day in the suburbs of Piacenza. Here happened another rout of a detached corps, which fell on a sudden into the midst of an enemy's army, and was repulsed in disorder upon the road to Parma. Of four corps, three which marched upon Piacenza, those the least important, it is true, had been overthrown, had fled, and left prisoners behind them. The fourth, that of general Ott, having a longer circuit to march, was still behind, and was about to encounter Lanues in front of Belgiojoso, near Pavia. From this time the French were masters of the Po, and had in their possession the two principal passages of Belgiojoso, near Pavia, and that of Piacenza itself. They very soon too got possession of a third; for on the fol- lowing day, general Duhesme, at the head of j Loison's division, took Cremona from a detach- ment that general Wukassovich had left in retiring. 1800. June. The French, masters of Melas' line of retreat. Plans of Bonaparte to cut off the MARENGO. AustrUns' retreat. Forces at the disposal of the French. 101 He took two thousand prisoners and a good many military stores. Bonaparte directed all these operations from Milan. He had sent Berthier to the banks of the Po; and day by day, often hour after hour, he prescribed, in a continual correspondence, the movements to be executed. Though he was master of the line of retreat that Melas would most probably be tempted to follow, in possessing himself of the Po from Pavia to Piacenza, still all was not yet considered, since that which made the route of Piacenza the true line of retreat for the Austrians, was the presence of the French behind the Tessino and around Milan. The French, in fact, from their position, shut up close the passage which the Austrians would have been able to open in crossing the Po between Pavia and Valenza ; but if now the French, for the purpose of going to meet Melas, crossed the Po between Pavia and Piacenza, and thus abandoned Milan and weakened the Tessino, they might again tempt Melas to cross at Turin, at Casale, or at Valenza, traverse our undefended rear, enter the city of Milan itself, and serve the French just as they had served him in descending from the Alps. It was not impossible either for Melas, de- termining to sacrifice a part of his baggage and his heavy artillery, which indeed he might leave in the fortresses of Piedmont, to retire upon Genoa, then again remounting by Tortona and Novi, as far as the Bocchetta, and there throwing himself into the valley of the Trebia, to fall upon the Po below Piacenza, in the vicinity of Cremona or Parma, and thus reach Mantua and the Austrian states by a round-about way. This march across Liguria, and along the projections of the Apen- nines, was the same as that which had been marked out for general Gottesheim, and was the least likely to be attempted, because it offered extraordinary difficulties, and would cost the sacrifice of a good deal of the materiel of the army; but it was still possible, strictly speaking, and it was needful therefore to provide against its exe- cution, as well as against other plans. The entire attention of Bonaparte was now employed against these chances. There is not perhaps in all history an example of dispositions more able, more pro- foundly conceived, than those which he devised upon this decisive occasion. It was necessary, to resolve this triple problem, to close by a barrier of iron the principal road, or that which goes directly from Alexandria to Piacenza ; to occupy that which, by passing along the Upper Po, falls upon the Tessino in such a mode as to be able to hasten there in case it be requisite ; lastly, to have the power of descending in time upon the Lower Po, if the Austrians, seeking to fly by the reverse side of the Apennines, should try to cross that river below Piacenza, towards Cremona or Parma. Bonaparte me- ditating incessantly over the map of Italy, to find a point where all these three conditions might be fulfilled, made a choice worthy of high admiration. If the direction of the Apennine chain be ex- amined, it will be seen that in virtue of the curve that it forms to embrace the gulf of Genoa, it remounts to the northward, and throws out but- tresses, which approach to the Po very closely, from the position of Stradella to the vicinity of Piacenza. In all this part of Piedmont and of the duchy of Parma, the base of the heights advances so near the river, as to leave a narrow place only for the high road to Piacenza. An army stationed in advance of Stradella, at the entrance of a sort of defile many leagues in length, the left to the heights, the centre on the road, and the right along the Po and the marshy ground oil its bank, would be difficult to dislodge. It must be added, that the road is thickly strewn with hamlets and villages, built of stone and capable of resisting cannon. Against the imperial forces, strong in cavalry and artillery, this position, independently of its natural advantages, afforded that of render- ing null those two military arms. It had yet other peculiar advantages. It is near this position that the tributary streams on the other side of the Po, the most important to occupy, such as the Tessino and the Adda, form their junction. Thus the Tessino falls into the Po a little below Pavia, and above Belgiojoso, nearly opposite to Stradella, or, at most, not more than two leagues off. The Adda, running beyond a long way before it unites with the Po, falls into that river between Piacenza and Cremona. It will be at ouce under- stood, that placed at Stradella, and master of the bridges of Belgiojoso, of Piacenza, and Cremona, Bonaparte would be in possession of the most decisive points; because he would thus bar the principal road, or that from Alexandria to Pia- cenza, and he would at the same tune have it in his power, by a long march, either to hasten to the Tessino, or to redesoend the Po as far as Cre- mona, and to fly towards the Adda, which covered his rear against the corps of Wukassowich. It was in this sort of net, formed by the Apen- nines, the Po, the Tessino, and the Adda, that he distributed his forces. He at first resolved to proceed to Stradella himself, with the thirty thou- sand best soldiers of his army, the divisions of Watrin, Chambarlhac, Gardanne, Boudet, and Monnier, placed under Murat, Victor, and Launes, in the position already described, the left to the mountains, the centre on the great road, and the right along the Po. The division of Chabran, which came by the Little St. Bernard, and was first ordered to occupy Ivre"a, was afterwards ordered to Verceil, but commanded to retreat upon the Tessino in case of the approach of the enemy. Lapoype's division, which descended the St. Gothard, was posted upon the Tessino itself, in the environs of Pavia. These numbered from nine thousand to ten thousand men, who were to fall back one upon the other, to dispute the passage of the Tessino to the last, and thus afford Bona- parte one day to come to their assistance. The detachment of the Simplon, under general Bdtheu- court, guarded the route of the St. Gothard towards the Arona, the retreat of the French army in caeo of a reverse. The division of Gilly was to guard Milan, rendered necessary by the presence of an Austrian garrison in the citadel. There were three or four thousand men appropriated to thi- double purpose. Finally, the division of Loiaon, which made a part of the army of reserve, coming from Germany, had a commission under the or- ders of general Duhesme, to defend Piacenza and Cremona ; there was another corps, from ten to Orders sent in anticipa- J02 '' OI1 by Bonaparte to his officers. The Austrians preparing TRIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. to attack Piacenza, en- counter Lannes. eleven thousand strong, employed on these two last points. Such was the distribution of the fifty and some thousand more soldiers, which Bonaparte had at that moment at his disposal : thirty-two thou- sand were at the central point of Stradella ; nine or ten thousand on the Tessino ; three or four thousand at Milan and Arona ; finally, ten or eleven thousand on the inferior course of the Po and of the Adda, all placed in such a manner as to sustain each other reciprocally with ex- treme promptitude. Thus in effect, on a no- tice from the Tessino, Bonaparte could in a day fly to the succour of the ten thousand French who guarded it. On an alarm from the Lower Po, he was able in the same space of time to de- scend on Piacenza and Cremona, while general Loison, in defending the passage of the river, would give him time to come to his aid. Each and all of these, on their part, could march upon Stradella, and thus reinforce Bonaparte in as small a space of time as it cost him to proceed to them. In this case Bonaparte seemed to abandon his usual custom of concentrating his troops on the eve of an important battle. If such a concentration pass for a great performance in the art of war, when it is executed properly at the moment of a decisive action, hi the circumstance of two adver- saries mai-ching one against the other, it is a dif- ferent affair, one of the two being desirous of escaping, and the chief skill consisting in stopping him before fighting. Such was the case here. It was necessary that Bonaparte should extend a net around the Austrian army, and that this net should be strong enough to hold it ; because if there had been on the Tessino and Lower Po advanced guards only, as most proper to give notice, but not to close a road against an enemy, the object would have wholly failed. There must be on all points posts capable at the same time of giving notice and of checking the enemy, while a principal body is re- tained in the centre, ready to hasten to any quarter with adequate means. It was impossible to com- bine with deeper art the employment of his force, and to modify more skilfully the application of his own principles, than Bonaparte did upon this occa- sion. It is in their manner of the application of a just but general principle according to circum- stances, that we acknowledge the men of superior power in action. The plan settled, Bonaparte issued corresponding orders. Lannes, with the division of Watrin, had been moved to Stradella by Pavia and Belgio- joso. It was of moment that Chambarlhac's, Gar- danne's, Monnier's, and Boudet's divisions should support him with their strength before the Aus- trians, who, repulsed from Piacenza, joining general Ott towards Tortona, should be able to press upon him. This had been foreseen by Bonaparte with wonderful sagacity. Not able himself to quit Milan before the 8th, to reach Stradella by the 9th, he sent to Berthier, Lannes, and Murat the following instructions : " Concentrate at Stradella. On the 8th or 9th, at the latest, you will have fifteen or eighteen thousand Austrians on your backs coming from Genoa. Encounter and rout them. There will be so many the less to fight in the de- cisive battle which awaits us with the whole army of Mc'las." Having issued these orders he left Milan on the 8th, to cross the Po in person, in order to be at Stradella the next day. It was impossible to divine with more exactness the movements of the enemy. We have just before said that three Austrian detachments had uselessly shown themselves before Piacenza ; that the de- tachment arrived from Tuscany by Fiorenzuola had been driven back; that the corps of general Gottesheim, which had descended with infantry by the valley of the Trebia, had been repulsed into that valley; finally, that general O'Reilly, hasten- ing from Alexandria with his cavalry, had been forced to return towards Tortona. But general Ott, on his side, mai'ching with the principal corps by the road of Genoa upon Tortona, arrived at Stradella on the 9th of June, in the morning, as had been foreseen by Bonaparte. He brought in his advance generals Gottesheim and O'Reilly, whom he had met on their retreat ; and he deter- mined in consequence to make a very vigorous attack upon Piacenza, not dreaming that the French army could be almost entirely stationed in echelon in the defile of Stradella. He had, counting the troops that had joined him, seventeen or eighteen thousand men. Lannes was unable to unite on the morning of the 9th more than seven or eight thou- sand; but in consequence of the reiterated orders of the commander-in-chief five or six thousand were to join him during the day. The field of battle was that which we have described. Lannes presented himself, with his left, on the heights of the Apennines, his centre in the high road towards the little town of Casteggio, and his right in the plains of the Po. He committed the error of pro- ceeding a little too much in advance of Stradella towards Casteggio and Montebello, where the road ceases to form a defile owing to the extent of the plains. But the French, full of confidence, although inferior in numbers, were capable of doing great service under such a leader as Lannes, who had the art of drawing his troops any where after him. Lannes, pushing Watrin's division upon Casteggio with vigour, drove back the advanced posts of O'Reilly. His plan was to take the hamlet of Cas- teggio, situated on the road before him, either by attacking it in front or turning it by the declivities of the Apennines. The numerous artillery of the Austrians, in position on the road, commanded the ground in all directions. Two battalions of the 6th light endeavoured to capture this murderous ar- tillery by turning to the right, while the 3rd bat- talion of the 6th and the entire 40th tried to gain the neighbouring hills on the left ; the division of Watrin marched upon Casteggio itself, where it met with the main body of the enemy. A fierce combat ensued on every point. The French were near carrying the positions they had attacked, when general Gottesheim hastened with his in- fantry to support O'Reilly, and overthrow the bat- talions which had surmounted the heights. Lannes, amidst a tremendous fire, supported his men, and prevented their yielding to numbers. Still they were on the point of giving way when the division of Chambarlhac arrived, and a part of the corps of general Victor : general Rivaud, at the head of the 43rd, climbed the heights anew, rallied the French battalions on the point of being repulsed, and, after unheard-of efforts, succeeded in maintaining him- ISOO. June. Battle of Montebello : conse- quences of the victory. MARENGO. Desaix joins the army. Wel- comed by the first consul. Plain of Marengo described. 103 self. At the centre on the high road, the 96th went to the assistance of general Watrin in his attack upon Casteggio ; and there the 24th, ex- tending itself to the right on the plain, attempted to turn the enemy's left, in order to stop the fire of his artillery. During this combined effort on the wings, the gallant Watrin had to sustain an ob- stinate conflict in Casteggio ; he took and lost the place several times. But Lannes, present every where, gave the decisive impulse. By his orders, general Rivaud on the left, having become master of the heights, crossed them, and descended in the rear of Casteggio. The troops, sent on the right into the plain, turned the place so hotly contested, and both marched to Montebello; while general Watrin, having made a last effort on the enemy's centre, broke through, and at last proceeded past Casteggio. The Austrians, finding themselves thus repulsed at all points, fled to Montebello, leaving in the hands of the French a considerable body of prisoners. The conflict lasted from eleven o'clock in the morning until eight in the evening. The Austrians were the same troops that had besieged Genoa, and had been hardened by Masse'na to the most furious fighting, as they showed by their despera- tion in the plains of Piedmont, when endeavouring to force their way through. They were supported by a numerous artillery, and displayed more than ordinary bravery. The first consul arrived at the moment when the battle was concluding, the time and place of which he had so well foreseen. He found Lannes covered with blood, but intoxicated with delight, and the troops overjoyed at their success. They had, as he afterwards said, the con- sciousness that they had admirably comported themselves. The conscripts showed that they were worthy to rival the older soldiers. Four thousand prisoners were taken, and three thousand of the enemy killed and wounded. The victory was dif- ficult to gain, since twelve thousand combatants had to encounter eighteen thousand. Such was the battle of Montebello, that gave to Lannes and his family the title which to this day distinguishes it among the French people, a glo- rious title, that its sons may well be proud to bear. This rencontre was a good commencement, and announced to Melas that the road would not be easily opened to him. General Ott, weakened to the extent of seven thousand men, retired in con- sternation upon Alexandria. The courage of the French was now elevated to its highest point. The first consul hastened to unite his divisions, in order to occupy the road from Alexandria to Piacenza, which it was probable Melas would take. Lannes being too much advanced, the first consul fell back a little to the point called Stradella, be- cause the defile, narrower in that place by the approximation of the heights to the river, renders the position more safe. The 10th and llth of June were passed in watch- ing the Austrian movements, concentrating the army, giving it rest after its hasty marches, and organizing, as well as it was possible, the artillery, since, till now, no more than forty field-pieces could be reunited on the spot. On the llth there arrived at head-quarters one of the most distinguished generals of that period, Desaix, who, perhaps, equalled Moreau, Masse'na, Kleber, or Launes, in military talents, but in the rare perfection of his character surpassed them all. He had quitted Egypt, where Kleber had com- mitted political errors that we shall shortly have the irksomeness of detailing. Desaix had in vain endeavoured to prevent them, and had fled to Eu- rope to avoid the painful sight. These errors he afterwards gloriously repaired. Desaix, stopped by the English on the coast of France, had been treated by them in a disgraceful manner. He ar- rived full of indignation, and asked for the oppor- tunity of avenging himself sword in hand. He loved the first consul with a sort of passion ; and Bonaparte, touched by the attachment of such a noble heart, returned it in the warmest friendship which he ever felt in his life. They passed a whole night in relating to each other the events which had occurred in Egypt and France, and the first consul immediately gave him the command of the divisions of Monnier and Boudet united. The next day, which was the 12th of June, Bo- naparte was surprised to see no appearance of the Austrians, and could not help being under some apprehensions. Astonished that in such a situation Melas should waste time and suffer every outlet to be closed against him, judging his opponent too much by his own feelings, he said that Melas could not have wasted hours so precious, and that he must surely have made his escape, either by re- mounting towards Genoa, or by crossing the Upper Po under the notion of forcing the Tessino. Tired of waiting for him, he left his post at Stradella on the afternoon of the 12th, and advanced, followed by his entire army, to the height of Tortoua. He ordered that fortress to be blockaded, and esta- blished his head- quarters at Voghera. On the 13th, in the morning, he passed the Scrivia, and marched forth on the immense plain which stretches between the Scrivia and the Bormida, that at the present time has no other name than the plain of Marengo. It was the very same place on which, but a few months before, his prescient imagination had represented to him a great battle with Melas. On this plain the Po runs at a distance from the Apennines, and leaves large open spaces, across which the Bormida and Tanaro roll their waters less rapidly, mingling near Alexandria, and then flowing into the bed of the Po together. The road that skirts the foot of the Apennines as far as Tortona, separating from it at that place, turns off to the right, passing the Scrivia, and, opening on a vast level, goes across this to a first village called San Giuliano, to pass a second called Marengo ; finally, it crosses the Bormida, and leads to the celebrated fortress of Alexandria. " If the enemy intended to follow the high road from Piacenza to Mantua, it is here he would wait for me," said Bonaparte to himself; " here his numerous artillery, his fine cavalry, would have great advantages, and he would fight with his united means." Making this reflection, and in order to judge of the cor- rectness of his conjecture, lie ordered his light cavalry to scour the country, but not a single Austrian soldier was seen. Towards the fall of day he sent on Victor's corps, composed of the divisions of Gardanne and Chambarlhac, as far as Marengo. A detachment of Austrians was found there, the corps of O'Reilly, which at the mo- 104 Bonaparte at Torre di Garofolo. The Aus- trians in despair. The Austrians resolve to TRIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. give battle.-Delibera- tions of the generals. 1800. June. ment defended the village of Marengo, but imme- diately abandoned it and repassed the Bormida. Reconnoitring before, without proper care, it was believed that the Austrians had not passed the bridge over the Bormida. From all these circumstances Bonaparte had no doubt, to use his own expression, " that Me'las had escaped." He would not have abandoned the plain, and, above all, the village of Marengo, which is its entrance, if he intended to give battle, and acquire by conquest the road from Alexandria to Piacenza. Cheating himself by a reflection so well founded, Bonaparte left Victor with his two divi- sions at Marengo ; he placed Lanues in eclielon on the plain, with the division of Watriu, and hastened to his head-quarters at Voghera, to obtain some intelligence of general Moncey, who was stationed on the Tessino, and of Duhesme on the Lower Po ; and to discover whether they knew any thing of Me'las. Officers of the staff, setting out from all points, were directed to come to him at head- quarters. But the Scrivia had overflowed, and he was fortunately obliged to stay at Torre di Garo- folo. The intelligence from the Tessiua and Po, intelligence of the same day's date, announced that all was tranquil in that direction. Me'las had at- tempted nothing upon that side: what had become of him ? Bonaparte thought that he had marched back to Genoa by Novi, in order to pass into the valley of the Trebia, and so fall upon Cremona. It seemed that if he were not in Alexandria, nor on the march for the Tessino, he could not have taken any other direction. It was possible that, follow- ing the example of Wurmser at Mantua, he had gone and shut himself up in Genoa, where, fed by the English, and having a garrison of fifty thousand men, he would have the means of protracting the war. These ideas had taken a strong hold upon the mind of the first consul. He ordered Desaix to march upon Rivalta and Novi, with the division of Boudet only. It was by Novi that Me'las must pass to march on Genoa from Alexandria. However, by a happy presentiment, he kept the division of Monnier, Desaix's second, in reserve at head-quarters; and he provided, as far as possible, for every thing, by leaving Victor at Marengo with two divisions, Lannes with one on the plain, and Murat at his sides with all his cavalry. If the dis- tribution of the French force at this time be re- flected upon, their dispersion is very striking ; scattered, a part on the Tessino, a part on the in- ferior Po and Adda, and another part on the route to Genoa. This was the necessary consequence of the general situation, and of the circumstances of the moment. On the evening of the 13th, that preceding one of the grandest days in history, Bonaparte, in the village of Torre di Garofolo, lay down and fell asleep, expecting to receive news of the Austrians on the morrow. In the mean time confusion prevailed in Alexan- dria. The Austrian army was in despair. A coun- cil of war was held ; but ,none of the resolutions of which the French commander was fearful, were adopted. There had been some conversation about retreating by the Upper Tessino and the Po, and also of shutting themselves up in Genoa; but the Austrian generals, brave men as they were, had preferred following the dictates of honour. " We have been fighting for these eighteen months like good soldiers, after all," they said ; " we have re- con quered Italy; we were in march on the frontiers of France ; our government urged us onwards ; it gave us those orders but yesterday ; it ought to have advised us of the dangers which threatened our rear. If any blame belongs to our position, it is the fault of our government. It was the duty of that government to announce the danger which threatened us. All the means of evading an en- counter with the French army are complicated, difficult, and hazardous; there is but one fair and honourable way, that is, to break through. To- morrow we must open a road at the expense of our blood. If we succeed, we shall rejoin, after a vic- tory, the route from Piacenza to Mantua ; if not, after having done our duty, the responsibility of our disaster will press on other shoulders than ours." The first consul never conceived that they would have lost so much time in deliberation in a similar conjuncture. But no one equalled him in promptitude of determination ; and Me'las was in a situation sufficiently unfortunate to obtain pardon for the cruel perplexity which retarded his defini- tive resolutions. In his decision to fight, the Aus- trian general conducted himself like a soldier of honour; but he is to be censured for leaving twenty- five thousand men in the fortresses of Coni, Turin, Tortona, Genoa, Acqui, Gavi, and Alexandria ; more than all, after the loss that general Ott sus- tained at Montebello. Witli twenty-five thousand men in these places, three thousand in Tuscany, twelve thousand between Mantua and Venice, he had at most but forty thousand to bring into the field where the issue of the war was to be decided. To this number had fallen the fine army of one hundred and twenty thousand men, which, at the commencement of the campaign, was to force the southern frontier of France. Forty thousand had perished, forty thousand were scattered, forty thou- sand were about to fight in order to escape the Caudine Forks; but among the last was a powerful cavalry, and two hundred pieces of cannon. It was agreed upon, for the following day, that the entire army should issue forth by the bridges of the Bormida ; for there were two bridges pro- tected by the same redoubt, despite the false account given of them to Bonaparte : general Ott, it was also decided, should, at the head of ten thousand men, half cavalry and half infantry, leave the Bormida, and, taking the left, direct himself upon the village called Castel Ceriolo ; that gene- rals Haddick and Kaim, at the head of the main body of the army, about twenty thousand men, should carry the village of Marengo, which affords the entrance to the plain ; and that general O'Reilly, with five or six thousand men, should take the right, and ascend the Bormida ; a power- ful artillery sustaining the movement. A con- siderable detachment, principally cavalry, was left in the rear of Alexandria upon the road of Acqui, to observe the troops of Suchet, of the arrival of which they had heard some floating rumours. The vast plain of Marengo has been described; the great road from Alexandria to Piacenza tra- verses through its entire length, inclosed between the Scrivia and Bormida. The French, marching from Piacenza and the Scrivia, came in the first instance to San Giuliano, and in three quarters of 1800. June. The Austrians pass the Bormida. Occupation of the ground. Contest at the Fontauone. MARENGO. General Haddick mortally wounded. Battle of Ma- rengo begun. 105 a league further to Marengo, which nearly touched the Bormida, and formed the principal outlet that the Austrians had to acquire in coming out of Alexandria. Between San Giuliano and Marengo there proceeded in a right line the road which was about to be contested, and on both sides extended a plain covered with vineyards and cornfields. Below Marengo on the right of the French and on the left of the Austrians was Castel Ceriolo, a large hamlet, by which general Ott would pass, to turn the corps of general Victor that was stationed in Marengo. Upon Marengo there was to be di- rected the principal attack of the Austrians, since that village commanded the entrance to the plain. At break of day the Austrian army passed over the two bridges of the Bormida, but its movement was slow, because it had but one issue in the work that covered tle bridges. O'Reilly went first, and encountered Gardanne's division, that general Vic- tor, having occupied Marengo, had placed in ad- vance. The division consisted of the 101st and 44th demi-brigades only. O'Reilly, supported by a numerous artillery, and having double the num- ber of men, obliged the division to retreat and shut itself up in Marengo. Fortunately O'Reilly did not follow it into the place, but waited until he was supported by the centre under general Had- dick. The slowness of their march in passing the defile caused by the bridges, made the Austrians lose two or three hours. At length generals Had- dick and Kaim formed in the rear of O'Reilly, and general Ott crossed the bridges to proceed to Castel Ceriolo. General Victor immediately united his two divisions for the defence of Marengo, and sent off to inform the first consul that the Austrian army was advancing in its entire force with the clear intention of giving battle. An obstacle in the nature of the ground seconded very appropriately the courage of the French soldiers. In advance of Marengo, between the Austrians and French, there was a deep and muddy rivulet called Fontanone. It ran between Marengo and the Bormida, and emptied its con- tents a little lower down into the Bormida itself. Victor placed towards his right, that is, in the village of Marengo, the 101st and 44th demi- brigades, under general Gardanne ; on the left of the village the 24th, 43rd, and d6th, under general Chambarlhac ; a little in the rear, general Keller - maiin with the 20th, 2nd, and 8th cavalry, and one squadron of the 12th. The rest of the 12th was on the Higher Bormida observing the distant movements of the enemy. General Haddick advanced to the rivulet, covered by twenty-five pieces of cannon, which opened upon the French. He threw himself gallantly into the bed of the Fontanone at the head of Bellegarde's division. General Rivaud, leaving the shelter of the village with the 44th and 101st, opened a direct fire upon the Austrians, who were trying to issue out. A violent conflict ensued along the Fonta- none, Haddick making many attempts; but Rivaud ', holding himself firm under the Austrian battery, stopped, by the fire of his musketry, given at a very short distance, the corps of Haddick, and repulsed it in disorder to the other side of the rivulet. The unfortunate general Haddick re- 1 Oliver Riraua. ceived a mortal wound, and his soldiers retreated. .Mci:is then made the troops of general Kaim ad- vance, and ordered O'Reilly to proceed along the Bormida, and ascend it as far as a place called Stortigliona, in order to execute a charge on the French left with the cavalry of Pilati. But at the same moment general Kellermann was mounted at the head of his division of cavalry, observing the motion of the Austrian squadrons ; while Lannes, who had remained the night before on the left of Victor, in the plain, placed himself in line between Marengo and Castel Ceriolo. The Austrians then made another effort. Gardanne's and Chambarl- hac's divisions, drawn up in a semi-circle along the semi-eircular bed of the Fontanone, were placed in such a manner as to be able to pour a converging fire on the point of attack. They made dreadful work with their musketry among the troops of general Kaim. During this time general Pilati, ascending higher, succeeded in crossing the Fontanone at the head of two thousand horse. The brave Kellermann, who on this day added greatly to the glory attached to his name at Valmy, dashed upon the squadrons of Pilati as soon as they attempted to open out, sabreing and precipitating them into the muddy bed of that stream, which could not have been better traced by art for covering the French position. Up to this moment, though the French, surprised, had only the two corps of Victor and Lannes in line, or about fifteen or sixteen thousand men to resist thirty-six thousand ; still owing to the fault of the Austrians, in not on the day before taking possession of Marengo, a fault which gained for them some advantage, by leading Bonaparte into error, the French had gained time to wait the arrival of the commander-in-chief and of the reserves remaining behind or despatched on the road to Novi. Such was the state of things, when Melas de- cided on making the last effort to save the honour and freedom of his army; and bravely seconded by his soldiers, who were all veterans, whose victories in the preceding campaigns had height- ened their courage, he made another attack upon the French line. General Ott, who had taken much time to file off, now began to be able to act towards the Austrian left. He manoeuvred with the design to turn the French, and, travers- ing Castel Ceriolo, attacked Lannes, who being placed beside Victor, between Marengo and Castel Ceriolo, formed the right of the French line. While Ott occupied the attention of Lannes, the corps of O'Reilly, Haddick, and Kaim united, were anew directed on the Fontanone, in front of Ma- rengo. A formidable artillery supported all their movements. The grenadiers of Lattermann en- tered the rivulet, and, passing it, gained the other side. The division of Chambarlhac, placed on the left of Marengo, began a most destructive fire upon them, yet still a battalion of these grenadiers continued to keep its ground beyond the Fonta- none ; Melas redoubled his cannonade on the division of Chambarlhac, which was not covered by the houses of the village, as those that defended Marengo were. In the mean time the Austrian pioneers hastily constructed a bridge of trestles. The gallant Rivaud, at the head of the 44th, sallying from the village of Marengo, and march- 106 Progress of the battle. Bonaparte hastens to the field. THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. He rallies the troops, and makes a new disposition.' 1800. June. ing upon the enemy in spite of the grape-shot, was 011 the point of driving them into the Fontanone, but the murderous discharge of artillery stopped the 44th, thinned by this obstinate struggle, and Rivaud was himself wounded. Seizing the oppor- tune moment, Lattermann's grenadiers advanced in a body and penetrated into Marengo. Rivaud, covered with blood, placed himself again at the head of the 44th, and, making a vigorous charge on the grenadiers, drove them out of Marengo ; but, on leaving the shelter of the houses, they were received with such a dreadful fire of artillery, that he was unable to force them back over the brook, which had so far well protected the French army. Enfeebled by loss of blood, this brave officer was obliged to submit to be carried off the field. The Austrian grenadiers remained masters of the posi- tion which they had carried. At this instant the division of Chambarlhac, which, as has been ob- served, was unprotected by any shelter from the grape-shot, and wholly uncovered, was nearly de- stroyed. General O'Reilly repulsed the 96th, placed at the extreme left of the French, and then began to assume the offensive. Towards the right, Lannes, who at first had only the single corps of general Kaim to oppose, was on the point of driving it into the bed of the Fontanone, when he discovered that he was suddenly turned by general Ott, who was issuing from Castel Ceriolo wuh a large body of cavalry. Champeaux's brigade of cavalry, drawn up in the rear of Lannes' corps, as Kellermann's was in rear of Victor's, made in vain several brilliant charges, while the unfortunate Champeaux himself received a mortal wound. Our army, on both wings severely handled, separated itself from Marengo, by which it had so tenaciously held, and then had nothing to sustain it. It ran the hazard of being forced into the plain in the rear, without any support, against two hundred pieces of cannon and an immense cavalry. It was now ten o'clock in the morning; the car- nage had been horrible. A considerable number of wounded encumbered the road between Marengo and San Giuliano. Already a part of Victor's corps, overpowered by numbers, was retreating, crying that all was lost. All must have been lost too, without a reinforcement of troops which had not been wearied out, and, more than all, without a great soldier capable of regaining the victory wrested from his troops. Bonaparte, in receiving intelligence that the Austrians, who he feared would escape him, had taken his army by surprise in the plain of Marengo, so deserted on the previous day, hastened from Torre di Garofolo, congratulating himself upon the lucky inundation of the Scrivia, which had prevented his going on to Voghera to pass the night. He brought with him the consular guard, a body of men not numerous, but of unequalled courage, which subsequently became the imperial guard : he also brought Monnier's division, com- posed of three excellent demi-brigades, and was followed at a short distance by a reserve of two regiments of cavalry : he, lastly, sent orders for Desaix to march in all haste upon San Giuliano. The first consul, at the head of the reserve, proceeded in a gallop to the field of battle. He found Lannes attacked on the right by the cavalry and infantry of general Ott, endeavouring still to sup- port himself on the left about Marengo. Gardanne was defending himself in the hedges of that village, the object of such a furious contest ; and on the other side, Chambarlhac's division, thundered upon by the Austrian artillery, was dispersing. Over this scene he judged, with a military glance, what was most needful to be done, to re-establish the state of affairs. The broken left was in a state of utter rout, but the right still maintained its ground, being only threatened, and that was the point, therefore, which it was proper to reinforce. By holding firmly on Castel Ceriolo, he would have a point of support in the middle of that vast plain ; he would be able to pivot upon that point his strengthened wing, and bring his beaten wing into the rear out of reach of the enemy. If he should, by this movement, lose the high road from Ma- rengo to San Giuliano, the mischief would be re- parable; because behind the new position there passed another road, which led to Sale", and from Sali? to the banks of the Fo. Thus his line of retreat to Pavia would still be secure. Placed besides on the right of the plains, he would be on the Austrian flank, since they would take the great road from Marengo to San Giuliano, if they in- tended to turn their victory to any profit These reflections were made with the rapidity of lightning : Bonaparte instantly put into execution the resolution he conceived in consequence. He sent forward in the plain to the right of Lannes the eight hundred grenadiers of the consular guard, and ordered them to stop the Austrian cavalry, until the arrival of the three demi-brigades of Monnier. These brave men formed themselves into a square, and received with admirable cool- ness the charges of the Lobkowitz dragoons, stand- ing unbroken by the reiterated assaults of a multi- tude of horse. A little to their right, Bonaparte ordered two of Monnier's demi-brigades, that ar- rived at that moment, to direct themselves upon Castel Ceriolo. These two demi-brigades, the 70th and 49th, conducted by general Carra St. Cyr, marched in advance, aud sometimes formed in a square to resist the cavalry, sometimes in columns to charge the infantry. They at length succeeded in regaining the ground lost, and posted themselves in the hedges and gardens of Castel Ceriolo. At the same moment Bonaparte, at the head of the 72nd, went to the support of the left under Lannes, while Dupont, the chief of the staff, set out to rally in the rear the wrecks of Victor's corps pursued by O'Reilly's horse, but protected by Murat with the cavalry reserve. The presence of the first consul, and the sight of the main corps of the horse- guards, reanimated the troops, and the battle was renewed with great fury. The gallant Watrin, of Lannes' corps, with the 6th of the line and the 22nd, drove the soldiers of Kaim at the point of the bayonet into the Fontanone. Lannes, infusing into the 40th and 28th the fire of his own heroic soul, pushed forward both regiments upon the Austrians. Over the immense extent of that plain of Marengo the battle raged with intense violence. Gardanne endeavoured to retake Marengo ; Lannes to make himself master of the rivulet, that on the commencement of the battle had so well covered the French troops ; the grenadiers of the consular guard, continuing in square, a living citadel in the middle of the battle-field, filled up the void be- The Austrians carry all before them. The French retreat. Gallantry of the consular guard. MARENGO. Desaix, hearing the cannon of Marengo, returns thither. 107 tween Lannes and the columns of Carra St. Cyr, which were in possession of the first houses of Castel Ceriolo. MJlas, with the courage of de- spair, bringing his united masses upon Marengo, issued at length from the village, driving back the worn-out soldiers of Gardanne, who in vain took advantage of every obstacle to aid their resistance. O'Reilly continued to overwhelm with grape-shot the division of Chambarlhac, so long exposed to the fire of his immense artillery. But there was no longer any possibility of making head ; they must yield up the ground. Bo- naparte ordered them to fall back by little and little, at the same time keeping up a firm front. Then, while his left, separated from Marengo, and thus deprived of support, fell back rapidly as far as San Giuliano, where it went to seek a shelter, he continued to keep the right of the plain, and to maintain himself in slow retreat, thanks to Castel Ceriolo, the bravery of the consular guard, and, above all, to Lannes, who made unequalled efforts. If he could not support the right, the first consul had still a certain line of retreat by Sale" towards the banks of the Po ; and if Desaix, who was sent on the preceding day upon Novi, should return in time, the field of battle might yet be reconquered, and victory come back to the side of the French. At this moment it was that Lannes and his four demi-brigades exhibited efforts worthy of the plaudits of posterity. The enemy, who had issued out of Marengo upon the plain iu one solid mass, poured forth from eighty pieces of cannon a con- tinued shower of round and grape shot. Lannes, at the head of his demi-brigades, was two hours in retreating three-fourths of a league. When the enemy, coming too near, pressed upon him, he halted and charged him with the bayonet. Although his guns were dismounted, a few light field-pieces, drawn by the better horses, were brought up and mameuvred with the same skill and boldness, as- sisting by their fire the demi-brigades that were too much pressed; and they even dared to place themselves in battery against the Austrian ar- tillery. The consular guard, which the Austrians were unable to break by their charges of cavalry, was now assailed by cannon. The Austrians strove to batter it iu breach like a wall, and then it was charged by Frimont's horse. It sustained con- siderable loss, but retreated unbroken. Carra St. Cyr also retreated, and abandoned Castel Ceriolo, but he still had a last support in the vineyards in the rear of that village. The French also remained masters of the road from Ceriolo to Sale". Every where the plain exhibited a vast pile of carnage, upon which continual explosions were added to the thunder of the artillery; for Lannes, in his retreat, blew up such of the artillery-waggons as he was unable to bring away. Half the day was over. Melas made sure of the victory which he had purchased so dearly. The old soldier, who at least for courage showed him- self worthy of his adversary on that memorable day, re-entered Alexandria worn out with fatigue. He left general Zach, the chief of his staff, in com- mand, and sent off couriers to all parts of Europe to announce the defeat of general Bonaparte at Marengo. The chief of the staff, then in full com- mand, formed the greater part of the Austrian army in a marching column on the great road from Marengo to San Giuliano. He placed at the head two regiments, then a column of Lattermann'a grenadiers, and after them the baggage. He dis- posed on the left general O'Reilly, on the right the corps of generals Kaim and Haddick, and in this order he sought to gain the great road to Piacenza, the object of so many efforts, and of the safety itself of the Austrian army. It was three o'clock : if no new event occurred, the contest might be considered lost to the French, unless they could, the next day, with the troops drawn from the Tessino, the Adda, and the Po, repair the misfortunes of that hour. Desaix was still absent with the entire division of Boudet, would he come up in time? Upon this depended the fate of the battle. The aids-de-carop of the first consul had been all the morning in search of him. But before these messengers could reach him, Desaix, on the first sound of a cannon in the plain of Marengo, had instantly stopped his march. The sound of distant cannon, thus heard, made him conclude that the enemy, of whom he was going in search at Novi on the Genoa road, was at Ma- rengo itself. He had instantly sent Savary with some hundred 1 cavalry to Novi, to observe what passed there, and with his division had awaited the result, continually hearing the cannon of the French and Austrians, which always resounded in the di- rection of the Bonnida. Savary having seen no one in the direction of Novi, Desaix was more than ever confirmed in his conjectures; and with- out waiting a moment longer, he marched upon Marengo, preceded by aids-de-camp, whom he sent forward to announce his arrival to the first consul. He had marched all the day, and at three o'clock the heads of his columns began to show themselves in the vicinity of San Giuliano. Ad- vancing himself at full gallop, he came up to the first consul, happy impulse of a lieutenant so in- telligent, and so full of devotedness, happy fortune of youth ! If, fifteen years afterwards, the first consul, so well seconded here by his generals, had found a Desaix on the field of battle at Waterloo, he would have preserved the empire, and France have kept her dominant position among the powers of Europe. The presence of Desaix went to change the face of things. He was surrounded, and the for- tunes of the day related to him. The generals formed a circle about him and the first consul, and the seriousness of their situation was warmly dis- cussed. The greater part of those present advised a retreat. The first consul was not of that opinion, and pressed Desaix forcibly to state what his might be. Desaix glanced over the devastated field of battle, then taking out his watch, and looking at the hour, replied to Bonaparte, in these fine yet simple terms : " Yes, the battle is lost : but it is only three o'clock; there is yet time enough to gain one." Bonaparte, highly pleased at the decision of Desaix, so disposed affairs as to profit by the resources which the general had brought with him, and of the advantages insured to him by the i Savary himself says only fifty horse. M. Thiers differs, too, with the same writer about a bridge on the Bonnida, one of which, lower down than Alexandria, ouiiht to have been destroyed, but was not. (See Savary's Memoirs, vol. i.) Trantlator. Bonaparte addresses the re- Grand charge of KeUej-mann. 1(inn 108 pulsed troops : they renew TRIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. Lannes drives the Aus- * the attack.-Deathot Desaix. trians back to Marengo. position taken in the morning. He was in the plain on the right, whilst the enemy were on the left in marching columns on the great road to San Giu- liano. Desaix arriving at San Giuliano with six thousand fresh men, and presenting his front to the Austrians, might stop them, while the main body of the army might throw itself on their flank. The dispositions were instantly made in conse- quence. The three demi-brigades of Desaix were formed in advance of San Giuliano, a little to the right of the high road ; the 30th formed in line ; the 9th and 59th in close columns on its wings. A small undulation of the ground concealed them from the enemy. On their left were the wrecks of Cham- barlhac's and Gardanne's troops under general Victor, a little recovered. On their right in the plain was Lannes, whose retreat was suspended, then the consular guard, then Carra St. Cyr, who had kept as near as possible to Castel Ceriolo; and between Desaix and Lannes, but a little in the rear, the cavalry of Kellermann was placed in an interval. A battery of twelve cannon, all that re- mained of the artillery of the army, was placed along the front of Desaix's corps. These dispositions being made, the first consul rode through the ranks of the soldiers, and spoke to the different corps. " My friends," said he, " we have retreated far enough ; do you recollect that I am hi the habit of lying on the field of battle." After reanimating the soldiers, who had gathered fresh spirits from the arrival of the re- inforcements, and were burning with impatience to conquer, he gave the signal. The charge was beaten along the whole line. The Austrians, rather in the order of march than the order of battle, were proceeding along the high road ; the column led by general Zach, the commander, being in front ; a little behind that, the centre partly formed on the plain, and showing its front to Lannes. General Marmont at the same moment suddenly unmasked twelve pieces of cannon. A shower of grape-shot fell upon the head of the surprised Austrian column, that expected no more resistance, because they thought the French were in full retreat. It bad scarcely recovered from this sud- den alarm, when Desaix moved on the 9th light, and said to his aid-de-camp, Savary, " Go, and tell the first consul that I am charging, and shall want to be supported by the cavalry." Desaix, on horse- back, led on the demi-brigade. He ascended with it the slight rising ground which concealed his advance from the view of the Austrians, and re- vealed himself to them at once by a discharge of musketry at the distance of only a few paces. The Austrians returned the fire, and Desaix fell, a ball having entered his breast. " Conceal my death," he exclaimed to general Boudet, the chief of his division, "for it may disconcert the troops," a useless caution of the hero ! He was seen to fall ; and his soldiers, like those of Turenne, demanded vengeance for the loss of their chief with loud shouts. The 9th light, which gained that day the title of the "incomparable," and bore it to the end of our wars, the 9th light, after pouring in their fire, formed in column, and rushed upon the solid Austrian mass. At this sight, the two first regiments that stood in their way, in consternation fell back disordered upon the second line, and dis- appeared in its ranks. The column of Lattermanu's grenadiers then became alone in the front, and received the shock of the light troops. They kept firm. The battle extended to both sides of the high road. The 9th light was supported on the right by the rallied troops of Victor, on the left by the 30th and 59th demi-brigades of Boudet's di- vision, which had followed the movement. The grenadiers of Lattermann defended themselves with difficulty ; when on a sudden an unforeseen storm burst upon their heads. General Keller- munn, who at the demand of Desaix had received orders to charge, set off at a gallop, and, passing between Lannes and Desaix, placed a part of his squadrons en potence to face the Austrian cavalry which he saw before him ; with the rest he dashed upon the flank of the grenadiers that were already attacked in front by Boudet's infantry. The charge, executed with extraordinary force, cut the column into two parts. Kellermann's dragoons sabred to the right and left; so that, pressed on all sides, the unfortunate grenadiers were obliged to lay down their arms. Two thousand of them were made prisoners. At their head, general Zach him- self was obliged to deliver up his sword. The Austrians were thus deprived of direction at the conclusion of the battle; for Melas, as we have seen, believing the victory certain, had entered Alexandria. Kellennann did not halt here ; he darted upon the dragoons of Lichtenstein, and put them to flight ; they fell back upon the Aus- trian centre, which was formed in the plain in face of Lannes, and put it into disorder. Lannes then advanced upon the Austrian centre, while the grenadiers of the consular guard and Carra St. Cyr moved anew upon Castel Ceriolo, from which they were not far off. On all the line from San Giuliano to Castel Ceriolo the French had adopted the offensive ; they marched forward intoxicated with joy and enthusiasm at seeing victory return to them. The surprise and discouragement had gone over to the Austrians. How admirable is the power of the determined will, that by perseverance in determination brings back fortune ! The oblique line of the French from San Giuliano to Castel Ceriolo advanced at the charge, driving back the Austrians, who were astounded at having a new battle to fight. Carra St. Cyr soon reconquered the village of Castel Ceriolo ; and general Ott, who had been the first to advance beyond that village, fearing to be over- powered, thought of retrograding, to prevent his communication from being cut off; a panic seized upon his cavalry, which fled at full gallop, crying, " To the bridges !" All tried to reach the bridges of the Bormida. General Ott, repassing by Castel Ceriolo with the troops of Vogelsang, was obliged to force through the French. He succeeded, and regained in a hurry the bank of the Bormida, where all the Austrians hurried with headlong precipi- tation. The generals Kaim and Haddick strove to keep the centre firm in vain. Lannes did not permit them the means, but drove them into Marengo, proceeding to push them into the Fontanone, and from the Fontanone into the Bormida. But the grenadiers of Weidenfeld made a momentary re- sistance, to give O'Reilly time to return, he having 1800. June. Consequences of the victory. Bonaparte's regret for the death of Desaix. Exultation of the French and depres- MARENGO. sion of * ne Austrians, who send a flag of truce. 109 advanced as far as Cassina Grossa. The Austrian cavalry, too, attempted several times to stop the advance of the French. It was driven back by the horse grenadiers of the consular guard, led by young Beauharnois and Bcssiercs. Lanncs and Victor, with their connected forces, fell at last upon Marengo, and threw O'Reilly's, as well as Weidenfeld's grenadiers into disorder. The con- fusion on the bridges of the Bormida every moment increased. Infantry, cavalry, artillery, were all crowded together there. The bridges could not hold them ; and numbers threw themselves into the Bormida to ford it An artillery conductor endeavoured to cross with his gun, and suc- ceeded. The entire artillery tried to imitate his example, but a part of the carriages remained in the bed of the river stuck fast. The French, in hot pursuit, captured men, horses, cannon, and baggage. The unfortunate Me"las, who, two hours before, had left his army victorious, hurried out at the news of the disaster, and could scarcely credit what he saw. He was in utter despair. Such was the sanguinary conflict of Marengo; which, as will soon be seen, exercised a vast influ- ence upon the destiny of France, and of the world ; it gave peace to the republic at the moment, and a little later the empire to the first consul. This bat- tle was cruelly contested, and it was worth the contest ; since no result was ever of more im- portance to one or the other of the combatants. Melas fought to avoid a fearful capitulation; Bona- parte staked on that day his entire fortunes. The number lost, considering the total of the combat- ants, was immense, and out of the usual proportion. The Austrians lost eight thousand killed and wounded, and more than two thousand prisoners. Their staff was cruelly decimated. General Had- dick was killed ; generals Vogelsang, Lattermann, Bellegarde, Lamarsaille, and Gottesheim were wounded; and with them a great number of offi- cers. They lost in men killed, wounded, or taken, one-third of their army; if this army was thirty- six thousand, or forty thousand strong, as was generally said. Then, as to the French, they had six thousand killed and wounded, and about one thousand made prisoners, which shows a loss of one-fourth of their force out of twenty-eight thou- sand present in the field. Their staff was as badly treated as the Austrian. Generals Mainony, Ri- vaud, Malher, and Champeaux were wounded, the last mortally ; but the greatest loss was Desaix. France had not lost one more regretted during ten years of war. In the view of the first consul this loss was great enough to diminish the pleasure of the victory. His secretary, Bourienne, congratu- lating him upon his miraculous success, said to him : " What a glorious day !" " Yes," replied Bonaparte, " it would have been indeed glorious, if I could have embraced Desaix this evening on the field of battle. I was going to make him minister of war," he added. " I would have made him a prince if I could." The conqueror of Marengo had yet no idea that he should, at a time not distant, be able to give crowns to those who served him. The body of the unfortunate Desaix was lying near San Giuliano, amidst the vast field of slaugh- ter. His aid-de-camp, Savary, who was a long time attached to him, searched for his body among the dead ; and, recognizing it by the abundance of the hair, removed it with great care, wrapped in a hussar's cloak, and, placing it on his horse, took it to the head-quarters at the Torre di Garofolo. Although the plain of Marengo was inundated with French blood, joy reigned in the army. Soldiers and generals felt how meritorious had been their conduct, and appreciated fully the great importance of a victory gained on the rear of an enemy. The Austrians, on the contrary, were in a consternation; they knew that they were enveloped and forced into submission to the will of the victor. Mdas, who had two horses killed under him during the day, conducted himself, in spite of his age, as well as it was possible for the youngest and most valiant soldiers in his army to have done ; he was plunged in the deepest sorrow. He had gone into Alexandria to take a little rest, believing himself the conqueror. Now he saw his army half de- stroyed, flying by every outlet, abandoning its artillery to the French, or leaving it in the marshes of the Bormida. To finish his misfor- tune, the chief of his staff, Zach, who enjoyed his entire confidence, was a prisoner with the French. He went from one of his generals to the other hi vain; none of them would give an opinion; while all cursed the cabinet of Vienna, which had kept them under such fatal illusions, and precipitated them into an abyss. Still, something must be decided upon but what? To cut his way through the enemy that had been attempted, and had not succeeded. Should he retire upon Genoa, or pass the Upper Po, in order to force the Tessino ? These resorts, difficult before a battle, were impos- sible, since battle had been given and lost. General Suchet was only some leagues in the rear, towards Acqui, with the army of Liguria. Bonaparte was in front of Alexandria, with the victorious army of reserve. Both might form a junction, and cut off the road to Genoa. General Moncey, who, with the detachment from Germany, guarded the Tes- sino, could be succoured by Bonaparte in as little time as it would require to march upon Moncey. He had no hope of safety on any side; and it was necessary to adopt the idea of a capitulation, happy if, in abandoning Italy, he insured the liberty of the Austrian forces, and attained from the gene- rosity of the conqueror, that this unfortunate army should not be prisoners of war. It was in conse- quence resolved, to send a flag of truce to Bona- parte, in order to commence a negotiation. The prince of Lichtenstein was chosen to proceed on the following morning, being the 15th of June or 26 Prairial, to the French head-quarters. On the other side, the first consul had many reasons for treating with the Austrians. His prin- cipal end was gamed, for Italy was delivered by a single battle. After the victory which he had thus gained, that enabled him to invest the Austrians on every side, he was certain of obtaining the evacua- tion of Italy. He might also rigorously demand that the vanquished should lay down their arms and surrender themselves prisoners. But in wounding the honour of brave men he might per- chance force them into some desperate act. This would occasion a useless effusion of blood, and would more particularly be attended with a loss of time. Absent from Paris above a month, it Convention of Alexandria signed by Melas and Bo- naparte. Its articles. TRIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. Reflections on the results of the battle of Ma- rengo. 1800. June. was important that he should return there as soon as possible. There was a prisoner in the hands of the French, general Zach, who might be made a valuable intermediate agent. The first consul opened his mind to him, and expressed in his pre- sence how sincerely he felt desirous of peace ; that he felt every wish to spare the imperial army and to grant it the most honourable terms. The Austrian flag of truce having arrived, he manifested to the officer thus sent the same disposition that he had exhibited to general Zach, and requested them to return with Berthier to general Melas to arrange the basis of a capitulation. Following his usual custom under similar circumstances, he de- clared the irrevocable conditions under which he would treat, these being already settled in his own mind, and announced that no modification of them could happen. He consented that the Austrian army should not be declared prisoners of war ; he was willing that it should pass out with the honours of war ; but he insisted that all the fortresses of Liguria, Piedmont, Lombardy, and the Legations should be immediately given up to France, and that the Austrians should evacuate Italy as far as the Mincio. The negotiators immediately pro- ceeded to the Austrian head-quarters. Although rigorous, the conditions were such as were but natural, it may be said, generous. One alone was painful, almost humiliating ; it was the surrender of Genoa, after so much blood spilled, and after an occupation of only a few days ; but this was a point from which the conqueror would not depart. Still Me'las sent his principal nego- tiator to remonstrate against some of the conditions in the proposed armistice. " Sir," said the first consul with a little warmth, " my conditions are ir- revocable. I did not begin my military life yester- day; your position is as well known to me as to yourselves. You are in Alexandria, encumbered with dead, wounded, and sick, destitute of pro- visions, deprived of the best soldiers in your army, surrounded on every side. I am in a position to demand any tiling ; but I respect the grey hairs of your general and the courage of your soldiers. I demand nothing that is not justified by the pre- sent situation of affairs. Return to Alexandria ; do as you please, you will have no other conditions." The convention was signed on the same day, the 15th of June, at Alexandria, on the basis proposed by Bonaparte. It was in the first place arranged that there should be a suspension of arms in Italy until the reception of a reply from Vienna. If the terms of the treaty were sanctioned, the Austrians were to be free to retire with the honours of war behind the line of the Mincio. They engaged upon retiring to give up into the hands of the French all the strong places which they occupied. The citadels of Tortona, Alexandria, Milan, Arona, and Piacenza were to be remitted between the 16th and 20th of June, or 2?th of Prairial and 1st of Messidor ; the citadels of Cevi, Savona, the for- tresses of Coni and Genoa, between the 16th and 24th, and that of Urbino on the 26th. The Aus- trian army was to be divided into three columns, to retire one after another as fast as the places were delivered up. The immense stores of pro- visions accumulated by Me'las in Italy were to be equally divided between the French and the Aus- trians ; the artillery of the Italian foundries to go to the French, that of the Austrian foundries to the imperial army. The Austrians, after the evacuation of Lombardy as far as the Mincio, were to retire behind the following boundary : the Mincio, the Fossa- Maestra, the left bank of the Po, from Borgo- Forte as far as its mouth in the Adriatic, Peschiera, and Mantua remained in pos- session of the Austrians. It was verbally agreed without any explanation, that the detachment of the army at that time actually in Tuscany should continue to occupy that province. Respecting the states of the pope, and those of the king of Naples, nothing was stipulated, as those princes were foreign to the events in the north of Italy. If this convention should not be ratified by the em- peror, ten days were allowed for the resumption of hostilities. In the meanwhile neither party was to send any detachments into Germany. Such are the main points of the celebrated con- vention of Alexandria, which in one day obtained for France the restitution of Upper Italy, and in- volved the restitution of the whole. Me'las was afterwards too much censured for the campaign and treaty. It is proper to be just towards the unfortunate, when, more than all, it is redeemed by honourable conduct. Me'las was deceived regard- ing the existence of the army of reserve by the cabinet of Vienna, which never ceased to mislead him with the most fatal illusions. When he was undeceived, he may perhaps be justly reproached for not having united his troops quickly and com- pletely enough, and with having left too many men in the fortresses. It was not behind the walls of fortresses, but on the battle-field of Marengo, that these were to be defended. This being admitted, it must be acknowledged that Me'las conducted himself as a brave man should do when he is sur- rounded, he endeavoured to cut his way out sword in hand. He attempted it bravely, and was de- feated. After that he had but one thing left to do, which was to secure the liberty of his army, because Italy was irrevocably lost to him. He was unable to get better terms than he obtained ; he might have been obliged to submit to worse humiliations had it been the desire of his conqueror. The con- queror himself did well not to require more, since had he determined on more, he would have run the chance of driving brave men to sanguinary extremities, and himself to lose most precious time, his presence in Paris being indispensable. Me'las deserves pity, and the conduct of the victor ad- miration, who owed the result of the campaign not to hazard, but to the most profound combinations, most marvellously executed. Some, fond of detraction, have pretended that the victory of Marengo was due to general Keller- mann, and that all the consequences were but natural results. Why then, if Bonaparte must be robbed of his glory, not attribute it to that noble victim of a happy impulse, Desaix ; who guessing, before having received them, the orders of his commander, came to bring him victory and his life 1 Why not attribute it to the intrepid de- fender of Genoa, who, in retaining the Austrians on the Apennine, gave Bonaparte time to descend the Alps, and delivered them up to him half destroyed ? Some say that generals Kellermann, Desaix, and Masslna are the real conquerors of Marengo, any one except Bonaparte. But in this 1800. June. Bonaparte, well seconded by liis lieutenants, the real conqueror of Marengo. MARENGO. Hit letter to the emperor of Austria from the field of battle. Ill world the voice of the public always decrees glory, and the voice of the public has proclaimed the conqueror of Marengo to be him who, with the quick glance of genius, discovered the use that might be made of the Higher Alps to pour down on the rear of the Austrians, having for three months together deceived their vigilance ; to be him who created an army that did not before exist; rendered its creation incredible to all Europe, traversed the St. Bernard over an unbeaten track, appeared unexpectedly in the midst of Italy that was confounded with astonishment, enveloped with wonderful skill his unfortunate adversary, and having fought a decisive battle with him, lost it in the morning and regained it in the evening. The battle was certain to be regained on the following, if it had not on the same day ; for besides the six thousand men under Desaix, ten thousand on the way from the Tessino, and ten thousand posted on the Po, presented infallible means to destroy the army of the Austrians. Let us suppose the Aus- trians victors on the 14th of June, entering into the defile of Stradella, finding at Piacenza generals Duhesme and Loison with ten thousand men ready to dispute the passage of the Po, having behind them Bonaparte reinforced by the generals Desaix and Moncey what could the Austrians have done in such a dangerous place, stopped by a river well defended, and pursued by an army superior in number ? They must have fallen more disastrously than they fell in the field of the Bormida. The real conqueror of Marengo then was he who mastered fortune by combinations, so profound, so admirable, as to be without equals in the history of the greatest soldiers. In other respects he was well served by his lieutenants, and there is no need to sacrifice the glory of any to construct his. Massena by an heroic defence of Genoa, Desaix by the most happy resolve, Lannes by incomparable firmness on the plain of Marengo, Kellennann by his fine charge of cavalry, concurred towards his triumph. He recompensed all in the most signal mode ; .and in regard to Desaix, he felt for him the greatest sorrow. The first consul ordered the most mag- nificent honours to be paid to the man who had rendered France such eminent services. He even took care of his military family, and placed about his own person the two aids- de-camp of Desaix, thrown out of employment at the general's decease, colonels Rapp and Savary. Before he quitted the battle-field of Marengo, the first consul wrote another letter to the emperor of Germany, although he only obtained an indirect answer to the first, addressed by M. Thugut to Talleyrand. Bonaparte conceived that his victory permitted him to renew his repelled advances. At that moment he wished ardently for peace. He felt that to pacify France without, as he had pacified her within, was his real vocation, and that having accomplished this task, his present autho- rity would be legitimatized better than it would be by new victories. Susceptible, besides, of the keenest impressions, he was deeply affected at the sight of the plain of Marengo, on which lay a fourth of two armies ; and under the influence of these feelings he wrote to the emperor of Austria a singular letter : " It is on the field of battle, amid the suffering of a multitude of wounded, and surrounded by fifteen thousand dead, that I conjure your majesty to listen to the voice of humanity, and not to per- mit two brave nations to slaughter each other for interests to which they are strangers. It is for me to urge your majesty; since I am nearer than you to the theatre of war, your heart cannot be so strongly impressed as mine." This letter was long ; the first consul discussed, with an eloquence which was peculiar to himself, and in language which was not that of diplomacy, the motives which France and Austria could have for continuing still to arm against each other. " Is it for religion that you combat ? " said he, " in that case make war upon the Russians and English, who are the enemies of your faith ; be not their ally. Is it to guard against revolutionary prin- ciples 1 The war has extended them over one-half of the continent in extending the conquests of France, and it must extend them still further ! Is it for the balance of power in Europe ? The En- glish threaten more than we do that equilibrium, because they have become the masters and the tyrants of commerce, and no body can now control them ; whereas Europe will always be able to control France, if she desires to threaten seriously the independence of nations," a proposition un- fortunately but too well founded, as fifteen years of war fully proved. " Is it," added the soldier- diplomatist, " is it for the integrity of the German empire I But your majesty has given up to us Mayence and the German states on the left bank of the Rhine besides, the empire is demanding peace of you. Is it, lastly, for the interests of the house of Austria ? Nothing is more natural : but let us carry out the treaty of Campo Formio, which secures to your majesty large indemnities in com- pensation for the provinces lost in the Netherlands, and insures them to you where you would rather obtain them in Italy. Let your majesty send negotiators wherever you wish, and we will add to the treaty of Campo Formio stipulations capable of satisfying you in relation to the existence of the secondary states, which the French republic is charged with having disturbed." The first consul alluded here to Holland, Swit- zerland, Piedmont, the Roman states, Tuscany, and Naples, which the directory had revolutionized. " On these conditions," he continued, " peace is made ; let us extend the armistice to both armies and enter into immediate negotiations." M. St. Julien, one of the generals in the em- peror's confidence, was to be the bearer of the letter and of the convention of Alexandria to Vienna. Some days afterwards, when his former impres- sions were somewhat blunted, the first consul felt a little of that regret which he often experienced when he wrote an important document at the first impulse, and without consulting colder minds than his own. Giving an account to the consuls of the step he had thus taken, he said, " I have sent a courier to the emperor with a letter that the minister for foreign relations will communicate to yOU. YOU WILL FIND IT A LITTLE ORIGINAL J but it is written on the field of battle. June 22nd." After taking leave of his army he set out for Milan, on the 17th of June, or 28th of Prairial, in the morning, three days after the victory of Ma- Bonaparte institutes a pro- visional government at Milan. TRIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. Proceedings respecting the election of the new pope. 1800. June. rengo. He was expected there with the greatest impatience. He arrived in the evening at dark. The population of the city, aware of his coming, were iu the streets, to see him pass. They raised shouts of joy and threw flowers into his carriage. The city was illuminated with that brilliancy which the Italians alone know how to display in their fetes. The Lombards who had been ten or twelve months under the yoke of the Austrians, rendered more grievous by the war and the vio- lence of circumstances, trembled to be replaced under their insupportable authority. They had, during the various chances of this short campaign, experienced the most painful anxiety, through the contradictory reports which they had received, and they were now delighted to see their deliver- ance secured. Bonaparte immediately proclaimed the re-establishment of the Cisalpine republic, and hastened to restore order in the affairs of Italy, of which his last victory had completely changed the aspect. We have already said that the war undertaken between the Russians, the English, and the Aus- trians, to re-establish in their states the princes overthrown by the encroachments of the directory, had not restored one of them. The king of Pied- mont remained at Rome, the grand duke of Tus- cany in Austria ; the pope had died at Valence, and his territories were invaded by the Neapolitans. The royal family of Naples, delivered entirely into the hands of the English, was alone in its domi- nions, where it permitted the most sanguinary re- actions. The queen of Naples, the minister Acton, and lord Nelson, allowed, if they did not command, the most abominable cruelties. The victory of the French republic changed all this : humanity was as much interested in the matter as policy. The first consul instituted a provisional govern- ment at Milan, until the Cisalpine could be reor- ganized, and definitive limits assigned to it, which was not possible to be done until the peace. He did not consider that he was bound to regard the king of Piedmont more than Austria had done, and he was in consequence in no hurry to re-esta- blish him hi his dominions. He substituted a provi- sional government, and named general Jourdan the commissioner charged with its directions. For a good while the first consul wished to employ and separate from his enemies an honest and clever man, little fitted to be at the head of the French anarchists. Piedmont was thus kept in reserve with the intention of disposing of it at the peace, to the advantage of the French republic, or as the price of reconciliation with Europe, in constituting the secondary states destroyed under the directory. Tuscany was occupied by an Austrian force. The first consul had watched, ready to seize it if the English landed there, or it continued to raise men for the service of the enemies of France. As for Naples, he said and did nothing, waiting to see the effect of his victory upon the court. Already the queen of Naples, in fear, was about to set out for Vienna, to ask the support of Austria, and more particularly of Russia. The court of Rome remained ; there temporal were complicated with the most serious spiritual interests. Pius VI., as already seen, had died in France, the prisoner of the directory. The first consul staunch to his political system, had rendered funeral honours to his remains. A conclave had assembled at Venice, and with much trouble had obtained from the Austrian cabinet the permis- sion to nominate a successor to the deceased head of the church. Thirty-five cardinals attended the conclave. A prelate was secretary, Gonsalvi, a Roman priest, young, ambitious, remarkable for the suppleness, penetration, and agreeable qualities of his mind, who has since mingled in most of the more important public affairs of the time. The conclave, as usual on every political or religious question was divided. Twenty -two of the members took the side of cardinal Braschi, nephew of the last pope, and supported cardinal Bellisomi, bishop of Cesena, in his pretensions. Those who were against supporting at Rome the domination of the family of Braschi, supported cardinal Antonelli. This cardinal v/as for bringing in cardinal Mattei, who signed the treaty of Tolentino, but he only obtained thirteen votes. For many months the contest had been silently but obstinately carried on. Neither of the two candidates had as yet gained over the vote of an opponent. At last the learned cardinal Gerdil was thought about ; he had figured in the controversies of the last century. This new candidate was a Savoyard, who had become, through the late victories of the republic, a subject of France. Austria put in force against him her right of ex- clusion. To put an end to the affair, two of the voices detached themselves from cardinal Mattei, and promised to support cardinal Bellisomi, which assured to him twenty-four voices, the number required, or two-thirds of the suffrages, as rigor- ously demanded by the ecclesiastical laws to make the election valid. As it was in the dominions of Austria that the conclave was held, it was thought proper in the first place to submit to her the nomi- nation in order to obtain her tacit agreement. The court of Vienna had the want of courtesy to suffer a month to pass away without returning any an- swer. The sensitiveness of the princes of the church was wounded, while at the same time all the parties were put out of joint, and the election of cardinal Bellisomi became impossible. It was this moment of disorder and fatigue that the able secretary of the conclave had awaited to start a new candidate, the object of his long and secret meditations. Speaking to all parties the language most likely to move them, he demonstrated to some the inconvenience of the domination of the Braschi, to others the small reliance that could be placed on Austria or any of the Christian courts; then address- ing himself to the old profound and sagacious Ro- man interest, he uncovered before their astonished eyes a perspective view wholly new to them. " It is from France," said he, " that we have for ten years seen persecution proceeding very well, it is from France that we may be able to derive succour and consolation. France, ever since Charlemagne, has been for the church the most useful and the least annoying of protectors. A most extraordi- nary young man, very difficult at present to judge of, governs there now. He will, no doubt, very soon reconquer Italy (the battle of Marengo had not then been fought). Recollect that in 1797 he pro- tected the priests, and that he has rendered formal honour to Pius VI. Singular speeches which lie has been heard to make on religion, and on the court of Rome, have been repeated to us by persons who 1300. June. Conduct of cardinal Maury. Cardinal Chiaramcmti elected pope. The first consul friendly to the church. MARENGO. He attends the Te Deum at Milan. Distribution of the army. 113 heard them, well worthy of credit. Neglect not the resources which offer on that side. Let us make a choice that cannot be considered hostile to France, or that may, to a certain extent, be agreeable to her, and we shall perhaps do a thing more useful to the Church than in demanding candidates of all the Catholic courts of Europe. This was undoubtedly a coruscation from the genius of the Roman court, which subsequently cast out other bright flashes at the commencement of the century. Cardinal Gonsulvi then brought forward cardinal Chiaramonti, a native of Cesena, aged fifty-eight years, a relation of Pius VI., and by him elevated to the purple, who enjoyed by his intellect, learning, and mild virtues, the general esteem. To these attractive qualities he added great firmness. He had been seen struggling at an anterior period against the bickerings of his order, that of St. Benedict, and against the perse- cutions of the holy office, with victorious fortitude. His more recent and more noted act was a homily, made in his character of bishop of Imola, when his diocese was united to the Cisalpine republic. He had then spoken of the French revolution with a moderation which had pleased the conqueror of Italy, and scandalized the fanatics of the old order of things. Still, respected by everybody, he was agreeable to the Braschi party, and not disliked by his opponents; he suited all the cardinals who were wearied by the protracted length of the conclave; and lie was deemed a fortunate selection by those who hoped much from the good-will of France in future. The adhesion, totally unexpected, of an illustrious personage, decided his election, which was met by no real difficulty, except in his own personal reluctance to accept the honour. The adhesion alluded to was that of cardinal Maury. This celebrated champion of the old French mon- archy had retired to the Roman court, where he lived, recompensed with a cardinal's cap for his contests with Barnave and Mirabeau, He was an emigrant, but an emigrant endowed with a remark- able mind and extraordinary intellect; entertaining with secret satisfaction the idea of again attaching himself to the government of France, since glory had redeemed the novelty of that government. He had six votes at his disposal, and gave them to cardinal Chiaramonti, who was elected pope a little after the arrival of Bonaparte at Milan by the route of the St. Bernard. The new pontiff was at Venice, having been un- able to obtain of the court of Vienna permission to be crowned at St. Mark's, or from the court of Naples the possession of Rome. Having gone sud- denly to Ancona, he negotiated in that city the evacuation of the states of the Church, and his own return to the capital of the Christian world. In this precarious situation, France, that had become friendly towards the holy see, was able to render him useful support; and the singular foresight of cardinal Gonsalvi received its accomplishment in a very sudden manner. The meeting of cardinal Chiaramonti and the first consul, the one raised to tiie pontificate, and the other to the republican dictatorship, nearly at the same time, was not one of the least extraordinary events of the century, nor the least fertile in results. Young Bonaparte, in 1796, the submissive gene- ral of the directory, unable yet to dare every thing, and not having the assumption to give lessons to tin- French revolution, had maintained the pope by the treaty of Tolentino, and hud taken from him only the Legations for the purpose of transferring them to the Cisalpine republic. Become now first consul, and able to do as he pleased, he determined to put in order a large part of the measures accom- plished at the French revolution, and could not hesitate in his conduct towards the pope just elected. Scarcely had he returned to Milan when he saw cardinal Martiniana, bishop of Venice, the friend of Pius VII., and declared to him that he desired to live in a good understanding with the holy see, to reconcile the French revolution to the Church, and to support it against its enemies, if the Church showed itself reasonable, and well understood the actual position of France and of the world. This conversation in the ear of the old cardinal was not lost, and soon brought forth abundant fruit. The bishop of Verceil sent orT to Rome his own nephew, count Alciati, for the purpose of opening a nego- tiation. To this overture Bonaparte joined an act yet more bold, that he dared not indulge in Paris ; but he was pleased to make it reach that city at a dis- tance, as an earnest of his future intentions. The Italians had prepared a solemn Te Deum in the old cathedral of Milan. He resolved to assist at the ceremony ; and on the 18th of June, or 29th Prai- riai, he wrote in these terms to the consuls : " To-day, in spite of all that may be said by our Paris atheists, I shall go with great ceremony to the Te Deum that they are going to chant in the metropolitan church of Milan l ." After having given these attentions to the general affairs of Italy, he made some indispensable ar- rangements for distributing the army in the con- quered country, its provision, and reorganization. Masse'na had just joined him. The ill humour of the defender of Genoa was dissipated before the flattering reception given him by the first consul ; and he received the command of the army of Italy, that in every way he so well merited. This army was composed of the corps that had defended Genoa, of that which had defended the Var, of the troops that descended the St. Bernard, and of those which, under general Moncey, had arrived from Germany. The whole formed an imposing mass of eighty thousand tried men. The first consul quar- tered them in the rich plains of the Po, in order that they might repose after their fatigues, and make up for their former privations by the abun- dance they enjoyed. With his accustomed foresight, the first consul ordered the forts and citadels which closed the passes between France and Italy, to be destroyed. In consequence, the demolition of the forts of Arona, Bard, and Seravalle, and of the citadels of Ivre"e and Ceva,was ordered and executed. He fixed the mode and extent of the contributions to be levied for the sustenance of the army ; sent off the consular guard for Paris, calculating the marches it would require to be in Paris at the time of the festival of the 14th of July, which, agreeably to his intentions, was to be celebrated with great pomp. He even took care, at Milan, to regulate the details of the festival : 1 Depot of the Secretary of State's Office. Delay in surrendering Genoa. tion at Lyons. Arrival at , , a n 114 Honourable conduct of THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. Paris-Parisian intrigues, '?" Melas. Bonaparte's recep- Injustice to Carnot. " It is necessary," he wrote, " to study to render as brilliant as possible the solemnity of the 14th of July ! , and to take care that it does not APE the rejoicings which have recently taken place. Cha- riot-races might have been very well in Greece, where they fought in chariots ; they are out of place and unmeaning in France *." He forbade triumphal arches to be erected for him, saying, he desired " NO OTHER ARCH OF TRI- UMPH THAN THE PUBLIC SATISFACTION." The first consul, in spite of all that called for his presence in Paris, remained twelve days in Milan. His reason was, that he might be certain of the exact execution of the convention of Alexandria. He had fears of the Austrian honour, and fancied that he saw some delay in giving up certain for- tresses. He cried out against the weakness of Berthier, and ordered the detention of the second and third columns of the army of Melas. The first column had already passed. There was some rea- son to fear for the delivery of Genoa, which the Austrians might easily be tempted to deliver over to the English, before the French should enter. The prince of Hohenzollern, in fact, either spon- taneously or urged by the English, refused at the moment to deliver up to Masse"na a place they had acquired with so much labour. Melas, informed of the difficulty, insisted, in the most honourable manner, that his lieutenant should fulfil the con- vention of Alexandria, and threatened him, if he resisted, to give him up to the consequences of such a dishonourable act. The order of Melas was obeyed, and Genoa was delivered up to the French on the 24th of June, to the great joy of the Ligu- rian patriots, who were freed in so short a space of time from the Austrians and the aristocratical dominion that oppressed them. Thus the spirited words of Masse'na were verified, " I swear to you that I shall re-enter Genoa before fifteen days are over." All these things being completed, the first consul departed from Milan on the 24th of June, in com- pany with Duroc, his favourite aid-de-camp, Bes- sieres, who commanded the consular guard, Bour- rienne, his secretary, and Savary, one of two officers whom he had attached to his person out of regard to the memory of Desaix. He stopped some hours at Turin, to examine the works at the citadel, and give orders. He traversed Mount Cenis, and entered Lyons under arches of triumph, in the midst of a population astounded at the prodigies which he had accomplished The Lyonnese, who were equally struck with his policy and his glory, surrounded the Hotel of the Celestins, where he had set down, and absolutely demanded to see him. He was obliged to go out before them, and unanimous acclamations burst forth at his appearance. They earnestly requested him to lay the first stone of the Place Bellecour, of which the reconstruction was about to be commenced; and he was obliged to consent. He passed a day at Lyons in the midst of a vast concourse of all the population of the environs. After addressing to the Lyonnese, in terms which much pleased them, a speech relative to the approach of peace, commerce, and order, he proceeded to Paris. The inhabitants of the 1 At the storming of the Bastile, in 1789. Dated Milan, June 22nd. State Paper Office. provinces thronged to greet him at every place through which he passed. The man then so well treated by fortune enjoyed glory, yet conversing continually with his travelling companions, he made this fine remark, so expressive of his in- satiable love of fame : " Yes, I have conquered in less than two years Cairo, Milan, and Paris ; yet if I were to die to-morrow, I should not have half a page in a universal history." He arrived in Paris in the night between the 2nd and 3rd of July. His return was necessary, because, absent from the capital nearly two months, his absence, and more particularly the false statements about Ma- rengo, had caused several intrigues. It was be- lieved, for a short time, that he was either dead or vanquished, and the ambitious set themselves at work. Some thought of Carnot, others of La Fayette, who from the dungeons of Olmutz had re-entered France, through the kindness of the first consul. They would have Carnot or La Fayette for president of the republic. La Fayette had no hand in these intrigues ; Carnot no more. But Joseph and Lucien Bonaparte both had an unjust misgiving about Carnot, which they planted in their brother's mind. Thence came that unfortu- nate resolution, which the first consul executed at a later period, of taking from Carnot the ministry of war. There were some who fancied they could see in Talleyrand and Fouche", who hated each other, a tendency notwithstanding to a recon- ciliation, no doubt for the purpose of concert, and profiting together by the concatenation of events. Nothing was perceived at this time about M. Sieyes, the man most expected to figure, in case Bonaparte had disappeared from the scene. He was the only personage who exhibited so much reserve. All these things had scarcely time to show themselves, before the bad news was effaced by the good. What really did take place was greatly exaggerated in the relation, and the first consul conceived against some persons a resent- ment which he had the good sense to conceal, and soon to forget entirely in regard to all who had been pointed out to him, except the illustrious Carnot. The first consul besides, full of delight at his success, would not have the slightest shade thrown over the public joy. He received everybody kindly, and was himself received in return with transports, more especially by those whom there was ground to reproach. The people of Paris, on hearing of his return, ran under the window of the Tuileries, and during the day filled the courts and garden of the palace. The first consul was obliged to show liimself several times to the people. In the evening the city of Paris was spontaneously illuminated. They celebrated with delight a miraculous victory, the certain presage of a peace ardently wished. That day affected so deeply him who was the object of this homage, that twenty years afterwards in loneliness, exiled, a prisoner in the midst of the Atlantic Ocean, he counted it, in recalling the scenes of other times, as among the most delightful of his life. On the following day the various bodies of the state waited upon him, and gave the first example of those felicitations, of that distasteful spectacle, which has been renewed so many times under every reign. There were seen at the Tuileries, the se- nate, the legislative body, the tribunate, the great 1SOO. June. Eroceedings of Moreau on the Danube. Arrangements of the array. Daring M ARENGO. movements of Lecourbe. Gallantry of Quenot. 115 tribunals, the prefecture of the Seine, the autho- rities civil and military, the directors of the bank of France, finally, the institute and the learned societies. These great bodies attended to com- pliment the victor of Marengo, and addressed him as they formerly spoke, and as they have spoken since to kings. But it must be said, that the lan- guage, although uniformly full of praise, was dic- tated by a sincere enthusiasm. In fact, the aspect of things had changed in a few months; the security that had succeeded to great troubles, a victory un- paralleled had replaced France at the head of the European powers, the certainty of approaching peace putting an end to the anxieties of a general war; in fine, the prosperity already showing itself every where, how should such great results, so soon realized, fail to transport every spirit ! The president of the senate terminated his address as follows, and this may serve as an idea of all the others : " We are pleased to acknowledge that the country owes its safety to you ; that to you the republic owes its consolidation, and the people a prosperity which in one day you have made succeed to ten years of the most stormy of revolutions." While these things were passing in Italy and France, Moreau, on the banks of the Danube, con- tinued his fine campaign against Kray. We left him manoeuvring before Ulm to oblige the Aus- trians to quit that strong position. He had placed himself between the Iller and the Lech, support- ing his left and his right on these two rivers, his front to the Danube, his rear to the city of Augs- burg, ready to receive marshal Kray if he chose to fight, and, in waiting where he was, barring the road to the Alps, the essential condition of the general plan. If the success of Moreau had not been prompt or decisive, it had been sustained and fully sufficient to allow the first consul to accom- plish in Italy all he had himself proposed to perform. But the moment was now come when the general of the army of the Rhine, emboldened by time and by the success of the army of reserve, was tempted to try a serious manoeuvre to dislodge Kray from the position of Ulm. Now, that with- out a knowledge of the battle of Marengo, he knew the fortunate success of the passage of the Alps, Moreau had no fear about uncovering the mountains, having full freedom for all his move- ments. Of all the various manoeuvres possible to reduce the position of Ulm, he preferred that which consisted in passing the Danube below that po- sition, and forcing Kray to decamp by menacing the line of his retreat. This manoeuvre was really the best. That which consisted in pushing on straight to Vienna by Munich was too bold for the character of Moreau, and perhaps it was pre- mature also in the existing state of affairs. The plan which consisted in passing the Danube below and very near Ulm, to storm the Austrian camp, was hazardous, as every attack by main force must be ; but to pass below Ulm, and by threatening Kray's line of retreat to oblige him to regain it, was, at the same time, the wisest and surest manoeuvre. From the 15th to the 18th of June, Moreau set himself in movement to execute his new resolve. The organization of his army, as before observed, had received certain changes in consequence of the departure of generals St. Cyr and St. Suzanne. Lecourbe always formed the right, and Moreau the centre at the head of the body of reserve. The corps of St. Cyr, under the orders of general Gre- nier, composed the left. The corps of St. Suzanne, reduced to the proportions of one strong division, and confided to the command of the audacious Richepanse, had to perform the duty of a corps of flankers, that at the moment had the charge of observing Ulm, while the army manoeuvred below that city. There had been some fighting before Ulm, more particularly on the 5th of June, when two French divisions made head against forty thousand Aus- trians. This was part of the object of Kray, in order to detain the French before Ulm, by con- tinuing to keep them employed. On the 18th of June Richepanse was in sight of Ulm ; Grenier, with the left, at Guntzburg ; the centre, composed of the corps of reserve, at Burgau ; and Lecourbe, with the right, extended as far as Dillingen. The enemy had destroyed the bridges from Ulm as far as Donauwerth. But an observation made by Le- courbe decided Moreau to choose the points of Blindheim 1 arid Gremheim to cross the Danube, because at these two places the bridges were im- perfectly destroyed, and might be easily repaired. Lecourbe was charged with this dangerous ope- ration. In order to facilitate, general Boyer was reinforced with five battalions and the entire re- serve of cavalry under the orders of general Hautpoul. The centre, under the general-in-chief, moved from Burgau to Aislingen, to be at hand to support the passage. Grenier, with the left, was ordered to make an attempt on his side, in order to attract the attention of the enemy. On the 19th of June, in the morning, Lecourbe posted his troops between the villages of Blindheim and Gremheim, the bridges of which were only partially destroyed, and he took care to shelter himself behind some clumps of trees. He had no bridge equipage, and possessed only a quantity of boards. He supplied by his courage the want of every thing else. General Gudin directed, under Lecourbe, this attempt at a passage. Some guns were placed on the bank of the Danube to keep off the enemy ; and at the same time, Quenot, the adjutant, threw himself courageously into the water, in order to seize upon two large boats that were lying on the other side. This gallant officer brought them over under a shower of balls, and unhurt, save by a slight wound in the foot. The best swimmers of the division were chosen ; they placed their clothes and arms in the two boats, and plunged into the Danube under the enemy's fire. On reaching the opposite bank, and without taking time to put on their clothes, they seized their arms and flew upon some companies of the Aus- trians protecting that part of the river, dispersed them, and took two pieces of cannon with the ammunition waggons. This being achieved, the soldiers hastened to the bridges, the piles of which were still standing ; they worked hard on both banks, placing ladders and planks, to establish a communication. Some artillery soldiers availed themselves of it to cross to the other side of the Danube, in order to employ against the enemy the 1 Blenheim tTranilatt,r. Il 116 Bold charge of Lecourbe- Passage of the Danube. TRIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. Battle of Hochstedt. The French, masters of the field. 18UO. June. two guns which had been thus taken from him. The French were soon masters of both banks of the river, and had sufficiently established the bridges to afford a passage to the greater part of the troops. The infantry and cavalry began to pass over. It was expected that numerous Aus- trian reinforcements would promptly ascend from Donauwerth, and descend from all the upper posi- tions, Gundelfingen, Guntzburg, and Ulm. Le- courbe, who had himself repaired to the spot, placed all the infantry he could spare, with some cavalry troops, in the village of Schwenningen, which is situated on the road to Donauwerth. This was an important point, because by that road it was that the Austrians who ascended the Danube must arrive. It was not long, in consequence, be- fore four thousand infantry, five hundred horse, and six pieces of cannon showed themselves, and attacked the village, which, for the space of two hours, was several times taken and retaken. The superiority of the Austriaus in numbers, and their determination to retake so important a post, had nearly given them the victory over the French, and obliged them to abandon the village, when Lecourbe was seasonably reinforced by two squa- drons of carabiniers. To these he joined some troops of the 8th hussars, that happened to be at hand, and sent them upon the enemy's infantry, which extended itself on the vast plain towards the bank of the Danube. The charge was exe- cuted with so much vigour and promptitude, that the Austrians were routed, leaving to the French their artillery, two thousand prisoners, and three hundred horses. Two battalions of Wurtem- bergers, who endeavoured to resist by forming themselves into squares, were broken like the rest. After this brilliant action, fought by the brigade of Puthod, Lecourbe had no more to fear on the side of the Lower Danube. But it was not on that side from which he had to fear the greatest dangers. The main body of the Austrians being posted above, or at Dillingen, Gundelfingen, and Ulm, it was necessary to turn himself to that side in order to face the enemy, who was about to descend. Happily the divisions of Montrichard, Gudin, and the reserve of Hautpoul had passed over the re- established bridges of Gremheim and Blindheim, and bordered upon the famous plain of Hochstedt, rendered so sadly celebrated for the French in the time of Louis XIV., on the 13th of August, 1704. The enemy, having hurried frem all the nearest points to Dillingen, at some distance from Hoch- stedt, was drawn up near the Danube, the infantry upon the French left, along the marshes of that river, and behind some clumps of wood, the cavalry on their right in great force. Thus they presented themselves in good order, awaiting the reinforce- ments which were approaching, and slowly retiring to draw nearer to them. The 37th demi-brigade and a squadron of the 9th hussars followed, step and step, the retrograde movement of the Austriaus. Lecourbe, disembarrassed, by the combat of Schwen- ningen, of the enemy who might have come from the Lower Danube, arrived at a gallop at the head of the 2nd regiment of carabiniers, of the cuiras- siers, the 6th and 9th cavalry, and the 9th hussars: tli is was nearly all the reserve cavalry of general Hautpoul. They were upon a plain, separated from the tnemy by a little water-course, called the Egge, on which was the village of Schrezheim. Lecourbe, at the head of the cuirassiers, crossed the village at full gallop, formed as they issued out of it, and rushed upon the Austrian cavalry, who, surprised at the suddenness and rapidity of the charge, fell back in disorder, and left uncovered nine thousand infantry, whom it was designed to protect. The infantry thus abandoned would have thrown them- selves into the ditches that burrow the banks of the Danube towards Dillingen; but the cuirassiers, well directed, cut the column, separating one thou- sand eight hundred men, who were made prisoners. This was the second fortunate act in the day due in part to the cavalry, but it was not the last. Lecourbe placed himself on the Egge, waiting for the rest of his resources that was coming by the bridge of Dillingen, which had fallen into the hands of the French. Kray's cavalry hurried forward with all expedition, outstripped the infantry, and arranged itself in two grand lines in the plain at the rear of Lauingen. This was an excellent op- portunity for the French cavalry to take advantage of the spirit which had inspired them through the successes of the morning, and to measure them- selves in the plain, with the numerous and bril- liant squadrons of the Austrian army. Lecourbe, having occupied Lauingen with his infantry, united with Hautpoul's all the cavalry of his divisions, and formed it on the plain, offering to the enemy that kind of challenge which was likely to tempt him on account of the numbers and quality of his horse. The first of the Austrian lines charged the French at full speed with the steadiness and order natural to a well-trained cavalry. It drove back the 2d regiment of carabiniers, which had con- ducted itself so well in the morning, and the squa- drons of hussars which had charged along with it. The French cuirassiers then advanced, rallied the hussars and carabiniers, who faced about on seeing they were supported; and the whole united dashed forward upon the Austrian squadrons, which they in turn drove back. On seeing this, the second line of the enemy's cavalry advanced, and having the advantage of the impulse over the French, whom the former charge had separated, obliged them to fall back with precipitation. The 9th was in re- serve, and, manoeuvring with skill and steadiness, attacked the Austrian flank by surprise, threw it into confusion, and secured to the victorious French squadrons the plains of Hochstedt. The losses in killed, wounded, and prisoners, could not be great, since it is only the encounters of cavalry with infantry that are serious in this re- spect. But the plain remained in possession of the French, whose cavalry now claimed a real advan- tage over that of the Austrians, which it never before exhibited. Each French military arm had a decided superiority over that of the enemy. It was eight o'clock, and in the long days of June, there was still time for the imperialists to dispute the left bank of the Danube, so gloriously con- quered in the morning. Eight thousand infantry advanced to the assistance of the corps already beaten, followed by a numerous artillery. Moreau arrived at the head of the reserve. A new and more obstinate contest then commenced. The French infantry in turn attacked the Austrian under a fire of round and grape shot. The soldiers of Kray, who fought for a great stake the preser- 1SOO. July. Kray quits XTlm, and marches rapidly to Nordlingen. Moreau pursues him in vain ; recrosses the Danube MARENGO. and enters Munich. Encounter at Neuburg. Death of Latour d'Auvergne. 117 vatlon of Ulm, displayed great energy. Moreau found himself several times engaged in person in the midst of the fray; and his infantry, supported by the cavalry, which returned to the charge, re- mained victorious at eleven o'clock at night. At the same moment the 37th demi-brigade entered into Gundelfingen, from which time all the positions on the plain were in the power of the French. They had crossed the Danube, taken five thousand pri- soners, twenty pieces of cannon, twelve hundred horses, three hundred carriages, and considerable magazines at Donauwerth. The fighting had lasted for eighteen hours successively. This affair, which changed the unfortunate recollection of Hochstedt into one equally glorious, was, after Marengo, the finest operation of the campaign, and was alike honourable to Lecourbe and Moreau. The last had slowly acquired hardihood : stimulated by the examples which Italy afforded, he had entered upon more enlarged views, and had culled a laurel of that tree from which the first consul had ga- thered such evergreen wreaths, a rivalry noble and happy, had it never extended further. After a manoeuvre so hardy and decisive on the part of his adversary, Kray could not much longer remain in Ulm, without being cut off from his com- munications with Vienna. To march up directly to the French, and offer them battle, would be too hazardous a measure, with forces in whom the courage had been so damped by the late combat. He hurried himself for the purpose of decamping the same night. He sent off in advance his park, con- sisting of several thousand carriages, and the next morning followed it with the main body of his army on the route to Nordlingen. He marched in fright- ful weather over roads that the rain had entirely torn up. Nevertheless, the rapidity of his i-etreat was such, that in twenty-four hours he arrived at Neresheim. In order to support his dispirited troops, he gave out that a suspension of arms had been signed in Italy, and that it would be extended into Germany ; peace not failing to succeed. This news diffused joy among his soldiers, and gave them some energy. They arrived at Nordlingen. Moreau was apprised too late of the departure of the enemy. Richepanse had not perceived the evacuation of Ulm until the last detachments were retiring. He immediately made known the circum- stance to his commander-in-chief. But during the interval the Austrians had gained the advance; and the bad weather, which had existed for two days, did not permit him to overtake them, even by a forced march. Still Moreau arrived at Nordlingen on the 23d of June, in the evening, and pressed upon the rear-guard of Kray, who continued to retire. Seeing, that from the bad state of the roads, he could not gain upon the Austrian army so as to overtake it, and that he might not be drawn on into a fruitless pursuit for an unseen distance, Moreau determined to halt, and choose a position adapted to the present state of things. Kray, con- cealing the good news of the battle of Marengo, which was not then known to the French army, sent to announce the suspension of arms, concluded in Italy, and proposed a like stipulation for Ger- many. Moreau, suspecting from this that some great events had occurred on the other side of the Alps, did not doubt their being propitious, and ex- pecting every instant a courier, who would put him in possession of the information, he would con- clude nothing before he learned the particulars, and, above all, before he had secured better can- tonments for his army. He therefore took the re- solution of re-passing the Danube, confiding to Richepanse the investment of the two principal places on that river, Ulm and Ingoldstadt, and pro- ceeding with the main body of his army to the other side of the Lech, in order to occupy Augs- burg and Munich, and to secure a part of Bavaria for provisions; in fine, to conquer all the bridges of the Isar, and acquire all the roads leading to the Inn. Moreau accordingly repassed the Danube and the Lech, by Donauwerth and Rhain, moving his different corps by Pottmess and Pfaffenhofen, as far as the banks of the Isar. On that river he occu- pied the points of Landshut, Moosburg, Freisingen, and detached Decaen upon Munich, which he en- tered, as if in triumph, on the 28th of June. Whilst he executed this movement, the armies encountered each other for the last time, and fought a battle without an object. This took place at Neuburg, on the right bank of the Danube, while both were marching on the Isar. A French division having separated itself at too great a distance from the rest of the army, had to maintain a long and obsti- nate contest, in which it was at last successful, after sustaining a severe loss in that of the brave Latour d'Auvergne. This illustrious soldier, honoured by Bonaparte with the name of the first grenadier of France, was killed by the thrust of a lance through his heart. The army shed tears upon his tomb, and did not quit the field of battle until they had raised a monument over his re- mains. On the 3d of July, or 1 4th Messidor, Moreau was in the midst of Bavaria, blocking Ulm and Ingold- stadt, on the Danube, and occupying on the Isar, Landshut, Moosburg, Freisingen, and Munich. It was now time to think of the Tyrol, and to take from the prince de Reuss the strong positions of which he was master along the mountains, at the sources of the Iller, the Lech, and the Isar positions through which he was always able to annoy the French. He was not very dangerous to encounter, but his presence obliged the French to make considerable detachments, and he became the subject of con- tinual occupation for the right wing. To this end, general Molitor was reinforced, and put in posses- sion of the means for attacking the Grisons and the Tyrol. The positions of Fussen, Reitti, Immen- stadt, and Feldkirch, were taken in succession, in a prompt and brilliant manner; and our establish- ments on the Isar were thus perfectly consolidated. Kray had repassed the Isar, and placed himself behind the Inn, occupying, in advance of the river, the camp of Ampfing, and the bridge heads of Wasserburg and of Miihldorf. It was the middle of July, or end of Messidor. The French govern- ment had left to general Moreau the liberty of acting as he pleased, and to lay by his arms when he thought it convenient. He imagined, with some reason, that it was not right he alone should remain fighting. The rest which the soldiers of the army of Italy enjoyed, was envied by the soldiers of Germany ; further, the army of the Rhine, between the Isar and the Inn, had a much more advanced position than the army of Italy, Armistice concluded be- 1 18 tween Moreau and the Austrians Grand fSte at Paris. THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. Arrival of count St. Ju- lien to treat of peace. 1800. July. and had thus one of its flanks uncovered. Al- though an article in the treaty of Alexandria inter- dicted both Austrians and French from sending detachments into Germany, it was possible that this stipulation might not be scrupulously kept, and that the army of the Rhine might soon expect an increase of enemies upon its hands. Moreau, who had received several propositions from mar- shal Kray, determined at last to listen to them; and on the 15th of July, or 26th Messidor, he con- sented to sign at Parsdorf, a place in advance of Munich, a suspension of arms nearly conformable to that of Italy. Both armies were to retire, each behind a line of demarcation, which, parting from Balzers in the Grisons, passed along the Tyrol, ran between the Isar and the Inn at an equal distance from both rivers, and fell to Wilshofen on the Danube, as- cending that river as far as the mouth of the Alt- Miihl,and following the Alt-Muhl,the Rednitz,and the Mayn, as far as Mayence : the fortresses of Plrilipsburg, Ulm, and Ingoldstadt, remaining blockaded ; but every fifteen days they might re- ceive a quantity of provisions in proportion to the strength of their garrisons. The two armies had to give twelve days' notice before the commence- ment of hostilities. The French army had Franconia from which to draw its provisions, as well as Swabia, and a large part of Bavaria. The French troops posted upon the Mincio on one side of the Alps, and on the other upon the Isar, were now about to receive, for their toils and privations, a compensation from the rich plains of Italy and Germany. These brave men had merited it by the greatest exploits that had yet signalized the arms of France. The army of the Rhine, although it had not cast so bright a lustre as the army of Italy, had still distinguished itself by a campaign conducted with as much sagacity as energy. The last great event of the campaign, the passage of the Danube at Hochstedt, might take a place by the side of the finest feats of arms in the military history of France. Public opinion, which in 1799 had not been favourable to Moreau, had, in 1800, become almost partial in his behalf. After the name of Bonaparte it is true at a great distance, but such a distance as that the distinction was flattering was heard without cessation the name of Moreau ; and as public opinion is fluctuating, this year he had completely occupied the place of the conqueror of Zurich, by whom the preceding year he had been eclipsed. The news of the brilliant success of the army of the Rhine completed the public satisfaction pro- duced by the extraordinary success of the army of Italy, and changed into certainty the hopes of peace with which every mind was filled. There was general joy. The public funds, the five per cents., which sold at thirteen francs before the 18th Brumaire, mounted to forty. A decree of the consuls announced to the fundholders, that in the first half year of the year ix. the dividends falling due on the 22nd of September, 1800, would be wholly paid in specie. Agreeable tidings, such as had not for a long while been imparted to the unfortu- nate state creditors. All these benefits were at- tributed to the armies, to the generals who had led them to victory, but principally to young- Bonaparte, who knew well how at the same time to govern and to fight in a superior manner. Therefore the fete of the 14th of July, one of the two republican solemnities preserved by the con- stitution, was celebrated in the most pplendid man- ner. A very magnificent ceremony was prepared at the Invalides. The musical composer, Mehul, prepared some fine pieces ; and the first Italian singers of Italy, that about this period became de- prived of its master- pieces and its artists, were brought to Paris to execute them. After hearing the performances under the dome of the Invalides, the first consul, accompanied by a numerous staff, went to the Champ de Mars to review the con- sular guard. It had arrived that same morning, covered with dust, its clothes hi tatters, not having stopped on the march from the day after the battle of Marengo, in order to be punctual at the meeting appointed with the first consul for the 14th of July. The consular guard brought the colours taken in the late campaign, to be placed in the general depository of the French military trophies. The crowd, which lined both sides of the Champ de Mars, rushed forward to obtain a nearer view of the heroes of Marengo. The intoxication of the public joy was carried to such an extent as well nigh to produce accidents. The first consul was a long while pressed up in the crowd. He entered the Tuileries surrounded by the multitude that pressed upon his steps. The entire day was de- voted to public rejoicing. Some days afterwards, upon the 2lst of July, or 2nd Thennidor, the arrival of count St. Julien in Paris was announced, an officer in the confidence of the emperor of Germany, charged to carry to Paris the ratification of the convention of Alex- andria, and to confer with the first consul upon the conditions of the appi-oaching peace. No doubt was then entertained of the conclusion of the paci- fication so much desired, which should put an end to the second coalition. France, it may be said, had never before seen such delightful days. 1799. Aug. Bonaparte leaves Egypt for France. HELIOPOLIS. Deep grief of the army, -which desires to return home. 119 BOOK V. HELIOPOLIS. STATE OP EGYPT AFTER THE DEPARTURE OZ BOVAPARTE. DEEP GRIEF OF THE ARMY, AND DESIRE TO RETURN TO FRANCE. KLSBER INCREASES, IN PLACE OF REPRESSING, THE FEELING.* HIS REPORT ON THE STATE OF THE COLONY. THE REPORT DESIGNED FOR THE DIRECTORY IS RECEIVED BY THE FIRST CONSUL. FALSEHOODS IT CONTAINED. GREAT RESOURCES OF THE COLONY, AND FACILITY OF ITS PRESERVATION TO FRANCE. KLEBEK DRAWN ON BY THE FEELINGS HE HAD ENCOURAGED, IS BROUGHT TO TREAT WITH THE TURKS AND ENGLISH. CULPABLE CONVENTION" OF EL-AKISCH, STIPULATING FOR THE EVACUATION OF EGYPT. REFUSAL OF THE ENG- LISH TO EXECUTE THE CONVENTION, THEY CALCULATING THAT THE FRENCH MUST LAY DOWN THEIR ARMS. NOBLE INDIGNATION OF KLEBER RUPTURE OF THE ARMISTICF. AND BATTLE OF HELIOPOLIS. DISPERSION OF THE TURKS. KLEBER PURSUES THEM TO THE FRONTIERS OF SYRIA. TAKES THE CAMP OF THE VIZIER. RE- PARTITION OP THE ARMY IN LOWER EGYPT. RETURN OF KLEBER TO CAIRO, IN ORDER TO REDUCE THE CITY, BROKEN OUT INTO INSURRECTION DURING HIS ABSENCE. HAPPY TEMPORIZING OF KLEBER. HAVING COLLECTED HIS MEANS, HE ATTACKS AND RETAKES THE CITY. GENERAL SUBMISSION. ALLIANCE WITH MURAD BEY. KLEBER, WHO THOUGHT IT IMPOSSIBLE TO KEEP EGYPT WHEN SUBDUED, RECONQUERS IT IX THIRTY-FIVE DAYS FROM THE TURKISH FORCES AND THE REVOLTED EGYPTIANS. HIS FAULTS ALL GLORIOUSLY EFFACED. EMO- TION OF THE MUSSULMAN PEOPLE IN LEARNING THAT EGYPT REMAINS IN THE HANDS OF THE INFIDELS. A FANATIC TRAVELS FROM PALESTINE TO CAIRO, TO ASSASSINATE KLEBER. UNFORTUNATE DEATH OP THE LATTER, AND ITS CONSEQUENCES FOR THE COLONY. PRESENT TRANQUILLITY. KLEBER AND DESAIX BOTH KILLED ON THE SAME DAY. CHARACTERS AND LIVES OF THOSE TWO CELEBRATED WARRIORS. IN August, 1799, Bonaparte, upon receiving in- telligence from Europe, decided that he would quit Egypt suddenly, and ordered Admiral Gan- teaume to send to sea from the port of Alexandria the Muiron and the Carere frigates, the only ships which remained after the destruction of the flotilla, and to bring them to an anchor in the little road of Marabout. It was there that he intended to em- bark, about two leagues west from Alexandria. He took with him the generals Berthier, Lannes, Murat, Andre'ossy, Marmout, and two learned men of whom he was most fond, Monge and Berthollet. On the 22nd of August, or 5th Fructidor, year vn., he went to Marabout, and embarked precipitately, continually in fear that the English squadron would appear. The horses that had served to bring his party to the spot were left upon the shore, and went off full gallop towards Alexandria. The sight of the horses ready saddled, and de- prived of their riders, occasioned considerable nlarm. It was believed that some accident had happened to the officers of the garrison, and a body of cavalry was detached in pursuit. Soon after- wards a Turkish groom, who had assisted at the embarkation, explained all as it had really oc- curred ; and Menou, who was alone acquainted with the secret from the beginning, announced in Alex- andria the departure of Bonaparte, and the appoint- ment which he had made of Kle"ber as his successor. Kltfber had an appointment with Bonaparte at Ro- setta for the 23rd of August ; but Bonaparte, nnxions to embark, had gone without attending to it. Besides, in imposing upon Klber the heavy burthen of the command, he was spared the trouble of either objection or refusal, by leaving him the absolute order. This intelligence caused a sorrowful surprise to the army. At first nobody credited it : general Dugua, commanding at Rosetta, made a contra- diction of the statement, not believing it himself, and fearing for the bad effect it might produce. All doubt upon the subject soon became impossible, and Kle"ber was officially proclaimed the successor of general Bonaparte. Officers and soldiers were in a state of consternation. The ascendency exer- cised by the conqueror of Italy over the soldiery was required for the purpose of drawing them after him into distant and unknown lands ; it would soon require that ascendency to retain them in due subordination. The regard for home is a passion which becomes violent when the distance and strangeness of the place, and fears of the impos- sibility of return, increase the irritation of the feeling. Often, in Egypt, this passion caused mur- murings, and sometimes suicides. But the presence of the general-in-chief. his address, and his incessant activity, expelled all gloomy feelings. Always knowing how to occupy himself and to occupy others, he captivated to the highest pitch, and dis- sipated around him those irksome sensations, or prevented their having birth, to which lie himself was utterly foreign. The troops often said, that they should never return to France, that they should never more recross the Mediterranean, now more than ever since the fleet of Aboukir was destroyed ; but general Bonaparte was there, and with him they would go any where, and find a way home again, or make a new country for themselves. Bonaparte being gone, the face of every thing was changed. Thus the news came upon them like a thunderbolt. The worst epithets were made descrip- tive of his act of departure. They did not consider that irresistible impulse of patriotism and ambition which, at the news of the disasters of the republic, had induced him to return to France. They saw nothing but the abandonment of tho unfortunate army which had so much confidence in his genius as to induce it to follow him. They said to them- selves, that he himself must be convinced of the hopelessness of the enterprise, of the impossibility of making it succeed, since he had eloped and given up to others that which lie himself con- State of feeling in the army of Kleber*s popularity. He , , QQ 120 Euypt. The discontent of TRIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE, assumes the command ; ' Kleber affects the army. reports to the directory. Aug. sidered to be altogether impracticable. But thus to start off alone, leaving beyond the sea those whom he had thus compromised, it was a cruelty, even a cowardice, according to certain slanderers ; for he always had some, that were even very near his person, throughout the most brilliant epochs of his career. Kle"ber was not attached to Bonaparte, and bore his ascendency with a species of impatience. If he restrained this feeling in his presence, he showed it elsewhere by improper remarks. Fanciful, and given to grumble, Kle"ber had greatly desired to take a part in the expedition to Egypt, in order to get himself out of that state of disfavour in which he was suffered to live under the directory, and now he was regretting his having quitted the banks of the Rhine for those of the Nile. With a feeble- ness unworthy of his character, he permitted his feelings to display themselves ; and this man, so great in danger, gave way to them as much as the lowest of his soldiers could have done. The com- niandership-in-chief did not balance in him the necessity of living in Egypt, because he was not fond of command. Pushing on the discontent against Bonaparte, he committed the fault, that might be called criminal, if heroic acts had not repaired them, of himself contributing to produce a dissatisfaction in the army which very soon be- came general. Following his example, every body began to declare that they would not stay any longer in Egypt, and that it was necessary at any cost to return to France. Other sentiments min- gled with this passion for returning, calculated to subvert the spirit of the army, and give occasion to the most mischievous resolutions. An old spirit of rivalry then and for a good while before had divided the officers who once belonged to the armies of Italy and of the Rhine. They were jealous of each other, one party pretending against the other, that it carried on warlike operations in a superior manner ; and although this rival feel- ing was repressed during the presence of Bona- parte, it was in reality the principal cause of the difference of their opinions. All those who came from the army on the Rhine, had little attachment for the Egyptian expedition; while the officers who had composed part of the army of Italy, though feeling melancholy at being so far from France, were in favour of the expedition, because it was the work of their commande'r-in-chief. After his de- parture all restraint disappeared. They tumul- tuously ranged around Kle'ber, and repeated loudly with him, what began to take hold of every body's mind, that the conquest of Egypt was an insensate expedition, whicli should be abandoned at the ear- liest possible moment. Nevertheless, there were some of an opposite way of thinking; several gene- rals, such as Lanusse, Menou, Davout, Desaix, more particularly, manifested different sentiments. Hence there were two parties, one called the colo- nist, the other the anti-colonist. Unhappily Desaix was absent. He had accomplished the conquest of Upper Egypt, where he had fought several brilliant actions, and governed with great ability. His in- fluence could not, therefore, be opposed at that moment to Kle"ber's. To complete the misfortune, he was not to remain in Egypt : Bonaparte, wishing to have him near his person, had committed the error of not nominating him commander-in-chief, but left an order for him to return to Europe as soon as possible. Desaix, whose name was univer- sally cherished and respected in the army, and whose talents for government equalled his mili- tary ability, would have administered the govern- ment well, and would have avoided all those weak- nesses to which Kleber delivered himself over, at least for the moment. Still Kle'ber was the most popular general among the soldiery. His name was hailed by them with the utmost confidence, and it consoled them in some degree for the loss of the great general who had quitted them. The first impression once passed, their minds, though they had not perfectly recovered their usual equilibrium, were become more calm and sensitive to justice. A different kind of conversation was held: they said, that, after all, Bonaparte was obliged to fly to the aid of France when in danger; and that besides, the army once established in Egypt, the best thing he could do for it was to go to Paris, in order to explain there its situation and necessities, and to demand the succours which he alone would be able to extort from the negligence of the government. Kle'ber returned to Cairo, took the command with a species of ostentation, and placed his quar- ters in the Ezbekyeh, in the fine Arab house which had been inhabited by his predecessor. He dis- played a degree of pomp, less to satisfy his own taste, than to present an imposing appearance be- fore the orientals, and determined to make his authority felt by exercising it with vigour. But it was not a long while before the cares of the com- mandership-in-chief became unbearable to him: the new dangers with which the Turks and English threatened Egypt, and the grief of exile, which was general, filled his heart with the most gloomy dis- couragements. After having received a report of the state of the colony, made at his order, he ad- dressed to the directory at home a despatch full of errors, and with it sent a report of the administra- tor of the finances, Poussielgue, in which things were represented under a false aspect, and more particularly accusatory of Bonaparte himself. In this despatch and the report, dated the 26th of September, or 4th Vende"miaire, year vin., general Kleber and the commissary, Poussielgue, said that the army, already diminished one-half, found itself at that moment reduced to about 15,000 men; that it was nearly naked, which in that climate was ex- tremely dangerous, on account of the difference of the temperature between the day and night ; that they were in want of cannon, muskets, projectiles, and powder, all which things it was difficult to replace there, because iron for casting, lead, and timber for building, and materials for making powder, were not to be obtained in Egypt : then there was a large deficiency in the finances, as the sum of 4,000,000f. was due to the soldiers for pay, and 7,000,000 or 8,000,000f. to contractors, for various services ; that the resources for establish- ing contributions were already exhausted, the country being ready to revolt if new ones were laid on ; that the inundation not being great that year, and the crops likely to be deficient, the means and the will to pay the impost were equally unavailable with the Egyptians; that dangers of every kind threatened the colony; that the two old chiefs of the Mamelukes, Murad-Bey and Ibrahim-Bey, main- 1799. Aug. Errors in Kleber's despatches. Bona- parte censured in them. They fall into the hands of the English. HELIOPOLIS. Kleber's misstatements rectified. Salubrity and fertility of Egypt. 121 tained their ground, one in Upper, the other Lower Egypt. That thecelebrated pacha of Egypt, Djezzar, was about sending to the Turkish army a reinforce- ment of 30,000 excellent soldiers, the former de- fenders of St. Jean d'Acre against the French; that the grand vizier himself had left Constantinople, and had already arrived in the neighbourhood of Damascus with a powerful army ; that the Rus- sians and the English had united a regular force with the irregular Turkish soldiers ; that in this extremity there remained but one resource, which was to treat with the Porte ; that Bonaparte, in having given the example and express authority in the instructions left for his successor, an attempt was about to be made to stipulate with the grand vizier, for a sort of mixed government, by which the Porte should occupy the open part of Egypt, and levy the iniri, or land-tax, while the French should occupy the towns and forts, and receive the revenue of the customs. Kle"ber added, that the general-in-chief had seen the crisis approaching, and that it was the real cause of his precipitate de- parture. Poussielgue finished his report by a gross calumny, saying that Bonaparte, in quitting Egypt, had taken with him 2,000,000 f. It must be added, that Bonaparte had heaped benefits upon the head of Poussielgue. Such were the dispatches sent to the directory by Kldber and Poussielgue. Bonaparte was treated in them as an individual supposed to be lost, and to whom no regard need be had. He was believed to be exposed to the double danger of capture by the English, and of condemnation by the directory, for having quitted his army. What would have been the embarrassment of those who wrote these communications, if they had known that they were to be opened and read by him who was the object of their calumny, become in the interim the absolute head of the government ? Kle"ber, too careless to assure himself of the true state of things, did not think of examining whether the statements thus sent were in accordance with his own assertions. Kle"ber did not imagine he was stating what was untrue ; he transmitted, through negligence or ill-humour, the sayings that excited feelings had multiplied around him, so far as to establish for them a species of public notoriety. These despatches were confided to a cousin of the director Barras, and were accompanied by a multi- tude of letters, in which the officers of the army expressed their despair to a degree equally im- prudent and unjust. This cousin of Barras was taken by the English. He threw overboard the despatches, of which he was bearer, in a great hurry; but the packet swam, was seen, recovered, and sent to the British cabinet. The effect of these mischievous communications will be soon seen ; the despatches, in the hands of the English, were soon published all over Europe. At the same time Kle"ber and Poussielgue had sent their despatches to Paris in duplicate. The last arrived safe, and was handed over to the first consul. What truth was there in these pictures drawn by diseased fancies 1 This may soon be judged in a certain manner, by the events themselves ; but in the interim it is proper to rectify the false assertions which have been just stated. The army, according to Kle"ber, was reduced to fifteen thousand men, yet the returns to the di- rectory made them twenty-eight thousand five hundred. When two years afterwards it was brought back to France there were still twenty- two thousand soldiers in its ranks, and it had fought several great battles and innumerable actions. In 1798 there left France thirty-four thousand men ; four thousand remained at Malta, thirty thousand therefore arrived at Alexandria. At a later period three thousand seamen, the rem- nant of those of the fleet destroyed at Aboukir, reinforced the army, which raised the number to thirty-three thousand. It had lost four or five thousand soldiers from 1798 to 1799 ; it was then reduced in 1800 to twenty-eight thousand men at least, of whom twenty-two thousand were fighting men. Egypt is a healthy country, where wounds heal with wonderful rapidity ; there were this year very few sick, and there was no plague. Egypt was full of Christians, Greeks, Syrians, and Copts, soliciting to enter into the French service, and it might have furnished excellent recruits to the number of fifteen or twenty thousand. The blacks of Darfour, bought and made free, supplied five hundred good soldiers to one of the demi-brigades. Moreover, Egypt had submitted. The peasants who cultivated the land, habituated to obedience under every master, never dreamed of taking up arms. Except some tumults in the towns, there were none to fear save the undisciplined Turks coming from a distance, or English mercenaries brought by sea with great trouble. Against such enemies the French army was more than sufficient, if it was commanded not with genius, but merely with common judgment. KleTjer said, in his despatches, that the soldiers were nearly naked ; but Bonaparte had left cloth for clothing them, and a month after the despatches were sent off the men were actually clothed anew. In any case Egypt abounded in cotton, which it produced for all Africa. It could not be difficult to procure them the stuffs by purchase, as they might have been levied in part of the imposts. As to provisions, Egypt is the granary of the coun- tries that produce no corn. Grain, rice, beef, mutton, fowls, sugar, and coffee, were at a price there ten times less than in Europe. The markets were so low, that the army, although its finances were not over rich, was able to pay for every thing which it consumed ; in other words, it conducted itself in Africa much better than Christian armies conduct themselves in Europe, because there, it is well-known, they live on the conquered country, and pay nothing. Kle"ber said that he wanted arms : there remained in his stores eleven thou- sand sabres, fifteen thousand muskets, fourteen or fifteen hundred cannon, of which one hundred and eighty were field pieces. Alexandria, that he said had been stripped of its artillery for the siege of St. Jean d'Acre, had more than three hundred pieces of cannon in battery. Then as to ammu- nition, there remained three millions of musket car- tridges, twenty-seven thousand cannon cartridges, filled, and resources for making more, as there were still in the magazines two hundred thousand projectiles and eleven hundred thousand pounds of gunpowder. Subsequent events demonstrated the truth of these allegations, for the army continued Kleber's misstatements con- Culpability of the heads of ._ 122 cerning the finances rec- TRIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. the army. Bonaparte's "* tified. instructions. to fight for two years longer, and left to the English considerable stores. What, in fact, could have become in so short a time of the immense materiel, so carefully accumulated by Bonaparte on board the fleet which transported the army to Egypt 1 Then in respect to the finances, the report of Kldber was equally untrue. The soldiers were paid up to the day. It is true, that nothing had yet been done in fixing the system of finance best adapted for provisioning the army without press- ing upon the country ; but the resources were in existence, and in maintaining only the imposts already established it was easy for the troops to live in abundance. There was money from the im- posts of the year enough to pay all the current ex- penses, or more than 1 6,000,000 f. There was conse- quently no necessity for driving the population to revolt, by the establishment of fresh contributions. The accounts of the finances, made at a late period, prove that Egypt, well managed, could supply 25,000,000 f. per annum of revenue. At this rate she would not pay the half of what was taken, with a thousand vexations, by the numerous tyrants who oppressed the country, under the name of Mamelukes. At the price of things in Egypt, the army might live very well upon 18,000,000 f. or 20,000,000 f. As to the chests, so far was Bona- parte from having diminished them, that he had scarcely touched them, and at his departure had not even drawn the whole of hie own pay. In regard to the dangers with which the colony was threatened, this is the truth : Murad Bey, discouraged, was a fugitive in Upper Egypt, with a few Mamelukes. Ibrahim Bey, who under the government of the Mamelukes, partook the sove- reignty with Murad, was in Lower Egypt, towards the frontiers of Syria, with less than four hundred horse in place of some thousands. Djezzar Pacha was shut up in St. Jean d'Acre. So far -was he from succouring the army of the vizier with thirty thousand men, that, on the contrary, he saw with displeasure the approach of this new Turkish army, now more than ever that his pachalic was freed from the French. As to the grand vizier, he had not yet passed the Taurus. The English had their troops at Mahon, and were at the mo- ment thinking of employing them in Tuscany, Naples, or on the coast of France. In regard to a Russian expedition, that was a pure fable. The Russians had not yet thought of taking so long a voyage for the purpose of supporting the policy of England in the east. The inhabitants were not, as was said, inclined to revolt. By managing the sheiks as Bonaparte had prescribed, the sheiks, who are the priests and lawyers of the Arabs, their good-will might soon be gained. We had commenced already to have a strong party among them. We had with us, besides, the Copts, the Greeks, and the Syrians, who being all Christians, behaved in regard to the French as friends and useful auxiliaries. Thus there was nothing imminent from this quarter to fear. It is not to be doubted that if the French had met with reverses, the Egyptians would do as the Italians themselves had done, with the fickle- ness of a conquered people. They would join the victors of to-day against the victors of yesterday. Still they felt the difference of the government that pressed upon them, robbed them, and was never without the sabre in its hand, and the French who respected their property, and very rarely struck off their heads. Kle"ber had given way to these dangerous ex- aggerations, the melancholy result of hatred, ennui, and exile. By his side general Menou, observing every thing under the most favourable colours, believed the French in Europe to be invincible, and regarded the expedition as the first appear- ance of a considerable revolution in the commerce of the world. Men are unable to divest themselves sufficiently of their personal impressions in these kind of appreciations. Kle"ber and Menou were upright men, both honest ; but one wanted to go away, the other to remain in Egypt. The clearest and most authentic statements signified opposite things in their views ; misery and ruin for one, abundance and success for the other. Whatever might be the situation of the country, Kle"ber and his party rendered themselves seriously culpable in thinking of an evacuation ; because they had no right to do so. It is true that Bona- parte, hi his instructions, full of sagacity, examin- ing every possible case, had provided for that which might occur if the army should be obliged to evacuate Egypt. " I go," said he, " to France, either as a private or a public man ; I will get succours sent to you. But if in the approaching spring," (he wrote in 1?99,) " you have received neither succours nor instructions ; if the plague should carry off above fifteen hundred men in- dependently of losses by war ; if a considerable force, which you will not be capable of resist- ing, should press you vigorously, negotiate with the vizier ; even consent, if it must be so, to the evacuation, under one condition, that of re- course to the French government ; and in the meantime continue the occupation. You will thus gain time; and it is not possible but that, in the in- terval, you will be succoured." These instructions were wise; but the case provided for was far from being realized. In the first place it was necessary to wait for the spring of 1800 ; it was necessary at that time for no succours, no orders to reach Egypt ; it was necessary to have lost by the plague a part of the effective strength ; and lastly, to have been pressed by superior forces : but no- thing of the kind had occurred nor did occur. An open negotiation without these conditions was an act of real offence. In September, 1799, Vende'miaire, year TIL, Desaix, having completed the conquest and secured the submission of Upper Egypt, had left two move- able columns in pursuit of Murad Bey, to whom he had offered peace, on condition of his becoming the vassal of France. He had come back to Cairo by order of Kle"ber, who wished to have his name in the unfortunate negotiations into which he was about to enter. While these proceedings were going forward the army of the vizier, so long an- nounced, was slowly advancing. Sir Sidney Smith, who convoyed with his vessels the Turkish troops destined to proceed by sea, had arrived at Da- mietta with eight thousand janissaries. On the 1st of November, or 10th Brumaire, year VIIL, the first disembarkation of four thousand janissaries took place, towards the Bogaz of Damietta, that is, at the entrance of the branch of the Nile which passes before that city. General Verdier, who had but Aug. A Turkish reinforcement routed at Damietta. Sir Sidney Smith's exertions to induce IIELIOPOLIS. the French to evacuate Egypt. Overtures made by Kleber. 123 one thousand men at Damietta, went out with that number, and proceeded above the fort of Lesbeh, on a narrow tongue of land, on the shore of which the Turks had disembarked ; and before the four thousand janissaries on the way could arrive, he attacked the four thousand that had already landed. In spite of the fire of the English artillery* placed advantageously on an old tower, he beat them, and killed or drowned more than three thousand, making the rest prisoners. The gun-boats, seeing the whole scene, returned to their vessels, and landed no more of the troops. The French had only twenty- two killed, and one hundred wounded. At the news of this disembarkation Kle'ber sent Desaix with a column of three thousand men ; but these, on arriving at Damietta, found the victory gained, and the French full of boundless confidence. This brilliant feat of arms ought to have encou- raged Kleber ; unluckily, he was ruled at the time by his own chagrin and that of the army. He had led the minds, that led him in turn, to the fatal resolution of an immediate evacuation. Bonaparte was made the subject of new invectives. " This headstrong young man," said he, " who has exposed the French army to danger, and himself to other perils, in braving the seas and the English cruizers, to return to France, this rash young man has not escaped the dangers of the passage. The wise generals, educated in the school of the army of the Rhine, ought to give up this wild scheme, and take back to Europe brave soldiers indispensable to the republic, threatened on all quarters. In this disposition of mind Kleber sent one of his officers to the vizier, who had entered Syria, to make overtures of peace. Already Bonaparte, to embroil the vizier with the English, had had an idea of attempting to negotiate ; though on his own part it was no more than a feint. His overtures were received with a haughty defiance. Those of Kle'ber obtained a better reception, by the influence of Sir Sidney Smith, who prepared to play a pro- minent character in the affairs of Egypt. This English officer of the navy had greatly con- tributed to prevent the success of the siege of St. Jean d'Acre ; he was proud of what he had done, 11 nd conceived a ruse de yueiTt, according to the expression of the English agents. It consisted in profiting, by a moment of weakness, to snatch from the French this precious conquest. As all the in- tercepted letters of the French officers showed clearly enough their ardent desire to return to France, Sir Sidney Smith wished to induce the army to negotiate, by subscribing a capitulation ; and before the French government had time to give assent to or refuse the ratification, to embark it and throw it upon the coast of Europe. It was with this view that he disposed the grand vizier to listen to the overtures of Kleber. As to himself, he loaded the French officers with civilities ; he allowed the news from Europe to reach them, but took care only to give such intelligence as was an- terior to the 18th Brumaire l . Kle'ber, on his side, 1 [It would have been singular had Sir Sidney Smith com- municated to general Kleber what had not then occurred. The 18th of Brumaire was the 9th of November, 1799. K!el>cr'8 correspondence with Sir Sidney began, Kleber him- self.says, (see his letter to the directory dated 10th Pluvidse, or January 30th,) &ftw day* before the disembarkation of the sent a negotiator to Sir Sidney Smith, the English being masters of the sea, and he wishing to have them as parties to the negotiation, so that the return of the army to France might be rendered practicable. Sir Sidney listened willingly to this message, and showed himself disposed to enter into an arrangement, adding, besides, that in virtue of a treaty dated the 5th of January, 1799, of which he had been the negotiator, there existed a triple alliance between Russia, England, and the Porte ; that these powers were bound to make a common cause ; and that, in consequence, no arrangement executed with the Porte would be binding, if it was not made in concurrence with the agents of the three courts. Sir Sidney Smith took, in these com- munications, the title of " minister plenipotentiary from his Britannic majesty to the Ottoman Porte, commanding his squadron in the waters of the Levant." Sir Sidney Smith here gave himself a title which he once had, but which he had ceased to hold after the arrival of lord Elgin as ambassador at Con- stantinople ; and in reality he had at the moment no other power than such as belongs always to a military commander that of signing military conventions, suspensions of arms, and similar docu- ments. Kle"bei-, without closer examination, without knowing whether he was treating with agents accredited sufficiently, engaged in a blind manner in this perilous affair, into which he was drawn by a feeling common to the whole army, and which ! would have terminated ignominiously if, happily j for him, Heaven had not endowed him with an heroic soul, which could not fail to recover him with glory, as soon as he became sensible of the { extent of his error. He entered into the nego- tiations, and offered Sir Sidney Smith as well as the vizier, who had advanced as far as Gaza in Syria, to nominate officers furnished with full powers to treat. Feeling repugnant to the admit- tance of Turks into his camp, and unwilling, on the other hand, to risk his officers in the midst of the undisciplined army of the grand vizier, he con- ceived the place best to choose for the conferences would be the Tigre, Sir Sidney Smith's vessel. Sir Sidney was cruising with only two vessels which, by the way, sufficiently proved the possi- bility of communicating between France and Egypt ; ' Sir Sidney had no more than one at that time; the ' other, the Theseus, being under repair at Cyprus. Rough weather frequently obliging him to stand ' off the coast, and his communications being neither prompt nor regular with the land, it took some time to receive his assent. At last his reply came ; it intimated that he would appear successively off Alexandria and Damietta, to receive onboard euch officers as Kle'ber might send. Kle'ber appointed Desaix and Poussielgue the janissaries at Damietta. The janissaries were disembarked and routed on the first of November. Sir Sidney could not then have known what occurred subsequently in Paris, therefore, on the 9th of that month. The negotiations went on in a more serious manner on the 22nd of December; at which date, even, it is probable Sir Sidney himself knew nothing of what must have gone from Paris to London, and would, in those days, have taken five or six weeks to reach Alexandria from London, at the usual estimate. Trant- lalor.] Desaix received by 124 Sir Sidney Smith. Kleber's unreasonable demands. Sir Sidney's TRIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE, answer. The grand vi- zier at El-Arisch. 1799. Aug. commissary, who had so heavily slandered Bona- parte, and whom the Egyptians, in their Arabic phraseology, had denominated " sultan Kle"ber's vi- zier." Poussielgue was the advocate of the evacua- tion, Desaix was opposed to it. The last had made the utmost exertion to resist the torrent, and elevate the spirits of his companions in arms; and he had only charged himself with the negotiation com- menced by Kle'ber, with the hope of protracting it, and gaining time for the arrival of orders and succours from France. Richer, in order to excuse himself in the sight of Desaix, told him that Bona- parte was the first who had commanded treating with the Turks; that besides he had provided him- self and authorized the advance of a treaty of evacuation in case of imminent danger. Desaix, ill-informed, hoped continually that the first vessel which arrived from France would clear up all obscurities, and perhaps change the deplorable state of the staff of the army. He parted with M. Poussielgue, and unable to join Sir Sidney Smith off Alexandria, found him before Damietta, and went on board the Tigre on the 22nd of De- cember, 1799j or 1st of Nivose, the year vni., the same moment that Bonaparte was invested with the supreme power in France. Sir Sidney Smith, who was delighted to have on board such a plenipotentiary as Desaix, treated him in the most flattering manner, and sought by every means of persuasion to bring him into the idea of evacuating Egypt. Desaix knew perfectly well how to defend him- self, and stuck to the conditions which his com- mander had instructed him to ask. These con- ditions, unacceptable to the English commander, were very convenient to Desaix, who wished to gain time ; they were too, on the part of Kle'ber, very ill calculated, because they were so extrava- gant as to render agreement impossible. Kle'ber sought in the extended nature of the demand itself sin excuse for his error. He demanded, for ex- ample, to be landed on any point of the continent he might choose, in order to afford the republic the aid of his army wherever it might be deemed of most service, retiring from Egypt with the honours of war, with arms and baggage. He demanded that the Porte should restore to France imme- diately the Venetian Islands, which by the treaty of Campo Formio had become subject to France ; that is Corfu, Zante, Cephalonia, and others, at that moment occupied by Turco-Russian garrisons; that these islands, and above all Malta, a much more important one, should be given up to France; that the possession of these should be guaranteed to her by the persons signing the treaty of evacuation; that the French army, on retiring, should have the right to reinforce and revictual the garrisons ; lastly, that the treaty which united Turkey, Austria, and England, should be instantly annulled, and the triple alliance of the East dissolved. These conditions were unreasonable it must be said ; not that they were an exaggerated equivalent for what was given up in giving up Egypt, but because they were impossible to execute. Sir Sidney made Kle'ber sensible of this, that officers, treating for a suspension of arms only, could not include objects of such a wide latitude in their negotiations. Zante, Cephalonia, and Corfu, were occupied by Turkish and Russian troops ; it was required, therefore, to communicate with St. Pe- tersburg as well as Constantinople. Malta was held under the king of Naples as lord paramount of the order ; it could not be disposed of without the consent of that prince, who had always refused to cede it to France. To place French troops on the island at that moment was, in a manner, suf- ficient of itself to settle the question. There were to be found the cruizers of all the allied powers, that would not retire upon an order of Sir Sidney Smith or of the grand vizier. England, besides, would never consent to any condition which placed Malta in the hands of France. To land the French army on a point of the continent, where it would be able to change the combinations of the war by its unexpected appearance, was a piece of hardihood that a single commodore commanding a naval station would not take upon himself to permit. In fine, to abolish the treaty of the triple alliance, was to demand that Sir Sidney Smith should abrogate, on board his own ship, a treaty ratified by three great powers, which was of great importance for the East. Supposing that all these stipulations should be accepted by all the courts whose consent would be required, it was necessary to send to Naples, London, St. Petersburg, and Constan- tinople ; this, then, could be no longer a military convention of evacuation, such as that signed at Marengo and executable at the instant. If it were referred to London, it must be referred to Paris, which Kle'ber had no desire should be done. All this, then, was evidently far beyond the limits of a military capitulation. Sir Sidney Smith had no difficulty in making the French negotiators feel the cogency of these reasons. But he was urgent to settle two objects immediately, the departure of the wounded and of the learned men attached to the expedition, for whom Desaix demanded a safe-conduct, and a sus- pension of arms; because the army of the grand vizier, although marching slowly, would soon find itself in presence of the French army. It had ar- rived, in fact, before the port of El Arisch, the first French port on the Syrian frontier, and had already summoned it to surrender. Kle'ber, made ac- quainted with this circumstance, had written to Desaix, and prescribed to him, as an indispensable condition of the conference, that the Turkish army should halt on the frontier. The first point, the departure of the wounded and the scientific men, rested with Sir Sidney- Smith. He at once assented to it with great cheer- fulness and much courtesy. As to the armistice, Sir Sidney said that he would demand it, but that the obtaining it did not depend upon himself; for the Turkish army was composed of barbarous and fanatical hordes, and it was extremely difficult to make a regular convention with it, and, above all, secure the execution. To remove this difficulty, he determined to proceed himself to the camp of the grand vizier, which was near Gaza. The ne- gotiation had been proceeding for a fortnight on board the Tigre, while floating at the mercy of the winds off the coasts of Syria and Egypt. The parties had said all they had to say, and the nego- tiation could no longer continue to be useful, unless it were carried on near the grand vizier himself. Sir Sidney Smith therefore proposed to repair to the vizier's camp, and to conclude a sus- 1799. Dec Army of Mussulman fanatics. The fort of El-Ariscii. HELIOPOLIS. Conduct of the garrison ther.i. The fort taken. Massacre of the French. 125 pension of arms, and prepare for the arrival of the French negotiators, if he thought that lie could procure for them respect and security. The pro- position was accepted. Sir Sidney, profiting by a favourable moment, got off in a boat, which landed him on the coast, not without incurring some dangers, ordering the commanding officer of the Tigre to meet him in the port of Jaffa, where Desaix and Poussielgue were to be landed, if the place of conference should be changed to the camp of the grand vizier. At the moment when the English commodore arrived at the grand vizier's camp, a horrible event had occurred at El-Arisch. The Turkish army, composed the smaller part of janissaries, and the larger of Asiatic militia, that the Mussul- man laws place at the disposition of the Porte, presenting a confused and undisciplined body, was very formidable to those who wore the European dress. It had been levied in the name of the prophet, the Turks being told that this was the last effort to be made for driving the infidels out of Egypt; that the formidable "sultan of fire" (Bonaparte) had gone away from them ; that they were enfeebled and discouraged ; that it only suf- ficed for them to show themselves and to conquer ; that all Egypt was ready to revolt against their domination. These, and other things, repeated every where, had brought seventy or eighty thou- sand Mussulman fanatics around the vizier. To the Turks were united the Mamelukes under Ibrahim Bey, that had for some time retired into Syria ; and Murad Bey, who, by a long circuit, had descended from the cataracts to the vicinity of Suez, all be- came auxiliaries to their former adversaries. The English had made for this army a sort of field artillery drawn by mules. The Bedouin Arabs, in the hope of soon pillaging the vanquished, no matter of which side, placed fifteen thousand camels at the disposal of the grand vizier, to aid him in crossing the desert which separates Palestine from Egypt. The Turkish commander-in-chief had in his half barbarous staff some English officers and many of those culpable emigrants who had taught Djezzar Pacha how to defend St. Jean D'Acre. It will now be seen of what those miserable refugees became the cause. The fort of El-Arisch, before which the Turks were at that moment, was, according to Bonaparte, one of the two keys of Egypt ; the other was Alex- andria. On the same authority an army coming by sea could not land in any great number except upon the beach near Alexandria. An army coming by land, and having to cross the desert of Syria, was obliged to pass by El-Arisch, in order to ob- tain water at the wells situated there. Bonaparte had in consequence ordered works of defence to be constructed about Alexandria, and that El-Arisch also should be put into a state of defence. A body of three hundred men, well provided with ammuni- tion and provisions, garrisoned the fort, and an able officer, named Cazals, commanded it. The Turkish advanced guard appearing before El-Arisch, it was summoned to surrender by colonel Douglas, an English officer in the Turkish service. A disguised French emigrant was the bearer of the summons to the commandant, Cazals. A parley took place, and the soldiers were told that the evacuation of Egypt would be immediate; that it was already an- nounced as resolved upon; that it would soon be inevitable; and that it would be cruel to wish they should defend themselves. The culpable sentiments which the officers had too much encouraged in the army, then broke out. The soldiers garrisoning El- Arisch, having the same desire to leave Egypt as the rest of their comrades, declared to the command- ant, that they would not fight, and that he must surrender the fort. The gallant Cazals called them together indignantly,addressed them in manly terms, told them that if there were cowards among them they had leave to quit the garrison and go over to the Turks, he giving them full license to do so; but that he would resist to the last with those French- men who continued to be faithful to their duty. This address recalled for a moment the feeling of honour into the hearts of the men. The summons was rejected, and the attack begun. The Turks were not able to carry a position even tolerably de- fended. The batteries of the fort silenced their artillery. Directed by English and emigrant offi- cers, notwithstanding this, they pushed their trenches to the salient angle of a bastion. The commandant ordered a sortie to be mada by some grenadiers, in order to drive the Turks from the first branch of the trench. Captain Ferray, who was ordered on the duty, was only followed by three grenadiers. Seeing himself abandoned, he returned towards the fort. Meanwhile the muti- neers had struck the colours, but a sergeant of grenadiers rehoisted them. A contest ensued. During this struggle, the scoundrels who insisted upon surrendering, threw ropes to the Turks, and these ferocious enemies, once hoisted up into the fort, fell sword in hand upon those who had ad- mitted them, and massacred the larger part. The rest, coming to their senses, united with the re- mainder of the garrison, and, in despair, defending themselves with the utmost courage, were the larger part cut to pieces. Some few in number ob- tained quarter, thanks to colonel Douglas, owing their lives entirely to the intervention of that officer. Thus fell the fort of El-Arisch. This was the first effect of the unhappy disposition of the mind of the army; the first fruit that the commanders ga- thered through their own errors. It was the 30th of December, or 9th Nivose : the letter, written by sir Sidney Smith to the grand vizier, to propose a suspension of arms, had not arrived in time to prevent the sad occurrence of El-Arisch. Sir Sidney Smith was a man of gene- rous sentiments, and this barbarous massacre of a French garrison was revolting to his feelings, and made him fear, in a more particular manner, the rupture of the negotiations. He sent in haste ex- planations of the affair to Kle"ber, as well in his own name as in that of the grand vizier ; and he added the formal assurance that all hostilities should cease during the negotiations. At the sight of these hordes, who resembled more an emigration of savages, than an army going to combat, actually fighting among them- selves over their provisions at night for the pos- session of a well, sir Sidney Smith felt alarmed for the security of the French plenipotentiaries. He insisted that the tents destined for their recep- tion should be situated in the same quarter as that of the grand vizier and reis effendi, who were both Sir Sidney Smith and the Conditions of theconven- 126 French plenipotentiaries TRIERS' CONSULATE AlS 7 D EMPIRE. tion. Errors of the visit the granC vizier. French commissioners. 1800. Jan. present with the army ; that a chosen body of troops should be placed around their tents ; he placed his own near them, and, lastly, provided a body of English seamen, to secure from violence both himself and the French officers committed to his honour. Having taken these precautions, he sent to Jaffa in search of Desaix and Poussielgue, in order to bring them to the place of conference. Kle"ber, when he heard of the massacre of El- Arisch, was not so indignant as he should have shown himself, being aware that if he were too warm about the affair, all negotiation might be broken off. He was more than ever urgent for a suspension of arms ; and by way of prevention, as well as to be nearer the place of conference, he transferred his head-quarters to Salahieh, on the frontier of the desert, within two marches of El- Arisch. In the meanwhile Desaix and Poussielgue, having the wind contrary, were not able to laud at Gaza until the llth. of January, or 21st of Nivose, nor to arrive at El- Arisen before the 13th. The conferences began upon their arrival ; and Desaix nearly broke off the negotiation by his indignation. The Turks, barbarous and ignorant, put their own construction upon the conduct of the French; and from then? disposition to treat, imagined they were afraid to fight, in place of desiring so immediately to return to France. They i-equired, therefore, that the French army should surrender and become prisoners of war. Desaix was for terminating at that moment every kind of parley ; but sir Sidney interposing, brought back both parties to more honourable terms, if there could be such for a convention of this character. It was no longer possible to put forward the first propositions of Kldber. Of this he had been in- formed by letters written from on board the Tigre, and he had ceased to speak of the Venetian islands, of Malta, and of the revictualling of those places. Still, to colour his negotiation, he held fast to the retirement of the Porte from the triple alliance. This point might in strictness have been negotiated at El-Arisch, because the reis effendi and the grand vizier were there ; but it could hardly be required of the English negotiator, whose inter* vention was indispensable. The condition was therefore set aside with the others. It was a vain artifice that Kle"ber and his advisers employed towards themselves, to disguise in their own eyes the disgraceful nature of their conduct. In a short tune the simple and pure evacuation and its conditions became the sole subject. After long discussions it was agreed that hostilities should cease for three months ; and that for these three months the grand vizier should employ him- self in collecting in the ports of Rosetta, Aboukir, and Alexandria, the vessels required for the con- veyance of the French army; that general Kle"ber should employ himself in evacuating Upper Egypt, Cairo, and the surrounding provinces, and in con- centrating his troops for the purpose of embarka- tion ; that the French should embark with arms aud baggage, in other words, with the honours of war, taking with them such stores as they might require, and leaving the rest ; that from the day of the signature of the treaty, they should cease to impose contributions, and abandon to the Porte those which remained due ; but in return, that the French should receive three thousand purses of the value of 3,000,000 f., representing the sum necessary for their subsistence during the evacua- tion and the passage. The forts of Katieh, Sala- hieh, and Belbei's, to be given up ten days after the ratification of the treaty, and Cairo in forty days afterwards. It was agreed that the ratifica- tion of the treaty should be returned by general Kldber alone in eight days, without having recourse to the French government. Lastly, sir Sidney Smith agreed, in his own name and that of the Russian commissioners, to furnish passports to the army, in order that it might sail free of the English cruisers. The French commissioners here committed a grievous error. The signature of sir Sidney Smith was indispensable, because without his signature the sea would remain closed. They ought to have required this of sir Sidney Smith, as he was the negotiator of the convention. Then the mystery of his powers would have been cleared up. It would then have been seen, that the English commodore, having had formerly the power to treat with the Porte, had none at that moment, lord Elgin having arrived as minister at Constantinople; that he had no special instructions for the present case; and that he could alone have had a strong pre- sumption that his conduct would be approved in London. Little versed in diplomatic usages, the French plenipotentiaries believed that sir Sidney Smith, in offering them passports, had the power to give them, and that such passports would be valid. The conditions of the convention being thus terminated, nothing remained but to sign them. The noble heart of Desaix revolted at what he was obliged to do. Before he put his name to the paper, he sent for Savary, his aid-de-camp, and directed him to proceed to the head-quarters at Salahieh, where Kllber was, to communicate to him the draft of the convention, and to declare that he would not sign it until he had a formal order for that purpose. Savary went to Salahieh and acquitted himself of his commission to Kle"ber. That general, who had a confused feeling of his error, in order to cover it, called a council of war, to which all the generals of the army were sum- moned. This council assembled on the 1st of January, 1800, or 1st Pluviose, year viu. The minutes still exist. It is painful to see brave men, who had spilled their blood and were going again to spill it in their country's service, accumulate miserable falsehoods to hide their criminal weak- ness. The example may well serve as a lesson to military officers, that it does not alone suffice to be firm in combat, but that the courage that braves balls and bullets is the least of the duties imposed upon their noble profession. Great weight was laid in this council of war upon the intelligence, then well known in Egypt, that the grand French and Spanish fleets had gone out of the Mediter- ranean into the ocean, from which it was inferred that all hope of aid from France was cut off. Five months had elapsed since the departure of Bonaparte, during which no despatch had been received. The discouragement of the army waa also used as an argument which they had them- selves contributed to produce. They cited what 1800. Jan. Council of war summoned. The con- vention ratified. Conduct of Da- vout and Desaix. HELIOPOLIS. K16ber s despatches reach London and Paris. Resolutions of Bonaparte and the British government. 12? had occurred recently at Rosetta and Alexandria;, where the garrisons had threatened mutiny, be- having like that of El-Arisch, if they were not immediately sent back to Europe ; they pretended further that the active force was reduced to eight thousand men ; the force of the Turks was ex- aggerated beyond possibility; a pretended Russian expedition for the purpose of joining the grand vizier, an expedition existing only in the heated imagination of those who wished to quit Egypt at any cost ; the impossibility of resistance was posi- tively established an assertion which was soon to be proved false, in a manner the most heroic, by the very persons who now advanced it ; finally, to keep as near as possible to the instructions of Bonaparte, they alleged a few cases of plague, of very doubtful character, and absolutely unknown in the army. In spite of all that was said, the partisans of the evacuation were far from conforming to the in- structions left by Bonaparte. He had laid down four conditions : namely, if no succours, no orders, should arrive before the spring of 1800 ; if the plague should have carried off one thousand five hundred men, besides those lost in battle ; if the danger was so great as to render all resistance im- possible ; and these events being realized, then he recommended, lastly, the gaining time by negotia- ting, and the admission of the evacuation only under the condition of its being ratified by France. It was still only January, 1800; there was no plague, no pressing danger ; yet still an immediate evacua- tion was on the point of taking place, without any recourse to France. One who has shown in war something superior to courage in other words, character general Davout, afterwards prince of Eckmuhl, dared to oppose this culpable impulse. He did not fear to oppose Kleber, to whose influ- ence all the rest submitted; and he combated with energy the idea of a capitulation. He was not lis- tened to; and by an unhappy condescension, he consented to sign the resolution of the council of war, and left it to remain an entry in the minutes, that it had been adopted unanimously. Davout, notwithstanding, took Savary aside, and told him to inform Desaix, that if he were willing t' break off the negotiation, he would not want supporters in the army. Savary returned to El- Arisch, and stated what had occurred, and what he had been desired by Davout to say on his part. Desaix, seeing in the minutes of the deliberation the name of Davout, answered warmly to Savary, " In whom do you desire 1 should confide, when he who disapproves of the convention does not make it conformable to his opinion ? He would have me disobey, and yet he dares not support to the end the opinion which he has expressed." Desaix, although deeply hurt upon seeing the torrent, suf- fered himself to be carried away with it, and sub- scribed his name, on the 28th of January, to this unfortunate convention, since so well known as the treaty of El-Arisch. The thing being completed, every body began to feel the importance attached to it. Desaix returned to the otunp, expressed himself with deep sorrow, not dissimulating his chagrin, that he had been appointed for such a mission, and forced to fulfil it by the order of the commander-in-chief. Davout, Menou, and some others broke out into bitter expressions, and divisions existed in all parts of the camp of Salahieh. Nevertheless, preparations were made for the departure of the army, the main body of which was full of delight at the prospect of quitting those distant shores, and of soon returning to France. Sir Sidney Smith had returned on board. The vizier approached and took possession, one after another, of the entrenched posts of Katieh, Sala- hieh, and Belbe'is, that Kle"ber, pressed to carry out the convention, faithfully gave up. Kleber returned to Cairo to make his dispositions for de- parture, to recall his troops guarding Upper Egypt, concentrate his army, and direct it upon Rosetta and Alexandria, at the times specified for the em- barkation. While these events were taking place in Egypt, the unhappy consequences of a sentiment which the leaders of the army had strengthened in place of combating, other events, consequences of the same error, were taking place in Europe. The letters and despatches sent in duplicate had, as we have seen, arrived at the same time both in Lon- don and Paris. The despatch accusatory of Bona- parte, and designed for the directory, had been delivered into the hands of Bonaparte himself, become the head of the government. He was dis- gusted at such weaknesses and falsehoods ; but he was well aware how much the army stood in need of Kleber ; he appreciated the great qualities of that officer, and not imagining that his discourage- ment could proceed to so great a length as to induce him to abandon Egypt, he concealed his own feelings. He then hastened to transmit instructions from France, and to announce that he was pre- paring to send great succours. On the other side, the British government having also a duplicate of Kle"ber's despatches, and a vast number of letters written by French officers to their families, published them all, with the object of exhibiting to Europe the situation of the French in Egypt, and to raise a quarrel between Bona- parte and general Klefber. This was a calculation quite natural on the part of a hostile power. In the mean while the English cabinet had received notice of the overtures made by Kle"ber to the grand vizier and sir Sidney Smith. Believing that the French army was reduced to the last ex- tremity, it hastened to send out a formal order to grant no capitulation to the French unless they surrendered prisoners of war. Mr. Dundas in parliament made use of odious expressions. He said " An example must be made of this army, that, in a time of profound peace, dared to attack the dominions of one of our allies ; the interests of mankind demand that it be destroyed." This language was barbarous ; it displays the violent passions which then raged in the breasts of the two nations. The English cabinet had under- stood to the letter the exaggerations of Kle"ber and of the French officers. It considered that the French were in a state to accept any terms it might choose to impose ; and without being aware of what had passed, committed the folly of giving to lord Keith, commander-in-chief in the Levant, a positive order not to sign his name to any capitu- lation unless it expressly constituted the French prisoners of war. This order, sent from London on the 17th of Sir Sidney Smith receives Indignant reply of KleV.er 128 fresh instructions. His TRIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. to Lord Keith's letter. honourable conduct. He prepares for action 1800. Feb. December, reached lord Keith in Minorca, about the first week in January, 1800 ; and on the 8th of the same month that admiral hastened to com- municate the instructions to sir Sidney Smith, which he had just received from his government. It took time at that season of the year to sail across the Mediterranean. The despatches of lord Keith did not reach sir Sidney Smith until the 20th of February. Sir Sidney was deeply morti- fied. He had acted without instructions from the government, counting that kis acts could not fail to be approved; he found himself ompromised i regard to the French, because he felt he might be accused by them of a breach of faith. Best aware of the true state of things, he well knew that Kle"ber would never consent to surrender himself a prisoner of war ; and he saw the convention of El-Arisch, so cleverly wrung from the weakness of the moment, wholly compromised. He hastened to write to Kleloer, expressing his sorrow, and to apprise him candidly of what was going forward, advising him immediately to suspend the delivery of the Egyptian forts to the grand vizier, and to conjure him to wait for fresh orders from England before taking any definitive resolution. Unfortunately, when these despatches from sir Sidney Smith reached Cairo, the French army had already executed a part of the convention of El-Arisch. It had given up to the Turks all the positions on the right bank of the Nile, Katieh, Salahieh, Belbe'is, and every one of the positions of the Delta, particularly the city of Damietta and the fort of Lesbeh. The troops were already on their march for Alexandria, with their baggage and stores. The division of Upper Egypt had given up Higher Egypt to the Turks, and fallen back upon Cairo, to join the rest of the army near the sea. Desaix, taking advantage of the order he had received to return to France, would not take any part in the arrangements of this disastrous retreat, and had gone away with Davout, who, on his part, would not remain near Kle"ber. Kle"ber, forgetting his differences with Davout, was anxious to retain him, and offered him the rank of general of division, which it was in his power to bestow as governor of Egypt. This Davout refused, saying that he did not wish his promotion to bear the date of an eyent so deplorable. When Desaix and Davout embarked, Latour-Maubourg arrived from France with despatches from the first consul; he met them on the beach, and informed them of the revolution of the 18th Brumaire, and of the eleva- tion of Bonaparte to the head of the state. Thus Kle"ber found, at the moment when he had given up his fortified places, the refusal of the fulfilment of the treaty of El-Arisch, and the important intelli- gence to him of the elevation of Bonaparte to the consular government. There had been sufficient weakness shown for any great character to exhibit ; an ignominious offer was about to recal Kldber to himself, and to prove him, as he was, a hero. He must surrender himself a prisoner, or defend himself in a far worse position than that which he had declared untenable in the council of war at Salahieh. He must either submit to dishonour, or engage in a desperate conflict. He did not hesitate; and it will be seen, that, despite his impaired position, he knew well how to do that which he had judged im- possible some days before, and thus he gave to himself the finest of contradictions. Kle"ber countermanded immediately all the orders he had previously issued to the army. He recalled to Lower Egypt, as far as Cairo, a part of the troops which had already descended the Nile ; he sent up his ammunition ; he pressed the division from Upper Egypt to rejoin him, and to signify to the grand vizier he must stay his march upon Cairo, unless he chose to commit immediate hos- tilities. The grand vizier replied that the conven- tion of El-Arisch was signed, and that it must be executed ; that in consequence he should advance upon the capital. At the moment, an officer with a letter from lord Keith at Minorca, to Kl^ber, was received at head-quarters. Among other expressions this letter contained the following passage : " I have received the most positive orders from his Britannic majesty not to consent to any capitulation with the army which you com- mand, except the troops lay down their arms, surrender themselves prisoners of war, and give up all the vessels in the harbour of Alexandria." Kle"ber, indignant, had this letter copied into the order of the day, adding to it the simple words : " Soldiers, to such insults there is no other an- swer than victory prepare for action !" This noble language was echoed from every breast. His situation was greatly changed since the 28th of January, the day on which the con- vention of El-Arisch was signed. Then the French possessed all the fortified positions of Egypt, and governed the Egyptians, who were quiet and sub- missive ; the grand vizier was on the other side of the desert. Now, on the contrary, the more important posts had been given up, and the plain was all that was in the possession of the French. The population was everywhere awake; the people of Cairo, excited by the presence of the grand vizier, who was within five hours' march, only awaited the first signal to revolt. The gloomy picture drawn by the council of war in the treaty of El- Arisch had been debated: the picture, false then, was now rigorously correct. The French army was about to combat in the plains of the Nile, with the vizier in front having eighty thousand men; and in the rear, Cairo with three hundred thousand ready to rise ; and it was without fear. Glorious reparation of a great error ! The agents of sir Sidney Smith had hastened up to interpose between the French and the Turks, and to propose new terms of accommodation. Letters were written to London, and when the convention of El-Arisch was known there it would certainly be ratified ; in this situation it would be right to suspend hostilities and wait. The grand vizier and Kldber consented, but on conditions that could not be admitted. The grand vizier insisted on the delivery of Cairo ; Kltfber, on the other hand, would have the vizier fall back even to the frontier. In such a state of things, to fight was alone the alternative. On the 20th of March, 1800, or 29th Ventose, in the year vin., before break of day, the French army left Cairo, and formed in the rich plains which border the Nile, having that river on the left, the desert on the right, and in front, but afar off, the ruins of ancient Heliopolis. The night, 1800. March. Arrangement of the French army. Kleber addresses the soldiers and attacks the Turks. HELIOPOLIS. Battle of Hellopolis. Village of Kl-Matarieh taken by the French. 129 almost luminous in that climate, facilitated the mancBuvres, without rendering them distinctly visible to the enemy. The army was formed into four squares ; two on the left under general Reynier, and two on the right under general Friant. They were each composed of two demi- brigades of infantry ranged in several lines. At the angles and outside were companies of gre- nadiers with their backs to the squares, serving to reinforce them during the march, or under charges of cavalry, and detaching themselves to go to the attack of positions where the enemy attempted to make a stand. In the centre of the line of battle, that is, between the two squares of the left and the two squares of the right, the cavalry was disposed in a dense mass, having light artillery on the wings. At some distance in the rear and on the left, a fifth square, less than the others, was designed to serve as a reserve. The number of troops which Kle'ber had been able to collect in the plain of Heliopolis was about ten thousand. They were firm and tranquil. Day began to break ; Kle'ber, who since he had been commander-in-chief, had displayed a species of magnificence in order to impose upon the Egyp- tians, was dressed in a rich uniform. Mounted upon a lofty horse, he showed to his soldiers that noble figure which they were so fond of beholding, and the bold beauty of which filled them with confidence. " My friends," said he, riding through their ranks, " you possess in Egypt no more ground than is under your feet. If you recoil a single step you are lost." The greatest enthusiasm every where greeted his appearance and address. Aa soon as it was day he gave the order to march. Only a part of the grand army of the Turks was in sight. On the plain of the Nile, which extended before the French, was seen the village of El- Matarieh, which the Turks had entrenched. An advanced guard of five or six thousand janissaries was there, good soldiers, escorted by several thou- sand horse. A little beyond, another body of the enemy appeared, as if about to glide between the river and the left wing of the French, in order to go and obtain the revolt of Cairo in the rear. In front, but much further off, the ruins of ancient Helio- polis, a wood of palms, and considerable uneven- ness of the ground, hid the main body of the Turkish army from the view of the French soldiers. The total number of all these forces, including the principal body, the corps placed at El-Matarieh, and the detachment marching to penetrate into Cairo, might be estimated at seventy or eighty thousand men. Kle'ber ordered first a squadron of mounted guides to charge the detachment manoauvring on his left for the purpose of entering into Cairo. The guides dashed up at a gallop upon this confused mass. The Turks, who never fear cavalry, received and returned the charge. They completely sur- rounded the French horse, which was in danger of being cut to pieces, when Kle'ber sent the 22nd regiment of chasseurs, and the 14th dragoons to their aid, who charging the close mass that sur- rounded the guides, dispersed them with the sabre, and put them to flight. The Turks then retired out of view. This being done, Kle'ber hastened to attack the entrenched village of El-Matarieh, before the larger part of the enemy's army had time to ar- rive, and committed this duty to general Reynier, with the two squares on the left; he himself, to make a diversion, taking up a position between El-Mata- rieh and Heliopolis, in order to hinder the Turk- ish army from succouring the attacked position. Reynier arrived at El-Matarieh, detached the companies of grenadiers that doubled the angles of the squares and ordered them to storm the village. The companies advanced in two small columns. The brave janissaries would not wait for them, but marched out to the encounter. The grenadiers received them firmly, gave them a discharge of musketry when almost close to the ends of their pieces, and brought down a great number, after which they charged them with fixed bayonets. While the first column was attacking the janis- saries in front, the second took them in flank, and completed their rout. Then the two columns re- united, attacked El-Matarieh, amidst a hail shower of balls, rushed on the Turks who resisted, with the bayonet, and after a great slaughter of them re- mained masters of the position. The Turks, flying to the plain and joining those whom the guides, chasseurs, and dragoons had just before dispersed, they fled in confusion towards Cairo, under the order of Nassif Pacha, the lieutenant of the grand vizier. The village of El-Matarieh, full of oriental spoils, was a rich booty for the French soldiers. But they could not stay there; the generals and soldiers both knew too well how important it was not to be sur- prised in the midst of a mass of Turkish troops. The army, resuming by degrees the order observed in the morning, advanced upon the plain, always formed in squares, with the cavalry between. It passed the ruins of Heliopoh's, and saw beyond them a cloud of dust ascending in the horizon, and moving rapidly onwards. On the left the village of Seriaqous appeared; on the right, amid a grove of palms, the village of El-Merg, situated on the shores of a little lake, called the Lake of the Pilgrims. A slight elevation of ground ran from one of these vil- lages to the other. All at once the moving cloud of dust stopped; then it was dispersed by the wind, and the Turkish army was seen forming a long float- ing line from Seriaqous to El-Merg. Placed on more elevated ground, it commanded, in a slight degree, the ground upon which the French troops were formed. Kle'ber then gave the order to advance. Reynier, with the two squares on the left, marched towards Seriaqons. Friant, with the two columns on the right, directed himself upon El-Merg. The enemy had scattered abroad, in advance of the palm-trees on the shore of the lake, a good number of tirailleurs. But a combat with tirailleurs could scarcely be successful against the French soldiers opposed to them. Friant sent out some companies of light-infantry, which soon made the Turks, thus detached, re-enter into the confused mass of their army. The grand vizier was there in the midst of a troop of horsemen, whose arms glittered brilliantly in the sun. Some shells soon dispersed this group. The enemy moved forward his artillery in the way of reply ; but his bullets, ill-directed, passed over the heads of the French soldiers. His guns were soon dismounted by those of the French, and rendered useless. The thousand colours of the Turkish army were then seen waving in the air. A part of his squa- dron dashed out of El-Merg, upon the squ&res of K General attack. Grand vi- 130 zier put to flight.-Smail TRIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. loss of the French. Conduct of Murad Bey. Kleber marches to Belbeis. 1800. March. Friant's division. The deep openings in the ground, the common effect of a hot sun upon a soil a good while inundated, fortunately retarded the impe- tuosity of the horses. General Friant, suffering the Turkish horse to arrive pretty near, ordered a fire of grape shot to be suddenly opened upon them as they advanced nearly to the mouths of the guns, and overturned them by hundreds. They then retired in disorder. This was but a prelude to a general attack. The Turkish army was visibly preparing for it. The French squares awaited it with firmness, two on the right, and two on the left; the cavalry be- tween facing both to the front and rear, and co- vered by two lines of artillery. At the signal given by the grand vizier, the mass of the Turkish ca- valry moved forward together, rushed upon the French squares, opened out upon then? wings, turned them, and soon surrounded the four fronts of the French order of battle. The French infan- try, whom the cries, the movement^ and the tumult of the Turkish horse did not at all trouble, remained calm, with bayonets at the charge, continuing a well-directed fire. In vain those thousand groups of horse wheeled round it ; they fell under the grape-shot and balls, seldom arriving as far as the bayonets, expiring at the feet of the infantry, or turning and flying, never more to appear. After a protracted and frightful confusion, the heavens, before obscured by the smoke and dust, became clear ; the sun came forth, and the vic- torious French saw before them a mass of men and horses dead and dying, and at a distance, as far as the view could extend, bands of fugitives running away in all directions. The mam body of the Turks retreated towards El-Kanquah, where they had encamped on the preceding night upon the road to Lower Egypt. A few groups only joined the detachments, which in the morning were directed upon Cairo, led by Nassif Pacha, the lieutenant of the grand vizier. Kle"ber would not allow the enemy the least rest. His squares, preserving the order of battle, crossed the plain at a rapid pace. Passing Seriaqous and El-Merg, they advanced as far as El-Kanquah, where they arrived at night ; the enemy seeing himself pursued, fled again in disorder, leaving the French army the baggage and the provisions, of which it had great need. Thus, in the plain of Heliopolis, ten thousand soldiers, by the ascendancy of discipline and calm courage, dispersed seventy or eighty thousand ene- mies. But to obtain a more important result than that already gained in the few thousands killed and wounded, it was necessary to pursue the Turks, to drive them into the desert, and leave them to perish there by hunger, thirst, and the EMyords of the Arabs. Klel>er, therefore, allowed the army a little repose, and then gave orders for the pursuit on the following day. There were scarcely more than two or three hundred French killed and wounded, for in such a species of contest, soldiers in a square, preserving themselves unbroken, sustain little loss. Kleljer, hearing cannon in the direction of Cairo, had no doubt that the corps which had turned his left, had gone to second the revolt of that city. Nassif Pacha, lieutenant of the vizier, and Ibrahim Bey, one of the two Mameluke chiefs, had in fact entered it, with two thousand Mamelukes, eight or ten thousand Turkish horse, and some of the re- volted villagers of the vicinity, in all about twenty thousand men. Kldbor had left scarcely two thou- sand men in this large capital, divided between the citadel and the forts. He ordered general Lagrange to go off at midnight with four battalions to their aid. He directed the officers of the troops left in Cairo to occupy strtug points, and keep up com- munications with each other, but not to attempt any decisive attack before his return. He feared some false manoeuvre might take place on their part, that would uselessly compromise the lives of soldiers, every day becoming more valuable now they were condemned to remain in Egypt. During the whole time of the battle, Murad Bey, who had formerly partaken with Ibrahim Bey in the government of Egypt, and was distinguished from his colleague by his brilliant courage, chival- rous generosity, and much intelligence, remained on the wings of the Turkish army, immoveable, at the head of six hundred superb horsemen. The bat- tle over, he rushed into the desert and disappeared. It was in consequence of a promise given to Klelaer that he thus behaved. Murad Bey had arrived at the head-quarters of the vizier, and discovered, still prevalent, the old jealousy which had so long di- vided the Turks and Mamelukes. Murad soon saw that the Turks desired to recover Egypt, not to return it to the Mamelukes, but to possess it them- selves. He then thought of making terms with the French, in the view of becoming their ally if they were successful, or of succeeding them if they were vanquished. Still, he acted with great circumspec- tion ; he would not declare until hostilities were definitively renewed, and promised Kle"ber that after the first battle he would ally himself with the French. The battle was fought, and proved glorious for the French, and his regard towards them could not but be much augmented by it. There was reason to hope that, after a few days were elapsed, he would declare his alliance. At the hour of midnight following the battle, after a few hours of rest to the troops, Kle"ber beat the reveille, and marched upon Belbeis, in order to allow the Turks no rest. He arrived there at an early hour in the day. It was the 21st of March, or 30th of Ventose. The vizier had already in his rapid flight, passed Belbe'is. He had left in the fort and town a body of infantry, and in the plain a thousand horse. On the approach of Kicker's army the horse fled. The Turks were driven out of the town, but they shut themselves in the fort, where, after the exchange of a few cannon-shot, want of water, and the fear of being stormed, in- duced them to surrender. The fanaticism of some of them was so great that they chose rather to be put to death than give up their arms. In the mean- time the cavalry of general Leclerc, scouring the plain, fell in with a long caravan of camels march- ing towards Cairo, and carrying the baggage of Nassif Pacha and Ibrahim Bey. This capture revealed more fully to KIe"ber the real object of the Turks, which consisted in raising an insurrec- tion, not only in the capital, but in the large cities of Egypt. Thus aware of the design, and discover- ing that the Turkish army made no resistance any where, Kle'ber detached five battalions upon Cairo, under general Friant, to support the four batta- 1800. March. Klfeber pursues the vizier to the desert. Capture of the Turk- ish camp. HELIOPOLIS. Immense spoils. K'.iber's arrangements after the victor*. 131 lions sent off on the preceding evening, from El- Kanquah, under the orders of general Lagrange. On the following day, the 22nd of March, or 1st of Germinal, Kle'ber marched upon Salahieh. Gene- ral Reynier preceded him at the head of the left division ; he himself marching after at the head of the guides and the 7th hussars; last of all came general Belliard with his brigade, the remainder of Friant's division. During the march a message was received from the grand vizier, offering to negotiate, but a positive refusal was returned. On arriving at Kora'im, about half-way to Salahieh, a cannonade was heard, and soon afterwards the division of Reynier was seen formed in a square, and in combat with a multitude of horse. Kle'ber sent an order to Belliard to hasten forward, while with the cavalry he set out in all speed towards Reynier's square. At the sight of Kle'ber and his horse, the Turks, who were much more partial to a conflict with the French cavalry than with the infantry, attacked the guides and 7th hussars. They charged them so suddenly that the light ar- tillery had not time to place itself in battery. The gunner-drivers were sabred on the guns. Kle'ber with the guides and the hussars found themselves on the instant in great danger; particularly when the inhabitants of Kora'im, believing that so few French must be destroyed, hastened out with scythes and pitchforks to finish them. But Reynier seut the 14th dragoons to their assistance imme- diately, who disengaged Kle'ber in time. Belliard, who had quickened his pace, arrived with his infantry directly afterwards, and cut some hundred men to pieces. Kle'ber, desirous to reach Salahieh, hastened his inarch, delaying until his return the punishment of Kora'im. The heat of the day was insufferable; the wind blew from the desert, and they respired with the burning air a fine penetrating dust. Horses and men were overcome with fatigue. They arrived at Salahieh at the close of day. They were now on the frontier of Egypt itself, at the entrance upon the desert of Syria ; and here Kle'ber expected, the next morning, a last conflict with the grand vizier. But on the following day early, being the 23rd of March, or 2d of Germinal, tin.- inhabitants of Salahieh came to meet him, and from them he learned that the grand vizier was con- tinuing his flight in great disorder. Kle'ber hastened onwards, and saw himself the proof how much he had exaggerated the danger of a Turkish army. The grand vizier, taking with him five hundred of his best horse, had plunged with some baggage into the desert. The rest of his army had fled in every direction ; one part fled towards the Delta ; another asked quarter on its knees at Salahieh ; another part, seeking an asylum in the desert, perished under the sabres of the Arabs. These having conveyed the Turkish army to the frontiers of Egypt, remained there, knowing that one party or the other must be vanquished, and from that party booty might be obtained. They had judged correctly; and finding the Turkish army completely demoralized and incapable of defending itself, even against them, they butchered the fugitives for the sake of pillaging them. At the moment of Kltfber's arrival, they had come down upon the vizier's deserted camp like so many birds of prey. At the sight of the French they flew off on their swift horses, and left an abundance of plunder for the French soldiers. Here, in the midst of an en- trenched camp, covering a square league, were a vast quantity of tents, saddles, harness of all kinds, forty thousand horseshoes, provisions in plenty, rich garments, boxes already broken open by the Arabs, but full of perfumes, of aloes, silk stuffs, and all the objects which contribute to the glitter- ing and barbarous luxuries of oriental armies. At the side of twelve litters of wood, carved and gilded, was found a carriage hung upon springs, in the European mode, and of English manufac- ture; and pieces of cannon with the motto, " Honi soit qui mal y pense:" a certain evidence of the very active intervention of the English in the war. The soldiers, who had brought nothing with them, found in the Turkish camp provisions, am- munition, a rich booty, and some things, the singularity of which made them laugh, as they were always disposed to do after a short period of dejection. Strange power of the mind upon men! To-day victorious, they no longer wished to quit Egypt ; for they no longer thought themselves con- demned to perish in a far-distant banishment. When Kle'ber had witnessed himself the utter disappearance of the Turkish army, he determined to return and bring back to obedience the towns of Lower Egypt, and more particularly Cairo. He then made the following dispositions : Generals Rampon and Lanusse were ordered to scour the Delta. Rampon to march upon the important town of Damietta, which was in the power of the Turks, and to retake it. Lanusse was to keep up a com- munication with Rampon, to sweep the Delta from the city of Damietta as far as Alexandria, and to reduce successively the revolted villages. Belliard was to support these operations generally ; was more especially to second Rampon in his attack upon Damietta, and to retake the fort of Lesbeh himself, commanding one of the mouths of the Nile. Kle'ber left Reynier at Salahieh to prevent the return of the wrecks of the grand vizier's army, gone into the Syrian desert. He was to remain on the frontier in observation, until the Arabs had finished the dispersion of the Turks, and then to return to Cairo. Kle'ber himself de- parted the next day, the 24th of March, or 3rd of Germinal, with the 88th demi-brigade, two com- panies of grenadiers, the Jtli hussars, and the 3rd and 14th dragoons. Kle'ber arrived at Cairo on the 27th of March. Serious events had occurred there since his de- parture. The population of this large city, num- bering nearly three hundred thousand, fickle, pas- sionate, prone to change, as every multitude is found to be, had given way to the suggestions of the Turkish emissaries, and attacked the French as soon as they heard the cannon of Heliopolis. Running without the walls of the city during the battle, and seeing Nassif Pacha and Ibrahim Bey with some thousand horse and janissaries, they thought them the conquerors. Careful not to un- deceive the people, the Turks asserted, on the con- trary, that the French were exterminated, and that the grand vizier had obtained a complete victory. At this news fifty thousand men had risen at Cairo, Boulaq, and Gyzeh. Armed witfc sabres, lances, and old muskets, they proposed to put to death all the French that remained among Kl Massacres in Cairo. The Kleber's return to Cairo. 132 Turks' attack on the head- TRIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. Prudent measures to sup- quarters repulsed. press the insurrection. them. But two thousand men, entrenched in the citadel and the forts which commanded the city, supplied with provisions and ammunition, offered a resistance difficult to overcome. Having nearly all fallen back in good time, they had succeeded in shutting themselves up in the fortified places. Some had run great hazards; they were those who, to the number of two hundred only, composed the guard of the house occupied as head-quarters. This fine house, formerly inhabited by Bonaparte, and afterwards by Kle'ber, and the principal ad- ministratives, was situated at one of the extremi- ties of the city. On one side it looked upon the square of Ezbekyeh, the finest in Cairo, and on the other, upon the gardens that were backed by the Nile. The Turks and the populace in revolt wished to take this house, and to kill all the French who occupied it, two. hundred in number. This appeared the more easy to do, as general Verdier, who was in the citadel at the other end of the city, could not come to their assistance. But the brave men who were in the house, as much by a well sustained fire as by bold sallies, defended them- selves so well, that they kept off the ferocious mob, and thus gave time to general Lagrange to arrive. He had been detached, as has been seen, already in the evening from the field of battle with four battalions. He arrived at noon the next day, entered by the gardens, and thenceforth rendered the head-quarters impregnable. The Turks, having no means to overcome the resistance of the French, revenged themselves upon such unfortunate Christians as were at hand. They began by killing a part of the inhabitants of the European quarter, and some of the merchants, pillaged their houses, and carried off their wives and daughters. They sought out those of the Arabs who were accused of being on good terms with the French, and of having drunk wine with them. These they murdered, and, as customary, rapine succeeded to slaughter. They impaled an Arab, who had been chief of the janissaries under the French, and who had the charge of the police of Cairo ; they treated in the same manner one who had been secretary of the divan instituted by Bonaparte. From thence they proceeded to the quarter of the Copts. These, as it is well-known, are the descendants of the ancient inhabitants of Egypt, and have persisted in Christianity, in spite of all the Mussulman governments that have suc- ceeded each other hi this country. Their wealth was great, arising from the collection of the imposts delegated to them by the Mamelukes. The object was to punish them for being friends of the French, but more than all to plunder their houses. Hap- pily for the Copts, their quarters formed the left of the Place Ezbekyeh, and adjoined the head quar- ters. Their chief was besides both rich and brave; h defended himself well, and succeeded in saving them. In the midst of these horrors, Nassif Pacha and Ibrahim Bey were ashamed at what they did, and suffered to be done by others. They saw lost, with regret, the riches which would have been theirs if they had become masters of Egypt. But they allowed every thing to be done by a populace of which they were no longer masters, and wished besides by those massacres to continue to nourish a hatred of the French. During these transactions general Friant ar- rived, detached from Belbe'is ; finally, came Kle'ber himself. Both entered the head-quarters from the gardens of the house. Although victor over the army of the \ izier, Kle'ber had a serious diffi- culty to surmount here, in conquering an immense city, peopled by three hundred thousand inhabitants, part of them in a state of revolt, and occupied by twenty thousand Turks. Constructed in the oriental style, that is to say with narrow streets, divided into masses of buildings that were real fortresses, receiving light from within, showing nothing ex- ternally but high solid walls, having terraces in place of roofs, whence the insurgents could pour down a plunging and murderous fire to all this it must be added, that except the citadel and Place Ezbekyeh, the Turks were masters of all. The latter was hi a manner blockaded, the streets that ran into it being closed up by the Turks with crenelled walls. The French had only two modes of attack ; either to open from the citadel a destructive fire of shells and shot until the place was reduced, or to attack by the Place Ezbekyeh, and overturning all the barriers raised at the ends of the streets, to take the houses one and one by assault. The first mode would cause the destruction of a great city, the capital of the country, of which too the French had need for the supply of necessaries ; the second mode exposed them to the risk of losing more soldiers than in ten such battles as that on the plain of Heliopolis. Here Kle'ber exhibited as much prudence as he had shown energy in the field. He resolved to gain time, and to suffer the insurrection to exhaust itself. He had sent nearly all his materiel into Lower Egypt, believing that he was on the eve of embarkation. He ordered Reynier, as soon as the army of the vizier had crossed the desert, and Damietta and Lesbeh were taken, to ascend the Nile with his entire division, and the stores that were wanted at Cairo. In the interim he caused all the outlets, by which Cairo could communicate with the country, to be blocked up. Though the insurgents should procure provisions by pillaging the Egyptian houses, commonly well supplied with them ; though they forged bullets and cast cannon, it was impossible they should not soon suffer from want. They could not be long so unacquainted with the real state of things in other parts of Egypt, as not to discover that the French were every where victorious, and the army of the vizier dispersed ; finally, they were likely to have differ- ences among themselves before long, because their interests were opposite. The Turks of Nassif Pacha, the Mamelukes of Ibrahim Bey, and the Arabs of Cairo, could not long be in accordance together. For all these reasons Klel>er determined to temporize and to negotiate. While he thus gained time he completed his treaty of alliance with Murad Bey, through the agency of the wife of that Mameluke prince, who was universally respected, endowed with beauty, and a superior intellect. He granted to Murad the province of Said, under the sovereignty of France, on condition of paying a tribute, equal hi amount to a good part of the taxes of that province. Murad Bey engaged, on the other hand, to fight for the French ; and the French engaged, in case of 1800. April. Treaty with Murad-Iiey. The Turks attacked in the Place Ezbekyeh. HELIOPOLIS. Assault upon Boulaq ; afterwards upon the city. Cairo submits to Kleber. 133 evacuating Egypt, if they ever should do so, to facilitate as much as possible his occupation of the country. Murad Bey, as will be seen hereafter, was faithful to the treaty which he had subscribed, and began by driving out of Upper Egypt a Turkish corps, which had occupied it. Through Murad Bey and the sheiks, who were friends of France, Kldber opened a negotiation with the Turks who had entered Cairo. Nassif Pacha and Ibrahim Bey began to fear being shut up in the city, and treated in the Turkish mode. They knew besides that the army of the vizier was completely dispersed. They lent themselves with good will to the proposal of a conference, and con- sented to a capitulation, in virtue of which they were to be permitted to retire safe and sound. But at the moment when the capitulation was to be concluded, the insurgents in Cairo, seeing them- selves left to the vengeance of the French, were seized with terror and rage, broke off the parley, threatened to murder those who should abandon them, and gave money to the Turks to engage them to fight. An attack by main force, therefore, become necessary to reduce the city to subjection. Lower Egypt having returned to its duty, Rey- nier had ascended to Cairo with his corps and a convoy of stores. He took a part in the invest- ment of the works of Cairo to the north and east, or from Fort Cainin to the citadel. General Friant encamped on the west in the gardens and house of the commander-in-chief, between the city and the Nile ; Le Clerc's cavalry was placed be- tween the divisions of Reynier and Friant, scouring the plains ; general Verdier occupied the south. On the 3rd and 4th of April general Friant began the first attack, directed immediately to dis- engage the Place Ezbekyeh, which was the princi- pal inlet for the French. The beginning was made at the Copt quarter, which formed the left of the square. The troops penetrated with the greatest courage into the streets which crossed that quarter in every direction, while several detachments blew up the houses around the Place Ezbekyeh, in order to make openings to the interior of the city. During this operation the citadel threw some shells to in- timidate the population. These attacks succeeded, and made the French masters of the issues of all the streets which terminated in the Place Ezbe- kyeh. On the following days an eminence near Fort Sulkouski, which the Turks had entrenched, commanding the Copt quarter, was taken. Every disposition was now made for a general simul- taneous attack. Before the order was given, K UlnT, for the last time, summoned the insurgents to surrender, but they refused to listen to the offer. Still attaching great importance to the preservation of the city, which besides was inno- cent of the crimes committed by fanatics, Kle"ber determined to appeal to their sight by means of a terrible example. He ordered Boulaq, a detached suburb on the bank of the Nile, to be attacked. On the 15th of April, or 25th of Germinal, the division of Friant encircled Boulaq, and rained upon that miserable suburb a shower of shells and shot. Favoured by the fire the soldiers pushed on to the assault, but found, on the part of the in- habitants and of the Turks, a very obstinate resistance. Every street, and every house, became the scene of an obstinate contest. KUber sus- pended the horrible carnage for a moment in order to offer pardon to the insurgents; but his offer was repelled. The attack was renewed. The fire flew from house to house, and Boulaq in a blaze im- parted a double horror to the flames and the assault. The heads of the population then threw themselves at Kldber's feet ; he stopped the ef- fusion of blood, and saved the rest of that unfor- tunate suburb. It was the quauter where the warehouses of the merchants were situated, and an immense quantity of goods was found there ; the goods were preserved for the use of the army. This horriWe spectacle had been seen by all the population of Cairo. Profiting by the effect which it ought to produce, Kle"ber then attacked the capital itself. A house near the head- quarters, still held by the Turks, had been undermined, and the Turks and insurgents were blown into the air together. This was the signal for the attack. The troops of Friant and Belliard assaulted the city by all the inlets from the Place Ezbekyeh, while gene- ral Reynier entered at the north and east, and general Verdier from the lofty citadel showered down shells. The combat was obstinate. The troops of Reynier entered by the gate of Bab-el- Charyeh, at the extremity of the grand canal, and driving before them Ibrahim Bey and Nassif Pacha, who defended it, crowded them both up between the 9th demi-brigade, which had pene- trated from the opposite point, and had driven back all they encountered in their victorious march. The French corps met after making a fearful carnage. Night parted the combatants. Several thousand Turks, Mamelukes, and insurgents had fallen; and four hundred houses were in flames. This was the last attempt made at resistance. The inhabitants, who had so long retained the Turks, now conjured them to leave the city and give them the opportunity of negotiating with the French. Kle"ber, to whom these scenes of slaughter were repugnant, and who wished to spare his soldiers, desired nothing more. The agents of Murad Bey served as mediators. The treaty was soon concluded. Nassif Pacha and Ibrahim Bey were to retire into Syria, under escort of a de- tachment of the French army. They obtained no other terms than that their lives should be spared. They quitted Cairo on the 25th of April, or 5th of Flore"al, leaving to the mercy of the French the miserable people whom they had stirred up to revolt. Thus terminated this sanguinary conflict, which had commenced by the battle of Heliopolis, on the 20th of March, and finished on the 25th of April, by the departure of the last lieutenants of the vizier, after thirty-five days of fighting, between ten thousand French on one side and the whole power of the Ottoman empire ou the other, seconded by the revolt of the Egyptian towns. Great faults caused this revolt and provoked this horrible ef- fusion of blood. If the French had not put on the appearance of departure, the Egyptians would never have dared to revolt. The contest would have lirrn limited to a combat, brilliant indeed, but little beyond, between the French squares and the Turkish cavalry. But a commencement of the evacuation raising a popular commotion in some cities, it was necessary to retake them by an as- sault, much more destructive than a battle. The All the cities of the Delta ub- Conciliatory measures. A 134 mit.-Kleber's clemency.- TRIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE, young fanatic resolves to Financial arrangements. assassinate Kleber. faults of Klber must be forgotten in doing honour to his tine and energetic conduct. He had imagined that he could not defend Egypt, when peaceful and subdued, against the Turks, and he had made the conquest in thirty-five days, against the Turks and the Egyptian insurgents, with as much energy as humanity and prudence. In the Delta all the cities were in complete sub- mission. Murad Bey had driven the Turkish detachment of Dervish Pacha from Upper Egypt. Every where the vanquished trembled before the victor, and expected a terrible punishment. The inhabitants of Cairo particularly, who had com- mitted frightful cruelties on the Arabs attached to the French service, and on the Christians of all nations they were filled with terror. Kleber was humane and wise ; he took care not to repay cruelty with cruelty. He knew that conquest must be odious to every people, and could only become tolerable in the view of those upon whom it falls, at the price of good government, while it cannot become legitimate in the eyes of great nations but by contributing to the accomplishment of grand objects. He hastened therefore to use his suc- cesses with moderation. The Egyptians were convinced he would treat them with severity. They thought that the loss of their goods and their heads could alone expiate the crime of their revolt. Kle"ber assembled them together, exhibited a severe countenance towards them, then pardoning them, satisfied himself by imposing a contribution upon the insurgent cities. Cairo paid 10,000,000 f., not an onerous burthen for so large a city, the inhabitants regarding them- selves lucky to get off so well. Eight millions, besides, were imposed upon the other insurgent cities of Lower Egypt. This sum immediately paid all the arrears that were due, as well as for the provisions of which the army had need, the care of the wounded, and the completion of the fortifications begun. It was a precious resource until the system of taxation could be ameliorated and put into execution. Another resource, altogether unexpected, offered at the moment. Sixty-six Turkish ships had en- tered the ports of Egypt to transport the French army. The recent hostilities gave the French the right of detaining them. They were laden with merchandize, which was sold to the profit of the military chest. From these different sources an abundance of every thing required was obtained, without any requisition in kind. The army found itself in the midst of plenty ; and the Egyptians, who had not hoped to get clear so easily, submitted with perfect resignation. The army was proud of its successes, confident in its strength ; and know- ing that Bonaparte was at the head of the govern- ment at home, did not doubt that he would soon come to their succour. KleTjer had conquered, the noblest of excuses for his momentary fault, in the- fields of Heliopolis. He assembled the commissaries of the army and the persons best acquainted with the country, and set them to organize the finances of the colony. He gave to the Copts, to whom it had formerly been confided, the collection of the direct contributions. He imposed new duties on the customs, and on articles of consumption. The total of the revenue was to be carried to 25,000,000 f. It sufficed for all the wants of the army, if the amount did not exceed eighteen or twenty million francs. He admitted into the ranks of his army, Copts, Syrians, and even blacks, bought in Darfour, whom some of his subal- tern officers, beginning to speak the language of the country, commenced to teach the military exercise. These recruits, placed in the more reduced regi- ments, fought there as well as the French, at whose sides they had the honour to serve. Kldber ordered the forts round Cairo to be finished, and set work- men upon those at Lesbeh, Damietta, Burlos, and Rosetta, situated on the coast. He pushed forward the works at Alexandria with rapidity, and im- pressed fresh activity on the learned researches of the Institution of Egypt. Every thing, from the cataracts to the mouths of the Nile, assumed the aspect of a solid and durable establishment. For months afterwards, the caravans of Syria, Arabia, and Darfour, began to re-appear at Cairo, where their hospitable reception insured their return. If Kle"ber had lived, Egypt would have been preserved to France, at least until the day of her great misfortunes. But a deplorable event took away that general in the midst of his exploits and most judicious government. It is not without danger that the great principles of human nature can be deeply shaken. The en- tire of Islamism had been affected by the presence of the French in Egypt. The sons of Mahomet had experienced somewhat of that enthusiasm, which in old time aroused them against the cru- saders. On every side was heard, as in the twelfth century, the cries of a holy war ; and there were Mussulman devotees who vowed to accomplish the " sacred combat," which consisted in killing an un- believer. In Egypt, where the French were seen more closely, where their humanity was duly valued and comprehended, where they were able to com- pare them to the soldiers of the Porte, or more particularly to the Mamelukes ; in Egypt, finally, where they witnessed their respect for the prophet, (a respect ordered to be shown by Bonaparte,) the aversion towards them was less; and when at a later time they quitted the country, fanaticism had al- ready sensibly cooled. There were perceived in some places, during the last insurrection, real signs of attachment for the French soldiers, to such a degree that the English agents were surprised at it. But, throughout the rest of the east, there was only one thing that appeared striking to all the natives, the invasion, by infidels, of an immense Mussulman country. A young man, a native of Aleppo, named Sulie- man, who was the prey to great fanaticism, who had made journeys from Mecca to Medina, who had studied at the mosque, El-Azhar, the wealth- iest and most renowned in all Cairo, where the Koran and Turkish law were taught, and who wished to join the body of doctors of the faith, happened to be wandering in Palestine when the remnant of the grand vizier's army passed through that country. He was an eye-witness to the suffer- ings and despair of those of his own religion, and this sight strongly affected his diseased imagina- tion and moved his sensibility. The aga of the janissaries, who saw him by chance, inflamed his fanaticism yet more by his own suggestions. This young man offered to assassinate " the French sul- tan," general Kle"ber. They furnished him with a 1800. June. Kleber assassinated. Grief of the army. Menou at- suines the command. HELIOPOLIS. Comparison of the characters of Kleber and Desaix. 135 dromedary, and a sum of money to pay his journey. He reached Gaza, crossed the desert, came to Cairo, and shut himself up for several weeks in the great mosque, into which students and poor tra- vellers are admitted at the cost of that religious foundation. The rich mosques are, in the east, what the convents formerly were in Europe; there are found prayer, hospitality, and religious instruc- tion. The young fanatic disclosed his intention to four of the principal sheiks of the mosque, who were at the head of the department of instruction. They were alarmed at his determination, and the consequences which might ensue; they told him that he would not succeed, that he would occasion great mischiefs to Egypt; but still they did not make the French authorities acquainted wi th the circumstance. When this wretch was fully confirmed in his re- solution, he armed himself with a poignard, fol- lowed Kle'ber for several days, and not being able to get near him, conceived the design of pene- trating into the garden of the head-quarters, there to conceal himself behind an old cistern. On the 14th of June he suddenly presented himself before Kle'ber, who was walking with the architect, Pro- tain, showing him what repairs were necessary to be done to the house, in order to obliterate the marks left by the bullets and shells. He approached close, as if to solicit alms, and, while Kleber was in the act of listening to him, he rushed upon his vic- tim and plunged the poignard several times into his heart. Kle'ber sank under the blows. The archi- tect, Protain, fell upon the assassin with a stick which he had in his hand, and struck him vio- lently on the head, but was, in his turn, struck down by a stab of the poignard. At the cries of Kleber and his companion, the soldiers ran to the spot and raised up their expiring commander; then searching, found the assassin, who was concealed behind a pile of rubbish. In a few minutes after this tragic scene Kle'ber was no more. The army shed bitter tears over him. The Arabs, who admired his clemency to them after their revolt, united their regrets with those of the French soldiery. A military commis- sion was instantly formed to try the assassin, who avowed all. He was condemned to be impaled, according to the law of the country. The four sheiks, who were in his confidence, lost their heads. These sanguinary sacrifices were believed necessary to insure the security of the chiefs of the army. Vain precautions ! In Kle'ber the army had lost a general, and the colony a founder, whom none of the officers in the army of Egypt could replace. With Kle'ber, Egypt was lost for France. Menou, who succeeded him in the order of se- niority, was an ardent partisan of the expedition ; but, in spite of his zeal, he was altogether below such a task. One man alone could equal Kle'ber, or surpass him, in the government of Egypt; he had three months before embarked in the port of Alexandria to reach Italy, and he fell at Marengo, the same day, and nearly at the same instant that Kle'ber fell at Cairo it was Desaix ! Both died on the 14th of June, 1800, in the accomplishment of the vast designs of Bonaparte. Singular, in- deed, was the fate of these two men, continually side by side in life, undivided in death, and yet so very different in their qualities both of mind and body. Kle'ber was the finest man in the army. His stature lofty and commanding ; his countenance noble, and expressive of the pride of his spirit ; his courage at once cool and intrepid ; his prompt and sure intelligence making him on the battle-field the most formidable of commanders. His mind was original and brilliant, but uncultivated. He read Quintus Curtius and Plutarch continually and exclusively, and searched for the food of great souls in the history of the heroes of antiquity. He was capricious, indocile, and a grumbler. It was said of him that he would neither command nor obey, and this was said truly. He even obeyed the orders of Bonaparte murmuringly. He sometimes commanded, but in the name of another, under that of general Jourdan, for example, assuming the command by a species of inspiration in the middle of the battle, and exercising it like a great soldier ; then, after the victory, resuming his character of lieutenant, which he preferred to every other. He was licentious in his manner and language, but of strict integrity ; disinterested, as men were in his days, before the conquest of the world had cor- rupted their characters. Desaix was in every respect the reverse of Kle'ber. Simple, bashful, even a little awkward, he had not the aspect of a soldier, his face being hid by his ample head of hair. Heroic in battle, kind to the soldiers, modest among his companions, generous to the vanquished, he was adored by the army, and the people whom he had subdued by the French arms. His mind was solid, and had been well cultivated; while his intelligence in war, his disinterestedness, and his attention to his duties, made him the accomplished model of all the mili- tary virtues. Kle'ber, unsubmissive, indocile, could not endure a superior authority. Desaix was as obedient as if he had never known how to com- mand. Under a coarse exterior, he concealed an animated soul, very susceptible of enthusiastic feel- ings. Although brought up in the severe school of the army of the Rhine, he felt a strong admi- ration for the campaigns of Italy, and had a wish to see himself the fields where the battles of Cas- tiglione, Arcola, and Rivoli had been fought. While he was visiting those fields, the scenes of immortal glory, he fell in by accident with the commander-in- chief of the army of Italy, who soon felt a strong attachment for him. What an honour- able homage was the friendship of such a man ! Bonaparte was deeply affected by it. He esteemed Kle'ber for great military talents; but he placed no one either for talent or character on a level with Desaix. He loved him besides ; in that, having around him companions in arms who had not yet pardoned his ascendancy, though they affected towards him an obsequious submission, he the more valued Desaix's pure and disinterested de- votion, founded upon deep admiration. At the same time keeping secret his preference, and pretending ignorance of Klel>er's faults, he treated both him and Desaix alike, and wished, as will be seen soon, to join in the same honours two men, whom fortune had mingled in one common destiny. For the rest, every thing remained tranquil in Egypt after KleTjerV death. General Menou, on taking the chief command, despatched the Osiris from Alexandria with all speed, to carry to France intelligence of the flourishing Mate of the colony, and of the deplorable end of its second founder. Chagrin of British govern- 136 ment at the French re- TRIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE, covering Egypt. Bonaparte's regret at Kleber's death. 1800. June. &Jiil 4 ! him *.u]t\u"\ to) !i-:i.'lv!.-:-> fir BOOK VI. THE ARMISTICE. VAST PREPARATIONS FOR THE SUCCOUR OF THE EGYPTIAN ARMY. ARRIVAL OP M. ST. JULIEN IK PARIS. IMPA- TIENCE OP THE FRENCH CABINET TO TREAT WITH HIM. DESPITE THE INSUFFICIENT POWERS OF M. ST. JULIEN, TALLEYRAND INDUCES HIM TO SIGN PRELIMINARY ARTICLES OF PEACE. M. JULIZN SIGNS THEM, AND SETS OFF WITH DUROC FOR VIENNA. STATE OF PRUSSIA AND RUSSIA. ADROIT EXPEDIENT OF THE FIRST CONSUL IN REGARD TO THE EMPEROR PAUL. HE SENDS SIX THOUSAND RUSSIAN PRISONERS BACK WITHOUT RANSOM, AND OFFERS Hill THE ISLAND OF MALTA. ENTHUSIASM OF THE EMPEROR PAUL FOR BONAPARTE, AND MIS- SION GIVEN TO M. 8PRENGPORTEN FOR PARIS. NEW LEAGUE OF THE NEUTRAL POWERS. THE FOUR GREAT QUESTIONS OF MARITIME LAW. RECONCILIATION WITH THE HOLY SEE. THE COURT OF SPAIN, AND ITS INTIMACY WITH THE FIRST CONSUL. INTERIOR STATE OF THAT COURT. GENERAL BERTHIER SENT TO MADRID. THAT ENVOY NEGOTIATES A TREATY WITH CHARLES IV., BY WHICH TUSCANY WOULD BE GIVEN TO THE HOUSE OF PARMA, AND LOUISIANA TO FRANCE. ERECTION OF THE KINGDOM OF ETRURIA. FRANCE RE- INSTATES HERSELF IN THE FAVOUR OF THE EUROPEAN POWERS. ARRIVAL OF M. ST. JUL1EN AT VIENNA. ASTONISHMENT OF THE COURT OF VIENNA AT THE NEWS OF THE PRELIMINARY ARTICLES BEING SIGNED WITHOUT POWERS. EMBARRASSMENT OF THE CABINET OF VIENNA, WHICH HAD ENGAGED NOT TO TREAT WITHOUT ENGLAND. DISAVOWAL OF M. ST. JULIEN. ATTEMPT AT A NEGOTIATION COMMON TO BOTH ENGLAND AND AUSTRIA. THE FIRST CONSUL, TO ADMIT ENGLAND INTO THE NEGOTIATION, REQUIRES A NAVAL ARMIS- TICE, WHICH WILL PERMIT HIM TO SUCCOUR EGYPT. ENGLAND REFUSES, NOT TO TREAT, BUT TO ACCORD THE PROPOSED ARMISTICE. THE FIRST CONSUL THEN REQUIRES A DIRECT AND IMMEDIATE NEGOTIATION WITH AUSTRIA, OR A RENEWAL OF HOSTILITIES. MANNER IN WHICH HE PROFITED BY THE SUSPENSION OF ARMS, TO PLACE THE FRENCH ARMIES ON A FORMIDABLE FOOTING. APPREHENSION OF AUSTRIA, AND THE REMIS- SION OF THE FORTRESSES OF PHILIPSBURG, ULM, AND INGOLDSTADT, TO PROCURE A PROLONGATION OF THE CONTINENTAL ARMISTICE. CONVENTION OF HOHENLINDEN, GRANTING A NEW SUSPENSION OF ARMS FOR FORTY-FIVE DAYS. DESIGNATION OF M. COBENTZEL, AS ENVOY TO THE CONGRESS OF LUNEVILLE. FETE OF THE 1ST VENDEMIAIRE. TRANSLATION OF THE BODY OF TURENNE TO THE INVALIDS. THE FIRST CONSUL GIVES UP THE TIME LEFT TO HIM BY THE INTERRUPTION OF HOSTILITIES, TO OCCUPY HIMSELF WITH THE INTERNAL ADMINISTRATION. SUCCESS OF HIS FINANCIAL MEASURES. PROSPERITY OF THE BANK OF FRANCE. PAYMENT OF THE STOCKHOLDERS IN SPECIE. REPAIR OF THE ROADS. RETURN OF THE PRIESTS. DIFFI- CULTIES RESPECTING THE SUNDAY AND DECADE IN THEIR CELEBRATION. NEW MEASURES RESPECTING THE EMIGRANTS. SITUATION OF PARTIES. THEIR DISPOSITION TOWARDS THE FIRST CONSUL. THE REVOLUUTION- ISTS AND ROYALISTS. CONDUCT OF THE GOVERNMENT TOWARDS THEM. DIFFERING INFLUENCES ABOUT THE FIRST CONSUL. PARTS PLAYED NEAR HIM BY TALLEYRAND, FOUCHE, AND CAMDACERES. THE BONAPARTE FAMILY. LETTERS OF LOUIS XVIII. TO THE FIRST CONSUL, AND THE REPLY MADE. PLOT OF CERACCHI AND ARENA. AGITATION OF THE PUBLIC ON HEARING OF THE PLOT. THE IMPRUDENT FRIENDS OF THE FIRST CONSUL WISH TO PROFIT BY IT, FOR THE PURPOSE OF ELEVATING HIM TOO SOON TO THE SUPREME POWER. PAMPHLET WRITTEN WITH THIS VIEW BY M. FONTANES. NECESSITY FOR DISAVOWING THAT PAMPHLET. LUCIEN BONAPARTE DEPRIVED OF THE MINISTRY OF THE INTERIOR, AND SENT AS ENVOY TO SPAIN. WHILE the Osiris was conveying to Europe the news of what had occurred on the banks of the Nile, there left England orders altogether con- trary to those which had been sent before. The observations of sir Sidney Smith had been favour- ably received in London. The government had been fearful of disavowing the acts of an English officer who had represented himself as invested with powers from his government ; it had, more than all, discovered the falsity of the intercepted despatches, and better appreciated the difficulty of taking Egypt out of the hands of the French army. It therefore ratified the convention of El-Arisch, and desired lord Keith to see it executed. But there was no longer time, as has been already seen ; the convention was at that moment torn in pieces, sword in hand; and the French re-esta- blished in the possession of Egypt, would not now abandon the country. The English ministry were destined to reap the fruit of their levity in bitter regret, and to sustain violent attacks hi parliament for their conduct. The first consul, upon his part, received with joy the tidings of the consolidation of his conquest. Unhappily the news of the death and exploits of Kle"ber arrived nearly at the some moment. His regrets were deep and sincere. He rarely dissimulated, and only when forced to do so by some duty or great interest, but it was always done with effort, because his vivacity of temper rendered dissimulation difficult. In the narrow circle of his family and counsellors, he never dis- guised any thing ; he exhibited his affection and aversion with extreme violence. It was among his intimate friends he betrayed the grief caused by the death of Klelaer. He did not regret in him a friend, as he did in Desaix ; he regretted a great general, an able commander, more capable than any other man to secure the establishment of the French in Egypt an establishment which he regarded as his finest work, of which the defini- tive success alone could change from a brilliant essay into a great and solid undertaking. Time, like a river, carries along with it all that 1800. June. Active preparations for the succour of the Egyptian amiy. THE ARMISTICE. Blockade of Malta. Character of Rey- nier, Menem, and Lanusse. Menou confirmed in the command. 137 man flings into its rapid waters time has swal- lowed up the odious falsehoods invented by party malice. Still there is one of them which it is instructive to mention here, although long since completely forgotten. The royalist agents reported, and the English newspapers circulated, that Desaix and Kle"ber, having given umbrage to the first con- sul, they had been both assassinated by his orders, one at Marengo, the other at Cairo. There were not wanting miserable fools who believed this, while to-day people are almost ashamed to recall such base imputations. Those who fabricate such infamous falsehoods, should sometimes place them- selves before posterity ; they would then blush, if they could, at the denial that time had prepared for them. The first consul had already given pressing orders to the fleets of Brest and Rochfort, to pre- pare to sail into the Mediterranean. Although the finances were in an improved state, still obliged to make great efforts on land, the first consul was not able to do at sea all that he had judged neces- sary. At the same time he omitted nothing to place the great Brest fleet in a state to put to sea. He urged the court of Spain for the neces- sary orders to admirals Gravina and Mazzaredo, commanding the Spanish division to concur in the movements of the French. By the united squadrons of the two nations, blockaded in Brest for a year past, a force of forty sail of the line would be formed. The first consul wished that, profiting by the putting to sea of this large naval force, the French vessels disposable at L' Orient, Rochefort, and Toulon, and the Spanish vessels dis- posable at Ferrol, Cadiz, and Carthagena, should join the combined fleet, so as to augment its strength. These different movements were to be conducted in such a mode as to deceive the English, and throw them into great perplexity, during which admiral Ganteaume, taking with him the best sailers, was to slip off and carry to Egypt six thousand chosen men, numerous workmen, and an immense materiel. Spain consented very willingly to this com- bination, which for her had at least the advantage of recalling into the Mediterranean, and conse- quently into her own ports, the squadron of Gra- vina, uselessly blockaded in Brest harbour. She saw no other objection than that arising from the bad condition of the two fleets, and their wretched equipment. The first consul did his best to re- move this objection, and the vessels of both nations were quickly provided with the stores that were most necessary. In the mean time he was anxious that the army of Egypt should receive intelligence from him every five or six days. He gave orders that from all the ports in the Mediterranean, Spain and Italy included, brigs and small vessels, mere merchantmen, should sail with balls, shells, lead, powder, muskets, sabres, timber for car- riages, medicines, bark, grain, wine, all in fact that could be wanted in Egypt. He ordered further, that each of these small vessels should carry workmen masons, smiths, gunners, or picked horsemen. He had vessels chartered for this pur- pose at Carthagena, Barcelona, Port-Vendres, Marseilles, Toulon, Antibes, Savona, Genoa, Bastia, St. Florent, and other parts. He bargained with the merchants of Algiers to send cargoes of wine to Egypt, of which the army was destitute. By his order a troop of comedians was provided with all that was required for a theatre, the whole to sail for Alexandria. The best Paris journals were ordered to be sent to the principal officers of the army, that they might know all that was going on in Europe. Nothing was neglected, in one word, of all that would be expected to sustain the spirit of the excited soldiers, and to keep them in con- stant communication with the parent country '. Several of these vessels were of course likely to be captured ; but the larger number had the chance of arriving safe, and did actually arrive, because the extended coast of the Delta could not be strictly guarded. The same success did not attend the attempts made to revictual Malta, which the Eng- lish kept in a state of rigorous blockade. They made it a most important object to take this second Gibraltar, knowing that here the blockade was certain of proving effective ; because Malta is a rock that can only be supplied by sea, while Egypt is a large country that supplies its neighbours and itself. They persevered, therefore, with great strictness in the investment of the island, and in inflicting upon it the horrors of famine. The gal- lant general Vaubois. having at his disposal four thousand men, had no fear from being attacked ; but he saw, hour by hour, the diminution of the provisions required for the sustenance of his troops, and, unfortunately, did not receive from the ports of Corsica sufficient supplies to replace the daily consumption. The first consul directed his attention to select a commander capable of replacing Kleber in Egypt. The loss of this officer was painful, more par- ticularly in consideration of those who might be called to succeed him. If Desaix had remained in Egypt the mischief would have been easily re- paired ; but Desaix had come back, and was no more. Those who remained in Egypt were not equal to such a command. Reynier was a good officer, brought up in the school of the army of the Rhine, skilful and experienced, but cold, irresolute, and having no ascendancy over the men. Menou was well-informed, brave, enthusiastic in favour of the expedition, but not capable of managing an army; and rendered ridiculous from having mar- ried a Turkish woman and professed the Maho- metan faith. He called himself Abdallah Menou, which became a subject of jesting to the soldiers, and much diminished the respect with which a commamler-in-chief should be ever invested. Ge- neral Lanusse was brave and intelligent, full of a warmth which he knew how to communicate to others. He appeared to the first consul to merit tile preference, although he was deficient in pru- dence. But general Menou had taken the com- mand from seniority. It was difficult to secure the arrival of an order in Egypt ; the English might intercept it ; and by not publishing it word for word, raise a suspicion of its real meaning in such a way as to render the command uncertain, to raise divisions iimong the generals, and to dis- tract the colony. He left things, therefore, in the same state, and confirmed Menou, not believing him, indeed, as incapable as he really proved himself to be. > These particulars are all extracted from the voluminous correspondence of the first consul with the departments of war and of the marine. European affairs. Conduct The emperor's letter to 138 of the Austrian govern- TRIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. Bonaparte. Inrtruc- ment. tions to St. Julien. 1800. July. It is necessary now to return to Europe, in order to see what is passing in the theatre of the great events of the world. The letter which the first consul had addressed from Marengo itself to the emperor of Germany, was brought to him with the news of the loss of that battle. The court of Vienna was now aware of the fault it committed in repelling the offers of the first consul at the beginning of the winter ; in obstinately crediting that France was so reduced as not to be able to continue the war ; in refusing to believe in the existence of the army of reserve ; and in pushing Me'las so blindly into the gorges of the Apennines. The influence "of M. Thugut was considerably diminished, because it was to him alone that were to be imputed all these errors in conduct and fore- sight. Still to these faults, already so great, he added another, not less so, in forming a closer alliance with England than ever, under the im- pression of the disaster of Marengo. Until now the cabinet of Vienna had declined the English subsidies 1 ; but it thought right to obtain as soon as possible the means of repairing the losses of the campaign, whether to enable it to treat more advantageously with France, or to place itself in a better condition to renew the struggle with her, if her demands were too exorbitant Austria therefore accepted 2,500,000?. sterling, or 62,000,000 f. J In return for this subsidy, Austria agreed not to make peace with France before the month of February following, unless the peace was common both to Austria and England. The treaty was signed on the 20th of June, 1800, the same day that the disastrous news arrived from Italy. Austria was thus bound up to the fortunes of England for seven months to come; but she hoped to pass the summer In negotiating, and to see winter arrive before hostilities recommenced. In other respects the cabinet of Austria was in- clined to peace; and only wished to negotiate in common with England, and above all, not to be obliged to make too many sacrifices in Italy. On this condition she desired nothing better than to conclude it. The emperor employed to be bearer of his letter to the first consul the same officer who had brought 1 [If the difference between a loan never to be repaid and sum of money given directly, can be defined, M. Thiers is undoubtedly correct. Austria got 1,600,000 from England in 1795 ; in 1797, 1,600,000, under the name of loam: not one shilling of which advances she ever returned. The first money given under the name of "subsidy" was sent, as M Thiers observes, in 1800. The present thus made to renew defeats similar to that of Marengo, was 1,066,666. Thus England paid towards the continued reverses of Austria alone, up to 1800, or in five years, no less than 7,266,660.] Trarulator. * [This sum is erroneous. The whole of the siibsidiei pre- sented by England to different European states in 1800, ac- cording to our own returns, were Germany, or Austria 1,066,666 German princes 500,000 Bavaria 501,017 Ruwia 545,494 2,618,177 M. Thlen teems to imagine that all was presented to Aus- tria, or about 2,500,000.] Trantlator. him the letter from Italy, written at Marengo, M. St. Julien, in whom he 'reposed great con- fidence. The reply was this time directed and addressed personally to general Bonaparte. It contained the ratification of the double armistice, signed in Germany and Italy, and an invitation to explain confidentially, and with perfect frankness, the basis of a future negotiation. M. St. Julien had a special order to sound the first consul about the conditions on which France would be willing to sign a peace; and, on the other side, to explain enough of the intentions of the emperor to induce the French cabinet to discover its own. The letter of which M. Julien was the bearer, full of flattering and pacific protestations, contained a passage in which the object of his mission was clearly specified. " I am writing to my generals," said his imperial majesty, "to confirm the two armistices and re- gulate their details. In regard to other matters, I have sent to you the major-general of my armies, count St. Julien; he is in possession of my instruc- tions, and commanded to call to your attention, how essential it is not to enter into public nego- tiations, likely to deliver so many nations to hopes, perhaps illusory, until after having known, at least in a general way, if the bases which you would propose for peace are such as will enable us to flatter ourselves with an arrival at so desirable an object. Vienna, July 5, 1800." The emperor let fall, towards the conclusion of his letter, the engagements which connected him with England, and which made him desire a peace common to both the belligerent powers. M. St. Julien arrived in Paris on the 21st of July, or 2nd Thermidor, hi the year vin., and was received with the greatest cordiality and attention. He was the first envoy, for a long while, sent from the emperor, who had made his appearance in France. People welcomed him as the representative of a great sovereign, and as the messenger of peace. We have already spoken of the lively desire the first consul felt to put an end to the war. No one contested with him the glory of battles; he now wished for glory of another kind; less brilliant, but more novel, and, at that moment, more advan- tageous to his authority that of pacifying France and Europe. In his ardent mind desires were passions. He sought peace then as he afterwards sought war. Talleyrand desired it as much as the first consul, for he was already fond of assuming the part of moderator about Bonaparte. It was an excellent part to play, particularly at a later period ; but now to press the first consul to peace was to add one impatience to another, and to compromise the result by hastening the event too much. The day after his arrival, July 22nd, or 3rd of Thermidor, M. St. Julien was invited to a confer- ence with the minister for foreign affairs. They conversed on the reciprocal desire felt to terminate the war, and on the best mode to succeed in that object. M. St. Julien listened to all that was said to him upon the conditions under which peace might be concluded, and, on his side, hinted at all that the emperor his master desired. Talleyrand too hastily imagined that M. St. Julien had secret and sufficient instructions to treat, and proposed, in consequence, that they should not confine them- 1800. July. Conference between St. Julien and Talleyrand. THE ARMISTICE. Minutes of the preliminary treaty signed by St. Julien. 139 selves to a mere convention, but reduce to writing preliminary articles for a peace. M. St. Julien, who was not authorized to commit himself in so serious an affair, because the engagements between Austria and England were absolutely in opposition to it; M. St. Julien objected, that he had no power to conclude a treaty. Talleyrand replied, that the letter of the emperor completely authorized him ; and that if he would agree to some prelimi- nary articles, and sign them, with the reservation of their ulterior ratification, the French cabinet, upon the simple letter of the emperor, would con- sider him sufficiently accredited. M. St. Julieu, who was a soldier, and had no experience in diplo- macy, was simple enough to make Talleyrand ac- quainted with his ignorance of forms and his embarrassment, and to ask him what he would do in his place. " I should sign," said Talleyrand. "Very well, then; let it be so," replied M. St. Julien; " I 'will sign the preliminary articles, which shall not be esteemed valid until they have received the ratification of my sovereign." " Most undoubtedly not," replied Talleyrand ; " no engagements are valid between nations but such as have been ratified." This strange manner of communicating their powers to each other, is to be found specified at full length in the protocol of the negotiation still in existence. The minutes are dated the 23d, 24th, 2?th, and 28th of July, or 4th, 5th, 8th, and 9th of Thermidor in the year vm. All the important sub- jects for arrangement between the two countries were discussed, and the treaty of Campo Formio adopted as the basis of the negotiation, with a few modifications. Thus the emperor abandoned to the republic the boundary of the Rhine, from the point where that river leaves the Swiss territories, to that where it enters upon the Batavian limits. Under that article M. St. Julien required and ob- tained a change in the language. He wished the expression, " The emperor concedes the line of the Rhine," to be changed into " The emperor does not oppose the conservation of the limits of the Rhine by the French republic." This mode of expression had for its object to answer the reproaches which might be made by the Germanic body, that had accused the emperor of delivering up to France the territory of the confederation. It was agreed that France should not retain on the right bank of the Rhine any of the fortified posts, such as Kehl, Ehrenbreitstein, or Cassel, that the works should be razed; but that, on the other hand, the Germans should not throw up any works of earth, or ma- sonry, within three leagues of the river. Thus far for the boundary limits between France and Germany. It remained to settle those that be- longed to Austria and Italy. The fifth secret ar- ticle of the treaty of Campo Formio, had stipulated that Austria should receive in Germany, an indem- nity for certain lordships which she had conceded on the left bank of the Rhine, independently of the Low Countries, which she had long before given up to France.' The bishoprick of Salzburg was to comprise this indemnity. The emperor would have been better pleased to have had the indemnity in Italy, because the acquisitions which he obtained in Germany, particularly the ecclesiastical princi- palities, were hardly new acquisitions, the court of Vienna having already in those principalities an influence and privileges which were nearly equiva- lent to a direct sovereignty. On the contrary, the acquisitions that it obtained in Italy had the ad- vantage of giving the emperor countries over which he had not before the slightest influence or power; above all, extending its frontier and its influence in a country, the object of the continued ambition of the emperor's family. From the same motives France preferred that Austria should indemnify herself in Germany rather than Italy. Nevertheless, this last point was given up. The treaty of Campo Formio threw Austria upon the Adige, and gave to the Cisalpine republic, the Mincio and the celebrated fortress of Mantua. The desire of Austria, at this time, was to obtain the Mincio, Mantua, and the Legations, which was an exorbitant demand. The first consul was willing to go as far as the Mincio and Mantua, but he would not yield the Legations at any rate. He would do no more than consent that they should be given to the grand duke of Tus- cany, on condition that in return Tuscany should be bestowed upon the grand duke of Parma, and the duchy of Parma on the Cisalpine. The grand duke of Parma would be a considerable gainer by this exchange, which would be a satisfaction ac- corded to Spain, in what respect will be shown hereafter. M. St. Julien replied, that on this last point his sovereign was not prepared to give a definitive re- solution. That the translations of sovereign powers from one country to another were little conform- able to his political views ; and that it was, in fact, a point to be regulated at a later period. In order to evade the difficulty, the negotiators were con- tent to say, in the preliminary articles, that Austria should receive in Italy the territorial indemnities previously granted to her in Germany. The Austrian officer, thus metamorphosed into a plenipotentiary, testified, in his sovereign's name, great interest for the independence of Switzerland, but little for that of Piedmont, and insinuated that France could pay herself there, for what she gave up in Lombardy to the house of Austria. Thus they stayed their proceedings at very general points; the limits of the Rhine for France, with the demolition of the fortresses of Kehl, Cas- sel, and Ehrenbreitstein ; particular indemnities for Austria taken in Italy in place of Germany, which signified that Austria would not be reduced within the limits of the Adige. But it must be said, that not only was it vain to treat with a powerless plenipotentiary, but that there was something yet more vain in considering articles preliminary to peace, articles in which the sole questionable part, for which the emperor had gone to war, namely, the frontier of Austria in Italy, as resolving that point even in the most general manner. As to the boundary of the Rhine, nobody had for a long time before thought seriously of contesting that frontier. To the foregoing articles were added some ac- cessary arrangements; it was, for example, agreed that a congress should be immediately held; that during this congress, hostilities should be sus- pended, the levies en 1x000 making in Tuscany be disbanded, and the disembarkation threatened in Italy by the English be delayed. M. St. Julien, whom the desire to play an im- portant character had carried beyond all reason- St. Julien exceeds his powers. Bonaparte's instructions to . Rnn 140 He returns to Vienna, ac- TRIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. Duroc. Views of Prus- companied by Duroc. sia and Russia. July. able bounds, had felt, from time to time, scruples upon the bold and singular step which he had per- mitted himself to take. In order to make him easy upon the matter, Talleyrand agreed to give him a promise, upon his word of honour, that the preliminary articles should remain a secret, and that they should not be considered as possessing any value whatever until they were ratified by the emperor. On the 28th of July, 1800, or 9th Thermidor, year vin., these famous preliminaries were signed at the hotel of Talleyrand, being the office for foreign affairs, to the great delight of Tal- leyrand, who seeing M. St. Julien so well prepared to answer every question, seriously believed that officer had secret instructions for the purpose. Such was not, however, the case; and if M. St. Julien was so well-informed, it was only because they desired at Vienna to put him in a position to provoke and to receive the confidential communications of the first consul, relative to the articles of the future treaty. The French minister had not been able to penetrate into this circumstance, and by the desire to fulfil an act bearing a resemblance to a treaty, he had committed a serious fault. The first consul, not occupying himself with the forms observed by the two negotiators, and trust- ing entirely in that regard to Talleyrand, never thought for his own part of doing more than of making Austria explain her own objects, to ascer- tain if she wished for peace, and to force it from her by a new campaign if she appeared to have no desire to make it. But for this purpose it would have been better to call upon her for an explanation within a given period of time, than to enter into an illusory and puerile negotiation, in which the consequence might be a compromise of the dignity of the two nations, and thus a final reconciliation be rendered more difficult. M. St. Julien did not think it right to wait in Paris for the reply of the emperor, as he had been requested to do, but wished to carry the pre- liminaries to Vienna himself, without doubt for the purpose of explaining to his master the motives of his singular conduct. He left Paris on the 30th of July, or llth of Themidor, accompanied by Duroc, whom the first consul sent into Austria, as he had been before sent into Prussia, to observe the court narrowly, and giv it an advantageous idea of the moderation and policy of the new government. Duroc, as we have elsewhere ob- served, by his good sense and excellent bearing, was well fitted for similar missions. The first consul had, besides, given him written instructions, in which he had provided for every thing with the most minute attention. In the first instance, upon any circumstance occurring which might lead to an inference of the intentions of Austria in respect to the preliminaries, he was to send off a courier to Paris immediately. Until the ratification he was recommended to keep a perfect silence, and to appear ignorant in every respect of the in- tentitms of the first consul. If the ratification was t conceded, lie was authorized to say, in a positive manner, that the peace might be signed in twenty- four hours, if it was sincerely desired. He was to make it known, in some way, that if Austria con- tented herself with the Mincio, the Fossa-Maestra, and the Po, which was the line marked out by the convention of Alexandria ; that if, further, she admitted the translation of the duke of Parma to Tuscany, and of the duke of Tuscany to the Le- gations, there was no obstacle to an immediate conclusion. Those instructions contained further rules respecting the language to be used for all the subjects which might arise in conversation. Duroc was forbidden to lend himself to any jokes against Prussia and Russia, which were then little loved at Vienna, because they were not parties in the coalition. He was recommended to maintain a great reserve in regard to the emperor Paul, whose character was a subject of raillery at every court; he was to speak well of the king of Prussia; to visit the grand duke of Tuscany, to let none of those passions be visible which the revolution had excited, neither on one side nor the other. Royalists and Jacobins in France were to be spoken of as if they were as ancient as the Guelphs and Ghibelines in Italy. He was desired to show no dislike towards the emigrants, except, indeed, to such as had borne arms against the republic. He was ordered to say, upon every occasion, that France was, of all the countries of Europe, the most at- tached to its government, because it was that of all the European governments which had afforded its government an opportunity of doing the most good. Lastly, he was to represent the first consul as having no prejudices, neither of the old times nor of the present, and as being indifferent to the attacks of the English press, because he did not understand English. Duroc set oft' with M. St. Julien, and although the secret of the preliminaries had been kept, still the numerous conferences of the envoy of the emperor with Talleyrand had been remarked by every body, and people said loudly that he was the bearer of the conditions of a peace. The prodigious success of the French in Italy and in Germany naturally exercised a considerable influence, not only in Austria, but in all the courts of Europe, friendly or inimical to France. At the news of the battle of Marengo, Prussia, still ruled by the neutral system, was kindly in- clined to France according to the turn of events ; Prussia had expressed a warm admiration of the first consul, and never said again, from that moment, a single word which could put in doubt the assignment to France of the entire line of the Rhine. The only thing she now considered was, that justice might be done in the partition of the indemnities due to all those who had lost territory on the left bank of that river, and that discretion might be preserved in settling the limits of the great states. She added, that it was right to be firm towards Austria, and to repress her insatiable ambition. Such was the language held every day to the French ambassador at Berlin. M. Haugwitz, and particularly the king, Frede- rick William, whose kindness was sincere, informed general Beurnonville daily of the rapid progress the first consul m;ide in the regard of Paul I. As has been seen already, this prince, fickle and en- thusiastic, passed during a few months from a chivalric passion against the French revolution, to an admiration beyond all limit for the man who was now its representative. He had begun to bear a downright hatred towards Austria und England. Although through this change a great result had been obtained in the inactive position of 1800. July. Bonaparte sends back the Russian prisoners, and gives up Malta to the emperor. THE ARMISTICE. Effect of these actions on Paul. Mediation of M. Uaugwitz. 141 the Russians on the Vistula, the first consul as- pired to something better still. He wished to enter directly into relations with the emperor Paul, who was suspicious that Prussia prolonged the existing equivocal state of things, that she might be the only intermediate party in our relations with the most weighty of the northern powers. He hit upon the means which obtained complete success. There remained in. France six or seven thousand Russians taken prisoners the preceding year, not having been exchanged because Russia had no prisoners to offer for that purpose. The first consul had proposed to England and to Austria, that having in his hands a great number of Russian soldiers and seamen, they should be exchanged, Russians against French. Both nations certainly owed to Russia such a courtesy, because the Russians had been made captives in serving the designs of the English and Austrians. Still the proposition was refused. Immediately on this, the first consul conceived the happy idea of re- turning to Paul, without any conditions, all the prisoners in his possession. This was a generous and dexterous action, little onerous for France, that had nothing to do with the prisoners, since French- men were not to be procured in exchange. The first consul accompanied the act with proceedings the most likely to act upon the susceptible heart of Paul I. He had the Russians armed and clothed in the uniforms of their sovereign ; he even gave up to the officers their colours and their arras. He next wrote a letter to count Panin, the Russian minister for foreign affairs at St. Petersburg, inform- ing him, that as Austria and England had refused to give their liberty to the soldiers of the czar, who had become prisoners of war in serving the cause of these powers, the first consul would not in- definitely detain these brave men, but send them back to the emperor unconditionally ; this being, upon his part, a testimony of consideration for the Russian army, an army of which the French had acquired the knowledge and esteem upon the field of battle. This letter was sent by the way of Hamburg, and transmitted by M. de Bourgoing, the French minister in Denmark, to M. Muraview, the minis- ter of Russia in that city. But such was the fear of Paul I. among his own agents, that M. Muraview refused to receive the letter, not daring to break the anterior order of his own cabinet, which interdicted all communication with the representatives of France. M. Muraview con- tented himself with reporting to the court of St. Petersburg what had occurred, and made known to it the existence and contents of the letter of which he had refused to take charge. Upon this the first consul added another and still more effi- cacious advance towards the Russian monarch. Seeing plainly that Malta could not hold out much longer, and that the island, rigorously blockaded, would soon be obliged to surrender to the English for want of provisions, he conceived the idea of making it a present to the emperor Paul. It was well known that this prince was an enthusiastic admirer of the old orders of chivalry, and of that of Malta more particularly, having got himself to be elected under the title of grand master of St. John of Jerusalem ; that he had determined to establish that religious and chivalric institution, and that he held in St. Petersburg frequent chap- ters of the order, for the object of conferring the decoration upon the princes and great personages of Europe. It was impossible to captivate his heart more completely than by offering him this island, which was the seat of the order of which he wished to be the head. The thing was admirably conceived under every point of view. Either the English, who were on the eve of its capture, would consent to its restitution, and thus it would be out of their hands ; or they would refuse, and Paul I. was capable for such an object to declare war against them. M. Sergijeff, a Russian officer, who was detained in France as a prisoner of war, was this time charged to proceed to St. Petersburg, carrying the two letters relative to the prisoners and to Malta. When these different communications arrived in St. Petersburg, they produced their inevitable effect. Paul was greatly touched, and from this time gave himself up without reserve to his ad- miration for the first consul. He selected im- mediately an old Finland officer, once a Swedish subject, and a very respectable man, exceedingly well disposed towards France, and much in favour at the Russian court. He was nominated governor of Malta, and ordered to put himself at the head of the six thousand Russian prisoners who were in France, and to go with that force well organised, and take possession of Malta, to be delivered up to him by the hands of the French. Paul ordered him to go by Paris, and to thank the first consul publicly. To this demonstration Paul added a step of much greater efficiency. He enjoined M. Krudener, his minister at Berlin, who had some months before been charged to renew the con- nexion between Russia and Prussia, to enter into a direct communication with general Beurnonville, the French ambassador, and furnished him with necessary powers to negotiate a treaty with France. M. Haugwitz, who perhaps found that the re- conciliation proceeded too rapidly, since Prussia would lose her character of a mediator the first moment that the cabinets of Russia and France were in direct communication, arranged so as to be himself the ostensible agent of this reconcilia- tion. Thus far M. Krudener and M. de Beumon- ville had met at Berlin with the ministers of the different courts without speaking. M. Haugwitz invited both to dinner one day : after dinner he brought them together, and then left them by themselves in his own garden, that they might have the means of the more perfect explanation. M. Krudener expressed his regret to general Beuruonville that he had never been able before to enjoy the society of the French legation; made an excuse for the refusal given at Hamburg to the receipt of the first consul's letter, because of the existence of the anterior order ; and last of all entered into a long explanation of the new dis- position of his sovereign. He announced to'gene- ral Beurnonville, that M. Sprengporten had been sent an envoy to Paris ; and stated to him the lively satisfaction that Paul I. had felt in learning the restitution of the prisoners, and the offer to restore Malta to the order of St. John of Jerusa- lem. He passed at last from these subjects to the more important one of all; in other words, to the conditions of a peace. Russia and France had no Interview between the Rus- between France and Russia. 142 sian and French ministers TRIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. -Reflections upon Bona- *' at Berlin. Reconciliation parte's genius and success. ** quarrel between themselves. They were not at war for any interest connected with commerce or territory; but on account of a dissimilarity in their forms of government. They had nothing more to do, therefore, in regard to what immediately con- cerned themselves, but to write one article, de- claring that peace was re-established between the two powers. This fact alone indicated how un- reasonable the war had been. But the war had brought alliances in its train, and Paul, who piqued himself upon fidelity to his engagements, demanded only a single condition, which was, that his allies should be taken care of. They were four in number, Bavaria, Wurtemberg, Piedmont, and Naples; for these four he asked the integrity of their territories. Nothing was more facile than to introduce an explanatory clause to this effect, that the conditions should be regarded as fulfilled, if those princes obtained an indemnity for the provinces which the French republic might take from them. This point was thus understood and admitted by M. Krudener. The secularisation of the ecclesiastical estates in Germany, and their proportional partition amongst the lay princes, who had lost a part or all of their territories in consequence of the abandonment of the left bank of the Rhine to France, was in effect a matter long assented to by every body. It had been ad- mitted in the congress of Rastadt under the directory. The arrangement was not less easy as regarded the Italian princes, the allies of Paul I. Piedmont lost Nice and Savoy ; she might be indemnified in Italy, if the ambition of Austria in that country was kept under due restraint, and not permitted to extend itself too far. On this subject Paul I., greatly irritated against the cabinet of Vienna, said, like Prussia, that Austria must be kept down ; and was not inclined to grant her that which it was possible to refuse. In regard to the kingdom of Naples, France had nothing to take from it, but France had offensive conduct to punish and outrages to avenge. Still the first consul was willing to pardon her upon one con- dition, which was of a nature to please Paul I., as ill-disposed towards the English as towards the Austrians; it was that the cabinet of Naples should expiate its faults by a formal rupture with Great Britain. On all these topics there was a pretty near agreement, and every day there must have been a closer approximation, from the active movement of affairs, and from the impatient character of Paul I., who from a state of discon- tent with his former allies, was about to pass, without transition, into a state of open hostility. The reconciliation of France with Russia was thus nearly accomplished, and even made public, because the departure of M. Sprengporten from Paris had been officially announced. Paul I., the furious enemy of France, thus became its friend, against the powers, of the old coalition. The glory and the profound dexterity of the first consul had produced this singular change. A circumstance at once fortuitous and important was about to make it more complete; this was the quarrel of the neutral powers, increased by the violence of Eng- land upon the high seas. It seemed as if every thing at that time united to favour the designs of the first consul ; and we are induced to admire at the same moment his good fortune as well as his genius. On regarding the affairs of this lower world, one is almost tempted to say, that Fortune loves youth, it so wonderfully seconds the early years of great men. But let us not, like the ancient poets, make her blind and capricious. If she favours so often the youth of great men, as she did of Hannibal, Caesar, and Napoleon, it is because they have not yet abused her favours. Bonaparte was then happy, because he was worthy to be so; because he had reason on his side against all the world : at home against party, abroad against the powers of Europe. At home he would have nothing but justice and order; abroad, peace, but a peace advantageous and glorious, such as he has a right to desire who was not the aggressor, and who had himself known how to be victorious. Thus the world would reconcile itself with France represented by a great man, at once just and powerful ; and if this great man had met with fortunate circumstances, there was not one of which he had not himself been the cause, and by which he had not profited with skill. It was but a little before, that one of his lieutenants, antici- pating his commands, hastened at the sound of cannon to give him victory at Marengo; but what had he not done to prepare the way for that vic- tory ? Now a prince, struck with insanity, seated upon one of the first thrones in the world, became an easy prey to his diplomatic talents; with what clever condescension had he not nattered his folly ? England, by her conduct on the ocean, was soon about to recall to France all the maritime powers; it will soon be seen with what art he set about managing them, and casting upon England the charge of all the violence. Fortune, the capricious mistress of great men, is not so capricious then as some would fain represent her. All is not caprice when she favours them, or caprice when she aban- dons them. In these pretended infidelities the errors are, in general, not upon her side. Let us speak a more correct language, more worthy of an important subject: Fortune, the pagan name given to the power which regulates all sublunary things, is but Providence befriending genius when it walks in the path of rectitude, or, in other words, in the way designated by infinite wisdom. The fortunate circumstance which was about to rally definitively the powers of the north around the policy of the first consul, and to procure him auxiliaries upon the element where he had the greatest necessity for finding them, in other words, upon the sea, happened thus. The English had committed fresh outrages upon neutrals. They would not suffer the Russians, the Danes, the Swedes, and the Americans, to enter freely all the ports of the world, and to lend their flags to the trade of France and Spain. They had already violated the independence of the neutral flag, more particularly in regard to America ; and it was because the Americans had not sufficiently de- fended it, that the directory showed its anger by subjecting them to treatment almost as rigorous as that they received from the English. Bona- parte had repaired this error by annulling the harshest of the regulations enforced by the direc- tory ; by the institution of the tribunal of prizes charged with administering better justice to cap- tured vessels ; by rendering homage in the person of Washington to the whole of America ; and, 1800. July. Condition! of maritime neutrality. THE ARMISTICE. Arguments advanced by England for the right of search. 143 finally, by calling to Paris negotiators, in order to establish with her relations of amity and com- merce. It was at this very moment that England, as if irritated by the bad success of her policy, seemed to become more oppressive towards neu- trals. Already the most offensive acts had been committed by her upon the high seas; but the last exceeded all bounds, not only of justice, but of the commonest prudence. This is not the place for entering upon all the details of that serious dispute ; it will suffice to mention its main points. The neutrals assorted that the war, which the great nations chose to wage with each other, ought not in any manner to cramp their trade, that they had even a right to carry on the commerce of which the belligerent parties had voluntarily deprived themselves. They claimed, in consequence, the right of entering freely all the ports of the world, and of navigating between the ports of the belligerents; of going, for example, from France and Spain to England, and from England to Spain and France, and, what was less reasonable, of going from the colonies to the mother-country, as from Mexico to Spain, for the purpose of carrying the precious metals, which, but for their interference, could not reach Europe. They maintained that the flag covered the merchandise, or, in other words, that the flag of a nation, not concerned in the war, covered against every species of search the mer- chandize conveyed in such vessels ; that on board of them French merchandise could not be seized by the English, nor English merchandise by the French ; as a Frenchman, for instance, would have been inviolable on the quays of Copenhagen, or of St. Petersburg, for the British power : in short, that the vessel of a neutral nation was as sacred as the quays of its capital. The neutrals only consented to one exception. They acknowledged that they ought not to carry goods used for purposes of war; because it was con- trary to the idea of neutrality itself, that they should furnish one belligerent power with arms against another. But they understood that this interdiction should be limited solely to objects fabricated for warlike purposes, such as muskets, cannon, powder, projectiles, and articles of equip- ment of every kind ; as to provisions, they would not admit the interdiction of any, except such as were prepared for the usage of armies, as biscuit for example. If they admitted an exception as to the nature of transportable merchandise, they admitted of another, in respect to the place to be entered, on the condition that it should be strictly defined. The second exception was, as to the ports really and truly blockaded, and guarded by a naval force capable of laying siege to, or reducing them by famine, under a state of blockade. In such a case it was admitted that, to run into a blockaded port, was threatening one of the two nations in the use of its right, by preventing it from taking the places of its enemy by famine or attack ; that it was con- sequently affording aid to one of the two against the other. But they demanded that the blockade should be preceded by formal declarations, that the block- ade be real, and executed by such a force that there would be imminent danger in violating it. They would not admit that by a simple declaration of blockade, either party should be able to interdict at pleasure, by means of a pure fiction, the entry of such and such a port, or to exclude from the entire extent of certain coasts. Lastly, it was necessary to discover whether a vessel really belonged to the nation whose flag she hoisted, whether or not she carried merchandise qualified as contraband of war. The neutrals con- sented to be searched, but it was required that the search should be made with a certain regard to civility, to be agreed upon and faithfully kept. In particular, it was considered essential that mer- chant-ships should not be searched if convoyed by a man-of-war. The military, or royal flag, must, according to them, have the privilege of being cre- dited on its word, when it affirmed, upon the honour of its nation, that the vessels under convoy, were of the nation in the first place ; and, in the second, that they carried no interdicted goods. If it were different, they said, a brig only while cruizing, might stop a convoy, and with that convoy a fleet- of-war, perhaps an admiral. Who could know ? Even a privateer might stop M. De Suffren, or Lord Nelson ! Thus, the doctrine sustained by the neutrals, might be resolved into four main points. The flag covered the merchandise; that is to say, it interdicted the search for an enemy's merchan- dise on board a neutral vessel, a stranger to the belligerents. No merchandise to be interdicted, but such as is contraband of war. The contraband confined wholly to the objects fabricated for the use of armies. Corn, for example, and naval stores not included. Access could not be interdicted to any port, un- less such a port be really blockaded. Lastly, no vessel under convoy could be visited. Such were the principles supported by France, Prussia, Denmark, Sweden, Russia, and America, in other words, by the immense majority of na- tions; principles founded upon a respect for the rights of others, but absolutely contested by England. She maintained, in effect, that, under those re- gulations, the commerce of her enemies would be carried on without any obstacle by means of neu- trals (which, by the by, was not correct, for that commerce could not be continued by means of neu- trals, without giving up to them the greater part of the profits, and causing the nation obliged to have recourse to them, an immense loss). She insisted on seizing French or Spanish property wherever it might be. She maintained that certain merchan- dises, such as corn, and naval stores, were real suc- cours to a country at war ; she desired that a de- claration of blockade should be sufficient without the presence of a naval force to interdict the en- trance to certain ports or coasts ; lastly, that neu- trals, under the pretext of convoy, should not escape the examination of the belligerent powers. If it be desirable to know what was the founda- tion of the important interest concealed under this sophism of the public writers of England, here it may be found. England wished to hinder the car- riage to the Spaniards of the rich metals of Mexico, the great source of Spanish opulence ; to the French, the sugar and coffee, without which they are unable to live ; to the one and the other, the timber, iron, and hemp of the north, necessary for their ships. She would have wished to be able to starve them in case of deficient harvests, as she 144 League of neutrality of Catherine of Russia. TRIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. English attack upon neu- trai convoys.-Affair of Barcelona. , _. did, for example, in 1793 ; she wished for the power of closing the ports of entire countries with- out the obligation of a real blockade ; lastly, she desired, by means of searches, vexations, smd. ob- stacles of all kinds, to ruin the trade of every na- tion; so that war, which, for commercial countries, is a state of distress, should become for her mer- chants, what it truly was, a time of monopoly and of extraordinary prosperity. In regard to the Americans, she had an intention still more ini- quitous ; it was to take from them their seamen, under the pretext that they were English ; a con- fusion easy to make, owing to the uniformity of the language. In 1780, during the American war, Catherine the Great had formed a league of neutrals, to resist these pretences. The first consul, profiting by the now-born friendship of Paul, the irritating wrongs of neutrals, and the outrageous violence of the English, set every effort at work to form a similar league in 1800. At this moment the dispute presented itself only under one form, in the right of search. The Danes and Swedes, to escape the vexations of the English cruizers, had devised the plan of sailing in numer- ous convoys, escorted by frigates carrying the royal flag. It must be added, that they never dishonoured this flag, and took good care not to escort false Danes or Swedes, to cover the contraband of war, as it is denominated; they studied only how to escape vexations which were become unbearable. But the English, seeing in this only a manner of eluding the difficulty, and continuing the trade of neutrals, determined to continue the right of search, without regard to the convoying vessel. The preceding year two Swedish frigates, the Troya and the Hulla-Fersen, accompanying some Swedish vessels, were stopped by the English squadrons, and obliged to submit to the search of the convoy under their charge. The king of Sweden sent the two captains of the frigates to trial by a court-martial, for not defending them. The ex- ample had for a moment stopped the English, who feared they might be exposed to a rupture with the northern powers. They had, in consequence, been somewhat less rigorous with Swedish ships. But two recent examples had renewed the difficulty, and forced Sweden and Denmark to the utmost pitch of exasperation. In the winter of 1799-1800, the Danish frigate the Haufersen, captain Vandockum, who convoyed a fleet of merchantmen in the Mediterranean, was stopped by order of lord Keith ; he attempted to resist, was fired upon, and carried into Gibraltar. A very violent dispute followed upon the subject between the English and Danish cabinets. It was still in progress when, in the month of July, a Danish frigate, the Freya, escorting a convoy of its own nation, was met in the channel by an English squadron. The latter insisted on the right of search ; the commander of the Freya, captain Krabe, nobly resisted the summons of the English admiral, and refused to permit the search of his convoy. Force was employed with unnecessary violence ; captain Krabe defended himself until he was crippled, and he was obliged to surrender to the superiority of the enemy, as he had but a single ship to oppose to six men-of-war. The Freya was taken into the Downs. This event was soon followed by another of a different nature, but more odious and more seriow. Two Spanish frigates 1 were at anchor at the en- trance of the road of Barcelona. The English formed a scheme for capturing them. Here there was no question about the right of neutrals, but the committal of a complete piece of knavery, for the purpose of entering with impunity into an enemy's port without being recognized. They per- ceived in the roads a Swedish galliot, the Hoffnung, and resolved to make use of it for the act of bri- gandage which they had meditated. They manned their boats, boarded the galliot, clapped a pistol to the breast of the Swedish captain, and obliged him to sail quietly towards the Spanish frigates, which, having no mistrust of the Swedish flag, suffered her to come alongside. The English immediately rushed on board, surprised the two frigates, which had few hands on board, took, and left the harbour of Barcelona with their prey so dishonestly ac- quired. This circumstance produced an extraordinary sensation in Europe, and rendered every maritime nation indignant, whose rights the English were no longer satisfied with violating, but whose flag they outraged, by making them unconsciously serve the purpose of a most infamous piracy. Spain was already at war with Great Britain, she could do no more; but she had recourse to Sweden, whose flag had been usurped, to denounce the odious fact, as well for Sweden as for Spain *. It needed 1 [In this statement there is not one syllable of fact. True it is, that the English and French alike, in those days, stated the most extraordinary things of each other, without regard even to probability ; and history will pass many of them to posterity as facts. The Conception and La Pas, nearly four hundred tons each, and carrying twenty-two guns, were in the port of Barcelona, laden with provisions and stores ready for sea, on the sixth of September, 1800. The port was blockaded by the Minotaur and Niger, English ships of war, the boats of which, five or six in number, attacked the Spanish vessels and carried them. The cap- tain of the Conception fought well ; three of his men were killed and twenty-three wounded. The English had two killed and six wounded. The cowardly commander of the La Pas got into his boat on the other side of his vessel from that attacked, and pulled away. To cover his cowardice, he gave out that he was boarded in the way stated by M. Tillers, to shelter himself from the anger of his government. The fort of Mont Jouc fired on the English boats. Captain Louis, of the Minotaur, says, " The firing began from all quarters at nine ; about ten o'clock I had the pleasing satisfaction to see the two ships dropping out of the road, under a heavy fire from the vessels, four batteries, ten gun-boats, two schooners, with two forty-two pounders, the fort of Mount Jouc at the same time throwing shells." The Hoffhung, a Swedish galliot, was in the harbour at the time. Under the circumstances, such a use of that vessel would have been, in a naval sense, not possible.] Translator. * [The Spanish minister, De Huerta, complained of this affair to the Swedish chancellor, Ehrenheim, who remarked pithily in his reply, that the Spaniards must be iiegligent, in permitting violence to be done to neutrals in their own ports. De Huerta actually accused the Swede of coolness in the affair. In the mean time, it does not appear that any com- plaint was ever made of such an outrage by the master of the Hoffhung. The point to be gained was to excite Sweden against England, upon a circumstance that never did occur, on the strength of the story of a cowardly Spaniard. The king of Sweden's reply to one remonstrance on the subject a remonstrance most probably urged by France ran, that 1800. Aug. Conduct of England to Denmark. Lord Whitworth sent to Co- THE ARMISTICE. penbagen. British convention with Denmark. Affairs of Spain. 145 no more to envenom the quarrel between England and the neutral powers, especially at this moment above all, when the moderation of the first consul towards them was of such a nature as to exhibit in a strange light the violence of England. Sweden demanded satisfaction ; Denmark had already made the same demand. Behind the two courts was Russia, which from 1780 regarded itself as bound up with the powers of the Baltic in all the ques- tions which involved their maritime freedom. M. Bernstorff, on the side of Denmark, kept up a lively controversy with the cabinet of London, by means of notes, which France published, and which reflect equal honour on the minister who wrote them and the government that signed them, and which was soon called to support its signature by arms. " A mere gun-boat," the En- glish remarked, " carrying the flag of a neutral, is to have the right of conveying the commerce of the world, and of keeping out of our view the trade of our enemies, which may be carried on as easily during war by this means as during peace." " An entire squadron then," answered M. BernstorfF, " would be obliged to obey the summons of the most wretched cruizer, to stop upon her demand, and suffer the convoy she is escorting to be examined before his eyes. The word of an admiral, making a declaration upon the honour of his country, is not to weigh against the doubt of the captain of a privateer, who is to possess the right of verification by search." One of these hypotheses is much more admissible than the other. In order to support these opinions by fear, the English cabinet, which had just sent lord Whitworth to Copenhagen, ordered him to be followed by a squadron of sixteen sail of the line, which at that *oment was cruising at the entrance of the Sound. The presence of this squadron produced a strong feeling among the Baltic powers, and not only alarmed Denmark, against which it more immedi- ately pointed, but Sweden, Russia, and even Prussia herself, whose trade was interested in the navi- gation of the Baltic. The four signatures to the old neutrality of 1780 began a negotiation, with the avowed end of forming a new league against the maritime tyranny of England. The cabinet of London, which was still in apprehension of such an event, insisted strongly at Copenhagen upon ar- ranging the dispute ; but so far from offering satis- faction, it bad the singular audacity to demand it. It wished, by alarming, to detach Denmark from the league before it was consummated. Unfortu- nately Denmark had been surprised, the Sound was not defended, Copenhagen was not secure against bombardment. In this state of things it was necessary to yield for the moment, in order to gain the advantage of the winter season, during which the ice defends the Baltic, and thus give all the neutral powers time to make preparations for resistance. On the 27th of August, or llth Fructidor, in the year vui., Denmark was obliged to sign a convention, in which the question of the law of nations was adjourned, and the last difference above, which had arisen respecting the Freya, was "he could not take upon himself any share of responsibility for the improper use which the belligerent powers might make of the Swedish vessels they may seize upon." NOTX OF EHBESHEIIC.] Trarulator. adjusted. The Freya was repaired in an English dockyard, and restored ; and for the moment Den- mark gave up convoying her merchant ships. This convention decided nothing. The storms, in place of being dissipated, soon gathered again, because the four northern powers felt greatly irri- tated. The king of Sweden, whose honour was not yet satisfied, prepared for a voyage to St. Peters- burg, in order to renew the ancient neutrality. Paul I., who was not fond of middle measures, began by a most energetic action. Learning the dispute with Denmark, and that an English fleet was off the Sound, he ordered the sequestration of all the property belonging to the English, as a security for the injury which might accrue to Rus- sian commerce. This measure was to be con- tinued until the intentions of the English govern- ment were completely cleared up. Thus in the courts of the north every thing occurred to favour the objects of the first consul; and events turned out according to his wishes. Things did not go on less prosperously in the south of Europe, that is in Spain. There was seen one of the first monarchies in Europe sinking into disso- lution, to the great injury of the balance of Europe, and the great sorrow of a generous people, indig- nant at the character which they had been made to play in the world. The first consul, whose in- defatigable intellect embraced every object at once, had already directed to the side of Spain his political efforts, and sought to obtain as much ad- vantage as possible for the common cause from that degenerate court. We should not here retrace the sad picture which follows, if, in the first place, it were not true, and if it were not necessary afterwards to comprehend the great events of the age. The king, the queen of Spain, and the prince of peace had occupied for many years the attention of Europe, and offered a spectacle dangerous for royalty, already so much compromised in popular esteem. One would have said that the illustrious house of Bourbon was destined, at the end of the century, to lose its power in France, Naples, and Spain, because in these three kingdoms three kings of extreme feebleness handed over their sceptres to the contempt and ridicule of the world, by leaving them in the hands of three queens, either giddy, violent, or dissolute. The Bourbons of France, whether from their own fault or by misfortune, had been swallowed up by the French revolution ; by foolishly provoking it, those of Naples had been driven, for the first time, from their capital ; those of Spain, before they let their sceptre fall into the hands of the crowned soldier which the revolution had produced, had seen no better step to take than to pay their court to him. They had already become the allies of France during the convention, they could now much more willingly be in connexion with her, when the revolution, in place of a sanguinary anarchy, offered to them a great man disposed to protect them if they followed his advice. Happy would it have been for these princes had they fol- lowed the counsels of this great man, at that time so excellent. Happy for himself, had he done no more than give it to them ! The king of Spain, Charles IV., was an honest man ; not hard and blunt like Louis XVI., but L Character of the royal family of Spain. Scandalous con- duct of the queen and the prince of the peace. Dis- graceful favouritis Fatuity of the king. 1800. Aug. more agreeable in his person, less informed, and exceeding him in weakness. He rose very early, not to attend to his royal duties, but to hear seve- ral masses, and then descend into his workshops, where, mingled with turners, smiths, and ar- mourers, he stript off his clothes like them, and in their company laboured at all kinds of work. Loving hunting a good deal, he liked better to manufacture arms. From his workshops he went to his stables, to assist in taking care of his horses, and gave himself up to the most incredible fa- miliarities with his grooms. After having thus employed the first half of the day, he partook of a solitary meal, to which neither the queen nor his children were admitted, and gave up the remainder of the day to hunting. Several hundred horses and domestics were set in motion for his daily pleasure, his dominant passion. After having rode like a young man, he re-entered the palace, gave a quarter of an hour to his children, a half hour to the signature of the papers submitted to him by his minister, sat down to play with some of the grandees of his court, and sometimes took a siesta with them until the time arrived for his last meal, which was immediately followed by his retiring to bed, always at the same fixed hour. Such was his life, without one single change during the whole year, except in Passion-week, which he devoted entirely to religious duties. In other respects he was an honest man, faithful to his word, mild, humane, religious, of exemplary chastity, though not cohabiting with his wife, ever since his phy- sician had, by her order, requested him to abstain from it ; he had no other concern in the scandals of his court or the errors of his government than in allowing them to be committed, without seeing or believing them during his long reign. At his side the queen, sister of the duke of Parma, a pupil of Condillac, who composed for her and her brother excellent works for their educa- tion, led a totally different life. She would have done little honour to the celebrated philosophical instructor of her youth, if philosophers were com- monly able to answer for their disciples. She was about fifty years of age, and possessed some re- mains of beauty, which she took pains to perpetuate with infinite care. Attending mass, as the king did, every day, she passed in corresponding with a great number of persons, and more particularly with the prince of peace, that time which Charles IV. gave to his workshops and stables. In this correspon- dence she made the prince of the peace acquainted with all the affairs of the court and the state, and she received from him, in return, all the scandal and puerilities of Madrid. She finished her morning by giving an hour to her children, and another to the cares of government ; not an act, not an ap- pointment, not a pardon, went to receive the royal signature, before the contents were seen by her. The minister %'ho allowed himself to commit such an infraction of the conditions of her favour, would have immediately been displaced. She took her dinner alone, like the king, in the middle of the day ; the rest of the afternoon was devoted to re- ceptions, in which she acquitted herself with great grace, and to the prince of peace, on whom she bestowed daily several hours of her time. At the period now spoken of, it is well known the prince of the peace was no longer minister. M. Urquijo, who will shortly be introduced, had succeeded him ; but the prince was not less the first authority in the kingdom. This singular per- sonage, incapable, ignorant, full of levity, but of a handsome appearance, as it is necessary to be in order to succeed in a corrupt court, was the arro- gant ruler of queen Louisa, and had reigned for twenty years supreme over her empty and fri- volous mind. Weary of his exalted favour, he shared it at last voluntarily with obscure favourites, and resigned himself to a thousand disorders and debaucheries, which he repeated to his crowned slave, whom he found pleasure in rendering mise- rable by his tales ; he even ill-treated her, it was said, in the grossest way. Still he retained an ab- solute influence over the princess, who was wholly unable to resist him, and could not live happily unless she saw him every day. She committed the government to him for a long time, under the official title of prime minister, and afterwards, when he had the title no longer, he remained so in fact, for nothing was done in Spain without his consent. He disposed of all the state resources, and he had in his own possession enormous sums in specie, while the treasury, reduced to the great- est want, sustained itself upon paper-money depre- ciated one-half in value. The nation was well nigh accustomed to this spectacle, and exhibited its in- dignation only when some new and extraordinary scandal made the cheeks of those brave Spaniards blush, whose heroic resistance soon afterwards proved that they were worthy of a better govern- ment. At the time when Europe resounded with the great events which were passing on the Po and the Danube, the court of Spain was the scene of an unparalleled scandal, which had nearly destroyed the patience of the natives. The prince of peace, from one disorder to .another, completed all by marrying a relation of the royal family. A child was the offspring of this marriage. The king and queen themselves determining to become sponsors for the new-born infant at the baptismal font, proceeded to the completion of the ceremony, with all the usages customary at the baptism of a royal child. The grandees of the court were obliged to fulfil the same duties that would have been exacted of them if the child had been the issue of royalty itself. Upon that babe in swaddling-clothes, the great orders of the crown, and the most magnifi- cent presents, were conferred. The grand inquisi- tor officiated at the religious ceremony. It is true, that this time public indignation arose to tlie high- est point, and that every Spaniard thought himself personally outraged by this odious affair. Things had come to such a head, that the Spanish minis- ters opened their minds upon the matter to the foreign ambassadors, and particularly to the am- bassadors of France, who were generally their re- sort in most of their embarrassments, and who heard from their own tongues the frightful details which are here related. In the midst of these disgraceful actions, the king alone, who was kept under a continual obser- vation by his wife, was ignorant of all, nor had he the least suspicion of what was passing. Neither the voices of his subjects, nor the revolt of some of the Spanish grandees, who were indignant at the services required of them, nor even the inexplica- ble assiduity of the prince of the peace, could make 1800. Aug. Regard of Charles IV. for the first consul. Character of the minister Urqurjo. THE ARMISTICE. Mutual presents between Bo- naparte and the court of Spain. 147 him see. The poor and good-tempered king was sometimes heard to make this singular observation, which embarrassed all those who were condemned to hear it, " My brother of Naples is a fool, who suffers his wife to govern him !" It must be ob- served, that the prince of Asturias, afterwards Ferdinand VII., brought up at a distance from the court, with incredible strictness, detested the favourite, of whose criminal influence he was well aware, and that this just hatred of the favourite finished by being converted into an involuntary hatred for his father and mother. What a sight at the close of the eighteenth cen- tury, and the beginning of the nineteenth, when the throne of France had just fallen with a crash, and when upon its ruins a young soldier, simple, austere, indefatigable, full of genius, had just ele- vated himself. How long could the Spanish monar- chy resist the dangerous example of the contrast 1 The house of Spain, amidst these disorders, was struck sometimes with confused presentiments, and was often under the apprehension of a revolu- tion. The old attachment of the Spaniards for royalty and religion, without doubt, in some degree reassured it, but it feared to see a revolution come by the way of the Pyrenees, and endeavoured to avert the danger by an entire deference towards the French republic. The incredible violence of the English cabinet, and the angry outbreakings of Paul I. in its regard at the moment of the second coalition, had thrown it completely into the arms of France. She found this conduct advantageous, even honourable, since Bonaparte had ennobled, by his presence at the head of power, all the relations of the cabinets with the government of the republic. The good king, Charles IV. had imbibed, though at a distance, a sort of friendship for the first consul. This sentiment every day augmented, and it is sorrowful to reflect how this friendship was destined to end, without any perfidy on the side of Bjirance, by an inconceivable chain of circum- stances. " What a great man is that general Bona- parte," said Charles TV. continually. The queen also said the same, but with more coolness; because the prince of the peace censured sometimes what was done by the court of Spam, of which he was no longer the minister, and appeared to blame the partiality it testified towards the French govern- ment. Still, the first consul informed by M. Al- quier, the French ambassador, a man of compre- hensive mind and great sagacity, that he must ab- solutely secure at Madrid the good will of the prince of the peace, sent to the favourite some magnificent arms, made in the Versailles manufac- tory. This attention, on the part of the most famous personage in Europe, touched the vanity of the prince of the peace. A few attentions from the French ambassador completely gamed him over, and from that time the court of Spain seemed to give itself up entirely to France without reserve. From the minister Urquijo alone was the slight- est resistance ever experienced. He was a man of odd character, naturally the enemy of the prince of the peace, of whom he was the successor, and he had little love for Bonaparte. M. Urquijo, of plebeian extraction, endowed with a certain degree of energy, had attracted the enmity of the clergy and court, through some insignificant reforms that he had attempted in the government of the king- dom ; and was inclined, in a manner somewhat extraordinary for a Spaniard of the time, towards revolutionary ideas. He was in connexion with many French demagogues, and partook, in a cer- tain degree, of their dislike to the first consul. He possessed the merit of wishing to reform the more glaring abuses, of desiring to reduce the revenues of the clergy and the jurisdiction of the agents of the court of Rome. Towards these measures he was endeavouring to obtain the con- sent of the Holy See, and even in this attempt he had exposed himself to serious dangers. Having against him in fact the prince of the peace, he was utterly undone, if the influence of Rome should join that of the prince to destroy his influence in the palace. Affected by some attentions which were paid him by M. Alquier, and witness, besides, of the inclinations of the king and queen, M. Urquijo became in his turn the admirer of Bona- parte, whom it was not only natural, but every way the fashion, at that time, to admire. The king's partiality soon became unbounded; it was impossible to be more manifested. Having seen the arms which had been sent to the prince of the peace, he conceived and expressed a desire to possess some of the same kind. Some magni- ficent specimens were immediately manufactured and sent to him, and he received them with great delight. The queen wished to have some dresses, and Madame Bonaparte, whose taste was re- nowned, sent to her all that Paris could produce of the most elegant and tasteful character. Charles IV., generous as a true Castilian, would not re- main behind in the career of civility, and he acquitted himself in a manner truly .royal. Know- ing that horses would be an agreeable present for the first consul, he took the most beautiful animals he possessed from the studs of Aranjuez, Medina- Coeli, and Altamiva, to find first six, then twelve, and then sixteen, the finest in the peninsula. No one could tell where he would have stopped, if his ardour had not been moderated. He employed him- self two months in the selection ; and no one was better able to acquit himself of such a task, because he was a perfect judge of horses. He composed a numerous train of persons to conduct them to France, taking for the mission the best of his grooms, and clothing them in magnificent liveries ; and on all this fine cavalcade he laid but one positive order, which was, that while travelling through France they should attend mass every Sunday. The promise was given him that what he desired should be attended to ; and his delight at making his handsome present to the first consul was then unalloyed. Though fond of France, this kind prince really believed that it was not possible for a man to live in that country many days with- out forsaking the religion of his fathers. The noise made by these demonstrations well suited the objects of the first consul. While it gratified him, he thonght it was useful to show to Europe and to France itself, the successors of Charles V., the descendants of Louis XIV., taking honour to themselves from their personal relations with him. But he sought much more solid ad- vantages in his diplomatic relations, and aimed at one important object. The king and queen of Spain were fond of one of their children, the infanta Maria Louisa, the L2 148 General Berthier sent to Madrid. Mutual de- mands of France and Spain upon each other. TRIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. -The concession of Louisiana. 1800. Aug. wife of the hereditary prince of Parma. The queen, sister, as we have said, to the reigning duke of Parma, had united her daughter to her nephew, and concentrated upon their heads her best affections ; because she was extremely at- tached to the house from whence she descended. She contemplated for that house some aggrandize- ment hi Italy ; and as Italy depended upon the conqueror of Marengo, it was from him she hoped to obtain the accomplishment of all her wishes. The first consul, aware of the secret desire of the queen, took care not to neglect this means of carrying out his views, and sent to Madrid his faithful Berthier, in order to profit by the existing circumstance. If he had sent one of his aids-de- camp to Berlin and Vienna, he wished to do more for the court of Spain, and resolved to send thither the man who had the larger share in his glory, because Berthier was then Parmeuio to the new Alexander. At the same moment that the first consul was negotiating with M. St. Julien the preliminaries of peace, while he was winning over the inflam- mable heart of Paul I., and fomenting in the north the quarrel of the neutral powers, it was at that moment he despatched general Berthier in haste to Madrid. He set off towards the end of August, or commencement of Fructidor, without any of- ficial title, but with the assurance that his presence would alone produce a very great effect, and with secret powers to negotiate upon very important subjects. His journey had several objects. The first was to visit the principal ports in the Peninsula, and to examine into their state, and their resources, and to urge forward, with the money in his hand, expeditions to Malta and Egypt. Berthier per- formed this part of his mission with great rapidity, and then hastened to Madrid to fulfil the more important part of his duty. The first consul was willing to grant an accession of territory to the house of Parma; he was willing to join to this increase of greatness the title of king, which would have met fully the desires of the queen : but he demanded to be paid for these concessions in two ways, namely, by the return of Louisiana to France, and by Spain assuming a threatening attitude towards Portugal, for the purpose of getting that country to treat with the French republic and break with England. The motives of the first consul for exacting such conditions were these : since KleTjer's death he had felt uneasy about the preservation of Egypt, for he shared, in common with his contemporaries, the de- sire of possessing distant colonies. The rivalry of France and England, which countries, for a century past, had fought solely about the East and West In- dies, had raised to the highest pitch the desire to pos- sess colonial territories. If Egypt were taken from France, the first consul still wished to do some- thing for her colonial interests. He looked over the map of the world, and saw a magnificent pro- vince, placed between Mexico and the United States, formerly possessed by France, but ceded in a time of abasement by Louis XV. to Charles III., always threatened by the English and Americans as long as it remained in the impotent hands of the Spaniards, to whom it was of little value, though possessing half of the American continent. Of great value to the French, who had no possession in that part of America, and capable of being rendered productive, when their active labour could be concentrated there, he wished to possess the territory, which was that of Louisiana. If Egypt, being lost, could no more be a substitute for St. Domingo, the first consul hoped to find what he desired in Louisiana. He, therefore, demanded it formally of Spain, as the price of the Italian acquisition ; he also asked in addition that part of the Spanish fleet which was blockaded in Brest. In regard to Portugal, he wished to profit by the geographical position of Spain as it affected her, and also to turn to advantage the relationship of the two houses reigning in the peninsula, in order to detach that country from English alliance. The prince of Brazil, who governed Portugal, was, in fact, the son-in-law of the king and queen of Spain. They therefore possessed at Madrid, besides the in- fluence exercised by the vicinity, that of the family, and it was a fit time to employ those double means for expelling the English from that part of the continent. The English once excluded from Portugal, when the courts of Prussia, Den- mark, Russia, and Sweden were about to be closed against them, when Naples, forced into submission to the will of France, received orders to exclude them from her ports, would thus, in a little time, be altogether shut out of the entire continent. Such were the proposals which Berthier had orders to carry to Madrid. He was perfectly well received there by the king, the queen, the prince of the peace, and by all the Spanish grandees, who were curious to see the man whose name always figured by the side of that of Bonaparte in the details of the wars of the time. The conditions of the bargain thus tendered by France appeared hard, and yet no serious resistance could be offered to them. The minister Urquijo alone, having fears what effect the cession might produce upon the Spanish people, showed somewhat more opposition than the court. Reasons, deemed in- contestably sound, were brought forward to make him quiet. He was informed that it would take a large territory on the uninhabited borders of the Mississippi, to balance, as an equivalent, a small possession in Italy. That the Spaniards stood in need, in the gulf of Mexico, of such allies as the French, against the English and Americans; that if Louisiana was of value to France, deprived of her colonial possessions, it was of very small value to Spain, that was already so rich in the new world, that an accession of influence in Italy would be of more consequence to her than a territory so far off, placed in a region where she had already more than she was able to defend; finally, that it was an old French possession, torn away through the feebleness of Louis XV., and that Charles III. himself, with a true spirit of integrity, as was well known to the world, had at one time refused it, so convinced was he that it was not his due. These reasons were excellent, and Spain certainly, hi this instance, was asked to give no more than she received. But that which decided M. Urquijo more than all the better arguments in behalf of the measure, was the fear of offending France, and of opposing a combination to which his court clung fast with a kind of pOMeioa. 1800. Aug. A treaty signed. Spain urged to break tier alliance with Portugal. The American THE ARMISTICE. envoys arrive at Paris. Reconciliation with the United Statei. 149 A treaty was eventually agreed upon, in which the first consul promised to procure for the duke of Parma an augmentation of his dominions in Italy to the extent of one million two hundred thousand souls, or thereabouts, to assure to him the title of king, and the acknowledgment of the new title by all the sovereigns of Europe at the period of a general peace. In return, Spain, as soon as a part of these conditions was fulfilled, was to cede back to France Louisiana, with the same extent of territory as that province possessed when it was ceded by Louis XV. to Charles III., and to give besides six sail of the line full-rigged, armed, and ready to receive their crews. This treaty, signed by Berthier, filled the queen with delight, and elevated the infatuation of the court of Spain for the first consul to the highest degree. The last condition, which had, for its object, to force Portugal to break her alliance with England, was easy to be performed ; for it was as much in accordance with the interests of Spain as it was with those of France. Spain, in fact, was as much interested as France, that England should be ex- cluded from the continent, and her power reduced. In this the first consul did nothing more than awaken her from her unpardonable apathy, and force her to make use of an influence which it was her duty long ago to have employed. He went still further in the matter ; he proposed to Charles IV., that if the court of Lisbon did not immediately obey the injunction given to it, a Spanish army should pass the frontier of Portugal, and keep one or two of the Portuguese provinces as pledges, in order to oblige England afterwards to restore the Spanish colonies which she had cap- tured, and to save the dominions of her ally. If Charles IV. did not feel himself strong enough to undertake such an enterprise, he offered to second the object with a French division. The good king did not desire so much as was thus offered. The prince of Brazil was his own son-in-law ; he had no wish to take his provinces from him, though they were to be pledges for the restitution of Spanish provinces. But he addressed to him most urgent exhortations, and even menaced him with war, if his advice was not regarded. The court of Lisbon promised to send an envoy immediately to confer at Madrid with the French ambassador. Berthier returned to Paris from Spain, loaded with the favours of the court, and gave the first consul the assurance, that he had at the court of Madrid persons wholly devoted to him. The fine horses given him by Charles IV. arrived about the same time, and were presented to the first consul in the Place Carrousel, at one of those grand reviews where he was always pleased to exhibit to the Parisians and to strangers the soldiers that had conquered Europe. An immense crowd of persons came to see those beautiful animals ; the grooms were so splendidly attired, that they re- called the times of old monarchical pomp, and proved the consideration in which the new chief of the French republic -was held by the oldest courts of Europe. At this moment three negotiators from the United States of America to France arrived in Paris, Mr. Oliver Ellsworth, Mr. Richardson Davie, and Mr. Van Murray. That republic, governed by interest much more than by gratitude, ruled above all by the policy of the federal party, had approximated nearer to Great Britain during the late war, and had been wanting, not only to France, but to itself, in deserting the principles of the maritime neutrality. In spite of the alliance of 1778) to which the states owed their existence, a treaty which obliged them not to concede to others the commercial advantages which were not also conceded to the French, they had granted to Great Britain peculiar and exclusive privileges. Abandoning the principle that " the flag covers the merchandise," they had admitted that an enemy's property might be searched for in a neutral vessel, and seized, if its origin were ascertained. This conduct was as dishonourable as it was impolitic. The directory, naturally exasperated, had recourse to a system of reprisals, by declaring that France would treat neutrals as they were suffered to be treated by England. From one harshness to an- other, a state of things existed between France and America very little different from that of open war, without active hostilities. It was this state of things to which the first consul wished to put an end. It has been seen what honours were given to the memory of Wash- ington, with the double object of producing an effect at home and abroad. Bonaparte now ap- pointed three individuals to negotiate with the Americans Joseph, his brother, and the two counsellors of state, Fleurieu and Roederer ; they were to urge on the conclusion of the negotiation, for the purpose of soon giving a new adversary to England, and placing a new power on the list of those that had bound themselves to observe strictly the true principles of maritime neutrality. The first obstacle to a reconcilement was the article by which America had promised France the partici- pation in commercial advantages accorded by the states to every nation. This obligation to give nothing to others which others would not give to us, caused the Americans very great embarrass- ment. Their negotiators did not exhibit the least disposition to give way upon this point; but they showed themselves ready to acknowledge and de- fend the rights of neutrals, and to re-establish, in their stipulations with France, the principles which they had abandoned in treating with England. The first consul, who was much more anxious to hold fast the principle of an armed neutrality than the commercial advantages of the treaty of 1778> become illusory in practice, enjoined his brother to pass that over, and to conclude an arrangement with the American envoys, if it were possible to obtain from them a perfect recognition of the prin- ciples of the rights of nations, which it was of the utmost importance to enforce. This difficulty re- moved, the rest might soon be arranged, and at the moment a treaty of reconcilement was pre- paring with America. Another reconciliation, much more important, that between France and the Holy See, began now to produce its effect. The new pope, elected in the vague hope of an accommodation with France, had seen this hope realized, to which he owed his elevation. Bonaparte, as we have said, returning from Marengo, had sent some overtures to Pius VII. by cardinal Martiniana, bishop of Vercelli, as- suring him that he had no intention of re-establish- ing the Roman Parthenopean republics, the works Nesotiations with the Holy government. Anger of the ,q nn 150 See.-The acts of St. Julien THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE, first consul.- Meeting of V"' disavowed by the Austrian the council of state. of the directory. He had certainly enough in Italy to constitute, direct, and defend against the policy and interests of all Europe the Cisalpine republic. Bonaparte had, in turn, demanded that the new pontiff should use his spiritual influence in France to aid in the establishment of concord and peace. The pope received with pleasure count Alciati, the nephew of cardinal Martiniana, charged to carry the overtures of the first consul ; he sent him back instantly to Vercelli to declare, in his name, that, disposed to second the intentions of the first consul relative to an object so important and so dear to the church, he wished, in the first place, to become acquainted in a more precise manner with the views of the French cabinet. The cardinal wrote in consequence from Vercelli to Paris, to make known the disposition and wish of the new pope. The first consul, in reply, asked for a negotiator with whom he would be able to explain himself directly, and the pope designated immediately monsignor Spina, bishop of Corinth, nuncio of the Holy See at Florence. This nego- tiator, after having repaired first to Vercelli, re- solved to set out for Paris at the pressing instance of the first consul, who, by bringing this nego- tiation under his own superintendence, thought to make more sure of success. Upon the side of the first consul, it was a delicate matter to bring to Paris a representative of the Holy See, above all in the existing state of the public mind, which was hardly yet prepared for such a spectacle. It was I agreed that monsignor Spina should not have any official title, and that he should style himself bishop of Corinth, ordered to treat with the French go- vernment upon the affairs of the Roman cabinet. While these negotiatious, so ably and actively conducted with all the powers, were in progress, M. St. Julien, who had signed the preliminaries of peace, and was the bearer of them, proceeded with Duroc to Vienna. Sensible of the imprudence of his conduct, he had not dissimulated with Talley- rand, that he was not sure whether he should be able to take Duroc as far as Vienna. The illusion of Talleyrand had not permitted him to believe in the existence of such a difficulty; and it was agreed that M. St. Julien and Duroc should pass the head- quarters of general Kray, then established near the Inn, at Alt-CEttingen, in order to obtain from that general a passport that should permit Duroc to pass into Austria. They arrived at the head- quarters of Kray on the 4th of August, 1800, or 16th Thermidor, year vm. ; but Duroc was detained, not being suffered to pass the limits fixed by the armistice. This was a first, and by no means a favourable sign of the reception destined for the preliminaries. M. St. Julien then proceeded to Vienna alone, saying to Duroc that he would de- mand passports for him there, and send them to the head- quarters, if he obtained them. M. St. Julien then went to the emperor, and delivered to him the articles which he had signed at Pans, under conditions of secresy. The emperor was much surprised and dissatisfied at the singular latitude which M. St. Julien had given to his in- structions. It was not precisely the conditions contained in the preliminary articles which dis- pleased him, but the fear of compromising himself with England, that had aided him with money, and was exceedingly suspicious. He was willing to make known a part of his own intentions, in order to become acquainted with those of the first consul ; but he would on no account have a signature affixed to any document whatever, because it implied an open negotiation concluded without consulting the British cabinet. Then, in spite of the danger of provoking a storm on the side of France, the im- perial cabinet took the step of disavowing M. St. Julien. That officer was very ill treated in public, and sent into a species of exile, in one of the re- mote provinces of the empire. The preliminaries were considered as void, having been signed, though provisionally, by an agent without powers or cha- racter. Duroc received no passports ; and having waited until the 13th of August, or 25th Ther- midor, he was obliged to return to Paris. All these things, independently of causing a delay in the conclusion of a peace, were very disagreeable to the first consul ; and Austria had reason to dread the effect of such a communication upon his irritable character. It was very probable that he would quit Paris immediately, put himself at the head of the armies of the republic, and march upon Vienna. The court of Austria resolved, therefore, in disavowing the preliminaries, not to make that a cause of rupture. Lord Minto, the representative of England at the court of the emperor, consented that Austria should negotiate, but only on condition that England should be in- cluded in the negotiation. It was arranged with him to propose diplomatic conferences, in which England and Austria should take an equal part. In consequence, M. Thugut wrote to Talleyrand, under date of the llth of August, or 23rd Ther- midor, that, while disavowing the imprudent con- duct of M. Julien, the emperor had not a feeling less warm for peace ; that he proposed the imme- diate opening of a congress in France itself, at Schelestadt or Luneville, whichever was deemed preferable ; that Great Britain was ready to send a plenipotentiary ; and that if the first consul agreed, a general peace might soon be given to the world. This offer was accompanied with expres- sions the best calculated to soothe the impetuous character of the man who at that time was ruler of France. When the first consul received the intelligence of 'what had occurred, he was exceedingly angry. He was first offended at the disavowal of an officer who had treated with him, and next mortified that peace was still distant. He perceived, more particu- larly, in the presence of England in the midst of the negotiation, the cause of interminable delays, because a maritime peace was much more difficult to con- clude than one that was only continental. On the moment, and under the influence of & first impres- sion, he was about raising an outcry, and recom- mencing hostilities at once, denouncing the bad faith of Austria. Talleyrand, knowing well that he had done wrong in negotiating with a plenipoten- tiary who had no powers, endeavoured to calm the first consul. The whole matter was submitted to the council of state. That great body, which is now nothing more than an administrative tribunal, was then a real council of government. The min- ister addressed to it a detailed report. " The first consul," said the report, " has judged it proper to convoke an extraordinary meeting of the council of state, and, confiding in its discretion, Kesults of the meeting. Attempts to negotiate in London through M. Otto. THE ARMISTICE. Requisites for a treaty between France and England. 151 as in its wisdom, has charged me to make known to it the more minute details of the negotiation which has been carried on with the court of Vien- na." After having laid open the negotiations, as might have been done before a council of minis- ters, Talleyrand acknowledged that the Austrian plenipotentiary had no powers, and that in nego- tiating with him, the chance of a disavowal ought to have been seen; that, in consequence, it was im- possible to make :v laboured controversy 1 about the matter; and that, therefore, a violent outcry should be avoided. But recalling the example of the negotiations for the peace of Westphalia, which had gone before the signature of the treaty of Munster a good while, during which the parties continued to fight and to negotiate, he proposed that the opening of the congress should be assented to, and, at the same time, that hostilities should be recommenced. This was, in fact, the wisest course that could be taken. It was necessary to treat, since the opponent powers, in addressing themselves to France, had made the offer; but it was equally right to profit by the state of the French armies, which were ready to take the field anew, and by that of the Austrian armies, which had not yet recovered from their defeats, in order that Austria might be forced to negotiate seriously, and separate herself from England. It was possible to take one step besides, which might have its advantages, and that the first con- sul seized upon with his customary sagacity. Eng- land proposed a common negotiation. By admit- ting that power into the congress, there was the danger of introducing a contracting party that was in very little hurry to conclude; and more than that, the danger of complicating the continental peace, with all the difficulties of one that was maritime. The time consumed in these negotiations, insin- cere or difficult as they might be rendered, would also permit the fine season for fighting to pass away, and would give to the Austrian armies the rest of which they had so great a need. These were great inconveniences ; but it was possible to find a compensation to balance them. England, on demand, might be admitted to the negotiation, but on one condition, namely, that she should conclude a naval armistice. If England consented to such a thing, the benefit of a naval armistice would far surpass the inconveniences of the continental one ; because the French fleets, at liberty, would be able to provision Malta, and to take soldiers and mate- riel to the army in Egypt. For a like advantage the first consul would most willingly have exposed him- self to the chances of an extra campaign upon the continent. A maritime armistice was undoubtedly something new, altogether unusual in the law of nations : yet, it was but just that the Anglo- Aus- trian alliance should in some mode indemnify France for the sacrifice she would make in suspend- ing the march of her armies upon Vienna. There was resident in London, on the French side, an able, clever, and shrewd negotiator, M. Otto, who was kept there for the purpose of treating on matters relating to prisoners-of-war. He had been selected by the French cabinet on purpose to make use of him on the first occasion that overtures of 1 Polemique d'apparat. peace might occur on the side of France, or over- tures be made by England. He was especially charged to address himself to the British cabinet, and at once make the proposal of a naval armi- stice. In this mode of proceeding the first consul saw the advantage of moving with more rapidity, and of treating directly respecting such affairs, which he always preferred to employing interme- diate agents. On the 24th of August, or 6th Fruc- tidor, in the year viu., instructions, in agreement with this new plan of negotiation, were transmitted to M. Otto. Upon the same day the communica- tions from Vienna were answered in a very severe tone. In the French communications, the refusal to admit the preliminaries was attributed to the treaty for a subsidy, signed on the 26th of June preceding. The French government deplored the state of dependence in which the emperor was placed in regard to England. A congress at Lune- ville was assented to ; but it was added that, while the negotiations proceeded, the war must be con- tinued : because, in proposing a joint negotiation, Austria had not taken care to provide, as a natural consequence, a suspension of arms by land and sea. This was said for the object of engaging the Aus- trian diplomatists to interfere themselves in Lon- don, in order to obtain a naval armistice. Communications were established in London, between M. Otto and Captain George, the head of the transport-board. They lasted during the whole of the month of September. M. Otto proposed, on the side of France, that hostilities should be sus- pended by sea and land ; that all vessels, both of trade and war, belonging to the belligerent na- tions, should navigate freely ; that the ports be- longing to France, or occupied by her armies, such as Malta and Alexandria, should be assimilated to the fortresses of Ulm, Philipsburg, and Ingoldstadt, in Germany, which, though blockaded by the French armies, were nevertheless, to be victualled and sup- plied. M. Otto freely admitted that France would derive great benefit from such an arrangement ; but he stated that her advantages ought to be great to compensate for the concessions which she muse make, in letting the summer pass away with- out completing the destruction of the Austrian armies. The sacrifice thus demanded of England was one which nothing was capable of snatching from her hands. It was, in fact, giving permission to re- victual Malta and Egypt, and perhaps give over those two possessions to France for ever ; it was to permit the combined French and Spanish fleets to leave Brest and sail up the Mediterranean, taking possession of a place which would render it anew master of the sea for a longer or shorter time. England could not assent to such a pro- posal, though the danger threatening Austria touched her very nearly ; she had a great interest in preventing Austria from being crushed; because if Austria fell, Bonaparte, having all his resources at liberty, might be able to make some formidable attempt upon the British isles. In consequence, she believed it was needful to make some sacrifices for an interest of this nature ; and while crying out against the novelty of a naval armistice, she presented a counter-project, dated the 7th of Sep- tember, 1800, or 20th of Fructidor, year vm. To commence, she agreed to Luneville as the place Demands of the English go- Military proceedings. Con- 152 vernment. Final proposi- THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. dition of the armies of the lions of the first consul. Rhine and Italy. Sept. for the meeting of the congress, and appointed Mr. Thomas Grenville, the brother of the minister for foreign affairs, to treat of a general pacification. England then proposed the following system in respect to the naval armistice. All hostilities shall be suspended by land and sea ; the suspen- sion of arms shall be not only common to the three belligerent parties, Austria, England, and France, but also to their allies. This arrangement had for its object to deliver Portugal from the threatening attitude of Spain. The maritime places which are blockaded, such as Malta and Alexandria, shall be assimilated to those in Germany, and be pro- visioned every fifteen days, in proportion to the consumption of the provisions, which has taken place in the same interval of time already elapsed. The ships of the line in Brest and the other ports were not to be at liberty to change their stations during the ai-mistice. This counter-project on the part of England was rather an evidence of good will towards Austria, than an effective concession on the important point of the negotiation. Malta might no doubt gain something by being provisioned for a short time ; but Egypt had no need of provisions. Soldiers, muskets, and cannon were wanted there; not corn, with which she could supply the whole world. Still France, yielding in some things, might find in the naval armistice advantages sufficiently great to admit of its execution with certain modifications. On the 21st of September, being the 4th com- plementary day of the year vui., the first consul made a last proposition. He consented that the vessels of the line should not change their stations, which condemned the combined squadrons of France and Spain to remain blocked up in Brest harbour; he demanded that Malta should be re- victualled every fifteen days, at the rate of ten thousand rations a-day ; he consented that Egypt should remain blockaded, but required that six frigates should pass free to Egypt from Toulon, to go and return from Alexandria without being visited. His intention was here very clear; and he was right not to disguise an interest which all the world must discover at first sight. He intended to arm three frigates en flute, to load them with men and munitions of war, and to send them to Egypt. He hoped they might have been able to carry six thousand men, a great quantity of mus- kets, swords, bombs, shells, and similar articles. He therefore sacrificed every thing to obtain his essential object, the victualling of Malta and the recruiting of the army in Egypt. But the difficulty, whatever efforts might have been made on either side to remove it, continued the same. The object was to preserve Malta and Egypt to France; to her interest in these England would not give way. There was no means of coming to an understanding upon the matter, and the negotiation was abandoned, on the refusal in London to allow the last plan for a naval armistice. Before entirely breaking off the negotiation, the first consul, in the way of courtesy, made a last proposition to England. He offered to renounce the naval armistice, and to treat with her in a separate negotiation from that about to commence with Austria. It was now September, 1800 ; several months had been passed in vain negotiations, since the victories of Marengo and of Hochstedt, and the first consul would lose no more time without action. Austria, when threatened, replied that she could not force England to sign a naval armistice; that she offered for herself to negotiate immediately ; that she had appointed M. Lehrbach to go to Luneville, and that he was about to proceed there immediately ; that Mr. Thomas Grenville was only waiting for his passports ; that they could thus negotiate without any waste of time ; but that it was not necessary to renew hostilities during negotiations, and shed more torrents of human blood. The first consul, who knew well the secret intention of dragging on the affair until winter should ai'rive, determined at last upon the renewal of hostilities, and gave orders in consequence. He had perfectly well employed the two months that were gone, and had put a finishing hand to the organization of the armies. His new dispositions thus made were as follow : Moreau, as already has been said, had been obliged to send general St. Suzanne on the Rhine, with some detachments, for the purpose of uniting the garrisons of Mayence and Strasburg, and making head against the peasant levies made by the baron Albini in the centre of Germany. This was a weakening of Moreau's force, and still an insufficient means of covering his rear. The first consul, in order to prevent any damage in that quarter, hastened to complete the Batavian army, placed under the orders of Augereau. He formed it of eight thousand Dutch and twelve thousand French, both one and the other taken from the troops that guarded Holland and the departments of the north. The battalions most worn out or fatigued by the preceding campaigns, restored by rest and completed with recruits, were now excellent corps. Augereau marched to Frankfort, and there by his presence restrained the Mayeuce levies of the baron Albini and the Austrian detachments left in the neighbourhood. This precaution taken, the corps of St. Suzanne, re-organized and very nearly eighteen thousand strong, had again marched to the Danube, and formed once more the left wing of Moreau's army. His return raised the active army of Moreau to very nearly one hundred thousand men. When the army of reserve had thrown itself into Italy, it had left in the rear a part of the corps designed to complete it ; but for its complete formation there had not been time to wait. In place of an effective force of sixty thousand men, as was originally designed, it had only amounted to forty and a few thousand men. The first consul formed these into a second army of reserve, about fifteen thousand strong, and placed it in the Gri- sons, in face of the Tyrol, which thus allowed Moreau to draw closer to him his right wing, com- manded, as is well-known, by Lecourbe, and to unite at hand the entire mass of his forces, if it was required to force the barrier of the Inn. On its own side the army of Italy, established on the banks of the Mincio by the convention of Alexandria, delivered from all care about the Tyrol and Switzerland by Macdonald, had been enabled to bring its wings nearer to its centre, and to concentrate in such a manner as to be fit for immediate action. Composed of troops that had 1800. Sept. M.isscna removed from the Ligu- rian army. Brune appointed to his command. THE ARMISTICE. Activity of the emperor of Austria. Changes in his army. 153 passed the St. Bernard, and those which had been drawn from the German army by the St. Gothard, lastly, of the troops of Liguria, which had defended Genoa and the Var, recruited, rested, and re- freshed, it presented a total mass of about one hundred and twenty thousand men, of which num- ber eighty thousand were united on the Mincio. Mussina was at first the general-in-chief, and the only one capable of commanding it weli. Unhappily dissensions arose between the commissariat of the army and the Italian governments. The army, although transported into the midst of fertile Italy, and in possession of the rich magazines left by the Austrians, had still not enjoyed all the good things to which it had a right. It was alleged that the officers of the commissariat had sold a part of these magazines. The governments of Piedmont and of the Cisalpine complained that they were crushed under war contributions, and refused to pay them. In the midst of this confused state of affairs, very heavy charges were made against the French ad- ministrators, and they reached even to Masslna himself. The clamour soon became so loud, that the first consul found himself obliged to recal Mas- slna, and replace him by general Brune. Brune, with much courage and mind, was in reality but an indifferent general, and in politics still less able. He was one of the most zealous chiefs of the dem- agogue party, which did not prevent his being strongly attached to the first consul, who was much pleased at knowing it to be the case. Not having been able to give him an active command during the spring, the first consul gave him one during the autumn. The victory in Holland strongly recommended him in public opinion ; but the recal of Mussina was a misfortune for the army and for the first consul himself. Masslna got soured, and was on the point of becoming, despite himself, a subject of hope for a crowd of intriguers, who at that particular moment happened to be busy. The first consul was not ignorant of this, but he would not permit irregularities any where, and he was not to be blamed. To the four armies above-mentioned, the first consul joined a fifth, consisting of troops assembled around Amiens. He detached from demi-brigades remaining in the interior, the skeletons of various companies of grenadiers ; he had them filled up with fine men, and formed a superb corps of nine or ten thousand choice soldiers, who were designed to do duty on the coasts, if the English should effect a disembarkation on any part, or they were to pass into Italy, to fill the place occupied by Augereau in Germany that of covering the wings and rear of the principal army. Murat was nomi- nated to the chief command. All this was done, as far as the recruiting was concerned, by means of the levy ordered by the legislative body, and, in regard to the expenses, by means of the financial resources recently created. Nothing was now wanting to the three different corps; they were well-fed, well-armed, and their horses and materiel were complete. It may be supposed that the first consul was im- patient to make use of these means to force a peace from Austria before the whiter came on. He ordered Moreau and Brune in consequence to re- pair to their respective head-quarters, and to pre- pare to recommence hostilities. He enjoined upon Moreau to give the Austrian general proper notice, under the time stipulated in the armistice, and not to permit bun to prolong the suspension of arms but on one sole condition, that the emperor should give up to the French army the three places actually blockaded, Philipsburg, Ulm, and Ingoldstadt. On this condition five or six weeks' respite longer might be given. These places were worthy of the sacrifice. By occupying them, an excellent base for operations on the Danube would be obtained. The French would be strengthened by the corps thus employed in the blockade ; they would thus have time to push a wing of the army of Italy upon Tuscany and the kingdom of Naples, coun- tries in which the levies en masse were continued at the instigation of Austria with English money. Such were the orders sent to the head-quarters of Moreau. On his side the emperor of Germany, profiting by the time gained, employed with the greatest activity the subsidy furnished him by England. He urged forward the new levies ordered in Bohemia, Moravia, Hungary, Styria, and Carinthia. The English minister, Wickham, established offices of a peculiar sort in various German towns, in order to purchase the services of soldiers to go and fight for the coalition. By means of a new subsidy, the Bavarian and Wurtemberg corps were considerably augmented. Independently of the sums given to Aus- tria, the recruiting agents had taken into the direct pay of the English government two regiments com- posed of boatmen raised from the rivers of Ger- many, and designed to facilitate the passage over them. Ten thousand peasants were hired to exe- cute, under the direction of engineers, formidable entrenchments along the line of the Inn, from the Tyrol to the union of that stream with the Danube. Every thing was in movement from Vienna to Munich. The staff of the Austrian army had been entirely changed. Kray, despite his experience and his activity on the field of battle, had partaken in the disgrace of Mllas. The archduke Ferdinand himself, who served under his orders, had been removed. The archduke John, a young prince, brave and well-educated, but wholly without expe- rience in war, his head full of theories, his imagina- tion smitten with the manoeuvres of Bonaparte, and wishing at any cost to imitate them, was called to the chief command of the imperial forces. This was one of those novelties which people willingly attempt in desperate circumstances. The emperor himself repaired to the army, to re-animate it by his presence, and by passing it in review. He spent several days with the troops, accompa- nied by M. Lehrbach, the negotiator appointed to attend the congress at Luneville, and by the young archduke John. After having seen and examined every thing in company with his counsellors, he discovered that nothing was ready ; that the army was not yet sufficiently established, either in point of confidence or materiel, to commence immediate hostilities. M. Lehrbach was then charged to pro- ceed to the head-quarters of Moreau, to learn whether he was able to obtain again a prolongation of the armistice, for a few days, from the French government. Moreau informed M. Lehrbach what the conditions were upon which the first consul would agree to a new suspension of arms. The emperor consented regretfully to these conditions; TJlm. Philipsburg, and In- missed. Festival o/Sep- 1S4 gold stadt, surrendered to THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. tember 22. Obsequies the French. Thugut dis- of Turenne. 1800. Sept. and on the 20th of September, or third comple- mentary day of the year VHI., a new prolongation of the armistice was concluded between M. Lehr- bach and general Lahorie, in the village of Hohen- linden, destined soon to become so celebrated. The fortresses of Philipsburg, Ulm, and Ingold- stadt, were to be delivered up to the French army, to be disposed of as it might see fit. In return, the armistice was prolonged for forty-five days from the 21st of September, comprising fifteen days' notice of the resumption of hostilities, if afterwards they were to recommence. The emperor returned to Vienna very ill-satisfied with the visit he had made to hia army, since that event had been attended with no other results than to give up to the French army the three strongest places in his dominions. He was deeply mortified. His people partook in his feel- ings, and accused M. Thugut of being entirely in the interest of England. Queen Caroline of Naples had just arrived with lord Nelson and lady Hamilton, to support the war party in Vienna. But the public clamour was great. M. Thugut was charged with serious errors, such as his re- fusal, at the beginning of the winter, to listen to the pacific propositions of the first consul ; the bad direction of the military operations ; his obstinacy in not admitting the army of reserve, even when it was passing the St. Bernard ; the concentration of the principal forces of the empire in Liguria, to please the English, who flattered themselves that they should get possession of Toulon ; and lastly, the engagement entered into with the English government not to treat without it an engagement signed on the 20th of June, when he ought, on the other hand, to have preserved his freedom of action. These reproaches were in a great degree well-founded. But well-founded or not, they were sanctioned by events ; for nothing had succeeded under the auspices of M. Thugut, and people only judge according to results. M. Thugut was then obliged to bend to circumstances, and to retire, but still retaining a great influence over the Austrian cabinet. M. Lehrbach was appointed to succeed him in the foreign office; and to succeed M. Lehrbach at the congress of Luneville, a well- known negotiator, M. Louis Cobentzel, was ap- pointed, who was well-known personally to Bona- parte, and was particularly agreeable to him, having negotiated together the treaty of Campo Formio. It was hoped that M. Cobentzel would be a person better adapted than any other for establishing a good understanding with the French government ; and that, placed at Luneville, at some distance from Paris, he would sometimes visit that city, in order to have more communication with the first consul. The delivery to the French army of the three fortresses of Ulm, Ingoldstadt, and Philipsburg, happened very seasonably for the celebration of the fte of the 1st Vende"miaire. It revived the hopes of peace, because it displayed very clearly the extreme situation of Austria. The annual fete was founded to celebrate the foundation of the re- public, and was one of the only two which the con- stitution had established. The first consul deter- mined that it should not be less splendidly cele- brated than that of the 14th of July, which had been so happily increased in attraction by the pre- sentation of the col ours taken in the preceding cam- paign, to the Invalides; he determined that it should be distinguished by a character as patriotic, but more serious than any of those which were given in the course of the revolution, and, more than all, that it should be freed from that ridicule attached to the imitation, in modern times, of the customs of the ancients. It must be confessed that religion leaves a great vacancy in being excluded from the festivals of nations. Public games, theatrical representations, fires that make the night brilliant with illumina- tions, may occupy the popular attention for some time, upon any public occasion of the kind, but cannot fill up the whole day. In past times, na- tions have ever been disposed to celebrate their victories at the foot of the altar, and have made their public ceremonies an act of thankfulness to the divinity. But France had then no altar but that which had been elevated to the goddess of reason during the reign of terror ; those, which the theophilanthropists innocently strewed with flowers, during the licentious reign of the directory, were now covered with ineffaceable ridicule, be- cause, in regard to altars, those only are respect- able which are ancient. The old Catholic altar of France had not then been restored, and nothing remained in consequence but certain ceremonies in some degree academic, under the dome of the Invalides ; elegant orations, such as those made by M. Fontanes, or patriotic music composed by Mehul or Lesueur. The first consul was sensible of this, and endeavoured, therefore, to supply the deficiency in religious feature, by giving the fte something that should possess a deeply moral character. The homage paid to Washington, and the pre- sentation of the colours taken at Marengo, had already supplied subjects for the two festivals yet celebrated under his consulship : he contrived for the present to find, in a great act of reparation, the subject for the fete of the 1st of Vendemiaire, year ix., or 23d of September, 1800. At the time when the tombs of St. Denis were rifled, the body of Turenne had been found in per- fect preservation. In the midst of the excesses of the people, an involuntary respect had saved these remains from the common desecration. At first deposited in the Jardin des Plantes, they were subsequently committed to the care of M. Alex- ander Lenoir, a man whose pious zeal, worthy of being honoured in history, preserved a multitude of old monuments, which he collected in the mu- seum of the Petits Augustins. There lay the re- mains of Turenne, exposed rather to the curious feelings of visitors, than to their respect. The first consul thought of depositing the remains of this great man under the dome of the Invalides, and the guard of our older soldiers. In honouring an illus- trious general and servant of the old monarchy, he was bringing into union the glories of Louis XIV. and those of the republic ; it was an act re-esta- blishing the respect for the past without doing outrage to the present time; it was, in a word, the entire political object of the first consul, under a noble and touching aspect. The translation was to take place on the last complementary day of the year vm. or the 22d of September, and on the fol- lowing day, or 1st of Vende"miaire in the year ix., or 23d of September, the first stone was to be laid 1800. Sept. Obsequies of Turenne. Procession to the Invalides. THE ARMISTICE. Announcement of the armistice of Hohenlinden. Rise of the public funds. 155 of the monument to Klber and Desaix. Thus, at the moment when the earth, in obedience to the laws which impart motion to it, was completing one great century, and giving birth to another, not less renowned in its turn if it proved in future worthy of its commencement, at such a moment the first consul determined to pay a double homage to one hero of the past time, and to two of the pre- sent. In order to make the ceremonies the more striking, he imitated, to a certain extent, the same proceedings which had been practised at the fede- ration of 1790, and he requested all the depart- ments to send representatives, who, by their pre- sence, might give a character to the scene not only Parisian, but national. The departments answered readily to the call, and selected distinguished citi- zens, that curiosity, the desire to see for themselves tranquillity succeed to trouble, prosperity to the miseries of anarchy, the wish, above all, to see and converse with a great man, attracted to Paris in considerable numbers. Upon the 5th complementary day of the year vni., or 22d of September, the public authorities went to the museum of the Petits Augustins, to fetch the car upon which lay the body of Turenne. On this car, drawn by four white horses, was placed the sword of the hero of the monarchy, preserved in the family of Bouillon, and lent to the government for that striking ceremony. Four old generals, mutilated in the service of the republic, held the tassels of the car, which was preceded by a pie- bald horse, such as that which Turenne rode, harnessed after the fashion of his time, and led by a negro, all an accurate representation of some of the scenes of a day belonging to the times of the hero to whom the homage was paid. Around the car marched the invalids, followed by some of those fine troops which had returned from the banks of the Po and the Danube. This singular and noble procession traversed Paris to the Inva- lides in the midst of an immense assemblage. There the first consul waited its arrival, surround- ed by the envoys from the departments, both those of the old France and those of the new France ; these last representing Belgium, Luxemburg, the Rhenish provinces, Savoy, and the county of Nice. The precious relic which was carried by the pro- cession, was placed under the dome. Carnot, the minister-at-war, delivered a simple and appropriate address, and then, while solemn music resounded through the vaulted building, the body of Turenne was deposited in the monument which it now occu- pies, and where it was soon to be rejoined by his companion in glory, the illustrious and virtuous Vauban; where, too, he was destined to be one day joined by the author of the great achievements we are recounting, and where he will most assu- redly rest, surrounded by this august company, throughout the ages which heaven may have re- served for France. If in days like our own, when faith is become cold, any thing can fill its place, and perhaps equal the purposes of religion, it is such a spectacle as this. On the evening of the same day a gratuitous representation of the " Tartuffe" and of the " Cid " was given to the people, with the view of offering them an amusement less coarse than had been customary upon such occasions. The first consul attended the performance. His presence, his in- tention, instinctively guessed by a sensitive and intelligent people, all concurred to maintain upon the occasion, in a tumultuous assemblage, a thing not usual at gratuitous exhibitions the most com- plete decorum. The order was interrupted only by cries a thousand times repeated " Long live the republic ! Long live general Bonaparte !" On the following day, the first consul, as before, accompanied by the public authorities and envoys from the departments, repaired to the Place des Victoires. There a monument was about to be erected in the Egyptian style, intended to receive the mortal remains of Kldber and Desaix, whom the first consul wished to repose side by side. He then went on horseback to the Invalides, where the minister of the ulterior, his brother Lucien, de- livered a speech on the state of the republic, which made a powerful impression. Some passages were very strongly applauded ; this, among others, re- lative to the present age and to that of Louis XIV. " It may be said that at the present moment these two great ages have met to salute one an- other over that august tomb !" The orator, in delivering these words, mounted upon the tomb of Turenne. Unanimous plaudits responded, showing that every heart, without derogating from the present, was willing to receive from the past what- ever deserved revival. And that the scene might be complete that the common illusions of human nature might do their part, the orator further ex- claimed " Happy the generation which sees finished, in a republic, the revolution which it com- menced under a monarchy !" During this ceremony the first consul received a despatch by telegraph, announcing the armistice of Hohenlinden and the cession of Philipsburg, Ulm, and Ingoldstadt. He sent a note to his brother Lucien, which was read to all those present, and welcomed with greater applauses than the speech of the minister of the interior. Despite all respect for places, the cries of " Long live Bonaparte ! Long live the republic !" shook the arches of that noble edifice. The immediate publication of this intelligence produced deeper satisfaction than all the amusements destined to please the multitude. The people were not afraid of war ; they had full confidence in the talents of the first consul, and in the courage of their armies, if it was necessary that war should be continued ; but after so many battles, so many troubles, they wished to enjoy in peace the glory acquired, and the prosperity which was beginning to appear. This prosperity was making a rapid progress. I the sole presence of Bonaparte sufficed, on the 18th of Brnmaire, to calm, soothe, re-assure, and give back hope, the matter must be changed now when the success of the armies, the earnest advances made by Europe towards France, the prospect of an approaching and brilliant peace, in fine, the tranquillity every where established, had realized the hopes conceived in the first moment of con- fidence. These hopes were become realities. It might be said, that in the ten months past, from November, 1799, to September, 1800, the aspeot ol France had changed. The public funds, the vulgar but certain expression of the state of the public mind, had risen from twelve francs on the real price at Returns of the public contri- 15C butions.- Success of the TRIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. measure adopted. Return to cash pay- ments. Financial prosperity. 1800. Sept. which the five per cents, were sold the day before the 18th Brumaire, to forty francs they promised to reach fifty. The stockholders had received half a year's dividend hi specie, a thing which had not happened since the commencement of the revolution. This financial phenomenon had produced a great effect, and appeared not to be the least of the victories of the first consul. How had he been able to effect such a success ? It was an enigma which the mass of the people explained by that singular power which he was said already to possess, of doing whatever he pleased. But it was not the smallest miracle ; there is no other cause for real successes than good sense seconded by a powerful determination, and such was the sole cause of the happy results obtained under the administration of the first consul. He had, at first, sought to remedy the real evil exist- ing, which arose from the slowness with which the imposts were collected ; he had, with this view, established a special agency for perfecting the lists of assessment, left too complaisantly before to the communes. This special agency, stimulated by the prefects, another creation of the consular go- vernment, had corrected the assessments in arrear for the years vn. and viu., and had terminated those for the year ix., that which had just begun, or from September, 1800, to September, 1801. Thus, for the first time since the revolution, the lists of the current year were placed in a train for collection from the first day of the year. The re- ceivers-general, having the taxes punctually paid to them, were enabled to be punctual in their monthly acquittal of the obligations which they had accepted, and had paid them in constantly at the end of every month. It has been said before, that in order to guaranty the credit of these obligations or bills, the treasury had required of the receivers- general security in specie, which security, being deposited in the sinking fund, served to pay any of the obligations that might be protested. Out of the sum of 20,000,000 f., being the total amount of the securities, 1, 000,000 f. sufficed to pay the dis- honoured bills. From this circumstance they ac- quired a credit equal to that of the best commercial paper. At first they could not be discounted under three-fourths per cent, per month, or nine per cent, per annum ; now they were discounted at eight, and many were willing to discount them at seven per cent. This was very moderate interest in com- parison with that which the government had before been obliged to pay. Thus, as the direct contri- butions in a total budget of 500,000,000 f. repre- sented about 300,000,000 f., the treasury had, at the first day of the year, 300,000,000 f. of value in its hands, very nearly realized ; for in place of re- ceiving nearly nothing, as formerly, and receiving the little paid very slowly, it had, on the 4th of Vende"miaire, the best part of the public revenues at its disposal. Such had been the result of the completion of the assessment lists in good time, and of the system of monthly bills, drawn under the title of obligations upon the chests of the re- ceivers-general, by preventing the last from having any pretext for delaying their receipts, the govern- ment was able to impose upon them the condition of paying in upon a fixed day. The year vin., which had just terminated, from September, 1799, to September, 1800, had not been provided for with such facility as the year ix. promised to be. It had been necessary to with- draw all the paper emitted before, such as the bills of arrear, of requisition, the delegations, and others. The different paper had been withdrawn, either by the acquittal of the anterior contribu- tions, or by means of certain arrangements agreed upon with the holders. The revenue of the year Tin. had, in consequence, been so much diminished, there was a deficiency too in that year's receipts. But the victories of the French armies having taken them into the enemies' country, the treasury was relieved from the burden of their support ; and with some of the national domains, which had begun to fetch good prices in the market, the deficiency of that year might be made good. The expenditure of the year ix. would not offer any similar diffi- culty. No more bills of arrear were issued, because the stockholders were paid in specie ; no more bills of requisition, because the army was either fed by the treasury itself, or by the treasury of the foreigner ; no more delegations were issued, because, as before observed, the first consul adopted an invariable rule in regard to those who had claims upon the state : he paid them specie or nothing ; and in specie he paid them already more than the preceding governments had done. Every week he held a council of finance, when he required a statement of the resources to be laid before the council, and also one of the money wanted by each minister ; he chose the most urgent demands, and divided them with exactness; he distributed the assets certain to be paid, but no more than those. In this mode, with a firm conduct, there was no more need for issuing paper money ; and having no fictitious paper abroad, there was none to be redeemed. The receipts of the year ix. were certain tc be in specie. The stock or fund- holders were paid by the bank of France. The bank had only been in existence for six months, and was already capable of issuing notes to a large amount, taken by the public as readily as specie itself. The necessities of trade, and the conduct of the government in regard to the new establishment, had caused this rapid suc- cess. This was the mode in which the matter was managed. Of the securities in specie, one million in twenty millions sufficed to sustain the credit of the obligations. The remainder was without em- ployment; and however pressing was the tempta- tion to employ those 19,000,000 f. to meet urgent necessities, the government did not hesitate to impose upon itself the severest hardships, that it might lay out 5,000,000 f. in purchasing shares in the bank, the amount of which it immediately paid. It did not stay there, but deposited with it in current account the surplus of the disposable funds. The account current was composed of sums paid in, on condition that they might be drawn out accordingly as they were wanted, day by day. Having such resources suddenly placed at its command, the bank lost not a moment in discounting, and in issuing notes which, always paid in money, if desired, had acquired in a few months the value of cash. To-day such a thing would not appear extraordinary, because La the smallest towns the same operation is seen performing in the easiest way, and many banks prosper from the 1800. Sept. The bank of France. State of the landed proprietary. THE ARMISTICE. The first consul repairs the public roads. 157 time of their starting. But in that day, after so many bankruptcies, after the dislike which the assignats had created for paper, it was a species of commercial wonder, worked out by a govern- ment which had, above all other things, the gift of inspiring confidence. The treasury then thought of confiding to the bank divers services, advantageous to itself as well as to the state, especially that of paying the stock- holders. This it effected by means perfectly simple. The bills of the receivers-general were as good as bills of exchange. The treasury offered the bank these bills, to the amount of 20,000,000 f., for dis- count, an operation highly advantageous to the bank, because discount was at six and seven per cent. ; and the operation was perfectly secure, since the bills had become of undeniable value. The bank undertook, in consequence, to pay the half- yearly dividends to the stockholders, who received money or notes, as they might prefer. Thus in some months the government, in know- ing how to impose privations upon itself, had already procured a powerful instrument, which for an aid of 10,000,000 f. or 1 2,000,000 f., that it had received at a moment's notice, could make a return of service to the extent of hundreds of millions. Financial ease was therefore every where re- newed. The only sensible suffering remaining was that of the landed proprietary. In the worst time of the national troubles, the proprietor* of estates and houses had the advantage of not paying any taxes, owing to the delay in the making up the assessment lists; or of paying next to nothing, owing to the assignats. To-day it was otherwise. The landed proprietors were now forced to pay up their arrears and their current taxes, all in cash. For the small proprietors the charge was heavy. At first an allowance had been made in the budget of 5,000,000 f. for assets not available, in order to exempt such payers as were too severely pressed ; but it was found necessary to devote a much larger sum to this purpose. It was a sort of profit and loss account opened with the payers, by which the past was given up in order to secure the exact acquittal of the present. The landed proprietary alone cannot pay all the public burdens of a state. Some must be met by duties imposed upon articles of consumption. The revolution, by abolishing the taxes imposed upon liquors, upon salt and different articles of the kind, had closed up one of the two necessary sources of public revenue. Time had not yet opened it again. This was one of the glories destined, at a later period, for the return of order and of society in France to effect. Bonaparte had at first many prejudices to overcome. By establishing an excise or " octroi " at the gates of the towns, to provide for the necessities of the public hospitals, he had made a first useful essay, which accustomed people to the restitution of a tax sooner or later indis- pensable. Though the landed property was for the moment heavily taxed, still a general feeling of prosperity was diffused among all classes of persons. On all sides the people felt themselves regenerated, and found they had courage to labour and speculate. But there were other efforts to be made in that upturned state of society, to bring every thing right, if not to so perfect a state as time might do, to such a state as was supportable for all. It has been seen what was done for the finances; there was another branch of the public service fully as much disorganized as the finances had been, namely, that of the roads. These had become nearly impassable. As everybody knows, not years of negligence, but a few months only, are sufficient to change into bogs the artificial roads that man makes upon the surface of the earth for the trans- port of heavy loads. It was nearly ten years since the roads in France had been left almost without repair. Under the old government, the roads were repaired by "corvees," or tenant labour; and sub- sequently to the revolution, by means of a sum of money, which appeared in the general budget, but had not been more punctually paid than the sums destined for other services. The directory, seeing how matters stood, had contemplated a particular resource for the purpose, which should not be alienated, and could never be diminished; and, to arrive at this object, had established a toll, and created barriers for its collection. This toll had been farmed out to the contractors for the road themselves, who being negligently surveyed, cheated both in the collection of the toll and in the applica- tion of the product. Besides, the sum was in- sufficient that was thus obtained. It returned 13,000,000 f. or 14,000,000 f. per annum at most, and 30,000,000 f. was necessary. In the years vi., vii., and vni., no more than 32,000,000 f. had been expended upon the roads, and at least 100,000,000f. would have been required to repair the ravages which time had made, and to preserve them in repair annually. The first consul, postponing the adoption of a perfect system, had recourse to the most simple means the general funds of the state ; applying them to the purpose of the roads, a service so important in every respect. He suffered the toll to continue in the old mode of being levied and in its application, taking care that its outlay was carefully superintended; and he added 12,000,000f. in the year ix., a considerable sum for that time. This sum was intended to repair the main roads going from the centre to the extremities of the republic, from Paris to Lille, to Strasburg, to Marseilles, to Bordeaux, and to Brest. He pro- posed afterwards to proceed to other roads with the funds thus devoted, and to augment the sums in proportion to the improved state of the treasury, employing them concurrently with the toll, until the roads were restored to such a state as they ought to be in every civilized land. The canals of St. Quentin and of Ourcq, under- taken towards the close of the regal government, exhibited every where to the sight mere ditches half-filled, hills partly cut through, and utter ruins; in a word, they seemed any thing but works of art. Bonaparte sent engineers to survey them imme- diately, and went himself and ordered the definitive plans, that by labors of public utility the first movements of the approaching peace might be signalized. The bad state of the roads was not the only thing which rendered them impassable; there were robbers infesting them, in a great many of the provinces. The Chouans and the Vende"ans, re- maining without employ from the end of the civil Public robbers suppressed. Spina arrives at Paris from . ,. 158 Differences of the priest- TRIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE, the holy see. Regulations i."' hood regulated.-Monsignor for the Sunday and decadi. war, having contracted habits of life which were irreconcileable with a state of peace, ravaged the great roads in Britany, Normandy, and the environs of Paris. Refractory persons who wished to escape the conscription, and some of the soldiers of the Ligurian army that misery had driven to desertion, were committing robberies upon the highways of the south and centre of France. Georges Cadoudal, who had come back from England with plenty of money, concealed in the Morbihan, secretly directed these new Chouan depredations. It was necessary to have a number of moveable columns, with military commissions following them, to sup- press these disorders. The first consul had already formed some of these columns, but he was in want of men. The directory had kept too many troops at home ; he had kept too few ; but he said, with sound reason, that when he had beaten the enemies without, he would soon put an end to those within. " Patience," he replied to those who spoke to him fearfully of this species of disorder; " give me a month or two; I shall then have conquered peace, and I will do prompt and complete justice upon these highway robbers." Peace was, then, the indispensable condition of good in all things. Still he did not the less employ the interim in applying remedies to the more urgent disorders. It has been before observed, that he had con- sented to substitute for an oath formerly exacted from the priesthood, a simple promise of obedience to the laws, which could in no way wound their consciences. They had immediately availed them- selves of this concession in considerable numbers , and the clerical duties were at once seen to be dis- puted by the constitutional priests who had taken the oath to the civil constitution of the clergy, the unsworn priests who had only given a verbal pro- mise of obedience to the laws, and, lastly, those who had neither given a promise to obey the laws, nor taken any oath at all. The priests belonging to the first two classes were alike agreed in the endeavour to obtain churches, which were con- ceded to them with greater or less facility, accord- ing to the very variable humour of the local autho- rities. Those who had refused to make any kind of oath or promise, performed the duties clan- destinely in the interior of private houses, and passed, in the eyes of many of the faithful, for the only true ministers of religion. Lastly, to add to the confusion, came the Theophilanthropists, who replaced the Catholics in the churches, and on certain days deposited flowers on the altars, where the priests who preceded them had just said mass. These ridiculous sectarians held festivals in honour of all the virtues, of tem- perance, courage, charity, and similar qualities. Upon All Saints' day, they celebrated, for example, a festival hi honour of ancestors. In the view of the strict Catholics this was a profanation of a reli- gious edifice, and good sense as well as respect for dominant creeds demanded that it should be dis- continued. In order to put an end to the prevailing chaos, it was necessary to have an agreement with the holy see an agreement by means of which, those who had taken the oath, and those who had only given the promise, and those who had refused to do either the one or the other, should be reconciled. But Monsignor Spina, the envoy from the holy see, had just arrived in Paris, and kept out of sight, feeling surprised to find himself there. The business upon which he had come was as delicate for him as for the government. The first consul, dis- cerning, as he did, with rare tact, the characters of men, and the employment for which they are best adapted, opposed to the wary Italian the individual most fitted to cope with him, the Abbe" Bernier, who, having for a long while directed the affairs of La Vendee, had, ultimately, reconciled it with the government. The first consul, having brought the abbe to Paris, attached him to himself by the most honourable of all relations, a desire to contribute to the public good, and to be a partaker of the honour of the task. To re-establish a good understanding between France and the Roman church was, with the abbe" Bernier, but a continuance and comple- tion of the pacification of La Vende"e % The inter- view with Monsignor Spina had scarcely begun, and the government was unable to promise itself any immediate result. It was important to arrive as speedily as possi- ble at a settlement of these religious affairs. Peace with the holy see was not less desirable for calming the minds of the people, than peace with the great European powers. In the mean while there remained a number of irregularities, singular or mischievous, to provide against, which the first consul did by the best means he was able to use, by consular decrees. Already by his ordinance of the 7th Nivose, year viu., or 28th of December, 1799, he had prevented the local authorities, fre- quently favourable to the priesthood, from thwart- ing them in the performance of their religious duties. Disposing, as already observed, of the churches of which they had the care, they would often refuse permission to the priests to use them on the Sunday in place of the decadi, asserting that the last was the only holiday recognized by the laws of the republic. The ordinance before referred to had provided against this difficulty, and obliged the local authorities to deliver the places of religious worship to the priests on the days indicated by each religious denomination. But this ordinance had not resolved all the diffi- culties relative to the Sundays and ddcadis. Upon this point the manners and laws were opposed to each other; a matter necessary to explain, in order to give an idea of the state of French society at that time. In the passionate taste for symmetry and uni- formity attached to the revolution, it had not con- fined itself to the introduction of uniformity in the measures of length, superficies, and weight, and to reducing them to natural and immutable unities, such as a fraction of the meridian, or the specific gravity of distilled water ; it had introduced the same kind of regularity into the measurement of time. It had divided the year into twelve equal months, of thirty days each, and had completed it by five complementary days. It had divided the month into three decades, or weeks, of ten days each, thus reducing the days of rest to three in each month, and substituting for the four Sundays of the Gregorian calendar, the three d^cadis of the republican. Beyond contradiction, and under the mathematical view of the question, this last calendar was much better than the old one; but then it hurt religious feelings ; it was not that of 1800. Sept. Sunday again observed. Anxiety of the emigrants to return. THE ARMISTICE. Decree concerning the proscription list. 159 the generality of nations nor that of history, and it could not overcome inveterate habit. The metrical system, after forty years of effort and legislative enactment, notwithstanding its incontestable com- mercial advantages, has scarcely been yet defini- tively established ; how then could it be expected that the republican calendar could be maintained after the usage of twenty centuries, against the custom of the whole world, and against the power of religion itself 3 It is necessary when we reform, to content ourselves with reformation so far as to destroy real suffering to establish justice when it is required; but to reform for the mere pleasure of the sight and fancy, for the purpose of putting a straight line where none exists, is exacting too much of human nature. The habits of a child may be formed at pleasure, but not so those of a grown man. It is the same with nations ; the habits of a people, after an existence of fifteen centuries, cannot be changed. In consequence Sunday was again kept every- where. In some towns the shops were closed on Sundays, in others on de'cadis ; often in the same town and street the contrast was exhibited, and presented a picture of a mischievous conflict be- tween manners and ideas. Sunday would have everywhere been observed, but for the intervention of some of the authorities. The first consul, by a new decree of the 7th Thermidor, year vni., or July 26, 1800, declared that every one should be free to keep holiday when he pleased, and to adopt for a day of rest that most agreeable to his taste and religious notions; and that the authorities, con- strained to adhere to the legal calendar, should alone be obliged to choose the ddcadi for the sus- pension of their business. This was at once to insure the triumph of the Sunday. The first consul was acting with judgment, in aiding this return to old and general habits, es- pecially if he inclined to the restoration of the Catholic religion, as indeed he did, and which he had good reason for desiring. His attention was engaged anew by the emi- grants. We have already made mention of their anxiety to return during the first days of the con- sulate : this eagerness continued to increase, as tliey saw the repose enjoyed by France, and the security in which the inhabitants of her soil were living. But however great the wish to put an end to the proscription against these people, it was necessary, in putting an end to one disorder for such was the proscription to guard against giving birth to another ; for a precipitate reaction is a disorder, and one of the gravest character. The emigrants, on their return, met with either their former proscribers who had contributed to their persecution, or persons who had obtained possession of their property for assignats ; and to the one or the other they were either rest- less enemies, or at least troublesome people to meet ; nor were they by any means discreet enough to avoid abusing the clemency shown to- wards them by the government. They availed themselves eagerly of the laws passed a few months before, by which the pro- scription-list was closed. Those who had been omitted on this list, hastened to profit by the clause referring to their case ; and as they could uo longer be put upon that list but by the authority of the ordinary tribunals (of which, in their opinion, the danger was but slight) ; they felt tranquillized on this score, and had almost all returned. Those who had been on the list, and whom the law sent be- fore the administrative authorities to claim their erasure, profited by the spirit of the times to get themselves erased. They first of all made applica- tion for surveillances, that is to say,as we have already explained, the privilege of returning temporarily under the surveillance of the high police; and then they went on to deliver in, either through friends or complaisant persons, false certificates, showing that they had not quitted France during the reign of terror, but had only been concealed to avoid the scaffold ; thus they obtained their erasure with an incredible facility. The lists, as made up by the local authorities, with all the cold reck- lessness of persecution, comprehended one hundred and forty-five thousand individuals, and formed nine volumes. At this time there was as much recklessness shown in erasing as there had been in inscribing, and the emigrants were restored by thousands to their civil rights. That part of them whose effects had not already been sold, addressed themselves to the members of the government to have the sequestration removed ; they importuned, as is usual, the very men whom they had vilified yesterday, and were ready to vilify again to- morrow; and not unfrequently Madame Bonaparte herself, who had been, to some extent, formerly allied to the French nobility, in consequence of the rank which she held in society. That the emigrants, whose effects had not been sold, should recover them at the expense of certain proceedings, followed by ingratitude, was no great evil ; but others, whose effects had been alienated, betook themselves to the provinces, addressed them- selves to the new proprietors, and successively, by the force of threats and importunities, or by re- ligious suggestions at the bed of the dying, caused them to give back, at a low price, their family estates, by proceedings hardly more creditable than the means by which they had been themselves despoiled of them. The uproar was at this moment so general as to attract the attention of the first consul. His de- sire was to repair the cruelties of the revolution, but, beyond all, it was his wish not to alter any of the interests it had created, and to which time had given the sanction of law. Consequently he thought it his duty to adopt a measure, which was only a part of what he afterwards did, but which gave some slight order to the chaos of claims, precipi- tate returns, and attempts, fraught with danger. After a profound consultation in the council of state, a decree to the following effect was issued 20th of October, 1800, 28th Vend I have painted, not drawn, this picture of the emigrants of that period from imagination. The language I make them use is literally extracted from the voluminous corre- spondence addressed to Louis XVIII., and brought over to France by that prince. Left at the Tuileries during the hundred days, and afterwards deposited in the archives of the foreign office, they comprise a singular evidence of the illusions and passions of the period. Some of them are ex- ceedingly clever, and all of them very curious. 1800. Sept. Georges Cadoudal and the Chouans. Indifference of Bonaparte. THE ARMISTICE. State of the police. Character of Fouche. 1G3 In a lower sphere, there were men who con- spired otherwise than in words, the intriguers in the service of the Bourbons; and in one still lower, yet more dangerous, the agents of Georges, whose hands were full with money sent from England. Since his return from London, Georges kept in the Morbihan, concealing himself from all eyes, playing the part of a man who resigns himself to what has happened, and returns to cultivate his fields : but in reality implacable; for he had sworn in his heart, he had sworn to the Bourbons, to destroy the first consul or fall in the attempt. To try the chances of battle with the grenadiers of the consular guard was impossible; but among the men of the Ckouanerie there were hands always ready for the last resource of a vanquished faction; for assassination itself. Amongst them could be found a hand ready for every thing, for crimes the blackest or attempts the most rash. These, Georges, not yet knowing what time or place he ought to choose, kept to their object, communicating with them by trusty friends, while he let them find their subsistence on the high roads, or upon a portion of the money he was profusely supplied with by the British cabinet. The first consul, satisfied with the homage of France, and the unanimous adhesion of the sincere and disinterested of all parties, felt little inquietude at the scandal of some royalists, or the plots of others. Closely applying himself to his occupation, he thought little of the vain discourse of idlers, though far from being insensible to it ; but he was actually too much absorbed by his task to give much attention to such language. Nor did he pay more regard to the plots directed against his per- son ; he considered it as one of the chances which he braved every day on the field of battle with the indifference of fatalism. Nevertheless, he de- ceived himself in the nature of his danger. He had attained the 18th Brumaire by snatching power from the party of the revolution, and re- garding it at the time as his principal enemy, he imputed to this party all that happened, and seemed to feel displeasure at that alone. The royal- ists, in his eye, were no more than a party under persecution, which it was his wish to preserve 1'rom oppression. Amongst them he well knew were some bad men; but from his intercourse with the moderate party, it had grown habitual with him to look for no violence but from the revolu- tionists. One of his counsellors, however, en- deavoured to correct this error in his mind; this was Fouche", the minister of police. In this government, reduced nearly to one man, all the ministers were eclipsed except two, Fouchd and Talleyrand. They alone have preserved the privilege of being sometimes visible in the halo surrounding Bonaparte, in which all figures dis- appear but his own. General Berthier had just succeeded Carnot in the war department, as being more pliable, and more resigned to the modest part of comprehending and carrying out the ideas of his chief, which he did with a clear- ness and precision truly wonderful. It was no small merit to fill worthily the part of the chief of the staff to the greatest soldier of the age, and possibly of all ages. But Berthier, by the side of the first consul, could not have any importance as a director of military operations. The navy at this epoch, drew very little attention. The finance merely required a firm and persevering, though unnoticed, application of certain principles of order laid down once for all. The police, on the contrary, was of great importance, from the vast arbitrary power with which the government was armed ; and with the police, the department of foreign affairs, from the re-establishment of re- lations with all the world. For the police there was necessary to the first consul a man who had a perfect knowledge of all parties, and of the in- dividuals who composed them; this was the reason of the influence acquired by the m mister Fouche". In regard to foreign affairs, however the first consul might be the most competent person to offer to Europe, he wanted an intermediate agent for all occasions, with more mildness and patience than he himself possessed; and this was the cause of the influence acquired by Talleyrand. Fouche", then, and Talleyrand shared between them the only portion of political credit which the ministers of that time enjoyed. The police of this epoch was not, what it has happily since become, a simple surveillance with- out power, charged only with the prevention of crime, and the capture of the culprit. It was the depository of an immense arbitrary power in the hands of one man alone. The minister of police had power to banish these as revolutionaries, those as returned emigrants; to assign to one or the other their place of residence, or even throw them into a temporary prison, without fear of the disclosures of the press or of the tribune, then powerless and decried ; it was in his power to take off or keep on the sequestration upon the effects of the proscribed of all periods ; to restore or take away his church from the priest; to suppress or reprimand a journal which displeased him, and, lastly, to mark out every individual to the mistrust or to the favour of the government, which had at this moment an extraordinary number of places to distribute, and the wealth of Europe to be- stow profusely on its creatures. The minister, on whom the laws conferred such powers, how- ever he might be placed under the superior and vigilant authority of the first consul, had yet a formidable power over every relation of life. Fouche', the man charged with the exercise of this power, an old oratoriau and an old conven- tionalist, was a person of intelligence and crafti- ness; filled with no love of good or inclination to ill, he had a thorough knowledge of mankind, espe- cially the bad portion, and despised them without distinction. He employed the revenues of the police in supporting the fosterers of sedition, as much as in watching them ; always ready to give bread or a place to such individuals as were tired of political agitations : he thus procured friends for the government, and, above all, procured them for himself ; making them far superior to credulous or treacherous spies, dependents who never failed to furnish him with intelligence of what it was his in- terest to be informed. Thus he had in every party, but especially among the royalists, his dependents whom he knew how to manage and control to his purpose. Always forewarned in time, and never exaggerating a danger either to himself or to his master, he could distinguish between an impru- dent man and one really to be feared, knowing Low M 2 164 Character of Fouche TRIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. and Talleyrand. 1800. Sept. to restrain the one and proceed against the other ; in a word, conducting the police better than it had ever been before, since this consists in disarm- ing as much as in repressing hatred : a minister of a high order, if his extreme indulgence had had any other principle than an indifference most ex- treme to good or evil ; if his incessant activity had been actuated by any other motive than an anxiety for meddling in all things which rendered him an inconvenient person, and exposed him to he sus- pected by the first consul, giving him moreover the appearance of an intriguing subaltern ; for the rest, his countenance, intelligent, vulgar, and equi- vocal, well represented the qualities and defects of his soul. Jealous of his confidence, the first consul did not grant it freely, at kast to those for whom he had not a perfect esteem ; he made use of Fouche*, but distrusted him while he did so. Thus he sought how to supply his place or to control him, by giv- ing money to his secretary, Bourrienne, or to Murat, the commandant of Paris, or to his aid-de- camp, Savary, thus making up several opposition polices. But Fouche" always found a way to con- yict these secondary police departments of clumsi- ness and puerility; while he showed that he alone was well-informed: so that all the time he was run- ning counter to the first consul, he inclined him nevertheless the more to himself, by his manner of treating men, into which neither love nor hatred found admission, but simply an application directed to wrest individuals, one by one, from a life agitated by faction. Fouche", with a half fidelity to the revolutionary party, willingly undertook the management of his old friends, and ventured, on this point, to contra- dict the first consul. Well acquainted with their moral position, appreciating moreover the scoun- drels of royalism, he incessantly repeated that if there was any peril, it was to be looked for from the side of the royalists, not of the revolutionists ; and that there would soon be an opportunity of seeing this. He had also the merit, though he had it not long, of insisting that it would be better not quite so much to desert the revolution and its principles. Hearing, at that time, the flatterers of the epoch say, that the reaction must be carried on more quickly, that no account must be made of the prejudices of the revolution, and that it was time to go back to something that resembled a monar- chy, but without the Bourbons, he had daring enough to blame, if not the object, at least the im- prudence by which it was endeavoured to be at- tained. While all the time admitting the justice of his advice, given as it was without frankness, and without dignity, the first consul was struck, but not satisfied. He could not but acknowledge, while he did not relish, the services of this personage. Talleyrand played a part altogether the con- trary ; he bore neither affection nor resemblance to Fouche". Both of them alike having been for- merly priests, and come out the one from the high clergy, the other from the low, they had nothing in common, but that they had both taken advantage of the revolution, the one to strip off the robes of a prelate, the other the humble gown of an orato- rian professor. It is a strange spectacle, it must be avowed, a spectacle which admirably paints a so- ciety in which order has been completely reversed, to see this government, composed of a soldier and two priests, who Had abjured their profession, though thus composed, have none the less of glory, grandeur, and influence in the world. Talleyrand, a man of the highest extraction, destined to the profession of arms from his birth, condemned to the priesthood by an accident which deprived him of the use of one foot, having no taste for the profession imposed upon him, be- coming successively prelate, courtier, revolutionary emigrant, then, at last, minister of foreign affairs to the directory ; Talleyrand had preserved some- thing of all these conditions, and one might find in him the bishop, the nobleman, and the revo- lutionist, without any fixed opinion, but merely a natural moderation, which felt a repugnance to all exaggeration ; accommodating himself in an in- stant to the ideas of those whom it may be his inclination or interest to please; expressing him- self in an unique language, peculiar to the society of which Voltaire was the founder ; fertile in re- partee, lively, yet so cutting as to render him equally as formidable as he was attractive ; by turns caressing or disdainful, open or impenetrable, careless or dignified, lame without any loss of grace ; a personage, lastly, the most singular, and such as a revolution only could produce, he was the most seducing of negotiators, but at the same time incapable of directing the affairs of a state as its head ; since to guide a state requires purpose, principle, and close attention, not one of which he possessed. His purpose confined itself to pleasing, his principles consisted in the opinions of the moment, application he had none. He was, in a word, an accomplished .ambassador, but not a directing minister ; it being understood, however, that this expression is to be taken only in its highest acceptation. Besides this, he held no other office under the consular government. The first consul, who allowed to no person the right of giving him advice in war or diplomacy, never employed him but in carrying on negotiations with foreign minis- ters according to his own directions ; and this Talleyrand did with a skill which will never be surpassed. Once for all too he had a moral merit, that of being a lover of peace under a master who was fond of war, and of allowing this inclination to be perceived. Gifted with an exquisite taste, of a sure tact, and even a useful indolence, he was able to render true service, if only in opposing to the abundance of the speech, pen, and action of the first consul, his own sobriety, his perfect mode- ration, his inclination to do nothing. But he had little influence on his imperious master, on whom he made no impression either by his genius or by conviction. Thus he had no more power than Fouche", even less, though always equally employed, and more agreeable. For the rest, Talleyrand expressed opinions quite contrary to those of Fouche" ; a lover of the ancient regime, minus the persons and ridiculous prejudices of other times, he counselled the recon- stitution of the monarchy, or an equivalent for it, by making the glory of the first consul serve in the place of a blood-royal ; adding, that if it were wished to make a speedy and lasting peace with Europe, it was necessary to lose no time in assimi- lating ourselves to her institutions : so that while Fouche", in the name of the revolution, advised not 1800. Sept. Character of Cambac6rfes THE ARMISTICE. and Lebrun. 165 to go too fast ; Talleyrand, in the name of Europe, counselled that we should not go so slow. The first consul prized the good common sense of Pouche", but liked the graces of Talleyrand, without absolutely believing either the one or the other on every subject ; and as for his confidence, he had given it given it entirely, but not to either of these two persons to his favourite col- league Cambace'res. This personage, though not very brilliant in talent, had a rare good sense, and an unbounded devotion to the first consul. Having trembled for ten years of his life under proscribers of every kind, he loved with a species of tenderness the powerful master who gave him at last the faculty of breathing at ease. He cherished his power, his genius, and his person, from which he had never received, and hoped to receive nothing but benefits. Knowing the weakness even of the greatest men, he gave his advice to the first consul as those ought to advise who wish to be attended to, with perfect good faith, and infinite manage- ment, never for the sake of showing off his own wisdom, but always to be useful to a government, which he loved as himself, expressing his appro- bation of it in public, in every respect, nor permit- ting himself to disapprove it but in secret, in an absolute tite-a-ttta with the first consul ; silent, where there was no longer a remedy, and when all criticising could only be the vain pleasure of finding fault ; always speaking out, and with a courage the more meritorious in one who was the most timid of men, when there was time to prevent a fault, or to influence the general conduct of affairs. Yet, as it must be, a character which restrains itself unceasingly, is certain to escape on some one side, the consul Cambace'res allowed himself to exhibit with his inferiors a puerile vanity ; he had with him constantly some subaltern courtiers, who paid him their gross homage ; promenaded the Palais Royal almost every day, in a costume ridicu- lously magnificent, and sought in the gratification of a f/ourmandite, now proverbial, pleasures which suited the man at once vulgar and wise. But of what consequence, on the whole, are a few ec- centricities when they are accompanied with a superior reason. The first consul willingly pardoned these eccen- tricities in his colleague, and held him in great consideration. He valued at its worth that supe- rior good sense, which never wished to shine but only to be useful, which made all things clear in a true and temperate light. He appreciated, moreover, the sincerity of his attachment ; smiled at his foibles, yet always with regard ; and paid him the greatest of homages that of saying all to no one but him, nor ever giving himself any con- cern but about his judgment. Thus he was sus- ceptible of no influence but his alone ; an influence hardly suspected, and, for that reason, very great. The consul Cambace'res was, moreover, just adapted to temper his quickness in regard to per- sons and his precipitation in action. Amidst the conflict of two opposite tendencies, the one pushing forward to a precipitate reaction, the other, on the contrary, combating this reaction, CambaceYes, in- flexible when acting for the maintenance of order, was, in every thing else, always in favour of not going too fast. He did not oppose the end to which things were visibly tending. " Let them decree some day, to the first consul, all the power they please :" he would repeat, " so be it ; but not too soon." His wish was, moreover, that reality should be always preferred to appearance ; true power, to that which was nothing but ostentation. A first consul, with full power to do ah 1 he wished in effecting good, seemed to him worth much more than a crowned prince limited in action. To act and not to be seen, moreover never to act too quickly, constituted the whole of his wisdom. This is not genius, certainly, but it is prudence ; and iu laying the foundation of a great state there must be both. Cambace'res was also useful to the first consul in another way than that of giving him counsel ; this was in governing the senate. That body, as we have already mentioned, had an immense import- ance, inasmuch as the gift of offices was vested in it. In the beginning this was, in some measure, left to Sieyes, as an equivalent for the executive power, which was entirely handed over to Bona- parte. Sieyes, at first content to abdicate, and living on his estate at Crosne, began to feel a slight vexation at his insignificance ; for there never was an abdication without regret. If he had possessed purpose and consistency, he might have been able to wrest the senate from the influence of the first consul, and then no other resource would have been left him but a coup d'etat. But Cambace'res, without noise and without ostentation, insinuated himself by degrees into this body, and occupied there the territory which the negligence of Sieyes abandoned to him. People knew that it was through him that the first consul, the source of every favour, was to be got at ; and it was to him, in fact, that men addressed themselves. Of this he took advantage with infinite, yet always concealed, skill, to restrain or gain over the opposition. But with such discretion was this done, that no person thought of complaining. At a time when re- pose was become the true wisdom, when the same repose was necessary to give some day new birth to a taste for liberty, we dare not blame we dare not call by the name of corrupter, the man who, on one side, tempered the master imposed on us by events, and, on the other, arrested the imprudences of an opposition which had neither aim, nor fitness of season, nor political intelligence. In regard to the consul Lebrun, Bonaparte treated him with regard, and even with affection ; yet as a personage who mixed little in affairs, the administration excepted. He gave him the charge of watching over the detail of the finances, and of keeping himself well acquainted with what the royalists were doing or thinking ; and by these the third consul was frequently surrounded. He had thus an ear or eye amongst them; attaching to it no other importance thnn a simple interest or curiosity, to know what was doing or hatching in that quarter. To have an idea of the first consul's circle, we must say a word of his family. He had four brothers, Joseph, Lucien, Louis, and Jerome. We shall, in their proper time, make acquaintance with the two last. Joseph and Lucien alone were then of any importance. Joseph, the eldest of the family, had married the daughter of a wealthy and honourable merchant of Marseilles. He was of gentle disposition, of tolerable talents, agreeable in TRIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. Character of Madame Bonaparte. 1800. Sept. person, and caused his brother much less annoy- ance than any of the others. It was for him the first consul reserved the honour of negotiating peace for the republic with the states of the old and new world. He had charged him with the conduct of the treaty which he was preparing with America, and had just named him plenipotentiary to Lune"ville, endeavouring thus to give him a part to play which would be pleasing to France. Lucien, at that time minister of the interior, was a man with much cleverness, but of an unequal, restless, and ungovernable mind, and though he had talent, not having sufficient to make up for his deficiency as regards good sense. Both of these encouraged the inclination of the first consul to raise himself to the supreme power; as can be easily conceived. The genius of the first consul and his glory were things personal to himself ; the only quality which could be transmissible to his family would be the princely quality, if he should some day assume it, by preferring himself to the chief magistracy of the republic. His brothers were of the party who said, with little reserve, that the present form of government was only one of transition, designed to quiet the prejudices of the revolution, but that it was necessary to make a choice; that if it were wished to lay the foundation of any thing really stable, it was impossible to do so without giving to power more of concentration, unity, and solidity. The conclusion of all this could easily be drawn. The first consul, as all the world knew, had no children, and this was a great embarrassment to those who already had their dreams of the transformation of the republic into a monarchy. It was, in fact, difficult to pretend that there was a wish to assure the regular and natural transmission of power, in the family of a man who had no heirs. Thus, though at a future time this want of heirs might possibly be a per- sonal advantage to the brothers of the first consul, it was at the moment an argument against their plans, and they frequently reproached Madame Bonaparte with a misfortune, of which they said she was the cause. Having quarrelled with her from jealousy of her influence, they used little reserve respecting her before her husband, and persecuted her with their observations, repeating incessantly and even loudly, that the first consul ought to have a wife who would bring him chil- dren ; that this was a matter not of private but of public interest, and that a resolution to this effect became indispensable, if he had any desire to assure the future to France. These fatal words, full of so sinister a conclusion for her, they caused to be repeated from every lip, and the wife of the first consul, in appearance so fortunate, was thus at that moment far from being happy. Josephine Bonaparte, married at first to the count of Beauharnais, then to the young genera!, who had saved the convention on the 13th Vende"miaire, and now sharing with him a place which began to assume some resemblance to a throne, was a Creole by birth, and had all the graces, all the deficiencies, usual in women of such an origin. Kind, prodigal, and frivolous, not beautiful, but the perfection of elegance, gifted with infinite power of charming, she had the skill of pleasing much more than women who were her superiors in wit and beauty. The levity of her conduct, depicted to her husband in the most odious colours on his return from Egypt, filled him with anger. He was inclined to separate from a spouse, whom, whether right or wrong, he considered culpable. She wept a long time at his feet; her two children, Hortense and Eugene de Beauharnais, who were both of them very dear to Bonaparte, wept also ; he was con- quered, and yielded to a conjugal tenderness which, during many years, was with him victorious over political considerations. He forgot the faults, real or supposed, of Josephine, and loved her still; but never as at the early period of their union. Her extravagancies without limit, her annoying im- prudencies, every day brought under his notice, frequently excited in her husband emotions of im- patience, which he could not control; but he par- doned all with the kindness prompted by successful power, and knew not how to be long angry with a wife, who had shared the first moments of his nascent greatness, and who seemed, from the day she took her seat by his side, to have brought fortune along with her. Madame Bonaparte was a true woman of the old regime, a devotee, superstitious, and even a royalist, detesting those she called the Jacobins, who fully returned her hate ; nor seeking any society but the men of the past, who returning in crowds, as we have said, came to pay their visits to her in the mornings. They had known her as the wife of an honourable man, of sufficiently high rank, and of military dignity, the unfortunate Beauharnais, who died on the revolutionary scaf- fold ; they found her the wife of a parvenu, but of a parvenu more powerful than any prince in Europe ; they had no hesitation in going to her to ask favours, while all the wlu'le they affected to look upon her with disdain. She took pains in making them share in her power, and rendering them services. She ever studied to foster an opinion amongst them, which they willingly adopted, that Bonaparte was, secretly, only waiting an occasion to recall the Bourbons, and restore to them the inheritance which was their right. And, singular as it is, this illusion, which she took a pleasure in exciting amongst them, she was almost inclined herself to share in ; for she would have preferred to see her husband a subject of the Bourbons, but a subject, the protector of his king, and sur- rounded by the homage of the ancient French aris- tocracy, much rather than as a superior monarch crowned by the hand of the nation. She was a woman of weak heart ; yet whatever her levity, she loved the man who covered her with glory, and loved him the more now that she was less loved by him. Never imagining that he could plant his audacious foot on the steps of the throne without falling, alike by the daggers of the re- publicans and the royalists, she saw confounded in one common ruin, her children, her husband, and herself. But, supposing that he should arrive safe and sound upon that usurped throne, another fear tore her heart ; she could not sit there with him. If ever they made Bonaparte king or em- peror, it would evidently be under the pretext of giving to France a fixed government, by rendering it hereditary ; and, unhappily, the physicians al- lowed her no hope of having children. On this subject she called to mind the singular prediction of a woman, a kind of Pythoness then in vogue, 1800. Sept. Character of Madame Bonaparte. THE ARMISTICE. Letters to the first consul from Louis XVIII. 167 who had said to her : " You will occupy the first position in the world ; but for a short time only." She had already heard the brothers of the first consul give utterance to the fatal word divorce. This unfortunate lady, whom, if they judged of her condition by the continued brilliancy with which she was surrounded, the queens of Europe might have regarded with envy, lived in the most terrible anxiety. Every advance of fortune added to the appearance of her happiness and to the re- grets of her life ; and if she continued to escape from her heart-piercing anxieties, it was from a levity of character, which preserved her from prolonged thought. The attachment of Bonaparte, his abrupt- ness of passion when he gave way to it, made up on the instant by emotions of the most perfect kindness, served also to reassure her. Hurried on, moreover, like all persons of that time, by a whirlwind which took away their senses, she counted on chance, the god of revolutions; and, after the most painful agitations, returned to her en- joyments. She strove to divert her husband's mind from his notions of exceeding greatness, ventured to speak to him of the Bourbons, at the risk of storms; and, in spite of her tastes, which should have led her to prefer Talleyrand to Fouche", she took the latter into her favour, because, as she said, all Jacobin though he was, he yet ventured to speak the truth to the first consul ; since, in her eyes, to make the consul hear the truth was to advise the preservation of the republic, with an augmentation of the consular power at the same time. Talley- rand and Fouche', thinking they should strengthen their position by penetrating into the family of the first consul, introduced themselves by flattering each side as it liked to be flattered. Talleyrand sought to please the brothers, by saying that it was necessary to devise for the first consul some position different from that which he held by the constitution. Fouche' endeavoured to make him- self agreeable to Madame Bonaparte, by saying that to push on too fast would be to commit the gravest imprudence, and would, in fact, risk the loss of all. This manner of insinuating them- selves into his family circle was singularly dis- pleasing to the first consul. He gave frequent evidence of this feeling; and when he had any communication to make to his relatives, entrusted it to his colleague Cambace'res, who, with his ac- customed prudence, heard all and said nothing but what he was directed, and thus acquitted him- self of this class of con-missions with as much skill as exactness. A circumstance, sufficiently strange, occurred at this moment to give to all these internal agi- tations an immediate and positive object. The prince, who was afterwards Louis XVIII., then an exile, attempted a singular step, and one which showed little reflection. Many of the royal- ists, to explain and excuse their return towards the new government, feigned to believe, or actually did believe, that Bonaparte was desirous of re- calling the Bourbons. These men, who had either not read, or did not know how to read, the history of the English revolution, and to discover there the terrible lessons with which it was full, came all at once to a discovery of an analogy in it which was propitious to their hopes : this was the bring- ing back of the Stuarts by general Monk. They suppressed all consideration of Cromwell, whose part nevertheless was quite great enough not to be overlooked. They ended by getting up a fac- titious opinion, which had reached as far as Louis XVIII. This prince, gifted with tact and some sense, had the great weakness to write to Bona- parte himself, arid forwarded to him several letters, which he considered well-timed, but which were by no means so, and proved but one thing the ordinary illusions of the emigrants. Here is the first of these letters : " 20th February, 1800. " Whatever appearance their conduct may as- sume, men like you, sir, inspire no inquietude. You have accepted a post of eminence, and I am rejoiced that you have done so. You, better than any person, know how much strength and power are wanting to make the happiness of a great nation. Save France from her own frenzy, and you will fulfil the first wish of my heart ; restore her king to her, and future generations will bless your memory. You will always be too necessary to the state to admit of my acquitting, even by the most important posts, the debt of my ancestors and my own. " Louis." On receiving this letter the first consul was much surprised, and remained undecided, not knowing whether he ought to reply to it. It had been transmitted to him by the consul Lebrun, who received it himself from the abbe' Mon- tesquiou. Absorbed in the multiplicity of affairs at the commencement of his government, the first consul allowed the time for answering it to pass by. The prince, with the impatience of an emi- grant, wrote a second letter, still more strongly impressed with the credulity of his party, and still more to be regretted for the sake of his own dignity. It was as follows : " For a long time, general, you must have known, that you have acquired my esteem. If you doubt whether I am susceptible of gratitude, mark out your own place, fix those of your friends. As for my principles, I am a Frenchman ; clement by disposition, I shall be still more so from reason. " No, the victor of Lodi, of Castiglione, of Ar- cola, the conqueror of Italy and of Egypt, can never prefer a vain celebrity to true glory. Neverthe- less, you are losing valuable time ; we can assure the repose of France ; I say toe, because I have need of Bonaparte for this purpose, and he cannot effect it without me. "General, Europe observes you, glory awaits you, and I am impatient to restore peace to my people. " Louis." This time the first consul thought he could not dispense with replying. In reality, he had never any doubt as to the course to be pursued in regard to the deposed princes. Independently of all ambition, he looked upon the recall of the Bourbons as an impracticable and fatal step. Whatever might be otherwise his desire to be master of France, it was from conviction that he repulsed them. His wife had been informed of the secret, as also his secretary ; and though he did not do them the honour of admitting them to his deliberations on such a matter, he informed them Answer of the first consul. TRIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. Conspiracy of Ceracchi and Arena. 1300. Oct. of his motives. His wife had thrown herself at his feet, supplicating him to leave the Bourbons at least some hope ; he repulsed her with some temper, and addressing himself to his secretary, " You do not know these people," said he ; " if I were to restore their throne to them, they would believe they had recovered it by the grace of God. They would be quickly surrounded, and drawn on by the emigrants ; they would upset every thing, in their wish to restore even what cannot be restored. What would become of the numerous interests created since 1789 ? What would become of them, and of the holders of national property, and of the chiefs of the army, and of all the men who have engaged their lives and fortunes in the revolution ? Next to men, what would become of things 1 What would become of the principles for which we have fought ? All would perish, but would not perish without a conflict : there would be a fearful struggle ; thousands of men would fall. Never, never, will I adopt so fatal a resolve." He was right. All personal interest apart, he acted properly. His own dictatorship, which retarded the establishment of political liberty in France, a liberty, be it said, at that time sur- rounded with great difficulties ; his own dictator- ship achieved the triumph of the French revo- lution, which Waterloo itself, because it happened fifteen years later, could not destroy. His answer was of course conformable with his opinion, and left no more hope than he meant to give. It is only from the text itself of the letter that we can form an opinion of the grandeur of expression with which he replied to the imprudent advances of the exiled prince. H Paris, the 20th Fructidor, year vui. "7th September, 1800. " I have received your letter, sir ; I thank you for the polite expressions you make use of in regard to myself. " You must not wish for your return to France; you would have to march there over five hundred thousand corpses. "Sacrifice your own interest to the repose and happiness of France ; history will give you credit for it. " I am not insensible to the misfortunes of your family ; and I will contribute with pleasure to the ease and tranquillity of your retreat. " BONAPARTE." Some part of this was made known, and thus the personal designs of the first consul became only the more evident. It is often the attempt of parties against a rising power that hastens its progress, and en- courages it to dare all it meditates. An attempt, more ridiculous than criminal, of the republicans against the first consul, hastened a demonstration, altogether as ridiculous on the part of those who wished to precipitate his elevation ; neither the one nor the other attained the object. The patriot declaimers, more noisy and much less formidable than the agents of royalism, met frequently at the house of an old employe of the committee of public safety, then out of office. He was called Demerville ; he spoke much, carried from one place to another pamphlets against the government, and was scarcely capable of doing more than this. To his house resorted the Corsican Arena, one of those members of the five hundred who had escaped through the window on the 18th Brumaire ; Topino-Lebrun, a painter of some talent, a pupil of David, who shared in the re- volutionary enthusiasm of the artists of that time; and also many of the Italian refugees, who were exasperated against Bonaparte because he protected the pope, and had not established a Roman republic. Th.e principal and most noisy of these last was a sculptor named Ceracchi. These hot-headed fellows usually assembled at Demer- ville's, and held the most foolish discourse. It was necessary, they said, to bring matters to an end ; they had most of the world with them Masse'na, Carnot, Lannfes, Sieyes, and Fouche' him- self. They had but to strike the tyrant, and all the true republicans would at once declare them- selves ; all would reunite to raise up once more the expiring republic. But it was requisite to find a Brutus to strike this new Caesar and no one offered himself. A soldier without employ, named Harrel, who was living in idleness and misery, with these declaimers, indigent and discontented as them- selves, appeared to them the man of action of whom they stood in need. They made proposals to him at which he was terrified. In his agitation he disclosed the matter to a commissary of war with whom he had some connection, and who advised him to impart what he knew to the go- vernment. Harrel next went and found Bour- rienne, the secretary to the consul, and Lannes, the commandant of the consular guard. The first consul, forewarned by them, caused money to be given by the police to Harrel, as well as an order for him to undertake every thing that his accom- plices might propose. These wretched conspirators believed themselves to have met in this individual with the right man to execute their purpose ; but they found that one was not sufficient. Han-el proposed to them to introduce others ; they con- sented, and he introduced some of Fouch^'s agents. After they had fallen into this snare, their next care was to procure poignards, wherewith to arm Harrel and his companions. This time they un- dertook the care themselves, and brought poignards purchased by Topiuo-Lebrun. At last they made choice of a place to assassinate the first consul, and that was the opera, then styled the theatre of arts. They fixed the time, it was to be the 10th October, or 18th Vende'miaire, year ix., the day when the first consul was to be present at the first represen- tation of a new opera. The police, forewarned, had taken precautions. The first consul went to the theatre of the opera, followed by Lannes, who, watching over him with the greatest solici- tude, had doubled the guard, and placed about the box the bravest of his grenadiers. The pretended assassins came in fact to the rendezvous, but not all, and not armed. Topino-Lebrun was not there, no more was Demerville. Arena and Ceracchi alone presented themselves. Ceracchi approached nearer than the others to the box of the first consul, but he was without a poignard. There were no bold men of all those present on the spot, nor armed, except the conspirators placed by the police on the scene of crime. They arrested Ceracchi, Arena, and all the others in succession, but the 1800. Oct. Great sensation thereby occasioned. Addresses lo the first consul. THE ARMISTICE. Indiscreet pamphlet by M. Fontanes. 169 most part at their own dwellings, or in houses where they had gone to seek refuge. This affair created a great sensation, which it did not deserve. Assuredly the police which igno- rant men, strangers to any knowledge of public affairs, accuse in general of itself fabricating the plots which it discovers the police had not in- vented this, though it might be said to have taken too grea^a share in it. The conspirators without doubt meditated the death of the first consul, but they were incapable of striking the blow with their own hands ; by encouraging them, and by furnish- ing them with what it was their greatest difficulty to find, hands to execute their purpose, they had been drawn into crime further than they would have been engaged in it had they been left to themselves. If all this were to have ended in a severe but temporary punishment, such as is in- flicted on madmen, it would have been well ; but to lead them to their death by such a road is more than is right, even when we are acting for the preservation of a valuable life. Men did not look at matters so nicely at that time. They instituted proceedings directly which rendered the scaffold inevitable to these unhappy offenders. This attempt caused general alarm. Until now there had only been seen during the revolution what were called the journe.es, in other words, attacks by armed men ; but against assaults such as these there was security in the military power of the government. No one had thought about as- sassination, and the possibility of the first consul being suddenly struck down and killed, notwith- standing he might be surrounded by his grenadiers. The attempt of Ceracchi, the ridiculous character of which was not known, was a piece of intelligence that frightened the public. The dread to see so- ciety plunged again into a chaos dwelt upon every mind, and gave birth to a species of passion. The crowd ran to the Tuileries. The tribunate was the only public body of the state which happened at that moment to be sitting, from its habit of holding its meetings every fortnight during the interval of the sessions; and that body went there collectively. All the public authorities followed the example. A vast number of addresses were presented to the first consul. Their sense may be collected from the contents of that drawn up by the municipal body of Paris : " General, we come in the name of the citizens of Paris to express to you the deep indignation which they feel at hearing of the new attempt meditated against your person. Too many interests are at- tached to your existence for the plots which have threatened it not to become a subject of public sorrow, as all that protects it is a subject of ac- knowledgment and national gratitude. " Providence, which hi Vende"miaire, year vin., brought you back from Egypt, that at Marengo preserved you from all the perils of the field ; that lastly, on the 18th Vende"miaire, in the year ix., saved you from the rage of the assassins, permit us to say so, is the providence of France much more than yours. The same providence will not allow that a year so important, so full of glorious events, and destined to occupy so grand a place in human me- mory, should terminate all at once by a detestable crime. that the enemies of France would cease to desire evil to you and to us, that they would but submit themselves to that destiny which, more powerful than all their plots, will assure your preservation and that of the republic ! We do not speak to you of the guilty: they belong to the law." These addresses, all cast in the same mould, con- tinually repeated to the first consul that he had no right to be merciful, that his life belonged to the republic, and ought to be placed under the same safeguard as the public good, of which it was the pledge. It is proper to state that these manifesta- tions were sincere. Every one thought himself in danger from the first consul being in that situation. All who were not of the factious wished for his pre- servation. The royalists believing, that if anything happened to him they would be turned back to the scaffold or to exile; the revolutionists believing they should have a counter-revolution, rendered trium- phant by means of foreign armies. The first consul took particular care, it is worthy of remark, to diminish the idea of the danger to which he had been exposed. He would not have it believed that his life depended upon the first comer, and he regarded that belief as equally necessary for his safety and his dignity. Speaking to the authorities commissioned to compliment him, he told them that the danger about which they were so much alarmed really had nothing in it very serious ; he explained to them how, sur- rounded by officers of the consular guard and a picket of grenadiers, he was completely secured against all that seven or eight miserable wretches could have intended to effect. He believed much more than his words would seem to imply, in the peril which had threatened his life; but he judged it useful to impress upon all minds, that surrounded by the grenadiers of Marengo he was inaccessible in the midst of them to the attempts of an assassin. Plots as serious as that which made all this stir, and directed by other hands, were preparing in dark- ness. A vague feeling prevailed of such being the case, and people said that these attempts would be renewed more than once. This gave the partizans of the first consul a reason for repeating that something was wanting more stable than an ephe- meral power, resting in the hands of one man, that might disappear beneath the blow of an assassin's poignard. The brother of the first consul, Roaderer, RegnaultdeSt.Jeand'Angely,Talleyrand,Fontaues, and many others held these notions, some from a conviction of their truth, others to please their mas- ter; all, as it commonly happens, mingled with sen- timents sincere or interested. At this moment a pamphlet appeared anonymously, a singular and very remarkable production. It had for its author, according to report, Lucien Bonaparte; but from its rare beauty of style, and its knowledge of clas- sic history, it should only have been ascribed to its real author, M. Fontanes. This pamphlet, as the cause of a great sensation in the public mind, deserves to be noticed here. It marked one of the steps that advanced Bonaparte in his career to the supreme power. The title was, " A Parallel between Cuesar, Cromwell, Monk, and Bonaparte." The author first compared Bonaparte with Cromwell, but was unable to trace any resemblance between the principal personage in the English revolution and the first consul. Cromwell was a fanatic, the chief of a sanguinary faction, the assassin of his Bonaparte compared with Cromwell, Monk, and Csesar. TRIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. The pamphlet extensively , ... circulated by Lucien Bo- l - naparte. king, a victor only in a civil war, conquering a few cities and provinces of England, a mere barbarian, who ravaged the universities of Oxford and Cam- bridge. He was a very able scoundrel, not a hero. The parallel of Cromwell in the French revolution would be Robespierre, if Robespierre had been possessed of the courage, and if France had only La Vendee to conquer, and he had been the con- queror. General Bonaparte, on the contrary, a stranger to the evils of the revolution, had covered with astonishing glory the crimes in which he had no concern. He had abolished the barbarous festival instituted in honour of the regicide; he had put an end to the horrors of revolutionary fanaticism ; he had honoured learning and science,reestablished the schools, and opened the temple of the arts. He had not made a civil war; he had conquered, not cities but kingdoms. As to Monk, what had he in com- mon with that wavering man, the deserter from all parties, not caring whither he went, having wrecked the vessel of the republic on the monarchy, as he would have wrecked that upon the republic, what had that vulgar and miserable personage in com- mon with general Bonaparte, and his stedfast mind acquiring whatever it desired ] The title of duke of Albemarle had satisfied the wretched vanity of Monk. "But can it be credited, that the baton of a marshal or the sword of a constable sufficed for a man before whom the universe is confounded ? Was it not felt that he was one of those destined to fill a first place ? Besides, if Bonaparte were ever able to imitate Monk, would not France be seen again plunged into the horrors of a new revolu- tion ? storm in place of calm being every where renewed. After having repelled these comparisons, the author could find no one analogous to Bonaparte in history but Caesar. He recognized in that cha- racter the same military glory, the same political greatness; and he also discovered one dissimilarity. Caesar at the head of the demagogues of Rome had trampled upon the good men and destroyed the re- public; Bonaparte, on the contrary, had elevated the party of good men, and crushed only the base. All this was true ; the work undertaken by Bonaparte was much more upright than that of Caesar. After these comparisons the writer concluded, " Happy the republic, if Bonaparte were immortal." " But where," he adds, " where are his heirs." Where are the institutions that can adequately maintain his good deeds and perpetuate his genius? The fate of thirty millions of men only hangs upon the life of one ! Frenchmen, what would become of you, if at this moment a melancholy cry an- nounced to you that this man was dead ?" Here the author examined the different chances which would present themselves on the death of general Bonaparte. " Shall we fall under the yoke of an assembly ? But the remembrance of the con- vention was there to drive the minds of every body from such a supposition. Shall we throw ourselves into the arms of a military government ? But where was the equal of Bonaparte t The republic, there was no doubt, possessed great generals, but which of them was so superior to all the rest, as to be above rivalry, and able to hinder the armies from combating each other for the interest of this par- ticular leader ! In default of a government of assemblies, in default of a government of preto- rians, should recourse be had to a legitimate dynasty, that was upon the frontier holding out its arms to France ? But that would be a counter revolution, the return of Charles II. and of James II. to England ; blood had flowed at their appearance : they were sufficing examples to open the eyes of nations, and if there was need of more recent ex- amples, the return of the queen of Naples and her imbecile husband to that unhappy kingdom was a lesson written in characters of blood ! Frenchmen, you sleep on the edge of an abyss ! " Such were the last words of this singular piece of writing. All which it contained, except the flattering lan- guage, was true; but the truths were premature, to judge by the impression which they produced. Lucien, minister of the interior, employed every means in his power to scatter this pamphlet all over France. He filled Paris and the provinces with it, having taken good care to conceal its origin. It produced a great effect. At the bottom it disclosed that which every body thought ; but it demanded from France an avowal which a very legitimate pride did not yet permit her to make. She had abolished eight years previously a monarchy of fourteen centuries, and she must so soon after- wards come forth and acknowledge at the feet of a general thirty years old, that she had played the fool, and pray him to revive, in his own person, that very monarchy ! She was willing to give him a power equal to that of monarchs, but it was ne- cessary, at least, to preserve appearances, were it only for the sake of the national dignity. Besides, the young warrior had gained great victories, and already given the beginning of services to the country; but he had scarcely commenced the re- conciliation of parties, the reorganization of France, the arrangement of the laws; above all, he had not yet given peace to the world. There remained to him these and many titles to conquer, which he was very certain in addition to place soon over his glorious head. The impression was general and painful. On all sides, the prefects stated the pamphlet produced a mischievous effect; that it gave some reason to the factious demagogues to say, that the Coesars pro- duced the Brutuses, that the pamphlet was impru- dent and to be regretted. In Paris the impression it produced was similar. In the council of state, the disapprobation was not concealed. The first consul, whether he had known anything of the pamphlet, whether he had been compromised un- knowingly by impatient and awkward friends, still believed the disavowal necessary, above all, in the sight of the revolutionary party. He sent for Fouche*, and publicly demanded of him why he suf- fered the circulation of such writings. The minister replied, " I know the author." " If you know him," replied the first consul, " he must be sent to Vin- cennes." " I am not able to send him to Vincennes," replied Fouche", " because he is your own brother." At this Bonaparte complained bitterly of his bro- ther, who had already more than once compromised him. His sourness towards Lucien increased. One day, Lucien not being exactly in time at the coun- cil of ministers, a thing that often occurred, and many complaints being made against his official conduct, the first consul testified great discontent towards him, and appeared determined to revoke 1800. Oct Peace signed HOHENLINDEN. with the United State*. 171 hfs appointment immediately. But the consul Cam- bace"rfcs urged him not to take from Lucien the portfolio of the home department without giving him an equivalent. The first consul consented ; CambaceYes devised an embassy to Spain, and was instructed to offer it to Lucien, who accepted it without difficulty. Lucien went off", and there was soon no more thought of the imprudent pamphlet. Thus a first attempt at assassination directed against the first consul had called forth in his favour a first attempt to elevate him ; but the one was as foolish as the other was badly managed. It was necessary for Bonaparte to attain by new ser- vices an augmentation of authority, which no one could yet precisely define, but all could confusedly foresee in the future, and to which he or his friends made no secret of his aspiring; at any rate, his fortune was about to furnish him, in ser- vices rendered, and in dangers avoided, great titles to similar demands, such as France could no longer resist BOOK VII. HOHENLINDEN. PEACE WITH THE UNITED STATES AND THE BARBARY REGENCIES. MEETING OF THE CONGRESS OF LUNEVILLE. X. COBENTZEL REFUSES A SEPARATE NEGOTIATION, AND WISHES AT LEAST FOR THE PRESENCE OF AN ENGLISH PLENIPOTENTIARY, TO COVER THE REAL NEGOTIATION BETWEEN AUSTRIA AND FRANCE. THE FIRST CONSUL, TO HASTEN THE CONCLUSION, ORDERS THE RENEWAL OF HOSTILITIES. PLAN OF THE WINTER CAMPAIGN. MOREAU COMMANDED TO PASS THE INN, AND MARCH UPON VIENNA. MACDONALD, WITH THE SECOND ARMT OF RESERVE, ORDERED TO PASS THE GRISONS INTO THE TYROL. BRUNE, WITH EIGHTY THOUSAND MEN, IS DESTINED TO FORCE THE MINCIO AND ADIGE. PLAN OF THE YOUNG ARCHDUKE JOHN, NOW BECOME GENERAL- ISSIMO OF THE AUSTRIAN ARMIES. HIS PLAN TO TURN MOREAU FAILS FROM DEFECTS IN THE EXECUTION. HE HALTS IN HIS WAY, AND WISHES TO ATTACK MOREAU IN THE FRONT OF HOHENLINDEN. FINE MANOEUVRE OF MOREAU, EXECUTED IN AN ADMIRABLE MANNER BY RICHEFANSE. MEMORABLE BATTLE OF HOHENLINDEN. GREAT CONSEQUENCES OF THE BATTLE. PASSAGES OF THE INN, SALZA, TRADN, AND ENS. ARMISTICE OF STEYER. AUSTRIA PROMISES TO SIGN AN IMMEDIATE PEACE. OPERATIONS IN THE ALPS AND IN ITALY. PASSAGE OF THE SPLUGEN BY MACDONALD IN THE MIDST OF THE HORRORS OF WINTER. ARRIVAL OF MAC- DONALD IN THE ITALIAN TYROL. DISPOSITIONS OF BRUNE FOR PASSING THE MINCIO AT TWO PLACES. ERROR OF HIS DISPOSITIONS. GENERAL DUFONT MAKES THE FIRST PASSAGE AT POZZOLO, AND DRAWS UPON HIMSELF THE WHOLE AUSTRIAN ARMY. THE MINCIO IS FORCED AFTER A USELESS WASTE OF BLOOD. PASSAGES OF THE MINCIO AND ADIGE. LUCKY ESCAPE OF GENERAL LAUDON, BY MEANS OF A FALSEHOOD. THE AUSTRIAN'S BEING ROUTED, DEMAND AN ARMISTICE IN ITALY. SIGNATURE OF THE ARMISTICE AT TREVISO. RENEWAL OF THE NEGOTIATIONS AT LUNEVILLE. THE PRINCIPLE OF A SEPARATE PEACE ADMITTED BY M. COBENTZEL. THE FIRST CONSUL INSISTS UPON AUSTRIA PAYING THE EXPENSES OF THE SECOND CAMPAIGN, AMD IMPOSES CONDITIONS HARDER THAN THOSE OF THE PRELIMINARIES OF M. JULIEN. HE GIVES FOR AN ULTIMATUM THE LIMITS OF THE RHINE IN GERMANY, AND OF THE ADIGE IN ITALY. BOLD RESISTANCE OF M. COBENTZEL. THIS RESISTANCE, ALTHOUGH HONOURABLE TO RIM, MAKES AUSTRIA LOSE VALUABLE TIME. WHILE THE NEGOTIATION PROCEEDS AT LUNEVILLE, THE EMPEROR PAUL, TO WHOM THE FIRST CONSUL HAD CEDED THE ISLAND OP MALTA, RECLAIMS IT OF THE ENGLISH, WHO REFUSE IT. ANGER OF PAUL I. HE INVITES THE KINO OF SWEDEN TO PETERSBURG, AND RENEWS THE LEAGUE OF 1780. DECLARATION OF THE NEUTRAL POWERS. RUPTURE OF ALL THE NORTHERN POWERS WITH ENGLAND. THE FIRST CONSUL PROFITS BY IT TO FORCE HARDER TERMS UPON AUSTRIA. HE INSISTS, BESIDES THE LIMITS OF THE ADIGE, UPON THE EXPUL- SION OF ALL THE PRINCES OF THE HOUSE OF AUSTRIA FROM ITALY. THE GRAND DUKE OF TUSCANY, AS WELL Al THE DUKE OF MODENA, TO BE REMOVED INTO GERMANY. M. COBENTZEL AT LAST GIVES WAY, AND SIGNS WITH JOSEPH BONAPARTE, ON THE NINTH OF FEBRUARY, 1801, THE CELEBRATED TREATY OF LUNEVILLB. FRANCE, FOR THE SECOND TIME, OBTAINS THE RHINE FOR A BOUNDARY THROUGHOUT ITS WHOLE LENGTH, AND REMAINS MISTRESS OF NEARLY ALL ITALY. AUSTRIA IS FORCED BACK BEHIND THE ADIGE. THE CISAL- PINE REPUBLIC IS TO INCLUDE THE MILANESE, MANTUA, THE DUCHY OF MODENA, AND THE LEGATIONS. TUSCANY IS DESTINED FOR THE HOUSE OF PARMA, WITH THE TITLE OF KINGDOM OF ETRURIA. THE PRIN- CIPLE OF THE SECULARISATIONS IMPOSED FOR GERMANY. IMPORTANT RESULTS GAINED BY THE FIRST CONSUL IV THE COURSE OF FIFTEEN MONTHS. JOSEPH Bonaparte had signed, at Morfontaine, the treaty which established peace between France and America, with the American negotiators, Ells- worth, Davie, and Van Murray. It was the first treaty concluded by the consular government. It was natural that the reconciliation of France with the different powers of the globe, should commence with that republic, to which, in a certain sense, she had given birth. The first consul had per- mitted the adjournment of the difficulties relative to the treaty of alliance of the 6th of February, 1778 ; but, in return, he had required the adjourn- ment of the American claims, relative to captured vessels. He judged, with reason, that he ought to be satisfied with the acknowledgment of the rights of neutrals. This gave to France another ally, and 172 Conditions of the treaty. TRIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. Negotiation! with Austria. 1800. Oct. to England an enemy more on the ocean ; it was a new fermentation in the maritime dispute, which was rising in the north, and daily becoming more serious. In consequence of this, the princi- pal articles of the neutral rights, such at least as they are laid down by France and all the mari- time states, were integrally in the new treaty. These articles were the same as we have already stated. 1. The flag covers the merchandise; in conse- quence, the neutral can carry the goods of any enemy without being searched. 2. There is no exception from this rule, unless for the contraband of war; and that contraband does not extend to alimentary substances, or to naval stores, timber, pitch, and hemp, but solely to manufactured arms and munitions of war, such as powder, saltpetre, petards, matches, balls, bullets, bombs, grenades, carcasses, pikes, halberts, swords, sword-belts, accoutrements, pistols, scabbards, ca- valry-saddles, harness, cannon mortars with their carriages, and generally arms, munitions of war, and implements for the use of troops. 3. Neutral bottoms can sail from any port to any port; there is no exception to their freedom of navigation, except in regard to ports blockaded bona fde, and those ports alone are bon&fide block- aded, which are guarded by such a force that there would be serious danger in attempting to break the blockade. 4. The neutral is bound to submit to be visited for the purpose of discovering her real character ; but the visitor vessel must remain out of cannon- shot distance, and send a boat and three men; and if the neutral is convoyed by a ship-of-war, the visit shall not take place, the presence of the mili- tary flag being a sufficient guarantee against every species of fraud. The treaty contained other stipulations in detail ; but the four principal articles which truly constitute the law of neutrals, were an important victory, since the Americans, in adopting them, were obliged to insist upon their application in their commerce with the English, or to go to war with them. The signature of the treaty was celebrated with rejoicing at Morfontaine, a fine estate that Joseph Bonaparte, who was richer than his brothers through his marriage, had acquired some time be- fore. The first consul attended, accompanied by a numerous and brilliant party. Elegant decorations, placed in the house and gardens, exhibited every where the union of France and America. Toasts were given in honour of the occasion. The first consul proposed this: " To the manes of the French and Americans, who died on the field of battle for the independence of the new world." Lebrun proposed : " To the union of America with the powers of the north to enforce the liberty of the seas." Finally, Cambace'res proposed the third : " To the successor of Washington." The French government waited with impatience for the arrival of M. Cobentzel at Lune'ville, to dis- cover if his court was disposed to conclude a peace. The first consul, if he were not satisfied with the march of the negotiations, was determined to re- sume hostilities, although the season was ever so far advanced. Since he had passed the St. Bernard, he made no account of obstacles, and imagined that men could fight just as well upon snow and ice, as when the ground was covered with verdure or harvests. Austria, on the other hand, wished to gain time, because she had engaged with England not to make a separate peace before the coming month of February, 1801, or Pluviose, in the year ix. Fearing greatly the resumption of hostilities, she applied for a third prolongation of the armistice. The first consul had refused it peremptorily, from the motive that M. Cobentzel had not yet arrived at Lune'ville. He was resolved not to yield the point until the Austrian plenipotentiary should reach the place fixed upon for the negotiation. At last, M. Cobentzel arrived at Lune'ville on the 24th of October, 1800. He was received on the fron- tier and along the whole way by the sound of can- non, and with great testimonies of consideration. General Clarke had been nominated to the gover- norship of Lune'ville, in order to do the honours of the city to the members of the congress, and that he might acquit himself of the duty in a con- venient manner, funds were placed at his disposal as well as some prime regiments. Joseph Bona- parte, on his own side, had repaired there, accom- panied by M. Laforet as his secretary. M. Cobent- zel had scarcely arrived before the first consul, wishing to be convinced of the disposition of the Austrian negotiator, addressed to him an invita- tion to come to Paris'. M. Cobentzel dared not refuse, and proceeded with great deference to that city. He arrived there on the 29th of October. A new extension of the armistice was then granted him for twenty days. The first consul conversed with him respecting the peace and the conditions upon which it might be concluded. M. Cobentzel's answers were not very satisfactory on the matter of a separate negotiation, and in regard to the con- ditions, he put forward pretensions that could not be tolerated. Austria had, in regard to Italy, ob- jects that it was not possible to satisfy ; she was in the expectation that if the indemnities promised her in Italy, by the treaty of Campo Formio, were to be given in Germany, she should receive very large grants of territory, either in Swabia, Bavaria, or the Palatinate. The first consul gave way to some exhibitions of temper. This he had before done with M. Cobentzel, at the treaty of Campo Formio ; but advancing age, and more power than formerly, made him restrain himself less. M. Co- bentzel complained in the bitterest manner, saying that he had never been so treated, neither by Catherine, Frederick, nor by the emperor Paul himself. He demanded leave in consequence to re- turn to Lune'ville ; and the first consul suffered him to go, thinking it would be better to negotiate with Iriin foot by foot, through the medium of his brother Joseph. The last, mild, calm, and suffi- ciently intelligent, was a better person than his brother for an operation requiring so much for- bearance. M. Cobentzel and Joseph Bonaparte having met together at Lun^ville, exchanged their full powers on the 9th of November, or 18th of Brumaire. Joseph had orders to address to him the three fol- lowing questions. Had he authority to treat 1 Was 1 Napoleon said at St. Helena, that M. Cobentzel wished to come to Paris to gain time. This was an errorof memory. The diplomatic correspondence proves the contrary. 1800. NOT. The French and Austrian armies set in motion. HOHENLINDEN. Terms of peace demanded by the first consul. 173 he authorized to treat separately from England ? Was he to treat for the emperor in the name of Austria alone, or in the name of the whole Ger- manic empire ? The powers being exchanged and recognized to be valid, for which object they were scrutinized very minutely, on account of the misadventure of M. St. Julien, they discussed the extent of their mutual powers. M. Cobentzel did not hesitate to declare that he was unable to treat without the presence of an English plenipotentiary. As to the question if he would treat for the house of Austria alone, or for the whole empire, he said that he must refer to Vienna for new instructions. These replies were sent to Paris. Immediately afterwards the first consul announced to M. Co- bentzel, that hostilities should be renewed as soon as the armistice was concluded, or in the last days of November ; that the congress need not break up; that while hostilities were going forward, they might negotiate; but that the French armies would not halt until the Austrian plenipotentiary had con- sented to treat without England. While these proceedings were in hand, the first consul had taken, in respect to Tuscany, a precau- tion become indispensable. The Austrian general Somma-Riva had remained there with a few hundred men, conformably to the convention of Alexandria, but he continued to raise levies en masse, with the money of England. At the very moment a disem- barkation at Leghorn was announced of those same English troops, that for a long while had been on their way from Mahon to Ferrol, and from Ferrol to Cadiz. The Neapolitans on their side were marching upon Rome, and the Austrians spreading themselves over the Legations beyond the limits marked by the armistice, were endeavouring to aid the Tuscan insurrection. The first consul, seeing that the object of the Austrians was to gain time, and that they were preparing to place the French between two fires, ordered Uupont to march upon Tuscany, and Murat, who commanded the camp at Amiens, to go immediately to Italy. He had several times informed the Austrians of what he intended to do if they did not suspend the movements of the troops begun in Tuscany ; and seeing that they did not regard his notice, he gave orders accordingly. General Dupont, with the brigades of Pino, Mal- her, and Carra St. Cyr, crossed the Apennines rapidly, and occupied Florence, while general Cle- ment marched from Lucca to Leghorn. No re- sistance was experienced there. Still the insur- gents resisted in the city of Arezzo, which had already shown itseL hostile to the French during the retreat of Macdonald in 1799. They were obliged to take it by assault, and to punish it, though much less severely than it merited from its conduct towards the French soldiers. Tuscany was from that time wholly submissive. The Neapolitans were stopped in their march, and the English driven from the soil of Italy, at the moment when they were about to enter Leghorn. Two days afterwards they landed twelve thousand men. All the armies were every where in motion, from the banks of the Mayn to the shores of the Adriatic, from Frankfort to Bologna. Notice of the commencement of hostilities had been given. Austria, in apprehension, made a final attempt through the mediation of M. Cobentzel, an attempt which showed her good-will to terminate matters, and as well her unfortunate embarrassment with England. M. Cobentzel, addressing himself to Joseph Bonaparte, and putting on a tone of confi- dence, demanded from him several times whether he might calculate upon the discretion of the French government. Assured that he might by Joseph, he showed him a letter from the emperor, in which that personage testified the same in- quietude that he, M. Cobentzel, felt himself, relative to the danger of an indiscretion; but relying upon his knowledge of men and things, he authorized him to make the following proposal. Austria at last consents to separate herself from England, and to treat separately upon two conditions, on which she must in the most absolute manner insist : first, inviolable secrecy to be preserved, until the 1st of February, 1801, the time that her engagements terminated with England, with a formal promise, if the negotiation did not succeed, to return all the documents both on one side and the other. Se- condly, the admission of an English plenipotentiary at LnneVille, to cover by his presence the real nego- tiation. Upon these two conditions Austria con- sented to treat immediately, and desired a fresh prolongation of the armistice. The proximity of Paris allowed an immediate reply. The first consul would not admit, at any price, an English negotiator at LuneVille. He would consent again to suspend hostilities on con- dition of a treaty of peace signed secretly, if that would be convenient to Austria ; but it must be signed in forty-eight hours. The conditions of such a peace were already nearly settled by the discussion on the preliminaries. They were these : The Rhine for the frontier of the French republic towards Germany ; the Mincio for the Austrian frontier in Italy, in place of the Adige, which it had in 1797 5 but with that the cession of Mantua to the Cisalpine ; the Milanese, Valteline, Parma, and Modena to the Cisalpine ; Tuscany to the duke of Parma ; the Legations to Tuscany ; finally, as general conditions, the independence of Piedmont, of Switzerland, and of Genoa. Such were the ground of the St. Julien preliminaries, with the difference of the abandonment of Mantua to the Cisalpine, to punish Austria for her refusal of the ratification. But the first consul demanded th.it the treaty should be signed in forty-eight hours, otherwise he proclaimed war to the last extremity. In case of acceptance, he bound himself to secresy until the 1st of February, and to a new suspension of hostilities. Austria was not inclined to proceed too quickly, nor to agree to so many sacrifices in Italy. She deceived herself regarding the conditions she might be able to obtain, and rejected the proposals of France. Hostilities were the immediate result. M. Cobentzel and Joseph Bonaparte remained at Lundville, waiting to make new communications, according to the events which might happen on the Danube, the Inn, the Higher Alps, or the Adige. The resumption of hostilities had been an- nounced for the 28th of November, or 7th Fri- maire, year ix. All was ready for this winter campaign, one of the most celebrated and decisive in the annals of France. The first consul had displayed five armies upon THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. n of the French mo. the vast theatre of war. His intention was to direct them from Paris, without putting himself at their head. He had still not renounced the idea of proceeding to Germany or Italy, and taking the command of one of them upon any unforeseen reverse occurring, or should any other cause ren- der his presence necessary. His equipages were at Dijon, ready to take him to any point where it might be necessary to transport himself. The five armies were those of Augereau on the Main, of Moreau on the Inn, of Macdonald in the Grisons, of Brune on the Mincio, and of Murat marching towards Italy with the grenadiers of Amiens. Augereau had under his command eight thousand Hollanders and twelve thousand French, in all twenty thousand men. Moreau one hundred and thirty thousand, of whom one hundred and twenty thousand belonged to the active army. The army of the last had'been raised to this consider- able strength by recruiting, by the return of sick and wounded, and by the union of the corps of St. Suzanne. The surrender of Philipsburg, Ulm, and Ingoldstadt, had besides permitted Moreau to concentrate all his forces between the Isar and the Inn. Macdonald had at his disposal fifteen thousand men in the Grisons. Brune in Italy was at the head of one hundred and twenty-five thou- sand soldiers, eighty thousand of whom were on the Mincio, twelve thousand in Lombardy, Pied- mont, and Liguria, eight thousand in Tuscany, and twenty-five thousand in the hospitals. Murat's corps was composed of ten thousand grenadiers. If to this number be added forty thousand men in Egypt and the colonies, and sixty thousand in the interior and on the coasts, it will appear that during the administration of the first consul, the republic had nearly four hundred thousand men under arms. The three hundred thousand placed in the theatre of war, of which two hundred and fifty thousand were effective, and capable of immediate action, were provided with every thing, owing to the united resources of the treasury and contributions in the conquered countries. The cavalry was well mounted, more especially that in Germany. The artillery was numerous, and perfectly well served. Moreau had two hundred pieces of cannon, and Brune one hundred and eighty. The French were, therefore, better prepared than in the spring, and the armies had, in themselves, a confidence beyond bounds. Enlightened but severe judges have asked why the first consul, in place of dividing into five corps the whole of his active force, had not, following his own principles, formed two grand masses, one of one hundred and seventy thousand men, under Moreau, marching on Vienna, through Bavaria; the other of one hundred and thirty thousand men, under Brune, passing the Mincio, the Adige, the Alps, and threatening Vienna and Friuli. This was, in fact, the plan which he adopted in 1805 ; but an examination of facts will show how well and profoundly he was acquainted with men and things, and how he was able to vary, according to circum- stances, the great principles of war. The two principal armies, those of Moreau and Brune, were placed on the two sides of the Alps, and nearly at the same height, the first along the Inn, the second along the Mincio. Moreau had to force the line of the Inn; Brune that of the Min- cio. Those two armies were, at least, equal in numerical, and greatly superior in moral force, to those* that were opposed to them. Between the two arose the chain of the Alps, forming in this part what is called the Tyrol. The Austrians had the corps of general Iller in the German Tyrol, and that of general Davidovich in the Italian Tyrol. General Macdonald, with the fifteen thou- sand men placed under his command, styled " the second army of reserve," was to occupy the atten- tion of these two corps entirely, by keeping them uncertain where he would make an attack ; since, placed in the Grisons, he was at liberty to throw himself directly into the German Tyrol, or by the Spliigen into the Italian. The title which his army bore, and the doubts circulated regarding its strength, gave out the belief of some extra- ordinary blow being about to be struck, and it was ready to profit by the prestige which the army of St. Bernard had produced. Too little credit had been given to the existence of the first army of reserve, and people were ready to give too much to the second. Moreau and Brune, having no more anxiety on the side of the Alps, were thus able, without being in apprehension about their flanks, to push forward with all their forces. The little army of Augereau was destined to watch over the levies en masse in Franconia and Suabia, supported by the Austrian corps of Sinib- schen. It thus covered the left and rear of Moreau. Finally, Murat, with ten thousand gre- nadiers and a powerful artillery, performed for Brune what Augereau did for Moreau. He covered the right and rear of Brune against the insurgents of central Italy, the Neapolitans, English, and others. These prudent precautions are such as it is proper to take when confined within the conditions of ordinary warfare. But the first consul was necessarily confined within them, when he had to carry out his designs two such generals as Moreau and Brune. Moreau, the best of the two, and one of the best hi Europe, still was not the man to do what the first consul did himself in 1805, after he became emperor, when he collected a considerable force on the Danube, and leaving a smaller force in Italy, marched thundering on upon Vienna, not disturbing himself about his flanks or his rear, and placing his security in the crushing vigour of his blows. But Moreau and Brune were not men to comport themselves in this manner. It was necessary that in directing them he should keep within the limits of metho- dical warfare ; it was necessary to guard their flanks and rear, to secure them against what might occur around them ; for neither the one nor the other were equal to the control of acci- dents by the grandeur and vigour of their resolu- tions. It was for this that Macdonald was placed in the Tyrol, Augereau in Franconia, and Murat in central Italy. These dispositions did not admit of being changed, unless the internal affairs of France had permitted the first consul to make war in person ; but all the world agreed that at such a moment he ought not to quit the centre of his government. His absence during the short campaign of Ma- rengo had produced inconveniences great enough 1800. Nov. Disposition of the Austrian army. Commencement of hostilities in HOHENLINDEN. Germany. Theatre of the war described. 17f to prevent his exposing himself to them again without an absolute necessity. The dispositions of the Austrian army were, in every way, inferior to those of the French. Their armies, nearly equal in numbers to the French, were in no way equal to them in other respects. They were not yet recovered from their recent defeats. The archduke John commanded in Germany ; marshal Bellegarde in Italy. The corps of Simb- schen, destined to form the nucleus of the army of the levies of Suabia and of Franconia, was sup- ported on general Klenau. The last commanded an intermediate corps, placed on both sides the Danube, connecting itself, on the right, with the corps of Simbschen, and on the left, with the prin- cipal army of the archduke. Generals Simbschen and Klenau had between them twenty-four thou- sand men, exclusively of the partizan troops raised in Germany. General Klenau was destined to follow the movements of general St. Suzanne; to approach the archduke if St. Suzanne approached Moreau, or to join Simbschen's corps if St. Suzanne should join the little army of Augereau. ., ',!, '. The archduke John had eighty thousand men under his command, of which force sixty thousand Austrians were in advance of the Inn and twenty thousand Wurtembergers, or Bavarians, behind the entrenchments on that river. General Iller commanded twenty thousand men in the Tyrol, in- dependently of ten thousand Tyroleans. Marshal Bellegarde, in Italy, was at the head of eighty thou- sand men, well stationed behind the Mincio. Lastly, ten thousand Austrians, detached towards Ancona and Romagna, were ready to second the Neapoli- tans or English, in case the last should make an attempt on central or southern Italy. Here, then, was a force of two hundred and twenty-four thou- sand men, that, with the Mayenpais, the Tyroleans, the Neapolitans, the Tuscans, and the English, amounted to about three hundred thousand men. The first consul, in disarming the Tuscans, closing Leghorn against the English, and restraining the Neapolitans, had taken a useful precaution, very well adapted to hinder the augmentation of the enemy's means of offence. Under a kind of common resolution, the two bel- ligerents seemed disposed to settle their quarrel in Germany, between the Inn and the Isar. The operations commenced on the 28th of November, or 7th Frimaire, in very severe weather, which produced a cold rain in Suabia, and an intense frost in the Alps. While Augereau, advancing by Frank- fort, Aschaffemberg, Wurtzburg, and Nuremberg, fought a brilliant action at Burg-Eberach, sepa- rated the Mayence levies of the corps of Simbschen, and neutralized the last for the remainder of the campaign ; while Macdonald, after having for a long time eccupied the Austrians towards the sources of the Inn, was getting ready, despite the severity of the season, to cross the great Alpine chain, in order to throw himself upon the Italian Tyrol, for the purpose of facilitating the attack of Brune upon the line of the Mincio ; Moreau, with the principal part of his forces, advanced between the Isar and the Inn, over a field of battle which he had long studied, seeking a decisive engagement with the grand army of the Austrians. It is necessary clearly to understand the nature of the country over which the French and Aus- trians went to the encounter, in one of the most important battles during our long wars. We have elsewhere described the basin of the Danube, com- posed of that great river and a number of tributa- ries, which descend rapidly from the Alps, and in succession go to increase the body of its stream. These tributaries, we have before said, are the lines which an Austrian army should defend to cover Vienna, and which must be forced by a French army that seeks to march upon that capital. Moreau, as will be remembered, in the summer campaign, after having penetrated from the valley of the Rhine into that of the Danube, and having passed the Iller, Lech, and Isar, had halted be- tween the Tsar and the Inn. He was master of the course of the Isar, of which he occupied all the principal points. Munich first, then Freising, Moosburg, Landshut, and other places. He had advanced beyond that river, and was in face of the Inn, occupied in force by the Austrians. The Isar and the Inn both flow from the Alps, running together into the Danube, and are sepa- rated by a distance, almost continually the same, of ten or twelve leagues. At first they direct them- selves nearly north, the Isar as far as Munich, the Inn to Wasserburg ; then both rivers fall off to the east, until they flow into the Danube, the Isar at Deggendorf, the Inn at Passau. The French were masters of the Isar ; it was necessary they should force the Inn. This river, broad, deep, defended at its outbreak from the mountains by the fort of Kufstein, and in the lower part of its course by the fortress of Braunau, covered between these two points with a great number of entrenchments this river was a difficult obstacle to pass over. To force the Isar in the upper part of itn course, be- tween Kufstein, Rosenheim, and Wasserburg, local difficulties presented themselves nearly insurmount- able ; and besides these, the army of the Tyrol would be upon the right flank. If Moreau at- tempted to force the Isar in the lower part of its course, between Braunau and Passau, near where it falls into the Danube, he would be exposed, during a long inarch upon the left, in a difficult country, woody, marshy, and his flank bare to the Austrian army, which by Muhldorf and Braunau, had the means of throwing itself upon his right wing. These inconveniences were thought to be of a very serious nature. If the Austrians, taking care to guard themselves, and to watch with vigilance all the passages of the Inn, kept upon the defensive, Moreau would encounter obstacles well nigh in- surmountable. Such was not their scheme : the Austrian staff resolved upon assuming the offen- sive. The young archduke John, his head full of new theories invented by the Germans, and eager to emulate some of the great movements of Bona- parte, conceived a very extensive plan, not on the whole a bad conception, according to good judges ; but it was unluckily vain, because it was not founded upon a correct view of existing circum- stances. As well as can be ascertained, this plan was as follows. Moreau occupied the ground which separated the Isar from the Inn. Between Munich and Wasserburg the land forms an elevated level, covered with a thick forest, subsiding as it ap- proaches the Danube. As it thus subsides it is broken into numerous ravines, some parts still The archduke assumes the 176 offensive. His plan to turn Moreau'a rear. THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. Motions of the two armies. 1800. Nov. continuing to be covered with wood, other parts marshy, and everywhere presenting great difficul- ties of access. Moreau was in possession of this level, of the forest, and the roads that passed over it. From Munich, where his head-quarters were situated, two roads lead to the Inn, one going directly by Ebersberg on Wasserburg, the other leading obliquely to the left, passing by Hohenlin- den, llaag, Ampfing, and Miihldorf. Both one and the other cross the sombre forest of pines which covers that elevated region. It was in this formidable retreat, formed by a mountainous and wooded country, to be approached only by two roads of which Moreau held possession, that the archduke must seek him in order to give battle. The other roads consisted only of straight, narrow ways, principally, used for the conveyance of wood, and wholly impracticable for the heavy trains that accompany an army. The young archduke projected a grand man- oeuvre. He had no idea of attacking the front of Moreau's position, but of turning it by the bridge of Miihldorf, New-OEtting, and Braunau. Leaving twenty thousand men, Bavarians, Wurtembergers, and the emigrants of Conde" to guard the Inn, he proposed to himself to assume the defensive with sixty thousand Austrians, and to march upon the left of Moreau, through that woody, marshy dis- trict which extends between the Inn and Isar near to the points where they unite with the Danube. If the archduke rapidly passed over this difficult country by Eggenfelden, Neumarkt, Vilsbiburg, and arrived in time at Landshut upon the Isar, he would be able to ascend the Isar in the French rear, as far as Freising, pass over the Isar there, and take up his ground upon a chain of heights which commencing at Dachau overlook the plains of Munich. Placed there he would dangerously threaten the line of Moreau's retreat, and oblige him to evacuate the country between the Inn and the Isar, and to traverse Munich in great haste, in order to take up a retrograde position upon the Lech. But to ensure him the success of this man- oeuvre he must have accurately calculated the means of execution ; and after having engaged in the operation, great firmness was requisite to en- counter the chances of danger, for it was necessary to cross a country almost impracticable, in a dread- ful season, the whole time upon the skirts of the enemy, who was not prompt and daring it is true, but intelligent, firm, and not easily disconcerted. The armies of the two nations were in movement on the 26th or 27th of November, or the 5th and 6th of Frimaire, to commence hostilities on the 28th or 7th of Frimaire. The Austrian general Klenau, stationed upon the Danube to support Simbschen against the little army of Augereau, had attracted the attention of general St. Suzanne, commanding the 4th corps of Moreau. Drawn both one and the other far from the principal theatre of events, they were upon the Danube, general St. Suzanne towards Ingoldstadt, and ge- neral Klenau towards Ratisbon. Moreau had moved his left wing, twenty-six thousand strong, and placed it under the orders of general Grenier on the great road from Munich to Miihldorf by Hohenlinden, Haag, and Ampfing; thus it occupied the slopes of that species of lofty level which extends between the two rivers. His centre, which Moreau commanded in person, and which amounted to about thirty-four thousand men 1 , occupied the direct road from Munich to Wasserburg by Ebersberg. The right wing under Lecourbe consisting of about twenty-six thousand men, was placed along the upper Inn, in the vicinity of Rosenheim, observing the Tyrol with one division. Moreau had only at hand therefore his left and centre, or about sixty thou- sand men. He had set his army in movement to make a strong reconnoissance from Rosenheim as far as Miihldorf, to force the enemy to discover his intentions. Moreau knew not, like Bonaparte, how to divine the plans of his adversary, still less to dictate them, as the last did, by taking the initia- tive boldly himself. Moreau was forced to grope in order to find out that which he could not guess or command; but he advanced prudently, and if he was surprised, quickly repaired with great cool- ness the mischief thus occasioned. The 29th and 30th of November, or 8th and 9th Frimaire, the year ix., was employed by the French army in reconnoitring the line of the Inn ; and by the Austrian army in passing that line, and tra- versing the low country between the Inn, the Danube, and the Isar. Moreau forced the Aus- trian advanced posts to fall back, moved his right under Lecourbe to Rosenheim, his centre under himself to Wasserburg, and his left under Grenier to the heights of Ampfing. From the heights a command is obtained of the banks of the Inn, though at a great distance. The left of the French army was somewhat compromised, because in fol- lowing the channel of the Inn as far as Miihldorf it was no less than fifteen leagues from Munich, while the rest of the army was more than ten. Moreau in consequence took care that it should be supported by a division of the centre, under the command of general Grandjean. But it was a fault to advance in this way in three corps, so far one from another, in place of marching in a strong body upon the Inn, presenting himself at a single opening, and making false demonstrations at several other places. This error was very near being pro- ductive of serious consequences. The Austrian army had passed by Braunau, Neu- (Etting, Miihldorf, and traversed the low country, of which mention has been already made. A part of the troops of the archduke, recently arrived, had scarcely had time to rest. They were marching with labour hi that woody district, crossed by small rivers, such as the Vils, the Rott, and the Isen, which descended from the table land occupied by the French army. The narrow paths which they were forced to take were broken up ; the heavy waggons had much difficulty in moving. The young archduke and his advisers, who were not prepared for any of these circumstances, were frightened at the undertaking now it was com- menced. The French left wing, advanced nearly to Miihldorf and Ampfing, made them fear being cut off from the Inn. They designed to turn Moreau, and were now in fear of being turned 1 The centre consisted of thirty thousand men ; but the Polish division of Kniacewitz, which had rejoined general Decaen, and the reserve of the artillery, must have increased the number to about thirty-four or thirty-five thousand men. 1800. Dec. Errors of the archduke John. Combat at Ampfing. HOHENLINDEN. Moreau advances on the Inn. Position of the French army. 177 themselves. They ought to have foreseen such a danger, and formed on the Danube, between Ratisbon and Passau, a new base of operation in case of their being separated from the Inn. But they had done nothing. In every bold operation it is proper to provide for the difficulties of the execution. Then, the execution once commenced, to persevere with firmness in the intention once begun; since it is rare that we do not ourselves risk the very dangers which we have prepared for our adversary. The Austrian staff was afraid, from the first setting out, of that which it had planned itself, and suddenly changed its design. Instead of persisting in gaining the Isar to ascend into the French rear, it stopped short, determined to fall upon the French left and to give battle at once. This was to face the difficulty in full force, and without the least diminution; for it was neces- sary, in ascending by the beds of the rivers, to climb to the elevated ground which the French occupied, and to penetrate into the forest, where they had been for a long time well established. The Aus- trians might be able at commencing to obtain an advantage over the left wing of the French, which was somewhat endangered; but that success gained, the French would be found concentrated in a real labyrinth, of which they well knew and commanded all the outlets. On the 1st of December, or 10th of Frimaire, in the year ix., the archduke John moved the larger part of his army upon the left of the French at once by three roads ; the valley of the Isen, the highway from Muhldorf to Ampfing, and by the bridge of Krayburg on the Inn. The valley of the Isen, opening on the flanks of the woody table-land already described, allowed the lengthened position, too much lengthened as it was, to be turned. A corps of fifteen thousand men ascended the eleva- tion. Another corps marched right on upon the highway of MUhldorf, which, after mounting the heights of Ampfing, conducts through the forest to Hoheulinden and Munich. Lastly, a detachment crossing the Inn at Kraiburg, and passing through Aschau took hi flank the left wing of the French, which had unfortunately adventured as far as Ampfing. Forty thousand men were in a moment about to fall upon twenty thousand. Thus the con- test was severe and difficult for the twenty thou- sand men thus situated, who were commanded by general Grenier. Ney, who defended the heights of Ampfing, displayed on that day the incompa- rable energy and courage for which he was so dis- tinguished in war. He exhibited the most won- derful efforts of valour, and managed to effect his retreat with no very serious loss. Being me- naced by the troops of the enemy that had passed the Inn at Krayburg, and that had penetrated into the defile of Aschau, he was happily disengaged from, his hazardous situation by the division of general Grand jean, that Moreau, as we have said, had detached from his centre to support his left. The division of Legrand, which was in the valley of the Isen, ascended that valley in retrograding upon Dorfen. Moreau, seeing the superiority of the Austrians, had the good feeling to restrain him- self, and effected his retreat in good order. It is clear from these movements that Moreau had been unable to penetrate the design of the enemy, and that by advancing upon all the open- ings of the Inn at once, in place of making an attack upon a single point, he had compromised his left. The extraordinary courage of the troops, the activity of his lieutenants, who in execution were accomplished generals, had repaired every over- sight. This was only an insignificant commencement. Moreau had abandoned the borders of his position, and withdrew to the centre of the extensive forest of Hohenlinden. The Austrians would find it ne- cessary to force him from this formidable retreat. His coolness and energy were here about to be confronted with the archduke's inexperience, in- fatuated by a first success. We have already said that two roads traversed the forest, one on the right, which led directly to the Inn by Ebersberg and Wasserburg ; the other on the left, which passed by Hohenlinden, Matten- boett, Haag, Ampfing, and joined the Inn at Muhl- dorf, a longer distance than the former. It was upon this last road that the Austrians were pro- ceeding in a body. Some were following the defile which it forms through the forest, others, ascend- ing with labour by the beds of the rivulets which gave access to the flank of the French position. Moreau at once judged of the situation of things, judged correctly, and became at once possessed with an idea productive of great results. This was t suffer the Austrians that were already hi con- flict with his left, to engage themselves in the forest, and when they were pretty far advanced into it, to move his centre from the Ebersberg to the Hohen- linden road, surprise them in that dangerous posi- tion, and beat them there. He made all his dispo- sitions with that view. The road on the left, or that of Hohenlinden, adopted by the Austrians, after having quitted the banks of the Inn, and mounted the heights of Ampfing, passed as far as Mattenboett, over hills alternately wooded or open, then from Mattenboett to Hohenlinden through a dense wood, forming a long defile, bordered by tall pines. At Hohenlinden itself the forest suddenly disappeared. A small plain then appeared, without wood, covered with scattered hamlets, and in the middle of the plain were situated the post-house and village. There the Austrian army must pass, and not only the principal column marching hi the defile of the forest, but the detachments ascending the river Isen, in order to open out by different issues upon the left of the French position. Moreau formed, in this little plain of Hohenlin- den, his left wing under Grenier and the division of Grandjean already detached from the centre; in fact, all his reserve of artillery and cavalry. To the right of the road and village of Hohen- linden, Moreau placed Grandjean's division, com- manded that day by general Grouchy ; to the left the division of Ney ; more still to the left on the border of the wood, at the head of the road by which the Austrian columns would ascend from the valley of the Isen, he stationed the divisions of Legrand and Bastoul, both one and the other drawn up in front of the villages of Preisendorf and Harthofen. The reserves of cavalry and artil- lery were in the rear of these four divisions of infantry,- formed in the middle of the plain. The centre, reduced to the two divisions of Richepanse and Decaen, were some leagues distant on the right H Order of battle at Hohen- linden. TRIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. Advance of the Aus- triani. Dee. hand road in the vicinity of Kbersberg. Moreau sent orders to those two divisions, rather vaguely expressed, but of the most positive character, to throw themselves from the right hand road upon that on the left, to get upon the last in the environs of Mattenboett, and there to take the Austrian army entangled in the forest by surprise. This order was not given with precision, clearness, nor mi- nuteness, as all orders should be that are well con- ceived and well given, as those of Bonaparte uni- formly were. It neither indicated the road to be followed, nor did it provide for any possible con- tingencies, but left all to be done by the intelligence of generals Decaen and Richepanse. They might be entrusted, it is true, to supply themselves with all that the commander-in-chief had omitted. Mo- reau directed Lecourbe who commanded his right towards the Tyrol, and St. Suzanne who formed his left toward the Danube, to approach by forced marches towards the spot where the decisive event of the campaign was about to happen. But one was at least fifteen leagues off, and the other twenty-five, and both were in consequence beyond reach. Bonaparte never acted thus upon the eve of his great battles; he never left, at similar times, half his forces at such distances. But to bring up at one time on the point where the destiny of the war is to be decided, every detachment composing a numerous army, demands that superior foresight which the greatest commanders alone possess, and destitute of which it is very possible to be an excel- lent general. Moreau was on the point of fighting seventy thousand Austrians with less than sixty thousand French ; yet this number was more than sufficient with the soldiers which then composed the French army. The archduke John, ignorant of all these things, was intoxicated with his advantage gained on the 1st of December, or 10th Frimaire. He was young, and had seen the redoubtable army of the Rhine, that for many years the Austrian generals had not possessed the skill to stop, fall back before himself. He remained idle on the 2nd of December, which gave Moreau time to make the dispositions of his army which have been j ust described. He prepared every thing for marching through the vast forest of Hohenlinden on the 3rd of December, or 12th Frimaire. The archduke, a novice in his profession, did not imagine that the French army could make any resistance to him in the route he was about to take. He thought only that he might fall in with it in advance of Munich. He divided his army into four corps. The prin- cipal, that of the centre, composed of the reserve, the Hungarian grenadiers, Bavarians, the greater part of the cavalry, the baggage, and a hundred pieces of cannon, was to take the high road from Miihldorf to Hohenlinden, clear the defile through which it passes in crossing the forest, and then open upon the little plain of Hohenlinden. General Riesch, who had crossed the Inn at Krayburg, on the 1st of December, with about twelve thousand men, was to flank this centre, and to come upon the open ground at Hohenlinden, on the left of the Austrians and right of the French. At the other extremity of the field of battle, the corps of BaiHet- Latour and Kienmayer, that were in the valley of the Isen, were to continue their ascent, and to issue forth at some distance from each other, the first by Isen upon Kronaker and Preisendorf, the second by Lendorf upon Harthofen, both in the unwooded plain of Hohenlinden. They were or- dered not to lose time, but to leave even their artillery behind, the corps of the centre taking with it a large quantity by the principal road; they were to take no more necessaries than were suffi- cient to make soup for the soldiers. Thus then the four corps composing the Austrian army marched at a great distance from one another, in a thick forest : while only one of the four passed over a high paved road, the other thre went along roads employed solely for the carriage of timber. All were, however, to meet together in the cleared ground which extended between Hohenlinden and Harthofen, subject to the hazard of not arriving together, and of meeting during the march many unforeseen obstacles. The Bavarians having re- joined the Austrians, the army of the archduke numbered at the time seventy thousand men. On the morning of the 3rd of December, the French were formed in order of battle between Hohenlinden and Harthofen. Moreau was on horseback before break of day at the head of his staff, and at some little distance Richepanse and Decaen had begun the movement which they had been commanded to execute between the roads of Ebersberg and Hohenlinden. The four Austrian corps advanced simultaneously. They marched as fast as they were able, well aware of the value of time, at a season when there is so little daylight either to march or to fight. A thick snow-shower fell and darkened the air, so as to render it difficult to distinguish objects distant but a short way off. The archduke John, at the head of the centre, had got into the defile of the forest between Mattenboett and Hohenlinden, and had nearly cleared it, lon^ before general Riesch on his left, and generals Baillet-Latour and Kienmayer on his right, were able to arrive at the field of battle, embarrassed as they were amidst the horrible roads they had taken. The young archduke at last ap- peared on the skirt of the wood in front of Grand- jean's and Ney*8 divisions, drawn up in order of battle in advance of the village of Hohenlinden. The 108th demi-brigade of Grandjean's division was in line, having upon its wings the 46th and 57th in close coloumns ; the 4th hussars and 6th of the line supported them in the rear. On both sides a brisk fire of artillery commenced the action. The Austrians attacked the 108th, which made a determined resistance. Eight battalions of Hun- garian grenadiers were then ordered to file through the wood to turn the French by the right. Upon observing this movement, generals Grouchy and Grandjean went with the 46th to the assistance of the 108th, which, disordered, had begun to give ground. The 46th penetrated into the wood, and a desperate combat ensued there, almost man to man, among the pine trees, with the Hungarian grenadiers. A battalion of the 57th, pushing into the wood still deeper, turned the Hungarians, and obliged them to seek for safety hi the recesses of the forest. Thus the division of Grandjean remained victorious, and hindered the Austrian column from opening out upon the plains of Hohenlinden. After a few moments' cessation, the archduke John directed a new attack to be made upon Hohenlinden and the division of Grandjeau. This 1800. Dec. Battle of Hohenlinden. Gallant charge of Richepanse. HOHENLINDEN. Meeting of Ney and Richepanse. 179 second attack was repulsed as the first had been. At this moment there was discovered, on the side of Kronaker, the Austrian troops of Baillet-Latour, who showed themselves upon the left, ready to issue out upon the plains of Hohenlinden. The snow for a few minutes having ceased to fall, per- mitted them to be distinctly seen, though they were not yet in a condition to act, and then the divisions of Bastoul and Legrand were prepared to give them a warm reception. On a sudden a sort of unsteadiness, a wavering, an agitation, was seen along the centre of the Austrian army, which had not yet' been disengaged from the forest defile. Something unaccountable seemed to be taking place in their rear. Moreau, with a sagacity which did honour to his military glance, remarked it, and said to Ney, " This is the moment to charge; Richepanse and Decaen must be on the rear of the Austrians." He immediately commanded the di- visions of Ney and Grandjean, which were on the right and left of Hohenlinden, to form themselves in columns of attack, to charge the Austrians drawn up on the skirts of the forest, and to drive them back upon the long defile in which until then they had been enclosed. Ney charged them in front, Grouchy with Grandj can's division took them in flank, and then both drove them furiously into the defile, where they were crowded together pell-mell with their cavalry and artillery. At this very moment, near the other end of the defile, at Mattenboett, that event was happening for which Moreau had prepared, and which he had just now foreseen. Richepanse and Decaen, in obedience to the orders which they had received, had started across from the road of Ebersberg into that of Hohenlinden. Richepanse, who was nearest to Mattenboett, had proceeded without waiting for Decaen, and had plunged deeply and audaciously into that country of wood and ravine which sepa- rates the two roads, marching while the battle was fighting at Hohenlinden, and making incre- dible efforts to drag with him over that inundated ground six light guns. He had already passed through the village of St. Christopher with one brigade, when the corps of general Riesch, that was designed to flank the Austrian centre, arrived there. Drouet, with the second brigade, was left engaged with the enemy ; Richepanse making sure that Decaen would soon come up to his assistance and disengage him, he himself marched upon Mattenboett as fast as possible, for there his mili- tary instinct told him he would find the decisive point. There only remained with him two demi- brigades of infantry, the 8th and 48th, a single regiment of cavalry, the 1st chasseurs, and six guns, in all about six thousand men. He pushed forwards, dragging his artillery by hand, con- tinually in quagmires. Having arrived at Matten- boett, at the outer end of the forest defile, of which they had just attacked the head, he encountered a troop of cuirassiers on foot, their bridles on their arms ; he attacked them and took them prisoners. Then forming on the little space of open ground that surrounds Mattenboett, lie ranged the 8th on right, the 48th on the left, and sent the 1st chas- seurs upon eight squadrons of cavalry, which on seeing the French prepared to charge. The chas- seurs charged home, but were driven back, and rallied behind the 8th demi-brigade. This last cross- ing bayonets stopped the advance of the Austrian cavalry. At this moment the position of Richepanse was very critical. Having left his second brigade in the rear, to keep head against the corps of general Riesch, himself surrounded on all sides, he thought it best not to let the Austrians perceive his weak- ness. He confided to general Walther the 8th demi-brigade and the 1st chasseurs, in order to restrain the rearguard of the enemy, which seemed disposed to attack. He himself, with the 48th alone, moved to the left, and boldly determined to attack the Austrians in the forest defile. Perilous as this resolution seemed, it was not less wise than courageous, because the column of the archduke must have before it the whole of the French army, and by flinging himself desperately upon the rear, it was more than probable he would produce great disorder and obtain important results. Riche- panse, therefore, formed the 48th into two columns, and marching sword in hand in the midst of his grenadiers, penetrated into the forest, receiving, without yielding an inch, a severe discharge of grape-shot ; there he met two Hungarian battalions that disputed his passage. Richepanse would have animated his men both by voice and gesture; but they had no need of either. " These men are our prisoners," they shouted; "let us charge !" They immediately charged, and completely routed the Hungarians. They next came upon heaps of bag- gage, artillery, and infantry, all accumulated hi confusion in that narrow pass. Richepanse by his appearance struck them with indescribable terror, and they were thus flung into disorder, at the same moment that confused cries were heard at the other extremity of the defile. On arriving there the shouts became more distinct, and discovered the presence of the French. They came from Ney, who, leaving Hohenlinden, had penetrated by the head of the defile, driving before him the Aus- trian column that Richepanse was now forcing back upon him from the rear. Ney and Richepanse then met, recognized each other, and embraced full of joy at the glorious result they had obtained. Their soldiers rushed upon those Austrians on every side, who had sought shelter in the woods, and were now asking for quarter. Thousands of prisoners were taken, the whole of the Austrian artillery and baggage. Riche- panse abandoned to Ney the care of gathering up the trophies of their victory, returning to Matten- boett, where he had left general Walther, and the rest of his brigade, with one regiment of ca- valry. He found the gallant general struck by a ball, and carrying off in the arms of his men, his countenance beaming with joy, and repaid in his sufferings by the satisfaction of having contributed to the decisive manoeuvre. Richepanse disengaged his troops and returned to St. Christopher's, where he had left Drouet and his brigade alone in combat with the corps of Riesch. All his hopes had been fulfilled on this fortunate day. General Decaen had arrived in time, had disengaged the corps of Drouet, and made a number of prisoners. By this time it was noon-day. The centre of the army of the archduke had been enveloped and utterly routed. The left, under general Riesch, having arrived too late to stop Richepanse, at- tacked and driven towards the Inn by Decaen, was in full retreat, after suffering considerable loss. N2 180 Operations on the left. Error of Moreau. THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. His brilliant success. This the greatest of his battles. 1800 Dec. From such results in regard to the centre and left of the Austrians, the termination of the battle could not be doubtful. During these events the divisions of Bastoul and Legrand, placed on the left of the open plain of Hoheulinden, found upon their hands, the infan- try of generals Baillet-Latour and Kienmayer. These divisions had enough to do, being inferior in number to the enemy by one-half, and were pushed hardly in consequence. They had too the disad- vantage of the ground, since the head of the wooded ravines, by which the Austrians issued upon the little plain of Hohenlinden, being somewhat higher than the plain itself, permitted a plunging fire to be directed upon it. Still, generals Bastoul and Legrand, under the command of general Grenier, were seconded by the courage of their brave sol- diers. Fortunately, also, Hautpoul's cavalry was present to support them, as well as Ney's second brigade, he having taken but one with him into the defile. These two French divisions, at first borne down by numbers, lost ground. Abandoning the edge of the wood, they fell back into the plain, but with a steady front they displayed to the enemy the most heroic firmness. Two demi-brigades of Legrand's division, the 51st and 42d, falling back to Harthofen, had to engage Kienmayer's infantry, as well as a division of cavalry attached to that corps. Some- times keeping up a steady fire on the infantry, sometimes repulsing the cavalry with the bayonet, they opposed an invincible resistance to every assault. At this time general Grenier, gaining intelligence of the success obtained over the Aus- trian centre, formed Legrand's division imto co- lumns, supporting the movement by some charges of Hautpoul's cavalry, and thus repulsed the corps of Kienmayer, as far as the skirt of the wood. On his own side general Bonnet, with the division of Bastoul, charged the Austrians, and overthrew them into a valley, from whence they were at- tempting to issue. The grenadiers of Jola's brigade, part of Ney's second, rushed up to Baillet-Latour and repulsed him. The impulse of victory, com- municated to these bold troops, redoubled their strength and courage. They alternately drove back the two corps of Baillet-Latour and Kien- mayer, the one towards the Isen, the other towards Lendorf, in that low and difficult country, out of which they had vainly attempted to come, in order to possess themselves of the plain of Hohen- linden. Moreau at this moment returned from the depth of the forest, with a detachment of Grandjean's division, in order to succour the left, which was so briskly attacked. But there, as on all the other points, he found the soldiers victorious, transported with joy, and felicitating their general upon his signal victory. The triumph was, indeed, very great. The Austrian army had still more difficulty to encounter in getting out of the woods than it had to penetrate into them. Every where strag- gling corps were observed, that not knowing whi- ther to fly, fell into the hands of the victors and laid down their arms. It was five o'clock, and night covered with its shadows the field of battle. From seven thousand to eight thousand Austrians were killed, and twelve thousand made prisoners, three hundred waggons, and eighty-seven pieces of cannon, were the results of a battle not usual in warfare. The Austrian army lost that day nearly twenty thousand men, almost all its artillery, its baggage, and, what was worse than all, nearly the entire of its spirit. This battle was the finest ever gained by Moreau, and most assuredly one of the greatest fought during the present century, in which so many ex- traordinary battles have taken place. It has been wrongfully said, that there was another conqueror of Marengo besides Bonaparte, that it was general Kellermann. With much greater force might it be said, that there was another conqueror at Holien- linden than Moreau, and that it was general Riche- panse; because this last, upon a vague order, exe- cuted a very fine manoeuvre. But, although less unjust, this assertion would still be unjust. To every man should be left the property of his own labours, not supporting the miserable efforts of envy, which at all times would fain seek any other conqueror than the real conqueror himself. Moreau, in advancing along the Inn, from Kuf- stein to Muhldorf, without having selected a precise point of attack, without having concentrated on that point all his strength, to make only simple demon- strations, Moreau had thus exposed his left on the 1st of December. But this could only be pro- ductive of a momentary advantage to an enemy ; and in withdrawing himself into the labyriuthian recesses of Hohenlinden, attracting the Austrians there after him, bringing down his centre upon his left at the opportune moment from Ebersberg up- on Mattenboett, he executed one of the happiest manoeuvres known in the history of war. It has been asserted that Richepanse marched without orders >, this is an error ; the orders were given, as has been stated here, but they were too general, or not sufficiently detailed. No obstacle that might have happened had been provided against. Mo- reau merely directed Richepanse and Decaen to go off from the Ebersberg road upon St. Christopher's, without designating his route, without warning him of the corps of Riesch being present there in all probability, nor designating any of the possible or probable accidents he might meet with in the midst of a forest full of enemies. Without an officer as vigorous as Richepanse, he might have reaped a defeat in place of a victory. But for- tune always has a part in military successes. All that can be said is, that it was good in this in- stance, and much better too than usual. Moreau has been censured, because while he was fighting with six divisions out of twelve, he had left St. Suzanne with three upon the Danube, and three under Lecourbe on the Upper Inn ; by which he exposed his left, under Grenier, to the chance of fighting under the difference of one to two. This censure is assuredly more grave and better merited ; but let not so great a triumph be tarnished ; and let it be added, in order to be just, that, as in the finest works of man, there are de- fects, so in the finest victories there are faults faults which fortune repairs, and which must be admitted as the ordinary accompaniment of great military actions. 1 Napoleon erroneously asserted this at St. Helena. The trritten orders still exist, and hove been printed in the memorial of the war. 1800. Dec. Moreau marches upon Vienna. HOHENLINDEN. Lecourbe forces the Inn, and marches upon the Salza. 181 After this important victory, it was right to fol- low up vigorously the pursuit of the Austrian army, to march upon Vienna, to throw down the defences of the Tyrol by pushing forward, and in this man- ner to determine a retrograde movement along the whole line of the Austrians from Bavaria to Italy. Thus the retreat of the troops of the Inn would have made those of the troops of the Tyrol a necessary consequence, and the retreat of these last would have made inevitable the abandonment . of the Mincio. But to obtain all these results, it was necessary to force the Inn, and then the Salza, which falls into the Inn, forming a second line to be passed after the former. At the moment all this might have been achieved from the strong im- pulse given to the army by the victory of Hohen- linden. Moreau, when he had allowed rest to his troops, moved his left and a part of his centre on the road to Muhldorf, thus threatening at the same time the bridges of Krayburg, Muhldorf, and Braunau, in order to make the enemy believe that he intended to cross the Inn in the lower part of its course. In the mean time Lecourbe, who some months before had so gloriously passed across the Danube on the day of the battle of Hochstedt, was ordered to pass the Inn in the vicinity of Rosenheim. The general had discovered a place near Neubeurn, where the right bank occupied by the French, commanded the left occupied by the enemy, and where it was practicable to place his artillery with advantage, in order to protect the passage. This point was chosen in consequence. Several days were most unfortunately lost in collecting the materiel neces- sary, and it was not until the 9th of December, six days after the great battle of Hohenlinden, that Lecourbe waa ready to act. Moreau had suddenly taken up a position upon the Upper Inn. The three divisions of the centre had been directed from Wasserburg upon Aibling, a short distance from Rosenheim, ready to succour Lecourbe. The left had replaced them in their positions, and general Collaud, with two divisions of the corps of St. Suzanne, had been moved in advance of the Isar to Erding. On the morning of the 9th of December, or 18th Frimaire, Lecourbe began his operations for the passage of the river at Neubeurn. Montrichard's division was to be the first to pass the Inn. Gene- ral Lernaire placed on the heights commanding the right bank a battery of twenty-eight pieces of cannon, and drove off the troops that presented themselves there. Upon this part of the river Austria had only the corps of Conde 1 , which was too feeble to offer any serious resistance. After having driven off, by the continued fire of the artillery, all the enemy's detachments, the pontonniers placed them- selves in their boats, followed by some light bat- talions designed to protect their operations. In two hours and a half the bridge was finished, and the division of Montrichard began the passage. It advanced upon the Austrians, who retreated, de- scending the right bank of the river until they were opposite Rosenheim. They then took up a strong position at Stephenskirchen. During this movement, the divisions of the French centre, placed before Rosenheim itself, exerted themselves in preventing the Austrians from completely de- stroying the bridge at that town. Being unsuc- cessful, they ascended the Inn, and crossed over at Neubeurn, in order to support Lecourbe. The corps of Conde" having been reinforced, supported itself on one side upon the ruined bridge of Rosen- heim, upon the other on the little lake of Chiem-see. Lecourbe sent a detachment to turn the lake, and thus obliged the enemy to retreat after no very sanguinary resistance. Thus the Inn was crossed, and that formidable obstacle, which it was declared would stop the French army, was overcome. Lecourbe thus gained another laurel in the winter campaign. The march was not retarded. The next day a bridge was thrown over at Rosenheim for the passage of the rest of the centre. Grenier, with the left, crossed the Inn over the bridges of Wasserburg and Muhldorf, which the Austrians had left un- destroyed. It was necessary to hasten forward and drive the Austrians as far as the banks of the Salza, which flows behind the Inn, and falls into that river a little below Braunau. The Salza is a second arm of the Inn in itself. If it is crossed near the mountains, it must, in a certain respect, be twice crossed, while on passing it in the neigh- bourhood of Braunau after its union with the Salza, there is only one passage to be performed. But in the last case the volume of the water is doubled, and the difficulty of crossing by mam force is proportionally augmented. This reason, and the wish to surprise the enemy, who did not expect to see the French attempt to cross above Rosen- heim, decided Moreau in the choice. Lecourbe, supported by the divisions of the centre, advanced with great rapidity, in spite of the difficulties presented by a mountainous coun- try, covered with woods, rivers, and lakes, a country at all times difficult, but much more so in the middle of December. The Austrian army, although stricken by so many reverses, so far maintained itself in the field. The feeling of honour, awakened by the danger of the capital, occasioned it still to make noble efforts to stop the progress of the French. The Austrian cavalry covered the re- treat, charging with vigour the French corps that advanced with too much temerity. The Austrians crossed the Alz, which conveys the water of the Chiem-see to the Inn ; they also passed Traun- stein, and at last arrived near the Salza not far from Salzburg itself. There they remained before Salzburg, a strong position to occupy, and there the archduke John thought he should be able to concentrate his troops, hoping to obtain for them some kind of success that would restore their courage, and at least render the daring pursuit of the French less rapid. The archduke then concentrated himself before Salzburg on the 13th of December, or 22nd Fri- maire, 1800. The city of Salzburg is seated upon the Salza. In advance of this river there runs another smaller stream, called the Saal, which descends from the neighbouring mountains, and joins the Salza below Salzburg. The ground beneath these two rivers is level, marshy, and covered with clumps of wood, being everywhere difficult of access. It was there the archduke John had taken up his position, his right on the Salza, his left to the mountains, his front covered by the Saal, his artillery swept the Lecourbe fords the Saal. 182 Kescued from danger by Decaen. The archduke Charles called TRIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. to the comroand.-Armis- tice agreed upon. 1800. Dec. whole level. His cavalry stationed on the un- covered and solid portion of the ground, was ready to charge any French corps that took the offensive. His infantry was well supported on the city of Salzburg itself. On the 14th, in the morning, Lecourbe, drawn onwards by his ardour, forded the Saal, received several charges of cavalry on the bank bordering the river, and sustained them with bravery. Pre- sently a dense fog clearing up, he discovered in advance of Salzburg a formidable line of cavalry, artillery, and infantry. This was the whole Aus- trian army. In presence of such a danger he con- ducted himself with much steadiness, but did not escape without loss. Most fortunately the division of Decaen had crossed the Salza at this moment near Laufen in a manner almost miraculous. On the preceding day the advanced guard of the division, finding the bridge of Laufen destroyed, had coasted the banks of the Salza, everywhere covered with the Austrian tirailleurs, and continued to hunt out a passage. A boat was seen upon the opposite side of the river. At the sight, three chasseurs of the 14th threw themselves into the water, and swam to the other side, in spite of the intense cold, and a current more rapid than that of the Inn. After fighting hand to hand with several Austrian tirailleurs, they succeeded in getting the boat, and bringing it over. By this means the French, to the extent of some hundreds, crossed successively to the opposite bank, occupied a village close to the bridge of Laufen, which had been destroyed, and there barricaded themselves in such a manner as that a small number were able to defend it. The rest rushed upon some Austrian artillery, got posses- sion of it, seized all the boats on the right bank of the Salza, and thus supplied with the means of coming over the whole of the division on the left side of the river. The following morning, the 14th, the whole of Decaen's division had passed over, and ascended nearly to Salzburg at the very mo- ment when Lecourbe was engaged with the entire Austrian army. It was impossible for it to arrive at a better moment. The archduke, informed of the passage of the French, and of their march upon Salzburg, decamped in a hurry, and Lecourbe was thus disengaged from a very hazardous situa- tion, to which his own ardour and daring courage had exposed him. Thus the defences of the Inn and Salza had fallen before the French. From that moment there was no obstacle to cover the Austrian army, or enable it to resist the French. There remained, it is true, twenty-five thousand men in the Tyrol, who had it in their power to threaten the French rear; but it is not when an enemy is victorious, and de- moralization pervades the ranks of an army, that bold attempts are likely to be made. Moreau, having left the corps of St. Suzanne in the rear, to invest Braunau, and to occupy the country between the Inn and Isar, emboldened by the success of every step he had taken, marched upon the Traun and Ens, which were not capable of arresting his march. Richepanse commanded the advanced guard, sustained by Grouchy and Decaen. The retreat of the Austrians was con- ducted in great disorder. At every instant the French took men, carriages, and cannon. Riche- panse gained several brilliant actions at Frank- enmarkt, Vceklabruck, and Schwanstadt. Con- tinually engaged with the Austrian cavalry, he made prisoners of twelve hundred horse at a time. On the 20th of December, or 29th of Frimaire, he had passed the Traun, and was marching upon Steyer in order to pass the Ens. The young archduke, whom so many disasters had completely put out of heart, was now suc- ceeded by the archduke Charles, who had at last been recalled from disgrace, to perform the task, now become impossible, of saving the Austrian army. When he arrived he saw with deep pain the spectacle presented to his sight by the soldiers of the empire, who, after they had nobly resisted the French, demanded that they should not be sacrificed to an unhappy system of policy univer- sally reprobated. The archduke sent M. Meer- feld to Moreau to propose an armistice. Moreau willingly granted it for forty-eight hours, on con- dition that, during the delay, that officer should return from Vienna with full powers from the emperor; but he stipulated, at the same time, that during the interval, the French army should have the right to advance as far as the Ens. On the 21st he passed the Ens at Steyer, and his advanced posts were upon the Ips and Erlaf. He was, in fact, at the gates of Vienna, and might feel the temptation to enter the city, and thus bestow upon himself the glory which no French general ever before had, of penetrating to the capital of the empire. But the moderate mind of Moreau had no desire to push fortune to the ex- treme. The archduke Charles gave his word, that if hostilities were suspended, the Austrians would immediately treat for peace, on the conditions that France had always demanded, more especially upon the basis of a separate negotiation, Moreau, feeling a well-founded esteem for the archduke Charles, showed a disposition to give him full credit. Several of Moreau's lieutenants endeavoured to excite him to march upon Vienna. " It will be better," he answered, " to secure peace. Of Mac- donald and Brune I have no intelligence. I know not if one has succeeded in penetrating the Tyrol, or if the other has been able to pass the Mincio. Augereau is a great way off from me, in a hazard- ous situation. I should, perhaps, drive the Aus- trians to despair, if I insisted on humiliating them yet more. It is better for us to halt, and content ourselves with peace, because that is all for which we are fighting." These were wise sentiments, well worthy of praise. On the 25th of December, or 4th Nivose, year ix., Moreau consented to sign, at Steyer, a new suspension of arms, upon the following con- ditions : There is to be a cessation of hostilities in Ger- many between the Austrian and the French armies, commanded by Moreau and Augereau. The ge- nerals Brune and Macdonald are to be invited to sign a similar armistice for the armies of the Grisons and of Italy. The entire valley of the Danube, comprising also the Tyrol, with tKe for- tresses of Braun.au and Wurtzburg, and the forts of Scharnitz, of Kufstein, and others, and the magazines of the Austrians, to be placed at the disposal of the French. No detachment of troops to be sent into Italy, if it should appear that uo 1800. Dec. Great abilities of Moreau. Danger of Augereau : re- lieved by the armistice. HOHENLINDEN. Macdonald passes the Grisons, and enters the Valteline. 183 suspension of arms has been consented to by the general commanding in that country. This sti- pulation to be common to both armies. Moreau was content with these stipulations, as he had full reason to be, calculating upon peace, and preferring it to more signal, but more hazard- ous triumphs. A brightness of glory surrounded his name, because his winter campaign had sur- passed that of the spring. After crossing the Rhine in the spring campaign, having driven the Austrians to the Danube, while Bonaparte was crossing the Alps, and after dislodging them from their camp at Ulm, by the battle of Hochstedt, thus pushing them back to the Inn, he had taken breath during the fine season. He had com- menced his march in whiter, during the most severe cold; he had overthrown the enemy at Ho- henlinden, flung them back from the Inn upon the Salza, from the Salza upon the Traun and Ens, pushing them in confusion to the very gates of Vienna. Lastly, he had granted them, in stop- ping his victorious march a few leagues from the capital, time to sign a treaty of peace. There had been "gropings," delays, and faults, that severe judges have keenly censured since, as if to revenge upon the memory of Moreau the injustice committed upon the memory of Napoleon; but Moreau had a continued chain of successes justified by his own prudence and firmness. All true glory should be respected; we ought not to darken the glory of one to avenge the other. Moreau proved himself capable of commanding one hundred thousand men with prudence and courage ; no one, except Napoleon, has manoeuvred such a force in the present age so well ; and if the place of the victor of Hohenlinden be at an immense distance from that of the victor of Rivoli, Marengo, and Auster- litz, his place is still great, and would have con- tinued great, if criminal conduct, the unfortunate production of jealousy, had not later in life sullied a character until then pure and exalted. The armistice in Germany took place very op- portunely for rescuing the Gallo-Batavian army, commanded by Augereau, from its hazardous situ- ation. The Austrian general, Klenau, who always remained far enough away from the archduke John, suddenly formed a junction with Simbschen, and by thus uniting their forces, placed Augereau in imminent danger. But the last defended Rad- nitz with great skill and courage, and supported his ground until the conclusion of hostilities. The retreat of the Austrians into Bavaria relieved him from his peril, and the armistice saved him from the dangers of a situation in which he was destitute of support, seeing Moreau was at the gates of Vienna. During these events in Germany, hostilities were continued in the Alps and in Italy. The first consul, seeing in the opening of the campaign, that Moreau could spare the army of the Grisons, had ordered Macdonald to pass over the Splugen, and throw himself from the great chain of the Alps into the Valteline, from the Valteline into the Italian Tyrol, and then moving upon the Trent, to turn the line of the Mincio ; by this manoeuvre putting an end to the resistance of the Austrians in the plains of Italy. No objection arising from the height of the Splugen or the rigour of the season could change the determination of the first consul. He had constantly answered, that where- ever two men could place their feet, an army pos- sessed the means of passing, and that the Alps were easier to cross in frost than when the snow was melting, the season in which he had himself crossed the St. Bernard. This was the language of a mind altogether absolute, determined at any cost to attain its end. The event proved, that in the mountains the winter presents dangers at least equal to those of spring; besides which, it condemns those who brave it to the most horrible sufferings. General Macdonald prepared to obey the order of the first consul, with all the energy natural to his character. After having left Morlot's division in the Grisons, to guard the openings which form the communication between the Grisons and the Engadine, or superior valley of the Inn, he moved towards the Splugen. For some time before, the division of Baraguay d'Hilliers had been in the high or upper Valteline, threatening the Engadine from the side of Italy, while Morlot menaced it from the side of the Grisons. With the main body of his army, about twelve thousand men, Mac- donald commenced his march, and clambered up the first declivities of the Spliigen. The pass of this lofty mountain, narrow and winding, during many leagues of the ascent, offered the severest perils, more particularly at that season, when fre- quent storms encumbered the roads with enormous drifts of snow and ice. The artillery and ammu- nition were placed on sledges, and the soldiers were loaded with biscuits and cartridges. The first column, composed of artillery and cavalry, com- mencing the passage in fine weather, on a sudden was overtaken by a frightful storm. An ava- lanche carried away half a squadron of dragoons at once, and filled the soldiers with terror at the sight. Still they did not lose their courage, and, after a delay of three days, another attempt was made to cross this redoubtable mountain. The snow had encumbered all. Oxen were driven before the troops to tread down the snow, into which they sank up to their bellies ; labourers beat it down hard ; the infantry in passing over rendered it harder : and lastly, the sappers widened the passes where they were too narrow, by cutting away the ice with hatchets. These exertions were all need- ful to make the road practicable for cavalry and artillery. Thus the first days of December were employed in effecting the passage of the three first columns. The soldiers endured the most terrible sufferings with great fortitude, living upon biscuit with a small quantity of brandy. , The 4th and last column had nearly reached the summit of the pass, when another storm came on and again closed up the passage, dispersed the 104th demi- brigade entirely, and buried a hundred men. Ge- neral Macdonald was there, and rallied the sol- diers, cheered them amid their pains and sufferings, made the road be cleared a second time, that was thus closed with blocks of frozen snow, and with all the rest of liis forces entered the Valteline. This enterprise, so justly wonderful, carried the greater part of the army of the Grisons across the great mountain-chain, to the very en- trances of the Italian Tyrol. General Macdonald, as he had been commanded, sought, as soon as he had passed the Spliigen, to act in concert with Brune, in order to move upon the sources of the 184 Macdonald attacks the Austrian! at mount Tonal. Brune advances to cross TRIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. the Mincio.-De.crip- tion of that river. 1800. Dec. Mincio and Adige, thus overturning the whole de- fensive line of the Austrians, which extended from the Alps to the Adriatic. Brune would not deprive himself of an entire division to aid Macdonald, but he consented to detach the Italfan division of Lecchi, which was to ascend the valley of the Chiesa, as far as Rocca d'Anfo. Macdonald now determined to ascend the Valte- liiie and attack mount Tonal, which commanded the entrance into the Tyrol, and the valley of the Adige ; but there, though the height was inferior to the Spliigen, the ice was as deeply collected; and further, general Wukassowich had covered with intrenchments the principal approaches. On the 22nd and 23rd of December, general Vandamme led an attack upon them at the head of a body of grenadiers, and several times renewed it unsuccess- fully with the most heroic courage. These brave men made incredible but useless exertions to gain their object. Several times they marched over the ice entirely unprotected, and under a murderous fire. They reached the palisadoes of the entrench- ment, endeavouring in vain to force them. The ground was frozen, and it was impossible to pull them up. There was no use in persisting further; and it was in consequence resolved to move into the valley of the Oglio, and descend that river to Pi- sogno, in order to proceed into the valley of Chiesa. The object was to cross the mountains in a less elevated region, and by passes not so effec- tually defended. Macdonald, having descended to Pisogno, crossed the passes which separated him from the valley of the Chiesa, formed his junction with Lecchi's brigade towards Rocca d'Anfo, and then found himself beyond the obstacles which separated him from the Italian Tyrol and the Adige. Thus he was enabled to reach Trent before general Wukassowich had made his retreat from the heights of mount Tonal, and to take up a posi- tion between the Austrians who defended in the middle of the Alps the sources of the different rivers, and the Austrians -who defended the in- ferior parts of the streams in the plains of Italy. Brune, before he forced the passage of the Min- cio, had waited until Macdonald had made sufficient progress for the attack to be nearly simultaneous in the mountains and in the plains. Out of one hundred and twenty-five thousand men spread over Italy, he had, as we have already observed, one hundred thousand effective men, tried soldiers, recruited after their sufferings and privations ; an artillery perfectly organized by general Marmout, and an excellent cavalry. Twenty thousand men, or nearly that number, protected Lombardy, Piedmont, Liguria, and Tus- cany. A feeble brigade, commanded by general Petitot, watched the Austrian troops that sallied out of Ferrara, and menaced Bologna. The na- tional guard of this last city was ready, in addition, to defend it against the Austrians. The Neapoli- tans were crossing the new Roman state, in order to march upon Tuscany ; but Murat, with ten thou- sand men from the camp of Amiens, had marched to encounter them. Brune, after having provided for the protection of the different places in Italy, had about seventy thousand men to direct upon the Mincio. Bona- parte, perfectly acquainted with the theatre of operations, had recommended him to concentrate his troops with care; and as much as possible in Upper Italy, to pay no attention to what the Aus- trians might attempt in the direction of the Po, in the Legations, or even in Tuscany; but to remain steady, as he himself had formerly done, near the openings of the Alps. He repeated to Brune in- cessantly, that when the Austrians were beaten between the Mincio and Adige, in other words, on the line by which they enter Italy, all those who had passed the Po, to penetrate into central Italy, would only be the more exposed to danger. The Austrians really put on the face of attacking Bologna, by sallying from Ferrara for that purpose ; but general Petitot knew how to restrain them, and the national guards of Bologna exhibited upon their own side the firmest attitude. Brune, conforming at once to the instructions which he had received, advanced to the Mincio from the 20th to the 24th of December, or 29th Frimaire to 3rd Nivose, took the positions which the Austrians had occupied in advance of that river, and made his dispositions for passing it on the morning of the 25th. General Delmas com- manded his advanced guard; general Moncey the left; general Dupout the right; and general Mi- chaud the reserve. Beyond the cavalry and artil- lery distributed in his divisions, he had a consider- able reserve of both. In recounting the first campaigns of Bonaparte l , we have already described the theatre of so many memorable events. It will be necessary still to re- trace in a few words the configuration of the places. The great mass of the waters of the Tyrol are con- veyed by the Adige into the Adriatic: thus it is that the line of the Adige is one of great strength. But before the line of the Adige is obtained, a less im- portant one is encountered, that of the Miucio. The waters of several of the lateral valleys of the Tyrol, which first accumulate in the lake of Garda, deliver themselves from thence into the Mincio, remain some time around Mantua, where they form an inundation, and last of all fall into the Po. In consequence there was a double line to cross, first that of the Mincio, and next that of the Adige, this last being much more considerable, and much the strongest of the two. It was necessary to cross both these rivers; and if this was done so promptly as to act in immediate concert with Mac- donald, who was moving by Rocca d'Anfo and Trent upon the Upper Adige, it would be possible to separate the Austrian army which defended the Tyrol, from that defending the Mincio, and to take the former. The line of the Mincio, in length not more than seven or eight leagues, was supported on one flank by the lake of Garda, and by Mantua, bristling with artillery, upon the other ; and was defended by seventy thousand Austrians, under the com- mand of count Bellegarde, nor was it easily to be forced. The Austrians had at Borghetto and Val- legio a bridge well entrenched, and this enabled Bellegarde to act upon both banks. The river was not fordable at that season, and the mass of its waters was yet more augmented by closing all the canals it fed. Brune, after having united his columns, con- 1 History of the French Revolution. 1800. Dec. Dupont crosses the Mincio unrestrained by Brune. HOHENLINDEN. Combat at Pozzolo. The Austrian; retreat. 183 ceived the singular idea of crossing the Mincio in two places, both at the same moment, at Mozzem- bmiii and Pozzolo. Between these two points the river formed a bend, the convex point of which turned towards the French army. The right bank, which Brune occupied, commanded the left, occu- pied by the Austrians, so that at Mozzembano, as well as at Pozzolo, a converging fire could be opened from higher batteries upon the Austrian bank, and the operation of the passage be covered. Still, at both points the Austrians were found to be firmly posted behind the Mincio, covered with solid entrenchments, that were supported either on Mantua or Pechiera. The advantages and incon- veniences were therefore nearly the same, either at Pozzolo or Mozzembano; but what should have decided Bruue to prefer one of these two points, no matter which, while he made a false demonstration on the other, was, that between these two points there was an entrenched bridge, then occupied by the enemy. The Austrians therefore could pass over by this means, and throw themselves upon one of the two operations, in order to prevent it from being effected : it was proper, therefore, that only one should have been attempted, and that with the entire of his army. Still Brune persisted in his double plan, appa- rently for the purpose of distracting the attention of the enemy; and on the 25th of December he arranged every thing to effect this double passage. But obstacles intervened in respect to carriage, obstacles very great at that season of the year, and prevented every thing being ready at Mozzembano, the point where Brune was himself, together with the larger part of his army, and the operation was deferred until the next day. It would then appear that the order to attempt the second passage should have been countermanded ; but Brune, having always considered the attempt on the side of Poz- zolo as merely a diversion, thought that the diver- sion would more surely produce its effect if it pre- ceded the principal operation twenty-four hours. Dupont, who commanded at Pozzolo, was an officer full of ardour; he advanced on the morning of the 25th to the bank of the Mincio, crowned with artillery the heights of Molino-della-Volta, which overlooked the opposite bank, threw over a bridge in a short time, under favour of a dense fog, and succeeded in conveying over Wattrin's division to the right bank. During this time Brune re- mained immoveable with the left and the reserve at Mozzembano. General Suchet, placed between the two with the centre, masked the Austrian bridge of Borghetto. Thus general Dupont was on the left bank with a single corps before the whole Austrian army. The result it is easy to discover. Count Bellegarde, without losing a moment, directed the whole mass of his forces upon Pozzolo. Dupont sent to apprise Suchet his neighbour, and also the commander-in-chief, of his success, and of the dan- ger to which he was exposed. Suchet, a brave and faithful fellow-soldier, hastened to the assistance of Dupont; but on quitting Borghetto, sent to urge Brune to provide for the guard of the entrenched bridge, which he left open by his movement upon Pozzolo. Brune, in place of hurrying with all his forces to the point where a fortunate incident had opened for his army the passage of the Mincio, never moved from his position, being engrossed by his operations at Mozzembano, which were to take place on the following day. He approved of the movement of Suchet, but recommended him, at the same time, not to endanger himself on the opposite side of the river, sending Boudet's division alone to mask the bridge of Borghetto. General Dupont, impatient to profit by his suc- cess, was absolutely engaged. He had passed the Mincio, taken Pozzolo, which is situated on the left bank, and successively carried over the divi- sions of Wattrin and Monier. One of his wings was supported on Pozzolo, the other on the Mincio, under the protection of the elevated batteries upon the right bank. The Austrians marched upon the position with all their reinforcements. They were preceded by a number of pieces of cannon. Happily, the French artillery placed upon Molino-della- Volta, in sweep- ing from one bank to the other, protected the French by the superiority of their fire. The Aus- trians flung themselves with great fury upon the divisions of Wattrin and Monier. The sixth light, the twenty-eighth, and the fortieth of the line, were nearly overwhelmed, but still they resisted with wonderful courage the repeated attacks of the Austrian cavalry and infantry. Monier's division, surprised in Pozzolo by a column of grenadiers, was driven out. At this moment the corps of Du- pont, detached from its principal point of support, was on the eve of being driven into the Mincio. General Suchet, arriving on the right bank with the division of Gazan, and perceiving, from the height of Molino-della- Volta, the serious danger of Dupont, engaged with ten thousand men against thirty thousand, hastened to reinforce him. Re- strained by the orders of Brune, he dared not send him the whole of Gazan's division, and he threw Clauzel's brigade over to the other side of the river. This brigade was insufficient, and Dupont must have succumbed, despite this aid, but the rest of Gazan's division, crowning the opposite bank, from which- the Austrians could be reached with grape- shot, and even by musketry, poured upon them a murderous fire, and thus stopped them. Dupont's division, being supported, resumed the offensive, and made the Austrians fall back. Suchet, seeing the danger that every moment increased, deter- mined to send over the whole of Gazan's division to the opposite bank. The important point, Poz- zolo, was fiercely disputed ; six times it was taken and retaken. At nine o'clock at night the contest still continued by moonlight, under a severe frost. The French finally remained masters of the left bank, but they had lost the flower of four divisions. The Austrians left six thousand killed and wounded on the field of battle, and the French nearly the same number. But for the arrival of general Suchet, the left wing would have been utterly de- stroyed; as it was, he dared not engage fully, his hands being tied up by the orders of the com- mander-in-chief. If count Bellegarde had directed his whole force upon that point, or if he had passed over the bridge of Borghetto, while Brune re- mained immoveable at Moazembano, he would have inflicted a fearful blow upon the centre and left of the French army. Fortunately, he did nothing of the kind. The Mincio was thus crossed at one point. Brune per- sisted in his plan of passing the next day, the 26th Dishonourable act of general Bonaparte receives the , ann 186 Laudon.-The Austrians THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. news of the victory beg an armistice. with great joy. of December, towards Mozzembano, thus newly exposing himself to the chances of an operation by main force. He covered the heights of Mozzem- bano with forty guns, and, favoured by the fogs of that season, succeeded in placing a bridge. The Austrians fatigued with the fight of the pre- ceding day, and doubting the intention of the second passage, made less resistance than the day before, and permitted the positions of Sallionzo and of Vallegio to be taken from them. The whole army passed in this way beyond the Mincio, and was thns enabled to march with its united divisions upon the Adige. The entrenched bridge of Borghetto must have fallen naturally from the offensive movement of the French columns. A first fault was committed, and several hundreds of brave men's lives sacrificed to complete the con- quest of a point that was not tenable : twelve hun- dred Austrians were made prisoners there. The French were victorious, but at the cost of valuable blood, which generals Bonaparte or Moreau would not have failed to spare the army. Lecourbe passed the German rivers in a very different man- ner. Brune, having forced the Mincio, advanced towards the Adige, which he ought to have crossed immediately. He waa not ready to effect the pas- sage before the 31st of December, or 10th Nivose. On the 1st of January, general Delmas, with the advanced guard, successfully crossed that river above Verona at Bussolengo. General Moncey, with the left, was to ascend to Trent, while the rest of the army again descended to invest Verona. Count Bellegarde at this moment found himself in the greatest danger. A part of the troops of the Tyrol, under general Laudon, were retiring before Macdonald and falling back upon Trent. General Moncey, with his corps, was also marching there in ascending the Adige. General Laudon must have succumbed, being hemmed in between Macdonald and Moncey's corps, unless he had time to save himself in the valley of the Brenta, which, flowing beyond the Adige, terminates in many windings near Bassano. Brune, if he passed the Adige quickly, and pushed Bellegarde beyond Verona, to Bassano itself, might anticipate at this last point the corps of the Tyrol, and take it en- tirely by closing the opening of the Brenta. An act of general Laudon, not very honourable, and the dilatoriness of general Brune, excused in some degree, perhaps, by the season, disengaged the corps of the Tyrol from its peril. Macdonald had in effect arrived near Trent, while the corps of general Moncey was proceeding thither at its side. General Laudon placed be- tween these two corps, had recourse to a falsehood. He announced to general Moncey that an armis- tice had been signed in Germany, and that this armistice was common to both armies. This was false, because the treaty signed at Steyer by Moreau only applied to the armies operating on the Danube. General Moncey, in an excess of honourable feel- ing, believed what Laudon stated, and opened a passage for him to the valley of the Brenta. He was thus enabled to rejoin count Bellegarde in the vicinity of Bassano. But the disasters of Austria in Germany be- come known. The Austrian army beaten in Italy, pressed by a mass of ninety thousand men after the junction of Macdonald with Brune, was no longer able to hold out. An armistice was proposed to Brune, who hastened to accept it, and it was signed on the 16th of January at Treviso. Brune, eager to settle affairs, was contented to demand the line of the Adige, with the fortresses of Ferrara, Pechiera, and Portolegnago. He did not dream of demand- ing Mantua; still his instructions were not to halt until he had entered Isonzo, and made himself master of Mantua. This was the only place that was worth the trouble, because all the others must fall naturally and -as a thing of course. It was of great importance to occupy it, that there might be a claim for demanding its cession to the Cisal- pine republic at the congress of Lundville. While these events were happening in Upper Italy, the Neapolitans entered Tuscany. The count Damas, who commanded a body of sixteen thousand men, eight thousand of whom were Neapolitans, had advanced as far as Sienna. General Miollis, obliged to protect all the posts in Tuscany, had only three thousand five hundred disposable men, the larger part Italians. Notwithstanding this, he marched upon the Neapolitans. The gallant sol- diers of the division of Pino threw themselves upon the advanced guard of count Damas, overthrew it, forced their way into Sienna, and put to the sword a number of the insurgents. Count Damas was obliged to retreat. Murat was advancing with his grenadiers to force from him a signature to a third armistice. The campaign was thus every where terminated, and peace insured. On every belligerent point the French had been successful. The army of Moreau, flanked by that of Augereau, had penetrated nearly to the gates of Vienna; that of Brune, seconded by Macdonald, had passed the Mincio and the Adige, and marched to Treviso. Though it had not en- tirely driven the Austrians beyond the Alps, it had taken from them a sufficiency of territory to furnish the French negotiator at Lnne"ville with powerful arguments against Austrian pretensions in Italy. Murat was about to compel the court of Naples to submission. Upon receiving intelligence of the battle of Ho- henlinden, the first consul, who was said to be jea- lous of Moreau, was filled with hearty delight '. This victory lost nothing of its value in his eyes because it was gained by a rival. He deemed him- self so superior to all his companions in arms, in military glory and in political influence, that he felt no jealousy towards any of them; wholly devoted to the object of pacifying and reorganizing France, he learned with lively satisfaction every event which contributed to facilitate his labour, although such events might aggrandize men who were afterwards set up as rivals to him. That which most displeased him in this campaign was the useless effusion of French blood at Pozzolo, and above all, the serious fault committed in not demanding Mantua. He refused to ratify the con- vention of Treviso, and declared that he would give orders for the renewal of hostilities, if the fortress of Mantua were not immediately delivered over to the French army. Bourrienne gays that " he leaped for joy ;" and this bio- grapher is not to be suspected, for, though he owed every thing to Napoleon, he seems not to have remembered that he did so in his memoirs. 1801. Jan. Negotiations renewed at Luneville. Determination of Bonaparte. HOHENLINDEN. Terms fixed by Bonaparte for the peace. 187 At this moment, Joseph Bonaparte and M. Co- hentzel were at LuneVille, awaiting events on the Danube and Adige. These negotiators were placed in a singular situation, treating while the fight was going on, and being in some sort witnesses of the duel between two great nations, expecting every moment the news, though not of the death, yet of the exhaustion of one or the other. M. Cobentzel exhibited upon the occasion a vigour of character which might serve as an example for those men who are called upon to serve their country in such important circumstances. He never suffered him- self to be disconcerted, neither by the defeat of the Austrians at Hohenlinden, nor by the passage of the Inn, the Salza, or the Traun. To all these dis- astrous events he replied, with imperturbable self- possession, that all these things were no doubt very vexatious, but that the archduke Charles had reco- vered from his chagrin, and that he had arrived at the head of the extraordinary levies of Bohemia and Hungary; that he had brought to the assist- ance of the capital twenty-five thousand Bohemians and seventy-five thousand Hungarians ; that, in advancing further, the French would encounter a resistance which they could little expect to find. He supported at the same time all the Austrian demands, particularly that of not treating without an English plenipotentiary, who would at least cover by his presence the real negotiations which it might be possible to establish between the two nations. Sometimes he threatened to return to Frankfort, and thus put an end to all the hopes of peace of which the first consul had need, for composing the minds of the people. At this threat, the first consul, who was never guilty of tergiversation, when any one attempted to intimidate him, answered M. Cobentzel, that if he quitted LuneVille, all chance of accommodation would be for ever lost, that the war should be pushed to the utmost, even to the entire downfall of the Austrian monarchy. In the midst of this diplomatic contest, M. Co- bentzel received intelligence of the armistice con- cluded at Steyer, the orders of the emperor to treat at any price, and above all, to extend to Italy the armistice already agreed upon in Germany, be- cause nothing would be gained, if, having stopped one of two armies marching upon Vienna, the other should be permitted to take the same direc- tion, by Friouli and Carinthia. In consequence, M. Cobentzel declared, on the 31st of December, that he was ready to treat without the consent of England, that he would agree to sign preliminaries of peace, or a definitive treaty, whichever was desired by France; but before he committed him- self decidedly, in separating from England, he wished that an armistice, common to Germany and Italy, should be concluded, and some explana- tions regarding the terms of the peace should be made, at least in a general manner. For his own part, he would propose as conditions, that the Oglio should be the limit of Austria in Italy, with the Legations, and at the same time, that the dukes of Modena and Tuscany should be reinstated in their former dominions. These conditions were unreasonable, the first consul would not have admitted them before the triumphs of the winter campaign had been achieved, and much less afterwards. The preliminaries of M. St. Julien have not been forgotten here. The treaty of Campo-Formio was adopted for the basis, with this difference, that cer- tain indemnities promised to Austria for small ter- ritories, were to be taken in Italy in place of Ger- many. We have already indicated the substance of them; the treaty of Campo-Formio, assigned to the Cisalpine republic and to Austria the boundary of the Adige ; in promising indemnity to Austria in Italy, she was given to hope for the Mincio, for example, in place of the Adige, as a boundary, but the Mincio at most, and the territory of the Lega- tions not at all, of which the first consul intended to make a different disposition. The ideas of the first consul were thus deter- mined. He insisted that Austria should pay the expenses of the winter campaign ; that her Italian limits should be the Adige, and nothing more, and that she should receive no indemnity, neither in Germany nor in Italy, for the small territories ceded on the left bank of the Rhine. The Legations he intended to reserve, and make them subservient to divers combinations. Until now they had belonged to the Cisalpine republic. His design was rather to leave them to that republic, or to devote them to the aggrandizement of the house of Parma, as promised by treaty with the court of Spain. In this last case he would have given Parma to the Cisalpine, Tuscany to the house of Parma, which would have been a great aggrandizement, and the Legations to the grand duke of Tuscany. As to the duke of Modena, Austria had promised, by the treaty of Campo-Formio, to indemnify him for his lost dchy by means of the Brisgau. It was for her to keep her engagements towards that prince. The first consul wished for another thing that was well understood, but very difficult to make Austria consent to. He did not wish, as he was bound to do, after the treaty of Campo-Formio, to hold a congress with the princes of the empire, to obtain from each individually the formal abandon- ment of the left bank of the Rhine to France. He recollected the congress of Rastadt, which termi- nated in the assassination of the French plenipoten- tiaries. He recollected the trouble he had been at to treat with each prince individually, and to come to an agreement with all those who had lost terri- tories, upon a system of indemnity which should be satisfactory to them. The first consul demanded, in consequence, that the emperor should sign, as chief of the house of Austria, for what concerned the house, and as emperor for what concerned the empire. In a word, he wanted to have at a single stroke the acknowledgment of the French con- quests, whether on the part of Austria or on the part of the Germanic confederation. Bonaparte therefore ordered his brother Joseph to signify to M. Cobentzel, as definitively settled, the following conditions : The left bank of the Rhine to France. The limits of the Adige to Austria and the Cisalpine, without abandoning the Legations. The Legations to the duke of Tuscany. Tuscany to the duke of Parma. Parma to the Cisalpine. Brisgau to the duke of Modena. Finally, the peace to be signed by the emperor, as much for himself as for the empire. As for the armistice in Italy, he was willing to grant it on condition that Mantua be immediately given up to the French army. Message of the legislative Message 01 me legislative Polirv of Paul T tnwarrts Iftiil 188 body.-Orders of the first TRIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. England Jan n/\ncnl tf\ \\\m hr^flior ' sul to his brother. As the first consul well knew the mode of treat- ing common to the Austrians, and in particular that of M. Cobentzel, he wished to cut short many difficulties, and much opposition, and menaces of simulated despair ; he therefore thought of a new mode of signifying his ultimatum. The legislative body had just assembled ; it was proposed to it on the *2d of January, or 12th Nivose, to declare that the four armies commanded by Moreau, Brune, Macdonald, and Augereau, had merited the thanks of their country. A message added to this propo- sition announced that M. Cobentzel at last con- sented to treat without the concurrence of Great Britain, and the definitive conditions of the peace were, the Rhine for France, the Adige for the Cis- alpine republic. The message added, that in case these conditions should not be accepted, the peace should be signed at Prague, at Vienna, and at Venice. This communication was received with great joy in Paris, but it caused a deep emotion at Lune>ille. M. Cobentzel raised a great outcry against the hardness of these conditions, above all against their form. He complained bitterly, that France seemed to be making the treaty herself, without negotiating with any one. Still he kept firm, and declared that Austria could not give way upon all these points ; she would rather fall with arms in her hands than concede such conditions. M. Cobent- zel consented to retire from the Oglio to the Chiesa, which runs between the Oglio and the Mincio, on the condition of having Peschiera, Mantua, and Ferrara, without the obligation to demolish the fortifications. He consented to in- demnify the duke of Modena with Brisgau, but in- sisted on the restitution of the territory of the duke of Tuscany. He spoke of formal guarantees to be given for the independence of Piedmont, Switzer- land, the Holy See, Naples, and other states. As to peace with the empire, he declared that the emperor was about to demand powers of the Ger- manic Diet, but that this monarch would never take upon himself to treat for it without being authorized. M. Cobentzel insisted upon an armistice in Italy, stating that as far as regarded Mantua, if Austria were to surrender that place into the hands of the French army, she would put Italy at once into the hands of the French, and deprive herself of all the means of resistance if hostilities should be re- commenced. M. Cobentzel joined blandishments to firmness, endeavouring to touch Joseph in speak- ing to him of the favourable dispositions of the emperor towards France, and more particularly towards the first consul ; even insinuating that Austria might probably ally herself with the French republic, and that such an alliance would be very useful against the concealed but real ill- will of the northern courts. Joseph, who was of a very mild disposition, could not but be affected to a certain extent by the complaints, the threats, and the blandishments of M. Cobentzel. The first consul awakened his bro- ther's energy by numerous dispatches. " You are forbidden," he wrote to Joseph, " to admit of any discussion on the principle laid down as the ulti- matum : the RHINE and the ADIGE. Hold to these two conditions as irrevocable. Hostilities shall not cease In Italy, but with the surrender of Man- tua. If they commence again, the middle of the Adige shall be carried back to the crest of the Julian Alps, and Austria shall be excluded from Italy. Should Austria speak of her friendship and alliance, reply that those who have just shown themselves so attached to the English alliance can- not care about ours. Assume, while you are ne- gotiating, the attitude of general Moreau, and make M. Cobeutzel take that of the archduke John." At last, after a resistance of some days, intelli- gence more alarming continuing to arrive every hour from the banks of the Mincio, where it must not be forgotten hostilities were much more pro- longed than in Germany, M. Cobentzel consented that the Adige should be adopted for the boundary of the Austrian possessions in Italy. This assent took place on the 15th of January, 1801, or 25th of Nivose. M. Cobentzel ceased to allude to the duke of Modena, but renewed the formal demand for the re-establishment of the duke of Tuscany hi his estates. He agreed yet further to a decla- ration, that the peace of the empire should be signed at LuneVille, after the emperor had obtained power to do so from the Germanic diet. In the same protocol this plenipotentiary asked for an armistice in Italy, but without the condition that Mantua should be immediately given up to the French troops. He feared that in abandoning this point of support, France would exact still harder conditions ; and however alarming the resumption of hostilities appeared to be, he would not consent to part with this pledge so soon. This pertinacity in the defence of his country, when in so difficult a position, was honourable, but it terminated at last by becoming imprudent, and brought with it consequences M. Cobentzel had never foreseen. That which at this time was passing in the north, contributed as much as the victories of the French armies to augment the pretensions of the first consul. He had pressed forward as much as lay in his power a peace with Austria, in the first instance to have peace, and in the second to secure himself against those caprices of character so common with the emperor Paul. For some months past that sovereign had exhibited a bitter feeling of resent- ment against Austria and England ; but a ma- noeuvre of the Austrian or English cabinet might recal him to the arms of the coalition, and then France would again have all Europe upon her hands. It was this apprehension which made the first consul brave the inconveniences of a winter campaign, in order to crush Austria while she was deprived of the assistance of the other forces of the continent. The recent change of events in the north had removed all apprehensions upon that score, and he became immediately much more patient and more exacting. Paul had broken formally with his old friends and allies, and had flung himself altogether into the arms of France, with that warmth which attached to all his actions. Already very much disposed to act thus, the effect produced in his mind by the victory of Marengo, the restitution of the Russian prisoners, the offer of the island of Malta, and, lastly, the adroit and delicate flattery of the first consul, had been definitively disclosed by a late event. It will be remembered that the first consul, despairing of the preservation of Malta, strictly blockaded by the 1801. Jan. Policy of Paul towards England. HOHENLINDEN. Russia and Prussia support France. English, had struck upon the happy idea of offer- ing the island to Paul I.; that the czar had received the offer with delight, and had commanded M. Sprengporten to go to Paris, and thank the head of the French government. There he was to receive the Russian prisoners, and to conduct them to Malta to hold it as the garrison. But in the interval, general Vaubois, reduced to the last extremity, had surrendered the island to the English. This event, which under other circumstances would have been a subject of deep regret to the first consul, cha- grined him very little. " I have lost Malta," he observed, " but I have placed the apple of discord in the hands of my enemies." In fact, Paul hastened to demand of England the seat of the order of St. John of Jerusalem, but the English kept the island, and gave him a flat refusal. He could restrain himself no longer, but immediately laid an embargo upon nearly three hundred English vessels, then in the ports of Russia, and even ordered any .of them, endeavouring to save them- selves by flight, to be sunk. This circumstance, joined to the dispute respecting neutral vessels, before explained, could not fail to produce war. The czar placed himself in front of the battle, and calling Sweden, Denmark, and even Prussia to his assistance, proposed to them the renewal of the armed neutrality of 1780. He sent an invitation to the king of Sweden to visit Petersburg, to confer with him upon so important a subject. King Gustavus accepted the invitation, and was magnificently received. Paul, full of the mania which at that time possessed him, held in Peters- burg a grand chapter of the order of Malta, ad- mitting as knight the king of Sweden, and those persons who had accompanied him, lavishing be- yond all sober limits the honours of the order. But he affected something more serious still, he renewed immediately the league of 1780. On the 26th of December, 1800, there was signed by the ministers of Russia, Sweden, and Denmark, a declaration, by which the three maritime powers engaged to maintain even by force of arms the principles of neutral law. They enumerated all the principles in their declaration, without the omission of one of those which we have mentioned, and which France had prevailed upon the United States to acknowledge also. They engaged them- selves to unite their forces, and to use them against any power, whatever it might be, that should at- tempt to assail the rights which they asserted be- longed to them. Denmark, although very zealous for the rights of neutrals, was not quite willing to proceed with such rapidity ; but the ice defended her for three months, and she hoped that before the return of the fine season England would yield, or that the preparations made by the neutral parties in the Baltic would be sufficient to prevent the English fleet from approaching before the Sound, as it had done in the month of August previously. Prussia, that would rather negotiate than proceed with such promptitude, was drawn into the treaty, as well as Sweden and Denmark. Two days after- wards she adhered to the declaration of St. Peters- burg. These were events of serious importance, and insured to France the alliance of all the northern powers of Europe against England ; but this was not all the diplomatic success of the first consul. The emperor Paul had proposed to the court of Prussia to have a common understanding with France on what was passing at Lune'ville, and that all three should agree to the bases of a general peace. Now the privileges which these two powers " communicated to the French government were pre- cisely those that France was desirous of carrying at Lune'ville. Prussia and Russia granted the left bank of the Rhine to France without the necessity of a dis- putation; they only required an indemnity for such princes as lost, by that means, a portion of their territories; but only for hereditary princes, by means of the secularization of the ecclesiastical estates. This was just the principle that Austria opposed and France admitted. Russia and Prussia required the independence of Holland, Switzerland, Piedmont, and Naples, which at that moment were in no way opposing themselves to the interests of the first consul. The emperor Paul interfered with the interests of Naples and Piedmont on the ground of a treaty of alliance, concluded with these states in 1?98, when it had been seen needful to involve them in the war of the coalition ; but he did not mean to protect Naples, save on the conditions that she should break with England. In respect to Piedmont, he only claimed for her a slight indemnity for the cession of Savoy to France. He deemed it right, and so did Prussia with him, that France should restrain the ambition of Austria in Italy, and confine her within the limits of the Adige. Paul was so ardent at last, that he made a pro- posal to the first consul that both should ally them- selves more strictly against England, and not make peace with her until after the restoration of Malta to the order of St. John of Jerusalem. This was more than the first consul would consent to do, who was by no means fond of making such positive en- gagements. Paul, desirous of reconciling the show of things with their real state, in place of clandes- tine communications with M. Krudener and general Beurnonville at Berlin, opened a public negotiation in Paris itself. He nominated as a plenipotentiary M. Kalitscheff to treat ostensibly with the French cabinet, and that personage had orders to go to France immediately. He was bearer of a letter to the first consul, and what was more, written by the emperor Paul with his own hand. M. Sprengporten was already in Paris, and M. Kalitscheff was about to be there. It was not possible to wish for a more signal proof of the reconciliation of Russia with France. All was thus changed in Europe in the north as well as the south. The maritime powers in open war with England endeavoured to league with France against that country by engagements alto- gether absolute. In the south, Spain was already bound to France by the closest ties; and she threat- ened Portugal in order to force her to break with Great Britain. Finally, Austria, beaten in Germany and Italy, abandoned by the other powers of Eu- rope to the mercy of France, had no other defence than the obstinacy of her negotiators at Lune'ville. These events, which the ability of the first consul had wrought out, made a great noise one after the other in rapid succession, during the first days of 1 Letter of the king of Prussia, of the Hth of January, communicated by M. de lucchetini. Bonaparte delays the Progress of the nego- 190 negotiations -and TRIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. tiations. Indemni- the reason. ficatory stipulations. 1801. Jan. January. Russia and Prussia manifested their wishes for the peace of the continent, and Paul with his own hand announced to the first consul the mission of M. Kalitscheff at the very time when M. Cobentzel, giving way as to the limit of the Adige, obstinately held out in regard to the rest, and refused the delivery of Mantua as the price of the Italian armistice. The first consul wished immediately to suspend the progress of the negotiations at LuneVille. He had instructions given to Joseph *, and wrote to him, prescribing a new line of conduct to the French legation. In such a crisis as had thus occurred in Europe he now thought it not to be convenient to press too forward. It was possible that something might be ceded which might be opposed to the views of the northern courts, or something might be contrary to their wishes in the stipulations. Thinking besides that M. Kalitscheff would arrive in a few days, he wished to see him before making a definitive engagement. Orders were then sent to Joseph to temporize at least for ten days before signing, and to exact conditions still harder than those which had preceded. Austria consented to limit herself to the Adige. The first consul intended to understand by that, the absence of the duke of Tuscany from Italy, and his reception of an indemnity like the duke of Modena in Germany. His ultimate object was, not to leave an Austrian prince in Italy. To leave the duke of Tuscany in Tuscany was in his sight to give Leghorn to the English. To place him in the Le- gations was giving Austria a hold beyond the Po. In consequence he adopted the plan of giving Tus- cany to the house of Parma, as he had stipulated at Madrid; to confide Leghorn in consequence to the Spanish navy, and of thenceforward including the whole valley of the Po in the Cisalpine republic : for after this plan it would consist of the Mila- nese, Mantua, Piacenza, Parma, Modena, and the Legations. Piedmont, situated at the opening of the valley, would hi future be only a prisoner to France. Austria, gone back to the Adige, was thrown to one extremity of Italy; Rome and Naples confined to the other; France, placed in the centre, through Tuscany and the Cisalpine, would sway and direct the whole of that superb country. Joseph Bonaparte had, therefore, for his new in- structions to exact that the duke of Tuscany, as well as the duke of Modena, should be transferred to Germany : that the principles of the seculari- zation of the ecclesiastical states should be car- ried out in order to indemnify the hereditary Ger- man princes, as well as the Italian princes, dispos- sessed by France ; that peace with the empire should be signed at the same time as peace with Austria, without waiting for powers from the diet ; that nothing should be stipulated respecting Na- ples, Rome, or Piedmont, because France, desirous to preserve these states, wished first to arrange with them the conditions of their preservation; finally, that Mantua be given up to the French armies under the threat, without, of the immediate renewal of hostilities. Nothing is more common when a negotiation has not terminated, and when a treaty has not been signed, nothing is more usual than to modify the 1 Letter dated 1st Pluridte, or 21st January, in the State Paper Office. proposed conditions. The French cabinet was con- sequently justified in altering the first conditions ; but it must be acknowledged that here the altera- tions were abrupt and very considerable. M. Cobentzel, by lingering on, demanding too much, and being obstinately blind to his position, had lost the favourable minute. According to his custom, he complained bitterly, and threatened France with Austria in desperation. He was still pressed to obtain an armistice for Italy, and deter- mined to concede Mantua ; though he feared that after delivering up this bulwark, he should find himself at the mercy of France, and see himself exposed to new demands. In this disposition of mind, he showed himself mistrustful and peevish. He would not yield Mantua until the last moment. At length, on the 26th of January, or 6th Pluviose, he signed the order for the surrender of that place to the French army, in order to obtain an armi- stice in Italy, and a prolongation of that in Ger- many. The negotiators sent off couriers from Lune'ville itself, to prevent an effusion of blood; of which there was imminent danger. The discussions that followed this event at LuHe"- ville were exceedingly warm. M. Cobentzel said, that Joseph had promised the re-establishment of the grand duke promised it too the same day that he had consented to the boundary of the Adige. Joseph Bonaparte replied, that such was the fact, but that the re -establishment of this prince was to be in Germany; that every state profited of its ex- isting situation to treat more advantageously ; that France, in thus acting, applied the very principles expressed by M. Thugut in his letter of the last winter ; that moreover the grand duke, respect- ing whom they were in discussion, would be iso- lated completely from Austria in Tuscany, and thus be unsupported. That in the Legations, on the con- trary, he would be too well placed, as he would thus be a connexion between Austria, Rome, and Naples, or, in other words, between the enemies of France, to which she would never consent. He must, therefore, resign all hope of being placed either in Tuscany or in the Legations. After some warm controversies, M. Cobentzel appeared at length to consent that the indemnities for the grand duke should be taken in Germany ; but he refused to admit the absolute principle of the secularization of the ecclesiastical states. The ecclesiastical states remained devoted to Austria, more especially the three electoral archbishoprics of Treves, Cologne, and Mayence, while the here- ditary princes were often opposed to her influence in the Germanic Diet Austria consented to the secularization, on the understanding that the small ecclesiastical states should serve not only to indem- nify the hereditary princes of Bavaria, Wurtem- burg, and Orange, but the great ecclesiastical princes, such as the archbishops of Treves, Cologne, and Mayence ; since by them her influence would have been partly supported in Germany. Joseph Bonaparte had directions to refuse this proposition determinately. He was not to admit the principle of secularization but for the advantage of the hereditary princes alone. Finally, M. Cobentzel would not sign the peace for the empire without power from die Diet. His refusal arose, according to his own account, from his repugnance to violate forms : in reality it was from his dislike to make 1801. Feb. Conditions of the treaty. Difficulties in agreeing on the indemnities. HOHENLINDEN. Signature of the treaty of Luneville. 191 too evident the game commonly played in regard to the members of the Germanic body, by compro- mising them with France, whenever it was the interest of Austria to do so ; and afterwards, when the war became unfortunate, to abandon them. In 1 797 she delivered over Mayence to the French, a proceeding severely censured by all Germany; and now to sign on the part of the empire according to M. Cobentzel was a perfect novelty, grievous indeed, added to all the anterior acts with which the Ger- man princes had to reproach their sovereign. Jo- seph Bonaparte replied to these arguments, that it was easy to discover the real motives of Austria ; she was afraid of committing herself with the Ger- manic body, but that it was not for France to enter into such considerations ; that, as to the point of form, there was an example in the peace of Baden in 1714, signed by the emperor, without power from the Diet. There was nothing more de- manded of him now, than to sanction that which the deputation from the empire had already assented to at Rastadt, that was, the abandonment of the left bank of the Rhine to France; that his refusal would be a poor service rendered to Germany, for the French armies would continue in the ter- ritory they occupied until a peace was concluded with the empire, whereas, if the peace was com- mon to all the German princes, the evacuation of their territories would follow immediately upon the ratifications. These discussions continued for several days. M. Cobentzel was now anxious to terminate the affair. On its own side the French legation, lately desirous of delaying the negotiations for a few days, finding that M. Kalitscheff would not an-ire in Paris as soon as was expected, saw that nothing was to be gained by further delay, and wished the matter to be brought to a conclusion. An order was received by both plenipotentiaries to arrive at an agreement ; and, in rder to force M. Co- bentzel to determine quickly, Joseph Bonaparte had orders to make a concession of the character of those which serve, at the last moment, to make a worn-out negotiation conclude with honour. The middle of the Rhine was the limit assigned as the boundary to France and to Germany. In consequence, Dusseldorf, Ehrenbreitstein, Philips- burg, Kehl, and Old Breisach, situated on the right bank, though attached to the left by many ties, remained to the Germanic confederation. But' Cassel, a suburb of Mayence, on the right bank, was a contested subject, because it was difficult to detach it from Mayence itself. Joseph was au- thorized to cede it, on condition that it be dis- mantled. In consequence, Mayence was no longer a fortified bridge, affording a passage to the right bank of the Rhine at all times. On the 9th of February, 1801, or 20th of Plu- viose, year ix., the last conference took place. According to custom, they were never more near a rupture than on the day when they met for a definitive agreement. M. Cobentzel warmly insisted upon the maintenance of the grand duke of Tuscany in Italy; on the indemnity designed for the German princes an indemnity which he desired to render common to the ecclesiastical princes of the higher order; on the inconvenience, lastly, of signing without having powers from the Diet. An article relating to the Belgic debt gave birth to great difficulties. Upon all these heads he declared that he dared not sign without a reference to Vienna. Joseph then informed him that his own government authorized him to close the negotiations, unless they brought them to a conclusion before they broke up ; he added, that in another campaign, Austria would be repelled be- yond the Julian Alps. Finally, he ceded Cassel and all the fortified positions upon the right bank of the Rhine, on the condition that France should demolish the works before she evacuated them, and that they should not be repaired. Upon this concession M. Cobentzel gave way, and the treaty was signed on the 9th of February, 1801, at half-past five o'clock in the evening, to the great joy of Joseph, and the great grief of M. Cobentzel, who still had nothing with which to reproach himself, because if he had hazarded the interests of his court, it was through having de- fended them too well. Such was the celebrated treaty of Lune'ville, which terminated the war of the second coalition, and a second time conceded the left bank of the Rhine to France, with a dominant position in Italy. The following were the more essential conditions. The middle of the Rhine, from its issue out of the Helvetic to its entry into the Batavian terri- tory, formed the limits of France and of Germany. Dusseldorf, Ehrenbreitstein, Cassel, Kehl, Philips- burg, Old Breisach, situated on the right bank, remained to Germany, after being dismantled. The hereditary princes who lost territory on the left bank were to be indemnified. No allusion was made to the ecclesiastical princes, nor to their mode of indemnity; but it was well understood, on each side, that ecclesiastical territories would fur- nish them also with indemnities. The emperor, at Lune'ville as at Campo-Formio, ceded the Belgic provinces to France, and also the small territories belonging to him on the left bank, such as the county of Falkenstein and the Friedthal, which was cooped up between Zurzach and Basle. He abandoned also the Milanese and the Cisalpine. For these he received no other indemnity than the Venetian states as far as the Adige, which had been before insured to him by the treaty of Campo- Formio. He lost the bishopric of Salzburg, which had been promised him by a secret article in the treaty of Campo-Formio. His house was, besides, deprived of Tuscany, ceded to the house of Parma. An indemnity in Germany was promised to the duke of Tuscany. The duke of Modena preserved still the promise made to him of Brisgau. Thus the Italian territory was placed on a basis much more advantageous for France than at the conclusion of the treaty of Campo-Formio. Aus- tria continued her limits of the Adige, but Tus- cany was taken from her house, and given to one dependent upon France. The English were excluded from Leghorn ; all the valley of the Po, from Sesia and the Tanaro as far as the Adriatic, belonged to the Cisalpine republic, a dependent child of the French ; Piedmont, confined to the sources of the Po, depended upon France. Thus master of Tuscany and of the Cisalpine, France occupied the entire of central Italy, and the Aus- trian connexion was prevented between Piedmont, the Holy See, and Naples. Sacrifices made by The treaty arrives in 192 Austria in the treaty TRIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. Paris, and rejoicings of Luneville. there. 1801. Feb. Austria lost by the first coalition Belgium and Lombardy, besides Modena from her house. She lost in the second, the bishopric of Salzburg from herself, and Tuscany from her house. This placed her in a position little inferior in Germany, but yery greatly so in Italy; yet it was not, assuredly, too much for all the bloodshed and efforts made by France. The principle of the secularizations was not ex- plicitly, though it was implicitly determined, since being for the indemnification of the hereditary princes, it made no allusion to ecclesiastical ones. The indemnity could only be demanded of the ecclesiastical princes themselves. The peace was declared to be common to the republics of Batavia, Helvetia, Liguria, and the Cisalpine. Their independence was guarantied ; nothing was said in regard to Naples, Piedmont, or the Holy See. Those states depended upon the goodwill of France, which was bound, in regard to Piedmont and Naples, by the interest that the emperor Paul felt towards those courts; and in regard to the holy see by the religious objects of the first consul. Still the first consul, as we have seen, had not yet deemed it right to explain himself to any one relative to Piedmont. Not pleased with the king of Sardinia, who delivered up his ports to the English, he wished to preserve his freedom of action towards a country placed so near to France, and of such great importance to her. The emperor signed the treaty of peace for him- self, as the sovereign of the Austrian states, and for the Germanic body, as emperor of Germany. France secretly promised to employ her influence with Prussia, to gain her sanction to the emperor's mode of procedure in respect to his thus signing for the Germanic body. The ratifications were to be exchanged within thirty days by Austria and France. The French armies were not to evacuate Germany until after the ratifications were ex- changed at LuneVille, but they were to evacuate it entirely within a month after that exchange. In this treaty, as in that of Campo-Formio, the freedom of all persons confined for political offences was expressly stipulated. It was agreed that the Italians, incarcerated in the dungeons of Austria, and particularly Moscati and Caprara, should be released. The first consul insisted upon this act of common humanity from the opening of the congress. Bonaparte attained the supreme power on the 9th of November, 1799, or 18th Brumaire, year vin., it was now the 9th of February, 1801, or 20th Pluviose, year ix., and not fifteen months had passed since. In this time, France, reorganized in part at home, was completely victorious abroad, and allied with the south and north of Europe against En- gland. Spain was ready to march against Portugal; the queen of Naples had thrown herself at the feet of France, and the court of Rome negotiated at Paris the arrangement of religious affairs. General Bellaveue, appointed to carry the treaty, left Luneville on the 9th of February, in the even- ing, and arrived as an extraordinary courier in Paris. The treaty which he brought was imme- diately inserted, word for word, in the Moniteur. Paris was illuminated immediately; joy was upon every countenance ; and countless thanks were given to the first consul for this happy result of his statesmanship and his victories. .16. .wouoA riirv oboloao n jirnil orii afiw o f Fouche", too, found themselves embar- rassed. The correctness of his judgment was re- cognized, and he was again well established in the favour of the first consul. But he had furnished his enemies with a weapon of which they took ad- vantage with some justice. " Why," said they, " if he was so certain of the fact, did he suffer the revolutionists to be proscribed ? " He well de- served upon this point a bitter reproach. The first consul, who did not regard a violation of forms, caring for nothing but the results obtained, showed no regret about the matter. He thought that what had been done was well done, in every point of view ; that he was disembarrassed of those whom he called the "staff of the Jacobins," and that the 3rd of Nivose only proved one thing, which was, the necessity for watching the royalists as well as the Terrorists. "Fouchey said he, " judged better than most other persons ; he is right ; it is necessary to have an eye open upon the returned emigrants, upon the Chouans, and over all who are of that party." This event much diminished the interest felt in behalf of the royalists, who had been complacently styled the victims of terror: it alao greatly lessened the antipathy felt against the revolutionists, while M. Fouche", though he did not increase in public esteem, gained in credit. The painful sentiments of which the infernal machine had been the cause, were soon removed by the joy inspired at the treaty of LuneVille. Every day under the most prosperous government is not fortunate. That of the consulate had this unequalled advantage, that if sad impressions at one moment occupied the minds of the people, they were dissipated the next instant by some great, new, and unforeseen result. Some short and mournful scenes there were in which the first consul appeared as the saviour of France ; these every faction was desirous of obliterating ; after these scenes, victories, treaties, acts of reparation, came healing deep wounds and reviving public pros- perity such was the spectacle which he thus un- ceasingly presented Bonaparte constantly emerged from them, greater, dearer to France, more evi- dently destined for the supreme power. The second session of the legislative body had commenced. It was at this moment engaged in the discussion and adoption of many laws, of which the principal, that of the special tribunals, was of no real importance after what had just before been done. But the opposition in the tribunate opposed these laws against the government, which was a sufficient inducement to their being carried out. The first of these related to the archives of the republic. It had become necessary, since the abolition of the ancient provinces had consigned to disorder a great number of old titles and of documents, either very useful or very curious, to decide where they should deposit such a mass of records, laws, treaties, and similar instruments. This was a measure of order only, having no political character. The tribunate voted against the law; and after having, according to custom, sent its three orators to the legislative body, it obtained a rejection of the measure by a large majority. The legislative body, though strongly attached to the government, as assemblies so at- tached generally are, was jealous of sometimes exhibiting its independence in measures of detail, and it was assuredly able to do this without danger, under the proposal of a law, the object of which was merely to decide upon the deposit, in this or that place, of certain papers and ancient records. 202 Discussions relative to tue ' aw ^ specif lll ~ bunals. THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. Objectiong. The law ..... passed. Strong Ian- F b guage of Bonaparte. The two assemblies were occupied at the same moment with the consideration of a more important law, but equally a stranger with the preceding to politics. It related to the justices of the peace, of which the number was acknowledged to be too great. Six thousand having been appointed at their first institution, they had not answered the purpose for which they were created. Men capable of fulfilling the functions of the office could not be found in many cantons ; they had failed, too, in another point. It had been judged proper to assign to them the judicial police, but they had performed the duty very indifferently, and the paternal and benevolent character of their juris- diction had been in some degree injured by it. The proposed measure of the government included two modifications to be introduced relative to these officials. In the first instance, their reduction from six thousand to two thousand six hundred was contemplated; and next, the duty of the judi- cial police was to be performed by other magis- trates. The proposed measure was very rational, and made with the best intentions; but it en- countered a strong opposition in the tribunate. Several members spoke against it, more particularly Benjamin Constant ; notwithstanding this, it was adopted in the tribunate, by fifty-nine to thirty-two, and in the legislative body by two hundivd and eighteen to forty-one. Another law, more likely to become a subject of discussion, and of a character wholly political, was presented at this time : the law for the institution of special tribunals. This law had lost its chief utility, since the first consul had instituted military commissions, to follow the moveable columns which were in the pursuit of the robbers upon the high- ways; and since, above all, he had not hesitated to proscribe, in the most arbitrary manner, the re- volutionists who were deemed dangerous to the state. The military commissions had already pro- duced very salutary effects. The judges, in mili- tary uniforms, who composed them, had no fear of the accused ; they encouraged the witnesses who gave evidence, and not unfrequently these witnesses were the soldiers themselves, who had arrested the robbers, having surprised them with arms in their hands. Prompt and vigorous justice following the employment of a very active force, had singularly contributed to re-establish the se- curity of the high roads. The escorts placed on the imperials of the diligences, often obliged to engage in murderous conflicts, had intimidated the robbers. Attacks were less frequent; and security began again to be felt, thanks to the vigour of the government and the tribunals, and to the con- clusion of the winter. The proposed law was, therefore, introduced when the mischief was al- ready much diminished ; but it had the useful object of regulating the military dispensation of justice upon the high roads, and it applied to high- way robbers a permanent . and legal punishment. The projected organization was this : The special tribunals were to be composed of three ordinary judges, all members of the criminal tribunal, of three military officers, and of two assessors, the last chosen by the government, and duly qualified to act as judges. The military members could not, therefore, have the majority. The government was to have full power to es- tablish these tribunals in the departments where it might believe them to be necessary. They were empowered to take cognizance of all offences com- mitted upon the high roads and in the country by armed bands ; of all assaults against the purchasers of national property ; and, finally, of murder di- rected with premeditation against the heads of the government. This last provision comprehended the infernal machine, the plot of Ceracchi and Are"na, with the like offences. The court of cas- sation was authorized to decide in cases of doubtful competency, all other business before the court being suspended for that purpose. These special tribunals were to be abolished as a matter of right, two years after a general peace. Every thing might be objected to these tribunals which could be objected to exceptional justice. But there was this to be urged in their favour, that society never so deeply convulsed, at no time demanded more prompt and extraordinary means to restore it to tranquillity. Under the plea of fidelity to the constitution, use was made of that article belonging to it, which permitted the legis- lative body to suspend it in those departments where it might be judged necessary. The case of extraordinary jurisdictions was evidently com- prised in this article, because the suspension of the constitution of necessity led to the establishment of martial law. Besides the discussion was super- fluous in a country, and at a moment when one hundred and thirty persons had been proscribed without a trial, and military commissions had been established in several departments without the least censure of public opinion. It must still be allowed that, compared with these acts, the pro- posed law was a return to legal government. But it was warmly and acrimoniously attacked by the usual opposition members, by Daunou, Constant, Ginguene 1 , and others. In the tribunate it only passed by a majority of forty-nine to forty-one voices. In the legislative body the majority was much more considerable, the law obtaining one hundred and ninety-two in its favour, to eighty-eight against it. But a minority of eighty-eight surpassed the ordinary number of the minority in that assembly entirely devoted to the government. The great number of negative suffrages then obtained was attributed to a speech made by M. Francis of Nantes, in which he addressed the legislative body in language considered too intemperate. " M. Francis of Nantes has done well," said the first consul, in reply to one of his colleagues Camba- ce"res or Lebrun, who expressed disapprobation of his speech. " It is better to have fewer votes, and to show that feeling insults, we are determined not to tolerate them." The first consul held stronger language to a deputation of the senate which presented him with a resolution of their body. He expressed himself in the boldest way, and in several instances said, without disguise, that if he was much incommoded, and prevented from restoring peace and order to France, he would trust to the opinion which the country held of him, and govern by consular ordi- nances. Every moment his ascendancy increased with his success, and his boldness with his as- cendancy, and he gave himself no more trouble to dissemble the entire of his intentions. He encountered a stronger opposition upon the ISO I. Feb. Financial measures of the year IX. THE INFERNAL MACHINE. Scheme for meeting deficiencies 203 question of the finances, which constituted the last business of the session. This was the most praiseworthy of all the labours of the government, and most particularly due to the personal interven- tion of the first consul. We have several times explained the means taken to secure the regular collection and pay- ment of the revenues of the state. These means had perfectly succeeded for the year vin., or 1799- 1800; the sum of 51 8,000,000 f. 1 had been re- ceived, which equalled the total sum of the taxes for one year ; for at that time the revenue and expenditure in the budget did not exceed 500,000,000f. Of these 518,000,000f., 172,000,000f. belonged to the years v., vi., and vn., and 346,000,000 f. to the year vm. All liabilities for these four years were not acquitted. It was neces- sary that there should be a complete liquidation, in order that the year ix., or 1800-1801, which was the current year, might proceed with com- plete regularity. The income of the year ix. was certain to meet its own expenses, because the taxes would produce from 500,000,000 f. to 520,000,000 f., and this was adequate to the expenses in a time of peace. A practical system of accounts having been established, from that date the receipts of the year ix. would be applied exclusively to the expenses of the year ; the receipts of the year x. to the expenses of the year x. and so on ; thus the future was secure. In regard to the past, or for the years v., vi., vn., and vin., there remained a deficit to be covered. To this object the daily receipts from the arraars of taxes for those years were respectively applied. These arrears, which were principally due from the landed proprietors, reduced them to a situation of considerable de- pression. At the meeting of the councils- general of the departments, held then for the first time, eighty-seven councils-general out of one hundred and six, remonstrated against the excessive burdens of the direct contributions. The government was obliged in consequence, as has been before stated, to remit a part of the taxes in arrear, for the pur- pose of securing the punctual payment of the entire tax in future. A law was proposed for the pur- pose of authorizing the local administrations to relieve those persons who were taxed too heavily, and the measure passed without opposition. In consequence there was a deficiency of resources noted, as attaching to the years v., vi., vn., and vm. The amount was estimated for the three years, v,, vi., and TIL, at 90,000,000 f., and for the year vin. alone at 30,000,000 f. The year vm., 1799-1800, was distinguished from the years v., vi., vn., because the year vin. was under the consulship. It became necessary, therefore, to discover how these deficiencies were to be met. There remained about 400,000,000 f. of national property dispos- able ; and it was here that the first consul exer- cised the most fortunate influence upon the finan- cial system, and made the best employment pos- sible of the public resources. Not being able to dispose of the national pro- perty at pleasure, the value had always been received by anticipation, through the means of a paper emitted under different names, receivable in > About 21,000,000 sterling. payment for that species of property. After the fall of the assignats, the later name devised for this kind of paper was that of "rescription." In the course of the year vin. some of the "re- scriptions" had been negotiated to a less disad- vantage than in the time gone by, but with too little advantage still for it to be prudent to have recourse to them as a resource. This paper had been circulated at a loss; for from the first day of its issue it fell into discredit, and soon passed into the hands of speculators, who, by this means, pur- chased the national domains at a very trifling price. Thus it was that a valuable resource had been foolishly wasted to the great injury of the state, and the great benefit of stock-jobbers. The 400,000,000 f. in value remaining, if they could be successfully preserved from the disorder by which so many other millions had been lost down to this time, would not fail to acquire, with peace and time, a value three or four times greater. The first consul was resolved not to expend them in the mode in which several thousand millions had been already flung away. But resources were immediately required, and the first consul endeavoured to find them in the issue of stock, which already, since his accession to power, had obtained considerable value. The funds had risen from the rate of ten and twelve, to that of twenty-five and thirty, after the battle of Marengo. Since the peace of LuneVille they had risen above fifty, and at a general peace it was expected they would reach as high as sixty. At this rate the government might begin to deal in them, as there was less loss in selling stock than in selling the national property. The first consul, unwilling to raise a regular loan, proposed to pay with stock certain state creditors, and to devote to the sinking fund an equivalent sum in landed property, which that fund might afterwards sell, but slowly, at its full value, so as to compensate in this mode for the increase about to be made to the public debt by the stock. This was the principle of the financial law now proposed for the year. The unpaid debts which remained to be liqui- dated for the last three years of the directory, or the years v., vi., and vn., passed for bad debts. These were the remnant of disgraceful contracts made under the directory, and amounted to 600,000,000 f. On beginning a new system it was proper to have a due regard to these debts, what- ever might be their nature or origin. The sum due was 90,000,000 f. ; nearly the whole being in the hands of speculators, they were at a discount of seventy-five per cent, in the market. It was proposed to acquit these by means of stock bearing an interest of three per cent. The total of these debts being 90,000,000 f., a sum of 2,700,000 f. would be required to pay the divi- dend. This sum, at the existing prices of the public funds, represented a real amount of 27,000,000 f. or 30,000,000 f., and could not repre- sent less than 40,000,000 f. in the eight or ten months that must elapse before the liquidation could be completed. The debts which it was to acquit being at a discount of seventy-five per cent, in the market, and the capital of 90,000,000 f. being thus reduced in reality to one of 22,000,000 f. or 23,000,000 f., more would be paid for them than their value, if the government were to pay divi- 204 Financial measure!. THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. of the public 1SOL dends for them at the rate of 27,000,000 f., be- cause such an interest immediately sold would produce 27,000,000 f. or 30,000,000 f., and was very soon likely to produce more. The debts of the year viu., still in arrear, were of a totally different character. They were the obligations for services executed during the first year of the consular government, when order had been perfectly established in the administration. These services, executed at a time when the public distress was still great, had been paid for at a dear rute without doubt ; but it was against the honour of the consular government to treat its engage- ments so recently contracted, which had not like those of the directory taken the character of dis- credited debts, and been so negotiated to treat such engagements in the same manner as those which belonged to the years v., vi., and vn. The government did not hesitate, therefore, to pay in full, and at its nominal worth, the excess of the expenditure of the year vm. Its actual amount was estimated at 60,000,000 f., but the payment of the arrears of taxes in the year vm. reduced the sum to 30,000,000 f. It was determined to pay a part of this debt, amounting to 20,000,000 f., by constituting stock at five per cent., which would amount to a million interest. It will presently be explained how the remaining part of the debt was provided for. The year ix., or 1800-1801, promised to meet its own expenses, upon the very probable hypo- thesis of the approaching termination of the war, because the continental peace concluded at Luue- ville must soon bring about a maritime one. The budget was not then voted a year in advance, but was voted the same year during the time that the expenses were incurring. The budget of the year IX., for example, was brought forward and dis- cussed in Veutose of the year ix., that is to say, the budget of 1801 in the month of March, 1801. The expenses and receipts of this year were esti- mated at the moment at 41 5,000,000 f., exclusively of the expenses of collection and divers local ser- vices, which may be taken at about 100,000,000 f. more, and raised it to 6 1 5,000,000 f. in place of 41 5,000,000 f. But the estimate of receipt and expenditure was inferior to the real amount, be- cause then, as now, the real expenses were always beyond the estimates. It will by and by be clearly shown that the sum of 415,000,000 f. was increased to 500,000,000 f. Happily the product of the taxes exceeded the estimate as well as the expenditure. The double excess thus produced there is no doubt had been foreseen ; but fearing that in future the receipts would not equal the excess of the ex- penditure, the government determined to assure itself of a supplementary resource. Ten millions still remained to be met, as we have before said, in order to complete the payments of the year via.; it was supposed that 20,000,000 f. would be wanted for the payments of the year ix., 36,000,000 f. would thus have to be raised in two years. It was decided for this sum alone to have recourse to an alienation of the national property. Fifteen mil- lions of this property sold in each year would not surpass the amount of alienation which it was possible to effect with advantage, and without dis- order in the course of the year. By placing this business in the hands of the managers of the sink- ing fund, who had already very ably acquitted themselves of the duty, the government was certain to obtain an advantageous price for the portions of the domains of the state thus sold. In this way the past debt would be liquidated, and the present account be balanced. There only remained one operation to execute in order to terminate the re-organization of the state finances ; this was the regulation of the public debt definitively. The moment was in effect come for determining its amount, for arranging the resources of the sinking fund with the recognized amount of the debt, and for making a convenient use with this object of the 400,000,000 f. of national property which still remained at the disposal of the state. The public debt was, as it had been left, in a state of bankruptcy, being so declared by the di- rectory for which the convention and constituent assembly had prepared the way. A third of the debt had been placed in the great book, and it was this third, which, in the language of that time, had been called the " consolidated third." Interest at five per cent, had been allowed upon this third, saved from the bankruptcy. The amount inscribed in the great book was 37,000,000 f. interest, not capital, and there remained a considerable sum still to be inscribed; two-thirds of the sum had been erased from the great book, or had been " mobi- lised," another expression used at that time, and declared to be receivable in payment for the na- tional domains, thus they were no more in fact than real assignats. A posterior law had com- pleted their depreciation by reducing them to one only purpose, that of paying exclusively for the buildings, but neither for the woods nor the land, that made a part of the national property. It was absolutely necessary to put a term to such a state of things as this, and for that purpose to carry into the " great book" the remainder of the consolidated third, which the anterior govern- ment had delayed inscribing, that it might escape paying the interest. Justice, and the good order of the finances, required that such a state of things should terminate. It was proposed to carry into the " great book," a million and a half of the con- solidated thirds, but only to bear interest from the beginning of the year xu. This portion of the debt, though the enjoyment of the interest was delayed for two years, acquired instantly, from the mere circumstance of its inscription, a value nearly equal to that already entered ; and a much higher value was thus conferred on all which remained of the provisional third, by this appearance of punc- tuality. A considerable sum remained to be en- tered, either in " consolidated thirds," properly so called, or in the debts of emigrants, of which the state had taken the responsibility when it confis- cated their property, or in the debts of Belgium, which had been the condition of the conquest. Finally, there were the " two-thirds mobilised," extremely depreciated, and which it was but equi- table to give the holders the means of realising. The conversion of the " consolidated thirds" was offered by funding them at the rate of five for a hundred capital. It was likely that the holders would eagerly accept this offer. For this purpose it was proposed to create a million stock, and if the project succeeded, it was imagined that the " mo- bilised two-thirds" would be speedily absorbed. A 1801. Feb. Regulation of the public debt. THE INFERNAL MACHINE. 205 final period was fixed for the payment of debts due for national property, after which, the " two-thirds" bonds were to be no longer received in payment. The time thus allowed having expired, the pro- perty not paid for lapsed to the state. It was estimated that on adding the 20,000,000f. of stock to the sum of 37,000,000 f. of consolidated thirds, already entered in the great book, it would be sufficient to meet the amount of the consolidated third remaining to be entered, the mobilised two- thirds, of which the conversion was contemplated, and, lastly, the debts of the emigrants and of Bel- gium. The total of the permanent public debt would then consist of a charge of 57,000,000 f. In addition to this permanent charge there were 20,000,000 f. in life-annuities, 1 9,000,000 f. in civil and religious pensions, the last paid to the clergy who had lost their property, and, finally, 30,000,000f. of military pensions, in all 69,000,000 f. of termi- nable annuities, of which about 3,000,000f. would annually terminate. It was possible to hope in a few years, by means of the extiuctiou of the terminable debt, that the savings would cover the sensible augmentations to which the perpetual debt was liable, in consequence of new entries in the great book. It followed that the whole charge, making provision for the old claims, could not exceed the amount of 100,000,000 f. for the service of the public debt, of which one-half would be a perpetual charge, and one-half be ter- minable. The position of the finances, therefore, stood thus: a public debt of 100 ,000,000 f.; a budget of 500,000,000 f.; equal in receipt and expenditure, or altogether of 600,000,0001'., including the ex- penses of collection. This was a situation certainly much better than that of England, which had an ab- sorbing debt of 500,000,000 f. annually, upon a reve- nue of between 1000,000,000 f. and 11 00,000,000 f. In addition to this there remained still to France the resource of the indirect contributions; that is to say, of the tax upon liquors, tobacco, salt, and simi- lar articles not then re-established, and which fur- nished, at a future time, a very large revenue. The first consul was desirous of proportioning the resources of the sinking fund to the income of the debt. He decided upon the creation of stock involving a charge of 2,700,000 f. to cover the de- ficiency of the years v., vi., and vn., of 1,000,000 f. for that of the year vin., and of several millions more for the inscription of the consolidated thirds, for the conversion of the two-thirds mobilised, and similar exigencies. He devoted to the sinking fund a capital of 90,000,000 f. in national property, which might be sold as convenience required, and em- ployed in the purchase of stock. The first consul also had a transfer made to it of 5,400,000 f. of stock belonging to the fnnds of public instruction, which was replaced in a mode that will be shortly seen. The national domains were thus preserved from being wasted; because by the sinking fund they were alienated slowly, at the times most beneficial, or were kept back if it was found convenient; thus being protected from the renewal of those dilapida- tions which had been before so much lamented. In order to secure the rest with greater certainty, the first consul determined to apply a considerable part to other services, respecting which he felt great solicitude, such as public instruction and the invalids. Public instruction appeared to him the most important service of the state, and that for which an enlightened government, such as his own, was bound to make a provision in all haste, having a new state of society to form. As to the invalids, in other words, the wounded soldiers, they com- posed in some sort his own family; they were the supporters of his power, and the instruments of his glory; he owed them all his cares, and he was in- debted to them some portion at least of the thou- sand millions formerly promised by the republic to the defenders of their country The first consul disliked to see these important objects liable to the variations and deficiencies of the budget. In consequence, he devoted 120,000,000 f. of national property to public in- struction, and 40,000,000 f. to the support of the invalids. Here he had ample means to endow richly the noble institutions which it was his inten- tion some day to devote to the instruction of the youth of France, and also to endow several hos- pitals for invalid soldiers, similar to that which had its origin in the time of Louis XIV. Whether these allotments were or were not maintained after- wards, there were, for the moment, 160,000,000 f. preserved from irregular sale, and made a relief to the annual budget. Thus, of 400,000,000 f. remaining of the national property, 10,000,000 f. were devoted to the expen- diture of the year Tin., and 20,000,000 f. to that of the year ix. The sinking fund had 90,000,000 f. ; public instruction, 120,000,000 f., and the invalids, 40,000,000 f. This was a sum total of 280,000,000 f. out of 400,000,000 f., for which a very useful employment was found, without having recourse to the system of alienation. Of this sum of 280,000,000 f., 10,000,000 f. only were for the year Tin., and 20,000,000 f. for the year ix., which was to be disposed of in two years, and, therefore, was attended with little inconvenience; the 90,000,000 f. designed for the sinking fund, would only be sold if the fund required money, and then very slowly, per- haps not at all. The 120,000,000 f. devoted to public instruction, and the 40,000,000 f. for the invalids, were never to be sold. Out of the 400,000,000 f., therefore, but 120 ,000,000 f. would remain unappro- priated and disposable, while, in reality, only about 30,000,000 f. out of 400,000,000 f. were to be parted with by the state. The remainder was for divers services, or as a disposable reserve, with the cer- tainty of soon acquiring a value double or triple, at least, in advantage to the state. To recapitulate: the government took the ad- vantage of the return of credit to substitute the resource of the creation of stock for that of the alienation of the national property. By disposing of a very small portion of this property, and by a creation of stock, it paid off the debts arising upon the years v., vi., vn., and vin. It completed means for the acquittal of the public debt, and assured the payment of the interest in a certain and regular manner. Having thus regulated the past, saved the rest of the state domains, and fixed the amount of the debt, there were 100,000,000 f. of interest annually to be paid, with an ample sink- ing fund; and, lastly, a budget of balance, in receipt and expenditure, of 500,000,000 f. without, and 600.000,000 f. with the expenses of collection. Such a distribution of the public property, con- ceived with as much equity as good sense, ought 206 p fi ^a S ncSlm. e ures the THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. Public undertakings. Canals. The Simp- Ion road. 1801. Feb. to have met general approbation. Notwithstand- ing this, a strong opposition was raised in the tribunate. The 415,000,000 f. demanded for the current year, or year ix., were accorded without opposition ; but its enemies complained that the budget was not voted in advance ; a very unjust reproach, for nothing had been arranged at that time for such a proceeding. It was not yet prac- tised in England, and among financiers was still a matter of disputation. The same opposition mem- bers reproached the government that the regulation of the arrears was an act of bankruptcy towards the creditors of the years v., vi., and vn., and con solidated their debts at 3 per cent, in place of 5, as was the case with those of the year vni. They censured the regulation of the debt for depriving the holders of the consolidated third of the interest of their stock for two years, because that interest was only to commence with the year xn. These two reproaches were very ill founded ; because, as has been seen, the creditors of the years v., vi., and vir., in obtaining stock carrying an interest of 3 per cent., received more than the value of their debts; and as to the portion of the consoli- dated thirds, of which the inscription was ordered, a great benefit was done to the holders by the mere circumstance of the inscription. If, in effect, the inscription had been deferred for a year or two more, as had been done by the former government, not only would the holders have been deprived of the interest, but of the benefit of the definitive consolidation. It was a great advantage to them so soon to resume the mere work of consolidation. The tribunate got warm upon these petty objec- tions, paid no regard to the answers which were addressed to it, and rejected the plan of finance by a majority of fifty-six to'thirty, in the sitting of the 19th of March, or 28th of Veniose. Some cries of "Long live the Republic!" were heard, raised in the tribunes, which had not been heard for a long time, and recalled the unhappy times of the conven- tion. On the motion of MM. Riouffe and Chauvelm, the president ordered the tribune to be cleared. On the 21st of March, or 30th of Ventose, two days after, being the last day of the session of the year ix., the legislative body heard the discussion of the bill. Three of the tribunate attacked and three of the counsellors of state defended it. Ben- jamin Constant was one of the three tribunes. He urged, in an eloquent and brilliant manner, the objections to the government scheme. The legis- lative body, notwithstanding, voted for its adoption by a majority of two hundred and twenty-seven against fifty-eight. The first consul ought to have been satisfied with this result. But he did not know, any more than those who surrounded him, that we ought to do good without being surprised or annoyed by the injustice with which it is too frequently repaid. What man had ever so much glory to repay him for such unjust and indiscreet attacks ? Besides, in spite of these attacks, the measures of the government were really sound and excellent The majority in the legislative body was, at least, five-sixths, and in the tribunate, where nothing was decided, it was only two-thirds. There was nothing to be alarmed at or to astonish in such feeble minorities. But although he was the object of universal admiration, the man that governed France knew not how to bear the puny censures dealt out upon his administration. The time for a real representative government was not then come ; the opposition had not more of prin- ciples and manners than the government itself. That which achieves the portraiture of the op- ponents of the measure in the tribunate is, that the odious act against the revolutionists was not the subject of a single observation. They availed themselves of the circumstance of that act not being referred to the legislative, to remain silent about it. Upon matters far less important, and even irreproachable, they declaimed aloud, and suffered to pass, without observation, an unpardon- able infraction of all the rules of justice. Thus it fares, at nearly all times, with men and parties. The sterile agitation, produced by a few oppo- nents in complete error about the general move- ment, the public mind, and the necessities of the times, occasioned but little sensation. The public was entirely occupied with the spectacle of the im- mense labours which had procured for France victory and a continental peace, and which were soon to procure for her a maritime one. In the midst of his military and political occu- pations, the first consul, as has been several times observed, did not cease to give his attention to the roads, the canals, the bridges, and to whatever concerned manufactures and commerce. The miserable state of the roads has been already described, as well as the means employed to make up the deficiency of the tolls. He had ordered an ample inquiry to be made into the subject, but as too often happens, the difficulty lay more in the deficiency of funds than in the selection of a good system. He went directly to the object; and in the budget of the yearix. appropriated fresh sums from the treasury out of its general funds to continue the extraordinary repairs already commenced. Canals were also much talked about. Men's minds, wearied with political agitation, willingly directed them- selves towards all that concerned commerce and manufactures. The canal now known under the name of the canal of St. Quentin, joining the navi- gation of the Seine and the Oise with that of the Somme and the Escaut, in other words connecting Belgium with France, had been abandoned. It had not been found possible to agree upon the mode of executing the excavation, by means of which a passage was to be afforded from the valley of the Oise into that of the Escaut. The engineers were divided in opinion. The first consul repaired to the spot in person, heard the difficulty explained, de- cided it, and decided it rightly. The excavation was determined upon, and continued in the best direction, that which has succeeded. The popula- tion of St. Quentin received him with great joy, and scarcely had he returned to Paris when the inhabitants of the Seine Infe"rieure addressed him by a deputation, to solicit him to grant them in turn forty-eight hours of his time. He promised them an early visit to Normandy. He then decided upon the erection of three new bridges in Paris ; that at the termination of the Jardin des Plantes ; that denominated Austerlitz, which joins the island of the City to the island of St. Louis ; and lastly, that which connects the Louvre with the palace of the Institute. At the same time he turned his attention to the road of the Simplon, the first of his youthful projects, always the nearest to his heart, and wor- 1801. Feb. Hospitals of St. Bernard established. THE NEUTRAL POWERS. Formation of the civil code. 207 thy, in future ages, of taking its place among the recollections of Rivoli and of Marengo. It will be remembered that the first consul, as soon as he had founded the Cisalpine republic, wished to connect it with France by a road, which from Lyons or Dijon, passing Geneva, should traverse the Valais, and going by Lago Maggiore to Milan, enable an army of fifty thousand men and a hundred pieces of cannon to proceed at any time into the midst of Upper Italy. For want of such a road he had been obliged to cross Mount St. Bernard. Now the Cis- alpine republic had been reconstituted at the con- gress of LuneVille, it was more than ever needful to establish a great military communication between Lombardy and France. The first consul imme- diately gave the necessary instructions for the work. General Tureau, whom we have already seen descending the Little St. Bernard with his legions of conscripts, while Bonaparte descended the greater mountain with his more seasoned forces, the same general Tureau received orders to make Domo d'Ossola his head-quarters, at the foot of the Simplon itself. The general was to protect the workmen, and his soldiers were to assist in the labour of the undertaking. To this magnificent work the first consul desired to add another in commemoration of the passage of the Alps. The fathers of the Great St. Bernard had rendered real services to the French army. Being supplied with money, they had for ten days sup- ported the vigour of the soldiers by means of wine and food. The first consul, retaining a grateful sense of these services, resolved to establish two similar hospitals, one upon Mount Cenis, the other at the Simplon, both to be subsidiary to the convent of the Great St. Bernard. They were each to con- sist of fifteen brothers, and to receive from the Cis- alpine republic an endowment in land. The republic was unable to refuse any thing to its founder. But as that founder loved promptness of execution before all things, he had the works for the first named establishment executed at the expense of France, in order that no delay might occur in for- warding these memorable establishments. Thus magnificent roads and noble benevolent foundations were destined to attest to future generations the passage of the modern Hannibal across the Alps. With these great and beneficent objects those of another character occupied his attention, having for their object a creation of a different, but equally useful character the compilation of the civil code. The first consul had charged Messrs. Portalis, Tron- chet, and Bijot de Preameneu, eminent lawyers, with the task of digesting the code, and their la- bour was completed ; the result was then commu- nicated to the court of cassation, and to twenty- nine tribunals of appeal, afterwards denominated royal courts. The opinions of all the chief magis- trates were thus collected. The whole was now to be submitted to the council of state, and carefully discussed under the presidency of the first consul. After this it was proposed to lay it before the legis- lative body in the approaching sessions, or that of the year x. Always ready to support great undertakings, and equally as ready to recompense their authors mu- nificently, the first consul had just employed his influence to raise M. Tronchet to the senate. He rewarded in him a great lawyer, one of the authors of the civil code, and what was not an indifferent matter in his eyes, under a political signification the courageous defender of Louis XVI. Every thing, therefore, was organized at one time, with that harmony which a great mind is able to introduce into his labours, and with a ra- pidity which a determined will is alone able to effect, under a punctual obedience to its authority. The genius which effected these things was, beyond doubt, great ; but it must be remarked, that the situation was not less extraordinary than the genius. Bonaparte had France and Europe to move, and victory for his lever. He had to digest all the codes of the French nation ; but, in the mean while, every one was disposed to submit to his laws. He had roads, canals, and bridges to construct ; but nobody contested with him the re- sources for these objects. He had even nations ready to furnish him with their treasures ; the Italians, for example, who contributed to the opening of the Simplon, and the endowment of the hospitals on the summit of the Alps. Providence does nothing by halves ; for a great genius it finds a mighty operation, and for a mighty operation a great genius. BOOK IX. THE NEUTRAL POWERS. CONTINUANCE OP THE NEGOTIATIONS WITH THE DIFFERENT COURTS OF EUROPE. TREATY WITH THE COURT OF NAPLES. EXCLUSION OF THE ENGLISH FROM THE PORTS OF THE TWO SICILIES, AND AGREEMENT CONTRACTED WITH THE NEAPOLITAN GOVERNMENT TO RECEIVE A DIVISION OF FRENCH TROOPS AT OTRANTO. SPAIN PRO- MISES TO FORCE THE PORTUGUESE TO EXCLUDE THE ENGLISH FROM THE COASTS OF PORTUGAL. VAST NAVAL PLANS OF THE FIRST CONSUL, FOR UNITING THE NAVAL FORCES OF SPAIN, HOLLAND, AND FRANCE. MEAXS DEVISED FOR SUCCOURING EGYPT. ADMIRAL GANTEAUME, AT THE HEAD OF ONE DIVISION, LEAVES BREST DURING A STORM, AND SAILS TOWARDS THE STRAITS OF GIBRALTAR, UPON HIS WAT TO THE MOUTH OF THK KILE. GENERAL COALITION OF ALL THE MARITIME COUNTRIES AGAINST ENGLAND. PREPARATIONS OF TH NEUTRALS IN THE BALTIC. WARLIKE ARDOUR OF PAUL I. DISTRESS OF ENGLAND. SHE IS VISITED BT A FEARFUL FAMINE. HER FINANCIAL STATE BEFORE AND SINCE THE COMMENCEMENT OF THE WAR. HER EXPENDITURE ASD RESOURCES ALIKE DOUBLED. UNPOPULARITY OF PITT. HIS DISAGREEMENT WITH GEORGE III. 208 Negotiations for peace continued. Murat marches towards THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. Naples.-An armistice signed. AND HIS RETIREMENT. THE MINISTER ADDINGTON. ENGLAND, DESPITE HER DIFFICULTIES, FACES THE STORM, AND SENDS ADMIRALS PARKER AND NELSON INTO THE BALTIC, TO BREAK UP THE NEUTRAL COALI- TION. PLAN OF NELSON AND PARKER. THEY DETERMINE TO FORCE THE PASSAGE OF THE SOUND. THE SWEDISH SIDE BEING BADLY DEFENDED, THE ENGLISH FLEET PASSES THE SOUND -WITHOUT ANY DIFFICULTY. IT APPEARS BEFORE COPENHAGEN. THE OPINION OF NELSON IS, BEFORE ENTERING THE BALTIC, TO GIVE BATTLE TO THE DANES. DESCRIPTION OF THE POSITION OF COPENHAGEN, AND OF THE MEANS ADOPTED FOR THE DEFENCE OF THIS IMPORTANT MARITIME FORTRESS. NELSON EXECUTES A BOLD MANOEUVRE, AND SUC- CEEDS IN ANCHORING IN THE KING'S CHANNEL, IN FACE OF THE DANISH SHIPS. SANGUINARY ENGAGEMENT. VALOUR OF THE DANES, AND DANGER OF NELSON. HE SENDS A FLAG OF TRUCE TO THE CROWN PRINCE OF DENMARK, AND THEREBY OBTAINS THE ADVANTAGES OF A VICTORY. SUSPENSION OF HOSTILITIES FOR FOUR- TEEN WEEKS. THE DEATH OF PAUL I. IS MADE KNOWN. EVENTS WHICH TOOK PLACE IN RUSSIA. EXASPERA- TION OF THE RUSSIAN NOBLES AGAINST THE EMPEROR PAUL, AND DISPOSITION TO RID THEMSELVES OF THAT PRINCE BY ANY MEANS, EVEN BY A CRIME. COUNT PAHLEN. HIS CHARACTER AND PLANS. HIS CONDUCT WITH THE GRAND DUKE ALEXANDER. THE SCHEME OF ASSASSINATION CONCEALED UNDER THAT OF A FORCED ABDICATION. FRIGHTFUL SCENE IN THE MICHEL PALACE DURING THE NIGHT OF THE 23RD OF MARCH. TRAGICAL DEATH OF PAUL I. ALEXANDER'S ACCESSION. THE COALITION OF THE NEUTRAL POWERS DISSOLVED BY THE DEATH OF THE EMPEROR PAUL. REAL ARMISTICE IN THE BALTIC. THE FIRST CONSUL ENDEAVOURS, BY OFFERING HANOVER TO PRUSSIA, TO RETAIN HER IN THE LEAGUE. ENGLAND, SATISFIED AT HAVING BROKEN THE LEAGUE BY THE BATTLE OF COPENHAGEN, AND BEING RID OF PAUL I., SEEKS TO PROFIT BY THE OCCASION TO TREAT WITH FRANCE, AND REPAIR THE ERRORS OF PITT. THE ADDINGTON MINISTRY OFFERS PEACE TO THE FIRST CONSUL THROUGH THE INTERMEDIATE MEANS OF M. OTTO. THE PROPOSITION IS ACCEPTED, AND A NEGOTIATION BETWEEN FRANCE AND ENGLAND IS OPENED IN LONDON. PEACE BECOMES GENERAL, BOTH ON LAND AND SEA. PROGRESS OF FRANCE AFTER THE 1STH OF BRUMAIRX. PEACE with the emperor and empire having been signed at Luneville, in February, 1801, the first consul was impatient to reap the benefit of the consequences. These were to conclude a peace with those continental states which had not yet become reconciled with the republic; to force them to shut their ports against England ; and to turn against that country the united forces of the neutral powers, in order to combine some great operation against its territory and commerce, and by this union of means to force a maritime peace, indispensable to that of the continent. Every thing announced that the great and happy consequences could not be delayed for a long time. The Germanic diet had ratified the signature of the emperor to the treaty of LuneVille. There was no apprehension that it would be otherwise ; because Austria held the power of influencing the ecclesiastical states, the only states really opposed to the treaty. In regard to the secular princes, as they were to be indemnified for their losses from the estates it was proposed to secularize, they had an interest in seeing the stipulations promptly ac- cepted between Austria and France. Besides, they were placed under the influence of Prussia, which power France had disposed to give her approval of what was done by the emperor at LuneVille. Be- sides this, all the world at that time wished for peace, and was ready to contribute to that end even by making some sacrifices. Prussia alone, in ratifying the signature of the emperor without powers given to him from the diet, was rather de- sirous of according to the ratification the character of her tolerance, than of her approbation ; thus re- serving for the future the rights of the empire. But this proposition on the part of Prussia, as it im- plied a censure upon the emperor, while she ratified the treaty, did not obtain the support of the ma- jority. The treaty was ratified, in its pure and simple form, by a condusum, on the 9th of March, 1801, the 18th of Ventdse, in the year ix. The ratifications were exchanged in Paris on the 16th of March, or 25th Vent6se. Nothing more remained to be regulated but the plan of indemnification, which was to be the subject of ulterior negotiations. Peace was thus concluded with the greater part of Europe. It had not yet been signed with Russia ; but France was leagued with her and the northern courts, as will be seen, in one great maritime coali- tion. There were at Paris two Russian ministers at once, M. Sprengporten, relative to the Russian prisoners, and M. Kalitscheff, for the regulation of general business. The last had arrived in the beginning of March, or middle of Ventose. The courts of Naples and Portugal it still re- mained to coerce, in order to shut out England entirely from the continent. Murat was marching towards southern Italy with a choice body of men, drawn from the camp at Amiens. Reinforced by several detachments taken from the army of general Brune, he had reached Foligno, in order to oblige the court of Naples to yield to the will of France. Had it not been for the interest testified in behalf of Naples by the emperor of Russia, the first consul would most likely have given to the house of Parma the kingdom of the Two Sicilies, in order to keep that fine country out of an enemy's family. But the wishes of the em- peror Paul did not admit of such a proceeding. The first consul, too, was very desirous of con- ciliating public opinion throughout Europe ; and, upon this ground, it was expedient to avoid, as much as possible, the overthrow of the older king- doms. He was willing to grant a peace to the court of Naples, if it would consent to break its alliance with England ; but to induce it to do this, was a task exceedingly difficult of accomplish- ment. Murat advanced as far as the frontiers of the kingdom, taking great care to avoid the papal dominions, and lavishing upon the pope the highest marks of his respect. The court of Naples no longer hesitated, and signed an armistice, which contained a stipulation, in consonance with the views of the first consul, securing the exclusion of the English from the ports of the Two Sicilies. The armistice was short, being only for the space of thirty days; these being expired, a definitive treaty of peace was to be signed. The marquis of Gallo, one of the negotiators of the treaty of Campo Formio, who had the advantage of being 1801. March. Treaty with Naples signed at Florence. THE NEUTRAL POWERS. Affairs of Spain. Disgrace of Urquijb 209 acquainted with the first consul, and of having over him as much influence as M. Cobentzel, re- paired to Paris. He relied on these personal re- commendations, on the protection of the Russian legation, and on the recommendation of Austria, for obtaining the conditions desired by the court of Naples, which were included in a simple neu- trality. This was a ridiculous pretension; because a court which had given the signal for the second coalition, which had waged war obstinately against France, and, in fact, treated her with great indig- nity, could hardly expect, now it lay at the mercy of France, to get off upon the pure and simple condition of separating itself from England. The least that France could insist upon would be to compel Naples, by good will or by force, to act as hostilely against England as she "had before acted in hostility to France. M. Gallo, having shown some marks of self- sufficiency in Paris, and having exhibited his de- pendence more than, indeed, was decent upon the Russian embassy, an end was quickly put to his negotiation. Talleyrand informed him that a French plenipotentiary had departed for Florence; that the negotiation was consequently adjourned to that city ; and that, besides, he would not be able to treat with a negotiator who was not empowered to consent to the sole condition considered essential; namely, the expulsion of the English from the ports of the Two Sicilies a condition which the emperor Paul had demanded as well as the first consul him- self. In consequence, M. Gallo found himself obliged to leave Paris immediately. M. Alquier had, in fact, been despatched to Florence ; he had been recalled from Madrid at the time when Lucien Bonaparte was sent there. M. Alquier was fur- nished with full powers and instructions to nego- tiate with Naples. On reaching Florence as expeditiously as possi- ble, M. Alquier found there the Chevalier Miche- roux, the minister who had signed the armistice with Murat; he had received full powers from his court. The negotiations carried on in that city under the bayonets of the French army, met with none of the difficulties they had encountered in Paris. The treaty of peace was signed on the 18th of March, 1801, or 27th of Ventose, year ix. The stipulations of the treaty were moderate, upon comparing the situation of the court of Naples with that of the French republic. To this branch of the house of Bourbon was left the integrity of its states. The only territory demanded was a small portion of the island of Elba, Porto Longone, and the surrounding district ; the rest of the island belonging to Tuscany, and having been divided between the two countries. The intention of the first consul was to attach the entire island to France. An historian of these treaties has loudly attacked this as a violent act, whereas it was no more than the simple right of the victor ; with the exception of this very trifling sacrifice, Naples lost nothing. She was obliged to shut her ports against the English, and to make over to France three frigates, ready armed, in the port of Ancona. These the first consul designed for Egypt. The most important stipulation of the treaty was secret. It obliged the Neapolitan government to receive a division of twelve or fifteen thousand men in the gulf of Tareuto, and to find them provisions during their stay. The object of the first consul was to send them without reserve to the succour of Egypt. At that place they would be half way on their road to Alexandria. The last article stipulated for the objects of art which had been chosen at Rome for France. These having been packed in cases when the Neapolitan army had penetrated into the estates of the pope in 1799, had been seized by the court of Naples, and appropriated by that govern- ment. An indemnity of 500,000 f. was granted to the French who had been pillaged or harassed by the undisciplined bands belonging to Naples. Such was the treaty of Florence; which must be considered an act of clemency, when the anterior conduct of the court of Naples is reflected upon, but which was perfectly well adapted to the objects of the first consul, almost wholly occupied with the object of closing the ports of the continent against England, and with securing the most advantageous points from whence he could communicate with Egypt. Nothing was yet arranged with the pope, whose plenipotentiary was at Paris still negotiating the most important question of all, that relating to religion. He was dissatisfied with the king of Sar- dinia, who had given up that island to the English, and as well with the inhabitants of Piedmont, who had shown feelings not very amicable towards France. He was, therefore, anxious to free him- self from any engagement respecting that important part of Italy. Turning to Spain and Portugal ; every thing in these countries proceeded successfully. The court of Spain, delighted with the stipulations of the treaty of LuneVille, which secured Tuscany to the young prince of Parma, with the title of king, showed itself, day by day, more at the devotion of the first consul and his views. The fall of M. Urquijo, an event wholly unexpected, far from being injurious to the relations of France, only served to render them more intimate. This was not at first believed, because in Spain M. Ur- quijo was thought to be a sort of revolutionist, from whom towards France more favour was to be expected than from any other minister. But the result showed this idea to be erroneous. M. Ur- quijo had only been prime minister a very short time ; desiring to correct certain abuses, he had prevailed upon the king, Charles IV., to address a letter to the pope, written in the royal hand all through, which contained a series of propositions for the reform of the Spanish clergy. The pope, alarmed to find a spirit of reformation introducing itself into Spain of all countries, addressed himself to the old duke of Parma, the queen's brother, complaining of M. Urquijo, and representing him as a bad catholic. This was of itself sufficient to ruin M. Urquijo in the king's opinion. The prince of the peace, the open enemy of M. Urquijo, took advantage of the occasion to strike the final blow during a journey taken by the court. By these united influences M. Urquijo was disgraced, and treated with a brutality beyond example. He was carried away from his own house, and banished from Madrid as a state criminal. M. Cevallos, the relative and creature of the prince of the peace, was nominated his successor, and the prince became again from that moment the real minister of the court of Spain. As he had sometimes shown P Lucien Bonaparte at Madrid. The court of Lisbon has 210 Spain gladly accepts the THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. to decide between Eng- alliance of France. land and Spain. 1801. Jan. an opposition to a close alliance with France, probably that he might be able to make it a charge against the Spanish minister, it was feared that this ministerial revolution might be prejudicial to the objects of the first consul. But Lucien Bona- parte, who had recently arrived in Madrid, dis- covering at once how matters stood, paid no atten- tion to M. Cevallos, who he saw was a powerless subordinate, and placed himself in immediate com- munication with the prince of the peace himself, whom he made to comprehend that he was re- garded in Paris as the real prime minister of Charles IV. ; that to him alone would be attributed all the difficulties which the policy of France might meet with in Spain, and that it depended upon himself whether France regarded Spain as a friend or an enemy, according to his conduct. The prince of the peace, who had drawn upon himself nume- rous animosities, and, above all, that of the heir presumptive, who was deeply irritated at the state of oppression in which he was condemned to live the prince of the peace thinking himself utterly lost if the king and queen should die, looked upon the friendship of Bonaparte as most valuable to him, and promptly accepted the alliance of France in place of its hostility. From this period business was transacted directly between the prince of the peace and Lucien Bona- parte. M. Urquijo, finding himself too weak to bring the question of Portugal to a settlement, had continually deferred any positive explanation upon the subject. He had made France a thousand pro- mises, followed by no result. The prince of the peace avowed in his interviews with Lucien, that thus far they had felt no inclination to act ; that M. Urquijo had amused France with fine words, but declared himself that he was ready, as far as he was concerned, to concoct measures with the first consul for the purpose of acting effectively against Portugal, provided it were possible to agree upon some particular points. He demanded, first, the assistance of a French division of twenty-five thou- sand men, because Spain was not able to raise a larger force than twenty thousand ; to such a wretched state was this fine monarchy reduced. The presence of a French force would alarm the king and queen, therefore, in order to quiet their fears, he proposed that the force thus supplied should be placed under the command of a Spanish general ; that this general should be the prince of the peace himself ; lastly, that the provinces of Portugal of which the conquest might be made, should remain in trust in the hands of the king of Spain, until a general peace ; in the interim the ports of Portugal were to be closed against England. These propositions were eagerly accepted by the first consul, and were sent back for the acceptance of king Charles IV. This prince, governed by the queen, as she was herself governed by the prince of the peace, consented to make war upon his son- in-law, on condition that he should not be de- prived of any part of his territories; that he should only be obliged to break with the English, and to enter into an alliance with Spain and- France. These objects did not altogether correspond with those of the prince of the peace, who wished, so it was said in Madrid, to procure for himself a princi- pality in Portugal. However that might have been he was obliged to submit, and received in due course the rank of generalissimo. A summons was now sent to the court of Lisbon, and a demand made that it should, within fifteen days, enter into an explanation, and make its selec- tion between England and Spain, the last being supported by France. In the meanwhile, on both sides of the Pyrenees, preparations were made for war. The prince of the peace became generalissimo of the Spanish and French troops, and took away even the king's guards in order to complete his army. He then amused the court with reviews and warlike exhibitions, giving himself up to il- lusions of military glory. The first consul, on his side, hastened to march upon Spain a part of the troops which were returning to France. He formed a division of twenty-five thousand men, well armed and equipped. General Lecler, had the command of the advanced guard, and general Gouvion St. Cyr, whom with reason he regarded as one of the most able generals of the time, was to command the entire force, and make up for the perfect incapacity of the prince generalissimo. It was settled that these troops, put in move- ment in the month of March, should be ready to enter Spain in April following. The whole of Europe concurred in aiding the objects of the French government. Under the influence of the first consul, the southern states had shut their ports against England, and the northern states were in active league against her. In this situation it was necessary that England should have forces every where. In the Mediter- ranean to blockade Egypt; in the Straits of Gibral- tar to arrest the movements of the French fleets in both seas to help her threatened ally; before Brest and Rochefort to blockade the grand French and Spanish fleets, which were ready to set sail; in the north to keep the Baltic in restraint, and overcome the neutral powers ; and in India as well, to main- tain her authority and conquests in that quarter of the globe. The first consul was desirous of seizing the mo- ment when the British forces, obliged to be every where, should necessarily be much scattered, in order to attempt a great expedition. The principal, and that which he had most at heart, was the suc- cour of Egypt. He had a great duty to fulfil towards that army, which he had himself led beyond the sea, and then left alone that he might himself come back to the aid of France. He consi- dered the colony he had thus formed upon the banks of the Nile the most glorious of all his works. It was important that he should prove to the world, that in transporting thirty-six thousand men to the east, he had not yielded to the impulses of a young and ardent imagination, but had attempted a grave enterprise, susceptible of being conducted to a successful end. His efforts have already been seen for concluding a naval armistice, which should permit six frigates to enter the port of Alexandria. This armistice, as it will be remembered, had not been concluded. Not having had financial resources sufficient for completing armaments by sea and laud, the first consul had been unable to carry into effect the great operation which he had projected for the succour of Egypt. At present, from absence of the pressure of a continental war, lie was able to direct liis resources exclusively towards naval war- 1S01. Jan. Great naval and mili- tary preparations THE NEUTRAL POWERS. for the succour of Egypt- 211 fare. Having nearly the whole extent of the coasts of continental Europe at his disposal, he contem- plated, for the preservation of Egypt, projects as bold and extensive as those which he had executed in making its conquest. The winter season too was near, which would render impossible the continua- tion of the English cruisers upon the coasts. Meanwhile vessels of every kind, both of war and commerce, from the smallest barks up to those of trade and war, sailed from different ports of Holland, France, Spain, Italy, and even from the Barbary coast, carrying to Egypt, with intelligence from France, luxuries, European goods, arms, and warlike stores. Some of these vessels were taken, but the greater part entered Alexandria. Not a week passed without news being received at Cairo from the government at home, proofs of the in- terest which the colony inspired there. The first consul projected a species of line-of- battle ship, adapted to the inland navigation of Egypt. He had the model of a seventy-four exe- cuted, combining great strength with the advantage of being able to navigate the shallow channels of Alexandria with her guns on board '. Orders were given to build a certain number of ships upon that model. While he was taking such great care to sustain the spirit of the Egyptian army, transmitting men to it frequently as well as partial relief, he had at the same moment in the course of preparation a great expedition in order to convey there at once a powerful reinforcement of troops and munitions of war. The armies had returned home to the French soil. They were about to press heavily, by their cost, upon the national finances; but in return they offered to the government a great means of dis- turbing, if not of striking a blow at England. Thirty thousand men remained in the Cisalpine republic, ten thousand in Piedmont, six thousand in Switzer- land ; fifteen thousand were on their march to the gulf of Tarentum ; twenty -five thousand were marching upon Portugal ; twenty-five thousand were quartered in Holland. There were thus one hundi-ed and eleven thousand men that were to be supported by foreign powers. The remainder were to be maintained by the French treasury, but they were at the disposal of the first consul. A camp was formed in Holland, another in French Flan- ders, and a third at Brest ; a fourth was already established in the Gironde, either for Portugal, or to furnish such troops as were to embark at Roche- fort. The corps returning from Italy were to be collected near Marseilles and Toulon. The division of fifteen thousand men designed for the gulf of Tarentum was to occupy Iran to, in virtue of the secret article in the treaty with Naples, to cover the neighbouring harbours with numerous bat- teries, and to lay down moorings, where a fleet might come and take on board a division of ten or twelve thousand men, to transport them into Egypt. Admiral Villeneuve went thither in order to superintend the preparations necessary for such an i- in bar cat ion. The naval forces of Holland, France, and Spain, with some remains of the Italian navy, stationed near these different assemblages of troops, gave 1 Letter of the 1st of Nivdse, year ix., in the Secretary of State's Office. England reason to fear several expeditions directed upon different points of attack at the same time, on Ireland, Portugal, Egypt, and the East Indies. The first consul concerted measures with Spain and Holland relative to the employment of the three naval armaments. By uniting the wrecks of the old Dutch navy, five sail of the line and a few frigates might be rendered fit for service. Thirty sail of the line were at Brest, fifteen French, and the same number of Spanish, detained two years in that harbour. With Spain the arrangements made by the first consul were as follow : five Dutch, combined with five French and Spanish vessels lying at Brest, were to sail for the Brazils, in order to protect that fine kingdom, and prevent the En- glish from indemnifying themselves for the occu- pation of Portugal by the Spanish and French forces. By this arrangement twenty French and Spanish vessels would remain in Brest, and be ready at any moment to throw an army upon Ireland. A French division, under admiral Gfen- teaume, was organized in the same port of Brest, to sail, it was said, for St. Domingo, for the pur- pose of re-establishing in that island the French and Spanish authority. Another French division was equipped at Rochefort, and a Spanish division of five vessels was at Ferrol, with the object of carrying troops to the Antilles, and of recovering Trinidad, or, for example, Martinique. Spain, by the treaty which secured Tuscany to her in ex- change for Louisiana, had promised to give France six vessels, armed and equipped, and to deliver them in Cadiz ; she also engaged to employ the resources of that ancient arsenal in order to reor- ganize a portion of the naval force which she formerly had in that port. The first consul, in making these arrangements, did not explain to the Spanish cabinet his real de- sign, because he was in dread of its indiscretion. He wished to send a part of the combined forces to Brazil and the Antilles, in order to effect the objects which he stated, and to attract after them the Eng- lish fleets. For the Brest fleet he contemplated one expedition alone, under Ganteaume, announced as for St. Domingo, but in reality destined for Egypt. Reordered the selection of seven vessels of the^qua- dron, the finest sailors, as well as two frigates and a brig. These vessels were to transport five thou- sand men, munitions of every kind, timber, stores, iron, medicines, and the European commodities which were most desirable in Egypt. The first consul ordered the lading of the vessels, which was nearly completed, to be stopped, and recom- menced in a different mode which he had himself determined upon. He wished that every vessel should contain a complete assortment of the articles required for the colony, and not one entire lading of the same article, in order that if one of the ves- sels should be captured, the expedition should not be entirely deficient in the article contained in the captured ship. This arrangement, contrary to the custom of the naval service, rendered the steerage of the vessels more complicated and difficult; but the absolute will of the first consul vanquished all such obstacles ; Lauriston, his aid-de-camp, re- mained at Brest, and joined to the letters of which he was the bearer, the influence of his presence and earnest exhortations to complete the duty re- quired. Naval armaments. 212 Admirals Bruix and Ganteaume. Depirture of Ganteaume. TRIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. -Critical position of England. 1801 Jan. The Rochefort expedition, announced to be for the Antilles, also had Egypt for its destination. They laboured at its equipment with all possible expedition. Savary, the aid-de-camp, pushed for- ward its departure, and urged the arrival of the troops detached from the army of Portugal. The division of twenty-five thousand men, which was going to pass across the Pyrenees, was assembled in the Gironde, and thus furnished an excellent disguise for the real object of the expedition from Rochefort. There were a few battalions borrowed from this force without exciting the least suspicion that they were got ready to embark on board the squadron. This squadron was trusted to the command of the most remarkable of the sea- men, perhaps, that France at that time possessed. He joined to a superior intellect, rarely equalled among men in civil or military life, a perfect know- ledge of seamanship, and was distinguished in a particular manner by his successful cruise in the Mediterranean, in 1799, which was frequently alluded to in his praise. When, at the last mo- ment, Bonaparte intended to disclose his secret object to the cabinet of Madrid, admiral Bruix was to sail into Ferrol, and strengthening himself by uniting his vessels to the squadron in that port, proceed from thence to Cadiz, where he was to be joined by the division furnished by Spain. Pro- ceeding from thence to Otranto, he was to em- bark the troops collected there, and set sail for Egypt. The division at Cadiz, furnished by Spain, was i composed of six capital vessels, which were got ready for sea with great expedition. Admiral Du- manoir had set out by post for Cadiz, in order to urge forward this equipment. Bodies of seamen proceeded by land towards that port ; and at the same time small vessels filled with seamen were sent coastwise that they might be turned over to the ships of war. Such numerous expeditions could not fail to attract the attention of the English to all the points at once, dividing and distracting her operations; during which, some one of them availing itself of such a state of things, had nearly a certain chance of arriving safely in Egypt. Desirous of profiting by the bad season, which rendered the cruising of the enemy off Brest, both difficult and liable to interruption, the first consul intended that the sailing of admiral Ganteaume should take place before the commencement of the spring. His orders were explicit ; but he was unable to com- municate to his naval commanders the boldness which animated those on land. Admiral Gan- teaume appeared to the first consul to be bold and successful, because it was that officer who had al- most miraculously brought him from Alexandria to Frrfjus. But this was an illusion. This expe- rienced naval officer, knowing well the navigation of the Mediterranean, and possessing undaunted bravery, was of a wavering character, and in- capable of supporting the burden of a heavy responsibility. The expedition was ready; several families of workmen were on board, under the idea of their being about to sail for St. Domingo ; still there was a hesitation about sailing. Savary, having the orders of the first consul, silenced all difficulties, and obliged Ganteaume to set sail. The enemies' cruisers discovered them, and made signals to the blockading squadron that the French fleet was leaving the port. Ganteaume was obliged to return and moor in the outer road. He then feigned to enter the inner road, in order to induce the belief in the English that he had no other object in view than to exercise and manoeuvre his squadron. At last, on the 23rd of January, or 3d of Plu- viose, when a frightful storm had dispersed the enemies' cruisers, admiral Ganteaume set sail, and in spite of the greatest danger, fortunately suc- ceeded in getting out of the port of Brest, and sailing towards the straits of Gibraltar. The suc- cours of Ganteaume were the more desirable in Egypt, since the famous English expedition, con- sisting of fifteen thousand or eighteen thousand men, said one day to be destined for Ferrol, another for Cadiz, or it might be for the south of France, was at that moment upon its way to Egypt. It was in the road of Macri, opposite the island of Rhodes, awaiting the season for landing, and the completion of the Turkish preparations. Orders were issued to all the newspapers of the capital to say nothing of any naval movements which might be remarked in the ports of France, unless the intelligence was taken from the MOM- teur 1 . Before detailing the operations of the French squadrons in the south, it will be right to revert to the north, and observe what passed between England and the neutral powers. The greatest dangers at this moment were ac- cumulating over England. War had broken out between her government and the Baltic powers. The declaration of the neutrals, similar to that entered into in 1780, being simply a declaration of their rights, England might have dissembled with them for a time, taking this declaration, which was addressed in a general way to all the belligerent parties, as addressed in particular to herself, and might have avoided for a moment the chance of a collision, by taking care to respect the vessels of the Danes, Swedes, Prussians, and Rus- sians. She had, in fact, much more interest in keeping herself in peace with the north, than in annoying the trade of the smaller maritime powers with France. Besides, at this moment, she was in great want of foreign corn, which, for her own interest, rendered the liberty of the neutrals useful to her for a time. In strictness, she was not fully justified in taking measures of reprisal against any but Russia ; because among all the members of the league of neutrality, it was only the emperor Paul who had added the measure of an embargo to the declaration. Moreover, here the question of Malta was much more the motive of the em- bargo, than any of the points at issue concerning maritime rights. But England, in her pride, had responded to an > Here is * curious letter relating to this subject : " The first consul to the minister of general police. Have the goodness, citizen minister, to address a short circular to the editors of the fourteen journals, forbidding the insertion of any article calculated to afford the enemy the slightest knowledge of the different movements taking place in our squadrons, unless derived from the official journals. " Paris, 1st VentSse, year ix." From the Statt Paper Offiet. 1801. Jan. State of England. Fa- mine. Deficiency in the taxes. THE NEUTRAL POWERS. The riches of England increase with her burdens. The na- tional debt. 213 exposition of principles by an act of violence, and placed an embargo upon all Swedish, Danish, and Russian vessels. The commerce of Prussia alone she had exempted from these rigorous proceedings, because she wished still to have an understanding with that country ; she hoped to detach it from the northern coalition; and, above all, because she knew that Hanover lay at the mercy of that country. England found herself at one time involved in a war with France and Spain, her old enemies, and with the courts of Russia, Sweden, and Prussia, her old allies. She had been abandoned by Aus- tria since the treaty of LuneVille, and by the court of Naples since the treaty of Florence. Portugal, her last hold upon the continent, was also about to be lost to her. Her situation was become similar to that of France in 1?93. She was obliged to fight alone against all Europe, exposed to less danger it is true than France, and also with the less merit in defending herself, because her insular position preserved her from the perils of invasion. To render the similarity of their situations more remarkable and singular, England was the prey to a frightful famine. Her people wanted food of the first necessity. This state of affairs was entirely owing to the obstinacy of Pitt and to the genius of Bonaparte. Pitt refused to treat for peace before the battle of Marengo; and Bonaparte, disarming a part of Europe by his victories, turned the other part against England by his policy ; both were incontestably the authors of this wonderful change of fortune. The situation of England was at that moment very alarming; but it must be acknowledged that she did not become dispirited. The corn harvest of the preceding year, 1799, had been one- third less than a common average, and all the last year's corn had been consumed. The harvest of 1800 had fallen short a fourth part, and a scarcity was the consequence. This deficiency was aggravated doubly by the general war, and by the war in the north with the maritime powers, more especially because her supplies of grain were commonly ob- tained from the Baltic. If, therefore, the bad crop was the first cause of the famine, it was equally true that the war was a great cause of its aggravation. If the war had only raised the price of corn by interrupting the commerce of the Baltic, it must have already exercised a very disastrous influence upon the public distress. All the taxes this year presented very alarming deficiencies. The income tax and the excise caused an appre- hension of a deficit in the revenue of 75,000,000 f. to 100,000,000 f. * The expenditure for that year was enormous. In order to meet the necessity, a loan was necessary, amounting to 625,000,000 f. or 650,000,000 f. 2 The total of the expenses of the three kingdoms for that year, Ireland being then united to England, amounted, including the interest of the debt created by Mr. Pitt, to the enormous sum of 1,723,000,000 f. s , a sum enormous at any time, but more so in 1800; for at that period the budgets had not yet received the increase of amount to which a subsequent period of forty 1 3,000,000 or 4,000,000. 25,000,000 or 26,000,000. > 69,000,000. years has raised them in all the European states. France, as before seen, had then to support no more than an expenditure of 600,000,000 f. The amount of the English debt was, as usual, disputed ; but taking the amount stated by the government 4 , it was 1 2, 109,000,000 f . * This demanded for the annual interest and sinking fund an expense of 504,000,000 f. , not reckoning the debt of Ireland, and the loans guaranteed on account of the em- peror of Germany. Pitt was accused of having increased the public debt, in order to carry on the war of the revolution, more than 7,500,000,000 f. 7 According to the government statement, the amount was 7,454,000,000 f. 8 But it must be admitted that England presented a singular phenomenon in the improvement of her resources of all kinds, and that her riches increased in proportion to the public burdens. Besides the conquest of India, achieved by the destruction of Tippoo Saib ; besides the conquest of a part of the French, Spanish, and Dutch colonies, to which must be added the acquisition of the island of Malta, England had engrossed the commerce of the entire world. According to the official returns, her importations, which had been in 1781, towards the close of the American war, only 318,000,000 f. 9 , and in 1792, at the commencement of the war of the revolution only 491,000,000 f. 10 , had risen in 1799 to 742,000,000 f. " The exportations of the manufactured productions of England, which in 1J31 had been 190,000,000 f. ", were, in 1792, 622,000,000 f. ", and in 1799 had reached 849,000,000 f. u Thus, from the date of the ter- mination of the American war all had tripled; and since the commencement of the war of the revolu- tion had doubled. In 1788 the commercial navy of England em- ployed 13,827 ships, and 107,925 seamen ; in 1801 it employed 18,877 ships, and 143,661 seamen. The excise and customs had risen from 183,000 ,000 f. is to 389,000,000 f. ' The sinking fund, which, in 1784, was 25,000,000 f.", was 1 37,000,000 f. 18 in 1800. All the forces of the British empire had re- ceived a double or triple increase within twenty years ; and if the pressure was great at the mo- ment, it was still a pressure upon wealth. It was very true that England was loaded with a debt of more than 1 2,000,000,000 f., and an annual charge upon that debt of 500,000,000 f.; that she had to sup- port, in that year, an expenditure of l,700,000,000f., and to make a loan of 600,000,000 f. to meet her outlay. All this was, beyond doubt, enormous in amount, especially if the value of money at this time be taken into consideration ; but England contained within herself means to meet these charges. Although she was not a continental * These amount* are taken from the budget preented to parliament by Mr. Addington, successor to Pitt, in June, 1801. In sterling money, 484,365,474. Or 20,144,000. * Or 300,000,000. 8 Or 298,000,000. 12,724,000. 10 19,659,000. 29,945,000. " 7,633,000. 24,905,000. '< 33.991,000. I* 7,320,000. i 15,587,tOO. 17 1,000,000. " 5,500,000. British army and navy. Ad- Great reaction. -Combina- 214 miral Nelson. Resources THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE, tion of European powers of England and France. against England. 1801. Feb. power, she had one hundred and ninety-three thou- sand regular troops, and one hundred and nine thousand militia or fencibles, in all three hundred and two thousand men '. She possessed eight hundred and fourteen 2 ships of war of all sizes, building, repairing, in ordinary, or at sea. In this number were one hundred vessels of the line and two hundred frigates, spread over every latitude; and twenty vessels with forty frigates in reserve, ready to come out of port. Her effective force could not then be taken at less than one hundred and twenty ships of the line and two hundred and fifty frigates, manned by one hundred and twenty thousand seamen. To this colossal strength in materiel, England added a crowd of naval officers of the greatest merit, at the head of whom was the great admiral Nelson. He was an eccentric, violent man, not well adapted for a command where diplomacy and war were intermingled. He had but too recently given a proof of that at Naples, by suffering his renown to be sullied by female intrigues, during the sanguinary executions com- manded by the Neapolitan government. But in the midst of danger he was a hero ; he displayed, too, as much genius as courage. The English were justly proud of his glory. England and France have filled the present age with their formidable rivalry. The period at which we have just arrived is one of the most remarkable in the renowned contest which they sustained against one another. They had continued the war for eight years. France with financial resources much less, but perhaps more solid, because they were founded upon territorial revenue, with a population nearly double, and with the enthusiasm a good cause inspires, had resisted all Europe, extended her territory as far as the Rhine and the Alps, obtained dominion in Italy, and a decisive influence over the continent. England, with the wealth arising from the commerce of the world, and with a powerful navy, had acquired the same preponde- rance upon the ocean which France had obtained on the land. England, by subsidizing the Eu- ropean powers, had incited them to fight even to their own destruction. But while she thus ex- posed them to be crushed in her service, she seized the colonies of every nation, oppressed neutral powers, and avenged herself for the successes of France upon the land by her overbearing tyranny upon the ocean. Still although victorious upon this element, she had not been able to prevent France from forming a magnificent maritime es- tablishment in Egypt, threatening even her East India dominions. A strange reaction of opinion, as we have else- where observed, had resulted from this alteration of circumstances. France admirably governed, ap- peared in the sight of the world humane, tranquil, 1 Besides the Indian army. Trantlator. * In all, 819 : viz., 197 of the line, 29 fifties, 251 frigates, 332 sloops and other vessels, in October, 1801. Of these there were at sea, 111 ships of the line, 1C fifties, 185 frigates, 230 sloops and smaller vessels. Of this naval force there were in the Channel, 42 of the line and 35 frigates; North Sea stations, 14 of the line, 3 fifties, and 31 frigates; the Mediterranean, 31 of the line, 4 fifties, and 56 frigates; on the coasts of Spain and Portugal, 1 1 of the line and 6 frigates ; while 9 sail of the line, 7 fifties, and 8 frigates, were in India. Trantlator. wise, and, what is not common, amid her victories actuated by moderation. Whilst the various cabi- nets of Europe were becoming reconciled to her, they at the same time perceived how much they had played the dupe to the political objects of England. Austria had fought for England as much as she had for herself. For this same England the Germanic empire had been dismembered. The powers of the north, with Russia at their head, acknowledged at last, that under the pretext of pursuing a moral end, in fighting against the French revolution, they had only served as the instruments to procure for England the commerce of the universe. Thus all the world turned at the moment against the mistress of the seas. Paul I. had given the signal with the natural impetuosity of his character ; Sweden followed his example without hesitation ; Denmark and Prussia had equally done so, though with less resolution. Austria vanquished, and recovered from her de- lusion, nursed her chagrin in silence, and, at least for the time, promised herself a long resistance to the temptation of British subsidies. England reaped the consequences of the policy which she had pursued. She had doubled her colonies, her commerce, her revenue, and her navy, but she had at the same time doubled her debt and its expenses, her enemies, and her entire expenditure. She presented, in the midst of im- mense wealth, the frightful spectacle of a people dying with hunger. France, Spain, Russia, Prus- sia, Denmark, and Sweden were leagued against her. France, Spain, and Holland could reckon upon eighty ships of the line, and were able to arm more. Sweden had twenty-eight, Russia thirty- five, and Denmark twenty-three. Here then was a total of one hundred and sixty-six ships of the line, a force superior to that of England. On the other hand, she had a great advantage in contend- ing against a coalition ; and what was more in her favour, her armaments surpassed in quality those of all the coalition. There were only the Danish and French vessels which were able to cope with her's ; and there was still the greater difficulty in fighting in large fleets, that the English navy ex- celled those of all the world in manoeuvring. Still the danger was threatening, because if the contest lasted long, Bonaparte was well capable of under- taking a formidable expedition ; and if he suc- ceeded in passing the Straits of Dover with an in- vading army, England was lost. The long good fortune of Pitt began, like the for- tune of M. Thugut, to be on the decline, before that of the young general Bonaparte. Pitt's was the most brilliant destiny of his time, after that of the great Frederick ; he was only forty-three years of age, and had held the government seventeen years, possessing a power almost absolute in a free country. But his good fortune was growing old; and that of Bonaparte, on the contrary, was still young, merely in its infancy. The fortunes of men succeed each other in the history of the world, like the races of the same universe ; they have their youth, their decrepitude, and their dissolu- tion. The more prodigious fortune of Bonaparte was one day to decline also ; but in the mean- while, he was destined to see the fall, under his own ascendency, of that of England's greatest minister. 1801 Feb. Unpopularity of Pitt. Riots. Strength of the opposition. THE NEUTRAL POWERS. Pitt's reply to his opponents' arguments. 215 England seemed at this time to be threatened with a species of social convulsion. The people, under the suffering of great scarcity, were rising in different places, and pillaging the fine habitations of the British aristocracy, and, in the towns, attack- ing the shops of the butchers and dealers in food. There were in London in 1801, as in Paris in 1792, ignorant friends of the people, who encouraged attacks against supposed engrossers, and insisted upon some measure analogous, in fact, though not in name, to a maximum for the price of bread. Neither the government nor the parliament ap- peared disposed to grant this foolish demand. Pitt was reproached with being the cause of the suffer- ings of the time ; they asserted that it was he who had loaded the people with taxes, doubled the debt, and raised to an exorbitant price all the articles of the first necessity iu existence ; that it was he who was so obstinate in pursuing a senseless war ; and he who, in refusing to treat with France, had concluded by turning the other maritime nations against England, thus depriving the people of the indispensable resource of the Baltic corn. The opposition, seeing, for the first time during seven- teen years, the power of Pitt shaken, redoubled its ardour. Fox, who had for a long while neglected to attend in parliament, reappeared there. Sheri- dan, Tierney, Grey, and Lord Holland, renewed their attacks ; and, that which does not always happen on the side of a warm opposition, they had the reason of the argument against their opponents. Pitt, despite his accustomed self-assurance, had little to urge in reply, when he was asked why he had not treated with France, when the first consul proposed peace after the battle of Marengo * why recently, and before the battle of Hohenhnden, he had not consented, if not to a naval armistice, which would have given the French a chance of maintaining themselves in Egypt, at least to the separate negotiation which had been offered ? why had he, with so much want of shrewdness, suffered the opportunity to escape of the evacuation of Egypt, by refusing to ratify the treaty of El Arisch? why had he not negotiated with the northern powers, in order to gam time ? why had he not imitated Lord North, who, in 1780, avoided reply- ing to the manifesto of the northern powers, by a declaration of war ? why had he thus drawn all Europe upon him, on account of some very doubt- ful question iu the law of nations, about which every nation had a different opinion, and in which, at the moment, England had little interest ? why not, in order to prevent France from obtaining some building timber, iroij, and hemp, which were not capable of making a navy, why had England been exposed to be cut off from the importation of foreign corn ? why was an English army paraded from Mahon to Ferrol, and from Ferrol to Cadiz, without any useful result! The opposition com- pared the conduct of the affairs of England with those of France and their management, asking Pitt, with cutting irony, what he had to say of young Bonaparte, of the rash young man, who, ac- cording to the ministerial language, would only like his predecessors have an ephemeral existence ; so ephemera], that he did not merit they should con- descend to treat with him. Pitt had great trouble in maintaining himself against Fox, Sheridan, Tierney, Grey, and Lord Holland, who put to him these forcible questions in the face of all England. He became alarmed at the number of his enemies, and was disconcerted at the cries of a half-famished people demanding, without obtaining, bread. To their questions Pitt replied with great feeble- ness. He continued to repeat his favourite argu- ment, that if he had not made war upon France the English constitution would have perished. He cited as examples Venice, Naples, Piedmont, Swit- zerland, Holland, and the ecclesiastical states of Gemiany; as if it were possible to make any one believe that what had occurred in a few Italian or German states of the third order, could happen to England, with her liberal constitution. He replied, too, and with more reason on his side, that if France had aggrandized herself on the land, Eng- land had done the same by sea ; that the navy was covered with glory ; that if the debt and taxes were doubled, the wealth of the country was dou- bled also, and that under every point of view England was more powerful now than before the war began. All this could not be denied. Pitt added that the first consul, appearing to be established in a stable manner, he felt every disposition to treat with him. That as to what regarded the right of neutrals, he should remain inflexible. "If," said he, "England agrees to the proposed doctrines of the neutral powers, a single armed sloop may convoy the com- merce of the whole world. England will be shut out from proceeding in any way against the com- merce of her enemies; she will be unable to do any thing to prevent Spain from receiving the treasures of the new world, or to prevent France from re- ceiving the naval stores of the north." "We must," he said, " wrap ourselves in our own flag, and find our grave in the ocean sooner than admit the cur- rency of such principles in the maritime law of nations." Two sessions of parliament succeeded each other without an adjournment. In November, 1800, the last parliament denominated the parliament of England and Scotland, assembled for the last time. In January, 1801, the united parliament of the three kingdoms held its first assemblage. During these two sessions, the discussions were continued without cessation, and with the most vehement warmth. Pitt was evidently weakened, not only in the number of the majorities in parliament, but in general influence and moral power out of doors. Every body perceived that in obstinately continuing the war against France, he had gone beyond the mark, and had missed on the eve of Mareugo and on that of Hohenlinden the opportunity of treating advantageously. To miss the opportunity is for the statesman, as it is for the soldier, an irreparable mischief. The moment for peace once passed over, fortune turned round upon Pitt. He felt himself, and the public felt, that he was vanquished by the genius of the young general Bonaparte. The justice must be done to Pitt, and also to Eng- land, of acknowledging that during this fearful want of food, the measures adopted were those of great moderation. The maximum price was re- pelled. The government was content to give consi- derable bounties upon the importation of corn, to prohibit the use of grain in distilleries, and not to give any more parochial relief in money, lest it should tend to raise the price of bread, relief being 21C Measures to reduce the price tion. Pitt's resignation. corn. Union with Ire- THTERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. Causes of that step land Catholic emancipa- successors. -Hii afforded, in place of money, with food, such as salt meat, vegetables, and similar sustenances. A royal proclamation, addressed to all persons in easy cir- cumstances, who had it in their power to vary their diet, recommended them to adopt a system of great economy in the consumption of bread in their fami- lies. Lastly, numerous vessels were sent to obtain rice in the East Indies, and corn in America and in the Mediterranean. Some even endeavoured to procure it from France, by means of a contra- band trade, along the coasts of La Vendee and Britany. Still in the midst of this distress so courageously supported, Pitt neglected no means for the prose- cution of the war, and made every arrangement for a bold demonstration in the Baltic as soon as the season would permit. He wished to strike the first blow at Denmark, then at Sweden, and to go even to the bottom of the gulf of Finland, for the purpose of threatening Russia. It is not known, even in his own country, whether he really wished or not at this time to continue at the head of affairs in England. There were two questions raised by him in the cabinet, one of which, most inopportune at that moment, led to his retirement from office. After great exertions the year pre- ceding, it has been seen that he carried into effect what was called the "union with Ireland," or in other words the union of the parliaments of Eng- land, Scotland, and Ireland, into on eimperial legis- lative body. This measure seemed like a species of political victory, more particularly in the face of the reiterated attempts of the French republic to raise an insurrection in Ireland. But England had only succeeded in depriving Ireland of her inde- pendence, by giving the Irish catholics the formal promise of their " emancipation " from the restric- tions under which they laboured. They had in effect said to the catholics that they would never obtain their freedom, owing to the prejudices of an Irish parliament, and the assertion was most un- doubtedly correct. It appeared, too, that the pro- mises given were equivalent to a positive engage- ment, which must be regarded as a political error, if it be true that Pitt was obliged, by the nature of his own personal pledge, either to grant emancipa- tion or to retire, because it was a pledge it was not possible to fulfil. However this might have been, in the month of February, 1801, on the first meet- ing of the united parliament, Pitt asked the consent of George III. to the measure of catholic emanci- pation. This prince, at the same time a protestant, was a complete devotee, and asserting that his coro- nation oath would be affected by such a measure, he obstinately refused his assent. Pitt made a second request, which was a very reasonable one, namely, that the occupation of Hanover by Prussia should not be considered an act of hostility to this country, that England might keep up relations with that court, in order, at least, to possess one friendly power upon the continent. This sacrifice was too great for a prince of the house of Hanover to make. The quarrel between the king and minister became warmer, and on the 8th of February, 1801, Pitt gave in his resignation for himself and his colleagues, Dundas,Windham,Grenville,and others. This resignation, after a ministry of seventeen years, caused much surprise in such extraordinary circumstances. People were unable to ascribe it to natural events, and attached a secret motive to Pitt, which at last became the public opinion, since zealously propagated by historians ; this motive was, that Pitt seeing the necessity for a momentary peace, consented to retire for a few months, in order to let it be negotiated by others rather than himself, intending to return to the management of public affairs when the necessity of the moment should be passed. Such are the reasons that the multitude ascribe to public men under similar circumstances, which ill-informed writers repeat, as they pick them up from rumour. Pitt neither foresaw the peace of Amiens, nor its short duration ; nor did he believe that peace was at all incompati- ble with his position at the head of affairs. He had consented to the well-known negotiation at Lille in 1707, and had recently named Mr. Thomas Gren- ville to proceed to the congress of Lune'ville. But Pitt had gone considerable lengths with the catho- lics ; he had been guilty of a fault which public men often commit, that of sacrificing the interest of to-day to that of to-morrow. Having promised too much, he felt embarrassed at not being able to fulfil his promises, and in a very anxious position in which the addition of a few more enemies would suffice to overwhelm him. It is true that he sub- sequently denied his having contracted any positive engagement in regard to the emancipation of the catholics ; the denial was wanting to justify him from so imprudent a charge. Whatever may be thought upon this matter, there was never a period when the perils of any country permitted and even demanded to the same extent the adjournment of the execution of existing engagements, because in 1801, England had famine at home, and abroad was at war with all Europe. Still Pitt withdrew from office; and his retirement can only be considered as having arisen from the weakness of a superior mind. It is clear, that surrounded by fearful em- barrassments, Pitt was not sorry to escape from such a situation under the honourable pr-etext of inviolable fidelity to his engagements. The resigna- tion was accepted, to the great sorrow of the king, and the discontent of the ministerial party, as well as to the apprehension of all England, which saw with deep anxiety men, inexperienced men, take the helm of affairs. Pitt was replaced by Mr. Addington, who was his creature *, and had for many years held the post of speaker of the house of commons. Lord Hawkesbury, afterwards lord Li- verpool, replaced Grenville at the foreign office. They were prudent, moderate men, but of littlo capacity for office ; both had been friends of Pitt, and for some time followed his system. This it was more than any thing else which made it reported, and believed, that the retirement of Pitt was only simulated. 1 I obtained these details from several of the cotempora- rieg of Pitt, who were on intimate terms with him, mingled in the ministerial negotiations of the period, and fill, even In the present day, eminent situations in England. Note of the Author. The author should rather have laid, "the creature of George. HI.," with whom he was a favourite, partaking the bigoted notions of that monarch in regard to religion, anil holding the same arbitrary ideas in politics ; while his feeble ness of mind made him a jest with the friends of Pitt, as we]". as with those who had been the opponents of that minister. Tranitator. 1ROI. March. Illness of George III. Great power of Pitt. Recovery of the king. THE NEUTRAL POWERS. Character of Pitt and liis suc- cessors. Nelson's plan for acting in the Baltic. 217 The feeble intellects of George III. were unable to bear up against the political agitations of the crisis. He was seized with a fresh attack of insa- nity, and for a month was unable to fulfil the royal functions. Pitt had given in his resignation. Ad- dington and Hawkesbury were the designated mi- nisters, but had not yet entered upon their duties. Pitt, although he had ceased to be minister, was at this time the real king of England, during a crisis of nearly a month, and was so by the consent of the whole nation. Explanations upon the sub- ject were asked in the house of commons. These were of a very delicate nature. When thus de- manded in the house they were answered in the noblest manner by Sheridan and Pitt. All motions common in England respecting the state of the country, were postponed ; and it is probable that it occurred to some mistrustful persons, that Pitt voluntarily prolonged the species of royalty which he enjoyed. " He trusted, it would be believed," to use his own language at that time, " that in the event of ministers being no longer able to receive the commands of his majesty from his own mouth, they would propose measures to which it was unne- cessary to allude more distinctly, but which they would not delay for a single day. They found themselves placed by their duty in an extraordi- nary situation, which they did not wish, upon any ground, should endure a moment beyond the strict necessity." Sheridan, in reply, testified his entire confidence, that neither Pitt, nor any other mi- nister, would seek to profit by the state of the king's health to proleng for one moment the pos- session of a power equal to that of the sovereign himself. The most delicate reserve wa kept upon the subject. The word " madness" characterizing the real condition of the king, was not once pronounced; but all waited with anxiety, yet with perfect com- posure, the termination of this extraordinary crisis. In the interim Pitt voted subsidies which were not opposed; the English fleets were prepared in the different ports, and admirals Parker and Nelson set sail from Yarmouth for the Baltic with forty- seven vessels. About the middle of March the king's health was re-established, and Pitt handed over the reins of government to Mr. Addington and Lord Hawkesbury. The new ministers, according to custom, entered into explanations upon their taking office. They did not fail to declare to the house that they felt sentiments of the greatest esteem for their predecessors, and that they con- sidered the line of policy they had adopted as highly salutary, and the salvation of England. They affirmed in consequence, that they should follow the same principles, and tread exactly in the same steps. " Wherefore, then, have you taken office 1" inquired Sheridan, Grey, and Fox. " If you mean to follow the same course of policy, the ministers who have gone out are much more ca- pable of directing the affairs of the country than you are !" Impartial persons, members of parliament, blamed Pitt for abandoning the government of the country at so difficult a moment, and for resigning without valid reasons. The- opposition itself was in the wrong so far as to reproach him with making his retreat at the expense of the king's character, by declaring that the king refused to allow " emanci- pation," a measure at the time extremely popular. This reproach was unreasonable, and at variance with true constitutional principles. Pitt, in retiring, was naturally obliged to state the reason, and if the king refused him " emancipation," he had a perfect right to declare that such was the fact. He made it known in language extremely well-suited to the circumstances, but it remained very evident that the refusal was rather a pretext than a real motive, and that Pitt withdrew from a state of affairs with which he had not the courage to contend. His star was growing pale before one that was then ascend- ing, destined to cast a brighter lustre than his own. Although he afterwards reappeared at the head of affairs, to die at the post, his political ex- istence may be said to have terminated from that day. Pitt, after governing for seventeen years, left his country loaded with debt and wealth both alike increased and alike burthened. He was an accomplished orator, regarded as the organ of go- vernment, and a very able and influential head of a party; but, as a statesman, he possessed very un- enlightened views, had committed great errors, and was continually overborne by the worst pre- judices of his countrymen. No native of England entertained so deep a hatred to France. But this consideration must not make us unjust towards him, knowing as we do how to honour patriotism in others, even when it was employed in a contest with our own. Neither Lord Hawkesbury nor Mr. Addington were to be compared for talent to Pitt ; the im- pulse being given, the vessel of the state moved onwards for a time under the momentum imparted to it by the head of the fallen ministry. The sub- sidies were demanded and obtained ; the English fleets were launched towards the Baltic, to settle the great question about neutral rights; and an army, embarked in the fleet of lord Ksith, was upon its voyage to the East to dispute the posses- sion of Egypt with the French. Admiral Parker, an old and experienced naval officer, who understood how to act under difficult circumstances, was the commander-in-chief of the English fleet, and sent to the Baltic. Nelson was at his side, in case it should become necessary to fight ; he was, in fa'ct, only qualified for battles, endowed as he was with a happy instinct for war, and perfectly master of every thing connected with his profession. Nelson proposed that, without waiting for the divisions of the fleet, they should pass the Sound, and bearing directly up for Co- penhagen, detach Denmark from the coalition by a vigorous blow ; then repair to the Baltic, in the midst of the coalesced fleets, prevent their junction, and thus give them all the law. This plan was happily arranged, because in the month of March, the ice still covered those northern seas, and was of itself sufficient to prevent their junction; which, indeed, Nelson had some reason for dreading, as, in that case, the British squadron would be ex- posed to great danger. This squadron, consisting of seventeen sail of the line and thirty frigates, or smaller vessels, ap- peared, on the 30th of March, in the Cattegat. The Cattegat is the first gulf, formed by the land of Denmark approaching the opposite coast of Sweden. The northern powers prepare The Danes prepare 218 lor wnr.-Prussia declares TRIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. to defend the against England. Sound. 1801. March. The neutral powers were making their prepara- tions with great activity. The emperor Paul, full of ardour, stimulated Sweden, Denmark, and Prussia, and threatened with his enmity those who did not exhibit as much zeal as himself. Den- mark and Prussia would have preferred commenc- ing with a negotiation ; but the menaces of Paul, the earnest, but not menacing, remonstrances of the first consul, accompanied with the formal pro- mise of French assistance, brought into the same system those two courts. Denmark, besides, see- ing the English reply to a declaration of principles was by a declaration of war, thought that it was her place to receive and prepare for resistance with all her energies. Prussia, pressed between Russia and France, had been deprived of her character of mediatrix, since Paul I. and the first consul had commenced to be upon friendly terms with each other. In place of leading, as before, she was now reduced to the situation of being a follower, and could only rety in future upon their good-will alone, for that part of the German indemnity ad- vantageous to her interests. Prussia was, there- fore, anxious to please by her firmness in the cause. She declared against England, and to overtures from that power, avowed her adherence to the side of the neutrals. She interdicted to the English all the coast of the north sea from Holland to Denmark ; she closed the mouths of the Elbe, the Ems, and the Weser, and placed batteries, with troops, at those principal outlets. Finally, she occupied Hanover with a body of troops ; which was the most serious and most decisive of her measures. The first consul recompensed her by marked proofs of his satisfaction, and by the strongest and most positive promise of an advan- tageous partition in her behalf of the German in- demnities. Denmark, on her side, occupied Hamburg and Lubeck. The little port of Cuxhaven, which be- longed to Hamburg, and which was the only place where the English could land, had already been occupied by Prussia. Thus, then, the English had nothing left to them but their vessels and the ocean. They had not a single port where they could cast anchor. They had now the alternative of recovering by force their access to the conti- nent. In order to reach the Baltic through the Catte- gat, it is necessary to pass through the noted strait called the Sound. This strait is formed by the approach of the coast of Denmark to that of Swe- den. Between Elsinore and Helsingburg, it is about two thousand three hundred fathoms broad. The batteries placed on the two opposite shores are enabled to cross their fire, but not sufficiently near to cause much damage to a fleet. Notwith- standing this, the channel is deeper on the Swedish side, and very large ships are obliged to approach nearer that shore in consequence ; so that by strengthening it with batteries, the passage might have been rendered difficultfor the English. But the Swedish side was not fortified, and had no batteries, nor indeed had it ever possessed them. In fact, it has no port which merchant ships would be likely to visit. There is none in the Sound, except that of Elsinore, which belongs to Denmark, and upon that account batteries were erected there only, and scarcely any upon the Swedish coast. On the Danish side was constructed the fort of Kronen- burg, regularly fortified. From this came the custom of paying the Danes dues for the passage, and not the Swedes. In this state of things it was necessary to construct fortified works on the Swedish side, of which they were in want. The king, Gustavus Adolphus, who, after Paul I., was the most earnest of the coalition, had conversed with the czar upon this subject, when he was at St. Petersburgh ; but they were aware of the im- possibility of executing any work there at such a season, when the soil, during the winter frost, was as impenetrable as iron. Gustavus Adolphus had also an interview with the prince of Denmark, then regent of the kingdom ; the same who died in 1841, after a long and honourable reign. They conversed upon the subject ; and the prince-regent, for some particular reason which influenced Den- mark, appeared to attach very little importance to the fortification of the Swedish shore 1 . The Sound, then, was feebly defended on the Swedish side. They were obliged to be contented with an old battery of only eight guns, long ago established upon the most salient point of the shore. Besides, though this disregard of the defence has been much blamed since, it is very certain that the Sound, if well fortified upon both sides, could not have presented any very serious obstacle to the English ; because the width of the passage being about three miles, ships in mid-channel would be a mile and a half from the batteries, and would, consequently, sustain no other damage than a little injury inflicted upon their sails or rigging. There are, besides the Sound, other entrances into the Baltic ; these are formed by the two arms of the sea which separate the Isle of Zealand from that "of Funen, and the Isle of Funen from the coast of Jutland, passages known under the names of the Great and Little Belts. The English were but little inclined to attempt these straits where they were likely to meet with more than one Danish battery, but above all from fear of the shallows, which render the navigation very dan- gerous for ships of the line. The passage of the Sound was, therefore, that which they would most probably choose. The Danes concentrated all their means of de- fence not immediately in the Sound, but lower down in the channel into which the Sound opens, in reality before the city of Copenhagen itself. The two shores of Denmark and Sweden, after approximating towards the Sound, retire from each other again, and form a channel twenty leagues long and from three to twelve wide, over which reefs and sandbanks are thickly strewn, and in which navigation must be effected by following the 1 Erroneous assertions have been circulated upon this sub- ject. I have had recourse to the most authentic evidence possible ; the archives of France, Denmark, and Sweden con- tain proof* of what is here stated. Those stating otherwise, Napoleon among them, have only repeated the rumours and assertions of the time. The second passage of the Sound, which took place in 1807, at a time when Sweden and Denmark were at war, and Sweden saw with pleasure the triumphs of the English, has contributed to attach to Sweden the charge of perfidy. But at the time of the first passage, that is to say, in 1801, Sweden acted with perfect good faith; she wished heartily for the common success, and would have ensured it had she been capable of so doing. Note of the Author. 1801. March. Swedish and Russian prepara- tions.- Mr. Vansittart's pro- THE NEUTRAL POWERS. posals indignantly rejected by the prince of Denmark. Eng- lish council of war. Nelson and 219 Parker enter the Sound. narrow channels, and by incessantly sounding. The city of Copenhagen is situated on one of the most important of these channels about twenty leagues from the Sound, towards the south. There it was that the Danes had made their greatest preparations, and there they awaited the approach of their enemy. The post which they thus held did not precisely close up the passage into the Baltic, as will presently be explained, but it obliged the English to make an attack upon a position exceed- ingly well defended, and prepared beforehand for their reception. The prince royal had promptly made numerous strong measures of defence. In front of Copenhagen he had placed a number of vessels of war cut down and armed with cannon, making of them very formidable floating batteries ; he had also armed ten sail of the line, which were only waiting for seamen from Norway to complete their complement of men. It is well known that the Danes are the best seamen in the north of Europe. To these Danish preparations were joined those of Sweden and Russia. The Swedes had disposed of their troops along the coasts from Gottenburg to the Sound, and had fortified Karlscrona in the Baltic, as well as all the accessible points of that sea. Tie king, Gustavus Adolphus, was pushing forward the equipment of the Swedish fleet, and urging admiral Cronstedt to its completion. This fleet consisted of seven sail of the line and two frigates, which would be ready to set sail as soon as the sea was clear of the winter ice. The Russians had twelve sail of the line ready at Revel, which, like those of Sweden, were only embarrassed by the ice. The coalesced powers had not completed all, with- out doubt, which would have been possible if they had possessed at their head a government as active as that of France at the same period ; but by uniting in time seven Swedish and twelve Russian vessels to the ten Danish ships before Copenhagen, they would have possessed a fleet of thirty sail of the line and of ten or twelve frigates, established in a very formidable position, which the English could not have approached without danger, while still less could they have sailed by and disregarded it. To have sailed by without attacking it, in order to carry on any operations in the Baltic, would have been to leave in their rear a most imposing force, capable of blocking up the outlet to the sea, and preventing their passage out in case of a reverse. But to unite in time these naval squadrons de- manded a celerity of movement of which these three neutral governments were not capable. They made all the haste they could there is little doubt ; but calculating too much upon the prolongation of the bad season, they had not begun their prepa- rations early enough, and the energetic promptitude of the English was far too much in advance of them. On the 21st of March an English frigate touched at Elsinore, and put on shore Mr. Vansittart, who was charged to make a last communication to the Danish government. Mr. Vansittart delivered to Mr. Drummond, the English charge" d'affaires, the ultimatum of the British cabinet. The terms of the ultimatum were the withdrawal of Denmark from the maritime confederation of the neutral powers, that Denmark should open her ports to the Eng- lish, and adhere to the provisional engagement en- tered into in the preceding month of August, by which they had engaged no longer to convoy their trading- vessels. The prince royal of Denmark rejected the idea of such a defection, with indigna- tion, and answered that neither Denmark nor her allies had made a declaration of war, having con- fined themselves to the publication of their prin- ciples of maritime law ; that the English were the aggressors, because they had replied to the mere assertion of a thesis, in the law of nations, by an embargo; that Denmark would not commence hos- tilities, but would energetically meet force by force. The brave population of Copenhagen sup- ported by its loyalty and adhesion the prince who represented it with so much dignity. The entire population took up arms, and, on the appeal of the prince royal, formed militia and volunteer corps. Eight hundred students took up the musket ; all who could handle a pick-axe aided the engineers in executing the works of defence, and intrench- ments were every where cast up. Messrs. Drum- mond and Vansittart left Copenhagen abruptly, threatening this unhappy city with all the thunders of England. On the 24th, Messrs. Drummond and Vansittart went on board the fleet, and the English imme- diately made their preparations for commencing hostilities. Nelson, and the commander-in-chief, Parker, held a council of war on board ship. The plan of operations was discussed. One was for passing through the Sound, another was for sailing through the Great Belt : Nelson declared that it was of no consequence by which mode the passage was made; that it was necessary as soon as possible to enter the Baltic, and appear before Copenhagen, in order to prevent the junction of the coalesced fleets. Once in the Baltic, the English fleet should be directed, a part upon Copenhagen to strike a blow at the Danes, and a part upon Sweden and Russia, to destroy the northern squadrons. They had twenty sail of the line, and twenty-five or thirty frigates and vessels of all descriptions. He him- self would undertake, with twelve sail of the line, to destroy the Swedish and Russian fleets, the rest of the English force should attack and bombard Co- penhagen. As to which passage they should make, he would prefer braving a few cannon-shots in forcing the Sound, to encountering the dangerous shoals of the Great and Little Belt. Parker, far less enterprising, made an attempt by the Great Belt, on the 2tith of March. Several small vessels of his fleet having taken the ground, the commander-in-chief recalled the squadron, and determined to force a passage. Early in the morn- ing of the 30th of March, he entered this renowned strait. It blew at the moment a fresh breeze from the north-west, very much in favour for pass- ing through the Sound, which runs from north- west to south-east, as far as Elsinore, after which, it continues nearly due north and south. The fleet, under the favourable breeze, boldly ad- vanced, keeping at an equal distance from both shores. Nelson led the advanced squadron, Parker the centre, and admiral Graves the rear. The line-of-battle ships formed a single column in the middle of the channel. Upon each side a flotilla of gun and bomb-vessels passed nearer to the shores both of Denmark and Sweden, in order to return the enemies' fire closer to their batteries. .,,. Position of Copenhagen. '-'-" Its defences. TRIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE The English admirals determine to attack Copenhagen. 1801 April. When the fleet came in sight of Elsinore, the fortress of Kronenburg instantly opened, and a hundred pieces of heavy cannon, vomited forth at once a storm of shells and red-hot balls. The Eng- lish admiral, seeing that the battery upon the Swe- dish shore scarcely fired at all, because that old bat- tery of eight guns was almost useless, steered nearer to that side, and the English in passing on jeered at the Danes, whose projectiles did not reach their ships by four or five hundred yards. The bomb-vessels which had approached the Da- nish shore, gave and received a great number of shells, but very little bloodshed ensued, as only four men were hurt on the side of the Danes, two of whom were killed, and two wounded. In Elsinore only one house suffered injury from the English fire, and that, remarkably enough, was the house of the English consul. The whole fleet anchored about noon in the mid- dle of the gulf, near the island of Huen. This gulf, as before observed, descended from north to south for the distance of about twenty leagues ; irregular in width, from three to twelve leagues, as the shores recede or advance, and pos- sessing but few navigable channels. About twenty leagues towards the south stands the city of Copen- hagen, situated on the west of the gulf upon the side of Denmark, at a very small elevation above the sea, forming a plane slightly inclined from whence a cannon-ball would just skim over the surface of the sea. The gulf, very wide and broad at this place, is divided by the low island of Salt- holm into two navigable channels; one of which, called the passage of Malmo, stretching along the coast of Sweden, is scarcely accessible for large vessels ; the other, which is called Drogden, stretches almost parallel with the coast of Den- mark, and is commonly preferred for the purpose of navigation. This last passage is itself divided by a sand-bank, called the Middel Grand, into two passages ; one named the King's Channel, borders the city of Copenhagen; the other the Dutch Chan- nel, is situated on the opposite side of the Middel Gruiid. It was in the King's Channel that the Danish force was placed, leaving the other, or that of the Dutch, open to the English, the Danes think- ing more of the defence of Copenhagen than of pre- venting the entrance of the English in to the Baltic. But it was very obvious that Parker and Nelson would not have ventured into the Baltic until they had destroyed the defences of Copenhagen, together with any naval force of the neutrals which might be there united. The means of defence which were possessed by the Danes consisted in batteries on shore, situated to the right and left of the entrance of the port, and of a line of floating batteries, or vessels cut down and moored in the middle of the King's Channel, for the whole length of Copenhagen, in such a manner as to protect the city from the fire of the enemy. Commencing on the north of the position, there was pkced a work called the Three Crowns, constructed in masonry, nearly closed up at the gorge, commanding the entrance into the port, and connecting its fire with that of the citadel of Copenhagen. It was mounted with seventy pieces of cannon of the largest calibre. Fonr ships of the line, of which two were at anchor, and two under sail, and also a frigate under sail, closed the entrance of the channel which led into the port. From the fort of the Three Crowns, in going south- wards, twenty hulks of large vessels were strongly moored, carrying heavy guns, and filling up the middle of the King's Channel, being also connected with land batteries on tiit. Nand of Amack. Thus the Danish line of defence was supported on the left by the Three Crown batteries, and on the right by the isle of Amack, occupying lengthways and completely blockading up the middle of the King's Channel. The fort of the Three Crowns could not be forced, defended as it was by seventy cannon and five vessels, three of which were under sail. The line of defence, on the contrary, composed of immovable hulks, was too long and not sufficiently close, besides being incapable of manoeuvring *, and in the object of obstructing the middle of the passage they were placed too far in advance of the point of support on the right, or in other words, of the fixed batteries upon the isle of Amack. This island is only a continuation of the land upon which Copenhagen stands, the line of defence might there- fore be attacked on the right. If it had been com- posed of a division of vessels under sail, capable of moving, or if it had been more closely united and more strongly supported on the shore, the English would not have come safe and sound out of the attack. But the Danes thought a good deal of their ships of war, which they were not rich enough to replace if they should be destroyed ; and besides, they had not yet received their complement of men from Norway ; they were consequently shut up in the interior of the port, thinking that unservice- able vessels were sufficient to answer the purpose of floating batteries against the English fleet. Their bravest seamen, commanded by intrepid officers, served the artillery in those old floating batteries, thus moored in line. The English arrived at Copenhagen long before the junction, at that city, of all the vessels of the neutral powers could take place. They might have passed to the east of the middle ground, and disregarding the floating batteries moored in the Royal Channel, have gone through the Dutch Channel into the Baltic. They might have done all this out of reach of the guns of Copenhagen ; but they must have left behind them a very imposing force, capable of cutting off their retreat in case of any untoward event occurring which might oblige them to return by the passage of the Sound, weakened and in want of resources. It was much better to profit at once by the isolation of the Danes, to strike a decisive blow at them, detach them from the con- federation ; and after having, by this means, seized upon the keys of the Baltic, proceed, as quickly as possible, to attack the Swedes and Russians. This plan was at the same time bold and wise, and ob- tained the concurrence of both Nelson and Parker, a thing that rarely happens between two such com- manders. The 31st of March and 1st of April were em- ployed in reconnoitring the Danish line, sounding the channels, and arranging the plan of attack. Nelson, Parker, the older captains of the fleet, 1 This "manoeuvring" in a narrow and intricate channel, shows that the author does not understand naval affairs, or he would not have made a disadvantage of what in such a place was impossible. Tranilator. 1801. April. Battle of Copenhagen. THE NEUTRAL POWERS. Daring courage of Nelson. 221 and the commandant of the artillery, reconnoitred in person the position of the enemy, in the midst of ice, and sometimes of the Danish balls. Nelson maintained, that with ten sail of the line he would attack and break the right line of the Danes. His plan was to proceed along the entire length of the Middle Ground, passing through the Dutch Chan- nel, then doubling back immediately, to enter the King's Channel, and place ship against ship, a hundred fathoms from the Danish line. He wished at the same time, that some vessels of the fleet, under captain Riou, should attack the Three Crowns battery, and having silenced the guns, disembark a thousand men and carry it by storm. The com- mander-in-chief, admiral Parker, with the re- mainder of the fleet, was not to engage in this bold attack; he was to remain in the rear, cannon- ade the citadel, and cover any disabled vessel that might retire out of action. This manoeuvre, as bold as that of Aboukir, could only succeed by great ability in the execu- tion, and great good fortune as well. Admiral Parker consented, upon condition that the enter- prise should not be carried too far if the difficulties were found not likely to be surmounted. He gave Nelson twelve ships in place of the ten he de- manded. On the 1st of April, in the evening, Nelson sailed through the Dutch Channel, and came to anchor some way below Copenhagen, off a point of the isle of Amack, called Drago. In order to get into the King's Channel, and to sail through it, a different wind was required from that which the day before had enabled him to pass through the Dutch Channel. On the following day, in the morning, the wind blew just opposite to the point whence it blew on the preceding night. He sailed into the King's Channel, steering between the Danish line and the Middle Ground. AH the channels had been sounded ; but in spite of this precaution three * vessels got fast upon the Middle Ground, and Nelson took up his post with only nine. He did not suffer himself to be disheartened, but anchored very close to the Danish line, at a distance that must have rendered the effect of the cannonade most horrific. The want of the three vessels aground was much felt, more particularly for the attack on the batteries of the Three Crowns, which now could only be answered by frigates. At ten in the morning the whole of the British squadron was in line. It received and returned a dreadful fire. A division of bomb-vessels, which drew little water, was placed upon the shoal of the Middle Ground, and threw shells into Copenhagen, passing over both squadrons. The Danes had eight hundred pieces of artillery in play on their batteries, which inflicted consider- able damage upon the English. The officers commanding the floating batteries and hulks dis- played uncommon bravery, and found in those under their command the most devoted courage. The commander of the Provesten in particular, which was the southernmost of the Danish line, behaved with heroic courage. Nelson, seeing the importance of depriving their line of the support of the batteries on the isle of Amack, directed the fire of four vessels upon the Provesten alone. Two only were aground ; one was anchored, from ::t being able to weather the shoal. Tramlator. M. Lassen, the commander, defended his ship until he had lost five hundred out of six hundred of his gunners; he then threw himself into the sea with the remainder, and swam on shore, leav- ing his vessel in flames. He had thus the glory of not striking his flag. Nelson then directed all his efforts against the other floating batteries and rafts, and succeeded in silencing several. In the meanwhile, at the other end of the line, the English suffered considerably, and captain Riou was very roughly handled. Three English vessels were still on shore on the middle ground, and he had none but frigates to oppose to the batteries of the Three Crowns. He had received a terrible fire, without the hope of silencing it, or storming the work. Parker, observing the resistance made by the Danes, and fearing the English vessels, much in- jured in their rigging, would be exposed to getting aground, gave orders for the battle to cease. Nelson, perceiving the signal at the mast-head of Parker, gave way to a noble expression of in- dignation. He had lost one eye, and to that applying his spy-glass, he coolly said, * I cannot see Parker's signal for ceasing action ;" and or- dered his own signal for close action to be kept flying. This was a noble act of imprudence upon his part; and as often happens to audacious im- prudence, it was followed by complete success. The Danish hulks, which could not be moved to find shelter under the land batteries, were ex- posed to a most destructive fire. The Danebrog blew up with a terrible explosion; several others were disabled and driven from their moorings, with an enormous loss of men. But the English, on the other side, did not suffer less, and found themselves in great danger. Nelson, endeavour- ing to take possession of the Danish ships which had struck their colours, was exposed, on ap- proaching the batteries 2 upon the isle of Amack, to several deadly discharges from their guns. At this moment two or three of his vessels were so com- pletely cut up as to be incapable of manoauvring; and on the side of the Three Crowns, captain Riou, who had been obliged to retire, from these for- midable batteries, was cut in two by a chain-shot. Nelson, nearly beaten, was not disconcerted, and struck upon the idea of sending a flag of truce to the prince-royal of Denmark, who, from one of the batteries, was a spectator of the terrible scene. * Being moored, the Danish line was stronger, and could fire on the English ships coming to an anchor, that had to anchor and furl their sails under a heavy fire. Though the Danes fought nobly, it was the rapidity of the English fire that gave Nelson the victory. The Danish force south of the Crown batteries was all destroyed, burned, or taken. It consisted of six sail of the line, eleven floating batteries, mounting each twenty-six 24-pounders, or eighteen 18- pounders, each flanked by the batteries which inflicted the principal loss. Nelson sunk, burned, took, or drove on shore, the whole line ; and Copenhagen, at the close of the day, was open to bombardment, and the vessels placed for that purpose. One seventy-four, one sixty-four, four two-decked hulks, two frigates, a floating battery, four pontons or praams of twenty-four guns each, were taken, a frigate and a brig sunk, the Danish commodore was blown up, one or two were driven on shore under the batteries ; all this was achieved without the loss of a single vessel. POTT but our author could deem such a pretended or dubious -. Ir'crjr Tramlator. 222 Ne prince. "siIspensioT'of THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. hostilities. Nelson lands for the purpose of nego- tiating. 1801. April. In his letter, Nelson stated, that if the prince did not stop the fire which prevented his taking possession of his prizes, which by right belonged to him, having struck their colours, he should be obliged to blow them up with all on board; that the English were the brethren of the Danes ; that both had fought enough to show their valour, and that any further effusion of blood ought to be avoided *. The prince, stricken by the appalling spectacle, ana fearing for the city of Copenhagen, deprived of the support of the floating batteries, ordered the firin"- to cease. This was a fault, because in a few moments the fleet of Nelson, nearly disabled, would lave been obliged to retire half destroyed. A sort of negotiation was commenced, and Nelson took advantage of it to quit his place of anchorage. As lie retired three of his vessels got aground. If at this moment the fire of the Danes had but con- tinued, these three vessels must have been lost 2 . On the following day Nelson and Parker, after great labour, got the three vessels afloat that had been aground, and entered into a negotiation with the Danes with the object of stipulating for a suspen- sion of hostilities. They stood as much in need of this as the Danes, because they had twelve hundred men killed and wounded, and in six vessels a horrible slaughter 3 . The loss of the Danes was not much i Nelson did not want to approach the isle of Amack for such a purpose. When he wrote the note to the crown- prince the Danish line was irrecoverably ruined, but the fire was still hot. The Danebrog had just before struck her colours ; and the boats going to take possession of her, Nel- son's ship having ceased to fire for that purpose, the Danebrog fired upon the boats, most likely from ignorance of the usage of war , and they were obliged to return. The Elephant then opened again upon the Danebrog with grape-shot from her 86-pounders, killing and wounding many in that vessel, but making a far more horrible slaughter in two praams, feebly resisting, full of men, ahead and astern of her. The sight was most abhorrent to Nelson ; and he had no choice but to burn the Dane with all on board, including numbers of wounded. With the same humane feelings as those with which he rushed on deck at the battle of the Nile, to save the crew of 1'Orient, but with a different feeling as to the quarrel, and a desire, ever uppermost, to detach the Danes from the confederacy by the impression produced, for Nel- son was a man of genius as well as courage, he wrote the letter to the crown-prince. Some have said there was a third motive ; but as the Danes had nothing to do with that motive, it is immaterial to mention it here. The battle was over in the afternoon, about a couple of hours before dark. Early the next morning Nelson went on shore, and was re- ceived with acclamations by the people, not with " murmurs ;' thy knew his object was peace, and they did not harmonize with the designs of Paul I. and the first consul. Translator. * This was not true. The Desiree frigate, the Defiance and Elephant, got on shore only at the close of the action They had anchored so close to the Middle Ground, under the mistaken idea that there was shoal water between the Danish line and them, that the Elephant had only four feet water under her keel when the battle began. These ships had no enemy opposed to them, the Danish line being de- stroyed, and bomb-vessels moored in a position ready for the bombardment. The Monarch and Isis were the only ships that required serious repair, and they were sent home for that purpose, with one of the Danish prizes containing the wounded. Not half the fleet had been engaged. The line of defence gone between Amack and the Crown batteries Parker's division might have moved up and cannonaded the city tbe next day, if the bomb-vessels were not of themselves sufficient to destroy it. Tranilator. 3 The English had 20 officers and 234 men killed, and 4 reater ; but they had relied too much upon their ine of floating batteries, and now that these bat- teries were destroyed, the lower part of the city, ,hat which was open to the sea, was exposed to a Dombardment. Above all, they were apprehensive 'or their vessels in the basin, in which were their ships of war, but half equipped ; immovable, and [ocked up in the basin, they might have every one been burned. This was a most alarming subject of solicitude. They regarded their fleet, in fact, as they did their maritime existence itself ; because if it were lost they had not the means of fitting out another. Under the irritation of suffering and danger at the moment, they complained of their allies, without making any allowance for the diffi- culties they had to encounter, and which had obstructed their arrival under the walls of Copen- hagen. The contrary winds, the ice, and want of time, had retained the Swedes and Russians with- out any fault of their own. It is true, that if they had arrived with twenty vessels and joined the Danish fleet in the straits where the engagement took place, Nelson would have failed in his daring enterprise, and the cause of maritime neutrality would have triumphed that day. But time was necessary for them to prepare, and the promptitude of the English changed the destiny of the war. Parker, who had been alarmed at the temerity of Nelson, in the battle of the 2nd of April, was now able to form a tolerably correct opinion of the ac- tual position of the Danes, and understood all the results which could be drawn from the battle that had taken place. He required that the Danes should withdraw from the neutral confederacy, that they should open their ports to the English, and should receive an English force, under the pretence of protecting them against the resent- ment of the neutral powers. Nelson had the con- rage to land on the 3rd of April, and to carry these propositions to the crown-prince. He went in a boat to Copenhagen, and heard himself the mur- murs of this brave population, indignant at his appearance ; but he found the crown-prince was inflexible. The prince, more alarmed the evening before than the actual danger of Copenhagen jus- tified, would not consent to the shameful defection which was proposed to him. He replied, that he would sooner bury himself under the ruins of his capital than he would consent to betray the com- mon cause. Nelson returned on board his ship without having obtained any concession. During this interval, the Danes seeing themselves exposed to the dangers of a second battle, set themselves at work to add new defences to those already exist- ing. They made the battery of the Three Crowns Such stronger, and covered with cannon the isle ' Amack and the lower part of the town. They brought their ships, the great objects of their care, into basins, as far as possible from the sea, cover- ing them with earth and dung, in order to preserve them as much as possible from fire : and became in a certain degree more confident when they saw the hesitation of the English, who did not seem in officers and 641 men wounded ; in all 943. Three ships sus- tained nearly half the loss, the rest had to be divided be- tween sixteen vessels of all classes. The English accounts gave the Danish loss at 2000 men ; the Danish accounts at 1800. Tranilator. 1801. April. An armistice signed : its terms. THE NEUTRAL POWERS. Death of Paul I. of Russia : his character. 223 a hurry to recommence the terrible struggle. One part of the population capable of assisting, lent their aid in the defensive works ; the other part was employed in preparing means to prevent the conflagration. Finally, after five days of delay, Nelson returned to Copenhagen notwithstanding the threatening aspect of the Danish people. The discussion was lively, and Nelson took upon himself to concede more than Parker authorized. He concluded an armistice which was no more virtually than a statu quo. The Danes did not retire from the confede- ration 1 , but all hostilities were to be suspended between them and the English for fourteen weeks, after which time they were to return to the same position as on the day of the signature for the sus- pension of arms. The armistice comprehended only the Danish isles and Jutland, but not Holstein, so that hostilities might continue in the Elbe, and that river be still interdicted to the English. The Eng- lish were to keep at cannon-shot distance from all the Danish ports and armed vessels, except in the King's Channel, which they had the liberty to pass and repass for the purpose of entering the Baltic. They were not to establish themselves on any part of the Danish territory, and were only to touch at the ports for the purpose of getting such things as were necessary for the health and refreshment of the crews. Such were all the terms which Nelson could ob- tain, and it must be acknowledged they were all his victory gave him a right to demand. But as he was upon the point of quitting Copenhagen, a very unfortunate event was currently reported, of which the crown-prince, who had been induced by it to enter into negotiations, succeeded in keeping from him the knowledge. It was rumoured at the same moment that Paul I. had died suddenly. Nelson set sail without knowing this, or it would no doubt have made him advance in his demand. The ar- mistice was immediately ratified by admiral Parker. The prince-royal of Denmark hinted to the Swedes, that it would be of no use to expose themselves to the 1 Nelson landed on the 3rd of April. Sir Hyde Parker was at some distance, with whom conference was to be held. Notwithstanding delays and exchanges of powers, the sus- pension of arms was executed for fourteen weeks on the 9th. The stipulations were as stated by the author, except that he has disengenuously omitted to notice the most important of all : " The treaty of armed neutrality shall, at far at relates to the co-operation of Denmark, be suspended while the armis- tice is in force." Nelson had gained all he required to proceed against Sweden and Russia with no fear of an enemy in his rear. In ten or twelve days after the battle, the Eng- lish fleet had arrived so far from being seriously injured within two days' sail of St. Petersburg. Count Pahlen's letter to Admiral Parker, written on the 20th of April, was answered by Admiral Parker on board the London, at sea, on the 22d. Count Pahlen's letter put an end to the con- federacy. It announced that, on Alexander's accession, one of the first events had been, the acceptance of "the offer which the British court had made to his illustrious prede- cessor," to terminate the dispute " by an amicable conven- tion.' 1 ThU letter, and acceptance by Alexander of what Paul had refused, suspended Parker's proceedings. The British court had no part in that act, beyond orders pre- viously given to its admirals, in case Russia consented to the convention, that hostilities should be suspended. Parker sailed back to Kioge Bay, in Denmark, immediately re- signed, and Nelson took the chief command. Translator. attack of the English, whom they would find them- selves incapable of resisting. Nor was the advice unnecessary, for Gustavus Adolphus had got his fleet ready for sea. In the desire to get his fleet forward, he had dismissed one rear-admiral from his service, and sent an admiral before a court- martial, to punish him for his delay in getting for- ward, though very unjustly. All these efforts were vain. Paul I. had died at St. Petersburg on the night between the 23rd and 24th of March. This event terminated much more certainly than the incomplete victory of Nelson, the maritime confederation of the northern powers. Paul I. had been the author of the confederation, and had applied towards its success all the impe- tuosity of temper which he threw into every action of his life, and he would most certainly have dis- played similar earnestness in repairing the disaster, nearly of equal disadvantage to each, of the battle of Copenhagen. He would have sent his land forces to Denmark, and the whole of the neutral fleet to the Sound, and probably have made the English repent of their cruel enterprise against the Danish capital. But this prince had pushed to the utmost the patience of his subjects, and had just become the victim of a tragical revolution in his own palace. Paul I. was a spirited and not a bad man; but he carried his opinions to extremes, and like all others who are of the like character, was capable of good or evil actions, according to the disordered im- pulses of a violent and feeble mind. If such an organization is unfortunate in private individuals, it is much more so in princes, and still worse in absolute sovereigns. With such it very frequently approaches to madness, at times putting on a san- guinary complexion of mind. Thus every person in St. Petersburg was in dread for his own destiny. Even the best treated favourites of Paul were by no means sure that the favour they enjoyed would terminate out of Siberia. This prince, sensitive and chivalrous, had felt a lively sympathy for the victims of the French revo- lution, in consequence a vengeful hatred to that event. Thus while the able Catherine had con- trived, during her whole reign, to excite all Europe against France without marching against her a sin- gle soldier, Paul, on arriving atr the throne, had sent Suwarrow, with one hundred thousand Rus- sians, into Italy. In the warmth of his zeal, he interdicted even French books, manners, and cus- toms. This could not fail to offend the Russian nobility, who, like the whole of the European aris- tocracy, were fond of reviling France, with the reservation of enjoying her wit, her manners, and her advanced civilization. The Russian nobles found the antirevolutionary zeal unbearable when pushed to such an excess. Paul had been seen to alter these opinions, and to run into the opposite extreme, contracting a hatred for his allies, taking his enemies to his bosom, and filling his apartments with portraits of Bonaparte, drinking to his health in public, and acting so much upon contraries as to declare war against England. This last step made him not only distasteful to the Russian nobility, but odious; be- cause it touched not merely their tastes but their interests. The vast extent of his empire, occupying nearly the whole of the northern part of Europe, Disaffection of the Russian Count Pahlen. Plot 224 aristocracy. -Contrast be- TRIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. against the life of tween England and Russia. Paul I. 1801. March. fertile in grain, timber, henip, and minerals, stands in need of the aid of foreign merchants to take their productions, and give money or manufactured goods in exchange. The English furnish to Russia for the raw produce of her soil, the articles which are the product of their own labour, and thus the Russian farmers are able to pay their landlords the rents of their land. The English possess in conse- quence most of the trade with St. Petersburg; and that is, in a great degree, the bond which so con- nects the policy of Russia to that of England, retarding a rivalry which sooner or later must arise between those two great copartners of Asia. The Russian aristocracy was exasperated at the new system of policy adopted by the emperor. If it had blamed in this prince his excess of hatred towards France, it yet more censured his excess of attachment, more particularly when it went the length of resolutions fraught with ruin to the great landed proprietors. To these annoyances against their tastes and interests, Paul joined cruelties that were not natural to his heart, which was rather good than evil. He had sent a multitude of unfor- tunate people into Siberia ; he afterwards recalled them in consequence of being moved by their suf- ferings, but he never gave them back their pro- perty. These unhappy beings filled St. Petersburg with their miseries and their complaints. Annoyed by this he sent them anew into banishment. Daily becoming more awake to the sense of hatred borne towards him by his subjects, he grew more dis- i trustful, and threatened every life around him. He I formed the most sinister designs, now against his I ministers, then against his wife and children, and at length with his madness assumed all the conduct of a tyrant. He rendered the Michel palace in which he resided a complete fortress, surrounding it with bastions and ditches. It might be thought he was in dread of an unforeseen or sudden attack. Every night he barricaded the door which sepa- rated his apartments from those of the empress, and thus, without being aware of it, prepared him- self for his tragical fate. This state of affairs could not continue long, and terminated as, in this empire which approaches fast, it is true, towards civilization, but where barbarism was the starting point, as it had termi- nated before more than once. The notion of get- ting quit of the unfortunate Paul by the customary mode, in other words, by a revolution in the palace there where the palace is the nation was upper- most in every mind. Let a proper value he set upon national institutions. At another extremity of Europe, upon one of the first thrones in the world, there was also a prince, George III., in a state of madness, a headstrong prince, good, and religious. This prince, occasionally deprived of his reason for whole months, had just experienced a return of the same disorder, at one of the most serious periods in the history of England. Not- withstanding which things proceeded in the most simple and regular manner. The constitution placed at the king's side ministers who conducted the government on his behalf, and this eclipse of the royal reason- did not hi any mode affect the public business of the country. Pitt governed in behalf of George III. as he had done before for seventeen years : the idea of an atrocious crime in such a CMC entered into no man's imagination. In St. Petersburg, on the contrary, the sight of a prince on the throne in a state of insanity gave origin to the basest designs. There was at that time in the court of Russia one of those formidable men who never resile upon any extremity, who, under a regular government, would perhaps become great and distinguished citizens, but under a despotic government become criminals, if crime is in particular situations, though not actually countenanced by the govern- ment, incidental to its administration on certain occasions. Crime must be condemned in every country ; but the institutions that produce it must be still more a matter of reprobation. Count Pahlen had served with distinction in the Russian army. He was of a very imposing person, and concealed under the rough and sometimes familiar manner of a soldier a shrewd and pene- trating intellect. He was endowed with singular boldness and imperturbable presence of mind. Governor of St. Petersburg, entrusted with the police of the whole empire, initiated, for which thanks were due to his master's confidence, into all the great affairs of the state, he was in reality more than by the title of his office the principal person in the Russian government. His ideas upon the policy of his co'untry were of a decided character. He deemed the crusade against the French revo- lution as very unreasonable, and the new zeal against England as intemperate. A prudent re- serve, an able neutrality, in the midst of the formidable rivalry between England and France, appeared to him the most profitable political situa- tion for Russia. Neither English nor French, but Russian in his political views, he was also Russian in his manners Russian as it was understood in the time of Peter the Great. Convinced that all would be lost in Russia if the reign of Paul were not abridged ; having even -felt himself some fore- bodings for his own personal safety, from certain signs of dissatisfaction he had remarked in the emperor, he resolutely determined upon his course of action, and communicated it to count Panin, the vice-chancellor and minister for foreign i.ffairs, They both agreed that it had become absolutely needful to put an end to a situation as alarming for the empire as it was for individual security. Count Pahleu accordingly took upon himself to execute the terrible design upon which they had mutually agreed l . The heir to the throne was the 1 The following details are the most authentic that can be obtained regarding the death of Paul I. The source from which they are derived is as follows. The court of Prussia was much affected at the death of Paul I., and the more indig- nant at the effrontery with which certain accomplices in the crime were heard to boast about it in Berlin. The court obtained by different ways, and above all through a person well informed on the matter, some very curious particulars, which were collected into a memoir, and communicated to the first consul. These are the particulars of which M. Bignon, then secretary of the French embassy at the court of Prussia, was able to obtain the knowledge, and which he has detailed in his work. Still the more secret circum- stances attending the event remained wholly unknown, when a singular incident placed France in possession of the only account worthy of credit, which perhaps at this moment ex- ists, of the death of Paul I. A French emigrant, who had passed his life in the service of Russia, and who acquired a degree of military renown, had become the friend of count Pahlen and general Benningsen. Being with them at the 1101. March. The grand duke Alex- ander consents to THE NEUTRAL POWERS. hU father 1 * deposition. The conspirators. 225 grand duke Alexander, whose reign belongs to our time, a young prince who gave a promise of superior qualities, and who then appeared, which he did not afterwards prove, easy to be led. He it was whom count Pahlen wished to place upon the throne by a catastrophe sudden and free from alarm. It was indispensable to have an under- standing with the grand duke and heir to the crown, in the first place, in order to have his con- sent, and then not to be after the event treated as a common assassin, who is sacrificed while the ad- vantage of his crime is secured. It was difficult to break such a matter to the prince, full of kindly feeling, and utterly incapable of lending himself to an attempt against the life of his father. Count Pahlen, without laying open his mind, and without avowing, the design he intended, discussed the affairs of the government with the grand duke, and at each fresh extravagance of Paul that was dangerous to the empire, communicated it to him, but remained silent without commenting upon what he had said. Alexander, upon receiving these communications, cast down his eyes with grief, but said nothing. These dumb but expressive scenes were many times renewed. At last clearer ex- planations became necessary. Count Pahlen finished by making the young prince comprehend that such a state of things could not be much longer protracted without causing ruin to the empire; and taking good care not to speak of a crime of which Alexander would not have tolerated the propo- sition, he intimated to him that it would be neces- sary to depose Paul and ensure him a quiet retreat, but in any case to take out of his hands the chariot of the state, which he was driving towards a precipice. Alexander shed a good many tears, protested against any idea of disputing the government of the empire with his father, and then gave way by degrees, before fresh proofs of the danger into which Paul was throwing the affairs of the state, and even the imperial family itself. In fact, Paul, dissatisfied with the sluggishness of Prussia in the quarrel of the neutral powers, spoke of march- ing eighty thousand men upon Berlin. Besides this, in the delirium of his arrogance, he wished the first consul to take him for arbitrator in every thing ; and that even this powerful personage should neither make peace with Germany, nor the courts of Piedmont, Naples, Rome, or the Porte, except upon bases laid down by Russia ; in such a country-house of count Pahlen, he one day obtained from their own lips the circumstantial account of all that passed in St. Petersburg in the tragical night of the 23rd and 24th of March. As the emigrant was very careful to commit to writing all which he saw or heard, he immediately wrote down the narrative of the two principal actors in that event, and inserted them in the memoirs which he left behind him. These manuscript memoirs are now French property. They rectify many vague or incorrect assertions; and, in other respects, do not commit, more than they were previously committed, the names already connected with this dark in- cident ; they only give more precise and correct details in place of those falsified or exaggerated which were already known. After comparing this account, emanating from tes- timony BO valid, with the details furnished by the court of Prussia, we have put together the historical recital which follows, and which seems to us the only one worthy of belief, perhaps the only perfect one in existence, or that posterity will ever be able to obtain, of a catastrophe so tragical. Jfote of the Author. way it was soon reasonable to think he would not long have kept terms with France, whose side he had embraced with so much ardour. To these arguments count Pahlen added an expression of inquietude on his own part for the security of the imperial family itself, of which he said Paul began to be suspicious. Alexander at length consented, but exacted a solemn oath from count Pahlen that he should not attempt any thing that might affect the life of his father. Count Pahlen swore to every thing desired by the inexperienced son, who thought a sceptre could be snatched from the hand of an emperor without first taking his life. The actors were yet to be found for the tragedy; in his conception of the design, count Pahlen deemed it beneath him to be a personal partaker in the execution. He had the actors in view, but reserved the secret according to the confidence each seemed to merit, making them sooner or later acquainted with the part which he had reserved for them to perform. The Soubow brothers, who had been raised from nothing by Catherine's fa- vour, were chosen for carrying out this catastrophe. Count Pahlen only opened his design to them at a late period. Plato Soubow, the favourite of Cathe- rine, restless and supple, was well worthy to make a figure in a palatial revolution. His brother Nicolas, solely distinguished by his great bodily strength, was well fitted for a subaltern part. Vale- rian Soubow, a brave and good soldier, a friend of the archduke Alexander, deserved from his merits to have been omitted from so unworthy a project They had a sister closely allied with all the English faction, the friend of lord Whitworth, the English ambassador, who poured into their ears her own zeal for the policy of England. Count Pahlen secured many other confederates, and brought them under different pretences to St. Petersburg, without disclosing to them his secret. There was one individual whom he had summoned to St. Pe- tersburg, whose concurrence he did not doubt any more than of his redoubtable energy, that in- dividual was the celebrated general Benningsen, an Hanoverian belonging to the Russian service, the first officer in the Russian army at that time, and who had the honour at abater period, in 1807, to stop the victorious march of Napoleon. His hands, worthy of bearing a sword, should never have been armed with a poignard. Benningsen had sought a refuge in the country from the anger of Paul, whom he had displeased. Count Pahlen drew him from his retreat, made him acquainted with the plot, but only spoke, if general Benningsen is to be credited, of the depo- sition of the emperor. Benningsen gave his word, and kept it with frightful determination. It was resolved to choose for the time of exe- cuting the plot, some day when the regiment of Semenourki, which was entirely devoted to the frand duke Alexander, should be on guard at the lichel palace. They were obliged to wait. But time pressed, for Paul's illness made a rapid pro- gress, every day becoming more alarming for the interests of the empire, and placing the safety of his attendants in greater peril. One day he seized the imperturbable Pahlen by the arm, and singu- larly addressed him in these words : " You were in St. Petersburg hi 1762 1" Q 226 Singular behaviour of Paul. Calmness of count Pahlen. THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. The emperor Paul assassinated. 1801. March. This was the year when the emperor, the father of Paul, was assassinated, that Catherine might mount the throne. " Yes," replied Pahlen, with great coolness, " I was there." "What part did you take in the event which then happened ! " " That of a subaltern officer in a cavalry regi- ment, I was a witness, not an actor, in that catastrophe." " Very well," replied Paul, casting a look of ac- cusation and of suspicion at his minister, "they want to recommence to-day the revolution of 1762." " I know it," replied count Pahlen, without emo- tion; "I know the plot and am in it." "What you!" exclaimed Paul, "you in the plot!" " Yes, in order to become well acquainted with it, and to be better able to watch over your security." The calmness of this redoubtable conspirator disconcerted all the suspicions of Paul, who ceased to be jealous of Pahlen, but continued to be still agitated and restless. A curious circumstance very nearly of public interest, if such a phrase may be employed in con- nexion with so great a crime, hastened, among other causes, the contemplated event. Paul ordered, on the 23rd of March, a despatch to be written and sent off to M. Krudener, his minister at Berlin, in which he commanded him to declare to the Prus- sian court, that if it did not immediately decide to act against England, he would march eighty thou- sand men upon the Prussian frontier. Count Pahlen wishing, without discovering his reason, that M. Krudener should not attach any importance to the despatch, added with his own hand the following postscript : " His imperial majesty is indisposed to-day; this may have serious consequences 1 ." The 23rd of March was chosen by the chiefs of the conspiracy for the execution of the fatal plot. Count Pahlen, under the pretext of a dinner party, had united at his house, the Soubows, Benningsen, and a number of generals and officers on whom he well knew he could rely. The bottle was profusely circulated with wine of every kind. Pahlen and Benningsen drank nothing. When dinner was over the design for which they were then assembled was unfolded to the conspirators, and to nearly all of them for the first time. They were not informed that the intention was to assassinate the emperor; from such a crime they would have recoiled with horror. They were told that they must all proceed to the palace in order to compel Paul to abdicate the imperial dignity. That thus they should deliver the empire from very imminent peril, and save a vast number of innocent persons whose lives were threatened by the sanguinary insanity of the empe- ror. Finally, in order more completely to secure their assent, it was affirmed to them that the grand duke Alexander, convinced himself of the necessity of preserving the empire, was well aware of the design, and approved of it. Soon after this the party, flushed with wine, no longer hesitated, and > This despatch was shown to general Beurnonville, the French ambassador, who communicated the contents to his own government immediately. all, three or four excepted, went to the palace, believing that they were going merely to depose a mad emperor, not to shed the blood of their unfor- tunate master. The night appearing to be sufficiently advanced, the conspirators, to the number of sixty or there- abouts, separated, dividing themselves into two parties. Count Pahlen took the direction of one, general Benningsen of the other. Both those officers were in full uniform, wearing sashes and orders, and proceeding sword in hand. The palace Michel was built and guarded like a fortress, but the bridges were lowered and the gates opened to the two heads of the conspiracy. The party of Benningsen went first straight forwards to the apartment of the emperor. Count Pahlen remained behind, with a reserve of conspirators. He who had organized the plot, disdained to aid in the exe- cution, and was there solely to make provision for any unexpected events. Benningsen penetrated to the apartment of the sleeping monarch. Two hey- dukes were the emperor's body guard, and like faithful servants attempted to defend their sove- reign. One of them was struck down with a blow from a sabre ; the other fled, crying out for assist- ance, a very useless cry in a palace guarded almost wholly by accomplices in the crime. A valet, who slept near the emperor, ran to the spot, and he was made to open his master's door. The unhappy Paul would fain have found a refuge in the apart- ments of the empress, but amid his dark suspicions, he had been accustomed, with great care, to barri- cade the door that led to them every night. He had therefore no way of escape, and flinging him- self out at the bottom of the bed, concealed himself behind the folds of a screen. Plato Soubow, run- ning to the imperial bed, found it empty, and cried out in alarm, "The emperor has saved himself; we are lost." At that instant Benningsen saw the emperor, went to him sword in hand, and presented him with the act of abdication. " You have ceased to reign," cried he ; " the grand duke Alexander is emperor. I summon you hi his name to resign the empire, and sign this act of abdication ; on this condition alone will I answer for your life." Plato Soubow repeated the same summons. The em- peror, struck with dismay, and in utter confusion, asked of what he had been guilty to merit such treatment. "You have not ceased to persecute us for years," replied the half-drunken assassins. They then pressed close upon the unfortunate Paul, who urged and implored for mercy in vain. At this moment a noise was heard, the footsteps only of some of the conspirators who had remained behind. The assassins, believing it was assistance coming to the emperor, fled immediately. Ben- ningsen alone, but with fearful determination, re- mained in the monarch's presence, and advancing with his sword pointed at Paul's breast, prevented him from moving. The conspirators, recognizing each other, re-entered the theatre of their crime. They surrounded anew the unfortunate monarch, in order to force him to sign his abdication. The emperor for a moment tried to defend himself. In the scuffle, the lamp, which cast a light upon the horrible scene, was overturned. Benningsen went to seek for another, and on entering found Paul expiring under the blows of two of the con 1801. March. Grief of the royal family. Alexander proclaimed em- THE NEUTRAL POWERS. peror. Public opinion upon the assaitination. 227 spirators ; one had fractured his skull with the pummel of his sword, the other was in the act of strangling him with his sash. While this terrible scene was going forward within, count Pahlen, with the second band of con- spirators, had remained outside. When he was informed that all was over, he had the body of the emperor placed upon his bed, and set a guard of thirty men at the door of the apartment, with orders to forbid any one, even of the imperial family, from entering. He then set out to find the grand duke, to announce to him the frightful occurrence of the night. The grand duke Alexander, agitated most violently, as might be expected, demanded of the count, when he arrived, what had become of his father. The silence of count Pahlen soon taught him how fatal were the expectations he had cherished, when he persuaded himself that nothing but an act of abdication was contemplated. The sorrow of the young prince was very great; the act became, it was said, the secret torment of his life, because nature had given him a kind and generous heart. He flung himself upon a seat, burst into tears, and would listen to nothing, load- ing count Pahlen with bitter reproaches, while the count bore them all with imperturbable composed- ness. Plato Soubow went to find the grand duke Con- stantine, who had no knowledge of what had oc- curred, though he has been unjustly accused of having been implicated in the horrible deed. He came tremblingly to the spot, thinking that all his family were to be sacrificed. He found his brother overwhelmed with despair, and then became aware of what had happened. Count Pahlen sent a lady of the palace, who was on very intimate terms with the empress, to inform her of the event of her tragical widowhood. The empress ran in haste to her husband's apartment, and attempted to reach his bed of death, but was prevented by the guards. Having recovered for a moment from her first grief, she felt within her heart, mingling with the emotions of sorrow, strong impulses of ambition. She recalled Catherine to her recollection, and at once felt a desire to mount the throne. She sent several messengers to Alexander, who was about to be proclaimed, to say to him that the throne was hers, and that she, not he, ought to be pro- claimed sovereign. Here was a new embarrass- ment, and a new trouble for the wounded heart of her son, who, about to mount the steps of the throne, had to pass, in order to ascend it, between the body of a murdered father and a mother in tears, demanding, alternately, either her husband or a crown. The night departed upon these ap- palling scenes ; morning dawned; it was necessary that no time should be allowed for reflection ; the death of Paul it was most important should be made known, and that the accession of his suc- cessor should, at the same time, be promulgated. Count Pahlen went to the young prince, and said, " You have wept enough as a child ; now come and reign." He snatched young Alexander from the place of his sorrow, and followed by Benuing- sen, went to present him to the troops. The first regiment they encountered was that of Preobrajensky. Being devoted to Paul I., it gave them a very cool reception ; but the others, that were much attached to the grand duke, and were, besides, under the influence of Pahlen, who pos- sessed a great ascendancy in the army, did not hesitate a moment to shout " Long live Alexander!" Their example was followed by others of the troops; the young emperor was speedily proclaimed, and put in possession of the throne. He returned and took up his residence with his spouse, the empress Elizabeth, in the winter palace. All St Petersburg heard with dismay of this sanguinary catastrophe. The impression which it made, proved that the manners of the people had begun to change in that country, and that since 1762, Russia had been influenced by the example of civilized Europe. It may be observed, to her honour, that if she had then advanced since 1 762, she has now advanced equally far from what she was in 1800. On this occasion, the Russians exhibited feelings which did them honour. They feared Paul I. and his madness much more than they hated him, because he was not of a sanguinary disposition. The horrible circumstances of his death were immediately known, and inspired every bosom with pity. The body of Paul was exposed in state, according to custom, but with infinite care to conceal his wounds. Military gloves con- cealed the mutilations of his hands, and a large hat covered his head. His face was deformed by in- juries; but it was promulgated that he had died of apoplexy. This barbarous act made an extraordinary sen- sation throughout Europe. The intelligence flew like lightning to Vienna, Berlin, London, and Paris, producing consternation and horror every where. Some years before, it was Paris that had shocked Europe by spilling royal blood : but now Paris gave an example of order, humanity, and peace ; they were the old monarchies which, in their turn, had become the scandal of the civilized world. Only a year before, Neapolitan royalty had bathed itself in the blood of its subjects; and now a revolution in a palace ensanguined the im- perial throne of Russia. Thus, in this age of agitation, every country successively gave sad examples, and furnished lamentable subjects for the censures of their ene- mies. If nations desire to revile each other, they have certainly enough in their several histories to yield deplorable materials for such a purpose : let us take care not to employ similar recollections for such ends. If we recount these horrible narra- tives, it is because truth is the first quality of history, it is because truth is the most useful and the most powerful of teachers; the most effective for the prevention of similar scenes ; and without meaning what is offensive to any nation, let us say once more, that the institutions are more in the wrong than the people; and, that if, in St. Peters- burg, an emperor was assassinated, in order to bring about a change of policy, in London, on the contrary, without any sanguinary result, the policy of peace succeeded that of war by the simple sub- stitution of Addington for Pitt. The more minute particulars of this catastrophe were soon made public by the indiscreet conduct of the assassins themselves. At Berlin, more particularly, the court of which was so closely allied to that of St. Petersburg, the details of the crime were circulated with great rapidity. The 528 Th a e cc B u r S ed hCabinet UnJUSUy TRIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. *"" 1801. March. sister of the Soubows had taken refuge there, and, it was said, had shown symptoms of disquietude and anxiety, such as a person -would exhibit that had been in expectation of some great event. She had a son, who was the very officer commanded to announce to Prussia the accession of Alexander. This young man, with the indiscretion natural to youth, disclosed some of the particulars connected with the assassination, and caused at Potsdam a rumour which much offended the young and virtuous king of Prussia. The court made the young man sensible of the impropriety of his con- duct ; and from thence originated a disgraceful calumny. The sister of the Soubows was on in- timate terms of friendship with the English ambassador, Lord Whitworth, who some time afterwards figured at Paris, where he played a remarkable part. The death of the emperor Paul, of great advantage to the English, coming so op- portunely to perfect the incomplete victory of Copenhagen, was attributed by the vulgar through- out Europe to the influence of British policy. The intimacy of the English ambassador with a family so deeply implicated in the murder of Paul, gave ground for strong presumption in confirmation of the calumny, and presented new arguments to those who were unable to perceive that such events may arise from general and very natural causes. None of these conjectures were well-founded. Lord Whitworth was an honourable man, incapa- ble of being concerned in such an attempt. His cabinet had committed many unjustifiable actions for some years, and was soon afterwards guilty of others which it would be more difficult to justify, but it was as much taken by surprise at the death of the czar, as the rest of Europe. Yet the first consul himself, in spite of the perfect impartiality of his judgment, could not keep entertaining sus- picions, and he caused many more by the manner of announcing in the Moniteur the death of Paul. "It is for history," said the official journal, "to clear up the mystery of his tragical end, and to say what cabinet in the world was most deeply inter- ested in bringing about this catastrophe." The death of Paul delivered England from an unrelenting enemy, and deprived the first consul of a powerful ally, but one at the same time that was embarrassing, and in his later days nearly as dangerous as he was 'useful. It is clear that the defunct emperor, believing that the first consul would refuse him nothing as the price of his al- liance, had exacted conditions in regard to Italy, Germany, and Egypt, which France could not pos- sibly have agreed to, and that must have proved great obstacles in the establishment of a general Eeace. The first consul made choice of Duroc, his ivourite aid-de-camp, to go to Russia, the same who had already been sent to Berlin and Vienna. Duroc carried a" letter, written in the first consul's own hand to congratulate the new emperor upon his accession to the throne, and to try all that the powers of flattery and persuasion could do in order to fill his mind, if possible, with just ideas in re- gard to the relations between Russia and France. Duroc set off immediately, with orders to go through Berlin. He was to visit a second time the court of Prussia, and to collect the most correct infoi-mation upon the late occurrences in the north, that he might arrive in St. Petersburg better pre- pared to manage the men and things with which he was about to come in contact. England was much pleased, as might be expected, to learn at the same time the victory of Copen- hagen, and the death of the formidable adversary who had formed the neutral league against her. They exalted the heroism of the British hero Nelson, with a natural and legitimate enthusiasm ; nations act well in the first excess of their joy to celebrate and even exaggerate their victories. Still, when the first enthusiasm was over, and when the popular imagination became more calm, the pre- tended victory of Copenhagen was better appre- ciated. The Sound, people said, was not difficult to force; the attack upon Copenhagen, in a narrow channel where the English vessels could not move without great hazard, was a bold act, worthy of the conqueror at Aboukir. But the English fleet had been seriously disabled. If it had not been that the crown-prince too eagerly listened to lord Nelson's truce, probably he would have been beaten. The victory had then been very near a defeat, and, moreover, the result obtained was not very import- ant, because only a simple armistice had been ob- tained of the Danes, after which the contest must be renewed. If the emperor Paul had not died, this hovel campaign, which the English must have carried on, in the midst of an enclosed sea, where they could not put into any port, for all the ports were shut against them, presented great and fear- ful chances. But the blow, struck so opportunely at the very gates of the Baltic against the Danes, was decisive ; Paul was no longer alive to take up the gauntlet and continue the fight This is another proof added to a thousand others in history, that there are many favourable chances on the side of boldness, especially when its blows are directed by commanding ability. The English immediately sought to avail them- selves of this fortunate change of government to relax the rigour of their maxims in maritime Idw, so as to arrive at some honourable adjustment with Russia, and after her with all the other powers. They well knew the kind and amiable character of the young prince who had mounted the Russian throne, because at that tune it was reported to be almost bordering upon feebleness : moreover, they flattered themselves that they should regain a con- siderable degree of influence at St. Petersburg. They sent Lord St. Helen's to that capital with the necessary powers to negotiate an arrangement. M. Woronzoff, the ambassador of Russia at the court of George III., entirely devoted to British interests, had incurred even the sequestration of his property, on account of his not quitting London, which was his usual place of residence. Count Wo- ronzoff was invited to take upon himself again his former official duties. The vessels belonging to the neutral powers in the English ports which had been laid under an embargo were released. Nelson, by orders of his government, continued inactive in the Baltic, and was instructed to declare to the northern courts that he should abstain from every act of hostility, while they refrained from sen ding their fleets to sea, in which case he should attack them. If, on the contrary, their fleets remained in port, and did not attempt the junction long threat- ened with the Danes, he was interdicted from any ISO!. Aprii. Disposition of the northern courts. THE NEUTRAL POWERS. Peace between England and France meditated. 229 hostile act upon the coasts of Denmark, Sweden, and Russia; and that he should permit to all mer- chant-vessels a free passage, the relations between the countries being placed upon the same footing as before the rupture. The blow thus struck at Copenhagen had un- liappily produced its effect. The smaller neutrals, such as Denmark and Sweden, although irritated against England on their own account, had been only forced into the league by the threatening in- fluence of Paul I. Prussia, that regarded her ma- ritime interests as only secondary to those of the nation at large, and that was greatly inclined to peace, had not entered into the quarrel at all but for the double influence of Paul I. and the first consul; she therefore felt a great pleasure in being extricated from her embarrassing position. She was, as the rest all were, very well-disposed to the re-establishment of her commercial interests. In a very short time the flags of commercial vessels were seen again in the Baltic, English, Swe- dish, Danish, and Russian ; and the navigation there once more resumed its former activity. Kelson permitted them all to pass freely, and received in return, along the northern coasts, the refreshments of which he stood in need. This state of the armistice was, therefore, univer- sally assented to. The Russian cabinet, governed by count Pahlen, without giving way before Eng- lish influence, showed itself well inclined to termi- nate the maritime quarrel by such an arrangement as should, up to a certain point, secure neutral rights. It was announced that lord St. Helens would be received ; M. Woronzoff had already been authorized to return to London, and M. Bem- storff was sent to England by Denmark. The first consul, who had by his skill formed this redoubtable coalition against England, founded as it was upon the interest of all the maritime powers, saw its dissolution with regret, through the feebleness of the confederates. He endeavoured to make them ashamed of the haste with which they withdrew; but each excused its conduct by that of its neighbour. Denmark, justly proud of her bloody engagement at Copenhagen, said that she had ful- filled her duty, and that they ought to fulfil theirs. Sweden declared that she was ready to fight, but added, that as the Danish, Prussian, and above all the Russian flags, were sailing freely over the ocean, she could not discover a reason why her subjects should not partake the benefit of naviga- tion as well as the rest. Prussia excused her inac- tion from the change that had occurred at St. Pe- tersburg, and repeated to France new protestations of firmness and constancy. She declared that her perseverance might be best judged, when the ne- cessary time came to conclude an arrangement, and articles should be definitively agreed upon for re- gulating maritime rights. Russia affected to sup- port neutral rights, but pretended to have in view only one main object, that of putting an end to hostilities commenced without sufficient grounds. The first consul, who wished to retard as long as possible any accommodation between Prussia and England, devised a clever expedient to prolong their differences. He had offered Malta to Paul, he now offered Hanover to Prussia. It has beer seen that Prussia had occupied that province, so dear to the heart of George I II., as a reprisal for he violence committed by England upon the rights >f neutrals. Prussia had reconciled herself with difficulty to this aggressive action ; but the secret onging which she always felt to possess that pro- ince, the most desirable for her that could be, coming so well in for enlarging and rounding off ler dominions this feeling decided her, in spite of ler desire for repose and peace. Prussia had a laim to an indemnity in Germany, because it was 'lie of those secular principalities which were to be ndemnified for their losses on the left bank of the .thine, by the secularization of the ecclesiastical >tates. These pretensions were very considerable; and in the hope that the first consul would favour hose views, she was anxious to secure his good will by occupying Hanover. Bonaparte at once said, that if she were inclined to keep Hanover, and consider it as her indemnity, though it was ten times more than was her due, he would consent to t, without any jealousy on the part of France, on account of so large a portion of territory being granted to a power bordering upon that country. This proposition was most welcome, and yet it xoubled the heart of the young monarch of Prussia. The offer was seductive; but the great difficulty in ;he way was the light in which it would be viewed ay England. Still, without accepting the proposal u a definitive manner, the cabinet of Berlin re- plied, that the king, Frederick-William, was touched with the kindness of the first consul; that without positively accepting the proposal, it was better to delay the consideration of the question of terri- tory until general negotiations for peace took place throughout Europe ; and he added, that grounding his conduct upon the present state of things, which was that of a tacit armistice rather than one formally stipulated, he should continue to keep possession of Hanover. The first consul did not wish for more than this, being perfectly satisfied with having created be- tween the courts of London and Berlin a very complicated difficulty, and placed in the hands of a power devoted to him a precious pledge, of which he should be able to make a great advantage in negotiating with England. The period of such negotiations at- last drew near. England had seized with some degree of eagerness the opportunity of softening the harsh- ness of her maritime principles, La order to dispel the danger which threatened her in the north. She was now anxious to conclude the existing state of things, and have peace, not only with the neu- trals, but with a power which had been much more formidable than they with France, that for the last ten years had shaken all Europe, and had begun to threaten the English soil with serious dangers. At one moment, thanks to the obstinacy of Pitt and the talents of Bonaparte, she had found herself alone engaged in a contest with all the world: escaped from this position by a successful act of boldness, by a stroke of good fortune, she was un- willing to fall again into the same hazards through a repetition of similar errors. England, too, could now negotiate with honour ; and it was wise, after so many lost opportunities, not to suffer that which at present offered itself anew to escape. Where- fore reasoned the more sensible people in Eng- land wherefore prolong the war ? We have taken all the colonies that are worth the trouble ; France George III. becomes favour- Lord Hawkesbury and 230 ably disposed towards Bo- THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. M. Otto treat for naparte. peace. 1801. April. has vanquished all the allies to which we were bound ; she has aggrandised herself at their ex- pense, and has become the most formidable power in the universe. Every day in addition to the con- test renders her stronger, more particularly so by the successive conquests of all the coasts and harbours of Europe. She has subjugated Holland and Naples, and she is now marching upon Portu- gal. We must not add to her power by obstinately continuing the war. If it was for the support of the most salutary principles that we had been fighting for years, if it was for social order threatened by the French revolution, these are no longer the question, since France gives at this moment the best examples of prudence and order. Do we think to re-establish the Bourbons ? but that was Pitt's great fault, the mistake of his policy; and if we have lost his powerful influence and the assistance of his great talents, we must at least obtain the sole advantage of his retirement from office ; in other words, we must renounce that in- flexible and malicious hatred, which between him and Bonaparte originated insults and personalities of the grossest nature. All the more sensible minds in England were, therefore, directed to peace. Two great sources of influence were exerted on the same side the king and the people. The king of England, the obstinate and religious, who refused " emancipation" to Pitt from his fidelity to the protestant cause, did not the less rejoice to see Catholicism re-established in Francp. a re-establishment which was already an- nounced to be near. He saw the triumph of re- ligious principles, and that was sufficient. He had a great aversion to the French revolution ; and although Bonaparte had been the means of giving severe and terrible checks to the policy of England, he was much pleased with his conduct in acting against that revolution, and in reinstating true social principles in his own country. France, which in so great a degree possessed the faculty of communicating to every people her own sentiments and feelings, having become tranquil, had returned to sound ideas ; George III. regarded the blessings of social order as being by this means preserved to mankind. If for Pitt the war had been one of national ambition, for George III. it had been a war of principles. So far George III. might be considered a friend to Bonaparte of a very different character from Paul I. Recovered from the access of disorder that for some months had ob- scured his reason, he was perfectly well disposed to peace, and urged his ministers to its conclusion. The English people, loving novelty, regarded a peace with France as the very first of novelties to them, for they had been slaying each other for ten years over the whole world. Attributing alone the scarcity of bread to the sanguinary contest which was desolating sea and land, they loudly de- manded peace with France. At last the new minis- ter, Mr. Addington, very unequal as a rival to the glory of Pitt, to whom in talents he was infinitely inferior, as he was in character and political im- portance Mr. Addington had only one clear and intelligible duty, that of making peace. He, ac- cordingly, was anxious to conclude it. Pitt, still powerful in Parliament, advised him, on his own part, to follow so expedient and judicious a step. The events in the north, far from exalting British pride, furnished her, on the contrary, with a more facile and honourable opportunity for negotiation. The new minister had determined upon this step the day on which he accepted office, and he was only the more confirmed in this opinion, when he learned what had passed at Copenhagen and St. Petersburg. Proceeding still further, he determined to make a direct tender to the first consul, which might serve as a return to that made by the first consul to England upon his acceptance of power. Lord Hawkesbury, who was in the cabinet of Mr. Addington, as secretary of state for foreign affairs, sent for M. Otto. This gentleman fulfilled in London, as we have already shown, certain diplomatic functions relative to prisoners of war, and had been entrusted six months before with the negotiations which took place regarding the naval armistice. He was thus very naturally become the intermediate agent of the new communications be- tween the two governments then about to com- mence. Lord Hawkesbury stated to M. Otto that the king had charged him with an agreeable com- mission, which without doubt would be heard of with as much pleasure in France as in England, a commission for the proposal of a peace. He de- clared that the king was ready to send a pleni- potentiary to Paris itself, or to any other city that the first consul might choose. Lord Hawkesbury added, that the conditions he intended to offer were such as were honourable to both nations, and to show the perfect frankness of the reconciliation, he affirmed that reckoning from the selfsame day, every design directed against the present govern- ment of France should be discountenanced in the British cabinet, and he expected the same return from that of the French republic. This was disavowing the anterior political system of Pitt, who had always pretended to endeavour to effect the re-establishment of the house of Bourbon, and had never ceased to uphold the attempts of the emigrants and Vende"ans with English money. The proposed negotiations could not have been commenced in a more dignified manner. Lord Hawkesbury required an immediate answer. The first consul, who, at this moment, did not aspire at more than completely fulfilling his pledge to France, of restoring to her order and peace, was much pleased with this solution of the ques- tion, that he had, it may be said, commanded by his successes and political ability. He received the overtures of England with as much earnest- ness as they had been offered. A negotiation of formal diplomacy appeared to him, under such circumstances, to be tedious and ineffective. The recollection of that of Lord Malmesbury, in 1797> which had proved only a vain demonstration on the part of Pitt, had left a distasteful impression upon his mind. He thought, that if there was real sincerity in London, as there appeared to be, it would suffice to confer directly, and without noise, at the foreign-office, there to treat of the conditions of a peace with frankness and good faith. He regarded it as easy of arrangement, if a reconciliation were truly intended ; " because," said he, " England has taken the Indies, and we have taken Egypt. If we agree to keep, each of us, these valuable conquests, the rest is of small importance. Of what importance, in effect, are a few islands in the West Indies or elsewhere, 1301. April. Initructioni given to M. Otto. EVACUATION OF EGYPT. Prospects of a general peace. 231 which England retains from us or our allies, com- pared to the vast possessions we have conquered ? Perhaps she refuses to restore them, when Hano- ver is in our hands, when Portugal must soon be so; and we offer to evacuate those kingdoms for a few American islands. Peace is, therefore, easy to conclude." So he wrote to M. Otto : " If the English desire it, I authorize you to treat ; but directly, and only with lord Hawkesbury." Powers were sent to M. Otto, with a recommen- dation to make nothing public, to write as little as possible, to negotiate verbally, and to exchange written notes only upon the most important points. It was impossible to keep perfectly secret such a negotiation ; but the first consul desired him to request, and upon his own part to observe, the utmost possible discretion relative to the questions which must arise and be discussed on both sides. Lord Hawkesbury consented to this mode of proceeding, in the name of the king of England; and it was agreed that the conferences should begin at once in London, between him and M. Otto. They, therefore, really commenced in the early part of April, 1801, or middle of Germinal, year ix. From the 18th of Brumaire, year vni., or 9th of November, 1799, to the month of Germinal, year ix., or April, 1801, eighteen months had elapsed, and France had now peace with the con- tinent, was engaged in a frank and sincere nego- tiation with England, going, finally, to obtain, for the first time for ten years, a general peace on land and sea. The condition of this general peace, admitted by all the contracting parties, was the preservation of her brilliant conquests. BOOK X. EVACUATION OF EGYPT. THE NEGOTIATIONS IN LONDON EXCITE THE GENERAL ATTENTION. REMARKS UPON THE INFLUENCE THAT THE DEATH OF PAUL I. WOULD EXERCISE UPON THIS NEGOTIATION. STATE OF THE COURT OF RUSSIA. CHARACTER OF ALEXANDER. HIS YOUNG FRIENDS FORM WITH HIM A SECRET GOVERNMENT, WHICH DIRECTS THE WHOLB BUSINESS OF THE EMPIRE. ALEXANDER CONSENTS TO DIMINISH, IN A CONSIDERABLE DEGREE, THE PRETEN- SIONS BORNE TO PARIS BT M. KALITCHEFP IN THE NAME OF PAUL I. HE RECEIVES DUROC WITH MUCH FAVOUR. REITERATES HIS PROTESTATIONS OF A DESIRE TO BE UPON GOOD TERMS WITH FRANCE. COMMENCE MENT OF THE NEGOTIATION SET ON FOOT IN LONDON. PRELIMINARY CONDITIONS BOTH ON ONE SIDE AND THE OTHER. CONQUESTS OF THE TWO COUNTRIES BY LAND AND SEA. ENGLAND CONSENTS TO RESTORE A PART OF EER MARITIME CONQUESTS, BUT MAKES EVERY OTHER QUESTION SUBORDINATE TO THE EVACUATION OF EGYPT BY FRANCE. THE TWO GOVERNMENTS TACITLY AGREE TO TEMPORIZE, IN ORDER TO AWAIT THE PROGRESS OF MILITARY EVENTS. THE FIRST CONSUL, APPRIZED THAT THE NEGOTIATION DEPENDS UPON THESE EVENTS, URGES ON SPAIN TO MARCH RAPIDLY UPON PORTUGAL, AND MAKES FRESH EFFORTS TO SUCCOUR EGYPT. EMPLOYMENT OF THE NAVAL FORCES. DIFFERENT EXPEDITIONS PROJECTED. COURSE FOLLOWED BY GAN- TEAUME ON SAILING FROM BREST. THE ADMIRAL PASSES THE STRAITS. READY TO GO ON TO ALEXANDRIA, RE IS ALARMED AT IMAGINARY DANGERS, AND ENTERS TOULON. STATE OF EGYPT AFTER THE DEATH OF KLEBER. SUBMISSION OF THE COUNTRY, AND PROSPEROUS SITUATION OF THE COLONY IN RESPECT TO ITS RESOURCES. INCAPACITY AND GENERAL ANARCHY AMONG THE COMMANDERS. DEPLORABLE DIFFERENCXS BETWEEN THE GENERALS. BADLY-DEVISED MEASURES OF MENOU, WHO WISHES TO EFFECT EVERY OBJECT AT THE SAME TIME. IN SPITE OF REPEATED WARNINGS RESPECTING THE ENGLISH EXPEDITION, BE TAKES NO PRECAUTIONARY STEPS. DISEMBARKATION OF THE ENGLISH IN THE ROAD OF ABOCKIR, ON THE 8xi OF MARCH. GENERAL FRIANT, WITH FORCES REDUCED TO FIFTEEN HUNDRED MEN, MAKES INEFFECTUAL ATTEMPTS TO PREVENT THEIR LANDING. A REINFORCEMENT OF TWO BATTALIONS TO THE DIVISION WOULD HAVE SAVED EGYPT. TARDY CONCENTRATION OF THE FORCES ORDERED BY MENOU. ARRIVAL OF THE DIVI- SION OF LANU8SE, AND SECOND BATTLE WITH INEFFICIENT STRENGTH, ON THE 13TH OF MARCH. MENOU ARRIVES AT LENGTH WITH THE MAIN BODY OF THE ARMY. SAD CONSEQUENCES OF THE DIVISIONS AMONG THE GENERALS. PLAN OF A DECISIVE BATTLE. THE INDECISIVE BATTLE OF CANOPUS FOUGHT ON THE 21 ST OF MARCH. THE ENGLISH REMAIN MASTERS OF THE PLAIN OF ALEXANDRIA. LONG DELAY, DURING WHICH MENOU MIGHT HAVE RETRIEVED THE FRENCH FORTUNES, BY MANCEUVRINO AGAINST THE DETACHED CORPS OF THE ENBMT. MENOU DOES NOTHING. THE ENGLISH MAKE AN ATTACK UPON ROSETTA, AND SUCCEED IK TAKING POSSESSION OF ONE OF THE MOUTHS OF THE NILE. THEY ADVANCE INTO THE INTERIOR. THE LAST CHANCE OF SAVING EGYPT AT RAMANIEH IS LOST BY THE INCAPACITY OF GENERAL MENOU. THE ENGLISH SEIZE UPON RAMANIEH, AND CUT OFF THE DIVISION OF CAIRO FROM THAT OF ALEXANDRIA. THE FRENCH ARMY, THUS DIVIDED, HAS NO CHOICE BUT TO CAPITULATE. SURRENDER OF CAIRO BY GENERAL BELLIARD. MENOU IS SHUT UP IN ALEXANDRIA, AND DREAMS OF A DEFENCE SIMILAR TO THAT OF GENOA. EGYPT IS FINALLY LOST TO FRANCE. THE object of the first consul in assuming the direction of the affairs of state was now nearly attained. Tranquillity prevailed throughout the French dominions ; there was satisfaction upon every mind, for a treaty of peace was signed at Lune"ville with Austria, Germany, and the Italian powers, and peace was re-established, in fact, with Russia, and negotiating in London with England. Once formally signed with these last two powers, and the tranquillity would be universal. In the 232 General policy of the Russian court. THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. Embarrassing position of 1S01. M. Kalitcheff. April. space of twenty-two months, young Bonaparte would have accomplished his noble task, and have made his country the grandest and happiest on the globe. It was necessary, therefore, in order to complete this mighty task, to conclude the peace with England; because, while that power was in arms, the sea was closed to France; and, what was of more serious consequence, the continental war might be renewed, under the corrupting influence of English subsidies. The universal exhaustion, it is true, left but a small chance for England to arm the continent anew against France; while she had even recently seen the greater part coalesced with France against her maritime power : and had not the death of Paul so opportunely occurred, she might have paid dearly for her violence towards the confederated neutrals. But his sud- den decease was a new and serious event, which could not fail to alter the existing situation of affairs. What influence, then, would the cata- strophe at St. Petersburg exercise upon European politics ? This was the question which the first consul was impatient to discover. He had sent Duroc to St. Petersburg, in order to obtain this information as early and as correctly as possible. A little before the decease of Paul, the relations of Russia with France had presented very con- siderable difficulties, owing to the excessive arro- gance of Paul, and an arrogance in his representa- tive, M. Kalitcheff, not less than that of his mastex-. The defunct czar, as already stated, wished to dictate to France the conditions of a peace with Bavaria, Wurtemberg, Piedmont, and the Two Sicilies, states of which he was made the protector, either spontaneously of his own accord, or by obligation, arising out of treaties which had been managed under the second coalition. At the same time, he was for regulating the relations of France with the Porte, and pretended that the first consul was bound to evacuate Egypt, because that pro- vince belonged to the sultan, and that there were no just grounds for depriving him of his territory. This ally, full of ardent hatred as he was against England, was still a very dangerous friend ; be- cause a misunderstanding with him might easily arise. That, too, which only appeared to be a fruit of madness in the emperor Paul, was a sin- gular indication of the progress of Russian ambi- tion during three-quarters of a century. There were scarcely eighty years elapsed, since Peter the Great attracted the attention of Europe for the first time, limiting the extent of his influence to the north of the continent, in contesting against Charles XII. the honour of the election for a king of Poland. Forty years afterwards, Russia, already pushing her ambitious designs into Germany, fought against Frederick, with France and Austria, in order to prevent the formation of the Prussian power. Some years later, in 1772, she partitioned Poland. In 1778 she took another step, and on an equality with France, regulated the affairs of Germany ; she interposed her mediation between Prussia and Austria, that were ready to make war about the Bavarian succession; and had the dis- tinguished honour to guarantee, at Teschen, the Germanic constitution. Lastly, before the end of the century arrived, in 1799, she sent one hundred thousand Russians into Italy, not to contest a question of territory, but a moral question for the preservation, she said, of social order, threat- ened by the French revolution. Never, in so short a tune, is there exhibited in history so great a degree of aggrandizement ac- cruing to any single state. Paul, who would fain be the arbitrator of every thing, as the price of his alliance with the first consul, was only, therefore, the unconscious tool of a policy which was the re- sult of profound design in the Russian cabinet. His ambassador at Paris requested, in cold and unvarying haughtiness, that which his master de- manded with his accustomed excitement, when he desired to have his will. He even affected, clumsily enough, to institute himself the protector of the smaller states, which, after having offended her, were now at the mercy of France. The court of Naples had sought to place itself under Russian protection : but this had not met with success,- because M. Gallo had been sent from : Paris, and his court obliged to submit, at Florence, i to the terms of the first consul. M. St. Marsan, who was invested with the same powers from the house of Savoy to the French republic, having .attempted the same thing as M. Gallo, had been sent away in a similar manner. M. Kalitcheff hastened to support the claims of the courts of Naples and Turin, to whom his master had guaranteed their territories ; and he understood, in signing a treaty with France, that he was not to confine himself to the condition of the re-establishment of a friendly understanding between the two empires, which, indeed, had no dispute by land or sea to settle, but to regulate the affairs of Germany and Italy, in nearly all their details, and even those of the East, if he persisted in demanding the restoration of Egypt to the Porte. In spite of the desire of France to be on an amicable footing with the emperor Paul, his am- bassador was answered with firmness. A public treaty had been agreed upon by France, which simply re-established amity and peace between the two countries ; but a secret convention was added, in which it was undertaken to concert with Russia the regulation of the Germanic indemnities, and to favour, in particular, the courts of Baden, Wurtemberg, and Bavaria, which were either in Russian relationship or alliance ; and to reserve an indemnity to the house of Savoy, if not re- instated in its dominions; but without stipulating when, where, or to what extent, because the first consul had already harboured the design of keep- ing back Piedmont for France. This was all that could be yielded. As to Naples, the treaty of Florence was declared to be irrevocable; and in respect to Egypt, the resolution was adopted not to listen to a word upon that subject. M. Kalitcheff having insisted in a tone and manner altogether unaccountable upon these points, the matter was terminated by making no more replies to his questions, and by leaving him at Paris, tolerably embarrassed in his official cha- racter, and in the engagements he had entered into with the smaller states. Matters were in this situation when the intelligence arrived of the tragical end of Paul I. M. Kalitcheff, without waiting for the commands of his new sovereign, was anxious to get out of the false position in which he had placed himself, and, therefore, ad- 1801. April. His communications with Talleyrand. EVACUATION OF EGYPT. Character of the emperor Alexander. 233 dressed a peremptory note to M. Talleyrand, on the 26th of April, to which he requested an im- mediate reply upon all the points of the negotiation, complaining that the things accorded in Berlin between general Beurnonville and M. Krudener were disputed at Paris. He seemed to insinuate, that if the weaker states were not better treated by France, the glory of the first consul would suffer, and that his government would come to be confounded with the revolutionary governments that had preceded it. M. Talleyrand answered immediately that his communication was very much out of place; .that it was very deficient in the respect due from in- dependent powers to one another ; that he could not place it under the eyes of the first consul without offending his dignity ; that M. Kalitcheff might, therefore, consider it as not having been forwarded; and that the reply it solicited, in the name of his cabinet, would not be made, until the request should be renewed in other terms, and in another despatch. This severe lesson had its due effect upon M. Kalitcheff. He appeared to feel alarmed at the consequences of his own act. Already the petty states that had sought a shelter behind him, felt apprehensive of his protection, and began to regret that they had confided their interests to his hands. M. Kalitcheff, reduced to the necessity of reproducing his demands in a better form, or re- maining without a reply, wrote a second despatch, in which he reiterated his request for an explana- tion, but confined himself to an enumeration of each head, without any remark, or without com- plaints or compliments. The despatch was cold; but not objectionable. He was then duly informed by M. Talleyrand, that in this new form his ques- tions should be submitted to the first consul, and should receive their due reply. It was added by M. Talleyrand, that the last despatch only should be preserved in the archives of the foreign-office, and that the first should be destroyed. A few days afterwards, M. Talleyrand answered M. Kalitcheff in polite, but very decided terms. He went over all the points settled by the French cabinet, and added the very natural reflection, that if France had consented, in regard to many of the most important affairs of Europe, to concert them amicably with Russia, and had appeared disposed to do that which she had desired, it was in consideration of the intimate alliance contracted with Paul I. against the policy of England ; but that since the accession of the czar Alexander, it was needful to understand whether the new em- peror would enter into the same views, and afford the same certainty that France would find in him an ally equally as constant as the deceased em- peror. After that day M. Kalitcheff remained perfectly inactive, awaiting instructions from his new master. The prince, who had just ascended the throne of the czars, was a singular character, singular, as the greater part of the princes have been who, for a century past, have governed in Russia. Alex- ander was twenty-five years of age, tall of stature, having a mild and noble countenance, though his features were not perfectly regular; he possessed an acute mind, a generous heart, and complete grace of manner. Still there might be perceived about him traces of paffernal infirmity. His mind, lively, changeable, and susceptible, was continually impressed with the most contrary ideas. But this remarkable prince was not always led away by such momentary impulses ; he joined with his extensive and quickly-changing comprehension, a depth of mind that escaped the closest observation. He was well-meaning, and a dissembler at the same time, capable of acting with deep subtilty; already some of these excellencies and defects had begun to exhibit themselves in the tragical events which had preceded his arrival at the throne. Let care be taken, however, not to calumniate this illus- trious prince ; he had been under a complete de- lusion in regard to the design of count Pahlen; he had believed, with the credulity natural to his age, that the abdication of his father was .the only ob- ject in view, and would be the sole result of the conspiracy, the secret of which had been entrusted to him. He had believed, that in aiding it, he should save the empire, his mother, his brothers, and himself from unknown violence. Become well acquainted with that event, he detested the error of which he had been guilty, as well as -those who had led him into it. This young emperor, in short, of noble aspect, gracious manners, witty, enthusiastic, changeable, artificial, difficult to penetrate, was endowed with the charm of great personal attraction, and was destined to exercise over his contemporaries the most seductive influence. He was even destined to exercise this seductive influence upon the extra- ordinary man, so difficult to deceive, who then governed France, and with whom he was one day to have such great and terrible animosities. The education of this young prince was a strange one. He had been a pupil of colonel La Harpe, who had inspired him with the feelings and notions of Swiss republicanism. Alexander had given way to the influence of his teacher with his customary flexibility, and the effect was visible when he as- cended the throne. While he was yet an imperial prince, subjected to the severe rule, first of Cathe- rine, and then of Paul I., he formed an intimate acquaintance with some young persons of his own age, such as Paul Strogonoff, Nowosiltzoff, and above all, prince Adam Czartorisky. This last descended from one of the most ancient families in Poland, and much attached to his native land, was at St. Pe- tersburg as a species of hostage: he served hi the regiment of guards, and lived at court with the young grand dukes. Alexander, drawn towards him by a species of analogy in sentiments and ideas, communicated to him all the dreams and hopes of his youth. Both in secret deplored the misfortunes of Poland, a thing very natural in a descendant of the Czartoriskys, but rather surprising in the grandson of Catherine. Alexander solemnly vowed to his friend that when he ascended the throne, he would restore her laws and liberty to unhappy Poland. Paul, who had observed this intimacy, felt of- fended at it, and exiled prince Czartorisky, by naming him his minister to the king of Sardinia, a king without a realm. Scarcely was Alexander seated upon the throne, when he sent off a courier to his friend, then resident at Rome, and recalled him to St. Petersburg. He also united near his person, Nowosiltzoff and Paul Strogonoff. These . Associates of the emperor. 234 His ostensible ministers. mTT T FP.<;> rtUJSKO A Nn FMPTPF Duroc>s reception at St. 1801. AJNU JMMFlKfc. Petersburg. Aril. formed a sort of occult government, composed of young men without experience, animated by the most generous feelings, and full of illusions, little proper, it must be said, to direct a great govern- ment, in a difficult conjuncture of the times. They were impatient to free themselves from the old Russians, who had, until then, held the reins of government, and with whom they had no kind of sympathy. One personage alone, older and more serious than themselves, the prince Kotschoubey, mingled in this young society, and tempered by a riper reason their youthful vivacity. This prince had travelled all over Europe, acquired a vast deal of knowledge, and engaged his sovereign's attention upon every opportunity with the ameliorations which he believed it would be very useful to effect in the interior government of the empire. All alike censured the course of policy which led at first to the making war upon France on account of her revolution, and afterwards in carrying it on against England in behalf of a thesis about the law of na- tions. They were against a war of principles upon France, or a naval war upon England. The great empire of the north, according to them, was best employed in holding the balance between the two powers, that threatened to swallow up the world in their quarrel, and by this means to became the arbitrator of Europe, and the support of the feeble states against the strong. More generally, how- ever, they directed their attention much less to exterior politics than to the interior regeneration of the empire. They did not do less than meditate giving her new institutions, modelled in part upon those they had seen in civilized countries ; they had, in a word, the generosity, inexperience, and vanity of youth. The ostensible ministers of Alexander, were the old Russians, prejudiced against France, and warm in behalf of England, besides which they were much disliked by the sovereign. Count Pahlen alone, thanks to his firm judgment, did not share the prejudices of his colleagues, and wished that Russia should be free from every influence, re- maining neuter between France and England. In this view his ideas agreed with those of the new emperor and his friends. But count Pahlen com- mitted the mistake of treating Alexander as a youthful prince, whom he had set upon the throne, directed, and would fain still direct. The sensitive vanity of his young master was thus frequently wounded. Count Pahlen behaved too with great harshness towards the dowager empress, who showed much ostentatious sorrow, and a deadly hatred to her husband's murderers. In a religious establish- ment of her own foundation, she placed an image of the Virgin Mary, with Paul at her feet, implor- ing the vengeance of Heaven upon his assassins. Count Pahlen ordered the image to be removed, in spite of the cries of the empress, and the dis- pleasure of her son. An ascendancy, exercised in auch a manner as this, could not be of very pro- longed duration. At the commencement of the reign of Alexander, count Panin continued to preside as foreign mi- nister ; count Pahlen still remained the most in- fluential, holding a share in all the branches of the government. Alexander, after taking the advice of his friends, went and transacted business after- wards with his ostensible ministry. Under these different influences, sometimes hi opposition to each other, they determined to treat with England, and to commence by taking off the embargo on British commerce, an embargo, according to Alex- ander, which was a most unjust measure. It was then decided that such a maritime treaty should be formed through lord St. Helens with England, as should, if not protect the rights of neutrals, at least secure the interests of Russian navigation. Alex- ander, ranking among his father's irrational notions the pretension to the grand-mastership of the order of St. John of Jerusalem, announced that he would merely be the protector of that order, until the dif- ferent languages of which it was composed should be able to reassemble and to choose a new grand- master. This resolution easily got rid of all the dif- ficulties, whether with England, who set a great value upon Malta on the one hand, or France upon the other, that was not inclined to carry on a war for ever, in order to restore the island to the knights, or with Rome and Spain, who had never consented to acknowledge for the grand-master of St. John of Jerusalem a schismatic prince. In order to put an end to another contested sub- ject, it was resolved that the evacuation of Egypt should no longer be insisted upon with France, since in reality Russia was as little interested in seeing that country in the hands of the French as of the English. As to Naples and Piedmont, Russia was bound to these states, so it was said, by solemn treaties, and Alexander, on commencing his reign, was desirous of exhibiting to the world a grand idea of his good faith. It was agreed that he should no longer stipulate in behalf of Naples for the abrogation of the treaty of Florence, but for the guarantee of her present dominions, and at a peace for the evacuation of the Gulf of Tarentum by the French. As to Piedmont, Russia was re- solved to demand for the house of Savoy either Piedmont itself, or a proportionate indemnity in case of default. Alexander also had the intention of regulating, in concert with France, the indem- nity promised to the German princes, that had been deprived of territory on the left bank of the Rhine. Nothing here presented any difficulty, the first consul having given his consent to those points already. M. Kalitcheff was recalled, and M. Markoff was chosen to be his successor; a man of considerable talent, but in respect to a know- ledge of official forms, in no way superior to his predecessor. Duroc, sent to congratulate the new emperor upon his accession, on his arrival at St. Peters- burg, found that all these questions had been determined ; he obtained from the ministers as well as the monarch himself a very favourable reception. His intelligence and elegance of man- ner succeeded in Russia as they had done in Prussia, and he secured for himself both the esteem and confidence of the Russians. After his formal audiences were over he obtained several private interviews, during which Alexander made a sort of display in the revelation of his sentiments to the representative of the first consul. On one par- ticular occasion in a public garden at St. Peters- burg, the prince perceived Duroc, went up to him, addressed him with a graceful familiarity, bade his attendants remain at a distance, and conducting him to a retired spot, appeared to open his mind 1301. April. Conversation between the emperor and Duroc EVACUATION OF EGYPT. Negotiations between England and France. Territories ic- quired by England. 235 with perfect freedom : " I am," said he, " a friend of France in my heart, and for a long while have admired your new chief: I appreciate what he has performed for the peace of Europe and for the maintenance of social order. He need not appre- hend from me a new war between the two coun- tries. But let him second my sentiments, and cease to furnish pretexts to those who are jealous of his power. You see I have made concessions. I say no more about Egypt ; I had rather it be- longed to France than to England ; and if, un- happily, the English should take it, I will join with you to snatch it out of their hands. I have given up Malta, in order to remove one of the diffi- culties which was in the way of a European peace. I am in alliance with the kings of Naples and Piedmont : I know that their conduct to France has not been correct ; but how could they act differently, surrounded and governed as they have been by England ? I shall see, with great morti- fication, the first consul seize upon Piedmont, as some recent acts of his administration tend to make me believe is his intention. Naples complains of being deprived of a portion of her territory. This is all unworthy of the first consul, and dims his glory. He is not charged, like the governments which have preceded him, with threatening social order, but he is accused of wishing to invade every state. This is injurious to him, and exposes me, myself, to the clamours of the minor states, by whom I am besieged. Let him cease to suffer these difficulties to exist between us, and we shall live in future under a perfectly good understanding." Alexander, unbosoming himself still more, added : " Say nothing of all this to my, ministers ; be dis- creet ; employ none but trustworthy couriers. Tell general Bonaparte to send me men upon whom I can rely. The most direct relations will be found the best for establishing a good understanding be- tween the two governments." Alexander added a few words more relating to England. He affirmed that he would not yield up to her the dominion of the seas, the common property of all nations ; that if he had removed the embargo on English vessels, it was.from a sense of justice. Preceding treaties had stipulated, that in case of a rupture, a year should be allowed to the English merchants for the purpose of settling their affairs ; it was, there- fore, a gross injustice to seize upon their property. " I will not be guilty of such an act," Alexander exclaimed strongly ; " my sole motive was to do justice. I do not intend to deliver myself up to England. It depends entirely upon the first con- sul whether 1 shall continue to be his ally, his friend." During this conversation the young emperor appeared to have a confiding spirit, devoid of pre- tence, desirous evidently to make little of his minis- ters, and to show that he had his own views, and a personal system of policy. Duroc left St. Petersburg loaded with the favours and proofs of regard he had received from the emperor. It was clear from these communications that Russia would no longer be any great help against England, but still that there would in future be a much less difficulty in arranging the general affairs of Europe. The first consul, now being certain of coming to a good understanding with the Russian court, did not hasten to terminate the negotiation, because time seemed every day to smooth the diffi- culties that had subsisted between the two nations. England, in fact, exhibited at the moment but little interest in the houses of Naples and Pied- mont ; and if, as there was ground to believe, she no longer made their concerns one of the conditions of the peace, it would be much more easy for France to act as she saw fit in regard to these two houses, when England herself had given them over to the first consul. The negotiation with England now became the main question, and, indeed, almost the only one left to arrange. In order to conduct it correctly, it was not only necessary to negotiate in London with ability, but also to push forward with alacrity the war in Portugal, and as well as to dispute Egypt with the British forces; because the issue of events in those two countries could not fail to exercise a great influence upon the future treaty. The first consul also, wishing *> throw more weight into the scale, autde additional preparations with much ostentation at Boulogne and at Calais, in order that it might be thought that the extreme measure of an invasion of England, long meditated by the directory, was neither beyond his calcu- lations nor his means. Numerous bodies of troops were put in march towards that part of France, and on the coasts of Normandy, Flanders, and Picardy, a great number of gun-boats were assem- bled, strongly built and well-armed, capable of carrying troops, and of crossing the channel at Calais. In consequence of their arrangements previously made, lord Hawkesbury and M. Otto were em- ployed about the middle of April, 1801, or Germi- nal, year is., in diplomatic conferences. Accord- ing to customary usage, the first demands were excessive. England proposed a simple arrange- ment as a basis, namejv, the uti possideatlt ; that is to say, that each shotld retain whatever acqui- sitions the chances of war had thrown into their hands. England, in fact, profiting by the long contest of Europe against France, was herself en- riched while her allies were exhausted, and had captured the colonies of every other nation. She had seized the entire continent of India, as well as the most important commercial positions in the four quarters of the globe. From the Dutch she had taken Ceylon, that large and rich island, placed at the extreme of the Indian peninsula, and form- ing to it so desirable a pendant. She had acquired the other Dutch possessions in the Indian seas, except, it is true, the large colony of Java. She had taken from them between the two oceans the Cape of Good Hope, one of the best situated mari- time stations on the globe. Her continued efforts had not succeeded in wresting the Mauritius from France, which she had never ceased to hold. In South America she had deprived the unfortunate Dutch, the most ill-treated power of all during the war, of the territory of Guiana, ex- tending between the Amazons and Orinoko, con- taining Surinam, Berbice, Demerara,and Essequibo; magnificent countries, the agricultural and com- mercial development of which were not then and have not yet been developed, but which are one day destined to attain wonderful prosperity ; and which presented besides the advantage of being the 23G Conquests made by Eng- land and France. TRIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. Basis of negotiation pro- posed by England. Bonaparte's answer. 1801. April. first step gained towards the great Spanish colonies on the American continent. England coveted these colonies. She had entertained the design of aid- ing them in the attainment of their independence, in order to avenge herself for what had happened in North America ; and she flattered herself be- sides, reasonably enough, that, being independent, they would soon become the prey of her commerce. It was for this reason that she set a great value upon the conquest of one of the West India islands from the Spaniards, one of the Antilles, the fine island of Trinidad, situated close to South America, a sort of footing, as well disposed for contraband trade as for aggression upon the Spanish posses- sions. She had made another grand and valuable acquisition in the Antilles, in the French island of Martinique. The manner in which she captured this island had not been very legitimate, because the colonists, dreading an insurrection of the slaves, had placed themselves, for a temporary purpose, in her hands ; and of a voluntary deposit, she had made them a property. England held fast Martinique on account of the fine harbour belong- ing to that island. She had taken besides in the Antilles St. Lucien and Tobago, islands of far less consequence than the others, and towards the fish- ing station, St. Pierre, and Miquelon. Lastly, in Europe she had taken the best of the Balearic islands from Spain ; and from the French, who had captured it from the knights of St. John of Jerusalem, Malta, the queen of the Mediterranean. After these conquests, it may be well said that there was little left for her to dispute about with the maritime nations, the continental possessions of the Spaniards in the two Americas excepted. It is true that .the English threatened, if the French persisted in marching into Portugal, she would recompense herself by the seizure of Brazil. To balance these vast maritime acquisitions, France had taken the finest portions of the Eu- ropean continent, much more important than all those distant maritime territories. But she had restored all with the exception of that portion com- prised between the great lines of the Alps, the Rhine, and the Pyrenees. She had conquered besides a colony, which to her alone was a compen- sation for all the colonial greatness which England had obtained that was Egypt. No other posses- sion was of equal value to that. If it was thought necessary to shake the new empire of England in India, Egypt was the most certain road to arrive at it. If it were only contemplated which was the wiser plan, to bring to the ports of France a part of the commerce of the East, Egypt was still the natural road of that commerce. For peace as for war, then, it was the most precious colony in the world. If at that moment the head of the French government had considered alone the interests of France, and not that of his allies, he might have accepted the terms proposed by England ; since Martinique itself, the sole direct loss worthy of attention that France suffered during the war, was of little or no moment compared to Egypt, the real empire placed between the east and west, com- manding, and, at the same time, shortening the communications between the seas. But the first consul considered himself bound in honour to re- store to the allies of France a great part of their possessions. It did not depend upon him to spare Holland for all the sacrifices to which she was con- demned by the defection of her navy, which had, as is well known, followed the stadtholder to Eng- land ; but it was the duty of the first consul to restore the Cape and Guiana. He wished that Spain, which had acquired nothing during the war, should lose nothing ; and that Trinidad and the Balearic islands should be restored to her ; lastly, it was determined, at no price, to cede Malta; because that would weaken the conquest of Egypt, and render its possession precarious in the hands of France. The intention of the first consul was to leave Indostan to the English undisturbed, including the small factories of Chandemagore and Pondicherry, which were of no moment to France; even to give up Ceylon, the property of the Dutch: but to de- mand the restoration of the Cape, Guiana, Trinidad, Martinique, the Balearic islands, and Malta ; and to retain Egypt as an equivalent for the conquest of India by the English. It will be seen how he conducted himself to attain this end, during a negotiation which continued for five entire months. To the idea of adopting the utl possideatis as the basis of the future peace, the French negotiator was ordered to reply by the most explicit argu- ments : " Would you lay down the principle," he said to lord Hawkesbury, " that each nation should keep its conquests ; in that case France should keep, in Germany, Baden, Wurtemberg, Bavaria, and three-fourths of Austria; she should keep in Italy, the whole country, the ports of Genoa, Leg- horn, Naples, and Venice. She should keep Switzerland, which she intends to evacuate as soon as she has established a proper order of things there; she should keep Holland, occupied by her armies, where she might build and fit out the most powerful navy. She should take Hanover, and be- stow it as a compensation to certain powers upon the continent, and by this means attach them to her for ever. She could, finally, push on the cam- paign against Portugal, and indemnify Spain out of that country, securing new ports for herself. How important would these naval stations be, ex- tending from the Texel to Lisbon and Cadiz, fromi Cadiz to Genoa, from thence to Otronto, and from Otronto to Venice. If abstract principles were to be laid down as the basis of the negotiations, peace would be impossible. France had restored the greater part of her conquests to their respective governments : to Austria she had given back a part of Italy; to the court of the Two Sicilies the kingdom of Naples; to the pope the Roman states entire; she had given Tuscany, which it was easy for her to have kept, to the house of Spain ; she had re-established Genoa in her independence; she had confined herself to making Lombardy a friendly republic ; and was preparing to evacuate Switzerland, Holland, and even Hanover. It was necessary, therefore, that England should give up a part of her conquests. Those which France de- manded did not affect herself directly, but her allies. France held it her duty to get them back, in order to give them to their real owners. Be- sides, if India and Ceylon were conceded to Eng- land, the possessions demanded to be restored could be of little consequence. If England would make no concession, she should say as much, and declare that the negotiation was only a deception. 1801. April. Negotiations between EVACUATION OF EGYPT. England and France. 23? The world should know through whose fault it was that peace became impossible. France would then make a last effort, a difficult and perilous effort, but which would, perhaps, be fatal for England; because the first consul did not despair of being able to cross the straits of Calais at th head of a hundred thousand men." Lord Hawkesbury and Mr. Addington nego- tiated with the desire to make an advantageous peace for themselves, which was perfectly natural; and they wished it to be speedy. They were aware of the force of the arguments used by the French cabinet, and felt the stern resolve con- tamed in its words. They set themselves at once to lower their pretensions, and to open the way to a reconciliation. They first answered the argu- ments of the first consul, respecting the conquests given back by France, that if she had abandoned a part - of her conquests, it was because she was unable to retain them; while no navy in the world was able to take from the English' those colonies which she had acquired. That if France did re- store a portion of the territory occupied by her armies, she kept Nice, Savoy, the banks of the Rhine, and, above all, the mouths of the Sehelde and Antwerp, which were a considerable aggran- dizement, not only by land, but sea ; that it was necessary to re-establish the equilibrium of Earope, if not wholly on the continent, at least upon the ocean; that if France desired to preserve Egypt, India was no longer a sufficient compensation for England; and that the British cabinet would then retain a great part of its new acquisitions. Still, added lord Hawkesbury, we /lave only made the first proposition ; we are ready to give way upon any point which may be shown to be too rigorous. We will restore some of our conquests; only state to us those of which the restitution appears to you, at least, most desirable. The first consul replied in an animated manner to these arguments of the English ministry. It was not correct to say, according to him, that Eng- land could keep all her maritime conquests, while, on the other hand, France was unable to retain hers on the continent of Europe. The continental war being closed, either by the complete exhaustion of the allies of England, or by the distaste which others had formed for her alliance, France, aided by the resources of Holland, Spam, and Italy, might have done whatsoever she desired upon the continent ; and she was in a state to do much more upon the ocean than the British ministers would believe. France, without doubt, could not have kept the centre of Germany and three parts of Austria without a convulsive overturn of all Europe; but she could have made a much less moderate peace than that of Lundville; she would have been able, Austria being so exhausted after Hohenlinden, to have kept all Italy and Switzerland, without the slightest opposition from any quarter. In respect to a continental equilibrium, that had been de- stroyed upon the day when Prussia, Russia, and Austria partitioned the large and fine kingdom of Poland among themselves, without the slightest equivalent for any other power. The banks of the Rhine and the slopes of the Alps were scarcely an equivalent to France for what these, her rivals, had acquired upon the continent Over sea, Egypt was scarcely a compensation to her for the conquest of the Indies. It might be doubted, if, even with that colony, France could keep her an- cient maritime proportions in regard to England. These arguments had reason on their side, and fortunately the arm of strength, for both one and the other are necessary in a negotiation. The basis of the treaty was soon agreed upon. It was settled that England in having undisturbed possession of India, should restore a part of the conquests she had made from France, Spain, and Holland. The detail of the particular territories she was to keep or restore will be next considered. Without granting the formal possession of Egypt to France, a point which the English negotia- tor reserved as doubtful, he proposed two hypo- theses, one in which France preserved Egypt, and another in which she renounced it, whether she lost it by force of arms or voluntarily gave it up. On the first hypothesis, that of the retention of Egypt by Franca, England, retaining India and Ceylon, as well as Chandernagore and Pondicherry would require in addition, the Cape of Good Hope, a part of the Guianas, that is to say, Berbice, De- merara, Essequibo, Trinidad, and Martinique in the Antilles; finally, and above all, Malta, in the Mediterranean. She would give up the smaller Dutch possessions of India, Surinam, the insignifi- cant islands of St. Lucia, Tobago, St. Pierre, Mi- quelon, and finally, Minorca. Under the second hypothesis, in which the French were not to remain masters of Egypt, England demanded India and Ceylon, but consented to give up the email colo- nies of Pondicherry and Chandernagore, the Cape of Good Hope, Martinique or Trinidad, whichever France might prefer^ she keeping the other. Lastly, she demanded Malta, but not peremptorily. These restitutions, in the opinion of the first consul, were not sufficient. The negotiation not- withstanding approximated at last towards an ac- commodation, and after a month of discussion, arrived at the following propositions, which were at bottom the real views of both government* England insisted in any case upon India and Ceylon. If the French evacuated Egypt, she was to leave them the small factories of Pondicherry and Chandernagore. She restored the Cape to the Dutch upon the condition of its being declared a free port. She restored to Holland also Berbice, Demerara, and Essequibo, on the American con- tinent; and the colony of Surinam : she restored one of the two great islands in the Antilles, Mar- tinique or Trinidad ; and rendered back St. Lucia, Tobago, St. Pierre, and Miquelon, and lastly, Malta and Minorca. Thus, as the result of the war she gained, if France did not keep Egypt, the continent of India, Ceylon, and cue of the two principal Antilles, Trinidad or Martinique. If the French kept Egypt, she obtained besides Chandernagore and Pondicherry, the Cape, Mar- tinique, Trinidad, and finally, Malta. That is to say, England, in the second case, deemed it a necessary precaution to deprive France of her footing at Chandernagore and Pondicherry, place* in the peninsula of India, and aa an indemnity, Trinidad, which threatened Spanish America, Martinique, which has the best port hi the An- tilles, and finally, Malta, the best port in the Mediterranean. In regard to the Cape, Martinique, or Trinidad, 238 Degraded itote of Spain. THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. Preparations for the in- vasion of Portugal. 3801. April. and Malta, demanded over and above in case the French possessed Egypt, they were far from being as valuable as that important possession; and al- though it would have been most expedient to con- sent at once had this condition been unavoidable, the first consul had still the hope to keep Egypt, and pay less dearly for its possession. He hoped that if the English army sent towards the Nile should fail, and that if the Spaniards pushed with ra- pidity the war against Portugal, he should be able to obtain the Cape for the Dutch, Trinidad for the Spaniards, and Malta for the order of St. John of Jerusalem, thus obliging England to remain con- tent with India, Ceylon, a part of the Guianas, and one or two of the lesser Antilles. Every thing therefore depended upon the events of the war ; and the English, hoping it would ter- minate to their advantage, were not reluctant to avert the issue which could not remain long un- settled, because it rested only upon the knowledge whether the Spaniards would venture to march upon Portugal, and whether the English troops on board lord Keith's fleet in the Mediterranean could make good their landing in Egypt. In order to be acquainted with these two results, a month or two was all the time necessary. Thus, on both one side and the other great care was taken not to break off the negotiation, which both were sincerely anxious should terminate in peace. Each took the step of gaining time; to this end the numerous and complicated nature of the subjects which they had to discuss, furnished a very natural means, without having recourse to much of the finesse of diplo- macy. " All depends," wrote Otto, " upon two things will the English army be beaten in Egypt ? Will Spain march freely against Portugal ? Hasten ; ob- tain these two results, or one of them, and you will make the finest peace in the world." " But I must inform you," he added, " that if the English minis- ters have a dread of the soldiers in our army of Egypt, they have very little of the resolution of the court of Spain." The first consul made continual efforts to arouse to action the old court of Spain, and to obtain its concurrence in his two great designs, which on one part consisted in seizing upon Portugal, on the other, in directing towards Egypt the naval forces of the two countries. Unluckily the resources of the Spanish monarchy were nearly exhausted. A good-hearted king, but blinded and absorbed by the most vulgar cares, little worthy of a monarch, a queen given up to the most shameless debauch- eries, a vain, frivolous, incapable favourite, wasted in reckless excesses the last resources of the mon- archy of Charles V. Lucien Bonaparte, despatched as ambassador to Madrid, for the purpose of in- demnifying him for the loss of the ministry of the interior, Lucien, eager to rival the diplomatic success of his brother Joseph, laboured in Spain to serve the cause of the first consul with credit and bril- liancy. It is true that he obtained some influence, thanks to his name, and to the successful boldness with which he neglected the ostensible ministers, and put himself in communication with the real head of the government, the prince of the peace. Placing before the prince the resentment or favour of the first consul as a choice, he had excited in him a more than common zeal for the interests of the alliance, and had made him adopt to the full extent the plan for the invasion of Portugal. Lucien had said to the court of Spain : " You wish for peace, and you wish it to be of advantage to yourselves, or at least not injurious; you desire that it shall terminate without the loss of any of your colonies ; aid us then in securing pledges, of which we will make use to obtain from Eng- land the larger part of her maritime conquests." These reasons were good; but they were not the most convincing to the prince of the peace. Lucien had devised others much more efficacious. " You are every thing here," he said to the favourite ; "my brother knows that well; he will lay at your door alone the failure of the plans of the alliance. Would you have the Bonapartes friends or ene- mies 1" These arguments, first employed to push the war with Portugal, were every day used to hasten the preparations. Still, whatever arguments were used to urge forward the prince of the peace, he did not betray the interests of his country. He was, on the contrary, in no way better enabled to serve them than by the war against Portugal, be- cause that was the sole mode of obtaining from England the restitution of the Spanish colonies. The preparations were therefore accelerated as much as possible, and the last resources of the monarchy were applied to its completion. Who could believe that this great and noble nation, the glory of which has filled the world, and of which the patriotism was soon to appear with great lustre, unhappily for France, who could believe that it was with great difficulty she was able to assemble twenty-five thousand men? she, with her mag- nificent harbours and ports and her numerous vessels, the relics of the fine reign of Charles III. who could believe she was even embarrassed to pay a few workmen in the arsenals to set afloat a man of war or two ? and more, that it was out of her power to victual her fleet ? Who could credit that her fifteen ships, blockaded in Brest for two years, were the whole of her navy, at least, of her navy fit for service ? The want of the precious metals, in consequence of the interruption of her trade with Mexico, had reduced her to a paper currency, and that paper currency was at the lowest point of depreciation. An application was now made to the clergy, who did not possess at the moment the funds for which there was an imme- diate necessity; but possessing a credit which was accorded to the crown, and applying it to the ob- ject, the preparations that had been begun were completed. Twenty-five thousand men, not very badly equipped, were at length sent on the march to- wards Badajoz, but they were not sufficient. The prince of the peace had declared that without a division of French troops he would not dare to enter Portugal. The first consul had united such a division in haste at Bordeaux. They had soon traversed the Pyrenees, and were in rapid march upon Ciudad Rodrigo. The prince of the peace wished to enter Portugal with the Spaniards by Alentejo, while the French divisions penetrated by the provinces of Tras-os-Montes and Be'ira. Ge- neral St. Cyr, who commanded the French, had gone to Madrid to arrange the operations with the prince of the peace ; and although that officer was not well fitted to humour the temper of others, 1801. April. Portugal resists the demand* of Spain and France. The P V A r-TT A TTnM HP Pr VPT French and Spanish armies march. EVACUAllOiN Ot fcOrYPT. Naval preparation* at Cadiz. 239 having none himself, he succeeded in concerting with the prince a proper plan of operation. Portugal, seeing itself thus pressed, had sent M. A ran jo to Madrid, to which place he had been refused liberty to proceed. He then went to France, and met there with the same refusal. Portugal was ready to submit to any conditions rather than shut her ports against the English merchant ships. These offers were repelled. It was determined that Portugal should exclude all English vessels, both of war and trade ; that three of her provinces should be occupied as a security until a general peace; and that she should pay the expenses of the expedition. The troops of the two nations set out on their march, and the prince of the peace quitted Madrid, his head filled with wild visions of glory. The court, and even Lucien Bonaparte, were to accom- pany him. The first consul had ordered the most exact discipline to be preserved among the French troops ; he had ordered thai they should attend mass on Sundays, that the bishops should be visited upon passing through the chief towns of the dio- ceses, and, in a word, that the French should conform to all the Spanish customs. He was anxious that the sight of the French in place of estranging them from the Spaniards, should cause them to approximate more closely in feeling. Every thing in this quarter, therefore, prospered according to the wishes of the first consul in aid of the negotiation then going forward in London. But there yet remained much to be done relative to the employment of the naval forces. It has been already shown in what manner the three navies of Holland, France, and Spain had been directed to one common purpose. Five French, Dutch, and Spanish vessels, fifteen in all, filled with troops, were intended to threaten Brazil or retake Trinidad. The rest of the united naval force was designed for Egypt. Ganteaume sailed from Brest with seven vessels, conveying consider- able succours, and was on the voyage to Alexandria. The other vessels remained still at Brest, in order to keep alive tfce continual threat of an expedition to Ireland, while a second expedition sailed from Rochefort uniting with five Spanish men-of-war at Ferrol, and six other men-of-war from Cadiz, that were to follow Ganteaume to Egypt. This last design had been concealed from Spain for fear of her indiscretion. It was only requested of her to suffer the ships in Ferrol to proceed to Cadiz. The court of Spain remonstrated in warm terms against the passage, on account of danger from the English ships of war which were nu- merous about the straits and in the neighbourhood of Gibraltar. The vessels in Ferrol were besides scarcely in a fit state to put to sea, so much had their equipment been retarded. Lucien, without speaking of the Egyptian design, hinted at the necessity for a commanding force in the Medi- terranean, of the possibility of attempting some- thing that might be of use to both nations ; an ex- pedition, perhaps, to retake Minorca. At last, he obtained the requisite orders, and the Spanish fleet at Ferrol was to be joined by the French ships from Rochefort, which were to conduct them to Cadiz. This was not all. Spain, as it will be remembered, agreed to present six vessels to France j as a gift. The time when this condition was to be j carried into effect had been disputed ; but as Tus- cany was about to be delivered up to Spain when Louisiana was placed in the hands of France, it was but proper that the ships of war should be given immediately. The Spanish minister, finally, decided to choose six then lying in the arsenal at Cadiz, and to give them up immediately ; but they would not give them armed and victualled. It was impossible to send to France for guns and biscuit. These were very trivial things to contest in the face of the common enemy, that it was ne- cessary by all means to combat, if his pretensions were to be lowered. The difficulties were at last overcome in the mode the first consul wished. It has been stated that the French admiral, Dumanoir, had gone first to Cadiz in order to watch over the equipment of the Spanish vessels now become French property, and to take the com- mand of them. This admiral had visited the ports of Spain and found them all in disorder, the whole exhibiting a scene of reckless opulence and disor- ganized destitution. Though still in possession of the remnants of magnificent establishments, of stores, and of materials for building vessels, and of numerous fine but dismantled ships, there was not at Cadiz, for want of pay, a single sailor, or a work- man to get the ships ready for sea. Every thing was given up to waste and pillage *. The French minister sent admiral Dumanoir letters of credit upon some of the richer houses in Cadiz, and by means of ready money that officer contrived to overcome the principal obstacles. After choosing from the vessels those which had suffered least from time and Spanish neglect, he armed them by taking guns and stores from those which remained; and he procured French sailors, some of whom were emigrants in consequence of the revolution, and others escaped from English prisons; he re- ceived a certain number from France, sent in small vessels, and got leave to enter some Spaniards, and, by offers of high wages, some Danes and Swedes. The flag and other officers, required to organize the whole, came by post across the peninsula. Detachments of French infantry were marched from Catalonia to complete the complements. This division, those of Ferrol and Rochefort, formed about eighteen sail, and were designed to proceed to Egypt, after touching at Otranto to embark ten thousand men at that place. The objects, already mentioned, were now putting into execution. To force Spain to the feeble efforts which were obtained with so much trouble, the first consul had fulfilled all he had promised with remarkable fidelity, and had even gone beyond. The house of Parma had received, in place of k* duchy, the fine country of Tuscany, which had for so long a time been the ardent wish of the court of Madrid. It was necessary to obtain for that the consent of Austria, and it had been procured. The duchy of Tuscany had further been erected into the kingdom of Etruria. The old reigning duke of Parma, a reli- gious devotee, an enemy to all the novelties of the day, was the brother, as before stated, of the queen of Spain. His son, a young man very ill educated i The reports of the admiral, which exist in the archives, not of the navy, but of the office for foreign affairs, offer a most curious picture of what may befal a large kingdom con- fided to improper hands. Affairs of Parma and Tus- 240 cany. Proceedings of admiral Ganteaume. TRIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. He sails from Brest during a storm. 1801. April. and brought up, had married an infanta, and lived at the Escurial. For this young couple the kingdom of Etruria was designed. Still the first consul having promised this kingdom only in exchange for the duchy of Parma, was not bound to deliver up the one until the other was vacant. This could not happen until the death or abdication of the old reigning duke ; but he would neither die nor abdi- cate. Notwithstanding the interest which the first consul had in getting quit of such a guest in Italy, he consented to tolerate him in Parma, and to place the infants upon the throne of Etruria. He only required that they should come to Paris to receive the crown from his hands, as of old time vassal monarchs came to ancient Rome to receive the crown from the hands of the people-king. It was a singular and grand spectacle which he thus wished to give to republican France. The young princes quitted Madrid on their way to Paris at the same moment that their parents were travelling towards Badajoz, in order to afford the favourite the pleasure of beholding him at the head of an army. Such were the complaisant means by which the first consul hoped to secure the zeal of the court of Spain, and to make it concur in his designs. At this moment all eyes were directed towards Egypt. It was to this point the efforts, the regards, the fears, and the hopes of the two great belligerent nations, France and England, were now directed. Jfi seemed as if, 1 before laying down their arms, these two nations wished for the last time to ter- minate as gloriously and advantageously as possible for each, that terrible war which for ten years had been 'ensanguining the whole earth. Ganteaume was left endeavouring to sail from Brest, on the 23rd of January, 1801, or the 3rd of Pluvi6se, during a furious storm. The wind had been for a good while contrary or too light for his purpose. At last, during a gale from the north-west which blew on the coast, he had set sail in obedience to the aid-de-camp of the first consul, Savary, who was at Brest with orders for him to overcome every resistance. This perhaps was imprudent ; but how was it possible to put to sea in presence of the enemy's fleet, which continually blockaded Brest roads, and never withdrew except when the weather rendered keeping the station impossible. It was necessary, therefore, not to sail out at all, or to sail in bad weather when the English had withdrawn. The squadron consisted of seven ships of the line, two frigates, and a brig, all good sailers, carrying four thousand men, an immense mass of stores, and numerous workmen, who with their families imagined they were bound for St. Domingo. They extinguished all the fires on board the squadron that they might not be perceived, and set sail with the greatest apprehensions. A north-west wind was the most dangerous of all for working out of Brest. The wind blew at the moment with extreme force, but fortunately did not reach its utmost violence until they had cleared the passages and were fairly on the ocean. They then encountered terrific squalls and a fearfully heavy eea. The squadron sailed in order of battle, the Indivisible, being the admiral's, led the van, and was followed by the Formidable, which bore the flag of rear-admiral Linois. The rest of the squadron were in line ; each vessel cleared for action in case the enemy should heave in sight. They were scarcely at sea before the wind increas- ing carried away the three topsails of the For- midable, and the main-top-mast of the Constitution. The Dix-Aout and the Jean-Bart, which were near aft, took up their stations larboard and star- board of the Constitution, and kept her in sight until the morning, in order, if needful, to render her assistance. The Vautour brig took in water so fast, that she was on the point of foundering had she not received timely assistance. During the storm and darkness of the night the squadron had dispersed; the next morning, at break of day, the Indivisible lay to, admiral Ganteaume remaining on the look-out for the purpose of rallying his squadron; but fearing the return of the English fleet, which up to this time had not shown itself, and relying upon the rendezvous appointed for all the vessels, he set sail for the place agreed upon. The pkce of meeting had been fixed for fifty leagues west off Cape St. Vincent, one of the most salient capes on the western coast of Spain. The other ships of the squadron, after having buffetted the gale, repaired their damages at sea by means of the stores on board, and they all subsequently rejoined each other, except the admiral's ship, which after lying to for them had sailed to the place of rendezvous. The only incident on the pas- sage was an encounter of the French frigate the Bravoure with the English frigate the Concord, which was watching the course of the division. Captain Dordelin, who commanded the Bravoure, bore up to the Concord and offered her battle. He ran alongside of her and poured several broadsides into her, which caused a frightful execution upon her decks. Captain Dordelin was preparing to board her, when the English frigate manoeuvring on her side to escape the danger, got clear by making all sail I . The French frigate rejoined the squadron, and all the vessels became again united under the admiral's flag at the meridian indicated. In this manner they steered for Gibraltar, after escaping by a miracle the enemy and the dangers of the sea. The squadron was highly animated, and those on board began to guess where they were bound, each desiring to have a share in the glorious mis- sion of saving Egypt. It became important to use all speed, as the fleet of admiral Keith, assembled in the Bay of Macri upon the coast of Asia Minor, was only awaiting the last preparations of the Turks, who are always slow to set sail, and then to cai-ry an English army to the mouths of the Nile. It was necessary to hasten before them, and circumstances seemed to aid the attempt in the most fortunate manner. The English admiral, St. Vincent, who commanded the fleet, blockading Brest, hearing too late of the sailing of Ganteaume, sent admiral Calder in pursuit with a force equal to the French squadron, seven sail of the line and two frigates. The English, who did not imagine the French would dare to penetrate into the Mediterranean in the midst of so many of their vessels, deceived i The English pretend that it was the French frigate which withdrew from the action. I received the information from two superior officers who still survive, and were in the squadron ; they leave me no reason to doubt of the truth of the recital which I have here given. Not* of the Author . ' April. Anxiety of admiral Gan- teaume. Errors in consequence. EVACUATION OF EGYPT. Dreadful action between two frigates. Ganteaume en- ters Toulon. 241 besides by the reports in circulation, believed that the French had sailed towards St. Domingo. Ad- miral Calder went to the Canaries, intending to sail from thence to the West Indies. During this Ganteaume had arrived at the straits, and was steering along the coast of Africa to keep out of sight of the English cruisers about Gibraltar. The wind was not sufficiently favourable, but the moment was highly promising for the success of his object. Admiral Warren, who was continually on the watch, cruising between Gibraltar and Port Mahon, had only four ships, all the remainder of the British force being engaged in transporting troops destined for the landing in Egypt, under admiral Keith. Unfortunately Ganteaume was not cognizant of all this, and the serious responsibilities which weighed upon him, caused him an anxiety which all the cannon-balls of the enemy would never have kindled in his intrepid bosom. An- noyed by two enemy's vessels, the Sprightly cutter and Success frigate, which approached him too near ; he gave them chase, and captured both. He passed the straits, and entered the Mediter- ranean. He had now nothing more to do than to spread all sail towards the east. Admiral Warren, in fact, was snug in the harbour of Port Mahon, and admiral Keith, embarrassed with two hundred transports, had not yet quitted the coast of Asia Minor. The shores of Egypt were, therefore, per- fectly open, and the succour, for which the French were waiting impatiently, and which had been so long promised, might have been landed. But Gan- teaume, always disquieted about the fate of his squadron, and still more about that of the nume- rous soldiers whom he had on board, was appre- hensive at the sight of the smallest vessel that come in his way. He constantly imagined there was an enemy's fleet between himself and Egypt, which in reality was not the fact. Above all, he was apprehensive of the state of his vessels, and feared that if it should be necessary to carry all sail before a superior force, he should not be able to do it with his masts damaged by the storm, and only hastily repaired at sea. Dissatisfied with the Bravoure frigate, which did not sail as he wished, he desired to get rid of her, and sent her into Toulon. But in place of sending her alone to port, and proceeding himself from the westward to the east along the African coast, he committed the error of standing to the northward, and getting nearly in sight of Toulon. His intention being to escort the Bravoure a part of the way to prevent her falling into the hands of the enemy's cruisers ; certainly a very poor reason, because it was a hun- dred times better to expose the frigate to hazard than the entire object of the expedition. In con- sequence of this fault he was discoverd by admiral Warren, who immediately left Port Mahon. Gan- teaume, to deceive him, at once gave chase. The gallant captain Bergeret, commanding the Dix- Aout, sailing faster than the rest of the squadron, reconnoitred the English within a very short dis- tance, and saw that there were only four line of battle ships and two frigates. Highly pleased at this discovery, he thought, that being so superior to the English, Ganteaume would have borne down upon them, and given battle, but on a sudden he saw the signal made to give up the pursuit, and to rejoin the squadron. That brave officer, much mortified, immediately communicated to Gan- teaume that he was deceived by his watch, and that there were only four vessels of the line. It was in vain ; Ganteaume thought he saw seven or eight, and determined to make sail northwards. Nevertheless it was certain, as the reports of ad- miral Warren afterwards proved, that there were only four of the enemy's vessels in sight 1 . Gan- teaume then approached the gulf of Lyons, in order to protect the Bravoure, and again getting in sight of the English squadron, he ran into Toulon in consternation. There he was alarmed by the fear of having incurred the displeasure of the first con- sul, indignant at discovering that the object of the expedition had been thus compromised at the moment when it promised complete success. This fatal resolution was the cause of the loss of Egypt, which at that moment might have been saved 2 . While Ganteaume was beating up between the coast of Africa and Port Mahon, two frigates, the Justice and Egyptienne, sailed eastward from Toulon with four hundred soldiers and munitions of war, and reached the port of Alexandria without seeing an English vessel. Two other frigates, the Re'ge'ne're'e and the Africaine, left Rochefort, crossed the sea, and passed through the straits into the Mediterranean without any accident. Unhap- pily they were separated. The Re'ge'ne're'e arrived before Alexandria on the 2i\jl of March, 1801, or Ventose, year ix. The Africaine fell in with an English frigate in the night, and stopping to en- gage, was taken. She had three hundred troops on board, who, anxious to take a part in the battle, occasioned a frightful disorder that, after an heroic defence, became the cause of her defeat 3 . Thus, as was seen, out of four frigates which left Toulon and Rochefort, three arrived without accident, and found the coast of Egypt free from the enemy, and so easily accessible, that they entered the port of Alexandria without firing a shot : thus difficult is it for vessels to meet on the immensity of the ocean, and so greatly does courage stand in aid of a brave officer who ventures to risk his flag in the achieve- ment of a great duty. Ganteaume entered Toulon on the 19th of Feb- ruary, or 30th Pluviose, worn down with fatigue and anxiety, experiencing, as he wrote to the first consul, every kind of torment at the same moment 4 . 1 See the report of admiral Warren of the 23rd of April, 1801, inserted in the Moniteur of the 27th Messidor, year ix. double number, 296 and 297. * If possible at all, not possible unless Ganteaume had arrived there before the end of February. Ganteaome arrived at Toulon only on the 19th of February. The Eng- lish were off the Egyptian coast on the 28th, and in sight of Alexandria on the 1st of March, though the weather per- mitted no landing until the 8th. They were at anchor in Aboukir Bay on the 2nd. Ganteaume had to run to Alex- andria from Toulon in nine days to be there before the Eng- lish ; he could scarcely have got through the distance unless with a very fair wind. Translator. 3 It was a slaughter, not a battle, a brave and useless de- fence, arising from the crowded state of the Africaine, with 715 on board. She had 200 killed and 143 wounded. The Eng- lish frigate, the Phoebe, one killed and twelve wounded. The French fired at the rigging, the English at the hull. Nothing so fearful in frigates occurred during the war. Trantlator. * See his letter written on the 19th of February, or 30th of Pluviose, the day of his entry into Toulon, preserved in the archives of the navy. R Error* of Ganteautne. Forbearance of the TRIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. first consul. State of Egypt. 1801. April. This might well be after thus committing interests of great importance. The first consul, naturally irritable, could little restrain his feelings, when his plans were thus thwarted through those em- ployed to carry them into effect. But he knew man ; he knew human nature ; he knew that it was not wise at the moment when action was every thiug, to exhibit marks of his dissatisfaction too strongly, because it was more necessary to animate than to dishearten : he knew that Ganteaume stood in need of encouragement to be sustained, and not reduced to despair by those ebullitions of rage which at that time were feared by all as the great- est possible misfortune. Far, therefore, from re- proaching the admiral, he sent his aid-de-camp, Lacue'e, to comfort and reanimate him, to place funds in his hands, troops, and provisions, and to urge him to proceed to sea without a moment's delay. The rebuke he received was limited to a mild censure for having quitted the coast of Africa for the Balearic Islands, and for having drawn admiral Warren in pursuit of him. Ganteaume was a brave man, a good sailor and officer ; but the situation of his mind at that moment shows how much more responsibility will weaken the spirit, than even the dangers of can- non. This is honourable to such men; and proves how much more they fear to commit the interests trusted to their hands, than to hazard their own lives. Ganteaume, thus encouraged by the first consul, went to work, but lost time in repairing his vessels, or waiting for a favourable wind. More than one propitious opportunity happened. Ad- miral Warren had sailed towards Naples and Sicily. Admiral Keith was, it is true, approach- ing Aboukir with the English army ; but it was not impossible to deceive his vigilance, and to dis- embark the French troops, either beyond Damietta, or more on this side, twenty or twenty-five leagues from Alexandria, which would have enabled them to reach Egypt by a march or two across the desert. While the exertions of the first consul were thus directed to hasten the second departure of Ganteaume, fresh letters were sent from Paris, pressing the organization of the squadrons at Rochefort, Ferrol, and Cadiz, in order to convey sucour to Egypt by several different channels at once. At last, Ganteaume, encouraged by the exhortations of the first consul, together with numerous marks of his kindness, set sail again on the 19th of March, or 28th of Ventose ; but at the moment of going out, the Constitution got aground, and two days were required to get her afloat. On the 22nd of March, or 1st of Germinal, this squadron, consisting of seven sail of the line and several frigates, again hoisted sail for the coast of Sardinia, without being perceived by the English. It was very desirable that these attempts should be crowned with success, at least in part, because the French army in Egypt, left to its own re- sources, was threatened by the united forces of the East and West. Still, although reduced in strength, it could have conquered the multitude of its enemies, (as it had done on the plains of Aboukir and Heliopolis,) if it had been well com- manded. Unhappily, Bonaparte was no longer at its head ; Desaix and KUfber were no .more. Tb state of Egypt must now be described from the time when the blow of the poignard laid low the noble figure of Kldber, of which, the appear- ance alone, on the shores of the Rhine as well aa of the Nile, sufficed to inspire the hearts of our soldiers with courage, to make them forget past perils, the misery, and the suffering of their exile. The prosperous state of the colony must be ex- plained, as well as the sudden disaster which over- took it. This is demanded ; because it is highly useful to offer to the eyes of a people the spectacle of its reverses as well as its successes, that it may become a wholesome lesson. Certainly, hi the midst of the unequalled prosperity of the consulate, the fruit of a most admirable and sagacious course of conduct, a single disaster can- not obscure the brilliancy of the picture which has been delineated ; but it is necessary to give our warriors and generals, yet more than to our sol- diers, the painful lesson contained in the latter period of the French occupation of Egypt. May it occasion them to reflect upon their too common tendency to disunion, more particularly, when there is no powerful hand to ensure subordination, and to direct against the common enemy their mental energy, and the impetuosity of their natural temperament. When Kle"ber expired, Egypt appeared in entire submission to the French arms. Having seen the army of the grand vizier dispersed in the twinkling of an eye, and the revolt of three hun- dred thousand of the inhabitants of Cairo sup. pressed in a few days, by a handful of soldiers, the Egyptians regarding the French as invincible, considered their establishment upon the banks of the Nile as the decree of irresistible destiny. Moreover, they began to get more familiar and more accustomed to their European guests, and to feel that the new yoke was much lighter than the old one had been. They paid fewer taxes than under the Mamelukes, and did not receive the blows of the bastinado at the time of the collection of the rotri, as they did when under the dominion of their co-religionists, whom the French had dispossessed. Murad Bey, that Mameluke prince of so chival- rous and brilliant a character, and who had, at last, become attached to the French, held Upper Egypt of them in fief. He showed himself a faith- ful vassal, paid his tribute punctually, and ad- ministered, with great care, the police government of the Upper Nile. He was an ally that might be depended upon. One single brigade of two thousand fire hundred men, placed in the neighbourhood of Beni-Souef, and for whom it was always easy to fall back upon Cairo, was sufficient to keep Upper Egypt in subjection ; a great advantage, consider- ing the very limited number of effective troops. The army having, on its own side, shared in the mistake of its general at the time of the conven- tion of El-Arisch, and having repaired the error as well as he had done in the plains of Heliopolis, had preserved a sense of this fault, and was not disposed to fall into it again. Well aware that they had to give an account to the republic of so noble a possession, the soldiers no more dreamed about its evacuation. Besides, Bonaparte, being at this time the supreme chief of the republic, that fact explained easily the motive of his departure, and they no more regarded him as one who bad de- serted them. They thought themselves continually J801. April. Egypt advance, in prosperity. EVACUATION OF EGYPT. Financial resources. 243 in presence of their former general, and had no more any disquietude about their future fortunes. Thanks to the foresight of the first consul, which had made him charter sailing-vessels in every port, there did not pass a single week without some vessels, small or large, entering the port of Alexandria, bringing stores, the products of Europe, newspapers, correspondence from families, and government despatches. In consequence of this continual intercourse, their country was for ever present in the imagination of the troops. Without doubt regret was soon awakened in their minds, whenever any peculiar circumstance arose to touch their feeh'ngs. At the death of Kle"ber, for example, when Menou took the command, every eye was directed at once towards Prance. A ge- neral of brigade, in presenting his Officers to Menou, asked him whether he intended, at last, to take them back to their country. Menou gave him a reproof, and proclaimed, in the order of the day, his formal resolution to conform to the in- tentions of his government, which were to retain the colony for ever ; and every rank at once sub- mitted. But more than all, general Bonaparte held the reins of power ; this was, for the old soldiers of Italy, the best ground both of hope and confidence. The pay was regularly issued, while every thing was at a row price. In place of settling with the troops in rations they were paid in cash. They were merely provided with corn. Thus they had the benefit of a low market, and lived in the midst of an abundance of every thing, often eating poultry in place of butcher's meat. Cloth was deficient, but the warmth of the climate was great, and they supplied that want for the principal part of their dress with calico, of which in Egypt there was always a great plenty. For the rest of their cloth- ing they took all the cloth brought into the east in the course of traffic without regarding the colour : hence there was variety enough in their uniforms. In some regiments, for example, the>men wera seen dressed in blue, red, or green ; but they were all clothed, and presented a fine soldierly appearance. The learned colonel Conte rendered great services to the army by the fecundity of his inventive powers. He had brought with him to Egypt a company of aerostiers, the remnant of the aerostiers of Fieuras. It was a union of all trades organized under military discipline. By their aid he esta- blished at Cairo machinery for weaving, fulling, and carding cloth ; and as wool was not deficient, it was hoped he would soon be able to supersede there the supply of cloth from Europe. It was the same with gunpowder. The manufactories of that article at Cairo, by M. Champy, had already sup- plied as much as was demanded for all the neces- sities of the war. The internal trade was visibly increasing. The caravans, well guarded, began to arrive from the heart of Africa. The Arabs of the Red Sea visited the ports of Suez and Cosseir, where they exchanged coffee, perfumes, and dates for the corn and rice of Egypt. The Greeks, avail- ing themselves of the Turkish flag, and better sailers than the English cruisers, brought to Da- mietta, Rosetta, and Alexandria, oil, wine, and other similar productions. In a word, nothing was wanting for the present ; while great resources were preparing for the future. The officers, seeing that the definitive occupation of Egypt was deter- mined upon, took the best steps possible to establish themselves in the most comfortable manner they were 'able as permanent residents. Those who lived at Alexandria or at Cairo, and they were by far the larger number, found very commodious quarters. Syrian, Greek, and Egyptian women, some purchased of the dealers in slaves, others out of their own inclination, came and partook of their accommodations. Melancholy was banished. Two engineers erected a theatre at Cairo, and the of- ficers themselves got up French pieces, playing the characters themselves. The soldiers did not live worse than their officers, and, thanks to the facility of the French character that enables it to familiarize itself with every nation, they were soon seen smoking and drinking coffee with the Turks and Arabs. The financial resources of Egypt, carefully ad- ministered, were adequate to all the necessities of the army. Egypt had paid under the sway of the Mamelukes, as the taxes were more or less rigor- ously levied, from 36,000,000 to 40,000,000 f. l She now paid no more than from 20,000,000 f. to 25,000,000 f. 2 , and the collection was therefore less oppressive. This 20,000,000 f. to 25,000,000 f. suf- ficed for the expenses of the colony, because all the expenses united seldom exceeded 1,700,000 f. * per month, or 20,400,000 f. * per annum. The collec- tion improved as time drew on, and became more regular, and at the same time the burdens became more easy to the people. The resources of the army -.were thus gradually augmented, and it was not erroneous in consequence to calculate upon a surplus of 3,000,000 f . or 4,000,000 f. 6 per annum, which would have formed a small fund applicable to extraordinary circumstances, or to construct works of defence or utility. The army still amounted to twenty-five or twenty-six thousand individuals, including those attached, whose duties were not strictly military, the women and children of the troops, and persons in the army employ. Of this number, twenty-three thousand might be counted as soldiers, of whom six thousand, less efficient, were still in a state to defend the fortresses, and seventeen or eighteen thousand were capable of the most active service. The cavalry was superb ; it equalled the Mamelukes in bravery, and far sur- passed them in discipline. The flying artillery was rapid in its motions, and well served. The dromedary regiment had been brought to the highest degree of perfection. It scoured the desert with extraordinary speed, and completely sickened the Arabs' desire of pillage. The loss of men was very small in the common average of mortality ; there were only six hundred sick out of twenty-six thousand individuals. Still, in the supposition of a war long protracted, there would, perhaps, have been a want of men ; but the Greeks were eager to serve, the Copts were the same. The negroes themselves, purchased at a low price and remark- able for their faithfulness, formed excellent re- cruits. The army hi time might have received i From 1,440,000 sterling to 1,600,000. From 800,000 sterling to 1,000,000. * About 63,000. * Or 816,000. * Or from 120,000 to 160,000. R2 244 Character of Menou, com- mander-in-chief. TRIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. Character of genetal Reynier. 1801. April. into its ranks ten or twelve thousand brave soldiers. Confident even to excess in its bravery and mili- tary experience, it did not doubt itself capable of driving the Turks or the English into the sea, sent against them out of Asia or Europe. It is certain that, well commanded, these eighteen thousand men, properly concentrated, and bearing down upon a mass of troops just landed, might have re- mained, whatever opposition was made, the masters of the Egyptian shore. But it was requisite they should have been well commanded ; it was as requisite for this same army as it would be for any other. Suppose Klel>er, or who would have been better still, Desaix, the sagacious, the brave Desaix, left in Egypt, from whence, unfortunately, he was with- drawn by the kind regard of the first consul : sup- pose Kle"ber, escaped from the poignard of the Mussulman, administering the government of the country for several years ! Who can doubt but he would have converted it into a flourishing colony, that he would have founded there a magnificent empire ! A healthful climate, without a single fever, a country of inexhaustible fertility, a sub- missive peasantry attached to the soil, voluntary recruits, what a vast superiority of elements over the establishment we are at this day founding in Africa ! But in place of Desaix, in place of KleTjer, it was Menou who had become the general-in-chief of the army by right of seniority. This was an irreparable misfortune for the colony, and it was a fault on the part of the first consul not to have replaced him. Not certain of his orders arriving in Egypt at the proper destination, the first consul was afraid that if the order containing the nomi- nation of the new general fell into the hands of the English, it would only serve to disorganize the exist- ing command. They would have stated that Menou was deprived of his command, but would not have transmitted the order which appointed his suc- cessor. The command would have been kept more or less long in a state of uncertainty. Still this motive does not excuse the first consul, if he were cognizant of the incapacity of Menou in a military point of view. One reason decided in favour of that general was his known zeal for the preserva- tion and colonization of Egypt. Menou, in fact, resisted in the strongest manner the scheme of evacuation, combated the influence of the officers of the army of the Rhine, and, in fact, made him- self the head and chief of the colonist party. He had pushed his enthusiasm so far as to become a convert to Islamism, and had married a Turkish woman. He called himself Abdallah Menou ; and these eccentricities made the soldiers, naturally given to raillery, very merry at his expense ; but they did no mischief to the colony in the sight of the Egyptians. Menou was possessed of intelli- gence, much acquired knowledge, great application to business, a taste for colonial establishments, and all the qualities required for administrative duties, but none of the qualities of a general. Destitute of experience, quick perception, and determination, he was, besides, very unfortunate in his personal appearance. He was abort-sigh ted, corpulent, and looked miserably on horseback. He was a com- mander, on the whole, very ill selected for soldiers as alert and well-seasoned as the French were. More than all, he wanted strength of character, and under his feeble authority the heads of the army, being divided among themselves, soon be- came the prey of the most fatal discord. Under Bonaparte, there was but one will and one mind in Egypt. Under Kle"ber, there were two, the colonists and anti-colonists, or those who wished to remain in Egypt, and those who wished to depart. But, after the affront which the Eng- lish attempted to inflict upon the French soldiers, an affront gloriously avenged at Heliopolis, after the necessity for remaining became known, every- thing became orderly. Under the imposing autho- rity of Kleber there was order and union. But the time between the victory of Heliopolis and the death of Kle"ber was too short far too short. From the moment Menou took the command order and union ceased to exist General Reynier, a good staff-officer, having served with credit in that capacity in the army of the Rhine, but cold, with no personal appearance, or ascendancy over the soldiers, was still generally esteemed. He was considered as one of the officers best qualified to appear at the head of the army. He was the oldest officer next to Menou. The same day on which Kle"ber died, a lively altercation en- sued between Menou and Reynier, not as to which should take the command, but which should de- cline the burden. Neither of them would accept it, and for that day the situation of affairs was most alarming. They were both under the belief that the blow of the poignard which bad struck down general Klel>er, was but the signal for an exten- sive insurrection, organized throughout Egypt by the influence of the English and Turks. The heavy duty of the command at such a critical moment, might have been reasonably dreaded. Menou gave way at last to the entreaties of general Reynier, and the other generals, and consented to become chief of the colony. But the French were soon set right upon the actual state of things, by the perfect tranquillity that continued after Klcber's death, and the command, just refused, became afterwards a subject of regret. Reynier now wished for that which he had begun by declining. Under his cold, modest, and even timid bearing, he concealed ex- cessive vanity. The authority of Menou was in- supportable to him. Until then quiet and submis- sive, he became thenceforth a grumbler and a fault-finder. He discovered a fault in every thing. Menou accepted the command at the request of his companions in arms, and assumed the title of commander-in-chief ad interim. Reynier criticized the title Meuou had adopted. At the funeral of Kleber, Menou had assigned the four corners of the coffin to the generals of division, and placed himself behind, at the head of the staff ; Reynier charged him with playing off the viceroy. Menou had requested the illustrious Fourier to pronounce a eulogy over the grave of Kletier ; Reynier pre- tended that it was a slight to the memory of Kle'ber, to suffer it to be done by another. A delay in a subscription opened to raise a monument to the memory of Kleiner, difficulties in the succession or administration to the general's property very tri- vial indeed, as the property was of the noble war- riors of that period; these and other puerilities were interpreted by Reynier, and by those who followed his example, in the most factious manner. iaoi. April. Administration of Menou in Egypt. EVACUATION OF EGYPT. His system of taxation. 245 These miserable incidents would not be cited, un- worthy of history as they are, if their very little- ness were not instructive by showing to what paltry meannesses motiveless discontent will sometimes descend. Reynier now became an insubordinate, culpable, and foolish lieutenant. He was joined by general Damas, the friend of Kle"ber, and chief of the general staff, who bore in his heart all the jealousies of the army of the Rhine against the army of Italy. The spirit of opposition had its abode in the staff itself. Menou would not suffer it so near him, and resolved to take from Damas the post which he had occupied under Klcfber. The opponents of Menou being thus disconcerted, endeavoured to parry the blow by sending the brave and clever general Friant to negotiate on their behalf with their commander-in-chief. Friant, absorbed in his military duties, a stranger to all their divisions, interfered only for the purpose of healing them. Menou, firmer than was customary, would not yield, and appointed general Lagrange in place of general Damas. By this step he found himself less encumbered than before by his oppo- nents ; but they were not the less irritated ; on the contrary, the dissensions among the chiefs of the army only became more disgraceful and more alarming. Men of reflection saw with pain, the shock which must result to the chief authority ; lamentable enough any where, but far more lament- able at a far distance from the supreme power, in a position surrounded with continual danger. Menou, a bad general, but a laborious administra- tor of a government, worked day and night at what he denominated the " organization of the colony." He effected many good measures, and some that were bad ; but, above all, he attempted to effect too much. First, he employed himself in settling the arrears of pay, and employed for this purpose the contribution of 1 0,000,000 f. which Kle"ber had exacted from the Egyptian cities as the penalty for their late revolt. This was one mode of keeping up peace and subordination in the army ; for at the time of the convention of El- Ansel), some marks of insubordination had manifested themselves, arising in part from the pay being in arrear ; Menou, in consequence, regarded the regular pay of what was due to the soldier as a security for good discipline, and he had reason upon his side. But he took the bold step of paying the soldier always, before any other expense, forgetting what urgent circum- stances war might originate. He employed him- self in improving the soldiers' bread, and he ren- dered it of excellent quality. He put the hospitals in perfect order ; and very carefully applied him- self to introduce clearness and order into the public accounts. Menou was a man of the most strict in- tegrity, given a little to lecturing. He so often expressed in the order of the day his intention to establish strict honesty in the army, that he hurt the feelings of the generals. They asked, with some bitterness, if nothing but pillage had existed before Menou, and if integrity dated from his com- mand of the army. It was very true, that but few malversations had been committed during the oc- cupation of Egypt. The army had taken, after the dissolution of the treaty of El-Arisch, a very con- siderable prize in the port of Alexandria ; it con- sisted of numerous vessels that had come, under the Turkish flag, to transport the French army to its own shores ; and they were nearly all filled with merchandise. A commission was appointed to sell them for the profit of the colonial treasury. Menou appeared discontented with the operations of the commission, and with general Lanusse who com- manded at Alexandria. He recalled Lanusse, in a manner that seemed to cast a reflection upon his character, and appointed general Friant in his place. General Lanusse was deeply wounded at this, and, upon his return to Cairo, increased the number of the disaffected. Menou did not rest here ; he tried to change the system of contribu- tions, and in this committed a great mistake. It was not to be doubted that, in time, a reform might have been operated in the Egyptian finances. By means of a fair repartition of the land revenues, with a few taxes levied judiciously upon articles of consumption, it would have been easy to relieve the Egyptian people, and increase the receipts of the treasury. But at the moment when the French were exposed to attacks from without, it was not politic to increase the difficulties within, and to make the people suffer from changes of which they would not at first be convinced of the benefit. The collection of the former taxes justly and in due course, was enough to establish a comparison be- tween the Mamelukes and the French a compa- rison greatly to the advantage of the last, and to increase considerably the funds applicable to the army. Menou conceived the idea of a general valuation of property, a new system of land-tax, and, above all, the exclusion of the Copts, who, in Egypt, are the farmers of the revenue, and act nearly the same part there which the Jews do in the north of Europe. These designs, very proper for future consideration and use, wex-e at that mo- ment very ill-advised. Menou, most fortunately, had not time to put his plaus into execution ; but he carried into effect the creation of new taxes. The sheiks, El-Beled, or municipal magistrates of Egypt, at certain times were invested with the municipal power, and obtained as presents either pelisses or shawls from the investing authorities. They returned, for these presents, gifts of horses, camels, or cattle. The Mamelukes renewed this ceremony as frequently as possible, for the sake of the profit which they obtained. Some of them had commuted the gift into one of money ; Menou thought of making the measure general all over Egypt. He levied upon the sheiks, El-Beled, a tax of about 2,500,000 f. 1 They were generally rich enough to pay this sum, and to some it was a lightening of the existing burthen. But the sheiks had great interest in the two thousand five hun- dred villages that were under their authority ; and the French ran the chance of turning the opinion of the people against them, if they levied an abso- lute, uniform, uncompensated tax, involving in it the suppression of a usage of which the effect was morally useful. Menou possessed the idea of assimilating Egypt to France, which he styled " civilizing " it, by establishing an octroi or species of excise upon the town consumption of various articles. Egypt had already a duty upon articles of consumption, col- lected in the okels, a sort of warehouses, in the east, where merchandise is deposited in the course 1 Or 100,000 sterling. Alterations of Menou. 246 Malcontents in the army. TRIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. Menou confirmed ir his command. 1S01. April. of its transport from one place to another. This mode of collection was simple and facile. Menou wished to change it into a tax collected at the town gates, which were very numerous in Egypt. Inde- pendently of the derangement this occasioned to the inhabitants of the country, the effect was to raise the price of provisions upon the French garrisons, to throw by this means a considerable part of the charge upon the army, and to excite new murmurings. Lastly, Menou resolved to levy contributions upon the rich merchants, who escaped the payment of the public taxes, such as the Copts, Greeks, Jews, Damascenes, Franks, and-others. He imposed upon them a 'capitation tax of 2,500,000 f. per annum. The burden was not too weighty, at least for the Copts, who had been enriched by the farming of the revenue, but the Copts had been very ill-treated during the revolt of Cairo. Besides the French had need of them; because it was to them alone that recourse must be had for a loan, or for any sum of money wanted upon an emer- gency. It was not prudent, therefore, to alienate them from the French any more than the Greek or European merchants, who, approximating to the French in manners, usages, and mental qualities, should have been intermediate agents between them and the Egyptians. Lastly, Menou created a duty on successions or upon bequeathed property, which was to extend to the army; and this became a fresh cause of discontent for the grumblers. This mania for assimilating a colony to the mo- ther country, in the belief that arousing the preju- dices of a people is the act of their civilization, Menou had in common with all those who colonize with narrow views, more eager to travel quickly than well. To achieve this object, Menou esta- blished a private council. This body was not com- posed of five or six military chiefs, but of about fifty civil and military officers taken from different grades of society. It was a real parliament, that ridicule prevented from assembling. He, lastly, established an Arabic newspaper for the purpose of making officially known to the army and the Egyptians, the acts of the French authorities. _ The soldiers paid little attention to these altera- tions ; they lived well, laughed at Menou, and applauded his good-nature and solicitude for their benefit. The Egyptians were submissive, and found after all that the yoke of the French was much more easy than that of the Mamelukes. But amidst all this there were some who were irritable, and these were the malcontents in the army. By doing absolutely nothing, Menou would alone have had a chance of escaping their envenomed criticisms, and then he would have been censured for his inaction. But Menou was too much occupied with his schemes of organization not to supply ample mat- ter for their critical censures. Of these schemes they took advantage, and went so far as to project the deposition of the commander-in-chief; an insen- sate act which would have destroyed the colony, and turned the army of Egypt into an army of praetorians. The officers in the different regiments were actually sounded for this purpose. For- tunately, they were found to be so prudent and so little inclined to revolt, that the idea of the deposi- tion of Menou was given up. Reynier and Damas had gained Lanusse ; all together they had drawn in Belliard and Verdier. General Friant excepted, all the generals of division became united in their unhappy opposition. Two of the old members of the convention, whom Bonaparte had taken with him to Egypt for the sake of giving them employ- ment, Isnard and Tallien, returned to their old habits, and became most violent agitators. The plan of deposing the commander-in-chief being recognized as impracticable, these general officers determined to present themselves to Menou in a body, and to make their observations upon certain of his measures which there could be no doubt me- rited censure. They went to him without giving him the least notice of their intention, and he was naturally much surprised at their sudden appear- ance. They laid before him the grievances of which they thought they had reason to complain, and he heard them; but not without great displeasure, and at the same time not without showing considerable dignity. He gave them a promise to consider seve- ral of their observations, but he had not the strength of mind to reprimand them at the moment for the great impropriety of their conduct. This proceed- ing caused a great mischief to the army, and was severely censured. The result was that Isnard and Tallien had the blame placed upon their shoulders, and were embarked for Europe in consequence. Just at this critical conjuncture the order of the first consul arrived, confirming Menou in his post, and invested him in a very decided manner with the office of commander-in-chief in Egypt. This expression of the will of the supreme head of the government at home came at a very opportune moment, and had the effect of recalling a part of the malcontents to their duty. Unfortunately new disputes arose, and things very soon got again into their previous state. It was in such miserable squabbles, that these discontented persons, soured by exile, and encouraged by the feebleness of the commander-in-chief, employed their time, from the battle of Heliopolis up to the present day, the space of an entire year; a precious period of time, which should have been passed in perfect unity, and in making preparations by that unity to conquer the formidable enemy that was about to land in Egypt. The waters of the Nile were retiring to their bed, and the inundated land was beginning to dry up. The time for landing had arrived. The month of February, 1801, or Ventose, year IX., was close at hand. The English and the Turks were pre- paring to make a new attack upon the colony. The grand vizier, whom Kle"ber had beaten at Helio- polis, was at Gaza between Palestine and Egypt, not having dared to appear at Constantinople from the day of his defeat ; and having with him no more than ten or twelve thousand men of his whole army, devoured by plague, living upon plunder, and having every day to fight the mountaineers of Palestine, who had risen against such visitors. That enemy could be no cause of apprehension for a good while to come. The capitan pacha, the foe of the vizier and a favourite of the sultan, was cruising with a squadron between Syria and Egypt. He was desirous of renewing the convention of El- Arisch, placing little reliance upon conquering Egypt by force of arms, and having a distrust of England, that he much suspected of a desire to seize upon this fine country from the French for themselves. Lastly, eighteen thousand men were assembled at Macri in Asia Minor, partly English, 1801. April. Projected invasion of Egypt EVACUATION OF EGYPT. Incapacity of Menou. 247 others Hessians, Swiss, Maltese, and Neapolitans, commanded by officers exclusively English, and in a fine state of discipline, were about to be em- barked on board lord Keith's squadron, to be landed in Egypt under an excellent general, sir Ralph Abercromby. To these eighteen thousand European soldiers, six thousand Albanians were to be added, whom the capitan pacha was at that moment conveying in his squadron, and six thousand sepoys were crossing from India by the Red Sea. About twenty thousand bad soldiers of the east were to join the ten thousand Turks under the grand vizier in Pa- lestine. Thus there were above sixty thousand men whom the army of Egypt was likely to have upon their hands. Still there were enough, and even more than were wanted, if they had been commanded by a skilful and judicious leader. First, there was no danger of a surprise, be- cause the intelligence was received from all parts. It came from the Archipelago by Greek vessels, as well as from Upper Egypt through Murad Bey, and from Europe itself by the despatches of the first consul. All these accounts gave notice of an approaching expedition, composed both of Euro- peans and Orientals. Menou, with a deaf ear to the warning, took no steps at the most critical moment, neglecting every thing necessary in the existing state of his position. Sound policy naturally counselled the keeping up a good understanding with Murad Bey by treating him with cautious regard, because he commanded Upper Egypt, and also preferred the French to the English or the Turks. Menou neglected all this, and replied to the information which he re- ceived from Murad Bey, in a manner calculated to alienate him from the French if it had been pos- sible to do so. Good policy demanded that Menou should avail himself of the distrust of the Turks towards the English, and without repeating again the disgraceful convention of El-Arisch, delay their operations by a pretended negotiation, which, by occupying their attention, might relax their efforts. Menou neither thought of this mode of proceeding, nor of any other. In regard to the administrative and military re- sources required under such circumstances, he was wholly unable to imagine any that were to the purpose. He ought to have collected at Rosetta, Damietta, Ramauieh, and Cairo, in short, at every place where the army was likely to assemble, a large magazine of warlike supplies, always easy to obtain in a country as abundant as Egypt. Menou refused to do this, not being willing to divert the money from the payment of the soldiers which he had promised them they should punctually receive on the day it was due, a thing which the difficulty of collecting the new taxes barely enabled him to do at the moment. It was necessary to remount the cavalry and artillery, as they were the most efficacious means of opposing an army just dis- embarked, and most commonly destitute of these two .arms. He refused to do this on the same financial grounds as before. So far did he carry his want of foresight, that he selected the same moment to cut the artillery horses, which were entire, and by their spirit very troublesome to govern. Lastly, Menou was opposed to the concentration of the troops, which the health of the soldiers at that season rendered very desirable, even if no danger had threatened Egypt from without. Some cases of plague had already appeared. To encamp the men and take them out of the towns was urgently required, besides keeping them more dis- posable in case of a sudden demand for their ser- vices. The army, scattered in garrison, uselessly congregated in Cairo, or employed in the collection of the miri, was in a condition to act no where with effect. Still by the good disposal of twenty- three thousand men, of whom seventeen or eighteen thousand were capable of active service, Menou had the means in his power to defend Egypt at every point. He might be attacked by the side of Alexandria, because it was situated near the roads of Aboukir, and always, therefore, preferred as a landing-place ; by the side of Damietta, another place fit for a landing, though less favourable than that of Aboukir; or, thirdly, by the way of the Syrian frontier, where the grand vizier was sta- tioned with the remains of his army. Of these three, there was only one point seriously threatened, namely, Alexandria and Aboukir roads, a cir- cumstance easy to be foreseen, because every one was of that opinion, and it was openly expressed in the army. The shore of Damietta was, on the other hand, of difficult access, and so little united, by a few narrow points to the Delta, that an in- vading army, if it disembarked, could be easily blocked up and forced to re-embark. It was not at all probable that the English would approach by the way of Damietta. On the side of Syria there was but little serious danger to be apprehended from the vizier. He was too weak, and too full of the recollection of Heliopolis, to take the lead in an attack. He would only venture to advance upon the successful landing of the English. Under any circumstances it would not be imprudent to suffer him to advance, as the nearer to the French he did so the more certain he would be to commit himself. The main subject for the consideration of the Commander-in-chief, in fact that which should have wholly occupied his attention, ought to have been the English army, the landing of which was expected to take place very shortly. In the existing posture of affairs, a strong division of four or five thousand men should have been left around Alexandria, independently of the sailors and the dep6ts necessary to guard the fortified places. Two thousand would have been sufficient for Damietta. The dromedary regiment would have sufficed to keep guard upon the Syrian fron- tier. A garrison of three thousand men at Cairo, which would have been joined by two thousand from Upper Egypt, and reinforced several thou- sands from the depAts, would have been ample to keep in subjection the population of Cairo, even if the vizier had appeared under the walls. These various duties absorbed eleven or twelve thousand men out of seventeen or eighteen thousand effec- tives. There would then remain six thousand chosen troops in reserve, of which a. large camp ought to have been formed exactly between Alexan- dria and Damietta. There did, in fact, exist such a point, uniting every object required, and that was at Ramanieh, a healthy site on the border of the Nile, not far from the sea, easy to be provisioned, at the distance of a day's march from Alexandria, 248 Activity of general Friant. TRIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. El klg! . tion epter ' and three or four from the frontiers of Syria. If Menou had established at Ramanieh his reserve of six thousand men, he \y. 1 Thb ii a singular Illusion of our author, even under hit very incorrect ttatement of the proceeding! of the English umy.Tranilftvr. On the 28th of February, 1801, or 9th of Ven- tose, year ix., there was perceived, not far from Alexandria, an English pinnace *, which appeared to be reconnoitring. Some boats were sent in pursuit of her, and she was captured with the officers who were on board. The papers found upon them left no longer any doubt of the inten- tion of the English. Almost immediately after- wards the English fleet of seventy sail of vessels appeared in sight of Alexandria; but owing to the badness of the weather, it was obliged to stand out to sea again. Fortune still left another chance for the preservation of Egypt from the English, since it was not likely their landing would be attempted for several days .to come. The intelligence trans- mitted by Friant to Cairo reached that place on the 4th of March, or 13th of Ventose, in the after- noon. If Menou had, without losing time, taken a decisive and prompt resolution, all might still have been repaired. If he had ordered the entire army to fall back towards Alexandria, the cavalry would have arrived there hi four days, the infantry in five; that is to say, between the 8th and 9th of March, or 17th and 18th of Vent6se, from ten to twelve thousand men might have been assembled on the sands of Aboukir. It was possible that by this time the English would have been dis- embarked; but it was impossible for them to have got their artillery, ammunition, and stores on shore, or to have strengthened their position ; and our troops would have arrived in time to have driven them into the sea. Reynier, who was at Cairo, wrote to Menou, on that day, a letter of the most convincing character. He advised him to dis- regard the vizier, who would not take the lead in offensive operations, and also Damietta, which was not the point threatened, and to push the great mass of his force upon Alexandria. Nothing was better than this advice. In any case, there could be no harm done by marching upon Ramanieh, since, on his arrival there, if the danger were in Damietta or Syria, he could, with perfect ease, direct himself upon either of these two points. Not a day would be lost in such a case, and he would be so much closer to Alexandria, where the real danger was threatening; but it was absolutely necessary to decide that moment, and to set out on the march that night. Menou was deaf to this reasoning, and became peremptory in his orders; while, at the same time, he was unsettled how he should act. Not being able to distinguish, to his own satisfaction, the point that was threatened, he sent a reinforcement to general Rampon, at Damietta. He sent general Reynier, with his division, towards Belbei's, to oppose the vizier upon the Syrian border. He sent the division of Lanusse towards Ramanieh ; yet he did not send all that division, but kept at Cairo the 88th demi- brigade. At the moment he merely sent off the l?th chasseurs. General Lanusse was ordered to proceed to Ramanieh, and, according to the in- formation he might there obtain, he was, if needful, * This took place in Aboukir Bay, not off Alexandria. The officers were majors M'Karras and Fletcher of the royal engineers, who, some time before the expedition, sailed from Marmora, having gone down in the Penelope frigate to survey the coast. They were surprised In a very small boat. Major M'Karras was killed by the French. Tranilator. 1801. April. Description of the country. EVACUATION OF EGYPT. Landing of the British troops. 249 to march from that place upon Alexandria. Me- nou remained in Cairo, with a large proportion of his forces, awaiting later intelligence, in a position at such a distance from the coast. It was impos- sible for incapacity to proceed further. During this time, events rapidly succeeded each other. The English fleet was composed of seven sail of the line, a great number of frigates, brigs, and large vessels belonging to the East India com- pany, in all seventy sail. They had on board a great many flat-bottomed boats. As has al- ready been observed, lord Keith commanded the naval forces; sir Ralph Abercromby those of the land. The place which they chose for their dis- embarkation was that which had always been selected before, the road of Aboukir. It was there that the French squadron was moored in 1798: there that it was discovered and destroyed by Nelson; it was there that the Turkish squadron landed the brave janissaries, thrown into the sea by Bonaparte, on the glorious day of Aboukir. The English fleet having been obliged to keep off for some days, a delay, fatal for them, and fortunate for the French, if Menou had known how to profit by it, came to an anchor in the Aboukir roads on the 6th of March 1 , or 15th Ventose, about five leagues from Alexandria. Lower Egypt resembles Holland and Venice, in being a country of marshes and pools. Like all countries of the same nature, it presents a cha- racter, which it is necessary to examine closely, if one desires to comprehend the military operations of which it may become the scene. At the place where all the great rivers enter the sea, they form banks of sand in their estuaries ; these the sea drives back, and thus driven by two opposite forces, they extend themselves parallel with the shore. They form those bars so much dreaded by navi- gators, always so difficult to pass upon entering or leaving rivers. They rise, scarcely perceived, in succession, to the level of the water, and in time get above it, presenting a long bank of sand, beaten, from without, by the arms of the sea, while, within side, they are perpetually washed by the rivers whose currents they impede in their progress. The Nile, in flowing into the Mediter- ranean, has formed, before its numerous mouths, a vast semicircle of these sand-banks. This semi- circle, which has an arch of seventy leagues at least, from Alexandria to Pelusium, is scarcely interrupted near Rosetta, Bourloz, Damietta, and Pelusium, by some channels, passing through which, the waters of the Nile flow into the sea. On one side bathed by the Mediterranean, it is washed on the other by the lakes Mareotis, Madieh, Edko, Bourloz, and Menzaleh. Every disembarkation in Egypt must be necessarily ef- fected upon one of these sand-banks. Led by example and by necessity, the English chose that which forms the bank or plain of Alexandria. This bank, about fifteen leagues long, runs between the Mediterranean, on one side, and the lakes Mareotis and Madieh on the other, and has, at one of its extremities, the city of Alexandria, and at the other, forms a re-entering semicircle, which terminates at Rosetta. It is this re-entering semi- 1 It came to anchor there on the 2nd, not the 6th. The sea was too high to land until the 8th. Translator. circle which makes the road of Aboukir. One of the sides of this roadstead was defended by the fort of Aboukir, built by the French, and com- manded, by its fire, the surrounding sands. A number of small sand-hills skirted the entire shore, and were lost in the distance on the other side of the road, in a level sandy plain. Bonaparte had ordered a fort to be constructed on these hills. Had his orders been carried into effect, to disem- bark here would not have been practicable. It was in the midst of this roadstead that the English squadron came to an anchor in two lines. They waited at anchor until the swell becoming less, permitted them to land. At length, on the 8th, in the morning, or 17th Ventose, the weather being calm, lord Keith distributed five thousand men 2 hi three hundred and fifty boats. These boats, disposed in two lines, and led by captain Cochrane, advanced towards the shore, having on each of their wings a division of gun-boats. These boats exchanged with the shore a vigorous can- nonade. General Friant had gone to the spot and formed at some distance from the shore, in order to shelter his men from the English artillery. He had thrown between the fort of Aboukir and the ground which he had taken up, a detachment of the 25th demi- brigade, with several pieces of cannon. On his left he had stationed the 75th, two battalions strong, concealed by the sandhills ; hi the centre, two squadrons of cavalry, one the 18th, and the other the 20th dragoons; lastly, upon his right he placed the 61st demi-brigade, also two battalions strong, which was ordered to defend the lower part of the beach. His whole force was fifteen hundred men. An advanced party occupied the landing- place, and the French artillery, placed at the salient points of the shore, swept the plain with their fire. The English pulled towards the land, the sol- diers lying down in the bottoms of the boats, and the sailors standing up 3 working their oars with vigour, and taking with perfect coolness the fire of the artillery. When the sailors fell they were instantly replaced by others. The mass moved on as if by one impulse, and approached the land. At length the boats touched the beach. The Eng- lish soldiers arose from the bottoms of the boats and sprang on shore. They formed, and rushed up the sandy slope which bordered the sea. General Friant, discovering this from his outposts falling back, came up a little late. He, notwithstanding, * They were six thousand, not five thousand, in each division ; and two divisions of that number were landed the same day, and in the same manner. Their artillery was taken in the launches with each division, under the care of six naval captains, who conducted the covering gun-boats on the flanks. Translator. * The want of information of our author upon naval affairs is visible again here. The soldiers did not lie down in the bottoms of the boats, nor did the seamen stand to row. The outermost transports were from five to six miles off; and to reach the rendezvous, a mile from the shore, some had been in the boats from three in the morning. The soldiers, in such a case, must have been packed like bales upon each other. Seamen itanding to row for five hours is a thing out of the question. The soldiers sat with their muskets be- tween their knees, placed perpendicularly; the seamen sat as usual. Translator, _ rt -50 Engagement between the two armies. Retreat of TRIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. isoi. April. directed the 75th to the left, against the sand-hills, and the 61st to the right, towards the lower part of the shore. This last regiment rushed upon the English with bayonets at the charge, as they were on that side without support. They pushed them with vigour, drove them into their boats, and even got into the boats with them. The grena- diers of the same demi-brigade seized upon twelve of the boats, and used them to pour a murderous fire upon the enemy. The 75th, which received their orders too late, had given the English time to seize upon the position on the left, and advanced to dislodge them. Exposed by this movement to the fire of the gun-boats, it received a terrific dis- charge of grape-shot, which killed thirty-two men, and wounded twenty. It at the same moment re- ceived the terrible fire of the English infantry. This brave demi-brigade surprised for an instant, and not fighting upon firm ground, advanced to the attack in some confusion. General Friant, wishing to support it, ordered a charge of cavalry upon the English centre, which was now forming in the plain, having overcome the first obstacles that pre- sented themselves. The commander of the 18th dragoons was several times sent for by the general to receive his orders, after having made him wait. General Friant, in the midst of a hailstorm of balls, pointed out to him the precise point of attack. Unfortunately the irresolution of the officer caused him, in place of advancing directly against the enemy, to lose time in making a circuit; the charge was badly made, and the lives of many men and horses sacrificed without making any impression on the English, and without disengaging the 75th, that was struggling to retake the sand-hills on the left. There was a squadron of the 20th remaining, commanded by a brave officer, named Boussart; he charged at the head of his dragoons, and over- turned all that were opposed to him. At this in- stant the 61st, which towards the right had been masters of the shore, though unable of themselves to overpower the mass opposed to them, now in- vigorated, followed the 20th dragoons close, and pushed the left of the English upon its centre, soon forcing them to re-embark. The 75th on its own side, under a dreadful fire, fought with renewed courage. If at that moment general Friaut had had the two battalions of infantry, and the regi- ment of cavalry which he so many times requested, the battle had been won, and the English had been driven into the sea. But a troop of twelve hun- dred chosen men, composed of Swiss and Irish, turned the sand-hills, and attacked the 75th in Hank. This regiment was obliged to give way anew, leaving the 61st on the right, determined to conquer, but endangered by its own excess of courage. General Friant, seeing that the 75th was obliged to retreat, and that the 61st would be surrounded, ordered its retreat, which was effected in good order. The grenadiers of the 61st, animated by the carnage and by the success, reluctantly obeyed the order of their general, and in retiring kept back the English by several vigorous charges. This unfortunate combat of the 8th of March, or 17th of Ventose, decided the loss of Egypt. The gallant general Friant had taken up his position, perhaps, a little too far from the shore ; he had also, perhaps, counted too much upon the supe- riority of his men, and supposed that the English could only disembark a few at a time. But this confidence was very excusable, and, after all, it was justified; because if he had had but one or two battalions more, the English would have been repulsed, and Egypt saved. But what can be said in behalf of the commander-in-chief, who, for two months aware of the danger through many chan- nels, neglected to concentrate his troops at Ra- manieh, which would have enabled him to unite ten thousand men before Aboukir on that decisive day ? who, informed again on the 4th of March, in the most positive terms, which reached Cairo on that day, did not send any troops ? They would then have arrived on the morning of the 8th, and would, in consequence, have been in time to repel the English. What can be said of admiral Gan- teaume, who could have landed four thousand men in Alexandria the same day that the Re'ge'ne're'e frigate brought three hundred, who fought at Aboukir ! What can be said of this timidity, neg- ligence, error of every kind, unless that there are some tunes when every thing accumulates to con- tribute to the loss of battles and the ruin of em- pires? The battle was sanguinary. The English com- puted their loss at eleven hundred killed and wounded out of five thousand that had landed 1 . We had four hundred killed and wounded out of fifteen hundred. The' troops had then fought well. General Friant retired under the walls of Alex- andria, and sent off the state of affairs to Menou and the generals stationed near him, pressing them to come to his assistance. Still, all might have been repaired, if the tune that remained had been profitably employed in bringing up the disposable force, and had advantage been taken of the difficulties in which the English found themselves placed, having taken up their position upon the sandy plain. In the first place, they had to disembark then? army, then to land their guns, ammunition, and baggage, which would be a labour of some time. It was then necessary for them to advance along the sand-bank hi order to approach Alexandria, with the sea on the right, and the lakes Madieli and Mareotis on the left ; supported, it is true, by 1 The English did not compute their loss in the amount the author states ; but it was as follows : seamen, 22 killed ; 7 officers, 65 men wounded, 3 missing; total navy, 97. The return of the army loss was 4 officers, 4 Serjeants, 94 privates, killed ; 26 officers, 34 Serjeants, 455 privates, wounded ; 1 officer and S3 privates missing. Of these last, 14 were of the Corsican rangers made prisoners ; these were probably the "Swiss" alluded to above, because there was no other foreign regiment in the British service in the landing of the first division. The total, therefore, was 124 killed, and 625 wounded. The action was warmly contested at the moment. The French cavalry charged the British left as it came out of the boats, and before It could form, causing a confusion impossible to aroid, and instantly remedied. The combat was never for a moment doubtful. The 23rd and 40th, that ascended the sand-hills in the centre, carried all before them, and were never once checked. The French force was rated by good judges, who were able to observe the proceedings, at from 2500 to 3000. General Abercromby estimated them at 2500. Eight French pieces of cannon out of fifteen were taken, a waggon with ammunition, and a number of horsei. Trantlalor. 1801. April. Delay of Menou. Movements of the British. EVACUATION OF EGYPT. Friant and Lanuue re- solve to fight. They are repulsed. 251 their gun-boats, but without cavalry, and having no other artillery than they were able to drag by hand. These operations, it was clear, would be tedious, and soon become very difficult when they had arrived before Alexandria, reduced to the necessity either of taking that city, or marching over narrow dykes, by which alone they could com- municate with the interior of Egypt, and get out of the confined promontory upon which they had landed. If the French wished to check their ad- vance, they ought to have avoided partial and un- equal battles, which only inspired their enemies with confidence, made the troops lose then: cus- tomary relianco upon themselves, and reduced their numbers, already too few. Without fighting at all the French were certain, by choosing good positions, to obstruct the English march com- pletely. One useful thing alone, therefore, re- mained to be undertaken, and that was to wait until Menou, whose blindness to his own danger had now lieen overcome by facts too strong to be re- sisted, had concentrated his forces under the walls of Alexandria. But general Lanusse had been sent to Ramanieh with his division. Having then learned what had passed on the side of Aboukir, he at once marched upon Alexandria. He brought with him three thousand men ; Friant had lost four hundred out of fifteen hundred who were in the battle of the 8th of March ; but having called in his small outposts, extending from Alexandria to Rosetta, he had still seventeen or eighteen hundred men. The forts of Alexandria were garrisoned by the seamen and soldiers of the depdts. With the division of La- nusse coming up, a force of about five thousand men could be mustered. The English had lauded sixteen thousand exclusive of two thousand seamen. It would have been wiser not to have engaged yet in a second battle ; but the two generals were hur- ried into action by extraordinary circumstances. The long bank of sand upon which the English had landed, separated by the lakes Madieh and Mareotis from the interior of Egypt, is only joined to it by a long dyke passing between the two lakes, and terminating at Ramanieh. This dyke carries, at the same time, the canal which supplies the city of Alexandria with fresh water from the Nile, and the high road leading from Alexandria to Ramanieh. At this moment there was great dan- ger of its being occupied by the English, as they had very nearly reached the place where it joins the sand-bank upon which Alexandria is situated. The English were busy on the 9th, 10th, and llth of March, or 18th, 19th, and 20th of Ventdse, in disembarking and organizing their troops. On the 12th their army began to advance, marching slowly and heavily through the sands, the artillery being drawn by the sailors of the squadron, and sap- ported right and left by gun-boats. On the night of the 12th they were very near the point where the dyke and canal form a junction with the site upon which Alexandria stands. Generals Friant and Lanusse thought there was great danger in permitting the English to occupy that point, and thus place in their possession the road to Ramanieh, by which Menou must arrive. Still, if that road were lost, there remained another long one, it is true, and very difficult for artillery to pass, that was the bed itself of lake Mareotis. This lake, more or less in a state of inundation, according to the rise of the Nile, and the season of the year, left uncovered a large space of marshy ground, through which an army might be certain to track out a sinuous march. There was, in con- sequence, no sufficient reason for fighting with every chance against success. Generals Friant and Lanusse, nevertheless, ex- aggerated the danger to which their communi- cations were exposed, and determined to fight. They had the means of diminishing very consider- ably the error they thus committed, by remaining upon the sand-hills, which rise across the whole width of the bank upon which the battle was fought, these very hills abutting upon the head of the dyke itself, and commanding it. By remaining in this position, and making a wise use of their artillery, with which they were much better pro- vided than the English, they had the advantage of acting upon the defensive, of compensating for their inferiority of number ; and would have suc- ceeded, it is probable, in protecting the point, for the preservation of which they were about to give a second battle, deeply to be regretted. It was then agreed upon to give battle between generals Friant and Lanusse. The last was an officer of good natural abilities, of great bravery, and even audacity. Unhappily he was too little disposed to attend to the dictates of prudence. He had mingled too in the dissensions prevalent in the army, and was full of delight at the prospect of gaining a victory before the arrival of Menou. On the 13th of March, or 22nd of Ventose, in the morning, the English appeared. They were divided into three corps; that on the left followed the shore of lake Madieh, thus threatening the head of the dyke, supported by gun-boats ; that of the centre advanced in the form of a square, having battalions in close columns upon its flanks in order to resist the French cavalry, which the English much feared; the third corps marched on the side of the sea, supported also by gun-boats. The corps destined to take the head of the dyke was in advance of the two others. Lanusse, seeing the left wing of the English venture alone along the side of the lake, could not resist the desire of throwing himself upon it. He descended the heights below which he was to attack it ; but at the same moment the formidable square forming the English centre, before concealed from view by some of the sand-hills which it had cleared, appeared suddenly upon that side. Lanusse was thus obliged to turn from his original object ; he marched directly to- wards the square, which at some distance was pre- ceded by an advanced line of infantry. He ordered up the 22nd chasseurs, which charged the line of infantry at full gallop, cut it into two parts, and forced two battalions to lay down their arms. The 4th light dragoons, advancing to sustain the 22nd, completed this first success. While this was going forward, the square which had arrived within mus- ket shot, commenced that fire of well-sustained musketry, by which the French army suffered so much upon the landing at Aboukir. The 18th light next came up, but was received with the sauxe murderous volleys, which threw its ranks into con- fusion. At this moment the right body of the English was seen advancing from the sea-shore upon its way to sustain the centre. Lanusse, who 252 Menou marches towards Alexandria. TRIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. ?%!?*' had only the 69th to support the 18th, then ordered a retreat, fearing to engage in so unequal a contest. Friant on his side, astonished to see Lanusse de- scend to the plains, followed in order to support him, and pushed forwards to the head of the dyke, against the English left. He was exposed a long while to a very animated fire, which he returned with equal spirit, when he perceived the retreat of his colleague. He then retreated in his turn, to prevent being left to contend alone against the entire English army. Both after this short engage- ment regained the position which they had com- mitted the error of quitting. This was on the whole but a mere reconnoissance, although a very useless one, because the army ought to have been spared, and the result was a new loss of five or six hundred men ; a loss very much to be regretted, because the French had not, like the English, the means of obtaining reinforce- ments, and were reduced to the necessity of giving battle with a force not exceeding five thousand or six thousand men. If the losses of the English could have compensated for those of the French, they were sufficiently great to satisfy them. They lost thirteen or fourteen hundred men l . It was now resolved to await the arrival of Menou, who had at last determined upon direct- ing the army on Alexandria. He had ordered general Rampon to quit Damietta, and march upon Ramanieh, and he brought with him the main body of the troops. Yet there still remained in the pro- vince of Damietta, and in the vicinity of Belbeis and of Salahieh, in Cairo itself, and in Upper Egypt, troops which were not as useful in the places where they were left as they would have been before Alexandria. If Menou had ordered the evacuation of Upper Egypt, and had confided it to Murad Bey, and if he had left the city of Cairo, but little inclined to insurrection, to the soldiers in the depots, he would have had two thousand men more with which to face the enemy. Such an addi- tional force was not surely to be despised, because the all-important object was to beat the English. The Egyptians were very far from the idea of revolting, and did not require that any precautions should be taken against them. They were only to be feared in case of the French being decidedly vanquished. Menou, having reached Ramanieh, discovered the whole extent of the danger threatening him. General Friant had sent forward two regiments of cavalry. The general thought, with good reason, that being for some days shut up within the walls of Alexandria, he had no great need of those regi- ments, and that, on the contrary, they would be highly useful to Menou to clear the country upon his march. Menou was obliged to make long circuits in the bed of lake Mareotis, in order to gain the plain of Alexandria. He succeeded with some trouble, ' The exact loss of the English was 6 officers, 150 men, and 21 horses, killed; 66 officers, 1015 men, and 5 horses, wounded; 1 man alone was missing: total, 1231. The French continually underrate their losses. The English army continued their advance, and the French retired under the protection of the fortified heights of Alexandria, while general Hutchinson, with the reserve, occupied a position with his right to the sea, and his left on the canal of Alex- andria, about a league from the city. Trnntlalor. above all with his artillery. The troops arrived on the 19th and 20th of March, or 28th and 29th Ventose. He arrived himself on the 19th, and was then able to appreciate with his own eyes the great fault that had been committed in allowing the English to effect a landing. The English had received several reinforcements- and a good deal of materiel. They had taken up their position upon the same sandy heights which had been occupied by generals Lanusse and Friant on the 13th of March. They had thrown up some redoubts, and mounted them with heavy guns. To drive them from their position would have been a difficult task. The English were besides very superior in num- bers. They had seventeen thousand or eighteen thousand men against fewer than ten thousand. Friant and Lanusse, after the affair of the 22nd of Ventose, had barely four thousand five hundred effective men. Menou did not bring with him more than five thousand. The French had therefore but ten thousand men to oppose eighteen thousand in an intrenched position. All the chances which might have been on the French side in the first, and even in the second affair, were now against them. After having attempted in vain to drive the English into the sea with fifteen hundred men, and afterwards with five thousand, it would have been extraordinary not to have attempted it with ten thousand, or in other words, with all the force we could collect at the same point. It is not to be disguised that there was another part to play, which should have been followed after the first landing, before the useless battle which generals Lanusse and Friant fought. This was to leave the English upon the tongue of land which they occupied, and to throw up works rapidly around Alexandria, which would have made it ex- tremely difficult to take that place; to have confided the defence to the seamen and the soldiers of the depot, reinforced with two thousand good men taken from the active army. To evacuate all the posts except Cairo, where three thousand men might have been left in garrison, having the citadel for a stronghold. Then to have kept the field with nine thousand or ten thousand men, in the view of falling upon the Turks if they should make their appearance by way of Syria, or upon the English if they should advance into the interior along the narrow dykes traversing Lower Egypt. The French had the advantage over their enemies, in that they were able to avail themselves of every arm, cavalry, infantry, and artillery, with the exclusive benefit of commanding all the provisions in the country. The English might thus have been blockaded, and probably forced to re-embark. But for such a mode of proceeding a much more able general was re- quired than Menou, much better versed than he was in the art of animating his troops. In short, there was necessary a commander different from him, who, having all the chances of the campaign in his favour upon its commencement, had com- ported himself in such a manner, that he had turned them all to his own disadvantage. Still to fight the English, now they were in the country, was but a natural resolution, consequent upon all that had been done since the campaign opened. But having determined to make a decisive exertion, it was proper to attempt it as quickly xa 1801. -March. Position of the two armies. EVACUATION OF EGYPT. Battle of Canoput. 253 possible, in order not to give the Turks, on their way from Syria, the opportunity to press the French forces too closely. In order to fight a battle it was necessary to agree upon some plan of operations. Menou was not competent to invent such a plan, and his situa- tion with his generals scarcely admitted of his meeting them in consultation upon the subject. Notwithstanding this, Lagrange, the chief of the staff, requested Reynier and Lanusse to furnish one, which should be laid before Menou for his approbation. This they did, and it was adopted by him almost mechanically. The two armies were in presence of each other, occupying a bank of sand about a league broad and fifteen or sixteen long, upon which the English had landed at first. The French army was posted in front of Alexandria, upon elevated ground. Before their position extended a sandy plain, and here and there sand-hills, which the enemy had carefully intrenched, in such a manner as to form a con- tinued chain of positions from the sea to the lake Mareotis. On the French left, over against the sea, an old Roman camp stood ; it was a square species of construction, still entire ; at a little distance in front of this camp was a small sand-hill, on which the English had thrown up a work. There it was that they had stationed their right, supported by the double fire of this work and a division of gun-boats. In the centre of the field of battle, at an equal distance from the sea and lake Mareotis, there was another sand-hill, larger than the pre- ceding, more elevated, and crowned with an in- trenchment. This the English had constructed for the support of their centre. To the full extent of our right, on the side of the lakes, the ground slanted downwards to the head of the dyke, about which the battle had taken place some days before. A succession of redoubts connected the central position with the head of the dyke. The English had protected their left, as well as their right, with a division of gun-boats, introduced into lake Mar- eotis l . The front of attack presented in its whole length the space very nearly of a league ; it was defended by heavy artillery, which men had drag- ged to the spot, and by a part of the English army. The larger part of this army was disposed in order of battle in two lines behind the works. It was agreed to move forward on the morning of the 21st of March, or 30th of Ventdse, before daybreak, in order to conceal the movements of the troops, and expose them less to the enemy's fire from the intrenchments. The intention of the French was to attack and carry the works by a sudden dash forward, then to pass them by, in order to attack the front of the English army, ranged in order of battle behind them. In con- sequence, the right, under Lanusse, was to move down in two columns upon the right wing of the English, which was supported by the sea. The first of the two columns was to advance directly and rapidly against the work erected upon the sand-hill in front of the old Roman camp. The second, passing as quickly as possible between this work and the sea, was to attack the Roman camp, and take it by assault. The centre of the French army, commanded by general Rampon, had orders 1 Quere, Lake Madieh 1 Translator. to advance some way beyond the pkce of this attack, to pass between the Roman camp and the great redoubt in the centre, and to attack the English army beyond the works. The right wing was composed of the divisions of Reynier and Friant, but under the command of Reynier, and that wing was ordered to open out in the plain upon the right, and to make a feint of a formidable at- tack on the side of lake Mareotis, to deceive the English into a belief that the grand danger was upon that side. In order to strengthen this belief, the dromedary corps was to make an assault on the head of the dyke, by traversing the bottom of the lake Mareotis for that purpose. It was hoped, too, that this division would render the sudden at- tack intended by Lanusse on the side of the sea, more facile of execution. On the 24th, or 30th of Ventose, before day- break, the army was in motion. The dromedary regiment performed the duty which was assigned to it with perfect success. It rapidly passed over the dry parts of the bed of the lake Mareotis, alighted before the head of the dyke, took the re- doubt, and turned the artillery against the enemy. This was sufficient to deceive the English, and draw their attention towards the lake Mareotis. But to execute the plan agreed upon, on the side of the sea, demanded a precision very difficult to obtain, when the operation was to be executed in the dark; and still more difficult, when, at the head of the enterprise, there was no single ruling mind to direct the whole, competent to calculate tune and distance with precision. The division of Lanusse, manoeuvring in the obscurity of the night, advanced without order, and threw into confusion the troops in the centre. The first column, under the orders of general Silly, marched up resolutely to the redoubt placed in advance of the Roman camp. Lanusse directed it in person, and led it on to the redoubt. He now discovered, on a sudden, that the second column had missed its way, and that in place of proceeding along the sea-shore, to attack the Roman camp, it had approached too near to the first. He went towards it for the purpose of directing it to the point designed. Unfortunately, at the same mo- ment, he received a wound in the thigh, which proved mortal ; a fatal event, which was attended with the most deplorable consequences. The troops suddenly deprived of their active and ener- getic officer, the spirit of the attack decreased. Day began to dawn, and indicated to the English towards what point they should direct their fire. The French, attacked at once by the fire from the gun-boats, the Roman camp, and the redoubt, showed admirable patience and courage. But very soon, all their superiors being wounded, they were left without leaders, and fell back behind some sand-hills, scarcely high enough to shelter them. While this was occurring, the first column, which Lanusse had left to proceed towards the second, had carried the first redan of the redoubt, thrown up on the hill towards the right. It then pushed on against the principal work, intending to storm it; but being defeated in the attempt upon the front, wheeled round to attack it in flank. The centre of the army, under Rampon, seeing the column thus baffled in the assault, turned from its own object, in order to tender support. The The French compelled to sides. Death of Aber- 1801. retreat.-L^ssr^ THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE, "ggjpfc " d M "^ 32nd derm-brigade, detached from the centre, came up also to storm this fatal redoubt. These concurrent efforts caused a species of confusion. They strove against this obstacle ; and thus the rapid operation which, at first, was intended to carry, in succession, the line of works, became changed into a long and obstinate attack, in which much precious time was consumed. The 21st demi-brigade, which belonged to the centre, leaving the 32nd occupied before the redoubt so warmly contested, executed, by itself, the original plan, passed the line of in- trenchments, and boldly advancing, opened out hi the face of the whole English army. It received and returned a most dreadful fire. It required support ; but Menou, during this tune, incapable of commanding, rode up and down the field of battle, ordering nothing, and leaving Reynier to extend his line uselessly in the plain on the right, with a considerable force wholly unemployed. Menou was now advised to make an attempt with his cavalry, which was twelve hundred strong, and of incomparable courage, upon the mass of the English infantry, that the 24th had advanced to encounter by itself. Menou, adopting the advice, gave the order to charge. The gallant Roize placed himself at the head of the twelve hundred horse, passed with rapidity the destructive lines of the enemy's fire, crossing right and left, from the guns of the two redoubts, which the French infantry vainly tried to carry by storm, opened on the other side, found the 21st demi-brigade closely engaged with the English, and at once charged home. This gallant cavalry first leaped a ditch which sepa- rated them from the enemy, and then dashed, with high courage, upon the first line of the English infantry, overturned and sabred a great number, forcing them back in disorder. The enemy was thus obliged to give way. If Menou, at this mo- ment, or better still, Reynier, in his commander's place, had taken the right wing to the support of the cavalry, the centre of the English army, thus disordered and repulsed beyond their works, had left the French a certain victory. The works, isolated, would have fallen into our hands. But the case was very different. The French cavalry, after having broken the first line of the enemy, seeing other lines yet to be overcome, and having only the support of the 21st demi-brigade, fell back, repassing the exterminating fire of the redoubts. From this moment it was impossible that the battle could have had a successful termination. The left, deprived of all spirit by the death of its leader, gave out a useless fire upon the intrenched positions, which returned it with a more murder- ous effect. The right formed in the plain to make a diversion near lake Mareotis, which had now no more any object, since the engagement, become general, had fixed every one in his post the right rendered no service. An energetic general, there is no doubt, would have recalled it to the centre, and with such an additional force, renewing by that means the attack of general Roize, have attempted a second dash at the English mass. The result might have changed the fate of the battle. But general Menou gave no commands ; and Rey- nier, who would have been, on this occasion, able to take the initiative, that he so often took, when he should not, in civil affairs, confined himself to lamenting that he had no orders from the com- mander-in-chief. The only thing to be done in such a situation was to retreat. Menou gave the order; and his divisions fell back, keeping up a bold front, but sustaining fresh losses from the fire of the redoubts. What a spectacle is war, when the lives of men, and the fate of empires, are thus entrusted to in- capable or divided leaders, and when blood flows in proportion to the incapacity or the dissensions of those who wield the chief authority in directing its operations ! It cannot be said that the battle was lost, the enemy not having made a single step in advance ; but it was virtually lost, inasmuch as it was not completely gained : for it was essential that the success should be so complete as to drive back the English towards Aboukir, and constrain them to re-embark. The loss was great on both sides. The English had about two thousand men killed and wounded ', among others the brave general Aber- cromby, who was carried on board the fleet in a dying state. The loss of the French was pretty nearly upon an equality. Exposed during the whole action to a downward fire in front and flank, they suffered severely. The spirit with which the cavalry charged filled the English with surprise and admiration. The number of officers and gene- rals wounded was far more than is commonly the case. Generals Lanusse and Roize were killed ; the general of brigade, Silly, commanding one of the columns of Lanusse, had his thigh shot away ; and general Baudot was so severely wounded as to leave no hope of his recovery ; general Destaing was badly wounded, and general Rampon had his uniform riddled with bullets. The moral effect of the battle was still more mischievous than the physical. There was no longer any chance of forcing the enemy to re- embark. Soon the French would have upon their hands, besides the English who had landed at Alex- andria, the Turks from Syria ; the capitan pacha, who would arrive with a Turkish squadron, bring- ing six thousand Albanians to the coast of Aboukir, and six thousand sepoys brought from India by the Red Sea, and ready to land at Cosaeir in Upper Egypt. What was to be done in the midst of so many enemies, with troops whose courage was no doubt undiminished when called into action ; but who, when the affairs of the colony did not proceed well, were too ready to exclaim that the expedition had been a brilliant act of folly, and that they were uselessly sacrificed to a wild chimera ? In the three engagements of the 8th, 13th, and 21st of March, nearly three thousand five hundred men had been lost to the service, of whom a third 1 In all 1395. The English general, Hutchinson, who suc- ceeded sir Ralph Abercromby, stated that the French were not pursued because the English had no cavalry ; and that they retreated so quickly within their fortified lines, that it would have been useless. Sir Ralph Abercromby died of his wound seven days afterwards. Four other British gene- rals were wounded, but not seriously ; 10 officers, 233 men, and 2 horses, were killed; 60 officers and 1133 men were wounded ; and 29 missing ; belonging to the array : 24 sailors were killed and wounded. The English made 200 prisoners, not wounded ; captured the colours of a distinguished French regiment, and two field-pieces. Tranilator. 1S01. April. Unfortunate delay of Gan- teaume. EVACUATION OF EGYPT. Death of Murad Bey. Intentions of the English. 255 were killed, and another third seriously wounded, while the remainder would be incapable of duty for weeks to come. Although the army was much weakened, it could even now, as at the beginning of the campaign, manoeuvre rapidly between the different bodies of the enemy that were tending to form a junction, beat the vizier if he entered by way of Syria, the capitan pacha if he tried to pene- trate to Rosetta, the English if they attempted to march along the narrow tongues of land which communicate with the interior of Egypt. The three thousand five hundred men lost made this plan now more difficult than ever of execution. If three thousand men were left in Cairo, and two or three thousand in Alexandria, there remained scarcely seven or eight thousand to manoeuvre in the field, even supposing that all the disposable, force was united, and the secondary posts, without exception, were evacuated. With a very resolute and able general, the success of such an operation would still be uncertain, though possible but what was to be expected from Menou and his lieu- tenants ? There remained one hope of retrieving the for- tunes of the war it was not to be despaired of, for it was announced day after day. This resource was Ganteaume with his vessels, and the troops which he had embarked on board. Four thousand men arriving at this moment would have saved Egypt. A despatch-boat had been sent to the admiral for the purpose of informing him where he might disembark his men out of sight of the Eng- lish on a point of land upon the coast of Africa, twenty or thirty leagues west of Alexandria. Three thousand men might then have been left in that city ; and uniting those who could be spared with those that were in Cairo, ten or twelve thou- sand might have manoeuvred in the open country. But Ganteaume, though far superior to Menou, did not, in the present circumstances, act much better. After having repaired at Toulon the injury his fleet had sustained in sailing from Brest, he had, as already seen, sailed from Toulon on the 19th of March, or 28th of Ventose, re-entered the port a second time in consequence of the Constitution, a ship of the line, getting on shore ; and he had again gone to sea on the 22nd of March, or 1st of Germinal. This time he made Bail towards Sar- dinia. The wind was favourable ; a bold impulse of mind would have taken him to the coast of Egypt, because he had succeeded in adroitly es- caping admiral Warren by altering his course. He was already only fifteen leagues from Cape Carbonara, the extreme point of Sardinia, ready to enter the channel which separates Sicily from Africa. Unfortunately on the evening of the 26th of March, or 5th Germinal, one of the captains commanding the Dix-Aout, in the absence of cap- tain Bergeret, who was ill, had the unskilfulness to run foul of the Indomitable, to receive consider- able injury, and to inflict as much upon the other vessel as that ship herself received. Alarmed at the damage thus sustained, Ganteaume did not think himself in a condition to keep at sea any loilger, and put back to Toulon again on the 5th of April, or loth Germinal, just fifteen days after the battle of Canopus. The French hi Egypt were ignorant of the details of these proceedings at this date, and hi spite of the time that had passed, they preserved a rem- nant of hope. At the appearance of the smallest sail they ran to see if it were not Ganteaume. In this anxious state they took no decisive step, but waited in fatal inaction. Menou caused some works to be thrown up around Alexandria, in order the better to resist any attack from the English, but he did no more. He had given an order for the evacuation of Upper Egypt, from whence he with- drew Donzelot's brigade as a reinforcement for the other troops in Cairo. He had sent some troops from Alexandria to Ramanieh to watch the movements taking place on the side of Rosetta. To complete the misfortune, Murad Bey, whose fide- lity to the French was unshaken, had been taken ill of the plague, and had just expired, his Mame- lukes coming under the command of Osmau Bey, upon whom no reliance was to be placed. The plague began its ravages at Cairo. Thus every thing went on as ill as possible, and seemed tend- ing towards an unfortunate conclusion. The English on their side, fearful of the army before them, would not risk any thing. They pre- ferred moving onward slowly but surely. They were waiting too until their allies, the Turks, hi whom they had little confidence, were in a condi- tion to second them. They had now been landed a month, without having attempted any thing more than the capture of the fort of Aboukir, which, gallantly defended, had sunk under the crushing fire of their vessels. At last, about the beginning of April, or middle of Germinal, they determined to abandon then: state of inactivity, and that spe- cies of blockade hi which they had been obliged to live. Colonel Spencer was ordered with a corps of some thousand English, and the six thousand Alba- nians of the capitan pacha, to cross by sea the roads of Aboukir, and to disembark before Ro- setta. Their intention was to open by this means an aceess to the interior of the Delta, and thus to procure the fresh provisions of which they stood in need, and, in addition, to form a connexion with the vizier, who was advancing at the other extre- mity of the Delta, by the frontier of Syria. There were no more at Rosetta, than a few hundred French, who could oppose no resistance to that force, and falling back they ascended the Nile. They joined, a little way in advance, a small body of troops -sent from Alexandria. This body was com- posed of the 21st light, and a company of artillery. The English and Turks, masters of one of the mouths of the Nile, by which provisions could reach them, and having the way open to them into the ulterior of Egypt, began to think of profiting by their success, but without being in too great a hurry, because they waited still twenty days before they marched in advance. For an army sagacious and prompt it was an excellent opportunity to attack them. General Hutchinson, -the successor of Abercromby, had not dared to diminish the num- ber of his troops before Alexandria. He had sent scarcely six thousand English and six thousand Turks to Rosetta, although he had received rein- forcements to corer his losses, and had twenty thousand men at his disposal. If General Menou, employing his time well, hod devoted the past month to construct around Alexandria the works which were indispensable, had he thus frugally managed his means, so as to have left few troops Further errors of Menou. ! 2C6 Occupation of Rama- nieh. Loss of Rama- nieh. Communications TRIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE, cut off between Cairo and Alexandria. there, then he might have directed six thousand men upon Ramanieh, and drawn upon that point all the troops not necessary at Cairo, he might have brought into the field eight or nine thousand men against the English, who had just penetrated to Rosetta. This was force enough to drive them back to the mouth of the Nile, to elevate the spirit of the army, to secure the submission of the Egyp- tians, to retard the march of the vizier, to replace the English in their real state of blockade on the plains of Alexandria, and to bring back fortune. This was the last chance. lie was advised to un- dertake this movement ; but, always timid, he never followed but half the advice that was given to him. He sent general Valentin to Ramanieh with a force pronounced inefficient. Then he sent a second, under the chief of his staff, general La- grange. The whole united force did not amount to four thousand men. He never commanded the march of the troops down from Cairo, and general Lagrange, who was besides a brave officer, was not a man equal to sustain himself with four thousand men before six thousand English, and the same number of Turks. Menou ought to have united at least eight thousand men under his best general. He was able to do this by a strong concentration of his forces, and by every where making a sacri- fice of the accessory to the principal. General Morand, who commanded the first de- tachment sent to Rosetta, had posted himself at El- Aft, on the banks of the Nile, near the town of Foueh, in a position which possessed some defen- sive advantages. At that spot general Lagrange joined him. The English and the Turks, masters of Rosetta and the mouth of the Nile, had covered that river with gun-boats, and would have quickly taken the small undefended town of Foueh. It be- came necessary, therefore, to fall back upon Ra- manieh, during the night of the 8th of May, or 18th of Flordal. The site of Ramanieh did not offer any great defensive advantages, the strength of the place being scarcely sufficient to counter- balance the numerical superiority of the enemy. Still, if it were required to offer any where a des- perate resistance, Ramanieh was the place for that purpose : because that position lost, the detached corps of general Lagrange would be separated from Alexandria, and compelled to fall back on Cairo. Thus the French army would be divided in two, one-half being shut up in Alexandria, the other hah' in Cairo. If, when it was united it was not equal to disputing the field with the English, it was impossible, cut in two, that it should oppose any effectual resistance. In such a case it had no alter- native but to sign a capitulation. The loss of Ra- manieh, therefore, would be the definitive loss of Egypt. Menou wrote to general Lagrange that he would come to his succour with two thousand men, which at least proves that he had that number at his disposal. There were not less than three thou- sand at Cairo ; in consequence nine thousand, or at least eight thousand men, might have been assembled at Ramanieh. Thus, in an open country, with an excellent cavalry, and a fine light artillery, and with the resolution to conquer or die, success was certain. But Menou never came, and Belliard, who commanded at Cairo, received no orders. General Lagrange, at the head of four thousand men under his command, supported bis rear upon Ramanieh, and the Nile, which washes with its current the houses of that little town. In that position he had at his back the English gun- boats, which were upon the river, and fired a shower of bullets into the French camp ; and he had in front on the plain, without any thing for a cover but some field-works, the main body of the English and Turks. There were twelve thou- sand against four thousand. The danger was con- siderable; still it was better to fight, and if over- powered, to surrender at evening on the field of battle, after fighting the whole day, than to abandon such a position without a struggle. Four thousand men, all seasoned troops, had still some chances of success. But the chief of Menou's staff, though devoted to his general's views, and to the preser- vation of the colony, did not weigh the conse- quences of his retreat. He evacuated Ramanieh, and fell back upon Cairo, on the 1 Oth of May, or 20th of Floreal. He arrived in the city on the 14th, in the morning, or on the 24th of Floreal. He sacrificed at Ramanieh a convoy of immense value, and what was more serious still, the ammu- nition of the army. From that day nothing more that happened in Egypt is worthy of record, and scarcely of notice. The men thus descended with their fortunes, even below themselves; they exhibited in every thing the most shameful weakness, with the most deplorable incapacity. But in speaking of the men, it is only to the commanders that these terms are intended to apply ; because the soldiers and the inferior officers, always admirable in their behaviour before an enemy, were, from the first to the last man, ready to die in the field. They never were seen, in a sin- gle instance, to do any thing unworthy of their former reputation and glory. At Cairo, as at Alexandria, there remained no- thing more to be done than to capitulate. They had no other merit to acquire than to retard the capitu- lation as long as possible. Sometimes we seem in appearance only defending our homes, when we really save our country. Masse'na, in prolonging the defence of Genoa, had made the victory of Ma- rengo practicable. The generals who occupied Cairo and Alexandria, in protracting a resistance beyond hope, were still able to second very usefully the serious negotiations then proceeding between France and England. They did not know of their existence, that is very true ; but then when un- aware of the services men may render to their country by prolonging a defence, it is proper to listen to the voice of honour, which commands them to hold out to the last extremity. Of the two generals now blockaded, the most unfortunate was Menou, because he had committed the greater faults; yet even he, by his obstinate protraction of the defence of Alexandria, was still useful, as it will be seen, to the interests of France. This was his consolation at a later period, and his main excuse to the first consul. When the troops detached from Ramanieh had entered Cairo, there was an immediate consultation upon the conduct to be pursued. General Belliard was commander-in-chief, from his superior rank in the service. He was a cautious man, more cautious than resolute. He called a council of war. There were seven thousand effective men left, more than five thousand or six thousand sick, invalids, and 1801. May. Rath conduct of general Belliard. EVACUATION OF EGYPT. Council of war. Diiienrion among the officer*. 2fi7 persons employed about the army *. The plague was at that time raging ; there was but a small stock of money or provisions, and a city of im- mense extent to defend. Seven thousand men were too few to guard the whole extent. In no part of the circuit was there any work fit to make a resist- ance to European engineers. The citadel, it is true, was a defended work, but wholly insufficient to hold out against the heavy artillery of the English. Such a post was only calculated to make a successful de- fence against the population of Cairo. There evi- dently remained but two things to do ; either to endeavour, by a bold march, to descend into Lower Egypt, accomplish the passage of the Nile by sur- prise, and rejoin Menou in Alexandria; or to retire upon Damietta, which would have been the surest and easiest course to pursue, more especially on account of the multitude of persons who, attached to the army, must have been taken with it There it would have been found, that in the midst of the lagoons, communicating with the Delta by narrow tongues of land, seven thousand men of the army of Egypt might defend themselves against an enemy three or four times superior in number. There, too, an abundance of every thing was certain of being procured ; the province was covered with cattle, the town of Damietta overflowed with corn, and the lake Menzaleh abounded with the best fish, well adapted food for the troops. As it was simply a question when to capitulate, the city of Damietta permitted the retardation of that melancholy result for six months. The officer of engineers, Hautpoul, proposed having recourse to this wise step; but in order to undertake it, the difficult question of the evacuation of Cairo was to be decided upon. Gene- ral Belliard, who was capable a few days afterwards of giving up the city to the enemy, by means of a lamentable capitulation, would not consent to do it that day voluntarily, as the consequence of a forci- ble and clever military opinion. He accordingly determined to remain in the Egyptian capital, without knowing what he should do. By the left bank of the Nile the English and Turks were ascending from Ramanieh to Cairo ; by the right bank the grand vizier, with twenty-five thousand or thirty thousand followers, collected from all sorts of miserable oriental troops, was coming from the side of Syria, by the road of Belbeis, upon Cairo. General Belliard, remembering the trophies of Heliopolis, wished to march out and meet the grand vizier, upon the route followed by KleTier. He left Cairo at the head of six thousand men, and advanced towards the heights of Elmenair, about two days' march distant. Sometimes enveloped by a cloud of cavalry, he sent his light artillery after them, that here and there reached a few of them with its balls; but this was the utmost result which he could obtain. The Turks, this time well com- manded, would not hazard a second battle of He- 1 The number in Cairo for which embarkation to Europe wai required of the English commander an exact criterion was 13,500, of whom 8000 were fit for duty, 1000 were siek, and tlie remainder invalided, persons in the employ of the anny or civil service, including followers. The military were in all 10,000; not more than 500 were Greeks or Coptt. There were embarked on lake Bourlos 700, being the garri- son of Damietta; and 8000 soldiers and 1300 sailors from Alexandria; besides upward* of a thousand made prisoners in the fort* and other places. Tranilatcr. liopolis. There was but one mode of coming at them, and that was to attack their camp at Belbeis. But general Belliard, received in every village by the fire of musketry, saw the number of his wounded increase every step of his advance, the distance, too, widening that separated him from Cairo. He began to fear that the English and the Turks might enter the city in his absence. He ought to have foreseen all this danger before he quitted Cairo, and have asked himself if there was time to reach Belbe'is. Having left Cairo without knowing what he would finally undertake, he re- turned in the same mind, after an operation with- out a result, which made it appear to the eyes of the inhabitants of Cairo as if he had been beaten. As with all the inhabitants of countries recently subjugated, the Egyptians turned with fortune, and though not discontented with the French, were much inclined to abandon them. Still there was no fear of an insurrection, unless the city had been condemned to sustain the horrors of a siege. The French army, sickened at the humiliations to which it was exposed through the incapacity of its generals, became wholly possessed with the old feelings which induced the convention of El- Arisen. It consoled itself under its misfortunes with the idea of a return to France. If a resolute and skilful general had given the example which was given to the garrison of Genoa by Massena, the troops would have followed it ; but a similar course was not to be expected of general Belliard. Pressed on the left bank of the Nile by the Anglo-Turkish army from Ramanieh, and on the right by the grand vizier, who had accompanied it step by step, he offered the enemy a suspension of arms, which was eagerly accepted, because the English were more eager to obtain useful advantages than mere renown. That for which they were most anxious was the evacuation of Egypt, no matter by what means it was brought about. General Belliard then assembled a council of war, at which the discussions were very stormy. Grievous complaints were di- rected against his conduct as commander of the Cairo division. He was told that he had not under- stood when to evacuate Cairo in time to take up a position at Damietta, nor to maintain the capital of Egypt by well-concerted operations ; that he had only made a ridiculous sally to fight the vizier, without succeeding in getting near him ; and that now, not knowing which way to turn, he took the advice of his officers, whether he must negotiate or fight to the last, when he had previously resolved the question for himself, by the spontaneous open- ing of the negotiation. All these reproaches were made with much bitterness, more particularly by general Lagrange, the friend of Menou, and & warm advocate for the preservation of Egypt. Generals Valentin, Duranteau, and Dupas, all three asserted that, for the honour of their colours, it was abso- lutely necessary to fight. Unhappily, this was no longer possible, without cruelty to the troops, and more particularly, without cruelty to the numerous sick, and to the persons attached to the army. They had before them not less than forty thousand enemies, without counting the sepoys, who, dis- embarked at Cosse'ir, were' descending the Nile with the Mamelukes, that no longer owned alle- giance to the French, since Murad Bey was no more. There was in their rear a Bemi-barbarout S 25U Capitulation of Cairo. Siege of Alexandria. TRIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. Arrest of Reyniej and Dama*. 1801. June. population of three hundred thousand souls, in- fected with the plague, threatened with famine, and to the last man ready to rise against the French. The lines around the city were too extended for defence with seven thousand men, and too feeble to resist European engineers. The place might be carried by assault, and every Frenchman put to the sword. It was in vain that some of the officers raised their voices against a surrender that would dishonour the French arms; there was then no alternative. General Belliard, wishing to show himself ready for any thing, again raised the ques- tion whether a retreat to Damietta was practicable, a step now become too late to adopt; and to this he added another question, equally singular, as to whether a refuge might not be found by a retreat into Upper Egypt. The last proposition was per- fect folly. It was only a ruse of his own mental fee- bleness, seeking to conceal its confusion under the false semblance of boldness. It was then determined to capitulate; nothing else could be effected, unless they all desired to be put to the sword after a ferocious assault. Commissioners were sent to the Anglo-Turkish camp for the purpose of negotiating a capitulation. The enemies' generals accepted the proposition with much gratification : so much even then did they dread a turn of fortune. They acceded to the most favourable conditions for the army. It was settled that the French should retire with the honours of war, with their arms and baggage, their artillery 1 , horses, in fact all they possessed ; that they should be transported to France, and fed during the voyage. Such of the Egyptians as de- sired to follow the army, and there were a certain number compromised by their relations with the French, were to be allowed to join them, and to have the liberty of disposing of their property. This capitulation was signed on the 27th of June, 1801, and ratified on the 28th, or 8th and 9th of Messidor, in the year ix. The pride of the old soldiers of Italy and Egypt was deeply wounded by it. They were about to re-enter France; not as they had entered it in 1708, after the triumphs of Castiglione, Arcola, and Rivoli, proud of their glory, and of the services rendered to the republic. They were now to return almost conquered ; but still they were going to return, and for hearts suffering after a long exile, there was an involun- tary pleasure, which almost overcame them, even amid their reverses. There was, at the bottom of every heart, a satisfaction that was not avowed, but which still displayed itself in their coun- tenances. Their commanders alone appeared thoughtful, from imagining the judgment which the first consul would give upon their conduct. The despatches which accompanied the capitula- tion were impressed with the most humiliating anxiety. There were chosen for the bearers of these despatches, such persons as, by their conduct and actions, had been most free from blame. These were Hautpoul, the officer of engineers, and Champy, who made himself so useful to the colony. Menou was shut up in Alexandria, and, like 1 This refert only to field-pieces, two 12-pounders to each battalion, and one to each squadron, with the carriages and ammunition belonging to them. The herses and cameli were to be giren up, at the place of embarkation, to the British. Tranilator. Belliard, he had nothing to do but to surrender. There could be with neither the one nor the other, more than the difference of the tune in the way of question. The plague had already taken off several persons in Alexandria ; provisions were wanting, in consequence of the fault committed in the beginning of the siege, by not laying in a suffi- cient supply. It is true, that the Arab caravans, attracted by interest, still brought them some meat, butter, and grain. But they wanted wheat, and were obliged, in part, to make their bread of rice. Scurvy every day diminished the number of men capable of doing duty. The English, in order to isolate them completely, devised the emptying of the lake Madieh into that of Mareotis, which was half dried up, thus surrounding Alex- andria with a continued sheet of water, and then to encircle it with gun-boats. To this end they cut the dyke which runs to Ramanieh from Alex- andria, forming the separation between the two lakes. But as the difference of the level was only nine feet, the flowing of the water from one lake into the other proceeded slowly; and, in fact, the operation, desirable for the object of separating general Belliard from Menou, was no longer of the same utility, since the late events at Cairo. If it extended the space of action for the gun-boats, it had, for the French, the advantage of narrowing the front of attack; because the long plain of sand upon which Alexandria is built, communicates, by its western extremity, with the Libyan desert. The English were, therefore, desirous of com- pleting the investment of the place; for this pur- pose, about the middle of August, or end of Thermidor, they embarked troops in their gun- boats, and landed not far from the town of Mara- bout. They also besieged the fort of the same name. From this moment the place, completely invested, could not hold out long. The unfortunate Menou, thus reduced to idle- ness and inactivity, had ample leisure to ponder over his faults, with censures showered upon him from all parties. He consoled himself, notwith- standing, with the notion of an heroic resistance, like that of Masseiia at Genoa. He wrote to the first consul, and assured him that a memorable defence should be made. Generals Damas and Reynier were shut up in Alexandria without troops. They made use of the most offensive language, and even in these last scenes of all, could not keep themselves under becoming restraint. One night, Menou had them arrested, in the most public manner, and ordered them to be embarked for France. This act of vigour, coming so late, pro- duced but little effect. The army, with its usual good sense, severely censured Reynier and Damas ; but did not esteem Menou the more. The only favour which they conferred upon him was that of not hating him. Hearing with coldness his pro- clamations, in which he announced his determi- nation to die sooner than surrender, they were still ready, if needful, to fight to the last extremity, but did not believe it was worth doing in the existing state of circumstances. The army too well understood the result of what had occurred at Cairo, not to foresee the approach of a capitu- lation; and in Alexandria, as in Cairo, they con- soled themselves for their reverses by the hope of speedily returning to France. 1001. Reflection! on Napoleon'i EVACUATION OF EGYPT. *c)ieme for colonizing Egypt. 259 From that time, nothing more of importance signalized the presence of the French in Egypt ; and the expedition may be said, in a certain sense, to have terminated. Praised as a prodigy of talent and boldness by some persons, it was condemned by others as a showy chimera, more particularly by such as affect to weigh every thing in the balance of frigid impassive reasoning. The last opinion, with the appearance of wisdom, was, at bottom, but little founded in good sense or justice. Napoleon, in his long and wonderful career, never devised any scheme more grand nor more likely to be eminently useful. Without doubt, if we feel that France has not preserved the Rhine nor the Alps, it must be granted, that Egypt, sup- posing we had held it for fifteen years, would at last have been taken from us, as well as our con- tinental frontiers, or as that old and fine possession, the Isle of France, for which France was not in- debted to the wars of the revolution. But to judge thus of these things, we might go so far as to ask whether the conquest of the line of the Rhine was not itself a folly and a chimera. In order to judge properly of such a question, it must be supposed, for a moment, that the protracted wars of France were differently terminated from the mode in which they actually were, and then inquire whether, hi such a case, the possession of Egypt was possible, desirable, and of great importance or not. To the question thus put, the reply can- not be doubtful. In the first place, England was very nearly resigned, in 1801, to consent to the retention of Egypt by France, upon receiving equivalent compensations. These compensations, with which the French negotiator was made ac- quainted, had nothing in them unreasonable nor extravagant. It is not to be doubted, that during the maritime peace which followed, of which the conclusion will shortly be stated, the first consul, Foreseeing the brevity of the peace, would have sent to the mouth of the Nile immense reinforce- ments in men and materiel. It is clear, that the splendid army sent to St. Domingo, where it was despatched to find an indemnity for the loss of Egypt, would have served to protect the new colony for a long time from any hostile attack. Such a general as Decaen or St. Cyr, who joined military skill and experience with talents for ad- ministrative governing, having, besides the twenty- wo thousand men which remained in Egypt of the first expedition, the thirty thousand which perished so uselessly in St. Domingo; thus established with fifty thousand French, and an immense materiel, under a climate perfectly healthy, and a soil of ex- haustless fertility, cultivated by a peasantry submis- sive to every master, and never keeping a musket by the side of the plough; a general, it may be said, like Decaen or St. Cyr, would have been able, with such means, to defend Egypt triumphantly, and to found there a superb colony. The success was incontestably attainable. We may add, that in the maritime and commercial contest that France and England maintained against one another, the attempt was in a certain sense required. England had just conquered the con- tinent of India, and had thus gained a supremacy in the Eastern seas. France, until that time her rival, was she to yield up without dispute a similar supremacy ! Did she not owe it to her glory, to her destiny, to contend for it ? The politician can give no other answer to this question than the patriot. Yes, it was the duty of France to attempt a struggle in the region of the East, that vast field of ambition to maritime nations ; it was proper France should strive to obtain some acquisition that would counterbalance that of England. This truth admitted, let the whole world be searched over, and who will say there is any where an acquisition better adapted than Egypt to the end proposed ? It is of more value in itself than the finest countries ; it borders upon the richest and most fertile, and those which are furnished with the fullest means for foreign trade. It would bring back into the Mediterranean, which would then be our sea, the commerce of the East; it would be, in one word, an equivalent for India, and, in any case, was the road to it. The conquest of Egypt was then for France, for the independence of the seas, and for general civilization, an immense service. Thus too, as will be seen soon, the suc- cess of France was desired more than once by the cabinets of Europe, in the short intervals of time when mutual hatred did not trouble the peace of cabinets. For such an object it was worth while to lose an army, and not only that which was sent the first time to Egypt, but those that were sent to perish uselessly at St. Domingo, in Spain, and in the Calabrias. Would to Heaven, that in the flashes of his vast imagination, Na- poleon had projected nothing more ill-advised nor imprudent 1 260 L*t attempt of Ganteaume. THIEBS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. Further misfortunes. 1M1. BOOK XI. THE GENERAL PEACE. LAST UNSUCCESSFUL ATTEMPT OF GANTEAUME TO PUT TO SEA. HE TOUCHES AT DERNE, BUT DARES NOT LAND TWO THOUSAND MEN WHOM HE HAS ON BOARD. HE PUTS BACK TO TOULON. CAPTURE OP THE SWIFTSURK ON THE PAS- SAGE. ADMIRAL LIXOIS, SENT FROM TOULON TO CADIZ, IS OBLIGED TO ANCHOR IN THE BAT OF ALGESIRAS. BRIL- LIANT ENGAGEMENT OFF ALGESIRAS. A COMBINED FRENCH AND SPANISH SQUADRON SAILS FROM CADIZ, TO ASSIST LINOIS' DIVISION. RETURN OP THE COMBINED FLEET TO CADIZ. ACTION BETWEEN THE REAR DIVISION AND ADMIRAL SAUMAKEZ. DREADFUL MISTAKE OP TWO SPANISH SHIPS, WHICH, IN THE NIGHT, TAKING EACH OTHER FOR ENEMIES, FIGHT WITH DESPERATION, AND ARE BOTH BLOWN UP. EXPLOIT OF CAPTAIN IROUDE. SHORT CAMPAIGN OF THE PRINCE OF THE PEACE AGAINST PORTUGAL. THE COURT OF LISBON SENDS A NEGOTIATOR IN HASTE TO BADAJOZ, AND SUBMITS TO THE UNITED WILli OP FRANCE AND SPAIN. EUROPEAN AFFAIRS IN GENERAL SINCE THE TREATY OF LUNEVILLE. INCREASING INFLUENCE OF FRANCE. VISIT TO PARIS OF THE INFANTS OF SPAIN DESTINED FOR THE THRONE OF ETRURIA. RENEWAL OF THE NEGOTIATION IN LONDON BETWEEN M. OTTO AND LORD HAWKESBURT. THE ENGLISH PRESENT THE QUESTION IN A NEW FORM. THET DEMAND CEYLON IN INDIA, MARTINIQUE AND TRINIDAD IN THE WEST INDIES, MALTA IN THE MEDITERRANEAN. THE FIRST CONSUL REPLIES TO THESE PRETENSIONS, THREATENS TO CONQUER, PORTUGAL, AND, IN CASE OF NEED, TO INVADE ENGLAND. WARM DISPUTE BETWEEN THE " MONITEUR " AND THE ENGLISH JOURNALS. THE BRITISH CABINET GIVES UP MALTA. RENEWS ALL ITS DEMANDS, AND REQUIRES THE ISLAND OF TRINIDAD. THE FIRST CONSUL, TO SAVE THE POSSESSIONS OF AN ALLY, OFFERS TOBAGO. IT IS REJECTED BY THE BRITISH CABINET. FOOLISH CONDUCT OF THE PRINCE OF THE PEACE, WHICH FURNISHES UNEXPECTEDLY A SOLU- TION OF THE DIFFICULTY : HE TREATS WITH THE COURT OF LISBON, WITHOUT ACTING IN CONCERT WITH FRANCE, AND THUS DEPRIVES THE FRENCH LEGATION OF THE ARGUMENT DRAWN FROM THE DANGER OF POR- TUGAL. IRRITATION OF THE FIRST CONSUL, AND THREAT OF WAR AGAINST SPAIN. TALLEYRAND PROPOSES TO FINISH THE WAS AT THE EXPENSE OF THE SPANIARDS, BY GIVING UP THE ISLAND OF TRINIDAD TO THE ENGLISH. M. OTTO IS AUTHORIZED TO MAKE THAT CONCESSION IN THE LAST EXTREMITY. DURING THE NEGOTIATION, NELSON MAKES THE GREATEST EFFORTS TO DESTROY THE FRENCH FLOTILLA OFF BOULOGNE. SPLENDID ACTIONS OFF BOULOGNE BY LATOUCHE TREVILLE AGAINST NELSON. DEFEAT OF THE ENGLISH. JOY IX FRANCE, ALARM IN ENGLAND, IN CONSEQUENCE OF THESE TWO ENGAGEMENTS. RECIPROCAL TENDENCY TO A RECONCILIATION. THE LAST DIFFICULTIES OVERCOME, AND PEACE CONCLUDED IN THE FORM OF PRELIMI- NARIES, BY THE SACRIFICE OF THE ISLAND OF TRINIDAD. UNBOUNDED JOY IN ENGLAND AND FRANCE. LAURISTON, SENT TO LONDON WITH THE RATIFICATION OF THE TREATY BY THE FIRST CONSUL, IS DRAWN ABOUT IN TRIUMPH FOR SEVERAL HOURS. MEETING OF A CONGRESS IN AMIENS, TO CONCLUDE A DEFINITIVE PEACE. SERIES OF TREATIES SUCCESSIVELY SIGNED. PEACE WITH PORTUGAL, THE OTTOMAN PORTE, BAVARIA, AND RUSSIA. FETE IN CELEBRATION OF THE PEACE FIXED ON THE 1STH BRUMAIRE. LORD CORNWALLIS, PLENIPOTENTIARY TO THE CONGRESS AT AMIENS, IS PRESENT AT THE FETE. HIS RECEPTION BY THE PEOPLE OF PARIS. BANQUET IN THE CITY OF LONDON. EXTRAORDINARY DEMONSTRATION OF SYMPATHY GIVEN AT THIS TIME BY BOTH COUNTRIES. WHILE the army in Egypt succumbed for the want of an able commander and seasonable reinforce- ments, admiral Ganteaume made a third attempt to leave the port of Toulon. The first consul had scarcely allowed the necessary time for the repair of the Dix-Aout aud of the Indomptable, and Gan- teaume was forced to put to sea almost immediately. Admiral Ganteaume sailed on the 25th of April, or 5th Florlal. He had orders to pass close to the island of Elba, in order to make a demonstration before Porto Ferrajo, to facilitate its occupation by the French troops. The first consul intended to take this island for the purpose of annexing it to France, to which it was secured by treaties with Naples and Etruria ; there was a small garri- son in the island half Tuscan and half English. The admiral obeyed his orders, fired a few guns at Porto Ferrajo, and passed on lest he might hazard, by exposing himself to injury, the great end of his expedition. Had he proceeded at once to Egypt, he might have still been useful to the army there; because, as has been shown, the po- sition of Ramanieh was not lost until the 10th of May, or 20th Flore"al. He had yet time, therefore, departing on the 26th of April, to hinder the army from being cut in two, and obliged to capitulate one division after another. To do this he ought not to have lost a moment. But a species of fatality attached to all the operations of admiral Ganteaume. He has been seen coming out suc- cessfully from Brest, entering more fortunately still into the Mediterranean, suddenly losing con- fidence, taking four vessels for eight, and entering Toulon. He has been seen sailing again from that port in March, escaping admiral Warren, passing the southermost point of Sardinia, and stopped once more by the Dix-Aout and Indomptable run- ning foul of each other. This was not the end of his misfortunes. Scarcely had he quitted the sea around the isle of Elba, when a. contagious disorder broke out on board his squadron. Judging it im- prudent and useless to carry to Egypt such a num- ber of sick, he divided his squadron, confiding three vessels to rear-admiral Liuois, and placing 1ROI. June. Vain attempt to land. Capture of the Swiftrore. THE GENERAL PEACE. Proceedings of admiral Linois. 261 his sick soldiers and seamen in those three vessels, he sent them back to Toulon. He continued his voyage to Egypt with four sail of the line and two frigates, carrying only two thousand soldiers. But he was no longer in time to be of service, because it was near the middle of May, and at that time the French army was lost. Generals Belliard and Menou were separated from each other, in consequence of the abandonment of Ramanieh. Of this admiral Ganteaume was ignorant. He passed Sardinia and Sicily, showed himself in the channel of Candia, contrived several times to elude his enemies, sailing even into the Archipelago to escape them, and finally moored on the coast of Africa at Derne, a few marches distant from Alex- andria to the westward, designated in his in- structions as the place proper for disembarkation. It was thought that by giving the troops pro- visions and money for the hire of camels from the Arabs, they might be enabled to cross the desert, and reach Alexandria in a few marches. This was only a hazardous conjecture. Admiral Gan- teaume oast anchor at this place for some hours, and hoisted out a part of his boats. But the inhabitants came down to the shore, and opened upon them a fire of musketry. Jerome Bonaparte, the brother of the first consul, was with the troops about to disembark. Vain efforts were made to gain over the natives, and conciliate them. The little town of Derne must have been destroyed, and the troops must have marched to Alexandria without water, and almost without provisions, fight- ing the whole distance. It would have been a foolish attempt without an object, because but one thousand at most of two thousand would reach the end of their journey. It was not worth while to sacrifice so many gallant men for the sake of so small a reinforcement. Besides an event, very easy to be foreseen, terminated all doubts. The admiral believed he saw the English fleet ; he then deliberated no longer, took his boats on board, did not allow himself time to weigh his anchors, but cut his cables, not to be attacked at anchor, and then set sail ; he escaped being overtaken by the enemy. Fortune, which had behaved ill before, because she seconds, as has been often said, only adven- turous spirits who repose confidence in her fortune had in store some compensation for him. In crossing the channel of Candia, he fell in with an English ship of the line ; it was the Swiftsure. To give chase to her, to surround, cannonade, and take her, was the work of a few momenta 1 . It 1 The extreme inaccuracy of our Parisian author In what relates to naval affairs, must stand excused by the English reader. M. Thiers observes most justly, in his chapter on " the neutrals," to apologize for his revelations of that scene of Russian barbarism, the assassination of Paul I., " C'est que la verite est le premier devoir de rhistoire." Such a just sentiment will, therefore, excuse a quotation from the statement of the gallant captain Hallowell of the Swiftsure, 74, respecting this rencontre with the high-minded, fine- spirited Ganteaume, of whom captain Hallowell spoke in the highest terms, as veil as of his officers. The Swifrsure had on board fifty- nine sick of a had fever, caught from the army in Egypt. She was eighty-six short of her complement of men, and was going to Malta with all speed. The Swift- tore was only seven leagues from Derne when she distin- guished an enemy's squadron, and endeavoured to escape, was the 24th of June, or 5th Messidor, that this fortunate rencontre took place. Admiral Gan- teaume entered Toulon with this species of trophy, a poor compensation for his bad success. The first consul, inclined towards indulgence for those who had run great risks with him, was willing to accept this compensation, and published it in the Monitewr. However, all these naval movements terminated in a mode less annoying to the French navy. While admiral Ganteaume was returning to Toulon, admiral Linois, who had gone into that port to land his soldiers and sailors sick of the fever, had sailed again, according to the express orders of the first consul. Linois, as quickly as possible, got on board fresh seamen, and embarked more troops, after white-washing the interior of his vessels, and then he got under weigh for his new destination. A despatch, which he was only to open at sea, com- manded him to proceed to Cadiz, to form a junction with six more vessels at that port, fitted out under the orders of admiral Dumanoir, and five Spanish vessels from Ferrol, which, with the three of admi- ral Linois', would form a squadron of fourteen sail of the line. It was possible that the squadron from Rochefort, under admiral Bruix, might have arrived there, in which case a fleet of more than thirty sail of the line would be collected ; and this fleet, for some months mistress of the Mediterranean, would take the troops from Otranto, and carry immense succours to Egypt. They were at this time unaware in France that it was too late, and that Alexandria was the only place left to defend; but to preserve that place was no indifferent matter. Admiral Linois, in perfect obedience to his or- ders, set sail for Cadiz. On his passage he gave chase to several English frigates, which he was nearly capturing. He met with contrary winds at the entrance of the straits; but at length, about the beginning of July, or middle of Messidor, he was enabled to enter them. The English Gibraltar fleet was watching Cadiz; and this being made known to him by signal, he put into the Spanish port of Algesiras, on the 4th of July, or loth Mes- sidor, in the evening. Near the straits of Gibraltar, in other words, towards the southernmost cape of that peninsula, the mountainous coast of Spain opens, and taking the form of a horse-shoe, forms a deep bay, the but found the ships were superior sailers; the Swiftsure prac- tised every manoeuvre in vain to get clear of them. At half- past three p. m. the Indivisible of eighty guns, and the Dix- Aout, seventy-four, were within gun-shot. They soon opened their fire, and a warm action ensued, the Swiftsure still in vain trying to get to leeward of them, and escape. At half-past four, p. m. the Jean Bart and Constitution, of seventy-four guns each, closed fast. The Indivisible on her larboard bow, and the Dix-Aout on her larboard quarter. were soon warmly engaged. "Our fore-yard and foretopsail- yard were shot away, all our running, and part of our stand- ing rigging cut to pieces, the fore-mast, niizzen-mast, and main-yard badly wounded, the deck lumbered with wreck and sails, all hope of succour cut off. I thought further re- sistance, in our crippled state, would be exposing the lives of valuable men without advantage. I ordered his majesty's colours to be struck, after an action of one hour and fin- minutet." The ship was obliged to be taken in tow, and, with all haste made to repair her, it was six days before she could be pot under soil; Translator. 202 Action between Saumarea TRIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE, and Linoi* off Algesiras. 1801. July. opening of which is towards the south. On one of the sides of this bay stands Algesiras, and on the other Gibraltar ; in such a manner that Algesiras and Gibraltar are opposite to each other, at about four thousand fathoms distance, or about a league and half. From Algesiras all that passes at Gib- raltar may be distinctly seen with a common telescope. There was not a single English vessel lying in the bay; but the English rear-admiral, Saumarez, was not far off, as he was watching the port of Cadiz, with seven sail, where there were at that moment several naval squadrons, French and Spanish. Advertised of what had occurred, he hastened to avail himself of the opportunity of destroying the squadron of Linois, because he was able to oppose his seven vessels to three ; he had detached one, the Superb, to watch the mouth of the Guadalquiver ; he made the signal for her to join him, but the weather being unfavourable, he sailed for Algesiras with only six. Admiral Linois, on his side, had received notice of his danger from the Spanish authorities; and there- fore had recourse to all the precautions which the nature of the circumstances permitted him to take. On the side of Algesiras, in the bay of that name, situated as has already been said, right over against Gibraltar, the coast appears rather a roadstead than a port. It consists of a shore with scarcely any projection; but running quite straight, from south to north, without any point or shelter for ves- sels. At the two extremities of the anchorage alone, there were two batteries ; the one to the north of Algesiras, on an elevated spot upon the shore, was known under the name of the battery of St. Jago. The other battery, to the south of Algesiras, was on an island, called Isla Verde. The battery of St. Jago was mounted with five eighteen -pounders, and that of the Isla Verde with seven eighteens. This was no great help; more particularly because of the negligence of the Spaniards, who had left all the forts on their coasts destitute of ammunition and artillery-men. Nevertheless, admiral Linois placed himself in communication with the local authorities, who did the best they were able to succour the French. The admiral ranged his three ships and his frigate along the shore, supporting the extremi- ties of his short line by the two batteries of St. Jago and the Isla Verde. The Formidable was placed first to the north, supported by the St. Jago battery ; next was the Desaix ; in the centre and southernmost was the Indomptable, towards the battery on the Isla Verde. Between the Isla Verde and the Desaix, the Muiron frigate was stationed ; a number of Spanish gun-boats were intermingled with the French ships. On the 6th of July, 1801, or 17 Messidor,year ix, about seven o'clock in the morning, rear-admiral Saumarez, coming from Cadiz with the wind west- north-west, approached the bay of Algesiras, doubled Cape Carnero, entered the bay, and bore towards the line of the French anchorage. The wind, which was not favourable to the English vessels, separated them one from the other, and fortunately did not permit them to act together in the way most desirable. The Venerable, which took the lead, dropped astern, and the Pompe"e took her place, running along the whole French line, passing under the battery of the Isla Verde, the Muiron frigate, the Indomptable, the Desaix, and Formidable, giving each of them her broad- sides, and taking up her station within musket-shot of the Formidable, bearing the flag of admiral Linois. An obstinate action took place between these two vessels almost within point-blank dis- tance. The Venerable, unable to beat up to her place in the line, still endeavoured to assist the Pompe'e. The Audacious, the third of the English ships, destined to attack the Desaix, could not fetch so high, dropping anchor before the Indompt- able, and commenced a heavy cannonade against that ship. The Csesar and Spencer, the fourth and fifth English ships, were one of them behind and the other forced into the bottom of the bay by the wind, which was blowing from the west to the east. Lastly, the sixth, the Hannibal, was driven at first towards Gibraltar; .but after much manoeuvring to approach Algesiras, endeavoured to turn the flag- ship, the Formidable, and so get between her and the land. The engagement, with such ships as could come up, was very obstinate. In order not to drift towards Gibraltar from Algesiras, the English cast anchor. The French admiral, in the Formidable, had two enemies to fight, the Pompe'e and the Venerable, and would soon have had a third, if the Hannibal had succeeded in getting j between her and the shore '. The captain of the I Formidable, the gallant Lalonde, was killed by a cannon-shot. The action continued with great spirit amid cries of " The republic for ever ! Long live the first consul !" Admiral Linois, who was on board the Formidable, brought the broadside of that ship to bear upon the Pompe'e, at a lucky moment, when she presented only her bow to him, and was successful in raking, dismasting, and very near disabling her. Taking advantage of a change of the breeze at the moment, which had veered round to the east, and blew upon Algesiras, he made the signal to his captains to cut their cables and suffer their ships to run aground, so as to pre- vent the English from passing between the vessels and the shore, and placing the French between two fires, as Nelson did at the battle of Aboukir. This grounding was attended with no inconve- nience to the French ships, as it was ebb tide, and they were sure to be got off again at high water. The order given at the proper moment saved the squadron. The Formidable, after having dismantled the Pompe'e, took the ground without any shock of moment; for the wind, as it had changed its direc- tion, had died away. In avoiding the danger by which she was threatened from the Hannibal, the Formidable gained, in respect to that ship, a most advantageous position. Moreover, the Hannibal in manoeuvring had got aground herself and remained immovable under the fire of the Formidable, and the battery of St. Jago. In this perilous situation the Hannibal made every effort to get off ; but as the tide ebbed she became irremediably fixed in 1 On the trial of captain Ferris, by a court-martial, for the loss of his ship, it was deposed that he was endeavouring to take up a position to rake the Formidable, when the Han- nibal grounded. He had made no attempt to get between the Formidable and the shore, and thus expose himself so close to the fire of the batteries, of the Formidable, and even of the British ship the Pompee, which lay outside the For- midable, the shot of which must have reached him. Captain Ferris was most honourably acquitted. Tramlator. 1801. July. Capture of the Hannibal. THE GENERAL PEACE. The French sail for Cadii. 263 her position, and received a tremendous discharge of artillery, as well from the shore as from the Formidable, and from the Spanish gun-boats. She sunk one or two of the gun-boats; but the fire she returned was not equal to that which was poured into her. Rear-admiral Linois, not thinking that the battery of St. Jago was well served, disem- barked general Devaux with a detachment of French troops which he had on board l . The fire of this battery was then redoubled, and the Han- nibal was overcome. But a new adversary com- pleted her defeat. The second French ship, the Desaix, which was near the Formidable, in obeying the order to run on shore, and executing the order but slowly, in consequence of the slight breeze, thus found herself somewhat out of the line, and equally in reach of the Hannibal and Pompe'e, which the Formidable, until her going on shore, had covered from her fire. The Desaix, profiting by her new position, poured in a first broadside, and so handled the Pompe'e as to oblige her to strike her colours. The Desaix then directed her guns upon the Hannibal. The balls grazing the sides of the Formidable, made dreadful havoc on board the Hannibal, which being no longer able to sustain she struck her flag. Thus were two English vessels out of six forced to surrender. The four others, by dint of manoeuvring, got into line once more, near enough to engage the Desaix and Indompt- able. The Desaix, before she went on shore, had resisted them ; while the Indomptable and the Muiron frigate, in going slowly towards the shore, had replied with a well-directed fire. These" two last vessels had placed themselves under the bot- tom of the Isla Verde, the guns of which were worked by French soldiers who had been landed for the purpose. The action lasted for several hours with great fierceness. Admiral Saumarez, having lost two ships out of six, and having no hope of any result from the action, for he could not get closer to the French without running the risk of grounding, as they did, hoisted the signal for retreat, leaving the French in the possession of the Hannibal, but de- termined to carry off the Pompe'e, which, quite dismasted, lay like a hulk on the scene of action. Admiral Saumarez, having sent to Gibraltar for boats, towed away the hull of the Pompe'e, which the French vessels, being on shore, could not pre- vent. The Hannibal remained a prize. Such was the battle of Algesiras, in which three French vessels fought six English, destroyed two, and kept one as their prize. The French were filled with joy, although they had sustained a severe loss. Captain Lalonde, of the Formidable was killed ; captain Moncousu, of the Indomptable, also perished gloriously. Upwards of two hundred men were killed, and three hundred wounded ; in 1 Here the author is at variance with the first consul's account of the affair in the Moniteur, which stated that Devaux and his troops were landed in the night, the night, it is to be presumed, before the action ; the natural course, after the French admiral had found the deficiency of defen- sive means in possession of the Spaniards. The Pompee never struck her flag. Her rigging was much cut up by the well-directed fire from the batteries, and she was partly dis- masted, or her masts so injured, that it became necessary to rplac them. Translator. all, five hundred officers and men out of two thou- sand in the squadron. But the English had nine hundred men struck down by the French fire; and their ships completely riddled 2 . However glorious this action was, the business was not yet completed. It was urgently necessary, under the injury which the French ships had sustained, to withdraw from the anchorage of Algesiras. Admiral Saumarez was enraged, and swearing to avenge himself as soon as Linois left his anchorage to proceed to Cadiz, made great preparations. He employed all the vast resources of the port of Gibraltar to get his squadron ready, and even prepared fire-ships to burn the French vessels if he could not draw them out to sea. Ad- miral Linois had nothing wherewith to repair his damages, than such supplies as Algesiras could furnish, which were next to nothing. The arsenal of Cadiz, it is true, was close by ; but it was no easy matter to bring what was wanted by sea, on account of the English, nor by land from the diffi- culty of transport ; yet the yards of the French vessels were carried away, and some of their masts were gone, or otherwise much injured. Hardly any thing necessary for dressing the wounded could be obtained, and the French consuls in the ports near were obliged to send surgeons and medicines by post overland to them. There happened to be at this moment in the harbour of Cadiz, just arrived from Ferrol, a Spanish squadron, besides the six ships given to France, and hastily equipped by admiral Dumanoir. The strength of these two divisions in regard to number was, no doubt, great enough ; but the Spanish navy, always worthy by its bravery of the illustrious nation to which it appertains, had par- taken of the general negligence. The squadron of admiral Dumanoir was ill-manned with seamen of all kinds, and was not capable of inspiring much confidence. None of the ships which composed it equalled those of Linois' division, exercised by long cruises, and elevated by its recent victory. It was necessary to make the most urgent ap- peals to induce admiral Mazzaredo, the Spanish commander at Cadiz, ill disposed towards the French, to afford aid to admiral Linois. On the 9th of June, or 20th Messidor, he detached to Algesiras admiral Moreno, an excellent officer, full of courage, and well experienced, with five Spanish ships from Ferrol, one of the six vessels which Spain had given to France, and three frigates. The squadron took with it all of which Linois stood in need, and reached in one day the an- chorage at Algesiras. They worked day and night in repairing the three vessels which had fought so glorious a battle. They were all three again afloat on the first high water. Their rigging was refitted in the quickest mode possible. Topmasts were made for them out of the * Our author's faith is of a most conflicting character, as a naval historian, to give such returns as these. The French must have well known the loss of the Hannibal, having got her as a prize ; and she lost thrice any other English ship She had 75 killed and 68 wounded ; the Audacious, 8 killed and 32 wounded; the Venerable, 8 killed and 25 wounded; the Spencer, 6 killed and 27 wounded ; the Caesar, 8 killed and 34 wounded ; the Pompee, 15 killed and 69 wounded. Total, 375. Trantlator. 264 Admiral Saumarez pursues TRIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE, the French and Spaniard.. 1801. gallant-masts, and on the 12th they were ready for sea. They bestowed the same care upon the Eng- lish prize, the Hannibal, which was also to be taken to Cadiz. On the morning of the 12th the combined squa- dron put to sea with the wind east-north-east, which carried it out of the bay of Algesiras into the straits. The squadron sailed in order of battle, the two largest of the Spanish vessels, the San Carlos and San Hermenegilda, each of one hundred and twelve guns, bringing up the rear. The two ad- mirals, after the Spanish custom, were in a frigate, the Sabiua. At nightfall the wind fell. They would not sail back to the anchorage at Algesiras, because it was a dangerous position to occupy in presence of an enemy's squadron, and the more, as it was feared the English squadron might be reinforced, which it was well known they expected. It was determined to leave the Hannibal behind, because she made no way although towed by the Indienne frigate, and she was sent back to the anchorage at Algesiras. The squadron then lay to in the hope that during the night the wind might rise. Admiral Saumarez, on his side, had ordered his squadron to set sail. He had but four vessels, for he had lost the Hannibal, and the Pompe'e was un- fit for service. But he was now joined by the Superb, which made his division five vessels, be- sides many frigates, and some light vessels filled with combustibles 1 . He had carried his malice so far as to put on board his ships furnaces for heat- ing red-hot shot. Though he had but five ships of I Sir James Saumarez had with him only the Caesar 80, Spencer 74, Audacious 74, Venerable 74, and Superb 74; total, 376 guns. He had also the Thames frigate. The rig- ging of the Pompee was not yet completed. He had no vessels with combustibles, no furnaces for red-hot shot, a thing impossible to be used on board any ship; this report was invented by the French. They had nine sail of the line, viz. the San Carlos 112, San Hermenegilda 112, San Fernando 84, Argonauto 80, San Augustino 74 (Spanish); the Formid- able 84, Indomptable 84, Desaix 74, St. Antoine 74 (French) : total, 778 guns; four frigates, and the Wanton lugger of 12 guns. The French, our author says, were elated with vic- tory, and yet they dared not come about and engage Sauma- rez. The British came up with the Franco-Spanish squa- dron in the evening. The Superb was the headmost ship, followed closely by the Cxsar; the other British ships were still behind. The Superb attacked the San Carlos about eleven o'clock, others of the allied vessels firing on the Superb, and striking each other. The Superb passed on, and engaged the St. Antoine, a French 74, which very quickly hauled down the tricolored flag; the Superb having only fifteen men wounded in the action. In the meanwhile the Cssar came up to the San Carlos, which the Superb left to her care, and had scarcely opened her guns when it was seen that the Spanish vessel was on fire ; the Caesar at once ceased firing. In a short time the San Carlos was in a blaze, and the flames communicating to the San Hermenegilda, which was near and to leeward of the San Carlos, she took fire too, and both blew up. A very few men only were saved in a boat, and got on board the Superb. The other three British ihips were by this time come up ; but it began to blow hard, and in the morning the Venerable 74 and Thames frigate were the only ships seen ahead of the Caesar, together with one of the French ships, the rest having made their escape into Cadiz. The Venerable was the only British ship near enough to chase the Formidable with a chance of success. The imaginative affair about combustibles and red-hot shot, reported by M. Thiers, is best answered by the following communication, for which history is indebted to the present the line, and the allies nine, he determined to brave them to make up for his humiliating check at Alge- lord Saumarez. In a letter dated " Cheltenham, May 19th, 1845," lord Saumarez, after denying that the Pompte ever struck, or any thing of the kind, answers the slander about the red-hot shot by stating that his father, then sir Jame* Saumarez, wrote to the Spanish naval commander at Cadiz, contradicting in the fullest way the malignant charge. Ad- miral Mazzaredo replied like an honourable man and high- minded officer : " Isle of Leon, August 17, 1801. "ESTEEMED SIR The reports which have been current that the burning of the two royal ships on the night of the 12th and 13th of July, arose from the use of red-hot balls which were fired at them, have existed only among the ignorant public, and have not received credit from any persons of condition, who well know the manner of combating in the British navy. At the same time, they give the greatest credit to the asser- tion of your excellency, that nothing could be more foreign from the truth, from the characteristic humanity of the Bri- tish nation, and from what I have myself experienced of the particular conduct of your excellency. I will avail myself of every occasion to assure your excellency of the esteem and consideration which I profess for your person. " God grant you may live a thousand years. " Your most obedient servant, (Signed) "JOSEPH MAZZAREDO. " To his excellency rear-admiral Saumarez." The author's ignorance of naval matters, and his reliance upon unfounded statements in consequence, is very unfortu- nate. A friend to the freedom of the press, M. Thiers has him- self shown (see p. 212) that the government dictated to the MonUettr all that was to be said on military and naval affairs. As to England, where the liberty of the press flourished, the false statements of naval and military commanders any thing wrong that came before the notice of those serving under them would be sure to reach home, and they would be cor- rected in the newspapers. A false return of killed or wounded on board ship, for example, would be detected and told. In France the Moniteur was the unchallenged authority for every thing, true or false, that could be made to serve an end. It will not be amiss to see how the first consul dic- tated the affair of Algesiras, and the flight into Cadiz. The following is the government report from the Moniteur, car- rying fraud upon its face. It was read at the theatres, and made Paris alive with joy : " On the 4th of July rear-admiral Linois had anchored in the Bay of Algesiras, expecting to be attacked the next morning. In the night he landed the general of brigade Devaux, with a part of the troops, to man the batteries of the harbour. On the 5th, at 8 a. m., the cannonade com- menced against the six English ships, which came without delay, and brought their broadsides to bear within gun-shot of the French ships; the battle then began to be warm. The two squadrons appeared to be equally animated with the desire of conquering. If the French squadron had some advantage from its position, the English had double the force, and teveral ninety-gun thipt. The Hannibal 74 placed herself between the French squadron and the land. It was half-past eleven ; this was the decisive moment. For two hours the Formidable, on board of which rear-admiral Linois was, made head against three English ships. One of the ships of the English squadron, which was stationed with her broadside to one of the French ships, struck her/lag at three- quarters past eleven. An instant after, the Hannibal, ex- posed to the fire of the batteries and of three French ships, which poured broadsides upon her from both tidei (I), also struck, her flag. At half-past twelve the English squadron cut their cablet, and made sail. The Hannibal was towed by the Formidable. Of her crew of six hundred, three hun- dred were killed. The first English ship of the line which had ttruck her flag was disengaged by a great quantity of gun-boats and other embarkations sent from Gibraltar. The battle covers the French with glory, and proves what they 1801. July. Dreadful explosion of two Spanish vessels. THE GENERAL PEACE. Bravery of Captain Troude. 205 siras, and save himself from the much dreaded censure of the English admiralty. He followed closely the Franco-Spanish squadron, waiting for the first favourable moment to fall upon the rear ships with his refitted vessels. Towards the middle of the night the wind blew fresh, and the combined squadron made sail again for Cadiz. The order of sailing was a little changed. The rear division of the fleet was formed of three ships in a single line, the San Carlos to the right, the San Hermenegildo in the middle, and the St. Antoine, a seventy-four, the last a French ship, on the left. They sailed at but a small distance from each other. The darkness of the night was very great. Admiral Saumarez ordered the Superb, a good sailer, to make all haste and attack the French rear ships. The Superb soon came up to the Franco-Spanish squadron. She had extinguished her lights, that she might be less liable to be per- ceived, keeping a little astern of the San Carlos, but on one side, she gave that ship the whole of her broadside ; then repeating it without any in- terval, a second and a third time, firing red-hot shot. The flames instantly took the San Carlos. The Superb perceiving this remained astern, taking in sail. The San Carlos, a prey to the flames, ill- managed in the confusion, went to leeward, and in place of remaining in the line fell astern of two of her neighbours. She fired in all directions ; her balls reached the San Hermenegildo, the crew of which taking her for the English leading vessel, poured all her fire into their own ship. Then a fearful mistake was committed by the two Spanish crews taking each other for enemies. They both ran up alongside each other, so close as to en- tangle their rigging, and engaged in an obstinate contest. The fire, become more violent on board the San Carlos, communicated itself soon to the San Hermenegildo, and the two vessels in that state continued to cannonade each other with fury. The opposing squadrons were equally ignorant in the darkness of the night as to what was proceeding around them, and, except the Superb, that must have known of the fatal error, because she had caused it, no vessel dared to approach another, not knowing which was Spanish or which English, which they ought to assist or attack. The St. An- toine, a French ship, had moved away from the dangerous neighbourhood. The mass of flame soon became immense, and cast a dull light over the whole surface of the sea. It would seem as if the fatal illusion which armed these brave Spaniards against each other was now dissipated, though too late. The San Carlos blew up with a terrible explo- sion, and in a few minutes afterwards the San Her- menegildo followed, and struck terror into the two squadrons, that were utterly ignorant to what ves- sels the disaster had occurred. The Superb, perceiving the St. Antoine sepa- rated from the others, bore up, and boldly attacked her. This vessel, but recently fitted out, defended herself without that coolness and order which are indispensable to the movement of those vast en- can do. Rear-admiral Linois it at Cadiz with tfit Hannibal, to repair it." Not a syllable of the flight to Cadiz of the nine sail from five, nor of the St. Antoine't loss, nor of the burning of the Spanish ships, is here told ! Trantlator. gines of war. She suffered most severely ; and two new adversaries, the Caesar and Venerable, coming up at the moment, made her defeat in- evitable. She struck her flag after being a com- plete wreck. Admiral Saumarez was thus cruelly avenged without much glory to himself, but with a great loss to the Spanish navy. The two admirals, Linois and Moreno, on board the Sabina, kept themselves as near as possible to this frightful scene, but were unable to distinguish, in the dark- ness, what was passing, or to give an order. At break of day, they found themselves not far from Cadiz, with their squadron rallied, but lessened by three ships, the San Hermenegildo and San Carlos, which were blown up, and the St. Antoine, which had been captured. A fourth vessel of the combined squadron re- mained in the rear, the Formidable, admiral Linois' vessel, which was covered with glory in the battle of Algesiras, and which still felt the effects of that engagement. Compelled to carry diminished sail in consequence of the loss of her masts, and sailing slowly, being near two of the burning vessels, and dreading the fatal mis- takes of the night, she had kept in the rear, not believing it in her power to be of use to any of the vessels in action. It was thus, that in the morn- ing she found herself alone, surrounded by the English, and attacked by a frigate and three vessels. Admiral Linois, having gone on board the Sabina, had left the command to one of his officers, captain Troude, of the Formidable. This able and valiant officer, judging with rare presence of mind, that if he tried to escape by making sail, he should be overtaken by vessels that sailed better than his own, resolved to find his safety in a skilful manoeuvre, and in a courageous engagement. His crew shared in his feelings, not one of them would consent to the loss of the laurels of Alge- siras. They were old sailors, well trained by long service at sea, and well accustomed to fighting, a thing much more necessary at sea than on land. The worthy captain Troude did not wait until his enemies, who pursued him, should be united against the Formidable; he bore down upon that which was nearest, namely, the Thames frigate, and poured such a terrible fire into her that he soon sickened her of the unequal contest. The Venerable, an English seventy-four, was coming up at full sail, the captain, thinking he was superior to her, his ship carrying eighty guns, waited until she came up, while the two other English vessels endeavoured to gain the advantage of her upon the wind, and cut her off from entering Cadiz. Ably manoeuvring, and making his redoubtable broadside, thick with guns, to bear upon the un- armed bow of the Venerable, joining to his su- perior weight of metal, sent home with .full effect, he riddled her with his shot, first struck down one mast, and then another, then a third, and made a mere hulk of her, lodging many shot between wind and water, which put her in danger of sink- ing. The unfortunate ship, horribly mauled, ex- cited the alarm of the rest of the English squadron. The Thames frigate brought her help, and the two other English vessels, which had endeavoured to place themselves between Cadiz and the For- midable, soon came about. They were desirous of '266 Glory acquired by th French navy. TRIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. Campaign in Portugal. 1801. July. saving the crew of the Venerable, which they were afraid would go down, and, at the same time, of overwhelming the French ship, which made so noble a resistance. The latter, confident in his seamanship and his good fortune, fired successively into them the most rapid and well-directed broad- sides; he discouraged them, and sent them off to the succour of the Venerable, ready to turn bottom upwards, if they did not come to her assistance speedily 1 . The brave captain Troude having disembarrassed himself of his numerous foes, sailed triumphantly into Cadiz. A pai-t of the Spanish population, attracted by the cannonade and the explosions during the night, had gone down to the shore. They had seen the danger and triumph of the French vessel, and in spite of the sorrow naturally felt, for the loss of the two Spanish vessels was well known, they sent forth the most joyous accla- mations at seeing the Formidable enter the harbour victorious. The English could not deny that the glory of these engagements was upon the French side. If the French had lost one vessel, and the Spaniards two, the English had left one vessel in our power, and had had two so ill treated that they were quite unfit for further service. The battle of Algesiras and the return of the Formidable were among the num- ber of the finest feats known to the French naval history. But the Spaniards were downcast; al- though admiral Moreno had behaved well, they were not indemnified by a brilliant action for the loss of the San Carlos and San Hermenegildo. Still the events hi Portugal were of some conso- lation to them. We left the prince of the peace pre- paring to commence hostilities against Portugal, at the head of the combined forces of the two nations, > The fact waa as follows. The Venerable 74, at daybreak, found herself a great way ahead of the English squadron, and approaching a ship the last of the combined nine line of battle ships and frigates not destroyed, taken, or escaped into Cadiz. She gave chase. Captain Hood said in his letter to Sir James Saumarez, " I could perceive her to be an 80-gun ship. At half-past 7 a. m., being within point- blank shot, the enemy commenced firing his item chase- gum, trhich I did not return, for fear of retarding our pro- gress, until light and baffling airi threw the two ships broad- side to, within musket-shot, when a steady and warm con- flict was kept up for an hour and a half, and we had closed within pistol-shot, the enemy principally directing his fire at our masts and rigging. I had at this time the misfortune to see the main-mast go overboard, and fore and mizzen -mast nearly in the same state," &c. The Venerable now got on shore, the affair being close in land, near the castle of Same Petre, and the Formidable made her escape. So that they were the stern chase-guns of the Formidable that were brought to bear on the Venerable's bows, as she endeavoured to get away, not her redoubtable broadside. The Thames frigate was never hurt, man or timber, by the Formidable ; and the well-directed broadsides given as a caution to the other two English line of battle ships, were fired in the air, if fired at all, for the other English vessels were not come up within range. Our author seems ill informed in matters con- nected with maritime affairs, or he would have asked him- selfas those who read his work must do why, with nine powerful lin: of battle ships, and four fine frigates, Linois did not engage and capture five English ships of inferior rates, and one frigate ; this would be the sensible mode of such a victorious commander as Linois in treating with an enemy not half as strong. Trantlator. in the design, long ago explained, of influencing the negotiations that were carrying on in London. According to the plan agreed upon, the Spaniards were to operate on the left of the Tagus, and the French upon the right. Thirty thousand Spaniards were assembled before Badajoz, on the frontier of Alentejo ; fifteen thousand French were marching by way of Salamanca upon Tras-os-Montes. Thanks to the speedy efforts made, and to the loans ad- vanced by the clergy, as well as the general sacri- fices offered from all branches of the public service, provision was made for the equipment of thirty thousand Spaniards. But the train of artillery was very backward. The prince of the peace, calculating with reason upon the moral effect of the union between the French and Spaniards, was eager to proceed to hostilities at once, being anxious to gather his first laurels. He wanted to carry away all the honours of the campaign, and keep the French as a reserve, upon whom he could fall back in case of his meeting with a reverse. The French could well afford to leave the prince the pleasure of such a gratification. The French at that moment were not seeking for glory, but only to bring about useful results ; and these results consisted in occu- pying one or two provinces of Portugal, in order to have new securities against England. Easy as the war appeared to be in regard to its object, there was still a danger to be feared, and that was lest it might become national. The hatred of the Portu- guese against the Spaniards might have produced the most unpleasant results, if the approach of the French, placed a few marches in their rear, had not dissipated these dawning desires at resistance. The priuce of the peace hastened to pass the fron- tier, and to attack the fortified places hi Portugal, with field artillery in place of a battering train. He occupied Olivenfa and Jurumenha without diffi- culty. But the garrisons of Elvas and Campo- Mayor, shut themselves up and made a show of defence. The prince of the peace ordered those places to be invested, and during the interval marched forth to meet the Portuguese army, com- manded by the duke d'Alafbens. The Portuguese made no resistance, and fled towards the Tagus. The blockaded towns opened their gates. Campo- Mayor surrendered; and the siege of Elvas was undertaken in a regular manner, a park of artillery having arrived from Seville. The prince of the peace followed the enemy triumphantly, traversing rapidly Azumar, Alegrete, Portalegre, Castello deVide, Flor de Rosa, and arrived at last on the Tagus, behind which the Portuguese had hastened to seek a re- fuge. He succeeded in making himself master of nearly the whole province of Alentejo. The French had not yet passed the frontier of Portugal, and it was plain enough, that if the Spaniards succeeded alone in obtaining such results, the Spaniards and the French united must, in a few days, be masters both of Lisbon and Oporto. The court of Portugal, which had always refused to believe that an attack upon that country was seriously meditated, now saw that it had taken place, and hastened to ten- der its submission, and sent M. Pinto de Souza to the Spanish head quarters, to accept any conditions which it pleased the two combined armies to impose upon it. The prince of the peace, desiring that his master and mistress should be witnesses of his glory, influenced the king and queen of Spain to 1801. July. Consequences of the foregoing events. THE GENERAL PEACE. French ascendancy in European politics. 267 come to Badajoz to distribute rewards to the army, and to hold there a species of congress. Thus this court, once so great and haughty, was dis- honoured by a dissolute queen, and by an incapa- ble but all powerful favourite, who was endeavour- ing to indulge in the illusion that he was directing the weightiest affairs. Lucien Bonaparte had fol- lowed the king and queen to Badajoz. Such were the events that had occurred up to the end of June or beginning of July. The battles of Aigesiras and Cadiz, which were achievements calculated to give confidence to the French navy, the short campaign in Portugal, which proved the decisive influence of the first consul in the peninsula, and the power that he pos- sessed of treating Portugal like Naples, Tuscany, or Holland, compensated, up to a certain point, for the events so far known relative to Egypt. Neither the battle of Canopus, nor the capitulation signed at Cairo, nor the inevitable capitulation of Alexan- dria, had then been heard of. News was not at that time conveyed by sea with the same rapidity that it is at present. It was a month, and sometimes more, sometimes less, before an event taking place in the Nile was known at Marseilles. The only fact heard respecting Egypt, was the landing of the English, and the first battle on the plains of Alexandria ; no notion could then be formed of what had afterwards occurred, and the ultimate termination of the struggle was still involved in doubt. The weight of France in the negotiations depending had in no way diminished ; on the con- trary, it was increased by the influence which day by day she acquired in Europe. The treaty of Lune'ville produced its inevitable consequences. Austria, disarmed and become powerless in the eyes of other countries, left France free to pursue her own objects. Russia, since the death of Paul I., and the accession of Alexander, was not disposed to act energetically against Eng- land, it is true, but she was not inclined, upon the other hand, to resist the objects of France in the west. Therefore the first consul took no pains to conceal his views. He determined to convert Piedmont into a French department, without trou- bling, himself about the remonstrances of the Rus- sian negotiators. He had declared that as to Naples, the treaty of Florence should remain the rule by which affairs with that country should be regulated. Genoa had submitted her constitution to him, that it might receive certain alterations, which were calculated to strengthen the executive authority. The Cisalpine republic, composed of Lombardy, the duchy of Modena, and the Lega- tions, so constituted for the first time by the treaty of Campo-Formio, and a second time by the treaty of Lune'ville, was now newly organized into an allied state, dependent upon France. Holland, after the example of Liguria, submitted her con- stitution to the first consul, in order that more strength might be given to the government, a spe- cies of reform, which was at that time effected in all the republics that sprung from that of France. Lastly, the minor negotiators, who not long before sought support from M. Kalitcheff, the arrogant minister of Paul I., were now sorry they had sought his protection, and demanded only of the first consul the favour of his ameliorating their condition. More particularly the representatives of the German princes, showed in this regard the most pressing eagerness. The treaty of Lune'ville had arranged the secularization of the ecclesiastical estates, and their division among the heredi- tary princes. The ambition of all was kept awake to their future participations. The great as well as the smaller powers, each aspired to obtain for itself the most advantageous portions. Austria and Prussia, although they had lost little on the left bank of the Rhine, wished to participate in the promised indemnities. Bavaria, Wurtemberg, Baden, the house of Orange, all besieged the new chief of France with their solicitations; because, being the principal party to the treaty of Lune'ville, he would have the greatest influence hi the execu- tion of that treaty. Prussia herself, represented in Paris by M. Lucchesini, did not disdain to descend to the part of a solicitor, and to give a higher character to the first consul by the mean- ness of her solicitations. Therefore, although the six months passed since the treaty of Lune'ville had been distinguished by reverses in Egypt, it was true but imperfectly known in Europe, the ascend- ancy of the French government had supported itself, and time had only rendered that government more clear and effective. This concatenation of circumstances could not but have its influence upon the negotiations which had been left to lan- guish for a moment, but which were about to be renewed, as if by common consent, with increased activity, through a singular conformity of ideas in the two governments. The first censul, upon learning the past proceedings of Menou, had looked upon Egypt as being lost, and he wished, before that result happened, which he clearly fore- saw, to sign the treaty of peace in London. The English ministers, incapable of seeing, as clearly as he did, the termination of these events, and not less fearing some stroke of vigour on the part of the Egyptian army, so renowned for its valour, were desirous of profiting, by the first appearance of success, to push forward the treaty, in such a manner, that as both had been at one time inclined to temporize, so they were now equally inclined to conclude the negotiation. But before again entering anew into the laby- rinths of this great negotiation, wherein the most important interests of the universe were about to become the subjects of discussion, an event must be narrated which at the same moment occupied the attention of Paris, and completed the singu- larity of the spectacle which the consular govern- ment of France presented to the world. The infants of Parma, destined to reign over Tuscany, quitted Madrid at the same tune that the royal family of Spain left that city for Badajoz, and they had just reached the frontiers of the Pyre- nees. The first consul considered it was of great importance that they should visit Paris before they went to Florence to take possession of the new throne of Etruria. All sorts of contrasts were agreeable to the lively and expanded imagination of Bonaparte. He greatly enjoyed this truly Roman scene, a king formed by himself with his own republican hands ; he also liked to show that he had no apprehensions from the presence of a Bourbon, and that his own glory placed him above all comparison with the ancient dynasty in the place of which he stood. Ho enjoyed also in tha TRIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. Their reception. Enter- $2S e r ^ d glTen by 1801. July. sight of all the world, even in Paris, so recently the scene of a sanguinary revolution, the display of a pomp and an elegance worthy of monarchs. All this must lead still further to an observation of the sudden change which had been operated in France under his restorative government. The minute and exact foresight which he knew so well how to apply to a great military operation, he did not disdain to employ in these magnificent pageantries, in which he himself and his glory were to be displayed. He took the trouble to regu- late the smallest details, to provide every thing applicable to the occasion, to arrange every one in his proper place ; since all this was required to be done in a state of social order entirely new, created out of the wrecks of a world destroyed. Every thing to be re-edified again, even to matters of etiquette, of which there must be some forms even in a republic. The three consuls deliberated for a long while upon the mode hi which the king and queen of Etruria should be received in France, and what ceremonies should be observed towards them. In order to obviate many difficulties, it was agreed they should be received under the assumed titles of the count and countess of Livorno, and that they should be treated as guests of distinction, in the same way as had been done in the last century in regard to the young czar, afterwards Paul I., and the emperor of Austria Joseph II.; thus by means of an incognito, there was avoided the embarrass- ment to which the official rank of a king and queen would have given birth. Orders, consonant with this arrangement, were given, in consequence, over all the route of the expected personages, to the civil and military authorities in the depart- ments. Novelty delights the people of every age. This was a novelty, and one of the most surprising, to see a king and a queen, after twelve years of a revolution, which had overturned and threatened so many thrones ; it was one, more particularly, that highly flattered the French people, because this king and queen were the fruit of their vic- tories. Every where the infants were received under the liveliest acclamations ; with infinite regard and respect. No disagreeable circumstance on their journey led them to feel that they travelled in a country that just before had been wholly con- vulsed. The royalists, who were in no way flattered by this monarchical piece of workmanship of the French revolution, were the only individuals who seized upon the opportunity to exhibit their ma- lignity. At the theatre of Bordeaux they shouted loudly, with affected emphasis, " Long live the king !" and they were answered by the cry of " Down with kings ! " The first consul himself moderated, by letters from his own cabinet, the over excessive zeal of some of his prefects, because he did not wish too much noise to be made about the appearance of the royal couple. They arrived in Paris in June, to remain an entire month; and they were to take up their residence at the mansion of the Spanish ambassador. The first consul, although but the simple temporary magistrate of the republic, re- presented the French people ; before this preroga- tive, all the privileges of the blood-royal gave way. It was agreed, that these two young sovereigns, making the first consul acquainted with their ar- rival, should visit him, and that he should return the visit on the following day. The second and third consuls, who could not be said to be, to the same extent, the representatives of France, were to pay the first visit to the infants. Thus, with respect to the last, the honours of birth and rank were fully established. On the day following that of their arrival, the count and countess of Livorno were conducted to Malmaison by count Azara, the Spanish ambassador. The first consul received them at the head of that exclusively military household which he had established there. The count of Livorno, feeling a little youthful embar- rassment, flung himself into the first consul's arms like a child, who, in consequence, embraced him with warmth. He treated the young couple with parental kindness and the most delicate attention, at the same time supporting all that superiority which belonged to difference of years and to his own power and glory. On the following day, the first consul returned the visit at the hotel of the ambassador. The consuls, Cambaceres and Le- brun, fulfilled, on their parts, the duties prescribed, and obtained from the young princes the attentions to which they were entitled. It was arranged that the presentation of the young princes, by the first consul, to the people, should take place at the opera. On the day ap- pointed for that purpose the first consul was in- disposed. The consul Cambaceres supplied his place, and attended the royal infants to the opera. On entering the consuls' box, he took the young count of Livorno by the hand, and presented him to the audience, who answered by unanimous ac- clamations, wholly unmingled with any thing ma- licious or offensive. Still the idle part of the public, accustomed to give out their own wise interpretations to the commonest events, put a hundred different constructions upon the journey of these princes. Those who were only for show- ing their wit upon the subject, declared that Cam- baceres had just made a present of the Bourbons to France. The royalists, who were obstinate in their expectations, that Bonaparte would do that which he neither could nor would effect, declared that all this was, upon his part, only a mode of pre- paring the public mind for a return to the old dynasty. The republicans, on the other side, asserted that by such royal pageantry he was preparing France for the re- establishment of the monarchy, but only for his own benefit. The ministers were ordered to be lavish of fetes and entertainments to the royal visitors. Talley- rand did not require the hint to be given to him. Considered a model of good taste and elegance under the old regime, he was still better entitled to that claim under the new. He gave, at his chateau of Neuilly, an entertainment of a most magnificent character, at which all the best society of France attended, the names of many of whom had long ceased to be announced in the circles of the capital. When night came on, in the midst of a most brilliant illumination, the city of Florence appeared all at once, represented with uncommon skill. The Tuscans were seen dancing and singing in the celebrated plaza of the Palazzo Vecchio. and offering flowers to the young sovereigns, and garlands of triumph to the first consul. This 1801. July. Fftei. Incapacity of th young prince. THE GENERAL PEACE. Renewal of the negotiation! for peace. 2G9 magnificent spectacle cost a large sum of money. It united the prodigality of the directory to the elegance of 'other times, and that decorum in manner, which a severe master laboured to im- press upon revolutionary France. The minister at war imitated the minister for foreign affairs, and gave a military fete, in commemoration of the battle of Marengo. The minister of the in- terior and the second and third consuls received the royal visiters in a most magnificent manner ; and for a whole month the capital bore the aspect of a continued rejoicing. The first consul did not wish the royal couple to be present at the re- publican ceremonies in the month of July, and he therefore made the necessary dispositions for their departure from Paris before the anniversary of the 14th of that month. In the midst of these brilliant representations, the first consul attempted to give some advice to the royal couple, who were about to ascend the throne of Tuscany. But he was struck with the utter incapacity of the young prince, who, when at Malmaison, gave himself up, in the waiting-room of the aids-de-camp, to amusements that were scarcely worthy the most ignorant boy. The princess seemed to possess some intelligence, and to be attentive to the advice offered by the first consul. He accordingly judged very indifferently of the future career of these new sovereigns, who were thus designed to govern a part of Italy, and easily foresaw that he should be obliged to inter- meddle too often in the affairs of their kingdom. " You see," said he, publicly enough to several members of the government ; " you see what these princes are, sprung from old blood, and more par- ticularly those who have been educated in southern courts. How can we trust them with the govern- ment of nations ! No matter; we have done no harm in exhibiting to the French people this specimen of the Bourbons. They will be able to judge from them, whether the members of these ancient dynasties are up to the level of the diffi- culties connected with such an age as the present." Every one who had seen the young prince had made the same observation as the first consul. General Clarke was given to the young couple, to at as their Mentor, under the title of the minister of France at the court of Etruria. In tin; midst of such pressing occupations, amidst fetes, which in themselves were almost public busi- ness, the great object of a maritime peace had not been neglected. The negotiations carrying on in London between lord Hawkesbury and M. Otto were become public. They were kept the less secret now, as both parties were more desirous of coining to a conclusion. As already observed, to the wish of temporizing had succeeded the desire of terminating the business; because the first con- sul augured ill of the events which were passing on the banks of the Nile, and the English govern- ment dreaded some unexpected exploit by the army of Egypt. The new English minister, more particularly, wished for peace, because it was the sole reason for his going into office. If the war should be continued, Pitt was much more fit than Addington to be at the helm of affairs. All the events which had occurred, whether in the north or the east, though they might have improved the position of England, were only viewed by the minister as so ;muiy means for the attainment of a peace, more advantageous, more easy to be jus- tified in parliament, than from any increased desire for the peace itself. They regarded, on the con- trary, the occasion as most favourable, and were desirous of not imitating the fault with which Mr. Pitt was reproached of not treating prior to the battles of Marengo and Hohenlinden. The king of England, as already shown, had come round to pacific views, through esteem for the first consul, and, it is probable, a little anger against Pitt. The people, suffering from want, and fond of change, hopod to see, with the termination of the war, some amelioration of their existing condition. Reasonable people, without exception, found that ten years of sanguinary warfare was enough, and that an obstinate continuance of the war would only furnish France with an opportunity for still further aggrandizement Besides, they were not free, in London, from all apprehension on the score of invasion, the preparations for which were visible in the ports of the channel. One only class of men in England, who were absorbed in great maritime speculations, and who had subscribed to the enormous loans of Pitt, seeing that peace, opening the seas to the flags of all nations, and to that of France more particularly, would take from them the monopoly of commerce, and put a stop to the great financial operations by which they had gained these were little inclined to support the peaceful policy of Addington. They were all de- voted to Pitt and his policy; they all encouraged a feeling for war when Pitt began to consider peace as necessary. But these rich speculators of the city were obliged to be silent before the cries of the people and of the farmers, and above all, before the unanimous opinion of the reasonable men of the country. The English ministry, therefore, was resolved not only to negotiate, but to do so promptly, in order to be able to present the result of the nego- tiations at the approaching meeting of parliament in the autumn. They had concluded a treaty with Russia upon very advantageous conditions. Eng- land had only a simple question of maritime law to arrange with that court. She had made some con- cessions to the new emperor, and obtained some from Russia, which this young inexperienced prince, anxious to satisfy the party which had placed him upon the throne, and more anxious to give his attention tranquilly to the idea of an interior reform, had the weakness to suffer to be extorted from him. Of the four essential princi- ples of maritime law Russia had abandoned two, and established two. By a convention signed on the 17th of June between count Panin, tbe vice- chancellor, and lord St. Helens, the following articles were agreed upon : First, neutrals might navigate freely between all ports in the world, even those of belligerent nations. They were able to import every thiug according to usage except articles contraband of war. The definition of this contraband was de- cidedly favourable to Russian interests ; inasmuch as grain and naval stores, formerly prohibited to neutral vessels, were not to be treated as con- traband of war. This was of great consequence to Russia, which produces hemp, tar, pitch, iron, masts, and corn. Upon this point, one of the moat 270 British convention with Monti TRIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. Propotitioni of the Eng- lish and French nego- tiators. 1801. July. important in maritime law, Russia had defended the freedom of general commerce in defending the interests of her own. Secondly, the flag was not to cover the goods, unless such goods had been acquired on account of, and thus become the property of a neutral trader. Thus coffee, coming from a French colony, was not to be seized if it had become Danish or Russian property. It is true, that in practice this reservation saved a part of the neutral commerce ; but Russia sacrificed the first principle of maritime law " the flag covers the merchandise ;" and did not sustain the noble character which she had borne under Paul I. and Catharine. This pro- tection of the feeble, which Russia was so am- bitious to display upon the continent, she sadly abandoned upon the ocean. Thirdly, the neutrals, although permitted to navigate freely, were not, according to usage, to enter a blockaded port, that is a port so bon& fide, the blockade of which it would be really dangerous to force. On this head, the great principle of a real blockade was rigorously maintained. Lastly, the right of search, the origin of so many disputes, and the cause of the formation of the last league in the north, was to be understood in a way little honourable to the neutral powers. Thus it had always been contended that merchant vessels convoyed by a ship of war of the state to which they belonged, that by its presence attested their national character, and, above all, there being nothing contraband on board, should not be visited. The dignity of the military flag did not, in fact, admit that the captain of a ship, perhaps an ad- miral, should be stopped by a privateer provided only with a simple letter of marque. The Russian cabinet thought to preserve the dignity of its flag by means of a distinction here. It was decided that the right to visit in relation to vessels under convoy, should not be exercised by all vessels in- discriminately, but solely by vessels of war. A privateer furnished only with a simple letter of marque, had not longer the right to stop and examine a convoy escorted by a ship of war. The right of search could only, therefore, be exercised by one equal upon another equal. There was no doubt that in this mode of proceeding some incon- venience was escaped, but the foundation of the principle was sacrificed. This was the more dis- creditable to the court of St. Petersburg, as it was the particular principle of the four in dispute for which Copenhagen had been bombarded three months before, and for which Paul I. had tried to stir up all Europe against England. Russia had thus sacrificed two great principles of maritime law, and had gained two. But England, it must be acknowledged, had made concessions, and in her desire to make peace, had desisted from enforcing a part of the arrogant pretensions of Pitt. The Danes, the Swedes, and the Prussians were invited to give their assent to this convention. Delivered from any anxiety about Russia, and having obtained a first success in Egypt, England desired to obtain for an amelioration of her situa- tion, a more speedy peae with France. Lord Hawkesbury sent for M. Otto to the foreign-office, and authorized him to make to the first consul the following proposition : Egypt is at this moment invaded by our troops ; considerable reinforce- ments must soon join them; their success is very probable. The struggle is not over, we are ready to admit. Stay this effusion of blood ; let us agree on both sides not to attempt the permanent occu- pation of Egypt, which we will mutually evacuate, and restore to the Porte. To this proposition lord Hawkesbury added the right to keep Malta ; because, he said, Malta waa not to be evacuated by England, but in the event of the voluntary evacuation of Egypt by France. The abandonment of Egypt by France being no longer a voluntary concession upon her part, but a forced consequence of the events of the war, there was no longer any reason for England handing over Malta as an equivalent. In the East Indies the English minister in- sisted upon Ceylon, but was content with that only. He offered to restore the Cape of Good Hope to the Dutch, and beyond that the territories taken from Holland in South America Surinam, De- merara, Berbice, and Essequibo. But he de- manded a large island in the West Indies, Mar- tinique or Trinidad, either the one or the other, as France might prefer. Thus the definitive result of the ten years of war would be for England, independently of Hin- dostan, and the isle of Ceylon in the East Indies, the isle of Trinidad or Martinique in the Antilles or West Indies, and the isle of Malta in the Medi- terranean. The French cabinet had, in this mode, to make a free grant to England's pride in each of the three most important seas. The first consul answered at once to the British offer thus tendered, that much was made of the events in Egypt to elevate the English demands ; to oblige them to lower their pretensions, he dwelt upon the events which were going forward in Portugal. " Lisbon and Oporto," he replied to lord Hawkesbury, " will soon fall into our hands, if we are inclined to take them. They are at this moment negotiating a treaty at Badajoz, having for its object to save the provinces of the most faithful ally of England. The Portuguese propose to redeem their territory, but they will exclude England from their ports, and pay besides a heavy war contribution ; and Spain is willing enough to agree to this concession. But every thing depends upon the first consul. He is able to accept or reject this treaty; and he is about to reject it, and will take possession of the chief provinces of Portu- gal, unless England consents to a treaty upon reasonable and moderate terms. The English re- quire the evacuation of Egypt by the French; let it be so, but let England, upon her side, abandon Malta; let her no more require Trinidad nor Martinique, but content herself with the island of Ceylon, a fine acquisition, forming a grand ap- pendage to the superb empire of India." The English negotiator replied in a manner that could be but little satisfactory for Portugal, con- firming, what was already well known, that Eng- land had very little regard for the allies whom she had compromised. " If the first consul should in- vade Portugal in Europe," lord Hawkesbury answered, " England will invade the territory of Portugal beyond the seas. She will capture the Azores and Brazil, and will take to herself se- curities, which in her hands are worth muck more than the Portuguese continental possessions in the L 8< J 1- Political papers in the Moniteur THE GENERAL PEACE. written by the first consul. 271 hands of France." This plainly signified, that in place of defending her ally, England sought to avenge herself upon Portugal for the new acqui- sitions that France might make at her expense. The first consul perceived that upon this occa- sion he must assume an energetic tone, and show what was passing at the bottom of his heart ; in other words, his determination to struggle foot to foot with England, until he had brought her to more moderate terms. He declared that he would never consent to give up Malta upon any con- dition ; that Trinidad belonged to an ally, whose interests he would sustain equally with his own, and he would not abandon this colony to the English ; that they ought to be content with Cey- lon, which made so perfect the conquest of the Indies; that none of the points contested, Malta excepted, were to be put into the scale with the suffering that would be inflicted on the world by the shedding a single drop of the blood which was about to flow. To these diplomatic explanations he added public declarations in the Moniteur, and the recital of the armaments which he was preparing on the coast of Boulogne. Divisions of gun-boats, in fact, sailed from the ports of Calvados, the Seine Inferior, the Somme, and the Escaut or Schelde. They coasted along the shore to Boulogne, and many succeeded in reaching that port in spite of the English cruisers. The first consul had not then fixed, as he did at a later period, on the plan of a descent upon England l ; he only wished to intimi- date that power by the noise and extent of his pre- parations ; in short, he had made up his mind to complete his arrangements, and to carry his threats into effect if the rupture should definitively happen. He went into a long explanation of his views upon the subject during a deliberation of the council, at which the consuls alone were present. Placing full confidence in the devotion of his colleagues, Cambace'res and Lebrun, he opened his whole mind to them. He told them, that with the arma- ments actually in existence at Boulogne, he had not yet the means of attempting, with a chance of success, a descent upon England, an operation in war full of difficulty ; that his object in making these preparations was to let England know what he contemplated doing ; in other words, that he intended a direct invasion ; upon the success of which he, Bonaparte, should not hesitate to risk his life, his glory, and his fortune : that if he did not succeed in obtaining from the British cabinet some reasonable concessions, his part was taken he should complete the Boulogne flotilla so as to receive one hundred thousand men, and embarking with them himself, run all the chances of a terrible but decisive blow. Desirous of gaining over public opinion to his side in Europe, and even in England itself, he attached to the notes of his minister, negotiating in England, addressed to the British ministry, a number of articles in the Moniteur, which were designed for the entire European public. These articles, which were models of neat and forcible > The first flotilla attempted in 1801 must not DC confuted with the great naval and military organization known under the celebrated name of the " camp of Boulogne," which hap- pened in 1804. argument, were written by himself, and devoured by the readers of all nations, whose attention was fixed upon this singular scene, he flattered the English ministers then in office, whom he repre- sented as wise, reasonable, well-intentioned men, too much intimidated by the violence of the ex- ministers, Pitt, and, more particularly, Windham. He heaped sarcasms upon these last, more par- ticularly upon Windham, because he regarded him as the head of the war party. In these article* he sought to quiet Europe upon the subject of French ambition, and to show that his own con- quests were scarcely equivalent to the acquisition* Prussia, Austria, and Russia had made in the par- tition of Poland; that France had restored three or four times the extent of territory she had re- tained; that England, in like manner, was bound to restore a large part of her conquests; that in keeping possession of the continent of India, she remained in possession of a superb empire, to which the islands in dispute were nothing worthy of notice; that it was not worth the cost, for such islands, to continue to shed human blood; that if France, it was true, appeared to insist so strongly upon them, it was from a principle of honour in supporting her allies, and to preserve some few harbours hi distant seas ; that, on the other hand, if England was determined to continue the war, she might, most certainly, conquer more colonies, but that she had more already than her trade re- quired; that France had made around her entire frontiers, acquisitions of great value, which, with- out designating, were obvious enough to all the world, since her troops occupied Holland, Switzer- land, Piedmont, Naples, and Portugal ; that, in fact, the contest might be more simplified, and rendered less burthensome to other countries, by confining it to a contest between France and Eng- land alone. The first consul, hi writing, took great care not to wound the national pride of England; but he did not fail to let his last resource of a descent be understood, and that, if the English ministry desired that the war should terminate by the destruction of one of the two nations, there was not a Frenchman who was reluctant to make a last and strenuous effort to decide this long dis- pute, in a manner that should end in the eternal glory and advantage of France. " But why put the matter upon this desperate ground? Why not terminate the misfortunes of humanity ? Why thus risk the destiny of two great nations ? " The first consul finished one of those articles by these beautiful and singular words, which, at a later time, were so sadly applicable to himself : " Happy, most happy, are those nations, that, ar- rived at a high degree of prosperity, are blessed with wise rulers, who will not expose the many advantages they possess to the caprices and vicis- situdes of a single stroke of fortune ! " These articles, remarkable for powerful logic and a vigorous style, attracted general attention, and produced a deep sensation upon the public mind. Never had any government held such open and startling language. The language of the first consul, accompanied by very serious demonstrations along the coasts of France, was calculated to produce, and did pro- duce a great effect on the opposite side of the channel. The formal declaration that France 272 Progress of the negotia- tions. THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. Conduct of the prince of the peace. 1801. Aug. would never give up Malta to England, made a great impression, and the British government stated its willingness to renounce the island, upon its being restored to the knights of St. John of Jerusalem; but, in that case, they demanded the Cape of Good Hope. They would also give up Trinidad, and even Martinique, if they obtained a part of the Dutch continent of America, of De- merara, Berbice, or Essequibo. The abandonment of Malta was a step gained hi the negotiation. The first consul would not cede either Malta, the Cape, or the Dutch posses- sions on the continent of America. In his view, Malta was to be considered as the equivalent for Egypt, if France retained that conquest ; when the occupation of Egypt ceased to be a question for the French, that of Malta could not be ad- mitted for the English, nor any similar equivalent. The English cabinet finally gave up insisting upon Malta, but revived its demand for one of the great West India islands; and as it could no longer dare to speak of the French isle of Martinique, it demanded the Spanish island of Trinidad. The first consul was as little inclined to cede Trinidad as Martinique. It was a Spanish colony, which furnished England with a dangerous footing upon the vast continent of South America. He kept his good faith so far towards Spain, as to offer the small French island of Tobago, in place of Trinidad. It was not an important colony; but England had an interest in it, because all the planters were English. With a feeling of exalted pride, only to be allowed to one who had raised his country to the highest pitch of glory and great- ness, he added : " It is a French colony; this ac- quisition must please the pride of the English, which will be 'flattered thus to obtain, as a prize, one colonial spoil belonging to us ; and the con- clusion of the peace will thus become more easily effected 1 ." By this tune it was about the end of July or commencement of August, 1801. The preparations making in France were imitated in England. The militia were exercised; and cars were constructed 1 "The minister of foreign affairs to M. Otto, commis- sioner of the French republic in London. " 20th Thermidor, year n., or 8th of Aug. 1801. " In regard to America, as affects the peremptory instruc- tions contained in the note, I further add here : The British government wishes to retain in the West Indies one of the newly-acquired islands, and this under the plea that it will be necessary to the preservation of her former possessions. This can in no way apply to the island of Trinidad. Avoid, therefore, any discussion upon that topic. Trinidad, by its situation, would be, not a meant of defence for the colonies of England, but a position for the attack of the Spanish con- tinent. The acquisition of the island would, besides, be for the British government of an importance and value scarcely conceivable. The discussion can only take place about Cu- racoa, Tobago, St. Lucia, or some other island of that class. Though these two latter are French islands, still this govern- ment might be induced to abandon one, and perhaps the national pride of England be flattered, by thus retaining some one of our colonial spoils. You will not fail, citizen, to praiae highly the value of the islands to the cession of which we give content, and particularly Tobago. ThU island not long back belonged to the English, and it still inhabited by English planters ; all its relations are English. The soil is unbroken, and the commerce of the island is susceptible of great increase." for the conveyance of troops, to enable them to reach more rapidly the points threatened by hostile attack. The English journals of the war party were filled with the most outrageous language. Supposed to be encouraged by Windham, some of them proceeded so far as to excite the people against M. Otto, and the French prisoners. M. Otto at once demanded his passports ; and the first consul caused the insertion in the Moniteur of the most threatening articles. Lord Hawkesbury went to M. Otto, and insisted upon his not going away. With some difficulty he succeeded, by giving him reason to expect a speedy conclusion to their negotiation. Still the national animosity seemed awakened so, that a rupture was anticipated. All the moderate persons in England deprecated and wished to prevent it. They almost despaired of success, because the first consul would not give way in surrendering the possessions of his allies, which the English persisted in keeping. While the first consul was fighting the battle of Spain's noble colonies, the prince of the peace, with the thoughtlessness of a vain and frivolous favourite, made the king) his master, adopt the most unhappy step, and disengaged the first cousBl from every tie of friendship towards Spain. It has not been forgotten that M. Pinto, envoy of Portugal, had arrived at the Spanish head- quarters, to submit to the law laid down by Spain and France. The prince of the peace was anxious to terminate a campaign, of which the beginning had been so brilliant and easy of achievement; but of which the continuance might be attended with difficulties, which, without the aid of the French, might become insurmountable. If he desired to get possession of Lisbon or Oporto, the aid of the French would be indispensable. The enterprise, now a simple ostentatious display, would then be- come a serious affair, and require another body of French troops. Foreseeing this necessity, the first consul had spontaneously made ten thousand men in addition march upon Spain, which increased the total number to twenty-five thousand. But the prince of the peace, who needlessly demanded this auxiliary aid, was now alarmed at what he had done, when he saw the troops arrive. Still they had preserved the most exact discipline, and shown towards the clergy, the churches, and the ceremonies of public worship, a respect which was by no means among them a common occurrence-; Bonaparte alone had been able to inspire them with such a course of conduct. But now they were really on the soil of Spain, the people were ridicu- lously alarmed at seeing them. Either Spam should have abstained from inviting them there, or having invited them herself, she should have employed them in the object for which they came. This object could not have been merely the dis- persion of a few bands of Portuguese, to obtain some millions in a contribution, or eveu to shut the ports of Portugal against the English. It evidently- consisted in obtaining valuable pledges, which might serve to force from England the restitutions which she would not otherwise make. In order to do that it was necessary to occupy some of the provinces of Portugal, particularly that of which Oporto was the capital. This was the surest means to influence the British cabinet, by influencing the great city merchants too, who were deeply con- 1801. Aug. Treaty hastily signed between France, Spain, and Portugal. THE GENERAL PEACE. Anger of the first consul. 273 cerned in the Oporto trade. Thus it was ; the matter had been previously arranged in Madrid between the governments of France and Spain. Still, despite all which had been stipulated, the prince of the peace determined to accept the con- ditions of Portugal, and to be satisfied on behalf of Spain with the cession of Oliven^i, a fortified place, adding a contribution of 30,000,000 f. or 40,000,000 f. to be paid to France, and for the two allied powers the exclusion of all English vessels of war and commerce. For such stipulations the campaign thus begun was perfectly childish. It was no more than idling away time ; a thing got up to amuse a favourite overloaded with royal boun- ties, and seeking military glory in the most ridicu- lous mode possible, completely on a level with his own culpable and foolish levity. The prince of- the peace awakened in the breast of his royal superiors paternal feelings not difficult to excite. But it must be said they were excited too late or too soon. He contrived to fill their bosoms with alarm at the presence of the French ; an alarm tardily experienced, and in every view wholly groundless. It was impossible to be sup- posed by any human being that fifteen thousand Frenchmen could conquer Spain, or protract their stay there in a mode to create uneasiness. To suppose such an intention was to suppose that, of which the minutest germ never entered into the head of the first consul ; it had nothing to do with projects conceived at a later period, subsequently to events wholly unparalleled, which at this time neither the first consul nor any one else could foresee. At this moment he thought of one thing only, which was to extort from England another island, and that island a Spanish colony. In accepting the conditions proposed by the court of Lisbon, which consisted merely of the cession of Olivenca to Spain, 20,000,000 f. to France, and the exclusion of the English from the Spanish ports, care had been taken to provide two copies, one to be signed by Spain, and the other by France. The prince of the peace affixed his sig- nature to that destined for his own court, which was dated from Badajoz, because all the affair had been completed in that city. He then pro- cured the ratification of the treaty by the king, who was on the spot. Lucien Bonaparte signed on his part the copy that was destined for France, and sent it away immediately to receive his brother's ratification. The first consul received the communication at the moment when the negotiations of London were in their most excited state of discussion. The irri- tation which they caused him it is not difficult to conceive. Though his natural affection for his family was carried at times to weakness, he had a less command over his 'temper with his relations than with other persons ; and most assuredly if he had cause for anger he might be pardoned for its exhibition upon the present occasion. In this particular instance he broke out into a passion almost without bounds at the conduct of his brother Lucien. But the first consul hoped that the treaty might not yet be ratified, and sent off extraordinary couriers to Badajoz to announce the refusal of the ratification by France, and to intimate the fact to Spain. But the couriers found the treaty ratified by Charles IV., and the engagement became irre- vocable. Lucien was mortified and confounded at the embarrassing and humiliating character re- served for him to play in Spam. His brother's anger he answered by an access of ill-humour, which was not uncommon with him, and he sent in his resignation to the minister for foreign affairs. On his side the prince of the peace became arro- gant, and allowed himself the use of language which was senseless and ridiculous towards such a man as at that time governed France. He first announced that all hostilities against Portugal had terminated, and then demanded the withdrawal of the French troops; adding, that if fresh forces passed over the frontier of the Pyrenees, their passage would be considered a violation of the Spanish territory. He demanded further the re- turn of the Spanish fleet blockaded in Brest, and an early conclusion of a general peace, in order to put a stop as soon as possible to an alliance that was become burdensome to the court of Madrid l . This conduct was highly improper, and contrary to the true interests of Spain. It must be observed, on the other hand, that the frightful misfortune which had befallen the two Spanish ships had struck the nation with grief, and contributed to the angry bearing that manifested itself in a manner at once so intemperate, and so adverse to the interests of both cabinets. The first consul, in the highest state of irritation, replied instantly, that the French should remain in the peninsula until peace was concluded be- tween Portugal and France in particular ; that if the army of the prince of the peace made a single step of approach to the fifteen thousand French who were stationed at Salamanca, he would con- sider it as a declaration of war ; and that if in addition to unbecoming language, they added any act of hostility, the last knell of the Spanish monarchy should sound 2 . He ordered Lucien to > Note of July 26th. * The first consul wrote short and animated notes, de- signed to furnish the leading ideas of the instructions he intended for his ministers, when they transmitted orders to the ambassadors abroad. The following is a note sent to the office for foreign affairs, to serve for the ground of a despatch which was to be forwarded to Madrid. Talleyrand, who had gone to take the waters, had been replaced by M. Caillard : " To the minister for foreign affairs. " 21 Messidor, year ix., or 10th July, 1801. " Make known, citizen minister, to the ambassador of the republic at Madrid, that he is to repair to that court, and to assume the character necessary under the circumstances. He will state " That I have read the note of the general prince of the peace ; that it is so ridiculous, it does not merit a serious answer ; but that if this prince, bought over by England, induces the king and queen to take measures contrary to the honour and to the interests of the republic, the last knell of the Spanish monarchy has sounded. " That my intention is, that the French troops shall re- main in Spain until the moment when the republic has made peace with Portugal. " That the least movement of the Spanish troops with the object of approaching nearer to the French forces, will be considered as a declaration of war. " That i till I desire to do all that is possible to reconcile the interests of the republic with the conduct and inclina- tions of his catholic majesty. [That T I 374 Correspondence relative TRIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. to the Spanish treaty. 1801. Aug. return to Madrid, there to await ulterior orders in his character of ambassador. This was enough to intimidate and restrain the worthless courtier, who with so much recklessness compromised the most important interests in the world. Soon afterwards he wrote most cringing letters in order to be again regarded with favour by the man whose influence and authority over the court of Spain he so much feared. Still it was necessary to take some decisive course in consequence of this strange and un- accountable conduct on the part of the cabinet of Madrid. Talleyrand was at the moment absent on account of ill health, having gone to take the waters. The first consul sent him all the papers which had passed, and received in reply a sen- sible letter containing his opinion upon this very serious matter. In the opinion of Talleyrand a paper war wonld produce no satisfactory conclusion of the difference, Jiowever triumphant might be the arguments ad- duced on the side of France, grounded upon the engagements so plainly laid down and the promises mutually entered into. A war against Spain would postpone the desirable object of a European peace ; it was besides at utter variance with the sound policy of France, and ridiculous in the present srfj (>} 9c.ij7i)j oa LII.C ^Jinoqiujim oa oouo is .bJ?fiiiliw itooj 'to teiaattstai "That come -what may, I will never consent to the articles 3 and 6. " That I do not object to the negotiations being renewed between M. Pinto and the ambassador of the republic, with a protocol of the negotiations drawn up day by day. " That the ambassador must endeavour to make the prince of the peace clearly comprehend, and the king and queen as -well, that words and offensive notes, where friend- ship subsists to the extent it does between us, may be passed by as mere family differences ; but that the smallest act, or the least demonstration, will be without a remedy. " That in respect to the king of Etruria, a minister was tendered to him on account of his having no one near him ; and to govern men, some knowledge is necessary. That in the hope he will find at Parma men capable of advising him, I do not longer insist upon that point. " That relative to the French troops In Tuscany, It Is proper to let them remain there for two or three months, until the king of Etrnria can himself organize his army. " That state affairs can be carried on without falling into excitement; and that in other respects, my wishes to do something agreeable to the court of Spain would be ill re- turned, if the king suffered the corrupting gold of England, at the moment when, after so much toil and anxiety, we are about entering the port, to disunite two great nations ; that the consequences must be fr.tal and terrible. " That at this moment, less precipitation in making peace with Portugal, would have been the means of accelerating very considerably a peace with England, &c. "You know the cabinet; you will therefore siy in your despatch every thing that may serve to gain time, to hinder precipitating measures, to procure a renewal of the negotia- tion, and, at the same time, to produce an effect, by placing in their view the serious ftate of the affair, and the inevitable consequences of inconsiderate proceedings. " Make the ambassador of tbe republic understand, that if Portugal would consent to leave the province of Alentejo in the hands of Spain until the peace, that would be a mezzo ttrmine, because by that means Spain would tee that the preliminary treaty was executed to the letter. " I would as soon accept of nothing (is 16,000,000'f. in fifteen months. * Despatch the courier whom I enOSinON OF THE ANCIENT TITULARY BISHOPS, AND A LIMITATION COMPRISING SIXTY SEES IN PLACE OF ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY-EIGHT; THE CREATION OF A NEW CLERGY, COMPOSED OF RESPECTABLE PHTESTS- OF ALE THE PARTIES ; THE STATE TO HAVE THE REGULATION OF THE FORMS OF WORSHIP. SAI-AR1ES FOR THE PRIESTS IN PLACE OF LAND ENDOWMENTS. SANCTION BY THE CHURCH OF THB KALE OF NATIONAL PROPERTY. AMICABLE RELATIONS BETWEEN POPE PIUS VII. AND THE FIRST CONSUL. MONSIGNOR SPI.VA, CHARGED WITH THE NEGOTIATION AT PARIS, RETARDS IT THROUGH THK TEMPORAL IVtEKStV OF* THS HOLY SEE. SECRET WISH TO RECOVER THE LEGATIONS. CONSIGNOR SPINA FINDS THE NECESSITY OF PROCEEDING MORE RAPIDLY. HE CONFERS WITH THE ABBE BERNIER, WHO IS CHARGED WITH THE BUSINESS ON BEHALF OP FRANCE. DrFFICULTIES OF THE PLAN PROPOSED IN SIGHT OF THE ROMAN COURT. THE FIRST CONSUL SENDS HIS PLAN TO ROME, AND REQUESTS THE POPE TO EXPLAIN IT. THREE CARDINAL! CONSULTED. THE POPE, AFTER THIS CONSULTATION, WISHES THAT THE CATHOLIC RELIGION BE DECLARED THAI OF THE STATE; THAT HE SHOULD NOT BE REQUIRED TO DEPOSE THE ANCIENT TITULAR BISHOPS, NOR OTHERWISE THAN BY HIS SILENCE SANCTION THE SALE OF THE CHURCH PROPERTY. DEBATES WITH M. DE CACAULT THE FRENCH MINISTER AT ROME. THE FIRST CONSUL, TIRED OF THE SLUGGISHNESS OF THE PROCEEDINGS, ORDERS M. DE CACAULT TO QUIT KOMJE IN FIVE DAYS, IF THE CONCORDAT IS NOT ADOPTED AFTER THAT DELAY. TERROR OF THE POPE AND CARDINAL GONSALVI. M. DB CACAULT SUGGESTS TO THE PAPAL CABINET THE IDEA OF SENDING CARDINAL GONSALVI TO PARIS. THE CAR.DINAL SETS OFF FOR FRANCE, AND HIS APPREHENSION'S HIS ARRIVAL IN PARIS, AND KIND RECEPTION FROM THE FIRST CONSUL. CONFERENCES WITH' THE ABBE BERNIER. UNDERSTANDING UPON THE PRINCIPLE OF A STATE RELIGION. THE CATHOLIC RELIGION DECLARED TO BE THAT OP THE MAJORITY OF FRENCHMEN. ALL THE OTHER CON- DITIONS OF THE FIRST CONSUL, RELATIVE TO THE DEPOSITION OF THE ANCIENT TITULARS, TO THE NEW BOUNDARIES, TO THE SALE OP THE CHURCH PROPERTY, ARE ACCEPTED, EXCEPT SOME ALTERATION OF TERMS IN THE COMPILATION. DEFINITIVE AGREEMENT UPON ALL THESE POINTS. EFFORTS MADE AT THE LAST MOMENT, BY THE OPPONENTS OF THE RE-ESTABLISHMENT OF WORSHIP, TO HINDER THE FIRST CONSUL FROM SIGNING THE CONCORDAT. HE PERSISTS, AND GIVES HIS SIGNATURE JULY 15, 1801. RETURN OF CARDINAL GONSALVI TO ROME. SATISFACTION OF THE POPE. THE RATIFICATIONS SOLEMNIZED. CHOICE OF CARDINAL CAPRARA AS LEGATE A LATERE. THE FIRST CONSUL WOULD HAVE WISHED TO CELEBRATE PEACE WITH THE CHURCH AT THE SAME TIME AS PEACE WITH ALL THE EUROPEAN POWERS. NECESSITY OF APPLYING TO THE FORMER TO OBTAIN THEIR RESIGNATIONS, CAUSES A DELAY. A DEMAND FOR THIS RESIGNATION ADDRESSED BY THE POPE TO ALL THE OLD BISHOPS, CONSTITUTIONAL OR NOT. WISE SUBMISSION OF THE CONSTITUTIONAL ' BISHOPS. NOBLE RESIGNATION OF THE MEMBERS OF THE OLD CLERGY. ADMIRABLE ANSWERS. THE ONLY RESISTANCE IS FROM THE EMIGRANT BISHOPS IN LONDON. EVERY THING READY FOR THE RE-ESTABLISH- MENT OF WORSHIP IN FRANCE, BUT A WARM OPPOSITION IN THE TRIBUNATE CAUSES FRESH DELAY. NECES- SITY OF OVERCOMING THIS OPPOSITION BEFORE GOING FURTHER. THE first consul would have wished that on the anniversary of the 18th of Brumaire, devoted to the celebration of peace between France and the rest of Europe; it had also been possible to cele- brate the reconciliation of France with the church. He had made great efforts in order that the nego- tiations with the holy see might terminate in due time for the admission of religious ceremonies, amid the national rejoicings. But it is much less easy to treat with the spiritual powers than with the temporal, because the winning of battles is not sufficient ; but it is to the honour of the human mind that force cannot overcome it, unless that force be accompanied by persuasion. It was the difficult task of joining persuasion and force that the conqueror of Marengo and Rivoli had attempted in regard to the Roman church, in order to reconcile it with the French republic. The revolution, as has been already sevei-al times said, had in many things passed the desirable limit. To make it go back in these matters with- out going beyond or stopping short of the object iu view, was a legitimate and salutary act which 1801. March. State of the Catholic clergy during the THE CONCORDAT. revolution. The ' clergy. 283 the first consul had undertaken, and which he ren- dered admirable by the wisdom and ability he employed for the purpose he had in view. Religion was clearly one of those things respect- ing which the revolution had exceeded all limits that were just and reasonable. In no case was thero so much reparation demanded as here. There had existed under the old monarchy a clergy of great power and influence, in possession of a large part of the land. It consisted of those who supported no part of the public expenditure, who presented such gifts as they pleased to the royal treasury ; who were a constituted political body, and formed one of the three orders that in the states-general expressed the national will. The revolution bad swept away the clergy and their fortunes, influence, and privileges ; it had sent with them the nobility, the parliaments, and the throne itself. It was impossible for it to have done otherwise. A clergy, the members of which were proprietors of land, constituting a- political power, might have been well enough adapted to so- ciety in the middle ages, and at that time have been useful to civilization; but it was inadmissible in the eighteenth century. The constituent assembly had done well in abolishing' it, and substituting in its place a clergy devoted solely to the functions of religious worship, a stranger to political delibera- tions, and salaried in place of being landowners. But it was exacting too much from the holy see, to request its approbation of all these changes. If it was needful to obtain this consent, it would have been proper to stop there, and not to furnish the papal authority with a legitimate ground for saying, that religion itself was attacked in all which it held sacred and immutable. The constituent assembly, prompted by a desire for the regularity of system, so . natural to a reforming spirit, assimi- lated the administration of the church to that of the state without hesitation. Some of the dioceses were too large, and others too limited ; that body wished that the ecclesiastical boundaries should be the same as those adopted in the civil adminis- tration, and that dioceses should be created de- partmentAlly. Rendering elective all the civil and judicial functions, the ecclesiastical functions were also to be rendered elective. This arrangement appeared besides to be in conformity with, and a return to the times of the primitive church, when the bishops were elected by the faithful. The same blow struck down the canonical institution, or, in other words,, the confirmation of the bishops by the pope ; with all these dispositions there was constituted what was denominated the civil con- stitution of the clergy. The individuals who thus acted were animated by the most religious inten- tions ; they were true believers, fervent Jansenists, but of narrow minds, their heads heated with theological disputations, and in consequence dan- gerous pel-sons to direct human affairs. To com- plete this error, they exacted of the French clergy, that they should take an onth of fidelity to the civil constitution, a measure which could only give birth to a scruple of conscience among the more sincere, and a pretext to the badly-disposed priests. It was, in one word, to open the door to a schism. Rome, already aggrieved by the misfortunes of the throne, was now irritated at the infliction upon the altar. She interdicted the oath. A part of the clergy, faithful to the holy see, refused to take the oath ; another part consented, and formed under the name of the " sworn clergy '," or the consti- tutional, that part which was acknowledged by the state, and alone admitted to the exercise of their sacred functions. The priests were not yet pro- scribed ; they were contented to interdict them from the exercise of their professional duties, and to invest with them those who had taken the oath. But the discarded priests were the men who, for the most part, were preferred by those faithful to the doctrines of the church. For the conscience in religious persons is susceptible, quickly alarmed, and, above all, distrustful of arbitrary power. Here it inclined towards those ecclesiastics who passed for orthodox, and who appeared to be undergoing persecution. It turned away instinctively from those whose orthodoxy was in doubt, and who were supported by the government. There was conse- quently at the same time a public and a clandestine worship, the last having more followers than the first. Those whose sentiments were opposed to the revolution, leagued themselves with the party whose religious feelings had been outraged, and precipitated it into the errors of the spirit of faction. This schism soon led in the contest of La Vendee to a frightful civil war. The revolutionary government did not remain behind it, and from the simple privation of the ecclesiastical functions, it in a little time proceeded to persecute. It pro- scribed and transported the clergy. Then came the abolition of every form of worship, and in its place the proclamation of a Supreme Being. Then priests, sworn or unsworn, were one and the other treated alike, and all sent to perish upon the same scaffold, where royalists, constituents, Girondins, constitutionalists, and Mountains, all went to their death together. Under the director}' these sanguinary pro- criptions ceased. A variable course was pursued, now inclining to indifference, now to rigour, and keeping the church still in a state of great anxiety. The first consul, by his power, and the continued evidence of his reparatory intentions, inspired hope in the ministers of religion who had suffered, on whatever side they were, and made them leave their places of concealment, or return home from their exile. But in thus bringing them forth to day- light, he rendered the schism more sensible to observation, perhaps more distasteful. To abrogate the difficulty about the oath, he ceased to exact it, substituting in its place a simple promise of sub- mission to the laws. This promise, which could not alarm the conscience of the priests, had facili- tated then* return to France, but in some degree had added new divisions to those already in ex- istence, by creating in the body of the clergy an- other and an additional class. There were thus the constitutional or "sworn" priests, legally invested with the sacerdotal functions, and having the use of the edifices devoted to religion, which had been given back to them in virtue of a decree of the consuls. There were the " unsworn" priests, who, not having taken any oath, and after having lived in exile or in prison, appeared once more in a great number during the beginning of the consulate, but who only officiated in the 1 Clergfe assermente. The constitutional and orthodox clergy. TRIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. Disturbed ttate of the French church. 1001. houses of private individuals, and declared the worship performed in the churches to be of no effect. Finally, the " unsworn." priests were divided into those who had not promised to take the oath and those who had. The last were not completely approved by the orthodox. Rome was addressed upon this subject; but out of deference to the first consul she had declined giving any explanation. Cardinal Maury, who had retired into the Roman states, where he became bishop of Montefiascone, and the intermediate agent between the pope and the royalist party, having no desire at that moment to favour the submission of the priests to the new government, had interpreted the silence of the pope in his own manner, and sent to France on the subject of " the promise," disapproving letters, which caused new troubles to scrupulous con- sciences. The priests, thus divided, had, each party, its own peculiar hierarchy. The constitutional priests obeyed the bishops elected under the civil consti- tution. Among these bishops some had died by violence, some by a natural death. Those who died were replaced by bishops who, not having been regularly elected, in the midst of the time of the proscriptions which struck alike at all forms of religion, had usurped their authority, or were elected by the clandestine chapters, a species of religious coteries, without any moral or legal au- thority. Thus the authority of the constitutional bishops themselves, regarded in their relation to the civil constitution, was contested among their own body, and brought into disrepute. There were among this body of clergy a certain number of respectable individuals; but in general they had lost the confidence of the faithful, because they were known to be at variance with Rome, and because they had lost the dignity of the priesthood by mingling themselves up in the religious and political disputes of the time. Some were, in fact, violent club-spouters, destitute of moral worth. The good among them were sincere men, whom the fury of Jansenism had driven to be schismatic. The pretended orthodox clergy had also their bishops, who exercised a less public authority, but one more real, and exceedingly dangerous. The " unsworn" bishops were nearly all emigrants. They had gone to Italy, Spain, Germany, and, above all, to England, whither they were attracted by the allowances afforded them from the British government. Corresponding with their dioceses, by means of grand-vicars, chosen by themselves, and approved by Rome, they governed their sees in distant exile, under the impulses and passions to which exile naturally gives birth, and often to the advantage of the enemies of France. Those who were dead, and of these, in the course of ten years, the number was considerable, were every where replaced by concealed administrators, de- riving their powers from the court of Rome. The mode of administering to vacant sees by the chap- ters, and not by the agents of the holy see, was one of the wisest precautions, as well as the more ancient, of the Gallican church ; it was now com- pletely abandoned. The Gallican church was thus robbed of its independence; because it came to be governed directly by Rome when it ceased to be under the bishops who had emigrated. In a little time more, the emigrant bishops being all dead, the entire of the French church would have been placed under ultramontane authority. There are some who regard but little the moral aspect of a social community torn to pieces by a thousand sects, who are of opinion that the govern- ment should treat them with disregard, as strangers to their policy, or else respect as sacred all religious differences alike. There are grounds, however, which forbid the display of this arrogant indif- ference, as, in case of society being deeply troubled, and, more particularly, when the disturbance is ever ready to change into physical disorganiza- tion. Each of these divisions of the clergy endeavoured to establish its power over the consciences of the orthodox in its own view. The constitutional clergy had very little power ; they were merely subjects of recrimination for the Jacobins, who were hi the habit of declaring that the revolution was every where sacrificed, more especially in the persons of the only priests that had supported its cause. In this, however, the government could evidently do nothing; because it did not belong to the rulers to dispose of the faithful, in favour of one part of the clergy above another. But the clergy reputed to be orthodox operated upon the minds of their flocks, in a sense contrary, entirely, to all established order. They endeavoured to estrange from the government all those, who, wearied out by the turmoil of civil dissension, felt inclined to rally around the first consul. If it had been possible to awaken the bad passions that had led to the civil war in La Vende'e, they would have done it. Through their efforts, discontent and mis- trust were sown all over the country. The south, in a less submissive state to the government than La Vende'e, was kept in continual commotion; and in the mountainous districts, in the centre of France, the population gathered tumultuously around the orthodox priesthood. Every where the clergy alarmed the consciences and disturbed the peace of families, persuading those who had been baptized or married by the sworn priests, that they were out of the pale of the orthodox communion; that if they wished to be true Chris- tiana, they ought to be baptized and married over again, or give up the state of concubinage. In this mode the state of families, not indeed in any legal point of view, but in a religious sense, was brought into question. There were more than ten thousand married priests, who, led on by the rage of the time, or through terror, had sought in marriage, the one the gratification of passions they could not control, the others an abjuration of their vows, to escape the scaffold. They were husbands, the fathers of numerous families, and yet had no refuge from public contempt, as long as the pardon of the church was withheld from them. The purchasers of national property, a body of men whom the government had the deepest in- terest in protecting, were living in a state of anxiety and oppression. They were assailed on the bed of death by the most sinister suggestions, and threatened with eternal damnation, if they did not consent to such an arrangement of their affairs as would despoil them of all their property. Con- fession thus became a powerful weapon in the hands of the emigrant priests, for attacking the rights of property, public credit, and, in a word, !801. March. Necessity of a national religious belief. THE CONCORDAT. Enduring character of the Christian religion. 285 one of the most essential principles of the revolu- tion, the inviolability of the sale of the national property. The policy of the state and the power of the law were alike inert against evils of this character. Such disorders as these it was impossible for any government to regard with indifference. When religious sects produce no other effect than to mul- tiply over a vast territory, like that of America, in. an endless succession, not leaving behind them more than the passing remembrance of ridiculous inventions or indecent practices, it may be imagined, that, to a certain extent, the state may continue inactive and indifferent. Society presents a de- plorable moral aspect, but public order is not seriously affected. It was not thus in the midst of the old French society of 1801. It was not possible, without very great danger, to deliver over the care of souls to factions that were inimical to the state. It was not possible to abandon to their hands the torch of civil war, with the liberty of applying it, whenever they saw fit, in La Vende'e, Britany, or the Cevennes. It was not to be per- mitted, that the repose of families should be troubled, the beds of the dying be besieged, to extort iniquitous conditions, to place in jeopardy the credit of the government, and, finally, to shake one class of property, which the revolution had stamped with perpetual inviolability. The first consul's mode of thinking, in regard to the constitution of society, had too much depth as well as justice, to permit his observation of the religious disorders of France at this moment with an indifferent eye. He had, besides, other reasons of a more elevated nature than those already mentioned, for his interference in the present cir- cumstances, if indeed there can be more elevated reasons than public order and the tranquillity of families. There must be a religious belief ; and some kind of worship must be extant in every state of human society. Man, cast into the midst of the universe, without a knowledge whence he comes or whither he will go, why he suffers or wherefore he exists; unknowing what rewards or what punishments may await the long struggles of life ; besieged by the contradictions of his fellow-beings, some of whom tell him that there is a God, the profound and wise author of all things, and some that there is no God at all ; one maintaining that there is a law of right and wrong, by which his conduct is to be regulated; another that there is neither good nor evil, but that these are inventions of the great and powerful and selfish of the earth man, in the midst of these contradictions, finds the imperious necessity of having some fixed standard of belief. Whether true or false, sublime or ridiculous, he must have a religion. Every where, in all times and countries, in the days of antiquity as in those more modern, in civilized as in barbarous nations, he is found a worshipper at some altar, either venerable, ignoble, or sanguinary. Wherever there is no dominant form of belief, a thousand sects, s;iven to obstinate disputations, as in America, or a thousand shameful superstitions, as in China, agitate and degrade the human mind ; or thue, as in France, in 1793, when a passing commotion swept away the ancient religion of the country, at the very moment that he vowed his belief L_ in nothing, man forswore himself directly after- wards, by the insensate worship of the goddess of Reason, inaugurated at the side of the scaffold, as if to prove that his vow was as vain as it was im- pious. To judge man, therefore, by his constant and ordinary conduct, he has need of a religious be- lief ; and such being the fact, nothing can be more desirable for a civilized society than a national faith, founded on the real feelings of the human heart, conformable to the regulation of a pure morality, hallowed by time, and which, without persecution or intolerance, can unite, at the foot of a venerable and respected altar, if not the uni- versality, at least the large majority of the citizens. A creed of this nature cannot be invented for the purpose, it must be the growth of ages. Phi- losophers, even the most sublime, may be able to create a new system, and may act, through science, upon the age which they honour; but they can only make men think, not believe. Warriors, covered with glory, may be able to lay the foundations of an empire, but they cannot found a religion. In past times, sages and heroes, there is no doubt, attributing to themselves celestial communications, have enslaved the popular mind with systems of belief. In modern days, the founder of a new re- ligion would be regarded as an impostor; whether surrounded by the terrors of Robespierre, or the glory that encircled young Bonaparte, the attempt would equally terminate in ridicule. There was nothing to be invented in 1800. The pure, moral, ancient faith existed; the old religion of Christ the work of God according to some, of man according to others; but under all views, the profound work of a sublime reformer, a reformer commented upon for eighteen centuries, by coun- cils, consisting of assemblies of eminent men of every age, occupied in discussing, under the title of heresies, every system of philosophy, adopting, successively, on each of the great problems upon the destiny of man, the most plausible opinions, and those most suited to society, and adopting such opinions by what might be called a majority of the human race. Thus, at last, they arrived at the pro- duction of that unvarying doctrine, often attacked, and ever triumphant, the Catholic Unity, at the foot of which the first men of genius prostrated themselves. That religion still existed ; it was the same that had extended itself over every civilized people, formed their manners, inspired their songs, furnished the subjects of their poesy, their pictures, and statues; whose traces were stamped upon all national recollections, whose sign was emblazoned upon their colours, alternately vanquished and vic- torious. It had for a moment disappeared, during a raging tempest of the human mind ; but that tempest blown over, the necessity of a religion returned, and it was found deeply seated in the bottom of the soul, the natural and indispensable faith of France and of Europe. What more was indicated as necessary in 1800, than to raise up again the altar of St. Louis, of Charlemagne, and of Clovis, which had been for a moment overturned ! Bonaparte would have ren- dered himself ridiculous if he had set himself up for a prophet or a dealer in revelation ; he was in the true sphere assigned him by Providence, for 286 Bo r r g ^n e -fi i r 3 o n po S U e P sto TRIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. SjBS 1801. March. elevating again their venerable altar with his own i victorious hands, and bringing back to the faith, by I his own example, the population that for a time had wandered from its way. His glory alone was equal to such a task. Men of the greatest genius, not only among philosophers, but kings, Voltaire and Frederic of Prussia, had thrown contempt on the Catholic religion, and by their example gave origin to the railleries cast upon it for fifty years. General Bonaparte, who had as much mind as Voltaire, while he excelled Frederic in glory, was able of himself, by his example and aspect, to put to silence the jeers of the last century. Upon this subject, he had in his mind not the smallest doubt. The double motive of re-establish- ing order in the state and in private families, of satisfying the mere want of souls, inspired him with the firm resolution to restore the Catholic religion to its former footing, deprived, indeed, of its political attributes, for he regarded these as altogether incompatible with the existing state of French society. Is there then any necessity, with such motives for his guide, to inquire whether he acted through the inspiration of a religious faith, through policy or ambition 1 He acted under the influence of wisdom, in fact, through a profound knowledge of the human heart ; that may suffice : the rest remains a mystery, that curiosity, always natural in observing the conduct of a great genius, may endea- vour to penetrate, but which in reality imports little. It must still be observed thus far, that the moral constitution of Bonaparte inclined him to religious ideas 1 . An intelligence of a superior cast is always, in proportion to its innate superiority, struck by the beauties of creation. It is intellect which discovers and penetrates into the intellect of i the universe ; a great mind is more capable than an inferior one, of seeing the Supreme Being through his works. Bonaparte willingly entered upon controversial discussions upon questions of religion or philosophy with Monge, Lagrange, and Laplace, men of learning whom he greatly honoured and esteemed ; and he often embarrassed them in 1 Bonaparte, upon his own authority, -was much touched by early associations, as all men of genius are. This, if any thing besides but the sound policy that directed his conduct, will fully account both for the restoration of the Catholic church very different in constitution from that the Revolu- tion destroyed, it must be admitted without attributing to him any participation in Us peculiar doctrines. He was a believer in a Supreme Cause, but not in the doctrines of a Christian church, as the sense of our author would seem distinctly to leave to be inferred. Bonaparte said at St. Helena: "Every thing proclaims the existence of a God, that cannot be questioned ; but all our religions are evidently the work of men. Why are they so many 1 Why has ours not always existed ? Why does it consider itself exclusively the right one? What becomes, in that case, of all the vir- tuous men that have gone before us ? Why do these religions revile, oppose, exterminate one another? Why has this been the case ever and every where? Because men are ever men ; because priests have ever and every where intro- duced fraud and falsehood. However, as soon as I had the power, I immediately re-established religion. I made it the ground-work and foundation upon which I btrilt," &c. Again : " I am assuredly very far from being an atheist ; but I cannot believe all I am taught, in spite of my reason, without being false and an hypocrite." LAS CASES' ST. HELEVA. Trantlator. their incredulity by the clearness, originality, aud strength of his arguments. To this it must be added, that he was brought up in an uncultivated and religious country, under the eyes of a pious mother; and the sight of an old catholic altar awakened in him the recollections of his infancy, always so powerful in a sensitive and lofty imagination. In respect to ambition, to which certain detractors have ascribed his conduct in this circumstance, he had no other at the time than to act as was best for his object in every thing ; and without doubt if he saw that any augmentation of power would accrue in the way of recompense, for a work so well accomplished, he may be well excused for indulging the feeling. It is the noblest, most legitimate, ambition, which seeks to ground its power in satisfying the real necessities of a nation. The task which he proposed to perform, though apparently very easy, because it was directed to the satisfaction of a public want, was a very hard one. Those who surrounded him were, nearly all without exception, very little inclined to the re-establish- ment of the old system of worship. They were men who, whether magistrates, soldiers, men of litera- ture or science, had been among the founders of the French revolution, the true and staunch de- fenders of the revolution now decried, and they were those with whom it was required to carry it out to completion, by the reparation of its errors and the definitive hallowing of its rational and legi- timate results. The first consul was thus compelled to act opposite to his colleagues, supporters, and friends. These individuals, belonging to the ranks of the moderate revolutionists, had never, with Robespierre and St. Just, spilled human blood. There was no difficulty in their disavowal of the frantic excesses of the revolution; but they had become involved in the errors of the constituent assembly, and were accustomed to repeat, laugh- ingly, the pleasantries of Voltaire. It was not easy for them to be made to acknowledge that they had mistaken, for so long a tune, the stronger truths of social order. Men of learning, like Laplace, La- grange, and above all, Monge, said to the first con- sul, that he was going to lay at the feet of Rome all the dignity of his government and of his age. Roederer, the most furious monarchist of the day, who would have royalty restored in its most perfect form as quickly as possible, saw with trouble the project for the restoration of the old forms of wor- ship. Talleyrand himself, the industrious promoter of every thing that' might make the present ap- proximate to the past, aud France to the other states of Europe ; Talleyrand, the second labourer in, and a useful and zealous labourer too, at the work of the general peace, even he regarded with great coolness what was usually denominated the religious peace. He was opposed to any further persecution of the priests, but he felt chagrined at certain per- sonal recollections, and was not at all desirous of the re-establishment of the old Catholic church, with its discipline and regulations. The comrades in arms of the first consul, the generals who had fought under him, destitute, as most of them were, of the first rudiments of education, brought up amidst the vulgar railleries of camps, some of them declaimers in clubs, were repugnant to the restora- tion of worship. Although covered with glory, they appeared to apprehend the ridicule that would 1801. March. His arguments againit his opponents. THE CONCORDAT. Inaction in religious affairs repudiated. 287 fall upon them at the foot of the altar. Lastly, the brothers of the first consul, who associated a great deal with literary meu, and were yet more imbued with the spirit of the writings of the preceding cen- tury, were apprehensive on accountof their brother's power, fearing every thing that bore the aspect of offering a serious resistance, and not discovering that beyond the interested or ignorant resistance of those who were in opposition to the government, there was :i real want, already felt by the popular masses they endeavoured to dissuade their bro- ther from what they deemed an imprudent and premature reaction. The first consul was besieged with every land of advice. Some wished to dissuade him from touch- ing upon religious matters at all, to limit him- self to putting a stop to the persecution of the priests, and leave the sworn and unsworn clergy to arrange their own differences. Others, who were aware of the danger of inaction and indifference, urged him to seize the occasion, and by making himself immediately the head of the French church, prevent the immense influence of religion being used in France by a foreign authority. Many proposed- to him to urge on France to protestant- ism, saying, that if he would set the example of becoming a protestant, France would quickly fol- low his example. The first consul resisted, with the utmost efforts of his reasoning and eloquence, these vulgar coun- sels. He had formed, for his own use, a small library of religious books, exceedingly well selected, the greater part relating to the history of the church, and above all to the relations of the church with the state. He had the Latin woi-ks of Bossuet upon this subject translated. He read all these with great earnestness in the short intervals which his public duties allowed him, and supplying with his genius that of which he was ignorant, as he did when he drew up the civil code, he astonished every body by the justice, variety, and extent of his knowledge upon the different forms of worship. According to his usual custom, when a thought occupied his mind, he entered upon its discussion, day after day, with his colleagues, the ministers, or the legislative body, in fact with all and every one with whom he believed it useful to regulate and correct an opinion. He successively refuted the erroneous systems proposed to him, and he did so with lucid, fair, and decisive arguments. To the system, which consists in not meddling with religious affairs, he answered that the indiffer- ence so preached up by certain disdainful persons, was of small account with a people whom they had very recently seen, for example, take possession of a church by force, and threaten to pillage it be- cause the rites of sepulture had been denied to an actress, who had been a public favourite. How was it possible to remain indifferent hi a country where- with the pretension of indifference to religion there was so little indifference in reality ? The first con- sul asked besides, how it was possible to avoid in- terfering, when the priests, "sworn" and " un- sworn,'' were continually disputing with each other for the religious edifices, and calling inces- santly upon the government for its intervention to eject those in possession, and put then? opponents in then: places. He demanded what he was. to do when the constitutional clergy, already little at- tended by the religious part of the community, should be entirely abandoned, and the party who had refused to take the oath, should alone be lis- tened to and followed, and should be exclusively hi possession of the privilege of performing duty, as had happened already, and of performing it too hi the midst of clandestine congregations. "Would it not be an imperious duty to restore the temporal part of the worship to those who could alone exer- cise the spiritual ? Would not that be an interfer- ence 3 And then the priests, whose provisions hi land had been seized during the revolution, must have the means of living, be placed on the list of state pensioners in the budget, or be permitted to organize, under the name of voluntary contribu- tions, a vast system of taxation, the produce of which would be 30,000,000 f. or 40,000,000 f., the entire distribution of which would remain in then- own hands, perhaps in the hands of foreigners, and go some day, without the knowledge of the govern- ment, to the support of the old soldiers of the civil war in La Vendee. However, it might be consi- dered, the government would be soon forced, despite its inaction, to take some part either for the support of good order or for the disposal of the edifices of worship, for paying tlte priests itself, or watching the mode m which they exacted their remuneration. Thus, there would be incurred the charge of governing without ihe .advantages, with- out being able, which it would be prudent to do, by an arrangement with the holy see, to secure to itself the religious administration, to bring back the clergy to the government, associate them in the work of reparation, re-establish the quiet of families, tranquillize the minds of the dying, the possessors of national property, the married priests and others: indeed all who had been committed by the part they had acted in the revolution. Inaction, then, was a complete dream, according to the first consul, and it was, besides, no more than an excuse, devised by those who had no prac- tical notion of theeirt of governing. As to the plan of creating a French church free of all foreign supremacy, like that of England, hav- ing, in place of a spiritual head abroad, a, temporal head at home, which could be no other than the government itself, or, in other words, the first con- sul, that was equally vain and contemptible. What he, a soldier wearing a sword and spurs, giving battles he the head of a church, a species of pope regulating discipline and dogma I They would not surely attempt to make him as odious as Robes- pierre, the inventor of the worship of the Supreme Being, or as ridiculous as Lare'veillere Lepeaux, the inventor of the theo-philanthropy ! Who, in such a case was he to have for his disciples ? Who would compose his flock of the faithful ! They would not, most assuredly, be orthodox Chris- tians, to whom the majority of Catholics belonged, but who had an aversion to following excellent priests, who had no other fault than that of taking the oath prescribed by the law. The only follow- ers for whom he could hope, would be a few bad priests, a few runaway monks out of the convents, habituated to clubs, that, having led bad lives, and wishing to continue in the same course, awaited the head of the new church to obtain for the priests permission to marry! He could not, for hi part, hope to number among his flock the abbe" 288 Bonaparte rejects TRIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. protestantism. 1801. March.. regoire, who, in demanding in all things a return to the primitive church, still clung to continuing in communion with the successor of St. Peter ! He could not have LareVeillere Lepeaux, who wanted to confine republican worship to some reli- gious staves, and a few flowers strewed upon an altar ! Was such the church of which they desired to make him the chief or head ! Was that the cha- racter to which they were desirous he should be reduced, the victor at Rivoli and Marengo, the re- storer of social order ? Yet, was this scheme pro- posed to him by friends jealous of liberty ! But in supposing that such a scheme might succeed, which was besides impossible to be the case, suppose it to succeed, and that to his temporal power, already so great, they should unite the spiritual, the first consul would become the most formidable of tyrants; he 'would be master of body and soul, not less than the sultan at Constantinople, who is at once the head of the state, of the army, and of the faith ! Again the hypothesis was vain ; he could only be a ridiculous tyrant, because he could only be successful by producing the most foolish schism of all. He who wished to be the pacificator of France and of the world, to terminate all the reli- gious and political divisions, was he to become the founder of a new schism, only a little more absurd, and not less dangerous, than those that had pre- ceded it ? " Yes, without doubt," said the first consul,* "a pope will be necessary for me; but a pope who will reconcile in place of dividing men's minds; who will reunite them, and gain them to the government sprung from the revolution, as the price for the protection which they will obtain. For this purpose the real pope, catholic, apostolic, and Roman, he, whose seat is in the Vatican, will suit me. With the French armies and due considera- tion, T shall always be sufficiently his master. When I shall again raise up the altars, protect the priests, feed them, and treat them as ministers of religion deserve to be treated in every country, he will do all I require of him for the interest of the general tranquillity. He will calm men's minds, reunite them under his own hand, and place them under mine. Less than this is only a continuance and an aggravation of the desolating schism which is eating us up, and towards me points a great ineffaceable ridicule." The idea of urging protestantism upon France, appeared to the first consul beyond being ridiculous ; it was odious. First, he thought he should succeed no better with it ; according to him, people were wrong who fancied that in France it was possible for him to do what he wished. It was an error by no means honourable for those who fell into it, for it implied that France was destitute of opinion and conscience. He did what he wished, some said : " Yes," he would reply, " but only in the sense of her real and sensible wants." France had been in deep troubles, and he had conducted her to per- fect peace ; he had found her the prey of anar- chists, who even began to forget how to defend her against foreigners, and he had dispersed those anarchists, re-established order, sent at a distance from the frontiers the Austrians and Russians ; given the peace for which she was so earnest ; had put a stop, in a word, to the scandals of a feeble and dissolute government; was it at all astonishing that France had permitted him to do these things ? Again, recently the opposition in the tribunate had desired to refuse him the means of clearing the high roads of the robbers which infested them. Yet after that there were some persons who pretended that he could do what he pleased. It was a mistake. He was able to do that which the necessities and opinions pi-edominant in France gave him power to do, and no more. He could act better, more powerfully than another, but he could do nothing against the actual movement of opinion. That movement pointed towards the re-establishment of all things essential to .society ; and religion was the foremost. " I am very powerful at present," cried the first consul; "very well were I to wish to change the old religion of France, she would array herself against me and conquer me. Do you know when the country was hostile to the catholic reli- gion 1 It was when the government, in conjunction with it, burned books, and sent to the wheel Calas and Labarre; but you may be sure, that were I to become an enemy to religion, the entire country would join her. I should change those who were indifferent into staunch catholics. I should be a little less jested upon, perhaps, for desiring to push on protestantism, than if I set myself up for the patriarch of the Gallican church; but I should soon be an object of public hatred. Is protestantism the old religion of France ? Is that the faith which after long civil wars, after a thousand contests, was definitively fixed as the faith most in conformity to the manners and genius of our nation ? Is it not easy to be seen, that it is doing violence to desire to force one's opinion upon a people, to create for them usages, tastes, and recollections which they cannot feel ? A principal charm of religion is in the recollections it recalls." " For my part," said the first consul one day in conversation, " when I am at Malmaison, I never hear the sound of the bell from the neighbouring village without emotion ; who in France would be thus moved in those chapels were no one had ever gone in his infancy, and of which the cold and sever-e aspect accords so ill with the manners and feelings of our country." It may be thought advantageous, perhaps, not to be dependent upon a foreign head of the church. It is an error. Every where, and for all, there must be a head. There is no more admirable institution than that which maintains a unity of faith, and prevents, as much as possible, religious disputes. There is nothing more offensive than a crowd of sects disputing together, dealing out invectives, combating with arms in their hands, if in their first excess of passion; or if they have acquired the habit of living side by side, regarding each other with a jealous eye, forming coteries in the state which sustain each other, urging on their own par- tizans, keeping rival sects at a distance, and giving the government numerous embarrassments. The quarrels of religious sects are insupportable. Dis- putation is the province of science ; it animates, sustains, and conducts it to discoveries. To what do religious disputes lead, if not to the uncertainty and ruin of all belief ? Besides, when the spirit is directed to theological controversy, the controversy is so absorbing, that the mind of man is turned away from ail useful research. Rarely do we en- counter theological controversy combined with any great mental operation. Religious quarrels are cruel and sanguinary, or dry, bitter, and unfruitful 1801. March. Bonaparte's opinions THE CONCORDAT. concerning religious systems. 289 none are more odious. Inquiry in matters of science; faith in matters of religion. Such is the truly useful course. The institution which sup- ports a unity of faith, that is to say the pope, as the guardian of catholic unity, is an admirable institution. This head of the church is reproached for being a foreign sovereign. He is so, and it is right to thank Heaven for it. What can there be imagined in any country a parallel authority by the side of the temporal government of the state ? Thus united, such an authority would be the sultan's despotism ; separate, hostile perhaps, to the poli- tical government, it must generate a fearful and intolerable rivalry. The pope is out of Paris ; so far it is well. He is neither in Madrid, nor in Vienna; and it is on that account we support his spiritual authority. At Vienna and Madrid they congratulate themselves for the same reason. Do you think that if he were in Paris, the Viennese, the Spaniards, would pay attention to his decisions ? It is fortunate that he does not reside among us, and that in residing away from us, he does not dwell among our rivals ; that he inhabits the ancient Rome, afar from the hands of the empe- rors of Germany, afar from the kings of France or Spain, holding the balance between the catholic sovereigns, inclining a little always to the strongest, but soon recovering from that position if the strong- est becomes an oppressor. Centuries have brought this about at last, and have done it well. For the government of souls it is the best, the most benefi- cent institution that one can imagine. " I do not maintain these opinions," said the first consul, " with the warmth of a devotee, but by the rule of reason." "Listen," one day he said to Monge, whom he most highly esteemed of all the learned of that day, and whom he had constantly with him, " my religion, and such as mine, is very simple. I look at this universe so great, so com- plicated, so magnificent; and I say to myself, This could not have been produced by chance, but is the work, for whatever end intended, of an all-power- ful, unknown Being, as superior himself to man, as the universe is superior to man's noblest machines. Search, Monge ; get the assistance of your friends, the mathematicians and philosophers, you will not find one more powerful or more decisive argument than this ; and whatever you may do to combat it, you cannot weaken its force. Yet this truth is too succinct for man. He wishes to know all about himself, about the future, and a whole crowd of secrets which the universe does not disclose. Allow religion, then, to inform him of all of which he feels the want of knowledge, and respect that which she will disclose. It is true, that what one creed advances as infallibly correct, is contradicted by another. As for me, I come to a different con- clusion from M. Volney. Inasmuch as there are different creeds, which naturally draw conclusions against each other, he concludes that all are bad. I should rather find them all good, because all at bottom say the same thing. They are wrong only when they wish to proscribe one another : that must be prevented by good laws. The catholic religion is that of our country, that in which we were born ; it has a government wisely con- ceived, which hinders disputes as much as it is possible to do so under the disputing temper of men ; this government is out of Paris, that we must applaud ; it is not at Vienna, it is not at Madrid, it is at Rome ; therefore it is accept- able. If, since the institution of the papacy, there be any thing equally perfect, it is the relation of the Gallican church with the holy see, submissive and independent at the same time : submissive in matters of faith, independent in the policy of worship. The catholic unity and the articles of Bossuet show the true form of religious govern- ment. It is that we must re-establish. As to protestantism, it has a right to the strongest pro- tection of the government; those who profess it have an absolute right to an equal participation in social advantages ; but it is not the religion of France : this centuries past have decided. In pro- posing to make it the prevalent system, you propose an act of violence, and an impossibility. Besides, what is more frightful than a schism ? What is more enfeebling to a nation ? Of all civil wars, that which enters most deeply into the heart, which troubles families most painfully, is a religious war. We must finish all chance of this. Peace with Europe is concluded : let us maintain it as long as we are able to do so ; but religious peace is the most pressing of all. That once concluded we have no cause for fearing any thing. It is doubtful if Europe will leave us long at peace ; that she will be satisfied to see us always as powerful as we are now. But when France, as one man, shall be united ; when the "Vendeans and the Bretons shall march in our armies with the Burgundians, the Lorrainese, and the Franc-Comptois, we shall have no more to fear from Europe, though it be all in union against us." Such were the kind of conversations continually held by the first consul with his more intimate counsellors, Cambaceres and Lebrun, who were of his opinion, and with Talleyrand, Touche", and Roederer, who were opposed to him on this ques- tion, also with a number of the members of the council of state, and of the legislative body, whose ideas generally differed from his. He spoke, in these discussions, with a warmth and perseverance of purpose quite unexampled. He saw nothing that appeared so useful, so urgent, as the putting an end to those religious differences and divisions, and he applied himself to the business with all the ardour with which he was accustomed to regard what was of pre-eminent importance. He had decided upon his plan, which was simple, and wisely conceived. It has been successful in terminating all the religious divisions of France. The unfortunate disputes, which the first consul, when he became emperor, had, at a later period, with the court of Rome, occurred between him, the pope, and the bishops, and did not affect the religious peace established among the population of France. There was never seen to arise, in France, even when the pope was a prisoner at Fontainebleau, two different forms of worship, two orders of the clergy, and two classes of the faithful. The first consul devised a scheme to reconcile the French republic and the Roman church, by treating with the holy see, on the basis of the same principles as were laid down by the revolution. The clergy were no longer to constitute a poli- tical power ; there was to be no longer a clergy endowed with landed property ; this, in 1800, had become an impossible thing. The plan of the first U 290 Bonaparte's tchem? to THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. re-establish the ca- tholic church. 1801. March. consul consisted in a clergy devoted solely to their professional duties, receiving their incomes from the state named by the state, but confirmed or ratified by the pope ; a new boundary or circum- scription of dioceses, which should consist of sixty in place of a hundred and fifty-eight, existing for- merly on the territory of old and new France ; the regulations of the places of worship transferred to the civil power, the jurisdiction over the clergy to the council of state in place of the parliaments, no longer in existence. This was the civil constitution of 1790, but modified so as to render it in some degree more acceptable to Rome. In other words, with the bishops nominated by the government and instituted by the pope, in place of being elected by their flocks. There was to be a general pro- mise of submission to the laws in place of the oath exacted from the different religious communities, which served as a pretext to ill-disposed or timid priests to raise up conscientious scruples. In fact, it was the true reform in public worship, to which the revolution should have confined its changes, in order that they might have been rendered agree- able to the pope, a thing not to be lost sight of, because without the consent of Rome any effective religious establishment would be impossible. It has been asserted * that a point of great import- ance was omitted; this was that the bishops nomi- nated by the civil power should be accepted by the pope, whether he were inclined to accept them or not. In such a case the spiritual government of Rome would have been seriously enfeebled, which was a matter by no means desirable. The civil power, in nominating a bishop, indicates a subject in whom, with the good moral character of a mi- nister of religion, it recognizes the political cha- racter of a good citizen, who respects, and will cause to be respected, the laws of his country. It is for the pope to say, that in such a subject he recognizes the orthodox priest, who will teach the real doctrine of the catholic church. To desire to fix a delay of some months, after which the insti- tution of the pope should be considered as validly accorded, would have been to force the institution itself, to take from the pope his spiritual authority, and to renew no less an evil than the memorable and terrible quarrel of investitures. There are two authorities in matters of religion ; the civil autho- rity of the country in which the worship is per- formed, charged to watch and maintain the laws and established authority, and the spiritual autho- rity of tile pope charged to watch over and support unity of faith. It is necessary that both should concur in the choice of the clergy. The religious authority of the holy see, sometimes, it is true, re- fuses institution to the bishops selected by the state; it was thus made to violate the civil power : strch cases have been seen to occur, but they are no more than a floating inevitable abuse. The civil authority may also, in its own torn, hang back, and such cases have been seen to happen under, Napoleon himself, the most enlightened and courageous restorer of the catholic church. The plan of the first consul reft nothing more to be desired for the definitive establishment of pub- lic worship ; but still it was necessary that he should attend to the transition or the passage from I/ AW* de Pratt, in "The Poor Concordats." the present state of things to that which he was about to create. What was he to do in respect to the existing sees ! How come to an understanding with the ecclesiastics of every grade, bishops or simple priests, the one sworn and attached to the revolution, publicly performing worship in the churches; the others unsworn, emigrants, or newlv- returned ministers, clandestinely exercising their functions, and most of them in hostility to the government! Bonaparte devised a system, the adoption of which was a very great difficulty at Rome; since, for eighteen centuries, during which it had existed, the church had never done that which was about to be proposed for her sanction. This was a system which included the abolition of all the existing dioceses. To effect this, the former bishops, who were yet living, were to be applied to, and their resignation demanded by the pope. If they refused, he pronounced their deposition ; and when a tabula rasa was thus effected, there were to be traced upon the map of France sixty new dioceses, of which forty-five were to be bishoprics, and fifteen archbishoprics, in order to fill them, the first consul nominated sixty prelates, taken in- discriminately from the sworn and unsworn clergy, but principally from the last class, which was the most numerous, the most respected, and the most highly esteemed among the faithful. ' He was to choose both the one and the other from among the ecclesiastics most worthy of the confidence of the government, purest in morals, and well reconciled to the changes brought about by the revolution. These prelates, nominated by the first consul, were to be instituted by the pope, and immediately enter upon their functions, under the superinten- dence of the civil authority and of the council of state. Salaries, in proportion to their wants, were to be allotted them from the budget of the state. In return, the pope was to acknowledge as valid the alienation of the property of the church, inter- dicting the suggestions which the priests were in the habit of making at the beds of the dying, re- conciling the married clergy to the church, assist- ing the government, and, in a word, putting an end to all the calamities of the time. This plan was complete, and, with a few excep- tions, as excellent for the present as for the future. It recognized the church, as nearly as possible, upon the same model as the state ; it fused to- gether differing individuals, by taking from all parties the wiser and more moderate men, who estimated the public good above revolutionary or religious hot-headedness. But it will be quickly seen how difficult it is to do that which is good, even when necessary, and even when the necessity of the case is most urgent ; because, unhappily, although it be necessary, it does not follow upon that account, that it shall be a clear and evident notion to others beyond the power of contestation. In Paris there was still the party of scoffers, of sectarists, still living hi the philosophy of the eighteenth century ; of old Jansenists become con- stitutional priests; and lastly, of generals imbued with vulgar prejudices : here were the obstacles on the part of France. At Rome, there were the adherence to ancient prejudices; the fear of affect- ing dogmas if discipline were touched; religions scruples sincere or affected; above all, an antipathy v::.-: ' :.... fjojliiriiilji, da**, iadbihopi to fiai to the French a *ort of iaate tb* afiietioMvef the cavcfc, tae CWaedihetattf MamonyaBdhati her, and afi kittcr laiain of new onior f tko* vkieh bad cfltaiTaadrakrof fctmae, aad that he had ill Hi 1 He had *ea* the ptper d that fotag f the uaty of ; Ib i f J i iat*arfd ofa pootaffcf rare vhoe he befiered that tike f dw faith kr tho f the of die cfandL was already awt, at nof bal^aadia that had bai of the ator, aad i i ' 1 1 of the oa- Fae VIL, Ibam hkhop of Iaela,had fwof thai ia ewry (M attie* ia aevcrkat Ata who died a pnono- at Taknee, the reeaiacliaB of the fiat ac of the gnacai of the aaqr af Kalj had inHaiam! a aaacr da* aiaj he atojiai choice of the aew pep*. vhaB FimTIJ. w pnaand by the eom- 292 Delusive expectations of the priests. THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. ISO?. March. Monsignor Spina, arrived in Paris, had orders to gain time, that it might be seen if the first consul, master of Italy, as he was, and able to dispose of it at pleasure, might not entertain the fortunate idea of restoring the Legations to the holy see. A word that frequently dwelt upon the lips of the first con- sul, had given birth to more hopes than he intended it should bear " Let the, holy father only trust to me, let him throw himself into my arms, and I will be for the'church a new Charlemagne." " If he is a new Charlemagne," said the priests, little versed in the affairs of their own time, " let him prove it by giving back to us the patrimony of St. Peter." They were unfortunately far enough out in their reckoning, for the first consul believed he had done much in the re-establishment of the pope at Rome, and in giving up to him, with his pontifical throne, the Roman state, besides offering to treat with him for the restoration of the catholic worship. In fact, considering the state of the public mind in France and in Italy also, he had done a vast deal. If the French patriots, still full of the ideas of the eighteenth century, saw with little satisfaction the approaching re-establishment of the catholic church, the Italian patriots saw with despair the govern- ment of the priesthood once more set up over them. It was impossible therefore for the first consul to push his complaisance towards the holy see so far as to give up the Legations to its authority again, which could not be of service in supporting the government of the priesthood, and were besides a promised portion of the Cisalpine republic. But the court of Rome, finding itself much distressed since it was deprived of the revenues of Bologna, of Ferrara, and of Romagna, reasoned very differ- ently. In other respects the pope, who lived in the midst of the pomps of the Vatican like any an- chorite, thought much less of terrestrial interests than cardinal Gonsalvi, and cardinal Gonsalvi less than monsignor Spina. This last moved with a stealthy pace in the negotiation, listening to all that was said to him relatively to the religious ques- tions, having the appearance of attaching to them an exclusive importance, and still, by some random words let out from time to time about the misery of the holy see, attempting to bring back attention to the subject of the Legations. He did not succeed in making himself understood, and protracted the negotiations in order to obtain something which would meet the false hopes imprudently indulged by his court. To treat with M. Spina the first consul had made choice, as already said, of the celebrated abbe* Bernier, the pacificator of La Vendee. This priest, a simple curate in the province of Anjou, deprived of the external attractions which are obtained by a careful education, but endowed with a deep know- because, besides the diplomatic correspondence of the French agents, and, above all, the correspondence of the abbe Ber- nier, there is the correspondence of M. Spina and of cardinal Caprara with the pope and cardinal Gonsalvi. The last was preserved by virtue of an article of the concordat, according to which the archives of the Roman legation, in case of a rupture, were to remain in France. The letters of M. Spina and of cardinal Caprara, written in Italian, are some of the most curious monuments of the time, and impart of them- telves the secret of the religious negotiations of the period, a ecret very little known at present, notwithstanding the numerous work* published relative to this subject. ledge of human nature, of superior prudence, a long time exercised in the midst of the difficulties of a civil war, well versed in canonical affairs, had been the principal author of the re-establishment of peace in the western provinces. Attached to this peace, which was his own work, he naturally desire^ every thing which would confirm it, and regarded the approximation of France to Rome as one of the more certain means of rendering his labour definitive and complete. He did not cease, therefore, in addressing to the first consul the most earnest instances to hasten forward the negotiations with the church. Furnished daily with his in- structions, he made known to the archbishop of Corinth the propositions of the French government already spoken of, namely, the dismission imposed upon all the former titular bishops ; the new dio- cesan circumscription ; sixty bishoprics in lieu of a hundred and fifty-eight ; the composition of the new clergy formed of ecclesiastics of all the differ- ent parties ; the nomination of the bishops by the first consul, and their institution by the pope ; the promise of submission to the established govern- ment ; the salaries out of the state budget ; the renunciation of the property of the church, and com- plete acknowledgment of its sale ; the police of worship conferred upon the civil power repre- sented by the council of state ; finally, the pardon of the church for those priests who had married, and their reunion with the catholic communion. M. Spina was loud in his exclamations upon hearing these conditions announced ; he declared them exorbitant and contrary to the faith, assert- ing that the holy father would never consent to admit them. First, he required that in the preamble of the concordat, the catholic religion should be declared the " state religion" in France ; that the consuls should make a public profession of it, and that the laws and acts contrary to this declaration of a state religion should be abrogated. As to the new circumscription of the dioceses, he admitted the great number of the sees, but he pre- tended that the pope had no right to depose a bishop ; that never had any of his predecessors dared to do so since the Roman church had existed, and that if the holy father permitted such an inno- vation he would create a second schism, directed this time against the holy father himself ; that all that he was able to do upon this subject was to come to an amicable understanding with the first consul ; those among the former bishops which showed themselves well inclined in regard to the French government, should be simply replaced in their dioceses, or in the diocese corresponding to that which they had formerly filled ; and those, on the contrary, which had or were conducting them- selves still in a manner not to merit the counte- nance of the government, should be left aside, and until their deaths, which, considering their age, could not be long, administrators chosen by the pope and the first consul should govern the sees in the interim. M. Spina, therefore, did not admit the idea of a new clergy, taken from all classes of the priest- hood, and from all parties, in order to fill the vacant sees. Still, further, he did not wish that the constitutionalists should share in it at all, unless they should make one of those solemn recantations, 1801. March. Proposals from the court of Rome. THE CONCORDAT. The abbe Beruier's reply. 293 which, a triumph for Rome, are also a recompense for the pardon which she accords. As to the nomination of the bishops by the head of the republic, and theiy institution by the pope, there was little difficulty. The negotiations natu- rally commenced on the principle, that the new government had at the court of Rome all the pre- rogatives of the old, and that the first consul repre- sented in every respect the king of France. On that account the nomination of the bishops apper- tained to him by right. Still the office of first consul for the present at least was elective. Gene- ral Bonaparte, actually invested with the dignity, was of the catholic faith, but his successors might not be of that creed ; and it was not allowed at Rome that protestant sovereigns should nominate catholic bishops. M. Spina demanded that this contingency should be provided for. They were in agreement regarding the cure's. The bishop was to nominate them with the agree- ment of the civil authority. The promise of submission to the laws was ad- mitted without exactly expressing the terms. The sanction of the pope to the sale of the church property was a heavy task for the Roman ne- gotiator. He acknowledged fully the utter im- possibility of recalling those sales; but he demanded that the holy see should be spared a declaration which would imply the moral approbation of all that had passed in their regard. He conceded a renunciation of all ulterior examination, in refusing the formal acknowledgment of the right of aliena- tion. " This property," said M. Spina, " called vota fiddium, patrimonium pauperum, sacrificia pec- catorum, this property the church herself has no power to alienate. Still she is able to renounce all attempts to prosecute its recovery." In return she demands the restitution of such domains as are not yet alienated, and the faculty granted to the dying of bequeathing in favour of religious establish- ments, which implied the renewal of property in mortmain, and recommenced the old order of things, in other words, a clergy endowed with lands. Lastly, the pardon granted to the married clergy and their reconciliation with the church, was a matter of mere indulgence, easy to be granted on the part of the court of Rome, which is always dis- posed to pardon, when the fault is acknowledged by those who have committed it. Still, two classes of priests were to be excepted, the old religious belonging to orders who had taken vows of celi- bacy and the bishops. This was no mode of con- ciliating with the holy see the kind wishes of Talleyrand, the minister of foreign affairs. These pretensions of the court of Rome, although they did not imply an utter impossibility of coming to an understanding with the French government, at the same time implied serious differences of opinion. The first consul perceived this, and exhibited the greatest impatience. He had several times seen M. Spina, and had declared to him that he would never depart from the fundamental principle of his design, which consisted in making a tabula rasa, in forming a new circumscription, and a new clergy, in deposing the old titularies, and taking their successors from every class of the priesthood. He had told him that the fusion of lidiest and abta men of every party was the principle of his go- vernment; that he applied this principle to the church as well as to the state; that it was the only means he possessed to terminate the troubles of France, and that he should invariably persist in the same course. The abb6 Bernier, who, to an avowed ambition of being the principal instrument in the re-establish- ment of religion, joined the sincere love of doing good, addressed the most earnest entreaties to M. Spina, to level the difficulties which were opposed, on the part of the church of Rome, to the measure of the first consul. " To declare the catholic religion," he said, " to be the religion of the state is impossi- ble; contrary to the ideas prevalent in France, ar.d will never be admitted by the tribunate and legis- lative body in the wording of any law." It might be possible, according to him, to replace such a declaration by the substitution of the fact, that the catholic religion was that of the majority of French- men. The mention of that fact would be as useful as the declaration desired by Rome. To insist on what was impossible, more out of pride than prin- ciple, was to compromise the real interests of the church. The first consul might attend in person at the solemn rites of the church, and the presence of such a man as he was at these ceremonies was an important thing ; but it was necessary to renounce the demand of his going through certain practical forms, such as confession and communion, as being beyond the limits within which it was proper he should confine himself with the French public. It was necessary to gain back opinion, not to shock it, and above all, not to afford subjects for ridicule. The demand of the resignation of their sees, addressed to the former bishops, was quite simple, and was a consequence of the step which they had taken in regard to Pius VI. in 1790. At that period, the French prelates, in order to make their resistance appear to be on account of the interest of the faith, and not their own peculiar interests, had declared that they accepted the pope for an arbitrator, and that they resigned their sees into his hands ; that if he believed it was their duty to abandon them in favour of the civic constitution, they submitted. There was now nothing more to do than to take them at their words, and exact the accomplishment of their solemn offer. If some among them, in- fluenced by personal motives, stood in the way of so great a benefit as the restoration of public wor- ship in France, they must no more be regarded as titular bishops, but be considered as having re- signed their sees in 1790. The abbs' Bernier added, that there was a precedent in point of the same kind in the church, namely, the resignation of three hundred bishops together in Africa, agreed to for the purpose of putting a termination to the schism of the Donatists. It was true they had not been deposed. Then as to the new selections ; the principle of the fusion must be conceded to the first consul. The principle the first consul applied more particularly to the advantage of the unsworn priests ; he would choose two or three who were constitutionalists, solely for the sake of example, but in the main he would select only the orthodox. The French negotiator here advanced on his own ac- count more than he was justified in doing. It is true that the first consul had very little esteem for 2i4 Embarrassment of M. Spina. POTMCTTT ATF AKFl CUJXbULiAlj AJN1J The scheme for a con- 1801. cordat sent to Rome. March. the constitutional bishops, who were for the larger part bigoted Jansenists, or declaimers at the clubs; it is true that he only esteemed in that portion of the clergy the ordinary priests, who had in general taken an oath of submission to the laws for the purpose of pursuing the objects of their sacred ministry, and had not sought to gain by the agita- tion of 'the period, an elevation to the sacerdotal dignity. Still, if he had but small respect for the constitutional bishops, he adhered to his principle of fusion, and did not sell quite so cheaply as the abbe" Bemier appeared to announce for him, the claims of the sworn clergy. These things were said by the abbe" Bernier to favour the success of the negotiation. In regard to the nomination of the bishops by the first consul, it was needful only to surmount, according to the abbe" Bernier, a diffi- culty very remote and very improbable, in having, at some time or another, a first consul who should bo a protestant. There was no necessity, according to him, to glance at an event so little probable. In relation to the property of the clergy, it was necessary to lose no time, in settling the form of its disposal, as they were agreed upon the principle. The restitution of the unsold church property and testamentary bequests of houses and lands, were totally at variance with the political principles pre- valent in France, which were wholly opposed to property in mortmain. The court of Rome must be content, in this regard, with the single concession of the validity of donations of annuities from the public funds. " The time," said the abbe", " is now come for a conclusion, since the first consul is beginning to appear discontented. He believed that the pope had not strength of mind to break with the emi- grant party in order to give every thing to France, and he would end the matter by renouncing the good which he had at first the idea of doing, and without persecuting the priests, leave them to themselves ; he would leave the church to become what it could in France, without calculating that he should be holding in Italy a conduct hostile to the Roman court. It was," continued the abbe", " to have lost all discernment, not to profit by the dispositions of so great a man, the only man capa- ble of saving religion. He bad also great difficulties to overcome in regard to the revolutionary party; and for aiding him in vanquishing them, an oppo- site conduct should be pursued, by making such concessions as were needful to him for gaining over opinions little disposed in France to favour the catholic faith." M. Spina began to be much embarrassed. He was convinced, but his covetousness overcame his convictions. Incessantly demanding wealth for his court, his most ardent desires were to make her as rich and prodigal as she was of old. The small success of his insinuations about the lost provinces singularly discouraged him. He perceived that the first consul, as wily as Italian priests were, would not explain himself to those who would not explain themselves. He saw, besides, all the other courts at his feet ; he saw M. Kalitscheff, the Rus- sian negotiator, who had wished in such an insolent mode to protect the petty Italian princes, depart in disappointment ; all Germany dependent upon France for the partition of the territorial indemni- ties ; Portugal in submission, and England herself fatigued into peace. In front of such a state of things, he was convinced that he had no other resource than to submit and to rely upon the will of the first consul alone, for all of which he was desirous. Disposed to concede, M. Spina was still fearful to adhere to the absolute conditions of the French cabinet, laid down with the evident reso- lution of not departing from them, because they were established upon the imperious necessities of her existing situation. The first consul, with his accustomed ability, drew out the Roman negotiator from the em- barrassment of his position. It was the moment, already described a little way back, when all the negotiations were proceeding together, especially with England. Thinking with a species of joy on the prodigious effect which a general peace must produce, that should even comprehend the church itself, he wished to finish all by a prompt and de- cided step. He had the plan of a concordat drawn up to be offered definitively to M. Spina, This bu- siness was arranged by two ecclesiastics who had thrown up holy orders, Talleyrand and Hauterive, who were both in the office for foreign affairs. Happily between these two was interposed the able and orthodox Bernier. The plan drawn up by Hauterive, and reviewed by Bernier, was simple, lucid, and decided. It contained, in the style of a law, every thing which the French legation had proposed. It was then presented to M. Spina, who was much troubled about it, and offered to send it to his court, declaring he was not able to sign it himself. " Why," they said to him, " do you refuse to sign ? Can it be you have no powers ? If so, what have you been doing in Paris for six months \ Why do you put on the character of a negotiator, and yet cannot carry it out to the necessary term of its conclusion ? Perhaps you think the condi- tions inadmissible ? If so, be bold enough to tell us ; and then the French cabinet, which can agree to no other conditions, will cease to negotiate with you. It may or may not break with the holy see, but it will have done with M. Spina." The cunning prelate knew not what to answer. He affirmed that he possessed powers. Not daring to state that he thought the French terms inadmis- sible, he alleged that in matters of religion, the pope surrounded by his cardinals was alone able to ac- cept a treaty, and he in consequence renewed his offer of sending the document to his holiness : " Let it be so," some one said to him, " but declare at least in sending your own approval of it." M. Spina refused on his own part any approbatory for- mula, and answered that he would impress upon his holiness the adoption of a treaty which would contribute to the restoration of the catholic faith in France. A courier was then sent off to Rome with the scheme of the concordat, and an order to M. Ca- cault, ambassador of France at the holy see, to submit the document for the immediate and defi- nitive acceptance of the pope. The same courier was the bearer of a present which caused great joy in Italy, the famous wooden virgin, the image of cur lady of Loretto, taken away in the time of the directory from Loretto itself, and deposited as a curiosity in the national library at Paris. The first consul knew that, among many sincere and irritable believers, the placing this famous relic in 1801. April. Reception of the scheme by Pius VII. THE CONCORDAT. Difficulty regarding the deposition of the bishops. 295 the national library, was deemed a matter of great scandal, and he ordered the pious restitution to precede the concordat. This present was received in Romagna with a degree of joy difficult to be understood in France. The pope received the concordat better than was expected. This worthy pontiff^ more occupied with the interests of the faith than with his own tempo- ral advantages, did not see in that instrument any thing absolutely inadmissible, and believed that with some changes in the drawing up, he should be able to satisfy the first consul, an object which he re- garded as of the utmost importance, since the re- establishment of religion in France was, in his view, the greatest and most essential part of the affairs of the church. He appointed the cardinals, Cavandini, Anto- nelli, and Gerdil, to make a first examination of the plan thus sent from Paris. The cardinals An- tonelli and Gerdil passed for the two most learned personages in the church. Cardinal Gerdil had himself become French, because by birth he apper- tained to Savoy. The pope enjoined it on all three to hasten this proceeding. The first examination over, they were to make their report to a congre- gation of twelve cardinals, chosen from among those who were at Rome, who best understood the interests of the Roman church. They were required to be secret by a promise made on the Evangelists. The pope, fearing the plots and outcries of the French emigrants, sought to keep from all party influence the decision of the sacred college. Upon his part the effort was made with perfect sincerity. He had near him a French minister entirely to his liking, in M. Cacault, a man of sensibility as well as of understanding, partaking in the recollections of the eighteenth century, to which he belonged by age and education, and equally in the feelings which Rome inspires in all those who live in the midst of her ruined grandeur, and her religious pomps. On leaving Paris, M. de Cacault asked the first consul for his instructions. He received in reply this noble remark : " Treat the pope as if he had two hundred thousand soldiers." M. de Ca- cault loved Pius VII. and general Bonaparte ; and by his kind offices disposed them to love one an- other. " Confide in the first consul," said he to the pope, " he will arrange your affairs : but do what he asks of you, for he has need of what he asks of you in order to succeed." He said also to the first consul, " Take a little patience. The pope is the most holy, the most attaching of men. He has the wish to satisfy you, only give him time. It is necessary to habituate his mind, and those of the cardinals, to the arbitrary proposals which you send hither. They are at Rome much more con- fiding than you think. This court must be led by gentle means. If we ruffle her, we shall confuse her head. She will fix herself in the resolution of martyrdom, the sole resource for one in her situation." These wise counsels tempered the im- petuosity of the first consul, and disposed him to suffer patiently the fastidious examination of the matter by the court of Rome. Lastly, when the business was completed, the pope, and cardinal Gonsalvi, had several interviews with M. de Cacault. They communicated to him the Roman scheme. Finding it too distant from that of France, he made reiterated efforts to obtain modifications. It became necessary a second time to have reference to the congregation of the twelve cardinals, which occupied much more time, in such a manner that without obtaining any important results, M. de Cacault contributed himself to the loss of an entire month. The parties at length came as near as possible to an agreement ; and all ended in a plan, the differences of which with that of the first consul were as follow : The catholic religion was to be declared in France the " religion of the state :" the consuls were to profess it in a public manner : there was to be a new diocesan reconstruction and only sixty sees, according to the first consul's wish. The pope was to address the former bishops, demanding their voluntary resignation, on the ground of their offer of resignation made to Pius VI. in 1790. It was probable that a very great number would give in, and then the sees vacant by death or resigna- tion would furnish the French government with an ample list of nominations to fill up. In regard to those who might refuse, the pope would take con- venient measures that the administration of the sees should not remain in their hands. The excellent pontiff said to the French consul, in an affecting letter which he wrote to him : "Spare me the public declaration, that I shall depose the old prelates, who have suffered cruel persecutions in the cause of the church. First, my right to do so is doubtful ; and secondly, it grieves me to treat in this manner ministers of the altar in misfortune and in exile. What reply would you give to those who might require you to sacrifice the generals by whom you are surrounded, whose de- votedness has rendered you so often victorious ! The result which you wish will be the same in the end, because the greatest part of the sees will be- come vacant by death or by resignation. You will fill them up, and as to the small number that may remain occupied in consequence of refusing to re"- sign, we will not yet nominate bishops to them ; but we will administer to them by vicars, worthy of your confidence and our own." Upon the other points, the Roman scheme was very nearly conformable to that of France. It granted the nominations to the first consul, except the first consul should happen to be a protestant; it contained the sanction of the sales of church property ; but, while it persisted in demanding that the clergy might receive testamentary gifts of houses and lands, it granted to the married clergy the indulgence of the church. Evidently the most serious difficulty was in the deposition of the former bishops, who might refuse to resign. This sacrifice was heavy to the pope, because it was no other than immolating, at the feet of the first consul himself, the old French clergy. Still this immolation was indispensable, in order that the first consul might in his turn sup- press the constitutional clergy, and out of the dif- ferent sects of priests make only one, composed of persons who were esteemed by all the sects. It was one of these occasions when upon every such con- juncture in every age, the papacy had never hesi- tated to save the church by taking strong resolutions for that end. But at the moment of resolving, the benevolent and timorous mind of the pontiff was a prey to the most grievous perplexities. Whilst the time was thus employed at Rome, 296 Impatience of the first consul. THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. whether in conferences of the cardinals among themselves, or in conferences of the secretary of state with M. de Cacault, the first consul at Paris had lost all patience. He began to fear that the court of Rome might be carrying on an intrigue either with the emigrants or foreign courts, more particularly with Austria. To his natural mistrust was joined the suggestions of the enemies of reli- gion, who endeavoured to persuade him that he was deceived, and that he himself, so far-seeing and able, was the dupe of Italian cunning. He was but little disposed to believe that this wariness was greater than his own, but he wished to throw the lead into that sea which they had told him was so deep. On the same day that the courier, bearing the despatches of the holy see, was leaving Rome, he made at Paris a menacing demonstration. He sent for the abbe" Bernier, M. Spina, and M. Talleyrand, to Malmaison. There he informed them that he had no longer any confidence in the dispositions of the court of Rome ; that the desire of deferring to the emigrants was evidently over- bearing the desire to be reconciled to France the interest of party being above the interest of reli- gion ; that he did not understand why they con- sulted courts that were known to be inimical, and perhaps even the heads of the emigrants them- selves, to know whether Rome ought to treat with the French republic; that the church might receive through him immense benefits, and was bound to accept or refuse them at once, and not to retard the good of the people by useless hesitations, or by consultations still more out of place ; that he would do without the holy see, since his efforts were not seconded by her ; that he certainly would not expose the church to the persecutions of days gone by, but would deliver the priests over to one another, confining himself to the chastisement of the turbulent, and leaving the rest to live as they were best able ; that he considered himself rela- tively to the Roman court as free of all engage- ments towards her, even from those in the treaty of Tolentino, since, in fact, the treaty was void the day war was declared between Pius VI. and the directory. In saying these words, the tone of the first consul was cold, positive, and repellant He gave it to be understood, by the explanations fol- lowing this declaration, that his confidence in the holy father was always the same, but that he imputed the delays which so annoyed him to car- dinal Gonsalvi, and those who were more imme- diately around the pope's person. The first consul had obtained his end, but the unfortunate Spina left Malmaison in a real disorder of mind, and went with all haste to Paris, in order to write to his own court despatches full of the same fears which agitated himself. Talleyrand, on the other hand, wrote to M. de Cacault a despatch, conformable to the scene at Malmaison. He en- joined upon him to visit the pope and cardinal Gonsalvi directly, and declare to them that the first consul, full of reh'ance upon the personal character of the holy father, had not the same feeling towards his cabinet ; that he was resolved to break off a negotiation much too insincere, and that he, M. de Cacault, had orders to quit Rome in five days, if the plan of the concordat were not im- mediately adopted, or were not adopted with cer- tain modifications. M. de Cacault had instructions to proceed to Florence without delay, and to wait there until the first consul should make known to him his future determination. This despatch arrived at Rome about the end of May. It much mortified M. de Cacault, who was afraid, by the news of which he was the bearer, he should disconcert, perhaps push the Roman court to desperate resolutions. Above all, he feared to afflict a pontiff for whom he had been unable to escape feeling a sincere attachment. Still the orders of the first consul were so absolute, that he had no means of evading their execution. He therefore went to the pope and to cardinal Gon- salvi, and showed them his instructions, which caused to both very great distress of mind. Car- dinal Gonsalvi, in particular, seeing himself clearly designated in the despatches of the first consul, as the author of the interminable delays in the nego- tiation, was ready to die with affright. Yet he was little to blame; and the superannuated forms of the chancery, the oldest in the world, were the sole cause of the slowness of which the first consul complained, at least since the matter had been transferred to Rome. M. de Cacault proposed to the pope and to cardinal Gonsalvi, an idea which at first troubled and surprised them, but which at last appeared to them the only way to a safe con- clusion. " You do not wish," said M. de Cacault, " to adopt the concordat, with all its expressions as it is sent from Paris. Very well : let the cardinal himself go to France, furnished with full powers. He will become known to the first consul, and will inspire him with confidence ; he will then obtain from him the indispensable changes required, and which you desire. If any difficulty should occur, the cardinal will be on the spot to obviate it. He will prevent, by his presence there, the loss of time, which so much irritates the impatient cha- racter of the head of our government. You will thus be extricated from great peril, and the inter- ests of religion will be saved." It was a great trouble thus to part with a minis- ter with whom he could not well dispense, and who alone gave him strength to bear the pain of the chief government. He was plunged into great perplexity, feeling the advice of M. de Cacault to be wise, but the separation proposed a cruel hard- ship. That implacable faction, composed not only of emigrants, but of all those in Europe who detested the French revolution, that faction, which desired to support an eternal war with France, which had seen with sorrow the termination of the war in La Vendee, and which saw with no less sorrow the approaching end of the schism, besieged Rome with letters, filled it with absurd talk, and covered its walls with placards. It was said, for example, in one of these placards, that Pius VI., to preserve the faith, had lost the holy see, and that Pius VII., to preserve the holy see, had lost the faith J . These invectives, of which he was the object, did not move this sensible pontiff, who was devoted to his duties, and his resolution to save the church, in spite of any party ; but he suffered severely from Pio VI., per conservar la fede, Ferde la iede ; Pio VII., per eonMrvar 1 rede, Perde la fede. 1801. June. Cardinal Gonsalvi reluctantly quits Home. THE CONCORDAT. He arrives at Fan*. 297 them. Cardinal Gonsalvi was his confidant and friend, and to separate from him was a poignant grief. The cardinal, upon the other hand, feared his own presence in Paris, in that revolutionary gulf, which had swallowed up, as he had been told, so many victims. He trembled at the idea only, of finding himself in the presence of the formidable general, the object at once of so much fear and admiration, whom M. Spina had depicted to him as most of all irritated against the Roman secretary of state. These unfortunate and terror-stricken priests had formed a thousand unfounded notions in regard to France and her government ; and ameliorated, even improved as it was, they trem- bled only at the thought of remaining for a mo- ment in its power. The cardinal decided to go, but his decision was just that which any one feels who is determined to brave his death. * Since they must have a victim," said he, " I will devote myself, and be all resignation to the will of Providence." He had even the imprudence to write letters to Naples, in conformity with these notions, letters, which were communicated to the first consul, who fortunately regarded them rather as subjects for ridieule than anger. But the journey of the secretary of state to Paris was very far from removing all the difficulties and anticipating all the dangers. The departure of M. de Cacault, and his retreat to Florence, where the head-quarters of the French army were situated, might be viewed perhaps as a fatal manifestation for the two governments of Rome and Naples. These two governments were, in fact, continually threatened by the repressed but always ardent pas- sions of the Italian patriots. That of the pope was always odious to men who were unwilling to have priests any longer for their governors, and the number of such persons in the Roman states was very considerable ; the government of Naples was detested for the blood which it had spilled. The departure of M . de Cacault would, it was possible, be considered as a species of tacit permission to the evil-minded Italians to make some dangerous de- monstration. This was feared also by the pope. It was agreed, therefore, in order to prevent such an interpretation being put upon his departure, that M. de Cacault and cardinal Gonsalvi should set out together, and be travelling companions as far as Florence. M. de Cacault, on quitting Rome, left there his secretary of legation. The cardinal and M. de Cacault left Rome on the 6th of June, or 17th of Prairial, and took the road towards Florence. They travelled in the same carriage, and wherever they stopped the cardinal designated M. de Cacault to the people, saying, " This is the French minister," so anxious was he to avoid having it supposed there was any rupture between the two powers. The agitation in Italy was lively enough upon the occasion ; but it produced no vexatious consequences a* the mo- ment, because most persons waited for a more dis- tinct explanation of the dispositions of the French government before they attempted to make a change. Cardinal Gonsalvi 1 separated from M. de > " Francois Cacault, minister plenipotentiary of the French republic at Rome, to the citizen minister for foreign affairs. " Florence, 19 Prairial, year ix. "CITIZEN MINISTER Here I am at Florence. The car- Cacault at Florence, and took the road towards Paris with fear and trembling. During this interval the first consul, on receiving from Rome the amended scheme, and discovering that the differences were more those of form than essence, became more calm upon the affair. The news that cardinal Gonsalvi was coming himself to endeavour to place in harmony the court of Rome with the French republic, completely satisfied him. He now saw the certainty of the approaching arrangement, and prepared accordingly to give the best reception to the prime minister of the Roman court. Cardinal Gonsalvi arrived in Paris on the 20th of June, or 1st Messidor. The abbe" Bernier and M. Spina hastened to receive him, and to assure him of the kindly disposition of the first consul. dinal secretary of state left Rome along with me. He called for me at my house. We have made the Journey together in the same carnage. Our servants followed after the same fashion in a second carriage ; and the expenses were paid by each of our separate couriers respectively. " We were looked upon every where with an air of surprise. The cardinal greatly feared that they would imagine I was going away in consequence of a rupture. He said to every body continually, ' This it the French miniiterJ' This country, crushed by the miseries of the past war, shudders at the least idea of the movement of troops. The Roman government has yet greater fear of its own discontented subjects ; above all, of those who have been tempted to take authority and to plunder by the sort of revolution gone by. We have thus prevented, and, at the same time, dissipated, mortal fears and rash hopes. I do not think that the tran- quillity of Rome will be troubled. " The cardinal spent here the 18th in great and manifest friendship with general Murat, who gave him a residence and a guard of honour. He offered me the same. I have accepted nothing. I am accommodated at an inn. " The cardinal set out this morning for Paris. He will arrive shortly after my despatch, for he will travel with great rapidity. The poor man feels that if he fails in his object he will be lost beyond all hope, and all will be lost for Rome. He is anxious to know his doom. I have made him under- stand, that a great means of saving every thing is to use all speed, because the first consul had the most serious and weighty reasoni for concluding quickly and executing promptly. " I tried at Rom* to get the pope to sign the concordat alone; and if he had conceded this point to me, I should not have left Rome ; but this idea did not succeed with me. " You judge well that the cardinal is not sent to Paris to sign that which the pope has refused to sign at Rome ; but he is his first minister and favourite; it is the soul of the pope that is about to enter into a communication with you. I trust that an agreement will result respecting these modifications. It is a question of phrases, of words that may be turned in so many ways, that, in the end, a good one may be seized upon. " The cardinal bears to the first consul a confidential letter from the pope, and the most ardent wishes for the termination of the business. He is a man of a clear mind. His person has nothing imposing; he is not made for grandeur; his elocution, somewhat verbose, is not attractive ; his character is mild, and his soul will open itself to an over- flow, provided he is encouraged by mildness to repose con- fidence. " I have written to Madrid, to the ambassador Lucien Bonaparte, in order to explain the meaning of the noisy re- ports of cardinal Gonsalvi's journey to Paris, and of my retire- ment to Florence. In like manner, I have made known to the ministers of the emperor and of the king of Spain at Rome, that there is no likelihood of war with the pope. " 1 salute you respectfully. CACAULT " 298 TRIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. of the neB tia - isoi. Jun. The costume was settled in which he was to be presented at Malmaison, and he went thither with considerable emotion at the idea of seeing general Bonaparte. The first consul, being aware of this, would not add to the cardinal's uneasy feeling. He displayed all that skill in. language with which nature had endowed him, to impress himself upon the mind of his interlocutor, to explain to him his whole intentions frankly, benevolent as they were towards the church, to make him sensible of the weighty difficulties attached to the re-establishment of public worship in France, and particularly to make him comprehend that the interest which he himself had in yielding to French opinion, was of much more consequence than that which he would have in administering to the resentments of priests, of emigrants, or of deposed princes, despised and abandoned by all Europe. He declared to cardinal Gonsalvi, that he was ready to reconsider certain details in the drawing up which were obscure to the Roman court, provided in the main she would accord that which he regarded as indispensably needful to the creation of an ecclesiastical establishment entirely new, which might be his undertaking, and which might reunite the wise and respectable priests of all parties. The cardinal left the first consul greatly en- couraged by this interview. He seldom exhibited himself in Paris, supporting a very becoming re- serve, equally distant from an overdone severity, and from that Italian freedom, which is so much the reproach of the Roman priesthood. He ac- cepted a few invitations from the consuls and ministers, but constantly refused to show himself in public places. He went to work with the abbe" Bernier to resolve the last difficulties of the nego- tiation. There were two points which more par- ticularly formed an obstacle to the agreement of the two governments : one relative to the title of the " religion of the state," which was sought to be obtained for the catholic religion ; the second regarded the deposition of the former bishops. Cardinal Gonsalvi wished that to justify the great concessions thus made in the face of all Christen- dom, they might be able to allege a solemn de- claration of the French republic in favour of the catholic church ; he wished that at least the catholic religion should be declared the " dominant religion," and that an abrogation of all the laws opposed to it slvould be proclaimed or promised ; and, lastly, that the first consul should personally profess it. His example would be regarded as before all others puissant on the mind of the multitude. The abbe" Bernier, on the other side, replied, that to proclaim a "religion of the state," or a " dominant religion," would be to alarm the other religious persuasions, and create the apprehension of a return to an oppressive, intolerant, plundering religion, and so on ; that it was impossible to go beyond the declaration of the one plain fact, that the majority of the French people were catholics. He added, that to abrogate anterior laws, it was necessary to have recourse to the agreement of the legislative power, and that this would throw the French cabinet into an inextricable embarrassment; that the government, as a government or ruling body, could not make a profession of any particular faith ; that the consuls might individually profess such, but that this circumstance could not appear hi a treaty, as it was an individual, and, in some respects, a private act. That as to the personal con- duct of the first consul, the abbe' Bernier said in an under tone, that he would attend at a " Te Deurn" or a mass ; but that as to the other practices of religion, it was not necessary to require them of him, and that there were things of which the cardinal ought to abandon the exaction, because they would produce an effect more vexatious than salutary. At last a preamble was agreed upon, which nearly met the views of the two legations, in union with the first article. It ran thus : " The government recognizing that the catholic re- ligion is the religion of the great majority of tfte French " " The pope, on his part, recognizing that this religion had derived and still expected at this moment the greatest good from the re-establishment of the catiiolic icordiip in France, and from the particular profession which the consuls of the republic made of it " From this double motive, the two authorities, for the good of religion and the maintenance of internal tranquillity, laid it down: Article 1st That the catholic religion should be exercised in France, and tJiat its worship should be public, in conformity to the regulations of tJte police, judged necessary for tfie maintenance of tranquil- lity " Article 2nd. That there should be a new arrange- ment of dioceses " This preamble sufficiently met the intentions of all parties, because it proclaimed loudly the re-esta- blishment of worship ; rendered the profession of it as public in France as it was formerly; made the profession of this faith by the consuls an individual act, personal to the three consuls in its exercise, and placed the allegation in the mouth of the pope and not in that of the chief of the republic. These first difficulties then appeared to be happily over- come. Next came the contested points relative to the deposing of the former bishops. In the main these were agreed to by both parties; but cardinal Gonsalvi demanded that the pope should be spared the pain of pronouncing the depositions by a public act of the old bishops. He promised that those who refused to give in their resignation should no longer be considered titularies, and that the pope would consent to give them successors ; but he did not wish that this should be formally stated in the concordat. The first consul was inflexible upon this point, and, without giving the precise terms, required that it should be positively stated, that the pope would address himself to the former bishops, demanding from them the resignation of their sees, which he expected with full confidence from their love of religion, and that if they refused the sees, " Should be provided with new titularies for then? government under the new circumscription." These were the true expressions of the treaty. The other conditions did not become a matter of contest. The first consul was to name, and the pope to institute the new bishops. Still cardinal Gonsalvi required and the first consul conceded one reservation, by which it was stated that in case of a protestant first consul, a new convention should be had in order to regulate the mode of nomination. 1801. June. Opposition in France to the concordat. THE CONCORDAT. Character of the abb& Gregoire. 299 It was stipulated that the bishops should nominate the cure's, and that they should be chosen from among such subjects as were approved- of by the government. The question of the oath was resolved by the simple adoption of that formerly taken by the bishops to the kings of France. The holy see claimed with justice, and it was accorded without difficulty, the right of establishing seminaries for the supply of the clergy, but without the obligation of any state endowment. The engagement that the holders of national property should not be troubled by the clergy was formed, and the owner- ship of acquired property was distinctly acknow- ledged. It was said that the government would take measures that the clergy should receive suitable incomes, and that the old religious edifices, and all the parsonages not alienated, should be re- stored to them. It was agreed that the permission to make pious donations should be granted to the faithful, but that the state should regulate the form of th'jin. Upon this form it was secretly agreed that the payment should be out of the public funds, since the first consul would on no account hear of the re-establishment of property in mortmain. This arrangement was to be found in the ulterior regulations of the police for regulating the forms of worship, which the government had the sole power to make. In regard to the married priests, the cardinal gave his word that a brief indulgence should be immediately published; but he requested that an act of religious cliarity emanating from the clemency of the holy father, should pursue its free and spon- taneous character, and not pass as a condition imposed upon the holy see, and this was conceded accordingly. Both parties had now finally agreed upon every thing, and on reasonable bases, guaranteeing at the same time the independence of the French church, and a perfect union with the holy see. Never had a more liberal convention, and at the same time one more orthodox, been made with Rome; but it must be acknowledged, that one weighty resolution had been forced upon the pope, perfectly justifiable under the circumstances, that of deposing the former titularies who might refuse to resign. It was necessary, therefore, to be satisfied, and to conclude. Agitation was at work all this time about the first consul in order to defeat his definitive consent. Men, who had access to him in the customary man- ner, and who enjoyed the privilege of giving him their advice, combated his determination. The constitutional part of the clergy made a good deal of strife for fear of being sacrificed to the unsworn clergy. It had obtained the right of assembling and of forming a sort of national council in Paris. The first consul had granted these powers for the purpose of stimulating the zeal of the holy see, and making it feel the danger of delay. In this assembly many senseless things on the customs of the primitive church were debated, to which the authors of the civil constitution wished to bring back the French church. They asserted that the episcopal functions ought to be conferred by election, and that if this was not exactly possible, it was at least desirable that the first consul should choose subjects from a list presented by the faithful in each diocese ; that the nomination of the bishops should be confirmed by the metropolitans, in other words by the arch- bishops, and that of these last only by the pope ; but that the papal institution should not be granted to the holy see arbitrarily ; but that after a certain determined time it should be compelled to ratify them. This was equivalent to a complete extinction of the rights of Rome. Every thing which was advanced in this sort of council, was not so destitute as this of practical reason. Some sound ideas were presented there upon the circumscription of dioceses, and the emission of bulls, and on the ne- cessity of not allowing any publication emanating from the pontifical authority without the express permission of the civil power. They had an in- tention of uniting all these different observations in the form of votes, which should be presented to the first consul for the purpose of explaining their resolutions. That which they were fond of repeating very frequently in this assembly was, that during the reign of terror the constitutional clergy had rendered great services to the proscribed faith, that it had never fled nor abandoned the churches, and that it was not just to sacrifice those to them who, during the persecution, had assumed the pretext of orthodoxy to evade the dangers of the priesthood. All this was correct, more particu- larly as respected the ordinary priests, of which the larger part really possessed the virtnes attributed to them. But the constitutional bishops, some of whom merited respect, were for the most part men of disputation, true sectarists, that ambition in some, and pride of theological arrogance in others, had completely enchained, and they were far in- ferior in worth to the simple and unostentatious men who were their inferiors. The individual at their head, who showed himself the most restless, the abbe" Gre"goire, was the leader of a sect. His morals were pure, but he was of a narrow spirit, had excessive vanity, and his political conduct was marked by a painful recollection. Without being exposed to the impulses or the terrors which gained from the convention a vote of death against Louis XVI., the abbe" Gre'goire, then absent, and free to hold his tongue, addressed a letter to the assem- bly which bore sentiments very little conformable to religion or morality. He was one of those to whom a return to sound ideas was the least adapted, and who endeavoured, though in vain, to combat the tendency imprinted upon every thing by the consular government. He had taken care to form attachments in the family of Bonaparte, and thus to lay before the head of that family a multitude of objections against the resolution in the course of preparation. The first consul allowed the constitu- tionalists to talk and act, and was ready to arrest their agitation if it proceeded to a scandal ; but he was not sorry to make their presence disagreeable to the holy see, and apply that as a stimulant to its slowness. Although he had little taste for this part of the clergy, because they were in general theo- logical wranglers, he wished to uphold their rights, and to impose upon the pope as bishops, those who were known by their pure manners and humility of spirit. More than this was not asked by the greater number, for they were far from repugnant to a re-union with the holy see. They rather desired it as the most sure and honourable means for them to escape from a life of agitation, and a state of too little consideration with their flocks. 300 Government discussion upon the concordat. TRIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. Th s ^ 1 " d portant tr * aty 1801. July. The greater number did not, in fact, resist an ar- rangement with Rome but through the fear of being sacrificed hi a body to the former bishops. There was a yet more formidable opposition near the first consul, produced in the ministry itself. Talleyrand, wounded by the spirit of the Roman court, which had shown itself less easy and less indulgent than he had at first believed it, had become cold and ill-disposed towards it. He evi- dently acted counter to the negotiation, after be- ginning with right good will, when he regarded it as only another peace to be concluded. He had set out to take the waters, as has been already mentioned, leaving the first consul a plan completely laid down a scheme of an arbitrary form, beautiful without utility, which the court of Rome would not agree to on any consideration. M. d'Hauterive was charged to continue to fill Talleyrand's part, and half engaged in holy orders, from which he had freed himself at the time of the revolution, he was but little favourable to the wishes of the holy see. He opposed a thousand difficulties to the drawing up of the plan agreed upon between the abbe" Bernier and cardinal Gonsalvi. In his opinion, there should be announced in it, in a manner far more express and plain, the destitution of the old bishops; there ought to be mentioned in it that pious bequests could only be made through the funds, and there should have been a formal article to specify the re-instatement of the married priests, with similar matters. M. d'Hauterive thus re- animated the very difficulties in the drawing up, before which the negotiation had nearly failed. Even on the day of the signing, he again sent, on these different points, a memorial to the first consul. These discussions being all terminated, there was an assemblage of the consuls and the ministers, in which the question was definitively argued and resolved upon. There the objections already known were repeated ; great weight was laid upon disturbing the French mind; upon adding to the budget the new charges ; upon putting, they said, the national property in peril ; upon awakening amongst the old clergy to be established hi their functions more hopes than any one would be will- ing to satisfy. A scheme of simple toleration was spoken of, which should only consist in restoring their edifices to the faithful, as well to the unsworn as to the sworn clergy, and for the government to remain a peaceable spectator of their quarrels, except in any case in which they might materially disturb the public peace. The consul Cambace'res, a very strong advocate for the concordat, expressed himself upon the sub- ject with much warmth, and triumphantly met every objection. He argued that the danger of disturbing the French mind was only true in re- gard to some of the livelier spirits among the opposition; but that the masses would welcome most willingly the re-establishment of public wor- ship, and already felt a moral want of it ; that the consideration of the expense was a very con- temptible matter in such a case; that the national property was, on the contrary, to be guaranteed more sacredly than ever, by the sanction of the sales obtained of the holy see. Cambace'res here was interrupted by the first consul, who, always inflexible when the national property became a ques- tion, declared that he made the concordat precisely for the interest of the holders of that property; that he would crush, with all his weight, those priests who were foolish or ill-disposed enough to abuse the great act about to be carried into effect. The consul Carnbace"res, in continuation, observed how ridiculous it was, and how difficult of execution, was a scheme of indifference towards all religious parties, that would dispute among each other for the confidence of the faithful, the edifices of worship, and the voluntary gifts of public piety; who would give the government all the fatigue of active in- terference and not one of its advantages, and would end, perhaps, in the re-union of all the sects in one single hostile church, independent of the state, and dependent upon foreign authority. The consul Lebrun spoke in much the same language ; and, lastly, the first consul gave his opinion in a few words, but in a lucid, precise, and peremptory manner. He acknowledged the diffi- culties, even the perils of the undertaking ; but the depth of his views went beyond some few momentary difficulties, and he was resolved. He showed himself so by his words. Thenceforward there was no more resistance, no more disap- provals, except occasional grumblings at his re- solution out of his presence. Submission followed, and the order was issued to sign the concordat, that the abbe" Bernier and cardinal Gonsalvi had definitively drawn up. According to his custom to reserve for his elder brother the conclusion of the more important acts, the first consul designated as plenipotentiaries, Joseph Bonaparte, Cretet, the councillor of state, and lastly, the abbe" Bernier, to whom the honour was so justly due, for the pains he had bestowed, and the ability he had displayed, during this long and memorable negotiation. The pope's plenipo- tentiaries were the cardinal Gonsalvi, M. Spina, and the father Caselli, a learned Italian, who had accompanied the Roman legation with the view of lending aid by his theological knowledge. They met together out of form at the house of Joseph Bonaparte; the documents were read over, some petty changes were made in the details, always reserved to the last moment, and on the 15th of July, 1801, or the 26th of Messidor, this great act was signed, the most important that the court of Rome had ever concluded with that of France, or perhaps with any Christian posver, because it ter- minated one of the most frightful tempests that the catholic religion had ever encountered. For France it put an end to a deplorable schism, and brought about this end by placing church and state in a suitable position of union and indepen- dence. Much remained to be done after the signature of the treaty, which has since borne the title of the Concordat. It was necessary to demand its ratification at Rome, then to obtain the bulls which must accompany the publication, as well as the briefs addressed to all the former bishops, calling for their resignation ; it was needful, in the next place, to trace out the new circumscription of the dioceses ; to choose sixty new prelates, and in every thing to proceed in full accordance with Rome. It was still an uninterrupted negotiation, down to the day when they were at last able to chant a Te Deum in Notre Dame, to celebrate the 1801. Aug. Its cold reeption by the council of state. THE CONCORDAT. Cardinal Gonsalvi returns to Rome. Satisfaction of the pope. re-establishment of the catholic worship. The first consul, eager to arrive at the result in every thing, wished that all this should be promptly perfected, to celebrate at the same time the peace concluded with the European powers, and the peace with the church. The accomplishment of such a wish was difficult. The greatest haste was made in expediting the details, in order to retard as little as possible the great act of the re- storation of public worship. The first consul did not at first make public the treaty concluded with the pope; it was previously necessary to obtain the ratifications : but he com- municated it to the council of state, in the sitting of the 6th of August, or 18th Thermidor. He did not communicate the act in its tenor, but contented himself with giving a substantial analysis, and ac- companied this analysis with an enumeration of the motives which had decided the government in its conclusion. Those who heard him on that day were struck with the precision, vigour, and lofti- ness of the language he used. It was the eloquence of a magistrate, the chief of an empire. Still, if they were struck at his simple, nervous, elo- quence, which Cicero styled in Caesar vim Caesaris, they were little reconciled to the proceeding of the first consul 1 . They remained dumb and sullen, as if they haft seen perishing with the schism one of the works of the revolution the most to be re- gretted. The act was not then submitted to the deliberations of the council; it neither discussed nor voted upon it. Nothing broke the silent cold- ness of the scene. They were dumb ; they sepa- rated without saying a word, without expressing a single suffrage. But the first consul had shown what was his will, from thenceforth irrevocable, and that was enough for a great number of per- sons. It was, at least, the assumed silence of those who would not displease him, and of those also who, respecting his genius, and valuing the im- mensity of the good that he had conferred upon France, were decided to pass over even his errors. The first consul, thinking that he had now sti- mulated the court of Rome sufficiently, deemed it necessary to put an end to the pretended council ' Letter from Monsignor Spina to cardinal Gonsalvi, secretary of state : " Paris, 8th August. " Thursday last, the first consul being in the council of state, and informed that in Paris the convention which he had concluded with his holiness was the general subject of conversation ; that every one, although ignorant of its pre- cise tenor, spake of it and commented upon it, each after his own fancy, therefore took the opportunity of communicating to the council itself the whole details. I know for certain that he spoke for an hour and a half, showing the necessity and advantage of it, and I have been told that he spoke most admirably. As he did not ask for the opinion of the council, all the members of the council remained silent. I have not yet been able to learn what impression was produced upon the minds of the councillors in general. The good were de- lighted at it, but their number is very limited. I shall en- deavour to find out what impression was made upon those who were adverse to it. It appears that the first consul is desirous of preparing the minds of those who are hostile to the measure, with the view of disarming their opposition ; but he will not succeed, unless he adopts some more ener- getic proceedings against the constitutionalists, nor while he leaves the catholic worship exposed to the lash of the minister of police." of the ecclesiastical clergy. In consequence, he commanded them to separate, and they obeyed; since not one among them would have dared to offend an authority that bad sixty bishoprics to be distributed, elevated, this time, by pontifical institution itself. In separating, they presented to the first consul an act of a suitable form, which embodied their views relative to the new religious establishment. It contained the propositions which have been already detailed. Cardinal Gonsalvi had left Paris to return to Rome, and to bring back M. de Cacault to the presence of the holy see. The pope was longing for this double return, because Lower Italy was dangerously agitated. The Italian patriots of NapHes and the Roman state awaited with im- patience the opportunity of a new disturbance, while the old Ruffo party, the cut-throats of the queen of Naples, desired nothing better than some pKtext for falling upon the French. These men, BO different in their intentions, were ready to unite their efforts to run every thing into confusion. The news of the accordance between the French and Roman governments, the certainty of the in- tervention of general Murat, placed in the neigh- bourhood, at the head of an army, restrained the bad spirits, and prevented these sinister designs. The pope was overjoyed at seeing cardinal Gonsalvi and the French minister return to Rome. He immediately convoked a congregation of cardinals, in order to submit to them the new work ; and he caused the bulls, the briefs, in fact, all the acts necessary in consequence of the concordat, to be prepared. The worthy pontiff was pleased, but agitated. He felt the certainty of having done well, and of immolating nothing but the in- terests of a faction to the general good of the church. But the censures of the old throne and altar party broke forth at Rome with great vio- lence, and although the holy father had put away from his presence all the evil-disposed, he heard their bitter language, and was disturbed by it. Cardinal Maury, judging, with his usual superiority of acuteness, that the cause of the emigrants was lost, and already seeing, perhaps with a secret satisfaction, the moment when all in a state of exile, far from their country, and sighing to return, would be again restored, kept himself at a dis- tance, in his bishopric of Montefiascone, solely occupying himself in the care of a library, which formed the charm of his solitude. The pope, in order not to give umbrage to the first consul, had, besides, made the cardinal understand, that his absolute retreat at Montefiascone was, at that mo- ment, a convenience to the pontifical government. The pope then was satisfied, but full of emotion l , 1 Letter of M. de Cacault, minister plenipotentiary of the French republic at Rome, to the minister for foreign affairs. " Rome, 8th August, 1801, or 20 Thermidor, year ix. " CITIZEN MIKISTEB, To inform you of the state of the affair of the pope's ratification, expected at Paris, I can do no better than transmit you an original letter which I have just received from cardinal Gonsalvi. " The cardinal having been obliged to keep his bed, his holiness came to work to-day at the house of his secretary of state. " The sacred college is to concur in the ratification ; all the doctors of the first order are employed and in increment. The holy father is in agitation the agitation and the de- Cardinal Caprara appointed legate a latere. THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. His reception at Paris. and pressed forward the completion of the business so fortunately begun. The congregation of cardi- nals was entirely in favour of the concordat, since it had been revised, and accordingly pronounced itself in an affirmative manner. The pope, thinking that he innst henceforward throw himself into the arms of the first consul, to accomplish with eclat an undertaking which had so noble an end as the re-estabh'shment of the catholic worship in France, desired that the ceremony of the ratification should be surrounded with splendour and great solemnity. In consequence he gave the ratifications in a grand consistory, and in order to add still more to the brilliancy of this pontifical ceremony, he named three cardinals. He received M. de Cacault in full pomp, and displayed, hi spite of the narrow- ness of his finances, all the luxury that befitted the occasion. Having to make choice of a legate to send into France, he designated the most eminent diplomatist in the court of Rome, the cardinal Caprara, a personage distinguished by his birth, being of the illustrious family of the Montecuculi, remarkable by his intelligence, his experience, and his moderation. Formerly ambassador to Joseph II., he had witnessed the troubles of the church in the last century, and had often by his ability and his readiness of mind saved the holy see from inconvenience. The first consul had himself ex- pressed his desire of having near his person this prince of the church. The pope hastened to satisfy this wish, and made, on his own part, great efforts to overcome the resistance of the cardinal, who was old, ill, and little disposed to recommence the laborious career of his early youth. At length his repugnance was vanquished by the earnest solici- tations of the holy father, and the overwhelming interest of the church. The pope wished to confer upon cardinal Caprara the highest diplomatic dig- nity of the Roman court, that of legate a latere. This legate has powers of the most extended cha- racter ; the cross is always borne before him ; he has power to do every thing able to be done afar from the pope. Pius VII., upon this occasion, renewed the ancient ceremonies, in which was remitted to the representative of the holy father, the venerated sign of his mission. A grand con- sistory was convoked anew ; and in presence of all the cardinals and of all the foreign ministers, sire of a young spouse, who dares not be merry on the im- portant marriage- day. Never has the pontifical court been seen more collected, more seriously and more secretly occu- pied with the novelty which is on the point of breaking forth, while France, for which all this is done, for whom they labour, neither intrigues, promises, gives, nor shines here in the way of ancient usage. The first consul will soon enjoy the accomplishment of his views in regard to an accordance with the holy see, and that will take place in a novel, simple, and truly respectable mode. " This will be the work of a hero and a saint, for the pope is a man of real piety. " He has said to me more than once, ' Depend upon it, that if Prance, in place of being a dominant power, were low and fallen in the regard of its enemies, I should not do less for her than I am granting to-day.' " I do not think it can have ever happened, that so great a result, on which the tranquillity of France and the welfare of Europe will in future mainly depend, could have been thus attained without violence and without corruption. " I have the honour respectfully to salute you. " CACAtTLT." the cardinal Caprara received the sacred cross, which he was bound to have carried before him hi that republican France which had for so long a time been a stranger to the pomps of Catholicism. The first consul, sensible of the cordial conduct of the pope, testified towards him in return the kindest consideration. He enjoined it upon Mtirat to spare the Roman States from the passage of troops ; he made the Cisalpine republic evacuate the little duchy of Urbino, which it had seized upon under the pretext of some dispute respecting boundaries. He announced the approaching eva- cuation of Ancona, and pending that evacuation remitted money there to pay the garrison, in order to relieve the papal treasury from the expense. The Neapolitans having persisted in keeping pos- session of two of the territories bordering upon their frontier belonging to the holy see, namely, Benevento and Ponte Corvo, were ordered to eva- cuate them. The first consul also caused one of the fine hotels of Paris to be prepared and fur- nished with every luxury for the purpose of lodg- ing, at the expense of the French treasury, the cardinal Caprara. The ratifications had been exchanged ; the bulls approved; the briefs were in course of being expe- dited throughout all Christendom, to request the resignations of the former titularies. Cardinal Ca- prara hastened his journey to Paris, notwithstand- ing his advanced years. Orders were every where given to the authorities to receive him in a manner fully consonant with his exalted dignity. They had done so with solicitude ; the population of the pro- vinces seconding their zeal, had given to the repre- sentative of the holy see, such marks of respect as proved the influence of the old religion over the country population. There was some fear about putting to the same proof the jeering people of Paris ; every thing was arranged so that the car- dinal should enter the capital at night. He was received with every possible attention, and lodged in the hotel prepared for him. He was also given to understand, in the most delicate manner in which it could be stated, that a part of the ex- penses of his mission would be borne by the French government ; and that this was a diplomatic cus- tom it was intended to establish in favour of the holy see. The first consul sent to the residence of the legate two carriages drawn by his finest horses. Cardinal Caprara was received as a foreign am- bassador ; not yet as a representative of the church. This last reception was adjourned until the time of the definitive re-establishment of the worship. To initiate the new bishops, chant the Te Deum, and tender to the cardinal legate the oath which was necessary to the first consul, was reserved for the same time. The indispensable formalities which it was need- ful should precede the concordat, had taken much more time than it was thought they would occupy at the commencement, and had lasted up to the period when the preliminaries of peace were signed in London. The first consul wished to be able to establish coincidently the/ete of the 18th Brumaire and the general peace with the great religious solemnization of the restoration of worship. But it was necessary that the resignations of the former titularies should be received at Rome, before the approval there of the new diocesan circumscription 1801. Oct. The measure carried into effect. THE CONCORDAT. Resignation of the bishops. 303 could take place, together with the choice of the new bishops. The resignations demanded by the pope of the ancient French clergy, were at that moment the object of general attention. There was a desire in all quarters to see how this great act of the pope and the first consul would be received, holding each other by the hand, and thus demanding of the old clergy, of the friends or enemies of the revolution, scattered over Russia, Germany, England, and Spam, the sacrifice of their position, their party affections, their pride of doc- trine itself, that the unity of the church should triumph, and peace be established in the interior of France. How many of them would be found so far influenced by this double motive as to immolate so many personal feelings and sentiments at once. The result proved the wisdom of the great act which the pope and the first consul at that moment executed ; it proved the dominion which the love of good can exercise over souls so nobly incited by a saintly pontiff and a hero. The briefs addressed to the orthodox bishops and to the constitutionalist bishops were not alike. The briefs addressed to the orthodox bishops who had refused to acknowledge the civil constitution of the clergy, considered them as the legitimate titularies of their sees, demanded from them that they should resign hi the name and for the interests of the church, in virtue of an offer made formerly to Pius VI., and, in case of refusal, declared them deposed. The language was affectionate, melancholy, but full of authority. The brief ad- dressed to the constitutional bishops was equally paternal, and breathed the mildest indulgence of spirit, but made no mention of resignation, seeing that the church had never recognized the consti- tutional as legitimate bishops. It requested them to abjure their former errors, to enter into the bosom of the church, and to terminate a schism, which was at the same time a scandal and a calamity. This was a manner of inducing their resignation without demanding it, since to demand it would have been a recognition of their title by the holy see, which it was unable to grant. Equal justice should be rendered to all those who facilitated this great act of unity. The con- stitutional bishops, of whom some had an inclination to resist, but of whom the majority, better advised, sincerely desired to second the wishes of the first consul, resigned in a body. The brief though highly cordial was annoying to them, because it only spoke of their errors, and not of their resigna- tions. They devised a form of compliance with the wishes of the pope, which, without involving any retractation of the past, still implied their submission and resignation. They declared that they adhered to the new concordat, and as a con- sequence deprived themselves of their episcopal dignity. They were in number fifty ; and all sub- mitted except bishop Saurine, a man of an ardent imagination, and a zeal stronger than it was en- lightened; but at the same time a priest of pure morals, whom the first consul afterwards called to the episcopal dignity after he had been made acceptable to the pope. This part of the task was not the more difficult. It was besides that which it was the easiest to realize immediately, because the constitutionalists were nearly all in Paris under the arm of the first consul, and the influence of the friends who had constituted themselves their defenders and guides. The unsworn bishops were scattered through all Europe, but still a certain number of them were at this time in France. The great majority gave a noble example of piety and evangelical submis- sion. Seven were resident in Paris, and eight in the provinces, in all fifteen. Not one hesitated about his answer to the pope, and to the new head of the state. They replied in language worthy of the best times of the church. The old bishop of Belloy, a venerable prelate, who had replaced M. de Belsunce at Marseilles, and who was the model of the ancient clergy, hastened to give his brethren the signal of abrogation. u Full," said he, " of veneration for, and obedience to the decrees of his holiness, and wishing always to be of one heart and one spirit with him, I do not hesitate to deposit in the hands of the holy father my resigna- tion of the bishopric of Marseilles. It suffices that he esteems it necessary for the preservation of religion in France that I should give in my resignation." One of the most learned bishops among the French clergy, the historian of Bossuet and Fene- lon, the bishop of Alais, wrote : " Happy to have the will to concur by my resignation, as much as is in my power, with the views of wisdom, peace, and conciliation, which his holiness has adopted, I pray God to bless his pious intentions, and to spare him the contradictions which would afflict his paternal heart." The bishop of Acqs wrote to the holy father : " I have not a moment hesitated to immolate myself, as soon as I was aware that this painful sacrifice was necessary to the peace of the country and the triumph of religion. may she arise Jlorious from her ruins ! May she be elevated will not say alone upon the wrecks of my dearest interests, of all my temporal advantages, but on my ashes themselves, if I could serve as her ex- piatory victim ! May my fellow-citizens return to concord, to the faith, and to holy morals. Never shall I form other desires during my life, and my death will be too happy if I see them accomplished." It must be confessed that it is a beautiful insti- tution which commands such sacrifices and lan- guage. The more ancient names of the old clergy of France, the Rohans, Latours du Pin, Castellanes, Polignacs, Clermonts Tonnerre, Latours d'Au- vergne, were found in the list of the bishops who had resigned. There was a general enthusiasm which recalled to recollection the generous sacri- fices of the old French nobility on the night of the 4th of August. It was this wish to facilitate by a great act of abrogation the execution of the con- cordat, that M. de Cacault had called the labour of a hero and a saint. The bishops that had taken refuge in Germany, Italy, and Spain, for the most part followed their examples. Thei-e remained the eighteen bishops who had retired into England. These last were waited for to see whether they would escape the influence of the enemies that surrounded them. The British government, at that time actuated by no unfriendly spirit towards France, wished to have nothing to do with their determination. But the princes of the house of Bourbon, the chiefs of the Chouans, the instigators of the civil war, the accomplices in the infernal machine, Georges and 304 General submission of the clergy. TRIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. Bonaparte's anger at a temporary delay. 1801. Nov. his associates were in London, living on the means ' given to emigrants. They surrounded the eighteen j prelates, determined to prevent them from giving in their adhesion, and thus completing the union of the French clergy around the pope and Bonaparte. Long deliberations took place. Among the num- ber of the refractory was numbered the archbishop of Narbonne, to whom they attributed very tempo- ral interests, because with his see he would be deprived of immense revenues ; also the bishop of St. Pol de Leon, who had carved out a post for himself, reported to be lucrative, that of distributor of the British subsidies among the exiled priest- hood. These acted upon the bishops, and gained over thirteen of them ; but they encountered a noble resistance from the other five, at the head of whom were two of the most illustrious and imposing members of the old clergy. M. de Cice", archbishop of Bordeaux, the old keeper of the seals under Louis XVI., a person who possessed a superior political mind ; M. de Boisgelin, a learned bishop, and lord of great possessions, who had formerly displayed the attitude of a worthy priest, faithful to his religion, though by no means an enemy to the enlightenment of the age in which he lived. These sent in their adhesion with their three colleagues, D'Osmond, De Noe", and Du Plessis d'Argentrd Nearly all the old clergy had submitted. The work of the pope was accomplished with less bitter- ness of heart than he had at first feared. All these resignations successively inserted in the Moniteur, by the side of the treaties signed with the European courts, with Russia, England, Ba- varia, and Portugal, produced a great effect, of which contemporaries retain a strong recollection. If any thing made the influence of the new govern- ment felt, it was this respectful, earnest submission of the two inimical churches ; the one devoted to the revolution, but corrupted by the demon of dis- putation; the other proud, haughty in its orthodoxy, and in the greatness of its names, infected with the spirit of emigration, animated with sincere loyalty, and besides thinking that alone would suffice to render them victorious. This triumph was one of the finest, most deserved, and most universally felt. The 18th of Brumaire, fixed upon for the grand festival of the general peace, was approaching. The first consul was seized with one of those personal feelings, which in man are too frequently mingled with the noblest resolutions. He wished to enjoy his labour, and to be able to celebrate the re-establishment of religious peace on the 18th of Brumaire. To do this, there were two things needful : first, that the bull relative to the dio- cesan arrangements should be sent from Rome ; and secondly, that cardinal Caprara should have the faculty of installing the new bishops. If these things had been done, the sixty bishops might have been nominated and consecrated, and a so- lemn Te Deum been sung in the church of Notre Dame, in their presence. At Rome they had waited, most unfortunately, for the reply of the five French bishops, retired into the north of Ger- many ; and as to the faculty of canonical investi- ture, it had not been imparted to cardinal Caprara, because such a power had never been deputed, not even to a legate a latere. It was now the 1st of November, or 10th Brumaire, and there remained but a few days. The first consul sent for cardinal Caprara, and spoke to him in the bitterest manner, and with a warmth neither becoming nor merited, of the little assistance he obtained of the pontifical government towards the accomplishment of his objects, and thus produced in the excellent cardinal a deep emotion 1 . But he very quickly perceived 1 Letter from cardinal Caprara to cardinal Gonsalvi : " Paris, 22nd November, 1801. " Returning from Malmaison about eleven o'clock at night, I sit down to detail to you the result of an interview I have had with the first consul. He did not utter a word upon the five articles which I attached to my letter of the 1 st of November ; but with the proper vivacity attached to his character, he broke out into the bitterest complaints against all Romans, saying that they wished to lead him in a dance, that they were trying to ensnare him by their eternal pro- crastination in expediting the bull of circumscription, and that they added to the delay by not sending the pope's letters to the bishops in proper time, and further, by not sending them by couriers, as every government would do that felt an interest in a negotiation of this kind ; that they were endea- vouring to entrap him, for they tried to make a manikin of him, to frighten the pope from agreeing to the nominations which he might make of the constitutional bishops ; and continuing to pour forth his words like a torrent, he repeated every thing exactly that the councillor Portalis told me yes- terday night in presence of Monsignor Spina. " After an assault so vehement and in language full of invective, I took upon myself the part of justifying the Ro- mans whom he accutsd ; when he said, interrupting me, ' I will listen to no justification. I make but one exception, and that is the pope, for whom I feel respect and affection.' As it appeared to me that he was now somewhat less trans- ported than at the beginning of the conversation, I tried to make him sensible that, entertaining an affection for his holiness, he ought to give him some proof of it, by sparing him the pain of nominating the constitutional bishops. Upon my making this suggestion, he put on again his former angry tone, and answered me, ' The constitutional bishops shall be appointed by me, and their number shall be fifteen. I have yielded all in my power ; I will not deviate one par- ticle from the determination to which I have come.' " As to the chiefs of the sectarians, counsellor Portalis, who was present, assured me that I might be at ease on that head, as well as upon the matter of the subordinates. On the subject of the submission being started, the first consul ex- claimed, ' It is arrogance to demand such a thing, and it would be cowardly to yield to it. 1 Then without waiting for a reply, he entered into a -wide space of discursive argument upon canonical institutions ; and throwing aside entirely his military character, he discoursed for a long while in a mode well worthy of a canon. I will not assert that he tried to convince me, but only to keep me at a distance. At last he concluded by the observation, ' But the bishops do not make profession of faith, nor take the oath.' Counsellor Portalis having replied, ' Yes, they do ;' ' Well, said he, ' that act of obedience to the pope is of more value than a thou- sand submissions.' Then turning round to me, he said, ' Endeavour to arrange that the bull of circumscription may be here soon ; and that the other, respecting which I ad- dressed you on a former occasion, may not meet at Rome with the same destiny which the pope's letters to the bishops have experienced, and which I learn were not received by any of the several parties in Germany until the 21st of last month.' " Here the interview closed. I ought still to add, that at it* conclusion, about one o'clock in the day, he took an airing with madame, and was absent about an hour ; but he insisted previously that I should stay and dine, although I was already engaged with his brother Joseph, to whom, however, he sent off word. Without the smallest exaggeration, from dinner-time till ten at night, he never ceased talking to me, walking nearly all the time up and down the room, his cus- tomary way, and discoursing on every imaginary topic in politics and economy that concerned ui." 1801. Nuv. Completion of the concordat. THE TRIBUNATE. Opposition in France to that measure. 30 his errors, and as quickly sought to repair them. He felt instantly that he had done wrong, and desiring to soften the effect which his warmth and vehemence had produced, he kept the cardinal at Malrnaison the whole day, charming him by his grace and kindness, and consoling him for hia hastiness of conduct in the morning. Despatches were written to Rome, and a respect- able priest was sent off to Germany, the curate of St. Sulpice, M. de Pancemont, since bishop of Vannes, for the purpose of obtaining the answer of the five prelates, which was awaited so impa- tiently. Nevertheless, the 18th Brumaire passed without the arrival of the acts so much desired. The brilliancy of that day was still great enough to make the first consul forget what might have been wanting in this addition. At last the answer arrived from Rome; the pope always inclined to do what he, whom he styled his "dear son," requested, sent the bull for the arrangement of the dioceses, and the power of instituting the new bishops, con- ferred upon the legate in an unprecedented man- ner. As a compensation for so much condescen- sion, the pope desired only one thing, which he confided to the judgment of cardinal Caprara, which was, that he might be spared the chagrin of appointing .constitutionists. After this, nothing ruore opposed the proclama- tion of the great religious act, thus laboriously accomplished, but the propitious moment had been permitted to slip by. The session of the year x was opened, according to usage, reckoning frorr the 1st Frimaire, or 22nd of November, 1801 The tribunate, the legislative body, and the senate were assembled; a warm resistance was announced, and scandalous speeches made, against the con- cordat. The first consul did not like that such an outbreak should trouble so august a ceremony, and resolved to wait, in order to celebrate the re-esta- blishment'of public worship, until he had brought back the tribunate to its senses, or crushed it altogether. Now the delays were to come from his side, and it was the holy see that was to show itself urgent in going forward. However, the sud- den obstacles which he was likely to encounter, proved the merit and courage of his resolve. It was not to the concordat alone that a warm oppo- sition was expected, but to the civil code itself, as well as to some of the treaties which had just secured peace to the world. Proud of his labour, strong in the public opinion, the first consul was resolute in proceeding to the last extremities. H spoke only of crushing those bodies that might resist him. Thus human passions were about to mingle their stimulants with the finest works of a great man and of a great epoch. BOOK XIII. THE TRIBUNATE. INTERIOR ADMINISTBATIOX. THE GREAT ROADS CLEARED OP HIGHWAY ROBBERS, AND PUT INTO REPAIR. REVIVAL OF COMMERCE. EXPORTS AND IMPORTS Of THE TEAR 1801. MATERIAL RESULTS OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTION- AS REGARDS AGRICULTURE, MANUFACTURES, AND POPULATION. INFLUENCE OF THE PREFECTS AND SUB-PREFECTS ON THE ADMINISTRATION. ORDER AND SPEED IN THE DESPATCH OF BUSINESS. COUNSELLORS OF STATE ON CIRCUIT. DISCUSSION OF THE CIVIL CODE IN THB COUNCIL OF STATE. BRLLLIANT WINTER OF 1801-2. EXTRAORDINARY INFLUX OP FOREIGNERS TO PARIS. COURT OF THE FIRST CONSUL. ORGANIZATION OF HIS CIVIL AND MILITARY ESTABLISHMENTS. THB CONSULAR GUARD. PREFECTS OF THE PALACE AND LADIES OF HONOUR. SISTERS OF THE FIRST CONSUL. HORTENSE BEAUHARNOI8 MARRIES LOUIS BONAPARTE. FOX AND DE CALONXE VISIT PARIS. PROSPERITY AND LUXURY Of ALL CLASSES. APPROACH OF TUB SESSION OF THE YEAR X. WARM OPPOSITION TO SOME OF THE BEST PLANS OF THE FIRST CONSUL. CAUSES OF THIS OPPOSITION SHOWN, NOT ONLY AMOKO THE MEMBERS OF THE DELIBERATIVE ASSEMBLIES, BUT AMONG THE DISTINGUISHED OFFICERS OF THE ARMY. CONDUCT OF GENERALS LANNES, AUGEREAU, AND MOREAU. OPENING OF THE SESSION. DUPUIS, AUTHOR OF THE WORK ON THE ORIGIN OF ALL RELIGIONS, IS ELECTED PRESIDENT OF THE LEGISLATIVE BODY. BALLOT FOR THE VACANT PLACES IN THE SENATE. NOMINATION OF THE ABBE GRKGOIRE, CONTRARY TO THE PROPO- SITIONS OF THE FIRST CONSUL. VIOLENT EXPLOSION IN THE TRIBUNATE, ON ACCOUNT OF THE WORD " SUB- JECT" INTRODUCED INTO THE TREATY WITH RUSSIA. OPPOSITION TO THE CIVIL CODE. DISCUSSION IK THB COUNCIL OP STATE RESPECTING THE COURSE TO BE ADOPTED UNDER THE CIRCUMSTANCES. IT IS RESOLVED TO AWAIT THE DISCUSSION OF THE FIRST SECTIONS OF THE CIVIL CODE. THE TRIBUNATE REJECTS THE FIRST SECTIONS. RESULT OF THZ BALLOT FOR THE PLACES VACANT IN THE SENATE. THE FIRST CONSUL PROPOSES OLD GENERALS, NOT SELECTED FROM AMONG HIS CREATURES. THE TRIBUNATE AND LEGISLATIVE BODY REJECT THEM, AND AGREE TO SUPPORT M. DAUSOU, KNOWN FOR HIS OPPOSITION TO THE GOVERNMENT. VEHEMENT SPEECH MADE BY THE FIRST CONSUL TO A MEETING OF SENATORS. THREATS OF AX ARBITRARY MEASURE. THE OPPONENTS INTIMIDATED, SUBMIT, AND PLAN A SUBTERFUGE TO ANNIHILATE THE EFFECT OF THE FIRST BALLOTS. CAMBACERES DISSUADES THE FIRST CONSUL FROM ANY ILLEGAL MEASURE, AND ADVISES HIM TO GET CLEAR OF THE OPPOSITION MEMBERS BY MEANS OF ARTICLE XXXVIII. OF THE CONSTITU- TION, WHICH PRESCRIBES THAT THE FIRST FIFTH OF THE LEGISLATIVE BODY AND THE TRIBUNATE SHOULD GO OUT IN THE YEAR X. THE FIRST CONSCL ADOPTS THE IDEA. SUSPENSION OF ALL THE LEGISLATIVE LABOURS. AN ADVANTAGE TAKEN OF THIS SUSPENSION TO ASSEMBLE AT LYONS AN ITALIAN DIET, UNDER THE ITLE OF THE " CONSULTA." BEFORE LEAVING PARIS, THE FIRST CONSUL DESPATCHES A FLEET \TITH TROOP! X 306 Interior administration. Suppression of robbery. TRIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. Improvement of the roads. Revival of commerce. FOR ST. DOMINGO. PLAN TO RECONQUER THAT COLONT. NEGOTIATIONS AT AMIENS. OBJECT OF THE CONSULT* CONVENED AT LYONS. VARIOUS CONSTITUTIONS PROPOSED FOR ITALY. PLANS OP THE FIRST CONSUL RELATIVE TO THIS POINT. CREATION OP THE ITALIAN REPUBLIC. BONAPARTE PROCLAIMED PRESIDENT OP THE RE- PUBLIC. ENTHUSIASM OF THE ITALIANS AND FRENCH AT LYONS. GRAND REVIEW OP THE ARMY OF EGYPT. RETURN OP THE FIRST CONSUL TO PARIS. WE have seen by what persevering and skilful efforts, the first consul, after overcoming Europe by his victories, had succeeded in reconciling it to France by his policy : we have seen by means of what efforts, not less meritorious, he reconciled the church with the French republic, and put an end to the miseries of schism. His efforts to re- establish the security and perfection of the roads, to impart activity to commerce and industry, and to restore ease to the finances, and order in their administration, to draw up a code of civil laws appropriate to French manners, to organize, finally, every part of French society, had not been less continued nor less fortunate. That race of robbers, which was formed out of deserters from the army and the licentious soldiers of the civil war, who attacked the rich landed pro- prietors in the country, the travellers on the high roads, pillaged the public chests, and spread terror through the country, had been repressed with the utmost rigour. These robbers had chosen the moment when nearly all the troops were beyond the frontier, and the interior of the country was deprived of the means of defence, to spread them- selves over it. But since the treaty of Lune"ville, and the return of a part of the troops to France, the situation was no longer the same. Numerous moveable columns, accompanied at first by military commissioners, and afterwards by those special tribunals of which the establishment has been already stated, had scoured the roads in all direc- tions, and chastised, with pitiless energy, those who infested them. Several hundreds among them had been shot during six months, without a single voice having been heard in favour of those mis- creants, the impure remains of civil war. The others, completely discouraged, had sent in their arms, and made their submission. Security was established on the high roads, so that, though in the months of January and February, 1801, it was hardly possible to travel from Paris to Rouen, or from Paris to Orleans, without running the chance of being murdered, at the end of the year it was possible to travel through the whole of France without being exposed to such an accident. There might still have been some remains of these ban- dits in the remoter parts of Britany, and in the interior of the CeVennes at the utmost ; but it was not long before all these were completely dis- persed. It has already been seen how ten years of trou- ble had nearly interrupted the passage of the roads of France by their neglect ; how the ancient corvee had been replaced by a toll at the different bar- riers; how, under the system of this incommodious and insufficient tax, at the same time, the roads had fallen into a state of complete ruin ; how, finally, the first consul, in the last Nivose, had devoted an extraordinary subsidy to the repair of twenty of the principal highways traversing the surface of the republic. He had himself watched ttie employment of this subsidy, and by continued attention to the matter, had excited, in the highest degree, the zeal of the engineers employed. Each of his aids-de-camp, or of the great functionaries who travelled in France, was questioned as to whether his orders had been duly executed. The funds this year had been voted rather late; the end of the year had been rainy, and there was also a deficiency of hands. This was caused by the bringing into cultivation at this time immense tracts of land, and above all, by the civil war. These various causes had retarded '-.the progress of the work ; but still the improvement already made was obvious. The first consul devoted a new sub- sidy, taken from the ye^r x., or 1801-2, to the repair of forty-two other roads. Reckoning two millions not employed in the year ix., ten millions extraordinary assigned to the year x., and sixteen millions produced by the tax, the total sum devoted to the roads for the current year, would be twenty- eight millions. This was double or triple the sum devoted to them in anterior periods. Thus the repairs proceeded with great rapidity, and every thing announced hi the course of 1802, that the roads of France would be restored to a state of perfect convenience for travelling. Orders were issued for making new communications between different parts of old and new France. Four great roads were in the course of formation between Italy and France. That of the Simplon, several times alluded to, advanced rapidly towards com- pletion. The road designed to unite Savoy and Piedmont, was begun, passing over Mount Cenis. A third, by Mount Genevre, to connect the south of France and Piedmont, was ordered to be made, and the engineers were traversing the ground to complete the plans. The repair of the great road by the Col de Tende, traversing the maritime Alps, was undertaken. Thus the barrier of the Alps, between France and Italy, was about to be lowered, by means of four roads, practicable for the heaviest civil or military transport. The miracle of the passage of the St. Bernard had become useless for the future, whenever it should be required to proceed to the succour of Italy. The canal of St. Quentin was in course of execu- tion. The first consul had been himself to see the canal of Ourcq, and had ordered the resumption of the work. The canal of Aigues-Mortes, at Beau- caire, confided to the care of a company, was in the course of execution. The government had encouraged a company by making over to it large grants of land. The new bridges over the Seine, granted to an association of capitalists, were nearly completed. These numerous and fine undertakings attracted the public attention in a remarkable manner. The minds of men, always lively in France, now directed themselves with a species of enthusiasm from the splendour of war to the splen- dour of peace. Commerce had already made great advances during the year ix., 1800-1, although the naval war had continued through the whole of that year. The imports, which in the year vm. had been only 325,000,000 f. amounted in the year ix. to 1101 -?. Hov. Exports and imports. Population. THE TRIBUNATE. Forests. Rural administration. 3U7 417,000,000 f. An increase of nearly a fourth in the space of a single year. This augmentation was due to two causes: the rapid consumption which had accrued of colonial products, and the introduc- tion of a quantity of raw materials adapted to manufactures, such as cotton, wool, and oil ; an evident sign of the revival of the manufacturing interests. The exportations had felt much less this general movement towards increase, because the foreign commerce of France was in the year ix. 1800-1, not yet re-established, and because the manufacture of productions must of necessity precede their exportation. Still the sum total of the exports, which in the year vm. amounted to no more than 2? 1, 000,000 f., had arisen in the year ix. to 305,000,000 f. This increase of 34,000,000 f. was mainly owing to the extraordinary export of wines and brandies, which had produced a con- siderable mercantile activity at Bordeaux. Here may be remarked also what a difference had been produced between the exports and imports by the ten years of naval warfare, since the imports amounted to 417,000,000 f., and the exports only to the sum of 305,000,000 f. But the restoration of the manufactures would soon make up for this difference. The silks of the south again began to flourish. Lyons, the favourite city of the first consul, again applied itself to the manufacture of its beautiful productions. Of fifteen thousand looms formerly employed in the weaving of silk, only two thousand remained at work during the time of the late troubles. Seven thousand were already re-esta- blished. Lille, St. Quentin, Rouen, all participated in the like movement; and the sea-ports, about to be set free from blockade, were equipping nume- rous vessels. The first consul, on his part, was making preparations for the re-establishment of the colonies to an extent which will be very shortly exhibited. It was desirable to discover the actual state in which the revolution had left France as far as re- spected agriculture and population. Statistical researches, rendered impossible while collective administrations managed provincial business, were become practicable since the institution of prefec- tures and sub-prefectures. Orders were given for a census, which returned very singular results, confirmed in fact by the councils-general of the departments which had met for the first time in the year ix. The returns of the population for sixty- seven departments out of one hundred and two, into which France was at that time divided, amounting in 1789 to 21,176,243, had increased in 1800 to 22,297,443, being an increase of 1,100,000 souls, or about a nineteenth. This result, scarcely credible had it not been confirmed by a number of councils-general, proves that after all, the evil pro- duced by great social revolutions is more apparent then real, as far at least as material things are concerned, and that, at any rate, the mischief is made good with prodigious rapidity. Agriculture was found to be every where in advance. The suppression of the rangerships had been exceedingly beneficial in the greater part of the provinces. If in destroying the game, it had destroyed the least objectionable pleasures of the richer classes; it had, upon the other hand, delivered agriculture from ruinous vexations. The sale of a number of large estates had caused considerable tracts of land to be brought into cultivation, and made highly valuable a part of the soil before nearly unproduc- tive. Much of the landed property of the church, which had passed out of the hands of a negligent holder into those of an intelligent and active pro- prietor, augmented every day the general mass of agricultural produce. The revolution, which had thus been made in landed property, and which, in dividing it among a thousand hands, had so pro- digiously augmented the number of landed pro- prietors, as well as the extent of cultivated land; this revolution was now accomplished, and was already producing great results. Doubtless, the process of culture was not yet sensibly improved, but the extent of tillage was increased in an extra- ordinary maT Her. The forests, whether belonging to the state or to the communes, had suffered from the disorder in the administrative management of the times. This was an object to which it was of the utmost im- portance to attend ; lands planted with wood were cleared, while neither the property of the state nor of individuals was spared. The administra- tion of the finances possessing a great quantity of forests by the confiscation of the property of the emigrants, did not yet know how to take care of them, or manage them to advantage. Many pro- prietors, absent or intimidated, abandoned the care of the woods of which they were the possessors, some really, others fictitiously, on account of the proscribed families. This was the consequence of a state of things which was, fortunately, about to cease. The first consul had given great attention to the preservation of the forest riches of France, and had already begun to restore order and re- spect for property. A rural code was every where required, in order to prevent the injury done by the cattle. The new institution of prefects and sub-prefects, created by the law of Pluviose, year vm., had pro- duced immediate results. To the disorder and negli- gence of the collective administration had succeeded regularity and promptitude of execution, conse- quences foreseen and necessary to the unity of power. The affairs of state and of the communes had equally profited, for they had, at last, found agents who attended to them with continued assiduity. The completion of the assessments and the collection of the taxes, formerly so neglected, were now no way retarded. Order began to be restored in the revenues and expenses of the communes. Yet many parts of their administration still required correction. The hospitals, for example, were in a very deplorable condition. The deprivation of a part of their revenues by the sale of their pro- perty, and by the deprivation of many of the rates now abolished, reduced them to extreme distress. In several towns they had recourse to the octroi, and attempted the re-establishment of the duties of the indirect contributions upon a small scale. But those duties, as yet badly placed, were neither sufficiently nor generally enough employed. The foundling department also partook of the general disarrangement. Great numbers of deserted chil- dren were to be seen, for whom public charity made no provision, or who were committed to the charge of unfortunate nurses, whose wages were not paid. The re-establishment every where of x2 Counsellors ut state on circuit. TRIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. ilL.llllU.lu aids ilc L'.S i>; v L-I; tu.tfie Isuv. the former sisters of charity was desirable for the service of the hospitals. The civil registers, taken from the clergy and given to the municipal officers, were very negli- gently kept. It was necessary to set in order this part of the administration, so important for the state of families ; there were demanded not only zeal and vigilance on the part of the administrators, but improvements in the law, which was yet in- sufficient and badly regulated. This was one of the objects which it was necessary the civil code should regulate, then actually under discussion in the council of state. The too great division of communes was mneh complained of, as well as their infinite number, and the union of several of them into one was de- manded. This beautiful system of French admi- nistration was then devised, which is now achieved, and surpasses in regularity, precision, and vigour every other European administration; it was or- ganized rapidly under the healing and all-powerful hand' of the first consul. He had devised one of the most efficacious means to be informed of every thing, and for carrying into this vast machine those improvements of which it was thought to be sus- ceptible. He commissioned some of the more able counsellors of state to travel through France, and observe, on the spot, the mode in which the admi- nistration worked. These counsellors, on arriving at' any given point, called together the prefects of the neighbouring departments and the chiefs of the 'different services, and thus held councils, in which these officers made statements to them of difficulties which could not have been foreseen, the unexpected obstacles which arose out of the nature of things, and the deficiencies in the laws or regu- lations made during the preceding ten years. They examined, at the same time, if this hierarchy of prefects, sub-prefects, and mayors, fulfilled its functions with order and facility; if the indivi duals were well selected, and if they showed that they were well impressed with the intentions of the government, if they tvere, like the government, firm, huborious, impartial, free of all factious spirit. These tours produced the best effect. The coun- sellors thus sent stimulated the zeal of the func- tionaries, and reported to the council of state many useful matters, either for the decision of current biwiness, or the digesting and improving the ad- ministrative regulations. More especially incited by the energy of the first consul, they did not hesitate to .denounce to him the feeble or incapable agents, or those who were animated by a wrong spirit. The -solicitude of the first consul was not limited to this review of the country by the counsellors of state in turn. The numerous aide-de-camp whom he despatched, now to the armies, now to the sea- ports, to communicate to them the energy of his own will, had orders to observe every thing, and to report every thing to their general. Colonels Lacnee, Lauriston, Savary, sent to Antwerp, Bou- logne, Brest, Rochefort, Toulon, Genoa, or Otranto, had a commission, on their return to stop at every place, to hear, see, and take notes of every thing and to report on every thing, the condition of the highways, the progress of commercial affairs, the conduct of functionaries, the wishes of the people, and the public opinion. None of them hesitated to obey, for none feared to speak the truth to his just and powerful chief. This chief, who then thought of nothing but good, because that good, infinite in diversity and extent, sufficed to absorb the ardour of his soul, welcomed, with warmth, the truth which he required, and turned, consequently, to profit, whither he struck at a culpable function- ary, repaired a defect in new institutions, or turned his attention to an object which, until then, had escaped his indefatigable observation 1 . 1 Here are some specimens of the instructions given to his aids-de-camp on mission : " To citizen Lauriston, aid-de-camp. " Paris, 7th Pluviose, year ix., January 27, 1801. " You will proceed, citizen, to Roonefort. You will in- spect most minutely the port and the arsenal, addressing yourself for that purpose to the maritime prefect. " You will bring back to me memorials on the following subjects : "1. The number of men exactly detailed on board the two frigates -which are about to sail, and the inventory of every thing belonging to the artillery and other things which those frigates have on board. You will stay at Rochefort till they have sailed. " 2. How many frigates are left in the road? " 3. A report respectively of each of the three ships, ' the Foudroyant,' the Duguay-Trouin,' and the ' Aigle,' to- gether with the time in which each of those ships will be ready to sail. " 4. A particular report respecting the frigates, ' La Vertu,' ' La Cybele,' ' La Volontaire,' ' La Thetis,' ' L'Embuscade,' and ' La Franchise.' " 5. A return of all the muskets, pistols, swords, and cannon balls, which have arrived in that port for maritime equipments. " 6. Are there in the magazines provisions sufficient to supply six ships of the line for six months, independently of the three above-mentioned ? " 7. Lastly, have all measures been taken for recruiting the sailors, and for obtaining from Bordeaux and Nantes, provisions, cordage, and whatever is necessary for the equip- ment of a squadron ? " If you foresee that you shall have to stay at Rochefort more than six days, you will send me your first report by post. You will not fail to inform the prefect that I am of opinion that the minister of marine has taken the necessary measures to enaWe nine sail to put to sea from Rochefort at the beginning of VentSse. You must observe that this must be said to the prefect in great .secrecy. " You will avail yourself of every circumstance to collect, in all places through which you pass, particulars relative to the march of the administrations and on the state of public feeling. " If the departure of the frigates is delayed, I authorise you to go to Bordeaux, and to return by Nantes. You will bring me a report upon the frigates which are equipping. " I salute you. BOXAPABTE." " To citizen Lacuee, aid-de-camp. " Paris, 9th Ventose, year ix., Feb. 23, 1801. " You will go, citizen, with all speed to Toulon; you will deliver the accompanying letters to rear-admiral Ganteaume. You will inspect all the ships of the squadron, as well as the arsenal. You will take care to ascertain yourself the force and the number of the English ships blockading the port of Toulon. If less than that of rear-admiral Ganteaume, you will urge him not to allow himself to be blockaded by an inferior force. " If circumstances decide general Ganteaume to continue his mission, you will prevail upon him to take on board at Toulon as many troops as he can carry. For thii purpose 1801-2. Nov. Instructions given to the aids-de-camp. THE TRIBUNATE. Exertions of Bonaparte in pre- paring the civil code. 309 A spectacle at this moment attracted universal attention : this was the discussion upon the civil code in the council of state. The necessity of such a code was certainly the most urgent of the neces- sities of France. The ancient civil legislation, composed of the feudal law, the common, and the Roman law, was no longer applicable to a society completely revolutionized. The old laws respecting marriage, and those which had been enacted re- specting divorce and succession were not adapted you will see the military commandant, to remove all ob- stacles, so that the troops may be furnished for him. " You will give rear-admiral Ganteaume to understand that he has been, in general, a little blamed for his cruise to Mahon, because he has roused the attention of rear-admiral Warren, whose only object was to defend Mahon. " If rear-admiral Ganteaume decides to complete his mis- sion, you will stay at Toulon four days after his departure. " If, on the contrary, news from sea should lead you to think that he will remain too long, you will return to Paris, after staying fifteen days in Toulon, six at Marseilles, four at Avignon, and five or six at Lyons. " You will take care to bring back to me a return of every thing that has been put on board each ship ; of the ships and frigates that have sailed from Toulon since the first Vendemiaire, year ix. ; of the state of the arsenal ; and notes relative to the public functionaries of the country through which you will pass, and also to the feeling that prevails there. " You will take advantage of all the couriers despatched by the maritime prefect, to give me news of the squadron, of the sea, and of the English. " You will encourage in your conversation all the captains of the vessels, and point out to them of what immense im- portance their expedition is to the general peace. " I salute you. BONAPARTE." " To citizen Lauriston. " Paris, 30th Pluviose, year ix., Feb. 19, 1802. " I have received, citizen, your different letters, and your last of the 25th Pluviose. I beg you to make secret in- quiries concerning the administration of the provisions, the serrice of which seems to excite complaints. " Contrive to bring me, on your return, a detailed state- ment of the northern merchandize furnished in the course of the year x. by Lechie and Co. They pretend to have, at this moment, 1,700, 000 francs' worth in store. " "What quantity of timber has arrived at Havre since the peace ; and are they at last at work finishing the five ships that are building ? " In repassing to L'Orient, see how many ships are build- ing there, and the time when each will be ready for sea. Inspect all the gunners and grenadiers of the coast-guard, that you may be able to give me an account what sort of men they are, and what it will be possible to do with them at the moment of the definitive peace. " Lastly, see at Wantes to ascertain what northern stores have been received in the year x., and what hemp there is left; and if the shipment of timber for Brest is going on. Stop two days at Vannes, to make suitable observations on the public feeling. " In all these observations endeavour to see for yourself, and without the advice of the authorities. '* Let me know what character one Charron has left at L Orient; and stop there three or four days, to observe the conduct of the administration in that port. " In short, miss no opportunity of seeing for yourself, and fixing your opinion respecting the civil, naval, and military administration. 1 ** Inform yonrself in ererr department what prospect there is of the next harvest. I sappose you will brill? me notts relative to the manner in which the troops are paid nnd clotlwd, and of the state of the principal military hospitals. ' 1 salute you. BOXAI-AKTE." either to a new state of society, or to an order of things regular and moral. A commission, com- posed of Portalis, Tronchet, Bigot de Pr&uneneu, and Malleville, had drawn up the plan of a civil code. This plan had been sent to all the tribunals, in order to be made the subject of their exami- nation and observations. In consequence of their examination, aud these observations, the plan had been modified, and finally submitted to the council of state, which had to discuss it, article by article, for several months. The first consul, present at all these discussions, had displayed, while pre- siding at them, a method, clearness, and often a depth of view, which was a matter of surprise and astonishment to all. They were not surprised to find one who had been accustomed to direct armies and to govern conquered provinces, an adminis- trator of civil government, because this quality is indispensable in a great general; but to discover that he should possess the qualities of a legislator appeared to them most extraordinary. His educa- tion in this matter was rapidly acquired. He interested himself in every thing, because he un- derstood every thing. He asked the consul Cam- bace"res for certain law books, and especially for the materials prepared during the time of the convention, for drawing up the new civil code. He had devoured these documents, as he did the books of religious controversy, with which he had provided himself when he was busy with the con- cordat. Classifying quickly in his mind the great principles of civil law, joining to these some ideas rapidly collected, his own profound knowledge of man, and his perfect clearness of understanding, he had soon rendered himself adapted to direct this important work, and he even furnished the discussions with a great number of new, just, and profound ideas. Sometimes a deficient acquain- tance with the details made him support singular notions; but he permitted himself to be led back quickly to the truth by the learned men who were around him ; but he was master of them all when it became necessary to extract from their conflict- ing opinions the most natural and rational con- clusions. The principal service which the first consul rendered, was that of bringing to this fine monument a firm mind and a will for persevering application, thereby conquering the two main diffi- culties which had so far defeated preceding at- tempts, the infinite diversity of opinions, and the impossibility of working uninterruptedly at the task amidst the troubles and agitations of tlio time. When the discussion, which often happened, had been long, diffuse, and obstinate, the first consul knew how to sum up and decide by a word; and what was more, he obliged every body to toil by toiling himself for whole days together. The minutes of these remarkable meetings were printed aud published. Before they were sent to the J\Ioniteur } the consul Cambac6res revised them, and suppressed what was not adapted for publi- cation : either when the first consul expressed opinions sometimes singular, or treated of ques- tions relating to manners with a familiarity of language, which ought -not to: go beyond the limits of a privy council. There was left, there-fore, in these minutes, nothing but the ideas of the first consul, sometimes rectified, often discoloured, but always striking. The public was struck, ana came 310 Ci THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. The consular guard. Court of the first consul. 1801-3. Nov. to regard him as the sole author of every thing great and good that was done in France; it even took a kind of pleasure in seeing him as a legis- lator whom it had seen as a general, diplomatist, and ruler, and in those very different characters constantly superior. The first book of the civil code was completed, and was one of the numerous measures which were about to be submitted to the legislative body. The pacification of France and its internal re-orga- nization were in this mode proceeding at an equal rate. Though all the evil of civil war was not repaired, nor all the good accomplished, still the comparison of the present with the past, filled the minds of men with hope and satisfaction. All the good effected was attributed to the first consul, and not unjustly; for, according to the testimony of his fellow- labourer Cambace'res, he directed the whole of the proceedings, attended himself to the details, and " effected more in every department than those to whom it was especially committed." The man who governed France from 1799 to 1815, had, in the course of his career, no doubt, days of intoxicating glory ; but neither he nor France, which he had seduced, ever saw days like these, when greatness was accompanied by more wisdom, and above all by that wisdom which gains the hope of an enduring character. He had given after victory a most glorious peace, and what he never could again obtain, a maritime peace ; he had given after chaos the most perfect order ; he had still left a certain liberty, not all that was desirable, but as much as was possible on the day after a sanguinary revolution ; he had done nothing but good to every party only excepting the trans- portation of the hundred and odd proscribed revo- lutionists, condemned without trial, after the affair of the infernal machine ; he had respected the laws ; and that act itself, culpable because of its illegality, was not thought about in the immensity of good effected. Finally, Europe reconciled to the republic, feeling, yet not saying, she had been wrong in her interference with a revolution which did not concern her, and that the unparalleled greatness of France was the just consequence of an iniquitous aggression heroically repelled Europe came with eagerness to deposit her homage at the feet of the first consul, happy to be enabled to say, for the sake of her own dignity, that she had made peace with a revolutionist full of genius, the glorious restorer of social principles. If it were possible to stop at the wonders of these past times, most certainly history, in speak- ing of this reign, would say that nothing greater or more complete had been seen upon earth. All this was written in the earnest admiring faces of the men of all ranks and of all nations who pressed around the first consul. An extraordinary influx of strangers had arrived in Paris to see France and Bonaparte ; and the greater part of them were presented to him by the ministers of their government. His court, for he had formed one, was military and civil at the same time ; austere and elegant He had added to it somewhat since the preceding year ; he had composed a military household for himself and the other consuls, and had given a princely establishment to madame Bonaparte. The consular guard was formed of four bat- talions of infantry, each consisting of twelve hun- dred men, some grenadiers, others chasseurs, and two regiments of cavalry, the first of horse grena- diers, the second of horse chasseurs. Both the one and the other were composed of the finest and bravest soldiers iu the army. A numerous and well-served artillery completed the guard, and formed a perfect war division of six thousand men. A brilliant staff commanded these superb troops. There was a colonel to each battalion, and a briga- dier-general to every two united battalions. Four lieutenants-generals, one of infantry, one of cavalry, one of artillery, and one of engineers, commanded alternately the entire corps for one decade, and did duty about the consuls. The whole was a corps composed of picked men only, wherein the best soldiers found a recompense for their good con- duct, and surrounded the government with a splen- dour perfectly in conformity to its warlike charac- ter, presenting on the day of battle an invincible reserve. It will not be forgotten that the battalion of grenadiers of the consular guard had nearly saved the army at Marengo- To this particular staff of the consular guard the first consul added a military governor in the palace of the Tuileries, accompanied by two officers of the staff with the title of adjutants. This governor was Duroc, the aid-de-camp always employed in the more delicate missions. No officer was better adapted to main- tain in the palace of the government that order and decorum which was so much hi consonance with the taste of the first consul and the spirit of the time. But it was needful to temper this entirely military appearance by that which should be of a civil cast. A counsellor of state, M. Benezech, had been appointed during the first year of the consul- ship to preside at the receptions, and to receive with their proper honours, either the foreign minis- ters or the high personages who were admitted to the presence of the consuls. Four civil officers, who bore the appellation of " prefects of the palace," were nominated successors to M. Benezech in this duty. Four ladies of the palace were given to madame Bonaparte, as assistants in doing the honours of the first consul's drawing-room. When it was known that this new organization of the palace was in the course of preparation, numerous candidates offered themselves even from among the families attached to the ancient dynasty. They were not yet the high nobility, those who formerly filled the palace of Versailles, that thus offered themselves as solicitous for place ; the moment for their submission had not yet come. Still they belonged to families of distinction that had figured in past times, but not among the emigrants, who thus were the foremost to approach a powerful government, that by its glory rendered service near it honourable for all the world. Bonaparte chose four prefects of the palace, M. Benezech, who had already performed the duties, M. Didelot and M. de Lu9ay, who belonged to the old finance department, and M. de Re*musat, of the magistracy. The four ladies of the palace charged with the honours at the side of madame Bonaparte were mesdames de Lu9ay, de Lauriston, de Talhouet, and de Remusat. The greatest slanderers among the emigrants in the Paris drawing-rooms could find no fault with the correctness of these selec- tions ; and reasonable men, who require no more ',801-2. Nov. Sisters of Bonaparte : Eliza, Caroline, and Pauline. THE TRIBUNATE. Marriage of Hortense Beau- harnois with Joseph Bona- parte. 311 in courts than just what decorum may make neces- sary, had no point for severe criticism in the mili- tary or civil organization of the present. In a republic, as in a monarchy, the palace of the chief of the state must be guarded and surrounded by an imposing display of the police force ; in the in- terior of the palace there must be men and women selected to do the honours of the residence, either to illustrious strangers or to distinguished citizens who are admitted to the first magistrate of the republic. In this respect the court of the first consul was imposing, and worthy of him. He received from his wife and sisters a certain grace; all being equally remarkable either for manners, understanding, or beauty. The brothers of the first consul have been before adverted to; the present may be a proper place to notice his sisters. The eldest sister of the first consul, madame Eliza Bacciochi, not remarkable in person, was a woman of a very superior understanding, and attracted around her the most distinguished men of letters of the time, such as Suard, Morellet, and Fontanes. The second, Caroline Murat, who had married the general of that name, was beautiful and ambitious ; intoxicated with her brother's glory, she strove to make the best use of it she could for herself and her husband's advantage : she was one of the females who gave to the new court the most elegance and animation. The third sister, Pauline, who had married general Leclerc, and afterwards a prince Borghese, was one of the most conspicuous beauties of her day. She had not then so much provoked slander as she did subsequently, and if her thoughtless conduct was sometimes a grief to her brother, the great affection which she felt for him touched his heart, and rendered his severity powerless. Madame Bonaparte was above them all as wife of the first consul, and she delighted and charmed, by her exquisite graces, both the French and the strangers admitted into the palace of the government Rivalries, inevitable and already visible between members of a family so near to the throne, were repressed by general Bonaparte, who, though he loved his relations, treated with military roughness those who were troublers of the peace which he desired to see reign around him. An event of some importance had just passed in the consular family, and this was the marriage of Hortense Beauharnois with Louis Bonaparte. The first consul, who tenderly loved the two children of his wife, had wished to marry Hortense to Duroc, as he imagined that a reciprocal attach- ment existed between these young hearts ; but this match being disapproved by madame Bona- parte, was not to be carried into effect. Madame Bonaparte, always tormented by the fear of a divorce, since she had no longer any hope of having more children, was for marrying her daughter to one of her husband's brothers, thus flattering herself that the offspring of such a marriage, bound to the new chief of France by a double tie, at the same time might serve him for heirs. Joseph Bonaparte was married; Lucien lived in a very irregular manner, and con- ducted himself to his sister-in-law like an enemy; Jerome was on board ship, expiating some youthful faults ; Louis was the only one who suited the views of madame Bonaparte, and she selected him. He was prudent, intelligent, but ill hu- moured, and not matched in disposition with his destined wife. The first consul, knowing this, resisted the match at first, but finally yielded, to a marriage, which was not to make the new couple happy, but which seemed, for the moment, likely to give heirs to the empire of the world. The nuptial benediction was given by cardinal Caprara, and in a private house, as was then the practice with all the ceremonies of religion, when those priests officiated who had not taken the oath. On the same occasion the benediction was given to Murat and his wife Caroline, who had not yet received it, as was the case with many other husbands and wives of that time, whose marriages had only been contracted before the civil magis- trate. Bonaparte and Josephine were in the same circumstances. The last pressed her husband repeatedly to add the religious to the civil tie which already united them ; but whether from foresight, or the fear of avowing openly the incom- plete obligations which united him to madame Bonaparte, he would not consent. Such was then the consular family, since become the imperial. These personages, all on various accounts remarkable, happy in the prosperity and glory of the chief who made their greatness, con- stituted by him, and yet not spoiled by fortune, presented an interesting spectacle, which did not pain the sight like that directorial court, the honours of which were done for several years by Barras the director. If a few envious or disdain- ful Frenchmen, who were frequently under obliga- tions to it, persecuted it with their sarcasms, foreigners, more just, paid it a tribute of curiosity and commendation. Once in every decade, as elsewhere remarked, the first consul received the ambassadors and the foreigners, who were presented to him by the ministers of their nation. He went down the ranks of the assemblage, always numerous, fol- lowed by his aids-de-camp. Madame Bonaparte followed him, accompanied by the ladies of the palace. It was the same ceremonial as was ob- served in other courts, but with a less train of aids-de-camp and ladies of honour, but here with the incomparable brilliancy that surrounded the name of Bonaparte. Twice in the decade he invited to dinner the eminent personages of France and of Europe, and once in the month he gave, in the gallery of Diana, a banquet, at which some- times a hundred guests were invited. On such days he held a drawing-room at the Tuileries in the evening, and admitted near him the high functionaries, the ambassadors, and persons of the highest French society, who were favourable to the government. Always carrying calculations into the minutest things, he prescribed to his family certain dresses, with the object of getting them generally worn through imitation. He ordered silk to be worn, for the purpose of encou- raging as much as possible the manufactures of Lyons. He recommended to madame Bonaparte the stuff called lawn (linon), in order to favour the manufacture of St. Quentin '. As to himself, sim- Here is part of a letter written from St. Quentin to the consul Canibaceres : " St. Quentin, 21 Pluviose, year ix., or Feb. 10, 1801. ' The interesting manufacture* of St. Quentin and its 312 Fox and Calonne at Paris. TRIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. Interviews between Fox 1801-2. aud Bonaparte. Nov. pie in every thing, he wore the plain dress of a chasseur of the consular guard. He obliged his colleagues to wear the embroidered dress of a consul, and to hold drawing-rooms in their apart- ments, for the purpose of repeating there, although with less brilliancy, what was done at the Tuileries. The winter of 1801-2, or the year x., was extremely brilliant, from the satisfaction which prevailed among aU classes, some happy to enter France, others to enjoy perfect security, or to see in the maritime peace the unbounded prospect of commercial prosperity. The foreigners contributed, by their influx, to the brilliancy of the winter fetes. Among the personages that appeared in Pains at this epoch, there were two that excited general attention ; the one was an illustrious Englishman, the other an emigrant, whose name was formerly much celebrated. This illustrious Englishman was Fox, the most eloquent of English orators ; the celebrated emi- grant was M. de Calonne, formerly minister of finance, whose ready and fertile mind in expe- dients, continued to conceal for a few moments from the eyes of the court of Versailles, the abyss towards which it was rapidly hurrying. Fox dis- played considerable impatience to see the first consul, towards whom, in spite of his British patriotism, he was attracted irresistibly. He arrived in Paris immediately after the signature of the preliminaries of peace, and was presented to the first consul by the English minister. He came to see France and its chief, and also to consult the French diplomatic archives, because at that mo- ment the great Whig orator was occupying his leisure time in writing a history of the two last Stuarts. The first consul gave orders for all the archives to be thrown open to Fox, and gave him such a welcome as would have been sufficient to conciliate an enemy, but which charmed a friend whom he had acquired by his glory alone. The first consul threw aside all forms of etiquette on his own side with the generous stranger, brought him into close intimacy, and had with him long and frequent interviews, as if he seemed desirous to make in his person the conquest of the English people themselves. They were often of a different opinion. Fox was endowed with that warm ima- gination which makes attractive orators, but his intellect was neither positive nor practical. He was full of those noble illusions which the first consul, although he had as much imagination as depth of mind, had either never partaken or par- took no longer. The young general Bonaparte was disenchanted, as any one is likely to be, after a revolution, begun in the name of humanity, and shipwrecked in blood. He had shaken off all the first enchantments of the revolution, except one, and that was greatness, which he pushed to an excess. He was too little of a liberal to please the environs, which employed seventy thousand persons, and brought into France more than fifteen million francs, have decreased five-sixths. It is desirable that our ladies should bring lawn into fashion, without giving such an absolute preference to muslins. The idea of reviving one of the most interesting manufactures which we exclusively pos- sess, and of giving bread to such a vast number of French families, is, in fact, well calculated to bring lawn into fashion ; besides, have Dot lawns been long enough in disgrace ?" chief of the Whigs, and too ambitious to suit the English taste. Each, therefore, sometimes ruffled the other, by contrary opinions. Fox made the first consul smile by a simplicity, an inexperience, which were singular in a man nearly sixty years of age 1 . The first consul sometimes learned the British patriotism of Fox, by the vastness of his designs, which he took no care to dissimulate. They were still in perfect harmony, in heart and understanding, and were enchanted with each other. The first consul took infinite care to make Fox acquainted with Paris, and sometimes was pleased to accompany him to the public establish- ments. There was then open an exhibition of the products of French industry, the second since the revolution. Every body was surprised at the pro- gress of the French manufactures, which, amid the general commotion, had still participated in the impulse given to the public mind, and a num- ber of new processes and improvements had been invented recently, or had been introduced. Fo- reigners, particularly the English, were particularly struck, the English being good judges of these things. The first consul took Fox to the halls fitted up for these exhibitions in the court of the Louvre, and sometimes enjoyed the surprise of his illustrious guest. Fox, amidst the attentions of which he was the object, suffered a sally to escape him which did honour to the sentiments and spirit of this noble personage, proving that in him justice towards France was joined to the most susceptible patriotism. There was in one of the halls of the Louvre a terrestrial globe, very fine and large, constructed with great skill, and de- signed for the first consul. One of the personages who followed the first consul making the globe turn round, and placing his hand upon England, made this ill-timed remark, that England occupied a very small space upon the map of the world. " Yes," exclaimed Fox, warmly, " yes, it is in that island which is so small that the English are born ; and it is in that island that they wish to die; but," added he, extending his arms about the two oceans, and the two Indies, "during their lives, they fill the entire globe, and embrace it with their power." The first consul applauded this reply, so proud and appropriate as it was. The personage next to Fox, who occupied public attention, was M. de Calonne. The prince of Wales had solicited and obtained permission for him to visit Paris. M. de Calonne held, from -the time of his arrival, a language wholly unexpected, and which made a sensation among the royalists. He said he had no intention to serve the new government. He could not do it, attached as he had been to the house of Bourbon ; it was his duty to speak the truth to his friends. No man in Europe was capable of making head against the first consul ; generals, ministers, kings, were his inferiors and dependents. The English had passed from hatred of him to enthusiasm in his favour. This sentiment was now prevalent among all classes of the English population, and was carried to the extreme, as were all sentiments among the English. Europe must, therefore, not be calculated upon for overthrowing general Bonaparte ; nor ought they to dishonour the royal cause by detestable plots, 1 Just turned fifty years, being born in 1749. Trantlator. 1S01-2. Nov. Unfounded reports concerning M. de Calonne. THE TRIBUNATE. Rising opposition to the first consul. which filled honest men throughout the world with horror. They must submit and hope every thing, from time, and from the double difficulty of govern- ing France without royalty, and of founding royalty without the Bourbon family. The infinite vicissi- tudes of revolutions could alone bring about the claims which did not now exist in favour of the exiled princes. But let whatever would happen, it was necessary to await from France alone, from France become enlightened, the return of better feelings, and nothing from foreigners or conspira- tors. This language, singular on account of its wisdom, above all from the mouth of M. de Calonne, caused real astonishment, and led to the belief that M. de Calonne would not be long before entering into relations with the consular govern- ment He had seen the consul Lebrun, who, with the consent of the first consul, received royalists, and had held a conversation with him upon the affairs of France. It was even asserted that he was about to become in the finances what Talley- rand was in diplomacy, a reclaimed noble, lending his name and experience to the first consul. The surmise was unfounded; and besides, the first con- sul had less need of a brilliant mind, than of that application which M. de Calonne had never exhi- bited, but which the first consul had found in M. Gaudin, who had introduced the most perfect order into the finances. Nevertheless, upon this vague rumour a crowd of persons, recently entered into France, surrounded M. de Colonne, wishing to help out their fortunes by getting into office, and think- ing that they could not find near the new govern- ment a fitter person to introduce them, or one who could better justify by his example their adherence to the first consul '. 1 There were agents of some of the exiled princes in Paris, and among these were men of talent and very well in- formed. These agents sent almost diurnal reports, to which allusion has heen already made. The subjoined is an extract from one of these reports, relative to M. de Calonne. " M. de Calonne returned to Paris about a month since. He had an interview with the ministers before he left Eng- land, and -was perfectly well received by them. He was asked if, in returning to Paris, he did not intend to join the administration. He answered, that his principles, his con- duct during the revolution, and his attachment to the royal family, all forbade him absolutely to accept a place at .the hands of the new government ; but that, attached to France by taste and by interest, he should not refuse to give his advice if it were asked, and if he believed it were of advan- tage to his country. " His arrival in Paris has made a great sensation. He is every day beset by visitors and surrounded by creatures, as at the most brilliant time of his fortune and credit. The opinion that he is about to be raised to the ministry brings crowds of applicants to him, and to rid himself of them he is obliged to fly into the country. It does not seem, however, that this opinion is well founded ; and if it is ever realized, it will not be at present. All that is known is, that he was to be presented a few days ago to Bonaparte, and to have a secret conference with him. " He sees all his old friends, and opens himself to them with perfect freedom. Having been a witness of the weak- ness and nullity of foreign powers, he does not believe that there is to be found in them the smallest guarantee against revolutionary invasion, and still less any efficacious protec- tion for the cause of the king. He repeats that which we have a long time known, that the men who govern in Europe are men without means and without character, who mre unacquainted with the times in which they live, who Who could believe that in the presence of so much good as was already effected, or was about to be so, that an opposition, and a hot one, too, would be raised ? An opposition was nevertheless in preparation, and one of the most violent possible, against the measures of the first consul. It was not among violent partizans radically opposed to the government of the first consul, royalist or revo- lutionary, that this opposition %vas formed, but among the very same party that desired and seconded the overthrow of the directory as in- efficient, and called for a new government that should be at the same time firm and able. The subaltern revolutionists, men of disorder and of bloodshed, were repressed, submissive, or trans- ported, and were sinking daily deeper and deeper into obscurity, never more to emerge. The mis- creants of royalty had a pressing necessity for drawing breath since the affair of the infernal machine, and they kept quiet ; and besides that portion of them which had infested the high roads, had been put to death. The royalists of high rank, while holding in the saloons of Paris the most impertinent conversations, began, notwithstanding, to exhibit already the disposition which led them afterwards to play ; the men, the part of chamber- lains, the women, that of ladies of honour, in the palace of the Tuileries, which the Bourbons no longer inhabited. But the moderate revolutionary party called to compose the new government was divided, as is almost always the case, with every victorious party, which goes about to form a new government, and disagrees about the manner of its constitution. From the first days of the consulate, this party, which had concurred in various ways in the lb*th of Brumaire, had appeared divided between two contrary tendencies, the one consisting in making the revolution terminate in a democratic and mode- know not how to judge of the present or to foresee the fu- ture, and who are alike destitute of the courage which incites to undertake, and the firmness which qualifies for persever- ance. He considers them as all delivered over to Bona- parte, trembling before him, and ready to execute humbly all his commands. Thus he is persuaded that in France only is it possible to labour for the restoration of the mon- archy, not by putting oneself forward and fomenting foolish and ridiculous plots, more adapted to dishonour a cause than to prepare the way for real success, but by striving, without noise and show, to re-establish public opinion, to destroy prejudice, to diminish fears, to unite all the servants of the king, and to keep them in readiness to take advan- tage of every thing in his favour, by all those events which the natural course of things must effect. " M. de Calonne asserts that in England the enthusiasm for Bonaparte is not only general, but carried to a point of excess of which it is difficult to form an adequate idea. The court and city, the capital and the country, all classes of the citizens, from the minister to the artizan, are eager to pro- claim his praises, and outvie each other in chanting his vic- tories, and the splendour of his power. Moreover, this en- thusiastic feeling is not peculiar to England ; the whole of Europe is, so to say, infected by it. From all parts people hasten to Paris, that they may see the great man at least once in their lives; and the police have been obliged to threaten to apprehend certain Danes, who had publicly bent the knee before him whenever they saw him. " This is one of the main causes of his strength and of his enormous power. How could the French dare to oppose him, as long as they see the powers of Europe thus prostrate at his feet !" Agitation in the tribunate. Opposition of the abbe 314 -Defects in the consli- TRIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. Sieyfes and his tution. friends. 1801-2. Nov. rate republic, such as Washington had established in America ; the other, in making it end in a monarchy bearing more or less a resemblance to that of England, or if it must be the old French monarchy, divested of its old prejudices, without the feudal system, but retaining its grandeur. The consular government had now begun its third year, and, as usual, these two tendencies continued to exaggerate by the very contradiction of themselves. Some became once more almost violent revo- lutionists, upon seeing how things were going forward, observing the authority of the first consul on the increase, monarchical ideas spreading, a court formed at the Tuileries, the catholic worship restored, or nearly so, and emigrants returning in shoals. The others, become almost the royalists of the old time, were so eager to react and to re- found a monarchy, that they were disposed to tolerate an enlightened despotism for the result of the revolution. In fact, an enlightened despotism, such as that which was at the same moment arising in France, had so much of genius in it, and insured such a sweet repose, that its seduction was great. Still the contradiction between the two was pushed so far on one side and the other, that a crisis might be soon expected to ensue. The tribunate, during the preceding session, much agitated, at one time on account of tho law of finance, at another on account of the special tribunals, was much more so this year at the aspect of all that was going forward, and at the sight of the government marching so fast towards its object. The concordat, above all, roused its in- dignation, as the most counter-revolutionary act that could well be imagined. The civil code was not, according to that assembly, sufficiently con- formable with equality. The treaties of peace themselves, which comprehended the greatness of France, gave umbrage at their wording, as will very shortly be seen. M. Sieyes, while endeavouring to prevent agi- tation by means of his constitutional precautions, as has been seen, had not prevented any ; because constitutions do not create human passions, and are powerless for their destruction : they are thus only the stage upon which the passions appear. By placing all the weight, all the activity of public af- fairs, in the council of state, and the noise, declama- tion, and idle animadversion in the tribunate ; in reducing the last to the character of a pleader for or against the acts of the government, before the legis- lative body, which could only answer yea or nay; in placing above an idle senate which, at long in- ttt-valrt, elected the men who had the duty of play- ing two vain characters in the legislative assem- blies ; in selecting the individuals of the govern- ment in the same spirit ; in placing men fit for business in the council of state; men fit for public speaking, inclined to noise, in the tribunate ; the ob- scure and superannuated in the legislative body, and the superannuated of a higher order in the senate M. Sieyes had hardly hindered the passions of the time from exploding ; he had even added, it must be confessed, a certain jealousy of these bodies towards one another. The tribunate felt the de- clamatory vanity of its character ; the legislative body felt the ridiculous nature of its silence, and contained besides many who were formerly priests, who had quitted orders, organized by the abb Gre"goire, into a silent but vexatious opposition. The senate itself, which M. Sieyes had intended should represent an opulent quiet old man, was not so quiet as he had intended it to be. That body was a little wearied of its idle dignity ; because the senators were deprived of public functions, and then? electoral power, so seldom exercised, was far from filling up their time. All of these were jealous of the council of state, which alone partook with the first consul the glory of the great things that were daily accomplishing. Thus this social body, which M. Sieyes had thought he should lull into a species of aristocrati- cal stupor, after the example of Venice and Genoa, still restless, like one who has upon him the re- mains of fervour, and might be calmed and con- trolled by a master, could not be cast into a peace- ful slumber as its maker had hoped. It was singular that M. Sieyes, the inventor of all these constitutional arrangements, by virtue of which there was so much activity on one hand, and so little on the other, M. Sieyes began to weary himself of his own inaction. Moderate, and even monarchical in his opinions, he ought to have approved the acts of the first consul ; but causes, some inevitable, others accidental, commenced to embroil them. That great speculative mind, limited to seeing every thing and doing nothing, could not but feel jealous of the active and puissant genius, which was every day gaining the mastery of France and of the world. M. Sieyes, in the magnificent accomplishments of general Bonaparte, already observed the germ of his future errors, and if he did not yet indicate this openly, he sometimes showed it by his silence, or by some phrase as profound as his own thoughts. It is possible that if attention had been constantly paid to him, they might have calmed and attached him to the first consul. But Bonaparte considered himself acquitted with M. Sieyes somewhat too early by the gift of the estate of Crosne ; and being, moreover, absorbed in im- mense labour, he had neglected the superior man too much, who had so nobly yielded to him the first place on the 18th Brumaire. Sieyes, idle, jealous, mortified, had faults to pick out even in the vast mass of present good, and showed himself a morose and chilling censurer. The first consul was not master of his temper sufficiently to leave all the wrong upon his adversaries. He spoke cavalierly of the metaphysics of Sieyes, of his impotent ambition, making a thousand remarks upon the subject, which were immediately re- peated and envenomed by the malevolent. Sieyes had some friends at his side, such as M. de Tracy, a man of superior mind, but not religious, an original philosopher in a school that had but little originality, and a very respectable character ; M. Garat, an eloquent philosopher, more pretend- ing than profound ; M. Cabanis, given to the study of material man, and seeing nothing beyond the limits of matter ; M. Lanjuinais, a sincere, pious, vehement man, who had so nobly defended the Girondius, and was now equally warm in resisting the new Caesar. These surrounded Sieyes, and already formed a perceptible opposition in the senate. The concordat seemed to them, as to many other persons, the strong proof of an ap- proaching counter-revolution. The first consul, seeing France and Europe en- 1801-2. Nov. Opposition in the army. In- discretion of Lannes and Augereau. THE TRIBUNATE. Moderation of the first consul. 315 chanted with his proceedings, could not understand how it occurred that the only persons who ex- claimed against these proceedings should be found precisely around him. Despite this opposition, he called the members of the senate, from whom it proceeded, idealogists, led on by a pouter, who grieved for the exercise of the supreme power, of which he was incapable ; he styled the members of the tribunate busy-bodies, with whom he should know how to break a lance, and prove he was not to be frightened with noise ; he called the discontented, more or less numerous of the legis- lative body, priests unfrocked, Jansenists, whom the abbe* Gregoire, in accord with the abbe' Sieyes, was striving to organize into an opposition against the government ; he declared that he would break down all these oppositions that they should not stop him, and prevent the good which he was endeavouring to accomplish. Never having lived among assemblies of men, he was ignorant of the art of winning them over, which Caesar himself, powerful as he was, did not neglect, and which he learned in the Roman senate. The first consul expressed his displeasure boldly and publicly, with the full sense of his strength and his glory, scarcely listen- ing to the wise Cambace'res, who possessed great skill in managing public assemblies, and urged him to use soothing and moderation. " You must prove to these people," replied the first consul, " that you are not afraid of them ; and they will be frightened, on condition that you are not frightened yourself." Here were already, as may be seen, the manners and ideas of genuine royalty in proportion as the moment approached when royalty became inevitable. The opposition was not only seen in the bodies of the state, but also in the army. The mass of the army, like the mass of the nation, sensible of the great results obtained during the last two years, was wholly devoted to the first consul. Still among some of the chiefs there were discontented men, some really so, others merely jealous. The sincerely discontented were the staunch revolu- tionists, who saw with mortification the return of the emigrants, and the obligation they were under to go and exhibit their uniforms hi the churches. The discontented out of jealousy, were those who saw with chagrin an equal, who having in the first place surpassed them in renown, was now on the eve of becoming their master. The former belonged, for the most part, to the army of Italy, which had always been completely revolu- tionary ; the last to the army of the Rhine, calm, moderate, but somewhat envious. The chiefs of the army of Italy, for the most part devoted to the first consul, but ardent in their sentiments, had a dislike both to priests and emi- grants; they complained that they were to be made churchmen ; all this being spoken in the origi- nal, and not very becoming manner of soldiers. Augereau and Lannes, bad politicians but heroic soldiers, especially the second, who was a most accomplished soldier, held the most singular con- versations. Lannes, become commander-in- chief of the consular guard, administered the military chest with a prodigality known and authorized by the first consul. A mansion was sumptuously fur- nished for the accommodation of the staff of the guard. There Lannes kept an open table for all his brother officers, and delivered invectives against the proceedings of the government. The first con- sul had no fear that the devotion of these idle soldiers towards himself personally was diminished. At the first signal he was certain to recal them all to him, and Lannes before the rest. Still it was dangerous to suffer such heads and such tongues to go on, and he sent for Lannes. Habituated to a great familiarity with his general-in-chief, he gave way to his passion, which was very soon suppressed by the calm superiority of bearing of the first con- sul. Lannes retired sorry for his fault, and regretful of the displeasure he had caused. From an honourable and susceptible feeling, he deter- mined to liquidate the sums drawn from the chest of the guard, though with the consent of the first consul. But after all his campaigns in Italy, he scarcely possessed any property. Augereau, almost as inconsiderate as himself, but possessing an ex- cellent heart, lent him a sum, being all which he possessed in the world, saying, " Here, take this money ; go to that ungrateful fellow for whom we have spilled our blood ; give him back what is due to the chest, and let neither of us be under any obligations to him." The first consul could not permit his old companions in arms, at once heroes and children, to throw off their affections towards him. He dispersed them. Lannes was destined to a profitable embassy in Portugal ; Cambace'res, the consul, being charged with the arrangement: Augereau had orders to be more careful for the future, and to return to his army. These scenes, highly exaggerated by the malevo- lence which propagated and disfigured them, pro- duced a mischievous effect, more especially in the provinces. No voice, it is true, was raised against the first consul, whom every body was disposed to think must be right in the teeth of every opponent; but they excited uneasiness and apprehension of there being weighty difficulties in the way of the supreme authority, the re-establishment of which was so ardently desired l . The differences with the officers of the army of Italy, were scenes between friends who fall out one day and the next embrace. They were of a more serious character with the officers of the army of > Here is a passage in a letter of Talleyrand, who had gone some time afterwards to Lyons, for the organization of the Italian consulta : " Lyons, 7th Nivftse, year x.,or Dec. 28th, 1801. " GENEKAL, I have the honour to inform you of my arrival at Lyons to-day, at half-past one in the morning. The road through Burgundy, with the exception of six or eight leagues, is not very bad ; and the prefects of the line of communication have availed themselves of the enthu- siastic moment caused by the hope of your passage, to cause the active repair of the roads. Whenever I came to com- munes or habitations, I heard cries of ' Vive Bonaparte ! ' For the last ten leagues which I travelled in the middle of the night, every one came as I passed, light in hand, to repeat these words. It is an expression which you are destined continually to hear. " The story about general Lannes has spread, and appears to occupy much attention. The tub-prefect of Autun and a citizen of Avallon talked to me about it, but with different circumstances, which letters from Paris had reported to them as anecdotes. I have had occasion to remark anew to what a degree all that relates to your person retains the public attention, and is immediately the subject of conversa- tion throughout France." 31G Rupture between Moreau and Bonaparte. THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. Opening of the session of the year x. 1801. Kov. the Rhine, who were more cool and malicious. Unfortunately, a fatal division now began to ap- pear between the general -in- chief of the army of Italy, and the general-in-chief of the army of the Rhine, or between Bonaparte and Moreau. Moreau, since the campaign against Austria, the success of which he owed at least in part to the first consul, who gave him the command of the finest army of France Moreau was reputed the second general of the republic. Really no one was mistaken respecting his worth ; he was well known to possess a mind of moderate power, incapable of great combinations, and wholly destitute of political knowledge ; but stress was laid upon his real qualities of a wise, prudent, and vigorous general, in order to make of him a very superior com- mander, capable of meeting the conqueror of Italy and Egypt. Parties have a wonderful instinct for discovering the weak points of eminent men. They abuse or flatter them alternately, until they have found a way to penetrate into their hearts, and infuse into them their own poison. They had soon found out the weak side of Moreau, which was vanity. While flattering him, they had inspired him with a fatal jealousy of the first consul, which was one day destined to be his destruction. The females of the families of Bonaparte and Moreau had quarrelled about some of the miserable mat- ters for which women will fall out with one another. The family of Moreau endeavoured to persuade him that he ought to be the first and not the second ; that Bonaparte was ill-disposed towards him ; that he endeavoured to depreciate him, and make him play a secondary part. Moreau, who was wholly destitute of firmness of character, had listened too much to this kind of dangerous suggestion. The first consul, on his side, had never in any way done him wrong ; on the contrary, he had loaded him with distinctions of all kinds ; he had affected to speak of him higher than he thought, above all, in respect to the battle of Hohenlmden, which he in public proclaimed a master-piece of military art, whereas he considered it privately rather a piece of good luck, than a deliberate scientific combina- tion. But when Moreau had once the idea that he was wronged, he would not be behindhand, and with the ordinary promptitude of his character, he promptly resented it. One day Bonaparte invited Moreau to accompany him to a review ; Moreau drily refused, that he might not be last in the .first consul's staff, alleging as an excuse that he had no horse. The first consul, vexed at this refusal, soon returned it in the same way. On one of the great entertainments, which lie was frequently obliged to give, all the high functionaries were invited to dine at the Tuileries. Moreau was in the country, but returning the day before the dinner, upon some kind of business, he called upon Cambace'res, to speak to him about it. This consul, who continually made his business to conciliate, received Moreau with the utmost cordiality. Being surprised to see him in Paris, he ran to the first consul, and urged him, with some warmth, to invite the commander of the army of the Rhine to the grand dinner that was to take place on the day following. " He has given me one public refusal," replied the first con- sul, " T will not hazard the risk of receiving a second from him." Nothing could shake this determination. The next day, while .ill the gene- rals and high functionaries of the republic were seated in the Tuileries, at the table .of the first consul, Moreau avenged himself for having been neglected, by going publicly, in plain clothes, to dine at one of the most frequented restaurants of the capital, with a party of malcontent officers. This circumstance was much noticed, and produced a very mischievous effect. From that day, being in the autumn of 1801, the generals Bonaparte and Moreau showed an extreme degree of coldness towards one another. The public were soon cognizant of this, and the hostile parties lost no time in turning it to advan- tage. They began by extolling Moreau at the expense of Bonaparte, and laboured to fill the hearts of both with the poison of hatred. These details may appear below the dignity of history. Yet whatever may serve to extend the knowledge of men, and the lamentable littleness even of the greatest, is not unworthy of history, since every thing that is capable of imparting instruction belongs to it. It is not possible too strongly to warn personages of note against the frivolous nature of the motives which too often embroil them, more especially when these differences become those of their country. The opening of the session of the year x. took place on the 1st Frimaire, or 22nd of November, 1801, in accordance with the command of the con- !*stitution, which fixed that day for the purpose. Certainly, if ever any man had a right to feel pride in presenting himself before a legislative as- semblage, it was that which the consular govern- ment carried with it. Peace concluded with Russia, England, the German and Italian powers, Portugal, and the Porte, and concluded with all these powers upon such glorious conditions ; a plan for conciliation with the church, which ter- minated the religious troubles, and which, in re- forming the church according to the principles of the revolution, still obtained the adhesion of the orthodox to the results of that revolution ; a civil code, a monument since admired by the whole world ; laws of high utility respecting public in- struction, the legion of honour, and an infinite number of other important matters; financial plans which placed the expenses and the revenues of the state in perfect equilibrium what more complete, more extraordinary, than such an assemblage of results to lay before the nation ! No matter, all these things, as will soon be seen, were very thank- lessly received. The session of the legislative body was opened this time with a certain solemnization. The minis- ter of the interior was charged with the presidency of the opening. Formal opening speeches were made on both sides, and there appeared some in- tention to imitate the forms customary in England on the opening of .parliament. The new cere- monial, borrowed from constitutional royalty, was commented upon malevolently by the opposition. The tribunate and legislative body constituted themselves, and then commenced that kind of manifestation by which assemblies willingly reveal their secret sentiments, the election of members. The legislative body chose for its president M. Dupuis, author of the celebrated work, " Sur I'Ori- fjlne de tous let Cuttes." M. Dupuis was not so strong an oppositionist as might be supposed from 1S01. Nov. The civil code presented to the legislative bodies. THE TRIBUNATE. Election of three senators to supply vacancies. his work; he had acknowledged to the first consul, in conversation, that the reconciliation with Rome was needful: but his name had a considerable sig- nification at a moment when the concordat was one of the principal grievances alleged against the consular policy. The intention it was easy to infer; and it was comprehended by the public, above all, by the first consul, who, even in his own mind, exaggerated its importance. The two assemblies exercising the legislative power, in other words, the tribunate and the legis- lative body, being constituted, three counsellors of state presented an exposition of the situation of the republic. This exposition, dictated by the first consul, was simple, yet noble, in language, but in regard to subject, magnificent. It made a strong impression on the public mind. On the day fol- lowing, a numerous train of counsellors of state brought up such a series of bills us any govern- ment has rarely an occasion to present to its assembled chambers. They were bills designed to convert into laws the treaties with Russia, Bavaria, Naples, Portugal, America, and the Ottoman Porte. The treaty with England, concluded at London previously, under the form of preliminaries of peace, was on the point of receiving^, at this mo- ment, in the congress of Amiens, the form of a definitive treaty, and could not yet be submitted to the deliberations of the legislative body. As for the concordat, it was not thought right to ex- pot. ' at once to the ill-nature of the opposition. Portalis, the counsellor of state, then read an ad- dress, which has ever since remained celebrated, upon the entire of the civil code. The three heads of that code were brought up at the same time by three counsellors of state : the first related to " the publication .of the Laws ; " the second, to " the enjoyment and the privation of ci vil rights ,;" the third, to " the acts of the civil state." It would seem that such a liat of legislative la- bours ought to have put to silence every opposi- tion; but it did nothing of the kind. When, ac- cording to usage, . the bills were presented to the tribunate, the communication of the treaty with Russia produced a most violent scene. The third article of the treaty contained) an, important sti- pulation, which the two governments had devised in order to secure each other, in case of the evil- disposed working mischief reciprocally in either country. They had mutually promised, according to Article in., "not to suffer any of their, subjects to carry on any correspondence whatsoever, whe- ther' direct or indirect, with the internal enemies of the governments of the two states, to propagate thereon principles contrary to their respective con- stitutions, or to foment troubles." In this the French government had the emigrants in view, and the Russian government the Poles. Nothing was more natural than such a precaution, more particularly on the part of the French government, which had to fear the Bourbons, and to watch them continually. In alluding to the particular class of individuals who might attempt to disturb the repose of the two countries, the negotiators had used the word which most naturally occurred, as that oftenest adopted in the language of diplo- matists, namely, the word " subjects." It had been used without any intention, because it was the word commonly employed in all treaties, as it was as usual to say the "subjects" of a republic as the "subjects" of a monarchy. Scarcely was the reading of the treaty completed, than Thibaut, a tribune, one of the opposition members, demanded to speak. " There has slipped," he said, " into the text of the treaty, an expression inadmissible in our language, and which ought not to be tole- rated. I mean the word 'subjects,' applied to the citizens of one of the two states. A republic has no * subjects,' but ' citizens.' Doubtless it was an error of the writer it should be rectified." These words produced a very great agitation, such as is certain to be the case in an assembly pra- ' viously excited, and in expectation of some event, ' and which is electrified by every circumstance, no matter how slight, that has pre-occupied the minds of the members. The president cut short the ex- planations about to be made, by the remark that the deliberations were not at that moment opened, and that such observations ought to be reserved for the time when, on the report of a commission, the treaty presented would be submitted for dis- cussion. This appeal to the regulations hindered the tumult from breaking out at the moment, and a commission was immediately named. This display increased the agitation which pre- vailed in the great bodies of the state, and iiTrtnted still more the first consul. These ma&ifeMtivtmu* were continued through the character of the -pa*- , sons to be elected. There were several pJa.ee* iu the senate to be filled up. One was vacant, by the death of the senator Crassous. There were two others to be filled up, in virtue of the. consti- tution. The constitution, as it will be remembered, had at first provided but sixty 'places for senators out of the eighty, which formed the total number.. To reach this last number, two were, to be ap- pointed every year for ten years. At this time there were three places to be given; away, counting in. that which was vacant by the death .iof the senator Crassous. According to the rules of the constitution, the first consul, the legislative body, and the tribunate, were each to name a candidate, and the senate were then to choose from among the candidates thus presented. The scrutiny was begun for this, object a* well in the tribunate as in the legislative body, in the tribunate the opposition supported M. Daunou, who had publicly quarrelled with the firat consul, on the matter of the special tribunals, so much discussed in the preceding session. From that tune he would not attend the meetings of the tri- bunate, saying that he should remain a stranger to any of the legislative proceedings, " as Jong as the tyranny endured." In fact, he had kept his word, and had not been seen there Afterwards. Th op- position therefore had chosen M. Daunou, as being the candidate the least agreeable to the first consul. The decided partisans of the government, in the same body, supported one of the framers of the civil code, M. Bigot de Prdameneu. Neither th<> oue nor the other were elected. The majority of the votes were united in favour of a candidate of no note, the tribune Desmeuniera, a moderate per- son in his sentiments, and who, through his rela- tions, was not a stranger to the- first consul. The legislative body more decidedly spoke out its sen- timents, and elected the abbe Gre'goire as its own candidate to the senate. This choice, after the 318 Senators nominated by Bonaparte. The abbe Gregoire elected. TRIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. -Violent opposition in the tribunate. 1801. Dec. gift of the presidency to M. Dupuis, was a re- doubled manifestation against the concordat. M . Bigot de Preameneu had in the assembly a cer- tain number of votes that nearly amounted to two-fifths. The first consul wished, on his side, to make a significant proposition. He might have waited until the two bodies, authorized to present can- didates concurrently with the executive powers, had chosen those for the two places which re- mained to be filled up. It was probable that the legislative body and the tribunate, not willing to break definitively with a government so popular as that of the first consul, liable also to the oscillating movement of all assemblies, that ever fall back on the morrow when they have advanced too far the day before, would make a less obnoxious choice, and even adopt, for the two remaining candidate- ships, persons acceptable to the government. Thus M. de Desmeuniers, for example, was a person whom the first consul could perfectly approve, be- cause he had promised to recompense his services by the place of senator. It was probable that the name of M. Bigot de Pre"ameneu might issue in one of the ballots of the legislative body or the tribunate. The first consul would then be able to present, on his own account, those candidates adopted by the assemblies that would best suit his views; and, in that case, a name presented by two authorities out of three would almost have the certainty of being chosen by the majority of the senate. The consul Cambacdres advised this line of conduct; but it partook of that kind of manage- ment in its nature much used in representative governments, to which the first consul had a sove- reign repugnance. The magistrate-general, a stranger to such a form of government, would not thus place himself, as it were, behind the legisla- tive body and the tribunate, and await their opinion before he manifested his own. In con- sequence, he immediately presented to them, not one candidate alone, but three at once, and he chose three generals. Notwithstanding the hopes previously given to M. Desmeuniers, the first consul, displeased with him, because he had not pronounced his sentiments decidedly, left him out, and presented generals Jourdan, Lamartilliere, and Berruyer. It is true that these selections were well suited to the moment. General Jourdan had ap- peared an opponent of the 18th Brumaire, but he enjoyed general respect; he had conducted himself with prudence, and had received, subsequently, the government of Piedmont. In presenting him to the senate, the first consul proved the real im- partiality which became the head of the govern- ment. As to general Lamartilliere, he was the oldest officer of artillery, and had made all the revolutionary campaigns. General Berruyer was an old officer of infantry, who, after having borne a part in the seven years' war, had been wounded in the republican armies. These were not, there- fore, his own creatures, whom the first consul thus determined to reward, but the old servants of France under all the governments. This proud and decided conduct adopted, it was impossible to make a more worthy choice. A circumstance still more singular is, that this choice was justified as to motive, in a preamble. The sense of the pre- amble had a strong meaning : " You have peace," the government said to the senate ; " you are in- debted for it to the blood which your generals have shed in a hundred battles ; prove to them, that in calling them to your bosom, the country is not ungrateful towards them." The senate assembled, and was much agitated by intrigues. Sieyis, who commonly lived in the country, left it upon the present occasion, to mingle himself up in them. Many persons very well dis- posed, like old Kellermann for example, were misled by being told that the legislative body, in case the abbe" Gre'goire, its own candidate, were preferred, would return the compliment, by pro- posing for the second vacant place, general Lamar- tilliere, one of the three candidates nominated by the first consul, and that then, by choosing the general a little later, it would satisfy the authorities at once, the legislative body, and the government. These manoeuvres succeeded; the abbe" Gre'goire was elected by a large majority. While these elections were in agitation, and causing great pleasure to the opposition, the dis- cussions in the tribunate and legislative body as- sumed a most mischievous character. The treaty with Russia, on account of the word " subjects," had become a ground of the most violent discus- sions in the committee of the tribunate. M. Costaz, the reporter of that committee, who did not belong to the opposition party, had applied to the govern- ment for certain explanations. The first consul had received him, and explained to him the real meaning of the article, so much attacked, and the motive of its insertion in the treaty; and as to the word "subjects," he proved to M. Costaz, by a reference to the dictionary of the academy, that the word hi diplomacy, applied to the citizens of a republic as well as of a monarchy. He recounted to him, in order to his complete edification, the different details relative to emigrants concerning France and Russia. M. Costaz, convinced on the evidence of these explanations, made his report favourable to the article in question ; but, intimi- dated by the violence of the tribunate, he censured the employment of the word "subjects," and related these things in a manner sufficiently awk- ward, and liable to give Russia the appearance of a very feeble government, delivering up the emi- grants to the first consul, and to the first consul the appearance of a persecuting government, pur- suing the emigrants into their most distant refuge. M. Costaz, as often happens to circumspect men, who wish to conciliate all parties, displeased the first consul and his opponents in an equal degree, and compromised the former with Russia. The day of the discussion arrived, being the 7th of December, 1801, or 16th Frirnaire, when the tribune Jard Panvilliers moved that the debate should take place hi a secret committee, and this very wise proposal was agreed to. The tribunes were no sooner left to themselves by the public, which was by no means favourable to them, than they gave themselves up to the most inconceivable rage. They absolutely wanted to reject the treaty, and propose its rejection to the legislative body. If there was ever a culpable act, it was this; because for one word, right besides, and perfectly innocent, they would reject a treaty of such a nature, so long and so difficult to conclude, and which secured a peace with the first continental 18*1. Dec. Debates in the tribunate. The treaty with Russia ratified. THE TRIBUNATE. Ill consequences of th's opposi- tion. Discussions concern- ing the civil code. 319 power it was acting like fools and madmen. Che"- nier and Benjamin Constant delivered the most declamatory and violent speeches. Che'nier went so far as to state, that he had important things to say upon this question, but that he could only state them at a public sitting, because he wished that all France might hear them. He was answered that it was better he should communicate them to his own colleagues. He shrunk back from doing this, and an unknown member of the tribune, a simple, sensible man, restored the minds of his colleagues to their senses, in a short speech. " I know no- thing," said he, "of diplomacy; I am a stranger alike to the art and the language ; but I see in the proposed treaty a treaty of peace. A treaty of peace is a precious thing, and must be adopted entire, with all the words it contains. Do not believe that France would ever pardon you for its rejection ; the responsibility resting upon you would be terrible. I demand that the discussion termi- nate, the sitting be declared public, and the treaty be immediately put to the vote." After these few words, delivered with simplicity and calmness, the assembly was about to vote, when the opposition members moved an adjournment until the next day, on account of the lateness of the hour. The adjournment was carried. The following day the tumult was as great as it'had been the day before. Benjamin Constant delivered a written speech, very lucid and very subtle. Che'nier declaimed anew, with great vehemence, saying that five mil- lions of Frenchmen had died that they might cease to be " subjects," and that this word ought to have remained buried among the ruins of the Bastile. The majority, wearied by these violent proceed- ings, were about to terminate them, when a letter from Fleurieu, councillor of state, addressed to the reporter, M. Costaz, arrived. M. Costaz had treated as official the explanations which he had given in his report, and had made the assembly understand that they came from the first consul. "Furnish the proof positive of that!" was the answer made to him. He had thus forced a declaration from M. Fleurieu, who was the councillor of state, appointed to support the bill or "project." M. Fleurieu, after having received the orders of the first consul, sent the declaration desired, accom- panied by many declarations, which the report of M. Costaz rendered indispensably needful ; this revived the debate. Ginguune terminated it by an epigrammatic and not very fitting motion. Ac- knowledging that it was difficult, on account of an unpleasant word, to reject a treaty of peace, he proposed a vote in these words : " For the love of peace, the tribunate adopts the treaty concluded with the court of Russia." M. de Girardin, who was one of the most rea- sonable and intelligent members of the tribunate, induced the assembly to pass over all these propo- sitions, and to go immediately to the vote. After all, tli* majority of the tribunate intended to give the first consul signs of dissatisfaction by the choice of individuals ; it had no desire to enter into a strug- gle, above all, in relation to a treaty of which the rejection would have drawn upon itself much public remark. It was adopted by seventy-seven votes to fourteen. Its adoption in the legislative body occurred without tumult, thanks to the forms of the institution. In Paris this scene produced a painful effect. The first consul was not considered there as a minister exposed to the law of a majority, and no fear was in consequence felt for his political exist- ence. He was considered a hundred times more necessary than a king in an established monarchy. But they saw with chagrin the least appearance of new troubles, and the friends of a wise liberty asked themselves how, with a character similar to that of Bonaparte, how, with a constitution, in which the framer had neglected to admit the power of dissolution, such a contest would terminate if it should be prolonged. In effect, if a dissolution had been admitted, the difficulty would soon have been cleared away, since France, when convoked, would not have re-elected one of the enemies of the government. But obliged to live together until the renewal of one-fifth, the different powers were liable, as they were under the directory, to some violence, the one from the other; and if such a thing occurred, it was evidently neither the tribunate nor the legis- lative body that could triumph. It needed but an arbitrary action of the first consul to bring to nothing, both the constitution and those who made it serve such a purpose. Thus every wise man trembled at this state of things. The discussion of the civil code did but increase these apprehensions. Now that time has obtained the esteem of all the world for this code, it is hardly possible to conceive all the objections at that time urged against it. The opposition ex- pressed at first great astonishment at finding the code so simple, and that it had so little novelty. " How," said they, " what is that all ? there is in that no new conception, no great legislative crea- tion, which is particularly adapted for French society, or able to mark it with a peculiar and enduring character ; it is only a translation from the Roman and the common law. Its authors have taken Domet, Pothier, the institutes of Jus- tinian, and digested into French all that they con- tain ; they have divided this into articles by num- bers more than by a logical deduction ; and then they have presented this compilation to France, as a monument which has a claim to its admiration and respect." Benjamin Constant, Che'nier, Gin- guene", Andrieux, all of them men who might have employed their intellects to a better purpose, ral- lied the councillors of state, saying they were lawyers, under the direction of a soldier that had made this mediocre compilation, so pompously called the civil code of France. M. Portalis and the men of sense, who were his assistants, replied, that on the matter of legislation the object was not to be original, but lucid, just, and wise ; that here there was no new society to be constituted as with Lycurgus or Moses, but an old society to be reformed in some points, and in many others to be restored ; that the French law iiad existed for ten centuries ; that it was, at the same time, the product of Roman science, of the feudal system, of the monarchy, and of the modern mind, acting together for a long space of time upon French manners ; that the civil law of France, resulting from these different causes, it was neces- lary to adapt in the present day to a society which had ceased to be aristocratic, in order to become democratic ; that it was necessary, for example, to 320 Discussions relative to THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. the civil code. 1SU1. Dec. review the laws upon marriage, upon paternal authority, upon succession, in order to divest them of every thing that was repugnant to the spirit of the present time ; that it was necessary to purge the laws upon property of all feudal services, to draw up this mass of prescriptions in precise plain language, which would allow no room for am- biguities or for endless disputes, and to put the whole in excellent order; that this was the only monument te be erected, and that, if contrary to the intention of the authors, it should chance to surprise by its structure, if it should please a few scholars by new and original views, in place of obtaining the cold and silent esteem of lawyers, it would fail of its real object, though it might suit a few minds more singular than judicious in their sentiments. All this was perfectly reasonable and true. The code under this view was a master-piece of legis- lation. Grave lawyers, full of learning and ex- perience, knowing well the language of the law, under the direction of a chief, a soldier, it is true, but of a superior mind, able to decide their doubts, and to keep them at work, composed this beautiful digest of French law, purged of all feudal law. It was impossible to do otherwise, or to do better. It is true that in this vast code it is possible to substitute here and there one word for another, to transpose an article from one place to another this might be done without much danger, and also without much utility ; and that it is which even the best intentioned assemblies are fond of doing, only to impress their own hand on the work which is submitted to them. Sometimes, in fact, after the presentation of an important bill, mediocre and ignorant minds get hold of ^a legislative mea- sure, the result of profound experience and long labour, alter this, and spoil it, making of a well- connected whole, a formless incoherent thing, with relation to laws already in existence, or to the real facts of the case. They often act thus out of no spirit of opposition, but only from a taste for retouching the work of another. Only let it be imagined of vehement tribunes, persons of little information, exercising themselves in this sort of way upon a code of some thousand articles ! It was enough to make the authors renounce their work. The preliminary essay had to sustain the first assault of the tribunes. It had been sent before a commission, of which the tribune Andrieux was the reporter. This part contained, save in some few and unimportant differences in the verbal part, the same dispositions as were definitively adopted, and which now form what may be styled the preface to that fine monument of legislation. The first article related to the promulgation of the laws. The ancient system had been abandoned, in virtue of which the law could not be executed until the parliaments and tribunals had granted the regis- tration. That system had produced formerly a contest between the parliaments and royalty ; a contest which had, in its day, been a useful cor- rection of absolute monarchy, but which would have been a great blunder at a time when repre- sentative assemblies were in existence, commis- sioned to grant or refuse taxes. There has been substituted for this system the simple idea of the promulgation of the law by the executive power, rendering it in full force in the chief place of the government twenty-four hours after its promul- gation, and in the departments after a delay pro- portioned to their distances. The second article interdicts to the laws all retrospective eifect. Some great errors of the convention upon this point rendered this article useful, and even necessary; It was requisite to lay it down as a strong princi- ple, that no law should be permitted to disturb the past, but only to regulate the future. After having limited the action of the law as to time, it was ne- cessary to limit its action as to place ; to declare what laws should follow Frenchmen out of the territories of France, and bind them in all places, as those for example which regulated marriages and successions ; and what laws should be obli- gatory in the territory of France only, and on that territory binding upon foreigners as well as natives of. France. The laws relative to police and to property were to come under the latter category : that was the object of article three. The fourth article obliged the judge to try, even when the law might appear insufficient. This case had occurred more than once in the transition from one legis- lation to another. Often, in fact, the tribunals, from the fault of the laws, had been really em- barrassed how to give judgment ; often, too, they had fraudulently withdrawn themselves from the obligation to render justice. The court of cassa- tion and the legislative body were encumbered with addresses, praying interpretations of the laws. It was necessary to prevent this abuse, by obliging the judges to decide in all cases ; but it was at the same time needful to prevent them from con- stituting themselves legislators. This was the object of article five, which forbade tribunals from deciding any thing but the especial case submitted to them, and to pronounce in the way of a general disposition. The sixth, and last article, limited the natural faculty which all citizens have to renounce the benefit of certain laws by particular agreements. It rendered it absolute and impossi- ble to elude the laws relative to publio order, to the constitution of families, and to good man- ners. It decided that no one could withdraw himself from them by any particular agreement. These preliminary dispositions wre indispensa- ble, because it was necessary to declare somewhere in legislation how the laws were to be promulgated, at what moment they became in full force, and how far their effects extended in regard to time and to place. It was necessary to prescribe to the judges the general mode in which the laws applied, to oblige them to try, but to interdict their consti- tuting themselves legislators ; ife was necessary^ lastly, to render the laws immutable which consti- tuted social order and morality, and to restrain them from the variations of particular agreements. If it was indispensable to write 'these things, where was it more so than afr the head of the civil code^ the first, the most? general, and the "most important of all the codes ? Would they have been better placed, for example, at the 'head of the code of commerce or of civil procedure ? Evidently these general maxims were necessary, well written, and well placed. It would be difficult at the present 1 tune to form an idea of the censures directed by M. Andrieux against the preliminary title of the civil code, 1801. Dec. Discussions concerniug THE TRIBUNATE. the civil code. 321 in the name of the commission of the tribunate. In the first place, according to him, these dispositions might be placed any where : they belonged no more to the civil code than to any other. They might, for example, be placed at the head of the constitution as well as at the head of the civil code. That was true ; but when no one had thought of placing them at its head, which was natural, because they had no political character, where could they be better placed than in the code which might be denominated the social code ? Secondly, the order of these six articles, ac- cording to M. Andrieux, was arbitrary. It was as easy to put the first last, as the last first. This was not exactly correct; for on a close examination it was easy to discover a true logical deduction in the manner in which they were disposed. But in any case what matter is the order of the articles if one order be just as good as another ? The last order, is it not that which eminent lawyers, after the most conscientious labour, have preferred ? Were there not natural difficulties enough in this great work, without adding to them those which were puerile? Lastly, according to M. Andrieux, the maxims were general, theoretic, appertaining more to the science of law than to positive law, which disposes and commands. This was false, because the form of the promulgation of the laws, the limit given to their effects, the obligation of the judges to judge and not to make regulations, the interdiction of certain particular agreements contrary to the laws, all that was imperative. The critical censures, then, were as empty as they were ridiculous. Nevertheless they made an impression on the tribunate, which judged them worthy of the greatest attention. The tribune Thiesse" considered the disposition which inter- dicted to the laws a retractive effect as extremely dangerous, and counter-revolutionary. It was, he said, up to a certain point, annulling the conse- quences of the night of the 4th of August ; because the individuals born under the system of the law of primogeniture and of substitutions would be able to say that the new law on the equality of property was retracted as regarded them, and in consequence void as far as they were affected by it. Such absurd objections were supported, and the preliminary part was rejected by sixty-three votes against fifteen. The opposition, delighted with their commencement, determined to follow up this first success. According to the constitution, the tribunate nominated three speakers or orators to eustaiu against three councillors of state, the dis- cussion of the laws before the legislative body. Thies?e", Andrieux, and Favard were, in conse- quence, charged to demand the rejection of the preliminary title. They obtained one hundred and forty-two Toices against one hundred and thirty- nine. This result, together with the different votes at the election of the proposed members, and the scene upon the word " subjects" was very serious. It was reported as nearly certain that two other parts already presented, that " On the enjoyment of civil rights," and " On the form of the acts of the civil state," would also be rejected. The report of M. Simeon " On the enjoyment and privation of civil rights," was in favour of its rejection. M. Simeon, that ordinary-minded, dis- creet person, had, among different animadversions, stated that the proposed law had neglected to say that the children born of French parents in the French colonies were by right born Frenchmen. This singular objection is quoted here because it excited astonishment and anger in the first consul. He convoked the council of state to advise with it what was best to be done in such an emergency. Was the government to go on in the course it had adopted or not ? Must it change the mode of presentation to the legislative body ? Would it not be best to put off this great work, so anxiously and impatiently expected, until another time ? The first consul was exasperated. " What would you do," he cried, " with persons who, before discus- sion, say that the councillors of state and the con- suls are nothing but asses, and that their labours ought to be flung at their heads I What will you do when such an one as Simeon accuses the law of being incomplete, because it does not declare that infante born of Frenchmen in French colonies are French ? In truth, one stands astounded in the midst of these strange mental aberrations. Even with all the good faith brought to this discussion in the bosom of the council of state, we have had the greatest difficulty to come to an agreement ; how is it possible then to succeed in an assembly five or six times more numerous, discussing with no sin- cerity at all 1 How is an entire code to be drawn up under such circumstances ? I have read the speech of Portalis to the legislative body, in reply to the orators of the tribunate ; ho has left them nothing to say ; he has drawn their teeth. But let a man be ever so eloquent ; let him speak twenty- four hours in succession, he can do nothing against an assembly which is prejudiced and determined to listen to nothing." After these complaints, expressed in bitter and warm language, the first consul asked the advice of the council of state on the best mode to be adopted to ensure the passing of the civil code by the tribunate and legislative body. The subject was not a new one in the council. It had already been foreseen there, and different means proposed for getting over the difficulty. Some had imagined that general principles only should be presented, on which the legislative body should vote, with the understanding that the developments should after- wards be added in the way of regulations. This was hardly to be admitted, because to comprehend the general principles of laws is difficult with the developments separately drawn up. Others pro- posed a more simple plan, which was to present the whole code at once. " You would have no more trouble," they said, " this way, for the three books of the code than for one. The tribunes would attack the first heads ; they would then get fatigued, and let the rest pass. The discussion would be shortened this way by its very im- mensity." This was the most plausible and the wisest course to take. Unhappily, in order to make it succeed, there were many conditions want- ing. The assemblies had not then the faculty of amending the propositions of the government, which permits such small sacrifices, by means of which the vanity of some is satisfied and the scruples of others disarmed, during the ameliora- tion of the laws. There wanted also to the oppo- Opposition to the civil code. THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. Disputes concerning the election of senators. 1802. Jail. ition a little of that good faith, without which all serious discussion is impossible ; and, lastly, there wanted to the first consul himself that constitutional patience, which the habit of contradiction imparts to men fashioned under a representative govern- ment. He would not admit that good, honestly intended and toilingly prepared, should be delayed or spoiled to please " the babblers," as he styled them. Some resolute spirits went so far as to propose that the civil code should be presented as treaties are presented, with a law of acceptance at its side, thus to get it voted in the mass by a " yea " or "nay." This method of pi*oceeding was thought too dictatorial, and not seriously debated. Under the opinion of the most enlightened members, more especially Tronchet, it was de- termined to wait and see what would be the fate of the other two heads presented in the tribunate. " Yes," said the first consul, " we can hazard two more battles. If we gam them, we shall continue the march that has commenced. If we lose them, we must go into winter-quarters, and consider what course we shall adopt." This plan of conduct was adopted, and the re- sult of the two discussions was awaited. Public opinion began to operate strongly against the tri- bunate. Then the leaders bethought themselves of a means to moderate the eifect of these succes- sive rejections, and that was to intermingle them with an adoption. The head relative to "the keeping of the acts of the civil state," pleased them greatly in itself, because it more strictly sanctioned the principles of the revolution in respect to the clergy, and absolutely forbade them the registration of births, deaths, and marriages, in order to attach the duty solely to the municipal officers. The head presented by the councillor of state, Thibau- deau, was excellent, but that would not have saved it had it not contained dispositions against the clergy. They decided upon its adoption. But in the order of presentation it should have come in the third place. It was introduced second, and voted without difficulty, to render more certain the rejection of the head entitled, " On the enjoyment and privation of civil rights." The last in its turn coming on for discussion was rejected by an immense majority of the tribunate. The rejection of it by the legislative body was not to be doubted. Thus the series of difficulties foreseen reappeared in entierty. These difficulties could not fail to be much increased when the laws upon marriage, upon divorce, and upon the paternal authority, came to be debated ; as to the concordat, and to the bill relative to public instruction, there was evidently no chance of success in getting them adopted. But that which pushed things to the extreme was a new ballot for members, which put on the character of direct hostility against the first consul. The election of the abbe" Gr^goire as senator, had been carried in opposition to the wishes of the government, and to afford a sign of disapproba- tion of its religious policy. There were, as just seen, two places to fill, and not only were the assemblies desirous of filling them, contrary to the propositions already known as having been made by the first consul in favour of three generals, but they were determined to make the choice which should be most disagreeable to him. This choice was that of M. Daunou. They endeavoured to force the obtaiument of M. Daunou by the two legislative authorities at once, by the tribunate and legislative body, which rendered his nomination by the senate nearly an inevitable consequence. The greatest activity was displayed, and votes were requested with a degree of boldness which excited wonder in every body, when in opposition to so formidable an authority as the first consul. M. Daunou was balloted for in the legislative body with general Lamartilliere, the government candidate. There were repeated ballotings. At last M. Daunou received one hundred and thirty- five votes to one hundred and twenty-two for general Lamartilliere. He was, accordingly, pro- claimed the candidate of the legislative body for one of the vacant places in the senate. In the tribunate M. Daunou had again general Lamartil- liere for an opponent, and he obtained forty-eight voices in place of thirty-nine given to the general. He was proclaimed the candidate. He had conse- quently two presentations for one. The scrutiny took place on the 1st of January, 1802, the llth Nivose, the same day as the rejection of the head of the civil code on the " enjoyment and privation of civil rights." According to the ordinary rules of the repre- sentative system, it ought to have been said that the majority was lost. But in that case, the per- son who must have retired was the first consul, since he was the great object of the admiration of France, as well as of the hatred of his enemies. Still no one had come forward to exclude him, because there was no one had the means of so doing. It was, therefore, a real piece of trickery, wholly unworthy of men in earnest. It was the most puerile, and, at the same time, the most dan- gerous piece of spite, because they were urging to an extremity a violent character, full of the feeling of his own strength, and capable of any thing. Cam- bace"res himself, commonly so moderate, regarded these proceedings as decidedly out of nil order: he repeated that such pointed hostility could not be suffered ; and that, for his own part, he could not an- swer for his success in calming the anger of the first consul. The anger of the first consul was, in fact, ex- treme ; and he loudly announced his determination to break down the obstacles which they were endeavouring to place in the way of all the good which he was desirous of effecting. On the following day, the 2nd of January, or 12th Nivose, was the day of the decade, when he gave an audience to the senators. A great number attended, and among them many who had acted against him. They came, the one party out of curiosity, the other out of weakness, and to dis- avow, by their presence, their participation in what had happened. Sieyes was found in the number of those who were present. The first consul was, according to custom, in uniform ; his countenance appeared animated, and all expected some violent scene. A circle was formed around him. " You are determined then to nominate no more gene- rals \" said he. " Yet you are indebted to them for peace ; this would be a good time for showing them your gratitude." After these introductory words, the senators Kellermann, Fra^ois de Neuf- chateau, and others, were severely lectured, and 1802. Jan. Violent measures of the first consul repressed by Cam- baceres. THE TRIBUNATE. Cambaceres' plan to dissolve the opposition. 323 made poor defences. The conversation then be- came general once more, and the first consul, look- ing towards Sieyes, again began in a very loud tone : " There are people who want to give us a grand elector, and who are thinking of a prince of the house of Orleans. This system has its sup- porters I know, even in the senate." These words had relation to a scheme truly or falsely attributed to Sieyes, and by his enemies reported to the first consul. Sieyes, upon hearing these offensive words, retired blushing. The first consul, then addressing the senators around him, said : " I declare to you, that if you nominate M. Daunou a senator, I will take it as a personal affront ; and you know that I have never yet put up with one. 1 '' This scene frightened most of the senators pre- sent, and afflicted the wise portion. They saw with pain, a man, so necessary and so great, with such little command over himself when in a state of irritation. The malevolent went away, saying that never had the members of any body in the state been treated with more insupportable inde- cency. Still the blow told home. Fear had pene- trated into their spiteful but timid minds, and their noisy opposition was soon destined to humble itself sadly, before the man it had attempted to brave. The consuls debated among themselves upon the course which should be taken. General Bonaparte seemed bent upon some act of violence. Had he possessed the legal power of dissolving the tribunate and legislative body, the difficulty would have been easily overcome in a regular way by a general election, and a majority would have been obtained favourable to the ideas of the first consul. It is true that a general election would have excluded the mass of men belonging to the revolution, and have brought forward new candidates, more or less animated by royalist sentiments, such as those against whom it had become necessary to act on the 18th Fructidor, which would have been a mis- fortune of another kind. Thus true it is that on the morrow of a sanguinary revolution, which had so deeply irritated men against each other, the free play of constitutional institutions was impossible. In order to escape from the hands of the unreflect- ing revolutionists, the government must fall into the hands of bad-intentioned royalists. But here in any case the resource of a dissolution was not to be found in the laws, and some other means must be discovered. The first consul wished to withdraw the civil code, and to let the legislative body and the tribu- nate keep holyday, submitting to them nothing but the laws of finance ; then when he had made all France feel that these assemblies were the sole cause of the interruption experienced in the benefi- cent operations of the government, to seize an opportunity for breaking the inconvenient instru- ments which the constitution had imposed upon him. Cambace'res, a man skilful in expedients, found milder means, and of a legality perfectly defensible, and in fact the only means practicable at the moment. He dissuaded the general, his colleague, from every illegal and violent measure : " You can do any thing," said he; " people will put up with it from you. They even allowed the directory to do what it pleased the directory which had not the advantage of your glory, nor of your moral ascendancy, nor of your immense mili- tary and political successes. But the arbitrary proceedings of the 18th Fructidor, necessary as they might have been, ruined the directory. It rendered the directorial constitution so contempti- ble, that no one would afterwards take it in earnest. Ours is much better. For having the art to use it, much good may be effected with it. Let us not then deliver it up to public contempt, by its viola- tion, on account of the first obstacle which it pre- sents to us." Cambace'res admitted that it would be right to withdraw the civil code, interrupt the session, place the deliberate bodies in idleness, and lay upon their shoulders the weight of so grave a reproach, the forced inaction to which the govern- ment was reduced. But this inaction was an im- possible strait, out of which they must get. Camba- ce'res found the means of escape in article 38 of the constitution, which was thus conceived: "The first renewal of the legislative body and of the tribunate will not take place until some time in the course of the year x." It was then the year x., 1801-2. The govern- ment had a right to choose any period of the year it might select for the renewal. It was able, for example, to proceed in the course of the winter, in Pluviose or Ventose. Then to dismiss one-fifth of the tribunate and of the legislative body, which would be twenty members for the tribunate, sixty for the legislative body : to remove in this man- ner the more hostile, and fill their places with pru- dent, peaceable men ; and next to open an extra- ordinary session in the spring, in order to obtain the adoption of the laws, the passage of which was now arrested by the bad will of the opposition. This was clearly the best way of proceeding. By ex- cluding twenty members of the tribunate, and sixty of the legislative body, the government would dis- place those restless men who drew in the inert mass, and intimidate such as might be tempted to resist. But if it wished to succeed in this plan, it would be necessary to gain the consent of the senate to two things. Firstly, as to the inter- pretation of article 38, in the sense of the design projected : secondly, the exclusion of the opponent members, and the filling up of their places by men devoted to the government. Cambace'res, well knowing the senate, and that the mass was timid, and the opposition of little courage, answered for it that the senate, when it saw to what an extent it was likely to be drawn in, beyond the limits of rea- son and prudence, would lend itself to all that the government desired of it. Article 38, the interpre- tation of which was become such an important point, did not specify the mode to be employed for the designation of the fifth part of the members that were to go out. Under the silence upon that point in the article, the senate charged to choose might, if it pleased, prefer the use of the ballot to that of the lot. Against such an interpretation of the law, it might be urged that the constant usage, when it was necessary to renew an assembly par- tially, was to have recourse to the lot, in order to decide the portion which should be first excluded. To this it might be answered, that recourse is had to the lot when no other mode can be adopted. It is not possible, in fact, to demand of several hun- dred electoral colleges the designation of a fifth that is to go out, for to address any one of such r 2 324 The civil code withdrawn _ H ..,_, rn -MCTTT ATT? AT\m TTMPTTJ1? Disgraceful submission from the legislature. THIERb CONSULATE AJND EMPIRE. O f the senate. 1801. Jan. would be to designate oneself that fifth ; to address all would be to have recourse to a general election, and in a general election it is impossible to fix beforehand on the number of those excluded, for that would again be to designate oneself the fifth to be removed. The lot, therefore, is the only resource in the common system >of election by the electoral colleges. But having here the senate, charged to elect, and easily able to designate, by ballot, the fifth to be excluded, it was more natural to have recourse to the clearsightedness of its votes than to the blind authority of any kind of chance. It made, for that is truth, the senate the arbiter of the question ; but it conformed in this to the real spirit of the constitution ; because in conferring upon the senate all the prerogatives of the electoral body, it would be rendered a judge of the conflicts which might arise between the legislative majori- ties and the government. In a word, it was re- establishing by a subterfuge, the faculty of disso- lution, indispensable in every regular government. The most important reason in favour of the step was, that the government got out of its embarrass- ment without extensively violating the constitution. The first consul said that he would admit this or any other plan, if it only got rid of persons who prevented him from pursuing measures that were conducive to the interests of France. Cambace'res took the charge of drawing up a memorial upon the subject. A message was prepared as well, which should announce to the legislative body, that the civil code was withdrawn. Bonaparte under- took to draw it up himself, in a noble and austere style. Already they began to dread the outbreak of his anger, a manifestation of which it was rumoured would be speedily displayed. The day following the scene with the senators, the 3rd of January, or 10th Nivose, a message was sent, by the pre- sident, to the legislative body. It was read in the midst of a profound silence, which indicated a species ef terror. The message was couched in these terms : " LEGISLATORS,- The government has resolved to -withdraw the bills of the law of the civil code. " It is with pain that it finds itself obliged to delay until another period, laws awaited with so much anxiety by the nation ; but it is convinced that the time is not yet come, when such important discussions can be carried on with the calmness and unity of purpose which they demand." This deserved severity produced the strongest effect. Every government was not able and ought not to Use such language ; but it must still be permitted to do so when it has reason, when it has conferred upon a country immense glory and great benefit, and finds itself repaid by an incon- siderate opposition. The legislative body, recoiling from the blow, fell at the feet of the government in a manner not vary honourable. They demanded, while still sitting, that the ballot should take place for the presentation of a candidate for the third and last tacanpy in the senate. Will it be credited 1 the same men who had so spitefully persisted in pre- senting Gi6gorre and Daunou, voted at the same instant fr general Lamartilliere, and he got two hundred and thirty-three out of two hundred and fifty-two votes. It was impossible for them to comply more quickly with the desires of the first consul. In consequence, general Lamartilliere was declared the candidate of the legislative body. This presentation furnished an expedient to the senate to satisfy the first consul without too deep a humiliation. They did not dream any more about the choice of M. Daunou, subsequent to the scene before the senators, at the audience of the 2nd of January. Still, M. Daunou had been pre- sented by two of the state assemblies at the same time, the legislative body and the tribunate. To prefer the candidate of the government to a can- didate who had upon his side the doable presenta- tion of the two legislative assemblies, was throwing themselves on their knees to the first consul a little too openly. They had recourse to a paltry subterfuge, which by no means preserved the dig- nity of the senate, and which served only to put their embarrassment in a clearer light. The senate assembled on the following day, the 4th of January, or 1 4th Niv6se. The presentation of M. Daunou, by the legislative body, had been determined upon on the 30th of December, that of general Lamar- tilliere on the 3rd of January. The senate affected to suppose that the resolution of the 30th of De- cember had not been communicated, while that of the 3rd of January only had been, and that, there- fore, general Lamartilliere was, in consequence, the only recognized candidate of the legislative body. It joined to this subterfuge a trick still more base. It filled up the second of the three places vacant. Now general Lamartilliere was the first, and general Jourdan the second, on the first consul's list. It affected, therefore, to consider general Jourdan as the government candidate for the place still vacant. TJie senate thus drew up its decisions : " Having seen the message of the first consul of the 25th of Frimaire, by which he presents gene- ral Jourdan; having seen the message of the tri- bunate of the llth of Nivose, by which it presents the citizen Daunou ; having, lastly, seen the mes- sage of the legislative body of the 13th of Nivose, by which it presents general Lamartilliere, the senate adopts general Lamartilliere, and proclaims him a member of the conservative senate." By this mode the senate appeared to have adopted, not the candidate of the first consul, but that of the legislative body. This was adding to the shame of submission the disgrace of a lie which deceived nobody. Certainly it was wise to give place to an indispensable man, without whom France would have been plunged into chaos, with- out whom not one of his opponents was secure of keeping a head upon his shoulders; but people who knew that they were not able to carry out the affront, should, at least, have taken care not to affront him. The opposition hi the tribune uttered loud cries against the weakness of the senate, a weakness which they were soon to imitate themselves, and even surpass. The plan adopted by the government was im- mediately carried into execution. The legislative labours were suspended, and it -was publicly an- nounced that th<; first consul quitted Paris to go to Lyons, on a journey which would last nearly a month. The object of this journey was marked by the customary quietness of the acts of Bon*- 1802. Jan. Measures withdrawn by the government. THE TRIBUNATE. Expedition to St. Domingo Tousbaint 1'Ouveriure. .w. parte. It was undertaken in order to constitute the Cisalpine republic; and five hundred deputies of every age and rank, were about passing the Alps, in that rigorous winter, to form at Lyons a grand diet, under the name of a conautta, to receive from the hands of general Bonaparte, laws, magis- trates, and an entire government. It bad been agreed that they should meet him half way, and Lyons had been deemed, next, to Paris, the most convenient place for such a rendezvous. Vast preparations had already been made in this city for an imposing public spectacle. He was also to be surrounded by a great military display, since twenty-two thousand men, the remainder of the army of Egypt, disembarked at Marseilles and Toulon by the English navy, were on their march upon Lyons, to be there reviewed by their former general. Nobody now thought any thing more of the legislative body and the tribunate. They were abandoned to a state of total inactivity, without any sort of explanation of the plans which the government might have conceived. The consti- tution no more contained the faculty of prorogation than that of dissolution. The two assemblies were neither dismissed nor furnished with employment. The government had withdrawn, besides the bills of the civil code, a law relative to the re-establish- ment of branding for the crime of forgery. This crime, in consequence of the circumstances of the revolution, had increased to a frightful extent. Such a. number of papers were required by the new regulations for the security of officers ac- countable to the government ; so many certificates of civism, formerly absolutely needful for those who would not be considered suspected ; so many certificates of presence demanded on the part of emigrants, to clear themselves of the effect of emigration ; so many verifications of every kind required and famished in writing, had given birth to a detestable class of criminals, that of forgers. They infested the avenues of business as bandits infest the highways. The first consul designed to have a special punishment for them, as he had wished to have a special jurisdiction for the rob- bers OB the highway, and he had proposed brand- ing. "The crime of forgery enriched," he said, " a forger, who has undergone his punishment; he returns into society, and his wealth causes his crime to be forgotten. There ought to be an indelible mark set upon him by the executioner's hand, which wo:ild forbid those complacent per- sons, who always pay their court to opulence, from sitting at the table of the enriched forger." This proposition had encountered the same difficulty as the civil code. It was withdrawn, and there no longer remained any thing for deliberation, because the laws relative to public instruction and the re- establishment of worship had not been presented. As to the law of the finances, that was reserved to form the pretext for an extraordinary session in the spring. This species of parliament there- fore was left, neither dissolved nor prorogued, idle, useless, embarrassed by its inaction, and' carrying, in the sight of France, the responsibility of a com- plete interruption of the good and useful labours of the government. It was arranged during the. absence of the first consul, that Cunibace'res, who had a peculiar skill in managing the senate, slx>uld take core to get such an interpretation as was desirable put upon article 38 of the constitution, and that he should himself superintend die exclusion of the twenty and sixty members, that it was die design to remove from the tribunate and legislative bodies. Before setting out, the first consul had to super- intend two important affairs, the expedition to St. Domingo, and the congress at Amiens. The second detained him beyond the term fixed for his de- parture. The desire to hold possessions at a distance was an old French ambition, that the reign of Louis XVI., very favourable to the navy, had aroused, and which the subsequent naval reverses of France had not yet extinguished. Colonies were then an object of ardent desire on the part of all commercial countries. The expedition to Egypt, conceived for the purpose of disputing with Eng- land the possession of India, was a consequence of that general wish, and its unsuccessful issue had rendered very strong the desire of compensating for the loss in some other manner. The first consul had prepared two measures for that purpose : one, the possession of Louisiana; the other of St. Do- mingo. He had given Tuscany, diat fine and precious part of Italy, to the court of Spain, in order to obtain Louisiana in exchange, and he was at this moment pressing the execution of the en- gagement entered into by that court. He was, at the same time, determined to recover the island of St. Domingo. This island was, before the re- volution, the first and most important of the An- tilles, or West Indies, and the most desired among all the colonies which produce sugar and coffee. It furnished the French ports and shipping with the most important articles of traffic. The im- prudence of the constituent assembly caused the slaves to revolt, and led to those lamentable scenes of horror by which the liberty of the blacks was first signalized in the world. A negro, endowed with real genius, had completed at St. Domingo something similar to what Bonaparte had done in France. He had quieted and governed the re- volted population, and established a species of order. Thanks to him, die negroes no longer slaughtered each other in St. Domingo, and were beginning to work. Toussaint conceived a con- stitution, which he had submitted to the first consul, and he showed for the mother country a sort of national attachment. This negro hail a strong aversion to an English connexion ; he de- sired to be free and to be French. The first consul at first acquiesced in this state of things ; but he soon conceived doubts of die fidelity of Tous- saint 1'Ouverture, and, without desiring to bring back the negroes to slavery, he deviaed the pro- fiting by the maritime armistice resulting from the preliminaries of peace signed in London, to expedite a squadron of ships and an army to St. Domingo. With regard to die blacks, the first consul's plan was to retain them in the same situ- ation as they had been placed ia by dre course of events. He wished, in all the colonies, where die revolt had not appeared, to continue the same slavery, but to relax its rigour ; at St. Domingo lie would allow the freedom which could not be again ; constrained. Still he intended to establish the authority of the mother country in the island, and __ Objects of the expedition. 3-0 Preparations. Distrust of the British TRIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. ministry. - Negotia- tions at Amiens. 1802. Jan. to keep an army there for the purpose. In the event of the blacks, on remaining free, becoming unfaithful subjects, or of the English renewing the war, he intended, while respecting the freedom of the blacks, to restore their old possessions to the colonists, who filled Paris with their miseries, their complaints, and imprecations against the govern- ment of Toussaint 1'Ouverture. A considerable number of the French nobles, deprived already of their property in France by the revolution, were, at the same time, colonists of St. Domingo, de- spoiled of the rich habitations which they had formerly possessed in that island. Their estates in France were refused them, from having become national domains ; but it was possible to restore them their sugar houses and coffee plantations in St. Domingo, and this was a compensation that might in some measure satisfy them. Such were the various motives that governed the proceedings of the first consul. To recover the finest of the French colonies; to hold it, not by the doubtful fidelity of a black raised to dictatorial power, but by force of arms ; to keep possession of it against the blacks and the English; to restore the ancient colonists to their property, cultivated by free labour; to join, finally, to that queen of the An- tilles, the mouths of the Mississippi, by acquiring Louisiana ; such were the combinations of the first consul, combinations to be regretted, as will soon be seen, but required, so to say, by a general dis- position of the public mind, general in France at that moment. It was of importance to hasten, because although the definitive treaty of peace, negotiating at that moment in Amiens, was nearly certain to be con- cluded ; yet it was necessary in all events, in case the English should raise new and inadmissible pretensions, to take advantage of the existing interval, to despatch the fleet while the sea re- mained open. The first consul caused a large armament to be prepared at Flushing, Brest, Nantes, Rochefort, and Cadiz, consisting of twenty- six ships of the line and twenty frigates, capable of embarking twenty thousand men. He gave the command of the squadron to admiral Villaret Joyense, and the command of the army to general Leclerc, one of the best officers of the army of the Rhine, become the husband of his sister Pauline. He insisted that his sister should accompany her husband to St. Domingo. He loved her with the tenderest affection ; he therefore sent thither one of the objects dearest to him, and had no intention at the time, as party rancour since charged him, with transporting to an unhealthy climate, sub- ject to dangerous fever, those soldiers of the army of the Rhine who had given him offence. Another circumstance shows the intention which directed him in the corps sent to St. Domingo. As the peace seemed likely to become general and solid, military men began to fear that their professional career would be terminated. A great number applied to be employed in the expedition, and it was a favour which he was obliged to bestow among them with a sort of regard to justice and equality. The brave Richepanse, that hero of the German army, was given as a lieutenant to general Leclero. The first consul applied himself to the prepa- rations with his customary celerity, and pressed as much as possible the departure of the naval di- visions, in ports from Holland to the southern extremity of the peninsula. Still, before the squa- dron could set sail, he was under the necessity of explaining to the English ministry, to whom this large armament caused considerable mistrust. He had some trouble to satisfy them on the point, although they were rather desirous the expedition should proceed. They were not then as ardent for negro emancipation as British ministers have since appeared. The sight of the freed negroes of St. Domingo made them apprehensive for their colonies, above all, for Jamaica. They therefore wished success to the French enterprise ; but the extent of the means disquieted them, and they would have preferred that the troops had been sent over in transports. They became accessible to reason ; and were at last resigned to let this vast armament pass, at the same time despatching a squadron of observation. They even promised to place all the provisions and ammunition, which the resources of Jamaica commanded, at the service of the French army, of course subject to payment for whatever might be supplied. The chief naval division, formed at Brest, set sail on the 14th of December, the others followed at a short dis- tance of time afterwards. At the end of Decem- ber the whole armament was at sea, and would consequently arrive at St. Domingo, whatever might be the result of the negotiations at Amiens. These negotiations, conducted by lord Cornwallis and Joseph Bonaparte, proceeded slowly, without giving any reason to fear a rupture. The first cause of delay had been in the composition of the congress, which it was necessary should consist not only of French and English plenipotentiaries, but also of .plenipotentiaries from Holland and Spain ; because, after the preliminaries, the peace should be concluded between the two great bel- ligerent nations and all their allies. Spain, which from an extreme of friendship had nearly gone into animosity, thwarted the first consul by not sending a plenipotentiary to the congress. As, at bottom, Spain knew that the peace was certain, and that she would only figure in the protocol as surrendering Trinidad, she was in no hurry to send a negotiator. The English, on their side, desired to see at the congress of Amiens a Spanish plenipotentiary, in order to obtain a formal cession of the island of Trinidad. She announced that she would not negotiate, if a Spanish plenipoten- tiary were not present. The first consul was obliged to take with the court of Spain a tone which should rouse it from its apathy. He ordered general St. Cyr, the ambassador in place of Lucien, to lay before the king and queen the extravagant conduct of the prince of the peace, and to declare to them, that if they " continued to conduct them- selves on the same system.- it would terminate in a thunder-stroke 1 ." 1 Here is a letter very important in order to approbate the relations of France with Spain at this time : " 10th Frimaire, year r., or 1st December, 1301. " I can understand nothing, citizen ambassador, of the conduct of the court of Madrid. I specially charge you to take every step to open the eyes of this cabinet, so that it may adopt a regular and becoming conduct. The subject 1802. Jan. Negotiations relative to THE TRIBUNATE. the peace of Amiens. 327 The Spanish minister designed to figure in the congress of Amiens, M. Campo Arlange, was ill in Italy. Spain finally decided to give to M. Azara, ambassador in Paris, an order to proceed to the congress. This difficulty over with the Spaniards, there was another with the Dutch to overcome. The Dutch plenipotentiary, M. Schimmelpenninck, would not admit the base of the preliminaries, that is to say, the cession of Ceylon, before know- ing how Holland would be treated with respect to the restitution of the ships in the possession of England ; how with regard to the indemnities laid claim to on behalf of the stadtholder dispossessed ; relative, finally, to some questions of limits on the French side. Joseph Bonaparte was ordered to has appeared to me so important, that I have thought it my duty to write you myself upon the matter. " The most intimate union subsisted between France and Spain when his majesty thought proper to ratify the treaty of Badajoz. " The prince of the peace sent at that time to our am- bassador a note, a copy of which I have ordered to be sent to you. This note was too full of offensive terms for me to pay it the least attention. A few days afterwards he sent to the French ambassador at Madrid a note, in which he de- clared that his catholic majesty was about to make a sepa- rate peace with England. I have also ordered a copy of that note to be sent to you. I then felt how little I was able to count upon the support of a power, the minister of which expressed himself so unbecomingly, and exhibited so much inconsistency in his conduct. Knowing well the intentions of the king, I would have had him acquainted immediately with the ill conduct of his minister, if his majesty's illness had not interfered with my intention. " I several times intimated to the court of Spain, that its refusal to execute the convention of Madrid, in other words, to occupy a fourth of the Portuguese territory, would lead to the loss of Trinidad. No attentiott was paid to these re- marks. " In the negotiations which have taken place in London, France discussed the interests of Spain as she would have done her own; but as finally his Britannic majesty has never refrained from insisting upon Trinidad, I could no longer retain it, more especially as Spain, in an official note, threatened France with opening a separate negotiation : we could then no longer rely upon her succour for the con- tinuation of the war. " The congress of Amiens is sitting, and a definitive peace will be promptly signed ; still his catholic majesty has not yet published the preliminaries, nor made known in what mode he is willing to treat with England. It becomes, nevertheless, highly essential for his consideration in the eyes of Europe, and for the interests of his crown, that he should immediately decide ; without doing which, the defini- tive treaty will be promptly signed, and he will not be a participator. " It has been reported to me, that at Madrid they wish to abrogate their bargain 'n the cession of Louisiana. France has never been wanting in the fulfilment of any treaty made with her, and she will never allow any power to be wanting on that point towards her. The king of Tuscany is upon his throne and in possession of his states ; and his catholic majesty knows too well how to keep faith in his en- gagements, to refuse much longer our being put in posses- sion of Louisiana. " I desire that you will make known to their majesties my extreme discontent, and the unjust and inconsistent conduct of the prince of the peace " During the last month, that minister has not spared either insulting notes or hazardous proceedings. All that he is able to do against France he has done. If this system be proceeded in, tell the queen and the prince of the peace, boldly, that it will end in some unexpected thunder-stroke." notify to M. Schimmelpenninck, that he would only be received at the congress on the condition of his first admitting the preliminaries of London as the basis of the negotiation. Lord Cornwallis having expressed himself satisfied with this formality, the congress thus became constituted. Still the English were anxious to introduce Por- tugal, under the pretext that she was an ally of England. The secret motive was to obtain an exemption for the court of Lisbon, from the con- tribution of 20,000,000 f., which had been imposed upon her by one of the articles in the treaty of Madrid. The first consul refused, by declaring that peace had been made between France and Portugal, and consequently there was nothing more to be done. This pretension disposed of, the congress set at work, and the basis was soon agreed upon. To avoid incalculable difficulties, it was agreed that every demand out of the letter of the prelimi- naries should be rejected. " Nothing more nor less than the articles of London," was the recipro- cal maxim admitted. The English had, in effect, brought into the discussion the abandonment by France of the island of Tobago. The first consul, on his side, had demanded an extension of territory in the region of Newfoundland, in order to benefit the French fisheries. These claims were mutually rejected; and in order to finish, it was agreed not to entertain any claims in the way of concession, that were not con* tained in the preliminary treaty. Otherwise, by reviving difficulties, heretofore happily overcome, peace itself might be hazarded. This principle once adopted, it only remained to fix it, by the drawing up formally the stipulations of London. There were two important points to be resolved; the payment of the expenses of the prisoners, and the government to be imposed upon Malta. England had maintained a great many more pri- soners belonging to France than France held of England, and she claimed to be reimbursed the difference. France replied that the principle gene- rally acknowledged was that each nation main- tained the prisoners whom they took ; that if a different principle were admitted, France would have to demand reimbursement for the Russians, Bavarians, and other soldiers in the pay of Eng- land, whom she had taken and supported ; that the combatants in the pay of England ought to figure in the number of prisoners which she was bound to maintain. " Besides," the French pleni- potentiary added, "that is a mere question of money, which can be settled by means of com- missioners, especially appointed for the liquidation of such balances." In regard to Malta, the question was of a more serious import. The English and French were here at open mistrust. They seemed to have a glance into futurity, and to fear that at some future period, the island would fall into the hands of one or the other. The first consul, by a singular instinct, proposed to destroy the military establishments of Malta to the very foundations, and to suffer nothing to remain but the dismantled town ; to create there a sort of neutral lazaretto, common to all nations, and to convert the order into an hospital, order, or foundation, which would need no military force. 328 Negotiations at Amiens. TRIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. ourney of the first consul 1802. to Lyons. Jan. The English were not satisfied with this pro- posal. They said that the rock was naturally so strong a defence, that even deprived of the fortifi- cations accumulated there by the knights, it would still be a formidable place. They alleged the resistance of the Maltese population to the total destruction of their fine fortresses, and they pro- posed the reconstitution of the order, on a new and solid basis. They were willing to have a French language, provided that there should be instituted an English language, and also a Maltese, the last being granted to the population of the island, to. give it a part in its government ; they wished that this new establishment should be placed under the guarantee of some great power, Russia for example. The English hoped that with an English and a Maltese language, each of which would be devoted to them, they would thus get strength in the island, and hinder the French from having a hold upon it. The first consul insisted upon the destruction of the fortifications, saying that at present the order would be very difficult to reconstruct; that Bavaria had already seized upon their property in Ger- many; that Spain, since Russia had extended her protection to Malta, contemplated acting in the same manner, and to take possession of the pro- perty in her dominions ; that the institution of protestant knights would be a decisive reason for so doing in her eyes ; that the pope, already very adverse to every thing which was done respecting the order, would not consent, at any cost, to the new arrangements, and that, finally, France was unable to furnish a French language, in conse- quence of her existing laws in no way admitting the re-establishment of any institution of nobility. The first consul was ready, if it were made a ques- tion, to agree to the re-establishment of Malta, upon its former footing, with the preservation of the existing fortifications, but without either a French or English language, and under the gua- rantee of the nearest court, that of Naples. Rus- sia he rejected as a guaranteeing power. None of the continental arrangements had been spoken about. The first consul had forbidden any thing relating to them to be said by the French legation. Still, as the king of England took a warm interest in the house of Orange, now de- prived of the post of stadtholder, the first consul was not unwilling to secure to that prince a terri- torial indemnity in Germany, when the question of the German indemnities should come under consideration. He demanded, in return, the restitution, either in the ships or in money, of the Batavian fleet, which had been taken away by the English. On the whole, there was in all this nothing absolute, nothing irreconcilable, because the ques- tion of the prisoners was one of money, always easy to be settled by means of two arbitrators. The question of Malta was the most difficult, because it was a matter of reciprocal mistrust. It was needful, and this was possible, to discover a plan which should render all parties secure against the contingency of a sudden occupation by either of the two great maritime nations. As to the affair of the stadtholder, nothing was more easily settled, because both parties were in pretty close agreement upon the subject. The first consul wished to conclude affairs as soon as possible. He wished to have the treaty quite ready against his return from Lyons, seeing that he proposed to present the state document of the general peace, with the concordat, and the law of finances to the renewed legislative body. He therefore gave orders to his brother Joseph not to place any difficulties of detail in the way of the completion, but to get the treaty signed as quickly as possible. The first consul left Paris on the 8th of January, or 18th Nivose, with his wife, and a part of his military household, in order to reach Lyons. Tal- leyrand had gone there before him, in order to arrange every thing in such a manner, that upon his arrival he should have nothing more to do than to give his sanction to the results by his presence. The winter was very rigorous, and yet all the Italian deputies were already assembled there. They were impatient to see general Bonaparte, the great object of their journey to France. The moment had arrived to regulate the affairs of Italy, and to constitute, a second time, the Cis- alpine republic. Talleyrand was very adverse to such a constitution. He alleged the difficulty of making the business of the government run on smoothly in a republic, citing the republics of Batavia, Helvetia, Liguria, Rome, and Parthenope, and the embarrassments which had occurred and were still occurring in their regard. He said there were quite enough of these children of the French republic, and that not one more was necessary; and proposed a principality or a monarchy, like that of Etruria, which might be given to some friend or dependent upon France. He would not have ob- jected to give this state to a prince of the house of Austria, to the grand duke of Tuscany, for example, who was about to be indemnified in Ger- many, if he were not indemnified in Italy. This arrangement, highly agreeable to Austria, would attach her more strongly to the peace. It would equally satisfy the German powers who, by this plan, would have had one claimant less to in- demnification with the lands of the ecclesiastical princes. It would, above all, be pleasing to the pope, who hoped that the Legations would be restored to him, when France was relieved from the promises made to the Cisalpine republic. This combination, in one word, was in unison with the taste of every body in Europe, because it extin- guished a republic, left one territory more to be appropriated, and made a correspondent diminu- tion of one state the less under the direct dominion of the French republic. It was certainly a weighty reason for such a measure to render the greatness of France more supportable to Europe, and thus to give a better chance of the duration of peace. Now that France had the Rhine and the Alps for her frontier ; now that she had under her immediate influence, Swit- zerland, Holland, Spain, and Italy; when she ex- ercised her power directly upon Piedmont, by the general, but tacit, consent of all the powers; when she had arrived at that degree of greatness, the more moderate policy was, from that moment, the more prudent and rational. In this view of things Talleyrand had reason upon his side. Still, after all that had been effected, France was compelled, by her engagements, to reconstitute Italy ; and as 1802. Jan. Establishment of THE TRIBUNATE. the Cisalpine republic. Austria had been already deprived of it, there was a necessity for irrevocably detaching it from her, a result which could only be attained by consti- tuting it in a mode that would render it strong and independent. By this act, the danger of a collision with Austria alone was increased ; and one of the hundred battles since fought to create French kingdoms in Europe, would have sufficed to secure the definitive existence in Europe of the state of things which France chose to establish in Italy. Under this system, France must have renounced the possession of Piedmont, because, if the Italians preferred the French to the Germans, they loved, in reality, neither the one nor the other, because both the one and the other were strangers to them. This was a natural and legitimate sentiment. The French protecting Italy without keeping possession of it, would have attached it for ever to them- selves, and would not have prepared the way for those sudden revulsions of opinion, of which it has so frequently given the example ; since, ban- died from one to another, the Italians have done nothing but change masters. Under this arrange- ment, Etruria ought not to have been given to a Spanish prince. Uniting Lombardy, Piedmont, the duchies of Parma and Modena, Mantua, the Le- gations, and Tuscany, a noble kingdom might have been formed, extending from the maritime Alps to the Adige, and from Switzerland to the Roman states. It was easy to detach, either in Tuscany or Romagna, a portion of territory to indemnify the pope, whose attachment to France could not last long, unless, sooner or later, something was done to relieve his poverty. It would be needful, in such a case, to unite the different provinces under one federal government, in which the exe- cutive power should be strongly constituted, that it should be able to assemble its forces promptly, and give the French armies time to come to its assistance. The alliance, in fact, ought to be close between this state and France, because it could only sustain itself through her means; and Rome, on her part, would always have an immense and invariable interest in its existence. An Italian state of ten or twelve millions of in- habitants, possessing the finest frontiers, washed by two rivers, having, on the first favourable war, the chance of increasing its territory by the addi- tion of the Venetian states, and of extending itself along the natural frontiers of Italy, that is to say, to the Julian Alps, would be able, subsequently, to comprehend, by means of a simple federative tie, which left to each principality its own indepen- dence, the Genoese republic newly constituted, the pope, with the conditions necessary to his political and religious existence, and the state of Naples, delivered from an incapable and sanguinary court ; such a state, so constituted, and with the accessions which the future cou4d not fail to prepare, would be the foundation of Italian regeneration, and give to Europe a third federation, which, added to the two already in existence, the German and Swiss, would not fail to render immense service to the general balance of power. In respect to the difficulty of governing Italy, that could be resolved by its being placed under the protectorate of France, which, if it extended over her for one entire reign, would thus conduct her by the hand in her first step to liberty and inde- pendence. The plan followed at this moment did not ex- clude this bright future, because Piedmont might be one day restored to the new Italian state, and the duchy of Parma, at the decease of the duke, an event in all probability then not far distant; Etru- ria itself might be restored if it were found needful. It was easy then to adopt this plan at an ulterior period; and a firm and extensive foundation was now laid, by making an independent republic of < the Cisalpine. Besides, it was, perhaps, better at that moment, not to avow openly the entire plan of Italian regeneration, in order not to frighten Europe. But to parcel out the fine provinces actually in our possession, as was proposed by M. Talleyrand, to construct a little Austrian mo- narchy, for the advantage of an Austrian prince, was to give Italy to Austria, because this prince, however things might appear to be, would be al- ways Austrian ; and the people themselves, whose hopes would have been dishonestly betrayed, would ; conceive towards France a well-merited hatred, and turn back towards the Germans, incited by despair and resentment. Bonaparte, who had acquired his first, and per- haps his greatest glory, in the deliverance of Italy from the hands of Austria, would not permit him- self the commission of this fault. He adopted a middle course, which did not forbid at a later time a vast system of Italian independence, and which indeed might even now be at its commence- ment. He bestowed, therefore, upon the Cisalpine re- public all Lombardy as far as the Adige, the Legations, the duchy of Modena, all, in fact, that it possessed at the treaty of Campo-Formio. The duchy of Parma remained in suspense ; Piedmont at the moment belonged to France. The Cisal- pine, as thus constituted, counted nearly five mil- lions of inhabitants. It could easily be made to produce a revenue of 70,000,000 f. or 80,000,000 f., and to support an army of forty thousand men, which would not absorb more than half the re- venue, and leave resources sufficient to pay the , other expenses of the state very easily. It was covered in front by the Alps and the Adige ; it had on the left Piedmont, now become French, on the right the Adriatic, in the rear Tuscany, placed under the protection of France. It was thus on every side surrounded by her powerful protection. Immense fortified works, ordered by general Bona- parte, with a quickness and justness of view as to the nature of the country, which no one possessed in an equal degree, would render it impregnable to the Austrians, and always afford time to render French succour available. The Adige was fortified from Rivoli to Legnago in such a manner that it was impossible to be forced. The environs of the lake of Garda, and more especially the Rocca d'Anfo, were so well closed, as to prevent the possi- bility of the line of the Adige being turned. The Mincio formed a second line in the rear. Peschiera and Mantua, with a large augmentation of terri- tory, added greatly in strength to this second line of defence. Mantua more especially, improved under every aspect both of defence and healthiness, might defend itself if the Adige were forced. Other works erected had also for their object 330 ConitUuUon of TRIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. the Cisalpine republic. 1802. Jan. to gain time for the arrival of the French armies. They were able to enter first by the Valais and the Milanese, following the road of the Simplon ; secondly, by Savoy, or Provence, and Piedmont, following the routes of Mount Cenis, Mount Ge- nevre, and the Col de Tende. It has been seen that works were ordered to render these four roads, approaching the country, practicable for every kind of transport. It was necessary also to create solid points of support and vast military establishments adapted both to receive the French army, which might be suddenly forced to evacuate the country, or, if necessary, to serve the same army as an outlet when in a state to resume the offensive. For this two places had been chosen, and were become objects of great expense : the one was the outlet of the road of the Simplon, the other at the opening of the three roads of Mount Cenis, Mount Genevre, and the Col de Tende. The first, and the least of the two, was situated at the extremity of Lago Maggiore. As it was marked out, it was sufficiently ample to contain the sick, the wounded, the materiel of the army in retreat, as well as a flotilla on the lake, so as to be able to defend itself for three or four weeks, until an army, traversing the road of the Simplon, could place itself in advance for its assistance. The second and the largest work, designed to iv? train Piedmont, to receive all the resources of the French armies, and to serve for a point of support, and the means to descend at any time into Italy this second, as large as Mayence, Metz, or Lille, capable of enduring a long siege, was constructed at Alexandria itself. This point, bordering on the field of battle of Marengo, was recognized as the most favourable to the great military combinations of which Italy might become the theatre. Turin was too much under the influence of a numerous population, in some cases hostile. Pavia was be- yond the Po. Alexandria, between the Po and the Tanaro, at the real outlet of all the roads, united the greatest advantages, and was preferred upon that account. Vast works were ordered. These, being in Piedmont, were to be executed at the expense of the French treasury ; all the others were to be executed at the cost of the Cisalpine government, because they belonged more imme- diately to, and were intimately concerned with the security of that state. From these arrangements, France was always in a position to succour the Cisalpine republic, having under her hand middle and upper Italy, and by lier influence ruling over the south. She was able to Kcnd to Rome and to Naples her less ostensible commands, but they would be punctually obeyed, s at Turin or Milan. It was necessary to give a civil government to this Cisalpine republic. A commencement had been made by composing provisional authorities, con- Misting of an executive council of three members, M. de Somma-Riva, M. Visconti, and M. Ruga, with a consulta, a species of legislative assembly, not numerous, chosen from the wisest and most devoted men. But such a state of things could not be long continued. The first consul had with him in Paris M. Ma- reacalchi, and as well Messrs. Aldini, Serbelloni, and Melzi, envoys in France for the affairs of lUly. They were persons of the utmost considera- tion in their own country. He consulted them upon the organization to be given to the new republic, and, in concurrence with them, he drew up a constitution, resembling both the French and the ancient Italian. In place of the notables of Sieyes, which began to be undervalued in France, the first consul and his colleagues devised three electoral colleges, permanent for life, and filling up their own vacan- cies in case of death. The first to be composed of great proprietors of land to the number of three hundred ; the second of commercial persons to the number of two hundred ; the third of literary and scientific men, and the more distinguished ecclesi- astics, to the number of two hundred. These three colleges, or bodies, were to choose each from its own body a commission of twenty-one members, called the " commission of the censorship," whose duty it was to elect all the bodies of the state, and to perform the same electoral duty which the senate fulfilled in France. This creative authority was afterwards to nomi- nate, under the title of the " state consulta," a senate of eight members, charged, like the French senate, to watch over the constitution, to deliberate under extraordinary circumstances, to order the arrest of dangerous individuals, to place out of the pale of the constitution any department that might require it, to deliberate upon treaties, and to name the president of the republic. One of these eight members was to be the minister for foreign affairs by right. There was to be a council of state under the name of the legislative body, composed of ten members, who were to draw up laws and regu- lations, and, finally, to support them before the legislative body, consisting of seventy-five mem- bers ; which was to select from this number fif- teen orators, whose duty it would be to discuss before it the laws upon which it might be after- wards required to vote. Lastly, at the head of the republic there was to be a president and vice-president, named for ten years. They were, as has just been stated, to be nominated by the " state consulta," or senate ; but all the other authorities could only be made on the choice of the " commission of censorship." Considerable incomes were destined to the func- tionaries of all ranks. It may be seen that this was the French consti- tution with certain corrections, which were emen- dations of the work of Sieyes. For the list of notables were substituted three electoral colleges, which were constituted for life. The senate, or "state consulta," had nothing to do with the elections; it only nominated the head of the executive power, but it deliberated upon treaties, which by their means were withdrawn from tumultuous examinations by the assemblies. The tribunate was confounded with the legislative body, and in place of three consuls, there was no more than a president. When the first consul and Messrs. Marescalchi, Aldini, Melzi, and Serbelloni, had agreed upon the plan, it was necessary to occupy themselves with the personal relations of the new government. The choice of these was of the more importance, be- cause the permanence of the principal bodies was greater, and the good or evil resulting from their 1802. Jan. Establishment of THE TRIBUNATE. the Cisalpine republic. 331 composition must be of the longer duration. Italy too was divided, like France, into parties difficult to conciliate. At one extremity were found the partisans of the past, devoted to the Austrian government ; at the other extreme the outrageous patriots, ready, as every where else, for the most violent excesses, but who had not yet shed blood, from which they had been restrained hitherto by the French armies. Lastly, between the two were found the moderate liberals, charged with the weight of the government, and the unpopularity which attached to it, more especially in a time of war, when heavy burdens unavoidably pressed upon the country. With these different parties the elections could not, any more than in France, give very satisfactory results. The first consul, in order to supply the place of the elections, hit upon a plan which was not, on his part, the impulse of ambition, but the inspiration of sound sense. This was to nominate the personal portions of govern- ment himself, in the same mode as he had decided upon the structure, and for the first time to make all the nominations of his own authority. He was only impelled in the present case by a sentiment of good, and, in any case, he had a perfect right to act thus; because the new state had birth in his own pure act and will, and in creating it in this spontaneous manner, he had a right to create it conformably to his own idea, which, upon this occasion, was just and elevated. But among all these nominations the most diffi- cult to make was that of the president. Italy, always governed by priests or strangers, had never been in a situation to produce statesmen ; she had not produced, of this class of men, one single name before which the others would consent to give up their pretensions. The first consul, therefore, had the idea of conferring upon himself the title of pre- sident, and of naming a vice-president chosen from among the principal personages of Italy, to whom he might delegate the detail of affairs, and reserve to himself the superior directions. In the infancy of the republic this was the sole practicable system of government. If it had been handed over to its own choice, and to an Italian president, it would soon have become, like a vessel without a compass, abandoned to the mercy of the waves. Governed, on the contrary, by Italians, and directed from a distance by the man who was its creator, and who would be for a long time its protector, it had a good chance, under this system, to be at the same time both independent and well governed. For the foregoing end a solemn, imposing in- auguration was necessary, during which the con- stitution should be given to the new state in proper form, and all the authorities be proclaimed. This creative act could not make too much noise. It was necessary it should speak at the same time to Italy and to Europe. The first consul devised the plan of a great meeting of all the ] talians at Lyons, because it was too far for them to come to Paris, and too far for him to proceed to Milan. The city of Lyons, placed at the reverse of the Alps, and in which Italy in former days had assembled in coun- cil, was the place most naturally indicated. More than this, the first consul took a real interest in seeing mingled together in society the French and Italians. He believed, at the same time, that he served tho re-establishment of the commerce of the two countries, because it was at Lyons that, for- merly, the produce of Lombardy was exchanged for the produce of the eastern provinces of France. Some portion of these views was communicated by Talleyrand to the Italians in Paris, or, in other words, to Messrs. Marescalchi, Aldini, Serbelloni, and Melzi. He was silent only upon the project of conferring the presidency upon the first consul. This he wished to obtain from the consulta by an outbreak of enthusiasm at the moment when it should assemble together. The views of the first consul were too conformable to the true interests of the entire country of Italy not to be welcomed. These individuals set out for Lyons accordingly, accompanied by M. Petiet, the minister of France at Milan, a wise and influential person, to labour at the accomplishment of the plan of organization which had been agreed upon at Paris. The plan of the constitution met with no objec- tion. It was received with great satisfaction, be- cause the people were eager to leave the precarious existence in which they had lived, and to acquire the political existence which would be assured to them. The executive committee of the consulate, charged with the duties of the provisional government, accepted the plan with eagerness, save in some slight modifications of detail, which were trans- mitted to Paris, and accepted. But they were much puzzled how to give the new constitution vigorous motion, and as to the choice of the persons who were to set it going. M. Petiet communicated in secret to several influential personages the idea of giving to the first consul the entire nomination of the individuals who were to take a part in the government, from the president to the three elec- toral colleges. Scarcely was this idea of a supreme arbitrator, so well situated as not to partake in any of the passions which divided Italy, and having no desire but for her happiness scarcely was this idea communicated to them, than it met instant success, and the provisional government gave to the first consul the power of selecting all the authorities. A message was addressed to him for the purpose of announcing the acceptance of the constitution, and of expressing to him the wish of the Cisalpine population, that the first magistrate of the French republic should himself choose the magistrates of that of Italy. There was nothing more than this said not a word of the presidency. But it was necessary for this purpose to induce the Italians to come to Lyons, and that became the subject of a new com- munication to the members of the provisional go- vernment. They were made sensible of the great difficulty of constituting the Cisalpine republic, with the first consul remaining in Paris, and of selecting seven or eight hundred persons far from the individuals and their residences ; the difficulty, on the other hand, for the first consul to go from Paris to Milan ; the advantage, on the contrary, of dividing the distance, of uniting the Italians at Lyons in a body, and of the first consul meeting them there ; the forming a sort of Italian diet, in which the new republic should be constituted, with a pomp and brilliancy which would give more of solemnity to the engagement made by the first con- sul upon its formation, to maintain and defend it. This idea had in it something great, which couid not fail to please the Italian imagination. It sue- The consulta assemble at Lyons. THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. #$$*** first consul ceeded, as all the other ideas formed beforehand had done, and it was immediately adopted. A plan was prepared, and immediately converted into a decree by the provisional government. Deputa- tions were selected from the clergy, the nobility, the great landed proprietors, commercial men, the universities, the tribunals, and the national guards. Four hundred and fifty-two persons were designated, among the number of whom were found, venerable prelates, weighed down with years, of whom some might even succumb under the fatigues of the journey. They left in the month of December, and traversed the Alps during one of the most rigorous winters that had for a long time been experienced. All were anxious to attend at this proclamation of the independence of their country by the hero who had achieved it. The roads of the Milanese, of Switzerland, and of the Jura, were literally en- cumbered with travellers. The first consul, who thought of every thing, had given orders that nothing should be wanting, as well upon the roads as in Lyons itself, to the representatives of Italian nationality, who had come to recal by their pre- sence the recollection of his first and most bril- liant triumphs. The prefect of the Rhone had made immense preparations to receive them, and had fitted up grand and noble halls for the solem- nities which were about to take place. A part of the consular guard had been sent to Lyons. The army of Egypt, formerly the army of Italy, and recently disembarked on their return, were on the point of arriving also. They hastened to clothe them magnificently, and in a manner adapted to the climate of France, which seemed quite new to these soldiers, embrowned by the sun of Egypt, and transformed into real Africans. The Lyonuese youth had been collected, and formed a body of cavalry, with the arms and colours of the ancient city of Lyons. Talleyrand, minister for foreign affairs, and ChaptaJ, minister of the interior, had preceded the first consul to receive the members of the consulta. General Murat and M. Petiet had hastened from Milan, as well as M. Mares- calchi from Paris, to this common rendezvous. The prefects and authorities of twenty departments were collected at Lyons. The first consul kept them all in attendance at Lyons, because of the congress of Amiens, of which the negotiations had required his presence in Paris- for some days longer. The Italian deputies began to be impa- tient. In the view of occupying them, they were divided into five sections, one for each province of the new state, and the project or scheme of the new constitution was submitted to them. They made many useful observations, that Talleyrand was requested to hear, to weigh, and to admit, unless they were calculated to affect the funda- mental principles of the project. Except some dispositions of detail, which were modified, the new constitution obtained the general assent. It was proposed to the Cisalpine deputies, in order to beguile their impatience, to make out lists of can- didates, with the view to aid the first consul in the numerous selections which he had to make. This turning over of names usefully occupied their time. The first consul arrived on the llth of January, 1 H02, or 21t Niwose. The population of the country, collected along the roads by which he passed, had waited for him by day and night. They assembled around immense fires, and ran in advance of all the carriages coming from Paris, crying, "Long live Bonaparte !" Thefirst consul at length appeared, and travelled the road to Lyons in the midst of continued transports of enthusiasm. He entered the city in the evening, accompanied by his wife, his adopted children, and his aides-de-camp, and was received by the magistrates, the civil and military authori- ties, an Italian deputation, the Egyptian staff, and the young Lyonnese cavalry. The city, all over illuminated, was as resplendent as at noon-day. He passed under an arch of triumph, that sot-- mounted a noble emblem of consular France, a sleeping lion. He descended at the Hotel cle Ville, which had been so fitted up as to serve him fotr a very convenient residence. On the following day the first consul was em- ployed in receiving all the departmental deputa- tions, and after them, the Italian consulta, which reckoned four hundred and fifty members present, out of four hundred and fifty-two, a rare example of exact attendance, if the number of persons, the season, and the distance are considered; and still more, when it is known that one of the two ab- sentees was the respectable archbishop of Milan, who had died of an apoplectic attack at the resi- dence of Talleyrand. The Italians, to whom the first consul spoke their own language, wore de- lighted to see him again, and to find united in him at once both the French and the Italian. On the following days they all proceeded to the last labours of the consulta. The modifications prepared in the constitution having been agreed to by the first consul, the lists of candidates were stated. The plan was proposed of a committee of thirty members, taken out of the entire coiisulta, to discuss with the first consul the long series of selections which were to be made. This labour occupied several days, during which tle first consul, after having employed a part of the day in seeing and entertaining the Italians, occupied himself also with French business, received the prefects, the departmental deputations, lie.ird the expression of their wishes and their necessities, and thus learned, by seeing with his own eyes, the true state of the republic. The enthusiasm daily increased, and in the midst of this general excitement it was, that the French and Italians, communicating with each other, the idea was promulgated of naming the first consul president of the Cisalpine republic. MM. Petiet, Marescalchi, Murat, and Talleyrand, saw, every day, the members of the committee of thirty, and conferred with them on the choice of a president. When they conceived that they were much em- barrassed and greatly di\ idod in their choice, which was, in reality, a very difficult matter, it was hinted to them in a manner as if to lead them out of their embarrassment, that they might confer the post of vice-president upon any Italian they might select, and then cover his insufficiency by the glory of the first consul, who might be named president. This idea, so simple, and still more useful to the Cisalpine, even more important to its exist- ence and to the administration of its affairs, than to the greatness of the first consul, was generally approved, but still with the condition of an Italian vice-president. They then decided that citizen 1S02. Jan. Bonaparte nominated president of the Italian republic. THE TRIBUNATE. He returns to Paris. 333 Melzi should be charged with the vice-presidency under the first consul. All being ready, one of the members of the committee of thirty, made this proposition to the committee. It was received with joy, and in a moment turned into the draft of a decree. No time was lost ; and on the following day, the 25th of January, or 5th Pluviose, the pro- ject was presented to the assembled consulta. It was welcomed with acclamation, and Napoleon Bonaparte was proclaimed the president of the Italian republic. This was the first occasion in which the two names of Napoleon and Bonaparte were used together. The general was now to add to the title of first consul of the French republic, that of president of the Italian republic. A depu- tation was sent to him accordingly, in order to ex- press this desire. While this affair was under deliberation, the general of the armies of Italy and Egypt passed his old soldiers in review. The demi-brigades of the army of Egypt, which there had been time to assemble, had been united with the consular guard, numerous detachments of troops, and the Lyonnese militia. On that day, the fogs of winter were in a moment dissipated by a brilliant sun, amidst intense cold. Bonaparte passed along the ranks of his old soldiers, who received him with trans- ports of joy almost inconceivable. The soldiers of Egypt and Italy, delighted to find this child of their labours grown so great, hailed him with their shouts, and endeavoured to make him know that they had never ceased to be worthy of him, al- though led for a mement by chiefs unworthy of themselves. He called some of the old grenadiers from the ranks, spoke to them of the battles in which they had fought, and of the wounds they had received; he recognized here and there officers whom he had seen in more than one battle, shook hands with them all, filling them with a sort of intoxication, of which he himself could not escape the contagion, in the presence of so many brave men who had helped, by their devotedness, to produce the marvellous good fortune which he enjoyed, and which France enjoyed with him. This scene occurred amid the ruins of the Place Bellecour, and effaced the sad recollections of that spot, as glory effaces those of unhappiness. It was on entering the Hotel de Ville after this review, that the first consul found the deputation of the consulta, received the expression of its wishes, declared his assent, and intimated, that the next day he would make his reply to this new act of the confidence of the Italian people. The next day, being the 26th of January, or 6th Pluviose, the first consul proceeded to the place where the general sittings of the consulta were held. It was a large church, disposed and de- corated for the especial purpose. Every thing passed there hi the same way of ceremony as is observed in France or England, when the monarch is^present at a sitting. The first consul, sur- rounded with his family, the French ministers, and a great number of generals and prefects, was upon a dais. He spoke in the Italian language, which he pronounced perfectly well, a speech, pre- cise jOTd-slrapte 1 , in which he announced his ac- ceptance of the dignity, his views regarding the government and prosperity of the new republic, and then' proclaimed the. principal selections which he had made, conformably to the wishes of the consulta. His words were drowned in cries of "Long live Bonaparte!" "Long live the first consul of the French republic ! " " Long live the president of the Italian republic!" The consti- tution was then read, as well as the list of citizens, of all ranks, who were to carry it into effect. A long-continued acclamation expressed the harmony that prevailed between the Italian people and the hero who had freed them. This sitting was very imposing and solemn ; it commenced in a worthy manner the existence of the new republic, which was thenceforth to be called the ITALIAN REPUBLIC. On this occasion, as upon many others, there could be only one thing to wish in favour of general Bonaparte; namely, that the genius of preservation had accompanied, with this favourite of fortune, the genius which created. The first consul had now been- twenty-one days at Lyons. The government of France demanded his presence in Paris, because he had given orders for the signature of the definitive treaty of peace, which was negotiating at the congress of Amiens. During this interval of time, the consul Camba- cres and the senate were labouring to disem- barrass themselves of the unruly members who had so violently opposed the first consul at that moment of his career when he least deserved opposition. He was now about to be in a position to resume the long series of works which consti- tuted the grandeur and happiness of France. He was therefore pressed to return to Paris, in order to proceed with his customary occupations, and, probably, to receive there, as the price of his labours, a new greatness, the just and most neble recompense of the most fertile ambition that ever actuated the spirit of man. He set off on the 28th of January, or 8th Plu- viose, leaving behind him the enthusiastic Italians, full of hope, leaving, too, the Lyonnese delighted to have possessed, for a few days, the extraordinary man whose name filled the world, and who ex- hibited for their city such a marked predilection. He had received from the emperor Alexander the reply to a letter, in which he requested from that monarch some advantages for the manufacturers of Lyons. This letter, which announced the best dispositions on the part of Russia, was published, hi substance, and produced the most lively satis- faction. Upon his departure, the first consul pre- sented three scarfs to tho three mayors of the city of Lyons, in memory of that glorious visit. The inhabitants of Bordeaux sent a deputation to him, requesting he would pass their city walls. He made them the promise they desired as soon as the definitive peace should allow him a little leisure time l . Passing by St. Etienne and Nevers, he arrived in Paris on the 31st of January, or llth Pluviose. 1 The following are some extracts from the correspondence of the first consul during bis stay at Lyons : To the consuls Cambaceres and Lebrun. " Lyons, 24th Niv6se, yearx. (Hth January, 1802.) " I have received, citizen consuls, your letter of the 2 1st. The weather is excessively cold here, and. I pass the morn- ing;, from noon till six o'clock, in receiving the prefect* and the notables of the neighbouring departments. You 334 Letters from the first consul TRIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. while at Lyons. 1802. Jan. know that at this sort of conferences one must talk a long while. " This evening the city of Lyons gives a concert and ball. I am going there in about an hour. " The labours of the consulta are in progress. " The troops of the army of the east are now arriving in strength at Lyons ; I am taking steps to have them clothed ; ; I hope to review tliem on the 28th. " I continue to be extremely satisfied with every thing I see, both with the people of Lyons, and with those of the south of France. The negotiations at Amiens appear to me advancing. I congratulate you on the manner in which every thing n your hands proceeds. " Joseph writes me from Amiens that lord Cornwallis told him that the British cabinet has received favourable news about the French army at St. Domingo, and that division lad manifested itself in Toussaint's forces." To the same. " Lyons, 26th Nivose, year x. (16th of January, 1802.) " I have received, citizen consuls, your despatches of the 22nd and 23rd Niv6se. The Lyonnese have given us a most magnificent fete. Annexed you will find the details, with the songs sung on the occasion. " I proceed very slowly in my operations, because I pass the whole of my mornings in receiving the deputations of the neighbouring departments. " It is very fine to-day, but very cold. " The well-being of the republic, during the last two yuars, is observable. The population of Lyons has increased during the years vm. and ix. more than 20,000 souls ; and all the manufacturers that I have seen from St. Etienne, Annonay, &c., tell me that their works are in great activity. " All minds seem to be full of activity, not that which disorganizes empires, but that which re-establishes them, and conducei to their prosperity and riches. " I shall, in a few days, review nearly six demi-brigades of the army of the east." To the consul Cambaceres. " Lyons, 28th Niv6se, year x. (18th of January, 1802.) " I have just received, citizen consul, a deputation from Bordeaux. It has presented me a petition, soliciting me to Tisit their city, which I have promised to do, as soon as their relations with the Antilles and the Isle of France shall be in full activity. " Your letter of the 25th communicates to me the deli- berations of the senate. I beg you particularly to see that the twenty, and the sixty unruly members whom we have in the constituted authorities, are every one got rid of. The wish of the nation is, that the government should not be obstructed in its etideavoun to do well, and that the head of Medusa shall not show itself any more, either in our tribunes, or in our assemblies. " The conduct of Sieyes on the present occasion com- pletely proves that, having contributed to the destruction oi all the constitutions since 1791, he wants now to try his hand against the present. It is very extraordinary that he cannot see the folly of it. He ought to burn a wax candle to our Lady, for having got out of the scrape so fortunately, and in so unexpected a manner ; but the older I grow, the more I perceive that each man must fulfil his destiny. " I take it for granted that you have taken the proper measures for demolishing the Chatelet. " If the minister of marine has need of the frigates of the king of Naples, he may make use of them. Indeed, it will be as well to despatch them to America as soon as possible. Every thing shall be arranged afterwards with the king of Naples. " The cold is much diminished to-day. " General Jourdan, who has arrived to-day from Pied- mont, gives me a very satisfactory account of the state of that province. The operations of the consulta are in an advanced state, 11 their organic laws are arranging. I have been occupied part of the morning in a confer- nce with the prefects. " I recommend you to see the minister of marine, to icertain whether the provisions for St. Domingo have been ent off." To the consuls Cambaceres and Lebrun. " Lyons, 30th NivSse, year x. (20th of January, 1802.) I should wish, citizen consuls, the minister of the mblic treasury to send Roger to the 16th military division, o examine into the accounts of the paymaster, and of the irincipal receivers of the departments composing that division. ' I also wish the minister of the public treasury would send to Rennes some individual like citizen Roger, to per- 'orm the same duty in the 13th military division. " Despatch also the councillors of state Thibaudeau and Fourcroy, one to the 'Sth military division and the other to the 16th, to inspect these divisions, in the same way as they did on their preceding mission. One part of the complaint is, that the minister of war has not caused the cHipensation- money, in lieu of forage and lodging, for the first three months of the year x., to be paid over to the officers ; that the receivers keep the funds a long time, and that the pay- masters pay it as late as they can. The paymasters and the receivers are the greatest plagues in the state." To the same. " Lyons, 30th NivSse, year x., or 20th Jan. 1802. I have received, citizen consuls, your letter of the 26th and 27th. At Lyons, as at Paris, the weather has become considerably milder. 1 Yesterday I visited several factories. I was pleased with the industry and with the severe economy which I thought I perceived exercised by the manufacturers in the employment of their workmen. " I ought to-day to have held my grand review, but I have postponed it till the 5th Pluvidse. The troops of the army of the east have not yet been clothed anew ; I am in hopes that by the 5th they will be all ready, so that they will present a satisfactory appearance. " I perceive, with much pleasure, the decision you have come to about the Chatelet. If the weather should become severe, I do not think the step you have taken, of allowing four thousand francs per month for the extraordinary work- shops, will be sufficient. " Besides the hundred thousand francs which the minister of the interior grants monthly to the committees of bien- faisance, it will be necessary to add twenty-five thousand francs extraordinary for the distribution of wood ; and if the cold weather continues, it will be necessary, as in "89, to light fires in the churches and other great buildings, to warm a great many people. " I calculate on being back in Paris in the course of the decade. I beg you to consider whether it will not be ex- pedient to insert in the Moniitur the last message to the senate, and to add two lines at the end, to state that the senate has appointed a commission, which made its report in the sitting of the . . . , it is decided upon to proceed to a renewal of the chamber, in conformity with the 38th article of the constitution, &c. &c. " Many rumours which have reached me lead me to be- lieve that Caprara requires the priests to sign formula or professions of faith, couched nearly in these words: 'We rejoice, moreover, in hereby making a solemn profession of filial respect, of complete submission, and perfect obedience to,' &c. Sec. " This information has reached me, amongst the reit, from Maastricht. I beg you to confer with Portalis. This formula appears to me quite inconceivable." 1802. Jan. Letter! from the first consul THE TRIBUNATE. while at Lyons. To the same. " Lyons, 2nd PluTi6se, year x., or 22nd Jan. 1802. " I only received to-day, citizen consuls, your letter of the 29th NivSse, which reached me about three o'clock in the afternoon. The thaw and the inundations retarded your courier some hours. " The forage department is entirely disorganized in the department of the Dr6me. Ten thousand francs must be retained out of the ordonnance of Pluviose until this branch of the service is in due course. " The civil hospitals which are allowed only fourteen sous per day for the sick military, complain that they have not yet received any thing for the year x. That of Valence de- mands, besides the whole year x., an arrear for the month of Fructidor, ix. 1 The order issued for the organization of the Piedmontese troops, which I signed more than a month ago, has not yet reached Turin, which occasions uncertainty amongst the troops. Generally speaking, there is a good deal of back- wardness, and little activity, in the war department ; this is the general opinion amongst all who have any thing to do with that department. " It is indispensable that the minister of war should send a good and experienced commissary to Turin. " All the most important arrangements of the consulta are decided upon. I still depend upon reaching Paris in the course of the decade. " It would be desirable for the senate to name a dozen prefects, either to the tribunate or to the legislative body. The prefect of Mont Blanc should be amongst them. " I should wish you to insert in the journals some articles respecting the roguery of Fouilloux, to turn into ridicule the foreign gulls who spread absurd reports founded on the manuscript bulletin of a small rogue, who was in want of a dinner, and duped them. It would be as well to recur to this subject several times." To the same. " Lyons, 6th Pluviose, year x., or 26th Jan. 1802. " I have received, citizen consuls, your letter of the 2nd Pluvidse. " I had to-day a grand review on the place Bellecour. The weather was superb ; the sun shone as if it were the month of Floreal. " The consulta has appointed a committee of thirty indi- viduals, which has made a report to the effect that, consider- ing the interior and exterior circumstances of the Cisalpine republic, it was indispensable to leave me to perform the duty of the chief magistracy, until circumstances should permit, or I should deem it expedient, to appoint a suc- cessor. To-morrow I calculate upon presenting myself to the assembled consulta. The constitution will be read, with the list of the appointments, and every thing will be con- cluded. I shall be in Paris on decade." To the same. " Lyons, 6th Pluvi6se, year x., 26th Jan. 1802. " I have received, citizen consuls, your letter of the 3rd Pluvidse. I think it will be well to wait till the peace of Amiens is signed before we raise the state of siege of the city of Brest. " At two o'clock I went to the hall of the sittings of the extraordinary consulta. I delivered a short speech in Italian, of which you will find enclosed a French translation. The constitution was read, the first organic law, and one re- lating to the clergy. The different nominations were pub- lished. " I will send you to-morrow a minute of the whole pro- ceedings of the consulta, in which will be found a copy of the constitution. The two ministers, four counsellors of state, twenty prefects, with the general and superior officers, ac- companied me. This sitting exhibited both majesty and great unanimity ; and I hope from the congress of Lyons all the results which I anticipated. " I think it is useless, unless false reports are circulated about the congress of Lyons, to publish any thing before the arrival of the courier whom I shall send you to-morrow. Only in case of its being rumoured that the consulta has nominated me president, you can print the two papers en- closed, which will make known the exact turn that matters have taken. " I shall be occupied to-morrow in bringing the whole business to a close, and I shall start in the night. On decade I shall be in Paris " 336 Objects of Bonaparte's TRIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE, journey to Lyons realized. 1802. Jan. BOOK XIV. 'THE CONSULATE FOR LIFE. ARRIVAL OP THE FIRST CONSUL IN PARIS. SCRUTINY OF THE SENATE, 'WHICH EXCLUDES SIXTY MEMBERS OF THE LEGISLATIVE BODY AND TWENTY OP THE TRIBUNATE. THE EXCLUDED MEMBERS REPLACED BI PERSONS DEVOTED TO THE GOVERNMENT. TERMINATION OF THE CONGRESS OF AMIENS. SOME DIFFICULTIES ARISE AT THE TERMINATION OF THE NEGOTIATION, IN CONSEOUENCE OF JEALOUSIES EXCITED IN ENGLAND. THE FIRST CONSUL OVERCOMES THESE DIFFICULTIES BY HIS MODERATION AND FIRMNESS. THE DEFINITIVE TREATY SIGNED ON THE 25TH OF 'MARCH, 1802. ALTHOUGH THE FIRST ENTHUSIASMS ABOUT PEACE ARE COOLED BOTH IN ERANCE AND ENGLAND, THEY WELCOME WITH NEW JOY THE HOPE OF A SINCERE AND DURABLE RECONCILIATION. EXTRAORDINARY SESSION OF THE YEAR X., DESTINED TO CONVERT INTO LAWS THE CON- CORDAT, THE TREATY OF AMIENS, AND DIFFERENT BILLS OF CHEAT IMPORTANCE. THE LAW REGULATING WORSHIP ADDED TO THE CONCORDAT UNDER THE TITLE OF " ORGANIC ARTICLES." PRESENTATION OF THAT LAW AND OF THE CONCORDAT TO THE RENEWED LEGISLATIVE BODY AND TRIBUNATE. COOLNESS WITH WHICH THOSE DOCUMENTS ABE RECEIVED, EVEN AFTER. THE EXCLUSION OF THE OPPOSITION. THEY ARE ADOPTED. THE FIRST CONSUL FIXES UPON THE FIRST DAT OF EASTER FOR THE PUBLICATION OP THE CONCORDAT, AND THE FIRST CEREMONY OF THE RE-ESTABLISHED WORSHIP. ORGANIZATION OF THE NEW CLERGY. PART GIVEN TO THE CONSTITUTIONALISTS IN THE NOMINATION OF THE BISHOPS. CARDINAL CAPRARA REFUSES, IN THE NAME OF THE HOLY SEE, TO INSTITUTE THE CONSTITUTIONALISTS. FIRMNESS OF THE FIRST CONSUL, AND SUB- MISSION OF CARDINAL CAPRARA. OFFICIAL RECEPTION OF THE CARDINAL AS LEGATE A LATERE. CONSECRA- TION OF THE FIRST PRINCIPAL BISHOPS AT N6TRE DAME, ON PALM SUNDAY. CURIOSITY AND EMOTION OF THE PUBLIC. THE VERY EVE BEFORE EASTER DAY, AND OF THE SOLEMN T DEUM WHICH WAS TO BI CHANTED IN NOTRE DAME, CARDINAL CAPRARA WISHES TO IMPOSE ON THE CONSTITUTIONALISTS A HUMILIAT- ING RETRACTION OF THEIR PAST CONDUCT. NEW RESISTANCE ON THE PAUT OF THE FIRST CONSUL. CAPRARA DOES NOT YIELD UNTIL THE NIGHT IS ADVANCED BEFORE EASTER DAY. REPUGNANCE OF THE GENERALS TO PROCEED TO N&THE DAME. THE FIRST CONSUL OBLIGES THEM TO GO. SOLEMN TE DEUM AND OFFICIAL RESTORATION OF RELIGION. ADHERENCE OF THE PUBLIC, AND JOY OF THE FIRST CONSUL ON SEEING THE SUCCESS OF HIS EFFORTS. PUBLICATION OF THE " GENIE DU CHRI8TIANISME." PROJECT OF A GENERAL AMNESTY WITH B.ESARD TO THE EMIGRANTS. THIS MEASURE HAVING BEEN DISCUSSED IN THE COUNCIL OF STATE, BECOMES THE OBJECT OF A SENATUS CONSULTUM. VIEWS OF THE FIRST CONSUL UPON THE ORGANIZA- TION OP 8OCIBTY IN FRANCE. HIS OPINIONS ON SOCIAL DISTINCTIONS AND ON THE EDUCATION OF YOUTH. TWO PROJECTED LAWS OF HIOH IMPORTANCE, ON THE INSTITUTION OF THE LEGION OF HONOUR AND ON PUBLIC INSTRUCTION. DISCUSSION OF THESE TWO PROJECTS IN A FULL COUNCIL OF STATE. CHARACTER OF THE DISCUSSIONS OF THAT GREAT BODY. LANGUAGE OF THE FIRST CONSUL. PRESENTATION OF THE TWO PROJECTS TO THE LEGISLATIVE BODY AND TO THE TRIBUNATE. ADOPTION, BY A LARGE MAJORITY, OF THE PROJECT OF LAW RELATIVE TO PUBLIC INSTRUCTION. A LARGE MINORITY PRONOUNCES AGAINST THE PROJECT RELATIVE TO THE LEGION OF HONOUR. THE TREATY OF AMIENS PRESENTED LAST, AS THE CBOWNING WORK OF THE FIRST CONSUL. RECEPTION GIVEN TO THE TREATY. THEY TAKE THIS OCCASION TO SAY EVERY WHERE THAT A NATIONAL RECOMPENSE OUGHT TO BE DECREED TO THE AUTHOR OF ALL THE BENEFITS WHICH PRANCE THUS ENJOYS. THE BROTHERS AND PARTIZANS OF THE FIRST CONSUL MEDITATE THE RE-ESTABLISH- MENT OF THE MONARCHY. THIS IDEA APPEARS TO BE PREMATURE. THE IDEA OF THE CONSULATE FOR LIFE MORE GENERALLY PREVAILS. THE CONSUL CAMBACERES OFFERS HIS INTERVENTION WITH THE SENATE. DISSIMULATION OF THE FIRST CONSUL, WHO WILL NOT AVOW THAT OF WHICH HE IS DESIROUS. EMBARRASS- MENT OF THE CONSUL CAMBACERES. HIS EFFORTS TO INDUCE THE SENATE TO CONFER THE CONSULSHIP OK BONAPARTE FOR THE REST OF HIS LIFE. THE SECRET ENEMIES OF BONAPARTE PROFIT BY HIS SILENCE, TO PERSUADE THE SENATE THAT A PROLONGATION OF THE CONSULATE FOR TEN YEARS SHOULD SUFFICE. VOTE OF THE SENATE UPON THIS CONSTRUCTION. DISPLEASURE OF THE FIRST CONSUL. HE THINKS OF REFUSING. HIS COLLEAGUE CAMBACERES DISSUADES HIM FROM SO DOING, AND PROPOSES AS AN EXPEDIENT TO APPEAL TO THE SOVEREIGNTY OF THE NATION, AND TO PUT THE QUESTION TO. FRANCE, " IF BONAPARTE SHALL BE CONSUL FOR LIFE?" THE COUNCIL OF STATE CHARGED TO DRAW UP THE QUESTION. OPENING OF REGISTRIES IN THE MAYORS* OFFICES, THE TRIBUNALS, AND OFFICES OF THE NOTARIES PUBLIC. EAGERNESS OF ALL THE CITIZENS TO TENDER AFFIRMATIVE VOTES. CHANGE WROUGHT IN THE CONSTITUTION OF SIEVES. THE FIRST CONSUL RECEIVES THE CONSULSHIP FOR HIS LIFE, WITH POWER OF APPOINTING HIS SUCCESSOR. THE SENATE IS INVESTED WITH THE CONSTITUENT POWER. THE LISTS OF NOTABILITY ARE ABOLISHED, AND REPLACED BY ELECTORAL COLLEGES FOR LIFE. THE TRIBUNATE REDUCED TO BE A SECTION OF THE COUNCIL OF STATE. THE NEW CONSTITUTION BECOMES COMPLETELY MONARCHICAL. CIVIL LIST OF THE FIRST CONSUL. HB IS PROCLAIMED SOLEMNLY BY THE SENATE. GENERAL SATISFACTION AT HAVING FOUNDED AT LAST A POWERFUL AND DURABLE GOVERNMENT. THE FIRST CONSUL USES THE NAME OF NAPOLEON BONAPARTE. HIS "MORAL" POWER is NOW AT ITS CULMINATING POINT. RECAPITULATION OF THIS PERIOD OF THREE TEARS. THB journey of the first consul to Lyons, had for its bnd the constitution of the Italian republic, and to secure himself the government, for the interest of Italy and that of France. He had also the object in view to embarrass the opposition, and to bring it into discredit, by leaving it idle; thus proving that it was impossible to carry out good while it stood in the way ; finally, to give the con- sul Cambace"res time to exclude from the legislative body and from the tribunate the more restless and troublesome members. All thus desired was realized. The Italian 1802. Jan. Measures taken for re- newing the fifth of THE CONSULATE FOR LIFE. the tribunate and legis- lative body. 337 republic, constituted with pomp, found itself bound to the course of French policy without losing its own denned object. The opponents in the tri- bunate and in the legislative body, struck by the message which withdrew the civil code, left in Paris without a single projected law to discuss, did not know how to extricate themselves from their embarrassment. It was laid to their charge every where, that they interrupted the best labours of the government ; every where they were cen- sured for imitating mischievously, and without reason, the agitators of the old time ; and while thus situated, Cambaceres gave them the last blow by the ingenious combination which he had con- ceived. He sent for M. Tronchet, the learned lawyer, introduced into the senate by his influence, and enjoying in that body the double weight of wisdom and character. He communicated to him his plan, and obtained his assent to it. It has been seen in the preceding book what this plan was ; it has been seen that it consisted in the in- terpretation of article 38 of the constitution, which fixed the year x. for the going out of the first fifth of the tribunate and the legislative body, and gave to the senate the designation of the fifth which was to retire. There were many reasons for and against this mode of the interpretation of ar- ticle 38. The best of all was the necessity of sup- plying to the faculty of dissolution that which the constitution had not attributed to the executive power. M. Tronchet, a wise man and excellent citizen, admiring and fearing at the same time the first consul, but judging him indispensable, and judging with Cambaceres, that if he were not delivered from the importunate opposition of the tribunate, he would have recourse to violent mea- sures even from his anxiety to effect the good which he was thus prevented from effecting M. Tronchet entered into the views of the govern- ment, and charged himself with the task of pre- paring the senate for the adoption of the projected measures. He succeeded without trouble, because the senate felt that it had been made the accom- plice and dupe of the bad humour of the opposition. This body had already receded with great haste and little dignity in the business of the candidate- ships. Ruled by that love of repose and power, which had seized upon every body, it consented to turn out the oppositionists, whose plans it had at first approved and seconded. The scheme was well received by the principal persons of the body, Lace'pede, Laplace, Jacqueminot, and others, and they proceeded without delay in its execution, under a message, dated the 7th of January, 1802, or 17th Niv6se, year x. "Senators," said the message, "the article 38 of the constitution commands that the renewal of the first-fifth of the legislative body and of the tribunate shall take place in the year x., and we touch on the fourth month of that year. The consuls have believed it their duty to call your attention to the circumstance. Your wisdom will find in it the necessity of taking into consideration, without delay, the operations which will be neces- sary to precede this renewal." This message, the intention of which it was easy to divine, struck with surprise the opposition in the two legislative assemblies, and naturally excited among them a great degree of irritation. From levity, or by impulse, they had thrown themselves into the career of opposition without foreseeing the result, and they were strangely surprised at the blow which impended, a blow which would have been more severe but for the intervention of the consul Cambaceres. They met for the purpose of drawing up a memorial, and they presented it to the senate. Cambaceres, who knew nearly all of them, addressed himself to those who were the least compromised. He made them sensible that in further distinguishing themselves by their re- sistance, they would not fail to attract indi- vidually the attention of the senate, and the power of exclusion, with which that body was to be invested. This observation quieted the greater part of them, and they waited in silence the de- cision of the supreme authority. In the sittings of the 15th and 18th of January, the 25th and 28th of Nivose, the senate resolved the question arising out of the message of the consuls. By a very large majority it decided that the renewal of the first-fifth in the two legislative assemblies should immediately take place, and that the designation of this fifth should be made by ballot and not by lot. But a change of form was adopted, and in place of balloting for those who were to go out, it was decided that the ballot should be on the names of those who were to remain members. The mea- sure had thus the appearance of a preference in place of that of an exclusion. By means of this softening of the mode of proceeding, they set about the designation of the two hundred and forty members of the legislative body without delay, and of the eighty-eight members of the tribunate destined to continue in the legislature. The senators more immediately under the influence of the government, were in secret possession of the names of the members who were to be preserved from exclusion, and during the last days of January, or the end of Nivose, and commencement of Pluviose, the ballots constantly repeated in the senate, effected the separation of the partisans and adversaries of the government. Sixty members of the legislative body, who had exhibited the greatest resistance to the projected measures of the first consul, above all, to the project for the re-establish- ment of worship, and twenty of the most active of the tribunate, were excluded ; or, according to the term used at that time, were " eliminated." The principal among these twenty were Che'nier, Gin- gueud, Chazal, Bailleul, Courtois, Ganiel, Daunou, and Benjamin Constant. The others, less known, men of letters, or business, ancient conventionals, or priests, had no other title to enter the tribunate than the friendship of Sieves and his party ; the same title sent them out of it. Such was the end not only of the tribunate, which continued to exist for some time longer, but of the momentary importance which that b^4y had acquired. It was desirable that the first Con- sul, so full of glory, so indemnified by the universal adhesion of France for an unbecoming opposition, could have resigned himself to bear for a moment with a few impotent detractors. This resignation would have been more worthy of him, and also less hurtful to the species of liberty which he would have been able to leave to France at that tune, in order to prepare her at a later period for a genuine liberty. But in this world wisdom is Z 338 The senate replace the fifths. TRIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. Lucien Bonaparte, Carnot, and Daru, selected. 1802. Jan. much more rare than ability, more perhaps than even genius, because wisdom implies a victory over our own passions, a victory of which the great men are no more capable than the little. The first consul, it must be acknowledged, wanted wis- dom upon this occasion, and the single excuse can alone be offered in his favour ; it is, that such an opposition, encouraged by Ms patience, would perhaps become more inconvenient, more danger- ous, and even insurmountable, if the majority of the legislative body and of the senate had at last borne a part in it, which was very possible. This excuse has a certain foundation, and it proves that there are times in which a dictatorship is needful even to a free country, or one destined to be so. As to this opposition of the tribunate, it did not Merit the praises which have been so frequently given to it. Uncertain and shuffling, it resisted the civil code, the re-establishment of the altars, the best acts of the first consul, and regarded in silence the proscription of the unhappy revo- lutionists, banished without a trial, on account of the infernal machine, of which they were not the authors. The tribunes were silent then, be- cause the terrible explosion of the 3rd of Nivose had frozen them with fear, and they dared not defend the principles of justice in the persons of men, of whom the greater part were blood- stained. The courage which they could not ex- hibit to censure a flagrant injustice, they found too sadly in order to impede excellent public mea- sures. If, on the other hand, a sincere sentiment of liberty inspired many of them, among others there may be perceived the vexatious feeling of envy which animated the tribunate against the council of state, the men reduced to do nothing, against those that had the power to do all things. They committed then very serious faults, and un- happily provoked those not less serious upon the part of the first consul : a deplorable chain of circumstances, that history so often obscures in our agitated universe, the passions of which are in eternal motion. It was necessary to replace the excluded fifths in the legislative body and the tribunate. The majority of the senate which had pronounced the exclusions, nominated the new admissions, and. did so in a manner the most satisfactory to the con- sular government. They made use for the new elections of the lists of notability, invented by Sieves as a principal basis of the constitution. Despite the efforts of the council of state to dis- cover a convenient manner of forming these lists, none of the systems it devised had redeemed the inconvenience of the principle. They were slow and difficult to form, because they inspired little zeal in the citizens, who could not see in this vast mass of candidates, any very direct and immediate means to influence -the composition of the first au- thorities. They were, in reality, only a mode of saving appearances, and of dissimulating the neces- sity then inevitable, for the composition of the great bodies of the state through themselves; since every election turned out badly, in other words, went to extremes. They had the greatest diffi- culty in completing these lists; and out of a hun- dred and two departments then existing, of which two, those of Corsica, were beyond the reach of the law ; those on the left bank of the Rhine were not organized, eighty-three only had sent in their lists. It was agreed, therefore, that the selections should be made from the lists sent in, with a re- servation of indemnity, by subsequent elections, to the departments which had not yet executed the law. There were called to the legislative body a great number of the larger proprietors of land in the country, whom the new security, which they had been recently made to enjoy, had brought to quit the retirement in which they had hitherto en- deavoured to live. There were also called to it some prefects and magistrates, who had been, for three years past, training to the practice of public business, under the direction of the consular go- vernment. Among those introduced into the tri- bunate, was numbered Lucien Bonaparte, returned from Spain, after an embassy more agitated than useful, affecting to desire nothing more than a quiet existence, employed to serve his brother in one of the great assemblies of the state. With hhn was introduced Carnot 1 ) who had just quitted the ministry at war, where he had not possessed the art of pleasing the first consul. The last was not .more favourable to the consular government than the tribunes recently excluded ; but he was a grave personage, universally respected, whose opposition could not be very active, and whom the revolution could not have laid aside without odious ingratitude. This nomination was a last homage to liberty. After these two names the most noted was that of M. Daru, a capable and upright administrator of a sage and cultivated intellect. During the time that these operations were in execution, the first consul had reached Paris, after an absence of twenty-four days. He arrived on the 81st of January, in the evening, or on the llth of Pluviose. Every where there was submission, and that singular movement of resistance, that had not long before been seen in both legislative as- 1 " After the 18th Bruraaire, Carnot was recalled by the first consul " (he had fallen in Fructidor), " and placed in the war department. He had several quarrels with the minister of finance, Dufresne, the director of the treasury ; in which, it is but fair to *ay, that he was always in the wrong. At last he left the department, persuaded that it could not longer go on for want of money. When a member of the tribunate, he spoke and voted against the establishment of the empire; but his conduct, open and manly, gave no uneasiness to the administration. At a Later period he was appointed inspector of reviews, and received from the emperor, on his retire- ment from the service, a pension of twenty thousand franc*. As long as public afiairs went on prospering, the emperor heard nothing of Carnot ; but after the campaign of Russia, at the time of the disasters of France, Carnot asked for em- ployment. He was appointed to command the town of Antwerp, and he behaved well in his post. On his return in 1815, the emperor, after a little hesitation, made him minister of the interior, and had no reason to repent of his choice, having found him faithful, laborious, full of probity and sincerity. In the month of June, 1815, Carnot was named one of 'the commission of the provisional govern- ment, but he was duped." Such was Napoleon's account of him. He wrote upon projectiles, and started a new theory, which Napoleon proclaimed to be fallacious in practice. Carnot died in 1823, exiled by the Bourbons. He was one of the comparatively few men, who figured during the whole revolution, of whom France may be proud. He was a scientific, cool, -sincere, courageous, patriotic, and inde- pundent man. Trantlalor. 1802. Jan. Bonaparte returns to Paris. State of his projected measures. THE CONSULATE FOR LIFE. Negotiation at Amiens on question of Malta. 331) semblies, was now completely ended. The new authority with which the first consul was clothed had itself acted strongly upon the public mind. It was not much, most assuredly, in addition to the power of the first consul, that the Italian republic had been added to that of France, which could thus vanquish and disarm the world; but it was that example of deference given to the genius of general Bonaparte by an allied people, which had produced this great effect. The bodies of the state all came eagerly to offer him their felicitations, and to address to him speeches, in which was per- ceptible, with that exaltation of language which he commonly inspired, a tone of marked respect. It seemed as if there were already seen, on that do- minating head, the double crown of France and Italy. He had all the power now for the organization of France, which was his first object, and for his personal aggrandizement, which was his second. He had no more to fear that the codes which he had drawn up, and which he had again caused to be revised, that the arrangements concluded with the pope for the x-estoration of the altars, would be defeated in intention by ill-will- or the prejudices of the great bodies of the state. These plans were not the whole which he contemplated. For some months he had been preparing a vast system of public education, in order to fashion the young, in some sort, to the system of the revolution. He projected a plan of national recompenses, which, under the military form, adapted to the time, and to the warlike imagination of the French, might also serve to remunerate the great civil as well as military actions of the French. This was the legion of honour, a noble institution, for a long time meditated in secret, and certainly not the least difficult of the labours that the first consul would fain make agreeable to republican -France. He desired also to put an end to emigration, one of the greatest and deepest maladies of the re- volution. Many Frenchmen were still living in foreign countries, imbibing there those bad senti- ments which are inherent in exile, destitute of family, fortune, and country. With the design to efface the traces of the great discords of France, and to preserve all that the revolution possessed which was good, while discarding all which was evil, emigration was not one of the results which could be suffered to remain in existence. Still, on account of those who had acquired national pro- perty, who were ever susceptible and distru3tful, this measure was one of the most difficult,, and de- manded the most courage. Nevertheless, the time approached when such an act was likely to become possible. Finally, if, as it was said every where, it was necessary to consolidate the power in the hands of the man who had exercised it in so ad- mirable a manner ; if it was necessary to impart to his authority a new character, more elevated, more durable, than that of a magistracy, of which ten years, three had already passed away, the mo- ment was again come ; for the public prosperity, the fruit of order, victory, and peace, was at its full ; it was felt at the instant with a force that time might cool, but could not lessen. Still these designs for the public good and per- sonal aggrandizement, that he nourished at the same time, needed for their accomplishment a last act, in the definitive conclusion of a maritime peace, then negotiating in the congress of Amiens. The preliminaries of London had laid down the basis of the peace; but as long as those preliminaries re- mained unconverted into a definitive treaty, the alarmists interested in disturbing the public repose, did not fail to report weekly, that the negotiation was broken, and that the country would soon be plunged into a maritime war, and by a maritime war into a continental one. Thus, after his return to Paris, the first consul impressed fresh activity upon the negotiations at Amiens. " Sign," he wrote every day to Joseph ; " because, since the pre- liminaries are agreed upon, there is no more any serious question to debate." That was true. The preliminaries of London had settled the only im- portant question, in stipulating the restitution of all the maritime conquests of the English, except- ing Ceylon and Trinidad, which the Dutch and Spaniards were to sacrifice. The English had, as we have seen, demanded, at the congress of Amiens, the little island of Tobago; but the first consul had held it fast, and they had renounced it. From that time, there had been no further differ- ences beyond questions altogether accessary, such as the support of the prisoners, and the government to be given to the isle of Malta. The difficulty relative to the prisoners has already been explained. It was a pure question of money payment, always easy to arrange. The government to be given to Malta presented a diffi- culty more weighty, and a reciprocal mistrust rendered the views of the two powers exceedingly complicated. The first consul, by a singular pre- sentiment, wished the fortifications of the island to be demolished, to reduce it to a rock, and make it a lazaretto common to all nations. The English, who regarded Malta as a half-way step to Egypt, said that the rock was of itself too important to be left always accessible to the French, that from Italy they might pass to Sicily, and from Sicily to Malta. They wished the re-establishment of the order upon its ancient basis, with the creation of an English language and a Maltese language, the last composed of the inhabitants of the island who were devoted to them. The first consul had not admitted these conditions, because, from the state of manners in France, it was not possible to hope for the compo- sition of a French sufficiently numerous to counter- balance the creation of an English language. At last this point was arranged. The order was to be re-established without having any new language. Another grand master was to be named, because M. de Hompesch, who had in 1798 delivered up Malta to general Bonaparte, would not do for a governor again. During the time that the order was re-organizing, it was decided to demand of the king of Naples a .garrison of Neapolitan soldiers, who were to occupy the island on the evacuation of it by the English. In the way of additional precaution, it was desirable that some great power should guarantee this arrangement, in order to shelter Malta from any of those enterprises which in five years had made it fall at one tune into the power of France, at another into that of England. It was at first thought of requesting this guarantee of Russia, founding the request upon the interest which this power had testified for the order under Paul I. On all these points the two parties agreed z2 340 EnglUh Jealousies aroused. TRIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. Conduct of Pitt. 1802. Feb. at the time of the departure of the first consul for Lyons. The fisheries established on their for- mer footing, the territorial indemnity promised in Germany to the house of Orange for the loss of the stadtholdership, the peace and integrity of ter- ritory assured to Portugal as well as to Turkey, only presented questions already resolved. Still, since the return of the first consul to Paris, the negotiation appeared to languish ; and lord Corn- wallis, inquieted, seemed to draw back a step at every movement made by the French negotiation towards a conclusion. It was impossible to suspect lord Cornwallis, a good and estimable soldier as he was, who only wished for an amicable termination of the difficulties of the negotiation, joining to his great military services a great civil service, by giving peace to his country. But his instructions were become all of a sudden more rigorous, and the pain that he felt upon this account was very clearly delineated in his visage. His cabinet had, hi effect, enjoined it upon him to be more par- ticular and more vigilant in the wording of the treaty, and had imposed upon him conditions in detail, which he did not feel easy in submitting to the haughty and distrustful humour of the first consul. This brave soldier, who had thoughts to crown his career by a memorable action, had rea- son to dread the sight of his old renown being tarnished by the part he might be forced to play in a negotiation scandalously broken off. In his mortification he opened his mind frankly to Joseph Bonaparte, and made with him the sincerest efforts to vanquish the obstacles opposed to the conclusion of the treaty. It will be demanded what motive could have all at once destroyed, or, at all events, cooled the pacific disposition of Mr. Addington's cabinet. The motive it is very easy to comprehend. It had made a sort of tack about, an ordinary thing in free countries. The preliminaries had been signed for six months, and in that intermediate state, which, save the sound of cannon, was near to war, little of the benefit of peace had been perceived. The greater commercial men who, in England, were the class most interested in the renewal of hostilities, because the war secured to them a uni- versal monopoly, had been in hopes to repay them- selves for what they were losing by making large shipments to the ports of France. They had met there with prohibitory regulations, which had ori- ginated during a violent contest, and which there had not been time to ameliorate. The people, who hoped for a fall in the price of provision, had not thus far seen their hopes realized, because it required a definitive treaty to overcome the specu- lators who kept the price of corn at a high standard. Lastly, the great landowners, who wished a reduc- tion of all the taxes, and the middle classes, who demanded the repeal of the income-tax, had not yet gathered the promised fruits from the pacifica- tion of the world. A little disenchantment had therefore succeeded to that infatuated desire for peace, which six months before had so suddenly seized upon the English people a people as subject to infatuation as the French. But, more than all the rest, the scenes at Lyons had acted on its jealous imagination. The taking possession of Italy, thus made manifest, had appeared for France and for her chief something so great, that British jealousy had been warmly excited by it. It was another argument for the war party, which already did not miss saying, that France was always aggrandizing herself, and England lessening in proportion. The recent news spread abroad acted equally upon their minds, namely, that of the con- siderable acquisition made by the French in America. Tuscany, it has been seen, was given away, under the title of the kingdom of Etruria, to an infant, without the price of this gift to Spain being made known. Now that the first consul claimed at Madrid the cession of Louisiana, which was the equivalent stipulated for Tuscany, this condition of the treaty was divulged ; and the fact, joined to the St. Domingo expedition, revealed new and vast designs in America. To all this was to be added, that a considerable port was acquired by France in the Mediterranean, that of the Isle of Elba, exchanged for the duchy of Piombino. These different rumours, spread abroad at once while the consulta, assembled at Lyons, was de- creeing to general Bonaparte the government of Italy, had given some strength to the war party in London, which had been before obliged to keep itself in extreme-reserve, and to greet with hypo- critical welcome the re-establishment of peace. Pitt, who had quitted the cabinet the year before, but who was still more powerful in his retirement than his upright and feeble successors were, when in full possession of their power, was silent upon the subject of the preliminaries. He had not said any thing of the conditions, but he had approved of the fact of the peace itself. His old friends, very inferior to himself, and, consequently, less moderate, Windham, Dundas, and Grenville, had censured the weakness of the Addington cabinet, and declared the preliminary conditions disadvantageous to Great Britain. On learning the departure of the fleet, carrying twenty thousand men to St. Domingo, they cried out aloud at the dupery of Addington, which had permitted a squadron to pass which would not fail to re-establish the French power in the Antilles, before the signature of the defini- tive treaty of peace. They prophesied that he would be the victim of his imprudent confidence. At the news of the events at Lyons, of the cession of Louisiana, and of the acquisition of the island of Elba, they exclaimed still louder, and lord Carlisle made a furious onset upon the gigantic ambition of France, and the feebleness of the new cabinet of England. Pitt continued silent, thinking that it was ne- cessary to suffer this attachment to peace, with which the London public appeared to be smitten, to wear itself out, and that it became him to pro- tect, at least for a time, the cabinet destined to satisfy, in all probability, a passing taste. The English cabinet itself appeared to be moved by the effect thus produced upon public opinion ; but it much more dreaded what would be said if the peace should be broken as soon as it was entered upon, and if a formal treaty were not to replace the preliminary articles. It confined itself there- fore to sending out some ships of war to the West Indies, which had been prematurely re-called, in order to observe the French fleet, which had sailed to that quarter; and it sent to lord Cornwallis in- structions, which, without changing the foundation of any thing, aggravated certain conditions, and 1802. Feb. New demand! of the English cabinet, THE CONSULATE FOR LIFE. and the first consul's reply. 341 mitting a Turkish or Portuguese plenipotentiary, lie consented to an article in which the integrity of difficulty in completing the treaty, that part which related to it will make the subject better understood : " The islands of Malta, Gozo, and Comino, shall be re- stored to the order of St. John of Jerusalem, to be held on the same condition on which it possessed them before the war, and under the following stipulations : " 1. The knights of the order whose languages shall con- tinue after the exchange of the ratification of the present treaty, are invited to return to Malta as soon as the ex- change shall have taken place. They will there form a general chapter, and proceed to the election of a grand master, chosen from among the natives of the nation which preserve their language, unless that election has been al- ready made since the exchange of the preliminaries. It is understood that an election made subsequent to that epoch, shall alone be considered valid, to the exclusion of any other that may have taken place at any period prior to that epoch. " 2. The governments of the French republic and of Great Britain, desiring to place the order and island of Malta in a state of entire independence with respect to them, agree that there shall not be in future either a French or English language, and that no individual belonging to either the one or the other of these powers shall be admitted into the order. " 3. There shall be established a Maltese language, which shall be supported by the territorial revenues and commercial duties of the island. This language shall have its peculiar dignities, an establishment and an hotel. Proofs of nobility shall not be necessary for the admission of knights of this language ; and they shall be moreover admissible to all offices, and shall enjoy all privileges, in the same manner as the knights of the other languages. At least half of the municipal, administrative, civil, judicial, and other employ- ments depending on the government, shall be filled by in- habitants of the islands of Malta, Gozo, and Comino. " 4. The forces of his Britannic majesty shall evacuate the island and its dependencies within three months from the exchange of the ratifications, or sooner if possible. At that epoch it shall be given up to the order, in its present state, provided the grand master, or commissaries fully authorized according to the statutes of the order, shall be in the island to take possession, and that the force which is to be provided by his Sicilian majesty, as is hereafter stipulated, shall have arrived there. " 5. One-half of the garrison, at least, shall be always com- posed of native Maltese ; for the remainder, the order may levy recruits in those only which continue to possess the lan- guage (posiider let languei). The Maltese troops shall have Maltese officers ; the commander-in-chief of the garrison, as well as the nomination of the officers, shall pertain to the grand master; and this right he cannot assign, even tempo- rarily, except in favour of a knight, and in concurrence with the council of the order. " 6. The independence of the isles of Malta, Gozo, and Comino, as well as the present arrangement, shall be placed under the protection and guarantee of France, Great Britain, Austria, Spain, Russia, and Prussia. " 7. The neutrality of the order, and of the bland of Malta, with its dependencies, is proclaimed. " 8. The ports of Malta shall be opened to the commerce and navigation of all nations, who shall there pay equal and moderate duties ; these duties shall be applied to the sup- port of the Maltese language, as specified in paragraph 9; to that of the civil and military establishments of the islands as well as to that of a general lazaretto, open to all ensigns. " 9. The states of Barbary are excepted from the condition of the preceding paragraphs, until, by means of an arrange- ment to be procured by the contracting parties, the system of hostilities which subsists between the states of Barbary and the order of St. John, or the powers possessing the lan- overloaded the definitive treaty with precautions, useless or disparaging to the dignity of the French government. Lord Hawkesbury wished for a pre- cise stipulation of the money to be paid to England for the prisoners which she had to maintain; he wished that Holland should pay the house of Orange a money indemnity, independently of the territorial indemnity promised in Germany; he wished it to be formally stipulated, that the old grand master should not be again placed at the head of the order of Malta. He wished, above all, that a Turkish plenipotentiary should figure at the congress of Amiens, because always full of the recollections of Egypt, the British cabinet held itself determined to check the daring of the first consul in the East. He wished, in fine, to be an instrument which might enable Portugal to escape the stipulations of the treaty of Badajoz stipula- tions by virtue of which the court of Lisbon lost Olivenza in Europe and a certain territorial space in America. Such were the instructions sent to lord Corn- wallis ; still there was one proposition which was reserved to be made directly by lord Hawkesbury to M. Otto. This related to Italy : " We see," said lord Hawkesbury to M. Otto, " that there is nothing to be got from the first consul touching Piedmont. To make any demand on that head, would be asking what is impossible. But let the first consul grant to the king of Sardinia the smallest territorial indemnity in any corner of Italy that he pleases, and in return for this con- cession, we will acknowledge at the same moment all that France has done in that country. We will acknowledge the kingdom of Etruria and the Ligurian republic." The changes requested, whether by lord Corn- wallis or by lord Hawkesbury, consisting more in form than in substance, were neither vexatious to the power nor to the pride of France. Peace was too fine a thing not to accept it as it was offered. But the first consul, unable to discover if these new demands were only a pure precaution of the English cabinet, with the intention of rendering the treaty more presentable to parliament, or if in effect this going back from points already con- ceded, accompanied by maritime armaments, con- cealed a secret idea of a rupture, acted, as he always did, by going resolutely to the mark. He conceded what he thought should be conceded, and flatly refused the rest. Relatively to the pri- soners, he repelled the stipulation of the precise sum to be paid to England, but agreed to the formation of a commission which was to regulate the amount of the expenses, considering German or other soldiers who had been in the English service, as English prisoners. He would not agree that Holland should pay the stadtholder a single florin. He consented in a formal manner to the nomination of a new grand master for Malta, but without any expression applicable to M. de Hom- pesch, which might induct* the idea that France allowed the abandonment of any who had done her service to be imposed upon her. He wished that the guarantee of Malta should be also demanded of Austria, Prussia, and Spain l . Finally, without ad- 1 As the possession of the island of Malta was one of those points upon which the two countries had the greatest Signature of the THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. treaty of Amiens. IMt. March. the Turkish and Portuguese territory should be formally guaranteed. As to the acknowledgment of the Italian, of the Liguriau republic, and of the kingdom of Etruria, he declared that he would pass it by, and that lie would not purchase it by any concession made to the king of Piedmont, whoso dominions he was determined to keep definitively. After having sent these answers to his brother Joseph, with ample liberty as to the settlement, in regard to the mode of drawing up, he recom- mended him to act with great prudence, in order to have a sufficient proof that the refusal to sign the peace came from England, and not from him. lie caused it to be intimated, whether in London or at Amiens, that if they would not accept what he proposed, they ought to terminate the affair ; and that at the same moment ho would instantly re-arm the old Boulogne flotilla, and form a camp opposite to the English coast. The rupture was not more wished in London than in Paris or Amiens. The English cabinet felt that it must succumb under the ridicule, if a truce of six months, following the preliminaries, liad only served to open the sea to the French fleets. Lord Cornwallis, who knew that the English legation was not to be justified, because it was that which had raised the last difficulties, lord Corn- wallis was highly conciliatory in the drawing up. Joseph Bonaparte was not less so, and on the 25th of March, 1802, in the evening, or 4th Germinal, in the year x., the peace with Great Britain was signed upon an instrument marked with all sorts of corrections. It took thirty-six hours for the translation of the treaty into as many languages as there were powers concerned. On the 27th of March, or 6th Germinal, the plenipotentiaries met together at the Hotel de Ville. The first consul wished that all should take place with the greatest parade. A good while before there had been sent to Amiens a detachment of the finest troops newly dressed ; he had all the roads from Amiens to guages. or concurring in the composition of the order, shall hare ceased. " 10. The order shall he governed, lioth with respect to spirituals and temporals, by the same statutes which were in force when the knights left the isle, as far as the present treaty shall not derogate from them. "11. The regulations contained in paragraphs 5, 5, 7, S, and 10, shall be converted into laws and perpetual statutes of the order, in the customary manner : and the grand mas- ter, (or if h shall not be in the island at the time of its restoration to the order, his representative,) as well as his successors, shall be bound to take an oath for their punctual observance. "12. His Sicilian majesty shall be invited to furnish two thousand men, natives of his states, to serve in garrison of the different fortresses of the said islands ; that force shall remain for one year, to bear date from their restitution to the knights; and, If at the expiration of this term, the order should not have raised a force sufficient in the judgment of the guaranteeing powers to garrison the island and its de- pendencies, such as is specified in the paragraph, the Nea- politan troops shall continue there until they shall be replaced by a force deemed sufficient by the said powers. " IS. The different powers designated in the 6th paragraph, rii., France, Great Britain, Austria, Spain, Russia, and Prussia, shall be invited to accede to the present stipula- tions.' 1 Calais, and Amiens to Paris, newly repaired, and sent relief to the labourers of the country deprived of work, in order that nothing might inspire the negotiator of England with an unfavourable idea of France. He prescribed certain preparations in the city of Amiens itself, in order that the sig- nature might be given with a sort of solemnity. On the 27th, at eleven o'clock in the morning, detachments of cavalry went to the residences of the plenipotentiaries, and formed an escort to the H6tel de Ville, where an apartment had been pre- pared for their reception. It took them a certain time to revise the copies of the treaty, and about two o'clock admittance was given at last to the authorities and to the people, who were eager to be present at the imposing spectacle of the two first nations in the universe becoming reconciled in the face of the world becoming reconciled, alas ! for too short a period ! The two plenipotentiaries signed the peace, and then cordially embraced each other amid the acclamations of those present, full of emotion, and transported with joy. Lord Cornwallis- and Joseph Bonaparte were reconducted to their residences in the midst of the loudest acclamations of the multitude. Lord Cornwallis heard his name blessed by the French people, and Joseph entered his house hearing on all sides the cry, which was to be for a long time, and which it was possible might have always been the cry of France, " Long live Bonaparte !" Lord Cornwallis set out immediately for Lon- don, in spite of the invitation which he had re- ceived to visit Paris. He feared that the facilities in drawing up the treaty, to which he had lent himself, might not be approved by his government, and he wished to secure the ratification of the treaty of peace by his presence. The happy issue of the congress of Amiens, if it did not excite among the English people the same transports of enthusiasm as the signature to the preliminaries had done, still found them joyful and elated. This time, they said, they were going to enjoy the reality of the peace, the low price of produce, and the abolition of the income-tax. They believed it, and showed themselves truly satisfied. The effect was just the same on the side of France. Less of external demonstration, but not less of real satisfaction ; such was the spectacle afforded by the French people. Finally, it was felt that true peace, that of the seas, was procured, the necessary and certain condition of a continental peace. After ten years of the grandest, the most terrible contest that was ever seen among men, they had all laid down their arms ; the temple of Janus was shut. By whom had all this been performed ? Who had rendered France so great and prosperous, Europe so calm ? One sole man by the power of his sword, and by the depth of his policy. France proclaimed this, and the entire of Europe echoed to her. He had subsequently conquered at Jena, at Friedland, at Wagram, he had conquered in a hundred battles, had dazzled, startled, subdued the world ; but he was never so great as then, because he was never so wise ! Thus all the great bodies of the state came to tell him anew, in speeches full of sincere enthu- siasm, that he had been the victor, and that he was 1802. March. Addresses of public bodies to the fim consul. THE CONSULATE FOR LIFE. Regulation* of the police of worship. The "Organic Articles." 343 now the benefactor of Europe. The young author of BO much good, the possessor of so much glory, was very far from thinking he approached the end of his labours. He hardly enjoyed what he had done before he was impatient to do more. Devoted passionately to the works of peace, without being certain that peace would last long, he was anxious to complete what he denominated the organiza- tion of France, and to reconcile what was good and true in the revolution with what was useful and necessary at all times in the old monarchy. That which he had most at heart at this time was the restoration of the catholic worship, the organiza- tion of public education, the recal of the emigrants, and the institution of the legion of honour. These were not the only things that he contemplated ; but they were, in bis view, the most urgent. Mas* ter, for the future, of the minds of those who com- posed the great bodies of the state, he used the prerogatives of the constitution to order an extra- ordinary session. He had returned on the 31st of January, 1802, or llth of Pluviose, from the con- nulta held at Lyons ; the treaty of Amiens had been signed on the 25th of March, or 4th of Ger- minal; the promotions to the legislative body and the tribunate were finished several weeks before, and the newly-elected members had taken their seats ; he therefore convoked an extraordinary session for the 5th of April, or 15th Germinal. It was to last until the 20th of May, or 30th Floreal, that is to say, about six weeks. This would suffice for his plans, however great they might be, be- cause the contradiction which he was likely to encounter for the future would not occasion him the loss of much time. The first of these projects submitted to the legislative body was the concordat. It was still the more difficult of them to get adopted, if not by the popular masses, at least by the civil and military individuals who surrounded the govern- ment. The holy see, which bad been so slow to grant the principles of the concordat at one time, at another the bull of the circumscriptions, and again, the faculty to institute the new bishops, had long since sent all that was necessary to cardinal Caprara, that he might be able to display the full powers of the holy see, at the moment that the first consul should judge most opportune. The first consul himself had thought with reason that the proclamation of the definitive treaty of peace was the moment when he should be able, under the favour of the public joy, to afford, for the first time, the spectacle of the republican government prostrate at the foot of the altar, thanking Pro- vidence for the blessings which had been conferred upon it. He made every disposition for the dedication of the first day of Easter to this important solemnity. But the fifteen days which preceded this great act were not less critical nor less laborious than that day was likely to be. It was, in the first place, necessary, besides the treaty called the concordat, which, under the name of a treaty, was to be voted by the legislative body, it was necessary to draw up and to present a law which should regulate the police of worship, hi unison with the principles of the concordat and of the Galilean church. It was necessary to appoint the new clergy who were designed to replace the former bishops, whose re- signation had been required by the pope, and almost universally obtained. Sixty sees were to be filled up at one time, by the selection, from priests of all parties, of the most respectable in- dividuals, taking every precaution not to give offence to religious opinions by those selections, nor to renew schism through an excess of a similar zeal to that used for its extermination. Such were the difficulties that the tenacity, en- veloped in mildness, of the cardinal Caprara, and the passions of the clergy, as great as those of other men, rendered very serious and very dis- quieting, up to the latest moment, even to the evening before the day when the great act of the re-establishment of the altars was to bo consum- mated. The first consul began with the law designed to regulate the police of worship, or that which, hi the French code, bears the title of " Organic Ar- ticles." It was voluminous, and regulated the relations of the government with all religions, whether catholic, protestant, or Hebrew. Itrested on the principle of the liberty of worship, granted to it security and protection, imposing on all re- spect and toleration to each other, and submission towards the government. As to the catholic re- ligion, that which embraced nearly the totality of the population of the country, it was regulated ac- cording to the principles of the Roman church, sanctioned in the concordat, and the principles of the Gallican church, as proclaimed by Bossuet. It was first established that no bull, brief, or writing whatever of the holy see, could be pub- lished in France without the authority of the government; that no delegate from Rome, except him whom she publicly sent as her official repre- sentative, should be admitted, recognized, or tole- rated : this caused the disappearance of the secret mandatories that the holy see employed to govern the French church clandestinely during the revo- lution. Every infraction whatsoever of the rules, resulting either from treaties with the holy see or from the laws of France, committed by a member of the clerical body, was denominated an "abuse," and referred to the jurisdiction of the council of state, a political and administrative body, animated by a sound spirit of government, which could not feel towards the clergy the hatred which the magistracy had avowed towards it under the an- cient monarchy. No council, general or particular, could be held in France without the formal order of the government. There was to be one catechism only, approved of by the public authorities. Every ecclesiastic who devoted himself to the education of the clergy was to make profession of the de- claration of 1682, known under the name of the "Propositions of Bossuet." These propositions, as it is well known, contain those fine principles of submission and independence, which so parti- cularly characterize the Gallican church, while she, always submissive to the catholic unity, made it triumphant in France, and defended it in Europe ; but independent in her internal govern- ment, faithful to her sovereigns, she has never ended in protestantism, like the German and Eng- lish churches, nor in the inquisition, like that of Spain. Submissive to the head of the universal church in spirituals, submissive to the head of the state hi temporals, such was the double principle Alteration in the decade, 3*4 r.d Sunday acknow- ledged. TRIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. Advance* of cardinal Caprara refused by the first consul. 1802. April. upon which the first consul desired that the French church should rest established. For this reason he formally stipulated that the clergy should be instructed in the propositions of Bossuet. It was arranged, in consequence, in the organic ar- ticles, that the bishops, nominated by the first consul, and instituted by the pope, should choose the cure's; but before installing them, they should be obliged to submit them to the approval of the government. Leave was granted to the bishops to form chapters of canons in the cathedrals and seminaries of the dioceses. Every appointment of professors in these seminaries was to be approved by the public authority. No pupil of these seminaries could be ordained a priest until he was twenty-five years of age, unless he brought forward proof that he possessed property to the amount of 300 f. per annum, and that was approved of by the admi- nistration of public worship. This condition of property could not, in reality, be carried out ' ; but it was desirable, had it been practicable, be- cause, in that case, the spirit of the clergy would have sunk less than it has since been seen to do. The archbishops received 15,000 f. of revenue; the bishops, 10,000 f. ; the cure's of the first class, 1500 f.; those of the second class, 1000 f., but without the addition of ecclesiastical pensions, which many priests enjoyed in compensation for alienated ecclesiastical property. The casual, or in other words, voluntary contributions of the faithful, for the administration of certain sacra- ments, was reserved, on condition of being re- gulated by the bishops. In all other cases it was stipulated that the offices of religion should be gratuitously administered. The churches were restored to the newly-appointed clergy. The pres- byteries and the gardens attached, called, among the rural population, the " cure's' houses," were the only portions of the former goods of the church which were restored to the priests, on the under- standing that this formed no precedent regarding such a portion of the goods of the church as had been sold. The usage of bells was re-established for the purpose of calling the people to church ; but they were forbidden to be used for any civil purpose, at least, without permission from the au- thorities. The sinister recollection of the tocsin had caused this precaution to be adopted. No fte or holiday, except that of Sunday, could be established without the authority of the govern- ment. Worship was not to be performed exter- nally, that is, outside the buildings, in towns where there were edifices belonging to different religious denominations. Lastly, the Gregorian calendar was, in part, made to correspond with the republican calendar. This was, certainly, the most serious of the difficulties. It was impossible to abolish completely the calendar, which recalled, more than any other institution, the remembrance of the revolution, and which had been adapted to the new system of weights and measures. But it was not possible to establish the catholic religion again without the re-establishment of the Sunday, and with the Sunday, that of the week. In other respects, manners had already done that which the law dared not yet undertake, and the Sunday had again become every where a religious holiday, 1 It WM not abolished until February, 1810. more or less observed, but universally admitted as an interruption to the labour of the week. The first consul adopted a middle term. He decided that the year and the month should be named after the republican calendar, and the day and week after the Gregorian. That there should be said, for example, for Easter Sunday, Sunday, 28th Germinal, year x., which answered to April 18, 1802. Lastly, he exacted that no one should be married in a church without the production, pre- viously, of the writ of civil marriage; and as to the registers of births, deaths, and marriages, that the clergy had continued to hold from usage, he caused it to be declared that these registers should never be of any value in courts of justice. In the last place, every testamentary or other donation, made to the clergy, was to be constituted in the public funds. Such is the substance of the wise and profound law which bears the name of " organic articles." It was for the French government wholly an internal act which regarded itself alone, and which, under this title, was not to be submitted to the holy see. It sufficed that it contained nothing contrary to the concordat, so that the court of Rome had no reasonable ground to complain. To submit it to Rome would be to prepare insurmountable difficul- ties difficulties greater and more in number than had been encountered in the concordat itself. The first consul took care that he would not expose himself to these difficulties. He knew that when once religious worship was publicly re-established, the holy see would not come to a rupture of the peace between France and Rome on account of matters which concerned the interior policy of the republic. It is very true that, at a later period, these articles became one of the grievances of the court of Rome against Napoleon ; but they were more a pretext than a real grievance. They had, besides, been communicated to cardinal Caprara, who did not appear to revolt at reading them l , if a judgment can be formed of his opinion by what he communicated in writing to his own court. He made some reservations, advising the holy father not to afflict himself about them, hoping, he said, that the articles would not be too rigorously exe- cuted. The law of the organic articles being drawn up and discussed in the council of state, it was neces- sary to give some attention to the individual ap- pointments of the clergy. This was a task requiring considerable labour, because there was a multitude of selections to be made, each to be closely ex- amined prior to a definitive decision. Portalis, whom the first consul had appointed to take charge of the administration of worship, and who was emi- nently proper either to treat with the clergy, or to represent that body in the council of state, and to defend it with a mild, brilliant eloquence, impressed with a certain religious unction, Portalis ordinarily resisted the holy see with a respectful firmness. On this occasion he made himself in some respects an ally of the cardinal Caprara in a pretension of the court of Rome, that of completely excluding the constitutional clergy from the new sees. The pope, affected still at an act as exorbitant in his 1 These assertions are founded upon the correspondence of cardinal Caprara himself. 1802. April. Speech of the first consul THE CONSULATE FOR LIFE. to cardinal Caprara. 345 own eyes as the deposition of the old titularies, wished at least to indemnify himself for it by keeping from the episcopacy the ministers of the worship that had made a compact with the French revolution, and taken an oath to the civil constitution. Since the concordat was signed, that is to say, for about eight or nine months, cardinal Caprara, who was filling incognito the functions of legate a latere, and who was continually seeing the first consul, insinu- ated to him with mildness, but constancy, the desires of the Roman church, advancing with more boldness when the first consul was in a humour to let him speak on, and retiring precipitately, with humility, when he was of a contrary humour. These desires of the Roman church, did not solely consist in excluding from the new composition of the French clergy those priests whom he denomi- nated intruders, but were directed to the recovery of the lost provinces of Bologna, Ferrara, and Romagna. " The holy father," said the cardinal, " is very poor since he has been despoiled of his most fertile provinces; he is so poor that he can neither pay troops to guard him, the administra- tion of his states, nor the sacred college. He has lost even a part of his foreign revenues. In the midst of his grievances, the re-establishment of religion in France is the greatest of his consola- tions ; but do not mingle bitterness with this con- solation, by obliging him to institute priests who have apostatized, thus depriving the faithful clergy of the places already so much diminished by the new circumscription." " Yes," replied the first consul, " the holy father is poor ; I will assist him. All the boundaries of Italy are not irrevocably fixed ; those of Europe are definitively arranged, but I cannot now take away the provinces from the Italian republic which has made me its chief. Meanwhile, the holy father is in want of more money than he possesses. He requires some millions, and I am ready to give them to him. As to the intruders," he added, " it is another affair. The pope pro- mised, when the negotiations are sent in, to recon- cile with the church all these without distinction, who shall submit to the concordat. He has pro- mised he must keep his word. I shall remind him of the matter ; and he is neither a man nor a pontiff if he break his word. Besides, my object is not to make any one party triumph; my object is to reconcile one party with another, holding the balance equal between each. For a considerable time you have obliged me to read the history of the church. I have seen there that religious quarrels do not differ materially from political ones ; because you priests, and we military men or magistrates, are all alike. They end only by the intervention of some authority suffici- ently strong to oblige the parties to draw together and amalgamate. I shall therefore mingle some constitutional bishops with those whom you de- nominate the faithful ; I will choose but a few, and I will choose them well. You will conciliate them with the Roman church; I will oblige them to submit to the concordat, and all will go on well. This is a matter resolved upon do not recur to it again." The " great consul," as the cardinal called him, because he admired, loved, and feared him in an equal degree, said to the holy father, " Do not let us irritate this man ! he alone sustains us in this country, where every body is against us. If his zeal be suffered to cool for a moment, or if unhap- pily he should die, there would never more be a religion in France." The cardinal, when he did not succeed, obliged himself to appear satisfied, because general Bona- parte loved to see people content, and was out of humour when any one presented himself with chagrin in his countenance. The cardinal always showed himself serene and mild, and had, through this means, discovered the art of pleasing him. He observed, besides, the troubles which beset Bona- parte, and he was not willing to add to them. The first consul, in his turn, endeavoured to make the cardinal comprehend the susceptibility and jealousy of the French feeling, and, notwithstanding his power, he made as strong efforts to convince his mind, as the cardinal could make on his own side to bring the first consul to his views. One day, impatient at the solicitations of the legate, he made him cease them by these words, not less gracious than profound: " Hold, cardinal Caprara ? Do you still possess the gift of miracles ? Do you possess it ? In that case employ it to do me a very great service. If you have it not, leave me alone ; and since I am reduced to human means, permit me to use them as I understand how, in order to save the church 1 1 " It was a picture very striking and curious, pre- served entire in the correspondence of cardinal Caprara, of this powerful warrior displaying by turns a finesse, a grace, and an extraordinary vehemence in persuading the old theological diplo- matic cardinal to come into his views. Both had thus reached the moment for the publication of the concordat without the one having worked conviction upon the mind of the other. Portalis, who upon this point alone agreed in opinion with the views of the holy see, did not dare, as he would willingly do, to exclude altogether the constitutionalists from the propositions for filling the sixty sees, but he only presented two of them. Having had an under- standing with the abbe" Bernier for the selections to be made among the orthodox clergy, he had proposed the wisest and most eminent members of the old episcopacy for that purpose, and a suffi- cient number of estimable cure's distinguished by their piety, their moderation, and the continuance of their services during the reign of terror. He asserted with the abbe" Bernier, that not to call any member of the old episcopacy, and to desig- > It was what was called the faction of the "communes" that wound up the crisis of materialism, and left the different creeds the legacy of the last change. Thus during the revolution, and prior to the above measure being effected by Bonaparte, there was the ultramontane Catholicism followed by the refractory clergy, or orthodox or unsworn clergy, divided into the unsworn and those who had promised ; there were the Jansenist, or constitutional, or sworn clergy ; there was deism, or the worship of the Supreme Being, instituted by the committee of public safety ; and there were, at last, the materialists, who would worship only reason and nature the creed of the infamous " commune." There were thus elements sufficiently discordant on the subject of religion, to require all the courage and ability of Bonaparte to over- come them. There were, more or less, numerous professor* of all these opinions at that time in every part of France. Translator. Arrangements regarding 348 the sees. Ecclesiasti- cal appointments. TRIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. Addresses to the first consul. 1802. AariL nate none but cures, would be to create a clergy too new, and too destitute of authority : that on the contrary, to nominate the old bishops alone to the sees would be to neglect too much the inferior clergy, who had rendered real services during the revolution, and whose honest ambition would be thus grievously wounded. These views were rea- sonable, and were admitted by the first consul. But as to the two constitutional prelates, he was not at all satisfied about them. " I mean out of these sixty sees," said the first consul, " to giv. one-fifth to the clergy of the revolution, or, in other words, to twelve. There shall be two constitutional archbishops to ten, and ten constitutional bishops to fifty, which is not too much." After having consulted with Portalis and Bernier, he made with them, the best selections which could be conceived, saving one or two. M. de Belloy, bishop of Marseilles, the oldest and most respectable of the old French clergy, and the excellent minister of a religion of charity, who joined to a venerable appearance the most highly- endowed piety, was nominated archbishop of Paris. M. de Cice", keeper of the seals under Louis XVI., formerly archbishop of Bordeaux, an ecclesiastic of a firm and politic mind, was promoted to the archbishopric of Aix ; M. de Boisgelin, a noble by birth, an enlightened priest, well-informed, and of a mild temper, formerly archbishop of Aix, was made archbishop of Tours ; M. de la Tour-du-Pin, formerly archbishop of Auch, received the bishop- ric of Troyes. This worthy prelate, as illustrious by his knowledge as by his birth, had the modesty to accept a post so inferior to that which he had resigned. The first consul subsequently recom- pensed him with a cardinal's hat M. de Roque- laure, formerly bishop of Senlis, one of the most distinguished prelates of the former church, by his union ^of amenity and pure morals, obtained the archbishopric of Malines. M. Cambace'res, brother of the second consul, was called to the archbishop- ric of Rouen. The abbe Fesch, uncle of the first consul, a proud priest, who made it his glory to resist his nephew, was made archbishop of Lyons, in other words, primate of the Gauls. M. Lecoz, constitutional bishop of Rennes, a priest of good moral character, but an ardent and un- accommodating Jansenist, was nominated arch- bishop of Besancon. M. Primat, the constitutional bishop of Lyons, formerly an oratorian, a well- instructed and mild priest, having occasioned sad scandal in regard to schisms, but none in respect to morals, was promoted to the archbishop- ric of Toulouse. A distinguished cure", M. de Pancemont, much employed about the affair of the resignations, was taken from the parish of St. Sul- pice to be sent to Vannes as a bishop. Lastly, the abbe" Bernier, the celebrated cure" of St. Laud d' Angers, formerly the hidden plotter in La Ven- de"e, afterwards its pacificator, and under the first consul the negotiator of the concordat, received the bishopric of Orleans. That see was not com- mensurate with the high influence which the first consul had allowed him to take in the affairs of the French church ; but the abbe" Bernier felt that the recollections of the civil war attaching to his name, did not permit an elevation too sudden and too marked; that the real influence he enjoyed was of more value than external honours. The first consul had in view for him besides the hat of a cardinal. When these nominations were all arranged, they were not to be published until after the con- version of the concordat into a law of the state ; they were communicated to cardinal Caprara, who opposed to them a very warm resistance ; he even shed tears, said that he was unprovided with powers, though he had received from Rome an absolute latitude, extending so far as to the extra- ordinary faculty of instituting prelates without having recourse to the holy see. Portalis and Bernier declared to him that the will of the first consul was irrevocable; that he must submit or renounce the solemn ceremony of the restoration of the altar, announced to take place in a few days. He submitted at last, writing to the pope that the salvation of souls, deprived of religion, if he per- sisted in his refusal, had in his mind obtained the advantage over the interests of the faithful clergy. "They will censure me," said the cardinal to St. Peter, " but I have obeyed that which I be- lieved was a voice from heaven." He consented, therefore, but reserved to himself the right of exacting from the newly-elected con- stitutional clergy a recantation which might cover this last condescension of the holy see. All being in readiness, the first consul ordered the concordat to be laid before the legislative body, to be voted into a law, agreeably to the prescribed roles of the constitution. To the con- cordat were joined the " organic articles." It was the first day of the extraordinary session, or the 5th of April, 1802, or loth Germinal, that the concordat was presented to the legislative body by the councillors of state, Portalis, Regnier, and Reynault St. Jean d'Angely. The legislative body was not hi session when the treaty of Amiens, signed the 25th of March, had, become known in Paris. It had not in consequence been among the authorities which had gone up to congratulate the first consul. At this first sitting it was pro- posed to send a deputation of twenty-five members to compliment the first consul upon the occasion of the general peace. In their propositions there was no mention of the concordat, which exhibits the spirit of the tune, even in the heart of the renewed legislative body. The deputation was presented on the 6th of April, or 16th Germinal. tt Citizen consul," said the president of the legis- lative body, "the first necessity of the French people, attacked by all Europe, was victory, and you have conquered. Their next dearest wish was for peace after victory, and that yon have given them. What glory for the past what hopes for the future ! All this has been your work. Enjoy, therefore, the eclat and happiness which the re- public is in your debt !" The president terminated this address by the warmest expression of gratitude, but upon the sub- ject of the concordat he was perfectly silent. The first consul seized the opportunity to give him a species of lesson upon the subject, and to speak to those who spoke only of the treaty of Amiens, of the concordat alone. " I tlumk you for the sentiments you express toward me," said the first consul to the messengers of the legislative body. " Your session begins with the most important operation of all, that which has for its end to ap- 1*01. April. Ceremonies on the THE CONSULATE FOR LIFE, proclamation of the concordat. 347 pease all religious differences. The whole of France is solicitous to see an end to these deplorable dis- putes, and to observe the re-establishment of the altar. I hope that in your votes you will be unanimous upon this question. France will see with lively joy that her legislators have voted peace of conscience, peace in families, a hundred times more important for the happiness of a people, than that upon the occasion of which you have come to felicitate the government." These fine expressions produced the effect which the first consul hoped ; the projected law, carried immediately from the legislative body to the tri- bunate, was tliere seriously examined, even fa- vourably, and discussed with warmth. On the report of M. Simeon, it was declared to be carried, by seventy-eight votes to seven. In the legislative body it was carried by two hundred and twenty- eight for to twenty-one against the measure. It was on the 8th of April, or 18th Germinal, that ihese two bills were converted into laws. There were no more obstacles. It was Thursday, and the Sunday following was Palm Sunday; the next would be Easter-day. The first consul wished to devote those solemn days in the catholic religion to the great festival of the re-establishment of public worship. He had not yet received cardinal Caprara officially as the legate of the holy see. He assigned the following day, Friday, for this official reception. The usage of legates a latere is to have a gold cross carried before them. This is the sign of the extraordinary power that the holy see dele- gates to its representatives of this character. Car- dinal Caprara wished, conformably to the views of his court, that the exercise of worship might be as public and pompous as possible in France, and requested that, according to usage, on the day when he went to the Tuileries, the golden cross might be carried before him, by an officer, dressed in red, on horseback. This was a spectacle which there was some fear about exhibiting to the Pari- sians. A negotiation ensued, in which it was agreed that this cross should be carried in one of the carriages which. were to precede that of the legate. On Friday, the 9th of April, the cardinal re- paired in full pomp to the Tuileries, in the carriages of the first consul, escorted by the consular guard, and preceded by the cross, borne in one of the carriages. Then the first consul received him at the head of a numerous circle of persons, con- sisting of his colleagues, of many councillors of state, and a brilliant staff. Cardinal Caprara, whose exterior was mild and serious, addressed a speech to the first consul, in which dignity was mingled with the expression of gratitude. He took the oath agreed upon, that he would do nothing contrary to the laws of the state, and to vacate his functions as soon as he should be requested so to do. The first consul replied to him in elevated language, destined, particularly, to resound else- where than in the palace of the Tuileries. This external display was the first of all those which were prepared, and it was but little noticed, because, the people of Paris not being aware of it, were unable to yield to their ordinary curiosity. The next day but one was Palm Sunday. The first consul had already made the cardinal consent to the nomination of some of the principal prelates before agreed upon. He wished that their con- secration should take place upon Palm Sunday, in order that they might be able to officiate on the Sunday following, which was Easter-day, in the great solemnity which he had projected. These were M. de Belloy, nominated archbishop of Paris, M. de Cambaceres, archbishop of Rouen, M. Ber- nier, bishop of Orleans, and M. de Pancemont, bishop of Vannes. Notre Dame was still occupied by the constitutional clergy, who kept the keys. It required a formal order before they would de- liver them up. That fine edifice was found in a sad state of dilapidation ; and nothing there was prepared for the consecration of the four prelates. They provided for this omission by means of a sum of money, furnished by the first consul, and it was done hi such a hurry, that when the day of the ceremony came, there was no place found fitted up for a sacristy. A neighbouring house was obliged to be applied to this purpose. There the new prelates arrayed themselves in then? pon- tifical ornaments, and in this dress had to cross the open space before the cathedral. The people having been informed that a grand ceremony was in course of preparation, repaired to the spot, and behaved quietly and respectfully. The counte- nance of the venerable archbishop Belloy was so fine and noble, that it affected the simple hearts of those who composed the crowd, and all of them, both men and women, bowed respectfully. The cathedral was full of that class of serious persons, who had grieved over the misfortunes of religion, and who, belonging t no faction, received with thankfulness the present made them that day by the first consul. The ceremony was affecting, even from the very defect of pomp by the sentiments which attached to it. The four prelates were con- secrated in the customary manner. From this time, it must be stated, that the satisfaction among the mass was general, and the approbation of the public was secured to the great manifestation that was fixed for the following Sunday. Except party men, revolutionists hotly obstinate hi then? own systems, or factious royalists, who saw with mortification the lever of revolt slipped out of then? hands, all approved of what was passing; and the first consul was able to re- cognize already, that his own views were more correct than those of his councillors. The Sunday following being Easter Sunday, was designed for a solemn Te Deum, in celebration, at the same time, of the general peace, and of a re- conciliation with the church. This ceremony was announced by pubh'c authority, as a truly national festival. The preparations and the programme of it were pubh'shed. The first consul wished to pro- ceed to it in grand state, accompanied by all that was most elevated in the government. Through the ladies of the palace it was conveyed to the wives of the higher functionaries, that they would satisfy one of his most ardent wishes, if they would attend the metropolitan church upon the day of fe Deum. The greater number did not require to be pressed to attend. It is well known what frivolous motives are joined to those which are most pious in character, to augment the influx of attendance upon those solemnities of religion. The most brilliant women of Paris obeyed the wishes of the first consul. The principal among them Objections of the military. 348 New demand of cardi- nal Caprara. The first consul opposes the car- Til I ERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. dinal's demands. - Pro- cession to Ndtre Dame. 1802. April. made the Tuileries the rendezvous, in order to accompany Madam Bonaparte in the carriages of the new court. The first consul had given a for- mal order to his generals to accompany him. This was the most difficult thing of all to obtain, because it was every where said that they held very un- worthy and almost factious language. The con- duct of Lannes has been already noticed. Auge- reau, tolerated at Paris, was actually one of those who spoke loudest. He was charged by his com- rades to go to the first consul, and to express to him their wish not to attend at Notre Dame. It was at a consular sitting, in the presence of the three consuls and the ministers, that Bonaparte chose to receive Augereau. He stated his message, but the first consul recalled him to a sense of his duty, with that haughtiness of manner that he so well knew how to assume, more particularly with military men. He made him sensible of the im- propriety of his conduct, and recalled to his re- collection that the concordat was then the law of the land, and that the laws were obligatory upon all classes of citizens, as well upon the military as upon the humblest and most feeble citizen ; that he should watch their execution, in his double capacity of general and chief magistrate of the republic ; that it was not for the officers of the army, but for the government, to judge of the adaptation of the ceremonies ordered for Easter Sunday; that all the authorities had orders to be present, the military as well as the civil authorities, and that all should obey; that as to the dignity of the army, he was himself as jealous of it, and as good a judge of it, as any of the generals his com- panions in arms ; and that he was sure he did not compromise it by assisting in person at the cere- monies of religion ; that, to put an end to the question, they had not to deliberate, but to execute an order, and that he expected to see them all on Sunday at his side in the metropolitan church. Augereau made no reply, and carried to his comrades only the embarrassment of having done a thoughtless act, and the resolution to obey orders. Every thing was ready, when, at the last mo- ment, the later thoughts of cardinal Caprara were nearly defeating these noble designs of the first consul. The bishops chosen from the constitu- tional party had gone to the residence of cardinal Caprara, for the procis informatif, which is drawn out in behalf of every bishop presented to the holy see. The cardinal had required from them a retractation, by which they abjured their former errors, characterizing in the most self-condemna- tory way, their adhesion to the civil constitution of the clergy. This was a very humiliating step, not only for them, but for the revolution itself. The first consul, upon hearing it, would not allow it, and he enjoined the clergy not to yield, pro- mising to support them, and to force the represen- tative of the holy see to renounce such unchristian pretensions. The cardinal had found no other excuse for his condescension, if he instituted those whom he called " intruders," than in a formal re- cantation of their past errors. But the first consul did not understand it in that point of view. " When I accept for bishop," said he, " the abb Bernier, the apostle of La Vendee, the pope may be satisfied with Jansenists and oratorians, who have had no other fault than that of abiding by the revolution." He directed them to confine themselves to a simple declaration, which consisted in saying that they adhered to the concordat, and the wishes of the holy see expressed in that treaty. He insisted, with justice, that as the concordat contained the principles upon which the French and Roman churches agreed, no more was to be exacted, without an intention to humiliate one party to the advantage of another, which he declared he would never allow. On the Saturday night, the eve of Easter, this dispute was not terminated. M. Portalis was then charged to go to the cardinal and announce that the ceremony of the following day should not take place, nor should the concordat be published, but that it should remain without effect, if he continued longer to insist upon the recantation thus demanded. This resolution, furthermore, was serious, and the first consul, in showing himself full of condescen- sion for the church, would not give way upon such points as appeared to compromise the end itself, that is to say, the complete fusion of parties. He knew that it was necessary to be energetic, to be a conciliator, since it is nearly as costly to bring the parties to agree as it is to conquer them. At last, the cardinal gave way, but not until the night was far advanced. It was agreed that the prelates newly elected from among the constitu- tional clergy, should go through the proces infor- matif at the cardinal's house, and that they should profess, viva wee, their sincere union to the church, and that, as a consequence, a declaration should be made that they and the church were reconciled, without saying how, or on what terms. It is a fact that the demanded recantation was not made. The next day, being Easter Sunday, the 18th of April, 1802, or 28th Germinal, year x., the con- cordat was published in all quarters of Paris, with grand parade, and by the principal authorities. While this publication took place in the streets of the capital, the first consul, who wished to solemnize on the same day all that was for the good of France, was exchanging at the Tuileries the ratifications of the treaty of Amiens. This important formality accomplished, he set out for Notre Dame, followed by the chief bodies of the state, and a great num- ber of functionaries of every class, a brilliant staff, and a crowd of ladies of the highest rank, who accompanied Madam Bonaparte. A long train of carriages composed this magnificent assemblage. The troops of the first military division, united in Paris, formed a double line from the Tuileries to the cathedral. The archbishop of Paris came in procession to meet the first consul at the door of the church, and presented him with the holy water. The new head of the state was conducted under a da'is, in a place reserved for him. The senate, the legislative body, and the tribunate were arranged on each side of the altar. Behind the first consul were seen standing, the generals in full uniform, more obedient than converted, and some of them affecting a demeanour not very becoming. As to himself, dressed in the red uniform of the consuls, motionless, with a severe expression of countenance, he displayed neither the perplexity of some, nor the devout expression of others. He was calm, grave, in the attitude of the chief of au empire, who was performing a great 1802. April. The first consul rebukes his generals. New work of M. Chateaubriand. THE CONSULATE FOR LIFE. Project for the return of the emigrants. 349 act of his will, and commanded by his look submis- sion from every body. The ceremony was long and dignified, despite the bad humour of those whom it had been deemed necessary to assemble together there. In other respects the effect of it was destined to be decisive, because the example once given by the most im- posing of men, the former religious habits would be resumed, and all opposition to them would subside. There were two motives for this fete, the esta- blishment of worship, and the general peace. The satisfaction was naturally general, and all who had not bad party feelings in their hearts, were happy at the public welfare. On that day there were grand dinners given by the ministers, at which the principal members of the different administrations attended. The representatives of the foreign powers were the guests of the minister for foreign affairs. There was a brilliant banquet at the first consul's, to which were invited cardinal Caprara, the archbishop of Paris, the principal of the new clergy just appointed, and the highest per- sonages of the state. The first consul talked a long while with the cardinal, and testified to him his delight at having achieved so great a work. He was proud of his courage and of his success. One light cloud passed across his noble brow for an instant, and that was when casting a glance at certain of his generals, whose attitude and lan- guage had not become the occasion. He expressed his discontent to them, with a firmness of manner which admitted of no reply, and which left little fear of a return of such conduct. To complete the effect which the first consul had wished to produce on this day, M. de Fontanes gave an account, in the Moniteur, of a new book, which at that moment made a great noise ; the " Genius of Christianity." This book, written by a youug Breton gentleman, M. de Chateaubriand, related to Malesherbes, and long absent from his country, described, with infinite brilliancy, the beauties of Christianity, and extolled the moral and poetical influence of religious practices, which had been exposed, for twenty years, to the bitterest raillery. Criticised severely by Che"nier and Gin- gueue", who charged it with false and extravagant colouring, and praised excessively by the party attached to religious restoration, the " Genius of Christianity," like all remarkable books, very much praised and very much attacked, produced a deep impression, because it expressed a real feeling, general at that moment in French society ; this was the singular indefinable regret for that which no longer exists for that which in possession was disdained or destroyed, and for which, when lost, there is such a melancholy desire. Such is the human heart ! That which exists fatigues and oppresses it, and that which has ceased to exist acquires suddenly a powerful charm. The social and religious customs of the old time, odious and ridiculous in 1789, because then they were in all their force, and were also oftentimes oppressive, now that the eighteenth century, changing towards its close into an impetuous torrent, had swept them away in its devastating course, these now returned to the recollection of an agitated generation, and affected its heart, disposed to emotions by fifteen years of tragic scenes. The work of a young writer, strongly tinctured with this profound feel- ing, acted at the moment on men's minds strongly, and was marked with peculiar favour by the man who then dispensed all the glories. If it did not exhibit the pure taste, the simple and solid faith of the writers of the age of Louis XIV., it painted, as with a charm, the old religious manners that were no more. There is no doubt but the work might be censured as the abuse of a fine imagination; but after Virgil and Horace, there remained in the memory of mankind a place for the ingenious Ovid, and for the brilliant Lucan ; and alone, perhaps, among the books of its day, the " Genius of Christianity " will live, strongly linked, as it is, to a memorable era ; it will live as an ornament, sculptured upon the marble of a frieze, lives with the edifice that bears it. In recalling the priests to the altar, and in draw- ing them out of their obscure retreats where they practised their religion, and often conspired against the government, the first consul had remedied one of the most vexatious disorders of the time, and satisfied one of its greatest moral necessities. But there remained still another disorder of a very sad character, which gave to France the aspect of a country torn up by factions ; this was the exile of a considerable number of Frenchmen, living in fo- reign lands in indigence, sometimes in hatred of their country, and receiving from an enemy's hand the bread that many among them paid for by un- worthy acts towards France. Exile is a frightful invention of civil discord ; it renders the banished man unhappy; it denaturalizes his heart; it leaves him to an alms doled out by a stranger, and exhi- bits afar the afflicting picture of the troubles of his native land. Of all the traces of a revolution, this is that which should be the first effaced. Bona- parte considered the recal of the emigrants as the indispensable compliment to a general pacificator. It was an act of reparation of which he was impa- tient to brave the difficulties, and gather the glory. There already existed for the emigrants a system of recal very incomplete, partial, and irregular, which had all the inconveniences of a general mea- sure, and yet had not its high character, or its eclat of beneficence ; this was the system of the evasures, which were accorded to the emigrants best recommended, under the pretence that they had been unduly placed upon the lists. The amnesty in this mode was not always given to the most excus- able or the most deserving. The first consul formed the resolution, therefore, of permitting the return of the emigrants in the mass, with certain exceptions. Serious objections were made against this measure. At first all the constitutions, and principally the consular consti- tution, stated formally that the emigrants should never be recalled. They said this more particu- larly on account of the acquirers of national pro- perty, who were very suspicious, and regarded the exile of the former possessors of this property as needful for their safety. The first consul considered himself as the firmest supporter of these holders ; having always expressed his determination to de- fend them, the only mortal having the power to do so, he believed himself strong enough in that pub- lic confidence with which he had inspired all, to be able to open the doors of France to the emi- grants. He, therefore, ordered a resolution to be 350 -taoncou: TRIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. cil of state to the first consul's measure re- specting emigrants' property. 1902. April. prepared, of which the first clause purported to be the new and irrevocable consecration of the sales made by the state to the acquirers of the national property. He then had inserted in the same document a provision, by which all emigrants were recalled in a body, on their submitting to the surveyorship of the high police, and those who should at any time have provoked such an applica- tion, submitting to this surveyorship for the whole of their lives. There were still some exceptions to this general recal. The benefit was refused to those who had commanded armies against the republic, to those who had accepted rank in the armies of the enemies of France, to the individuals who had places or titles in the households of the princes of the house of Bourbon, to the generals or representatives of the people who had entered into a compact with the enemy (this related to Pichegru and certain members of the legislative assemblies), and finally, to such archbishops and bishops as had refused the resignations demanded of them by the pope. The number of excluded persons was, therefore, very inconsiderable. The most difficult question to resolve was that which related to the property of the emigrants which had not yet been sold. If, with all reason, the sales made by the state should be declared irrevocable, it might appear hard not to restore to the emigrants that portion of their property still resting entire in the hands of the government. " I do nothing," said the first consul, " if I restore these emigrants to their country, and do not restore to them their patrimony. I wish to efface the traces of our civil wars, and in filling France with returned emigrants, who will remain in poverty while their property is under the sequestration of the state, I create a class of discontented persons, who will not leave us any rest. And these proper- ties, kept under a state sequestration, who do you think will purchase them in presence of their former owners, now returned home ?" The first consul was, therefore, resolved to restore all the unsold domains, except houses or edifices used for the public service. This resolution, thus drawn up, was submitted to a privy council, composed of the consuls, minis- ters, a certain number of councillors of state and of senators. It was warmly discussed in this assembly, and seemed to excite considerable jea- lousies. Still, in the general bent towards repara- tory measures, which tended to efface the traces of past troubles, the prestige of the general peace, the positive will of the first consul, all these causes in union led to the adoption of the principle of the recal of the emigrants. But there was care taken to insert in the resolutions the word "amnesty," in or- der to attach to emigration the character of a crimi- nal act, that a victorious and happy nation was will- ing to forget. The first consul, wishing to do all things in the most complete way, was repugnant to the employment of the word " amnesty." He said that they ought not to humiliate those whose reconciliation with France they would fain bring about, and to treat them as criminals receiving pardon, would be to humiliate them deeply. He was answered, that emigration had originally been a crime, since it had for its principal object to make war upon France, and that it was needful it should lemain condemned by the laws. The warmest contest took place relative to the property of the emigrants. The councillors called upon to deliberate, obstinately refused the restitution of the woods and forests, that the law of the 2nd Nivose, year iv., had declared inalienable. It was in their opinion, to remit immense riches into the hands of the great emigration, depriving the state of enormous resources, and above all, of forests indispensable for the service of war and of the navy. Notwithstanding all his efforts, the first consul was obliged to give way ; and he thus kept, without thinking of it, one of the most powerful means of influence over the ancient French no- bility, that which afterwards served to bring them back to him almost wholly : this means was an individual restitution, which at a later period he made of their properties, to those of the emigrants who submitted to his government. The resolution thus modified, it remained to know how a legal character should be conferred upon it. It was the desire to make it a law, yet it was intended if possible to give it the most elevated character. The idea was suggested of making it a tenatutconsultum. The resolution affected the constitution itself, and in that sense it appeared more particularly to appertain to the senate. Al- ready that body, by two considerate acts, that which had proscribed the Jacobins, falsely accused of the infernal machine, and that which had in- terpreted the 38th article of the constitution, and excluded the oppositions in the two legislative assemblies, had acquired a species of power superior to the constitution itself, because it had made ex- traordinary measures lawful, and new constitutional dispositions, of which the government believed it had need. After having performed these rigorous acts, it could not be otherwise than agreeable to the senate to be charged with an act of national clemency. It was then decreed that the resolution pronouncing the recal of the emigrants, should be first discussed in the council of state, as were the regulations, laws, senatorial consultations, and then be submitted to the senate, to be there deliberated upon as a measure affecting the constitution itself. The thing was thus performed. The projected amnesty, discussed in the council of state of the 16th of April, or 26th Germinal, two days before the publication of the concordat, was carried ten days afterwards to the senate on the 26th of April, 1802, or 6th of Floreal. It was then adopted without any contest, and with some remarkable reasons. " Considering," said the senate, u that the pro- posed measure is commanded by the actual state of things, by justice, by the national interest, and that it is in conformity to the spirit of the consti- tution: " Considering that at different epochs, when the laws relating to emigration were enacted, that France, torn by intestine divisions, sustained against nearly the whole of Europe, a war of which history offers no example, and which caused a necessity for rigorous and extraordinary measures: " That to-day peace being made abroad, it is of importance to cement it at home, by every thing which can rally Frenchmen, tranquillize families, and cause to be forgotten the evils inseparable from a long revolution: " That nothing is better to consolidate peace at 1S02. April. Reasons of the senate for agreeing to the return of the emigrants. THE CONSULATE FOR LIFE. The first consul's reasoning on honorary distinctions. 351 home than a measure which tempers the severity of the laws, and causes to cease the uncertainty and delay resulting from the forms established for their erasures: " Considering that this measure can only be an amnesty which grants pardon to the greater num- ber, always more misled than culpable, and that may extend punishment to the principal culprits, by keeping them definitively upon the list of emigrants: " That this amnesty, prompted by clemency, is, however, granted only upou conditions, just in themselves, tranquillizing for the public safety, and wisely combined with the national interest: " That particular conditions of the amnesty, by defending from all attack the acts performed by the republic, consecrates anew the guarantee of the sales of the national property, of which the maintenance will be always a particular object of the solicitude of the conservative senate, as it is that of the consuls, the senate adopts the proposed resolution." This courageous act of clemency was certain to obtain the approbation of every wise man who sin- cerely desired the end of the civil troubles of France. Thanks to the new guarantees given to the acquirers of national property thanks to the confidence with which they were inspired by the first consul, this last measure of the government did not cause them too great an inquietude, and it satisfied that honest mass, fortunately the most numerous, of the royalist party, which received with a murmur the benefit conferred upon it. It encountered no inquietude but with the men of the highest class of emigrants, who were living in the saloons of Paris, and there paying in bad language for the benefits they received from the government. According to them, this act was insignificant, in- complete, and unjust, because it made certain dis- tinctions between the persons because it did not restore the property of the emigrants, sold or un- sold alike. The approbation of these idle talkers could be well passed by. Still the first consul was so greedy of glory, that these miserable censures sometimes disturbed the pleasure which he received in the universal assent of France and of Europe. But his ardour in doing well did not depend on praise or censure, and scarcely had he consum- mated the grand act which has just been stated, when he began to prepare others of the highest social and political importance. Disembarrassed from the obstacles presented to his fertile activity by the resistance of the tribunate, he was resolved, during this extraordinary session of Germinal and Floreal, to terminate, or at least to advance con- siderably the re-organization of France. It is right to relate his ideas in this respect. By the acts of the first consul already known, above all, by the establishment of worship, it was easy to divine what was the ordinary tendency of his mind, and his particular manner of thinking upon questions of social organization. In general he was disposed to oppose the narrow or exagge- rated systems of the revolution, or, to speak more correctly, of Borne revolutionists, because in its first movements the revolution had always been gene- rous and true. It had desired to abolish the ir- regularities, the caprices, the unjust distinctions, derived from the feudal system, in virtue of which, for example, a Jew, a catholic, a protestant, a noble, a priest, a citizen, a Burgundian, a Pro- ven9al, a Breton, had not the same rights, the same duties, did not support the same burdens, nor enjoy the same advantages, in a word, did not live under the same laws. To make them all French- men, whatever was their religion, their birth, or natal province, equal citizens in rights and duties, eligible to every thing according to their individual merit here was what the revolution intended to do in its first starting, before contradictions had irritated it even to delirium ; this is what the first consul wished to do, since that delirium had given place to reason. But that chimerical equality, of which demagogues had been for a moment dream- ing, that it was necessary to place all men upon the same level, which scarcely admitted the natural inequalities arising from a difference of mind or talent, this equality he despised, either as a chimera of the spirit of system, or as a revolting sense of envy. He wished then for a social hierarchy, on the different grades of which all men, without dis- tinction of birth, should place themselves accord- ing to their merit, and in the grades of which should remain fixed those whom their ancestors had borne there, but without any obstacle what- ever to the new comers, who tend to elevate them- selves in their turn. To this species of social vegetation, arising from nature itself, observed in all countries, and at all times, he intended to afford free play in the insti- tutions that he occupied himself in founding. As with all powerful minds that apply themselves to discover in the sentiment of the masses the real instinct of humanity, and are fond of opposing that sentiment to the narrow views of the spirit of system, he searched in the dispositions mani- fested under his eyes, by the people itself, for rthe arguments in support of his opinions. To those who, in matters of religion, had coun- selled indifference, he had opposed the popular movement, which had been recently exhibited at the door of a church to force the priests to give the rights of sepulture to an actress. " See," he said to the partisans of indifference, " mark how indifferent the people .are! And yourselves! why have you proclaimed the Supreme Being in the midst of a great revolutionary paroxysm ? because at the bottom of the people's hearts there is some- thing, no matter what, that inclines them to have a God." "In respect to the manner of classing men in society," he said to those who would have no dis- tinction," wherefore then have you decreed muskets and sabres of honour ? Is not this a distinction I an invention ridiculous enough, since men do not carry a musket or sabre of honour on the breast, and in such cases men like what is seen at a dis- tance." The first consul had observed a singular fact, and would voluntarily remark upon it to those with whom he was in the habit of conversing. Since France, the object of the respect and atten- tion of Europe, had become filled with the minis- ters of all the powers, or with strangers of distinc- tion, who had come as visiters, he was struck with the curiosity with which the populace, and even persons above the populace, followed these foreign- ers, and were anxious to see their rich uniforms 352 The first consul's reasoning TRIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE, on honorary distinctions. May ' and brilliant decorations. There was often a crowd assembled in the court of the Tuileries to attend their arrival and departure. " See," he observed, " these futile vanities that strong minds so much disdain; the populace is not of their opinion. It loves those many-coloured cordons as it loves reli- gious pomps. The democratic philosophers call that vanity idolatry, and let it be vanity and idola- try. But that idolatry, that vanity, are weak- nesses common to the whole human race, and from one and the other great virtues may be made to spring. With these baubles, so much despised, heroes are made! To the one as to the other of these pretended feeblenesses external signs are necessary ; there must be a worship for religious sentiment, and there must be visible distinctions to inspire the noble sentiment of glory." The first consul determined to create an order which should replace the old honour of arms, which might have the advantage of being given as well to the soldier as to the general, to the learned as well as to the military man, which con- sisted in decorations alike in form to those worn throughout Europe; and, in addition, useful endow- ments useful, above all, to the simple soldier when he should return to his rural home. This was, in his view, another means of putting new France in relation with other countries. Since it was thus that in all Europe services were marked out for public esteem, why not admit the same sys- tem in France M " Nations," he said, " should not seek to be singular any more than individuals. The affectation of acting differently from the rest of the world is an affectation reproved by sensible, and, above all, by modest persons. Cordons are in use in every country, let them therefore be used in France," said the first consul, " it will be one measure more established in common with Europe. In France alone they were not given ; among our neighbours they are only given to men of birth; I will give' them to the men who shall have served best in the army or in the state, or who shall produce the finest works." A remark particularly struck the first consul, and became with him an object upon which he much meditated; it was, to what extent the men of the revolution had become disunited, without any bond between them, and without a bond of strength against their common enemies. While the old nobles gave the hand to each other while the Vendeans were, although weakened and subdued, still secretly in coalition while the clergy, although re-constituted, still formed a powerful corporation, 1 " The emperor observed, that abroad they had the useful effect of appealing to be an approximation to the old man- ners of Europe, while, at the same time, they served as a toy for amusing the vanities of many individuals at home ; ' for,' said he, ' how many really clever men are children more than once in their lives.' The emperor revived deco- tations of honour, and distributed crosses and ribands ; but instead of confining them to particular and exclusive classes, he extended them to society in general, as rewards for every description of talent and public service. By a happy privilege, perhaps peculiar to Napoleon, it happened that the value of these honours was enhanced in proportion to the number distributed. He estimated that he had conferred about twenty-five thousand decorations of the legion of honour; tnd the desire to obtain the honour, he said, increased, till it became a kind of mania. "Lei Catat Ifotet. and very equivocal friends of the government the men who had formed this revolution were divided and even disavowed, it must be said by ungrateful and deceived opinion. Scarcely had the elections gone on alone before there were seen starting up new personages, to whom neither good nor evil could be charged, or, on the other hand, furious revolutionists, the recollection of whom inspired terror. In the eyes of a new generation, which bestowed no thanks for their efforts to those who, from 1789 to 1800, had suffered so greatly to en- franchise France, the best claim was to have done nothing. The first consul was convinced, and with good reason, that if this movement were aided, there would very soon not be one of the actors in the revolution left upon the stage. That there would be seen soon a new class produced, easy to incline towards royalty, that there would at some mo- ment be a revolutionary reaction, which would cause the reappearance of the men of blood, that the elections effected under the directory, alter- nately royalist, after the mode of the club of Clichy, or revolutionist, after the fashion of Baboeuf, were a proof of it, and that from convulsions to con- vulsions all would terminate in the triumph of the Bourbons and of the foreigners, or, in other words, in a complete counter-revolution. He regarded it, therefore, as indispensable to retard the movement of free institutions, and by so doing to maintain in power the generation that had worked out the revolution, to maintain them hi it, with the exception only of certain individuals, stained with blood, and even to secure to these oblivion for their past errors and a subsistence ; to found with this generation a tranquil, regular, and brilliant society, of which he should be the head, of which his companions in arms and his civil col- leagues should form the higher class, the aristo- cracy, if people would have it so, but an aristocracy always open to rising merit, in which they and their children should be placed, the men who had rendered the greatest services, and in which would always be found to take their place, men capable of rendering new services. The society thus formed, after the eternal laws of nature, he would wish to see surronnded with every kind of glory, and em- bellished by the arts, to oppose with advantage to the old order of things, existing as a living device in the recollection of the emigrants, existing as a reality in all Europe ; and he hoped to attach to it the emigrants themselves, when time should have corrected them, and the attraction of high employments should tempt them ; yet only upon the condition that they should come, not as dis- dainful protectors, but as useful and submissive servants. What degree of political liberty would he concede to a society thus constituted ? He did not know. He thought that the present moment was not much fitted for it, because all the liberty conceded turned into cruel reactions; and he be- lieved that liberty would arrest his own creative genius. In other respects, he then thought little of the matter ; and the country, only anxious for the restoration of order, did not allow much time to think of it. He wished then to found this society upon the principles of the French revolu- tion, to give it good civil laws, a powerful govern- ment, wealthy finances, and exterior greatness, in other words, every good, save one alone, leaving for ISM. May. Constitution of the legion of honour. Object* of THE CONSULATE FOR LIFE. the institution. Endowments of the honour. 353 others, at a subsequent period, the care of impart- ing to it, or of letting it take, as much public liberty as was convenient. It was according to these notions that he con- ceived his system of civil and military recom- penses, as well as his plan of education. The arms of honour, devised by the convention, had not succeeded, because they were not adapted to the manners of the time. They had besides attached to them administrative perplexities, on account of the double pay attached to some, and refused to others. The first consul imagined a military order in form, but not destined for the military only. He denominated it the " legion of honour," wishing to impart the idea of a body of men devoted to cherish honour, and to the defence of certain principles. It was to consist of fifteen cohorts; each cohort of seven great officers, twenty commanders, thirty officers, and three hundred and fifty legionaries, in all six thousand individuals of all ranks. The oath indicated to what course the members were to devote themselves, when they joined the legion of honour. Each member pro- mised to devote himself to the defence of the republic, the integrity of its territory, the principle of equality, and the inviolability of the national property. It was in consequence a legion which would pledge its honour to make the principles and interests of the revolution triumphant. Decora- tions and endowments were attached to every grade. The great officers had an income of SOOOf. ; the commanders, 2000 f. ; the officers, 1000 f.; and the simple legionaries, 250 f. An endowment in the national domains sufficed to cover these ex- penses. Each cohort was to have its seat in the province where its particular possessions were situated. The united cohorts were to be governed by a council, formed of seven members ; the three consuls first, and then four of the great officers, of whom the first was designated by the senate, the second by the legislative body, the. third by the tribunate, and the fourth by the council of state. The council of the legion of honour, thus composed, was charged with the management of the property of the legion, and with deliberating upon the choice of the members. Lastly, that which aided to com- plete the institution, and to indicate its spirit, was that civil services of all kinds, such as the adminis- tration, government, sciences, letters, and arts, were equally titles to admission with military service. Starting from the existing state of things, it was decided that the military, who had arms of honour, should be members of the legion by right, and be classed in its ranks according to their grade in the army. This institution numbers now not more than forty years of existence, and it is already as much sanctioned as if it had been ages old; to such a degree has it become, in these forty years, the recompense of heroism, learning, and merit of every kind ; so much has it been sought by the great and the princes of Europe, the proudest of their origin. Time, the judge of institutions, has therefore pronounced upon the dignity and the utility of this. -Leaving aside the abuses which may have sometimes been made of such a recom- pense, by the different governments that have suc- ceeded each other, abuses inherent in all recom- penses given by man to man, and recognizing what was beautiful, profound, and new to the world which it possessed, an institution which was to place on the breast of the private soldier, of the modest man of letters, the same decoration which figured upon the breast of the heads of armies, of princes, and of kings ; let it be acknowledged that this creation of an honorary distinction, was the triumph the most brilliant of equality itself, not of that which equalized in degrading men to a level, but that which equalized in elevating them ; let it be acknowledged, finally, that if for the great men of the civil or military orders, it might only be a mere vain gratification, an empty satisfaction, it was for the simple soldier, returned to his native fields, an aid to the comforts of the peasant, at the same time that it was a visible proof of his heroism and good conduct. After this fine system of recompense, the first consul employed himself, with not less zeal, upon a system of education for the youth of France. Edu- cation, at that time, was nearly null, or abandoned to the enemies of the revolution. The religious corporations, formerly employed in bringing up youth, had disappeared with the ancient order of things. There was some tendency towards their revival, but the first consul had no intention of giving up the new generation to them, as he considered them the secret workmen of his enemies. The institutions by which the convention had sought to replace them, had proved no more than a chimera, which had already almost wholly disappeared. The convention intended to give primary instruction gratuitously to the people, and secondary instruction to the middle classes, in such a way as to make accessible, both one and the other, to every family. It had ended in doing nothing. The communes had given dwellings to the primary instructors, in general the parsonage- houses of the old country cure's, but they had given them no salaries, or had done so in assignats. Poverty soon dispersed these unfortunate teachers. The central schools, in which secondary instruction was dispensed, placed in each chief place of the department, were, in a certain sense, academic establishments, in which public courses of lectures took place, at which youth might attend some hours in the day, and return afterwards to their families, or to the boarding-houses established by private speculation. The nature of their studies was conformable to the spirit of the times. Classical studies, considered as an old routine, had been nearly abandoned in them. The natural and exact sciences, and living languages, had taken the place of the ancient tongues. A museum of natural history was attached to each school. Such a mode of instruction had little influence in forming youth ; a course that endured but one or two hours in the day, is not the mode to make an impres- sion upon youth. Thus it was left for its mind to be formed by the heads of the boarding-schools, for the most part, at that time, enemies to the new order of things, or greedy speculators, treating youth as an object of trading speculation, not as a sacred deposit of the state or of families. The central schools, besides being placed in the hun- dred and two departments, one in each chief place were too numerous. There were not scholars enough for so many schools. Thirty-two only had succeeded hi attracting auditors, and in becoming Aa Scheme of Bonaparte for general education. rnN;TTT ATF AND FvVTPTRF Com P sUion of the school 1803. LLMbUl.AI.1!. AJMU tsZLL IKi.. on the new plan. May. nurseries of instruction. Some distinguished pro- fessors had appeared in these, preserving still the spirit of sound learning. But the political vicissi- tudes, there as well as elsewhere, had made their baneful influence felt. The professors, chosen by the juries of instruction, had succeeded each other as the different parties in power had done, appear- ing and disappearing in turn, and their profits with them. In fine, these schools, without bond, without unity, without a common direction, presented only scattered fragments, and not a great edifice of pub- lic instruction. The first consul formed his design after the first intention, with the resolution of mind which was so natural to him. At first, the finances of France did not permit the furnishing every where, without charge, even primary instruction to the people, who, on the other hand, had not leisure to receive its benefits, if the state had possessed money enough to bestow them. It was as much as could be done to provide for the expenses of the new clergy, and this it was possible to do, owing to a particular circumstance of the time, namely, the mass of ecclesiastical pen- sions, which were paid, in lieu of salaries, to the greater part of the cure's. It was impossible to pay a primary institution in each commune. They were, therefore, contented to establish them amidst those populations that were able of themselves to defray their expenses. The commune gave a re- sidence for the master, and a school-room, the scholars paying a sum for their instruction, cal- culated according to the wants of the teacher. This was all that could be then done. For the moment the most important was the secondary instruction. The first consul suppressed, in his plan, the central schools, which "were no more than public courses of lectures, without uni- formity, and without effect upon youth. There were thirty-two central schools, which had suc- ceeded more or less. This was an indication of the lack of instruction in the different parts of France. The first consul projected thirty-two establishments, which he named " Lyceums," a name borrowed of antiquity. There were boarding- schools, where the youth lived, and where it was retained during the principal years of adolescence, subjected to the double influence of a sound literary instruction and of an education, severe, masculine, sufficiently religious, altogether military, and mo- delled upon the system of civil equality. He wished to re-establish in them the old classical system, which gave the first place to the ancient languages, and only the second to the mathematical and physical sciences, leaving to the special schools the- care of completing the education in these last. He was right in that as in the rest. The study of the dead languages is not only a study of words but of things; it is the study of antiquity, with its Jaws, its manners, arts, and history; so moral and deeply instructive. There is one age in -which to leurn these things, that of boyhood. Youth and Ha passkmn overcome, its exaggerations and false tastes, mature age, with its positive interests, life passes without a moment having been given to the study of a world dead as the languages that open the flouro-s of its knowledge. If a tardy inclination leads us to it again, it is through the medium of feint and insufficient translations that this beautiful antiquity is to be explored. And in a time when these religious ideas are weakened, if the know- ledge of antiquity disappear also, there would be formed only a society without a moral tie to the past, informed and occupied only about the pre- sent; an ignorant society, debased, and fitted ex- clusively for the mechanical arts. The first consul, therefore, wished, that in -his scheme, the classical studies should resume their place. The sciences should come afterwards. So much of them was to be taught as. is useful in all the professions of life, and as much as was re- quired to pass from the secondary to the special schools. Religious instruction was to be given by the chaplains, military instruction by old officers of the army. All the movements were to be made in the military step to the sound of the drum. This was necessary for a nation destined entirely to handle arms, either in the army or the national guard. Eight professors of ancient languages or the belles lettres, a- censor of the studies, a steward charged with the care of the personal chattels, a head-master, styled a prorisewr, constituted these establishments. Such were the schools in which the first consul wished to form the French youth ; but how was it to be drawn to them. That was the difficulty. The first consul provided for this by one of the means, certain and bold, which he was accustomed to employ when he wished seriously to obtain his end. He devised the establishment of six thou- sand four hundred gratuitous exhibitions, of which the state should bear the expense, and which at a moderate rate of from 700 to 800 f. 1 , would re- present a total expense of five or six millions-, at that time a very considerable sum. This esta- blishment of six thousand four hundred scholars would be sufficient to furnish a fund for the nucleus of the population of the Lyceums. The confidence of families, which it was hoped after- wards to acquire, would, at some after-time, dis- pense with the state continuing such a sacrifice. 'The produce of these six thousand exhibitions formed at the same time a resource sufficient for covering the greater part of the expense of the new establishments. The first consul wished to 'distribute in the fol- lowing :rnanner the exhibitions which the govern- ment had at its disposition': two thousand four hundred were to be given to the children of such retired soldiers as were most straitened in their circumstances; to those of civil functionaries who had served the public usefully ; and to those inhabitants of the provinces recently united to France. The four thousand remaining were des- tined for the establishments already in existence. There were, in fact, a 'great number of these esta- blished -by private speculation. These the first consul deemed it Tight to suffer to remain; but he bound them to his ; plan by the most simple and efficacious means. These schools could not, in future, subsist without the authorization of the state; they were to be* inspected every year by the agents of the government ; they were obliged to *end their scholars to the courses at the Lyceums, paying a trifling remuneration. Lastly, the four ' From 28 to 32 sterling. * From 200,000 to 280,000. , Resistance to the first consul's M2 - measure in the council of THE CONSULATE FOR LIFE. state. Mty. Objections answered by the first consul. 355 thousand exhibitions were, after an annual exami- nation, to be distributed among the pupils of the different schools, in proportion to the recognized merit and good order of each school. Thus at- tached to a general plan, these boarding-schools made, in every sense, a part of it. Going next to special instruction, the first consul employed himself in completing that organization. The study of jurisprudence had perished with the old judicial establishment ; he created six schools of law. The schools of medicine, less neglected, were three in number ; he proposed to increase them to six. The polytechnic school existed; it was attached to this organization. There was added to- these a school of public services, under the name of the " School of Bridges and Roads;" a school for the mechanical arts, at that time fixed at Compeigne, afterwards at Chalons-sur-Marne, being the first model of the schools of arts and trades at the present day judged to be so useful; lastly, a school of military art, intended to occupy the palace of Fontainbleau. There still wanted one thing to complete the entire work, namely, a body of learned men, that might supply these schools with instructors, which should embrace them under its surveyor-ship; in fact, what has since been denominated " the Uni- versity." But the moment for that had not arrived. It was already doing much to save from shipwreck the establishments for public instruc- tion, and to create, all at once, with actual pro- fessors, colleges dependent upon the state, where the youth of all classes, attracted by gratuitous education, should be formed on one common, re- gular model, conformable to the principles of the French revolution, and to sound literary doctrines. The first consul said to the learned Fourcroy, " This is only a beginning; by and by we will do more and better." These two important projects were first taken before the council of state, and were warmly dis- cussed in that enlightened body. The first consul, who did not like public discussion, because it agitated those minds which had been too long in a disturbed state, sought, and even provoked it, in the council of state. This was his representa- tive, government. There he was familiar and eloquent ; there he permitted himself every lati- tude, and permitted the same to others; and by the collision of his own mind on that of his oppo- nents, there was struck out more brilliant corrus- cations than can be attained in a large assembly, where the solemnity of the tribune, and the in- conveniences of publicity, continually hinder and repress true liberty of thought. This form of dis- cussion would be the best for the elucidation of public affairs, if it did not depend upon an abso- lute master to confine it to the limits which his own will may dictate. But for an enlightened des- potism, when it would be itself enlightened, it is the best of all possible institutions. The council of state, composed of all the men of the revolution, and of some of those who bad more recently sprang up, offered in its entirety the differ- ent shades of public opinion very little weakened, be- cause if, on one part, there were Portalis, Roederer, Regnaud St. Jean d'Angely, and Devaines, repre- senting in it the party inclined to monarchical reaction ; Thibaudeau, Berlier, Truguet, Emmery, and Berenger, represented the party staunch to the revolution, so much as even to defend some- times its very prejudices. But within the council of state, with closed doors, the discussions were sincere, and eminently useful. The plan of the legion of honour was violently attacked. Here, as in the concordat, the first consul was in advance perhaps of the intelligence of the day. That generation which very quickly afterwards threw itself at the foot of the altars- that sooa covered iteelf with decorations in puerile vanity, resisted at the moment the re-establish- ment of the altars and the institution of the legion of honour 1 It was discovered, even in the council of state, that the institution of the legion of honour would give a wound to equality, that it renewed the destroyed aristocracy, and that it was too avowedly a return to the ancient system. The object ele- vated and positive, declared in the oath, in other words, the maintenance of the principles of the revolution, only slightly convinced its opponents. They demanded if the obligations contained in the oath were not common to every citizen, if all did not agree to concur in defending the territory, the principles of equality, the national property, and the like ; if to particularise this obligation for the one, was not to render it less strict upon the others. They inquired whether this legion had not too exceptional an object, as, for example, that of defending a power to which it was attached by a bond of benefits ? Others alleging the con- stitution, objected that it spoke only of a system of military recompenses. They added, that the in- stitution would be better understood, that it would raise fewer objections, if it had for its object to recompense warlike actions exclusively ; that these actions were of a positive character, easily ap- preciable, and generally recompensed in all coun- tries, so that no fault could be found if it were limited to this clear definable object. The first consul replied to all these objections with the most forcible arguments. "What is there aristocratic," he said, "in a distinction, merely personal, given only for life, granted to a man who has displayed civil or military merit, and to him alone, not descending to his children f Such a distinction is contrary to aristocracy ; because it is the property of -aristocratic titles to be transmitted from him who has earned them to one who has never done any thing deserving of them. An order is the most personal, the least aristocratic of institutions. It may be said, 'After this some- thing else will come.' That is possible," continued the first consul, " but let us see what is now given to us : we will judge of the rest by and by. It ia demanded what this legion, composed of six thou- sand individuals, signifies 1 What are its duties 1 It is asked whether it has any other duties than those devolving upon the universality of citizens, all equally bound to defend the territory of France, the constitution, and equality ? Firstly, to this question it may be answered, that every citizen is bound to defend the common country, and still there is an army upon which this duty is more particularly imposed. Would it then be so very astonishing if in that army there should be a choice corps, from which more devotion to its duties should be expected, more of a disposition to make A 2 356 Objection! answered by TRIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. the firt consul. 1802. May. the great sacrifice of life ! But do you want to know what this legion is to be ?" cried the first consul, returning to his favourite idea; "here it is an attempt at an organization for the men, authors, or partizans of the revolution, who are neither emigrants, Vende'ans, nor prieSts. The ancien r&gime, so battered about by the revolution, is much more entire than it is believed to be. All the emigrants take each other by the hand ; the Vende'ans are still covertly enrolled ; and with the words, legitimate king and religion, there might be assembled in a moment thousands of arms which would be raised to strike, be sure of that, if their fatigue and the strength of the government did not restrain them. The priests form a body, having at the core very little love for us all. It is necessary that on their side the men who have taken a part in the revolution should unite, bind themselves together, form, on their part, a solid body, and cease to depend upon the first accident that might strike one single head. It was but little that was wanting to fling you back into chaos by the explosion of the 3rd of Nivose, and deliver you without defence to your enemies. For ten years we have made nothing but ruins; it is now necessary to construct an edifice for ourselves, in which we may establish ourselves and live. These six thousand legionaries made up of all the men who effected the revolution, who have de- fended it after having made it, who wish to con- tinue it in all which is just and reasonable these six thousand legionaries, military men, civil func- tionaries and magistrates, endowed with the na- tional property, that is to say with the patrimony of the revolution, will be one of the strongest securities which you can have for the new state of things. Then too, depend upon it, the contest in Europe is not finished ; you may be certain that it will recommence. Is it not well to have in our hands so easy a means to sustain and to excite the bravery of our soldiers ? In place of that chimeri- cal thousand million of francs, which you would not dare even to promise again, you may, with only three millions of revenue in national property, raise up as many heroes to uphold the revolution as there were found for undertaking it." Such were the arguments used by the first con- sul. There were others which he had designed for those who demanded that the new order should be purely military, and only given to the army. " I am not inclined," he replied, " to form an army of pretorians ; I will not recompense the military alone. My idea is, that the meritorious of all kinds should be brethren ; that the courage of the presi- dent of the convention resisting the populace, should rank with that of Kle1>er mounting to the assault of St. Jean d'Acre. Some speak of the terms of the constitution. People ought not to suffer themselves to be so tied down by words. The constitution wished to say every thing, and has not always been able to do so : it is for you to supply the deficiency. It is right that civil virtues should have their share of reward as well as mili- tary ones. Those who oppose this, reason like barbarians ; they recommend to us the religion of brute force. Intelligence has its rights before force ; force itself is nothing without intelligence. In the heroic times, the general was the strongest and most dexterous man in body ; in civilized times, the general is the most intelligent of the brave. When we were at Cairo, the Egyptians could not understand how it was that Kle"ber, with his imposing person, was not the commander-in- chief. When Murad Bey had closely observed our tactics, he comprehended that it was myself, and not another, who must be the general of an army so conducted. You reason like the Egyptians, when you would confine recompenses to military valour. The soldiers," added the first consul, " reason better than you. Go to their bivouacs ; listen to them. Do you think that among their officers he who is largest and most imposing in stature, inspires them with the highest considera- tion ? No, it is the bravest. Do you believe that it is even the bravest that is precisely the first man in their minds ? No doubt they would despise him of whose courage they were suspicious ; but they would place above the bravest him whom they believed most intelligent. Then as to myself, do you suppose that it is only because I am reputed an able general, that I command in France ? No, it is because they attribute to me the qualities of a statesman and a magistrate. France will not tolerate a government of the sabre ; those who believe it strangely deceive themselves. There must be fifty years of subjection before it would come to that. France is a country too noble, too intelligent, to submit merely to a material power, and to inaugurate with her the worship of brute force. Honour, in a word, then, intelligence, virtue, the civil qualities, in all the professions; recom- pense them equally in all." These reasons, stated with warmth and energy, and coming from the greatest soldier of modern days, enchained and charmed the entire council of state. They were, it must be owned, sincere and interested at the same time. The first consul was desirous that it should be well understood, above all, by the military, that it was not as a general only, but as a man of genius and intellect that he was the ruler of France. As it was not possible to make him renounce his project, he was exhorted to adjourn it, by telling him that it was too soon ; that having advanced per- haps before the public intelligence in regard to the concordat, it would be needful to stop a moment, and give to opinion some short respite. He would listen to none of these counsels. His nature was ever, in all things, to be impatient of results. His project relative to a system of public educa- tion, encountered also serious objections in the coun- cil of state. The party that was for monarchial reac- tion was not far from the desire of seeing religious corporations again established. The opposite party supported the central schools, and rather desired the amelioration than the abrogation of the sys- tem. This last party also discovered some dis trust on the subject of the six thousand four hundred exhibitions left to the disposal of the government. "The ancient corporations do not belong to these days," said the first consul ; " besides, they are enemies. The clergy accommodate themselves to the actual government, they prefer it to the convention or the directory, but they would much more prefer the Bourbons. As to the central schools, they no longer exist ; they are a cipher. A vast system of public education must be created 1802. May. Opinion delivered by the first consul on the lyceumi. THE CONSULATE FOR LIFE. Reception of the project of the legion of honour. 357 and organized in France. Some may imagine that it was for the sake of influence these exhibitions were created. This is to view the matter in a very narrow way. The actual government has more influence than it desires; there is nothing, in fact, which it cannot do at this moment, espe- cially if it proposes to act against the revolution to destroy what that created, and to re-establish that which it destroyed. This is called for on all sides. It is attacked by confidential writings of all kinds, in which each proposes the restoration of some part of the old system. It is needful to beware of yielding to such an impulse. Here six thousand exhibitions are necessary to organize a new society and to imbue it with the spirit of the age. In the first place it is needful to provide for the military and their children, for to them we owe every thing. They have not yet touched the thousand millions promised them. The least that can be done for them is to secure them the necessaries of life. The exhibitions are an indispensable supplement to the small ness of their pay. The civil functionaries deserve, in their turn, to be rewarded and en- couraged, when they shall have served well and faithfully. They are, besides, as poor as the military. Both will give us their children to educate, and fashion under the new system. The five thousand exhibitions which we take in the boarding-schools, will be a nursery of subjects, which we shall secure for the same end. We are bound to form a new society, upon the principles of civil equality, in which every one finds his place, neither presenting the injustice of the feudal system, nor the confusion of anarchy. It is urgent to lay the foundation of this society, be- cause no such thing exists. In order to found it, materials are necessary ; the sole good ones are the young. We must consent to take them ; and if we do not draw them to us by the attraction of gratuitous education, the parents will not give them to us of their own accord. We are all sus- pected as authors, accomplices, or defenders of the revolution ; so much do people change so much are they fallen away from the illusions of 1789. We shall not easily get the children of good families unless we take the measures to attract them. If we form lyceums without exhibitions, they will be yet more deserted than the central schools a hundred times more, for parents can send their children without fear to a public course, in which Latin and mathematics are taught ; but they would not be sent, without reluctance, to boarding-schools, in which the supreme authority wholly governed. There is but one way of attract- ing them, and that is by exhibitions ; and then the inhabitants of the departments recently united to France will become French also. To accomplish this end, there is again only one way, and that is to take their children, even something against their will, and to place them with the sons of your officers, of your functionaries, and of your families in narrow circumstances, that the advantage of a gratuitous education shall have disposed to a confi- dence which they have not naturally. Then these children will learn the French language ; and they will imbibe the French spirit. We shall thus min- gle together the French of the former time with those of to-day : the French of the centre, the bor- ders of the Rhine, the Escaut and the Po." These sound reasons, repeated at more than one sitting, and under a thousand different forms, of which this repetition is only the substance, obtained the acceptance of the projected law. M. Fourcroy was commissioned to carry it to the legislative body, and to support it in the discussion. This project and that of the legion of honour, were presented to the legislative body at nearly the same time, because the first consul would not suffer this short session to pass over without having laid the principal basis of his vast edifice. The law of public instruction did not meet any great obstacle, and supported by M. Fourcroy, who, after the first consul, was half its author, it was adopted by a considerable majority. In the tribunate it obtained eighty white balls to nine black; in the legislative body, two hundred and fifty-one against twenty-seven. But it was not thus with the law relative to the legion of honour. This encountered in the two assemblies a resistance equally warm. Lucien Bonaparte was nominated- reporter ; and by the warmth with which he urged its defence, it was but too evident that it was a family idea. The institution was strongly attacked in the tribunate by M. Savoie-Rollin and M. de Chauvelin, the last making a species of pretension to defend the prin- ciple of equality, in spite of the name which he bore. Lucien, who had the gift of public speaking, but who had not sufficiently practised it, answered with too little temper and moderation, which much contributed to dispose the tribune unfavourably. Notwithstanding the purgation to which the body had been submitted, the project obtained only fifty-six white balls to thirty-eight black. In the legislative body, the discussion, although entirely leaning one way, since the tribunate, having adopted the proposition of the government, had sent only orators to support it, was not successful in gaining over many minds. There were there only a hun- dred and sixty-six favourable votes to one hundred and ten against it. The project of law was then adopted; but it was rare that the majority had been so weak and the minority so strong, even be- fore the opposition members were expelled. This arose from the shock which had been given to the feeling of equality, which was the only one that survived, and was still uppermost in the hearts of the men of that time '. This sentiment was 1 The following remarks are stated by Mignet to be taken from Tbibaudeau's unpublished memoirs, and exhibit the ideas of Bonaparte upon this measure. Thibaudeau was a councillor of state. " In discussing this project of law in the council of state, he fearlessly made known his aristocratic intentions. Ber- lier, a councillor of state, having disapproved of an institu- tion so contrary to the spirit of the republic, said that ' dis- tinctions were the baubles of monarchy.' ' 1 defy you,' re- joined the first consul, ' to show me a republic, ancient or modern, in which there were no distinctions. You spoke of baubles. Well, it is by baubles that we delude mankind. I should not say this to a tribune, but in a council of sages and statesmen we ought to ay every thing. I do not believe that the French people love liberty and equality. The French are not changed by ten years of revolution; they have only one sentiment honour. We must, therefore, give aliment to this sentiment ; we must create distinctions. Do you see how the people prostrate themselves before the ribbons and stars of the foreigners ? they hare been surprised by it ; neither do they fail to wear them. We have destroyed everything; we must now rebuild. We have a government, 358 Proposition to confer ' TRIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. the consulate for life. 1802. May. assumed erroneously, there can be no doubt, be- cause there can be nothing less aristocratic than an institution which has for its object to decree to the soldiers and to the learned a distinction purely for life, and the same that was to be borne by generals and princes. But every feeling which is too lively is susceptible and distrustful. The first consul proceeded too rapidly, and he admitted this. " We ought to have waited," he said; ," that is true. But we were right; and when we are right we ought to be able to venture something. Besides, the project was badly supported, and the best ar- guments were not well urged 'home. If they had known how to urge them with truth and vigour, the opposition would have yielded." The end of this session, so abundant in business, approached, and still the treaty of Amiens had not been laid before the legislative body to be con- verted into a law. This great act had been re- served for the last. It was intended to be, in a degree, the crowning measure of the first consul's labours and of the deliberations of this extra- ordinary session ; and, more, it was deemed a fitting occasion for exhibiting the gratitude of the public towards the author of the blessings which were then enjoyed by the nation. For some time, hi fact, people had been asking if there should not be given to the man who, in two years and a half, had drawn France out of a chaos, and had reconciled her with Europe, the church, and herself, having already organized her, some great testimony of the national gratitude. This sentiment of gratitude was as universal as it was well-merited. It was easy to make this feel- ing subservient to the latent desires of the first consul, which were bent towards the obtainment, in perpetuity, of that power which had been en- trusted 'to him for ten years only. The minds of most people too were already made up upon the subject, and except a small number of Jacobins and royalists, no one wished to see the supreme power lodged in any other hands than those of general Bonaparte. The indefinite continuation of his authority was regarded as a simple and most inevitable thing. To convert this notorious disposition of the popular mind into a legal act was, therefore, an easy matter ; and if, eighteen months before, when the famous " parallel between Caesar, Cromwell, and general Bonaparte," too early provoked the discussion of this question, which then encountered considerable opposition, this was now no longer the case. It required now that only the word should be suddenly spoken, offering to the first consul a real sovereignty, under whatever title might be chosen. It was sufficient we have powers; but the rest of the nation, what is itf grains of sand. We have in the midst of us ancient privi- leges, organized from principles and interests, and which well know what they want. I can reckon our enemies ; but as for us, we are scattered without system, without union, without contact. So long as I live I can answer for the welfare of the republic ; but we must provide for the future. Do you believe the republic is finally settled? you would find yourselves greatly mistaken. We are able to do it ; but we have not, nor shall we, if we do not throw upon the soil of France some masses of granite.' Bonaparte announced in these declarations a system of government directly opposite to that which the revolution proposed to establish, and which th new state of society demanded." Mignefi History. to choose any fitting occasion, and to announce such a proposition, that it should be immediately welcomed for adoption. The moment when many memorable acts suc- ceeded each other so rapidly, was that, in reality, which the first consul, in his calculations, and his friends, in their interested impatience, and minds gifted with foresight, in their considerations, had designated, and that the public, sincere and plain in its sentiments, was ready to accept for a grand manifestation. General Bonaparte wished for the supreme power, which was natural and excusable. In doing good he had followed the bent of his genius, and in so doing he had hoped for his re- ward. There was nothing blameable or culpable in such a desire; besides the conviction of the truth that in fully achieving this good, an ali-powerful chief would be required for a long while to come. In a country which could not dispense with a strong and creative authority, it was perfectly law- ful to aspire to the supreme power, when a man was the greatest of his age, and one of the greatest men of all ages. Washington, in the midst of a democratic republican society, exclusively com- mercial, and for a long while pacific Washington was just in exhibiting little ambition. In a society, republican by accident, monarchical by nature, surrounded by enemies, military in consequence, and not able to govern or to defend itself, without unity of action, Bonaparte had right upon his side in aspiring to the supreme power, no matter under what title. He was in error, not in taking the dictatorship, then necessary, but in not having al- ways employed it when he did take it, as in the first years of his career. General Bonaparte concealed in the profoundest depths of his heart those desires which all the world, even the simplest of the people, plainly per- ceived. If he mentioned his wishes to his brotherSj it was as much as he ever did. He never said that the title of first consul for ten years had ceased to satisfy him. Without doubt, when the question pre- sented itself under a theoretic form, when the neces- sity of a strong authority was spoken of in a general way, he came out, and spoke his thoughts fully upon the matter; but he never concluded by asking for a prolongation of his own power. At the same time dissimulating and confiding, he communicated certain things to one, certain things to others, and concealed something from all. To his col- leagues, above all to Cambaceres, of whose great prudence he had a high opinion ; to Talleyrand and Fouche", to whom he conceded a great share of influence, he spoke out fully of all that con- cerned public affairs, much more than to his brothers, to whom he was far from entrusting the secrets of state. Of those things which personally concerned himself, he said little to his colleagues or to his ministers, but much to his brothers. Still he did not discover to them the secret ambition of his heart ; but it was so easy to guess, and hia family were so anxious to bring it about success- fully, that they spared him the trouble to be the first to declare it. They spoke to him of it con- tinually, and left him in the more commodious position of having rather to temper than to excite a zeal for his aggrandizement. They asserted to him, therefore, that the moment was come to con- stitute in his behalf something better than an 1802. May. Proposition to confer the consulate for life. THE CONSULATE FOR LIFE. Apprehensions of Madam Bonaparte. Advice of Fouche. 359 ephemeral and fleeting power ; that he ought to think of attaching to himself a solid and durable authority. Joseph, with the peaceable mildness of his character, and Lucien, with his natural petulance, tended openly to the same object. They had for confidants and co-operators the men with whom they lived in intimacy, who, whether in the council of state, or in the senate, partook their sentiments, from conviction, or from the desire to please. Regnaud, Laplace, Talleyrand, and Rcederer, the last always most ardent in the cause, were firmly of opinion that monarchy must be restored as soon and as completely as was possible. Talleyrand, the calmest, and not the least active among them, was strongly attached to a monarchy, as elegant and brilliant as it had been in the palace of Versailles, but without the Bourbons, with whom he believed it to be then incompatible. He re- peated incessantly, with an authority which could belong to no one but him, that to negotiate with Europe it would be much easier to treat in the name of a monarchy than in that of a republic; that the Bourbons were, for kings, just like un- accommodating and disesteemed guests; that ge- neral Bonaparte, with his glory, his power, his courage in repressing anarchy, was the most de- sirable for them, and the most expected of all sove- reigns ; that as to himself, minister for foreign affairs, he affirmed, that to add, no matter how, to the existing authority of the first consul, was to conciliate Europe in place of offending her. Those intimate confidants of the Bonaparte family had much debated among themselves the question of the moment. Still, to leap at one spring into an hereditary sovereignty, whether to royalty or to an empire, would be too great a temerity. It would, perhaps, be better to reach it by passing through several intermediate stages. But without changing the title of first consul, which was much more con- venient, it would be possible to give him an equi- valent for the royal power, and even an equivalent for the hereditary succession : this was the con- sulate for life, with the power to designate his successor. In making a few modifications in the constitution, modifications easy to obtain of the senate, which had become a sort of constituting power, it was possible to create a true sovereignty under a republican name. There would even be given to him the faculty of appointing a successor, the only advantage of an hereditary succession actually desirable ; because the first consul not having children, and having only brothers and nephews, it would be better to confide the right of choice to those among them whom he should judge most worthy of succeeding to the power. This idea appearing the wisest and the most prudent, seemed to be that adopted by consent in the Bonaparte family as preferable. This family was at the moment in a state of singular agitation. The brothers of the first consul, who had on their foreheads a ray of his glory, but which they did not deem sufficient, desired to see him become a real monarch, in order that they might be princes by right of blood. They were restless, complaining that they were nothing ; that they had aided hi the elevation of their brother, and had no rank in the state in proportion to then? merits and services. Joseph, more peaceable in character, satisfied be- sides with the character of ordinary negotiator of peace, wealthy, and held in consideration, was less impatient. Lucien, who gave himself out for a republican, was still of all the brothers he who showed himself that he most desired to see the sovereign power of his brother elevated upon the rums of the republic. Very recently he had re- fused to dine with Madam Bonaparte, saying that he would go when there should be a place there marked out for the brothers of the first consul. In the bosom of that family, Madam Bonaparte, the more worthy of interest, since she felt none of those ambitious longings, and had her apprehen- sions of them, she, on the contrary, was, according to her usual custom, more afraid than satisfied at the changes which were in preparation. She feared, as has been already observed, that her husband would be urged to ascend too soon the steps of the throne where she had beheld the Bourbons sit, and upon which it seemed incredible to her that any other person should be seated. She feared that his inconsiderate relatives, anxious to partake the grandeur of their brother, would imprudently hasten on his elevation, and by making him ascend too fast, precipitate her, him, and themselves, all, in fact, together into an abyss. In a certain degree relieved by the tenderness of her husband from the apprehension of a speedy divorce, she was haunted at the moment by one image alone, that of a new Csesar, struck by the blow of a dagger at the moment when he at- tempted to place the diadem upon his brow. Madam Bonaparte honestly avowed her fears to her husband, who made her hold her tongue by imposing silence sharply upon her. Repulsed here, she addressed herself to those who had some influence over him, supplicating them to combat the counsels of his .ill-advised and ambitious brothers, and thus she gave to her dislikes and apprehen- sions a vexatious notoriety, which was displeasing to the first consul. Among the personages admitted to the interior of the family, the minister Fouche" entered more than any other into the views of Madam Bona- parte. Not that he had more pride, of feeling than the other men by whom Bonaparte was sur- rounded, or that he was the only one among them all who was careless about pleasing his inevitable master, it was not that ; but he was endowed with great good sense, and observed with apprehension the impatience of the Bonaparte family. He heard nearer than any other person the sullen, stifled cries of the vanquished republi- cans, few in number, but indignant at such a prompt usurpation ; even he himself, amid the agitation of the hour, felt some emotions on ac- count of what was about to be undertaken. Al- though he did not desire to lose the confidence of the first consul, which he was more than ever desirous of retaining, since the first consul was more than ever to become the arbiter of all destinies, he still permitted others to guess a part of what he thought. Intimate as a friend with Madam Bonaparte, he had listened to her ex- pression of the apprehensions with which she was assailed and fearful of the resentment of her husband, had endeavoured to tranquillize them. " Madam," he said, " remain calm and quiet. You cross your husband to no purpose. He will be consul for life, king, or emperor, all that is 360 Conduct of Cambweres TRIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE, on the consulate for life. 1802. May. very possible to occur. Your fears annoy him ; my counsels would wound his feelings. Let us remain in our places, and leave those events to their accomplishment, which neither you nor I can prevent." The winding up of this agitated scene approached, in proportion as the term arrived of the extraordi- nary session of the year x., and the leaders of the party for the measure were heard repeating oftener and louder, that it was necessary to give stability to power, and a testimony of acknowledgment to the benefactor of France and of the world. Still they would not have been able to bring about the last act in a safe and natural manner, without the aid of one man in particular, and that man was the consul Cambace'res. His occult but real influence and able management of the mind of the first con- sul has been already alluded to. His power over the senate was equally great. That body had a real deference for the old lawyer, become the con- fidant of the new Csesar. Sieyes, creator in some respect of the senate, had at first enjoyed there a certain ascendancy. But soon his evident inten- tion of turning that body into an opposition having been detected and foiled, Sieyes was no more than he had always been, that is to say, a superior mind, chagrined, impotent, reduced at last to the part of finding fault with every thing at his seat of Crosne the vulgar price of his great services. Cambace'res, on the contrary, had become the secret director of the senate. In the actual con- juncture, Bonaparte was not able to proclaim him- self consul for life or emperor, having need in con- sequence of somebody that should take the initiative this was evidently the senate, and in the senate, the person who directed it was evidently the man of the greatest importance. Cambace'res, although devoted to the first consul, could not see with any great degree of pleasure the change which tended to place him at yet a greater distance from his illustrious colleague. Still knowing well that things could not remain as they were, that it would be trouble lost to throw an obstacle in the way of general Bonaparte, and that besides, within their actual limits, these de- sires were legitimate, Cambace'res determined to interfere spontaneously in order to cause all this internal agitation to terminate in a rational result, and to impart to the government a stable form, which ought to satisfy the ambition of the first consul without effacing too much the republican forms, which were still cherished in many hearts. While those who surrounded the first consul were in lively conversation upon this subject, he himself listening, and even affecting to keep silence, Cambace'res put an end to the state of constraint, by speaking the first to his colleague upon the sub- ject of what was passing. He did not dissimulate to him the danger of precipitation in an affair of such a nature, and the advantage there would be in preserving a modest and republican form alto- gether, to a power as real and as great even as his own. Nevertheless in offering him, in his own name and in the name of the third consul Lebrun, a devotedness without reserve, he declared to him that they were ready, both one and the other, to do whatever he wished, and to spare him the inter- vention of his own person in the matter, particu- larly under circumstances in which he ought to appear to receive and not to take the title himself, which it was in contemplation to give him. The first consul expressed his gratitude for such an overture and at such a moment ; he conceded the danger that there would be in going too fast, and doing too much ; he declared that he had formed no particular desire, being content with his exist- ing position ; that he had not pushed forward any change, and should take no steps to quit it ; that still the constitution of the supreme power of the state was in his view precarious, and did not pre- sent a character sufficiently solid and enduring ; that in his opinion there were several changes which ought to be effected in the form of the government, but that he was too directly interested in the ques- tion to mix himself up in it ; that he would, there- fore, wait, and not take any initiative. Cambace'res answered the first consul, that with- out doubt his personal dignity demanded much reserve, and interdicted him from ostensibly taking the initiative, but that if he would fully and clearly explain himself to his two colleagues, and make them clearly acquainted with his innermost thoughts, they would spare him, when once his intentions were clearly understood by them, the trouble of manifesting them, and would go to work without delay. Whether he felt a certain degree of embarrassment which prevented his saying what he desired, or whether he desired more than was then destined for him, perhaps the sovereignty, the first consul covered himself with a new veil, and was contented to repeat that he had no fixed idea on the matter, but that he should see with pleasure his two colleagues watch over the movement of the public mind, and even direct it, in order to prevent those imprudent actions which might be committed by unskilful friends. The first consul would never avow his thoughts upon the matter even to his colleague Cambace'res. To the natural restraint he felt in such a matter, he added an illusion. He thought that without any interference upon his own part, the people would come and lay a crown at his feet. This was an error. The public, tranquil, happy, and grate- ful, was disposed to sanction whatever might be done by the government ; but having in a certain sense abdicated every participation in the affairs of the state, it was not forward to mix itself up with them even to testify the gratitude of which it was full. The bodies of the state, save with the ex- ception of the interested leaders, were taken all at once with a sort of modesty, at the idea of coming in the face of heaven, to abjure the republican forms, which they had again recently sworn to maintain. Many individuals, little versed in politi- cal secrets, went so far as to believe that the first consul, satisfied with the omnipotence which he possessed, above all, since he had disencumbered himself of the opposition of the tribunate, had con- tented himself with the power to do all that he pleased, and to assume to himself the easy glory of a new Washington, with much more genius and glory than he of America. Thus when the ma- nagers and leaders in the matter asserted that nothing had been done for the first consul, who had done every thing for France, certain simple- minded persons answered in this innocent way : " What would you have us do for him ! What would you have us offer him ? What recompense 1802. May. Honours moved in the tri- bunate to the first consul. THE CONSULATE FOR LIFE. The proposition adopted. 361 would be proportioned to the services which he has rendered to us ? His true recompense is his glory." Cambaceres was too wise to revenge himself for the ' dissimulation of the first consul, by leaving things in a stagnant state. He felt it necessary to finish the matter, and determined to set about the task immediately. In his opinion, and in that of many enlightened men, a prolongation of power for ten years granted to the first consul, which with seven years of the first term yet remaining, would carry up to seventeen years the duration of his consulship, was fully sufficient. This would, in fact, whether in France or in Europe, be crossing the enemies who had calculated on the existing legal term of his power. But M. Cambaceres well knew that this would not content the first consul, that something more must be offered him, and that with the consulship for life must be accom- panied the right of naming his successor ; all the advantages of an hereditary monarchy would be thus attained without the inconvenience of a change of title, and without the displeasure that this change would cause to many persons of good in- tentions and honest feelings. He, therefore, stopped at this idea, and endeavoured to propagate it in the senate, the legislative body, and the tribunate. But if there were members ready to vote any thing, there were others that hesitated, and would go no further than a prolongation for ten years. The first consul had deferred until now, with the full intention of so doing, the presentation of the treaty of Amiens to the legislative body, to be con- verted into a law. Cambaceres, comprehending that this was the circumstance to use for drawing out a species of general approval of the proposed changes, disposed every thing in order to bring about such a result. The 6th of May, or 16th of Floreal, had been chosen to carry up to the legis- lative body the treaty which completed the general peace. The president of the tribunate, who was M. Chabot de 1'Allier, was one of the friends of the consul Cambaceres. This last sent for him, and arranged with him the steps to be taken. It was settled between them, that when the treaty should be carried from the legislative body to the tribunate, M. Simeon should propose a deputation to the first consul, in order to testify the satisfac- tion of the assembly ; that then the president, M. Chabot de 1' Allier, should quit the chair, and should propose the following vote : " The senate is invited to give to the consuls a testimony of the national gratitude.' Things being disposed in this manner, the pro- ject of law was carried on the 6th of May, or 16th of Floreal, by three councillors of the legislative body. These councillors were M. Rcederer, ad- miral Bruix, and M. Berlier. In the ordinary course of things, the projects were communicated purely and simply by the legislative body to the tribunate ; this time, seeing the importance of the subject, the government determined to communi- cate directly to the tribunate the treaty submitted to the legislative deliberations. Three councillors of state, Regnier, Thibaudeau, and Bigot Pre"ame- neu, were charged with this duty. Scarcely had they finished making the communication, when the tribune Simeon asked leave to speak. " Since the government," said he, " has communicated to us, in a manner so solemn, the treaty of peace concluded with Great Britain, it is our duty to answer this proceeding by one of a similar nature. I propose that a deputation be addressed to the government, to congratulate it upon the re-establishment of the general peace." This proposition was immediately adopted. The president, M. Chabot de 1'Allier, having given up the chair, and been replaced by M. Stanislaus de Girardin, and placing himself in the tribune, spoke as follows : " Among all nations public honours have been decreed to those men who, by their brilliant actions, have honoured their country and saved it from great dangers. " What man has ever had a greater right than general Bonaparte to the national gratitude * " What man, whether at the head of armies, or at the head of the government, honours his country more, or has rendered it more signal services ? " His valour and his genius have saved the French people from the excesses of anarchy and the evils of war. The French people are too great, too magnanimous, to suffer such benefits to'remain without some grand recompense. " Tribunes ! be you its organs. It is to us, above all others, that it belongs to take the lead, when the object is to express, under circumstances so memorable, the sentiments and will of the French people." At the conclusion of his speech, M. Chabot de 1'Allier proposed to the tribunate the vote of some great manifestation of the national gratitude to- wards the first consul. He proposed, besides, to communicate this wish to the senate, the legislative body, and to the government. The proposition was unanimously adopted. This deliberation was soon known in the senate, and that body decided immediately upon forming a special commission, in order to present its own ideas respecting the testimony of national gratitude which it would be suitable to give to the first consul. The deputation which Simeon, the tribune, had proposed to send to the government, was received on the day following, the 7th of May, or 17th Flo- re'al, at the Tuileries. The first consul was sur- rounded with his colleagues, a great number of high functionaries and generals. His attitude was modest and serious. M. Simeon spoke : he cele- brated the great exploits of general Bonaparte ; the marvellous things effected by his government, more great than those achieved by his sword. He attributed to him the victories of the republic, the peace which followed them, the re-establishment of order, the return of prosperity ; and terminated at length with the following words : " I must break off in haste. I fear I shall appear to praise, when I only endeavour to be just, and to express in a few words a profound feeling, that ingratitude could alone have stifled. We expect the first body in the nation to become the interpreter of the general sentiment, the expression of which it is only permitted to the tribunate to desire and to vote." The first consul, after having thanked the tri- bune Simeon for the sentiments which he had just testified in his behalf ; after having said that he saw in it only the result of the more intimate com- munications established between the government 362 The first consul's reply. THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. The consulship voted for ten years by the senate. 1802. May. and the tribunate, making thus a direct allusion to the changes operated in that body, the first consul finished in these noble words : " As for me, I receive with the deepest gratitude the wish expressed by the tribunate. I desire no other glory than that of having fulfilled to the fullest extent the task imposed upon me. I have no ambition for any other recompense than jthe affection of my fellow-citizens ; happy if they are well convinced that the evils which they may encounter will always be to me the most serious of misfortunes ; that life is dear to me only for the services that it may enable me to render to my country; that death itself has no bitterness for me, if my last glances will but enable me to see the happiness of the republic as well assured as its glory." It now only remained to fix upon the testimony of national gratitude to be given to general Bona- parte. No one was deceived about its nature ; ever)' body well knew that it was by an extension of power that the illustrious general must be paid for the immense benefits which had been received. Some simple-minded persons imagined when voting that the public testimony in contemplation was a statne or monument. But those simple people were few in number. The mass of the tribune and senators perfectly well knew how it was to express its gratitude. During that day and the day following, the Tuileries and the hotel of Cam- bacres, who resided out of the palace, were thronged with people. The senators came in great numbers, eager to know how they should act; Their zeal was very warm ; it was only necessary to speak the word, and they were ready to decree whatever was desired. One of them even went so far as to say to the consul Cambaceres, " What does the general wish 1 Does he wish to be king? Only let him say as much; I and my colleagues of the constituent body are quite ready to vote the re-establishment of royalty, and more willingly too for him than for others, because he is more worthy the honour." Curious to know the real sentiments of the first consul, the senators approached as near to him as they were able, and tried in a hundred ways, to have at least one word from his mouth, however trifling and insignificant. Bni he constantly refused to reveal his wishes, even to the senator Laplace, who was one of his particular friends, and who for that reason was clmirged to fathom his secret wishes. He uniformly answered, that whatever they did he should receive with gratitude, and that he had not fixed his mind upon any thing. Some wished to know if a pro- longation of ten years of his consulship would be agreeable. He replied with affected humility, that any testimony of the public confidence, that or any other, would be sufficient for him, and satisfy his wishes^ The senators learning little from these communication*) of the first consul, returned to the consuls (Jambacc'ren and Lebrun, to get informa- tion as to the condnet which they had to pursue. " Name the consul for -life," they replied, " that is the best step you can take." " But it is said he dow-not desire it," replied the more simple of the enquirers, "and that a prolongation for ten years will satisfy him why go beyond his own wishes ?" Lebrun and Cambncdres had difficulty to per- suade them. The consuls apprized Bonaparte of it. " You are wrong," they said, " not to explain yourself. Your enemies, for you have enemies left in spite of your services, even in the senate, will abuse your reserve." The first consul neither appeared surprised nor flattered by the officious- ness of the senators. " Let them alone," he re- plied to Cambace'res; "the majority of the senate is always ready to do more than is demanded of them. They will go further than you would believe." Cambace'res replied that Ire was mistaken. But it was impossible to overcome this obstinate dis- sembling, and as will be seen, the consequences were singular. Despite the advice of Cambace'res and Lebrun, many good people who deemed it more convenient to give less than more, believed that the first consul thought a prolongation of the consulship for ten years a sufficient testimony of the public confidence, and a grand consolidation of his power considerable enough. The party of Sieyes, always spiteful, awoke up on this occasion, and acted secretly. The senators who were secretly allied to his party, circumvented their uncertain colleagues, and affirmed that the idea of the first consul was well known, and that he was contented with a prolongation of ten years, which he pre- ferred to any thing else, that every body knew besides that it was better in itself ; that by this combination, the public power was consolidated, the republic maintained, and the dignity of the nation preserved. As in the affair of the elections of the senate, the gallant Lefebvre was one of those who listened to these persuasions, and who be- lieved that in voting for a ten years' prolongation, they were doing that which general Bonaparte wished. They had been forty-eight hours de- liberating, and it was necessary to conclude the matter. The- senator Languinais, with all the courage of which he had given so many proofs, attacked that which he styled the flagrant usurpa- tion with which the republic was threatened. His speech was heard with, pain, and considered as somewhat superfluous. More able enemies had proposed a better manoeuvre. They had gained a majority in favour of the plan for prolonging the powers of the first consul for ten years. This reso- lution was in fact adopted on the 8th of May, or 18th Flordal, towards the evening of the day. Lefebvre ran one of the first to the Tuileries, to announce what had taken place, believing that he brought the most agreeable of intelligence. It soon arrived from .all quarters, and caused a surprise as unforeseen as it was painful. The first consul, surrounded by his brothers Joseph and Lucien, learned this result with great displeasure. At the first moments he thought of nothing less than of refusing the proposition of the senate. He sent for his colleague Cambace'res immediately. He came to him forthwith. Too discreet and prudent to triumph at his own fore- sight and the fault of the first consul, he said that what had occurred was without doubt very vexa- tious, but it was easy to remedy ; that before all things it was necessary not to exhibit any ill humour; that in twice twenty-four hours all might be altered, but that it was necessary in order to do that to give the affair an entire new face, and that he would take the matter upon himself. "The senate offers you a prolongation of power," said M. 180?. May. The expedient of Cambaceres to annul the vote of the THE CONSULATE FOR LIFE. senate. Additional questions of M. Roederer. 3G3 Cambaceres ; " answer that you are most grateful for the proposition, but that it is not from the senate, but from the suffrages of the nation alone that you should hold your authority ; that it is from the nation alone that you should receive the prolongation ; and that you wish to consult the nation by the same means which were em- ployed for the adoption of the consular constitution, or in other words by registers opened all over Prance. We will then have drawn up by the council of state, the formula which shall be sub- mitted to the natioual sanction. By thus making it an act of deference to the popular sovereignty, we shall obtain the substitution of one plan for another.. We will propose the question, not so as to know if general Bonaparte ought to receive a prolongation for ten years of the consular power, but if he ought to receive the consulate for life. If the first consul were to do such a thing himself," continue :1 M. Cambace'res, " decorum would be wouud'.-J. But I, who am the second consul, and wholly disinterested in the matter, am able to give the impulse. Let the general set out in a public manner for Malmaison ; I will remain alone in Paris ; I will convoke the council of state, and by the council of state it is that I will have the new proposition drawn up, which shall afterwards be submitted for the national acceptance." This able expedient was adopted with great satis- faction by general Bonaparte, and by his brothers. Cambaceres was heartily thanked for his ingenious combination, and the entire affair abandoned to him. It was agreed that the first consul should set out on the following day, after having himself agreed with Cambace'res upon the draft of the answer to be made to the senate. The draft was made the next morning, being the 9th of May, or 19th Flore"al, by Cambace'res and the first consul, and addressed immediately to the senate, in reply to its message. " Senators," said the first consul, " the honour- able proof of esteem delivered hi your deliberation of the 18th, will remain for ever engraven in my heart. " In the three years which have just terminated, fortune has smiled upon the republic: but fortune is inconstant; and how many men whom she has loaded with her favours have lived a few years too long ! " The interest of my glory, as well as that of my happiness, seems to have marked the term of my public life at the moment when the peace of the world is proclaimed. " But the glory and happiness of the citizen ought to be silent, when the interest of the state and the public kindness demand him. " You judge that I owe to the people a new sacrifice; I will make it, if the will of the people command what your suffrages authorize." The first consul, without an explanation, in- dicated clearly enough that he did not exactly accept such a resolution of the senate. He set out for Malmaison immediately, leaving to his col- league Cambace'res to terminate the great business conformably to his wishes. Cambace'res summoned those of the council of state who were the most habituated to second the views of the government, and concerted with them the measures which it would be best to adopt at the meeting of the council. The following day, being the 10th of May, or 20th of Flore"al, the council of state had an extraordinary meeting. The two consuls and all the ministers, except Fouche*, attended.. Camba- ce'res presided. He announced the object of the meeting, and appealed to the understanding of that grand body, under the important circum- stances in which the government was placed. Bigot de Pre"ameneu, Rcederer, Regnaud, and Portalis, at once spoke in turn, and alleged that the stability of the government was, at present, the first necessity of the state ; that the foreign powers, to treat with France, that public credit, commerce, industry, and a return to prosperity, had need of confidence ; that the perpetuity of the power of the first consul was the most certain means to inspire it ; that this authority, conferred for ten years only, was an ephemeral authority, without solidity, without grandeur, because it was without duration ; that the senate, limited by the constitution, had not thought it possible to add more than a prolongation of ten years to the power of the first consul; but that in addressing the national sovereignty, as load been done before for all the anterior constitutions, there was no more limiting by the existing law, for then they should mount to the source of all the laws, and that it was necessary purely and simply to put this question, " SHALL THS FIRST CONSUL BE CONSUL FOB LIFE 1 " The prefect of police, Dubois, a member of the council of state, a man of a character independent and decided, stated the opinion generally held by the people of Paris. On all sides the proposition of the senate was deemed ridiculous ; every body said that it was necessary France should have a government ; that one had been found at last, strong, able, fortunate, and that such an one ought to be preserved; that there ought to have been no necessity for touching the constitution; but if it were to be interfered with, it had better be done once for all, and the government be so organized as to be always preserved. That which was thus stated by Dubois was true. Opinion was so fa- vourable to the first consul, that the people were for settling the question at once, and giving to his power the duration of his life. After having heard the different speeches, Cambace'res inquired whether any member had objections to make to the pro- posed step; but the oppositionists remaining silent, being only five or six in number, as Bertier, Tbi- baudeau, Emmery, Dossoles, and Berenger, the resolution was put to the vote, and adopted by an immense majority. It was then agreed that a public vote should be taken upon the question, SHALL NAPOLEON BONAPARTE BE CONSUL FOE LIFS f This resolution being passed affirmatively, Roe- derer, who was the boldest of all the members on the monarchical side, proposed to add a second question to the first ; it was the following : SHALL THE FIRST CONSUL HAVE THE FACULTY OF DESIG- NATING HIS SUCCESSOR ? Upon this question M. Rcederer was extremely tenacious, and with reason. If they acted with good faith, if they concealed no after-thought of returning at some future time to what they were doing that day, if they wished to constitute de- finitively a new power, the faculty of designing a successor was the best equivalent to hereditary succession; sometimes superior to the effects of 364 Decree of the consuls. The appeal to the TRIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. people in favour of the consulship for life. 1802. May. hereditary succession itself, because it was by that means that the reign of the Antonines was given to the world. A consul for life, with the power of naming his successor, was a real monarchy under a republican appearance. It was a fine and power- ful government, which, at least, saved the dignity of the existing generation, which had sworn to live a republic or to die. M. Roederer, who was ob- stinate in favour of his own ideas, insisted upon the second question being put. It was put and adopted as the preceding had been. It was necessary, in consequence, to decide on the form to be given to both. Some thought that this appeal made to the French people by means of registers opened in the communes, was an act which should belong to the government, because it was, so to say, a simple convocation; that it was natural, therefore, that it should be debated in the council of state; that the publication of this deli- beration, which had taken place in presence of the second and third consuls, and in absence of the first, preserved all decent appearances, and that it was only necessary to find a suitable form of drawing up. A commission, composed of several councillors of state, was charged, during the sitting, with the drawing up of the result of the delibera- tion. This commission proceeded immediately to the task, and returned an hour after, with the act destined to be published on the following day. The following was the document : " The consuls of the republic, considering that the resolution of the first consul is a striking homage paid to the sovereignty of the people; that the people, consulted upon their dearest interests, ought to know no other limit than its interests themselves ; decree as follows :" &c. &c. " The French people shall be consulted upon these two questions : " 1. SHALL NAPOLEON BONAPARTE BE CONSUL FOR LIFE? " 2. SHALL HE HAVE THE FACULTY OF APPOINTING HIS SUCCESSOR? " Registers will he opened to this effect at all the mayoralties, at the offices of the clerks of all the tribunals, at the houses of the notaries, and these of all public offices." The period allowed for giving the votes was three weeks. Carabace'res went off immediately to the first consul, to submit to him the resolution of the council of state. The first consul, from a disposi- tion of mind difficult to account for, obstinately resisted the second question. "Whom," said he, "would you that I should appoint for my successor ? my brother ? But France, which has so well consented to be go- verned by me would France consent to be governed by Joseph or Lucien 1 Shall I nominate you consul, Cambace'res? Will you venture to undertake such a task! And then the will of Louis XIV. was not respected; is it at all probable that mine would be? A dead man, let him be whom he may, is nothing." The second consul could not get over him upon this point ; he was even angry with Rcederer, who, without taking the opinion of any one, and following the impulse of his own mind, had put forward the idea. He, therefore, ordered the second question, relative to the choice of a successor, to be struck out. The motive of the first consul in the foregoing matter is very obscure. Did he wish, by leaving a vacancy in the organization of the government, to manage so as to have a sure pretext to say another time, and at a period a little later, that the government was without a future, without greatness, and it would be necessary to convert it into an hereditary monarchy ? Did he dread family rivalries, and the troubles that would come upon him from possessing the faculty of choosing a successor from among his brothers or nephews ! To judge of his language upon the occasion, this last conjecture appears to be the most probable. However it was, he struck out the second question of the act as it emanated from the council of state; and as they would not lose time by assembling the council again, the resolution, thus shortened, was sent to the official journal. It appeared on the morning of the 1 1th of May, or 21st Flore'al, in the Moniteur, two days after that of the senate. To announce that such a ques- tion was put to France, was to announce that it was determined upon. If public opinion become passive, did not take the initiative of great reso- lutions, it might be counted upon for sanctioning every thing with interest that might be proposed to it in favour of the first consul. It had for him confidence, admiration, gratitude, all the senti- ments that a lively and enthusiastic people is capable of feeling for a great man, from whom it has received at one time so many benefits. Doubt- less, if the questions of form had preserved any importance, at a time when constitutions had been seen to be made and remade so often, it would have been deemed strange that the senate, having proposed a simple prolongation of ten years, this proposition emanating from the sole authority which had the power to make it, should be con- verted into a proposition of a consulship for life, made by a body that was neither the senate, nor the legislative body, nor the tribunate, but only a council dependant upon the government. It is true that the council of state had at that time a high degree of importance, which rendered it nearly the equal of a legislative assembly ; that the appeal to the national sovereignty was a species of corrective, which covered all the irregularities of this mode of proceeding, and gave to the council of state the apparent character of a simple arranger of the question to be submitted to France. Be- sides, at that time people did not examine so closely into matters. The result, that is to say, the consolidation and perpetuation of the govern- ment of the first consul was agreeable to all the world ; and that which conduced to such a result in the most direct way possible, appeared the most natural and the best. The senate was exposed to some raillery, in fact, it was tolerably confused and ashamed, at not having been better acquainted with the wishes of general Bonaparte; and it kept silence, having nothing suitable to say nor to do, because it was unable either to recall its determi- nation or to appropriate to itself the resolution of the council of state. As to offering any oppo- sition, it had not the means, nor even the idea. Without doubt, the torrent was not so general but that censure was to be heard in some places; for ex- ample, in the obscure retreats where the faithful re- publicans hid their despair, in the brilliant hotels of the faubourg St. Germain, where the royalists were 1802. May. Presentation of the financial law. THE CONSULATE FOR LIFE. State of the budget. 3C5 detesting the new power in the government which they had not yet began to serve. But this cen- sure, nearly indistinguishable in the chorus of praises that from all sides arose around the first consul, and mounted even to his own ear, was of very little moment. Reflecting men only, and these are always very few in number, were capable of making singular reflections upon the vicissitudes of revolutions, upon the inconsistency of this gene- ration overturning a royalty of twelve centuries, endeavouring in vain, amidst its delirium, to over- throw all the monarchies of Europe, and then reverting from its first enthusiasm to rebuild a ruined throne piece by piece, and eagerly seeking some one on whom to bestow it. Happily it had found for this purpose an extraordinary man. Nations, under such a necessity, do not always en- counter a master who ennobles in the same degree their inconsistencies. The embarrassment of mo- desty had at the moment seized upon every body ; the master himself, not daring at first to avow his wishes himself, the senate afterwards not daring to guess, and hesitating to satisfy them, until the council of state, throwing off all its false shame, had the courage to avow what was needful to be said and done by alL These temporary difficulties soon gave place to a true ovation. The legislative body and the tribunate determined to go to the first consul, in order to give the signal of adhesion, by voting in a body the power into his hands for a perpetuity. The object to colour the step which they had devised was, that the members of the legislative body and of the tribunate being detained during this extraordinary session in their seats as legis- lators, were not able to. be in their communes to give their votes* there. This was deemed a valid reason, and they repaired to the Tuileries accordingly in a body. M. de Vaublanc spoke in the name of the legislative body, and M. Chabot d'Allier in the name of the tribunate. To quote here the speeches made upon this occasion would be tedious. They all expressed alike the same confidence in the government of the first consul. Such an example would not have failed to draw after it the citizens to the same vote had it been at all needful ; but such a strong impulse was not necessary. The people went with alacrity to the mayoralties, to the notaries, and to the offices of the clerks of the tribunals, to inscribe their votes of approbation in the registers open for their reception. The end of Flore"al had arrived, and the govern- ment made haste to close this short and memorable session by the presentation of the financial law. The budget proposed was most satisfactory. All the sources of revenue were discovered to have augmented, for which the peace must be assigned as the cause, while, at the same time, the expenses of the army and navy were much diminished. The budget of the year x. amounted to 500,000,000f., or 26,000,000 f. less than that of the year ix. 1 ; it was raised to 526,000,000 f. by the more recent estimates; and if to this be added the additional centimes for the service of the departments, which > The amount for the year ix. was at first fixed at 415,000,000 f., then at 526,000,000 f., and finally at M5,000,OOOT. at that time were separately calculated, and amounted to 60,000,000 f. ; if there were added the expenses of collection, which were not carried to the general budget, because each department of the taxes paid its own expenses, which amounted to 70,000,000 f., the total might be estimated at 625,000,000 f. or 630,000,000 f., the definitiTe budget of France at that moment. Peace brought with it an economy or saving hi some branches of the public service, and an increase in others ; but by elevating considerably the product of all the taxes, it prepared the way for the re-establishment of an even balance between the revenue and expenditure, a balance so much desired, and so far from being foreseen two years before. The war administration, divided into two branches, that of the personal, and that of the materiel, was to cost 210,000,000 f. in lieu of 250,000,000 f. It will, no doubt, appear astonish- ing that there should be here no more than 40,000,000 f. between a state of war and that of peace ; but it must be recollected that the vic- torious French armies had lived upon a foreign soil, and that having returned home, with the exception only of one hundred thousand men, they were now supported out of the French treasury. The navy, which it had at first been deemed right to estimate at 80,000,000 f., had, since the conclusion of the peace, been raised to 105,000,000 f. by the first consul, whose opinion it was that a time of peace was most advantageously employed in organizing the navy of a great empire. Other expenses considerably reduced, proved, by their reduction, the fortunate advance of credit. The obligations of the receivers-general, of which the origin, utility, and success have been seen, had at first been discounted at only one per cent, per month, and afterwards at three-quarters. These were now discounted at one-half per cent, per month, or six per cent, per annum. Hence the government had been able, without injustice, to reduce the interest of the securities from seven to six per cent. All these savings had operated to the reduction of the costs of the treasury nego- tiations from 32,000, 000 f. to 1 5,000,000 f. There was no reduction which did so much honour to the government, nor better proved the high credit which it enjoyed. The five per cents., which had risen first from twelve to forty or fifty francs, were at that moment at sixty. With these diminutions of expense there oc- curred some augmentations, which were the conse- quence of the wise financial arrangements pro- posed in the year ix., and so unjustly censured in the tribunate. The government had wished, as has been said in the proper place, to complete the inscription of the consolidated third, in other words, the third of the old debt, the only one excepted from the bankruptcy of the directory. In regard to the " mobilized" two-thirds, that is to say, the unliquidated portion of the debt, it had wished to give that a sort of value, by admitting it in payment for certain national property, or by permission to convert it into five per cent, consoli- dated, at the rate of one-twentieth of the capital which corresponded with the actual currency. The first consul, desirous of terminating these arrange- ments as soon as possible, had it decided under the law of the finances for the year x., that the two- 860 Details of the budget. TRIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. Details of the budget. 1802. May. thirds;** mobilized," should be converted by com- pulsion into the five per cent, stock, at the rate fixed in the law of Vent6se, year ix. The defini- tive inscription of the consolidated thirds, the con- version of the two-thirds, " mobilized," into five per cent., other liquidations which remained to make for the old credits of the emigrants, and for the transfer into the great book of the debts of the conquered countries, would carry the total amount of the public debt to 69,000,000 f. or 60,000,000 f. of five per cent, annuities. 'In the mean time it was of importance to satisfy the public mind regarding the sum to which these various liqui- dations were likely to 'raise' the public 'debt. : lt was in consequence decided by an article of the budget itself of the year x., that it should not be carried, whether by loan, or whether in conse- quence of terminating payments, beyond 50,000,000f. of annuities. It was hoped that the redemption of the sinking fund, largely endowed with 'national property, would absorb, before it had time to be produced, that foreseen excess of 9,000,000 f. or 10,000,000 f. But hi any case, by an article of the budget to be added, at the moment when the inscriptions should exceed 50,000,000 f., such a portion would be created for redemption, as should in fifteen years absorb the sum exceeding the amount thenceforward fixed for the national debt. The title of this was also to be properly regu- lated. The different denominations of " consoli- dated thirds," " mobilized two-thirds," " Belgian debt," and others, were abolished, and replaced by the unique title of " five per cent, consolidated." It was arranged that this debt should be the first in- scribed in the budget ; that the interest of it should be paid' before any other expense, and uniformly in the month following every half year. It was esti- mated that the life debt, at that instant amounting to 20;000,000f., might ascend to 24,000,000 f. ; but it was imagined that the extinctions proceeding as fast as the new liquidations, it would always be kept on the level of 20,000,000 f. The expenses 1 which were susceptible of 'greater augmentation, were those of the interior, for the roads and public works ; those of the clergy, for the successive establishment of new cures, expenses 'rather to be greeted than regretted. As for those of public instruction and the legion of honour, they were lately provided for, as before seen, by means of an endowment out of the national domains. ID regard to these increasing expenses, the pro- gress of the revenue afforded the prospect of an Income still more rapidly accruing. The customs, the posts, the registration, the domains of the state, gave a considerable surplus. Besides these, there-remained as a resource, the indirect taxes, which had been re-established at this time only for the advantage of the towns and the service of the hospitals. Heavy complaints had been made in the legislative body and in the tribunate this year, of the burden of the direct contributions, and new arguments had been urged for the re- establishment of taxes upon articles of consumption. Accurate calculations had exhibited, in a stronger light than ever, the enormous proportion of the direct con- tributions. The tax on land and houses reached 10,000,000 f. ; on personal and moveable pro- perty, to 32,-OOOjOOO f. ; on doors and windows, to 16,000,000 f.; on patents, to 21,000,000 f. ; total, 279,000,000 f., more than one-half, consequently, in a budget of receipts of 502,000,000 f. The public compared these sums with these paid during the administration of Turgot and of Necker, and de- manded the re-establishment of a more just pro- portion between the different taxes. Before 1789, in fact, the land and personal tax had produced 221,000,000 f. ; the indirect taxes, 294,000,000 f. ; in all, 51 5,000,000 f. The natural conclusion from all these complaints, was the re-establishment of the old duties upon provisions, tobacco, salt, and the like. The first consul heard these remon- strances with pleasure ; they furnished him with a potent reason for a new financial creation, which he had long secretly resolved upon in his mind, but which was not yet fully matured. The situation of the finances was, therefore, ex- cellent, and it was every day becoming better regu- lated. The 90,000,000 f. directed, by means of a creation of stock, for clearing off the arrears of the years v., vi., and vu., before the consulate, were found to be competent to that purpose ; the 21,000,000 f. devoted to the liquidation of the debts of the year viu., the first year of the 'Con- sulate, sufficed equally for acquitting the entire service for which that sum was designed. Lastly, the service of the year ix., the first which had been regularly established, although amounting to 526,000,000 f.,in place of 415,000,000 f., was wholly liquidated by the extraordinary increase in the product of the revenue. It has been already seen that the estimates of the current year, that of the year x., exactly balanced in income and expen- diture. To sum up, a debt in perpetual stock of 50,000,000 f., perfectly regulated, and reduced to one denomination, provided for by a sufficient en- dowment in the national domains ; a debt in life annuities of 20,000,000 f. ; in civil pensions, to the amount of 20,000,000 f. ; 21 0,000,000 f. assigned to the war department ; 105,000,000 f. to the navy ; these composed, with other expenses less in amount, a budget of 600,000,000 f. ; not excluding the addi- tional centimes and expenses of the collection; a budget covered by a revenue, which was manifestly increasing with rapidity, and that without reckon- ing the re-establishment 6f the indirect contribu- tions, left as a resource for new necessities that it was possible might subsequently arise. Thus after a war of ten years, and after splendid conquests, the estimates returned a budget of 500,000,000 f., the budget of 1789, with this differ- ence, that the debt composed a very small portion in a comparison with the revenue ; and that this amount of 500,000,000 f., raised to 625,000,000 f. by the additional centimes and the cost of collec- tion, represented the entire outgoing of the country, in fact, all the charges ; while the revenue of 600,000,000 f. of the budget of Louis XVI. omitted, not only the expenses of the collection, but the re- venues of the clergy, the feudal rights, the corvees, that is to say, many hundreds of millions of charges more. If in 1802 France paid 625,000,000 f. equally divided, France paid in 1789 from 11 00,000,000 f. to 1200,000,000 f., with a territory one-quarter less. The revolution, without reckoning the benefits of a complete social reform, had therefore produced, at least in a most important point of view, something besides calamity. In all this prosperity in the 1802. June. Result of the appeal to the people. THE CONSULATE FOR LIFE. Changes in the constitution made by Bonaparte. 367 finances there was but one thing to be regretted, this was the bankruptcy, the result of paper-money; but this was in no way imputable to the consular government. These financial propositions were not now re- ceived as those of the year ix. had been, by a vio- lent opposition ; they were satisfactory to the two legislative assemblies, and were voted merely with some observations on the direct and indirect con- tributions, observations such as the government itself would have dictated, if they had not been thus spontaneously elicited. The foregoing was the last act of this session of forty- five days, consecrated to these great and im- portant objects. The tribunate and the legislative body separated on the 20th of May, or 30th of Floreal, leaving France in a state in which she had never been before, and perhaps never will be again. At this time the population was flocking to the mayoralties, to the offices of the- clerks of the tri- bunals, and to the notaries, for the purpose of giving an affirmative reply to the question put to the country by the council of state. The number of votes which were or were about to be given, was estimated at between three and four millions. This is apparently but a small proportion out of a popu- lation of thirty-six millions of souls; -but it is a large one, larger than is expected, and such as was not obtained in the greater part of the known constitu- tions, in which three, four, or five hundred thou- sand votes at most expressed the national will. In fact, of thirty-six millions of persons, one-half belong to the sex which has no political rights. Of the remaining eighteen millions, there are old people and children *, who reduce the valid popu- lation of the country to twelve millions at most. It is therefore an extraordinary number, if the men who labour with their hands are considered mostly illiterate, and scarcely knowing under what govern- ment they live ; it is an extraordinary number, that four millions out of twelve, were thus brought to form an opinion, and not only to form an opinion, but to express it. It is true, there were republicans and royalists who were dissentients, and came to express a nega- tive to the question, while they attested by their presence at such an act, the perfect freedom left to the public upon the matter. But it was a small and almost imperceptible minority. As to the rest, whether voting pro or con, they were tranquil, and produced by their attendance upon the act no sen- sible agitation, so satisfied and peacefully disposed were the people. Around the government, on the other hand, there existed a species of fermentation of mind, on ac- count of the changes which were sure to be made in the constitution, in consequence of the prolonga- According to the returns of the English population, of 10;000 males living, 5038 would be twenty years of age and under, 988 only being in their twentieth year. If this pro- portion be applied to 18,000,000 of males in Prance, who at twenty years'Of age and under could hardly exercise political rights, the result will be 9,000,000 above twenty years old. From these the infirm, very aged, dissentient politically, and the lowest and most ignorant class, must still be deducted. The number does therefore appear very considerable, proving the great popularity of Bonaparte at that moment the mo- ment of his brightest glory. Trantlator. tion of the consulship for life. A thousand different rumours were spread abroad relating to the sub- ject, having an origin in the wishes of each par- ticular party. The brothers of Bonaparte, Lucien in particular, had not entirely renounced his idea of a regular monarchy, which might immediately confer upon the brothers the rank of princes, and place them beyond a level with the great functionaries of the state. Rcederer, the friend and confidant of Lucien, was, of all others, the person who was most ready to give his opinion, being the most advanced in monarchical advocacy, much more from his natural inclination than through any in- terested suggestion. He was a councillor of state, who had the charge of public instruction, under Chaptal, the minister of the interior ; and he made use of his post in order to address circular letters to the prefects, which were totally in opposition io the nature of his office, and had a direct relation to the questions which at that moment occupied the attention alike of the government and the public. These circulars, in which particulars of a certain kind were contained, requiring a reply, and requir- ing it in a truly monarchical sense, not emanating from the minister himself, but still being issued by a very distinguished authority, seemed to reveal some concealed scheme, that perhaps had its origin in a higher authority. They agitated the minds of the people in the provinces, and gave place 'to a thousand reports. Roederer, and those who were of his opinion, would, if possible, have raised in the departments a sort of spontaneous wish, that would authorize more boldness than had been recently exhibited. They did not fail to address the first consul with most earnest solicitations to arrange, in a more courageous mode, the questions which had. 'been mooted. But the first consul was fixed. He believed with all the more discreet and prudent friends of the government, that it was sufficient, at least for the present, to establish the consulship for life ; that it was perfect monarchy, more par- ticularly if the power of designating a successor was appended to it. A movement of opinion easily enough perceptible among the men surrounding the supreme power, and even among -the most devoted, had warned the first consul that no more ought to be attempted. He therefore determined to halt; and he qualified as most indiscreet, all that was said and done by the ill-judging friends about him, whose zeal was far from displeasing him, but was not partaken enough by others to meet approval. In the mean time he employed himself to make certain changes in the constitution, which appeared indispensable to him. Although he was per-, fectly disposed to censure the work of Sieyes, he thought it right to preserve the groundwork of it, adding to it merely some conveniences for the government that were new. A singular disposition of mind was produced in some persons. They demanded that the monarchy should be re-established, since the force of circum- stances seemed to require it ; but that in return there should be granted to France those liberties which in a monarchy are compatible with loyalty, that is to say, that there should be given to it purely and simply the English monarchy, with an 368 Bonaparte's ideas on the TRIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. English constitution. hereditary royalty, and two independent chambers. Upon this subject M. Camille Jordan had pub- lished a work, very much a subject of remark by the small number of persons who still intermingled with political questions, because the large mass of the people had no other mind in the matter than to let the first consul do as he pleased. Thus this idea of a representative monarchy, that at the opening of the revolution had presented itself to Lally Tollendal and to Mounier, as the form necessary for the government of France, and which fifty years later was designed to become the last form, this idea again appeared to some persons like one of those elevated and far-off mountains, that in a long journey are perceived more than once before they are reached. The sincere royalists who wished for a monarchy, even that of the Bourbons, if that of the Bourbons were not discovered to be impracticable, and with general Bonaparte, if it were not practicable with- out him, were strongly of this opinion, so were those also of the royalist party, but these last from different motives. They hoped that with the elections and a free press, every thing would soon fall into confusion, as was the case under the directory, and that from such a renewal of the chaos, there would finally arise the legitimate mo- narchy of the Bourbons, as the necessary term to the calamities of France. The first consul had no idea of adhering to such a project, although it might bring with it royalty to his own person. It was not only out of his dis- like to resistance towards his objects that would make him oppose such a form of government ; it was from the sincere conviction of the impossibility of such an establishment in the existing state of things. Those who are unwilling to see in him any other than the soldier, or at most an administrator of the government, not the statesman, imagine that he had no idea of the English constitution. This is a complete error. Seeing in England the only formidable enemy France had in Europe, he kept his eyes constantly fixed upon her, and he had penetrated into the most secret relations of her constitution. In his frequent conversations upon matters of government, he reasoned with rare sagacity. One thing much displeased him in the English constitution, and he expressed his sen- timents in its regard with that vivacity of language which was peculiar to him ; this was, to see the great affairs of state, such as demand, in order to ensure success, long meditation, a great suc- cession of views, profound secrecy in the execu- tion, laid open to publicity and to hazard through intrigue or eloquence. "Let Fox, Pitt, or Addington," he said, "be more clever one than the other in the management of parliamentary intrigue, or more eloquent in one sitting of parliament, and we shall have war in- stead of peace ; the world will be on fire anew ; France will destroy England, or she will be de- stroyed by her. Give up," he exclaimed angrily, "give up the fate of the world to such influences!" That great mind, exclusively preoccupied with the condition of a perfect execution in the affairs of state, forgot that if those affairs are not sub- mitted to parliamentary influences, which are only, after all, the national influences, represented by passionate men, fallible there is no doubt, as all men are, they fall under influences, mischievous enough in a different way, under those of a Madam de Maintenon in an age of devotees, or of a Madam de Pompadour in a dissolute age, and even if a nation has the transient good fortune to possess a great man, like Frederick or Napoleon, they fall under the influence of ambition, which will waste it to exhaustion in the chance of battles. This error aside, an error very natural with Bonaparte, he was struck, he agreed, with that liberty, free from storms, that the British constitu- tion conferred upon England. He appeared only to doubt whether it would suit the French charac- ter, so hasty and lively. In this point of view he was in complete uncertainty. But he regarded it as perfectly impossible to suit France under exist- ing circumstances. The first consul insisted that such a constitution required in the first place a strong dose of heredi- tary right; that it required hereditary peers and an hereditary king; that in France these notions were cast aside ; that the people in France were ready to take him (Bonaparte) for a dictator, but that they would not take him as an hereditary monarch, (which at that moment was true enough,) that it was the same thing with the senate, to which no- body would agree to grant hereditary rank, although ready to grant it an extraordinary constituent power ; that the want of stability was felt so much by France, as that she would readily grant to any body the most extensive authority, but it must only be for life ; that such was really the disposi- tion of the public mind ; that France had not within reach the elements of English royalty, because it had neither king nor peers ; that the se- nators of Sieyes, aristocrats of yesterday, the greater part without fortune, living upon public salaries, would become ridiculous if it were attempted to convert them into English lords ; that if in default of these the great landed proprietors should be selected, that would be to fling themselves into the arms of their most formidable enemies, because they were royalists in their hearts, more friends of the English and the Austrians than the French, thus they had not wherewith to make an upper chamber ; that by taking the speakers from the tri- bunate, and dumb members of the legislative body, there might be found materials, in name at least, for forming a lower chamber; but that to render it seriously an imitation of England, there must be a tribune, press, and elections free, all these would recommence again the four years of the directory, of which he had been a witness, and which would never be blotted from his memory ; that there were then seen formed in the electoral colleges a ma- jority, which under the pretext of dispersing the men stained with blood, would only elect royalists more or less openly avowed ; that there had been seen at the same tune a hundred journals, all filled with raging royalism, all moving in the same sense, and that but for the 18th of Fructidor, without the assistance lent to the directory by the army of Italy, they would have aided in the triumph of this disguised counter-revolution ; that soon, by an inevitable reaction, those royalist elections were succeeded by terrorist elections, which had alarmed all honest men, who demanded that they should be annulled ; that if the way was again opened to 1802. June. Bonaparte's conversations on the government needful for France. THE CONSULATE FOR LIFE. Alteration of Sieyes' con- stitution. 3GO these people, the country would go on from con- vulsion to convulsion, to the ultimate triumph of the Bourbon and the foreigner ; that it was neces- sary to arrest the torrent and terminate the revo- lution, by maintaining in authority the man who had accomplished it, and by consolidating, in wise laws, its just and necessary principles. On this occasion, the first consul repeated his favourite thesis, which consisted in his saying, that in order to preserve the revolution, it was necessary first to protect its authors, and place them at the head of affairs; and that without his aid they would, by this time, have all disappeared, through the ingratitude of the existing generation. " See," cried he, " what have become of Rcwbell, Barras, La ReVeillere ! where are they ? Who thinks of them ! None have been saved but those I have taken by the hand, placed in power, and sup- ported despite the movement that drags us along. See Fouche", what labour I had to defend him ; Talleyrand cries out loudly against Fouche' ; but the Malouets, Talons, and Calonnes, who offered me their places and aid, they would have quickly got rid of Talleyrand, had I chosen to lend myself to them. They spare military men a little because they fear them, and because it is not easy to take the place of Lannes or Massena at the head of an army. But if they spare them to-day, they will not do so much longer. As to myself, I cannot tell what they would do with me. Have they not proposed to get me named constable to Louis XVIII.? Doubtless the spirit of the revolution is immortal ; it will survive the men of the time. The revolution will be completed triumphantly ; but by the hands of the society of the Manege ? No; for there would be continually reactions, con- vulsions, and, for the conclusion, counter-revolu- tion 1 " At present," added the first consul, " it is necessary to make a government first with the men of the revolution, of those who have ex- perience, and performed service* ; of those who have no blood upon their garments, unless it be the blood of the Russians and Austrians; next, to join with them a small number of men who have newly arisen, experienced judges, or men of the old times, if you will, taken from Versailles, pro- vided they are men of capacity, -provided they will come in as submissive adherents, not as disdainful protectors. The constitution of Sieyes is good, with some modifications, for the attainment of this object. It is necessary, above all. to consecrate the great principle of the French revolution, which is civil equality, that is to say, equal justice in every thing, in legislation, the tribunals, the ad- ministration, the taxes, the military service, the distribution of employments, and so on. At pre- sent, each department is on an equality with another department; every Frenchman is on an equality with any other Frenchman; every citizen obeys the same law, appears before the same judge, submits to the same punishment, receives the same recompence, pays the same taxes, fur- nishes tho same military service, arrives at the same rank, whatever be his parentage, his religion, or the place of his origin. Here are the grand social results of the revolution, which are well worth the trouble we have suffered in attaining them, and which must be maintained invariably. After these results there is yet another that must be maintained with equal energy, and that is the greatness of France. The efforts of the press, the speeches of the tribune, do not now take our side; in other times they may be turned round in our favour. Now we must needs have order, repose, prosperity, well-conducted affaire, and the pre- servation of our external greatness. To preserve this greatness, the contest is not over, it will re- commence; and to sustain ourselves, we shall have need of great strength, and the utmost unity of government." Such is the substance of successive conversations of the first consul, with those whom he admitted to communicate to him their ideas, and with whom he contemplated modelling anew the consular constitution. It is easy to recognize here his habitual manner of thinking. Without gainsaying what the future might present, and only disquieting himself about the present, he saw that the welfare of France consisted in the amalgamation of all parties, and in the maintenance and completion of the social re- form brought about at the revolution; and, finally, in the development of the power acquired by the French arms. In regard to liberty, he rejected it as a return to the past troubles of France, and as an obstacle to all the good he wished to perform. It left in his mind the impression of a difficult problem, to solve which was no business of his, since twelve years of agitation had laid by the de- sire and necessity of it for a long while to come. Sieyes, with his aristocratic constitution, borrowed from the republics of the middle age when in their decline, with his senate clothed in the electoral powei-, with his lists of notability, a sort of un- changeable golden book, had discovered the con- stitution best adapted to the situation. The first consul took care not to touch the senate; he wished, on the contrary, to render it more powerful; but he projected a primary altera- tion, which, in appearance at least, was a conces- sion to the popular influence. The lists of notability, which contained the five hundred thousand persons, from amongst whom it was necessary to choose the councils of the ar rondissements and of the departments, and the legislative body, the tribunate, and the senate itself, which lists were never altered, save for the pur- pose of filling up the places of those who had died, or those caused by the names of parties struck out as unworthy, such as bankrupts, for instance; the lists of notability appeared too illusory, and left the government, as would be remarked at the pre- sent time, without any tie in common with the country. They were, besides, very difficult to form, because the citizens took no interest what- ever in a matter of such trifling importance to themselves. The first consul thought that the augmentation of authority which he was destined to receive, and some other modifications favourable to the power about to strengthen the constitution, ought to be repaid by some popular concession, at least in ap- pearance. He therefore determined to establish electoral colleges. In consequence, several kinds of colleges were devised. At first, meetings of the cantons were to be created, composed of all the inhabitants of B B ChMsrw m^he^con.mution. THIERS CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. Changes in the senate. 1802. July. the canton that possessed the age and quality of citizens, who were charged to choose two electoral colleges, one of the arrondissement, the other of the department. The college of the arrondisse- ment was to be formed according to the popula- tion, and to be composed of one individual out of five hundred. The college of the department was to be formed in the same mode, but of one only in a thousand persons. But the number of electors was not to exceed six hundred of those who were rated highest to the public taxes. These two electoral colleges of the arrondisse- ment and the department were to be elected for life by the central assemblies, which having once performed the duty of a general nomination, would have nothing more to do but to replace the de- ceased or excluded members. The government appointed the presidents of all these assemblies, whether of those of the cantons or of the electoral colleges. It was to possess the power of dissolving an electoral college. In this case, the assemblies of the canton were to be con- voked, to compose anew the college that had been dissolved. These cantonal assemblies and the two electoral colleges of arrondissement and department, were to preset candidates to the consuls, for the offices of justices of the peace J , and the municipal and departmental authorities. The college of arron- dissement presented two candidates for the vacant places in the tribunate; the college of department two candidates for the vacant places in the senate. Each of these two colleges presented two candi- dates for the vacant places in the legislative body, which made four together. Thus the tribunate originated from the council of the arrondissement; the senate from the council of the department, and the legislative body from both. The senate still possessed the right of choosing the members of the tribunate, the legislative body, and also its own members, from the candidates thus presented. Thus the kind of change made in the constitution may be easily perceived. In place of the various lists of notability, completed or modified, as time might render necessary, by the universal body of citizens, electoral colleges, chosen for life by the same universal body, were now to elect the candi- dates, and from .these the senate was to select those whom it saw fit as being the body which generated all the rest. The alteration thus effected was not very considerable, because the electoral colleges chosen for life, sometimes modified, it is true, when death or bankruptcy might cause a vacancy, were very nearly as immutable as the lists of notability, but still they occasionally assem- bled to elect candidates. Under this operation the citizens might be said to have recovered some part of the power of the composition of the de- liberative assemblies. Electoral tumults there was very little reason to apprehend with such a composition of citizens. The legislative body and the tribunate were to be separated into five series of members, going oat in turn one after another every year. The senate replaced the portion which went out, taking those for selection from among the candidates pre- 1 Juitict! dt Paix. sented to them. The colleges for life replaced afterwards the candidates that the election of the fifth had absorbed out of their number. After this concession, which at that time ap- peared so exorbitant that all the colleagues of the first consul went so far as to say, that he must feel very conscious of his own power, and very secure in his post, to yield so much to the popular influence ; they went at work to complete the various powers of the senate conformably to the indications drawn from the recent events. The senate was to retain at first the privilege of electing all the bodies of the state. It was further wished to confer upon it besides a more perfect constituent power. Already the government had made it exercise that power, by giving it the right of interpreting the 38th article of the constitution, in calling upon it to decide upon the recall of the emigrants, and in making it demand a prolongation of the authority of the first consul. It was ex- ceedingly convenient to have at hand a constituent power, always ready to create that for which there might be any necessity. It was then settled that the senate, at any time, by means of a senatus-consultum, denominated " or- ganic," should have the faculty of interpreting the constitution for the purpose of completing it, and, in short, to do every thing that was necessary to make it work in its due course. It was also arranged that by the senatus-consultum simply, the senate might pronounce the suspension of the constitution, and of trial by jury in certain departments, and determine in what cases an indi- vidual, confined on any extraordinary occasion, should be sent before the judges for trial in the ordinary way, or be detained in prison. Lastly, there were delegated to this body two extraordinary attri- butes, the one appertaining to royalty in a mo- narchy, the other not attaching to any power in a regularly constituted state ; the first was the faculty of dissolving the legislative body and the tribunate ; the second, that of cancelling the judg- ments of the tribunals, whenever they might be thought dangerous to the safety of the state. The last attribute would be inconceivable if the circumstances of the times had not explained it. Certain tribunals had, in fact, pronounced judg- ments in cases relating to the national property, which were sufficient to drive to despair the nume- rous and powerful class of persons who had become possessed of it. It was next decided that the senate, which in the course of ten years was to be increased from sixty to eighty members by means of two nomi- nations annually, should be at once advanced to eighty. There were fourteen nominations to be made immediately. The first consul, in addition to these, had the power of appointing forty new senators, thus raising the number to a hundred and twenty. By these means the government was relieved from new inconveniences, such as those which it sustained at the commencement of the session of the year x. The tribunate and the council of state were equally modified in their organization. While the council of state might be raised to fifty members, the tribunate was to be reduced to fifty, by the successive extinction of the members, and was to be divided into sections, answering to the sections 1801. July. Question of a council of itate. Regulations of the succession. THE CONSULATE FOR LIFE. -Summary of the change! in the constitution. of the council of state. It was to make a first examination in sections, with closed doors, of the different laws preferred, which might be submitted to them afterwards in a general meeting of the whole body. These bills were still to be discussed by the three orators before the silent legislative body, opposed to three councillors of state, or on the same side with them, according as the project of the law might be approved or disapproved. Henceforth, therefore, the tribunate was no more than a second council of state, whose duty it was to criticise with closed doors, and in conse- quence without energy, such measures as the first consul might prepare. Finally, the prerogative of voting treaties was taken away from the legislative body and from the tribunate. The first consul recollected what had happened to the treaty with Russia, and would not again be exposed to a scene of the same kind. He devised a privy council composed of consuls, ministers, two senators, two counsellors of state, and two members of the legion of honour, having the rank of great officers, the one and the other alike designated by the first consul for each im- portant occasion. This privy council alone was to be consulted upon the ratification of treaties. It was also empowered to draw up the organic senatus- coneuhum. The creation of a privy council was a wrong done to the council of state, because it touched upon its duties; and of this that body appeared sensible. By such means the first consul withdrew from the cognizance of the council of state the treaties which it had before been accustomed to consider, because he began to think that thirty or forty individuals were too many to receive com- munications of this nature. It remained to organize the executive power upon the new basis of the consulate for life. The first consul wished that the same power which was given to him for life, should also be conferred upon his colleagues for the same term. " You have done enough for me," he said to the second consul Cambace"res, " I ought now to assure to you your position." The principle of the continuance for life was then fixed in regard to the two other consuls, as well for the present as for the future. The great question of the designation of a succes- sor to the first consul, remained still to be ar- ranged, for by this the right of hereditary succes- sion was in the present case to be determined. General Bonaparte wished at first to decline the power which it was desired to confer upon him of designating his successor. At length he yielded, and it was agreed that he should have the power of such a designation during his life. In case of such an appointment, the person named was to be pre- sented in great state to the senate ; he was to take an oath to the republic before the senate, in presence of the consuls, the ministers, the legis- lative body, the tribunate, the council of state, the tribunal of cassation, the archbishops and bishops, the presidents of the electoral colleges, the great officers of the legion of honour, and the mayors of twenty-four great cities of the republic. After this solemnity he was adopted by the existing con- sul and the French nation. He was to take rank in the senate with the consuls immediately after the third. If, however, to spare the feelings of his family, the first consul should not during his life-time nominate a successor, and should only nominate him by will, in such a case he was, before his decease, to remit his will, so nominating his suc- cessor, sealed with his seal, to the other consuls, in presence of the ministers and the presidents of the counsellors of state. This will was to be deposited in the archives of the republic. But in that case it was necessary that the senate should ratify the voluntary testament which had not been produced during the life of the testator. If the first consul should not have made his adoption during his life, or if he should not leave a will, or the will should not be ratified, then the second and third consuls were empowered to ap- point a successor. They were to propose him to the senate, whose duty it was to elect him. Such were the forms employed for securing the regular transmission of the consular authority. It was a substitute in place of hereditary succession; but there was nothing to prevent its being here- ditary, because the chief of the state was left free to select his own son if he had one. He was only empowered to propose naming his heirs, or him whom he should deem to be most worthy. The consuls were, by right, members of the senate, and were to preside at the sittings. One grand prerogative was added to the power of the first consul. He received the right of grant- ing pardon for offences. This was to assimilate as much as possible his authority to that of royalty itself. On the accession of a new first consul, a law was to fix his allowance, or, to speak more correctly, his civil list. On the present occasion, the sum of 6,000,000 f. 1 was fixed for the first consul, and 1,200,000 f. J for his two colleagues, both sums were to be provided for in the budget. To all these dispositions there were some new ones added, which concerned the regulation of the tribunals. The duties of the administrative govern- ment were better conducted than those of justice, because the former depended more immediately upon a firm and impartial master; the officials being revocable every moment by him, the ministers went forward exactly in his spirit. But justice used its independence, as all the liberty conceded by the state was used, in delivering itself over to the passions of the day. In some places it persecuted the acquirers of national property, iu others unjustly favoured them. But no where did it exhibit that discipline and regularity which has been seen since, and which gave to the great body of the magistracy a dignified, but still a deferential, authority. To the disposition conferred in parti- cular cases upon the senate of reviewing the judg- ments of the tribunals, a disposition quite extraor- dinary, and fortunately not permanent, a further power of regulating them was added. The tri- bunals of the first instance were placed under the regulation of the courts of appeal, and the tri- bunals of appeal under those of the tribunal of cassation. A judge who was wanting in his duty might be called before a superior tribunal, and reprimanded or suspended. At the head of the whole magistracy, a "grand judge" was to be About 150,000. Bb 2 Nearly 50,000. 372 The senate made a mere instrument TRIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. of the first consul. Reflections. 1302. July. placed, liaving the power to preside at the tri- bunals if he saw fit, whose duty it was to watch over them, and to regulate them. He was thus minister of justice, while he was a public magis- trate. Such were the modifications introduced into the consular constitution, some devised by the first consul himself, others proposed by his councillors. They were all collected in the form of an organic senatui-consuUum, which was to be presented to the senate, and adopted by that body. They consisted, as already seen, in substituting for the lists of notability that vast, inert, and deceptive candidateship, electoral colleges chosen for life, which assembled at certain times to pre- sent candidates to the choice of the senate ; to give to the senate already charged with electoral functions, and the care of watching over the con- stitution, the power of modifying that constitution, of perfecting it, and of removing every obstacle in its way; in fine, the power to dissolve the tribunate and the legislative body.; to confer on general Bonaparte the consulship for life, with the faculty of designating his successor ; to give him besides, the finest of the prerogatives of royalty, the right of pardoning criminals ; to take from the tribunate its numerical strength, and nearly that of all pub- licity, making it in fact a second council of state, charged with censuring the labours of the first ; to carry away from the legislative body and the council of state to a privy council, certain im- portant public affairs, such for example as the approbation of treaties ; finally, to establish among the tribunals a discipline and a hierarchy. It was still the aristocratic constitution of Sieyes, apt to turn round to aristocracy or despotism, according to the hand which directed it ; at this moment turning towards absolute power, under the hand of general Bonaparte, but after his- decease, as capable of being transformed into a complete aristocracy, if before his death he did not precipitate the whole into an abyss. In conferring for his own convenience such high attributes upon ihe senate, the first consul had insured to himself for life a most devoted instru- ment, by means of which he was able to do any thing which he desired ; but after his death, that very instrument become independent, in its own turn would be all-powerful. Under a successor less great, less glorious, with the minds of men awakened, after a long slumber, an entirely new spectacle would present itself. The departmental aristocracy, of which the electoral colleges for life were composed, and the national aristocracy of which the senate was formed, one presenting can- didates to the other, would be very well able, by a concurrence of objects, natural and even necessary, to create in the legislative body and the tribunate a majority which could not but be invincible to the monarchical power qualified as first consul, and thus to cause the renewal of a species of liberty, an aristocratic liberty it is true, but which is one, under ordinary circumstances, not less haughty, nor lew consistent, nor the least durable of all others. Moreover, liberty is always secured when the power is divided, and its exercise subjected to the deliberations of an assembly. There cannot be, in effect, more than two plausible opinions regard- ing the important interests of a country. If the executive power has in its front an authority capable of resisting it, this last, aristocratic or otherwise, embraces, by an irresistible propensity for contradiction, the opinions which the former has repelled. It tends to peace in the presence of an executive which leans to war, and tends to- wards war in presence of an executive power that leans towards peace : it adopts a liberal policy when the government is inclined to conservative views. In a word, there exists contradiction, from whence arise discussion and liberty ; as liberty in all countries principally consists in the free and bold discussion of the affairs of state, by the citi- zens, pro or con, no matter how it originates. This constitution of Sieyes, therefore, might, it is possi- ble, at some future day, return to its primitive end, but at this moment it was no more than a mask for a dictatorship. A constitution, of whatever kind, always yields results conformable to the existing state of public opinion. There are tunes when opposition is the prevalent bias ; there are others when there is a general tendency to support the governing power. At this time public opinion was inclined to adhere to the government ; the form of the government in reality at the moment, was a matter of indifference. It must be admitted that this nominal republic possessed unusual greatness; it recalled, in some respects, the Roman republic converted into the empire. The senate had the power of the ancient Roman senate, a power that it resigned to the em- peror when he was strong, and took back for its own purposes when he was weak or liberal. The first consul had, in fact, the power of the Roman emperors; he had the hereditary succession, that is to say, the choice between the appointment of his natural or adopted successors. It may be added, that he enjoyed nearly the same power over the world. The new constitution, thus remodelled, was now ready; the votes demanded of all the French citi- zens were given. The consul CambaceVes, ever conciliatory, proposed to the first consul a very wise step, which was, to confide to the senate the duty of counting the collected votes, and of pro- claiming the numbers. " It is," said he, with sound reason, " a very natural mode of extricating a great body from a false position, caused by a mistake." The senate had, in fact, proposed a prolongation of ten years, and the first consul had assumed the consulship for life. Since that tune the senate had become silent, and had not taken, because it could not take, any steps for giving that body the task of proclaiming the result ; it would be made a party to the measure, and would be drawn out of the embarrassed state in which it was placed. " Come," said Cambace'res to the first consul ; " come to the assistance of men who made a mistake in endeavouring to guess your wishes." The first consul smiled with a little more of sar- castic expression in his face than was customary, at the prudence of his colleague, and quickly con- sented to the politic proposal thus made to him. The registers in which the votes had been en- tered were sent to the senate, to be counted and made up. A total of 3,577,259 citizens had voted, and out of that number, 3,568,885 had voted for the consulate for life. In this enormous mass of approving voters, there were only eight thousand 1802. July. Result of the popular voting. THE CONSULATE FOR LIFE. Result of the popular voting. 373 and some hundred dissentients; an almost imper- ceptible minority. Never had any government obtained such an assent ; and none ever, in an equal degree, deserved it. This result being verified, the senate issued a senatus-consultum, in three articles. The first of these articles was thus stated : " The French people nominate, and the senate proclaims NAPOLEON BONAPARTE first consul for life." It was from this period that the prenomen of NAPOLEON began to appear in the public acts of the government, together with the family name of Bonaparte, which last was only, up to that mo- ment, known to the world. This brilliant pre- nomen, that the voices of nations have so often repeated since, had been, until this time, but once employed, namely, in the constituent act of the Italian republic. In approximating to the sove- reignty, the prenomen, being gradually separated from the family name, was soon to figure alone and conspicuously in the universal language of the world; and the general Bonaparte, called for one moment Napoleon Bonaparte, was soon to be called Napoleon, conformably to the manner of designating monarchs. The second article of the senatus-consuttum de- creed that a statue of peace, holding in one hand the laurel of victory, and in the other the decree of the senate, should attest to posterity the grati- tude of the nation. Finally, the third article declared that the senate, in a body, should go and present to the first consul, with this senatus-consvlttim, the ex- pression of the " confidence, love, and admiration" of the French people. These three expressions are those of the decree itself. A day for a grand diplomatic reception was fixed upon, when the senate should proceed to the Tuileries. It was on the morning of the 3rd of August, 1802, or 15th of Thennidor. All the ministers of the different courts of Europe, now at peace, were assembled in a spacious hall, where the first consul had been accustomed to receive them, and where foreigners of distinction were presented. The levee had hardly begun when the senate was announced. At the same moment the entire body was introduced, when the president Barthdlemy spoke as follows : ** The French people," said he, addressing the first consul, " the French people acknowledge with gratitude the immense services which you have rendered it, and is desirous that the first magistracy should remain immoveably in your hands. In securing that office to you during the term of your life, it only expresses the desire of the senate, as explained in the senatus-constiltum of the 18th Flore'al. The nation, by this solemn act of gratitude, imparts to you the duty of consoli- dating our institutions." After this exordium, the president briefly enu- merated the grand actions of general Bonaparte, both in war and peace; predicted prosperity for the future, without the misfortunes that no one then foresaw; and repeated, finally, that which, at the moment, was proclaimed by the utmost voice of fame. The president then read the text of the decree; and the first consul, bowing to the senate, replied in these fine words : " The life of a citizen is the property of his country. The French people will that mine should be entirely consecrated to its service. I am obe- dient to its will. ,: , : "By my efforts, by your aid, citizens, by the assistance of all the authorities, by the confidence and the will of this great people, the liberty, the equality, the prosperity of France, will be sheltered from the caprices of fortune and the uncertainties of futurity. The best of people will be the most happy, as it is most worthy of being, and its hap- piness will contribute to that of all Europe. " Content thus to have been called by the com- mand of that power from which all emanates, to bring back to this land, order, justice, and equality, I shall attend my last hour without regret and without inquietude, reposing upon the opinion of future generations." After receiving the affectionate thanks of the senate, the first consul accompanied that body back to the ante-chamber, and continued his re- ception of strangers, who were presented to him by the ministers of England, Russia, Austria, Prussia, Sweden, Bavaria, Hesse, Wurtemberg, Spain, Naples, and America, for the whole world was, at that moment, at peace with France. On the same day, lords Holland and Grey, the same that are known to the present generation, were pre- sented to the first consul, with a number of other individuals of distinction. On the following day, the 4th of August, the new articles, containing the modification of the constitution, were submitted to the council of state. The first consul presided at this solemn sitting ; he read the articles one after another, and ex- plained the motives for each with energy and pre- cision. He expressed his ideas upon each article, as has been already stated. He even started ob- jections to them, and answered them himself. On the designation of a successor, there was a short discussion, in which might be perceived still some traces of the resistance which he had before offered to the arrangement. Petiet and Rcederer asserted that the designation of a successor, made by will, should be as binding as if it were made by a so- lemn adoption, in presence of the great bodies of the state. The first consul would not agree that such a will was as binding upon the senate, for the reason, that when a man was dead, however great he had been, he was then nothing ; that his iast will might be set aside or disobeyed, and that in submitting it for the ratification of the senate, he should only yield to an unavoidable necessity. Upon this occasion, there were some singular ex- pressions which he let fall, which prove that, for the instant, he thought nothing more of hereditary succession. He remarked, when speaking of it, at least in substance, that it was not in accordance with prevailing manners and opinions. His nature did not lead him either to falsehood or hypocrisy ; but placed as men always are under the influence of the present moment, he repelled the idea of hereditary succession, because he perceived that the minds of the people were very little disposed towards its adoption ; and that, invested as he was, besides, with a power altogether monarchical, >he was satisfied with the reality without the title. To judge from his language in this respect, he had frankly stated his mind upon the subject. 374 Conduct of the Bonaparte family. TRIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. Fouche loses his post. 1802. Aug. There were certain objections afterwards made against the institution of the privy council, on the part of the council of state, the power of which was somewhat diminished by that institution. Upon this subject the first consul discovered a little embarrassment, respecting a body which he had always so far treated with a marked predilec- tion, and that he thus seemed to despoil of a part of its importance. He said that the privy council was only instituted for very rare cases, which re- quired a rigorous secrecy, impossible to preserve in a body of forty or fifty -individuals; that still the council of state would preserve continually the same importance as before, and take cognizance of all great affairs. After some modifications of detail, the senatus- contultum was carried to the senate, and after a species of homologue, converted into an organic Knatus-contultum. The following day, being the 5th of August, or 1 7th Thermidor, it was published with the customary forms, and thus became the supplement to the consular constitution. France exhibited the deepest satisfaction. The family of the first consul had seen neither all their wishes nor all their fears accomplished ; yet still it shared in the general contentment. Madame Bonaparte began to be more tranquil, now all thoughts of royalty seemed to have evaporated. Tin's species of hereditary succession, which left to the chief of the state the care of choosing a suc- cessor, was all which she desired, because she had no child by general Bonaparte, and possessed a beloved daughter, the wife of Louis Bonaparte, who was about to become a mother. She wished to have, and she flattered herself she should have, a grandson. She thought to see in him the successor to the sceptre of the world. Her husband shared in her views. The brothers of Napoleon he will henceforth be called by that name were less satis- fied, at least Lucien, whose continual activity of mind nothing would keep quiet. But an arrange- ment had been devised to please them, by an intro- duction into the organic articles. The law of the legion of honour had enacted, that the grand council of the legion should be composed of three consuls, and one representative from each of the great bodies of the state. The council of state had no- minated Joseph Bonaparte to this post ; the tribu- nate, Lucien. A disposition of the senatut-consultum enacted, that the members of the grand council of the legion of honour should be senators by right. The two brothers of Napoleon were then principal personages in that noble institution charged with the distribution of all the recompenses, and they were, as members of the senate, naturally called to exercise a great influence in that body. Joseph, moderate in his wishes, seemed to desire nothing more. Luoien was only half contented, and it was not in his nature to be more so. The first consul, in getting his colleagues Cambace'res and Lebrun made consuls for life, had endeavoured to keep near his person individuals who were pleased at hia own elevation. He had succeeded. One per- sonage alone at this period, so favourable to the advancement of every other person, was rather ill used ; this was Fouch^, the minister of police. Whether his advice, personal with regard to the schemes of the Bonaparte family, was noticed, or whether the efforts made to injure him with the master were successful, or, which is more probable, that the first consul wished to add to all his recent acts of clemency and reconcilement, a measure which had still more than others the aspect of con- fidence and oblivion, the ministry of police was suppressed. This minister, as has been said elsewhere, then possessed an importance which he could never have had under a regular regime, thanks to the arbitrary power with which the government was invested, and thanks to the funds of which he disposed without controul. Emigrants returned or about to retui-n, Vendeans, republicans, priests unsworn, he had to watch all these agents of mis- chief, and he performed his duty with no scrupu- lous feelings. But although Fouche" executed the duties of his office with tact and a great deal of intelligence, he was still odious to the parties whom he thus kept under restraint. The first consul suppressed the ministry, and contented himself with making of the police merely a general direc- tion attached to the ministry of justice. Heal, the councillor of state, was charged with tbat direction. The administration of justice was taken from M. Abrial, a clever man, wholly devoted to his busi- ness, but whose slow and laboured method of ful- filling his official duties was disagreeable to the first consul. His place was given to M. Regnier, afterwards duke of Massa, a learned and eloquent magistrate, who had inspired the chief that dis- posed of the fortunes of all with regard and con- fidence. M. Regnier received with the adminis- tration of justice the title of grand judge, a title newly created by the organic senatus-consultum. The nature of his qualifications rendered him little proper to direct M. Real in the difficult investiga- tions of the police ; and thus M. Real, transacting business immediately with the first consul, became well nigh independent of the minister of justice. Unfortunately, with M. Fouche" was lost a know- ledge of men, and of their relations with different parties, which he alone possessed in the same degree. This sacrifice, hastily made in subser- vience to the ideas of the hour, was made with too little reflection, and, as will soon be seen, consequences followed to be regretted. Still it must not be supposed that M. Fouche was to appear disgraced. A place was reserved for him in the senate, as well as for M. Abrial. In the act which nominated him a senator, M. Fouche obtained a Haltering mention of his public ser- vices. It was even stated in the document, that if the necessities of the time should cause a re- construction of the office, then suppressed, M. Fouche" would be sought for to fill his old office of police minister, even on the benches of the senate. There were some other changes in the personal part of the government. Roederer, who did not very well coincide with M. Chaptal, the minister of the interior, in his views upon public instruc- tion, which duty was confided to his care, gave up the post to the learned Fourcroy, and received, as Fouche* and Abrial had done, a seat in the senate as an indemnity. The first consul also raised to the senate the respectable archbishop of Paris, M. de Belloy. In acting thus, he had no design to give the clergy any influence in political affairs, but he wished that all the great social interests 1802. Aug. Celebration of the birth-day of the fint consul. roM:TTT ATI? PAP T TVP Bonaparte inhabits St. Cloud. LOIM&ULAlfc rOK LiHTCi Summary of events. should be represented in the senate, the interest of religion as well as every other. On the 15th of August, or 27 th Thermidor, for the first time, the birth-day anniversary of the first consul was celebrated in France. This was the progressive introduction of monarchical usages, in making the birth-day of the sovereign a national festival. On the morning of that day, the first consul received the senate, the tribunate, the council of state, the clergy, the civil and military authorities of the capital, the diplomatic bodies, who came to congratulate him on the public joy, and his own private happiness. A Te Deum was sung at noon in the church of Notre Dame, and in all the churches of the republic. In the evening, tin -iv were brilliant illuminations, representing in Paris, here a figure of victory, there one of peace, and further on, upon one of the towers of Notre Dame, the sign of the zodiac, under which was born the author of all these benefits, for which the nation had to be thankful to Heaven. Some days afterwards, on the 2 1st of August, or 3rd Fructidor, the first consul went in great pomp to take possession of the presidency of the senate. All the troops of the division were formed en haie, from the Tuileries to the palace of the Luxemburg. The carriage of the new master of France, escorted by a numerous staff, and by the mounted consular guard, was drawn by eight magnificent horses, as were formerly the carriages of the French kings. No one partook with him the honour of its occupa- tion. In the carriages which followed came the second and third consuls, the ministers and presi- dents of the council of state. On arriving at the Luxemburg, the first consul was welcomed by a deputation of ten senators. Seated upon a chair very similar to a throne, he received the oaths of his two brothers, Lucien and Joseph, become senators by right, in their quality of members of the grand council of the legion of honour. After this formality was completed, the councillors of state, chosen especially for that purpose, presented five projects, each in the shape of a senatus-con- sultitm, relative, the first to the ceremonials to be observed by the great authorities ; the second, to the renewal, by series, of the legislative body and of the tribunate ; the third, on the mode to be fol- lowed in case of the dissolution of these two assem- blies ; the fourth, on the designation of the twenty- four great cities of the republic ; and, lastly, the fifth, upon the union of the isle of Elba with the French territory. In order to attach to the senate the influence promised it, in the greater affairs of state, Talley- rand read a report of great moment, upon the arrangements which were preparing in Germany, under the direction of France, for indemnifying with the ecclesiastical principalities the hereditary princes who had been dispossessed of property on the left bank of the Rhine. This was, as will sub- sequently be seen in the course of this history, the greatest affair of the time. That business being once concluded, the world, it seemed probable, would remain at rest for a considerable time. In publishing to the senate in this report the views of France, the first consul announced to Europe his ideas upon this important subject ; or, to be more explicit, he intimated his will, because it was well known that he was not a man to withdraw from giving effect to a resolution which he had once publicly announced. The reading of the report finished, Napoleon withdrew, leaving to the senate the care of examining the five senatus-consulta which had been submitted to them. Accompanied back again by the ten senators who had received him upon his arrival, and greeted on his way by the acclamations of the people of Paris, the first consul re-entered the palace of the Tuileries like a constitutional mo- narch who had just held a royal sitting. The summer was now far advanced, and the end of August approaching. The first consul took pos- session of the chateau of St. Cloud, which he had refused when it was first offered him for a country residence. Having changed his determination upon the matter, he had ordered repairs to be made in the building, which, at first inconsiderable, soon extended over the whole chateau. They had been just finished. The first consul, therefore, profited by such a moment to take up his residence in that beautiful edifice. There he received, on fixed days, the great functionaries of the state of all classes, foreigners, and ambassadors. On Sunday mass was said in the chapel ; and those who had opposed the concordat soon began to attend, as in former times they had attended at Versailles. The first consul, accompanied with his wife, heard a short mass, and afterwards held conver- sations in the gallery of the chateau with those who were on a visit to him. These, arranged in two lines, awaited him, and listened to his words as they listened to those of royalty, or to those of men of genius. In this circle no one was heard or re- garded but him. No potentate upon earth ever obtained or merited in the same degree the pure homage of which he was at that time the object, both on the part of France and of the whole world. It was already the imperial authority which he subsequently assumed, but it was with the universal consent of the people, with forms less regal, but more worthy of that dignity, as there still remained a certain republican modesty, which agreed well with the new authority, and which reminded the spectator of Augustus, retaining, amidst the su- preme power, the external habits of a Roman citizen. At times, after pursuing a long route over a very extensive and beautiful country, the traveller stops for a moment upon some elevated spot, in order to contemplate the district over which he has jour- neyed : let us imitate his example here, let us pause for a moment, and casting a glance at the past, contemplate the prodigious labours of Bona- parte subsequently to the 18th Brumaire. What a profusion of events, what variety, what greatness of achievement are displayed ! After traversing the seas by a miracle and at- taining France, surprised and d'elighted at his sud- den re-appearance, he overthrew the directory, took the reins of power, accepted the constitution of Sieyes, modified in regard to the executive power in some measure, and having introduced a degree of order into the administration, re-esta- blished on a fresh system the collection and pay- ment of the taxes, he raised public credit, sent off the first relief to the armies then in a state of pri- vation, profited by the winter season t6 overwhelm La Vendee by a sudden union of troops, rapidly 376 Summary of events. TRIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. Summary of events. 1802. Aug. brought these troops back to the frontier, and in the midst of the apparent confusion of these move- ments, created at the foot of the Alps, wholly un- noticed, an improbable army, destined to fall suddenly in the midst of the enemy that still re- fused to credit its existence. Every thing being ready to enter upon the campaign, he had offered to Europe the choice of peace or war, and war having been preferred by Europe, he had ordered the passage of the Rhine to take place, sent Mo- reau on to the Danube, placed Masseua in Genoa, there to stop and retain the Austrian forces ; then Moreau having thrown general Kray upon Ulm, Massena having upon the other side kept Melas before Genoa by his heroic defence of that place, he had himself on a sudden passed the Alps over an unbeaten track, with his artillery drawn in the excavated trunks of trees, appeared hi the centre of astonished Italy, cut off the retreat of the Aus- trians, and in one decisive battle, several times lost and gained, had taken then,* army, crushed all the designs of the coalition, and extorted from Europe, in a state of utter consternation, au ar- mistice of six months' duration. It was during these six months of truce that the labours of the first consul became even more sur- prising still. Negotiating and attending to the government at the same time, he had changed the political aspect of things, turned the affections of Europe towards France and against England, gamed the heart of Paul I., brought the uncertain court of Prussia to a decision, imparted to Denmark and Sweden the courage to resist maritime violence, of which their commerce was the object, united the league of the neutral powers against Great Britain, closed against her the ports of the continent from the Texel to Cadiz and from Cadiz to Otranto, and prepared immense armaments for the succour of Egypt. While performing all these things, he had completed the re-organization of the finances, re- stored credit, paid the obligations of the state in hard coin, created the bank of France, repaired the roads, repressed highway robbery, opened mag- nificent communications over the Alps, founded hospitals on their summits, undertaken the great fortifications of Alexandria, improved Mantua, opened canals, erected new bridges, and com- menced the compilation of the codes of law. At length, Austria still hesitating to conclude a peace, he pushed Moreau in advance, and that general, after destroying the power of Austria in the me- morable battle of Hohenlinden, had forced the pro- mise of that peace under the very walls of Vienna, which was soon afterwards signed at LuneVille. It was at this moment that a frightful crime, in the infernal machine, put into hazard the life of the first consul, and having irritated his fiery spirit, he was urged to the commission of the only fault of which he was guilty during the time when he exhibited such unequalled talent and mode- ration, this was the transportation, without trial, of the hundred and thirty revolutionists. Sad are the vicissitudes of violent men in revolutionary times ! The assassins of September, in their turn thus struck down, neither found laws nor courage for their defence ; while the tribunate, which opposed itself to the best measures of the first consul, did not dare to offer one word on behalf of these proscribed persons. All powerful on the continent, having thrown into discredit anfl then expelled from office the two ministers who had formed all the coalitions against France, M. Thugut of Vienna, and Pitt of London, the first consul had thrown upon Eng- land the entire of Europe. Nelson, by the blow inflicted on the Danes in Copenhagen, and the Russians by assassinating their emperor, had saved England from the disasters which threatened her ; but in thus saving her from these disasters, they had not imparted to her the courage or the means to carry on the war. The English nation, struck alike with fear and admiration of the achievements of Bonaparte, had finally consented to the peace of Amiens, the finest ever concluded by France. The temple of Janus was thus closed ; and then the first consul wished to add to the peace with the European powers a peace with the church. He hastened, therefore, to negotiate the concordat, to reconcile Rome with the revolution, to re-erect the altars, to render to France all that was neces- sary to civilized society ; and having arrived at the third year of his consulship, he presented himself to the two legislative assemblies, bearing peace in his hand, both on land and sea, peace with heaven, an amnesty to all proscribed persons, a magnificent code of laws, an effectual system of public edu- cation, and a glorious scheme of public honours. Although he presented himself with his hands full of these gifts, he had still encountered an unex- pected, violent, and senseless opposition, arising out of good and evil feelings, from envy in some, and in others from the desire of a liberty impracticable at that time. Delivered from this by the cleverness of his colleague Cambace'res, which, in his anger, he would else have violently crushed, he had at this point attained the end of his toils, and had succeeded hi procuring the national assent to the treaties concluded with Europe, to the concordat, to his system of lay and national education, and to the legion of honour, and hi receiving, as the recompense of his ser- vices, the consular power for life, and the greatness of a Roman emperor. At this moment he resumed the labour of forming the codes of law, became arbiter of all the clashing continental interests, reformed the German constitution, and distributed the territories to the different princes, with an equity and justice acknowledged by all Europe. Now, if forgetting all which has passed subse- quently, we imagine for a moment this dictator, then so necessary to France, remaining as discreet as he was powerful, uniting those opposite qualities, which God, it is true, has never yet united in the same individual, that vigour of genius which consti- tutes the great soldier, with that patience which is the distinctive trait hi the founder of an empire, calming, by a long peace, the agitated state of the French social body, and preparing it by degrees for that freedom which is both the honour and necessity of modern nations ; then after having made France so great, appeasing in place of irri- tating the jealousies of the European nations ; changing into permanency the general policy and the territorial demarcations settled at LuneVille and Amiens, finally terminating his career by an act worthy of the Antonines, by finding, no matter where, the most worthy successor to himself, and 1802. Aug. Summary of events. THE SECULARIZATIONS. Summary of events. 377 . leaving to him this organized France, prepared to enjoy liberty, and for ever aggrandized ; what man would have equalled him ! But this man, in war great as Caesar, politic as Augustus, virtuous as Marcus Aurelius, would have been more than man; and Providence has given the world no divinities to be its rulers. Yet still at this period he appeared so moderate after having been so victorious ; he exhibited him- self so profound a legislator after proving his greatness as a soldier ; he showed so much love for the arts of peace, having so much excelled in those of war, that he might well be able to raise illusions in France and in the world. Only a few among those who were in his councils, and were capable of observing the future through the pre- sent, were affected with uneasiness as well as admiration in observing the indefatigable activity of his mind and body, the energy of his will, and the impetuosity of his desires. They trembled even at seeing him do good in the way he per- formed it, so great was his impatience to accom- plish it rapidly, and upon such an extended scale. The wise Tronchet, notwithstanding, who at once admired and loved him, regarding him as the saviour of France, observed one day to Camba- ce"res, with melancholy feeling, " This young man has commenced like Csesar ; I fear that he will end like Csesar." BOOK XV. THE SECULARIZATIONS. CONGRATULATIONS ADDRESSED TO THE FIRST CONSUL BY THE FOREIGN CABINETS, tJPON HIS ACCESSION TO THE CONSULATE FOR LIFE. FIRST EFFECTS OF THE PEACE WITH ENGLAND. ENGLAND DESIRES A TREATY OF COM- MKRCE WITH FRANCE. DIFFICULTY OF RECONCILING THE MERCANTILE INTERESTS OF THE TWO COUNTRIES. PAMPHLETS WRITTEN IN LONDON BY THE EMIGRANTS AGAINST THE FIRST CONSUL. RE-ESTABLISHMENT OF A GOOD UNDERSTANDING WITH SPAIN. THE DUCHY OF PARMA BECOMES VACANT, AND THE COURT OF MADRID WISHES TO ADD THAT DUCHY TO THE KINGDOM OF ETRURIA. THE NECESSITY OF ADJOURNING ANY RESOLU- TION UPON THE SUBJECT. DEFINITIVE UNION OF PIEDMONT WITH FRANCE. ACTUAL POLICY OF THE FIRST CONSUL IN REGARD TO ITALY. GOOD UNDERSTANDING WITH THE HOLY SEE. MOMENTARY DISPUTE ABOUT THE PROMOTION OF FRENCH CARDINALS. THE FIRST CONSUL OBTAINS THE GRANT OF FIVE AT ONCE. HE MAKES A PRESENT TO THE POPE OP TWO BRIOS OF WAR, CALLED THE " ST. PETER " AND " ST. PAUL." QUARREL WITH THE DEY OF ALGIERS PROMPTLY TERMINATED. TROUBLES IN SWITZERLAND. DESCRIPTION OF THE COUNTRY AND ITS CONSTITUTION. THE UNITED AND THE OLIGARCHICAL PARTIES. JOURNEY TO PARIS OP THE LANDAMMAN REDING. HIS PROMISES TO THE FIRST CONSUL SOON BELIED BY EVENTS. EXPULSION OF THE LANDAMMAN BXDING, AND RETURN OF THE MODERATE PARTY TO POWER. ESTABLISHMENT OP THE CON- STITUTION OF THE 29TH OF MAY, AND DANCER OF NEW TROUBLES, IN CONSEQUENCE OF THE FEEBLENESS OF THE HELVETIC GOVERNMENT. EFFORTS OP THE OLIGARCHICAL PARTY TO DRAW THE ATTENTION OF THE GREAT POWERS TOWARDS SWITZERLAND. THEIR ATTENTION DRAWN EXCLUSIVELY TO THE AFFAIRS OF GER- MANY. STATE OF GERMANY AFTER THE TREATY OF LUNEVILLE. PRINCIPLE OF THE SECULARIZATIONS LAID DOWN BY THAT TREATY. THE SUPPRESSION OF THE ECCLESIASTICAL STATES BRINGS WITH IT GREAT CHANGES I THE GERMANIC CONSTITUTION. DESCRIPTION OF THIS CONSTITUTION. THE PROTESTANT AND CATHOLIC PARTIES; PRUSSIA AND AUSTRIA; THEIR VARIOUS PRETENSIONS. EXTENT AND VALUE OF THE TERRITORIES TO BE DISTRIBUTED. AUSTRIA ENDEAVOURS TO OBTAIN INDEMNIFICATION FOR THE DOMAINS OF WHICH THE ARCHDUKES HAD BEEN DESPOILED IN ITALY, AND MAKES USE OF IT TO DISPOSSESS BAVARIA OF THE TERRI- TORY FROM THE INN TO THE ISAR. PRUSSIA, UNDER THE PRETEXT OF INDEMNIFYING HERSELF FOR WHAT IHE HAS LOST UPON THE RHINE, AND TO INDEMNIFY THE HOUSE OF ORANGE FOR ITS LOSSES, IS IN HOPES TO CREATE FOR ITSELF A CONSIDERABLE ESTABLISHMENT IN FRANCONIA. DESPAIR OF THE SMALLER COURTS, THREATENED BY THE AMBITION OF THE GREATER ONES. ALL IN GERMANY FIX THEIR REGARD UPON THE FIRST CONSUL. RE DETERMINES TO INTERFERE, IN ORDER TO SEE THE PROPER EXECUTION OF THE TREATY OF LUNEVILLE, AND TERMINATE A BUSINESS WHICH MIOHT IN A MOMENT EMBROIL ALL EUROPE. HE CHOOSES TO ALLY HIMSELF WITH PRUSSIA, AND SUPPORT TO A CERTAIN EXTENT THE PRETENSIONS OF THAT POWER. THE SCHEME OF INDEMNITY AGREED UPON, IN CONCERT WITH PRUSSIA AND THE LX8SKR GERMAN PRINCES. THIS SCHEME COMMUNICATED TO RUSSIA. AN OFFER MADE TO THIS COURT TO CONCUR WITH PRANCE IN THE GREAT MEDIATORY INTERFERENCE. THE EMPEROR ALEXANDER ACCEPTS THE OFFER. FRANCE AND RUSSIA PRESENT TO THE DIET AT RATI8BON, IN QUALITY OF MEDIATING POWERS, THE SCHEME OP INDEMNITY AGREED UPON AT PARIS. DESPAIR OF AUSTRIA, ABANDONED BY ALL THE OTHER CABINETS, AND HER RESOLUTION TO OPPOSE TO THE SCHEME OF THE FIRST CONSUL, THE SLUGGISHNESS OF THE GER- MANIC CONSTITUTION. THE FIRST CONSUL DEFEATS THIS CALCULATION OP AUSTRIA, AND OBTAINS THE ADOP- TION, BY AN EXTRAORDINARY DEPUTATION, OF THE PROPOSED PLAN, WITH SOME MODIFICATIONS. AUS- TRIA, TO INTIMIDATE THE PRUSSIAN PARTY, THAT FRANCE SUPPORTS, OCCUPIES PA8SAU. PROMPT RESOLU- TION OF THE PIRST CONSUL, AND HIS THREAT TO HAVE RECOURSE TO ARMS. GENERAL INTIMIDATION. CON- TINUATION OF THE NEGOTIATION. DEBATES IN THE DIET. THE SCHEME SHACKLED FOR A MOMENT BY TH* Congratulations of Europe to the first consul on TRIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIEE. the consulate for life. 1802. Aug. AT1DITT OF PRUSSIA. THE FIRST CONSUL, TO PUT AN END TO IT, MAKES A CONCESSION TO THE HOUSE OF AUSTRIA, AND GRANTS TO IT THE BISHOPRIC OP AlCHSTEDT. THE COURT OF VIENNA YIELDS, AND ADOPTi T*E TERMS OF THE DIET. THE REGISTRY OF THE RESOLUTIONS OF FEBRUARY, 1803, AND DEFINITIVE REGU- LATION OF THE AFFAIRS OF GERMANY. CHARACTER OF THIS FINE AND DIFFICULT NEGOTIATION. THE elevation of general Bonaparte to the supreme power, under the title of " consul for life," neither surprised nor displeased the European cabinets. The larger part among them, on the contrary, saw in it a new pledge of repose for every state. In England, where they observed with suspicious attention every thing that passed in France, the premier Addington expressed himself to M. Otto the satisfaction of the British government, and the entire approbation with which it saw an event destined to consolidate order and government in that country. Although the ambition of Bonaparte began to inspire some fears, he was still so far pardoned, because at that moment he was employed in rendering dominant the French republic. The re-establishment of the altars, and the recall of the emigrants, had delighted the English aristocracy and the pious George III. in particular. In Prus- sia the evidences of the same thing had not been less significant. This court, compromised in the esteem of the European diplomacy for having con- cluded a peace with the national convention, felt itself proud to maintain relations of amity with a government so full of genius, and esteemed itself happy to see the affairs of France definitively placed in the hands of a man of whom it hoped to obtain the concurrence in its own ambitious objects regarding Germany. M. Haugwitz addressed the warmest congratulations to the French ambassa- dor, and he went so far as to say, that it would have been more simple to have finished at once, and to have converted into an hereditary sove- reignty that life dictatorship which had been con- ferred upon the first consul. The emperor Alexander, who affected to appear a stranger to the prejudices of the Russian aris- tocracy, and who carried on with the head of the French government a frequent and amicable cor- respondence, expressed himself, as far as regarded the later changes, in terms of courtesy and appro- bation. He complimented the new consul for life with as much earnestness as frankness. The ground of these congratulations was always the same. They were as full of praises in Petersburg as in Berlin or London, at seeing order secured in France in a manner that promised to be durable through the indefinite prolongation of the authority of the first consul At Vienna, where they were fuller of resentful recollections, besides those arising from the blow struck by the sword of the con- queror of Marengo, a sort of good feeling seemed to be generated towards him. The hatred to the revolution had been so great in that capital of the old Germanic empire, that the victories of the general were pardoned to the energetic and obeyed chief magistate. They even affected to consider hi government as altogether opposed to the revo- lution, when in reality it was no more than repara- tion. The archduke Charles, who then governed the war department, said to M. Champagny, that the first consul had made himself, by his cam- paigns, the greatest soldier of modern times ; that by his administration of the government for three years, he had shown himself the most able of statesmen ; and that in thus joining the merit of good government to that of arms, he had put the seal to his glory. That which seemed more re- markable still was, that the celebrated queen of Naples, Caroline, mother of the empress of Austria, a determined enemy of the French revolution, being in Vienna, and seeing there M. Champagny, charged him with her hearty congratulations for the chief of the French republic. " General Bona- parte," she said, " is a great man. He has done me much mischief, but the mischief he has done does not prevent my acknowledgment of his ability and genius. In repressing disorder in your coun- try, he has rendered a service to us all. If he has arrived to be the head of the state in his own country, it is because he was most worthy of the honour. I constantly hold him up as the model for the young princes of the imperial family ; I exhort them to study the conduct of that extraordi- nary personage; to learn from him how to govern nations how, by the power of genius and glory, to render supportable the yoke of authority." No suffrage in his favour could certainly be so flattering to the first consul as that of this queen, a vanquished enemy, as remarkable for her talent as for the warmth of her passions. The holy father, wiio had joined in common with the first consul in putting a hand to the great work of re-establishing public worship, and who, despite many things to produce a contrary idea, deemed this the glory of his reign the holy father himself was delighted to see mount, step by step, towards the throne, the man whom he regarded as the most solid support of religion against the irreligious prejudices of the age. He expressed his satisfaction with a feeling of true paternal affection. Finally, Spam, where the frivolous and disjointed policy of the favourite had for a moment estranged France, did not remain silent upon this occasion, and showed itself satisfied at an event which she agreed with the other courts in regarding as fortunate for all Europe. It was, therefore, in the midst of the applauses bestowed upon him by all the world, that this repairer of so many evils, this author of so much good, laid hold of the new power with which the nation was about to invest him. He was treated as the real sovereign of France. The foreign ministers spoke of him to those of France with such forms of respect as are only employed when speaking of monarchs themselves. The etiquette already observed was nearly monarchical. The French ambassadors had taken the livery of the first consul, which was green. This was found a simple, natural-, and necessary thing. The unani- mous adhesion to an elevation so sudden and pro- digious, was sincere. Some secret apprehensions mingled here it is true ; but they were in any case prudently dissimulated. It was possible, in fact, to discover in the elevation of the first consul his ambition, and in his ambition the approaching humiliation of Europe ; but they were only those minds which were most gifted with foresight that were able to penetrate thus deeply into the future; 1802. Aug. Discontent of the English merchants. THE SECULARIZATIONS. Addington presses a commercial treaty. but these were the minds that felt most strongly the immensity of the benefit already received from the consular government. Still congratulations are but passing things ; real business, as hi the case of individuals, comes back to load the exist- ence of governments, with its uniform and heavy preponderance. In England they began to be sensible of the real effects of peace. These effects, as almost always happens in the world, did not answer to the expectations formed of its benefits. Three hundred British vessels arrived at once in the French ports, but were not able to dispose of their entire cargoes, because they brought over mer- chandize prohibited by the laws of the revolution. The old treaty of ]?86, having opened impru- dently the French markets to the productions of Great Britain, those of France, more particularly the cotton manufacture, had in a little time been destroyed. Since the renewal of the war, the pro- hibitory measures adopted by the revolutionary government had operated as a principle of new life to the manufactures of the country, that in the midst of the most fearful political convulsions had renewed their flight, and soared to a remarkable elevation. The first consul, as already noticed here, at the moment of the signature of the pre- liminary treaty in London, had taken care not to alter this state of things, nor to renew the evils which had resulted from the treaty of 1786. Im- portations from England were in consequence ren- dered very difficult of entry, and the merchants of the city of London made heavy complaints. Still a contraband trade remained, which was carried on to a great extent, either by the frontiers of Bel- gium, which were ill guarded, or by way of Ham- burg. The merchants of this last place, while introducing English merchandize on the continent, and disguising its origin, managed as well to pene- trate into France, as into the countries placed under its power. Despite the legal prohibitions, which attended the import of British goods into French ports, the contraband trade was able to discover inlets for itself. The manufactures of Manchester and Birmingham were disposed of with great activity. This activity, the low price of bread, and the announced suppression of the income-tax, were subjects of satisfaction, which, to a certain point, balanced the discontent of the larger merchants. But this discontent was considerable, because the larger merchants profited little by speculations founded upon contraband trade. They found the sea covered with the flags of rivals or enemies ; they were deprived of the monopoly of navigation, which secured trade during the war, and had now no longer an indemnity for themselves in the financial operations of Mr. Pitt. Thus they com- plained loudly enough of the illusions of the policy that supported peace, its inconveniences for Eng- land, and its exclusive advantages for France. The disarming of the fleets left idle an immense number of seamen, to whom the commercial marine of England could not, at that moment, give employ- ment; these unfortunate men were seen wandering about on the wharfs of the Thames, sometimes even reduced to great misery; a spectacle as afflicting to the English as it would be for the French to see the victors of Marengo and Ho- henlinden begging their bread in the streets of Paris. Addington, always actuated by amicable feelings, had made the first consul sensible of the necessity of making some commercial arrangements which should be satisfactory to the two countries, and had pointed it out as the means most capable of consolidating the peace. The first consul partook in the disposition of Addington ; he had consented to nominate an agent for the purpose, and to send him to London, in order to seek, in concert with the English ministers, what would be the best manner to adjust the interests of both nations, with- out sacrificing French industry. But this was a problem difficult to solve. The impression upon the public mind in London was such regarding every thing which concerned the commercial arrangements, that the arrival of the French agent made a great noise. He was called Coquebert ; they called him Colbert ; they said he was a descendant of the great Colbert, and much commended the suitableness of such a choice for the conclusion of a treaty of commerce. Despite the capacity and good will of this agent, a happy result from his labours was hardly to be hoped. Both on one side 'and the other, the sacri- fices to be made were considerable, and nearly destitute of compensation. The manufactures of iron and cotton constitute, at this day, the better portion of the riches arising from the industry both of France and England, and are the principal objects of commercial rivalry. The French have succeeded in forging iron, in spinning and weaving cotton, in an immense quantity, and at a very low price, and are naturally little disposed to sacrifice these two branches of manufacture. The manu- facture of iron was, at that time, not very con- siderable. It was, above all, in the weaving of cotton and in hardware that the two nations sought to rival each other. The English demanded that France should open her markets to their cotton and iron goods. The first consul, sensitive to the alarm of the French manufacturers, and impatient to develop in France manufacturing wealth, refused every concession which was contrary to these pa- triotic intentions. The English, on their side, were then no more inclined than they are now, to favour the special products of France '. The wines and silks of France were the articles which France wished to introduce into England. They refused to admit them for two reasons : the treaty binding England to give a preference to Portuguese wines, and the desire to promote the silk manufacture in England, which had begun to develop itself there. Whilst the interdiction of the communi- cations between the two countries had made the cotton manufacture valued in France, the English, in like manner, had set a value upon the manufac- ture of silk. It is true, that the development of the manufacture of cotton in France had become immense, because nothing hindered its complete success; while that of silk in England, on the con* trary, found only a middling success, in conse- 1 This is hardly correct. French wine note pays no more duty than that of other countries. Then it paid a higher duty than Portuguese, under a treaty exhibiting a deplor- able Ignorance of the first principles of commerce, happily now no more. Translator. 380 Sch^. tor commerci 1 TRIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. Scheme for a commercial 1802. quence of the climate, and because of a certain inferiority of taste. Yet, still, the English would not sacrifice to France either the Methuen treaty, which bound them to Portugal, nor their be- ginning silk manufacture, of which they had con- ceived such exaggerated hopes. To adjust such clashing interests was well-nigh impossible. It had been proposed to establish, upon the entry into both countries, on the merchandize imported into either the one or the other, duties equal to the benefits which the contrabandist re- ceived, in such a mode as to render free and pro- fitable to the treasury of the public a commerce very beneficial to the smuggler. This proposition alarmed the French and English manufacturers. Besides this, the first consul, convinced of the ne- cessity of great means to produce great results, considering at this time the interests of the cotton manufacturers to be the principal, the most de- sirable of all, determined to insure to it the vast encouragement of an absolute prohibition of the rival manufacture. To escape all these difficulties, the French agent conceived a system very seducing at first sight, but nearly impracticable. He proposed to suffer the entrance into France of the productions of Eng- land, whatever they might be, with moderate duties, on the condition, that the ships which in- troduced them should immediately export an equi- valent value in French productions l . It was to be the same for the vessels of France proceeding to England. This was, in a certain manner, to en- courage the national industry in the same propor- tion as that of the stranger. There was, in this combination, another advantage, it was to take from the English a means of influence, of which they made a formidable usage in some countries, thanks to their vast capital a means of influence which consisted in giving credit to the nations with which they traded, and thus rendering them creditors in considerable sums, and in some sort make them- selves masters of their commerce. This conduct they had held in Russia and in Portugal. They were become possessors of a part of the capital circulating in these states. In giving this credit, they encouraged the consumption of their mer- chandize, and assured themselves besides of the superiority of him who lends over him who bor- rows. The impossibility that the trade of Russia should pass out of their hands, an impossibility so great, that the emperors were not free in the choice of peace or war, unless they chose to die under the poignard, sufficiently proves the danger of this superiority. The combination proposed, which tended to in- close the commerce of England within certain limits, presented, unfortunately, BO many difficul- 1 A remarkable example of the ignorance of true com- mercial principle* existing at that time is found here. How is all trade carried on but by the exchange of manufactures in the tame way, only the operation is lest direct, and not being perceptible, is on that account not credited f Wine 1* even now frequently exchanged for coals, directly con- veyed from England to the south of France, in the natural course of trade, which is the same thing as if directly brought about by a similar treaty. They did not acknowledge this in 1802; and many do not think now, on the continent, that all trade is but this same exchange more indirectly effected. Translator. ties in the execution, that it was not possible to adopt it. But, in the meanwhile, it employed the imaginations of the public, and left a certain hope to spread itself abroad. This incompatibility of commercial interests did not in itself suffice to cause the renewal of the war between the two countries, if their political views could be con- ciliated, and above all, if Mr. Addington should succeed in sustaining himself against the ministry of Mr. Pitt. Mr. Addington, regarding himself as the author of the peace, well knew that it was his sole advan- tage against Mr. Pitt, and he wished to preserve the advantage. In a long conversation with M. Otto, he had spoken upon the subject in the most sensible and amicable manner. A treaty of com- merce, he said, would be the safest guarantee, and the most lasting for the duration of the peace. In the mean time, it must be understood, that some management of the first consul, upon particular heads, will be found necessary to keep up a good disposition in the English public towards France. You have, in reality, taken possession of Italy by uniting Piedmont to France, and in conferring upon the first consul the presidency of the Italian repub- lic; your troops occupy Switzerland; and you re- gulate the political affairs of Germany. Let us pass over all these extensions of the power of France; we leave to you the continent. But there are countries about which, at certain times, the minds of the English people are very apt to get into an excitement; as Holland and Turkey. You are masters of Holland; this is a natural consequence of your position upon the Rhine. But do not add any thing ostensible to the real domination which you actually exercise in that country. If you would wish, for example, to do as you have already done in Italy, by seeking to manage for the first consul to obtain the presidentship of that republic, the commercial men of England will see in that a manner of uniting Holland to France, and will become at once in a state of great alarm. As to Turkey, any new manifestation whatever of the ideas that produced the expedition to Egypt will cause in England a sudden and a universal ex- plosion. I pray you then, do not create for us any difficulty of that nature; conclude an arrange- ment upon the subject of our commercial affairs ; obtain the guarantee of the powers for the order of Malta, so that we may be able to evacuate that island, and you will see the peace consolidated, and the last signs of animosity disappear 1 . These words of Mr. Addington's were sincere, and he gave a proof of it in making use of the utmost diligence to obtain from the different powers the guarantee of the new order of things constituted at Malta by the treaty of Amiens. Unfortunately M. Talleyrand, by a negligence which he suffered sometimes to prevail in the most important busi- ness, had omitted to give to the French agents the proper instructions relative to the subject, and he left the English agents to solicit by themselves the guarantee which was the previous condition of the evacuation of Malta. Hence there resulted the most vexatious slowness, and still later the most 1 These words are an exact summary of several conversa- tions given in the despatches of M. Otto. Note of the Aut/tor. 1802. Aug. Conduct of Pitt and his party. THE SECULARIZATIONS. Conduct of the prew in England. 381 disagreeable consequences. Mr. Addington was therefore in good faith in his desire to maintain peace. Provided he was not overcome by the ascendancy of Mr. Pitt, he was justified in hoping for its preservation. But Mr. Pitt out of the cabinet was as powerful as ever. While Dundas, Wyndham, and Grenville, had publicly attacked the preliminaries of London and the treaty of Amiens, he kept himself at a distance, leaving to his friends the odium of these open provocations to war, profiting by their violence, keeping an im- posing silence, preserving uniformly the sympathies of the old majority of which he had had the support during eighteen years, and abandoning it to Mr. Addington whqn he believed the moment came for his retirement He did not allow himself to per- form any act which could be construed into the resemblance of an hostile bearing towards the minister. He always called Mr. Addington his friend, but he knew at the same time he had only to give the signal for the overthrow of parliament. The king hated him, and wished him to remain out, but the commercial men of England were de- voted to him, and had confidence in him alone. His friends, less prudent than he, carried on an undisguised war against Mr. Addington, and they were believed to be the true organs of Pitt's real opinions. To this tory opposition there joined, without any understanding with him, and even while combating it, the old whig opposition of Fox and Sheridan. These had constantly called for peace, and since he had procured it, had obeyed the common inclination of the human heart, always tending to love that least which it lias in its pos- session. They seemed to appreciate no longer this peace, before so much cried up, and they suffered the exaggerating friends of Mr. Pitt to talk as they liked when they declaimed against France. Be- sides, the French revolution, under the new and less liberal form which it had assumed, appeared to have lost a part of the sympathy of the whigs. Mr. Addington had therefore two speciea of adver- saries, the tory opposition and friends of Mr; Pitt, who had always complained of the peace and assailed it, and the whig opposition, which had begun to assail it but little lesa. If the ministry had beea overturned, Pitt was the sole person who could have become minister, and with him a return to war would appear inevitable, an exasperated, cruel wari without any other end than the ruin of one of the two nations. By a misfortune, one of those faults which the impatience of oppositions often makes them commit, had procured for Mr. Pitt an unheard-of triumph. Although attacking already the minister Addington, in common, though not in concert, with the aggravating friends of Pitt, the whig opposition had for the last an implacable hatred. Sir Francis Burdett made a motion tend- ing to provoke an inquiry into the actual situation iu which Pitt had left the country at the end of his long administration. The friends of the minister rose with great warmth, and for this proposition substituted another, which consisted mainly of a motion to demand from the king some mark of national gratitude for the great statesman who had saved the English constitution and doubled its power. These were for going at once to the vote. The opposing party then drew back, and demanded an adjournment of some days. Pitt agreed to grant the adjournment with a sort of disdain. The motion was ultimately resumed, and Pitt thought proper to be absent, and in his absence, after a very warm discussion, an immense majority re- jected the motion of Burdett, and substituted one which contained the finest possible expression of national acknowledgment for the ex-minister. In the middle of the contest the minister Addingtou disappeared. Pitt then became aggrandized by the hatred of his enemies, and his return to the head of affairs was at once a hazard for the repose of the world. Still more was supposed than was real, from the want of knowledge of his designs, while he never let fall a word from which it was possible to infer that he intended peace or war. The English newspapers, without returning to their former violent language, were evidently more cool towards the first consul, and began to declaim anew against the ambition of France. They did not, however, make any approach to the odious violence to which they descended at a later period. This character was left, it must be spoken with sorrow, to the French emigrants, whom the peace had deprived of all their hopes, and who sought in outrages upon the first consul and their country, to revive the discord between two nations, whom it was but too easy to irritate against one another. A pamphleteer, named Peltier, devoted to the service of the Bourbon princes, wrote against the first consul, against his wife, his sisters,, and bro- thers, the most abominable pamphlets, in which he attributed to them all, every sort of vice. These pamphlets, received by the English with a disdain which a free nation, accustomed to the freedom of the press, condemned for its excesses, produced an effect in Paris totally different. They fitted with bitter resentment the heart of the first consul; and vulgar writers, the instruments of the basest passions, had the power of reaching, amidst his glory, the greatest of men; like those insects that, by their nature, direct themselves to torment the noblest animals in the creation. Happy is the nation a long while accustomed to that freedom! The vile agents of defamation are there deprived of the means of effecting mischief ; they are there so known, so despised, that they have no more the power to annoy great minda. With these outrages were joined the intrigues of the famous Georges, and those of the bishops of Arras and of St. Pol de Leon, who were at the head of the recusant bishops. The police had sur- prised the emissaries of the party carrying about pamphlets in La Vendee, and endeavouring to arouse the hatred and animosity not yet quite extinct. These causes, despicable as they were, nevertheless produced a truly uneasy feeling, and finished by a demand on the part of the French cabinet, very embarrassing for that of England. The first consul, too sensitive to these attacks, more worthy of scorn than anger, requested, iu virtue of the alien bill, the expulsion of Peltier, Georges, and the bishops of. Arras and St. Pol from England. Mr. Addington, placed iu the midst of adversaries ready to reproach him with the smallest condescension towards France, did not precisely refuse what was thus desired, and was fully authorized by the English law; but he endeavoured to temporize, and alleged the neces- sity of managing public opinion, remarkably sus- 382 Aflairs of Spain. THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. Inconsiderate conduct of Spain. 1802. Aug. ceptible in England, and at the moment ready to shift under the influence of party declamation. The first consul, accustomed to despise parties, but little comprehended such reasons, and com- plained of the feebleness of Addington, the English minister, in a way so haughty, as to be nearly offensive. During all this time, the relations of the two cabinets did not cease to be friendly. Both did their utmost endeavour to prevent a renewal of the war, scarcely just before terminated. Mr. Addington attached to that his honour and his ex- istence as a minister. The first consul saw in the continuance of the peace, the ground of new glory for himself, and the accomplishment of noble ideas connected with the public prosperity. Spain had begun to breathe after its long misery. The galleons were, as formerly, the sole resource of the government. Large quantities of dollars, kept, during the war, in the captain gene- ralship's treasuries in Peru and Mexico, had been now brought into Europe. There had already been near three hundred millions of francs re- ceived. If any other government than that of an incapable and careless favourite had been in charge of her destiny, Spain had been able to redeem her credit, to restore her naval power, and to place herself in a state to appear in a manner worthy of herself in the wars with which the world was still threatened. But the metallic wealth of Ame- rica, received and dispensed by the most unskilful hands, was not employed for the noble purposes to which it should have been directed. The smallest part served to sustain the credit of the paper money; the larger part to pay the expenses of the court. Nothing, or nearly nothing, was devoted to the arsenals of Ferrol, Cadiz, or Carthagena. All that Spain knew how to do, was to complain of the French alliance, to impute to it the loss of Trini- dad, as if she had to impute to France the dis- graceful part that the prince of the peace had played her, whether in war or in negotiation. An alliance is not profitable, unless it brings to an ally a real strength, which the ally appreciates, and which it is obliged to regard as of great conse- quence. But Spain, when she made common cause with France, drawn into a maritime war by the clearest evidence of her own interests, did not know how to support that cause in which she was engaged; became almost an embarrassment rather than a help to her ally, and so conducted herself subsequently as to be always discontented with herself and with others. It was thus that she passed, by little and little, from a state of intimate connexion to a state of hostility in regard to France. The French division of the army sent into Portugal, had been treated with indignity, as has been shown, and it had required one of the thundering menaces of the first consul to put a stop to the consequences of this insensate conduct. From that time the relations between the two countries had become a little better. There had been between the two powers, besides general in- terests, which for a century were common to both countries, certain interests of the moment, which were strongly borne in the hearts of the king and queen of Spain, and which were of a nature to make them draw near to the first consul. These were the interests arising out of the creation of the kingdom of Etruria. The court of Madrid complained of the tone of superiority which the minister of France, general Clarke, assumed at Florence. The first consul had rectified this complaint, ordering general Clarke to give fewer counsels and milder advice to the young infants who had been called in to reign there. In regard to the court of Spain, the first consul had suffered the old grand duke of Parma, the brother of queen Louisa, to die in full enjoy- ment of the grand duchy. That prince being no more, the grand duchy belonged to France, in virtue of the treaty by which the kingdom of Etruria was constituted. Charles IV. and the queen, his wife, eoveted Parma ardently for their children, because by this addition Etruria would become the second state hi Italy. The first consul did not absolutely oppose by a direct refusal the wishes of the royal family of Spain, but he de- manded time, not to give too much offence to the greater courts by doing an all-powerful act. By keeping this duchy in reserve, too, he left to the cabinets, which protected the old rulers of Piedmont, the hope of an indemnity for that un- lucky dynasty ; he left the pope to see the hope of an amelioration in his present condition, so painful to him after the loss of the Legations; he left the affairs of Italy, in fact, to their repose for a short time, having been so much before the eyes of Europe for many years past. Although differing, the new transactions on the subject of Parma had soon brought the tw,o cabinets of Paris and Madrid back again towards one another. Charles IV. had gone to Barcelona with his queen and court in great pomp to celebrate a double marriage, that of the presumptive heir of the crown of Spain, Ferdi- nand VII., with a princess of Naples, and that of the heir of the crown of Naples with an infanta of Spain. There was exhibited in the capital of Catalonia upon this occasion the most extraordinary luxury, much too costly for the existing state of the Spanish finances. From this city the most gracious professions of kindness were exchanged with the consular government. Charles IV. was impressed with the idea of announcing this double marriage of his children to the first consul as to a sovereign friend. The first consul had answered with the same earnestness, and in a tone of the most frank cordiality. Always occupied with grave interests, he had profited of that moment to ame- liorate the commercial relations of the two coun- tries. He had not been able to obtain the intro- duction of the cotton goods of France, because the government of Charles IV. wished to nurture the incipient manufacturers of Catalonia, but he had obtained the establishment of the old advantages accorded in the peninsula to the larger part of the productions of France. He was, above all, de- sirous of succeeding in the introduction into France of the fine races of Spanish sheep, an object in his sight of the greatest importance. Anterior to this, the national convention had had the happy idea of inserting in the treaty of Basle a secret article, by which Spain should be obliged to permit to pass out of that country, for five years, a thousand ewes, a hundred merino rams per annum, with fifty stallions, and a hundred and fifty Andalusian mares. In the midst of the troubles of that time, neither sheep nor horses had been purchased for that purpose. By an order of the first consul, the 1802. Aug. Negotiation with Algiers. The dey of Algiers makes his submission. THE SECULARIZATIONS. State of Italy. Union of Piedmont to France. minister of the interior was ordered to send agents into the peninsula, with the mission of purchasing in one year that which it had been agreed to execute in five. The government of Spain, always jealous about the exclusive possession of these fine animals, obstinately refused what had been thus required of it, and alleged as an excuse the great mortality of several preceding years. There were still seven millions of these merino sheep calculated to be remaining, and five or six thousand it could not be difficult to find. After a considerable re- sistance, the Spanish government gave way to the wishes of the first consul, stipulating for some delays in the accomplishment. The relations be- tween the two courts had thus become all at once amicable. General Beurnonville, recently ambas- sador at Berlin, quitted that city in order to take up his residence at Madrid. He was invited to attend the festivities of the royal family given at Barcelona. The security of navigation in the Mediterranean in a particular manner occupied at this time the solicitude of the first consul. The dey of Algiers had been so ill advised as to treat France as he treated- the Christian powers of the second order. Two French vessels had been stopped on their voyage, and conducted to Algiers. A French officer had been molested in the road of Tunis by an Algerine officer. The crew of a vessel, wrecked on the coast of Africa, had been retained prisoners by the Arabs. The fishery for coral was interrupted, and, in fact, a Neapolitan vessel had been captured by African corsairs, in the waters of the Hyeres Isles. On being questioned upon these different occurrences, the Algerine govern- ment dared to demand, in order to do France common justice, the payment of the same tribute as that exacted from Spain and the Italian powers. The first consul, indignant, sent off instantly an officer of his palace, the adjutant Hullin, with a letter for the dey. In that letter he reminded him that he had destroyed the empire of the Mame- lukes, and announced to him that he would send a squadron and an army ; he threatened him with the conquest of all that part of the coast of Africa, if the French and Italians were detained, and the captured vessels were not immediately restored, and if a promise were not made to respect in future the flags of France and Italy. " God has decided," he wrote, " that all those who are unjust towards me shall be punished. I will destroy your city and your port ; I will invade your shores myself, if you do not respect France, of which I am chief, and Italy, where I command." That which he thus said, the first consul had thoughts of executing, because he had before made the remark, that the north of Africa was a country of great fertility, and was able to admit of cultivation by the hands of Europeans, in place of serving for the abode of a den of pirates. Three vessels left Toulon, two were in the road, and five were ordered from the ocean up the Mediterranean. But all the preparations were useless. The dey soon learning with what sort of power he was dealing, threw himself at the feet of the conqueror of Egypt, gave up all the Christian captives whom he had detained, the Neapolitan and French ves- sels which had been taken, pronounced sentence of death against the agents of whom the French had to complain, and only granted them their lives upon the demand made for mercy towards them by the minister of France. He re-established the coral fishery, and promised for the French ui:. Italian flags an equal and perfect respect. Italy was quite tranquil. The new I talias re- public had begun to be organized under the direc- tion of the president which it had chosen, and who by his powerful authority repressed the disorderly movements to which a new republican state is always exposed. The first consul had at last de- cided the official union of the Isle of Elba and Piedmont with France. The Isle of Elba was ex- changed with the king of Etruria for the princi- pality of Piombino, that had been obtained of the court of Naples, and had now been evacuated by the English. It had also been declared a part of the French territory. The union of Piedmont, consummated in fact two years before, was passed over in silence during the negotiations of Amiens, admitted by Russia herself, who was bound to de- mand some kind of indemnity for the house of Sar- dinia, it was suffered as an inevitable necessity by all the great courts. Prussia and Austria were ready to confirm it by their adhesion, provided they were promised a good portion in the distribution of the ecclesiastical states. This union of Piedmont, officially announced by an organic senatus-consultum of the 24th Fructidor, year x., or September 11, 1802, astonished nobody, and was scarcely noticed as an event Besides, the duchy of Parma was left vacant, as a hope for all the interests that had suffered hi Italy. The fine country of Piedmont was divided into six departments : the Po, the Doire, Marengo, the Sesia, the Stura, and the Tanaro. These sent six deputies to the legislative body. Turin was declared one of the great cities of the republic. This was the first step taken by Napoleon beyond that limit which may be styled the natural boundary of France, in other words, beyond the Alps, the Rhine, and the Pyrenees. In the eyes of the cabinets of Europe, an aggran- dizement is never a fault, to judge at least by then? ordinary conduct. But there are still aggrandize- ments which are real faults, and the sequel of the present history will show this. They may be so considered when they pass the limits that are easy to be defended, and when they injure respectable and resisting nationalities. But it must be ac- knowledged, that of all the extraordinary acquisi- tions made by France in a quarter of a century, that of Piedmont was least to be censured. If it had been possible to constitute Italy immediately, that which it would have been wisest to do was to unite it entirely in one national body ; but however powerful the first consul was at that time, he was not then sufficiently master of Europe to permit himself the creation of such a kingdom. He had been obliged to leave a part of Italy to Austria, which possessed the ancient Venetian states as far as the Adige ; another part belonged to Spain, which had required for its two infants the forma- tion of the kingdom of Etruria. He was bound to support the papal existence for the interest of re- ligion, and the Bourbons of Naples for the interest of the general peace. To organize Italy definitively and completely, was therefore impossible at that moment. All that the first consul was able to do, was to manage things there in a transitory way, Re-ations of France with 384 the pope. Two ships presented by France TRIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. to his holiness. The pope makes five French cardinals. 1802. Aug. better than in the preceding times, and proper to prepare for its future state. In constituting hi the heart of Italy a republic which occupied the midst of the valley of the Po, he had there deposited the germ of liberty and of independence. In taking Piedmont, he had formed a solid basis for opera- tions in combating the Austrians. He also gave them rivals when he called in the Spaniards. In leaving the pope and trying to attach him, and in supporting the Bourbons of Naples, he fell in with the ancient policy of Europe, yet without sacri- ficing to it the policy of France. That which he actually did was, in one word, a beginning, which excluded nothing at a later period, but prepared, on the contrary, for a better and a definitive state. The relations of the first consul with the court of Rome became every day better affected. The first consul heard with great kindness the com- plaints of the holy father upon the subjects which grieved him. The sensibility of the venerable pontiff was extreme in all that affected the affairs of the church. The loss of the Legations had much reduced the finances of the holy see. The abolition of a number of dues formerly levied in France, an abolition which threatened to extend itself to Spam, had yet more impoverished his holiness. Pius VII. complained bitterly of this, not for himself, because he led the life of an an- chorite, but for his clergy, whom it was with diffi- culty he could support. Still, spiritual interests were, in the eyes of this worthy pontiff, much above temporal ones, and he complained with mildness, but with a feeling of deep chagrin, of the famous organic articles. It will be recollected, that the first consul, having entered upon the treaty with Rome, qualified, in the concordat, the general conditions of the re-establishment of the altars, and had thrown into a law all which related to the police of worship. He had drawn up this law ac- cording to the maxims laid down in the old French monarchy. The prohibition to publish a bull or writing without the pel-mission of the public au- thority ; the interdiction to every legate of the holy see to exercise his functions without the pre- vious acknowledgment of his powers by the French government ; the jurisdiction of the council of state hi appeal for abuses of the laws ; the or- ganization of seminaries under severe regulations; the obligation to profess the declaration of 1682; the introduction of divorce into the French laws; the prohibition to perform the religious rites before the civil bond of marriage; the complete and de- finitive attachment of the registers to the civil power and the municipal magistrates; were also objects upon which the pope addressed remon- strances, that the first consul heard without being willing to admit their validity, considering those subjects as regulated wisely and decisively by the organic articles. The pope perseveringly remon- strated, without yet having the desire to push his remonstrances to a rupture. Lastly, the religious affairs of the Italian republic, the secularizations in Germany, in consequence of which -the church would lose a portion of the German territory, put the finish to hus troubles; and without the pleasure which the re-establishment of the catholic religion in France brought to him, his life would have been no more, he said, than a long martyrdom. His language in other respects, breathed the sin- cerest regard for the first consul. This last suffered the pope to go on with his complaints, showing an extreme patience under them, foreign to his character. As to the loss of the Legations and the impo- verishment of the holy see, he thought of it fre- quently, and nurtured a vague idea of increasing the domains of St. Peter ; but he did not know how to obtain them, placed as he was between the Italian republic, which, far from being disposed to part with the Legations, demanded, on the con- trary, the duchy of Parma; between Spam, that coveted the same duchy, and between the high protectors of the court of Sardinia, who wished to make it an indemnity to that house. Thus he had offered money to the pope, until he could ameliorate his position by extending his territories, an offer which the pope would have accepted if the dignity of the church had permitted him so to do. In default of this kind of aid, the first consul took good care to pay for the support of the French troops during their passage across the Roman states. He ordered Ancona to be evacuated at the same time as Otranto, and all the south of Italy; he had forced the Neapolitan government to evacuate Ponte-Corvo and Benavente. Lastly, in the affairs of Germany he showed himself dis- posed to defend, to a certain extent, the ecclesias- tical party, which the protestant party, or, in other words, Prussia, wished to weaken, even to de- struction. To the foregoing efforts for the satisfaction of the holy see, he joined actions of the most conde- scending courtesy. He had made the dey free all the subjects of the pope detained at Algiers, and had sent them to the holy father. As that sovereign prince did not possess a single ship to keep his coast clear of the African pirates, the first consul had taken from the Toulon arsenal two fine brigs, had them completely fitted out, armed, handsomely decorated, named them the St. Peter and St. Paul, and sent them as a present to Pins VII. As a scrupulous mark of attention, a corvette followed these vessels to Civita Vecchia, to bring back the crews to Toulon, and spare the pontifical treasury the smallest kind of expense. The venerable pon- tiff wished to receive the French seamen at Rome, to show them the pomp of the catholic worship in the great church of St. Peter, and to send them back loaded with the modest presents which the state of his fortune permitted him to make them. A wish of the first consul, prompt and strong as were all those which he conceived, tended to raise up a difficulty with the holy see, happily transient, and soon passed away. He desired that the new church of France should possess cardinals, as the old church had done hi past times. France had formerly reckoned as many as eight, nine, and even ten. The first consul wished to have at his disposition as many hats as then, or even more, if it were possible to obtain them, because he saw through this means a valuable mode of influencing the French clergy, greedy of high dignities, and further, a means of influence, still more desirable, in the sacred college which elects the popes, and regulates the great affairs of the church. In 1789, France counted five cardinals, de Bernis, la Roche- foucauld, de Lomenie, Rohan, and Montmorency. 1802. Aug. The pope makes five French cardinals. THE SECULARIZATIONS. Organization of the order of Malta, 385 The three first of these were dead. M. de Rohan had ceased to be a Frenchman, as his archbishopric had become a German one. M. de Montmorency was one of those who had resisted the holy see, when the resignations were demanded. Cardinal Maury, nominated since 1789, was an emigrant, and then considered as an enemy. Belgium and Savoy comprehended two others, cardinal Frank- enborg, formerly archbishop of Malines, and the learned Gerdil. The former archbishop of Ma- lines was separated from his see, and thought no more of repairing to it again. Cardinal Gerdil had always resided at Rome, plunged deeply in theological studies, and not attached to any country. Neither the one nor the other could be considered French. The first consul wished that seven car- dinals should be immediately granted to France. This was many more than it was possible for the pope to grant at the moment. He had, it is true, several vacant hats, but the promotion of the crowns approached, and he had to provide for that. The promotion of the crowns was a custom, become nearly a law, in virtue of which the pope authorized six Catholic powers to designate to him a subject each, whom he might gratify with a hat upon their presentation. These powers were Austria, Poland, Venice, France, Spain, and Por- tugal. Two of these no longer existed, namely, Venice and Poland. But there still remained four, comprising France, and he had not hats enough vacant to fill up these, and to meet the demands of the first consul. The pope made this a valid rea- son for resisting what was thus required of him. The first consul, imagining that he had, beside the difficulty arising from the number vacant, which was real, the fear of exhibiting too much conde- scension towards France, carried himself warmly, and declared that if he refused him the hats which he required, he should pass over France in the promotion of the crowns, because he would not have one only ; it was not to be suffered that the French church, if it had cardinals at all, should have less than other Christian churches. The pope, who did not like to make the first consul discontented, agreed, and consented to grant him five cardinals. But as there were hats wanting to suffice for this extraordinary promotion and that of the crowns at the same time, the pope begged of the courts of Austria, Spain, and Por- tugal, to consent to the adjournment of their just pretensions, which they all three agreed to do with much good feeling and grace. They were pleased thus to satisfy spontaneously those desires which they would soon have been obliged to execute by command. The first consul consented to give the hat to M. de Bayanne, for a long time auditor of the rota for France and dean of that tribunal. He proposed afterwards to the pope, M. de Belloy, archbishop of Paris ; the abbe" Fesch, archbishop of Lyons, and his uncle ; M. Cambace"res, archbishop of Rouen, brother of the second consul ; finally, M. de Bois- gelin, archbishop of Tours. To these five he would have joined a sixth, in the abbe" Bernier, archbishop of Orleans and pacificator of La Vendee, the principal negotiator of the concordat. But the Idea of including in a promotion so prominent and signal a man who had been so much noted in the civil war, much embarrassed the first consul. He opened his mind upon the subject to the pope, and begged him to decide, immediately, that the first vacant hat should be given to the abbe" Bernier, but to keep this resolution in petto, as they say at the court of Rome, and to write to the abbs' Bernier the reason of the adjournment. This was done, and it was this which became a matter of much mortification to that prelate, so far very little recompensed, considering the services he had ren- dered; he knew the good- will of the first consul to- wards him, but he suffered cruelly from the dis- tress he felt to avow it publicly : the just punish- ment for a civil war, fallen in other respects, upon a man who by his services deserved more than any other the indulgence of the government and of the country. The pope sent to France the prince Doria, as the bearer of the cap to the cardinals newly elected. From that moment the French church, clothed with so large a part of the Roman purple, became one of the most favoured and most glorious of Christian churches. There still remained the task of organizing the Italian church, and of placing it in perfect union with the holy see. The first consul made a de- mand of the pope for a concordat in the Italian republic; but upon this occasion the pope was not to be overcome, and maintained an inflexible re- sistance to the request. The Italian republic com- prehended the Legations, and having once been the property of the holy see, to concede such a point would have been, according to his holiness, to acknowledge the abandonment of those pro- vinces, because it would be entering into a treaty with the parties who had taken them away. It was arranged, finally, to settle the business by means of a succession of briefs, addressed to the regulation of each separate case in a special manner. Lastly, pope Pius VII. entered entirely into the views of the first consul in regard to the definitive constitution of the order of Malta. The priors or heads of the order were assembled in the different parts of Europe, that they might pro- vide for the election of the new grand master, and in order to facilitate the election, they agreed this time to remit to the pope the power of choosing their head. On the advice of the first consul, who wished to organize the order as soon as possible, that the island of Malta might be placed under the grand master's authority, the pope chose an Italian, the bailiff Ruspoli, a Roman prince of a high and ancient family. The first consul preferred that a Roman should fill the office rather than a German or Neapolitan. The person thus chosen was, be- sides, a discreet and enlightened individual, well worthy of the honour which was adjudged to him. The only fear was, that his acceptance of the office did not appear a probable event. The greateet haste was made to ascertain this by writing to England, where he lived in retirement. The French troops had evacuated Ancona and the gulf of Tarentum. They had entered within the limits of the Italian republic, which they were to occupy until that republic had formed itt army. The execution of the roads across the Alps, and of the fortifications of Alexandria, Mantua, Legnago, Verona, and Peschiera, was in full activity. Six thousand men were kept in Etruria, awaiting the Co 386 Change in the Swiss crmtoni. THTERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. State of Switzerland. 1802. Aug. arrival of a Spanish corps. All the conditions of the treaty of Amiens relative to Italy had, there- fore, been executed on the part of France. While the public mind in the greater part of the states of Europe began to be calmed down under the beneficent influence of the peace, in Switzer- land tranquillity was far from being established. The inhabitants of the mountain country were the last to be in a state of disturbance, and were now in violent agitation. It might be said that discord, driven from France and Italy by Bona- parte, had taken refuge in the inaccessible fast- nesses of the Alps. Under the names of "Uni- tarians" and " Oligarchs," two parties had come to blows, the party of the revolution and that of the old order of things. These two parties balanced pretty evenly in regard to strength, did not rest in equilibrium, but were in a continuous and un- happy state of oscillation. During eighteen months they were, by turns, in possession of the chief power, and exercised it without wisdom, justice, or humanity. It will be proper to state, in a few words, the origin of these parties, and then* con- duct from the commencement of the Helvetic revolution. Switzerland was composed, prior to the year 1789, of thirteen cantons. Six of these were de- mocratic, Schwitz, Uri, Unterwalden, Zug, Glaris, and Appenzel ; seven oligarchic, Berne, Soleure, Zurich, Lucerne, Friburg, Bale, and Schaff hausen. The canton of Neufchatel was a principality, de- pendent upon Prussia. The Grisons, the Valais, and Geneva, formed three separate republics, allied to Switzerland, but living each under its own par- ticular and independent government. The first of these, that of the Grisons, by its geograpliical position, was drawn into an attachment for Austria; the two others, the Valais and Geneva, for the same reason, were attached to France. The French republic brought about a change in this state of things. To indemnify itself for the war, it seized upon the county of Bienne, and the ancient principality of Porentruy, and made of them the department of Mont Terrible, adding a por- tion of the former bishopric of Bile. It also took Geneva, of which it formed the department of the Leman. It indemnified the Swiss by adding to their territory those of the Grisons and Valais. At the same time it reserved, hi the Valais, the right to a military road, which should pass from the extremity of the lake of Geneva towards Ville- neuve, ascend the valley of the Rhone, by Mar- tigny and Sion, as far as Brigg, from which point the celebrated road of the Simplon commenced and opened upon the Lago Maggiore. After these terri- torial changes, which were the act of the Fivnch republic, followed those which were the natural consequence of their ideas of justice and equality, which the revolutionary party wished to see pre- vail in Switzerland, in imitation of what bad been accomplished in France in the year 1789. The revolutionary party hi Switzerland was com- posed of all the men who were opposed to the oligarchical regimen, and these abounded as nu- merously in the democratical as in the aristo- cratical cantons, because they suffered as much in the one aa in the other. Thus in the small cantons of Uri, Unterwaldeu, and Schwitz, where the whole of the people assembled once a year, chose their magistrates, and verified their admi- nistration in a few hours, this universal suffrage, destined to flatter for a moment the ignorant and corrupt multitude, was nothing more than a de- lusion. A small number of powerful families, become masters of every thing through time and corruption, arbitrarily disposed of every employ- ment, and governed all public affairs. In Schwitz, for example, the family of Reding, at its own pleasure, distributed the commissions of rank in a Swiss regiment in the service of Spain 1 . These were the great objects of solicitude in the canton, because they were the sole objects of ambition among all those who did not desire to remain herdsmen or peasants. The small cantons had, besides, a dependence, in the way of the Italian bailwicks, and they were governed in the most arbitrary manner like the subject countries. These democracies, therefore, were not, as other pure democracies had come to be in the progress of time, oligarchies disguised under popular forms: and this it is which explains how it happened that even in the democratic cantons, the popular mind was deeply averse to the former state of things. Provinces thus subjected in the mode of Italian bailwicks, were found belonging to more than one canton. Thus Berne harshly governed the Pays de Vaud and Argovia. Finally, in the aristo- cratical cantons, the inferior citizens were ex- cluded from all employments. Thus as soon as the signal was given for the entry of the French army into Switzerland in 1798, the insurrection of the people was prompt and universal. In the cantons that were subject provinces, the bailwicks oppressed rose against the chief places that op- pressed them; while in the heart of the chief governing cities, the middle class rose against the oligarchy. Of thirteen cantons they desired to form nineteen, all equal, all uniformly administered, and placed under a central single authority, re- sembling the unity of the French government. They were governed in this by the necessity they felt for the even distribution of justice, and above all, by the ambition to leave that state of nullity peculiar to federal governments. The hope to figure a little more actively on the world's stage, was at that time very strongly felt in the hearts of the Swiss, proud of their former fame as a valorous people, and of the high character which they had once sustained in Europe, wearied, too, of that perpetual neutrality which had compelled them to sell their blood to foreign nations. In this application to Switzerland of the ideas of the French revolution, arising as much from the necessity as from the spirit of imitation, they broke up some cantons in order to make others, > There were four SWIM regiments in the Spanish service. The entire canton of Schwitz contained but thirty-six thou- sand souls, of which not a fourth part were males in posses- sion of political rights. The larger part were indigent peasantry. That two or three families, by the influence of property and popularity, should possess considerable weight, is not wonderful, without attributing corruption to this gal- lant people. Another of the family in Spain, in 1808, de- feated Dupont, the French general, at Baylen, and captured his entire army. The Reelings have ever been distinguished for their patriotic conduct. The head of the family, Aloys Reding, who died in 181-8, was always opposed to Bonaparte. Tramlator. 1802. Aug. State of S land. THE SECULARIZATIONS. Reasons for non-interference by France. Adrice given by the first consul. 387 as they had joined several separate districts to make a single canton. They divided the territory of Berne, which, with Argovia and the Pays de Vaud, formed a fourth of Switzerland, and made of Argovia and the Pays de Vaud two separate cantons. Uri was detached from the Italian bail- wicks, to create with these the canton of Tessin. The canton of Appenzel was increased, by joining to it St. Gall, the Tokenburg, and the Rheinthal; to the canton of Claris the bailwicks of Sargans, Werdenberg, Gaster, Uznach, and Raperschwill, were added. These additions granted to the can- tons of Appenzel and Claris had for their object to destroy for ever the ancient denlocratic system of rulo, and to make them of such an extent as should render a return to such a system impos- sible. These nineteen cantons were constituted dependent upon a legislative body, which gave them uniform laws, and an executive power that executed those laws for all and in all the cantons. They had a ministry, too, in Switzerland, with pre- fects and sub-prefects. The opposing party, against which all this uni- formity was directed, adopted the contrary plan, and sought to establish the federative order of things, in its most exaggerated character, with the most extraordinary irregularities, and a complete isolation of the federal states, the one in respect to the other. They desired it also, because, under favour of these irregularities and of this isolation, each little oligarchy would be able to retain its own dominion. The aristocracies of Berne, Zurich, and Bale, made an alliance with the democracies of Schwitz, Uri, and Unterwaldeu, and among themselves perfectly understood each other, be- cause, at bottom, they all desired the same thing, in other words, the domination of several powerful families, as well in the little mountainous cantons as in the more opulent cities. The one party was known under the appellation of " Oligarchs;" the others, who desired to see justice and equality in the uniformity of the government, received the name of " Unitarians." Both the one party and the other had been scuffling for years, without ever being able to govern the unfortunate Swiss with something of moderation and constancy. Con- stitutions had succeeded each other as rapidly as in France, and at this moment they were agitated about the fabrication of a new one. One circumstance rendered still more serious the troubles in Switzerland, and that was, the disposition of parties there to seek for support from foreigners, a circumstance which always oc- curs in a country too feeble to elevate itself, and too important, from its geographical position, to be regarded with an indifferent eye by its neigh- bours. The oligarchical party had considerable connexions in Vienna, London, and even St. Petersburgh, where a Swiss, colonel la Harpe, had formed the mind and inclined the heart of the young emperor, and besieged all the courts, in the most pressing manner, on their side. He suppli- cated them not to suffer that France, in consoli- dating in Switzerland the revolutionary order of things, should also make it submit to its influence, a country which, in a military point of view, was the most important upon the continent. The party had also ultimate connexions in England. The citizens of Berne, and of several governing towns, had lodged the capital of their municipal economies hi the bank of London, a step which did them great honour, because while the free cities through- out Europe, and more especially in Germany, were irrecoverably in debt, the cities of Switzerland had amassed considerable sums. The English govern- ment, under pretext of the French occupation of the country, had, without scruple, seized upon the funds thus deposited. Since the peace, the money had not been restored. The oligarchs of Berne supplicated England, that if it did not come to their aid, it would, at least, retain the money they had remitted to the bank of London. They had con- fided to the bank of England ten millions, and two millions were lodged in that of Vienna. The revolutionary party naturally sought its support from France; and it was easy to avail itself of this aid, when the French armies had not ceased to occupy the Helvetic territory. But a similar occupation could not be continued for a long tune. Switzerland must soon be evacuated as Italy had been. For though the obligation to evacuate it was not as formally stipulated as the obligation to evacuate Italy, still the treaty of LuneVille gua- ranteed the independence of Switzerland ; and the fulfilment of the treaties must be regarded as imperfect and the peace as unsafe, until the French troops had been withdrawn. Thus the political observers of thugs had their eyes fixed upon Switzerland most particularly as well as upon Germany, where the division of the ecclesiastical states was taking place, in order to discover if the attempt at a general pacification just attempted was likely to be durable. The first consul had formed the resolution in the plainest manner not to compromise peace, on account of what might hap- pen either in one or the other of these countries, at least while the counter-revolution, of which he would have none on the French frontiers, did not attempt to establish itself in the middle of the Alps. He would have had no obstacle hi getting himself accepted as the legislator for Helvetia, as he had been for the Italian republic, but the con- sulta of Lyons had produced such an effect in Europe, particularly hi England, that he dared not repeat the same spectacle a second time. He kept himself therefore to tendering his advice, which had been heard, but was little followed, notwith- standing the presence of the French troops. He advised the Swiss to renounce the chimera of an absolute unity ; a unity impossible in a country so uncertain as theirs, insupportable besides to the little cantons, that could neither pay heavy taxes, like those of Bale and Berne, nor bind themselves under the yoke of a common government. He recommended them to create a central govern- ment for the exterior business of the confederation; and as to the interior affairs, to leave to the local governments the care of organizing them, accord- ing to the soil, the manners, and mind of the inhabitants. He advised them to take from the French revolution that which was beneficial and incontestably useful, equality between all classes of the citizens, equality in all parts of the territory ; to leave detached from each other those province* deemed incompatible, such as Vaud and Berne, and the Italian bailwicks of Uri, but to renounce certain junctions of territory, which would de- nationalize several cantons, such as those of Ap- cc 2 9 ou Oppoiition of the letser 588 cantons. THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. Opposition of the lesser cantons. 1802. Aug. penzel and Claris ; to put a stop in the large cities to the alternate domination of the oligarchs and the populace, and to finish by a government of the middle class of citizens without the systematic exclusion of any class ; in fine, to imitate that policy in action between all parties which had given France tranquillity. This advice, understood and felt by those of a clear comprehension, but contemned by passionate persons, who always form the largest number, remained without effect. Meanwhile as this advice tended to leave the revolution somewhat behind, the oligarchical fac- tion, at that time oppressed, welcomed it with pleasure, nourishing illusions very similar to those made by certain French emigrants in Paris, and believing, because he was moderate, the first con- sul wished in reality to establish the old order of things. A question relating to territory added a serious complication to this position of affairs. During the revolution, Switzerland and France being to a certain extent confounded one with another, had passed from a system of neutrality to one of offen- sive and defensive alliance. Under this system she had not hesitated to concede to France, by the treaty of 1798, the military road of the Valais bordering upon the foot of the Simplon. In the later treaties, Europe had not ventured to remon- strate against this state of things, the result of a long war ; it had limited itself to a stipulation for the independence of Switzerland. The first consul, preferring upon system the neutrality of Switzerland to its alliance, intended to use the road of the Simplon, without being reduced to traverse the Helvetic territory, which was incom- patible with its neutrality, and he therefore con- ceived the design for that purpose of obtaining possession of the property in the Valais. This was no great demand, because it was through France that Switzerland held the Valais, which had be- fore been independent. But the first consul did not ask it without a compensation : he offered in exchange a province that Austria had ceded to him by the treaty of LuneVille. This was the Frickthal, a small territory, very important as a frontier, containing the road of the Forest Towns, and extending from the confluence of the Aar with the Rhine as far as the limit of the canton of Bale, and connecting in consequence that canton with Switzerland. This little country, fronting the Black Forest, had besides its own value, a value arising from convenience by no means of small moment. By means of this exchange, France become proprietor of the Valais, had no necessity of the Helvetic territory for the passage of her armies, and would be enabled to return from the system of alliance to one of neutrality. The Swiss, as well the Unitarians as the oligarchs, talked loudly upon the subject, having both one and the other the same wish. They were not willing at any price to cede the Valais for the Frickthal. They demanded other concessions of territory, along the Jura more particularly, the country of Bienne, Erguel, and some detached portions of the Porentruy. This was to give up to them a part of the department of Mont Terrible. Even under these conditions they were repugnant to cede the Valais ; and as under the interests de- nominated "general," there are often concealed those which are very " particular," the little can- tons, dreading the rivalry of the Simplon road over that of the St. Gothard, positively refused the proposed exchange. The first consul had pro- visionally occupied the Valais with three batta- lions, and would not take any further step until the general arrangement of the Helvetic affairs. In awaiting the definitive organization of Swit- zerland, there had been formed a temporary go- vernment, composed of an executive council and a legislative body, small in number. Different pro- jects for a constitution had been drawn up, and secretly submitted to the first consul. He had preferred one among the others, which appeared to him conceived in the wisest way, and had sent it to Berne accompanied with a species of recom- mendation of its adoption. The provisional go- vernment, composed of the more moderate patriots, had themselves adopted this constitution, and had presented it for the acceptance of a general diet. The Unitarian party increased, numbered a con- siderable majority in the diet, or no less than fifty votes out of eighty. It soon declared the diet constituted, and drew up a new project after the idea of an absolute unity, affecting even to brave France, proclaiming the Valais an integral part of the soil of the Helvetic confederation. The representatives of the lesser cantons with- drew, declaring that they would never submit themselves to such a constitution. Masters of the provisional government, the moderate patriots, seeing how matters were proceeding, concerted upon the subject with the French minister Ver- ninac, and issued a decree, by which they dis- solved the diet for having exceeded its powers, and having made itself a constituent assembly when it had not been called upon to become so. They themselves placed in action the new consti- tution of the 29th of May, 1801, and proceeded to the election of the authorities which that consti- tution instituted. These authorities were the senate, the lesser council, and the landamman. The senate was composed of twenty-five members ; it nominated the lesser council, which was com- posed of seven persons, and the landamman, who was the chief of the republic. The senate not only nominated these two authorities, but it also advised them as a council. As the moderate patriots had upon their hands the exalted uni- tarians, who were dispersed upon the breaking up of the diet, they were obliged to manage with the opposite or oligarchical party. They chose from among them the more sage and discreet, in order to add them to their number and place them in the senate. They mingled them with the revolutionists in such a manner as to preserve a majority of the last. But in their irritation, five of the revo- lutionists refused to accept the offer made to them. The majority on that account changed in a vexa- tious manner, since when once formed, the senate would proceed to complete itself. It did, in fact, do this, and on the oligarchical side. Thus when it came to nominate the landamman, and had the choice of two candidates, M. Reding, who was the chief of the oligarchical party, and M. Dolder, who was at the head of the moderate revolutionists, Reding carried the day by one vote. Dolder was a discreet man, of considerable ability, but pos- sessed only of a moderate degree of energy 1801. Aug. Conduct of M. Reding and the oligarchy. THE SECULARIZATIONS. The government of Reding overturned. 389 Reding was an old officer, not very enlightened, but energetic ; he had served in the Swiss troops that were in foreign pay, and had carried on with great intelligence the mountain war against the French army in 1798. He belonged to the little canton of Schwitz, and was at the head of a privi- leged family, which disposed of all the commis- sions in the regiment of Reding. The oligarchy of Switzerland had adopted this head of a kind of clan, and had given him its confidence. Rough as he was, Reding did not want a certain degree of finesse. He was flattered with his new dignity, and endeavoured to preserve it. He knew that he would not long be able to retain it against the will of France. In accordance with his party, he de- termined to proceed rapidly to Paris, to endeavour to persuade the first consul, that the oligarchical party was that of honourable men, whom he ought to suffer in power, and permit to have their way, and that on these conditions he would find Switzer- land devoted to France. The first consul received M. Reding with consideration, and listened to him with some attention. Reding affected to exhibit himself destitute of all partiality, and more of a soldier than an oligarch ; he appeared flattered at the approbation of the first general of modern times, disposed as he was to place himself above party passions. He offered to make certain ad- justments, which were accepted in order to see if his conduct answered to his promises. Accord- ing to these adjustments, the senate was to be increased to thirty members, and the choice of five new ones was to be made exclusively among the patriots. A second landamman was to be chosen equally among that party, and to hold the reins of power alternately with the first. Cantonal com- missions, composed half by the senate, and half by the cantons themselves, were to be charged with the task of giving to each the constitution which best fitted it. It was besides agreed, that Argovia and the Pays de Vaud should remain detached from Berne ; and in return, that the agglome- rations of territories, which had disfigured certain small cantons, should be revoked. Under these reservations the first consul promised to acknow- ledge the integrity of Switzerland, to replace it in a state of perpetual neutrality, and to withdraw the French troops. In order to assure to France the military road which was required, the Valais was dismembered by ceding to France that por- tion which is on the right bank of the Rhone. France, in exchange, obliged herself to cede the Frickthal and an arrondissement of the territory on the side of the Jura. Reding left Paris full of hope, believing he had acquired the favour of the first consul, and would be enabled to do in Switzerland thenceforth just what he chose. But scarcely was the head of the oligarchical party arrived at Berne, before, drawn in by his friends, Reding became all that could and all that might be expected under such influences, and with ideas of government as little changed as his own. There were five new members added to the senate, taken from the very heart of the patriot party, and a colleague was given to Reding, charged to perform alternately with him the func- tions of landamman. This colleague was not M. Bolder himself, but M. Rugger, a considerable personage among the moderate revolutionists. The newly chosen, that in the lesser council charged with the executive power, procured a majority for the revolutionary party, left the majority in the senate to the oligarchs. Further, Reding, being landamman for this year, selected the au- thorities in the interest of his own party. He sent, whether to Vienna or to other courts, agento devoted to the cause of the counter-revolution, with instructions hostile to France, which soon became known to her. Reding more especially demanded that there should be accredited to him, representatives of all the powers, in order to second him against the influence of M. Verninac, the charge" d'affaires of France. The only agent whom he did not venture to replace was M. Stap- fer, the Swiss minister at Paris, a respectable man, devoted to his country, who had known how to obtain the confidence of the French government, and for that reason difficult to recall. Reding had promised to leave independent the Pays de Vaud and Argovia ; nevertheless, from every part there came petitions to provoke the restitu- tion of these provinces to the canton of Berne. Despite the promise to free the Italian bailwicks, Uri demanded, in a high tone, and with threats, the Levantine valley. The cantonal commissions that were charged to draw up the particular con- stitution of each canton, were, except two or three, composed in a spirit contrary to the new order of things, and favourable to the re-establishment of the old. There was no more a question made of the Valais, nor of the road promised to France. Finally, the Vaudois, seeing a counter-revolution imminent, were in A state of insurrection, and sooner than submit to the government of Reding, they solicited a reunion with France. Thus unfortunate Helvetia, delivered over a year before to the extravagances of the absolute Unitarians, was this year a prey to the counter- revolutionary attempts of the oligarchs. The first consul therefore took his part in regard to the Valais, and declared that he detached it from the confederation, and restored it to its former independence. This was evidently the best so- lution of the difficulty, because giving one bank of the Rhine to France and another to Switzer- land, was clearly contrary to the natural course of things. In leaving it entirely to Switzerland, and in creating a road and French military establish- ments, the Helvetic neutrality was rendered im- possible. When he was apprised of this resolu- tion, Reding made a noise about it, asserting that the first consul had broken his promises, which was untrue; and he proposed to the lesser council a letter so violent, that the council drew back from it in fear. The situation of the oligarchs of the large and small cantons was not longer tenable, labouring as they were to reconstruct the old order of things, and the revolutionists, arisen in the Pays de Vaud, to obtain a union with France. M. Dol- der and his friends, in the lesser council, united 1 themselves. In this lesser council, charged with the executive power, they were six against three. They profited themselves of the absence of Reding, who had gone for some days into the smaller can- tons; they annulled all that had been done by him; they broke up the cantonal commissions, and called together at Berne an assembly of notables, con- sisting of forty-seven individuals chosen from 35)0 Withdrawal of the French troops. TRIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. Separation of the Valais. 1802. Aug. among the most respectable and moderate men of all opinions. They then submitted to them the constitution of the 29th of May, recommended by France, making in it the modifications which were judged indispensable ; and they immediately or- ganized the public authorities according to that same constitution. To take from the oligarchical party the support of the senate, in which they had a majority, they pronounced the suspension of that body. On re- ceiving intelligence of this event, Reding hastened to protest against the resolutions thus taken. But deprived of the support of the senate, which had been suspended, he retired, declaring that he did not renounce his character of chief magistrate; and he went into the smaller cantons in order to foment the insurrection. They considered him as having resigned, and confided to citizen Rutti- manu the office of first landamman. Thus the Swiss, pulled about, hi turn by the hands of the absolute Unitarians and by those of the oligarchs, found themselves, by a succession of small coups d'etat, replaced iu the power of the moderate revolutionists. Unfortunately, these last had not at their head, as the moderate French had when they brought about the 18th Brumaire, a powerful chief to give to their wisdom the aid of strength. Still, enlightened by events, the partizans of the revolution, whatever was their difference with each other, were disposed to come to an understanding, aud to accept as a boon the constitution of the 29th of May, introducing certain changes. But Reding was at work in the small cantons to arouse them into insurrection, and the necessity of having re- course to some powerful external aid, because there was none to be obtained in Switzerland, -was at last inevitable. However evident was this neces- sity, no one dared to avow it. The oligarchs, who saw in the intervention of France their assured ruin, made it a crime in the revolutionists to desire such an interference. These, in order not to supply their adversaries with such a valid ground of com- plaint, repelled the charge in lofty terms. Lastly, the first consul himself, wishing to spare inquietude to Europe, was decided, unless in case of any very extraordinary event, not to compromise the French troops in the troubles of Switzerland. Thus, al- though thirty thousand French were spread over the middle of the Alps, none of their generals obeyed the requisitions of the different parties; and the French soldiers were present, with arms idle on their shoulders, amidst all these disorders. Their immobility became a subject of reproach, and the patriots said, with some appearance of reason, that a general peace reigning in Europe, the French army not having to defend them against the Austrians, would not defend them against internal insurrections, that they gathered no other fruit from their presence, than the trouble of sustaining them, and the disagreeable effect of a foreign occupation. The retreat of the French troops, therefore, became a sort of patriotic satis- faction, that the moderate party thought them- selves obliged to agree to with all the other parties; and they demanded it of the first consul, while Reding aroused the flame of insurrection in the mountains of Schwitz, Uri, and Unter- waldcn It seemed the more necessary to grant the request thus made, because the separation of the Valais, definitively resolved upon, was an act that was a sensible displeasure to the Swiss pa- triots. The first consul consented to the evacua- tion, willing to give to the moderate party the fullest and most entire moral support possible, but in reality much doubting the soundness of the ex- periment which he was going to make. Orders for the evacuation were immediately sent. There re- mained at the disposal of the new government three thousand Swiss troops. But there were left, besides, near the frontiers, the Helvetic demi- brigades in the service of France, and it was hoped that recourse might be had to them if needful, without any ulterior application to the French army. A momentary calm succeeded to these agitated scenes. The constitution of the 29th of May, adopted with certain modifications, was every where accepted. The lesser cantons alone refused to put it in force within their limits. Still they appeared willing to remain tranquil, at least, for the passing moment. The separation of the Valais was accomplished without difficulty. This country was anew con- stituted an independent state, under the protection of France and the Italian republic. France, as a sole mark of sovereignty, reserved to herself a military road, that she was to support at her own expense, providing the magazines and barracks. The road was declared to be exempt from every kind of toll, a thing of immense benefit to the country. In thus opening the Simplon, there was created that grand highway which now traverses it. France thus made to the Valais a magnificent gift, equal hi value, most assuredly, to the price which was exacted from her in obtaining it. Thus the affairs of Switzerland remained in a sort of suspense. The oligarchs, at first, joyful at the retreat of the French troops, soon became alarmed. They dreaded in thus losing no very agreeable masters, that they had lost a useful pro- tection in the probable contingency of a revolu- tionary convulsion. Those who thus reasoned were, it is true, among the wiser and better informed. The rest, flattering themselves that they should again be able to overturn the rule of the moderate patriots, ardently wished that the present evacua- tion of the French should be final ; and through the mediation of their secret agents, they requested the different European courts not to consent that the French troops should again enter Switzerland. They had, they said, been able to tolerate their re- maining as a consequence of the war ; but their return could only be considered in case it should so happen as the violation of an independent ter- ritory, the integrity of which was guaranteed by all Europe. The first consul was well acquainted with their in- trigues, because the correspondence of the landam- man Reding had been discovered and forwarded to Paris. It had little effect upon his feeling; he even explained his intentions freely and uncon- strainedly upon the matter, as had been his custom upon such occasions. He said that he did not want to possess Switzerland, that he preferred a general peace to the conquest of such a territory ; but that he would not suffer a government there which should be at enmity with France ; that upon this point his resolution was irrevocable. In England the solicitations of the oligarchical 1802. Aug. Austria endeavours to repair her dilapidated finances. THE SECULARIZATIONS. Conduct of Prussia and Russia regarding Ger- many. 391 party were not applied without a considerable effect; not, indeed, in the cabinet, but upon the party of Grenville and Wyndham, which endea- voured, out of every thing, to raise up new grounds of complaint against France. In Austria and Prussia they were too much occupied with the ter- ritorial arrangements of Germany to mingle them- selves up with the affairs of Helvetia ; they had there too much need of the favour of the first consul to dream of giving him the least ground of offence. Cobentzel, at Vienna, went so far in his attention as to show to the French ambassador, M. de Champagny, all the correspondence which had been forwarded to him by the party of Reding, and the replies which he had sent, discouraging the pressing entreaties of that party. Russia, per- fectly aware of the views and intentions of the first consul, comprehended clearly enough that the troubles of Switzerland were a source of embarrass- ment to him, from which he would have been most willing to escape, much sooner than to find in it an opportunity, artificially prepared, to pro- cure for himself further influence or additional territory. However serious in themselves were the affairs of Switzerland, however serious, more particularly, they might become if the French troops were marched back upon the Helvetian territory, they had not the power at the moment to detach the at- tention of the great powers from the affairs of Ger- many. It has been before seen, that the cession of the left bank of the Rhine to France, had deprived of their states a crowd of princes, and that it was agreed at Lune'ville to indemnify thembv seculariz- ing the ecclesiastical principalities, of which old Germany was full. This was the necessary course of a general remodelling of the Germanic territory. Such an important question left no attention to be spared for any other in most of the northern courts. Austria, wasted by a long contest, endeavoured to repair her dilapidated finances, and to elevate the credit of her paper money. The archduke Charles had obtained all the influence which M. Thugut had lost. This prince, who had commanded in war with great distinction, was the declared partizan of peace. He had seen in a moment the glory he had acquired on the borders of the Rhine, in combating the generals Jourdan and Moreau, effaced on the banks of the Tagliamento, in con- flicting with general Bonaparte, and he was not inclined to make any new attempt against this for- midable adversary. Motives still more elevated had a share in influencing his political predispositions. He saw his own reigning house ruined by long and sanguinary wars, which passion had more to do in promoting than reason ; and he said that Austria was fortunate enough, although beaten, in finding in the acquisition of the Venetian states, an indem- nity for the loss of the Low Countries and of the Milanese, which, in case of a third war, would, in all probability, be taken from her without compen- sation. This prince, now he was minister, set about the formation of an army which should be better organized, and be less expensive than that which Austria had possessed for ten years previously, and opposed in vain to the troops of France. The emperor, of a sober and more solid than brilliant intellect, partook in the opinions of the archduke, and thought of nothing but of drawing the utmost possible advantage from the business of the indem- nities, hoping to find in that a favourable juncture for repairing the later reverses of his house. Prussia, that in 1795 separated herself from the coalition, in order to conclude at Bale a peace with the French republic, and which since that time had re-established her finances through the medium of her neutrality, had gained new pro- vinces in consequence of the last division of Poland, now endeavoured to obtain a share of the good things belonging to the German church, and an opportunity to aggrandize herself in Germany, a species of aggrandizement which she preferred to any other. She had a very young and discreet sove- reign, who made it a matter of moment to pass for an upright man, and who was so hi effect, but was unboundedly fond of territorial acquisitions, on condition, still, that they were not purchased by a war ; besides, they possessed in Prussia a singular means of explaining every thing hi the most ho- nourable way in his regard. All equivocal acts, or such the uprightness of which might be contested, were attributed to M. Haugwitz, to whom they ordinarily imputed every thing which they could not tell how to justify, while M. Haugwitz suffered himself to be immolated to the reputation of the king his master, with the utmost good grace. This court having some degree of intellect and few pre- judices, load known how to be on tolerable terms with the French convention and directory, and on very good terms with the first consul. On the accession of the first consul, she had shown herself willing for a moment to interfere between the bel- ligerent powers, in order to force them to make peace ; and when the first consul had effected this without her aid, she put forth the value of her good intentions at the least. She fawned upon him incessantly, and glanced at a treaty of offensive and defensive alliance at a future time, provided he favoured her in partitioning the spoils of the German church. Russia, wholly disinterested in the territorial question that then occupied Germany, was neither required nor authorized to mix herself up with them by the treaty of Lune'ville, but she would willingly play a character in the scene. To be required as an arbitrator flattered the vanity of the young emperor a vanity which began to appear through his apparent modesty and ingenuousness. This prince at first suffered himself to be guided by the two individuals who had placed him upon the throne by means of a horrible catastrophe, the counts Pahlen and Panin. But his integrity and pride equally suffered under such a yoke. It cost him much to have at his side continually the men who recalled the most terrible recollections to his mind ; and he felt humiliated to have ministers who treated him as a prince that was still a minor. It has been already said that he was surrounded by the companions of his early years, De Strogo- noff, Nowosiltzoff, and Czartoryski, with a friend of riper age in M. Kotschoubey, but he delayed to poffiess himself, in connexion with them, of the management of public affairs. He took occasion of an opportunity which presented itself, through the imperious character of count Pahlen, to send him into Courland. He did much the same thing with count Panin, and he introduced M. Kots- " TRIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. The indemnities explained, and parties to be indem- nified. choubey into the cabinet. For his vice-chancellor, he took a former member of the Russian govern- ment, prince Kurakin, a statesman of an easy temper, fond of the eclat of power, and willing to lend his name, well known in Europe, with perfect complacency to four or five young per- sonages, who began to govern the empire in secret. Under this singular association of a czar, twenty- four years old, and some Russian and Polish nobles of the same age, he indulged, as has been already stated, very odd ideas about every thing. Paul I. and Catherine herself were considered as barbarous unenlightened sovereigns. The partition of Poland was regarded as an outrage ; and the war against the French revolution as the result of blind prejudices. Russia in future was bound to give her policy a new direction ; she was bound to protect the feeble, to restrain the powerful, to oblige France and England to keep themselves within the bounds of justice, to force both to respect the rights and interests of other nations in the midst of their disputes. Happy intentions noble ideas, if they had been real ; if they had not resembled those liberal intentions of the French nobility, brought up in the school of Voltaire and Rousseau, ever expressing liberty and humanity, up to the time when the French revolution re- quired them to render their theory and their actions conformable to each other ! Then these philosophical nobles became the emigrants of Cob- lentz. Thus too, as there had been in France a minority of the nobility faithful to the end to the sentiments they first avowed, it was the same with these young rulers of Russia ; two distinguished themselves by their stable upright principles, and by characters more in earnest. These were prince Adam Czartoryski and M. Strogonoff. The last exhibited a mind equally ^sincere and solid. Prince Czartoryski, steady, well instructed, and serious, was twenty-five years old, having gamed a species of ascendancy over Alexander. He was full of the hereditary feelings attaching to his family, in other words, of the desire to restore Poland to her rights, and he bent himself, as will soon be seen, to make the combinations of the Russian policy contribute to that end. These distinguished youths, with the inclinations that moved them, began to be anxious to commence in Germany that equitable and decided arbitration which was so strongly seducing in their view. Austria, with her usual ability, had well known how to discover what were their dispositions, and had thought of serving herself through them. Clearly perceiving the predilection of the first consul for Prussia, she turned herself to the emperor Alexander; flattered him, and offered him the part of arbitrator in German affairs. There was no lack of ambition in the czar to take upon himself such a character ; but it was not easy to take it in presence of general Bonaparte, that a formal treaty invested with the right and duty of interfering in the question of the German indemnities, and who was not the man to leave that for others to do which it appertained to himself to perform. But the emperor Alexander, although impatient to figure upon the world's great scene, exhibited a reserve meritorious at his age, above all with the ambitious feelings of which his heart was full. It is necewary now to penetrate into the obscure and difficult question of the German indemnities. This question, entered upon at the congress of Rastadt after the peace of Campo-Formio, aban- doned in consequence of the assassination of the French plenipotentiaries, and of the second coa- lition, resumed after the peace of LuneVille, often begun, and never terminated, was a serious ques- tion for Europe, a question it was impossible, when placed before it, that it could know how to arrange. It could not, in fact, be resolved but by the strong will of the first consul, because it was impossible that Germany was sufficient of herself to settle it. By the treaties of Campo-Formio and of Lune"- ville, the left bank of the Rhine became French property from the point where that fine river leaves the Swiss territory, between Bale and Huninguen as far as where it enters the Dutch dominions, between Emerick and Nimiguen. But by the cession of this bank to France, the German princes of every rank and state, as well hereditary as ecclesiastical, had sustained considerable losses in territory and revenue. Bavaria had lost the duchy of Deux Fonts, the palatinate of the Rhine, and the duchy of Juliers. Wurtemberg and Baden had been deprived of the principality of Mont- beliard and other domains. The three ecclesiastical electors of Mayence, of Treves, and of Cologne, remained nearly without any estates at all. The two Hesses had lost several lordships ; the bishops of Liege and of Bale had been completely dispos- sessed of their bishoprics. Prussia had been obliged to renounce, for the advantage of France, the duchy of Gueldres and a part of that of Cleves, as well as the little principality of Moeurs, terri- tories situated on the inferior course of the Rhine. Finally, a crowd of princes of the second and third order had seen their principalities and fiefs disap- pear. These were not all the losses brought about by the war. In Italy two Austrian archdukes had been forced to renounce the one Tuscany, and the other Modena. In Holland the house of Orange Nassau allied to Prussia, had lost the stadtholdership, as well as a great quantity of personal property. According to the strict regulations of justice, the German princes should alone be indemnified on the German territory. The archdukes, uncles or brothers of the emperor, having for a long time had the rank of Italian princes, had no claim to the obtainment of establishments in Germany, save from being relations of the emperor. But it was the emperor who had forced unhappy Ger- many into the war, and thus exposed it to these considerable losses of territory, and the emperor now came to force it to indemnify his own re- lations, thus drawn in, against their will, to take a part in a foolish and badly-conducted war. The same may be said of the claim of the stadtholder ; for if this prince lost his estates, it was not for Germany to pay for the faults which he had him- self committed. But the stadtholder was the brother-in-law of the king of Prussia, and that king, not willing to do less for his own family than the emperor had done for his, demanded an in- demnification in Germany for the house of Orange Nassau. It was therefore necessary besides the German princes, to indemnify as well the arch- dukes deprived of their Italian estates, and Orange Nassau dispossessed of the stadtholdership. It 1802. Aug. The indemnities explained, and parties to be indem- nified. THE SECULARIZATIONS. Value of the secolariiations. 393 had been demanded of France at the treaty of Lnneville, and before that at the treaty of Campo- Formio, to consent that the archdukes should receive an indemnity in Germany. Prussia at the congress of Bale, and England at that of Amiens, had exacted that the stadtholder should be in- demnified without designating the place, but with the avowed intention of choosing that place some- where on the surface of the German territory. France, that had only to consider the indemnities in the point of view that affected the general balance France, to whom it imported little that it was a bishop or a prince of Nassau who was established at Fulda, that it was an archbishop or an archduke who might be indemnified at Salzberg, had seen tit to consent. The treaty of LuneVille being ratified by the diet, the weight with which the emperor pressed upon the German territory was accepted with regret, but in a formal manner. The treaties of Bale and Amiens, that stipulated an indemnity for the stadtholder, were, it is true, strangers to the confederation ; but England, with the influence which procured her the possession of Hanover, Prussia with her power in the diet, assured besides, both one and the other, of the concurrence of France, had not a refusal to apprehend in re- quiring a territorial indemnity for the stadtholder. It was therefore agreed, by a consent almost unanimous, that the stadtholder, as well as the two Italian archdukes, should have a part of the secularized bishoprics. To indemnify the German, Italian, and Dutch princes, there were certainly fine domains not wanting in Germany. There were many of these very considerable, under the ecclesiastical order. In secularizing them, there would be found a vast extent of country, covered with inhabitants, and rich enough in revenue to furnish states to all the victims of the war. It would be difficult to tell the exact value in territory, revenues, and inhabitants of the entire of the German principalities susceptible of secu- larization. The peace of Westphalk had already secularized a great number; but th'jaa which re- mained formed about one-sixth of Germany, pro- perly so called, as well in regard to extent as to population. In regard to revenue, if reported ac- cording to the estimates of the day, very incom- plete and much contested, it might amount to thirteen or fourteen millions of florins. But it would be an error to consider this sum as the total revenue of the principalities in question here. It was the revenue, making the deduction of the ex- penses of collection and of administration; the deduction also must be made of a number of ec- clesiastical benefices, such as abbeys, canonicals, and the like, which are not comprised in the net product thus announced, and which would, by the secularization, appertain to the new possessor ; that is to say, if the produce of the country be calculated as it was calculated in France in 1803; and as calculations are more accurately made in the present day, it would lead to an estimate three or four times as considerable, and, consequently, to forty or fifty millions of florins, or from a hun- dred to a hundred and twenty millions of francs. It is, therefore, impossible to value exactly the just amount of these estates, otherwise than in affirming that they comprised about the sixth part of Germany, properly so called. It suffices, besides, to cite them, in order to show that several of them are composed, at the present time, of flourishing provinces, and some of them the finest of the con- federation. Commencing on the east and south of Germany, there are, in the Tyrol, the bishoprics of Trent and of Brixen, that Austria considered as belonging to herself, and that for this reason, she would not permit to figure in the mass of German indemnities, but which had been arranged, in spite of her opposition, in the number of the disposable properties. The valuation of their product varied from two hundred thousand to nine hundred thou- sand florins. In passing from the Tyrol into Ba- varia, the superb bishopric of Salzburg presented itself, now one of the most important provinces of the Austrian monarchy, comprising the valley of the Salza, producing, by one account, one million two hundred thousand florins, by another, two mil- lion seven hundred thousand florins, and possessing a race of excellent soldiers, as able tirailleurs as the Tyrolians. In the bishopric of Salzburg was comprised the prevotal of Berchtolsgaden, valuable by the production of salt. Upon entering directly into Bavaria, there were encountered, upon the Lech, the bishopric of Augsburg; on the Isar that of Freisingen, and, finally, at the confluence of the Inn and the Danube, that of Passau, all three much desired by Bavaria, the territory of which they would very advantageously complete. The produce together of these was valued at about eight hundred thousand florins; but like the others, differently valued, according to custom, by those aspirants who disputed about them. On the other side of the Danube, in other words, in Franconia, was found the rich bishopric of Wurtzburg, the bishops of which formerly arrived at the title of dukes of Franconia, and were opulent enough to build at Wurtzburg a palace almost as fine as that of Versailles. The revenue of this benefice was esti- mated at one million four hundred thousand florins, and including the bishopric of Bamberg, which was contiguous, at more than two million. This was the lot which would best indemnify Bavaria for her im- mense losses, and round off her territory exceedingly well. Prussia had an eye upon these, because of their value, and their contiguity with the marquisates of Anspach and Bareuth. The bishopric of Aich- stedt, in the same province, might be added, very inferior to the two preceding, but still very con- siderable. There remained, too, the archbishoprics of May- ence, Treves, and Cologne, situated on the right of the Rhine, archbishoprics and electorates at the same time, having a revenue very difficult to esti- mate. There remained portions of the electorate of Mayence, enclosed in Thuringia, such as Erfurth, and the territory of Eischsfeld. Then in descend- ing towards Westphalia, the same duchy of West- phalia, the revenue of which was estimated at four or five hundred thousand florins ; the bishoprics of Paderbora, Osnabruck, and Hildensheim, which were each supposed able to return four hundred thousand florins. And lastly, the vast bishopric of Munster, the third in revenue of all Germany, the most extended in territory, bringing in at that time one million two hundred thousand florins. If to these archbishoprics, bishoprics, and duchies, to the number of fourteen, there be joined The German constitution. Constitution 01 electoral college. Forms TmER g, CONSULATE AND EMPIRE, adopted in collecting the votes. the remains of the ancient ecclesiastical electorates, and the fragments of the bishoprics of Spires, Worms, Strasburg, Bile, Constance, a quantity of rich abbeys, finally, forty-nine free towns, which it was not wished to secularize, but to incorporate in the neighbouring states, which was then styled " to mediatise " them, an idea may be formed, somewhat near exactness, of all the property which was dis- posable, to make the secular princes forget the misfortunes they had incurred by the war. It must be added, that if there had been no intention to indemnify the archdukes and the stadtholder, who, among the three of them, would ask a quarter part at least of the disposable domains, it would not have been necessary to suppress all the eccle- siastical principalities, and that they would have l>een enabled to spare to the Germanic constitution the destructive blow by which it was soon to be laid low. It was, in effect, to give to the Germanic con- stitution a very deep wound, thus to secularize all the ecclesiastical states at one time, because they played in that constitution a very considerable part. Some details are necessary here, to make known this old constitution, the most ancient in Europe, the most respectable after that of England, about to perish by the cupidity of the German princes themselves. The Germanic empire was elective. Although for a long time the imperial crown had not been borne out of the house of Austria, it was needful to have a formal election at the commencement of each reign. This had fallen to the heir of the house of Austria, who was in his own right Idng of Bohemia and Hungary, archduke of Austria, duke of Milan, Carinthia, Styria, &c., but not chief of the empire. The election was formerly made by seven, and at the epoch now alluded to, by eight princes electors. Of these, five were lay princes and three ecclesiastical. The five lay princes were the house of Austria for Bohemia ; the elector palatine for Bavaria and the palatinate ; the duke of Saxony for Saxony ; the king of Prussia for Brandenburg; and the king of England for Hanover. The three ecclesiastical electors were the arch- bishop of Mayence, possessing a part of both banks of the Rhine in the vicinity of Mayence, the city of Mayence itself, and the banks of the Main as far as above Aschaffenburg ; the archbishop of Treves, possessing the county of Treves, in other words, the valley of the Moselle from the frontiers of old France as far as the junction of that river with the Rhine towards Coblentz ; lastly, the archbishop of Cologne, possessing the left shore of the Rhine, from Bonn as far as the borders of Holland. These three archbishops, following the general custom of the church, every where when royalty had not en- grossed the ecclesiastical nominations, were elected by their chapters, save in canonical institution, which was reserved to the pope. The canons, members of the chapters and electors of their arch- bishops, were chosen from among the highest of the German nobility. Thus for Mayence, they must be members of the " immediate " nobility, in other words, of the nobility elevated directly by the empire, and not by the territorial princes with whom their domains might be situated. In such a mode neither the archbishop nor the canons charged to elect, could be subjects dependent upon any prince (vhatever, the emperor himself excepted. This pre- caution was needful for so great a personage as the archbishop elector of Mayence, who was chancellor of the confederation. He it was who presided at the Germanic diet. The archbishops electors of Treves and Cologne had no other title than that of an old function, which had passed away with time. The archbishop of Cologne was anciently chancellor of the kingdom of Italy ; the archbishop of Treves, chancellor of the kingdom of the Gauls. These eight princes decreed the imperial crown. During the first half of the last century, and the war of the Austrian succession, they were obliged to choose for an emperor a prince of Bavaria; but they soon returned, out of their old habits and a respect for tradition, to the succession of the house of Ro- dolphe of Hapsburg. Besides, the catholic electors found themselves hi a majority, that is to say, as five to three ; and the preference of the catholics for Austria was natural and secular. The empire was not only elective, it was, if it may be so ex- pressed in regard to an era haying no analogy with our own, it was representative. The electors de- liberated in a general diet, which met at Ratisbon, under the presidency of the chancellor, the arch- bishop of Mayence. This diet was composed of three colleges : the electoral college, in which the eight electors sat that have been just enumerated ; the college of princes, in which all the lay and ecclesiastical princes sat, each of them for the territory of which he was the immediate sovereign, some houses having several votes, according to the importance of the principalities which they represented in the diet, others, on the contrary, having but a part of a vote, as for example, the counts of Westphalia; thirdly and lastly, the college of the cities, where they sat to the number of forty-nine, the repre- sentatives of the free cities, nearly all ruined, and having only a very slight influence in the govern- ment of old Germany. The forms adopted in collecting the votes were extremely complicated. When the protocol was opened, each of the three colleges voted separately. The electors, besides their representation in the college of electors, had representatives in the col- lege of princes, and thus they sat in two colleges at once. Austria sat in the electoral college for Bo- hemia, and in the college of princes for the arch- duchy of Austria. Prussia sat in the electoral college for Brandenburg, and in the college of princes for Anspach, Bareuth, &c. Bavaria sat in the college of electors for Bavaria, and in the college of princes for Deux Fonts, Juliers, &c., and the like with the other powers. They dis- cussed nothing in a particular manner; but each state, called in hierarchical order, verbally gave its opinion through the intermediate agency of a minister. The votes were several times taken, so that each had time to alter or modify its own. When the colleges were of different opinions, they held conferences for the purpose of coming to an understanding. This was styled the " relative- ness" and " correlativeness" between the colleges. They then made concessions to each other, and terminated by a common opinion, which was styled a conclusum. The importance of these three colleges was not equal. That of the cities was scarcely reckoned 1802. Aug. Constitution of the electoral colleges. THE SECULARIZATIONS. Differences occasioned on the division of the patrimony of the church. 395 at all. Formerly, in the middle ages, when all the wealth was centred in the free cities, they had the means, in giving and refusing money, of being heard, and of maintaining their due influence. It was no longer thus, since Nuremburg, Augsburg, and Cologne, ceased to be the centre of commercial and financial power. Besides, the forms employed regarding them, forms which were humiliating, made little attention be paid to their votes. The electors, in other words, the great houses, with their votes in the college of electors, and with their votes and patronage in the college of princes, decided nearly all the questions for deliberation. This constitution cannot be entirely understood, without it be further remarked, that independently of the general government, there was also one which was local, for the protection of particular interests and a common partition of the charges of the confederation. This local government was that of circles. The whole of Germany was divided into ten circles, of which the last, that of Bur- pundy, was no more than an empty title, because it comprehended provinces which, for a long space of time, had been beyond the power or domination of the empire. The most powerful prince of the circle was the director. He summoned the estates which composed it to meet and deliberate ; he executed the resolutions there agreed upon, and came forward to the succour of those that were threatened with violence. Two tribunals of the empire, one at Wetzlar, another at Vienna, ren- dered justice among the members of a confedera- tion so different from each other, kings, princes, bishops, abbeys, and republics. As it was, this constitution existed a venerable monument of perished ages. It offered every one of the characters which discriminate real liberty, not that, indeed, which protects individuals in modern society, but that which protects feeble states against' the aggressions of those which are more powerful, by admitting of the defence, in the midst of a confederation, of their existence, their property, and their particular rights, and in ap- pealing from the most powerful tyranny to the sense of justice in all. Hence there was germinated a certain development of opinion, a deep study of the law of nations, a considerable skill in managing the members in the assemblages, very much re- sembling that, although with apparent differences, which is practised in the representative govern- ments existing in our time. The secularizations could not but produce in such a constitution changes very considerable. At first they caused tho disappearance from the electoral colleges of the three ecclesiastical electors, and from the college of princes of a great number of catholic members. The catholic majority, which had existed in the second college, of fifty voices against forty-three, was thus changed into a mi- nority, because the princes who were called in to replace the ecclesiastical votes were nearly all protestants. This was a great grievance to the constitution and to the balance of strength. There is no doubt but the tolerance of the age has taken away from the words catholic and protestant party their old religious signification ; but these words had acquired a political signification of a very grave character. The protestant party signified the party of Prussia, the catholic that of Austria. These two influences had for a good while divided Germany between them. It might be said that Prussia was at the head of the opposition in the empire, aud that Austria was at the head of the government party. Frederick the Great, hi raising Prussia to be a power of the first rank, by means of the spoils of Austria, had kindled between the two great German states a violent animosity. This animosity towards each other, a moment neutral- ized in presence of the French revolution, was quickly revived when Prussia, separating herself from the coalition, had made peace with France, and enriched herself by her neutrality, during the time that Austria was weakening herself to sup- port the war that had been undertaken hi common. Now more particularly, the war being over, and that it was necessary to divide the patrimony of the church, the greediness of the two courts added a new fermentation to the hatred which they mutually partook. Prussia naturally desired to profit by the occa- i sion of the secularizations to enfeeble Austria for ever. Austria was, at the end of the eighteenth century, as she had been in the thirty years' war, and in the wars of Charles V., the great support of the catholic party; not, indeed, that in all cases the protestants had supported Prussia and the catholics Austria ; the jealousies of too close a vicinity, on the contrary, often altered such a re- lation to each other. Thus Bavaria, fervently catholic, but incessantly alarmed at the designs of Austria upon her territory, commonly voted with Prussia. Saxony *, although protestant, was often opposed to Prussia, in consequence of the jealousy of her neighbourhood, and voted with Austria; but in general, the supporters of Austria were the catholic princes, and above all, the ecclesiastical states. These last voted in its favour when the question of the head of the empire was to be settled; they also supported the same vote in the assemblies, when the general affairs of Germany were discussed. Not levying troops themselves, they suffered the Austrians to recruit for soldiers in their dominions; and further, they furnished appanages to the younger children of the imperial house. The archduke Charles, for example, had received a rich benefice in the grand privilege of the Teutonic order, which had recently been con- ferred upon him. The bishop of Minister and the archbishop of Cologne being dead, the chapters of the two sees had named the archduke Antony to replace these defunct prelates. As in all the aristocratic countries, the church in Germany was devoted to furnish places for the younger sons of the higher families. Prussia naturally bore no good will to the ecclesiastical states, that thus furnished Austria with soldiers, appanages, and votes in the diet. Once engaged in constitutional reforms, the German princes were brought to effect other changes still, more particularly the suppression of the free cities and the " immediate" nobility. The free cities owed their origin to the em- perors. In the same way as the kings of France had formerly freed the communes from the tyranny 1 It must at the same time be observed, that at this moment the elector of Saxony was a catholic, while his people were protestant, and were reckoned as such. The free cities, their origin 396 and state. The "imme- diate " nobility. Austria wishes further to TRIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. indemnify the two arch- dukes. 1802. Aug. of the lords, the emperors had given to the Ger- man cities, enriched by industry and commerce, an independent existence, acknowledged rights, and oftentimes peculiar privileges. It was thus that there had been introduced into the vast Ger- man feudality, by the side of feudal lords, and sovereign priests carrying the coronets of counts and dukes, democratic republics, known by their wealth or their talents. Augsburg, Nuremburg, and Cologne, for arts, manufactures, and com- merce, had formerly well merited the praise of Germany and of all mankind. All these cities had fallen under the yoke of small local aristocracies, and for the most part were very deplorably go- verned. Those which had supported their trade and commercial prosperity, had escaped the general wreck of the past, and even presented republics tolerably prosperous. But they became objects of jealousy to the bordering princes, who coveted them for additions to their territories. Prussia particularly had the desire to incorporate Nurem - burg in her own state, and Bavaria, Augsburg. Both these cities were much decayed from their ancient splendour. The " immediate" nobility had its origin in a mode very similar to that of the free cities, be- cause its title accrued from the imperial protection granted to the lords who were too feeble to defend themselves. Thus this species of nobility abounded more particularly in Franconia and Suabia, be- cause at the time of the destruction of the house of Suabia, the lords of that country, finding them- selves without a sovereign, were attached to the emperor. They were called " immediate," because they held directly from the emperor, and not the princes among whom their estates were situated. The same title of " immediate" was given to every state, city, fief, or abbey, holding directly of the empire. They denominated " mediate " every estate dependent directly upon the territory in which it happened to be enclosed. This " imme- diate" nobility, whose obedience was partaken between the local lord and the emperor, whom they acknowledged as their only sovereign, were proud of their more elevated vassalage, served in the armies and in the imperial chancelleries, and gave over to the Austrian recruiting officers, the population of the hamlets and villages which be- longed to them. The territorial princes, of whatever party they were, desired the double incorporation into their estates of the "immediate" nobility and of the free towns. Austria, cool enough upon the main- tenance of the integrity of the free towns, of which she coveted a certain number for herself, was, on the contrary, ardent in support of the " immediate" nobility, for which she showed the most particular regard. Still she wished to preserve in its existing state all that she was able to retain in that position. In a modern point of view, nothing can appear more natural and legitimate than the union of all these and similar parcelled out territories, cities, and lordships, with the body of every state. This, there is no doubt, would have been still more valuable, if, as in France in 1789, they had re- placed in Germany these local liberties, by some system of general freedom, guaranteeing" at the same time all the existences and all the laws belonging to such a state of things. But these incorporations only went to increase the absolute power of the kings of Prussia, the electors of Bavaria, and the dukes of Wurtemburg. For that reason the world cannot fail to view them with regret. In the history of European monarchies there are two revolutions very different both in date and object ; the first, that by means of which royalty conquered from feudality the smaller local sove- reignties, thus absorbing, to form a single state, numerous particular existing ones ; secondly, that by means of which royalty, after having formed a single state, is obliged to reckon in accordance with the nation, and to grant a degree of general liberty, uniform and regular in its character, most assuredly very preferable to the liberties ex- clusively afforded under a feudal system. France, in 1789, after having achieved this first revo- lution, undertook the second. Germany, in 1803, attempted the first, and she has not completed even that at the present hour. Austria, without any other object than to preserve her influence in the empire, would defend the old Germanic consti- tution, and with that the feudal privileges of Ger- many. Prussia, on the contrary, eager for in- corporations, wished to absorb the free cities and the immediate nobility, became an innovator by ambition, and aimed at giving to Germany the forms of modern social life, or, hi other words, to commence, without the desire to do so, and without the knowledge of the fact, the work of the French revolution in the old Germanic empire. Thus if the constitutional objects of these two great powers were different, their territorial pre- tensions were not less in uniformity. Austria wished to indemnify largely the two archdukes, and under that pretext to extend and amend the frontier of her own states. She troubled herself but little about the duke of Modena, a long while indemnified by the treaties of Campo-Formio and LuneMlle, with the Brisgau, a small province of Baden, which he regarded little, as he pre- ferred more to enjoy in quiet at Venice his im- mense wealth, accumulated by sterling avarice. But Austria occupied herself in good earnest about the archduke Ferdinand, the former sovereign of Tuscany. She coveted in his behalf the fine arch- bishopric of Salzburg, which would again attach the Tyrol to the main body of the Austrian monarchy, and, further, she desired the provost of Berchtolsgaden, enclosed in the archbishopric. These two principalities were formally promised to her, but she wished to obtain more. She wished to get for the same archduke the bishopric of Passau, which would assure to her the important fortified town of Passau, situated at the confluence of the Inn and Danube ; the superb bishopric of Augsburg, extending lengthwise on the river Lech even to the middle of Bavaria ; and, finally, the county of Werdenfels' and the abbey of Kempten, two possessions placed on the slope of the Tyrolese Alps, dominating both one and the other over the sources of the rivers which traverse Bavaria, as the Inn, Isar, Loisach, and Lech. If to these be added nineteen free towns in Suabia, twelve more great " immediate" abbeys, and if it is recollected 1 This county was dependent upon the bishopric of Freisingen. 1802. Aug. Schemes of Austria upon Bavaria. Distribution THE SECULARIZATIONS. of the indemnities. Of the ecclesiastical electorates. 397 that Austria, independent of what she demanded for the archduke in Suabia, had a number of old possessions in that country, it is easy from that circumstance to judge of her designs. She wished by means of the pretended indemnity of the arch- duke Ferdinand, to take a position in the middle of Bavaria by Augsburg, above by Werdenfels and Kempten, and below by her possessions in Suabia, and in thus grasping with the talons of the imperial eagle, to obtain the cession of a part of the estates which she had for a long while coveted, that is to say, the course of the Inn, and perhaps also that of the Isar. It was one of the oldest designs of Austria to extend her territory in Bavaria, in order to secure a better frontier, and at the same time to prolong her posts in the Tyrolean Alps as far as the frontiers of Switzerland. The possession of the line of the Isar was the dearest of her wishes, and would not have been the last had it been gratified. To have possession of the Inn, Austria would have to aban- don to the house of Bavaria the bishopric and city of Augsburg, and, further, all her possessions in Suabia. Under this plan the city of Munich, situated on the Isar, would be found on the fron- tier, and could no longer be the seat of the Ba- varian government; Augsburg would have been the new capital offered to the elector palatine. But this was to absorb nearly one-half of the electorate, and throw back the palatine house entirely upon Suabia. In default of the nonfulfilment of this too beautiful dream, the course of the Inn would console Austria for her misfortunes. She pos- sessed only the lower part of the Inn from Braunau as far as Passau ; but above, between Braunau and the Tyrolean Alps, Bavaria possessed both banks of that river. Austria would have preferred to possess the Inn through its entire course, from its entry into Bavaria at Kufstein as far as its union with the Danube. This line would have embraced less surface of country than that of the Isar, but it was very much finer, and, speaking in a military sense, much more solid. It was in the mode of exchange that Austria proposed to herself to ac- quire one or the other of these frontiers. Thus she did not cease, since the question of indemnities had occupied the different cabinets, to besiege with her offers, and when she was not listened to, with her threats, the unfortunate elector of Bavaria, who immediately communicated his anxieties to his two natural protectors, France and Prussia. The foregoing is the mode in which Austria intended to save herself in the distribution of the indemnities the following is the mode in which she intended to distribute those of the other claimants. For the losses of Bavaria on the left bank of the Rhine, which surpassed those of all the other German princes, because that house had lost the duchy of Deux-Ponts, the palatinate of the Rhine, the duchy of Juliers, the marquisate of Bergen-ap- Zoom, and a multitude of estates in Alsace, Austria assigned her two bishoprics in Franconia, those of Wurtzburg and Bamburg, very well placed in situation in regard to Bavaria, because they were close to the high palatinate, but scarcely equal in value to two-thirds of what she had lost. Perhaps Austria would hrfve added to this lot the bishopric of Freisingen, situated on the Isar, very near to Munich. To Prussia, Austria intended to give a large northern bishopric, Paderborn for example, perhaps two or three abbeys besides, as Essen and Werd^n ; lastly, zo the stadtholder a territory somewhere in Westphalia, or, in other words, about a quarter of what the house of Brandenburg desired for itself and its relatives. After having conceded to the two Hesses, to Baden, and to Wurtemburg, some of the spoils of the inferior clergy, and a certain number of abbeys to a crowd of little hereditary princes, who, she said, would think themselves happy to take what was tendered to them, Austria wished with the three considera- ble territories in the north and centre of Germany, such as Munster, Osnabruck, Hildesheim, Fulda, with the remains of the electorate of Cologne, Mayence, and Treves, to preserve the three ec- clesiastical electors, and thus save her influence in the empire. Of these three ecclesiastical electorates, the first, that of Mayence, had passed to the coadjutor of the last archbishop. This new titulary, a member of the house of Dalberg, was learned, ingenious, and a man of the world. The electorate of Treves belonged to a Saxon prince, still alive, who had retired into the bishopric of Augsburg, of which he had the title, with that of Cleves, forgetting, in the assiduous observation of his religious duties, and in the opulence that the pensions bestowed upon his family had procured for him, his lost electoral greatness. The electorate of Cologne was become vacant by the death of the recent titulary. The bishops of Munster, Freisingen, Ratisbon, and the provost of Berchtolsgaden, were also become vacant. Whether Austria was or was not an ac- complice of the chapters, she had suffered the nomination, hi presence of an imperial commis- sioner, of the archduke Antony, to the bishopric of Munster and the archbishopric of Cologne. Prussia, irritated, had complained loudly, saying that Aus- tria, by this nomination of new titularies, wished to create obstacles to the secularizations, and hinder the free execution of the treaty of LuneVille. These complaints had for their object to hinder the filling up, in the same manner, of the benefices of Frei- singen, Ratisbon, and Berchtolsgaden, which were at that moment vacant. An idea tolerably just may be formed of the designs of Prussia, by considering them exactly as counter designs to those put forward by Austria. At first she judged, with some reason, that the losses of the archduke of Tuscany were exaggerated to at least double the truth. It was pretended at Vienna that he had sustained a loss of four millions of florins in revenue. This was an exaggerated as- sertion, and was founded upon a confusion of the rough with the net revenue. The net loss sus- tained by the grand duke was two millions five hun- dred thousand florins, at most. Prussia asserted that Salzburg, Passau, and Berchtolsgaden, equalled in revenue, if they did not surpass, Tuscany ; without the addition that Tuscany, detached from the Aus- trian monarchy, had hi that relation no value of position, while Salzburg, Berchtolsgaden, and Pas- sau, were closely attached to the very body of that monarchy, gave it an excellent frontier, and in the mountains of Salzburg a numerous military popu- lation. It was thought that Austria would be able to levy there twenty-five thousand men. There View* of Prussia in reference Prussia offers to ally henelf , B ., to the secularizations. TRIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE, to France, if she will assist "~*' Her claims. her in her claims. was, therefore, no proper ground to add to the lot of the archduke the bishoprics of Augsburg, Aich- stadt, the abbey of Kempten, the county of Wer- denfels, as well as all the free towns and abbeys demanded by Austria in Suabia. Still Prussia not less insisted on the exaggerated pretensions of Austria, than she insisted on the lawfulness of her own. She estimated at double then? real value the losses which she asserted that she had sustained, and diminished a full half the value of the territory she claimed as an indemnity. At first she partook in one of the desires of Austria, that of carrying herself towards the centre and south of Germany. She wanted to do that in Franconia which Austria endeavoured to do in Suabia ; she would double her territory there if possible. It was the constant ambition of these two great powers to take advanced positions in the midst of Germany, whether against one another or against France, or whether to keep under their influence the states in the centre of the confederation. Under the first impulse of ambition, Prussia had not demanded less than the bishoprics of Wurtzburg and Bamburg, contiguous to the marquisates of Anspach and Bareuth, and intended, in the view of all the world, to indemnify Bavaria. This demand met with so many objections, par- ticularly in Paris, that she was obliged to re- nounce it. In default of Wurtzburg and Bamburg, Prussia, which had only lost the duchy of Guildres, a portion of the duchy of Cleves, the small princi- pality of Moeurs, some tolls suppressed upon the Rhine, and the enclosed territories of Savenaer, Huissen, and Marburg, ceded to Holland, repre- senting 700,000 florins of revenue according to Russia, and 1,200,000 according to France, Prussia would have no less than a part of the north of Germany, in other words, the bishop- rics of Munster, Paderborn, Osnabruck, and Hil- desheim, besides the remains of the electorate of Mayence in Thuringia, such as Eichsfeld and Erfurth ; then finally, Franconia, where she had not given up her pretensions, the bishopric of Aichstedt, and the celebrated city of Nurern- burg. Making in regard to the indemnity of the etadt- holder the same kind of calculations as Austria in regard to the indemnity for the duke of Tuscany, she demanded for the house of Orange-Nassau an establishment contiguous to the Prussian territory, comprehending the following countries : the duchy of Westphalia, the country of Recklinghausen, and the remains of the electorates of Cologne and Trevea on the right of the Rhine. It therefore resulted for the stadtholder, besides the advantage to be backed by Prussia, a great advantage both for her and himself, that he was placed as well close to Holland, with the power of profiting on the turn of fortune. Now, if the falsity of the Prussian valuation is considered, if it is considered that after having exaggerated nearly double or even triple the amount of her losses, she dissimu- lated in the same proportion about the value of the objects she demanded aa an indemnification ; that, for example, she valued at 350,000 florins the bishopric of Munster, which in Paris, after the most impartial calculations, was valued at 1,200,000; that she estimated at 160,000 florins value that which at Paria waa valued at 369,000, and thus of the rest, an idea may be formed of the idle exag- geration of her pretensions. She showed herself a little more generous than Austria towards the princes of the second and third order, because they were all protestants to be introduced into the diet. She was of opinion that the ecclesiastical electors of Cologne and Treves should be suppressed, but that of Mayence was to be suffered to remain in existence, with the wrecks of his electorate on the right bank of the Rhine ; to replace the two ecclesiastical electors thus suppressed by protestant electors, taken from among the princes of Hesse, of Wur- temburg, of Baden, or even of Orange- Nassau, if it were possible. The support of her pretensions which Austria endeavoured to gain from Russia, Prussia sought to obtain from France. She offered, if the first consul would second her in her claims, to unite her policy with that of the first consul ; to engage herself to him by a formal alliance ; to guarantee all the arrangements that had been made in Italy, such as the kingdom of Etruria, the new constitution given to the Italian republic, and the union of Piedmont with France. She made, at the same time, the greatest efforts to bring the negotiations to Paris, which Austria endeavoured to carry to St. Petersburg. She knew that out of Paris she would not be judged very favourably ; that in all the other courts, they reproached her with having abandoned the cause of Europe for that of the French revolution ; that if the preten- sions of the emperor were criticised, hers would be judged with much more severity, because she wanted the excuse of the great losses sustained by the house of Austria during the last war; she knew, finally, that she had no hope of support but on the side of France ; that to lend herself to the displacing of the negotiation, would be to disoblige the first consul, and to accept arbitrators ill dis- posed towards his views. Thus had she refused all the overtures of Austria, who in despair of the cause, made the. offer that they should come to an understanding, take both one and the other the lion's share, and sacrifice all the princes of the second and third order, and then to address St. Petersburg directly afterwards, in order to obtain the sanction of the partition which they should have made, with the object, before all others, of delivering Germany from the yoke of the French. The German princes, following the example of Prussia, addressed themselves to France. In place of soliciting for then? cause in London, Petersburg, Vienna, or Berlin, they solicited in Paris. Bavaria tormented by Austria; the dukes of Baden, of Wurtemburg, and of Hesse, jealous one of the other; the lesser families affrighted at the avidity of the greater; the free towns threatened with losing their privileges ; the " immediate " nobility exposed to the same danger as the free towns; all, great and little; republics or hereditary sovereigns; all pleaded their cause at Paris, the one intermediately by then? ministers, the others directly and in person. The late stadtholder sent his son there, the prince of Orange, since then king of Holland, a distinguished prince, whom the first consul regarded with much favour ; many other princes came there as well. All of them sedulously attended the palace of St. Cloud, where 1802. Aug. Conduct of the great powers and of the first consul. THE SECULARIZATIONS. The views of the first consul in reference to the alliance with Prussia. 300 the general of a republic was courted as the equal of kings. Singular was the spectacle which Europe then presented, a striking proof of the uncertainty of human passions, and of the depth of the designs of Providence ! Prussia and Austria had drawn Germany into an unjust war against the French revolution, and they had been vanquished. France, by the law of victory, a law incontestable when the victorious power has been attacked, bad conquered the left bank of the Rhine. A part of the German princes thus found themselves deprived of their estates. It was natural that they should be indemnified in Germany, and tlit they only should have an in- demnity. Nevertheless, Prussia and Austria, which liad compromised them, wished to indemnify, at the expense of this same unfortunate Germany, their own relatives, whether Italians, as the archdukes, or Dutchmen, like the stadtholder; and that which is more strange still, under the name of their re- latives, they wished to indemnify themselves, but always at the expense of Germany, the victim of their faults. Then these indemnifications where did they seek for them 1 Why, in the property of the Church itself ! In other words, the defenders of the throne and altar, returned home after being themselves beaten, undertake to indemnify them- selves for the unfortunate issue of the war by despoiling the altar, which they went out to defend in the battle-field, and by imitating the French revolution, which they were come back from at- tacking. And a more extraordinary thing yet, if it be possible, they demanded of the victorious representative of this very revolution upon which they had been making war, to divide among them the spoils of their altars, which they were not capable of dividing honestly among themselves ! The first consul disturbed but little the move- ment going on around him to draw the negotiations to this or that place. He knew that it could take place only in Paris, because it was his desire it should do so, and that was the most decisive point. Free in his movements since the signature of the general peace, he listened successively to the parties interested; to Prussia, which only desired to act with him and by him; to Austria, which, while endeavouring to carry the negotiation to the arbitration of St. Petersburg, neglected in the meanwhile nothing to dispose him in her favour; to Bavaria, which requested counsel and support against the threatening offers of Austria; to the house of Orange, which had sent its heir to Paris; to the houses of Baden, Wurtemburg, and Hesse, which proffered him their entire devotedness if he would act for their advantage ; lastly, to the lesser princes, who claimed from their old alliance with France. After having heard the different pre- tensions of the parties, the first consul soon saw that without the intervention of a powerful will, the repose of Germany, and, as a consequence, that of the whole continent, would remain indefinitely in peril. He therefore decided to offer, and, iu reality, to impose his mediation, by presenting arrangements which might do justice to the wisdom of France as well as her policy. Nothing could be more sensible nor more ad- mirable than the views of the first consul at this happy period of his life, when with as much glory as that with which he ever covered hie name, he had not enough of material force to contemn Europe, and to dispense with a system of policy profoundly calculated. He saw well that with the dispositions of England so very uncertain, it would be right to consider and to prevent the danger of a new and general war; that to this end it was urgently necessary to manage for the pro- vision of a solid continental alliance; that the al- liance of Prussia was the most convenient; that this court, an innovator naturally, by origin and by interest, had with the French revolution certain affinities, which no other court was likely to possess; that in attaching it seriously, coalitions would be rendered impossible ; because, according to the degree of power which France had attained, would be that, more or less, which would venture to attack her, when all the powers should be united against her; but if one power was wanting to the coalition, and if the power so wanting was gone over to the side of France, the chances of a new war would not be tempted. Still, in considering about allying himself with Prussia, the first consul comprehended with a rare correctness of judg- ment, that he must not make her so strong as that she might crush Austria, for then she would be- come in her turn the more dangerous power, in place of being a useful ally; that he must sacrifice neither the lesser princes, the old friends of France, nor the ecclesiastical states, without ex- ception, estates little consistent, little military, and preferable as neighbours to lay princes and sol- diers; nor, in fine, the free cities, respectable by the recollections attached to them, respectable above all by the title of republics, for the republic of France; that to sacrifice at the same time to Prussia all the little states, hereditary, ecclesias- tical, and republican, this was to favour the reali- zation of that German unity, more dangerous for the European equilibrium, if it were even con- stituted, than all the Austrian power had been of old; that in making the balance incline, hi a word, towards the innovating protestant party, it would only be needful to incline, and not to overturn it, because that would be to push Austria to despair, perhaps to hasten it to a fall, to replace one enemy by another, and in some future time prepare for France a rivalry with the house of Brandenburg, to the full as formidable as that which had caused war with the house of Austria during several centuries. Full of these wise reflections, the first consul endeavoured to bring Prussia into more moderate views. Arrived at an understanding with her, he wished to negotiate with the interests of the second order, and to get them to be satisfied with a just portion of the indemnity; he then designed to open at once at St. Petersburg a negotiation entirely courteous, to flatter the pride of the young emperor, which be had discovered clearly under a feigned modesty, and to obtain his alliance, by fair proceedings, to the territorial arrangements which should be decreed. With the concurrence of Prus- sia satisfied, and of Russia flattered, he hoped to render inevitable the assent of Austria, if, at the same time, care were taken not to exasperate her too much by the arrangements adopted. In combinations so very complicated, it was necessary to wait, and to pass over several plans 400 Different plans of action. TRIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. Mecklenburg r**js have grown old in the diet, and who under the ridicu- lous pedantry of these forms, conceal all the cun- ning of the inmates of the palace. In respect to the minister of the grand master of the Teutonic order, M. Rabenau, he submitted entirely to the Austrian deputation, that instructed him even in his notes, in the sight and to the knowledge of the diet ; from the character which this estimated minister thus played he felt much, and complained openly himself. M. Hugel, the minister for the emperor, directed the Austrian votes ; he was ordered to struggle with artifices and delays against the Prussian party and the mediating powers. During the first sitting, M. Schraut, on the part of Bohemia, complained in high terms of the con- duct shown towards Austria, and answered with bitterness the reproach which had been addressed to his court, of never having drawn towards a conclusion, a reproach on which was principally grounded the interference of the mediating powers. This minister declared that for nine months pre- viously, the imperial cabinet had not been able to obtain a single reply on the part of the French cabinet to the overtures it had proffered ; that it had been left in the most complete ignorance of all that had been treated of in Paris ; that its ambassador had not been able to obtain an initiation into the secret of the mediation, and that the plan of the same mediation had not been known to Austria until the same moment when the communication had been made at Ratisbon. M. Schraut after- wards complained of the lot assigned to the arch- duke Ferdinand, pretended that the treaty of Lundville was violated, because the treaty secured to the archduke an indemnity for the entire of his losses, and he had been assigned as an equivalent for the 4,000,000 of florins he had lost, l,350,000fl. at most. Salzburg, according to M. Schraut, pro- duced no more than 900,000 florins, Berchtols- gaden 200,000 fl., Passau 250,000 fl. This was a pui'e falsehood. To finish, Bohemia did not concur in the plan. The Teutonic order, more moderate in its lan- guage, would only admit the plan as a document which the diet might discuss. There were thus four approving votes, Branden- burg, Bavaria, Hesse-Cassel, and Wurtemburg ; one, that of Mayence, which at bottom was ap- proving, but which it was necessary to bring round to be so openly ; one, Saxony, which would follow the majority, when that majority was clearly pro- nounced ; lastly, Bohemia and the Teutonic order opposed the plan wholly as far as concerned the satisfaction given to Austria. This result was immediately communicated to the first consul. As soon as he became acquainted with the sentiments put forth by Bohemia, which imputed to the obstinate silence of France the impossibility of putting an end to the negotiations upon the affairs of Germany, he became de- termined not to remain silent under such an im- putation. He replied immediately by a note, which M. de Laforest was commanded to communicate to the diet. In this note he expressed his regret to be forced to publish any thing relating to nego- tiations, which, from their nature, should have remained secret ; but, he added, that he was obliged to do so, because his intentions had been publicly calumniated ; he declared that the pre- tended overtures of Austria to the French cabinet had, for their object, not the general arrangement of the affair of the indemnities, but the extension of the Austrian frontier from the Isar as far as the Lech, or, in other words, the suppression of Bavaria from the number of German powers ; that the pretensions of Austria, taken from Paris, where they had not succeeded, to St. Petersburg, where they had succeeded no better, finally, to Munich, where they had become threatening, had obliged the mediating powers to intervene, in order to secure the peace of Germany, and with the peace of Germany, that of the entire continent. This reply, so well merited, but in one point exaggerated, namely, the imputation that Austria had endeavoured to extend herself to the Lech, she having in fact spoken only of the Isar, very much mortified the imperial cabinet. That cabinet now saw clearly that it was doing business with an ad- versary as resolute in politics as he was in war- fare '. 1 The following is a copy of the document itself,* re- markable one of the consular era : " The undersigned minister-extraordinary of the French republic to the diet of the Germanic empire, has taken the_ earliest opportunity of transmitting to his government the rescript communicated by the sub-delegate of Bohemia to the extraordinary deputation of the empire in the sitting of the 24th of August, and communicated also to the under- signed on the 28th of the said month. He is charged to transmit to the deputation the following observations. The first consul has been much affected to see that his intentions for securing the peace and prosperity of the Germanic body have been misunderstood, since they reproach him with not having answered the overtures made by his imperial and royal majesty since the conclusion of the treaty of Luneville, and having thus retarded to Germany, that interesting por- tion of Europe, the advantages of the peace; he must de- clare that the overtures which, though confidential and secret, are at present publicly alluded to by the court of Vienna, far from being calculated to procure the execution Mayence decides against Austria. THE SECULARIZATIONS. Mayence decides agairut Austria. 4| 1 Nevertheless, it was necessary to proceed with the negotiations, and M. de Laforest, with the autho- rity of his cabinet, employed the requisite means to bring about Mayence to give a decided vote. He promised M. Albini, the representative of the elector of Mayence, to secure his revenue to the archbishop chancellor, not in the stocks, but in the "immediate" territories not taken from any of the princes. To this promise, which was made in a formal manner, of the 9th article of the treaty of LuneA'ille, could tend only to remove, rather than to indicate, the means of providing for the indemnification of so many secular princes who had sustained such considerable losses ; their only object was to regulate the indemnification of the archduke Ferdinand, by employing lay and hereditary dominions. The project of the court of Vienna tended to extend its territory beyond the Lech, and their effect consequently would have been, to erase Bavaria from the number of the powers. Justice and generosity, which are always the first heard in the heart of the first consul, made it a law with him to forget what wrongs the elector might have done to the republic, and not to suffer to perish a state weakened and threatened, but, however, hitherto secured by the policy of the governments interested in maintaining a just equilibrium in Germany. For if the equilibrium of Europe requires that Austria should be great and powerful, that of Germany requires that Bavaria should be preserved entire, and protected from all further invasion. What would become of the Germanic body if the principal states which compose it should see their inde- pendence every moment endangered? And would not the honour of that ancient federation suffer, by weakening a prince whose house has concurred, in so honourable a man- ner, to the establishment and support of the Germanic con- stitution t It is not, then, at Paris that the insinuations of the court of Vienna, in regard to the affairs of Germany, could be received ; and though it has since renewed them at St. Petersburg, they could not meet with better success; the great and generous soul of the emperor Alexander could not permit him to neglect the interests of Bavaria; which were recommended to him also by the ties of blood, and by every consideration of sound policy. Having been unable to succeed either at St. Petersburg or Paris, the court of Vienna nevertheless pursued at Munich the execution of its projects ; and it was the communication of his uneasiness, made by the elector to the French and Russian govern- ments, which contributed above all to make them feel the necessity of uniting their influence to protect the hereditary princes, secure the execution of the 17th article of the treaty of Luneville, and not to suffer to fall to the lowest rank one of the oldest, and not long ago one of the most powerful, houses of Germany. The undersigned, therefore, is charged to declare to the deputation, that the states of his serene highness the elector palatine of Bavaria, as well as the pos- sessions destined to him as indemnities, and as necessary for re-establishing the equilibrium of Germany, are naturally and indispensably placed under the protection of the medi- ating powers; that the first consul, personally, will not suffer the important place of Passau to remain in the hands of Austria, nor allow it to obtain any part of the territories which Bavaria possesses on the right of the Inn ; for he con- siders that there would be no independence for Bavaria the moment when the troops of Austria should be near its capital. It remains to the undersigned to express to the deputation the regret which the first conul feels for divulging negotiations which took place only under the seal of con- fidence, and the secrecy of which ought consequently to have remained sacred ; but he has been constrained to it by just reprisals, and by the value which he attaches to the opinion and esteem of the brave and loyal German people. (Signed) LAFOREST. [The Russian document was shorter, nearly to the same effect, but less circumstantial ; it bore the same date, and was signed by the baron De Buhler.] were added certain threats, very intelligent in their character, in case the plan should be rendered abor- tive. Thus the vote of M. Albini was decided. But still it was not possible to obtain the pure and sim- ple admission of the plan. The honour of the Germanic body demanded that the extraordinary deputation, in settling upon it as the basis of its labours, should at least introduce some small altera- tions. The interests of several of the petty princes demanded many modifications in detail ; and Prus- sia besides, from motives scarcely avowable, was of accord with Mayence in desiring to separate the general considerations of the plan itself, and to draw it up under a new form. In these considera- tions there was in fact one discoverable, relative to the "immediate" property of the church, which had been reserved to serve either to complete several of the compliments of the indemnity, or for ecclesiastical pensions. Many of these particular properties were enclosed in the Prussian territory, and that power, already so favourably treated, cherished the hope to preserve them to herself by some new assignment, and thus exclusively appro- priate them. She therefore entered into the ideas of Mayence, and agreed with that state to remodel the part of the plan which included these general considerations; but she agreed at the same time to adopt the principal basis of the territorial partition, in a previous conclusum, stating that the charges which were there made, were in common agree- ment with the ministers of the mediating powers. It was further to be understood, that the entire labour was to be terminated by the 24th of Octo- ber, 1802, or 2nd Brumaire, year xi., which just made two months, to be dated, not from the day of the declaration of the powers, but the day when their note had been dictated to the deputation, that is to say, read and transcribed in the procea verbal of the diet. On the 8th of September, or 21st Fructidor, this previous conclusum was adopted in spite of all the efforts of the imperial minister, M. Hugel. Bran- denburg, Bavaria, Wurtemburg, Hesse-Cassel, Mayence, or five states out of eight, admitted the previous conclusum, comprehending the whole of the plan, and some accessory modifications, that were introduced in accordance with the ministers of the mediating powers. In this sitting, Saxony took a step, and gave an opinion between the two ex- tremes. This state desired that the plan might be received as a clue of directions in the labyrinth of indemnities. Bohemia and the Teutonic order were opposed to the adoption of the conclusum. According to the constitutional forms, the minister was bound to have communicated the conclusum thus voted to the mediating ministers. M. Hugel was determined to do nothing of the sort. In other respects, he unceasingly endeavoured to excuse himself for the obstacles which he had caused in the negotiation, and made every possible effort to obtain an amica- ble overture from the ministers of France and Russia, every day repeating to them that the least advantage conceded to the house of Austria, for the purpose of saving its honour at least, would decide it in suffering the labour to be concluded. The whole of its policy now consisted in tiring out the two legations of France and Russia, in order to wring from the first consul a concession of territory 412 Provisions made for THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. the arch-chancellor. 1802. Oct. on the Inn, or a combination of votes in the three colleges, which should secure to Austria the preser- vation of her influence in the empire. The con- duct M. de Laforest, consummate in this species of tactic, adopted, and that he made his cabinet adopt, was to march determinately forward to the end, in spite of the Austrian legation; t concede nothing at Ratisbon, but to send the Austrian minister to Paris, by saying that there perhaps they might obtain something of what they desired, not before, but after the facilities which might be obtained from them in the future course of the negotiation. The imperial legation, in order to gain time to negotiate in Paris, directed itself to the object of passing a newly-modified condusum, which should be sent to the mediating ministers, in order to come to an understanding with them upon the changes which it appeared most convenient to adopt. This attempt ended in nothing, but to impart a sort of ill-humour to the Saxon legation, and to attach that member of the grand deputation to the majority of six voices which had already been given. Although the imperial plenipotenee interposed itself " firm as a wall," according to the despatches of M. de Laforest, between the extraordinary depu- tation and the mediating ministers, because she was still obstinate in not communicating to them the acts of the extraordinary deputation ; it was nevertheless agreed that the reclamations addressed to the diet by the petty princes, should be officiously communicated to those two ministers, that all this might be done by simple notes, and that the modi- fications, admitted in consequence of such reclama- tions, should be introduced into the resolutions, of which the whole together would form the definitive coneluium. As soon as the road was open for reclamations, they did not lag behind, as it may be well imagined; but they came from the petty princes only, because the greater houses had made them in Paris during the time the general negotiations were proceeding. These petty princes moved heaven and earth to get themselves secured. Unhappily, and it was the only thing to be regretted in this memorable negotiation, the persons in the employment of the French, individuals brought up amid the disorders of the directory, suffered their hands to be soiled by pecuniary gifts, that the German princes, impa- tient to ameliorate their condition, lavished upon them without discernment. For the most part, the miserable agents who received those gifts,- sold a credit which they did not possess. M. de Laforest, a man of the strictest integrity, and principal representative of France at Ratisbon, listened little to the recommendations that were addressed to him in favour of such or such a house, and he denounced them to his own government. The first consul, made aware of it, wrote many letters to the minister of police, in order to put a stop to so odious a traffic, which could only make dupes, because these pretended recommendations, paid for in money, would not exercise the least influ- ence over the arrangements concluded at Ratisbon. The greatest difficulty to be encountered did not by any means consist in regulating the supplemental indemnities, but in burthening the reserved pro- perty with them, which was designed for the pen- sions of the clergy who had lost their places. The efforts of Prussia, to save from this double charge the property situated in her territory, caused great contests, and lowered exceedingly the dignity of that court. It was necessary at first to find the sums required to make up the revenue promised to the prince arch-chancellor the elector of Mayence. A means was devised to satisfy this demand. Among the number of the free cities preserved, were Ratisbon and Wetzlar, the last maintained in its character of a free city, because of the imperial chamber which met there. Badly governed, both the one and the other, as the greater part of all the free towns were, they had no very desirable existence longer in that character. They were assigned to the prince arch-chancellor. There was in this a real convenience, because Ratisbon was the place where the diet sate, and Wetzlar that where the supreme court of the empire held its meetings. It was natural to give this to the prince director of the affairs of Germany. These two cities, that of Ratisbon before all, were rejoiced at their new distinction. The prince arch-chancellor, possessing Aschaffenburg, Ratisbon, and Wetzlar, had 650,000 florins of revenue secured in territory. It was necessary to find him three hundred and fifty thousand more. It was also required to have fifty-three thousand for the house of Stolberg and Isemburg; and ten thousand for the duke of Olden- burg, uncle and ward of the emperor Alexander. There was thus in all 413,000 florins to press upon the reserved property of the church, independently of the ecclesiastical pensions. Baden and Wurtem- burg had already accepted the part to be paid from the reserved property situated in their states. Prussia and Bavaria had each to support half the charge of 413,000 florins remaining deficient. Bavaria was heavily charged in her finances, both by the number of pensions that had fallen to her, and by the debts which had been transferred from the old states upon the new. Prussia would not even support the payment of 200,000 florins out of the 413,000 still wanting. She had devised a means of procuring them, which was to lay the burthen of these 413,000 florins upon the free cities of Ham- burg, Bremen, and Lubeck, of which she was extremely jealous. This greediness of spirit caused much scandalous talk at Ratiebon, and the minister of Prussia, M. Goertz, was so much mortified at it, that he was very near giving in his resignation. M. de Laforost only restrained him on account of the interests of the negotiation itself. The power of reclamation accorded to the petty princes, renewed a number of almost forgotten pretensions. Another cause had contributed to the renewal : this was the rumour, already very largely bruited abroad at Ratisbon, that Austria was obtaining in Paris a supplementary indemnity in favour of the archduke Ferdinand. Hesse- Cassel, jealous of what had been done for Baden, Hesse-Darmstadt, of all that had been done for Hesse-Cassel, Orange-Nassau, of what was ru- moured to be done for the former duke of Tuscany, demanded supplementary indemnities to such an extent, that the other claimants would have been unable to obtain any. The occupation of the different territories by force of arms, continuing without interruption, added to the general confu- sion. The Germanic body found itself exactly in 1902. Oct. Eforts made by the mediating niir.is- THE SECULARIZATIONS. ters to obtain the conclutum. 413 the state which they had experienced in France under the constituent assembly at the moment of the abolition of the feudal regime. The margrave, who inherited Manheim, formerly the property of the house of Bavaria, was in dispute with the last house about a collection of pictures. Detachments of troops belonging to the two princes had j ust missed coming to blows. To complete this sad spectacle, Austria, having over a number of estates in Suabia certain pretensions of feudal origin, had the posts torn up with the arms, in the different towns and abbeys assigned in the plan of the indemnities to Baden, Wurtemburg, and Bavaria. Lastly, Prus- sia seized the bishopric of Munstor, and would not put in possession the counts of the empire, co-part- ners with herself 'iii that bishopric. In the midst of these disorders, Austria feeling that she must ultimately agree, offered immediately to adhere to the plan of the mediating powers, if the bank of the Inn was conceded to her, provided she would abandon all her possessions in Suabia in favour of Bavaria. She proposed anew to this power the making Augsburg its capital. She de- manded another thing in the creation of two new electors, of which one should be the archduke of Tuscany, now made the sovereign of Salzburg, and the other the archduke Charles, the actual grand master of the Teutonic order. Upon these condi- tions, Austria was ready to regard the archdukes as sufficiently indemnified, and to give herself up to the wishes of the mediating powers. The first consul was no longer able, after what had passed in regard to Passau, to bring Bavaria to consent to cede the frontier of the Inn ; and, above all, it would be difficult for him to make Germany accept three electors at once, taken alone from the house of Austria Bohemia, Salzburg, and the Teutonic order. He was not willing to sacrifice the free town of Augsburg. He replied, that dis- posed to demand some sacrifices of Bavaria, it was impossible for him to exact from her the conces- sion of the frontier of the Inn. He insinuated that he might perhaps go as far as to propose to Bavaria to abandon a bishopric like that of Aich- stadt, but that it was impossible to go beyond that cession. The tune passed away; it was now Vende'miaire, or October, and the Anal term approached, fixed for the 2nd Brumaire, or 24th of October. The mediating powers were in a hurry to finish the affair. They had heard all the petty reclamations, received all those which were worthy of hearing, and put all in order, as well as the regulations which were to accompany the distribution of the territories. The electoral dignity, requested by the emperor of Russia, had not appeared to any one proper to be granted, because it was a new protestant electorate added to the six which already existed in a college of only nine. The dispropor- tion was too great to be increased yet further. This reclamation was therefore discarded. A new distribution had been mado of the " virile votes," for thus the votes hi the college of princes were denominated ; and they had transferred to the new states the votes of the princes dispossessed upon the left bank of the Rhine. There resulted hi the college of the princes as in that of the electors, a considerable change in favour of the protestants, because they had replaced the prelates or abbots by secular princes of the reformed religion. Finally, to establish a sort of counterpoise, they had attached new votes to Austria, Salzburg, Styria, Carniola, and Carinthia. But the catholic princes wanted the principalities, which might serve them as a pretext for the creation of new voices hi the diet. In spite of all that they had done, the proportion which was formerly, as has been said, fifty-four catholic voices against forty- three protestants, was now actually thirty-one catholics against sixty-two protestants. Still it must not be concluded that Austria was inferior in proportion to these numbers. All the protestant suffrages, as before said, were not suffrages secured to Prussia ; but with the imperial prerogatives with respect to the house of Austria, which was still in power, and with the fears that the house of Brandenburg had begun to inspire, the balance was able still to be kept up between the two rival houses. As to the college of the cities, it had been organized in an independent manner, and had attempted to render it less inferior to the other two. The eight free towns were reduced to six, when Ratisbon and Wetzlar had been granted to the archbishop chancellor. Prussia wished to sup- press the third college, and to attribute to each of the six cities a voice in the college of princes. This would have been a means of suppressing one or two more, especially Nuremburg, of which Prussia was ambitious to have possession. The French legation refused to agree to this, and gave a determined negative. Nothing was said upon the state of the " imme- diate " nobility, which remained in the most cruel anxiety, because Prussia and Bavaria threatened them openly. At last, the term of the 2nd Brumaire approach- ing, the new plan was submitted for deliberation in the extraordinary deputation. Brandenburg, Ba- varia, Hesse-Cassel, Wurtemburg, and Mayence, approved of it. Saxony, Bohemia, the Teutonic order, declared that they would take it into consi- deration, but that before they pronounced defi- nitely, they desired to wait the termination of the negotiation going on in Paris on the part of Aus- tria, because otherwise, they said, they should be exposed to vote for a plan that it would be needful to modify subsequently. The extraordinary deputation had to deliver its definite vote, and there remained only three or four days to complete the term of the two months' delay. It was needful for the honour of the great mediating powers, to obtain the adoption of their plan within the time fixed. M. de Laforest and M. Buhler, who moved forward freely in accord- ance, made the greatest efforts in order that on the 29th Vende'miaire, or 2.1st of October, the eoaeliuittu should be finally adopted. They encountered infi- nite difficulties in consequence of M. Hugel report- ing every where that a courier from Paris, bringing important alterations, was every moment expected to arrive; that at Paris even they wished for delay. He went so far as to threaten M. Albini, telling him that according to positive advices, orders would be received by him from the elector of Mayence, disavowing his conduct, and enjoining it upon hun not to vote. This was done to shake one of the five favourable votes, and thus far one 414 The coneluium adopted. TRIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. Alteration of feeling towards Austria. 1802. NOT. of the most faithful. These menaces were pushed so far that M. Albini became offended, and in con- sequence became more firm in the resolution he had taken. To increase the embarrassment of the time, Prussia commenced at the latest instant to create new obstacles ; she desired such a digest of the business as should dispense with her furnishing out of the reserved properties her part of the 413,000 florins, which remained to be made up. She even aspired to self-appropriate certain depen- dencies of the ecclesiastical property enclosed within her territories, and attributed to different princes by the plan of the indemnities. She had, in a word, a thousand pretensions, more vexatious, more out of place the one than the other, which arising in a most unexpected manner, at the conclusion of the negotiations, were of a nature to make the whole proceeding miscarry. It was not the minis- ter of Prussia, M. Goertz, a very worthy personage, who thus cast a blush upon the character which he was made to play, it was a financier whom they had made his adjunct that caused these difficulties. At length, M. de Laforest and M. Buhler gave a last impulse to the affair, and on the 29th of Ven- de"miaire, or 21st of October, the definitive con- clusum was adopted by the extraordinary deputa- tion of the eight states, and the mediation might be said in a certain sense to be accomplished, within the term assigned by the mediating powers. On the last day, Saxony voted with the five states, forming the ordinary majority out of respect to that majority. There still remained a number of details to be arranged. The partition of the territories and the regulations for the organization did not form the same act. It was required that the two should form but one resolution, which should take a title already known in the Germanic protocol, as that of the recez, a term applied by custom to the regis- tration of the resolutions of the imperial diet. Afterwards, the labours of the deputation being accomplished, it was necessary to carry the result to the Germanic diet, of which the extraordinary deputation was only a commission. The precaution had been taken in the declaration of the definitive conclutum, of stating that the recez would be directly communicated to the mediating ministers. They desired by this means to prevent the refusal of the communication being made on the part of the im- perial ministers to the mediating ministers, a re- fusal which had already been the cause of the most vexatious delays. They now set to work immediately to resolve into one sole digest the principal act and the regu- lations. This was a new opportunity for M. Hugel to raise up embarrassing questions. Thus, on the proposal for the definitive digest being completed, he obstinately demanded, if there was not to be comprehended in the registry the charge on the salary of 413,000 florins, due to the arch-chancellor, to the duke of Oldenburg, and to the houses of Isemburg and Stolburg ; he demanded if this was not the moment to provide the pensions of the archbishop of Treves, the bishops of Liege, Spires, and Strasburg, the states of which had gone with the left bank of the Rhine to France, and who did not know to whom to address themselves to obtain a provision ; if no indemnity was to be accorded to the " immediate " nobility for the loss of their feu- dal rights, a loss for which they had an anterior promise of an indemnity. To all the demands of new allocations, Prussia replied by refusals, or by references to the free cities. Bavaria said, and with reason, that she was much in debt, and that she saw her resources still further lessened by what would be accorded to Austria, in the treaty carrying on at Paris. M. Hugel replied, that it was not in this manner that people should meet their sacred debts. These disputes produced at Ratisbon an ex- tremely vexatious effect. They complained there above all things of the avidity of Prussia, and of the complaisant conduct of France towards her ; we no longer acknowledge, people said, the great character of the first consul, which permits his name and favour to be so abused. Every mind reverted towards Austria, even those which did not commonly lean towards her side. People said, that in submitting to a preponderating influence in the empire, it was better to submit to that of the ancient house of Austria, that without doubt had formerly abused its supremacy, but had at the same time as often protected as oppressed the Germans. There sprung up among the states of the second order, such as Bavaria, Wurtemburg, the two Hesses, and Baden, a disposition to form a league in the centre of Germany, for resisting, as well the power of Prussia, as that of Austria. At length, in spite of every art to extend these difficulties, the recez was digested and adopted by the extraordinary deputation, on the 2nd Frimaire, year xi., or 23rd November, 1802. No resource was indicated to supply the payment of the 413,000 florins, which yet remained without assignment. All wished also to know, before they put the last hand to the work, the result of the negotiations between France and Austria. The imperial legation saw itself, therefore, van- quished at last, by the activity and constancy of the mediating ministers, who proceeded invariably on their way, supported upon their majority of five votes, sometimes even of six out of eight, when Saxony was brought back again to the majority by the obstinate resistance of Austria. M. Hugel de- cided to let things alone. It was necessary to carry the recez of this special commission, called the "extraordinary deputation," up to the diet itself. In order to pass it from one to the other of these bodies, the decision was taken to pass it intermediately, if the ministers of the emperor refused to transmit it. Nevertheless, the Ger- mans, even those most favourable to the plan of indemnity, were inclined towards the exact and faithful observation of the constitutional regula- tions. They thought that the empire was quite sufficiently shaken, and besides, in the overturn of the constitution, they discovered a new species of domination, which was altogether more formid- able than that which existed before. Even those who were originally the partisans of Prussia, now rallied with those who had always venerated Aus- tria as the most perfect representative of the old order of things. They had arrived at that point, a point soon arrived at in revolutions, where the new masters are distrusted, and the old ones a little less hated. They did not wish, therefore, that the imperial ministers should be passed over in the matter, and the intelligence of a conference 1802. Dec. Ttte recez communicated to the diet. THE SECULARIZATIONS. The first consul closes with Austria. 415 at Paris, between Austria and the first consul, gave birth to the hope of an arrangement, which would be received with joy by every body. M. Hugel, at last brought back to a system of condescension, consented to communicate the acts of the extraordinary deputation to the mediating ministers, to the end that the last should be able to address the diet, and require the adoption of the recez, as the law of the empire. But with the narrowness of mind of an old formalist, M. Hugel refused to send the recez itself, invested in the imperial colours ; he communicated a simple im- pression, with a despatch guaranteeing its authen- ticity. Without losing time, on the 4th of December, or 13th Frimaire, the two ministers of France and Russia communicated the recez to the diet, declar- ing that they entirely approved of it in the name of their respective courts ; that they requested it should be immediately taken into consideration ; and, as soon as possible, that it be adopted as a law of the empire. This promptitude to get hold of the diet was a means to bring in the ministers of the Germanic states that were absent, or the in- structions of those who had not yet received them. New precautions at this moment became neces- sary in relation to the composition of the diet. To admit to vote all the states on the left bank of the Rhine suppressed by the French conquest, and on the right bank by the system of secularizations, was to expose the diet, on their part, either to an invincible opposition, or else to condemn them to pronounce themselves their own suppression. It was agreed with the directorial minister, or in other words, with the arch-chancellor, to convoke exclusively those states which were preserved to the empire, whether their title was changed or whether it was not. Thus they did not convoke the electors of Treves nor of Cologne to the college of electors ; but they convoked Mayence, of which the title was constituted ex jure now. In the col- lege of princes there were some suppressed whose territories had been incorporated in the French or Helvetian republics ; such, for example, as the secular and ecclesiastical princes of Deux-Ponts, Montballiard, Liege, Worms, Spires, Bale, and Strasburg. Those princes were provisionally main- tained, who had gained new principalities, save in the regulation of the titles, at a later time, and the making them transfer themselves to the secularized territories which had devolved upon them. There were suppressed in the college of cities the whole mass of incorporated places ; only six titles were preserved, Augsburg, Nuremburg, Frankfort, Bremen, Hamburg, and Lubeck. These precautions were indispensable, and they obtained the result which they awaited. None of the suppressed states made their appearance. In the first days of January the diet commenced their deliberations. The protocol was opened. The states in the three colleges were successively called. The one gave their opinions immediately, the others reserved theirs until a later period, according to the custom of the diet. They waited to pronounce definitively on the last submission of the vote of the proposed conclusum, until the negotiations en- tered into in Paris between France and the court of Vienna should be completed. Things had proceeded so far, that the first consul it was wished should grant some satisfaction to Austria. In strictness, they might have passed on without her good wishes to the end of the business, and made the three colleges vote in spite of the Austrian opposition. The Germans, even those the most mortified, felt clearly enough that it was necessary to finish, and they were resolved to vote for the recez, after which, the different occupations already consummated would have been clothed with a species of legality, and the refusal of his sanction on the part of the emperor, would not have been able to hinder those who had received the indemnities from enjoying peaceably their new territories. Still the opposition of the emperor to the new constitution, however unreasonable it was, would have placed the empire in a false, uncertain position, little conformable to the pacific intentions of the mediating powers. ,It was better worth to come to an agreement, and to obtain the adhesion of the court of Vienna. This was the intention of j the first consul. He would not have waited so ' long, had it not been for the purpose of having fewer sacrifices to make to Austria, and fewer to exact of Bavaria ; because it was of the last, it would be necessary fo demand all that should be granted to the former. In effect, towards the end of December the first consul consented to hold a conference with M. Cobentzel, and at last came to an agreement with him upon some concessions in favour of the house of Austria. Bavaria had shown an invincible re- pugnance to cede the line of the Inn ; whether because of the valuable salt mines which are found between the Inn and the Salza, or whether on account of the situation of Munich, which would be then too n^ar the new frontier, it had been deemed necessary to renounce this plan of arrangement. Then the first consul was reduced to cede the bishopric of Aichstedt, placed upon the Danube, containing 70,000 inhabitants, with a rumoured revenue of 350,000 florins, and primarily destined for the palatine house. Provided this augmenta- tion was acceded to the archduke Ferdinand, the bishoprics of Brixen and Trent were to be taken from his indemnification among the secularizations to the profit of Austria. This power avowed, hi a manner clear enough, the interest which she kept concealed out of zeal for her relation. It is true, for the price of this secularization, she took from her own domains the little prefecture of Ortenau, in order to increase the indemnity of the duke of Modena, composed, as has been already said, of the Brisgau. Ortenau was in the country of Baden, and near the Brisgau. Austria had required the creation of two new electors in her own house ; one was conceded in the archduke Ferdinand, thus destined to be the elector of Salzburg. Thus there were ten electors in the room of nine, which was the number con- tained in the plan of the mediating powers, in place of eight, which had been the number under the old Germanic constitution. This was an improvement of the Austrian position in the electoral college. There were now, in fact, four catholic electors Bohemia, Bavaria, Mayence, and Salzburg against the six protestants of Brandenburg, Hanover, Saxony, Hesse- Cassel, Wurtemburg, and Baden. These conditions were inserted in a convention 416 The first consul TRIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. closes with Austria. 1802. Dec. signed at Paris on the 26th of December, 1802, or 6th Nivose, year XL, by M. Cobentzel and Joseph Bonaparte. M. Markoff was asked to accede in the name of Russia; and there was no need of begging it of him as a favour, devoted as he was to Austria. Prussia remained cool, but offered no resistance. Bavaria submitted herself, demanding to be indemnified for the sacrifice which was exacted of her ; and above all, not to be forced to pay any part of the 413,000 florins that nobody else would pay. . Austria had promised to oppose no further ob- stacle in the way of the mediation, and she nearly kept her word. Besides the concessions obtained in Paris, she wished to obtain another, which she was unable to negotiate any where but at Ratisbon itself, with those who had drawn up the recez. This concession related to the number of virile votes in the college of princes. While the protocol was open in the diet, and they there expressed their opinions one after the other, the extraordinary deputation was sitting at the same time, and re- considering once more the plan of the mediation since the convention agreed upon in Paris. The diet thus delivered its opinion upon the plan that the grand deputation was daily reconsidering at the same time. The territorial changes agreed upon hi Paris were included. They had comprised in their proceedings the creation cf the new elector of Salzburg ; they had, in fine, introduced the new virile votes, which changed the proportion of the catholic and protestant votes in the college of princes, carrying the votes to fifty-four catholics against seventy-seven protestants, in lieu of thirty- one against sixty-two. It was necessary to finish all these questions, and particularly that which related to the 413,000 florins. Bavaria, that had lost 350,000 florins with Aichstedt, was not able to pay 200,000. She had refused to pay this money, and the refusal was but natural. But Prussia, although she had lost nothing, was unwilling to support her part of this light burden. " They will not make war for 200,000 florins," said M. Haug- witz ; sad words, which offended every body at Ratisbon, and placed the character of Prussia far beneath that of Austria ; which last, in her resist- ance, at least defended her territories and her old constitutional principles. The first consul, in point of fact, ought to have beaten down this avaricious spirit; but having need of Prussia, even to the last, in order to secure the success of his plans, he was obliged to humour her. They knew not how to pay neither the arch-chan- cellor, the pensions of the ecclesiastics, nor some other debts formerly assigned upon the reserved property. To repartition this charge, under the form of nuns romains l , on the totality of the Ger- manic body, was impossible, seeing the difficulty, almost insurmountable at all times on the part of the confederation, to obtain the payment of the common expenses. The state of the dilapidation of the federal fortresses was a proof of this. They were compelled to devise a means which somewhat diminished the liberality of the first French plan in regard to the navigation of the rivers. They Molt romaint was the name of the common expenses divided over the whole of the confederation, after the old- usublished proportion*. had suppressed all the tolls on the Elbe, the Weser, and the Rhine. Still jt was necessary to provide for some indispensable expenses to keep things in order ; such as the towing-paths, for example, without which the navigation would have been soon interrupted. It was agreed to establish upon the Rhine a moderate octroi, or duty, very inferior to all the tolls of a feudal nature under which the river had formerly been oppressed ; and upon the excess left of this duty to take 350,000 florins for the prince arch-chancellor, the 10,000 for the duke of Oldenburg, the 53,000 for the houses of Isem- burg and Stolburg, and some thousand florins more yet, to place in accordance different princes who sent in assignments. In this way was satisfied the avarice of Prussia. The 200,000 florins were thus discharged from Bavaria, that she was bound to furnish for her part of the 413,000, thus reducing the loss which she had experienced in ceding Aich- stedt ; and the promise made to the archduke chancellor was fulfilled, securing to him an inde- pendent revenue. All the Germans wished this to be the case, because they judged that 1,000,000 of florins of revenue was only just sufficient for the prince who had the honour to preside at the Ger- manic diet, and who was the last representing the three ecclesiastical electors of the holy empire. He was constituted the only administrator of this duty, in concert with France, that had the right to watch over the expenditure laid out on the left bank. Under this point of view, France had not to complain of this arrangement, because from that moment, the prince arch-chancellor had every in- terest to maintain kindly relations with her. Finally, the plan, revised for the last time, was adopted on the 25th of February, or 6th Ventose, year XL, as a final act, by the extraordinary depu- tation, and sent immediately to the diet, where it was voted, very nearly unanimously, by all three of the colleges. It met with no opposition, except on the part of Sweden, of which the monarch, already beginning to exhibit the troubled mind which precipitated him from the throne, astonished Europe by his royal follies. He cast violent blame upon the mediating and the German powers, who had concurred in making an attack so serious upon the ancient Germanic constitution. This ridiculous freak of a prince, of whom nobody hi Europe made the least account, did not alter the general satisfac- tion which was felt at seeing the long anxieties of the empire terminated at last. The Germans, even those who regretted the old order of things, but preserved some small remnant of equity in their judgments, acknowledged that they had gathered upon this occasion the inevitable fruits of an imprudent war; that the left bank of the Rhine having been lost, in consequence of that war, it had become necessary to make a new parti- tion of the Germanic territory ; that the partition was, without doubt, more advantageous for the great than the small houses, but that without France, this inequality had been much more in- jurious still ; that the constitution, modified under several heads, was still preserved in the base, and could not be reformed in a clearer spirit of con- servation. They acknowledged, in fact, that with- out the vigour of the first consul, anarchy would have been introduced into Germany, in consequence of the pretensions of all kinds at that moment put '<>*. Feb. Austria seize* the funds THE SECULARIZATIONS. of the German princes. 417 forward. The circumstance which proves better than mere words the sentiment thus indulged for the chief of the French government is, that on the consideration of several questions, still remaining in suspense, they desired that his powerful hand should not be too suddenly withdrawn from the affairs of Germany. They wished that France, in the character of a guarantee, should be obliged to watch over her work. In point of fact, there remained more than one question, general and particular, which the me- diation had not settled. Prussia was in an open quarrel with the city of Nuremburg, and acted towards it in the most tyrannical manner. The same grasping power would not place the counts of Westphalia in possession of their part of the bishopric of Munster which it had seized. Frank- fort was involved in a contest with the neighbour- ing princes, about a charge which had been im- posed upon it in their favour, in the way of com- pensation for certain properties ceded by them. Prussia and Bavaria wished to take advantage of the silence of the recez, in order to incorporate in their estates the "immediate" nobility. Austria turned to her advantage in Suabia a quantity of feudal claims, of an obscure origin, being an inva- sion of the jurisdiction of the sovereignty of the dukes of Wurtemburg, Baden, and Bavaria. She committed, more particularly, a violation of pro- perty unheard of before. The ecclesiastical prin- cipalities recently secularized, deposited their funds in the bank of Vienna, funds belonging to, and arising out of, those principalities, which were to pass, with the principalities, to the princes whom they indemnified. The Austrian administration, laid its hands upon these funds, amounting to' no less than 30,000,000 of florins, an act which nearly reduced some of these princes to despair. All these acts of violence made it a matter exceedingly desirable that an authority should be instituted, which should watch over the execution of the recez, like that which was set on foot after the peace of Westphalia. The recomposition of the old circles, charged to watch over the defence of particular interests, was at this time much desired. It re- mained, finally, to reorganize the German church, which having been deprived of its princely exist- ence, had need of receiving an organization alto- gether new. The first consul had not been able to take upon himself the solution of these difficulties, because to have done so, it would have been necessary that he should constitute himself the permanent legislator of Germany. He had only deemed it his duty to occupy himself with the preservation of the equili- brium of the empire, which was a part of the equilibrium of Europe, and for this purpose deter- mining what property should revert to each state, whether in territory or influence in the diet. The remainder that was to be done could only in per- formance belong to the diet itself, which was alone charged to exercise the legislative power. This was fully sufficient, seconded at times by France, to guarantee the new Germanic constitution, as it had been able to do the old. The feeble threatened by the strong, already invoked this guarantee. It was for the more powerful courts of Germany, to prevent by their moderation a new intervention of a foreign power. Unhappily, it was not long that it was possible to calculate thus, 011 observing the actual conduct of Prussia and Austria. The emperor, after having delayed his ratifica- tion, sent it at last, but with two reservations : one had for its object the maintenance of the privileges of all the "immediate" nobility; the other a new distribution of the protestant and catholic votes in the diet. This was to keep only half his word, as given to the first consul, for the value received at the convention of the 26th of December. In other respects, the difficulties, which might be truly denominated European, as those of terri- tory, were overcome, thanks to the energetic and prudent intervention of general Bonaparte. If any thing had rendered evident his ascendancy in the affairs of Europe at this time, it was a negotiation thus ably conducted, in which, united with justice, address, and firmness, the ambition of Prussia, and the pride of Russia were made to serve by turns a resistance to Austria, reducing her power without pushing her to despair. Thus had the first consul imposed his own will upon Germany, for the benefit alike of Germany and the repose of the world ; the sole case in which it is permissible and useful to interfere in the affairs of another country. E E Remarks on the TRIERS' CONSULATE AND EM FIRE. European coloni.s. 1802. Feb. rjlli licjaiiuioa mil nL-KW OTOII BOOK XVI. imii :w v-jiiT q e RUPTURE OF THE PEACE OF AMIENS. rb M to EFFORTS MADE BY THE PIRST CONSUL TO RE-ESTABLISH THE COLONIAL GREATNESS OP PRANCE. THE SPIRIT OF HER FORMER COMMERCE. AMBITION OP ALL THE POWERS TO POSSESS COLONIES. AMERICA, THE ANTILLES, AND THE EAST INDIES. MISSION OP GENERAL DECAEN TO INDIA. EFFORTS MADE TO RECOVER ST. DOMINGO. DESCRIPTION OF THE ISLAND. REVOLUTION OP THE BLACKS. CHARACTER, POWER, AND POLICY OP TOUSSAINT LOUVERTURE. HE ASPIRES TO BECOME INDEPENDENT. THE PIRST CONSUL SENDS OUT AN EXPEDITION IN ORDER TO SECURE THE AUTHORITY OF THE MOTHER COUNTRY. DISEMBARKMENT OP FRENCH TROOPS AT ST. DOMINGO, AT THE CAPE, AND AT PORT-AU-PRINCE. BURNING OP THE CAPE. SUBMISSION OP THE BLACKS. MOMENTARY PROSPERITY OF THE COLONY. APPLICATION OF THE FIRST CONSUL TO THE RESTORATION OF THE MARINE. MISSION OP COLONEL SEBASTIANI TO THE EAST. CARE DIRECTED TO INCREASE THE INTERNAL PROSPERITY OP THE COUNTRY. THE SIMPLON, MOUNT GENEVRE, THE FORTRESS OF ALEXANDRIA. CAMP OF VETERANS IN THE CONQUERED PROVINCES. NEW TOWNS FOUNDED IN LA VENDEE. ROCHELLE AND CHERBURG. THE CIVIL CODE, THE INSTITUTE, AND THE ADMINISTRATION OP THE CLERGY. JOURNEY TO NORMANDY OP THE FIRST CONSUL. ENGLISH JEALOUSY INSPIRED BY THE GREATNESS OF PRANCE. THE MONEY MERCHANTS OF ENGLAND MORE HOSTILE TO FRANCE THAN THE ARISTOCRACY. OUTBREAK OP THE JOURNALS WRITTEN BY THE EMIGRANTS. PENSIONS GRANTED TO GEORGES AND THE CHOUANS. REMONSTRANCES OP THE FIRST CONSUL. EVASIONS OP THE BRITISH CABINET. ARTICLES IN REPRISAL INSERTED IN THE " MONITEUR." CONTINUATION OP THE AFFAIRS OP SWITZERLAND. THE SMALLER CANTONS REVOLT UNDER THE CONDUCT OF THE LANDAMMAN REDING, AND MARCH UPON BERNE. THE MODERATE PARTY IN THE GOVERNMENT OBLIGED TO FLY TO LAUZANNE. THE DEMAND OP AN INTERVENTION AT FIRST REFUSED, BUT SUBSEQUENTLY AGREED TO, BY THE FIRST CONSUL. NEY ORDERED TO MARCH WITH THIRTY THOUSAND MEN. THE DEPUTIES CHOSEN FROM ALL THE PARTIES ARE SUMMONED TO PARIS, TO FRAME A CONSTITUTION FOR SWITZERLAND. AGITATION IN ENGLAND J CRIES OF THE WAR PARTY AGAINST FRENCH INTERVENTION. THE ENGLISH CABINET, ALARMED BY THESK CRIES, COMMITS THE FAULTS OP COUNTERMANDING THE EVACUATION OF MALTA, AND OP SENDING AN AGENT INTO SWITZERLAND, TO UPHOLD THE PARTY IN A STATE OF INSURRECTION. PROMPTITUDE OF THE FRENCH INTERVENTION. GENERAL NEY MAKES THE SWISS SUBMIT IN A FEW DAYS. THE SWISS DEPUTIES INVITBD TO PARIS ARE PRESENTED TO THE PIRST CONSUL. DISCOURSE WHICH HE HELD WITH THEM. ACT ,'"" OF MEDIATION. ADMIRATION OF EUROPE AT THE WISDOM OF THIS ACT. THE ENGLISH CABINET IS EMBAR- RASSED AT THE PROMPTITUDE OP THE PROCEEDING, AND AT THE EXCELLENCE OP THE RESULT. WARM DIS- CUSSION IN THE BRITISH PARLIAMENT. VIOLENCE OP THE PARTY OF GREKVILLE, WYNDHAM, AND THEIR FRIENDS. NOBLE SAYING OP FOX IN FAVOUR OF PEACE. PUBLIC OPINION CALMED FOR A MOMENT. ARRIVAL Or LORD WHITWORTH IN PARIS, AND OP GENERAL ANDREOSSY IN LONDON. GOOD RECEPTION OF THE AMBAS- (ADORS BY BOTH NATIONS RESPECTIVELY. THE BRITISH CABINET REGBETS HAVING RETAINED MALTA, AKD WISHES, BUT DARES NOT, EVACUATE IT. ILL-TIMED PUBLICATION OP THE REPORT OF GENERAL SEBAS- TIANI ON THE STATE OF THE EAST. MISCHIEVOUS EFFECT OP THIS REPORT ON ENGLAND. THE PIRST CONSUL WISHES TO HAVE A PERSONAL EXPLANATION WITH LORD WHITWORTH. LONG AND 'REMARKABLE CONVERSA- TION. THE OPENNESS OP THE FIRST CONSUL ILL COMPREHENDED AND BADLY INTERPRETED. -HEXPOSE OP THE STATE OF THE REPUBLIC, CONTAINING A PHRASE MORTIFYING TO THE PRIDE OP THE ENGLISH. ROYAL MESSAGE IN ANSWER. THE TWO NATIONS ADDRESS TO EACH OTHER A SORT OF DEFIANCE. IRRITATION OP THE FIRST CONSUL, AND PUBLIC SCENE WITH LORD WHITWORTH IN PRESENCE OF THE DIPLOMATIC BODY. THE FIRST CONSUL PASSES SUDDENLY FROM IDEAS OP PEACE TO THOSE OP WAR. HIS FIRST PREPARATIONS. CESSION OF LOUISIANA TO THE UNITED STATES, FOR EIGHTY MILLIONS. TALLEYRAND SETS HIMSELF TO CALM THE FIRST CONSUL, AND OPPOSES HIS EFFORTS CALCULATED ACCORDING TO THE INCREASING IRRITA- TION OF THE TWO GOVERNMENTS. LORD WHITWORTH SECONDS THE EFFORTS OF TALLEYRAND. PROLONGATION OP THIS SITUATION OP THINGS. NECESSITY FOR TERMINATING IT. THE BRITISH CABINET FINISHES IT BY AVOWING THAT IT INTENDS TO KEEP MALTA. THE FIRST CONSUL ANSWERS BY A SUMMONS TO EXECUTE SOLEMN TREATIES. THE MINISTER ADDINGTON, OUT OP PEAR OF BEING BEATEN IN PARLIAMENT, PERSISTS IN DEMANDING MALTA. SEVERAL ' MEANS DEVISED TO ARRANGE WITHOUT SUCCESS. OFFER OF FRANCE TO PLACE MALTA AS A DEPOSIT IN THE HANDS OP THE EMPEROR ALEXANDER. REFUSAL OF THAT OFFER. DEPARTURE OF THE TWO AMBASSADORS. RUPTURE OP THE PEACE OP AMIENS. PUBLIC ANXIETY IN LONDON AND PARIS. CAUSES OF THE BREVITY OP THE PEACE. TO WHOM THE FAULT OF THE RUPTURE IS TO BE ASCRIBED. : , WHILE the first consul regulated, as supreme ar- biter, the affairs of the European continent, his ardent activity, embracing two worlds, extended as far as America and both Indies, with the view of re-establishing the former colonial greatness of France. At this day, when the nations of Europe are become more of manufacturers than merchants ; at this day, when they have arrived at the power of imitating all they once sought beyond the seas, if they do not surpass it ; at this day, in fine, that the greater colonies, freed from the yoke of the mother country, have arisen to the rank of inde- pendent states; the aspect of the world is become so altered, that it is difficult to recognize it. New objects of ambition have succeeded to those which 1802. Feb. Reigning taste RUPTURE OF THE PEACE OF AMIENS. for manuiacturing. 419 then divided it, and it is not without trouble that it is now possible to comprehend the motives for which, within a century, the blood of man was poured out so lavishly. England possessed North America under the name of a colony ; Spain, under the same name, possessed South America ; France possessed the principal Antilles, or islands of the West Indies, and, indeed, the finest of all, in St. Domingo. England and France disputed for India. Each of these powers imposed upon its colonies the obligation not to export, save to itself, the tropical productions, nor to receive but from itself the productions of Europe, and only to admit its vessels, and bring up seamen solely for its own marine. Each colony was thus a plantation, a market, and a close port. England wished to draw exclusively from her provinces of America the sugars, the timber, and the raw cotton which she wanted ; Spain would only permit herself to extract from Mexico and Peru the rich metals so desired in all countries ; England and France wished to domineer in India ; to export thence the cotton thread, the muslins, and the calicoes, objects universally coveted ; they desired to fur- nish their own productions in exchange, and to carry on that trade solely under their own flags. At this day these ardent desires of the nations have given place to others. The sugar which it was necessary to extract from a plant indigenous to and cultivated in a land under the hottest sun, is taken from a plant cultivated on the Elbe and Escaut. The cottons woven with such skill and patience by Indian hands, are woven in Europe by machines, which are set in movement by the combustion of fossil coal. Muslin is woven in the mountains of Switzerland and of Forez. Calicoes woven in Scotland, Ireland, Normandy, and Flan- ders, printed in Alsace, fill America, and spread over the world even as far as the Indies. Except coffee and tea, productions which art is unable to imitate, all these things are equalled in excellence, if not surpassed. European chemistry has already replaced most of the colouring materials which were once sought for under the tropics. Metals are produced from the sides of the European mountains. Gold is brought from Oural ; and Spain begins to find silver in her own bosom. A great political revolution has formed a conjunction with these revolutions of industry. France favoured the insurrection of the English colonies of North America ; England contributed in return to the insurrection of the colonies in South America. Both the one and the other are either great nations, or are destined to become so. Under the influence of the same causes an African society, the state of which is hid in the future, has de- veloped itself in St. Domingo. Finally, India, under the sway of England, is no other than a conquest ruined by the progress of European in- dustry, and employed in supporting a number of officers, clerks, and magistrates from the mother country. In our days, nations desire to produce j every thing for themselves. To make their neigh- i bours possessing less skill, accept the excess of their productions, and not to be satisfied to borrow more than the raw material, even searching to obtain the material as near as possible to the limits of their own territory : witness the efforts making to naturalize cotton in Egypt and Algiers. To the grand spectacle of colonial ambition there has succeeded, in this manner, a spectacle of manufacturing ambition. Thus the world changes without ceasing, and each stage stands in need of some efforts of memory and of intelligence to com- prehend that which preceded it. This immense, industrious, and commercial re- volution, commenced under Louis XVI. with the American war, was completed under Napoleon by the continental blockade. The long contest of England and France had been the principal cause ; because, while the first wished to monopolize to herself all the exotic productions, the second avenged herself by imitating them. The inspirer of this imitation was Napoleon, of whom the destiny was thus marked out to renew, under every bearing, the face of the world. But before throwing France upon the continental and manu- facturing system, as he did at a later tune, Na- poleon, the consul, full of the ideas of the age which was just completed, more confident in the French marine than be ever was afterwards, at- tempted vast enterprises in order to restore the colonial prosperity of France. This prosperity had been formerly great enough to justify the regrets and attempts of which it was then the object. In 1787, France drew from her colonies to the value of 250,000,000 f. per annum, in sugar, coffee, cotton, indigo, and similar productions. She consumed herself from 80,000,000f. to 100,000,000f., and re-exported 150,000,000f. This she disposed of all over Europe, principally in the form of re- fined sugar. It would be needful to double this amount in value to find its correspondent worth in the present day; and most assuredly the colonies were deserving of esteem, and should be placed in the first rank of the national interests, that thus could furnish a sum of 500,000,000 f. to commerce. France discovered in this commerce a means of attracting to herself a portion of the money of Spain, that gave her silver in exchange for colonial and manufactured productions. At the time of which mention is now making, that is to say, in 1802, France, deprived of colonial produce, and more particularly of sugar and coffee, not having enough even for her own use, demanded it of the Americans, the Hanseatic towns, of Holland, Genoa, and, after the peace, of the English. She paid for them in bullion, not having as yet in her in- dustry, scarcely re-established, the means to pay in the produce of her manufactures. Money having never, since the asaignats, reappeared with its former abundance, was often wanting ; which was shown by the continual efforts of the new bank to acquire the dollars which got out of Spain in a contraband manner. Thus there was nothing more common among the merchants and commercial classes, than to hear complaints upon the rarity of money, and on the inconvenience of purchasing with money, the sugar and coffee formerly drawn from the French colonies. This kind of language must, without doubt, be attributed to some erro- neous ideas about the mode of establishing the balance of commerce. But it must be attributed also to a real fact, namely, the difficulty of pro- curing colonial produce, and the yet greater diffi- culty of paying for either in money, become scarce since the assignats, or in the still less abundant produce of French industry. EC 2 42C The French West Indies THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. and their prwlu^ls 1301. Feb. Tf there be added to this, the numerous colonists formerly rich, now ruined, who at that time filled Paris, and joined their complaints to those of the emigrants, it will be easy to have a complete idea of the motives which moved the mind of the first consul, and directed his attention towards great colonial enterprises. It was under these powerful influences, that he had given to Charles IV. Etruria, in order to possess Louisiana. The con- ditions of the contract were accomplished upon his side, when the infants were placed upon the throne of Etruria, and acknowledged by all the continental powers; he now wished that the con- ditions should be accomplished on the side of Charles IV., and he demanded that Louisiana should be immediately delivered to France. An expedition of two vessels and of several frigates was assembled in the waters of Holland, at Hel- voetsluys, to carry troops to the mouth of the Mis- sissippi, and place that fine country under the dominion of France. The first consul, having to dispose of the duchy of Parma, was ready to cede it to Spain for the Floridas, and for the abandon- ment of a small part of Tuscany, the Siennese, which he wished to have as an indemnity for the king of Piedmont. The indiscretion of the Spanish government having suffered the knowledge of these i details of the negotiations to become known to the | English ambassador, the jealousy of England sup- plied a thousand obstacles to the conclusion of this new contract. The first consul at the same time occupied himself with India, and had confided the government of Pondicherry and of Chandernagore to one of the most valiant officers of the army of the Rhine, general Decaen. This officer, whose intelligence equalled his courage, and who was adapted to the greatest enterprises, had been selected for the purpose, and sent to India, under far-seeing and profound views. The English, the first consul had said to general Decaen, in ad- dressing to him his admirable instructions, the English were the masters of the Indian continent; they were restless and jealous in that country; he must not give them any offence, but conduct him- self with mildness and plainness, to support hi those countries every thing that honour allows to be supported ; not to have with the neighbouring princes any relations but what were indispensable to the entertainment of the French troops, and the objects of the factories. " But," added the first consul, " it is necessary to observe the con- duct of these princes and people, who resign themselves with grief to the English yoke ; to study their manners, their resources, and the means of communicating with them in case of a war ; to inquire out what European army would be necessary to aid them to shake off the domi- nation of the English ; with what materiel such an army should be provided; what, above all, should be the means of subsisting it; to discover the port which would be best adapted for the place of embarka- tion of a fleet carrying troops ; to calculate the time and means necessary to take such a port by a coup de main ; to digest, after six months' re- sidence in the country, a first memoir upon these different questions; to send by an officer intelligent and capable of being relied upon, who having seen every thing, is capable of adding verbal explana- tions to the written ones of which he will be the bearer; six months afterwards to be able still to throw light upon these same points, according to the knowledge newly obtained, and to send this other memoir by a second officer, equally sure and intelligent; in order to recommence the same work and the same kind of envoy every six months; to weigh well, in getting up the memoirs, the value of every expression, because a single word might, it was possible, have an influence in forming the gi'avest resolutions ; finally, in case of a war, to act according to circumstances, either to remain in Hindostan or to withdraw to the Isle of France, sending several light vessels to the mother country, to make known the determination come to by the captain-general." Such were the instructions given to general Decaen, in the view, not of rekindling the war, but to profit ably by war, if it should be declared anew. But the greatest efforts of the first consul were directed towards the Antilles, the principal seat of the colonial power of France. It was with Mar- tinique, Guadaloupe, and St. Domingo, that French commerce had formerly kept up its most advan- tageous relations. St. Domingo, above all, figured for three-fifths, at least, in the 250,000,000 f. which France formerly drew from her colonies. St. Do- mingo was then the most desired, and most envied of all the French possessions beyond the seas. Martinique had been fortunate enough to escape the consequences of the negro revolt ; but Guadaloupe and St. Domingo had been overturned from the foundation, and nothing less than an entire army was necessary to establish there, not slavery again, which was become impossible, at least in St. Do- mingo, but the legitimate dominion of the mother country. In this island, a hundred leagues long and thirty wide, happily situated at the entrance of the Gulf of Mexico, resplendent in fertility, adapted to the culture of sugar, coffee, and indigo ; on this magnificent island twenty and some odd thousand whites were proprietors of estates. Twenty and some thousand free men of colour, and four hun- dred thousand slaves cultivated the ground, and drew from the soil an amazing profusion of colonial produce, valued at 1 50,000,000 f., which thirty thousand French seamen were employed to transport to Europe, in order to exchange it for a proportional value in the productions of the national industry. What should we think at the present day of a colony which should give France 300,000,000 f. in produce, and procure for the country 300,000,000 f. in value of exports, since 150,000,000 f. in 1789, answers at least to 300,000,000 f. in 1845 ? Unhappily, among these whites, mulattos, and blacks, violent passions be- came at work, owing to the climate, and to a state of society in which the two social extremes met arrogant riches, and horrible slavery. There were never seen in any colony whites so opulent and so infatuated ; mulattos so jealous of the superiority of the white races ; nor blacks so determined to fling off the yoke both of one and the other. The opinions professed at Paris in the constituent as- sembly, being again repeated in the midst of the passions natural to such a country, could not fail to provoke a frightful tempest, like the storms which are caused in the sea by the sudden meet- ing of contrai-y winds. The whites and mulattos 1802. Feb. The French West Indies RUPTURE OF THE PEACE OF AMIENS. and their produeti. 421 were scarcely sufficient to defend themselves if they had been united, they were divided; and after having communicated to the blacks the contagion of their passions, they had brought them to an open insurrection. They had undergone at first their cruelty, then their triumph, and, lastly, their domination. There had then come to pass that which happens in all societies where there arises a war against classes ; the first had been vanquished by the second ; the first and second by the third. But there was the difference here, not seen in such cases elsewhere, they all bore on their visages the marks of their different origins ; their hatred was similar to that connected with the violence of physical instinct, and their rage was as brutal and ferocious as that of the most savage animals. Thus the horrors of this revolution in St. Domingo had far surpassed all that had been seen in France in 1793, and despite the distance which commonly attenuates sensation, Europe, so deeply stricken by the spectacles which had been witnessed on the continent, had been profoundly moved by the un- paralleled atrocities, to which imprudent masters, sometimes themselves cruel, provoked the fero- cious slaves. The laws of society, every where the same, gave birth here as elsewhere, after long storms, to that fatigue, which calls for a master to rule, a superior intelligence, proper to become a leader. Such a master was found who wore the black colour of the triumphant race. He was called Toussaint Louverture. He was an old slave, not having the generous audacity of Spar- tacus, but possessing deep dissimulation, and a talent for government, altogether of the most extraordinary kind. A middling soldier, knowing more or less of the art of laying ambuscades in a country difficult of access, and even inferior to some of his lieutenants in this respect, according to report, had by his intelligence and skill in directing the entire mass of public affairs, ac- quired a prodigious ascendancy. This barbarous race, which it had been the will of Europeans to con- temn, was proud to have in its ranks a being of whom the whites themselves acknowledged the powerful mental faculties. It saw in him a living claim to freedom, and to the consideration of other men. Thus did he accept the iron yoke of toil, a hundred times heavier than that of the old colonists, and endure the hard obligation to labour, an obligation which, in a state of slavery, was that which he had most detested. This black slave become dictator, had re-established at St. Do- mingo a tolerable state of society, and accom- plished things which one might venture to call grand, if the theatre had been different, and if they had been less ephemeral. Upon this land of St. Domingo, as in every country that is a prey to a civil war, there was a division made between the race of soldiers fit for arms, and attached to the profession, and the labouring race, less given to conflicts, easy to bring back to labour, and ready to fling itself anew upon danger if the public freedom should be threatened. Very naturally the first class was ten times less numerous than the second. Toussaint Louverture composed with the first of these classes a permanent army of about twenty thousand men, organised in demi- brigades, on the model of the French armies, having black officers, with some mulattos and whites. This force, well fed and paid, sufficiently formidable under, a climate which they alone were able to sustain, and upon a broken surface covered with brushwood, tough and full of thorns, was formed into several divisions, and commanded by generals of his own colour, the greater part intelligent enough, but more ferocious than intelligent ; such were Chris- tophe, Dessalines, MoYse, Maurepas, and Laplume. All were devoted to Toussaint ; they acknow- ledged his genius, and submitted to his authority. The rest of the population, under the name of cultivators, had been recalled to labour. They kept their muskets, which might serve them hi case of need, or if the mother country should make an attempt upon their liberty ; but they were constrained to return to the plantations abandoned by the colonists. Toussaint had proclaimed them free, but obliged them to labour five years more upon the estates of their old masters, with a claim to one-fourth of the raw produce. The white proprietors had been encouraged to return, even those who, in a moment of despair, had associated themselves with the attempt of the English upon St. Domingo. They had been well received, and obtained their habitations again, covered with negroes, who called themselves free, to whom they abandoned, according to the regu- lation of Toussaint, a fourth of the raw produce, valued in usage in the most arbitrary manner. A considerable number of the former rich proprietors i of estates, whether they had fallen in the troubles of the colony, or whether they had emigrated with the old French nobility, of which they had been a part, had neither reappeared nor sent delegates. Their property sequestered, as the national do- mains had been in France, had been confirmed to black officers, at a price which easily allowed them to enrich themselves. Certain generals, as Chris- tophe and Dessalines, had acquired in this manner more than a million of francs in annual revenue. These black officers had the quality given them of inspectors of culture, in the arrondissement where they happened to command. They made continual turns of inspection under this duty, and they treated the negroes with a severity peculiar to new masters. Sometimes they watched to see that justice was rendered them by the colonists ; but more commonly they condemned them to be flogged for idleness or insubordination, and they kept up a species of continued hunt, with the object of making those return to culture who had contracted a taste for vagabondage. Frequent inspections in the parishes procured a knowledge of what cultivators had left their original habita- tions, and thus was furnished the means to bring them back. Often even Christophe and Dessalines had them hung under their own eyes. Thus the culture of the land recommenced with incredible activity under the new chiefs, who employed to their own profit the submission of the blacks pre- tending to be free; nor is it right to contemn such a scene, because these chiefs knew how to im- pose labour upon their own kind, even for their own exclusive advantage ; the negroes knowing how to submit, without any great benefit to them- selves, were indemnified solely by the idea that they were free. This feeling inspires more esteem than the sight of an ignoble and barbarous idle- 422 Prosperity of St. Domingo THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. under the blacks. .'402. Feb. ness, given by the negroes left to themselves, iu the colonies recently emancipated. Thanks to the order established by Toussaint, the greater part of the forsaken habitations had been again occupied, and in 1801, after ten years of trouble, the island of St. Domingo, watered with so much blood, offered an aspect of fertility very nearly equal to that which it presented in 1789. Toussaint, independent of France, had given to the colony a freedom of commerce very nearly perfect. Such a state of liberty, dangerous in colonies of only a middling fertility, that produce little at a high cost, and therefore have an interest in taking the produce of the mother country for the object of her taking theirs such a state of liberty is excellent, on the contrary, for a rich and fertile colony, having no need of any favour for the debit of her productions, and interested from that circum- stance in treating freely with all nations, and in seeking objects of necessity or of luxury, where they are best to be had, and at the lowest cost. This was the case at St. Domingo. The island had felt the effects of the free presence of foreign flags, more particularly that of America, and found it of infinite advantage. Provisions were abundant ; the merchandise of Europe was sold there at a good price ; and the productions of the island were taken off by purchase the moment they appeared in the market. In addition to this, the new colo- nists, some black, become what they were by the insurrection ; others, white persons reinstated, all free from their engagements towards the capi- talists of the mother country, were not, like the old colonists of 1789, borne down by debts, and obliged to deduct from their profits the interest of enor- mous borrowed capitals. They were more opulent with the less property. The towns of the Cape, of Port-au-Prince, of St. Mark, and Cayes, had recovered a species of splendour. The traces of the war were nearly obliterated ; there were seen in most of them elegant dwellings, constructed for the black officers, inhabited by them, and resem- bling in all respects the fine houses of the old white proprietors of the island, formerly so arro- gant, so renowned by their luxury and their fall. The chief black of the colony had put the finish to the recent prosperity, by the bold occupation of the Spanish part of St. Domingo. This island was formerly divided lengthways into two parts, of which one to the east, first presenting itself on coming from Europe, belonged to the Spaniards ; the other part, placed to the west, turning towards Cuba and the interior of the Gulf of Mexico, be- longed to the French. This western part, com- posed of two advanced promontories, which formed besides a vast interior gulf, a multitude of roads and small ports, was better fitted for planta- tions than the other, as they have need to be situated near the places of embai-kation. Thus it was covered with rich establishments. The Span- ish part, on the other hand, little mountainous, presented few gulfs or inlets, and contained fewer sugar and coffee plantations ; but in return, it fed numerous herds, horses, and mules. United, these two portions of the island were capable of render- ing a great service to each other, while separated by an exclusive colonial government, they were like two isles far distant, one having that of" which the other stood in need, and yet not being able to help each other from their want of proximity. Toussaint, after having expelled the English, had turned all his ideas towards the occupation of the Spanish part of the island. Affecting a scrupulous submission to the mother country, every thing was conducted according to his sole will; he was armed with the treaty of Bale, by which Spain ceded to France the possession of the whole of the island of St. Domingo, and he had summoned the authorities of Spain to deliver up to him the province which they had still retained. He found at the moment a French commissioner at St. Domingo, because since the revolution, the mother country had not been represented in the island, except by such commissioners, who were scarcely listened to. This agent, dreading the complications which might result in Europe from such a step, and besides, not having received from France any order upon the subject, had uselessly endeavoured to combat this resolution of Toussaint. The last, taking little account of the objections which were addressed to him, had put in movement all the divisions of his army, and had demanded from the Spanish authorities, incapable of the smallest re- sistance, the keys of Santo-Domingo. The keys had been sent to him, and he proceeded himself at once to take possession of all the towns, under no other title than that of the representative of France, but comporting himself in reality as a sovereign, and making himself be received in the churches with holy water and the dais. The union of the two different parts of the island under one government had produced great and instantaneous results in favour of trade and interior good order. The French part, abundantly provided with all the products of the two worlds, had given a considerable quantity to the Spanish colonies, in exchange for cattle, mules, and horses, of which it had great need. At the same time, the negroes who wished to withdraw from labour, by becoming wandering vagabonds, no longer found in the Span- ish part of the island an asylum against the unceas- ing researches of the black police. It was by these united means that Toussaint had made the colony again flourish in the space of two years. No one could have had an exact idea of his system of policy, if it had not been known at the same time how he conducted himself between France and England. This slave, become free and a sovereign in power, preserved at the bottom of his heart an involuntary sympathy for the nation whose chains he had borne, and felt a great repug- nance to see the English in St. Domingo. Thus he made noble efforts to expel them, and in this he succeeded. His political comprehension, profound, though uncultivated, confirmed him in his natural sentiments, and made him understand that the English were the most dangerous masters, because they possessed a maritime power which rendered their authority over the island effective and abso- lute. He would not, therefore, at any price, sub- mit to their rule. The English, on evacuating Port-au-Prince, had offered him the royal power in St. Domingo, and the immediate acknowledg- ment of that power, if he would consent to insure to them the commerce of the colony. He had refused this, whether because he still clung fast to the mother country, or whether, affrighted at the news of the peace, he feared a French expo- 1802. Feb. Character of RUPTURE OF THE PEACE OF AMIENS. Touwaint Louvertnre. 423 dition, capable of reducing his royalty to a cipher, is not known. Besides the vanity of belonging to the first military nation in the world, the secret gratification to be a general in the service of France, under the hand even of the first consul himself, had taken away Toussaint from all the offers of the English. He wished then to remain French, to hold the English at a distance, but to live peacefully with them ; to acknowledge the nominal authority of France, and to obey her just so far as not to provoke any display of her forces ; such was the policy of this singular man. He had received commissioners from the directory, and they had sent him men, particularly general He"- douville, pretending that they had overlooked the interests of the mother country, while they re- quested of him things that could not be expected, or that were unfortunate for her interests. His policy within was not less worthy of atten- tion than his policy out of the island. His manner of acting towards all classes of inhabitants, blacks, whites, or mulattos, answered to that about to be described. He detested the mulattos, because they bordered more upon his own race, and on the con- trary, took extreme care to make much of the whites, provided that he obtained a few testi- monies of their esteem, which made him feel that his genius caused his colour to be forgotten. He ex- hibited in this regard the vanity of a black upstart, of which all the vanity of the white upstarts of the old world cannot afford an idea. As to the blacks, he treated them with incredible sererity, but still with a due attention to justice ; he made use of religion, which he professed with great energy, and above all, he spoke of liberty, which he pro- mised to defend, even to death. Of this indeed, he was for all men of his colour the glorious image, because there was seen in him that which, through liberty, a negro might become. His savage eloquence charmed his nation. From the elevation of the pulpit, where he often mounted, he spoke to them of God, of the equality of the human races, and in speaking of them, used the strangest and most happy similitudes. One day, for example, wishing to give them confidence in themselves, he filled a glass with grains of black maise, and mingling with them some grains of white, he then shook the glass, and made them remark how quickly the white grains disappeared among tlie black ones: "There," he said, "are the whites in the midst of you. Work ; secure your well-being by your labour ; and if the whites of the mother country wish to take from us our liberty, we will resume our muskets again, and we shall again vanquish them." Reverenced for these motives, he was at the same time feared for his extraordinary vigilance. Endowed with a sur- prising activity for his age, he had placed in the interior of the island relays of extremely fleet horses, and thus he transported himself, followed by several guards, with prodigious rapidity, from one part of the island to another, sometimes making forty leagues on horseback on the same day, coming to punish, like a thunder- clap, the oft'ence of which he had received an account. Far-seeing and avaricious, he made hoards of arms and money in the mountains of the interior, where he buried them, it is said, in a place called the " Momes du Chaos," near a habitation which had become his ordinary dwelling. These were resources for a coming time of combat, which he did not cease to regard as probable and even ap- proaching. Attached continually to imitating the first consul, he gave himself a guard, and an enclosed circle, with a sort of princely dwelling. He re- ceived in this dwelling the proprietors of land of all colours, above all the whites, and used the blacks roughly who had not a bearing and manner sufficiently good. Frightful to the sight, even under his dress of a lieutenant-general, he had his flatterers, and his complaisant courtiers ; and a thing melancholy to state, he obtained more than once the white females belonging to the oldest and wealthiest families in the island, who gave up their persons to him in order to benefit by his pro- tection. His courtiers persuaded him that he was in America the equal to Bonaparte in Europe, and that he ought to occupy the same situation. At the time when he heard of the signature of the peace in Europe, and that he began to foresee the re-establishment of the authority of the mother country, he hastened to invoke a council in the colony, for the purpose of digesting a constitution. This council assembled, and did, in fact, draw up the scheme of a constitution, that was sufficiently ridiculous. According to the dispositions of this crude work, the council of the colony decreed all the laws, the governor-general sanctioned them, and fulfilled the duties of the executive power in full plenitude. Toussaint was naturally nominated governor-general, governor for life, with the power of designating his successor. This imitation of what had been done in France could not be plainer nor more puerile. As to the authority of the mother country, that was no longer a question of any moment. The constitution alone was to be submitted to it for approval, but that approbation being once given, the mother country had no longer any power over the colony, because the laws were enacted by the council. Toussaint governed, and was able, whenever he saw fit, to deprive the commerce of France of every advantage it might possess at the time; thus the state of things, which at that moment existed, and which the war had rendered excusable, was that which could not be tolerated for any longer time. When it was de- manded of Toussaint what were the relations be- tween St. Domingo and France, he replied, " The first consul will send commissioners to have a conference with me." All his wiser friends, and more especially colonel Francis Vincent, who had under his care the management of the fortifica- tions, gave him advice in regard to the danger incurred by this course of conduct, telling him that he should defend himself from flatterers of every colour, that he would provoke the sending of a French expedition to the island, and that he would fall before it. The self-love of this slave then be- come his dictator, carried him away completely. He would have it, as he said, that the first of the blacks should be, both by right and fact, at St. Domingo, that which the first of the whites was in France, in other words, that he should be chief for life, with the power of naming his successor. He despatched colonel Vincent to Europe, with the view of explaining, and making the first consul agree to his new constitutional establishment. He demanded besides, the confirmation of all the mili- 434 The expedition arrives TRIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. at St. Domingo. 1S02. Feb. tary grades which had been conferred upon the black officers. This imitation of his own greatness, and this pre- tension to an assimilation with himself, made the first consul smile, and had not, it may be supposed, any effect upon his resolutions. He was ready to let himself be called the first of the whites, by him who called himself the first of the blacks, on the condition, that the tie of the colony with the mo- ther country should be that of obedience, and that the ownership of the island, which had been French for centuries, should be real, and not nominal. To confirm the military grades that belonged to the black officers, was, in the eyes of the first consul, a point of no difficulty. He confirmed them all, and made Toussaint a lieutenant-general, and com- mandant of St. Domingo for France. But the first consul would have there a captain-general, to whom Toussaint should be the first lieutenant ; without this condition St. Domingo could no longer be any thing more to France than it was at that moment. He resolved, therefore, to send out a general and an army. The colony had begun to flourish again ; and it was now worth all which it had been worth in times gone by ; the colonists in Paris demanded their property with loud entreaties; peace was at present enjoyed, it might not be for a very long time; there were plenty of idle troops, and of officers full of spirit, who only wanted an occasion to be on active service, no matter in what part of the world; he could not therefore resign himself to see such a fine possession slip out of the hands of France, without some attempt to retain it by means of the forces at his disposal. Such were the motives of the expedition of which the departure has already been stated. General Leclerc, the brother-in-law of the first consul, received his in- structions how to manage with Toussaint; to offer him the post of lieutenant of France in the island, the confirmation of the rank and property acquired by his officers, a guarantee for the freedom of the blacks, but all with the authority of the mother country, represented by the captain-general. In order to prove to Toussaint the fair intentions of the government, his two sons, who were educated in France, were sent over to him at the same time, together with their preceptor, M. Coisnon. To this the first consul added a noble and flattering letter, in which, treating Toussaint as the first man of his race, he appeared to lend himself, in a kind way, to a comparison between the pacificator of France and him of St. Domingo. But the first consul had provided against re- sistance to his intentions, and every measure was taken to conquer obstacles, if necessary, by main force. If he had been less impatient to profit by the signature of the preliminaries of peace, in order to pass the seas, now become free, the squadrons would have been obliged to wait for one another in some convenient place, in order that they might arrive altogether at St. Domingo, and thus have surprised Toussaint before he could place himself in a posture for defence. Unfortunately, in the uncertainty in which they were at the mo- ment of the expedition, about the signature of the definitive treaty of peace, it was necessary to send the vessels from the ports of Brest, Rochefort, Cadiz, and Toulon, without obliging them to wait for each other, and with an order to arrive as soon as pos- sible at the place of their destination. Admiral Villaret Joyeuse, sailing from Brest and 1'Orient with sixteen vessels, and a force of about seven or eight thousand men, had received orders to cruise some time in the Gulf of Gascony, in order to attempt a junction, if possible, with admiral Latouche Tre- ville, who was to sail from Rochefort with six ships, six frigates, and three or four thousand men. Admiral Villaret, if unable to meet and join admiral Latouche, was to pass on to the Canary Islands, in order to discover there, if possible, the division of admiral Linois coming from Cadiz, and the division of Ganteaume, which was to sail from Toulon, both the one and the other, with a convoy of troops. He was, lastly, to visit the Bay of Samana, the first presenting itself to a squadron arriving from Eu- rope. / fc' 1 ' In conformity to the orders which they had thus received, the different squadrons searching for each other without losing time in uniting, arrived at different periods at the common rendezvous at Samana. Admiral Villaret appeared there on the 29th of January, 1802. Admiral Latouche followed close after. The divisions which had sailed from Cadiz and Toulon did not reach St. Domingo until a very considerable time afterwards. But admiral Villaret, with the squadrons from Brest and 1'Orient, and admiral Latouche Treville, with the squadron from Rochefort, did not carry less than eleven or twelve thousand men. After a conference with the commanders of the fleet, the captain-general Le- clerc thought that it was of the utmost importance not to lose time, and that it was the best course to present themselves before all the ports at once, in order to seize upon th colony before giving Tous- saint time to take measures upon his own part. Moreover, many tidings coming from the Antilles, gave the expedition ground to fear a reception by no means of an amicable character. In consequence of these impressions, general Kerversau, with two thousand men embarked in frigates, was ordered to appear before the town of Santo-Domingo, the capital of the Spanish part of the islands. Admiral Latouche Treville, with his squadron, which carried the division of general Boudet, was to attempt Port-au-Prince ; lastly, the captain-general himself, with the squadron of admiral Villaret, was to make sail for the Cape, and obtain possession of it. The French part comprehends, with a considerable portion of the island, the two promontories which, advancing westwards, divide it into the departments of the north, west, and south. In the department of the north, the principal part was the Cape, as well as the chief place ; in the department of the west it was Port-au-Prince. The Cayes and Jacmel were rivals in riches and influence in the south. In occupying Santo-Domingo for the Spanish part, with the Cape and Port-au-Prince for the French, nearly the whole island was kept in hand, except, it is true, the mountains of the interior, a conquest of which time alone could insure the achievement. These naval divisions next quitted the bay where they had been moored, in order to proceed to their appointed destinations during the first days of February. Toussaint, informed that a great number of vessels were anchored in the bay of Samana, proceeded thither in person, in order to judge with his own eyes of the danger with which 1802. Feb. heex P 2dii:on:aads RUPTURE OF THE PEACE OF AMIENS. in St. Domingo. 425 he was thus threatened. No longer doubting, at the sight of the French squadron, the lot which had fallen to him, he took the resolution of having recourse to the last extremities sooner than submit to the authority of the mother country. He was assured that the negroes would not be again dragged into slavery ; he was not himself possessed with such a belief ; but he thought that they might place themselves in allegiance to France, and this motive sufficed him to decide upon resistance. He resolved, in consequence, to persuade the blacks that their liberty was in danger, to bring them back from agriculture to war, to ravage the maritime towns, massacre the whites, burn the houses, and then retire to the Mornes, a name given to mountains of a peculiar form, with which the French part of the island was every where covered, and to wait in those retreats until the climate weakened the whites so, that they might be able to fall upon them and complete their ex- termination. Moreover, hoping to stop the French army by simple menaces, perhaps also fearing, if he too early commanded the performance of atro- cious actions, he should not be punctually obeyed by the black chiefs, who, following his example, had imbibed a taste for forming connexions with the whites, he ordered his officers to answer to the first summons of the squadron, that they had no orders to receive those on board ; that then, if they insisted on landing, to threaten them, in such a case, with the total destruction of the towns, and, finally, if the disembarkation was effected, to destroy every thing, massacre all around them, and retire into the interior of the island. Such were the orders given to Christophe, who governed in the north, to the ferocious Dessalines, chief in the west, and to Laplume, a more humane black, commanding in the south. The squadron of Villaret having arrived as far as Monte Christo, demanded pilots to take the ships into the roads of Fort Dauphin and the Cape, but had great trouble to procure them. Detaching the division of Magon towards Fort Dauphin, it arrived on the 3rd of February, or 14th Pluviose, before the Cape. All the drawbridges were ele- vated, the forts armed, and a disposition to resist every where demonstrable. A frigate, sent to effect a communication with the land, received the answer which Toussaint had dictated. He had no instructions, was the reply of Christophe ; he must await an answer from the comraander-in- chief, who was at that moment absent ; he would resist by fire and massacre every attempt at dis- embarkation by main force. The municipality of the Cape, consisting of whites and men of colour, went to express their terror to the captain-general Leclerc. They were, at the same time, happy to see the soldiers of the mother country arrive, and yet full of fear in considering the fearful threats of Christophe. The mind of the captain- general was much agitated, in finding himself placed under the necessity of fulfilling his mission, and at the same time exposing the white French population to the fury of the blacks. He reflected, lie must land at all events. He therefore pro- mised the inhabitants of the Cape that he would act with promptitude and vigour, in such a manner as to surprise Christophe, and not leave him time to fulfil his horrible instructions. He exhorted them strongly to arm in order to defend their persons and property, and he sent on shore a pro- clamation of the first consul, designed to make the blacks acquainted with the object of the expe- dition. It became necessary afterwards to bear seawards in consequence of the state of the wind, which in that latitude is perfectly regular. The captain- general, once out at sea, arranged a plan of dis- embarkation with admiral Villaret-Joyeuse. This plan consisted in placing the troops in the frigates, and landing them in the environs of the Cape, beyond the heights which command the town, near a place called the embarking place of Limbe* ; then, while they attempted to turn the town of the Cape, to penetrate with the squadron into the passes, and thus to make at once a double attack by sea and land. It was hoped, that in acting with great celerity the town would be taken before Christophe had time to realise his sinister threats. Captain Magon and general Rochambeau, if they succeeded at Fort Dauphin, which they were ordered to occupy, were to second the movements of the captain-general. On the following day the troops were transferred to the frigate's and light vessels, and they were landed near the embarking place of Limbe. This operation took up the whole day. The day follow- ing, the troops moved on their march to turn the town, and the squadron became engaged in the passages. Two vessels, the Patriot and Scipio, anchored before the Fort Picolet, which fired red- hot shot, were soon reduced to silence. The day was advanced ; the land breeze, which in the evening succeeded that from the sea, obliged the squadron to move again to sea, not to approach the land until the morning. While they thus stood out they had the grief to see a red light rise above the waves, and in a little time the flames had destroyed the town of the Cape. Christophe, al- though less ferocious than his commander, had still obeyed his orders ; he had set fire to the principal quarters, and limiting himself to the massacre of a few whites, he obliged the others to follow him to the Mornes. While a part of these unfortunate whites expired under the swords of the negroes, or were carried away by them, the rest, following the municipality in a body, had escaped from Chris- tophe, and sought for security by throwing themselves into the hands of the French army. The anxiety was great during that horrible night among the unfortunate persons exposed to so many dangers, and among the troops on sea and land, who saw the town on fire, and the frightful situation of their countrymen, without the power of getting to their succour '. The day following, being the 6th of February, while general Leclerc marched from all parts upon the Cape, turning the heights, the admiral set sail towards the port, and getting there, dropped anchor. All resistance had ceased by the retreat of the negroes. He immediately disembarked twelve hundred seamen under the command of i Nothing can exhibit more the inferiority of the French in naval affairs than this landing at the Cape. It is worthy of being compared by the reader with the landing of the English army in Egypt, see page 249, where two divisions of 6000 men each were landed in one day, with their artillery, in face of a French army, at two disembarkations. Tram. 426 Leclerc lands at the Cape. TRIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. Cape Tov*a burned. 1802. Feb. general Humbert, in order to succour the town and snatch the wrecks from the fury of the blacks, while a connexion was thus kept up with the captain-general. The last arrived on his side, without being able to meet Christophe, who had already taken flight. They found that part of the inhabitants which had followed the municipality wandering about and cast down, but they were soon restored to joy on seeing themselves promptly aided and definitively saved from the danger which threatened them. They ran to the burning houses. The marine force helped to extinguish the fire, while the troops pursued Christophe into the country. This pursuit, actively followed up, pre- vented* the blacks from destroying the rich dwell- ings on the plains of the Cape, and enabled the French to save from the enemy a number of whites whom they had not time to carry away with them. While these events were passing at the Cape, the brave captain Magon had disembarked the division of Rochambeau at the entrance of the bay of Mancenille ; he then penetrated with his ves- sels into the same bay, to second the movement of .the troops. This vigorous conduct, which already presaged that which he exhibited at Trafalgar, concurred so well with the attack of Rochambeau's division, that they were enabled to take Fort Dauphin so suddenly, as to be masters of it before the negroes were able to commit any ravages. This second disembarkment achieved the work of driving the enemy from the environs of the Cape, and obliging Christophe to retire at once into the Mornes. The captain-general Leclerc was established in the town of the Cape, where the fire had been ex- tinguished. Happily the disaster had not corre- sponded to the fearful menaces of the lieutenant of Toussaint. The sole fact was that the houses had been burned. The number of whites massacred was not so great as there was at first reason to apprehend. Many of them came back again suc- cessively accompanied by their servants, who had remained faithful to them. The rage of the black hordes was above all glutted by the plunder of the rich magazines of the town. The troops and popu- lation employed themselves in the best way they were able to efface the traces of the ruin wrought by the fire. An appeal was made to the husbandry negroes, who were tired of the life of ravage and bloodshed in which their countrymen would involve them anew, and a number of them were now seen to return to their masters and to their accustomed labours. In a few days the town resumed a cer- tain air of order and activity. The captain-gene- ral then sent vessels towards the continent of America, to endeavour to procure provisions, and replace the resources which had been destroyed. During this interval the squadron of admiral Latouche Treville, which had gone to the west, had doubled the point of the island, and had come before the bay of Port-au-Prince, in order to dis- embark a division of the troops there. A white, engaged in the service of the blacks, named Agf, an officer full of good feeling, commanded at that place in the absence of Dessalines, residing at St. Mure. His repugnance to execute the orders he had received, the vigour of admiral Latouche Tre- ville, the promptitude of general Boudet, the good fortune, in fact, that favoured this part of the ope- rations, saved the town of Port-au-Prince from the misfortunes which had befallen that of the Cape. Latouche Treville ordered rafts to be constructed armed with artillery, then getting the troops dis- embarked suddenly at the point of Lamentin, he made sail in all haste towards Port-au-Prince. During this quick movement of the vessels, the troops on their side advanced upon the town. The fort of Bizoton lay in their road. They approached it without firing : " Let us kill without firing, if possible," said general Boudet, " in order to pre- vent a collision, and save if we are able our un- happy countrymen from the fury of the blacks." It was, in fact, the sole means to avoid the mas- sacre with which the whites were threatened. The black garrison of the Fort Bizoton, on seeing the amicable and resolute attitude of the French troops, surrendered, and took their place in the ranks of the division of Boudet. They arrived at Port-au-Prince at the same time as admiral La- touche Treville approached it with his vessels. Four thousand blacks formed the garrison there. From the heights on which the army marched the blacks were seen lining the principal forts, or posted in advance of the walls. General Boudet ordered the town to be turned by two battalions, and with the main body of his force marched upon the redoubts which covered it : " We are friends," the nearest black troops cried out, " do not fire ! " Trusting in these exclamations, the French soldiers advanced with their arms on their shoulders. But a discharge of musketry and grape, given nearly at the muzzle, struck down two hundred among them, some killed, others wounded. The gallant general Pamphile Lacroix was in the number of the last. The French instantly sprung on these miserable blacks with the bayonet, and immolated all those that had not time to make their escape. Admiral Latouche, who, during the passage had said without ceasing to the generals of the army, that a squadron was by its fire superior to any land position, and that he would soon convince them of it, placed himself under the batteries of the blacks, and in a few moments succeeded in silencing them. The blacks cannonaded so near, and assailed in the streets by the troops of Bou- det's division, fled in disorder, without setting fire to the place, leaving the public chest full of money, and magazines containing an immense quantity of colonial produce. Unfortunately they took with them numbers of whites, treating them without pity in their precipitate flight, and marking its traces by incendiarism and the pillage of the habi- tations. Columns of smoke designated the line of their retreat in the distance. The ferocious Dessalines, on learning the dis- embarkation of the French, had quitted St. Marc, passed behind Port-au-Prince, and by a rapid march occupied Leogane, in order to dispute with the French the department of the South. General Boudet sent there a detachment, which chased Dessalines from Leogane. Information was received that general Laplume, less barbarous than his friends, distrusting, besides, a country full of mulattos, the implacable enemies of the blacks, was disposed to surrender himself. General Boudet, as soon as possible, despatched emissaries to him, arid Laplume surrendered him- self, and gave over entire to the French troops 1802. Feb. Attack made upon Toussaint. RUPTURE OF THE PEACE OF AMIENS. Interview of Toussaint with his sons. 427 that rich department, comprehending Leogane, the great and little Goave, Tiburon, the Cayes, and Jacmel. This was a fortunate event. The sub- mission of the black chief Laplume saved a third of the colony from the ravages of the barbarians. In the meanwhile the Spanish part of the island fell under the domination of the French troops. General Kerversau, sent to Santo-Domingo with some frigates and two thousand men, disembarked there. Seconded by the inhabitants and by the influence of the French bishop Mauvielle, he took possession of one-half of the Spanish part, in which Paul Louverture, the brother of Toussaint, was the governor. On the other coast, captain Magon, established at Fort Dauphin, had succeeded, by adroit negotiations, and the influence of the same bishop Mauvielle, in gaining over the mulatto gene- ral Clervaux, and in securing the rich plain of St. Jago. Thus, in the first six days of February, the French troops occupied the flat country, the ports, the chief places of the island, and the larger part of the cultivated land. There remained in Tous- saint's possession no more than three or four black demi-brigades, the generals Manrepas, Chris- tophe, and Dessalines, with their treasures, and his collection of arms, hidden in the Mornes of the Chaos. But there were with him, most unfor- tunately, a number of whites, carried away as hostages, and cruelly treated, waiting until they should either be massacred or surrendered. It was necessary for the French to profit by the season, which was favourable, in order to complete the reduction of the island. The mountainous and upturned region in which Toussaint had shut himself up, is placed to the westward, between the sea and mount Cibao, this being the central knot to which are attached all the mountain chains of the island. This region pours forth its scanty waters by several streams into the river of Artibonite, which falls into the sea, be- tween GonaYves and Port-au-Prince, very near St. Marc. It was necessary to march there from all points at the same time, in such a way as to place the blacks between two fires, and to drive them on GonaYves, in order to surround them there. But to penetrate into the Mornes, it was needful to pass through narrow gorges, rendered nearly im- passable by the vegetation of the tropics, and in the depths of which the blacks, lying close as tirailleurs, presented a resistance difficult to surmount. Yet the old soldiers of the Rhine, transported from thence across the Atlantic, had nothing to fear but the climate. That alone was able to overcome them; that alone had overcome them in this heroic age; they never succumbed except under the sun of St. Domingo, or upon the ice of Moscow. The captain-general Leclerc was resolved to profit by the months of February, March, and April, in order to complete the occupation of the island, because at a later period the extreme heat and the rains made military operations imprac- ticable. Thanks to the arrival of the naval divi- sions from the Mediterranean, commanded by admirals Ganteaume and Linois, the army dis- embarked was now carried up to a force of seven- teen or eighteen thousand men. Some of the troops were ill, it is time ; but there remained fifteen thousand in a state fit for duty. The cap- tain-general, therefore, had all the means at hand to accomplish his task. Before proceeding to the execution of his pur- pose, he determined to send a summons to Tous- saint. This black leader, who was capable of the greatest atrocities in order to render his designs successful, was, nevertheless, susceptible of the natural affections. The captain-general, by the orders of the first consul, had brought with him, as already said, the two sons of Toussaint, grown up in France, in order to try the influence of filial solicitation upon his heart. The preceptor who had charge of their education was designed to con- duct them to their father, to take him a letter from the first consul, and to try and attach him to France, by promising him the second authority in the island. Toussaint received his two sons and their pre- ceptor in his habitation of Ennery, his ordinary retreat. He pressed them for a long while in his arms, and appeared for a moment to be subdued by his emotion. His old heart, devoured by am- bition, was moved. The sons of Toussaint and the respectable man whose pupils they had been, then described to him the power and the humanity of the French nation, the advantages attached to a submission, which would leave yet greater still his situation in St. Domingo, and which secured to his children a future prospect so brilliant ; the danger of a ruin almost certain, on the contrary, if he continued to resist. The mother of one of the youths joined them in attempting to overcome Toussaint. Affected by these pressing entreaties, he wished to take some days to consider, and during these days he appeared to struggle greatly, now startled at the danger of the unequal contest, now governed by the ambition to be the sole master of the fine empire of Haiti, now revolting at the idea that the whites would perhaps replunge the blacks into slavery. Ambition and the love of liberty obtained the victory over paternal tender- ness. He sent for his two children, he pressed them in his arms again, he left to them the choice between France, which was inhabited by civilized men, and himself, who had given them being, and he declared that he should continue to cherish them, even if they belonged to the ranks of his enemies. These unfortunate children, agitated and affected like their father, hesitated as he had done. One of them, nevertheless, flung himself on his neck, and declared that he would die a free black ,tt his side; the other, uncertain, followed his mother to one of the estates of the dictator. The answer of Toussaint no longer left any doubt of the necessity of the immediate resump- tion of hostilities. The captain-general Leclerc made his preparations, and then commenced ope- rations on the 17th of February. His plan was to attack at one time, by the north and the west, the thicket-covered country, nearly inaccessible, into which Toussaint had retired with his black generals. Maurepas occupied the narrow gorge called Three Rivers, which opened towards the sea at Port-de-Paix. Christophe was esta- blished on the sides of the Monies towards the plain of the Cape. Dessalines was at St. Marc, near the mouth of the Artibonite, with orders to bum St. Marc, and to defend the Monies du Chaos on the west and south. He had for support a 428 Toiuwint defeated, TRIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE, and his artillery taken. H02. March. fort, well-constructed and defended, full of the munitions of war, amassed by the foresight of Toussaint. This fort, called Crete-a-Pierrot, was placed in the flat country that the Artibonite traverses and inundates, forming there a thousand sinuous windings before it falls into the sea. In the centre of this region, between Christophe, Maurepas, and Dessalines, Toussaint held himself in reserve with a chosen band. On the 17th of February the captain-general, Leclerc, marched with his army formed in three divisions. On the left, the division of Rocham- beau, leaving Fort Dauphin, was to march upon St. Raphael and St. Michel; the division of Hardy was to march by the plain of the north upon Mar- malade ; the division of Desfourneaux, by the Limbe", was to reach Plaisance. These three divisions had narrow gorges to pass, and steep heights to escalade, in order to penetrate into the region of the Mornes, and to possess themselves of the streams which form the upper course of the Artibonite. General Humbert, with a detach- ment, was charged to disembark at Port-au-Paix, remount the gorge of the Three Rivers, and drive back the black, Maurepas, on the Gros Morne. General Boudet had orders, while these five corps marched from north to south, to re- mount from south to north, and leaving Port-au- Prince, to occupy Mirebalais, the Verettes, and St. Marc. Thus assailed on all sides, the blacks had no other refuge than towards the Gona'ives, where the French had the hope to enclose them. These dispositions would have been wise against an enemy that it was desirable to surround and pursue in front, rather than fight in a regular way. Each of the French corps had, in fact, a sufficiency of force to prevent it from receiving in any part a serious check. But against an experienced commander, having European troops, able to con- centrate themselves suddenly upon a single corps of their assailants, the plan would have been defective. Marching on the 17th, the three divisions of Rochambeau, Hardy, and Desfourneaux, fulfilled their task with great gallantry, scaling the most frightful heights, they travelled through dense and difficult thickets, and surprised the blacks by the boldness of their march, scarcely firing at all on an enemy that poured his fire upon them from all parts. On the 18th, the division of Desfourneaux was in the environs of Plaisance, the division of Hardy at Dondon, that of Rochambeau at St. Raphael. On the 19th, the division of Desfourneaux occu- pied Plaisance, which was given up to him by Jean Pierre Dumesnil, a black tolerably humane, who surrendered to the French, with all his troops. The division of Hardy penetrated by main force into Marmelade, overturning Christophe, who was at the head of two thousand four hundred negroes, half of them troops of the line, the remainder cul- tivators. The division of Rochambeau carried St. Michel. The blacks were surprised at so rough an attack, not having before seen such troops among the whites. One only of the black leaders vigorously resisted the French. This was Maure- pas, who defended the gorge of the Three Rivers against general Humbert. This last, not having troops enough, general Debelle had been sent by sea to his aid, with a reinforcement of twelve or fifteen hundred men. General Debelle was not able to disembark until very late at Port-au-Paix, and thwarted in his attacks by a frightful rain, he gained but little ground. The captain-general, after having remained two days in the same place, in order to suffer the bad weather to pass away, pushed forward the division of Desfourneaux upon the Gona'ives, the division of Hardy upon Ennery, and that of Rochambeau upon the formidable position of the Ravine aux Col- leuvres. On the 23rd of February, the division of Desfourneaux entered into Gona'ives, which they found in flames; the division of Hardy took Ennery, the principal habitation of Toussaint ; and the gal- lant division of Rochambeau carried the Ravine aux Colleuvres. To force this last position, it was necessary to penetrate into a close gorge, bordered with heights, as if cut with a tool, bristling with gigantic trees and thorny bushes, and defended by blacks, who were good marksmen. Then it was necessary to open upon a small plain, that Tous- saint occupied with three thousand grenadiers of his own colour, and all his artillery. The intrepid Rochambeau penetrated boldly into the gorge, in spite of a very annoying fire from the black tirail- leurs, scaled two high banks, killing with the bayo- net those blacks that were too late in retreat, and then came out upon the plain. On arriving there, the old soldiers of the Rhine completed the affair by a single charge. Eight hundred blacks remained on the field, and all the artillery of Toussaint was taken. During this contest, general Boudet, executing the orders of the captain-general, had left in Port- au-Prince, general Pamphile Lacroix, with six or eight hundred men for a garrison, and had marched himself, with the rest of his forces, upon St. Marc. Dessalines was there, ready for the committal of the greatest atrocities. He himself, torch in hand, led the way in setting fire to a fine mansion, which he possessed in St. Marc, and he was imitated by his followers ; then, on retiring, they massacred a party of whites, and dragged the rest after them into the horrible refuge of the Mornes. General Boudet could only occupy ruins inundated with human blood. While he pursued Dessalines, the last, by a rapid march, appeared before Port-au- Prince, which he imagined to be but feebly de- fended, but it was effectively held by a very small garrison. General Pamphile Lacroix united his little troop, and warmly harangued them. Admiral Latouche TreVille, learning the danger, landed with his sailors, saying to general Lacroix : "At sea, you are under my orders; on land I will be under yours ; let us defend in common the lives and properties of our countrymen." Dessalines, repulsed, was thus unable to satiate his barbarity, and flung himself into the Mornes du Chaos. Gene- ral Boudet, returning in all haste to Port-au-Prince, found it saved by the union of the land and sea forces ; but hi the midst of these marches and counter-marches, he had found it impossible to second the movements of the general-in-chief. The blacks they had not been able to surround, nor to push on to the Gona'ives. Nevertheless, the blacks were every where beaten. The capture of the Ravine aux Colleuvres from Toussaint had completely discouraged them. The 1802. April. Surrender of RUPTURE OF THE PEACE OF AMIENS. Toussaint Lemverture. 429 captain-general Leclerc, wished to put a finish to this discouragement, by destroying the black gene- ral Maurepas, who ably sustained himself against generals Humbert and Debelle, at the bottom of the gorge of the Three rivers. Assailed on all sides, the black Maurepas had no other resource than to surrender. He submitted, with two thou- sand of the bravest blacks. This was the rudest blow yet given to the moral power of Toussaint. It yet remained to capture the fort of Crete-a- Pierrot, and the Mornes du Chaos, having forced Toussaint in his last asylum, unless indeed he should go and, retiring into the mountains of the interior of the island, live as a partizan, deprived of all means of action, and despoiled of every pres- tige of power. The captain-general ordered the divisions of Rochambeau and Hardy on one side, and that of Boudet on the other, to march upon the fort and the Mornes. Several hundred men were lost in attacking with too much confidence the works of Crete-a-Pierrot, which were better defended than could have been supposed. It was necessary to undertake a species of regular siege, to execute works of approach, and to establish batteries. Two thousand blacks, good soldiers, commanded by some officers less ignorant than the others, guarded this depository of the resources of Toussaint, who endeavoured, seconded by Dessa- lines, to interrupt the siege by night attacks ; but they did not succeed, and in a little time the fort was pressed so near that an assault became pos- sible. The garrison in despair, then took the reso- lution to make a nocturnal sally, to pass the lines of the besiegers, and take to flight. At first, they succeeded in deceiving the vigilance of the troops, and in traversing the encampments ; but being soon recognized, assailed on all sides, one part was driven back intp the fort, and the other destroyed by the French soldiers. On taking this species of arsenal, there was found a considerable quantity of arms and warlike munitions, and a good many whites cruelly assassinated. The captain-general immediately afterwards had all the Mornes around scoured over, in order not to leave any asylum to the fugitive bands of Tous- saint, and to reduce them before the great heats of the season came on. At Verettes, the army was the witness of a horrible spectacle. The blacks had for a long time conducted with them troops of white persons, whom they forced by beating to march as fast as they did. Not hoping longer to be able to keep them from the army that was pursuing them, and was then very near, they massacred eight hundred, men, women, infants, and aged persons. The ground was found covered with this frightful hecatomb ; and the French sol- diers, who were so generous, who had fought so much in all parts of the world, who had been pre- sent at so many scenes of carnage, but had never before seen women and infants massacred, were struck with the deepest horror, and a degree of anger from humanity, which became fatal to the blacks whom they were able to overtake. They hunted them down to the last, giving no quarter to any whom they encountered. It was April. The blacks had no more resources, at least for the present. Their discouragement was very great. The chiefs, struck with the kind con- duct of the captain-general towards those who had surrendered, and to whom he had left their rank and estates, thought of laying down their arma. Christophe addressed himself to the captain- general, through the medium of the blacks already submitted, and offered to give in his submission, if the general would promise the same treatment to him as to generals Laplume, Maurepas, and Cler- vaux. The captain-general, who was possessed of as much humanity as good sense, consented with all his heart to the propositions of Christophe, and accepted his offers. The surrender of Christophe soon brought that of the ferocious Dessalines, and finally, that of Toussaint himself. He was left nearly alone, or only followed by a few trusty blacks attached to his person. To continue his wandering career up and down the interior of the island, without attempting any thing important which could retrieve his credit with the negroes, appeared to him a thing altogether useless, and only adapted to weaken yet more the zeal of his former partizans. Besides, he was beaten, and could preserve no hope of future success but such as might be inspired by the fatal nature of the climate. He had, in fact, been long accustomed to see the Europeans, and before all others, the military, disappear under the action of that de- vouring climate, and he flattered himself that he should soon find the yellow fever his frightful auxiliary. He then said to himself that he must await in peace the propitious moment, and that when it arrived, perhaps a new attempt, by force of arms, would give him the success he desired. In consequence, he offered to come to terms. The captain-general, who did not hope much that he should be able to take him, even in pursuing him to the utmost, throughout the numerous and re- moter retreats of the island, consented to grant him a capitulation, similar to that which he had accorded to his lieutenants. He was restored to his rank and his property, upon condition that he lived on a designated spot, and did not change his residence, unless by the permission of the captain- general. His habitation of Ennery was the place fixed upon for his retreat. The captain-general Leclerc had great doubts that the submission of Toussaint was honest ; but he kept a good watch upon him, ready to have him arrested on the very first act that implied upon his part a breach of faith. To set off from this period of time, being the end of April and commencement of May, order was re-established in the colony, and the revival of that prosperity was seen returning which it had en- joyed under the dictator. The regulations which he had devised were put in force. The cultivators had nearly all entered again upon their plantations. A black gendarmerie pursued all idle vagabonds, and brought them back to the estates to which, in virtue of the anterior census, they had been at- tached. The troops of Toussaint, reduced in num- ber, and submitted to the French authority, were tranquil, and showed no symptoms of any dispo- sition to revolt, if they were but preserved in their existing state. Christophe, Maurepas, Dessalines, and Clervaux, maintained in their former rank and property, were as ready to accommodate them- selves to the new order of things as they had been to that of Toussaint Louverture. It only sufficed for that purpose to secure to them the preservation of their riches and their liberty. TRIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. Colonel Sebastian! sent to the Kast. J." The first consul marked with attention the con- duct of the clergy since the restoration of public worship. The bishops appointed were nearly all of them established in their dioceses. Most of them conducted themselves well; but some were still full Dated Jfov. 2Cth, 1302. of the sectarian spirit, and committed the error of not carrying themselves with mildness in their new functions, and with that evangelical kindness which can alone put an end to schism . If de Belloy at Paris de Boisgelin at Tours, Bernier at Orleans, Camba- ce'res at Rouen, and de Pancemont at Vannes, showed themselves to be true pastors, pious and sage, there were others who had suffered mischievous tenden- cies to appear in the exercise of their ministry. The bishop of Basai^on, for example, a Jansenist and old constitutionalist, wished to prove to the priests that the civil constitution of the clergy was an in- stitution truly evangelical and conformable to the spirit of the primitive church. Thus troubles arose in his diocese. It must still be acknowledged that he was the only constitutionalist of whom there was any reason to complain. The faults which were to be complained of among the clergy principally, were from the intolerance of the orthodox bishops. Several of these affected the pride of a victorious party, and harshly repelled the unsworn priests. The bishops of Bordeaux, Avignon, and Rennes, removed the priests from service in their parishes, endeavoured to humiliate them, and thus came into collision with that part of the population which was personally attached to them. Nothing could be more energetic upon this sub- ject than the language of the first consul. He wrote himself to certain of the bishops, or obliged the cardinal legate to write to them; he threatened to take away their sees, and to call before the council of state those prelates who thus troubled the repose of the new church. " I am willing," he said, " to restore the altars thrown down, to put an end to religious quarrels, but not to suffer one party to triumph over the other, above all, that party which is the enemy of the revolution. When the constitutional priests have been faithful to the regulations of theft- estate, and observers of good morals ; when they have caused no scandal, I prefer them to their ad- versaries, because, after all, they are only decried for having embraced the cause of the revolution, which is our own cause;" so he wrote to the pre- fects. Cardinal Fesch, his uncle, seeming, in the diocese of Lyons, to forget the instructions of the government, the first consul wrote to him in the fol- lowing terms: "To wound the minds of the con- stitutional priests, to remove them, is to be wanting to justice, to the interest of the state, to my inter- est, to your own, M. le Cardinal; it is to be wanting to my express wishes, and to displease me very sensibly." There was no limit in the extent of his gifts to the bishops who conformed to his firm and concili- atory policy. To one he gave ornaments for his church; to others furniture for their hotels; and to all considerable sums for their poor. He granted two or three times in a single winter fifty thousand francs to M. de Belloy, to distribute himself among the indigent in his diocese. He sent to the bishop of Vannes, who was the model of an accomplished prelate, mild, pious, and benevolent, ten thousand francs to furnish his episcopal hotel; ten thousand to remunerate the priests of whose conduct he ap- proved; and seventy thousand to be given to the poor. In the current year, that of the year xi., he sent two hundred thousand francs to bishop Bernier, for the purpose of secretly helping the victims of the civil war in La Vendee, a sum of which that 1802. Sept. Napoleon visits Nor- mandy. RUPTURE OF THE PEACE OF AMIENS. His reception there. 433 prelate made a humane and able employment. He drew for these largesses upon the chest of the mi- nister of the interior, aided by different sums that did not then enter the treasury, and of which he purified the source by devoting them to the noblest purposes. It was in the autumn of 1802; the weather was superb; nature seemed to dispense to this happy year a second spring. Owing to a temperature of extreme mildness the trees budded a second time. At this period the first consul expressed a wish to visit a district of which people had spoken to him in many different ways, the province of Normandy. Then, as at present, this fine country offered the interesting spectacle of rich manufactures, existing in the midst of the greenest and best cultivated lands. Participating in the general activity which at this time was awakened at once all over France, it presented the most animated appearance. Still some persons, and among them the consul Lebrun, had endeavoured to persuade the first consul that Normandy was royalist in feeling. It was easy to imagine this, upon recollecting with what energy it declared itself against the excesses of the revolu- tion in 1792. The first consul wished to proceed there, to see things with his own eyes, and to ob- serve what effect his presence would have upon the inhabitants on appearing in the ordinary way. Madame Bonaparte was to accompany him. He employed fifteen days on his journey. He passed through Rouen, Elbeuf, Havre, Dieppe, Gisors, and Beauvais. He visited the open coun- try and the manufacturing districts, examining every thing himself, showing himself without any guard to the population anxious to behold him. The pressing attentions he received delayed his journey. Every moment on his route he found the country clergy presenting him with the holy water; the mayors offering him the keys of their towns, and addressing to himself, and not only himself, but to madame Bonaparte, speeches such as they formerly addressed to the kings and queens of France. He was delighted at his reception, and above all, at the rising prosperity which he every where remarked. The town of Elbeuf pleased him much by the increase which it had received. " Elbeuf," he wrote to his colleague Cambace"res, " is increased one-third since the revolution. It is nothing else than one entire manufactory." Havre struck him in a singular way; he foresaw the great commercial destiny to which that port was to be called. " I find every where," he still writes to Cambace"res, " only the best spirit. Normandy is not that which Lebrun represented to me. It is frankly devoted to the government. I discover here that unanimity of sentiment which rendered so fine the days of 1789." What he thus said was perfectly correct. Nor- mandy was well selected to express to him the sen- timents of France. She well represnted the honest and sincere population of '89, at first enthusiastic for the revolution, then fearful of its excesses, ac- cused of royalism by the pro-consuls, whose mad conduct she condemned, and now enchanted to find in a manner not hoped for, order, justice, equality, glory, liberty, less, it is true, of the last, of which, unhappily, she was out of conceit. The first consul, by the middle of November, was on his return to St. Cloud. In imagining an envious person present at the success of a formidable rival, an idea may be gained approaching pretty near the truth, of the sentiments which were at this time felt in England at the spectacle of the prosperity of France. This powerful and eminent nation had still enough left of its own greatness to console it for the greatness of another ; but a singular jealousy preyed upon it. So far as the success of general Bonaparte had been capable of use as an argument against Pitt, they had welcomed it hi England with a species of applause. But since these successes, continued and accumulating, were those of France, alone ; since they had beheld her aggrandized by peace as well as by war, through policy as well as arms; since they had seen, in eighteen months, the Italian re- public become, under the presidency of general Bonaparte, a French province ; Piedmont added to France with the agreement of the continent ; Parma, Louisiana, added to the French possessions by the simple execution of treaties ; Germany, in fine, reconstituted by the sole influence of France ; since they had seen all this peaceably accomplished, and naturally enough, as a thing flowing from a situation of affairs universally accepted,.a manifest vexation seized upon every English heart ; and this vexation was not dissimulated, any more than sentiments are ordinarily dissimulated among a passionate people, proud and free. The classes which partook least in the advan- tages of the peace suffered more than any others, their jealousy too became visible. It has been already observed, that the manufacturers of Bir- mingham and Manchester, recompensed by a con- traband trade for the difficulties which they en- countered in the French ports, complained very little ; but the larger merchants, finding the seas covered with rival flags, and the source of their financial profits dried up with the loans which were no longer necessary, regretted openly the discontinuance of the war, and showed themselves more discontented than even the aristocracy itself. The aristocracy, ordinarily so proud and so pa- triotic, that did not leave to any class in the nation the honour of serving or loving more than it did itself the greatness of England, was not displeased upon this occasion to be distinguished from the mercantile interest by more elevated and generous views. It regarded Pitt somewhat less than it had done, since he was made so much of by the commercial world ; it ranged itself with eagerness around the prince of Wales, a model of the manners and licentiousness of the aristocracy, and more than all around Fox, who pleased them by the nobleness of his sentiments and his incomparable eloquence. But the mercantile interest, all power- ful in London and the out-ports, having for its organs in parliament, Windham, Grenville, and Dundas, smothered the voices of the rest of the nation, and reanimated all the passions of the English press. Thus the London newspapers be- gan to be hostile, and abandoned to the papers edited by French emigrants the care of outraging and maligning the first consul, his brothers, sisters, and all his family without reproof. Unfortunately the minister Addington was des- titute of all energy, and suffered every thing to move before the tempestuous gale that had begun to blow. He committed, through his feebleness, F v 434 Conduct of the English. TRIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. Feebleness of Addington. 1802. Nov. acts of the grossest want of faith. He still paid Georges Cadoudal, whose perseverance in con- spiring against the government of France was notorious; he placed at his disposition considerable sums of money for the support of his dependents, of whom a number passed incessantly from Ports- mouth to Jersey, and from Jersey to the coast of Britany. He continued to suffer in London the presence of the pamphleteer Peltier, despite the legal means which he possessed in the Alien Bill of silencing him ; he treated the exiled princes with a respect very natural, but he did not confine himself in his conduct to mere respect, they were invited to reviews of troops, and were received there with all the insignia of the former royalty. He acted thus, it is proper to repeat, out of real feebleness of mind, because no one doubted the probity of Addington. Had he been delivered from party influence, he would have been repug- nant to such conduct. He well knew that in pay- ing Georges he was supporting a conspirator ; but he did not dare in the face of the party of Wind- ham, Dundas, and Grenville, to send away, and perhaps to alienate these old tools of the policy of the English cabinet. The first consul was deeply hurt at such con- duct. To the reiterated demands for a treaty of commerce, he replied by demanding the suppress- ing of certain journals, the expulsion of Georges and Peltier, and the sending away of the French princes. Grant me, he said, the satisfaction which is due to me, and which you cannot refuse me without declaring yourselves the accomplices of my enemies, and I will endeavour to find the means to meet to your satisfaction the difficulties which affect your commercial interests. But in the demands of the first consul the English ministry could find none which they had a right to make. As to the suppression of certain journals both Addington and Hawkesbury answered with reason, the press is free in England ; imitate us, despise its licentiousness. If you wish we will institute a prosecution, but it will be at your risk and peril in running the chance of procuring a triumph to your enemies. In regard to Georges, Peltier, and the emigrant princes, Addington had no legal excuse to make that was of any weight, because the Alien Bill gave him the power to remove them whenever he pleased to do BO. He replied by observing upon the necessity there was of managing public opinion in England ; a very poor argument it must be agreed, in regard to any of the parties whose expulsion was thus requested. The first consul would not allow himself to be thus beaten upon the point ; at first, he said, " the counsel that you give me to despise the licentious- ness of the press would be good, if it aided me to despise the licentiousness of the French press in France. It can be understood that in one's own country it may be decided upon to support the inconveniences of the freedom of the liberty of writing, in consideration of the advantages that it may procure. That is a question altogether of interior policy, in which each nation is the best judge of that which it is the most convenient for it to do. But it ought never to be suffered that the daily press should malign foreign governments, and thus change the relations between state and state. This is a serious abuse, a danger without any com- pensation, and the proof of this danger is in the actual relations of France with England. We should be at peace without the journals, and here we are very nearly in a state of war. Your legis- lation is therefore bad in relation to the press. You are at liberty to permit what you please against your own government, but not against the governments of foreigners. Nevertheless, I lay aside the libels of the English papers. I respect your laws even in that which they have in them vexatious for other countries. It is a disagreeable thing arising out of our vicinity to which I must resign myself. But the French, who make in London so odious a usage of your institutions, who write such disgraceful and injurious things, where- fore are they suffered to proceed in this way in England ? You possess the Alien Bill, which has justly for its object to prevent strangers from doing mischief ; why not apply that law to them ? Then there are Georges and his accomplices, as shown in the conspiracy of the infernal machine ; there are the bishops of Arras and St. Pol de Leon, publicly exciting to revolt the population of Bri- tany, why do you refuse to expel them ? What thus becomes in your hands of the treaty of Amiens, which stipulates in express terms that no underhand practices should be suffered in either one of the countries against the other I You give an asylum to the emigrant princes, that is without doubt considerate and kind. But the head of the family is at Warsaw, why not let them all go to him ? Wherefore, above all, permit them to carry those decorations which the French laws no longer acknowledge, and which are the occasion of very great inconvenience, when they are borne by the side of the ambassador of France in his presence, and too frequently at the same table ? You ask from me a treaty of commerce and of close re- lations between the two countries ; begin then by showing a less antipathetic spirit towards France, and then I shall be able to search out if there is any mode of conciliating our mutual interests." There is nothing certainly that can be deemed reprehensible in these reasonings, nothing but the feebleness of a great man, who, governing in Eu- rope, could give himself the trouble to put them forth. Of what importance, in effect, to the all- powerful victor of Marengo, were Georges, Pel- tier, and the count d'Artois with his royal decora- tions 1 Against the daggers of the assassin he had to oppose his good fortune ; against the outrages of pamphleteers he had to oppose his glory ; against the legitimacy of the Bourbons he had to place the enthusiastic love of France. Yet, the weak- ness even of great minds ! this man, placed on such a pinnacle, annoyed himself by what was really so contemptible. His error in this respect has been already deplored, and we are unable to pre- vent ourselves from again deploring it on ap- proaching the moment when it produced such unhappy consequences. The first consul could no longer keep his temper, and he avenged himself by replies inserted in the Moniteur, often written by himself, and when so, easily recognised in their origin by their incom- parable vigour of style. He complained of the com- plaisance of the British ministry for the conspirator Georges and the libeller Peltier. He demanded why such guests were suffered in England, why 1802. NOT. Troubles in the RUPTURE OF THE PEACE OF AMIENS. Swiss cantons. 435 such acts were permitted towards a friendly go- vernment, when to remove them had become a duty by treaties, and an existing law allowed the means of repressing them ? The first consul went yet further, and addressing the English government himself, he demanded in the articles inserted in the Moniteur, if the government approved, if it wisned to see these odious practices continued, these in- famous diatribes, when it thus tolerated them ; or whether, if it did not wish to see them, it was too feeble to hinder them 1 And he concluded that no government could exist, 'where they were not able to repress calumny, prevent assassination, and protect social European order. Then the English ministry complained in its own turn. They said that the journals in Eng- land, the language of which was so offensive, were not official ; we are unable to answer for them ; but the Moniteur is the avowed organ of the French government, and it is besides easy to discover in the language the source that inspires it. It calum- niates us every day ; we also, and with much better ground, we demand satisfaction. These are the lamentable recriminations with which, during many months, the despatches be- tween the two governments were filled. But all on a sudden events much more serious intervened, which furnished to the irascible dispositions of both a more dangerous subject it is true, but at least one much more worthy. Switzerland, snatched from the hands of the oligarch Reding, had fallen into those of the lan- damman Dolder, the head of the party of the mo- derate revolutionists. The retreat of the French troops was a concession made to this party in order to confer upon it popularity, and to furnish a proof of the impatience of the first consul to disembarrass himself of the affairs of Switzerland. Still he did not gather the fruits of his good in- tentions. Nearly all the cantons had adopted the new constitution, and welcomed the men who were charged to carry it into vigorous execution ; but in the little cantons of Schwitz, Uri, Unterwalden, Appenzell, Glaris, and the Grisons, the spirit of revolt, excited by Reding and his friends, had soon aroused all the inhabitants of the mountains. The oligarchs flattered themselves that they should be able to carry every thing by force, since the French troops had left the Swiss territory. They had assembled the people in the churches, and had led them to reject the proposed constitution. They had spread the rumour abroad, that Milan was be- sieged by an Anglo- Russian army, and the French republic was as near its fall as in 1799. The constitution being thus rejected, they had still not been able to push events forward so far as, to commence a civil war. The little cantons limited themselves to sending deputies to Berne, to declare to the French minister there, Verninac, that they had no intention to overturn the new government, but that they wished to separate themselves from the Helvetic confederation, to constitute their own government apart in the mountains, and to return to their own suitable system, which was a pure democracy. They even requested to regulate their new relations with the central government established at Berne, under the auspices of France. Very naturally the mi- Bister Verninac had thought it his duty to refuse to listen to these communications, and to declare that he knew no other Helvetic government than that which sat at Berne. In the Grisons there were passing scenes of tumult, which revealed better than any thing else the influences under which Switzerland was at that time set in a state of agitation. In the middle of the valley of the superior Rhine, that was culti- vated by the superior Grison mountaineers, is the lordship of Bazuns, belonging to the emperor of Austria. This lordship conferred upon the em- peror the rank of a member of the Grison league, and gave him a direct action upon the composition of the government. He chose the landamman of the country from three candidates that were pre- sented to him. Since the Grisons had been united by France to the Helvetic confederation, the em- peror remained the proprietor of Bazuns, but managed his property by a superintendent. This superintendent had placed himself at the head of the Grison insurgents, and had taken a part in all the meetings, in which they had declared that they would separate themselves from the Helvetic con- federation, in order to return to the ancient order of things. He had received and accepted the mission to bear their wishes to the feet of the emperor, and with their wishes, the prayer to be taken immediately under his protection. Certainly nothing could more clearly show upon what European party these Swiss endeavoured to support themselves. To all this mental agitation there was joined something still more serious ; they took up arms; they repaired the muskets left by the Austrians and Russians during the last war; they offered and paid eighteen sous per day to the old soldiers of the Swiss regiments which were expelled from France, and gave them the same officers they had before. The poor inhabit- ants of the mountains, believing in their simple minds that their religion and independence were threatened, came tumultuously to fill the ranks of the insurgent troops. Money was scattered about in abundance, advanced by the rich Swiss oligarchs, out of the millions deposited in London, and soon to be realized if they were triumphant. The landamman Reding was declared the chief of the league. Morat and Sempach were the re- collections recalled by these new martyrs for Helvetic independence. It is scarcely possible to comprehend so great an independence upon their part ; for the French army lay bordering upon every side of the Swiss frontiers. But they had been persuaded that the first consul had his hands tied ; that the great powers would intervene, and that he would not be able to send a regiment into Switzerland, without exposing himself to a general war, a menace that he certainly would not brave, merely to sustain the landamman Dolder and his colleagues. Meantime, in spite of this agitation, the poor mountaineers of Uri, Schwitz, and Unterwalden, those most engaged in this sad adventure, had not come forward as fast as their chiefs desired, and they had declared that they would not leave their cantons. The Helvetic government had at its disposal about four or five thousand men, of whom a thousand or twelve hundred were employed to guard Berne; some hundreds were distributed in different garrisons, and three thousand in the can- pf2 436 The S W i.s in open revolt. TRIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. A ^ gunmen? Nov.' ton of Lucerne, upon the border of Unterwalden; the last were designed to watch the insurrection. A troop of the insurgents was posted close in the Tillage of Hergyswil. In a little time they came to firing at each other, and there were some men killed and wounded on both sides. While this collision took place on the frontier of Unterwalden, general Andermatt, commanding the government troops, wished to place some companies of infantry in the city of Zurich, in order to guard the arsenal, and preserve it from the hands of the oligarchs. The aristocratical citizens of Zurich resisted this, and shut the gates of the city against the soldiers of general Andermatt. He fired some shells into the city in vain ; the citizens answered him, that they would sooner burn it than surrender, and thus deliver Zurich to the oppressors of the inde- pendence of Helvetia. At the same moment, the partizans of the ancient aristocracy of Berne, in the county of Argovia and in Oberland, became so agitated, that there was reason to fear they were on the point of open insurrection. -In the Pays de Vaud, the ordinary cry was heard for a union with France. The Swiss government knew no means of extricating itself from this perilous situation. Combated with open force by the oligarchs, it had neither on its side the ardent patriots, who desired an absolute unity, nor the peaceable masses, who were enough inclined for a revolution, but that they knew nothing of such an event save the horrors of war, and the presence of foreign troops. It may hence be judged what was the value of the popularity acquired at the price of the retreat of the French army. In this embarrassment the government con- cluded an armistice with the insurgents, and then addressed itself to the first consul, soliciting, in a most pressing manner, the intervention of France, which had been demanded by the insurgents in like manner upon their side, when they wished that their relations with the central government should be regulated under the auspices of the minister Verninac. When this demand of an intervention was made known in Paris, the first consul repented himself of having listened too readily to the ideas of the party of Bolder, as well as to his own wishes to get clear of Swiss affairs, and thus prematurely withdrawn the French troops. To make them re-enter now in presence of England, so malevo- lently disposed, complaining as she was already of the action of France being too manifest upon the continental states, was an act extremely serious. Besides, he knew not yet all that had taken place in Switzerland, nor to what an extent the pro- vokers of the movement in the little cantons had revealed their real designs, in order to show what they really were, ia other words, the actors in a counter-European revolution and the allies of Austria and England. He, therefore, refused an interventio*, universally demanded, of which the inevitable consequences would have been the re- turn of the French troops into Switzerland, and the military occupation of a state, the independence of wltfch was guaranteed by all Europe. This reply threw the Helvetic government into consternation. At Berne they knew npt what to do, threatened as they were by the approaching rupture of the armistice, and an insurrection of the peasants of Oberland. Some members of the government proposed the sacrifice of M. Bolder, the landamman, and head of the moderate party, who under this title was detested equally by the oligarchs and the Unitarian patriots. Both the one and the other promising to become tranquil upon this condition. They went to citizen Bolder, and committing a sort of violence upon him, ob- tained his resignation, which he had the weakness to give up to them. The senate, behaving with more firmness, refused to accept his resignation; but citizen Bolder persisted in giving it. Then they had recourse to the means ordinarily adopted in assemblies that know not what resolution they shall come to. They named an extraordinary commission, authorized to discover the best means to be adopted. But at this moment the armis- tice was broken ; the insurgents advanced upon Berne, obliging general Andermatt to retire be- fore them. These insurgents were composed of peasants, to the number of fifteen hundred or two thousand, carrying crucifixes and carbines, and preceded by the soldiers of the Swiss regiments, formerly in the service of France, old wrecks of the 10th of August. They soon appeared at the gates of Berne, firing some rounds of cannon with the bad pieces they had drawn after them. The municipality of Berne, under the pretext of saving the city, interfered and negotiated a capitulation. It was agreed that the government, in order not to expose Berne to the horrors of being stormed, should retire with the troops of general Andermatt into the Pays de Vaud. This capitulation was immediately executed; the government proceeded to Lausanne, where it was followed by the French minister. Its troops, concentrated since it had ceded the country to the insurgents, were at Payern, to the number of four thousand men, very well disposed, encouraged, besides, by the dispositions which prevailed in the Pays de Vaud; but they were incapable of reconquering Berne. The oligarchic party soon established itself at Berne, and to make the state of things more com- plete, reinstated the " avoycr," or magistrate, who was on duty in 1798, at the same epoch when the first revolution took place. This avoyer was M. de Mulinen. There wanted nothing then to this counter-revolution, neither the foundation, nor the form ; and without the silly illusions of parties, without the ridiculous reports, spread abroad in Switzerland, on the unfounded want of power in the French government, it is impossible to com- prehend an attempt so exceedingly extravagant. Still things being brought to this point, it was not possible to count much longer upon the pa- tience of the first consul. The two governments sitting at Lausanne and Berne, both came to the resolution of despatching envoys to him ; the one party to supplicate for his intervention, the other to conjure him to do nothing in their affairs. The envoy of the oligarchical government was a mem- ber of the same family of Mulinen. He was com- missioned to renew those promises of good conduct of which M. Reding had been so prodigal, and which he had so badly kept, as to confer at the same time with the ambassadors of all the powers at Paris, and to put Switzerland under then? special protection. Supplications to do or not to do, were henceforth 1S02. Nov. Resolutions taken by Bonaparte respect- ing Switzerland. RUPTURE OF THE PEACE OF AMIENS. The French troops march towards Switzerland. 437 useless, made to the first consul. In presence of a flagrant counter-revolution, which had for its ob- ject to deliver over the Alps to the enemies of France, he was not the man to hesitate about action. He refused to receive the agent of the oligarchical government ; but he answered the intermediate party, ordering him to say to the agent of Berne, that his resolution was taken : " I cease," said he, " to be neuter and inactive. I have wished to respect the independence of Switzerland, and to spare the susceptibilities of Europe; I pushed my scruples to a real fault in the retreat of the French troops. But that is condescension enough for the enemies of France. As long as I have seen in Switzerland any conflicts which could alone ter- minate in rendering one party a little stronger than another, I have thought it my duty to leave it to itself ; but now, when a privileged counter-revolu- tion is agitated, accomplished by soldiers for- merly in the service of the Bourbons, and since passed into the pay of England, I will not suffer myself to be cheated. If these insurgents wish to keep me under an illusion, they must let their con- duct be marked with a little more dissimulation, and not place at the head of their columns the soldiers of the regiment of Bachmann. I will not suffer a counter-revolution any where, neither in Switzerland, Italy, Holland, nor in France itself. I will not deliver over to fifteen hundred mercena- ries, paid by England, ' the formidable bastions of those Alps,' that the European coalition was in two campaigns unable to snatch from our toil-worn soldiers. They speak to me of the will of the Swiss people; I cannot see it in the will of two hundred aristocratical families. I esteem that brave people too much to believe that they wish to be under such a yoke. But in any case, there is something which I place to more account than the will of the Swiss people, and that is the safety of forty millions of souls over whom I rule. I shall go to declare myself the mediator of the Helve- tic confederation, and give to it a constitution founded upon equal rights and the nature of the soil. Thirty thousand men will be on the frontier to insure the execution of my beneficent intentions. But if, contrary to my hope, I am not able to se- cure the repose of this interesting people, to whom I would fain do all the good which they merit, my part is taken. I will unite to France all that part which, by the soil and manners, resembles Frauche- Comte" ; I will unite the rest to the mountaineers of the small cantons, giving them the same govern- ment which they had in the fourteenth century, and thus leave them to themselves. My principle is henceforth fixed ; either Switzerland the friend of France, or no Switzerland at all." The first consul enjoined upon Talleyrand to order the envoy of Berne to leave Paris in twelve hours, and to inform him that he was no better able to serve those who sent him any where than he would be at Berne, by counselling them to separate that moment, if they would not bring a French army into Switzerland. He then wrote with his own hand a proclamation to the Helvetic people, short and energetic, couched in the following terms : " Inhabitants of Helvetia, you have offered for two years an afflicting spectacle. Opposing fac- tions have successively seized upon the govern- ment ; they have signalized their rule by a system of partiality which proves their feebleness and iucompetency. " In the course of the year x., your government desired that the small number of French troops that were in Helvetia should be withdrawn. The French government voluntarily seized upon the occasion to do honour to your independence ; but soon afterwards your different parties became agi- tated with fresh fury : the blood of the Swiss flowed by the hands of the Swiss. " You have disputed among yourselves for three years without understanding each other. If you are left much longer to yourselves, you will de- stroy each other for three years to come, without corning to an understanding. Your history proves besides, that your intestine wars you have never been able to terminate without the intervention of France. " It is true that I had determined not to mingle myself in your affairs ; I have seen constantly your different rulers demand advice of me and not fol- low it, and sometimes abuse my name, according to their interests or their passions. But I am not able, nor ought I to remain insensible to the mis- chief of which you are a prey; I recall my deter- mination. I will be the mediator of your differ- ences ; but my mediation shall be efficacious, such as will be consonant with the great people in the name of which I speak." To this noble preamble were joined certain im- perative dispositions. Five days after the notifica- tion of this proclamation, the government which had taken refuge at Lausanne had transported itself to Berne, the insurrectional government had dissolved itself, all the assembled armies, except that of general Andermatt, had dispersed them- selves, and the soldiers of the old Swiss regiments had deposited their arms in the communes to which they belonged. In fine, all those men who had exercised public functions for three years, to whatever party they belonged, were invited to come to Paris, in order to confer with the first consul on the best means to terminate the troubles of then? country. The first consul ordered his aide-de-camp, colo- nel Rapp, to go immediately to Switzerland, in order to carry the proclamation to all the legal or insurrectionary authorities, to proceed first to Lau- sanne, then to Berne, Zurich, and Lucerne; every where, in fact, where he found there was any resistance to be overcome. Colonel Rapp was besides to concert measures for the movement of the troops with general Ney, who commanded them. Orders were already issued for the troops to march. The first detachment assembled at Geneva, was drawn from the Valais, from Savoy, and the departments of the Rhone, and consisted of seven or eight thousand men. Six thousand were united at Pontarlier, six thousand at Hunin- guen and Bale. A division of equal force was concentrated in the Italian republic, in order to be introduced into Switzerland by the Italian bail- wicks. General Ney was to wait at Geneva the advices that he would receive from colonel Rapp, and at the first signal from the colonel, march into the Pays de Vaud with the column formed at Ge- neva, joining in its march that which had pene- trated by Pontarlier, and so to march upon Berne with twelve or fifteen thousand men. The troops The French army enters Switzerland. THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. English intriguei with .. Austria respecting Switzerland. Nov. coming from Bale had orders to join in the smaller cantons the detachment which would arrive by the Italian bailwicks. All these dispositions were arranged with extra- ordinary promptitude, because in forty-eight hours the resolution was taken, the proclamation drawn up, and the order to march expedited to all the different corps, in which time colonel Rapp had set off for Switzerland. The first consul awaited with audacious tranquillity the effect which would be produced in Europe by so bold a resolution, which, added to all that he had done in Italy and in Germany, contributed to render yet more apparent a power that already obscured all eyes. But let what would result, even war itself, his resolution was an act of wisdom, because he performed it for the purpose of keeping the Alps out of the reach of an European coalition. Energy employed in the service of prudence, is the finest spectacle that can be presented in the science of politics. The agent of the Bernese oligarchy sent to Paris, had not missed, seeing himself so rudely received, addressing himself to the ambassadors of the courts of Austria, Russia, Prussia, and England. M. Markoff, although he every day declaimed against the conduct of France in Europe, did not of himself dare to reply. All the other representatives of the powers were also silent, except Mr. Merry, the minister of England. The last, after having a conference with the envoy of Berne, immediately despatched a courier, in order to inform his court of all which had passed in Switzerland, and to announce that the Bernese government formally invoked the protection of England. The courier of Mr. Merry arrived at lord Hawkesbury's at the same time that the French papers reached London. Immediately there was nothing but a cry all over England in favour of the brave people of Helvetia, who were defending, it was said, their religion and liberty against a barba- rous oppressor. This emotion, which we have seen in our own days communicated to the whole of Europe, in favour of the Greeks massacred by the Turks, they affected to feel in England for the Bernese oligarchy, that had been exciting the un- happy peasants to arm in behalf of their aristocra- tical privileges. They affected in England great zeal for the Swiss, and opened subscriptions for them. Still the emotion was too factitious to be general ; it did not descend below the elevated classes, who ordinarily set themselves in agitation upon the political affairs of the day. Grenville, Windham, and Dundas commenced in turn to alarm the public mind, and attacked with fresh vehemence that which they denominated the fee- bleness of Addington. Parliament was about to be dissolved and to be again assembled, in consequence of a general election. The English cabinet, between the Pitt party, which began sensibly to withdraw its support from the measures of Addington, and the Fox party that, somewhat milder since the peace had been concluded, did not cease to be its opponent, was at a loss to know where it should look for support. It very much dreaded the first meeting of the new parliament, and it deemed itself bound to take certain diplomatic steps, that might serve as arguments to be used against its adversaries. The first step thus undertaken was to transmit a note to Paris, to remonstrate in favour of Swiss independence, and to protest against all active intervention on the part of France. This was not a mode to put a stop to the proceedings of the first consul, and was only a means of simply ex- citing an exchange of disagreeable communica- tions. But the cabinet of Addington did not stop here ; it sent an agent to the spot, Mr. Moore, with a commission to see and come to an under- standing with the insurgent leaders, in order to judge whether they were well resolved to defend themselves, and to offer them in that case pe- cuniary aid from England. He had an order for the purchase of arms in Germany, that they might be sent forward to them. This proceed- ing was, it must be acknowledged, neither in good faith, nor easy to be justified. Communications, still more serious in import, were addressed to the Austrian court, in order to awaken its old aversion, and to irritate its recent resentment against France in consequence of the affairs of Germany, and, above all, to alarm it on account of the fron- tiers of the Alps. It went so far as to offer Austria a subsidy of 100,000,000 florins, or 225,000,000 f. if she would take a decided part in behalf of Switzerland. This is, at least, the information which was sent to Paris by M. Haugwitz himself, who had taken great care to observe every thing passing which could in any way be of moment to the maintenance of peace. A less open attempt was made on the emperor Alexander, who was well known to be deeply enough engaged in supporting the policy of France, in pursuance of the mediation which both had exercised at Ratisbon. England took no account of the Prussian cabinet, which was then notoriously attached to the first consul, and which on that account was treated with reserve and coldness. These proceedings of the British cabinet, how- ever little agreeable they were in a period of per- fect peace, could not then have any material consequence, because that cabinet had found all the courts of the continent more or less leagued in the policy of the first consul ; the one, as with Russia, because they were at present associated in his labours, the others, as Prussia and Austria, because they were at the moment endeavouring to obtain from him advantages altogether personal. It was, in fact, the moment when Austria solicited and finished by obtaining an extension of indemni- ties in favour of the archduke of Tuscany. But the English cabinet committed a much more serious act, and one which had at a later period the most momentous consequences. The order to evacuate Egypt had been sent out ; that for evacuating Malta had not been yet forwarded. The delay so far arose from excusable motives, and was more imputable to the French than to the English chancellory. Talleyrand, as must be borne in mind, had neglected to complete the sequel to one of the stipulations of the treaty of Amiens. This stipu- lation purported that a demand was to be made on Prussia, Russia, Austria, and Spain, for their con- sent to guarantee the new order of things esta- blished at Malta. From the first days of the signature of the treaty, the English ministers pressed to obtain this guarantee, before the evacua- tion of Malta, had shown the greatest activity in endeavouring to obtain it from all these courts. 1302. Nov. Neglect respecting guarantee of Malta. RUPTURE OF THE PEACE OF AMIENS. English ministry remonstrate with France. 439 But the French agents had received no instructions from their government. M. de Champagny had the prudence to act at Vienna as if he had re- ceived the order, and the guarantee of Austria was given. The young emperor of Russia, on the con- trary, partaking very little in the passion of his father for any thing which concerned the order of St. John of Jerusalem, thought the guarantee which had been demanded of him a burdensome thing, because it might, sooner or later, draw him into the obligation of taking a part against one power or the other, against either France or Eng- land, and he was not then well disposed to give what was thus demanded of him. The ambassador of France having no instructions to second the English minister in the business, would not ven- ture to act in the matter, and the Russian cabinet was thus not pressed to explain itself, and took advantage of that circumstance to give no answer at all. The same circumstance, and from the same motive, occurred at Berlin. Owing to this negli- gence, prolonged for many months, the question of the guarantee had remained in suspense, and the English ministers, without any ill intention, were fully authorized to defer the evacuation. The Neapolitan garrison, which, according to the treaty, was to be sent to Malta, to be there during the t'lue of the reconstitution of the order, had been r^tsived and landed, but it remained withoutside cf the fortifications. The French chancellory was at last set iu motion, but it was too late. This time ths emperor of Russia, upon being pressed for an explanation, refused his guarantee. An- other embarrassment had supervened. The grand master nominated by the pope, the bailly Ruspoli, alarmed at the fate of his predecessor, M. Hom- pesch, seeing too that the charge of the order of Malta no longer consisted in combating the in- fidels, but in holding the balance in equilibrium between two great maritime nations, with the cer- tainty in the end to fall a prey either to the one or the other, was unwilling to accept the onerous and empty dignity which was thus tendered to him, and resisted all the entreaties of the Roman court, as well as the pressing invitations of the first consul. Such were the circumstances which had caused the evacuation of Malta to be deferred until November, 1802. There then resulted the dangerous temptation to the English cabinet of deferring it yet longer. In point of fact, on the same day when its agent Moore left England for Switzerland, a frigate sailed for the Mediterranean, to carry an order to the garrison of Malta to remain there. This was a serious fault on the part of the English minister who wished to preserve the peace, because it went to excite in England a national covetousness, which no one would be able to resist after being once excited. What was more, it was a formal breach of the treaty of Amiens, in presence of an adversary who had taken a pride in executing it with punctuality, and who had set himself yet further upon seeing that it was executed by all who had signed it. It was a conduct at the same time imprudent and irregular. The remonstrances of the British cabinet in favour of the independence of Switzerland were | very badly received in the French cabinet, and the I consequences of this bad reception it was easy to foresee ; the first consul was not for a moment shaken. He persisted more than ever in his reso- lution. He reiterated his orders to general Ney, and prescribed to him the most prompt and de- cisive execution of them. He desired to prove that this pretended national movement of the Swiss was no more than a ridiculous attempt, provoked through the interest of certain families, and as soon repressed as it was attempted. He was convinced that he obeyed in this in- stance a grand national interest ; but he was again excited to it by a species of defiance which was thrown at him in the face of Europe, because the insurgents said loudly, and their envoys every where repeated, that the first consul had his hands bound, and that he would not venture to act. The reply, addressed by his orders to lord Hawkesbury, had something of the truth in it, which was very extraordinary. It is here given in substance, without imagining that it will be ever imitated : " You are desired to declare," wrote Talleyrand to M. Otto, " that if the British ministry, for the in- terest of its parliamentary situation, has recourse to any notification or any publication, from which it may be inferred that the first consul has not done such or such a thing, because he has been prevented, at that very moment he will not fail to do it. In other respects, as to Switzerland, what- ever may be said or not said, his resolution is irrevocable. He will not deliver the Alps to fif- teen hundred mercenaries in the pay of England. He will not have Switzerland converted into an- other Jersey. The first consul has no desire for war, because he believes that the French people will find in the extension of their commerce as much advantage as in the extension of their terri- tory. But no consideration shall arrest it if the honour or the interest of the republic demand that he shall take up arms. You will not speak of war," Talleyrand wrote to M. Otto, " but you will not permit that it shall be spoken of to you. The least menace, however indirect it may be, must be taken with the greatest haughtiness. With what kind of war besides do you threaten us 1 With a maritime war J But our commerce has as yet scarcely had time to renew itself, and the prizes which we shall thus resign to the English will be of very small value. Our West India islands are provided with acclimated soldiers ; St. Domingo alone contains twenty-five thousand. They will blockade our ports, it is true ; but at the same instant that war is declared, England will find herself blockaded in her turn. The coasts of Hanover, Holland, Portugal, Italy, as far as Ta- rentum, will be occupied by our troops. Those countries which we are accused of governing too openly, Liguria, Lombardy, Switzerland, and Hol- land, in place of being left in an uncertain situa- tion, by which they occasion us a thousand embar- rassments, will be converted into French provinces, from which we shall draw immense resources; and we shall thus be forced to realize that empire of the Gauls, with which Europe will never cease to be affrighted. And what would next hap- pen if the first consul, quitting Paris for the pur- pose of establishing himself at Lille or St. Omer, uniting all the flat-bottomed boats of Flanders and of Holland, preparing the means of transport for a hundred thousand men, should make England live 440 Singular demonstra- tion of the first consul. THIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. Anpry reply of the .... first consul to ? ' England. Nov - in the fear of an invasion, always possible, and very nearly certain to be accomplished ? Can England support a continental war ? But where will she find allies ? Is it in Prussia or Bavaria, who owe to France the justice which they have obtained in the territorial arrangements of Ger- many 1 It is not surely in Austria, already worn out by having volunteered to serve the cause of British policy ? In any case, if the war on the continent be renewed, it will be England that will have obliged us to conquer Europe. The first consul is but thirty-three, he has not yet destroyed any states but those of the second order. Who knows what he may be made to do in time, if he is forced, to change anew the face of Europe, and resuscitate the empire of the west !" All the miseries of Europe, and all those of France, were contained in these formidable words, which it might be believed were written after the blow was struck, they are so very prophetic 1 . Thus it was that the lion become full grown, felt his strength, and made himself ready to exert it. Covered by the barrier of the ocean, England was pleased thus to excite him. But this barrier it was not impossible to pass over ; it wanted but very little that it was not passed ; and if it had been, England had bitterly mourned the excite- ment to which she had been carried by an in- curable jealousy. It was, besides, a cruel policy in regard to the continent, because that had to suffer all the consequences of a war provoked, on its own part, without reason or justice. M. Otto had orders neither to speak of Malta nor of Egypt, because it was not to be even sup- posed that England would violate a solemn treaty signed in the face of the whole world. He was limited to the circumscription of the whole of the French policy in these words : " All the treaty of Amiens ; nothing but the treaty of Amiens." M. Otto, who was a very discreet individual, and very submissive to the first consul, but capable, in regard to a useful object, of putting a little of his own discretion into the performance of the orders he received, softened very considerably the haughty words dictated by his government. Nevertheless, even with this softened reply, he much embarrassed lord Hawkesbury, who, alarmed at the approach- ing meeting of parliament, wished to have had something satisfactory to say. He therefore in- sisted on having a note, which M. Otto had orders to decline giving, and consequently refused him, declaring, at the same time, that the meeting of the principal citizens of Switzerland at Paris had by no means for an object the imitation of the ceremony which had taken place at Lyons, where the Italian consulta was held there, but merely to give to the Swiss a wise constitution, based upon justice, and adapted to the nature of the country, without suffering one party to triumph over another. Lord Hawkesbury, who during this conference with M. Otto was expected by the English cabinet, assembled at this moment to re- ceive the answer of France, felt himself much troubled and discontented. To the declaration : i The despatch here spoken about, and of which the sub- stance is thus given, is dated the 1st of Brumaire, year x.; it is written by Talleyrand to M. Otto, under the dictation of the first consul. " All the treaty of Amiens, nothing but the treaty of Amiens," of which he well comprehended the drift, because it made the allusion to Malta, he replied by another maxim as follows : " The state of the continent at the epoch of the treaty of Amiens, nothing but that state." This manner of placing the question provoked, on the other side from the first consul, a reply immediate and to the purpose. " France," said Talleyrand, by his orders, " France is ready to accept the conditions proposed 'by lord Hawkes- bury. At the time of the signature of the treaty of Amiens, France had ten thousand men in Swit- zerland, thirty thousand in Piedmont, forty thou- sand in Italy, and twelve thousand in Holland is it desired that all these shall be placed upon the same footing again 1 At this time the offer was made to England to place her in an understanding upon the affairs of the continent, but it was upon the condition that she should acknowledge and guarantee the states newly constituted. She re- fused this ; she chose to remain a stranger to the kingdom of Etruria, and to the Italian and Ligu- rian republics. She had thus the advantage of not giving her guarantee to the new states, but then she lost also the right to mix herself up afterwards in what concerned them. In other respects, she knew all that was already done, all that was to be effected. She knew of the presi- dency conferred by the Italian republic upon the first consul ; she was well aware of the design to unite Piedmont to France, seeing that it had been refused when an indemnity was demanded for the king of Sardinia, and in the front of all she signed the treaty of Amiens ! Of what then does England complain ? She stipulated one single thing, the evacuation of Tarentum in three months, and Tarentum was evacuated in two. Then in regard to Switzerland, it was well known that France had laboured to constitute the government there, and was it to be imagined by 'any one that France would suffer a counter-revolution to be* effected in that country 1 But in any case, even under the view of strict right, what is there to object to it ! The Helvetian government had claimed the media- tion of France. The little cantons had also claimed that mediation, by demanding, under the auspices of the first consul, the establishment of their rela- tions with the central authority. The citizens of all the parties, even those of the oligarchical party, as M. de Mulinen and M. d'Affry, are in Paris conferring with the first consul. Are the affairs of Germany new to England ? Are they not the literal execution of the treaty of LuneVille, well known to the world, having been published before the treaty of Amiens ? Wherefore has England signed the arrangements adopted in regard to Germany, if she thought it was a wrong step to secularize that country ? Why did the king of Hanover, who is also king of England why did he approve of the Germanic negotiation, by ac- cepting the bishopric of Osnabruck ? Wherefore, besides, was it that the house of Hanover was so largely endowed out of the indemnities, if it was not in consideration of England ? The British cabinet has not for six months mingled itself up in the affairs of the continent ; it chooses to do so now ; let it do as it pleases. But has it more interest in the affairs of the continent than Prussia 1802 Nov Angry reply of the first consul to England. RUPTURE OF THE PEACE OF AMIENS. A French army enters Switzerland. 441 Russia, or Austria ? Very well, then these three powers give in their adhesion at that moment to all that is passing in Germany. How is England more able to judge of the interests of the continent than these states I It is true that in the great Germanic negotiations, the name of the king of England has not appeared. There is no question about that, and it may perhaps mortify his people, who desire to hold, and who have a right to hold, a great place in Europe. But whose fault was it, if not that of England herself ? The first consul desired nothing better than that friendship and confidence should be exhibited, to resolve in common with England the great questions that he had settled in unison with Russia ; still for friend- ship and confidence shown there must be some return. But he finds shouted in England only cries of hatred towards France. They say that the English constitution is the reason why things are so. So be it ; but that constitution does not command that there be suffered to live in London French pamphleteers, the inventors of the infernal machine, or ihat the reception and treatment of the Bourbon princes should be with all the honours due to the sovereignty of the members of that house. Whea England shall show better feelings towards the first consul, he will be brought to exhibit other feelings also, and to divide with England that European influence which he has hitherto partaken with Russia." Unknowing whether or not our patriotic sen- timents obscure our eyes, most assuredly, in searching out the truth, without suffering national considerations to prevail, it seems to us that there is no reply to be made to the vigorous reasoning of the first consul. England, when signing the treaty of Amiens, was not at all iu ignorance that the influence of France domineered in the bordering states, in Italy, Switzerland, and Holland, occupied too by her troops, nor that France was about to proceed to the settlement of the German indemni- ties; England was not ignorant of these things, and pressed to make peace, she signed it at Amiens, without at all embarrassing herself with the inter- ests of the continent. Yet as soon as the peace had less attraction in her view than during the earlier days after it was concluded ; now that her com- merce found none of the advantages which she had at first hoped for ; now that the party of Pitt began again to lift its head ; now, finally, that a calm succeeding to the agitations of the war, per- mitted her to perceive more distinctly the power and the glory of France, England was seized with a fit of jealousy, and without the power to paoduce any single violation of the treaty of Amiens, she ventured the thought of its violation upon her own part, in the most audacious and unheard of manner. It would seem that M. Haugwitz, with his rare correctness of judgment, had well appreciated the British cabinet, when upon one occasion he re- marked to the French ambassador, "That feeble minister, Addington, was so pressed to conclude a peace, that he passed over every thing without making any objection ; he now perceives that France is great and powerful, that she draws consequences from her greatness, and he would tear to pieces the treaty which he signed." During the interchange of such warm communi- cations between France and England, Russia, that had received the remonstrances of the Swiss insur- gents, and the complaints of the English cabinet, had written to Paris a very cautious despatch, in which, without reproducing any of the recrimina- tions of England, she insinuated, notwithstanding, to the first consul, that it was necessary in order to preserve the peace, to calm certain distrusts excited in Europe by the increased power of the French republic, and that it appertained to him, by his moderation, and by his respect for the inde- pendence of the neighbouring states, to do away with those suspicions. This was very wise counsel, that implied a hint at Switzerland, which had nothing of a nature to wound the first consul, and which suited well the character of the impartm! moderator, a character that the young emperor seemed at that time willing to make the chief glory of his reign. As to Prussia, she had declared that she fully approved of the conduct of the first consul, in not suffering Switzerland to be made the focus of English and Austrian intrigues ; that he had reason for hastening, and for not permitting his enemies to obtain time to profit by similar embarrassments ; that he would thus have a better reason still, if he took away from them every pre- text to complain of him, and kept himself from renewing in Paris the consulta of Lyons. As to Austria, in the last place, she affected not at all to mingle herself up in the question, and she did not dare to do it, having need of France still, in order to wind up the affairs of Germany. The first consul was of the opinion of his friends: he wished to act quickly, and not to imitate at Paris the consulta of Lyons, that is to say, not to make himself be proclaimed the president of the Helvetian republic. As to the rest of the affair, this desperate resistance, which the patriotism of the Swiss might oppose to him, he said, had been only that which might be expected, an extravagant story of the emigrants. As soon as colonel Rapp arrived at Lausanne, he presented himself before the advanced posts of the insurgents, without being followed by a single soldier, and bringing with him only the proclamation of the first consul, he found all the party very well disposed to submit. General Bachmaun expressed his regret not to have had twenty-four hours more time left, in order to fling the Helvetic government into the lake of Geneva; nevertheless, he retired upon Berne. There, colonel Rapp found some disposition to resistance on the part of the oligarchs. This party wished France absolutely to employ force, believing they should thus compromise her with the other European powers. Their desires were on the point of being satisfied, since force now arrived in great haste. In effect, the French troops placed upon the frontiers, under the orders of general Ney, entered the country, and from that moment the insurrectional government no longer hesitated to dissolve itself. The members of which it was composed withdrew themselves, declaring that they only gave way to force. They every where sub- mitted easily, except in the little cantons, where the agitation was greater, and wht-ro, indeed, it had begun. Still, as well as in the others, the opinions of the reasonable people prevailed here at the approach of the French troops, and all serious resistance ceased in their presence. The French 442 The S^viss deputies assemble THIERg , CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. 1802. NOT. general Serras, at the head of some battalions, seized upon Lucerne, Stanz, Schwitz, and Altorf. M. Reding was arrested with several other agita- tors ; the insurgents suffered themselves to be successively disarmed. The Helvetic government, which had taken refuge at Lausanne, returned to Berne, under the escort of general Ney, who went thither in person, followed only by one demi- brigade. For a few days, the town of Constance, in which the English agent, Moore, had placed himself, was full of emigrants belonging to the oligarchical party, returning after having uselessly expended their money in England, and declaring aloud the ridiculous character of the whole enter- prise. Mr. Moore returned to London, to give an account of the bad success of this Vende'an-Helvetic insurrection, which he had endeavoured to support among the Alps. This promptitude of submission had one great advantage, since it proved that the Swiss, of whose courage there could be no doubt, even against very superior forces, did not feel bound, either in honour or interest, to resist the intervention of France. There thus fell to the ground at once every reason upon which the remonstrance of England was grounded. It was necessary to achieve this im- portant work of the pacification, by giving a con- stitution to Switzerland; founding that constitution upon reason, and upon the nature of the country. The first consul, to take away from the mission of general Ney the too military character which it appeared to possess, conferred upon him, in place of the title of general-in-chief, that of French minister, giving him at the same time very precise instructions to conduct himself with moderation and mildness towards all the parties. He had, be- sides, no more than six thousand men in Switzer- land; the rest remained upon the frontiers. The first consul assembled at Paris the indi- viduals of all shades of opinion, ardent revolutionists as well as decided oligarchists, provided they were individuals of influence in the country, and en- titled to some consideration. The revolutionists of every colour, designated by the cantons, came without hesitation. The oligarchs refused to name representatives. They wished to remain strangers to all that was passing in Paris, and thus to re- serve the right to protest against the proceedings there. It was needful that the first consul should designate himself the parties that were to repre- sent them. He chose several; three of those chosen were very well known, M. de Mulinen, M. d'Affry, and M. de Watteville, all distinguished by their families, talents, and characters. These in- dividuals persisted in not attending. Talleyrand made them understand that it was, on their part, only mistaken spite ; that their presence was not requested with any view of making them parties to the sacrifice of opinions which were dear to them; that, on the contrary, they would thus hold the balance equal between them and their opponents; that they were good citizens, men of understanding, and that they ought not to refuse to contribute their aid to a constitution, by which it was endeavoured, in good truth, to conciliate all the legitimate interests, and by which, besides, the fate of their country would be settled for a long time to come. Moved by this invitation, they were in a good disposition to re- strain themselves from the influence of faction, and they answered the honourable appeal thus made to them, by setting out immediately for Paris. The first consul received them with great distinction, informed them what were his wishes, that all the moderate men of every side ought to be of his opinion, because he wished the constitu- tion to be of such a character as nature herself had designed for the Swiss, that was to say, the old one, with less inequality between citizen and citizen, canton and canton. After having en- deavoured to encourage them, and particularly the oligarchical party, because it was against that he had been obliged to employ force, he designated four members of the senate, Barthelemy, Roederer, Fouche", and Demeunier, and charged them to assemble the Swiss deputies, to confer with them, separately or together, and to bring them back as expeditiously as possible to reasonable views, re- serving to himself always, it was to be clearly understood, the decision of those questions, upon which they had been unable to arrive at a mutual agreement. Before they commenced their labours, the first consul gave an audience to the principal of those deputies, who were chosen by their colleagues for the purpose of being there presented, and he ad- dressed them in an off-hand speech, which was full of good sense, of depth, and of originality of language. It was taken down at the instant by several persons, in order to be transmitted entire to the whole deputation. " It is necessary," he told them in substance, " to remain as nature designed you, that is to say, in a union of petty confederated states, different in the rule of your internal government as you differ in soil, attached the one to the other by a simple federal lien a lien which shall neither be onerous nor expensive. It is also necessary to put a stop to the unjust domination of canton over canton, which goes to render one territory subject to another : the government of the aristocratic citizens must be put an end to. This in the great towns occasions one class to be subject to another class. These are among the barbarisms of the middle ages, that France, called upon to give you a constitution, cannot tolerate in your laws. It is more important that true and real equality, such as that which is the glory of the French revo- lution, should triumph among you, as it has done among us ; that every territory, every citizen, should be the equal of another in the sight of the law and in his social duties. This being granted, you will not admit inequalities, save the differences that nature herself has established between you. I do not imagine for you an uniform and central government like that of France. None will per- suade me that mountaineers, the descendants of William Tell, are capable of being governed like the rich inhabitants of Berne or Zurich. There must for the former be an absolute democracy, and a government without taxation. Pure democracy, on the other hand, would be for the last class con- trary to common sense. Besides, what good is a central government ? Is it to possess greatness ? It will no more come to you thus, than through the dreams of ambition of your Unitarians. Would you have greatness after the mode of that in France ? It must then be a central government, 1801. Nov. Address of Bona- parte to the Swiss deputies. RUPTURE OF THE PEACE OF AMIENS. The new Swiss con- stitution. 443 richly endowed, having a permanent army. Would you pay for all this would you be able to do so ? And then by the side of France, that counts five hundred thousand men ; by the side of Austria, that reckons three hundred thousand ; or by that of Prussia with two hundred thousand; what would you do with fifteen or twenty thousand permanent and regular troops ? You made a figure with great brilliancy in the fourteenth century against the dukes of Burgundy, because at that time all the states of Europe were parcelled out, and their forces disseminated. To-day Burgundy is but a point in France. You must measure your strength with France or with Austria entirely. If you desire this species of greatness, do you know what it will infallibly do it will make you become French, confound you with a great people, make you participator in the cost to obtain its advan- tages, and then you will be associated in all the chances of its high fortunes. But you do not wish it ; and more, I am not willing it should be so. The interest of Europe commands very differently. You have a greatness of your own, and it is well worth any other. It is your duty to be a neutral people, whose neutrality will be respected by all the world, because it will oblige all the world to pay it respect. To be in one's own home, free, invincible, and respected, is the noblest mode of human existence. To this end the federal system is the most valuable. It has less of that unity which dares, but it has more of that inertia which resists. It is not to be vanquished in a day like a central government, because it resides every where, in every part of the confederation. For the same reason a militia is better for you than a standing army. You are bound to be all soldiers the moment that the Alps are threatened. Then the permanent army is the entire people, and in your mountains your intrepid chasseurs are a force respectable both by sentiments and numbers. You need no soldiers paid and permanent like those you see exist among your neighbours, in order to teach you the military art. A confederation that leaves to each his native independence, the difference of his manners, and of his soil, such a confederation is invincible in the mountains ; here is your true moral grandeur. If I was not a sincere friend to Switzerland if I thought to retain it dependant upon myself, I should desire a central government, which could unite every part in one entire whole. In such a case I should say, ' do this' ' do that,' or I shall pass your frontiers in twenty-four hours. A federal government, on the contrary, preserves itself even by the impossibility of replying promptly; it saves itself by its very slowness of action. In gaining two months of time, it escapes from all external exigency. But hi wishing to remain in- dependent, do not forget that it is necessary you be the friends of France. Her friendship is neces- sary to you ; you have had it for many centuries, and to her you are indebted for your independence. It must not be allowed, at any price, that Switzer- land should become a focus of intriguers, and dumb hostility ; that she be to Tranche-Comic" and to Alsace that which the Isles of Jersey and Guernsey are to Britany and La Vendee. She neither owes it to herself nor to France. Besides, 1 will never suffer it. I speak now only of your general constitution : in that I have spoken what I know. About your cantonal constitutions, it is you who are to enlighten me, and to put me in possession of what you stand in need. 1 will hear you ; I will endeavour to satisfy you ; by re- trenching at times in your laws the barbarous injustice of days that are past. During all, do not forget thnt you must have a just government, worthy of an enlightened age, conformable to tho nature of your country, simple, and, above aH, economical. On these conditions it will endure, and I wish that it should endure ; because, if the government which we are about to constitute to- gether should fail, Europe will say either that I have willed it, in order to seize upon Switzerland myself, or that I did not know how to do better ; but I am not willing to leave it the power to doubt my good faith, any more than my knowledge 1 ." Such was the exact sense of the words of the first consul. We have not changed the language except for its abridgment. It was impossible to think with more strength, justice, or loftiness. The hand was immediately set to the work. The federal constitution was discussed at a meeting of all the Swiss deputies. The cantonal constitutions were prepared by the deputies of each canton themselves, and then revised in the general as- sembly of all. When the passions are cooled, and good sense is supposed to prevail, the constitution of any people is easy to form, because it only consists in uniting some just ideas, which are found to dwell in the minds of all the world. The passions of the Swiss were far from being completely appeased ; but their deputies at Paris were af- ready much calmer. The change of place, the presence of a supreme authority, beneficent, and enlightened, had sensibly modified their feelings. The more as this authority was there to impose upon them just ideas, few in number, which would subsist alone after the stormy passions of the time had subsided. The following dispositions were agreed upon : The chimera of the Unitarians was discarded ; it was settled that each canton should have its own constitution, its civil legislation, its judicial forms, and its own system of taxation. The cantons were confederated only for the common interests of all the confederations, and more particularly for the relations of the country with foreign states. This confederation was to have for its representation a diet, composed of an envoy from each canton ; and this envoy was to enjoy one or two voices in the deliberations, according to the extent of the popu- lation which he represented. The representatives of Berne, Zurich, Vaud, St. Gall, Argovia, and the Grisons, of which the population was more than one hundred thousand souls, was to possess two voices. The other cantons were only to possess one each. Thus the diet consisted of twenty-five members. It was bound to sit for one month in every year, and each year to change its residence alternately in the following cantons : Friburg, Berne, Soleure, Bale, Zurich, and Lucerne. The canton in which the diet sat was for the vear the 1 This speech was taken down by several persons ; there exist different versions of it, of which two arc found in the archives of foreign affairs. I have put together that which via? common to all, and that which agrees with the letter* written upon the subject by the first consul. Author't nott 444 The new Swiss constitution. TRIERS' CONSULATE AND EMPIRE. Division of the cantons. 1802. Nov. directing canton. The chief of that canton, avoyer or burgoniastei-, as he might be, was for that year landamman for the whole of Switzerland. He received the foreign ministers, accredited the Swiss ministers abroad, convoked the militia, exercised, in one word, the functions of the executive power of the confederation. Switzerland was to have at the service of the confederation a permanent force of fifteen thousand men, carrying an expense of 490,300 f. The divi- sion of the amount of this contingent for each can- ton, both in men and money, was made by the con- stitution itself upon all the cantons, in the due proportion of their population and their riches. But every Swiss of sixteen years of age was a soldier, a member of the militia, and could, if required, be called to defend the independence of Helvetia. The confederation had only one class of money common to the whole of Switzerland. It had no longer any tariffs or customs' duties, save at the general frontiers, and the duties thus levied must be approved by the diet. Each can- ton placed to the account of its profits the sums which it might have collected on its own frontier. The tolls of a feudal character were wholly suppressed. None remained but such as were necessary to keep the roads in order and preserve navigation. A canton which violated a decree of the diet, could be brought before a tribunal, composed of the presidents of all the criminal tribunals of the other cantons. The attributes of the central government were very much restrained in power. The other attri- butes of the sovereignty, not stated in the federal act, were left to the care of the sovereignty of the cantons. There were nineteen cantons formed altogether, and the questions of territory, so much debated and disputed between the former sovereign states and the subject ones, were resolved into the separation or advantage of the last. Vaud and Argovia formerly subjects of Berne ; Thurgovia formerly subject to Schaff hausen ; the Tessin formerly subject to Uri and Unterwalden, were constituted independent cantons. The small can- tons, such as Glaris and Appenzel, which had been enlarged in order to change their character, were disembarrassed of the inconvenient additions which had been made to them. The canton of St. Gall was composed of all that territory which had been bestowed upon Appenzel, Glaris, and Schwitz. Schwitz alone retained some addition of territory. If to the nineteen cantons which follow, viz., Appenzel, Argovia, Bale, Berne. Friburg, Glaris, Grisons, Lucerne, St. Gall, Schaff hausen, Schwitz, Soleure, Tessin, Thurgovia, Unterwalden, Uri, Vaud, Zug, and Zurich, Geneva be added, then a French department, the Valais, constituted sepa- rately, and Neufchatel, a principality belonging to Prussia, there are the twenty- two cantons which are at present in existence. In regard to the particular system of govern- ment imposed upon each canton, this was made in all respects conformable to the former consti- tution of each state, with the exception that it was purged of all feudal and aristocratical abuses. The Landsgemeinde, or assemblage of all the citizens of the age of twenty years, who met together once annually, to determine all public matters, and to nominate a landamman, was re-established in the small democratic cantons of Appenzel, Glaris, Schwitz, Uri, and Unterwalden. They could do no otherwise than reject this assemblage during the revolt. The government of the citizens was re-established in Berne, Zurich, Bale, and the cantons of the same character, but on condition that it remained open to all ranks of citizens. Provided that an individual possessed a property of 1000 f. l income at Berne, and 500 at Zurich 2 , he might become a member of the body of govern- ing citizens, and eligible to all the public functions. There were in the cities, as formerly, a great council, to which the charge of making the laws was committed, and a little council, whose duty it was to see that they were properly carried into execution, an avoyer or burgomaster being charged with the executive functions, under the superin- tendence of the lesser council. In the cantons in which nature had given rise to particular adminis- trative divisions, as the Wtodes interior and exterior in Appenzel, and the Ligues in the Grisons, these divisions were respected and maintained. The whole was, in fact, the ancient Helvetic constitu- tion, corrected after the principles of justice and the superior knowledge of the time. It was old Switzerland remaining federative, but having in addition, the subject-countries raised to the rank of cantons, maintained in a state of pure demo- cracy, in those places where nature had clearly marked out that it should be so, and in the state of citizen government, but not exclusive of rank, where the nature of things seemed to require that form. In this undertaking, so just and so wise, each party gained and lost something gained what it wished that was just, but lost that which it desired if it were unjust and tyrannical. The uni- tarians saw their chimera of unity and absolute democracy disappear, but they gained the freedom of the subject- territories, and the opening of the ranks of the citizenship in the oligarchical cantons. The oligarchs saw the subject-cantons disappear, Berne particularly, losing Argovia and Vaud, they saw the patrician pretensions put aside ; but they ob- tained the suppression of the central government, and the consecration of the rights of property in the rich cities, such as Zurich, Bale, and Berne. Still this work remained incomplete, inasmuch as that, in arranging the form of the institutions, they did not at the same time settle the choice of the individuals who were to put it into action. In pre- senting the French constitution to the country in the year vin., and the Italian constitution in the year x., the first consul had designated in the con- stitution itself the individuals who were charged with the great constitutional functions. This was wise, because when he was acting for the purpose of placing a country long agitated in a state of peace, the men who were to contribute to that object were not of less importance than the things. The ordinary tendency of the first consul's con- duct was to remit every thing immediately to its own proper place. To recall the higher classes of society to power, without making the men descend who, by their merit, had elevated themselves in the social body ; and to secure to all those who ' About 41 13*. 4