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+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 14289 ***
+
+  LONDON: G. BELL & SONS, LIMITED,
+  PORTUGAL STREET, KINGSWAY, W.C.
+  CAMBRIDGE: DEIGHTON, BELL & CO.
+  NEW YORK: THE MACMILLAN CO.
+  BOMBAY: A.H. WHEELER & CO
+
+
+
+
+
+  THE LIFE OF NAPOLEON I
+
+  INCLUDING NEW MATERIALS FROM THE BRITISH OFFICIAL RECORDS
+
+
+
+  BY JOHN HOLLAND ROSE, LITT.D.
+  LATE SCHOLAR OF CHRIST'S COLLEGE,
+  CAMBRIDGE
+
+
+
+   "Let my son often read and reflect on history: this is the only
+   true philosophy."--_Napoleon's last Instructions for the King of
+    Rome_.
+
+
+
+  VOL, I
+
+
+
+
+
+  LONDON G. BELL AND SONS, LTD.
+  1910
+
+POST 8VO EDITION, ILLUSTRATED
+First Published, December 1901.
+Second Edition, revised, March 1902.
+Third Edition, revised, January 1903.
+Fourth Edition, revised, September 1907.
+Reprinted, January 1910.
+
+
+CROWN 8VO EDITION
+First Published, September 1904.
+Reprinted, October 1907; July 1910.
+
+
+DEDICATED TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE LORD ACTON,
+K.C.V.O., D.C.L., LL.D. REGIUS PROFESSOR OF MODERN HISTORY IN THE
+UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE, IN ADMIRATION OF HIS PROFOUND HISTORICAL
+LEARNING, AND IN GRATITUDE FOR ADVICE AND HELP GENEROUSLY GIVEN.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE
+
+
+An apology seems to be called for from anyone who gives to the world a
+new Life of Napoleon I. My excuse must be that for many years I have
+sought to revise the traditional story of his career in the light of
+facts gleaned from the British Archives and of the many valuable
+materials that have recently been published by continental historians.
+To explain my manner of dealing with these sources would require an
+elaborate critical Introduction; but, as the limits of my space
+absolutely preclude any such attempt, I can only briefly refer to the
+most important topics.
+
+To deal with the published sources first, I would name as of chief
+importance the works of MM. Aulard, Chuquet, Houssaye, Sorel, and
+Vandal in France; of Herren Beer, Delbrück, Fournier, Lehmann, Oncken,
+and Wertheimer in Germany and Austria; and of Baron Lumbroso in Italy.
+I have also profited largely by the scholarly monographs or
+collections of documents due to the labours of the "Société d'Histoire
+Contemporaine," the General Staff of the French Army, of MM. Bouvier,
+Caudrillier, Capitaine "J.G.," Lévy, Madelin, Sagnac, Sciout, Zivy,
+and others in France; and of Herren Bailleu, Demelitsch, Hansing,
+Klinkowstrom, Luckwaldt, Ulmann, and others in Germany. Some of the
+recently published French Memoirs dealing with those times are not
+devoid of value, though this class of literature is to be used with
+caution. The new letters of Napoleon published by M. Léon Lecestre and
+M. Léonce de Brotonne have also opened up fresh vistas into the life
+of the great man; and the time seems to have come when we may safely
+revise our judgments on many of its episodes.
+
+But I should not have ventured on this great undertaking, had I not
+been able to contribute something new to Napoleonic literature. During
+a study of this period for an earlier work published in the "Cambridge
+Historical Series," I ascertained the great value of the British
+records for the years 1795-1815. It is surely discreditable to our
+historical research that, apart from the fruitful labours of the Navy
+Records Society, of Messrs. Oscar Browning and Hereford George, and of
+Mr. Bowman of Toronto, scarcely any English work has appeared that is
+based on the official records of this period. Yet they are of great
+interest and value. Our diplomatic agents then had the knack of
+getting at State secrets in most foreign capitals, even when we were
+at war with their Governments; and our War Office and Admiralty
+Records have also yielded me some interesting "finds." M. Lévy, in the
+preface to his "Napoléon intime" (1893), has well remarked that "the
+documentary history of the wars of the Empire has not yet been
+written. To write it accurately, it will be more important thoroughly
+to know foreign archives than those of France." Those of Russia,
+Austria, and Prussia have now for the most part been examined; and I
+think that I may claim to have searched all the important parts of our
+Foreign Office Archives for the years in question, as well as for part
+of the St. Helena period. I have striven to embody the results of this
+search in the present volumes as far as was compatible with limits of
+space and with the narrative form at which, in my judgment, history
+ought always to aim.
+
+On the whole, British policy comes out the better the more fully it is
+known. Though often feeble and vacillating, it finally attained to
+firmness and dignity; and Ministers closed the cycle of war with acts
+of magnanimity towards the French people which are studiously ignored
+by those who bid us shed tears over the martyrdom of St. Helena.
+Nevertheless, the splendour of the finale must not blind us to the
+flaccid eccentricities that made British statesmanship the laughing
+stock of Europe in 1801-3, 1806-7, and 1809. Indeed, it is
+questionable whether the renewal of war between England and Napoleon
+in 1803 was due more to his innate forcefulness or to the contempt
+which he felt for the Addington Cabinet. When one also remembers our
+extraordinary blunders in the war of the Third Coalition, it seems a
+miracle that the British Empire survived that life and death struggle
+against a man of superhuman genius who was determined to effect its
+overthrow. I have called special attention to the extent and
+pertinacity of Napoleon's schemes for the foundation of a French
+Colonial Empire in India, Egypt, South Africa, and Australia; and
+there can be no doubt that the events of the years 1803-13 determined,
+not only the destinies of Europe and Napoleon, but the general trend
+of the world's colonization.
+
+As it has been necessary to condense the story of Napoleon's life in
+some parts, I have chosen to treat with special brevity the years
+1809-11, which may be called the _constans aetas_ of his career, in
+order to have more space for the decisive events that followed; but
+even in these less eventful years I have striven to show how his
+Continental System was setting at work mighty economic forces that
+made for his overthrow, so that after the _débâcle_ of 1812 it came to
+be a struggle of Napoleon and France _contra mundum_.
+
+While not neglecting the personal details of the great man's life, I
+have dwelt mainly on his public career. Apart from his brilliant
+conversations, his private life has few features of abiding interest,
+perhaps because he early tired of the shallowness of Josephine and the
+Corsican angularity of his brothers and sisters. But the cause also
+lay in his own disposition. He once said to M. Gallois: "Je n'aime pas
+beaucoup les femmes, ni le jeu--enfin rien: _je suis tout à fait un
+être politique_." In dealing with him as a warrior and statesman, and
+in sparing my readers details as to his bolting his food, sleeping at
+concerts, and indulging in amours where for him there was no glamour
+of romance, I am laying stress on what interested him most--in a word,
+I am taking him at his best.
+
+I could not have accomplished this task, even in the present
+inadequate way, but for the help generously accorded from many
+quarters. My heartfelt thanks are due to Lord Acton, Regius Professor
+of Modern History in the University of Cambridge, for advice of the
+highest importance; to Mr. Hubert Hall of the Public Record Office,
+for guidance in my researches there; to Baron Lumbroso of Rome,
+editor of the "Bibliografia ragionata dell' Epoca Napoleonica," for
+hints on Italian and other affairs; to Dr. Luckwaldt, Privat Docent of
+the University of Bonn, and author of "Oesterreich und die Anfänge des
+Befreiungs-Krieges," for his very scholarly revision of the chapters
+on German affairs; to Mr. F.H.E. Cunliffe, M.A., Fellow of All Souls'
+College, Oxford, for valuable advice on the campaigns of 1800, 1805,
+and 1806; to Professor Caudrillier of Grenoble, author of "Pichegru,"
+for information respecting the royalist plot; and to Messrs. J.E.
+Morris, M.A., and E.L.S. Horsburgh, B.A., for detailed communications
+concerning Waterloo, The nieces of the late Professor Westwood of
+Oxford most kindly allowed the facsimile of the new Napoleon letter,
+printed opposite p. 156 of vol. i., to be made from the original in
+their possession; and Miss Lowe courteously placed at my disposal the
+papers of her father relating to the years 1813-15, as well as to the
+St. Helena period. I wish here to record my grateful obligations for
+all these friendly courtesies, which have given value to the book,
+besides saving me from many of the pitfalls with which the subject
+abounds. That I have escaped them altogether is not to be imagined;
+but I can honestly say, in the words of the late Bishop of London,
+that "I have tried to write true history."
+
+J.H.R.
+
+[NOTE.--The references to Napoleon's "Correspondence" in the notes are
+to the official French edition, published under the auspices of
+Napoleon III. The "New Letters of Napoleon" are those edited by Léon
+Lecestre, and translated into English by Lady Mary Loyd, except in a
+very few cases where M. Léonce de Brotonne's still more recent edition
+is cited under his name. By "F.O.," France, No.----, and "F.O.,"
+Prussia, No.----, are meant the volumes of _our_ Foreign Office
+despatches relating to France and Prussia. For the sake of brevity I
+have called Napoleon's Marshals and high officials by their names, not
+by their titles: but a list of these is given at the close of vol.
+ii.]
+
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE TO THE THIRD EDITION
+
+
+The demand for this work so far exceeded my expectations that I was
+unable to make any considerable changes in the second edition, issued
+in March, 1902; and circumstances again make it impossible for me to
+give the work that thorough recension which I should desire. I have,
+however, carefully considered the suggestions offered by critics, and
+have adopted them in some cases. Professor Fournier of Vienna has most
+kindly furnished me with details which seem to relegate to the domain
+of legend the famous ice catastrophe at Austerlitz; and I have added a
+note to this effect on p. 50 of vol. ii. On the other hand, I may
+justly claim that the publication of Count Balmain's reports relating
+to St. Helena has served to corroborate, in all important details, my
+account of Napoleon's captivity.
+
+It only remains to add that I much regret the omission of Mr. Oman's
+name from II. 12-13 of page viii of the Preface, an omission rendered
+all the more conspicuous by the appearance of the first volume of his
+"History of the Peninsular War" in the spring of this year.
+
+J.H.R.
+
+_October, 1902._
+
+Notes have been added at the end of ch. v., vol. i.; chs. xxii.,
+xxiii., xxviii., xxix., xxxv., vol. ii.; and an Appendix on the Battle
+of Waterloo has been added on p. 577, vol. ii.
+
+
+
+
+  CONTENTS
+
+
+  CHAPTER
+
+         NOTE ON THE REPUBLICAN CALENDAR
+
+      I. PARENTAGE AND EARLY YEARS
+
+     II. THE FRENCH REVOLUTION AND CORSICA
+
+    III. TOULON
+
+     IV. VENDÉMIAIRE
+
+      V. THE ITALIAN CAMPAIGN (1796)
+
+     VI. THE FIGHTS FOR MANTUA
+
+    VII. LEOBEN TO CAMPO FORMIO
+
+   VIII. EGYPT
+
+     IX. SYRIA
+
+      X. BRUMAIRE
+
+     XI. MARENGO: LUNÉVILLE
+
+    XII. THE NEW INSTITUTIONS OF FRANCE
+
+   XIII. THE CONSULATE FOR LIFE
+
+    XIV. THE PEACE OF AMIENS
+
+     XV. A FRENCH COLONIAL EMPIRE: ST.
+         DOMINGO--LOUISIANA--INDIA--AUSTRALIA
+
+    XVI. NAPOLEON'S INTERVENTIONS
+
+   XVII. THE RENEWAL OF WAR
+
+  XVIII. EUROPE AND THE BONAPARTES
+
+    XIX. THE ROYALIST PLOT
+
+     XX. THE DAWN OF THE EMPIRE
+
+    XXI. THE BOULOGNE FLOTILLA
+
+    APPENDIX: REPORTS HITHERTO UNPUBLISHED
+     ON
+    (_a_) THE SALE OF LOUISIANA;
+    (_b_) THE IRISH DIVISION IN NAPOLEON'S SERVICE
+
+  ILLUSTRATIONS, MAPS, AND PLANS
+
+  THE SIEGE OF TOULON, 1793
+
+  MAP TO ILLUSTRATE THE CAMPAIGNS IN NORTH ITALY
+
+  PLAN TO ILLUSTRATE THE VICTORY OF ARCOLA
+
+  THE NEIGHBOURHOOD OF RIVOLI
+
+  FACSIMILE OF A LETTER OF NAPOLEON TO "LA CITOYENNE
+  TALLIEN," 1797
+
+  CENTRAL EUROPE, after the Peace of Campo Formio, 1797
+
+  PLAN OF THE SIEGE OF ACRE, from a contemporary sketch
+
+  THE BATTLE OF MARENGO, to illustrate Kellermann's charge
+
+  FRENCH MAP OF THE SOUTH OF AUSTRALIA, 1807
+
+
+
+
+
+
+NOTE ON THE REPUBLICAN CALENDAR
+
+
+The republican calendar consisted of twelve months of thirty days
+each, each month being divided into three "decades" of ten days. Five
+days (in leap years six) were added at the end of the year to bring it
+into coincidence with the solar year.
+
+  An    I began Sept. 22, 1792.
+  "    II  "      "       1793.
+  "   III  "      "       1794.
+  "    IV (leap year)     1795.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+  "  VIII began Sept. 22, 1799.
+  "    IX   "   Sept. 23, 1800.
+  "     X   "      "      1801.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+  "   XIV   "      "      1805.
+
+The new computation, though reckoned from Sept. 22, 1792, was not
+introduced until Nov. 26, 1793 (An II). It ceased after Dec. 31, 1805.
+
+The months are as follows:
+
+    Vendémiaire              Sept. 22 to Oct. 21.
+    Brumaire                 Oct. 22  "  Nov. 20.
+    Frimaire                 Nov. 21  "  Dec. 20.
+    Nivôse                   Dec. 21  "  Jan. 19.
+    Pluviôse                 Jan. 20  "  Feb. 18.
+    Ventôse                  Feb. 19  "  Mar. 20.
+    Germinal                 Mar. 21  "  April 19.
+    Floréal                  April 20 "  May 19.
+    Prairial                 May 20   "  June 18.
+    Messidor                 June 19  "  July 18.
+    Thermidor                July 19  "  Aug. 17.
+    Fructidor                Aug. 18  "  Sept. 16.
+
+Add five (in leap years six) "Sansculottides" or "Jours
+complémentaires."
+
+In 1796 (leap year) the numbers in the table of months, so far as
+concerns all dates between Feb. 28 and Sept. 22, will have to be
+_reduced by one_, owing to the intercalation of Feb. 29, which is not
+compensated for until the end of the republican year.
+
+The matter is further complicated by the fact that the republicans
+reckoned An VIII as a leap year, though it is not one in the Gregorian
+Calendar. Hence that year ended on Sept. 22, and An IX and succeeding
+years began on Sept. 23. Consequently in the above table of months the
+numbers of all days from Vendémiaire 1, An IX (Sept. 23, 1800), to
+Nivôse 10, An XIV (Dec. 31, 1805), inclusive, will have to be
+_increased by one_, except only in the next leap year between Ventôse
+9, An XII, and Vendémiaire 1, An XIII (Feb. 28-Sept, 23, 1804), when
+the two Revolutionary aberrations happen to neutralize each other.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+
+THE LIFE OF NAPOLEON I
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+PARENTAGE AND EARLY YEARS
+
+
+"I was born when my country was perishing. Thirty thousand French
+vomited upon our coasts, drowning the throne of Liberty in waves of
+blood, such was the sight which struck my eyes." This passionate
+utterance, penned by Napoleon Buonaparte at the beginning of the
+French Revolution, describes the state of Corsica in his natal year.
+The words are instinct with the vehemence of the youth and the
+extravagant sentiment of the age: they strike the keynote of his
+career. His life was one of strain and stress from his cradle to his
+grave.
+
+In his temperament as in the circumstances of his time the young
+Buonaparte was destined for an extraordinary career. Into a tottering
+civilization he burst with all the masterful force of an Alaric. But
+he was an Alaric of the south, uniting the untamed strength of his
+island kindred with the mental powers of his Italian ancestry. In his
+personality there is a complex blending of force and grace, of animal
+passion and mental clearness, of northern common sense with the
+promptings of an oriental imagination; and this union in his nature of
+seeming opposites explains many of the mysteries of his life.
+Fortunately for lovers of romance, genius cannot be wholly analyzed,
+even by the most adroit historical philosophizer or the most exacting
+champion of heredity. But in so far as the sources of Napoleon's power
+can be measured, they may be traced to the unexampled needs of mankind
+in the revolutionary epoch and to his own exceptional endowments.
+Evidently, then, the characteristics of his family claim some
+attention from all who would understand the man and the influence
+which he was to wield over modern Europe.
+
+It has been the fortune of his House to be the subject of dispute from
+first to last. Some writers have endeavoured to trace its descent back
+to the Cæsars of Rome, others to the Byzantine Emperors; one
+genealogical explorer has tracked the family to Majorca, and, altering
+its name to Bonpart, has discovered its progenitor in the Man of the
+Iron Mask; while the Duchesse d'Abrantès, voyaging eastwards in quest
+of its ancestors, has confidently claimed for the family a Greek
+origin. Painstaking research has dispelled these romancings of
+historical _trouveurs_, and has connected this enigmatic stock with a
+Florentine named "William, who in the year 1261 took the surname of
+_Bonaparte_ or _Buonaparte_. The name seems to have been assumed when,
+amidst the unceasing strifes between Guelfs and Ghibellines that rent
+the civic life of Florence, William's party, the Ghibellines, for a
+brief space gained the ascendancy. But perpetuity was not to be found
+in Florentine politics; and in a short time he was a fugitive at a
+Tuscan village, Sarzana, beyond the reach of the victorious Guelfs.
+Here the family seems to have lived for wellnigh three centuries,
+maintaining its Ghibelline and aristocratic principles with surprising
+tenacity. The age was not remarkable for the virtue of constancy, or
+any other virtue. Politics and private life were alike demoralized by
+unceasing intrigues; and amidst strifes of Pope and Emperor, duchies
+and republics, cities and autocrats, there was formed that type of
+Italian character which is delineated in the pages of Macchiavelli.
+From the depths of debasement of that cynical age the Buonapartes
+were saved by their poverty, and by the isolation of their life at
+Sarzana. Yet the embassies discharged at intervals by the more
+talented members of the family showed that the gifts for intrigue were
+only dormant; and they were certainly transmitted in their intensity
+to the greatest scion of the race.
+
+In the year 1529 Francis Buonaparte, whether pressed by poverty or
+distracted by despair at the misfortunes which then overwhelmed Italy,
+migrated to Corsica. There the family was grafted upon a tougher
+branch of the Italian race. To the vulpine characteristics developed
+under the shadow of the Medici there were now added qualities of a
+more virile stamp. Though dominated in turn by the masters of the
+Mediterranean, by Carthaginians, Romans, Vandals, by the men of Pisa,
+and finally by the Genoese Republic, the islanders retained a striking
+individuality. The rock-bound coast and mountainous interior helped to
+preserve the essential features of primitive life. Foreign Powers
+might affect the towns on the sea-board, but they left the clans of
+the interior comparatively untouched. Their life centred around the
+family. The Government counted for little or nothing; for was it not
+the symbol of the detested foreign rule? Its laws were therefore as
+naught when they conflicted with the unwritten but omnipotent code of
+family honour. A slight inflicted on a neighbour would call forth the
+warning words--"Guard thyself: I am on my guard." Forthwith there
+began a blood feud, a vendetta, which frequently dragged on its dreary
+course through generations of conspiracy and murder, until, the
+principals having vanished, the collateral branches of the families
+were involved. No Corsican was so loathed as the laggard who shrank
+from avenging the family honour, even on a distant relative of the
+first offender. The murder of the Duc d'Enghien by Napoleon in 1804
+sent a thrill of horror through the Continent. To the Corsicans it
+seemed little more than an autocratic version of the _vendetta
+traversale_.[1]
+
+The vendetta was the chief law of Corsican society up to comparatively
+recent times; and its effects are still visible in the life of the
+stern islanders. In his charming romance, "Colomba," M. Prosper
+Mérimée has depicted the typical Corsican, even of the towns, as
+preoccupied, gloomy, suspicious, ever on the alert, hovering about his
+dwelling, like a falcon over his nest, seemingly in preparation for
+attack or defence. Laughter, the song, the dance, were rarely heard in
+the streets; for the women, after acting as the drudges of the
+household, were kept jealously at home, while their lords smoked and
+watched. If a game at hazard were ventured upon, it ran its course in
+silence, which not seldom was broken by the shot or the stab--first
+warning that there had been underhand play. The deed always preceded
+the word.
+
+In such a life, where commerce and agriculture were despised, where
+woman was mainly a drudge and man a conspirator, there grew up the
+typical Corsican temperament, moody and exacting, but withal keen,
+brave, and constant, which looked on the world as a fencing-school for
+the glorification of the family and the clan[2]. Of this type Napoleon
+was to be the supreme exemplar; and the fates granted him as an arena
+a chaotic France and a distracted Europe.
+
+Amidst that grim Corsican existence the Buonapartes passed their lives
+during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Occupied as advocates
+and lawyers with such details of the law as were of any practical
+importance, they must have been involved in family feuds and the
+oft-recurring disputes between Corsica and the suzerain Power, Genoa.
+As became dignitaries in the municipality of Ajaccio, several of the
+Buonapartes espoused the Genoese side; and the Genoese Senate in a
+document of the year 1652 styled one of them, Jérome, "Egregius
+Hieronimus di Buonaparte, procurator Nobilium." These distinctions
+they seem to have little coveted. Very few families belonged to the
+Corsican _noblesse_, and their fiefs were unimportant. In Corsica, as
+in the Forest Cantons of Switzerland and the Highlands of Scotland,
+class distinctions were by no means so coveted as in lands that had
+been thoroughly feudalized; and the Buonapartes, content with their
+civic dignities at Ajaccio and the attachment of their partisans on
+their country estates, seem rarely to have used the prefix which
+implied nobility. Their life was not unlike that of many an old
+Scottish laird, who, though possibly _bourgeois_ in origin, yet by
+courtesy ranked as chieftain among his tenants, and was ennobled by
+the parlance of the countryside, perhaps all the more readily because
+he refused to wear the honours that came from over the Border.
+
+But a new influence was now to call forth all the powers of this tough
+stock. In the middle of the eighteenth century we find the head of the
+family, Charles Marie Buonaparte, aglow with the flame of Corsican
+patriotism then being kindled by the noble career of Paoli. This
+gifted patriot, the champion of the islanders, first against the
+Genoese and later against the French, desired to cement by education
+the framework of the Corsican Commonwealth and founded a university.
+It was here that the father of the future French Emperor received a
+training in law, and a mental stimulus which was to lift his family
+above the level of the _caporali_ and attorneys with whom its lot had
+for centuries been cast. His ambition is seen in the endeavour,
+successfully carried out by his uncle, Lucien, Archdeacon of Ajaccio,
+to obtain recognition of kinship with the Buonapartes of Tuscany who
+had been ennobled by the Grand Duke. His patriotism is evinced in his
+ardent support of Paoli, by whose valour and energy the Genoese were
+finally driven from the island. Amidst these patriotic triumphs
+Charles confronted his destiny in the person of Letizia Ramolino, a
+beautiful girl, descended from an honourable Florentine family which
+had for centuries been settled in Corsica. The wedding took place in
+1764, the bridegroom being then eighteen, and the bride fifteen years
+of age. The union, if rashly undertaken in the midst of civil strifes,
+was yet well assorted. Both parties to it were of patrician, if not
+definitely noble descent, and came of families which combined the
+intellectual gifts of Tuscany with the vigour of their later island
+home[3]. From her mother's race, the Pietra Santa family, Letizia
+imbibed the habits of the most backward and savage part of Corsica,
+where vendettas were rife and education was almost unknown. Left in
+ignorance in her early days, she yet was accustomed to hardships, and
+often showed the fertility of resource which such a life always
+develops. Hence, at the time of her marriage, she possessed a firmness
+of will far beyond her years; and her strength and fortitude enabled
+her to survive the terrible adversities of her early days, as also to
+meet with quiet matronly dignity the extraordinary honours showered on
+her as the mother of the French Emperor. She was inured to habits of
+frugality, which reappeared in the personal tastes of her son. In
+fact, she so far retained her old parsimonious habits, even amidst the
+splendours of the French Imperial Court, as to expose herself to the
+charge of avarice. But there is a touching side to all this. She seems
+ever to have felt that after the splendour there would come again the
+old days of adversity, and her instincts were in one sense correct.
+She lived on to the advanced age of eighty-six, and died twenty-one
+years after the break-up of her son's empire--a striking proof of the
+vitality and tenacity of her powers.
+
+A kindly Providence veiled the future from the young couple. Troubles
+fell swiftly upon them both in private and in public life. Their first
+two children died in infancy. The third, Joseph, was born in 1768,
+when the Corsican patriots were making their last successful efforts
+against their new French oppressors: the fourth, the famous Napoleon,
+saw the light on August 15th, 1769, when the liberties of Corsica were
+being finally extinguished. Nine other children were born before the
+outbreak of the French Revolution reawakened civil strifes, amidst
+which the then fatherless family was tossed to and fro and finally
+whirled away to France.
+
+Destiny had already linked the fortunes of the young Napoleon
+Buonaparte with those of France. After the downfall of Genoese rule in
+Corsica, France had taken over, for empty promises, the claims of the
+hard-pressed Italian republic to its troublesome island possession. It
+was a cheap and practical way of restoring, at least in the
+Mediterranean the shattered prestige of the French Bourbons. They had
+previously intervened in Corsican affairs on the side of the Genoese.
+Yet in 1764 Paoli appealed to Louis XV. for protection. It was
+granted, in the form of troops that proceeded quietly to occupy the
+coast towns of the island under cover of friendly assurances. In 1768,
+before the expiration of an informal truce, Marbeuf, the French
+commander, commenced hostilities against the patriots[4]. In vain did
+Rousseau and many other champions of popular liberty protest against
+this bartering away of insular freedom: in vain did Paoli rouse his
+compatriots to another and more unequal struggle, and seek to hold the
+mountainous interior. Poor, badly equipped, rent by family feuds and
+clan schisms, his followers were no match for the French troops; and
+after the utter break-up of his forces Paoli fled to England, taking
+with him three hundred and forty of the most determined patriots. With
+these irreconcilables Charles Buonaparte did not cast in his lot, but
+accepted the pardon offered to those who should recognize the French
+sway. With his wife and their little child Joseph he returned to
+Ajaccio; and there, shortly afterwards, Napoleon was born. As the
+patriotic historian, Jacobi, has finely said, "The Corsican people,
+when exhausted by producing martyrs to the cause of liberty, produced
+Napoleon Buonaparte[5]."
+
+Seeing that Charles Buonaparte had been an ardent adherent of Paoli,
+his sudden change of front has exposed him to keen censure. He
+certainly had not the grit of which heroes are made. His seems to have
+been an ill-balanced nature, soon buoyed up by enthusiasms, and as
+speedily depressed by their evaporation; endowed with enough of
+learning and culture to be a Voltairean and write second-rate
+verses; and with a talent for intrigue which sufficed to embarrass
+his never very affluent fortunes. Napoleon certainly derived no
+world-compelling qualities from his father: for these he was indebted
+to the wilder strain which ran in his mother's blood. The father
+doubtless saw in the French connection a chance of worldly advancement
+and of liberation from pecuniary difficulties; for the new rulers now
+sought to gain over the patrician families of the island. Many of them
+had resented the dictatorship of Paoli; and they now gladly accepted
+the connection with France, which promised to enrich their country and
+to open up a brilliant career in the French army, where commissions
+were limited to the scions of nobility.
+
+Much may be said in excuse of Charles Buonaparte's decision, and no
+one can deny that Corsica has ultimately gained much by her connection
+with France. But his change of front was open to the charge that it
+was prompted by self-interest rather than by philosophic foresight. At
+any rate, his second son throughout his boyhood nursed a deep
+resentment against his father for his desertion of the patriots'
+cause. The youth's sympathies were with the peasants, whose allegiance
+was not to be bought by baubles, whose constancy and bravery long held
+out against the French in a hopeless guerilla warfare. His hot
+Corsican blood boiled at the stories of oppression and insult which he
+heard from his humbler compatriots. When, at eleven years of age, he
+saw in the military college at Brienne the portrait of Choiseul, the
+French Minister who had urged on the conquest of Corsica, his passion
+burst forth in a torrent of imprecations against the traitor; and,
+even after the death of his father in 1785, he exclaimed that he could
+never forgive him for not following Paoli into exile.
+
+What trifles seem, at times, to alter the current of human affairs!
+Had his father acted thus, the young Napoleon would in all probability
+have entered the military or naval service of Great Britain; he might
+have shared Paoli's enthusiasm for the land of his adoption, and have
+followed the Corsican hero in his enterprises against the French
+Revolution, thenceforth figuring in history merely as a greater
+Marlborough, crushing the military efforts of democratic France, and
+luring England into a career of Continental conquest. Monarchy and
+aristocracy would have gone unchallenged, except within the "natural
+limits" of France; and the other nations, never shaken to their
+inmost depths, would have dragged on their old inert fragmentary
+existence.
+
+The decision of Charles Buonaparte altered the destiny of Europe. He
+determined that his eldest boy, Joseph, should enter the Church, and
+that Napoleon should be a soldier. His perception of the characters of
+his boys was correct. An anecdote, for which the elder brother is
+responsible, throws a flood of light on their temperaments. The master
+of their school arranged a mimic combat for his pupils--Romans against
+Carthaginians. Joseph, as the elder was ranged under the banner of
+Rome, while Napoleon was told off among the Carthaginians; but, piqued
+at being chosen for the losing side, the child fretted, begged, and
+stormed until the less bellicose Joseph agreed to change places with
+his exacting junior. The incident is prophetic of much in the later
+history of the family.
+
+Its imperial future was opened up by the deft complaisance now shown
+by Charles Buonaparte. The reward for his speedy submission to France
+was soon forthcoming. The French commander in Corsica used his
+influence to secure the admission of the young Napoleon to the
+military school of Brienne in Champagne; and as the father was able to
+satisfy the authorities not only that he was without fortune, but also
+that his family had been noble for four generations, Napoleon was
+admitted to this school to be educated at the charges of the King of
+France (April, 1779). He was now, at the tender age of nine, a
+stranger in a strange land, among a people whom he detested as the
+oppressors of his countrymen. Worst of all, he had to endure the taunt
+of belonging to a subject race. What a position for a proud and
+exacting child! Little wonder that the official report represented him
+as silent and obstinate; but, strange to say, it added the word
+"imperious." It was a tough character which could defy repression
+amidst such surroundings. As to his studies, little need be said. In
+his French history he read of the glories of the distant past (when
+"Germany was part of the French Empire"), the splendours of the reign
+of Louis XIV., the disasters of France in the Seven Years' War, and
+the "prodigious conquests of the English in India." But his
+imagination was kindled from other sources. Boys of pronounced
+character have always owed far more to their private reading than to
+their set studies; and the young Buonaparte, while grudgingly learning
+Latin and French grammar, was feeding his mind on Plutarch's
+"Lives"--in a French translation. The artful intermingling of the
+actual and the romantic, the historic and the personal, in those vivid
+sketches of ancient worthies and heroes, has endeared them to many
+minds. Rousseau derived unceasing profit from their perusal; and
+Madame Roland found in them "the pasture of great souls." It was so
+with the lonely Corsican youth. Holding aloof from his comrades in
+gloomy isolation, he caught in the exploits of Greeks and Romans a
+distant echo of the tragic romance of his beloved island home. The
+librarian of the school asserted that even then the young soldier had
+modelled his future career on that of the heroes of antiquity; and we
+may well believe that, in reading of the exploits of Leonidas,
+Curtius, and Cincinnatus, he saw the figure of his own antique
+republican hero, Paoli. To fight side by side with Paoli against the
+French was his constant dream. "Paoli will return," he once exclaimed,
+"and as soon as I have strength, I will go to help him: and perhaps
+together we shall be able to shake the odious yoke from off the neck
+of Corsica."
+
+But there was another work which exercised a great influence on his
+young mind--the "Gallic War" of Cæsar. To the young Italian the
+conquest of Gaul by a man of his own race must have been a congenial
+topic, and in Cæsar himself the future conqueror may dimly have
+recognized a kindred spirit. The masterful energy and all-conquering
+will of the old Roman, his keen insight into the heart of a problem,
+the wide sweep of his mental vision, ranging over the intrigues of the
+Roman Senate, the shifting politics of a score of tribes, and the
+myriad administrative details of a great army and a mighty
+province--these were the qualities that furnished the chief mental
+training to the young cadet. Indeed, the career of Cæsar was destined
+to exert a singular fascination over the Napoleonic dynasty, not only
+on its founder, but also on Napoleon III.; and the change in the
+character and career of Napoleon the Great may be registered mentally
+in the effacement of the portraits of Leonidas and Paoli by those of
+Cæsar and Alexander. Later on, during his sojourn at Ajaccio in 1790,
+when the first shadows were flitting across his hitherto unclouded
+love for Paoli, we hear that he spent whole nights poring over Cæsar's
+history, committing many passages to memory in his passionate
+admiration of those wondrous exploits. Eagerly he took Cæsar's side as
+against Pompey, and no less warmly defended him from the charge of
+plotting against the liberties of the commonwealth[6]. It was a
+perilous study for a republican youth in whom the military instincts
+were as ingrained as the genius for rule.
+
+Concerning the young Buonaparte's life at Brienne there exist few
+authentic records and many questionable anecdotes. Of these last, that
+which is the most credible and suggestive relates his proposal to his
+schoolfellows to construct ramparts of snow during the sharp winter of
+1783-4. According to his schoolfellow, Bourrienne, these mimic
+fortifications were planned by Buonaparte, who also directed the
+methods of attack and defence: or, as others say, he reconstructed
+the walls according to the needs of modern war. In either case, the
+incident bespeaks for him great power of organization and control. But
+there were in general few outlets for his originality and vigour. He
+seems to have disliked all his comrades, except Bourrienne, as much as
+they detested him for his moody humours and fierce outbreaks of
+temper. He is even reported to have vowed that he would do as much
+harm as possible to the French people; but the remark smacks of the
+story-book. Equally doubtful are the two letters in which he prays to
+be removed from the indignities to which he was subjected at
+Brienne[7]. In other letters which are undoubtedly genuine, he refers
+to his future career with ardour, and writes not a word as to the
+bullying to which his Corsican zeal subjected him. Particularly
+noteworthy is the letter to his uncle begging him to intervene so as
+to prevent Joseph Buonaparte from taking up a military career. Joseph,
+writes the younger brother, would make a good garrison officer, as he
+was well formed and clever at frivolous compliments--"good therefore
+for society, but for a fight--?"
+
+Napoleon's determination had been noticed by his teachers. They had
+failed to bend his will, at least on important points. In lesser
+details his Italian adroitness seems to have been of service; for the
+officer who inspected the school reported of him: "Constitution,
+health excellent: character submissive, sweet, honest, grateful:
+conduct very regular: has always distinguished himself by his
+application to mathematics: knows history and geography passably: very
+weak in accomplishments. He will be an excellent seaman: is worthy to
+enter the School at Paris." To the military school at Paris he was
+accordingly sent in due course, entering there in October, 1784. The
+change from the semi-monastic life at Brienne to the splendid edifice
+which fronts the Champ de Mars had less effect than might have
+been expected in a youth of fifteen years. Not yet did he become
+French in sympathy. His love of Corsica and hatred of the French
+monarchy steeled him against the luxuries of his new surroundings.
+Perhaps it was an added sting that he was educated at the expense of
+the monarchy which had conquered his kith and kin. He nevertheless
+applied himself with energy to his favourite studies, especially
+mathematics. Defective in languages he still was, and ever remained;
+for his critical acumen in literature ever fastened on the matter
+rather than on style. To the end of his days he could never write
+Italian, much less French, with accuracy; and his tutor at Paris not
+inaptly described his boyish composition as resembling molten granite.
+The same qualities of directness and impetuosity were also fatal to
+his efforts at mastering the movements of the dance. In spite of
+lessons at Paris and private lessons which he afterwards took at
+Valence, he was never a dancer: his bent was obviously for the exact
+sciences rather than the arts, for the geometrical rather than the
+rhythmical: he thought, as he moved, in straight lines, never in
+curves.
+
+The death of his father during the year which the youth spent at Paris
+sharpened his sense of responsibility towards his seven younger
+brothers and sisters. His own poverty must have inspired him with
+disgust at the luxury which he saw around him; but there are good
+reasons for doubting the genuineness of the memorial which he is
+alleged to have sent from Paris to the second master at Brienne on
+this subject. The letters of the scholars at Paris were subject to
+strict surveillance; and, if he had taken the trouble to draw up a
+list of criticisms on his present training, most assuredly it would
+have been destroyed. Undoubtedly, however, he would have sympathized
+with the unknown critic in his complaint of the unsuitableness of
+sumptuous meals to youths who were destined for the hardships of the
+camp. At Brienne he had been dubbed "the Spartan," an instance of that
+almost uncanny faculty of schoolboys to dash off in a nickname the
+salient features of character. The phrase was correct, almost for
+Napoleon's whole life. At any rate, the pomp of Paris served but to
+root his youthful affections more tenaciously in the rocks of Corsica.
+
+In September, 1785, that is, at the age of sixteen, Buonaparte was
+nominated for a commision as junior lieutenant in La Fère regiment of
+artillery quartered at Valence on the Rhone. This was his first close
+contact with real life. The rules of the service required him to
+spend three months of rigorous drill before he was admitted to his
+commission. The work was exacting: the pay was small, viz., 1,120
+francs, or less than £45, a year; but all reports agree as to his keen
+zest for his profession and the recognition of his transcendent
+abilities by his superior officers.[8] There it was that he mastered
+the rudiments of war, for lack of which many generals of noble birth
+have quickly closed in disaster careers that began with promise:
+there, too, he learnt that hardest and best of all lessons, prompt
+obedience. "To learn obeying is the fundamental art of governing,"
+says Carlyle. It was so with Napoleon: at Valence he served his
+apprenticeship in the art of conquering and the art of governing.
+
+This spring-time of his life is of interest and importance in many
+ways: it reveals many amiable qualities, which had hitherto been
+blighted by the real or fancied scorn of the wealthy cadets. At
+Valence, while shrinking from his brother officers, he sought society
+more congenial to his simple tastes and restrained demeanour. In a few
+of the best bourgeois families of Valence he found happiness. There,
+too, blossomed the tenderest, purest idyll of his life. At the country
+house of a cultured lady who had befriended him in his solitude, he
+saw his first love, Caroline de Colombier. It was a passing fancy;
+but to her all the passion of his southern nature welled forth. She
+seems to have returned his love; for in the stormy sunset of his life
+at St. Helena he recalled some delicious walks at dawn when Caroline
+and he had--eaten cherries together. One lingers fondly over these
+scenes of his otherwise stern career, for they reveal his capacity for
+social joys and for deep and tender affection, had his lot been
+otherwise cast. How different might have been his life, had France
+never conquered Corsica, and had the Revolution never burst forth! But
+Corsica was still his dominant passion. When he was called away from
+Valence to repress a riot at Lyons, his feelings, distracted for a
+time by Caroline, swerved back towards his island home; and in
+September, 1786, he had the joy of revisiting the scenes of his
+childhood. Warmly though he greeted his mother, brothers and sisters,
+after an absence of nearly eight years, his chief delight was in the
+rocky shores, the verdant dales and mountain heights of Corsica. The
+odour of the forests, the setting of the sun in the sea "as in the
+bosom of the infinite," the quiet proud independence of the
+mountaineers themselves, all enchanted him. His delight reveals almost
+Wertherian powers of "sensibility." Even the family troubles could not
+damp his ardour. His father had embarked on questionable speculations,
+which now threatened the Buonapartes with bankruptcy, unless the
+French Government proved to be complacent and generous. With the hope
+of pressing one of the family claims on the royal exchequer, the
+second son procured an extension of furlough and sped to Paris. There
+at the close of 1787 he spent several weeks, hopefully endeavouring to
+extract money from the bankrupt Government. It was a season of
+disillusionment in more senses than one; for there he saw for himself
+the seamy side of Parisian life, and drifted for a brief space about
+the giddy vortex of the Palais Royal. What a contrast to the limpid
+life of Corsica was that turbid frothy existence--already swirling
+towards its mighty plunge!
+
+After a furlough of twenty-one months he rejoined his regiment, now at
+Auxonne. There his health suffered considerably, not only from the
+miasma of the marshes of the river Saône, but also from family
+anxieties and arduous literary toils. To these last it is now needful
+to refer. Indeed, the external events of his early life are of value
+only as they reveal the many-sidedness of his nature and the growth of
+his mental powers.
+
+How came he to outgrow the insular patriotism of his early years? The
+foregoing recital of facts must have already suggested one obvious
+explanation. Nature had dowered him so prodigally with diverse gifts,
+mainly of an imperious order, that he could scarcely have limited his
+sphere of action to Corsica. Profoundly as he loved his island, it
+offered no sphere commensurate with his varied powers and masterful
+will. It was no empty vaunt which his father had uttered on his
+deathbed that his Napoleon would one day overthrow the old monarchies
+and conquer Europe.[9] Neither did the great commander himself
+overstate the peculiarity of his temperament, when he confessed that
+his instincts had ever prompted him that his will must prevail, and
+that what pleased him must of necessity belong to him. Most spoilt
+children harbour the same illusion, for a brief space. But all the
+buffetings of fortune failed to drive it from the young Buonaparte;
+and when despair as to his future might have impaired the vigour of
+his domineering instincts, his mind and will acquired a fresh rigidity
+by coming under the spell of that philosophizing doctrinaire,
+Rousseau.
+
+There was every reason why he should early be attracted by this
+fantastic thinker. In that notable work, "Le Contrat Social" (1762),
+Rousseau called attention to the antique energy shown by the Corsicans
+in defence of their liberties, and in a startlingly prophetic phrase
+he exclaimed that the little island would one day astonish Europe. The
+source of this predilection of Rousseau for Corsica is patent. Born
+and reared at Geneva, he felt a Switzer's love for a people which was<
+"neither rich nor poor but self-sufficing "; and in the simple life
+and fierce love of liberty of the hardy islanders he saw traces of
+that social contract which he postulated as the basis of society.
+According to him, the beginnings of all social and political
+institutions are to be found in some agreement or contract between
+men. Thus arise the clan, the tribe, the nation. The nation may
+delegate many of its powers to a ruler; but if he abuse such powers,
+the contract between him and his people is at an end, and they may
+return to the primitive state, which is founded on an agreement of
+equals with equals. Herein lay the attractiveness of Rousseau for all
+who were discontented with their surroundings. He seemed infallibly
+to demonstrate the absurdity of tyranny and the need of returning to
+the primitive bliss of the social contract. It mattered not that the
+said contract was utterly unhistorical and that his argument teemed
+with fallacies. He inspired a whole generation with detestation of the
+present and with longings for the golden age. Poets had sung of it,
+but Rousseau seemed to bring it within the grasp of long-suffering
+mortals.
+
+The first extant manuscript of Napoleon, written at Valence in April,
+1786, shows that he sought in Rousseau's armoury the logical weapons
+for demonstrating the "right" of the Corsicans to rebel against the
+French. The young hero-worshipper begins by noting that it is the
+birthday of Paoli. He plunges into a panegyric on the Corsican
+patriots, when he is arrested by the thought that many censure them
+for rebelling at all. "The divine laws forbid revolt. But what have
+divine laws to do with a purely human affair? Just think of the
+absurdity--divine laws universally forbidding the casting off of a
+usurping yoke! ... As for human laws, there cannot be any after the
+prince violates them." He then postulates two origins for government
+as alone possible. Either the people has established laws and
+submitted itself to the prince, or the prince has established laws. In
+the first case, the prince is engaged by the very nature of his office
+to execute the covenants. In the second case, the laws tend, or do not
+tend, to the welfare of the people, which is the aim of all
+government: if they do not, the contract with the prince dissolves of
+itself, for the people then enters again into its primitive state.
+Having thus proved the sovereignty of the people, Buonaparte uses his
+doctrine to justify Corsican revolt against France, and thus concludes
+his curious medley: "The Corsicans, following all the laws of justice,
+have been able to shake off the yoke of the Genoese, and may do the
+same with that of the French. Amen."
+
+Five days later he again gives the reins to his melancholy. "Always
+alone, though in the midst of men," he faces the thought of suicide.
+With an innate power of summarizing and balancing thoughts and
+sensations, he draws up arguments for and against this act. He is in
+the dawn of his days and in four months' time he will see "la patrie,"
+which he has not seen since childhood. What joy! And yet--how men have
+fallen away from nature: how cringing are his compatriots to their
+conquerors: they are no longer the enemies of tyrants, of luxury, of
+vile courtiers: the French have corrupted their morals, and when "la
+patrie" no longer survives, a good patriot ought to die. Life among
+the French is odious: their modes of life differ from his as much as
+the light of the moon differs from that of the sun.--A strange
+effusion this for a youth of seventeen living amidst the full glories
+of the spring in Dauphiné. It was only a few weeks before the ripening
+of cherries. Did that cherry-idyll with Mdlle. de Colombier lure him
+back to life? Or did the hope of striking a blow for Corsica stay his
+suicidal hand? Probably the latter; for we find him shortly afterwards
+tilting against a Protestant minister of Geneva who had ventured to
+criticise one of the dogmas of Rousseau's evangel.
+
+The Genevan philosopher had asserted that Christianity, by enthroning
+in the hearts of Christians the idea of a Kingdom not of this world,
+broke the unity of civil society, because it detached the hearts of
+its converts from the State, as from all earthly things. To this the
+Genevan minister had successfully replied by quoting Christian
+teachings on the subject at issue. But Buonaparte fiercely accuses
+the pastor of neither having understood, nor even read, "Le Contrat
+Social": he hurls at his opponent texts of Scripture which enjoin
+obedience to the laws: he accuses Christianity of rendering men slaves
+to an anti-social tyranny, because its priests set up an authority in
+opposition to civil laws; and as for Protestantism, it propagated
+discords between its followers, and thereby violated civic unity.
+Christianity, he argues, is a foe to civil government, for it aims at
+making men happy in this life by inspiring them with hope of a future
+life; while the aim of civil government is "to lend assistance to the
+feeble against the strong, and by this means to allow everyone to
+enjoy a sweet tranquillity, the road of happiness." He therefore
+concludes that Christianity and civil government are diametrically
+opposed.
+
+In this tirade we see the youth's spirit of revolt flinging him not
+only against French law, but against the religion which sanctions it.
+He sees none of the beauty of the Gospels which Rousseau had
+admitted. His views are more rigid than those of his teacher.
+Scarcely can he conceive of two influences, the spiritual and the
+governmental, working on parallel lines, on different parts of man's
+nature. His conception of human society is that of an indivisible,
+indistinguishable whole, wherein materialism, tinged now and again by
+religious sentiment and personal honour, is the sole noteworthy
+influence. He finds no worth in a religion which seeks to work from
+within to without, which aims at transforming character, and thus
+transforming the world. In its headlong quest of tangible results his
+eager spirit scorns so tardy a method: he will "compel men to be
+happy," and for this result there is but one practicable means, the
+Social Contract, the State. Everything which mars the unity of the
+Social Contract shall be shattered, so that the State may have a clear
+field for the exercise of its beneficent despotism. Such is
+Buonaparte's political and religious creed at the age of seventeen,
+and such it remained (with many reservations suggested by maturer
+thought and self-interest) to the end of his days. It reappears in his
+policy anent the Concordat of 1802, by which religion was reduced to
+the level of handmaid to the State, as also in his frequent assertions
+that he would never have quite the same power as the Czar and the
+Sultan, because he had not undivided sway over the consciences of his
+people.[10] In this boyish essay we may perhaps discern the
+fundamental reason of his later failures. He never completely
+understood religion, or the enthusiasm which it can evoke; neither did
+he ever fully realize the complexity of human nature, the
+many-sidedness of social life, and the limitations that beset the
+action even of the most intelligent law-maker.[11]
+
+His reading of Rousseau having equipped him for the study of human
+society and government, he now, during his first sojourn at Auxonne
+(June, 1788--September, 1789), proceeds to ransack the records of the
+ancient and modern world. Despite ill-health, family troubles, and the
+outbreak of the French Revolution, he grapples with this portentous
+task. The history, geography, religion, and social customs of the
+ancient Persians, Scythians, Thracians, Athenians, Spartans,
+Egyptians, and Carthaginians--all furnished materials for his
+encyclopædic note-books. Nothing came amiss to his summarizing genius.
+Here it was that he gained that knowledge of the past which was to
+astonish his contemporaries. Side by side with suggestions on
+regimental discipline and improvements in artillery, we find notes on
+the opening episodes of Plato's "Republic," and a systematic summary
+of English history from the earliest times down to the Revolution of
+1688. This last event inspired him with special interest, because the
+Whigs and their philosophic champion, Locke, maintained that James II.
+had violated the original contract between prince and people.
+Everywhere in his notes Napoleon emphasizes the incidents which led to
+conflicts between dynasties or between rival principles. In fact,
+through all these voracious studies there appear signs of his
+determination to write a history of Corsica; and, while inspiriting
+his kinsmen by recalling the glorious past, he sought to weaken the
+French monarchy by inditing a "Dissertation sur l'Autorité Royale."
+His first sketch of this work runs as follows:
+
+     "23 October, 1788. Auxonne.
+
+     "This work will begin with general ideas as to the origin and the
+     enhanced prestige of the name of king. Military rule is favourable
+     to it: this work will afterwards enter into the details of the
+     usurped authority enjoyed by the Kings of the twelve Kingdoms of
+     Europe.
+
+     "There are very few Kings who have not deserved dethronement[12]."
+
+This curt pronouncement is all that remains of the projected work. It
+sufficiently indicates, however, the aim of Napoleon's studies. One
+and all they were designed to equip him for the great task of
+re-awakening the spirit of the Corsicans and of sapping the base of
+the French monarchy.
+
+But these reams of manuscript notes and crude literary efforts have an
+even wider source of interest. They show how narrow was his outlook on
+life. It all turned on the regeneration of Corsica by methods which he
+himself prescribed. We are therefore able to understand why, when his
+own methods of salvation for Corsica were rejected, he tore himself
+away and threw his undivided energies into the Revolution.
+
+Yet the records of his early life show that in his character there was
+a strain of true sentiment and affection. In him Nature carved out a
+character of rock-like firmness, but she adorned it with flowers of
+human sympathy and tendrils of family love. At his first parting from
+his brother Joseph at Autun, when the elder brother was weeping
+passionately, the little Napoleon dropped a tear: but that, said the
+tutor, meant as much as the flood of tears from Joseph. Love of his
+relatives was a potent factor of his policy in later life; and slander
+has never been able wholly to blacken the character of a man who loved
+and honoured his mother, who asserted that her advice had often been
+of the highest service to him, and that her justice and firmness of
+spirit marked her out as a natural ruler of men. But when these
+admissions are freely granted, it still remains true that his
+character was naturally hard; that his sense of personal superiority
+made him, even as a child, exacting and domineering; and the sequel
+was to show that even the strongest passion of his youth, his
+determination to free Corsica from France, could be abjured if
+occasion demanded, all the force of his nature being thenceforth
+concentrated on vaster adventures.
+
+       *      *      *      *      *
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+THE FRENCH REVOLUTION AND CORSICA
+
+
+"They seek to destroy the Revolution by attacking my person: I will
+defend it, for I am the Revolution." Such were the words uttered by
+Buonaparte after the failure of the royalist plot of 1804. They are a
+daring transcript of Louis XIV.'s "L'état, c'est moi." That was a bold
+claim, even for an age attuned to the whims of autocrats: but this of
+the young Corsican is even more daring, for he thereby equated himself
+with a movement which claimed to be wide as humanity and infinite as
+truth. And yet when he spoke these words, they were not scouted as
+presumptuous folly: to most Frenchmen they seemed sober truth and
+practical good sense. How came it, one asks in wonder, that after the
+short space of fifteen years a world-wide movement depended on a
+single life, that the infinitudes of 1789 lived on only in the form,
+and by the pleasure, of the First Consul? Here surely is a political
+incarnation unparalleled in the whole course of human history. The
+riddle cannot be solved by history alone. It belongs in part to the
+domain of psychology, when that science shall undertake the study, not
+merely of man as a unit, but of the aspirations, moods, and whims of
+communities and nations. Meanwhile it will be our far humbler task to
+strive to point out the relation of Buonaparte to the Revolution, and
+to show how the mighty force of his will dragged it to earth.
+
+The first questions that confront us are obviously these. Were the
+lofty aims and aspirations of the Revolution attainable? And, if so,
+did the men of 1789 follow them by practical methods? To the former of
+these questions the present chapter will, in part at least, serve as
+an answer. On the latter part of the problem the events described in
+later chapters will throw some light: in them we shall see that the
+great popular upheaval let loose mighty forces that bore Buonaparte on
+to fortune.
+
+Here we may notice that the Revolution was not a simple and therefore
+solid movement. It was complex and contained the seeds of discord
+which lurk in many-sided and militant creeds. The theories of its
+intellectual champions were as diverse as the motives which spurred on
+their followers to the attack on the outworn abuses of the age.
+
+Discontent and faith were the ultimate motive powers of the
+Revolution. Faith prepared the Revolution and discontent accomplished
+it. Idealists who, in varied planes of thought, preached the doctrine
+of human perfectibility, succeeded in slowly permeating the dull
+toiling masses of France with hope. Omitting here any notice of
+philosophic speculation as such, we may briefly notice the teachings
+of three writers whose influence on revolutionary politics was to be
+definite and practical. These were Montesquieu, Voltaire, and
+Rousseau. The first was by no means a revolutionist, for he decided in
+favour of a mixed form of government, like that of England, which
+guaranteed the State against the dangers of autocracy, oligarchy, and
+mob-rule. Only by a ricochet did he assail the French monarchy. But he
+re-awakened critical inquiry; and any inquiry was certain to sap the
+base of the _ancien régime_ in France. Montesquieu's teaching inspired
+the group of moderate reformers who in 1789 desired to re-fashion the
+institutions of France on the model of those of England. But popular
+sentiment speedily swept past these Anglophils towards the more
+attractive aims set forth by Voltaire.
+
+This keen thinker subjected the privileged classes, especially the
+titled clergy, to a searching fire of philosophic bombs and barbed
+witticisms. Never was there a more dazzling succession of literary
+triumphs over a tottering system. The satirized classes winced and
+laughed, and the intellect of France was conquered, for the
+Revolution. Thenceforth it was impossible that peasants who were
+nominally free should toil to satisfy the exacting needs of the
+State, and to support the brilliant bevy of nobles who flitted gaily
+round the monarch at Versailles. The young King Louis XVI., it is
+true, carried through several reforms, but he had not enough strength
+of will to abolish the absurd immunities from taxation which freed the
+nobles and titled clergy from the burdens of the State. Thus, down to
+1789, the middle classes and peasants bore nearly all the weight of
+taxation, while the peasants were also encumbered by feudal dues and
+tolls. These were the crying grievances which united in a solid
+phalanx both thinkers and practical men, and thereby gave an immense
+impetus to the levelling doctrines of Rousseau.
+
+Two only of his political teachings concern us here, namely, social
+equality and the unquestioned supremacy of the State; for to these
+dogmas, when they seemed doomed to political bankruptcy, Napoleon
+Buonaparte was to act as residuary legatee. According to Rousseau,
+society and government originated in a social contract, whereby all
+members of the community have equal rights. It matters not that the
+spirit of the contract may have evaporated amidst the miasma of
+luxury. That is a violation of civil society; and members are
+justified in reverting at once to the primitive ideal. If the
+existence of the body politic be endangered, force may be used:
+"Whoever refuses to obey the general will shall be constrained to do
+so by the whole body; which means nothing else than that he shall be
+forced to be free." Equally plausible and dangerous was his teaching
+as to the indivisibility of the general will. Deriving every public
+power from his social contract, he finds it easy to prove that the
+sovereign power, vested in all the citizens, must be incorruptible,
+inalienable, unrepresentable, indivisible, and indestructible.
+Englishmen may now find it difficult to understand the enthusiasm
+called forth by this quintessence of negations; but to Frenchman
+recently escaped from the age of privilege and warring against the
+coalition of kings, the cry of the Republic one and indivisible was a
+trumpet call to death or victory. Any shifts, even that of a
+dictatorship, were to be borne, provided that social equality could be
+saved. As republican Rome had saved her early liberties by intrusting
+unlimited powers to a temporary dictator, so, claimed Rousseau, a
+young commonwealth must by a similar device consult Nature's first law
+of self-preservation. The dictator saves liberty by temporarily
+abrogating it: by momentary gagging of the legislative power he
+renders it truly vocal.
+
+The events of the French Revolution form a tragic commentary on these
+theories. In the first stage of that great movement we see the
+followers of Montesquieu, Voltaire, and Rousseau marching in an
+undivided host against the ramparts of privilege. The walls of the
+Bastille fall down even at the blast of their trumpets. Odious feudal
+privileges disappear in a single sitting of the National Assembly; and
+the _Parlements_, or supreme law courts of the provinces, are swept
+away. The old provinces themselves are abolished, and at the beginning
+of 1790 France gains social and political unity by her new system of
+Departments, which grants full freedom of action in local affairs,
+though in all national concerns it binds France closely to the new
+popular government at Paris. But discords soon begin to divide the
+reformers: hatred of clerical privilege and the desire to fill the
+empty coffers of the State dictate the first acts of spoliation.
+Tithes are abolished: the lands of the Church are confiscated to the
+service of the State; monastic orders are suppressed; and the
+Government undertakes to pay the stipends of bishops and priests.
+Furthermore, their subjection to the State is definitely secured by
+the Civil Constitution of the Clergy (July, 1790) which invalidates
+their allegiance to the Pope. Most of the clergy refuse: these are
+termed non-jurors or orthodox priests, while their more complaisant
+colleagues are known as constitutional priests. Hence arises a serious
+schism in the Church, which distracts the religious life of the land,
+and separates the friends of liberty from the champions of the
+rigorous equality preached by Rousseau.
+
+The new constitution of 1791 was also a source of discord. In its
+jealousy of the royal authority, the National Assembly seized very
+many of the executive functions of government. The results were
+disastrous. Laws remained without force, taxes went uncollected, the
+army was distracted by mutinies, and the monarchy sank slowly into the
+gulf of bankruptcy and anarchy. Thus, in the course of three years,
+the revolutionists goaded the clergy to desperation, they were about
+to overthrow the monarchy, every month was proving their local
+self-government to be unworkable, and they themselves split into
+factions that plunged France into war and drenched her soil by
+organized massacres.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+We know very little about the impression made on the young Buonaparte
+by the first events of the Revolution. His note-book seems even to
+show that he regarded them as an inconvenient interference with his
+plans for Corsica. But gradually the Revolution excites his interest.
+In September, 1789, we find him on furlough in Corsica sharing the
+hopes of the islanders that their representatives in the French
+National Assembly will obtain the boon of independence. He exhorts
+his compatriots to favour the democratic cause, which promises a
+speedy deliverance from official abuses. He urges them to don the new
+tricolour cockade, symbol of Parisian triumph over the old monarchy;
+to form a club; above all, to organize a National Guard. The young
+officer knew that military power was passing from the royal army, now
+honeycombed with discontent, to the National Guard. Here surely was
+Corsica's means of salvation. But the French governor of Corsica
+intervenes. The club is closed, and the National Guard is dispersed.
+Thereupon Buonaparte launches a vigorous protest against the tyranny
+of the governor and appeals to the National Assembly of France for
+some guarantee of civil liberty. His name is at the head of this
+petition, a sufficiently daring step for a junior lieutenant on
+furlough. But his patriotism and audacity carry him still further. He
+journeys to Bastia, the official capital of his island, and is
+concerned in an affray between the populace and the royal troops
+(November 5th, 1789). The French authorities, fortunately for him, are
+nearly powerless: he is merely requested to return to Ajaccio; and
+there he organizes anew the civic force, and sets the dissident
+islanders an example of good discipline by mounting guard outside the
+house of a personal opponent.
+
+Other events now transpired which began to assuage his opposition to
+France. Thanks to the eloquent efforts of Mirabeau, the Corsican
+patriots who had remained in exile since 1768 were allowed to return
+and enjoy the full rights of citizenship. Little could the friends of
+liberty at Paris, or even the statesman himself, have foreseen all the
+consequences of this action: it softened the feelings of many
+Corsicans towards their conquerors; above all, it caused the heart of
+Napoleon Buonaparte for the first time to throb in accord with that of
+the French nation. His feelings towards Paoli also began to cool. The
+conduct of this illustrious exile exposed him to the charge of
+ingratitude towards France. The decree of the French National
+Assembly, which restored him to Corsican citizenship, was graced by
+acts of courtesy such as the generous French nature can so winningly
+dispense. Louis XVI. and the National Assembly warmly greeted him, and
+recognized him as head of the National Guard of the island. Yet,
+amidst all the congratulations, Paoli saw the approach of anarchy, and
+behaved with some reserve. Outwardly, however, concord seemed to be
+assured, when on July 14th, 1790, he landed in Corsica; but the hatred
+long nursed by the mountaineers and fisherfolk against France was not
+to be exorcised by a few demonstrations. In truth, the island was
+deeply agitated. The priests were rousing the people against the newly
+decreed Civil Constitution of the Clergy; and one of these
+disturbances endangered the life of Napoleon himself. He and his
+brother Joseph chanced to pass by when one of the processions of
+priests and devotees was exciting the pity and indignation of the
+townsfolk. The two brothers, who were now well known as partisans of
+the Revolution, were threatened with violence, and were saved only by
+their own firm demeanour and the intervention of peacemakers.
+
+Then again, the concession of local self-government to the island, as
+one of the Departments of France, revealed unexpected difficulties.
+Bastia and Ajaccio struggled hard for the honour of being the official
+capital. Paoli favoured the claims of Bastia, thereby annoying the
+champions of Ajaccio, among whom the Buonapartes were prominent. The
+schism was widened by the dictatorial tone of Paoli, a demeanour which
+ill became the chief of a civic force. In fact, it soon became
+apparent that Corsica was too small a sphere for natures so able and
+masterful as those of Paoli and Napoleon Buonaparte.
+
+The first meeting of these two men must have been a scene of deep
+interest. It was on the fatal field of Ponte Nuovo. Napoleon doubtless
+came there in the spirit of true hero-worship. But hero-worship which
+can stand the strain of actual converse is rare indeed, especially
+when the expectant devotee is endowed with keen insight and habits of
+trenchant expression. One phrase has come down to us as a result of
+the interview; but this phrase contains a volume of meaning. After
+Paoli had explained the disposition of his troops against the French
+at Ponte Nuovo, Buonaparte drily remarked to his brother Joseph, "The
+result of these dispositions was what was inevitable." [13]
+
+For the present, Buonaparte and other Corsican democrats were closely
+concerned with the delinquencies of the Comte de Buttafuoco, the
+deputy for the twelve nobles of the island to the National Assembly of
+France. In a letter written on January 23rd, 1791, Buonaparte
+overwhelms this man with a torrent of invective.--He it was who had
+betrayed his country to France in 1768. Self-interest and that alone
+prompted his action then, and always. French rule was a cloak for his
+design of subjecting Corsica to "the absurd feudal _régime_" of the
+barons. In his selfish royalism he had protested against the new
+French constitution as being unsuited to Corsica, "though it was
+exactly the same as that which brought us so much good and was wrested
+from us only amidst streams of blood."--The letter is remarkable for
+the southern intensity of its passion, and for a certain hardening of
+tone towards Paoli. Buonaparte writes of Paoli as having been ever
+"surrounded by enthusiasts, and as failing to understand in a man any
+other passion than fanaticism for liberty and independence," and as
+duped by Buttafuoco in 1768.[14] The phrase has an obvious reference
+to the Paoli of 1791, surrounded by men who had shared his long exile
+and regarded the English constitution as their model. Buonaparte, on
+the contrary, is the accredited champion of French democracy, his
+furious epistle being printed by the Jacobin Club of Ajaccio.
+
+After firing off this tirade Buonaparte returned to his regiment at
+Auxonne (February, 1791). It was high time; for his furlough, though
+prolonged on the plea of ill-health, had expired in the preceding
+October, and he was therefore liable to six months' imprisonment. But
+the young officer rightly gauged the weakness of the moribund
+monarchy; and the officers of his almost mutinous regiment were glad
+to get him back on any terms. Everywhere in his journey through
+Provence and Dauphiné, Buonaparte saw the triumph of revolutionary
+principles. He notes that the peasants are to a man for the
+Revolution; so are the rank and file of the regiment. The officers
+are aristocrats, along with three-fourths of those who belong to "good
+society": so are all the women, for "Liberty is fairer than they, and
+eclipses them." The Revolution was evidently gaining completer hold
+over his mind and was somewhat blurring his insular sentiments, when a
+rebuff from Paoli further weakened his ties to Corsica. Buonaparte had
+dedicated to him his work on Corsica, and had sent him the manuscript
+for his approval. After keeping it an unconscionable time, the old man
+now coldly replied that he did not desire the honour of Buonaparte's
+panegyric, though he thanked him heartily for it; that the
+consciousness of having done his duty sufficed for him in his old age;
+and, for the rest, history should not be written in youth. A further
+request from Joseph Buonaparte for the return of the slighted
+manuscript brought the answer that he, Paoli, had no time to search
+his papers. After this, how could hero-worship subsist?
+
+The four months spent by Buonaparte at Auxonne were, indeed, a time of
+disappointment and hardship. Out of his slender funds he paid for the
+education of his younger brother, Louis, who shared his otherwise
+desolate lodging. A room almost bare but for a curtainless bed, a
+table heaped with books and papers, and two chairs--such were the
+surroundings of the lieutenant in the spring of 1791. He lived on
+bread that he might rear his brother for the army, and that he might
+buy books, overjoyed when his savings mounted to the price of some
+coveted volume.
+
+Perhaps the depressing conditions of his life at Auxonne may account
+for the acrid tone of an essay which he there wrote in competition for
+a prize offered by the Academy of Lyons on the subject--"What truths
+and sentiments ought to be inculcated to men for their happiness." It
+was unsuccessful; and modern readers will agree with the verdict of
+one of the judges that it was incongruous in arrangement and of a bad
+and ragged style. The thoughts are set forth in jerky, vehement
+clauses; and, in place of the _sensibilité_ of some of his earlier
+effusions, we feel here the icy breath of materialism. He regards an
+ideal human society as a geometrical structure based on certain
+well-defined postulates. All men ought to be able to satisfy certain
+elementary needs of their nature; but all that is beyond is
+questionable or harmful. The ideal legislator will curtail wealth so
+as to restore the wealthy to their true nature--and so forth. Of any
+generous outlook on the wider possibilities of human life there is
+scarcely a trace. His essay is the apotheosis of social mediocrity. By
+Procrustean methods he would have forced mankind back to the dull
+levels of Sparta: the opalescent glow of Athenian life was beyond his
+ken. But perhaps the most curious passage is that in which he preaches
+against the sin and folly of ambition. He pictures Ambition as a
+figure with pallid cheeks, wild eyes, hasty step, jerky movements and
+sardonic smile, for whom crimes are a sport, while lies and calumnies
+are merely arguments and figures of speech. Then, in words that recall
+Juvenal's satire on Hannibal's career, he continues: "What is
+Alexander doing when he rushes from Thebes into Persia and thence into
+India? He is ever restless, he loses his wits, he believes himself
+God. What is the end of Cromwell? He governs England. But is he not
+tormented by all the daggers of the furies?"--The words ring false,
+even for this period of Buonaparte's life; and one can readily
+understand his keen wish in later years to burn every copy of these
+youthful essays. But they have nearly all survived; and the diatribe
+against ambition itself supplies the feather wherewith history may
+wing her shaft at the towering flight of the imperial eagle.[15]
+
+At midsummer he is transferred, as first lieutenant, to another
+regiment which happened to be quartered at Valence; but his second
+sojourn there is remarkable only for signs of increasing devotion to
+the revolutionary cause. In the autumn of 1791 he is again in Corsica
+on furlough, and remains there until the month of May following. He
+finds the island rent by strifes which it would be tedious to
+describe. Suffice it to say that the breach between Paoli and the
+Buonapartes gradually widened owing to the dictator's suspicion of all
+who favoured the French Revolution. The young officer certainly did
+nothing to close the breach. Determined to secure his own election as
+lieutenant-colonel in the new Corsican National Guard, he spent much
+time in gaining recruits who would vote for him. He further assured
+his success by having one of the commissioners, who was acting in
+Paoli's interest, carried off from his friends and detained at the
+Buonapartes' house in Ajaccio--his first _coup_[16] Stranger events
+were to follow. At Easter, when the people were excited by the
+persecuting edicts against the clergy and the closing of a monastery,
+there was sharp fighting between the populace and Buonaparte's
+companies of National Guards. Originating in a petty quarrel, which
+was taken up by eager partisans, it embroiled the whole of the town
+and gave the ardent young Jacobin the chance of overthrowing his
+enemies. His plans even extended to the seizure of the citadel, where
+he tried to seduce the French regiment from its duty to officers
+whom he dubbed aristocrats. The attempt was a failure. The whole
+truth can, perhaps, scarcely be discerned amidst the tissue of
+lies which speedily enveloped the affair; but there can be no
+doubt that on the second day of strife Buonaparte's National
+Guards began the fight and subsequently menaced the regular troops in
+the citadel. The conflict was finally stopped by commissioners sent by
+Paoli; and the volunteers were sent away from the town.
+
+Buonaparte's position now seemed desperate. His conduct exposed him to
+the hatred of most of his fellow-citizens and to the rebukes of the
+French War Department. In fact, he had doubly sinned: he had actually
+exceeded his furlough by four months: he was technically guilty, first
+of desertion, and secondly of treason. In ordinary times he would have
+been shot, but the times were extraordinary, and he rightly judged
+that when a Continental war was brewing, the most daring course was
+also the most prudent, namely, to go to Paris. Thither Paoli allowed
+him to proceed, doubtless on the principle of giving the young madcap
+a rope wherewith to hang himself.
+
+On his arrival at Marseilles, he hears that war has been declared by
+France against Austria; for the republican Ministry, which Louis XVI.
+had recently been compelled to accept, believed that war against an
+absolute monarch would intensify revolutionary fervour in France and
+hasten the advent of the Republic. Their surmises were correct.
+Buonaparte, on his arrival at Paris, witnessed the closing scenes of
+the reign of Louis XVI. On June 20th he saw the crowd burst into the
+Tuileries, when for some hours it insulted the king and queen. Warmly
+though he had espoused the principles of the Revolution, his patrician
+blood boiled at the sight of these vulgar outrages, and he exclaimed:
+"Why don't they sweep off four or five hundred of that _canaille_ with
+cannon? The rest would then run away fast enough." The remark is
+significant. If his brain approved the Jacobin creed, his instincts
+were always with monarchy. His career was to reconcile his reason with
+his instincts, and to impose on weary France the curious compromise of
+a revolutionary Imperialism.
+
+On August 10th, from the window of a shop near the Tuileries, he
+looked down on the strange events which dealt the _coup de grâce_ to
+the dying monarchy. Again the chieftain within him sided against the
+vulture rabble and with the well-meaning monarch who kept his troops
+to a tame defensive. "If Louis XVI." (so wrote Buonaparte to his
+brother Joseph) "had mounted his horse, the victory would have been
+his--so I judge from the spirit which prevailed in the morning."
+When all was over, when Louis sheathed his sword and went for
+shelter to the National Assembly, when the fierce Marseillais were
+slaughtering the Swiss Guards and bodyguards of the king, Buonaparte
+dashed forward to save one of these unfortunates from a southern
+sabre. "Southern comrade, let us save this poor wretch.--Are you
+of the south?--Yes.--Well, we will save him."
+
+Altogether, what a time of disillusionment this was to the young
+officer. What depths of cruelty and obscenity it revealed in the
+Parisian rabble. What folly to treat them with the Christian
+forbearance shown by Louis XVI. How much more suitable was grapeshot
+than the beatitudes. The lesson was stored up for future use at a
+somewhat similar crisis on this very spot.
+
+During the few days when victorious Paris left Louis with the sham
+title of king, Buonaparte received his captain's commission, which was
+signed for the king by Servan, the War Minister. Thus did the
+revolutionary Government pass over his double breach of military
+discipline at Ajaccio. The revolutionary motto, "La carrière ouverte
+aux talents," was never more conspicuously illustrated than in the
+facile condoning of his offences and in this rapid promotion. It was
+indeed a time fraught with vast possibilities for all republican or
+Jacobinical officers. Their monarchist colleagues were streaming over
+the frontiers to join the Austrian and Prussian invaders. But National
+Guards were enrolling by tens of thousands to drive out the Prussian
+and Austrian invaders; and when Europe looked to see France fall for
+ever, it saw with wonder her strength renewed as by enchantment. Later
+on it learnt that that strength was the strength of Antæus, of a
+peasantry that stood firmly rooted in their native soil. Organization
+and good leadership alone were needed to transform these ardent masses
+into the most formidable soldiery; and the brilliant military
+prospects now opened up certainly knit Buonaparte's feelings more
+closely with the cause of France. Thus, on September 21st, when the
+new National Assembly, known as the Convention, proclaimed the
+Republic, we may well believe that sincere convictions no less than
+astute calculations moved him to do and dare all things for the sake
+of the new democratic commonwealth.[17]
+
+For the present, however, a family duty urges him to return to
+Corsica. He obtains permission to escort home his sister Elise, and
+for the third time we find him on furlough in Corsica. This laxity of
+military discipline at such a crisis is explicable only on the
+supposition that the revolutionary chiefs knew of his devotion to
+their cause and believed that his influence in the island would render
+his informal services there more valuable than his regimental duties
+in the army then invading Savoy. For the word Republic, which fired
+his imagination, was an offence to Paoli and to most of the
+islanders; and the phrase "Republic one and indivisible," ever on the
+lips of the French, seemed to promise that the island must become a
+petty replica of France--France that was now dominated by the authors
+of the vile September massacres. The French party in the island was
+therefore rapidly declining, and Paoli was preparing to sever the
+union with France. For this he has been bitterly assailed as a
+traitor. But, from Paoli's point of view, the acquisition of the
+island by France was a piece of rank treachery; and his allegiance to
+France was technically at an end when the king was forcibly dethroned
+and the Republic was proclaimed. The use of the appellation "traitor"
+in such a case is merely a piece of childish abuse. It can be
+justified neither by reference to law, equity, nor to the popular
+sentiment of the time. Facts were soon to show that the islanders were
+bitterly opposed to the party then dominant in France. This hostility
+of a clannish, religious, and conservative populace against the
+bloodthirsty and atheistical innovators who then lorded it over France
+was not diminished by the action of some six thousand French
+volunteers, the off-scourings of the southern ports, who were landed
+at Ajaccio for an expedition against Sardinia. In their zeal for
+Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity, these _bonnets rouges_ came to
+blows with the men of Ajaccio, three of whom they hanged. So fierce
+was the resentment caused by this outrage that the plan of a joint
+expedition for the liberation of Sardinia from monarchical tyranny had
+to be modified; and Buonaparte, who was again in command of a
+battalion of Corsican guards, proposed that the islanders alone should
+proceed to attack the Madalena Isles.
+
+These islands, situated between Corsica and Sardinia, have a double
+interest to the historical student. One of them, Caprera, was destined
+to shelter another Italian hero at the close of his career, the noble
+self-denying Garibaldi: the chief island of the group was the
+objective of Buonaparte's first essay in regular warfare. After some
+delays the little force set sail under the command of Cesari-Colonna,
+the nephew of Paoli. According to Buonaparte's own official statement
+at the close of the affair, he had successfully landed his men near
+the town to be assailed, and had thrown the Sardinian defences into
+confusion, when a treacherous order from his chief bade him to cease
+firing and return to the vessels. It has also been stated that this
+retreat was the outcome of a secret understanding between Paoli and
+Cesari-Colonna that the expedition should miscarry. This seems highly
+probable. A mutiny on board the chief ship of the flotilla was
+assigned by Cesari-Colonna as the cause of his order for a retreat;
+but there are mutinies and mutinies, and this one may have been a
+trick of the Paolists for thwarting Buonaparte's plan and leaving him
+a prisoner. In any case, the young officer only saved himself and his
+men by a hasty retreat to the boats, tumbling into the sea a mortar
+and four cannon. Such was the ending to the great captain's first
+military enterprise.
+
+On his return to Ajaccio (March 3rd, 1793), Buonaparte found affairs
+in utter confusion. News had recently arrived of the declaration of
+war by the French Republic against England and Holland. Moreover,
+Napoleon's young brother, Lucien, had secretly denounced Paoli to the
+French authorities at Toulon; and three commissioners were now sent
+from Paris charged with orders to disband the Corsican National
+Guards, and to place the Corsican dictator under the orders of the
+French general commanding the army of Italy.[18]
+
+A game of truly Macchiavellian skill is now played. The French
+commissioners, among whom the Corsican deputy, Salicetti, is by far
+the most able, invite Paoli to repair to Toulon, there to concert
+measures for the defence of Corsica. Paoli, seeing through the ruse
+and discerning a guillotine, pleads that his age makes the journey
+impossible; but with his friends he quietly prepares for resistance
+and holds the citadel of Ajaccio. Meanwhile the commissioners make
+friendly overtures to the old chief; in these Napoleon participates,
+being ignorant of Lucien's action at Toulon. The sincerity of these
+overtures may well be called in question, though Buonaparte still used
+the language of affection to his former idol. However this may be, all
+hope of compromise is dashed by the zealots who are in power at Paris.
+On April 2nd they order the French commissioners to secure Paoli's
+person, by whatever means, and bring him to the French capital. At
+once a cry of indignation goes up from all parts of Corsica; and
+Buonaparte draws up a declaration, vindicating Paoli's conduct and
+begging the French Convention to revoke its decree.[19] Again, one
+cannot but suspect that this declaration was intended mainly, if not
+solely, for local consumption. In any case, it failed to cool the
+resentment of the populace; and the partisans of France soon came to
+blows with the Paolists.
+
+Salicetti and Buonaparte now plan by various artifices to gain the
+citadel of Ajaccio from the Paolists, but guile is three times foiled
+by guile equally astute. Failing here, the young captain seeks to
+communicate with the French commissioners at Bastia. He sets out
+secretly, with a trusty shepherd as companion, to cross the island:
+but at the village of Bocognano he is recognized and imprisoned by the
+partisans of Paoli. Some of the villagers, however, retain their old
+affection to the Buonaparte family, which here has an ancestral
+estate, and secretly set him free. He returns to Ajaccio, only to find
+an order for his arrest issued by the Corsican patriots. This time he
+escapes by timely concealment in the grotto of a friend's garden; and
+from the grounds of another family connection he finally glides away
+in a vessel to a point of safety, whence he reaches Bastia.
+
+Still, though a fugitive, he persists in believing that Ajaccio is
+French at heart, and urges the sending of a liberating force. The
+French commissioners agree, and the expedition sails--only to meet
+with utter failure. Ajaccio, as one man, repels the partisans of
+France; and, a gale of wind springing up, Buonaparte and his men
+regain their boats with the utmost difficulty. At a place hard by, he
+finds his mother, uncle, brothers and sisters. Madame Buonaparte, with
+the extraordinary tenacity of will that characterized her famous son,
+had wished to defend her house at Ajaccio against the hostile
+populace; but, yielding to the urgent warnings of friends, finally
+fled to the nearest place of safety, and left the house to the fury of
+the populace, by whom it was nearly wrecked.
+
+For a brief space Buonaparte clung to the hope of regaining Corsica
+for the Republic, but now only by the aid of French troops. For the
+islanders, stung by the demand of the French Convention that Paoli
+should go to Paris, had rallied to the dictator's side; and the aged
+chief made overtures to England for alliance. The partisans of France,
+now menaced by England's naval power, were in an utterly untenable
+position. Even the steel-like will of Buonaparte was bent. His career
+in Corsica was at an end for the present; and with his kith and kin he
+set sail for France.
+
+The interest of the events above described lies, not in their
+intrinsic importance, but in the signal proof which they afford of
+Buonaparte's wondrous endowments of mind and will. In a losing cause
+and in a petty sphere he displays all the qualities which, when the
+omens were favourable, impelled him to the domination of a Continent.
+He fights every inch of ground tenaciously; at each emergency he
+evinces a truly Italian fertility of resource, gliding round obstacles
+or striving to shatter them by sheer audacity, seeing through men,
+cajoling them by his insinuations or overawing them by his mental
+superiority, ever determined to try the fickle jade Fortune to the
+very utmost, and retreating only before the inevitable. The sole
+weakness discoverable in this nature, otherwise compact of strength,
+is an excess of will-power over all the faculties that make for
+prudence. His vivid imagination only serves to fire him with the full
+assurance that he must prevail over all obstacles.
+
+And yet, if he had now stopped to weigh well the lessons of the past,
+hitherto fertile only in failures and contradictions, he must have
+seen the powerlessness of his own will when in conflict with the
+forces of the age; for he had now severed his connection with the
+Corsican patriots, of whose cause he had only two years before been
+the most passionate champion. It is evident that the schism which
+finally separated Buonaparte and Paoli originated in their divergence
+of views regarding the French Revolution. Paoli accepted revolutionary
+principles only in so far as they promised to base freedom on a due
+balance of class interests. He was a follower of Montesquieu. He
+longed to see in Corsica a constitution similar to that of England or
+to that of 1791 in France. That hope vanished alike for France and
+Corsica after the fall of the monarchy; and towards the Jacobinical
+Republic, which banished orthodox priests and guillotined the amiable
+Louis, Paoli thenceforth felt naught but loathing: "We have been the
+enemies of kings," he said to Joseph Buonaparte; "let us never be
+their executioners." Thenceforth he drifted inevitably into alliance
+with England.
+
+Buonaparte, on the other hand, was a follower of Rousseau, whose ideas
+leaped to power at the downfall of the monarchy. Despite the excesses
+which he ever deplored, this second Revolution appeared to him to be
+the dawn of a new and intelligent age. The clear-cut definitions of
+the new political creed dovetailed in with his own rigid views of
+life. Mankind was to be saved by law, society being levelled down and
+levelled up until the ideals of Lycurgus were attained. Consequently
+he regarded the Republic as a mighty agency for the social
+regeneration not only of France, but of all peoples. His insular
+sentiments were gradually merged in these vaster schemes.
+Self-interest and the differentiating effects of party strifes
+undoubtedly assisted the mental transformation; but it is clear that
+the study of the "Social Contract" was the touchstone of his early
+intellectual growth. He had gone to Rousseau's work to deepen his
+Corsican patriotism: he there imbibed doctrines which drew him
+irresistibly into the vortex of the French Revolution, and of its wars
+of propaganda and conquest.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+TOULON
+
+
+When Buonaparte left Corsica for the coast of Provence, his career had
+been remarkable only for the strange contrast between the brilliance
+of his gifts and the utter failure of all his enterprises. His French
+partisanship had, as it seemed, been the ruin of his own and his
+family's fortunes. At the age of twenty-four he was known only as the
+unlucky leader of forlorn hopes and an outcast from the island around
+which his fondest longings had been entwined. His land-fall on the
+French coast seemed no more promising; for at that time Provence was
+on the verge of revolt against the revolutionary Government. Even
+towns like Marseilles and Toulon, which a year earlier had been noted
+for their republican fervour, were now disgusted with the course of
+events at Paris. In the third climax of revolutionary fury, that of
+June 2nd, 1793, the more enlightened of the two republican factions,
+the Girondins, had been overthrown by their opponents, the men of the
+Mountain, who, aided by the Parisian rabble, seized on power. Most of
+the Departments of France resented this violence and took up arms. But
+the men of the Mountain acted with extraordinary energy: they
+proclaimed the Girondins to be in league with the invaders, and
+blasted their opponents with the charge of conspiring to divide France
+into federal republics. The Committee of Public Safety, now installed
+in power at Paris, decreed a _levée en masse_ of able-bodied patriots
+to defend the sacred soil of the Republic, and the "organizer of
+victory," Carnot, soon drilled into a terrible efficiency the hosts
+that sprang from the soil. On their side the Girondins had no
+organization whatever, and were embarrassed by the adhesion of very
+many royalists. Consequently their wavering groups speedily gave way
+before the impact of the new, solid, central power.
+
+A movement so wanting in definiteness as that of the Girondins was
+destined to slide into absolute opposition to the men of the Mountain:
+it was doomed to become royalist. Certainly it did not command the
+adhesion of Napoleon. His inclinations are seen in his pamphlet, "Le
+Souper de Beaucaire," which he published in August, 1793. He wrote it
+in the intervals of some regimental work which had come to hand: and
+his passage through the little town of Beaucaire seems to have
+suggested the scenic setting of this little dialogue. It purports to
+record a discussion between an officer--Buonaparte himself--two
+merchants of Marseilles, and citizens of Nîmes and Montpellier. It
+urges the need of united action under the lead of the Jacobins. The
+officer reminds the Marseillais of the great services which their city
+has rendered to the cause of liberty. Let Marseilles never disgrace
+herself by calling in the Spanish fleet as a protection against
+Frenchmen. Let her remember that this civil strife was part of a fight
+to the death between French patriots and the despots of Europe. That
+was, indeed, the practical point at issue; the stern logic of facts
+ranged on the Jacobin side all clear-sighted men who were determined
+that the Revolution should not be stamped out by the foreign invaders.
+On the ground of mere expediency, men must rally to the cause of the
+Jacobinical Republic. Every crime might be condoned, provided that the
+men now in power at Paris saved the country. Better their tyranny than
+the vengeance of the emigrant _noblesse_. Such was the instinct of
+most Frenchmen, and it saved France.
+
+As an _exposé_ of keen policy and all-dominating opportunism, "Le
+Souper de Beaucaire" is admirable. In a national crisis anything that
+saves the State is justifiable--that is its argument. The men of the
+Mountain are abler and stronger than the Girondins: therefore the
+Marseillais are foolish not to bow to the men of the Mountain. The
+author feels no sympathy with the generous young Girondins, who, under
+the inspiration of Madame Roland, sought to establish a republic of
+the virtues even while they converted monarchical Europe by the sword.
+Few men can now peruse with undimmed eyes the tragic story of their
+fall. But the scenes of 1793 had transformed the Corsican youth into a
+dry-eyed opportunist who rejects the Girondins as he would have thrown
+aside a defective tool: nay, he blames them as "guilty of the greatest
+of crimes."[20]
+
+Nevertheless Buonaparte was alive to the miseries of the situation. He
+was weary of civil strifes, in which it seemed that no glory could be
+won. He must hew his way to fortune, if only in order to support his
+family, which was now drifting about from village to village of
+Provence and subsisting on the slender sums doled out by the Republic
+to Corsican exiles.
+
+He therefore applied, though without success, for a regimental
+exchange to the army of the Rhine. But while toiling through his
+administrative drudgery in Provence, his duties brought him near to
+Toulon, where the Republic was face to face with triumphant royalism.
+The hour had struck: the man now appeared.
+
+In July, 1793, Toulon joined other towns of the south in declaring
+against Jacobin tyranny; and the royalists of the town, despairing of
+making headway against the troops of the Convention, admitted English
+and Spanish squadrons to the harbour to hold the town for Louis XVII,
+(August 28th). This event shot an electric thrill through France. It
+was the climax of a long series of disasters. Lyons had hoisted the
+white flag of the Bourbons, and was making a desperate defence against
+the forces of the Convention: the royalist peasants of La Vendée had
+several times scattered the National Guards in utter rout: the
+Spaniards were crossing the Eastern Pyrenees: the Piedmontese were
+before the gates of Grenoble; and in the north and on the Rhine a
+doubtful contest was raging.
+
+Such was the condition of France when Buonaparte drew near to the
+republican forces encamped near Ollioules, to the north-west of
+Toulon. He found them in disorder: their commander, Carteaux, had left
+the easel to learn the art of war, and was ignorant of the range of
+his few cannon; Dommartin, their artillery commander, had been
+disabled by a wound; and the Commissioners of the Convention, who were
+charged to put new vigour into the operations, were at their wits' end
+for lack of men and munitions. One of them was Salicetti, who hailed
+his coming as a godsend, and urged him to take Dommartin's place.
+Thus, on September 16th, the thin, sallow, threadbare figure took
+command of the artillery.
+
+The republicans menaced the town on two sides. Carteaux with some
+8,000 men held the hills between Toulon and Ollioules, while a corps
+3,000 strong, under Lapoype, observed the fortress on the side of La
+Valette. Badly led though they were, they wrested the valley north of
+Mount Faron from the allied outposts, and nearly completed the
+besiegers' lines (September 18th). In fact, the garrison, which
+comprised only 2,000 British troops, 4,000 Spaniards, 1,500 French
+royalists, together with some Neapolitans and Piedmontese, was
+insufficient to defend the many positions around the city on which its
+safety depended. Indeed, General Grey wrote to Pitt that 50,000 men
+were needed to garrison the place; but, as that was double the
+strength of the British regular army then, the English Minister could
+only hold out hopes of the arrival of an Austrian corps and a few
+hundred British.[21]
+
+Before Buonaparte's arrival the Jacobins had no artillery: true, they
+had a few field-pieces, four heavier guns and two mortars, which a
+sergeant helplessly surveyed; but they had no munitions, no tools,
+above all no method and no discipline. Here then was the opportunity
+for which he had been pining. At once he assumes the tone of a master.
+"You mind your business, and let me look after mine," he exclaims to
+officious infantrymen; "it is artillery that takes fortresses:
+infantry gives its help." The drudgery of the last weeks now yields
+fruitful results: his methodical mind, brooding over the chaos before
+him, flashes back to this or that detail in some coast fort or
+magazine: his energy hustles on the leisurely Provençaux, and in a few
+days he has a respectable park of artillery--fourteen cannon, four
+mortars, and the necessary stores. In a brief space the Commissioners
+show their approval of his services by promoting him to the rank of
+_chef de bataillon_.
+
+By this time the tide was beginning to turn in favour of the Republic.
+On October 9th Lyons fell before the Jacobins. The news lends a new
+zest to the Jacobins, whose left wing had (October 1st) been severely
+handled by the allies on Mount Faron. Above all, Buonaparte's
+artillery can be still further strengthened. "I have despatched," he
+wrote to the Minister of War, "an intelligent officer to Lyons,
+Briançon, and Grenoble, to procure what might be useful to us. I have
+requested the Army of Italy to furnish us with the cannon now useless
+for the defence of Antibes and Monaco.... I have established at
+Ollioules an arsenal with 80 workers. I have requisitioned horses from
+Nice right to Valence and Montpellier.... I am having 5,000 gabions
+made every day at Marseilles." But he was more than a mere organizer.
+He was ever with his men, animating them by his own ardour: "I always
+found him at his post," wrote Doppet, who now succeeded Carteaux;
+"when he needed rest he lay on the ground wrapped in his cloak: he
+never left the batteries." There, amidst the autumn rains, he
+contracted the febrile symptoms which for several years deepened the
+pallor of his cheeks and furrowed the rings under his eyes, giving him
+that uncanny, almost spectral, look which struck a chill to all who
+saw him first and knew not the fiery energy that burnt within. There,
+too, his zeal, his unfailing resource, his bulldog bravery, and that
+indefinable quality which separates genius from talent speedily
+conquered the hearts of the French soldiery. One example of this
+magnetic power must here suffice. He had ordered a battery to be made
+so near to Fort Mulgrave that Salicetti described it as within a
+pistol-shot of the English guns. Could it be worked, its effect would
+be decisive. But who could work it? The first day saw all its gunners
+killed or wounded, and even the reckless Jacobins flinched from facing
+the iron hail. "Call it _the battery of the fearless_," ordered the
+young captain. The generous French nature was touched at its tenderest
+point, personal and national honour, and the battery thereafter never
+lacked its full complement of gunners, living and dead.
+
+The position at Fort Mulgrave, or the Little Gibraltar, was, indeed,
+all important; for if the republicans seized that commanding position,
+the allied squadrons could be overpowered, or at least compelled to
+sail away; and with their departure Toulon must fall.
+
+Here we come on to ground that has been fiercely fought over in wordy
+war. Did Bonaparte originate the plan of attack? Or did he throw his
+weight and influence into a scheme that others beside him had
+designed? Or did he merely carry out orders as a subordinate?
+According to the Commissioner Barras, the last was the case. But
+Barras was with the eastern wing of the besiegers, that is, some miles
+away from the side of La Seyne and L'Eguillette, where Buonaparte
+fought. Besides, Barras' "Mémoires" are so untruthful where Buonaparte
+is concerned, as to be unworthy of serious attention, at least on
+these points.[22] The historian M. Jung likewise relegates Buonaparte
+to a quite subordinate position.[23] But his narrative omits some of
+the official documents which show that Buonaparte played a very
+important part in the siege. Other writers claim that Buonaparte's
+influence on the whole conduct of operations was paramount and
+decisive. Thus, M. Duruy quotes the letter of the Commissioners to the
+Convention: "We shall take care not to lay siege to Toulon by ordinary
+means, when we have a surer means to reduce it, that is, by burning
+the enemy's fleet.... We are only waiting for the siege-guns before
+taking up a position whence we may reach the ships with red-hot balls;
+and we shall see if we are not masters of Toulon." But this very
+letter disproves the Buonapartist claim. It was written on September
+13th. Thus, _three days before Buonaparte's arrival_, the
+Commissioners had fully decided on attacking the Little Gibraltar; and
+the claim that Buonaparte originated the plan can only be sustained by
+antedating his arrival at Toulon.[24] In fact, every experienced
+officer among besiegers and besieged saw the weak point of the
+defence: early in September Hood and Mulgrave began the fortification
+of the heights behind L'Eguillette. In face of these facts, the
+assertion that Buonaparte was the first to design the movements which
+secured the surrender of Toulon must be relegated to the domain of
+hero-worship. (See note on p. 56.)
+
+[Illustration: THE SIEGE OF TOULON, 1793, from "L'Histoire de France
+depuis la Révolution de 1789," by Emmanuel Toulougeon. Paris, An. XII.
+[1803]. A. Fort Mulgrave. A'. Promontory of L'Eguillette. 1 and 2.
+Batteries. 3. Battery "Hommes sans Peur." The black and shaded
+rectangles are the Republican and Allied positions respectively.]
+
+Carteaux having been superseded by Doppet, more energy was thrown
+into the operations. Yet for him Buonaparte had scarcely more respect.
+On November 15th an affair of outposts near Fort Mulgrave showed his
+weakness. The soldiers on both sides eagerly took up the affray; line
+after line of the French rushed up towards that frowning redoubt:
+O'Hara, the leader of the allied troops, encouraged the British in a
+sortie that drove back the blue-coats; whereupon Buonaparte headed the
+rallying rush to the gorge of the redoubt, when Doppet sounded the
+retreat. Half blinded by rage and by the blood trickling from a slight
+wound in his forehead, the young Corsican rushed back to Doppet and
+abused him in the language of the camp: "Our blow at Toulon has
+missed, because a---- has beaten the retreat." The soldiery applauded
+this revolutionary licence, and bespattered their chief with similar
+terms.
+
+A few days later the tall soldierly Dugommier took the command:
+reinforcements began to pour in, finally raising the strength of the
+besiegers to 37,000 men. Above all, the new commander gave Buonaparte
+_carte blanche_ for the direction of the artillery. New batteries
+accordingly began to ring the Little Gibraltar on the landward side;
+O'Hara, while gallantly heading a sortie, fell into the republicans'
+hands, and the defenders began to lose heart. The worst disappointment
+was the refusal of the Austrian Court to fulfil its promise, solemnly
+given in September, to send 5,000 regular troops for the defence of
+Toulon.
+
+The final conflict took place on the night of December 16-17, when
+torrents of rain, a raging wind, and flashes of lightning added new
+horrors to the strife. Scarcely had the assailants left the sheltering
+walls of La Seyne, than Buonaparte's horse fell under him, shot dead:
+whole companies went astray in the darkness: yet the first column of
+2,000 men led by Victor rush at the palisades of Fort Mulgrave, tear
+them down, and sweep into the redoubt, only to fall in heaps before a
+second line of defence: supported by the second column, they rally,
+only to yield once more before the murderous fire. In despair,
+Dugommier hurries on the column of reserve, with which Buonaparte
+awaits the crisis of the night. Led by the gallant young Muiron, the
+reserve sweeps into the gorge of death; Muiron, Buonaparte, and
+Dugommier hack their way through the same embrasure: their men swarm
+in on the overmatched red-coats and Spaniards, cut them down at their
+guns, and the redoubt is won.
+
+This event was decisive. The Neapolitans, who were charged to hold the
+neighbouring forts, flung themselves into the sea; and the ships
+themselves began to weigh anchor; for Buonaparte's guns soon poured
+their shot on the fleet and into the city itself. But even in that
+desperate strait the allies turned fiercely to bay. On the evening of
+December 17th a young officer, who was destined once more to thwart
+Buonaparte's designs, led a small body of picked men into the dockyard
+to snatch from the rescuing clutch of the Jacobins the French warships
+that could not be carried off. Then was seen a weird sight. The galley
+slaves, now freed from their chains and clustering in angry groups,
+menaced the intruders. Yet the British seamen spread the combustibles
+and let loose the demon of destruction. Forthwith the flames shot up
+the masts, and licked up the stores of hemp, tar, and timber: and the
+explosion of two powder-ships by the Spaniards shook the earth for
+many miles around. Napoleon ever retained a vivid mental picture of
+the scene, which amid the hated calm of St. Helena he thus described:
+"The whirlwind of flames and smoke from the arsenal resembled the
+eruption of a volcano, and the thirteen vessels blazing in the roads
+were like so many displays of fireworks: the masts and forms of the
+vessels were distinctly traced out by the flames, which lasted many
+hours and formed an unparalleled spectacle." [25] The sight struck
+horror to the hearts of the royalists of Toulon, who saw in it the
+signal of desertion by the allies; and through the lurid night crowds
+of panic-stricken wretches thronged the quays crying aloud to be taken
+away from the doomed city. The glare of the flames, the crash of the
+enemy's bombs, the explosion of the two powder-ships, frenzied many a
+soul; and scores of those who could find no place in the boats flung
+themselves into the sea rather than face the pikes and guillotines of
+the Jacobins. Their fears were only too well founded; for a fortnight
+later Fréron, the Commissioner of the Convention, boasted that two
+hundred royalists perished daily.
+
+It remains briefly to consider a question of special interest to
+English readers. Did the Pitt Ministry intend to betray the confidence
+of the French royalists and keep Toulon for England? The charge has
+been brought by certain French writers that the British, after
+entering Toulon with promise that they would hold it in pledge for
+Louis XVII., nevertheless lorded it over the other allies and revealed
+their intention of keeping that stronghold. These writers aver that
+Hood, after entering Toulon as an equal with the Spanish admiral,
+Langara, laid claim to entire command of the land forces; that English
+commissioners were sent for the administration of the town; and that
+the English Government refused to allow the coming of the Comte de
+Provence, who, as the elder of the two surviving brothers of Louis
+XVI., was entitled to act on behalf of Louis XVII.[26] The facts in
+the main are correct, but the interpretation put upon them may well be
+questioned. Hood certainly acted with much arrogance towards the
+Spaniards. But when the more courteous O'Hara arrived to take command
+of the British, Neapolitan, and Sardinian troop, the new commander
+agreed to lay aside the question of supreme command. It was not till
+November 30th that the British Government sent off any despatch on the
+question, which meanwhile had been settled at Toulon by the exercise
+of that tact in which Hood seems signally to have been lacking. The
+whole question was personal, not national.
+
+Still less was the conduct of the British Government towards the Comte
+de Provence a proof of its design to keep Toulon. The records of our
+Foreign Office show that, before the occupation of that stronghold for
+Louis XVII., we had declined to acknowledge the claims of his uncle to
+the Regency. He and his brother, the Comte d'Artois, were notoriously
+unpopular in France, except with royalists of the old school; and
+their presence at Toulon would certainly have raised awkward questions
+about the future government. The conduct of Spain had hitherto been
+similar.[27] But after the occupation of Toulon, the Court of Madrid
+judged the presence of the Comte de Provence in that fortress to be
+advisable; whereas the Pitt Ministry adhered to its former belief,
+insisted on the difficulty of conducting the defence if the Prince
+were present as Regent, instructed Mr. Drake, our Minister at Genoa,
+to use every argument to deter him from proceeding to Toulon, and
+privately ordered our officers there, in the last resort, to refuse
+him permission to land. The instructions of October 18th to the royal
+commissioners at Toulon show that George III. and his Ministers
+believed they would be compromising the royalist cause by recognizing
+a regency; and certainly any effort by the allies to prejudice the
+future settlement would at once have shattered any hopes of a general
+rally to the royalist side.[28]
+
+Besides, if England meant to keep Toulon, why did she send only 2,200
+soldiers? Why did she admit, not only 6,900 Spaniards, but also 4,900
+Neapolitans and 1,600 Piedmontese? Why did she accept the armed help
+of 1,600 French royalists? Why did she urgently plead with Austria to
+send 5,000 white-coats from Milan? Why, finally, is there no word in
+the British official despatches as to the eventual keeping of Toulon;
+while there are several references to _indemnities_ which George III.
+would require for the expenses of the war--such as Corsica or some of
+the French West Indies? Those despatches show conclusively that
+England did not wish to keep a fortress that required a permanent
+garrison equal to half of the British army on its peace footing; but
+that she did regard it as a good base of operations for the overthrow
+of the Jacobin rule and the restoration of monarchy; whereupon her
+services must be requited with some suitable indemnity, either one of
+the French West Indies or Corsica. These plans were shattered by
+Buonaparte's skill and the valour of Dugommier's soldiery; but no
+record has yet leaped to light to convict the Pitt Ministry of the
+perfidy which Buonaparte, in common with nearly all Frenchmen, charged
+to their account.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+VENDÉMIAIRE
+
+
+The next period of Buonaparte's life presents few features of
+interest. He was called upon to supervise the guns and stores for the
+Army of Italy, and also to inspect the fortifications and artillery of
+the coast. At Marseilles his zeal outstripped his discretion. He
+ordered the reconstruction of the fortress which had been destroyed
+during the Revolution; but when the townsfolk heard the news, they
+protested so vehemently that the work was stopped and an order was
+issued for Buonaparte's arrest. From this difficulty the friendship of
+the younger Robespierre and of Salicetti, the Commissioners of the
+Convention, availed to rescue him; but the incident proves that his
+services at Toulon were not so brilliant as to have raised him above
+the general level of meritorious officers, who were applauded while
+they prospered, but might be sent to the guillotine for any serious
+offence.
+
+In February, 1794, he was appointed at Nice general in command of the
+artillery of the Army of Italy, which drove the Sardinian troops from
+several positions between Ventimiglia and Oneglia. Thence, swinging
+round by passes of the Maritime Alps, they outflanked the positions of
+the Austro-Sardinian forces at the Col di Tenda, which had defied all
+attack in front. Buonaparte's share in this turning operation seems to
+have been restricted to the effective handling of artillery, and the
+chief credit here rested with Masséna, who won the first of his
+laurels in the country of his birth. He was of humble parentage;
+yet his erect bearing, proud animated glance, curt penetrating speech,
+and keen repartees, proclaimed a nature at once active and wary, an
+intellect both calculating and confident. Such was the man who was to
+immortalize his name in many a contest, until his glory paled before
+the greater genius of Wellington.
+
+Much of the credit of organizing this previously unsuccessful army
+belongs to the younger Robespierre, who, as Commissioner of the
+Convention, infused his energy into all departments of the service.
+For some months his relations to Buonaparte were those of intimacy;
+but whether they extended to complete sympathy on political matters
+may be doubted. The younger Robespierre held the revolutionary creed
+with sufficient ardour, though one of his letters dated from Oneglia
+suggests that the fame of the Terror was hurtful to the prospects of
+the campaign. It states that the whole of the neighbouring inhabitants
+had fled before the French soldiers, in the belief that they were
+destroyers of religion and eaters of babies: this was inconvenient, as
+it prevented the supply of provisions and the success of forced loans.
+The letter suggests that he was a man of action rather than of ideas,
+and probably it was this practical quality which bound Buonaparte in
+friendship to him. Yet it is difficult to fathom Buonaparte's ideas
+about the revolutionary despotism which was then deluging Paris with
+blood. Outwardly he appeared to sympathize with it. Such at least is
+the testimony of Marie Robespierre, with whom Buonaparte's sisters
+were then intimate. "Buonaparte," she said, "was a republican: I will
+even say that he took the side of the Mountain: at least, that was the
+impression left on my mind by his opinions when I was at Nice.... His
+admiration for my elder brother, his friendship for my younger
+brother, and perhaps also the interest inspired by my misfortunes,
+gained for me, under the Consulate, a pension of 3,600 francs."[29]
+Equally noteworthy is the later declaration of Napoleon that
+Robespierre was the "scapegoat of the Revolution." [30] It appears
+probable, then, that he shared the Jacobinical belief that the Terror
+was a necessary though painful stage in the purification of the body
+politic. His admiration of the rigour of Lycurgus, and his dislike of
+all superfluous luxury, alike favour this supposition; and as he
+always had the courage of his convictions, it is impossible to
+conceive him clinging to the skirts of the terrorists merely from a
+mean hope of prospective favours. That is the alternative explanation
+of his intimacy with young Robespierre. Some of his injudicious
+admirers, in trying to disprove his complicity with the terrorists,
+impale themselves on this horn of the dilemma. In seeking to clear
+him from the charge of Terrorism, they stain him with the charge of
+truckling to the terrorists. They degrade him from the level of St.
+Just to that of Barrère.
+
+A sentence in one of young Robespierre's letters shows that he never
+felt completely sure about the young officer. After enumerating to his
+brother Buonaparte's merits, he adds: "He is a Corsican, and offers
+only the guarantee of a man of that nation who has resisted the
+caresses of Paoli and whose property has been ravaged by that
+traitor." Evidently, then, Robespierre regarded Buonaparte with some
+suspicion as an insular Proteus, lacking those sureties, mental and
+pecuniary, which reduced a man to dog-like fidelity.
+
+Yet, however warily Buonaparte picked his steps along the slopes of
+the revolutionary volcano, he was destined to feel the scorch of the
+central fires. He had recently been intrusted with a mission to the
+Genoese Republic, which was in a most difficult position. It was
+subject to pressure from three sides; from English men-of-war that had
+swooped down on a French frigate, the "Modeste," in Genoese waters;
+and from actual invasion by the French on the west and by the
+Austrians on the north. Despite the great difficulties of his task, the
+young envoy bent the distracted Doge and Senate to his will. He
+might, therefore, have expected gratitude from his adopted country;
+but shortly after he returned to Nice he was placed under arrest, and
+was imprisoned in a fort near Antibes.
+
+The causes of this swift reverse of fortune were curiously complex.
+The Robespierres had in the meantime been guillotined at Paris (July
+28th, or Thermidor 10th); and this "Thermidorian" reaction alone would
+have sufficed to endanger Buonaparte's head. But his position was
+further imperilled by his recent strategic suggestions, which had
+served to reduce to a secondary _rôle_ the French Army of the Alps.
+The operations of that force had of late been strangely thwarted; and
+its leaders, searching for the paralyzing influence, discovered it in
+the advice of Buonaparte. Their suspicions against him were formulated
+in a secret letter to the Committee of Public Safety, which stated
+that the Army of the Alps had been kept inactive by the intrigues of
+the younger Robespierre and of Ricord. Many a head had fallen for
+reasons less serious than these. But Buonaparte had one infallible
+safeguard: he could not well be spared. After a careful examination of
+his papers, the Commissioners, Salicetti and Albitte, provisionally
+restored him to liberty, but not, for some weeks, to his rank of
+general (August 20th, 1794). The chief reason assigned for his
+liberation was the service which his knowledge and talents might
+render to the Republic, a reference to the knowledge of the Italian
+coast-line which he had gained during the mission to Genoa.
+
+For a space his daring spirit was doomed to chafe in comparative
+inactivity, in supervising the coast artillery. But his faults were
+forgotten in the need which was soon felt for his warlike prowess. An
+expedition was prepared to free Corsica from "the tyranny of the
+English"; and in this Buonaparte sailed, as general commanding the
+artillery. With him were two friends, Junot and Marmont, who had clung
+to him through his recent troubles; the former was to be helped to
+wealth and fame by Buonaparte's friendship, the latter by his own
+brilliant gifts.[31] In this expedition their talent was of no avail.
+The French were worsted in an engagement with the British fleet, and
+fell back in confusion to the coast of France. Once again Buonaparte's
+Corsican enterprises were frustrated by the ubiquitous lords of the
+sea: against them he now stored up a double portion of hate, for in
+the meantime his inspectorship of coast artillery had been given to
+his fellow-countryman, Casabianca.
+
+The fortunes of these Corsican exiles drifted hither and thither in
+many perplexing currents, as Buonaparte was once more to discover. It
+was a prevalent complaint that there were too many of them seeking
+employment in the army of the south; and a note respecting the career
+of the young officer made by General Schérer, who now commanded the
+French Army of Italy, shows that Buonaparte had aroused at least as
+much suspicion as admiration. It runs: "This officer is general of
+artillery, and in this arm has sound knowledge, but has somewhat too
+much ambition and intriguing habits for his advancement." All things
+considered, it was deemed advisable to transfer him to the army which
+was engaged in crushing the Vendéan revolt, a service which he loathed
+and was determined, if possible, to evade. Accompanied by his faithful
+friends, Marmont and Junot, as also by his young brother Louis, he set
+out for Paris (May, 1795).
+
+In reality Fortune never favoured him more than when she removed him
+from the coteries of intriguing Corsicans on the coast of Provence and
+brought him to the centre of all influence. An able schemer at Paris
+could decide the fate of parties and governments. At the frontiers men
+could only accept the decrees of the omnipotent capital. Moreover, the
+Revolution, after passing through the molten stage, was now beginning
+to solidify, an important opportunity for the political craftsman. The
+spring of the year 1795 witnessed a strange blending of the new
+fanaticism with the old customs. Society, dammed up for a time by the
+Spartan rigour of Robespierre, was now flowing back into its wonted
+channels. Gay equipages were seen in the streets; theatres, prosperous
+even during the Terror, were now filled to overflowing; gambling,
+whether in money or in stocks and _assignats_, was now permeating all
+grades of society; and men who had grown rich by amassing the
+confiscated State lands now vied with bankers, stock-jobbers, and
+forestallers of grain in vulgar ostentation. As for the poor, they
+were meeting their match in the gilded youth of Paris, who with
+clubbed sticks asserted the right of the rich to be merry. If the
+_sansculottes_ attempted to restore the days of the Terror, the
+National Guards of Paris were ready to sweep them back into the slums.
+Such was their fate on May 20th, shortly after Buonaparte's arrival at
+Paris. Any dreams which he may have harboured of restoring the
+Jacobins to power were dissipated, for Paris now plunged into the
+gaieties of the _ancien régime_. The Terror was remembered only as a
+horrible nightmare, which served to add zest to the pleasures of the
+present. In some circles no one was received who had not lost a
+relative by the guillotine. With a ghastly merriment characteristic of
+the time, "victim balls" were given, to which those alone were
+admitted who could produce the death warrant of some family
+connection: these secured the pleasure of dancing in costumes which
+recalled those of the scaffold, and of beckoning ever and anon to
+their partners with nods that simulated the fall of the severed head.
+It was for this, then, that the amiable Louis, the majestic Marie
+Antoinette, the Minerva-like Madame Roland, the Girondins vowed to the
+utter quest of liberty, the tyrant-quelling Danton, the incorruptible
+Robespierre himself, had felt the fatal axe; in order that the mimicry
+of their death agonies might tickle jaded appetites, and help to weave
+anew the old Circean spells. So it seemed to the few who cared to
+think of the frightful sacrifices of the past, and to measure them
+against the seemingly hopeless degradation of the present.
+
+Some such thoughts seem to have flitted across the mind of Buonaparte
+in those months of forced inactivity. It was a time of disillusionment.
+Rarely do we find thenceforth in his correspondence any gleams of
+faith respecting the higher possibilities of the human race. The
+golden visions of youth now vanish along with the _bonnet rouge_ and
+the jargon of the Terror. His bent had ever been for the material and
+practical: and now that faith in the Jacobinical creed was vanishing,
+it was more than ever desirable to grapple that errant balloon to
+substantial facts. Evidently, the Revolution must now trust to the
+clinging of the peasant proprietors to the recently confiscated lands
+of the Church and of the emigrant nobles. If all else was vain and
+transitory, here surely was a solid basis of material interests to
+which the best part of the manhood of France would tenaciously adhere,
+defying alike the plots of reactionaries and the forces of monarchical
+Europe. Of these interests Buonaparte was to be the determined
+guarantor. Amidst much that was visionary in his later policy he never
+wavered in his championship of the new peasant proprietors. He was
+ever the peasants' General, the peasants' Consul, the peasants'
+Emperor.
+
+The transition of the Revolution to an ordinary form of polity was
+also being furthered by its unparalleled series of military triumphs.
+When Buonaparte's name was as yet unknown, except in Corsica and
+Provence, France practically gained her "natural boundaries," the
+Rhine and the Alps. In the campaigns of 1793-4, the soldiers of
+Pichegru, Kléber, Hoche, and Moreau overran the whole of the Low
+Countries and chased the Germans beyond the Rhine; the Piedmontese
+were thrust behind the Alps; the Spaniards behind the Pyrenees. In
+quick succession State after State sued for peace: Tuscany in
+February, 1795; Prussia in April; Hanover, Westphalia, and Saxony in
+May; Spain and Hesse-Cassel in July; Switzerland and Denmark in
+August.
+
+Such was the state of France when Buonaparte came to seek his
+fortunes in the Sphinx-like capital. His artillery command had been
+commuted to a corresponding rank in the infantry--a step that deeply
+incensed him. He attributed it to malevolent intriguers; but all his
+efforts to obtain redress were in vain. Lacking money and patronage,
+known only as an able officer and facile intriguer of the bankrupt
+Jacobinical party, he might well have despaired. He was now almost
+alone. Marmont had gone off to the Army of the Rhine; but Junot was
+still with him, allured perhaps by Madame Permon's daughter, whom he
+subsequently married. At the house of this amiable hostess, an old
+friend of his family, Buonaparte found occasional relief from the
+gloom of his existence. The future Madame Junot has described him as
+at this time untidy, unkempt, sickly, remarkable for his extreme
+thinness and the almost yellow tint of his visage, which was, however,
+lit up by "two eyes sparkling with keenness and will-power"--evidently
+a Corsican falcon, pining for action, and fretting its soaring spirit
+in that vapid town life. Action Buonaparte might have had, but only of
+a kind that he loathed. He might have commanded the troops destined to
+crush the brave royalist peasants of La Vendée. But, whether from
+scorn of such vulture-work, or from an instinct that a nobler quarry
+might be started at Paris, he refused to proceed to the Army of the
+West, and on the plea of ill-health remained in the capital. There he
+spent his time deeply pondering on politics and strategy. He designed
+a history of the last two years, and drafted a plan of campaign for
+the Army of Italy, which, later on, was to bear him to fortune.
+Probably the geographical insight which it displayed may have led to
+his appointment (August 20th, 1795) to the topographical bureau of the
+Committee of Public Safety. His first thought on hearing of this
+important advancement was that it opened up an opportunity for
+proceeding to Turkey to organize the artillery of the Sultan; and in a
+few days he sent in a formal request to that effect--the first
+tangible proof of that yearning after the Orient which haunted him all
+through life. But, while straining his gaze eastwards, he experienced
+a sharp rebuff. The Committee was on the point of granting his
+request, when an examination of his recent conduct proved him guilty
+of a breach of discipline in not proceeding to his Vendéan command. On
+the very day when one department of the Committee empowered him to
+proceed to Constantinople, the Central Committee erased his name from
+the list of general officers (September 15th).
+
+This time the blow seemed fatal. But Fortune appeared to compass his
+falls only in order that he might the more brilliantly tower aloft.
+Within three weeks he was hailed as the saviour of the new republican
+constitution. The cause of this almost magical change in his prospects
+is to be sought in the political unrest of France, to which we must
+now briefly advert.
+
+All through this summer of 1795 there were conflicts between Jacobins
+and royalists. In the south the latter party had signally avenged
+itself for the agonies of the preceding years, and the ardour of the
+French temperament seemed about to drive that hapless people from the
+"Red Terror" to a veritable "White Terror," when two disasters checked
+the course of the reaction. An attempt of a large force of emigrant
+French nobles, backed up by British money and ships, to rouse Brittany
+against the Convention was utterly crushed by the able young Hoche;
+and nearly seven hundred prisoners were afterwards shot down in cold
+blood (July). Shortly before this blow, the little prince styled Louis
+XVII. succumbed to the brutal treatment of his gaolers at the Temple
+in Paris; and the hopes of the royalists now rested on the unpopular
+Comte de Provence. Nevertheless, the political outlook in the summer
+of 1795 was not reassuring to the republicans; and the Commission of
+Eleven, empowered by the Convention to draft new organic laws, drew up
+an instrument of government, which, though republican in form, seemed
+to offer all the stability of the most firmly rooted oligarchy. Some
+such compromise was perhaps necessary; for the Commonwealth was
+confronted by three dangers, anarchy resulting from the pressure of
+the mob, an excessive centralization of power in the hands of two
+committees, and the possibility of a _coup d'état_ by some pretender
+or adventurer. Indeed, the student of French history cannot fail to
+see that this is the problem which is ever before the people of
+France. It has presented itself in acute though diverse phases in
+1797,1799,1814, 1830, 1848, 1851, and in 1871. Who can say that the
+problem has yet found its complete solution?
+
+In some respects the constitution which the Convention voted in
+August, 1795, was skilfully adapted to meet the needs of the time.
+Though democratic in spirit, it granted a vote only to those citizens
+who had resided for a year in some dwelling and had paid taxes, thus
+excluding the rabble who had proved to be dangerous to any settled
+government. It also checked the hasty legislation which had brought
+ridicule on successive National Assemblies. In order to moderate the
+zeal for the manufacture of decrees, which had often exceeded one
+hundred a month, a second or revising chamber was now to be formed on
+the basis of age; for it had been found that the younger the deputies
+the faster came forth the fluttering flocks of decrees, that often
+came home to roost in the guise of curses. A senatorial guillotine, it
+was now proposed, should thin out the fledglings before they flew
+abroad at all. Of the seven hundred and fifty deputies of France, the
+two hundred and fifty oldest men were to form the Council of Ancients,
+having powers to amend or reject the proposals emanating from the
+Council of Five Hundred. In this Council were the younger deputies,
+and with them rested the sole initiation of laws. Thus the young
+deputies were to make the laws, but the older deputies were to amend
+or reject them; and this nice adjustment of the characteristics of
+youth and age, a due blending of enthusiasm with caution, promised to
+invigorate the body politic and yet guard its vital interests.
+Lastly, in order that the two Councils should continuously represent
+the feelings of France, one third of their members must retire for
+re-election every year, a device which promised to prevent any violent
+change in their composition, such as might occur if, at the end of
+their three years' membership, all were called upon to resign at once.
+
+But the real crux of constitution builders had hitherto been in the
+relations of the Legislature to the Executive. How should the brain of
+the body politic, that is, the Legislature, be connected with the
+hand, that is, the Executive? Obviously, so argued all French
+political thinkers, the two functions were distinct and must be kept
+separate. The results of this theory of the separation of powers were
+clearly traceable in the course of the Revolution. When the hand had
+been left almost powerless, as in 1791-2, owing to democratic jealousy
+of the royal Ministry, the result had been anarchy. The supreme needs
+of the State in the agonies of 1793 had rendered the hand omnipotent:
+the Convention, that is, the brain, was for some time powerless before
+its own instrument, the two secret committees. Experience now showed
+that the brain must exercise a general control over the hand, without
+unduly hampering its actions. Evidently, then, the deputies of France
+must intrust the details of administration to responsible Ministers,
+though some directing agency seemed needed as a spur to energy and a
+check against royalist plots. In brief, the Committee of Public
+Safety, purged of its more dangerous powers, was to furnish the model
+for a new body of five members, termed the Directory. This
+organism, which was to give its name to the whole period 1795-1799,
+was not the Ministry. There was no Ministry as we now use the term.
+There were Ministers who were responsible individually for their
+departments of State: but they never met for deliberation, or
+communicated with the Legislature; they were only heads of
+departments, who were responsible individually to the Directors. These
+five men formed a powerful committee, deliberating in private on the
+whole policy of the State and on all the work of the Ministers. The
+Directory had not, it is true, the right of initiating laws and of
+arbitrary arrest which the two committees had freely exercised during
+the Terror. Its dependence on the Legislature seemed also to be
+guaranteed by the Directors being appointed by the two legislative
+Councils; while one of the five was to vacate his office for
+re-election every year. But in other respects the directorial powers
+were almost as extensive as those wielded by the two secret
+committees, or as those which Bonaparte was to inherit from the
+Directory in 1799. They comprised the general control of policy in
+peace and war, the right to negotiate treaties (subject to
+ratification by the legislative councils), to promulgate laws voted by
+the Councils and watch over their execution, and to appoint or dismiss
+the Ministers of State.
+
+Such was the constitution which was proclaimed on September 22nd,
+1795, or 1st Vendémiaire, Year IV., of the revolutionary calendar. An
+important postscript to the original constitution now excited fierce
+commotions which enabled the young officer to repair his own shattered
+fortunes. The Convention, terrified at the thought of a general
+election, which might send up a malcontent or royalist majority,
+decided to impose itself on France for at least two years longer. With
+an effrontery unparalleled in parliamentary annals, it decreed that
+the law of the new constitution, requiring the re-election of
+one-third of the deputies every year, should now be applied to itself;
+and that the rest of its members should sit in the forthcoming
+Councils. At once a cry of disgust and rage arose from all who were
+weary of the Convention and all its works. "Down with the
+two-thirds!" was the cry that resounded through the streets of Paris.
+The movement was not so much definitely royalist as vaguely
+malcontent. The many were enraged by the existing dearth and by the
+failure of the Revolution to secure even cheap bread. Doubtless the
+royalists strove to drive on the discontent to the desired goal, and
+in many parts they tinged the movement with an unmistakably Bourbon
+tint. But it is fairly certain that in Paris they could not alone have
+fomented a discontent so general as that of Vendémiaire. That they
+would have profited by the defeat of the Convention is, however,
+equally certain. The history of the Revolution proves that those who
+at first merely opposed the excesses of the Jacobins gradually drifted
+over to the royalists. The Convention now found itself attacked in the
+very city which had been the chosen abode of Liberty and Equality.
+Some thirty thousand of the Parisian National Guards were determined
+to give short shrift to this Assembly that clung so indecently to
+life; and as the armies were far away, the Parisian malcontents seemed
+masters of the situation. Without doubt they would have been but for
+their own precipitation and the energy of Buonaparte.
+
+But how came he to receive the military authority which was so
+potently to influence the course of events? We left him in Fructidor
+disgraced: we find him in the middle of Vendémiaire leading part of
+the forces of the Convention. This bewildering change was due to the
+pressing needs of the Republic, to his own signal abilities, and to
+the discerning eye of Barras, whose career claims a brief notice.
+
+Paul Barras came of a Provençal family, and had an adventurous life
+both on land and in maritime expeditions. Gifted with a robust frame,
+consummate self-assurance, and a ready tongue, he was well equipped
+for intrigues, both amorous and political, when the outbreak of the
+Revolution gave his thoughts a more serious turn. Espousing the
+ultra-democratic side, he yet contrived to emerge unscathed from the
+schisms which were fatal to less dextrous trimmers. He was present at
+the siege of Toulon, and has striven in his "Mémoires" to disparage
+Buonaparte's services and exalt his own. At the crisis of Thermidor
+the Convention intrusted him with the command of the "army of the
+interior," and the energy which he then displayed gained for him the
+same position in the equally critical days of Vendémiaire. Though he
+subsequently carped at the conduct of Buonaparte, his action proved
+his complete confidence in that young officer's capacity: he at once
+sent for him, and intrusted him with most important duties. Herein
+lies the chief chance of immortality for the name of Barras; not that,
+as a terrorist, he slaughtered royalists at Toulon; not that he was
+the military chief of the Thermidorians, who, from fear of their own
+necks, ended the supremacy of Robespierre; not even that he degraded
+the new _régime_ by a cynical display of all the worst vices of the
+old; but rather because he was now privileged to hold the stirrup for
+the great captain who vaulted lightly into the saddle.
+
+The present crisis certainly called for a man of skill and
+determination. The malcontents had been emboldened by the timorous
+actions of General Menou, who had previously been intrusted with the
+task of suppressing the agitation. Owing to a praiseworthy desire to
+avoid bloodshed, that general wasted time in parleying with the most
+rebellious of the "sections" of Paris. The Convention now appointed
+Barras to the command, while Buonaparte, Brune, Carteaux, Dupont,
+Loison, Vachot, and Vézu were charged to serve under him.[32] Such was
+the decree of the Convention, which therefore refutes Napoleon's later
+claim that he was in command, and that of his admirers that he was
+second in command.
+
+Yet, intrusted from the outset by Barras with important duties, he
+unquestionably became the animating spirit of the defence. "From the
+first," says Thiébault, "his activity was astonishing: he seemed to be
+everywhere at once: he surprised people by his laconic, clear, and
+prompt orders: everybody was struck by the vigour of his arrangements,
+and passed from admiration to confidence, from confidence to
+enthusiasm." Everything now depended on skill and enthusiasm. The
+defenders of the Convention, comprising some four or five thousand
+troops of the line, and between one and two thousand patriots,
+gendarmes, and Invalides, were confronted by nearly thirty thousand
+National Guards. The odds were therefore wellnigh as heavy as those
+which menaced Louis XVI. on the day of his final overthrow. But the
+place of the yielding king was now filled by determined men, who saw
+the needs of the situation. In the earlier scenes of the Revolution,
+Buonaparte had pondered on the efficacy of artillery in
+street-fighting--a fit subject for his geometrical genius. With a few
+cannon, he knew that he could sweep all the approaches to the palace;
+and, on Barras' orders, he despatched a dashing cavalry officer,
+Murat--a name destined to become famous from Madrid to Moscow--to
+bring the artillery from the neighbouring camp of Sablons. Murat
+secured them before the malcontents of Paris could lay hands on them;
+and as the "sections" of Paris had yielded up their own cannon after
+the affrays of May, they now lacked the most potent force in
+street-fighting. Their actions were also paralyzed by divided
+counsels: their commander, an old general named Danican, moved his men
+hesitatingly; he wasted precious minutes in parleying, and thus gave
+time to Barras' small but compact force to fight them in detail.
+Buonaparte had skilfully disposed his cannon to bear on the royalist
+columns that threatened the streets north of the Tuileries. But for
+some time the two parties stood face to face, seeking to cajole or
+intimidate one another. As the autumn afternoon waned, shots were
+fired from some houses near the church of St. Roch, where the
+malcontents had their headquarters.[33] At once the streets became the
+scene of a furious fight; furious but unequal; for Buonaparte's cannon
+tore away the heads of the malcontent columns. In vain did the
+royalists pour in their volleys from behind barricades, or from the
+neighbouring houses: finally they retreated on the barricaded church,
+or fled down the Rue St. Honoré. Meanwhile their bands from across the
+river, 5,000 strong, were filing across the bridges, and menaced the
+Tuileries from that side, until here also they melted away before the
+grapeshot and musketry poured into their front and flank. By six
+o'clock the conflict was over. The fight presents few, if any,
+incidents which are authentic. The well-known engraving of Helman,
+which shows Buonaparte directing the storming of the church of St.
+Roch is unfortunately quite incorrect. He was not engaged there, but
+in the streets further east: the church was not stormed: the
+malcontents held it all through the night, and quietly surrendered it
+next morning.
+
+Such was the great day of Vendémiaire. It cost the lives of about two
+hundred on each side; at least, that is the usual estimate, which
+seems somewhat incongruous with the stories of fusillading and
+cannonading at close quarters, until we remember that it is the custom
+of memoir-writers and newspaper editors to trick out the details of a
+fight, and in the case of civil warfare to minimise the bloodshed.
+Certainly the Convention acted with clemency in the hour of victory:
+two only of the rebel leaders were put to death; and it is pleasing to
+remember that when Menou was charged with treachery, Buonaparte used
+his influence to procure his freedom.
+
+Bourrienne states that in his later days the victor deeply regretted
+his action in this day of Vendémiaire. The assertion seems
+incredible. The "whiff of grapeshot" crushed a movement which could
+have led only to present anarchy, and probably would have brought
+France back to royalism of an odious type. It taught a severe lesson
+to a fickle populace which, according to Mme. de Staël, was hungering
+for the spoils of place as much as for any political object. Of all
+the events of his post-Corsican life, Buonaparte need surely never
+have felt compunctions for Vendémiaire.[34]
+
+After four signal reverses in his career, he now enters on a path
+strewn with glories. The first reward for his signal services to the
+Republic was his appointment to be second in command of the army of
+the interior; and when Barras resigned the first command, he took that
+responsible post. But more brilliant honours were soon to follow, the
+first of a social character, the second purely military.
+
+Buonaparte had already appeared timidly and awkwardly at the _salon_
+of the voluptuous Barras, where the fair but frail Madame
+Tallien--Notre Dame de Thermidor she was styled--dazzled Parisian
+society by her classic features and the uncinctured grace of her
+attire. There he reappeared, not in the threadbare uniform that had
+attracted the giggling notice of that giddy throng, but as the lion of
+the society which his talents had saved. His previous attempts to gain
+the hand of a lady had been unsuccessful. He had been refused, first
+by Mlle. Clary, sister of his brother Joseph's wife, and quite
+recently by Madame Permon. Indeed, the scarecrow young officer had not
+been a brilliant match. But now he saw at that _salon_ a charming
+widow, Josephine de Beauharnais, whose husband had perished in the
+Terror. The ardour of his southern temperament, long repressed by his
+privations, speedily rekindles in her presence: his stiff, awkward
+manners thaw under her smiles: his silence vanishes when she praises
+his military gifts: he admires her tact, her sympathy, her beauty: he
+determines to marry her. The lady, on her part, seems to have been
+somewhat terrified by her uncanny wooer: she comments questioningly on
+his "violent tenderness almost amounting to frenzy": she notes
+uneasily his "keen inexplicable gaze which imposes even on our
+Directors": How would this eager nature, this masterful energy,
+consort with her own "Creole nonchalance"? She did well to ask herself
+whether the general's almost volcanic passion would not soon exhaust
+itself, and turn from her own fading charms to those of women who
+were his equals in age. Besides, when she frankly asked her own heart,
+she found that she loved him not: she only admired him. Her chief
+consolation was that if she married him, her friend Barras would help
+to gain for Buonaparte the command of the Army of Italy. The advice of
+Barras undoubtedly helped to still the questioning surmises of
+Josephine; and the wedding was celebrated, as a civil contract, on
+March 9th, 1796. With a pardonable coquetry, the bride entered her age
+on the register as four years less than the thirty-four which had
+passed over her: while her husband, desiring still further to lessen
+the disparity, entered his date of birth as 1768.
+
+A fortnight before the wedding, he had been appointed to command the
+Army of Italy: and after a honeymoon of two days at Paris, he left his
+bride to take up his new military duties. Clearly, then, there was
+some connection between this brilliant fortune and his espousal of
+Josephine. But the assertion that this command was the "dowry" offered
+by Barras to the somewhat reluctant bride is more piquant than
+correct. That the brilliance of Buonaparte's prospects finally
+dissipated her scruples may be frankly admitted. But the appointment
+to a command of a French army did not rest with Barras. He was only
+one of the five Directors who now decided the chief details of
+administration. His colleagues were Letourneur, Rewbell, La
+Réveillière-Lépeaux, and the great Carnot; and, as a matter of fact,
+it was the last-named who chiefly decided the appointment in question.
+
+He had seen and pondered over the plan of campaign which Buonaparte
+had designed for the Army of Italy; and the vigour of the conception,
+the masterly appreciation of topographical details which it displayed,
+and the trenchant energy of its style had struck conviction to his
+strategic genius. Buonaparte owed his command, not to a backstairs
+intrigue, as was currently believed in the army, but rather to his own
+commanding powers. While serving with the Army of Italy in 1794, he
+had carefully studied the coast-line and the passes leading inland;
+and, according to the well-known savant, Volney, the young officer,
+shortly after his release from imprisonment, sketched out to him and
+to a Commissioner of the Convention the details of the very plan of
+campaign which was to carry him victoriously from the Genoese Riviera
+into the heart of Austria.[35] While describing this masterpiece of
+strategy, says Volney, Buonaparte spoke as if inspired. We can fancy
+the wasted form dilating with a sense of power, the thin sallow cheeks
+aglow with enthusiasm, the hawk-like eyes flashing at the sight of the
+helpless Imperial quarry, as he pointed out on the map of Piedmont and
+Lombardy the features which would favour a dashing invader and carry
+him to the very gates of Vienna. The splendours of the Imperial Court
+at the Tuileries seem tawdry and insipid when compared with the
+intellectual grandeur which lit up that humble lodging at Nice with
+the first rays that heralded the dawn of Italian liberation.
+
+With the fuller knowledge which he had recently acquired, he now in
+January, 1796, elaborated this plan of campaign, so that it at once
+gained Carnot's admiration. The Directors forwarded it to General
+Schérer, who was in command of the Army of Italy, but promptly
+received the "brutal" reply that the man who had drafted the plan
+ought to come and carry it out. Long dissatisfied with Schérer's
+inactivity and constant complaints, the Directory now took him at his
+word, and replaced him by Buonaparte. Such is the truth about
+Buonaparte's appointment to the Army of Italy.
+
+To Nice, then, the young general set out (March 21st) accompanied, or
+speedily followed, by his faithful friends, Marmont and Junot, as well
+as by other officers of whose energy he was assured, Berthier, Murat,
+and Duroc. How much had happened since the early summer of 1795, when
+he had barely the means to pay his way to Paris! A sure instinct had
+drawn him to that hot-bed of intrigues. He had played a desperate
+game, risking his commission in order that he might keep in close
+touch with the central authority. His reward for this almost
+superhuman confidence in his own powers was correspondingly great; and
+now, though he knew nothing of the handling of cavalry and infantry
+save from books, he determined to lead the Army of Italy to a series
+of conquests that would rival those of Cæsar. In presence of a will so
+stubborn and genius so fervid, what wonder that a friend prophesied
+that his halting-place would be either the throne or the scaffold?
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+THE ITALIAN CAMPAIGN
+
+(1796)
+
+
+In the personality of Napoleon nothing is more remarkable than the
+combination of gifts which in most natures are mutually exclusive; his
+instincts were both political and military; his survey of a land took
+in not only the geographical environment but also the material welfare
+of the people. Facts, which his foes ignored, offered a firm fulcrum
+for the leverage of his will: and their political edifice or their
+military policy crumbled to ruin under an assault planned with
+consummate skill and pressed home with relentless force.
+
+For the exercise of all these gifts what land was so fitted as the
+mosaic of States which was dignified with the name of Italy?
+
+That land had long been the battle-ground of the Bourbons and the
+Hapsburgs; and their rivalries, aided by civic dissensions, had
+reduced the people that once had given laws to Europe into a condition
+of miserable weakness. Europe was once the battle-field of the Romans:
+Italy was now the battle-field of Europe. The Hapsburgs dominated the
+north, where they held the rich Duchy of Milan, along with the great
+stronghold of Mantua, and some scattered imperial fiefs. A scion of
+the House of Austria reigned at Florence over the prosperous Duchy of
+Tuscany. Modena and Lucca were under the general control of the Court
+of Vienna. The south of the peninsula, along with Sicily, was swayed
+by Ferdinand IV., a descendant of the Spanish Bourbons, who kept his
+people in a condition of mediæval ignorance and servitude; and this
+dynasty controlled the Duchy of Parma. The Papal States were also sunk
+in the torpor of the Middle Ages; but in the northern districts of
+Bologna and Ferrara, known as the "Legations," the inhabitants still
+remembered the time of their independence, and chafed under the
+irritating restraints of Papal rule. This was seen when the leaven of
+French revolutionary thought began to ferment in Italian towns. Two
+young men of Bologna were so enamoured of the new ideas, as to raise
+an Italian tricolour flag, green, white, and red, and summon their
+fellow-citizens to revolt against the rule of the Pope's legate
+(November, 1794). The revolt was crushed, and the chief offenders were
+hanged; but elsewhere the force of democracy made itself felt,
+especially among the more virile peoples of Northern Italy. Lombardy
+and Piedmont throbbed with suppressed excitement. Even when the King
+of Sardinia, Victor Amadeus III., was waging war against the French
+Republic, the men of Turin were with difficulty kept from revolt; and,
+as we have seen, the Austro-Sardinian alliance was powerless to
+recover Savoy and Nice from the soldiers of liberty or to guard the
+Italian Riviera from invasion.
+
+In fact, Bonaparte--for he henceforth spelt his name thus--detected
+the political weakness of the Hapsburgs' position in Italy. Masters of
+eleven distinct peoples north of the Alps, how could they hope
+permanently to dominate a wholly alien people south of that great
+mountain barrier? The many failures of the old Ghibelline or Imperial
+party in face of any popular impulse which moved the Italian nature to
+its depths revealed the artificiality of their rule. Might not such an
+impulse be imparted by the French Revolution? And would not the hopes
+of national freedom and of emancipation from feudal imposts fire these
+peoples with zeal for the French cause? Evidently there were vast
+possibilities in a democratic propaganda. At the outset Bonaparte's
+racial sympathies were warmly aroused for the liberation of
+Italy; and though his judgment was to be warped by the promptings of
+ambition, he never lost sight of the welfare of the people whence he
+was descended. In his "Memoirs written at St. Helena" he summed up his
+convictions respecting the Peninsula in this statesmanlike utterance:
+"Italy, isolated within its natural limits, separated by the sea and
+by very high mountains from the rest of Europe, seems called to be a
+great and powerful nation.... Unity in manners, language, literature
+ought finally, in a future more or less remote, to unite its
+inhabitants under a single government.... Rome is beyond doubt the
+capital which the Italians will one day choose." A prophetic saying:
+it came from a man who, as conqueror and organizer, awakened that
+people from the torpor of centuries and breathed into it something of
+his own indomitable energy.
+
+And then again, the Austrian possessions south of the Alps were
+difficult to hold for purely military reasons. They were separated
+from Vienna by difficult mountain ranges through which armies
+struggled with difficulty. True, Mantua was a formidable stronghold,
+but no fortress could make the Milanese other than a weak and
+straggling territory, the retention of which by the Court of Vienna
+was a defiance to the gospel of nature of which Rousseau was the
+herald and Bonaparte the militant exponent.
+
+The Austro-Sardinian forces were now occupying the pass which
+separates the Apennines from the Maritime Alps north of the town of
+Savona. They were accordingly near the headwaters of the Bormida and
+the Tanaro, two of the chief affluents of the River Po: and roads
+following those river valleys led, the one north-east, in the
+direction of Milan, the other north-west towards Turin, the Sardinian
+capital. A wedge of mountainous country separated these roads as they
+diverged from the neighbourhood of Montenotte. Here obviously was the
+vulnerable point of the Austro-Sardinian position. Here therefore
+Bonaparte purposed to deliver his first strokes, foreseeing that,
+should he sever the allies, he would have in his favour every
+advantage both political and topographical.
+
+All this was possible to a commander who could overcome the initial
+difficulties. But these difficulties were enormous. The position of
+the French Army of Italy in March, 1796, was precarious. Its
+detachments, echelonned near the coast from Savona to Loano, and
+thence to Nice, or inland to the Col di Tende, comprised in all
+42,000 men, as against the Austro-Sardinian forces amounting to
+52,000 men.[36] Moreover, the allies occupied strong positions on the
+northern slopes of the Maritime Alps and Apennines, and, holding the
+inner and therefore shorter curve, they could by a dextrous
+concentration have pushed their more widely scattered opponents on to
+the shore, where the republicans would have been harassed by the guns
+of the British cruisers. Finally, Bonaparte's troops were badly
+equipped, worse clad, and were not paid at all. On his arrival at Nice
+at the close of March, the young commander had to disband one
+battalion for mutinous conduct.[37] For a brief space it seemed
+doubtful how the army would receive this slim, delicate-looking youth,
+known hitherto only as a skilful artillerist at Toulon and in the
+streets of Paris. But he speedily gained the respect and confidence of
+the rank and file, not only by stern punishment of the mutineers, but
+by raising money from a local banker, so as to make good some of the
+long arrears of pay. Other grievances he rectified by prompt
+reorganization of the commissariat and kindred departments. But, above
+all, by his burning words he thrilled them: "Soldiers, you are half
+starved and half naked. The Government owes you much, but can do
+nothing for you. Your patience and courage are honourable to you, but
+they procure you neither advantage nor glory. I am about to lead you
+into the most fertile valleys of the world: there you will find
+flourishing cities and teeming provinces: there you will reap honour,
+glory, and riches. Soldiers of the Army of Italy, will you lack
+courage?" Two years previously so open a bid for the soldiers'
+allegiance would have conducted any French commander forthwith to the
+guillotine.
+
+[Illustration: MAP TO ILLUSTRATE THE CAMPAIGNS IN NORTH ITALY.]
+
+But much had changed since the days of Robespierre's supremacy;
+Spartan austerity had vanished; and the former insane jealousy of
+individual pre-eminence was now favouring a startling reaction which
+was soon to install the one supremely able man as absolute master of
+France.
+
+Bonaparte's conduct produced a deep impression alike on troops and
+officers. From Masséna his energy and his trenchant orders extorted
+admiration: and the tall swaggering Augereau shrank beneath the
+intellectual superiority of his gaze. Moreover, at the beginning of
+April the French received reinforcements which raised their total to
+49,300 men, and gave them a superiority of force; for though the
+allies had 52,000, yet they were so widely scattered as to be inferior
+in any one district. Besides, the Austrian commander, Beaulieu, was
+seventy-one years of age, had only just been sent into Italy, with
+which land he was ill acquainted, and found one-third of his troops
+down with sickness.[38]
+
+Bonaparte now began to concentrate his forces near Savona. Fortune
+favoured him even before the campaign commenced. The snows of winter,
+still lying on the mountains, though thawing on the southern slopes,
+helped to screen his movements from the enemy's outposts; and the
+French vanguard pushed along the coastline even as far as Voltri. This
+movement was designed to coerce the Senate of Genoa into payment of a
+fine for its acquiescence in the seizure of a French vessel by a
+British cruiser within its neutral roadstead; but it served to alarm
+Beaulieu, who, breaking up his cantonments, sent a strong column
+towards that city. At the time this circumstance greatly annoyed
+Bonaparte, who had hoped to catch the Imperialists dozing in their
+winter quarters. Yet it is certain that the hasty move of their left
+flank towards Voltri largely contributed to that brilliant opening of
+Bonaparte's campaign, which his admirers have generally regarded as
+due solely to his genius.[39] For, when Beaulieu had thrust his column
+into the broken coast district between Genoa and Voltri, he severed it
+dangerously far from his centre, which marched up the valley of the
+eastern branch of the Bormida to occupy the passes of the Apennines
+north of Savona. This, again, was by no means in close touch with the
+Sardinian allies encamped further to the west in and beyond Ceva.
+Beaulieu, writing at a later date to Colonel Graham, the English
+_attaché_ at his headquarters, ascribed his first disasters to
+Argenteau, his lieutenant at Montenotte, who employed only a third of
+the forces placed under his command. But division of forces was
+characteristic of the Austrians in all their operations, and they now
+gave a fine opportunity to any enterprising opponent who should crush
+their weak and unsupported centre. In obedience to orders from Vienna,
+Beaulieu assumed the offensive; but he brought his chief force to bear
+on the French vanguard at Voltri, which he drove in with some loss.
+While he was occupying Voltri, the boom of cannon echoing across the
+mountains warned his outposts that the real campaign was opening in
+the broken country north of Savona.[40] There the weak Austrian centre
+had occupied a ridge or plateau above the village of Montenotte,
+through which ran the road leading to Alessandria and Milan.
+Argenteau's attack partly succeeded: but the stubborn bravery of a
+French detachment checked it before the redoubt which commanded the
+southern prolongation of the heights named Monte-Legino.[41]
+
+Such was the position of affairs when Bonaparte hurried up. On the
+following day (April 12th), massing the French columns of attack
+under cover of an early morning mist, he moved them to their
+positions, so that the first struggling rays of sunlight revealed to
+the astonished Austrians the presence of an army ready to crush their
+front and turn their flanks. For a time the Imperialists struggled
+bravely against the superior forces in their front; but when Masséna
+pressed round their right wing, they gave way and beat a speedy
+retreat to save themselves from entire capture. Bonaparte took no
+active share in the battle: he was, very properly, intent on the wider
+problem of severing the Austrians from their allies, first by the
+turning movement of Masséna, and then by pouring other troops into the
+gap thus made. In this he entirely succeeded. The radical defects in
+the Austrian dispositions left them utterly unable to withstand the
+blows which he now showered upon them. The Sardinians were too far
+away on the west to help Argenteau in his hour of need: they were in
+and beyond Ceva, intent on covering the road to Turin: whereas, as
+Napoleon himself subsequently wrote, they should have been near enough
+to their allies to form one powerful army, which, at Dego or
+Montenotte, would have defended both Turin and Milan. "United, the two
+forces would have been superior to the French army: separated, they
+were lost."
+
+The configuration of the ground favoured Bonaparte's plan of driving
+the Imperialists down the valley of the Bormida in a north-easterly
+direction; and the natural desire of a beaten general to fall back
+towards his base of supplies also impelled Beaulieu and Argenteau to
+retire towards Milan. But that would sever their connections with the
+Sardinians, whose base of supplies, Turin, lay in a north-westerly
+direction.
+
+Bonaparte therefore hurled his forces at once against the Austrians
+and a Sardinian contingent at Millesimo, and defeated them, Augereau's
+division cutting off the retreat of twelve hundred of their men under
+Provera. Weakened by this second blow, the allies fell back on the
+intrenched village of Dego. Their position was of a strength
+proportionate to its strategic importance; for its loss would
+completely sever all connection between their two main armies save by
+devious routes many miles in their rear. They therefore clung
+desperately to the six mamelons and redoubts which barred the valley
+and dominated some of the neighbouring heights. Yet such was the
+superiority of the French in numbers that these positions were
+speedily turned by Masséna, whom Bonaparte again intrusted with the
+movement on the enemy's flank and rear. A strange event followed. The
+victors, while pillaging the country for the supplies which
+Bonaparte's sharpest orders failed to draw from the magazines and
+stores on the sea-coast, were attacked in the dead of night by five
+Austrian battalions that had been ordered up to support their
+countrymen at Dego. These, after straying among the mountains, found
+themselves among bands of the marauding French, whom they easily
+scattered, seizing Dego itself. Apprised of this mishap, Bonaparte
+hurried up more troops from the rear, and on the 15th recovered the
+prize which had so nearly been snatched from his grasp. Had Beaulieu
+at this time thrown all his forces on the French, he might have
+retrieved his first misfortunes: but foresight and energy were not to
+be found at the Austrian headquarters: the surprise at Dego was the
+work of a colonel; and for many years to come the incompetence of
+their aged commanders was to paralyze the fine fighting qualities of
+the "white-coats." In three conflicts they had been outmanoeuvred and
+outnumbered, and drew in their shattered columns to Acqui.
+
+The French commander now led his columns westward against the
+Sardinians, who had fallen back on their fortified camp at Ceva, in
+the upper valley of the Tanaro. There they beat off one attack of the
+French. A check in front of a strongly intrenched position was
+serious. It might have led to a French disaster, had the Austrians
+been able to bring aid to their allies. Bonaparte even summoned a
+council of war to deliberate on the situation. As a rule, a council of
+war gives timid advice. This one strongly advised a second attack on
+the camp--a striking proof of the ardour which then nerved the
+republican generals. Not yet were they _condottieri_ carving out
+fortunes by their swords: not yet were they the pampered minions of an
+autocrat, intent primarily on guarding the estates which his favour
+had bestowed. Timidity was rather the mark of their opponents. When
+the assault on the intrenchments of Ceva was about to be renewed, the
+Sardinian forces were discerned filing away westwards. Their general
+indulged the fond hope of holding the French at bay at several
+strong natural positions on his march. He was bitterly to rue his
+error. The French divisions of Sérurier and Dommartin closed in on
+him, drove him from Mondovi, and away towards Turin.
+
+Bonaparte had now completely succeeded. Using to the full the
+advantage of his central position between the widely scattered
+detachments of his foes, he had struck vigorously at their natural
+point of junction, Montenotte, and by three subsequent successes--for
+the evacuation of Ceva can scarcely be called a French victory--had
+forced them further and further apart until Turin was almost within
+his power.
+
+It now remained to push these military triumphs to their natural
+conclusion, and impose terms of peace on the House of Savoy, which was
+secretly desirous of peace. The Directors had ordered Bonaparte that
+he should seek to detach Sardinia from the Austrian alliance by
+holding out the prospect of a valuable compensation for the loss of
+Savoy and Nice in the fertile Milanese.[42] The prospect of this rich
+prize would, the Directors surmised, dissolve the Austro-Sardinian
+alliance, as soon as the allies had felt the full vigour of the French
+arms. Not that Bonaparte himself was to conduct these negotiations. He
+was to forward to the Directory all offers of submission. Nay, he was
+not empowered to grant on his own responsibility even an armistice. He
+was merely to push the foe hard, and feed his needy soldiers on the
+conquered territory. He was to be solely a general, never a
+negotiator.
+
+The Directors herein showed keen jealousy or striking ignorance of
+military affairs. How could he keep the Austrians quiet while envoys
+passed between Turin and Paris? All the dictates of common sense
+required him to grant an armistice to the Court of Turin before the
+Austrians could recover from their recent disasters. But the King of
+Sardinia drew him from a perplexing situation by instructing Colli to
+make overtures for an armistice as preliminary to a peace. At once the
+French commander replied that such powers belonged to the Directory;
+but as for an armistice, it would only be possible if the Court of
+Turin placed in his hands three fortresses, Coni, Tortona, and
+Alessandria, besides guaranteeing the transit of French armies through
+Piedmont and the passage of the Po at Valenza. Then, with his
+unfailing belief in accomplished facts, Bonaparte pushed on his troops
+to Cherasco.
+
+Near that town he received the Piedmontese envoys; and from the pen of
+one of them we have an account of the general's behaviour in his first
+essay in diplomacy. His demeanour was marked by that grave and frigid
+courtesy which was akin to Piedmontese customs. In reply to the
+suggestions of the envoys that some of the conditions were of little
+value to the French, he answered: "The Republic, in intrusting to me
+the command of an army, has credited me with possessing enough
+discernment to judge of what that army requires, without having
+recourse to the advice of my enemy." Apart, however, from this
+sarcasm, which was uttered in a hard and biting voice, his tone was
+coldly polite. He reserved his home thrust for the close of the
+conference. When it had dragged on till considerably after noon with
+no definite result, he looked at his watch and exclaimed: "Gentlemen,
+I warn you that a general attack is ordered for two o'clock, and that
+if I am not assured that Coni will be put in my hands before
+nightfall, the attack will not be postponed for one moment. It may
+happen to me to lose battles, but no one shall ever see me lose
+minutes either by over-confidence or by sloth." The terms of the
+armistice of Cherasco were forthwith signed (April 28th); they were
+substantially the same as those first offered by the victor. During
+the luncheon which followed, the envoys were still further impressed
+by his imperturbable confidence and trenchant phrases; as when he told
+them that the campaign was the exact counterpart of what he had
+planned in 1794; or described a council of war as a convenient device
+for covering cowardice or irresolution in the commander; or asserted
+that nothing could now stop him before the walls of Mantua.[43]
+
+As a matter of fact, the French army was at that time so disorganized
+by rapine as scarcely to have withstood a combined and vigorous attack
+by Beaulieu and Colli. The republicans, long exposed to hunger and
+privations, were now revelling in the fertile plains of Piedmont.
+Large bands of marauders ranged the neighbouring country, and the
+regiments were often reduced to mere companies. From the grave risks
+of this situation Bonaparte was rescued by the timidity of the Court
+of Turin, which signed the armistice at Cherasco eighteen days after
+the commencement of the campaign. A fortnight later the preliminaries
+of peace were signed between France and the King of Sardinia, by which
+the latter yielded up his provinces of Savoy and Nice, and renounced
+the alliance with Austria. Great indignation was felt in the
+Imperialist camp at this news; and it was freely stated that the
+Piedmontese had let themselves be beaten in order to compass a peace
+that had been tacitly agreed upon in the month of January.[44]
+
+Even before this auspicious event, Bonaparte's despatches to the
+Directors were couched in almost imperious terms, which showed that he
+felt himself the master of the situation. He advised them as to their
+policy towards Sardinia, pointing out that, as Victor Amadeus had
+yielded up three important fortresses, he was practically in the hands
+of the French: "If you do not accept peace with him, if your plan is
+to dethrone him, you must amuse him for a few decades[45] and must
+warn me: I then seize Valenza and march on Turin." In military
+affairs the young general showed that he would brook no interference
+from Paris. He requested the Directory to draft 15,000 men from
+Kellermann's Army of the Alps to reinforce him: "That will give me an
+army of 45,000 men, of which possibly I may send a part to Rome. If
+you continue your confidence and approve these plans, I am sure of
+success: Italy is yours." Somewhat later, the Directors proposed to
+grant the required reinforcements, but stipulated for the retention of
+part of the army in the Milanese _under the command of Kellermann_.
+Thereupon Bonaparte replied (May 14th) that, as the Austrians had been
+reinforced, it was highly impolitic to divide the command. Each
+general had his own way of making war. Kellermann, having more
+experience, would doubtless do it better: but both together would do
+it very badly.
+
+Again the Directors had blundered. In seeking to subject Bonaparte to
+the same rules as had been imposed on all French generals since the
+treason of Dumouriez in 1793, they were doubtless consulting the vital
+interests of the Commonwealth. But, while striving to avert all
+possibilities of Cæsarism, they now sinned against that elementary
+principle of strategy which requires unity of design in military
+operations. Bonaparte's retort was unanswerable, and nothing more was
+heard of the luckless proposal.
+
+Meanwhile the peace with the House of Savoy had thrown open the
+Milanese to Bonaparte's attack. Holding three Sardinian fortresses, he
+had an excellent base of operations; for the lands restored to the
+King of Sardinia were to remain subject to requisitions for the French
+army until the general peace. The Austrians, on the other hand, were
+weakened by the hostility of their Italian subjects, and, worst of
+all, they depended ultimately on reinforcements drawn from beyond the
+Alps by way of Mantua. In the rich plains of Lombardy they, however,
+had one advantage which was denied to them among the rocks of the
+Apennines. Their generals could display the tactical skill on which
+they prided themselves, and their splendid cavalry had some chance of
+emulating the former exploits of the Hungarian and Croatian horse.
+They therefore awaited the onset of the French, little dismayed by
+recent disasters, and animated by the belief that their antagonist,
+unversed in regular warfare, would at once lose in the plains the
+bubble reputation gained in ravines. But the country in the second
+part of this campaign was not less favourable to Bonaparte's peculiar
+gifts than that in which he had won his first laurels as commander.
+Amidst the Apennines, where only small bodies of men could be moved, a
+general inexperienced in the handling of cavalry and infantry could
+make his first essays in tactics with fair chances of success. Speed,
+energy, and the prompt seizure of a commanding central position were
+the prime requisites; the handling of vast masses of men was
+impossible. The plains of Lombardy facilitated larger movements; but
+even here the numerous broad swift streams fed by the Alpine snows,
+and the network of irrigating dykes, favoured the designs of a young
+and daring leader who saw how to use natural obstacles so as to baffle
+and ensnare his foes. Bonaparte was now to show that he excelled his
+enemies, not only in quickness of eye and vigour of intellect, but
+also in the minutiæ of tactics and in those larger strategic
+conceptions which decide the fate of nations. In the first place,
+having the superiority of force, he was able to attack. This is an
+advantage at all times: for the aggressor can generally mislead his
+adversary by a series of feints until the real blow can be delivered
+with crushing effect. Such has been the aim of all great leaders from
+the time of Epaminondas and Alexander, Hannibal and Cæsar, down to the
+age of Luxembourg, Marlborough, and Frederick the Great. Aggressive
+tactics were particularly suited to the French soldiery, always eager,
+active, and intelligent, and now endowed with boundless enthusiasm in
+their cause and in their leader.
+
+Then again he was fully aware of the inherent vice of the Austrian
+situation. It was as if an unwieldy organism stretched a vulnerable
+limb across the huge barrier of the Alps, exposing it to the attack of
+a compacter body. It only remained for Bonaparte to turn against his
+foes the smaller geographical features on which they too implicitly
+relied. Beaulieu had retired beyond the Po and the Ticino, expecting
+that the attack on the Milanese would be delivered across the latter
+stream by the ordinary route, which crossed it at Pavia. Near that
+city the Austrians occupied a strong position with 26,000 men, while
+other detachments patrolled the banks of the Ticino further north, and
+those of the Po towards Valenza, only 5,000 men being sent towards
+Piacenza. Bonaparte, however, was not minded to take the ordinary
+route. He determined to march, not as yet on the north of the River
+Po, where snow-swollen streams coursed down from the Alps, but rather
+on the south side, where the Apennines throw off fewer streams and
+also of smaller volume. From the fortress of Tortona he could make a
+rush at Piacenza, cross the Po there, and thus gain the Milanese
+almost without a blow. To this end he had stipulated in the recent
+terms of peace that he might cross the Po at Valenza; and now, amusing
+his foes by feints on that side, he vigorously pushed his main columns
+along the southern bank of the Po, where they gathered up all the
+available boats. The vanguard, led by the impetuous Lannes, seized the
+ferry at Piacenza, before the Austrian horse appeared, and scattered a
+squadron or two which strove to drive them back into the river (May
+7th).
+
+Time was thus gained for a considerable number of French to cross the
+river in boats or by the ferry. Working under the eye of their leader,
+the French conquered all obstacles: a bridge of boats soon spanned
+the stream, and was defended by a _tête de pont_; and with forces
+about equal in number to Liptay's Austrians, the republicans advanced
+northwards, and, after a tough struggle, dislodged their foes from the
+village of Fombio. This success drove a solid wedge between Liptay and
+his commander-in-chief, who afterwards bitterly blamed him, first for
+retreating, and secondly for not reporting his retreat to
+headquarters.
+
+It would appear, however, that Liptay had only 5,000 men (not the
+8,000 which Napoleon and French historians have credited to him), that
+he was sent by Beaulieu to Piacenza too late to prevent the crossing
+by the French, and that at the close of the fight on the following day
+he was completely cut off from communicating with his superior.
+Beaulieu, with his main force, advanced on Fombio, stumbled on the
+French, where he looked to find Liptay, and after a confused fight
+succeeded in disengaging himself and withdrawing towards Lodi, where
+the high-road leading to Mantua crossed the River Adda. To that stream
+he directed his remaining forces to retire. He thereby left Milan
+uncovered (except for the garrison which held the citadel), and
+abandoned more than the half of Lombardy; but, from the military point
+of view, his retreat to the Adda was thoroughly sound. Yet here again
+a movement strategically correct was marred by tactical blunders. Had
+he concentrated all his forces at the nearest point of the Adda which
+the French could cross, namely Pizzighetone, he would have rendered
+any flank march of theirs to the northward extremely hazardous; but he
+had not yet sufficiently learned from his terrible teacher the need of
+concentration; and, having at least three passages to guard, he kept
+his forces too spread out to oppose a vigorous move against any one of
+them. Indeed, he despaired of holding the line of the Adda, and
+retired eastwards with a great part of his army.
+
+Consequently, when Bonaparte, only three days after the seizure of
+Piacenza, threw his almost undivided force against the town of Lodi,
+his passage was disputed only by the rearguard, whose anxiety to cover
+the retreat of a belated detachment far exceeded their determination
+to defend the bridge over the Adda. This was a narrow structure, some
+eighty fathoms long, standing high above the swift but shallow river.
+Resolutely held by well-massed troops and cannon, it might have cost
+the French a severe struggle: but the Imperialists were badly
+handled: some were posted in and around the town which was between the
+river and the advancing French; and the weak walls of Lodi were soon
+escaladed by the impetuous republicans. The Austrian commander,
+Sebottendorf, now hastily ranged his men along the eastern bank of the
+river, so as to defend the bridge and prevent any passage of the river
+by boats or by a ford above the town. The Imperialists numbered only
+9,627 men; they were discouraged by defeats and by the consciousness
+that no serious stand could be attempted before they reached the
+neighbourhood of Mantua; and their efforts to break down the bridge
+were now frustrated by the French, who, posted behind the walls of
+Lodi on the higher bank of the stream, swept their opponents' position
+with a searching artillery fire. Having shaken the constancy of his
+foes and refreshed his own infantry by a brief rest in Lodi, Bonaparte
+at 6 p.m. secretly formed a column of his choicest troops and hurled
+it against the bridge. A hot fire of grapeshot and musketry tore its
+front, and for a time the column bent before the iron hail. But,
+encouraged by the words of their young leader, generals, corporals,
+and grenadiers pressed home their charge. This time, aided by
+sharp-shooters who waded to islets in the river, the assailants
+cleared the bridge, bayoneted the Austrian cannoneers, attacked the
+first and second lines of supporting foot, and, when reinforced,
+compelled horse and foot to retreat towards Mantua.[46]
+Such was the affair of Lodi (May 10th). A legendary
+glamour hovers around all the details of this conflict and invests it
+with fictitious importance. Beaulieu's main force was far away, and
+there was no hope of entrapping anything more than the rear of his
+army. Moreover, if this were the object, why was not the flank move of
+the French cavalry above Lodi pushed home earlier in the fight? This,
+if supported by infantry, could have outflanked the enemy while the
+perilous rush was made against the bridge; and such a turning movement
+would probably have enveloped the Austrian force while it was being
+shattered in front. That is the view in which the strategist,
+Clausewitz, regards this encounter. Far different was the impression
+which it created among the soldiers and Frenchmen at large. They
+valued a commander more for bravery of the bull-dog type than for any
+powers of reasoning and subtle combination. These, it is true,
+Bonaparte had already shown. He now enchanted the soldiery by dealing
+a straight sharp blow. It had a magical effect on their minds. On the
+evening of that day the French soldiers, with antique republican
+_camaraderie_, saluted their commander as _le petit caporal_ for his
+personal bravery in the fray, and this endearing phrase helped to
+immortalize the affair of the bridge of Lodi.[47] It shot a thrill of
+exultation through France. With pardonable exaggeration, men told how
+he charged at the head of the column, and, with Lannes, was the first
+to reach the opposite side; and later generations have figured him
+charging before his tall grenadiers--a feat that was actually
+performed by Lannes, Berthier, Masséna, Cervoni, and Dallemagne. It
+was all one. Bonaparte alone was the hero of the day. He reigned
+supreme in the hearts of the soldiers, and he saw the importance of
+this conquest. At St. Helena he confessed to Montholon that it was the
+victory of Lodi which fanned his ambition into a steady flame.
+
+A desire of stimulating popular enthusiasm throughout Italy impelled
+the young victor to turn away from his real objective, the fortress of
+Mantua, to the political capital of Lombardy. The people of Milan
+hailed their French liberators with enthusiasm: they rained flowers on
+the bronzed soldiers of liberty, and pointed to their tattered
+uniforms and worn-out shoes as proofs of their triumphant energy:
+above all, they gazed with admiration, not unmixed with awe, at the
+thin pale features of the young commander, whose plain attire bespoke
+a Spartan activity, whose ardent gaze and decisive gestures proclaimed
+a born leader of men. Forthwith he arranged for the investment of the
+citadel where eighteen hundred Austrians held out: he then received
+the chief men of the city with easy Italian grace; and in the evening
+he gave a sumptuous ball, at which all the dignity, wealth, and beauty
+of the old Lombard capital shone resplendent. For a brief space all
+went well between the Lombards and their liberators. He received with
+flattering distinction the chief artists and men of letters, and also
+sought to quicken the activity of the University of Pavia. Political
+clubs and newspapers multiplied throughout Lombardy; and actors,
+authors, and editors joined in a pæan of courtly or fawning praise, to
+the new Scipio, Cæsar, Hannibal, and Jupiter.
+
+There were other reasons why the Lombards should worship the young
+victor. Apart from the admiration which a gifted race ever feels for
+so fascinating a combination of youthful grace with intellectual power
+and martial prowess, they believed that this Italian hero would call
+the people to political activity, perchance even to national
+independence. For this their most ardent spirits had sighed,
+conspired, or fought during the eighty-three years of the Austrian
+occupation. Ever since the troublous times of Dante there had been
+prophetic souls who caught the vision of a new Italy, healed of her
+countless schisms, purified from her social degradations, and uniting
+the prowess of her ancient life with the gentler arts of the present
+for the perfection of her own powers and for the welfare of mankind.
+The gleam of this vision had shone forth even amidst the thunder claps
+of the French Revolution; and now that the storm had burst over the
+plains of Lombardy, ecstatic youths seemed to see the vision embodied
+in the person of Bonaparte himself. At the first news of the success
+at Lodi the national colours were donned as cockades, or waved
+defiance from balconies and steeples to the Austrian garrisons. All
+truly Italian hearts believed that the French victories heralded the
+dawn of political freedom not only for Lombardy, but for the whole
+peninsula.
+
+Bonaparte's first actions increased these hopes. He abolished the
+Austrian machinery of government, excepting the Council of State, and
+approved the formation of provisional municipal councils and of a
+National Guard. At the same time, he wrote guardedly to the Directors
+at Paris, asking whether they proposed to organize Lombardy as a
+republic, as it was much more ripe for this form of government than
+Piedmont. Further than this he could not go; but at a later date he
+did much to redeem his first promises to the people of Northern Italy.
+
+The fair prospect was soon overclouded by the financial measures urged
+on the young commander from Paris, measures which were disastrous to
+the Lombards and degrading to the liberators themselves. The Directors
+had recently bidden him to press hard on the Milanese, and levy large
+contributions in money, provisions, and objects of art, seeing that
+they did not intend to keep this country.[48] Bonaparte accordingly
+issued a proclamation (May 19th), imposing on Lombardy the sum of
+twenty million francs, remarking that it was a very light sum for so
+fertile a country. Only two days before he had in a letter to the
+Directors described it as exhausted by five years of war. As for the
+assertion that the army needed this sum, it may be compared with his
+private notification to the Directory, three days after his
+proclamation, that they might speedily count on six to eight millions
+of the Lombard contribution, as lying ready at their disposal, "it
+being over and above what the army requires." This is the first
+definite suggestion by Bonaparte of that system of bleeding conquered
+lands for the benefit of the French Exchequer, which enabled him
+speedily to gain power over the Directors. Thenceforth they began to
+connive at his diplomatic irregularities, and even to urge on his
+expeditions into wealthy districts, provided that the spoils went to
+Paris; while the conqueror, on his part, was able tacitly to assume
+that tone of authority with which the briber treats the bribed.[49]
+
+The exaction of this large sum, and of various requisites for the
+army, as well as the "extraction" of works of art for the benefit of
+French museums, at once aroused the bitterest feelings. The loss of
+priceless treasures, such as the manuscript of Virgil which had
+belonged to Petrarch, and the masterpieces of Raphael and Leonardo da
+Vinci, might perhaps have been borne: it concerned only the cultured
+few, and their effervescence was soon quelled by patrols of French
+cavalry. Far different was it with the peasants between Milan and
+Pavia. Drained by the white-coats, they now refused to be bled for the
+benefit of the blue-coats of France. They rushed to arms. The city of
+Pavia defied the attack of a French column until cannon battered in
+its gates. Then the republicans rushed in, massacred all the armed men
+for some hours, and glutted their lust and rapacity. By order of
+Bonaparte, the members of the municipal council were condemned to
+execution; but a delay occurred before this ferocious order was
+carried out, and it was subsequently mitigated. Two hundred hostages
+were, however, sent away into France as a guarantee for the good
+behaviour of the unfortunate city: whereupon the chief announced to
+the Directory that this would serve as a useful lesson to the peoples
+of Italy.
+
+In one sense this was correct. It gave the Italians a true insight
+into French methods; and painful emotions thrilled the peoples of the
+peninsula when they realized at what a price their liberation was to
+be effected. Yet it is unfair to lay the chief blame on Bonaparte for
+the pillage of Lombardy. His actions were only a development of
+existing revolutionary customs; but never had these demoralizing
+measures been so thoroughly enforced as in the present system of
+liberation and blackmail. Lombardy was ransacked with an almost Vandal
+rapacity. Bonaparte desired little for himself. His aim ever was power
+rather than wealth. Riches he valued only as a means to political
+supremacy. But he took care to place the Directors and all his
+influential officers deeply in his debt. To the five _soi-disant_
+rulers of France he sent one hundred horses, the finest that could be
+found in Lombardy, to replace "the poor creatures which now draw your
+carriages";[50] to his officers his indulgence was passive, but
+usually effective. Marmont states that Bonaparte once reproached him
+for his scrupulousness in returning the whole of a certain sum which
+he had been commissioned to recover. "At that time," says Marmont, "we
+still retained a flower of delicacy on these subjects." This Alpine
+gentian was soon to fade in the heats of the plains. Some generals
+made large fortunes, eminently so Masséna, first in plunder as in the
+fray. And yet the commander, who was so lenient to his generals,
+filled his letters to the Directory with complaints about the cloud of
+French commissioners, dealers, and other civilian harpies who battened
+on the spoil of Lombardy. It seems impossible to avoid the conclusion
+that this indulgence towards the soldiers and severity towards
+civilians was the result of a fixed determination to link indissolubly
+to his fortunes the generals and rank and file. The contrast in his
+behaviour was often startling. Some of the civilians he imprisoned:
+others he desired to shoot; but as the hardiest robbers had generally
+made to themselves friends of the military mammon of unrighteousness,
+they escaped with a fine ridiculously out of proportion to their
+actual gains.[51]
+
+The Dukes of Parma and Modena were also mulcted. The former of these,
+owing to his relationship with the Spanish Bourbons, with whom the
+Directory desired to remain on friendly terms, was subjected to the
+fine of merely two million francs and twenty masterpieces of art,
+these last to be selected by French commissioners from the galleries
+of the duchy; but the Duke of Modena, who had assisted the Austrian
+arms, purchased his pardon by an indemnity of ten million francs, and
+by the cession of twenty pictures, the chief artistic treasures of his
+States.[52] As Bonaparte naïvely stated to the Directors, the duke had
+no fortresses or guns; consequently these could not be demanded from
+him.
+
+From this degrading work Bonaparte strove to wean his soldiers by
+recalling them to their nobler work of carrying on the enfranchisement
+of Italy. In a proclamation (May 20th) which even now stirs the blood
+like a trumpet call, he bade his soldiers remember that, though much
+had been done, a far greater task yet awaited them. Posterity must not
+reproach them for having found their Capua in Lombardy. Rome was to be
+freed: the Eternal City was to renew her youth and show again the
+virtues of her ancient worthies, Brutus and Scipio. Then France would
+give a glorious peace to Europe; then their fellow-citizens would say
+of each champion of liberty as he returned to his hearth: "He was of
+the Army of Italy." By such stirring words did he entwine with the
+love of liberty that passion for military glory which was destined to
+strangle the Republic.
+
+Meanwhile the Austrians had retired behind the banks of the Mincio and
+the walls of its guardian fortress, Mantua. Their position was one of
+great strength. The river, which carries off the surplus waters of
+Lake Garda, joins the River Po after a course of some thirty miles.
+Along with the tongue-like cavity occupied by its parent lake, the
+river forms the chief inner barrier to all invaders of Italy. From
+the earliest times down to those of the two Napoleons, the banks of
+the Mincio have witnessed many of the contests which have decided the
+fortunes of the peninsula. On its lower course, where the river widens
+out into a semicircular lagoon flanked by marshes and backwaters, is
+the historic town of Mantua. For this position, if we may trust the
+picturesque lines of Mantua's noblest son,[53] the three earliest
+races of Northern Italy had striven; and when the power of imperial
+Rome was waning, the fierce Attila pitched his camp on the banks of
+the Mincio, and there received the pontiff Leo, whose prayers and
+dignity averted the threatening torrent of the Scythian horse.
+
+It was by this stream, famed in war as in song, that the Imperialists
+now halted their shattered forces, awaiting reinforcements from Tyrol.
+These would pass down the valley of the Adige, and in the last part of
+their march would cross the lands of the Venetian Republic. For this
+action there was a long-established right of way, which did not
+involve a breach of the neutrality of Venice. But, as some of the
+Austrian troops had straggled on to the Venetian territory south of
+Brescia, the French commander had no hesitation in openly violating
+Venetian neutrality by the occupation of that town (May 26th).
+Augereau's division was also ordered to push on towards the west shore
+of Lake Garda, and there collect boats as if a crossing were intended.
+Seeing this, the Austrians seized the small Venetian fortress of
+Peschiera, which commands the exit of the Mincio from the lake, and
+Venetian neutrality was thenceforth wholly disregarded.
+
+By adroit moves on the borders of the lake, Bonaparte now sought to
+make Beaulieu nervous about his communications with Tyrol through the
+river valley of the Adige; he completely succeeded: seeking to guard
+the important positions on that river between Rivoli and Roveredo,
+Beaulieu so weakened his forces on the Mincio, that at Borghetto and
+Valeggio he had only two battalions and ten squadrons of horse, or
+about two thousand men. Lannes' grenadiers, therefore, had little
+difficulty in forcing a passage on May 30th, whereupon Beaulieu
+withdrew to the upper Adige, highly satisfied with himself for having
+victualled the fortress of Mantua so that it could withstand a long
+siege. This was, practically, his sole achievement in the campaign.
+Outnumbered, outgeneralled, bankrupt in health as in reputation, he
+soon resigned his command, but not before he had given signs of
+"downright dotage."[54] He had, however, achieved immortality: his
+incapacity threw into brilliant relief the genius of his young
+antagonist, and therefore appreciably affected the fortunes of Italy
+and of Europe.
+
+Bonaparte now despatched Masséna's division northwards, to coop up the
+Austrians in the narrow valley of the upper Adige, while other
+regiments began to close in on Mantua. The peculiarities of the ground
+favoured its investment. The semicircular lagoon which guards Mantua
+on the north, and the marshes on the south side, render an assault
+very difficult; but they also limit the range of ground over which
+sorties can be made, thereby lightening the work of the besiegers; and
+during part of the blockade Napoleon left fewer than five thousand men
+for this purpose. It was clear, however, that the reduction of Mantua
+would be a tedious undertaking, such as Bonaparte's daring and
+enterprising genius could ill brook, and that his cherished design of
+marching northwards to effect a junction with Moreau on the Danube was
+impossible. Having only 40,400 men with him at midsummer, he had
+barely enough to hold the line of the Adige, to blockade Mantua, and
+to keep open his communications with France.
+
+At the command of the Directory he turned southward against feebler
+foes. The relations between the Papal States and the French Republic
+had been hostile since the assassination of the French envoy,
+Basseville, at Rome, in the early days of 1793; but the Pope, Pius
+VI., had confined himself to anathemas against the revolutionists and
+prayers for the success of the First Coalition.
+
+This conduct now drew upon him a sharp blow. French troops crossed the
+Po and seized Bologna, whereupon the terrified cardinals signed an
+armistice with the republican commander, agreeing to close all their
+States to the English, and to admit a French garrison to the port of
+Ancona. The Pope also consented to yield up "one hundred pictures,
+busts, vases, or statues, as the French Commissioners shall determine,
+among which shall especially be included the bronze bust of Junius
+Brutus and the marble bust of Marcus Brutus, together with five
+hundred manuscripts." He was also constrained to pay 15,500,000
+francs, besides animals and goods such as the French agents should
+requisition for their army, exclusive of the money and materials drawn
+from the districts of Bologna and Ferrara. The grand total, in money,
+and in kind, raised from the Papal States in this profitable raid, was
+reckoned by Bonaparte himself as 34,700,000 francs,[55] or about;
+£1,400,000--a liberal assessment for the life of a single envoy and
+the _bruta fulmina_ of the Vatican.
+
+Equally lucrative was a dash into Tuscany. As the Grand Duke of this
+fertile land had allowed English cruisers and merchants certain
+privileges at Leghorn, this was taken as a departure from the
+neutrality which he ostensibly maintained since the signature of a
+treaty of peace with France in 1795. A column of the republicans now
+swiftly approached Leghorn and seized much valuable property from
+British merchants. Yet the invaders failed to secure the richest of
+the hoped-for plunder; for about forty English merchantmen sheered off
+from shore as the troops neared the seaport, and an English frigate,
+swooping down, carried off two French vessels almost under the eyes of
+Bonaparte himself. This last outrage gave, it is true, a slight
+excuse for the levying of requisitions in Leghorn and its environs;
+yet, according to the memoir-writer, Miot de Melito, this unprincipled
+action must be attributed not to Bonaparte, but to the urgent needs of
+the French treasury and the personal greed of some of the Directors.
+Possibly also the French commissioners and agents, who levied
+blackmail or selected pictures, may have had some share in the shaping
+of the Directorial policy: at least, it is certain that some of them,
+notably Salicetti, amassed a large fortune from the plunder of
+Leghorn. In order to calm the resentment of the Grand Duke, Bonaparte
+paid a brief visit to Florence. He was received in respectful silence
+as he rode through the streets where his ancestors had schemed for the
+Ghibelline cause. By a deft mingling of courtesy and firmness the new
+conqueror imposed his will on the Government of Florence, and then
+sped northward to press on the siege of Mantua.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+THE FIGHTS FOR MANTUA
+
+
+The circumstances which recalled Bonaparte to the banks of the Mincio
+were indeed serious. The Emperor Francis was determined at all costs
+to retain his hold on Italy by raising the siege of that fortress; and
+unless the French commander could speedily compass its fall, he had
+the prospect of fighting a greatly superior army while his rear was
+threatened by the garrison of Mantua. Austria was making unparalleled
+efforts to drive this presumptuous young general from a land which she
+regarded as her own political preserve. Military historians have
+always been puzzled to account for her persistent efforts in 1796-7 to
+re-conquer Lombardy. But, in truth, the reasons are diplomatic, not
+military, and need not be detailed here. Suffice it to say that,
+though the Hapsburg lands in Swabia were threatened by Moreau's Army
+of the Rhine, Francis determined at all costs to recover his Italian
+possessions.
+
+To this end the Emperor now replaced the luckless Beaulieu by General
+Würmser, who had gained some reputation in the Rhenish campaigns; and,
+detaching 25,000 men from his northern armies to strengthen his army
+on the Adige, he bade him carry the double-headed eagle of Austria
+victoriously into the plains of Italy. Though too late to relieve the
+citadel of Milan, he was to strain every nerve to relieve Mantua; and,
+since the latest reports represented the French as widely dispersed
+for the plunder of Central Italy, the Emperor indulged the highest
+hopes of Würmser's success.[56]
+
+Possibly this might have been attained had the Austrian Emperor and
+staff understood the absolute need of concentration in attacking a
+commander who had already demonstrated its supreme importance in
+warfare. Yet the difficulties of marching an army of 47,000 men
+through the narrow defile carved by the Adige through the Tyrolese
+Alps, and the wide extent of the French covering lines, led to the
+adoption of a plan which favoured rapidity at the expense of security.
+Würmser was to divide his forces for the difficult march southward
+from Tyrol into Italy. In defence of this arrangement much could be
+urged. To have cumbered the two roads, which run on either side of the
+Adige from Trient towards Mantua, with infantry, cavalry, artillery,
+and the countless camp-followers, animals, and wagons that follow an
+army, would have been fatal alike to speed of marching and to success
+in mountain warfare. Even in the campaign of 1866 the greatest
+commander of this generation carried out his maxim, "March in separate
+columns: unite for fighting." But Würmser and the Aulic Council[57] at
+Vienna neglected to insure that reunion for attack, on which von
+Moltke laid such stress in his Bohemian campaign. The Austrian forces
+in 1796 were divided by obstacles which could not quickly be crossed,
+namely, by Lake Garda and the lofty mountains which tower above the
+valley of the Adige. Assuredly the Imperialists were not nearly strong
+enough to run any risks. The official Austrian returns show that the
+total force assembled in Tyrol for the invasion of Italy amounted to
+46,937 men, not to the 60,000 as pictured by the imagination of Thiers
+and other French historians. As Bonaparte had in Lombardy-Venetia
+fully 45,000 men (including 10,000 now engaged in the siege of
+Mantua), scattered along a front of fifty miles from Milan to Brescia
+and Legnago, the incursion of Würmser's force, if the French were held
+to their separate positions by diversions against their flanks, must
+have proved decisive. But the fault was committed of so far dividing
+the Austrians that nowhere could they deal a crushing blow.
+Quosdanovich with 17,600 men was to take the western side of Lake
+Garda, seize the French magazines at Brescia, and cut their
+communications with Milan and France: the main body under Würmser,
+24,300 strong, was meanwhile to march in two columns on either bank of
+the Adige, drive the French from Rivoli and push on towards Mantua:
+and yet a third division, led by Davidovich from the district of
+Friuli on the east, received orders to march on Vicenza and Legnago,
+in order to distract the French from that side, and possibly relieve
+Mantua if the other two onsets failed.
+
+Faulty as these dispositions were, they yet seriously disconcerted
+Bonaparte. He was at Montechiaro, a village situated on the road
+between Brescia and Mantua, when, on July 29th, he heard that the
+white-coats had driven in Masséna's vanguard above Rivoli on the
+Adige, were menacing other positions near Verona and Legnago, and were
+advancing on Brescia. As soon as the full extent of the peril was
+manifest, he sent off ten despatches to his generals, ordering a
+concentration of troops--these, of course, fighting so as to delay the
+pursuit--towards the southern end of Lake Garda. This wise step
+probably saved his isolated forces from disaster. It was at that point
+that the Austrians proposed to unite their two chief columns and crush
+the French detachments. But, by drawing in the divisions of Masséna
+and Augereau towards the Mincio, Bonaparte speedily assembled a
+formidable array, and held the central position between the eastern
+and western divisions of the Imperialists. He gave up the important
+defensive line of the Adige, it is true; but by promptly rallying on
+the Mincio, he occupied a base that was defended on the north by the
+small fortress of Peschiera and the waters of Lake Garda. Holding the
+bridges over the Mincio, he could strike at his assailants wherever
+they should attack; above all, he still covered the siege of Mantua.
+Such were his dispositions on July 29th and 30th. On the latter day he
+heard of the loss of Brescia, and the consequent cutting of his
+communications with Milan. Thereupon he promptly ordered Sérurier, who
+was besieging Mantua, to make a last vigorous effort to take that
+fortress, but also to assure his retreat westwards if fortune failed
+him. Later in the day he ordered him forthwith to send away his
+siege-train, throwing into the lake or burying whatever he could not
+save from the advancing Imperialists.
+
+This apparently desperate step, which seemed to forebode the
+abandonment not only of the siege of Mantua, but of the whole of
+Lombardy, was in reality a masterstroke. Bonaparte had perceived the
+truth, which the campaigns of 1813 and 1870 were abundantly to
+illustrate--that the possession of fortresses, and consequently their
+siege by an invader, is of secondary importance when compared with a
+decisive victory gained in the open. When menaced by superior forces
+advancing towards the south of Lake Garda, he saw that he must
+sacrifice his siege works, even his siege-train, in order to gain for
+a few precious days that superiority in the field which the division
+of the Imperialist columns still left to him.
+
+The dates of these occurrences deserve close scrutiny; for they
+suffice to refute some of the exorbitant claims made at a later time
+by General Augereau, that only his immovable firmness forced Bonaparte
+to fight and to change his dispositions of retreat into an attack
+which re-established everything. This extraordinary assertion,
+published by Augereau after he had deserted Napoleon in 1814, is
+accompanied by a detailed recital of the events of July 30th-August
+5th, in which Bonaparte appears as the dazed and discouraged
+commander, surrounded by pusillanimous generals, and urged on to fight
+solely by the confidence of Augereau. That the forceful energy of this
+general had a great influence in restoring the _morale_ of the French
+army in the confused and desperate movements which followed may freely
+be granted. But his claims to have been the main spring of the French
+movements in those anxious days deserve a brief examination. He
+asserts that Bonaparte, "devoured by anxieties," met him at Roverbella
+late in the evening of July 30th, and spoke of retiring beyond the
+River Po. The official correspondence disproves this assertion.
+Bonaparte had already given orders to Sérurier to retire beyond the Po
+with his artillery train; but this was obviously an attempt to save it
+from the advancing Austrians; and the commander had ordered the
+northern part of the French besieging force to join Augereau between
+Roverbella and Goito. Augereau further asserts that, after he had
+roused Bonaparte to the need of a dash to recover Brescia, the
+commander-in-chief remarked to Berthier, "In that case we must raise
+the siege of Mantua," which again he (Augereau) vigorously opposed.
+This second statement is creditable neither to Augereau's accuracy nor
+to his sagacity. The order for the raising of the siege had been
+issued, and it was entirely necessary for the concentration of French
+troops, on which Bonaparte now relied as his only hope against
+superior force. Had Bonaparte listened to Augereau's advice and
+persisted still in besieging Mantua, the scattered French forces must
+have been crushed in detail. Augereau's words are those of a mere
+fighter, not of a strategist; and the timidity which he ungenerously
+attributed to Bonaparte was nothing but the caution which a superior
+intellect saw to be a necessary prelude to a victorious move.
+
+That the fighting honours of the ensuing days rightly belong to
+Augereau may be frankly conceded. With forces augmented by the
+northern part of the besiegers of Mantua, he moved rapidly westwards
+from the Mincio against Brescia, and rescued it from the vanguard of
+Quosdanovich (August 1st). On the previous day other Austrian
+detachments had also, after obstinate conflicts, been worsted near
+Salo and Lonato. Still, the position was one of great perplexity: for
+though Masséna's division from the Adige was now beginning to come
+into touch with Bonaparte's chief force, yet the fronts of Würmser's
+columns were menacing the French from that side, while the troops of
+Quosdanovich, hovering about Lonato and Salo, struggled desperately to
+stretch a guiding hand to their comrades on the Mincio.
+
+Würmser was now discovering his error. Lured towards Mantua by false
+reports that the French were still covering the siege, he had marched
+due south when he ought to have rushed to the rescue of his
+hard-pressed lieutenant at Brescia. Entering Mantua, he enjoyed a
+brief spell of triumph, and sent to the Emperor Francis the news of
+the capture of 40 French cannon in the trenches, and of 139 more on
+the banks of the Po. But, while he was indulging the fond hope that
+the French were in full retreat from Italy, came the startling news
+that they had checked Quosdanovich at Brescia and Salo. Realizing his
+errors, and determining to retrieve them before all was lost, he at
+once pushed on his vanguard towards Castiglione, and easily gained
+that village and its castle from a French detachment commanded by
+General Valette.
+
+The feeble defence of so important a position threw Bonaparte into one
+of those transports of fury which occasionally dethroned his better
+judgment. Meeting Valette at Montechiaro, he promptly degraded him to
+the ranks, refusing to listen to his plea of having received a written
+order to retire. A report of General Landrieux asserts that the rage
+of the commander-in-chief was so extreme as for the time even to
+impair his determination. The outlook was gloomy. The French seemed
+about to be hemmed in amidst the broken country between Castiglione,
+Brescia, and Salo. A sudden attack on the Austrians was obviously the
+only safe and honourable course. But no one knew precisely their
+numbers or their position. Uncertainty ever preyed on Bonaparte's
+ardent imagination. His was a mind that quailed not before visible
+dangers; but, with all its powers of decisive action, it retained so
+much of Corsican eeriness as to chafe at the unknown,[58] and to lose
+for the moment the faculty of forming a vigorous resolution. Like the
+python, which grips its native rock by the tail in order to gain its
+full constricting power, so Bonaparte ever needed a groundwork of fact
+for the due exercise of his mental force.
+
+One of a group of generals, whom he had assembled about him near
+Montechiaro, proposed that they should ascend the hill which dominated
+the plain. Even from its ridge no Austrians were to be seen. Again the
+commander burst forth with petulant reproaches, and even talked of
+retiring to the Adda. Whereupon, if we may trust the "Memoirs" of
+General Landrieux, Augereau protested against retreat, and promised
+success for a vigorous charge. "I wash my hands of it, and I am going
+away," replied Bonaparte. "And who will command, if you go?" inquired
+Augereau. "You," retorted Bonaparte, as he left the astonished circle.
+
+However this may be, the first attack on Castiglione was certainly
+left to this determined fighter; and the mingling of boldness and
+guile which he showed on the following day regained for the French not
+only the village, but also the castle, perched on a precipitous rock.
+Yet the report of Colonel Graham, who was then at Marshal Würmser's
+headquarters, somewhat dulls the lustre of Augereau's exploit; for the
+British officer asserts that the Austrian position had been taken up
+quite by haphazard, and that fewer than 15,000 white-coats were
+engaged in this first battle of Castiglione. Furthermore, the
+narratives of this _mêlée_ written by Augereau himself and by two
+other generals, Landrieux and Verdier, who were disaffected towards
+Bonaparte, must naturally be received with much reserve. The effect of
+Augereau's indomitable energy in restoring confidence to the soldiers
+and victory to the French tricolour was, however, generously admitted
+by the Emperor Napoleon; for, at a later time when complaints were
+being made about Augereau, he generously exclaimed: "Ah, let us not
+forget that he saved us at Castiglione."[59]
+
+While Augereau was recovering this important position, confused
+conflicts were raging a few miles further north at Lonato. Masséna at
+first was driven back by the onset of the Imperialists; but while they
+were endeavouring to envelop the French, Bonaparte arrived, and in
+conjunction with Masséna pushed on a central attack such as often
+wrested victory from the enemy. The white-coats retired in disorder,
+some towards Gavardo, others towards the lake, hotly followed by the
+French. In the pursuit towards Gavardo, Bonaparte's old friend,
+Junot, distinguished himself by his dashing valour. He wounded a
+colonel, slew six troopers, and, covered with wounds, was finally
+overthrown into a ditch. Such is Bonaparte's own account. It is
+gratifying to know that the wounds neither singly nor collectively
+were dangerous, and did not long repress Junot's activity. A tinge of
+romance seems, indeed, to have gilded many of these narratives; and a
+critical examination of the whole story of Lonato seems to suggest
+doubts whether the victory was as decisive as historians have often
+represented. If the Austrians were "thrown back on Lake Garda and
+Desenzano,"[60] it is difficult to see why the pursuers did not drive
+them into the lake. As a matter of fact, nearly all the beaten troops
+escaped to Gavardo, while others joined their comrades engaged in the
+blockade of Peschiera.
+
+A strange incident serves to illustrate the hazards of war and the
+confusion of this part of the campaign. A detachment of the vanquished
+Austrian forces some 4,000 strong, unable to join their comrades at
+Gavardo or Peschiera, and yet unharmed by the victorious pursuers,
+wandered about on the hills, and on the next day chanced near Lonato
+to come upon a much smaller detachment of French. Though unaware of
+the full extent of their good fortune, the Imperialists boldly sent an
+envoy to summon the French commanding officer to surrender. When the
+bandage was taken from his eyes, he was abashed to find himself in the
+presence of Bonaparte, surrounded by the generals of his staff. The
+young commander's eyes flashed fire at the seeming insult, and in
+tones vibrating with well-simulated passion he threatened the envoy
+with condign punishment for daring to give such a message to the
+commander-in-chief at his headquarters in the midst of his army. Let
+him and his men forthwith lay down their arms. Dazed by the demand,
+and seeing only the victorious chief and not the smallness of his
+detachment, 4,000 Austrians surrendered to 1,200 French, or rather to
+the address and audacity of one master-mind.
+
+Elated by this augury of further victory, the republicans prepared for
+the decisive blow. Würmser, though checked on August 3rd, had been so
+far reinforced from Mantua as still to indulge hopes of driving the
+French from Castiglione and cutting his way through to rescue
+Quosdanovich. He was, indeed, in honour bound to make the attempt; for
+the engagement had been made, with the usual futility that dogged the
+Austrian councils, to reunite their forces and _fight the French on
+the 7th of August_. These cast-iron plans were now adhered to in spite
+of their dislocation at the hands of Bonaparte and Augereau. Würmser's
+line stretched from near the village of Médole in a north-easterly
+direction across the high-road between Brescia and Mantua; while his
+right wing was posted in the hilly country around Solferino. In fact,
+his extreme right rested on the tower-crowned heights of Solferino,
+where the forces of Austria two generations later maintained so
+desperate a defence against the onset of Napoleon III. and his
+liberating army.
+
+Owing to the non-arrival of Mezaros' corps marching from Legnago,
+Würmser mustered scarcely twenty-five thousand men on his long line;
+while the very opportune approach of part of Sérurier's division,
+under the lead of Fiorella, from the south, gave the French an
+advantage even in numbers. Moreover, Fiorella's advance on the south
+of Würmser's weaker flank, that near Médole, threatened to turn it and
+endanger the Austrian communications with Mantua. The Imperialists
+seem to have been unaware of this danger; and their bad scouting here
+as elsewhere was largely responsible for the issue of the day.
+Würmser's desire to stretch a helping hand to Quosdanovich near Lonato
+and his confidence in the strength of his own right wing betrayed him
+into a fatal imprudence. Sending out feelers after his hard-pressed
+colleague on the north, he dangerously prolonged his line, an error in
+which he was deftly encouraged by Bonaparte, who held back his own
+left wing. Meanwhile the French were rolling in the other extremity of
+the Austrian line. Marmont, dashing forward with the horse artillery,
+took the enemy's left wing in flank and silenced many of their pieces.
+Under cover of this attack, Fiorella's division was able to creep up
+within striking distance; and the French cavalry, swooping round the
+rear of this hard-pressed wing, nearly captured Würmser and his staff.
+A vigorous counterattack by the Austrian reserves, or an immediate
+wheeling round of the whole line, was needed to repulse this brilliant
+flank attack; but the Austrian reserves had been expended in the north
+of their line; and an attempt to change front, always a difficult
+operation, was crushed by a headlong charge of Masséna's and
+Augereau's divisions on their centre. Before these attacks the whole
+Austrian line gave way; and, according to Colonel Graham, nothing but
+this retreat, undertaken "without orders," saved the whole force from
+being cut off. The criticisms of our officer sufficiently reveal the
+cause of the disaster. The softness and incapacity of Würmser, the
+absence of a responsible second in command, the ignorance of the
+number and positions of the French, the determination to advance
+towards Castiglione and to wait thereabouts for Quosdanovich until a
+battle could be fought with combined forces on the 7th, the taking up
+a position almost by haphazard on the Castiglione-Médole line, and the
+failure to detect Fiorella's approach, present a series of defects and
+blunders which might have given away the victory to a third-rate
+opponent.[61]
+
+The battle was by no means sanguinary: it was a series of manoeuvres
+rather than of prolonged conflicts. Hence its interest to all who by
+preference dwell on the intellectual problems of warfare rather than
+on the details of fighting. Bonaparte had previously shown that he
+could deal blows with telling effect. The ease and grace of his moves
+at the second battle of Castiglione now redeemed the reputation which
+his uncertain behaviour on the four preceding days had somewhat
+compromised.
+
+A complete and authentic account of this week of confused fighting has
+never been written. The archives of Vienna have not as yet yielded up
+all their secrets; and the reputations of so many French officers were
+over-clouded by this prolonged _mêlée_ as to render even the victors'
+accounts vague and inconsistent. The aim of historians everywhere to
+give a clear and vivid account, and the desire of Napoleonic
+enthusiasts to represent their hero as always thinking clearly and
+acting decisively, have fused trusty ores and worthless slag into an
+alloy which has passed for true metal. But no student of Napoleon's
+"Correspondence," of the "Memoirs" of Marmont, and of the recitals of
+Augereau, Dumas, Landrieux, Verdier, Despinois and others, can hope
+wholly to unravel the complications arising from the almost continuous
+conflicts that extended over a dozen leagues of hilly country. War is
+not always dramatic, however much the readers of campaigns may yearn
+after thrilling narratives. In regard to this third act of the Italian
+campaign, all that can safely be said is that Bonaparte's intuition to
+raise the siege of Mantua, in order that he might defeat in detail the
+relieving armies, bears the imprint of genius: but the execution of
+this difficult movement was unequal, even at times halting; and the
+French army was rescued from its difficulties only by the grand
+fighting qualities of the rank and file, and by the Austrian blunders,
+which outnumbered those of the republican generals.
+
+Neither were the results of the Castiglione cycle of battles quite so
+brilliant as have been represented. Würmser and Quasdanovich lost in
+all 17,000 men, it is true: but the former had re-garrisoned and
+re-victualled Mantua, besides capturing all the French siege-train.
+Bonaparte's primary aim had been to reduce Mantua, so that he might be
+free to sweep through Tyrol, join hands with Moreau, and overpower the
+white-coats in Bavaria. The aim of the Aulic Council and Würmser had
+been to relieve Mantua and restore the Hapsburg rule over Lombardy.
+Neither side had succeeded. But the Austrians could at least point to
+some successes; and, above all, Mantua was in a better state of
+defence than when the French first approached its walls: and while
+Mantua was intact, Bonaparte was held to the valley of the Mincio, and
+could not deal those lightning blows on the Inn and the Danube which
+he ever regarded as the climax of the campaign. Viewed on its material
+side, his position was no better than it was before Würmser's
+incursion into the plains of Venetia.[62]
+
+With true Hapsburg tenacity, Francis determined on further efforts for
+the relief of Mantua. Apart from the promptings of dynastic pride, his
+reasons for thus obstinately struggling against Alpine gorges, Italian
+sentiment, and Bonaparte's genius, are wellnigh inscrutable; and
+military writers have generally condemned this waste of resources on
+the Brenta, which, if hurled against the French on the Rhine, would
+have compelled the withdrawal of Bonaparte from Italy for the defence
+of Lorraine. But the pride of the Emperor Francis brooked no surrender
+of his Italian possessions, and again Würmser was spurred on from
+Vienna to another invasion of Venetia. It would be tedious to give an
+account of Würmser's second attempt, which belongs rather to the
+domain of political fatuity than that of military history. Colonel
+Graham states that the Austrian rank and file laughed at their
+generals, and bitterly complained that they were being led to the
+shambles, while the officers almost openly exclaimed: "We must make
+peace, for we don't know how to make war." This was again apparent.
+Bonaparte forestalled their attack. Their divided forces fell an easy
+prey to Masséna, who at Bassano cut Würmser's force to pieces and sent
+the _débris_ flying down the valley of the Brenta. Losing most of
+their artillery, and separated in two chief bands, the Imperialists
+seemed doomed to surrender: but Würmser, doubling on his pursuers,
+made a dash westwards, finally cutting his way to Mantua. There again
+he vainly endeavoured to make a stand. He was driven from his
+positions in front of St. Georges and La Favorita, and was shut up in
+the town itself. This addition to the numbers of the garrison was no
+increase to its strength; for the fortress, though well provisioned
+for an ordinary garrison, could not support a prolonged blockade, and
+the fevers of the early autumn soon began to decimate troops worn out
+by forced marches and unable to endure the miasma ascending from the
+marshes of the Mincio.
+
+The French also were wearied by their exertions in the fierce heats of
+September. Murmurs were heard in the ranks and at the mess tables that
+Bonaparte's reports of these exploits were tinged by favouritism
+and by undue severity against those whose fortune had been less
+conspicuous than their merits. One of these misunderstandings was of
+some importance. Masséna, whose services had been brilliant at Bassano
+but less felicitous since the crossing of the Adige, reproached
+Bonaparte for denying praise to the most deserving and lavishing it on
+men who had come in opportunely to reap the labours of others. His
+written protest, urged with the old republican frankness, only served
+further to cloud over the relations between them, which, since Lonato,
+had not been cordial.[63] Even thus early in his career Bonaparte
+gained the reputation of desiring brilliant and entire success, and of
+visiting with his displeasure men who, from whatever cause, did not
+wrest from Fortune her utmost favours. That was his own mental
+attitude towards the fickle goddess. After entering Milan he cynically
+remarked to Marmont: "Fortune is a woman; and the more she does for
+me, the more I will require of her." Suggestive words, which explain
+at once the splendour of his rise and the rapidity of his fall.
+
+During the few weeks of comparative inaction which ensued, the affairs
+of Italy claimed his attention. The prospect of an Austrian
+re-conquest had caused no less concern to the friends of liberty in
+the peninsula than joy to the reactionary coteries of the old
+sovereigns. At Rome and Naples threats against the French were
+whispered or openly vaunted. The signature of the treaties of peace
+was delayed, and the fulminations of the Vatican were prepared against
+the sacrilegious spoilers. After the Austrian war-cloud had melted
+away, the time had come to punish prophets of evil. The Duke of Modena
+was charged with allowing a convoy to pass from his State to the
+garrison of Mantua, and with neglecting to pay the utterly impossible
+fine to which Bonaparte had condemned him. The men of Reggio and
+Modena were also encouraged to throw off his yoke and to confide in
+the French. Those of Reggio succeeded; but in the city of Modena
+itself the ducal troops repressed the rising. Bonaparte accordingly
+asked the advice of the Directory; but his resolution was already
+formed. Two days after seeking their counsel, he took the decisive
+step of declaring Modena and Reggio to be under the protection of
+France. This act formed an exceedingly important departure in the
+history of France as well as in that of Italy. Hitherto the Directory
+had succeeded in keeping Bonaparte from active intervention in affairs
+of high policy. In particular, it had enjoined on him the greatest
+prudence with regard to the liberated lands of Italy, so as not to
+involve France in prolonged intervention in the peninsula, or commit
+her to a war _à outrance_ with the Hapsburgs; and its warnings were
+now urged with all the greater emphasis because news had recently
+reached Paris of a serious disaster to the French arms in Germany. But
+while the Directors counselled prudence, Bonaparte forced their hand
+by declaring the Duchy of Modena to be under the protection of France;
+and when their discreet missive reached him, he expressed to them his
+regret that it had come too late. By that time (October 24th) he had
+virtually founded a new State, for whose security French honour was
+deeply pledged. This implied the continuance of the French occupation
+of Northern Italy and therefore a prolongation of Bonaparte's command.
+
+It was not the Duchy of Modena alone which felt the invigorating
+influence of democracy and nationality. The Papal cities of Bologna
+and Ferrara had broken away from the Papal sway, and now sent deputies
+to meet the champions of liberty at Modena and found a free
+commonwealth. There amidst great enthusiasm was held the first truly
+representative Italian assembly that had met for many generations; and
+a levy of 2,800 volunteers, styled the Italian legion, was decreed.
+Bonaparte visited these towns, stimulated their energy, and bade the
+turbulent beware of his vengeance, which would be like that of "the
+exterminating angel." In a brief space these districts were formed
+into the Cispadane Republic, destined soon to be merged into a yet
+larger creation. A new life breathed from Modena and Bologna into
+Central Italy. The young republic forthwith abolished all feudal laws,
+decreed civic equality, and ordered the convocation at Bologna of a
+popularly elected Assembly for the Christmas following. These events
+mark the first stage in the beginning of that grand movement, _Il
+Risorgimento,_ which after long delays was finally consummated in
+1870.
+
+This period of Bonaparte's career may well be lingered over by those
+who value his invigorating influence on Italian life more highly than
+his military triumphs. At this epoch he was still the champion of the
+best principles of the Revolution; he had overthrown Austrian
+domination in the peninsula, and had shaken to their base domestic
+tyrannies worse than that of the Hapsburgs. His triumphs were as yet
+untarnished. If we except the plundering of the liberated and
+conquered lands, an act for which the Directory was primarily
+responsible, nothing was at this time lacking to the full orb of his
+glory. An envoy bore him the welcome news that the English, wearied by
+the intractable Corsicans, had evacuated the island of his birth; and
+he forthwith arranged for the return of many of the exiles who had
+been faithful to the French Republic. Among these was Salicetti, who
+now returned for a time to his old insular sphere; while his former
+_protégé_ was winning a world-wide fame. Then, turning to the affairs
+of Central Italy, the young commander showed his diplomatic talents to
+be not a whit inferior to his genius for war. One instance of this
+must here suffice. He besought the Pope, who had broken off the
+lingering negotiations with France, not to bring on his people the
+horrors of war.[64] The beauty of this appeal, as also of a somewhat
+earlier appeal to the Emperor Francis at Vienna, is, however,
+considerably marred by other items which now stand revealed in
+Bonaparte's instructive correspondence. After hearing of the French
+defeats in Germany, he knew that the Directors could spare him very
+few of the 25,000 troops whom he demanded as reinforcements.
+
+
+He was also aware that the Pope, incensed at his recent losses in
+money and lands, was seeking to revivify the First Coalition. The
+pacific precepts addressed by the young Corsican to the Papacy must
+therefore be viewed in the light of merely mundane events and of his
+secret advice to the French agent at Rome: "The great thing is to gain
+time.... Finally, the game really is for us to throw the ball from one
+to the other, so as to deceive this old fox."[65]
+
+From these diplomatic amenities the general was forced to turn to the
+hazards of war. Gauging Bonaparte's missive at its true worth, the
+Emperor determined to re-conquer Italy, an enterprise that seemed well
+within his powers. In the month of October victory had crowned the
+efforts of his troops in Germany. At Würzburg the Archduke Charles had
+completely beaten Jourdan, and had thrown both his army and that of
+Moreau back on the Rhine. Animated by reviving hopes, the Imperialists
+now assembled some 60,000 strong. Alvintzy, a veteran of sixty years,
+renowned for his bravery, but possessing little strategic ability, was
+in command of some 35,000 men in the district of Friuli, north of
+Trieste, covering that seaport from a threatened French attack. With
+this large force he was to advance due west, towards the River Brenta,
+while Davidovich, marching through Tyrol by the valley of the Adige,
+was to meet him with the remainder near Verona. As Jomini has
+observed, the Austrians gave themselves infinite trouble and
+encountered grave risks in order to compass a junction of forces
+which they might quietly have effected at the outset. Despite all
+Bonaparte's lessons, the Aulic Council still clung to its old plan of
+enveloping the foe and seeking to bewilder them by attacks delivered
+from different sides. Possibly also they were emboldened by the
+comparative smallness of Bonaparte's numbers to repeat this hazardous
+manoeuvre.
+
+The French could muster little more than 40,000 men; and of these at
+least 8,000 were needed opposite Mantua.
+
+At first the Imperialists gained important successes; for though the
+French held their own on the Brenta, yet their forces in the Tyrol
+were driven down the valley of the Adige with losses so considerable
+that Bonaparte was constrained to order a general retreat on Verona.
+He discerned that from this central position he could hold in check
+Alvintzy's troops marching westwards from Vicenza and prevent their
+junction with the Imperialists under Davidovich, who were striving to
+thrust Vaubois' division from the plateau of Rivoli.
+
+But before offering battle to Alvintzy outside Verona, Bonaparte paid
+a flying visit to his men posted on that plateau in order to rebuke
+the wavering and animate the whole body with his own dauntless spirit.
+Forming the troops around him, he addressed two regiments in tones of
+grief and anger. He reproached them for abandoning strong positions in
+a panic, and ordered his chief staff officer to inscribe on their
+colours the ominous words: "They are no longer of the Army of
+Italy."[66] Stung by this reproach, the men begged with sobs that the
+general would test their valour before disgracing them for ever. The
+young commander, who must have counted on such a result to his words,
+when uttered to French soldiers, thereupon promised to listen to their
+appeals; and their bravery in the ensuing fights wiped every stain of
+disgrace from their colours. By such acts as these did he nerve his
+men against superior numbers and adverse fortune.
+
+Their fortitude was to be severely tried at all points. Alvintzy
+occupied a strong position on a line of hills at Caldiero, a few miles
+to the east of Verona. His right wing was protected by the spurs of
+the Tyrolese Alps, while his left was flanked by the marshes which
+stretch between the rivers Alpon and Adige; and he protected his front
+by cannon skilfully ranged along the hills. All the bravery of
+Masséna's troops failed to dislodge the right wing of the
+Imperialists. The French centre was torn by the Austrian cannon and
+musketry. A pitiless storm of rain and sleet hindered the advance of
+the French guns and unsteadied the aim of the gunners; and finally
+they withdrew into Verona, leaving behind 2,000 killed and wounded,
+and 750 prisoners (November 12th). This defeat at Caldiero--for it is
+idle to speak of it merely as a check--opened up a gloomy vista of
+disasters for the French; and Bonaparte, though he disguised his fears
+before his staff and the soldiery, forthwith wrote to the Directors
+that the army felt itself abandoned at the further end of Italy, and
+that this fair conquest seemed about to be lost. With his usual device
+of under-rating his own forces and exaggerating those of his foes, he
+stated that the French both at Verona and Rivoli were only 18,000,
+while the grand total of the Imperialists was upwards of 50,000. But
+he must have known that for the present he had to deal with rather
+less than half that number. The greater part of the Tyrolese force
+had not as yet descended the Adige below Roveredo; and allowing for
+detachments and losses, Alvintzy's array at Caldiero barely exceeded
+20,000 effectives.
+
+Bonaparte now determined to hazard one of the most daring turning
+movements which history records. It was necessary at all costs to
+drive Alvintzy from the heights of Caldiero before the Tyrolese
+columns should overpower Vaubois' detachment at Rivoli and debouch in
+the plains west of Verona. But, as Caldiero could not be taken by a
+front attack, it must be turned by a flanking movement. To any other
+general than Bonaparte this would have appeared hopeless; but where
+others saw nothing but difficulties, his eye discerned a means of
+safety. South and south-east of those hills lies a vast depression
+swamped by the flood waters of the Alpon and the Adige. Morasses
+stretch for some miles west of the village of Arcola, through which
+runs a road up the eastern bank of the Alpon, crossing that stream at
+the aforenamed village and leading to the banks of the Adige opposite
+the village of Ronco; another causeway, diverging from the former a
+little to the north of Ronco, leads in a north-westerly direction
+towards Porcil. By advancing from Ronco along these causeways, and by
+seizing Arcola, Bonaparte designed to outflank the Austrians and tempt
+them into an arena where the personal prowess of the French veterans
+would have ample scope, and where numbers would be of secondary
+importance. Only heads of columns could come into direct contact; and
+the formidable Austrian cavalry could not display its usual prowess.
+On these facts Bonaparte counted as a set-off to his slight
+inferiority in numbers.
+
+In the dead of night the divisions of Augereau and Masséna retired
+through Verona. Officers and soldiers were alike deeply discouraged by
+this movement, which seemed to presage a retreat towards the Mincio
+and the abandonment of Lombardy. To their surprise, when outside the
+gate they received the order to turn to the left down the western bank
+of the Adige. At Ronco the mystery was solved. A bridge of boats had
+there been thrown across the Adige; and, crossing this without
+opposition, Augereau's troops rapidly advanced along the causeway
+leading to Arcola and menaced the Austrian rear, while Masséna's
+column denied north-west, so as directly to threaten his flank at
+Caldiero. The surprise, however, was by no means complete; for
+Alvintzy himself purposed to cross the Adige at Zevio, so as to make a
+dash on Mantua, and in order to protect his flank he had sent a
+detachment of Croats to hold Arcola. These now stoutly disputed
+Augereau's progress, pouring in from the loopholed cottages volleys
+which tore away the front of every column of attack. In vain did
+Augereau, seizing the colours, lead his foremost regiment to the
+bridge of Arcola. Riddled by the musketry, his men fell back in
+disorder. In vain did Bonaparte himself, dismounting from his charger,
+seize a flag, rally these veterans and lead them towards the bridge.
+The Croats, constantly reinforced, poured in so deadly a fire as to
+check the advance: Muiron, Marmont, and a handful of gallant men still
+pressed on, thereby screening the body of their chief; but Muiron fell
+dead, and another officer, seizing Bonaparte, sought to drag him back
+from certain death. The column wavered under the bullets, fell back to
+the further side of the causeway, and in the confusion the commander
+fell into the deep dyke at the side. Agonized at the sight, the French
+rallied, while Marmont and Louis Bonaparte rescued their beloved chief
+from capture or from a miry death, and he retired to Ronco, soon
+followed by the wearied troops.[67]
+
+[Illustration: PLAN TO ILLUSTRATE THE VICTORY OF ARCOLA.]
+
+This memorable first day of fighting at Arcola (November 15th) closed
+on the strange scene of two armies encamped on dykes, exhausted by an
+almost amphibious conflict, like that waged by the Dutch "Beggars" in
+their war of liberation against Spain. Though at Arcola the
+republicans had been severely checked, yet further west Masséna had
+held his own; and the French movement as a whole had compelled
+Alvintzy to suspend any advance on Verona or on Mantua, to come down
+from the heights of Caldiero, and to fight on ground where his
+superior numbers were of little avail. This was seen on the second day
+of fighting on the dykes opposite Arcola, which was, on the whole,
+favourable to the smaller veteran force. On the third day Bonaparte
+employed a skilful ruse to add to the discouragement of his foes. He
+posted a small body of horsemen behind a spinney near the Austrian
+flank, with orders to sound their trumpets as if for a great cavalry
+charge. Alarmed by the noise and by the appearance of French troops
+from the side of Legnago and behind Arcola, the demoralized
+white-coats suddenly gave way and retreated for Vicenza.
+
+Victory again declared for the troops who could dare the longest, and
+whose general was never at a loss in face of any definite danger. Both
+armies suffered severely in these desperate conflicts;[68] but, while
+the Austrians felt that the cup of victory had been snatched from
+their very lips, the French soldiery were dazzled by this transcendent
+exploit of their chief. They extolled his bravery, which almost vied
+with the fabulous achievement of Horatius Cocles, and adored the
+genius which saw safety and victory for his discouraged army amidst
+swamps and dykes. Bonaparte himself, with that strange mingling of the
+practical and the superstitious which forms the charm of his
+character, ever afterwards dated the dawn of his fortune in its full
+splendour from those hours of supreme crisis among the morasses of
+Arcola. But we may doubt whether this posing as the favourite of
+fortune was not the result of his profound knowledge of the credulity
+of the vulgar herd, which admires genius and worships bravery, but
+grovels before persistent good luck.
+
+Though it is difficult to exaggerate the skill and bravery of the
+French leader and his troops, the failure of his opponents is
+inexplicable but for the fact that most of their troops were unable to
+manoeuvre steadily in the open, that Alvintzy was inexperienced as a
+commander-in-chief, and was hampered throughout by a bad plan of
+campaign. Meanwhile the other Austrian army, led by Davidovich, had
+driven Vaubois from his position at Rivoli; and had the Imperialist
+generals kept one another informed of their moves, or had Alvintzy,
+disregarding a blare of trumpets and a demonstration on his flank and
+rear, clung to Arcola for two days longer--the French would have been
+nipped between superior forces. But, as it was, the lack of accord in
+the Austrian movements nearly ruined the Tyrolese wing, which pushed
+on triumphantly towards Verona, while Alvintzy was retreating
+eastwards. Warned just in time, Davidovich hastily retreated to
+Roveredo, leaving a whole battalion in the hands of the French. To
+crown this chapter of blunders, Würmser, whose sortie after Caldiero
+might have been most effective, tardily essayed to break through the
+blockaders, when both his colleagues were in retreat. How different
+were these ill-assorted moves from those of Bonaparte. His maxims
+throughout this campaign, and his whole military career, were: (1)
+divide for foraging, concentrate for fighting; (2) unity of command is
+essential for success; (3) time is everything. This firm grasp of the
+essentials of modern warfare insured his triumph over enemies who
+trusted to obsolete methods for the defence of antiquated
+polities.[69]
+
+The battle of Arcola had an important influence on the fate of Italy
+and Europe. In the peninsula all the elements hostile to the
+republicans were preparing for an explosion in their rear which should
+reaffirm the old saying that Italy was the tomb of the French. Naples
+had signed terms of peace with them, it is true; but the natural
+animosity of the Vatican against its despoilers could easily have
+leagued the south of Italy with the other States that were working
+secretly for their expulsion. While the Austrians were victoriously
+advancing, these aims were almost openly avowed, and at the close of
+the year 1796 Bonaparte moved south to Bologna in order to guide the
+Italian patriots in their deliberations and menace the Pope with an
+invasion of the Roman States. From this the Pontiff was for the
+present saved by new efforts on the part of Austria. But before
+describing the final attempt of the Hapsburgs to wrest Italy from
+their able adversary, it will be well to notice his growing ascendancy
+in diplomatic affairs.
+
+While Bonaparte was struggling in the marshes of Arcola, the Directory
+was on the point of sending to Vienna an envoy, General Clarke, with
+proposals for an armistice preliminary to negotiations for peace with
+Austria. This step was taken, because France was distracted by open
+revolt in the south, by general discontent in the west, and by the
+retreat of her Rhenish armies, now flung back on the soil of the
+Republic by the Austrian Arch-duke Charles. Unable to support large
+forces in the east of France out of its bankrupt exchequer, the
+Directory desired to be informed of the state of feeling at Vienna. It
+therefore sent Clarke with offers, which might enable him to look into
+the political and military situation at the enemy's capital, and see
+whether peace could not be gained at the price of some of Bonaparte's
+conquests. The envoy was an elegant and ambitious young man, descended
+from an Irish family long settled in France, who had recently gained
+Carnot's favour, and now desired to show his diplomatic skill by
+subjecting Bonaparte to the present aims of the Directory.
+
+The Directors' secret instructions reveal the plans which they then
+harboured for the reconstruction of the Continent. Having arranged an
+armistice which should last up to the end of the next spring, Clarke
+was to set forth arrangements which might suit the House of Hapsburg.
+He might discuss the restitution of all their possessions in Italy,
+and the acquisition of the Bishopric of Salzburg and other smaller
+German and Swabian territories: or, if she did not recover the
+Milanese, Austria might gain the northern parts of the Papal States as
+compensation; and the Duke of Tuscany--a Hapsburg--might reign at
+Rome, yielding up his duchy to the Duke of Parma; while, as this last
+potentate was a Spanish Bourbon, France might for her good offices to
+this House gain largely from Spain in America.[70] In these and other
+proposals two methods of bargaining are everywhere prominent. The
+great States are in every case to gain at the expense of their weaker
+neighbours; Austria is to be appeased; and France is to reap enormous
+gains ultimately at the expense of smaller Germanic or Italian States.
+These facts should clearly be noted. Napoleon was afterwards
+deservedly blamed for carrying out these unprincipled methods; but, at
+the worst, he only developed them from those of the Directors, who,
+with the cant of Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity on their lips,
+battened on the plunder of the liberated lands, and cynically proposed
+to share the spoil of weaker States with the potentates against whom
+they publicly declaimed as tyrants.
+
+The chief aim of these negotiations, so Clarke was assured, was to
+convince the Court of Vienna that it would get better terms by
+treating with France directly and alone, rather than by joining in the
+negotiations which had recently been opened at Paris by England. But
+the Viennese Ministers refused to allow Clarke to proceed to their
+capital, and appointed Vicenza as the seat of the deliberations.
+
+They were brief. Through the complex web of civilian intrigue,
+Bonaparte forthwith thrust the mailed hand of the warrior. He had
+little difficulty in proving to Clarke that the situation was
+materially altered by the battle of Arcola. The fall of Mantua was now
+only a matter of weeks. To allow its provisions to be replenished for
+the term of the armistice was an act that no successful general could
+tolerate. For that fortress the whole campaign had been waged, and
+three Austrian armies had been hurled back into Tyrol and Friuli. Was
+it now to be provisioned, in order that the Directory might barter
+away the Cispadane Republic? He speedily convinced Clarke of the
+fatuity of the Directors' proposals. He imbued him with his own
+contempt for an armistice that would rob the victors of their prize;
+and, as the Court of Vienna still indulged hopes of success in Italy,
+Clarke's negotiations at Vicenza came to a speedy conclusion.
+
+In another important matter the Directory also completely failed.
+Nervous as to Bonaparte's ambition, it had secretly ordered Clarke to
+watch his conduct and report privately to Paris. Whether warned by a
+friend at Court, or forearmed by his own sagacity, Bonaparte knew of
+this, and in his intercourse with Clarke deftly let the fact be seen.
+He quickly gauged Clarke's powers, and the aim of his mission. "He is
+a spy," he remarked a little later to Miot, "whom the Directory have
+set upon me: he is a man of no talent--only conceited." The splendour
+of his achievements and the mingled grace and authority of his
+demeanour so imposed on the envoy that he speedily fell under the
+influence of the very man whom he was to watch, and became his
+enthusiastic adherent.
+
+Bonaparte was at Bologna, supervising the affairs of the Cispadane
+Republic, when he heard that the Austrians were making a last effort
+for the relief of Mantua. Another plan had been drawn up by the Aulic
+Council at Vienna. Alvintzy, after recruiting his wearied force at
+Bassano, was quickly to join the Tyrolese column at Roveredo, thereby
+forming an army of 28,000 men wherewith to force the position of
+Rivoli and drive the French in on Mantua: 9,000 Imperialists under
+Provera were also to advance from the Brenta upon Legnago, in order to
+withdraw the attention of the French from the real attempt made by the
+valley of the Adige; while 10,000 others at Bassano and elsewhere were
+to assail the French front at different points and hinder their
+concentration. It will be observed that the errors of July and
+November, 1796, were now yet a third time to be committed: the forces
+destined merely to make diversions were so strengthened as not to be
+merely light bodies distracting the aim of the French, while
+Alvintzy's main force was thereby so weakened as to lack the impact
+necessary for victory.
+
+Nevertheless, the Imperialists at first threw back their foes with
+some losses; and Bonaparte, hurrying northwards to Verona, was for
+some hours in a fever of uncertainty as to the movements and strength
+of the assailants. Late at night on January 13th he knew that
+Provera's advance was little more than a demonstration, and that the
+real blow would fall on the 10,000 men marshalled by Joubert at Monte
+Baldo and Rivoli. Forthwith he rode to the latter place, and changed
+retreat and discouragement into a vigorous offensive by the news that
+13,000 more men were on the march to defend the strong position of
+Rivoli.
+
+The great defensive strength of this plateau had from the first
+attracted his attention. There the Adige in a sharp bend westward
+approaches within six miles of Lake Garda. There, too, the mountains,
+which hem in the gorge of the river on its right bank, bend away
+towards the lake and leave a vast natural amphitheatre, near the
+centre of which rises the irregular plateau that commands the exit
+from Tyrol. Over this plateau towers on the north Monte Baldo, which,
+near the river gorge, sends out southward a sloping ridge, known as
+San Marco, connecting it with the plateau. At the foot of this spur is
+the summit of the road which leads the traveller from Trent to Verona;
+and, as he halts at the top of the zigzag, near the village of Rivoli,
+his eye sweeps over the winding gorge of the river beneath, the
+threatening mass of Monte Baldo on the north, and on the west of the
+village he gazes down on a natural depression which has been sharply
+furrowed by a torrent. The least experienced eye can see that the
+position is one of great strength. It is a veritable parade ground
+among the mountains, almost cut off from them by the ceaseless action
+of water, and destined for the defence of the plains of Italy. A small
+force posted at the head of the winding roadway can hold at bay an
+army toiling up from the valley; but, as at Thermopylae, the position
+is liable to be outflanked by an enterprising foe, who should scale
+the footpath leading over the western offshoots of Monte Baldo, and,
+fording the stream at its foot, should then advance eastwards against
+the village. This, in part, was Alvintzy's plan, and having nearly
+28,000 men,[71] he doubted not that his enveloping tactics must
+capture Joubert's division of 10,000 men. So daunted was even this
+brave general by the superior force of his foes that he had ordered a
+retreat southwards when an aide-de-camp arrived at full gallop and
+ordered him to hold Rivoli at all costs. Bonaparte's arrival at 4 a.m.
+explained the order, and an attack made during the darkness wrested
+from the Austrians the chapel on the San Marco ridge which stands on
+the ridge above the zigzag track. The reflection of the Austrian
+watch-fires in the wintry sky showed him their general position. To an
+unskilled observer the wide sweep of the glare portended ruin for the
+French. To the eye of Bonaparte the sight brought hope. It proved that
+his foes were still bent on their old plan of enveloping him: and from
+information which he treacherously received from Alvintzy's staff he
+must have known that that commander had far fewer than the 45,000 men
+which he ascribed to him in bulletins.
+
+[Illustration: NEIGHBOURHOOD OF RIVOLI.]
+
+Yet the full dawn of that January day saw the Imperialists flushed
+with success, as their six separate columns drove in the French
+outposts and moved towards Rivoli. Of these, one was on the eastern
+side of the Adige and merely cannonaded across the valley: another
+column wound painfully with most of the artillery and cavalry along
+the western bank, making for the village of Incanale and the foot of
+the zigzag leading up to Rivoli: three others denied over Monte Baldo
+by difficult paths impassable to cannon: while the sixth and
+westernmost column, winding along the ridge near Lake Garda, likewise
+lacked the power which field-guns and horsemen would have added to its
+important turning movement. Never have natural obstacles told more
+potently on the fortunes of war than at Rivoli; for on the side where
+the assailants most needed horses and guns they could not be used;
+while on the eastern edge of their broken front their cannon and
+horse, crowded together in the valley of the Adige, had to climb the
+winding road under the plunging fire of the French infantry and
+artillery. Nevertheless, such was the ardour of the Austrian attack,
+that the tide of battle at first set strongly in their favour. Driving
+the French from the San Marco ridge and pressing their centre hard
+between Monte Baldo and Rivoli, they made it possible for their troops
+in the valley to struggle on towards the foot of the zigzag; and on
+the west their distant right wing was already beginning to threaten
+the French rear. Despite the arrival of Masséna's troops from Verona
+about 9 a.m., the republicans showed signs of unsteadiness. Joubert on
+the ground above the Adige, Berthier in the centre, and Masséna on the
+left, were gradually forced back. An Austrian column, advancing from
+the side of Monte Baldo by the narrow ravine, stole round the flank of
+a French regiment in front of Masséna's division, and by a vigorous
+charge sent it flying in a panic which promised to spread to another
+regiment thus uncovered. This was too much for the veteran, already
+dubbed "the spoilt child of victory "; he rushed to its captain,
+bitterly upbraided him and the other officers, and finally showered
+blows on them with the flat of his sword. Then, riding at full speed
+to two tried regiments of his own division, he ordered them to check
+the foe; and these invincible heroes promptly drove back the
+assailants. Even so, however, the valour of the best French regiments
+and the skill of Masséna, Berthier, and Joubert barely sufficed to
+hold back the onstreaming tide of white-coats opposite Rivoli.
+
+Yet even at this crisis the commander, confident in his central
+position, and knowing his ability to ward off the encircling swoops of
+the Austrian eagle, maintained that calm demeanour which moved the
+wonder of smaller minds. His confidence in his seasoned troops was not
+misplaced. The Imperialists, overburdened by long marches and faint
+now for lack of food, could not maintain their first advantage. Some
+of their foremost troops, that had won the broken ground in front of
+St. Mark's Chapel, were suddenly charged by French horse; they fled in
+panic, crying out, "French cavalry!" and the space won was speedily
+abandoned to the tricolour. This sudden rebuff was to dash all their
+hopes of victory; for at that crisis of the day the chief Austrian
+column of nearly 8,000 men was struggling up the zigzag ascent leading
+from the valley of the Adige to the plateau, in the fond hope that
+their foes were by this time driven from the summit. Despite the
+terrible fire that tore their flanks, the Imperialists were clutching
+desperately at the plateau, when Bonaparte put forth his full striking
+power. He could now assail the crowded ranks of the doomed column in
+front and on both flanks. A charge of Leclerc's horse and of Joubert's
+infantry crushed its head; volleys of cannon and musketry from the
+plateau tore its sides; an ammunition wagon exploded in its midst; and
+the great constrictor forthwith writhed its bleeding coils back into
+the valley, where it lay crushed and helpless for the rest of the
+fight.
+
+Animated by this lightning stroke of their commander, the French
+turned fiercely towards Monte Baldo and drove back their opponents
+into the depression at its foot. But already at their rear loud shouts
+warned them of a new danger. The western detachment of the
+Imperialists had meanwhile worked round their rear, and, ignorant of
+the fate of their comrades, believed that Bonaparte's army was caught
+in a trap. The eyes of all the French staff officers were now turned
+anxiously on their commander, who quietly remarked, "We have them
+now." He knew, in fact, that other French troops marching up from
+Verona would take these new foes in the rear; and though Junot and his
+horsemen failed to cut their way through so as to expedite their
+approach, yet speedily a French regiment burst through the encircling
+line and joined in the final attack which drove these last assailants
+from the heights south of Rivoli, and later on compelled them to
+surrender.
+
+Thus closed the desperate battle of Rivoli (January 14th). Defects in
+the Austrian position and the opportune arrival of French
+reinforcements served to turn an Austrian success into a complete
+rout. Circumstances which to a civilian may seem singly to be of small
+account sufficed to tilt the trembling scales of warfare, and
+Alvintzy's army now reeled helplessly back into Tyrol with a total
+loss of 15,000 men and of nearly all its artillery and stores. Leaving
+Joubert to pursue it towards Trent, Bonaparte now flew southwards
+towards Mantua, whither Provera had cut his way. Again his untiring
+energy, his insatiable care for all probable contingencies, reaped a
+success which the ignorant may charge to the account of his fortune.
+Strengthening Augereau's division by light troops, he captured the
+whole of Provera's army at La Favorita, near the walls of Mantua
+(January 16th). The natural result of these two dazzling triumphs was
+the fall of the fortress for which the Emperor Francis had risked and
+lost five armies. Würmser surrendered Mantua on February 2nd with
+18,000 men and immense supplies of arms and stores. The close of this
+wondrous campaign was graced by an act of clemency. Generous terms
+were accorded to the veteran marshal, whose fidelity to blundering
+councillors at Vienna had thrown up in brilliant relief the prudence,
+audacity, and resourcefulness of the young war-god.
+
+It was now time to chastise the Pope for his support of the enemies of
+France. The Papalini proved to be contemptible as soldiers. They fled
+before the republicans, and a military promenade brought the invaders
+to Ancona, and then inland to Tolentino, where Pius VI. sued for
+peace. The resulting treaty signed at that place (February 19th)
+condemned the Holy See to close its ports to the allies, especially to
+the English; to acknowledge the acquisition of Avignon by France, and
+the establishment of the Cispadane Republic at Bologna, Ferrara, and
+the surrounding districts; to pay 30,000,000 francs to the French
+Government; and to surrender 100 works of art to the victorious
+republicans.
+
+It is needless to describe the remaining stages in Bonaparte's
+campaign against Austria. Hitherto he had contended against fairly
+good, though discontented and discouraged troops, badly led, and
+hampered by the mountain barrier which separated them from their real
+base of operations. In the last part of the war he fought against
+troops demoralized by an almost unbroken chain of disasters. The
+Austrians were now led by a brave and intelligent general, the
+Archduke Charles; but he was hampered by rigorous instructions from
+Vienna, by senile and indolent generals, by the indignation or despair
+of the younger officers at the official favouritism which left them in
+obscurity, and by the apathy of soldiers who had lost heart. Neither
+his skill nor the natural strength of their positions in Friuli and
+Carinthia could avail against veterans flushed with victory and
+marshalled with unerring sagacity. The rest of the war only served to
+emphasize the truth of Napoleon's later statement, that the moral
+element constitutes three-fourths of an army's strength. The barriers
+offered by the River Tagliamento and the many commanding heights of
+the Carnic and the Noric Alps were as nothing to the triumphant
+republicans; and from the heights that guard the province of Styria,
+the genius of Napoleon flashed as a terrifying portent to the Court of
+Vienna and the potentates of Central Europe. When the tricolour
+standards were nearing the town of Leoben, the Emperor Francis sent
+envoys to sue for peace;[72] and the preliminaries signed there,
+within one hundred miles of the Austrian capital, closed the campaign
+which a year previously had opened with so little promise for the
+French on the narrow strip of land between the Maritime Alps and the
+petty township of Savona.
+
+These brilliant results were due primarily to the consummate
+leadership of Bonaparte. His geographical instincts discerned the
+means of profiting by natural obstacles and of turning them when they
+seemed to screen his opponents. Prompt to divine their plans, he
+bewildered them by the audacity of his combinations, which overbore
+their columns with superior force at the very time when he seemed
+doomed to succumb. Genius so commanding had not been displayed even by
+Frederick or Marlborough. And yet these brilliant results could not
+have been achieved by an army which rarely exceeded 45,000 men without
+the strenuous bravery and tactical skill of the best generals of
+division, Augereau, Masséna, and Joubert, as well as of officers who
+had shown their worth in many a doubtful fight; Lannes, the hero of
+Lodi and Arcola; Marmont, noted for his daring advance of the guns at
+Castiglione; Victor, who justified his name by hard fighting at La
+Favorita; Murat, the _beau sabreur_, and Junot, both dashing cavalry
+generals; and many more whose daring earned them a soldier's death in
+order to gain glory for France and liberty for Italy. Still less ought
+the soldiery to be forgotten; those troops, whose tattered uniforms
+bespoke their ceaseless toils, who grumbled at the frequent lack of
+bread, but, as Masséna observed, never _before_ a battle, who even in
+retreat never doubted the genius of their chief, and fiercely rallied
+at the longed-for sign of fighting. The source of this marvellous
+energy is not hard to discover. Their bravery was fed by that
+wellspring of hope which had made of France a nation of free men
+determined to free the millions beyond their frontiers. The French
+columns were "equality on the march"; and the soldiery, animated by
+this grand enthusiasm, found its militant embodiment in the great
+captain who seemed about to liberate Italy and Central Europe.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+LEOBEN TO CAMPO FORMIO
+
+
+In signing the preliminaries of peace at Leoben, which formed in part
+the basis for the Treaty of Campo Formio, Bonaparte appears as a
+diplomatist of the first rank. He had already signed similar articles
+with the Court of Turin and with the Vatican. But such a transaction
+with the Emperor was infinitely more important than with the
+third-rate powers of the peninsula. He now essays his first flight to
+the highest levels of international diplomacy. In truth, his mental
+endowments, like those of many of the greatest generals, were no less
+adapted to success in the council-chamber than on the field of battle;
+for, indeed, the processes of thought and the methods of action are
+not dissimilar in the spheres of diplomacy and war. To evade obstacles
+on which an opponent relies, to multiply them in his path, to bewilder
+him by feints before overwhelming him by a crushing onset, these are
+the arts which yield success either to the negotiator or to the
+commander.
+
+In imposing terms of peace on the Emperor at Leoben (April 18th,
+1797), Bonaparte reduced the Directory, and its envoy, Clarke, who was
+absent in Italy, to a subordinate _rôle_. As commander-in-chief, he
+had power only to conclude a brief armistice, but now he signed the
+preliminaries of peace. His excuse to the Directory was ingenious.
+While admitting the irregularity of his conduct, he pleaded the
+isolated position of his army, and the absence of Clarke, and that,
+under the circumstances, his act had been merely "a military
+operation." He could also urge that he had in his rear a disaffected
+Venetia, and that he believed the French armies on the Rhine to be
+stationary and unable to cross that river. But the very tardy advent
+of Clarke on the scene strengthens the supposition that Bonaparte was
+at the time by no means loth to figure as the pacifier of the
+Continent. Had he known the whole truth, namely, that the French were
+gaining a battle on the east bank of the Rhine while the terms of
+peace were being signed at Leoben, he would most certainly have broken
+off the negotiations and have dictated harsher terms at the gates of
+Vienna. That was the vision which shone before his eyes three years
+previously, when he sketched to his friends at Nice the plan of
+campaign, beginning at Savona and ending before the Austrian capital;
+and great was his chagrin at hearing the tidings of Moreau's success
+on April 20th. The news reached him on his return from Leoben to
+Italy, when he was detained for a few hours by a sudden flood of the
+River Tagliamento. At once he determined to ride back and make some
+excuse for a rupture with Austria; and only the persistent
+remonstrances of Berthier turned him from this mad resolve, which
+would forthwith have exhibited him to the world as estimating more
+highly the youthful promptings of destiny than the honour of a French
+negotiator.
+
+The terms which he had granted to the Emperor were lenient enough. The
+only definitive gain to France was the acquisition of the Austrian
+Netherlands (Belgium), for which troublesome possession the Emperor
+was to have compensation elsewhere. Nothing absolutely binding was
+said about the left, or west, bank of the Rhine, except that Austria
+recognized the "constitutional limits" of France, but reaffirmed the
+integrity of "The Empire."[73] These were contradictory statements;
+for France had declared the Rhine to be her natural boundary, and the
+old "Empire" included Belgium, Trèves, and Luxemburg. But, for the
+interpretation of these vague formularies, the following secret and
+all-important articles were appended. While the Emperor renounced that
+part of his Italian possessions which lay to the west of the Oglio, he
+was to receive all the mainland territories of Venice east of that
+river, including Dalmatia and Istria, Venice was also to cede her
+lands west of the Oglio to the French Government; and in return for
+these sacrifices she was to gain the three legations of Romagna,
+Ferrara, and Bologna--the very lands which Bonaparte had recently
+formed into the Cispadane Republic! For the rest, the Emperor would
+have to recognize the proposed Republic at Milan, as also that already
+existing at Modena, "compensation" being somewhere found for the
+deposed duke.
+
+From the correspondence of Thugut, the Austrian Minister, it appears
+certain that Austria herself had looked forward to the partition of
+the Venetian mainland territories, and this was the scheme which
+Bonaparte _actually proposed to her at Leoben_. Still more
+extraordinary was his proposal to sacrifice, ostensibly to Venice but
+ultimately to Austria, the greater part of the Cispadane Republic. It
+is, indeed, inexplicable, except on the ground that his military
+position at Leoben was more brilliant than secure. His uneasiness
+about this article of the preliminaries is seen in his letter of April
+22nd to the Directors, which explains that the preliminaries need not
+count for much. But most extraordinary of all was his procedure
+concerning the young Lombard Republic. He seems quite calmly to have
+discussed its retrocession to the Austrians, and that, too, after he
+had encouraged the Milanese to found a republic, and had declared that
+every French victory was "a line of the constitutional charter."[74]
+The most reasonable explanation is that Bonaparte over-estimated the
+military strength of Austria, and undervalued the energy of the men of
+Milan, Modena, and Bologna, of whose levies he spoke most
+contemptuously. Certain it is that he desired to disengage himself
+from their affairs so as to be free for the grander visions of
+oriental conquest that now haunted his imagination. Whatever were his
+motives in signing the preliminaries at Leoben, he speedily found
+means for their modification in the ever-enlarging area of negotiable
+lands.
+
+It is now time to return to the affairs of Venice. For seven months
+the towns and villages of that republic had been a prey to pitiless
+warfare and systematic rapacity, a fate which the weak ruling
+oligarchy could neither avert nor avenge. In the western cities,
+Bergamo and Brescia, whose interests and feelings linked them with
+Milan rather than Venice, the populace desired an alliance with the
+nascent republic on the west and a severance from the gloomy
+despotism of the Queen of the Adriatic. Though glorious in her prime,
+she now governed with obscurantist methods inspired by fear of her
+weakness becoming manifest; and Bonaparte, tearing off the mask which
+hitherto had screened her dotage, left her despised by the more
+progressive of her own subjects. Even before he first entered the
+Venetian territory, he set forth to the Directory the facilities for
+plunder and partition which it offered. Referring to its reception of
+the Comte de Provence (the future Louis XVIII.) and the occupation of
+Peschiera by the Austrians, he wrote (June 6th, 1796):
+
+     "If your plan is to extract five or six million francs from Venice,
+     I have expressly prepared for you this sort of rupture with her....
+     If you have intentions more pronounced, I think that you ought to
+     continue this subject of contention, instruct me as to your
+     desires, and wait for the favourable opportunity, which I will
+     seize according to circumstances, for we must not have everybody on
+     our hands at the same time."
+
+The events which now transpired in Venetia gave him excuses for the
+projected partition. The weariness felt by the Brescians and
+Bergamesques for Venetian rule had been artfully played on by the
+Jacobins of Milan and by the French Generals Kilmaine and Landrieux;
+and an effort made by the Venetian officials to repress the growing
+discontent brought about disturbances in which some men of the
+"Lombard legion" were killed. The complicity of the French in the
+revolt is clearly established by the Milanese journals and by the fact
+that Landrieux forthwith accepted the command of the rebels at Bergamo
+and Brescia.[75] But while these cities espoused the Jacobin cause,
+most of the Venetian towns and all the peasantry remained faithful to
+the old Government. It was clear that a conflict must ensue, even if
+Bonaparte and some of his generals had not secretly worked to bring it
+about. That he and they did so work cannot now be disputed. The circle
+of proof is complete. The events at Brescia and Bergamo were part of
+a scheme for precipitating a rupture with Venice; and their success
+was so far assured that Bonaparte at Leoben secretly bargained away
+nearly the whole of the Venetian lands. Furthermore, a fortnight
+before the signing of these preliminaries, he had suborned a vile
+wretch, Salvatori by name, to issue a proclamation purporting to come
+from the Venetian authorities, which urged the people everywhere to
+rise and massacre the French. It was issued on April 5th, though it
+bore the date of March 20th. At once the Doge warned his people that
+it was a base fabrication, But the mischief had been done. On Easter
+Monday (April 17th) a chance affray in Verona let loose the passions
+which had been rising for months past: the populace rose in fury
+against the French detachment quartered on them: and all the soldiers
+who could not find shelter in the citadel, even the sick in the
+hospitals, fell victims to the craving for revenge for the
+humiliations and exactions of the last seven months.[76] Such was
+Easter-tide at Verona--_les Pâques véronaises_--an event that recalls
+the Sicilian Vespers of Palermo in its blind southern fury.
+
+The finale somewhat exceeded Bonaparte's expectations, but he must
+have hailed it with a secret satisfaction. It gave him a good excuse
+for wholly extinguishing Venice as an independent power. According to
+the secret articles signed at Leoben, the city of Venice was to have
+retained her independence and gained the Legations. But her contumacy
+could now be chastised by annihilation. Venice could, in fact,
+indemnify the Hapsburgs for the further cessions which France exacted
+from them elsewhere; and in the process Bonaparte would free himself
+from the blame which attached to his hasty signature of the
+preliminaries at Leoben.[77] He was now determined to secure the Rhine
+frontier for France, to gain independence, under French tutelage, not
+only for the Lombard Republic, but also for Modena and the Legations.
+These were his aims during the negotiations to which he gave the full
+force of his intellect during the spring and summer of 1797.
+
+The first thing was to pour French troops into Italy so as to extort
+better terms: the next was to declare war on Venice. For this there
+was now ample justification; for, apart from the massacre at Verona,
+another outrage had been perpetrated. A French corsair, which had
+persisted in anchoring in a forbidden part of the harbour of Venice,
+had been riddled by the batteries and captured. For this act, and for
+the outbreak at Verona, the Doge and Senate offered ample reparation:
+but Bonaparte refused to listen to these envoys, "dripping with French
+blood," and haughtily bade Venice evacuate her mainland
+territories.[78] For various reasons he decided to use guile rather
+than force. He found in Venice a secretary of the French legation,
+Villetard by name, who could be trusted dextrously to undermine the
+crumbling fabric of the oligarchy.[79] This man persuaded the
+terrified populace that nothing would appease the fury of the
+French general but the deposition of the existing oligarchy and the
+formation of a democratic municipality. The people and the patricians
+alike swallowed the bait; and the once haughty Senate tamely
+pronounced its own doom. Disorders naturally occurred on the downfall
+of the ancient oligarchy, especially when the new municipality ordered
+the removal of Venetian men-of-war into the hands of the French and
+the introduction of French troops by help of Venetian vessels. A
+mournful silence oppressed even the democrats when 5,000 French troops
+entered Venice on board the flotilla. The famous State, which for
+centuries had ruled the waters of the Levant, and had held the fierce
+Turks at bay, a people numbering 3,000,000 souls and boasting a
+revenue of 9,000,000 ducats, now struck not one blow against
+conquerors who came in the guise of liberators.
+
+On the same day Bonaparte signed at Milan a treaty of alliance with
+the envoys of the new Venetian Government. His friendship was to be
+dearly bought. In secret articles, which were of more import than the
+vague professions of amity which filled the public document, it was
+stipulated that the French and Venetian Republics should come to an
+understanding as to the _exchange_ of certain territories, that Venice
+should pay a contribution in money and in materials of war, should aid
+the French navy by furnishing three battleships and two frigates, and
+should enrich the museums of her benefactress by 20 paintings and 500
+manuscripts. While he was signing these conditions of peace, the
+Directors were despatching from Paris a declaration of war against
+Venice. Their decision was already obsolete: it was founded on
+Bonaparte's despatch of April 30th; but in the interval their
+proconsul had wholly changed the situation by overthrowing the rule of
+the Doge and Senate, and by setting up a democracy, through which he
+could extract the wealth of that land. The Directors' declaration of
+war was accordingly stopped at Milan, and no more was heard of it.
+They were thus forcibly reminded of the truth of his previous warning
+that things would certainly go wrong unless they consulted him on all
+important details.[80]
+
+This treaty of Milan was the fourth important convention concluded by
+the general, who, at the beginning of the campaign of 1796, had been
+forbidden even to sign an armistice without consulting Salicetti!
+
+It was speedily followed by another, which in many respects redounds
+to the credit of the young conqueror. If his conduct towards Venice
+inspires loathing, his treatment of Genoa must excite surprise and
+admiration. Apart from one very natural outburst of spleen, it shows
+little of that harshness which might have been expected from the man
+who had looked on Genoa as the embodiment of mean despotism. Up to the
+summer of 1796 Bonaparte seems to have retained something of his old
+detestation of that republic; for at midsummer, when he was in the
+full career of his Italian conquests, he wrote to Faypoult, the French
+envoy at Genoa, urging him to keep open certain cases that were in
+dispute, and three weeks later he again wrote that the time for Genoa
+had not yet come. Any definite action against this wealthy city was,
+indeed, most undesirable during the campaign; for the bankers of
+Genoa supplied the French army with the sinews of war by means of
+secret loans, and their merchants were equally complaisant in regard
+to provisions. These services were appreciated by Bonaparte as much as
+they were resented by Nelson; and possibly the succour which Genoese
+money and shipping covertly rendered to the French expeditions for
+the recovery of Corsica may have helped to efface from Bonaparte's
+memory the associations clustering around the once-revered name of
+Paoli. From ill-concealed hostility he drifted into a position of
+tolerance and finally of friendship towards Genoa, provided that she
+became democratic. If her institutions could be assimilated to those
+of France, she might prove a valuable intermediary or ally.
+
+The destruction of the Genoese oligarchy presented no great
+difficulties. Both Venice and Genoa had long outlived their power, and
+the persistent violation of their neutrality had robbed them of that
+last support of the weak, self-respect. The intrigues of Faypoult and
+Salicetti were undermining the influence of the Doge and Senate, when
+the news of the fall of the Venetian oligarchy spurred on the French
+party to action, But the Doge and Senate armed bands of mountaineers
+and fishermen who were hostile to change; and in a long and desperate
+conflict in the narrow streets of Genoa the democrats were completely
+worsted (May 23rd). The victors thereupon ransacked the houses of the
+opposing faction and found lists of names of those who were to have
+been proscribed, besides documents which revealed the complicity of
+the French agents in the rising. Bonaparte was enraged at the folly of
+the Genoese democrats, which deranged his plans. As he wrote to the
+Directory, if they had only remained quiet for a fortnight, the
+oligarchy would have collapsed from sheer weakness. The murder of a
+few Frenchmen and Milanese now gave him an excuse for intervention. He
+sent an aide-de-camp, Lavalette, charged with a vehement diatribe
+against the Doge and Senate, which lost nothing in its recital before
+that august body. At the close a few senators called out, "Let us
+fight": but the spirit of the Dorias flickered away with these
+protests; and the degenerate scions of mighty sires submitted to the
+insults of an aide-de-camp and the dictation of his master.
+
+The fate of this ancient republic was decided by Bonaparte at the
+Castle of Montebello, near Milan, where he had already drawn up her
+future constitution. After brief conferences with the Genoese envoys,
+he signed with them the secret convention which placed their
+republic--soon to be renamed the Ligurian Republic--under the
+protection of France and substituted for the close patrician rule a
+moderate democracy. The fact is significant. His military instincts
+had now weaned him from the stiff Jacobinism of his youth; and, in
+conjunction with Faypoult and the envoys, he arranged that the
+legislative powers should be intrusted to two popularly elected
+chambers of 300 and 150 members, while the executive functions were to
+be discharged by twelve senators, presided over by a Doge; these
+officers were to be appointed by the chambers: for the rest, the
+principles of religious liberty and civic equality were recognized,
+and local self-government was amply provided for. Cynics may, of
+course, object that this excellent constitution was but a means of
+insuring French supremacy and of peacefully installing Bonaparte's
+regiments in a very important city; but the close of his intervention
+may be pronounced as creditable to his judgment as its results were
+salutary to Genoa. He even upbraided the demagogic party of that city
+for shivering in pieces the statue of Andrea Doria and suspending the
+fragments on some of the innumerable trees of liberty recently
+planted.
+
+     "Andrea Doria," he wrote, "was a great sailor and a great
+     statesman. Aristocracy was liberty in his time. The whole of Europe
+     envies your city the honour of having produced that celebrated man.
+     You will, I doubt not, take pains to rear his statue again: I pray
+     you to let me bear a part of the expense which that will entail,
+     which I desire to share with those who are most zealous for the
+     glory and welfare of your country."
+
+In contrasting this wise and dignified conduct with the hatred which
+most Corsicans still cherished against Genoa, Bonaparte's greatness of
+soul becomes apparent and inspires the wish: _Utinam semper sic
+fuisses!_
+
+Few periods of his life have been more crowded with momentous events
+than his sojourn at the Castle of Montebello in May-July, 1797.
+Besides completing the downfall of Venice and reinvigorating the life
+of Genoa, he was deeply concerned with the affairs of the Lombard or
+Cisalpine Republic, with his family concerns, with the consolidation
+of his own power in French politics, and with the Austrian
+negotiations. We will consider these affairs in the order here
+indicated.
+
+The future of Lombardy had long been a matter of concern to Bonaparte.
+He knew that its people were the _fittest_ in all Italy to benefit by
+_constitutional rule_, but it must be dependent on France. He felt
+little confidence in the Lombards if left to themselves, as is seen in
+his conversation with Melzi and Miot de Melito at the Castle of
+Montebello. He was in one of those humours, frequent at this time of
+dawning splendour, when confidence in his own genius betrayed him into
+quite piquant indiscretions. After referring to the Directory, he
+turned abruptly to Melzi, a Lombard nobleman:
+
+     "As for your country, Monsieur de Melzi, it possesses still fewer
+     elements of republicanism than France, and can be managed more
+     easily than any other. You know better than anyone that we shall do
+     what we like with Italy. But the time has not yet come. We must
+     give way to the fever of the moment. We are going to have one or
+     two republics here of our own sort. Monge will arrange that for
+     us."
+
+He had some reason for distrusting the strength of the democrats in
+Italy. At the close of 1796 he had written that there were three
+parties in Lombardy, one which accepted French guidance, another which
+desired liberty even with some impatience, and a third faction,
+friendly to the Austrians: he encouraged the first, checked the
+second, and repressed the last. He now complained that the Cispadanes
+and Cisalpines had behaved very badly in their first elections, which
+had been conducted in his absence; for they had allowed clerical
+influence to override all French predilections. And, a little later,
+he wrote to Talleyrand that the genuine love of liberty was feeble in
+Italy, and that, as soon as French influences were withdrawn, the
+Italian Jacobins would be murdered by the populace. The sequel was to
+justify his misgivings, and therefore to refute the charges of those
+who see in his conduct respecting the Cisalpine Republic nothing but
+calculating egotism. The difficulty of freeing a populace that had
+learnt to hug its chains was so great that the temporary and partial
+success which his new creation achieved may be regarded as a proof of
+his political sagacity.
+
+After long preparations by four committees, which Bonaparte kept at
+Milan closely engaged in the drafting of laws, the constitution of the
+Cisalpine Republic was completed. It was a miniature of that of
+France, and lest there should be any further mistakes in the
+elections, Bonaparte himself appointed, not only the five Directors
+and the Ministers whom they were to control, but even the 180
+legislators, both Ancients and Juniors. In this strange fashion did
+democracy descend on Italy, not mainly as the work of the people, but
+at the behest of a great organizing genius. It is only fair to add
+that he summoned to the work of civic reconstruction many of the best
+intellects of Italy. He appointed a noble, Serbelloni, to be the first
+President of the Cisalpine Republic, and a scion of the august House
+of the Visconti was sent as its ambassador to Paris. Many able men
+that had left Lombardy during the Austrian occupation or the recent
+wars were attracted back by Bonaparte's politic clemency; and the
+festival of July 9th at Milan, which graced the inauguration of the
+new Government, presented a scene of civic joy to which that unhappy
+province had long been a stranger. A vast space was thronged with an
+enormous crowd which took up the words of the civic oath uttered by
+the President. The Archbishop of Milan celebrated Mass and blessed the
+banners of the National Guards; and the day closed with games, dances,
+and invocations to the memory of the Italians who had fought and died
+for their nascent liberties. Amidst all the vivas and the clash of
+bells Bonaparte took care to sound a sterner note. On that very day
+he ordered the suppression of a Milanese club which had indulged in
+Jacobinical extravagances, and he called on the people "to show to the
+world by their wisdom, energy, and by the good organization of their
+army, that modern Italy has not degenerated and is still worthy of
+liberty."
+
+The contagion of Milanese enthusiasm spread rapidly. Some of the
+Venetian towns on the mainland now petitioned for union with the
+Cisalpine Republic; and the deputies of the Cispadane, who were
+present at the festival, urgently begged that their little State might
+enjoy the same privilege. Hitherto Bonaparte had refused these
+requests, lest he should hamper the negotiations with Austria, which
+were still tardily proceeding; but within a month their wish was
+gratified, and the Cispadane State was united to the larger and more
+vigorous republic north of the River Po, along with the important
+districts of Como, Bergamo, Brescia, Crema, and Peschiera.
+Disturbances in the Swiss district of the Valteline soon enabled
+Bonaparte to intervene on behalf of the oppressed peasants, and to
+merge this territory also in the Cisalpine Republic, which
+consequently stretched from the high Alps southward to Rimini, and
+from the Ticino on the west to the Mincio on the east.[81]
+
+Already, during his sojourn at the Castle of Montebello, Bonaparte
+figured as the all-powerful proconsul of the French Republic. Indeed,
+all his surroundings--his retinue of complaisant generals, and the
+numerous envoys and agents who thronged his ante-chambers to beg an
+audience--befitted a Sulla or a Wallenstein, rather than a general of
+the regicide Republic. Three hundred Polish soldiers guarded the
+approaches to the castle; and semi-regal state was also observed in
+its spacious corridors and saloons. There were to be seen Italian
+nobles, literati, and artists, counting it the highest honour to visit
+the liberator of their land; and to them Bonaparte behaved with that
+mixture of affability and inner reserve, of seductive charm
+alternating with incisive cross-examination which proclaimed at once
+the versatility of his gifts, the keenness of his intellect, and his
+determination to gain social, as well as military and political,
+supremacy. And yet the occasional abruptness of his movements, and the
+strident tones of command lurking beneath his silkiest speech, now and
+again reminded beholders that he was of the camp rather than of the
+court. To his generals he was distant; for any fault even his
+favourite officers felt the full force of his anger; and aides-de-camp
+were not often invited to dine at his table. Indeed, he frequently
+dined before his retinue, almost in the custom of the old Kings of
+France.
+
+With him was his mother, also his brothers, Joseph and Louis, whom he
+was rapidly advancing to fortune. There, too, were his sisters; Elise,
+proud and self-contained, who at this period married a noble but
+somewhat boorish Corsican, Bacciocchi; and Pauline, a charming girl of
+sixteen, whose hand the all-powerful brother offered to Marmont, to be
+by him unaccountably refused, owing, it would seem, to a prior
+attachment. This lively and luxurious young creature was not long to
+remain unwedded. The adjutant-general, Leclerc, became her suitor;
+and, despite his obscure birth and meagre talents, speedily gained her
+as his bride. Bonaparte granted her 40,000 francs as her dowry;
+and--significant fact--the nuptials were privately blessed by a priest
+in the chapel of the Palace of Montebello.
+
+There, too, at Montebello was Josephine.
+
+Certainly the Bonapartes were not happy in their loves: the one dark
+side to the young conqueror's life, all through this brilliant
+campaign, was the cruelty of his bride. From her side he had in March,
+1796, torn himself away, distracted between his almost insane love for
+her and his determination to crush the chief enemy of France: to her
+he had written long and tender letters even amidst the superhuman
+activities of his campaign. Ten long despatches a day had not
+prevented him covering as many sheets of paper with protestations of
+devotion to her and with entreaties that she would likewise pour out
+her heart to him. Then came complaints, some tenderly pleading, others
+passionately bitter, of her cruelly rare and meagre replies. The sad
+truth, that Josephine cares much for his fame and little for him
+himself, that she delays coming to Italy, these and other afflicting
+details rend his heart. At last she comes to Milan, after a
+passionate outburst of weeping--at leaving her beloved Paris. In Italy
+she shows herself scarcely more than affectionate to her doting
+spouse. Marlborough's letters to his peevish duchess during the
+Blenheim campaign are not more crowded with maudlin curiosities than
+those of the fierce scourge of the Austrians to his heartless fair. He
+writes to her agonizingly, begging her to be less lovely, less
+gracious, less good--apparently in order that he may love her less
+madly: but she is never to be jealous, and, above all, never to weep:
+for her tears burn his blood: and he concludes by sending millions of
+kisses, and also to her dog! And this mad effusion came from the man
+whom the outside world took to be of steel-like coldness: yet his
+nature had this fevered, passionate side, just as the moon, where she
+faces the outer void, is compact of ice, but turns a front of molten
+granite to her blinding, all-compelling luminary.
+
+Undoubtedly this blazing passion helped to spur on the lover to that
+terrific energy which makes the Italian campaign unique even amidst
+the Napoleonic wars. Beaulieu, Würmser, and Alvintzy were not rivals
+in war; they were tiresome hindrances to his unsated love. On the eve
+of one of his greatest triumphs he penned to her the following
+rhapsody:
+
+     "I am far from you, I seem to be surrounded by the blackest night:
+     I need the lurid light of the thunder-bolts which we are about to
+     hurl on our enemies to dispel the darkness into which your absence
+     has plunged me. Josephine, you wept when we parted: you wept! At
+     that thought all my being trembles. But be consoled! Würmser shall
+     pay dearly for the tears which I have seen you shed."
+
+What infatuation! to appease a woman's fancied grief, he will pile
+high the plains of Mincio with corpses, recking not of the thousand
+homes where bitter tears will flow. It is the apotheosis of
+sentimental egotism and social callousness. And yet this brain, with
+its moral vision hopelessly blurred, judged unerringly in its own
+peculiar plane. What power it must have possessed, that, unexhausted
+by the flames of love, it grasped infallibly the myriad problems of
+war, scanning them the more clearly, perchance, in the white heat of
+its own passion.
+
+At last there came the time of fruition at Montebello: of fruition,
+but not of ease or full contentment; for not only did an average of
+eight despatches a day claim several hours, during which he jealously
+guarded his solitude; but Josephine's behaviour served to damp his
+ardour. As, during the time of absence, she had slighted his urgent
+entreaties for a daily letter, so too, during the sojourn at
+Montebello, she revealed the shallowness and frivolity of her being.
+Fêtes, balls, and receptions, provided they were enlivened by a light
+crackle of compliments from an admiring circle, pleased her more than
+the devotion of a genius. She had admitted, before marriage, that her
+"Creole _nonchalance_" shrank wearily away from his keen and ardent
+nature; and now, when torn away from the _salons_ of Paris, she seems
+to have taken refuge in entertainments and lap-dogs.[82] Doubtless
+even at this period Josephine evinced something of that warm feeling
+which deepened with ripening years and lit up her later sorrows with a
+mild radiance; but her recent association with Madame Tallien and that
+giddy _cohue_ had accentuated her habits of feline complaisance to all
+and sundry. Her facile fondnesses certainly welled forth far too
+widely to carve out a single channel of love and mingle with the deep
+torrent of Bonaparte's early passion. In time, therefore, his
+affections strayed into many other courses; and it would seen that
+even in the later part of this Italian epoch his conduct was
+irregular. For this Josephine had herself mainly to thank. At last she
+awakened to the real value and greatness of the love which her neglect
+had served to dull and tarnish, but then it was too late for complete
+reunion of souls: the Corsican eagle had by that time soared far
+beyond reach of her highest flutterings.[83]
+
+At Montebello, as also at Passeriano, whither the Austrian
+negotiations were soon transferred, Bonaparte, though strictly
+maintaining the ceremonies of his proconsular court, yet showed the
+warmth of his social instincts. After the receptions of the day and
+the semi-public dinner, he loved to unbend in the evening. Sometimes,
+when Josephine formed a party of ladies for _vingt-et-un_, he would
+withdraw to a corner and indulge in the game of _goose_; and
+bystanders noted with amusement that his love of success led him to
+play tricks and cheat in order not to "fall into the pit." At other
+times, if the conversation languished, he proposed that each person
+should tell a story; and when no Boccaccio-like facility inspired the
+company, he sometimes launched out into one of those eerie and
+thrilling recitals, such as he must often have heard from the
+_improvisatori_ of his native island. Bourrienne states that
+Bonaparte's realism required darkness and daggers for the full display
+of his gifts, and that the climax of his dramatic monologue was not
+seldom enhanced by the screams of the ladies, a consummation which
+gratified rather than perturbed the accomplished actor.
+
+A survey of Bonaparte's multifarious activity in Italy enables the
+reader to realize something of the wonder and awe excited by his
+achievements. Like an Athena he leaped forth from the Revolution,
+fully armed for every kind of contest. His mental superiority
+impressed diplomats as his strategy baffled the Imperialist generals;
+and now he was to give further proofs of his astuteness by
+intervening in the internal affairs of France.
+
+In order to understand Bonaparte's share in the _coup d'état_ of
+Fructidor, we must briefly review the course of political events at
+Paris. At the time of the installation of the Directory the hope was
+widely cherished that the Revolution was now entirely a thing of the
+past. But the unrest of the time was seen in the renewal of the
+royalist revolts in the west, and in the communistic plot of Babeuf
+for the overthrow of the whole existing system of private property.
+The aims of these desperadoes were revealed by an accomplice; the
+ringleaders were arrested, and after a long trial Babeuf was
+guillotined and his confederates were transported (May, 1797). The
+disclosure of these ultra-revolutionary aims shocked not only the
+bourgeois, but even the peasants who were settled on the confiscated
+lands of the nobles and clergy. The very class which had given to the
+events of 1789 their irresistible momentum was now inclined to rest
+and be thankful; and in this swift revulsion of popular feeling the
+royalists began to gain ground. The elections for the renewal of a
+third part of the Councils resulted in large gains for them, and they
+could therefore somewhat influence the composition of the Directory by
+electing Barthélemy, a constitutional royalist. Still, he could not
+overbear the other four regicide Directors, even though one of these,
+Carnot, also favoured moderate opinions more and more. A crisis
+therefore rapidly developed between the still Jacobinical Directory
+and the two legislative Councils, in each of which the royalists, or
+moderates, had the upper hand. The aim of this majority was to
+strengthen the royalist elements in France by the repeal of many
+revolutionary laws. Their man of action was Pichegru, the conqueror of
+Holland, who, abjuring Jacobinism, now schemed with a club of
+royalists, which met at Clichy, on the outskirts of Paris. That their
+intrigues aimed at the restoration of the Bourbons had recently been
+proved. The French agents in Venice seized the Comte d'Entraigues, the
+confidante of the _soi-disant_ Louis XVIII.; and his papers, when
+opened by Bonaparte, Clarke, and Berthier at Montebello, proved that
+there was a conspiracy in France for the recall of the Bourbons. With
+characteristic skill, Bonaparte held back these papers from the
+Directory until he had mastered the difficulties of the situation. As
+for the count, he released him; and in return for this signal act of
+clemency, then very unusual towards an _émigré_, he soon became the
+object of his misrepresentation and slander.
+
+The political crisis became acute in July, when the majority
+of the Councils sought to force on the Directory Ministers who
+would favour moderate or royalist aims. Three Directors, Barras, La
+Réveillière-Lépeaux, and Rewbell, refused to listen to these behests,
+and insisted on the appointment of Jacobinical Ministers even in the
+teeth of a majority of the Councils. This defiance of the deputies of
+France was received with execration by most civilians, but with
+jubilant acclaim by the armies; for the soldiery, far removed from the
+partisan strifes of the capital, still retained their strongly
+republican opinions. The news that their conduct towards Venice was
+being sharply criticised by the moderates in Paris aroused their
+strongest feelings, military pride and democratic ardour.
+
+Nevertheless, Bonaparte's conduct was eminently cautious and reserved.
+In the month of May he sent to Paris his most trusted aide-de-camp,
+Lavalette, instructing him to sound all parties, to hold aloof from
+all engagements, and to report to him dispassionately on the state of
+public opinion.[84] Lavalette judged the position of the Directory, or
+rather of the Triumvirate which swayed it, to be so precarious that he
+cautioned his chief against any definite espousal of its cause; and in
+June-July, 1797, Bonaparte almost ceased to correspond with the
+Directors except on Italian affairs, probably because he looked
+forward to their overthrow as an important step towards his own
+supremacy. There was, however, the possibility of a royalist reaction
+sweeping all before it in France and ranging the armies against the
+civil power. He therefore waited and watched, fully aware of the
+enhanced importance which an uncertain situation gives to the outsider
+who refuses to show his hand.
+
+Duller eyes than his had discerned that the constitutional conflict
+between the Directory and the Councils could not be peaceably
+adjusted. The framers of the constitution had designed the slowly
+changing Directory as a check on the Councils, which were renewed to
+the extent of one-third every year; but, while seeking to put a
+regicide drag on the parliamentary coach, they had omitted to provide
+against a complete overturn. The Councils could not legally override
+the Directory; neither could the Directory veto the decrees of the
+Councils, nor, by dissolving them, compel an appeal to the country.
+This defect in the constitution had been clearly pointed out by
+Necker, and it now drew from Barras the lament:
+
+
+
+     "Ah, if the constitution of the Year III., which offers so many
+     sage precautions, had not neglected one of the most important; if
+     it had foreseen that the two great powers of the State, engaged in
+     heated debates, must end with open conflicts, when there is no high
+     court of appeal to arrange them; if it had sufficiently armed the
+     Directory with the right of dissolving the Chamber!"[85]
+
+As it was, the knot had to be severed by the sword: not, as yet, by
+Bonaparte's trenchant blade: he carefully drew back; but where as yet
+he feared to tread, Hoche rushed in. This ardently republican general
+was inspired by a self-denying patriotism, that flinched not before
+odious duties. While Bonaparte was culling laurels in Northern Italy,
+Hoche was undertaking the most necessary task of quelling the Vendéan
+risings, and later on braved the fogs and storms of the Atlantic in
+the hope of rousing all Ireland in revolt. His expedition to Bantry
+Bay in December, 1796, having miscarried, he was sent into the
+Rhineland. The conclusion of peace by Bonaparte at Leoben again dashed
+his hopes, and he therefore received with joy the orders of the
+Directory that he should march a large part of his army to Brest for a
+second expedition to Ireland. The Directory, however, intended to use
+those troops nearer home, and appointed him Minister of War (July
+16th). The choice was a good one; Hoche was active, able, and popular
+with the soldiery; but he had not yet reached the thirtieth year of
+his age, the limit required by the constitution. On this technical
+defect the majority of the Councils at once fastened; and their
+complaints were redoubled when a large detachment of his troops came
+within the distance of the capital forbidden to the army. The
+moderates could therefore accuse the triumvirs and Hoche of conspiracy
+against the laws; he speedily resigned the Ministry (July 22nd), and
+withdrew his troops into Champagne, and finally to the Rhineland.
+
+
+Now was the opportunity for Bonaparte to take up the _rôle_ of
+Cromwell which Hoche had so awkwardly played. And how skilfully the
+conqueror of Italy plays it--through subordinates. He was too well
+versed in statecraft to let his sword flash before the public gaze. By
+this time he had decided to act, and doubtless the fervid Jacobinism
+of the soldiery was the chief cause determining his action. At the
+national celebration on July 14th he allowed it to have free vent, and
+thereupon wrote to the Directory, bitterly reproaching them for their
+weakness in face of the royalist plot: "I see that the Clichy Club
+means to march over my corpse to the destruction of the Republic." He
+ended the diatribe by his usual device, when he desired to remind the
+Government of his necessity to them, of offering his resignation, in
+case they refused to take vigorous measures against the malcontents.
+Yet even now his action was secret and indirect. On July 27th he sent
+to the Directors a brief note stating that Augereau had requested
+leave to go to Paris, "where his affairs call him"; and that he sent
+by this general the originals of the addresses of the army, avowing
+its devotion to the constitution. No one would suspect from this that
+Augereau was in Bonaparte's confidence and came to carry out the
+_coup d'état_. The secret was well preserved. Lavalette was
+Bonaparte's official representative; and his neutrality was now
+maintained in accordance with a note received from his chief:
+"Augereau is coming to Paris: do not put yourself in his power: he has
+sown disorder in the army: he is a factious man."
+
+But, while Lavalette was left to trim his sails as best he might,
+Augereau was certain to act with energy. Bonaparte knew well that his
+Jacobinical lieutenant, famed as the first swordsman of the day, and
+the leader of the fighting division of the army, would do his work
+thoroughly, always vaunting his own prowess and decrying that of his
+commander. It was so. Augereau rushed to Paris, breathing threats of
+slaughter against the royalists. Checked for a time by the calculating
+_finesse_ of the triumvirs, he prepared to end matters by a single
+blow; and, when the time had come, he occupied the strategic points of
+the capital, drew a cordon of troops round the Tuileries, where the
+Councils sat, invaded the chambers of deputies and consigned to the
+Temple the royalists and moderates there present, with their leader,
+Pichegru. Barthélemy was also seized; but Carnot, warned by a friend,
+fled during the early hours of this eventful day--September 4th (or 18
+Fructidor). The mutilated Councils forthwith annulled the late
+elections in forty-nine Departments, and passed severe laws against
+orthodox priests and the unpardoned _émigrés_ who had ventured to
+return to France. The Directory was also intrusted with complete power
+to suppress newspapers, to close political clubs, and to declare any
+commune in a state of siege. Its functions were now wellnigh as
+extensive and absolute as those of the Committee of Public Safety, its
+powers being limited only by the incompetence of the individual
+Directors and by their paralyzing consciousness that they ruled only
+by favour of the army. They had taken the sword to solve a political
+problem: two years later they were to fall by that sword.[86]
+
+Augereau fully expected that he would be one of the two Directors who
+were elected in place of Carnot and Barthélemy; but the Councils had
+no higher opinion of his civic capacity than Bonaparte had formed;
+and, to his great disgust, Merlin of Douai and François of Neufchâtel
+were chosen. The last scenes of the _coup d'état_ centred around the
+transportation of the condemned deputies. One of the early memories of
+the future Duc de Broglie recalled the sight of the "_députés
+fructidorisés_ travelling in closed carriages, railed up like cages,"
+to the seaport whence they were to sail to the lingering agonies of a
+tropical prison in French Guiana.
+
+It was a painful spectacle: "the indignation was great, but the
+consternation was greater still. Everybody foresaw the renewal of the
+Reign of Terror and resignedly prepared for it."
+
+Such were the feelings, even of those who, like Madame de Staël and
+her friend Benjamin Constant, had declared before the _coup d'état_
+that it was necessary to the salvation of the Republic. That
+accomplished woman was endowed with nearly every attribute of genius
+except political foresight and self-restraint. No sooner had the blow
+been dealt than she fell to deploring its results, which any
+fourth-rate intelligence might have foreseen. "Liberty was the only
+power really conquered"--such was her later judgment on Fructidor. Now
+that Liberty fled affrighted, the errant enthusiasms of the gifted
+authoress clung for a brief space to Bonaparte. Her eulogies on his
+exploits, says Lavalette, who listened to her through a dinner in
+Talleyrand's rooms, possessed all the mad disorder and exaggeration of
+inspiration; and, after the repast was over, the votaress refused to
+pass out before an aide-de-camp of Bonaparte! The incident is
+characteristic both of Madame de Staël's moods and of the whims of the
+populace. Amidst the disenchantments of that time, when the pursuit of
+liberty seemed but an idle quest, when royalists were the champions of
+parliamentary rule and republicans relied on military force, all eyes
+turned wearily away from the civic broils at Paris to the visions of
+splendour revealed by the conqueror of Italy. Few persons knew how
+largely their new favourite was responsible for the events of
+Fructidor; all of them had by heart the names of his victories; and
+his popularity flamed to the skies when he recrossed the Alps,
+bringing with him a lucrative peace with Austria.
+
+The negotiations with that Power had dragged on slowly through the
+whole summer and far into the autumn, mainly owing to the hopes of the
+Emperor Francis that the disorder in France would filch from her the
+meed of victory. Doubtless that would have been the case, had not
+Bonaparte, while striking down the royalists at Paris through his
+lieutenant, remained at the head of his victorious legions in Venetia
+ready again to invade Austria, if occasion should arise.
+
+In some respects, the _coup d'état_ of Fructidor helped on the
+progress of the negotiations. That event postponed, if it did not
+render impossible, the advent of civil war in France; and, like
+Pride's Purge in our civil strifes, it installed in power a Government
+which represented the feelings of the army and of its chief. Moreover,
+it rid him of the presence of Clarke, his former colleague in the
+negotiations, whose relations with Carnot aroused the suspicions of
+Barras and led to his recall. Bonaparte was now the sole
+plenipotentiary of France. The final negotiations with Austria and the
+resulting treaty of Campo Formio may therefore be considered as almost
+entirely his handiwork.
+
+And yet, at this very time, the head of the Foreign Office at Paris
+was a man destined to achieve the greatest diplomatic reputation of
+the age. Charles Maurice de Talleyrand seemed destined for the task of
+uniting the society of the old _régime_ with the France of the
+Revolution. To review his life would be to review the Revolution. With
+a reforming zeal begotten of his own intellectual acuteness and of
+resentment against his family, which had disinherited him for the
+crime of lameness, he had led the first assaults of 1789 against the
+privileges of the nobles and of the clerics among whom his lot had
+perforce been cast. He acted as the head of the new "constitutional"
+clergy, and bestowed his episcopal blessing at the Feast of Pikes in
+1790; but, owing to his moderation, he soon fell into disfavour with
+the extreme men who seized on power. After a sojourn in England and
+the United States, he came back to France, and on the suggestion of
+Madame de Staël was appointed Minister for Foreign Affairs (July,
+1797). To this post he brought the highest gifts: his early clerical
+training gave a keen edge to an intellect naturally subtle and
+penetrating: his intercourse with Mirabeau gave him a grip on the
+essentials of sound policy and diplomacy: his sojourn abroad widened
+his vision, and imbued him with an admiration for English institutions
+and English moderation. Yet he loved France with a deep and fervent
+love. For her he schemed; for her he threw over friends or foes with a
+Macchiavellian facility. Amidst all the glamour of the Napoleonic
+Empire he discerned the dangers that threatened France; and he warned
+his master--as uselessly as he warned reckless nobles, priestly
+bigots, and fanatical Jacobins in the past, or the unteachable zealots
+of the restored monarchy. His life, when viewed, not in regard to its
+many sordid details, but to its chief guiding principle, was one long
+campaign against French _élan_ and partisan obstinacy; and he sealed
+it with the quaint declaration in his will that, on reviewing his
+career, he found he had never abandoned a party before it had
+abandoned itself. Talleyrand was equipped with a diversity of gifts:
+his gaze, intellectual yet composed, blenched not when he uttered a
+scathing criticism or a diplomatic lie: his deep and penetrating voice
+gave force to all his words, and the curl of his lip or the scornful
+lifting of his eyebrows sometimes disconcerted an opponent more than
+his biting sarcasm. In brief, this disinherited noble, this unfrocked
+priest, this disenchanted Liberal, was the complete expression of the
+inimitable society of the old _régime_, when quickened intellectually
+by Voltaire and dulled by the Terror. After doing much to destroy the
+old society, he was now to take a prominent share in its
+reconstruction on a modern basis.[87]
+
+Such was the man who now commenced his chief life-work, the task of
+guiding Napoleon. "The mere name of Bonaparte is an aid which ought to
+smooth away all my difficulties"--these were the obsequious terms in
+which he began his correspondence with the great general. In reality,
+he distrusted him; but whether from diffidence, or from the weakness
+of his own position, which as yet was little more than that of
+the head clerk of his department, he did nothing to assert the
+predominance of civil over military influence in the negotiations now
+proceeding.
+
+Two months before Talleyrand accepted office, Bonaparte had enlarged
+his original demands on Austria, and claimed for France the whole of
+the lands on the left or west bank of the Rhine, and for the Cisalpine
+Republic all the territory up to the River Adige. To these demands the
+Court of Vienna offered a tenacious resistance which greatly irritated
+him. "These people are so slow," he exclaimed, "they think that a
+peace like this ought to be meditated upon for three years first."
+
+Concurrently with the Franco-Austrian negotiations, overtures for a
+peace between France and England were being discussed at Lille. Into
+these it is impossible to enter farther than to notice that in these
+efforts Pitt and the other British Ministers (except Grenville) were
+sincerely desirous of peace, and that negotiations broke down owing to
+the masterful tone adopted by the Directory. It was perhaps
+unfortunate that Lord Malmesbury was selected as the English
+negotiator, for his behaviour in the previous year had been construed
+by the French as dilatory and insincere. But the Directors may on
+better evidence be charged with postponing a settlement until they
+had struck down their foes within France. Bonaparte's letters at this
+time show that he hoped for the conclusion of a peace with England,
+doubtless in order that his own pressure on Austria might be
+redoubled. In this he was to be disappointed. After Fructidor the
+Directory assumed overweening airs. Talleyrand was bidden to enjoin on
+the French plenipotentiaries the adoption of a loftier tone. Maret,
+the French envoy at Lille, whose counsels had ever been on the side of
+moderation, was abruptly replaced by a "Fructidorian"; and a decisive
+refusal was given to the English demand for the retention of Trinidad
+and the Cape, at the expense of Spain and the Batavian Republic
+respectively. Indeed, the Directory intended to press for the cession
+of the Channel Islands to France and of Gibraltar to Spain, and that,
+too, at the end of a maritime war fruitful in victories for the Union
+Jack.[88]
+
+Towards the King of Sardinia the new Directory was equally imperious.
+The throne of Turin was now occupied by Charles Emmanuel IV. He
+succeeded to a troublous heritage. Threatened by democratic republics
+at Milan and Genoa, and still more by the effervescence of his own
+subjects, he strove to gain an offensive and defensive alliance with
+France, as the sole safeguard against revolution. To this end he
+offered 10,000 Piedmontese for service with Bonaparte, and even
+secretly covenanted to cede the island of Sardinia to France. But
+these offers could not divert Barras and his colleagues from their
+revolutionary policy. They spurned the alliance with the House of
+Savoy, and, despite the remonstrances of Bonaparte, they fomented
+civil discords in Piedmont such as endangered his communications with
+France. Indeed, the Directory after Fructidor was deeply imbued with
+fear of their commander in Italy. To increase his difficulties was
+now their paramount desire; and under the pretext of extending liberty
+in Italy, they instructed Talleyrand to insist on the inclusion of
+Venice and Friuli in the Cisalpine Republic. Austria must be content
+with Trieste, Istria, and Dalmatia, must renounce all interest in the
+fate of the Ionian Isles, and find in Germany all compensation for her
+losses in Italy. Such was the ultimatum of the Directory (September
+16th). But a loophole of escape was left to Bonaparte; the conduct of
+these negotiations was confided solely to him, and he had already
+decided their general tenor by giving his provisional assent to the
+acquisition by Austria of the east bank of the Adige and the city of
+Venice. From these terms he was disinclined to diverge. He was weary
+of "this old Europe": his gaze was directed towards Corfu, Malta, and
+Egypt; and when he received the official ultimatum, he saw that the
+Directory desired a renewal of the war under conditions highly
+embarrassing for him. "Yes: I see clearly that they are preparing
+defeats for me," he exclaimed to his aide-de-camp Lavalette. They
+angered him still more when, on the death of Hoche, they intrusted
+their Rhenish forces, numbering 120,000 men, to the command of
+Augereau, and sent to the Army of Italy an officer bearing a manifesto
+written by Augereau concerning Fructidor, which set forth the anxiety
+felt by the Directors concerning Bonaparte's political views. At this
+Bonaparte fired up and again offered his resignation (September 25th):
+
+     "No power on earth shall, after this horrible and most unexpected
+     act of ingratitude by the Government, make me continue to serve it.
+     My health imperiously demands calm and repose.... My recompense is
+     in my conscience and in the opinion of posterity. Believe me, that
+     at any time of danger, I shall be the first to defend the
+     Constitution of the Year III."
+
+The resignation was of course declined, in terms most flattering to
+Bonaparte; and the Directors prepared to ratify the treaty with
+Sardinia.
+
+Indeed, the fit of passion once passed, the determination to dominate
+events again possessed him, and he decided to make peace, despite the
+recent instructions of the Directory that no peace would be honourable
+which sacrificed Venice to Austria. There is reason to believe that he
+now regretted this sacrifice. His passionate outbursts against Venice
+after the _Pâques véronaises_, his denunciations of "that fierce and
+bloodstained rule," had now given place to some feelings of pity for
+the people whose ruin he had so artfully compassed; and the social
+intercourse with Venetians which he enjoyed at Passeriano, the castle
+of the Doge Manin, may well have inspired some regard for the proud
+city which he was now about to barter away to Austria. Only so,
+however, could he peacefully terminate the wearisome negotiations with
+the Emperor. The Austrian envoy, Count Cobenzl, struggled hard to gain
+the whole of Venetia, and the Legations, along with the half of
+Lombardy.[89] From these exorbitant demands he was driven by the
+persistent vigour of Bonaparte's assaults. The little Corsican proved
+himself an expert in diplomatic wiles, now enticing the Imperialist on
+to slippery ground, and occasionally shocking him by calculated
+outbursts of indignation or bravado. After many days spent in
+intellectual fencing, the discussions were narrowed down to Mainz,
+Mantua, Venice, and the Ionian Isles. On the fate of these islands a
+stormy discussion arose, Cobenzl stipulating for their complete
+independence, while Bonaparte passionately claimed them for France. In
+one of these sallies his vehement gestures overturned a cabinet with a
+costly vase; but the story that he smashed the vase, as a sign of his
+power to crush the House of Austria, is a later refinement on the
+incident, about which Cobenzl merely reported to Vienna--"He behaved
+like a fool." Probably his dextrous disclosure of the severe terms
+which the Directory ordered him to extort was far more effective than
+this boisterous _gasconnade_. Finally, after threatening an immediate
+attack on the Austrian positions, he succeeded on three of the
+questions above named, but at the sacrifice of Venice to Austria.
+
+The treaty was signed on October 17th at the village of Campo Formio.
+The published articles may be thus summarized: Austria ceded to the
+French Republic her Belgic provinces. Of the once extensive Venetian
+possessions France gained the Ionian Isles, while Austria acquired
+Istria, Dalmatia, the districts at the mouth of the Cattaro, the city
+of Venice, and the mainland of Venetia as far west as Lake Garda, the
+Adige, and the lower part of the River Po. The Hapsburgs recognized
+the independence of the now enlarged Cisalpine Republic. France and
+Austria agreed to frame a treaty of commerce on the basis of "the most
+favoured nation." The Emperor ceded to the dispossessed Duke of Modena
+the territory of Breisgau on the east of the Rhine. A congress was to
+be held at Rastadt, at which the plenipotentiaries of France and of
+the Germanic Empire were to regulate affairs between these two Powers.
+
+Secret articles bound the Emperor to use his influence in the Empire
+to secure for France the left bank of the Rhine; while France was to
+use her good offices to procure for the Emperor the Archbishopric of
+Salzburg and the Bavarian land between that State and the River Inn.
+Other secret articles referred to the indemnities which were to be
+found in Germany for some of the potentates who suffered by the
+changes announced in the public treaty.
+
+The bartering away of Venice awakened profound indignation. After more
+than a thousand years of independence, that city was abandoned to the
+Emperor by the very general who had promised to free Italy. It was in
+vain that Bonaparte strove to soothe the provisional government of
+that city through the influence of a Venetian Jew, who, after his
+conversion, had taken the famous name of Dandolo. Summoning him to
+Passeriano, he explained to him the hard necessity which now dictated
+the transfer of Venice to Austria. France could not now shed any more
+of her best blood for what was, after all, only "a moral cause": the
+Venetians therefore must cultivate resignation for the present and
+hope for the future.
+
+[Illustration: CENTRAL EUROPE AFTER THE PEACE OF CAMPO FORMIO, 1797
+
+The boundaries of the Holy Roman Empire are indicated by thick dots.
+The Austrian Dominions are indicated by vertical lines. The Prussian
+Dominions are indicated by horizontal lines. The Ecclesiastical
+States are indicated by dotted areas.]
+
+The advice was useless. The Venetian democrats determined on a last
+desperate venture. They secretly sent three deputies, among them
+Dandolo, with a large sum of money wherewith to bribe the Directors to
+reject the treaty of Campo Formio. This would have been quite
+practicable, had not their errand become known to Bonaparte. Alarmed
+and enraged at this device, which, if successful, would have consigned
+him to infamy, he sent Duroc in chase; and the envoys, caught before
+they crossed the Maritime Alps, were brought before the general at
+Milan. To his vehement reproaches and threats they opposed a dignified
+silence, until Dandolo, appealing to his generosity, awakened those
+nobler feelings which were never long dormant. Then he quietly
+dismissed them--to witness the downfall of their beloved city.
+
+_Acribus initiis, ut ferme talia, incuriosa fine_; these cynical
+words, with which the historian of the Roman Empire blasted the
+movements of his age, may almost serve as the epitaph to Bonaparte's
+early enthusiasms. Proclaiming at the beginning of his Italian
+campaigns that he came to free Italy, he yet finished his course of
+almost unbroken triumphs by a surrender which his panegyrists have
+scarcely attempted to condone. But the fate of Venice was almost
+forgotten amidst the jubilant acclaim which greeted the conqueror of
+Italy on his arrival at Paris. All France rang with the praises of the
+hero who had spread liberty throughout Northern and Central Italy,
+had enriched the museums of Paris with priceless masterpieces of art,
+whose army had captured 150,000 prisoners, and had triumphed in 18
+pitched battles--for Caldiero was now reckoned as a French
+victory--and 47 smaller engagements. The Directors, shrouding their
+hatred and fear of the masterful proconsul under their Roman togas,
+greeted him with uneasy effusiveness. The climax of the official
+comedy was reached when, at the reception of the conqueror, Barras,
+pointing northwards, exclaimed: "Go there and capture the giant
+corsair that infests the seas: go punish in London outrages that have
+too long been unpunished": whereupon, as if overcome by his emotions,
+he embraced the general. Amidst similar attentions bestowed by the
+other Directors, the curtain falls on the first, or Italian, act of
+the young hero's career, soon to rise on oriental adventures that were
+to recall the exploits of Alexander.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+EGYPT
+
+
+Among the many misconceptions of the French revolutionists none was
+more insidious than the notion that the wealth and power of the
+British people rested on an artificial basis. This mistaken belief in
+England's weakness arose out of the doctrine taught by the
+_Economistes_ or _Physiocrates_ in the latter half of last century,
+that commerce was not of itself productive of wealth, since it only
+promoted the distribution of the products of the earth; but that
+agriculture was the sole source of true wealth and prosperity. They
+therefore exalted agriculture at the expense of commerce and
+manufactures, and the course of the Revolution, which turned largely
+on agrarian questions, tended in the same direction. Robespierre and
+St. Just were never weary of contrasting the virtues of a simple
+pastoral life with the corruptions and weakness engendered by foreign
+commerce; and when, early in 1793, Jacobinical zeal embroiled the
+young Republic with England, the orators of the Convention confidently
+prophesied the downfall of the modern Carthage. Kersaint declared that
+"the credit of England rests upon fictitious wealth: ... bounded in
+territory, the public future of England is found almost wholly in its
+bank, and this edifice is entirely supported by naval commerce. It is
+easy to cripple this commerce, and especially so for a power like
+France, which stands alone on her own riches."[90]
+
+
+
+Commercial interests played a foremost part all through the struggle.
+The official correspondence of Talleyrand in 1797 proves that the
+Directory intended to claim the Channel Islands, the north of
+Newfoundland, and all our conquests in the East Indies made since
+1754, besides the restitution of Gibraltar to Spain.[91] Nor did these
+hopes seem extravagant. The financial crisis in London and the mutiny
+at the Nore seemed to betoken the exhaustion of England, while the
+victories of Bonaparte raised the power of France to heights never
+known before. Before the victory of Duncan over the Dutch at
+Camperdown (October 11th, 1797), Britain seemed to have lost her naval
+supremacy.
+
+The recent admission of State bankruptcy at Paris, when two-thirds of
+the existing liabilities were practically expunged, sharpened the
+desire of the Directory to compass England's ruin, an enterprise which
+might serve to restore French credit and would certainly engage those
+vehement activities of Bonaparte that could otherwise work mischief in
+Paris. On his side he gladly accepted the command of the _Army of
+England_.
+
+     "The people of Paris do not remember anything," he said to
+     Bourrienne. "Were I to remain here long, doing nothing, I should be
+     lost. In this great Babylon everything wears out: my glory has
+     already disappeared. This little Europe does not supply enough of
+     it for me. I must seek it in the East: all great fame comes from
+     that quarter. However, I wish first to make a tour along the
+     [northern] coast to see for myself what may be attempted. If the
+     success of a descent upon England appear doubtful, as I suspect it
+     will, the Army of England shall become the Army of the East, and I
+     go to Egypt."[92]
+
+In February, 1798, he paid a brief visit to Dunkirk and the Flemish
+coast, and concluded that the invasion of England was altogether too
+complicated to be hazarded except as a last desperate venture. In a
+report to the Government (February 23rd) he thus sums up the whole
+situation:
+
+     "Whatever efforts we make, we shall not for some years gain the
+     naval supremacy. To invade England without that supremacy is the
+     most daring and difficult task ever undertaken.... If, having
+     regard to the present organization of our navy, it seems impossible
+     to gain the necessary promptness of execution, then we must really
+     give up the expedition against England, _be satisfied with keeping
+     up the pretence of it_, and concentrate all our attention and
+     resources on the Rhine, in order to try to deprive England of
+     Hanover and Hamburg:[93] ... or else undertake an eastern
+     expedition which would menace her trade with the Indies. And if
+     none of these three operations is practicable, I see nothing else
+     for it but to conclude peace with England."
+
+The greater part of his career serves as a commentary on these
+designs. To one or other of them he was constantly turning as
+alternative schemes for the subjugation of his most redoubtable foe.
+The first plan he now judged to be impracticable; the second, which
+appears later in its fully matured form as his Continental System, was
+not for the present feasible, because France was about to settle
+German affairs at the Congress of Rastadt; to the third he therefore
+turned the whole force of his genius.
+
+The conquest of Egypt and the restoration to France of her supremacy
+in India appealed to both sides of Bonaparte's nature. The vision of
+the tricolour floating above the minarets of Cairo and the palace of
+the Great Mogul at Delhi fascinated a mind in which the mysticism of
+the south was curiously blent with the practicality and passion for
+details that characterize the northern races. To very few men in the
+world's history has it been granted to dream grandiose dreams and all
+but realize them, to use by turns the telescope and the microscope of
+political survey, to plan vast combinations of force, and yet to
+supervise with infinite care the adjustment of every adjunct. Cæsar,
+in the old world, was possibly the mental peer of Bonaparte in this
+majestic equipoise of the imaginative and practical qualities; but of
+Cæsar we know comparatively little; whereas the complex workings of
+the greatest mind of the modern world stand revealed in that
+storehouse of facts and fancies, the "Correspondance de Napoléon." The
+motives which led to the Eastern Expedition are there unfolded. In the
+letter which he wrote to Talleyrand shortly before the signature of
+the peace of Campo Formio occurs this suggestive passage:
+
+     "The character of our nation is to be far too vivacious amidst
+     prosperity. If we take for the basis of all our operations true
+     policy, which is nothing else than the calculation of combinations
+     and chances, we shall long be _la grande nation_ and the arbiter of
+     Europe. I say more: we hold the balance of Europe: we will make
+     that balance incline as we wish; and, if such is the order of fate,
+     I think it by no means impossible that we may in a few years attain
+     those grand results of which the heated and enthusiastic
+     imagination catches a glimpse, and which the extremely cool,
+     persistent, and calculating man will alone attain."
+
+This letter was written when Bonaparte was bartering away Venice to
+the Emperor in consideration of the acquisition by France of the
+Ionian Isles. Its reference to the vivacity of the French was
+doubtless evoked by the orders which he then received to
+"revolutionize Italy." To do that, while the Directory further
+extorted from England Gibraltar, the Channel Islands, and her eastern
+conquests, was a programme dictated by excessive vivacity. The
+Directory lacked the practical qualities that selected one great
+enterprise at a time and brought to bear on it the needful
+concentration of effort. In brief, he selected the war against
+England's eastern commerce as his next sphere of action; for it
+offered "an arena vaster, more necessary and resplendent" than war
+with Austria; "if we compel the [British] Government to a peace, the
+advantages we shall gain for our commerce in both hemispheres will be
+a great step towards the consolidation of liberty and the public
+welfare."[94]
+
+For this eastern expedition he had already prepared. In May, 1797, he
+had suggested the seizure of Malta from the Knights of St. John; and
+when, on September 27th, the Directory gave its assent, he sent
+thither a French commissioner, Poussielgue, on a "commercial mission,"
+to inspect those ports, and also, doubtless, to undermine the
+discipline of the Knights. Now that the British had retired from
+Corsica, and France disposed of the maritime resources of Northern
+Italy, Spain, and Holland, it seemed quite practicable to close the
+Mediterranean to those "intriguing and enterprising islanders," to
+hold them at bay in their dull northern seas, to exhaust them by
+ruinous preparations against expected descents on their southern
+coasts, on Ireland, and even on Scotland, while Bonaparte's eastern
+conquests dried up the sources of their wealth in the Orient: "Let us
+concentrate all our activity on our navy and destroy England. That
+done, Europe is at our feet."[95]
+
+But he encountered opposition from the Directory. They still clung to
+their plan of revolutionizing Italy; and only by playing on their fear
+of the army could he bring these civilians to assent to the
+expatriation of 35,000 troops and their best generals. On La
+Réveillière-Lépeaux the young commander worked with a skill that
+veiled the choicest irony. This Director was the high-priest of a
+newly-invented cult, termed _Théo-philanthropie_, into the dull embers
+of which he was still earnestly blowing. To this would-be prophet
+Bonaparte now suggested that the eastern conquests would furnish a
+splendid field for the spread of the new faith; and La Réveillière was
+forthwith converted from his scheme of revolutionizing Europe to the
+grander sphere of moral proselytism opened out to him in the East by
+the very chief who, on landing in Egypt, forthwith professed the
+Moslem creed.
+
+After gaining the doubtful assent of the Directory, Bonaparte had to
+face urgent financial difficulties. The dearth of money was, however,
+met by two opportune interventions. The first of these was in the
+affairs of Rome. The disorders of the preceding year in that city had
+culminated at Christmas in a riot in which General Duphot had been
+assassinated; this outrage furnished the pretext desired by the
+Directory for revolutionizing Central Italy. Berthier was at once
+ordered to lead French troops against the Eternal City. He entered
+without resistance (February 15th, 1798), declared the civil authority
+of the Pope at an end, and proclaimed the _restoration_ of the Roman
+Republic. The practical side of the liberating policy was soon
+revealed. A second time the treasures of Rome, both artistic and
+financial, were rifled; and, as Lucien Bonaparte caustically remarked
+in his "Memoirs," the chief duty of the newly-appointed consuls and
+quæstors was to superintend the packing up of pictures and statues
+designed for Paris. Berthier not only laid the basis of a large
+private fortune, but showed his sense of the object of the expedition
+by sending large sums for the equipment of the armada at Toulon. "In
+sending me to Rome," wrote Berthier to Bonaparte, "you appoint me
+treasurer to the expedition against England. I will try to fill the
+exchequer."
+
+The intervention of the Directory in the affairs of Switzerland was
+equally lucrative. The inhabitants of the district of Vaud, in their
+struggles against the oppressive rule of the Bernese oligarchy, had
+offered to the French Government the excuse for interference: and a
+force invading that land, overpowered the levies of the central
+cantons.[96] The imposition of a centralized form of government
+modelled on that of France, the wresting of Geneva from this ancient
+confederation, and its incorporation with France, were not the only
+evils suffered by Switzerland. Despite the proclamation of General
+Brune that the French came as friends to the descendants of William
+Tell, and would respect their independence and their property, French
+commissioners proceeded to rifle the treasuries of Berne, Zürich,
+Solothurn, Fribourg, and Lucerne of sums which amounted in all to
+eight and a half million francs; fifteen millions were extorted in
+forced contributions and plunder, besides 130 cannon and 60,000
+muskets which also became the spoils of the liberators.[97] The
+destination of part of the treasure was already fixed; on April 13th
+Bonaparte wrote an urgent letter to General Lannes, directing him to
+expedite the transit of the booty to Toulon, where three million
+francs were forthwith expended on the completion of the armada.
+
+This letter, and also the testimony of Madame de Staël, Barras,
+Bourrienne, and Mallet du Pan, show that he must have been a party to
+this interference in Swiss affairs, which marks a debasement, not only
+of Bonaparte's character, but of that of the French army and people.
+It drew from Coleridge, who previously had seen in the Revolution the
+dawn of a nobler era, an indignant protest against the prostitution of
+the ideas of 1789:
+
+  "Oh France that mockest Heaven, adulterous, blind,
+  Are these thy boasts, champion of human kind?
+  To mix with Kings in the low lust of sway,
+  Yell in the hunt and join the murderous prey? ...
+  The sensual and the dark rebel in vain
+  Slaves by their own compulsion. In mad game
+  They burst their manacles: but wear the name
+  Of Freedom, graven on a heavier chain."
+
+The occupation by French troops of the great central bastion of the
+European system seemed a challenge, not only to idealists, but to
+German potentates. It nearly precipitated a rupture with Vienna, where
+the French tricolour had recently been torn down by an angry crowd.
+But Bonaparte did his utmost to prevent a renewal of war that would
+blight his eastern prospects; and he succeeded. One last trouble
+remained. At his final visit to the Directory, when crossed about some
+detail, he passionately threw up his command. Thereupon Rewbell, noted
+for his incisive speech, drew up the form of resignation, and
+presenting it to Bonaparte, firmly said, "Sign, citizen general." The
+general did not sign, but retired from the meeting apparently
+crestfallen, but really meditating a _coup d'état_. This last
+statement rests on the evidence of Mathieu Dumas, who heard it
+through General Desaix, a close friend of Bonaparte; and it is clear
+from the narratives of Bourrienne, Barras, and Madame Junot that,
+during his last days in Paris, the general was moody, preoccupied, and
+fearful of being poisoned.
+
+At last the time of preparation and suspense was at an end. The aims
+of the expedition as officially defined by a secret decree on April
+12th included the capture of Egypt and the exclusion of the English
+from "all their possessions in the East to which the general can
+come"; Bonaparte was also to have the isthmus of Suez cut through; to
+"assure the _free and exclusive_ possession of the Red Sea to the
+French Republic"; to improve the condition of the natives of Egypt,
+and to cultivate good relations with the Grand Signior. Another secret
+decree empowered Bonaparte to seize Malta. To these schemes he added
+another of truly colossal dimensions. After conquering the East, he
+would rouse the Greeks and other Christians of the East, overthrow the
+Turks, seize Constantinople, and "take Europe in the rear."
+
+Generous support was accorded to the _savants_ who were desirous of
+exploring the artistic and literary treasures of Egypt and
+Mesopotamia. It has been affirmed by the biographer of Monge that the
+enthusiasm of this celebrated physicist first awakened Bonaparte's
+desire for the eastern expedition; but this seems to have been
+aroused earlier by Volney, who saw a good deal of Bonaparte in 1791.
+In truth, the desire to wrest the secrets of learning from the
+mysterious East seems always to have spurred on his keenly inquisitive
+nature. During the winter months of 1797-8 he attended the chemical
+lectures of the renowned Berthollet; and it was no perfunctory choice
+which selected him for the place in the famous institute left vacant
+by the exile of Carnot. The manner in which he now signed his orders
+and proclamations--Member of the Institute, General in Chief of the
+Army of the East--showed his determination to banish from the life of
+France that affectation of boorish ignorance by which the Terrorists
+had rendered themselves uniquely odious.
+
+After long delays, caused by contrary winds, the armada set sail from
+Toulon. Along with the convoys from Marseilles, Genoa, and Civita
+Vecchia, it finally reached the grand total of 13 ships of the line, 7
+frigates, several gunboats, and nearly 300 transports of various
+sizes, conveying 35,000 troops. Admiral Brueys was the admiral, but
+acting under Bonaparte. Of the generals whom the commander-in-chief
+took with him, the highest in command were the divisional generals
+Kléber, Desaix, Bon, Menou, Reynier, for the infantry: under them
+served 14 generals, a few of whom, as Marmont, were to achieve a wider
+fame. The cavalry was commanded by the stalwart mulatto, General
+Alexandre Dumas, under whom served Leclerc, the husband of Pauline
+Bonaparte, along with two men destined to world-wide renown, Murat and
+Davoust. The artillery was commanded by Dommartin, the engineers by
+Caffarelli: and the heroic Lannes was quarter-master general.
+
+The armada appeared off Malta without meeting with any incident. This
+island was held by the Knights of St. John, the last of those
+companies of Christian warriors who had once waged war on the infidels
+in Palestine. Their courage had evaporated in luxurious ease, and
+their discipline was a prey to intestine schisms and to the intrigues
+carried on with the French Knights of the Order. A French fleet had
+appeared off Valetta in the month of March in the hope of effecting a
+surprise; but the admiral, Brueys, judging the effort too hazardous,
+sent an awkward explanation, which only served to throw the knights
+into the arms of Russia. One of the chivalrous dreams of the Czar Paul
+was that of spreading his influence in the Mediterranean by a treaty
+with this Order. It gratified his crusading ardour and promised to
+Russia a naval base for the partition of Turkey which was then being
+discussed with Austria: to secure the control of the island, Russia
+was about to expend 400,000 roubles, when Bonaparte anticipated
+Muscovite designs by a prompt seizure.[98] An excuse was easily found
+for a rupture with the Order: some companies of troops were
+disembarked, and hostilities commenced.
+
+Secure within their mighty walls, the knights might have held the
+intruders at bay, had they not been divided by internal disputes: the
+French knights refused to fight against their countrymen; and a revolt
+of the native Maltese, long restless under the yoke of the Order, now
+helped to bring the Grand Master to a surrender. The evidence of the
+English consul, Mr. Williams, seems to show that the discontent of the
+natives was even more potent than the influence of French gold in
+bringing about this result.[99] At any rate, one of the strongest
+places in Europe admitted a French garrison, after so tame a defence
+that General Caffarelli, on viewing the fortifications, remarked to
+Bonaparte: "Upon my word, general, it is lucky there was some one in
+the town to open the gates to us."
+
+During his stay of seven days at Malta, Bonaparte revealed the vigour
+of those organizing powers for which the half of Europe was soon to
+present all too small an arena. He abolished the Order, pensioning off
+those French knights who had been serviceable: he abolished the
+religious houses and confiscated their domains to the service of the
+new government: he established a governmental commission acting under
+a military governor: he continued provisionally the existing taxes,
+and provided for the imposition of customs, excise, and octroi dues:
+he prepared the way for the improvement of the streets, the erection
+of fountains, the reorganization of the hospitals and the post
+office. To the university he gave special attention, rearranging the
+curriculum on the model of the more advanced _écoles centrales_ of
+France, but inclining the studies severely to the exact sciences and
+the useful arts. On all sides he left the imprint of his practical
+mind, that viewed life as a game at chess, whence bishops and knights
+were carefully banished, and wherein nothing was left but the heavy
+pieces and subservient pawns.
+
+After dragging Malta out of its mediaeval calm and plunging it into
+the full swirl of modern progress, Bonaparte set sail for Egypt. His
+exchequer was the richer by all the gold and silver, whether in
+bullion or in vessels, discoverable in the treasury of Malta or in the
+Church of St. John. Fortunately, the silver gates of this church had
+been coloured over, and thus escaped the fate of the other
+treasures.[100] On the voyage to Alexandria he studied the library of
+books which he had requested Bourrienne to purchase for him. The
+composition of this library is of interest as showing the strong trend
+of his thoughts towards history, though at a later date he was careful
+to limit its study in the university and schools which he founded. He
+had with him 125 volumes of historical works, among which the
+translations of Thucydides, Plutarch, Tacitus, and Livy represented
+the life of the ancient world, while in modern life he concentrated
+his attention chiefly on the manners and institutions of peoples and
+the memoirs of great generals--as Turenne, Condé, Luxembourg, Saxe,
+Marlborough, Eugène, and Charles XII. Of the poets he selected the
+so-called Ossian, Tasso, Ariosto, Homer, Virgil, and the masterpieces
+of the French theatre; but he especially affected the turgid and
+declamatory style of Ossian. In romance, English literature was
+strongly represented by forty volumes of novels, of course in
+translations. Besides a few works on arts and sciences, he also had
+with him twelve volumes of "Barclay's Geography," and three volumes of
+"Cook's Voyages," which show that his thoughts extended to the
+antipodes; and under the heading of Politics he included the Bible,
+the Koran, the Vedas, a Mythology, and Montesquieu's "Esprit des
+Lois"! The composition and classification of this library are equally
+suggestive. Bonaparte carefully searched out the weak places of the
+organism which he was about to attack--in the present campaign, Egypt
+and the British Empire. The climate and natural products, the genius
+of its writers and the spirit of its religion--nothing came amiss to
+his voracious intellect, which assimilated the most diverse materials
+and pressed them all into his service. Greek mythology provided
+allusions for the adornment of his proclamations, the Koran would
+dictate his behaviour towards the Moslems, and the Bible was to be his
+guide-book concerning the Druses and Armenians. All three were
+therefore grouped together under the head of Politics.
+
+
+And this, on the whole, fairly well represents his mental attitude
+towards religion: at least, it was his work-a-day attitude. There were
+moments, it is true, when an overpowering sense of the majesty of the
+universe lifted his whole being far above this petty opportunism: and
+in those moments, which, in regard to the declaration of character,
+may surely be held to counterbalance whole months spent in tactical
+shifts and diplomatic wiles, he was capable of soaring to heights of
+imaginative reverence. Such an episode, lighting up for us the
+recesses of his mind, occurred during his voyage to Egypt. The
+_savants_ on board his ship, "L'Orient," were discussing one of those
+questions which Bonaparte often propounded, in order that, as arbiter
+in this contest of wits, he might gauge their mental powers. Mental
+dexterity, rather than the Socratic pursuit after truth, was the aim
+of their dialectic; but on one occasion, when religion was being
+discussed, Bonaparte sounded a deeper note: looking up into the
+midnight vault of sky, he said to the philosophizing atheists: "Very
+ingenious, sirs, but who made all that?" As a retort to the
+tongue-fencers, what could be better? The appeal away from words to
+the star-studded canopy was irresistible: it affords a signal proof of
+what Carlyle has finely called his "instinct for nature" and his
+"ineradicable feeling for reality." This probably was the true man,
+lying deep under his Moslem shifts and Concordat bargainings.
+
+That there was a tinge of superstition in Bonaparte's nature, such as
+usually appears in gifted scions of a coast-dwelling family, cannot be
+denied;[101] but his usual attitude towards religion was that of the
+political mechanician, not of the devotee, and even while professing
+the forms of fatalistic belief, he really subordinated them to his own
+designs. To this profound calculation of the credulity of mankind we
+may probably refer his allusions to his star. The present writer
+regards it as almost certain that his star was invoked in order to
+dazzle the vulgar herd. Indeed, if we may trust Miot de Melito, the
+First Consul once confessed as much to a circle of friends. "Cæsar,"
+he said, "was right to cite his good fortune and to appear to believe
+in it. That is a means of acting on the imagination of others without
+offending anyone's self-love." A strange admission this; what
+boundless self-confidence it implies that he should have admitted the
+trickery. The mere acknowledgment of it is a proof that he felt
+himself so far above the plane of ordinary mortals that, despite the
+disclosure, he himself would continue to be his own star. For the
+rest, is it credible that this analyzing genius could ever have
+seriously adopted the astrologer's creed? Is there anything in his
+early note-books or later correspondence which warrants such a belief?
+Do not all his references to his star occur in proclamations and
+addresses intended for popular consumption?
+
+Certainly Bonaparte's good fortune was conspicuous all through these
+eastern adventures, and never more so than when he escaped the pursuit
+of Nelson. The English admiral had divined his aim. Setting all sail,
+he came almost within sight of the French force near Crete, and he
+reached Alexandria barely two days before his foes hove in sight.
+Finding no hostile force there, he doubled back on his course and
+scoured the seas between Crete, Sicily, and the Morca, until news
+received from a Turkish official again sent him eastwards. On such
+trifles does the fate of empires sometimes depend.
+
+Meanwhile events were crowding thick and fast upon Bonaparte. To free
+himself from the terrible risks which had menaced his force off the
+Egyptian coast, he landed his troops, 35,000 strong, with all possible
+expedition at Marabout near Alexandria, and, directing his columns of
+attack on the walls of that city, captured it by a rush (July 2nd).
+
+For this seizure of neutral territory he offered no excuse other than
+that the Beys, who were the real rulers of Egypt, had favoured English
+commerce and were guilty of some outrages on French merchants. He
+strove, however, to induce the Sultan of Turkey to believe that the
+French invasion of Egypt was a friendly act, as it would overthrow the
+power of the Mamelukes, who had reduced Turkish authority to a mere
+shadow. This was the argument which he addressed to the Turkish
+officials, but it proved to be too subtle even for the oriental mind
+fully to appreciate. Bonaparte's chief concern was to win over the
+subject population, which consisted of diverse races. At the surface
+were the Mamelukes, a powerful military order, possessing a
+magnificent cavalry, governed by two Beys, and scarcely recognizing
+the vague suzerainty claimed by the Porte. The rivalries of the Beys,
+Murad and Ibrahim, produced a fertile crop of discords in this
+governing caste, and their feuds exposed the subject races, both Arabs
+and Copts, to constant forays and exactions. It seemed possible,
+therefore, to arouse them against the dominant caste, provided that
+the Mohammedan scruples of the whole population were carefully
+respected. To this end, the commander cautioned his troops to act
+towards the Moslems as towards "Jews and Italians," and to respect
+their muftis and imams as much as "rabbis and bishops." He also
+proclaimed to the Egyptians his determination, while overthrowing
+Mameluke tyranny, to respect the Moslem faith: "Have we not destroyed
+the Pope, who bade men wage war on Moslems? Have we not destroyed the
+Knights of Malta, because those fools believed it to be God's will to
+war against Moslems?" The French soldiers were vastly amused by the
+humour of these proceedings, and the liberated people fully
+appreciated the menaces with which Bonaparte's proclamation closed,
+backed up as these were by irresistible force.[102]
+
+After arranging affairs at Alexandria, where the gallant Kléber was
+left in command, Bonaparte ordered an advance into the interior.
+Never, perhaps, did he show the value of swift offensive action more
+decisively than in this prompt march on Damanhour across the desert.
+The other route by way of Rosetta would have been easier; but, as it
+was longer, he rejected it, and told off General Menou to capture that
+city and support a flotilla of boats which was to ascend the Nile and
+meet the army on its march to Cairo. On July 4th the first division of
+the main force set forth by night into the desert south of Alexandria.
+All was new and terrible; and, when the rays of the sun smote on their
+weary backs, the murmurings of the troops grew loud. This, then, was
+the land "more fertile than Lombardy," which was the goal of their
+wanderings. "See, there are the six acres of land which you are
+promised," exclaimed a waggish soldier to his comrade as they first
+gazed from ship-board on the desert east of Alexandria; and all the
+sense of discipline failed to keep this and other gibes from the ears
+of staff officers even before they reached that city. Far worse was
+their position now in the shifting sand of the desert, beset by
+hovering Bedouins, stung by scorpions, and afflicted by intolerable
+thirst. The Arabs had filled the scanty wells with stones, and only
+after long toil could the sappers reach the precious fluid beneath.
+Then the troops rushed and fought for the privilege of drinking a few
+drops of muddy liquor. Thus they struggled on, the succeeding
+divisions faring worst of all. Berthier, chief of the staff, relates
+that a glass of water sold for its weight in gold. Even brave officers
+abandoned themselves to transports of rage and despair which left them
+completely prostrate.[103]
+
+But Bonaparte flinched not. His stern composure offered the best
+rebuke to such childish sallies; and when out of a murmuring group
+there came the bold remark, "Well, General, are you going to take us
+to India thus," he abashed the speaker and his comrades by the quick
+retort, "No, I would not undertake that with such soldiers as you."
+French honour, touched to the quick, reasserted itself even above the
+torments of thirst; and the troops themselves, when they tardily
+reached the Nile and slaked their thirst in its waters, recognized the
+pre-eminence of his will and his profound confidence in their
+endurance. French gaiety had not been wholly eclipsed even by the
+miseries of the desert march. To cheer their drooping spirits the
+commander had sent some of the staunchest generals along the line of
+march. Among them was the gifted Caffarelli, who had lost a leg in the
+Rhenish campaign: his reassuring words called forth the inimitable
+retort from the ranks: "Ah! he don't care, not he: he has one leg in
+France." Scarcely less witty was the soldier's description of the
+prowling Bedouins, who cut off stragglers and plunderers, as "The
+mounted highway police."
+
+After brushing aside a charge of 800 Mamelukes at Chebreiss, the army
+made its way up the banks of the Nile to Embabeh, opposite Cairo.
+There the Mamelukes, led by the fighting Bey, Murad, had their
+fortified camp; and there that superb cavalry prepared to overwhelm
+the invaders in a whirlwind rush of horse (July 21st, 1798). The
+occasion and the surroundings were such as to inspire both sides with
+deperate resolution. It was the first fierce shock on land of eastern
+chivalry and western enterprise since the days of St. Louis; and the
+ardour of the republicans was scarcely less than that which had
+kindled the soldiers of the cross. Beside the two armies rolled the
+mysterious Nile; beyond glittered the slender minarets of Cairo; and
+on the south there loomed the massy Pyramids. To the forty centuries
+that had rolled over them, Bonaparte now appealed, in one of those
+imaginative touches which ever brace the French nature to the utmost
+tension of daring and endurance. Thus they advanced in close formation
+towards the intrenched camp of the Mamelukes. The divisions on the
+left at once rushed at its earthworks, silenced its feeble artillery,
+and slaughtered the fellahin inside.
+
+
+But the other divisions, now ranged in squares, while gazing at this
+exploit, were assailed by the Mamelukes. From out the haze of the
+mirage, or from behind the ridges of sand and the scrub of the
+water-melon plants that dotted the plain, some 10,000 of these superb
+horsemen suddenly appeared and rushed at the squares commanded by
+Desaix and Reynier. Their richly caparisoned chargers, their waving
+plumes, their wild battle-cries, and their marvellous skill with
+carbine and sword, lent picturesqueness and terror to the charge.
+Musketry and grapeshot mowed down their front coursers in ghastly
+swathes; but the living mass swept on, wellnigh overwhelming the
+fronts of the squares, and then, swerving aside, poured through the
+deadly funnel between. Decimated here also by the steady fire of the
+French files, and by the discharges of the rear face, they fell away
+exhausted, leaving heaps of dead and dying on the fronts of the
+squares, and in their very midst a score of their choicest cavaliers,
+whose bravery and horsemanship had carried them to certain death
+amidst the bayonets. The French now assumed the offensive, and
+Desaix's division, threatening to cut off the retreat of Murad's
+horsemen, led that wary chief to draw off his shattered squadrons;
+others sought, though with terrible losses, to escape across the Nile
+to Ibrahim's following. That chief had taken no share in the fight,
+and now made off towards Syria. Such was the battle of the Pyramids,
+which gained a colony at the cost of some thirty killed and about ten
+times as many wounded: of the killed about twenty fell victims to the
+cross fire of the two squares.[104]
+
+After halting for a fortnight at Cairo to recruit his weary troops and
+to arrange the affairs of his conquest, Bonaparte marched eastwards in
+pursuit of Ibrahim and drove him into Syria, while Desaix waged an
+arduous but successful campaign against Murad in Upper Egypt. But the
+victors were soon to learn the uselessness of
+merely military triumphs in Egypt. As Bonaparte returned to complete
+the organization of the new colony, he heard that Nelson had destroyed
+his fleet.
+
+On July 3rd, before setting out from Alexandria, the French commander
+gave an order to his admiral, though it must be added that its
+authenticity is doubtful:
+
+     "The admiral will to-morrow acquaint the commander-in-chief by a
+     report whether the squadron can enter the port of Alexandria, or
+     whether, in Aboukir Roads, bringing its broadside to bear, it can
+     defend itself against the enemy's superior force; and in case both
+     these plans should be impracticable, he must sail for Corfu ...
+     leaving the light ships and the flotilla at Alexandria."
+
+Brueys speedily discovered that the first plan was beset by grave
+dangers: the entrance to the harbour of Alexandria, when sounded,
+proved to be most difficult for large ships--such was his judgment and
+that of Villeneuve and Casabianca--and the exit could be blocked by a
+single English battleship. As regards the alternatives of Aboukir or
+Corfu, Brueys went on to state: "My firm desire is to be useful to you
+in every possible way: and, as I have already said, every post will
+suit me well, provided that you placed me there in an active way." By
+this rather ambiguous phrase it would seem that he scouted the
+alternative of Corfu as consigning him to a degrading inactivity;
+while at Aboukir he held that he could be actively useful in
+protecting the rear of the army. In that bay he therefore anchored his
+largest ships, trusting that the dangers of the approach would screen
+him from any sudden attack, but making also special preparations in
+case he should be compelled to fight at anchor.[105] His decision was
+probably less sound than that of Bonaparte, who, while marching to
+Cairo, and again during his sojourn there, ordered him to make for
+Corfu or Toulon; for the general saw clearly that the French fleet,
+riding in safety in those well-protected roadsteads, would really
+dominate the Mediterranean better than in the open expanse of Aboukir.
+But these orders did not reach the admiral before the blow fell; and
+it is, after all, somewhat ungenerous to censure Brueys for his
+decision to remain at Aboukir and risk a fight rather than comply with
+the dictates of a prudent but inglorious strategy.
+
+The British admiral, after sweeping the eastern Mediterranean, at last
+found the French fleet in Aboukir Bay, about ten miles from the
+Rosetta mouth of the Nile. It was anchored under the lee of a shoal
+which would have prevented any ordinary admiral from attacking,
+especially at sundown. But Nelson, knowing that the head ship of the
+French was free to swing at anchor, rightly concluded that there must
+be room for British ships to sail between Brueys' stationary line and
+the shallows. The British captains thrust five ships between the
+French and the shoal, while the others, passing down the enemy's line
+on the seaward side, crushed it in detail; and, after a night of
+carnage, the light of August 2nd dawned on a scene of destruction
+unsurpassed in naval warfare. Two French ships of the line and two
+frigates alone escaped: one, the gigantic "Orient," had blown up with
+the spoils of Malta on board: the rest, eleven in number, were
+captured or burnt.
+
+To Bonaparte this disaster came as a bolt from the blue. Only two days
+before, he had written from Cairo to Brueys that all the conduct of
+the English made him believe them to be inferior in numbers and fully
+satisfied with blockading Malta. Yet, in order to restore the _morale_
+of his army, utterly depressed by this disaster, he affected a
+confidence which he could no longer feel, and said: "Well! here we
+must remain or achieve a grandeur like that of the ancients."[106] He
+had recently assured his intimates that after routing the Beys' forces
+he would return to France and strike a blow direct at England.
+Whatever he may have designed, he was now a prisoner in his conquest.
+His men, even some of his highest officers, as Berthier, Bessières,
+Lannes, Murat, Dumas, and others, bitterly complained of their
+miserable position. But the commander, whose spirits rose with
+adversity, took effective means for repressing such discontent. To the
+last-named, a powerful mulatto, he exclaimed: "You have held seditious
+parleys: take care that I do not perform my duty: your six feet of
+stature shall not save you from being shot": and he offered passports
+for France to a few of the most discontented and useless officers,
+well knowing that after Nelson's victory they could scarcely be used.
+Others, again, out-Heroding Herod, suggested that the frigates and
+transports at Alexandria should be taken to pieces and conveyed on
+camels' backs to Suez, there to be used for the invasion of
+India.[107]
+
+The versatility of Bonaparte's genius was never more marked than at
+this time of discouragement. While his enemies figured him and his
+exhausted troops as vainly seeking to escape from those arid wastes;
+while Nelson was landing the French prisoners in order to increase his
+embarrassment about food, Bonaparte and his _savants_ were developing
+constructive powers of the highest order, which made the army
+independent of Europe. It was a vast undertaking. Deprived of most of
+their treasure and many of their mechanical appliances by the loss of
+the fleet, the _savants_ and engineers had, as it were, to start from
+the beginning. Some strove to meet the difficulties of food-supply by
+extending the cultivation of corn and rice, or by the construction of
+large ovens and bakeries, or of windmills for grinding corn. Others
+planted vineyards for the future, or sought to appease the ceaseless
+thirst of the soldiery by the manufacture of a kind of native beer.
+Foundries and workshops began, though slowly, to supply tools and
+machines; the earth was rifled of her treasures, natron was wrought,
+saltpetre works were established, and gunpowder was thereby procured
+for the army with an energy which recalled the prodigies of activity
+of 1793.
+
+With his usual ardour in the cause of learning, Bonaparte several
+times a week appeared in the chemical laboratory, or witnessed the
+experiments performed by Berthollet and Monge. Desirous of giving
+cohesion to the efforts of his _savants_, and of honouring not only
+the useful arts but abstruse research, he united these pioneers of
+science in a society termed the Institute of Egypt. On August 23rd,
+1798, it was installed with much ceremony in the palace of one of the
+Beys, Monge being president and Bonaparte vice-president. The general
+also enrolled himself in the mathematical section of the institute.
+Indeed, he sought by all possible means to aid the labours of the
+_savants_, whose dissertations were now heard in the large hall of the
+harem that formerly resounded only to the twanging of lutes, weary
+jests, and idle laughter. The labours of the _savants_ were not
+confined to Cairo and the Delta. As soon as the victories of Desaix
+in Upper Egypt opened the middle reaches of the Nile to peaceful
+research, the treasures of Memphis were revealed to the astonished
+gaze of western learning. Many of the more portable relics were
+transferred to Cairo, and thence to Rosetta or Alexandria, in order to
+grace the museums of Paris. The _savants_ proposed, but sea-power
+disposed, of these treasures. They are now, with few exceptions, in
+the British Museum.
+
+Apart from archæology, much was done to extend the bounds of learning.
+Astronomy gained much by the observations of General Caffarelli. A
+series of measurements was begun for an exact survey of Egypt: the
+geologists and engineers examined the course of the Nile, recorded the
+progress of alluvial deposits at its mouth or on its banks, and
+therefrom calculated the antiquity of divers parts of the Delta. No
+part of the great conqueror's career so aptly illustrates the truth of
+his noble words to the magistrates of the Ligurian Republic: "The true
+conquests, the only conquests which cost no regrets, are those
+achieved over ignorance."
+
+Such, in brief outline, is the story of the renascence in Egypt. The
+mother-land of science and learning, after a wellnigh barren interval
+of 1,100 years since the Arab conquest, was now developed and
+illumined by the application of the arts with which in the dim past
+she had enriched the life of barbarous Europe. The repayment of this
+incalculable debt was due primarily to the enterprise of Bonaparte. It
+is one of his many titles to fame and to the homage of posterity. How
+poor by the side of this encyclopaedic genius are the gifts even of
+his most brilliant foes! At that same time the Archduke Charles of
+Austria was vegetating in inglorious ease on his estates. As for
+Beaulieu and Würmser, they had subsided into their native obscurity.
+Nelson, after his recent triumph, persuading himself that "Bonaparte
+had gone to the devil," was bending before the whims of a professional
+beauty and the odious despotism of the worst Court in Europe. While
+the admiral tarnished his fame on the Syren coast of Naples, his great
+opponent bent all the resources of a fertile intellect to retrieve his
+position, and even under the gloom of disaster threw a gleam of light
+into the dark continent. While his adversaries were merely generals or
+admirals, hampered by a stupid education and a narrow nationality,
+Bonaparte had eagerly imbibed the new learning of his age and saw its
+possible influence on the reorganization of society. He is not merely
+a general. Even when he is scattering to the winds the proud chivalry
+of the East, and is prescribing to Brueys his safest course of action,
+he finds time vastly to expand the horizon of human knowledge.
+
+
+Nor did he neglect Egyptian politics. He used a native council for
+consultation and for the promulgation of his own ideas. Immediately
+after his entry into Cairo he appointed nine sheikhs to form a divan,
+or council, consulting daily on public order and the food-supplies of
+the city. He next assembled a general divan for Egypt, and a smaller
+council for each province, and asked their advice concerning the
+administration of justice and the collection of taxes.[108] In its use
+of oriental terminology, this scheme was undeniably clever; but
+neither French, Arabs, nor Turks were deceived as to the real
+government, which resided entirely in Bonaparte; and his skill in
+reapportioning the imposts had some effect on the prosperity of the
+land, enabling it to bear the drain of his constant requisitions. The
+welfare of the new colony was also promoted by the foundation of a
+mint and of an Egyptian Commercial Company.
+
+His inventive genius was by no means exhausted by these varied toils.
+On his journey to Suez he met a camel caravan in the desert, and
+noticing the speed of the animals, he determined to form a camel
+corps; and in the first month of 1799 the experiment was made with
+such success that admission into the ranks of the camelry came to be
+viewed as a favour. Each animal carried two men with their arms and
+baggage: the uniform was sky-blue with a white turban; and the speed
+and precision of their movements enabled them to deal terrible blows,
+even at distant tribes of Bedouins, who bent before a genius that
+could outwit them even in their own deserts.
+
+The pleasures of his officers and men were also met by the opening of
+the Tivoli Gardens; and there, in sight of the Pyramids, the life of
+the Palais Royal took root: the glasses clinked, the dice rattled, and
+heads reeled to the lascivious movements of the eastern dance; and
+Bonaparte himself indulged a passing passion for the wife of one of
+his officers, with an openness that brought on him a rebuke from his
+stepson, Eugène Beauharnais. But already he had been rendered
+desperate by reports of the unfaithfulness of Josephine at Paris; the
+news wrung from him this pathetic letter to his brother Joseph--the
+death-cry of his long drooping idealism:
+
+     "I have much to worry me privately, for the veil is entirely torn
+     aside. You alone remain to me; your affection is very dear to me:
+     nothing more remains to make me a misanthrope than to lose her and
+     see you betray me.... Buy a country seat against my return, either
+     near Paris or in Burgundy. I need solitude and isolation: grandeur
+     wearies me: the fount of feeling is dried up: glory itself is
+     insipid. At twenty-nine years of age I have exhausted everything.
+     It only remains to me to become a thorough egoist."[109]
+
+Many rumours were circulated as to Bonaparte's public appearance in
+oriental costume and his presence at a religious service in a mosque.
+It is even stated by Thiers that at one of the chief festivals he
+repaired to the great mosque, repeated the prayers like a true Moslem,
+crossing his legs and swaying his body to and fro, so that he "edified
+the believers by his orthodox piety." But the whole incident, however
+attractive scenically and in point of humour, seems to be no better
+authenticated than the religious results about which the historian
+cherished so hopeful a belief. The truth seems to be that the general
+went to the celebration of the birth of the Prophet as an interested
+spectator, at the house of the sheik, El Bekri. Some hundred sheikhs
+were there present: they swayed their bodies to and fro while the
+story of Mahomet's life was recited; and Bonaparte afterwards partook
+of an oriental repast. But he never forgot his dignity so far as
+publicly to appear in a turban and loose trousers, which he donned
+only once for the amusement of his staff.[110] That he endeavoured to
+pose as a Moslem is beyond doubt. Witness his endeavour to convince
+the imams at Cairo of his desire to conform to their faith. If we may
+believe that dubious compilation, "A Voice from St. Helena," he bade
+them consult together as to the possibility of admission of men, who
+were not circumcised and did not abstain from wine, into the true
+fold. As to the latter disability, he stated that the French were poor
+cold people, inhabitants of the north, who could not exist without
+wine. For a long time the imams demurred to this plea, which involved
+greater difficulties than the question of circumcision: but after long
+consultations they decided that both objections might be waived in
+consideration of a superabundance of good works. The reply was
+prompted by an irony no less subtle than that which accompanied the
+claim, and neither side was deceived in this contest of wits.
+
+A rude awakening soon came. For some few days there had been rumours
+that the division under Desaix which was fighting the Mamelukes in
+Upper Egypt had been engulfed in those sandy wastes; and this report
+fanned to a flame the latent hostility against the unbelievers. From
+many minarets of Cairo a summons to arms took the place of the
+customary call to prayer: and on October 21st the French garrison was
+so fiercely and suddenly attacked as to leave the issue doubtful.
+Discipline and grapeshot finally prevailed, whereupon a repression of
+oriental ferocity cowed the spirits of the townsfolk and of the
+neighbouring country. Forts were constructed in Cairo and at all the
+strategic points along the lower Nile, and Egypt seemed to be
+conquered.
+
+Feeling sure now of his hold on the populace, Bonaparte, at the close
+of the year, undertook a journey to Suez and the Sinaitic peninsula.
+It offered that combination of utility and romance which ever appealed
+to him. At Suez he sought to revivify commerce by lightening the
+customs' dues, by founding a branch of his Egyptian commercial
+company, and by graciously receiving a deputation of the Arabs of Tor
+who came to sue for his friendship.[111] Then, journeying on, he
+visited the fountains of Moses; but it is not true that (as stated by
+Lanfrey) he proceeded to Mount Sinai and signed his name in the
+register of the monastery side by side with that of Mahomet. On his
+return to the isthmus he is said to have narrowly escaped from the
+rising tide of the Red Sea. If we may credit Savary, who was not of
+the party, its safety was due to the address of the commander, who, as
+darkness fell on the bewildered band, arranged his horsemen in files,
+until the higher causeway of the path was again discovered. North of
+Suez the traces of the canal dug by Sesostris revealed themselves to
+the trained eye of the commander. The observations of his engineers
+confirmed his conjecture, but the vast labour of reconstruction
+forbade any attempt to construct a maritime canal. On his return to
+Cairo he wrote to the Imam of Muscat, assuring him of his friendship
+and begging him to forward to Tippoo Sahib a letter offering alliance
+and deliverance from "the iron yoke of England," and stating that the
+French had arrived on the shores of the Red Sea "with a numerous and
+invincible army." The letter was intercepted by a British cruiser; and
+the alarm caused by these vast designs only served to spur on our
+forces to efforts which cost Tippoo his life and the French most of
+their Indian settlements.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+SYRIA
+
+
+Meanwhile Turkey had declared war on France, and was sending an army
+through Syria for the recovery of Egypt, while another expedition was
+assembling at Rhodes. Like all great captains, Bonaparte was never
+content with the defensive: his convictions and his pugnacious
+instincts alike urged him to give rather than to receive the blow; and
+he argued that he could attack and destroy the Syrian force before the
+cessation of the winter's gales would allow the other Turkish
+expedition to attempt a disembarkation at Aboukir. If he waited in
+Egypt, he might have to meet the two attacks at once, whereas, if he
+struck at Jaffa and Acre, he would rid himself of the chief mass of
+his foes. Besides, as he explained in his letter of February 10th,
+1799, to the Directors, his seizure of those towns would rob the
+English fleet of its base of supplies and thereby cripple its
+activities off the coast of Egypt. So far, his reasons for the Syrian
+campaign are intelligible and sound. But he also gave out that,
+leaving Desaix and his Ethiopian supernumeraries to defend Egypt, he
+himself would accomplish the conquest of Syria and the East: he would
+raise in revolt the Christians of the Lebanon and Armenia, overthrow
+the Turkish power in Asia, and then march either on Constantinople or
+Delhi.
+
+It is difficult to take this quite seriously, considering that he had
+only 12,000 men available for these adventures; and with anyone but
+Bonaparte they might be dismissed as utterly Quixotic. But in his case
+we must seek for some practical purpose; for he never divorced fancy
+from fact, and in his best days imagination was the hand-maid of
+politics and strategy rather than the mistress. Probably these
+gorgeous visions were bodied forth so as to inspirit the soldiery and
+enthrall the imagination of France. He had already proved the immense
+power of imagination over that susceptible people. In one sense, his
+whole expedition was but a picturesque drama; and an imposing climax
+could now be found in the plan of an Eastern Empire, that opened up
+dazzling vistas of glory and veiled his figure in a grandiose mirage,
+beside which the civilian Directors were dwarfed into ridiculous
+puppets.
+
+If these vast schemes are to be taken seriously, another explanation
+of them is possible, namely, that he relied on the example set by
+Alexander the Great, who with a small but highly-trained army had
+shattered the stately dominions of the East. If Bonaparte trusted to
+this precedent, he erred. True, Alexander began his enterprise with a
+comparatively small force: but at least he had a sure base of
+operations, and his army in Thessaly was strong enough to prevent
+Athens from exchanging her sullen but passive hostility for an
+offensive that would endanger his communications by sea. The Athenian
+fleet was therefore never the danger to the Macedonians that Nelson
+and Sir Sidney Smith were to Bonaparte. Since the French armada
+weighed anchor at Toulon, Britain's position had became vastly
+stronger. Nelson was lord of the Mediterranean: the revolt in Ireland
+had completely failed: a coalition against France was being formed;
+and it was therefore certain that the force in Egypt could not be
+materially strengthened. Bonaparte did not as yet know the full extent
+of his country's danger; but the mere fact that he would have to bear
+the pressure of England's naval supremacy along the Syrian coast
+should have dispelled any notion that he could rival the exploits of
+Alexander and become Emperor of the East.[112]
+
+
+From conjectures about motives we turn to facts. Setting forth early
+in February, the French captured most of the Turkish advanced guard at
+the fort of El Arisch, but sent their captives away on condition of
+not bearing arms against France for at least one year. The victors
+then marched on Jaffa, and, in spite of a spirited defence, took it
+by storm (March 7th). Flushed with their triumph over a cruel and
+detested foe, the soldiers were giving up the city to pillage and
+massacre, when two aides-de-camp promised quarter to a large body of
+the defenders, who had sought refuge in a large caravanserai; and
+their lives were grudgingly spared by the victors. Bonaparte
+vehemently reproached his aides-de-camp for their ill-timed clemency.
+What could he now do with these 2,500 or 3,000 prisoners? They could
+not be trusted to serve with the French; besides, the provisions
+scarcely sufficed for Bonaparte's own men, who began to complain
+loudly at sharing any with Turks and Albanians. They could not be sent
+away to Egypt, there to spread discontent: and only 300 Egyptians were
+so sent away.[113] Finally, on the demand of his generals and troops,
+the remaining prisoners were shot down on the seashore. There is,
+however, no warrant for the malicious assertion that Bonaparte readily
+gave the fatal order. On the contrary, he delayed it for three days,
+until the growing difficulties and the loud complaints of his soldiers
+wrung it from him as a last resort.
+
+Moreover, several of the victims had already fought against him at El
+Arisch, and had violated their promise that they would fight no more
+against the French in that campaign. M. Lanfrey's assertion that there
+is no evidence for the identification is untenable, in view of a
+document which I have discovered in the Records of the British
+Admiralty. Inclosed with Sir Sidney Smith's despatches is one from the
+secretary of Gezzar, dated Acre, March 1st, 1799, in which the Pacha
+urgently entreats the British commodore to come to his help, because
+his (Gezzar's) troops had failed to hold El Arisch, and the _same
+troops_ had also abandoned Gaza and were in great dread of the French
+at Jaffa. Considered from the military point of view, the massacre at
+Jaffa is perhaps defensible; and Bonaparte's reluctant assent
+contrasts favourably with the conduct of many commanders in similar
+cases. Perhaps an episode like that at Jaffa is not without its uses
+in opening the eyes of mankind to the ghastly shifts by which military
+glory may have to be won. The alternative to the massacre was the
+detaching of a French battalion to conduct their prisoners to Egypt.
+As that would seriously have weakened the little army, the prisoners
+were shot.
+
+A deadlier foe was now to be faced. Already at El Arisch a few cases
+of the plague had appeared in Kléber's division, which had come from
+Rosetta and Damietta; and the relics of the retreating Mameluke and
+Turkish forces seem also to have bequeathed that disease as a fatal
+legacy to their pursuers. After Jaffa the malady attacked most
+battalions of the army; and it may have quickened Bonaparte's march
+towards Acre. Certain it is that he rejected Kléber's advice to
+advance inland towards Nablus, the ancient Shechem, and from that
+commanding centre to dominate Palestine and defy the power of
+Gezzar.[114]
+
+[Illustration: PLAN OF THE SIEGE OF ACRE FROM A CONTEMPORARY SKETCH]
+
+Always prompt to strike at the heart, the commander-in-chief
+determined to march straight on Acre, where that notorious Turkish
+pacha sat intrenched behind weak walls and the ramparts of terror
+which his calculating ferocity had reared around him. Ever since the
+age of the Crusades that seaport had been the chief place of arms of
+Palestine; but the harbour was now nearly silted up, and even the
+neighbouring roadstead of Hayfa was desolate. The fortress was
+formidable only to orientals. In his work, "Les Ruines," Volney had
+remarked about Acre: "Through all this part of Asia bastions, lines of
+defence, covered ways, ramparts, and in short everything relating to
+modern fortification are utterly unknown; and a single thirty-gun
+frigate would easily bombard and lay in ruins the whole coast." This
+judgment of his former friend undoubtedly lulled Bonaparte into
+illusory confidence, and the rank and file after their success at
+Jaffa expected an easy triumph at Acre.
+
+This would doubtless have happened but for British help. Captain
+Miller, of H.M.S. "Theseus," thus reported on the condition of Acre
+before Sir Sidney Smith's arrival:
+
+     "I found almost every embrasure empty except those towards the sea.
+     Many years' collection of the dirt of the town thrown in such a
+     situation as completely covered the approach to the gate from the
+     only guns that could flank it and from the sea ... none of their
+     batteries have casemates, traverses, or splinter-proofs: they have
+     many guns, but generally small and defective--the carriages in
+     general so." [115]
+
+Captain Miller's energy made good some of these defects; but the place
+was still lamentably weak when, on March 15th, Sir Sidney Smith
+arrived. The English squadron in the east of the Mediterranean had,
+to Nelson's chagrin, been confided to the command of this ardent young
+officer, who now had the good fortune to capture off the promontory of
+Mount Carmel seven French vessels containing Bonaparte's siege-train.
+This event had a decisive influence on the fortunes of the siege and
+of the whole campaign. The French cannon were now hastily mounted on
+the very walls that they had been intended to breach; while the gun
+vessels reinforced the two English frigates, and were ready to pour a
+searching fire on the assailants in their trenches or as they rushed
+against the walls. These had also been hastily strengthened under the
+direction of a French royalist officer named Phélippeaux, an old
+schoolfellow of Bonaparte, and later on a comrade of Sidney Smith,
+alike in his imprisonment and in his escape from the clutches of the
+revolutionists. Sharing the lot of the adventurous young seaman,
+Phélippeaux sailed to the Levant, and now brought to the defence of
+Acre the science of a skilled engineer. Bravely seconded by British
+officers and seamen, he sought to repair the breach effected by the
+French field-pieces, and constructed at the most exposed points inner
+defences, before which the most obstinate efforts of the storming
+parties melted away. Nine times did the assailants advance against the
+breaches with the confidence born of unfailing success and redoubled
+by the gaze of their great commander; but as often were they beaten
+back by the obstinate bravery of the British seamen and Turks.
+
+The monotony was once relieved by a quaint incident. In the course of
+a correspondence with Bonaparte, Sir Sidney Smith is said to have
+shown his annoyance by sending him a challenge to a duel. It met with
+the very proper reply that he would fight, if the English would send
+out _a Marlborough_.
+
+During these desperate conflicts Bonaparte detached a considerable
+number of troops inland to beat off a large Turkish and Mameluke force
+destined for the relief of Acre and the invasion of Egypt. The first
+encounter was near Nazareth, where Junot displayed the dash and
+resource which had brought him fame in Italy; but the decisive battle
+was fought in the Plain of Esdraëlon, not far from the base of Mount
+Tabor. There Kléber's division of 2,000 men was for some hours hard
+pressed by a motley array of horse and foot drawn from diverse parts
+of the Sultan's dominions. The heroism of the burly Alsacian and the
+toughness of his men barely kept off the fierce rushes of the Moslem
+horse and foot. At last Bonaparte's cannon were heard. The chief,
+marching swiftly on with his troops drawn up in three squares,
+speedily brushed aside the enveloping clouds of orientals; finally, by
+well-combined efforts the French hurled back the enemy on passes, some
+of which had been seized by the commander's prescience. At the close
+of this memorable day (April 15th) an army of nearly 30,000 men was
+completely routed and dispersed by the valour and skilful dispositions
+of two divisions which together amounted to less than a seventh of
+that number. No battle of modern times more closely resembles the
+exploits of Alexander than this masterly concentration of force; and
+possibly some memory of this may have prompted the words of
+Kléber--"General, how great you are!"--as he met and embraced his
+commander on the field of battle. Bonaparte and his staff spent the
+night at the Convent of Nazareth; and when his officers burst out
+laughing at the story told by the Prior of the breaking of a pillar by
+the angel Gabriel at the time of the Annunciation, their untimely
+levity was promptly checked by the frown of the commander.
+
+The triumph seemed to decide the Christians of the Lebanon to ally
+themselves with Bonaparte, and they secretly covenanted to furnish
+12,000 troops at his cost; but this question ultimately depended on
+the siege of Acre. On rejoining their comrades before Acre, the
+victors found that the siege had made little progress: for a time the
+besiegers relied on mining operations, but with little success; though
+Phélippeaux succumbed to a sunstroke (May 1st), his place was filled
+by Colonel Douglas, who foiled the efforts of the French engineers
+and enabled the place to hold out till the advent of the long-expected
+Turkish succours. On May 7th their sails were visible far out on an
+almost windless sea. At once Bonaparte made desperate efforts to carry
+the "mud-hole" by storm. Led with reckless gallantry by the heroic
+Lannes, his troops gained part of the wall and planted the tricolour
+on the north-east tower; but all further progress was checked by
+English blue-jackets, whom the commodore poured into the town; and the
+Turkish reinforcements, wafted landwards by a favouring breeze, were
+landed in time to wrest the ramparts from the assailants' grip. On the
+following day an assault was again attempted: from the English ships
+Bonaparte could be clearly seen on Richard Coeur de Lion's mound
+urging on the French; but though, under Lannes' leadership, they
+penetrated to the garden of Gezzar's seraglio, they fell in heaps
+under the bullets, pikes, and scimitars of the defenders, and few
+returned alive to the camp. Lannes himself was dangerously wounded,
+and saved only by the devotion of an officer.
+
+Both sides were now worn out by this extraordinary siege. "This town
+is not, nor ever has been, defensible according to the rules of art;
+but according to every other rule it must and shall be defended"--so
+wrote Sir Sidney Smith to Nelson on May 9th. But a fell influence was
+working against the besiegers; as the season advanced, they succumbed
+more and more to the ravages of the plague; and, after failing again
+on May 10th, many of their battalions refused to advance to the breach
+over the putrid remains of their comrades. Finally, Bonaparte, after
+clinging to his enterprise with desperate tenacity, on the night of
+May 20th gave orders to retreat.
+
+This siege of nine weeks' duration had cost him severe losses, among
+them being Generals Caffarelli and Bon: but worst of all was the loss
+of that reputation for invincibility which he had hitherto enjoyed.
+His defeat at Caldiero, near Verona, in 1796 had been officially
+converted into a victory: but Acre could not be termed anything but a
+reverse. In vain did the commander and his staff proclaim that, after
+dispersing the Turks at Mount Tabor, the capture of Acre was
+superfluous; his desperate efforts in the early part of May revealed
+the hollowness of his words. There were, it is true, solid reasons for
+his retreat. He had just heard of the breaking out of the war of the
+Second Coalition against France; and revolts in Egypt also demanded
+his presence.[116] But these last events furnished a damning
+commentary on his whole Syrian enterprise, which had led to a
+dangerous diffusion of the French forces. And for what? For the
+conquest of Constantinople or of India? That dream seems to have
+haunted Bonaparte's brain even down to the close of the siege of Acre.
+During the siege, and later, he was heard to inveigh against "the
+miserable little hole" which had come between him and his destiny--the
+Empire of the East; and it is possible that ideas which he may at
+first have set forth in order to dazzle his comrades came finally to
+master his whole being. Certainly the words just quoted betoken a
+quite abnormal wilfulness as well as a peculiarly subjective notion of
+fatalism. His "destiny" was to be mapped out by his own prescience,
+decided by his own will, gripped by his own powers. Such fatalism had
+nothing in common with the sombre creed of the East: it was merely an
+excess of individualism: it was the matured expression of that feature
+of his character, curiously dominant even in childhood, that _what he
+wanted he must of necessity have_. How strange that this imperious
+obstinacy, this sublimation of western willpower, should not have been
+tamed even by the overmastering might of Nature in the Orient!
+
+As for the Empire of the East, the declared hostility of the tribes
+around Nablus had shown how futile were Bonaparte's efforts to win
+over Moslems: and his earlier Moslem proclamations were skilfully
+distributed by Sir Sidney Smith among the Christians of Syria, and
+served partly to neutralize the efforts which Bonaparte made to win
+them over.[117] Vain indeed was the effort to conciliate the Moslems
+in Egypt, and yet in Syria to arouse the Christians against the
+Commander of the Faithful. Such religious opportunism smacked of the
+Parisian boulevards: it utterly ignored the tenacity of belief of the
+East, where the creed is the very life. The outcome of all that
+_finesse_ was seen in the closing days of the siege and during the
+retreat towards Jaffa, when the tribes of the Lebanon and of the
+Nablus district watched like vultures on the hills and swooped down on
+the retreating columns. The pain of disillusionment, added to his
+sympathy with the sick and wounded, once broke down Bonaparte's
+nerves. Having ordered all horsemen to dismount so that there might be
+sufficient transport for the sick and maimed, the commander was asked
+by an equerry which horse he reserved for his own use. "Did you not
+hear the order," he retorted, striking the man with his whip,
+"everyone on foot." Rarely did this great man mar a noble action by
+harsh treatment: the incident sufficiently reveals the tension of
+feelings, always keen, and now overwrought by physical suffering and
+mental disappointment.
+
+There was indeed much to exasperate him. At Acre he had lost nearly
+5,000 men in killed, wounded, and plague-stricken, though he falsely
+reported to the Directory that his losses during the whole expedition
+did not exceed 1,500 men: and during the terrible retreat to Jaffa he
+was shocked, not only by occasional suicides of soldiers in his
+presence, but by the utter callousness of officers and men to the
+claims of the sick and wounded. It was as a rebuke to this inhumanity
+that he ordered all to march on foot, and his authority seems even to
+have been exerted to prevent some attempts at poisoning the
+plague-stricken. The narrative of J. Miot, commissary of the army,
+shows that these suggestions originated among the soldiery at Acre
+when threatened with the toil of transporting those unfortunates back
+to Egypt; and, as his testimony is generally adverse to Bonaparte, and
+he mentions the same horrible device, when speaking of the hospitals
+at Jaffa, as a camp rumour, it may be regarded as scarcely worthy of
+credence.[118]
+
+
+
+
+Undoubtedly the scenes were heartrending at Jaffa; and it has been
+generally believed that the victims of the plague were then and there
+put out of their miseries by large doses of opium. Certainly the
+hospitals were crowded with wounded and victims of the plague; but
+during the seven days' halt at that town adequate measures were taken
+by the chief medical officers, Desgenettes and Larrey, for their
+transport to Egypt. More than a thousand were sent away on ships,
+seven of which were fortunately present; and 800 were conveyed to
+Egypt in carts or litters across the desert.[119] Another fact
+suffices to refute the slander mentioned above. From the despatch of
+Sir Sidney Smith to Nelson of May 30th, 1799, it appears that, when
+the English commodore touched at Jaffa, he found some of the abandoned
+ones _still alive_: "We have found seven poor fellows in the hospital
+and will take care of them." He also supplied the French ships
+conveying the wounded with water, provisions, and stores, of which
+they were much in need, and allowed them to proceed to their
+destination. It is true that the evidence of Las Cases at St. Helena,
+eagerly cited by Lanfrey, seems to show that some of the worst cases
+in the Jaffa hospitals were got rid of by opium; but the admission by
+Napoleon that the administering of opium was justifiable occurred in
+one of those casuistical discussions which turn, not on facts, but on
+motives. Conclusions drawn from such conversations, sixteen years or
+more after the supposed occurrence, must in any case give ground
+before the evidence of contemporaries, which proves that every care
+was taken of the sick and wounded, that the proposals of poisoning
+first came from the soldiery, that Napoleon both before and after
+Jaffa set the noble example of marching on foot so that there might be
+sufficiency of transport, that nearly all the unfortunates arrived in
+Egypt and in fair condition, and that seven survivors were found alive
+at Jaffa by English officers.[120]
+
+The remaining episodes of the Eastern Expedition may be briefly
+dismissed. After a painful desert march the army returned to Egypt in
+June; and, on July 25th, under the lead of Murat and Lannes, drove
+into the sea a large force of Turks which had effected a landing in
+Aboukir Bay. Bonaparte was now weary of gaining triumphs over foes
+whom he and his soldiers despised. While in this state of mind, he
+received from Sir Sidney Smith a packet of English and German
+newspapers giving news up to June 6th, which brought him quickly to a
+decision. The formation of a powerful coalition, the loss of Italy,
+defeats on the Rhine, and the schisms, disgust, and despair prevalent
+in France--all drew his imagination westwards away from the illusory
+Orient; and he determined to leave his army to the care of Kléber and
+sail to France.
+
+The morality of this step has been keenly discussed. The rank and
+file of the army seem to have regarded it as little less than
+desertion,[121] and the predominance of personal motives in this
+important decision can scarcely be denied. His private aim in
+undertaking the Eastern Expedition, that of dazzling the imagination
+of the French people and of exhibiting the incapacity of the
+Directory, had been abundantly realized. His eastern enterprise had
+now shrunk to practical and prosaic dimensions, namely, the
+consolidation of French power in Egypt. Yet, as will appear in later
+chapters, he did not give up his oriental schemes; though at St.
+Helena he once oddly spoke of the Egyptian expedition as an "exhausted
+enterprise," it is clear that he worked hard to keep his colony. The
+career of Alexander had for him a charm that even the conquests of
+Cæsar could not rival; and at the height of his European triumphs, the
+hero of Austerlitz was heard to murmur: "J'ai manqué à ma fortune à
+Saint-Jean d'Acre."[122]
+
+In defence of his sudden return it may be urged that he had more than
+once promised the Directory that his stay in Egypt would not exceed
+five months; and there can be no doubt that now, as always, he had an
+alternative plan before him in case of failure or incomplete success
+in the East. To this alternative he now turned with that swiftness and
+fertility of resource which astonished both friends and foes in
+countless battles and at many political crises.
+
+It has been stated by Lanfrey that his appointment of Kléber to
+succeed him was dictated by political and personal hostility; but it
+may more naturally be considered a tribute to his abilities as a
+general and to his influence over the soldiery, which was only second
+to that of Bonaparte and Desaix. He also promised to send him speedy
+succour; and as there seemed to be a probability of France regaining
+her naval supremacy in the Mediterranean by the union of the fleet of
+Bruix with that of Spain, he might well hope to send ample
+reinforcements. He probably did not know the actual facts of the case,
+that in July Bruix tamely followed the Spanish squadron to Cadiz, and
+that the Directory had ordered Bruix to withdraw the French army from
+Egypt. But, arguing from the facts as known to him, Bonaparte might
+well believe that the difficulties of France would be fully met by his
+own return, and that Egypt could be held with ease. The duty of a
+great commander is to be at the post of greatest danger, and that was
+now on the banks of the Rhine or Mincio.
+
+The advent of a south-east wind, a rare event there at that season of
+the year, led him hastily to embark at Alexandria in the night of
+August 22nd-23rd. His two frigates bore with him some of the greatest
+sons of France; his chief of the staff, Berthier, whose ardent love
+for Madame Visconti had been repressed by his reluctant determination
+to share the fortunes of his chief; Lannes and Murat, both recently
+wounded, but covered with glory by their exploits in Syria and at
+Aboukir; his friend Marmont, as well as Duroc, Andréossi, Bessières,
+Lavalette, Admiral Gantheaume, Monge, and Berthollet, his secretary
+Bourrienne, and the traveller Denon. He also left orders that Desaix,
+who had been in charge of Upper Egypt, should soon return to France,
+so that the rivalry between him and Kléber might not distract French
+councils in Egypt. There seems little ground for the assertion that he
+selected for return his favourites and men likely to be politically
+serviceable to him. If he left behind the ardently republican Kléber,
+he also left his old friend Junot: if he brought back Berthier and
+Marmont, he also ordered the return of the almost Jacobinical Desaix.
+Sir Sidney Smith having gone to Cyprus for repairs, Bonaparte slipped
+out unmolested. By great good fortune his frigates eluded the English
+ships cruising between Malta and Cape Bon, and after a brief stay at
+Ajaccio, he and his comrades landed at Fréjus (October 9th). So great
+was the enthusiasm of the people that, despite all the quarantine
+regulations, they escorted the party to shore. "We prefer the plague
+to the Austrians," they exclaimed; and this feeling but feebly
+expressed the emotion of France at the return of the Conqueror of the
+East.
+
+And yet he found no domestic happiness. Josephine's _liaison_ with a
+young officer, M. Charles, had become notorious owing to his prolonged
+visits to her country house, La Malmaison. Alarmed at her husband's
+return, she now hurried to meet him, but missed him on the way; while
+he, finding his home at Paris empty, raged at her infidelity, refused
+to see her on her return, and declared he would divorce her. From this
+he was turned by the prayers of Eugène and Hortense Beauharnais, and
+the tears of Josephine herself. A reconciliation took place; but there
+was no reunion of hearts, and Mme. Reinhard echoed the feeling of
+respectable society when she wrote that he should have divorced her
+outright. Thenceforth he lived for Glory alone.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+BRUMAIRE
+
+
+Rarely has France been in a more distracted state than in the summer
+of 1799. Royalist revolts in the west and south rent the national
+life. The religious schism was unhealed; education was at a
+standstill; commerce had been swept from the seas by the British
+fleets; and trade with Italy and Germany was cut off by the war of
+the Second Coalition.
+
+The formation of this league between Russia, Austria, England, Naples,
+Portugal, and Turkey was in the main the outcome of the alarm and
+indignation aroused by the reckless conduct of the Directory, which
+overthrew the Bourbons at Naples, erected the Parthenopæan Republic,
+and compelled the King of Sardinia to abdicate at Turin and retire to
+his island. Russia and Austria took a leading part in forming the
+Coalition. Great Britain, ever hampered by her inept army
+organization, offered to supply money in place of the troops which she
+could not properly equip.
+
+But under the cloak of legitimacy the monarchical Powers harboured
+their own selfish designs. This Nessus' cloak of the First Coalition
+soon galled the limbs of the allies and rendered them incapable of
+sustained and vigorous action. Yet they gained signal successes over
+the raw conscripts of France. In July, 1799, the Austro-Russian army
+captured Mantua and Alessandria; and in the following month Suvoroff
+gained the decisive victory of Novi and drove the remains of the
+French forces towards Genoa. The next months were far more favourable
+to the tricolour flag, for, owing to Austro-Russian jealousies,
+Masséna was able to gain an important victory at Zurich over a Russian
+army. In the north the republicans were also in the end successful.
+Ten days after Bonaparte's arrival at Fréjus, they compelled an
+Anglo-Russian force campaigning in Holland to the capitulation of
+Alkmaar, whereby the Duke of York agreed to withdraw all his troops
+from that coast. Disgusted by the conduct of his allies, the Czar Paul
+withdrew his troops from any active share in the operations by land,
+thenceforth concentrating his efforts on the acquisition of Corsica,
+Malta, and posts of vantage in the Adriatic. These designs, which were
+well known to the British Government, served to hamper our naval
+strength in those seas, and to fetter the action of the Austrian arms
+in Northern Italy.[123]
+
+Yet, though the schisms of the allies finally yielded a victory to the
+French in the campaigns of 1799, the position of the Republic was
+precarious. The danger was rather internal than external. It arose
+from embarrassed finances, from the civil war that burst out with new
+violence in the north-west, and, above all, from a sense of the
+supreme difficulty of attaining political stability and of reconciling
+liberty with order. The struggle between the executive and legislative
+powers which had been rudely settled by the _coup d'état_ of
+Fructidor, had been postponed, not solved. Public opinion was speedily
+ruffled by the Jacobinical violence which ensued. The stifling of
+liberty of the press and the curtailment of the right of public
+meeting served only to instill new energy into the party of resistance
+in the elective Councils, and to undermine a republican government
+that relied on Venetian methods of rule. Reviewing the events of those
+days, Madame de Staël finely remarked that only the free consent of
+the people could breathe life into political institutions; and that
+the monstrous system of guaranteeing freedom by despotic means served
+only to manufacture governments that had to be wound up at intervals
+lest they should stop dead.[124] Such a sarcasm, coming from the
+gifted lady who had aided and abetted the stroke of Fructidor, shows
+how far that event had falsified the hopes of the sincerest friends of
+the Revolution. Events were therefore now favourable to a return from
+the methods of Rousseau to those of Richelieu; and the genius who was
+skilfully to adapt republicanism to autocracy was now at hand. Though
+Bonaparte desired at once to attack the Austrians in Northern Italy,
+yet a sure instinct impelled him to remain at Paris, for, as he said
+to Marmont: "When the house is crumbling, is it the time to busy
+oneself with the garden? A change here is indispensable."
+
+The sudden rise of Bonaparte to supreme power cannot be understood
+without some reference to the state of French politics in the months
+preceding his return to France. The position of parties had been
+strangely complicated by the unpopularity of the Directors. Despite
+their illegal devices, the elections of 1798 and 1799 for the renewal
+of a third part of the legislative Councils had signally strengthened
+the anti-directorial ranks. Among the Opposition were some royalists,
+a large number of constitutionals, whether of the Feuillant or
+Girondin type, and many deputies, who either vaunted the name of
+Jacobins or veiled their advanced opinions under the convenient
+appellation of "patriots." Many of the deputies were young,
+impressionable, and likely to follow any able leader who promised to
+heal the schisms of the country. In fact, the old party lines were
+being effaced. The champions of the constitution of 1795 (Year III.)
+saw no better means of defending it than by violating electoral
+liberties--always in the sacred name of Liberty; and the Directory,
+while professing to hold the balance between the extreme parties,
+repressed them by turns with a vigour which rendered them popular and
+official moderation odious.
+
+
+
+In this general confusion and apathy the dearth of statesmen was
+painfully conspicuous. Only true grandeur of character can defy the
+withering influences of an age of disillusionment; and France had for
+a time to rely upon Sieyès. Perhaps no man has built up a reputation
+for political capacity on performances so slight as the Abbé Sieyès.
+In the States General of 1789 he speedily acquired renown for oracular
+wisdom, owing to the brevity and wit of his remarks in an assembly
+where such virtues were rare. But the course of the Revolution soon
+showed the barrenness of his mind and the timidity of his character.
+He therefore failed to exert any lasting influence upon events. In the
+time of the Terror his insignificance was his refuge. His witty reply
+to an inquiry how he had then fared--"J'ai vécu "--sufficiently
+characterizes the man. In the Directorial period he displayed more
+activity. He was sent as French ambassador to Berlin, and plumed
+himself on having persuaded that Court to a neutrality favourable to
+France. But it is clear that the neutrality of Prussia was the outcome
+of selfish considerations. While Austria tried the hazards of war, her
+northern rival husbanded her resources, strengthened her position as
+the protectress of Northern Germany, and dextrously sought to attract
+the nebula of middle German States into her own sphere of influence.
+From his task of tilting a balance which was already decided, Sieyès
+was recalled to Paris in May, 1799, by the news of his election to the
+place in the Directory vacated by Rewbell. The other Directors had
+striven, but in vain, to prevent his election: they knew well that
+this impracticable theorist would speedily paralyze the Government;
+for, when previously elected Director in 1795, he had refused to
+serve, on the ground that the constitution was thoroughly bad. He now
+declared his hostility to the Directory, and looked around for some
+complaisant military chief who should act as his tool and then be
+cast away. His first choice, Joubert, was killed at the battle of
+Novi. Moreau seems then to have been looked on with favour; he was a
+republican, able in warfare and singularly devoid of skill or ambition
+in political matters. Relying on Moreau, Sieyès continued his
+intrigues, and after some preliminary fencing gained over to his side
+the Director Barras. But if we may believe the assertions of the
+royalist, Hyde de Neuville, Barras was also receiving the advances of
+the royalists with a view to a restoration of Louis XVIII., an event
+which was then quite within the bounds of probability. For the
+present, however, Barras favoured the plans of Sieyès, and helped him
+to get rid of the firmly republican Directors, La Réveillière-Lépeaux
+and Merlin, who were deposed (30th Prairial).[125]
+
+The new Directors were Gohier, Roger Ducos, and Moulin; the first, an
+elderly respectable advocate; the second, a Girondin by early
+associations, but a trimmer by instinct, and therefore easily gained
+over by Sieyès; while the recommendation of the third, Moulin, seem to
+have been his political nullity and some third-rate military services
+in the Vendéan war. Yet the Directory of Prairial was not devoid of a
+spasmodic energy, which served to throw back the invaders of France.
+Bernadotte, the fiery Gascon, remarkable for his ardent gaze, his
+encircling masses of coal-black hair, and the dash of Moorish blood
+which ever aroused Bonaparte's respectful apprehensions, was Minister
+of War, and speedily formed a new army of 100,000 men: Lindet
+undertook to re-establish the finances by means of progressive taxes:
+the Chouan movement in the northern and western departments was
+repressed by a law legalising the seizure of hostages; and there
+seemed some hope that France would roll back the tide of invasion,
+keep her "natural frontiers," and return to normal methods of
+government.
+
+Such was the position of affairs when Bonaparte's arrival inspired
+France with joy and the Directory with ill-concealed dread. As in
+1795, so now in 1799, he appeared at Paris when French political life
+was in a stage of transition. If ever the Napoleonic star shone
+auspiciously, it was in the months when he threaded his path between
+Nelson's cruisers and cut athwart the maze of Sieyès' intrigues. To
+the philosopher's "J'ai vécu" he could oppose the crushing retort
+"J'ai vaincu."
+
+The general, on meeting the thinker at Gohier's house, studiously
+ignored him. In truth, he was at first disposed to oust both Sieyès
+and Barras from the Directory. The latter of these men was odious to
+him for reasons both private and public. In time past he had had good
+reasons for suspecting Josephine's relations with the voluptuous
+Director, and with the men whom she met at his house. During the
+Egyptian campaign his jealousy had been fiercely roused in another
+quarter, and, as we have seen, led to an almost open breach with his
+wife. But against Barras he still harboured strong suspicions; and the
+frequency of his visits to the Director's house after returning from
+Egypt was doubtless due to his desire to sound the depths of his
+private as well as of his public immorality. If we may credit the
+_embarras de mensonges_ which has been dignified by the name of
+Barras' "Memoirs," Josephine once fled to his house and flung herself
+at his knees, begging to be taken away from her husband; but the story
+is exploded by the moral which the relator clumsily tacks on, as to
+the good advice which he gave her.[126] While Bonaparte seems to have
+found no grounds for suspecting Barras on this score, he yet
+discovered his intrigues with various malcontents; and he saw that
+Barras, holding the balance of power in the Directory between the
+opposing pairs of colleagues, was intriguing to get the highest
+possible price for the betrayal of the Directory and of the
+constitution of 1795.
+
+For Sieyès the general felt dislike but respect. He soon saw the
+advantage of an alliance with so learned a thinker, so skilful an
+intriguer, and so weak a man. It was, indeed, necessary; for, after
+making vain overtures to Gohier for the alteration of the law which
+excluded from the Directory men of less than forty years of age,
+the general needed the alliance of Sieyès for the overthrow of the
+constitution. In a short space he gathered around him the malcontents
+whom the frequent crises had deprived of office, Roederer, Admiral
+Bruix, Réal, Cambacérès, and, above all, Talleyrand. The last-named;
+already known for his skill in diplomacy, had special reasons for
+favouring the alliance of Bonaparte and Sieyès: he had been dismissed
+from the Foreign Office in the previous month of July because in his
+hands it had proved to be too lucrative to the holder and too
+expensive for France. It was an open secret that, when American
+commissioners arrived in Paris a short time previously, for the
+settlement of various disputes between the two countries, they found
+that the negotiations would not progress until 250,000 dollars had
+changed hands. The result was that hostilities continued, and that
+Talleyrand soon found himself deprived of office, until another turn
+of the revolutionary kaleidoscope should restore him to his coveted
+place.[127] He discerned in the Bonaparte-Sieyès combination the force
+that would give the requisite tilt now that Moreau gave up politics.
+
+The army and most of the generals were also ready for some change,
+only Bernadotte and Jourdan refusing to listen to the new proposals;
+and the former of these came "with sufficiently bad grace" to join
+Bonaparte at the time of action. The police was secured through that
+dextrous trimmer, the regicide Fouché, who now turned against the very
+men who had recently appointed him to office. Feeling sure of the
+soldiery and police, the innovators fixed the 18th of Brumaire as the
+date of their enterprise. There were many conferences at the houses of
+the conspirators; and one of the few vivid touches which relieve the
+dull tones of the Talleyrand "Memoirs" reveals the consciousness of
+these men that they were conspirators. Late on a night in the middle
+of Brumaire, Bonaparte came to Talleyrand's house to arrange details
+of the _coup d'état,_ when the noise of carriages stopping outside
+caused them to pale with fear that their plans were discovered. At
+once the diplomatist blew out the lights and hurried to the balcony,
+when he found that their fright was due merely to an accident to the
+carriages of the revellers and gamesters returning from the Palais
+Royal, which were guarded by gendarmes. The incident closed with
+laughter and jests; but it illustrates the tension of the nerves of
+the political gamesters, as also the mental weakness of Bonaparte when
+confronted by some unknown danger. It was perhaps the only weak point
+in his intellectual armour; but it was to be found out at certain
+crises of his career.
+
+Meanwhile in the legislative Councils there was a feeling of vague
+disquiet. The Ancients were, on the whole, hostile to the Directory,
+but in the Council of Five Hundred the democratic ardour of the
+younger deputies foreboded a fierce opposition. Yet there also the
+plotters found many adherents, who followed the lead now cautiously
+given by Lucien Bonaparte. This young man, whose impassioned speeches
+had marked him out as an irreproachable patriot, was now President of
+that Council. No event could have been more auspicious for the
+conspirators. With Sieyès, Barras, and Ducos, as traitors in the
+Directory, with the Ancients favourable, and the junior deputies under
+the presidency of Lucien, the plot seemed sure of success.
+
+The first important step was taken by the Council of Ancients, who
+decreed the transference of the sessions of the Councils to St. Cloud.
+The danger of a Jacobin plot was urged as a plea for this motion,
+which was declared carried without the knowledge either of the
+Directory as a whole, or of the Five Hundred, whose opposition would
+have been vehement. The Ancients then appointed Bonaparte to command
+the armed forces in and near Paris. The next step was to insure the
+abdication of Gohier and Moulin. Seeking to entrap Gohier, then the
+President of the Directory, Josephine invited him to breakfast on the
+morning of 18th Brumaire; but Gohier, suspecting a snare, remained at
+his official residence, the Luxemburg Palace. None the less the
+Directory was doomed; for the two defenders of the institution had not
+the necessary quorum for giving effect to their decrees. Moulin
+thereupon escaped, and Gohier was kept under guard--by Moreau's
+soldiery![128]
+
+Meanwhile, accompanied by a brilliant group of generals, Bonaparte
+proceeded to the Tuileries, where the Ancients were sitting; and by
+indulging in a wordy declamation he avoided taking the oath to the
+constitution required of a general on entering upon a new command. In
+the Council of Five Hundred, Lucien Bonaparte stopped the eager
+questions and murmurs, on the pretext that the session was only legal
+at St. Cloud.
+
+There, on the next day (19th Brumaire or 10th November), a far more
+serious blow was to be struck. The overthrow of the Directory was a
+foregone conclusion. But with the Legislature it was far otherwise,
+for its life was still whole and vigorous. Yet, while amputating a
+moribund limb, the plotters did not scruple to paralyze the brain of
+the body politic.
+
+Despite the adhesion of most of the Ancients to his plans, Bonaparte,
+on appearing before them, could only utter a succession of short,
+jerky phrases which smacked of the barracks rather than of the Senate.
+Retiring in some confusion, he regains his presence of mind among the
+soldiers outside, and enters the hall of the Five Hundred, intending
+to intimidate them not only by threats, but by armed force. At the
+sight of the uniforms at the door, the republican enthusiasm of the
+younger deputies catches fire. They fiercely assail him with cries of
+"Down with the tyrant! down with the Dictator! outlaw him!" In vain
+Lucien Bonaparte commands order. Several deputies rush at the general,
+and fiercely shake him by the collar. He turns faint with excitement
+and chagrin; but Lefebvre and a few grenadiers rushing up drag him
+from the hall. He comes forth like a somnambulist (says an onlooker),
+pursued by the terrible cry, "Hors la loi!" Had the cries at once
+taken form in a decree, the history of the world might have been
+different. One of the deputies, General Augereau, fiercely demands
+that the motion of outlawry be put to the vote. Lucien Bonaparte
+refuses, protests, weeps, finally throws off his official robes, and
+is rescued from the enraged deputies by grenadiers whom the
+conspirators send in for this purpose. Meanwhile Bonaparte and his
+friends were hastily deliberating, when one of their number brought
+the news that the deputies had declared the general an outlaw. The
+news chased the blood from his cheek, until Sieyès, whose _sang froid_
+did not desert him in these civilian broils, exclaims, "Since they
+outlaw you, they are outlaws." This revolutionary logic recalls
+Bonaparte to himself. He shouts, "To arms!" Lucien, too, mounting a
+horse, appeals to the soldiers to free the Council from the menaces
+of some deputies armed with daggers, and in the pay of England, who
+are terrorising the majority. The shouts of command, clinched by the
+adroit reference to daggers and English gold, cause the troops to
+waver in their duty; and Lucien, pressing his advantage to the utmost,
+draws a sword, and, holding it towards his brother, exclaims that he
+will stab him if ever he attempts anything against liberty. Murat,
+Leclerc, and other generals enforce this melodramatic appeal by shouts
+for Bonaparte, which the troops excitedly take up. The drums sound for
+an advance, and the troops forthwith enter the hall. In vain the
+deputies raise the shout, "Vive la République," and invoke the
+constitution. Appeals to the law are overpowered by the drum and by
+shouts for Bonaparte; and the legislators of France fly pell-mell from
+the hall through doors and windows.[129]
+
+Thus was fulfilled the prophecy which eight years previously Burke had
+made in his immortal work on the French Revolution. That great thinker
+had predicted that French liberty would fall a victim to the first
+great general who drew the eyes of all men upon himself. "The moment
+in which that event shall happen, the person who really commands the
+army is your master, the master of your king, the master of your
+Assembly, the master of your whole republic."
+
+Discussions about the _coup d'état_ of Brumaire generally confuse the
+issue at stake by ignoring the difference between the overthrow of the
+Directory and that of the Legislature. The collapse of the Directory
+was certain to take place; but few expected that the Legislature of
+France would likewise vanish. For vanish it did: not for nearly half
+a century had France another free and truly democratic representative
+assembly. This result of Brumaire was unexpected by several of the men
+who plotted the overthrow of unpopular Directors, and hoped for the
+nipping of Jacobinical or royalist designs. Indeed, no event in French
+history is more astonishing than the dispersal of the republican
+deputies, most of whom desired a change of _personnel_ but not a
+revolution in methods of government. Until a few days previously the
+Councils had the allegiance of the populace and of the soldiers; the
+troops at St. Cloud were loyal to the constitution, and respected the
+persons of the deputies until they were deluded by Lucien. For a few
+minutes the fate of France trembled in the balance; and the
+conspirators knew it.[130] Bonaparte confessed it by his incoherent
+gaspings; Sieyès had his carriage ready, with six horses, for flight;
+the terrible cry, "Hors la loi!" if raised against Bonaparte in the
+heart of Paris, would certainly have roused the populace to fury in
+the cause of liberty and have swept the conspirators to the
+guillotine. But, as it was, the affair was decided in the solitudes of
+St. Cloud by Lucien and a battalion of soldiers.
+
+Efforts have frequently been made to represent the events of Brumaire
+as inevitable and to dovetail them in with a pretended philosophy of
+history. But it is impossible to study them closely without observing
+how narrow was the margin between the success and failure of the plot,
+and how jagged was the edge of an affair which philosophizers seek to
+fit in with their symmetrical explanations. In truth, no event of
+world-wide importance was ever decided by circumstances so trifling.
+"There is but one step from triumph to a fall. I have seen that in the
+greatest affairs a little thing has always decided important
+events"--so wrote Bonaparte three years before his triumph at St.
+Cloud: he might have written it of that event. It is equally
+questionable whether it can be regarded as saving France from anarchy.
+His admirers, it is true, have striven to depict France as trodden
+down by invaders, dissolved by anarchy, and saved only by the stroke
+of Brumaire. But she was already triumphant: it was quite possible
+that she would peacefully adjust her governmental difficulties: they
+were certainly no greater than they had been in and since the year
+1797: Fouché had closed the club of the Jacobins: the Councils had
+recovered their rightful influence, and, but for the plotters of
+Brumaire, might have effected a return to ordinary government of the
+type of 1795-7. This was the real blow; that the vigorous trunk, the
+Legislature, was struck down along with the withering Directorial
+branch.
+
+The friends of liberty might well be dismayed when they saw how tamely
+France accepted this astounding stroke. Some allowance was naturally
+to be made, at first, for the popular apathy: the Jacobins, already
+discouraged by past repression, were partly dazed by the suddenness of
+the blow, and were also ignorant of the aims of the men who dealt it;
+and while they were waiting to see the import of events, power passed
+rapidly into the hands of Bonaparte and his coadjutors. Such is an
+explanation, in part at least, of the strange docility now shown by a
+populace which still vaunted its loyalty to the democratic republic.
+But there is another explanation, which goes far deeper. The
+revolutionary strifes had wearied the brain of France and had
+predisposed it to accept accomplished facts. Distracted by the talk
+about royalist plots and Jacobin plots, cowering away from the white
+ogre and the red spectre, the more credulous part of the populace was
+fain to take shelter under the cloak of a great soldier, who at least
+promised order. Everything favoured the drill-sergeant theory of
+government. The instincts developed by a thousand years of monarchy
+had not been rooted out in the last decade. They now prompted France
+to rally round her able man; and, abandoning political liberty as a
+hopeless quest, she obeyed the imperious call which promised to
+revivify the order and brilliance of her old existence with the
+throbbing blood of her new life.
+
+The French constitution was now to be reconstructed by a
+self-appointed commission which sat with closed doors. This strange
+ending to all the constitution-building of a decade was due to the
+adroitness of Lucien Bonaparte. At the close of that eventful day, the
+19th of Brumaire, he gathered about him in the deserted hall at St.
+Cloud some score or so of the dispersed deputies known to be
+favourable to his brother, declaimed against the Jacobins, whose
+spectral plot had proved so useful to the real plotters, and proposed
+to this "Rump" of the Council the formation of a commission who should
+report on measures that were deemed necessary for the public safety.
+The measures were found to be the deposition of the Directory, the
+expulsion of sixty-one members from the Councils, the nomination of
+Sieyès, Roger Ducos, and Bonaparte as provisional Consuls and the
+adjournment of the Councils for four months. The Consuls accordingly
+took up their residence in the Luxemburg Palace, just vacated by the
+Directors, and the drafting of a constitution was confided to them and
+to an _interim_ commission of fifty members chosen equally from the
+two Councils.
+
+The illegality of these devices was hidden beneath a cloak of politic
+clemency. To this commission the Consuls, or rather Bonaparte--for
+his will soon dominated that of Sieyès--proposed two most salutary
+changes. He desired to put an end to the seizure of hostages from
+villages suspected of royalism; and also to the exaction of taxes
+levied on a progressive scale, which harassed the wealthy without
+proportionately benefiting the exchequer. These two expedients,
+adopted by the Directory in the summer of 1799, were temporary
+measures adopted to stem the tide of invasion and to crush revolts;
+but they were regarded as signs of a permanently terrorist policy, and
+their removal greatly strengthened the new consular rule. The blunder
+of nearly all the revolutionary governments had been in continuing
+severe laws after the need for them had ceased to be pressing.
+Bonaparte, with infinite tact, discerned this truth, and, as will
+shortly appear, set himself to found his government on the support of
+that vast neutral mass which was neither royalist nor Jacobin, which
+hated the severities of the reds no less than the abuses of the
+_ancien régime_.
+
+While Bonaparte was conciliating the many, Sieyès was striving to body
+forth the constitution which for many years had been nebulously
+floating in his brain. The function of the Socratic [Greek: maieutaes]
+was discharged by Boulay de la Meurthe, who with difficulty reduced
+those ideas to definite shape. The new constitution was based on the
+principle: "Confidence comes from below, power from above." This meant
+that the people, that is, all adult males, were admitted only to the
+preliminary stages of election of deputies, while the final act of
+selection was to be made by higher grades or powers. The "confidence"
+required of the people was to be shown not only towards their
+nominees, but towards those who were charged with the final and most
+important act of selection. The winnowing processes in the election of
+representatives were to be carried out on a decimal system. The adult
+voters meeting in their several districts were to choose one-tenth of
+their number, this tenth being named the Notabilities of the Commune.
+These, some five or six hundred thousand in number, meeting in their
+several Departments, were thereupon to choose one-tenth of their
+number; and the resulting fifty or sixty thousand men, termed
+Notabilities of the Departments, were again to name one-tenth of their
+number, who were styled Notabilities of the Nation. But the most
+important act of selection was still to come--from above. From this
+last-named list the governing powers were to select the members of the
+legislative bodies and the chief officials and servants of the
+Government.
+
+The executive now claims a brief notice. The well-worn theory of the
+distinction of powers, that is, the legislative and executive powers,
+was maintained in Sieyès' plan. At the head of the Government the
+philosopher desired to enthrone an august personage, the Grand
+Elector, who was to be selected by the Senate. This Grand Elector was
+to nominate two Consuls, one for peace, the other for war; they were
+to nominate the Ministers of State, who in their turn selected the
+agents of power from the list of Notabilities of the Nation. The two
+Consuls and their Ministers administered the executive affairs. The
+Senate, sitting in dignified ease, was merely to safeguard the
+constitution, to elect the Grand Elector, and to select the members of
+the _Corps Législatif_ (proper) and the Tribunate.
+
+Distrust of the former almost superhuman activity in law-making now
+appeared in divisions, checks, and balances quite ingenious in their
+complexity. The Legislature was divided into three councils: the
+_Corps Législatif_, properly so called, which listened in silence to
+proposals of laws offered by the Council of State and criticised or
+orally approved by the Tribunate.[131] These three bodies were not
+only divided, but were placed in opposition, especially the two
+talking bodies, which resembled plaintiff and defendant pleading
+before a gagged judge. But even so the constitution was not
+sufficiently guarded against Jacobins or royalists. If by any chance a
+dangerous proposal were forced through these mutually distrustful
+bodies, the Senate was charged with the task of vetoing it, and if the
+Grand Elector, or any other high official, strove to gain a perpetual
+dictatorship, the Senate was at once to _absorb_ him into its ranks.
+
+Moreover, lest the voters should send up too large a proportion of
+Jacobins or royalists, the first selection of members of the great
+Councils and the chief functionaries for local affairs was to be made
+by the Consuls, who thus primarily exercised not only the "power from
+above," but also the "confidence" which ought to have come from below.
+Perhaps this device was necessary to set in motion Sieyès' system of
+wheels within wheels; for the Senate, which was to elect the Grand
+Elector, by whom the executive officers were indirectly to be chosen,
+was in part self-sufficient: the Consuls named the first members, who
+then co-opted, that is, chose the new members. Some impulse from
+without was also needed to give the constitution life; and this
+impulse was now to come. Where Sieyès had only contrived wheels,
+checks, regulator, break, and safety-valve, there now rushed in an
+imperious will which not only simplified the parts but supplied an
+irresistible motive power.
+
+The complexity of much of the mechanism, especially that relating to
+popular election and the legislature, entirely suited Bonaparte. But,
+while approving the triple winnowing, to which Sieyès subjected the
+results of manhood suffrage, and the subordination of the legislative
+to the executive authority,[132] the general expressed his entire
+disapproval of the limitations of the Grand Elector's powers. The name
+was anti-republican: let it be changed to First Consul. And whereas
+Sieyès condemned his grand functionary to the repose of a _roi
+fainéant_, Bonaparte secured to him practically all the powers
+assigned by Sieyès to the Consuls for Peace and for War. Lastly,
+Bonaparte protested against the right of absorbing him being given to
+the Senate. Here also he was successful; and thus a delicately poised
+bureaucracy was turned into an almost unlimited dictatorship.
+
+This metamorphosis may well excite wonder. But, in truth, Sieyès and
+his colleagues were too weary and sceptical to oppose the one
+"intensely practical man." To Bonaparte's trenchant reasons and
+incisive tones the theorist could only reply by a scornful silence
+broken by a few bitter retorts. To the irresistible power of the
+general he could only oppose the subtlety of a student. And, indeed,
+who can picture Bonaparte, the greatest warrior of the age, delegating
+the control of all warlike operations to a Consul for War while
+Austrian cannon were thundering in the county of Nice and British
+cruisers were insulting the French coasts? It was inevitable that the
+reposeful Grand Elector should be transformed into the omnipotent
+First Consul, and that these powers should be wielded by Bonaparte
+himself.[133]
+
+The extent of the First Consul's powers, as finally settled by the
+joint commission, was as follows. He had the direct and sole
+nomination of the members of the general administration, of those of
+the departmental and municipal councils, and of the administrators,
+afterwards called prefects and sub-prefects. He also appointed all
+military and naval officers, ambassadors and agents sent to foreign
+Powers, and the judges in civil and criminal suits, except the _juges
+de paix_ and, later on, the members of the _Cour de Cassation_. He
+therefore controlled the army, navy, and diplomatic service, as well
+as the general administration. He also signed treaties, though these
+might be discussed, and must be ratified, by the legislative bodies.
+The three Consuls were to reside in the Tuileries palace; but, apart
+from the enjoyment of 150,000 francs a year, and occasional
+consultation by the First Consul, the position of these officials was
+so awkward that Bonaparte frankly remarked to Roederer that it would
+have been better to call them Grand Councillors. They were, in truth,
+supernumeraries added to the chief of the State, as a concession to
+the spirit of equality and as a blind to hide the reality of the new
+despotism. All three were to be chosen for ten years, and were
+re-eligible.
+
+Such is an outline of the constitution of 1799 (Year VIII.). It was
+promulgated on December 15th, 1799, and was offered to the people for
+acceptance, in a proclamation which closed with the words: "Citizens,
+the Revolution is confined to the principles which commenced it. It is
+finished." The news of this last fact decided the enthusiastic
+acceptance of the constitution. In a _plébiscite_, or mass vote of the
+people, held in the early days of 1800, it was accepted by an
+overwhelming majority, viz., by 3,011,007 as against only 1,562
+negatives. No fact so forcibly proves the failure of absolute
+democracy in France; and, whatever may be said of the methods of
+securing this national acclaim, it was, and must ever remain, the
+soundest of Bonaparte's titles to power. To a pedant who once
+inquired about his genealogy he significantly replied: "It dates from
+Brumaire."
+
+Shortly before the _plébiscite_, Sieyès and Ducos resigned their
+temporary commissions as Consuls: they were rewarded with seats in the
+Senate; and Sieyès, in consideration of his constitutional work,
+received the estate of Crosne from the nation.
+
+  "Sieyès à Bonaparte a fait present du trône,
+  Sous un pompeux débris croyant l'ensevelir.
+  Bonaparte à Sieyès a fait present de Crosne
+    Pour le payer et l'avilir."
+
+The sting in the tail of Lebrun's epigram struck home. Sieyès'
+acceptance of Crosne was, in fact, his acceptance of notice to quit
+public affairs, in which he had always moved with philosophic disdain.
+He lived on to the year 1836 in dignified ease, surveying with
+Olympian calm the storms of French and Continental politics.
+
+The two new Consuls were Cambacérès and Lebrun. The former was known
+as a learned jurist and a tactful man. He had voted for the death of
+Louis XVI., but his subsequent action had been that of a moderate, and
+his knowledge of legal affairs was likely to be of the highest service
+to Bonaparte, who intrusted him with a general oversight of
+legislation. His tact was seen in his refusal to take up his abode in
+the Tuileries, lest, as he remarked to Lebrun, he might have to move
+out again soon. The third Consul, Lebrun, was a moderate with leanings
+towards constitutional royalty. He was to prove another useful
+satellite to Bonaparte, who intrusted him with the general oversight
+of finance and regarded him as a connecting link with the moderate
+royalists. The chief secretary to the Consuls was Maret, a trusty
+political agent, who had striven for peace with England both in 1793
+and in 1797.
+
+As for the Ministers, they were now reinforced by Talleyrand, who took
+up that of Foreign Affairs, and by Berthier, who brought his powers of
+hard work to that of War, until he was succeeded for a time by Carnot.
+Lucien Bonaparte, and later Chaptal, became Minister of the Interior,
+Gaudin controlled Finance, Forfait the Navy, and Fouché the Police.
+The Council of State was organized in the following sections; that of
+_War_, which was presided over by General Brune: _Marine_, by Admiral
+Gantheaume: _Finance_, by Defermon: _Legislation_, by Boulay de la
+Meurthe: the _Interior_, by Roederer.
+
+The First Consul soon showed that he intended to adopt a non-partisan
+and thoroughly national policy. That had been, it is true, the aim of
+the Directors in their policy of balance and repression of extreme
+parties on both sides. For the reasons above indicated, they had
+failed: but now a stronger and more tactful grasp was to succeed in a
+feat which naturally became easier every year that removed the
+passions of the revolutionary epoch further into the distance. Men
+cannot for ever perorate, and agitate and plot. A time infallibly
+comes when an able leader can successfully appeal to their saner
+instincts: and that hour had now struck. Bonaparte's appeal was made
+to the many, who cared not for politics, provided that they themselves
+were left in security and comfort: it was urged quietly, persistently,
+and with the reserve power of a mighty prestige and of overwhelming
+military force. Throughout the whole of the Consulate, a policy of
+moderation, which is too often taken for weakness, was strenuously
+carried through by the strongest man and the greatest warrior of the
+age.
+
+The truly national character of his rule was seen in many ways. He
+excluded from high office men who were notorious regicides, excepting
+a few who, like Fouché, were too clever to be dispensed with. The
+constitutionals of 1791 and even declared royalists were welcomed back
+to France, and many of the Fructidorian exiles also returned.[134] The
+list of _émigrés_ was closed, so that neither political hatred nor
+private greed could misrepresent a journey as an act of political
+emigration. Equally generous and prudent was the treatment of Roman
+Catholics. Toleration was now extended to orthodox or non-juring
+priests, who were required merely to _promise_ allegiance to the new
+constitution. By this act of timely clemency, orthodox priests were
+allowed to return to France, and they were even suffered to officiate
+in places where no opposition was thereby aroused.
+
+While thus removing one of the chief grievances of the Norman, Breton
+and Vendéan peasants, who had risen as much for their religion as for
+their king, he determined to crush their revolts. The north-west, and
+indeed parts of the south of France, were still simmering with
+rebellions and brigandage. In Normandy a daring and able leader named
+Frotté headed a considerable band of malcontents, and still more
+formidable were the Breton "Chouans" that followed the peasant leader
+Georges Cadoudal. This man was a born leader. Though but thirty years
+of age, his fierce courage had long marked him out as the first
+fighter of his race and creed. His features bespoke a bold, hearty
+spirit, and his massive frame defied fatigue and hardship. He
+struggled on; and in the autumn of 1799 fortune seemed about to favour
+the "whites": the revolt was spreading; and had a Bourbon prince
+landed in Brittany before Bonaparte returned from Egypt, the royalists
+might quite possibly have overthrown the Directory. But Bonaparte's
+daring changed the whole aspect of affairs. The news of the stroke of
+Brumaire gave the royalists pause. At first they believed that the
+First Consul would soon call back the king, and Bonaparte skilfully
+favoured this notion: he offered a pacification, of which some of the
+harassed peasants availed themselves. Georges himself for a time
+advised a reconciliation, and a meeting of the royalist leaders voted
+to a man that they desired "to have the king and you" (Bonaparte). One
+of them, Hyde de Neuville, had an interview with the First Consul at
+Paris, and has left on record his surprise at seeing the slight form
+of the man whose name was ringing through France. At the first glance
+he took him for a rather poorly dressed lackey; but when the general
+raised his eyes and searched him through and through with their eager
+fire, the royalist saw his error and fell under the spell of a gaze
+which few could endure unmoved. The interview brought no definite
+result.
+
+Other overtures made by Bonaparte were more effective. True to his
+plan of dividing his enemies, he appealed to the clergy to end the
+civil strife. The appeal struck home to the heart or the ambitions of
+a cleric named Bernier. This man was but a village priest of La
+Vendée: yet his natural abilities gained him an ascendancy in the
+councils of the insurgents, which the First Consul was now
+victoriously to exploit. Whatever may have been Bernier's motives, he
+certainly acted with some duplicity. Without forewarning Cadoudal,
+Bourmont, Frotté, and other royalist leaders, he secretly persuaded
+the less combative leaders to accept the First Consul's terms; and a
+pacification was arranged (January 18th), In vain did Cadoudal rage
+against this treachery: in vain did he strive to break the armistice.
+Frotté in Normandy was the last to capitulate and the first to feel
+Bonaparte's vengeance: on a trumped-up charge of treachery he was
+hurried before a court-martial and shot. An order was sent from Paris
+for his pardon; but a letter which Bonaparte wrote to Brune on the day
+of the execution contains the ominous phrase: _By this time Frotté
+ought to be shot_; and a recently published letter to Hédouville
+expresses the belief that _the punishment of that desperate leader
+will doubtless contribute to the complete pacification of the
+West_.[135]
+
+In the hope of gaining over the Chouans, Bonaparte required their
+chiefs to come to Paris, where they received the greatest
+consideration. In Bernier the priest, Bonaparte discerned diplomatic
+gifts of a high order, which were soon to be tested in a far more
+important negotiation. The nobles, too, received flattering
+attentions which touched their pride and assured their future
+insignificance. Among them was Count Bourmont, the Judas of the
+Waterloo campaign.
+
+In contrast with the priest and the nobles, Georges Cadoudal stood
+firm as a rock. That suave tongue spoke to him of glory, honour, and
+the fatherland: he heeded it not, for he knew it had ordered the death
+of Frotté. There stood these fighters alone, face to face, types of
+the north and south, of past and present, fiercest and toughest of
+living men, their stern wills racked in wrestle for two hours. But
+southern craft was foiled by Breton steadfastness, and Georges went
+his way unshamed. Once outside the palace, his only words to his
+friend, Hyde de Neuville, were: "What a mind I had to strangle him in
+these arms!" Shadowed by Bonaparte's spies, and hearing that he was
+to be arrested, he fled to England; and Normandy and Brittany enjoyed
+the semblance of peace.[136]
+
+Thus ended the civil war which for nearly seven years had rent France
+in twain. Whatever may be said about the details of Bonaparte's
+action, few will deny its beneficent results on French life. Harsh and
+remorseless as Nature herself towards individuals, he certainly, at
+this part of his career, promoted the peace and prosperity of the
+masses. And what more can be said on behalf of a ruler at the end of a
+bloody revolution?
+
+Meanwhile the First Consul had continued to develop Sieyès'
+constitution in the direction of autocracy. The Council of State,
+which was little more than an enlarged Ministry, had been charged with
+the vague and dangerous function of "developing the sense of laws" on
+the demand of the Consuls; and it was soon seen that this Council was
+merely a convenient screen to hide the operations of Bonaparte's will.
+On the other hand, a blow was struck at the Tribunate, the only public
+body which had the right of debate and criticism. It was now proposed
+(January, 1800) that the time allowed for debate should be strictly
+limited. This restriction to the right of free discussion met with
+little opposition. One of the most gifted of the new tribunes,
+Benjamin Constant, the friend of Madame de Staël, eloquently pleaded
+against this policy of distrust which would reduce the Tribunate to a
+silence that would be _heard by Europe_. It was in vain. The rabid
+rhetoric of the past had infected France with a foolish fear of all
+free debate. The Tribunate signed its own death warrant; and the sole
+result of its feeble attempt at opposition was that Madame de Staël's
+_salon_ was forthwith deserted by the Liberals who had there found
+inspiration; while the gifted authoress herself was officially
+requested to retire into the country.
+
+The next act of the central power struck at freedom of the press. As a
+few journals ventured on witticisms at the expense of the new
+Government, the Consuls ordered the suppression of all the political
+journals of Paris except thirteen; and three even of these favoured
+papers were suppressed on April 7th. The reason given for this
+despotic action was the need of guiding public opinion wisely during
+the war, and of preventing any articles "contrary to the respect due
+to the social compact, to the sovereignty of the people, and to the
+glory of the armies." By a finely ironical touch Rousseau's doctrine
+of the popular sovereignty was thus invoked to sanction its violation.
+The incident is characteristic of the whole tendency of events, which
+showed that the dawn of personal rule was at hand. In fact, Bonaparte
+had already taken the bold step of removing to the Tuileries, and that
+too, on the very day when he ordered public mourning for the death of
+Washington (February 7th). No one but the great Corsican would have
+dared to brave the comments which this coincidence provoked. But he
+was necessary to France, and all men knew it. At the first sitting of
+the provisional Consuls, Ducos had said to him: "It is useless to vote
+about the presidence; it belongs to you of right"; and, despite the
+wry face pulled by Sieyès, the general at once took the chair.
+Scarcely less remarkable than the lack of energy in statesmen was the
+confusion of thought in the populace. Mme. Reinhard tells us that
+after the _coup d'état_ people _believed they had returned to the
+first days of liberty_. What wonder, then, that the one able and
+strong-willed man led the helpless many and re-moulded Sieyès'
+constitution in a fashion that was thus happily parodied:
+
+  "J'ai, pour les fous, d'un Tribunat
+    Conservé la figure;
+  Pour les sots je laisse un Sénat,
+    Mais ce n'est qu'en peinture;
+  A ce stupide magistrat
+    Ma volonté préside;
+  Et tout le Conseil d'État
+    Dans mon sabre réside."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+MARENGO: LUNÉVILLE
+
+
+Reserving for the next chapter a description of the new civil
+institutions of France, it will be convenient now to turn to foreign
+affairs. Having arranged the most urgent of domestic questions, the
+First Consul was ready to encounter the forces of the Second
+Coalition. He had already won golden opinions in France by
+endeavouring peacefully to dissolve it. On the 25th of December, 1799,
+he sent two courteous letters, one to George III., the other to the
+Emperor Francis, proposing an immediate end to the war. The close of
+the letter to George III. has been deservedly admired: "France and
+England by the abuse of their strength may, for the misfortune of all
+nations, be long in exhausting it: but I venture to declare that the
+fate of all civilized nations is concerned in the termination of a war
+which kindles a conflagration over the whole world." This noble
+sentiment touched the imagination of France and of friends of peace
+everywhere.
+
+And yet, if the circumstances of the time be considered, the first
+agreeable impressions aroused by the perusal of this letter must be
+clouded over by doubts. The First Consul had just seized on power by
+illegal and forcible means, and there was as yet little to convince
+foreign States that he would hold it longer than the men whom he had
+displaced. Moreover, France was in a difficult position. Her treasury
+was empty; her army in Italy was being edged into the narrow
+coast-line near Genoa; and her oriental forces were shut up in their
+new conquest. Were not the appeals to Austria and England merely a
+skillful device to gain time? Did his past power in Italy and Egypt
+warrant the belief that he would abandon the peninsula and the new
+colony? Could the man who had bartered away Venetia and seized Malta
+and Egypt be fitly looked upon as the sacred'r peacemaker? In
+diplomacy men's words are interpreted by their past conduct and
+present circumstances, neither of which tended to produce confidence
+in Bonaparte's pacific overtures; and neither Francis nor George III.
+looked on the present attempt as anything but a skilful means of
+weakening the Coalition.
+
+Indeed, that league was, for various reasons, all but dissolved by
+internal dissensions. Austria was resolved to keep all the eastern
+part of Piedmont and the greater part of the Genoese Republic. While
+welcoming the latter half of this demand, George III.'s Ministers
+protested against the absorption of so great a part of Piedmont as an
+act of cruel injustice to the King of Sardinia. Austria was annoyed at
+the British remonstrances and was indignant at the designs of the Czar
+on Corsica. Accordingly no time could have been better chosen by
+Bonaparte for seeking to dissolve the Coalition, as he certainly hoped
+to do by these two letters. Only the staunch support of legitimist
+claims by England then prevented the Coalition from degenerating into
+a scramble for Italian territories.[137] And, if we may trust the
+verdict of contemporaries and his own confession at St. Helena,
+Bonaparte never expected any other result from these letters than an
+increase of his popularity in France. This was enhanced by the British
+reply, which declared that His Majesty could not place his reliance on
+"general professions of pacific dispositions": France had waged
+aggressive war, levied exactions, and overthrown institutions in
+neighbouring States; and the British Government could not as yet
+discern any abandonment of this system: something more was required
+for a durable peace: "The best and most natural pledge of its reality
+and permanence would be the restoration of that line of princes which
+for so many centuries maintained the French nation in prosperity at
+home and in consideration and respect abroad." This answer has been
+sharply criticised, and justly so, if its influence on public opinion
+be alone considered. But a perusal of the British Foreign Office
+Records reveals the reason for the use of these stiffly legitimist
+claims. Legitimacy alone promised to stop the endless shiftings of the
+political kaleidoscope, whether by France, Austria, or Russia. Our
+ambassador at Vienna was requested to inform the Government of Vienna
+of the exact wording of the British reply:
+
+     "As a proof of the zeal and steadiness with which His Majesty
+     adheres to the principles of the Confederacy, and as a testimony of
+     the confidence with which he anticipates a similar answer from His
+     Imperial Majesty, to whom an overture of a similar nature has
+     without doubt been made."
+
+But this correct conduct, while admirably adapted to prop up the
+tottering Coalition, was equally favourable to the consolidation of
+Bonaparte's power. It helped to band together the French people to
+resist the imposition of their exiled royal house by external force.
+Even George III. thought it "much too strong," though he suggested no
+alteration. At once Bonaparte retorted in a masterly note; he
+ironically presumed that His Britannic Majesty admitted the right of
+nations to choose their form of government, since only by that right
+did he wear the British crown; and he invited him not to apply to
+other peoples a principle which would recall the Stuarts to the throne
+of Great Britain.
+
+Bonaparte's diplomatic game was completely won during the debates on
+the King's speech at Westminster at the close of January, 1800. Lord
+Grenville laboriously proved that peace was impossible with a nation
+whose war was against all order, religion, and morality; and he cited
+examples of French lawlessness from Holland and Switzerland to Malta
+and Egypt. Pitt declared that the French Revolution was the severest
+trial which Providence had ever yet inflicted on the nations of the
+earth; and, claiming that there was no security in negotiating with
+France, owing to her instability, he summed up his case in the
+Ciceronian phrase: _Pacem nolo quia infida_. Ministers carried the day
+by 260 votes to 64; but they ranged nearly the whole of France on the
+side of the First Consul. No triumph in the field was worth more to
+him than these Philippics, which seemed to challenge France to build
+up a strong Government in order that the Court of St. James might find
+some firm foundation for future negotiations.
+
+Far more dextrous was the conduct of the Austrian diplomatists.
+Affecting to believe in the sincerity of the First Consul's proposal
+for peace, they so worded their note as to draw from him a reply that
+he was prepared to discuss terms of peace on the basis of the Treaty
+of Campo Formio.[138] As Austria had since then conquered the greater
+part of Italy, Bonaparte's reply immediately revealed his
+determination to reassert French supremacy in Italy and the Rhineland.
+The action of the Courts of Vienna and London was not unlike that of
+the sun and the wind in the proverbial saw. Viennese suavity induced
+Bonaparte to take off his coat and show himself as he really was:
+while the conscientious bluster of Grenville and Pitt made the First
+Consul button up his coat, and pose as the buffeted peacemaker.
+
+The allies had good grounds for confidence. Though Russia had
+withdrawn from the Second Coalition yet the Austrians continued their
+victorious advance in Italy. In April, 1800, they severed the French
+forces near Savona, driving back Suchet's corps towards Nice, while
+the other was gradually hemmed in behind the redoubts of Genoa. There
+the Imperialist advance was stoutly stayed. Masséna, ably seconded by
+Oudinot and Soult, who now gained their first laurels as generals,
+maintained a most obstinate resistance, defying alike the assaults of
+the white-coats, the bombs hurled by the English squadron, and the
+deadlier inroads of famine and sickness. The garrison dwindled by
+degrees to less than 10,000 effectives, but they kept double the
+number of Austrians there, while Bonaparte was about to strike a
+terrible blow against their rear and that of Melas further west. It
+was for this that the First Consul urged Masséna to hold out at Genoa
+to the last extremity, and nobly was the order obeyed.
+
+Suchet meanwhile defended the line of the River Var against Melas. In
+Germany, Moreau with his larger forces slowly edged back the chief
+Austrian army, that of General Kray, from the defiles of the Black
+Forest, compelling it to fall back on the intrenched camp at Ulm.
+
+On their side, the Austrians strove to compel Masséna to a speedy
+surrender, and then with a large force to press on into Nice,
+Provence, and possibly Savoy, surrounding Suchet's force, and rousing
+the French royalists of the south to a general insurrection. They also
+had the promise of the help of a British force, which was to be landed
+at some point on the coast and take Suchet in the flank or rear.[139]
+Such was the plan, daring in outline and promising great things,
+provided that everything went well. If Masséna surrendered, if the
+British War Office and Admiralty worked up to time, if the winds were
+favourable, and if the French royalists again ventured on a revolt,
+then France would be crippled, perhaps conquered. As for the French
+occupation of Switzerland and Moreau's advance into Swabia, that was
+not to prevent the prosecution of the original Austrian plan of
+advancing against Provence and wresting Nice and Savoy from the French
+grasp. This scheme has been criticised as if it were based solely on
+military considerations; but it was rather dictated by schemes of
+political aggrandizement. The conquest of Nice and Savoy was necessary
+to complete the ambitious schemes of the Hapsburgs, who sought to gain
+a large part of Piedmont at the expense of the King of Sardinia, and
+after conquering Savoy and Nice, to thrust that unfortunate king to
+the utmost verge of the peninsula, which the prowess of his
+descendants has ultimately united under the Italian tricolour.
+
+The allied plan sinned against one of the elementary rules of
+strategy; it exposed a large force to a blow from the rear, namely,
+from Switzerland. The importance of this immensely strong central
+position early attracted Bonaparte's attention. On the 17th of March
+he called his secretary, Bourrienne (so the latter states), and lay
+down with him on a map of Piedmont: then, placing pins tipped, some
+with red, others with black wax, so as to denote the positions of the
+troops, he asked him to guess where the French would beat their foes:
+
+     "How the devil should I know?" said Bourrienne. "Why, look here,
+     you fool," said the First Consul: "Melas is at Alessandria with his
+     headquarters. There he will remain until Genoa surrenders. He has
+     at Alessandria his magazines, his hospitals, his artillery, his
+     reserves. Crossing the Alps here (at the Great St. Bernard), I
+     shall fall upon Melas, cut off his communications with Austria, and
+     meet him here in the plains of the River Scrivia at San Giuliano."
+
+I quote this passage as showing how readily such stories of ready-made
+plans gain credence, until they come to be tested by Napoleon's
+correspondence. There we find no strategic soothsaying, but only a
+close watching of events as they develop day by day. In March and
+April he kept urging on Moreau the need of an early advance, while he
+considered the advantages offered by the St. Gotthard, Simplon, and
+Great St. Bernard passes for his own army. On April 27th he decided
+against the first (except for a detachment), because Moreau's advance
+was too slow to safeguard his rear on that route. He now preferred the
+Great St. Bernard, but still doubted whether, after crossing, he
+should make for Milan, or strike at Masséna's besiegers, in case that
+general should be very hard pressed. Like all great commanders, he
+started with a general plan, but he arranged the details as the
+situation required. In his letter of May 19th, he poured scorn on
+Parisian editors who said he prophesied that in a month he would be at
+Milan. "That is not in my character. Very often I do _not_ say what I
+know: but never do I say what will be."
+
+The better to hide his purpose, he chose as his first base of
+operations the city of Dijon, whence he seemed to threaten either the
+Swabian or the Italian army of his foes. But this was not enough. At
+the old Burgundian capital he assembled his staff and a few regiments
+of conscripts in order to mislead the English and Austrian spies;
+while the fighting battalions were drafted by diverse routes to Geneva
+or Lausanne. So skilful were these preparations that, in the early
+days of May, the greater part of his men and stores were near the lake
+of Geneva, whence they were easily transferred to the upper valley of
+the Rhone. In order that he might have a methodical, hard-working
+coadjutor he sent Berthier from the office of the Ministry of War,
+where he had displayed less ability than Bernadotte, to be
+commander-in-chief of the "army of reserve." In reality Berthier was,
+as before in Italy and Egypt, chief of the staff; but he had the
+titular dignity of commander which the constitution of 1800 forbade
+the First Consul to assume.
+
+On May 6th Bonaparte left Paris for Geneva, where he felt the pulse of
+every movement in both campaigns. At that city, on hearing the report
+of his general of engineers, he decided to take the Great St. Bernard
+route into Italy, as against the Simplon. With redoubled energy, he
+now supervised the thousands of details that were needed to insure
+success: for, while prone to indulging in grandiose schemes, he
+revelled in the work which alone could bring them within his grasp:
+or, as Wellington once remarked, "Nothing was too great or too small
+for his proboscis." The difficulties of sending a large army over the
+Great St. Bernard were indeed immense. That pass was chosen because it
+presented only five leagues of ground impracticable for carriages. But
+those five leagues tested the utmost powers of the army and of its
+chiefs. Marmont, who commanded the artillery, had devised the
+ingenious plan of taking the cannon from their carriages and placing
+them in the hollowed-out trunks of pine, so that the trunnions fitting
+into large notches kept them steady during the ascent over the snow
+and the still more difficult descent.[140] The labour of dragging the
+guns wore out the peasants; then the troops were invited--a hundred at
+a time--to take a turn at the ropes, and were exhilarated by martial
+airs played by the bands, or by bugles and drums sounding the charge
+at the worst places of the ascent.
+
+The track sometimes ran along narrow ledges where a false step meant
+death, or where avalanches were to be feared. The elements, however,
+were propitious, and the losses insignificant. This was due to many
+causes: the ardour of the troops in an enterprise which appealed to
+French imagination and roused all their activities; the friendliness
+of the mountaineers; and the organizing powers of Bonaparte and of his
+staff; all these may be cited as elements of success. They present a
+striking contrast to the march of Hannibal's army over one of the
+western passes of the Alps. His motley host struggled over a long
+stretch of mountains in the short days of October over unknown paths,
+in one part swept away by a fall of the cliff, and ever and anon beset
+by clouds of treacherous Gauls. Seeing that the great Carthaginian's
+difficulties began long before he reached the Alps, that he was
+encumbered by elephants, and that his army was composed of diverse
+races held together only by trust in the prowess of their chief, his
+exploit was far more wonderful than that of Bonaparte, which, indeed,
+more nearly resembles the crossing of the St. Bernard by Francis I. in
+1515. The difference between the conditions of Hannibal's and
+Bonaparte's enterprises may partly be measured by the time which they
+occupied. Whereas Hannibal's march across the Alps lasted fifteen
+days, three of which were spent in the miseries of a forced halt
+amidst the snow, the First Consul's forces took but seven days.
+Whereas the Carthaginian army was weakened by hunger, the French
+carried their full rations of biscuit; and at the head of the pass the
+monks of the Hospice of St. Bernard served out the rations of bread,
+cheese, and wine which the First Consul had forwarded, and which their
+own generosity now doubled. The hospitable fathers themselves served
+at the tables set up in front of the Hospice.
+
+After insuring the regular succession of troops and stores, Bonaparte
+himself began the ascent on May 20th. He wore the gray overcoat which
+had already become famous; and his features were fixed in that
+expression of calm self-possession which he ever maintained in face of
+difficulty. The melodramatic attitudes of horse and rider, which David
+has immortalized in his great painting, are, of course, merely
+symbolical of the genius of militant democracy prancing over natural
+obstacles and wafted onwards and upwards by the breath of victory. The
+living figure was remarkable only for stern self-restraint and
+suppressed excitement; instead of the prancing war-horse limned by
+David, his beast of burden was a mule, led by a peasant; and, in place
+of victory, he had heard that Lannes with the vanguard had found an
+unexpected obstacle to his descent into Italy. The narrow valley of
+the Dora Baltea, by which alone they could advance, was wellnigh
+blocked by the fort of Bard, which was firmly held by a small Austrian
+garrison and defied all the efforts of Lannes and Berthier. This was
+the news that met the First Consul during his ascent, and again at the
+Hospice. After accepting the hospitality of the monks, and spending a
+short time in the library and chapel, he resumed his journey; and on
+the southern slopes he and his staff now and again amused themselves
+by sliding down the tracks which the passage of thousands of men had
+rendered slippery. After halting at Aosta, he proceeded down the
+valley to the fort of Bard.
+
+Meanwhile some of his foot-soldiers had worked their way round this
+obstacle by a goat-track among the hills and had already reached Ivrea
+lower down the valley. Still the fort held out against the cannonade
+of the French. Its commanding position seemed to preclude all hope of
+getting the artillery past it; and without artillery the First Consul
+could not hope for success in the plains of Piedmont. Unable to
+capture the fort, he bethought him of hurrying by night the now
+remounted guns under the cover of the houses of the village. For this
+purpose he caused the main street to be strewn with straw and dung,
+while the wheels of the cannon were covered over so as to make little
+noise. They were then dragged quietly through the village almost
+within pistol shot of the garrison: nevertheless, the defenders took
+alarm, and, firing with musketry and grenades, exploded some
+ammunition wagons and inflicted other losses; yet 40 guns and 100
+wagons were got past the fort.
+
+How this unfailing resource contrasts with the heedless behaviour of
+the enemy! Had they speedily reinforced their detachment at Bard,
+there can be little doubt that Bonaparte's movements could have been
+seriously hampered. But, up to May 21st, Melas was ignorant that his
+distant rear was being assailed, and the 3,000 Austrians who guarded
+the vale of the Dora Baltea were divided, part being at Bard and
+others at Ivrea. The latter place was taken by a rush of Lannes'
+troops on May 22nd, and Bard was blockaded by part of the French
+rearguard.
+
+Bonaparte's army, if the rearguard be included, numbered 41,000 men.
+Meanwhile, farther east, a French force of 15,000 men, drawn partly
+from Moreau's army and led by Moncey, was crossing the St. Gotthard
+pass and began to drive back the Austrian outposts in the upper valley
+of the Ticino; and 5,000 men, marching over the Mont Cenis pass,
+threatened Turin from the west. The First Consul's aim now was to
+unite the two chief forces, seize the enemy's magazines, and compel
+him to a complete surrender. This daring resolve took shape at Aosta
+on the 24th, when he heard that Melas was, on the 19th, still at Nice,
+unconscious of his doom. The chance of ending the war at one blow was
+not to be missed, even if Masséna had to shift for himself.
+
+But already Melas' dream of triumph had vanished. On the 21st, hearing
+the astonishing news that a large force had crossed the St. Bernard,
+he left 18,000 men to oppose Suchet on the Var, and hurried back with
+the remainder to Turin. At the Piedmontese capital he heard that he
+had to deal with the First Consul; but not until the last day of May
+did he know that Moncey was forcing the St. Gotthard and threatening
+Milan. Then, realizing the full extent of his danger, he hastily
+called in all the available troops in order to fight his way through
+to Mantua. He even sent an express to the besiegers of Genoa to retire
+on Alessandria; but negotiations had been opened with Masséna for the
+surrender of that stronghold, and the opinion of Lord Keith, the
+English admiral, decided the Austrian commander there to press the
+siege to the very end. The city was in the direst straits. Horses,
+dogs, cats, and rats were at last eagerly sought as food: and at
+every sortie crowds of the starving inhabitants followed the French in
+order to cut down grass, nettles, and leaves, which they then boiled
+with salt.[141] A revolt threatened by the wretched townsfolk was
+averted by Masséna ordering his troops to fire on every gathering of
+more than four men. At last, on June 4th, with 8,000 half-starved
+soldiers he marched through the Austrian posts with the honours of
+war. The stern warrior would not hear of the word surrender or
+capitulation. He merely stated to the allied commanders that on June
+4th his troops would evacuate Genoa or clear their path by the
+bayonet.
+
+Bonaparte has been reproached for not marching at once to succour
+Masséna: the charge of desertion was brought by Masséna and Thiébault,
+and has been driven home by Lanfrey with his usual skill. It will,
+however, scarcely bear a close examination. The Austrians, at the
+first trustworthy news of the French inroads into Piedmont and
+Lombardy, were certain to concentrate either at Turin or Alessandria.
+Indeed, Melas was already near Turin, and would have fallen on the
+First Consul's flank had the latter marched due south towards
+Genoa.[142] Such a march, with only 40,000 men, would have been
+perilous: and it could at most only have rescued a now reduced and
+almost famishing garrison. Besides, he very naturally expected the
+besiegers of Genoa to retreat now that their rear was threatened.
+
+Sound policy and a desire to deal a dramatic stroke spurred on the
+First Consul to a more daring and effective plan; to clear Lombardy of
+the Imperialists and seize their stores; then, after uniting with
+Moncey's 15,000 troops, to cut off the retreat of all the Austrian
+forces west of Milan.
+
+On entering Milan he was greeted with wild acclaim by the partisans of
+France (June 2nd); they extolled the energy and foresight that brought
+two armies, as it were down from the clouds, to confound their
+oppressors. Numbers of men connected with the Cisalpine Republic had
+been proscribed, banished, or imprisoned by the Austrians; and their
+friends now hailed him as the restorer of their republic. The First
+Consul spent seven days in selecting the men who were to rebuild the
+Cisalpine State, in beating back the eastern forces of Austria beyond
+the River Adda, and in organizing his troops and those of Moncey for
+the final blow. The military problems, indeed, demanded great care and
+judgment. His position was curiously the reverse of that which he had
+occupied in 1796. Then the French held Tortona, Alessandria, and
+Valenza, and sought to drive back the Austrians to the walls of
+Mantua. Now the Imperialists, holding nearly the same positions, were
+striving to break through the French lines which cut them off from
+that city of refuge; and Bonaparte, having forces slightly inferior to
+his opponents, felt the difficulty of frustrating their escape.
+
+Three routes were open to Melas. The most direct was by way of Tortona
+and Piacenza along the southern bank of the Po, through the difficult
+defile of Stradella: or he might retire towards Genoa, across the
+Apennines, and regain Mantua by a dash across the Modenese: or he
+might cross the Po at Valenza and the Ticino near Pavia. All these
+roads had to be watched by the French as they cautiously drew towards
+their quarry. Bonaparte's first move was to send Murat with a
+considerable body of troops to seize Piacenza and to occupy the defile
+of Stradella. These important posts were wrested from the Austrian
+vanguard; and this success was crowned on June 9th by General Lannes'
+brilliant victory at Montebello over a superior Austrian force
+marching from Genoa towards Piacenza, which he drove back towards
+Alessandria. Smaller bodies of French were meanwhile watching the
+course of the Ticino, and others seized the magazines of the enemy at
+Cremona.
+
+After gaining precious news as to Melas' movements from an intercepted
+despatch, Bonaparte left Milan on June 9th, and proceeded to
+Stradella. There he waited for news of Suchet and Masséna from the
+side of Savona and Ceva; for their forces, if united, might
+complete the circle which he was drawing around the Imperialists.[143]
+He hoped that Masséna would have joined Suchet near Savona; but owing
+to various circumstances, for which Masséna was in no wise to blame,
+their junction was delayed; and Suchet, though pressing on towards
+Acqui, was unable to cut off the Austrian retreat on Genoa. Yet he so
+harassed the corps opposed to him in its retreat from Nice that only
+about 8,000 Austrians joined Melas from that quarter.[144]
+
+Doubtless, Melas' best course would still have been to make a dash for
+Genoa and trust to the English ships. But this plan galled the pride
+of the general, who had culled plenteous laurels in Italy until the
+approach of Bonaparte threatened to snatch the whole chaplet from his
+brow. He and his staff sought to restore their drooping fortunes by a
+bold rush against the ring of foes that were closing around. Never has
+an effort of this kind so nearly succeeded and yet so wholly failed.
+
+The First Consul, believing that the Austrians were bent solely on
+flight, advanced from Stradella, where success would have been
+certain, into the plains of Tortona, whence he could check any move of
+theirs southwards on Genoa. But now the space which he occupied was so
+great as to weaken his line at any one point; while his foes had the
+advantage of the central position.
+
+
+
+
+Bonaparte was also forced to those enveloping tactics which had so
+often proved fatal to the Austrians four years previously; and this
+curious reversal of his usual tactics may account for the anxiety
+which he betrayed as he moved towards Marengo. He had, however,
+recently been encouraged by the arrival of Desaix from Paris after his
+return from Egypt. This dashing officer and noble man inspired him
+with a sincere affection, as was seen by the three hours of eager
+converse which he held with him on his arrival, as also by his words
+to Bourrienne: "He is quite an antique character." Desaix with 5,300
+troops was now despatched on the night of June 13th towards Genoa to
+stop the escape of the Austrians in that direction. This eccentric
+move has been severely criticised: but the facts, as then known by
+Bonaparte, seemed to show that Melas was about to march on Genoa. The
+French vanguard under Gardane had in the afternoon easily driven the
+enemy's front from the village of Marengo; and Gardane had even
+reported that there was no bridge over the River Bormida by which the
+enemy could debouch into the plain of Marengo. Marmont, pushing on
+later in the evening, had discovered that there was at least one
+well-defended bridge; and when early next morning Gardane's error was
+known, the First Consul, with a blaze of passion against the offender,
+sent a courier in hot haste to recall Desaix. Long before he could
+arrive, the battle of Marengo had begun: and for the greater part of
+that eventful day, June the 14th, the French had only 18000 men
+wherewith to oppose the onset of 31,000 Austrians.[145]
+
+As will be seen by the accompanying map, the village of Marengo lies
+in the plain that stretches eastwards from the banks of the River
+Bormida towards the hilly country of Stradella. The village lies on
+the high-road leading eastwards from the fortress of Alessandria, the
+chief stronghold of north-western Italy.
+
+[Illustration: BATTLE OF MARENGO TO ILLUSTRATE KELLERMAN'S CHARGE]
+
+The plain is cut up by numerous obstacles. Through Marengo runs a
+stream called the Fontanone. The deep curves of the Bormida, the steep
+banks of the Fontanone, along with the villages, farmsteads, and
+vineyards scattered over the plain, all helped to render an advance
+exceedingly difficult in face of a determined enemy; and these natural
+features had no small share in deciding the fortunes of the day.
+
+Shortly after dawn Melas began to pour his troops across the Bormida,
+and drove in the French outposts on Marengo: but there they met with a
+tough resistance from the soldiers of Victor's division, while
+Kellermann, the son of the hero of Valmy, performed his first great
+exploit by hurling back some venturesome Austrian horsemen into the
+deep bed of the Fontanone. This gave time to Lannes to bring up his
+division, 5,000 strong, into line between Marengo and Castel Ceriolo.
+But when the full force of the Austrian attack was developed about 10
+a.m., the Imperialists not only gained Marengo, but threw a heavy
+column, led by General Ott, against Lannes, who was constrained to
+retire, contesting every inch of the ground. Thus, when, an hour
+later, Bonaparte rode up from the distant rear, hurrying along his
+Consular Guard, his eye fell upon his battalions overpowered in front
+and outflanked on both wings. At once he launched his Consular Guard,
+1,000 strong, against Ott's triumphant ranks. Drawn up in square near
+Castel Ceriolo, it checked them for a brief space, until, plied by
+cannon and charged by the enemy's horse, these chosen troops also
+began to give ground. But at this crisis Monnier's division of 3,600
+men arrived, threw itself into the fight, held up the flood of
+white-coats around the hamlet of Li Poggi, while Carra St. Cyr
+fastened his grip on Castel Ceriolo. Under cover of this welcome
+screen, Victor and Lannes restored some order to their divisions and
+checked for a time the onsets of the enemy. Slowly but surely,
+however, the impact of the Austrian main column, advancing along the
+highroad, made them draw back on San Giuliano.
+
+By 2 p.m. the battle seemed to be lost for the French; except on the
+north of their line they were in full retreat, and all but five of
+their cannon were silenced. Melas, oppressed by his weight of years,
+by the terrific heat, and by two slight wounds, retired to
+Alessandria, leaving his chief of the staff, Zach, to direct the
+pursuit. But, unfortunately, Melas had sent back 2,200 horsemen to
+watch the district between Alessandria and Acqui, to which latter
+place Suchet's force was advancing. To guard against this remoter
+danger, he weakened his attacking force at the critical time and
+place; and now, when the Austrians approached the hill of San Giuliano
+with bands playing and colours flying, their horse was not strong
+enough to complete the French defeat. Still, such was the strength of
+their onset that all resistance seemed unavailing, until about 5 p.m.
+the approach of Desaix breathed new life and hope into the defence. At
+once he rode up to the First Consul; and if vague rumours may be
+credited, he was met by the eager question: "Well, what do you think
+of it?" To which he replied: "The battle is lost, but there is time to
+gain another." Marmont, who heard the conversation, denies that these
+words were uttered; and they presume a boldness of which even Desaix
+would scarcely have been guilty to his chief. What he unquestionably
+did urge was the immediate use of artillery to check the Austrian
+advance: and Marmont, hastily reinforcing his own five guns with
+thirteen others, took a strong position and riddled the serried ranks
+of the enemy as, swathed in clouds of smoke and dust, they pressed
+blindly forward. The First Consul disposed the troops of Desaix behind
+the village and a neighbouring hill; while at a little distance on the
+French left, Kellermann was ready to charge with his heavy cavalry as
+opportunity offered.
+
+It came quickly. Marmont's guns unsteadied Zach's grenadiers: Desaix's
+men plied them with musketry; and while they were preparing for a last
+effort, Kellermann's heavy cavalry charged full on their flank. Never
+was surprise more complete. The column was cut in twain by this onset;
+and veterans, who but now seemed about to overbear all obstacles, were
+lying mangled by grapeshot, hacked by sabres, flying helplessly amidst
+the vineyards, or surrendering by hundreds. A panic spread to their
+comrades; and they gave way on all sides before the fiercely rallying
+French. The retreat became a rout as the recoiling columns neared the
+bridges of the Bormida: and night closed over a scene of wild
+confusion, as the defeated army, thrust out from the shelter of
+Marengo, flung itself over the river into the stronghold of
+Alessandria.
+
+Such was the victory of Marengo. It was dearly bought; for, apart from
+the heavy losses, amounting on either side to about one-third of the
+number engaged, the victors sustained an irreparable loss in the death
+of Desaix, who fell in the moment when his skill and vigour snatched
+victory from defeat. The victory was immediately due to Kellermann's
+brilliant charge; and there can be no doubt, in spite of Savary's
+statements, that this young officer made the charge on his own
+initiative. Yet his onset could have had little effect, had not Desaix
+shaken the enemy and left him liable to a panic like that which
+brought disaster to the Imperialists at Rivoli. Bonaparte's
+dispositions at the crisis were undoubtedly skilful; but in the first
+part of the fight his conduct was below his reputation. We do not hear
+of him electrifying his disordered troops by any deed comparable with
+that of Cæsar, when, shield in hand, he flung himself among the
+legionaries to stem the torrent of the Nervii. At the climax of the
+fight he uttered the words "Soldiers, remember it is my custom to
+bivouac on the field of battle"--tame and egotistical words
+considering the gravity of the crisis.
+
+On the evening of the great day, while paying an exaggerated
+compliment to Bessières and the cavalry of the Consular Guard, he
+merely remarked to Kellermann: "You made a very good charge"; to which
+that officer is said to have replied: "I am glad you are satisfied,
+general: for it has placed the crown on your head." Such pettiness was
+unworthy of the great captain who could design and carry through the
+memorable campaign of Marengo. If the climax was not worthy of the
+inception, yet the campaign as a whole must be pronounced a
+masterpiece. Since the days of Hannibal no design so daring and
+original had startled the world. A great Austrian army was stopped in
+its victorious career, was compelled to turn on its shattered
+communications, and to fight for its existence some 120 miles to the
+rear of the territory which it seemed to have conquered. In fact, the
+allied victories of the past year were effaced by this march of
+Bonaparte's army, which, in less than a month after the ascent of the
+Alps, regained Nice, Piedmont, and Lombardy, and reduced the
+Imperialists to the direst straits.
+
+Staggered by this terrific blow, Melas and his staff were ready to
+accept any terms that were not deeply humiliating; and Bonaparte on
+his side was not loth to end the campaign in a blaze of glory. He
+consented that the Imperial troops should retire to the east of the
+Mincio, except at Peschiera and Mantua, which they were still to
+occupy. These terms have been variously criticised: Melas has been
+blamed for cowardice in surrendering the many strongholds, including
+Genoa, which his men firmly held. Yet it must be remembered that he
+now had at Alessandria less than 20,000 effectives, and that 30,000
+Austrians in isolated bodies were practically at the mercy of the
+French between Savona and Brescia. One and all they could now retire
+to the Mincio and there resume the defence of the Imperial
+territories. The political designs of the Court of Vienna on Piedmont
+were of course shattered; but it now recovered the army which it had
+heedlessly sacrificed to territorial greed. Bonaparte has also been
+blamed for the lenience of his terms. Severer conditions could
+doubtless have been extorted; but he now merged the soldier in the
+statesman. He desired peace for the sake of France and for his own
+sake. After this brilliant stroke peace would be doubly grateful to a
+people that longed for glory but also yearned to heal the wounds of
+eight years' warfare. His own position as First Consul was as yet
+ill-established; and he desired to be back at Paris so as to curb the
+restive Tribunate, overawe Jacobins and royalists, and rebuild the
+institutions of France.
+
+Impelled by these motives, he penned to the Emperor Francis an
+eloquent appeal for peace, renewing his offer of treating with Austria
+on the basis of the treaty of Campo Formio.[146] But Austria was not
+as yet so far humbled as to accept such terms; and it needed the
+master-stroke of Moreau at the great battle of Hohenlinden (December
+2nd, 1800), and the turning of her fortresses on the Mincio by the
+brilliant passage of the Splügen in the depths of winter by
+Macdonald--a feat far transcending that of Bonaparte at the St.
+Bernard--to compel her to a peace. A description of these events would
+be beyond the scope of this work; and we now return to consider the
+career of Bonaparte as a statesman.
+
+After a brief stay at Milan and Turin, where he was received as the
+liberator of Italy, the First Consul crossed the Alps by the Mont
+Cenis pass and was received with rapturous acclaim at Lyons and Paris.
+He had been absent from the capital less than two calendar months.
+
+He now sent a letter to the Czar Paul, offering that, if the French
+garrison of Malta were compelled by famine to evacuate that island, he
+would place it in the hands of the Czar, as Grand Master of the
+Knights of St. John. Rarely has a "Greek gift" been more skilfully
+tendered. In the first place, Valetta was so closely blockaded by
+Nelson's cruisers and invested by the native Maltese that its
+surrender might be expected in a few weeks; and the First Consul was
+well aware how anxiously the Czar had been seeking to gain a foothold
+at Malta, whence he could menace Turkey from the south-east. In his
+wish completely to gain over Russia, Bonaparte also sent back,
+well-clad and well-armed, the prisoners taken from the Russian armies
+in 1799, a step which was doubly appreciated at Petersburg because the
+Russian troops which had campaigned with the Duke of York in Holland
+were somewhat shabbily treated by the British Government in the
+Channel Islands, where they took up their winter quarters. Accordingly
+the Czar now sent Kalicheff to Paris, for the formation of a
+Franco-Russian alliance. He was warmly received. Bonaparte promised in
+general terms to restore the King of Sardinia to his former realm and
+the Pope to his States. On his side, the Czar sent the alluring advice
+to Bonaparte to found a dynasty and thereby put an end to the
+revolutionary principles which had armed Europe against France. He
+also offered to recognize the natural frontiers of France, the Rhine
+and the Maritime Alps, and claimed that German affairs should be
+regulated under his own mediation. When both parties were so
+complaisant, a bargain was easily arranged. France and Russia
+accordingly joined hands in order to secure predominance in the
+affairs of Central and Southern Europe, and to counterbalance
+England's supremacy at sea.
+
+For it was not enough to break up the Second Coalition and recover
+Northern Italy. Bonaparte's policy was more than European; it was
+oceanic. England must be beaten on her own element: then and then only
+could the young warrior secure his grasp on Egypt and return to his
+oriental schemes. His correspondence before and after the Marengo
+campaign reveals his eagerness for a peace with Austria and an
+alliance with Russia. His thoughts constantly turn to Egypt. He
+bargains with Britain that his army there may be revictualled, and so
+words his claim that troops can easily be sent also. Lord Grenville
+refuses (September 10th); whereupon Bonaparte throws himself eagerly
+into further plans for the destruction of the islanders. He seeks to
+inflame the Czar's wrath against the English maritime code. His
+success for the time is complete. At the close of 1800 the Russian
+Emperor marshals the Baltic Powers for the overthrow of England's
+navy, and outstrips Bonaparte's wildest hopes by proposing a
+Franco-Russian invasion of India with a view to "dealing his enemy a
+mortal blow." This plan, as drawn up at the close of 1800, arranged
+for the mustering of 35,000 Russians at Astrakan; while as many French
+were to fight their way to the mouth of the Danube, set sail on
+Russian ships for the Sea of Azov, join their allies on the Caspian
+Sea, sail to its southern extremity, and, rousing the Persians and
+Afghans by the hope of plunder, sweep the British from India. The
+scheme received from Bonaparte a courteous perusal; but he subjected
+it to several criticisms, which led to less patient rejoinders from
+the irascible potentate. Nevertheless, Paul began to march his troops
+towards the lower Volga, and several polks of Cossacks had crossed
+that river on the ice, when the news of his assassination cut short
+the scheme.[147]
+
+The grandiose schemes of Paul vanished with their fantastic contriver;
+but the _rapprochement_ of Russia to revolutionary France was
+ultimately to prove an event of far-reaching importance; for the
+eastern power thereby began to exert on the democracy of western
+Europe that subtle, semi-Asiatic influence which has so powerfully
+warped its original character.
+
+The dawn of the nineteenth century witnessed some startling
+rearrangements on the political chess-board.
+
+
+While Bonaparte brought Russia and France to sudden amity, the
+unbending maritime policy of Great Britain leagued the Baltic Powers
+against the mistress of the seas. In the autumn of 1800 the Czar Paul,
+after hearing of our capture of Malta, forthwith revived the Armed
+Neutrality League of 1780 and opposed the forces of Russia, Prussia,
+Sweden, and Denmark to the might of England's navy. But Nelson's
+brilliant success at Copenhagen and the murder of the Czar by a palace
+conspiracy shattered this league only four months after its formation,
+and the new Czar, Alexander, reverted for a time to friendship with
+England.[148] This sudden ending to the first Franco-Russia alliance
+so enraged Bonaparte that he caused a paragraph to be inserted in the
+official "Moniteur," charging the British Government with procuring
+the assassination of Paul, an insinuation that only proclaimed his
+rage at this sudden rebuff to his hitherto successful diplomacy.
+Though foiled for a time, he never lost sight of the hoped-for
+alliance, which, with a deft commixture of force and persuasion, he
+gained seven years later after the crushing blow of Friedland.
+
+Dread of a Franco-Russian alliance undoubtedly helped to compel
+Austria to a peace. Humbled by Moreau at the great battle of
+Hohenlinden, the Emperor Francis opened negotiations at Lunéville in
+Lorraine. The subtle obstinacy of Cobenzl there found its match in the
+firm yet suave diplomacy of Joseph Bonaparte, who wearied out Cobenzl
+himself, until the march of Moreau towards Vienna compelled Francis to
+accept the River Adige as his boundary in Italy. The other terms of
+the treaty (February 9th, 1801) were practically the same as those of
+the treaty of Campo Formio, save that the Hapsburg Grand Duke of
+Tuscany was compelled to surrender his State to a son of the Bourbon
+Duke of Parma. He himself was to receive "compensation" in Germany,
+where also the unfortunate Duke of Modena was to find consolation in
+the district of the Breisgau on the Upper Rhine. The helplessness of
+the old Holy Roman Empire was, indeed, glaringly displayed; for
+Francis now admitted the right of the French to interfere in the
+rearrangement of that medley of States. He also recognized the
+Cisalpine, Ligurian, Helvetic, and Batavian Republics, as at present
+constituted; but their independence, and the liberty of their peoples
+to choose what form of government they thought fit, were expressly
+stipulated.
+
+The Court of Naples also made peace with France by the treaty of
+Florence (March, 1801), whereby it withdrew its troops from the States
+of the Church, and closed its ports to British and Turkish ships; it
+also renounced in favour of the French Republic all its claims over a
+maritime district of Tuscany known as the Présidii, the little
+principality of Piombino, and a port in the Isle of Elba. These
+cessions fitted in well with Napoleon's schemes for the proposed
+elevation of the heir of the Duchy of Parma to the rank of King of
+Tuscany or Etruria. The King of Naples also pledged himself to admit
+and support a French corps in his dominions. Soult with 10,000 troops
+thereupon occupied Otranto, Taranto, and Brindisi, in order to hold
+the Neapolitan Government to its engagements, and to facilitate French
+intercourse with Egypt.
+
+In his relations with the New World Bonaparte had also prospered.
+Certain disputes between France and the United States had led to
+hostilities in the year 1798. Negotiations for peace were opened in
+March, 1800, and led to the treaty of Morfontaine, which enabled
+Bonaparte to press on the Court of Madrid the scheme of the
+Parma-Louisiana exchange, that promised him a magnificent empire on
+the banks of the Mississippi.
+
+These and other grandiose designs were confided only to Talleyrand and
+other intimate counsellors. But, even to the mass of mankind, the
+transformation scene ushered in by the nineteenth century was one of
+bewildering brilliance. Italy from the Alps to her heel controlled by
+the French; Austria compelled to forego all her Italian plans;
+Switzerland and Holland dominated by the First Consul's influence;
+Spain following submissively his imperious lead; England, despite all
+her naval triumphs, helpless on land; and France rapidly regaining
+more than all her old prestige and stability under the new
+institutions which form the most enduring tribute to the First
+Consul's glory.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+THE NEW INSTITUTIONS OF FRANCE
+
+
+"We have done with the romance of the Revolution: we must now commence
+its history. We must have eyes only for what is real and practicable
+in the application of principles, and not for the speculative and
+hypothetical." Such were the memorable words of Bonaparte to his
+Council of State at one of its early meetings. They strike the keynote
+of the era of the Consulate. It was a period of intensely practical
+activity that absorbed all the energies of France and caused the
+earlier events of the Revolution to fade away into a seemingly remote
+past. The failures of the civilian rulers and the military triumphs of
+Bonaparte had exerted a curious influence on the French character,
+which was in a mood of expectant receptivity. In 1800 everything was
+in the transitional state that favours the efforts of a master
+builder; and one was now at hand whose constructive ability in civil
+affairs equalled his transcendent genius for war.
+
+I propose here briefly to review the most important works of
+reconstruction which render the Consulate and the early part of the
+Empire for ever famous. So vast and complex were Bonaparte's efforts
+in this field that they will be described, not chronologically, but
+subject by subject. The reader will, however, remember that for the
+most part they went on side by side, even amidst the distractions
+caused by war, diplomacy, colonial enterprises, and the myriad details
+of a vast administration. What here appears as a series of canals was
+in reality a mighty river of enterprise rolling in undivided volume
+and fed by the superhuman vitality of the First Consul. It was his
+inexhaustible curiosity which compelled functionaries to reveal the
+secrets of their office: it was his intelligence that seized on the
+salient points of every problem and saw the solution: it was his
+ardour and mental tenacity which kept his Ministers and committees
+hard at work, and by toil of sometimes twenty hours a day supervised
+the results: it was, in fine, his passion for thoroughness, his
+ambition for France, that nerved every official with something of his
+own contempt of difficulties, until, as one of them said, "the
+gigantic entered into our very habits of thought."[149]
+
+The first question of political reconstruction which urgently claimed
+attention was that of local government. On the very day when it was
+certain that the nation had accepted the new constitution, the First
+Consul presented to the Legislature a draft of a law for regulating
+the affairs of the Departments. It must be admitted that local
+self-government, as instituted by the men of 1789 in their
+Departmental System, had proved a failure. In that time of buoyant
+hope, when every difficulty and abuse seemed about to be charmed away
+by the magic of universal suffrage, local self-government of a most
+advanced type had been intrusted to an inexperienced populace. There
+were elections for the commune or parish, elections for the canton,
+elections for the district, elections for the Department, and
+elections for the National Assembly, until the rustic brain, after
+reeling with excitement, speedily fell back into muddled apathy and
+left affairs generally to the wire-pullers of the nearest Jacobin
+club. A time of great confusion ensued. Law went according to local
+opinion, and the national taxes were often left unpaid. In the Reign
+of Terror this lax system was replaced by the despotism of the secret
+committees, and the way was thus paved for a return to organized
+central control, such as was exercised by the Directory.
+
+The First Consul, as successor to the Directory, therefore found
+matters ready to his hand for a drastic measure of centralization, and
+it is curious to notice that the men of 1789 had unwittingly cleared
+the ground for him. To make way for the "supremacy of the general
+will," they abolished the _Parlements_, which had maintained the old
+laws, customs, and privileges of their several provinces, and had
+frequently interfered in purely political matters. The abolition of
+these and other privileged corporations in 1789 unified France and
+left not a single barrier to withstand either the flood of democracy
+or the backwash of reaction. Everything therefore favoured the action
+of the First Consul in drawing all local powers under his own control.
+France was for the moment weary of elective bodies, that did little
+except waste the nation's taxes; and though there was some opposition
+to the new proposal, it passed on February 16th, 1800 (28 Pluviose,
+an, viii).
+
+It substituted local government by the central power for local
+self-government. The local divisions remained the same, except that
+the "districts," abolished by the Convention, were now reconstituted
+on a somewhat larger scale, and were termed _arrondissements_, while
+the smaller communes, which had been merged in the cantons since 1795,
+were also revived. It is noteworthy that, of all the areas mapped out
+by the Constituent Assembly in 1789-90, only the Department and canton
+have had a continuous existence--a fact which seems to show the peril
+of tampering with well-established boundaries, and of carving out a
+large number of artificial districts, which speedily become the
+_corpus vile_ of other experimenters. Indeed, so little was there of
+effective self-government that France seems to have sighed with relief
+when order was imposed by Bonaparte in the person of a Prefect. This
+important official, a miniature First Consul, was to administer the
+affairs of the Department, while sub-prefects were similarly placed
+over the new _arrondissements_, and mayors over the communes. The
+mayors were appointed by the First Consul in communes of more than
+5,000 souls: by the prefects in the smaller communes: all were alike
+responsible to the central power.
+
+The rebound from the former electoral system, which placed all local
+authority ultimately in the hands of the voters, was emphasized by
+Article 75 of the constitution, which virtually raised officials
+beyond reach of prosecution. It ran thus: "The agents of the
+Government, other than the Ministers, cannot be prosecuted for facts
+relating to their duties except by a decision of the Council of State:
+in that case the prosecution takes place before the ordinary
+tribunals." Now, as this decision rested with a body composed almost
+entirely of the higher officials, it will be seen that the chance of
+a public prosecution of an official became extremely small. France was
+therefore in the first months of 1800 handed over to a hierarchy of
+officials closely bound together by interest and _esprit de corps_;
+and local administration, after ten years of democratic experiments,
+practically reverted to what it had been under the old monarchy. In
+fact, the powers of the Prefects were, on the whole, much greater than
+those of the royal Intendants: for while the latter were hampered by
+the provincial _Parlements_, the nominees of the First Consul had to
+deal with councils that retained scarce the shadow of power. The real
+authority in local matters rested with the Prefects. The old elective
+bodies survived, it is true, but their functions were now mainly
+advisory; and, lest their advice should be too copious, the sessions
+of the first two bodies were limited to a fortnight a year. Except for
+a share in the assessment of taxation, their existence was merely a
+screen to hide the reality of the new central despotism.[150]
+Beneficent it may have been; and the choice of Prefects was certainly
+a proof of Bonaparte's discernment of real merit among men of all
+shades of opinion; but for all that, it was a despotism, and one that
+has inextricably entwined itself with the whole life of France.[151]
+
+It seems strange that this law should not have aroused fierce
+opposition; for it practically gagged democracy in its most
+appropriate and successful sphere of action, local self-government,
+and made popular election a mere shadow, except in the single act of
+the choice of the local _juges de paix_. This was foreseen by the
+Liberals in the Tribunate: but their power was small since the
+regulations passed in January: and though Daunou, as "reporter,"
+sharply criticised this measure, yet he lamely concluded with the
+advice that it would be dangerous to reject it. The Tribunes therefore
+passed the proposal by 71 votes to 25: and the Corps Législatif by 217
+to 68.
+
+The results of this new local government have often been considered so
+favourable as to prove that the genius of the French people requires
+central control rather than self-government. But it should be noted
+that the conditions of France from 1790 to 1800 were altogether
+hostile to the development of free institutions. The fierce feuds at
+home, the greed and the class jealousies awakened by confiscation, the
+blasts of war and the blight of bankruptcy, would have severely tested
+the firmest of local institutions; they were certain to wither so
+delicate an organism as an absolute democracy, which requires peace,
+prosperity, and infinite patience for its development. Because France
+then came to despair of her local self-government, it did not follow
+that she would fail after Bonaparte's return had restored her prestige
+and prosperity. But the national _élan_ forbade any postponement or
+compromise; and France forthwith accepted the rule of an able official
+hierarchy as a welcome alternative to the haphazard acts of local
+busybodies. By many able men the change has been hailed as a proof of
+Bonaparte's marvellous discernment of the national character, which,
+as they aver, longs for brilliance, order, and strong government,
+rather than for the steep and thorny paths of liberty. Certainly there
+is much in the modern history of France which supports this opinion.
+Yet perhaps these characteristics are due very largely to the master
+craftsman, who fashioned France anew when in a state of receptivity,
+and thus was able to subject democracy to that force which alone has
+been able to tame it--the mighty force of militarism.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The return to a monarchical policy was nowhere more evident than in
+the very important negotiations which regulated the relations of
+Church and State and produced the _Concordat_ or treaty of peace with
+the Roman Catholic Church. But we must first look back at the events
+which had reduced the Roman Catholic Church in France to its pitiable
+condition.
+
+The conduct of the revolutionists towards the Church of France was
+actuated partly by the urgent needs of the national exchequer, partly
+by hatred and fear of so powerful a religious corporation. Idealists
+of the new school of thought, and practical men who dreaded
+bankruptcy, accordingly joined in the assault on its property and
+privileges: its tithes were confiscated, the religious houses and
+their property were likewise absorbed, and its lands were declared to
+be the lands of the nation. A budget of public worship was, it is
+true, designed to support the bishops and priests; but this solemn
+obligation was soon renounced by the fiercer revolutionists. Yet
+robbery was not their worst offence. In July, 1790, they passed a law
+called the Civil Constitution of the Clergy, which aimed at subjecting
+the Church to the State. It compelled bishops and priests to seek
+election by the adult males of their several Departments and parishes,
+and forced them to take a stringent oath of obedience to the new order
+of things. All the bishops but four refused to take an oath which set
+at naught the authority of the Pope: more than 50,000 priests likewise
+refused, and were ejected from their livings: the recusants were
+termed _orthodox_ or _non-juring_ priests, and by the law of August,
+1792, they were exiled from France, while their more pliable or
+time-serving brethren who accepted the new decree were known as
+_constitutionals_. About 12,000 of the constitutionals married, while
+some of them applauded the extreme Jacobinical measures of the Terror.
+One of them shocked the faithful by celebrating the mysteries, having
+a _bonnet rouge_ on his head, holding a pike in his hand, while his
+wife was installed near the altar.[152] Outrages like these were rare:
+but they served to discredit the constitutional Church and to throw up
+in sharper relief the courage with which the orthodox clergy met exile
+and death for conscience' sake. Moreover, the time-serving of the
+constitutionals was to avail them little: during the Terror their
+stipends were unpaid, and the churches were for the most part closed.
+After a partial respite in 1795-6, the _coup d'état_ of Fructidor
+(1797) again ushered in two years of petty persecutions; but in the
+early summer of 1799 constitutionals were once more allowed to observe
+the Christian Sunday, and at the time of Bonaparte's return from
+Egypt their services were more frequented than those of the
+Theophilanthropists on the _décadis_. It was evident, then, that the
+anti-religious _furor_ had burnt itself out, and that France was
+turning back to her old faith. Indeed, outside Paris and a few other
+large towns, public opinion mocked at the new cults, and in the
+country districts the peasantry clung with deep affection to their old
+orthodox priests, often following them into the forests to receive
+their services and forsaking those of their supplanters.
+
+Such, then, was the religious state of France in 1799: her clergy were
+rent by a formidable schism; the orthodox priests clung where possible
+to their parishioners, or lived in destitution abroad; the
+constitutional priests, though still frowned on by the Directory, were
+gaining ground at the expense of the Theophilanthropists, whose
+expiring efforts excited ridicule. In fine, a nation weary of
+religious experiments and groping about for some firm anchorage in the
+midst of the turbid ebb-tide and its numerous backwaters.[153]
+
+Despite the absence of any deep religious belief, Bonaparte felt the
+need of religion as the bulwark of morality and the cement of society.
+During his youth he had experienced the strength of Romanism in
+Corsica, and during his campaigns in Italy he saw with admiration the
+zeal of the French orthodox priests who had accepted exile and poverty
+for conscience' sake. To these outcasts he extended more protection
+than was deemed compatible with correct republicanism; and he received
+their grateful thanks. After Brumaire he suppressed the oath
+previously exacted from the clergy, and replaced it by a _promise_ of
+fidelity to the constitution. Many reasons have been assigned for this
+conduct, but doubtless his imagination was touched by the sight of the
+majestic hierarchy of Rome, whose spiritual powers still prevailed,
+even amidst the ruin of its temporal authority, and were slowly but
+surely winning back the ground lost in the Revolution. An influence so
+impalpable yet irresistible, that inherited from the Rome of the
+Cæsars the gift of organization and the power of maintaining
+discipline, in which the Revolution was so signally lacking, might
+well be the ally of the man who now dominated the Latin peoples. The
+pupil of Cæsar could certainly not neglect the aid of the spiritual
+hierarchy, which was all that remained of the old Roman grandeur.
+
+
+
+
+Added to this was his keen instinct for reality, which led him to
+scorn such whipped-up creeds as Robespierre's Supreme Being and that
+amazing hybrid, Theophilanthropy, offspring of the Goddess of Reason
+and La Réveillière-Lépeaux. Having watched their manufacture, rise and
+fall, he felt the more regard for the faith of his youth, which
+satisfied one of the most imperious needs of his nature, a craving for
+certainty. Witness this crushing retort to M. Mathieu: "What is your
+Theophilanthropy? Oh, don't talk to me of a religion which only takes
+me for this life, without telling me whence I come or whither I go."
+Of course, this does not prove the reality of Napoleon's religion; but
+it shows that he was not devoid of the religious instinct.
+
+The victory of Marengo enabled Bonaparte to proceed with his plans for
+an accommodation with the Vatican; and he informed one of the Lombard
+bishops that he desired to open friendly relations with Pope Pius
+VII., who was then about to make his entry into Rome. There he
+received the protection of the First Consul, and soon recovered his
+sovereignty over his States, excepting the Legations.
+
+The negotiations between Paris and the Vatican were transacted chiefly
+by a very able priest, Bernier by name, who had gained the First
+Consul's confidence during the pacification of Brittany, and now urged
+on the envoys of Rome the need of deferring to all that was reasonable
+in the French demands. The negotiators for the Vatican were Cardinals
+Consalvi and Caprara, and Monseigneur Spina--able ecclesiastics, who
+were fitted to maintain clerical claims with that mixture of
+suppleness and firmness which had so often baffled the force and craft
+of mighty potentates. The first difficulty arose on the question of
+the resignation of bishops of the Gallican Church: Bonaparte demanded
+that, whether orthodox or constitutionals, they must resign their sees
+into the Pope's hands; failing that, they must be deposed by the papal
+authority. Sweeping as this proposal seemed, Bonaparte claimed that
+bishops of both sides must resign, in order that a satisfactory
+selection might be made. Still more imperious was the need that the
+Church should renounce all claim to her confiscated domains. All
+classes of the community, so urged Bonaparte, had made immense
+sacrifices during the Revolution; and now that peasants were settled
+on these once clerical lands, the foundations of society would be
+broken up by any attempt to dispossess them.
+
+To both of these proposals the Court of Rome offered a tenacious
+resistance. The idea of compelling long-persecuted bishops to resign
+their sees was no less distasteful than the latter proposal, which
+involved acquiescence in sacrilegious robbery. At least, pleaded Mgr.
+Spina, let tithes be re-established. To this request the First Consul
+deigned no reply. None, indeed, was possible except a curt refusal.
+Few imposts had been so detested as the tithe; and its reimposition
+would have wounded the peasant class, on which the First Consul based
+his authority. So long as he had their support he could treat with
+disdain the scoffs of the philosophers and even the opposition of his
+officers; but to have wavered on the subject of tithe and of the
+Church lands might have been fatal even to the victor of Marengo.[154]
+
+In fact, the difficulty of effecting any compromise was enormous. In
+seeking to reconcile the France of Rousseau and Robespierre to the
+unchanging policy of the Vatican, the "heir to the Revolution" was
+essaying a harder task than any military enterprise. To slay men has
+ever been easier than to mould their thoughts anew; and Bonaparte was
+now striving not only to remould French thought but also to fashion
+anew the ideas of the Eternal City. He soon perceived that this latter
+enterprise was more difficult than the former. The Pope and his
+councillors rejoiced at the signs of his repentance, but required to
+see the fruits thereof. Instead of first-fruits they received
+unheard-of demands--the surrender of the three Legations of Bologna,
+Ferrara, and Romagna, the renunciation of all tithes and Church lands
+in France, and the acceptance of a compromise with schismatics. What
+wonder that the replies from Rome were couched in the _non possumus_
+terms which form the last refuge of the Vatican. Finding that
+negotiations made no progress, Bonaparte intrusted Berthier and Murat
+to pay a visit to Rome and exercise a discreet but burdensome pressure
+in the form of requisitions for the French troops in the Papal States.
+
+The ratification of peace with Austria gave greater weight to his
+representations at Rome, and he endeavoured to press on the signature
+of the Concordat, so as to startle the world by the simultaneous
+announcement of the pacification of the Continent and of the healing
+of the great religious schism in France. But the clerical machinery
+worked too slowly to admit of this projected _coup de théâtre_. In
+Bonaparte's proposals of February 25th, 1801, there were several
+demands already found to be inadmissible at the Vatican;[155] and
+matters came to a deadlock until the Pope invested Spina with larger
+powers for negotiating at Paris. Consalvi also proceeded to Paris,
+where he was received in state with other ambassadors at the
+Tuileries, the sight of a cardinal's robe causing no little sensation.
+The First Consul granted him a long interview, speaking at first
+somewhat seriously, but gradually becoming more affable and gracious.
+Yet as his behaviour softened his demands stiffened; and at the close
+of the audience he pressed Consalvi to sign a somewhat unfavourable
+version of the compact within five days, otherwise the negotiations
+would be at an end and a _national religion would be adopted_--an
+enterprise for which the auguries promised complete success. At a
+later interview he expressed the same resolution in homely phrase:
+when Consalvi pressed him to take a firm stand against the
+"constitutional" intruders, he laughingly remarked that he could do no
+more until he knew how he stood with Rome; for "you know that when
+one cannot arrange matters with God, one comes to terms with the
+devil."[156]
+
+This dalliance with the "constitutionals" might have been more than an
+astute ruse, and Consalvi knew it. In framing a national Church the
+First Consul would have appealed not only to the old Gallican feeling,
+still strong among the clerics and laity, but also to the potent force
+of French nationality. The experiment might have been managed so as to
+offend none but the strictest Catholics, who were less to be feared
+than the free-thinkers. Consalvi was not far wrong when, writing of
+the official world at Paris, he said that only Bonaparte really
+desired a Concordat.
+
+The First Consul's motives in seeking the alliance of Rome have, very
+naturally, been subjected to searching criticism; and in forcing the
+Concordat on France, and also on Rome, he was certainly undertaking
+the most difficult negotiation of his life.[157] But his preference
+for the Roman connection was an act of far-reaching statecraft. He saw
+that a national Church, unrecognized by Rome, was a mere half-way
+house between Romanism and Protestantism; and he disliked the latter
+creed because of its tendency to beget sects and to impair the
+validity of the general will. He still retained enough of Rousseau's
+doctrine to desire that the general will should be uniform, provided
+that it could be controlled by his own will. Such uniformity in the
+sphere of religion was impossible unless he had the support of the
+Papacy. Only by a bargain with Rome could he gain the support of a
+solid ecclesiastical phalanx. Finally, by erecting a French national
+Church, he would not only have perpetuated schism at home, but would
+have disqualified himself for acting the part of Charlemagne over
+central and southern Europe. To re-fashion Europe in a cosmopolitan
+mould he needed a clerical police that was more than merely French. To
+achieve those grander designs the successor of Cæsar would need the
+aid of the successor of Peter; and this aid would be granted only to
+the restorer of Roman Catholicism in France, never to the perpetuator
+of schism.
+
+These would seem to be the chief reasons why he braved public opinion
+in Paris and clung to the Roman connection, bringing forward his plan
+of a Gallican Church only as a threatening move against the clerical
+flank. When the Vatican was obdurate he coquetted with the
+"constitutional" bishops, allowing them every facility for free speech
+in a council which they held at Paris at the close of June, 1801. He
+summoned to the Tuileries their president, the famous Grégoire, and
+showed him signal marks of esteem. "Put not your trust in princes"
+must soon have been the thought of Grégoire and his colleagues: for a
+fortnight later Bonaparte carried through his treaty with Rome and
+shelved alike the congress and the church of the "constitutionals."
+
+It would be tedious to detail all the steps in this complex
+negotiation, but the final proceedings call for some notice. When the
+treaty was assuming its final form, Talleyrand, the polite scoffer,
+the bitter foe of all clerical claims, found it desirable to take the
+baths at a distant place, and left the threads of the negotiation in
+the hands of two men who were equally determined to prevent its
+signature, Maret, Secretary of State, and Hauterive, who afterwards
+become the official archivist of France. These men determined to
+submit to Consalvi a draft of the treaty differing widely from that
+which had been agreed upon; and that, too, when the official
+announcement had been made that the treaty was to be signed
+immediately. In the last hours the cardinal found himself confronted
+with unexpected conditions, many of which he had successfully
+repelled. Though staggered by this trickery, which compelled him to
+sign a surrender or to accept an open rupture, Consalvi fought the
+question over again in a conference that lasted twenty-four hours; he
+even appeared at the State dinner given on July 14th by the First
+Consul, who informed him before the other guests that it was a
+question of "my draft of the treaty or none at all." Nothing baffled
+the patience and tenacity of the Cardinal; and finally, by the good
+offices of Joseph Bonaparte, the objectionable demands thrust forward
+at the eleventh hour were removed or altered.
+
+The question has been discussed whether the First Consul was a party
+to this device. Theiner asserts that he knew nothing of it: that it
+was an official intrigue got up at the last moment by the
+anti-clericals so as to precipitate a rupture. In support of this
+view, he cites letters of Maret and Hauterive as inculpating these men
+and tending to free Bonaparte from suspicion of complicity. But the
+letters cannot be said to dissipate all suspicion. The First Consul
+had made this negotiation peculiarly his own: no officials assuredly
+would have dared secretly to foist their own version of an important
+treaty; or, if they did, this act would have been the last of their
+career. But Bonaparte did not disgrace them; on the contrary, he
+continued to honour them with his confidence. Moreover, the First
+Consul flew into a passion with his brother Joseph when he reported
+that Consalvi could not sign the document now offered to him, and tore
+in pieces the articles finally arranged with the Cardinal. On the
+return of his usually calm intelligence, he at last allowed the
+concessions to stand, with the exception of two; but in a scrutiny of
+motives we must assign most importance, not to second and more prudent
+thoughts, but to the first ebullition of feelings, which seem
+unmistakably to prove his knowledge and approval of Hauterive's
+device. We must therefore conclude that he allowed the antagonists of
+the Concordat to make this treacherous onset, with the intention of
+extorting every possible demand from the dazed and bewildered
+Cardinal.[158]
+
+
+
+After further delays the Concordat was ratified at Eastertide, 1802.
+It may be briefly described as follows: The French Government
+recognized that the Catholic apostolic and Roman religion was the
+religion of the great majority of the French people, "especially of
+the Consuls"; but it refused to declare it to be the religion of
+France, as was the case under the _ancien régime_. It was to be freely
+and publicly practised in France, subject to the police regulations
+that the Government judged necessary for the public tranquillity. In
+return for these great advantages, many concessions were expected from
+the Church. The present bishops, both orthodox and constitutional,
+were, at the Pope's invitation, to resign their sees; or, failing
+that, new appointments were to be made, as if the sees were vacant.
+The last proviso was necessary; for of the eighty-one surviving
+bishops affected by this decision as many as thirteen orthodox and two
+"constitutionals" offered persistent but unavailing protests against
+the action of the Pope and First Consul.
+
+A new division of archbishoprics and bishoprics was now made, which
+gave in all sixty sees to France. The First Consul enjoyed the right
+of nomination to them, whereupon the Pope bestowed canonical
+investiture. The archbishops and bishops were all to take an oath of
+fidelity to the constitution. The bishops nominated the lower clerics
+provided that they were acceptable to the Government: all alike bound
+themselves to watch over governmental interests. The stability of
+France was further assured by a clause granting complete and permanent
+security to the holders of the confiscated Church lands--a healing and
+salutary compromise which restored peace to every village and soothed
+the qualms of many a troubled conscience. On its side, the State
+undertook to furnish suitable stipends to the clergy, a promise which
+was fulfilled in a rather niggardly spirit. For the rest, the First
+Consul enjoyed the same consideration as the Kings of France in all
+matters ecclesiastical; and a clause was added, though Bonaparte
+declared it needless, that if any succeeding First Consul were not a
+Roman Catholic, his prerogatives in religious matters should be
+revised by a Convention. A similar Concordat was passed a little later
+for the pacification of the Cisalpine Republic.
+
+The Concordat was bitterly assailed by the Jacobins, especially by the
+military chiefs, and had not the infidel generals been for the most
+part sundered by mutual jealousies they might perhaps have overthrown
+Bonaparte. But their obvious incapacity for civil affairs enabled them
+to venture on nothing more than a few coarse jests and clumsy
+demonstrations. At the Easter celebration at Notre Dame in honour of
+the ratification of the Concordat, one of them, Delmas by name,
+ventured on the only protest barbed with telling satire: "Yes, a fine
+piece of monkery this, indeed. It only lacked the million men who got
+killed to destroy what you are striving to bring back." But to all
+protests Bonaparte opposed a calm behaviour that veiled a rigid
+determination, before which priests and soldiers were alike helpless.
+
+In subsequent articles styled "organic," Bonaparte, without consulting
+the Pope, made several laws that galled the orthodox clergy. Under the
+plea of legislating for the police of public worship, he reaffirmed
+some of the principles which he had been unable to incorporate in the
+Concordat itself. The organic articles asserted the old claims of the
+Gallican Church, which forbade the application of Papal Bulls, or of
+the decrees of "foreign" synods, to France: they further forbade the
+French bishops to assemble in council or synod without the permission
+of the Government; and this was also required for a bishop to leave
+his diocese, even if he were summoned to Rome. Such were the chief of
+the organic articles. Passed under the plea of securing public
+tranquillity, they proved a fruitful source of discord, which during
+the Empire became so acute as to weaken Napoleon's authority. In
+matters religious as well as political, he early revealed his chief
+moral and mental defect, a determination to carry his point by
+whatever means and to require the utmost in every bargain. While
+refusing fully to establish Roman Catholicism as the religion of the
+State, he compelled the Church to surrender its temporalities, to
+accept the regulations of the State, and to protect its interests.
+Truly if, in Chateaubriand's famous phrase, he was the "restorer of
+the altars," he exacted the uttermost farthing for that restoration.
+
+In one matter his clear intelligence stands forth in marked contrast
+to the narrow pedantry of the Roman Cardinals. At a time of
+reconciliation between orthodox and "constitutionals," they required
+from the latter a complete and public retractation of their recent
+errors. At once Bonaparte intervened with telling effect. So condign a
+humiliation, he argued, would altogether mar the harmony newly
+re-established. "The past is past: and the bishops and prefects ought
+to require from the priests only the declaration of adhesion to the
+Concordat, and of obedience to the bishop nominated by the First
+Consul and instituted by the Pope." This enlightened advice, backed up
+by irresistible power, carried the day, and some ten thousand
+constitutional priests were quietly received back into the Roman
+communion, those who had contracted marriages being compelled to put
+away their wives. Bonaparte took a deep interest in the reconstruction
+of dioceses, in the naming of churches, and similar details, doubtless
+with the full consciousness that the revival of the Roman religious
+discipline in France was a more important service than any feat of
+arms.
+
+He was right: in healing a great schism in France he was dealing a
+deadly blow at the revolutionary feeling of which it was a prominent
+manifestation. In the words of one of his Ministers, "The Concordat
+was the most brilliant triumph over the genius of Revolution, and all
+the following successes have without exception resulted from it."[159]
+
+After this testimony it is needless to ask why Bonaparte did not take
+up with Protestantism. At St. Helena, it is true, he asserted that the
+choice of Catholicism or Protestantism was entirely open to him in
+1801, and that the nation would have followed him in either direction:
+but his religious policy, if carefully examined, shows no sign of
+wavering on this subject, though he once or twice made a strategic
+diversion towards Geneva, when Rome showed too firm a front. Is it
+conceivable that a man who, as he informed Joseph, was systematically
+working to found a dynasty, should hesitate in the choice of a
+governmental creed? Is it possible to think of the great champion of
+external control and State discipline as a defender of liberty of
+conscience and the right of private judgment?
+
+The regulation of the Protestant cult in France was a far less arduous
+task. But as Bonaparte's aim was to attach all cults to the State, he
+decided to recognize the two chief Protestant bodies in France,
+Calvinists and Lutherans, allowing them to choose their own pastors
+and to regulate their affairs in consistories. The pastors were to be
+salaried by the State, but in return the Government not only reserved
+its approval of every appointment, but required the Protestant bodies
+to have no relations whatever with any foreign Power or authority. The
+organic articles of 1802, which defined the position of the Protestant
+bodies, form a very important landmark in the history of the followers
+of Luther and Calvin. Persecuted by Louis XIV. and XV., they were
+tolerated by Louis XVI.; they gained complete religious equality
+in 1789, and after a few years of anarchy in matters of faith, they
+found themselves suddenly and stringently bound to the State by the
+organizing genius of Bonaparte.
+
+In the years 1806-1808 the position of the Jews was likewise defined,
+at least for all those who recognized France as their country,
+performed all civic duties, and recognized all the laws of the State.
+In consideration of their paying full taxes and performing military
+service, they received official protection and their rabbis
+governmental support.
+
+Such was Bonaparte's policy on religious subjects. There can be little
+doubt that its motive was, in the main, political. This methodizing
+genius, who looked on the beliefs and passions, the desires and
+ambitions of mankind, as so many forces which were to aid him in his
+ascent, had already satisfied the desires for military glory and
+material prosperity; and in his bargain with Rome he now won the
+support of an organized priesthood, besides that of the smaller
+Protestant and Jewish communions. That he gained also peace and
+quietness for France may be granted, though it was at the expense
+of that mental alertness and independence which had been her chief
+intellectual glory; but none of his intimate acquaintances ever
+doubted that his religion was only a vague sentiment, and his
+attendance at mass merely a compliment to his "sacred
+gendarmerie."[l60]
+
+Having dared and achieved the exploit of organizing religion in a
+half-infidel society, the First Consul was ready to undertake the
+almost equally hazardous task of establishing an order of social
+distinction, and that too in the very land where less than eight years
+previously every title qualified its holder for the guillotine. For
+his new experiment, the Legion of Honour, he could adduce only one
+precedent in the acts of the last twelve years.
+
+
+The whole tendency had been towards levelling all inequalities. In
+1790 all titles of nobility were swept away; and though the Convention
+decreed "arms of honour" to brave soldiers, yet its generosity to the
+deserving proved to be less remarkable than its activity in
+guillotining the unsuccessful. Bonaparte, however, adduced its custom
+of granting occasional modest rewards as a precedent for his own
+design, which was to be far more extended and ambitious.
+
+In May, 1802, he proposed the formation of a Legion of Honour,
+organized in fifteen cohorts, with grand officers, commanders,
+officers, and legionaries. Its affairs were to be regulated by a
+council presided over by Bonaparte himself. Each cohort received
+"national domains" with 200,000 francs annual rental, and these funds
+were disbursed to the members on a scale proportionate to their rank.
+The men who had received "arms of honour" were, _ipso facto_ to be
+legionaries; soldiers "who had rendered considerable services to the
+State in the war of liberty," and civilians "who by their learning,
+talents, and virtues contributed to establish or to defend the
+principles of the Republic," might hope for the honour and reward now
+held out. The idea of rewarding merit in a civilian, as well as among
+the military caste which had hitherto almost entirely absorbed such
+honours, was certainly enlightened; and the names of the famous
+_savants_ Laplace, Monge, Berthollet, Lagrange, Chaptal, and of
+jurists such as Treilhard and Tronchet, imparted lustre to what would
+otherwise have been a very commonplace institution. Bonaparte desired
+to call out all the faculties of the nation; and when Dumas proposed
+that the order should be limited to soldiers, the First Consul
+replied in a brilliant and convincing harangue:
+
+     "To do great things nowadays it is not enough to be a man of five
+     feet ten inches. If strength and bravery made the general, every
+     soldier might claim the command. The general who does great things
+     is he who also possesses civil qualities. The soldier knows no law
+     but force, sees nothing but it, and measures everything by it. The
+     civilian, on the other hand, only looks to the general welfare. The
+     characteristic of the soldier is to wish to do everything
+     despotically: that of the civilian is to submit everything to
+     discussion, truth, and reason. The superiority thus unquestionably
+     belongs to the civilian."
+
+In these noble words we can discern the secret of Bonaparte's
+supremacy both in politics and in warfare. Uniting in his own person
+the ablest qualities of the statesman and the warrior, he naturally
+desired that his new order of merit should quicken the vitality of
+France in every direction, knowing full well that the results would
+speedily be felt in the army itself. When admitted to its ranks, the
+new member swore:
+
+     "To devote himself to the service of the Republic, to the
+     maintenance of the integrity of its territory, the defence of its
+     government, laws, and of the property which they have consecrated;
+     to fight by all methods authorized by justice, reason, and law,
+     against every attempt to re-establish the feudal _régime_ or to
+     reproduce the titles and qualities thereto belonging; and finally
+     to strive to the uttermost to maintain liberty and equality."
+
+It is not surprising that the Tribunate, despite the recent purging of
+its most independent members, judged liberty and equality to be
+endangered by the method of defence now proposed. The members bitterly
+criticised the scheme as a device of the counter-revolution; but, with
+the timid inconsequence which was already sapping their virility, they
+proceeded to pass by fifty-six votes to thirty-eight a measure of
+which they had so accurately gauged the results. The new institution
+was, indeed, admirably suited to consolidate Bonaparte's power.
+Resting on the financial basis of the confiscated lands, it offered
+some guarantee against the restoration of the old monarchy and feudal
+nobility; while, by stimulating that love of distinction and
+brilliance which is inherent in every gifted people, it quietly began
+to graduate society and to group it around the Paladins of a new
+Gaulish chivalry. The people had recently cast off the overlordship of
+the old Frankish nobles, but admiration of merit (the ultimate source
+of all titles of distinction) was only dormant even in the days of
+Robespierre; and its insane repression during the Terror now begat a
+corresponding enthusiasm for all commanding gifts. Of this inevitable
+reaction Bonaparte now made skillful use. When Berlier, one of the
+leading jurists of France, objected to the new order as leading France
+back to aristocracy, and contemptuously said that crosses and ribbons
+were the toys of monarchy, Bonaparte replied:
+
+     "Well: men are led by toys. I would not say that in a rostrum, but
+     in a council of wise men and statesmen one ought to speak one's
+     mind. I don't think that the French love liberty and equality: the
+     French are not at all changed by ten years of revolution: they are
+     what the Gauls were, fierce and fickle. They have one
+     feeling--honour. We must nourish that feeling: they must have
+     distinctions. See how they bow down before the stars of
+     strangers."[161]
+
+After so frank an exposition of motives to his own Council of State,
+little more need be said. We need not credit Bonaparte or the orators
+of the Tribunate with any superhuman sagacity when he and they foresaw
+that such an order would prepare the way for more resplendent titles.
+The Legion of Honour, at least in its highest grades, was the
+chrysalis stage of the Imperial _noblesse_. After all, the new
+Charlemagne might plead that his new creation satisfied an innate
+craving of the race, and that its durability was the best answer to
+hostile critics. Even when, in 1814, his Senators were offering the
+crown of France to the heir of the Bourbons, they expressly stipulated
+that the Legion of Honour should not be abolished: it has survived all
+the shocks of French history, even the vulgarizing associations of
+the Second Empire.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The same quality of almost pyramidal solidity characterizes another
+great enterprise of the Napoleonic period, the codification of French
+law.
+
+The difficulties of this undertaking consisted mainly in the enormous
+mass of decrees emanating from the National Assemblies, relative to
+political, civil, and criminal affairs. Many of those decrees, the
+offspring of a momentary enthusiasm, had found a place in the codes of
+laws which were then compiled; and yet sagacious observers knew that
+several of them warred against the instincts of the Gallic race. This
+conviction was summed up in the trenchant statement of the compilers
+of the new code, in which they appealed from the ideas of Rousseau to
+the customs of the past: "New theories are but the maxims of certain
+individuals: the old maxims represent the sense of centuries." There
+was much force in this dictum. The overthrow of Feudalism and the old
+monarchy had not permanently altered the French nature. They were
+still the same joyous, artistic, clan-loving people whom the Latin
+historians described: and pride in the nation or the family was as
+closely linked with respect for a doughty champion of national and
+family interests as in the days of Cæsar. Of this Roman or
+quasi-Gallic reaction Napoleon was to be the regulator; and no sphere
+of his activities bespeaks his unerring political sagacity more than
+his sifting of the old and the new in the great code which was
+afterwards to bear his name.
+
+Old French law had been an inextricable labyrinth of laws and customs,
+mainly Roman and Frankish in origin, hopelessly tangled by feudal
+customs, provincial privileges, ecclesiastical rights, and the later
+undergrowth of royal decrees; and no part of the legislation of the
+revolutionists met with so little resistance as their root and branch
+destruction of this exasperating jungle. Their difficulties only began
+when they endeavoured to apply the principles of the Rights of Man to
+political, civil, and criminal affairs. The chief of these principles
+relating to criminal law were that law can only forbid actions that
+are harmful to society, and must only impose penalties that are
+strictly necessary. To these epoch-making pronouncements the Assembly
+added, in 1790, that crimes should be visited only on the guilty
+individual, not on the family; and that penalties must be proportioned
+to the offences. The last two of these principles had of late been
+flagrantly violated; but the general pacification of France now
+permitted a calm consideration of the whole question of criminal law,
+and of its application to normal conditions.
+
+Civil law was to be greatly influenced by the Rights of Man; but those
+famous declarations were to a large extent contravened in the ensuing
+civil strifes, and their application to real life was rendered
+infinitely more difficult by that predominance of the critical over
+the constructive faculties which marred the efforts of the
+revolutionary Babel-builders. Indeed, such was the ardour of those
+enthusiasts that they could scarcely see any difficulties. Thus, the
+Convention in 1793 allowed its legislative committee just one month
+for the preparation of a code of civil law. At the close of six weeks
+Cambacérès, the reporter of the committee, was actually able to
+announce that it was ready. It was found to be too complex. Another
+commission was ordered to reconstruct it: this time the Convention
+discovered that the revised edition was too concise. Two other drafts
+were drawn up at the orders of the Directory, but neither gave
+satisfaction. And thus it was reserved for the First Consul to achieve
+what the revolutionists had only begun, building on the foundations
+and with the very materials which their ten years' toil had prepared.
+
+He had many other advantages. The Second Consul, Cambacérès, was at
+his side, with stores of legal experience and habits of complaisance
+that were of the highest value. Then, too, the principles of personal
+liberty and social equality were yielding ground before the more
+autocratic maxims of Roman law. The view of life now dominant was that
+of the warrior not of the philosopher. Bonaparte named Tronchet, Bigot
+de Préameneu, and the eloquent and learned Portalis for the redaction
+of the code. By ceaseless toil they completed their first draft in
+four months. Then, after receiving the criticisms of the Court of
+Cassation and the Tribunals of Appeal, it came before the Council of
+State for the decision of its special committee on legislation. There
+it was subjected to the scrutiny of several experts, but, above all,
+to Bonaparte himself. He presided at more than half of the 102
+sittings devoted to this criticism; and sittings of eight or nine
+hours were scarcely long enough to satisfy his eager curiosity, his
+relentless activity, and his determined practicality.
+
+From the notes of Thibaudeau one of the members of this revising
+committee, we catch a glimpse of the part there played by the First
+Consul. We see him listening intently to the discussions of the
+jurists, taking up and sorting the threads of thought when a tangle
+seemed imminent, and presenting the result in some striking pattern.
+We watch his methodizing spirit at work on the cumbrous legal
+phraseology, hammering it out into clear, ductile French. We feel the
+unerring sagacity, which acted as a political and social touchstone,
+testing, approving, or rejecting multifarious details drawn from old
+French law or from the customs of the Revolution; and finally we
+wonder at the architectural skill which worked the 2,281 articles of
+the Code into an almost unassailable pile. To the skill and patience
+of the three chief redactors that result is, of course, very largely
+due: yet, in its mingling of strength, simplicity, and symmetry, we
+may discern the projection of Napoleon's genius over what had hitherto
+been a legal chaos.
+
+Some blocks of the pyramid were almost entirely his own. He widened
+the area of French citizenship; above all, he strengthened the
+structure of the family by enhancing the father's authority. Herein
+his Corsican instincts and the requirements of statecraft led him to
+undo much of the legislation of the revolutionists. Their ideal was
+individual liberty: his aim was to establish public order by
+autocratic methods. They had sought to make of the family a little
+republic, founded on the principles of liberty and equality; but in
+the new code the paternal authority reappeared no less strict, albeit
+less severe in some details than that of the _ancien régime._ The
+family was thenceforth modelled on the idea dominant in the State,
+that authority and responsible action pertained to a single
+individual. The father controlled the conduct of his children: his
+consent was necessary for the marriage of sons up to their
+twenty-fifth year, for that of daughters up to their twenty-first
+year; and other regulations were framed in the same spirit.[162] Thus
+there was rebuilt in France the institution of the family on an almost
+Roman basis; and these customs, contrasting sharply with the domestic
+anarchy of the Anglo-Saxon race, have had a mighty influence in
+fashioning the character of the French, as of the other Latin peoples,
+to a ductility that yields a ready obedience to local officials,
+drill-sergeants, and the central Government.
+
+In other respects Bonaparte's influence on the code was equally
+potent. He raised the age at which marriage could be legally
+contracted to that of eighteen for men, and fifteen for women, and he
+prescribed a formula of obedience to be repeated by the bride to her
+husband; while the latter was bound to protect and support the
+wife.[163]
+
+And yet, on the question of divorce, Bonaparte's action was
+sufficiently ambiguous to reawaken Josephine's fears; and the
+detractors of the great man have some ground for declaring that his
+action herein was dictated by personal considerations. Others again
+may point to the declarations of the French National Assemblies that
+the law regarded marriage merely as a civil contract, and that divorce
+was to be a logical sequel of individual liberty, "which an
+indissoluble tie would annul." It is indisputable that extremely lax
+customs had been the result of the law of 1792, divorce being allowed
+on a mere declaration of incompatibility of temper.[164] Against these
+scandals Bonaparte firmly set his face. But he disagreed with the
+framers of the new Code when they proposed altogether to prohibit
+divorce, though such a proposition might well have seemed consonant
+with his zeal for Roman Catholicism. After long debates it was decided
+to reduce the causes which could render divorce possible from nine to
+four--adultery, cruelty, condemnation to a degrading penalty, and
+mutual consent--provided that this last demand should be persistently
+urged after not less than two years of marriage, and in no case was it
+to be valid after twenty years of marriage.[165]
+
+We may also notice here that Bonaparte sought to surround the act of
+adoption with much solemnity, declaring it to be one of the grandest
+acts imaginable. Yet, lest marriage should thereby be discouraged,
+celibates were expressly debarred from the privileges of adopting
+heirs. The precaution shows how keenly this able ruler peered into
+the future. Doubtless, he surmised that in the future the population
+of France would cease to expand at the normal rate, owing to the
+working of the law compelling the equal division of property among all
+the children of a family. To this law he was certainly opposed.
+Equality in regard to the bequest of property was one of the sacred
+maxims of revolutionary jurists, who had limited the right of free
+disposal by bequest to one-tenth of each estate: nine-tenths being of
+necessity divided equally among the direct heirs. Yet so strong was
+the reaction in favour of the Roman principle of paternal authority,
+that Bonaparte and a majority of the drafters of the new Code scrupled
+not to assail that maxim, and to claim for the father larger
+discretionary powers over the disposal of his property. They demanded
+that the disposable share should vary according to the wealth of the
+testator--a remarkable proposal, which proves him to be anything but
+the unflinching champion of revolutionary legal ideas which popular
+French histories have generally depicted him.
+
+This proposal would have re-established liberty of bequest in its most
+pernicious form, granting almost limitless discretionary power to the
+wealthy, while restricting or denying it to the poor.[166] Fortunately
+for his reputation in France, the suggestion was rejected; and the
+law, as finally adopted, fixed the disposable share as one-half of the
+property, if there was but one heir; one-third, if there were two
+heirs; one-fourth, if there were three; and so on, diminishing as the
+size of the family increased. This sliding scale, varying inversely
+with the size of the family, is open to an obvious objection: it
+granted liberty of bequest only in cases where the family was small,
+but practically lapsed when the family attained to patriarchal
+dimensions. The natural result has been that the birth-rate has
+suffered a serious and prolonged check in France. It seems certain
+that the First Consul foresaw this result. His experience of peasant
+life must have warned him that the law, even as now amended, would
+stunt the population of France and ultimately bring about that [Greek:
+oliganthrôpia] which saps all great military enterprises. The great
+captain did all in his power to prevent the French settling down in a
+self-contained national life; he strove to stir them up to world-wide
+undertakings, and for the success of his future imperial schemes a
+redundant population was an absolute necessity.
+
+The Civil Code became law in 1804: after undergoing some slight
+modifications and additions, it was, in 1807 renamed the Code
+Napoléon. Its provisions had already, in 1806, been adopted in Italy.
+In 1810 Holland, and the newly-annexed coast-line of the North Sea as
+far as Hamburg, and even Lübeck on the Baltic, received it as the
+basis of their laws, as did the Grand Duchy of Berg in 1811.
+Indirectly it has also exerted an immense influence on the legislation
+of Central and Southern Germany, Prussia, Switzerland, and Spain:
+while many of the Central and South American States have also
+borrowed its salient features.
+
+A Code of Civil Procedure was promulgated in France in 1806, one of
+Commerce in 1807, of "Criminal Instruction" in 1808, and a Penal Code
+in 1810. Except that they were more reactionary in spirit than the
+Civil Code, there is little that calls for notice here, the Penal Code
+especially showing little advance in intelligence or clemency on the
+older laws of France. Even in 1802, officials favoured severity after
+the disorders of the preceding years. When Fox and Romilly paid a
+visit to Talleyrand at Paris, they were informed by his secretary
+that:
+
+     "In his opinion nothing could restore good morals and order in the
+     country but 'la roue et la religion de nos ancêtres.' He knew, he
+     said, that the English did not think so, but we knew nothing of the
+     people. Fox was deeply shocked at the idea of restoring the wheel
+     as a punishment in France."[167]
+
+This horrible punishment was not actually restored: but this extract
+from Romilly's diary shows what was the state of feeling in official
+circles at Paris, and how strong was the reaction towards older ideas.
+The reaction was unquestionably emphasized by Bonaparte's influence,
+and it is noteworthy that the Penal and other Codes, passed during the
+Empire, were more reactionary than the laws of the Consulate. Yet,
+even as First Consul, he exerted an influence that began to banish the
+customs and traditions of the Revolution, except in the single sphere
+of material interests; and he satisfied the peasants' love of land and
+money in order that he might the more securely triumph over
+revolutionary ideals and draw France insensibly back to the age of
+Louis XIV.
+
+
+While the legislator must always keep in reserve punishment as the
+_ultima ratio_ for the lawless, he will turn by preference to
+education as a more potent moralizing agency; and certainly education
+urgently needed Bonaparte's attention. The work of carrying into
+practice the grand educational aims of Condorcet and his coadjutors in
+the French Convention was enough to tax the energies of a Hercules.
+Those ardent reformers did little more than clear the ground for
+future action: they abolished the old monastic and clerical training,
+and declared for a generous system of national education in primary,
+secondary, and advanced schools. But amid strifes and bankruptcy their
+aims remained unfulfilled. In 1799 there were only twenty-four
+elementary schools open in Paris, with a total attendance of less than
+1,000 pupils; and in rural districts matters were equally bad. Indeed,
+Lucien Bonaparte asserted that scarcely any education was to be found
+in France. Exaggerated though this statement was, in relation to
+secondary and advanced education, it was proximately true of the
+elementary schools. The revolutionists had merely traced the outlines
+of a scheme: it remained for the First Consul to fill in the details,
+or to leave it blank.
+
+The result can scarcely be cited as a proof of his educational zeal.
+Elementary schools were left to the control and supervision of the
+communes and of the _sous-préfets_, and naturally made little advance
+amidst an apathetic population and under officials who cared not to
+press on an expensive enterprise. The law of April 30th, 1802,
+however, aimed at improving the secondary education, which the
+Convention had attempted to give in its _écoles centrales_. These were
+now reconstituted either as _écoles secondaires_ or as _lycées_. The
+former were local or even private institutions intended for the most
+promising pupils of the commune or group of communes; while the
+_lycées_, far fewer in number, were controlled directly by the
+Government. In both of these schools great prominence was given to the
+exact and applied sciences. The aim of the instruction was not to
+awaken thought and develop the faculties, but rather to fashion able
+breadwinners, obedient citizens, and enthusiastic soldiers. The
+training was of an almost military type, the pupils being regularly
+drilled, while the lessons began and ended with the roll of drums. The
+numbers of the _lycées_ and of their pupils rapidly increased; but the
+progress of the secondary and primary schools, which could boast no
+such attractions, was very slow. In 1806 only 25,000 children were
+attending the public primary schools. But two years later elementary
+and advanced instruction received a notable impetus from the
+establishment of the University of France.
+
+There is no institution which better reveals the character of the
+French Emperor, with its singular combination of greatness and
+littleness, of wide-sweeping aims with official pedantry. The
+University, as it existed during the First Empire, offers a striking
+example of that mania for the control of the general will which
+philosophers had so attractively taught and Napoleon so profitably
+practised. It is the first definite outcome of a desire to subject
+education and learning to wholesale regimental methods, and to break
+up the old-world bowers of culture by State-worked steam-ploughs. His
+aims were thus set forth:
+
+     "I want a teaching body, because such a body never dies, but
+     transmits its organization and spirit. I want a body whose teaching
+     is far above the fads of the moment, goes straight on even when the
+     government is asleep, and whose administration and statutes become
+     so national that one can never lightly resolve to meddle with
+     them.... There will never be fixity in politics if there is not a
+     teaching body with fixed principles. As long as people do not from
+     their infancy learn whether they ought to be republicans or
+     monarchists, Catholics or sceptics, the State will never form a
+     nation: it will rest on unsafe and shifting foundations, always
+     exposed to changes and disorders."
+
+Such being Napoleon's designs, the new University of France was
+admirably suited to his purpose. It was not a local university: it was
+the sum total of all the public teaching bodies of the French Empire,
+arranged and drilled in one vast instructional array. Elementary
+schools, secondary schools, _lycées_, as well as the more advanced
+colleges, all were absorbed in and controlled by this great teaching
+corporation, which was to inculcate the precepts of the Catholic
+religion, fidelity to the Emperor and to his Government, as guarantees
+for the welfare of the people and the unity of France. For educational
+purposes, France was now divided into seventeen Academies, which
+formed the local centres of the new institution. Thus, from Paris and
+sixteen provincial Academies, instruction was strictly organized and
+controlled; and within a short time of its institution (March, 1808),
+instruction of all kinds, including that of the elementary schools,
+showed some advance. But to all those who look on the unfolding of the
+mental and moral faculties as the chief aim of true _education_, the
+homely experiments of Pestalozzi offer a far more suggestive and
+important field for observation than the barrack-like methods of the
+French Emperor. The Swiss reformer sought to train the mind to
+observe, reflect, and think; to assist the faculties in attaining
+their fullest and freest expression; and thus to add to the richness
+and variety of human thought. The French imperial system sought to
+prune away all mental independence, and to train the young generation
+in neat and serviceable _espalier_ methods: all aspiring shoots,
+especially in the sphere of moral and political science, were sharply
+cut down. Consequently French thought, which had been the most
+ardently speculative in Europe, speedily became vapid and mechanical.
+
+The same remark is proximately true of the literary life of the First
+Empire. It soon began to feel the rigorous methods of the Emperor.
+Poetry and all other modes of expression of lofty thought and rapt
+feeling require not only a free outlet but natural and unrestrained
+surroundings. The true poet is at home in the forest or on the
+mountain rather than in prim _parterres_. The philosopher sees most
+clearly and reasons most suggestively, when his faculties are not
+cramped by the need of observing political rules and police
+regulations. And the historian, when he is tied down to a mere
+investigation and recital of facts, without reference to their
+meaning, is but a sorry fowl flapping helplessly with unequal wings.
+
+Yet such were the conditions under which the literature of France
+struggled and pined. Her poets, a band sadly thinned already by the
+guillotine, sang in forced and hollow strains until the return of
+royalism begat an imperialist fervour in the soul-stirring lyrics of
+Béranger: her philosophy was dumb; and Napoleonic history limped along
+on official crutches, until Thiers, a generation later, essayed his
+monumental work. In the realm of exact and applied science, as might
+be expected, splendid discoveries adorned the Emperor's reign; but if
+we are to find any vitality in the literature of that period, we must
+go to the ranks, not of the panegyrists, but of the opposition. There,
+in the pages of Madame de Staël and Chateaubriand, we feel the throb
+of life. Genius will out, of its own native force: but it cannot be
+pressed out, even at a Napoleon's bidding. In vain did he endeavour to
+stimulate literature by the reorganization of the Institute, and by
+granting decennial prizes for the chief works and discoveries of the
+decade. While science prospered, literature languished: and one of his
+own remarks, as to the desirability of a public and semi-official
+criticism of some great literary work, seems to suggest a reason for
+this intellectual malaise:
+
+     "The public will take interest in this criticism; perhaps it will
+     even take sides: it matters not, as its attention will be fixed on
+     these interesting debates: it will talk about grammar and poetry:
+     taste will be improved, and our aim will be fulfilled: _out of that
+     will come poets and grammarians_."
+
+And so it came to pass that, while he was rescuing a nation from chaos
+and his eagles winged their flight to Naples, Lisbon, and Moscow, he
+found no original thinker worthily to hymn his praises; and the chief
+literary triumphs of his reign came from Chateaubriand, whom he
+impoverished, and Madame de Staël, whom he drove into exile.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Such are the chief laws and customs which are imperishably associated
+with the name of Napoleon Bonaparte. In some respects they may be
+described as making for progress. Their establishment gave to the
+Revolution that solidity which it had previously lacked. Among so
+"inflammable" a people as the French--the epithet is Ste. Beuve's--it
+was quite possible that some of the chief civil conquests of the last
+decade might have been lost, had not the First Consul, to use his own
+expressive phrase, "thrown in some blocks of granite." We may
+intensify his metaphor and assert that out of the shifting shingle of
+French life he constructed a concrete breakwater, in which his own
+will acted as the binding cement, defying the storms of revolutionary
+or royalist passion which had swept the incoherent atoms to and fro,
+and had carried desolation far inland. Thenceforth France was able to
+work out her future under the shelter of institutions which
+unquestionably possess one supreme merit, that of durability. But
+while the chief civic and material gains of the Revolution were thus
+perpetuated, the very spirit and life of that great movement were
+benumbed by the personality and action of Napoleon. The burning
+enthusiasm for the Rights of Man was quenched, the passion for civic
+equality survived only as the gibbering ghost of what it had been in
+1790, and the consolidation of revolutionary France was effected by a
+process nearly akin to petrifaction.
+
+And yet this time of political and intellectual reaction in France was
+marked by the rise of the greatest of her modern institutions. There
+is the chief paradox of that age. While barren of literary activity
+and of truly civic developments, yet it was unequalled in the growth
+of institutions. This is generally the characteristic of epochs when
+the human faculties, long congealed by untoward restraints, suddenly
+burst their barriers and run riot in a spring-tide of hope. The time
+of disillusionment or despair which usually supervenes may, as a rule,
+be compared with the numbing torpor of winter, necessary doubtless in
+our human economy, but lacking the charm and vitality of the expansive
+phase. Often, indeed, it is disgraced by the characteristics of a
+slavish populace, a mean selfishness, a mad frivolity, and fawning
+adulation on the ruler who dispenses _panem et circenses_. Such has
+been the course of many a political reaction, from the time of
+degenerate Athens and imperial Rome down to the decay of Medicean
+Florence and the orgies of the restored Stuarts.
+
+The fruitfulness of the time of monarchical reaction in France may be
+chiefly attributed to two causes, the one general, the other personal;
+the one connected with the French Revolution, the other with the
+exceptional gifts of Bonaparte. In their efforts to create durable
+institutions the revolutionists had failed: they had attempted too
+much: they had overthrown the old order, had undertaken crusades
+against monarchical Europe, and striven to manufacture constitutions
+and remodel a deeply agitated society. They did scarcely more than
+trace the outlines of the future social structure. The edifice, which
+should have been reared by the Directory, was scarcely advanced at
+all, owing to the singular dullness of the new rulers of France. But
+the genius was at hand. He restored order, he rallied various classes
+to his side, he methodized local government, he restored finance and
+credit, he restored religious peace and yet secured the peasants in
+their tenure of the confiscated lands, he rewarded merit with social
+honours, and finally he solidified his polity by a comprehensive code
+of laws which made him the keystone of the now rounded arch of French
+life.
+
+His methods in this immense work deserve attention: they were very
+different from those of the revolutionary parties after the best days
+of 1789 were past. The followers of Rousseau worked on rigorous _a
+priori_ methods. If institutions and sentiments did not square with
+the principles of their master, they were swept away or were forced
+into conformity with the new evangel. A correct knowledge of the
+"Contrat Social" and keen critical powers were the prime requisites of
+Jacobinical statesmanship. Knowledge of the history of France, the
+faculty of gauging the real strength of popular feelings, tact in
+conciliating important interests, all were alike despised.
+Institutions and class interests were as nothing in comparison with
+that imposing abstraction, the general will. For this alone could
+philosophers legislate and factions conspire.
+
+From these lofty aims and exasperating methods Bonaparte was speedily
+weaned. If victorious analysis led to this; if it could only pull
+down, not reconstruct; if, while legislating for the general will,
+Jacobins harassed one class after another and produced civil war, then
+away with their pedantries in favour of the practical statecraft which
+attempted one task at a time and aimed at winning back in turn the
+alienated classes. Then, and then alone, after civic peace had been
+re-established, would he attempt the reconstruction of the civil order
+in the same tentative manner, taking up only this or that frayed end
+at once, trusting to time, skill, and patience to transform the tangle
+into a symmetrical pattern. And thus, where Feuillants, Girondins, and
+Jacobins had produced chaos, the practical man and his able helpers
+succeeded in weaving ineffaceable outlines. As to the time when the
+change took place in Bonaparte's brain from Jacobinism to aims and
+methods that may be called conservative, we are strangely ignorant.
+But the results of this mental change will stand forth clear and
+solid for many a generation in the customs, laws, and institutions of
+his adopted country. If the Revolution, intellectually considered,
+began and ended with analysis, Napoleon's faculties supplied the
+needed synthesis. Together they made modern France.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+THE CONSULATE FOR LIFE
+
+
+With the view of presenting in clear outlines the chief institutions
+of Napoleonic France, they have been described in the preceding
+chapter, detached from their political setting. We now return to
+consider the events which favoured the consolidation of Bonaparte's
+power.
+
+No politician inured to the tricks of statecraft could more firmly
+have handled public affairs than the man who practically began his
+political apprenticeship at Brumaire. Without apparent effort he rose
+to the height whence the five Directors had so ignominiously fallen;
+and instinctively he chose at once the policy which alone could have
+insured rest for France, that of balancing interests and parties. His
+own political views being as yet unknown, dark with the excessive
+brightness of his encircling glory, he could pose as the conciliator
+of contending factions. The Jacobins were content when they saw the
+regicide Cambacérès become Second Consul; and friends of
+constitutional monarchy remembered that the Third Consul, Lebrun, had
+leanings towards the Feuillants of 1791. Fouché at the inquisitorial
+Ministry of Police, and Merlin, Berlier, Real, and Boulay de la
+Meurthe in the Council of State seemed a barrier to all monarchical
+schemes; and the Jacobins therefore remained quiet, even while
+Catholic worship was again publicly celebrated, while Vendean rebels
+were pardoned, and plotting _émigrés_ were entering the public
+service.
+
+Many, indeed, of the prominent terrorists had settled profitably on
+the offices which Bonaparte had multiplied throughout France, and were
+therefore dumb: but some of the less favoured ones, angered by the
+stealthy advance of autocracy, wove a plot for the overthrow of the
+First Consul. Chief among them were a braggart named Demerville, a
+painter, Topino Lebrun, a sculptor, Ceracchi, and Aréna, brother of
+the Corsican deputy who had shaken Bonaparte by the collar at the
+crisis of Brumaire. These men hit upon the notion that, with the aid
+of one man of action, they could make away with the new despot. They
+opened their hearts to a penniless officer named Harel, who had been
+dismissed from the army; and he straightway took the news to
+Bonaparte's private secretary, Bourrienne. The First Consul, on
+hearing of the matter, at once charged Bourrienne to supply Harel with
+money to buy firearms, but not to tell the secret to Fouché, of whose
+double dealings with the Jacobins he was already aware. It became
+needful, however, to inform him of the plot, which was now carefully
+nursed by the authorities. The arrests were planned to take place at
+the opera on October 10th. About half an hour after the play had
+begun, Bonaparte bade his secretary go into the lobby to hear the
+news. Bourrienne at once heard the noise caused by a number of
+arrests: he came back, reported the matter to his master, who
+forthwith returned to the Tuileries. The plot was over.[168]
+
+A more serious attempt was to follow. On the 3rd day of Nivôse
+(December 24th, 1800), as the First Consul was driving to the opera to
+hear Haydn's oratorio, "The Creation," his carriage was shaken by a
+terrific explosion. A bomb had burst between his carriage and that of
+Josephine, which was following. Neither was injured, though many
+spectators were killed or wounded. "Josephine," he calmly said, as she
+entered the box, "those rascals wanted to blow me up: send for a copy
+of the music." But under this cool demeanour he nursed a determination
+of vengeance against his political foes, the Jacobins. On the next day
+he appeared at a session of the Council of State along with the
+Ministers of Police and of the Interior, Fouché and Chaptal. The Aréna
+plot and other recent events seemed to point to wild Jacobins and
+anarchists as the authors of this outrage: but Fouché ventured to
+impute it to the royalists and to England.
+
+     "There are in it," Bonaparte at once remarked, "neither nobles, nor
+     Chouans, nor priests. They are men of September (_Septembriseurs_),
+     wretches stained with blood, ever conspiring in solid phalanx
+     against every successive government. We must find a means of prompt
+     redress."
+
+The Councillors at once adopted this opinion, Roederer hotly declaring
+his open hostility to Fouché for his reputed complicity with the
+terrorists; and, if we may credit the _on dit_ of Pasquier, Talleyrand
+urged the execution of Fouché within twenty-four hours. Bonaparte,
+however, preferred to keep the two cleverest and most questionable
+schemers of the age, so as mutually to check each other's movements. A
+day later, when the Council was about to institute special
+proceedings, Bonaparte again intervened with the remark that the
+action of the tribunal would be too slow, too restricted: a signal
+revenge was needed for so foul a crime, rapid as lightning:
+
+     "Blood must be shed: as many guilty must be shot as the innocent
+     who had perished--some fifteen or twenty--and two hundred banished,
+     so that the Republic might profit by that event to purge itself."
+
+This was the policy now openly followed. In vain did some members of
+the usually obsequious Council object to this summary procedure.
+Roederer, Boulay, even the Second Consul himself, now perceived how
+trifling was their influence when they attempted to modify Bonaparte's
+plans, and two sections of the Council speedily decided that there
+should be a military commission to judge suspects and "deport"
+dangerous persons, and that the Government should announce this to
+the Senate, Corps Législatif, and Tribunate. Public opinion,
+meanwhile, was carefully trained by the official "Moniteur," which
+described in detail various so-called anarchist attempts; but an
+increasing number in official circles veered round to Fouché's belief
+that the outrage was the work of the royalists abetted by England. The
+First Consul himself, six days after the event, inclined to this
+version. Nevertheless, at a full meeting of the Council of State, on
+the first day of the year 1801, he brought up a list of "130 villains
+who were troubling the public peace," with a view to inflicting
+summary punishment on them. Thibaudeau, Boulay, and Roederer haltingly
+expressed their fears that all the 130 might not be guilty of the
+recent outrage, and that the Council had no powers to decide on the
+proscription of individuals. Bonaparte at once assured them that he
+was not consulting them about the fate of individuals, but merely to
+know whether they thought an exceptional measure necessary. The
+Government had only
+
+     "Strong presumptions, not proofs, that the terrorists were the
+     authors of this attempt. _Chouannerie_ and emigration are surface
+     ills, terrorism is an internal disease. The measure ought to be
+     taken independently of the event. It is only the occasion of it. We
+     banish them (the terrorists) for the massacres of September 2nd,
+     May 31st, the Babeuf plot, and every subsequent attempt."[169]
+
+The Council thereupon unanimously affirmed the need of an exceptional
+measure, and adopted a suggestion of Talleyrand (probably emanating
+from Bonaparte) that the Senate should be invited to declare by a
+special decision, called a _senatus consultum_, whether such an act
+were "preservative of the constitution." This device, which avoided
+the necessity of passing a law through two less subservient bodies,
+the Tribunate and Corps Législatif, was forthwith approved by the
+guardians of the constitution. It had far-reaching results. The
+complaisant Senate was brought down from its constitutional watchtower
+to become the tool of the Consuls; and an easy way for further
+innovations was thus dextrously opened up through the very portals
+which were designed to bar them out.
+
+The immediate results of the device were startling. By an act of
+January 4th, 1801, as many as 130 prominent Jacobins were "placed
+under special surveillance outside the European territory of the
+Republic"--a specious phrase for denoting a living death amidst the
+wastes of French Guiana or the Seychelles. Some of the threatened
+persons escaped, perhaps owing to the connivance of Fouché; some were
+sent to the Isle of Oléron; but the others were forthwith despatched
+to the miseries of captivity in the tropics. Among these were
+personages so diverse as Rossignol, once the scourge of France with
+his force of Parisian cut-throats, and Destrem, whose crime was his
+vehement upbraiding of Bonaparte at St. Cloud. After this measure had
+taken effect, it was discovered by judicial inquiry that the Jacobins
+had no connection with the outrage, which was the work of royalists
+named Saint-Réjant and Carbon. These were captured, and on January
+31st, 1801, were executed; but their fate had no influence whatever on
+the sentence of the transported Jacobins. Of those who were sent to
+Guiana and the Seychelles, scarce twenty saw France again.[170]
+
+
+
+Bonaparte's conduct with respect to plots deserves close attention.
+Never since the age of the Borgias have conspiracies been so skilfully
+exploited, so cunningly countermined. Moreover, his conduct with
+respect to the Aréna and Nivôse affairs had a wider significance; for
+he now quietly but firmly exchanged the policy of balancing parties
+for one which crushed the extreme republicans, and enhanced the
+importance of all who were likely to approve or condone the
+establishment of personal rule.
+
+It is now time to consider the effect which Bonaparte's foreign policy
+had on his position in France. Reserving for a later chapter an
+examination of the Treaty of Amiens, we may here notice the close
+connection between Bonaparte's diplomatic successes and the
+perpetuation of his Consulate. All thoughtful students of history must
+have observed the warping influence which war and diplomacy have
+exerted on democratic institutions. The age of Alcibiades, the doom of
+the Roman Republic, and many other examples might be cited to show
+that free institutions can with difficulty survive the strain of a
+vast military organization or the insidious results of an exacting
+diplomacy. But never has the gulf between democracy and personal rule
+been so quickly spanned as by the commanding genius of Bonaparte.
+
+The events which disgusted both England and France with war have been
+described above. Each antagonist had parried the attacks of the other.
+The blow which Bonaparte had aimed at Britain's commerce by his
+eastern expedition had been foiled; and a considerable French force
+was shut up in Egypt. His plan of relieving his starving garrison in
+Malta, by concluding a maritime truce, had been seen through by us;
+and after a blockade of two years, Valetta fell (September, 1800). But
+while Great Britain regained more than all her old power in the
+Mediterranean, she failed to make any impression on the land-power of
+France. The First Consul in the year 1801 compelled Naples and
+Portugal to give up the English alliance and to exclude our vessels
+and goods. In the north the results of the war had been in favour of
+the islanders. The Union Jack again waved triumphant on the Baltic,
+and all attempts of the French to rouse and support an Irish revolt
+had signally failed. Yet the French preparations for an invasion of
+England strained the resources of our exchequer and the patience of
+our people. The weary struggle was evidently about to close in a
+stalemate.
+
+For political and financial reasons the two Powers needed repose.
+Bonaparte's authority was not as yet so firmly founded that he could
+afford to neglect the silent longings of France for peace; his
+institutions had not as yet taken root; and he needed money for public
+works and colonial enterprises. That he looked on peace as far more
+desirable for France than for England at the present time is clear
+from a confidential talk which he had with Roederer at the close of
+1800. This bright thinker, to whom he often unbosomed himself, took
+exception to his remark that England could not wish for peace;
+whereupon the First Consul uttered these memorable words:
+
+     "My dear fellow, England ought not to wish for peace, because we
+     are masters of the world. Spain is ours. We have a foothold in
+     Italy. In Egypt we have the reversion to their tenure. Switzerland,
+     Holland, Belgium--that is a matter irrevocably settled, on which we
+     have declared to Prussia, Russia, and the Emperor that _we alone_,
+     if it were necessary, would make war on all, namely, that there
+     shall be no Stadholder in Holland, and that we will keep Belgium
+     and the left bank of the Rhine. A stadholder in Holland would be as
+     bad as a Bourbon in the St. Antoine suburb."[171]
+
+
+The passage is remarkable, not only for its frank statement of the
+terms on which England and the Continent might have peace, but also
+because it discloses the rank undergrowth of pride and ambition that
+is beginning to overtop his reasoning faculties. Even before he has
+heard the news of Moreau's great victory of Hohenlinden, he equates
+the military strength of France with that of the rest of Europe: nay,
+he claims without a shadow of doubt the mastery of the world: he will
+wage, if necessary, a double war, against England for a colonial
+empire, and against Europe for domination in Holland and the
+Rhineland. It is naught to him that that double effort has exhausted
+France in the reigns of Louis XIV. and Louis XV. Holland, Switzerland,
+Italy, shall be French provinces, Egypt and the Indies shall be her
+satrapies, and _la grande nation_ may then rest on her glories.
+
+Had these aims been known at Westminster, Ministers would have counted
+peace far more harmful than war. But, while ambition reigned at Paris,
+dull common sense dictated the policy of Britain. In truth, our people
+needed rest: we were in the first stages of an industrial revolution:
+our cotton and woollen industries were passing from the cottage to the
+factory; and a large part of our folk were beginning to cluster in
+grimy, ill-organized townships. Population and wealth advanced by
+leaps and bounds; but with them came the nineteenth-century problems
+of widening class distinctions and uncertainty of employment. The
+food-supply was often inadequate, and in 1801 the price of wheat in
+the London market ranged from £6 to £8 the quarter; the quartern loaf
+selling at times for as much as 1s. 10-1/2d.[172]
+
+The state of the sister island was even worse. The discontent of
+Ireland had been crushed by the severe repression which followed the
+rising of 1798; and the bonds connecting the two countries were
+forcibly tightened by the Act of Union of 1800. But rest and reform
+were urgently needed if this political welding was to acquire solid
+strength, and rest and reform were alike denied. The position of the
+Ministry at Westminster was also precarious. The opposition of George
+III. to the proposals for Catholic Emancipation, to which Pitt
+believed himself in honour bound, led to the resignation in February,
+1801, of that able Minister. In the following month Addington, the
+Speaker of the House of Commons, with the complacence born of bland
+obtuseness, undertook to fill his place. At first, the Ministry was
+treated with the tolerance due to the new Premier's urbanity, but it
+gradually faded away into contempt for his pitiful weakness in face of
+the dangers that threatened the realm.
+
+Certain unofficial efforts in the cause of peace had been made during
+the year 1800, by a Frenchman, M. Otto, who had been charged to
+proceed to London to treat with the British Government for the
+exchange of prisoners. For various reasons his tentative proposals as
+to an accommodation between the belligerents had had no issue: but he
+continued to reside in London, and quietly sought to bring about a
+good understanding. The accession of the Addington Ministry favoured
+the opening of negotiations, the new Secretary for Foreign Affairs,
+Lord Hawkesbury, announcing His Majesty's desire for peace. Indeed,
+the one hope of the new Ministry, and of the king who supported it as
+the only alternative to Catholic Emancipation, was bound up with the
+cause of peace. In the next chapter it will appear how disastrous were
+the results of that strange political situation, when a morbidly
+conscientious king clung to the weak Addington, and jeopardised the
+interests of Britain, rather than accept a strong Minister and a
+measure of religious equality.
+
+Napoleon received Hawkesbury's first overtures, those of March 21st,
+1801, with thinly veiled scorn; but the news of Nelson's victory at
+Copenhagen and of the assassination of the Czar Paul, the latter of
+which wrung from him a cry of rage, ended his hopes of crushing us;
+and negotiations were now formally begun. On the 14th of April, Great
+Britain demanded that the French should evacuate Egypt, while she
+herself would give up Minorca, but retain the following conquests:
+Malta, Tobago, Martinique, Trinidad, Essequibo, Demerara, Berbice,
+Ceylon, and (a little later) Curaçoa; while, if the Cape of Good Hope
+were restored to the Dutch, it was to be a free port: an indemnity was
+also to be found for the Prince of Orange for the loss of his
+Netherlands. These claims were declared by Bonaparte to be
+inadmissible. He on his side urged the far more impracticable demand
+of the _status quo ante bellum_ in the East and West Indies and in the
+Mediterranean; which would imply the surrender, not only of our many
+naval conquests, but also of our gains in Hindostan at the expense of
+the late Tippoo Sahib's dominions. In the ensuing five months the
+British Government gained some noteworthy successes in diplomacy and
+war. It settled the disputes arising out of the Armed Neutrality
+League; there was every prospect of our troops defeating those of
+France in Egypt; and our navy captured St. Eustace and Saba in the
+West Indies.
+
+As a set-off to our efforts by sea, Bonaparte instigated a war between
+Spain and Portugal, in order that the latter Power might be held as a
+"guarantee for the general peace." Spain, however, merely waged a "war
+of oranges," and came to terms with her neighbour in the Treaty of
+Badajoz, June 6th, 1801, whereby she gained the small frontier
+district of Olivenza. This fell far short of the First Consul's
+intentions. Indeed, such was his annoyance at the conduct of the Court
+of Madrid and the complaisance of his brother Lucien Bonaparte, who
+was ambassador there, that he determined to make Spain bear a heavy
+share of the English demands. On June 22nd, 1801, he wrote to his
+brother at Madrid:
+
+     "I have already caused the English to be informed that I will never
+     depart, as regards Portugal, from the _ultimatum_ addressed to M.
+     d'Araujo, and that the _status quo ante bellum_ for Portugal must
+     amount, for Spain, to the restitution of Trinidad; for France, to
+     the restitution of Martinique and Tobago; and for Batavia [Holland],
+     to that of Curaçoa and some other small American isles."[173]
+
+In other words, if Portugal at the close of this whipped-up war
+retained her present possessions, then England must renounce her
+claims to Trinidad, Martinique, Tobago, Curaçoa, etc.: and he summed
+up his contention in the statement that "in signing this treaty
+Charles IV. has consented to the loss of Trinidad." Further pressure
+on Portugal compelled her to cede part of Northern Brazil to France
+and to pay her 20,000,000 francs.
+
+A still more striking light is thrown on Bonaparte's diplomatic
+methods by the following question, addressed to Lord Hawkesbury on
+June 15th:
+
+     "If, supposing that the French Government should accede to the
+     arrangements proposed for the East Indies by England, and should
+     adopt the _status quo ante bellum_ for Portugal, the King of
+     England would consent to the re-establishment of the _status quo_
+     in the Mediterranean and in America."
+
+The British Minister in his reply of June 25th explained what the
+phrase _status quo ante bellum_ in regard to the Mediterranean would
+really imply. It would necessitate, not merely the evacuation of Egypt
+by the French, but also that of the Kingdom of Sardinia (including
+Nice), the Duchy of Tuscany, and the independence of the rest of the
+peninsula. He had already offered that we should evacuate Minorca; but
+he now stated that, if France retained her influence over Italy,
+England would claim Malta as a set-off to the vast extension of French
+territorial influence, and in order to protect English commerce in
+those seas: for the rest, the British Government could not regard the
+maintenance of the integrity of Portugal as an equivalent to the
+surrender by Great Britain of her West Indian conquests, especially as
+France had acquired further portions of Saint Domingo. Nevertheless he
+offered to restore Trinidad to Spain, if she would reinstate Portugal
+in the frontier strip of Olivenza; and, on August 5th, he told Otto
+that we would give up Malta if it became independent.
+
+Meanwhile events were, on the whole, favourable to Great Britain. She
+made peace with Russia on favourable terms; and in the Mediterranean,
+despite a first success gained by the French Admiral Linois at
+Algesiras, a second battle brought back victory to the Union Jack. An
+attack made by Nelson on the flotilla at Boulogne was a failure
+(August 15th). But at the close of August the French commander in
+Egypt, General Menou, was constrained to agree to the evacuation of
+Egypt by his troops, which were to be sent back to France on English
+vessels. This event had been expected by Bonaparte, and the secret
+instruction which he forwarded to Otto at London shows the nicety of
+his calculation as to the advantages to be reaped by France owing to
+her receiving the news while it was still unknown in England. He
+ordered Otto to fix October the 2nd for the close of the negotiations:
+
+     "You will understand the importance of this when you reflect that
+     Menou may possibly not be able to hold out in Alexandria beyond the
+     first of Vendémiaire (September 22nd); that, at this season, the
+     winds are fair to come from Egypt, and ships reach Italy and
+     Trieste in very few days. Thus it is necessary to push them [the
+     negotiations] to a conclusion before Vendémiaire 10."
+
+The advantages of an irresponsible autocrat in negotiating with a
+Ministry dependent on Parliament have rarely been more signally shown.
+Anxious to gain popularity, and unable to stem the popular movement
+for peace, Addington and Hawkesbury yielded to this request for a
+fixed limit of time; and the preliminaries of peace were signed at
+London on October 1st, 1801, the very day before the news arrived
+there that one of our demands was rendered useless by the actual
+surrender of the French in Egypt.[174]
+
+
+
+The chief conditions of the preliminaries were as follows: Great
+Britain restored to France, Spain, and the Batavian Republic all their
+possessions and colonies recently conquered by her except Trinidad and
+Ceylon. The Cape of Good Hope was given back to the Dutch, but
+remained open to British and French commerce. Malta was to be restored
+to the Order of St. John, and placed under the guarantee and
+protection of a third Power to be agreed on in the definitive treaty.
+Egypt returned to the control of the Sublime Porte. The existing
+possessions of Portugal (that is, exclusive of Olivenza) were
+preserved intact. The French agreed to loose their hold on the Kingdom
+of Naples and the Roman territory; while the British were also to
+evacuate Porto Ferrajo (Elba) and the other ports and islands which
+they held in the Mediterranean and Adriatic. The young Republic of the
+Seven Islands (Ionian Islands) was recognized by France: and the
+fisheries on the coasts of Newfoundland and the adjacent isles were
+placed on their former footing, subject to "such arrangements as shall
+appear just and reciprocally useful."
+
+It was remarked as significant of the new docility of George III.,
+that the empty title of "King of France," which he and his
+predecessors had affected, was now formally resigned, and the _fleurs
+de lys_ ceased to appear on the royal arms.
+
+Thus, with three exceptions, Great Britain had given way on every
+point of importance since the first declaration of her claims; the
+three exceptions were Trinidad and Ceylon, which she gained from the
+allies of France; and Egypt, the recovery of which from the French was
+already achieved, though it was unknown at London. On every detail but
+these Bonaparte had gained a signal diplomatic success. His skill and
+tenacity bade fair to recover for France, Martinique, Tobago, and
+Santa Lucia, then in British hands, as well as the French stations in
+India. The only British gains, after nine years of warfare, fruitful
+in naval triumphs, but entailing an addition of £290,000,000 to the
+National Debt, were the islands of Trinidad and the Dutch possessions
+in Ceylon. And yet in the six months spent in negotiations the general
+course of events had been favourable to the northern Power. What then
+had been lacking? Certainly not valour to her warriors, nor good
+fortune to her flag; but merely brain power to her rulers. They had
+little of that foresight, skill, and intellectual courage, without
+which even the exploits of a Nelson are of little permanent effect.
+
+Reserving for treatment in the next chapter the questions arising from
+these preliminaries and the resulting Peace of Amiens, we turn now to
+consider their bearing on Bonaparte's position as First Consul. The
+return of peace after an exhausting war is always welcome; yet the
+patriotic Briton who saw the National Debt more than doubled, with no
+adequate gain in land or influence, could not but contrast the
+difference in the fortunes of France. That Power had now gained the
+Rhine boundary; her troops garrisoned the fortresses of Holland and
+Northern Italy; her chief dictated his will to German princelings and
+to the once free Switzers; while the Court of Madrid, nay, the
+Eternal City herself, obeyed his behests. And all this prodigious
+expansion had been accomplished at little apparent cost to France
+herself; for the victors' bill had been very largely met out of the
+resources of the conquered territories. It is true that her nobles and
+clergy had suffered fearful losses in lands and treasure, while her
+trading classes had cruelly felt the headlong fall in value of her
+paper notes: but in a land endowed with a bounteous soil and climate
+such losses are soon repaired, and the signature of the peace with
+England left France comparatively prosperous. In October the First
+Consul also concluded peace with Russia, and came to a friendly
+understanding with the Czar on Italian affairs and the question of
+indemnities for the dispossessed German Princes.[175]
+
+
+Bonaparte now strove to extend the colonies and commerce of France, a
+topic to which we shall return later on, and to develop her internal
+resources. The chief roads were repaired, and ceased to be in the
+miserable condition in which the abolition of the _corvées_ in 1789
+had left them: canals were dug to connect the chief river systems of
+France, or were greatly improved; and Paris soon benefited from the
+construction of the Scheldt and Oise canal, which brought the
+resources of Belgium within easy reach of the centre of France. Ports
+were deepened and extended; and Marseilles entered on golden vistas of
+prosperity soon to be closed by the renewal of war with England.
+Communications with Italy were facilitated by the improvement of the
+road between Marseilles and Genoa, as also of the tracks leading over
+the Simplon, Mont Cenis, and Mont Genèvre passes: the roads leading to
+the Rhine and along its left bank also attested the First Consul's
+desire, not only to extend commerce, but to protect his natural
+boundary on the east. The results of this road-making were to be seen
+in the campaign of Ulm, when the French forces marched from Boulogne
+to the Black Forest at an unparalleled speed.
+
+Paris in particular felt his renovating hand. With the abrupt,
+determined tones which he assumed more and more on reaching absolute
+power, he one day said to Chaptal at Malmaison:
+
+     "I intend to make Paris the most beautiful capital of the world: I
+     wish that in ten years it should number two millions of
+     inhabitants." "But," replied his Minister of the Interior, "one
+     cannot improvise population; ... as it is, Paris would scarcely
+     support one million"; and he instanced the want of good drinking
+     water. "What are your plans for giving water to Paris?" Chaptal
+     gave two alternatives--artesian wells or the bringing of water from
+     the River Ourcq to Paris. "I adopt the latter plan: go home and
+     order five hundred men to set to work to-morrow at La Villette to
+     dig the canal."
+
+Such was the inception of a great public work which cost more than
+half a million sterling. The provisioning of Paris also received
+careful attention, a large reserve of wheat being always kept on hand
+for the satisfaction of "a populace which is only dangerous when it is
+hungry." Bonaparte therefore insisted on corn being stored and sold in
+large quantities and at a very low price, even when considerable loss
+was thereby entailed.[176] But besides supplying _panem_ he also
+provided _circenses_ to an extent never known even in the days of
+Louis XV. State aid was largely granted to the chief theatres, where
+Bonaparte himself was a frequent attendant, and a willing captive to
+the charms of the actress Mlle. Georges.
+
+The beautifying of Paris was, however, the chief means employed by
+Bonaparte for weaning its populace from politics; and his efforts to
+this end were soon crowned with complete success. Here again the
+events of the Revolution had left the field clear for vast works of
+reconstruction such as would have been impossible but for the
+abolition of the many monastic institutions of old Paris. On or near
+the sites of the famous Feuillants and Jacobins he now laid down
+splendid thoroughfares; and where the constitutionals or reds a decade
+previously had perorated and fought, the fashionable world of Paris
+now rolled in gilded cabriolets along streets whose names recalled the
+Italian and Egyptian triumphs of the First Consul. Art and culture
+bowed down to the ruler who ordered the renovation of the Louvre,
+which now became the treasure-house of painting and sculpture,
+enriched by masterpieces taken from many an Italian gallery. No
+enterprise has more conspicuously helped to assure the position of
+Paris as the capital of the world's culture than Bonaparte's grouping
+of the nation's art treasures in a central and magnificent building.
+In the first year of his Empire Napoleon gave orders for the
+construction of vast galleries which were to connect the northern
+pavilion of the Tuileries with the Louvre and form a splendid façade
+to the new Rue de Rivoli. Despite the expense, the work was pushed
+on until it was suddenly arrested by the downfall of the Empire,
+and was left to the great man's nephew to complete. Though it is
+possible, as Chaptal avers, that the original design aimed at the
+formation of a central fortress, yet to all lovers of art, above
+all to the hero-worshipping Heine, the new Louvre was a sure pledge
+of Napoleon's immortality.
+
+Other works which combined beauty with utility were the prolongation
+of the quays along the left bank of the Seine, the building of three
+bridges over that river, the improvement of the Jardin des Plantes,
+together with that of other parks and open spaces, and the completion
+of the Conservatoire of Arts and Trades. At a later date, the military
+spirit of the Empire received signal illustration in the erection of
+the Vendôme column, the Arc de Triomphe, and the consecration, or
+desecration, of the Madeleine as a temple of glory.
+
+Many of these works were subsequent to the period which we are
+considering; but the enterprises of the Emperor represent the designs
+of the First Consul; and the plans for the improvement of Paris formed
+during the Consulate were sufficient to inspire the Parisians with
+lively gratitude and to turn them from political speculations to
+scenes of splendour and gaiety that recalled the days of Louis XIV. If
+we may believe the testimony of Romilly, who visited Paris in 1802,
+the new policy had even then attained its end.
+
+     "The quiet despotism, which leaves everybody who does not wish to
+     meddle with politics (and few at present have any such wish) in the
+     full and secure enjoyment of their property and of their pleasures,
+     is a sort of paradise, compared with the agitation, the perpetual
+     alarms, the scenes of infamy, of bloodshed, which accompanied the
+     pretended liberties of France."
+
+But while acknowledging the material benefits of Bonaparte's rule, the
+same friend of liberty notes with concern:
+
+     "That he [Bonaparte] meditates the gaining fresh laurels in war can
+     hardly be doubted, if the accounts which one hears of his restless
+     and impatient disposition be true."
+
+However much the populace delighted in this new _régime_, the many
+ardent souls who had dared and achieved so much in the sacred quest of
+liberty could not refrain from protesting against the innovations
+which were restoring personal rule. Though the Press was gagged,
+though as many as thirty-two Departments were subjected to the
+scrutiny of special tribunals, which, under the guise of stamping out
+brigandage, frequently punished opponents of the Government, yet the
+voice of criticism was not wholly silenced. The project of the
+Concordat was sharply opposed in the Tribunate, which also ventured to
+declare that the first sections of the Civil Codes were not
+conformable to the principles of 1789 and to the first draft of a code
+presented to the Convention. The Government thereupon refused to send
+to the Tribunate any important measures, but merely flung them a mass
+of petty details to discuss, as "_bones to gnaw_" until the time for
+the renewal by lot of a fifth of its members should come round. During
+a discussion at the Council of State, the First Consul hinted with
+much frankness at the methods which ought to be adopted to quell the
+factious opposition of the Tribunate:
+
+     "One cannot work with an institution so productive of disorder. The
+     constitution has created a legislative power composed of three
+     bodies. None of these branches has any right to organize itself:
+     that must be done by the law. Therefore we must make a body which
+     shall organize the manner of deliberations of these three branches.
+     The Tribunate ought to be divided into five sections. The
+     discussion of laws will take place secretly in each section: one
+     might even introduce a discussion between these sections and those
+     of the Council of State. Only the reporter will speak publicly.
+     Then things will go on reasonably."
+
+Having delivered this opinion, _ex cathedra_, he departed (January
+7th, 1802) for Lyons, there to be invested with supreme authority in
+the reconstituted Cisalpine, or as it was now termed, Italian
+Republic[177]
+
+
+Returning at the close of the month, radiant with the lustre of this
+new dignity, he was able to bend the Tribunate and the _Corps
+Législatif_ to his will. The renewal of their membership by one-fifth
+served as the opportunity for subjecting them to the more pliable
+Senate. This august body of highly-paid members holding office for
+life had the right of nominating the new members; but hitherto the
+retiring members had been singled out by lot. Roederer, acting on a
+hint of the time-serving Second Consul, now proposed in the Council
+of State that the retiring members of those Chambers should
+thenceforth be appointed by the Senate, and not by lot; for the
+principle of the lot, he quaintly urged, was hostile to the right of
+election which belonged to the Senate. Against such conscious
+sophistry all the bolts of logic were harmless. The question was left
+undecided, in order that the Senate might forthwith declare in favour
+of its own right to determine every year not only the elections to,
+but the exclusions from, the Tribunate and the _Corps Législatif_. A
+_senatus consultant_ of March legalized this monstrous innovation,
+which led to the exclusion from the Tribunate of zealous republicans
+like Benjamin Constant, Isnard, Ganilh, Daunou, and Chénier. The
+infusion of the senatorial nominees served to complete the nullity of
+these bodies; and the Tribunate, the lineal descendant of the terrible
+Convention, was gagged and bound within eight years of the stilling of
+Danton's mighty voice.
+
+In days when civic zeal was the strength of the French Republic, the
+mere suggestion of such a violation of liberty would have cost the
+speaker his life. But since the rise of Bonaparte, civic sentiments
+had yielded place to the military spirit and to boundless pride in the
+nation's glory. Whenever republican feelings were outraged, there were
+sufficient distractions to dissipate any of the sombre broodings which
+Bonaparte so heartily disliked; and an event of international
+importance now came to still the voice of political criticism.
+
+The signature of the definitive treaty of peace with Great Britain
+(March 25th, 1802) sufficed to drown the muttered discontent of the
+old republican party under the paeans of a nation's joy. The
+jubilation was natural. While Londoners were grumbling at the
+sacrifices which Addington's timidity had entailed, all France rang
+with praises of the diplomatic skill which could rescue several
+islands from England's grip and yet assure French supremacy on the
+Continent. The event seemed to call for some sign of the nation's
+thankfulness to the restorer of peace and prosperity. The hint having
+been given by the tactful Cambacérès to some of the members of the
+Tribunate, this now docile body expressed a wish that there should be
+a striking token of the national gratitude; and a motion to that
+effect was made by the Senate to the _Corps Législatif_ and to the
+Government itself.
+
+The form which the national memorial should take was left entirely
+vague. Under ordinary circumstances the outcome would have been a
+column or a statue: to a Napoleon it was monarchy.
+
+The Senate was in much doubt as to the fit course of action. The
+majority desired to extend the Consulate for a second term of ten
+years, and a formal motion to that effect was made on May 7th. It was
+opposed by a few, some of whom demanded the prolongation for life. The
+president, Tronchet, prompted by Fouché and other republicans, held
+that only the question of prolonging the Consulate for another term of
+ten years was before the Senate: and the motion was carried by sixty
+votes against one: the dissentient voice was that of the Girondin
+Lanjuinais. The report of this vote disconcerted the First Consul, but
+he replied with some constraint that as the people had invested him
+with the supreme magistrature, he would not feel assured of its
+confidence unless the present proposal were also sanctioned by its
+vote: "You judge that I owe the people another sacrifice: I will give
+it if the people's voice orders what your vote now authorizes." But
+before the mass vote of the people was taken, an important change had
+been made in the proposal itself. It was well known that Bonaparte was
+dissatisfied with the senatorial offer: and at a special session of
+the Council of State, at which Ministers were present, the Second
+Consul urged that they must now decide how, when, and _on what
+question_ the people were to be consulted. The whole question recently
+settled by the Senate was thus reopened in a way that illustrated the
+advantage of multiplying councils and of keeping them under official
+tutelage. The Ministers present asserted that the people disapproved
+of the limitations of time imposed by the Senate; and after some
+discussion Cambacérès procured the decision that the consultation of
+the people should be on the questions whether the First Consul should
+hold his power for life, and whether he should nominate his successor.
+
+To the latter part of this proposal the First Consul offered a
+well-judged refusal. To consult the people on the restoration of
+monarchy would, as yet, have been as inopportune as it was
+superfluous. After gaining complete power, Bonaparte could be well
+assured as to the establishment of an hereditary claim. The former and
+less offensive part of the proposal was therefore submitted to the
+people; and to it there could be only one issue amidst the prosperity
+brought by the peace, and the surveillance exercised by the prefects
+and the grateful clergy now brought back by the Concordat. The
+Consulate for Life was voted by the enormous majority of more than
+3,500,000 affirmative votes against 8,374 negatives. But among these
+dissentients were many honoured names: among military men Carnot,
+Drouot, Mouton, and Bernard opposed the innovation; and Lafayette made
+the public statement that he could not vote for such a magistracy
+unless political liberty were guaranteed. A _senatus consultum_ of
+August 1st forthwith proclaimed Napoleon Bonaparte Consul for Life and
+ordered the erection of a Statue of Peace, holding in one hand the
+victor's laurel and in the other the senatorial decree.
+
+On the following day Napoleon--for henceforth he generally used his
+Christian name like other monarchs--presented to the Council of State
+a project of an organic law, which virtually amounted to a new
+constitution. The mere fact of its presentation at so early a date
+suffices to prove how completely he had prepared for the recent change
+and how thoroughly assured he was of success. This important measure
+was hurried through the Senate, and, without being submitted to the
+Tribunate or _Corps Législatif_, still less to the people, for whose
+sanction he had recently affected so much concern--was declared to be
+the fundamental law of the State.
+
+The fifth constitution of revolutionary France may be thus described.
+It began by altering the methods of election. In place of Sieyès'
+lists of notabilities, Bonaparte proposed a simpler plan. The
+adult citizens of each canton were thenceforth to meet, for
+electoral purposes, in primary assemblies, to name two candidates
+for the office of _juge de paix_ (i.e., magistrate) and town
+councillor, and to choose the members of the "electoral colleges"
+for the _arrondissement_ and for the Department. In the latter case
+only the 600 most wealthy men of the Department were eligible. An
+official or aristocratic tinge was to be imparted to these electoral
+colleges by the infusion of members selected by the First Consul from
+the members of the Legion of Honour. Fixity of opinion was also
+assured by members holding office for life; and, as they were elected
+in the midst of the enthusiasm aroused by the Peace of Amiens, they
+were decidedly Bonapartist.
+
+The electoral colleges had the following powers: they nominated two
+candidates for each place vacant in the merely consultative councils
+of their respective areas, and had the equally barren honour of
+presenting two candidates for the Tribunate--the final act of
+_selection_ being decided by the executive, that is, by the First
+Consul. Corresponding privileges were accorded to the electoral
+colleges of the Department, save that these plutocratic bodies had the
+right of presenting candidates for admission to the Senate. The lists
+of candidates for the _Corps_ _Législatif_ were to be formed by the
+joint action of the electoral colleges, namely, those of the
+Departments and those of the _arrondissements_. But as the resulting
+councils and parliamentary bodies had only the shadow of power, the
+whole apparatus was but an imposing machine for winnowing the air and
+threshing chaff.
+
+The First Consul secured few additional rights or attributes, except
+the exercise of the royal prerogative of granting pardon. But, in
+truth, his own powers were already so large that they were scarcely
+susceptible of extension. The three Consuls held office for life, and
+were _ex officio_ members of the Senate. The second and third Consuls
+were nominated by the Senate on the presentation of the First Consul:
+the Senate might reject two names proposed by him for either office,
+but they must accept his third nominee. The First Consul might deposit
+in the State archives his proposal as to his successor: if the Senate
+rejected this proposal, the second and third Consuls made a
+suggestion; and if it were rejected, one of the two whom they
+thereupon named must be elected by the Senate. The three legislative
+bodies lost practically all their powers, those of the _Corps
+Législatif_ going to the Senate, those of the Council of State to an
+official Cabal formed out of it; while the Tribunate was forced to
+_debate secretly in five sections_, where, as Bonaparte observed,
+_they might jabber as they liked_.
+
+On the other hand, the attributes of the Senate were signally
+enhanced. It was thenceforth charged, not only with the preservation
+of the republican constitution, but with its interpretation in
+disputed points, and its completion wherever it should be found
+wanting. Furthermore, by means of organic _senatus consulta_ it was
+empowered to make constitutions for the French colonies, or to suspend
+trial by jury for five years in any Department, or even to declare it
+outside the limits of the constitution. It now gained the right of
+being consulted in regard to the ratification of treaties, previously
+enjoyed by the _Corps Législatif._ Finally, it could dissolve the
+_Corps Législatif_ and the Tribunate. But this formidable machinery
+was kept under the strict control of the chief engineer: all these
+powers were set in motion on the initiative of the Government; and the
+proposals for its laws, or _senatus consulta,_ were discussed in the
+Cabal of the Council of State named by the First Consul. This
+precaution might have been deemed superfluous by a ruler less careful
+about details than Napoleon; the composition of the Senate was such as
+to assure its pliability; for though it continued to renew its ranks
+by co-optation, yet that privilege was restricted in the following
+way: from the lists of candidates for the Senate sent up by the
+electoral colleges of the Departments, Napoleon selected three for
+each seat vacant; one of those three must be chosen by the Senate.
+Moreover, the First Consul was to be allowed directly to nominate
+forty members in addition to the eighty prescribed by the constitution
+of 1799. Thus, by direct or indirect means, the Senate soon became a
+strict Napoleonic preserve, to which only the most devoted adherents
+could aspire. And yet, such is the vanity of human efforts, it was
+this very body which twelve years later was to vote his
+deposition.[178]
+
+The victory of action over talk, of the executive over the
+legislature, of the one supremely able man over the discordant and
+helpless many, was now complete. The process was startlingly swift;
+yet its chief stages are not difficult to trace. The orators of the
+first two National Assemblies of France, after wrecking the old royal
+authority, were constrained by the pressure of events to intrust the
+supervision of the executive powers to important committees, whose
+functions grew with the intensity of the national danger. Amidst the
+agonies of 1793, when France was menaced by the First Coalition, the
+Committee of Public Safety leaped forth as the ensanguined champion of
+democracy; and, as the crisis, developed in intensity, this terrible
+body and the Committee of General Security virtually governed France.
+
+After the repulse of the invaders and the fall of Robespierre, the
+return to ordinary methods was marked by the institution of the
+Directory, when five men, chosen by the legislature, controlled the
+executive powers and the general policy of the Republic: that
+compromise was forcibly ended by the stroke of Brumaire. Three Consuls
+then seized the reins, and two years later a single charioteer gripped
+the destinies of France. His powers were, in fact, ultimately derived
+from those of the secret committees of the terrorists. But, unlike the
+supremacy of Robespierre, that of Napoleon could not be disputed; for
+the general, while guarding all the material boons which the
+Revolution had conferred, conciliated the interests and classes
+whereon the civilian had so brutally trampled. The new autocracy
+therefore possessed a solid strength which that of the terrorists
+could never possess. Indeed, it was more absolute than the dictatorial
+power that Rousseau had outlined. The philosopher had asserted that,
+while silencing the legislative power, the dictator really made it
+vocal, and that he could do everything but make laws. But Napoleon,
+after 1802, did far more: he suppressed debates and yet drew laws from
+his subservient legislature. Whether, then, we regard its practical
+importance for France and Europe, or limit our view to the mental
+sagacity and indomitable will-power required for its accomplishment,
+the triumph of Napoleon in the three years subsequent to his return
+from Egypt is the most stupendous recorded in the history of civilized
+peoples.
+
+The populace consoled itself for the loss of political liberty by the
+splendour of the fête which heralded the title of First Consul for
+Life, proclaimed on August 15th: that day was also memorable as being
+the First Consul's thirty-third birthday, the festival of the
+Assumption, and the anniversary of the ratification of the Concordat.
+The decorations and fireworks were worthy of so remarkable a
+confluence of solemnities. High on one of the towers of Notre Dame
+glittered an enormous star, and at its centre there shone the sign of
+the Zodiac which had shed its influence over his first hours of life.
+The myriads of spectators who gazed at that natal emblem might well
+have thought that his life's star was now at its zenith. Few could
+have dared to think that it was to mount far higher into unknown
+depths of space, blazing as a baleful portent to kings and peoples;
+still less was there any Cassandra shriek of doom as to its final
+headlong fall into the wastes of ocean. All was joy and jubilation
+over a career that had even now surpassed the records of antique
+heroism, that blended the romance of oriental prowess with the
+beneficent toils of the legislator, and prospered alike in war and
+peace.
+
+And yet black care cast one shadow over that jubilant festival. There
+was a void in the First Consul's life such as saddened but few of the
+millions of peasants who looked up to him as their saviour. His wife
+had borne him no heir: and there seemed no prospect that a child of
+his own would ever succeed to his glorious heritage. Family joys, it
+seemed, were not for him. Suspicions and bickerings were his lot. His
+brothers, in their feverish desire for the establishment of a
+Bonapartist dynasty, ceaselessly urged that he should take means to
+provide himself with a legitimate heir, in the last resort by
+divorcing Josephine. With a consideration for her feelings which does
+him credit, Napoleon refused to countenance such proceedings. Yet it
+is certain that from this time onwards he kept in view the
+desirability, on political grounds, of divorcing her, and made this
+the excuse for indulgence in amours against which Josephine's tears
+and reproaches were all in vain.
+
+The consolidation of personal rule, the institution of the Legion of
+Honour, and the return of very many of the emigrant nobles under the
+terms of the recent amnesty, favoured the growth of luxury in the
+capital and of Court etiquette at the Tuileries and St. Cloud. At
+these palaces the pomp of the _ancien régime_ was laboriously copied.
+General Duroc, stiff republican though he was, received the
+appointment of Governor of the Palace; under him were chamberlains and
+prefects of the palace, who enforced a ceremonial that struggled to be
+monarchical. The gorgeous liveries and sumptuous garments of the reign
+of Louis XV. speedily replaced the military dress which even civilians
+had worn under the warlike Republic. High boots, sabres, and
+regimental headgear gave way to buckled shoes, silk stockings, Court
+rapiers, and light hats, the last generally held under the arm.
+Tricolour cockades were discarded, along with the revolutionary jargon
+which _thou'd_ and _citizen'd_ everyone; and men began to purge their
+speech of some of the obscene terms which had haunted clubs and camps.
+
+It was remarked, however, that the First Consul still clung to the use
+of the term _citizen_, and that amidst the surprising combinations of
+colours that flecked his Court, he generally wore only the uniform of
+a colonel of grenadiers or of the light infantry of the consular
+guard. This conduct resulted partly from his early dislike of luxury,
+but partly, doubtless, from a conviction that republicans will forgive
+much in a man who, like Vespasian, discards the grandeur which his
+prowess has won, and shines by his very plainness. To trifling matters
+such as these Napoleon always attached great importance; for, as he
+said to Admiral Malcolm at St. Helena: "In France trifles are great
+things: reason is nothing."[179] Besides, genius so commanding as his
+little needed the external trappings wherewith ordinary mortals hide
+their nullity. If his attire was simple, it but set off the better the
+play of his mobile features, and the rich, unfailing flow of his
+conversation. Perhaps no clearer and more pleasing account of his
+appearance and his conduct at a reception has ever been given to the
+world than this sketch of the great man in one of his gentler moods by
+John Leslie Foster, who visited Paris shortly after the Peace of
+Amiens:
+
+     "He is about five feet seven inches high, delicately and gracefully
+     made; his hair a dark brown crop, thin and lank; his complexion
+     smooth, pale, and sallow; his eyes gray, but very animated; his
+     eye-brows light brown, thin and projecting. All his features,
+     particularly his mouth and nose, fine, sharp, defined, and
+     expressive beyond description; expressive of what? Not of
+     anything_percé_ as the prints expressed him, still less of anything
+     _méchant_; nor has he anything of that eye whose bend doth awe the
+     world. The true expression of his countenance is a pleasing
+     melancholy, which, whenever he speaks, relaxes into the most
+     agreeable and gracious smile you can conceive. To this you must add
+     the appearance of deep and intense thought, but above all the
+     predominating expression a look of calm and tranquil resolution and
+     intrepidity which nothing human could discompose. His address is
+     the finest I have ever seen, and said by those who have travelled
+     to exceed not only every Prince and Potentate now in being, but
+     even all those whose memory has come down to us. He has more
+     unaffected dignity than I could conceive in man. His address is the
+     gentlest and most prepossessing you can conceive, which is seconded
+     by the greatest fund of levée conversation that I suppose any
+     person ever possessed. He speaks deliberately, but very fluently,
+     with particular emphasis, and in a rather low tone of voice. While
+     he speaks, his features are still more expressive than his
+     words."[180]
+
+In contrast with this intellectual power and becoming simplicity of
+attire, how stupid and tawdry were the bevies of soulless women and
+the dumb groups of half-tamed soldiers! How vapid also the rules of
+etiquette and precedence which starched the men and agitated the minds
+of their consorts! Yet, while soaring above these rules with easy
+grace, the First Consul imposed them rigidly on the crowd of eager
+courtiers. On these burning questions he generally took the advice of
+M. de Rémusat, whose tact and acquaintance with Court customs were now
+of much service; while the sprightly wit of his young wife attracted
+Josephine, as it has all readers of her piquant but rather spiteful
+memoirs. In her pages we catch a glimpse of the life of that singular
+Court; the attempts at aping the inimitable manners of the _ancien
+régime_; the pompous nullity of the second and third Consuls; the
+tawdry magnificence of the costumes; the studied avoidance of any word
+that implied even a modicum of learning or a distant acquaintance with
+politics; the nervous preoccupation about Napoleon's moods and whims;
+the graceful manners of Josephine that rarely failed to charm away his
+humours, except when she herself had been outrageously slighted for
+some passing favourite; above all, the leaden dullness of
+conversation, which drew from Chaptal the confession that life there
+was the life of a galley slave. And if we seek for the hidden reason
+why a ruler eminently endowed with mental force and freshness should
+have endured so laboured a masquerade, we find it in his strikingly
+frank confession to Madame de Rémusat: _It is fortunate that the
+French are to be ruled through their vanity._ <
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+THE PEACE OF AMIENS
+
+
+The previous chapter dealt in the main with the internal affairs of
+France and the completion of Napoleon's power: it touched on foreign
+affairs only so far as to exhibit the close connection between the
+First Consul's diplomatic victory over England and his triumph over
+the republican constitution in his adopted country. But it is time now
+to review the course of the negotiations which led up to the Treaty of
+Amiens.
+
+In order to realize the advantages which France then had over England,
+it will be well briefly to review the condition of our land at that
+time. Our population was far smaller than that of the French Republic.
+France, with her recent acquisitions in Belgium, the Rhineland, Savoy,
+Nice, and Piedmont, numbered nearly 40,000,000 inhabitants: but the
+census returns of Great Britain for 1801 showed only a total of
+10,942,000 souls, while the numbers for Ireland, arguing from the
+rather untrustworthy return of 1813, may be reckoned at about six and
+a half millions. The prodigious growth of the English-speaking people
+had not as yet fully commenced either in the motherland, the United
+States, or in the small and struggling settlements of Canada and
+Australia. Its future expansion was to be assured by industrial and
+social causes, and by the events considered in this and in subsequent
+chapters. It was a small people that had for several months faced with
+undaunted front the gigantic power of Bonaparte and that of the Armed
+Neutrals.
+
+This population of less than 18,000,000 souls, of which nearly
+one-third openly resented the Act of Union recently imposed on
+Ireland, was burdened by a National Debt which amounted to
+£537,000,000, and entailed a yearly charge of more than £20,000,000
+sterling. In the years of war with revolutionary France the annual
+expenditure had risen from £19,859,000 (for 1792) to the total of
+£61,329,000, which necessitated an income tax of 10 per cent. on all
+incomes of £200 and upwards. Yet, despite party feuds, the nation was
+never stronger, and its fleets had never won more brilliant and solid
+triumphs. The chief naval historian of France admits that we had
+captured no fewer than 50 ships of the line, and had lost to our
+enemies only five, thereby raising the strength of our fighting line
+to 189, while that of France had sunk to 47.[181] The prowess of Sir
+Arthur Wellesley was also beginning to revive in India the ancient
+lustre of the British arms; but the events of 1802-3 were to show that
+our industrial enterprise, and the exploits of our sailors and
+soldiers, were by themselves of little avail when matched in a
+diplomatic contest against the vast resources of France and the
+embodied might of a Napoleon.
+
+Men and institutions were everywhere receiving the imprint of his
+will. France was as wax under his genius. The sovereigns of Spain,
+Italy, and Germany obeyed his _fiat_. Even the stubborn Dutch bent
+before him. On the plea of defeating Orange intrigues, he imposed a
+new constitution on the Batavian Republic whose independence he had
+agreed to respect. Its Directory was now replaced by a Regency which
+relieved the deputies of the people of all responsibility. A
+_plébiscite_ showed 52,000 votes against, and 16,000 for, the new
+_régime_; but, as 350,000 had not voted, their silence was taken for
+consent, and Bonaparte's will became law (September, 1801).
+
+We are now in a position to appreciate the position of France and
+Great Britain. Before the signature of the preliminaries of peace at
+London on October 1st, 1801, our Government had given up its claims to
+the Cape, Malta, Tobago, Martinique, Essequibo, Demerara, Berbice, and
+Curaçoa, retaining of its conquests only Trinidad and Ceylon.
+
+A belated attempt had, indeed, been made to retain Tobago. The Premier
+and the Foreign Secretary, Lord Hawkesbury, were led by the French
+political agent in London, M. Otto, to believe that, in the ensuing
+negotiations at Amiens, every facility would be given by the French
+Government towards its retrocession to us, and that this act would be
+regarded as the means of indemnifying Great Britain for the heavy
+expense of supporting many thousands of French and Dutch prisoners.
+The Cabinet, relying on this promise as binding between honourable
+men, thereupon endeavoured to obtain the assent of George III. to the
+preliminaries in their ultimate form, and only the prospect of
+regaining Tobago by this compromise induced the King to give it. When
+it was too late, King and Ministers realized their mistake in relying
+on verbal promises and in failing to procure a written statement.[182]
+
+The abandonment by Ministers of their former claim to Malta is equally
+strange. Nelson, though he held Malta to be useless as a base for the
+British fleet watching Toulon, made the memorable statement: "I
+consider Malta as a most important outwork to India." But a despatch
+from St. Petersburg, stating that the new Czar had concluded a formal
+treaty of alliance with the Order of St. John settled in Russia, may
+have convinced Addington and his colleagues that it would be better to
+forego all claim to Malta in order to cement the newly won friendship
+of Russia. Whatever may have been their motive, British Ministers
+consented to cede the island to the Knights of St. John under the
+protection of some third Power.
+
+The preliminaries of peace were further remarkable for three strange
+omissions. They did not provide for the renewal of previous treaties
+of peace between the late combatants. War is held to break all
+previous treaties; and by failing to require the renewal of the
+treaties of 1713, 1763, and 1783, it was now open to Spain and France
+to cement, albeit in a new form, that Family Compact which it had long
+been the aim of British diplomacy to dissolve: the failure to renew
+those earlier treaties rendered it possible for the Court of Madrid to
+alienate any of its colonies to France, as at that very time was being
+arranged with respect to Louisiana.
+
+The second omission was equally remarkable. No mention was made of any
+renewal of commercial intercourse between England and France.
+Doubtless a complete settlement of this question would have been
+difficult. British merchants would have looked for a renewal of that
+enlightened treaty of commerce of 1786-7, which had aroused the bitter
+opposition of French manufacturers. But the question might have been
+broached at London, and its omission from the preliminaries served as
+a reason for shelving it in the definitive treaty--a piece of folly
+which at once provoked the severest censure from British
+manufacturers, who thereby lost the markets of France, and her subject
+States, Holland, Spain, Switzerland, Genoa, and Etruria.
+
+And, finally, the terms of peace provided no compensation either for
+the French royal House or for the dispossessed House of Orange. Here
+again, it would have been very difficult to find a recompense such as
+the Bourbons could with dignity have accepted; and the suggestion made
+by one of the royalist exiles to Lord Hawkesbury, that Great Britain
+should seize Crete and hand it over to them, will show how desperate
+was their case.[183] Nevertheless, some effort should have been made
+by a Government which had so often proclaimed its championship of the
+legitimist cause. Still more glaring was the omission of any
+stipulation for an indemnity for the House of Orange, now exiled from
+the Batavian Republic. That claim, though urged at the outset, found
+no place in the preliminaries; and the mingled surprise and contempt
+felt in the _salons_ of Paris at the conduct of the British Government
+is shown in a semiofficial report sent thence by one of its secret
+agents:
+
+     "I cannot get it into my head that the British Ministry has acted
+     in good faith in subscribing to preliminaries of peace, which,
+     considering the respective position of the parties, would be
+     harmful to the English people.... People are persuaded in France
+     that the moderation of England is only a snare put in Bonaparte's
+     way, and it is mainly in order to dispel it that our journals have
+     received the order to make much of the advantages which must accrue
+     to England from the conquests retained by her; but the journalists
+     have convinced nobody, and it is said openly that if our European
+     conquests are consolidated by a general peace, France will, within
+     ten years, subjugate all Europe, Great Britain included, despite
+     all her vast dominions in India. Only within the last few days have
+     people here believed in the sincerity of the English preliminaries
+     of peace, and they say everywhere that, after having gloriously
+     sailed past the rocks that Bonaparte's cunning had placed in its
+     track, the British Ministry has completely foundered at the mouth
+     of the harbour. People blame the whole structure of the peace as
+     betraying marks of feebleness in all that concerns the dignity and
+     the interests of the King; ... and we cannot excuse its neglect of
+     the royalists, whose interests are entirely set aside in the
+     preliminaries. Men are especially astonished at England's
+     retrocession of Martinique without a single stipulation for the
+     colonists there, who are at the mercy of a government as rapacious
+     as it is fickle. All the owners of colonial property are very
+     uneasy, and do not hide their annoyance against England on this
+     score."[184]
+
+This interesting report gives a glimpse into the real thought of Paris
+such as is rarely afforded by the tamed or venal Press. As Bonaparte's
+spies enabled him to feel every throb of the French pulse, he must at
+once have seen how great was the prestige which he gained by these
+first diplomatic successes, and how precarious was the foothold of the
+English Ministers on the slippery grade of concession to which they
+had been lured. Addington surely should have remembered that only the
+strong man can with safety recede at the outset, and that an act of
+concession which, coming from a master mind, is interpreted as one of
+noble magnanimity, will be scornfully snatched from a nerveless hand
+as a sign of timorous complaisance. But the public statements and the
+secret avowals of our leaders show that they wished "to try the
+experiment of peace," now that France had returned to ordinary
+political conditions and Jacobinism was curbed by Bonaparte.
+"Perhaps," wrote Castlereagh, "France, satisfied with her recent
+acquisitions, will find her interest in that system of internal
+improvement which is necessarily connected with peace."[185] There is
+no reason for doubting the sincerity of this statement. Our policy was
+distinctly and continuously complaisant: France regained her colonies:
+she was not required to withdraw from Switzerland and Holland. Who
+could expect, from what was then known of Bonaparte's character, that
+a peace so fraught with glory and profit would not satisfy French
+honour and his own ambition?
+
+Peace, then, was an "experiment." The British Government wished to see
+whether France would turn from revolution and war to agriculture and
+commerce, whether her young ruler be satisfied with a position of
+grandeur and solid power such as Louis XIV. had rarely enjoyed. Alas!
+the failure of the experiment was patent to all save the blandest
+optimists long before the Preliminaries of London took form in the
+definitive Treaty of Amiens. Bonaparte's aim now was to keep our
+Government strictly to the provisional terms of peace which it had
+imprudently signed. Even before the negotiations were opened at
+Amiens, he ordered Joseph Bonaparte to listen to no proposal
+concerning the King of Sardinia and the ex-Stadholder of Holland,
+and asserted that the "internal affairs of the Batavian Republic, of
+Germany, of Helvetia, and of the Italian Republics" were "absolutely
+alien to the discussions with England." This implied that England was
+to be shut out from Continental politics, and that France was to
+regulate the affairs of central and southern Europe. This observance
+of the letter was, however, less rigid where French colonial and
+maritime interests were at stake. Dextrous feelers were put forth
+seawards, and it was only when these were repulsed that the French
+negotiators encased themselves in their preliminaries.
+
+The task of reducing those articles to a definitive treaty devolved,
+on the British side, on the Marquis Cornwallis, a gouty, world-weary
+old soldier, chiefly remembered for the surrender which ended the
+American War. Nevertheless, he had everywhere won respect for his
+personal probity in the administration of Indian affairs, and there
+must also have been some convincing qualities in a personality which
+drew from Napoleon at St. Helena the remark: "I do not believe that
+Cornwallis was a man of first-rate abilities: but he had talent, great
+probity, sincerity, and never broke his word.... He was a man of
+honour--a true Englishman."
+
+Against Lord Cornwallis, and his far abler secretary, Mr. Merry, were
+pitted Joseph Bonaparte and his secretaries. The abilities of the
+eldest of the Bonapartes have been much underrated. Though he lacked
+the masterful force and wide powers of his second brother, yet at
+Lunéville Joseph proved himself to be an able diplomatist, and later
+on in his tenure of power at Naples and Madrid he displayed no small
+administrative gifts. Moreover, his tact and kindliness kindled in all
+who knew him a warmth of friendship such as Napoleon's sterner
+qualities rarely inspired. The one was loved as a man: for the other,
+even his earlier acquaintances felt admiration and devotion, but
+always mingled with a certain fear of the demi-god that would at times
+blaze forth. This was the dread personality that urged Talleyrand and
+Joseph Bonaparte to their utmost endeavours and steeled them against
+any untoward complaisance at Amiens.
+
+The selection of so honourable a man as Cornwallis afforded no slight
+guarantee for the sincerity of our Government, and its sincerity will
+stand the test of a perusal of its despatches. Having examined all
+those that deal with these negotiations, the present writer can affirm
+that the official instructions were in no respect modified by the
+secret injunctions: these referred merely to such delicate and
+personal topics as the evacuation of Hanover by Prussian troops and
+the indemnities to be sought for the House of Orange and the House of
+Savoy. The circumstances of these two dispossessed dynasties were
+explained so as to show that the former Dutch Stadholder had a very
+strong claim on us, as well as on France and the Batavian Republic;
+while the championship of the House of Savoy by the Czar rendered the
+claims of that ancient family on the intervention of George III. less
+direct and personal than those of the Prince of Orange. Indeed,
+England would have insisted on the insertion of a clause to this
+effect in the preliminaries had not other arrangements been on foot at
+Berlin which promised to yield due compensation to this unfortunate
+prince. Doubtless the motives of the British Ministers were good, but
+their failure to insert such a clause fatally prejudiced their case
+all through the negotiations at Amiens.
+
+The British official declaration respecting Malta was clear and
+practical. The island was to be restored to the Knights of the Order
+of St. John and placed under the protection of a third Power other
+than France and England. But the reconstitution of the Order was no
+less difficult than the choice of a strong and disinterested
+protecting Power. Lord Hawkesbury proposed that Russia be the
+guaranteeing Power. No proposal could have been more reasonable. The
+claims of the Czar to the protectorate of the Order had been so
+recently asserted by a treaty with the knights that no other
+conclusion seemed feasible. And, in order to assuage the grievances of
+the islanders and strengthen the rule of the knights, the British
+Ministry desired that the natives of Malta should gain a foothold in
+the new constitution. The lack of civil and political rights had
+contributed so materially to the overthrow of the Order that no
+reconstruction of that shattered body could be deemed intelligent, or
+even honest, which did not cement its interests with those of the
+native Maltese. The First Consul, however, at once demurred to both
+these proposals. In the course of a long interview with Cornwallis at
+Paris,[186] he adverted to the danger of bringing Russia's maritime
+pressure to bear on Mediterranean questions, especially as her
+sovereigns "had of late shown themselves to be such unsteady
+politicians." This of course referred to the English proclivities of
+Alexander I., and it is clear that Bonaparte's annoyance with
+Alexander was the first unsettling influence which prevented the
+solution of the Maltese question. The First Consul also admitted to
+Cornwallis that the King of Naples, despite his ancient claims of
+suzerainty over Malta, could not be considered a satisfactory
+guarantor, as between two Great Powers; and he then proposed that the
+tangle should be cut by blowing up the fortifications of Valetta.
+
+The mere suggestion of such an act affords eloquent proof of the
+difficulties besetting the whole question. To destroy works of vast
+extent, which were the bulwark of Christendom against the Barbary
+pirates, would practically have involved the handing over of Valetta
+to those pests of the Mediterranean; and from Malta as a new base of
+operations they could have spread devastation along the coasts of
+Sicily and Italy. This was the objection which Cornwallis at once
+offered to an other-wise specious proposal: he had recently received
+papers from Major-General Pigot at Malta, in which the same solution
+of the question was examined in detail. The British officer pointed
+out that the complete dismantling of the fortifications would expose
+the island, and therefore the coasts of Italy, to the rovers; yet he
+suggested a partial demolition, which seems to prove that the British
+officers in command at Malta did not contemplate the retention of the
+island and the infraction of the peace.
+
+Our Government, however, disapproved of the destruction of the
+fortifications of Valetta as wounding the susceptibilities of the
+Czar, and as in no wise rendering impossible the seizure of the island
+and the reconstruction of those works by some future invader. In fact,
+as the British Ministry now aimed above all at maintaining good
+relations with the Czar, Bonaparte's proposal could only be regarded
+as an ingenious device for sundering the Anglo-Russian understanding.
+The French Minister at St. Petersburg was doing his utmost to prevent
+the _rapprochement_ of the Czar to the Court of St James, and was
+striving to revive the moribund league of the Armed Neutrals. That
+last offer had "been rejected in the most peremptory manner and in
+terms almost bordering upon derision." Still there was reason to
+believe that the former Anglo-Russian disputes about Malta might be so
+far renewed as to bring Bonaparte and Alexander to an understanding.
+The sentimental Liberalism of the young Czar predisposed him towards a
+French alliance, and his whole disposition inclined him towards the
+brilliant opportunism of Paris rather than the frigid legitimacy of
+the Court of St. James. The Maltese affair and the possibility of
+reopening the Eastern Question were the two sources of hope to the
+promoters of a Franco-Russian alliance; for both these questions
+appealed to the chivalrous love of adventure and to the calculating
+ambition so curiously blent in Alexander's nature. Such, then, was the
+motive which doubtless prompted Bonaparte's proposal concerning
+Valetta; such also were the reasons which certainly dictated its
+rejection by Great Britain.
+
+In his interview with the First Consul at Paris, and in the subsequent
+negotiations at Amiens with Joseph Bonaparte, the question of Tobago
+and England's money claim for the support of French prisoners was
+found to be no less thorny than that of Malta. The Bonapartes firmly
+rejected the proposal for the retention of Tobago by England in lieu
+of her pecuniary demand. A Government which neglected to procure the
+insertion of its claim to Tobago among the Preliminaries of London
+could certainly not hope to regain that island in exchange for a
+concession to France that was in any degree disputable. But the two
+Bonapartes and Talleyrand now took their stand solely on the
+preliminaries, and politely waved on one side the earlier promises of
+M. Otto as unauthorized and invalid, They also closely scrutinized the
+British claim to an indemnity for the support of French prisoners.
+Though theoretically correct, it was open to an objection, which was
+urged by Bonaparte and Talleyrand with suave yet incisive irony.
+They suggested that the claim must be considered in relation to a
+counter-claim, soon to be sent from Paris, for the maintenance of all
+prisoners taken by the French from the various forces subsidized by
+Great Britain, a charge which "would probably not leave a balance so
+much in favour of His [Britannic] Majesty as His Government may have
+looked forward to." This retort was not so terrible as it appeared;
+for most of the papers necessary for the making up of the French
+counterclaim had been lost or destroyed during the Revolution. Yet the
+threat told with full effect on Cornwallis, who thereafter referred to
+the British claim as a "hopeless debt."[187] The officials of Downing
+Street drew a distinction between prisoners from armies merely
+subsidized by us and those taken from foreign forces actually under
+our control; but it is clear that Cornwallis ceased to press the
+claim. In fact, the British case was mismanaged from beginning to end:
+the accounts for the maintenance of French and Dutch prisoners were,
+in the first instance, wrongly drawn up; and there seems to have been
+little or no notion of the seriousness of the counter-claim, which
+came with all the effect of a volley from a masked battery,
+destructive alike to our diplomatic reputation and to our hope of
+retaining Tobago.
+
+It is impossible to refer here to all the topics discussed at Amiens.
+The determination of the French Government to adopt a forward colonial
+and oceanic policy is clearly seen in its proposals made at the close
+of the year 1801. They were: (1) the abolition of salutes to the
+British flag on the high seas; (2) an _absolute_ ownership of the
+eastern and western coasts of Newfoundland in return for a proposed
+cession of the isles of St. Pierre and Miquelon to us--which would
+have practically ceded to France _in full sovereignty_ all the best
+fishing coasts of that land, with every prospect of settling the
+interior, in exchange for two islets devastated by war and then in
+British hands; (3) the right of the French to a share in the whale
+fishery in those seas; (4) the establishment of a French fishing
+station in the Falkland Isles; and (5) the extension of the French
+districts around the towns of Yanaon and Mahé in India.[188] To all
+these demands Lord Cornwallis opposed an unbending opposition. Weak as
+our policy had been on other affairs, it was firm as a rock on all
+maritime and Indian questions. In fact, the events to be described in
+the next chapter, which led to the consolidation of British power in
+Hindostan, would in all probability never have occurred but for the
+apprehensions excited by these French demands; and our masterful
+proconsul in Bengal, the Marquis Wellesley, could not have pursued his
+daring and expensive schemes of conquest, annexation, and forced
+alliances, had not the schemes of the First Consul played into the
+hands of the soldiers at Calcutta and weakened the protests of the
+dividend-hunters of Leadenhall Street.
+
+The persistence of French demands for an increase of influence in
+Newfoundland and the West and East Indies, the vastness of her
+expedition to Saint Domingo and the thinly-veiled designs of her
+Australian expedition (which we shall notice in the next chapter), all
+served to awaken the suspicions of the British Government. The
+negotiations consequently progressed but slowly. From the outset they
+were clogged by the suspicion of bad faith. Spain and Holland, smarting
+under the conditions of a peace which gave to France all the glory and
+to her allies all the loss, delayed sending their respective envoys to
+the conferences at Amiens, and finally avowed their determination to
+resist the surrender of Trinidad and Ceylon. In fact, pressure had to
+be exerted from Paris and London before they yielded to the inevitable.
+This difficulty was only one of several: there then remained the
+questions whether Portugal and Turkey should be admitted to share in the
+treaty, as England demanded; or whether they should sign a separate
+peace with France. The First Consul strenuously insisted on the
+exclusion of those States, though their interests were vitally affected
+by the present negotiations, He saw that a separate treaty with the
+Sublime Porte would enable him, not only to extract valuable trading
+concessions in the Black Sea trade, but also to cement a good
+understanding with Russia on the Eastern Question, which was now being
+adroitly reopened by French diplomacy. Against the exclusion of Turkey
+from the negotiations at Amiens, Great Britain firmly but vainly
+protested. In fact, Talleyrand had bound the Porte to a separate
+agreement which promised everything for France and nothing for Turkey,
+and seemed to doom the Sublime Porte to certain humiliation and probable
+partition.[189]
+
+Then there were the vexed questions of the indemnities claimed by
+George III. for the Houses of Orange and of Savoy. In his interview
+with Cornwallis, Bonaparte had effusively promised to do his utmost
+for the ex-Stadholder, though he refused to consider the case of the
+King of Sardinia, who, he averred, had offended him by appealing to
+the Czar. The territorial interests of France in Italy doubtless
+offered a more potent argument to the First Consul: after practically
+annexing Piedmont and dominating the peninsula, he could ill brook
+the presence on the mainland of a king whom he had already sacrificed
+to his astute and masterful policy. The case of the Prince of Orange
+was different. He was a victim to the triumph of French and democratic
+influence in the Dutch Netherlands. George III. felt a deep interest
+in this unfortunate prince and made a strong appeal to the better
+instincts of Bonaparte on his behalf. Indeed, it is probable that
+England had acquiesced in the consolidation of French influence at the
+Hague, in the hope that her complaisance would lead the First Consul
+to assure him some position worthy of so ancient a House. But though
+Cornwallis pressed the Batavian Republic on behalf of its exiled
+chief, yet the question was finally adjourned by the XVIIIth clause of
+the definitive Treaty of Amiens; and the scion of that famous House
+had to take his share in the forthcoming scramble for the clerical
+domains of Germany.[190]
+
+For the still more difficult cause of the House of Savoy the British
+Government made honest but unavailing efforts, firmly refusing to
+recognize the newest creations of Bonaparte in Italy, namely, the
+Kingdom of Etruria and the Ligurian Republic, until he indemnified the
+House of Savoy. Our recognition was withheld for the reasons that
+prompt every bargainer to refuse satisfaction to his antagonist until
+an equal concession is accorded. This game was played by both Powers
+at Amiens, and with little other result than mutual exasperation. Yet
+here, too, the balance of gain naturally accrued to Bonaparte; for he
+required the British Ministry to recognize existing facts in Etruria
+and Liguria, while Cornwallis had to champion the cause of exiles and
+of an order that seemed for ever to have vanished. To pit the
+non-existent against the actual was a task far above the powers of
+British statesmanship; yet that was to be its task for the next
+decade, while the forces of the living present were to be wielded by
+its mighty antagonist. Herein lay the secret of British failures and
+of Napoleon's extraordinary triumphs.
+
+Leaving, for a space, the negotiations at Amiens, we turn to consider
+the events which transpired at Lyons in the early weeks of 1802,
+events which influenced not only the future of Italy, but the fortunes
+of Bonaparte.
+
+It will be remembered that, after the French victories of Marengo and
+Hohenlinden, Austria agreed to terms of peace whereby the Cisalpine,
+Ligurian, Helvetic, and Batavian Republics were formally recognized by
+her, though a clause expressly stipulated that they were to be
+independent of France. A vain hope! They continued to be under French
+tutelage, and their strongholds in the possession of French troops.
+
+It now remained to legalize French supremacy in the Cisalpine
+Republic, which comprised the land between the Ticino and the Adige,
+and the Alps and the Rubicon. The new State received a provisional
+form of government after Marengo, a small council being appointed to
+supervise civil affairs at the capital, Milan. With it and with
+Marescalchi, the Cisalpine envoy at Paris, Bonaparte had concerted a
+constitution, or rather he had used these men as a convenient screen
+to hide its purely personal origin. Having, for form's sake, consulted
+the men whom he had himself appointed, he now suggested that the chief
+citizens of that republic should confer with him respecting their new
+institutions. His Minister at Milan thereupon proposed that they
+should cross the Alps for that purpose, assembling, not at Paris,
+where their dependence on the First Consul's will might provoke too
+much comment, but at Lyons. To that city, accordingly, there repaired
+some 450 of the chief men of Northern Italy, who braved the snows of a
+most rigorous December, in the hope of consolidating the liberties of
+their long-distracted country. And thus was seen the strange spectacle
+of the organization of Lombardy, Modena, and the Legations being
+effected in one provincial centre of France, while at another of her
+cities the peace of Europe and the fortunes of two colonial empires
+were likewise at stake. Such a conjunction of events might well
+impress the imagination of men, bending the stubborn will of the
+northern islanders, and moulding the Italian notables to complete
+complaisance. And yet, such power was there in the nascent idea of
+Italian nationality, that Bonaparte's proposals, which, in his
+absence, were skilfully set forth by Talleyrand, met with more than
+one rebuff from the Consulta at Lyons.
+
+Bitterly it opposed the declaration that the Roman Catholic religion
+was the religion of the Cisalpine Republic and must be maintained by a
+State budget. Only the first part of this proposal could be carried:
+so keen was the opposition to the second part that, as a preferable
+plan, property was set apart for the support of the clergy; and
+clerical discipline was subjected to the State, on terms somewhat
+similar to those of the French Concordat.[191]
+
+Secular affairs gave less trouble. The apparent success of the French
+constitution furnished a strong motive for adopting one of a similar
+character for the Italian State; and as the proposed institutions had
+been approved at Milan, their acceptance by a large and miscellaneous
+body was a foregone conclusion. Talleyrand also took the most
+unscrupulous care that the affair of the Presidency should be
+judiciously settled. On December 31st, 1801, he writes to Bonaparte
+from Lyons:
+
+     "The opinion of the Cisalpines seems not at all decided as to the
+     choice to be made: they will gladly receive the man whom you
+     nominate: a President in France and a Vice-President at Milan would
+     suit a large number of them."
+
+Four days later he confidently assures the First Consul:
+
+     "They will do what you want without your needing even to show your
+     desire. What they think you desire will immediately become
+     law."[192]
+
+The ground having been thus thoroughly worked, Bonaparte and
+Josephine, accompanied by a brilliant suite, arrived at Lyons on
+January 11th, and met with an enthusiastic reception. Despite the
+intense cold, followed by a sudden thaw, a brilliant series of fêtes,
+parades, and receptions took place; and several battalions of the
+French Army of Egypt, which had recently been conveyed home on English
+ships, now passed in review before their chief. The impressionable
+Italians could not mistake the aim of these demonstrations; and, after
+general matters had been arranged by the notables, the final measures
+were relegated to a committee of thirty. The desirability of this step
+was obvious, for urgent protests had already been raised in the
+Consulta against the appointment of a foreigner as President of the
+new State. When a hubbub arose on this burning topic:
+
+     "Some officers of the regiments in garrison at Lyons appeared in
+     the hall and imposed silence upon all parties. Notwithstanding
+     this, Count Melzi was actually chosen President by the majority of
+     the Committee of Thirty; but he declined the honour, and suggested
+     in significant terms that, to enable him to render any service to
+     the country, the committee had better fix upon General Bonaparte as
+     their Chief Magistrate. This being done, Bonaparte immediately
+     appointed Count Melzi Vice-President."[193]
+
+Bonaparte's determination to fill this important position is clearly
+seen in his correspondence. On the 2nd and 4th of Pluviôse (January
+22nd and 24th), he writes from Lyons:
+
+     "All the principal affairs of the Consulta are settled. I count on
+     being back at Paris in the course of the decade."
+
+     "To-morrow I shall review the troops from Egypt. On the 6th [of
+     Pluviôse] all the business of the Consulta will be finished, and I
+     shall probably set out on my journey on the 7th."
+
+The next day, 5th Pluviôse, sees the accomplishment of his desires:
+
+     "To-day I have reviewed the troops on the Place Bellecour; the sun
+     shone as it does in Floréal. The Consulta has named a committee of
+     thirty individuals, which has reported to it that, considering the
+     domestic and foreign affairs of the Cisalpine, it was indispensable
+     to let me discharge the first magistracy, until circumstances
+     permit and I judge it suitable to appoint a successor."
+
+These extracts prove that the acts of the Consulta could be planned
+beforehand no less precisely than the movements of the soldiery, and
+that even so complex a matter as the voting of a constitution and the
+choice of its chief had to fall in with the arrangements of this
+methodizing genius. Certainly civilization had progressed since the
+weary years when the French people groped through mists and waded in
+blood in order to gain a perfect polity: that precious boon was now
+conferred on a neighbouring people in so sure a way that the plans of
+their benefactor could be infallibly fixed and his return to Paris
+calculated to the hour.
+
+The final address uttered by Bonaparte to the Italian notables is
+remarkable for the short, sharp sentences, which recall the tones of
+the parade ground. Passing recent events in rapid review, he said,
+speaking in his mother tongue:
+
+     "...Every effort had been made to dismember you: the protection of
+     France won the day: you have been recognized at Lunéville.
+     One-fifth larger than before, you are now more powerful, more
+     consolidated, and have wider hopes. Composed of six different
+     nations, you will be now united under a constitution the best
+     possible for your social and material condition. ... The selections
+     I have made for your chief offices have been made independently of
+     all idea of party or feeling of locality. As for that of President,
+     I have found no one among you with sufficient claims on public
+     opinion, sufficiently free from local feelings, and who had
+     rendered great enough services to his country, to intrust it to
+     him.... Your people has only local feelings: it must now rise to
+     national feelings."
+
+In accordance with this last grand and prophetic remark, the name
+Italian was substituted for that of Cisalpine: and thus, for the first
+time since the Middle Ages, there reappeared on the map of Europe that
+name, which was to evoke the sneers of diplomatists and the most
+exalted patriotism of the century. If Bonaparte had done naught else,
+he would deserve immortal glory for training the divided peoples of
+the peninsula for a life of united activity.
+
+The new constitution was modelled on that of France; but the pretence
+of a democratic suffrage was abandoned. The right of voting was
+accorded to three classes, the great proprietors, the clerics and
+learned men, and the merchants. These, meeting in their several
+"Electoral Colleges," voted for the members of the legislative bodies;
+a Tribunal was also charged with the maintenance of the constitution.
+By these means Bonaparte endeavoured to fetter the power of the
+reactionaries no less than the anti-clerical fervour of the Italian
+Jacobins. The blending of the new and the old which then began shows
+the hand of the master builder, who neither sweeps away materials
+merely because they are old, nor rejects the strength that comes from
+improved methods of construction: and, however much we may question
+the disinterestedness of his motives in this great enterprise, there
+can be but one opinion as to the skill of the methods and the
+beneficence of the results in Italy.[194]
+
+
+
+The first step in the process of Italian unification had now been
+taken at Lyons. A second soon followed. The affairs of the Ligurian
+Republic were in some confusion; and an address came from Genoa
+begging that their differences might be composed by the First Consul.
+The spontaneity of this offer may well be questioned, seeing that
+Bonaparte found it desirable, in his letter of February 18th, 1802, to
+assure the Ligurian authorities that they need feel no disquietude as
+to the independence of their republic. Bonaparte undertook to alter
+their constitution and nominate their Doge.
+
+That the news of the events at Lyons excited the liveliest indignation
+in London is evident from Hawkesbury's despatch of February 12th,
+1802, to Cornwallis:
+
+     "The proceedings at Lyons have created the greatest alarm in this
+     country, and there are many persons who were pacifically disposed,
+     who since this event are desirous of renewing the war. It is
+     impossible to be surprised at this feeling when we consider the
+     inordinate ambition, the gross breach of faith, and the inclination
+     to insult Europe manifested by the First Consul on this occasion.
+     The Government here are desirous of avoiding to take notice of
+     these proceedings, and are sincerely desirous to conclude the
+     peace, if it can be obtained on terms consistent with our honour."
+
+Why the Government should have lagged behind the far surer instincts
+of English public opinion it is difficult to say. Hawkesbury's
+despatch of four days later supplies an excuse for his contemptible
+device of pretending not to see this glaring violation of the Treaty
+of Lunéville. Referring to the events at Lyons, he writes:
+
+     "Extravagant and unjustifiable as they are in themselves, [they]
+     must have led us to believe that the First Consul would have been
+     more anxious than ever to have closed his account with this
+     country."
+
+Doubtless that was the case, but only on condition that England
+remained passive while French domination was extended over all
+neighbouring lands. If our Ministers believed that Bonaparte feared
+the displeasure of Austria, they were completely in error. Thanks to
+the utter weakness of the European system, and the rivalry of Austria
+and Prussia, he was now able to concentrate his ever-increasing power
+and prestige on the negotiations at Amiens, which once more claim our
+attention.
+
+Far from being sated by the prestige gained at Lyons, he seemed to
+grow more exacting with victory. Moreover, he had been cut to the
+quick by some foolish articles of a French _émigré_ named Peltier, in
+a paper published at London: instead of treating them with the
+contempt they deserved, he magnified these ravings of a disappointed
+exile into an event of high policy, and fulminated against the
+Government which allowed them. In vain did Cornwallis object that the
+Addington Cabinet could not venture on the unpopular act of curbing
+freedom of the Press in Great Britain. The First Consul, who had
+experienced no such difficulty in France, persisted now, as a year
+later, in considering every uncomplimentary reference to himself as an
+indirect and semiofficial attack.
+
+To these causes we may attribute the French demands of February 4th:
+contradicting his earlier proposal for a temporary Neapolitan garrison
+of Malta, Bonaparte now absolutely refused either to grant that
+necessary protection to the weak Order of St. John, or to join Great
+Britain in an equal share of the expenses--£20,000 a year--which such
+a garrison would entail. The astonishment and indignation aroused at
+Downing Street nearly led to an immediate rupture of the negotiations;
+and it needed all the patience of Cornwallis and the suavity of Joseph
+Bonaparte to smooth away the asperities caused by Napoleon's direct
+intervention. It needs only a slight acquaintance with the First
+Consul's methods of thought and expression to recognize in the
+Protocol of February 4th the incisive speech of an autocrat confident
+in his newly-consolidated powers and irritated by the gibes of
+Peltier.[195]
+
+The good sense of the two plenipotentiaries at Amiens before long
+effected a reconciliation. Hawkesbury, writing from Downing Street,
+warned Cornwallis that if a rupture were to take place it must not be
+owing to "any impatience on our part": and he, in his turn, affably
+inquired from Joseph Bonaparte whether he had any more practicable
+plan than that of a Neapolitan garrison, which he had himself
+proposed. No plan was forthcoming other than that of a garrison of
+1,000 Swiss mercenaries; and as this was open to grave objections, the
+original proposal was finally restored. On its side, the Court of St.
+James still refused to blow up the fortifications at Valetta; and
+rather than destroy those works, England had already offered that the
+independence of Malta should be guaranteed by the Great Powers--Great
+Britain, France, Austria, Russia, Spain, and Prussia: to this
+arrangement France soon assented. Later on we demanded that the
+Neapolitan garrison should remain in Malta for three years after the
+evacuation of the island by the British troops; whereas France desired
+to limit the period to one year. To this Cornwallis finally assented,
+with the proviso that, "if the Order of St. John shall not have raised
+a sufficient number of men, the Neapolitan troops shall remain until
+they shall be relieved by an adequate force, to be agreed upon by the
+guaranteeing Powers." The question of the garrison having been
+arranged, other details gave less trouble, and the Maltese question
+was settled in the thirteen conditions added to Clause X. of the
+definitive treaty.
+
+Though this complex question was thus adjusted by March 17th, other
+matters delayed a settlement.
+
+
+
+Hawkesbury still demanded a definite indemnity for the Prince of
+Orange, but Cornwallis finally assented to Article XVIII. of the
+treaty, which vaguely promised "an adequate compensation." Cornwallis
+also persuaded his chief to waive his claims for the direct
+participation of Turkey in the treaty. The British demand for an
+indemnity for the expense of supporting French prisoners was to be
+relegated to commissioners--who never met. Indeed, this was the only
+polite way of escaping from the untenable position which our
+Government had heedlessly taken upon this topic.
+
+It is clear from the concluding despatches of Cornwallis that he was
+wheedled by Joseph Bonaparte into conceding more than the British
+Government had empowered him to do; and, though the "secret and most
+confidential" despatch of March 22nd cautioned him against narrowing
+too much the ground of a rupture, if a rupture should still occur, yet
+three days later, and _after the receipt of this despatch_, he signed
+the terms of peace with Joseph Bonaparte, and two days later with the
+other signatory Powers.[196] It may well be doubted whether peace
+would ever have been signed but for the skill of Joseph Bonaparte in
+polite cajolery and the determination of Cornwallis to arrive at an
+understanding. In any case the final act of signature was distinctly
+the act, not of the British Government, but of its plenipotentiary.
+
+
+That fact is confirmed by his admission, on March 28th, that he had
+yielded where he was ordered to remain inflexible. At St. Helena,
+Napoleon also averred that after Cornwallis had definitely pledged
+himself to sign the treaty as it stood on the night of March 24th, he
+received instructions in a contrary sense from Downing Street; that
+nevertheless he held himself bound by his promise and signed the
+treaty on the following day, observing that his Government, if
+dissatisfied, might refuse to ratify it, but that, having pledged his
+word, he felt bound to abide by it. This story seems consonant with
+the whole behaviour of Cornwallis, so creditable to him as a man, so
+damaging to him as a diplomatist. The later events of the negotiation
+aroused much annoyance at Downing Street, and the conduct of
+Cornwallis met with chilling disapproval.
+
+The First Consul, on the other hand, showed his appreciation of his
+brother's skill with unusual warmth; for when they appeared together
+at the opera in Paris, he affectionately thrust his elder brother to
+the front of the State box to receive the plaudits of the audience at
+the advent of a definite peace. That was surely the purest and noblest
+joy which the brothers ever tasted.
+
+With what feelings of pride, not unmixed with awe, must the brothers
+have surveyed their career. Less than nine years had elapsed since
+their family fled from Corsica, and landed on the coast of Provence,
+apparently as bankrupt in their political hopes as in their material
+fortunes. Thrice did the fickle goddess cast Napoleon to the ground in
+the first two years of his new life, only that his wondrous gifts and
+sublime self-confidence might tower aloft the more conspicuously,
+bewildering alike the malcontents of Paris, the generals of the old
+Empire, the peoples of the Levant, and the statesmen of Britain. Of
+all these triumphs assuredly the last was not the least. The Peace of
+Amiens left France the arbitress of Europe, and, by restoring to her
+all her lost colonies, it promised to place her in the van of the
+oceanic and colonizing peoples.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+A FRENCH COLONIAL EMPIRE
+
+ST. DOMINGO--LOUISIANA--INDIA--AUSTRALIA
+
+     "Il n'y a rien dans l'histoire du monde de comparable aux forces
+     navales de l'Angleterre, à l'étendue et à la richesse de son
+     commerce, à la masse de ses dettes, de ses défenses, de ses moyens,
+     et à la fragilité des bases sur lesquelles repose l'édifice immense
+     de sa fortune."--BARON MALOUET, _Considérations historiques sur
+     l'Empire de la Mer_.
+
+
+There are abundant reasons for thinking that Napoleon valued the Peace
+of Amiens as a necessary preliminary to the restoration of the French
+Colonial Empire. A comparison of the dates at which he set on foot his
+oceanic schemes will show that they nearly all had their inception in
+the closing months of 1801 and in the course of the following year.
+The sole important exceptions were the politico-scientific expedition
+to Australia, the ostensible purpose of which insured immunity from
+the attacks of English cruisers even in the year 1800, and the plans
+for securing French supremacy in Egypt, which had been frustrated in
+1801 and were, to all appearance, abandoned by the First Consul
+according to the provisions of the Treaty of Amiens. The question
+whether he really relinquished his designs on Egypt is so intimately
+connected with the rupture of the Peace of Amiens that it will be more
+fitly considered in the following chapter. It may not, however, be out
+of place to offer some proofs as to the value which Bonaparte set on
+the valley of the Nile and the Isthmus of Suez. A letter from a spy at
+Paris, preserved in the archives of our Foreign Office, and dated
+July 10th, 1801, contains the following significant statement with
+reference to Bonaparte: "Egypt, which is considered here as lost to
+France, is the only object which interests his personal ambition and
+excites his revenge." Even at the end of his days, he thought
+longingly of the land of the Pharaohs. In his first interview with the
+governor of St. Helena, the illustrious exile said emphatically:
+"Egypt is the most important country in the world." The words reveal a
+keen perception of all the influences conducive to commercial
+prosperity and imperial greatness. Egypt, in fact, with the Suez
+Canal, which his imagination always pictured as a necessary adjunct,
+was to be the keystone of that arch of empire which was to span the
+oceans and link the prairies of the far west to the teeming plains of
+India and the far Austral Isles.
+
+The motives which impelled Napoleon to the enterprises now to be
+considered were as many-sided as the maritime ventures themselves.
+Ultimately, doubtless, they arose out of a love of vast undertakings
+that ministered at once to an expanding ambition and to that need of
+arduous administrative toils for which his mind ever craved in the
+heyday of its activity. And, while satiating the grinding powers of
+his otherwise morbidly restless spirit, these enterprises also fed and
+soothed those imperious, if unconscious, instincts which prompt every
+able man of inquiring mind to reclaim all possible domains from the
+unknown or the chaotic. As Egypt had, for the present at least, been
+reft from his grasp, he turned naturally to all other lands that could
+be forced to yield their secrets to the inquirer, or their comforts to
+the benefactors of mankind. Only a dull cynicism can deny this motive
+to the man who first unlocked the doors of Egyptian civilization; and
+it would be equally futile to deny to him the same beneficent aims
+with regard to the settlement of the plains of the Mississippi, and
+the coasts of New Holland.
+
+The peculiarities of the condition of France furnished another
+powerful impulse towards colonization. In the last decade her people
+had suffered from an excess of mental activity and nervous excitement.
+From philosophical and political speculation they must be brought back
+to the practical and prosaic; and what influence could be so healthy
+as the turning up of new soil and other processes that satisfy the
+primitive instincts? Some of these, it was true, were being met by the
+increasing peasant proprietary in France herself. But this internal
+development, salutary as it was, could not appease the restless
+spirits of the towns or the ambition of the soldiery. Foreign
+adventures and oceanic commerce alone could satisfy the Parisians and
+open up new careers for the Prætorian chiefs, whom the First Consul
+alone really feared.
+
+Nor were these sentiments felt by him alone. In a paper which
+Talleyrand read to the Institute of France in July, 1797, that
+far-seeing statesman had dwelt upon the pacifying influences exerted
+by foreign commerce and colonial settlements on a too introspective
+nation. His words bear witness to the keenness of his insight into the
+maladies of his own people and the sources of social and political
+strength enjoyed by the United States, where he had recently
+sojourned. Referring to their speedy recovery from the tumults of
+their revolution, he said: "The true Lethe after passing through a
+revolution is to be found in the opening out to men of every avenue of
+hope.--Revolutions leave behind them a general restlessness of mind, a
+need of movement." That need was met in America by man's warfare
+against the forest, the flood, and the prairie. France must therefore
+possess colonies as intellectual and political safety-valves; and in
+his graceful, airy style he touched on the advantages offered by
+Egypt, Louisiana, and West Africa, both for their intrinsic value and
+as opening the door of work and of hope to a brain-sick generation.
+
+Following up this clue, Bonaparte, at a somewhat later date, remarked
+the tendency of the French people, now that the revolutionary strifes
+were past, to settle down contentedly on their own little plots; and
+he emphasized the need of a colonial policy such as would widen the
+national life. The remark has been largely justified by events; and
+doubtless he discerned in the agrarian reforms of the Revolution an
+influence unfavourable to that racial dispersion which, under wise
+guidance, builds up an oceanic empire. The grievances of the _ancien
+régime_ had helped to scatter on the shores of the St. Lawrence the
+seeds of a possible New France. Primogeniture was ever driving from
+England her younger sons to found New Englands and expand the commerce
+of the motherland. Let not France now rest at home, content with her
+perfect laws and with the conquest of her "natural frontiers." Let her
+rather strive to regain the first place in colonial activity which the
+follies of Louis XV. and the secular jealousy of Albion had filched
+from her. In the effort she would extend the bounds of civilization,
+lay the ghost of Jacobinism, satisfy military and naval adventures,
+and unconsciously revert to the ideas and governmental methods of the
+age of _le grand monarque_.
+
+The French possessions beyond the seas had never shrunk to a smaller
+area than in the closing years of the late war with England. The fact
+was confessed by the First Consul in his letter of October 7th, 1801,
+to Decrès, the Minister for the Navy and the Colonies: "Our
+possessions beyond the sea, which are now in our power, are limited to
+Saint Domingo, Guadeloupe, the Isle of France (Mauritius), the Isle of
+Bourbon, Senegal, and Guiana." After rendering this involuntary homage
+to the prowess of the British navy, Bonaparte proceeded to describe
+the first measures for the organization of these colonies: for not
+until March 25th, 1802, when the definitive treaty of peace was
+signed, could the others be regained by France.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+First in importance came the re-establishment of French authority in
+the large and fertile island of Hayti, or St. Domingo. It needs an
+effort of the imagination for the modern reader to realize the immense
+importance of the West Indian islands at the beginning of the
+century, whose close found them depressed and half bankrupt. At the
+earlier date, when the name Australia was unknown, and the
+half-starved settlement in and around Sydney represented the sole
+wealth of that isle of continent; when the Cape of Good Hope was
+looked on only as a port of call; when the United States numbered less
+than five and a half million souls, and the waters of the Mississippi
+rolled in unsullied majesty past a few petty Spanish stations--the
+plantations of the West Indies seemed the unfailing mine of colonial
+industry and commerce. Under the _ancien régime_, the trade of the
+French portion of San Domingo is reported to have represented more
+than half of her oceanic commerce. But during the Revolution the
+prosperity of that colony reeled under a terrible blow.
+
+The hasty proclamation of equality between whites and blacks by the
+French revolutionists, and the refusal of the planters to recognize
+that decree as binding, led to a terrible servile revolt, which
+desolated the whole of the colony. Those merciless strifes had,
+however, somewhat abated under the organizing power of a man, in whom
+the black race seemed to have vindicated its claims to political
+capacity. Toussaint l'Ouverture had come to the front by sheer
+sagacity and force of character. By a deft mixture of force and
+clemency, he imposed order on the vapouring crowds of negroes: he
+restored the French part of the island to comparative order and
+prosperity; and with an army of 20,000 men he occupied the Spanish
+portion. In this, as in other matters, he appeared to act as the
+mandatory of France; but he looked to the time when France, beset by
+European wars, would tacitly acknowledge his independence. In May,
+1801, he made a constitution for the island, and declared himself
+governor for life, with power to appoint his successor. This mimicry
+of the consular office, and the open vaunt that he was the "Bonaparte
+of the Antilles," incensed Bonaparte; and the haste with which, on
+the day after the Preliminaries of London, he prepared to overthrow
+this contemptible rival, tells its own tale.
+
+Yet Corsican hatred was tempered with Corsican guile. Toussaint had
+requested that the Haytians should be under the protection of their
+former mistress. Protection was the last thing that Bonaparte desired;
+but he deemed it politic to flatter the black chieftain with
+assurances of his personal esteem and gratitude for the "great
+services which you have rendered to the French people. If its flag
+floats over St. Domingo it is due to you and your brave blacks"--a
+reference to Toussaint's successful resistance to English attempts at
+landing. There were, it is true, some points in the new Haytian
+constitution which contravened the sovereign rights of France, but
+these were pardonable in the difficult circumstances which had pressed
+on Toussaint: he was now, however, invited to amend them so as to
+recognize the complete sovereignty of the motherland and the authority
+of General Leclerc, whom Bonaparte sent out as captain-general of the
+island. To this officer, the husband of Pauline Bonaparte, the First
+Consul wrote on the same day that there was reported to be much
+ferment in the island against Toussaint, that the obstacles to be
+overcome would therefore be much less formidable than had been feared,
+provided that activity and firmness were used. In his references to
+the burning topic of slavery, the First Consul showed a similar
+reserve. The French Republic having abolished it, he could not, as
+yet, openly restore an institution flagrantly opposed to the Rights of
+Man. Ostensibly therefore he figured as the champion of emancipation,
+assuring the Haytians in his proclamation of November 8th, 1801, that
+they were all free and all equal in the sight of God and of the
+French Republic: "If you are told, 'These forces are destined to
+snatch your liberty from you,' reply, 'The Republic has given us our
+liberty: it will not allow it to be taken from us.'" Of a similar
+tenor was his public declaration a fortnight later, that at St.
+Domingo and Guadeloupe everybody was free and would remain free. Very
+different were his private instructions. On the last day of October he
+ordered Talleyrand to write to the British Government, asking for
+their help in supplying provisions from Jamaica to this expedition
+destined to "destroy the new Algiers being organized in American
+waters"; and a fortnight later he charged him to state his resolve to
+destroy the government of the blacks at St. Domingo; that if he had to
+postpone the expedition for a year, he would be "obliged to constitute
+the blacks as French"; and that "the liberty of the blacks, if
+recognized by the Government, would always be a support for the
+Republic in the New World." As he was striving to cajole our
+Government into supporting his expedition, it is clear that in the
+last enigmatic phrase he was bidding for that support by the hint of a
+prospective restoration of slavery at St. Domingo. A comparison of his
+public and private statements must have produced a curious effect on
+the British Ministers, and many of the difficulties during the
+negotiations at Amiens doubtless sprang out of their knowledge of his
+double-dealing in the West Indies.
+
+The means at the First Consul's disposal might have been considered
+sufficient to dispense with these paltry devices; for when the
+squadrons of Brest, Lorient, Rochefort, and Toulon had joined their
+forces, they mustered thirty-two ships of the line and thirty-one
+frigates, with more than 20,000 troops on board. So great, indeed, was
+the force as to occasion strong remonstrances from the British
+Government, and a warning that a proportionately strong fleet would be
+sent to watch over the safety of our West Indies.[197] The size of the
+French armada and the warnings which Toussaint received from Europe
+induced that wily dictator to adopt stringent precautionary measures.
+He persuaded the blacks that the French were about to enslave them
+once more, and, raising the spectre of bondage, he quelled sedition,
+ravaged the maritime towns, and awaited the French in the interior, in
+confident expectation that yellow fever would winnow their ranks and
+reduce them to a level with his own strength.
+
+His hopes were ultimately realized, but not until he himself succumbed
+to the hardihood of the French attack. Leclerc's army swept across the
+desolated belt with an ardour that was redoubled by the sight of the
+mangled remains of white people strewn amidst the negro encampments,
+and stormed Toussaint's chief stronghold at Crête-à-Pierrot. The
+dictator and his factious lieutenants thereupon surrendered (May 8th,
+1802), on condition of their official rank being respected--a
+stipulation which both sides must have regarded as unreal and
+impossible. The French then pressed on to secure the subjection of the
+whole island before the advent of the unhealthy season, which
+Toussaint eagerly awaited. It now set in with unusual virulence; and
+in a few days the conquerors found their force reduced to 12,000
+effectives. Suspecting Toussaint's designs, Leclerc seized him. He was
+empowered to do so by Bonaparte's orders of March 16th, 1802:
+
+     "Follow your instructions exactly, and as soon as you have done
+     with Toussaint, Christopher, Dessalines, and the chief brigands,
+     and the masses of the blacks are disarmed, send to the continent
+     all the blacks and the half-castes who have taken part in the civil
+     troubles."
+
+Toussaint was hurried off to France, where he died a year later from
+the hardships to which he was exposed at the fort of Joux among the
+Juras.
+
+Long before the cold of a French winter claimed the life of Toussaint,
+his antagonist fell a victim to the sweltering heats of the tropics.
+On November 2nd, 1802, Leclerc succumbed to the unhealthy climate and
+to his ceaseless anxieties. In the Notes dictated at St. Helena,
+Napoleon submitted Leclerc's memory to some strictures for his
+indiscretion in regard to the proposed restoration of slavery. The
+official letters of that officer expose the injustice of the charge.
+The facts are these. After the seeming submission of St. Domingo, the
+First Consul caused a decree to be secretly passed at Paris (May 20th,
+1802), which prepared to re-establish slavery in the West Indies; but
+Decrès warned Leclerc that it was not for the present to be applied to
+St. Domingo unless it seemed to be opportune. Knowing how fatal any
+such proclamation would be, Leclerc suppressed the decree; but General
+Richepanse, who was now governor of the island of Guadeloupe, not only
+issued the decree, but proceeded to enforce it with rigour. It was
+this which caused the last and most desperate revolts of the blacks,
+fatal alike to French domination and to Leclerc's life. His successor,
+Rochambeau, in spite of strong reinforcements of troops from France
+and a policy of the utmost rigour, succeeded no better. In the island
+of Guadeloupe the rebels openly defied the authority of France; and,
+on the renewal of war between England and France, the remains of the
+expedition were for the most part constrained to surrender to the
+British flag or to the insurgent blacks. The island recovered its
+so-called independence; and the sole result of Napoleon's efforts in
+this sphere was the loss of more than twenty generals and some 30,000
+troops.
+
+The assertion has been repeatedly made that the First Consul told off
+for this service the troops of the Army of the Rhine, with the aim of
+exposing to the risks of tropical life the most republican part of the
+French forces. That these furnished a large part of the expeditionary
+force cannot be denied; but if his design was to rid himself of
+political foes, it is difficult to see why he should not have selected
+Moreau, Masséna, or Augereau, rather than Leclerc. The fact that his
+brother-in-law was accompanied by his wife, Pauline Bonaparte, for
+whom venomous tongues asserted that Napoleon cherished a more than
+brotherly affection, will suffice to refute the slander. Finally, it
+may be remarked that Bonaparte had not hesitated to subject the
+choicest part of his Army of Italy and his own special friends to
+similiar risks in Egypt and Syria. He never hesitated to sacrifice
+thousands of lives when a great object was at stake; and the
+restoration of the French West Indian Colonies might well seem worth
+an army, especially as St. Domingo was not only of immense instrinsic
+value to France in days when beetroot sugar was unknown, but was of
+strategic importance as a base of operations for the vast colonial
+empire which the First Consul proposed to rebuild in the basin of the
+Mississippi.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The history of the French possessions on the North American continent
+could scarcely be recalled by ardent patriots without pangs of
+remorse. The name Louisiana, applied to a vast territory stretching up
+the banks of the Mississippi and the Missouri, recalled the glorious
+days of Louis XIV., when the French flag was borne by stout
+_voyageurs_ up the foaming rivers of Canada and the placid reaches of
+the father of rivers. It had been the ambition of Montcalm to connect
+the French stations on Lake Erie with the forts of Louisiana; but that
+warrior-statesman in the West, as his kindred spirit, Dupleix, in the
+East, had fallen on the evil days of Louis XV., when valour and merit
+in the French colonies were sacrificed to the pleasures and parasites
+of Versailles. The natural result followed. Louisiana was yielded up
+to Spain in 1763, in order to reconcile the Court of Madrid to
+cessions required by that same Peace of Paris. Twenty years later
+Spain recovered from England the provinces of eastern and western
+Florida; and thus, at the dawn of the nineteenth century, the red and
+yellow flag waved over all the lands between California, New Orleans,
+and the southern tip of Florida.[198]
+
+Many efforts were made by France to regain her old Mississippi
+province; and in 1795, at the break up of the First Coalition, the
+victorious Republic pressed Spain to yield up this territory, where
+the settlers were still French at heart. Doubtless the weak King of
+Spain would have yielded; but his chief Minister, Godoy, clung
+tenaciously to Louisiana, and consented to cede only the Spanish part
+of St. Domingo--a diplomatic success which helped to earn him the
+title of the Prince of the Peace. So matters remained until
+Talleyrand, as Foreign Minister, sought to gain Louisiana from Spain
+before it slipped into the horny fists of the Anglo-Saxons.
+
+That there was every prospect of this last event was the conviction
+not only of the politicians at Washington, but also of every
+iron-worker on the Ohio and of every planter on the Tennessee. Those
+young but growing settlements chafed against the restraints imposed by
+Spain on the river trade of the lower Mississippi--the sole means
+available for their exports in times when the Alleghanies were crossed
+by only two tracks worthy the name of roads. In 1795 they gained free
+egress to the Gulf of Mexico and the right of bonding their
+merchandise in a special warehouse at New Orleans. Thereafter the
+United States calmly awaited the time when racial vigour and the
+exigencies of commerce should yield to them the possession of the
+western prairies and the little townships of Arkansas and New Orleans.
+They reckoned without taking count of the eager longing of the French
+for their former colony and the determination of Napoleon to give
+effect to this honourable sentiment.
+
+In July, 1800, when his negotiations with the United
+
+
+
+States were in good train, the First Consul sent to Madrid
+instructions empowering the French Minister there to arrange a treaty
+whereby France should receive Louisiana in return for the cession of
+Tuscany to the heir of the Duke of Parma. This young man had married
+the daughter of Charles IV. of Spain; and, for the aggrandizement of
+his son-in-law, that _roi fainéant_, was ready, nay eager, to bargain
+away a quarter of a continent; and he did so by a secret convention
+signed at St. Ildefonso on October 7th, 1800.
+
+But though Charles rejoiced over this exchange, Godoy, who was gifted
+with some insight into the future, was determined to frustrate it.
+Various events occurred which enabled this wily Minister, first to
+delay, and then almost to prevent, the odious surrender. Chief among
+these was the certainty that the transfer from weak hands to strong
+hands would be passionately resented by the United States; and until
+peace with England was fully assured, and the power of Toussaint
+broken, it would be folly for the First Consul to risk a conflict with
+the United States. That they would fight rather than see the western
+prairies pass into the First Consul's hands was abundantly manifest.
+It is proved by many patriotic pamphlets. The most important of
+these--"An Address to the Government of the United States on the
+Cession of Louisiana to the French," published at Philadelphia in
+1802--quoted largely from a French _brochure_ by a French Councillor
+of State. The French writer had stated that along the Mississippi his
+countrymen would find boundless fertile prairies, and as for the
+opposition of the United States--"a nation of pedlars and
+shopkeepers"--that could be crushed by a French alliance with the
+Indian tribes. The American writer thereupon passionately called on
+his fellow-citizens to prevent this transfer: "France is to be dreaded
+only, or chiefly, on the Mississippi. The Government must take
+Louisiana before it passes into her hands. The iron is now hot:
+command us to rise as one man and strike." These and other like
+protests at last stirred the placid Government at Washington; and it
+bade the American Minister at Paris to make urgent remonstrances, the
+sole effect of which was to draw from Talleyrand the bland assurance
+that the transfer had not been seriously contemplated.[199]
+
+By the month of June, 1802, all circumstances seemed to smile on
+Napoleon's enterprise: England had ratified the Peace of Amiens,
+Toussaint had delivered himself up to Leclerc: France had her troops
+strongly posted in Tuscany and Parma, and could, if necessary,
+forcibly end the remaining scruples felt at Madrid; while the United
+States, with a feeble army and a rotting navy, were controlled by the
+most peaceable and Franco-phil of their presidents, Thomas Jefferson.
+The First Consul accordingly ordered an expedition to be prepared, as
+if for the reinforcement of Leclerc in St. Domingo, though it was
+really destined for New Orleans; and he instructed Talleyrand to
+soothe or coerce the Court of Madrid into the final act of transfer.
+The offer was therefore made by the latter (June 19th) in the name of
+the First Consul that _in no case would Louisiana ever be alienated to
+a Third Power_. When further delays supervened, Bonaparte, true to his
+policy of continually raising his demands, required that Eastern and
+Western Florida should also be ceded to him by Spain, on condition
+that the young King of Etruria (for so Tuscany was now to be styled)
+should regain his father's duchy of Parma.[200]
+
+A word of explanation must here find place as to this singular
+proposal. Parma had long been under French control; and, in March,
+1801, by the secret Treaty of Madrid, the ruler of that duchy, whose
+death seemed imminent, was to resign his claims thereto, provided that
+his son should gain Etruria--as had been already provided for at St.
+Ildefonso and Lunéville. The duke was, however, allowed to keep his
+duchy until his death, which occurred on October 9th, 1802; and it is
+stated by our envoy in Paris to have been hastened by news of that
+odious bargain.[201] His death now furnished Bonaparte with a good
+occasion for seeking to win an immense area in the New World at the
+expense of a small Italian duchy, which his troops could at any time
+easily overrun. This consideration seems to have occurred even to
+Charles IV.; he refused to barter the Floridas against Parma. The
+re-establishment of his son-in-law in his paternal domains was
+doubtless desirable, but not at the cost of so exacting a heriot as
+East and West Florida.
+
+From out this maze of sordid intrigues two or three facts challenge
+our attention. Both Bonaparte and Charles IV. regarded the most
+fertile waste lands then calling for the plough as fairly exchanged
+against half a million of Tuscans; but the former feared the
+resentment of the United States, and sought to postpone a rupture
+until he could coerce them by overwhelming force. It is equally clear
+that, had he succeeded in this enterprise, France might have gained a
+great colonial empire in North America protected from St. Domingo as a
+naval and military base, while that island would have doubly prospered
+from the vast supplies poured down the Mississippi; but this success
+he would have bought at the expense of a _rapprochement_ between the
+United States and their motherland, such as a bitter destiny was to
+postpone to the end of the century.
+
+The prospect of an Anglo-American alliance might well give pause even
+to Napoleon. Nevertheless, he resolved to complete this vast
+enterprise, which, if successful, would have profoundly affected the
+New World and the relative importance of the French and English
+peoples. The Spanish officials at New Orleans, in pursuance of orders
+from Madrid, now closed the lower Mississippi to vessels of the United
+States (October, 1802). At once a furious outcry arose in the States
+against an act which not only violated their treaty rights, but
+foreshadowed the coming grip of the First Consul. For this outburst he
+was prepared: General Victor was at Dunkirk, with five battalions and
+sixteen field-pieces, ready to cross the Atlantic, ostensibly for the
+relief of Leclerc, but really in order to take possession of New
+Orleans.[202] But his plan was foiled by the sure instincts of the
+American people, by the disasters of the St. Domingo expedition, and
+by the restlessness of England under his various provocations.
+Jefferson, despite his predilections for France, was compelled to
+forbid the occupation of Louisiana: he accordingly sent Monroe to
+Paris with instructions to effect a compromise, or even to buy
+outright the French claims on that land. Various circumstances
+favoured this mission. In the first week of the year 1803 Napoleon
+received the news of Leclerc's death and the miserable state of the
+French in St. Domingo; and as the tidings that he now received from
+Egypt, Syria, Corfu, and the East generally, were of the most alluring
+kind, he tacitly abandoned his Mississippi enterprise in favour of the
+oriental schemes which were closer to his heart. In that month of
+January he seems to have turned his gaze from the western hemisphere
+towards Turkey, Egypt, and India. True, he still seemed to be doing
+his utmost for the occupation of Louisiana, but only as a device for
+sustaining the selling price of the western prairies.
+
+When the news of this change of policy reached the ears of Joseph and
+Lucien Bonaparte, it aroused their bitterest opposition. Lucien plumed
+himself on having struck the bargain with Spain which had secured that
+vast province at the expense of an Austrian archduke's crown; and
+Joseph knew only too well that Napoleon was freeing himself in the
+West in order to be free to strike hard in Europe and the East. The
+imminent rupture of the Peace of Amiens touched him keenly: for that
+peace was his proudest achievement. If colonial adventures must be
+sought, let them be sought in the New World, where Spain and the
+United States could offer only a feeble resistance, rather than in
+Europe and Asia, where unending war must be the result of an
+aggressive policy.
+
+At once the brothers sought an interview with Napoleon. He chanced to
+be in his bath, a warm bath perfumed with scents, where he believed
+that tired nature most readily found recovery. He ordered them to be
+admitted, and an interesting family discussion was the result. On his
+mentioning the proposed sale, Lucien at once retorted that the
+Legislature would never consent to this sacrifice. He there touched
+the wrong chord in Napoleon's nature: had he appealed to the memories
+of _le grand monarque_ and of Montcalm, possibly he might have bent
+that iron will; but the mention of the consent of the French deputies
+roused the spleen of the autocrat, who, from amidst the scented water,
+mockingly bade his brother go into mourning for the affair, which he,
+and he alone, intended to carry out. This gibe led Joseph to threaten
+that he would mount the tribune in the Chambers and head the
+opposition to this unpatriotic surrender. Defiance flashed forth once
+more from the bath; and the First Consul finally ended their bitter
+retorts by spasmodically rising as suddenly falling backwards, and
+drenching Joseph to the skin. His peals of scornful laughter, and the
+swooning of the valet, who was not yet fully inured to these family
+scenes, interrupted the argument of the piece; but, when resumed a
+little later, _à sec_, Lucien wound up by declaring that, if he were
+not his brother, he would be his enemy. "My enemy! That is rather
+strong," exclaimed Napoleon. "You my enemy! I would break you, see,
+like this box"--and he dashed his snuff-box on the carpet. It did not
+break: but the portrait of Josephine was detached and broken.
+Whereupon Lucien picked up the pieces and handed them to his brother,
+remarking: "It is a pity: meanwhile, until you can break me, it is
+your wife's portrait that you have broken."[203]
+
+To Talleyrand, Napoleon was equally unbending: summoning him on April
+11th, he said:
+
+     "Irresolution and deliberation are no longer in season. I renounce
+     Louisiana. It is not only New Orleans that I cede: it is the whole
+     colony, without reserve; I know the price of what I abandon. I have
+     proved the importance I attach to this province, since my first
+     diplomatic act with Spain had the object of recovering it. I
+     renounce it with the greatest regret: to attempt obstinately to
+     retain it would be folly. I direct you to negotiate the
+     affair."[204]
+
+After some haggling with Monroe, the price agreed on for this
+territory was 60,000,000 francs, the United States also covenanting to
+satisfy the claims which many of their citizens had on the French
+treasury. For this paltry sum the United States gained a peaceful
+title to the debatable lands west of Lake Erie and to the vast tracts
+west of the Mississippi. The First Consul carried out his threat of
+denying to the deputies of France any voice in this barter. The war
+with England sufficed to distract their attention; and France turned
+sadly away from the western prairies, which her hardy sons had first
+opened up, to fix her gaze, first on the Orient, and thereafter on
+European conquests. No more was heard of Louisiana, and few references
+were permitted to the disasters in St. Domingo; for Napoleon abhorred
+any mention of a _coup manqué_, and strove to banish from the
+imagination of France those dreams of a trans-Atlantic Empire which
+had drawn him, as they were destined sixty years later to draw his
+nephew, to the verge of war with the rising republic of the New World.
+In one respect, the uncle was more fortunate than the nephew. In
+signing the treaty with the United States, the First Consul could
+represent his conduct, not as a dexterous retreat from an impossible
+situation, but as an act of grace to the Americans and a blow to
+England. "This accession of territory," he said, "strengthens for ever
+the power of the United States, and I have just given to England a
+maritime rival that sooner or later will humble her pride."[205]
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+In the East there seemed to be scarcely the same field for expansion
+as in the western hemisphere. Yet, as the Orient had ever fired the
+imagination of Napoleon, he was eager to expand the possessions of
+France in the Indian Ocean. In October, 1801, these amounted to the
+Isle of Bourbon and the Isle of France; for the former French
+possessions in India, namely, Pondicherry, Mahé, Karikal,
+Chandernagore, along with their factories at Yanaon, Surat, and two
+smaller places, had been seized by the British, and were not to be
+given back to France until six months after the definitive treaty of
+peace was signed. From these scanty relics it seemed impossible to
+rear a stable fabric: yet the First Consul grappled with the task.
+After the cessation of hostilities, he ordered Admiral Gantheaume with
+four ships of war to show the French flag in those seas, and to be
+ready in due course to take over the French settlements in India.
+Meanwhile he used his utmost endeavours in the negotiations at Amiens
+to gain an accession of land for Pondicherry, such as would make it a
+possible base for military enterprise. Even before those negotiations
+began he expressed to Lord Cornwallis his desire for such an
+extension; and when the British plenipotentiary urged the cession of
+Tobago to Great Britain, he offered to exchange it for an
+establishment or territory in India.[206] Herein the First Consul
+committed a serious tactical blunder; for his insistence on this topic
+and his avowed desire to negotiate direct with the Nabob undoubtedly
+aroused the suspicions of our Government.
+
+Still greater must have been their concern when they learnt that
+General Decaen was commissioned to receive back the French possessions
+in India; for that general in 1800 had expressed to Bonaparte his
+hatred of the English, and had begged, even if he had to wait ten
+years, that he might be sent where he could fight them, especially in
+India. As was his wont, Bonaparte said little at the time; but after
+testing Decaen's military capacity, he called him to his side at
+midsummer, 1802, and suddenly asked him if he still thought about
+India. On receiving an eager affirmative, he said, "Well, you will
+go." "In what capacity?" "As captain-general: go to the Minister of
+Marine and of the Colonies and ask him to communicate to you the
+documents relating to this expedition." By such means did Bonaparte
+secure devoted servants. It is scarcely needful to add that the choice
+of such a man only three months after the signature of the Treaty of
+Amiens proves that the First Consul only intended to keep that peace
+as long as his forward colonial policy rendered it desirable.[207]
+
+Meanwhile our Governor-General, Marquis Wellesley, was displaying an
+activity which might seem to be dictated by knowledge of Bonaparte's
+designs. There was, indeed, every need of vigour. Nowhere had French
+and British interests been so constantly in collision as in India. In
+1798 France had intrigued with Tippoo Sahib at Seringapatam, and
+arranged a treaty for the purpose of expelling the British nation from
+India. When in 1799 French hopes were dashed by Arthur Wellesley's
+capture of that city and the death of Tippoo, there still remained
+some prospect of overthrowing British supremacy by uniting the
+restless Mahratta rulers of the north and centre, especially Scindiah
+and Holkar, in a powerful confederacy. For some years their armies,
+numbering some 60,000 men, had been drilled and equipped by French
+adventurers, the ablest and most powerful of whom was M. Perron.
+Doubtless it was with the hope of gaining their support that the Czar
+Paul and Bonaparte had in 1800 formed the project of invading India by
+way of Persia. And after the dissipation of that dream, there still
+remained the chance of strengthening the Mahratta princes so as to
+contest British claims with every hope of success. Forewarned by the
+home Government of Bonaparte's eastern designs, our able and ambitious
+Governor-General now prepared to isolate the Mahratta chieftains, to
+cut them off from all contact with France, and, if necessary, to
+shatter Scindiah's army, the only formidable native force drilled by
+European methods.
+
+Such was the position of affairs when General Decaen undertook the
+enterprise of revivifying French influences in India.
+
+The secret instructions which he received from the First Consul, dated
+January 15th, 1803, were the following:
+
+     "To communicate with the peoples or princes who are most impatient
+     under the yoke of the English Company.... To send home a report six
+     months after his arrival in India, concerning all information that
+     he shall have collected, on the strength, the position, and the
+     feeling of the different peoples of India, as well as on the
+     strength and position of the different English establishments; ...
+     his views, and hopes that he might have of finding support, in case
+     of war, so as to be able to maintain himself in the Peninsula....
+     Finally, as one must reason on the hypothesis that we should not be
+     masters of the sea and could hope for slight succour,"
+
+Decaen is to seek among the French possessions or elsewhere a place
+serving as a _point d'appui_, where in the last resort he could
+capitulate and thus gain the means of being transported to France with
+arms and baggage. Of this _point d'appui_ he will
+
+     "strive to take possession after the first months ... whatever be
+     the nation to which it belongs, Portuguese, Dutch, or English....
+     If war should break out between England and France before the 1st
+     of Vendémiaire, Year XIII. (September 22nd, 1804), and the captain
+     general is warned of it before receiving the orders of the
+     Government, he has _carte blanche_ to fall back on the Ile de
+     France and the Cape, or to remain in India.... It is now considered
+     impossible that we should have war with England without dragging in
+     Holland. One of the first cares of the captain-general will be to
+     gain control over the Dutch, Portuguese, and Spanish
+     establishments, and of their resources. The captain-general's
+     mission is at first one of observation, on political and military
+     topics, with the small forces that he takes out, and an occupation
+     of _comptoirs_ for our commerce: but the First Consul, if well
+     informed by him, will perhaps be able some day to put him in a
+     position to acquire that great glory which hands down the memory of
+     men beyond the lapse of centuries."[208]
+
+Had these instructions been known to English statesmen, they would
+certainly have ended the peace which was being thus perfidiously used
+by the First Consul for the destruction of our Indian Empire. But
+though their suspicions were aroused by the departure of Decaen's
+expedition and by the activity of French agents in India, yet the
+truth remained half hidden, until, at a later date, the publication of
+General Decaen's papers shed a flood of light on Napoleon's policy.
+
+Owing to various causes, the expedition did not set sail from Brest
+until the beginning of March, 1803. The date should be noticed. It
+proves that at this time Napoleon judged that a rupture of peace was
+not imminent; and when he saw his miscalculation, he sought to delay
+the war with England as long as possible in order to allow time for
+Decaen's force at least to reach the Cape, then in the hands of the
+Dutch. The French squadron was too weak to risk a fight with an
+English fleet; it comprised only four ships of war, two transports,
+and a few smaller vessels, carrying about 1,800 troops.[209] The ships
+were under the command of Admiral Linois, who was destined to be the
+terror of our merchantmen in eastern seas. Decaen's first halt was at
+the Cape, which had been given back by us to the Dutch East India
+Company on February 21st, 1803. The French general found the Dutch
+officials in their usual state of lethargy: the fortifications had not
+been repaired, and many of the inhabitants, and even of the officials
+themselves, says Decaen, were devoted to the English. After surveying
+the place, doubtless with a view to its occupation as the _point
+d'appui_ hinted at in his instructions, he set sail on the 27th of
+May, and arrived before Pondicherry on the 11th of July.[210]
+
+In the meantime important events had transpired which served to wreck
+not only Decaen's enterprise, but the French influence in India. In
+Europe the flames of war had burst forth, a fact of which both Decaen
+and the British officials were ignorant; but the Governor of Fort St.
+George (Madras), having, before the 15th of June, "received
+intelligence which appeared to indicate the certainty of an early
+renewal of hostilities between His Majesty and France," announced that
+he must postpone the restitution of Pondicherry to the French, until
+he should have the authority of the Governor-General for such
+action.[211]
+
+
+
+The Marquis Wellesley was still less disposed to any such restitution.
+French intervention in the affairs of Switzerland, which will be
+described later on, had so embittered Anglo-French relations that on
+October the 17th, 1802, Lord Hobart, our Minister of War and for the
+Colonies, despatched a "most secret" despatch, stating that recent
+events rendered it necessary to postpone this retrocession. At a later
+period Wellesley received contrary orders, instructing him to restore
+French and Dutch territories; but he judged that step to be
+inopportune considering the gravity of events in the north of India.
+So active was the French propaganda at the Mahratta Courts, and so
+threatening were their armed preparations, that he redoubled his
+efforts for the consolidation of British supremacy. He resolved to
+strike at Scindiah, unless he withdrew his southern army into his own
+territories; and, on receiving an evasive answer from that prince, who
+hoped by temporizing to gain armed succours from France, he launched
+the British forces against him. Now was the opportunity for Arthur
+Wellesley to display his prowess against the finest forces of the
+East; and brilliantly did the young warrior display it. The victories
+of Assaye in September, and of Argaum in November, scattered the
+southern Mahratta force, but only after desperate conflicts that
+suggested how easily a couple of Decaen's battalions might have turned
+the scales of war.
+
+Meanwhile, in the north, General Lake stormed Aligarh, and drove
+Scindiah's troops back to Delhi. Disgusted at the incapacity and
+perfidy that surrounded him, Perron threw up his command; and another
+conflict near Delhi yielded that ancient seat of Empire to our trading
+Company. In three months the results of the toil of Scindiah, the
+restless ambition of Holkar, the training of European officers, and the
+secret intrigues of Napoleon, were all swept to the winds. Wellesley now
+annexed the land around Delhi and Agra, besides certain coast districts
+which cut off the Mahrattas from the sea, also stipulating for the
+complete exclusion of French agents from their States. Perron was
+allowed to return to France; and the brusque reception accorded him from
+Bonaparte may serve to measure the height of the First Consul's hopes,
+the depth of his disappointment, and his resentment against a man who
+was daunted by a single disaster.[212]
+
+Meanwhile it was the lot of Decaen to witness, in inglorious
+inactivity, the overthrow of all his hopes. Indeed, he barely escaped
+the capture which Wellesley designed for his whole force, as soon as
+he should hear of the outbreak of war in Europe; but by secret and
+skilful measures all the French ships, except one transport, escaped
+to their appointed rendezvous, the Ile de France. Enraged by these
+events, Decaen and Linois determined to inflict every possible injury
+on their foes. The latter soon swept from the eastern seas British
+merchantmen valued at a million sterling, while the general ceased not
+to send emissaries into India to encourage the millions of natives to
+shake off the yoke of "a few thousand English."
+
+These officers effected little, and some of them were handed over to
+the English authorities by the now obsequious potentates. Decaen also
+endeavoured to carry out the First Consul's design of occupying
+strategic points in the Indian Ocean. In the autumn of 1803 he sent a
+fine cruiser to the Imaum of Muscat, to induce him to cede a station
+for commercial purposes at that port. But Wellesley, forewarned by our
+agent at Bagdad, had made a firm alliance with the Imaum, who
+accordingly refused the request of the French captain. The incident,
+however, supplies another link in the chain of evidence as to the
+completeness of Napoleon's oriental policy, and yields another proof
+of the vigour of our great proconsul at Calcutta, by whose foresight
+our Indian Empire was preserved and strengthened.[213]
+
+Bonaparte's enterprises were by no means limited to well-known lands.
+The unknown continent of the Southern Seas appealed to his
+imagination, which pictured its solitudes transformed by French energy
+into a second fatherland. Australia, or New Holland, as it was then
+called, had long attracted the notice of French explorers, but the
+English penal settlements at and near Sydney formed the only European
+establishment on the great southern island at the dawn of the
+nineteenth century.
+
+Bonaparte early turned his eyes towards that land. On his voyage to
+Egypt he took with him the volumes in which Captain Cook described his
+famous discoveries; and no sooner was he firmly installed as First
+Consul than he planned with the Institute of France a great French
+expedition to New Holland. The full text of the plan has never been
+published: probably it was suppressed or destroyed; and the sole
+public record relating to it is contained in the official account of
+the expedition published at the French Imperial Press in 1807.[214]
+According to this description, the aim was solely geographical and
+scientific. The First Consul and the Institute of France desired that
+the ships should proceed to Van Diemen's Land, explore its rivers, and
+then complete the survey of the south coast of the continent, so as to
+see whether behind the islands of the Nuyts Archipelago there might be
+a channel connecting with the Gulf of Carpentaria, and so cutting New
+Holland in half. They were then to sail west to "Terre Leeuwin,"
+ascend the Swan River, complete the exploration of Shark's Bay and the
+north-western coasts, and winter in Timor or Amboyne. Finally, they
+were to coast along New Guinea and the Gulf of Carpentaria, and return
+to France in 1803.
+
+In September, 1800, the ships, having on board twenty-three scientific
+men, set sail from Havre under the command of Commodore Baudin. They
+received no molestation from English cruisers, it being a rule of
+honour to give Admiralty permits to all members of genuinely
+scientific and geographical parties. Nevertheless, even on its
+scientific side, this splendidly-equipped expedition produced no
+results comparable with those achieved by Lieutenant Bass or by
+Captain Flinders. The French ships touched at the Ile de France, and
+sailed thence for Van Diemen's Land. After spending a long time in the
+exploration of its coasts and in collecting scientific information,
+they made for Sydney in order to repair their ships and gain relief
+for their many invalids. Thence, after incidents which will be noticed
+presently, they set sail in November, 1802, for Bass Strait and the
+coast beyond. They seem to have overlooked the entrance to Port
+Phillip--a discovery effected by Murray in 1801, but not made public
+till three years later--and failed to notice the outlet of the chief
+Australian river, which is obscured by a shallow lake.
+
+There they were met by Captain Flinders, who, on H.M.S.
+"Investigator," had been exploring the coast between Cape Leeuwin and
+the great gulfs which he named after Lords St. Vincent and Spencer.
+Flinders was returning towards Sydney, when, in the long desolate
+curve of the bay which he named from the incident Encounter Bay, he
+saw the French ships. After brief and guarded intercourse the
+explorers separated, the French proceeding to survey the gulfs whence
+the "Investigator" had just sailed; while Flinders, after a short stay
+at Sydney and the exploration of the northern coast and Torres Strait,
+set out for Europe.[215]
+
+Apart from the compilation of the most accurate map of Australia which
+had then appeared, and the naming of several features on its
+coasts--_e.g._, Capes Berrouilli and Gantheaume, the Bays of Rivoli
+and of Lacépède, and the Freycinet Peninsula, which are still
+retained--the French expedition achieved no geographical results of
+the first importance.
+
+Its political aims now claim attention. A glance at the accompanying
+map will show that, under the guise of being an emissary of
+civilization, Commodore Baudin was prepared to claim half the
+continent for France. Indeed, his final inquiry at Sydney about the
+extent of the British claims on the Pacific coast was so significant
+as to elicit from Governor King the reply that the whole of Van
+Diemen's Land and of the coast from Cape Howe on the south of the
+mainland to Cape York on the north was British territory. King also
+notified the suspicious action of the French Commander to the Home
+Government; and when the French sailed away to explore the coast of
+southern and central Australia he sent a ship to watch their
+proceedings. When, therefore, Commodore Baudin effected a landing on
+King Island, the Union Jack was speedily hoisted and saluted by the
+blue-jackets of the British vessel; for it was rumoured that French
+officers had said that King Island would afford a good station for the
+command of Bass Strait and the seizure of British ships. This was
+probably mere gossip. Baudin in his interviews with Governor King at
+Sydney disclaimed any intention of seizing Van Diemen's Land; but he
+afterwards stated that _he did not know what were the plans of the
+French Government with regard to that island_.[216]
+
+Long before this dark saying could be known at Westminster, the
+suspicions of our Government had been aroused; and, on February 13th,
+1803, Lord Hobart penned a despatch to Governor King bidding him to
+take every precaution against French annexations, and to form
+settlements in Van Diemen's Land and at Port Phillip. The station of
+Risden was accordingly planted on the estuary of the Derwent, a little
+above the present town of Hobart; while on the shores of Port Phillip
+another expedition sent out from the mother country sought, but for
+the present in vain, to find a suitable site. The French cruise
+therefore exerted on the fortunes of the English and French peoples an
+influence such as has frequently accrued from their colonial rivalry:
+it spurred on the island Power to more vigorous efforts than she would
+otherwise have put forth, and led to the discomfiture of her
+continental rival. The plans of Napoleon for the acquisition of Van
+Diemen's Land and the middle of Australia had an effect like that
+which the ambition of Montcalm, Dupleix, Lally, and Perron has exerted
+on the ultimate destiny of many a vast and fertile territory.
+
+
+
+Still, in spite of the destruction of his fleet at Trafalgar, Napoleon
+held to his Australian plans. No fact, perhaps, is more suggestive of
+the dogged tenacity of his will than his order to Péron and Freycinet
+to publish through the Imperial Press at Paris an exhaustive account
+of their Australian voyage, accompanied by maps which claimed half of
+that continent for the tricolour flag. It appeared in 1807, the year
+of Tilsit and of the plans for the partition of Portugal and her
+colonies between France and Spain. The hour seemed at last to have
+struck for the assertion of French supremacy in other continents, now
+that the Franco-Russian alliance had durably consolidated it in
+Europe. And who shall say that, but for the Spanish Rising and the
+genius of Wellington, a vast colonial empire might not have been won
+for France, had Napoleon been free to divert his energies away from
+this "old Europe" of which he professed to be utterly weary?
+
+His whole attitude towards European and colonial politics revealed a
+statesmanlike appreciation of the forces that were to mould the
+fortunes of nations in the nineteenth century. He saw that no
+rearrangement of the European peoples could be permanent. They were
+too stubborn, too solidly nationalized, to bear the yoke of the new
+Charlemagne. "I am come too late," he once exclaimed to Marmont; "men
+are too enlightened, there is nothing great left to be done." These
+words reveal his sense of the artificiality of his European conquests.
+His imperial instincts could find complete satisfaction only among the
+docile fate-ridden peoples of Asia, where he might unite the functions
+of an Alexander and a Mahomet: or, failing that, he would carve out an
+empire from the vast southern lands, organizing them by his unresting
+powers and ruling them as Âœkist and as despot. This task would possess
+a permanence such as man's conquests over Nature may always enjoy, and
+his triumphs over his fellows seldom or never. The political
+reconstruction of Europe was at best one of an infinite number of such
+changes, always progressing and never completed; while the peopling of
+new lands and the founding of States belonged to that highest plane of
+political achievement wherein schemes of social beneficence and the
+dictates of a boundless ambition could maintain an eager and unending
+rivalry. While a strictly European policy could effect little more
+than a raking over of long-cultivated parterres, the foundation of a
+new colonial empire would be the turning up of the virgin soil of the
+limitless prairie.
+
+If we inquire by the light of history why these grand designs failed,
+the answer must be that they were too vast fitly to consort with an
+ambitious European policy. His ablest adviser noted this fundamental
+defect as rapidly developing after the Peace of Amiens, when "he began
+to sow the seeds of new wars which, after overwhelming Europe and
+France, were to lead him to his ruin." This criticism of Talleyrand on
+a man far greater than himself, but who lacked that saving grace of
+moderation in which the diplomatist excelled, is consonant with all
+the teachings of history. The fortunes of the colonial empires of
+Athens and Carthage in the ancient world, of the Italian maritime
+republics, of Portugal and Spain, and, above all, the failure of the
+projects of Louis XIV. and Louis XV. serve to prove that only as the
+motherland enjoys a sufficiency of peace at home and on her borders
+can she send forth in ceaseless flow those supplies of men and
+treasure which are the very life-blood of a new organism. That
+beneficent stream might have poured into Napoleon's Colonial Empire,
+had not other claims diverted it into the barren channels of European
+warfare. The same result followed as at the time of the Seven Years'
+War, when the double effort to wage great campaigns in Germany and
+across the oceans sapped the strength of France, and the additions won
+by Dupleix and Montcalm fell away from her flaccid frame.
+
+Did Napoleon foresee a similar result? His conduct in regard to
+Louisiana and in reference to Decaen's expedition proves that he did,
+but only when it was too late. As soon as he saw that his policy was
+about to provoke another war with Britain long before he was ready for
+it, he decided to forego his oceanic schemes and to concentrate his
+forces on his European frontiers. The decision was dictated by a true
+sense of imperial strategy. But what shall we say of his sense of
+imperial diplomacy? The foregoing narrative and the events to be
+described in the next chapters prove that his mistake lay in that
+overweening belief in his own powers and in the pliability of his
+enemies which was the cause of his grandest triumphs and of his
+unexampled overthrow.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+NAPOLEON'S INTERVENTIONS
+
+
+War, said St. Augustine, is but the transition from a lower to a
+higher state of peace. The saying is certainly true for those wars
+that are waged in defence of some great principle or righteous cause.
+It may perhaps be applied with justice to the early struggles of the
+French revolutionists to secure their democratic Government against
+the threatened intervention of monarchical States. But the danger of
+vindicating the cause of freedom by armed force has never been more
+glaringly shown than in the struggles of that volcanic age. When
+democracy had gained a sure foothold in the European system, the war
+was still pushed on by the triumphant republicans at the expense of
+neighbouring States, so that, even before the advent of Bonaparte,
+their polity was being strangely warped by the influence of military
+methods of rule. The brilliance of the triumphs won by that young
+warrior speedily became the greatest danger of republican France; and
+as the extraordinary energy developed in her people by recent events
+cast her feeble neighbours to the ground, Europe cowered away before
+the ever-increasing bulk of France. In their struggles after democracy
+the French finally reverted to the military type of Government, which
+accords with many of the cherished instincts of their race: and the
+military-democratic compromise embodied in Napoleon endowed that
+people with the twofold force of national pride and of conscious
+strength springing from their new institutions.
+
+With this was mingled contempt for neighbouring peoples who either
+could not or would not gain a similar independence and prestige.
+Everything helped to feed this self-confidence and contempt for
+others. The venerable fabric of the Holy Roman Empire was rocking to
+and fro amidst the spoliations of its ecclesiastical lands by lay
+princes, in which its former champions, the Houses of Hapsburg and
+Hohenzollern, were the most exacting of the claimants. The Czar, in
+October, 1801, had come to a profitable understanding with France
+concerning these "secularizations." A little later France and Russia
+began to draw together on the Eastern Question in a way threatening to
+Turkey and to British influence in the Levant.[217] In fact, French
+diplomacy used the partition of the German ecclesiastical lands and
+the threatened collapse of the Ottoman power as a potent means of
+busying the Continental States and leaving Great Britain isolated.
+Moreover, the great island State was passing through ministerial and
+financial difficulties which robbed her of all the fruits of her naval
+triumphs and made her diplomacy at Amiens the laughing-stock of the
+world. When monarchical ideas were thus discredited, it was idle to
+expect peace. The struggling upwards towards a higher plane had indeed
+begun; democracy had effected a lodgment in Western Europe; but the
+old order in its bewildered gropings after some sure basis had not yet
+touched bottom on that rock of nationality which was to yield a new
+foundation for monarchy amidst the strifes of the nineteenth century.
+Only when the monarchs received the support of their French-hating
+subjects could an equilibrium of force and of enthusiasms yield the
+long-sought opportunity for a durable peace.[218]
+
+
+
+The negotiations at Amiens had amply shown the great difficulty of the
+readjustment of European affairs. If our Ministers had manifested
+their real feelings about Napoleon's presidency of the Italian
+Republic, war would certainly have broken forth. But, as has been
+seen, they preferred to assume the attitude of the ostrich, the worst
+possible device both for the welfare of Europe and the interests of
+Great Britain; for it convinced Napoleon that he could safely venture
+on other interventions; and this he proceeded to do in the affairs of
+Italy, Holland, and Switzerland.
+
+On September 21st, 1802, appeared a _senatus consultum_ ordering the
+incorporation of Piedmont in France. This important territory,
+lessened by the annexation of its eastern parts to the Italian
+Republic, had for five months been provisionally administered by a
+French general as a military district of France. Its definite
+incorporation in the great Republic now put an end to all hopes of
+restoration of the House of Savoy. For the King of Sardinia, now an
+exile in his island, the British Ministry had made some efforts at
+Amiens; but, as it knew that the Czar and the First Consul had agreed
+on offering him some suitable indemnity, the hope was cherished that
+the new sovereign, Victor Emmanuel I., would be restored to his
+mainland possessions. That hope was now at an end. In vain did Lord
+Whitworth, our ambassador at Paris, seek to help the Russian envoy to
+gain a fit indemnity. Sienna and its lands were named, as if in
+derision; and though George III. and the Czar ceased not to press the
+claims of the House of Savoy, yet no more tempting offer came from
+Paris, except a hint that some part of European Turkey might be found
+for him; and the young ruler nobly refused to barter for the petty
+Siennese, or for some Turkish pachalic, his birthright to the lands
+which, under a happier Victor Emmanuel, were to form the nucleus of a
+United Italy.[219] A month after the absorption of Piedmont came the
+annexation of Parma. The heir to that duchy, who was son-in-law to the
+King of Spain, had been raised to the dignity of King of Etruria; and
+in return for this aggrandizement in Europe, Charles IV. bartered away
+to France the whole of Louisiana. Nevertheless, the First Consul kept
+his troops in Parma, and on the death of the old duke in October,
+1802, Parma and its dependencies were incorporated in the French
+Republic.
+
+The naval supremacy of France in the Mediterranean was also secured by
+the annexation of the Isle of Elba with its excellent harbour of Porto
+Ferrajo. Three deputies from Elba came to Paris to pay their respects
+to their new ruler. The Minister of War was thereupon charged to treat
+them with every courtesy, to entertain them at dinner, to give them
+3,000 francs apiece, and to hint that on their presentation to
+Bonaparte they might make a short speech expressing the pleasure of
+their people at being united with France. By such deft rehearsals did
+this master in the art of scenic displays weld Elba on to France and
+France to himself.
+
+Even more important was Bonaparte's intervention in Switzerland. The
+condition of that land calls for some explanation. For wellnigh three
+centuries the Switzers had been grouped in thirteen cantons, which
+differed widely in character and constitution. The Central or Forest
+Cantons still retained the old Teutonic custom of regulating their
+affairs in their several folk-moots, at which every householder
+appeared fully armed. Elsewhere the confederation had developed less
+admirable customs, and the richer lowlands especially were under the
+hereditary control of rich burgher families. There was no constitution
+binding these States in any effective union. Each of the cantons
+claimed a governmental sovereignty that was scarcely impaired by the
+deliberations of the Federal Diet. Besides these sovereign States were
+others that held an ill-defined position as allies; among these were
+Geneva, Basel, Bienne, Saint Gall, the old imperial city of Mühlhausen
+in Alsace, the three Grisons, the principality of Neufchâtel, and
+Valais on the Upper Rhone. Last came the subject-lands, Aargau,
+Thurgau, Ticino, Vaud, and others, which were governed in various
+degrees of strictness by their cantonal overlords. Such was the old
+Swiss Confederacy: it somewhat resembled that chaotic Macedonian
+league of mountain clans, plain-dwellers, and cities, which was so
+profoundly influenced by the infiltration of Greek ideas and by the
+masterful genius of Philip. Switzerland was likewise to be shaken by a
+new political influence, and thereafter to be controlled by the
+greatest statesman of the age.
+
+On this motley group of cantons and districts the French Revolution
+exerted a powerful influence; and when, in 1798, the people of Vaud
+strove to throw off the yoke of Berne, French troops, on the
+invitation of the insurgents, invaded Switzerland, quelled the brave
+resistance of the central cantons, and ransacked the chief of the
+Swiss treasuries. After the plunderers came the constitution-mongers,
+who forthwith forced on Switzerland democracy of the most French and
+geometrical type: all differences between the sovereign cantons,
+allies, and subject-lands were swept away, and Helvetia was
+constituted as an indivisible republic--except Valais, which was to be
+independent, and Geneva and Mühlhausen, which were absorbed by France.
+The subject districts and non-privileged classes benefited
+considerably by the social reforms introduced under French influence;
+but a constitution recklessly transferred from Paris to Berne could
+only provoke loathing among a people that never before had submitted
+to foreign dictation. Moreover, the new order of things violated the
+most elementary needs of the Swiss, whose racial and religious
+instincts claimed freedom of action for each district or canton.
+
+Of these deep-seated feelings the oligarchs of the plains, no less
+than the democrats of the Forest Cantons, were now the champions;
+while the partisans of the new-fangled democracy were held up to scorn
+as the supporters of a cast-iron centralization. It soon became clear
+that the constitution of 1798 could be perpetuated only by the support
+of the French troops quartered on that unhappy land; for throughout
+the years 1800 and 1801 the political see-saw tilted every few months,
+first in favour of the oligarchic or federal party, then again towards
+their unionist opponents. After the Peace of Lunéville, which
+recognized the right of the Swiss to adopt what form of government
+they thought fit, some of their deputies travelled to Paris with the
+draft of a constitution lately drawn up by the Chamber at Berne, in
+the hope of gaining the assent of the First Consul to its provisions
+and the withdrawal of French troops. They had every reason for hope:
+the party then in power at Berne was that which favoured a centralized
+democracy, and their plenipotentiary in Paris, a thorough republican
+named Stapfer, had been led to hope that Switzerland would now be
+allowed to carve out its own destiny. What, then, was his surprise to
+find the First Consul increasingly enamoured of federalism. The
+letters written by Stapfer to the Swiss Government at this time are
+highly instructive.[220]
+
+On March 10th, 1801, he wrote:
+
+     "What torments us most is the cruel uncertainty as to the real aims
+     of the French Government. Does it want to federalize us in order to
+     weaken us and to rule more surely by our divisions: or does it
+     really desire our independence and welfare, and is its delay only
+     the result of its doubts as to the true wishes of the Helvetic
+     nation?"
+
+Stapfer soon found that the real cause of delay was the non-completion
+of the cession of Valais, which Bonaparte urgently desired for the
+construction of a military road across the Simplon Pass; and as the
+Swiss refused this demand, matters remained at a standstill. "The
+whole of Europe would not make him give up a favourite scheme," wrote
+Stapfer on April 10th; "the possession of Valais is one of the matters
+closest to his heart."
+
+The protracted pressure of a French army of occupation on that already
+impoverished land proved irresistible; and some important
+modifications of the Swiss project of a constitution, on which the
+First Consul insisted, were inserted in the new federal compact of
+May, 1801. Switzerland was now divided into seventeen cantons; and
+despite the wish of the official Swiss envoys for a strongly
+centralized government, Bonaparte gave large powers to the cantonal
+authorities. His motives in this course of action have been variously
+judged. In giving greater freedom of movement to the several cantons,
+he certainly adopted the only statesmanlike course: but his conduct
+during the negotiation, his retention of Valais, and the continued
+occupation of Switzerland by his troops, albeit in reduced numbers,
+caused many doubts as to the sincerity of his desire for a final
+settlement.
+
+The unionist majority at Berne soon proceeded to modify his proposals,
+which they condemned as full of defects and contradictions; while the
+federals strove to keep matters as they were. In the month of October
+their efforts succeeded, thanks to the support of the French
+ambassador and soldiery; they dissolved the Assembly, annulled its
+recent amendments; and their influence procured for Reding, the head
+of the oligarchic party, the office of Landamman, or supreme
+magistrate. So reactionary, however, were their proceedings, that the
+First Consul recalled the French general as a sign of his displeasure
+at his help recently offered to the federals. Their triumph was brief:
+while their chiefs were away at Easter, 1802, the democratic unionists
+effected another _coup d'état_--it was the fourth--and promulgated one
+more constitution. This change seems also to have been brought about
+with the connivance of the French authorities:[221] their refusal to
+listen to Stapfer's claims for a definite settlement, as well as their
+persistent hints that the Swiss could not by themselves arrange their
+own affairs, argued a desire to continue the epoch of quarterly _coups
+d'état_.
+
+The victory of the so-called democrats at Berne now brought the whole
+matter to the touch. They appealed to the people in the first Swiss
+_plébiscite_, the precursor of the famous _referendum_. It could now
+be decided without the interference of French troops; for the First
+Consul had privately declared to the new Landamman, Dolder, that he
+left it to his Government to decide whether the foreign soldiery
+should remain as a support or should evacuate Switzerland.[222] After
+many searchings of heart, the new authorities decided to try their
+fortunes alone--a response which must have been expected at Paris,
+where Stapfer had for months been urging the removal of the French
+forces. For the first time since the year 1798 Switzerland was
+therefore free to declare her will. The result of the _plébiscite_ was
+decisive enough, 72,453 votes being cast in favour of the latest
+constitution, and 92,423 against it. Nothing daunted by this rebuff,
+and, adopting a device which the First Consul had invented for the
+benefit of Dutch liberty, the Bernese leaders declared that the
+167,172 adult voters who had not voted at all must reckon as approving
+the new order of things. The flimsiness of this pretext was soon
+disclosed. The Swiss had had enough of electioneering tricks,
+hole-and-corner revolutions, and paper compacts. They rushed to arms;
+and if ever Carlyle's appeal away from ballot-boxes and parliamentary
+tongue-fencers to the primæval _mights of man_ can be justified, it
+was in the sharp and decisive conflicts of the early autumn of 1802 in
+Switzerland. The troops of the central authorities, marching forth
+from Berne to quell the rising ferment, sustained a repulse at the
+foot of Mont Pilatus, as also before the walls of Zürich; and, the
+revolt of the federals ever gathering force, the Helvetic authorities
+were driven from Berne to Lausanne. There they were planning flight
+across the Lake of Geneva to Savoy, when, on October 15th, the arrival
+of Napoleon's aide-de-camp, General Rapp, with an imperious
+proclamation dismayed the federals and promised to the discomfited
+unionists the mediation of the First Consul for which they had humbly
+pleaded.[223]
+
+Napoleon had apparently viewed the late proceedings in Switzerland
+with mingled feelings of irritation and amused contempt. "Well, there
+you are once more in a Revolution" was his hasty comment to Stapfer at
+a diplomatic reception shortly after Easter; "try and get tired of all
+that." It is difficult, however, to believe that so keen-sighted a
+statesman could look forward to anything but commotions for a land
+that was being saddled with an impracticable constitution, and whence
+the controlling French forces were withdrawn at that very crisis. He
+was certainly prepared for the events of September: many times he had
+quizzingly asked Stapfer how the constitution was faring, and he must
+have received with quiet amusement the solemn reply that there could
+be no doubt as to its brilliant success. When the truth flashed
+on Stapfer he was dumbfoundered, especially as Talleyrand at first
+mockingly repulsed any suggestion of the need of French mediation, and
+went on to assure him that his master had neither counselled nor
+approved the last constitution, the unfitness of which was now shown
+by the widespread insurrection. Two days later, however, Napoleon
+altered his tone and directed Talleyrand vigorously to protest against
+the acts and proclamations of the victorious federals as "the most
+violent outrage to French honour." On the last day of September he
+issued a proclamation to the Swiss declaring that he now revoked his
+decision not to mingle in Swiss politics, and ordered the federal
+authorities and troops to disperse, and the cantons to send deputies
+to Paris for the regulation of their affairs under his mediation.
+Meanwhile he bade the Swiss live once more in hope: their land was on
+the brink of a precipice, but it would soon be saved! Rapp carried
+analogous orders to Lausanne and Berne, while Ney marched in with a
+large force of French troops that had been assembled near the Swiss
+frontiers.
+
+So glaring a violation of Swiss independence and of the guaranteeing
+Treaty of Lunéville aroused indignation throughout Europe. But Austria
+was too alarmed at Prussian aggrandizement in Germany to offer any
+protest; and, indeed, procured some trifling gains by giving France a
+free hand in Switzerland.[224] The Court of Berlin, then content to
+play the jackal to the French lion, revealed to the First Consul the
+appeals for help privately made to Prussia by the Swiss federals:[225]
+the Czar, influenced doubtless by his compact with France concerning
+German affairs, and by the advice of his former tutor, the Swiss
+Laharpe, offered no encouragement; and it was left to Great Britain to
+make the sole effort then attempted for the cause of Swiss
+independence. For some time past the cantons had made appeals to
+the British Government, which now, in response, sent an English agent,
+Moore, to confer with their chiefs, and to advance money and promise
+active support if he judged that a successful resistance could be
+attempted.[226] The British Ministry undoubtedly prepared for an open
+rupture with France on this question. Orders were immediately sent
+from London that no more French or Dutch colonies were to be handed
+back; and, as we have seen, the Cape of Good Hope and the French
+settlements in India were refused to the Dutch and French officers who
+claimed their surrender.
+
+Hostilities, however, were for the present avoided. In face of the
+overwhelming force which Ney had close at hand, the chiefs of the
+central cantons shrank from any active opposition; and Moore, finding
+on his arrival at Constance that they had decided to submit, speedily
+returned to England. Ministers beheld with anger and dismay the
+perpetuation of French supremacy in that land; but they lacked the
+courage openly to oppose the First Consul's action, and gave orders
+that the stipulated cessions of French and Dutch colonies should take
+effect.
+
+The submission of the Swiss and the weakness of all the Powers
+encouraged the First Consul to impose his will on the deputies from
+the cantons, who assembled at Paris at the close of the year 1802. He
+first caused their aims and the capacity of their leaders to be
+sounded in a Franco-Swiss Commission, and thereafter assembled them at
+St. Cloud on Sunday, December 12th. He harangued them at great length,
+hinting very clearly that the Swiss must now take a far lower place in
+the scale of peoples than in the days when France was divided into
+sixty fiefs, and that union with her could alone enable them to play a
+great part in the world's affairs: nevertheless, as they clung to
+independence he would undertake in his quality of mediator to end
+their troubles, and yet leave them free. That they could attain unity
+was a mere dream of their metaphysicians: they must rely on the
+cantonal organization, always provided that the French and Italian
+districts of Vaud and the upper Ticino were not subject to the central
+or German cantons: to prevent such a dishonour he would shed the blood
+of 50,000 Frenchmen: Berne must also open its golden book of the
+privileged families to include four times their number. For the rest,
+the Continental Powers could not help them, and England had "no right
+to meddle in Swiss affairs." The same menace was repeated in more
+strident tones on January 29th:
+
+     "I tell you that I would sacrifice 100,000 men rather than allow
+     England to meddle in your affairs: if the Cabinet of St. James
+     uttered a single word for you, it would be all up with you, I would
+     unite you to France: if that Court made the least insinuation of
+     its fears that I would be your Landamman, I would make myself your
+     Landamman."
+
+There spake forth the inner mind of the man who, whether as child,
+youth, lieutenant, general, Consul, or Emperor, loved to bear down
+opposition.[227]
+
+In those days of superhuman activity, when he was carving out one
+colonial Empire in the New World and preparing to found another in
+India, when he was outwitting the Cardinals, rearranging the map of
+Germany, breathing new life into French commerce and striving to
+shackle that of Britain, he yet found time to utter some of the sagest
+maxims as to the widely different needs of the Swiss cantons. He
+assured the deputies that he spoke as a Corsican and a mountaineer,
+who knew and loved the clan system. His words proved it. With sure
+touch he sketched the characteristics of the French and Swiss people.
+Switzerland needed the local freedom imparted by her cantons: while
+France required unity, Switzerland needed federalism: the French
+rejected this last as damaging their power and glory; but the Swiss
+did not ask for glory; they needed "political tranquillity and
+obscurity": moreover, a simple pastoral people must have extensive
+local rights, which formed their chief distraction from the monotony
+of life: democracy was a necessity for the forest cantons; but let not
+the aristocrats of the towns fear that a wider franchise would end
+their influence, for a people dependent on pastoral pursuits would
+always cling to great families rather than to electoral assemblies:
+let these be elected on a fairly wide basis. Then again, what ready
+wit flashed forth in his retort to a deputy who objected to the
+Bernese Oberland forming part of the Canton of Berne: "Where do you
+take your cattle and your cheese?"--"To Berne."--"Whence do you get
+your grain, cloth, and iron?"--"From Berne."--"Very well: 'To Berne,
+from Berne'--you consequently belong to Berne." The reply is a good
+instance of that canny materialism which he so victoriously opposed to
+feudal chaos and monarchical ineptitude.
+
+Indeed, in matters great as well as small his genius pierced to the
+heart of a problem: he saw that the democratic unionists had failed
+from the rigidity of their centralization, while the federals had
+given offence by insufficiently recognizing the new passion for social
+equality.[228] He now prepared to federalize Switzerland on a
+moderately democratic basis; for a policy of balance, he himself being
+at the middle of the see-saw, was obviously required by good sense as
+well as by self-interest. Witness his words to Roederer on this
+subject:
+
+"While satisfying the generality, I cause the patricians to tremble.
+In giving to these last the appearance of power, I oblige them to take
+refuge at my side in order to find protection. I let the people
+threaten the aristocrats, so that these may have need of me. I will
+give them places and distinctions, but they will hold them from me.
+This system of mine has succeeded in France. See the clergy. Every day
+they will become, in spite of themselves, more devoted to my
+government than they had foreseen."
+
+How simple and yet how subtle is this statecraft; simplicity of aim,
+with subtlety in the choice of means: this is the secret of his
+success.
+
+After much preliminary work done by French commissioners and the Swiss
+deputies in committee, the First Consul summed up the results of their
+labours in the Act of Mediation of February 19th, 1803, which
+constituted the Confederation in nineteen cantons, the formerly
+subject districts now attaining cantonal dignity and privileges. The
+forest cantons kept their ancient folk-moots, while the town cantons
+such as Berne, Zürich, and Basel were suffered to blend their old
+institutions with democratic customs, greatly to the chagrin of the
+unionists, at whose invitation Bonaparte had taken up the work of
+mediation.
+
+The federal compact was also a compromise between the old and the new.
+The nineteen cantons were to enjoy sovereign powers under the shelter
+of the old federal pact. Bonaparte saw that the fussy imposition of
+French governmental forms in 1798 had wrought infinite harm, and he
+now granted to the federal authorities merely the powers necessary for
+self-defence: the federal forces were to consist of 15,200 men--a
+number less than that which by old treaty Switzerland had to furnish
+to France. The central power was vested in a Landamman and other
+officers appointed yearly by one of the six chief cantons taken in
+rotation; and a Federal Diet, consisting of twenty-five deputies--one
+from each of the small cantons, and two from each of the six larger
+cantons--met to discuss matters of general import, but the balance of
+power rested with the cantons: further articles regulated the Helvetic
+debt and declared the independence of Switzerland--as if a land could
+be independent which furnished more troops to the foreigner than it
+was allowed to maintain for its own defence. Furthermore, the Act
+breathed not a word about religious liberty, freedom of the Press, or
+the right of petition: and, viewing it as a whole, the friends of
+freedom had cause to echo the complaint of Stapfer that "the First
+Consul's aim was to annul Switzerland politically, but to assure to
+the Swiss the greatest possible domestic happiness."
+
+I have judged it advisable to give an account of Franco-Swiss
+relations on a scale proportionate to their interest and importance;
+they exhibit, not only the meanness and folly of the French Directory,
+but the genius of the great Corsican in skilfully blending the new and
+the old, and in his rejection of the fussy pedantry of French
+theorists and the worst prejudices of the Swiss oligarchs. Had not his
+sage designs been intertwined with subtle intrigues which assured his
+own unquestioned supremacy in that land, the Act of Mediation might be
+reckoned among the grandest and most beneficent achievements. As it
+is, it must be regarded as a masterpiece of able but selfish
+statecraft, which contrasts unfavourably with the disinterested
+arrangements sanctioned by the allies for Switzerland in 1815.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+THE RENEWAL OF WAR
+
+
+The re-occupation of Switzerland by the French in October, 1802, was
+soon followed by other serious events, which convinced the British
+Ministry that war was hardly to be avoided. Indeed, before the treaty
+was ratified, ominous complaints had begun to pass between Paris and
+London.
+
+Some of these were trivial, others were highly important. Among the
+latter was the question of commercial intercourse. The British
+Ministry had neglected to obtain any written assurance that trade
+relations should be resumed between the two countries; and the First
+Consul, either prompted by the protectionist theories of the Jacobins,
+or because he wished to exert pressure upon England in order to extort
+further concessions, determined to restrict trade with us to the
+smallest possible dimensions. This treatment of England was wholly
+exceptional, for in his treaties concluded with Russia, Portugal, and
+the Porte, Napoleon had procured the insertion of clauses which
+directly fostered French trade with those lands. Remonstrances soon
+came from the British Government that "strict prohibitions were being
+enforced to the admission of British commodities and manufactures into
+France, and very vigorous restrictions were imposed on British vessels
+entering French ports"; but, in spite of all representations, we had
+the mortification of seeing the hardware of Birmingham, and the
+ever-increasing stores of cotton and woollen goods, shut out from
+France and her subject-lands, as well as from the French colonies
+which we had just handed back.
+
+In this policy of commercial prohibition Napoleon was confirmed by our
+refusal to expel the Bourbon princes. He declined to accept our
+explanation that they were not officially recognized, and could not be
+expelled from England without a violation of the rights of
+hospitality; and he bitterly complained of the personal attacks made
+upon him in journals published in London by the French _émigrés_. Of
+these the most acrid, namely, those of Peltier's paper, "L'Ambigu,"
+had already received the reprobation of the British Ministry; but, as
+had been previously explained at Amiens, the Addington Cabinet decided
+that it could not venture to curtail the liberty of the Press, least
+of all at the dictation of the very man who was answering the pop-guns
+of our unofficial journals by double-shotted retorts in the official
+"Moniteur." Of these last His Majesty did not deign to make any
+formal complaint; but he suggested that their insertion in the organ
+of the French Government should have prevented Napoleon from
+preferring the present protests.
+
+This wordy war proceeded with unabated vigour on both sides of the
+Channel, the British journals complaining of the Napoleonic
+dictatorship in Continental affairs, while the "Moniteur" bristled
+with articles whose short, sharp sentences could come only from the
+First Consul. The official Press hitherto had been characterized by
+dull decorum, and great was the surprise of the older Courts when the
+French official journals compared the policy of the Court of St. James
+with the methods of the Barbary rovers and the designs of the Miltonic
+Satan.[229] Nevertheless, our Ministry prosecuted and convicted
+Peltier for libel, an act which, at the time, produced an excellent
+impression at Paris.[230]
+
+
+
+But more serious matters were now at hand. Newspaper articles and
+commercial restrictions were not the cause of war, however much they
+irritated the two peoples.
+
+The general position of Anglo-French affairs in the autumn of 1802 is
+well described in the official instructions given to Lord Whitworth
+when he was about to proceed as ambassador to Paris. For this
+difficult duty he had several good qualifications. During his embassy
+at St. Petersburg he had shown a combination of tact and firmness
+which imposed respect, and doubtless his composure under the violent
+outbreaks of the Czar Paul furnished a recommendation for the equally
+trying post at Paris, which he filled with a _sang froid_ that has
+become historic. Possibly a more genial personality might have
+smoothed over some difficulties at the Tuileries: but the Addington
+Ministry, having tried geniality in the person of Cornwallis,
+naturally selected a man who was remarkable for his powers of quiet
+yet firm resistance.
+
+His first instructions of September 10th, 1802, are such as might be
+drawn up between any two Powers entering on a long term of peace. But
+the series of untoward events noticed above overclouded the political
+horizon; and the change finds significant expression in the secret
+instructions of November 14th. He is now charged to state George
+III.'s determination "never to forego his right of interfering in the
+affairs of the Continent on any occasion in which the interests of his
+own dominions or those of Europe in general may appear to him to
+require it." A French despatch is then quoted, as admitting that, for
+every considerable gain of France on the Continent, Great Britain had
+some claim to compensation: and such a claim, it was hinted, might now
+be proffered after the annexation of Piedmont and Parma. Against the
+continued occupation of Holland by French troops and their invasion of
+Switzerland, Whitworth was to make moderate but firm remonstrances,
+but in such a way as not to commit us finally. He was to employ an
+equal discretion with regard to Malta. As Russia and Prussia had as
+yet declined to guarantee the arrangements for that island's
+independence, it was evident that the British troops could not yet be
+withdrawn.
+
+     "His Majesty would certainly be justified in claiming the
+     possession of Malta, as some counterpoise to the acquisitions of
+     France, since the conclusion of the definitive treaty: but it is
+     not necessary to decide now whether His Majesty will be disposed to
+     avail himself of his pretensions in this respect."
+
+Thus between September 10th and November 14th we passed from a
+distinctly pacific to a bellicose attitude, and all but formed the
+decision to demand Malta as a compensation for the recent
+aggrandizements of France. To have declared war at once on these
+grounds would certainly have been more dignified. But, as our Ministry
+had already given way on many topics, a sudden declaration of war on
+Swiss and Italian affairs would have stultified its complaisant
+conduct on weightier subjects. Moreover, the whole drift of
+eighteenth-century diplomacy, no less than Bonaparte's own admission,
+warranted the hope of securing Malta by way of "compensation." The
+adroit bargainer, who was putting up German Church lands for sale, who
+had gained Louisiana by the Parma-Tuscany exchange, and still
+professed to the Czar his good intentions as to an "indemnity" for the
+King of Sardinia, might well be expected to admit the principle of
+compensation in Anglo-French relations when these were being
+jeopardized by French aggrandizement; and, as will shortly appear, the
+First Consul, while professing to champion international law against
+perfidious Albion, privately admitted her right to compensation, and
+only demurred to its practical application when his oriental designs
+were thereby compromised.
+
+Before Whitworth proceeded to Paris, sharp remonstrances had been
+exchanged between the French and British Governments. To our protests
+against Napoleon's interventions in neighbouring States, he retorted
+by demanding "the whole Treaty of Amiens and nothing but that treaty."
+Whereupon Hawkesbury answered: "The state of the Continent at the
+period of the Treaty of Amiens, and nothing but that state." In reply
+Napoleon sent off a counterblast, alleging that French troops had
+evacuated Taranto, that Switzerland had requested his mediation, that
+German affairs possessed no novelty, and that England, having six
+months previously waived her interest in continental affairs, could
+not resume it at will. The retort, which has called forth the
+admiration of M. Thiers, is more specious than convincing.
+Hawkesbury's appeal was, not to the sword, but to law; not to French
+influence gained by military occupations that contravened the Treaty
+of Lunéville, but to international equity.
+
+Certainly, the Addington Cabinet committed a grievous blunder in not
+inserting in the Treaty of Amiens a clause stipulating the
+independence of the Batavian and Helvetic Republics. Doubtless it
+relied on the Treaty of Lunéville, and on a Franco-Dutch convention of
+August, 1801, which specified that French troops were to remain in the
+Batavian Republic only up to the time of the general peace. But it is
+one thing to rely on international law, and quite another thing, in an
+age of violence and chicanery, to hazard the gravest material
+interests on its observance. Yet this was what the Addington Ministry
+had done: "His Majesty consented to make numerous and most important
+restitutions to the Batavian Government on the consideration of that
+Government being independent and not being subject to any foreign
+control."[231] Truly, the restoration of the Cape of Good Hope and of
+other colonies to the Dutch, solely in reliance on the observance of
+international law by Napoleon and Talleyrand, was, as the event
+proved, an act of singular credulity. But, looking at this matter
+fairly and squarely, it must be allowed that Napoleon's reply evaded
+the essence of the British complaint; it was merely an _argumentum ad
+hominem_; it convicted the Addington Cabinet of weakness and
+improvidence; but in equity it was null and void, and in practical
+politics it betokened war.
+
+As Napoleon refused to withdraw his troops from Holland, and continued
+to dominate that unhappy realm, it was clear that the Cape of Good
+Hope would speedily be closed to our ships--a prospect which immensely
+enhanced the value of the overland route to India, and of those
+portals of the Orient, Malta and Egypt. To the Maltese Question we now
+turn, as also, later on, to the Eastern Question, with which it was
+then closely connected.
+
+Many causes excited the uneasiness of the British Government
+about the fate of Malta. In spite of our effort not to wound the
+susceptibilities of the Czar, who was protector of the Order of St.
+John, that sensitive young ruler had taken umbrage at the article
+relating to that island. He now appeared merely as one of the six
+Powers guaranteeing its independence, not as the sole patron and
+guarantor, and he was piqued at his name appearing after that of the
+Emperor Francis![232] For the present arrangement the First Consul was
+chiefly to blame; but the Czar vented his displeasure on England. On
+April 28th, 1802, our envoy at Paris, Mr. Merry, reported as follows:
+
+     "Either the Russian Government itself, or Count Markoff alone
+     personally, is so completely out of humour with us for not having
+     acted in strict concert with them, or him, or in conformity to
+     their ideas in negotiating the definitive treaty (of Amiens), that
+     I find he takes pains to turn it into ridicule, and particularly to
+     represent the arrangement we have made for Malta as impracticable
+     and consequently as completely null."
+
+The despatches of our ambassador at St. Petersburg, Lord St. Helens,
+and of his successor, Admiral Warren, are of the same tenor. They
+report the Czar's annoyance with England over the Maltese affair, and
+his refusal to listen even to the joint Anglo-French request,
+of November 18th, 1802, for his guarantee of the Amiens
+arrangements.[233] A week later Alexander announced that he would
+guarantee the independence of Malta, provided that the complete
+sovereignty of the Knights of St. John was recognized--that is,
+without any participation of the native Maltese in the affairs of that
+Order--and that the island should be garrisoned by Neapolitan troops,
+paid by France and England, until the Knights should be able to
+maintain their independence. This reopening of the question discussed,
+_ad nauseam_, at Amiens proved that the Maltese Question would long
+continue to perplex the world. The matter was still further
+complicated by the abolition of the Priories, Commanderies, and
+property of the Order of St. John by the French Government in the
+spring of 1802--an example which was imitated by the Court of Madrid
+in the following autumn; and as the property of the Knights in the
+French part of Italy had also lapsed, it was difficult to see how the
+scattered and impoverished Knights could form a stable government,
+especially if the native Maltese were not to be admitted to a share in
+public affairs. This action of France, Spain, and Russia fully
+warranted the British Government in not admitting into the fortress
+the 2,000 Neapolitan troops that arrived in the autumn of 1802. Our
+evacuation of Malta was conditioned by several stipulations, five of
+which had not been fulfilled.[234] But the difficulties arising out of
+the reconstruction of this moribund Order were as nothing when
+compared with those resulting from the reopening of a far vaster and
+more complex question--the "eternal" Eastern Question.
+
+Rarely has the mouldering away of the Turkish Empire gone on so
+rapidly as at the beginning of the nineteenth century. Corruption and
+favouritism paralyzed the Government at Constantinople; masterful
+pachas, aping the tactics of Ali Pacha, the virtual ruler of Albania,
+were beginning to carve out satrapies in Syria, Asia Minor, Wallachia,
+and even in Roumelia itself. Such was the state of Turkey when the
+Sultan and his advisers heard with deep concern, in October, 1801,
+that the only Power on whose friendship they could firmly rely was
+about to relinquish Malta. At once he sent an earnest appeal to George
+III. begging him not to evacuate the island. This despatch is not in
+the archives of our Foreign Office; but the letter written from Malta
+by Lord Elgin, our ambassador at Constantinople, on his return home,
+sufficiently shows that the Sultan was conscious of his own weakness
+and of the schemes of partition which were being concocted at Paris.
+Bonaparte had already begun to sound both Austria and Russia on this
+subject, deftly hinting that the Power which did not early join in the
+enterprise would come poorly off. For the present both the rulers
+rejected his overtures; but he ceased not to hope that the anarchy in
+Turkey, and the jealousy which partition schemes always arouse among
+neighbours, would draw first one and then the other into his
+enterprise.[235]
+
+The young Czar's disposition was at that period restless and unstable,
+free from the passionate caprices of his ill-fated father, and attuned
+by the fond efforts of the Swiss democrat Laharpe, to the loftiest
+aspirations of the France of 1789. Yet the son of Paul I. could hardly
+free himself from the instincts of a line of conquering Czars; his
+frank blue eyes, his graceful yet commanding figure, his high broad
+forehead and close shut mouth gave promise of mental energy; and his
+splendid physique and love of martial display seemed to invite him to
+complete the campaigns of Catherine II. against the Turks, and to wash
+out in the waves of the Danube the remorse which he still felt at his
+unwitting complicity in a parricidal plot. Between his love of liberty
+and of foreign conquest he for the present wavered, with a strange
+constitutional indecision that marred a noble character and that
+yielded him a prey more than once to a masterful will or to seductive
+projects. He is the Janus of Russian history. On the one side he faces
+the enormous problems of social and political reform, and yet he
+steals many a longing glance towards the dome of St. Sofia. This
+instability in his nature has been thus pointedly criticised by his
+friend Prince Czartoryski:[236]
+
+     "Grand ideas of the general good, generous sentiments, and the
+     desire to sacrifice to them a part of the imperial authority, had
+     really occupied the Emperor's mind, but they were rather a young
+     man's fancies than a grown man's decided will. The Emperor liked
+     forms of liberty, as he liked the theatre: it gave him pleasure and
+     flattered his vanity to see the appearances of free government in
+     his Empire: but all he wanted in this respect was forms and
+     appearances: he did not expect them to become realities. He would
+     willingly have agreed that every man should be free, on the
+     condition that he should voluntarily do only what the Emperor
+     wished."
+
+This later judgment of the well-known Polish nationalist is probably
+embittered by the disappointments which he experienced at the Czar's
+hands; but it expresses the feeling of most observers of Alexander's
+early career, and it corresponds with the conclusion arrived at by
+Napoleon's favourite aide-de-camp, Duroc, who went to congratulate the
+young Czar on his accession and to entice him into oriental
+schemes--that there was nothing to hope and nothing to fear from the
+Czar. The _mot_ was deeply true.[237]
+
+
+From these oriental schemes the young Czar was, for the time, drawn
+aside towards the nobler path of social reform. The saving influence
+on this occasion was exerted by his old tutor, Laharpe. The
+ex-Director of Switzerland readily persuaded the Czar that Russia
+sorely needed political and social reform. His influence was
+powerfully aided by a brilliant group of young men, the Vorontzoffs,
+the Strogonoffs, Novossiltzoff, and Czartoryski, whose admiration for
+western ideas and institutions, especially those of Britain, helped to
+impel Alexander on the path of progress. Thus, when Napoleon was
+plying the Czar with notes respecting Turkey, that young ruler was
+commencing to bestow system on his administration, privileges on the
+serfs, and the feeble beginnings of education on the people.
+
+While immersed in these beneficent designs, Alexander heard with deep
+chagrin of the annexation of Piedmont and Parma, and that Napoleon
+refused to the King of Sardinia any larger territory than the
+Siennese. This breach of good faith cut the Czar to the quick. It was
+in vain that Napoleon now sought to lure him into Turkish adventures
+by representing that France should secure the Morea for herself, that
+other parts of European Turkey might be apportioned to Victor Emmanuel
+I. and the French Bourbons. This cold-blooded proposal, that ancient
+dynasties should be thrust from the homes of their birth into alien
+Greek or Moslem lands, wounded the Czar's monarchical sentiments. He
+would none of it; nor did he relish the prospect of seeing the French
+in the Morea, whence they could complete the disorder of Turkey and
+seize on Constantinople. He saw whither Napoleon was leading him. He
+drew back abruptly, and even notified to our ambassador, Admiral
+Warren, that _England had better keep Malta._[238]
+
+
+Alexander also, on January 19th, 1803 (O.S.), charged his ambassador
+at Paris to declare that the existing system of Europe must not be
+further disturbed, that each Government should strive for peace and
+the welfare of its own people; that the frequent references of
+Napoleon to the approaching dissolution of Turkey were ill-received at
+St. Petersburg, where they were considered the chief cause of
+England's anxiety and refusal to disarm. He also suggested that the
+First Consul by some public utterance should dispel the fears of
+England as to a partition of the Ottoman Empire, and thus assure the
+peace of the world.[239]
+
+Before this excellent advice was received, Napoleon astonished the
+world by a daring stroke. On the 30th of January the "Moniteur"
+printed in full the bellicose report of Colonel Sebastiani on his
+mission to Algiers, Egypt, Syria, and the Ionian Isles. As that
+mission was afterwards to be passed off as merely of a commercial
+character, it will be well to quote typical passages from the secret
+instructions which the First Consul gave to his envoy on September
+5th, 1802:
+
+     "He will proceed to Alexandria: he will take note of what is in the
+     harbour, the ships, the forces which the British as well as the
+     Turks have there, the state of the fortifications, the state of the
+     towers, the account of all that has passed since our departure both
+     at Alexandria and in the whole of Egypt: finally, the present state
+     of the Egyptians.... He will proceed to St. Jean d'Acre, will
+     recommend the convent of Nazareth to Djezzar: will inform him that
+     the agent of the [French] Republic is to appear at Acre: will find
+     out about the fortifications he has had made: will walk along them
+     himself, if there be no danger."
+
+Fortifications, troops, ships of war, the feelings of the natives, and
+the protection of the Christians--these subjects were to be
+Sebastiani's sole care. Commerce was not once named. The departure of
+this officer had already alarmed our Government. Mr. Merry, our
+_chargé d'affaires_ in Paris, had warned it as to the real aims in
+view, in the following "secret despatch:
+
+     "PARIS, _September 25th,_ 1802.
+
+      "... I have learnt from good authority that he [Sebastiani] was
+     accompanied by a person of the name of Jaubert (who was General
+     Bonaparte's interpreter and confidential agent with the natives
+     during the time he commanded in Egypt), who has carried with him
+     regular powers and instructions, prepared by M. Talleyrand, to
+     treat with Ibrahim-Bey for the purpose of creating a fresh and
+     successful revolt in Egypt against the power of the Porte, and of
+     placing that country again under the direct or indirect dependence
+     of France, to which end he has been authorized to offer assistance
+     from hence in men and money. The person who has confided to me this
+     information understands that the mission to Ibrahim-Bey is confided
+     solely to M. Jaubert, and that his being sent with Colonel
+     Sebastiani has been in order to conceal the real object of it, and
+     to afford him a safe conveyance to Egypt, as well as for the
+     purpose of assisting the Colonel in his transactions with the
+     Regencies of Algiers, Tunis, and Tripoli."[240]
+
+Merry's information was correct: it tallied with the secret
+instructions given by Napoleon to Sebastiani: and our Government, thus
+forewarned, at once adopted a stiffer tone on all Mediterranean and
+oriental questions. Sebastiani was very coldly received by our officer
+commanding in Egypt, General Stuart, who informed him that no orders
+had as yet come from London for our evacuation of that land.
+Proceeding to Cairo, the commercial emissary proposed to mediate
+between the Turkish Pacha and the rebellious Mamelukes, an offer which
+was firmly declined.[241] In vain did Sebastiani bluster and cajole by
+turns. The Pacha refused to allow him to go on to Assouan, the
+headquarters of the insurgent Bey, and the discomfited envoy made his
+way back to the coast and took ship for Acre. Thence he set sail for
+Corfu, where he assured the people of Napoleon's wish that there
+should be an end to their civil discords. Returning to Genoa, and
+posting with all speed to Paris, he arrived there on January 25th,
+1803. Five days later that gay capital was startled by the report of
+his mission, which was printed in full in the "Moniteur." It described
+the wretched state of the Turks in Egypt--the Pacha of Cairo
+practically powerless, and on bad terms with General Stuart, the
+fortifications everywhere in a ruinous state, the 4,430 British troops
+cantoned in and near Alexandria, the Turkish forces beneath contempt.
+"Six thousand French would at present be enough to conquer Egypt." And
+as to the Ionian islands, "I do not stray from the truth in assuring
+you that these islands will declare themselves French as soon as an
+opportunity shall offer itself."[242]
+
+Such were the chief items of this report. Various motives have been
+assigned for its publication. Some writers have seen in it a crushing
+retort to English newspaper articles. Others there are, as M. Thiers,
+who waver between the opinion that the publication of this report was
+either a "sudden unfortunate incident," or a protest against the
+"latitude" which England allowed herself in the execution of the
+Treaty of Amiens.
+
+
+A consideration of the actual state of affairs at the end of January,
+1803, will perhaps guide us to an explanation which is more consonant
+with the grandeur of Napoleon's designs. At that time he was
+all-powerful in the Old World. As First Consul for Life he was master
+of forty millions of men: he was President of the Italian Republic: to
+the Switzers, as to the Dutch, his word was law. Against the
+infractions of the Treaty of Lunéville, Austria dared make no protest.
+The Czar was occupied with domestic affairs, and his rebuff to
+Napoleon's oriental schemes had not yet reached Paris. As for the
+British Ministry, it was trembling from the attacks of the Grenvilles
+and Windhams on the one side, and from the equally vigorous onslaughts
+of Fox, who, when the Government proposed an addition to the armed
+forces, brought forward the stale platitude that a large standing army
+"was a dangerous instrument of influence in the hands of the Crown."
+When England's greatest orator thus impaired the unity of national
+feeling, and her only statesman, Pitt, remained in studied seclusion,
+the First Consul might well feel assured of the impotence of the
+Island Power, and view the bickering of her politicians with the same
+quiet contempt that Philip felt for the Athens of Demosthenes.
+
+But while his prospects in Europe and the East were roseate, the
+western horizon bulked threateningly with clouds. The news of the
+disasters in St. Domingo reached Paris in the first week of the year
+1803, and shortly afterwards came tidings of the ferment in the United
+States and the determination of their people to resist the acquisition
+of Louisiana by France. If he persevered with this last scheme, he
+would provoke war with that republic and drive it into the arms of
+England. From that blunder his statecraft instinctively saved him, and
+he determined to sell Louisiana to the United States.
+
+So unheroic a retreat from the prairies of the New World must be
+covered by a demonstration towards the banks of the Nile and of the
+Indus. It was ever his plan to cover retreat in one direction by
+brilliant diversions in another: only so could he enthrall the
+imagination of France, and keep his hold on her restless capital. And
+the publication of Sebastiani's report, with its glowing description
+of the fondness cherished for France alike by Moslems, Syrian
+Christians, and the Greeks of Corfu; its declamation against the
+perfidy of General Stuart; and its incitation to the conquest of the
+Levant, furnished him with the motive power for effecting a telling
+transformation scene and banishing all thoughts of losses in the
+West.[243]
+
+The official publication of this report created a sensation even in
+France, and was not the _bagatelle_ which M. Thiers has endeavoured to
+represent it.[244] But far greater was the astonishment at Downing
+Street, not at the facts disclosed by the report--for Merry's note
+had prepared our Ministers for them--but rather at the official avowal
+of hostile designs. At once our Government warned Whitworth that he
+must insist on our retaining Malta. He was also to protest against the
+publication of such a document, and to declare that George III. could
+not "enter into any further discussion relative to Malta until he
+received a satisfactory explanation." Far from offering it, Napoleon
+at once complained of our non-evacuation of Alexandria and Malta.
+
+     "Instead of that garrison [of Alexandria] being a means of
+     protecting Egypt, it was only furnishing him with a pretence
+     for invading it. This he should not do, whatever might be his
+     desire to have it as a colony, because he did not think it worth
+     the risk of a war, in which he might perhaps be considered the
+     aggressor, and by which he should lose more than he could gain,
+     since sooner or later Egypt would belong to France, either by the
+     falling to pieces of the Turkish Empire, or by some arrangement
+     with the Porte.... Finally," he asked, "why should not the mistress
+     of the seas and the mistress of the land come to an arrangement and
+     govern the world?"
+
+A subtler diplomatist than Whitworth would probably have taken the
+hint for a Franco-British partition of the world: but the Englishman,
+unable at that moment to utter a word amidst the torrent of argument
+and invective, used the first opportunity merely to assure Napoleon of
+the alarm caused in England by Sebastiani's utterance concerning
+Egypt. This touched the First Consul at the wrong point, and he
+insisted that on the evacuation of Malta the question of peace or war
+must depend. In vain did the English ambassador refer to the extension
+of French power on the Continent. Napoleon cut him short: "I suppose
+you mean Piedmont and Switzerland: ce sont des----: vous n'avez pas le
+droit d'en parler à cette heure." Seeing that he was losing his
+temper, Lord Whitworth then diverted the conversation.[245]
+
+This long tirade shows clearly what were the aims of the First Consul.
+He desired peace until his eastern plans were fully matured. And what
+ruler would not desire to maintain a peace so fruitful in
+conquests--that perpetuated French influence in Italy, Switzerland,
+and Holland, that enabled France to prepare for the dissolution of the
+Turkish Empire and to intrigue with the Mahrattas? Those were the
+conditions on which England could enjoy peace: she must recognize the
+arbitrament of France in the affairs of all neighbouring States, she
+must make no claim for compensation in the Mediterranean, and she must
+endure to be officially informed that she alone could not maintain a
+struggle against France.[246]
+
+But George III. was not minded to sink to the level of a Charles II.
+Whatever were the failings of our "farmer king," he was keenly alive
+to national honour and interests. These had been deeply wounded, even
+in the United Kingdom itself. Napoleon had been active in sending
+"commercial commissioners" into our land. Many of them were proved to
+be soldiers: and the secret instructions sent by Talleyrand to one of
+them at Dublin, which chanced to fall into the hands of our
+Government, showed that they were charged to make plans of the
+harbours, and of the soundings and moorings.[247]
+
+Then again, the French were almost certainly helping Irish
+conspirators. One of these, Emmett, already suspected of complicity in
+the Despard conspiracy which aimed at the King's life, had, after its
+failure, sought shelter in France. At the close of 1802 he returned to
+his native land and began to store arms in a house near Rathfarnham.
+It is doubtful whether the authorities were aware of his plans, or, as
+is more probable, let the plot come to a head. The outbreak did not
+take place till the following July (after the renewal of war), when
+Emmett and some of his accomplices, along with Russell, who stirred up
+sedition in Ulster, paid for their folly with their lives. They
+disavowed any connection with France, but they must have based their
+hope of success on a promised French invasion of our coasts.[248]
+
+The dealings of the French commercial commissioners and the beginnings
+of the Emmett plot increased the tension caused by Napoleon's
+masterful foreign policy; and the result was seen in the King's
+message to Parliament on March 8th, 1803. In view of the military
+preparations and of the wanton defiance of the First Consul's recent
+message to the Corps Législatif, Ministers asked for the embodiment of
+the militia and the addition of 10,000 seamen to the navy. After
+Napoleon's declaration to our ambassador that France was bringing her
+forces on active service up to 480,000 men, the above-named increase
+of the British forces might well seem a reasonable measure of defence.
+Yet it so aroused the spleen of the First Consul that, at a public
+reception of ambassadors on March 13th, he thus accosted Lord
+Whitworth:
+
+     "'So you are determined to go to war.' 'No, First Consul,' I
+     replied, 'we are too sensible of the advantage of peace.' 'Why,
+     then, these armaments? Against whom these measures of precaution? I
+     have not a single ship of the line in the French ports, but if you
+     wish to arm I will arm also: if you wish to fight, I will fight
+     also. You may perhaps kill France, but will never intimidate her.'
+     'We wish,' said I, 'neither the one nor the other. We wish to live
+     on good terms with her.' 'You must respect treaties then,' replied
+     he; 'woe to those who do not respect treaties. They shall answer
+     for it to all Europe.' He was too agitated to make it advisable to
+     prolong the conversation: I therefore made no answer, and he
+     retired to his apartment, repeating the last phrase."[249]
+
+This curious scene shows Napoleon in one of his weaker petulant moods:
+it left on the embarrassed spectators no impression of outraged
+dignity, but rather of the over-weening self-assertion of an autocrat
+who could push on hostile preparations, and yet flout the ambassador
+of the Power that took reasonable precautions in return. The slight
+offered to our ambassador, though hotly resented in Britain, had no
+direct effect on the negotiations, as the First Consul soon took the
+opportunity of tacitly apologizing for the occurrence; but indirectly
+the matter was infinitely important. By that utterance he nailed his
+colours to the mast with respect to the British evacuation of Malta.
+With his keen insight into the French nature, he knew that "honour" was
+its mainspring, and that his political fortunes rested on the
+satisfaction of that instinct. He could not now draw back without
+affronting the prestige of France and undermining his own position. In
+vain did our Government remind him of his admission that "His Majesty
+should keep a compensation out of his conquests for the important
+acquisitions of territory made by France upon the Continent."[250] That
+promise, although official, was secret. Its violation would, at the
+worst, only offend the officials of Whitehall. Whereas, if he now
+acceded to their demand that Malta should be the compensation, he at
+once committed that worst of all crimes in a French statesman, of
+rendering himself ludicrous. In this respect, then, the scene of March
+13th at the Tuileries was indirectly the cause of the bloodiest war that
+has desolated Europe.
+
+Napoleon now regarded the outbreak of hostilities as probable, if not
+certain. Facts are often more eloquent than diplomatic assurances, and
+such facts are not wanting. On March 6th Decaen's expedition had set
+sail from Brest for the East Indies with no anticipation of immediate
+war. On March 16th a fast brig was sent after him with orders that he
+should return with all speed from Pondicherry to the Mauritius.
+Napoleon's correspondence also shows that, as early as March 11th,
+that is, after hearing of George III.'s message to Parliament, he
+expected the outbreak of hostilities: on that day he ordered the
+formation of flotillas at Dunkirk and Cherbourg, and sent urgent
+messages to the sovereigns of Russia, Prussia, and Spain, inveighing
+against England's perfidy. The envoy despatched to St. Petersburg was
+specially charged to talk to the Czar on philosophic questions, and to
+urge him to free the seas from England's tyranny.
+
+Much as Addington and his colleagues loved peace, they were now
+convinced that it was more hazardous than open war. Malta was the only
+effectual bar to a French seizure of Egypt or an invasion of Turkey from
+the side of Corfu. With Turkey partitioned and Egypt in French hands,
+there would be no security against Napoleon's designs on India. The
+British forces evacuated the Cape of Good Hope on February 21st, 1803;
+they set sail from Alexandria on the 17th of the following month. By the
+former act we yielded up to France the sea route to India--for the Dutch
+at the Cape were but the tools of the First Consul: by the latter we
+left Malta as the sole barrier against a renewed land attack on our
+Eastern possessions. The safety of our East Indian possessions was
+really at stake, and yet Europe was asked to believe that the question
+was whether England would or would not evacuate Malta. This was the
+French statement of the case: it was met by the British plea that
+France, having declared her acceptance of the principle of compensation
+for us, had no cause for objecting to the retention of an island so
+vital to our interests.
+
+Yet, while convinced of the immense importance of Malta, the Addington
+Cabinet did not insist on retaining it, if the French Government would
+"suggest some other _equivalent security_ by which His Majesty's
+object in claiming the permanent possession of Malta may be
+accomplished and the independence of the island secured conformably to
+the spirit of the 10th Article of the Treaty of Amiens."[251] To the
+First Consul was therefore left the initiative in proposing some other
+plan which would safeguard British interests in the Levant; and, with
+this qualifying explanation, the British ambassador was charged to
+present to him the following proposals for a new treaty: Malta to
+remain in British hands, the Knights to be indemnified for any losses
+of property which they may thereby sustain: Holland and Switzerland to
+be evacuated by French troops: the island of Elba to be confirmed to
+France, and the King of Etruria to be acknowledged by Great Britain:
+the Italian and Ligurian Republics also to be acknowledged, if "an
+arrangement is made in Italy for the King of Sardinia, which shall be
+satisfactory to him."
+
+Lord Whitworth judged it better not to present these demands point
+blank, but gradually to reveal their substance. This course, he
+judged, would be less damaging to the friends of peace at the
+Tuileries, and less likely to affront Napoleon. But it was all one and
+the same. The First Consul, in his present state of highly wrought
+tension, practically ignored the suggestion of an _equivalent
+security,_ and declaimed against the perfidy of England for daring to
+infringe the treaty, though he had offered no opposition to the Czar's
+proposals respecting Malta, which weakened the stability of the Order
+and sensibly modified that same treaty.
+
+Talleyrand was more conciliatory; and there is little doubt that, had
+the First Consul allowed his brother Joseph and his Foreign Minister
+wider powers, the crisis might have been peaceably passed. Joseph
+Bonaparte urgently pressed Whitworth to be satisfied with Corfu or
+Crete in place of Malta; but he confessed that the suggestion was
+quite unauthorized, and that the First Consul was so enraged on the
+Maltese Question that he dared not broach it to him.[252] Indeed, all
+through these critical weeks Napoleon's relations to his brothers were
+very strained, they desiring peace in Europe so that Louisiana might
+even now be saved to France, while the First Consul persisted in his
+oriental schemes. He seems now to have concentrated his energies on
+the task of postponing the rupture to a convenient date and of casting
+on his foes the odium of the approaching war. He made no proposal that
+could reassure Britain as to the security of the overland routes; and
+he named no other island which could be considered as an equivalent to
+Malta.
+
+To many persons his position has seemed logically unassailable; but it
+is difficult to see how this view can be held. The Treaty of Amiens
+had twice over been rendered, in a technical sense, null and void by the
+action of Continental Powers. Russia and Prussia had not guaranteed the
+state of things arranged for Malta by that treaty; and the action of
+France and Spain in confiscating the property of the Knights in their
+respective lands had so far sapped the strength of the Order that it
+could never again support the expense of the large garrison which the
+lines around Valetta required.
+
+In a military sense, this was the crux of the problem; for no one
+affected to believe that Malta was rendered secure by the presence at
+Valetta of 2,000 troops of the King of Naples, whose realm could
+within a week be overrun by Murat's division. This obvious difficulty
+led Lord Hawkesbury to urge, in his notes of April 13th and later,
+that British troops should garrison the chief fortifications of
+Valetta and leave the civil power to the Knights: or, if that were
+found objectionable, that we should retain complete possession of the
+island for ten years, provided that we were left free to negotiate
+with the King of Naples for the cession of Lampedusa, an islet to the
+west of Malta. To this last proposal the First Consul offered no
+objection; but he still inflexibly opposed any retention of Malta,
+even for ten years, and sought to make the barren islet of Lampedusa
+appear an equivalent to Malta. This absurd contention had, however,
+been exploded by Talleyrand's indiscreet confession "that the
+re-establishment of the Order of St. John was not so much the point to
+be discussed as that of suffering Great Britain to acquire a
+_possession in the Mediterranean_."[253]
+
+This, indeed, was the pith and marrow of the whole question, whether
+Great Britain was to be excluded from that great sea--save at
+Gibraltar and Lampedusa--looking on idly at its transformation into a
+French lake by the seizure of Corfu, the Morea, Egypt, and Malta
+itself; or whether she should retain some hold on the overland route
+to the East. The difficulty was frankly pointed out by Lord Whitworth;
+it was as frankly admitted by Joseph Bonaparte; it was recognized by
+Talleyrand; and Napoleon's desire for a durable peace must have been
+slight when he refused to admit England's claim effectively to
+safeguard her interests in the Levant, and ever fell back on the
+literal fulfilment of a treaty which had been invalidated by his own
+deliberate actions.
+
+Affairs now rapidly came to a climax. On April 23rd the British
+Government notified its ambassador that, if the present terms were not
+granted within seven days of his receiving them, he was to leave
+Paris. Napoleon was no less angered than surprised by the recent turn
+of events. In place of timid complaisance which he had expected from
+Addington, he was met with open defiance; but he now proposed that the
+Czar should offer his intervention between the disputants. The
+suggestion was infinitely skilful. It flattered the pride of the young
+autocrat and promised to yield gains as substantial as those which
+Russian mediation had a year before procured for France from the
+intimidated Sultan; it would help to check the plans for an
+Anglo-Russian alliance then being mooted at St. Petersburg, and, above
+all, it served to gain time.
+
+All these advantages were to a large extent realized. Though the Czar
+had been the first to suggest our retention of Malta, he now began to
+waver. The clearness and precision of Talleyrand's notes, and the
+telling charge of perfidy against England, made an impression which
+the cumbrous retorts of Lord Hawkesbury and the sailor-like diplomacy
+of Admiral Warren failed to efface.[254] And the Russian Chancellor,
+Vorontzoff, though friendly to England, and desirous of seeing her
+firmly established at Malta, now began to complain of the want of
+clearness in her policy. The Czar emphasized this complaint, and
+suggested that, as Malta could not be the real cause of dispute, the
+British Government should formulate distinctly its grievances and so set
+the matter in train for a settlement. The suggestion was not complied
+with. To draw up a long list of complaints, some drawn from secret
+sources and exposing the First Consul's schemes, would have exasperated
+his already ruffled temper; and the proposal can only be regarded as an
+adroit means of justifying Alexander's sudden change of front.
+
+Meanwhile events had proceeded apace at Paris. On April 26th Joseph
+Bonaparte made a last effort to bend his brother's will, but only
+gained the grudging concession that Napoleon would never consent to
+the British retention of Malta for a longer time than three or four
+years. As this would have enabled him to postpone the rupture long
+enough to mature his oriental plans, it was rejected by Lord
+Whitworth, who insisted on ten years as the minimum. The evident
+determination of the British Government speedily to terminate the
+affair, one way or the other, threw Napoleon into a paroxysm of
+passion; and at the diplomatic reception of May 1st, from which Lord
+Whitworth discreetly absented himself, he vehemently inveighed against
+its conduct. Fretted by the absence of our ambassador, for whom this
+sally had been intended, he returned to St. Cloud, and there dictated
+this curious epistle to Talleyrand:
+
+     "I desire that your conference [with Lord Whitworth] shall not
+     degenerate into a conversation. Show yourself cold, reserved, and
+     even somewhat proud. If the [British] note contains the word
+     _ultimatum_ make him feel that this word implies war; if it does
+     not contain this word, make him insert it, remarking to him that we
+     must know where we are, that we are tired of this state of
+     anxiety.... Soften down a little at the end of the conference, and
+     invite him to return before writing to his Court."
+
+But this careful rehearsal was to avail nothing; our stolid ambassador
+was not to be cajoled, and on May 2nd, that is, seven days after his
+presenting our ultimatum, he sent for his passports. He did not,
+however, set out immediately. Yielding to an urgent request, he
+delayed his departure in order to hear the French reply to the British
+ultimatum.[255] It notified sarcastically that Lampedusa was not in
+the First Consul's power to bestow, that any change with reference to
+Malta must be referred by Great Britain to the Great Powers for their
+concurrence, and that Holland would be evacuated as soon as the terms
+of the Treaty of Amiens were complied with. Another proposal was that
+Malta should be transferred to Russia--the very step which was
+proposed at Amiens and was rejected by the Czar: on that account Lord
+Whitworth now refused it as being merely a device to gain time. The
+sending of his passports having been delayed, he received one more
+despatch from Downing Street, which allowed that our retention of
+Malta for ten years should form a secret article--a device which would
+spare the First Consul's susceptibilities on the point of honour. Even
+so, however, Napoleon refused to consider a longer tenure than two or
+three years. And in this he was undoubtedly encouraged by the recent
+despatch from St. Petersburg, wherein the Czar promised his mediation
+in a sense favourable to France. This unfortunate occurrence completed
+the discomfiture of the peace party at the Consular Court, and in a
+long and heated discussion in a council held at St. Cloud on May 11th
+all but Joseph Bonaparte and Talleyrand voted for the rejection of
+the British demands.
+
+On the next day Lord Whitworth left Paris. During his journey to
+Calais he received one more proposal, that France should hold the
+peninsula of Otranto for ten years if Great Britain retained Malta for
+that period; but if this suggestion was made in good faith, which is
+doubtful, its effect was destroyed by a rambling diatribe which
+Talleyrand, at his master's orders, sent shortly afterwards.[256] In
+any case it was looked upon by our ambassador as a last attempt to gain
+time for the concentration of the French naval forces. He crossed the
+Straits of Dover on May 17th, the day before the British declaration of
+war was issued.
+
+On May 22nd, 1803, appeared at Paris the startling order that, as
+British frigates had captured two French merchantmen on the Breton
+coast, all Englishmen between eighteen and sixty years of age who were
+in France should be detained as prisoners of war. The pretext for this
+unheard-of action, which condemned some 10,000 Britons to prolonged
+detention, was that the two French ships were seized prior to the
+declaration of war. This is false: they were seized on May 18th, that
+is, on the day on which the British Government declared war, three
+days after an embargo had been laid on British vessels in French
+ports, and seven days after the First Consul had directed his envoy at
+Florence to lay an embargo on English ships in the ports of
+Tuscany.[257] It is therefore obvious that Napoleon's barbarous decree
+merely marked his disappointment at the failure of his efforts to gain
+time and to deal the first stroke. How sorely his temper was tried by
+the late events is clear from the recital of the Duchesse d'Abrantès,
+who relates that her husband, when ordered to seize English residents,
+found the First Consul in a fury, his eyes flashing fire; and when
+Junot expressed his reluctance to carry out this decree, Napoleon
+passionately exclaimed: "Do not trust too far to my friendship: as
+soon as I conceive doubt as to yours, mine is gone."
+
+Few persons in England now cherished any doubts as to the First
+Consul's hatred of the nation which stood between him and his oriental
+designs. Ministers alone knew the extent of those plans: but every
+ploughboy could feel the malice of an act which cooped up innocent
+travellers on the flimsiest of pretexts. National ardour, and, alas,
+national hatred were deeply stirred.[258] The Whigs, who had paraded the
+clemency of Napoleon, were at once helpless, and found themselves
+reduced to impotence for wellnigh a generation; and the Tories, who
+seemed the exponents of a national policy, were left in power until the
+stream of democracy, dammed up by war in 1793 and again in 1803,
+asserted its full force in the later movement for reform.
+
+Yet the opinion often expressed by pamphleteers, that the war of 1803
+was undertaken to compel France to abandon her republican principles,
+is devoid of a shred of evidence in its favour. After 1802 there were
+no French republican principles to be combated; they had already been
+jettisoned; and, since Bonaparte had crushed the Jacobins, his
+personal claims were favourably regarded at Whitehall, Addington even
+assuring the French envoy that he would welcome the establishment of
+hereditary succession in the First Consul's family.[259] But while
+Bonaparte's own conduct served to refute the notion that the war of
+1803 was a war of principles, his masterful policy in Europe and the
+Levant convinced every well-informed man that peace was impossible;
+and the rupture was accompanied by acts and insults to the "nation of
+shopkeepers" that could be avenged only by torrents of blood.
+Diatribes against perfidious Albion filled the French Press and
+overflowed into splenetic pamphlets, one of which bade odious England
+tremble under the consciousness of her bad faith and the expectation
+of swift and condign chastisement. Such was the spirit in which these
+nations rushed to arms; and the conflict was scarcely to cease until
+Napoleon was flung out into the solitudes of the southern Atlantic.
+
+The importance of the rupture of the Peace of Amiens will be realized if
+we briefly survey Bonaparte's position after that treaty was signed. He
+had regained for his adopted country a colonial empire and had given
+away not a single French island. France was raised to a position of
+assured strength far preferable to the perilous heights attained later
+on at Tilsit. In Australia there was a prospect that the tricolour would
+wave over areas as great and settlements as prosperous as those of New
+South Wales and the infant town of Sydney. From the Ile de France and
+the Cape of Good Hope as convenient bases of operations, British India
+could easily be assailed; and a Franco-Mahratta alliance promised to
+yield a victory over the troops of the East India Company. In Europe the
+imminent collapse of the Turkish Empire invited a partition, whence
+France might hope to gain Egypt and the Morea. The Ionian Isles were
+ready to accept French annexation; and, if England withdrew her troops
+from Malta, the fate of the weak Order of St. John could scarcely be a
+matter of doubt.
+
+For the fulfilment of these bright hopes one thing alone was needed, a
+policy of peace and naval preparation. As yet Napoleon's navy was
+comparatively weak. In March, 1803, he had only forty-three
+line-of-battle ships, ten of which were on distant stations; but he
+had ordered twenty-three more to be built--ten of them in Holland;
+and, with the harbours of France, Holland, Flanders, and Northern
+Italy at his disposal, he might hope, at the close of 1804, to
+confront the flag of St. George with a superiority of force. That was
+the time which his secret instructions to Decaen marked out for the
+outbreak of the war that would yield to the tricolour a world-wide
+supremacy.
+
+These schemes miscarried owing to the impetuosity of their contriver.
+Hustled out of the arena of European politics, and threatened with
+French supremacy in the other Continents, England forthwith drew the
+sword; and her action, cutting athwart the far-reaching web of the
+Napoleonic intrigues, forced France to forego her oceanic plans, to
+muster her forces on the Straits of Dover, and thereby to yield to the
+English race the supremacy in Louisiana, India, and Australia, leaving
+also the destinies of Egypt to be decided in a later age. Viewed from
+the standpoint of racial expansion, the renewal of war in 1803 is the
+greatest event of the century.
+
+[Since this chapter was printed, articles on the same subject have
+appeared in the "Revue Historique" (March-June, 1901) by M.
+Philippson, which take almost the same view as that here presented. I
+cannot, however, agree with the learned writer that Napoleon wanted
+war. I think he did not, _until his navy was ready_; but it was not in
+him to give way.]
+
+
+     NOTE TO THE FIFTH EDITION
+
+     M. Coquelle, in a work which has been translated into English by
+     Mr. Gordon D. Knox (G. Bell and Sons, Ltd.), has shown clearly that
+     the non-evacuation of Holland by Napoleon's troops and the
+     subjection of that Republic to French influence formed the chief
+     causes of war. I refer my readers to that work for details of the
+     negotiations in their final stages.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+EUROPE AND THE BONAPARTES
+
+
+The disappointment felt by Napoleon at England's interruption of his
+designs may be measured, first by his efforts to postpone the rupture,
+and thereafter by the fierce energy which he threw into the war. As
+has been previously noted, the Czar had responded to the First
+Consul's appeal for mediation in notes which seemed to the British
+Cabinet unjustly favourable to the French case. Napoleon now offered
+to recognize the arbitration of the Czar on the questions in dispute,
+and suggested that meanwhile Malta should be handed over to Russia to
+be held in pledge: he on his part offered to evacuate Hanover,
+Switzerland, and Holland, if the British would suspend hostilities, to
+grant an indemnity to the King of Sardinia, to allow Britain to occupy
+Lampedusa, and fully to assure "the independence of Europe," if France
+retained her present frontiers. But when the Russian envoy, Markoff,
+urged him to crown these proposals by allowing Britain to hold Malta
+for a certain time, thereafter to be agreed upon, he firmly refused to
+do so on his own initiative, for that would soil his honour: but he
+would view with resignation its cession to Britain if that proved to
+be the award of Alexander. Accordingly Markoff wrote to his colleague
+at London, assuring him that the peace of the world was now once again
+assured by the noble action of the First Consul.[260]
+
+Were these proposals prompted by a sincere desire to assure a lasting
+peace, or were they put forward as a device to gain time for the
+completion of the French naval preparations? Evidently they were
+completely distrusted by the British Government, and with some reason.
+They were nearly identical with the terms formulated in the British
+ultimatum, which Napoleon had rejected. Moreover, our Foreign Office
+had by this time come to suspect Alexander. On June 23rd Lord
+Hawkesbury wrote that it might be most damaging to British interests
+to place Malta "at the hazard of the Czar's arbitration"; and he
+informed the Russian ambassador, Count Vorontzoff, that the aim of the
+French had obviously been merely to gain time, that their explanations
+were loose and unsatisfactory, and their demands inadmissible, and
+that Great Britain could not acknowledge the present territories of
+the French Republic as permanent while Malta was placed in
+arbitration. In fact, our Government feared that, when Malta had been
+placed in Alexander's hands, Napoleon would lure him into oriental
+adventures and renew the plans of an advance on India. Their fears
+were well founded.
+
+Napoleon's preoccupation was always for the East: on February 21st,
+1803, he had charged his Minister of Marine to send arms and
+ammunition to the Suliotes and Maniotes then revolting against the
+Sultan; and at midsummer French agents were at Ragusa to prepare for a
+landing at the mouth of the River Cattaro.[261] With Turkey rent by
+revolt, Malta placed as a pledge in Russian keeping, and Alexander
+drawn into the current of Napoleon's designs, what might not be
+accomplished? Evidently the First Consul could expect more from this
+course of events than from barren strifes with Nelson's ships in the
+Straits of Dover. For _us_, such a peace was far more risky than war.
+And yet, if the Czar's offer were too stiffly repelled, public opinion
+would everywhere be alienated, and in that has always lain half the
+strength of England's policy.[262] Ministers therefore declared that,
+while they could not accept Russia's arbitration without appeal, they
+would accede to her mediation if it concerned all the causes of the
+present war. This reasonable proposal was accepted by the Czar, but
+received from Napoleon a firm refusal. He at once wrote to Talleyrand,
+August 23rd, 1803, directing that the Russian proposals should be made
+known to Haugwitz, the Prussian Foreign Minister:
+
+     "Make him see all the absurdity of it: tell him that England will
+     never get from me any other treaty than that of Amiens: that _I
+     will never suffer her to have anything in the Mediterranean_; that
+     I will not treat with her about the Continent; that I am resolved
+     to evacuate Holland and Switzerland; but that I will never
+     stipulate this in an article."
+
+As for Russia, he continued, she talked much about the integrity of
+Turkey, but was violating it by the occupation of the Ionian Isles and
+her constant intrigues in Wallachia. These facts were correct: but the
+manner in which he stated them clearly revealed his annoyance that the
+Czar would not wholly espouse the French cause. Talleyrand's views on
+this question may be seen in his letter to Bonaparte, when he assures
+his chief that he has now reaped from his noble advance to the Russian
+Emperor the sole possible advantage--"that of proving to Europe by a
+grand act of frankness your love of peace and to throw upon England
+the whole blame for the war." It is not often that a diplomatist so
+clearly reveals the secrets of his chief's policy.[263]
+
+The motives of Alexander were less questionable. His chief desire at
+that time was to improve the lot of his people. War would disarrange
+these noble designs: France would inevitably overrun the weaker
+Continental States: England would retaliate by enforcing her severe
+maritime code; and the whole world would be rent in twain by this
+strife of the elements.
+
+
+These gloomy forebodings were soon to be realized. Holland was the
+first to suffer. And yet one effort was made to spare her the horrors
+of war. Filled with commiseration for her past sufferings, the British
+Government at once offered to respect her neutrality, provided that
+the French troops would evacuate her fortresses and exact no succour
+either in ships, men, or money.[264] But such forbearance was scarcely
+to be expected from Napoleon, who not only had a French division in
+that land, supported at its expense, but also relied on its maritime
+resources.[265] The proposal was at once set aside at Paris.
+Napoleon's decision to drag the Batavian Republic into the war arose,
+however, from no spasm of the war fever; it was calmly stated in the
+secret instructions issued to General Decaen in the preceding January.
+"It is now considered impossible that we could have war with England,
+without dragging Holland into it." Holland was accordingly once more
+ground between the upper and the nether millstone, between the Sea
+Power and the Land Power, pouring out for Napoleon its resources in
+men and money, and losing to the masters of the sea its ships, foreign
+commerce, and colonies.
+
+Equally hard was the treatment of Naples. In spite of the Czar's plea
+that its neutrality might be respected, this kingdom was at once
+occupied by St. Cyr with troops that held the chief positions on the
+"heel" of Italy. This infraction of the Treaty of Florence was to be
+justified by a proclamation asserting that, as England had retained
+Malta, the balance of power required that France should hold these
+positions as long as England held Malta.[266] This action punished the
+King and Queen of Naples for their supposed subservience to English
+policy; and, while lightening the burdens of the French exchequer, it
+compelled England to keep a large fleet in the Mediterranean for the
+protection of Egypt, and thereby weakened her defensive powers in the
+Straits of Dover. To distract his foes, and compel them to extend
+their lines, was ever Napoleon's aim both in military and naval
+strategy; and the occupation of Taranto, together with the naval
+activity at Toulon and Genoa, left it doubtful whether the great
+captain determined to strike at London or to resume his eastern
+adventures. His previous moves all seemed to point towards Egypt and
+India; and the Admiralty instructions of May 18th, 1803, to Nelson,
+reveal the expectation of our Government that the real blow would fall
+on the Morea and Egypt. Six weeks later our admiral reported the
+activity of French intrigues in the Morea, which was doubtless
+intended to be their halfway house to Egypt--"when sooner or later,
+farewell India."[267] Proofs of Napoleon's designs on the Morea were
+found by Captain Keats of H.M.S. "Superb" on a French vessel that he
+captured, a French corporal having on him a secret letter from an
+agent at Corfu, dated May 23rd, 1803. It ended thus:
+
+     "I have every reason to believe that we shall soon have a
+     revolution in the Morea, as we desire. I have close relations with
+     Crepacchi, and we are in daily correspondence with all the chiefs
+     of the Morea: we have even provided them with munitions of
+     war."[268]
+
+On the whole, however, it seems probable that Napoleon's chief aim now
+was London and not Egypt; but his demonstrations eastwards were so
+skilfully maintained as to convince both the English Government and
+Nelson that his real aim was Egypt or Malta. For this project the
+French _corps d'armée_ in the "heel" of Italy held a commanding
+position. Ships alone were wanting; and these he sought to compel the
+King of Naples to furnish. As early as April 20th, 1803, our _charge
+d'affaires_ at Naples, Mr. à Court, reported that Napoleon was pressing
+on that Government a French alliance, on the ground that:
+
+     "The interests of the two countries are the same: it is the
+     intention of France to shut every port to the English, from Holland
+     to the Turkish dominions, to prevent the exportation of her
+     merchandise, and to give a mortal blow to her commerce, for there
+     she is most vulnerable. Our joint forces may wrest from her hands
+     the island of Malta. The Sicilian navy may convoy and protect the
+     French troops in the prosecution of such a plan, and the most happy
+     result may be augured to their united exertions."
+
+Possibly the King and his spirited but whimsical consort, Queen
+Charlotte, might have bent before the threats which accompanied this
+alluring offer; but at the head of the Neapolitan administration was
+an Englishman, General Acton, whose talents and force of will
+commanded their respect and confidence. To the threats of the French
+ambassador he answered that France was strong and Naples was weak;
+force might overthrow the dynasty; but nothing would induce it to
+violate its neutrality towards England. So unwonted a defiance aroused
+Napoleon to a characteristic revenge. When his troops were quartered
+on Southern Italy, and were draining the Neapolitan resources, the
+Queen wrote appealing to his clemency on behalf of her much burdened
+people. In reply he assured her of his desire to be agreeable to her:
+but how could he look on Naples as a neutral State, when its chief
+Minister was an Englishman? This was "the real reason that justified
+all the measures taken towards Naples."[269] The brutality and
+falseness of this reply had no other effect than to embitter Queen
+Charlotte's hatred against the arbiter of the world's destinies,
+before whom she and her consort refused to bow, even when, three years
+later, they were forced to seek shelter behind the girdle of the
+inviolate sea.
+
+
+
+Hanover also fell into Napoleon's hands. Mortier with 25,000 French
+troops speedily overran that land and compelled the Duke of Cambridge
+to a capitulation. The occupation of the Electorate not only relieved
+the French exchequer of the support of a considerable corps; it also
+served to hold in check the Prussian Court, always preoccupied about
+Hanover; and it barred the entrance of the Elbe and Weser to British
+ships, an aim long cherished by Napoleon. To this we retorted by
+blockading the mouths of those rivers, an act which must have been
+expected by Napoleon, and which enabled him to declaim against British
+maritime tyranny. In truth, the beginnings of the Continental System
+were now clearly discernible. The shores of the Continent from the
+south of Italy to the mouth of the Elbe were practically closed to
+English ships, while by a decree of July 15th _any vessel whatsoever_
+that had cleared from a British port was to be excluded from all
+harbours of the French Republic. Thus all commercial nations were
+compelled, slowly but inevitably, to side with the master of the land
+or the mistress of the seas.
+
+In vain did the King of Prussia represent to Napoleon that Hanover was
+not British territory, and that the neutrality of Germany was
+infringed and its interests damaged by the French occupation of
+Hanover and Cuxhaven. His protest was met by an offer from Napoleon to
+evacuate Hanover, Taranto and Otranto, only at the time when England
+should "evacuate Malta and the Mediterranean"; and though the special
+Prussian envoy, Lombard, reported to his master that Napoleon was
+"truth, loyalty, and friendship personified," yet he received not a
+word that betokened real regard for the susceptibilities of Frederick
+William III. or the commerce of his people.[270] For the present,
+neither King nor Czar ventured on further remonstrances; but the First
+Consul had sown seeds of discord which were to bear fruit in the Third
+Coalition.
+
+Having quartered 60,000 French troops on Naples and Hanover, Napoleon
+could face with equanimity the costs of the war. Gigantic as they were,
+they could be met from the purchase money of Louisiana, the taxation and
+voluntary gifts of the French dominions, the subsidies of the Italian
+and Ligurian Republics, and a contribution which he now exacted from
+Spain.
+
+Even before the outbreak of hostilities he had significantly reminded
+Charles IV. that the Spanish marine was deteriorating, and her
+arsenals and dockyards were idle: "But England is not asleep; she is
+ever on the watch and will never rest until she has seized on the
+colonies and commerce of the world."[271] For the present, however,
+the loss of Trinidad and the sale of Louisiana rankled too deeply to
+admit of Spain entering into another conflict, whence, as before,
+Napoleon would doubtless gain the glory and leave to her the burden of
+territorial sacrifices. In spite of his shameless relations to the
+Queen of Spain, Godoy, the Spanish Minister, was not devoid of
+patriotism; and he strove to evade the obligations which the treaty of
+1796 imposed on Spain in case of an Anglo-French conflict. He embodied
+the militia of the north of Spain and doubtless would have defied
+Bonaparte's demands, had Russia and Prussia shown any disposition to
+resist French aggressions. But those Powers were as yet wholly devoted
+to private interests; and when Napoleon threatened Charles IV. and
+Godoy with an inroad of 80,000 French troops unless the Spanish
+militia were dissolved and 72,000,000 francs were paid every year into
+the French exchequer, the Court of Madrid speedily gave way. Its
+surrender was further assured by the thinly veiled threat that further
+resistance would lead to the exposure of the _liaison_ between Godoy
+and the Queen. Spain therefore engaged to pay the required sum--more
+than double the amount stipulated in 1796--to further the interests of
+French commerce and to bring pressure to bear on Portugal. At
+the close of the year the Court of Lisbon, yielding to the threats
+of France and Spain, consented to purchase its neutrality by
+the payment of a million francs a month to the master of the
+Continent.[272]
+
+Meanwhile the First Consul was throwing his untiring energies into the
+enterprise of crushing his redoubtable foe. He pushed on the naval
+preparations at all the dockyards of France, Holland, and North Italy;
+the great mole that was to shelter the roadstead at Cherbourg was
+hurried forward, and the coast from the Seine to the Rhine became "a
+coast of iron and bronze"--to use Marmont's picturesque phrase--while
+every harbour swarmed with small craft destined for an invasion.
+Troops were withdrawn from the Rhenish frontiers and encamped along
+the shores of Picardy; others were stationed in reserve at St. Omer,
+Montreuil, Bruges, and Utrecht; while smaller camps were formed at
+Ghent, Compiègne, and St. Malo. The banks of the Elbe, Weser, Scheldt,
+Somme, and Seine--even as far up as Paris itself--rang with the blows
+of shipwrights labouring to strengthen the flotilla of flat-bottomed
+vessels designed for the invasion of England. Troops, to the number of
+50,000 at Boulogne under Soult, 30,000 at Etaples, and as many at
+Bruges, commanded by Ney and Davoust respectively, were organized
+anew, and by constant drill and exposure to the elements formed the
+tough nucleus of the future Grand Army, before which the choicest
+troops of Czar and Kaiser were to be scattered in headlong rout. To
+all these many-sided exertions of organization and drill, of improving
+harbours and coast fortifications, of ship-building, testing,
+embarking, and disembarking, the First Consul now and again applied
+the spur of his personal supervision; for while the warlike enthusiasm
+which he had aroused against perfidious Albion of itself achieved
+wonders, yet work was never so strenuous and exploits so daring as
+under the eyes of the great captain himself. He therefore paid
+frequent visits to the north coast, surveying with critical eyes the
+works at Boulogne, Calais, Dunkirk,
+
+
+Ostend, and Antwerp. The last-named port engaged his special
+attention. Its position at the head of the navigable estuary of the
+Scheldt, exactly opposite the Thames, marked it out as the natural
+rival of London; he now encouraged its commerce and ordered the
+construction of a dockyard fitted to contain twenty-five battleships
+and a proportionate number of frigates and sloops. Antwerp was to
+become the great commercial and naval emporium of the North Sea. The
+time seemed to favour the design; Hamburg and Bremen were blockaded,
+and London for a space was menaced by the growing power of the First
+Consul, who seemed destined to restore to the Flemish port the
+prosperity which the savagery of Alva had swept away with such profit
+to Elizabethan London. But grand as were Napoleon's enterprises at
+Antwerp, they fell far short of his ulterior designs. He told Las
+Cases at St. Helena that the dockyard and magazines were to have been
+protected by a gigantic fortress built on the opposite side of the
+River Scheldt, and that Antwerp was to have been "a loaded pistol held
+at the head of England."
+
+In both lands warlike ardour rose to the highest pitch. French towns
+and Departments freely offered gifts of gunboats and battleships. And
+in England public men vied with one another in their eagerness to
+equip and maintain volunteer regiments. Wordsworth, who had formerly
+sung the praises of the French Revolution, thus voiced the national
+defiance:
+
+  "No parleying now! In Britain is one breath;
+  We all are with you now from shore to shore;
+  Ye men of Kent, 'tis victory or death."
+
+In one respect England enjoyed a notable advantage. Having declared
+war before Napoleon's plans were matured, she held the command of the
+seas, even against the naval resources of France, Holland, and North
+Italy. The first months of the war witnessed the surrender of St.
+Lucia and Tobago to our fleets; and before the close of the year
+Berbice, Demerara, Essequibo, together with < nearly the whole of the
+French St. Domingo force, had capitulated to the Union Jack. Our naval
+supremacy in the Channel now told with full effect. Frigates were ever
+on the watch in the Straits to chase any French vessels that left
+port. But our chief efforts were to blockade the enemy's ships.
+Despite constant ill-health and frequent gales, Nelson clung to
+Toulon. Admiral Cornwallis cruised off Brest with a fleet generally
+exceeding fifteen sail of the line and several smaller vessels: six
+frigates and smaller craft protected the coast of Ireland; six
+line-of-battle ships and twenty-three lesser vessels were kept in the
+Downs under Lord Keith as a central reserve force, to which the news
+of all events transpiring on the enemy's coast was speedily conveyed
+by despatch boats; the newly invented semaphore telegraphs were also
+systematically used between the Isle of Wight and Deal to convey news
+along the coast and to London. Martello towers were erected along the
+coast from Harwich to Pevensey Bay, at the points where a landing was
+easy. Numerous inventors also came forward with plans for destroying
+the French flotilla, but none was found to be serviceable except the
+rockets of Colonel Congreve, which inflicted some damage at Boulogne
+and elsewhere. Such were the dispositions of our chief naval forces:
+they comprised 469 ships of war, and over 700 armed boats, of all
+sizes.[273]
+
+Our regular troops and militia mustered 180,000 strong; while the
+volunteers, including 120,000 men armed with pikes or similar weapons,
+numbered 410,000. Of course little could be hoped from these last in a
+conflict with French veterans; and even the regulars, in the absence
+of any great generals--for Wellesley was then in India--might have
+offered but a poor resistance to Napoleon's military machine.
+Preparations were, however, made for a desperate resistance. Plans
+were quietly framed for the transfer of the Queen and the royal family
+to Worcester, along with the public treasure, which was to be lodged
+in the cathedral; while the artillery and stores from Woolwich arsenal
+were to be conveyed into the Midlands by the Grand Junction
+Canal.[274]
+
+The scheme of coast-defence which General Dundas had drawn up in 1796
+was now again set in action. It included, not only the disposition of
+the armed forces, but plans for the systematic removal of all
+provisions, stores, animals, and fodder from the districts threatened
+by the invader; and it is clear that the country was far better
+prepared than French writers have been willing to admit. Indeed, so
+great was the expense of these defensive preparations that, when
+Nelson's return from the West Indies disconcerted the enemy's plans,
+Fox merged the statesman in the partisan by the curious assertion that
+the invasion scare had been got up by the Pitt Ministry for party
+purposes.[275] Few persons shared that opinion. The nation was
+animated by a patriotism such as had never yet stirred the sluggish
+veins of Georgian England. The Jacobinism, which Dundas in 1796 had
+lamented as paralyzing the nation's energy, had wholly vanished; and
+the fatality which dogged the steps of Napoleon was already
+discernible. The mingled hatred and fear which he inspired outside
+France was beginning to solidify the national resistance: after
+uniting rich and poor, English and Scots in a firm phalanx in the
+United Kingdom, the national principle was in turn to vivify Spain,
+Russia, and Germany, and thus to assure his overthrow.
+
+Reserving for consideration in another chapter the later developments
+of the naval war, it will be convenient now to turn to important
+events in the history of the Bonaparte family.
+
+The loves and intrigues of the Bonapartes have furnished material enough
+to fill several volumes devoted to light gossip, and naturally so. Given
+an ambitious family, styled _parvenus_ by the ungenerous, shooting aloft
+swiftly as the flames of Vesuvius, ardent as its inner fires, and
+stubborn as its hardened lava--given also an imperious brother
+determined to marry his younger brothers and sisters, not as they
+willed, but as he willed--and it is clear that materials are at hand
+sufficient to make the fortunes of a dozen comediettas.
+
+To the marriage of Pauline Bonaparte only the briefest reference need
+here be made. The wild humour of her blood showed itself before her
+first marriage; and after the death of her husband, General Leclerc,
+in San Domingo, she privately espoused Prince Borghese before the
+legal time of mourning had expired, an indiscretion which much annoyed
+Napoleon (August, 1803). Ultimately this brilliant, frivolous creature
+resided in the splendid mansion which now forms the British embassy in
+Paris. The case of Louis Bonaparte was somewhat different. Nurtured as
+he had been in his early years by Napoleon, he had rewarded him by
+contracting a dutiful match with Hortense Beauharnais (January, 1802);
+but that union was to be marred by a grotesquely horrible jealousy
+which the young husband soon conceived for his powerful brother.
+
+For the present, however, the chief trouble was caused by Lucien,
+whose address had saved matters at the few critical minutes of
+Brumaire. Gifted with a strong vein of literary feeling and oratorical
+fire he united in his person the obstinacy of a Bonaparte, the
+headstrong feelings of a poet, and the dogmatism of a Corsican
+republican. His presumptuous conduct had already embroiled him with
+the First Consul, who deprived him of his Ministry and sent him as
+ambassador to Madrid.[276] He further sinned, first by hurrying on
+peace with Portugal--it is said for a handsome present from
+Lisbon--and later by refusing to marry the widow of the King of
+Etruria. In this he persisted, despite the urgent representations of
+Napoleon and Joseph: "You know very well that I am a republican, and
+that a queen is not what suits me, an ugly queen too!"--" What a pity
+your answer was not cut short, it would have been quite Roman," sneered
+Joseph at his younger brother, once the Brutus of the Jacobin clubs. But
+Lucien was proof against all the splendours of the royal match; he was
+madly in love with a Madame Jouberthon, the deserted wife of a Paris
+stockbroker; and in order to checkmate all Napoleon's attempts to force
+on a hated union, he had secretly married the lady of his choice at the
+village of Plessis-Chamant, hard by his country house (October 26th,
+1803).
+
+The letter which divulged the news of this affair reached the First
+Consul at St. Cloud on an interesting occasion.[277] It was during a
+so-called family concert, to which only the choicest spirits had been
+invited, whence also, to Josephine's chagrin, Napoleon had excluded
+Madame Tallien and several other old friends, whose reputation would
+have tainted the air of religion and morality now pervading the
+Consular Court. While this select company was enjoying the strains of
+the chamber music, and Napoleon alone was dozing, Lucien's missive was
+handed in by the faithful if indiscreet Duroc. A change came over the
+scene. At once Napoleon started up, called out "Stop the music: stop,"
+and began with nervous strides and agitated gestures to pace the hall,
+exclaiming "Treason! it is treason!" Round-eyed, open-mouthed
+wonder seized on the disconcerted musicians, the company rose in
+confusion, and Josephine, following her spouse, besought him to say
+what had happened. "What has happened--why--Lucien has married
+his--mistress."[278]
+
+The secret cause for this climax of fashionable comedy is to be sought
+in reasons of state. The establishment of hereditary power was then
+being secretly and anxiously discussed. Napoleon had no heirs: Joseph's
+children were girls: Lucien's first marriage also had naught but female
+issue: the succession must therefore devolve on Lucien's children by a
+second marriage. But a natural son had already been born to him by
+Madame Jouberthon; and his marriage now promised to make this bastard
+the heir to the future French imperial throne. That was the reason why
+Napoleon paced the hall at St. Cloud, "waving his arms like a
+semaphore," and exclaiming "treason!" Failing the birth of sons to the
+two elder brothers, Lucien's marriage seriously endangered the
+foundation of a Napoleonic dynasty; besides, the whole affair would
+yield excellent sport to the royalists of the Boulevard St. Germain, the
+snarling Jacobins of the back streets, and the newspaper writers of
+hated Albion.
+
+In vain were negotiations set on foot to make Lucien divorce his
+wife. The attempt only produced exasperation, Joseph himself finally
+accusing Napoleon of bad faith in the course of this affair. In the
+following springtime Lucien shook off the dust of France from his
+feet, and declared in a last letter to Joseph that he departed, hating
+Napoleon. The moral to this curious story was well pointed by Joseph
+Bonaparte: "Destiny seems to blind us, and intends, by means of our
+own faults, to restore France some day to her former rulers." [279]
+
+At the very time of the scene at St. Cloud, fortune was preparing for
+the First Consul another matrimonial trouble. His youngest brother,
+Jerome, then aged nineteen years, had shown much aptitude for the
+French navy, and was serving on the American station, when a quarrel
+with the admiral sent him flying in disgust to the shore. There, at
+Baltimore, he fell in love with Miss Paterson, the daughter of a
+well-to-do merchant, and sought her hand in marriage. In vain did the
+French consul remind him that, were he five years older, he would
+still need the consent of his mother. The headstrong nature of his
+race brooked no opposition, and he secretly espoused the young lady at
+her father's residence.
+
+
+Napoleon's ire fell like a blasting wind on the young couple; but
+after waiting some time, in hopes that the storm would blow over, they
+ventured to come to Europe. Thereupon Napoleon wrote to Madame Mère in
+these terms:
+
+     "Jerome has arrived at Lisbon with the woman with whom he lives....
+     I have given orders that Miss Paterson is to be sent back to
+     America.... If he shows no inclination to wash away the dishonour
+     with which he has stained my name, by forsaking his country's flag
+     on land and sea for the sake of a wretched woman, I will cast him
+     off for ever."[280]
+
+The sequel will show that Jerome was made of softer stuff than Lucien;
+and, strange to say, his compliance with Napoleon's dynastic designs
+provided that family with the only legitimate male heirs that were
+destined to sustain its wavering hopes to the end of the century.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX
+
+THE ROYALIST PLOT
+
+
+From domestic comedy, France turned rapidly in the early months of
+1804 to a sombre tragedy--the tragedy of the Georges Cadoudal plot and
+the execution of the Duc d'Enghien.
+
+There were varied reasons why the exiled French Bourbons should
+compass the overthrow of Napoleon. Every month that they delayed
+action lessened their chances of success. They had long clung to the
+hope that his Concordat with the Pope and other anti-revolutionary
+measures betokened his intention to recall their dynasty. But in
+February, 1803, the Comte de Provence received overtures which showed
+that Bonaparte had never thought of playing the part of General Monk.
+The exiled prince, then residing at Warsaw, was courteously but most
+firmly urged by the First Consul to renounce both for himself and for
+the other members of his House all claims to the throne of France, in
+return for which he would receive a pension of two million francs a
+year. The notion of sinking to the level of a pensionary of the French
+Republic touched Bourbon pride to the quick and provoked this spirited
+reply:
+
+     "As a descendant of St. Louis, I shall endeavour to imitate his
+     example by respecting myself even in captivity. As successor to
+     Francis I., I shall at least aspire to say with him: 'We have lost
+     everything but our honour."'
+
+To this declaration the Comte d'Artois, his son, the Duc de Berri,
+Louis Philippe of Orleans, his two sons, and the two Condés gave their
+ardent assent; and the same loyal response came from the young Condé,
+the Duc d'Enghien, dated Ettenheim, March 22nd, 1803. Little did men
+think when they read this last defiance to Napoleon that within a year
+its author would be flung into a grave in the moat of the Castle of
+Vincennes.
+
+Scarcely had the echoes of the Bourbon retorts died away than the
+outbreak of war between England and France raised the hopes of the
+French royalist exiles in London; and their nimble fancy pictured the
+French army and nation as ready to fling themselves at the feet of
+Louis XVIII. The future monarch did not share these illusions. In the
+chilly solitudes of Warsaw he discerned matters in their true light,
+and prepared to wait until the vaulting ambition of Napoleon should
+league Europe against him. Indeed, when the plans of the forward wing
+in London were explained to him, with a view of enlisting his support,
+he deftly waved aside the embarrassing overtures by quoting the lines:
+
+                               "Et pour être approuvés
+  De semblables projets veulent être achevés,"
+
+a cautious reply which led his brother, then at Edinburgh, scornfully
+to contemn his _feebleness_ as unworthy of any further confidences.[281]
+In truth, the Comte d'Artois, destined one day to be Charles X. of
+France, was not fashioned by nature for a Fabian policy of delay: not
+even the misfortunes of exile could instill into the watertight
+compartments of his brain the most elementary notions of prudence.
+Daring, however, attracts daring; and this prince had gathered around
+him in our land the most desperate of the French royalists, whose hopes,
+hatreds, schemes, and unending requests for British money may be scanned
+by the curious in some thirty large volumes of letters bequeathed by
+their factotum the Comte de Puisaye, to the British Museum.
+Unfortunately this correspondence throws little light on the details of
+the plot which is fitly called by the name of Georges Cadoudal.
+
+This daring Breton was, in fact, the only man of action on whom the
+Bourbon princes could firmly rely for an enterprise that demanded a
+cool head, cunning in the choice of means, and a remorseless hand.
+Pichegru it is true, lived near London, but saw little of the
+_émigrés_, except the venerable Condé. Dumouriez also was in the great
+city, but his name was too generally scorned in France for his
+treachery in 1793 to warrant his being used. But there were plenty of
+swashbucklers who could prepare the ground in France, or, if fortune
+favoured, might strike the blow themselves; and a small committee of
+French royalists, which had the support of that furious royalist, Mr.
+Windham, M.P., began even before the close of 1802 to discuss plans
+for the "removal" of Bonaparte. Two of their tools, Picot and Le
+Bourgeois by name, plunged blindly into a plot, and were arrested soon
+after they set foot in France. Their boyish credulity seems to have
+suggested to the French authorities the sending of an agent so as to
+entrap not only French _émigrés_, but also English officials and
+Jacobinical generals.
+
+The _agent provocateur_ has at all times been a favourite tool of
+continental Governments: but rarely has a more finished specimen of
+the class been seen than Méhée de la Touche. After plying the trade of
+an assassin in the September massacres of 1792, and of a Jacobin spy
+during the Terror, he had been included by Bonaparte among the Jacobin
+scapegoats who expiated the Chouan outrage of Nivôse. Pining in the
+weariness of exile, he heard from his wife that he might be pardoned
+if he would perform some service for the Consular Government. At once
+he consented, and it was agreed that he should feign royalism, should
+worm himself into the secrets of the _émigrés_ at London, and act as
+intermediary between them and the discontented republicans of Paris.
+
+The man who seems to have planned this scheme was the ex-Minister of
+Police. Fouché had lately been deprived by Bonaparte of the
+inquisitorial powers which he so unscrupulously used. His duties were
+divided between Régnier, the Grand Judge and Minister of Justice, and
+Réal, a Councillor of State, who watched over the internal security of
+France. These men had none of the ability of Fouché, nor did they know
+at the outset what Méhée was doing in London. It may, therefore, be
+assumed that Méhée was one of Fouché's creatures, whom he used to
+discredit his successor, and that Bonaparte welcomed this means of
+quickening the zeal of the official police, while he also wove his
+meshes round plotting _émigrés_, English officials, and French
+generals.[282]
+
+Among these last there was almost chronic discontent, and Bonaparte
+claimed to have found out a plot whereby twelve of them should divide
+France into as many portions, leaving to him only Paris and its
+environs. If so, he never made any use of his discovery. In fact, out
+of this group of malcontents, Moreau, Bernadotte, Augereau, Macdonald,
+and others, he feared only the hostility of the first. The victor of
+Hohenlinden lived in sullen privacy near to Paris, refusing to present
+himself at the Consular Court, and showing his contempt for those who
+donned a courtier's uniform. He openly mocked at the Concordat; and
+when the Legion of Honour was instituted, he bestowed a collar of
+honour upon his dog. So keen was Napoleon's resentment at this
+raillery that he even proposed to send him a challenge to a duel in
+the Bois de Boulogne.[283] The challenge, of course, was not sent; a
+show of reconciliation was assumed between the two warriors; but
+Napoleon retained a covert dislike of the man whose brusque
+republicanism was applauded by a large portion of the army and by the
+_frondeurs_ of Paris.
+
+The ruin of Moreau, and the confusion alike of French royalists and
+of the British Ministry, could now be assured by the encouragement of
+a Jacobin-Royalist conspiracy, in which English officials should be
+implicated. Moreau was notoriously incapable in the sphere of
+political intrigue: the royalist coteries in London presented just the
+material on which the _agent provocateur_ delights to work; and some
+British officials could, doubtless, with equal ease be drawn into the
+toils. Méhée de la Touche has left a highly spiced account of his
+adventures; but it must, of course, be received with distrust.[284]
+
+Proceeding first to Guernsey, he gained the confidence of the
+Governor, General Doyle; and, fortified by recommendations from him,
+he presented himself to the _émigrés_ at London, and had an interview
+with Lord Hawkesbury and the Under-Secretaries of State, Messrs.
+Hammond and Yorke. He found it easy to inflame the imagination of the
+French exiles, who clutched at the proposed union between the
+irreconcilables, the extreme royalists, and the extreme republicans;
+and it was forthwith arranged that Napoleon's power, which rested on
+the support of the peasants, in fact of the body of France, should be
+crushed by an enveloping move of the tips of the wings.
+
+Méhée's narrative contains few details and dates, such as enable one
+to test his assertions. But I have examined the Puisaye Papers,[285]
+and also the Foreign and Home Office archives, and have found proofs
+of the complicity of our Government, which it will be well to present
+here connectedly. Taken singly they are inconclusive, but collectively
+their importance is considerable. In our Foreign Office Records
+(France, No 70) there is a letter, dated London, August 30th, 1803,
+from the Baron de Roll, the factotum of the exiled Bourbons, to Mr.
+Hammond, our Permanent Under-Secretary at the Foreign Office, asking
+him to call on the Comte d'Artois at his residence, No. 46, Baker
+Street. That the deliberations at that house were not wholly peaceful
+appears from a long secret memorandum of October 24th, 1803, in which
+the Comte d'Artois reviews the career of "that _miserable adventurer_"
+(Bonaparte), so as to prove that his present position is precarious
+and tottering. He concludes by naming those who desired his
+overthrow--Moreau, Reynier, Bernadotte, Simon, Masséna, Lannes, and
+Férino: Sieyès, Carnot, Chénier, Fouché, Barras, Tallien, Rewbel,
+Lamarque, and Jean de Bry. Others would not attack him "corps à
+corps," but disliked his supremacy. These two papers prove that our
+Government was aware of the Bourbon plot. Another document, dated
+London, November 18th, 1803, proves its active complicity. It is a
+list of the French royalist officers "who had set out or were ready to
+set out." All were in our pay, two at six shillings, five at four
+shillings, and nine at two shillings a day. It would be indelicate to
+reveal the names, but among them occurs that of Joachim P.J. Cadoudal.
+The list is drawn up and signed by Frieding--a name that was
+frequently used by Pichegru as an _alias_. In his handwriting also is
+a list of "royalist officers for whom I demand a year's pay in
+advance"--five generals, thirteen _chefs de légion_, seventeen _chefs
+de bataillon_, and nineteen captains. The pay claimed amounts to
+£3,110 15_s._[286] That some, at least, of our Admiralty officials
+also aided Cadoudal is proved by a "most secret" letter, dated
+Admiralty Office, July 31st, 1803, from E. N[epean] to Admiral Montagu
+in the Downs, charging him to help the bearer, Captain Wright, in the
+execution of "a very important service," and to provide for him "one
+of the best of the hired cutters or luggers under your orders."
+Another "most secret" Admiralty letter, of January 9th, 1804, orders a
+frigate or large sloop to be got ready to convey secretly "an officer
+of rank and consideration" (probably Pichegru) to the French coast.
+Wright carried over the conspirators in several parties, until chance
+threw him into Napoleon's power and consigned him to an ignominious
+death, probably suicide.
+
+Finally, there is the letter of Mr. Arbuthnot, Parliamentary Secretary
+at the Foreign Office (dated March 12th, 1804), to Sir Arthur Paget,
+in which he refers to the "sad result of all our fine projects for the
+re-establishment of the Bourbons: ... we are, of course, greatly
+apprehensive for poor Moreau's safety."[287]
+
+In face of this damning evidence the ministerial denials of complicity
+must be swept aside.[288] It is possible, however, that the plot was
+connived at, not by the more respectable chiefs, but by young and
+hot-headed officials. Even in the summer of 1803 that Cabinet was
+already tottering under the attacks of the Whigs and the followers of
+Pitt. The blandly respectable Addington and Hawkesbury with his
+"vacant grin"[289] were evidently no match for Napoleon; and
+Arbuthnot himself dubs Addington "a poor wretch universally despised
+and laught at," and pronounces the Cabinet "the most inefficient that
+ever curst a country." I judge, therefore, that our official aid to
+the conspirators was limited to the Under-Secretaries of the Foreign,
+War, and Admiralty Offices. Moreover, the royalist plans, _as revealed
+to our officials_, mainly concerned a rising in Normandy and Brittany.
+Our Government would not have paid the salaries of fifty-four royalist
+officers--many of them of good old French families--if it had been
+only a question of stabbing Napoleon. The lists of those officers were
+drawn up here in November, 1803, that is, three months after Georges
+Cadoudal had set out for Normandy and Paris to collect his
+desperadoes; and it seems most probable that the officers of the
+"royal army" were expected merely to clinch Cadoudal's enterprise by
+rekindling the flame of revolt in the north and west. French agents
+were trying to do the same in Ireland, and a plot for the murder of
+George III. was thought to have been connived at by the French
+authorities. But, when all is said, the British Government must stand
+accused of one of the most heinous of crimes. The whole truth was not
+known at Paris; but it was surmised; and the surmise was sufficient to
+envenom the whole course of the struggle between England and Napoleon.
+
+Having now established the responsibility of British officials in
+this, the most famous plot of the century, we return to describe the
+progress of the conspiracy and the arts employed by Napoleon to defeat
+it. His tool, Méhée de la Touche, after entrapping French royalists
+and some of our own officials in London, proceeded to the Continent in
+order to inveigle some of our envoys. He achieved a brilliant success.
+He called at Munich, in order, as he speciously alleged, to arrange
+with our ambassador there the preparations for the royalist plot. The
+British envoy, who bore the honoured name of Francis Drake, was a
+zealous intriguer closely in touch with the _émigrés_: he was
+completely won over by the arts of Méhée: he gave the spy money,
+supplied him with a code of false names, and even intrusted him with a
+recipe for sympathetic ink. Thus furnished, Méhée proceeded to Paris,
+sent his briber a few harmless bulletins, took his information to the
+police, and, _at Napoleon's dictation_, gave him news that seriously
+misled our Government and Nelson.[290]
+
+
+The same trick was tried on Stuart, our ambassador at Vienna, who had
+a tempting offer from a French agent to furnish news from every French
+despatch to or from Vienna. Stuart had closed with the offer, when
+suddenly the man was seized at the instance of the French ambassador,
+and his papers were searched.[291] In this case there were none that
+compromised Stuart, and his career was not cut short in the
+ignominious manner that befell Drake, over whom there may be inscribed
+as epitaph the warning which Talleyrand gave to young aspirants--"et
+surtout pas trop de zèle."
+
+Thus, while the royalists were conspiring the overthrow of Napoleon,
+he through his agents was countermining their clumsy approach to his
+citadel, and prepared to blow them sky high when their mines were
+crowded for the final rush. The royalist plans matured slowly owing to
+changes which need not be noticed. Georges Cadoudal quitted London,
+and landed at Biville, a smuggler's haunt not far from Dieppe, on
+August 23rd, 1803. Thence he made his way to Paris, and spent some
+months in striving to enlist trusty recruits. It has been stated that
+the plot never aimed at assassination, but at the overpowering of the
+First Consul's escort, and the seizure of his person, during one of
+his journeys. Then he was to be forcibly transferred to the northern
+coast on relays of horses, and hurried over to England.[292] But,
+though the plotters threw the veil of decency over their enterprise by
+calling it kidnapping, they undoubtedly meant murder. Among Drake's
+papers there is a hint that the royalist emissaries were _at first_ to
+speak only of the seizure and deportation of the First Consul.
+
+Whatever may have been their precise aims, they were certainly known
+to Napoleon and his police. On November 1st, 1803, he wrote to
+Régnier:
+
+
+     "You must not be in a hurry about the arrests: when the author
+     [Méhée] has given in all the information, we will draw up a plan
+     with him, and will see what is to be done. I wish him to write to
+     Drake, and, in order to make him trustful, inform him that, before
+     the great blow can be dealt, he believes he [Méhée] can promise to
+     have seized on the table of the First Consul, in his secret room,
+     notes written in his own hand relating to his great expedition,
+     and every other important document."
+
+Napoleon revelled in the details of his plan for hoisting the
+engineers with their own petards.[293] But he knew full well that the
+plot, when fully ripe, would yield far more than the capture of a few
+Chouans. He must wait until Moreau was implicated. The man selected by
+the _émigrés_ to sound Moreau was Pichegru, and this choice was the
+sole instance of common sense displayed by them. It was Pichegru who
+had marked out the future fortune of Moreau in the campaign of 1793,
+and yet he had seemed to be the victim of that general's gross
+ingratitude at Fructidor. Who then so fitted as he to approach the
+victor of Hohenlinden? Through a priest named David and General
+Lajolais, an interview was arranged; and shortly after Pichegru's
+arrival in France, these warriors furtively clasped hands in the
+capital which had so often resounded with their praises (January,
+1804). They met three or four times, and cleared away some of the
+misunderstandings of the past. But he would have nothing to do with
+Georges, and when Pichegru mooted the overthrow of Bonaparte and the
+restoration of the Bourbons, he firmly warned him: "Do with Bonaparte
+what you will, but do not ask me to put a Bourbon in his place."
+
+From this resolve Moreau never receded. But his calculating reserve did
+not save him. Already several suspects had been imprisoned in Normandy.
+At Napoleon's suggestion five of them were condemned to death, in the
+hope of extorting a confession; and the last a man named Querelle,
+gratified his gaolers by revealing (February 14th) not only the lodging
+of Georges in Paris, but the intention of other conspirators, among whom
+was a French prince, to land at Biville. The plot was now coming to a
+head, and so was the counter-plot. On the next day Moreau was arrested
+by order of Napoleon, who feigned the utmost grief and surprise at
+seeing the victor of Hohenlinden mixed up with royalist assassins in the
+pay of England.[294]
+
+Elated by this success, and hoping to catch the Comte d'Artois
+himself, Napoleon forthwith despatched to that cliff one of his most
+crafty and devoted servants, Savary, who commanded the _gendarmerie
+d'élite._ Tricked out in suitable disguises, and informed by a
+smuggler as to the royalist signals, Savary eagerly awaited the royal
+quarry, and when Captain Wright's vessel hove in sight, he used his
+utmost arts to imitate the signals that invited a landing. But the
+crew were not to be lured to shore; and after fruitless endeavours he
+returned to Paris--in time to take part in the murder of the Duc
+d'Enghien.
+
+Meanwhile the police were on the tracks of Pichegru and Georges. On
+the last day of February the general was seized in bed in the house of
+a treacherous friend: but not until the gates of Paris had been
+closed, and domiciliary visits made, was Georges taken, and then only
+after a desperate affray (March 9th). The arrest of the two Polignacs
+and the Marquis de Rivière speedily followed.
+
+Hitherto Napoleon had completely outwitted his foes. He knew well
+enough that he was in no danger.
+
+    "I have run no real risks," he wrote to Melzi, "for the police had
+    its eyes on all these machinations, and I have the consolation of
+    not finding reason to complain of a single man among all those I
+    have placed in this huge administration, Moreau stands alone."
+    [295]
+
+But now, at the moment of victory, when France was swelling with rage
+against royalist assassins, English gold, and Moreau's treachery, the
+First Consul was hurried into an enterprise which gained him an
+imperial crown and flecked the purple with innocent blood.
+
+There was living at Ettenheim, in Baden, not far from the Rhine, a
+young prince of the House of Condé, the Duc d'Enghien. Since the
+disbanding of the corps of Condé he had been tranquilly enjoying the
+society of the Princess Charlotte de Rohan, to whom he had been
+secretly married. Her charms, the attractions of the chase, the
+society of a small circle of French _émigrés_, and an occasional
+secret visit to the theatre at Strassburg, formed the chief diversions
+to an otherwise monotonous life, until he was fired with the hope of a
+speedy declaration of war by Austria and Russia against Napoleon.
+Report accused him of having indiscreetly ventured in disguise far
+into France; but he indignantly denied it. His other letters also
+prove that he was not an accomplice of the Cadoudal-Pichegru
+conspiracy. But Napoleon's spies gave information which seemed to
+implicate him in that enterprise. Chief among them was Méhée, who, at
+the close of February, hovered about Ettenheim and heard that the duke
+was often absent for many days at a time.
+
+Napoleon received this news on March 1st, and ordered the closest
+investigation to be made. One of his spies reported that the young
+duke associated with General Dumouriez. In reality the general was in
+London, and the spy had substituted the name of a harmless old
+gentleman called Thumery. When Napoleon saw the name of Dumouriez with
+that of the young duke his rage knew no bounds. "Am I a dog to be
+beaten to death in the street? Why was I not warned that they were
+assembling at Ettenheim? Are my murderers sacred beings? They attack my
+very person. I'll give them war for war." And he overwhelmed with
+reproaches both Réal and Talleyrand for neglecting to warn him of these
+traitors and assassins clustering on the banks of the Rhine. The seizure
+of Georges Cadoudal and the examination of one of his servants helped to
+confirm Napoleon's surmise that he was the victim of a plot of which the
+duke and Dumouriez were the real contrivers, while Georges was their
+tool. Cadoudal's servant stated that there often came to his master's
+house a mysterious man, at whose entry not only Georges but also the
+Polignacs and Rivière always arose. This convinced Napoleon that the Duc
+d'Enghien was directing the plot, and he determined to have the duke and
+Dumouriez seized. That they were on German soil was naught to him.
+Talleyrand promised that he could soon prevail on the Elector to
+overlook this violation of his territory, and the question was then
+discussed in an informal council. Talleyrand, Réal, and Fouché advised
+the severest measures. Lebrun spoke of the outcry which such a violation
+of neutral territory would arouse, but bent before the determination of
+the First Consul; and the regicide Cambacérès alone offered a firm
+opposition to an outrage which must embroil France with Germany and
+Russia. Despite this protest, Napoleon issued his orders and then
+repaired to the pleasing solitudes of La Malmaison, where he remained in
+almost complete seclusion. The execution of the orders was now left to
+Generals Ordener and Caulaincourt, who arranged the raid into Baden; to
+Murat, who was now Governor of Paris; and to the devoted and
+unquestioning Savary and Réal.
+
+The seizure of the duke was craftily effected. Troops and gendarmes
+were quietly mustered at Strassburg: spies were sent forward to survey
+the ground; and as the dawn of the 15th of March was lighting up the
+eastern sky, thirty Frenchmen encircled Enghien's abode. His hot blood
+prompted him to fight, but on the advice of a friend he quietly
+surrendered, was haled away to Strassburg, and thence to the castle of
+Vincennes on the south-east of Paris. There everything was ready for
+his reception on the evening of March 20th. The pall of secrecy was
+spread over the preparations. The name of Plessis was assigned to the
+victim, and Harel, the governor of the castle, was left ignorant of
+his rank.[296]
+
+Above all, he was to be tried by a court-martial of officers, a form
+of judgment which was summary and without appeal; whereas the ordinary
+courts of justice must be slow and open to the public gaze. It was
+true that the Senate had just suspended trial by jury in the case of
+attempts against the First Consul's life--a device adopted in view of
+the Moreau prosecution. But the certainty of a conviction was not
+enough: Napoleon determined to strike terror into his enemies, such as
+a swift and secret blow always inspires. He had resolved on a trial by
+court-martial when he still believed Enghien to be an accomplice of
+Dumouriez; and when, late on Saturday, March 17th, that mistake was
+explained, his purpose remained unshaken--unshaken too by the high
+mass of Easter Sunday, March 18th, which he heard in state at the
+Chapel of the Tuileries. On the return journey to Malmaison Josephine
+confessed to Madame de Rémusat her fears that Bonaparte's will was
+unalterably fixed: "I have done what I could, but I fear his mind is
+made up." She and Joseph approached him once more in the park while
+Talleyrand was at his side. "I fear that cripple," she said, as they
+came near, and Joseph drew the Minister aside. All was in vain. "Go
+away; you are a child; you don't understand public duties." This was
+Josephine's final repulse.
+
+On March 20th Napoleon drew up the form of questions to be put to the
+prisoner. He now shifted the ground of accusation. Out of eleven
+questions only the last three referred to the duke's connection with
+the Cadoudal plot.[297] For in the meantime he had found in the
+duke's papers proofs of his having offered his services to the
+British Government for the present war,[298] his hopes of
+participation in a future Continental war, but nothing that could
+implicate him in the Cadoudal plot. The papers were certainly
+disappointing; and that is doubtless the reason why, after examining
+them on March 19th, he charged Réal "to take secret cognizance of
+these papers, along with Desmarest. One must prevent any talk on the
+more or less of charges contained in these papers." The same fact
+doubtless led to their abstraction along with the _dossier_ of the
+proceedings of the court-martial.[299]
+
+The task of summoning the officers who were to form the court-martial
+was imposed on Murat. But when this bluff, hearty soldier received
+this order, he exclaimed: "What! are they trying to soil my uniform! I
+will not allow it! Let him appoint them himself if he wants to." But a
+second and more imperious mandate compelled him to perform this
+hateful duty. The seven senior officers of the garrison of Paris now
+summoned were ordered not to separate until judgment was passed.[300]
+At their head was General Hulin, who had shown such daring in the
+assault on the Bastille; and thus one of the early heroes of the
+Revolution had the evening of his days shrouded over with the horrors
+of a midnight murder. Finally, the First Consul charged Savary, who
+had just returned to Paris from Biville, furious at being baulked of
+his prey, to proceed to Vincennes with a band of his gendarmes for the
+carrying out of the sentence.
+
+The seven officers as yet knew nothing of the nature of their mission,
+or of martial law. "We had not," wrote Hulin long afterwards, "the least
+idea about trials; and, worst of all, the reporter and clerk had
+scarcely any more experience."[301] The examination of the prisoner was
+curt in the extreme. He was asked his name, date and place of birth,
+whether he had borne arms against France and was in the pay of England.
+To the last questions he answered decisively in the affirmative, adding
+that he wished to take part in the new war against France.
+
+His replies were the same as he made in his preliminary examination,
+which he closed with the written and urgent request for a personal
+interview with Napoleon. To this request the court proposed to accede;
+but Savary, who had posted himself behind Hulin's chair, at once
+declared this step to be _inopportune_. The judges had only one chance
+of escape from their predicament, namely, to induce the duke to
+invalidate his evidence: this he firmly refused to do, and when Hulin
+warned him of the danger of his position, he replied that he knew it,
+and wished to have an interview with the First Consul.
+
+The court then passed sentence, and, "in accordance with article
+(blank) of the law (blank) to the following effect (blank) condemned
+him to suffer death." Ashamed, as it would seem, of this clumsy
+condemnation, Hulin was writing to Bonaparte to request for the
+condemned man the personal interview which he craved, when Savary took
+the pen from his hands, with the words: "Your work is done: the rest
+is my business."[302] The duke was forthwith led out into the moat of
+the castle, where a few torches shed their light on the final scene of
+this sombre tragedy: he asked for a priest, but this was denied him:
+he then bowed his head in prayer, lifted those noble features towards
+the soldiers, begged them not to miss their aim, and fell, shot
+through the heart. Hard by was a grave, which, in accordance with
+orders received on the previous day, the governor had caused to be
+made ready; into this the body was thrown pell-mell, and the earth
+closed over the remains of the last scion of the warlike House of
+Condé.
+
+Twelve years later loving hands disinterred the bones and placed them
+in the chapel of the castle. But even then the world knew not all the
+enormity of the crime. It was reserved for clumsy apologists like
+Savary to provoke replies and further investigations. The various
+excuses which throw the blame on Talleyrand, and on everyone but the
+chief actor, are sufficiently disposed of by the ex-Emperor's will. In
+that document Napoleon brushed away the excuses which had previously
+been offered to the credulity or malice of his courtiers, and took on
+himself the responsibility for the execution:
+
+     "I caused the Duc d'Enghien to be arrested and judged, because it
+     was necessary for the safety, the interest, and the honour of the
+     French people when the Comte d'Artois, by his own confession, was
+     supporting sixty assassins at Paris. In similar circumstances I
+     would act in the same way again."[303]
+
+
+The execution of the Duc d'Enghien is one of the most important
+incidents of this period, so crowded with momentous events. The
+sensation of horror which it caused can be gauged by the mental agony
+of Madame de Rémusat and of others who had hitherto looked on
+Bonaparte as the hero of the age and the saviour of the country. His
+mother hotly upbraided him, saying it was an atrocious act, the stain
+of which could never be wiped out, and that he had yielded to the
+advice of enemies' eager to tarnish his fame.[304] Napoleon said
+nothing, but shut himself up in his cabinet, revolving these terrible
+words, which doubtless bore fruit in the bitter reproaches later to be
+heaped upon Talleyrand for his share in the tragedy. Many royalists
+who had begun to rally to his side now showed their indignation at the
+deed. Chateaubriand, who was about to proceed as the envoy of France
+to the Republic of Valais, at once offered his resignation and assumed
+an attitude of covert defiance. And that was the conduct of all
+royalists who were not dazzled by the glamour of success or cajoled by
+Napoleon's favours. Many of his friends ventured to show their horror
+of this Corsican vendetta; and a _mot_ which was plausibly, but it
+seems wrongly, attributed to Fouché, well sums up the general opinion
+of that callous society: "It was worse than a crime--it was a
+blunder."
+
+Scarcely had Paris recovered from this sensation when, on April 6th,
+Pichegru was found strangled in prison; and men silently but almost
+unanimously hailed it as the work of Napoleon's Mamelukes. This
+judgment, however natural after the Enghien affair, seems to be
+incorrect. It is true the corpse bore marks which scarcely tallied with
+suicide: but Georges Cadoudal, whose cell was hard by, heard no sound of
+a scuffle; and it is unlikely that so strong a man as Pichegru would
+easily have succumbed to assailants. It is therefore more probable that
+the conqueror of Holland, shattered by his misfortunes and too proud to
+undergo a public trial, cut short a life which already was doomed. Never
+have plotters failed more ignominiously and played more completely into
+the hands of their enemy. A _mot_ of the Boulevards wittily sums up the
+results of their puny efforts: "They came to France to give her a king,
+and they gave her an Emperor."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX
+
+THE DAWN OF THE EMPIRE
+
+
+For some time the question of a Napoleonic dynasty had been freely
+discussed; and the First Consul himself had latterly confessed his
+intentions to Joseph in words that reveal his super-human confidence
+and his caution: "I always intended to end the Revolution by the
+establishment of heredity: but I thought that such a step could not be
+taken before the lapse of five or six years." Events, however, bore
+him along on a favouring tide. Hatred of England, fear of Jacobin
+excesses, indignation at the royalist schemes against his life, and
+finally even the execution of Enghien, helped on the establishment of
+the Empire. Though moderate men of all parties condemned the murder,
+the remnants of the Jacobin party hailed it with joy. Up to this time
+they had a lingering fear that the First Consul was about to play the
+part of Monk. The pomp of the Tuileries and the hated Concordat seemed
+to their crooked minds but the prelude to a recall of the Bourbons,
+whereupon priestcraft, tithes, and feudalism would be the order of the
+day. Now at last the tragedy of Vincennes threw a lurid light into the
+recesses of Napoleon's ambition; and they exclaimed, "He is one of
+us." It must thenceforth be war to the knife between the Bourbons and
+Bonaparte; and his rule would therefore be the best guarantee for the
+perpetual ownership of the lands confiscated during the
+Revolution.[305]
+
+To a materialized society that great event had come to be little more
+than a big land investment syndicate, of which Bonaparte was now to be
+the sole and perpetual director. This is the inner meaning of the
+references to the Social Contract which figure so oddly among the
+petitions for hereditary rule. The Jacobins, except a few conscientious
+stalwarts, were especially alert in the feat of making extremes meet.
+Fouché, who now wriggled back into favour and office, appealed to the
+Senate, only seven days after the execution, to establish hereditary
+power as the only means of ending the plots against Napoleon's life;
+for, as the opportunist Jacobins argued, if the hereditary system were
+adopted, conspiracies to murder would be meaningless, when, even if they
+struck down one man, they must fail to shatter the system that
+guaranteed the Revolution.
+
+The cue having been thus dextrously given, appeals and petitions for
+hereditary rule began to pour in from all parts of France. The grand
+work of the reorganization of France certainly furnished a solid claim
+on the nation's gratitude. The recent promulgation of the Civil Code
+and the revival of material prosperity redounded to Napoleon's glory;
+and with equal truth and wit he could claim the diadem as a fit reward
+_for having revived many interests while none had been displaced._
+Such a remark and such an exploit proclaim the born ruler of men. But
+the Senate overstepped all bounds of decency when it thus addressed
+him: "You are founding a new era: but you ought to make it last for
+ever: splendour is nothing without duration." The Greeks who fawned on
+Persian satraps did not more unman themselves than these pensioned
+sycophants, who had lived through the days of 1789 but knew them not.
+This fulsome adulation would be unworthy of notice did it not convey
+the most signal proof of the danger which republics incur when men
+lose sight of the higher aims of life and wallow among its sordid
+interests.[306]
+
+
+
+After the severe drilling of the last four years, the Chambers voted
+nearly unanimously in favour of a Napoleonic dynasty. The Corps
+Législatif was not in session, and it was not convoked. The Senate,
+after hearing Fouché's unmistakable hints, named a commission of its
+members to report on hereditary rule, and then waited on events. These
+were decided mainly in private meetings of the Council of State, where
+the proposal met with some opposition from Cambacérès, Merlin, and
+Thibaudeau. But of what avail are private remonstrances when in open
+session opponents are dumb and supporters vie in adulation? In the
+Tribunate, on April 23rd, an obscure member named Curée proposed the
+adoption of the hereditary principle. One man alone dared openly to
+combat the proposal, the great Carnot; and the opposition of Curée to
+Carnot might have recalled to the minds of those abject champions of
+popular liberty the verse that glitters amidst the literary rubbish of
+the Roman Empire:
+
+  "Victrix causa deis placuit, sed victa Catoni."
+
+The Tribunate named a commission to report; it was favourable to the
+Bonapartes. The Senate voted in the same sense, three Senators alone,
+among them Grégoire, Bishop of Blois, voting against it. Sieyès and
+Lanjuinais were absent; but the well-salaried lord of the manor of
+Crosne must have read with amused contempt the resolution of this
+body, which he had designed to be the _guardian of the republican
+constitution_:
+
+     "The French have conquered liberty: they wish to preserve their
+     conquest: they wish for repose after victory. They will owe this
+     glorious repose to the hereditary rule of a single man, who, raised
+     above all, is to defend public liberty, maintain equality, and
+     lower his fasces before the sovereignty of the people that
+     proclaims him."
+
+
+In this way did France reduce to practice the dogma of Rousseau with
+regard to the occasional and temporary need of a dictator.[307]
+
+When the commonalty are so obsequious, any title can be taken by the
+one necessary man. Napoleon at first affected to doubt whether the
+title of Stadtholder would not be more seemly than that of Emperor;
+and in one of the many conferences held on this topic, Miot de Melito
+advocated the retention of the term Consul for its grand republican
+simplicity. But it was soon seen that the term Emperor was the only
+one which satisfied Napoleon's ambition and French love of splendour.
+Accordingly a _senatus consultum_ of May 18th, 1804, formally decreed
+to him the title of Emperor of the French. As for his former
+colleagues, Cambacérès and Lebrun, they were stultified with the
+titles of Arch-chancellor and Arch-treasurer of the Empire: his
+brother Joseph received the title of Grand Elector, borrowed from the
+Holy Roman Empire, and oddly applied to an hereditary empire where the
+chief _had_ been appointed: Louis was dubbed Constable: two other
+grand dignities, those of Arch-chancellor of State and High Admiral,
+were not as yet filled, but were reserved for Napoleon's relatives by
+marriage, Eugène Beauharnais and Murat. These six grand dignitaries of
+the new Empire were to be irresponsible and irremovable, and, along
+with the Emperor, they formed the Grand Council of the Empire.
+
+On lesser individuals the rays of the imperial diadem cast a fainter
+glow. Napoleon's uncle, Cardinal Fesch, became Grand Almoner;
+Berthier, Grand Master of the Hounds; Talleyrand, Grand Chamberlain;
+Duroc, Grand Marshal of the Palace; and Caulaincourt, Master of the
+Horse, the acceptance of which title seemed to the world to convict
+him of full complicity in the schemes for the murder of the Duc
+d'Enghien. For the rest, the Emperor's mother was to be styled _Madame
+Mère_; his sisters became Imperial Highnesses, with their several
+establishments of ladies-in-waiting; and Paris fluttered with excitement
+at each successive step upwards of expectant nobles, regicides,
+generals, and stockjobbers towards the central galaxy of the Corsican
+family, which, ten years before, had subsisted on the alms of the
+Republic one and indivisible.
+
+It remained to gain over the army. The means used were profuse, in
+proportion as the task was arduous. The following generals were
+distinguished as Marshals of the Empire (May 19th): Berthier, Murat,
+Masséna, Augereau, Lannes, Jourdan, Ney, Soult, Brune, Davoust,
+Bessières, Moncey, Mortier, and Bernadotte; two marshal's bâtons were
+held in reserve as a reward for future service, and four aged
+generals, Lefebvre, Serrurier, Pérignon, and Kellerman (the hero of
+Valmy), received the title of honorary marshals. In one of his
+conversations with Roederer, the Emperor frankly avowed his reasons
+for showering these honours on his military chiefs; it was in order to
+assure the imperial dignity to himself; for how could they object to
+this, when they themselves received honours so lofty?[308] The
+confession affords a curious instance of Napoleon's unbounded trust
+in the most elementary, not to say the meanest, motives of human
+conduct. Suitable rewards were bestowed on officers of the second
+rank. But it was at once remarked that determined and outspoken
+republicans like Suchet, Gouvion St. Cyr, and Macdonald, whose talents
+and exploits far outstripped those of many of the marshals, were
+excluded from their ranks. St. Cyr was at Taranto, and Macdonald,
+after an enforced diplomatic mission to Copenhagen, was received on
+his recall with much coolness.[309] Other generals who had given
+umbrage at the Tuileries were more effectively broken in by a term of
+diplomatic banishment. Lannes at Lisbon and Brune at Constantinople
+learnt a little diplomacy and some complaisance to the head of the
+State, and were taken back to Napoleon's favour. Bernadotte, though ever
+suspected of Jacobinism and feared for the forceful ambition that sprang
+from the blending of Gascon and Moorish blood in his veins, was now also
+treated with the consideration due to one who had married Joseph
+Bonaparte's sister-in-law: he received at Napoleon's hands the house in
+Paris which had formerly belonged to Moreau: the exile's estate of
+Grosbois, near Paris, went to reward the ever faithful Berthier.
+Augereau, half cured of his Jacobinism by the disfavour of the
+Directory, was now drilling a small French force and Irish volunteers at
+Brest. But the Grand Army, which comprised the pick of the French
+forces, was intrusted to the command of men on whom Napoleon could
+absolutely rely, Davoust, Soult, and Ney; and, in that splendid force,
+hatred of England and pride in Napoleon's prowess now overwhelmed all
+political considerations.
+
+These arrangements attest the marvellous foresight and care which
+Napoleon brought to bear on all affairs: even if the discontented
+generals and troops had protested against the adoption of the Empire
+and the prosecution of Moreau, they must have been easily overpowered.
+In some places, as at Metz, the troops and populace fretted against
+the Empire and its pretentious pomp; but the action of the commanders
+soon restored order. And thus it came to pass that even the soldiery
+that still cherished the Republic raised not a musket while the Empire
+was founded, and Moreau was accused of high treason.
+
+The record of the French revolutionary generals is in the main a
+gloomy one. If in 1795 it had been prophesied that all those generals
+who bore the tricolour to victory would vanish or bow their heads
+before a Corsican, the prophet would speedily have closed his
+croakings for ever. Yet the reality was even worse. Marceau and Hoche
+died in the Rhineland: Kléber and Desaix fell on the same day, by
+assassination and in battle: Richepanse, Leclerc, and many other brave
+officers rotted away in San Domingo: Pichegru died a violent death in
+prison: Carnot was retiring into voluntary exile: Masséna and
+Macdonald were vegetating in inglorious ease: others were fast
+descending to the rank of flunkeys; and Moreau was on his trial for
+high treason.
+
+Even the populace, dazzled with glitter and drunk with sensations,
+suffered some qualms at seeing the victor of Hohenlinden placed in the
+dock; and the grief of the scanty survivors of the Army of the Rhine
+portended trouble if the forms of justice were too much strained.
+Trial by jury had been recently dispensed with in cases that concerned
+the life of Napoleon. Consequently the prisoner, along with Georges
+and his confederates, could be safely arraigned before judges in open
+court; and in that respect the trial contrasted with the midnight
+court-martial of Vincennes. Yet in no State trial have judges been
+subjected to more official pressure for the purpose of assuring a
+conviction.[310] The cross examination of numerous witnesses proved
+that Moreau had persistently refused his help to the plot; and the
+utmost that could be urged against him was that he desired Napoleon's
+overthrow, had three interviews with Pichegru, and did not reveal the
+plot to the authorities. That is to say, he was guilty of passively
+conniving at the success of a plot which a "good citizen" ought to
+have denounced.
+
+For these reasons the judges sentenced him to two years'
+imprisonment. This judgment excessively annoyed Napoleon, who desired
+to use his imperial prerogative of pardon on Moreau's life, not on a
+mere term of imprisonment; and with a show of clemency that veiled a
+hidden irritation, he now released him provided that he retired to the
+United States.[311] To that land of free men the victor of Hohenlinden
+retired with a dignity which almost threw a veil over his past
+incapacity and folly; and, for the present at least, men could say that
+the end of his political career was nobler than Pompey's, while
+Napoleon's conduct towards his rival lacked the clemency which graced
+the triumph of Cæsar.
+
+As for the actual conspirators, twenty of them were sentenced to death
+on June 10th, among them being the elder of the two Polignacs, the
+Marquis de Rivière, and Georges Cadoudal. Urgent efforts were made on
+behalf of the nobles by Josephine and "Madame Mère"; and Napoleon
+grudgingly commuted their sentence to imprisonment. But the plebeian,
+Georges Cadoudal, suffered death for the cause that had enlisted all
+the fierce energies of his youth and manhood. With him perished the
+bravest of Bretons and the last man of action of the royalists.
+Thenceforth Napoleon was not troubled by Bourbon plotters; and
+doubtless the skill with which his agents had nursed this silly plot
+and sought to entangle all waverers did far more than the strokes of
+the guillotine to procure his future immunity. Men trembled before a
+union of immeasurable power with unfathomable craft such as recalled
+the days of the Emperor Tiberius.
+
+Indeed, Napoleon might now almost say that his chief foes were the
+members of his own household. The question of hereditary succession
+had already reawakened and intensified all the fierce passions of the
+Emperor's relatives. Josephine saw in it the fatal eclipse of a
+divorce sweeping towards the dazzling field of her new life, and
+Napoleon is known to have thrice almost decided on this step. She no
+longer had any hopes of bearing a child; and she is reported by the
+compiler of the Fouché "Memoirs" to have clutched at that absurd
+device, a supposititious child, which Fouché had taken care to
+ridicule in advance. Whatever be the truth of this rumour, she
+certainly used all her powers over Napoleon and over her daughter
+Hortense, the spouse of Louis Bonaparte, to have their son
+recognized as first in the line of direct succession. But this
+proposal, which shelved both Joseph and Louis, was not only hotly
+resented by the eldest brother, who claimed to be successor designate,
+it also aroused the flames of jealousy in Louis himself. It was
+notorious that he suspected Napoleon of an incestuous passion for
+Hortense, of which his fondness for the little Charles Napoleon was
+maliciously urged as proof; and the proposal, when made with trembling
+eagerness by Josephine, was hurled back by Louis with brutal violence.
+To the clamour of Louis and Joseph the Emperor and Josephine seemed
+reluctantly to yield.
+
+New arrangements were accordingly proposed. Lucien and Jerome having,
+for the present at least, put themselves out of court by their
+unsatisfactory marriages, Napoleon appeared to accept a reconciliation
+with Joseph and Louis, and to place them in the order of succession,
+as the Senate recommended. But he still reserved the right of adopting
+the son of Louis and of thus favouring his chances of priority.
+Indeed, it must be admitted that the Emperor at this difficult crisis
+showed conjugal tact and affection, for which he has received scant
+justice at the hands of Josephine's champions. "How could I divorce
+this good wife," he said to Roederer, "because I am becoming great?"
+But fate seemed to decree the divorce, which, despite the reasonings
+of his brothers, he resolutely thrust aside; for the little boy on
+whose life the Empress built so many fond hopes was to be cut off by
+an early death in the year 1807.
+
+Then there were frequent disputes between Napoleon and Joseph. Both of
+them had the Corsican's instinct in favour of primogeniture; and
+hitherto Napoleon had in many ways deferred to his elder brother. Now,
+however, he showed clearly that he would brook not the slightest
+interference in affairs of State. And truly, if we except Joseph's
+diplomatic services, he showed no commanding gifts such as could raise
+him aloft along with the bewildering rush of Napoleon's fortunes. The
+one was an irrepressible genius, the other was a man of culture and
+talent, whose chief bent was towards literature, amours, and the art
+of _dolce far niente_, except when his pride was touched: then he was
+capable of bursts of passion which seemed to impose even on his
+masterful second brother. Lucien, Louis, and even the youthful Jerome,
+had the same intractable pride which rose defiant even against
+Napoleon. He was determined that his brothers should now take a
+subordinate rank, while they regarded the dynasty as largely due to
+their exertions at or after Brumaire, and claimed a proportionate
+reward. Napoleon, however, saw that a dynasty could not thus be
+founded. As he frankly said to Roederer, a dynasty could only take
+firm root in France among heirs brought up in a palace: "I have never
+looked on my brothers as the natural heirs to power: I only consider
+them as men fit to ward off the evils of a minority."
+
+Joseph deeply resented this conduct. He was a Prince of the Empire,
+and a Grand Elector; but he speedily found out that this meant nothing
+more than occasionally presiding at the Senate, and accordingly
+indulged in little acts of opposition that enraged the autocrat. In
+his desire to get his brother away from Paris, the Emperor had already
+recommended him to take up the profession of arms; for he could not
+include him in the succession, and place famous marshals under him if
+he knew nothing of an army. Joseph perforce accepted the command of a
+regiment, and at thirty-six years of age began to learn drill near
+Boulogne.[312] This piece of burlesque was one day to prove infinitely
+regrettable. After the disaster of Vittoria, Napoleon doubtless wished
+that Joseph had for ever had free play in the tribune of the Senate
+rather than have dabbled in military affairs. But in the spring and
+summer of 1804 the Emperor noted his every word; so that, when he
+ventured to suggest that Josephine should not be crowned at the coming
+coronation, Napoleon's wrath blazed forth. Why should Joseph speak of
+_his_ rights and _his_ interests? Who had won power? Who deserved to
+enjoy power? Power was his (Napoleon's) mistress, and he dared Joseph
+to touch her. The Senate or Council of State might oppose him for ten
+years, without his becoming a tyrant: "To make me a tyrant one thing
+alone is necessary--a movement of my family."[313]
+
+The family, however, did not move. As happened with all the brothers
+except Lucien, Joseph gave way at the critical moment. After
+threatening at the Council of State to resign his Grand Electorate and
+retire to Germany if his wife were compelled to bear Josephine's train
+at the coronation, he was informed by the Emperor that either he must
+conduct himself dutifully as the first subject of the realm, or retire
+into private life, or oppose--and be crushed. The argument was
+unanswerable, and Joseph yielded. To save his own and his wife's
+feelings, the wording of the official programme was altered: she was
+_to support Josephine's mantle_, not _to bear her train_.
+
+In things great and small Napoleon carried his point. Although
+Roederer pleaded long and earnestly that Joseph and Louis should come
+next to the Emperor in the succession, and inserted a clause in the
+report which he was intrusted to draw up, yet by some skilful artifice
+this clause was withdrawn from the constitutional act on which the
+nation was invited to express its opinion: and France assented to a
+_plébiscite_ for the establishment of the Empire in Napoleon's family,
+which passed over Joseph and Louis, as well as Lucien and Jerome, and
+vested the succession in the natural or adopted son of Napoleon, and
+in the heirs male of Joseph or Louis. Consequently these princes had
+no place in the succession, except by virtue of the _senatus
+consultant_ of May 18th, which gave them a legal right, it is true,
+but without the added sanction of the popular vote. More than three
+and a half million votes were cast for the new arrangement, a number
+which exceeded those given for the Consulate and the Consulate for
+Life. As usual, France accepted accomplished facts.
+
+Matters legal and ceremonial were now approaching completion for the
+coronation. Negotiations had been proceeding between the Tuileries and
+the Vatican, Napoleon begging and indeed requiring the presence of the
+Pope on that occasion. Pius VII. was troubled at the thought of
+crowning the murderer of the Duc d'Enghien; but he was scarcely his
+own master, and the dextrous hints of Napoleon that religion would
+benefit if he were present at Notre Dame seem to have overcome his
+first scruples, besides quickening the hope of recovering the north of
+his States. He was to be disappointed in more ways than one. Religion
+was to benefit only from the enhanced prestige given to her rites in
+the coming ceremony, not in the practical way that the Pope desired.
+And yet it was of the first importance for Napoleon to receive the
+holy oil and the papal blessing, for only so could he hope to wean the
+affections of royalists from their uncrowned and exiled king.
+Doubtless this was one of the chief reasons for the restoration of
+religion by the Concordat, as was shrewdly seen at the time by
+Lafayette, who laughingly exclaimed: "Confess, general, that your
+chief wish is for the little phial."[314] The sally drew from the
+First Consul an obscene disclaimer worthy of a drunken ostler.
+Nevertheless, the little phial was now on its way.
+
+In order to divest the meeting of Pope and Emperor of any awkward
+ceremony, Napoleon arranged that it should take place on the road
+between Fontainebleau and Nemours, as a chance incident in the middle
+of a day's hunting. The benevolent old pontiff was reclining in his
+carriage, weary with the long journey through the cold of an early
+winter, when he was startled to see the retinue of his host. The
+contrast in every way was striking. The figure of the Emperor had now
+attained the fullness which betokens abounding health and strength: his
+face was slightly flushed with the hunt and the consciousness that he
+was master of the situation, and his form on horseback gained a dignity
+from which the shortness of his legs somewhat detracted when on foot. As
+he rode up attired in full hunting costume, he might have seemed the
+embodiment of triumphant strength. The Pope, on the other hand, clad in
+white garments and with white silk shoes, gave an impression of peaceful
+benevolence, had not his intellectual features borne signs of the
+protracted anxieties of his pontificate. The Emperor threw himself from
+his horse and advanced to meet his guest, who on his side alighted,
+rather unwillingly, in the mud to give and receive the embrace of
+welcome. Meanwhile Napoleon's carriage had been driven up: footmen were
+holding open both doors, and an officer of the Court politely handed
+Pius VII. to the left door, while the Emperor, entering by the right,
+took the seat of honour, and thus settled once for all the vexed
+question of social precedence.[315]
+
+During the Pope's sojourn at Fontainebleau, Josephine breathed to him
+her anxiety as to her marriage; it having been only a civil contract,
+she feared its dissolution, and saw in the Pope's intervention a
+chance of a firmer union with her consort. The pontiff comforted her
+and required from Napoleon the due solemnization of his marriage; it
+was therefore secretly performed by Napoleon's uncle, Cardinal Fesch,
+two days before the coronation.[316]
+
+It was not enough, however, that the successor of St. Peter should
+grace the coronation with his presence: the Emperor sought to touch
+the imagination of men by figuring as the successor of Charlemagne. We
+here approach one of the most interesting experiments of the modern
+world, which, if successful, would profoundly have altered the face of
+Europe and the character of its States. Even in its failure it attests
+Napoleon's vivid imagination and boundless mental resources. He
+aspired to be more than Emperor of the French: he wished to make his
+Empire a cosmopolitan realm, whose confines might rival those of the
+Holy Roman Empire of one thousand years before, and embrace scores of
+peoples in a grand, well-ordered European polity.
+
+Already his dominions included a million of Germans in the Rhineland,
+Italians of Piedmont, Genoa, and Nice, besides Savoyards, Genevese,
+and Belgians. How potent would be his influence on the weltering chaos
+of German and Italian States, if these much-divided peoples learnt to
+look on him as the successor to the glories of Charlemagne! And this
+honour he was now to claim. However delusive was the parallel between
+the old semi-tribal polity and modern States where the peoples were
+awakening to a sense of their nationality, Napoleon was now in a
+position to clear the way for his great experiment. He had two charms
+wherewith to work, material prosperity and his gift of touching the
+popular imagination. The former of these was already silently working
+in his favour: the latter was first essayed at the coronation.
+
+Already, after a sojourn at Boulogne, he had visited Aix-la-Chapelle,
+the city where Charlemagne's relics are entombed, and where Victor
+Hugo in some of his sublimest verse has pictured Charles V. kneeling
+in prayer to catch the spirit of the mediæval hero. Thither went
+Napoleon, but in no suppliant mood; for when Josephine was offered the
+arm-bones of the great dead, she also proudly replied that she would
+not deprive the city of that precious relic, especially as she had the
+support of an arm as great as that of Charlemagne.[317] The insignia
+and the sword of that monarch were now brought to Paris, and shed on
+the ceremony of coronation that historic gleam which was needed to
+redeem it from tawdry commonplace.
+
+All that money and art could do to invest the affair with pomp and
+circumstance had already been done. The advice of the new Master of
+the Ceremonies, M. de Ségur, and the hints of the other nobles who had
+rallied to the new Empire, had been carefully collated by the untiring
+brain that now watched over France. The sum of 1,123,000 francs had
+been expended on the coronation robes of Emperor and Empress, and far
+more on crowns and tiaras. The result was seen in costumes of
+matchless splendour; the Emperor wore a French coat of red velvet
+embroidered in gold, a short cloak adorned with bees and the collar of
+the Legion of Honour in diamonds; and at the archbishop's palace he
+assumed the long purple robe of velvet profusely ornamented with
+ermine, while his brow was encircled by a wreath of laurel, meed of
+mighty conquerors. In the pommel of his sword flashed the famous Pitt
+diamond, which, after swelling the family fortune of the British
+statesman, fell to the Regent of France, and now graced the coronation
+of her Dictator. The Empress, radiant with joy at her now indissoluble
+union, bore her splendours with an easy grace that charmed all
+beholders and gave her an almost girlish air. She wore a robe of white
+satin, trimmed with silver and gold and besprinkled with golden bees:
+her waist and shoulders glittered with diamonds, while on her brows
+rested a diadem of the finest diamonds and pearls valued at more than
+a million francs.[318] The curious might remember that for a necklace
+of less than twice that value the fair fame of Marie Antoinette had
+been clouded over and the House of Bourbon shaken to its base.
+
+The stately procession began with an odd incident: Napoleon and
+Josephine, misled apparently by the all-pervading splendour of the new
+state carriage, seated themselves on the wrong side, that is, in the
+seats destined for Joseph and Louis: the mistake was at once made good,
+with some merriment; but the superstitious saw in it an omen of
+evil.[319] And now, amidst much enthusiasm and far greater curiosity,
+the procession wound along through the Rue Nicaise and the Rue St.
+Honoré--streets where Bonaparte had won his spurs on the day of
+Vendémiaire--over the Pont-Neuf, and so to the venerable cathedral,
+where the Pope, chilled by long waiting, was ready to grace the
+ceremony. First he anointed Emperor and Empress with the holy oil; then,
+at the suitable place in the Mass he blessed their crowns, rings, and
+mantles, uttering the traditional prayers for the possession of the
+virtues and powers which each might seem to typify. But when he was
+about to crown the Emperor, he was gently waved aside, and Napoleon with
+his own hands crowned himself. A thrill ran through the august assembly,
+either of pity for the feelings of the aged pontiff or of admiration at
+the "noble and legitimate pride" of the great captain who claimed as
+wholly his own the crown which his own right arm had won. Then the
+_cortège_ slowly returned to the middle of the nave, where a lofty
+throne had been reared.
+
+Another omen now startled those who laid store by trifles. It was
+noticed that the sovereigns in ascending the steps nearly fell
+backwards under the weight of their robes and trains, though in the
+case of Josephine the anxious moment may have been due to the
+carelessness, whether accidental or studied, of her "mantle-bearers."
+But to those who looked beneath the surface of things was not this an
+all-absorbing portent, that all this religious pomp should be removed
+by scarcely eleven years from the time when this same nave echoed to
+the shouts and gleamed with the torches of the worshippers of the
+newly enthroned Goddess of Reason?
+
+Revolutionary feelings were not wholly dead, but they now vented
+themselves merely in gibes. On the night before the coronation the walls
+of Paris were adorned with posters announcing: _The last Representation
+of the French Revolution--for the Benefit of a poor Corsican Family._
+And after the event there were inquiries why the new throne had no
+_glands d'or;_ the answer suggested because it was _sanglant_.[320]
+Beyond these quips and jests the Jacobins and royalists did not go. When
+the phrase _your subjects_ was publicly assigned to the Corps Législatif
+by its courtier-like president, Fontanes, there was a flutter of wrath
+among those who had hoped that the new Empire was to be republican. But
+it quickly passed away; and no Frenchman, except perhaps Carnot, made so
+manly a protest as the man of genius at Vienna, who had composed the
+"Sinfonia Eroïca," and with grand republican simplicity inscribed it,
+"Beethoven à Bonaparte." When the master heard that his former hero had
+taken the imperial crown, he tore off the dedication with a volley of
+curses on the renegade and tyrant; and in later years he dedicated the
+immortal work to the _memory_ of a great man.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI
+
+THE BOULOGNE FLOTILLA
+
+
+The establishment of the Empire, as has been seen, provoked few signs
+of opposition from the French armies, once renowned for their
+Jacobinism; and by one or two instances of well-timed clemency, the
+Emperor gained over even staunch republicans. Notably was this the
+case with a brave and stalwart colonel, who, enraged at the first
+volley of cheers for the Empire, boldly ordered "Silence in the
+ranks." At once Napoleon made him general and appointed him one of his
+aides-de-camp; and this brave officer, Mouton by name, was later to
+gain glory and the title of Comte de Lobau in the Wagram campaign.
+These were the results of a timely act of generosity, such as touches
+the hearts of any soldiery and leads them to shed their blood like
+water. And so when Napoleon, after the coronation, distributed to the
+garrison of Paris their standards, topped now by the imperial eagles,
+the great Champ de Mars was a scene of wild enthusiasm. The thunderous
+shouts that acclaimed the prowess of the new Frankish leader were as
+warlike as those which ever greeted the hoisting of a Carolingian King
+on the shields of his lieges. Distant nations heard the threatening
+din and hastened to muster their forces for the fray.
+
+As yet only England was at war with the Emperor. Against her Napoleon
+now prepared to embattle the might of his vast Empire. The
+preparations on the northern coast were now wellnigh complete, and
+there was only one question to be solved--how to "leap the ditch." It
+seems strange to us now that no attempt was made to utilize the great
+motive force of the nineteenth century--steam power. And the French
+memoir-writers, Marmont, Bourrienne, Pasquier, and Bausset, have
+expressed their surprise that so able a chief as Napoleon should have
+neglected this potent ally.
+
+Their criticisms seem to be prompted by later reflections rather
+than based on an accurate statement of facts. In truth, the
+nineteenth-century Hercules was still in his cradle. Henry Bell had in
+1800 experimented with a steamer on the Clyde; but it aroused the same
+trembling curiosity as Trevithick's first locomotive, or as Fulton's
+first paddle-boat built on the Seine in 1803. In fact, this boat of
+the great American inventor was so weak that, when at anchor, it broke
+in half during a gale, thus ridding itself of the weight of its
+cumbrous engine. With his usual energy, Fulton built a larger and
+stronger craft, which not only carried the machinery, but, in August,
+1803, astonished the members of the French Institute by moving, though
+with much circumspection.
+
+Fulton, however, was disappointed, and if we may judge from the scanty
+records of his life, he never offered this invention to Napoleon.[321]
+He felt the need of better machinery, and as this could only be
+procured in England, he gave the order to a Birmingham firm, which
+engined his first successful boat, the "Clermont," launched on the
+Hudson in 1807. But for the war, perhaps, Fulton would have continued
+to live in Paris and made his third attempt there. He certainly never
+offered his imperfect steamship to the First Consul. Probably the fact
+that his first boat foundered when at anchor in the Seine would have
+procured him a rough reception, if he had offered to equip the whole
+of the Boulogne flotilla with an invention which had sunk its first
+receptacle and propelled the second boat at a snail's pace.
+
+Besides, he had already met with one repulse from Napoleon. He had
+offered, first to the Directory and later to the First Consul, a boat
+which he claimed would "deliver France and the world from British
+oppression."
+
+
+This was a sailing vessel, which could sink under water and then
+discharge under a hostile ship a "carcass" of gunpowder or
+_torpedo_--another invention of his fertile brain. The Directory at
+once repulsed him. Bonaparte instructed Monge, Laplace, and Volney to
+report on this submarine or "plunging" boat, which had a partial
+success. It succeeded in blowing up a small vessel in the harbour at
+Brest in July, 1801; but the Commission seems to have reported
+unfavourably on its utility for offensive purposes. In truth, as
+Fulton had not then applied motive power to this invention, the name
+"plunging boat" conveyed an exaggerated notion of its functions, which
+were more suited to a life of ascetic contemplation than of
+destructive activity.
+
+It appears that the memoir-writers named above have confused the two
+distinct inventions of Fulton just referred to. In the latter half of
+1803 he repaired to England, and later on to the United States, and
+after the year 1803 he seems to have had neither the will nor the
+opportunity to serve Napoleon. In England he offered his torpedo
+patent to the English Admiralty, expressing his hatred of the French
+Emperor as a "wild beast who ought to be hunted down." Little was done
+with the torpedo in England, except to blow up a vessel off Walmer as
+a proof of what it could do. It is curious also that when Bell offered
+his paddle-boat to the Admiralty it was refused, though Nelson is said
+to have spoken in its favour. The official mind is everywhere hostile
+to new inventions; and Marmont suggestively remarks that Bonaparte's
+training as an artillerist, and his experience of the inconvenience
+and expense resulting from the adoption of changes in that arm, had no
+slight influence in setting him against all innovations.
+
+But, to resume our description of the Boulogne flotilla, it may be of
+interest to give some hitherto unpublished details about the
+flat-bottomed boats, and then to pass in brief review Napoleon's plans
+for assuring a temporary command of the Channel.
+
+It is clear that he at first relied almost solely on the flotilla.
+After one of his visits to Boulogne, he wrote on November 23rd, 1803,
+to Admiral Gantheaume that he would soon have on the northern coast
+1,300 flat-bottomed boats able to carry 100,000 men, while the Dutch
+flotilla would transport 60,000. "Do you think it will take us to the
+English coast? Eight hours of darkness which favour us would decide
+the fate of the universe." There is no mention of any convoying fleet:
+the First Consul evidently believed that the flotilla could beat off
+any attack at sea. This letter offers a signal proof of his inability,
+at least at that time, to understand the risks of naval warfare. But
+though his precise and logical mind seems then to have been incapable
+of fully realizing the conditions of war on the fickle, troublous, and
+tide-swept Channel, his admirals urgently warned him against trusting
+to shallow, flat-bottomed boats to beat the enemy out at sea; for
+though these _praams_ in their coasting trips repelled the attacks of
+British cruisers, which dared not come into shallow waters, it did not
+follow that they would have the same success in mid-Channel, far away
+from coast defences and amidst choppy waves that must render the guns
+of keelless boats wellnigh useless.[320]
+
+The present writer, after going through the reports of our admiral
+stationed in the Downs, is convinced that our seamen felt a supreme
+contempt for the flat-bottomed boats when at sea. After the capture of
+one of them, by an English gun-brig, Admiral Montagu reported,
+November 23rd, 1803:
+
+    "It is impossible to suppose for an instant that anything
+    effective can be produced by such miserable tools, equally
+    ill-calculated for the grand essentials in a maritime formation,
+    battle and speed: that floored as this wretched vessel is, she
+    cannot hug the wind, but must drift bodily to leeward, which
+    indeed was the cause of her capture; for, having got a little to
+    leeward of Boulogne Bay, it was impossible to get back and she was
+    necessitated to steer large for Calais. On the score of battle,
+    she has one long 18-pounder, without breeching or tackle,
+    traversing on a slide, which can only be fired stem on. The
+    8-pounder is mounted aft, but is a fixture: so that literally, if
+    one of our small boats was to lay alongside there would be nothing
+    but musketry to resist, and those [_sic_] placed in the hands of
+    poor wretches weakened by the effect of seasickness, exemplified
+    when this gun-boat was captured--the soldiers having retreated to
+    the hold, incapable of any energy or manly exertion.... In short,
+    Sir, these vessels in my mind are completely contemptible and
+    ridiculous, and I therefore conclude that the numbers collected at
+    Boulogne are to keep our attention on the _qui vive_, and to gloss
+    over the real attack meditated from other points."
+
+The vessel which provoked the contempt of our admiral was not one of
+the smallest class: she was 58-1/3 ft. long, 14-1/2 ft. wide, drew 3
+ft. forward and 4 ft. aft: her sides rose 3 ft. above the water, and
+her capacity was 35 tons. The secret intelligence of the Admiralty for
+the years 1804 and 1805 also shows that Dutch sailors were equally
+convinced of the unseaworthiness of these craft: Admiral Verhuell
+plainly told the French Emperor that, however flatterers might try to
+persuade him of the feasibility of the expedition, "nothing but
+disgrace could be expected." The same volume (No. 426) contains a
+report of the capture of two of the larger class of French _chaloupes_
+off Cape La Hogue. Among the prisoners was a young French royalist
+named La Bourdonnais: when forced by the conscription to enter
+Napoleon's service, he chose to serve with the _chaloupes_ "because
+of his conviction that all these flotillas were nothing but bugbears
+and would never attempt the invasion so much talked of and in which so
+few persons really believe." The same was the opinion of the veteran
+General Dumouriez, who, now an exile in England, drew up for our
+Government a long report on the proposed invasion and the means of
+thwarting it. The reports of our spies also prove that all experienced
+seamen on the Continent declared Napoleon's project to be either a
+ruse or a foolhardy venture.
+
+The compiler of the Ney "Memoirs," who was certainly well acquainted
+with the opinions of that Marshal, then commanding the troops at
+Boulogne, also believed that the flotilla was only able to serve as a
+gigantic ferry.[322] The French admirals were still better aware of
+the terrible risks to their crowded craft in a fight out at sea. They
+also pointed out that the difference in the size, draught, and speed
+of the boats must cause the dispersion of the flotilla, when its parts
+might fall a prey to the more seaworthy vessels of the enemy. Indeed,
+the only chance of crossing without much loss seemed to be offered by
+a protracted calm, when the British cruisers would be helpless against
+a combined attack of a cloud of row-boats. The risks would be greater
+during a fog, when the crowd of boats must be liable to collision,
+stranding on shoals, and losing their way. Even the departure of this
+quaint armada presented grave difficulties: it was found that the
+whole force could not clear the harbour in a single tide; and a part
+of the flotilla must therefore remain exposed to the British fire
+before the whole mass could get under way. For all these reasons
+Bruix, the commander of the flotilla, and Decrès, Minister of Marine,
+dissuaded Napoleon from attempting the descent without the support of
+a powerful covering fleet.
+
+Napoleon's correspondence shows that, by the close of the year 1803,
+he had abandoned that first fatuous scheme which gained him from the
+wits of Paris the soubriquet of "Don Quixote de la Manche."[323] On
+the 7th of December he wrote to Gantheaume, maritime prefect at
+Toulon, urging him to press on the completion of his nine ships of the
+line and five frigates, and sketching plans of a naval combination that
+promised to insure the temporary command of the Channel. Of these only
+two need be cited here:
+
+1. "The Toulon squadron will set out on 20th _nivôse_ (January 10th,
+1804), will arrive before Cadiz (or Lisbon), will find there the
+Rochefort squadron, will sail on without making land, between Brest
+and the Sorlingues, will touch at Cape La Hogue, and will pass in
+forty-eight hours before Boulogne: thence it will continue to the
+mouth of the Scheldt (there procuring masts, cordage, and all needful
+things)--or perhaps to Cherbourg.
+
+2. "The Rochefort squadron will set out on 20th _nivôse_, will reach
+Toulon the 20th _pluviôse:_ the united squadrons will set sail in
+_ventôse_, and arrive in _germinal_ before Boulogne--that is rather
+late. In any case the Egyptian Expedition will cover the departure of
+the Toulon squadron: everything will be managed _so that Nelson will
+first sail for Alexandria_."
+
+These schemes reveal the strong and also the weak qualities of
+Napoleon. He perceived the strength of the central position which
+France enjoyed on her four coasts; and he now contrived all his
+dispositions, both naval and political, so as to tempt Nelson away
+eastwards from Toulon during the concentration of the French fleet in
+the Channel; and for this purpose he informed the military officers at
+Toulon that their destination was Taranto and the Morea. It was to
+these points that he wished to decoy Nelson; for this end had he sent
+his troops to Taranto, and kept up French intrigues in Corfu, the
+Morea, and Egypt; it was for this purpose that he charged that wily
+spy Méhée to inform Drake that the Toulon fleet was to take 40,000
+French troops to the Morea, and that the Brest fleet, with 200 highly
+trained Irish officers, was intended solely for Ireland. But, while
+displaying consummate guile, he failed to allow for the uncertainties
+of operations conducted by sea. Ignoring the patent fact that the
+Toulon fleet was blockaded by Nelson, and that of Rochefort by
+Collingwood, he fixed the dates of their departure and junction as
+though he were ordering the movements of a _corps d'armée_ in
+Provence; and this craving for certainty was to mar his naval plans
+and dog his footsteps with the shadow of disaster.[324]
+
+The plan of using the Toulon fleet to cover an invasion of England was
+not entirely new. As far back as the days of De Tourville, a somewhat
+similar plan had been devised: the French Channel and Atlantic fleets
+under that admiral were closely to engage Russell off the Isle of
+Wight, while the Toulon squadron, sailing northwards, was to collect
+the French transports on the coasts of Normandy for the invasion of
+England. Had Napoleon carefully studied French naval history, he would
+have seen that the disaster of La Hogue was largely caused by the
+severe weather which prevented the rendezvous, and brought about a
+hasty and ill-advised alteration in the original scheme. But of all
+subjects on which he spoke as an authority, there was perhaps not one
+that he had so inadequately studied as naval strategy: yet there was
+none wherein the lessons of experience needed so carefully to be laid
+to heart.
+
+Fortune seemed to frown on Napoleon's naval schemes: yet she was
+perhaps not unkind in thwarting them in their first stages. Events
+occurred which early suggested a deviation from the combinations
+noticed above. In the last days of 1803, hearing that the English
+were about to attack Martinique, he at once wrote to Gantheaume,
+urging him to despatch the Toulon squadron under Admiral
+Latouche-Tréville for the rescue of this important island. The
+commander of the troops, Cervoni, was to be told that the expedition
+aimed at the Morea, so that spies might report this news to Nelson,
+and it is clear from our admiral's despatches that the ruse half
+succeeded. Distracted, however, by the thought that the French might,
+after all, aim at Ireland, Nelson clung to the vicinity of Toulon, and
+his untiring zeal kept in harbour the most daring admiral in the French
+navy, who, despite his advanced age, excited an enthusiasm that none
+other could arouse.
+
+To him, in spite of his present ill-fortune, Napoleon intrusted the
+execution of a scheme bearing date July 2nd, 1804. Latouche was
+ordered speedily to put to sea with his ten ships of the line and four
+frigates, to rally a French warship then at Cadiz, release the five
+ships of the line and four frigates blockaded at Rochefort by
+Collingwood, and then sweep the Channel and convoy the flotilla across
+the straits. This has been pronounced by Jurien de la Gravière the
+best of all Napoleon's plans: it exposed ships that had long been in
+harbour only to a short ocean voyage, and it was free from the
+complexity of the later and more grandiose schemes.
+
+But fate interposed and carried off the intrepid commander by that
+worst of all deaths for a brave seaman, death by disease in harbour,
+where he was shut up by his country's foes (August 20th).
+
+Villeneuve was thereupon appointed to succeed him, while Missiessy
+held command at Rochefort. The choice of Villeneuve has always been
+considered strange; and the riddle is not solved by the declaration of
+Napoleon that he considered that Villeneuve at the Nile showed his
+_good fortune_ in escaping with the only French ships which survived
+that disaster. A strange reason this: to appoint an admiral commander
+of an expedition that was to change the face of the world because his
+good fortune consisted in escaping from Nelson![325]
+
+Napoleon now began to widen his plans. According to the scheme of
+September 29th, three expeditions were now to set out; the first was
+to assure the safety of the French West Indies; the second was to
+recover the Dutch colonies in those seas and reinforce the French troops
+still holding out in part of St. Domingo; while the third had as its
+objective West Africa and St. Helena. The Emperor evidently hoped to
+daze us by simultaneous attacks in Africa, America, and also in Asiatic
+waters. After these fleets had set sail in October and November, 1804,
+Ireland was to be attacked by the Brest fleet now commanded by
+Gantheaume. Slipping away from the grip of Cornwallis, he was to pass
+out of sight of land and disembark his troops in Lough Swilly. These
+troops, 18,000 strong, were under that redoubtable fighter, Augereau;
+and had they been landed, the history of the world might have been
+different. Leaving them to revolutionize Ireland, Gantheaume was to make
+for the English Channel, touch at Cherbourg for further orders, and
+proceed to Boulogne to convoy the flotilla across: or, if the weather
+prevented this, as was probable in January, he was to pass on to the
+Texel, rally the seven Dutch battleships and the transports with their
+25,000 troops, beat back down the English Channel and return to Ireland.
+Napoleon counted on the complete success of one or other of Gantheaume's
+moves: "Whether I have 30,000 or 40,000 men in Ireland, or whether I am
+both in England and Ireland, the war is ours."[326]
+
+The objections to the September combination are fairly obvious. It was
+exceedingly improbable that the three fleets could escape at the time
+and in the order which Napoleon desired, or that crews enervated by
+long captivity in port would succeed in difficult operations when
+thrust out into the wintry gales of the Atlantic and the Channel.
+Besides, success could only be won after a serious dispersion of
+French naval resources; and the West Indian expeditions must be
+regarded as prompted quite as much by a colonial policy as by a
+determination to overrun England or Ireland.[327]
+
+
+At any rate, if the Emperor's aim was merely to distract us by widely
+diverging attacks, that could surely have been accomplished without
+sending twenty-six sail of the line into American and African waters,
+and leaving to Gantheaume so disproportionate an amount of work and
+danger. This September combination may therefore be judged distinctly
+inferior to that of July, which, with no scattering of the French
+forces, promised to decoy Nelson away to the Morea and Egypt, while
+the Toulon and Rochefort squadrons proceeded to Boulogne.
+
+The September schemes hopelessly miscarried. Gantheaume did not elude
+Cornwallis, and remained shut up in Brest. Missiessy escaped from
+Rochefort, sailed to the West Indies, where he did some damage and
+then sailed home again. "He had taken a pawn and returned to his own
+square."[328] Villeneuve slipped out from Toulon (January 19th, 1805),
+while Nelson was sheltering from westerly gales under the lee of
+Sardinia; but the storm which promised to renew his reputation for
+good luck speedily revealed the weakness of his ships and crews.
+
+"My fleet looked well at Toulon," he wrote to Decrès, Minister of
+Marine, "but when the storm came on, things changed at once. The
+sailors were not used to storms: they were lost among the mass of
+soldiers: these from sea-sickness lay in heaps about the decks: it was
+impossible to work the ships: hence yard-arms were broken and sails
+were carried away: our losses resulted as much from clumsiness and
+inexperience as from defects in the materials delivered by the
+arsenals."[329]
+
+Inexperience and sea-sickness were factors that found no place in
+Napoleon's calculations; but they compelled Villeneuve to return to
+Toulon to refit; and there Nelson closed on him once more.
+
+Meanwhile events were transpiring which seemed to add to Napoleon's
+naval strength and to the difficulties of his foes. On January 4th,
+1805, he concluded with Spain a treaty which added her naval resources
+to those of France, Holland, and Northern Italy. The causes that led
+to an open rupture between England and Spain were these. Spain had
+been called upon by Napoleon secretly to pay him the stipulated sum of
+72,000,000 francs a year (see p. 437), and she reluctantly consented.
+This was, of course, a covert act of hostility against England; and
+the Spanish Government was warned at the close of 1803 that, if this
+subsidy continued to be paid to France, it would constitute "at any
+future period, when circumstances may render it necessary, a just
+cause of war" between England and Spain. Far from complying with this
+reasonable remonstrance, the Spanish Court yielded to Napoleon's
+imperious order to repair five French warships that had taken refuge
+in Ferrol from our cruisers, and in July, 1804, allowed French seamen
+to travel thither overland to complete the crews of these vessels.
+Thus for some months our warships had to observe Ferrol, as if it were
+a hostile port.
+
+Clearly, this state of things could not continue; and when the
+protests of our ambassador at Madrid were persistently evaded or
+ignored, he was ordered, in the month of September, to leave that
+capital unless he received satisfactory assurances. He did not leave
+until November 10th, and before that time a sinister event had taken
+place. The British Ministry determined that Spanish treasure-ships from
+South America should not be allowed to land at Cadiz the sinews of war
+for France, and sent orders to our squadrons to stop those ships. Four
+frigates were told off for that purpose. On the 5th of October they
+sighted the four rather smaller Spanish frigates that bore the ingots of
+Peru, and summoned them to surrender, thereafter to be held in pledge.
+The Spaniards, nobly resolving to yield only to overwhelming force,
+refused; and in the ensuing fight one of their ships blew up, whereupon
+the others hauled down their flags and were taken to England. Resenting
+this action, Spain declared war on December 12th, 1804.
+
+Stripped of all the rodomontade with which French historians have
+enveloped this incident, the essential facts are as follows. Napoleon
+compelled Spain by the threat of invasion to pay him a large subsidy:
+England declared this payment, and accompanying acts, to be acts of
+war; Spain shuffled uneasily between the two belligerents but
+continued to supply funds to Napoleon and to shelter and repair his
+warships; thereupon England resolved to cut off her American
+subsidies, but sent a force too small to preclude the possibility of a
+sea-fight; the fight took place, with a lamentable result, which
+changed the covert hostility of Spain into active hostility.
+
+Public opinion and popular narratives are, however, fashioned by
+sentiment rather than founded on evidence; accordingly, Britain's
+prestige suffered from this event. The facts, as currently reported,
+seemed to convict her of an act of piracy; and few persons on the
+Continent or among the Whig coteries of Westminster troubled to find
+out whether Spain had not been guilty of acts of hostility and whether
+the French Emperor was not the author of the new war. Undoubtedly it
+was his threatening pressure on Spain that had compelled her to her
+recent action: but that pressure had been for the most part veiled by
+diplomacy, while Britain's retort was patent and notorious.
+Consequently, every version of this incident that was based merely on
+newspaper reports condemned her conduct as brutally piratical; and
+only those who have delved into archives have discovered the real
+facts of the case.[330] Napoleon's letter to the King of Spain quoted
+on p. 437 shows that even before the war he was seeking to drag him
+into hostilities with England, and he continued to exert a remorseless
+pressure on the Court of Madrid; it left two alternatives open to
+England, either to see Napoleon close his grip on Spain and wield her
+naval resources when she was fully prepared for war, or to precipitate
+the rupture. It was the alternative, _mutatis mutandis_, presented to
+George III. and the elder Pitt in 1761, when the King was for delay
+and his Minister was for war at once. That instance had proved the
+father's foresight; and now at the close of 1804 the younger Pitt
+might flatter himself that open war was better than a treacherous
+peace.
+
+In lieu of a subsidy Spain now promised to provide from twenty-five to
+twenty-nine sail of the line, and to have them ready by the close of
+March. On his side, Napoleon agreed to guarantee the integrity of the
+Spanish dominions, and to regain Trinidad for her. The sequel will
+show how his word was kept.
+
+The conclusion of this alliance placed the hostile navies almost on an
+equality, at least on paper. But, as the equipment of the Spanish
+fleet was very slow, Napoleon for the present adhered to his plan of
+September, 1804, with the result already detailed. Not until March
+2nd, 1805, do we find the influence of the Spanish alliance observable
+in his naval schemes. On that date he issued orders to Villeneuve and
+Gantheaume, which assigned to the latter most of the initiative, as also
+the chief command after their assumed junction. Gantheaume, with the
+Brest fleet, after eluding the blockaders, was to proceed first to
+Ferrol, capture the British ships off that port and, reinforced by the
+French and Spanish ships there at anchor, proceed across the Atlantic to
+the appointed rendezvous at Martinique. The Toulon squadron under
+Villeneuve was at the same time to make for Cadiz, and, after collecting
+the Spanish ships, set sail for the West Indies. Then the armada was to
+return with all speed to Boulogne, where Napoleon expected it to arrive
+between June 10th and July 10th.[331]
+
+Diverse judgments have been passed on this, the last and grandest of
+Napoleon's naval combinations. On the one hand, it is urged that, as
+the French fleets had seen no active service, a long voyage was
+necessary to impart experience and efficiency before matters were
+brought to the touch in the Straits of Dover; and as Britain and
+France both regarded their West Indian islands as their most valued
+possessions, a voyage thither would be certain to draw British sails
+in eager pursuit. Finally, those islands dotted over a thousand miles
+of sea presented a labyrinth wherein it would be easy for the French
+to elude Nelson's cruisers.
+
+On the other hand, it may be urged that the success of the plan
+depended on too many _ifs_. Assuming that the Toulon and Brest
+squadrons escaped the blockaders, their subsequent movements would
+most probably be reported by some swift frigate off Gibraltar or
+Ferrol. The chance of our divining the French plans was surely as
+great as that Gantheaume and Villeneuve would unite in the West
+Indies, ravage the British possessions, and return in undiminished
+force. The English fleets, after weary months of blockade, were adepts
+at scouting; their wings covered with ease a vast space, their
+frigates rapidly signalled news to the flagship, and their
+concentration was swift and decisive. Prompt to note every varying
+puff of wind, they bade fair to overhaul their enemies when the chase
+began in earnest, and when once the battle was joined, numbers counted
+for little: the English crews, inured to fights on the ocean, might be
+trusted to overwhelm the foe by their superior experience and
+discipline, hampered as the French now were by the lumbering and
+defective warships of Spain.
+
+Napoleon, indeed, amply discounted the chances of failure of his
+ultimate design, the command of the Channel. The ostensible aims of
+the expedition were colonial. The French fleets were to take on board
+11,908 soldiers, of whom three-fourths were destined for the West
+Indies; and, in case Gantheaume did not join Villeneuve at Martinique,
+the latter was ordered, after waiting forty days, to set sail for the
+Canaries, there to intercept the English convoys bound for Brazil and
+the East Indies.
+
+In the spring and summer of 1805 Napoleon's correspondence supplies
+copious proof of the ideas and plans that passed through his brain.
+After firmly founding the new Empire, he journeyed into Piedmont,
+thence to Milan for his coronation as King of Italy, and finally to
+Genoa. In this absence of three months from Paris (April-July) many
+lengthy letters to Decrès attest the alternations of his hopes and
+fears. He now keeps the possibility of failure always before him: his
+letters no longer breathe the crude confidence of 1803: and while
+facing the chances of failure in the West Indies, his thoughts swing
+back to the Orient:
+
+     "According to all the news that I receive, five or six thousand men
+     in the [East] Indies would ruin the English Company. Supposing that
+     our [West] Indian expedition is not fully successful, and I cannot
+     reach the grand end which will demolish all the rest, I think we
+     must arrange the [East] Indian expedition for September. We have
+     now greater resources for it than some time ago."[332]
+
+How tenacious is his will! He here recurs to the plan laid down before
+Decaen sailed to the East Indies in March, 1803. Even the prospects of
+a continental coalition fail to dispel that gorgeous dream. But amid
+much that is visionary we may discern this element of practicality: in
+case the blow against England misses the mark, Napoleon has provided
+himself with a splendid alternative that will banish all thought of
+failure.
+
+It is needless to recount here the well-known details of Villeneuve's
+voyage and Nelson's pursuit. The Toulon and Cadiz fleets got clear
+away to the West Indies, and after a last glance towards the Orient,
+Nelson set out in pursuit. On the 4th of June the hostile fleets were
+separated by only a hundred miles of sea; and Villeneuve, when off
+Antigua, hearing that Nelson was so close, decided forthwith to return
+to Europe. After disembarking most of his troops and capturing a fleet
+of fourteen British merchantmen, he sailed for Ferrol, in pursuance of
+orders just received from Napoleon, which bade him rally fifteen
+allied ships at that port, and push on to Brest, where he must release
+Gantheaume.
+
+In this gigantic war game, where the Atlantic was the chess-board, and
+the prize a world-empire, the chances were at this time curiously
+even. Fortune had favoured Villeneuve but checked Gantheaume.
+Villeneuve successfully dodged Nelson in the West Indies, but
+ultimately the pursuer divined the enemy's scheme of returning to
+Europe, and sent a swift brig to warn the Admiralty, which was thereby
+informed of the exact position of affairs on July 8th, that is, twelve
+days before Napoleon himself knew of the state of affairs. On July
+20th, the French Emperor heard, _through English newspapers_, that his
+fleet was on its return voyage: and his heart beat high with hope that
+Villeneuve would now gather up his squadrons in the Bay of Biscay and
+appear before Boulogne in overwhelming force; for he argued that, even
+if Villeneuve should keep right away from Brest, and leave blockaders
+and blockaded face to face, he would still be at least sixteen ships
+stronger than any force that could be brought against him.
+
+But Napoleon was now committing the blunder which he so often censured
+in his inferiors. He was "making pictures" to himself, pictures in
+which the gleams of fortune were reserved for the tricolour flag, and
+gloom and disaster shrouded the Union Jack; he conceived that Nelson
+had made for Jamaica, and that the British squadrons were engaged in
+chasing phantom French fleets around Ireland or to the East Indies.
+"We have not to do," he said, "with a far-seeing, but with a very
+proud, Government."
+
+In reality, Nelson was nearing the coast of Portugal, Cornwallis had
+been so speedily reinforced as to marshal twenty-eight ships of the
+line off Brest, while Calder was waiting for Villeneuve off Cape
+Finisterre with a fleet of fifteen battleships. Thus, when Villeneuve
+neared the north-west of Spain, his twenty ships of the line were
+confronted by a force which he could neither overwhelm nor shake off.
+The combat of July 22nd, fought amidst a dense haze, was unfavourable
+to the allies, two Spanish ships of the line striking their colours to
+Calder before the gathering fog and gloom of night separated the
+combatants: on the next two days Villeneuve strove to come to close
+quarters, but Calder sheered off; thereupon the French, unable then to
+make Ferrol, put into Vigo, while Calder, ignorant of their position,
+joined Cornwallis off Brest. This retreat of the British admiral
+subjected him to a court-martial, and consternation reigned in London
+when Villeneuve was known to be on the Spanish coast unguarded; but
+the fear was needless; though the French admiral succeeded in rallying
+the Ferrol squadron, yet, as he was ordered to avoid Ferrol, he put
+into Corunna, and on August 15th he decided to sail for Cadiz.
+
+To realize the immense importance of this decision we must picture to
+ourselves the state of affairs just before this time.
+
+Nelson, delayed by contrary winds and dogged by temporary ill-luck,
+had made for Gibraltar, whence, finding that no French ships had
+passed the straits, he doubled back in hot haste northwards, and there
+is clear proof that his speedy return to the coast of Spain spread
+dismay in official circles at Paris. "This unexpected union of forces
+undoubtedly renders every scheme of invasion impracticable for the
+present," wrote Talleyrand to Napoleon on August 2nd, 1805.[333]
+Missing Villeneuve off Ferrol, Nelson joined Cornwallis off Ushant on
+the very day when the French admiral decided to make for Cadiz.
+Passing on to Portsmouth, the hero now enjoyed a few days of
+well-earned repose, until the nation called on him for his final
+effort.
+
+Meanwhile Napoleon had arrived on August 3rd at Boulogne, where he
+reviewed a line of soldiery nine miles long. The sight might well
+arouse his hopes of assured victory. He had ground for hoping that
+Villeneuve would soon be in the Channel. Not until August 8th did he
+receive news of the fight with Calder, and he took pains to parade it
+as an English defeat. He therefore trusted that, in the spirit of his
+orders to Villeneuve dated July the 26th, that admiral would sail to
+Cadiz, gather up other French and Spanish ships, and return to Ferrol
+and Brest with a mighty force of some sixty sail of the line:
+
+     "I count on your zeal for my service, on your love for the
+     fatherland, on your hatred of this Power which for forty
+     generations has oppressed us, and which a little daring and
+     perseverance on your part will for ever reduce to the rank of the
+     small Powers: 150,000 soldiers ... and the crews complete are
+     embarked on 2,000 craft of the flotilla, which, despite the English
+     cruisers, forms a long line of broadsides from Etaples to Cape
+     Grisnez. Your voyage, and it alone, makes us without any doubt
+     masters of England."
+
+Austria and Russia were already marshalling their forces for the war
+of the Third Coalition. Yet, though menaced by those Powers, to whom
+he had recently offered the most flagrant provocations, this
+astonishing man was intent only on the ruin of England, and secretly
+derided their preparations. "You need not" (so he wrote to Eugène,
+Viceroy of Italy) "contradict the newspaper rumours of war, but make
+fun of them.... Austria's actions are probably the result of
+fear."--Thus, even when the eastern horizon lowered threateningly with
+clouds, he continued to pace the cliffs of Boulogne, or gallop
+restlessly along the strand, straining his gaze westward to catch the
+first glimpse of his armada. That horizon was never to be flecked with
+Villeneuve's sails: they were at this time furled in the harbour of
+Cadiz.
+
+Unmeasured abuse has been showered upon Villeneuve for his retreat to
+that harbour. But it must be remembered that in both of Napoleon's
+last orders to him, those of July 16th and 26th, he was required to
+sail to Cadiz under certain conditions. In the first order prescribing
+alternative ways of gaining the mastery of the Channel, that step was
+recommended solely as a last alternative in case of misfortune: he was
+directed not to enter the long and difficult inlet of Ferrol, but,
+after collecting the squadron there, to cast anchor at Cadiz. In the
+order of July 26th he was charged positively to repair to Cadiz: "My
+intention is that you rally at Cadiz the Spanish ships there,
+disembark your sick, and, without stopping there more than four days
+at most, again set sail, return to Ferrol, etc." Villeneuve seems not
+to have received these last orders, but he alludes to those of July
+16th.[334]
+
+These, then, were probably the last instructions he received from
+Napoleon before setting sail from the roads of Corunna on August 13th.
+The censures passed on his retreat to Cadiz are therefore based on the
+supposition that he received instructions which he did not
+receive.[335] He expressly based his move to Cadiz on Napoleon's
+orders of July 16th. The mishaps which the Emperor then contemplated
+as necessitating such a step had, in Villeneuve's eyes, actually
+happened. The admiral considered the fight of July 22nd _la malheureuse
+affaire;_ his ships were encumbered with sick; they worked badly; on
+August 15th a north-east gale carried away the top-mast of a Spanish
+ship; and having heard from a Danish merchantman the news--false news,
+as it afterwards appeared--that Cornwallis with twenty-five ships was to
+the north, he turned and scudded before the wind. He could not divine
+the disastrous influence of his conduct on the plan of invasion. He did
+not know that his master was even then beginning to hesitate between a
+dash on London or a campaign on the Danube, and that the events of the
+next few days were destined to tilt the fortunes of the world. Doubtless
+he ought to have disregarded the Emperor's words about Cadiz and to have
+struggled on to Brest, as his earlier and wider orders enjoined. But the
+Emperor's instructions pointed to Cadiz as the rendezvous in case of
+misfortune or great difficulty. As a matter of fact, Napoleon on July
+26th ordered the Rochefort squadron to _meet Villeneuve at Cadiz;_ and
+it is clear that by that date Napoleon had decided on that rendezvous,
+apparently because it could be more easily entered and cleared than
+Ferrol, and was safer from attack. But, as it happened, the Rochefort
+squadron had already set sail and failed to sight an enemy or friend for
+several weeks.
+
+Such are the risks of naval warfare, in which even the greatest
+geniuses at times groped but blindly. Nelson was not afraid to confess
+the truth. The French Emperor, however, seems never to have made an
+admission which would mar his claim to strategic infallibility. Even
+now, when the Spanish ships were proved to clog the enterprise, he
+persisted in merely counting numbers, and in asserting that Villeneuve
+might still neutralize the force of Calder and Cornwallis. These hopes
+he cherished up to August 23rd, when, as the next chapter will show,
+he faced right about to confront Austria. His Minister of Marine, who
+had more truly gauged the difficulties of all parts of the naval
+enterprise, continued earnestly to warn him of the terrible risk of
+burdening Villeneuve's ships with the unseaworthy craft of Spain and
+of trusting to this ill-assorted armada to cover the invasion now that
+their foes had divined its secret. The Emperor bitterly upbraided his
+Minister for his timidity, and in the presence of Daru, Intendant
+General of the army, indulged in a dramatic soliloquy against
+Villeneuve for his violation of orders: "What a navy! What an admiral!
+What sacrifices for nothing! My hopes are frustrated--- Daru, sit down
+and write"--whereupon it is said that he traced out the plans of the
+campaign which was to culminate at Ulm and Austerlitz.[336]
+
+The question has often been asked whether Napoleon seriously intended
+the invasion of England. Certainly the experienced seamen of England,
+France, and Holland, with few exceptions, declared that the
+flat-bottomed boats were unseaworthy, and that a frightful disaster
+must ensue if they were met out at sea by our ships. When it is
+further remembered that our coasts were defended by batteries and
+martello towers, that several hundreds of pinnaces and row-boats were
+ready to attack the flotilla before it could attempt the
+disembarkation of horses, artillery, and stores, and that 180,000
+regulars and militia, aided by 400,000 volunteers, were ready to
+defend our land, the difficulties even of capturing London will be
+obvious. And the capture of the capital would not have decided the
+contest. Napoleon seems to have thought it would. In his voyage to St.
+Helena he said: "I put all to the hazard; I entered into no
+calculations as to the manner in which I was to return; I trusted all
+to the impression the occupation of the capital would have
+occasioned."[337]--But, as has been shown above (p. 441), plans had been
+secretly drawn up for the removal of the Court and the national treasure
+to Worcester; the cannon of Woolwich were to be despatched into the
+Midlands by canal; and our military authorities reckoned that the
+systematic removal of provisions and stores from all the districts
+threatened by the enemy would exhaust him long before he overran the
+home counties. Besides, the invasion was planned when Britain's naval
+power had been merely evaded, not conquered. Nelson and Cornwallis and
+Calder would not for ever be chasing phantom fleets; they would
+certainly return, and cut Napoleon from his base, the sea.
+
+Again, if Napoleon was bent solely on the invasion of England, why
+should he in June, 1805, have offered to Russia and Austria so
+gratuitous an affront as the annexation of the Ligurian Republic? He
+must have known that this act would hurry them into war. Thiers
+considers the annexation of Genoa a "grave fault" in the Emperor's
+policy--but many have doubted whether Napoleon did not intend Genoa to
+be the gate leading to a new avenue of glory, now that the success of
+his naval dispositions was doubtful. Marbot gives the general opinion
+of military circles when he says that the Emperor wanted to provoke a
+continental war in order to escape the ridicule which the failure of
+his Boulogne plans would otherwise have aroused. "The new coalition
+came just at the right moment to get him out of an annoying
+situation." The compiler of the Fouché "Memoirs," which, though not
+genuine, may be accepted as generally correct, took the same view. He
+attributes to Napoleon the noteworthy words: "I may fail by sea, but
+not by land; besides, I shall be able to strike the blow before the
+old coalition machines are ready: the kings have neither activity nor
+decision of character: I do not fear old Europe." The Emperor also
+remarked to the Council of State that the expense of all the
+preparations at Boulogne was fully justified by the fact that they
+gave him "fully twenty days' start over all enemies.... A pretext had
+to be found for raising the troops and bringing them together without
+alarming the Continental Powers: and that pretext was afforded me by
+the projected descent upon England."[338]
+
+It is also quite possible that his aim was Ireland as much as England.
+It certainly was in the plan of September, 1804: and doubtless it
+still held a prominent place in his mind, except during the few days
+when he pictured Calder vanquished and Nelson scouring the West
+Indies. Then he doubtless fixed his gaze solely upon London. But there
+is much indirect evidence which points to Ireland as forming at least
+a very important part of his scheme. Both Nelson and Collingwood
+believed him to be aiming at Ireland.[339]
+
+But indeed Napoleon is often unfathomable. Herein lies much of the
+charm of Napoleonic studies. He is at once the Achilles, the Mercury,
+and the Proteus of the modern world. The ease with which his mind
+grasped all problems and suddenly concentrated its force on some new
+plan may well perplex posterity as it dazed his contemporaries. If we
+were dealing with any other man than Napoleon, we might safely say
+that an invasion of England, before the command of the sea had been
+secured, was infinitely less likely than a descent on Ireland. The
+landing of a _corps d'armée_ there would have provoked a revolution;
+and British ascendancy would have vanished in a week. Even had Nelson
+returned and swept the seas, Ireland would have been lost to the
+United Kingdom; and Britain, exhausted also by the expenses which the
+Boulogne preparations had compelled her to make for the defence of
+London, must have succumbed.
+
+If ever Napoleon intended risking all his fortunes on the conquest of
+England, it can be proved that his mind was gradually cleared of
+illusions. He trusted that a popular rising would overthrow the British
+Government: people and rulers showed an accord that had never been known
+since the reign of Queen Anne. He believed, for a short space, that the
+flotilla could fight sea-going ships out at sea: the converse was proved
+up to the hilt. Finally, he trusted that Villeneuve, when burdened with
+Spanish ships, would outwit and outmanoeuvre Nelson!
+
+What then remained after these and many other disappointments? Surely
+that scheme alone was practicable, in which the command of the sea
+formed only an unimportant factor. For the conquest of England it was
+an essential factor. In Ireland alone could Napoleon find the
+conditions on which he counted for success--a discontented populace
+that would throng to the French eagles, and a field of warfare where
+the mere landing of 20,000 veterans would decide the campaign.[340]
+
+And yet it is, on the whole, certain that his expedition for Ireland
+was meant merely to distract and paralyze the defenders of Great
+Britain, while he dealt the chief blow at London. Instinct and
+conviction alike prompted him to make imposing feints that should lead
+his enemy to lay bare his heart, and that heart was our great capital.
+His indomitable will scorned the word _impossible_--"a word found only
+in the dictionary of fools"; he felt England to be the sole barrier to
+his ambitions; and to crush her power he was ready to brave, not only
+her stoutest seamen, but also her guardian angels, the winds and
+storms. Both the man and the occasion were unique in the world's
+history and must not be judged according to tame probabilities. For
+his honour was at stake. He was so deeply pledged to make use of the
+vast preparations at his northern ports that, had all his complex
+dispositions worked smoothly, he would certainly have attempted a dash
+at London; and only after some adequate excuse could he consent to give
+up that adventure.
+
+The excuse was now furnished by Villeneuve's retreat to Cadiz; and
+public opinion, ignorant of Napoleon's latest instructions on that
+subject, and knowing only the salient facts of the case, laid on that
+luckless admiral the whole burden of blame for the failure of the
+scheme of invasion. With front unabashed and a mind presaging certain
+triumphs, Napoleon accordingly wheeled his legions eastward to
+prosecute that alluring alternative, the conquest of England through
+the Continent.
+
+
+
+
+
+APPENDIX
+
+[_The two following State Papers have never before been published_]
+
+
+No. I. is a despatch from Mr. Thornton, our _chargé d'affaires_ at
+Washington, relative to the expected transfer of the vast region of
+Louisiana from Spain to France (see ch. xv. of this vol.).
+
+  [In "F O.," America, No. 35.]
+  "WASHINGTON,
+  "26 _Jany._, 1802.
+
+     "MY LORD,
+
+     "... About four years ago, when the rumour of the transfer of
+     Louisiana to France was first circulated, I put into Mr.
+     Pickering's hands for his perusal a despatch written by Mr. Fauchet
+     about the year 1794, which with many others was intercepted by one
+     of H.M. ships. In that paper the French Minister urged to his
+     Government the absolute necessity of acquiring Louisiana or some
+     territory in the vicinity of the United States in order to obtain a
+     permanent influence in the country, and he alluded to a memorial
+     written some years before by the Count du Moutier to the same
+     effect, when he was employed as His Most Christian Majesty's
+     Minister to the United States. The project seems therefore to have
+     been long in the contemplation of the French Government, and
+     perhaps no period is more favourable than the present for carrying
+     it into execution.
+
+     "When I paid my respects to the Vice-President, Mr. Burr, on his
+     arrival at this place, he, of his own accord, directed conversation
+     to this topic. He owned that he had made some exertion indirectly
+     to discover the truth of the report, and thought he had reason to
+     believe it. He appeared to think that the great armament destined
+     by France to St. Domingo, had this ulterior object in view, and
+     expressed much apprehension that the transfer and colonization of
+     Louisiana were meditated by her with the concurrence or
+     acquiescence of His Maj'^{s} Gov^{t}. It was impossible for me to
+     give any opinion on this part of the measure, which, whatever may
+     be its ultimate tendency, presents at first view nothing but danger
+     to His Maj'^{s} Trans-Atlantic possessions.
+
+     "Regarding alone the aim of France to acquire a preponderating
+     influence in the councils of the United States, it may be very well
+     doubted whether the possession of Louisiana, and the means which
+     she would chose to employ are calculated to secure that end.
+     Experience seems now to have sanctioned the opinion that if the
+     provinces of Canada had been restored to France at the Peace of
+     Paris, and if from that quarter she had been left to press upon the
+     American frontier, to harass the exterior settlements and to mingle
+     in the feuds of the Indian Tribes, the colonies might still have
+     preserved their allegiance to the parent country and have retained
+     their just jealousy of that system of encroachment adopted by
+     France from the beginning of the last century. The present project
+     is but a continuance of the same system; and neither her power nor
+     her present temper leave room for expectation that she will pursue
+     it with less eagerness or greater moderation than before. Whether,
+     therefore, she attempt to restrain the navigation of the
+     Mississippi or limit the freedom of the port of New Orleans;
+     whether she press upon the Western States with any view to
+     conquest, or seduce them by her principles of fraternity (for which
+     indeed they are well prepared) she must infallibly alienate the
+     Atlantic States and force them into a straiter connection with
+     Great Britain.
+
+     "I have scarcely met with a person under whatever party he may rank
+     himself, who does not dread this event, and who would not prefer
+     almost any neighbours to the French: and it seems perfect
+     infatuation in the Administration of this country that they chose
+     the present moment for leaving that frontier almost defenceless by
+     the reduction of its military establishment.
+
+     "I have, etc.,
+
+     "[Signed] EDW'D THORNTON."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+No. II. is a report in "F.O.," France, No. 71, by one of our spies in
+Paris on the doings of the Irish exiles there, especially O'Connor,
+whom Napoleon had appointed General of Division in Marshal Augereau's
+army, then assembling at Brest for the expedition to Ireland. After
+stating O'Connor's appointment, the report continues:
+
+    "About eighty Irishmen were sent to Morlaix to be formed into a
+    company of officers and taught how they were to discipline and
+    instruct their countrymen when they landed in Ireland. McShee,
+    Général de Brigade, commands them. He and Blackwell are, I
+    believe, the only persons among them of any consequence, who have
+    seen actual service. Emmett's brother and McDonald, who were
+    jealous of the attention paid to O'Connor, would not go to
+    Morlaix. They were prevailed on to go to Brest towards the end of
+    May, and there to join General Humbert. Commandant Dalton, a young
+    man of Irish extraction, and lately appointed to a situation in
+    the Army at Boulogne, translated everything between O'Connor and
+    the War Department at Paris. There is no Irish Committee at Paris
+    as is reported. O'Connor and General Hartry, an old Irishman who
+    has been long in the French service, are the only persons applied
+    to by the French Government, O'Connor for the expedition, and
+    Hartry for the Police, etc., of the Irish in France.
+
+    "O'Connor, though he had long tried to have an audience of
+    Bonaparte, never saw him till the 20th of May [1805], when he was
+    presented to him at the levee by Marshal Augereau. The Emperor and
+    the Empress complimented him on his dress and military appearance,
+    and Bonaparte said to him _Venez me voir en particulier demain
+    matin._ O'Connor went and was alone with him near two hours. On
+    that day Bonaparte did not say a word to him respecting his
+    intention on England; all their conversation regarded Ireland.
+    O'Connor was with him again on the Thursday and Friday following.
+    Those three audiences are all that O'Connor ever had in private
+    with Bonaparte.
+
+    "He told me on the Saturday evening that he should go to Court the
+    next morning to take public leave of the Emperor and leave Paris
+    as soon as he had received 10,000 livres which Maret was to give
+    him for his travelling expenses, etc., and which he was to have in
+    a day or two. His horses and all his servants but one had set off
+    for Brest some time before.
+
+    "Bonaparte told O'Connor, when speaking of the prospect of a
+    continental War, 'la Russie peut-être pourroit envoyer cette année
+    100,000 hommes contre la France, mais j'ai pour cela assez de
+    monde à ma disposition: je ferois même marcher, s'il le faut, une
+    armée contre la Russie, et si l'Empereur d'Allemagne refusoit un
+    passage à cette armée dans son pays, je la ferois passer malgré
+    lui.' He afterwards said--'il y a plusieurs moyens de détruire
+    l'Angleterre, mais celui de lui ôter Irlande est bon. Je vous
+    donnerai 25,000 bonnes troupes et s'il en arrive seulement 15,000,
+    ce sera assez. Vous aurez aussi 150,000 fusils pour armer vos
+    compatriotes, et un parc d'artillerie légère, des pièces de 4 et
+    de 6 livres, et toutes les provisions de guerre nécessaires.'
+
+    "O'Connor endeavoured to persuade Bonaparte that the best way to
+    conquer England was first to go to Ireland, and thence to England
+    with 200,000 Irishmen. Bonaparte said he did not think that would
+    do; _d'ailleurs,_ he added, _ce seroit trop long_. They agreed
+    that all the English in Ireland should be exterminated as the
+    whites had been in St. Domingo. Bonaparte assured him that, as
+    soon as he had formed an Irish army, he should be Commander in
+    Chief of the French and Irish forces. Bonaparte directed O'Connor
+    to try to gain over to his interest Laharpe, the Emperor of
+    Russia's tutor. Laharpe had applied for a passport to go to St.
+    Pétersbourg. He says he will do everything in his power to engage
+    the Emperor to go to war with Bonaparte. Laharpe breathes nothing
+    but vengeance against Bonaparte, who, besides other injuries,
+    turned his back on him in public and would not speak to him.
+    Laharpe was warned of O'Connor's intended visit, and went to the
+    country to avoid seeing him: The Senator Garat is to go to Brest
+    with O'Connor to write a constitution for Ireland. O'Connor is
+    getting out of favor with the Irish in France; they begin to
+    suspect his ambitious and selfish views. There was a coolness
+    between Admiral Truguet and him for some time previous to
+    Truguet's return to Brest. Augereau had given a dinner to all the
+    principal officers of his army then at Paris. Truguet invited all
+    of them to dine with him, two or three days after, except
+    O'Connor. O'Connor told me he would never forgive him for it."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 1: From a French work, "Moeurs et Coutumes des Corses"
+(Paris, 1802), I take the following incident. A priest, charged with
+the duty of avenging a relative for some fourteen years, met his enemy
+at the gate of Ajaccio and forthwith shot him, under the eyes of an
+official--who did nothing. A relative of the murdered man, happening
+to be near, shot the priest. Both victims were quickly buried, the
+priest being interred under the altar of the church, "because of his
+sacred character." See too Miot de Melito, "Mémoires," vol. i., ch.
+xiii., as to the utter collapse of the jury system in 1800-1, because
+no Corsican would "deny his party or desert his blood."]
+
+[Footnote 2: As to the tenacity of Corsican devotion, I may cite a
+curious proof from the unpublished portion of the "Memoirs of Sir
+Hudson Lowe." He was colonel in command of the Royal Corsican Rangers,
+enrolled during the British occupation of Corsica, and gained the
+affections of his men during several years of fighting in Egypt and
+elsewhere. When stationed at Capri in 1808 he relied on his Corsican
+levies to defend that island against Murat's attacks; and he did not
+rely in vain. Though confronted by a French Corsican regiment, they
+remained true to their salt, even during a truce, when they could
+recognize their compatriots. The partisan instinct was proof against
+the promises of Murat's envoys and the shouts even of kith and kin.]
+
+[Footnote 3: The facts as to the family of Napoleon's mother are given
+in full detail by M. Masson in his "Napoléon Inconnu," ch. i. They
+correct the statement often made as to her "lowly," "peasant" origin.
+Masson also proves that the house at Ajaccio, which is shown as
+Napoleon's birthplace, is of later construction, though on the same
+site.]
+
+[Footnote 4: See Jacobi, "Hist. de la Corse," vol. ii., ch. viii. The
+whole story is told with prudent brevity by French historians, even by
+Masson and Chuquet. The few words in which Thiers dismisses this
+subject are altogether misleading.]
+
+[Footnote 5: Much has been written to prove that Napoleon was born in
+1768, and was really the eldest surviving son. The reasons, stated
+briefly, are: (1) that the first baptismal name of Joseph Buonaparte
+was merely _Nabulione_ (Italian for _Napoleon_), and that _Joseph_ was
+a later addition to his name on the baptismal register of January 7th,
+1768, at Corte; (2) certain statements that Joseph was born at
+Ajaccio; (3) Napoleon's own statement at his marriage that he was born
+in 1768. To this it maybe replied that: (_a_) other letters and
+statements, still more decisive, prove that Joseph was born at Corte
+in 1768 and Napoleon at Ajaccio in 1769; (_b_) Napoleon's entry in the
+marriage register was obviously designed to lessen the disparity of
+years of his bride, who, on her side, subtracted four years from her
+age. See Chuquet, "La Jeunesse de Napoléon," p. 65.]
+
+[Footnote 6: Nasica, "Mémoires," p. 192.]
+
+[Footnote 7: Both letters are accepted as authentic by Jung,
+"Bonaparte et son Temps," vol. i., pp. 84, 92; but Masson, "Napoléon
+Inconnu," vol. i., p. 55, tracking them to their source, discredits
+them, as also from internal evidence.]
+
+[Footnote 8: Chaptal, "Mes Souvenirs sur Napoléon," p. 177.]
+
+[Footnote 9: Joseph Buonaparte, "Mems.," vol. i., p. 29. So too Miot
+de Melito, "Mems.," vol. i., ch. x.]
+
+[Footnote 10: Chaptal, "Souvenirs sur Napoléon," p. 237. See too
+Masson, "Napoléon Inconnu," vol. i., p. 158, note.]
+
+[Footnote 11: In an after-dinner conversation on January 11th, 1803,
+with Roederer, Buonaparte exalted Voltaire at the expense of Rousseau
+in these significant words: "The more I read Voltaire, the more I like
+him: he is always reasonable, never a charlatan, never a fanatic: he
+is made for mature minds. Up to sixteen years of age I would have
+fought for Rousseau against all the friends of Voltaire. Now it is the
+contrary. _I have been especially disgusted with Rousseau since I
+have seen the East. Savage man is a dog._" ("Oeuvres de Roederer,"
+vol. iii., p. 461.)
+
+In 1804 he even denied his indebtedness to Rousseau. During a family
+discussion, wherein he also belittled Corsica, he called Rousseau "a
+babbler, or, if you prefer it, an eloquent enough _idéalogue_. I never
+liked him, nor indeed well understood him: truly I had not the courage
+to read him all, because I thought him for the most part tedious."
+(Lucien Buonaparte, "Mémoires," vol. ii., ch. xi.)
+
+His later views on Rousseau are strikingly set forth by Stanislas
+Girardin, who, in his "Memoirs," relates that Buonaparte, on his visit
+to the tomb of Rousseau, said: "'It would have been better for the
+repose of France that this man had never been born.' 'Why, First
+Consul?' said I. 'He prepared the French Revolution.' 'I thought it
+was not for you to complain of the Revolution.' 'Well,' he replied,
+'the future will show whether it would not have been better for the
+repose of the world that neither I nor Rousseau had existed.'" Méneval
+confirms this remarkable statement.]
+
+[Footnote 12: Masson, "Napoléon Inconnu," vol. ii., p. 53.]
+
+[Footnote 13: Joseph Buonaparte, "Mémoires," vol. i, p. 44.]
+
+[Footnote 14: M. Chuquet, in his work "La Jeunesse de Napoléon"
+(Paris, 1898), gives a different opinion: but I think this passage
+shows a veiled hostility to Paoli. Probably we may refer to this time
+an incident stated by Napoleon at St. Helena to Lady Malcolm ("Diary,"
+p. 88), namely, that Paoli urged on him the acceptance of a commission
+in the British army: "But I preferred the French, because I spoke the
+language, was of their religion, understood and liked their manners,
+and I thought the Revolution a fine time for an enterprising young
+man. Paoli was angry--we did not speak afterwards." It is hard to
+reconcile all these statements.
+
+Lucien Buonaparte states that his brother seriously thought for a time
+of taking a commission in the forces of the British East India
+Company; but I am assured by our officials that no record of any
+application now exists.]
+
+[Footnote 15: The whole essay is evidently influenced by the works of
+the democrat Raynal, to whom Buonaparte dedicated his "Lettres sur la
+Corse." To the "Discours de Lyons" he prefixed as motto the words
+"Morality will exist when governments are free," which he modelled on
+a similar phrase of Raynal. The following sentences are also
+noteworthy: "Notre organisation animale a des besoins indispensables:
+manger, dormir, engendrer. Une nourriture, une cabane, des vêtements,
+une femme, sont donc une stricte nécessité pour le bonheur. Notre
+organisation intellectuelle a des appétits non moins impérieux et dont
+la satisfaction est beaucoup plus précieuse. C'est dans leur entier
+développement que consiste vraiment le bonheur. Sentir et raisonner,
+voilà proprement le fait de l'homme."]
+
+[Footnote 16: Nasica; Chuquet, p. 248.]
+
+[Footnote 17: His recantation of Jacobinism was so complete that some
+persons have doubted whether he ever sincerely held it. The doubt
+argues a singular _naïveté_ it is laid to rest by Buonaparte's own
+writings, by his eagerness to disown or destroy them, by the testimony
+of everyone who knew his early career, and by his own confession:
+"There have been good Jacobins. At one time every man of spirit was
+bound to be one. I was one myself." (Thibaudeau, "Mémoires sur le
+Consulat," p. 59.)]
+
+[Footnote 18: I use the term _commissioner_ as equivalent to the
+French _représentant en mission,_ whose powers were almost limitless.]
+
+[Footnote 19: See this curious document in Jung, "Bonaparte et son
+Temps," vol. ii., p. 249. Masson ignores it, but admits that the
+Paolists and partisans of France were only seeking to dupe one
+another.]
+
+[Footnote 20: Buonaparte, when First Consul, was dunned for payment by
+the widow of the Avignon bookseller who published the "Souper de
+Beaucaire." He paid her well for having all the remaining copies
+destroyed. Yet Panckoucke in 1818 procured one copy, which preserved
+the memory of Buonaparte's early Jacobinism.]
+
+[Footnote 21: I have chiefly followed the careful account of the siege
+given by Cottin in his "Toulon et les Anglais en 1793" (Paris, 1898).
+
+The following official figures show the weakness of the British army.
+In December, 1792, the parliamentary vote was for 17,344 men as
+"guards and garrisons," besides a few at Gibraltar and Sydney. In
+February, 1793, 9,945 additional men were voted and 100 "independent
+companies": Hanoverians were also embodied. In February, 1794, the
+number of British regulars was raised to 60,244. For the navy the
+figures were: December, 1792, 20,000 sailors and 5,000 marines;
+February, 1793, 20,000 _additional_ seamen; for 1794, 73,000 seamen
+and 12,000 marines. ("Ann. Reg.")]
+
+[Footnote 22: Barras' "Mémoires" are not by any means wholly his. They
+are a compilation by Rousselin de Saint-Albin from the Barras papers.]
+
+[Footnote 23: Jung, "Bonaparte et son Temps," vol. ii.]
+
+[Footnote 24: M.G. Duruy's elaborate plea (Barras, "Mems.,"
+Introduction, pp. 69-79) rests on the supposition that his hero
+arrived at Toulon on September 7th. But M. Chuquet has shown
+("Cosmopolis," January, 1897) that he arrived there not earlier than
+September 16th. So too Cottin, ch, xi.]
+
+[Footnote 25: As the burning of the French ships and stores has been
+said to be solely due to the English, we may note that, _as early as
+October 3rd_, the Spanish Foreign Minister, the Duc d'Alcuida,
+suggested it to our ambassador, Lord St. Helens: "If it becomes
+necessary to abandon the harbour, these vessels shall be sunk or set
+on fire in order that the enemy may not make use of them; for which
+purpose preparations shall be made beforehand."]
+
+[Footnote 26: Thiers, ch. xxx.; Cottin, "L'Angleterre et les
+Princes."]
+
+[Footnote 27: See Lord Grenville's despatch of August 9th, 1793, to
+Lord St. Helens ("F.O. Records, Spain," No. 28), printed by M. Cottin,
+p. 428. He does not print the more important despatch of October 22nd,
+where Grenville asserts that the admission of the French princes would
+tend to invalidate the constitution of 1791, for which the allies were
+working.]
+
+[Footnote 28: A letter of Lord Mulgrave to Mr. Trevor, at Turin ("F.
+O. Records, Sardinia," No. 13), states that he had the greatest
+difficulty in getting on with the French royalists: "You must not send
+us one _émigré_ of any sort--they would be a nuisance: they are all so
+various and so violent, whether for despotism, constitution, or
+republic, that we should be distracted with their quarrels; and they
+are so assuming, forward, dictatorial, and full of complaints, that
+no business could go on with them. Lord Hood is averse to receiving
+any of them."
+
+NOTE TO THE THIRD EDITION.--From the information which Mr. Spenser
+Wilkinson has recently supplied in his article in "The Owens College
+Hist. Essays" (1902), it would seem that Buonaparte's share in
+deciding the fate of Toulon was somewhat larger than has here been
+stated; for though the Commissioners saw the supreme need of attacking
+the fleet, they do not seem, as far as we know, to have perceived that
+the hill behind Fort L'Eguillette was the key of the position.
+Buonaparte's skill and tenacity certainly led to the capture of this
+height.]
+
+[Footnote 29: Jung, "Bonaparte et son Temps," vol. ii., p. 430.]
+
+[Footnote 30: "Mémorial," ch. ii., November, 1815. See also
+Thibaudeau, "Mémoires sur le Consulat," vol. i., p. 59.]
+
+[Footnote 31: Marmont (1774-1852) became sub-lieutenant in 1789,
+served with Buonaparte in Italy, Egypt, etc., received the title Duc
+de Ragusa in 1808, Marshal in 1809; was defeated by Wellington at
+Salamanca in 1812, deserted to the allies in 1814. Junot (1771-1813)
+entered the army in 1791; was famed as a cavalry general in the wars
+1796-1807; conquered Portugal in 1808, and received the title Duc
+d'Abrantès; died mad.]
+
+[Footnote 32: M. Zivy, "Le treize Vendémiaire," pp.60-62, quotes the
+decree assigning the different commands. A MS. written by Buonaparte,
+now in the French War Office Archives, proves also that it was Barras
+who gave the order to fetch the cannon from the Sablons camp.]
+
+[Footnote 33: Buonaparte afterwards asserted that it was he who had
+given the order to fire, and certainly delay was all in favour of his
+opponents.]
+
+[Footnote 34: I caution readers against accepting the statement of
+Carlyle ("French Revolution," vol. iii. _ad fin_.) that "the thing we
+specifically call French Revolution is blown into space by the whiff
+of grapeshot." On the contrary, it was perpetuated, though in a more
+organic and more orderly governmental form.]
+
+[Footnote 35: Chaptal, "Mes Souvenirs sur Napoléon," p. 198.]
+
+[Footntoe 36: Koch, "Mémoires de Masséna," vol. ii., p. 13, credits
+the French with only 37,775 men present with the colours, the
+Austrians with 32,000, and the Sardinians with 20,000. All these
+figures omit the troops in garrison or guarding communications.]
+
+[Footnote 37: Napoleon's "Correspondence," March 28th, 1796.]
+
+[Footnote 38: See my articles on Colonel Graham's despatches from
+Italy in the "Eng. Hist. Review" of January and April, 1899.]
+
+[Footnote 39: Thus Mr. Sargent ("Bonaparte's First Campaign") says
+that Bonaparte was expecting Beaulieu to move on Genoa, and saw herein
+a chance of crushing the Austrian centre. But Bonaparte, in his
+despatch of April 6th to the Directory, referring to the French
+advance towards Genoa, writes: "J'ai été très fâché et extrêmement
+mécontent de ce mouvement sur Gênes, d'autant plus déplacé qu'il a
+obligé cette république à prendre une attitude hostile, et a réveillé
+l'ennemi que j'aurais pris tranquille: ce sont des hommes de plus
+qu'il nous en coûtera." For the question how far Napoleon was indebted
+to Marshal Maillebois' campaign of 1745 for his general design, see
+the brochure of M. Pierron. His indebtedness has been proved by M.
+Bouvier ("Bonaparte en Italie," p. 197) and by Mr. Wilkinson ("Owens
+Coll. Hist. Essays").]
+
+[Footnote 40: Nelson was then endeavouring to cut off the vessels
+conveying stores from Toulon to the French forces. The following
+extracts from his despatches are noteworthy. January 6th, 1796: "If
+the French mean to carry on the war, they must penetrate into Italy.
+Holland and Flanders, with their own country, they have entirely
+stripped: Italy is the gold mine, and if once entered, is without the
+means of resistance." Then on April 28th, after Piedmont was
+overpowered by the French: "We English have to regret that we cannot
+always decide the fate of Empires on the Sea." Again, on May 16th: "I
+very much believe that England, who commenced the war with all Europe
+for her allies, will finish it by having nearly all Europe for her
+enemies."]
+
+[Footnote 41: The picturesque story of the commander (who was not
+Rampon, but Fornésy) summoning the defenders of the central redoubt to
+swear on their colours and on the cannon that they would defend it to
+the death has been endlessly repeated by historians. But the documents
+which furnish the only authentic details show that there was in the
+redoubt no cannon and no flag. Fornésy's words simply were: "C'est
+ici, mes amis, qu'il faut vaincre ou mourir"--surely much grander than
+the histrionic oath. (See "Mémoires de Masséna," Yol. ii.;" Pièces
+Just.," No. 3; also Bouvier, _op. cit._)]
+
+[Footnote 42: Jomini, vol. viii., p. 340; "Pièces Justifs."]
+
+[Footnote 43: "Un Homme d'autrefois," par Costa de Beauregard.]
+
+[Footnote 44: These were General Beaulieu's words to Colonel Graham on
+May 22nd.]
+
+[Footnote 45: Periods of ten days, which, in the revolutionary
+calendar, superseded the week.]
+
+[Footnote 46: I have followed the accounts given by Jomini, vol.
+viii., pp. 120-130; that by Schels in the "Oest. Milit. Zeitschrift"
+for 1825, vol. ii.; also Bouvier "Bonaparte en Italie," ch. xiii.; and
+J.G.'s "Etudes sur la Campagne de 1796-97." Most French accounts,
+being based on Napoleon's "Mémoires," vol. iii., p. 212 _et seq_., are
+a tissue of inaccuracies. Bonaparte affected to believe that at Lodi
+he defeated an army of sixteen thousand men. Thiers states that the
+French cavalry, after fording the river at Montanasso, influenced the
+result: but the official report of May 11th, 1796, expressly states
+that the French horse could not cross the river at that place till the
+fight was over. See too Desvernois, "Mems.," ch, vii.]
+
+[Footnote 47: Bouvier (p. 533) traces this story to Las Cases and
+discredits it.]
+
+[Footnote: 48 Directorial despatch of May 7th, 1796. The date rebuts
+the statement of M. Aulard, in M. Lavisse's recent volume, "La
+Révolution Française," p. 435, that Bonaparte suggested to the
+Directory the pillage of Lombardy.]
+
+[Footnote 49: "Corresp.," June 6th, 1797.]
+
+[Footnote 50: "Corresp.," June 1st, 1796.]
+
+[Footnote 51: Gaffarel, "Bonaparte et les Républiques Italiennes," p.
+22.]
+
+[Footnote 52: "Corresp.," May 17th, 1796.]
+
+[Footnote 53: Virgil, Aeneid, x. 200.]
+
+[Footnote 54: Colonel Graham's despatches.]
+
+[Footnote 55: "Corresp.," June 26th, 1796.]
+
+[Footnote 56: Despatch of Francis to Würmser, July 14th, 1796.]
+
+[Footnote 57: Jomini (vol. viii., p. 305) blames Weyrother, the chief
+of Würmser's staff, for the plan. Jomini gives the precise figures of
+the French on July 25th: Masséna had 15,000 men on the upper Adige;
+Augereau, 5,000 near Legnago; Sauret, 4,000 at Salo; Sérurier, 10,500
+near Mantua; and with others at and near Peschiera the total fighting
+strength was 45,000. So "J.G.," p. 103.]
+
+[Footnote 58: See Thiébault's amusing account ("Memoirs," vol. i., ch.
+xvi.) of Bonaparte's contempt for any officer who could not give him
+definite information, and of the devices by which his orderlies played
+on this foible. See too Bourrienne for Bonaparte's dislike of new
+faces.]
+
+[Footnote 59: Marbot, "Mémoires," ch. xvi. J.G., in his recent work,
+"Etudes sur la Campagne de 1796-97," p. 115, also defends Augereau.]
+
+[Footnote 60: Jomini, vol. viii., p. 321.]
+
+[Footnote 61: "English Hist. Review," January, 1899]
+
+[Footnote 62: Such is the judgment of Clausewitz ("Werke," vol. iv.),
+and it is partly endorsed by J.G. in his "Etudes sur la Campagne de
+1796-97." St. Cyr, in his "Memoirs" on the Rhenish campaigns, also
+blames Bonaparte for not having _earlier_ sent away his siege-train to
+a place of safety. Its loss made the resumed siege of Mantua little
+more than a blockade.]
+
+[Footnote 63: Koch, "Mémoires de Masséna," vol. i., p. 199.]
+
+[Footnote 64: "Corresp.," October 21st, 1796.]
+
+[Footnote 65: "Corresp.," October 24th, 1796. The same policy was
+employed towards Genoa. This republic was to be lulled into security
+until it could easily be overthrown or absorbed.]
+
+[Footnote 66: "Ordre du Jour," November 7th, 1796.]
+
+[Footnote 67: Marmont, "Mémoires," vol. i., p. 237. I have followed
+Marmont's narrative, as that of the chief actor in this strange scene.
+It is less dramatic than the usual account, as found in Thiers, and
+therefore is more probable. The incident illustrates the folly of a
+commander doing the work of a sergeant. Marmont points out that the
+best tactics would have been to send one division to cross the Adige
+at Albaredo, and so take Arcola in the rear. Thiers' criticism, that
+this would have involved too great a diffusion of the French line, is
+refuted by the fact that on the third day a move on that side induced
+the Austrians to evacuate Arcola.]
+
+[Footnote 68: Koch, "Mémoires de Masséna," vol. i., p. 255, in his
+very complete account of the battle, gives the enemy's losses as
+upwards of 2,000 killed or wounded, and 4,000 prisoners with 11
+cannon. Thiers gives 40,000 as Alvintzy's force before the battle--an
+impossible number. See _ante_.]
+
+[Footnote 69: The Austrian official figures for the loss in the three
+days at Arcola give 2,046 killed and wounded, 4,090 prisoners, and 11
+cannon. Napoleon put it down as 13,000 in all! See Schels in "Oest.
+Milit. Zeitschrift" for 1829.]
+
+[Footnote 70: A forecast of the plan realized in 1801-2, whereby
+Bonaparte gained Louisiana for a time.]
+
+[Footnote 71: Estimates of the Austrian force differ widely. Bonaparte
+guessed it at 45,000, which is accepted by Thiers; Alison says 40,000;
+Thiébault opines that it was 75,000; Marmont gives the total as
+26,217. The Austrian official figures are 28,022 _before_ the fighting
+north of Monte Baldo. See my article in the "Eng. Hist. Review" for
+April, 1899. I have largely followed the despatches of Colonel Graham,
+who was present at this battle. As "J.G." points out (_op.cit. _, p.
+237), the French had 1,500 horse and some forty cannon, which gave
+them a great advantage over foes who could make no effective use of
+these arms.]
+
+[Footnote 72: This was doubtless facilitated by the death of the
+Czarina, Catherine II., in November, 1796. She had been on the point
+of entering the Coalition against France. The new Czar Paul was at
+that time for peace. The Austrian Minister Thugut, on hearing of her
+death, exclaimed, "This is the climax of our disasters."]
+
+[Footnote 73: Hüffer, "Oesterreich und Preussen," p. 263.]
+
+[Footnote 74: "Moniteur," 20 Floreal, Year V.; Sciout, "Le
+Directoire," vol. ii., ch. vii.]
+
+[Footnote 75: See Landrieux's letter on the subject in Koch's
+"Mémoires de Masséna," vol. ii.; "Pièces Justif.," _ad fin._; and
+Bonaparte's "Corresp.," letter of March 24th, 1797. The evidence of
+this letter, as also of those of April 9th and 19th, is ignored by
+Thiers, whose account of Venetian affairs is misleading. It is clear
+that Bonaparte contemplated partition long before the revolt of
+Brescia.]
+
+[Footnote 76: Botta, "Storia d'Italia," vol. ii., chs. x., etc.; Daru,
+"Hist. de Venise," vol. v.; Gaffarel, "Bonaparte et les Républiques
+Italiennes," pp. 137-139; and Sciout, "Le Directoire," vol ii., chs.
+v. and vii.]
+
+[Footnote 77: Sorel, "Bonaparte et Hoche en 1797," p. 65.]
+
+[Footnote 78: Letter of April 30th, 1797.]
+
+[Footnote 79: Letter of May 13th, 1797.]
+
+[Footnote 80: It would even seem, from Bonaparte's letter of July
+12th, 1797, that not till then did he deign to send on to Paris the
+terms of the treaty with Venice. He accompanied it with the cynical
+suggestion that they could do what they liked with the treaty, and
+even annul it!]
+
+[Footnote 81: The name _Italian_ was rejected by Bonaparte as too
+aggressively nationalist; but the prefix _Cis_--applied to a State
+which stretched southward to the Rubicon--was a concession to Italian
+nationality. It implied that Florence or Rome was the natural capital
+of the new State.]
+
+[Footnote 82: See Arnault's "Souvenirs d'un sexagénaire" (vol. iii.,
+p. 31) and Levy's "Napoléon intime," p. 131.]
+
+[Footnote 83: For the subjoined version of the accompanying new letter
+of Bonaparte (referred to in my Preface) I am indebted to Mr. H.A.L.
+Fisher, in the "Eng. Hist. Rev.," July, 1900:
+
+     "Milan, 29 Thermidor [l'an IV.]
+
+     "À LA CITOYENNE TALLIEN
+
+     "Je vous dois des remerciements, belle citoyenne, pour le souvenir
+     que vous me conservez et pour les choses aimables contenues dans
+     votre apostille. Je sais bien qu'en vous disant que je regrette les
+     moments heureux que j'ai passé dans votre société je ne vous répète
+     que ce que tout le monde vous dit. Vous connaître c'est ne plus
+     pouvoir vous oublier: être loin de votre aimable personne lorsque
+     l'on a goûté les charmes de votre société c'est désirer vivement de
+     s'en rapprocher; mais l'on dit que vous allez en Espagne. Fi! c'est
+     très vilain à moins que vous ne soyez de retour avant trois mois,
+     enfin que cet hiver nous ayons le bonheur de vous voir à Paris.
+     Allez donc en Espagne visiter la caverne de Gil Blas. Moi je crois
+     aussi visiter toutes les antiquités possibles, enfin que dans le
+     cours de novembre jusqu'à février nous puissions raconter sans
+     cesse. Croyez-moi avec toute la considération, je voulais dire le
+     respect, mais je sais qu'en général les jolies femmes n'aiment pas
+     ce mot-là.
+
+     "BONAPARTE.
+
+     "Mille et mille chose à Tallien."]
+
+[Footnote 84: Lavalette, "Méms.," ch. xiii.; Barras, "Méms.," vol.
+ii., pp. 511-512; and Duchesse d'Abrantès, "Méms.," vol. i., ch.
+xxviii.]
+
+[Footnote 85: Barras, "Méms.," vol. ii., ch, xxxi.; Madame de Staël,
+"Directoire," ch. viii.]
+
+[Footnote 86: "Mémoires de Gohier"; Roederer, "Oeuvres," tome iii., p.
+294.]
+
+[Footnote 87: Brougham, "Sketches of Statesmen"; Ste. Beuve,
+"Talleyrand"; Lady Blennerhasset, "Talleyrand."]
+
+[Footnote 88: Instructions of Talleyrand to the French envoys
+(September 11th); also Ernouf's "Maret, Duc de Bassano," chs. xxvii.
+and xxviii., for the _bona fides_ of Pitt in these negotiations.
+
+It seems strange that Baron du Casse, in his generally fair treatment
+of the English case, in his "Négociations relatives aux Traités de
+Lunéville et d'Amiens," should have prejudiced his readers at the
+outset by referring to a letter which he attributes to Lord
+Malmesbury. It bears no date, no name, and purports to be "Une Lettre
+de Lord Malmesbury, oubliée à Lille." How could the following
+sentences have been penned by Malmesbury, and written to Lord
+Grenville?--"Mais enfin, outre les regrets sincères de Méot et des
+danseuses de l'Opéra, j'eus la consolation de voir en quittant Paris,
+que des Français et une multitude de nouveaux convertis à la religion
+catholique m'accompagnaient de leurs voeux, de leurs prières, et
+presque de leurs larmes.... L'évènement de Fructidor porta la
+désolation dans le coeur de tous les bons ennemis de la France. Pour
+ma part, j'en fut consterné: _je ne l'avais point prévu_." It is
+obviously the clumsy fabrication of a Fructidorian, designed for
+Parisian consumption: it was translated by a Whig pamphleteer under
+the title "The Voice of Truth!"--a fit sample of that partisan
+malevolence which distorted a great part of our political literature
+in that age.]
+
+[Footnote 89: Bonaparte's letters of September 28th and October 7th to
+Talleyrand.]
+
+[Footnote 90: See too Marsh's "Politicks of Great Britain and France,"
+ch. xiii.; "Correspondence of W.A. Miles on the French Revolution,"
+letters of January 7th and January 18th, 1793; also Sybel's "Europe
+during the French Revolution," vol. ii.]
+
+[Footnote 91: Pallain, "Le Ministère de Talleyrand sous le
+Directoire," p. 42.]
+
+[Footnote 92: Bourrienne, "Memoirs," vol. i., ch. xii. See too the
+despatch of Sandoz-Rollin to Berlin of February 28th, 1798, in
+Bailleu's "Preussen und Frankreich," vol. i., No. 150.]
+
+[Footnote 93: The italics are my own. I wish to call attention to the
+statement in view of the much-debated question whether in 1804-5
+Napoleon intended to invade our land, _unless he gained maritime
+supremacy_. See Desbrière's "Projets de Débarquement aux Iles
+Britanniques," vol. i., _ad fin_.]
+
+[Footnote 94: Letter of October 10th, 1797; see too those of August
+16th and September 13th.]
+
+[Footnote 95: The plan of menacing diverse parts of our coasts was kept
+up by Bonaparte as late as April 13th, 1798. In his letter of this
+date he still speaks of the invasion of England and Scotland, and
+promises to return from Egypt in three or four months, so as to
+proceed with the invasion of the United Kingdom. Boulay de la Meurthe,
+in his work, "Le Directoire et l'Expédition d'Egypte," ch. i., seems
+to take this promise seriously. In any case the Directors' hopes for
+the invasion of Ireland were dashed by the premature rising of the
+Irish malcontents in May, 1798. For Poussielgue's mission to Malta,
+see Lavalette's "Mems.," ch. xiv.]
+
+[Footnote 96: Mallet du Pan states that three thousand Vaudois came to
+Berne to join in the national defence: "Les cantons démocratiques sont
+les plus fanatisés contre les Français"--a suggestive remark.]
+
+[Footnote 97: Dändliker, "Geschichte der Schweiz," vol. iii., p. 350
+(edition of 1895); also Lavisse, "La Rév. Franç.," p. 821.]
+
+[Footnote 98: "Correspondance," No. 2676.]
+
+[Footnote 99: "Foreign Office Records," Malta (No. 1). Mr. Williams
+states in his despatch of June 30th, 1798, that Bonaparte knew there
+were four thousand Maltese in his favour, and that most of the French
+knights were publicly known to be so; but he adds: "I do believe the
+Maltees [_sic_] have given the island to the French in order to get
+rid of the knighthood."]
+
+[Footnote 100: I am indebted for this fact to the Librarian of the
+Priory of the Knights of St. John, Clerkenwell.]
+
+[Footnote 101: See, for a curious instance, Chaptal, "Mes Souvenirs,"
+p. 243.]
+
+[Footnote 102: The Arab accounts of these events, drawn up by Nakoula
+and Abdurrahman, are of much interest. They have been well used by M.
+Dufourcq, editor of Desvernois' "Memoirs," for many suggestive
+footnotes.]
+
+[Footnote 103: Desgenettes, "Histoire médicale de l'Armée d'Orient"
+(Paris, 1802); Belliard, "Mémoires," vol. i.]
+
+[Footnote 104: I have followed chiefly the account of Savary, Duc de
+Rovigo, "Mems.," ch. iv. See too Desvernois, "Mems.," ch. iv.]
+
+[Footnote 105: See his orders published in the "Correspondance
+officielle et confid. de Nap. Bonaparte, Egypte," vol. i. (Paris,
+1819, p. 270). They rebut Captain Mahan's statement ("Influence of Sea
+Power upon the Fr. Rev. and Emp.," vol. i., p. 263) as to Brueys'
+"delusion and lethargy" at Aboukir. On the contrary, though enfeebled
+by dysentery and worried by lack of provisions and the insubordination
+of his marines, he certainly did what he could under the
+circumstances. See his letters in the Appendix of Jurien de la
+Graviere, "Guerres Maritimes," vol. i.]
+
+[Footnote 106: Desvernois, "Mems.," ch. v.]
+
+[Footnote 107: _Ib._, ch. vi.]
+
+[Footnote 108: Order of July 27th, 1798.]
+
+[Footnote 109: Ducasse, "Les Rois, Frères de Napoléon," p. 8.]
+
+[Footnote 110: "Mémoires de Napoléon," vol. ii.; Bourrienne, "Mems.,"
+vol. i., ch. xvii.]
+
+[Footnote 111: "Méms. de Berthier."]
+
+[Footnote 112: On November 4th, 1798, the French Government forwarded
+to Bonaparte, in triplicate copies, a despatch which, after setting
+forth the failure of their designs on Ireland, urged him either (1) to
+remain in Egypt, of which they evidently disapproved, or (2) to march
+towards India and co-operate with Tippoo Sahib, or (3) to advance on
+Constantinople in order that France might have a share in the
+partition of Turkey, which was then being discussed between the Courts
+of Petersburg and Vienna. No copy of this despatch seems to have
+reached Bonaparte before he set out for Syria (February 10th). This
+curious and perhaps guileful despatch is given in full by Boulay de la
+Meurthe, "Le Directoire et l'Expédition d'Égypte," Appendix, No. 5.
+
+On the whole, I am compelled to dissent from Captain Mahan ("Influence
+of Sea Power," vol. i., pp. 324-326), and to regard the larger schemes
+of Bonaparte in this Syrian enterprise as visionary.]
+
+[Footnote 113: Berthier, "Mémoires"; Belliard, "Bourrienne et ses
+Erreurs," also corrects Bourrienne. As to the dearth of food, denied
+by Lanfrey, see Captain Krettly, "Souvenirs historiques."]
+
+[Footnote 114: Emouf, "Le General Kléber," p. 201.]
+
+[Footnote 115: "Admiralty Records," Mediterranean, No. 19.]
+
+[Footnote 116: "Corresp.," No. 4124; Lavalette, "Mems.," ch. xxi.]
+
+[Footnote 117: Sidney Smith's "Despatch to Nelson" of May 30th, 1799.]
+
+[Footnote 118: J. Miot's words are: "Mais s'il en faut croire cette
+voix publique, trop souvent organe de la vérité tardive, qu'en vain
+les grands espèrent enchaîner, c'est un fait trop avéré que quelques
+blessés du Mont Carmel et une grande partie des malades à l'hôpital de
+Jaffa ont péri par les médicaments qui leur ont été administrés." Can
+this be called evidence?]
+
+[Footnote 119: Larrey, "Relation historique"; Lavalette, "Mems.," ch.
+xxi.]
+
+[Footnote 120: See Belliard, "Bourrienne et ses Erreurs"; also a
+letter of d'Aure, formerly Intendant General of this army, to the
+"Journal des Débats" of April 16th, 1829, in reply to Bourrienne.]
+
+[Footnote 121: "On disait tout haut qu'il se sauvait lâchement," Merme
+in Guitry's "L'Armée en Égypte." But Bonaparte had prepared for this
+discouragement and worse eventualities by warning Kléber in the letter
+of August 22nd, 1799, that if he lost 1,500 men by the plague he was
+free to treat for the evacuation of Egypt.]
+
+[Footnote 122: Lucien Bonaparte, "Mémoires," vol. ii., ch. xiv.]
+
+[Footnote 123: In our "Admiralty Records" (Mediterranean, No. 21) are
+documents which prove the reality of Russian designs on Corsica.]
+
+[Footnote 124: "Consid. sur la Rév. Française," bk. iii., ch. xiii.
+See too Sciout, "Le Directoire," vol. iv., chs. xiii.-xiv.]
+
+[Footnote 125: La Réveillière-Lépeaux, "Mems.," vol. ii., ch. xliv.;
+Hyde de Neuville, vol. i., chs. vi.-vii.; Lavisse, "Rév. Française,"
+p. 394.]
+
+[Footnote 126: Barras, "Mems.," vol. iv., ch. ii.]
+
+[Footnote 127: "Hist. of the United States" (1801-1813), by H. Adams,
+vol. i., ch. xiv., and Ste. Beuve's "Talleyrand."]
+
+[Footnote 128: Gohier, "Mems.," vol. i.; Lavalette's "Mems.," ch.
+xxii.; Roederer, "OEuvres," vol. iii., p. 301; Madelin's "Fouché," p.
+267.]
+
+[Footnote 129: For the story about Aréna's dagger, raised against
+Bonaparte see Sciout, vol. iv., p. 652. It seems due to Lucien
+Bonaparte. I take the curious details about Bonaparte's sudden pallor
+from Roederer ("Oeuvres," vol. iii., p. 302), who heard it from
+Montrond, Talleyrand's secretary. So Aulard, "Hist, de la Rév. Fr.,"
+p. 699.]
+
+[Footnote 130: Napoleon explained to Metternich in 1812 why he wished
+to silence the _Corps Législatif_; "In France everyone runs after
+applause: they want to be noticed and applauded.... Silence an
+Assembly, which, if it is anything, must be deliberative, and you
+discredit it."--Metternich's "Memoirs," vol. i., p. 151.]
+
+[Footnote 131: This was still further assured by the first elections
+under the new system being postponed till 1801; the functionaries
+chosen by the Consuls were then placed on the lists of notabilities of
+the nation without vote. The constitution was put in force Dec. 25th,
+1799.]
+
+[Footnote 132: Roederer, "Oeuvres," vol. iii., p. 303. He was the
+go-between for Bonaparte and Sieyès.]
+
+[Footnote 133: See the "Souvenirs" of Mathieu Dumas for the skilful
+manner in which Bonaparte gained over the services of this
+constitutional royalist and employed him to raise a body of volunteer
+horse.]
+
+[Footnote 134: "Lettres inédites de Napoléon," February 21st, 1800;
+"Mémoires du Général d'Andigné," ch. xv.; Madelin's "Fouché," p. 306.]
+
+[Footnote 135: "Georges Cadoudal," par son neveu, G. de Cadoudal; Hyde
+de Neuville, vol. i., p. 305.]
+
+[Footnote 136: Talleyrand, "Mems.," vol. i., part ii.; Marmont, bk.
+v.]
+
+[Footnote 137: "F.O.," Austria, No. 58; "Castlereagh's Despatches," v.
+_ad init._ Bowman, in his excellent monograph, "Preliminary Stages of
+the Peace of Amiens" (Toronto, 1899), has not noted this.]
+
+[Footnote 138: "Nap. Correspond.," February 27th 1800; Thugut,
+"Briefe" vol. ii., pp. 444-446; Oncken, "Zeitalter," vol. ii. p. 45.]
+
+[Footnote 139: A Foreign Office despatch, dated Downing Street,
+February 8th, 1800, to Vienna, promised a loan and that 15,000 or
+20,000 British troops should be employed in the Mediterranean to act
+in concert with the Austrians there, and to give "support to the
+royalist insurrections in the southern provinces of France." No
+differences of opinion respecting Piedmont can be held a sufficient
+excuse for the failure of the British Government to fulfil this
+promise--a failure which contributed to the disaster at Marengo.]
+
+[Footnote 140: Thiers attributes this device to Bonaparte; but the
+First Consul's bulletin of May 24th ascribes it to Marmont and
+Gassendi.]
+
+[Footnote 141: Marbot, "Mems.," ch. ix.; Allardyce, "Memoir of Lord
+Keith," ch. xiii.; Thiébault's "Journal of the Blockade of Genoa."]
+
+[Footnote 142: That Melas expected such a march is clear from a letter
+of his of May 23rd, dated from Savillan, to Lord Keith, which I have
+found in the "Brit. Admiralty Records" (Mediterranean, No. 22), where
+he says: "L'ennemi a cerné le fort de Bard et s'est avancé jusque sous
+le château d'Ivrée. Il est clair que son but est de délivrer
+Masséna."]
+
+[Footnote 143: Bonaparte did not leave Milan till June 9th: see
+"Correspondance" and the bulletin of June 10th. Jomini places his
+departure for the 7th, and thereby confuses his description for these
+two days. Thiers dates it on June 8th.]
+
+[Footnote 144: Lord W. Bentinck reported to the Brit. Admiralty
+("Records," Meditn., No. 22), from Alessandria, on June 15th: "I am
+sorry to say that General Elsnitz's corps, which was composed of the
+grenadiers of the finest regiments in the (Austrian) army, arrived
+here in the most deplorable condition. His men had already suffered
+much from want of provisions and other hardships. He was pursued in
+his retreat by Genl. Suchet, who had with him about 7,000 men. There
+was an action at Ponte di Nava, in which the French failed; and it
+will appear scarcely credible, when I tell your Lordship, that the
+Austrians lost in this retreat, from fatigue only, near 5,000 men; and
+I have no doubt that Genl. Suchet will notify this to the world as a
+great victory."]
+
+[Footnote 145: The inaccuracy of Marbot's "Mémoires" is nowhere more
+glaring than in his statement that Marengo must have gone against the
+French if Ott's 25,000 Austrians from Genoa had joined their comrades.
+As a matter of fact, Ott, with 16,000 men, had _already_ fought with
+Lannes at Montebello; and played a great part in the battle of
+Marengo.]
+
+[Footnote 146: "Corresp.," vol. vi., p. 365. Fournier, "Hist. Studien
+und Skizzen," p. 189, argues that the letter was written from Milan,
+and dated from Marengo for effect.]
+
+[Footnote 147: See Czartoryski's "Memoirs," ch. xi., and Driault's "La
+Question d'Orient," ch. iii. The British Foreign Office was informed
+of the plan. In its records (No. 614) is a memoir (pencilled on the
+back January 31st, 1801) from a M. Leclerc to Mr. Flint, referring the
+present proposal back to that offered by M. de St. Génie to Catherine
+II., and proposing that the first French step should be the seizure of
+Socotra and Perim.]
+
+[Footnote 148: Garden, "Traités," vol. vi., ch. xxx.; Captain Mahan's
+"Life of Nelson," vol. ii., ch. xvi.; Thiers, "Consulate," bk. ix. For
+the assassination of the Czar Paul see "Kaiser Paul's Ende," von R.R.
+(Stuttgart, 1897); also Czartoryski's "Memoirs," chs. xiii.-xiv. For
+Bonaparte's offer of a naval truce to us and his overture of December,
+1800, see Bowman, _op. cit_.]
+
+[Footnote 149: Pasquier, " Mems.," vol. i., ch. ii., p. 299. So too
+Mollien, "Mems.": "With an insatiable activity in details, a
+restlessness of mind always eager for new cares, he not only reigned
+and governed, he continued to administer not only as Prime Minister,
+but more minutely than each Minister."]
+
+[Footnote 150: Lack of space prevents any account of French finances
+and the establishment of the Bank of France. But we may note here that
+the collection of the national taxes was now carried out by a
+State-appointed director and his subordinates in every Department--a
+plan which yielded better results than former slipshod methods. The
+_conseil général_ of the Department assessed the direct taxes among
+the smaller areas. "Méms." de Gaudin, Duc de Gaëte.]
+
+[Footnote 151: Edmond Blanc, "Napoléon I; ses Institutions," p. 27.]
+
+[Footnote 152: Theiner, "Hist. des deux Concordats," vol. i., p. 21.]
+
+[Footnote 153: Thibaudeau estimated that of the population of
+35,000,000 the following assortment might be made: Protestants, Jews,
+and Theophilanthropists, 3,000,000; Catholics, 15,000,000, equally
+divided between orthodox and constitutionals; and as many as
+17,000,000 professing no belief whatever.]
+
+[Footnote 154: See Roederer, "Oeuvres," vol. iii., p. 475. On the
+discontent of the officers, see Pasquier's "Mems.," vol. i., ch. vii.;
+also Marmont's "Mems.," bk. vi.]
+
+[Footnote 155: See the drafts in Count Boulay de la Meurthe's
+"Négociation du Concordat," vol. ii., pp. 58 and 268.]
+
+[Footnote 156: Theiner, vol. i., pp. 193 and 196.]
+
+[Footnote 157: Méneval, "Mems.," vol. i., p. 81.]
+
+[Footnote 158: Thiers omits any notice of this strange transaction.
+Lanfrey describes it, but unfortunately relies on the melodramatic
+version given in Consalvi's "Memoirs," which were written many years
+later and are far less trustworthy than the Cardinal's letters written
+at the time. In his careful review of all the documentary evidence,
+Count Boulay de la Meurthe (vol. iii., p. 201, note) concludes that
+the new project of the Concordat (No. VIII.) was drawn up by
+Hauterive, was "submitted immediately to the approbation of the
+First Consul," and thereupon formed the basis of the long and
+heated discussion of July 14th between the Papal and French
+plenipotentiaries. A facsimile of this interesting document, with all
+the erasures, is appended at the end of his volume.]
+
+[Footnote 159: Pasquier, "Mems.," vol. i., ch. vii. Two of the organic
+articles portended the abolition of the revolutionary calendar. The
+first restored the old names of the days of the week; the second
+ordered that Sunday should be the day of rest for all public
+functionaries. The observance of _décadis_ thenceforth ceased; but the
+months of the revolutionary calendar were observed until the close of
+the year 1805. Theophilanthropy was similarly treated: when its
+votaries applied for a building, their request was refused on the
+ground that their cult came within the domain of philosophy, not of
+any actual religion! A small number of priests and of their
+parishioners refused to recognize the Concordat; and even to-day there
+are a few of these _anti-concordataires_.]
+
+[Footnote 160: Chaptal, "Souvenirs," pp. 237-239. Lucien Bonaparte,
+"Mems.," vol. ii., p. 201, quotes his brother Joseph's opinion of the
+Concordat: "Un pas rétrograde et irréfléchi de la nation qui s'y
+soumettait."]
+
+[Footnote 161: Thibaudeau, "Consulat," ch. xxvi.]
+
+[Footnote 162: "Code Napoléon," art. 148.]
+
+[Footnote 163: In other respects also Bonaparte's influence was used
+to depress the legal status of woman, which the men of 1789 had done
+so much to raise. In his curious letter of May 15th, 1807, on the
+Institution at Ecouen, we have his ideas on a sound, useful education
+for girls: "... We must begin with religion in all its severity. Do
+not admit any modification of this. Religion is very important in a
+girls' public school: it is the surest guarantee for mothers and
+husbands. We must train up believers, not reasoners. The weakness of
+women's brains, the unsteadiness of their ideas, their function in the
+social order, their need of constant resignation and of a kind of
+indulgent and easy charity--all can only be attained by religion."
+They were to learn a little geography and history, but no foreign
+language; above all, to do plenty of needlework.]
+
+[Footnote 164: Sagnac, "Législation civile de la Rév. Fr.," p. 293.]
+
+[Footnote 165: Divorce was suppressed in 1816, but was re-established
+in 1884.]
+
+[Footnote 166: Sagnac, _op. cit._, p. 352.]
+
+[Footnote 167: "The Life of Sir S. Romilly," vol. i., p. 408.]
+
+[Footnote 168: Madelin in his "Fouché," ch. xi., shows how Bonaparte's
+private police managed the affair. Harel was afterwards promoted to
+the governorship of the Castle of Vincennes: the four talkers, whom he
+and the police had lured on, were executed after the affair of Nivôse.
+That dextrous literary flatterer, the poet Fontanes, celebrated the
+"discovery" of the Aréna plot by publishing anonymously a pamphlet ("A
+Parallel between Caesar, Cromwell, Monk, and Bonaparte") in which he
+decided that no one but Caesar deserved the honour of a comparison
+with Bonaparte, and that certain destinies were summoning him to a yet
+higher title. The pamphlet appeared under the patronage of Lucien
+Bonaparte, and so annoyed his brother that he soon despatched him on a
+diplomatic mission to Madrid as a punishment for his ill-timed
+suggestions.]
+
+[Footnote 169: Thibaudeau, _op. cit_., vol. ii., p. 55. Miot de
+Melito, ch. xii.]
+
+[Footnote 170: It seems clear, from the evidence so frankly given by
+Cadoudal in his trial in 1804, as well as from his expressions when he
+heard of the affair of Nivôse, that the hero of the Chouans had no
+part in the bomb affair. He had returned to France, had empowered St.
+Réjant to buy arms and horses, "dont je me servirai plus tard"; and it
+seems certain that he intended to form a band of desperate men who
+were to waylay, kidnap, or kill the First Consul in open fight. This
+plan was deferred by the bomb explosion for three years. As soon as he
+heard of this event, he exclaimed: "I'll bet that it was that---- St.
+Réjant. He has upset all my plans." (See "Georges Cadoudal," par G. de
+Cadoudal.)]
+
+[Footnote 171: Roederer, "Oeuvres," vol. iii., p. 352. For these
+negotiations see Bowman's "Preliminary Stages of the Peace of Amiens"
+(Toronto, 1899).]
+
+[Footnote 172: Porter, "Progress of the Nation," ch. xiv.]
+
+[Footnote 173: "New Letters of Napoleon I." See too his letter of June
+17th.]
+
+[Footnote 174: "Cornwallis Correspondence," vol. iii., pp. 380-382.
+Few records exist of the negotiations between Lord Hawkesbury and M.
+Otto at London. I have found none in the Foreign Office archives. The
+general facts are given by Garden, "Traités," vol. vii., ch. xxxi.;
+only a few of the discussions were reduced to writing. This seriously
+prejudiced our interests at Amiens.]
+
+[Footnote 175: Lefebvre, "Cabinets de l'Europe," ch. iv]
+
+[Footnote 176: Chaptal. "Mes Souvenirs," pp. 287, 291, and 359.]
+
+[Footnote 177: See Chapter XIV. of this work.]
+
+[Footnote 178: Thibaudeau, _op. cit_., ch. xxvi.; Lavisse, "Napoléon,"
+ch. i.]
+
+[Footnote 179: "A Diary of St. Helena," by Lady Malcolm, p. 97.]
+
+[Footnote 180: "The Two Duchesses," edited by Vere Foster, p. 172.
+Lord Malmesbury ("Diaries," vol. iv., p. 257) is less favourable:
+"When B. is out of his ceremonious habits, his language is often
+coarse and vulgar."]
+
+[Footnote 181: Jurien de la Graviere, "Guerres Maritimes," vol. ii.,
+chap. vii.]
+
+[Footnote 182: These facts were fully acknowledged later by Otto: see
+his despatch of January 6th, 1802, to Talleyrand, published by Du
+Casse in his "Négociations relatives au Traité d'Amiens," vol. iii.]
+
+[Footnote 183: "F.O.," France, No. 59. The memoir is dated October
+19th, 1801.]
+
+[Footnote 184: "F.O.," France, No. 59.]
+
+[Footnote 185: Castlereagh, "Letters and Despatches," Second Series,
+vol. i., p. 62, and the speeches of Ministers on November 3rd, 1801.]
+
+[Footnote 186: Cornwallis, "Correspondence," vol. iii., despatch of
+December 3rd, 1801. The feelings of the native Maltese were strongly
+for annexation to Britain, and against the return of the Order at all.
+They sent a deputation to London (February, 1802), which was shabbily
+treated by our Government so as to avoid offending Bonaparte. (See
+"Correspondence of W.A. Miles," vol. ii., pp. 323-329, who drew up
+their memorial.)]
+
+[Footnote 187: Cornwallis's despatches of January 10th and 23rd,
+1802.]
+
+[Footnote 188: Project of a treaty forwarded by Cornwallis to London
+on December 27th, 1801, in the Public Record Office, No. 615.]
+
+[Footnote 189: See the "Paget Papers," vol. ii. France gained the
+right of admission to the Black Sea: the despatches of Mr. Merry from
+Paris in May, 1802, show that France and Russia were planning schemes
+of partition of Turkey. ("F.O.," France, No. 62.)]
+
+[Footnote 190: The despatches of March 14th and 22nd, 1802, show how
+strong was the repugnance of our Government to this shabby treatment
+of the Prince of Orange; and it is clear that Cornwallis exceeded his
+instructions in signing peace on those terms. (See Garden, vol. vii.,
+p. 142.) By a secret treaty with Prussia (May, 1802), France procured
+Fulda for the House of Orange.]
+
+[Footnote 191: Pasolini, "Memorie," _ad init_.]
+
+[Footnote 192: "Lettres inédites de Talleyrand à Napoléon" (Paris,
+1889).]
+
+[Footnote 193: Mr. Jackson's despatch of February 17th, 1802, from
+Paris. According to Miot de Melito ("Mems.," ch. xiv.), Bonaparte had
+offered the post of President to his brother Joseph, but fettered it
+by so many restrictions that Joseph declined the honour.]
+
+[Footnote 194: Roederer tells us ("OEuvres," vol. iii., p. 428) that
+he had drawn up two plans of a constitution for the Cisalpine; the one
+very short and leaving much to the President, the other precise and
+detailed. He told Talleyrand to advise Bonaparte to adopt the former
+as it was "_short and_"--he was about to add "_clear_" when the
+diplomatist cut him short with the words, "_Yes: short and obscure!_"]
+
+[Footnote 195: Napoleon's letter of February 2nd, 1802, to Joseph
+Bonaparte; see too Cornwallis's memorandum of February 18th.]
+
+[Footnote 196: It is only fair to Cornwallis to quote the letter,
+marked "Private," which he received from Hawkesbury at the same time
+that he was bidden to stand firm:
+
+"DOWNING STREET, _March 22nd_, 1802.
+
+"I think it right to inform you that I have had a confidential
+communication with Otto, who will use his utmost endeavours to induce
+his Government to agree to the articles respecting the Prince of
+Orange and the prisoners in the shape in which they are now proposed.
+I have very little doubt of his success, and I should hope therefore
+that you will soon be released. I need not remind you of the
+importance of sending your most expeditious messenger the moment our
+fate is determined. The Treasury is almost exhausted, and Mr.
+Addington cannot well make his loan in the present state of
+uncertainty."]
+
+[Footnote 197: See the British notes of November 6th-16th, 1801, in
+the "Cornwallis Correspondence," vol. iii. In his speech in the House
+of Lords, May 13th, 1802, Lord Grenville complained that we had had to
+send to the West Indies in time of peace a fleet double as large as
+that kept there during the late war.]
+
+[Footnote 198: For these and the following negotiations see Lucien
+Bonaparte's "Mémoires," vol. ii., and Garden's "Traités de Paix," vol.
+iii., ch. xxxiv. The Hon. H. Taylor, in "The North American Review" of
+November, 1898, has computed that the New World was thus divided in
+1801:
+
+  Spain             7,028,000 square miles.
+  Great Britain     3,719,000   "      "
+  Portugal          3,209,000   "      "
+  United States       827,000   "      "
+  Russia              577,000   "      "
+  France               29,000   "      "
+
+[Footnote 199: "History of the United States, 1801-1813," by H. Adams,
+vol. i, p. 409.]
+
+[Footnote 200: Napoleon's letter of November 2nd, 1802.]
+
+[Footnote 201: Merry's despatch of October 21st, 1802.]
+
+[Footnote 202: The instructions which he sent to Victor supply an
+interesting commentary on French colonial policy: "The system of this,
+as of all our other colonies, should be to concentrate its commerce in
+the national commerce: it should especially aim at establishing its
+relations with our Antilles, so as to take the place in those colonies
+of the American commerce.... The captain-general should abstain from
+every innovation favourable to strangers, who should be restricted to
+such communications as are absolutely indispensable to the prosperity
+of Louisiana."]
+
+[Footnote 203: Lucien Bonaparte, "Mémoires," vol. ii., ch. ix. He
+describes Josephine's alarm at this ill omen at a time when rumours of
+a divorce were rife.]
+
+[Footnote 204: Harbé-Marbois, "Hist. de Louisiana," quoted by H.
+Adams, _op. cit._, vol. ii., p. 27; Roloff, "Napoleon's Colonial
+Politik."]
+
+[Footnote 205: Garden, "Traités," vol. viii., ch. xxxiv. See too
+Roederer, "Oeuvres," vol. iii., p. 461, for Napoleon's expressions
+after dinner on January 11th, 1803: "Maudit sucre, maudit café,
+maudites colonies."]
+
+[Footnote 206: Cornwallis, "Correspondence," vol. iii., despatch of
+December 3rd, 1801.]
+
+[Footnote 207: See the valuable articles on General Decaen's papers in
+the "Revue historique" of 1879 and of 1881.]
+
+[Footnote 208: Dumas' "Précis des Événements Militaires," vol. xi., p.
+189. The version of these instructions presented by Thiers, book xvi.,
+is utterly misleading.]
+
+[Footnote 209: Lord Whitworth, our ambassador in Paris, stated
+(despatch of March 24th, 1803) that Decaen was to be quietly
+reinforced by troops in French pay sent out by every French, Spanish,
+or Dutch ship going to India, so as to avoid attracting notice.
+("England and Napoleon," edited by Oscar Browning, p. 137.)]
+
+[Footnote 210: See my article, "The French East India Expedition at
+the Cape," and unpublished documents in the "Eng. Hist. Rev." of
+January, 1900. French designs on the Cape strengthened our resolve to
+acquire it, as we prepared to do in the summer of 1805.]
+
+[Footnote 211: Wellesley, "Despatches," vol. iii., Appendix, despatch
+of August 1st, 1803. See too Castlereagh's "Letters and Despatches,"
+Second Series, vol. i., pp. 166-176, for Lord Elgin's papers and
+others, all of 1802, describing the utter weakness of Turkey, the
+probability of Egypt falling to any invader, of Caucasia and Persia
+being menaced by Russia, and the need of occupying Aden as a check to
+any French designs on India from Suez.]
+
+[Footnote 212: Wellesley's despatch of July 13th, 1804: with it he
+inclosed an intercepted despatch, dated Pondicherry, August 6th, 1803,
+a "Mémoire sur l'Importance actuelle de l'Inde et les moyens les plus
+efficaces d'y rétablir la Nation Française dans son ancienne
+splendeur." The writer, Lieutenant Lefebvre, set forth the
+unpopularity of the British in India and the immense wealth which
+France could gain from its conquest.]
+
+[Footnote 213: The report of the Imaum is given in Castlereagh's
+"Letters," Second Series, vol. i., p. 203.]
+
+[Footnote 214: "Voyage de Découverte aux Terres Australes sur les
+Corvettes, le Géographe et le Naturaliste," rédigé par M.F. Péron
+(Paris, 1807-15). From the Atlas the accompanying map has been
+copied.]
+
+[Footnote 215: His later mishaps may here be briefly recounted. Being
+compelled to touch at the Ile de France for repairs to his ship, he
+was there seized and detained as a spy by General Decaen, until the
+chivalrous intercession of the French explorer, Bougainville, finally
+availed to procure his release in the year 1810. The conduct of Decaen
+was the more odious, as the French crews during their stay at Sydney
+in the autumn of 1802, when the news of the Peace of Amiens was as yet
+unknown, had received not only much help in the repair of their ships,
+but most generous personal attentions, officials and private persons
+at Sydney agreeing to put themselves on short rations in that season
+of dearth in order that the explorers might have food. Though this
+fact was brought to Decaen's knowledge by the brother of Commodore
+Baudin, he none the less refused to acknowledge the validity of the
+passport which Flinders, as a geographical explorer, had received from
+the French authorities, but detained him in captivity for seven years.
+For the details see "A Voyage of Discovery to the Australian Isles,"
+by Captain Flinders (London, 1814), vol. ii., chs. vii.-ix. The names
+given by Flinders on the coasts of Western and South Australia have
+been retained owing to the priority of his investigation: but the
+French names have been kept on the coast between the mouth of the
+Murray and Bass Strait for the same reason.]
+
+[Footnote 216: See Baudin's letter to King of December 23rd, 1803, in
+vol. v. (Appendix) of "Historical Records of New South Wales," and the
+other important letters and despatches contained there, as also
+_ibid_., pp. 133 and 376.]
+
+[Footnote 217: Mr. Merry's ciphered despatch from Paris, May 7th,
+1802.]
+
+[Footnote 218: It is impossible to enter into the complicated question
+of the reconstruction of Germany effected in 1802-3. A general
+agreement had been made at Rastadt that, as an indemnity for the
+losses of German States in the conquest of the Rhineland by France,
+they should receive the ecclesiastical lands of the old Empire. The
+Imperial Diet appointed a delegation to consider the whole question;
+but before this body assembled (on August 24th, 1802), a number of
+treaties had been secretly made at Paris, with the approval of Russia,
+which favoured Prussia and depressed Austria. Austria received the
+archbishoprics of Trent and Brixen: while her Archdukes (formerly of
+Tuscany and Modena) were installed in Salzburg and Breisgau. Prussia,
+as the _protégé_ of France, gained Hildesheim, Paderborn, Erfurt, the
+city of Münster, etc. Bavaria received Würzburg, Bamberg, Augsburg,
+Passau, etc. See Garden, "Traités," vol. vii., ch. xxxii.; "Annual
+Register" of 1802, pp. 648-665; Oncken, "Consulat und Kaiserthum,"
+vol. ii.; and Beer's "Zehn Jahre Oesterreichischer Politik."]
+
+[Footnote 219: The British notes of April 28th and May 8th, 1803,
+again demanded a suitable indemnity for the King of Sardinia.]
+
+[Footnote 220: See his letters of January 28th, 1801, February 27th,
+March 10th, March 25th, April 10th, and May 16th, published in a work,
+"Bonaparte, Talleyrand et Stapfer" (Zürich, 1869).]
+
+[Footnote 221: Daendliker, "Geschichte der Schweiz," vol. iii., p.
+418; Muralt's "Reinhard," p. 55; and Stapfer's letter of April 28th:
+"Malgré cette apparente neutralité que le gouvernement français
+déclare vouloir observer pour le moment, différentes circonstances me
+persuadent qu'il a vu avec plaisir passer la direction des affaires
+des mains de la majorité du Sénat [helvétique] dans celles de la
+minorité du Petit Conseil."]
+
+[Footnote 222: Garden, "Traités," vol. viii., p. 10. Mr. Merry, our
+_chargé d'affaires_ at Paris, reported July 21st; "M. Stapfer makes a
+boast of having obtained the First Consul's consent to withdraw the
+French troops entirely from Switzerland. I learn from some
+well-disposed Swiss who are here that such a consent has been given;
+but they consider it only as a measure calculated to increase the
+disturbances in their country and to furnish a pretext for the French
+to enter it again."]
+
+[Footnote 223: Reding, in a pamphlet published shortly after this
+time, gave full particulars of his interviews with Bonaparte at Paris,
+and stated that he had fully approved of his (Reding's) federal plans.
+Neither Bonaparte nor Talleyrand ever denied this.]
+
+[Footnote 224: See "Paget Papers," vol. ii., despatches of October
+29th, 1802, and January 28th, 1803.]
+
+[Footnote 225: Napoleon avowed this in his speech to the Swiss
+deputies at St. Cloud, December 12th, 1802.]
+
+[Footnote 226: Lord Hawkesbury's note of October 10th, 1802, the
+appeal of the Swiss, and the reply of Mr. Moore from Constance, are
+printed in full in the papers presented to Parliament, May 18th, 1803.
+
+The Duke of Orleans wrote from Twickenham a remarkable letter to Pitt,
+dated October 18th, 1802, offering to go as leader to the Swiss in the
+cause of Swiss and of European independence: "I am a natural enemy to
+Bonaparte and to all similar Governments....England and Austria can
+find in me all the advantages of my being a French prince. Dispose of
+me, Sir, and show me the way. I will follow it." See Stanhope's "Life
+of Pitt," vol. iii., ch. xxxiii.]
+
+[Footnote 227: See Roederer, "ÂŒuvres," vol. iii., p. 454, for the
+curious changes which Napoleon prescribed in the published reports of
+these speeches; also Stapfer's despatch of February 3rd, 1803, which
+is more trustworthy than the official version in Napoleon's
+"Correspondance." This, however, contains the menacing sentence: "It
+is recognized by Europe that Italy and Holland, as well as
+Switzerland, are at the disposition of France."]
+
+[Footnote 228: It is only fair to say that they had recognized their
+mistake and had recently promised equality of rights to the formerly
+subject districts and to all classes. See Muralt's "Reinhard," p.
+113.]
+
+[Footnote 229: See, _inter alia_, the "Moniteur" of August 8th,
+October 9th, November 6th, 1802; of January 1st and 9th, February
+19th, 1803.]
+
+[Footnote 230: Lord Whitworth's despatches of February 28th and March
+3rd, 1803, in Browning's "England and Napoleon."]
+
+[Footnote 231: Secret instructions to Lord Whitworth, November 14th,
+1802.]
+
+[Footnote 232: "Foreign Office Records," Russia, No. 50.]
+
+[Footnote 233: In his usually accurate "Manuel historique de Politique
+Etrangère" (vol. ii., p. 238), M. Bourgeois states that in May, 1802,
+Lord St. Helens succeeded in persuading the Czar _not_ to give his
+guarantee to the clause respecting Malta. Every despatch that I have
+read runs exactly counter to this statement: the fact is that the Czar
+took umbrage at the treaty and refused to listen to our repeated
+requests for his guarantee. Thiers rightly states that the British
+Ministry pressed the Czar to give his guarantee, but that France long
+neglected to send her application. Why this neglect if she wished to
+settle matters?]
+
+[Footnote 234: Castlereagh's "Letters and Despatches," Second Series,
+vol. i., pp. 56 and 69; Dumas' "Evénements," ix. 91.]
+
+[Footnote 235: Mémoire of Francis II. to Cobenzl (March 31st, 1801),
+in Beer, "Die Orientalische Politik Oesterreichs," Appendix.]
+
+[Footnote 236: "Memoirs," vol. i., ch. xiii.]
+
+[Footnote 237: Ulmann's "Russisch-Preussische Politik, 1801-1806," pp.
+10-12.]
+
+[Footnote 238: Warren reported (December 10th, 1802) that Vorontzoff
+warned him to be very careful as to the giving up of Malta; and, on
+January 19th, Czartoryski told him that "the Emperor wished the
+English to keep Malta." Bonaparte had put in a claim for the Morea to
+indemnify the Bourbons and the House of Savoy. ("F.O.," Russia, No.
+51.)]
+
+[Footnote 239: Browning's "England and Napoleon," pp. 88-91.]
+
+[Footnote 240: "F.O.," France, No. 72.]
+
+[Footnote 241: We were undertaking that mediation. Lord Elgin's
+despatch from Constantinople, January 15th, 1803, states that he had
+induced the Porte to allow the Mamelukes to hold the province of
+Assouan. (Turkey, No. 38.)]
+
+[Footnote 242: Papers presented to Parliament on May 18th, 1803. I
+pass over the insults to General Stuart, as Sebastiani on February 2nd
+recanted to Lord Whitworth everything he had said, or had been made to
+say, on that topic, and mentioned Stuart "in terms of great esteem."
+According to Méneval ("Mems.," vol i., ch. iii.), Jaubert, who had
+been with Sebastiani, saw a proof of the report, as printed for the
+"Moniteur," and advised the omission of the most irritating passages;
+but Maret dared not take the responsibility for making such omissions.
+Lucien Bonaparte ("Mems.," vol. ii., ch. ix.) has another
+version--less credible, I think--that Napoleon himself dictated the
+final draft of the report to Sebastiani; and when the latter showed
+some hesitation, the First Consul muttered, as the most irritating
+passages were read out: "Parbleu, nous verrons si ceci--si cela--ne
+décidera pas John Bull à guerroyer." Joseph was much distressed about
+it, and exclaimed: "Ah, mon pauvre traité d'Amiens! Il ne tient plus
+qu'à un fil."]
+
+[Footnote 243: So Adams's "Hist, of the U.S.," vol. ii., pp. 12-21.]
+
+[Footnote 244: Miot de Melito, "Mems.," vol. i, ch. xv., quotes the
+words of Joseph Bonaparte to him: "Let him [Napoleon] once more drench
+Europe with blood in a war that he could have avoided, and which, but
+for the outrageous mission on which he sent his Sebastiani, would
+never have occurred."
+
+Talleyrand laboured hard to persuade Lord Whitworth that Sebastiani's
+mission was "solely commercial": Napoleon, in his long conversation
+with our ambassador, "did not affect to attribute it to commercial
+motives only," but represented it as necessitated by our infraction of
+the Treaty of Amiens. This excuse is as insincere as the former. The
+instructions to Sebastiani were drawn up on September 5th, 1802, when
+the British Ministry was about to fulfil the terms of the treaty
+relative to Malta and was vainly pressing Russia and Prussia for the
+guarantee of its independence]
+
+[Footnote 245: Despatch of February 21st.]
+
+[Footnote 246: "View of the State of the Republic," read to the Corps
+Législatif on February 21st, 1803.]
+
+[Footnote 247: Papers presented to Parliament May 18th, 1803. See too
+Pitt's speech, May 23rd, 1803.]
+
+[Footnote 248: See Russell's proclamation of July 22nd to the men of
+Antrim that "he doubted not but the French were then fighting in
+Scotland." ("Ann. Reg.," 1803, p. 246.) This document is ignored by
+Plowden ("Hist. of Ireland, 1801-1810").]
+
+[Footnote249: Despatch of March 14th, 1803. Compare it with the very
+mild version in Napoleon's "Corresp.," No. 6636.]
+
+[Footnote 250: Lord Hawkesbury to General Andreossy, March 10th.]
+
+[Footnote 251: Lord Hawkesbury to Lord Whitworth, April 4th, 1803.]
+
+[Footnote 252: Despatches of April 11th and 18th, 1803.]
+
+[Footnote 253: Whitworth to Hawkesbury, April 23rd.]
+
+[Footnote 254: Czartoryski ("Mems.," vol. i., ch. xiii.) calls him "an
+excellent admiral but an indifferent diplomatist--a perfect
+representative of the nullity and incapacity of the Addington Ministry
+which had appointed him. The English Government was seldom happy in
+its ambassadors." So Earl Minto's "Letters," vol. iii., p. 279.]
+
+[Footnote 255: See Lord Malmesbury's "Diaries" (vol. iv., p. 253) as
+to the bad results of Whitworth's delay.]
+
+[Footnote 256: Note of May 12th, 1803: see "England and Napoleon," p.
+249.]
+
+[Footnote 257: "Corresp.," vol. viii., No. 6743.]
+
+[Footnote 258: See Romilly's letter to Dumont, May 31st, 1803
+("Memoirs," vol. i.).]
+
+[Footnote 259: "Lettres inédites de Talleyrand," November 3rd, 1802.
+In his letter of May 3rd, 1803, to Lord Whitworth, M. Huber reports
+Fouché's outspoken warning in the Senate to Bonaparte: "Vous êtes
+vous-même, ainsi que nous, un résultat de la révolution, et la guerre
+remet tout en problème. On vous flatte en vous faisant compter sur les
+principes révolutionnaires des autres nations: _le résultat de notre
+révolution les a anéantis partout._"]
+
+[Footnote 260: A copy of this letter, with the detailed proposals, is
+in our Foreign Office archives (Russia, No. 52).]
+
+[Footnote 261: Bourgeois, "Manuel de Politique Etrangère," vol. ii.,
+p. 243.]
+
+[Footnote 262: See Castlereagh's "Letters and Despatches," Second
+Series, vol. i., pp. 75-82, as to the need of conciliating public
+opinion, even by accepting Corfu as a set-off for Malta, provided a
+durable peace could thus be secured.]
+
+[Footnote 263: "Lettres inédites de Talleyrand," August 21st, 1803.]
+
+[Footnote 264: Garden, "Traités," vol. viii., p. 191.]
+
+[Footnote 265: Holland was required to furnish 16,000 troops and
+maintain 18,000 French, to provide 10 ships of war and 350 gunboats.]
+
+[Footnote 266: "Corresp.," May 23rd, 1803.]
+
+[Footnote 267: Nelson's letters of July 2nd. See too Mahan's "Life of
+Nelson," vol. ii., pp. 180-188, and Napoleon's letters of November
+24th, 1803, encouraging the Mamelukes to look to France.]
+
+[Footnote 268: "Foreign Office Records," Sicily and Naples, No. 55,
+July 25th.]
+
+[Footnote 269: Letter of July 28th, 1803.]
+
+[Footnote 270: "Nap. Corresp.," August 23rd, 1803, and Oncken, ch. v.]
+
+[Footnote 271: "Corresp.," vol. viii., No. 6627.]
+
+[Footnote 272: Lefebvre, "Cabinets de l'Europe," ch. viii.; "Nap.
+Corresp.," vol. viii., Nos. 6979, 6985, 7007, 7098, 7113.]
+
+[Footnote 273: The French and Dutch ships in commission were: ships of
+the line, 48; frigates, 37; corvettes, 22; gun-brigs, etc., 124;
+flotilla, 2,115. (See "Mems. of the Earl of St. Vincent," vol. ii., p.
+218.)]
+
+[Footnote 274: Pellew's "Life of Lord Sidmouth," vol. ii., p. 239.]
+
+[Footnote 275: Stanhope's "Life of Pitt," vol. iv., p. 213.]
+
+[Footnote 276: Roederer, " OEuvres," vol. iii., p. 348; Méneval, vol.
+i., ch. iv.]
+
+[Footnote 277: Lucien ("Mems.," vol. iii., pp. 315-320) says at
+Malmaison; but Napoleon's "Correspondance" shows that it was at St.
+Cloud. Masson (" Nap. et sa Famille," ch. xii.) throws doubt on the
+story.]
+
+[Footnote 278:_Ibid_., p. 318. The scene was described by Murat: the
+real phrase was _coquine_, but it was softened down by Murat to
+_maîtresse_.]
+
+[Footnote 279: Miot de Melito, "Mems.," vol. 1., ch. xv. Lucien
+settled in the Papal States, where he, the quondam Jacobin and proven
+libertine, later on received from the Pope the title of Prince de
+Canino.]
+
+[Footnote 280: "Lettres inédites de Napoléon," April 22nd, 1805.]
+
+[Footnote 281: Pasquier, "Mems.," vol. i., p. 167, and Boulay de la
+Meurthe, "Les dernières Années du duc d'Enghien," p. 299. An
+intriguing royalist of Neufchâtel, Fauche-Borel, had been to England
+in 1802 to get the help of the Addington Ministry, but failed. See
+Caudrillier's articles in the "Revue Historique," Nov., 1900--March,
+1901.]
+
+[Footnote 282: Madelin's "Fouché," vol. i., p. 368, minimizes Fouché's
+_rôle_ here.]
+
+[Footnote 283: Desmarest, "Témoignages historiques," pp. 78-82.]
+
+[Footnote 284: "Alliance des Jacobins de France avec le Ministère
+Anglais."]
+
+[Footnote 285: Brit. Mus., "Add. MSS.," Nos. 7976 _et seq_.]
+
+[Footnote 286: In our Records (France, No. 71) is a letter of Count
+Descars, dated London, March 25th, 1805, to Lord Mulgrave, Minister
+for War, rendering an account for various sums advanced by our
+Government for the royalist "army."]
+
+[Footnote 287: "Paget Papers," vol. ii., p. 96.]
+
+[Footnote 288: "Parl. Debates," April, 1804 (esp. April 16th). The
+official denial is, of course, accepted by Alison, ch. xxxviii.]
+
+[Footnote 289: The expression is that of George III., who further
+remarked that all the ambassadors despised Hawkesbury. (Rose,
+"Diaries," vol. ii., p. 157.) Windham's letter, dated Beaconsfield,
+August 16th, 1803, in the Puisaye Papers, warned the French _émigrés_
+that they must not count on any aid from Ministers, who had "at all
+times shown such feebleness of spirit, that they can scarcely dare to
+lift their eyes to such aims as you indicate. ("Add. MSS.," No.
+7976.)]
+
+[Footnote 290: See in chapter xxi., p. 488. Our envoy, Spencer Smith,
+at Stuttgart, was also taken in by a French spy, Captain Rosey, whose
+actions were directed by Napoleon. See his letter (No. 7669).]
+
+[Footnote 291: "F.O.," Austria, No. 68 (October 31st, 1803).]
+
+[Footnote 292: Lavalette, "Mems.," ch. xxiii.; "Georges Cadoudal," by
+Georges de Cadoudal (Paris, 1887).]
+
+[Footnote 293: See his letter of January 24th, 1804, to Réal,
+instructing him to tell Méhée what falsehoods are to find a place in
+Méhée's next bulletin to Drake! "Keep on continually with the affair
+of my portfolio."]
+
+[Footnote 294: Miot de Melito, vol. i., ch. xvi.; Pasquier, vol. i.,
+ch. vii. See also Desmarest, "Quinze ans de la haute police": his
+claim that the police previously knew nothing of the plot is refuted
+by Napoleon's letters (e.g., that of November 1st, 1803); as also by
+Guilhermy, "Papiers d'un Emigré," p. 122.]
+
+[Footnote 295: Ségur, "Mems.," ch. x. Bonaparte to Murat and Harel,
+March 20th.]
+
+[Footnote 296: Letter to Réal, "Corresp.," No. 7639.]
+
+[Footnote 297: The original is in "F.O." (Austria, No. 68).]
+
+[Footnote 298: Pasquier, "Mémoires," vol. i., p. 187.]
+
+[Footnote 299: The Comte de Mosbourg's notes in Count Murat's "Murat"
+(Paris, 1897), pp. 437-445, prove that Savary did not draw his
+instructions for the execution of the duke merely from Murat, but from
+Bonaparte himself, who must therefore be held solely responsible for
+the composition and conduct of that court. Masson's attempt ("Nap. et
+sa Famille," ch. xiv.) to inculpate Murat is very weak.]
+
+[Footnote 300: Hulin in "Catastrophe du duc d'Enghien," p. 118.]
+
+[Footnote 301: Dupin in "Catastrophe du duc d'Enghien," pp. 101, 123.]
+
+[Footnote 302: The only excuse which calls for notice here is that
+Napoleon at the last moment, when urged by Joseph to be merciful, gave
+way, and despatched orders late at night to Réal to repair to
+Vincennes. Réal received some order, the exact purport of which is
+unknown: it was late at night and he postponed going till the morrow.
+On his way he met Savary, who came towards Paris bringing the news of
+the duke's execution. Réal's first words, on hearing this unexpected
+news, were: "How is that possible? I had so many questions to put to
+the duke: his examination might disclose so much. Another thing gone
+wrong; the First Consul will be furious." These words were afterwards
+repeated to Pasquier both by Savary and by Real: and, unless Pasquier
+lied, the belated order sent to Réal was not a pardon (and Napoleon on
+his last voyage said to Cockburn it was not), but merely an order to
+extract such information from the duke as would compromise other
+Frenchmen. Besides, if Napoleon had despatched an order for the duke's
+_pardon_, why was not that order produced as a sign of his innocence
+and Réal's blundering? Why did he shut himself up in his private room
+on March 20th, so that even Josephine had difficulty in gaining
+entrance? And if he really desired to pardon the duke, how came it
+that when, at noon of March 21st, Réal explained that he arrived at
+Vincennes too late, the only words that escaped Napoleon's lips were
+"C'est bien"? (See Méneval, vol. i, p. 296.) Why also was his
+countenance the only one that afterwards showed no remorse or grief?
+Caulaincourt, when he heard the results of his raid into Baden,
+fainted with horror, and when brought to by Bonaparte, overwhelmed him
+with reproaches. Why also had the grave been dug beforehand? Why,
+finally, were Savary and Réal not disgraced? No satisfactory answer to
+these questions has ever been given. The "Catastrophe du duc
+d'Enghien" and Count Boulay de la Meurthe's "Les dernières Années du
+duc d'Enghien" and Napoleon's "Correspondance" give all the documents
+needed for forming a judgment on this case. The evidence is examined
+by Mr. Fay in "The American Hist. Rev.," July and Oct., 1898. For the
+rewards to the murderers see Masson, "Nap. et sa Famille," chap.
+xiii.]
+
+[Footnote 303: Ducasse, "Les Rois Frères de Nap.," p. 9.]
+
+[Footnote 304: Miot de Melito; vol. ii., ch. i.; Pasquier, vol. i.,
+ch. ix.]
+
+[Footnote 305: I cannot agree with M. Lanfrey, vol. ii., ch. xi., that
+the Empire was not desired by the nation. It seems to me that this
+writer here attributes to the apathetic masses his own unrivalled
+acuteness of vision and enthusiasm for democracy. Lafayette well sums
+up the situation in the remark that he was more shocked at the
+submission of all than at the usurpation of one man ("Mems.," vol. v.,
+p. 239).]
+
+[Footnote 306: See Aulard, "Rév. Française," p. 772, for the
+opposition.]
+
+[Footnote 307: Roederer, "ÂŒuvres," vol. iii., p. 513.]
+
+[Footnote 308: Macdonald, "Souvenirs," ch. xii.; Ségur, "Mems.," ch.
+vii. When Thiébault congratulated Masséna on his new title, the
+veteran scoffingly replied: "Oh, there are fourteen of us."
+(Thiébault, "Mems.," ch. vii., Eng. edit.) See too Marmont ("Mems.,"
+vol. ii., p. 227) on his own exclusion and the inclusion of
+Bessières.]
+
+[Footnote 309: Chaptal, "Souvenirs," p. 262. For Moreau's popularity
+see Madelin's "Fouché," vol. i., p. 422.]
+
+[Footnote 310: At the next public audience Napoleon upbraided one of
+the judges, Lecourbe, who had maintained that Moreau was innocent, and
+thereafter deprived him of his judgeship. He also disgraced his
+brother, General Lecourbe, and forbade his coming within forty leagues
+of Paris. ("Lettres inédites de Napoléon," August 22nd and 29th,
+1805.)]
+
+[Footnote 311: Miot de Melito, vol ii., ch. i.]
+
+[Footnote 312: Napoleon to Roederer, "ÂŒuvres," vol. iii., p. 514.]
+
+[Footnote 313: Lafayette, "Mems.," vol. v., p. 182.]
+
+[Footnote 314: "Mémoires de Savary, Duc de Rovigo." So Bourrienne, who
+was informed by Rapp, who was present (vol. ii., ch. xxxiii.). The
+"Moniteur" (4th Frimaire, Year XIII.) asserted that the Pope took the
+right-hand seat; but I distrust its version.]
+
+[Footnote 315: Mme. de Rémusat, vol. i., ch. x. As the _curé_ of the
+parish was not present, even as witness, this new contract was held by
+the Bonapartes to lack full validity. It is certain, however, that
+Fesch always maintained that the marriage could only be annulled by an
+act of arbitrary authority. For Napoleon's refusal to receive the
+communion on the morning of the coronation, lest he, being what he
+was, should be guilty of sacrilege and hypocrisy, see Ségur.]
+
+[Footnote 316: Ségur, ch. xi.]
+
+[Footnote 317: F. Masson's "Joséphine, Impératrice et Reine," p. 229.
+For the Pitt diamond, see Yule's pamphlet and Sir M. Grant Duff's
+"Diary," June 30, 1888.]
+
+[Footnote 318: De Bausset, "Court de Napoléon," ch. ii.]
+
+[Footnote 319: "Foreign Office Records," Intelligences, No. 426.]
+
+[Footnote 320: "Life of Fulton," by Colden(1817); also one by Reigart
+(1856).]
+
+[Footnote 321: Jurien de la Gravière, "Guerres Maritimes," vol. ii.,
+p. 75; Chevalier, "Hist. de la Marine Française," p. 105; Capt.
+Desbrière's "Projets de Débarquement aux Iles Britanniques," vol. i.
+The accompanying engraving shows how fantastic were some of the
+earlier French schemes of invasion.]
+
+[Footnote 322: "Mémoires du Maréchal Ney," bk. vii., ch. i.; so too
+Marmont, vol. ii., p. 213; Mahan, "Sea Power," ch. xv.]
+
+[Footnote 323: Roederer, "OEuvres," vol. iii., p. 494.]
+
+[Footnote 324: Colonel Campbell, our Commissioner at Elba, noted in
+his diary (December 5th, 1814): "As I have perceived in many
+conversations, Napoleon has no idea of the difficulties occasioned by
+winds and tides, but judges of changes of position in the case of
+ships as he would with regard to troops on land."]
+
+[Footnote 325: Jurien de la Gravière, vol. ii., p. 88, who says: "His
+mild and melancholy disposition, his sad and modest behaviour, ill
+suited the Emperor's ambitious plans."]
+
+[Footnote 326: "Corresp.," No. 8063. See too No. 7996 for Napoleon's
+plan of carrying a howitzer in the bows of his gun vessels so that his
+projectiles might _burst in the wood_. Already at Boulogne he had
+uttered the prophetic words: "We must have shells that will shiver the
+wooden sides of ships."]
+
+[Footnote 327: James, "Naval History," vol. iii., p. 213, and
+Chevalier, p. 115, imply that Villeneuve's fleet from Toulon, after
+scouring the West Indies, was to rally the Rochefort force and cover
+the Boulogne flotilla: but this finds no place in Napoleon's September
+plan, which required Gantheaume first to land troops in Ireland and
+then convoy the flotilla across if the weather were favourable, or if
+it were stormy to beat down the Channel with the troops from Holland.
+See O'Connor Morris, "Campaigns of Nelson," p. 121.]
+
+[Footnote 328: Colomb, "Naval Warfare," p. 18.]
+
+[Footnote 329: Jurien de la Gravière, vol. ii., p. 100. Nelson was
+aware of the fallacies that crowded Napoleon's brain: "Bonaparte has
+often made his boast that our fleet would be worn out by keeping the
+sea, and that his was kept in order and increasing by staying in port;
+but he now finds, I fancy, if emperors hear truth, that his fleet
+suffers more in a night than ours in one year."--Nelson to
+Collingwood, March 13th, 1805.]
+
+[Footnote 330: Garden, "Traités," vol. viii., pp. 276-290; also Capt.
+Mahan, "Influence of Sea Power, etc.," vol. ii., ch. xv. _ad fin_. He
+quotes the opinion of a Spanish historian, Don José de Couto: "If all
+the circumstances are properly weighed ... we shall see that all the
+charges made against England for the seizure of the frigates may be
+reduced to want of proper foresight in the strength of the force
+detailed to effect it."--In the Admiralty secret letters (1804-16) I
+have found the instructions to Sir J. Orde, with the Swiftsure,
+Polyphemus, Agamemnon, Ruby, Defence, Lively, and two sloops, to seize
+the treasure-ships. No fight seems to have been expected.]
+
+[Footnote 331: "Corresp.," No. 8379; Mahan, _ibid_., vol. ii., p.
+149.]
+
+[Footnote 332: Letter of April 29th, 1805. I cannot agree with Mahan
+(p. 155) that this was intended only to distract us.]
+
+[Footnote 333: "Lettres inédites de Talleyrand," p. 121.]
+
+[Footnote 334: Jurien de la Gravière, vol. ii., p. 367.]
+
+[Footnote 335: Thiers writes, most disingenuously, as though
+Napoleon's letters of August 13th and 22nd could have influenced
+Villeneuve.]
+
+[Footnote 336: Dupin, "Voyages dans la Grande Bretagne" (tome i., p.
+244), who had the facts from Daru. But, as Méneval sensibly says
+("Mems.," vol. i., ch. v.), it was not Napoleon's habit dramatically
+to dictate his plans so far in advance. Certainly, _in military
+matters,_ he always kept his imagination subservient to facts. Not
+until September 22nd, did he make any written official notes on the
+final moves of his chief corps; besides, the Austrians did not cross
+the Inn till September 8th.]
+
+[Footnote 337: Diary of General Bingham, in "Blackwood's Magazine,"
+October, 1896. The accompanying medal, on the reverse of which are the
+words "frappée à Londres, en 1804," affords another proof of his
+intentions.]
+
+[Footnote 338: Marbot, "Mems.," ch. xix; Fouché, "Mems.," part 1; Miot
+de Melito, "Mems.," vol. ii., ch. i.]
+
+[Footnote 339: See Nelson's letters of August 25th, 1803, and May 1st,
+1804; also Collingwood's of July 21st, 1805.]
+
+[Footnote 340: In "F.O.," France, No. 71, is a report of a spy on the
+interview of Napoleon with O'Connor, whom he made General of Division.
+See Appendix, p. 510.]
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+CHISWICK PRESS: PRINTED BY CHARLES WHITTINGHAM AND CO. TOOKS COURT,
+CHANCERY LANE, LONDON.
+
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+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Life of Napoleon I (Volume 1 of 2)
+by John Holland Rose
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 14289 ***
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+Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Life of Napoleon I (Volume 1 of 2)
+by John Holland Rose
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Life of Napoleon I (Volume 1 of 2)
+
+Author: John Holland Rose
+
+Release Date: December 7, 2004 [EBook #14289]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LIFE OF NAPOLEON I ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Paul Murray, and the PG Online Distributed Proofreading Team.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+  LONDON: G. BELL & SONS, LIMITED,
+  PORTUGAL STREET, KINGSWAY, W.C.
+  CAMBRIDGE: DEIGHTON, BELL & CO.
+  NEW YORK: THE MACMILLAN CO.
+  BOMBAY: A.H. WHEELER & CO
+
+
+
+
+
+  THE LIFE OF NAPOLEON I
+
+  INCLUDING NEW MATERIALS FROM THE BRITISH OFFICIAL RECORDS
+
+
+
+  BY JOHN HOLLAND ROSE, LITT.D.
+  LATE SCHOLAR OF CHRIST'S COLLEGE,
+  CAMBRIDGE
+
+
+
+   "Let my son often read and reflect on history: this is the only
+   true philosophy."--_Napoleon's last Instructions for the King of
+    Rome_.
+
+
+
+  VOL, I
+
+
+
+
+
+  LONDON G. BELL AND SONS, LTD.
+  1910
+
+POST 8VO EDITION, ILLUSTRATED
+First Published, December 1901.
+Second Edition, revised, March 1902.
+Third Edition, revised, January 1903.
+Fourth Edition, revised, September 1907.
+Reprinted, January 1910.
+
+
+CROWN 8VO EDITION
+First Published, September 1904.
+Reprinted, October 1907; July 1910.
+
+
+DEDICATED TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE LORD ACTON,
+K.C.V.O., D.C.L., LL.D. REGIUS PROFESSOR OF MODERN HISTORY IN THE
+UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE, IN ADMIRATION OF HIS PROFOUND HISTORICAL
+LEARNING, AND IN GRATITUDE FOR ADVICE AND HELP GENEROUSLY GIVEN.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE
+
+
+An apology seems to be called for from anyone who gives to the world a
+new Life of Napoleon I. My excuse must be that for many years I have
+sought to revise the traditional story of his career in the light of
+facts gleaned from the British Archives and of the many valuable
+materials that have recently been published by continental historians.
+To explain my manner of dealing with these sources would require an
+elaborate critical Introduction; but, as the limits of my space
+absolutely preclude any such attempt, I can only briefly refer to the
+most important topics.
+
+To deal with the published sources first, I would name as of chief
+importance the works of MM. Aulard, Chuquet, Houssaye, Sorel, and
+Vandal in France; of Herren Beer, Delbrück, Fournier, Lehmann, Oncken,
+and Wertheimer in Germany and Austria; and of Baron Lumbroso in Italy.
+I have also profited largely by the scholarly monographs or
+collections of documents due to the labours of the "Société d'Histoire
+Contemporaine," the General Staff of the French Army, of MM. Bouvier,
+Caudrillier, Capitaine "J.G.," Lévy, Madelin, Sagnac, Sciout, Zivy,
+and others in France; and of Herren Bailleu, Demelitsch, Hansing,
+Klinkowstrom, Luckwaldt, Ulmann, and others in Germany. Some of the
+recently published French Memoirs dealing with those times are not
+devoid of value, though this class of literature is to be used with
+caution. The new letters of Napoleon published by M. Léon Lecestre and
+M. Léonce de Brotonne have also opened up fresh vistas into the life
+of the great man; and the time seems to have come when we may safely
+revise our judgments on many of its episodes.
+
+But I should not have ventured on this great undertaking, had I not
+been able to contribute something new to Napoleonic literature. During
+a study of this period for an earlier work published in the "Cambridge
+Historical Series," I ascertained the great value of the British
+records for the years 1795-1815. It is surely discreditable to our
+historical research that, apart from the fruitful labours of the Navy
+Records Society, of Messrs. Oscar Browning and Hereford George, and of
+Mr. Bowman of Toronto, scarcely any English work has appeared that is
+based on the official records of this period. Yet they are of great
+interest and value. Our diplomatic agents then had the knack of
+getting at State secrets in most foreign capitals, even when we were
+at war with their Governments; and our War Office and Admiralty
+Records have also yielded me some interesting "finds." M. Lévy, in the
+preface to his "Napoléon intime" (1893), has well remarked that "the
+documentary history of the wars of the Empire has not yet been
+written. To write it accurately, it will be more important thoroughly
+to know foreign archives than those of France." Those of Russia,
+Austria, and Prussia have now for the most part been examined; and I
+think that I may claim to have searched all the important parts of our
+Foreign Office Archives for the years in question, as well as for part
+of the St. Helena period. I have striven to embody the results of this
+search in the present volumes as far as was compatible with limits of
+space and with the narrative form at which, in my judgment, history
+ought always to aim.
+
+On the whole, British policy comes out the better the more fully it is
+known. Though often feeble and vacillating, it finally attained to
+firmness and dignity; and Ministers closed the cycle of war with acts
+of magnanimity towards the French people which are studiously ignored
+by those who bid us shed tears over the martyrdom of St. Helena.
+Nevertheless, the splendour of the finale must not blind us to the
+flaccid eccentricities that made British statesmanship the laughing
+stock of Europe in 1801-3, 1806-7, and 1809. Indeed, it is
+questionable whether the renewal of war between England and Napoleon
+in 1803 was due more to his innate forcefulness or to the contempt
+which he felt for the Addington Cabinet. When one also remembers our
+extraordinary blunders in the war of the Third Coalition, it seems a
+miracle that the British Empire survived that life and death struggle
+against a man of superhuman genius who was determined to effect its
+overthrow. I have called special attention to the extent and
+pertinacity of Napoleon's schemes for the foundation of a French
+Colonial Empire in India, Egypt, South Africa, and Australia; and
+there can be no doubt that the events of the years 1803-13 determined,
+not only the destinies of Europe and Napoleon, but the general trend
+of the world's colonization.
+
+As it has been necessary to condense the story of Napoleon's life in
+some parts, I have chosen to treat with special brevity the years
+1809-11, which may be called the _constans aetas_ of his career, in
+order to have more space for the decisive events that followed; but
+even in these less eventful years I have striven to show how his
+Continental System was setting at work mighty economic forces that
+made for his overthrow, so that after the _débâcle_ of 1812 it came to
+be a struggle of Napoleon and France _contra mundum_.
+
+While not neglecting the personal details of the great man's life, I
+have dwelt mainly on his public career. Apart from his brilliant
+conversations, his private life has few features of abiding interest,
+perhaps because he early tired of the shallowness of Josephine and the
+Corsican angularity of his brothers and sisters. But the cause also
+lay in his own disposition. He once said to M. Gallois: "Je n'aime pas
+beaucoup les femmes, ni le jeu--enfin rien: _je suis tout à fait un
+être politique_." In dealing with him as a warrior and statesman, and
+in sparing my readers details as to his bolting his food, sleeping at
+concerts, and indulging in amours where for him there was no glamour
+of romance, I am laying stress on what interested him most--in a word,
+I am taking him at his best.
+
+I could not have accomplished this task, even in the present
+inadequate way, but for the help generously accorded from many
+quarters. My heartfelt thanks are due to Lord Acton, Regius Professor
+of Modern History in the University of Cambridge, for advice of the
+highest importance; to Mr. Hubert Hall of the Public Record Office,
+for guidance in my researches there; to Baron Lumbroso of Rome,
+editor of the "Bibliografia ragionata dell' Epoca Napoleonica," for
+hints on Italian and other affairs; to Dr. Luckwaldt, Privat Docent of
+the University of Bonn, and author of "Oesterreich und die Anfänge des
+Befreiungs-Krieges," for his very scholarly revision of the chapters
+on German affairs; to Mr. F.H.E. Cunliffe, M.A., Fellow of All Souls'
+College, Oxford, for valuable advice on the campaigns of 1800, 1805,
+and 1806; to Professor Caudrillier of Grenoble, author of "Pichegru,"
+for information respecting the royalist plot; and to Messrs. J.E.
+Morris, M.A., and E.L.S. Horsburgh, B.A., for detailed communications
+concerning Waterloo, The nieces of the late Professor Westwood of
+Oxford most kindly allowed the facsimile of the new Napoleon letter,
+printed opposite p. 156 of vol. i., to be made from the original in
+their possession; and Miss Lowe courteously placed at my disposal the
+papers of her father relating to the years 1813-15, as well as to the
+St. Helena period. I wish here to record my grateful obligations for
+all these friendly courtesies, which have given value to the book,
+besides saving me from many of the pitfalls with which the subject
+abounds. That I have escaped them altogether is not to be imagined;
+but I can honestly say, in the words of the late Bishop of London,
+that "I have tried to write true history."
+
+J.H.R.
+
+[NOTE.--The references to Napoleon's "Correspondence" in the notes are
+to the official French edition, published under the auspices of
+Napoleon III. The "New Letters of Napoleon" are those edited by Léon
+Lecestre, and translated into English by Lady Mary Loyd, except in a
+very few cases where M. Léonce de Brotonne's still more recent edition
+is cited under his name. By "F.O.," France, No.----, and "F.O.,"
+Prussia, No.----, are meant the volumes of _our_ Foreign Office
+despatches relating to France and Prussia. For the sake of brevity I
+have called Napoleon's Marshals and high officials by their names, not
+by their titles: but a list of these is given at the close of vol.
+ii.]
+
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE TO THE THIRD EDITION
+
+
+The demand for this work so far exceeded my expectations that I was
+unable to make any considerable changes in the second edition, issued
+in March, 1902; and circumstances again make it impossible for me to
+give the work that thorough recension which I should desire. I have,
+however, carefully considered the suggestions offered by critics, and
+have adopted them in some cases. Professor Fournier of Vienna has most
+kindly furnished me with details which seem to relegate to the domain
+of legend the famous ice catastrophe at Austerlitz; and I have added a
+note to this effect on p. 50 of vol. ii. On the other hand, I may
+justly claim that the publication of Count Balmain's reports relating
+to St. Helena has served to corroborate, in all important details, my
+account of Napoleon's captivity.
+
+It only remains to add that I much regret the omission of Mr. Oman's
+name from II. 12-13 of page viii of the Preface, an omission rendered
+all the more conspicuous by the appearance of the first volume of his
+"History of the Peninsular War" in the spring of this year.
+
+J.H.R.
+
+_October, 1902._
+
+Notes have been added at the end of ch. v., vol. i.; chs. xxii.,
+xxiii., xxviii., xxix., xxxv., vol. ii.; and an Appendix on the Battle
+of Waterloo has been added on p. 577, vol. ii.
+
+
+
+
+  CONTENTS
+
+
+  CHAPTER
+
+         NOTE ON THE REPUBLICAN CALENDAR
+
+      I. PARENTAGE AND EARLY YEARS
+
+     II. THE FRENCH REVOLUTION AND CORSICA
+
+    III. TOULON
+
+     IV. VENDÉMIAIRE
+
+      V. THE ITALIAN CAMPAIGN (1796)
+
+     VI. THE FIGHTS FOR MANTUA
+
+    VII. LEOBEN TO CAMPO FORMIO
+
+   VIII. EGYPT
+
+     IX. SYRIA
+
+      X. BRUMAIRE
+
+     XI. MARENGO: LUNÉVILLE
+
+    XII. THE NEW INSTITUTIONS OF FRANCE
+
+   XIII. THE CONSULATE FOR LIFE
+
+    XIV. THE PEACE OF AMIENS
+
+     XV. A FRENCH COLONIAL EMPIRE: ST.
+         DOMINGO--LOUISIANA--INDIA--AUSTRALIA
+
+    XVI. NAPOLEON'S INTERVENTIONS
+
+   XVII. THE RENEWAL OF WAR
+
+  XVIII. EUROPE AND THE BONAPARTES
+
+    XIX. THE ROYALIST PLOT
+
+     XX. THE DAWN OF THE EMPIRE
+
+    XXI. THE BOULOGNE FLOTILLA
+
+    APPENDIX: REPORTS HITHERTO UNPUBLISHED
+     ON
+    (_a_) THE SALE OF LOUISIANA;
+    (_b_) THE IRISH DIVISION IN NAPOLEON'S SERVICE
+
+  ILLUSTRATIONS, MAPS, AND PLANS
+
+  THE SIEGE OF TOULON, 1793
+
+  MAP TO ILLUSTRATE THE CAMPAIGNS IN NORTH ITALY
+
+  PLAN TO ILLUSTRATE THE VICTORY OF ARCOLA
+
+  THE NEIGHBOURHOOD OF RIVOLI
+
+  FACSIMILE OF A LETTER OF NAPOLEON TO "LA CITOYENNE
+  TALLIEN," 1797
+
+  CENTRAL EUROPE, after the Peace of Campo Formio, 1797
+
+  PLAN OF THE SIEGE OF ACRE, from a contemporary sketch
+
+  THE BATTLE OF MARENGO, to illustrate Kellermann's charge
+
+  FRENCH MAP OF THE SOUTH OF AUSTRALIA, 1807
+
+
+
+
+
+
+NOTE ON THE REPUBLICAN CALENDAR
+
+
+The republican calendar consisted of twelve months of thirty days
+each, each month being divided into three "decades" of ten days. Five
+days (in leap years six) were added at the end of the year to bring it
+into coincidence with the solar year.
+
+  An    I began Sept. 22, 1792.
+  "    II  "      "       1793.
+  "   III  "      "       1794.
+  "    IV (leap year)     1795.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+  "  VIII began Sept. 22, 1799.
+  "    IX   "   Sept. 23, 1800.
+  "     X   "      "      1801.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+  "   XIV   "      "      1805.
+
+The new computation, though reckoned from Sept. 22, 1792, was not
+introduced until Nov. 26, 1793 (An II). It ceased after Dec. 31, 1805.
+
+The months are as follows:
+
+    Vendémiaire              Sept. 22 to Oct. 21.
+    Brumaire                 Oct. 22  "  Nov. 20.
+    Frimaire                 Nov. 21  "  Dec. 20.
+    Nivôse                   Dec. 21  "  Jan. 19.
+    Pluviôse                 Jan. 20  "  Feb. 18.
+    Ventôse                  Feb. 19  "  Mar. 20.
+    Germinal                 Mar. 21  "  April 19.
+    Floréal                  April 20 "  May 19.
+    Prairial                 May 20   "  June 18.
+    Messidor                 June 19  "  July 18.
+    Thermidor                July 19  "  Aug. 17.
+    Fructidor                Aug. 18  "  Sept. 16.
+
+Add five (in leap years six) "Sansculottides" or "Jours
+complémentaires."
+
+In 1796 (leap year) the numbers in the table of months, so far as
+concerns all dates between Feb. 28 and Sept. 22, will have to be
+_reduced by one_, owing to the intercalation of Feb. 29, which is not
+compensated for until the end of the republican year.
+
+The matter is further complicated by the fact that the republicans
+reckoned An VIII as a leap year, though it is not one in the Gregorian
+Calendar. Hence that year ended on Sept. 22, and An IX and succeeding
+years began on Sept. 23. Consequently in the above table of months the
+numbers of all days from Vendémiaire 1, An IX (Sept. 23, 1800), to
+Nivôse 10, An XIV (Dec. 31, 1805), inclusive, will have to be
+_increased by one_, except only in the next leap year between Ventôse
+9, An XII, and Vendémiaire 1, An XIII (Feb. 28-Sept, 23, 1804), when
+the two Revolutionary aberrations happen to neutralize each other.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+
+THE LIFE OF NAPOLEON I
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+PARENTAGE AND EARLY YEARS
+
+
+"I was born when my country was perishing. Thirty thousand French
+vomited upon our coasts, drowning the throne of Liberty in waves of
+blood, such was the sight which struck my eyes." This passionate
+utterance, penned by Napoleon Buonaparte at the beginning of the
+French Revolution, describes the state of Corsica in his natal year.
+The words are instinct with the vehemence of the youth and the
+extravagant sentiment of the age: they strike the keynote of his
+career. His life was one of strain and stress from his cradle to his
+grave.
+
+In his temperament as in the circumstances of his time the young
+Buonaparte was destined for an extraordinary career. Into a tottering
+civilization he burst with all the masterful force of an Alaric. But
+he was an Alaric of the south, uniting the untamed strength of his
+island kindred with the mental powers of his Italian ancestry. In his
+personality there is a complex blending of force and grace, of animal
+passion and mental clearness, of northern common sense with the
+promptings of an oriental imagination; and this union in his nature of
+seeming opposites explains many of the mysteries of his life.
+Fortunately for lovers of romance, genius cannot be wholly analyzed,
+even by the most adroit historical philosophizer or the most exacting
+champion of heredity. But in so far as the sources of Napoleon's power
+can be measured, they may be traced to the unexampled needs of mankind
+in the revolutionary epoch and to his own exceptional endowments.
+Evidently, then, the characteristics of his family claim some
+attention from all who would understand the man and the influence
+which he was to wield over modern Europe.
+
+It has been the fortune of his House to be the subject of dispute from
+first to last. Some writers have endeavoured to trace its descent back
+to the Cæsars of Rome, others to the Byzantine Emperors; one
+genealogical explorer has tracked the family to Majorca, and, altering
+its name to Bonpart, has discovered its progenitor in the Man of the
+Iron Mask; while the Duchesse d'Abrantès, voyaging eastwards in quest
+of its ancestors, has confidently claimed for the family a Greek
+origin. Painstaking research has dispelled these romancings of
+historical _trouveurs_, and has connected this enigmatic stock with a
+Florentine named "William, who in the year 1261 took the surname of
+_Bonaparte_ or _Buonaparte_. The name seems to have been assumed when,
+amidst the unceasing strifes between Guelfs and Ghibellines that rent
+the civic life of Florence, William's party, the Ghibellines, for a
+brief space gained the ascendancy. But perpetuity was not to be found
+in Florentine politics; and in a short time he was a fugitive at a
+Tuscan village, Sarzana, beyond the reach of the victorious Guelfs.
+Here the family seems to have lived for wellnigh three centuries,
+maintaining its Ghibelline and aristocratic principles with surprising
+tenacity. The age was not remarkable for the virtue of constancy, or
+any other virtue. Politics and private life were alike demoralized by
+unceasing intrigues; and amidst strifes of Pope and Emperor, duchies
+and republics, cities and autocrats, there was formed that type of
+Italian character which is delineated in the pages of Macchiavelli.
+From the depths of debasement of that cynical age the Buonapartes
+were saved by their poverty, and by the isolation of their life at
+Sarzana. Yet the embassies discharged at intervals by the more
+talented members of the family showed that the gifts for intrigue were
+only dormant; and they were certainly transmitted in their intensity
+to the greatest scion of the race.
+
+In the year 1529 Francis Buonaparte, whether pressed by poverty or
+distracted by despair at the misfortunes which then overwhelmed Italy,
+migrated to Corsica. There the family was grafted upon a tougher
+branch of the Italian race. To the vulpine characteristics developed
+under the shadow of the Medici there were now added qualities of a
+more virile stamp. Though dominated in turn by the masters of the
+Mediterranean, by Carthaginians, Romans, Vandals, by the men of Pisa,
+and finally by the Genoese Republic, the islanders retained a striking
+individuality. The rock-bound coast and mountainous interior helped to
+preserve the essential features of primitive life. Foreign Powers
+might affect the towns on the sea-board, but they left the clans of
+the interior comparatively untouched. Their life centred around the
+family. The Government counted for little or nothing; for was it not
+the symbol of the detested foreign rule? Its laws were therefore as
+naught when they conflicted with the unwritten but omnipotent code of
+family honour. A slight inflicted on a neighbour would call forth the
+warning words--"Guard thyself: I am on my guard." Forthwith there
+began a blood feud, a vendetta, which frequently dragged on its dreary
+course through generations of conspiracy and murder, until, the
+principals having vanished, the collateral branches of the families
+were involved. No Corsican was so loathed as the laggard who shrank
+from avenging the family honour, even on a distant relative of the
+first offender. The murder of the Duc d'Enghien by Napoleon in 1804
+sent a thrill of horror through the Continent. To the Corsicans it
+seemed little more than an autocratic version of the _vendetta
+traversale_.[1]
+
+The vendetta was the chief law of Corsican society up to comparatively
+recent times; and its effects are still visible in the life of the
+stern islanders. In his charming romance, "Colomba," M. Prosper
+Mérimée has depicted the typical Corsican, even of the towns, as
+preoccupied, gloomy, suspicious, ever on the alert, hovering about his
+dwelling, like a falcon over his nest, seemingly in preparation for
+attack or defence. Laughter, the song, the dance, were rarely heard in
+the streets; for the women, after acting as the drudges of the
+household, were kept jealously at home, while their lords smoked and
+watched. If a game at hazard were ventured upon, it ran its course in
+silence, which not seldom was broken by the shot or the stab--first
+warning that there had been underhand play. The deed always preceded
+the word.
+
+In such a life, where commerce and agriculture were despised, where
+woman was mainly a drudge and man a conspirator, there grew up the
+typical Corsican temperament, moody and exacting, but withal keen,
+brave, and constant, which looked on the world as a fencing-school for
+the glorification of the family and the clan[2]. Of this type Napoleon
+was to be the supreme exemplar; and the fates granted him as an arena
+a chaotic France and a distracted Europe.
+
+Amidst that grim Corsican existence the Buonapartes passed their lives
+during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Occupied as advocates
+and lawyers with such details of the law as were of any practical
+importance, they must have been involved in family feuds and the
+oft-recurring disputes between Corsica and the suzerain Power, Genoa.
+As became dignitaries in the municipality of Ajaccio, several of the
+Buonapartes espoused the Genoese side; and the Genoese Senate in a
+document of the year 1652 styled one of them, Jérome, "Egregius
+Hieronimus di Buonaparte, procurator Nobilium." These distinctions
+they seem to have little coveted. Very few families belonged to the
+Corsican _noblesse_, and their fiefs were unimportant. In Corsica, as
+in the Forest Cantons of Switzerland and the Highlands of Scotland,
+class distinctions were by no means so coveted as in lands that had
+been thoroughly feudalized; and the Buonapartes, content with their
+civic dignities at Ajaccio and the attachment of their partisans on
+their country estates, seem rarely to have used the prefix which
+implied nobility. Their life was not unlike that of many an old
+Scottish laird, who, though possibly _bourgeois_ in origin, yet by
+courtesy ranked as chieftain among his tenants, and was ennobled by
+the parlance of the countryside, perhaps all the more readily because
+he refused to wear the honours that came from over the Border.
+
+But a new influence was now to call forth all the powers of this tough
+stock. In the middle of the eighteenth century we find the head of the
+family, Charles Marie Buonaparte, aglow with the flame of Corsican
+patriotism then being kindled by the noble career of Paoli. This
+gifted patriot, the champion of the islanders, first against the
+Genoese and later against the French, desired to cement by education
+the framework of the Corsican Commonwealth and founded a university.
+It was here that the father of the future French Emperor received a
+training in law, and a mental stimulus which was to lift his family
+above the level of the _caporali_ and attorneys with whom its lot had
+for centuries been cast. His ambition is seen in the endeavour,
+successfully carried out by his uncle, Lucien, Archdeacon of Ajaccio,
+to obtain recognition of kinship with the Buonapartes of Tuscany who
+had been ennobled by the Grand Duke. His patriotism is evinced in his
+ardent support of Paoli, by whose valour and energy the Genoese were
+finally driven from the island. Amidst these patriotic triumphs
+Charles confronted his destiny in the person of Letizia Ramolino, a
+beautiful girl, descended from an honourable Florentine family which
+had for centuries been settled in Corsica. The wedding took place in
+1764, the bridegroom being then eighteen, and the bride fifteen years
+of age. The union, if rashly undertaken in the midst of civil strifes,
+was yet well assorted. Both parties to it were of patrician, if not
+definitely noble descent, and came of families which combined the
+intellectual gifts of Tuscany with the vigour of their later island
+home[3]. From her mother's race, the Pietra Santa family, Letizia
+imbibed the habits of the most backward and savage part of Corsica,
+where vendettas were rife and education was almost unknown. Left in
+ignorance in her early days, she yet was accustomed to hardships, and
+often showed the fertility of resource which such a life always
+develops. Hence, at the time of her marriage, she possessed a firmness
+of will far beyond her years; and her strength and fortitude enabled
+her to survive the terrible adversities of her early days, as also to
+meet with quiet matronly dignity the extraordinary honours showered on
+her as the mother of the French Emperor. She was inured to habits of
+frugality, which reappeared in the personal tastes of her son. In
+fact, she so far retained her old parsimonious habits, even amidst the
+splendours of the French Imperial Court, as to expose herself to the
+charge of avarice. But there is a touching side to all this. She seems
+ever to have felt that after the splendour there would come again the
+old days of adversity, and her instincts were in one sense correct.
+She lived on to the advanced age of eighty-six, and died twenty-one
+years after the break-up of her son's empire--a striking proof of the
+vitality and tenacity of her powers.
+
+A kindly Providence veiled the future from the young couple. Troubles
+fell swiftly upon them both in private and in public life. Their first
+two children died in infancy. The third, Joseph, was born in 1768,
+when the Corsican patriots were making their last successful efforts
+against their new French oppressors: the fourth, the famous Napoleon,
+saw the light on August 15th, 1769, when the liberties of Corsica were
+being finally extinguished. Nine other children were born before the
+outbreak of the French Revolution reawakened civil strifes, amidst
+which the then fatherless family was tossed to and fro and finally
+whirled away to France.
+
+Destiny had already linked the fortunes of the young Napoleon
+Buonaparte with those of France. After the downfall of Genoese rule in
+Corsica, France had taken over, for empty promises, the claims of the
+hard-pressed Italian republic to its troublesome island possession. It
+was a cheap and practical way of restoring, at least in the
+Mediterranean the shattered prestige of the French Bourbons. They had
+previously intervened in Corsican affairs on the side of the Genoese.
+Yet in 1764 Paoli appealed to Louis XV. for protection. It was
+granted, in the form of troops that proceeded quietly to occupy the
+coast towns of the island under cover of friendly assurances. In 1768,
+before the expiration of an informal truce, Marbeuf, the French
+commander, commenced hostilities against the patriots[4]. In vain did
+Rousseau and many other champions of popular liberty protest against
+this bartering away of insular freedom: in vain did Paoli rouse his
+compatriots to another and more unequal struggle, and seek to hold the
+mountainous interior. Poor, badly equipped, rent by family feuds and
+clan schisms, his followers were no match for the French troops; and
+after the utter break-up of his forces Paoli fled to England, taking
+with him three hundred and forty of the most determined patriots. With
+these irreconcilables Charles Buonaparte did not cast in his lot, but
+accepted the pardon offered to those who should recognize the French
+sway. With his wife and their little child Joseph he returned to
+Ajaccio; and there, shortly afterwards, Napoleon was born. As the
+patriotic historian, Jacobi, has finely said, "The Corsican people,
+when exhausted by producing martyrs to the cause of liberty, produced
+Napoleon Buonaparte[5]."
+
+Seeing that Charles Buonaparte had been an ardent adherent of Paoli,
+his sudden change of front has exposed him to keen censure. He
+certainly had not the grit of which heroes are made. His seems to have
+been an ill-balanced nature, soon buoyed up by enthusiasms, and as
+speedily depressed by their evaporation; endowed with enough of
+learning and culture to be a Voltairean and write second-rate
+verses; and with a talent for intrigue which sufficed to embarrass
+his never very affluent fortunes. Napoleon certainly derived no
+world-compelling qualities from his father: for these he was indebted
+to the wilder strain which ran in his mother's blood. The father
+doubtless saw in the French connection a chance of worldly advancement
+and of liberation from pecuniary difficulties; for the new rulers now
+sought to gain over the patrician families of the island. Many of them
+had resented the dictatorship of Paoli; and they now gladly accepted
+the connection with France, which promised to enrich their country and
+to open up a brilliant career in the French army, where commissions
+were limited to the scions of nobility.
+
+Much may be said in excuse of Charles Buonaparte's decision, and no
+one can deny that Corsica has ultimately gained much by her connection
+with France. But his change of front was open to the charge that it
+was prompted by self-interest rather than by philosophic foresight. At
+any rate, his second son throughout his boyhood nursed a deep
+resentment against his father for his desertion of the patriots'
+cause. The youth's sympathies were with the peasants, whose allegiance
+was not to be bought by baubles, whose constancy and bravery long held
+out against the French in a hopeless guerilla warfare. His hot
+Corsican blood boiled at the stories of oppression and insult which he
+heard from his humbler compatriots. When, at eleven years of age, he
+saw in the military college at Brienne the portrait of Choiseul, the
+French Minister who had urged on the conquest of Corsica, his passion
+burst forth in a torrent of imprecations against the traitor; and,
+even after the death of his father in 1785, he exclaimed that he could
+never forgive him for not following Paoli into exile.
+
+What trifles seem, at times, to alter the current of human affairs!
+Had his father acted thus, the young Napoleon would in all probability
+have entered the military or naval service of Great Britain; he might
+have shared Paoli's enthusiasm for the land of his adoption, and have
+followed the Corsican hero in his enterprises against the French
+Revolution, thenceforth figuring in history merely as a greater
+Marlborough, crushing the military efforts of democratic France, and
+luring England into a career of Continental conquest. Monarchy and
+aristocracy would have gone unchallenged, except within the "natural
+limits" of France; and the other nations, never shaken to their
+inmost depths, would have dragged on their old inert fragmentary
+existence.
+
+The decision of Charles Buonaparte altered the destiny of Europe. He
+determined that his eldest boy, Joseph, should enter the Church, and
+that Napoleon should be a soldier. His perception of the characters of
+his boys was correct. An anecdote, for which the elder brother is
+responsible, throws a flood of light on their temperaments. The master
+of their school arranged a mimic combat for his pupils--Romans against
+Carthaginians. Joseph, as the elder was ranged under the banner of
+Rome, while Napoleon was told off among the Carthaginians; but, piqued
+at being chosen for the losing side, the child fretted, begged, and
+stormed until the less bellicose Joseph agreed to change places with
+his exacting junior. The incident is prophetic of much in the later
+history of the family.
+
+Its imperial future was opened up by the deft complaisance now shown
+by Charles Buonaparte. The reward for his speedy submission to France
+was soon forthcoming. The French commander in Corsica used his
+influence to secure the admission of the young Napoleon to the
+military school of Brienne in Champagne; and as the father was able to
+satisfy the authorities not only that he was without fortune, but also
+that his family had been noble for four generations, Napoleon was
+admitted to this school to be educated at the charges of the King of
+France (April, 1779). He was now, at the tender age of nine, a
+stranger in a strange land, among a people whom he detested as the
+oppressors of his countrymen. Worst of all, he had to endure the taunt
+of belonging to a subject race. What a position for a proud and
+exacting child! Little wonder that the official report represented him
+as silent and obstinate; but, strange to say, it added the word
+"imperious." It was a tough character which could defy repression
+amidst such surroundings. As to his studies, little need be said. In
+his French history he read of the glories of the distant past (when
+"Germany was part of the French Empire"), the splendours of the reign
+of Louis XIV., the disasters of France in the Seven Years' War, and
+the "prodigious conquests of the English in India." But his
+imagination was kindled from other sources. Boys of pronounced
+character have always owed far more to their private reading than to
+their set studies; and the young Buonaparte, while grudgingly learning
+Latin and French grammar, was feeding his mind on Plutarch's
+"Lives"--in a French translation. The artful intermingling of the
+actual and the romantic, the historic and the personal, in those vivid
+sketches of ancient worthies and heroes, has endeared them to many
+minds. Rousseau derived unceasing profit from their perusal; and
+Madame Roland found in them "the pasture of great souls." It was so
+with the lonely Corsican youth. Holding aloof from his comrades in
+gloomy isolation, he caught in the exploits of Greeks and Romans a
+distant echo of the tragic romance of his beloved island home. The
+librarian of the school asserted that even then the young soldier had
+modelled his future career on that of the heroes of antiquity; and we
+may well believe that, in reading of the exploits of Leonidas,
+Curtius, and Cincinnatus, he saw the figure of his own antique
+republican hero, Paoli. To fight side by side with Paoli against the
+French was his constant dream. "Paoli will return," he once exclaimed,
+"and as soon as I have strength, I will go to help him: and perhaps
+together we shall be able to shake the odious yoke from off the neck
+of Corsica."
+
+But there was another work which exercised a great influence on his
+young mind--the "Gallic War" of Cæsar. To the young Italian the
+conquest of Gaul by a man of his own race must have been a congenial
+topic, and in Cæsar himself the future conqueror may dimly have
+recognized a kindred spirit. The masterful energy and all-conquering
+will of the old Roman, his keen insight into the heart of a problem,
+the wide sweep of his mental vision, ranging over the intrigues of the
+Roman Senate, the shifting politics of a score of tribes, and the
+myriad administrative details of a great army and a mighty
+province--these were the qualities that furnished the chief mental
+training to the young cadet. Indeed, the career of Cæsar was destined
+to exert a singular fascination over the Napoleonic dynasty, not only
+on its founder, but also on Napoleon III.; and the change in the
+character and career of Napoleon the Great may be registered mentally
+in the effacement of the portraits of Leonidas and Paoli by those of
+Cæsar and Alexander. Later on, during his sojourn at Ajaccio in 1790,
+when the first shadows were flitting across his hitherto unclouded
+love for Paoli, we hear that he spent whole nights poring over Cæsar's
+history, committing many passages to memory in his passionate
+admiration of those wondrous exploits. Eagerly he took Cæsar's side as
+against Pompey, and no less warmly defended him from the charge of
+plotting against the liberties of the commonwealth[6]. It was a
+perilous study for a republican youth in whom the military instincts
+were as ingrained as the genius for rule.
+
+Concerning the young Buonaparte's life at Brienne there exist few
+authentic records and many questionable anecdotes. Of these last, that
+which is the most credible and suggestive relates his proposal to his
+schoolfellows to construct ramparts of snow during the sharp winter of
+1783-4. According to his schoolfellow, Bourrienne, these mimic
+fortifications were planned by Buonaparte, who also directed the
+methods of attack and defence: or, as others say, he reconstructed
+the walls according to the needs of modern war. In either case, the
+incident bespeaks for him great power of organization and control. But
+there were in general few outlets for his originality and vigour. He
+seems to have disliked all his comrades, except Bourrienne, as much as
+they detested him for his moody humours and fierce outbreaks of
+temper. He is even reported to have vowed that he would do as much
+harm as possible to the French people; but the remark smacks of the
+story-book. Equally doubtful are the two letters in which he prays to
+be removed from the indignities to which he was subjected at
+Brienne[7]. In other letters which are undoubtedly genuine, he refers
+to his future career with ardour, and writes not a word as to the
+bullying to which his Corsican zeal subjected him. Particularly
+noteworthy is the letter to his uncle begging him to intervene so as
+to prevent Joseph Buonaparte from taking up a military career. Joseph,
+writes the younger brother, would make a good garrison officer, as he
+was well formed and clever at frivolous compliments--"good therefore
+for society, but for a fight--?"
+
+Napoleon's determination had been noticed by his teachers. They had
+failed to bend his will, at least on important points. In lesser
+details his Italian adroitness seems to have been of service; for the
+officer who inspected the school reported of him: "Constitution,
+health excellent: character submissive, sweet, honest, grateful:
+conduct very regular: has always distinguished himself by his
+application to mathematics: knows history and geography passably: very
+weak in accomplishments. He will be an excellent seaman: is worthy to
+enter the School at Paris." To the military school at Paris he was
+accordingly sent in due course, entering there in October, 1784. The
+change from the semi-monastic life at Brienne to the splendid edifice
+which fronts the Champ de Mars had less effect than might have
+been expected in a youth of fifteen years. Not yet did he become
+French in sympathy. His love of Corsica and hatred of the French
+monarchy steeled him against the luxuries of his new surroundings.
+Perhaps it was an added sting that he was educated at the expense of
+the monarchy which had conquered his kith and kin. He nevertheless
+applied himself with energy to his favourite studies, especially
+mathematics. Defective in languages he still was, and ever remained;
+for his critical acumen in literature ever fastened on the matter
+rather than on style. To the end of his days he could never write
+Italian, much less French, with accuracy; and his tutor at Paris not
+inaptly described his boyish composition as resembling molten granite.
+The same qualities of directness and impetuosity were also fatal to
+his efforts at mastering the movements of the dance. In spite of
+lessons at Paris and private lessons which he afterwards took at
+Valence, he was never a dancer: his bent was obviously for the exact
+sciences rather than the arts, for the geometrical rather than the
+rhythmical: he thought, as he moved, in straight lines, never in
+curves.
+
+The death of his father during the year which the youth spent at Paris
+sharpened his sense of responsibility towards his seven younger
+brothers and sisters. His own poverty must have inspired him with
+disgust at the luxury which he saw around him; but there are good
+reasons for doubting the genuineness of the memorial which he is
+alleged to have sent from Paris to the second master at Brienne on
+this subject. The letters of the scholars at Paris were subject to
+strict surveillance; and, if he had taken the trouble to draw up a
+list of criticisms on his present training, most assuredly it would
+have been destroyed. Undoubtedly, however, he would have sympathized
+with the unknown critic in his complaint of the unsuitableness of
+sumptuous meals to youths who were destined for the hardships of the
+camp. At Brienne he had been dubbed "the Spartan," an instance of that
+almost uncanny faculty of schoolboys to dash off in a nickname the
+salient features of character. The phrase was correct, almost for
+Napoleon's whole life. At any rate, the pomp of Paris served but to
+root his youthful affections more tenaciously in the rocks of Corsica.
+
+In September, 1785, that is, at the age of sixteen, Buonaparte was
+nominated for a commision as junior lieutenant in La Fère regiment of
+artillery quartered at Valence on the Rhone. This was his first close
+contact with real life. The rules of the service required him to
+spend three months of rigorous drill before he was admitted to his
+commission. The work was exacting: the pay was small, viz., 1,120
+francs, or less than £45, a year; but all reports agree as to his keen
+zest for his profession and the recognition of his transcendent
+abilities by his superior officers.[8] There it was that he mastered
+the rudiments of war, for lack of which many generals of noble birth
+have quickly closed in disaster careers that began with promise:
+there, too, he learnt that hardest and best of all lessons, prompt
+obedience. "To learn obeying is the fundamental art of governing,"
+says Carlyle. It was so with Napoleon: at Valence he served his
+apprenticeship in the art of conquering and the art of governing.
+
+This spring-time of his life is of interest and importance in many
+ways: it reveals many amiable qualities, which had hitherto been
+blighted by the real or fancied scorn of the wealthy cadets. At
+Valence, while shrinking from his brother officers, he sought society
+more congenial to his simple tastes and restrained demeanour. In a few
+of the best bourgeois families of Valence he found happiness. There,
+too, blossomed the tenderest, purest idyll of his life. At the country
+house of a cultured lady who had befriended him in his solitude, he
+saw his first love, Caroline de Colombier. It was a passing fancy;
+but to her all the passion of his southern nature welled forth. She
+seems to have returned his love; for in the stormy sunset of his life
+at St. Helena he recalled some delicious walks at dawn when Caroline
+and he had--eaten cherries together. One lingers fondly over these
+scenes of his otherwise stern career, for they reveal his capacity for
+social joys and for deep and tender affection, had his lot been
+otherwise cast. How different might have been his life, had France
+never conquered Corsica, and had the Revolution never burst forth! But
+Corsica was still his dominant passion. When he was called away from
+Valence to repress a riot at Lyons, his feelings, distracted for a
+time by Caroline, swerved back towards his island home; and in
+September, 1786, he had the joy of revisiting the scenes of his
+childhood. Warmly though he greeted his mother, brothers and sisters,
+after an absence of nearly eight years, his chief delight was in the
+rocky shores, the verdant dales and mountain heights of Corsica. The
+odour of the forests, the setting of the sun in the sea "as in the
+bosom of the infinite," the quiet proud independence of the
+mountaineers themselves, all enchanted him. His delight reveals almost
+Wertherian powers of "sensibility." Even the family troubles could not
+damp his ardour. His father had embarked on questionable speculations,
+which now threatened the Buonapartes with bankruptcy, unless the
+French Government proved to be complacent and generous. With the hope
+of pressing one of the family claims on the royal exchequer, the
+second son procured an extension of furlough and sped to Paris. There
+at the close of 1787 he spent several weeks, hopefully endeavouring to
+extract money from the bankrupt Government. It was a season of
+disillusionment in more senses than one; for there he saw for himself
+the seamy side of Parisian life, and drifted for a brief space about
+the giddy vortex of the Palais Royal. What a contrast to the limpid
+life of Corsica was that turbid frothy existence--already swirling
+towards its mighty plunge!
+
+After a furlough of twenty-one months he rejoined his regiment, now at
+Auxonne. There his health suffered considerably, not only from the
+miasma of the marshes of the river Saône, but also from family
+anxieties and arduous literary toils. To these last it is now needful
+to refer. Indeed, the external events of his early life are of value
+only as they reveal the many-sidedness of his nature and the growth of
+his mental powers.
+
+How came he to outgrow the insular patriotism of his early years? The
+foregoing recital of facts must have already suggested one obvious
+explanation. Nature had dowered him so prodigally with diverse gifts,
+mainly of an imperious order, that he could scarcely have limited his
+sphere of action to Corsica. Profoundly as he loved his island, it
+offered no sphere commensurate with his varied powers and masterful
+will. It was no empty vaunt which his father had uttered on his
+deathbed that his Napoleon would one day overthrow the old monarchies
+and conquer Europe.[9] Neither did the great commander himself
+overstate the peculiarity of his temperament, when he confessed that
+his instincts had ever prompted him that his will must prevail, and
+that what pleased him must of necessity belong to him. Most spoilt
+children harbour the same illusion, for a brief space. But all the
+buffetings of fortune failed to drive it from the young Buonaparte;
+and when despair as to his future might have impaired the vigour of
+his domineering instincts, his mind and will acquired a fresh rigidity
+by coming under the spell of that philosophizing doctrinaire,
+Rousseau.
+
+There was every reason why he should early be attracted by this
+fantastic thinker. In that notable work, "Le Contrat Social" (1762),
+Rousseau called attention to the antique energy shown by the Corsicans
+in defence of their liberties, and in a startlingly prophetic phrase
+he exclaimed that the little island would one day astonish Europe. The
+source of this predilection of Rousseau for Corsica is patent. Born
+and reared at Geneva, he felt a Switzer's love for a people which was<
+"neither rich nor poor but self-sufficing "; and in the simple life
+and fierce love of liberty of the hardy islanders he saw traces of
+that social contract which he postulated as the basis of society.
+According to him, the beginnings of all social and political
+institutions are to be found in some agreement or contract between
+men. Thus arise the clan, the tribe, the nation. The nation may
+delegate many of its powers to a ruler; but if he abuse such powers,
+the contract between him and his people is at an end, and they may
+return to the primitive state, which is founded on an agreement of
+equals with equals. Herein lay the attractiveness of Rousseau for all
+who were discontented with their surroundings. He seemed infallibly
+to demonstrate the absurdity of tyranny and the need of returning to
+the primitive bliss of the social contract. It mattered not that the
+said contract was utterly unhistorical and that his argument teemed
+with fallacies. He inspired a whole generation with detestation of the
+present and with longings for the golden age. Poets had sung of it,
+but Rousseau seemed to bring it within the grasp of long-suffering
+mortals.
+
+The first extant manuscript of Napoleon, written at Valence in April,
+1786, shows that he sought in Rousseau's armoury the logical weapons
+for demonstrating the "right" of the Corsicans to rebel against the
+French. The young hero-worshipper begins by noting that it is the
+birthday of Paoli. He plunges into a panegyric on the Corsican
+patriots, when he is arrested by the thought that many censure them
+for rebelling at all. "The divine laws forbid revolt. But what have
+divine laws to do with a purely human affair? Just think of the
+absurdity--divine laws universally forbidding the casting off of a
+usurping yoke! ... As for human laws, there cannot be any after the
+prince violates them." He then postulates two origins for government
+as alone possible. Either the people has established laws and
+submitted itself to the prince, or the prince has established laws. In
+the first case, the prince is engaged by the very nature of his office
+to execute the covenants. In the second case, the laws tend, or do not
+tend, to the welfare of the people, which is the aim of all
+government: if they do not, the contract with the prince dissolves of
+itself, for the people then enters again into its primitive state.
+Having thus proved the sovereignty of the people, Buonaparte uses his
+doctrine to justify Corsican revolt against France, and thus concludes
+his curious medley: "The Corsicans, following all the laws of justice,
+have been able to shake off the yoke of the Genoese, and may do the
+same with that of the French. Amen."
+
+Five days later he again gives the reins to his melancholy. "Always
+alone, though in the midst of men," he faces the thought of suicide.
+With an innate power of summarizing and balancing thoughts and
+sensations, he draws up arguments for and against this act. He is in
+the dawn of his days and in four months' time he will see "la patrie,"
+which he has not seen since childhood. What joy! And yet--how men have
+fallen away from nature: how cringing are his compatriots to their
+conquerors: they are no longer the enemies of tyrants, of luxury, of
+vile courtiers: the French have corrupted their morals, and when "la
+patrie" no longer survives, a good patriot ought to die. Life among
+the French is odious: their modes of life differ from his as much as
+the light of the moon differs from that of the sun.--A strange
+effusion this for a youth of seventeen living amidst the full glories
+of the spring in Dauphiné. It was only a few weeks before the ripening
+of cherries. Did that cherry-idyll with Mdlle. de Colombier lure him
+back to life? Or did the hope of striking a blow for Corsica stay his
+suicidal hand? Probably the latter; for we find him shortly afterwards
+tilting against a Protestant minister of Geneva who had ventured to
+criticise one of the dogmas of Rousseau's evangel.
+
+The Genevan philosopher had asserted that Christianity, by enthroning
+in the hearts of Christians the idea of a Kingdom not of this world,
+broke the unity of civil society, because it detached the hearts of
+its converts from the State, as from all earthly things. To this the
+Genevan minister had successfully replied by quoting Christian
+teachings on the subject at issue. But Buonaparte fiercely accuses
+the pastor of neither having understood, nor even read, "Le Contrat
+Social": he hurls at his opponent texts of Scripture which enjoin
+obedience to the laws: he accuses Christianity of rendering men slaves
+to an anti-social tyranny, because its priests set up an authority in
+opposition to civil laws; and as for Protestantism, it propagated
+discords between its followers, and thereby violated civic unity.
+Christianity, he argues, is a foe to civil government, for it aims at
+making men happy in this life by inspiring them with hope of a future
+life; while the aim of civil government is "to lend assistance to the
+feeble against the strong, and by this means to allow everyone to
+enjoy a sweet tranquillity, the road of happiness." He therefore
+concludes that Christianity and civil government are diametrically
+opposed.
+
+In this tirade we see the youth's spirit of revolt flinging him not
+only against French law, but against the religion which sanctions it.
+He sees none of the beauty of the Gospels which Rousseau had
+admitted. His views are more rigid than those of his teacher.
+Scarcely can he conceive of two influences, the spiritual and the
+governmental, working on parallel lines, on different parts of man's
+nature. His conception of human society is that of an indivisible,
+indistinguishable whole, wherein materialism, tinged now and again by
+religious sentiment and personal honour, is the sole noteworthy
+influence. He finds no worth in a religion which seeks to work from
+within to without, which aims at transforming character, and thus
+transforming the world. In its headlong quest of tangible results his
+eager spirit scorns so tardy a method: he will "compel men to be
+happy," and for this result there is but one practicable means, the
+Social Contract, the State. Everything which mars the unity of the
+Social Contract shall be shattered, so that the State may have a clear
+field for the exercise of its beneficent despotism. Such is
+Buonaparte's political and religious creed at the age of seventeen,
+and such it remained (with many reservations suggested by maturer
+thought and self-interest) to the end of his days. It reappears in his
+policy anent the Concordat of 1802, by which religion was reduced to
+the level of handmaid to the State, as also in his frequent assertions
+that he would never have quite the same power as the Czar and the
+Sultan, because he had not undivided sway over the consciences of his
+people.[10] In this boyish essay we may perhaps discern the
+fundamental reason of his later failures. He never completely
+understood religion, or the enthusiasm which it can evoke; neither did
+he ever fully realize the complexity of human nature, the
+many-sidedness of social life, and the limitations that beset the
+action even of the most intelligent law-maker.[11]
+
+His reading of Rousseau having equipped him for the study of human
+society and government, he now, during his first sojourn at Auxonne
+(June, 1788--September, 1789), proceeds to ransack the records of the
+ancient and modern world. Despite ill-health, family troubles, and the
+outbreak of the French Revolution, he grapples with this portentous
+task. The history, geography, religion, and social customs of the
+ancient Persians, Scythians, Thracians, Athenians, Spartans,
+Egyptians, and Carthaginians--all furnished materials for his
+encyclopædic note-books. Nothing came amiss to his summarizing genius.
+Here it was that he gained that knowledge of the past which was to
+astonish his contemporaries. Side by side with suggestions on
+regimental discipline and improvements in artillery, we find notes on
+the opening episodes of Plato's "Republic," and a systematic summary
+of English history from the earliest times down to the Revolution of
+1688. This last event inspired him with special interest, because the
+Whigs and their philosophic champion, Locke, maintained that James II.
+had violated the original contract between prince and people.
+Everywhere in his notes Napoleon emphasizes the incidents which led to
+conflicts between dynasties or between rival principles. In fact,
+through all these voracious studies there appear signs of his
+determination to write a history of Corsica; and, while inspiriting
+his kinsmen by recalling the glorious past, he sought to weaken the
+French monarchy by inditing a "Dissertation sur l'Autorité Royale."
+His first sketch of this work runs as follows:
+
+     "23 October, 1788. Auxonne.
+
+     "This work will begin with general ideas as to the origin and the
+     enhanced prestige of the name of king. Military rule is favourable
+     to it: this work will afterwards enter into the details of the
+     usurped authority enjoyed by the Kings of the twelve Kingdoms of
+     Europe.
+
+     "There are very few Kings who have not deserved dethronement[12]."
+
+This curt pronouncement is all that remains of the projected work. It
+sufficiently indicates, however, the aim of Napoleon's studies. One
+and all they were designed to equip him for the great task of
+re-awakening the spirit of the Corsicans and of sapping the base of
+the French monarchy.
+
+But these reams of manuscript notes and crude literary efforts have an
+even wider source of interest. They show how narrow was his outlook on
+life. It all turned on the regeneration of Corsica by methods which he
+himself prescribed. We are therefore able to understand why, when his
+own methods of salvation for Corsica were rejected, he tore himself
+away and threw his undivided energies into the Revolution.
+
+Yet the records of his early life show that in his character there was
+a strain of true sentiment and affection. In him Nature carved out a
+character of rock-like firmness, but she adorned it with flowers of
+human sympathy and tendrils of family love. At his first parting from
+his brother Joseph at Autun, when the elder brother was weeping
+passionately, the little Napoleon dropped a tear: but that, said the
+tutor, meant as much as the flood of tears from Joseph. Love of his
+relatives was a potent factor of his policy in later life; and slander
+has never been able wholly to blacken the character of a man who loved
+and honoured his mother, who asserted that her advice had often been
+of the highest service to him, and that her justice and firmness of
+spirit marked her out as a natural ruler of men. But when these
+admissions are freely granted, it still remains true that his
+character was naturally hard; that his sense of personal superiority
+made him, even as a child, exacting and domineering; and the sequel
+was to show that even the strongest passion of his youth, his
+determination to free Corsica from France, could be abjured if
+occasion demanded, all the force of his nature being thenceforth
+concentrated on vaster adventures.
+
+       *      *      *      *      *
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+THE FRENCH REVOLUTION AND CORSICA
+
+
+"They seek to destroy the Revolution by attacking my person: I will
+defend it, for I am the Revolution." Such were the words uttered by
+Buonaparte after the failure of the royalist plot of 1804. They are a
+daring transcript of Louis XIV.'s "L'état, c'est moi." That was a bold
+claim, even for an age attuned to the whims of autocrats: but this of
+the young Corsican is even more daring, for he thereby equated himself
+with a movement which claimed to be wide as humanity and infinite as
+truth. And yet when he spoke these words, they were not scouted as
+presumptuous folly: to most Frenchmen they seemed sober truth and
+practical good sense. How came it, one asks in wonder, that after the
+short space of fifteen years a world-wide movement depended on a
+single life, that the infinitudes of 1789 lived on only in the form,
+and by the pleasure, of the First Consul? Here surely is a political
+incarnation unparalleled in the whole course of human history. The
+riddle cannot be solved by history alone. It belongs in part to the
+domain of psychology, when that science shall undertake the study, not
+merely of man as a unit, but of the aspirations, moods, and whims of
+communities and nations. Meanwhile it will be our far humbler task to
+strive to point out the relation of Buonaparte to the Revolution, and
+to show how the mighty force of his will dragged it to earth.
+
+The first questions that confront us are obviously these. Were the
+lofty aims and aspirations of the Revolution attainable? And, if so,
+did the men of 1789 follow them by practical methods? To the former of
+these questions the present chapter will, in part at least, serve as
+an answer. On the latter part of the problem the events described in
+later chapters will throw some light: in them we shall see that the
+great popular upheaval let loose mighty forces that bore Buonaparte on
+to fortune.
+
+Here we may notice that the Revolution was not a simple and therefore
+solid movement. It was complex and contained the seeds of discord
+which lurk in many-sided and militant creeds. The theories of its
+intellectual champions were as diverse as the motives which spurred on
+their followers to the attack on the outworn abuses of the age.
+
+Discontent and faith were the ultimate motive powers of the
+Revolution. Faith prepared the Revolution and discontent accomplished
+it. Idealists who, in varied planes of thought, preached the doctrine
+of human perfectibility, succeeded in slowly permeating the dull
+toiling masses of France with hope. Omitting here any notice of
+philosophic speculation as such, we may briefly notice the teachings
+of three writers whose influence on revolutionary politics was to be
+definite and practical. These were Montesquieu, Voltaire, and
+Rousseau. The first was by no means a revolutionist, for he decided in
+favour of a mixed form of government, like that of England, which
+guaranteed the State against the dangers of autocracy, oligarchy, and
+mob-rule. Only by a ricochet did he assail the French monarchy. But he
+re-awakened critical inquiry; and any inquiry was certain to sap the
+base of the _ancien régime_ in France. Montesquieu's teaching inspired
+the group of moderate reformers who in 1789 desired to re-fashion the
+institutions of France on the model of those of England. But popular
+sentiment speedily swept past these Anglophils towards the more
+attractive aims set forth by Voltaire.
+
+This keen thinker subjected the privileged classes, especially the
+titled clergy, to a searching fire of philosophic bombs and barbed
+witticisms. Never was there a more dazzling succession of literary
+triumphs over a tottering system. The satirized classes winced and
+laughed, and the intellect of France was conquered, for the
+Revolution. Thenceforth it was impossible that peasants who were
+nominally free should toil to satisfy the exacting needs of the
+State, and to support the brilliant bevy of nobles who flitted gaily
+round the monarch at Versailles. The young King Louis XVI., it is
+true, carried through several reforms, but he had not enough strength
+of will to abolish the absurd immunities from taxation which freed the
+nobles and titled clergy from the burdens of the State. Thus, down to
+1789, the middle classes and peasants bore nearly all the weight of
+taxation, while the peasants were also encumbered by feudal dues and
+tolls. These were the crying grievances which united in a solid
+phalanx both thinkers and practical men, and thereby gave an immense
+impetus to the levelling doctrines of Rousseau.
+
+Two only of his political teachings concern us here, namely, social
+equality and the unquestioned supremacy of the State; for to these
+dogmas, when they seemed doomed to political bankruptcy, Napoleon
+Buonaparte was to act as residuary legatee. According to Rousseau,
+society and government originated in a social contract, whereby all
+members of the community have equal rights. It matters not that the
+spirit of the contract may have evaporated amidst the miasma of
+luxury. That is a violation of civil society; and members are
+justified in reverting at once to the primitive ideal. If the
+existence of the body politic be endangered, force may be used:
+"Whoever refuses to obey the general will shall be constrained to do
+so by the whole body; which means nothing else than that he shall be
+forced to be free." Equally plausible and dangerous was his teaching
+as to the indivisibility of the general will. Deriving every public
+power from his social contract, he finds it easy to prove that the
+sovereign power, vested in all the citizens, must be incorruptible,
+inalienable, unrepresentable, indivisible, and indestructible.
+Englishmen may now find it difficult to understand the enthusiasm
+called forth by this quintessence of negations; but to Frenchman
+recently escaped from the age of privilege and warring against the
+coalition of kings, the cry of the Republic one and indivisible was a
+trumpet call to death or victory. Any shifts, even that of a
+dictatorship, were to be borne, provided that social equality could be
+saved. As republican Rome had saved her early liberties by intrusting
+unlimited powers to a temporary dictator, so, claimed Rousseau, a
+young commonwealth must by a similar device consult Nature's first law
+of self-preservation. The dictator saves liberty by temporarily
+abrogating it: by momentary gagging of the legislative power he
+renders it truly vocal.
+
+The events of the French Revolution form a tragic commentary on these
+theories. In the first stage of that great movement we see the
+followers of Montesquieu, Voltaire, and Rousseau marching in an
+undivided host against the ramparts of privilege. The walls of the
+Bastille fall down even at the blast of their trumpets. Odious feudal
+privileges disappear in a single sitting of the National Assembly; and
+the _Parlements_, or supreme law courts of the provinces, are swept
+away. The old provinces themselves are abolished, and at the beginning
+of 1790 France gains social and political unity by her new system of
+Departments, which grants full freedom of action in local affairs,
+though in all national concerns it binds France closely to the new
+popular government at Paris. But discords soon begin to divide the
+reformers: hatred of clerical privilege and the desire to fill the
+empty coffers of the State dictate the first acts of spoliation.
+Tithes are abolished: the lands of the Church are confiscated to the
+service of the State; monastic orders are suppressed; and the
+Government undertakes to pay the stipends of bishops and priests.
+Furthermore, their subjection to the State is definitely secured by
+the Civil Constitution of the Clergy (July, 1790) which invalidates
+their allegiance to the Pope. Most of the clergy refuse: these are
+termed non-jurors or orthodox priests, while their more complaisant
+colleagues are known as constitutional priests. Hence arises a serious
+schism in the Church, which distracts the religious life of the land,
+and separates the friends of liberty from the champions of the
+rigorous equality preached by Rousseau.
+
+The new constitution of 1791 was also a source of discord. In its
+jealousy of the royal authority, the National Assembly seized very
+many of the executive functions of government. The results were
+disastrous. Laws remained without force, taxes went uncollected, the
+army was distracted by mutinies, and the monarchy sank slowly into the
+gulf of bankruptcy and anarchy. Thus, in the course of three years,
+the revolutionists goaded the clergy to desperation, they were about
+to overthrow the monarchy, every month was proving their local
+self-government to be unworkable, and they themselves split into
+factions that plunged France into war and drenched her soil by
+organized massacres.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+We know very little about the impression made on the young Buonaparte
+by the first events of the Revolution. His note-book seems even to
+show that he regarded them as an inconvenient interference with his
+plans for Corsica. But gradually the Revolution excites his interest.
+In September, 1789, we find him on furlough in Corsica sharing the
+hopes of the islanders that their representatives in the French
+National Assembly will obtain the boon of independence. He exhorts
+his compatriots to favour the democratic cause, which promises a
+speedy deliverance from official abuses. He urges them to don the new
+tricolour cockade, symbol of Parisian triumph over the old monarchy;
+to form a club; above all, to organize a National Guard. The young
+officer knew that military power was passing from the royal army, now
+honeycombed with discontent, to the National Guard. Here surely was
+Corsica's means of salvation. But the French governor of Corsica
+intervenes. The club is closed, and the National Guard is dispersed.
+Thereupon Buonaparte launches a vigorous protest against the tyranny
+of the governor and appeals to the National Assembly of France for
+some guarantee of civil liberty. His name is at the head of this
+petition, a sufficiently daring step for a junior lieutenant on
+furlough. But his patriotism and audacity carry him still further. He
+journeys to Bastia, the official capital of his island, and is
+concerned in an affray between the populace and the royal troops
+(November 5th, 1789). The French authorities, fortunately for him, are
+nearly powerless: he is merely requested to return to Ajaccio; and
+there he organizes anew the civic force, and sets the dissident
+islanders an example of good discipline by mounting guard outside the
+house of a personal opponent.
+
+Other events now transpired which began to assuage his opposition to
+France. Thanks to the eloquent efforts of Mirabeau, the Corsican
+patriots who had remained in exile since 1768 were allowed to return
+and enjoy the full rights of citizenship. Little could the friends of
+liberty at Paris, or even the statesman himself, have foreseen all the
+consequences of this action: it softened the feelings of many
+Corsicans towards their conquerors; above all, it caused the heart of
+Napoleon Buonaparte for the first time to throb in accord with that of
+the French nation. His feelings towards Paoli also began to cool. The
+conduct of this illustrious exile exposed him to the charge of
+ingratitude towards France. The decree of the French National
+Assembly, which restored him to Corsican citizenship, was graced by
+acts of courtesy such as the generous French nature can so winningly
+dispense. Louis XVI. and the National Assembly warmly greeted him, and
+recognized him as head of the National Guard of the island. Yet,
+amidst all the congratulations, Paoli saw the approach of anarchy, and
+behaved with some reserve. Outwardly, however, concord seemed to be
+assured, when on July 14th, 1790, he landed in Corsica; but the hatred
+long nursed by the mountaineers and fisherfolk against France was not
+to be exorcised by a few demonstrations. In truth, the island was
+deeply agitated. The priests were rousing the people against the newly
+decreed Civil Constitution of the Clergy; and one of these
+disturbances endangered the life of Napoleon himself. He and his
+brother Joseph chanced to pass by when one of the processions of
+priests and devotees was exciting the pity and indignation of the
+townsfolk. The two brothers, who were now well known as partisans of
+the Revolution, were threatened with violence, and were saved only by
+their own firm demeanour and the intervention of peacemakers.
+
+Then again, the concession of local self-government to the island, as
+one of the Departments of France, revealed unexpected difficulties.
+Bastia and Ajaccio struggled hard for the honour of being the official
+capital. Paoli favoured the claims of Bastia, thereby annoying the
+champions of Ajaccio, among whom the Buonapartes were prominent. The
+schism was widened by the dictatorial tone of Paoli, a demeanour which
+ill became the chief of a civic force. In fact, it soon became
+apparent that Corsica was too small a sphere for natures so able and
+masterful as those of Paoli and Napoleon Buonaparte.
+
+The first meeting of these two men must have been a scene of deep
+interest. It was on the fatal field of Ponte Nuovo. Napoleon doubtless
+came there in the spirit of true hero-worship. But hero-worship which
+can stand the strain of actual converse is rare indeed, especially
+when the expectant devotee is endowed with keen insight and habits of
+trenchant expression. One phrase has come down to us as a result of
+the interview; but this phrase contains a volume of meaning. After
+Paoli had explained the disposition of his troops against the French
+at Ponte Nuovo, Buonaparte drily remarked to his brother Joseph, "The
+result of these dispositions was what was inevitable." [13]
+
+For the present, Buonaparte and other Corsican democrats were closely
+concerned with the delinquencies of the Comte de Buttafuoco, the
+deputy for the twelve nobles of the island to the National Assembly of
+France. In a letter written on January 23rd, 1791, Buonaparte
+overwhelms this man with a torrent of invective.--He it was who had
+betrayed his country to France in 1768. Self-interest and that alone
+prompted his action then, and always. French rule was a cloak for his
+design of subjecting Corsica to "the absurd feudal _régime_" of the
+barons. In his selfish royalism he had protested against the new
+French constitution as being unsuited to Corsica, "though it was
+exactly the same as that which brought us so much good and was wrested
+from us only amidst streams of blood."--The letter is remarkable for
+the southern intensity of its passion, and for a certain hardening of
+tone towards Paoli. Buonaparte writes of Paoli as having been ever
+"surrounded by enthusiasts, and as failing to understand in a man any
+other passion than fanaticism for liberty and independence," and as
+duped by Buttafuoco in 1768.[14] The phrase has an obvious reference
+to the Paoli of 1791, surrounded by men who had shared his long exile
+and regarded the English constitution as their model. Buonaparte, on
+the contrary, is the accredited champion of French democracy, his
+furious epistle being printed by the Jacobin Club of Ajaccio.
+
+After firing off this tirade Buonaparte returned to his regiment at
+Auxonne (February, 1791). It was high time; for his furlough, though
+prolonged on the plea of ill-health, had expired in the preceding
+October, and he was therefore liable to six months' imprisonment. But
+the young officer rightly gauged the weakness of the moribund
+monarchy; and the officers of his almost mutinous regiment were glad
+to get him back on any terms. Everywhere in his journey through
+Provence and Dauphiné, Buonaparte saw the triumph of revolutionary
+principles. He notes that the peasants are to a man for the
+Revolution; so are the rank and file of the regiment. The officers
+are aristocrats, along with three-fourths of those who belong to "good
+society": so are all the women, for "Liberty is fairer than they, and
+eclipses them." The Revolution was evidently gaining completer hold
+over his mind and was somewhat blurring his insular sentiments, when a
+rebuff from Paoli further weakened his ties to Corsica. Buonaparte had
+dedicated to him his work on Corsica, and had sent him the manuscript
+for his approval. After keeping it an unconscionable time, the old man
+now coldly replied that he did not desire the honour of Buonaparte's
+panegyric, though he thanked him heartily for it; that the
+consciousness of having done his duty sufficed for him in his old age;
+and, for the rest, history should not be written in youth. A further
+request from Joseph Buonaparte for the return of the slighted
+manuscript brought the answer that he, Paoli, had no time to search
+his papers. After this, how could hero-worship subsist?
+
+The four months spent by Buonaparte at Auxonne were, indeed, a time of
+disappointment and hardship. Out of his slender funds he paid for the
+education of his younger brother, Louis, who shared his otherwise
+desolate lodging. A room almost bare but for a curtainless bed, a
+table heaped with books and papers, and two chairs--such were the
+surroundings of the lieutenant in the spring of 1791. He lived on
+bread that he might rear his brother for the army, and that he might
+buy books, overjoyed when his savings mounted to the price of some
+coveted volume.
+
+Perhaps the depressing conditions of his life at Auxonne may account
+for the acrid tone of an essay which he there wrote in competition for
+a prize offered by the Academy of Lyons on the subject--"What truths
+and sentiments ought to be inculcated to men for their happiness." It
+was unsuccessful; and modern readers will agree with the verdict of
+one of the judges that it was incongruous in arrangement and of a bad
+and ragged style. The thoughts are set forth in jerky, vehement
+clauses; and, in place of the _sensibilité_ of some of his earlier
+effusions, we feel here the icy breath of materialism. He regards an
+ideal human society as a geometrical structure based on certain
+well-defined postulates. All men ought to be able to satisfy certain
+elementary needs of their nature; but all that is beyond is
+questionable or harmful. The ideal legislator will curtail wealth so
+as to restore the wealthy to their true nature--and so forth. Of any
+generous outlook on the wider possibilities of human life there is
+scarcely a trace. His essay is the apotheosis of social mediocrity. By
+Procrustean methods he would have forced mankind back to the dull
+levels of Sparta: the opalescent glow of Athenian life was beyond his
+ken. But perhaps the most curious passage is that in which he preaches
+against the sin and folly of ambition. He pictures Ambition as a
+figure with pallid cheeks, wild eyes, hasty step, jerky movements and
+sardonic smile, for whom crimes are a sport, while lies and calumnies
+are merely arguments and figures of speech. Then, in words that recall
+Juvenal's satire on Hannibal's career, he continues: "What is
+Alexander doing when he rushes from Thebes into Persia and thence into
+India? He is ever restless, he loses his wits, he believes himself
+God. What is the end of Cromwell? He governs England. But is he not
+tormented by all the daggers of the furies?"--The words ring false,
+even for this period of Buonaparte's life; and one can readily
+understand his keen wish in later years to burn every copy of these
+youthful essays. But they have nearly all survived; and the diatribe
+against ambition itself supplies the feather wherewith history may
+wing her shaft at the towering flight of the imperial eagle.[15]
+
+At midsummer he is transferred, as first lieutenant, to another
+regiment which happened to be quartered at Valence; but his second
+sojourn there is remarkable only for signs of increasing devotion to
+the revolutionary cause. In the autumn of 1791 he is again in Corsica
+on furlough, and remains there until the month of May following. He
+finds the island rent by strifes which it would be tedious to
+describe. Suffice it to say that the breach between Paoli and the
+Buonapartes gradually widened owing to the dictator's suspicion of all
+who favoured the French Revolution. The young officer certainly did
+nothing to close the breach. Determined to secure his own election as
+lieutenant-colonel in the new Corsican National Guard, he spent much
+time in gaining recruits who would vote for him. He further assured
+his success by having one of the commissioners, who was acting in
+Paoli's interest, carried off from his friends and detained at the
+Buonapartes' house in Ajaccio--his first _coup_[16] Stranger events
+were to follow. At Easter, when the people were excited by the
+persecuting edicts against the clergy and the closing of a monastery,
+there was sharp fighting between the populace and Buonaparte's
+companies of National Guards. Originating in a petty quarrel, which
+was taken up by eager partisans, it embroiled the whole of the town
+and gave the ardent young Jacobin the chance of overthrowing his
+enemies. His plans even extended to the seizure of the citadel, where
+he tried to seduce the French regiment from its duty to officers
+whom he dubbed aristocrats. The attempt was a failure. The whole
+truth can, perhaps, scarcely be discerned amidst the tissue of
+lies which speedily enveloped the affair; but there can be no
+doubt that on the second day of strife Buonaparte's National
+Guards began the fight and subsequently menaced the regular troops in
+the citadel. The conflict was finally stopped by commissioners sent by
+Paoli; and the volunteers were sent away from the town.
+
+Buonaparte's position now seemed desperate. His conduct exposed him to
+the hatred of most of his fellow-citizens and to the rebukes of the
+French War Department. In fact, he had doubly sinned: he had actually
+exceeded his furlough by four months: he was technically guilty, first
+of desertion, and secondly of treason. In ordinary times he would have
+been shot, but the times were extraordinary, and he rightly judged
+that when a Continental war was brewing, the most daring course was
+also the most prudent, namely, to go to Paris. Thither Paoli allowed
+him to proceed, doubtless on the principle of giving the young madcap
+a rope wherewith to hang himself.
+
+On his arrival at Marseilles, he hears that war has been declared by
+France against Austria; for the republican Ministry, which Louis XVI.
+had recently been compelled to accept, believed that war against an
+absolute monarch would intensify revolutionary fervour in France and
+hasten the advent of the Republic. Their surmises were correct.
+Buonaparte, on his arrival at Paris, witnessed the closing scenes of
+the reign of Louis XVI. On June 20th he saw the crowd burst into the
+Tuileries, when for some hours it insulted the king and queen. Warmly
+though he had espoused the principles of the Revolution, his patrician
+blood boiled at the sight of these vulgar outrages, and he exclaimed:
+"Why don't they sweep off four or five hundred of that _canaille_ with
+cannon? The rest would then run away fast enough." The remark is
+significant. If his brain approved the Jacobin creed, his instincts
+were always with monarchy. His career was to reconcile his reason with
+his instincts, and to impose on weary France the curious compromise of
+a revolutionary Imperialism.
+
+On August 10th, from the window of a shop near the Tuileries, he
+looked down on the strange events which dealt the _coup de grâce_ to
+the dying monarchy. Again the chieftain within him sided against the
+vulture rabble and with the well-meaning monarch who kept his troops
+to a tame defensive. "If Louis XVI." (so wrote Buonaparte to his
+brother Joseph) "had mounted his horse, the victory would have been
+his--so I judge from the spirit which prevailed in the morning."
+When all was over, when Louis sheathed his sword and went for
+shelter to the National Assembly, when the fierce Marseillais were
+slaughtering the Swiss Guards and bodyguards of the king, Buonaparte
+dashed forward to save one of these unfortunates from a southern
+sabre. "Southern comrade, let us save this poor wretch.--Are you
+of the south?--Yes.--Well, we will save him."
+
+Altogether, what a time of disillusionment this was to the young
+officer. What depths of cruelty and obscenity it revealed in the
+Parisian rabble. What folly to treat them with the Christian
+forbearance shown by Louis XVI. How much more suitable was grapeshot
+than the beatitudes. The lesson was stored up for future use at a
+somewhat similar crisis on this very spot.
+
+During the few days when victorious Paris left Louis with the sham
+title of king, Buonaparte received his captain's commission, which was
+signed for the king by Servan, the War Minister. Thus did the
+revolutionary Government pass over his double breach of military
+discipline at Ajaccio. The revolutionary motto, "La carrière ouverte
+aux talents," was never more conspicuously illustrated than in the
+facile condoning of his offences and in this rapid promotion. It was
+indeed a time fraught with vast possibilities for all republican or
+Jacobinical officers. Their monarchist colleagues were streaming over
+the frontiers to join the Austrian and Prussian invaders. But National
+Guards were enrolling by tens of thousands to drive out the Prussian
+and Austrian invaders; and when Europe looked to see France fall for
+ever, it saw with wonder her strength renewed as by enchantment. Later
+on it learnt that that strength was the strength of Antæus, of a
+peasantry that stood firmly rooted in their native soil. Organization
+and good leadership alone were needed to transform these ardent masses
+into the most formidable soldiery; and the brilliant military
+prospects now opened up certainly knit Buonaparte's feelings more
+closely with the cause of France. Thus, on September 21st, when the
+new National Assembly, known as the Convention, proclaimed the
+Republic, we may well believe that sincere convictions no less than
+astute calculations moved him to do and dare all things for the sake
+of the new democratic commonwealth.[17]
+
+For the present, however, a family duty urges him to return to
+Corsica. He obtains permission to escort home his sister Elise, and
+for the third time we find him on furlough in Corsica. This laxity of
+military discipline at such a crisis is explicable only on the
+supposition that the revolutionary chiefs knew of his devotion to
+their cause and believed that his influence in the island would render
+his informal services there more valuable than his regimental duties
+in the army then invading Savoy. For the word Republic, which fired
+his imagination, was an offence to Paoli and to most of the
+islanders; and the phrase "Republic one and indivisible," ever on the
+lips of the French, seemed to promise that the island must become a
+petty replica of France--France that was now dominated by the authors
+of the vile September massacres. The French party in the island was
+therefore rapidly declining, and Paoli was preparing to sever the
+union with France. For this he has been bitterly assailed as a
+traitor. But, from Paoli's point of view, the acquisition of the
+island by France was a piece of rank treachery; and his allegiance to
+France was technically at an end when the king was forcibly dethroned
+and the Republic was proclaimed. The use of the appellation "traitor"
+in such a case is merely a piece of childish abuse. It can be
+justified neither by reference to law, equity, nor to the popular
+sentiment of the time. Facts were soon to show that the islanders were
+bitterly opposed to the party then dominant in France. This hostility
+of a clannish, religious, and conservative populace against the
+bloodthirsty and atheistical innovators who then lorded it over France
+was not diminished by the action of some six thousand French
+volunteers, the off-scourings of the southern ports, who were landed
+at Ajaccio for an expedition against Sardinia. In their zeal for
+Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity, these _bonnets rouges_ came to
+blows with the men of Ajaccio, three of whom they hanged. So fierce
+was the resentment caused by this outrage that the plan of a joint
+expedition for the liberation of Sardinia from monarchical tyranny had
+to be modified; and Buonaparte, who was again in command of a
+battalion of Corsican guards, proposed that the islanders alone should
+proceed to attack the Madalena Isles.
+
+These islands, situated between Corsica and Sardinia, have a double
+interest to the historical student. One of them, Caprera, was destined
+to shelter another Italian hero at the close of his career, the noble
+self-denying Garibaldi: the chief island of the group was the
+objective of Buonaparte's first essay in regular warfare. After some
+delays the little force set sail under the command of Cesari-Colonna,
+the nephew of Paoli. According to Buonaparte's own official statement
+at the close of the affair, he had successfully landed his men near
+the town to be assailed, and had thrown the Sardinian defences into
+confusion, when a treacherous order from his chief bade him to cease
+firing and return to the vessels. It has also been stated that this
+retreat was the outcome of a secret understanding between Paoli and
+Cesari-Colonna that the expedition should miscarry. This seems highly
+probable. A mutiny on board the chief ship of the flotilla was
+assigned by Cesari-Colonna as the cause of his order for a retreat;
+but there are mutinies and mutinies, and this one may have been a
+trick of the Paolists for thwarting Buonaparte's plan and leaving him
+a prisoner. In any case, the young officer only saved himself and his
+men by a hasty retreat to the boats, tumbling into the sea a mortar
+and four cannon. Such was the ending to the great captain's first
+military enterprise.
+
+On his return to Ajaccio (March 3rd, 1793), Buonaparte found affairs
+in utter confusion. News had recently arrived of the declaration of
+war by the French Republic against England and Holland. Moreover,
+Napoleon's young brother, Lucien, had secretly denounced Paoli to the
+French authorities at Toulon; and three commissioners were now sent
+from Paris charged with orders to disband the Corsican National
+Guards, and to place the Corsican dictator under the orders of the
+French general commanding the army of Italy.[18]
+
+A game of truly Macchiavellian skill is now played. The French
+commissioners, among whom the Corsican deputy, Salicetti, is by far
+the most able, invite Paoli to repair to Toulon, there to concert
+measures for the defence of Corsica. Paoli, seeing through the ruse
+and discerning a guillotine, pleads that his age makes the journey
+impossible; but with his friends he quietly prepares for resistance
+and holds the citadel of Ajaccio. Meanwhile the commissioners make
+friendly overtures to the old chief; in these Napoleon participates,
+being ignorant of Lucien's action at Toulon. The sincerity of these
+overtures may well be called in question, though Buonaparte still used
+the language of affection to his former idol. However this may be, all
+hope of compromise is dashed by the zealots who are in power at Paris.
+On April 2nd they order the French commissioners to secure Paoli's
+person, by whatever means, and bring him to the French capital. At
+once a cry of indignation goes up from all parts of Corsica; and
+Buonaparte draws up a declaration, vindicating Paoli's conduct and
+begging the French Convention to revoke its decree.[19] Again, one
+cannot but suspect that this declaration was intended mainly, if not
+solely, for local consumption. In any case, it failed to cool the
+resentment of the populace; and the partisans of France soon came to
+blows with the Paolists.
+
+Salicetti and Buonaparte now plan by various artifices to gain the
+citadel of Ajaccio from the Paolists, but guile is three times foiled
+by guile equally astute. Failing here, the young captain seeks to
+communicate with the French commissioners at Bastia. He sets out
+secretly, with a trusty shepherd as companion, to cross the island:
+but at the village of Bocognano he is recognized and imprisoned by the
+partisans of Paoli. Some of the villagers, however, retain their old
+affection to the Buonaparte family, which here has an ancestral
+estate, and secretly set him free. He returns to Ajaccio, only to find
+an order for his arrest issued by the Corsican patriots. This time he
+escapes by timely concealment in the grotto of a friend's garden; and
+from the grounds of another family connection he finally glides away
+in a vessel to a point of safety, whence he reaches Bastia.
+
+Still, though a fugitive, he persists in believing that Ajaccio is
+French at heart, and urges the sending of a liberating force. The
+French commissioners agree, and the expedition sails--only to meet
+with utter failure. Ajaccio, as one man, repels the partisans of
+France; and, a gale of wind springing up, Buonaparte and his men
+regain their boats with the utmost difficulty. At a place hard by, he
+finds his mother, uncle, brothers and sisters. Madame Buonaparte, with
+the extraordinary tenacity of will that characterized her famous son,
+had wished to defend her house at Ajaccio against the hostile
+populace; but, yielding to the urgent warnings of friends, finally
+fled to the nearest place of safety, and left the house to the fury of
+the populace, by whom it was nearly wrecked.
+
+For a brief space Buonaparte clung to the hope of regaining Corsica
+for the Republic, but now only by the aid of French troops. For the
+islanders, stung by the demand of the French Convention that Paoli
+should go to Paris, had rallied to the dictator's side; and the aged
+chief made overtures to England for alliance. The partisans of France,
+now menaced by England's naval power, were in an utterly untenable
+position. Even the steel-like will of Buonaparte was bent. His career
+in Corsica was at an end for the present; and with his kith and kin he
+set sail for France.
+
+The interest of the events above described lies, not in their
+intrinsic importance, but in the signal proof which they afford of
+Buonaparte's wondrous endowments of mind and will. In a losing cause
+and in a petty sphere he displays all the qualities which, when the
+omens were favourable, impelled him to the domination of a Continent.
+He fights every inch of ground tenaciously; at each emergency he
+evinces a truly Italian fertility of resource, gliding round obstacles
+or striving to shatter them by sheer audacity, seeing through men,
+cajoling them by his insinuations or overawing them by his mental
+superiority, ever determined to try the fickle jade Fortune to the
+very utmost, and retreating only before the inevitable. The sole
+weakness discoverable in this nature, otherwise compact of strength,
+is an excess of will-power over all the faculties that make for
+prudence. His vivid imagination only serves to fire him with the full
+assurance that he must prevail over all obstacles.
+
+And yet, if he had now stopped to weigh well the lessons of the past,
+hitherto fertile only in failures and contradictions, he must have
+seen the powerlessness of his own will when in conflict with the
+forces of the age; for he had now severed his connection with the
+Corsican patriots, of whose cause he had only two years before been
+the most passionate champion. It is evident that the schism which
+finally separated Buonaparte and Paoli originated in their divergence
+of views regarding the French Revolution. Paoli accepted revolutionary
+principles only in so far as they promised to base freedom on a due
+balance of class interests. He was a follower of Montesquieu. He
+longed to see in Corsica a constitution similar to that of England or
+to that of 1791 in France. That hope vanished alike for France and
+Corsica after the fall of the monarchy; and towards the Jacobinical
+Republic, which banished orthodox priests and guillotined the amiable
+Louis, Paoli thenceforth felt naught but loathing: "We have been the
+enemies of kings," he said to Joseph Buonaparte; "let us never be
+their executioners." Thenceforth he drifted inevitably into alliance
+with England.
+
+Buonaparte, on the other hand, was a follower of Rousseau, whose ideas
+leaped to power at the downfall of the monarchy. Despite the excesses
+which he ever deplored, this second Revolution appeared to him to be
+the dawn of a new and intelligent age. The clear-cut definitions of
+the new political creed dovetailed in with his own rigid views of
+life. Mankind was to be saved by law, society being levelled down and
+levelled up until the ideals of Lycurgus were attained. Consequently
+he regarded the Republic as a mighty agency for the social
+regeneration not only of France, but of all peoples. His insular
+sentiments were gradually merged in these vaster schemes.
+Self-interest and the differentiating effects of party strifes
+undoubtedly assisted the mental transformation; but it is clear that
+the study of the "Social Contract" was the touchstone of his early
+intellectual growth. He had gone to Rousseau's work to deepen his
+Corsican patriotism: he there imbibed doctrines which drew him
+irresistibly into the vortex of the French Revolution, and of its wars
+of propaganda and conquest.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+TOULON
+
+
+When Buonaparte left Corsica for the coast of Provence, his career had
+been remarkable only for the strange contrast between the brilliance
+of his gifts and the utter failure of all his enterprises. His French
+partisanship had, as it seemed, been the ruin of his own and his
+family's fortunes. At the age of twenty-four he was known only as the
+unlucky leader of forlorn hopes and an outcast from the island around
+which his fondest longings had been entwined. His land-fall on the
+French coast seemed no more promising; for at that time Provence was
+on the verge of revolt against the revolutionary Government. Even
+towns like Marseilles and Toulon, which a year earlier had been noted
+for their republican fervour, were now disgusted with the course of
+events at Paris. In the third climax of revolutionary fury, that of
+June 2nd, 1793, the more enlightened of the two republican factions,
+the Girondins, had been overthrown by their opponents, the men of the
+Mountain, who, aided by the Parisian rabble, seized on power. Most of
+the Departments of France resented this violence and took up arms. But
+the men of the Mountain acted with extraordinary energy: they
+proclaimed the Girondins to be in league with the invaders, and
+blasted their opponents with the charge of conspiring to divide France
+into federal republics. The Committee of Public Safety, now installed
+in power at Paris, decreed a _levée en masse_ of able-bodied patriots
+to defend the sacred soil of the Republic, and the "organizer of
+victory," Carnot, soon drilled into a terrible efficiency the hosts
+that sprang from the soil. On their side the Girondins had no
+organization whatever, and were embarrassed by the adhesion of very
+many royalists. Consequently their wavering groups speedily gave way
+before the impact of the new, solid, central power.
+
+A movement so wanting in definiteness as that of the Girondins was
+destined to slide into absolute opposition to the men of the Mountain:
+it was doomed to become royalist. Certainly it did not command the
+adhesion of Napoleon. His inclinations are seen in his pamphlet, "Le
+Souper de Beaucaire," which he published in August, 1793. He wrote it
+in the intervals of some regimental work which had come to hand: and
+his passage through the little town of Beaucaire seems to have
+suggested the scenic setting of this little dialogue. It purports to
+record a discussion between an officer--Buonaparte himself--two
+merchants of Marseilles, and citizens of Nîmes and Montpellier. It
+urges the need of united action under the lead of the Jacobins. The
+officer reminds the Marseillais of the great services which their city
+has rendered to the cause of liberty. Let Marseilles never disgrace
+herself by calling in the Spanish fleet as a protection against
+Frenchmen. Let her remember that this civil strife was part of a fight
+to the death between French patriots and the despots of Europe. That
+was, indeed, the practical point at issue; the stern logic of facts
+ranged on the Jacobin side all clear-sighted men who were determined
+that the Revolution should not be stamped out by the foreign invaders.
+On the ground of mere expediency, men must rally to the cause of the
+Jacobinical Republic. Every crime might be condoned, provided that the
+men now in power at Paris saved the country. Better their tyranny than
+the vengeance of the emigrant _noblesse_. Such was the instinct of
+most Frenchmen, and it saved France.
+
+As an _exposé_ of keen policy and all-dominating opportunism, "Le
+Souper de Beaucaire" is admirable. In a national crisis anything that
+saves the State is justifiable--that is its argument. The men of the
+Mountain are abler and stronger than the Girondins: therefore the
+Marseillais are foolish not to bow to the men of the Mountain. The
+author feels no sympathy with the generous young Girondins, who, under
+the inspiration of Madame Roland, sought to establish a republic of
+the virtues even while they converted monarchical Europe by the sword.
+Few men can now peruse with undimmed eyes the tragic story of their
+fall. But the scenes of 1793 had transformed the Corsican youth into a
+dry-eyed opportunist who rejects the Girondins as he would have thrown
+aside a defective tool: nay, he blames them as "guilty of the greatest
+of crimes."[20]
+
+Nevertheless Buonaparte was alive to the miseries of the situation. He
+was weary of civil strifes, in which it seemed that no glory could be
+won. He must hew his way to fortune, if only in order to support his
+family, which was now drifting about from village to village of
+Provence and subsisting on the slender sums doled out by the Republic
+to Corsican exiles.
+
+He therefore applied, though without success, for a regimental
+exchange to the army of the Rhine. But while toiling through his
+administrative drudgery in Provence, his duties brought him near to
+Toulon, where the Republic was face to face with triumphant royalism.
+The hour had struck: the man now appeared.
+
+In July, 1793, Toulon joined other towns of the south in declaring
+against Jacobin tyranny; and the royalists of the town, despairing of
+making headway against the troops of the Convention, admitted English
+and Spanish squadrons to the harbour to hold the town for Louis XVII,
+(August 28th). This event shot an electric thrill through France. It
+was the climax of a long series of disasters. Lyons had hoisted the
+white flag of the Bourbons, and was making a desperate defence against
+the forces of the Convention: the royalist peasants of La Vendée had
+several times scattered the National Guards in utter rout: the
+Spaniards were crossing the Eastern Pyrenees: the Piedmontese were
+before the gates of Grenoble; and in the north and on the Rhine a
+doubtful contest was raging.
+
+Such was the condition of France when Buonaparte drew near to the
+republican forces encamped near Ollioules, to the north-west of
+Toulon. He found them in disorder: their commander, Carteaux, had left
+the easel to learn the art of war, and was ignorant of the range of
+his few cannon; Dommartin, their artillery commander, had been
+disabled by a wound; and the Commissioners of the Convention, who were
+charged to put new vigour into the operations, were at their wits' end
+for lack of men and munitions. One of them was Salicetti, who hailed
+his coming as a godsend, and urged him to take Dommartin's place.
+Thus, on September 16th, the thin, sallow, threadbare figure took
+command of the artillery.
+
+The republicans menaced the town on two sides. Carteaux with some
+8,000 men held the hills between Toulon and Ollioules, while a corps
+3,000 strong, under Lapoype, observed the fortress on the side of La
+Valette. Badly led though they were, they wrested the valley north of
+Mount Faron from the allied outposts, and nearly completed the
+besiegers' lines (September 18th). In fact, the garrison, which
+comprised only 2,000 British troops, 4,000 Spaniards, 1,500 French
+royalists, together with some Neapolitans and Piedmontese, was
+insufficient to defend the many positions around the city on which its
+safety depended. Indeed, General Grey wrote to Pitt that 50,000 men
+were needed to garrison the place; but, as that was double the
+strength of the British regular army then, the English Minister could
+only hold out hopes of the arrival of an Austrian corps and a few
+hundred British.[21]
+
+Before Buonaparte's arrival the Jacobins had no artillery: true, they
+had a few field-pieces, four heavier guns and two mortars, which a
+sergeant helplessly surveyed; but they had no munitions, no tools,
+above all no method and no discipline. Here then was the opportunity
+for which he had been pining. At once he assumes the tone of a master.
+"You mind your business, and let me look after mine," he exclaims to
+officious infantrymen; "it is artillery that takes fortresses:
+infantry gives its help." The drudgery of the last weeks now yields
+fruitful results: his methodical mind, brooding over the chaos before
+him, flashes back to this or that detail in some coast fort or
+magazine: his energy hustles on the leisurely Provençaux, and in a few
+days he has a respectable park of artillery--fourteen cannon, four
+mortars, and the necessary stores. In a brief space the Commissioners
+show their approval of his services by promoting him to the rank of
+_chef de bataillon_.
+
+By this time the tide was beginning to turn in favour of the Republic.
+On October 9th Lyons fell before the Jacobins. The news lends a new
+zest to the Jacobins, whose left wing had (October 1st) been severely
+handled by the allies on Mount Faron. Above all, Buonaparte's
+artillery can be still further strengthened. "I have despatched," he
+wrote to the Minister of War, "an intelligent officer to Lyons,
+Briançon, and Grenoble, to procure what might be useful to us. I have
+requested the Army of Italy to furnish us with the cannon now useless
+for the defence of Antibes and Monaco.... I have established at
+Ollioules an arsenal with 80 workers. I have requisitioned horses from
+Nice right to Valence and Montpellier.... I am having 5,000 gabions
+made every day at Marseilles." But he was more than a mere organizer.
+He was ever with his men, animating them by his own ardour: "I always
+found him at his post," wrote Doppet, who now succeeded Carteaux;
+"when he needed rest he lay on the ground wrapped in his cloak: he
+never left the batteries." There, amidst the autumn rains, he
+contracted the febrile symptoms which for several years deepened the
+pallor of his cheeks and furrowed the rings under his eyes, giving him
+that uncanny, almost spectral, look which struck a chill to all who
+saw him first and knew not the fiery energy that burnt within. There,
+too, his zeal, his unfailing resource, his bulldog bravery, and that
+indefinable quality which separates genius from talent speedily
+conquered the hearts of the French soldiery. One example of this
+magnetic power must here suffice. He had ordered a battery to be made
+so near to Fort Mulgrave that Salicetti described it as within a
+pistol-shot of the English guns. Could it be worked, its effect would
+be decisive. But who could work it? The first day saw all its gunners
+killed or wounded, and even the reckless Jacobins flinched from facing
+the iron hail. "Call it _the battery of the fearless_," ordered the
+young captain. The generous French nature was touched at its tenderest
+point, personal and national honour, and the battery thereafter never
+lacked its full complement of gunners, living and dead.
+
+The position at Fort Mulgrave, or the Little Gibraltar, was, indeed,
+all important; for if the republicans seized that commanding position,
+the allied squadrons could be overpowered, or at least compelled to
+sail away; and with their departure Toulon must fall.
+
+Here we come on to ground that has been fiercely fought over in wordy
+war. Did Bonaparte originate the plan of attack? Or did he throw his
+weight and influence into a scheme that others beside him had
+designed? Or did he merely carry out orders as a subordinate?
+According to the Commissioner Barras, the last was the case. But
+Barras was with the eastern wing of the besiegers, that is, some miles
+away from the side of La Seyne and L'Eguillette, where Buonaparte
+fought. Besides, Barras' "Mémoires" are so untruthful where Buonaparte
+is concerned, as to be unworthy of serious attention, at least on
+these points.[22] The historian M. Jung likewise relegates Buonaparte
+to a quite subordinate position.[23] But his narrative omits some of
+the official documents which show that Buonaparte played a very
+important part in the siege. Other writers claim that Buonaparte's
+influence on the whole conduct of operations was paramount and
+decisive. Thus, M. Duruy quotes the letter of the Commissioners to the
+Convention: "We shall take care not to lay siege to Toulon by ordinary
+means, when we have a surer means to reduce it, that is, by burning
+the enemy's fleet.... We are only waiting for the siege-guns before
+taking up a position whence we may reach the ships with red-hot balls;
+and we shall see if we are not masters of Toulon." But this very
+letter disproves the Buonapartist claim. It was written on September
+13th. Thus, _three days before Buonaparte's arrival_, the
+Commissioners had fully decided on attacking the Little Gibraltar; and
+the claim that Buonaparte originated the plan can only be sustained by
+antedating his arrival at Toulon.[24] In fact, every experienced
+officer among besiegers and besieged saw the weak point of the
+defence: early in September Hood and Mulgrave began the fortification
+of the heights behind L'Eguillette. In face of these facts, the
+assertion that Buonaparte was the first to design the movements which
+secured the surrender of Toulon must be relegated to the domain of
+hero-worship. (See note on p. 56.)
+
+[Illustration: THE SIEGE OF TOULON, 1793, from "L'Histoire de France
+depuis la Révolution de 1789," by Emmanuel Toulougeon. Paris, An. XII.
+[1803]. A. Fort Mulgrave. A'. Promontory of L'Eguillette. 1 and 2.
+Batteries. 3. Battery "Hommes sans Peur." The black and shaded
+rectangles are the Republican and Allied positions respectively.]
+
+Carteaux having been superseded by Doppet, more energy was thrown
+into the operations. Yet for him Buonaparte had scarcely more respect.
+On November 15th an affair of outposts near Fort Mulgrave showed his
+weakness. The soldiers on both sides eagerly took up the affray; line
+after line of the French rushed up towards that frowning redoubt:
+O'Hara, the leader of the allied troops, encouraged the British in a
+sortie that drove back the blue-coats; whereupon Buonaparte headed the
+rallying rush to the gorge of the redoubt, when Doppet sounded the
+retreat. Half blinded by rage and by the blood trickling from a slight
+wound in his forehead, the young Corsican rushed back to Doppet and
+abused him in the language of the camp: "Our blow at Toulon has
+missed, because a---- has beaten the retreat." The soldiery applauded
+this revolutionary licence, and bespattered their chief with similar
+terms.
+
+A few days later the tall soldierly Dugommier took the command:
+reinforcements began to pour in, finally raising the strength of the
+besiegers to 37,000 men. Above all, the new commander gave Buonaparte
+_carte blanche_ for the direction of the artillery. New batteries
+accordingly began to ring the Little Gibraltar on the landward side;
+O'Hara, while gallantly heading a sortie, fell into the republicans'
+hands, and the defenders began to lose heart. The worst disappointment
+was the refusal of the Austrian Court to fulfil its promise, solemnly
+given in September, to send 5,000 regular troops for the defence of
+Toulon.
+
+The final conflict took place on the night of December 16-17, when
+torrents of rain, a raging wind, and flashes of lightning added new
+horrors to the strife. Scarcely had the assailants left the sheltering
+walls of La Seyne, than Buonaparte's horse fell under him, shot dead:
+whole companies went astray in the darkness: yet the first column of
+2,000 men led by Victor rush at the palisades of Fort Mulgrave, tear
+them down, and sweep into the redoubt, only to fall in heaps before a
+second line of defence: supported by the second column, they rally,
+only to yield once more before the murderous fire. In despair,
+Dugommier hurries on the column of reserve, with which Buonaparte
+awaits the crisis of the night. Led by the gallant young Muiron, the
+reserve sweeps into the gorge of death; Muiron, Buonaparte, and
+Dugommier hack their way through the same embrasure: their men swarm
+in on the overmatched red-coats and Spaniards, cut them down at their
+guns, and the redoubt is won.
+
+This event was decisive. The Neapolitans, who were charged to hold the
+neighbouring forts, flung themselves into the sea; and the ships
+themselves began to weigh anchor; for Buonaparte's guns soon poured
+their shot on the fleet and into the city itself. But even in that
+desperate strait the allies turned fiercely to bay. On the evening of
+December 17th a young officer, who was destined once more to thwart
+Buonaparte's designs, led a small body of picked men into the dockyard
+to snatch from the rescuing clutch of the Jacobins the French warships
+that could not be carried off. Then was seen a weird sight. The galley
+slaves, now freed from their chains and clustering in angry groups,
+menaced the intruders. Yet the British seamen spread the combustibles
+and let loose the demon of destruction. Forthwith the flames shot up
+the masts, and licked up the stores of hemp, tar, and timber: and the
+explosion of two powder-ships by the Spaniards shook the earth for
+many miles around. Napoleon ever retained a vivid mental picture of
+the scene, which amid the hated calm of St. Helena he thus described:
+"The whirlwind of flames and smoke from the arsenal resembled the
+eruption of a volcano, and the thirteen vessels blazing in the roads
+were like so many displays of fireworks: the masts and forms of the
+vessels were distinctly traced out by the flames, which lasted many
+hours and formed an unparalleled spectacle." [25] The sight struck
+horror to the hearts of the royalists of Toulon, who saw in it the
+signal of desertion by the allies; and through the lurid night crowds
+of panic-stricken wretches thronged the quays crying aloud to be taken
+away from the doomed city. The glare of the flames, the crash of the
+enemy's bombs, the explosion of the two powder-ships, frenzied many a
+soul; and scores of those who could find no place in the boats flung
+themselves into the sea rather than face the pikes and guillotines of
+the Jacobins. Their fears were only too well founded; for a fortnight
+later Fréron, the Commissioner of the Convention, boasted that two
+hundred royalists perished daily.
+
+It remains briefly to consider a question of special interest to
+English readers. Did the Pitt Ministry intend to betray the confidence
+of the French royalists and keep Toulon for England? The charge has
+been brought by certain French writers that the British, after
+entering Toulon with promise that they would hold it in pledge for
+Louis XVII., nevertheless lorded it over the other allies and revealed
+their intention of keeping that stronghold. These writers aver that
+Hood, after entering Toulon as an equal with the Spanish admiral,
+Langara, laid claim to entire command of the land forces; that English
+commissioners were sent for the administration of the town; and that
+the English Government refused to allow the coming of the Comte de
+Provence, who, as the elder of the two surviving brothers of Louis
+XVI., was entitled to act on behalf of Louis XVII.[26] The facts in
+the main are correct, but the interpretation put upon them may well be
+questioned. Hood certainly acted with much arrogance towards the
+Spaniards. But when the more courteous O'Hara arrived to take command
+of the British, Neapolitan, and Sardinian troop, the new commander
+agreed to lay aside the question of supreme command. It was not till
+November 30th that the British Government sent off any despatch on the
+question, which meanwhile had been settled at Toulon by the exercise
+of that tact in which Hood seems signally to have been lacking. The
+whole question was personal, not national.
+
+Still less was the conduct of the British Government towards the Comte
+de Provence a proof of its design to keep Toulon. The records of our
+Foreign Office show that, before the occupation of that stronghold for
+Louis XVII., we had declined to acknowledge the claims of his uncle to
+the Regency. He and his brother, the Comte d'Artois, were notoriously
+unpopular in France, except with royalists of the old school; and
+their presence at Toulon would certainly have raised awkward questions
+about the future government. The conduct of Spain had hitherto been
+similar.[27] But after the occupation of Toulon, the Court of Madrid
+judged the presence of the Comte de Provence in that fortress to be
+advisable; whereas the Pitt Ministry adhered to its former belief,
+insisted on the difficulty of conducting the defence if the Prince
+were present as Regent, instructed Mr. Drake, our Minister at Genoa,
+to use every argument to deter him from proceeding to Toulon, and
+privately ordered our officers there, in the last resort, to refuse
+him permission to land. The instructions of October 18th to the royal
+commissioners at Toulon show that George III. and his Ministers
+believed they would be compromising the royalist cause by recognizing
+a regency; and certainly any effort by the allies to prejudice the
+future settlement would at once have shattered any hopes of a general
+rally to the royalist side.[28]
+
+Besides, if England meant to keep Toulon, why did she send only 2,200
+soldiers? Why did she admit, not only 6,900 Spaniards, but also 4,900
+Neapolitans and 1,600 Piedmontese? Why did she accept the armed help
+of 1,600 French royalists? Why did she urgently plead with Austria to
+send 5,000 white-coats from Milan? Why, finally, is there no word in
+the British official despatches as to the eventual keeping of Toulon;
+while there are several references to _indemnities_ which George III.
+would require for the expenses of the war--such as Corsica or some of
+the French West Indies? Those despatches show conclusively that
+England did not wish to keep a fortress that required a permanent
+garrison equal to half of the British army on its peace footing; but
+that she did regard it as a good base of operations for the overthrow
+of the Jacobin rule and the restoration of monarchy; whereupon her
+services must be requited with some suitable indemnity, either one of
+the French West Indies or Corsica. These plans were shattered by
+Buonaparte's skill and the valour of Dugommier's soldiery; but no
+record has yet leaped to light to convict the Pitt Ministry of the
+perfidy which Buonaparte, in common with nearly all Frenchmen, charged
+to their account.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+VENDÉMIAIRE
+
+
+The next period of Buonaparte's life presents few features of
+interest. He was called upon to supervise the guns and stores for the
+Army of Italy, and also to inspect the fortifications and artillery of
+the coast. At Marseilles his zeal outstripped his discretion. He
+ordered the reconstruction of the fortress which had been destroyed
+during the Revolution; but when the townsfolk heard the news, they
+protested so vehemently that the work was stopped and an order was
+issued for Buonaparte's arrest. From this difficulty the friendship of
+the younger Robespierre and of Salicetti, the Commissioners of the
+Convention, availed to rescue him; but the incident proves that his
+services at Toulon were not so brilliant as to have raised him above
+the general level of meritorious officers, who were applauded while
+they prospered, but might be sent to the guillotine for any serious
+offence.
+
+In February, 1794, he was appointed at Nice general in command of the
+artillery of the Army of Italy, which drove the Sardinian troops from
+several positions between Ventimiglia and Oneglia. Thence, swinging
+round by passes of the Maritime Alps, they outflanked the positions of
+the Austro-Sardinian forces at the Col di Tenda, which had defied all
+attack in front. Buonaparte's share in this turning operation seems to
+have been restricted to the effective handling of artillery, and the
+chief credit here rested with Masséna, who won the first of his
+laurels in the country of his birth. He was of humble parentage;
+yet his erect bearing, proud animated glance, curt penetrating speech,
+and keen repartees, proclaimed a nature at once active and wary, an
+intellect both calculating and confident. Such was the man who was to
+immortalize his name in many a contest, until his glory paled before
+the greater genius of Wellington.
+
+Much of the credit of organizing this previously unsuccessful army
+belongs to the younger Robespierre, who, as Commissioner of the
+Convention, infused his energy into all departments of the service.
+For some months his relations to Buonaparte were those of intimacy;
+but whether they extended to complete sympathy on political matters
+may be doubted. The younger Robespierre held the revolutionary creed
+with sufficient ardour, though one of his letters dated from Oneglia
+suggests that the fame of the Terror was hurtful to the prospects of
+the campaign. It states that the whole of the neighbouring inhabitants
+had fled before the French soldiers, in the belief that they were
+destroyers of religion and eaters of babies: this was inconvenient, as
+it prevented the supply of provisions and the success of forced loans.
+The letter suggests that he was a man of action rather than of ideas,
+and probably it was this practical quality which bound Buonaparte in
+friendship to him. Yet it is difficult to fathom Buonaparte's ideas
+about the revolutionary despotism which was then deluging Paris with
+blood. Outwardly he appeared to sympathize with it. Such at least is
+the testimony of Marie Robespierre, with whom Buonaparte's sisters
+were then intimate. "Buonaparte," she said, "was a republican: I will
+even say that he took the side of the Mountain: at least, that was the
+impression left on my mind by his opinions when I was at Nice.... His
+admiration for my elder brother, his friendship for my younger
+brother, and perhaps also the interest inspired by my misfortunes,
+gained for me, under the Consulate, a pension of 3,600 francs."[29]
+Equally noteworthy is the later declaration of Napoleon that
+Robespierre was the "scapegoat of the Revolution." [30] It appears
+probable, then, that he shared the Jacobinical belief that the Terror
+was a necessary though painful stage in the purification of the body
+politic. His admiration of the rigour of Lycurgus, and his dislike of
+all superfluous luxury, alike favour this supposition; and as he
+always had the courage of his convictions, it is impossible to
+conceive him clinging to the skirts of the terrorists merely from a
+mean hope of prospective favours. That is the alternative explanation
+of his intimacy with young Robespierre. Some of his injudicious
+admirers, in trying to disprove his complicity with the terrorists,
+impale themselves on this horn of the dilemma. In seeking to clear
+him from the charge of Terrorism, they stain him with the charge of
+truckling to the terrorists. They degrade him from the level of St.
+Just to that of Barrère.
+
+A sentence in one of young Robespierre's letters shows that he never
+felt completely sure about the young officer. After enumerating to his
+brother Buonaparte's merits, he adds: "He is a Corsican, and offers
+only the guarantee of a man of that nation who has resisted the
+caresses of Paoli and whose property has been ravaged by that
+traitor." Evidently, then, Robespierre regarded Buonaparte with some
+suspicion as an insular Proteus, lacking those sureties, mental and
+pecuniary, which reduced a man to dog-like fidelity.
+
+Yet, however warily Buonaparte picked his steps along the slopes of
+the revolutionary volcano, he was destined to feel the scorch of the
+central fires. He had recently been intrusted with a mission to the
+Genoese Republic, which was in a most difficult position. It was
+subject to pressure from three sides; from English men-of-war that had
+swooped down on a French frigate, the "Modeste," in Genoese waters;
+and from actual invasion by the French on the west and by the
+Austrians on the north. Despite the great difficulties of his task, the
+young envoy bent the distracted Doge and Senate to his will. He
+might, therefore, have expected gratitude from his adopted country;
+but shortly after he returned to Nice he was placed under arrest, and
+was imprisoned in a fort near Antibes.
+
+The causes of this swift reverse of fortune were curiously complex.
+The Robespierres had in the meantime been guillotined at Paris (July
+28th, or Thermidor 10th); and this "Thermidorian" reaction alone would
+have sufficed to endanger Buonaparte's head. But his position was
+further imperilled by his recent strategic suggestions, which had
+served to reduce to a secondary _rôle_ the French Army of the Alps.
+The operations of that force had of late been strangely thwarted; and
+its leaders, searching for the paralyzing influence, discovered it in
+the advice of Buonaparte. Their suspicions against him were formulated
+in a secret letter to the Committee of Public Safety, which stated
+that the Army of the Alps had been kept inactive by the intrigues of
+the younger Robespierre and of Ricord. Many a head had fallen for
+reasons less serious than these. But Buonaparte had one infallible
+safeguard: he could not well be spared. After a careful examination of
+his papers, the Commissioners, Salicetti and Albitte, provisionally
+restored him to liberty, but not, for some weeks, to his rank of
+general (August 20th, 1794). The chief reason assigned for his
+liberation was the service which his knowledge and talents might
+render to the Republic, a reference to the knowledge of the Italian
+coast-line which he had gained during the mission to Genoa.
+
+For a space his daring spirit was doomed to chafe in comparative
+inactivity, in supervising the coast artillery. But his faults were
+forgotten in the need which was soon felt for his warlike prowess. An
+expedition was prepared to free Corsica from "the tyranny of the
+English"; and in this Buonaparte sailed, as general commanding the
+artillery. With him were two friends, Junot and Marmont, who had clung
+to him through his recent troubles; the former was to be helped to
+wealth and fame by Buonaparte's friendship, the latter by his own
+brilliant gifts.[31] In this expedition their talent was of no avail.
+The French were worsted in an engagement with the British fleet, and
+fell back in confusion to the coast of France. Once again Buonaparte's
+Corsican enterprises were frustrated by the ubiquitous lords of the
+sea: against them he now stored up a double portion of hate, for in
+the meantime his inspectorship of coast artillery had been given to
+his fellow-countryman, Casabianca.
+
+The fortunes of these Corsican exiles drifted hither and thither in
+many perplexing currents, as Buonaparte was once more to discover. It
+was a prevalent complaint that there were too many of them seeking
+employment in the army of the south; and a note respecting the career
+of the young officer made by General Schérer, who now commanded the
+French Army of Italy, shows that Buonaparte had aroused at least as
+much suspicion as admiration. It runs: "This officer is general of
+artillery, and in this arm has sound knowledge, but has somewhat too
+much ambition and intriguing habits for his advancement." All things
+considered, it was deemed advisable to transfer him to the army which
+was engaged in crushing the Vendéan revolt, a service which he loathed
+and was determined, if possible, to evade. Accompanied by his faithful
+friends, Marmont and Junot, as also by his young brother Louis, he set
+out for Paris (May, 1795).
+
+In reality Fortune never favoured him more than when she removed him
+from the coteries of intriguing Corsicans on the coast of Provence and
+brought him to the centre of all influence. An able schemer at Paris
+could decide the fate of parties and governments. At the frontiers men
+could only accept the decrees of the omnipotent capital. Moreover, the
+Revolution, after passing through the molten stage, was now beginning
+to solidify, an important opportunity for the political craftsman. The
+spring of the year 1795 witnessed a strange blending of the new
+fanaticism with the old customs. Society, dammed up for a time by the
+Spartan rigour of Robespierre, was now flowing back into its wonted
+channels. Gay equipages were seen in the streets; theatres, prosperous
+even during the Terror, were now filled to overflowing; gambling,
+whether in money or in stocks and _assignats_, was now permeating all
+grades of society; and men who had grown rich by amassing the
+confiscated State lands now vied with bankers, stock-jobbers, and
+forestallers of grain in vulgar ostentation. As for the poor, they
+were meeting their match in the gilded youth of Paris, who with
+clubbed sticks asserted the right of the rich to be merry. If the
+_sansculottes_ attempted to restore the days of the Terror, the
+National Guards of Paris were ready to sweep them back into the slums.
+Such was their fate on May 20th, shortly after Buonaparte's arrival at
+Paris. Any dreams which he may have harboured of restoring the
+Jacobins to power were dissipated, for Paris now plunged into the
+gaieties of the _ancien régime_. The Terror was remembered only as a
+horrible nightmare, which served to add zest to the pleasures of the
+present. In some circles no one was received who had not lost a
+relative by the guillotine. With a ghastly merriment characteristic of
+the time, "victim balls" were given, to which those alone were
+admitted who could produce the death warrant of some family
+connection: these secured the pleasure of dancing in costumes which
+recalled those of the scaffold, and of beckoning ever and anon to
+their partners with nods that simulated the fall of the severed head.
+It was for this, then, that the amiable Louis, the majestic Marie
+Antoinette, the Minerva-like Madame Roland, the Girondins vowed to the
+utter quest of liberty, the tyrant-quelling Danton, the incorruptible
+Robespierre himself, had felt the fatal axe; in order that the mimicry
+of their death agonies might tickle jaded appetites, and help to weave
+anew the old Circean spells. So it seemed to the few who cared to
+think of the frightful sacrifices of the past, and to measure them
+against the seemingly hopeless degradation of the present.
+
+Some such thoughts seem to have flitted across the mind of Buonaparte
+in those months of forced inactivity. It was a time of disillusionment.
+Rarely do we find thenceforth in his correspondence any gleams of
+faith respecting the higher possibilities of the human race. The
+golden visions of youth now vanish along with the _bonnet rouge_ and
+the jargon of the Terror. His bent had ever been for the material and
+practical: and now that faith in the Jacobinical creed was vanishing,
+it was more than ever desirable to grapple that errant balloon to
+substantial facts. Evidently, the Revolution must now trust to the
+clinging of the peasant proprietors to the recently confiscated lands
+of the Church and of the emigrant nobles. If all else was vain and
+transitory, here surely was a solid basis of material interests to
+which the best part of the manhood of France would tenaciously adhere,
+defying alike the plots of reactionaries and the forces of monarchical
+Europe. Of these interests Buonaparte was to be the determined
+guarantor. Amidst much that was visionary in his later policy he never
+wavered in his championship of the new peasant proprietors. He was
+ever the peasants' General, the peasants' Consul, the peasants'
+Emperor.
+
+The transition of the Revolution to an ordinary form of polity was
+also being furthered by its unparalleled series of military triumphs.
+When Buonaparte's name was as yet unknown, except in Corsica and
+Provence, France practically gained her "natural boundaries," the
+Rhine and the Alps. In the campaigns of 1793-4, the soldiers of
+Pichegru, Kléber, Hoche, and Moreau overran the whole of the Low
+Countries and chased the Germans beyond the Rhine; the Piedmontese
+were thrust behind the Alps; the Spaniards behind the Pyrenees. In
+quick succession State after State sued for peace: Tuscany in
+February, 1795; Prussia in April; Hanover, Westphalia, and Saxony in
+May; Spain and Hesse-Cassel in July; Switzerland and Denmark in
+August.
+
+Such was the state of France when Buonaparte came to seek his
+fortunes in the Sphinx-like capital. His artillery command had been
+commuted to a corresponding rank in the infantry--a step that deeply
+incensed him. He attributed it to malevolent intriguers; but all his
+efforts to obtain redress were in vain. Lacking money and patronage,
+known only as an able officer and facile intriguer of the bankrupt
+Jacobinical party, he might well have despaired. He was now almost
+alone. Marmont had gone off to the Army of the Rhine; but Junot was
+still with him, allured perhaps by Madame Permon's daughter, whom he
+subsequently married. At the house of this amiable hostess, an old
+friend of his family, Buonaparte found occasional relief from the
+gloom of his existence. The future Madame Junot has described him as
+at this time untidy, unkempt, sickly, remarkable for his extreme
+thinness and the almost yellow tint of his visage, which was, however,
+lit up by "two eyes sparkling with keenness and will-power"--evidently
+a Corsican falcon, pining for action, and fretting its soaring spirit
+in that vapid town life. Action Buonaparte might have had, but only of
+a kind that he loathed. He might have commanded the troops destined to
+crush the brave royalist peasants of La Vendée. But, whether from
+scorn of such vulture-work, or from an instinct that a nobler quarry
+might be started at Paris, he refused to proceed to the Army of the
+West, and on the plea of ill-health remained in the capital. There he
+spent his time deeply pondering on politics and strategy. He designed
+a history of the last two years, and drafted a plan of campaign for
+the Army of Italy, which, later on, was to bear him to fortune.
+Probably the geographical insight which it displayed may have led to
+his appointment (August 20th, 1795) to the topographical bureau of the
+Committee of Public Safety. His first thought on hearing of this
+important advancement was that it opened up an opportunity for
+proceeding to Turkey to organize the artillery of the Sultan; and in a
+few days he sent in a formal request to that effect--the first
+tangible proof of that yearning after the Orient which haunted him all
+through life. But, while straining his gaze eastwards, he experienced
+a sharp rebuff. The Committee was on the point of granting his
+request, when an examination of his recent conduct proved him guilty
+of a breach of discipline in not proceeding to his Vendéan command. On
+the very day when one department of the Committee empowered him to
+proceed to Constantinople, the Central Committee erased his name from
+the list of general officers (September 15th).
+
+This time the blow seemed fatal. But Fortune appeared to compass his
+falls only in order that he might the more brilliantly tower aloft.
+Within three weeks he was hailed as the saviour of the new republican
+constitution. The cause of this almost magical change in his prospects
+is to be sought in the political unrest of France, to which we must
+now briefly advert.
+
+All through this summer of 1795 there were conflicts between Jacobins
+and royalists. In the south the latter party had signally avenged
+itself for the agonies of the preceding years, and the ardour of the
+French temperament seemed about to drive that hapless people from the
+"Red Terror" to a veritable "White Terror," when two disasters checked
+the course of the reaction. An attempt of a large force of emigrant
+French nobles, backed up by British money and ships, to rouse Brittany
+against the Convention was utterly crushed by the able young Hoche;
+and nearly seven hundred prisoners were afterwards shot down in cold
+blood (July). Shortly before this blow, the little prince styled Louis
+XVII. succumbed to the brutal treatment of his gaolers at the Temple
+in Paris; and the hopes of the royalists now rested on the unpopular
+Comte de Provence. Nevertheless, the political outlook in the summer
+of 1795 was not reassuring to the republicans; and the Commission of
+Eleven, empowered by the Convention to draft new organic laws, drew up
+an instrument of government, which, though republican in form, seemed
+to offer all the stability of the most firmly rooted oligarchy. Some
+such compromise was perhaps necessary; for the Commonwealth was
+confronted by three dangers, anarchy resulting from the pressure of
+the mob, an excessive centralization of power in the hands of two
+committees, and the possibility of a _coup d'état_ by some pretender
+or adventurer. Indeed, the student of French history cannot fail to
+see that this is the problem which is ever before the people of
+France. It has presented itself in acute though diverse phases in
+1797,1799,1814, 1830, 1848, 1851, and in 1871. Who can say that the
+problem has yet found its complete solution?
+
+In some respects the constitution which the Convention voted in
+August, 1795, was skilfully adapted to meet the needs of the time.
+Though democratic in spirit, it granted a vote only to those citizens
+who had resided for a year in some dwelling and had paid taxes, thus
+excluding the rabble who had proved to be dangerous to any settled
+government. It also checked the hasty legislation which had brought
+ridicule on successive National Assemblies. In order to moderate the
+zeal for the manufacture of decrees, which had often exceeded one
+hundred a month, a second or revising chamber was now to be formed on
+the basis of age; for it had been found that the younger the deputies
+the faster came forth the fluttering flocks of decrees, that often
+came home to roost in the guise of curses. A senatorial guillotine, it
+was now proposed, should thin out the fledglings before they flew
+abroad at all. Of the seven hundred and fifty deputies of France, the
+two hundred and fifty oldest men were to form the Council of Ancients,
+having powers to amend or reject the proposals emanating from the
+Council of Five Hundred. In this Council were the younger deputies,
+and with them rested the sole initiation of laws. Thus the young
+deputies were to make the laws, but the older deputies were to amend
+or reject them; and this nice adjustment of the characteristics of
+youth and age, a due blending of enthusiasm with caution, promised to
+invigorate the body politic and yet guard its vital interests.
+Lastly, in order that the two Councils should continuously represent
+the feelings of France, one third of their members must retire for
+re-election every year, a device which promised to prevent any violent
+change in their composition, such as might occur if, at the end of
+their three years' membership, all were called upon to resign at once.
+
+But the real crux of constitution builders had hitherto been in the
+relations of the Legislature to the Executive. How should the brain of
+the body politic, that is, the Legislature, be connected with the
+hand, that is, the Executive? Obviously, so argued all French
+political thinkers, the two functions were distinct and must be kept
+separate. The results of this theory of the separation of powers were
+clearly traceable in the course of the Revolution. When the hand had
+been left almost powerless, as in 1791-2, owing to democratic jealousy
+of the royal Ministry, the result had been anarchy. The supreme needs
+of the State in the agonies of 1793 had rendered the hand omnipotent:
+the Convention, that is, the brain, was for some time powerless before
+its own instrument, the two secret committees. Experience now showed
+that the brain must exercise a general control over the hand, without
+unduly hampering its actions. Evidently, then, the deputies of France
+must intrust the details of administration to responsible Ministers,
+though some directing agency seemed needed as a spur to energy and a
+check against royalist plots. In brief, the Committee of Public
+Safety, purged of its more dangerous powers, was to furnish the model
+for a new body of five members, termed the Directory. This
+organism, which was to give its name to the whole period 1795-1799,
+was not the Ministry. There was no Ministry as we now use the term.
+There were Ministers who were responsible individually for their
+departments of State: but they never met for deliberation, or
+communicated with the Legislature; they were only heads of
+departments, who were responsible individually to the Directors. These
+five men formed a powerful committee, deliberating in private on the
+whole policy of the State and on all the work of the Ministers. The
+Directory had not, it is true, the right of initiating laws and of
+arbitrary arrest which the two committees had freely exercised during
+the Terror. Its dependence on the Legislature seemed also to be
+guaranteed by the Directors being appointed by the two legislative
+Councils; while one of the five was to vacate his office for
+re-election every year. But in other respects the directorial powers
+were almost as extensive as those wielded by the two secret
+committees, or as those which Bonaparte was to inherit from the
+Directory in 1799. They comprised the general control of policy in
+peace and war, the right to negotiate treaties (subject to
+ratification by the legislative councils), to promulgate laws voted by
+the Councils and watch over their execution, and to appoint or dismiss
+the Ministers of State.
+
+Such was the constitution which was proclaimed on September 22nd,
+1795, or 1st Vendémiaire, Year IV., of the revolutionary calendar. An
+important postscript to the original constitution now excited fierce
+commotions which enabled the young officer to repair his own shattered
+fortunes. The Convention, terrified at the thought of a general
+election, which might send up a malcontent or royalist majority,
+decided to impose itself on France for at least two years longer. With
+an effrontery unparalleled in parliamentary annals, it decreed that
+the law of the new constitution, requiring the re-election of
+one-third of the deputies every year, should now be applied to itself;
+and that the rest of its members should sit in the forthcoming
+Councils. At once a cry of disgust and rage arose from all who were
+weary of the Convention and all its works. "Down with the
+two-thirds!" was the cry that resounded through the streets of Paris.
+The movement was not so much definitely royalist as vaguely
+malcontent. The many were enraged by the existing dearth and by the
+failure of the Revolution to secure even cheap bread. Doubtless the
+royalists strove to drive on the discontent to the desired goal, and
+in many parts they tinged the movement with an unmistakably Bourbon
+tint. But it is fairly certain that in Paris they could not alone have
+fomented a discontent so general as that of Vendémiaire. That they
+would have profited by the defeat of the Convention is, however,
+equally certain. The history of the Revolution proves that those who
+at first merely opposed the excesses of the Jacobins gradually drifted
+over to the royalists. The Convention now found itself attacked in the
+very city which had been the chosen abode of Liberty and Equality.
+Some thirty thousand of the Parisian National Guards were determined
+to give short shrift to this Assembly that clung so indecently to
+life; and as the armies were far away, the Parisian malcontents seemed
+masters of the situation. Without doubt they would have been but for
+their own precipitation and the energy of Buonaparte.
+
+But how came he to receive the military authority which was so
+potently to influence the course of events? We left him in Fructidor
+disgraced: we find him in the middle of Vendémiaire leading part of
+the forces of the Convention. This bewildering change was due to the
+pressing needs of the Republic, to his own signal abilities, and to
+the discerning eye of Barras, whose career claims a brief notice.
+
+Paul Barras came of a Provençal family, and had an adventurous life
+both on land and in maritime expeditions. Gifted with a robust frame,
+consummate self-assurance, and a ready tongue, he was well equipped
+for intrigues, both amorous and political, when the outbreak of the
+Revolution gave his thoughts a more serious turn. Espousing the
+ultra-democratic side, he yet contrived to emerge unscathed from the
+schisms which were fatal to less dextrous trimmers. He was present at
+the siege of Toulon, and has striven in his "Mémoires" to disparage
+Buonaparte's services and exalt his own. At the crisis of Thermidor
+the Convention intrusted him with the command of the "army of the
+interior," and the energy which he then displayed gained for him the
+same position in the equally critical days of Vendémiaire. Though he
+subsequently carped at the conduct of Buonaparte, his action proved
+his complete confidence in that young officer's capacity: he at once
+sent for him, and intrusted him with most important duties. Herein
+lies the chief chance of immortality for the name of Barras; not that,
+as a terrorist, he slaughtered royalists at Toulon; not that he was
+the military chief of the Thermidorians, who, from fear of their own
+necks, ended the supremacy of Robespierre; not even that he degraded
+the new _régime_ by a cynical display of all the worst vices of the
+old; but rather because he was now privileged to hold the stirrup for
+the great captain who vaulted lightly into the saddle.
+
+The present crisis certainly called for a man of skill and
+determination. The malcontents had been emboldened by the timorous
+actions of General Menou, who had previously been intrusted with the
+task of suppressing the agitation. Owing to a praiseworthy desire to
+avoid bloodshed, that general wasted time in parleying with the most
+rebellious of the "sections" of Paris. The Convention now appointed
+Barras to the command, while Buonaparte, Brune, Carteaux, Dupont,
+Loison, Vachot, and Vézu were charged to serve under him.[32] Such was
+the decree of the Convention, which therefore refutes Napoleon's later
+claim that he was in command, and that of his admirers that he was
+second in command.
+
+Yet, intrusted from the outset by Barras with important duties, he
+unquestionably became the animating spirit of the defence. "From the
+first," says Thiébault, "his activity was astonishing: he seemed to be
+everywhere at once: he surprised people by his laconic, clear, and
+prompt orders: everybody was struck by the vigour of his arrangements,
+and passed from admiration to confidence, from confidence to
+enthusiasm." Everything now depended on skill and enthusiasm. The
+defenders of the Convention, comprising some four or five thousand
+troops of the line, and between one and two thousand patriots,
+gendarmes, and Invalides, were confronted by nearly thirty thousand
+National Guards. The odds were therefore wellnigh as heavy as those
+which menaced Louis XVI. on the day of his final overthrow. But the
+place of the yielding king was now filled by determined men, who saw
+the needs of the situation. In the earlier scenes of the Revolution,
+Buonaparte had pondered on the efficacy of artillery in
+street-fighting--a fit subject for his geometrical genius. With a few
+cannon, he knew that he could sweep all the approaches to the palace;
+and, on Barras' orders, he despatched a dashing cavalry officer,
+Murat--a name destined to become famous from Madrid to Moscow--to
+bring the artillery from the neighbouring camp of Sablons. Murat
+secured them before the malcontents of Paris could lay hands on them;
+and as the "sections" of Paris had yielded up their own cannon after
+the affrays of May, they now lacked the most potent force in
+street-fighting. Their actions were also paralyzed by divided
+counsels: their commander, an old general named Danican, moved his men
+hesitatingly; he wasted precious minutes in parleying, and thus gave
+time to Barras' small but compact force to fight them in detail.
+Buonaparte had skilfully disposed his cannon to bear on the royalist
+columns that threatened the streets north of the Tuileries. But for
+some time the two parties stood face to face, seeking to cajole or
+intimidate one another. As the autumn afternoon waned, shots were
+fired from some houses near the church of St. Roch, where the
+malcontents had their headquarters.[33] At once the streets became the
+scene of a furious fight; furious but unequal; for Buonaparte's cannon
+tore away the heads of the malcontent columns. In vain did the
+royalists pour in their volleys from behind barricades, or from the
+neighbouring houses: finally they retreated on the barricaded church,
+or fled down the Rue St. Honoré. Meanwhile their bands from across the
+river, 5,000 strong, were filing across the bridges, and menaced the
+Tuileries from that side, until here also they melted away before the
+grapeshot and musketry poured into their front and flank. By six
+o'clock the conflict was over. The fight presents few, if any,
+incidents which are authentic. The well-known engraving of Helman,
+which shows Buonaparte directing the storming of the church of St.
+Roch is unfortunately quite incorrect. He was not engaged there, but
+in the streets further east: the church was not stormed: the
+malcontents held it all through the night, and quietly surrendered it
+next morning.
+
+Such was the great day of Vendémiaire. It cost the lives of about two
+hundred on each side; at least, that is the usual estimate, which
+seems somewhat incongruous with the stories of fusillading and
+cannonading at close quarters, until we remember that it is the custom
+of memoir-writers and newspaper editors to trick out the details of a
+fight, and in the case of civil warfare to minimise the bloodshed.
+Certainly the Convention acted with clemency in the hour of victory:
+two only of the rebel leaders were put to death; and it is pleasing to
+remember that when Menou was charged with treachery, Buonaparte used
+his influence to procure his freedom.
+
+Bourrienne states that in his later days the victor deeply regretted
+his action in this day of Vendémiaire. The assertion seems
+incredible. The "whiff of grapeshot" crushed a movement which could
+have led only to present anarchy, and probably would have brought
+France back to royalism of an odious type. It taught a severe lesson
+to a fickle populace which, according to Mme. de Staël, was hungering
+for the spoils of place as much as for any political object. Of all
+the events of his post-Corsican life, Buonaparte need surely never
+have felt compunctions for Vendémiaire.[34]
+
+After four signal reverses in his career, he now enters on a path
+strewn with glories. The first reward for his signal services to the
+Republic was his appointment to be second in command of the army of
+the interior; and when Barras resigned the first command, he took that
+responsible post. But more brilliant honours were soon to follow, the
+first of a social character, the second purely military.
+
+Buonaparte had already appeared timidly and awkwardly at the _salon_
+of the voluptuous Barras, where the fair but frail Madame
+Tallien--Notre Dame de Thermidor she was styled--dazzled Parisian
+society by her classic features and the uncinctured grace of her
+attire. There he reappeared, not in the threadbare uniform that had
+attracted the giggling notice of that giddy throng, but as the lion of
+the society which his talents had saved. His previous attempts to gain
+the hand of a lady had been unsuccessful. He had been refused, first
+by Mlle. Clary, sister of his brother Joseph's wife, and quite
+recently by Madame Permon. Indeed, the scarecrow young officer had not
+been a brilliant match. But now he saw at that _salon_ a charming
+widow, Josephine de Beauharnais, whose husband had perished in the
+Terror. The ardour of his southern temperament, long repressed by his
+privations, speedily rekindles in her presence: his stiff, awkward
+manners thaw under her smiles: his silence vanishes when she praises
+his military gifts: he admires her tact, her sympathy, her beauty: he
+determines to marry her. The lady, on her part, seems to have been
+somewhat terrified by her uncanny wooer: she comments questioningly on
+his "violent tenderness almost amounting to frenzy": she notes
+uneasily his "keen inexplicable gaze which imposes even on our
+Directors": How would this eager nature, this masterful energy,
+consort with her own "Creole nonchalance"? She did well to ask herself
+whether the general's almost volcanic passion would not soon exhaust
+itself, and turn from her own fading charms to those of women who
+were his equals in age. Besides, when she frankly asked her own heart,
+she found that she loved him not: she only admired him. Her chief
+consolation was that if she married him, her friend Barras would help
+to gain for Buonaparte the command of the Army of Italy. The advice of
+Barras undoubtedly helped to still the questioning surmises of
+Josephine; and the wedding was celebrated, as a civil contract, on
+March 9th, 1796. With a pardonable coquetry, the bride entered her age
+on the register as four years less than the thirty-four which had
+passed over her: while her husband, desiring still further to lessen
+the disparity, entered his date of birth as 1768.
+
+A fortnight before the wedding, he had been appointed to command the
+Army of Italy: and after a honeymoon of two days at Paris, he left his
+bride to take up his new military duties. Clearly, then, there was
+some connection between this brilliant fortune and his espousal of
+Josephine. But the assertion that this command was the "dowry" offered
+by Barras to the somewhat reluctant bride is more piquant than
+correct. That the brilliance of Buonaparte's prospects finally
+dissipated her scruples may be frankly admitted. But the appointment
+to a command of a French army did not rest with Barras. He was only
+one of the five Directors who now decided the chief details of
+administration. His colleagues were Letourneur, Rewbell, La
+Réveillière-Lépeaux, and the great Carnot; and, as a matter of fact,
+it was the last-named who chiefly decided the appointment in question.
+
+He had seen and pondered over the plan of campaign which Buonaparte
+had designed for the Army of Italy; and the vigour of the conception,
+the masterly appreciation of topographical details which it displayed,
+and the trenchant energy of its style had struck conviction to his
+strategic genius. Buonaparte owed his command, not to a backstairs
+intrigue, as was currently believed in the army, but rather to his own
+commanding powers. While serving with the Army of Italy in 1794, he
+had carefully studied the coast-line and the passes leading inland;
+and, according to the well-known savant, Volney, the young officer,
+shortly after his release from imprisonment, sketched out to him and
+to a Commissioner of the Convention the details of the very plan of
+campaign which was to carry him victoriously from the Genoese Riviera
+into the heart of Austria.[35] While describing this masterpiece of
+strategy, says Volney, Buonaparte spoke as if inspired. We can fancy
+the wasted form dilating with a sense of power, the thin sallow cheeks
+aglow with enthusiasm, the hawk-like eyes flashing at the sight of the
+helpless Imperial quarry, as he pointed out on the map of Piedmont and
+Lombardy the features which would favour a dashing invader and carry
+him to the very gates of Vienna. The splendours of the Imperial Court
+at the Tuileries seem tawdry and insipid when compared with the
+intellectual grandeur which lit up that humble lodging at Nice with
+the first rays that heralded the dawn of Italian liberation.
+
+With the fuller knowledge which he had recently acquired, he now in
+January, 1796, elaborated this plan of campaign, so that it at once
+gained Carnot's admiration. The Directors forwarded it to General
+Schérer, who was in command of the Army of Italy, but promptly
+received the "brutal" reply that the man who had drafted the plan
+ought to come and carry it out. Long dissatisfied with Schérer's
+inactivity and constant complaints, the Directory now took him at his
+word, and replaced him by Buonaparte. Such is the truth about
+Buonaparte's appointment to the Army of Italy.
+
+To Nice, then, the young general set out (March 21st) accompanied, or
+speedily followed, by his faithful friends, Marmont and Junot, as well
+as by other officers of whose energy he was assured, Berthier, Murat,
+and Duroc. How much had happened since the early summer of 1795, when
+he had barely the means to pay his way to Paris! A sure instinct had
+drawn him to that hot-bed of intrigues. He had played a desperate
+game, risking his commission in order that he might keep in close
+touch with the central authority. His reward for this almost
+superhuman confidence in his own powers was correspondingly great; and
+now, though he knew nothing of the handling of cavalry and infantry
+save from books, he determined to lead the Army of Italy to a series
+of conquests that would rival those of Cæsar. In presence of a will so
+stubborn and genius so fervid, what wonder that a friend prophesied
+that his halting-place would be either the throne or the scaffold?
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+THE ITALIAN CAMPAIGN
+
+(1796)
+
+
+In the personality of Napoleon nothing is more remarkable than the
+combination of gifts which in most natures are mutually exclusive; his
+instincts were both political and military; his survey of a land took
+in not only the geographical environment but also the material welfare
+of the people. Facts, which his foes ignored, offered a firm fulcrum
+for the leverage of his will: and their political edifice or their
+military policy crumbled to ruin under an assault planned with
+consummate skill and pressed home with relentless force.
+
+For the exercise of all these gifts what land was so fitted as the
+mosaic of States which was dignified with the name of Italy?
+
+That land had long been the battle-ground of the Bourbons and the
+Hapsburgs; and their rivalries, aided by civic dissensions, had
+reduced the people that once had given laws to Europe into a condition
+of miserable weakness. Europe was once the battle-field of the Romans:
+Italy was now the battle-field of Europe. The Hapsburgs dominated the
+north, where they held the rich Duchy of Milan, along with the great
+stronghold of Mantua, and some scattered imperial fiefs. A scion of
+the House of Austria reigned at Florence over the prosperous Duchy of
+Tuscany. Modena and Lucca were under the general control of the Court
+of Vienna. The south of the peninsula, along with Sicily, was swayed
+by Ferdinand IV., a descendant of the Spanish Bourbons, who kept his
+people in a condition of mediæval ignorance and servitude; and this
+dynasty controlled the Duchy of Parma. The Papal States were also sunk
+in the torpor of the Middle Ages; but in the northern districts of
+Bologna and Ferrara, known as the "Legations," the inhabitants still
+remembered the time of their independence, and chafed under the
+irritating restraints of Papal rule. This was seen when the leaven of
+French revolutionary thought began to ferment in Italian towns. Two
+young men of Bologna were so enamoured of the new ideas, as to raise
+an Italian tricolour flag, green, white, and red, and summon their
+fellow-citizens to revolt against the rule of the Pope's legate
+(November, 1794). The revolt was crushed, and the chief offenders were
+hanged; but elsewhere the force of democracy made itself felt,
+especially among the more virile peoples of Northern Italy. Lombardy
+and Piedmont throbbed with suppressed excitement. Even when the King
+of Sardinia, Victor Amadeus III., was waging war against the French
+Republic, the men of Turin were with difficulty kept from revolt; and,
+as we have seen, the Austro-Sardinian alliance was powerless to
+recover Savoy and Nice from the soldiers of liberty or to guard the
+Italian Riviera from invasion.
+
+In fact, Bonaparte--for he henceforth spelt his name thus--detected
+the political weakness of the Hapsburgs' position in Italy. Masters of
+eleven distinct peoples north of the Alps, how could they hope
+permanently to dominate a wholly alien people south of that great
+mountain barrier? The many failures of the old Ghibelline or Imperial
+party in face of any popular impulse which moved the Italian nature to
+its depths revealed the artificiality of their rule. Might not such an
+impulse be imparted by the French Revolution? And would not the hopes
+of national freedom and of emancipation from feudal imposts fire these
+peoples with zeal for the French cause? Evidently there were vast
+possibilities in a democratic propaganda. At the outset Bonaparte's
+racial sympathies were warmly aroused for the liberation of
+Italy; and though his judgment was to be warped by the promptings of
+ambition, he never lost sight of the welfare of the people whence he
+was descended. In his "Memoirs written at St. Helena" he summed up his
+convictions respecting the Peninsula in this statesmanlike utterance:
+"Italy, isolated within its natural limits, separated by the sea and
+by very high mountains from the rest of Europe, seems called to be a
+great and powerful nation.... Unity in manners, language, literature
+ought finally, in a future more or less remote, to unite its
+inhabitants under a single government.... Rome is beyond doubt the
+capital which the Italians will one day choose." A prophetic saying:
+it came from a man who, as conqueror and organizer, awakened that
+people from the torpor of centuries and breathed into it something of
+his own indomitable energy.
+
+And then again, the Austrian possessions south of the Alps were
+difficult to hold for purely military reasons. They were separated
+from Vienna by difficult mountain ranges through which armies
+struggled with difficulty. True, Mantua was a formidable stronghold,
+but no fortress could make the Milanese other than a weak and
+straggling territory, the retention of which by the Court of Vienna
+was a defiance to the gospel of nature of which Rousseau was the
+herald and Bonaparte the militant exponent.
+
+The Austro-Sardinian forces were now occupying the pass which
+separates the Apennines from the Maritime Alps north of the town of
+Savona. They were accordingly near the headwaters of the Bormida and
+the Tanaro, two of the chief affluents of the River Po: and roads
+following those river valleys led, the one north-east, in the
+direction of Milan, the other north-west towards Turin, the Sardinian
+capital. A wedge of mountainous country separated these roads as they
+diverged from the neighbourhood of Montenotte. Here obviously was the
+vulnerable point of the Austro-Sardinian position. Here therefore
+Bonaparte purposed to deliver his first strokes, foreseeing that,
+should he sever the allies, he would have in his favour every
+advantage both political and topographical.
+
+All this was possible to a commander who could overcome the initial
+difficulties. But these difficulties were enormous. The position of
+the French Army of Italy in March, 1796, was precarious. Its
+detachments, echelonned near the coast from Savona to Loano, and
+thence to Nice, or inland to the Col di Tende, comprised in all
+42,000 men, as against the Austro-Sardinian forces amounting to
+52,000 men.[36] Moreover, the allies occupied strong positions on the
+northern slopes of the Maritime Alps and Apennines, and, holding the
+inner and therefore shorter curve, they could by a dextrous
+concentration have pushed their more widely scattered opponents on to
+the shore, where the republicans would have been harassed by the guns
+of the British cruisers. Finally, Bonaparte's troops were badly
+equipped, worse clad, and were not paid at all. On his arrival at Nice
+at the close of March, the young commander had to disband one
+battalion for mutinous conduct.[37] For a brief space it seemed
+doubtful how the army would receive this slim, delicate-looking youth,
+known hitherto only as a skilful artillerist at Toulon and in the
+streets of Paris. But he speedily gained the respect and confidence of
+the rank and file, not only by stern punishment of the mutineers, but
+by raising money from a local banker, so as to make good some of the
+long arrears of pay. Other grievances he rectified by prompt
+reorganization of the commissariat and kindred departments. But, above
+all, by his burning words he thrilled them: "Soldiers, you are half
+starved and half naked. The Government owes you much, but can do
+nothing for you. Your patience and courage are honourable to you, but
+they procure you neither advantage nor glory. I am about to lead you
+into the most fertile valleys of the world: there you will find
+flourishing cities and teeming provinces: there you will reap honour,
+glory, and riches. Soldiers of the Army of Italy, will you lack
+courage?" Two years previously so open a bid for the soldiers'
+allegiance would have conducted any French commander forthwith to the
+guillotine.
+
+[Illustration: MAP TO ILLUSTRATE THE CAMPAIGNS IN NORTH ITALY.]
+
+But much had changed since the days of Robespierre's supremacy;
+Spartan austerity had vanished; and the former insane jealousy of
+individual pre-eminence was now favouring a startling reaction which
+was soon to install the one supremely able man as absolute master of
+France.
+
+Bonaparte's conduct produced a deep impression alike on troops and
+officers. From Masséna his energy and his trenchant orders extorted
+admiration: and the tall swaggering Augereau shrank beneath the
+intellectual superiority of his gaze. Moreover, at the beginning of
+April the French received reinforcements which raised their total to
+49,300 men, and gave them a superiority of force; for though the
+allies had 52,000, yet they were so widely scattered as to be inferior
+in any one district. Besides, the Austrian commander, Beaulieu, was
+seventy-one years of age, had only just been sent into Italy, with
+which land he was ill acquainted, and found one-third of his troops
+down with sickness.[38]
+
+Bonaparte now began to concentrate his forces near Savona. Fortune
+favoured him even before the campaign commenced. The snows of winter,
+still lying on the mountains, though thawing on the southern slopes,
+helped to screen his movements from the enemy's outposts; and the
+French vanguard pushed along the coastline even as far as Voltri. This
+movement was designed to coerce the Senate of Genoa into payment of a
+fine for its acquiescence in the seizure of a French vessel by a
+British cruiser within its neutral roadstead; but it served to alarm
+Beaulieu, who, breaking up his cantonments, sent a strong column
+towards that city. At the time this circumstance greatly annoyed
+Bonaparte, who had hoped to catch the Imperialists dozing in their
+winter quarters. Yet it is certain that the hasty move of their left
+flank towards Voltri largely contributed to that brilliant opening of
+Bonaparte's campaign, which his admirers have generally regarded as
+due solely to his genius.[39] For, when Beaulieu had thrust his column
+into the broken coast district between Genoa and Voltri, he severed it
+dangerously far from his centre, which marched up the valley of the
+eastern branch of the Bormida to occupy the passes of the Apennines
+north of Savona. This, again, was by no means in close touch with the
+Sardinian allies encamped further to the west in and beyond Ceva.
+Beaulieu, writing at a later date to Colonel Graham, the English
+_attaché_ at his headquarters, ascribed his first disasters to
+Argenteau, his lieutenant at Montenotte, who employed only a third of
+the forces placed under his command. But division of forces was
+characteristic of the Austrians in all their operations, and they now
+gave a fine opportunity to any enterprising opponent who should crush
+their weak and unsupported centre. In obedience to orders from Vienna,
+Beaulieu assumed the offensive; but he brought his chief force to bear
+on the French vanguard at Voltri, which he drove in with some loss.
+While he was occupying Voltri, the boom of cannon echoing across the
+mountains warned his outposts that the real campaign was opening in
+the broken country north of Savona.[40] There the weak Austrian centre
+had occupied a ridge or plateau above the village of Montenotte,
+through which ran the road leading to Alessandria and Milan.
+Argenteau's attack partly succeeded: but the stubborn bravery of a
+French detachment checked it before the redoubt which commanded the
+southern prolongation of the heights named Monte-Legino.[41]
+
+Such was the position of affairs when Bonaparte hurried up. On the
+following day (April 12th), massing the French columns of attack
+under cover of an early morning mist, he moved them to their
+positions, so that the first struggling rays of sunlight revealed to
+the astonished Austrians the presence of an army ready to crush their
+front and turn their flanks. For a time the Imperialists struggled
+bravely against the superior forces in their front; but when Masséna
+pressed round their right wing, they gave way and beat a speedy
+retreat to save themselves from entire capture. Bonaparte took no
+active share in the battle: he was, very properly, intent on the wider
+problem of severing the Austrians from their allies, first by the
+turning movement of Masséna, and then by pouring other troops into the
+gap thus made. In this he entirely succeeded. The radical defects in
+the Austrian dispositions left them utterly unable to withstand the
+blows which he now showered upon them. The Sardinians were too far
+away on the west to help Argenteau in his hour of need: they were in
+and beyond Ceva, intent on covering the road to Turin: whereas, as
+Napoleon himself subsequently wrote, they should have been near enough
+to their allies to form one powerful army, which, at Dego or
+Montenotte, would have defended both Turin and Milan. "United, the two
+forces would have been superior to the French army: separated, they
+were lost."
+
+The configuration of the ground favoured Bonaparte's plan of driving
+the Imperialists down the valley of the Bormida in a north-easterly
+direction; and the natural desire of a beaten general to fall back
+towards his base of supplies also impelled Beaulieu and Argenteau to
+retire towards Milan. But that would sever their connections with the
+Sardinians, whose base of supplies, Turin, lay in a north-westerly
+direction.
+
+Bonaparte therefore hurled his forces at once against the Austrians
+and a Sardinian contingent at Millesimo, and defeated them, Augereau's
+division cutting off the retreat of twelve hundred of their men under
+Provera. Weakened by this second blow, the allies fell back on the
+intrenched village of Dego. Their position was of a strength
+proportionate to its strategic importance; for its loss would
+completely sever all connection between their two main armies save by
+devious routes many miles in their rear. They therefore clung
+desperately to the six mamelons and redoubts which barred the valley
+and dominated some of the neighbouring heights. Yet such was the
+superiority of the French in numbers that these positions were
+speedily turned by Masséna, whom Bonaparte again intrusted with the
+movement on the enemy's flank and rear. A strange event followed. The
+victors, while pillaging the country for the supplies which
+Bonaparte's sharpest orders failed to draw from the magazines and
+stores on the sea-coast, were attacked in the dead of night by five
+Austrian battalions that had been ordered up to support their
+countrymen at Dego. These, after straying among the mountains, found
+themselves among bands of the marauding French, whom they easily
+scattered, seizing Dego itself. Apprised of this mishap, Bonaparte
+hurried up more troops from the rear, and on the 15th recovered the
+prize which had so nearly been snatched from his grasp. Had Beaulieu
+at this time thrown all his forces on the French, he might have
+retrieved his first misfortunes: but foresight and energy were not to
+be found at the Austrian headquarters: the surprise at Dego was the
+work of a colonel; and for many years to come the incompetence of
+their aged commanders was to paralyze the fine fighting qualities of
+the "white-coats." In three conflicts they had been outmanoeuvred and
+outnumbered, and drew in their shattered columns to Acqui.
+
+The French commander now led his columns westward against the
+Sardinians, who had fallen back on their fortified camp at Ceva, in
+the upper valley of the Tanaro. There they beat off one attack of the
+French. A check in front of a strongly intrenched position was
+serious. It might have led to a French disaster, had the Austrians
+been able to bring aid to their allies. Bonaparte even summoned a
+council of war to deliberate on the situation. As a rule, a council of
+war gives timid advice. This one strongly advised a second attack on
+the camp--a striking proof of the ardour which then nerved the
+republican generals. Not yet were they _condottieri_ carving out
+fortunes by their swords: not yet were they the pampered minions of an
+autocrat, intent primarily on guarding the estates which his favour
+had bestowed. Timidity was rather the mark of their opponents. When
+the assault on the intrenchments of Ceva was about to be renewed, the
+Sardinian forces were discerned filing away westwards. Their general
+indulged the fond hope of holding the French at bay at several
+strong natural positions on his march. He was bitterly to rue his
+error. The French divisions of Sérurier and Dommartin closed in on
+him, drove him from Mondovi, and away towards Turin.
+
+Bonaparte had now completely succeeded. Using to the full the
+advantage of his central position between the widely scattered
+detachments of his foes, he had struck vigorously at their natural
+point of junction, Montenotte, and by three subsequent successes--for
+the evacuation of Ceva can scarcely be called a French victory--had
+forced them further and further apart until Turin was almost within
+his power.
+
+It now remained to push these military triumphs to their natural
+conclusion, and impose terms of peace on the House of Savoy, which was
+secretly desirous of peace. The Directors had ordered Bonaparte that
+he should seek to detach Sardinia from the Austrian alliance by
+holding out the prospect of a valuable compensation for the loss of
+Savoy and Nice in the fertile Milanese.[42] The prospect of this rich
+prize would, the Directors surmised, dissolve the Austro-Sardinian
+alliance, as soon as the allies had felt the full vigour of the French
+arms. Not that Bonaparte himself was to conduct these negotiations. He
+was to forward to the Directory all offers of submission. Nay, he was
+not empowered to grant on his own responsibility even an armistice. He
+was merely to push the foe hard, and feed his needy soldiers on the
+conquered territory. He was to be solely a general, never a
+negotiator.
+
+The Directors herein showed keen jealousy or striking ignorance of
+military affairs. How could he keep the Austrians quiet while envoys
+passed between Turin and Paris? All the dictates of common sense
+required him to grant an armistice to the Court of Turin before the
+Austrians could recover from their recent disasters. But the King of
+Sardinia drew him from a perplexing situation by instructing Colli to
+make overtures for an armistice as preliminary to a peace. At once the
+French commander replied that such powers belonged to the Directory;
+but as for an armistice, it would only be possible if the Court of
+Turin placed in his hands three fortresses, Coni, Tortona, and
+Alessandria, besides guaranteeing the transit of French armies through
+Piedmont and the passage of the Po at Valenza. Then, with his
+unfailing belief in accomplished facts, Bonaparte pushed on his troops
+to Cherasco.
+
+Near that town he received the Piedmontese envoys; and from the pen of
+one of them we have an account of the general's behaviour in his first
+essay in diplomacy. His demeanour was marked by that grave and frigid
+courtesy which was akin to Piedmontese customs. In reply to the
+suggestions of the envoys that some of the conditions were of little
+value to the French, he answered: "The Republic, in intrusting to me
+the command of an army, has credited me with possessing enough
+discernment to judge of what that army requires, without having
+recourse to the advice of my enemy." Apart, however, from this
+sarcasm, which was uttered in a hard and biting voice, his tone was
+coldly polite. He reserved his home thrust for the close of the
+conference. When it had dragged on till considerably after noon with
+no definite result, he looked at his watch and exclaimed: "Gentlemen,
+I warn you that a general attack is ordered for two o'clock, and that
+if I am not assured that Coni will be put in my hands before
+nightfall, the attack will not be postponed for one moment. It may
+happen to me to lose battles, but no one shall ever see me lose
+minutes either by over-confidence or by sloth." The terms of the
+armistice of Cherasco were forthwith signed (April 28th); they were
+substantially the same as those first offered by the victor. During
+the luncheon which followed, the envoys were still further impressed
+by his imperturbable confidence and trenchant phrases; as when he told
+them that the campaign was the exact counterpart of what he had
+planned in 1794; or described a council of war as a convenient device
+for covering cowardice or irresolution in the commander; or asserted
+that nothing could now stop him before the walls of Mantua.[43]
+
+As a matter of fact, the French army was at that time so disorganized
+by rapine as scarcely to have withstood a combined and vigorous attack
+by Beaulieu and Colli. The republicans, long exposed to hunger and
+privations, were now revelling in the fertile plains of Piedmont.
+Large bands of marauders ranged the neighbouring country, and the
+regiments were often reduced to mere companies. From the grave risks
+of this situation Bonaparte was rescued by the timidity of the Court
+of Turin, which signed the armistice at Cherasco eighteen days after
+the commencement of the campaign. A fortnight later the preliminaries
+of peace were signed between France and the King of Sardinia, by which
+the latter yielded up his provinces of Savoy and Nice, and renounced
+the alliance with Austria. Great indignation was felt in the
+Imperialist camp at this news; and it was freely stated that the
+Piedmontese had let themselves be beaten in order to compass a peace
+that had been tacitly agreed upon in the month of January.[44]
+
+Even before this auspicious event, Bonaparte's despatches to the
+Directors were couched in almost imperious terms, which showed that he
+felt himself the master of the situation. He advised them as to their
+policy towards Sardinia, pointing out that, as Victor Amadeus had
+yielded up three important fortresses, he was practically in the hands
+of the French: "If you do not accept peace with him, if your plan is
+to dethrone him, you must amuse him for a few decades[45] and must
+warn me: I then seize Valenza and march on Turin." In military
+affairs the young general showed that he would brook no interference
+from Paris. He requested the Directory to draft 15,000 men from
+Kellermann's Army of the Alps to reinforce him: "That will give me an
+army of 45,000 men, of which possibly I may send a part to Rome. If
+you continue your confidence and approve these plans, I am sure of
+success: Italy is yours." Somewhat later, the Directors proposed to
+grant the required reinforcements, but stipulated for the retention of
+part of the army in the Milanese _under the command of Kellermann_.
+Thereupon Bonaparte replied (May 14th) that, as the Austrians had been
+reinforced, it was highly impolitic to divide the command. Each
+general had his own way of making war. Kellermann, having more
+experience, would doubtless do it better: but both together would do
+it very badly.
+
+Again the Directors had blundered. In seeking to subject Bonaparte to
+the same rules as had been imposed on all French generals since the
+treason of Dumouriez in 1793, they were doubtless consulting the vital
+interests of the Commonwealth. But, while striving to avert all
+possibilities of Cæsarism, they now sinned against that elementary
+principle of strategy which requires unity of design in military
+operations. Bonaparte's retort was unanswerable, and nothing more was
+heard of the luckless proposal.
+
+Meanwhile the peace with the House of Savoy had thrown open the
+Milanese to Bonaparte's attack. Holding three Sardinian fortresses, he
+had an excellent base of operations; for the lands restored to the
+King of Sardinia were to remain subject to requisitions for the French
+army until the general peace. The Austrians, on the other hand, were
+weakened by the hostility of their Italian subjects, and, worst of
+all, they depended ultimately on reinforcements drawn from beyond the
+Alps by way of Mantua. In the rich plains of Lombardy they, however,
+had one advantage which was denied to them among the rocks of the
+Apennines. Their generals could display the tactical skill on which
+they prided themselves, and their splendid cavalry had some chance of
+emulating the former exploits of the Hungarian and Croatian horse.
+They therefore awaited the onset of the French, little dismayed by
+recent disasters, and animated by the belief that their antagonist,
+unversed in regular warfare, would at once lose in the plains the
+bubble reputation gained in ravines. But the country in the second
+part of this campaign was not less favourable to Bonaparte's peculiar
+gifts than that in which he had won his first laurels as commander.
+Amidst the Apennines, where only small bodies of men could be moved, a
+general inexperienced in the handling of cavalry and infantry could
+make his first essays in tactics with fair chances of success. Speed,
+energy, and the prompt seizure of a commanding central position were
+the prime requisites; the handling of vast masses of men was
+impossible. The plains of Lombardy facilitated larger movements; but
+even here the numerous broad swift streams fed by the Alpine snows,
+and the network of irrigating dykes, favoured the designs of a young
+and daring leader who saw how to use natural obstacles so as to baffle
+and ensnare his foes. Bonaparte was now to show that he excelled his
+enemies, not only in quickness of eye and vigour of intellect, but
+also in the minutiæ of tactics and in those larger strategic
+conceptions which decide the fate of nations. In the first place,
+having the superiority of force, he was able to attack. This is an
+advantage at all times: for the aggressor can generally mislead his
+adversary by a series of feints until the real blow can be delivered
+with crushing effect. Such has been the aim of all great leaders from
+the time of Epaminondas and Alexander, Hannibal and Cæsar, down to the
+age of Luxembourg, Marlborough, and Frederick the Great. Aggressive
+tactics were particularly suited to the French soldiery, always eager,
+active, and intelligent, and now endowed with boundless enthusiasm in
+their cause and in their leader.
+
+Then again he was fully aware of the inherent vice of the Austrian
+situation. It was as if an unwieldy organism stretched a vulnerable
+limb across the huge barrier of the Alps, exposing it to the attack of
+a compacter body. It only remained for Bonaparte to turn against his
+foes the smaller geographical features on which they too implicitly
+relied. Beaulieu had retired beyond the Po and the Ticino, expecting
+that the attack on the Milanese would be delivered across the latter
+stream by the ordinary route, which crossed it at Pavia. Near that
+city the Austrians occupied a strong position with 26,000 men, while
+other detachments patrolled the banks of the Ticino further north, and
+those of the Po towards Valenza, only 5,000 men being sent towards
+Piacenza. Bonaparte, however, was not minded to take the ordinary
+route. He determined to march, not as yet on the north of the River
+Po, where snow-swollen streams coursed down from the Alps, but rather
+on the south side, where the Apennines throw off fewer streams and
+also of smaller volume. From the fortress of Tortona he could make a
+rush at Piacenza, cross the Po there, and thus gain the Milanese
+almost without a blow. To this end he had stipulated in the recent
+terms of peace that he might cross the Po at Valenza; and now, amusing
+his foes by feints on that side, he vigorously pushed his main columns
+along the southern bank of the Po, where they gathered up all the
+available boats. The vanguard, led by the impetuous Lannes, seized the
+ferry at Piacenza, before the Austrian horse appeared, and scattered a
+squadron or two which strove to drive them back into the river (May
+7th).
+
+Time was thus gained for a considerable number of French to cross the
+river in boats or by the ferry. Working under the eye of their leader,
+the French conquered all obstacles: a bridge of boats soon spanned
+the stream, and was defended by a _tête de pont_; and with forces
+about equal in number to Liptay's Austrians, the republicans advanced
+northwards, and, after a tough struggle, dislodged their foes from the
+village of Fombio. This success drove a solid wedge between Liptay and
+his commander-in-chief, who afterwards bitterly blamed him, first for
+retreating, and secondly for not reporting his retreat to
+headquarters.
+
+It would appear, however, that Liptay had only 5,000 men (not the
+8,000 which Napoleon and French historians have credited to him), that
+he was sent by Beaulieu to Piacenza too late to prevent the crossing
+by the French, and that at the close of the fight on the following day
+he was completely cut off from communicating with his superior.
+Beaulieu, with his main force, advanced on Fombio, stumbled on the
+French, where he looked to find Liptay, and after a confused fight
+succeeded in disengaging himself and withdrawing towards Lodi, where
+the high-road leading to Mantua crossed the River Adda. To that stream
+he directed his remaining forces to retire. He thereby left Milan
+uncovered (except for the garrison which held the citadel), and
+abandoned more than the half of Lombardy; but, from the military point
+of view, his retreat to the Adda was thoroughly sound. Yet here again
+a movement strategically correct was marred by tactical blunders. Had
+he concentrated all his forces at the nearest point of the Adda which
+the French could cross, namely Pizzighetone, he would have rendered
+any flank march of theirs to the northward extremely hazardous; but he
+had not yet sufficiently learned from his terrible teacher the need of
+concentration; and, having at least three passages to guard, he kept
+his forces too spread out to oppose a vigorous move against any one of
+them. Indeed, he despaired of holding the line of the Adda, and
+retired eastwards with a great part of his army.
+
+Consequently, when Bonaparte, only three days after the seizure of
+Piacenza, threw his almost undivided force against the town of Lodi,
+his passage was disputed only by the rearguard, whose anxiety to cover
+the retreat of a belated detachment far exceeded their determination
+to defend the bridge over the Adda. This was a narrow structure, some
+eighty fathoms long, standing high above the swift but shallow river.
+Resolutely held by well-massed troops and cannon, it might have cost
+the French a severe struggle: but the Imperialists were badly
+handled: some were posted in and around the town which was between the
+river and the advancing French; and the weak walls of Lodi were soon
+escaladed by the impetuous republicans. The Austrian commander,
+Sebottendorf, now hastily ranged his men along the eastern bank of the
+river, so as to defend the bridge and prevent any passage of the river
+by boats or by a ford above the town. The Imperialists numbered only
+9,627 men; they were discouraged by defeats and by the consciousness
+that no serious stand could be attempted before they reached the
+neighbourhood of Mantua; and their efforts to break down the bridge
+were now frustrated by the French, who, posted behind the walls of
+Lodi on the higher bank of the stream, swept their opponents' position
+with a searching artillery fire. Having shaken the constancy of his
+foes and refreshed his own infantry by a brief rest in Lodi, Bonaparte
+at 6 p.m. secretly formed a column of his choicest troops and hurled
+it against the bridge. A hot fire of grapeshot and musketry tore its
+front, and for a time the column bent before the iron hail. But,
+encouraged by the words of their young leader, generals, corporals,
+and grenadiers pressed home their charge. This time, aided by
+sharp-shooters who waded to islets in the river, the assailants
+cleared the bridge, bayoneted the Austrian cannoneers, attacked the
+first and second lines of supporting foot, and, when reinforced,
+compelled horse and foot to retreat towards Mantua.[46]
+Such was the affair of Lodi (May 10th). A legendary
+glamour hovers around all the details of this conflict and invests it
+with fictitious importance. Beaulieu's main force was far away, and
+there was no hope of entrapping anything more than the rear of his
+army. Moreover, if this were the object, why was not the flank move of
+the French cavalry above Lodi pushed home earlier in the fight? This,
+if supported by infantry, could have outflanked the enemy while the
+perilous rush was made against the bridge; and such a turning movement
+would probably have enveloped the Austrian force while it was being
+shattered in front. That is the view in which the strategist,
+Clausewitz, regards this encounter. Far different was the impression
+which it created among the soldiers and Frenchmen at large. They
+valued a commander more for bravery of the bull-dog type than for any
+powers of reasoning and subtle combination. These, it is true,
+Bonaparte had already shown. He now enchanted the soldiery by dealing
+a straight sharp blow. It had a magical effect on their minds. On the
+evening of that day the French soldiers, with antique republican
+_camaraderie_, saluted their commander as _le petit caporal_ for his
+personal bravery in the fray, and this endearing phrase helped to
+immortalize the affair of the bridge of Lodi.[47] It shot a thrill of
+exultation through France. With pardonable exaggeration, men told how
+he charged at the head of the column, and, with Lannes, was the first
+to reach the opposite side; and later generations have figured him
+charging before his tall grenadiers--a feat that was actually
+performed by Lannes, Berthier, Masséna, Cervoni, and Dallemagne. It
+was all one. Bonaparte alone was the hero of the day. He reigned
+supreme in the hearts of the soldiers, and he saw the importance of
+this conquest. At St. Helena he confessed to Montholon that it was the
+victory of Lodi which fanned his ambition into a steady flame.
+
+A desire of stimulating popular enthusiasm throughout Italy impelled
+the young victor to turn away from his real objective, the fortress of
+Mantua, to the political capital of Lombardy. The people of Milan
+hailed their French liberators with enthusiasm: they rained flowers on
+the bronzed soldiers of liberty, and pointed to their tattered
+uniforms and worn-out shoes as proofs of their triumphant energy:
+above all, they gazed with admiration, not unmixed with awe, at the
+thin pale features of the young commander, whose plain attire bespoke
+a Spartan activity, whose ardent gaze and decisive gestures proclaimed
+a born leader of men. Forthwith he arranged for the investment of the
+citadel where eighteen hundred Austrians held out: he then received
+the chief men of the city with easy Italian grace; and in the evening
+he gave a sumptuous ball, at which all the dignity, wealth, and beauty
+of the old Lombard capital shone resplendent. For a brief space all
+went well between the Lombards and their liberators. He received with
+flattering distinction the chief artists and men of letters, and also
+sought to quicken the activity of the University of Pavia. Political
+clubs and newspapers multiplied throughout Lombardy; and actors,
+authors, and editors joined in a pæan of courtly or fawning praise, to
+the new Scipio, Cæsar, Hannibal, and Jupiter.
+
+There were other reasons why the Lombards should worship the young
+victor. Apart from the admiration which a gifted race ever feels for
+so fascinating a combination of youthful grace with intellectual power
+and martial prowess, they believed that this Italian hero would call
+the people to political activity, perchance even to national
+independence. For this their most ardent spirits had sighed,
+conspired, or fought during the eighty-three years of the Austrian
+occupation. Ever since the troublous times of Dante there had been
+prophetic souls who caught the vision of a new Italy, healed of her
+countless schisms, purified from her social degradations, and uniting
+the prowess of her ancient life with the gentler arts of the present
+for the perfection of her own powers and for the welfare of mankind.
+The gleam of this vision had shone forth even amidst the thunder claps
+of the French Revolution; and now that the storm had burst over the
+plains of Lombardy, ecstatic youths seemed to see the vision embodied
+in the person of Bonaparte himself. At the first news of the success
+at Lodi the national colours were donned as cockades, or waved
+defiance from balconies and steeples to the Austrian garrisons. All
+truly Italian hearts believed that the French victories heralded the
+dawn of political freedom not only for Lombardy, but for the whole
+peninsula.
+
+Bonaparte's first actions increased these hopes. He abolished the
+Austrian machinery of government, excepting the Council of State, and
+approved the formation of provisional municipal councils and of a
+National Guard. At the same time, he wrote guardedly to the Directors
+at Paris, asking whether they proposed to organize Lombardy as a
+republic, as it was much more ripe for this form of government than
+Piedmont. Further than this he could not go; but at a later date he
+did much to redeem his first promises to the people of Northern Italy.
+
+The fair prospect was soon overclouded by the financial measures urged
+on the young commander from Paris, measures which were disastrous to
+the Lombards and degrading to the liberators themselves. The Directors
+had recently bidden him to press hard on the Milanese, and levy large
+contributions in money, provisions, and objects of art, seeing that
+they did not intend to keep this country.[48] Bonaparte accordingly
+issued a proclamation (May 19th), imposing on Lombardy the sum of
+twenty million francs, remarking that it was a very light sum for so
+fertile a country. Only two days before he had in a letter to the
+Directors described it as exhausted by five years of war. As for the
+assertion that the army needed this sum, it may be compared with his
+private notification to the Directory, three days after his
+proclamation, that they might speedily count on six to eight millions
+of the Lombard contribution, as lying ready at their disposal, "it
+being over and above what the army requires." This is the first
+definite suggestion by Bonaparte of that system of bleeding conquered
+lands for the benefit of the French Exchequer, which enabled him
+speedily to gain power over the Directors. Thenceforth they began to
+connive at his diplomatic irregularities, and even to urge on his
+expeditions into wealthy districts, provided that the spoils went to
+Paris; while the conqueror, on his part, was able tacitly to assume
+that tone of authority with which the briber treats the bribed.[49]
+
+The exaction of this large sum, and of various requisites for the
+army, as well as the "extraction" of works of art for the benefit of
+French museums, at once aroused the bitterest feelings. The loss of
+priceless treasures, such as the manuscript of Virgil which had
+belonged to Petrarch, and the masterpieces of Raphael and Leonardo da
+Vinci, might perhaps have been borne: it concerned only the cultured
+few, and their effervescence was soon quelled by patrols of French
+cavalry. Far different was it with the peasants between Milan and
+Pavia. Drained by the white-coats, they now refused to be bled for the
+benefit of the blue-coats of France. They rushed to arms. The city of
+Pavia defied the attack of a French column until cannon battered in
+its gates. Then the republicans rushed in, massacred all the armed men
+for some hours, and glutted their lust and rapacity. By order of
+Bonaparte, the members of the municipal council were condemned to
+execution; but a delay occurred before this ferocious order was
+carried out, and it was subsequently mitigated. Two hundred hostages
+were, however, sent away into France as a guarantee for the good
+behaviour of the unfortunate city: whereupon the chief announced to
+the Directory that this would serve as a useful lesson to the peoples
+of Italy.
+
+In one sense this was correct. It gave the Italians a true insight
+into French methods; and painful emotions thrilled the peoples of the
+peninsula when they realized at what a price their liberation was to
+be effected. Yet it is unfair to lay the chief blame on Bonaparte for
+the pillage of Lombardy. His actions were only a development of
+existing revolutionary customs; but never had these demoralizing
+measures been so thoroughly enforced as in the present system of
+liberation and blackmail. Lombardy was ransacked with an almost Vandal
+rapacity. Bonaparte desired little for himself. His aim ever was power
+rather than wealth. Riches he valued only as a means to political
+supremacy. But he took care to place the Directors and all his
+influential officers deeply in his debt. To the five _soi-disant_
+rulers of France he sent one hundred horses, the finest that could be
+found in Lombardy, to replace "the poor creatures which now draw your
+carriages";[50] to his officers his indulgence was passive, but
+usually effective. Marmont states that Bonaparte once reproached him
+for his scrupulousness in returning the whole of a certain sum which
+he had been commissioned to recover. "At that time," says Marmont, "we
+still retained a flower of delicacy on these subjects." This Alpine
+gentian was soon to fade in the heats of the plains. Some generals
+made large fortunes, eminently so Masséna, first in plunder as in the
+fray. And yet the commander, who was so lenient to his generals,
+filled his letters to the Directory with complaints about the cloud of
+French commissioners, dealers, and other civilian harpies who battened
+on the spoil of Lombardy. It seems impossible to avoid the conclusion
+that this indulgence towards the soldiers and severity towards
+civilians was the result of a fixed determination to link indissolubly
+to his fortunes the generals and rank and file. The contrast in his
+behaviour was often startling. Some of the civilians he imprisoned:
+others he desired to shoot; but as the hardiest robbers had generally
+made to themselves friends of the military mammon of unrighteousness,
+they escaped with a fine ridiculously out of proportion to their
+actual gains.[51]
+
+The Dukes of Parma and Modena were also mulcted. The former of these,
+owing to his relationship with the Spanish Bourbons, with whom the
+Directory desired to remain on friendly terms, was subjected to the
+fine of merely two million francs and twenty masterpieces of art,
+these last to be selected by French commissioners from the galleries
+of the duchy; but the Duke of Modena, who had assisted the Austrian
+arms, purchased his pardon by an indemnity of ten million francs, and
+by the cession of twenty pictures, the chief artistic treasures of his
+States.[52] As Bonaparte naïvely stated to the Directors, the duke had
+no fortresses or guns; consequently these could not be demanded from
+him.
+
+From this degrading work Bonaparte strove to wean his soldiers by
+recalling them to their nobler work of carrying on the enfranchisement
+of Italy. In a proclamation (May 20th) which even now stirs the blood
+like a trumpet call, he bade his soldiers remember that, though much
+had been done, a far greater task yet awaited them. Posterity must not
+reproach them for having found their Capua in Lombardy. Rome was to be
+freed: the Eternal City was to renew her youth and show again the
+virtues of her ancient worthies, Brutus and Scipio. Then France would
+give a glorious peace to Europe; then their fellow-citizens would say
+of each champion of liberty as he returned to his hearth: "He was of
+the Army of Italy." By such stirring words did he entwine with the
+love of liberty that passion for military glory which was destined to
+strangle the Republic.
+
+Meanwhile the Austrians had retired behind the banks of the Mincio and
+the walls of its guardian fortress, Mantua. Their position was one of
+great strength. The river, which carries off the surplus waters of
+Lake Garda, joins the River Po after a course of some thirty miles.
+Along with the tongue-like cavity occupied by its parent lake, the
+river forms the chief inner barrier to all invaders of Italy. From
+the earliest times down to those of the two Napoleons, the banks of
+the Mincio have witnessed many of the contests which have decided the
+fortunes of the peninsula. On its lower course, where the river widens
+out into a semicircular lagoon flanked by marshes and backwaters, is
+the historic town of Mantua. For this position, if we may trust the
+picturesque lines of Mantua's noblest son,[53] the three earliest
+races of Northern Italy had striven; and when the power of imperial
+Rome was waning, the fierce Attila pitched his camp on the banks of
+the Mincio, and there received the pontiff Leo, whose prayers and
+dignity averted the threatening torrent of the Scythian horse.
+
+It was by this stream, famed in war as in song, that the Imperialists
+now halted their shattered forces, awaiting reinforcements from Tyrol.
+These would pass down the valley of the Adige, and in the last part of
+their march would cross the lands of the Venetian Republic. For this
+action there was a long-established right of way, which did not
+involve a breach of the neutrality of Venice. But, as some of the
+Austrian troops had straggled on to the Venetian territory south of
+Brescia, the French commander had no hesitation in openly violating
+Venetian neutrality by the occupation of that town (May 26th).
+Augereau's division was also ordered to push on towards the west shore
+of Lake Garda, and there collect boats as if a crossing were intended.
+Seeing this, the Austrians seized the small Venetian fortress of
+Peschiera, which commands the exit of the Mincio from the lake, and
+Venetian neutrality was thenceforth wholly disregarded.
+
+By adroit moves on the borders of the lake, Bonaparte now sought to
+make Beaulieu nervous about his communications with Tyrol through the
+river valley of the Adige; he completely succeeded: seeking to guard
+the important positions on that river between Rivoli and Roveredo,
+Beaulieu so weakened his forces on the Mincio, that at Borghetto and
+Valeggio he had only two battalions and ten squadrons of horse, or
+about two thousand men. Lannes' grenadiers, therefore, had little
+difficulty in forcing a passage on May 30th, whereupon Beaulieu
+withdrew to the upper Adige, highly satisfied with himself for having
+victualled the fortress of Mantua so that it could withstand a long
+siege. This was, practically, his sole achievement in the campaign.
+Outnumbered, outgeneralled, bankrupt in health as in reputation, he
+soon resigned his command, but not before he had given signs of
+"downright dotage."[54] He had, however, achieved immortality: his
+incapacity threw into brilliant relief the genius of his young
+antagonist, and therefore appreciably affected the fortunes of Italy
+and of Europe.
+
+Bonaparte now despatched Masséna's division northwards, to coop up the
+Austrians in the narrow valley of the upper Adige, while other
+regiments began to close in on Mantua. The peculiarities of the ground
+favoured its investment. The semicircular lagoon which guards Mantua
+on the north, and the marshes on the south side, render an assault
+very difficult; but they also limit the range of ground over which
+sorties can be made, thereby lightening the work of the besiegers; and
+during part of the blockade Napoleon left fewer than five thousand men
+for this purpose. It was clear, however, that the reduction of Mantua
+would be a tedious undertaking, such as Bonaparte's daring and
+enterprising genius could ill brook, and that his cherished design of
+marching northwards to effect a junction with Moreau on the Danube was
+impossible. Having only 40,400 men with him at midsummer, he had
+barely enough to hold the line of the Adige, to blockade Mantua, and
+to keep open his communications with France.
+
+At the command of the Directory he turned southward against feebler
+foes. The relations between the Papal States and the French Republic
+had been hostile since the assassination of the French envoy,
+Basseville, at Rome, in the early days of 1793; but the Pope, Pius
+VI., had confined himself to anathemas against the revolutionists and
+prayers for the success of the First Coalition.
+
+This conduct now drew upon him a sharp blow. French troops crossed the
+Po and seized Bologna, whereupon the terrified cardinals signed an
+armistice with the republican commander, agreeing to close all their
+States to the English, and to admit a French garrison to the port of
+Ancona. The Pope also consented to yield up "one hundred pictures,
+busts, vases, or statues, as the French Commissioners shall determine,
+among which shall especially be included the bronze bust of Junius
+Brutus and the marble bust of Marcus Brutus, together with five
+hundred manuscripts." He was also constrained to pay 15,500,000
+francs, besides animals and goods such as the French agents should
+requisition for their army, exclusive of the money and materials drawn
+from the districts of Bologna and Ferrara. The grand total, in money,
+and in kind, raised from the Papal States in this profitable raid, was
+reckoned by Bonaparte himself as 34,700,000 francs,[55] or about;
+£1,400,000--a liberal assessment for the life of a single envoy and
+the _bruta fulmina_ of the Vatican.
+
+Equally lucrative was a dash into Tuscany. As the Grand Duke of this
+fertile land had allowed English cruisers and merchants certain
+privileges at Leghorn, this was taken as a departure from the
+neutrality which he ostensibly maintained since the signature of a
+treaty of peace with France in 1795. A column of the republicans now
+swiftly approached Leghorn and seized much valuable property from
+British merchants. Yet the invaders failed to secure the richest of
+the hoped-for plunder; for about forty English merchantmen sheered off
+from shore as the troops neared the seaport, and an English frigate,
+swooping down, carried off two French vessels almost under the eyes of
+Bonaparte himself. This last outrage gave, it is true, a slight
+excuse for the levying of requisitions in Leghorn and its environs;
+yet, according to the memoir-writer, Miot de Melito, this unprincipled
+action must be attributed not to Bonaparte, but to the urgent needs of
+the French treasury and the personal greed of some of the Directors.
+Possibly also the French commissioners and agents, who levied
+blackmail or selected pictures, may have had some share in the shaping
+of the Directorial policy: at least, it is certain that some of them,
+notably Salicetti, amassed a large fortune from the plunder of
+Leghorn. In order to calm the resentment of the Grand Duke, Bonaparte
+paid a brief visit to Florence. He was received in respectful silence
+as he rode through the streets where his ancestors had schemed for the
+Ghibelline cause. By a deft mingling of courtesy and firmness the new
+conqueror imposed his will on the Government of Florence, and then
+sped northward to press on the siege of Mantua.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+THE FIGHTS FOR MANTUA
+
+
+The circumstances which recalled Bonaparte to the banks of the Mincio
+were indeed serious. The Emperor Francis was determined at all costs
+to retain his hold on Italy by raising the siege of that fortress; and
+unless the French commander could speedily compass its fall, he had
+the prospect of fighting a greatly superior army while his rear was
+threatened by the garrison of Mantua. Austria was making unparalleled
+efforts to drive this presumptuous young general from a land which she
+regarded as her own political preserve. Military historians have
+always been puzzled to account for her persistent efforts in 1796-7 to
+re-conquer Lombardy. But, in truth, the reasons are diplomatic, not
+military, and need not be detailed here. Suffice it to say that,
+though the Hapsburg lands in Swabia were threatened by Moreau's Army
+of the Rhine, Francis determined at all costs to recover his Italian
+possessions.
+
+To this end the Emperor now replaced the luckless Beaulieu by General
+Würmser, who had gained some reputation in the Rhenish campaigns; and,
+detaching 25,000 men from his northern armies to strengthen his army
+on the Adige, he bade him carry the double-headed eagle of Austria
+victoriously into the plains of Italy. Though too late to relieve the
+citadel of Milan, he was to strain every nerve to relieve Mantua; and,
+since the latest reports represented the French as widely dispersed
+for the plunder of Central Italy, the Emperor indulged the highest
+hopes of Würmser's success.[56]
+
+Possibly this might have been attained had the Austrian Emperor and
+staff understood the absolute need of concentration in attacking a
+commander who had already demonstrated its supreme importance in
+warfare. Yet the difficulties of marching an army of 47,000 men
+through the narrow defile carved by the Adige through the Tyrolese
+Alps, and the wide extent of the French covering lines, led to the
+adoption of a plan which favoured rapidity at the expense of security.
+Würmser was to divide his forces for the difficult march southward
+from Tyrol into Italy. In defence of this arrangement much could be
+urged. To have cumbered the two roads, which run on either side of the
+Adige from Trient towards Mantua, with infantry, cavalry, artillery,
+and the countless camp-followers, animals, and wagons that follow an
+army, would have been fatal alike to speed of marching and to success
+in mountain warfare. Even in the campaign of 1866 the greatest
+commander of this generation carried out his maxim, "March in separate
+columns: unite for fighting." But Würmser and the Aulic Council[57] at
+Vienna neglected to insure that reunion for attack, on which von
+Moltke laid such stress in his Bohemian campaign. The Austrian forces
+in 1796 were divided by obstacles which could not quickly be crossed,
+namely, by Lake Garda and the lofty mountains which tower above the
+valley of the Adige. Assuredly the Imperialists were not nearly strong
+enough to run any risks. The official Austrian returns show that the
+total force assembled in Tyrol for the invasion of Italy amounted to
+46,937 men, not to the 60,000 as pictured by the imagination of Thiers
+and other French historians. As Bonaparte had in Lombardy-Venetia
+fully 45,000 men (including 10,000 now engaged in the siege of
+Mantua), scattered along a front of fifty miles from Milan to Brescia
+and Legnago, the incursion of Würmser's force, if the French were held
+to their separate positions by diversions against their flanks, must
+have proved decisive. But the fault was committed of so far dividing
+the Austrians that nowhere could they deal a crushing blow.
+Quosdanovich with 17,600 men was to take the western side of Lake
+Garda, seize the French magazines at Brescia, and cut their
+communications with Milan and France: the main body under Würmser,
+24,300 strong, was meanwhile to march in two columns on either bank of
+the Adige, drive the French from Rivoli and push on towards Mantua:
+and yet a third division, led by Davidovich from the district of
+Friuli on the east, received orders to march on Vicenza and Legnago,
+in order to distract the French from that side, and possibly relieve
+Mantua if the other two onsets failed.
+
+Faulty as these dispositions were, they yet seriously disconcerted
+Bonaparte. He was at Montechiaro, a village situated on the road
+between Brescia and Mantua, when, on July 29th, he heard that the
+white-coats had driven in Masséna's vanguard above Rivoli on the
+Adige, were menacing other positions near Verona and Legnago, and were
+advancing on Brescia. As soon as the full extent of the peril was
+manifest, he sent off ten despatches to his generals, ordering a
+concentration of troops--these, of course, fighting so as to delay the
+pursuit--towards the southern end of Lake Garda. This wise step
+probably saved his isolated forces from disaster. It was at that point
+that the Austrians proposed to unite their two chief columns and crush
+the French detachments. But, by drawing in the divisions of Masséna
+and Augereau towards the Mincio, Bonaparte speedily assembled a
+formidable array, and held the central position between the eastern
+and western divisions of the Imperialists. He gave up the important
+defensive line of the Adige, it is true; but by promptly rallying on
+the Mincio, he occupied a base that was defended on the north by the
+small fortress of Peschiera and the waters of Lake Garda. Holding the
+bridges over the Mincio, he could strike at his assailants wherever
+they should attack; above all, he still covered the siege of Mantua.
+Such were his dispositions on July 29th and 30th. On the latter day he
+heard of the loss of Brescia, and the consequent cutting of his
+communications with Milan. Thereupon he promptly ordered Sérurier, who
+was besieging Mantua, to make a last vigorous effort to take that
+fortress, but also to assure his retreat westwards if fortune failed
+him. Later in the day he ordered him forthwith to send away his
+siege-train, throwing into the lake or burying whatever he could not
+save from the advancing Imperialists.
+
+This apparently desperate step, which seemed to forebode the
+abandonment not only of the siege of Mantua, but of the whole of
+Lombardy, was in reality a masterstroke. Bonaparte had perceived the
+truth, which the campaigns of 1813 and 1870 were abundantly to
+illustrate--that the possession of fortresses, and consequently their
+siege by an invader, is of secondary importance when compared with a
+decisive victory gained in the open. When menaced by superior forces
+advancing towards the south of Lake Garda, he saw that he must
+sacrifice his siege works, even his siege-train, in order to gain for
+a few precious days that superiority in the field which the division
+of the Imperialist columns still left to him.
+
+The dates of these occurrences deserve close scrutiny; for they
+suffice to refute some of the exorbitant claims made at a later time
+by General Augereau, that only his immovable firmness forced Bonaparte
+to fight and to change his dispositions of retreat into an attack
+which re-established everything. This extraordinary assertion,
+published by Augereau after he had deserted Napoleon in 1814, is
+accompanied by a detailed recital of the events of July 30th-August
+5th, in which Bonaparte appears as the dazed and discouraged
+commander, surrounded by pusillanimous generals, and urged on to fight
+solely by the confidence of Augereau. That the forceful energy of this
+general had a great influence in restoring the _morale_ of the French
+army in the confused and desperate movements which followed may freely
+be granted. But his claims to have been the main spring of the French
+movements in those anxious days deserve a brief examination. He
+asserts that Bonaparte, "devoured by anxieties," met him at Roverbella
+late in the evening of July 30th, and spoke of retiring beyond the
+River Po. The official correspondence disproves this assertion.
+Bonaparte had already given orders to Sérurier to retire beyond the Po
+with his artillery train; but this was obviously an attempt to save it
+from the advancing Austrians; and the commander had ordered the
+northern part of the French besieging force to join Augereau between
+Roverbella and Goito. Augereau further asserts that, after he had
+roused Bonaparte to the need of a dash to recover Brescia, the
+commander-in-chief remarked to Berthier, "In that case we must raise
+the siege of Mantua," which again he (Augereau) vigorously opposed.
+This second statement is creditable neither to Augereau's accuracy nor
+to his sagacity. The order for the raising of the siege had been
+issued, and it was entirely necessary for the concentration of French
+troops, on which Bonaparte now relied as his only hope against
+superior force. Had Bonaparte listened to Augereau's advice and
+persisted still in besieging Mantua, the scattered French forces must
+have been crushed in detail. Augereau's words are those of a mere
+fighter, not of a strategist; and the timidity which he ungenerously
+attributed to Bonaparte was nothing but the caution which a superior
+intellect saw to be a necessary prelude to a victorious move.
+
+That the fighting honours of the ensuing days rightly belong to
+Augereau may be frankly conceded. With forces augmented by the
+northern part of the besiegers of Mantua, he moved rapidly westwards
+from the Mincio against Brescia, and rescued it from the vanguard of
+Quosdanovich (August 1st). On the previous day other Austrian
+detachments had also, after obstinate conflicts, been worsted near
+Salo and Lonato. Still, the position was one of great perplexity: for
+though Masséna's division from the Adige was now beginning to come
+into touch with Bonaparte's chief force, yet the fronts of Würmser's
+columns were menacing the French from that side, while the troops of
+Quosdanovich, hovering about Lonato and Salo, struggled desperately to
+stretch a guiding hand to their comrades on the Mincio.
+
+Würmser was now discovering his error. Lured towards Mantua by false
+reports that the French were still covering the siege, he had marched
+due south when he ought to have rushed to the rescue of his
+hard-pressed lieutenant at Brescia. Entering Mantua, he enjoyed a
+brief spell of triumph, and sent to the Emperor Francis the news of
+the capture of 40 French cannon in the trenches, and of 139 more on
+the banks of the Po. But, while he was indulging the fond hope that
+the French were in full retreat from Italy, came the startling news
+that they had checked Quosdanovich at Brescia and Salo. Realizing his
+errors, and determining to retrieve them before all was lost, he at
+once pushed on his vanguard towards Castiglione, and easily gained
+that village and its castle from a French detachment commanded by
+General Valette.
+
+The feeble defence of so important a position threw Bonaparte into one
+of those transports of fury which occasionally dethroned his better
+judgment. Meeting Valette at Montechiaro, he promptly degraded him to
+the ranks, refusing to listen to his plea of having received a written
+order to retire. A report of General Landrieux asserts that the rage
+of the commander-in-chief was so extreme as for the time even to
+impair his determination. The outlook was gloomy. The French seemed
+about to be hemmed in amidst the broken country between Castiglione,
+Brescia, and Salo. A sudden attack on the Austrians was obviously the
+only safe and honourable course. But no one knew precisely their
+numbers or their position. Uncertainty ever preyed on Bonaparte's
+ardent imagination. His was a mind that quailed not before visible
+dangers; but, with all its powers of decisive action, it retained so
+much of Corsican eeriness as to chafe at the unknown,[58] and to lose
+for the moment the faculty of forming a vigorous resolution. Like the
+python, which grips its native rock by the tail in order to gain its
+full constricting power, so Bonaparte ever needed a groundwork of fact
+for the due exercise of his mental force.
+
+One of a group of generals, whom he had assembled about him near
+Montechiaro, proposed that they should ascend the hill which dominated
+the plain. Even from its ridge no Austrians were to be seen. Again the
+commander burst forth with petulant reproaches, and even talked of
+retiring to the Adda. Whereupon, if we may trust the "Memoirs" of
+General Landrieux, Augereau protested against retreat, and promised
+success for a vigorous charge. "I wash my hands of it, and I am going
+away," replied Bonaparte. "And who will command, if you go?" inquired
+Augereau. "You," retorted Bonaparte, as he left the astonished circle.
+
+However this may be, the first attack on Castiglione was certainly
+left to this determined fighter; and the mingling of boldness and
+guile which he showed on the following day regained for the French not
+only the village, but also the castle, perched on a precipitous rock.
+Yet the report of Colonel Graham, who was then at Marshal Würmser's
+headquarters, somewhat dulls the lustre of Augereau's exploit; for the
+British officer asserts that the Austrian position had been taken up
+quite by haphazard, and that fewer than 15,000 white-coats were
+engaged in this first battle of Castiglione. Furthermore, the
+narratives of this _mêlée_ written by Augereau himself and by two
+other generals, Landrieux and Verdier, who were disaffected towards
+Bonaparte, must naturally be received with much reserve. The effect of
+Augereau's indomitable energy in restoring confidence to the soldiers
+and victory to the French tricolour was, however, generously admitted
+by the Emperor Napoleon; for, at a later time when complaints were
+being made about Augereau, he generously exclaimed: "Ah, let us not
+forget that he saved us at Castiglione."[59]
+
+While Augereau was recovering this important position, confused
+conflicts were raging a few miles further north at Lonato. Masséna at
+first was driven back by the onset of the Imperialists; but while they
+were endeavouring to envelop the French, Bonaparte arrived, and in
+conjunction with Masséna pushed on a central attack such as often
+wrested victory from the enemy. The white-coats retired in disorder,
+some towards Gavardo, others towards the lake, hotly followed by the
+French. In the pursuit towards Gavardo, Bonaparte's old friend,
+Junot, distinguished himself by his dashing valour. He wounded a
+colonel, slew six troopers, and, covered with wounds, was finally
+overthrown into a ditch. Such is Bonaparte's own account. It is
+gratifying to know that the wounds neither singly nor collectively
+were dangerous, and did not long repress Junot's activity. A tinge of
+romance seems, indeed, to have gilded many of these narratives; and a
+critical examination of the whole story of Lonato seems to suggest
+doubts whether the victory was as decisive as historians have often
+represented. If the Austrians were "thrown back on Lake Garda and
+Desenzano,"[60] it is difficult to see why the pursuers did not drive
+them into the lake. As a matter of fact, nearly all the beaten troops
+escaped to Gavardo, while others joined their comrades engaged in the
+blockade of Peschiera.
+
+A strange incident serves to illustrate the hazards of war and the
+confusion of this part of the campaign. A detachment of the vanquished
+Austrian forces some 4,000 strong, unable to join their comrades at
+Gavardo or Peschiera, and yet unharmed by the victorious pursuers,
+wandered about on the hills, and on the next day chanced near Lonato
+to come upon a much smaller detachment of French. Though unaware of
+the full extent of their good fortune, the Imperialists boldly sent an
+envoy to summon the French commanding officer to surrender. When the
+bandage was taken from his eyes, he was abashed to find himself in the
+presence of Bonaparte, surrounded by the generals of his staff. The
+young commander's eyes flashed fire at the seeming insult, and in
+tones vibrating with well-simulated passion he threatened the envoy
+with condign punishment for daring to give such a message to the
+commander-in-chief at his headquarters in the midst of his army. Let
+him and his men forthwith lay down their arms. Dazed by the demand,
+and seeing only the victorious chief and not the smallness of his
+detachment, 4,000 Austrians surrendered to 1,200 French, or rather to
+the address and audacity of one master-mind.
+
+Elated by this augury of further victory, the republicans prepared for
+the decisive blow. Würmser, though checked on August 3rd, had been so
+far reinforced from Mantua as still to indulge hopes of driving the
+French from Castiglione and cutting his way through to rescue
+Quosdanovich. He was, indeed, in honour bound to make the attempt; for
+the engagement had been made, with the usual futility that dogged the
+Austrian councils, to reunite their forces and _fight the French on
+the 7th of August_. These cast-iron plans were now adhered to in spite
+of their dislocation at the hands of Bonaparte and Augereau. Würmser's
+line stretched from near the village of Médole in a north-easterly
+direction across the high-road between Brescia and Mantua; while his
+right wing was posted in the hilly country around Solferino. In fact,
+his extreme right rested on the tower-crowned heights of Solferino,
+where the forces of Austria two generations later maintained so
+desperate a defence against the onset of Napoleon III. and his
+liberating army.
+
+Owing to the non-arrival of Mezaros' corps marching from Legnago,
+Würmser mustered scarcely twenty-five thousand men on his long line;
+while the very opportune approach of part of Sérurier's division,
+under the lead of Fiorella, from the south, gave the French an
+advantage even in numbers. Moreover, Fiorella's advance on the south
+of Würmser's weaker flank, that near Médole, threatened to turn it and
+endanger the Austrian communications with Mantua. The Imperialists
+seem to have been unaware of this danger; and their bad scouting here
+as elsewhere was largely responsible for the issue of the day.
+Würmser's desire to stretch a helping hand to Quosdanovich near Lonato
+and his confidence in the strength of his own right wing betrayed him
+into a fatal imprudence. Sending out feelers after his hard-pressed
+colleague on the north, he dangerously prolonged his line, an error in
+which he was deftly encouraged by Bonaparte, who held back his own
+left wing. Meanwhile the French were rolling in the other extremity of
+the Austrian line. Marmont, dashing forward with the horse artillery,
+took the enemy's left wing in flank and silenced many of their pieces.
+Under cover of this attack, Fiorella's division was able to creep up
+within striking distance; and the French cavalry, swooping round the
+rear of this hard-pressed wing, nearly captured Würmser and his staff.
+A vigorous counterattack by the Austrian reserves, or an immediate
+wheeling round of the whole line, was needed to repulse this brilliant
+flank attack; but the Austrian reserves had been expended in the north
+of their line; and an attempt to change front, always a difficult
+operation, was crushed by a headlong charge of Masséna's and
+Augereau's divisions on their centre. Before these attacks the whole
+Austrian line gave way; and, according to Colonel Graham, nothing but
+this retreat, undertaken "without orders," saved the whole force from
+being cut off. The criticisms of our officer sufficiently reveal the
+cause of the disaster. The softness and incapacity of Würmser, the
+absence of a responsible second in command, the ignorance of the
+number and positions of the French, the determination to advance
+towards Castiglione and to wait thereabouts for Quosdanovich until a
+battle could be fought with combined forces on the 7th, the taking up
+a position almost by haphazard on the Castiglione-Médole line, and the
+failure to detect Fiorella's approach, present a series of defects and
+blunders which might have given away the victory to a third-rate
+opponent.[61]
+
+The battle was by no means sanguinary: it was a series of manoeuvres
+rather than of prolonged conflicts. Hence its interest to all who by
+preference dwell on the intellectual problems of warfare rather than
+on the details of fighting. Bonaparte had previously shown that he
+could deal blows with telling effect. The ease and grace of his moves
+at the second battle of Castiglione now redeemed the reputation which
+his uncertain behaviour on the four preceding days had somewhat
+compromised.
+
+A complete and authentic account of this week of confused fighting has
+never been written. The archives of Vienna have not as yet yielded up
+all their secrets; and the reputations of so many French officers were
+over-clouded by this prolonged _mêlée_ as to render even the victors'
+accounts vague and inconsistent. The aim of historians everywhere to
+give a clear and vivid account, and the desire of Napoleonic
+enthusiasts to represent their hero as always thinking clearly and
+acting decisively, have fused trusty ores and worthless slag into an
+alloy which has passed for true metal. But no student of Napoleon's
+"Correspondence," of the "Memoirs" of Marmont, and of the recitals of
+Augereau, Dumas, Landrieux, Verdier, Despinois and others, can hope
+wholly to unravel the complications arising from the almost continuous
+conflicts that extended over a dozen leagues of hilly country. War is
+not always dramatic, however much the readers of campaigns may yearn
+after thrilling narratives. In regard to this third act of the Italian
+campaign, all that can safely be said is that Bonaparte's intuition to
+raise the siege of Mantua, in order that he might defeat in detail the
+relieving armies, bears the imprint of genius: but the execution of
+this difficult movement was unequal, even at times halting; and the
+French army was rescued from its difficulties only by the grand
+fighting qualities of the rank and file, and by the Austrian blunders,
+which outnumbered those of the republican generals.
+
+Neither were the results of the Castiglione cycle of battles quite so
+brilliant as have been represented. Würmser and Quasdanovich lost in
+all 17,000 men, it is true: but the former had re-garrisoned and
+re-victualled Mantua, besides capturing all the French siege-train.
+Bonaparte's primary aim had been to reduce Mantua, so that he might be
+free to sweep through Tyrol, join hands with Moreau, and overpower the
+white-coats in Bavaria. The aim of the Aulic Council and Würmser had
+been to relieve Mantua and restore the Hapsburg rule over Lombardy.
+Neither side had succeeded. But the Austrians could at least point to
+some successes; and, above all, Mantua was in a better state of
+defence than when the French first approached its walls: and while
+Mantua was intact, Bonaparte was held to the valley of the Mincio, and
+could not deal those lightning blows on the Inn and the Danube which
+he ever regarded as the climax of the campaign. Viewed on its material
+side, his position was no better than it was before Würmser's
+incursion into the plains of Venetia.[62]
+
+With true Hapsburg tenacity, Francis determined on further efforts for
+the relief of Mantua. Apart from the promptings of dynastic pride, his
+reasons for thus obstinately struggling against Alpine gorges, Italian
+sentiment, and Bonaparte's genius, are wellnigh inscrutable; and
+military writers have generally condemned this waste of resources on
+the Brenta, which, if hurled against the French on the Rhine, would
+have compelled the withdrawal of Bonaparte from Italy for the defence
+of Lorraine. But the pride of the Emperor Francis brooked no surrender
+of his Italian possessions, and again Würmser was spurred on from
+Vienna to another invasion of Venetia. It would be tedious to give an
+account of Würmser's second attempt, which belongs rather to the
+domain of political fatuity than that of military history. Colonel
+Graham states that the Austrian rank and file laughed at their
+generals, and bitterly complained that they were being led to the
+shambles, while the officers almost openly exclaimed: "We must make
+peace, for we don't know how to make war." This was again apparent.
+Bonaparte forestalled their attack. Their divided forces fell an easy
+prey to Masséna, who at Bassano cut Würmser's force to pieces and sent
+the _débris_ flying down the valley of the Brenta. Losing most of
+their artillery, and separated in two chief bands, the Imperialists
+seemed doomed to surrender: but Würmser, doubling on his pursuers,
+made a dash westwards, finally cutting his way to Mantua. There again
+he vainly endeavoured to make a stand. He was driven from his
+positions in front of St. Georges and La Favorita, and was shut up in
+the town itself. This addition to the numbers of the garrison was no
+increase to its strength; for the fortress, though well provisioned
+for an ordinary garrison, could not support a prolonged blockade, and
+the fevers of the early autumn soon began to decimate troops worn out
+by forced marches and unable to endure the miasma ascending from the
+marshes of the Mincio.
+
+The French also were wearied by their exertions in the fierce heats of
+September. Murmurs were heard in the ranks and at the mess tables that
+Bonaparte's reports of these exploits were tinged by favouritism
+and by undue severity against those whose fortune had been less
+conspicuous than their merits. One of these misunderstandings was of
+some importance. Masséna, whose services had been brilliant at Bassano
+but less felicitous since the crossing of the Adige, reproached
+Bonaparte for denying praise to the most deserving and lavishing it on
+men who had come in opportunely to reap the labours of others. His
+written protest, urged with the old republican frankness, only served
+further to cloud over the relations between them, which, since Lonato,
+had not been cordial.[63] Even thus early in his career Bonaparte
+gained the reputation of desiring brilliant and entire success, and of
+visiting with his displeasure men who, from whatever cause, did not
+wrest from Fortune her utmost favours. That was his own mental
+attitude towards the fickle goddess. After entering Milan he cynically
+remarked to Marmont: "Fortune is a woman; and the more she does for
+me, the more I will require of her." Suggestive words, which explain
+at once the splendour of his rise and the rapidity of his fall.
+
+During the few weeks of comparative inaction which ensued, the affairs
+of Italy claimed his attention. The prospect of an Austrian
+re-conquest had caused no less concern to the friends of liberty in
+the peninsula than joy to the reactionary coteries of the old
+sovereigns. At Rome and Naples threats against the French were
+whispered or openly vaunted. The signature of the treaties of peace
+was delayed, and the fulminations of the Vatican were prepared against
+the sacrilegious spoilers. After the Austrian war-cloud had melted
+away, the time had come to punish prophets of evil. The Duke of Modena
+was charged with allowing a convoy to pass from his State to the
+garrison of Mantua, and with neglecting to pay the utterly impossible
+fine to which Bonaparte had condemned him. The men of Reggio and
+Modena were also encouraged to throw off his yoke and to confide in
+the French. Those of Reggio succeeded; but in the city of Modena
+itself the ducal troops repressed the rising. Bonaparte accordingly
+asked the advice of the Directory; but his resolution was already
+formed. Two days after seeking their counsel, he took the decisive
+step of declaring Modena and Reggio to be under the protection of
+France. This act formed an exceedingly important departure in the
+history of France as well as in that of Italy. Hitherto the Directory
+had succeeded in keeping Bonaparte from active intervention in affairs
+of high policy. In particular, it had enjoined on him the greatest
+prudence with regard to the liberated lands of Italy, so as not to
+involve France in prolonged intervention in the peninsula, or commit
+her to a war _à outrance_ with the Hapsburgs; and its warnings were
+now urged with all the greater emphasis because news had recently
+reached Paris of a serious disaster to the French arms in Germany. But
+while the Directors counselled prudence, Bonaparte forced their hand
+by declaring the Duchy of Modena to be under the protection of France;
+and when their discreet missive reached him, he expressed to them his
+regret that it had come too late. By that time (October 24th) he had
+virtually founded a new State, for whose security French honour was
+deeply pledged. This implied the continuance of the French occupation
+of Northern Italy and therefore a prolongation of Bonaparte's command.
+
+It was not the Duchy of Modena alone which felt the invigorating
+influence of democracy and nationality. The Papal cities of Bologna
+and Ferrara had broken away from the Papal sway, and now sent deputies
+to meet the champions of liberty at Modena and found a free
+commonwealth. There amidst great enthusiasm was held the first truly
+representative Italian assembly that had met for many generations; and
+a levy of 2,800 volunteers, styled the Italian legion, was decreed.
+Bonaparte visited these towns, stimulated their energy, and bade the
+turbulent beware of his vengeance, which would be like that of "the
+exterminating angel." In a brief space these districts were formed
+into the Cispadane Republic, destined soon to be merged into a yet
+larger creation. A new life breathed from Modena and Bologna into
+Central Italy. The young republic forthwith abolished all feudal laws,
+decreed civic equality, and ordered the convocation at Bologna of a
+popularly elected Assembly for the Christmas following. These events
+mark the first stage in the beginning of that grand movement, _Il
+Risorgimento,_ which after long delays was finally consummated in
+1870.
+
+This period of Bonaparte's career may well be lingered over by those
+who value his invigorating influence on Italian life more highly than
+his military triumphs. At this epoch he was still the champion of the
+best principles of the Revolution; he had overthrown Austrian
+domination in the peninsula, and had shaken to their base domestic
+tyrannies worse than that of the Hapsburgs. His triumphs were as yet
+untarnished. If we except the plundering of the liberated and
+conquered lands, an act for which the Directory was primarily
+responsible, nothing was at this time lacking to the full orb of his
+glory. An envoy bore him the welcome news that the English, wearied by
+the intractable Corsicans, had evacuated the island of his birth; and
+he forthwith arranged for the return of many of the exiles who had
+been faithful to the French Republic. Among these was Salicetti, who
+now returned for a time to his old insular sphere; while his former
+_protégé_ was winning a world-wide fame. Then, turning to the affairs
+of Central Italy, the young commander showed his diplomatic talents to
+be not a whit inferior to his genius for war. One instance of this
+must here suffice. He besought the Pope, who had broken off the
+lingering negotiations with France, not to bring on his people the
+horrors of war.[64] The beauty of this appeal, as also of a somewhat
+earlier appeal to the Emperor Francis at Vienna, is, however,
+considerably marred by other items which now stand revealed in
+Bonaparte's instructive correspondence. After hearing of the French
+defeats in Germany, he knew that the Directors could spare him very
+few of the 25,000 troops whom he demanded as reinforcements.
+
+
+He was also aware that the Pope, incensed at his recent losses in
+money and lands, was seeking to revivify the First Coalition. The
+pacific precepts addressed by the young Corsican to the Papacy must
+therefore be viewed in the light of merely mundane events and of his
+secret advice to the French agent at Rome: "The great thing is to gain
+time.... Finally, the game really is for us to throw the ball from one
+to the other, so as to deceive this old fox."[65]
+
+From these diplomatic amenities the general was forced to turn to the
+hazards of war. Gauging Bonaparte's missive at its true worth, the
+Emperor determined to re-conquer Italy, an enterprise that seemed well
+within his powers. In the month of October victory had crowned the
+efforts of his troops in Germany. At Würzburg the Archduke Charles had
+completely beaten Jourdan, and had thrown both his army and that of
+Moreau back on the Rhine. Animated by reviving hopes, the Imperialists
+now assembled some 60,000 strong. Alvintzy, a veteran of sixty years,
+renowned for his bravery, but possessing little strategic ability, was
+in command of some 35,000 men in the district of Friuli, north of
+Trieste, covering that seaport from a threatened French attack. With
+this large force he was to advance due west, towards the River Brenta,
+while Davidovich, marching through Tyrol by the valley of the Adige,
+was to meet him with the remainder near Verona. As Jomini has
+observed, the Austrians gave themselves infinite trouble and
+encountered grave risks in order to compass a junction of forces
+which they might quietly have effected at the outset. Despite all
+Bonaparte's lessons, the Aulic Council still clung to its old plan of
+enveloping the foe and seeking to bewilder them by attacks delivered
+from different sides. Possibly also they were emboldened by the
+comparative smallness of Bonaparte's numbers to repeat this hazardous
+manoeuvre.
+
+The French could muster little more than 40,000 men; and of these at
+least 8,000 were needed opposite Mantua.
+
+At first the Imperialists gained important successes; for though the
+French held their own on the Brenta, yet their forces in the Tyrol
+were driven down the valley of the Adige with losses so considerable
+that Bonaparte was constrained to order a general retreat on Verona.
+He discerned that from this central position he could hold in check
+Alvintzy's troops marching westwards from Vicenza and prevent their
+junction with the Imperialists under Davidovich, who were striving to
+thrust Vaubois' division from the plateau of Rivoli.
+
+But before offering battle to Alvintzy outside Verona, Bonaparte paid
+a flying visit to his men posted on that plateau in order to rebuke
+the wavering and animate the whole body with his own dauntless spirit.
+Forming the troops around him, he addressed two regiments in tones of
+grief and anger. He reproached them for abandoning strong positions in
+a panic, and ordered his chief staff officer to inscribe on their
+colours the ominous words: "They are no longer of the Army of
+Italy."[66] Stung by this reproach, the men begged with sobs that the
+general would test their valour before disgracing them for ever. The
+young commander, who must have counted on such a result to his words,
+when uttered to French soldiers, thereupon promised to listen to their
+appeals; and their bravery in the ensuing fights wiped every stain of
+disgrace from their colours. By such acts as these did he nerve his
+men against superior numbers and adverse fortune.
+
+Their fortitude was to be severely tried at all points. Alvintzy
+occupied a strong position on a line of hills at Caldiero, a few miles
+to the east of Verona. His right wing was protected by the spurs of
+the Tyrolese Alps, while his left was flanked by the marshes which
+stretch between the rivers Alpon and Adige; and he protected his front
+by cannon skilfully ranged along the hills. All the bravery of
+Masséna's troops failed to dislodge the right wing of the
+Imperialists. The French centre was torn by the Austrian cannon and
+musketry. A pitiless storm of rain and sleet hindered the advance of
+the French guns and unsteadied the aim of the gunners; and finally
+they withdrew into Verona, leaving behind 2,000 killed and wounded,
+and 750 prisoners (November 12th). This defeat at Caldiero--for it is
+idle to speak of it merely as a check--opened up a gloomy vista of
+disasters for the French; and Bonaparte, though he disguised his fears
+before his staff and the soldiery, forthwith wrote to the Directors
+that the army felt itself abandoned at the further end of Italy, and
+that this fair conquest seemed about to be lost. With his usual device
+of under-rating his own forces and exaggerating those of his foes, he
+stated that the French both at Verona and Rivoli were only 18,000,
+while the grand total of the Imperialists was upwards of 50,000. But
+he must have known that for the present he had to deal with rather
+less than half that number. The greater part of the Tyrolese force
+had not as yet descended the Adige below Roveredo; and allowing for
+detachments and losses, Alvintzy's array at Caldiero barely exceeded
+20,000 effectives.
+
+Bonaparte now determined to hazard one of the most daring turning
+movements which history records. It was necessary at all costs to
+drive Alvintzy from the heights of Caldiero before the Tyrolese
+columns should overpower Vaubois' detachment at Rivoli and debouch in
+the plains west of Verona. But, as Caldiero could not be taken by a
+front attack, it must be turned by a flanking movement. To any other
+general than Bonaparte this would have appeared hopeless; but where
+others saw nothing but difficulties, his eye discerned a means of
+safety. South and south-east of those hills lies a vast depression
+swamped by the flood waters of the Alpon and the Adige. Morasses
+stretch for some miles west of the village of Arcola, through which
+runs a road up the eastern bank of the Alpon, crossing that stream at
+the aforenamed village and leading to the banks of the Adige opposite
+the village of Ronco; another causeway, diverging from the former a
+little to the north of Ronco, leads in a north-westerly direction
+towards Porcil. By advancing from Ronco along these causeways, and by
+seizing Arcola, Bonaparte designed to outflank the Austrians and tempt
+them into an arena where the personal prowess of the French veterans
+would have ample scope, and where numbers would be of secondary
+importance. Only heads of columns could come into direct contact; and
+the formidable Austrian cavalry could not display its usual prowess.
+On these facts Bonaparte counted as a set-off to his slight
+inferiority in numbers.
+
+In the dead of night the divisions of Augereau and Masséna retired
+through Verona. Officers and soldiers were alike deeply discouraged by
+this movement, which seemed to presage a retreat towards the Mincio
+and the abandonment of Lombardy. To their surprise, when outside the
+gate they received the order to turn to the left down the western bank
+of the Adige. At Ronco the mystery was solved. A bridge of boats had
+there been thrown across the Adige; and, crossing this without
+opposition, Augereau's troops rapidly advanced along the causeway
+leading to Arcola and menaced the Austrian rear, while Masséna's
+column denied north-west, so as directly to threaten his flank at
+Caldiero. The surprise, however, was by no means complete; for
+Alvintzy himself purposed to cross the Adige at Zevio, so as to make a
+dash on Mantua, and in order to protect his flank he had sent a
+detachment of Croats to hold Arcola. These now stoutly disputed
+Augereau's progress, pouring in from the loopholed cottages volleys
+which tore away the front of every column of attack. In vain did
+Augereau, seizing the colours, lead his foremost regiment to the
+bridge of Arcola. Riddled by the musketry, his men fell back in
+disorder. In vain did Bonaparte himself, dismounting from his charger,
+seize a flag, rally these veterans and lead them towards the bridge.
+The Croats, constantly reinforced, poured in so deadly a fire as to
+check the advance: Muiron, Marmont, and a handful of gallant men still
+pressed on, thereby screening the body of their chief; but Muiron fell
+dead, and another officer, seizing Bonaparte, sought to drag him back
+from certain death. The column wavered under the bullets, fell back to
+the further side of the causeway, and in the confusion the commander
+fell into the deep dyke at the side. Agonized at the sight, the French
+rallied, while Marmont and Louis Bonaparte rescued their beloved chief
+from capture or from a miry death, and he retired to Ronco, soon
+followed by the wearied troops.[67]
+
+[Illustration: PLAN TO ILLUSTRATE THE VICTORY OF ARCOLA.]
+
+This memorable first day of fighting at Arcola (November 15th) closed
+on the strange scene of two armies encamped on dykes, exhausted by an
+almost amphibious conflict, like that waged by the Dutch "Beggars" in
+their war of liberation against Spain. Though at Arcola the
+republicans had been severely checked, yet further west Masséna had
+held his own; and the French movement as a whole had compelled
+Alvintzy to suspend any advance on Verona or on Mantua, to come down
+from the heights of Caldiero, and to fight on ground where his
+superior numbers were of little avail. This was seen on the second day
+of fighting on the dykes opposite Arcola, which was, on the whole,
+favourable to the smaller veteran force. On the third day Bonaparte
+employed a skilful ruse to add to the discouragement of his foes. He
+posted a small body of horsemen behind a spinney near the Austrian
+flank, with orders to sound their trumpets as if for a great cavalry
+charge. Alarmed by the noise and by the appearance of French troops
+from the side of Legnago and behind Arcola, the demoralized
+white-coats suddenly gave way and retreated for Vicenza.
+
+Victory again declared for the troops who could dare the longest, and
+whose general was never at a loss in face of any definite danger. Both
+armies suffered severely in these desperate conflicts;[68] but, while
+the Austrians felt that the cup of victory had been snatched from
+their very lips, the French soldiery were dazzled by this transcendent
+exploit of their chief. They extolled his bravery, which almost vied
+with the fabulous achievement of Horatius Cocles, and adored the
+genius which saw safety and victory for his discouraged army amidst
+swamps and dykes. Bonaparte himself, with that strange mingling of the
+practical and the superstitious which forms the charm of his
+character, ever afterwards dated the dawn of his fortune in its full
+splendour from those hours of supreme crisis among the morasses of
+Arcola. But we may doubt whether this posing as the favourite of
+fortune was not the result of his profound knowledge of the credulity
+of the vulgar herd, which admires genius and worships bravery, but
+grovels before persistent good luck.
+
+Though it is difficult to exaggerate the skill and bravery of the
+French leader and his troops, the failure of his opponents is
+inexplicable but for the fact that most of their troops were unable to
+manoeuvre steadily in the open, that Alvintzy was inexperienced as a
+commander-in-chief, and was hampered throughout by a bad plan of
+campaign. Meanwhile the other Austrian army, led by Davidovich, had
+driven Vaubois from his position at Rivoli; and had the Imperialist
+generals kept one another informed of their moves, or had Alvintzy,
+disregarding a blare of trumpets and a demonstration on his flank and
+rear, clung to Arcola for two days longer--the French would have been
+nipped between superior forces. But, as it was, the lack of accord in
+the Austrian movements nearly ruined the Tyrolese wing, which pushed
+on triumphantly towards Verona, while Alvintzy was retreating
+eastwards. Warned just in time, Davidovich hastily retreated to
+Roveredo, leaving a whole battalion in the hands of the French. To
+crown this chapter of blunders, Würmser, whose sortie after Caldiero
+might have been most effective, tardily essayed to break through the
+blockaders, when both his colleagues were in retreat. How different
+were these ill-assorted moves from those of Bonaparte. His maxims
+throughout this campaign, and his whole military career, were: (1)
+divide for foraging, concentrate for fighting; (2) unity of command is
+essential for success; (3) time is everything. This firm grasp of the
+essentials of modern warfare insured his triumph over enemies who
+trusted to obsolete methods for the defence of antiquated
+polities.[69]
+
+The battle of Arcola had an important influence on the fate of Italy
+and Europe. In the peninsula all the elements hostile to the
+republicans were preparing for an explosion in their rear which should
+reaffirm the old saying that Italy was the tomb of the French. Naples
+had signed terms of peace with them, it is true; but the natural
+animosity of the Vatican against its despoilers could easily have
+leagued the south of Italy with the other States that were working
+secretly for their expulsion. While the Austrians were victoriously
+advancing, these aims were almost openly avowed, and at the close of
+the year 1796 Bonaparte moved south to Bologna in order to guide the
+Italian patriots in their deliberations and menace the Pope with an
+invasion of the Roman States. From this the Pontiff was for the
+present saved by new efforts on the part of Austria. But before
+describing the final attempt of the Hapsburgs to wrest Italy from
+their able adversary, it will be well to notice his growing ascendancy
+in diplomatic affairs.
+
+While Bonaparte was struggling in the marshes of Arcola, the Directory
+was on the point of sending to Vienna an envoy, General Clarke, with
+proposals for an armistice preliminary to negotiations for peace with
+Austria. This step was taken, because France was distracted by open
+revolt in the south, by general discontent in the west, and by the
+retreat of her Rhenish armies, now flung back on the soil of the
+Republic by the Austrian Arch-duke Charles. Unable to support large
+forces in the east of France out of its bankrupt exchequer, the
+Directory desired to be informed of the state of feeling at Vienna. It
+therefore sent Clarke with offers, which might enable him to look into
+the political and military situation at the enemy's capital, and see
+whether peace could not be gained at the price of some of Bonaparte's
+conquests. The envoy was an elegant and ambitious young man, descended
+from an Irish family long settled in France, who had recently gained
+Carnot's favour, and now desired to show his diplomatic skill by
+subjecting Bonaparte to the present aims of the Directory.
+
+The Directors' secret instructions reveal the plans which they then
+harboured for the reconstruction of the Continent. Having arranged an
+armistice which should last up to the end of the next spring, Clarke
+was to set forth arrangements which might suit the House of Hapsburg.
+He might discuss the restitution of all their possessions in Italy,
+and the acquisition of the Bishopric of Salzburg and other smaller
+German and Swabian territories: or, if she did not recover the
+Milanese, Austria might gain the northern parts of the Papal States as
+compensation; and the Duke of Tuscany--a Hapsburg--might reign at
+Rome, yielding up his duchy to the Duke of Parma; while, as this last
+potentate was a Spanish Bourbon, France might for her good offices to
+this House gain largely from Spain in America.[70] In these and other
+proposals two methods of bargaining are everywhere prominent. The
+great States are in every case to gain at the expense of their weaker
+neighbours; Austria is to be appeased; and France is to reap enormous
+gains ultimately at the expense of smaller Germanic or Italian States.
+These facts should clearly be noted. Napoleon was afterwards
+deservedly blamed for carrying out these unprincipled methods; but, at
+the worst, he only developed them from those of the Directors, who,
+with the cant of Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity on their lips,
+battened on the plunder of the liberated lands, and cynically proposed
+to share the spoil of weaker States with the potentates against whom
+they publicly declaimed as tyrants.
+
+The chief aim of these negotiations, so Clarke was assured, was to
+convince the Court of Vienna that it would get better terms by
+treating with France directly and alone, rather than by joining in the
+negotiations which had recently been opened at Paris by England. But
+the Viennese Ministers refused to allow Clarke to proceed to their
+capital, and appointed Vicenza as the seat of the deliberations.
+
+They were brief. Through the complex web of civilian intrigue,
+Bonaparte forthwith thrust the mailed hand of the warrior. He had
+little difficulty in proving to Clarke that the situation was
+materially altered by the battle of Arcola. The fall of Mantua was now
+only a matter of weeks. To allow its provisions to be replenished for
+the term of the armistice was an act that no successful general could
+tolerate. For that fortress the whole campaign had been waged, and
+three Austrian armies had been hurled back into Tyrol and Friuli. Was
+it now to be provisioned, in order that the Directory might barter
+away the Cispadane Republic? He speedily convinced Clarke of the
+fatuity of the Directors' proposals. He imbued him with his own
+contempt for an armistice that would rob the victors of their prize;
+and, as the Court of Vienna still indulged hopes of success in Italy,
+Clarke's negotiations at Vicenza came to a speedy conclusion.
+
+In another important matter the Directory also completely failed.
+Nervous as to Bonaparte's ambition, it had secretly ordered Clarke to
+watch his conduct and report privately to Paris. Whether warned by a
+friend at Court, or forearmed by his own sagacity, Bonaparte knew of
+this, and in his intercourse with Clarke deftly let the fact be seen.
+He quickly gauged Clarke's powers, and the aim of his mission. "He is
+a spy," he remarked a little later to Miot, "whom the Directory have
+set upon me: he is a man of no talent--only conceited." The splendour
+of his achievements and the mingled grace and authority of his
+demeanour so imposed on the envoy that he speedily fell under the
+influence of the very man whom he was to watch, and became his
+enthusiastic adherent.
+
+Bonaparte was at Bologna, supervising the affairs of the Cispadane
+Republic, when he heard that the Austrians were making a last effort
+for the relief of Mantua. Another plan had been drawn up by the Aulic
+Council at Vienna. Alvintzy, after recruiting his wearied force at
+Bassano, was quickly to join the Tyrolese column at Roveredo, thereby
+forming an army of 28,000 men wherewith to force the position of
+Rivoli and drive the French in on Mantua: 9,000 Imperialists under
+Provera were also to advance from the Brenta upon Legnago, in order to
+withdraw the attention of the French from the real attempt made by the
+valley of the Adige; while 10,000 others at Bassano and elsewhere were
+to assail the French front at different points and hinder their
+concentration. It will be observed that the errors of July and
+November, 1796, were now yet a third time to be committed: the forces
+destined merely to make diversions were so strengthened as not to be
+merely light bodies distracting the aim of the French, while
+Alvintzy's main force was thereby so weakened as to lack the impact
+necessary for victory.
+
+Nevertheless, the Imperialists at first threw back their foes with
+some losses; and Bonaparte, hurrying northwards to Verona, was for
+some hours in a fever of uncertainty as to the movements and strength
+of the assailants. Late at night on January 13th he knew that
+Provera's advance was little more than a demonstration, and that the
+real blow would fall on the 10,000 men marshalled by Joubert at Monte
+Baldo and Rivoli. Forthwith he rode to the latter place, and changed
+retreat and discouragement into a vigorous offensive by the news that
+13,000 more men were on the march to defend the strong position of
+Rivoli.
+
+The great defensive strength of this plateau had from the first
+attracted his attention. There the Adige in a sharp bend westward
+approaches within six miles of Lake Garda. There, too, the mountains,
+which hem in the gorge of the river on its right bank, bend away
+towards the lake and leave a vast natural amphitheatre, near the
+centre of which rises the irregular plateau that commands the exit
+from Tyrol. Over this plateau towers on the north Monte Baldo, which,
+near the river gorge, sends out southward a sloping ridge, known as
+San Marco, connecting it with the plateau. At the foot of this spur is
+the summit of the road which leads the traveller from Trent to Verona;
+and, as he halts at the top of the zigzag, near the village of Rivoli,
+his eye sweeps over the winding gorge of the river beneath, the
+threatening mass of Monte Baldo on the north, and on the west of the
+village he gazes down on a natural depression which has been sharply
+furrowed by a torrent. The least experienced eye can see that the
+position is one of great strength. It is a veritable parade ground
+among the mountains, almost cut off from them by the ceaseless action
+of water, and destined for the defence of the plains of Italy. A small
+force posted at the head of the winding roadway can hold at bay an
+army toiling up from the valley; but, as at Thermopylae, the position
+is liable to be outflanked by an enterprising foe, who should scale
+the footpath leading over the western offshoots of Monte Baldo, and,
+fording the stream at its foot, should then advance eastwards against
+the village. This, in part, was Alvintzy's plan, and having nearly
+28,000 men,[71] he doubted not that his enveloping tactics must
+capture Joubert's division of 10,000 men. So daunted was even this
+brave general by the superior force of his foes that he had ordered a
+retreat southwards when an aide-de-camp arrived at full gallop and
+ordered him to hold Rivoli at all costs. Bonaparte's arrival at 4 a.m.
+explained the order, and an attack made during the darkness wrested
+from the Austrians the chapel on the San Marco ridge which stands on
+the ridge above the zigzag track. The reflection of the Austrian
+watch-fires in the wintry sky showed him their general position. To an
+unskilled observer the wide sweep of the glare portended ruin for the
+French. To the eye of Bonaparte the sight brought hope. It proved that
+his foes were still bent on their old plan of enveloping him: and from
+information which he treacherously received from Alvintzy's staff he
+must have known that that commander had far fewer than the 45,000 men
+which he ascribed to him in bulletins.
+
+[Illustration: NEIGHBOURHOOD OF RIVOLI.]
+
+Yet the full dawn of that January day saw the Imperialists flushed
+with success, as their six separate columns drove in the French
+outposts and moved towards Rivoli. Of these, one was on the eastern
+side of the Adige and merely cannonaded across the valley: another
+column wound painfully with most of the artillery and cavalry along
+the western bank, making for the village of Incanale and the foot of
+the zigzag leading up to Rivoli: three others denied over Monte Baldo
+by difficult paths impassable to cannon: while the sixth and
+westernmost column, winding along the ridge near Lake Garda, likewise
+lacked the power which field-guns and horsemen would have added to its
+important turning movement. Never have natural obstacles told more
+potently on the fortunes of war than at Rivoli; for on the side where
+the assailants most needed horses and guns they could not be used;
+while on the eastern edge of their broken front their cannon and
+horse, crowded together in the valley of the Adige, had to climb the
+winding road under the plunging fire of the French infantry and
+artillery. Nevertheless, such was the ardour of the Austrian attack,
+that the tide of battle at first set strongly in their favour. Driving
+the French from the San Marco ridge and pressing their centre hard
+between Monte Baldo and Rivoli, they made it possible for their troops
+in the valley to struggle on towards the foot of the zigzag; and on
+the west their distant right wing was already beginning to threaten
+the French rear. Despite the arrival of Masséna's troops from Verona
+about 9 a.m., the republicans showed signs of unsteadiness. Joubert on
+the ground above the Adige, Berthier in the centre, and Masséna on the
+left, were gradually forced back. An Austrian column, advancing from
+the side of Monte Baldo by the narrow ravine, stole round the flank of
+a French regiment in front of Masséna's division, and by a vigorous
+charge sent it flying in a panic which promised to spread to another
+regiment thus uncovered. This was too much for the veteran, already
+dubbed "the spoilt child of victory "; he rushed to its captain,
+bitterly upbraided him and the other officers, and finally showered
+blows on them with the flat of his sword. Then, riding at full speed
+to two tried regiments of his own division, he ordered them to check
+the foe; and these invincible heroes promptly drove back the
+assailants. Even so, however, the valour of the best French regiments
+and the skill of Masséna, Berthier, and Joubert barely sufficed to
+hold back the onstreaming tide of white-coats opposite Rivoli.
+
+Yet even at this crisis the commander, confident in his central
+position, and knowing his ability to ward off the encircling swoops of
+the Austrian eagle, maintained that calm demeanour which moved the
+wonder of smaller minds. His confidence in his seasoned troops was not
+misplaced. The Imperialists, overburdened by long marches and faint
+now for lack of food, could not maintain their first advantage. Some
+of their foremost troops, that had won the broken ground in front of
+St. Mark's Chapel, were suddenly charged by French horse; they fled in
+panic, crying out, "French cavalry!" and the space won was speedily
+abandoned to the tricolour. This sudden rebuff was to dash all their
+hopes of victory; for at that crisis of the day the chief Austrian
+column of nearly 8,000 men was struggling up the zigzag ascent leading
+from the valley of the Adige to the plateau, in the fond hope that
+their foes were by this time driven from the summit. Despite the
+terrible fire that tore their flanks, the Imperialists were clutching
+desperately at the plateau, when Bonaparte put forth his full striking
+power. He could now assail the crowded ranks of the doomed column in
+front and on both flanks. A charge of Leclerc's horse and of Joubert's
+infantry crushed its head; volleys of cannon and musketry from the
+plateau tore its sides; an ammunition wagon exploded in its midst; and
+the great constrictor forthwith writhed its bleeding coils back into
+the valley, where it lay crushed and helpless for the rest of the
+fight.
+
+Animated by this lightning stroke of their commander, the French
+turned fiercely towards Monte Baldo and drove back their opponents
+into the depression at its foot. But already at their rear loud shouts
+warned them of a new danger. The western detachment of the
+Imperialists had meanwhile worked round their rear, and, ignorant of
+the fate of their comrades, believed that Bonaparte's army was caught
+in a trap. The eyes of all the French staff officers were now turned
+anxiously on their commander, who quietly remarked, "We have them
+now." He knew, in fact, that other French troops marching up from
+Verona would take these new foes in the rear; and though Junot and his
+horsemen failed to cut their way through so as to expedite their
+approach, yet speedily a French regiment burst through the encircling
+line and joined in the final attack which drove these last assailants
+from the heights south of Rivoli, and later on compelled them to
+surrender.
+
+Thus closed the desperate battle of Rivoli (January 14th). Defects in
+the Austrian position and the opportune arrival of French
+reinforcements served to turn an Austrian success into a complete
+rout. Circumstances which to a civilian may seem singly to be of small
+account sufficed to tilt the trembling scales of warfare, and
+Alvintzy's army now reeled helplessly back into Tyrol with a total
+loss of 15,000 men and of nearly all its artillery and stores. Leaving
+Joubert to pursue it towards Trent, Bonaparte now flew southwards
+towards Mantua, whither Provera had cut his way. Again his untiring
+energy, his insatiable care for all probable contingencies, reaped a
+success which the ignorant may charge to the account of his fortune.
+Strengthening Augereau's division by light troops, he captured the
+whole of Provera's army at La Favorita, near the walls of Mantua
+(January 16th). The natural result of these two dazzling triumphs was
+the fall of the fortress for which the Emperor Francis had risked and
+lost five armies. Würmser surrendered Mantua on February 2nd with
+18,000 men and immense supplies of arms and stores. The close of this
+wondrous campaign was graced by an act of clemency. Generous terms
+were accorded to the veteran marshal, whose fidelity to blundering
+councillors at Vienna had thrown up in brilliant relief the prudence,
+audacity, and resourcefulness of the young war-god.
+
+It was now time to chastise the Pope for his support of the enemies of
+France. The Papalini proved to be contemptible as soldiers. They fled
+before the republicans, and a military promenade brought the invaders
+to Ancona, and then inland to Tolentino, where Pius VI. sued for
+peace. The resulting treaty signed at that place (February 19th)
+condemned the Holy See to close its ports to the allies, especially to
+the English; to acknowledge the acquisition of Avignon by France, and
+the establishment of the Cispadane Republic at Bologna, Ferrara, and
+the surrounding districts; to pay 30,000,000 francs to the French
+Government; and to surrender 100 works of art to the victorious
+republicans.
+
+It is needless to describe the remaining stages in Bonaparte's
+campaign against Austria. Hitherto he had contended against fairly
+good, though discontented and discouraged troops, badly led, and
+hampered by the mountain barrier which separated them from their real
+base of operations. In the last part of the war he fought against
+troops demoralized by an almost unbroken chain of disasters. The
+Austrians were now led by a brave and intelligent general, the
+Archduke Charles; but he was hampered by rigorous instructions from
+Vienna, by senile and indolent generals, by the indignation or despair
+of the younger officers at the official favouritism which left them in
+obscurity, and by the apathy of soldiers who had lost heart. Neither
+his skill nor the natural strength of their positions in Friuli and
+Carinthia could avail against veterans flushed with victory and
+marshalled with unerring sagacity. The rest of the war only served to
+emphasize the truth of Napoleon's later statement, that the moral
+element constitutes three-fourths of an army's strength. The barriers
+offered by the River Tagliamento and the many commanding heights of
+the Carnic and the Noric Alps were as nothing to the triumphant
+republicans; and from the heights that guard the province of Styria,
+the genius of Napoleon flashed as a terrifying portent to the Court of
+Vienna and the potentates of Central Europe. When the tricolour
+standards were nearing the town of Leoben, the Emperor Francis sent
+envoys to sue for peace;[72] and the preliminaries signed there,
+within one hundred miles of the Austrian capital, closed the campaign
+which a year previously had opened with so little promise for the
+French on the narrow strip of land between the Maritime Alps and the
+petty township of Savona.
+
+These brilliant results were due primarily to the consummate
+leadership of Bonaparte. His geographical instincts discerned the
+means of profiting by natural obstacles and of turning them when they
+seemed to screen his opponents. Prompt to divine their plans, he
+bewildered them by the audacity of his combinations, which overbore
+their columns with superior force at the very time when he seemed
+doomed to succumb. Genius so commanding had not been displayed even by
+Frederick or Marlborough. And yet these brilliant results could not
+have been achieved by an army which rarely exceeded 45,000 men without
+the strenuous bravery and tactical skill of the best generals of
+division, Augereau, Masséna, and Joubert, as well as of officers who
+had shown their worth in many a doubtful fight; Lannes, the hero of
+Lodi and Arcola; Marmont, noted for his daring advance of the guns at
+Castiglione; Victor, who justified his name by hard fighting at La
+Favorita; Murat, the _beau sabreur_, and Junot, both dashing cavalry
+generals; and many more whose daring earned them a soldier's death in
+order to gain glory for France and liberty for Italy. Still less ought
+the soldiery to be forgotten; those troops, whose tattered uniforms
+bespoke their ceaseless toils, who grumbled at the frequent lack of
+bread, but, as Masséna observed, never _before_ a battle, who even in
+retreat never doubted the genius of their chief, and fiercely rallied
+at the longed-for sign of fighting. The source of this marvellous
+energy is not hard to discover. Their bravery was fed by that
+wellspring of hope which had made of France a nation of free men
+determined to free the millions beyond their frontiers. The French
+columns were "equality on the march"; and the soldiery, animated by
+this grand enthusiasm, found its militant embodiment in the great
+captain who seemed about to liberate Italy and Central Europe.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+LEOBEN TO CAMPO FORMIO
+
+
+In signing the preliminaries of peace at Leoben, which formed in part
+the basis for the Treaty of Campo Formio, Bonaparte appears as a
+diplomatist of the first rank. He had already signed similar articles
+with the Court of Turin and with the Vatican. But such a transaction
+with the Emperor was infinitely more important than with the
+third-rate powers of the peninsula. He now essays his first flight to
+the highest levels of international diplomacy. In truth, his mental
+endowments, like those of many of the greatest generals, were no less
+adapted to success in the council-chamber than on the field of battle;
+for, indeed, the processes of thought and the methods of action are
+not dissimilar in the spheres of diplomacy and war. To evade obstacles
+on which an opponent relies, to multiply them in his path, to bewilder
+him by feints before overwhelming him by a crushing onset, these are
+the arts which yield success either to the negotiator or to the
+commander.
+
+In imposing terms of peace on the Emperor at Leoben (April 18th,
+1797), Bonaparte reduced the Directory, and its envoy, Clarke, who was
+absent in Italy, to a subordinate _rôle_. As commander-in-chief, he
+had power only to conclude a brief armistice, but now he signed the
+preliminaries of peace. His excuse to the Directory was ingenious.
+While admitting the irregularity of his conduct, he pleaded the
+isolated position of his army, and the absence of Clarke, and that,
+under the circumstances, his act had been merely "a military
+operation." He could also urge that he had in his rear a disaffected
+Venetia, and that he believed the French armies on the Rhine to be
+stationary and unable to cross that river. But the very tardy advent
+of Clarke on the scene strengthens the supposition that Bonaparte was
+at the time by no means loth to figure as the pacifier of the
+Continent. Had he known the whole truth, namely, that the French were
+gaining a battle on the east bank of the Rhine while the terms of
+peace were being signed at Leoben, he would most certainly have broken
+off the negotiations and have dictated harsher terms at the gates of
+Vienna. That was the vision which shone before his eyes three years
+previously, when he sketched to his friends at Nice the plan of
+campaign, beginning at Savona and ending before the Austrian capital;
+and great was his chagrin at hearing the tidings of Moreau's success
+on April 20th. The news reached him on his return from Leoben to
+Italy, when he was detained for a few hours by a sudden flood of the
+River Tagliamento. At once he determined to ride back and make some
+excuse for a rupture with Austria; and only the persistent
+remonstrances of Berthier turned him from this mad resolve, which
+would forthwith have exhibited him to the world as estimating more
+highly the youthful promptings of destiny than the honour of a French
+negotiator.
+
+The terms which he had granted to the Emperor were lenient enough. The
+only definitive gain to France was the acquisition of the Austrian
+Netherlands (Belgium), for which troublesome possession the Emperor
+was to have compensation elsewhere. Nothing absolutely binding was
+said about the left, or west, bank of the Rhine, except that Austria
+recognized the "constitutional limits" of France, but reaffirmed the
+integrity of "The Empire."[73] These were contradictory statements;
+for France had declared the Rhine to be her natural boundary, and the
+old "Empire" included Belgium, Trèves, and Luxemburg. But, for the
+interpretation of these vague formularies, the following secret and
+all-important articles were appended. While the Emperor renounced that
+part of his Italian possessions which lay to the west of the Oglio, he
+was to receive all the mainland territories of Venice east of that
+river, including Dalmatia and Istria, Venice was also to cede her
+lands west of the Oglio to the French Government; and in return for
+these sacrifices she was to gain the three legations of Romagna,
+Ferrara, and Bologna--the very lands which Bonaparte had recently
+formed into the Cispadane Republic! For the rest, the Emperor would
+have to recognize the proposed Republic at Milan, as also that already
+existing at Modena, "compensation" being somewhere found for the
+deposed duke.
+
+From the correspondence of Thugut, the Austrian Minister, it appears
+certain that Austria herself had looked forward to the partition of
+the Venetian mainland territories, and this was the scheme which
+Bonaparte _actually proposed to her at Leoben_. Still more
+extraordinary was his proposal to sacrifice, ostensibly to Venice but
+ultimately to Austria, the greater part of the Cispadane Republic. It
+is, indeed, inexplicable, except on the ground that his military
+position at Leoben was more brilliant than secure. His uneasiness
+about this article of the preliminaries is seen in his letter of April
+22nd to the Directors, which explains that the preliminaries need not
+count for much. But most extraordinary of all was his procedure
+concerning the young Lombard Republic. He seems quite calmly to have
+discussed its retrocession to the Austrians, and that, too, after he
+had encouraged the Milanese to found a republic, and had declared that
+every French victory was "a line of the constitutional charter."[74]
+The most reasonable explanation is that Bonaparte over-estimated the
+military strength of Austria, and undervalued the energy of the men of
+Milan, Modena, and Bologna, of whose levies he spoke most
+contemptuously. Certain it is that he desired to disengage himself
+from their affairs so as to be free for the grander visions of
+oriental conquest that now haunted his imagination. Whatever were his
+motives in signing the preliminaries at Leoben, he speedily found
+means for their modification in the ever-enlarging area of negotiable
+lands.
+
+It is now time to return to the affairs of Venice. For seven months
+the towns and villages of that republic had been a prey to pitiless
+warfare and systematic rapacity, a fate which the weak ruling
+oligarchy could neither avert nor avenge. In the western cities,
+Bergamo and Brescia, whose interests and feelings linked them with
+Milan rather than Venice, the populace desired an alliance with the
+nascent republic on the west and a severance from the gloomy
+despotism of the Queen of the Adriatic. Though glorious in her prime,
+she now governed with obscurantist methods inspired by fear of her
+weakness becoming manifest; and Bonaparte, tearing off the mask which
+hitherto had screened her dotage, left her despised by the more
+progressive of her own subjects. Even before he first entered the
+Venetian territory, he set forth to the Directory the facilities for
+plunder and partition which it offered. Referring to its reception of
+the Comte de Provence (the future Louis XVIII.) and the occupation of
+Peschiera by the Austrians, he wrote (June 6th, 1796):
+
+     "If your plan is to extract five or six million francs from Venice,
+     I have expressly prepared for you this sort of rupture with her....
+     If you have intentions more pronounced, I think that you ought to
+     continue this subject of contention, instruct me as to your
+     desires, and wait for the favourable opportunity, which I will
+     seize according to circumstances, for we must not have everybody on
+     our hands at the same time."
+
+The events which now transpired in Venetia gave him excuses for the
+projected partition. The weariness felt by the Brescians and
+Bergamesques for Venetian rule had been artfully played on by the
+Jacobins of Milan and by the French Generals Kilmaine and Landrieux;
+and an effort made by the Venetian officials to repress the growing
+discontent brought about disturbances in which some men of the
+"Lombard legion" were killed. The complicity of the French in the
+revolt is clearly established by the Milanese journals and by the fact
+that Landrieux forthwith accepted the command of the rebels at Bergamo
+and Brescia.[75] But while these cities espoused the Jacobin cause,
+most of the Venetian towns and all the peasantry remained faithful to
+the old Government. It was clear that a conflict must ensue, even if
+Bonaparte and some of his generals had not secretly worked to bring it
+about. That he and they did so work cannot now be disputed. The circle
+of proof is complete. The events at Brescia and Bergamo were part of
+a scheme for precipitating a rupture with Venice; and their success
+was so far assured that Bonaparte at Leoben secretly bargained away
+nearly the whole of the Venetian lands. Furthermore, a fortnight
+before the signing of these preliminaries, he had suborned a vile
+wretch, Salvatori by name, to issue a proclamation purporting to come
+from the Venetian authorities, which urged the people everywhere to
+rise and massacre the French. It was issued on April 5th, though it
+bore the date of March 20th. At once the Doge warned his people that
+it was a base fabrication, But the mischief had been done. On Easter
+Monday (April 17th) a chance affray in Verona let loose the passions
+which had been rising for months past: the populace rose in fury
+against the French detachment quartered on them: and all the soldiers
+who could not find shelter in the citadel, even the sick in the
+hospitals, fell victims to the craving for revenge for the
+humiliations and exactions of the last seven months.[76] Such was
+Easter-tide at Verona--_les Pâques véronaises_--an event that recalls
+the Sicilian Vespers of Palermo in its blind southern fury.
+
+The finale somewhat exceeded Bonaparte's expectations, but he must
+have hailed it with a secret satisfaction. It gave him a good excuse
+for wholly extinguishing Venice as an independent power. According to
+the secret articles signed at Leoben, the city of Venice was to have
+retained her independence and gained the Legations. But her contumacy
+could now be chastised by annihilation. Venice could, in fact,
+indemnify the Hapsburgs for the further cessions which France exacted
+from them elsewhere; and in the process Bonaparte would free himself
+from the blame which attached to his hasty signature of the
+preliminaries at Leoben.[77] He was now determined to secure the Rhine
+frontier for France, to gain independence, under French tutelage, not
+only for the Lombard Republic, but also for Modena and the Legations.
+These were his aims during the negotiations to which he gave the full
+force of his intellect during the spring and summer of 1797.
+
+The first thing was to pour French troops into Italy so as to extort
+better terms: the next was to declare war on Venice. For this there
+was now ample justification; for, apart from the massacre at Verona,
+another outrage had been perpetrated. A French corsair, which had
+persisted in anchoring in a forbidden part of the harbour of Venice,
+had been riddled by the batteries and captured. For this act, and for
+the outbreak at Verona, the Doge and Senate offered ample reparation:
+but Bonaparte refused to listen to these envoys, "dripping with French
+blood," and haughtily bade Venice evacuate her mainland
+territories.[78] For various reasons he decided to use guile rather
+than force. He found in Venice a secretary of the French legation,
+Villetard by name, who could be trusted dextrously to undermine the
+crumbling fabric of the oligarchy.[79] This man persuaded the
+terrified populace that nothing would appease the fury of the
+French general but the deposition of the existing oligarchy and the
+formation of a democratic municipality. The people and the patricians
+alike swallowed the bait; and the once haughty Senate tamely
+pronounced its own doom. Disorders naturally occurred on the downfall
+of the ancient oligarchy, especially when the new municipality ordered
+the removal of Venetian men-of-war into the hands of the French and
+the introduction of French troops by help of Venetian vessels. A
+mournful silence oppressed even the democrats when 5,000 French troops
+entered Venice on board the flotilla. The famous State, which for
+centuries had ruled the waters of the Levant, and had held the fierce
+Turks at bay, a people numbering 3,000,000 souls and boasting a
+revenue of 9,000,000 ducats, now struck not one blow against
+conquerors who came in the guise of liberators.
+
+On the same day Bonaparte signed at Milan a treaty of alliance with
+the envoys of the new Venetian Government. His friendship was to be
+dearly bought. In secret articles, which were of more import than the
+vague professions of amity which filled the public document, it was
+stipulated that the French and Venetian Republics should come to an
+understanding as to the _exchange_ of certain territories, that Venice
+should pay a contribution in money and in materials of war, should aid
+the French navy by furnishing three battleships and two frigates, and
+should enrich the museums of her benefactress by 20 paintings and 500
+manuscripts. While he was signing these conditions of peace, the
+Directors were despatching from Paris a declaration of war against
+Venice. Their decision was already obsolete: it was founded on
+Bonaparte's despatch of April 30th; but in the interval their
+proconsul had wholly changed the situation by overthrowing the rule of
+the Doge and Senate, and by setting up a democracy, through which he
+could extract the wealth of that land. The Directors' declaration of
+war was accordingly stopped at Milan, and no more was heard of it.
+They were thus forcibly reminded of the truth of his previous warning
+that things would certainly go wrong unless they consulted him on all
+important details.[80]
+
+This treaty of Milan was the fourth important convention concluded by
+the general, who, at the beginning of the campaign of 1796, had been
+forbidden even to sign an armistice without consulting Salicetti!
+
+It was speedily followed by another, which in many respects redounds
+to the credit of the young conqueror. If his conduct towards Venice
+inspires loathing, his treatment of Genoa must excite surprise and
+admiration. Apart from one very natural outburst of spleen, it shows
+little of that harshness which might have been expected from the man
+who had looked on Genoa as the embodiment of mean despotism. Up to the
+summer of 1796 Bonaparte seems to have retained something of his old
+detestation of that republic; for at midsummer, when he was in the
+full career of his Italian conquests, he wrote to Faypoult, the French
+envoy at Genoa, urging him to keep open certain cases that were in
+dispute, and three weeks later he again wrote that the time for Genoa
+had not yet come. Any definite action against this wealthy city was,
+indeed, most undesirable during the campaign; for the bankers of
+Genoa supplied the French army with the sinews of war by means of
+secret loans, and their merchants were equally complaisant in regard
+to provisions. These services were appreciated by Bonaparte as much as
+they were resented by Nelson; and possibly the succour which Genoese
+money and shipping covertly rendered to the French expeditions for
+the recovery of Corsica may have helped to efface from Bonaparte's
+memory the associations clustering around the once-revered name of
+Paoli. From ill-concealed hostility he drifted into a position of
+tolerance and finally of friendship towards Genoa, provided that she
+became democratic. If her institutions could be assimilated to those
+of France, she might prove a valuable intermediary or ally.
+
+The destruction of the Genoese oligarchy presented no great
+difficulties. Both Venice and Genoa had long outlived their power, and
+the persistent violation of their neutrality had robbed them of that
+last support of the weak, self-respect. The intrigues of Faypoult and
+Salicetti were undermining the influence of the Doge and Senate, when
+the news of the fall of the Venetian oligarchy spurred on the French
+party to action, But the Doge and Senate armed bands of mountaineers
+and fishermen who were hostile to change; and in a long and desperate
+conflict in the narrow streets of Genoa the democrats were completely
+worsted (May 23rd). The victors thereupon ransacked the houses of the
+opposing faction and found lists of names of those who were to have
+been proscribed, besides documents which revealed the complicity of
+the French agents in the rising. Bonaparte was enraged at the folly of
+the Genoese democrats, which deranged his plans. As he wrote to the
+Directory, if they had only remained quiet for a fortnight, the
+oligarchy would have collapsed from sheer weakness. The murder of a
+few Frenchmen and Milanese now gave him an excuse for intervention. He
+sent an aide-de-camp, Lavalette, charged with a vehement diatribe
+against the Doge and Senate, which lost nothing in its recital before
+that august body. At the close a few senators called out, "Let us
+fight": but the spirit of the Dorias flickered away with these
+protests; and the degenerate scions of mighty sires submitted to the
+insults of an aide-de-camp and the dictation of his master.
+
+The fate of this ancient republic was decided by Bonaparte at the
+Castle of Montebello, near Milan, where he had already drawn up her
+future constitution. After brief conferences with the Genoese envoys,
+he signed with them the secret convention which placed their
+republic--soon to be renamed the Ligurian Republic--under the
+protection of France and substituted for the close patrician rule a
+moderate democracy. The fact is significant. His military instincts
+had now weaned him from the stiff Jacobinism of his youth; and, in
+conjunction with Faypoult and the envoys, he arranged that the
+legislative powers should be intrusted to two popularly elected
+chambers of 300 and 150 members, while the executive functions were to
+be discharged by twelve senators, presided over by a Doge; these
+officers were to be appointed by the chambers: for the rest, the
+principles of religious liberty and civic equality were recognized,
+and local self-government was amply provided for. Cynics may, of
+course, object that this excellent constitution was but a means of
+insuring French supremacy and of peacefully installing Bonaparte's
+regiments in a very important city; but the close of his intervention
+may be pronounced as creditable to his judgment as its results were
+salutary to Genoa. He even upbraided the demagogic party of that city
+for shivering in pieces the statue of Andrea Doria and suspending the
+fragments on some of the innumerable trees of liberty recently
+planted.
+
+     "Andrea Doria," he wrote, "was a great sailor and a great
+     statesman. Aristocracy was liberty in his time. The whole of Europe
+     envies your city the honour of having produced that celebrated man.
+     You will, I doubt not, take pains to rear his statue again: I pray
+     you to let me bear a part of the expense which that will entail,
+     which I desire to share with those who are most zealous for the
+     glory and welfare of your country."
+
+In contrasting this wise and dignified conduct with the hatred which
+most Corsicans still cherished against Genoa, Bonaparte's greatness of
+soul becomes apparent and inspires the wish: _Utinam semper sic
+fuisses!_
+
+Few periods of his life have been more crowded with momentous events
+than his sojourn at the Castle of Montebello in May-July, 1797.
+Besides completing the downfall of Venice and reinvigorating the life
+of Genoa, he was deeply concerned with the affairs of the Lombard or
+Cisalpine Republic, with his family concerns, with the consolidation
+of his own power in French politics, and with the Austrian
+negotiations. We will consider these affairs in the order here
+indicated.
+
+The future of Lombardy had long been a matter of concern to Bonaparte.
+He knew that its people were the _fittest_ in all Italy to benefit by
+_constitutional rule_, but it must be dependent on France. He felt
+little confidence in the Lombards if left to themselves, as is seen in
+his conversation with Melzi and Miot de Melito at the Castle of
+Montebello. He was in one of those humours, frequent at this time of
+dawning splendour, when confidence in his own genius betrayed him into
+quite piquant indiscretions. After referring to the Directory, he
+turned abruptly to Melzi, a Lombard nobleman:
+
+     "As for your country, Monsieur de Melzi, it possesses still fewer
+     elements of republicanism than France, and can be managed more
+     easily than any other. You know better than anyone that we shall do
+     what we like with Italy. But the time has not yet come. We must
+     give way to the fever of the moment. We are going to have one or
+     two republics here of our own sort. Monge will arrange that for
+     us."
+
+He had some reason for distrusting the strength of the democrats in
+Italy. At the close of 1796 he had written that there were three
+parties in Lombardy, one which accepted French guidance, another which
+desired liberty even with some impatience, and a third faction,
+friendly to the Austrians: he encouraged the first, checked the
+second, and repressed the last. He now complained that the Cispadanes
+and Cisalpines had behaved very badly in their first elections, which
+had been conducted in his absence; for they had allowed clerical
+influence to override all French predilections. And, a little later,
+he wrote to Talleyrand that the genuine love of liberty was feeble in
+Italy, and that, as soon as French influences were withdrawn, the
+Italian Jacobins would be murdered by the populace. The sequel was to
+justify his misgivings, and therefore to refute the charges of those
+who see in his conduct respecting the Cisalpine Republic nothing but
+calculating egotism. The difficulty of freeing a populace that had
+learnt to hug its chains was so great that the temporary and partial
+success which his new creation achieved may be regarded as a proof of
+his political sagacity.
+
+After long preparations by four committees, which Bonaparte kept at
+Milan closely engaged in the drafting of laws, the constitution of the
+Cisalpine Republic was completed. It was a miniature of that of
+France, and lest there should be any further mistakes in the
+elections, Bonaparte himself appointed, not only the five Directors
+and the Ministers whom they were to control, but even the 180
+legislators, both Ancients and Juniors. In this strange fashion did
+democracy descend on Italy, not mainly as the work of the people, but
+at the behest of a great organizing genius. It is only fair to add
+that he summoned to the work of civic reconstruction many of the best
+intellects of Italy. He appointed a noble, Serbelloni, to be the first
+President of the Cisalpine Republic, and a scion of the august House
+of the Visconti was sent as its ambassador to Paris. Many able men
+that had left Lombardy during the Austrian occupation or the recent
+wars were attracted back by Bonaparte's politic clemency; and the
+festival of July 9th at Milan, which graced the inauguration of the
+new Government, presented a scene of civic joy to which that unhappy
+province had long been a stranger. A vast space was thronged with an
+enormous crowd which took up the words of the civic oath uttered by
+the President. The Archbishop of Milan celebrated Mass and blessed the
+banners of the National Guards; and the day closed with games, dances,
+and invocations to the memory of the Italians who had fought and died
+for their nascent liberties. Amidst all the vivas and the clash of
+bells Bonaparte took care to sound a sterner note. On that very day
+he ordered the suppression of a Milanese club which had indulged in
+Jacobinical extravagances, and he called on the people "to show to the
+world by their wisdom, energy, and by the good organization of their
+army, that modern Italy has not degenerated and is still worthy of
+liberty."
+
+The contagion of Milanese enthusiasm spread rapidly. Some of the
+Venetian towns on the mainland now petitioned for union with the
+Cisalpine Republic; and the deputies of the Cispadane, who were
+present at the festival, urgently begged that their little State might
+enjoy the same privilege. Hitherto Bonaparte had refused these
+requests, lest he should hamper the negotiations with Austria, which
+were still tardily proceeding; but within a month their wish was
+gratified, and the Cispadane State was united to the larger and more
+vigorous republic north of the River Po, along with the important
+districts of Como, Bergamo, Brescia, Crema, and Peschiera.
+Disturbances in the Swiss district of the Valteline soon enabled
+Bonaparte to intervene on behalf of the oppressed peasants, and to
+merge this territory also in the Cisalpine Republic, which
+consequently stretched from the high Alps southward to Rimini, and
+from the Ticino on the west to the Mincio on the east.[81]
+
+Already, during his sojourn at the Castle of Montebello, Bonaparte
+figured as the all-powerful proconsul of the French Republic. Indeed,
+all his surroundings--his retinue of complaisant generals, and the
+numerous envoys and agents who thronged his ante-chambers to beg an
+audience--befitted a Sulla or a Wallenstein, rather than a general of
+the regicide Republic. Three hundred Polish soldiers guarded the
+approaches to the castle; and semi-regal state was also observed in
+its spacious corridors and saloons. There were to be seen Italian
+nobles, literati, and artists, counting it the highest honour to visit
+the liberator of their land; and to them Bonaparte behaved with that
+mixture of affability and inner reserve, of seductive charm
+alternating with incisive cross-examination which proclaimed at once
+the versatility of his gifts, the keenness of his intellect, and his
+determination to gain social, as well as military and political,
+supremacy. And yet the occasional abruptness of his movements, and the
+strident tones of command lurking beneath his silkiest speech, now and
+again reminded beholders that he was of the camp rather than of the
+court. To his generals he was distant; for any fault even his
+favourite officers felt the full force of his anger; and aides-de-camp
+were not often invited to dine at his table. Indeed, he frequently
+dined before his retinue, almost in the custom of the old Kings of
+France.
+
+With him was his mother, also his brothers, Joseph and Louis, whom he
+was rapidly advancing to fortune. There, too, were his sisters; Elise,
+proud and self-contained, who at this period married a noble but
+somewhat boorish Corsican, Bacciocchi; and Pauline, a charming girl of
+sixteen, whose hand the all-powerful brother offered to Marmont, to be
+by him unaccountably refused, owing, it would seem, to a prior
+attachment. This lively and luxurious young creature was not long to
+remain unwedded. The adjutant-general, Leclerc, became her suitor;
+and, despite his obscure birth and meagre talents, speedily gained her
+as his bride. Bonaparte granted her 40,000 francs as her dowry;
+and--significant fact--the nuptials were privately blessed by a priest
+in the chapel of the Palace of Montebello.
+
+There, too, at Montebello was Josephine.
+
+Certainly the Bonapartes were not happy in their loves: the one dark
+side to the young conqueror's life, all through this brilliant
+campaign, was the cruelty of his bride. From her side he had in March,
+1796, torn himself away, distracted between his almost insane love for
+her and his determination to crush the chief enemy of France: to her
+he had written long and tender letters even amidst the superhuman
+activities of his campaign. Ten long despatches a day had not
+prevented him covering as many sheets of paper with protestations of
+devotion to her and with entreaties that she would likewise pour out
+her heart to him. Then came complaints, some tenderly pleading, others
+passionately bitter, of her cruelly rare and meagre replies. The sad
+truth, that Josephine cares much for his fame and little for him
+himself, that she delays coming to Italy, these and other afflicting
+details rend his heart. At last she comes to Milan, after a
+passionate outburst of weeping--at leaving her beloved Paris. In Italy
+she shows herself scarcely more than affectionate to her doting
+spouse. Marlborough's letters to his peevish duchess during the
+Blenheim campaign are not more crowded with maudlin curiosities than
+those of the fierce scourge of the Austrians to his heartless fair. He
+writes to her agonizingly, begging her to be less lovely, less
+gracious, less good--apparently in order that he may love her less
+madly: but she is never to be jealous, and, above all, never to weep:
+for her tears burn his blood: and he concludes by sending millions of
+kisses, and also to her dog! And this mad effusion came from the man
+whom the outside world took to be of steel-like coldness: yet his
+nature had this fevered, passionate side, just as the moon, where she
+faces the outer void, is compact of ice, but turns a front of molten
+granite to her blinding, all-compelling luminary.
+
+Undoubtedly this blazing passion helped to spur on the lover to that
+terrific energy which makes the Italian campaign unique even amidst
+the Napoleonic wars. Beaulieu, Würmser, and Alvintzy were not rivals
+in war; they were tiresome hindrances to his unsated love. On the eve
+of one of his greatest triumphs he penned to her the following
+rhapsody:
+
+     "I am far from you, I seem to be surrounded by the blackest night:
+     I need the lurid light of the thunder-bolts which we are about to
+     hurl on our enemies to dispel the darkness into which your absence
+     has plunged me. Josephine, you wept when we parted: you wept! At
+     that thought all my being trembles. But be consoled! Würmser shall
+     pay dearly for the tears which I have seen you shed."
+
+What infatuation! to appease a woman's fancied grief, he will pile
+high the plains of Mincio with corpses, recking not of the thousand
+homes where bitter tears will flow. It is the apotheosis of
+sentimental egotism and social callousness. And yet this brain, with
+its moral vision hopelessly blurred, judged unerringly in its own
+peculiar plane. What power it must have possessed, that, unexhausted
+by the flames of love, it grasped infallibly the myriad problems of
+war, scanning them the more clearly, perchance, in the white heat of
+its own passion.
+
+At last there came the time of fruition at Montebello: of fruition,
+but not of ease or full contentment; for not only did an average of
+eight despatches a day claim several hours, during which he jealously
+guarded his solitude; but Josephine's behaviour served to damp his
+ardour. As, during the time of absence, she had slighted his urgent
+entreaties for a daily letter, so too, during the sojourn at
+Montebello, she revealed the shallowness and frivolity of her being.
+Fêtes, balls, and receptions, provided they were enlivened by a light
+crackle of compliments from an admiring circle, pleased her more than
+the devotion of a genius. She had admitted, before marriage, that her
+"Creole _nonchalance_" shrank wearily away from his keen and ardent
+nature; and now, when torn away from the _salons_ of Paris, she seems
+to have taken refuge in entertainments and lap-dogs.[82] Doubtless
+even at this period Josephine evinced something of that warm feeling
+which deepened with ripening years and lit up her later sorrows with a
+mild radiance; but her recent association with Madame Tallien and that
+giddy _cohue_ had accentuated her habits of feline complaisance to all
+and sundry. Her facile fondnesses certainly welled forth far too
+widely to carve out a single channel of love and mingle with the deep
+torrent of Bonaparte's early passion. In time, therefore, his
+affections strayed into many other courses; and it would seen that
+even in the later part of this Italian epoch his conduct was
+irregular. For this Josephine had herself mainly to thank. At last she
+awakened to the real value and greatness of the love which her neglect
+had served to dull and tarnish, but then it was too late for complete
+reunion of souls: the Corsican eagle had by that time soared far
+beyond reach of her highest flutterings.[83]
+
+At Montebello, as also at Passeriano, whither the Austrian
+negotiations were soon transferred, Bonaparte, though strictly
+maintaining the ceremonies of his proconsular court, yet showed the
+warmth of his social instincts. After the receptions of the day and
+the semi-public dinner, he loved to unbend in the evening. Sometimes,
+when Josephine formed a party of ladies for _vingt-et-un_, he would
+withdraw to a corner and indulge in the game of _goose_; and
+bystanders noted with amusement that his love of success led him to
+play tricks and cheat in order not to "fall into the pit." At other
+times, if the conversation languished, he proposed that each person
+should tell a story; and when no Boccaccio-like facility inspired the
+company, he sometimes launched out into one of those eerie and
+thrilling recitals, such as he must often have heard from the
+_improvisatori_ of his native island. Bourrienne states that
+Bonaparte's realism required darkness and daggers for the full display
+of his gifts, and that the climax of his dramatic monologue was not
+seldom enhanced by the screams of the ladies, a consummation which
+gratified rather than perturbed the accomplished actor.
+
+A survey of Bonaparte's multifarious activity in Italy enables the
+reader to realize something of the wonder and awe excited by his
+achievements. Like an Athena he leaped forth from the Revolution,
+fully armed for every kind of contest. His mental superiority
+impressed diplomats as his strategy baffled the Imperialist generals;
+and now he was to give further proofs of his astuteness by
+intervening in the internal affairs of France.
+
+In order to understand Bonaparte's share in the _coup d'état_ of
+Fructidor, we must briefly review the course of political events at
+Paris. At the time of the installation of the Directory the hope was
+widely cherished that the Revolution was now entirely a thing of the
+past. But the unrest of the time was seen in the renewal of the
+royalist revolts in the west, and in the communistic plot of Babeuf
+for the overthrow of the whole existing system of private property.
+The aims of these desperadoes were revealed by an accomplice; the
+ringleaders were arrested, and after a long trial Babeuf was
+guillotined and his confederates were transported (May, 1797). The
+disclosure of these ultra-revolutionary aims shocked not only the
+bourgeois, but even the peasants who were settled on the confiscated
+lands of the nobles and clergy. The very class which had given to the
+events of 1789 their irresistible momentum was now inclined to rest
+and be thankful; and in this swift revulsion of popular feeling the
+royalists began to gain ground. The elections for the renewal of a
+third part of the Councils resulted in large gains for them, and they
+could therefore somewhat influence the composition of the Directory by
+electing Barthélemy, a constitutional royalist. Still, he could not
+overbear the other four regicide Directors, even though one of these,
+Carnot, also favoured moderate opinions more and more. A crisis
+therefore rapidly developed between the still Jacobinical Directory
+and the two legislative Councils, in each of which the royalists, or
+moderates, had the upper hand. The aim of this majority was to
+strengthen the royalist elements in France by the repeal of many
+revolutionary laws. Their man of action was Pichegru, the conqueror of
+Holland, who, abjuring Jacobinism, now schemed with a club of
+royalists, which met at Clichy, on the outskirts of Paris. That their
+intrigues aimed at the restoration of the Bourbons had recently been
+proved. The French agents in Venice seized the Comte d'Entraigues, the
+confidante of the _soi-disant_ Louis XVIII.; and his papers, when
+opened by Bonaparte, Clarke, and Berthier at Montebello, proved that
+there was a conspiracy in France for the recall of the Bourbons. With
+characteristic skill, Bonaparte held back these papers from the
+Directory until he had mastered the difficulties of the situation. As
+for the count, he released him; and in return for this signal act of
+clemency, then very unusual towards an _émigré_, he soon became the
+object of his misrepresentation and slander.
+
+The political crisis became acute in July, when the majority
+of the Councils sought to force on the Directory Ministers who
+would favour moderate or royalist aims. Three Directors, Barras, La
+Réveillière-Lépeaux, and Rewbell, refused to listen to these behests,
+and insisted on the appointment of Jacobinical Ministers even in the
+teeth of a majority of the Councils. This defiance of the deputies of
+France was received with execration by most civilians, but with
+jubilant acclaim by the armies; for the soldiery, far removed from the
+partisan strifes of the capital, still retained their strongly
+republican opinions. The news that their conduct towards Venice was
+being sharply criticised by the moderates in Paris aroused their
+strongest feelings, military pride and democratic ardour.
+
+Nevertheless, Bonaparte's conduct was eminently cautious and reserved.
+In the month of May he sent to Paris his most trusted aide-de-camp,
+Lavalette, instructing him to sound all parties, to hold aloof from
+all engagements, and to report to him dispassionately on the state of
+public opinion.[84] Lavalette judged the position of the Directory, or
+rather of the Triumvirate which swayed it, to be so precarious that he
+cautioned his chief against any definite espousal of its cause; and in
+June-July, 1797, Bonaparte almost ceased to correspond with the
+Directors except on Italian affairs, probably because he looked
+forward to their overthrow as an important step towards his own
+supremacy. There was, however, the possibility of a royalist reaction
+sweeping all before it in France and ranging the armies against the
+civil power. He therefore waited and watched, fully aware of the
+enhanced importance which an uncertain situation gives to the outsider
+who refuses to show his hand.
+
+Duller eyes than his had discerned that the constitutional conflict
+between the Directory and the Councils could not be peaceably
+adjusted. The framers of the constitution had designed the slowly
+changing Directory as a check on the Councils, which were renewed to
+the extent of one-third every year; but, while seeking to put a
+regicide drag on the parliamentary coach, they had omitted to provide
+against a complete overturn. The Councils could not legally override
+the Directory; neither could the Directory veto the decrees of the
+Councils, nor, by dissolving them, compel an appeal to the country.
+This defect in the constitution had been clearly pointed out by
+Necker, and it now drew from Barras the lament:
+
+
+
+     "Ah, if the constitution of the Year III., which offers so many
+     sage precautions, had not neglected one of the most important; if
+     it had foreseen that the two great powers of the State, engaged in
+     heated debates, must end with open conflicts, when there is no high
+     court of appeal to arrange them; if it had sufficiently armed the
+     Directory with the right of dissolving the Chamber!"[85]
+
+As it was, the knot had to be severed by the sword: not, as yet, by
+Bonaparte's trenchant blade: he carefully drew back; but where as yet
+he feared to tread, Hoche rushed in. This ardently republican general
+was inspired by a self-denying patriotism, that flinched not before
+odious duties. While Bonaparte was culling laurels in Northern Italy,
+Hoche was undertaking the most necessary task of quelling the Vendéan
+risings, and later on braved the fogs and storms of the Atlantic in
+the hope of rousing all Ireland in revolt. His expedition to Bantry
+Bay in December, 1796, having miscarried, he was sent into the
+Rhineland. The conclusion of peace by Bonaparte at Leoben again dashed
+his hopes, and he therefore received with joy the orders of the
+Directory that he should march a large part of his army to Brest for a
+second expedition to Ireland. The Directory, however, intended to use
+those troops nearer home, and appointed him Minister of War (July
+16th). The choice was a good one; Hoche was active, able, and popular
+with the soldiery; but he had not yet reached the thirtieth year of
+his age, the limit required by the constitution. On this technical
+defect the majority of the Councils at once fastened; and their
+complaints were redoubled when a large detachment of his troops came
+within the distance of the capital forbidden to the army. The
+moderates could therefore accuse the triumvirs and Hoche of conspiracy
+against the laws; he speedily resigned the Ministry (July 22nd), and
+withdrew his troops into Champagne, and finally to the Rhineland.
+
+
+Now was the opportunity for Bonaparte to take up the _rôle_ of
+Cromwell which Hoche had so awkwardly played. And how skilfully the
+conqueror of Italy plays it--through subordinates. He was too well
+versed in statecraft to let his sword flash before the public gaze. By
+this time he had decided to act, and doubtless the fervid Jacobinism
+of the soldiery was the chief cause determining his action. At the
+national celebration on July 14th he allowed it to have free vent, and
+thereupon wrote to the Directory, bitterly reproaching them for their
+weakness in face of the royalist plot: "I see that the Clichy Club
+means to march over my corpse to the destruction of the Republic." He
+ended the diatribe by his usual device, when he desired to remind the
+Government of his necessity to them, of offering his resignation, in
+case they refused to take vigorous measures against the malcontents.
+Yet even now his action was secret and indirect. On July 27th he sent
+to the Directors a brief note stating that Augereau had requested
+leave to go to Paris, "where his affairs call him"; and that he sent
+by this general the originals of the addresses of the army, avowing
+its devotion to the constitution. No one would suspect from this that
+Augereau was in Bonaparte's confidence and came to carry out the
+_coup d'état_. The secret was well preserved. Lavalette was
+Bonaparte's official representative; and his neutrality was now
+maintained in accordance with a note received from his chief:
+"Augereau is coming to Paris: do not put yourself in his power: he has
+sown disorder in the army: he is a factious man."
+
+But, while Lavalette was left to trim his sails as best he might,
+Augereau was certain to act with energy. Bonaparte knew well that his
+Jacobinical lieutenant, famed as the first swordsman of the day, and
+the leader of the fighting division of the army, would do his work
+thoroughly, always vaunting his own prowess and decrying that of his
+commander. It was so. Augereau rushed to Paris, breathing threats of
+slaughter against the royalists. Checked for a time by the calculating
+_finesse_ of the triumvirs, he prepared to end matters by a single
+blow; and, when the time had come, he occupied the strategic points of
+the capital, drew a cordon of troops round the Tuileries, where the
+Councils sat, invaded the chambers of deputies and consigned to the
+Temple the royalists and moderates there present, with their leader,
+Pichegru. Barthélemy was also seized; but Carnot, warned by a friend,
+fled during the early hours of this eventful day--September 4th (or 18
+Fructidor). The mutilated Councils forthwith annulled the late
+elections in forty-nine Departments, and passed severe laws against
+orthodox priests and the unpardoned _émigrés_ who had ventured to
+return to France. The Directory was also intrusted with complete power
+to suppress newspapers, to close political clubs, and to declare any
+commune in a state of siege. Its functions were now wellnigh as
+extensive and absolute as those of the Committee of Public Safety, its
+powers being limited only by the incompetence of the individual
+Directors and by their paralyzing consciousness that they ruled only
+by favour of the army. They had taken the sword to solve a political
+problem: two years later they were to fall by that sword.[86]
+
+Augereau fully expected that he would be one of the two Directors who
+were elected in place of Carnot and Barthélemy; but the Councils had
+no higher opinion of his civic capacity than Bonaparte had formed;
+and, to his great disgust, Merlin of Douai and François of Neufchâtel
+were chosen. The last scenes of the _coup d'état_ centred around the
+transportation of the condemned deputies. One of the early memories of
+the future Duc de Broglie recalled the sight of the "_députés
+fructidorisés_ travelling in closed carriages, railed up like cages,"
+to the seaport whence they were to sail to the lingering agonies of a
+tropical prison in French Guiana.
+
+It was a painful spectacle: "the indignation was great, but the
+consternation was greater still. Everybody foresaw the renewal of the
+Reign of Terror and resignedly prepared for it."
+
+Such were the feelings, even of those who, like Madame de Staël and
+her friend Benjamin Constant, had declared before the _coup d'état_
+that it was necessary to the salvation of the Republic. That
+accomplished woman was endowed with nearly every attribute of genius
+except political foresight and self-restraint. No sooner had the blow
+been dealt than she fell to deploring its results, which any
+fourth-rate intelligence might have foreseen. "Liberty was the only
+power really conquered"--such was her later judgment on Fructidor. Now
+that Liberty fled affrighted, the errant enthusiasms of the gifted
+authoress clung for a brief space to Bonaparte. Her eulogies on his
+exploits, says Lavalette, who listened to her through a dinner in
+Talleyrand's rooms, possessed all the mad disorder and exaggeration of
+inspiration; and, after the repast was over, the votaress refused to
+pass out before an aide-de-camp of Bonaparte! The incident is
+characteristic both of Madame de Staël's moods and of the whims of the
+populace. Amidst the disenchantments of that time, when the pursuit of
+liberty seemed but an idle quest, when royalists were the champions of
+parliamentary rule and republicans relied on military force, all eyes
+turned wearily away from the civic broils at Paris to the visions of
+splendour revealed by the conqueror of Italy. Few persons knew how
+largely their new favourite was responsible for the events of
+Fructidor; all of them had by heart the names of his victories; and
+his popularity flamed to the skies when he recrossed the Alps,
+bringing with him a lucrative peace with Austria.
+
+The negotiations with that Power had dragged on slowly through the
+whole summer and far into the autumn, mainly owing to the hopes of the
+Emperor Francis that the disorder in France would filch from her the
+meed of victory. Doubtless that would have been the case, had not
+Bonaparte, while striking down the royalists at Paris through his
+lieutenant, remained at the head of his victorious legions in Venetia
+ready again to invade Austria, if occasion should arise.
+
+In some respects, the _coup d'état_ of Fructidor helped on the
+progress of the negotiations. That event postponed, if it did not
+render impossible, the advent of civil war in France; and, like
+Pride's Purge in our civil strifes, it installed in power a Government
+which represented the feelings of the army and of its chief. Moreover,
+it rid him of the presence of Clarke, his former colleague in the
+negotiations, whose relations with Carnot aroused the suspicions of
+Barras and led to his recall. Bonaparte was now the sole
+plenipotentiary of France. The final negotiations with Austria and the
+resulting treaty of Campo Formio may therefore be considered as almost
+entirely his handiwork.
+
+And yet, at this very time, the head of the Foreign Office at Paris
+was a man destined to achieve the greatest diplomatic reputation of
+the age. Charles Maurice de Talleyrand seemed destined for the task of
+uniting the society of the old _régime_ with the France of the
+Revolution. To review his life would be to review the Revolution. With
+a reforming zeal begotten of his own intellectual acuteness and of
+resentment against his family, which had disinherited him for the
+crime of lameness, he had led the first assaults of 1789 against the
+privileges of the nobles and of the clerics among whom his lot had
+perforce been cast. He acted as the head of the new "constitutional"
+clergy, and bestowed his episcopal blessing at the Feast of Pikes in
+1790; but, owing to his moderation, he soon fell into disfavour with
+the extreme men who seized on power. After a sojourn in England and
+the United States, he came back to France, and on the suggestion of
+Madame de Staël was appointed Minister for Foreign Affairs (July,
+1797). To this post he brought the highest gifts: his early clerical
+training gave a keen edge to an intellect naturally subtle and
+penetrating: his intercourse with Mirabeau gave him a grip on the
+essentials of sound policy and diplomacy: his sojourn abroad widened
+his vision, and imbued him with an admiration for English institutions
+and English moderation. Yet he loved France with a deep and fervent
+love. For her he schemed; for her he threw over friends or foes with a
+Macchiavellian facility. Amidst all the glamour of the Napoleonic
+Empire he discerned the dangers that threatened France; and he warned
+his master--as uselessly as he warned reckless nobles, priestly
+bigots, and fanatical Jacobins in the past, or the unteachable zealots
+of the restored monarchy. His life, when viewed, not in regard to its
+many sordid details, but to its chief guiding principle, was one long
+campaign against French _élan_ and partisan obstinacy; and he sealed
+it with the quaint declaration in his will that, on reviewing his
+career, he found he had never abandoned a party before it had
+abandoned itself. Talleyrand was equipped with a diversity of gifts:
+his gaze, intellectual yet composed, blenched not when he uttered a
+scathing criticism or a diplomatic lie: his deep and penetrating voice
+gave force to all his words, and the curl of his lip or the scornful
+lifting of his eyebrows sometimes disconcerted an opponent more than
+his biting sarcasm. In brief, this disinherited noble, this unfrocked
+priest, this disenchanted Liberal, was the complete expression of the
+inimitable society of the old _régime_, when quickened intellectually
+by Voltaire and dulled by the Terror. After doing much to destroy the
+old society, he was now to take a prominent share in its
+reconstruction on a modern basis.[87]
+
+Such was the man who now commenced his chief life-work, the task of
+guiding Napoleon. "The mere name of Bonaparte is an aid which ought to
+smooth away all my difficulties"--these were the obsequious terms in
+which he began his correspondence with the great general. In reality,
+he distrusted him; but whether from diffidence, or from the weakness
+of his own position, which as yet was little more than that of
+the head clerk of his department, he did nothing to assert the
+predominance of civil over military influence in the negotiations now
+proceeding.
+
+Two months before Talleyrand accepted office, Bonaparte had enlarged
+his original demands on Austria, and claimed for France the whole of
+the lands on the left or west bank of the Rhine, and for the Cisalpine
+Republic all the territory up to the River Adige. To these demands the
+Court of Vienna offered a tenacious resistance which greatly irritated
+him. "These people are so slow," he exclaimed, "they think that a
+peace like this ought to be meditated upon for three years first."
+
+Concurrently with the Franco-Austrian negotiations, overtures for a
+peace between France and England were being discussed at Lille. Into
+these it is impossible to enter farther than to notice that in these
+efforts Pitt and the other British Ministers (except Grenville) were
+sincerely desirous of peace, and that negotiations broke down owing to
+the masterful tone adopted by the Directory. It was perhaps
+unfortunate that Lord Malmesbury was selected as the English
+negotiator, for his behaviour in the previous year had been construed
+by the French as dilatory and insincere. But the Directors may on
+better evidence be charged with postponing a settlement until they
+had struck down their foes within France. Bonaparte's letters at this
+time show that he hoped for the conclusion of a peace with England,
+doubtless in order that his own pressure on Austria might be
+redoubled. In this he was to be disappointed. After Fructidor the
+Directory assumed overweening airs. Talleyrand was bidden to enjoin on
+the French plenipotentiaries the adoption of a loftier tone. Maret,
+the French envoy at Lille, whose counsels had ever been on the side of
+moderation, was abruptly replaced by a "Fructidorian"; and a decisive
+refusal was given to the English demand for the retention of Trinidad
+and the Cape, at the expense of Spain and the Batavian Republic
+respectively. Indeed, the Directory intended to press for the cession
+of the Channel Islands to France and of Gibraltar to Spain, and that,
+too, at the end of a maritime war fruitful in victories for the Union
+Jack.[88]
+
+Towards the King of Sardinia the new Directory was equally imperious.
+The throne of Turin was now occupied by Charles Emmanuel IV. He
+succeeded to a troublous heritage. Threatened by democratic republics
+at Milan and Genoa, and still more by the effervescence of his own
+subjects, he strove to gain an offensive and defensive alliance with
+France, as the sole safeguard against revolution. To this end he
+offered 10,000 Piedmontese for service with Bonaparte, and even
+secretly covenanted to cede the island of Sardinia to France. But
+these offers could not divert Barras and his colleagues from their
+revolutionary policy. They spurned the alliance with the House of
+Savoy, and, despite the remonstrances of Bonaparte, they fomented
+civil discords in Piedmont such as endangered his communications with
+France. Indeed, the Directory after Fructidor was deeply imbued with
+fear of their commander in Italy. To increase his difficulties was
+now their paramount desire; and under the pretext of extending liberty
+in Italy, they instructed Talleyrand to insist on the inclusion of
+Venice and Friuli in the Cisalpine Republic. Austria must be content
+with Trieste, Istria, and Dalmatia, must renounce all interest in the
+fate of the Ionian Isles, and find in Germany all compensation for her
+losses in Italy. Such was the ultimatum of the Directory (September
+16th). But a loophole of escape was left to Bonaparte; the conduct of
+these negotiations was confided solely to him, and he had already
+decided their general tenor by giving his provisional assent to the
+acquisition by Austria of the east bank of the Adige and the city of
+Venice. From these terms he was disinclined to diverge. He was weary
+of "this old Europe": his gaze was directed towards Corfu, Malta, and
+Egypt; and when he received the official ultimatum, he saw that the
+Directory desired a renewal of the war under conditions highly
+embarrassing for him. "Yes: I see clearly that they are preparing
+defeats for me," he exclaimed to his aide-de-camp Lavalette. They
+angered him still more when, on the death of Hoche, they intrusted
+their Rhenish forces, numbering 120,000 men, to the command of
+Augereau, and sent to the Army of Italy an officer bearing a manifesto
+written by Augereau concerning Fructidor, which set forth the anxiety
+felt by the Directors concerning Bonaparte's political views. At this
+Bonaparte fired up and again offered his resignation (September 25th):
+
+     "No power on earth shall, after this horrible and most unexpected
+     act of ingratitude by the Government, make me continue to serve it.
+     My health imperiously demands calm and repose.... My recompense is
+     in my conscience and in the opinion of posterity. Believe me, that
+     at any time of danger, I shall be the first to defend the
+     Constitution of the Year III."
+
+The resignation was of course declined, in terms most flattering to
+Bonaparte; and the Directors prepared to ratify the treaty with
+Sardinia.
+
+Indeed, the fit of passion once passed, the determination to dominate
+events again possessed him, and he decided to make peace, despite the
+recent instructions of the Directory that no peace would be honourable
+which sacrificed Venice to Austria. There is reason to believe that he
+now regretted this sacrifice. His passionate outbursts against Venice
+after the _Pâques véronaises_, his denunciations of "that fierce and
+bloodstained rule," had now given place to some feelings of pity for
+the people whose ruin he had so artfully compassed; and the social
+intercourse with Venetians which he enjoyed at Passeriano, the castle
+of the Doge Manin, may well have inspired some regard for the proud
+city which he was now about to barter away to Austria. Only so,
+however, could he peacefully terminate the wearisome negotiations with
+the Emperor. The Austrian envoy, Count Cobenzl, struggled hard to gain
+the whole of Venetia, and the Legations, along with the half of
+Lombardy.[89] From these exorbitant demands he was driven by the
+persistent vigour of Bonaparte's assaults. The little Corsican proved
+himself an expert in diplomatic wiles, now enticing the Imperialist on
+to slippery ground, and occasionally shocking him by calculated
+outbursts of indignation or bravado. After many days spent in
+intellectual fencing, the discussions were narrowed down to Mainz,
+Mantua, Venice, and the Ionian Isles. On the fate of these islands a
+stormy discussion arose, Cobenzl stipulating for their complete
+independence, while Bonaparte passionately claimed them for France. In
+one of these sallies his vehement gestures overturned a cabinet with a
+costly vase; but the story that he smashed the vase, as a sign of his
+power to crush the House of Austria, is a later refinement on the
+incident, about which Cobenzl merely reported to Vienna--"He behaved
+like a fool." Probably his dextrous disclosure of the severe terms
+which the Directory ordered him to extort was far more effective than
+this boisterous _gasconnade_. Finally, after threatening an immediate
+attack on the Austrian positions, he succeeded on three of the
+questions above named, but at the sacrifice of Venice to Austria.
+
+The treaty was signed on October 17th at the village of Campo Formio.
+The published articles may be thus summarized: Austria ceded to the
+French Republic her Belgic provinces. Of the once extensive Venetian
+possessions France gained the Ionian Isles, while Austria acquired
+Istria, Dalmatia, the districts at the mouth of the Cattaro, the city
+of Venice, and the mainland of Venetia as far west as Lake Garda, the
+Adige, and the lower part of the River Po. The Hapsburgs recognized
+the independence of the now enlarged Cisalpine Republic. France and
+Austria agreed to frame a treaty of commerce on the basis of "the most
+favoured nation." The Emperor ceded to the dispossessed Duke of Modena
+the territory of Breisgau on the east of the Rhine. A congress was to
+be held at Rastadt, at which the plenipotentiaries of France and of
+the Germanic Empire were to regulate affairs between these two Powers.
+
+Secret articles bound the Emperor to use his influence in the Empire
+to secure for France the left bank of the Rhine; while France was to
+use her good offices to procure for the Emperor the Archbishopric of
+Salzburg and the Bavarian land between that State and the River Inn.
+Other secret articles referred to the indemnities which were to be
+found in Germany for some of the potentates who suffered by the
+changes announced in the public treaty.
+
+The bartering away of Venice awakened profound indignation. After more
+than a thousand years of independence, that city was abandoned to the
+Emperor by the very general who had promised to free Italy. It was in
+vain that Bonaparte strove to soothe the provisional government of
+that city through the influence of a Venetian Jew, who, after his
+conversion, had taken the famous name of Dandolo. Summoning him to
+Passeriano, he explained to him the hard necessity which now dictated
+the transfer of Venice to Austria. France could not now shed any more
+of her best blood for what was, after all, only "a moral cause": the
+Venetians therefore must cultivate resignation for the present and
+hope for the future.
+
+[Illustration: CENTRAL EUROPE AFTER THE PEACE OF CAMPO FORMIO, 1797
+
+The boundaries of the Holy Roman Empire are indicated by thick dots.
+The Austrian Dominions are indicated by vertical lines. The Prussian
+Dominions are indicated by horizontal lines. The Ecclesiastical
+States are indicated by dotted areas.]
+
+The advice was useless. The Venetian democrats determined on a last
+desperate venture. They secretly sent three deputies, among them
+Dandolo, with a large sum of money wherewith to bribe the Directors to
+reject the treaty of Campo Formio. This would have been quite
+practicable, had not their errand become known to Bonaparte. Alarmed
+and enraged at this device, which, if successful, would have consigned
+him to infamy, he sent Duroc in chase; and the envoys, caught before
+they crossed the Maritime Alps, were brought before the general at
+Milan. To his vehement reproaches and threats they opposed a dignified
+silence, until Dandolo, appealing to his generosity, awakened those
+nobler feelings which were never long dormant. Then he quietly
+dismissed them--to witness the downfall of their beloved city.
+
+_Acribus initiis, ut ferme talia, incuriosa fine_; these cynical
+words, with which the historian of the Roman Empire blasted the
+movements of his age, may almost serve as the epitaph to Bonaparte's
+early enthusiasms. Proclaiming at the beginning of his Italian
+campaigns that he came to free Italy, he yet finished his course of
+almost unbroken triumphs by a surrender which his panegyrists have
+scarcely attempted to condone. But the fate of Venice was almost
+forgotten amidst the jubilant acclaim which greeted the conqueror of
+Italy on his arrival at Paris. All France rang with the praises of the
+hero who had spread liberty throughout Northern and Central Italy,
+had enriched the museums of Paris with priceless masterpieces of art,
+whose army had captured 150,000 prisoners, and had triumphed in 18
+pitched battles--for Caldiero was now reckoned as a French
+victory--and 47 smaller engagements. The Directors, shrouding their
+hatred and fear of the masterful proconsul under their Roman togas,
+greeted him with uneasy effusiveness. The climax of the official
+comedy was reached when, at the reception of the conqueror, Barras,
+pointing northwards, exclaimed: "Go there and capture the giant
+corsair that infests the seas: go punish in London outrages that have
+too long been unpunished": whereupon, as if overcome by his emotions,
+he embraced the general. Amidst similar attentions bestowed by the
+other Directors, the curtain falls on the first, or Italian, act of
+the young hero's career, soon to rise on oriental adventures that were
+to recall the exploits of Alexander.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+EGYPT
+
+
+Among the many misconceptions of the French revolutionists none was
+more insidious than the notion that the wealth and power of the
+British people rested on an artificial basis. This mistaken belief in
+England's weakness arose out of the doctrine taught by the
+_Economistes_ or _Physiocrates_ in the latter half of last century,
+that commerce was not of itself productive of wealth, since it only
+promoted the distribution of the products of the earth; but that
+agriculture was the sole source of true wealth and prosperity. They
+therefore exalted agriculture at the expense of commerce and
+manufactures, and the course of the Revolution, which turned largely
+on agrarian questions, tended in the same direction. Robespierre and
+St. Just were never weary of contrasting the virtues of a simple
+pastoral life with the corruptions and weakness engendered by foreign
+commerce; and when, early in 1793, Jacobinical zeal embroiled the
+young Republic with England, the orators of the Convention confidently
+prophesied the downfall of the modern Carthage. Kersaint declared that
+"the credit of England rests upon fictitious wealth: ... bounded in
+territory, the public future of England is found almost wholly in its
+bank, and this edifice is entirely supported by naval commerce. It is
+easy to cripple this commerce, and especially so for a power like
+France, which stands alone on her own riches."[90]
+
+
+
+Commercial interests played a foremost part all through the struggle.
+The official correspondence of Talleyrand in 1797 proves that the
+Directory intended to claim the Channel Islands, the north of
+Newfoundland, and all our conquests in the East Indies made since
+1754, besides the restitution of Gibraltar to Spain.[91] Nor did these
+hopes seem extravagant. The financial crisis in London and the mutiny
+at the Nore seemed to betoken the exhaustion of England, while the
+victories of Bonaparte raised the power of France to heights never
+known before. Before the victory of Duncan over the Dutch at
+Camperdown (October 11th, 1797), Britain seemed to have lost her naval
+supremacy.
+
+The recent admission of State bankruptcy at Paris, when two-thirds of
+the existing liabilities were practically expunged, sharpened the
+desire of the Directory to compass England's ruin, an enterprise which
+might serve to restore French credit and would certainly engage those
+vehement activities of Bonaparte that could otherwise work mischief in
+Paris. On his side he gladly accepted the command of the _Army of
+England_.
+
+     "The people of Paris do not remember anything," he said to
+     Bourrienne. "Were I to remain here long, doing nothing, I should be
+     lost. In this great Babylon everything wears out: my glory has
+     already disappeared. This little Europe does not supply enough of
+     it for me. I must seek it in the East: all great fame comes from
+     that quarter. However, I wish first to make a tour along the
+     [northern] coast to see for myself what may be attempted. If the
+     success of a descent upon England appear doubtful, as I suspect it
+     will, the Army of England shall become the Army of the East, and I
+     go to Egypt."[92]
+
+In February, 1798, he paid a brief visit to Dunkirk and the Flemish
+coast, and concluded that the invasion of England was altogether too
+complicated to be hazarded except as a last desperate venture. In a
+report to the Government (February 23rd) he thus sums up the whole
+situation:
+
+     "Whatever efforts we make, we shall not for some years gain the
+     naval supremacy. To invade England without that supremacy is the
+     most daring and difficult task ever undertaken.... If, having
+     regard to the present organization of our navy, it seems impossible
+     to gain the necessary promptness of execution, then we must really
+     give up the expedition against England, _be satisfied with keeping
+     up the pretence of it_, and concentrate all our attention and
+     resources on the Rhine, in order to try to deprive England of
+     Hanover and Hamburg:[93] ... or else undertake an eastern
+     expedition which would menace her trade with the Indies. And if
+     none of these three operations is practicable, I see nothing else
+     for it but to conclude peace with England."
+
+The greater part of his career serves as a commentary on these
+designs. To one or other of them he was constantly turning as
+alternative schemes for the subjugation of his most redoubtable foe.
+The first plan he now judged to be impracticable; the second, which
+appears later in its fully matured form as his Continental System, was
+not for the present feasible, because France was about to settle
+German affairs at the Congress of Rastadt; to the third he therefore
+turned the whole force of his genius.
+
+The conquest of Egypt and the restoration to France of her supremacy
+in India appealed to both sides of Bonaparte's nature. The vision of
+the tricolour floating above the minarets of Cairo and the palace of
+the Great Mogul at Delhi fascinated a mind in which the mysticism of
+the south was curiously blent with the practicality and passion for
+details that characterize the northern races. To very few men in the
+world's history has it been granted to dream grandiose dreams and all
+but realize them, to use by turns the telescope and the microscope of
+political survey, to plan vast combinations of force, and yet to
+supervise with infinite care the adjustment of every adjunct. Cæsar,
+in the old world, was possibly the mental peer of Bonaparte in this
+majestic equipoise of the imaginative and practical qualities; but of
+Cæsar we know comparatively little; whereas the complex workings of
+the greatest mind of the modern world stand revealed in that
+storehouse of facts and fancies, the "Correspondance de Napoléon." The
+motives which led to the Eastern Expedition are there unfolded. In the
+letter which he wrote to Talleyrand shortly before the signature of
+the peace of Campo Formio occurs this suggestive passage:
+
+     "The character of our nation is to be far too vivacious amidst
+     prosperity. If we take for the basis of all our operations true
+     policy, which is nothing else than the calculation of combinations
+     and chances, we shall long be _la grande nation_ and the arbiter of
+     Europe. I say more: we hold the balance of Europe: we will make
+     that balance incline as we wish; and, if such is the order of fate,
+     I think it by no means impossible that we may in a few years attain
+     those grand results of which the heated and enthusiastic
+     imagination catches a glimpse, and which the extremely cool,
+     persistent, and calculating man will alone attain."
+
+This letter was written when Bonaparte was bartering away Venice to
+the Emperor in consideration of the acquisition by France of the
+Ionian Isles. Its reference to the vivacity of the French was
+doubtless evoked by the orders which he then received to
+"revolutionize Italy." To do that, while the Directory further
+extorted from England Gibraltar, the Channel Islands, and her eastern
+conquests, was a programme dictated by excessive vivacity. The
+Directory lacked the practical qualities that selected one great
+enterprise at a time and brought to bear on it the needful
+concentration of effort. In brief, he selected the war against
+England's eastern commerce as his next sphere of action; for it
+offered "an arena vaster, more necessary and resplendent" than war
+with Austria; "if we compel the [British] Government to a peace, the
+advantages we shall gain for our commerce in both hemispheres will be
+a great step towards the consolidation of liberty and the public
+welfare."[94]
+
+For this eastern expedition he had already prepared. In May, 1797, he
+had suggested the seizure of Malta from the Knights of St. John; and
+when, on September 27th, the Directory gave its assent, he sent
+thither a French commissioner, Poussielgue, on a "commercial mission,"
+to inspect those ports, and also, doubtless, to undermine the
+discipline of the Knights. Now that the British had retired from
+Corsica, and France disposed of the maritime resources of Northern
+Italy, Spain, and Holland, it seemed quite practicable to close the
+Mediterranean to those "intriguing and enterprising islanders," to
+hold them at bay in their dull northern seas, to exhaust them by
+ruinous preparations against expected descents on their southern
+coasts, on Ireland, and even on Scotland, while Bonaparte's eastern
+conquests dried up the sources of their wealth in the Orient: "Let us
+concentrate all our activity on our navy and destroy England. That
+done, Europe is at our feet."[95]
+
+But he encountered opposition from the Directory. They still clung to
+their plan of revolutionizing Italy; and only by playing on their fear
+of the army could he bring these civilians to assent to the
+expatriation of 35,000 troops and their best generals. On La
+Réveillière-Lépeaux the young commander worked with a skill that
+veiled the choicest irony. This Director was the high-priest of a
+newly-invented cult, termed _Théo-philanthropie_, into the dull embers
+of which he was still earnestly blowing. To this would-be prophet
+Bonaparte now suggested that the eastern conquests would furnish a
+splendid field for the spread of the new faith; and La Réveillière was
+forthwith converted from his scheme of revolutionizing Europe to the
+grander sphere of moral proselytism opened out to him in the East by
+the very chief who, on landing in Egypt, forthwith professed the
+Moslem creed.
+
+After gaining the doubtful assent of the Directory, Bonaparte had to
+face urgent financial difficulties. The dearth of money was, however,
+met by two opportune interventions. The first of these was in the
+affairs of Rome. The disorders of the preceding year in that city had
+culminated at Christmas in a riot in which General Duphot had been
+assassinated; this outrage furnished the pretext desired by the
+Directory for revolutionizing Central Italy. Berthier was at once
+ordered to lead French troops against the Eternal City. He entered
+without resistance (February 15th, 1798), declared the civil authority
+of the Pope at an end, and proclaimed the _restoration_ of the Roman
+Republic. The practical side of the liberating policy was soon
+revealed. A second time the treasures of Rome, both artistic and
+financial, were rifled; and, as Lucien Bonaparte caustically remarked
+in his "Memoirs," the chief duty of the newly-appointed consuls and
+quæstors was to superintend the packing up of pictures and statues
+designed for Paris. Berthier not only laid the basis of a large
+private fortune, but showed his sense of the object of the expedition
+by sending large sums for the equipment of the armada at Toulon. "In
+sending me to Rome," wrote Berthier to Bonaparte, "you appoint me
+treasurer to the expedition against England. I will try to fill the
+exchequer."
+
+The intervention of the Directory in the affairs of Switzerland was
+equally lucrative. The inhabitants of the district of Vaud, in their
+struggles against the oppressive rule of the Bernese oligarchy, had
+offered to the French Government the excuse for interference: and a
+force invading that land, overpowered the levies of the central
+cantons.[96] The imposition of a centralized form of government
+modelled on that of France, the wresting of Geneva from this ancient
+confederation, and its incorporation with France, were not the only
+evils suffered by Switzerland. Despite the proclamation of General
+Brune that the French came as friends to the descendants of William
+Tell, and would respect their independence and their property, French
+commissioners proceeded to rifle the treasuries of Berne, Zürich,
+Solothurn, Fribourg, and Lucerne of sums which amounted in all to
+eight and a half million francs; fifteen millions were extorted in
+forced contributions and plunder, besides 130 cannon and 60,000
+muskets which also became the spoils of the liberators.[97] The
+destination of part of the treasure was already fixed; on April 13th
+Bonaparte wrote an urgent letter to General Lannes, directing him to
+expedite the transit of the booty to Toulon, where three million
+francs were forthwith expended on the completion of the armada.
+
+This letter, and also the testimony of Madame de Staël, Barras,
+Bourrienne, and Mallet du Pan, show that he must have been a party to
+this interference in Swiss affairs, which marks a debasement, not only
+of Bonaparte's character, but of that of the French army and people.
+It drew from Coleridge, who previously had seen in the Revolution the
+dawn of a nobler era, an indignant protest against the prostitution of
+the ideas of 1789:
+
+  "Oh France that mockest Heaven, adulterous, blind,
+  Are these thy boasts, champion of human kind?
+  To mix with Kings in the low lust of sway,
+  Yell in the hunt and join the murderous prey? ...
+  The sensual and the dark rebel in vain
+  Slaves by their own compulsion. In mad game
+  They burst their manacles: but wear the name
+  Of Freedom, graven on a heavier chain."
+
+The occupation by French troops of the great central bastion of the
+European system seemed a challenge, not only to idealists, but to
+German potentates. It nearly precipitated a rupture with Vienna, where
+the French tricolour had recently been torn down by an angry crowd.
+But Bonaparte did his utmost to prevent a renewal of war that would
+blight his eastern prospects; and he succeeded. One last trouble
+remained. At his final visit to the Directory, when crossed about some
+detail, he passionately threw up his command. Thereupon Rewbell, noted
+for his incisive speech, drew up the form of resignation, and
+presenting it to Bonaparte, firmly said, "Sign, citizen general." The
+general did not sign, but retired from the meeting apparently
+crestfallen, but really meditating a _coup d'état_. This last
+statement rests on the evidence of Mathieu Dumas, who heard it
+through General Desaix, a close friend of Bonaparte; and it is clear
+from the narratives of Bourrienne, Barras, and Madame Junot that,
+during his last days in Paris, the general was moody, preoccupied, and
+fearful of being poisoned.
+
+At last the time of preparation and suspense was at an end. The aims
+of the expedition as officially defined by a secret decree on April
+12th included the capture of Egypt and the exclusion of the English
+from "all their possessions in the East to which the general can
+come"; Bonaparte was also to have the isthmus of Suez cut through; to
+"assure the _free and exclusive_ possession of the Red Sea to the
+French Republic"; to improve the condition of the natives of Egypt,
+and to cultivate good relations with the Grand Signior. Another secret
+decree empowered Bonaparte to seize Malta. To these schemes he added
+another of truly colossal dimensions. After conquering the East, he
+would rouse the Greeks and other Christians of the East, overthrow the
+Turks, seize Constantinople, and "take Europe in the rear."
+
+Generous support was accorded to the _savants_ who were desirous of
+exploring the artistic and literary treasures of Egypt and
+Mesopotamia. It has been affirmed by the biographer of Monge that the
+enthusiasm of this celebrated physicist first awakened Bonaparte's
+desire for the eastern expedition; but this seems to have been
+aroused earlier by Volney, who saw a good deal of Bonaparte in 1791.
+In truth, the desire to wrest the secrets of learning from the
+mysterious East seems always to have spurred on his keenly inquisitive
+nature. During the winter months of 1797-8 he attended the chemical
+lectures of the renowned Berthollet; and it was no perfunctory choice
+which selected him for the place in the famous institute left vacant
+by the exile of Carnot. The manner in which he now signed his orders
+and proclamations--Member of the Institute, General in Chief of the
+Army of the East--showed his determination to banish from the life of
+France that affectation of boorish ignorance by which the Terrorists
+had rendered themselves uniquely odious.
+
+After long delays, caused by contrary winds, the armada set sail from
+Toulon. Along with the convoys from Marseilles, Genoa, and Civita
+Vecchia, it finally reached the grand total of 13 ships of the line, 7
+frigates, several gunboats, and nearly 300 transports of various
+sizes, conveying 35,000 troops. Admiral Brueys was the admiral, but
+acting under Bonaparte. Of the generals whom the commander-in-chief
+took with him, the highest in command were the divisional generals
+Kléber, Desaix, Bon, Menou, Reynier, for the infantry: under them
+served 14 generals, a few of whom, as Marmont, were to achieve a wider
+fame. The cavalry was commanded by the stalwart mulatto, General
+Alexandre Dumas, under whom served Leclerc, the husband of Pauline
+Bonaparte, along with two men destined to world-wide renown, Murat and
+Davoust. The artillery was commanded by Dommartin, the engineers by
+Caffarelli: and the heroic Lannes was quarter-master general.
+
+The armada appeared off Malta without meeting with any incident. This
+island was held by the Knights of St. John, the last of those
+companies of Christian warriors who had once waged war on the infidels
+in Palestine. Their courage had evaporated in luxurious ease, and
+their discipline was a prey to intestine schisms and to the intrigues
+carried on with the French Knights of the Order. A French fleet had
+appeared off Valetta in the month of March in the hope of effecting a
+surprise; but the admiral, Brueys, judging the effort too hazardous,
+sent an awkward explanation, which only served to throw the knights
+into the arms of Russia. One of the chivalrous dreams of the Czar Paul
+was that of spreading his influence in the Mediterranean by a treaty
+with this Order. It gratified his crusading ardour and promised to
+Russia a naval base for the partition of Turkey which was then being
+discussed with Austria: to secure the control of the island, Russia
+was about to expend 400,000 roubles, when Bonaparte anticipated
+Muscovite designs by a prompt seizure.[98] An excuse was easily found
+for a rupture with the Order: some companies of troops were
+disembarked, and hostilities commenced.
+
+Secure within their mighty walls, the knights might have held the
+intruders at bay, had they not been divided by internal disputes: the
+French knights refused to fight against their countrymen; and a revolt
+of the native Maltese, long restless under the yoke of the Order, now
+helped to bring the Grand Master to a surrender. The evidence of the
+English consul, Mr. Williams, seems to show that the discontent of the
+natives was even more potent than the influence of French gold in
+bringing about this result.[99] At any rate, one of the strongest
+places in Europe admitted a French garrison, after so tame a defence
+that General Caffarelli, on viewing the fortifications, remarked to
+Bonaparte: "Upon my word, general, it is lucky there was some one in
+the town to open the gates to us."
+
+During his stay of seven days at Malta, Bonaparte revealed the vigour
+of those organizing powers for which the half of Europe was soon to
+present all too small an arena. He abolished the Order, pensioning off
+those French knights who had been serviceable: he abolished the
+religious houses and confiscated their domains to the service of the
+new government: he established a governmental commission acting under
+a military governor: he continued provisionally the existing taxes,
+and provided for the imposition of customs, excise, and octroi dues:
+he prepared the way for the improvement of the streets, the erection
+of fountains, the reorganization of the hospitals and the post
+office. To the university he gave special attention, rearranging the
+curriculum on the model of the more advanced _écoles centrales_ of
+France, but inclining the studies severely to the exact sciences and
+the useful arts. On all sides he left the imprint of his practical
+mind, that viewed life as a game at chess, whence bishops and knights
+were carefully banished, and wherein nothing was left but the heavy
+pieces and subservient pawns.
+
+After dragging Malta out of its mediaeval calm and plunging it into
+the full swirl of modern progress, Bonaparte set sail for Egypt. His
+exchequer was the richer by all the gold and silver, whether in
+bullion or in vessels, discoverable in the treasury of Malta or in the
+Church of St. John. Fortunately, the silver gates of this church had
+been coloured over, and thus escaped the fate of the other
+treasures.[100] On the voyage to Alexandria he studied the library of
+books which he had requested Bourrienne to purchase for him. The
+composition of this library is of interest as showing the strong trend
+of his thoughts towards history, though at a later date he was careful
+to limit its study in the university and schools which he founded. He
+had with him 125 volumes of historical works, among which the
+translations of Thucydides, Plutarch, Tacitus, and Livy represented
+the life of the ancient world, while in modern life he concentrated
+his attention chiefly on the manners and institutions of peoples and
+the memoirs of great generals--as Turenne, Condé, Luxembourg, Saxe,
+Marlborough, Eugène, and Charles XII. Of the poets he selected the
+so-called Ossian, Tasso, Ariosto, Homer, Virgil, and the masterpieces
+of the French theatre; but he especially affected the turgid and
+declamatory style of Ossian. In romance, English literature was
+strongly represented by forty volumes of novels, of course in
+translations. Besides a few works on arts and sciences, he also had
+with him twelve volumes of "Barclay's Geography," and three volumes of
+"Cook's Voyages," which show that his thoughts extended to the
+antipodes; and under the heading of Politics he included the Bible,
+the Koran, the Vedas, a Mythology, and Montesquieu's "Esprit des
+Lois"! The composition and classification of this library are equally
+suggestive. Bonaparte carefully searched out the weak places of the
+organism which he was about to attack--in the present campaign, Egypt
+and the British Empire. The climate and natural products, the genius
+of its writers and the spirit of its religion--nothing came amiss to
+his voracious intellect, which assimilated the most diverse materials
+and pressed them all into his service. Greek mythology provided
+allusions for the adornment of his proclamations, the Koran would
+dictate his behaviour towards the Moslems, and the Bible was to be his
+guide-book concerning the Druses and Armenians. All three were
+therefore grouped together under the head of Politics.
+
+
+And this, on the whole, fairly well represents his mental attitude
+towards religion: at least, it was his work-a-day attitude. There were
+moments, it is true, when an overpowering sense of the majesty of the
+universe lifted his whole being far above this petty opportunism: and
+in those moments, which, in regard to the declaration of character,
+may surely be held to counterbalance whole months spent in tactical
+shifts and diplomatic wiles, he was capable of soaring to heights of
+imaginative reverence. Such an episode, lighting up for us the
+recesses of his mind, occurred during his voyage to Egypt. The
+_savants_ on board his ship, "L'Orient," were discussing one of those
+questions which Bonaparte often propounded, in order that, as arbiter
+in this contest of wits, he might gauge their mental powers. Mental
+dexterity, rather than the Socratic pursuit after truth, was the aim
+of their dialectic; but on one occasion, when religion was being
+discussed, Bonaparte sounded a deeper note: looking up into the
+midnight vault of sky, he said to the philosophizing atheists: "Very
+ingenious, sirs, but who made all that?" As a retort to the
+tongue-fencers, what could be better? The appeal away from words to
+the star-studded canopy was irresistible: it affords a signal proof of
+what Carlyle has finely called his "instinct for nature" and his
+"ineradicable feeling for reality." This probably was the true man,
+lying deep under his Moslem shifts and Concordat bargainings.
+
+That there was a tinge of superstition in Bonaparte's nature, such as
+usually appears in gifted scions of a coast-dwelling family, cannot be
+denied;[101] but his usual attitude towards religion was that of the
+political mechanician, not of the devotee, and even while professing
+the forms of fatalistic belief, he really subordinated them to his own
+designs. To this profound calculation of the credulity of mankind we
+may probably refer his allusions to his star. The present writer
+regards it as almost certain that his star was invoked in order to
+dazzle the vulgar herd. Indeed, if we may trust Miot de Melito, the
+First Consul once confessed as much to a circle of friends. "Cæsar,"
+he said, "was right to cite his good fortune and to appear to believe
+in it. That is a means of acting on the imagination of others without
+offending anyone's self-love." A strange admission this; what
+boundless self-confidence it implies that he should have admitted the
+trickery. The mere acknowledgment of it is a proof that he felt
+himself so far above the plane of ordinary mortals that, despite the
+disclosure, he himself would continue to be his own star. For the
+rest, is it credible that this analyzing genius could ever have
+seriously adopted the astrologer's creed? Is there anything in his
+early note-books or later correspondence which warrants such a belief?
+Do not all his references to his star occur in proclamations and
+addresses intended for popular consumption?
+
+Certainly Bonaparte's good fortune was conspicuous all through these
+eastern adventures, and never more so than when he escaped the pursuit
+of Nelson. The English admiral had divined his aim. Setting all sail,
+he came almost within sight of the French force near Crete, and he
+reached Alexandria barely two days before his foes hove in sight.
+Finding no hostile force there, he doubled back on his course and
+scoured the seas between Crete, Sicily, and the Morca, until news
+received from a Turkish official again sent him eastwards. On such
+trifles does the fate of empires sometimes depend.
+
+Meanwhile events were crowding thick and fast upon Bonaparte. To free
+himself from the terrible risks which had menaced his force off the
+Egyptian coast, he landed his troops, 35,000 strong, with all possible
+expedition at Marabout near Alexandria, and, directing his columns of
+attack on the walls of that city, captured it by a rush (July 2nd).
+
+For this seizure of neutral territory he offered no excuse other than
+that the Beys, who were the real rulers of Egypt, had favoured English
+commerce and were guilty of some outrages on French merchants. He
+strove, however, to induce the Sultan of Turkey to believe that the
+French invasion of Egypt was a friendly act, as it would overthrow the
+power of the Mamelukes, who had reduced Turkish authority to a mere
+shadow. This was the argument which he addressed to the Turkish
+officials, but it proved to be too subtle even for the oriental mind
+fully to appreciate. Bonaparte's chief concern was to win over the
+subject population, which consisted of diverse races. At the surface
+were the Mamelukes, a powerful military order, possessing a
+magnificent cavalry, governed by two Beys, and scarcely recognizing
+the vague suzerainty claimed by the Porte. The rivalries of the Beys,
+Murad and Ibrahim, produced a fertile crop of discords in this
+governing caste, and their feuds exposed the subject races, both Arabs
+and Copts, to constant forays and exactions. It seemed possible,
+therefore, to arouse them against the dominant caste, provided that
+the Mohammedan scruples of the whole population were carefully
+respected. To this end, the commander cautioned his troops to act
+towards the Moslems as towards "Jews and Italians," and to respect
+their muftis and imams as much as "rabbis and bishops." He also
+proclaimed to the Egyptians his determination, while overthrowing
+Mameluke tyranny, to respect the Moslem faith: "Have we not destroyed
+the Pope, who bade men wage war on Moslems? Have we not destroyed the
+Knights of Malta, because those fools believed it to be God's will to
+war against Moslems?" The French soldiers were vastly amused by the
+humour of these proceedings, and the liberated people fully
+appreciated the menaces with which Bonaparte's proclamation closed,
+backed up as these were by irresistible force.[102]
+
+After arranging affairs at Alexandria, where the gallant Kléber was
+left in command, Bonaparte ordered an advance into the interior.
+Never, perhaps, did he show the value of swift offensive action more
+decisively than in this prompt march on Damanhour across the desert.
+The other route by way of Rosetta would have been easier; but, as it
+was longer, he rejected it, and told off General Menou to capture that
+city and support a flotilla of boats which was to ascend the Nile and
+meet the army on its march to Cairo. On July 4th the first division of
+the main force set forth by night into the desert south of Alexandria.
+All was new and terrible; and, when the rays of the sun smote on their
+weary backs, the murmurings of the troops grew loud. This, then, was
+the land "more fertile than Lombardy," which was the goal of their
+wanderings. "See, there are the six acres of land which you are
+promised," exclaimed a waggish soldier to his comrade as they first
+gazed from ship-board on the desert east of Alexandria; and all the
+sense of discipline failed to keep this and other gibes from the ears
+of staff officers even before they reached that city. Far worse was
+their position now in the shifting sand of the desert, beset by
+hovering Bedouins, stung by scorpions, and afflicted by intolerable
+thirst. The Arabs had filled the scanty wells with stones, and only
+after long toil could the sappers reach the precious fluid beneath.
+Then the troops rushed and fought for the privilege of drinking a few
+drops of muddy liquor. Thus they struggled on, the succeeding
+divisions faring worst of all. Berthier, chief of the staff, relates
+that a glass of water sold for its weight in gold. Even brave officers
+abandoned themselves to transports of rage and despair which left them
+completely prostrate.[103]
+
+But Bonaparte flinched not. His stern composure offered the best
+rebuke to such childish sallies; and when out of a murmuring group
+there came the bold remark, "Well, General, are you going to take us
+to India thus," he abashed the speaker and his comrades by the quick
+retort, "No, I would not undertake that with such soldiers as you."
+French honour, touched to the quick, reasserted itself even above the
+torments of thirst; and the troops themselves, when they tardily
+reached the Nile and slaked their thirst in its waters, recognized the
+pre-eminence of his will and his profound confidence in their
+endurance. French gaiety had not been wholly eclipsed even by the
+miseries of the desert march. To cheer their drooping spirits the
+commander had sent some of the staunchest generals along the line of
+march. Among them was the gifted Caffarelli, who had lost a leg in the
+Rhenish campaign: his reassuring words called forth the inimitable
+retort from the ranks: "Ah! he don't care, not he: he has one leg in
+France." Scarcely less witty was the soldier's description of the
+prowling Bedouins, who cut off stragglers and plunderers, as "The
+mounted highway police."
+
+After brushing aside a charge of 800 Mamelukes at Chebreiss, the army
+made its way up the banks of the Nile to Embabeh, opposite Cairo.
+There the Mamelukes, led by the fighting Bey, Murad, had their
+fortified camp; and there that superb cavalry prepared to overwhelm
+the invaders in a whirlwind rush of horse (July 21st, 1798). The
+occasion and the surroundings were such as to inspire both sides with
+deperate resolution. It was the first fierce shock on land of eastern
+chivalry and western enterprise since the days of St. Louis; and the
+ardour of the republicans was scarcely less than that which had
+kindled the soldiers of the cross. Beside the two armies rolled the
+mysterious Nile; beyond glittered the slender minarets of Cairo; and
+on the south there loomed the massy Pyramids. To the forty centuries
+that had rolled over them, Bonaparte now appealed, in one of those
+imaginative touches which ever brace the French nature to the utmost
+tension of daring and endurance. Thus they advanced in close formation
+towards the intrenched camp of the Mamelukes. The divisions on the
+left at once rushed at its earthworks, silenced its feeble artillery,
+and slaughtered the fellahin inside.
+
+
+But the other divisions, now ranged in squares, while gazing at this
+exploit, were assailed by the Mamelukes. From out the haze of the
+mirage, or from behind the ridges of sand and the scrub of the
+water-melon plants that dotted the plain, some 10,000 of these superb
+horsemen suddenly appeared and rushed at the squares commanded by
+Desaix and Reynier. Their richly caparisoned chargers, their waving
+plumes, their wild battle-cries, and their marvellous skill with
+carbine and sword, lent picturesqueness and terror to the charge.
+Musketry and grapeshot mowed down their front coursers in ghastly
+swathes; but the living mass swept on, wellnigh overwhelming the
+fronts of the squares, and then, swerving aside, poured through the
+deadly funnel between. Decimated here also by the steady fire of the
+French files, and by the discharges of the rear face, they fell away
+exhausted, leaving heaps of dead and dying on the fronts of the
+squares, and in their very midst a score of their choicest cavaliers,
+whose bravery and horsemanship had carried them to certain death
+amidst the bayonets. The French now assumed the offensive, and
+Desaix's division, threatening to cut off the retreat of Murad's
+horsemen, led that wary chief to draw off his shattered squadrons;
+others sought, though with terrible losses, to escape across the Nile
+to Ibrahim's following. That chief had taken no share in the fight,
+and now made off towards Syria. Such was the battle of the Pyramids,
+which gained a colony at the cost of some thirty killed and about ten
+times as many wounded: of the killed about twenty fell victims to the
+cross fire of the two squares.[104]
+
+After halting for a fortnight at Cairo to recruit his weary troops and
+to arrange the affairs of his conquest, Bonaparte marched eastwards in
+pursuit of Ibrahim and drove him into Syria, while Desaix waged an
+arduous but successful campaign against Murad in Upper Egypt. But the
+victors were soon to learn the uselessness of
+merely military triumphs in Egypt. As Bonaparte returned to complete
+the organization of the new colony, he heard that Nelson had destroyed
+his fleet.
+
+On July 3rd, before setting out from Alexandria, the French commander
+gave an order to his admiral, though it must be added that its
+authenticity is doubtful:
+
+     "The admiral will to-morrow acquaint the commander-in-chief by a
+     report whether the squadron can enter the port of Alexandria, or
+     whether, in Aboukir Roads, bringing its broadside to bear, it can
+     defend itself against the enemy's superior force; and in case both
+     these plans should be impracticable, he must sail for Corfu ...
+     leaving the light ships and the flotilla at Alexandria."
+
+Brueys speedily discovered that the first plan was beset by grave
+dangers: the entrance to the harbour of Alexandria, when sounded,
+proved to be most difficult for large ships--such was his judgment and
+that of Villeneuve and Casabianca--and the exit could be blocked by a
+single English battleship. As regards the alternatives of Aboukir or
+Corfu, Brueys went on to state: "My firm desire is to be useful to you
+in every possible way: and, as I have already said, every post will
+suit me well, provided that you placed me there in an active way." By
+this rather ambiguous phrase it would seem that he scouted the
+alternative of Corfu as consigning him to a degrading inactivity;
+while at Aboukir he held that he could be actively useful in
+protecting the rear of the army. In that bay he therefore anchored his
+largest ships, trusting that the dangers of the approach would screen
+him from any sudden attack, but making also special preparations in
+case he should be compelled to fight at anchor.[105] His decision was
+probably less sound than that of Bonaparte, who, while marching to
+Cairo, and again during his sojourn there, ordered him to make for
+Corfu or Toulon; for the general saw clearly that the French fleet,
+riding in safety in those well-protected roadsteads, would really
+dominate the Mediterranean better than in the open expanse of Aboukir.
+But these orders did not reach the admiral before the blow fell; and
+it is, after all, somewhat ungenerous to censure Brueys for his
+decision to remain at Aboukir and risk a fight rather than comply with
+the dictates of a prudent but inglorious strategy.
+
+The British admiral, after sweeping the eastern Mediterranean, at last
+found the French fleet in Aboukir Bay, about ten miles from the
+Rosetta mouth of the Nile. It was anchored under the lee of a shoal
+which would have prevented any ordinary admiral from attacking,
+especially at sundown. But Nelson, knowing that the head ship of the
+French was free to swing at anchor, rightly concluded that there must
+be room for British ships to sail between Brueys' stationary line and
+the shallows. The British captains thrust five ships between the
+French and the shoal, while the others, passing down the enemy's line
+on the seaward side, crushed it in detail; and, after a night of
+carnage, the light of August 2nd dawned on a scene of destruction
+unsurpassed in naval warfare. Two French ships of the line and two
+frigates alone escaped: one, the gigantic "Orient," had blown up with
+the spoils of Malta on board: the rest, eleven in number, were
+captured or burnt.
+
+To Bonaparte this disaster came as a bolt from the blue. Only two days
+before, he had written from Cairo to Brueys that all the conduct of
+the English made him believe them to be inferior in numbers and fully
+satisfied with blockading Malta. Yet, in order to restore the _morale_
+of his army, utterly depressed by this disaster, he affected a
+confidence which he could no longer feel, and said: "Well! here we
+must remain or achieve a grandeur like that of the ancients."[106] He
+had recently assured his intimates that after routing the Beys' forces
+he would return to France and strike a blow direct at England.
+Whatever he may have designed, he was now a prisoner in his conquest.
+His men, even some of his highest officers, as Berthier, Bessières,
+Lannes, Murat, Dumas, and others, bitterly complained of their
+miserable position. But the commander, whose spirits rose with
+adversity, took effective means for repressing such discontent. To the
+last-named, a powerful mulatto, he exclaimed: "You have held seditious
+parleys: take care that I do not perform my duty: your six feet of
+stature shall not save you from being shot": and he offered passports
+for France to a few of the most discontented and useless officers,
+well knowing that after Nelson's victory they could scarcely be used.
+Others, again, out-Heroding Herod, suggested that the frigates and
+transports at Alexandria should be taken to pieces and conveyed on
+camels' backs to Suez, there to be used for the invasion of
+India.[107]
+
+The versatility of Bonaparte's genius was never more marked than at
+this time of discouragement. While his enemies figured him and his
+exhausted troops as vainly seeking to escape from those arid wastes;
+while Nelson was landing the French prisoners in order to increase his
+embarrassment about food, Bonaparte and his _savants_ were developing
+constructive powers of the highest order, which made the army
+independent of Europe. It was a vast undertaking. Deprived of most of
+their treasure and many of their mechanical appliances by the loss of
+the fleet, the _savants_ and engineers had, as it were, to start from
+the beginning. Some strove to meet the difficulties of food-supply by
+extending the cultivation of corn and rice, or by the construction of
+large ovens and bakeries, or of windmills for grinding corn. Others
+planted vineyards for the future, or sought to appease the ceaseless
+thirst of the soldiery by the manufacture of a kind of native beer.
+Foundries and workshops began, though slowly, to supply tools and
+machines; the earth was rifled of her treasures, natron was wrought,
+saltpetre works were established, and gunpowder was thereby procured
+for the army with an energy which recalled the prodigies of activity
+of 1793.
+
+With his usual ardour in the cause of learning, Bonaparte several
+times a week appeared in the chemical laboratory, or witnessed the
+experiments performed by Berthollet and Monge. Desirous of giving
+cohesion to the efforts of his _savants_, and of honouring not only
+the useful arts but abstruse research, he united these pioneers of
+science in a society termed the Institute of Egypt. On August 23rd,
+1798, it was installed with much ceremony in the palace of one of the
+Beys, Monge being president and Bonaparte vice-president. The general
+also enrolled himself in the mathematical section of the institute.
+Indeed, he sought by all possible means to aid the labours of the
+_savants_, whose dissertations were now heard in the large hall of the
+harem that formerly resounded only to the twanging of lutes, weary
+jests, and idle laughter. The labours of the _savants_ were not
+confined to Cairo and the Delta. As soon as the victories of Desaix
+in Upper Egypt opened the middle reaches of the Nile to peaceful
+research, the treasures of Memphis were revealed to the astonished
+gaze of western learning. Many of the more portable relics were
+transferred to Cairo, and thence to Rosetta or Alexandria, in order to
+grace the museums of Paris. The _savants_ proposed, but sea-power
+disposed, of these treasures. They are now, with few exceptions, in
+the British Museum.
+
+Apart from archæology, much was done to extend the bounds of learning.
+Astronomy gained much by the observations of General Caffarelli. A
+series of measurements was begun for an exact survey of Egypt: the
+geologists and engineers examined the course of the Nile, recorded the
+progress of alluvial deposits at its mouth or on its banks, and
+therefrom calculated the antiquity of divers parts of the Delta. No
+part of the great conqueror's career so aptly illustrates the truth of
+his noble words to the magistrates of the Ligurian Republic: "The true
+conquests, the only conquests which cost no regrets, are those
+achieved over ignorance."
+
+Such, in brief outline, is the story of the renascence in Egypt. The
+mother-land of science and learning, after a wellnigh barren interval
+of 1,100 years since the Arab conquest, was now developed and
+illumined by the application of the arts with which in the dim past
+she had enriched the life of barbarous Europe. The repayment of this
+incalculable debt was due primarily to the enterprise of Bonaparte. It
+is one of his many titles to fame and to the homage of posterity. How
+poor by the side of this encyclopaedic genius are the gifts even of
+his most brilliant foes! At that same time the Archduke Charles of
+Austria was vegetating in inglorious ease on his estates. As for
+Beaulieu and Würmser, they had subsided into their native obscurity.
+Nelson, after his recent triumph, persuading himself that "Bonaparte
+had gone to the devil," was bending before the whims of a professional
+beauty and the odious despotism of the worst Court in Europe. While
+the admiral tarnished his fame on the Syren coast of Naples, his great
+opponent bent all the resources of a fertile intellect to retrieve his
+position, and even under the gloom of disaster threw a gleam of light
+into the dark continent. While his adversaries were merely generals or
+admirals, hampered by a stupid education and a narrow nationality,
+Bonaparte had eagerly imbibed the new learning of his age and saw its
+possible influence on the reorganization of society. He is not merely
+a general. Even when he is scattering to the winds the proud chivalry
+of the East, and is prescribing to Brueys his safest course of action,
+he finds time vastly to expand the horizon of human knowledge.
+
+
+Nor did he neglect Egyptian politics. He used a native council for
+consultation and for the promulgation of his own ideas. Immediately
+after his entry into Cairo he appointed nine sheikhs to form a divan,
+or council, consulting daily on public order and the food-supplies of
+the city. He next assembled a general divan for Egypt, and a smaller
+council for each province, and asked their advice concerning the
+administration of justice and the collection of taxes.[108] In its use
+of oriental terminology, this scheme was undeniably clever; but
+neither French, Arabs, nor Turks were deceived as to the real
+government, which resided entirely in Bonaparte; and his skill in
+reapportioning the imposts had some effect on the prosperity of the
+land, enabling it to bear the drain of his constant requisitions. The
+welfare of the new colony was also promoted by the foundation of a
+mint and of an Egyptian Commercial Company.
+
+His inventive genius was by no means exhausted by these varied toils.
+On his journey to Suez he met a camel caravan in the desert, and
+noticing the speed of the animals, he determined to form a camel
+corps; and in the first month of 1799 the experiment was made with
+such success that admission into the ranks of the camelry came to be
+viewed as a favour. Each animal carried two men with their arms and
+baggage: the uniform was sky-blue with a white turban; and the speed
+and precision of their movements enabled them to deal terrible blows,
+even at distant tribes of Bedouins, who bent before a genius that
+could outwit them even in their own deserts.
+
+The pleasures of his officers and men were also met by the opening of
+the Tivoli Gardens; and there, in sight of the Pyramids, the life of
+the Palais Royal took root: the glasses clinked, the dice rattled, and
+heads reeled to the lascivious movements of the eastern dance; and
+Bonaparte himself indulged a passing passion for the wife of one of
+his officers, with an openness that brought on him a rebuke from his
+stepson, Eugène Beauharnais. But already he had been rendered
+desperate by reports of the unfaithfulness of Josephine at Paris; the
+news wrung from him this pathetic letter to his brother Joseph--the
+death-cry of his long drooping idealism:
+
+     "I have much to worry me privately, for the veil is entirely torn
+     aside. You alone remain to me; your affection is very dear to me:
+     nothing more remains to make me a misanthrope than to lose her and
+     see you betray me.... Buy a country seat against my return, either
+     near Paris or in Burgundy. I need solitude and isolation: grandeur
+     wearies me: the fount of feeling is dried up: glory itself is
+     insipid. At twenty-nine years of age I have exhausted everything.
+     It only remains to me to become a thorough egoist."[109]
+
+Many rumours were circulated as to Bonaparte's public appearance in
+oriental costume and his presence at a religious service in a mosque.
+It is even stated by Thiers that at one of the chief festivals he
+repaired to the great mosque, repeated the prayers like a true Moslem,
+crossing his legs and swaying his body to and fro, so that he "edified
+the believers by his orthodox piety." But the whole incident, however
+attractive scenically and in point of humour, seems to be no better
+authenticated than the religious results about which the historian
+cherished so hopeful a belief. The truth seems to be that the general
+went to the celebration of the birth of the Prophet as an interested
+spectator, at the house of the sheik, El Bekri. Some hundred sheikhs
+were there present: they swayed their bodies to and fro while the
+story of Mahomet's life was recited; and Bonaparte afterwards partook
+of an oriental repast. But he never forgot his dignity so far as
+publicly to appear in a turban and loose trousers, which he donned
+only once for the amusement of his staff.[110] That he endeavoured to
+pose as a Moslem is beyond doubt. Witness his endeavour to convince
+the imams at Cairo of his desire to conform to their faith. If we may
+believe that dubious compilation, "A Voice from St. Helena," he bade
+them consult together as to the possibility of admission of men, who
+were not circumcised and did not abstain from wine, into the true
+fold. As to the latter disability, he stated that the French were poor
+cold people, inhabitants of the north, who could not exist without
+wine. For a long time the imams demurred to this plea, which involved
+greater difficulties than the question of circumcision: but after long
+consultations they decided that both objections might be waived in
+consideration of a superabundance of good works. The reply was
+prompted by an irony no less subtle than that which accompanied the
+claim, and neither side was deceived in this contest of wits.
+
+A rude awakening soon came. For some few days there had been rumours
+that the division under Desaix which was fighting the Mamelukes in
+Upper Egypt had been engulfed in those sandy wastes; and this report
+fanned to a flame the latent hostility against the unbelievers. From
+many minarets of Cairo a summons to arms took the place of the
+customary call to prayer: and on October 21st the French garrison was
+so fiercely and suddenly attacked as to leave the issue doubtful.
+Discipline and grapeshot finally prevailed, whereupon a repression of
+oriental ferocity cowed the spirits of the townsfolk and of the
+neighbouring country. Forts were constructed in Cairo and at all the
+strategic points along the lower Nile, and Egypt seemed to be
+conquered.
+
+Feeling sure now of his hold on the populace, Bonaparte, at the close
+of the year, undertook a journey to Suez and the Sinaitic peninsula.
+It offered that combination of utility and romance which ever appealed
+to him. At Suez he sought to revivify commerce by lightening the
+customs' dues, by founding a branch of his Egyptian commercial
+company, and by graciously receiving a deputation of the Arabs of Tor
+who came to sue for his friendship.[111] Then, journeying on, he
+visited the fountains of Moses; but it is not true that (as stated by
+Lanfrey) he proceeded to Mount Sinai and signed his name in the
+register of the monastery side by side with that of Mahomet. On his
+return to the isthmus he is said to have narrowly escaped from the
+rising tide of the Red Sea. If we may credit Savary, who was not of
+the party, its safety was due to the address of the commander, who, as
+darkness fell on the bewildered band, arranged his horsemen in files,
+until the higher causeway of the path was again discovered. North of
+Suez the traces of the canal dug by Sesostris revealed themselves to
+the trained eye of the commander. The observations of his engineers
+confirmed his conjecture, but the vast labour of reconstruction
+forbade any attempt to construct a maritime canal. On his return to
+Cairo he wrote to the Imam of Muscat, assuring him of his friendship
+and begging him to forward to Tippoo Sahib a letter offering alliance
+and deliverance from "the iron yoke of England," and stating that the
+French had arrived on the shores of the Red Sea "with a numerous and
+invincible army." The letter was intercepted by a British cruiser; and
+the alarm caused by these vast designs only served to spur on our
+forces to efforts which cost Tippoo his life and the French most of
+their Indian settlements.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+SYRIA
+
+
+Meanwhile Turkey had declared war on France, and was sending an army
+through Syria for the recovery of Egypt, while another expedition was
+assembling at Rhodes. Like all great captains, Bonaparte was never
+content with the defensive: his convictions and his pugnacious
+instincts alike urged him to give rather than to receive the blow; and
+he argued that he could attack and destroy the Syrian force before the
+cessation of the winter's gales would allow the other Turkish
+expedition to attempt a disembarkation at Aboukir. If he waited in
+Egypt, he might have to meet the two attacks at once, whereas, if he
+struck at Jaffa and Acre, he would rid himself of the chief mass of
+his foes. Besides, as he explained in his letter of February 10th,
+1799, to the Directors, his seizure of those towns would rob the
+English fleet of its base of supplies and thereby cripple its
+activities off the coast of Egypt. So far, his reasons for the Syrian
+campaign are intelligible and sound. But he also gave out that,
+leaving Desaix and his Ethiopian supernumeraries to defend Egypt, he
+himself would accomplish the conquest of Syria and the East: he would
+raise in revolt the Christians of the Lebanon and Armenia, overthrow
+the Turkish power in Asia, and then march either on Constantinople or
+Delhi.
+
+It is difficult to take this quite seriously, considering that he had
+only 12,000 men available for these adventures; and with anyone but
+Bonaparte they might be dismissed as utterly Quixotic. But in his case
+we must seek for some practical purpose; for he never divorced fancy
+from fact, and in his best days imagination was the hand-maid of
+politics and strategy rather than the mistress. Probably these
+gorgeous visions were bodied forth so as to inspirit the soldiery and
+enthrall the imagination of France. He had already proved the immense
+power of imagination over that susceptible people. In one sense, his
+whole expedition was but a picturesque drama; and an imposing climax
+could now be found in the plan of an Eastern Empire, that opened up
+dazzling vistas of glory and veiled his figure in a grandiose mirage,
+beside which the civilian Directors were dwarfed into ridiculous
+puppets.
+
+If these vast schemes are to be taken seriously, another explanation
+of them is possible, namely, that he relied on the example set by
+Alexander the Great, who with a small but highly-trained army had
+shattered the stately dominions of the East. If Bonaparte trusted to
+this precedent, he erred. True, Alexander began his enterprise with a
+comparatively small force: but at least he had a sure base of
+operations, and his army in Thessaly was strong enough to prevent
+Athens from exchanging her sullen but passive hostility for an
+offensive that would endanger his communications by sea. The Athenian
+fleet was therefore never the danger to the Macedonians that Nelson
+and Sir Sidney Smith were to Bonaparte. Since the French armada
+weighed anchor at Toulon, Britain's position had became vastly
+stronger. Nelson was lord of the Mediterranean: the revolt in Ireland
+had completely failed: a coalition against France was being formed;
+and it was therefore certain that the force in Egypt could not be
+materially strengthened. Bonaparte did not as yet know the full extent
+of his country's danger; but the mere fact that he would have to bear
+the pressure of England's naval supremacy along the Syrian coast
+should have dispelled any notion that he could rival the exploits of
+Alexander and become Emperor of the East.[112]
+
+
+From conjectures about motives we turn to facts. Setting forth early
+in February, the French captured most of the Turkish advanced guard at
+the fort of El Arisch, but sent their captives away on condition of
+not bearing arms against France for at least one year. The victors
+then marched on Jaffa, and, in spite of a spirited defence, took it
+by storm (March 7th). Flushed with their triumph over a cruel and
+detested foe, the soldiers were giving up the city to pillage and
+massacre, when two aides-de-camp promised quarter to a large body of
+the defenders, who had sought refuge in a large caravanserai; and
+their lives were grudgingly spared by the victors. Bonaparte
+vehemently reproached his aides-de-camp for their ill-timed clemency.
+What could he now do with these 2,500 or 3,000 prisoners? They could
+not be trusted to serve with the French; besides, the provisions
+scarcely sufficed for Bonaparte's own men, who began to complain
+loudly at sharing any with Turks and Albanians. They could not be sent
+away to Egypt, there to spread discontent: and only 300 Egyptians were
+so sent away.[113] Finally, on the demand of his generals and troops,
+the remaining prisoners were shot down on the seashore. There is,
+however, no warrant for the malicious assertion that Bonaparte readily
+gave the fatal order. On the contrary, he delayed it for three days,
+until the growing difficulties and the loud complaints of his soldiers
+wrung it from him as a last resort.
+
+Moreover, several of the victims had already fought against him at El
+Arisch, and had violated their promise that they would fight no more
+against the French in that campaign. M. Lanfrey's assertion that there
+is no evidence for the identification is untenable, in view of a
+document which I have discovered in the Records of the British
+Admiralty. Inclosed with Sir Sidney Smith's despatches is one from the
+secretary of Gezzar, dated Acre, March 1st, 1799, in which the Pacha
+urgently entreats the British commodore to come to his help, because
+his (Gezzar's) troops had failed to hold El Arisch, and the _same
+troops_ had also abandoned Gaza and were in great dread of the French
+at Jaffa. Considered from the military point of view, the massacre at
+Jaffa is perhaps defensible; and Bonaparte's reluctant assent
+contrasts favourably with the conduct of many commanders in similar
+cases. Perhaps an episode like that at Jaffa is not without its uses
+in opening the eyes of mankind to the ghastly shifts by which military
+glory may have to be won. The alternative to the massacre was the
+detaching of a French battalion to conduct their prisoners to Egypt.
+As that would seriously have weakened the little army, the prisoners
+were shot.
+
+A deadlier foe was now to be faced. Already at El Arisch a few cases
+of the plague had appeared in Kléber's division, which had come from
+Rosetta and Damietta; and the relics of the retreating Mameluke and
+Turkish forces seem also to have bequeathed that disease as a fatal
+legacy to their pursuers. After Jaffa the malady attacked most
+battalions of the army; and it may have quickened Bonaparte's march
+towards Acre. Certain it is that he rejected Kléber's advice to
+advance inland towards Nablus, the ancient Shechem, and from that
+commanding centre to dominate Palestine and defy the power of
+Gezzar.[114]
+
+[Illustration: PLAN OF THE SIEGE OF ACRE FROM A CONTEMPORARY SKETCH]
+
+Always prompt to strike at the heart, the commander-in-chief
+determined to march straight on Acre, where that notorious Turkish
+pacha sat intrenched behind weak walls and the ramparts of terror
+which his calculating ferocity had reared around him. Ever since the
+age of the Crusades that seaport had been the chief place of arms of
+Palestine; but the harbour was now nearly silted up, and even the
+neighbouring roadstead of Hayfa was desolate. The fortress was
+formidable only to orientals. In his work, "Les Ruines," Volney had
+remarked about Acre: "Through all this part of Asia bastions, lines of
+defence, covered ways, ramparts, and in short everything relating to
+modern fortification are utterly unknown; and a single thirty-gun
+frigate would easily bombard and lay in ruins the whole coast." This
+judgment of his former friend undoubtedly lulled Bonaparte into
+illusory confidence, and the rank and file after their success at
+Jaffa expected an easy triumph at Acre.
+
+This would doubtless have happened but for British help. Captain
+Miller, of H.M.S. "Theseus," thus reported on the condition of Acre
+before Sir Sidney Smith's arrival:
+
+     "I found almost every embrasure empty except those towards the sea.
+     Many years' collection of the dirt of the town thrown in such a
+     situation as completely covered the approach to the gate from the
+     only guns that could flank it and from the sea ... none of their
+     batteries have casemates, traverses, or splinter-proofs: they have
+     many guns, but generally small and defective--the carriages in
+     general so." [115]
+
+Captain Miller's energy made good some of these defects; but the place
+was still lamentably weak when, on March 15th, Sir Sidney Smith
+arrived. The English squadron in the east of the Mediterranean had,
+to Nelson's chagrin, been confided to the command of this ardent young
+officer, who now had the good fortune to capture off the promontory of
+Mount Carmel seven French vessels containing Bonaparte's siege-train.
+This event had a decisive influence on the fortunes of the siege and
+of the whole campaign. The French cannon were now hastily mounted on
+the very walls that they had been intended to breach; while the gun
+vessels reinforced the two English frigates, and were ready to pour a
+searching fire on the assailants in their trenches or as they rushed
+against the walls. These had also been hastily strengthened under the
+direction of a French royalist officer named Phélippeaux, an old
+schoolfellow of Bonaparte, and later on a comrade of Sidney Smith,
+alike in his imprisonment and in his escape from the clutches of the
+revolutionists. Sharing the lot of the adventurous young seaman,
+Phélippeaux sailed to the Levant, and now brought to the defence of
+Acre the science of a skilled engineer. Bravely seconded by British
+officers and seamen, he sought to repair the breach effected by the
+French field-pieces, and constructed at the most exposed points inner
+defences, before which the most obstinate efforts of the storming
+parties melted away. Nine times did the assailants advance against the
+breaches with the confidence born of unfailing success and redoubled
+by the gaze of their great commander; but as often were they beaten
+back by the obstinate bravery of the British seamen and Turks.
+
+The monotony was once relieved by a quaint incident. In the course of
+a correspondence with Bonaparte, Sir Sidney Smith is said to have
+shown his annoyance by sending him a challenge to a duel. It met with
+the very proper reply that he would fight, if the English would send
+out _a Marlborough_.
+
+During these desperate conflicts Bonaparte detached a considerable
+number of troops inland to beat off a large Turkish and Mameluke force
+destined for the relief of Acre and the invasion of Egypt. The first
+encounter was near Nazareth, where Junot displayed the dash and
+resource which had brought him fame in Italy; but the decisive battle
+was fought in the Plain of Esdraëlon, not far from the base of Mount
+Tabor. There Kléber's division of 2,000 men was for some hours hard
+pressed by a motley array of horse and foot drawn from diverse parts
+of the Sultan's dominions. The heroism of the burly Alsacian and the
+toughness of his men barely kept off the fierce rushes of the Moslem
+horse and foot. At last Bonaparte's cannon were heard. The chief,
+marching swiftly on with his troops drawn up in three squares,
+speedily brushed aside the enveloping clouds of orientals; finally, by
+well-combined efforts the French hurled back the enemy on passes, some
+of which had been seized by the commander's prescience. At the close
+of this memorable day (April 15th) an army of nearly 30,000 men was
+completely routed and dispersed by the valour and skilful dispositions
+of two divisions which together amounted to less than a seventh of
+that number. No battle of modern times more closely resembles the
+exploits of Alexander than this masterly concentration of force; and
+possibly some memory of this may have prompted the words of
+Kléber--"General, how great you are!"--as he met and embraced his
+commander on the field of battle. Bonaparte and his staff spent the
+night at the Convent of Nazareth; and when his officers burst out
+laughing at the story told by the Prior of the breaking of a pillar by
+the angel Gabriel at the time of the Annunciation, their untimely
+levity was promptly checked by the frown of the commander.
+
+The triumph seemed to decide the Christians of the Lebanon to ally
+themselves with Bonaparte, and they secretly covenanted to furnish
+12,000 troops at his cost; but this question ultimately depended on
+the siege of Acre. On rejoining their comrades before Acre, the
+victors found that the siege had made little progress: for a time the
+besiegers relied on mining operations, but with little success; though
+Phélippeaux succumbed to a sunstroke (May 1st), his place was filled
+by Colonel Douglas, who foiled the efforts of the French engineers
+and enabled the place to hold out till the advent of the long-expected
+Turkish succours. On May 7th their sails were visible far out on an
+almost windless sea. At once Bonaparte made desperate efforts to carry
+the "mud-hole" by storm. Led with reckless gallantry by the heroic
+Lannes, his troops gained part of the wall and planted the tricolour
+on the north-east tower; but all further progress was checked by
+English blue-jackets, whom the commodore poured into the town; and the
+Turkish reinforcements, wafted landwards by a favouring breeze, were
+landed in time to wrest the ramparts from the assailants' grip. On the
+following day an assault was again attempted: from the English ships
+Bonaparte could be clearly seen on Richard Coeur de Lion's mound
+urging on the French; but though, under Lannes' leadership, they
+penetrated to the garden of Gezzar's seraglio, they fell in heaps
+under the bullets, pikes, and scimitars of the defenders, and few
+returned alive to the camp. Lannes himself was dangerously wounded,
+and saved only by the devotion of an officer.
+
+Both sides were now worn out by this extraordinary siege. "This town
+is not, nor ever has been, defensible according to the rules of art;
+but according to every other rule it must and shall be defended"--so
+wrote Sir Sidney Smith to Nelson on May 9th. But a fell influence was
+working against the besiegers; as the season advanced, they succumbed
+more and more to the ravages of the plague; and, after failing again
+on May 10th, many of their battalions refused to advance to the breach
+over the putrid remains of their comrades. Finally, Bonaparte, after
+clinging to his enterprise with desperate tenacity, on the night of
+May 20th gave orders to retreat.
+
+This siege of nine weeks' duration had cost him severe losses, among
+them being Generals Caffarelli and Bon: but worst of all was the loss
+of that reputation for invincibility which he had hitherto enjoyed.
+His defeat at Caldiero, near Verona, in 1796 had been officially
+converted into a victory: but Acre could not be termed anything but a
+reverse. In vain did the commander and his staff proclaim that, after
+dispersing the Turks at Mount Tabor, the capture of Acre was
+superfluous; his desperate efforts in the early part of May revealed
+the hollowness of his words. There were, it is true, solid reasons for
+his retreat. He had just heard of the breaking out of the war of the
+Second Coalition against France; and revolts in Egypt also demanded
+his presence.[116] But these last events furnished a damning
+commentary on his whole Syrian enterprise, which had led to a
+dangerous diffusion of the French forces. And for what? For the
+conquest of Constantinople or of India? That dream seems to have
+haunted Bonaparte's brain even down to the close of the siege of Acre.
+During the siege, and later, he was heard to inveigh against "the
+miserable little hole" which had come between him and his destiny--the
+Empire of the East; and it is possible that ideas which he may at
+first have set forth in order to dazzle his comrades came finally to
+master his whole being. Certainly the words just quoted betoken a
+quite abnormal wilfulness as well as a peculiarly subjective notion of
+fatalism. His "destiny" was to be mapped out by his own prescience,
+decided by his own will, gripped by his own powers. Such fatalism had
+nothing in common with the sombre creed of the East: it was merely an
+excess of individualism: it was the matured expression of that feature
+of his character, curiously dominant even in childhood, that _what he
+wanted he must of necessity have_. How strange that this imperious
+obstinacy, this sublimation of western willpower, should not have been
+tamed even by the overmastering might of Nature in the Orient!
+
+As for the Empire of the East, the declared hostility of the tribes
+around Nablus had shown how futile were Bonaparte's efforts to win
+over Moslems: and his earlier Moslem proclamations were skilfully
+distributed by Sir Sidney Smith among the Christians of Syria, and
+served partly to neutralize the efforts which Bonaparte made to win
+them over.[117] Vain indeed was the effort to conciliate the Moslems
+in Egypt, and yet in Syria to arouse the Christians against the
+Commander of the Faithful. Such religious opportunism smacked of the
+Parisian boulevards: it utterly ignored the tenacity of belief of the
+East, where the creed is the very life. The outcome of all that
+_finesse_ was seen in the closing days of the siege and during the
+retreat towards Jaffa, when the tribes of the Lebanon and of the
+Nablus district watched like vultures on the hills and swooped down on
+the retreating columns. The pain of disillusionment, added to his
+sympathy with the sick and wounded, once broke down Bonaparte's
+nerves. Having ordered all horsemen to dismount so that there might be
+sufficient transport for the sick and maimed, the commander was asked
+by an equerry which horse he reserved for his own use. "Did you not
+hear the order," he retorted, striking the man with his whip,
+"everyone on foot." Rarely did this great man mar a noble action by
+harsh treatment: the incident sufficiently reveals the tension of
+feelings, always keen, and now overwrought by physical suffering and
+mental disappointment.
+
+There was indeed much to exasperate him. At Acre he had lost nearly
+5,000 men in killed, wounded, and plague-stricken, though he falsely
+reported to the Directory that his losses during the whole expedition
+did not exceed 1,500 men: and during the terrible retreat to Jaffa he
+was shocked, not only by occasional suicides of soldiers in his
+presence, but by the utter callousness of officers and men to the
+claims of the sick and wounded. It was as a rebuke to this inhumanity
+that he ordered all to march on foot, and his authority seems even to
+have been exerted to prevent some attempts at poisoning the
+plague-stricken. The narrative of J. Miot, commissary of the army,
+shows that these suggestions originated among the soldiery at Acre
+when threatened with the toil of transporting those unfortunates back
+to Egypt; and, as his testimony is generally adverse to Bonaparte, and
+he mentions the same horrible device, when speaking of the hospitals
+at Jaffa, as a camp rumour, it may be regarded as scarcely worthy of
+credence.[118]
+
+
+
+
+Undoubtedly the scenes were heartrending at Jaffa; and it has been
+generally believed that the victims of the plague were then and there
+put out of their miseries by large doses of opium. Certainly the
+hospitals were crowded with wounded and victims of the plague; but
+during the seven days' halt at that town adequate measures were taken
+by the chief medical officers, Desgenettes and Larrey, for their
+transport to Egypt. More than a thousand were sent away on ships,
+seven of which were fortunately present; and 800 were conveyed to
+Egypt in carts or litters across the desert.[119] Another fact
+suffices to refute the slander mentioned above. From the despatch of
+Sir Sidney Smith to Nelson of May 30th, 1799, it appears that, when
+the English commodore touched at Jaffa, he found some of the abandoned
+ones _still alive_: "We have found seven poor fellows in the hospital
+and will take care of them." He also supplied the French ships
+conveying the wounded with water, provisions, and stores, of which
+they were much in need, and allowed them to proceed to their
+destination. It is true that the evidence of Las Cases at St. Helena,
+eagerly cited by Lanfrey, seems to show that some of the worst cases
+in the Jaffa hospitals were got rid of by opium; but the admission by
+Napoleon that the administering of opium was justifiable occurred in
+one of those casuistical discussions which turn, not on facts, but on
+motives. Conclusions drawn from such conversations, sixteen years or
+more after the supposed occurrence, must in any case give ground
+before the evidence of contemporaries, which proves that every care
+was taken of the sick and wounded, that the proposals of poisoning
+first came from the soldiery, that Napoleon both before and after
+Jaffa set the noble example of marching on foot so that there might be
+sufficiency of transport, that nearly all the unfortunates arrived in
+Egypt and in fair condition, and that seven survivors were found alive
+at Jaffa by English officers.[120]
+
+The remaining episodes of the Eastern Expedition may be briefly
+dismissed. After a painful desert march the army returned to Egypt in
+June; and, on July 25th, under the lead of Murat and Lannes, drove
+into the sea a large force of Turks which had effected a landing in
+Aboukir Bay. Bonaparte was now weary of gaining triumphs over foes
+whom he and his soldiers despised. While in this state of mind, he
+received from Sir Sidney Smith a packet of English and German
+newspapers giving news up to June 6th, which brought him quickly to a
+decision. The formation of a powerful coalition, the loss of Italy,
+defeats on the Rhine, and the schisms, disgust, and despair prevalent
+in France--all drew his imagination westwards away from the illusory
+Orient; and he determined to leave his army to the care of Kléber and
+sail to France.
+
+The morality of this step has been keenly discussed. The rank and
+file of the army seem to have regarded it as little less than
+desertion,[121] and the predominance of personal motives in this
+important decision can scarcely be denied. His private aim in
+undertaking the Eastern Expedition, that of dazzling the imagination
+of the French people and of exhibiting the incapacity of the
+Directory, had been abundantly realized. His eastern enterprise had
+now shrunk to practical and prosaic dimensions, namely, the
+consolidation of French power in Egypt. Yet, as will appear in later
+chapters, he did not give up his oriental schemes; though at St.
+Helena he once oddly spoke of the Egyptian expedition as an "exhausted
+enterprise," it is clear that he worked hard to keep his colony. The
+career of Alexander had for him a charm that even the conquests of
+Cæsar could not rival; and at the height of his European triumphs, the
+hero of Austerlitz was heard to murmur: "J'ai manqué à ma fortune à
+Saint-Jean d'Acre."[122]
+
+In defence of his sudden return it may be urged that he had more than
+once promised the Directory that his stay in Egypt would not exceed
+five months; and there can be no doubt that now, as always, he had an
+alternative plan before him in case of failure or incomplete success
+in the East. To this alternative he now turned with that swiftness and
+fertility of resource which astonished both friends and foes in
+countless battles and at many political crises.
+
+It has been stated by Lanfrey that his appointment of Kléber to
+succeed him was dictated by political and personal hostility; but it
+may more naturally be considered a tribute to his abilities as a
+general and to his influence over the soldiery, which was only second
+to that of Bonaparte and Desaix. He also promised to send him speedy
+succour; and as there seemed to be a probability of France regaining
+her naval supremacy in the Mediterranean by the union of the fleet of
+Bruix with that of Spain, he might well hope to send ample
+reinforcements. He probably did not know the actual facts of the case,
+that in July Bruix tamely followed the Spanish squadron to Cadiz, and
+that the Directory had ordered Bruix to withdraw the French army from
+Egypt. But, arguing from the facts as known to him, Bonaparte might
+well believe that the difficulties of France would be fully met by his
+own return, and that Egypt could be held with ease. The duty of a
+great commander is to be at the post of greatest danger, and that was
+now on the banks of the Rhine or Mincio.
+
+The advent of a south-east wind, a rare event there at that season of
+the year, led him hastily to embark at Alexandria in the night of
+August 22nd-23rd. His two frigates bore with him some of the greatest
+sons of France; his chief of the staff, Berthier, whose ardent love
+for Madame Visconti had been repressed by his reluctant determination
+to share the fortunes of his chief; Lannes and Murat, both recently
+wounded, but covered with glory by their exploits in Syria and at
+Aboukir; his friend Marmont, as well as Duroc, Andréossi, Bessières,
+Lavalette, Admiral Gantheaume, Monge, and Berthollet, his secretary
+Bourrienne, and the traveller Denon. He also left orders that Desaix,
+who had been in charge of Upper Egypt, should soon return to France,
+so that the rivalry between him and Kléber might not distract French
+councils in Egypt. There seems little ground for the assertion that he
+selected for return his favourites and men likely to be politically
+serviceable to him. If he left behind the ardently republican Kléber,
+he also left his old friend Junot: if he brought back Berthier and
+Marmont, he also ordered the return of the almost Jacobinical Desaix.
+Sir Sidney Smith having gone to Cyprus for repairs, Bonaparte slipped
+out unmolested. By great good fortune his frigates eluded the English
+ships cruising between Malta and Cape Bon, and after a brief stay at
+Ajaccio, he and his comrades landed at Fréjus (October 9th). So great
+was the enthusiasm of the people that, despite all the quarantine
+regulations, they escorted the party to shore. "We prefer the plague
+to the Austrians," they exclaimed; and this feeling but feebly
+expressed the emotion of France at the return of the Conqueror of the
+East.
+
+And yet he found no domestic happiness. Josephine's _liaison_ with a
+young officer, M. Charles, had become notorious owing to his prolonged
+visits to her country house, La Malmaison. Alarmed at her husband's
+return, she now hurried to meet him, but missed him on the way; while
+he, finding his home at Paris empty, raged at her infidelity, refused
+to see her on her return, and declared he would divorce her. From this
+he was turned by the prayers of Eugène and Hortense Beauharnais, and
+the tears of Josephine herself. A reconciliation took place; but there
+was no reunion of hearts, and Mme. Reinhard echoed the feeling of
+respectable society when she wrote that he should have divorced her
+outright. Thenceforth he lived for Glory alone.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+BRUMAIRE
+
+
+Rarely has France been in a more distracted state than in the summer
+of 1799. Royalist revolts in the west and south rent the national
+life. The religious schism was unhealed; education was at a
+standstill; commerce had been swept from the seas by the British
+fleets; and trade with Italy and Germany was cut off by the war of
+the Second Coalition.
+
+The formation of this league between Russia, Austria, England, Naples,
+Portugal, and Turkey was in the main the outcome of the alarm and
+indignation aroused by the reckless conduct of the Directory, which
+overthrew the Bourbons at Naples, erected the Parthenopæan Republic,
+and compelled the King of Sardinia to abdicate at Turin and retire to
+his island. Russia and Austria took a leading part in forming the
+Coalition. Great Britain, ever hampered by her inept army
+organization, offered to supply money in place of the troops which she
+could not properly equip.
+
+But under the cloak of legitimacy the monarchical Powers harboured
+their own selfish designs. This Nessus' cloak of the First Coalition
+soon galled the limbs of the allies and rendered them incapable of
+sustained and vigorous action. Yet they gained signal successes over
+the raw conscripts of France. In July, 1799, the Austro-Russian army
+captured Mantua and Alessandria; and in the following month Suvoroff
+gained the decisive victory of Novi and drove the remains of the
+French forces towards Genoa. The next months were far more favourable
+to the tricolour flag, for, owing to Austro-Russian jealousies,
+Masséna was able to gain an important victory at Zurich over a Russian
+army. In the north the republicans were also in the end successful.
+Ten days after Bonaparte's arrival at Fréjus, they compelled an
+Anglo-Russian force campaigning in Holland to the capitulation of
+Alkmaar, whereby the Duke of York agreed to withdraw all his troops
+from that coast. Disgusted by the conduct of his allies, the Czar Paul
+withdrew his troops from any active share in the operations by land,
+thenceforth concentrating his efforts on the acquisition of Corsica,
+Malta, and posts of vantage in the Adriatic. These designs, which were
+well known to the British Government, served to hamper our naval
+strength in those seas, and to fetter the action of the Austrian arms
+in Northern Italy.[123]
+
+Yet, though the schisms of the allies finally yielded a victory to the
+French in the campaigns of 1799, the position of the Republic was
+precarious. The danger was rather internal than external. It arose
+from embarrassed finances, from the civil war that burst out with new
+violence in the north-west, and, above all, from a sense of the
+supreme difficulty of attaining political stability and of reconciling
+liberty with order. The struggle between the executive and legislative
+powers which had been rudely settled by the _coup d'état_ of
+Fructidor, had been postponed, not solved. Public opinion was speedily
+ruffled by the Jacobinical violence which ensued. The stifling of
+liberty of the press and the curtailment of the right of public
+meeting served only to instill new energy into the party of resistance
+in the elective Councils, and to undermine a republican government
+that relied on Venetian methods of rule. Reviewing the events of those
+days, Madame de Staël finely remarked that only the free consent of
+the people could breathe life into political institutions; and that
+the monstrous system of guaranteeing freedom by despotic means served
+only to manufacture governments that had to be wound up at intervals
+lest they should stop dead.[124] Such a sarcasm, coming from the
+gifted lady who had aided and abetted the stroke of Fructidor, shows
+how far that event had falsified the hopes of the sincerest friends of
+the Revolution. Events were therefore now favourable to a return from
+the methods of Rousseau to those of Richelieu; and the genius who was
+skilfully to adapt republicanism to autocracy was now at hand. Though
+Bonaparte desired at once to attack the Austrians in Northern Italy,
+yet a sure instinct impelled him to remain at Paris, for, as he said
+to Marmont: "When the house is crumbling, is it the time to busy
+oneself with the garden? A change here is indispensable."
+
+The sudden rise of Bonaparte to supreme power cannot be understood
+without some reference to the state of French politics in the months
+preceding his return to France. The position of parties had been
+strangely complicated by the unpopularity of the Directors. Despite
+their illegal devices, the elections of 1798 and 1799 for the renewal
+of a third part of the legislative Councils had signally strengthened
+the anti-directorial ranks. Among the Opposition were some royalists,
+a large number of constitutionals, whether of the Feuillant or
+Girondin type, and many deputies, who either vaunted the name of
+Jacobins or veiled their advanced opinions under the convenient
+appellation of "patriots." Many of the deputies were young,
+impressionable, and likely to follow any able leader who promised to
+heal the schisms of the country. In fact, the old party lines were
+being effaced. The champions of the constitution of 1795 (Year III.)
+saw no better means of defending it than by violating electoral
+liberties--always in the sacred name of Liberty; and the Directory,
+while professing to hold the balance between the extreme parties,
+repressed them by turns with a vigour which rendered them popular and
+official moderation odious.
+
+
+
+In this general confusion and apathy the dearth of statesmen was
+painfully conspicuous. Only true grandeur of character can defy the
+withering influences of an age of disillusionment; and France had for
+a time to rely upon Sieyès. Perhaps no man has built up a reputation
+for political capacity on performances so slight as the Abbé Sieyès.
+In the States General of 1789 he speedily acquired renown for oracular
+wisdom, owing to the brevity and wit of his remarks in an assembly
+where such virtues were rare. But the course of the Revolution soon
+showed the barrenness of his mind and the timidity of his character.
+He therefore failed to exert any lasting influence upon events. In the
+time of the Terror his insignificance was his refuge. His witty reply
+to an inquiry how he had then fared--"J'ai vécu "--sufficiently
+characterizes the man. In the Directorial period he displayed more
+activity. He was sent as French ambassador to Berlin, and plumed
+himself on having persuaded that Court to a neutrality favourable to
+France. But it is clear that the neutrality of Prussia was the outcome
+of selfish considerations. While Austria tried the hazards of war, her
+northern rival husbanded her resources, strengthened her position as
+the protectress of Northern Germany, and dextrously sought to attract
+the nebula of middle German States into her own sphere of influence.
+From his task of tilting a balance which was already decided, Sieyès
+was recalled to Paris in May, 1799, by the news of his election to the
+place in the Directory vacated by Rewbell. The other Directors had
+striven, but in vain, to prevent his election: they knew well that
+this impracticable theorist would speedily paralyze the Government;
+for, when previously elected Director in 1795, he had refused to
+serve, on the ground that the constitution was thoroughly bad. He now
+declared his hostility to the Directory, and looked around for some
+complaisant military chief who should act as his tool and then be
+cast away. His first choice, Joubert, was killed at the battle of
+Novi. Moreau seems then to have been looked on with favour; he was a
+republican, able in warfare and singularly devoid of skill or ambition
+in political matters. Relying on Moreau, Sieyès continued his
+intrigues, and after some preliminary fencing gained over to his side
+the Director Barras. But if we may believe the assertions of the
+royalist, Hyde de Neuville, Barras was also receiving the advances of
+the royalists with a view to a restoration of Louis XVIII., an event
+which was then quite within the bounds of probability. For the
+present, however, Barras favoured the plans of Sieyès, and helped him
+to get rid of the firmly republican Directors, La Réveillière-Lépeaux
+and Merlin, who were deposed (30th Prairial).[125]
+
+The new Directors were Gohier, Roger Ducos, and Moulin; the first, an
+elderly respectable advocate; the second, a Girondin by early
+associations, but a trimmer by instinct, and therefore easily gained
+over by Sieyès; while the recommendation of the third, Moulin, seem to
+have been his political nullity and some third-rate military services
+in the Vendéan war. Yet the Directory of Prairial was not devoid of a
+spasmodic energy, which served to throw back the invaders of France.
+Bernadotte, the fiery Gascon, remarkable for his ardent gaze, his
+encircling masses of coal-black hair, and the dash of Moorish blood
+which ever aroused Bonaparte's respectful apprehensions, was Minister
+of War, and speedily formed a new army of 100,000 men: Lindet
+undertook to re-establish the finances by means of progressive taxes:
+the Chouan movement in the northern and western departments was
+repressed by a law legalising the seizure of hostages; and there
+seemed some hope that France would roll back the tide of invasion,
+keep her "natural frontiers," and return to normal methods of
+government.
+
+Such was the position of affairs when Bonaparte's arrival inspired
+France with joy and the Directory with ill-concealed dread. As in
+1795, so now in 1799, he appeared at Paris when French political life
+was in a stage of transition. If ever the Napoleonic star shone
+auspiciously, it was in the months when he threaded his path between
+Nelson's cruisers and cut athwart the maze of Sieyès' intrigues. To
+the philosopher's "J'ai vécu" he could oppose the crushing retort
+"J'ai vaincu."
+
+The general, on meeting the thinker at Gohier's house, studiously
+ignored him. In truth, he was at first disposed to oust both Sieyès
+and Barras from the Directory. The latter of these men was odious to
+him for reasons both private and public. In time past he had had good
+reasons for suspecting Josephine's relations with the voluptuous
+Director, and with the men whom she met at his house. During the
+Egyptian campaign his jealousy had been fiercely roused in another
+quarter, and, as we have seen, led to an almost open breach with his
+wife. But against Barras he still harboured strong suspicions; and the
+frequency of his visits to the Director's house after returning from
+Egypt was doubtless due to his desire to sound the depths of his
+private as well as of his public immorality. If we may credit the
+_embarras de mensonges_ which has been dignified by the name of
+Barras' "Memoirs," Josephine once fled to his house and flung herself
+at his knees, begging to be taken away from her husband; but the story
+is exploded by the moral which the relator clumsily tacks on, as to
+the good advice which he gave her.[126] While Bonaparte seems to have
+found no grounds for suspecting Barras on this score, he yet
+discovered his intrigues with various malcontents; and he saw that
+Barras, holding the balance of power in the Directory between the
+opposing pairs of colleagues, was intriguing to get the highest
+possible price for the betrayal of the Directory and of the
+constitution of 1795.
+
+For Sieyès the general felt dislike but respect. He soon saw the
+advantage of an alliance with so learned a thinker, so skilful an
+intriguer, and so weak a man. It was, indeed, necessary; for, after
+making vain overtures to Gohier for the alteration of the law which
+excluded from the Directory men of less than forty years of age,
+the general needed the alliance of Sieyès for the overthrow of the
+constitution. In a short space he gathered around him the malcontents
+whom the frequent crises had deprived of office, Roederer, Admiral
+Bruix, Réal, Cambacérès, and, above all, Talleyrand. The last-named;
+already known for his skill in diplomacy, had special reasons for
+favouring the alliance of Bonaparte and Sieyès: he had been dismissed
+from the Foreign Office in the previous month of July because in his
+hands it had proved to be too lucrative to the holder and too
+expensive for France. It was an open secret that, when American
+commissioners arrived in Paris a short time previously, for the
+settlement of various disputes between the two countries, they found
+that the negotiations would not progress until 250,000 dollars had
+changed hands. The result was that hostilities continued, and that
+Talleyrand soon found himself deprived of office, until another turn
+of the revolutionary kaleidoscope should restore him to his coveted
+place.[127] He discerned in the Bonaparte-Sieyès combination the force
+that would give the requisite tilt now that Moreau gave up politics.
+
+The army and most of the generals were also ready for some change,
+only Bernadotte and Jourdan refusing to listen to the new proposals;
+and the former of these came "with sufficiently bad grace" to join
+Bonaparte at the time of action. The police was secured through that
+dextrous trimmer, the regicide Fouché, who now turned against the very
+men who had recently appointed him to office. Feeling sure of the
+soldiery and police, the innovators fixed the 18th of Brumaire as the
+date of their enterprise. There were many conferences at the houses of
+the conspirators; and one of the few vivid touches which relieve the
+dull tones of the Talleyrand "Memoirs" reveals the consciousness of
+these men that they were conspirators. Late on a night in the middle
+of Brumaire, Bonaparte came to Talleyrand's house to arrange details
+of the _coup d'état,_ when the noise of carriages stopping outside
+caused them to pale with fear that their plans were discovered. At
+once the diplomatist blew out the lights and hurried to the balcony,
+when he found that their fright was due merely to an accident to the
+carriages of the revellers and gamesters returning from the Palais
+Royal, which were guarded by gendarmes. The incident closed with
+laughter and jests; but it illustrates the tension of the nerves of
+the political gamesters, as also the mental weakness of Bonaparte when
+confronted by some unknown danger. It was perhaps the only weak point
+in his intellectual armour; but it was to be found out at certain
+crises of his career.
+
+Meanwhile in the legislative Councils there was a feeling of vague
+disquiet. The Ancients were, on the whole, hostile to the Directory,
+but in the Council of Five Hundred the democratic ardour of the
+younger deputies foreboded a fierce opposition. Yet there also the
+plotters found many adherents, who followed the lead now cautiously
+given by Lucien Bonaparte. This young man, whose impassioned speeches
+had marked him out as an irreproachable patriot, was now President of
+that Council. No event could have been more auspicious for the
+conspirators. With Sieyès, Barras, and Ducos, as traitors in the
+Directory, with the Ancients favourable, and the junior deputies under
+the presidency of Lucien, the plot seemed sure of success.
+
+The first important step was taken by the Council of Ancients, who
+decreed the transference of the sessions of the Councils to St. Cloud.
+The danger of a Jacobin plot was urged as a plea for this motion,
+which was declared carried without the knowledge either of the
+Directory as a whole, or of the Five Hundred, whose opposition would
+have been vehement. The Ancients then appointed Bonaparte to command
+the armed forces in and near Paris. The next step was to insure the
+abdication of Gohier and Moulin. Seeking to entrap Gohier, then the
+President of the Directory, Josephine invited him to breakfast on the
+morning of 18th Brumaire; but Gohier, suspecting a snare, remained at
+his official residence, the Luxemburg Palace. None the less the
+Directory was doomed; for the two defenders of the institution had not
+the necessary quorum for giving effect to their decrees. Moulin
+thereupon escaped, and Gohier was kept under guard--by Moreau's
+soldiery![128]
+
+Meanwhile, accompanied by a brilliant group of generals, Bonaparte
+proceeded to the Tuileries, where the Ancients were sitting; and by
+indulging in a wordy declamation he avoided taking the oath to the
+constitution required of a general on entering upon a new command. In
+the Council of Five Hundred, Lucien Bonaparte stopped the eager
+questions and murmurs, on the pretext that the session was only legal
+at St. Cloud.
+
+There, on the next day (19th Brumaire or 10th November), a far more
+serious blow was to be struck. The overthrow of the Directory was a
+foregone conclusion. But with the Legislature it was far otherwise,
+for its life was still whole and vigorous. Yet, while amputating a
+moribund limb, the plotters did not scruple to paralyze the brain of
+the body politic.
+
+Despite the adhesion of most of the Ancients to his plans, Bonaparte,
+on appearing before them, could only utter a succession of short,
+jerky phrases which smacked of the barracks rather than of the Senate.
+Retiring in some confusion, he regains his presence of mind among the
+soldiers outside, and enters the hall of the Five Hundred, intending
+to intimidate them not only by threats, but by armed force. At the
+sight of the uniforms at the door, the republican enthusiasm of the
+younger deputies catches fire. They fiercely assail him with cries of
+"Down with the tyrant! down with the Dictator! outlaw him!" In vain
+Lucien Bonaparte commands order. Several deputies rush at the general,
+and fiercely shake him by the collar. He turns faint with excitement
+and chagrin; but Lefebvre and a few grenadiers rushing up drag him
+from the hall. He comes forth like a somnambulist (says an onlooker),
+pursued by the terrible cry, "Hors la loi!" Had the cries at once
+taken form in a decree, the history of the world might have been
+different. One of the deputies, General Augereau, fiercely demands
+that the motion of outlawry be put to the vote. Lucien Bonaparte
+refuses, protests, weeps, finally throws off his official robes, and
+is rescued from the enraged deputies by grenadiers whom the
+conspirators send in for this purpose. Meanwhile Bonaparte and his
+friends were hastily deliberating, when one of their number brought
+the news that the deputies had declared the general an outlaw. The
+news chased the blood from his cheek, until Sieyès, whose _sang froid_
+did not desert him in these civilian broils, exclaims, "Since they
+outlaw you, they are outlaws." This revolutionary logic recalls
+Bonaparte to himself. He shouts, "To arms!" Lucien, too, mounting a
+horse, appeals to the soldiers to free the Council from the menaces
+of some deputies armed with daggers, and in the pay of England, who
+are terrorising the majority. The shouts of command, clinched by the
+adroit reference to daggers and English gold, cause the troops to
+waver in their duty; and Lucien, pressing his advantage to the utmost,
+draws a sword, and, holding it towards his brother, exclaims that he
+will stab him if ever he attempts anything against liberty. Murat,
+Leclerc, and other generals enforce this melodramatic appeal by shouts
+for Bonaparte, which the troops excitedly take up. The drums sound for
+an advance, and the troops forthwith enter the hall. In vain the
+deputies raise the shout, "Vive la République," and invoke the
+constitution. Appeals to the law are overpowered by the drum and by
+shouts for Bonaparte; and the legislators of France fly pell-mell from
+the hall through doors and windows.[129]
+
+Thus was fulfilled the prophecy which eight years previously Burke had
+made in his immortal work on the French Revolution. That great thinker
+had predicted that French liberty would fall a victim to the first
+great general who drew the eyes of all men upon himself. "The moment
+in which that event shall happen, the person who really commands the
+army is your master, the master of your king, the master of your
+Assembly, the master of your whole republic."
+
+Discussions about the _coup d'état_ of Brumaire generally confuse the
+issue at stake by ignoring the difference between the overthrow of the
+Directory and that of the Legislature. The collapse of the Directory
+was certain to take place; but few expected that the Legislature of
+France would likewise vanish. For vanish it did: not for nearly half
+a century had France another free and truly democratic representative
+assembly. This result of Brumaire was unexpected by several of the men
+who plotted the overthrow of unpopular Directors, and hoped for the
+nipping of Jacobinical or royalist designs. Indeed, no event in French
+history is more astonishing than the dispersal of the republican
+deputies, most of whom desired a change of _personnel_ but not a
+revolution in methods of government. Until a few days previously the
+Councils had the allegiance of the populace and of the soldiers; the
+troops at St. Cloud were loyal to the constitution, and respected the
+persons of the deputies until they were deluded by Lucien. For a few
+minutes the fate of France trembled in the balance; and the
+conspirators knew it.[130] Bonaparte confessed it by his incoherent
+gaspings; Sieyès had his carriage ready, with six horses, for flight;
+the terrible cry, "Hors la loi!" if raised against Bonaparte in the
+heart of Paris, would certainly have roused the populace to fury in
+the cause of liberty and have swept the conspirators to the
+guillotine. But, as it was, the affair was decided in the solitudes of
+St. Cloud by Lucien and a battalion of soldiers.
+
+Efforts have frequently been made to represent the events of Brumaire
+as inevitable and to dovetail them in with a pretended philosophy of
+history. But it is impossible to study them closely without observing
+how narrow was the margin between the success and failure of the plot,
+and how jagged was the edge of an affair which philosophizers seek to
+fit in with their symmetrical explanations. In truth, no event of
+world-wide importance was ever decided by circumstances so trifling.
+"There is but one step from triumph to a fall. I have seen that in the
+greatest affairs a little thing has always decided important
+events"--so wrote Bonaparte three years before his triumph at St.
+Cloud: he might have written it of that event. It is equally
+questionable whether it can be regarded as saving France from anarchy.
+His admirers, it is true, have striven to depict France as trodden
+down by invaders, dissolved by anarchy, and saved only by the stroke
+of Brumaire. But she was already triumphant: it was quite possible
+that she would peacefully adjust her governmental difficulties: they
+were certainly no greater than they had been in and since the year
+1797: Fouché had closed the club of the Jacobins: the Councils had
+recovered their rightful influence, and, but for the plotters of
+Brumaire, might have effected a return to ordinary government of the
+type of 1795-7. This was the real blow; that the vigorous trunk, the
+Legislature, was struck down along with the withering Directorial
+branch.
+
+The friends of liberty might well be dismayed when they saw how tamely
+France accepted this astounding stroke. Some allowance was naturally
+to be made, at first, for the popular apathy: the Jacobins, already
+discouraged by past repression, were partly dazed by the suddenness of
+the blow, and were also ignorant of the aims of the men who dealt it;
+and while they were waiting to see the import of events, power passed
+rapidly into the hands of Bonaparte and his coadjutors. Such is an
+explanation, in part at least, of the strange docility now shown by a
+populace which still vaunted its loyalty to the democratic republic.
+But there is another explanation, which goes far deeper. The
+revolutionary strifes had wearied the brain of France and had
+predisposed it to accept accomplished facts. Distracted by the talk
+about royalist plots and Jacobin plots, cowering away from the white
+ogre and the red spectre, the more credulous part of the populace was
+fain to take shelter under the cloak of a great soldier, who at least
+promised order. Everything favoured the drill-sergeant theory of
+government. The instincts developed by a thousand years of monarchy
+had not been rooted out in the last decade. They now prompted France
+to rally round her able man; and, abandoning political liberty as a
+hopeless quest, she obeyed the imperious call which promised to
+revivify the order and brilliance of her old existence with the
+throbbing blood of her new life.
+
+The French constitution was now to be reconstructed by a
+self-appointed commission which sat with closed doors. This strange
+ending to all the constitution-building of a decade was due to the
+adroitness of Lucien Bonaparte. At the close of that eventful day, the
+19th of Brumaire, he gathered about him in the deserted hall at St.
+Cloud some score or so of the dispersed deputies known to be
+favourable to his brother, declaimed against the Jacobins, whose
+spectral plot had proved so useful to the real plotters, and proposed
+to this "Rump" of the Council the formation of a commission who should
+report on measures that were deemed necessary for the public safety.
+The measures were found to be the deposition of the Directory, the
+expulsion of sixty-one members from the Councils, the nomination of
+Sieyès, Roger Ducos, and Bonaparte as provisional Consuls and the
+adjournment of the Councils for four months. The Consuls accordingly
+took up their residence in the Luxemburg Palace, just vacated by the
+Directors, and the drafting of a constitution was confided to them and
+to an _interim_ commission of fifty members chosen equally from the
+two Councils.
+
+The illegality of these devices was hidden beneath a cloak of politic
+clemency. To this commission the Consuls, or rather Bonaparte--for
+his will soon dominated that of Sieyès--proposed two most salutary
+changes. He desired to put an end to the seizure of hostages from
+villages suspected of royalism; and also to the exaction of taxes
+levied on a progressive scale, which harassed the wealthy without
+proportionately benefiting the exchequer. These two expedients,
+adopted by the Directory in the summer of 1799, were temporary
+measures adopted to stem the tide of invasion and to crush revolts;
+but they were regarded as signs of a permanently terrorist policy, and
+their removal greatly strengthened the new consular rule. The blunder
+of nearly all the revolutionary governments had been in continuing
+severe laws after the need for them had ceased to be pressing.
+Bonaparte, with infinite tact, discerned this truth, and, as will
+shortly appear, set himself to found his government on the support of
+that vast neutral mass which was neither royalist nor Jacobin, which
+hated the severities of the reds no less than the abuses of the
+_ancien régime_.
+
+While Bonaparte was conciliating the many, Sieyès was striving to body
+forth the constitution which for many years had been nebulously
+floating in his brain. The function of the Socratic [Greek: maieutaes]
+was discharged by Boulay de la Meurthe, who with difficulty reduced
+those ideas to definite shape. The new constitution was based on the
+principle: "Confidence comes from below, power from above." This meant
+that the people, that is, all adult males, were admitted only to the
+preliminary stages of election of deputies, while the final act of
+selection was to be made by higher grades or powers. The "confidence"
+required of the people was to be shown not only towards their
+nominees, but towards those who were charged with the final and most
+important act of selection. The winnowing processes in the election of
+representatives were to be carried out on a decimal system. The adult
+voters meeting in their several districts were to choose one-tenth of
+their number, this tenth being named the Notabilities of the Commune.
+These, some five or six hundred thousand in number, meeting in their
+several Departments, were thereupon to choose one-tenth of their
+number; and the resulting fifty or sixty thousand men, termed
+Notabilities of the Departments, were again to name one-tenth of their
+number, who were styled Notabilities of the Nation. But the most
+important act of selection was still to come--from above. From this
+last-named list the governing powers were to select the members of the
+legislative bodies and the chief officials and servants of the
+Government.
+
+The executive now claims a brief notice. The well-worn theory of the
+distinction of powers, that is, the legislative and executive powers,
+was maintained in Sieyès' plan. At the head of the Government the
+philosopher desired to enthrone an august personage, the Grand
+Elector, who was to be selected by the Senate. This Grand Elector was
+to nominate two Consuls, one for peace, the other for war; they were
+to nominate the Ministers of State, who in their turn selected the
+agents of power from the list of Notabilities of the Nation. The two
+Consuls and their Ministers administered the executive affairs. The
+Senate, sitting in dignified ease, was merely to safeguard the
+constitution, to elect the Grand Elector, and to select the members of
+the _Corps Législatif_ (proper) and the Tribunate.
+
+Distrust of the former almost superhuman activity in law-making now
+appeared in divisions, checks, and balances quite ingenious in their
+complexity. The Legislature was divided into three councils: the
+_Corps Législatif_, properly so called, which listened in silence to
+proposals of laws offered by the Council of State and criticised or
+orally approved by the Tribunate.[131] These three bodies were not
+only divided, but were placed in opposition, especially the two
+talking bodies, which resembled plaintiff and defendant pleading
+before a gagged judge. But even so the constitution was not
+sufficiently guarded against Jacobins or royalists. If by any chance a
+dangerous proposal were forced through these mutually distrustful
+bodies, the Senate was charged with the task of vetoing it, and if the
+Grand Elector, or any other high official, strove to gain a perpetual
+dictatorship, the Senate was at once to _absorb_ him into its ranks.
+
+Moreover, lest the voters should send up too large a proportion of
+Jacobins or royalists, the first selection of members of the great
+Councils and the chief functionaries for local affairs was to be made
+by the Consuls, who thus primarily exercised not only the "power from
+above," but also the "confidence" which ought to have come from below.
+Perhaps this device was necessary to set in motion Sieyès' system of
+wheels within wheels; for the Senate, which was to elect the Grand
+Elector, by whom the executive officers were indirectly to be chosen,
+was in part self-sufficient: the Consuls named the first members, who
+then co-opted, that is, chose the new members. Some impulse from
+without was also needed to give the constitution life; and this
+impulse was now to come. Where Sieyès had only contrived wheels,
+checks, regulator, break, and safety-valve, there now rushed in an
+imperious will which not only simplified the parts but supplied an
+irresistible motive power.
+
+The complexity of much of the mechanism, especially that relating to
+popular election and the legislature, entirely suited Bonaparte. But,
+while approving the triple winnowing, to which Sieyès subjected the
+results of manhood suffrage, and the subordination of the legislative
+to the executive authority,[132] the general expressed his entire
+disapproval of the limitations of the Grand Elector's powers. The name
+was anti-republican: let it be changed to First Consul. And whereas
+Sieyès condemned his grand functionary to the repose of a _roi
+fainéant_, Bonaparte secured to him practically all the powers
+assigned by Sieyès to the Consuls for Peace and for War. Lastly,
+Bonaparte protested against the right of absorbing him being given to
+the Senate. Here also he was successful; and thus a delicately poised
+bureaucracy was turned into an almost unlimited dictatorship.
+
+This metamorphosis may well excite wonder. But, in truth, Sieyès and
+his colleagues were too weary and sceptical to oppose the one
+"intensely practical man." To Bonaparte's trenchant reasons and
+incisive tones the theorist could only reply by a scornful silence
+broken by a few bitter retorts. To the irresistible power of the
+general he could only oppose the subtlety of a student. And, indeed,
+who can picture Bonaparte, the greatest warrior of the age, delegating
+the control of all warlike operations to a Consul for War while
+Austrian cannon were thundering in the county of Nice and British
+cruisers were insulting the French coasts? It was inevitable that the
+reposeful Grand Elector should be transformed into the omnipotent
+First Consul, and that these powers should be wielded by Bonaparte
+himself.[133]
+
+The extent of the First Consul's powers, as finally settled by the
+joint commission, was as follows. He had the direct and sole
+nomination of the members of the general administration, of those of
+the departmental and municipal councils, and of the administrators,
+afterwards called prefects and sub-prefects. He also appointed all
+military and naval officers, ambassadors and agents sent to foreign
+Powers, and the judges in civil and criminal suits, except the _juges
+de paix_ and, later on, the members of the _Cour de Cassation_. He
+therefore controlled the army, navy, and diplomatic service, as well
+as the general administration. He also signed treaties, though these
+might be discussed, and must be ratified, by the legislative bodies.
+The three Consuls were to reside in the Tuileries palace; but, apart
+from the enjoyment of 150,000 francs a year, and occasional
+consultation by the First Consul, the position of these officials was
+so awkward that Bonaparte frankly remarked to Roederer that it would
+have been better to call them Grand Councillors. They were, in truth,
+supernumeraries added to the chief of the State, as a concession to
+the spirit of equality and as a blind to hide the reality of the new
+despotism. All three were to be chosen for ten years, and were
+re-eligible.
+
+Such is an outline of the constitution of 1799 (Year VIII.). It was
+promulgated on December 15th, 1799, and was offered to the people for
+acceptance, in a proclamation which closed with the words: "Citizens,
+the Revolution is confined to the principles which commenced it. It is
+finished." The news of this last fact decided the enthusiastic
+acceptance of the constitution. In a _plébiscite_, or mass vote of the
+people, held in the early days of 1800, it was accepted by an
+overwhelming majority, viz., by 3,011,007 as against only 1,562
+negatives. No fact so forcibly proves the failure of absolute
+democracy in France; and, whatever may be said of the methods of
+securing this national acclaim, it was, and must ever remain, the
+soundest of Bonaparte's titles to power. To a pedant who once
+inquired about his genealogy he significantly replied: "It dates from
+Brumaire."
+
+Shortly before the _plébiscite_, Sieyès and Ducos resigned their
+temporary commissions as Consuls: they were rewarded with seats in the
+Senate; and Sieyès, in consideration of his constitutional work,
+received the estate of Crosne from the nation.
+
+  "Sieyès à Bonaparte a fait present du trône,
+  Sous un pompeux débris croyant l'ensevelir.
+  Bonaparte à Sieyès a fait present de Crosne
+    Pour le payer et l'avilir."
+
+The sting in the tail of Lebrun's epigram struck home. Sieyès'
+acceptance of Crosne was, in fact, his acceptance of notice to quit
+public affairs, in which he had always moved with philosophic disdain.
+He lived on to the year 1836 in dignified ease, surveying with
+Olympian calm the storms of French and Continental politics.
+
+The two new Consuls were Cambacérès and Lebrun. The former was known
+as a learned jurist and a tactful man. He had voted for the death of
+Louis XVI., but his subsequent action had been that of a moderate, and
+his knowledge of legal affairs was likely to be of the highest service
+to Bonaparte, who intrusted him with a general oversight of
+legislation. His tact was seen in his refusal to take up his abode in
+the Tuileries, lest, as he remarked to Lebrun, he might have to move
+out again soon. The third Consul, Lebrun, was a moderate with leanings
+towards constitutional royalty. He was to prove another useful
+satellite to Bonaparte, who intrusted him with the general oversight
+of finance and regarded him as a connecting link with the moderate
+royalists. The chief secretary to the Consuls was Maret, a trusty
+political agent, who had striven for peace with England both in 1793
+and in 1797.
+
+As for the Ministers, they were now reinforced by Talleyrand, who took
+up that of Foreign Affairs, and by Berthier, who brought his powers of
+hard work to that of War, until he was succeeded for a time by Carnot.
+Lucien Bonaparte, and later Chaptal, became Minister of the Interior,
+Gaudin controlled Finance, Forfait the Navy, and Fouché the Police.
+The Council of State was organized in the following sections; that of
+_War_, which was presided over by General Brune: _Marine_, by Admiral
+Gantheaume: _Finance_, by Defermon: _Legislation_, by Boulay de la
+Meurthe: the _Interior_, by Roederer.
+
+The First Consul soon showed that he intended to adopt a non-partisan
+and thoroughly national policy. That had been, it is true, the aim of
+the Directors in their policy of balance and repression of extreme
+parties on both sides. For the reasons above indicated, they had
+failed: but now a stronger and more tactful grasp was to succeed in a
+feat which naturally became easier every year that removed the
+passions of the revolutionary epoch further into the distance. Men
+cannot for ever perorate, and agitate and plot. A time infallibly
+comes when an able leader can successfully appeal to their saner
+instincts: and that hour had now struck. Bonaparte's appeal was made
+to the many, who cared not for politics, provided that they themselves
+were left in security and comfort: it was urged quietly, persistently,
+and with the reserve power of a mighty prestige and of overwhelming
+military force. Throughout the whole of the Consulate, a policy of
+moderation, which is too often taken for weakness, was strenuously
+carried through by the strongest man and the greatest warrior of the
+age.
+
+The truly national character of his rule was seen in many ways. He
+excluded from high office men who were notorious regicides, excepting
+a few who, like Fouché, were too clever to be dispensed with. The
+constitutionals of 1791 and even declared royalists were welcomed back
+to France, and many of the Fructidorian exiles also returned.[134] The
+list of _émigrés_ was closed, so that neither political hatred nor
+private greed could misrepresent a journey as an act of political
+emigration. Equally generous and prudent was the treatment of Roman
+Catholics. Toleration was now extended to orthodox or non-juring
+priests, who were required merely to _promise_ allegiance to the new
+constitution. By this act of timely clemency, orthodox priests were
+allowed to return to France, and they were even suffered to officiate
+in places where no opposition was thereby aroused.
+
+While thus removing one of the chief grievances of the Norman, Breton
+and Vendéan peasants, who had risen as much for their religion as for
+their king, he determined to crush their revolts. The north-west, and
+indeed parts of the south of France, were still simmering with
+rebellions and brigandage. In Normandy a daring and able leader named
+Frotté headed a considerable band of malcontents, and still more
+formidable were the Breton "Chouans" that followed the peasant leader
+Georges Cadoudal. This man was a born leader. Though but thirty years
+of age, his fierce courage had long marked him out as the first
+fighter of his race and creed. His features bespoke a bold, hearty
+spirit, and his massive frame defied fatigue and hardship. He
+struggled on; and in the autumn of 1799 fortune seemed about to favour
+the "whites": the revolt was spreading; and had a Bourbon prince
+landed in Brittany before Bonaparte returned from Egypt, the royalists
+might quite possibly have overthrown the Directory. But Bonaparte's
+daring changed the whole aspect of affairs. The news of the stroke of
+Brumaire gave the royalists pause. At first they believed that the
+First Consul would soon call back the king, and Bonaparte skilfully
+favoured this notion: he offered a pacification, of which some of the
+harassed peasants availed themselves. Georges himself for a time
+advised a reconciliation, and a meeting of the royalist leaders voted
+to a man that they desired "to have the king and you" (Bonaparte). One
+of them, Hyde de Neuville, had an interview with the First Consul at
+Paris, and has left on record his surprise at seeing the slight form
+of the man whose name was ringing through France. At the first glance
+he took him for a rather poorly dressed lackey; but when the general
+raised his eyes and searched him through and through with their eager
+fire, the royalist saw his error and fell under the spell of a gaze
+which few could endure unmoved. The interview brought no definite
+result.
+
+Other overtures made by Bonaparte were more effective. True to his
+plan of dividing his enemies, he appealed to the clergy to end the
+civil strife. The appeal struck home to the heart or the ambitions of
+a cleric named Bernier. This man was but a village priest of La
+Vendée: yet his natural abilities gained him an ascendancy in the
+councils of the insurgents, which the First Consul was now
+victoriously to exploit. Whatever may have been Bernier's motives, he
+certainly acted with some duplicity. Without forewarning Cadoudal,
+Bourmont, Frotté, and other royalist leaders, he secretly persuaded
+the less combative leaders to accept the First Consul's terms; and a
+pacification was arranged (January 18th), In vain did Cadoudal rage
+against this treachery: in vain did he strive to break the armistice.
+Frotté in Normandy was the last to capitulate and the first to feel
+Bonaparte's vengeance: on a trumped-up charge of treachery he was
+hurried before a court-martial and shot. An order was sent from Paris
+for his pardon; but a letter which Bonaparte wrote to Brune on the day
+of the execution contains the ominous phrase: _By this time Frotté
+ought to be shot_; and a recently published letter to Hédouville
+expresses the belief that _the punishment of that desperate leader
+will doubtless contribute to the complete pacification of the
+West_.[135]
+
+In the hope of gaining over the Chouans, Bonaparte required their
+chiefs to come to Paris, where they received the greatest
+consideration. In Bernier the priest, Bonaparte discerned diplomatic
+gifts of a high order, which were soon to be tested in a far more
+important negotiation. The nobles, too, received flattering
+attentions which touched their pride and assured their future
+insignificance. Among them was Count Bourmont, the Judas of the
+Waterloo campaign.
+
+In contrast with the priest and the nobles, Georges Cadoudal stood
+firm as a rock. That suave tongue spoke to him of glory, honour, and
+the fatherland: he heeded it not, for he knew it had ordered the death
+of Frotté. There stood these fighters alone, face to face, types of
+the north and south, of past and present, fiercest and toughest of
+living men, their stern wills racked in wrestle for two hours. But
+southern craft was foiled by Breton steadfastness, and Georges went
+his way unshamed. Once outside the palace, his only words to his
+friend, Hyde de Neuville, were: "What a mind I had to strangle him in
+these arms!" Shadowed by Bonaparte's spies, and hearing that he was
+to be arrested, he fled to England; and Normandy and Brittany enjoyed
+the semblance of peace.[136]
+
+Thus ended the civil war which for nearly seven years had rent France
+in twain. Whatever may be said about the details of Bonaparte's
+action, few will deny its beneficent results on French life. Harsh and
+remorseless as Nature herself towards individuals, he certainly, at
+this part of his career, promoted the peace and prosperity of the
+masses. And what more can be said on behalf of a ruler at the end of a
+bloody revolution?
+
+Meanwhile the First Consul had continued to develop Sieyès'
+constitution in the direction of autocracy. The Council of State,
+which was little more than an enlarged Ministry, had been charged with
+the vague and dangerous function of "developing the sense of laws" on
+the demand of the Consuls; and it was soon seen that this Council was
+merely a convenient screen to hide the operations of Bonaparte's will.
+On the other hand, a blow was struck at the Tribunate, the only public
+body which had the right of debate and criticism. It was now proposed
+(January, 1800) that the time allowed for debate should be strictly
+limited. This restriction to the right of free discussion met with
+little opposition. One of the most gifted of the new tribunes,
+Benjamin Constant, the friend of Madame de Staël, eloquently pleaded
+against this policy of distrust which would reduce the Tribunate to a
+silence that would be _heard by Europe_. It was in vain. The rabid
+rhetoric of the past had infected France with a foolish fear of all
+free debate. The Tribunate signed its own death warrant; and the sole
+result of its feeble attempt at opposition was that Madame de Staël's
+_salon_ was forthwith deserted by the Liberals who had there found
+inspiration; while the gifted authoress herself was officially
+requested to retire into the country.
+
+The next act of the central power struck at freedom of the press. As a
+few journals ventured on witticisms at the expense of the new
+Government, the Consuls ordered the suppression of all the political
+journals of Paris except thirteen; and three even of these favoured
+papers were suppressed on April 7th. The reason given for this
+despotic action was the need of guiding public opinion wisely during
+the war, and of preventing any articles "contrary to the respect due
+to the social compact, to the sovereignty of the people, and to the
+glory of the armies." By a finely ironical touch Rousseau's doctrine
+of the popular sovereignty was thus invoked to sanction its violation.
+The incident is characteristic of the whole tendency of events, which
+showed that the dawn of personal rule was at hand. In fact, Bonaparte
+had already taken the bold step of removing to the Tuileries, and that
+too, on the very day when he ordered public mourning for the death of
+Washington (February 7th). No one but the great Corsican would have
+dared to brave the comments which this coincidence provoked. But he
+was necessary to France, and all men knew it. At the first sitting of
+the provisional Consuls, Ducos had said to him: "It is useless to vote
+about the presidence; it belongs to you of right"; and, despite the
+wry face pulled by Sieyès, the general at once took the chair.
+Scarcely less remarkable than the lack of energy in statesmen was the
+confusion of thought in the populace. Mme. Reinhard tells us that
+after the _coup d'état_ people _believed they had returned to the
+first days of liberty_. What wonder, then, that the one able and
+strong-willed man led the helpless many and re-moulded Sieyès'
+constitution in a fashion that was thus happily parodied:
+
+  "J'ai, pour les fous, d'un Tribunat
+    Conservé la figure;
+  Pour les sots je laisse un Sénat,
+    Mais ce n'est qu'en peinture;
+  A ce stupide magistrat
+    Ma volonté préside;
+  Et tout le Conseil d'État
+    Dans mon sabre réside."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+MARENGO: LUNÉVILLE
+
+
+Reserving for the next chapter a description of the new civil
+institutions of France, it will be convenient now to turn to foreign
+affairs. Having arranged the most urgent of domestic questions, the
+First Consul was ready to encounter the forces of the Second
+Coalition. He had already won golden opinions in France by
+endeavouring peacefully to dissolve it. On the 25th of December, 1799,
+he sent two courteous letters, one to George III., the other to the
+Emperor Francis, proposing an immediate end to the war. The close of
+the letter to George III. has been deservedly admired: "France and
+England by the abuse of their strength may, for the misfortune of all
+nations, be long in exhausting it: but I venture to declare that the
+fate of all civilized nations is concerned in the termination of a war
+which kindles a conflagration over the whole world." This noble
+sentiment touched the imagination of France and of friends of peace
+everywhere.
+
+And yet, if the circumstances of the time be considered, the first
+agreeable impressions aroused by the perusal of this letter must be
+clouded over by doubts. The First Consul had just seized on power by
+illegal and forcible means, and there was as yet little to convince
+foreign States that he would hold it longer than the men whom he had
+displaced. Moreover, France was in a difficult position. Her treasury
+was empty; her army in Italy was being edged into the narrow
+coast-line near Genoa; and her oriental forces were shut up in their
+new conquest. Were not the appeals to Austria and England merely a
+skillful device to gain time? Did his past power in Italy and Egypt
+warrant the belief that he would abandon the peninsula and the new
+colony? Could the man who had bartered away Venetia and seized Malta
+and Egypt be fitly looked upon as the sacred'r peacemaker? In
+diplomacy men's words are interpreted by their past conduct and
+present circumstances, neither of which tended to produce confidence
+in Bonaparte's pacific overtures; and neither Francis nor George III.
+looked on the present attempt as anything but a skilful means of
+weakening the Coalition.
+
+Indeed, that league was, for various reasons, all but dissolved by
+internal dissensions. Austria was resolved to keep all the eastern
+part of Piedmont and the greater part of the Genoese Republic. While
+welcoming the latter half of this demand, George III.'s Ministers
+protested against the absorption of so great a part of Piedmont as an
+act of cruel injustice to the King of Sardinia. Austria was annoyed at
+the British remonstrances and was indignant at the designs of the Czar
+on Corsica. Accordingly no time could have been better chosen by
+Bonaparte for seeking to dissolve the Coalition, as he certainly hoped
+to do by these two letters. Only the staunch support of legitimist
+claims by England then prevented the Coalition from degenerating into
+a scramble for Italian territories.[137] And, if we may trust the
+verdict of contemporaries and his own confession at St. Helena,
+Bonaparte never expected any other result from these letters than an
+increase of his popularity in France. This was enhanced by the British
+reply, which declared that His Majesty could not place his reliance on
+"general professions of pacific dispositions": France had waged
+aggressive war, levied exactions, and overthrown institutions in
+neighbouring States; and the British Government could not as yet
+discern any abandonment of this system: something more was required
+for a durable peace: "The best and most natural pledge of its reality
+and permanence would be the restoration of that line of princes which
+for so many centuries maintained the French nation in prosperity at
+home and in consideration and respect abroad." This answer has been
+sharply criticised, and justly so, if its influence on public opinion
+be alone considered. But a perusal of the British Foreign Office
+Records reveals the reason for the use of these stiffly legitimist
+claims. Legitimacy alone promised to stop the endless shiftings of the
+political kaleidoscope, whether by France, Austria, or Russia. Our
+ambassador at Vienna was requested to inform the Government of Vienna
+of the exact wording of the British reply:
+
+     "As a proof of the zeal and steadiness with which His Majesty
+     adheres to the principles of the Confederacy, and as a testimony of
+     the confidence with which he anticipates a similar answer from His
+     Imperial Majesty, to whom an overture of a similar nature has
+     without doubt been made."
+
+But this correct conduct, while admirably adapted to prop up the
+tottering Coalition, was equally favourable to the consolidation of
+Bonaparte's power. It helped to band together the French people to
+resist the imposition of their exiled royal house by external force.
+Even George III. thought it "much too strong," though he suggested no
+alteration. At once Bonaparte retorted in a masterly note; he
+ironically presumed that His Britannic Majesty admitted the right of
+nations to choose their form of government, since only by that right
+did he wear the British crown; and he invited him not to apply to
+other peoples a principle which would recall the Stuarts to the throne
+of Great Britain.
+
+Bonaparte's diplomatic game was completely won during the debates on
+the King's speech at Westminster at the close of January, 1800. Lord
+Grenville laboriously proved that peace was impossible with a nation
+whose war was against all order, religion, and morality; and he cited
+examples of French lawlessness from Holland and Switzerland to Malta
+and Egypt. Pitt declared that the French Revolution was the severest
+trial which Providence had ever yet inflicted on the nations of the
+earth; and, claiming that there was no security in negotiating with
+France, owing to her instability, he summed up his case in the
+Ciceronian phrase: _Pacem nolo quia infida_. Ministers carried the day
+by 260 votes to 64; but they ranged nearly the whole of France on the
+side of the First Consul. No triumph in the field was worth more to
+him than these Philippics, which seemed to challenge France to build
+up a strong Government in order that the Court of St. James might find
+some firm foundation for future negotiations.
+
+Far more dextrous was the conduct of the Austrian diplomatists.
+Affecting to believe in the sincerity of the First Consul's proposal
+for peace, they so worded their note as to draw from him a reply that
+he was prepared to discuss terms of peace on the basis of the Treaty
+of Campo Formio.[138] As Austria had since then conquered the greater
+part of Italy, Bonaparte's reply immediately revealed his
+determination to reassert French supremacy in Italy and the Rhineland.
+The action of the Courts of Vienna and London was not unlike that of
+the sun and the wind in the proverbial saw. Viennese suavity induced
+Bonaparte to take off his coat and show himself as he really was:
+while the conscientious bluster of Grenville and Pitt made the First
+Consul button up his coat, and pose as the buffeted peacemaker.
+
+The allies had good grounds for confidence. Though Russia had
+withdrawn from the Second Coalition yet the Austrians continued their
+victorious advance in Italy. In April, 1800, they severed the French
+forces near Savona, driving back Suchet's corps towards Nice, while
+the other was gradually hemmed in behind the redoubts of Genoa. There
+the Imperialist advance was stoutly stayed. Masséna, ably seconded by
+Oudinot and Soult, who now gained their first laurels as generals,
+maintained a most obstinate resistance, defying alike the assaults of
+the white-coats, the bombs hurled by the English squadron, and the
+deadlier inroads of famine and sickness. The garrison dwindled by
+degrees to less than 10,000 effectives, but they kept double the
+number of Austrians there, while Bonaparte was about to strike a
+terrible blow against their rear and that of Melas further west. It
+was for this that the First Consul urged Masséna to hold out at Genoa
+to the last extremity, and nobly was the order obeyed.
+
+Suchet meanwhile defended the line of the River Var against Melas. In
+Germany, Moreau with his larger forces slowly edged back the chief
+Austrian army, that of General Kray, from the defiles of the Black
+Forest, compelling it to fall back on the intrenched camp at Ulm.
+
+On their side, the Austrians strove to compel Masséna to a speedy
+surrender, and then with a large force to press on into Nice,
+Provence, and possibly Savoy, surrounding Suchet's force, and rousing
+the French royalists of the south to a general insurrection. They also
+had the promise of the help of a British force, which was to be landed
+at some point on the coast and take Suchet in the flank or rear.[139]
+Such was the plan, daring in outline and promising great things,
+provided that everything went well. If Masséna surrendered, if the
+British War Office and Admiralty worked up to time, if the winds were
+favourable, and if the French royalists again ventured on a revolt,
+then France would be crippled, perhaps conquered. As for the French
+occupation of Switzerland and Moreau's advance into Swabia, that was
+not to prevent the prosecution of the original Austrian plan of
+advancing against Provence and wresting Nice and Savoy from the French
+grasp. This scheme has been criticised as if it were based solely on
+military considerations; but it was rather dictated by schemes of
+political aggrandizement. The conquest of Nice and Savoy was necessary
+to complete the ambitious schemes of the Hapsburgs, who sought to gain
+a large part of Piedmont at the expense of the King of Sardinia, and
+after conquering Savoy and Nice, to thrust that unfortunate king to
+the utmost verge of the peninsula, which the prowess of his
+descendants has ultimately united under the Italian tricolour.
+
+The allied plan sinned against one of the elementary rules of
+strategy; it exposed a large force to a blow from the rear, namely,
+from Switzerland. The importance of this immensely strong central
+position early attracted Bonaparte's attention. On the 17th of March
+he called his secretary, Bourrienne (so the latter states), and lay
+down with him on a map of Piedmont: then, placing pins tipped, some
+with red, others with black wax, so as to denote the positions of the
+troops, he asked him to guess where the French would beat their foes:
+
+     "How the devil should I know?" said Bourrienne. "Why, look here,
+     you fool," said the First Consul: "Melas is at Alessandria with his
+     headquarters. There he will remain until Genoa surrenders. He has
+     at Alessandria his magazines, his hospitals, his artillery, his
+     reserves. Crossing the Alps here (at the Great St. Bernard), I
+     shall fall upon Melas, cut off his communications with Austria, and
+     meet him here in the plains of the River Scrivia at San Giuliano."
+
+I quote this passage as showing how readily such stories of ready-made
+plans gain credence, until they come to be tested by Napoleon's
+correspondence. There we find no strategic soothsaying, but only a
+close watching of events as they develop day by day. In March and
+April he kept urging on Moreau the need of an early advance, while he
+considered the advantages offered by the St. Gotthard, Simplon, and
+Great St. Bernard passes for his own army. On April 27th he decided
+against the first (except for a detachment), because Moreau's advance
+was too slow to safeguard his rear on that route. He now preferred the
+Great St. Bernard, but still doubted whether, after crossing, he
+should make for Milan, or strike at Masséna's besiegers, in case that
+general should be very hard pressed. Like all great commanders, he
+started with a general plan, but he arranged the details as the
+situation required. In his letter of May 19th, he poured scorn on
+Parisian editors who said he prophesied that in a month he would be at
+Milan. "That is not in my character. Very often I do _not_ say what I
+know: but never do I say what will be."
+
+The better to hide his purpose, he chose as his first base of
+operations the city of Dijon, whence he seemed to threaten either the
+Swabian or the Italian army of his foes. But this was not enough. At
+the old Burgundian capital he assembled his staff and a few regiments
+of conscripts in order to mislead the English and Austrian spies;
+while the fighting battalions were drafted by diverse routes to Geneva
+or Lausanne. So skilful were these preparations that, in the early
+days of May, the greater part of his men and stores were near the lake
+of Geneva, whence they were easily transferred to the upper valley of
+the Rhone. In order that he might have a methodical, hard-working
+coadjutor he sent Berthier from the office of the Ministry of War,
+where he had displayed less ability than Bernadotte, to be
+commander-in-chief of the "army of reserve." In reality Berthier was,
+as before in Italy and Egypt, chief of the staff; but he had the
+titular dignity of commander which the constitution of 1800 forbade
+the First Consul to assume.
+
+On May 6th Bonaparte left Paris for Geneva, where he felt the pulse of
+every movement in both campaigns. At that city, on hearing the report
+of his general of engineers, he decided to take the Great St. Bernard
+route into Italy, as against the Simplon. With redoubled energy, he
+now supervised the thousands of details that were needed to insure
+success: for, while prone to indulging in grandiose schemes, he
+revelled in the work which alone could bring them within his grasp:
+or, as Wellington once remarked, "Nothing was too great or too small
+for his proboscis." The difficulties of sending a large army over the
+Great St. Bernard were indeed immense. That pass was chosen because it
+presented only five leagues of ground impracticable for carriages. But
+those five leagues tested the utmost powers of the army and of its
+chiefs. Marmont, who commanded the artillery, had devised the
+ingenious plan of taking the cannon from their carriages and placing
+them in the hollowed-out trunks of pine, so that the trunnions fitting
+into large notches kept them steady during the ascent over the snow
+and the still more difficult descent.[140] The labour of dragging the
+guns wore out the peasants; then the troops were invited--a hundred at
+a time--to take a turn at the ropes, and were exhilarated by martial
+airs played by the bands, or by bugles and drums sounding the charge
+at the worst places of the ascent.
+
+The track sometimes ran along narrow ledges where a false step meant
+death, or where avalanches were to be feared. The elements, however,
+were propitious, and the losses insignificant. This was due to many
+causes: the ardour of the troops in an enterprise which appealed to
+French imagination and roused all their activities; the friendliness
+of the mountaineers; and the organizing powers of Bonaparte and of his
+staff; all these may be cited as elements of success. They present a
+striking contrast to the march of Hannibal's army over one of the
+western passes of the Alps. His motley host struggled over a long
+stretch of mountains in the short days of October over unknown paths,
+in one part swept away by a fall of the cliff, and ever and anon beset
+by clouds of treacherous Gauls. Seeing that the great Carthaginian's
+difficulties began long before he reached the Alps, that he was
+encumbered by elephants, and that his army was composed of diverse
+races held together only by trust in the prowess of their chief, his
+exploit was far more wonderful than that of Bonaparte, which, indeed,
+more nearly resembles the crossing of the St. Bernard by Francis I. in
+1515. The difference between the conditions of Hannibal's and
+Bonaparte's enterprises may partly be measured by the time which they
+occupied. Whereas Hannibal's march across the Alps lasted fifteen
+days, three of which were spent in the miseries of a forced halt
+amidst the snow, the First Consul's forces took but seven days.
+Whereas the Carthaginian army was weakened by hunger, the French
+carried their full rations of biscuit; and at the head of the pass the
+monks of the Hospice of St. Bernard served out the rations of bread,
+cheese, and wine which the First Consul had forwarded, and which their
+own generosity now doubled. The hospitable fathers themselves served
+at the tables set up in front of the Hospice.
+
+After insuring the regular succession of troops and stores, Bonaparte
+himself began the ascent on May 20th. He wore the gray overcoat which
+had already become famous; and his features were fixed in that
+expression of calm self-possession which he ever maintained in face of
+difficulty. The melodramatic attitudes of horse and rider, which David
+has immortalized in his great painting, are, of course, merely
+symbolical of the genius of militant democracy prancing over natural
+obstacles and wafted onwards and upwards by the breath of victory. The
+living figure was remarkable only for stern self-restraint and
+suppressed excitement; instead of the prancing war-horse limned by
+David, his beast of burden was a mule, led by a peasant; and, in place
+of victory, he had heard that Lannes with the vanguard had found an
+unexpected obstacle to his descent into Italy. The narrow valley of
+the Dora Baltea, by which alone they could advance, was wellnigh
+blocked by the fort of Bard, which was firmly held by a small Austrian
+garrison and defied all the efforts of Lannes and Berthier. This was
+the news that met the First Consul during his ascent, and again at the
+Hospice. After accepting the hospitality of the monks, and spending a
+short time in the library and chapel, he resumed his journey; and on
+the southern slopes he and his staff now and again amused themselves
+by sliding down the tracks which the passage of thousands of men had
+rendered slippery. After halting at Aosta, he proceeded down the
+valley to the fort of Bard.
+
+Meanwhile some of his foot-soldiers had worked their way round this
+obstacle by a goat-track among the hills and had already reached Ivrea
+lower down the valley. Still the fort held out against the cannonade
+of the French. Its commanding position seemed to preclude all hope of
+getting the artillery past it; and without artillery the First Consul
+could not hope for success in the plains of Piedmont. Unable to
+capture the fort, he bethought him of hurrying by night the now
+remounted guns under the cover of the houses of the village. For this
+purpose he caused the main street to be strewn with straw and dung,
+while the wheels of the cannon were covered over so as to make little
+noise. They were then dragged quietly through the village almost
+within pistol shot of the garrison: nevertheless, the defenders took
+alarm, and, firing with musketry and grenades, exploded some
+ammunition wagons and inflicted other losses; yet 40 guns and 100
+wagons were got past the fort.
+
+How this unfailing resource contrasts with the heedless behaviour of
+the enemy! Had they speedily reinforced their detachment at Bard,
+there can be little doubt that Bonaparte's movements could have been
+seriously hampered. But, up to May 21st, Melas was ignorant that his
+distant rear was being assailed, and the 3,000 Austrians who guarded
+the vale of the Dora Baltea were divided, part being at Bard and
+others at Ivrea. The latter place was taken by a rush of Lannes'
+troops on May 22nd, and Bard was blockaded by part of the French
+rearguard.
+
+Bonaparte's army, if the rearguard be included, numbered 41,000 men.
+Meanwhile, farther east, a French force of 15,000 men, drawn partly
+from Moreau's army and led by Moncey, was crossing the St. Gotthard
+pass and began to drive back the Austrian outposts in the upper valley
+of the Ticino; and 5,000 men, marching over the Mont Cenis pass,
+threatened Turin from the west. The First Consul's aim now was to
+unite the two chief forces, seize the enemy's magazines, and compel
+him to a complete surrender. This daring resolve took shape at Aosta
+on the 24th, when he heard that Melas was, on the 19th, still at Nice,
+unconscious of his doom. The chance of ending the war at one blow was
+not to be missed, even if Masséna had to shift for himself.
+
+But already Melas' dream of triumph had vanished. On the 21st, hearing
+the astonishing news that a large force had crossed the St. Bernard,
+he left 18,000 men to oppose Suchet on the Var, and hurried back with
+the remainder to Turin. At the Piedmontese capital he heard that he
+had to deal with the First Consul; but not until the last day of May
+did he know that Moncey was forcing the St. Gotthard and threatening
+Milan. Then, realizing the full extent of his danger, he hastily
+called in all the available troops in order to fight his way through
+to Mantua. He even sent an express to the besiegers of Genoa to retire
+on Alessandria; but negotiations had been opened with Masséna for the
+surrender of that stronghold, and the opinion of Lord Keith, the
+English admiral, decided the Austrian commander there to press the
+siege to the very end. The city was in the direst straits. Horses,
+dogs, cats, and rats were at last eagerly sought as food: and at
+every sortie crowds of the starving inhabitants followed the French in
+order to cut down grass, nettles, and leaves, which they then boiled
+with salt.[141] A revolt threatened by the wretched townsfolk was
+averted by Masséna ordering his troops to fire on every gathering of
+more than four men. At last, on June 4th, with 8,000 half-starved
+soldiers he marched through the Austrian posts with the honours of
+war. The stern warrior would not hear of the word surrender or
+capitulation. He merely stated to the allied commanders that on June
+4th his troops would evacuate Genoa or clear their path by the
+bayonet.
+
+Bonaparte has been reproached for not marching at once to succour
+Masséna: the charge of desertion was brought by Masséna and Thiébault,
+and has been driven home by Lanfrey with his usual skill. It will,
+however, scarcely bear a close examination. The Austrians, at the
+first trustworthy news of the French inroads into Piedmont and
+Lombardy, were certain to concentrate either at Turin or Alessandria.
+Indeed, Melas was already near Turin, and would have fallen on the
+First Consul's flank had the latter marched due south towards
+Genoa.[142] Such a march, with only 40,000 men, would have been
+perilous: and it could at most only have rescued a now reduced and
+almost famishing garrison. Besides, he very naturally expected the
+besiegers of Genoa to retreat now that their rear was threatened.
+
+Sound policy and a desire to deal a dramatic stroke spurred on the
+First Consul to a more daring and effective plan; to clear Lombardy of
+the Imperialists and seize their stores; then, after uniting with
+Moncey's 15,000 troops, to cut off the retreat of all the Austrian
+forces west of Milan.
+
+On entering Milan he was greeted with wild acclaim by the partisans of
+France (June 2nd); they extolled the energy and foresight that brought
+two armies, as it were down from the clouds, to confound their
+oppressors. Numbers of men connected with the Cisalpine Republic had
+been proscribed, banished, or imprisoned by the Austrians; and their
+friends now hailed him as the restorer of their republic. The First
+Consul spent seven days in selecting the men who were to rebuild the
+Cisalpine State, in beating back the eastern forces of Austria beyond
+the River Adda, and in organizing his troops and those of Moncey for
+the final blow. The military problems, indeed, demanded great care and
+judgment. His position was curiously the reverse of that which he had
+occupied in 1796. Then the French held Tortona, Alessandria, and
+Valenza, and sought to drive back the Austrians to the walls of
+Mantua. Now the Imperialists, holding nearly the same positions, were
+striving to break through the French lines which cut them off from
+that city of refuge; and Bonaparte, having forces slightly inferior to
+his opponents, felt the difficulty of frustrating their escape.
+
+Three routes were open to Melas. The most direct was by way of Tortona
+and Piacenza along the southern bank of the Po, through the difficult
+defile of Stradella: or he might retire towards Genoa, across the
+Apennines, and regain Mantua by a dash across the Modenese: or he
+might cross the Po at Valenza and the Ticino near Pavia. All these
+roads had to be watched by the French as they cautiously drew towards
+their quarry. Bonaparte's first move was to send Murat with a
+considerable body of troops to seize Piacenza and to occupy the defile
+of Stradella. These important posts were wrested from the Austrian
+vanguard; and this success was crowned on June 9th by General Lannes'
+brilliant victory at Montebello over a superior Austrian force
+marching from Genoa towards Piacenza, which he drove back towards
+Alessandria. Smaller bodies of French were meanwhile watching the
+course of the Ticino, and others seized the magazines of the enemy at
+Cremona.
+
+After gaining precious news as to Melas' movements from an intercepted
+despatch, Bonaparte left Milan on June 9th, and proceeded to
+Stradella. There he waited for news of Suchet and Masséna from the
+side of Savona and Ceva; for their forces, if united, might
+complete the circle which he was drawing around the Imperialists.[143]
+He hoped that Masséna would have joined Suchet near Savona; but owing
+to various circumstances, for which Masséna was in no wise to blame,
+their junction was delayed; and Suchet, though pressing on towards
+Acqui, was unable to cut off the Austrian retreat on Genoa. Yet he so
+harassed the corps opposed to him in its retreat from Nice that only
+about 8,000 Austrians joined Melas from that quarter.[144]
+
+Doubtless, Melas' best course would still have been to make a dash for
+Genoa and trust to the English ships. But this plan galled the pride
+of the general, who had culled plenteous laurels in Italy until the
+approach of Bonaparte threatened to snatch the whole chaplet from his
+brow. He and his staff sought to restore their drooping fortunes by a
+bold rush against the ring of foes that were closing around. Never has
+an effort of this kind so nearly succeeded and yet so wholly failed.
+
+The First Consul, believing that the Austrians were bent solely on
+flight, advanced from Stradella, where success would have been
+certain, into the plains of Tortona, whence he could check any move of
+theirs southwards on Genoa. But now the space which he occupied was so
+great as to weaken his line at any one point; while his foes had the
+advantage of the central position.
+
+
+
+
+Bonaparte was also forced to those enveloping tactics which had so
+often proved fatal to the Austrians four years previously; and this
+curious reversal of his usual tactics may account for the anxiety
+which he betrayed as he moved towards Marengo. He had, however,
+recently been encouraged by the arrival of Desaix from Paris after his
+return from Egypt. This dashing officer and noble man inspired him
+with a sincere affection, as was seen by the three hours of eager
+converse which he held with him on his arrival, as also by his words
+to Bourrienne: "He is quite an antique character." Desaix with 5,300
+troops was now despatched on the night of June 13th towards Genoa to
+stop the escape of the Austrians in that direction. This eccentric
+move has been severely criticised: but the facts, as then known by
+Bonaparte, seemed to show that Melas was about to march on Genoa. The
+French vanguard under Gardane had in the afternoon easily driven the
+enemy's front from the village of Marengo; and Gardane had even
+reported that there was no bridge over the River Bormida by which the
+enemy could debouch into the plain of Marengo. Marmont, pushing on
+later in the evening, had discovered that there was at least one
+well-defended bridge; and when early next morning Gardane's error was
+known, the First Consul, with a blaze of passion against the offender,
+sent a courier in hot haste to recall Desaix. Long before he could
+arrive, the battle of Marengo had begun: and for the greater part of
+that eventful day, June the 14th, the French had only 18000 men
+wherewith to oppose the onset of 31,000 Austrians.[145]
+
+As will be seen by the accompanying map, the village of Marengo lies
+in the plain that stretches eastwards from the banks of the River
+Bormida towards the hilly country of Stradella. The village lies on
+the high-road leading eastwards from the fortress of Alessandria, the
+chief stronghold of north-western Italy.
+
+[Illustration: BATTLE OF MARENGO TO ILLUSTRATE KELLERMAN'S CHARGE]
+
+The plain is cut up by numerous obstacles. Through Marengo runs a
+stream called the Fontanone. The deep curves of the Bormida, the steep
+banks of the Fontanone, along with the villages, farmsteads, and
+vineyards scattered over the plain, all helped to render an advance
+exceedingly difficult in face of a determined enemy; and these natural
+features had no small share in deciding the fortunes of the day.
+
+Shortly after dawn Melas began to pour his troops across the Bormida,
+and drove in the French outposts on Marengo: but there they met with a
+tough resistance from the soldiers of Victor's division, while
+Kellermann, the son of the hero of Valmy, performed his first great
+exploit by hurling back some venturesome Austrian horsemen into the
+deep bed of the Fontanone. This gave time to Lannes to bring up his
+division, 5,000 strong, into line between Marengo and Castel Ceriolo.
+But when the full force of the Austrian attack was developed about 10
+a.m., the Imperialists not only gained Marengo, but threw a heavy
+column, led by General Ott, against Lannes, who was constrained to
+retire, contesting every inch of the ground. Thus, when, an hour
+later, Bonaparte rode up from the distant rear, hurrying along his
+Consular Guard, his eye fell upon his battalions overpowered in front
+and outflanked on both wings. At once he launched his Consular Guard,
+1,000 strong, against Ott's triumphant ranks. Drawn up in square near
+Castel Ceriolo, it checked them for a brief space, until, plied by
+cannon and charged by the enemy's horse, these chosen troops also
+began to give ground. But at this crisis Monnier's division of 3,600
+men arrived, threw itself into the fight, held up the flood of
+white-coats around the hamlet of Li Poggi, while Carra St. Cyr
+fastened his grip on Castel Ceriolo. Under cover of this welcome
+screen, Victor and Lannes restored some order to their divisions and
+checked for a time the onsets of the enemy. Slowly but surely,
+however, the impact of the Austrian main column, advancing along the
+highroad, made them draw back on San Giuliano.
+
+By 2 p.m. the battle seemed to be lost for the French; except on the
+north of their line they were in full retreat, and all but five of
+their cannon were silenced. Melas, oppressed by his weight of years,
+by the terrific heat, and by two slight wounds, retired to
+Alessandria, leaving his chief of the staff, Zach, to direct the
+pursuit. But, unfortunately, Melas had sent back 2,200 horsemen to
+watch the district between Alessandria and Acqui, to which latter
+place Suchet's force was advancing. To guard against this remoter
+danger, he weakened his attacking force at the critical time and
+place; and now, when the Austrians approached the hill of San Giuliano
+with bands playing and colours flying, their horse was not strong
+enough to complete the French defeat. Still, such was the strength of
+their onset that all resistance seemed unavailing, until about 5 p.m.
+the approach of Desaix breathed new life and hope into the defence. At
+once he rode up to the First Consul; and if vague rumours may be
+credited, he was met by the eager question: "Well, what do you think
+of it?" To which he replied: "The battle is lost, but there is time to
+gain another." Marmont, who heard the conversation, denies that these
+words were uttered; and they presume a boldness of which even Desaix
+would scarcely have been guilty to his chief. What he unquestionably
+did urge was the immediate use of artillery to check the Austrian
+advance: and Marmont, hastily reinforcing his own five guns with
+thirteen others, took a strong position and riddled the serried ranks
+of the enemy as, swathed in clouds of smoke and dust, they pressed
+blindly forward. The First Consul disposed the troops of Desaix behind
+the village and a neighbouring hill; while at a little distance on the
+French left, Kellermann was ready to charge with his heavy cavalry as
+opportunity offered.
+
+It came quickly. Marmont's guns unsteadied Zach's grenadiers: Desaix's
+men plied them with musketry; and while they were preparing for a last
+effort, Kellermann's heavy cavalry charged full on their flank. Never
+was surprise more complete. The column was cut in twain by this onset;
+and veterans, who but now seemed about to overbear all obstacles, were
+lying mangled by grapeshot, hacked by sabres, flying helplessly amidst
+the vineyards, or surrendering by hundreds. A panic spread to their
+comrades; and they gave way on all sides before the fiercely rallying
+French. The retreat became a rout as the recoiling columns neared the
+bridges of the Bormida: and night closed over a scene of wild
+confusion, as the defeated army, thrust out from the shelter of
+Marengo, flung itself over the river into the stronghold of
+Alessandria.
+
+Such was the victory of Marengo. It was dearly bought; for, apart from
+the heavy losses, amounting on either side to about one-third of the
+number engaged, the victors sustained an irreparable loss in the death
+of Desaix, who fell in the moment when his skill and vigour snatched
+victory from defeat. The victory was immediately due to Kellermann's
+brilliant charge; and there can be no doubt, in spite of Savary's
+statements, that this young officer made the charge on his own
+initiative. Yet his onset could have had little effect, had not Desaix
+shaken the enemy and left him liable to a panic like that which
+brought disaster to the Imperialists at Rivoli. Bonaparte's
+dispositions at the crisis were undoubtedly skilful; but in the first
+part of the fight his conduct was below his reputation. We do not hear
+of him electrifying his disordered troops by any deed comparable with
+that of Cæsar, when, shield in hand, he flung himself among the
+legionaries to stem the torrent of the Nervii. At the climax of the
+fight he uttered the words "Soldiers, remember it is my custom to
+bivouac on the field of battle"--tame and egotistical words
+considering the gravity of the crisis.
+
+On the evening of the great day, while paying an exaggerated
+compliment to Bessières and the cavalry of the Consular Guard, he
+merely remarked to Kellermann: "You made a very good charge"; to which
+that officer is said to have replied: "I am glad you are satisfied,
+general: for it has placed the crown on your head." Such pettiness was
+unworthy of the great captain who could design and carry through the
+memorable campaign of Marengo. If the climax was not worthy of the
+inception, yet the campaign as a whole must be pronounced a
+masterpiece. Since the days of Hannibal no design so daring and
+original had startled the world. A great Austrian army was stopped in
+its victorious career, was compelled to turn on its shattered
+communications, and to fight for its existence some 120 miles to the
+rear of the territory which it seemed to have conquered. In fact, the
+allied victories of the past year were effaced by this march of
+Bonaparte's army, which, in less than a month after the ascent of the
+Alps, regained Nice, Piedmont, and Lombardy, and reduced the
+Imperialists to the direst straits.
+
+Staggered by this terrific blow, Melas and his staff were ready to
+accept any terms that were not deeply humiliating; and Bonaparte on
+his side was not loth to end the campaign in a blaze of glory. He
+consented that the Imperial troops should retire to the east of the
+Mincio, except at Peschiera and Mantua, which they were still to
+occupy. These terms have been variously criticised: Melas has been
+blamed for cowardice in surrendering the many strongholds, including
+Genoa, which his men firmly held. Yet it must be remembered that he
+now had at Alessandria less than 20,000 effectives, and that 30,000
+Austrians in isolated bodies were practically at the mercy of the
+French between Savona and Brescia. One and all they could now retire
+to the Mincio and there resume the defence of the Imperial
+territories. The political designs of the Court of Vienna on Piedmont
+were of course shattered; but it now recovered the army which it had
+heedlessly sacrificed to territorial greed. Bonaparte has also been
+blamed for the lenience of his terms. Severer conditions could
+doubtless have been extorted; but he now merged the soldier in the
+statesman. He desired peace for the sake of France and for his own
+sake. After this brilliant stroke peace would be doubly grateful to a
+people that longed for glory but also yearned to heal the wounds of
+eight years' warfare. His own position as First Consul was as yet
+ill-established; and he desired to be back at Paris so as to curb the
+restive Tribunate, overawe Jacobins and royalists, and rebuild the
+institutions of France.
+
+Impelled by these motives, he penned to the Emperor Francis an
+eloquent appeal for peace, renewing his offer of treating with Austria
+on the basis of the treaty of Campo Formio.[146] But Austria was not
+as yet so far humbled as to accept such terms; and it needed the
+master-stroke of Moreau at the great battle of Hohenlinden (December
+2nd, 1800), and the turning of her fortresses on the Mincio by the
+brilliant passage of the Splügen in the depths of winter by
+Macdonald--a feat far transcending that of Bonaparte at the St.
+Bernard--to compel her to a peace. A description of these events would
+be beyond the scope of this work; and we now return to consider the
+career of Bonaparte as a statesman.
+
+After a brief stay at Milan and Turin, where he was received as the
+liberator of Italy, the First Consul crossed the Alps by the Mont
+Cenis pass and was received with rapturous acclaim at Lyons and Paris.
+He had been absent from the capital less than two calendar months.
+
+He now sent a letter to the Czar Paul, offering that, if the French
+garrison of Malta were compelled by famine to evacuate that island, he
+would place it in the hands of the Czar, as Grand Master of the
+Knights of St. John. Rarely has a "Greek gift" been more skilfully
+tendered. In the first place, Valetta was so closely blockaded by
+Nelson's cruisers and invested by the native Maltese that its
+surrender might be expected in a few weeks; and the First Consul was
+well aware how anxiously the Czar had been seeking to gain a foothold
+at Malta, whence he could menace Turkey from the south-east. In his
+wish completely to gain over Russia, Bonaparte also sent back,
+well-clad and well-armed, the prisoners taken from the Russian armies
+in 1799, a step which was doubly appreciated at Petersburg because the
+Russian troops which had campaigned with the Duke of York in Holland
+were somewhat shabbily treated by the British Government in the
+Channel Islands, where they took up their winter quarters. Accordingly
+the Czar now sent Kalicheff to Paris, for the formation of a
+Franco-Russian alliance. He was warmly received. Bonaparte promised in
+general terms to restore the King of Sardinia to his former realm and
+the Pope to his States. On his side, the Czar sent the alluring advice
+to Bonaparte to found a dynasty and thereby put an end to the
+revolutionary principles which had armed Europe against France. He
+also offered to recognize the natural frontiers of France, the Rhine
+and the Maritime Alps, and claimed that German affairs should be
+regulated under his own mediation. When both parties were so
+complaisant, a bargain was easily arranged. France and Russia
+accordingly joined hands in order to secure predominance in the
+affairs of Central and Southern Europe, and to counterbalance
+England's supremacy at sea.
+
+For it was not enough to break up the Second Coalition and recover
+Northern Italy. Bonaparte's policy was more than European; it was
+oceanic. England must be beaten on her own element: then and then only
+could the young warrior secure his grasp on Egypt and return to his
+oriental schemes. His correspondence before and after the Marengo
+campaign reveals his eagerness for a peace with Austria and an
+alliance with Russia. His thoughts constantly turn to Egypt. He
+bargains with Britain that his army there may be revictualled, and so
+words his claim that troops can easily be sent also. Lord Grenville
+refuses (September 10th); whereupon Bonaparte throws himself eagerly
+into further plans for the destruction of the islanders. He seeks to
+inflame the Czar's wrath against the English maritime code. His
+success for the time is complete. At the close of 1800 the Russian
+Emperor marshals the Baltic Powers for the overthrow of England's
+navy, and outstrips Bonaparte's wildest hopes by proposing a
+Franco-Russian invasion of India with a view to "dealing his enemy a
+mortal blow." This plan, as drawn up at the close of 1800, arranged
+for the mustering of 35,000 Russians at Astrakan; while as many French
+were to fight their way to the mouth of the Danube, set sail on
+Russian ships for the Sea of Azov, join their allies on the Caspian
+Sea, sail to its southern extremity, and, rousing the Persians and
+Afghans by the hope of plunder, sweep the British from India. The
+scheme received from Bonaparte a courteous perusal; but he subjected
+it to several criticisms, which led to less patient rejoinders from
+the irascible potentate. Nevertheless, Paul began to march his troops
+towards the lower Volga, and several polks of Cossacks had crossed
+that river on the ice, when the news of his assassination cut short
+the scheme.[147]
+
+The grandiose schemes of Paul vanished with their fantastic contriver;
+but the _rapprochement_ of Russia to revolutionary France was
+ultimately to prove an event of far-reaching importance; for the
+eastern power thereby began to exert on the democracy of western
+Europe that subtle, semi-Asiatic influence which has so powerfully
+warped its original character.
+
+The dawn of the nineteenth century witnessed some startling
+rearrangements on the political chess-board.
+
+
+While Bonaparte brought Russia and France to sudden amity, the
+unbending maritime policy of Great Britain leagued the Baltic Powers
+against the mistress of the seas. In the autumn of 1800 the Czar Paul,
+after hearing of our capture of Malta, forthwith revived the Armed
+Neutrality League of 1780 and opposed the forces of Russia, Prussia,
+Sweden, and Denmark to the might of England's navy. But Nelson's
+brilliant success at Copenhagen and the murder of the Czar by a palace
+conspiracy shattered this league only four months after its formation,
+and the new Czar, Alexander, reverted for a time to friendship with
+England.[148] This sudden ending to the first Franco-Russia alliance
+so enraged Bonaparte that he caused a paragraph to be inserted in the
+official "Moniteur," charging the British Government with procuring
+the assassination of Paul, an insinuation that only proclaimed his
+rage at this sudden rebuff to his hitherto successful diplomacy.
+Though foiled for a time, he never lost sight of the hoped-for
+alliance, which, with a deft commixture of force and persuasion, he
+gained seven years later after the crushing blow of Friedland.
+
+Dread of a Franco-Russian alliance undoubtedly helped to compel
+Austria to a peace. Humbled by Moreau at the great battle of
+Hohenlinden, the Emperor Francis opened negotiations at Lunéville in
+Lorraine. The subtle obstinacy of Cobenzl there found its match in the
+firm yet suave diplomacy of Joseph Bonaparte, who wearied out Cobenzl
+himself, until the march of Moreau towards Vienna compelled Francis to
+accept the River Adige as his boundary in Italy. The other terms of
+the treaty (February 9th, 1801) were practically the same as those of
+the treaty of Campo Formio, save that the Hapsburg Grand Duke of
+Tuscany was compelled to surrender his State to a son of the Bourbon
+Duke of Parma. He himself was to receive "compensation" in Germany,
+where also the unfortunate Duke of Modena was to find consolation in
+the district of the Breisgau on the Upper Rhine. The helplessness of
+the old Holy Roman Empire was, indeed, glaringly displayed; for
+Francis now admitted the right of the French to interfere in the
+rearrangement of that medley of States. He also recognized the
+Cisalpine, Ligurian, Helvetic, and Batavian Republics, as at present
+constituted; but their independence, and the liberty of their peoples
+to choose what form of government they thought fit, were expressly
+stipulated.
+
+The Court of Naples also made peace with France by the treaty of
+Florence (March, 1801), whereby it withdrew its troops from the States
+of the Church, and closed its ports to British and Turkish ships; it
+also renounced in favour of the French Republic all its claims over a
+maritime district of Tuscany known as the Présidii, the little
+principality of Piombino, and a port in the Isle of Elba. These
+cessions fitted in well with Napoleon's schemes for the proposed
+elevation of the heir of the Duchy of Parma to the rank of King of
+Tuscany or Etruria. The King of Naples also pledged himself to admit
+and support a French corps in his dominions. Soult with 10,000 troops
+thereupon occupied Otranto, Taranto, and Brindisi, in order to hold
+the Neapolitan Government to its engagements, and to facilitate French
+intercourse with Egypt.
+
+In his relations with the New World Bonaparte had also prospered.
+Certain disputes between France and the United States had led to
+hostilities in the year 1798. Negotiations for peace were opened in
+March, 1800, and led to the treaty of Morfontaine, which enabled
+Bonaparte to press on the Court of Madrid the scheme of the
+Parma-Louisiana exchange, that promised him a magnificent empire on
+the banks of the Mississippi.
+
+These and other grandiose designs were confided only to Talleyrand and
+other intimate counsellors. But, even to the mass of mankind, the
+transformation scene ushered in by the nineteenth century was one of
+bewildering brilliance. Italy from the Alps to her heel controlled by
+the French; Austria compelled to forego all her Italian plans;
+Switzerland and Holland dominated by the First Consul's influence;
+Spain following submissively his imperious lead; England, despite all
+her naval triumphs, helpless on land; and France rapidly regaining
+more than all her old prestige and stability under the new
+institutions which form the most enduring tribute to the First
+Consul's glory.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+THE NEW INSTITUTIONS OF FRANCE
+
+
+"We have done with the romance of the Revolution: we must now commence
+its history. We must have eyes only for what is real and practicable
+in the application of principles, and not for the speculative and
+hypothetical." Such were the memorable words of Bonaparte to his
+Council of State at one of its early meetings. They strike the keynote
+of the era of the Consulate. It was a period of intensely practical
+activity that absorbed all the energies of France and caused the
+earlier events of the Revolution to fade away into a seemingly remote
+past. The failures of the civilian rulers and the military triumphs of
+Bonaparte had exerted a curious influence on the French character,
+which was in a mood of expectant receptivity. In 1800 everything was
+in the transitional state that favours the efforts of a master
+builder; and one was now at hand whose constructive ability in civil
+affairs equalled his transcendent genius for war.
+
+I propose here briefly to review the most important works of
+reconstruction which render the Consulate and the early part of the
+Empire for ever famous. So vast and complex were Bonaparte's efforts
+in this field that they will be described, not chronologically, but
+subject by subject. The reader will, however, remember that for the
+most part they went on side by side, even amidst the distractions
+caused by war, diplomacy, colonial enterprises, and the myriad details
+of a vast administration. What here appears as a series of canals was
+in reality a mighty river of enterprise rolling in undivided volume
+and fed by the superhuman vitality of the First Consul. It was his
+inexhaustible curiosity which compelled functionaries to reveal the
+secrets of their office: it was his intelligence that seized on the
+salient points of every problem and saw the solution: it was his
+ardour and mental tenacity which kept his Ministers and committees
+hard at work, and by toil of sometimes twenty hours a day supervised
+the results: it was, in fine, his passion for thoroughness, his
+ambition for France, that nerved every official with something of his
+own contempt of difficulties, until, as one of them said, "the
+gigantic entered into our very habits of thought."[149]
+
+The first question of political reconstruction which urgently claimed
+attention was that of local government. On the very day when it was
+certain that the nation had accepted the new constitution, the First
+Consul presented to the Legislature a draft of a law for regulating
+the affairs of the Departments. It must be admitted that local
+self-government, as instituted by the men of 1789 in their
+Departmental System, had proved a failure. In that time of buoyant
+hope, when every difficulty and abuse seemed about to be charmed away
+by the magic of universal suffrage, local self-government of a most
+advanced type had been intrusted to an inexperienced populace. There
+were elections for the commune or parish, elections for the canton,
+elections for the district, elections for the Department, and
+elections for the National Assembly, until the rustic brain, after
+reeling with excitement, speedily fell back into muddled apathy and
+left affairs generally to the wire-pullers of the nearest Jacobin
+club. A time of great confusion ensued. Law went according to local
+opinion, and the national taxes were often left unpaid. In the Reign
+of Terror this lax system was replaced by the despotism of the secret
+committees, and the way was thus paved for a return to organized
+central control, such as was exercised by the Directory.
+
+The First Consul, as successor to the Directory, therefore found
+matters ready to his hand for a drastic measure of centralization, and
+it is curious to notice that the men of 1789 had unwittingly cleared
+the ground for him. To make way for the "supremacy of the general
+will," they abolished the _Parlements_, which had maintained the old
+laws, customs, and privileges of their several provinces, and had
+frequently interfered in purely political matters. The abolition of
+these and other privileged corporations in 1789 unified France and
+left not a single barrier to withstand either the flood of democracy
+or the backwash of reaction. Everything therefore favoured the action
+of the First Consul in drawing all local powers under his own control.
+France was for the moment weary of elective bodies, that did little
+except waste the nation's taxes; and though there was some opposition
+to the new proposal, it passed on February 16th, 1800 (28 Pluviose,
+an, viii).
+
+It substituted local government by the central power for local
+self-government. The local divisions remained the same, except that
+the "districts," abolished by the Convention, were now reconstituted
+on a somewhat larger scale, and were termed _arrondissements_, while
+the smaller communes, which had been merged in the cantons since 1795,
+were also revived. It is noteworthy that, of all the areas mapped out
+by the Constituent Assembly in 1789-90, only the Department and canton
+have had a continuous existence--a fact which seems to show the peril
+of tampering with well-established boundaries, and of carving out a
+large number of artificial districts, which speedily become the
+_corpus vile_ of other experimenters. Indeed, so little was there of
+effective self-government that France seems to have sighed with relief
+when order was imposed by Bonaparte in the person of a Prefect. This
+important official, a miniature First Consul, was to administer the
+affairs of the Department, while sub-prefects were similarly placed
+over the new _arrondissements_, and mayors over the communes. The
+mayors were appointed by the First Consul in communes of more than
+5,000 souls: by the prefects in the smaller communes: all were alike
+responsible to the central power.
+
+The rebound from the former electoral system, which placed all local
+authority ultimately in the hands of the voters, was emphasized by
+Article 75 of the constitution, which virtually raised officials
+beyond reach of prosecution. It ran thus: "The agents of the
+Government, other than the Ministers, cannot be prosecuted for facts
+relating to their duties except by a decision of the Council of State:
+in that case the prosecution takes place before the ordinary
+tribunals." Now, as this decision rested with a body composed almost
+entirely of the higher officials, it will be seen that the chance of
+a public prosecution of an official became extremely small. France was
+therefore in the first months of 1800 handed over to a hierarchy of
+officials closely bound together by interest and _esprit de corps_;
+and local administration, after ten years of democratic experiments,
+practically reverted to what it had been under the old monarchy. In
+fact, the powers of the Prefects were, on the whole, much greater than
+those of the royal Intendants: for while the latter were hampered by
+the provincial _Parlements_, the nominees of the First Consul had to
+deal with councils that retained scarce the shadow of power. The real
+authority in local matters rested with the Prefects. The old elective
+bodies survived, it is true, but their functions were now mainly
+advisory; and, lest their advice should be too copious, the sessions
+of the first two bodies were limited to a fortnight a year. Except for
+a share in the assessment of taxation, their existence was merely a
+screen to hide the reality of the new central despotism.[150]
+Beneficent it may have been; and the choice of Prefects was certainly
+a proof of Bonaparte's discernment of real merit among men of all
+shades of opinion; but for all that, it was a despotism, and one that
+has inextricably entwined itself with the whole life of France.[151]
+
+It seems strange that this law should not have aroused fierce
+opposition; for it practically gagged democracy in its most
+appropriate and successful sphere of action, local self-government,
+and made popular election a mere shadow, except in the single act of
+the choice of the local _juges de paix_. This was foreseen by the
+Liberals in the Tribunate: but their power was small since the
+regulations passed in January: and though Daunou, as "reporter,"
+sharply criticised this measure, yet he lamely concluded with the
+advice that it would be dangerous to reject it. The Tribunes therefore
+passed the proposal by 71 votes to 25: and the Corps Législatif by 217
+to 68.
+
+The results of this new local government have often been considered so
+favourable as to prove that the genius of the French people requires
+central control rather than self-government. But it should be noted
+that the conditions of France from 1790 to 1800 were altogether
+hostile to the development of free institutions. The fierce feuds at
+home, the greed and the class jealousies awakened by confiscation, the
+blasts of war and the blight of bankruptcy, would have severely tested
+the firmest of local institutions; they were certain to wither so
+delicate an organism as an absolute democracy, which requires peace,
+prosperity, and infinite patience for its development. Because France
+then came to despair of her local self-government, it did not follow
+that she would fail after Bonaparte's return had restored her prestige
+and prosperity. But the national _élan_ forbade any postponement or
+compromise; and France forthwith accepted the rule of an able official
+hierarchy as a welcome alternative to the haphazard acts of local
+busybodies. By many able men the change has been hailed as a proof of
+Bonaparte's marvellous discernment of the national character, which,
+as they aver, longs for brilliance, order, and strong government,
+rather than for the steep and thorny paths of liberty. Certainly there
+is much in the modern history of France which supports this opinion.
+Yet perhaps these characteristics are due very largely to the master
+craftsman, who fashioned France anew when in a state of receptivity,
+and thus was able to subject democracy to that force which alone has
+been able to tame it--the mighty force of militarism.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The return to a monarchical policy was nowhere more evident than in
+the very important negotiations which regulated the relations of
+Church and State and produced the _Concordat_ or treaty of peace with
+the Roman Catholic Church. But we must first look back at the events
+which had reduced the Roman Catholic Church in France to its pitiable
+condition.
+
+The conduct of the revolutionists towards the Church of France was
+actuated partly by the urgent needs of the national exchequer, partly
+by hatred and fear of so powerful a religious corporation. Idealists
+of the new school of thought, and practical men who dreaded
+bankruptcy, accordingly joined in the assault on its property and
+privileges: its tithes were confiscated, the religious houses and
+their property were likewise absorbed, and its lands were declared to
+be the lands of the nation. A budget of public worship was, it is
+true, designed to support the bishops and priests; but this solemn
+obligation was soon renounced by the fiercer revolutionists. Yet
+robbery was not their worst offence. In July, 1790, they passed a law
+called the Civil Constitution of the Clergy, which aimed at subjecting
+the Church to the State. It compelled bishops and priests to seek
+election by the adult males of their several Departments and parishes,
+and forced them to take a stringent oath of obedience to the new order
+of things. All the bishops but four refused to take an oath which set
+at naught the authority of the Pope: more than 50,000 priests likewise
+refused, and were ejected from their livings: the recusants were
+termed _orthodox_ or _non-juring_ priests, and by the law of August,
+1792, they were exiled from France, while their more pliable or
+time-serving brethren who accepted the new decree were known as
+_constitutionals_. About 12,000 of the constitutionals married, while
+some of them applauded the extreme Jacobinical measures of the Terror.
+One of them shocked the faithful by celebrating the mysteries, having
+a _bonnet rouge_ on his head, holding a pike in his hand, while his
+wife was installed near the altar.[152] Outrages like these were rare:
+but they served to discredit the constitutional Church and to throw up
+in sharper relief the courage with which the orthodox clergy met exile
+and death for conscience' sake. Moreover, the time-serving of the
+constitutionals was to avail them little: during the Terror their
+stipends were unpaid, and the churches were for the most part closed.
+After a partial respite in 1795-6, the _coup d'état_ of Fructidor
+(1797) again ushered in two years of petty persecutions; but in the
+early summer of 1799 constitutionals were once more allowed to observe
+the Christian Sunday, and at the time of Bonaparte's return from
+Egypt their services were more frequented than those of the
+Theophilanthropists on the _décadis_. It was evident, then, that the
+anti-religious _furor_ had burnt itself out, and that France was
+turning back to her old faith. Indeed, outside Paris and a few other
+large towns, public opinion mocked at the new cults, and in the
+country districts the peasantry clung with deep affection to their old
+orthodox priests, often following them into the forests to receive
+their services and forsaking those of their supplanters.
+
+Such, then, was the religious state of France in 1799: her clergy were
+rent by a formidable schism; the orthodox priests clung where possible
+to their parishioners, or lived in destitution abroad; the
+constitutional priests, though still frowned on by the Directory, were
+gaining ground at the expense of the Theophilanthropists, whose
+expiring efforts excited ridicule. In fine, a nation weary of
+religious experiments and groping about for some firm anchorage in the
+midst of the turbid ebb-tide and its numerous backwaters.[153]
+
+Despite the absence of any deep religious belief, Bonaparte felt the
+need of religion as the bulwark of morality and the cement of society.
+During his youth he had experienced the strength of Romanism in
+Corsica, and during his campaigns in Italy he saw with admiration the
+zeal of the French orthodox priests who had accepted exile and poverty
+for conscience' sake. To these outcasts he extended more protection
+than was deemed compatible with correct republicanism; and he received
+their grateful thanks. After Brumaire he suppressed the oath
+previously exacted from the clergy, and replaced it by a _promise_ of
+fidelity to the constitution. Many reasons have been assigned for this
+conduct, but doubtless his imagination was touched by the sight of the
+majestic hierarchy of Rome, whose spiritual powers still prevailed,
+even amidst the ruin of its temporal authority, and were slowly but
+surely winning back the ground lost in the Revolution. An influence so
+impalpable yet irresistible, that inherited from the Rome of the
+Cæsars the gift of organization and the power of maintaining
+discipline, in which the Revolution was so signally lacking, might
+well be the ally of the man who now dominated the Latin peoples. The
+pupil of Cæsar could certainly not neglect the aid of the spiritual
+hierarchy, which was all that remained of the old Roman grandeur.
+
+
+
+
+Added to this was his keen instinct for reality, which led him to
+scorn such whipped-up creeds as Robespierre's Supreme Being and that
+amazing hybrid, Theophilanthropy, offspring of the Goddess of Reason
+and La Réveillière-Lépeaux. Having watched their manufacture, rise and
+fall, he felt the more regard for the faith of his youth, which
+satisfied one of the most imperious needs of his nature, a craving for
+certainty. Witness this crushing retort to M. Mathieu: "What is your
+Theophilanthropy? Oh, don't talk to me of a religion which only takes
+me for this life, without telling me whence I come or whither I go."
+Of course, this does not prove the reality of Napoleon's religion; but
+it shows that he was not devoid of the religious instinct.
+
+The victory of Marengo enabled Bonaparte to proceed with his plans for
+an accommodation with the Vatican; and he informed one of the Lombard
+bishops that he desired to open friendly relations with Pope Pius
+VII., who was then about to make his entry into Rome. There he
+received the protection of the First Consul, and soon recovered his
+sovereignty over his States, excepting the Legations.
+
+The negotiations between Paris and the Vatican were transacted chiefly
+by a very able priest, Bernier by name, who had gained the First
+Consul's confidence during the pacification of Brittany, and now urged
+on the envoys of Rome the need of deferring to all that was reasonable
+in the French demands. The negotiators for the Vatican were Cardinals
+Consalvi and Caprara, and Monseigneur Spina--able ecclesiastics, who
+were fitted to maintain clerical claims with that mixture of
+suppleness and firmness which had so often baffled the force and craft
+of mighty potentates. The first difficulty arose on the question of
+the resignation of bishops of the Gallican Church: Bonaparte demanded
+that, whether orthodox or constitutionals, they must resign their sees
+into the Pope's hands; failing that, they must be deposed by the papal
+authority. Sweeping as this proposal seemed, Bonaparte claimed that
+bishops of both sides must resign, in order that a satisfactory
+selection might be made. Still more imperious was the need that the
+Church should renounce all claim to her confiscated domains. All
+classes of the community, so urged Bonaparte, had made immense
+sacrifices during the Revolution; and now that peasants were settled
+on these once clerical lands, the foundations of society would be
+broken up by any attempt to dispossess them.
+
+To both of these proposals the Court of Rome offered a tenacious
+resistance. The idea of compelling long-persecuted bishops to resign
+their sees was no less distasteful than the latter proposal, which
+involved acquiescence in sacrilegious robbery. At least, pleaded Mgr.
+Spina, let tithes be re-established. To this request the First Consul
+deigned no reply. None, indeed, was possible except a curt refusal.
+Few imposts had been so detested as the tithe; and its reimposition
+would have wounded the peasant class, on which the First Consul based
+his authority. So long as he had their support he could treat with
+disdain the scoffs of the philosophers and even the opposition of his
+officers; but to have wavered on the subject of tithe and of the
+Church lands might have been fatal even to the victor of Marengo.[154]
+
+In fact, the difficulty of effecting any compromise was enormous. In
+seeking to reconcile the France of Rousseau and Robespierre to the
+unchanging policy of the Vatican, the "heir to the Revolution" was
+essaying a harder task than any military enterprise. To slay men has
+ever been easier than to mould their thoughts anew; and Bonaparte was
+now striving not only to remould French thought but also to fashion
+anew the ideas of the Eternal City. He soon perceived that this latter
+enterprise was more difficult than the former. The Pope and his
+councillors rejoiced at the signs of his repentance, but required to
+see the fruits thereof. Instead of first-fruits they received
+unheard-of demands--the surrender of the three Legations of Bologna,
+Ferrara, and Romagna, the renunciation of all tithes and Church lands
+in France, and the acceptance of a compromise with schismatics. What
+wonder that the replies from Rome were couched in the _non possumus_
+terms which form the last refuge of the Vatican. Finding that
+negotiations made no progress, Bonaparte intrusted Berthier and Murat
+to pay a visit to Rome and exercise a discreet but burdensome pressure
+in the form of requisitions for the French troops in the Papal States.
+
+The ratification of peace with Austria gave greater weight to his
+representations at Rome, and he endeavoured to press on the signature
+of the Concordat, so as to startle the world by the simultaneous
+announcement of the pacification of the Continent and of the healing
+of the great religious schism in France. But the clerical machinery
+worked too slowly to admit of this projected _coup de théâtre_. In
+Bonaparte's proposals of February 25th, 1801, there were several
+demands already found to be inadmissible at the Vatican;[155] and
+matters came to a deadlock until the Pope invested Spina with larger
+powers for negotiating at Paris. Consalvi also proceeded to Paris,
+where he was received in state with other ambassadors at the
+Tuileries, the sight of a cardinal's robe causing no little sensation.
+The First Consul granted him a long interview, speaking at first
+somewhat seriously, but gradually becoming more affable and gracious.
+Yet as his behaviour softened his demands stiffened; and at the close
+of the audience he pressed Consalvi to sign a somewhat unfavourable
+version of the compact within five days, otherwise the negotiations
+would be at an end and a _national religion would be adopted_--an
+enterprise for which the auguries promised complete success. At a
+later interview he expressed the same resolution in homely phrase:
+when Consalvi pressed him to take a firm stand against the
+"constitutional" intruders, he laughingly remarked that he could do no
+more until he knew how he stood with Rome; for "you know that when
+one cannot arrange matters with God, one comes to terms with the
+devil."[156]
+
+This dalliance with the "constitutionals" might have been more than an
+astute ruse, and Consalvi knew it. In framing a national Church the
+First Consul would have appealed not only to the old Gallican feeling,
+still strong among the clerics and laity, but also to the potent force
+of French nationality. The experiment might have been managed so as to
+offend none but the strictest Catholics, who were less to be feared
+than the free-thinkers. Consalvi was not far wrong when, writing of
+the official world at Paris, he said that only Bonaparte really
+desired a Concordat.
+
+The First Consul's motives in seeking the alliance of Rome have, very
+naturally, been subjected to searching criticism; and in forcing the
+Concordat on France, and also on Rome, he was certainly undertaking
+the most difficult negotiation of his life.[157] But his preference
+for the Roman connection was an act of far-reaching statecraft. He saw
+that a national Church, unrecognized by Rome, was a mere half-way
+house between Romanism and Protestantism; and he disliked the latter
+creed because of its tendency to beget sects and to impair the
+validity of the general will. He still retained enough of Rousseau's
+doctrine to desire that the general will should be uniform, provided
+that it could be controlled by his own will. Such uniformity in the
+sphere of religion was impossible unless he had the support of the
+Papacy. Only by a bargain with Rome could he gain the support of a
+solid ecclesiastical phalanx. Finally, by erecting a French national
+Church, he would not only have perpetuated schism at home, but would
+have disqualified himself for acting the part of Charlemagne over
+central and southern Europe. To re-fashion Europe in a cosmopolitan
+mould he needed a clerical police that was more than merely French. To
+achieve those grander designs the successor of Cæsar would need the
+aid of the successor of Peter; and this aid would be granted only to
+the restorer of Roman Catholicism in France, never to the perpetuator
+of schism.
+
+These would seem to be the chief reasons why he braved public opinion
+in Paris and clung to the Roman connection, bringing forward his plan
+of a Gallican Church only as a threatening move against the clerical
+flank. When the Vatican was obdurate he coquetted with the
+"constitutional" bishops, allowing them every facility for free speech
+in a council which they held at Paris at the close of June, 1801. He
+summoned to the Tuileries their president, the famous Grégoire, and
+showed him signal marks of esteem. "Put not your trust in princes"
+must soon have been the thought of Grégoire and his colleagues: for a
+fortnight later Bonaparte carried through his treaty with Rome and
+shelved alike the congress and the church of the "constitutionals."
+
+It would be tedious to detail all the steps in this complex
+negotiation, but the final proceedings call for some notice. When the
+treaty was assuming its final form, Talleyrand, the polite scoffer,
+the bitter foe of all clerical claims, found it desirable to take the
+baths at a distant place, and left the threads of the negotiation in
+the hands of two men who were equally determined to prevent its
+signature, Maret, Secretary of State, and Hauterive, who afterwards
+become the official archivist of France. These men determined to
+submit to Consalvi a draft of the treaty differing widely from that
+which had been agreed upon; and that, too, when the official
+announcement had been made that the treaty was to be signed
+immediately. In the last hours the cardinal found himself confronted
+with unexpected conditions, many of which he had successfully
+repelled. Though staggered by this trickery, which compelled him to
+sign a surrender or to accept an open rupture, Consalvi fought the
+question over again in a conference that lasted twenty-four hours; he
+even appeared at the State dinner given on July 14th by the First
+Consul, who informed him before the other guests that it was a
+question of "my draft of the treaty or none at all." Nothing baffled
+the patience and tenacity of the Cardinal; and finally, by the good
+offices of Joseph Bonaparte, the objectionable demands thrust forward
+at the eleventh hour were removed or altered.
+
+The question has been discussed whether the First Consul was a party
+to this device. Theiner asserts that he knew nothing of it: that it
+was an official intrigue got up at the last moment by the
+anti-clericals so as to precipitate a rupture. In support of this
+view, he cites letters of Maret and Hauterive as inculpating these men
+and tending to free Bonaparte from suspicion of complicity. But the
+letters cannot be said to dissipate all suspicion. The First Consul
+had made this negotiation peculiarly his own: no officials assuredly
+would have dared secretly to foist their own version of an important
+treaty; or, if they did, this act would have been the last of their
+career. But Bonaparte did not disgrace them; on the contrary, he
+continued to honour them with his confidence. Moreover, the First
+Consul flew into a passion with his brother Joseph when he reported
+that Consalvi could not sign the document now offered to him, and tore
+in pieces the articles finally arranged with the Cardinal. On the
+return of his usually calm intelligence, he at last allowed the
+concessions to stand, with the exception of two; but in a scrutiny of
+motives we must assign most importance, not to second and more prudent
+thoughts, but to the first ebullition of feelings, which seem
+unmistakably to prove his knowledge and approval of Hauterive's
+device. We must therefore conclude that he allowed the antagonists of
+the Concordat to make this treacherous onset, with the intention of
+extorting every possible demand from the dazed and bewildered
+Cardinal.[158]
+
+
+
+After further delays the Concordat was ratified at Eastertide, 1802.
+It may be briefly described as follows: The French Government
+recognized that the Catholic apostolic and Roman religion was the
+religion of the great majority of the French people, "especially of
+the Consuls"; but it refused to declare it to be the religion of
+France, as was the case under the _ancien régime_. It was to be freely
+and publicly practised in France, subject to the police regulations
+that the Government judged necessary for the public tranquillity. In
+return for these great advantages, many concessions were expected from
+the Church. The present bishops, both orthodox and constitutional,
+were, at the Pope's invitation, to resign their sees; or, failing
+that, new appointments were to be made, as if the sees were vacant.
+The last proviso was necessary; for of the eighty-one surviving
+bishops affected by this decision as many as thirteen orthodox and two
+"constitutionals" offered persistent but unavailing protests against
+the action of the Pope and First Consul.
+
+A new division of archbishoprics and bishoprics was now made, which
+gave in all sixty sees to France. The First Consul enjoyed the right
+of nomination to them, whereupon the Pope bestowed canonical
+investiture. The archbishops and bishops were all to take an oath of
+fidelity to the constitution. The bishops nominated the lower clerics
+provided that they were acceptable to the Government: all alike bound
+themselves to watch over governmental interests. The stability of
+France was further assured by a clause granting complete and permanent
+security to the holders of the confiscated Church lands--a healing and
+salutary compromise which restored peace to every village and soothed
+the qualms of many a troubled conscience. On its side, the State
+undertook to furnish suitable stipends to the clergy, a promise which
+was fulfilled in a rather niggardly spirit. For the rest, the First
+Consul enjoyed the same consideration as the Kings of France in all
+matters ecclesiastical; and a clause was added, though Bonaparte
+declared it needless, that if any succeeding First Consul were not a
+Roman Catholic, his prerogatives in religious matters should be
+revised by a Convention. A similar Concordat was passed a little later
+for the pacification of the Cisalpine Republic.
+
+The Concordat was bitterly assailed by the Jacobins, especially by the
+military chiefs, and had not the infidel generals been for the most
+part sundered by mutual jealousies they might perhaps have overthrown
+Bonaparte. But their obvious incapacity for civil affairs enabled them
+to venture on nothing more than a few coarse jests and clumsy
+demonstrations. At the Easter celebration at Notre Dame in honour of
+the ratification of the Concordat, one of them, Delmas by name,
+ventured on the only protest barbed with telling satire: "Yes, a fine
+piece of monkery this, indeed. It only lacked the million men who got
+killed to destroy what you are striving to bring back." But to all
+protests Bonaparte opposed a calm behaviour that veiled a rigid
+determination, before which priests and soldiers were alike helpless.
+
+In subsequent articles styled "organic," Bonaparte, without consulting
+the Pope, made several laws that galled the orthodox clergy. Under the
+plea of legislating for the police of public worship, he reaffirmed
+some of the principles which he had been unable to incorporate in the
+Concordat itself. The organic articles asserted the old claims of the
+Gallican Church, which forbade the application of Papal Bulls, or of
+the decrees of "foreign" synods, to France: they further forbade the
+French bishops to assemble in council or synod without the permission
+of the Government; and this was also required for a bishop to leave
+his diocese, even if he were summoned to Rome. Such were the chief of
+the organic articles. Passed under the plea of securing public
+tranquillity, they proved a fruitful source of discord, which during
+the Empire became so acute as to weaken Napoleon's authority. In
+matters religious as well as political, he early revealed his chief
+moral and mental defect, a determination to carry his point by
+whatever means and to require the utmost in every bargain. While
+refusing fully to establish Roman Catholicism as the religion of the
+State, he compelled the Church to surrender its temporalities, to
+accept the regulations of the State, and to protect its interests.
+Truly if, in Chateaubriand's famous phrase, he was the "restorer of
+the altars," he exacted the uttermost farthing for that restoration.
+
+In one matter his clear intelligence stands forth in marked contrast
+to the narrow pedantry of the Roman Cardinals. At a time of
+reconciliation between orthodox and "constitutionals," they required
+from the latter a complete and public retractation of their recent
+errors. At once Bonaparte intervened with telling effect. So condign a
+humiliation, he argued, would altogether mar the harmony newly
+re-established. "The past is past: and the bishops and prefects ought
+to require from the priests only the declaration of adhesion to the
+Concordat, and of obedience to the bishop nominated by the First
+Consul and instituted by the Pope." This enlightened advice, backed up
+by irresistible power, carried the day, and some ten thousand
+constitutional priests were quietly received back into the Roman
+communion, those who had contracted marriages being compelled to put
+away their wives. Bonaparte took a deep interest in the reconstruction
+of dioceses, in the naming of churches, and similar details, doubtless
+with the full consciousness that the revival of the Roman religious
+discipline in France was a more important service than any feat of
+arms.
+
+He was right: in healing a great schism in France he was dealing a
+deadly blow at the revolutionary feeling of which it was a prominent
+manifestation. In the words of one of his Ministers, "The Concordat
+was the most brilliant triumph over the genius of Revolution, and all
+the following successes have without exception resulted from it."[159]
+
+After this testimony it is needless to ask why Bonaparte did not take
+up with Protestantism. At St. Helena, it is true, he asserted that the
+choice of Catholicism or Protestantism was entirely open to him in
+1801, and that the nation would have followed him in either direction:
+but his religious policy, if carefully examined, shows no sign of
+wavering on this subject, though he once or twice made a strategic
+diversion towards Geneva, when Rome showed too firm a front. Is it
+conceivable that a man who, as he informed Joseph, was systematically
+working to found a dynasty, should hesitate in the choice of a
+governmental creed? Is it possible to think of the great champion of
+external control and State discipline as a defender of liberty of
+conscience and the right of private judgment?
+
+The regulation of the Protestant cult in France was a far less arduous
+task. But as Bonaparte's aim was to attach all cults to the State, he
+decided to recognize the two chief Protestant bodies in France,
+Calvinists and Lutherans, allowing them to choose their own pastors
+and to regulate their affairs in consistories. The pastors were to be
+salaried by the State, but in return the Government not only reserved
+its approval of every appointment, but required the Protestant bodies
+to have no relations whatever with any foreign Power or authority. The
+organic articles of 1802, which defined the position of the Protestant
+bodies, form a very important landmark in the history of the followers
+of Luther and Calvin. Persecuted by Louis XIV. and XV., they were
+tolerated by Louis XVI.; they gained complete religious equality
+in 1789, and after a few years of anarchy in matters of faith, they
+found themselves suddenly and stringently bound to the State by the
+organizing genius of Bonaparte.
+
+In the years 1806-1808 the position of the Jews was likewise defined,
+at least for all those who recognized France as their country,
+performed all civic duties, and recognized all the laws of the State.
+In consideration of their paying full taxes and performing military
+service, they received official protection and their rabbis
+governmental support.
+
+Such was Bonaparte's policy on religious subjects. There can be little
+doubt that its motive was, in the main, political. This methodizing
+genius, who looked on the beliefs and passions, the desires and
+ambitions of mankind, as so many forces which were to aid him in his
+ascent, had already satisfied the desires for military glory and
+material prosperity; and in his bargain with Rome he now won the
+support of an organized priesthood, besides that of the smaller
+Protestant and Jewish communions. That he gained also peace and
+quietness for France may be granted, though it was at the expense
+of that mental alertness and independence which had been her chief
+intellectual glory; but none of his intimate acquaintances ever
+doubted that his religion was only a vague sentiment, and his
+attendance at mass merely a compliment to his "sacred
+gendarmerie."[l60]
+
+Having dared and achieved the exploit of organizing religion in a
+half-infidel society, the First Consul was ready to undertake the
+almost equally hazardous task of establishing an order of social
+distinction, and that too in the very land where less than eight years
+previously every title qualified its holder for the guillotine. For
+his new experiment, the Legion of Honour, he could adduce only one
+precedent in the acts of the last twelve years.
+
+
+The whole tendency had been towards levelling all inequalities. In
+1790 all titles of nobility were swept away; and though the Convention
+decreed "arms of honour" to brave soldiers, yet its generosity to the
+deserving proved to be less remarkable than its activity in
+guillotining the unsuccessful. Bonaparte, however, adduced its custom
+of granting occasional modest rewards as a precedent for his own
+design, which was to be far more extended and ambitious.
+
+In May, 1802, he proposed the formation of a Legion of Honour,
+organized in fifteen cohorts, with grand officers, commanders,
+officers, and legionaries. Its affairs were to be regulated by a
+council presided over by Bonaparte himself. Each cohort received
+"national domains" with 200,000 francs annual rental, and these funds
+were disbursed to the members on a scale proportionate to their rank.
+The men who had received "arms of honour" were, _ipso facto_ to be
+legionaries; soldiers "who had rendered considerable services to the
+State in the war of liberty," and civilians "who by their learning,
+talents, and virtues contributed to establish or to defend the
+principles of the Republic," might hope for the honour and reward now
+held out. The idea of rewarding merit in a civilian, as well as among
+the military caste which had hitherto almost entirely absorbed such
+honours, was certainly enlightened; and the names of the famous
+_savants_ Laplace, Monge, Berthollet, Lagrange, Chaptal, and of
+jurists such as Treilhard and Tronchet, imparted lustre to what would
+otherwise have been a very commonplace institution. Bonaparte desired
+to call out all the faculties of the nation; and when Dumas proposed
+that the order should be limited to soldiers, the First Consul
+replied in a brilliant and convincing harangue:
+
+     "To do great things nowadays it is not enough to be a man of five
+     feet ten inches. If strength and bravery made the general, every
+     soldier might claim the command. The general who does great things
+     is he who also possesses civil qualities. The soldier knows no law
+     but force, sees nothing but it, and measures everything by it. The
+     civilian, on the other hand, only looks to the general welfare. The
+     characteristic of the soldier is to wish to do everything
+     despotically: that of the civilian is to submit everything to
+     discussion, truth, and reason. The superiority thus unquestionably
+     belongs to the civilian."
+
+In these noble words we can discern the secret of Bonaparte's
+supremacy both in politics and in warfare. Uniting in his own person
+the ablest qualities of the statesman and the warrior, he naturally
+desired that his new order of merit should quicken the vitality of
+France in every direction, knowing full well that the results would
+speedily be felt in the army itself. When admitted to its ranks, the
+new member swore:
+
+     "To devote himself to the service of the Republic, to the
+     maintenance of the integrity of its territory, the defence of its
+     government, laws, and of the property which they have consecrated;
+     to fight by all methods authorized by justice, reason, and law,
+     against every attempt to re-establish the feudal _régime_ or to
+     reproduce the titles and qualities thereto belonging; and finally
+     to strive to the uttermost to maintain liberty and equality."
+
+It is not surprising that the Tribunate, despite the recent purging of
+its most independent members, judged liberty and equality to be
+endangered by the method of defence now proposed. The members bitterly
+criticised the scheme as a device of the counter-revolution; but, with
+the timid inconsequence which was already sapping their virility, they
+proceeded to pass by fifty-six votes to thirty-eight a measure of
+which they had so accurately gauged the results. The new institution
+was, indeed, admirably suited to consolidate Bonaparte's power.
+Resting on the financial basis of the confiscated lands, it offered
+some guarantee against the restoration of the old monarchy and feudal
+nobility; while, by stimulating that love of distinction and
+brilliance which is inherent in every gifted people, it quietly began
+to graduate society and to group it around the Paladins of a new
+Gaulish chivalry. The people had recently cast off the overlordship of
+the old Frankish nobles, but admiration of merit (the ultimate source
+of all titles of distinction) was only dormant even in the days of
+Robespierre; and its insane repression during the Terror now begat a
+corresponding enthusiasm for all commanding gifts. Of this inevitable
+reaction Bonaparte now made skillful use. When Berlier, one of the
+leading jurists of France, objected to the new order as leading France
+back to aristocracy, and contemptuously said that crosses and ribbons
+were the toys of monarchy, Bonaparte replied:
+
+     "Well: men are led by toys. I would not say that in a rostrum, but
+     in a council of wise men and statesmen one ought to speak one's
+     mind. I don't think that the French love liberty and equality: the
+     French are not at all changed by ten years of revolution: they are
+     what the Gauls were, fierce and fickle. They have one
+     feeling--honour. We must nourish that feeling: they must have
+     distinctions. See how they bow down before the stars of
+     strangers."[161]
+
+After so frank an exposition of motives to his own Council of State,
+little more need be said. We need not credit Bonaparte or the orators
+of the Tribunate with any superhuman sagacity when he and they foresaw
+that such an order would prepare the way for more resplendent titles.
+The Legion of Honour, at least in its highest grades, was the
+chrysalis stage of the Imperial _noblesse_. After all, the new
+Charlemagne might plead that his new creation satisfied an innate
+craving of the race, and that its durability was the best answer to
+hostile critics. Even when, in 1814, his Senators were offering the
+crown of France to the heir of the Bourbons, they expressly stipulated
+that the Legion of Honour should not be abolished: it has survived all
+the shocks of French history, even the vulgarizing associations of
+the Second Empire.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The same quality of almost pyramidal solidity characterizes another
+great enterprise of the Napoleonic period, the codification of French
+law.
+
+The difficulties of this undertaking consisted mainly in the enormous
+mass of decrees emanating from the National Assemblies, relative to
+political, civil, and criminal affairs. Many of those decrees, the
+offspring of a momentary enthusiasm, had found a place in the codes of
+laws which were then compiled; and yet sagacious observers knew that
+several of them warred against the instincts of the Gallic race. This
+conviction was summed up in the trenchant statement of the compilers
+of the new code, in which they appealed from the ideas of Rousseau to
+the customs of the past: "New theories are but the maxims of certain
+individuals: the old maxims represent the sense of centuries." There
+was much force in this dictum. The overthrow of Feudalism and the old
+monarchy had not permanently altered the French nature. They were
+still the same joyous, artistic, clan-loving people whom the Latin
+historians described: and pride in the nation or the family was as
+closely linked with respect for a doughty champion of national and
+family interests as in the days of Cæsar. Of this Roman or
+quasi-Gallic reaction Napoleon was to be the regulator; and no sphere
+of his activities bespeaks his unerring political sagacity more than
+his sifting of the old and the new in the great code which was
+afterwards to bear his name.
+
+Old French law had been an inextricable labyrinth of laws and customs,
+mainly Roman and Frankish in origin, hopelessly tangled by feudal
+customs, provincial privileges, ecclesiastical rights, and the later
+undergrowth of royal decrees; and no part of the legislation of the
+revolutionists met with so little resistance as their root and branch
+destruction of this exasperating jungle. Their difficulties only began
+when they endeavoured to apply the principles of the Rights of Man to
+political, civil, and criminal affairs. The chief of these principles
+relating to criminal law were that law can only forbid actions that
+are harmful to society, and must only impose penalties that are
+strictly necessary. To these epoch-making pronouncements the Assembly
+added, in 1790, that crimes should be visited only on the guilty
+individual, not on the family; and that penalties must be proportioned
+to the offences. The last two of these principles had of late been
+flagrantly violated; but the general pacification of France now
+permitted a calm consideration of the whole question of criminal law,
+and of its application to normal conditions.
+
+Civil law was to be greatly influenced by the Rights of Man; but those
+famous declarations were to a large extent contravened in the ensuing
+civil strifes, and their application to real life was rendered
+infinitely more difficult by that predominance of the critical over
+the constructive faculties which marred the efforts of the
+revolutionary Babel-builders. Indeed, such was the ardour of those
+enthusiasts that they could scarcely see any difficulties. Thus, the
+Convention in 1793 allowed its legislative committee just one month
+for the preparation of a code of civil law. At the close of six weeks
+Cambacérès, the reporter of the committee, was actually able to
+announce that it was ready. It was found to be too complex. Another
+commission was ordered to reconstruct it: this time the Convention
+discovered that the revised edition was too concise. Two other drafts
+were drawn up at the orders of the Directory, but neither gave
+satisfaction. And thus it was reserved for the First Consul to achieve
+what the revolutionists had only begun, building on the foundations
+and with the very materials which their ten years' toil had prepared.
+
+He had many other advantages. The Second Consul, Cambacérès, was at
+his side, with stores of legal experience and habits of complaisance
+that were of the highest value. Then, too, the principles of personal
+liberty and social equality were yielding ground before the more
+autocratic maxims of Roman law. The view of life now dominant was that
+of the warrior not of the philosopher. Bonaparte named Tronchet, Bigot
+de Préameneu, and the eloquent and learned Portalis for the redaction
+of the code. By ceaseless toil they completed their first draft in
+four months. Then, after receiving the criticisms of the Court of
+Cassation and the Tribunals of Appeal, it came before the Council of
+State for the decision of its special committee on legislation. There
+it was subjected to the scrutiny of several experts, but, above all,
+to Bonaparte himself. He presided at more than half of the 102
+sittings devoted to this criticism; and sittings of eight or nine
+hours were scarcely long enough to satisfy his eager curiosity, his
+relentless activity, and his determined practicality.
+
+From the notes of Thibaudeau one of the members of this revising
+committee, we catch a glimpse of the part there played by the First
+Consul. We see him listening intently to the discussions of the
+jurists, taking up and sorting the threads of thought when a tangle
+seemed imminent, and presenting the result in some striking pattern.
+We watch his methodizing spirit at work on the cumbrous legal
+phraseology, hammering it out into clear, ductile French. We feel the
+unerring sagacity, which acted as a political and social touchstone,
+testing, approving, or rejecting multifarious details drawn from old
+French law or from the customs of the Revolution; and finally we
+wonder at the architectural skill which worked the 2,281 articles of
+the Code into an almost unassailable pile. To the skill and patience
+of the three chief redactors that result is, of course, very largely
+due: yet, in its mingling of strength, simplicity, and symmetry, we
+may discern the projection of Napoleon's genius over what had hitherto
+been a legal chaos.
+
+Some blocks of the pyramid were almost entirely his own. He widened
+the area of French citizenship; above all, he strengthened the
+structure of the family by enhancing the father's authority. Herein
+his Corsican instincts and the requirements of statecraft led him to
+undo much of the legislation of the revolutionists. Their ideal was
+individual liberty: his aim was to establish public order by
+autocratic methods. They had sought to make of the family a little
+republic, founded on the principles of liberty and equality; but in
+the new code the paternal authority reappeared no less strict, albeit
+less severe in some details than that of the _ancien régime._ The
+family was thenceforth modelled on the idea dominant in the State,
+that authority and responsible action pertained to a single
+individual. The father controlled the conduct of his children: his
+consent was necessary for the marriage of sons up to their
+twenty-fifth year, for that of daughters up to their twenty-first
+year; and other regulations were framed in the same spirit.[162] Thus
+there was rebuilt in France the institution of the family on an almost
+Roman basis; and these customs, contrasting sharply with the domestic
+anarchy of the Anglo-Saxon race, have had a mighty influence in
+fashioning the character of the French, as of the other Latin peoples,
+to a ductility that yields a ready obedience to local officials,
+drill-sergeants, and the central Government.
+
+In other respects Bonaparte's influence on the code was equally
+potent. He raised the age at which marriage could be legally
+contracted to that of eighteen for men, and fifteen for women, and he
+prescribed a formula of obedience to be repeated by the bride to her
+husband; while the latter was bound to protect and support the
+wife.[163]
+
+And yet, on the question of divorce, Bonaparte's action was
+sufficiently ambiguous to reawaken Josephine's fears; and the
+detractors of the great man have some ground for declaring that his
+action herein was dictated by personal considerations. Others again
+may point to the declarations of the French National Assemblies that
+the law regarded marriage merely as a civil contract, and that divorce
+was to be a logical sequel of individual liberty, "which an
+indissoluble tie would annul." It is indisputable that extremely lax
+customs had been the result of the law of 1792, divorce being allowed
+on a mere declaration of incompatibility of temper.[164] Against these
+scandals Bonaparte firmly set his face. But he disagreed with the
+framers of the new Code when they proposed altogether to prohibit
+divorce, though such a proposition might well have seemed consonant
+with his zeal for Roman Catholicism. After long debates it was decided
+to reduce the causes which could render divorce possible from nine to
+four--adultery, cruelty, condemnation to a degrading penalty, and
+mutual consent--provided that this last demand should be persistently
+urged after not less than two years of marriage, and in no case was it
+to be valid after twenty years of marriage.[165]
+
+We may also notice here that Bonaparte sought to surround the act of
+adoption with much solemnity, declaring it to be one of the grandest
+acts imaginable. Yet, lest marriage should thereby be discouraged,
+celibates were expressly debarred from the privileges of adopting
+heirs. The precaution shows how keenly this able ruler peered into
+the future. Doubtless, he surmised that in the future the population
+of France would cease to expand at the normal rate, owing to the
+working of the law compelling the equal division of property among all
+the children of a family. To this law he was certainly opposed.
+Equality in regard to the bequest of property was one of the sacred
+maxims of revolutionary jurists, who had limited the right of free
+disposal by bequest to one-tenth of each estate: nine-tenths being of
+necessity divided equally among the direct heirs. Yet so strong was
+the reaction in favour of the Roman principle of paternal authority,
+that Bonaparte and a majority of the drafters of the new Code scrupled
+not to assail that maxim, and to claim for the father larger
+discretionary powers over the disposal of his property. They demanded
+that the disposable share should vary according to the wealth of the
+testator--a remarkable proposal, which proves him to be anything but
+the unflinching champion of revolutionary legal ideas which popular
+French histories have generally depicted him.
+
+This proposal would have re-established liberty of bequest in its most
+pernicious form, granting almost limitless discretionary power to the
+wealthy, while restricting or denying it to the poor.[166] Fortunately
+for his reputation in France, the suggestion was rejected; and the
+law, as finally adopted, fixed the disposable share as one-half of the
+property, if there was but one heir; one-third, if there were two
+heirs; one-fourth, if there were three; and so on, diminishing as the
+size of the family increased. This sliding scale, varying inversely
+with the size of the family, is open to an obvious objection: it
+granted liberty of bequest only in cases where the family was small,
+but practically lapsed when the family attained to patriarchal
+dimensions. The natural result has been that the birth-rate has
+suffered a serious and prolonged check in France. It seems certain
+that the First Consul foresaw this result. His experience of peasant
+life must have warned him that the law, even as now amended, would
+stunt the population of France and ultimately bring about that [Greek:
+oliganthrôpia] which saps all great military enterprises. The great
+captain did all in his power to prevent the French settling down in a
+self-contained national life; he strove to stir them up to world-wide
+undertakings, and for the success of his future imperial schemes a
+redundant population was an absolute necessity.
+
+The Civil Code became law in 1804: after undergoing some slight
+modifications and additions, it was, in 1807 renamed the Code
+Napoléon. Its provisions had already, in 1806, been adopted in Italy.
+In 1810 Holland, and the newly-annexed coast-line of the North Sea as
+far as Hamburg, and even Lübeck on the Baltic, received it as the
+basis of their laws, as did the Grand Duchy of Berg in 1811.
+Indirectly it has also exerted an immense influence on the legislation
+of Central and Southern Germany, Prussia, Switzerland, and Spain:
+while many of the Central and South American States have also
+borrowed its salient features.
+
+A Code of Civil Procedure was promulgated in France in 1806, one of
+Commerce in 1807, of "Criminal Instruction" in 1808, and a Penal Code
+in 1810. Except that they were more reactionary in spirit than the
+Civil Code, there is little that calls for notice here, the Penal Code
+especially showing little advance in intelligence or clemency on the
+older laws of France. Even in 1802, officials favoured severity after
+the disorders of the preceding years. When Fox and Romilly paid a
+visit to Talleyrand at Paris, they were informed by his secretary
+that:
+
+     "In his opinion nothing could restore good morals and order in the
+     country but 'la roue et la religion de nos ancêtres.' He knew, he
+     said, that the English did not think so, but we knew nothing of the
+     people. Fox was deeply shocked at the idea of restoring the wheel
+     as a punishment in France."[167]
+
+This horrible punishment was not actually restored: but this extract
+from Romilly's diary shows what was the state of feeling in official
+circles at Paris, and how strong was the reaction towards older ideas.
+The reaction was unquestionably emphasized by Bonaparte's influence,
+and it is noteworthy that the Penal and other Codes, passed during the
+Empire, were more reactionary than the laws of the Consulate. Yet,
+even as First Consul, he exerted an influence that began to banish the
+customs and traditions of the Revolution, except in the single sphere
+of material interests; and he satisfied the peasants' love of land and
+money in order that he might the more securely triumph over
+revolutionary ideals and draw France insensibly back to the age of
+Louis XIV.
+
+
+While the legislator must always keep in reserve punishment as the
+_ultima ratio_ for the lawless, he will turn by preference to
+education as a more potent moralizing agency; and certainly education
+urgently needed Bonaparte's attention. The work of carrying into
+practice the grand educational aims of Condorcet and his coadjutors in
+the French Convention was enough to tax the energies of a Hercules.
+Those ardent reformers did little more than clear the ground for
+future action: they abolished the old monastic and clerical training,
+and declared for a generous system of national education in primary,
+secondary, and advanced schools. But amid strifes and bankruptcy their
+aims remained unfulfilled. In 1799 there were only twenty-four
+elementary schools open in Paris, with a total attendance of less than
+1,000 pupils; and in rural districts matters were equally bad. Indeed,
+Lucien Bonaparte asserted that scarcely any education was to be found
+in France. Exaggerated though this statement was, in relation to
+secondary and advanced education, it was proximately true of the
+elementary schools. The revolutionists had merely traced the outlines
+of a scheme: it remained for the First Consul to fill in the details,
+or to leave it blank.
+
+The result can scarcely be cited as a proof of his educational zeal.
+Elementary schools were left to the control and supervision of the
+communes and of the _sous-préfets_, and naturally made little advance
+amidst an apathetic population and under officials who cared not to
+press on an expensive enterprise. The law of April 30th, 1802,
+however, aimed at improving the secondary education, which the
+Convention had attempted to give in its _écoles centrales_. These were
+now reconstituted either as _écoles secondaires_ or as _lycées_. The
+former were local or even private institutions intended for the most
+promising pupils of the commune or group of communes; while the
+_lycées_, far fewer in number, were controlled directly by the
+Government. In both of these schools great prominence was given to the
+exact and applied sciences. The aim of the instruction was not to
+awaken thought and develop the faculties, but rather to fashion able
+breadwinners, obedient citizens, and enthusiastic soldiers. The
+training was of an almost military type, the pupils being regularly
+drilled, while the lessons began and ended with the roll of drums. The
+numbers of the _lycées_ and of their pupils rapidly increased; but the
+progress of the secondary and primary schools, which could boast no
+such attractions, was very slow. In 1806 only 25,000 children were
+attending the public primary schools. But two years later elementary
+and advanced instruction received a notable impetus from the
+establishment of the University of France.
+
+There is no institution which better reveals the character of the
+French Emperor, with its singular combination of greatness and
+littleness, of wide-sweeping aims with official pedantry. The
+University, as it existed during the First Empire, offers a striking
+example of that mania for the control of the general will which
+philosophers had so attractively taught and Napoleon so profitably
+practised. It is the first definite outcome of a desire to subject
+education and learning to wholesale regimental methods, and to break
+up the old-world bowers of culture by State-worked steam-ploughs. His
+aims were thus set forth:
+
+     "I want a teaching body, because such a body never dies, but
+     transmits its organization and spirit. I want a body whose teaching
+     is far above the fads of the moment, goes straight on even when the
+     government is asleep, and whose administration and statutes become
+     so national that one can never lightly resolve to meddle with
+     them.... There will never be fixity in politics if there is not a
+     teaching body with fixed principles. As long as people do not from
+     their infancy learn whether they ought to be republicans or
+     monarchists, Catholics or sceptics, the State will never form a
+     nation: it will rest on unsafe and shifting foundations, always
+     exposed to changes and disorders."
+
+Such being Napoleon's designs, the new University of France was
+admirably suited to his purpose. It was not a local university: it was
+the sum total of all the public teaching bodies of the French Empire,
+arranged and drilled in one vast instructional array. Elementary
+schools, secondary schools, _lycées_, as well as the more advanced
+colleges, all were absorbed in and controlled by this great teaching
+corporation, which was to inculcate the precepts of the Catholic
+religion, fidelity to the Emperor and to his Government, as guarantees
+for the welfare of the people and the unity of France. For educational
+purposes, France was now divided into seventeen Academies, which
+formed the local centres of the new institution. Thus, from Paris and
+sixteen provincial Academies, instruction was strictly organized and
+controlled; and within a short time of its institution (March, 1808),
+instruction of all kinds, including that of the elementary schools,
+showed some advance. But to all those who look on the unfolding of the
+mental and moral faculties as the chief aim of true _education_, the
+homely experiments of Pestalozzi offer a far more suggestive and
+important field for observation than the barrack-like methods of the
+French Emperor. The Swiss reformer sought to train the mind to
+observe, reflect, and think; to assist the faculties in attaining
+their fullest and freest expression; and thus to add to the richness
+and variety of human thought. The French imperial system sought to
+prune away all mental independence, and to train the young generation
+in neat and serviceable _espalier_ methods: all aspiring shoots,
+especially in the sphere of moral and political science, were sharply
+cut down. Consequently French thought, which had been the most
+ardently speculative in Europe, speedily became vapid and mechanical.
+
+The same remark is proximately true of the literary life of the First
+Empire. It soon began to feel the rigorous methods of the Emperor.
+Poetry and all other modes of expression of lofty thought and rapt
+feeling require not only a free outlet but natural and unrestrained
+surroundings. The true poet is at home in the forest or on the
+mountain rather than in prim _parterres_. The philosopher sees most
+clearly and reasons most suggestively, when his faculties are not
+cramped by the need of observing political rules and police
+regulations. And the historian, when he is tied down to a mere
+investigation and recital of facts, without reference to their
+meaning, is but a sorry fowl flapping helplessly with unequal wings.
+
+Yet such were the conditions under which the literature of France
+struggled and pined. Her poets, a band sadly thinned already by the
+guillotine, sang in forced and hollow strains until the return of
+royalism begat an imperialist fervour in the soul-stirring lyrics of
+Béranger: her philosophy was dumb; and Napoleonic history limped along
+on official crutches, until Thiers, a generation later, essayed his
+monumental work. In the realm of exact and applied science, as might
+be expected, splendid discoveries adorned the Emperor's reign; but if
+we are to find any vitality in the literature of that period, we must
+go to the ranks, not of the panegyrists, but of the opposition. There,
+in the pages of Madame de Staël and Chateaubriand, we feel the throb
+of life. Genius will out, of its own native force: but it cannot be
+pressed out, even at a Napoleon's bidding. In vain did he endeavour to
+stimulate literature by the reorganization of the Institute, and by
+granting decennial prizes for the chief works and discoveries of the
+decade. While science prospered, literature languished: and one of his
+own remarks, as to the desirability of a public and semi-official
+criticism of some great literary work, seems to suggest a reason for
+this intellectual malaise:
+
+     "The public will take interest in this criticism; perhaps it will
+     even take sides: it matters not, as its attention will be fixed on
+     these interesting debates: it will talk about grammar and poetry:
+     taste will be improved, and our aim will be fulfilled: _out of that
+     will come poets and grammarians_."
+
+And so it came to pass that, while he was rescuing a nation from chaos
+and his eagles winged their flight to Naples, Lisbon, and Moscow, he
+found no original thinker worthily to hymn his praises; and the chief
+literary triumphs of his reign came from Chateaubriand, whom he
+impoverished, and Madame de Staël, whom he drove into exile.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Such are the chief laws and customs which are imperishably associated
+with the name of Napoleon Bonaparte. In some respects they may be
+described as making for progress. Their establishment gave to the
+Revolution that solidity which it had previously lacked. Among so
+"inflammable" a people as the French--the epithet is Ste. Beuve's--it
+was quite possible that some of the chief civil conquests of the last
+decade might have been lost, had not the First Consul, to use his own
+expressive phrase, "thrown in some blocks of granite." We may
+intensify his metaphor and assert that out of the shifting shingle of
+French life he constructed a concrete breakwater, in which his own
+will acted as the binding cement, defying the storms of revolutionary
+or royalist passion which had swept the incoherent atoms to and fro,
+and had carried desolation far inland. Thenceforth France was able to
+work out her future under the shelter of institutions which
+unquestionably possess one supreme merit, that of durability. But
+while the chief civic and material gains of the Revolution were thus
+perpetuated, the very spirit and life of that great movement were
+benumbed by the personality and action of Napoleon. The burning
+enthusiasm for the Rights of Man was quenched, the passion for civic
+equality survived only as the gibbering ghost of what it had been in
+1790, and the consolidation of revolutionary France was effected by a
+process nearly akin to petrifaction.
+
+And yet this time of political and intellectual reaction in France was
+marked by the rise of the greatest of her modern institutions. There
+is the chief paradox of that age. While barren of literary activity
+and of truly civic developments, yet it was unequalled in the growth
+of institutions. This is generally the characteristic of epochs when
+the human faculties, long congealed by untoward restraints, suddenly
+burst their barriers and run riot in a spring-tide of hope. The time
+of disillusionment or despair which usually supervenes may, as a rule,
+be compared with the numbing torpor of winter, necessary doubtless in
+our human economy, but lacking the charm and vitality of the expansive
+phase. Often, indeed, it is disgraced by the characteristics of a
+slavish populace, a mean selfishness, a mad frivolity, and fawning
+adulation on the ruler who dispenses _panem et circenses_. Such has
+been the course of many a political reaction, from the time of
+degenerate Athens and imperial Rome down to the decay of Medicean
+Florence and the orgies of the restored Stuarts.
+
+The fruitfulness of the time of monarchical reaction in France may be
+chiefly attributed to two causes, the one general, the other personal;
+the one connected with the French Revolution, the other with the
+exceptional gifts of Bonaparte. In their efforts to create durable
+institutions the revolutionists had failed: they had attempted too
+much: they had overthrown the old order, had undertaken crusades
+against monarchical Europe, and striven to manufacture constitutions
+and remodel a deeply agitated society. They did scarcely more than
+trace the outlines of the future social structure. The edifice, which
+should have been reared by the Directory, was scarcely advanced at
+all, owing to the singular dullness of the new rulers of France. But
+the genius was at hand. He restored order, he rallied various classes
+to his side, he methodized local government, he restored finance and
+credit, he restored religious peace and yet secured the peasants in
+their tenure of the confiscated lands, he rewarded merit with social
+honours, and finally he solidified his polity by a comprehensive code
+of laws which made him the keystone of the now rounded arch of French
+life.
+
+His methods in this immense work deserve attention: they were very
+different from those of the revolutionary parties after the best days
+of 1789 were past. The followers of Rousseau worked on rigorous _a
+priori_ methods. If institutions and sentiments did not square with
+the principles of their master, they were swept away or were forced
+into conformity with the new evangel. A correct knowledge of the
+"Contrat Social" and keen critical powers were the prime requisites of
+Jacobinical statesmanship. Knowledge of the history of France, the
+faculty of gauging the real strength of popular feelings, tact in
+conciliating important interests, all were alike despised.
+Institutions and class interests were as nothing in comparison with
+that imposing abstraction, the general will. For this alone could
+philosophers legislate and factions conspire.
+
+From these lofty aims and exasperating methods Bonaparte was speedily
+weaned. If victorious analysis led to this; if it could only pull
+down, not reconstruct; if, while legislating for the general will,
+Jacobins harassed one class after another and produced civil war, then
+away with their pedantries in favour of the practical statecraft which
+attempted one task at a time and aimed at winning back in turn the
+alienated classes. Then, and then alone, after civic peace had been
+re-established, would he attempt the reconstruction of the civil order
+in the same tentative manner, taking up only this or that frayed end
+at once, trusting to time, skill, and patience to transform the tangle
+into a symmetrical pattern. And thus, where Feuillants, Girondins, and
+Jacobins had produced chaos, the practical man and his able helpers
+succeeded in weaving ineffaceable outlines. As to the time when the
+change took place in Bonaparte's brain from Jacobinism to aims and
+methods that may be called conservative, we are strangely ignorant.
+But the results of this mental change will stand forth clear and
+solid for many a generation in the customs, laws, and institutions of
+his adopted country. If the Revolution, intellectually considered,
+began and ended with analysis, Napoleon's faculties supplied the
+needed synthesis. Together they made modern France.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+THE CONSULATE FOR LIFE
+
+
+With the view of presenting in clear outlines the chief institutions
+of Napoleonic France, they have been described in the preceding
+chapter, detached from their political setting. We now return to
+consider the events which favoured the consolidation of Bonaparte's
+power.
+
+No politician inured to the tricks of statecraft could more firmly
+have handled public affairs than the man who practically began his
+political apprenticeship at Brumaire. Without apparent effort he rose
+to the height whence the five Directors had so ignominiously fallen;
+and instinctively he chose at once the policy which alone could have
+insured rest for France, that of balancing interests and parties. His
+own political views being as yet unknown, dark with the excessive
+brightness of his encircling glory, he could pose as the conciliator
+of contending factions. The Jacobins were content when they saw the
+regicide Cambacérès become Second Consul; and friends of
+constitutional monarchy remembered that the Third Consul, Lebrun, had
+leanings towards the Feuillants of 1791. Fouché at the inquisitorial
+Ministry of Police, and Merlin, Berlier, Real, and Boulay de la
+Meurthe in the Council of State seemed a barrier to all monarchical
+schemes; and the Jacobins therefore remained quiet, even while
+Catholic worship was again publicly celebrated, while Vendean rebels
+were pardoned, and plotting _émigrés_ were entering the public
+service.
+
+Many, indeed, of the prominent terrorists had settled profitably on
+the offices which Bonaparte had multiplied throughout France, and were
+therefore dumb: but some of the less favoured ones, angered by the
+stealthy advance of autocracy, wove a plot for the overthrow of the
+First Consul. Chief among them were a braggart named Demerville, a
+painter, Topino Lebrun, a sculptor, Ceracchi, and Aréna, brother of
+the Corsican deputy who had shaken Bonaparte by the collar at the
+crisis of Brumaire. These men hit upon the notion that, with the aid
+of one man of action, they could make away with the new despot. They
+opened their hearts to a penniless officer named Harel, who had been
+dismissed from the army; and he straightway took the news to
+Bonaparte's private secretary, Bourrienne. The First Consul, on
+hearing of the matter, at once charged Bourrienne to supply Harel with
+money to buy firearms, but not to tell the secret to Fouché, of whose
+double dealings with the Jacobins he was already aware. It became
+needful, however, to inform him of the plot, which was now carefully
+nursed by the authorities. The arrests were planned to take place at
+the opera on October 10th. About half an hour after the play had
+begun, Bonaparte bade his secretary go into the lobby to hear the
+news. Bourrienne at once heard the noise caused by a number of
+arrests: he came back, reported the matter to his master, who
+forthwith returned to the Tuileries. The plot was over.[168]
+
+A more serious attempt was to follow. On the 3rd day of Nivôse
+(December 24th, 1800), as the First Consul was driving to the opera to
+hear Haydn's oratorio, "The Creation," his carriage was shaken by a
+terrific explosion. A bomb had burst between his carriage and that of
+Josephine, which was following. Neither was injured, though many
+spectators were killed or wounded. "Josephine," he calmly said, as she
+entered the box, "those rascals wanted to blow me up: send for a copy
+of the music." But under this cool demeanour he nursed a determination
+of vengeance against his political foes, the Jacobins. On the next day
+he appeared at a session of the Council of State along with the
+Ministers of Police and of the Interior, Fouché and Chaptal. The Aréna
+plot and other recent events seemed to point to wild Jacobins and
+anarchists as the authors of this outrage: but Fouché ventured to
+impute it to the royalists and to England.
+
+     "There are in it," Bonaparte at once remarked, "neither nobles, nor
+     Chouans, nor priests. They are men of September (_Septembriseurs_),
+     wretches stained with blood, ever conspiring in solid phalanx
+     against every successive government. We must find a means of prompt
+     redress."
+
+The Councillors at once adopted this opinion, Roederer hotly declaring
+his open hostility to Fouché for his reputed complicity with the
+terrorists; and, if we may credit the _on dit_ of Pasquier, Talleyrand
+urged the execution of Fouché within twenty-four hours. Bonaparte,
+however, preferred to keep the two cleverest and most questionable
+schemers of the age, so as mutually to check each other's movements. A
+day later, when the Council was about to institute special
+proceedings, Bonaparte again intervened with the remark that the
+action of the tribunal would be too slow, too restricted: a signal
+revenge was needed for so foul a crime, rapid as lightning:
+
+     "Blood must be shed: as many guilty must be shot as the innocent
+     who had perished--some fifteen or twenty--and two hundred banished,
+     so that the Republic might profit by that event to purge itself."
+
+This was the policy now openly followed. In vain did some members of
+the usually obsequious Council object to this summary procedure.
+Roederer, Boulay, even the Second Consul himself, now perceived how
+trifling was their influence when they attempted to modify Bonaparte's
+plans, and two sections of the Council speedily decided that there
+should be a military commission to judge suspects and "deport"
+dangerous persons, and that the Government should announce this to
+the Senate, Corps Législatif, and Tribunate. Public opinion,
+meanwhile, was carefully trained by the official "Moniteur," which
+described in detail various so-called anarchist attempts; but an
+increasing number in official circles veered round to Fouché's belief
+that the outrage was the work of the royalists abetted by England. The
+First Consul himself, six days after the event, inclined to this
+version. Nevertheless, at a full meeting of the Council of State, on
+the first day of the year 1801, he brought up a list of "130 villains
+who were troubling the public peace," with a view to inflicting
+summary punishment on them. Thibaudeau, Boulay, and Roederer haltingly
+expressed their fears that all the 130 might not be guilty of the
+recent outrage, and that the Council had no powers to decide on the
+proscription of individuals. Bonaparte at once assured them that he
+was not consulting them about the fate of individuals, but merely to
+know whether they thought an exceptional measure necessary. The
+Government had only
+
+     "Strong presumptions, not proofs, that the terrorists were the
+     authors of this attempt. _Chouannerie_ and emigration are surface
+     ills, terrorism is an internal disease. The measure ought to be
+     taken independently of the event. It is only the occasion of it. We
+     banish them (the terrorists) for the massacres of September 2nd,
+     May 31st, the Babeuf plot, and every subsequent attempt."[169]
+
+The Council thereupon unanimously affirmed the need of an exceptional
+measure, and adopted a suggestion of Talleyrand (probably emanating
+from Bonaparte) that the Senate should be invited to declare by a
+special decision, called a _senatus consultum_, whether such an act
+were "preservative of the constitution." This device, which avoided
+the necessity of passing a law through two less subservient bodies,
+the Tribunate and Corps Législatif, was forthwith approved by the
+guardians of the constitution. It had far-reaching results. The
+complaisant Senate was brought down from its constitutional watchtower
+to become the tool of the Consuls; and an easy way for further
+innovations was thus dextrously opened up through the very portals
+which were designed to bar them out.
+
+The immediate results of the device were startling. By an act of
+January 4th, 1801, as many as 130 prominent Jacobins were "placed
+under special surveillance outside the European territory of the
+Republic"--a specious phrase for denoting a living death amidst the
+wastes of French Guiana or the Seychelles. Some of the threatened
+persons escaped, perhaps owing to the connivance of Fouché; some were
+sent to the Isle of Oléron; but the others were forthwith despatched
+to the miseries of captivity in the tropics. Among these were
+personages so diverse as Rossignol, once the scourge of France with
+his force of Parisian cut-throats, and Destrem, whose crime was his
+vehement upbraiding of Bonaparte at St. Cloud. After this measure had
+taken effect, it was discovered by judicial inquiry that the Jacobins
+had no connection with the outrage, which was the work of royalists
+named Saint-Réjant and Carbon. These were captured, and on January
+31st, 1801, were executed; but their fate had no influence whatever on
+the sentence of the transported Jacobins. Of those who were sent to
+Guiana and the Seychelles, scarce twenty saw France again.[170]
+
+
+
+Bonaparte's conduct with respect to plots deserves close attention.
+Never since the age of the Borgias have conspiracies been so skilfully
+exploited, so cunningly countermined. Moreover, his conduct with
+respect to the Aréna and Nivôse affairs had a wider significance; for
+he now quietly but firmly exchanged the policy of balancing parties
+for one which crushed the extreme republicans, and enhanced the
+importance of all who were likely to approve or condone the
+establishment of personal rule.
+
+It is now time to consider the effect which Bonaparte's foreign policy
+had on his position in France. Reserving for a later chapter an
+examination of the Treaty of Amiens, we may here notice the close
+connection between Bonaparte's diplomatic successes and the
+perpetuation of his Consulate. All thoughtful students of history must
+have observed the warping influence which war and diplomacy have
+exerted on democratic institutions. The age of Alcibiades, the doom of
+the Roman Republic, and many other examples might be cited to show
+that free institutions can with difficulty survive the strain of a
+vast military organization or the insidious results of an exacting
+diplomacy. But never has the gulf between democracy and personal rule
+been so quickly spanned as by the commanding genius of Bonaparte.
+
+The events which disgusted both England and France with war have been
+described above. Each antagonist had parried the attacks of the other.
+The blow which Bonaparte had aimed at Britain's commerce by his
+eastern expedition had been foiled; and a considerable French force
+was shut up in Egypt. His plan of relieving his starving garrison in
+Malta, by concluding a maritime truce, had been seen through by us;
+and after a blockade of two years, Valetta fell (September, 1800). But
+while Great Britain regained more than all her old power in the
+Mediterranean, she failed to make any impression on the land-power of
+France. The First Consul in the year 1801 compelled Naples and
+Portugal to give up the English alliance and to exclude our vessels
+and goods. In the north the results of the war had been in favour of
+the islanders. The Union Jack again waved triumphant on the Baltic,
+and all attempts of the French to rouse and support an Irish revolt
+had signally failed. Yet the French preparations for an invasion of
+England strained the resources of our exchequer and the patience of
+our people. The weary struggle was evidently about to close in a
+stalemate.
+
+For political and financial reasons the two Powers needed repose.
+Bonaparte's authority was not as yet so firmly founded that he could
+afford to neglect the silent longings of France for peace; his
+institutions had not as yet taken root; and he needed money for public
+works and colonial enterprises. That he looked on peace as far more
+desirable for France than for England at the present time is clear
+from a confidential talk which he had with Roederer at the close of
+1800. This bright thinker, to whom he often unbosomed himself, took
+exception to his remark that England could not wish for peace;
+whereupon the First Consul uttered these memorable words:
+
+     "My dear fellow, England ought not to wish for peace, because we
+     are masters of the world. Spain is ours. We have a foothold in
+     Italy. In Egypt we have the reversion to their tenure. Switzerland,
+     Holland, Belgium--that is a matter irrevocably settled, on which we
+     have declared to Prussia, Russia, and the Emperor that _we alone_,
+     if it were necessary, would make war on all, namely, that there
+     shall be no Stadholder in Holland, and that we will keep Belgium
+     and the left bank of the Rhine. A stadholder in Holland would be as
+     bad as a Bourbon in the St. Antoine suburb."[171]
+
+
+The passage is remarkable, not only for its frank statement of the
+terms on which England and the Continent might have peace, but also
+because it discloses the rank undergrowth of pride and ambition that
+is beginning to overtop his reasoning faculties. Even before he has
+heard the news of Moreau's great victory of Hohenlinden, he equates
+the military strength of France with that of the rest of Europe: nay,
+he claims without a shadow of doubt the mastery of the world: he will
+wage, if necessary, a double war, against England for a colonial
+empire, and against Europe for domination in Holland and the
+Rhineland. It is naught to him that that double effort has exhausted
+France in the reigns of Louis XIV. and Louis XV. Holland, Switzerland,
+Italy, shall be French provinces, Egypt and the Indies shall be her
+satrapies, and _la grande nation_ may then rest on her glories.
+
+Had these aims been known at Westminster, Ministers would have counted
+peace far more harmful than war. But, while ambition reigned at Paris,
+dull common sense dictated the policy of Britain. In truth, our people
+needed rest: we were in the first stages of an industrial revolution:
+our cotton and woollen industries were passing from the cottage to the
+factory; and a large part of our folk were beginning to cluster in
+grimy, ill-organized townships. Population and wealth advanced by
+leaps and bounds; but with them came the nineteenth-century problems
+of widening class distinctions and uncertainty of employment. The
+food-supply was often inadequate, and in 1801 the price of wheat in
+the London market ranged from £6 to £8 the quarter; the quartern loaf
+selling at times for as much as 1s. 10-1/2d.[172]
+
+The state of the sister island was even worse. The discontent of
+Ireland had been crushed by the severe repression which followed the
+rising of 1798; and the bonds connecting the two countries were
+forcibly tightened by the Act of Union of 1800. But rest and reform
+were urgently needed if this political welding was to acquire solid
+strength, and rest and reform were alike denied. The position of the
+Ministry at Westminster was also precarious. The opposition of George
+III. to the proposals for Catholic Emancipation, to which Pitt
+believed himself in honour bound, led to the resignation in February,
+1801, of that able Minister. In the following month Addington, the
+Speaker of the House of Commons, with the complacence born of bland
+obtuseness, undertook to fill his place. At first, the Ministry was
+treated with the tolerance due to the new Premier's urbanity, but it
+gradually faded away into contempt for his pitiful weakness in face of
+the dangers that threatened the realm.
+
+Certain unofficial efforts in the cause of peace had been made during
+the year 1800, by a Frenchman, M. Otto, who had been charged to
+proceed to London to treat with the British Government for the
+exchange of prisoners. For various reasons his tentative proposals as
+to an accommodation between the belligerents had had no issue: but he
+continued to reside in London, and quietly sought to bring about a
+good understanding. The accession of the Addington Ministry favoured
+the opening of negotiations, the new Secretary for Foreign Affairs,
+Lord Hawkesbury, announcing His Majesty's desire for peace. Indeed,
+the one hope of the new Ministry, and of the king who supported it as
+the only alternative to Catholic Emancipation, was bound up with the
+cause of peace. In the next chapter it will appear how disastrous were
+the results of that strange political situation, when a morbidly
+conscientious king clung to the weak Addington, and jeopardised the
+interests of Britain, rather than accept a strong Minister and a
+measure of religious equality.
+
+Napoleon received Hawkesbury's first overtures, those of March 21st,
+1801, with thinly veiled scorn; but the news of Nelson's victory at
+Copenhagen and of the assassination of the Czar Paul, the latter of
+which wrung from him a cry of rage, ended his hopes of crushing us;
+and negotiations were now formally begun. On the 14th of April, Great
+Britain demanded that the French should evacuate Egypt, while she
+herself would give up Minorca, but retain the following conquests:
+Malta, Tobago, Martinique, Trinidad, Essequibo, Demerara, Berbice,
+Ceylon, and (a little later) Curaçoa; while, if the Cape of Good Hope
+were restored to the Dutch, it was to be a free port: an indemnity was
+also to be found for the Prince of Orange for the loss of his
+Netherlands. These claims were declared by Bonaparte to be
+inadmissible. He on his side urged the far more impracticable demand
+of the _status quo ante bellum_ in the East and West Indies and in the
+Mediterranean; which would imply the surrender, not only of our many
+naval conquests, but also of our gains in Hindostan at the expense of
+the late Tippoo Sahib's dominions. In the ensuing five months the
+British Government gained some noteworthy successes in diplomacy and
+war. It settled the disputes arising out of the Armed Neutrality
+League; there was every prospect of our troops defeating those of
+France in Egypt; and our navy captured St. Eustace and Saba in the
+West Indies.
+
+As a set-off to our efforts by sea, Bonaparte instigated a war between
+Spain and Portugal, in order that the latter Power might be held as a
+"guarantee for the general peace." Spain, however, merely waged a "war
+of oranges," and came to terms with her neighbour in the Treaty of
+Badajoz, June 6th, 1801, whereby she gained the small frontier
+district of Olivenza. This fell far short of the First Consul's
+intentions. Indeed, such was his annoyance at the conduct of the Court
+of Madrid and the complaisance of his brother Lucien Bonaparte, who
+was ambassador there, that he determined to make Spain bear a heavy
+share of the English demands. On June 22nd, 1801, he wrote to his
+brother at Madrid:
+
+     "I have already caused the English to be informed that I will never
+     depart, as regards Portugal, from the _ultimatum_ addressed to M.
+     d'Araujo, and that the _status quo ante bellum_ for Portugal must
+     amount, for Spain, to the restitution of Trinidad; for France, to
+     the restitution of Martinique and Tobago; and for Batavia [Holland],
+     to that of Curaçoa and some other small American isles."[173]
+
+In other words, if Portugal at the close of this whipped-up war
+retained her present possessions, then England must renounce her
+claims to Trinidad, Martinique, Tobago, Curaçoa, etc.: and he summed
+up his contention in the statement that "in signing this treaty
+Charles IV. has consented to the loss of Trinidad." Further pressure
+on Portugal compelled her to cede part of Northern Brazil to France
+and to pay her 20,000,000 francs.
+
+A still more striking light is thrown on Bonaparte's diplomatic
+methods by the following question, addressed to Lord Hawkesbury on
+June 15th:
+
+     "If, supposing that the French Government should accede to the
+     arrangements proposed for the East Indies by England, and should
+     adopt the _status quo ante bellum_ for Portugal, the King of
+     England would consent to the re-establishment of the _status quo_
+     in the Mediterranean and in America."
+
+The British Minister in his reply of June 25th explained what the
+phrase _status quo ante bellum_ in regard to the Mediterranean would
+really imply. It would necessitate, not merely the evacuation of Egypt
+by the French, but also that of the Kingdom of Sardinia (including
+Nice), the Duchy of Tuscany, and the independence of the rest of the
+peninsula. He had already offered that we should evacuate Minorca; but
+he now stated that, if France retained her influence over Italy,
+England would claim Malta as a set-off to the vast extension of French
+territorial influence, and in order to protect English commerce in
+those seas: for the rest, the British Government could not regard the
+maintenance of the integrity of Portugal as an equivalent to the
+surrender by Great Britain of her West Indian conquests, especially as
+France had acquired further portions of Saint Domingo. Nevertheless he
+offered to restore Trinidad to Spain, if she would reinstate Portugal
+in the frontier strip of Olivenza; and, on August 5th, he told Otto
+that we would give up Malta if it became independent.
+
+Meanwhile events were, on the whole, favourable to Great Britain. She
+made peace with Russia on favourable terms; and in the Mediterranean,
+despite a first success gained by the French Admiral Linois at
+Algesiras, a second battle brought back victory to the Union Jack. An
+attack made by Nelson on the flotilla at Boulogne was a failure
+(August 15th). But at the close of August the French commander in
+Egypt, General Menou, was constrained to agree to the evacuation of
+Egypt by his troops, which were to be sent back to France on English
+vessels. This event had been expected by Bonaparte, and the secret
+instruction which he forwarded to Otto at London shows the nicety of
+his calculation as to the advantages to be reaped by France owing to
+her receiving the news while it was still unknown in England. He
+ordered Otto to fix October the 2nd for the close of the negotiations:
+
+     "You will understand the importance of this when you reflect that
+     Menou may possibly not be able to hold out in Alexandria beyond the
+     first of Vendémiaire (September 22nd); that, at this season, the
+     winds are fair to come from Egypt, and ships reach Italy and
+     Trieste in very few days. Thus it is necessary to push them [the
+     negotiations] to a conclusion before Vendémiaire 10."
+
+The advantages of an irresponsible autocrat in negotiating with a
+Ministry dependent on Parliament have rarely been more signally shown.
+Anxious to gain popularity, and unable to stem the popular movement
+for peace, Addington and Hawkesbury yielded to this request for a
+fixed limit of time; and the preliminaries of peace were signed at
+London on October 1st, 1801, the very day before the news arrived
+there that one of our demands was rendered useless by the actual
+surrender of the French in Egypt.[174]
+
+
+
+The chief conditions of the preliminaries were as follows: Great
+Britain restored to France, Spain, and the Batavian Republic all their
+possessions and colonies recently conquered by her except Trinidad and
+Ceylon. The Cape of Good Hope was given back to the Dutch, but
+remained open to British and French commerce. Malta was to be restored
+to the Order of St. John, and placed under the guarantee and
+protection of a third Power to be agreed on in the definitive treaty.
+Egypt returned to the control of the Sublime Porte. The existing
+possessions of Portugal (that is, exclusive of Olivenza) were
+preserved intact. The French agreed to loose their hold on the Kingdom
+of Naples and the Roman territory; while the British were also to
+evacuate Porto Ferrajo (Elba) and the other ports and islands which
+they held in the Mediterranean and Adriatic. The young Republic of the
+Seven Islands (Ionian Islands) was recognized by France: and the
+fisheries on the coasts of Newfoundland and the adjacent isles were
+placed on their former footing, subject to "such arrangements as shall
+appear just and reciprocally useful."
+
+It was remarked as significant of the new docility of George III.,
+that the empty title of "King of France," which he and his
+predecessors had affected, was now formally resigned, and the _fleurs
+de lys_ ceased to appear on the royal arms.
+
+Thus, with three exceptions, Great Britain had given way on every
+point of importance since the first declaration of her claims; the
+three exceptions were Trinidad and Ceylon, which she gained from the
+allies of France; and Egypt, the recovery of which from the French was
+already achieved, though it was unknown at London. On every detail but
+these Bonaparte had gained a signal diplomatic success. His skill and
+tenacity bade fair to recover for France, Martinique, Tobago, and
+Santa Lucia, then in British hands, as well as the French stations in
+India. The only British gains, after nine years of warfare, fruitful
+in naval triumphs, but entailing an addition of £290,000,000 to the
+National Debt, were the islands of Trinidad and the Dutch possessions
+in Ceylon. And yet in the six months spent in negotiations the general
+course of events had been favourable to the northern Power. What then
+had been lacking? Certainly not valour to her warriors, nor good
+fortune to her flag; but merely brain power to her rulers. They had
+little of that foresight, skill, and intellectual courage, without
+which even the exploits of a Nelson are of little permanent effect.
+
+Reserving for treatment in the next chapter the questions arising from
+these preliminaries and the resulting Peace of Amiens, we turn now to
+consider their bearing on Bonaparte's position as First Consul. The
+return of peace after an exhausting war is always welcome; yet the
+patriotic Briton who saw the National Debt more than doubled, with no
+adequate gain in land or influence, could not but contrast the
+difference in the fortunes of France. That Power had now gained the
+Rhine boundary; her troops garrisoned the fortresses of Holland and
+Northern Italy; her chief dictated his will to German princelings and
+to the once free Switzers; while the Court of Madrid, nay, the
+Eternal City herself, obeyed his behests. And all this prodigious
+expansion had been accomplished at little apparent cost to France
+herself; for the victors' bill had been very largely met out of the
+resources of the conquered territories. It is true that her nobles and
+clergy had suffered fearful losses in lands and treasure, while her
+trading classes had cruelly felt the headlong fall in value of her
+paper notes: but in a land endowed with a bounteous soil and climate
+such losses are soon repaired, and the signature of the peace with
+England left France comparatively prosperous. In October the First
+Consul also concluded peace with Russia, and came to a friendly
+understanding with the Czar on Italian affairs and the question of
+indemnities for the dispossessed German Princes.[175]
+
+
+Bonaparte now strove to extend the colonies and commerce of France, a
+topic to which we shall return later on, and to develop her internal
+resources. The chief roads were repaired, and ceased to be in the
+miserable condition in which the abolition of the _corvées_ in 1789
+had left them: canals were dug to connect the chief river systems of
+France, or were greatly improved; and Paris soon benefited from the
+construction of the Scheldt and Oise canal, which brought the
+resources of Belgium within easy reach of the centre of France. Ports
+were deepened and extended; and Marseilles entered on golden vistas of
+prosperity soon to be closed by the renewal of war with England.
+Communications with Italy were facilitated by the improvement of the
+road between Marseilles and Genoa, as also of the tracks leading over
+the Simplon, Mont Cenis, and Mont Genèvre passes: the roads leading to
+the Rhine and along its left bank also attested the First Consul's
+desire, not only to extend commerce, but to protect his natural
+boundary on the east. The results of this road-making were to be seen
+in the campaign of Ulm, when the French forces marched from Boulogne
+to the Black Forest at an unparalleled speed.
+
+Paris in particular felt his renovating hand. With the abrupt,
+determined tones which he assumed more and more on reaching absolute
+power, he one day said to Chaptal at Malmaison:
+
+     "I intend to make Paris the most beautiful capital of the world: I
+     wish that in ten years it should number two millions of
+     inhabitants." "But," replied his Minister of the Interior, "one
+     cannot improvise population; ... as it is, Paris would scarcely
+     support one million"; and he instanced the want of good drinking
+     water. "What are your plans for giving water to Paris?" Chaptal
+     gave two alternatives--artesian wells or the bringing of water from
+     the River Ourcq to Paris. "I adopt the latter plan: go home and
+     order five hundred men to set to work to-morrow at La Villette to
+     dig the canal."
+
+Such was the inception of a great public work which cost more than
+half a million sterling. The provisioning of Paris also received
+careful attention, a large reserve of wheat being always kept on hand
+for the satisfaction of "a populace which is only dangerous when it is
+hungry." Bonaparte therefore insisted on corn being stored and sold in
+large quantities and at a very low price, even when considerable loss
+was thereby entailed.[176] But besides supplying _panem_ he also
+provided _circenses_ to an extent never known even in the days of
+Louis XV. State aid was largely granted to the chief theatres, where
+Bonaparte himself was a frequent attendant, and a willing captive to
+the charms of the actress Mlle. Georges.
+
+The beautifying of Paris was, however, the chief means employed by
+Bonaparte for weaning its populace from politics; and his efforts to
+this end were soon crowned with complete success. Here again the
+events of the Revolution had left the field clear for vast works of
+reconstruction such as would have been impossible but for the
+abolition of the many monastic institutions of old Paris. On or near
+the sites of the famous Feuillants and Jacobins he now laid down
+splendid thoroughfares; and where the constitutionals or reds a decade
+previously had perorated and fought, the fashionable world of Paris
+now rolled in gilded cabriolets along streets whose names recalled the
+Italian and Egyptian triumphs of the First Consul. Art and culture
+bowed down to the ruler who ordered the renovation of the Louvre,
+which now became the treasure-house of painting and sculpture,
+enriched by masterpieces taken from many an Italian gallery. No
+enterprise has more conspicuously helped to assure the position of
+Paris as the capital of the world's culture than Bonaparte's grouping
+of the nation's art treasures in a central and magnificent building.
+In the first year of his Empire Napoleon gave orders for the
+construction of vast galleries which were to connect the northern
+pavilion of the Tuileries with the Louvre and form a splendid façade
+to the new Rue de Rivoli. Despite the expense, the work was pushed
+on until it was suddenly arrested by the downfall of the Empire,
+and was left to the great man's nephew to complete. Though it is
+possible, as Chaptal avers, that the original design aimed at the
+formation of a central fortress, yet to all lovers of art, above
+all to the hero-worshipping Heine, the new Louvre was a sure pledge
+of Napoleon's immortality.
+
+Other works which combined beauty with utility were the prolongation
+of the quays along the left bank of the Seine, the building of three
+bridges over that river, the improvement of the Jardin des Plantes,
+together with that of other parks and open spaces, and the completion
+of the Conservatoire of Arts and Trades. At a later date, the military
+spirit of the Empire received signal illustration in the erection of
+the Vendôme column, the Arc de Triomphe, and the consecration, or
+desecration, of the Madeleine as a temple of glory.
+
+Many of these works were subsequent to the period which we are
+considering; but the enterprises of the Emperor represent the designs
+of the First Consul; and the plans for the improvement of Paris formed
+during the Consulate were sufficient to inspire the Parisians with
+lively gratitude and to turn them from political speculations to
+scenes of splendour and gaiety that recalled the days of Louis XIV. If
+we may believe the testimony of Romilly, who visited Paris in 1802,
+the new policy had even then attained its end.
+
+     "The quiet despotism, which leaves everybody who does not wish to
+     meddle with politics (and few at present have any such wish) in the
+     full and secure enjoyment of their property and of their pleasures,
+     is a sort of paradise, compared with the agitation, the perpetual
+     alarms, the scenes of infamy, of bloodshed, which accompanied the
+     pretended liberties of France."
+
+But while acknowledging the material benefits of Bonaparte's rule, the
+same friend of liberty notes with concern:
+
+     "That he [Bonaparte] meditates the gaining fresh laurels in war can
+     hardly be doubted, if the accounts which one hears of his restless
+     and impatient disposition be true."
+
+However much the populace delighted in this new _régime_, the many
+ardent souls who had dared and achieved so much in the sacred quest of
+liberty could not refrain from protesting against the innovations
+which were restoring personal rule. Though the Press was gagged,
+though as many as thirty-two Departments were subjected to the
+scrutiny of special tribunals, which, under the guise of stamping out
+brigandage, frequently punished opponents of the Government, yet the
+voice of criticism was not wholly silenced. The project of the
+Concordat was sharply opposed in the Tribunate, which also ventured to
+declare that the first sections of the Civil Codes were not
+conformable to the principles of 1789 and to the first draft of a code
+presented to the Convention. The Government thereupon refused to send
+to the Tribunate any important measures, but merely flung them a mass
+of petty details to discuss, as "_bones to gnaw_" until the time for
+the renewal by lot of a fifth of its members should come round. During
+a discussion at the Council of State, the First Consul hinted with
+much frankness at the methods which ought to be adopted to quell the
+factious opposition of the Tribunate:
+
+     "One cannot work with an institution so productive of disorder. The
+     constitution has created a legislative power composed of three
+     bodies. None of these branches has any right to organize itself:
+     that must be done by the law. Therefore we must make a body which
+     shall organize the manner of deliberations of these three branches.
+     The Tribunate ought to be divided into five sections. The
+     discussion of laws will take place secretly in each section: one
+     might even introduce a discussion between these sections and those
+     of the Council of State. Only the reporter will speak publicly.
+     Then things will go on reasonably."
+
+Having delivered this opinion, _ex cathedra_, he departed (January
+7th, 1802) for Lyons, there to be invested with supreme authority in
+the reconstituted Cisalpine, or as it was now termed, Italian
+Republic[177]
+
+
+Returning at the close of the month, radiant with the lustre of this
+new dignity, he was able to bend the Tribunate and the _Corps
+Législatif_ to his will. The renewal of their membership by one-fifth
+served as the opportunity for subjecting them to the more pliable
+Senate. This august body of highly-paid members holding office for
+life had the right of nominating the new members; but hitherto the
+retiring members had been singled out by lot. Roederer, acting on a
+hint of the time-serving Second Consul, now proposed in the Council
+of State that the retiring members of those Chambers should
+thenceforth be appointed by the Senate, and not by lot; for the
+principle of the lot, he quaintly urged, was hostile to the right of
+election which belonged to the Senate. Against such conscious
+sophistry all the bolts of logic were harmless. The question was left
+undecided, in order that the Senate might forthwith declare in favour
+of its own right to determine every year not only the elections to,
+but the exclusions from, the Tribunate and the _Corps Législatif_. A
+_senatus consultant_ of March legalized this monstrous innovation,
+which led to the exclusion from the Tribunate of zealous republicans
+like Benjamin Constant, Isnard, Ganilh, Daunou, and Chénier. The
+infusion of the senatorial nominees served to complete the nullity of
+these bodies; and the Tribunate, the lineal descendant of the terrible
+Convention, was gagged and bound within eight years of the stilling of
+Danton's mighty voice.
+
+In days when civic zeal was the strength of the French Republic, the
+mere suggestion of such a violation of liberty would have cost the
+speaker his life. But since the rise of Bonaparte, civic sentiments
+had yielded place to the military spirit and to boundless pride in the
+nation's glory. Whenever republican feelings were outraged, there were
+sufficient distractions to dissipate any of the sombre broodings which
+Bonaparte so heartily disliked; and an event of international
+importance now came to still the voice of political criticism.
+
+The signature of the definitive treaty of peace with Great Britain
+(March 25th, 1802) sufficed to drown the muttered discontent of the
+old republican party under the paeans of a nation's joy. The
+jubilation was natural. While Londoners were grumbling at the
+sacrifices which Addington's timidity had entailed, all France rang
+with praises of the diplomatic skill which could rescue several
+islands from England's grip and yet assure French supremacy on the
+Continent. The event seemed to call for some sign of the nation's
+thankfulness to the restorer of peace and prosperity. The hint having
+been given by the tactful Cambacérès to some of the members of the
+Tribunate, this now docile body expressed a wish that there should be
+a striking token of the national gratitude; and a motion to that
+effect was made by the Senate to the _Corps Législatif_ and to the
+Government itself.
+
+The form which the national memorial should take was left entirely
+vague. Under ordinary circumstances the outcome would have been a
+column or a statue: to a Napoleon it was monarchy.
+
+The Senate was in much doubt as to the fit course of action. The
+majority desired to extend the Consulate for a second term of ten
+years, and a formal motion to that effect was made on May 7th. It was
+opposed by a few, some of whom demanded the prolongation for life. The
+president, Tronchet, prompted by Fouché and other republicans, held
+that only the question of prolonging the Consulate for another term of
+ten years was before the Senate: and the motion was carried by sixty
+votes against one: the dissentient voice was that of the Girondin
+Lanjuinais. The report of this vote disconcerted the First Consul, but
+he replied with some constraint that as the people had invested him
+with the supreme magistrature, he would not feel assured of its
+confidence unless the present proposal were also sanctioned by its
+vote: "You judge that I owe the people another sacrifice: I will give
+it if the people's voice orders what your vote now authorizes." But
+before the mass vote of the people was taken, an important change had
+been made in the proposal itself. It was well known that Bonaparte was
+dissatisfied with the senatorial offer: and at a special session of
+the Council of State, at which Ministers were present, the Second
+Consul urged that they must now decide how, when, and _on what
+question_ the people were to be consulted. The whole question recently
+settled by the Senate was thus reopened in a way that illustrated the
+advantage of multiplying councils and of keeping them under official
+tutelage. The Ministers present asserted that the people disapproved
+of the limitations of time imposed by the Senate; and after some
+discussion Cambacérès procured the decision that the consultation of
+the people should be on the questions whether the First Consul should
+hold his power for life, and whether he should nominate his successor.
+
+To the latter part of this proposal the First Consul offered a
+well-judged refusal. To consult the people on the restoration of
+monarchy would, as yet, have been as inopportune as it was
+superfluous. After gaining complete power, Bonaparte could be well
+assured as to the establishment of an hereditary claim. The former and
+less offensive part of the proposal was therefore submitted to the
+people; and to it there could be only one issue amidst the prosperity
+brought by the peace, and the surveillance exercised by the prefects
+and the grateful clergy now brought back by the Concordat. The
+Consulate for Life was voted by the enormous majority of more than
+3,500,000 affirmative votes against 8,374 negatives. But among these
+dissentients were many honoured names: among military men Carnot,
+Drouot, Mouton, and Bernard opposed the innovation; and Lafayette made
+the public statement that he could not vote for such a magistracy
+unless political liberty were guaranteed. A _senatus consultum_ of
+August 1st forthwith proclaimed Napoleon Bonaparte Consul for Life and
+ordered the erection of a Statue of Peace, holding in one hand the
+victor's laurel and in the other the senatorial decree.
+
+On the following day Napoleon--for henceforth he generally used his
+Christian name like other monarchs--presented to the Council of State
+a project of an organic law, which virtually amounted to a new
+constitution. The mere fact of its presentation at so early a date
+suffices to prove how completely he had prepared for the recent change
+and how thoroughly assured he was of success. This important measure
+was hurried through the Senate, and, without being submitted to the
+Tribunate or _Corps Législatif_, still less to the people, for whose
+sanction he had recently affected so much concern--was declared to be
+the fundamental law of the State.
+
+The fifth constitution of revolutionary France may be thus described.
+It began by altering the methods of election. In place of Sieyès'
+lists of notabilities, Bonaparte proposed a simpler plan. The
+adult citizens of each canton were thenceforth to meet, for
+electoral purposes, in primary assemblies, to name two candidates
+for the office of _juge de paix_ (i.e., magistrate) and town
+councillor, and to choose the members of the "electoral colleges"
+for the _arrondissement_ and for the Department. In the latter case
+only the 600 most wealthy men of the Department were eligible. An
+official or aristocratic tinge was to be imparted to these electoral
+colleges by the infusion of members selected by the First Consul from
+the members of the Legion of Honour. Fixity of opinion was also
+assured by members holding office for life; and, as they were elected
+in the midst of the enthusiasm aroused by the Peace of Amiens, they
+were decidedly Bonapartist.
+
+The electoral colleges had the following powers: they nominated two
+candidates for each place vacant in the merely consultative councils
+of their respective areas, and had the equally barren honour of
+presenting two candidates for the Tribunate--the final act of
+_selection_ being decided by the executive, that is, by the First
+Consul. Corresponding privileges were accorded to the electoral
+colleges of the Department, save that these plutocratic bodies had the
+right of presenting candidates for admission to the Senate. The lists
+of candidates for the _Corps_ _Législatif_ were to be formed by the
+joint action of the electoral colleges, namely, those of the
+Departments and those of the _arrondissements_. But as the resulting
+councils and parliamentary bodies had only the shadow of power, the
+whole apparatus was but an imposing machine for winnowing the air and
+threshing chaff.
+
+The First Consul secured few additional rights or attributes, except
+the exercise of the royal prerogative of granting pardon. But, in
+truth, his own powers were already so large that they were scarcely
+susceptible of extension. The three Consuls held office for life, and
+were _ex officio_ members of the Senate. The second and third Consuls
+were nominated by the Senate on the presentation of the First Consul:
+the Senate might reject two names proposed by him for either office,
+but they must accept his third nominee. The First Consul might deposit
+in the State archives his proposal as to his successor: if the Senate
+rejected this proposal, the second and third Consuls made a
+suggestion; and if it were rejected, one of the two whom they
+thereupon named must be elected by the Senate. The three legislative
+bodies lost practically all their powers, those of the _Corps
+Législatif_ going to the Senate, those of the Council of State to an
+official Cabal formed out of it; while the Tribunate was forced to
+_debate secretly in five sections_, where, as Bonaparte observed,
+_they might jabber as they liked_.
+
+On the other hand, the attributes of the Senate were signally
+enhanced. It was thenceforth charged, not only with the preservation
+of the republican constitution, but with its interpretation in
+disputed points, and its completion wherever it should be found
+wanting. Furthermore, by means of organic _senatus consulta_ it was
+empowered to make constitutions for the French colonies, or to suspend
+trial by jury for five years in any Department, or even to declare it
+outside the limits of the constitution. It now gained the right of
+being consulted in regard to the ratification of treaties, previously
+enjoyed by the _Corps Législatif._ Finally, it could dissolve the
+_Corps Législatif_ and the Tribunate. But this formidable machinery
+was kept under the strict control of the chief engineer: all these
+powers were set in motion on the initiative of the Government; and the
+proposals for its laws, or _senatus consulta,_ were discussed in the
+Cabal of the Council of State named by the First Consul. This
+precaution might have been deemed superfluous by a ruler less careful
+about details than Napoleon; the composition of the Senate was such as
+to assure its pliability; for though it continued to renew its ranks
+by co-optation, yet that privilege was restricted in the following
+way: from the lists of candidates for the Senate sent up by the
+electoral colleges of the Departments, Napoleon selected three for
+each seat vacant; one of those three must be chosen by the Senate.
+Moreover, the First Consul was to be allowed directly to nominate
+forty members in addition to the eighty prescribed by the constitution
+of 1799. Thus, by direct or indirect means, the Senate soon became a
+strict Napoleonic preserve, to which only the most devoted adherents
+could aspire. And yet, such is the vanity of human efforts, it was
+this very body which twelve years later was to vote his
+deposition.[178]
+
+The victory of action over talk, of the executive over the
+legislature, of the one supremely able man over the discordant and
+helpless many, was now complete. The process was startlingly swift;
+yet its chief stages are not difficult to trace. The orators of the
+first two National Assemblies of France, after wrecking the old royal
+authority, were constrained by the pressure of events to intrust the
+supervision of the executive powers to important committees, whose
+functions grew with the intensity of the national danger. Amidst the
+agonies of 1793, when France was menaced by the First Coalition, the
+Committee of Public Safety leaped forth as the ensanguined champion of
+democracy; and, as the crisis, developed in intensity, this terrible
+body and the Committee of General Security virtually governed France.
+
+After the repulse of the invaders and the fall of Robespierre, the
+return to ordinary methods was marked by the institution of the
+Directory, when five men, chosen by the legislature, controlled the
+executive powers and the general policy of the Republic: that
+compromise was forcibly ended by the stroke of Brumaire. Three Consuls
+then seized the reins, and two years later a single charioteer gripped
+the destinies of France. His powers were, in fact, ultimately derived
+from those of the secret committees of the terrorists. But, unlike the
+supremacy of Robespierre, that of Napoleon could not be disputed; for
+the general, while guarding all the material boons which the
+Revolution had conferred, conciliated the interests and classes
+whereon the civilian had so brutally trampled. The new autocracy
+therefore possessed a solid strength which that of the terrorists
+could never possess. Indeed, it was more absolute than the dictatorial
+power that Rousseau had outlined. The philosopher had asserted that,
+while silencing the legislative power, the dictator really made it
+vocal, and that he could do everything but make laws. But Napoleon,
+after 1802, did far more: he suppressed debates and yet drew laws from
+his subservient legislature. Whether, then, we regard its practical
+importance for France and Europe, or limit our view to the mental
+sagacity and indomitable will-power required for its accomplishment,
+the triumph of Napoleon in the three years subsequent to his return
+from Egypt is the most stupendous recorded in the history of civilized
+peoples.
+
+The populace consoled itself for the loss of political liberty by the
+splendour of the fête which heralded the title of First Consul for
+Life, proclaimed on August 15th: that day was also memorable as being
+the First Consul's thirty-third birthday, the festival of the
+Assumption, and the anniversary of the ratification of the Concordat.
+The decorations and fireworks were worthy of so remarkable a
+confluence of solemnities. High on one of the towers of Notre Dame
+glittered an enormous star, and at its centre there shone the sign of
+the Zodiac which had shed its influence over his first hours of life.
+The myriads of spectators who gazed at that natal emblem might well
+have thought that his life's star was now at its zenith. Few could
+have dared to think that it was to mount far higher into unknown
+depths of space, blazing as a baleful portent to kings and peoples;
+still less was there any Cassandra shriek of doom as to its final
+headlong fall into the wastes of ocean. All was joy and jubilation
+over a career that had even now surpassed the records of antique
+heroism, that blended the romance of oriental prowess with the
+beneficent toils of the legislator, and prospered alike in war and
+peace.
+
+And yet black care cast one shadow over that jubilant festival. There
+was a void in the First Consul's life such as saddened but few of the
+millions of peasants who looked up to him as their saviour. His wife
+had borne him no heir: and there seemed no prospect that a child of
+his own would ever succeed to his glorious heritage. Family joys, it
+seemed, were not for him. Suspicions and bickerings were his lot. His
+brothers, in their feverish desire for the establishment of a
+Bonapartist dynasty, ceaselessly urged that he should take means to
+provide himself with a legitimate heir, in the last resort by
+divorcing Josephine. With a consideration for her feelings which does
+him credit, Napoleon refused to countenance such proceedings. Yet it
+is certain that from this time onwards he kept in view the
+desirability, on political grounds, of divorcing her, and made this
+the excuse for indulgence in amours against which Josephine's tears
+and reproaches were all in vain.
+
+The consolidation of personal rule, the institution of the Legion of
+Honour, and the return of very many of the emigrant nobles under the
+terms of the recent amnesty, favoured the growth of luxury in the
+capital and of Court etiquette at the Tuileries and St. Cloud. At
+these palaces the pomp of the _ancien régime_ was laboriously copied.
+General Duroc, stiff republican though he was, received the
+appointment of Governor of the Palace; under him were chamberlains and
+prefects of the palace, who enforced a ceremonial that struggled to be
+monarchical. The gorgeous liveries and sumptuous garments of the reign
+of Louis XV. speedily replaced the military dress which even civilians
+had worn under the warlike Republic. High boots, sabres, and
+regimental headgear gave way to buckled shoes, silk stockings, Court
+rapiers, and light hats, the last generally held under the arm.
+Tricolour cockades were discarded, along with the revolutionary jargon
+which _thou'd_ and _citizen'd_ everyone; and men began to purge their
+speech of some of the obscene terms which had haunted clubs and camps.
+
+It was remarked, however, that the First Consul still clung to the use
+of the term _citizen_, and that amidst the surprising combinations of
+colours that flecked his Court, he generally wore only the uniform of
+a colonel of grenadiers or of the light infantry of the consular
+guard. This conduct resulted partly from his early dislike of luxury,
+but partly, doubtless, from a conviction that republicans will forgive
+much in a man who, like Vespasian, discards the grandeur which his
+prowess has won, and shines by his very plainness. To trifling matters
+such as these Napoleon always attached great importance; for, as he
+said to Admiral Malcolm at St. Helena: "In France trifles are great
+things: reason is nothing."[179] Besides, genius so commanding as his
+little needed the external trappings wherewith ordinary mortals hide
+their nullity. If his attire was simple, it but set off the better the
+play of his mobile features, and the rich, unfailing flow of his
+conversation. Perhaps no clearer and more pleasing account of his
+appearance and his conduct at a reception has ever been given to the
+world than this sketch of the great man in one of his gentler moods by
+John Leslie Foster, who visited Paris shortly after the Peace of
+Amiens:
+
+     "He is about five feet seven inches high, delicately and gracefully
+     made; his hair a dark brown crop, thin and lank; his complexion
+     smooth, pale, and sallow; his eyes gray, but very animated; his
+     eye-brows light brown, thin and projecting. All his features,
+     particularly his mouth and nose, fine, sharp, defined, and
+     expressive beyond description; expressive of what? Not of
+     anything_percé_ as the prints expressed him, still less of anything
+     _méchant_; nor has he anything of that eye whose bend doth awe the
+     world. The true expression of his countenance is a pleasing
+     melancholy, which, whenever he speaks, relaxes into the most
+     agreeable and gracious smile you can conceive. To this you must add
+     the appearance of deep and intense thought, but above all the
+     predominating expression a look of calm and tranquil resolution and
+     intrepidity which nothing human could discompose. His address is
+     the finest I have ever seen, and said by those who have travelled
+     to exceed not only every Prince and Potentate now in being, but
+     even all those whose memory has come down to us. He has more
+     unaffected dignity than I could conceive in man. His address is the
+     gentlest and most prepossessing you can conceive, which is seconded
+     by the greatest fund of levée conversation that I suppose any
+     person ever possessed. He speaks deliberately, but very fluently,
+     with particular emphasis, and in a rather low tone of voice. While
+     he speaks, his features are still more expressive than his
+     words."[180]
+
+In contrast with this intellectual power and becoming simplicity of
+attire, how stupid and tawdry were the bevies of soulless women and
+the dumb groups of half-tamed soldiers! How vapid also the rules of
+etiquette and precedence which starched the men and agitated the minds
+of their consorts! Yet, while soaring above these rules with easy
+grace, the First Consul imposed them rigidly on the crowd of eager
+courtiers. On these burning questions he generally took the advice of
+M. de Rémusat, whose tact and acquaintance with Court customs were now
+of much service; while the sprightly wit of his young wife attracted
+Josephine, as it has all readers of her piquant but rather spiteful
+memoirs. In her pages we catch a glimpse of the life of that singular
+Court; the attempts at aping the inimitable manners of the _ancien
+régime_; the pompous nullity of the second and third Consuls; the
+tawdry magnificence of the costumes; the studied avoidance of any word
+that implied even a modicum of learning or a distant acquaintance with
+politics; the nervous preoccupation about Napoleon's moods and whims;
+the graceful manners of Josephine that rarely failed to charm away his
+humours, except when she herself had been outrageously slighted for
+some passing favourite; above all, the leaden dullness of
+conversation, which drew from Chaptal the confession that life there
+was the life of a galley slave. And if we seek for the hidden reason
+why a ruler eminently endowed with mental force and freshness should
+have endured so laboured a masquerade, we find it in his strikingly
+frank confession to Madame de Rémusat: _It is fortunate that the
+French are to be ruled through their vanity._ <
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+THE PEACE OF AMIENS
+
+
+The previous chapter dealt in the main with the internal affairs of
+France and the completion of Napoleon's power: it touched on foreign
+affairs only so far as to exhibit the close connection between the
+First Consul's diplomatic victory over England and his triumph over
+the republican constitution in his adopted country. But it is time now
+to review the course of the negotiations which led up to the Treaty of
+Amiens.
+
+In order to realize the advantages which France then had over England,
+it will be well briefly to review the condition of our land at that
+time. Our population was far smaller than that of the French Republic.
+France, with her recent acquisitions in Belgium, the Rhineland, Savoy,
+Nice, and Piedmont, numbered nearly 40,000,000 inhabitants: but the
+census returns of Great Britain for 1801 showed only a total of
+10,942,000 souls, while the numbers for Ireland, arguing from the
+rather untrustworthy return of 1813, may be reckoned at about six and
+a half millions. The prodigious growth of the English-speaking people
+had not as yet fully commenced either in the motherland, the United
+States, or in the small and struggling settlements of Canada and
+Australia. Its future expansion was to be assured by industrial and
+social causes, and by the events considered in this and in subsequent
+chapters. It was a small people that had for several months faced with
+undaunted front the gigantic power of Bonaparte and that of the Armed
+Neutrals.
+
+This population of less than 18,000,000 souls, of which nearly
+one-third openly resented the Act of Union recently imposed on
+Ireland, was burdened by a National Debt which amounted to
+£537,000,000, and entailed a yearly charge of more than £20,000,000
+sterling. In the years of war with revolutionary France the annual
+expenditure had risen from £19,859,000 (for 1792) to the total of
+£61,329,000, which necessitated an income tax of 10 per cent. on all
+incomes of £200 and upwards. Yet, despite party feuds, the nation was
+never stronger, and its fleets had never won more brilliant and solid
+triumphs. The chief naval historian of France admits that we had
+captured no fewer than 50 ships of the line, and had lost to our
+enemies only five, thereby raising the strength of our fighting line
+to 189, while that of France had sunk to 47.[181] The prowess of Sir
+Arthur Wellesley was also beginning to revive in India the ancient
+lustre of the British arms; but the events of 1802-3 were to show that
+our industrial enterprise, and the exploits of our sailors and
+soldiers, were by themselves of little avail when matched in a
+diplomatic contest against the vast resources of France and the
+embodied might of a Napoleon.
+
+Men and institutions were everywhere receiving the imprint of his
+will. France was as wax under his genius. The sovereigns of Spain,
+Italy, and Germany obeyed his _fiat_. Even the stubborn Dutch bent
+before him. On the plea of defeating Orange intrigues, he imposed a
+new constitution on the Batavian Republic whose independence he had
+agreed to respect. Its Directory was now replaced by a Regency which
+relieved the deputies of the people of all responsibility. A
+_plébiscite_ showed 52,000 votes against, and 16,000 for, the new
+_régime_; but, as 350,000 had not voted, their silence was taken for
+consent, and Bonaparte's will became law (September, 1801).
+
+We are now in a position to appreciate the position of France and
+Great Britain. Before the signature of the preliminaries of peace at
+London on October 1st, 1801, our Government had given up its claims to
+the Cape, Malta, Tobago, Martinique, Essequibo, Demerara, Berbice, and
+Curaçoa, retaining of its conquests only Trinidad and Ceylon.
+
+A belated attempt had, indeed, been made to retain Tobago. The Premier
+and the Foreign Secretary, Lord Hawkesbury, were led by the French
+political agent in London, M. Otto, to believe that, in the ensuing
+negotiations at Amiens, every facility would be given by the French
+Government towards its retrocession to us, and that this act would be
+regarded as the means of indemnifying Great Britain for the heavy
+expense of supporting many thousands of French and Dutch prisoners.
+The Cabinet, relying on this promise as binding between honourable
+men, thereupon endeavoured to obtain the assent of George III. to the
+preliminaries in their ultimate form, and only the prospect of
+regaining Tobago by this compromise induced the King to give it. When
+it was too late, King and Ministers realized their mistake in relying
+on verbal promises and in failing to procure a written statement.[182]
+
+The abandonment by Ministers of their former claim to Malta is equally
+strange. Nelson, though he held Malta to be useless as a base for the
+British fleet watching Toulon, made the memorable statement: "I
+consider Malta as a most important outwork to India." But a despatch
+from St. Petersburg, stating that the new Czar had concluded a formal
+treaty of alliance with the Order of St. John settled in Russia, may
+have convinced Addington and his colleagues that it would be better to
+forego all claim to Malta in order to cement the newly won friendship
+of Russia. Whatever may have been their motive, British Ministers
+consented to cede the island to the Knights of St. John under the
+protection of some third Power.
+
+The preliminaries of peace were further remarkable for three strange
+omissions. They did not provide for the renewal of previous treaties
+of peace between the late combatants. War is held to break all
+previous treaties; and by failing to require the renewal of the
+treaties of 1713, 1763, and 1783, it was now open to Spain and France
+to cement, albeit in a new form, that Family Compact which it had long
+been the aim of British diplomacy to dissolve: the failure to renew
+those earlier treaties rendered it possible for the Court of Madrid to
+alienate any of its colonies to France, as at that very time was being
+arranged with respect to Louisiana.
+
+The second omission was equally remarkable. No mention was made of any
+renewal of commercial intercourse between England and France.
+Doubtless a complete settlement of this question would have been
+difficult. British merchants would have looked for a renewal of that
+enlightened treaty of commerce of 1786-7, which had aroused the bitter
+opposition of French manufacturers. But the question might have been
+broached at London, and its omission from the preliminaries served as
+a reason for shelving it in the definitive treaty--a piece of folly
+which at once provoked the severest censure from British
+manufacturers, who thereby lost the markets of France, and her subject
+States, Holland, Spain, Switzerland, Genoa, and Etruria.
+
+And, finally, the terms of peace provided no compensation either for
+the French royal House or for the dispossessed House of Orange. Here
+again, it would have been very difficult to find a recompense such as
+the Bourbons could with dignity have accepted; and the suggestion made
+by one of the royalist exiles to Lord Hawkesbury, that Great Britain
+should seize Crete and hand it over to them, will show how desperate
+was their case.[183] Nevertheless, some effort should have been made
+by a Government which had so often proclaimed its championship of the
+legitimist cause. Still more glaring was the omission of any
+stipulation for an indemnity for the House of Orange, now exiled from
+the Batavian Republic. That claim, though urged at the outset, found
+no place in the preliminaries; and the mingled surprise and contempt
+felt in the _salons_ of Paris at the conduct of the British Government
+is shown in a semiofficial report sent thence by one of its secret
+agents:
+
+     "I cannot get it into my head that the British Ministry has acted
+     in good faith in subscribing to preliminaries of peace, which,
+     considering the respective position of the parties, would be
+     harmful to the English people.... People are persuaded in France
+     that the moderation of England is only a snare put in Bonaparte's
+     way, and it is mainly in order to dispel it that our journals have
+     received the order to make much of the advantages which must accrue
+     to England from the conquests retained by her; but the journalists
+     have convinced nobody, and it is said openly that if our European
+     conquests are consolidated by a general peace, France will, within
+     ten years, subjugate all Europe, Great Britain included, despite
+     all her vast dominions in India. Only within the last few days have
+     people here believed in the sincerity of the English preliminaries
+     of peace, and they say everywhere that, after having gloriously
+     sailed past the rocks that Bonaparte's cunning had placed in its
+     track, the British Ministry has completely foundered at the mouth
+     of the harbour. People blame the whole structure of the peace as
+     betraying marks of feebleness in all that concerns the dignity and
+     the interests of the King; ... and we cannot excuse its neglect of
+     the royalists, whose interests are entirely set aside in the
+     preliminaries. Men are especially astonished at England's
+     retrocession of Martinique without a single stipulation for the
+     colonists there, who are at the mercy of a government as rapacious
+     as it is fickle. All the owners of colonial property are very
+     uneasy, and do not hide their annoyance against England on this
+     score."[184]
+
+This interesting report gives a glimpse into the real thought of Paris
+such as is rarely afforded by the tamed or venal Press. As Bonaparte's
+spies enabled him to feel every throb of the French pulse, he must at
+once have seen how great was the prestige which he gained by these
+first diplomatic successes, and how precarious was the foothold of the
+English Ministers on the slippery grade of concession to which they
+had been lured. Addington surely should have remembered that only the
+strong man can with safety recede at the outset, and that an act of
+concession which, coming from a master mind, is interpreted as one of
+noble magnanimity, will be scornfully snatched from a nerveless hand
+as a sign of timorous complaisance. But the public statements and the
+secret avowals of our leaders show that they wished "to try the
+experiment of peace," now that France had returned to ordinary
+political conditions and Jacobinism was curbed by Bonaparte.
+"Perhaps," wrote Castlereagh, "France, satisfied with her recent
+acquisitions, will find her interest in that system of internal
+improvement which is necessarily connected with peace."[185] There is
+no reason for doubting the sincerity of this statement. Our policy was
+distinctly and continuously complaisant: France regained her colonies:
+she was not required to withdraw from Switzerland and Holland. Who
+could expect, from what was then known of Bonaparte's character, that
+a peace so fraught with glory and profit would not satisfy French
+honour and his own ambition?
+
+Peace, then, was an "experiment." The British Government wished to see
+whether France would turn from revolution and war to agriculture and
+commerce, whether her young ruler be satisfied with a position of
+grandeur and solid power such as Louis XIV. had rarely enjoyed. Alas!
+the failure of the experiment was patent to all save the blandest
+optimists long before the Preliminaries of London took form in the
+definitive Treaty of Amiens. Bonaparte's aim now was to keep our
+Government strictly to the provisional terms of peace which it had
+imprudently signed. Even before the negotiations were opened at
+Amiens, he ordered Joseph Bonaparte to listen to no proposal
+concerning the King of Sardinia and the ex-Stadholder of Holland,
+and asserted that the "internal affairs of the Batavian Republic, of
+Germany, of Helvetia, and of the Italian Republics" were "absolutely
+alien to the discussions with England." This implied that England was
+to be shut out from Continental politics, and that France was to
+regulate the affairs of central and southern Europe. This observance
+of the letter was, however, less rigid where French colonial and
+maritime interests were at stake. Dextrous feelers were put forth
+seawards, and it was only when these were repulsed that the French
+negotiators encased themselves in their preliminaries.
+
+The task of reducing those articles to a definitive treaty devolved,
+on the British side, on the Marquis Cornwallis, a gouty, world-weary
+old soldier, chiefly remembered for the surrender which ended the
+American War. Nevertheless, he had everywhere won respect for his
+personal probity in the administration of Indian affairs, and there
+must also have been some convincing qualities in a personality which
+drew from Napoleon at St. Helena the remark: "I do not believe that
+Cornwallis was a man of first-rate abilities: but he had talent, great
+probity, sincerity, and never broke his word.... He was a man of
+honour--a true Englishman."
+
+Against Lord Cornwallis, and his far abler secretary, Mr. Merry, were
+pitted Joseph Bonaparte and his secretaries. The abilities of the
+eldest of the Bonapartes have been much underrated. Though he lacked
+the masterful force and wide powers of his second brother, yet at
+Lunéville Joseph proved himself to be an able diplomatist, and later
+on in his tenure of power at Naples and Madrid he displayed no small
+administrative gifts. Moreover, his tact and kindliness kindled in all
+who knew him a warmth of friendship such as Napoleon's sterner
+qualities rarely inspired. The one was loved as a man: for the other,
+even his earlier acquaintances felt admiration and devotion, but
+always mingled with a certain fear of the demi-god that would at times
+blaze forth. This was the dread personality that urged Talleyrand and
+Joseph Bonaparte to their utmost endeavours and steeled them against
+any untoward complaisance at Amiens.
+
+The selection of so honourable a man as Cornwallis afforded no slight
+guarantee for the sincerity of our Government, and its sincerity will
+stand the test of a perusal of its despatches. Having examined all
+those that deal with these negotiations, the present writer can affirm
+that the official instructions were in no respect modified by the
+secret injunctions: these referred merely to such delicate and
+personal topics as the evacuation of Hanover by Prussian troops and
+the indemnities to be sought for the House of Orange and the House of
+Savoy. The circumstances of these two dispossessed dynasties were
+explained so as to show that the former Dutch Stadholder had a very
+strong claim on us, as well as on France and the Batavian Republic;
+while the championship of the House of Savoy by the Czar rendered the
+claims of that ancient family on the intervention of George III. less
+direct and personal than those of the Prince of Orange. Indeed,
+England would have insisted on the insertion of a clause to this
+effect in the preliminaries had not other arrangements been on foot at
+Berlin which promised to yield due compensation to this unfortunate
+prince. Doubtless the motives of the British Ministers were good, but
+their failure to insert such a clause fatally prejudiced their case
+all through the negotiations at Amiens.
+
+The British official declaration respecting Malta was clear and
+practical. The island was to be restored to the Knights of the Order
+of St. John and placed under the protection of a third Power other
+than France and England. But the reconstitution of the Order was no
+less difficult than the choice of a strong and disinterested
+protecting Power. Lord Hawkesbury proposed that Russia be the
+guaranteeing Power. No proposal could have been more reasonable. The
+claims of the Czar to the protectorate of the Order had been so
+recently asserted by a treaty with the knights that no other
+conclusion seemed feasible. And, in order to assuage the grievances of
+the islanders and strengthen the rule of the knights, the British
+Ministry desired that the natives of Malta should gain a foothold in
+the new constitution. The lack of civil and political rights had
+contributed so materially to the overthrow of the Order that no
+reconstruction of that shattered body could be deemed intelligent, or
+even honest, which did not cement its interests with those of the
+native Maltese. The First Consul, however, at once demurred to both
+these proposals. In the course of a long interview with Cornwallis at
+Paris,[186] he adverted to the danger of bringing Russia's maritime
+pressure to bear on Mediterranean questions, especially as her
+sovereigns "had of late shown themselves to be such unsteady
+politicians." This of course referred to the English proclivities of
+Alexander I., and it is clear that Bonaparte's annoyance with
+Alexander was the first unsettling influence which prevented the
+solution of the Maltese question. The First Consul also admitted to
+Cornwallis that the King of Naples, despite his ancient claims of
+suzerainty over Malta, could not be considered a satisfactory
+guarantor, as between two Great Powers; and he then proposed that the
+tangle should be cut by blowing up the fortifications of Valetta.
+
+The mere suggestion of such an act affords eloquent proof of the
+difficulties besetting the whole question. To destroy works of vast
+extent, which were the bulwark of Christendom against the Barbary
+pirates, would practically have involved the handing over of Valetta
+to those pests of the Mediterranean; and from Malta as a new base of
+operations they could have spread devastation along the coasts of
+Sicily and Italy. This was the objection which Cornwallis at once
+offered to an other-wise specious proposal: he had recently received
+papers from Major-General Pigot at Malta, in which the same solution
+of the question was examined in detail. The British officer pointed
+out that the complete dismantling of the fortifications would expose
+the island, and therefore the coasts of Italy, to the rovers; yet he
+suggested a partial demolition, which seems to prove that the British
+officers in command at Malta did not contemplate the retention of the
+island and the infraction of the peace.
+
+Our Government, however, disapproved of the destruction of the
+fortifications of Valetta as wounding the susceptibilities of the
+Czar, and as in no wise rendering impossible the seizure of the island
+and the reconstruction of those works by some future invader. In fact,
+as the British Ministry now aimed above all at maintaining good
+relations with the Czar, Bonaparte's proposal could only be regarded
+as an ingenious device for sundering the Anglo-Russian understanding.
+The French Minister at St. Petersburg was doing his utmost to prevent
+the _rapprochement_ of the Czar to the Court of St James, and was
+striving to revive the moribund league of the Armed Neutrals. That
+last offer had "been rejected in the most peremptory manner and in
+terms almost bordering upon derision." Still there was reason to
+believe that the former Anglo-Russian disputes about Malta might be so
+far renewed as to bring Bonaparte and Alexander to an understanding.
+The sentimental Liberalism of the young Czar predisposed him towards a
+French alliance, and his whole disposition inclined him towards the
+brilliant opportunism of Paris rather than the frigid legitimacy of
+the Court of St. James. The Maltese affair and the possibility of
+reopening the Eastern Question were the two sources of hope to the
+promoters of a Franco-Russian alliance; for both these questions
+appealed to the chivalrous love of adventure and to the calculating
+ambition so curiously blent in Alexander's nature. Such, then, was the
+motive which doubtless prompted Bonaparte's proposal concerning
+Valetta; such also were the reasons which certainly dictated its
+rejection by Great Britain.
+
+In his interview with the First Consul at Paris, and in the subsequent
+negotiations at Amiens with Joseph Bonaparte, the question of Tobago
+and England's money claim for the support of French prisoners was
+found to be no less thorny than that of Malta. The Bonapartes firmly
+rejected the proposal for the retention of Tobago by England in lieu
+of her pecuniary demand. A Government which neglected to procure the
+insertion of its claim to Tobago among the Preliminaries of London
+could certainly not hope to regain that island in exchange for a
+concession to France that was in any degree disputable. But the two
+Bonapartes and Talleyrand now took their stand solely on the
+preliminaries, and politely waved on one side the earlier promises of
+M. Otto as unauthorized and invalid, They also closely scrutinized the
+British claim to an indemnity for the support of French prisoners.
+Though theoretically correct, it was open to an objection, which was
+urged by Bonaparte and Talleyrand with suave yet incisive irony.
+They suggested that the claim must be considered in relation to a
+counter-claim, soon to be sent from Paris, for the maintenance of all
+prisoners taken by the French from the various forces subsidized by
+Great Britain, a charge which "would probably not leave a balance so
+much in favour of His [Britannic] Majesty as His Government may have
+looked forward to." This retort was not so terrible as it appeared;
+for most of the papers necessary for the making up of the French
+counterclaim had been lost or destroyed during the Revolution. Yet the
+threat told with full effect on Cornwallis, who thereafter referred to
+the British claim as a "hopeless debt."[187] The officials of Downing
+Street drew a distinction between prisoners from armies merely
+subsidized by us and those taken from foreign forces actually under
+our control; but it is clear that Cornwallis ceased to press the
+claim. In fact, the British case was mismanaged from beginning to end:
+the accounts for the maintenance of French and Dutch prisoners were,
+in the first instance, wrongly drawn up; and there seems to have been
+little or no notion of the seriousness of the counter-claim, which
+came with all the effect of a volley from a masked battery,
+destructive alike to our diplomatic reputation and to our hope of
+retaining Tobago.
+
+It is impossible to refer here to all the topics discussed at Amiens.
+The determination of the French Government to adopt a forward colonial
+and oceanic policy is clearly seen in its proposals made at the close
+of the year 1801. They were: (1) the abolition of salutes to the
+British flag on the high seas; (2) an _absolute_ ownership of the
+eastern and western coasts of Newfoundland in return for a proposed
+cession of the isles of St. Pierre and Miquelon to us--which would
+have practically ceded to France _in full sovereignty_ all the best
+fishing coasts of that land, with every prospect of settling the
+interior, in exchange for two islets devastated by war and then in
+British hands; (3) the right of the French to a share in the whale
+fishery in those seas; (4) the establishment of a French fishing
+station in the Falkland Isles; and (5) the extension of the French
+districts around the towns of Yanaon and Mahé in India.[188] To all
+these demands Lord Cornwallis opposed an unbending opposition. Weak as
+our policy had been on other affairs, it was firm as a rock on all
+maritime and Indian questions. In fact, the events to be described in
+the next chapter, which led to the consolidation of British power in
+Hindostan, would in all probability never have occurred but for the
+apprehensions excited by these French demands; and our masterful
+proconsul in Bengal, the Marquis Wellesley, could not have pursued his
+daring and expensive schemes of conquest, annexation, and forced
+alliances, had not the schemes of the First Consul played into the
+hands of the soldiers at Calcutta and weakened the protests of the
+dividend-hunters of Leadenhall Street.
+
+The persistence of French demands for an increase of influence in
+Newfoundland and the West and East Indies, the vastness of her
+expedition to Saint Domingo and the thinly-veiled designs of her
+Australian expedition (which we shall notice in the next chapter), all
+served to awaken the suspicions of the British Government. The
+negotiations consequently progressed but slowly. From the outset they
+were clogged by the suspicion of bad faith. Spain and Holland, smarting
+under the conditions of a peace which gave to France all the glory and
+to her allies all the loss, delayed sending their respective envoys to
+the conferences at Amiens, and finally avowed their determination to
+resist the surrender of Trinidad and Ceylon. In fact, pressure had to
+be exerted from Paris and London before they yielded to the inevitable.
+This difficulty was only one of several: there then remained the
+questions whether Portugal and Turkey should be admitted to share in the
+treaty, as England demanded; or whether they should sign a separate
+peace with France. The First Consul strenuously insisted on the
+exclusion of those States, though their interests were vitally affected
+by the present negotiations, He saw that a separate treaty with the
+Sublime Porte would enable him, not only to extract valuable trading
+concessions in the Black Sea trade, but also to cement a good
+understanding with Russia on the Eastern Question, which was now being
+adroitly reopened by French diplomacy. Against the exclusion of Turkey
+from the negotiations at Amiens, Great Britain firmly but vainly
+protested. In fact, Talleyrand had bound the Porte to a separate
+agreement which promised everything for France and nothing for Turkey,
+and seemed to doom the Sublime Porte to certain humiliation and probable
+partition.[189]
+
+Then there were the vexed questions of the indemnities claimed by
+George III. for the Houses of Orange and of Savoy. In his interview
+with Cornwallis, Bonaparte had effusively promised to do his utmost
+for the ex-Stadholder, though he refused to consider the case of the
+King of Sardinia, who, he averred, had offended him by appealing to
+the Czar. The territorial interests of France in Italy doubtless
+offered a more potent argument to the First Consul: after practically
+annexing Piedmont and dominating the peninsula, he could ill brook
+the presence on the mainland of a king whom he had already sacrificed
+to his astute and masterful policy. The case of the Prince of Orange
+was different. He was a victim to the triumph of French and democratic
+influence in the Dutch Netherlands. George III. felt a deep interest
+in this unfortunate prince and made a strong appeal to the better
+instincts of Bonaparte on his behalf. Indeed, it is probable that
+England had acquiesced in the consolidation of French influence at the
+Hague, in the hope that her complaisance would lead the First Consul
+to assure him some position worthy of so ancient a House. But though
+Cornwallis pressed the Batavian Republic on behalf of its exiled
+chief, yet the question was finally adjourned by the XVIIIth clause of
+the definitive Treaty of Amiens; and the scion of that famous House
+had to take his share in the forthcoming scramble for the clerical
+domains of Germany.[190]
+
+For the still more difficult cause of the House of Savoy the British
+Government made honest but unavailing efforts, firmly refusing to
+recognize the newest creations of Bonaparte in Italy, namely, the
+Kingdom of Etruria and the Ligurian Republic, until he indemnified the
+House of Savoy. Our recognition was withheld for the reasons that
+prompt every bargainer to refuse satisfaction to his antagonist until
+an equal concession is accorded. This game was played by both Powers
+at Amiens, and with little other result than mutual exasperation. Yet
+here, too, the balance of gain naturally accrued to Bonaparte; for he
+required the British Ministry to recognize existing facts in Etruria
+and Liguria, while Cornwallis had to champion the cause of exiles and
+of an order that seemed for ever to have vanished. To pit the
+non-existent against the actual was a task far above the powers of
+British statesmanship; yet that was to be its task for the next
+decade, while the forces of the living present were to be wielded by
+its mighty antagonist. Herein lay the secret of British failures and
+of Napoleon's extraordinary triumphs.
+
+Leaving, for a space, the negotiations at Amiens, we turn to consider
+the events which transpired at Lyons in the early weeks of 1802,
+events which influenced not only the future of Italy, but the fortunes
+of Bonaparte.
+
+It will be remembered that, after the French victories of Marengo and
+Hohenlinden, Austria agreed to terms of peace whereby the Cisalpine,
+Ligurian, Helvetic, and Batavian Republics were formally recognized by
+her, though a clause expressly stipulated that they were to be
+independent of France. A vain hope! They continued to be under French
+tutelage, and their strongholds in the possession of French troops.
+
+It now remained to legalize French supremacy in the Cisalpine
+Republic, which comprised the land between the Ticino and the Adige,
+and the Alps and the Rubicon. The new State received a provisional
+form of government after Marengo, a small council being appointed to
+supervise civil affairs at the capital, Milan. With it and with
+Marescalchi, the Cisalpine envoy at Paris, Bonaparte had concerted a
+constitution, or rather he had used these men as a convenient screen
+to hide its purely personal origin. Having, for form's sake, consulted
+the men whom he had himself appointed, he now suggested that the chief
+citizens of that republic should confer with him respecting their new
+institutions. His Minister at Milan thereupon proposed that they
+should cross the Alps for that purpose, assembling, not at Paris,
+where their dependence on the First Consul's will might provoke too
+much comment, but at Lyons. To that city, accordingly, there repaired
+some 450 of the chief men of Northern Italy, who braved the snows of a
+most rigorous December, in the hope of consolidating the liberties of
+their long-distracted country. And thus was seen the strange spectacle
+of the organization of Lombardy, Modena, and the Legations being
+effected in one provincial centre of France, while at another of her
+cities the peace of Europe and the fortunes of two colonial empires
+were likewise at stake. Such a conjunction of events might well
+impress the imagination of men, bending the stubborn will of the
+northern islanders, and moulding the Italian notables to complete
+complaisance. And yet, such power was there in the nascent idea of
+Italian nationality, that Bonaparte's proposals, which, in his
+absence, were skilfully set forth by Talleyrand, met with more than
+one rebuff from the Consulta at Lyons.
+
+Bitterly it opposed the declaration that the Roman Catholic religion
+was the religion of the Cisalpine Republic and must be maintained by a
+State budget. Only the first part of this proposal could be carried:
+so keen was the opposition to the second part that, as a preferable
+plan, property was set apart for the support of the clergy; and
+clerical discipline was subjected to the State, on terms somewhat
+similar to those of the French Concordat.[191]
+
+Secular affairs gave less trouble. The apparent success of the French
+constitution furnished a strong motive for adopting one of a similar
+character for the Italian State; and as the proposed institutions had
+been approved at Milan, their acceptance by a large and miscellaneous
+body was a foregone conclusion. Talleyrand also took the most
+unscrupulous care that the affair of the Presidency should be
+judiciously settled. On December 31st, 1801, he writes to Bonaparte
+from Lyons:
+
+     "The opinion of the Cisalpines seems not at all decided as to the
+     choice to be made: they will gladly receive the man whom you
+     nominate: a President in France and a Vice-President at Milan would
+     suit a large number of them."
+
+Four days later he confidently assures the First Consul:
+
+     "They will do what you want without your needing even to show your
+     desire. What they think you desire will immediately become
+     law."[192]
+
+The ground having been thus thoroughly worked, Bonaparte and
+Josephine, accompanied by a brilliant suite, arrived at Lyons on
+January 11th, and met with an enthusiastic reception. Despite the
+intense cold, followed by a sudden thaw, a brilliant series of fêtes,
+parades, and receptions took place; and several battalions of the
+French Army of Egypt, which had recently been conveyed home on English
+ships, now passed in review before their chief. The impressionable
+Italians could not mistake the aim of these demonstrations; and, after
+general matters had been arranged by the notables, the final measures
+were relegated to a committee of thirty. The desirability of this step
+was obvious, for urgent protests had already been raised in the
+Consulta against the appointment of a foreigner as President of the
+new State. When a hubbub arose on this burning topic:
+
+     "Some officers of the regiments in garrison at Lyons appeared in
+     the hall and imposed silence upon all parties. Notwithstanding
+     this, Count Melzi was actually chosen President by the majority of
+     the Committee of Thirty; but he declined the honour, and suggested
+     in significant terms that, to enable him to render any service to
+     the country, the committee had better fix upon General Bonaparte as
+     their Chief Magistrate. This being done, Bonaparte immediately
+     appointed Count Melzi Vice-President."[193]
+
+Bonaparte's determination to fill this important position is clearly
+seen in his correspondence. On the 2nd and 4th of Pluviôse (January
+22nd and 24th), he writes from Lyons:
+
+     "All the principal affairs of the Consulta are settled. I count on
+     being back at Paris in the course of the decade."
+
+     "To-morrow I shall review the troops from Egypt. On the 6th [of
+     Pluviôse] all the business of the Consulta will be finished, and I
+     shall probably set out on my journey on the 7th."
+
+The next day, 5th Pluviôse, sees the accomplishment of his desires:
+
+     "To-day I have reviewed the troops on the Place Bellecour; the sun
+     shone as it does in Floréal. The Consulta has named a committee of
+     thirty individuals, which has reported to it that, considering the
+     domestic and foreign affairs of the Cisalpine, it was indispensable
+     to let me discharge the first magistracy, until circumstances
+     permit and I judge it suitable to appoint a successor."
+
+These extracts prove that the acts of the Consulta could be planned
+beforehand no less precisely than the movements of the soldiery, and
+that even so complex a matter as the voting of a constitution and the
+choice of its chief had to fall in with the arrangements of this
+methodizing genius. Certainly civilization had progressed since the
+weary years when the French people groped through mists and waded in
+blood in order to gain a perfect polity: that precious boon was now
+conferred on a neighbouring people in so sure a way that the plans of
+their benefactor could be infallibly fixed and his return to Paris
+calculated to the hour.
+
+The final address uttered by Bonaparte to the Italian notables is
+remarkable for the short, sharp sentences, which recall the tones of
+the parade ground. Passing recent events in rapid review, he said,
+speaking in his mother tongue:
+
+     "...Every effort had been made to dismember you: the protection of
+     France won the day: you have been recognized at Lunéville.
+     One-fifth larger than before, you are now more powerful, more
+     consolidated, and have wider hopes. Composed of six different
+     nations, you will be now united under a constitution the best
+     possible for your social and material condition. ... The selections
+     I have made for your chief offices have been made independently of
+     all idea of party or feeling of locality. As for that of President,
+     I have found no one among you with sufficient claims on public
+     opinion, sufficiently free from local feelings, and who had
+     rendered great enough services to his country, to intrust it to
+     him.... Your people has only local feelings: it must now rise to
+     national feelings."
+
+In accordance with this last grand and prophetic remark, the name
+Italian was substituted for that of Cisalpine: and thus, for the first
+time since the Middle Ages, there reappeared on the map of Europe that
+name, which was to evoke the sneers of diplomatists and the most
+exalted patriotism of the century. If Bonaparte had done naught else,
+he would deserve immortal glory for training the divided peoples of
+the peninsula for a life of united activity.
+
+The new constitution was modelled on that of France; but the pretence
+of a democratic suffrage was abandoned. The right of voting was
+accorded to three classes, the great proprietors, the clerics and
+learned men, and the merchants. These, meeting in their several
+"Electoral Colleges," voted for the members of the legislative bodies;
+a Tribunal was also charged with the maintenance of the constitution.
+By these means Bonaparte endeavoured to fetter the power of the
+reactionaries no less than the anti-clerical fervour of the Italian
+Jacobins. The blending of the new and the old which then began shows
+the hand of the master builder, who neither sweeps away materials
+merely because they are old, nor rejects the strength that comes from
+improved methods of construction: and, however much we may question
+the disinterestedness of his motives in this great enterprise, there
+can be but one opinion as to the skill of the methods and the
+beneficence of the results in Italy.[194]
+
+
+
+The first step in the process of Italian unification had now been
+taken at Lyons. A second soon followed. The affairs of the Ligurian
+Republic were in some confusion; and an address came from Genoa
+begging that their differences might be composed by the First Consul.
+The spontaneity of this offer may well be questioned, seeing that
+Bonaparte found it desirable, in his letter of February 18th, 1802, to
+assure the Ligurian authorities that they need feel no disquietude as
+to the independence of their republic. Bonaparte undertook to alter
+their constitution and nominate their Doge.
+
+That the news of the events at Lyons excited the liveliest indignation
+in London is evident from Hawkesbury's despatch of February 12th,
+1802, to Cornwallis:
+
+     "The proceedings at Lyons have created the greatest alarm in this
+     country, and there are many persons who were pacifically disposed,
+     who since this event are desirous of renewing the war. It is
+     impossible to be surprised at this feeling when we consider the
+     inordinate ambition, the gross breach of faith, and the inclination
+     to insult Europe manifested by the First Consul on this occasion.
+     The Government here are desirous of avoiding to take notice of
+     these proceedings, and are sincerely desirous to conclude the
+     peace, if it can be obtained on terms consistent with our honour."
+
+Why the Government should have lagged behind the far surer instincts
+of English public opinion it is difficult to say. Hawkesbury's
+despatch of four days later supplies an excuse for his contemptible
+device of pretending not to see this glaring violation of the Treaty
+of Lunéville. Referring to the events at Lyons, he writes:
+
+     "Extravagant and unjustifiable as they are in themselves, [they]
+     must have led us to believe that the First Consul would have been
+     more anxious than ever to have closed his account with this
+     country."
+
+Doubtless that was the case, but only on condition that England
+remained passive while French domination was extended over all
+neighbouring lands. If our Ministers believed that Bonaparte feared
+the displeasure of Austria, they were completely in error. Thanks to
+the utter weakness of the European system, and the rivalry of Austria
+and Prussia, he was now able to concentrate his ever-increasing power
+and prestige on the negotiations at Amiens, which once more claim our
+attention.
+
+Far from being sated by the prestige gained at Lyons, he seemed to
+grow more exacting with victory. Moreover, he had been cut to the
+quick by some foolish articles of a French _émigré_ named Peltier, in
+a paper published at London: instead of treating them with the
+contempt they deserved, he magnified these ravings of a disappointed
+exile into an event of high policy, and fulminated against the
+Government which allowed them. In vain did Cornwallis object that the
+Addington Cabinet could not venture on the unpopular act of curbing
+freedom of the Press in Great Britain. The First Consul, who had
+experienced no such difficulty in France, persisted now, as a year
+later, in considering every uncomplimentary reference to himself as an
+indirect and semiofficial attack.
+
+To these causes we may attribute the French demands of February 4th:
+contradicting his earlier proposal for a temporary Neapolitan garrison
+of Malta, Bonaparte now absolutely refused either to grant that
+necessary protection to the weak Order of St. John, or to join Great
+Britain in an equal share of the expenses--£20,000 a year--which such
+a garrison would entail. The astonishment and indignation aroused at
+Downing Street nearly led to an immediate rupture of the negotiations;
+and it needed all the patience of Cornwallis and the suavity of Joseph
+Bonaparte to smooth away the asperities caused by Napoleon's direct
+intervention. It needs only a slight acquaintance with the First
+Consul's methods of thought and expression to recognize in the
+Protocol of February 4th the incisive speech of an autocrat confident
+in his newly-consolidated powers and irritated by the gibes of
+Peltier.[195]
+
+The good sense of the two plenipotentiaries at Amiens before long
+effected a reconciliation. Hawkesbury, writing from Downing Street,
+warned Cornwallis that if a rupture were to take place it must not be
+owing to "any impatience on our part": and he, in his turn, affably
+inquired from Joseph Bonaparte whether he had any more practicable
+plan than that of a Neapolitan garrison, which he had himself
+proposed. No plan was forthcoming other than that of a garrison of
+1,000 Swiss mercenaries; and as this was open to grave objections, the
+original proposal was finally restored. On its side, the Court of St.
+James still refused to blow up the fortifications at Valetta; and
+rather than destroy those works, England had already offered that the
+independence of Malta should be guaranteed by the Great Powers--Great
+Britain, France, Austria, Russia, Spain, and Prussia: to this
+arrangement France soon assented. Later on we demanded that the
+Neapolitan garrison should remain in Malta for three years after the
+evacuation of the island by the British troops; whereas France desired
+to limit the period to one year. To this Cornwallis finally assented,
+with the proviso that, "if the Order of St. John shall not have raised
+a sufficient number of men, the Neapolitan troops shall remain until
+they shall be relieved by an adequate force, to be agreed upon by the
+guaranteeing Powers." The question of the garrison having been
+arranged, other details gave less trouble, and the Maltese question
+was settled in the thirteen conditions added to Clause X. of the
+definitive treaty.
+
+Though this complex question was thus adjusted by March 17th, other
+matters delayed a settlement.
+
+
+
+Hawkesbury still demanded a definite indemnity for the Prince of
+Orange, but Cornwallis finally assented to Article XVIII. of the
+treaty, which vaguely promised "an adequate compensation." Cornwallis
+also persuaded his chief to waive his claims for the direct
+participation of Turkey in the treaty. The British demand for an
+indemnity for the expense of supporting French prisoners was to be
+relegated to commissioners--who never met. Indeed, this was the only
+polite way of escaping from the untenable position which our
+Government had heedlessly taken upon this topic.
+
+It is clear from the concluding despatches of Cornwallis that he was
+wheedled by Joseph Bonaparte into conceding more than the British
+Government had empowered him to do; and, though the "secret and most
+confidential" despatch of March 22nd cautioned him against narrowing
+too much the ground of a rupture, if a rupture should still occur, yet
+three days later, and _after the receipt of this despatch_, he signed
+the terms of peace with Joseph Bonaparte, and two days later with the
+other signatory Powers.[196] It may well be doubted whether peace
+would ever have been signed but for the skill of Joseph Bonaparte in
+polite cajolery and the determination of Cornwallis to arrive at an
+understanding. In any case the final act of signature was distinctly
+the act, not of the British Government, but of its plenipotentiary.
+
+
+That fact is confirmed by his admission, on March 28th, that he had
+yielded where he was ordered to remain inflexible. At St. Helena,
+Napoleon also averred that after Cornwallis had definitely pledged
+himself to sign the treaty as it stood on the night of March 24th, he
+received instructions in a contrary sense from Downing Street; that
+nevertheless he held himself bound by his promise and signed the
+treaty on the following day, observing that his Government, if
+dissatisfied, might refuse to ratify it, but that, having pledged his
+word, he felt bound to abide by it. This story seems consonant with
+the whole behaviour of Cornwallis, so creditable to him as a man, so
+damaging to him as a diplomatist. The later events of the negotiation
+aroused much annoyance at Downing Street, and the conduct of
+Cornwallis met with chilling disapproval.
+
+The First Consul, on the other hand, showed his appreciation of his
+brother's skill with unusual warmth; for when they appeared together
+at the opera in Paris, he affectionately thrust his elder brother to
+the front of the State box to receive the plaudits of the audience at
+the advent of a definite peace. That was surely the purest and noblest
+joy which the brothers ever tasted.
+
+With what feelings of pride, not unmixed with awe, must the brothers
+have surveyed their career. Less than nine years had elapsed since
+their family fled from Corsica, and landed on the coast of Provence,
+apparently as bankrupt in their political hopes as in their material
+fortunes. Thrice did the fickle goddess cast Napoleon to the ground in
+the first two years of his new life, only that his wondrous gifts and
+sublime self-confidence might tower aloft the more conspicuously,
+bewildering alike the malcontents of Paris, the generals of the old
+Empire, the peoples of the Levant, and the statesmen of Britain. Of
+all these triumphs assuredly the last was not the least. The Peace of
+Amiens left France the arbitress of Europe, and, by restoring to her
+all her lost colonies, it promised to place her in the van of the
+oceanic and colonizing peoples.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+A FRENCH COLONIAL EMPIRE
+
+ST. DOMINGO--LOUISIANA--INDIA--AUSTRALIA
+
+     "Il n'y a rien dans l'histoire du monde de comparable aux forces
+     navales de l'Angleterre, à l'étendue et à la richesse de son
+     commerce, à la masse de ses dettes, de ses défenses, de ses moyens,
+     et à la fragilité des bases sur lesquelles repose l'édifice immense
+     de sa fortune."--BARON MALOUET, _Considérations historiques sur
+     l'Empire de la Mer_.
+
+
+There are abundant reasons for thinking that Napoleon valued the Peace
+of Amiens as a necessary preliminary to the restoration of the French
+Colonial Empire. A comparison of the dates at which he set on foot his
+oceanic schemes will show that they nearly all had their inception in
+the closing months of 1801 and in the course of the following year.
+The sole important exceptions were the politico-scientific expedition
+to Australia, the ostensible purpose of which insured immunity from
+the attacks of English cruisers even in the year 1800, and the plans
+for securing French supremacy in Egypt, which had been frustrated in
+1801 and were, to all appearance, abandoned by the First Consul
+according to the provisions of the Treaty of Amiens. The question
+whether he really relinquished his designs on Egypt is so intimately
+connected with the rupture of the Peace of Amiens that it will be more
+fitly considered in the following chapter. It may not, however, be out
+of place to offer some proofs as to the value which Bonaparte set on
+the valley of the Nile and the Isthmus of Suez. A letter from a spy at
+Paris, preserved in the archives of our Foreign Office, and dated
+July 10th, 1801, contains the following significant statement with
+reference to Bonaparte: "Egypt, which is considered here as lost to
+France, is the only object which interests his personal ambition and
+excites his revenge." Even at the end of his days, he thought
+longingly of the land of the Pharaohs. In his first interview with the
+governor of St. Helena, the illustrious exile said emphatically:
+"Egypt is the most important country in the world." The words reveal a
+keen perception of all the influences conducive to commercial
+prosperity and imperial greatness. Egypt, in fact, with the Suez
+Canal, which his imagination always pictured as a necessary adjunct,
+was to be the keystone of that arch of empire which was to span the
+oceans and link the prairies of the far west to the teeming plains of
+India and the far Austral Isles.
+
+The motives which impelled Napoleon to the enterprises now to be
+considered were as many-sided as the maritime ventures themselves.
+Ultimately, doubtless, they arose out of a love of vast undertakings
+that ministered at once to an expanding ambition and to that need of
+arduous administrative toils for which his mind ever craved in the
+heyday of its activity. And, while satiating the grinding powers of
+his otherwise morbidly restless spirit, these enterprises also fed and
+soothed those imperious, if unconscious, instincts which prompt every
+able man of inquiring mind to reclaim all possible domains from the
+unknown or the chaotic. As Egypt had, for the present at least, been
+reft from his grasp, he turned naturally to all other lands that could
+be forced to yield their secrets to the inquirer, or their comforts to
+the benefactors of mankind. Only a dull cynicism can deny this motive
+to the man who first unlocked the doors of Egyptian civilization; and
+it would be equally futile to deny to him the same beneficent aims
+with regard to the settlement of the plains of the Mississippi, and
+the coasts of New Holland.
+
+The peculiarities of the condition of France furnished another
+powerful impulse towards colonization. In the last decade her people
+had suffered from an excess of mental activity and nervous excitement.
+From philosophical and political speculation they must be brought back
+to the practical and prosaic; and what influence could be so healthy
+as the turning up of new soil and other processes that satisfy the
+primitive instincts? Some of these, it was true, were being met by the
+increasing peasant proprietary in France herself. But this internal
+development, salutary as it was, could not appease the restless
+spirits of the towns or the ambition of the soldiery. Foreign
+adventures and oceanic commerce alone could satisfy the Parisians and
+open up new careers for the Prætorian chiefs, whom the First Consul
+alone really feared.
+
+Nor were these sentiments felt by him alone. In a paper which
+Talleyrand read to the Institute of France in July, 1797, that
+far-seeing statesman had dwelt upon the pacifying influences exerted
+by foreign commerce and colonial settlements on a too introspective
+nation. His words bear witness to the keenness of his insight into the
+maladies of his own people and the sources of social and political
+strength enjoyed by the United States, where he had recently
+sojourned. Referring to their speedy recovery from the tumults of
+their revolution, he said: "The true Lethe after passing through a
+revolution is to be found in the opening out to men of every avenue of
+hope.--Revolutions leave behind them a general restlessness of mind, a
+need of movement." That need was met in America by man's warfare
+against the forest, the flood, and the prairie. France must therefore
+possess colonies as intellectual and political safety-valves; and in
+his graceful, airy style he touched on the advantages offered by
+Egypt, Louisiana, and West Africa, both for their intrinsic value and
+as opening the door of work and of hope to a brain-sick generation.
+
+Following up this clue, Bonaparte, at a somewhat later date, remarked
+the tendency of the French people, now that the revolutionary strifes
+were past, to settle down contentedly on their own little plots; and
+he emphasized the need of a colonial policy such as would widen the
+national life. The remark has been largely justified by events; and
+doubtless he discerned in the agrarian reforms of the Revolution an
+influence unfavourable to that racial dispersion which, under wise
+guidance, builds up an oceanic empire. The grievances of the _ancien
+régime_ had helped to scatter on the shores of the St. Lawrence the
+seeds of a possible New France. Primogeniture was ever driving from
+England her younger sons to found New Englands and expand the commerce
+of the motherland. Let not France now rest at home, content with her
+perfect laws and with the conquest of her "natural frontiers." Let her
+rather strive to regain the first place in colonial activity which the
+follies of Louis XV. and the secular jealousy of Albion had filched
+from her. In the effort she would extend the bounds of civilization,
+lay the ghost of Jacobinism, satisfy military and naval adventures,
+and unconsciously revert to the ideas and governmental methods of the
+age of _le grand monarque_.
+
+The French possessions beyond the seas had never shrunk to a smaller
+area than in the closing years of the late war with England. The fact
+was confessed by the First Consul in his letter of October 7th, 1801,
+to Decrès, the Minister for the Navy and the Colonies: "Our
+possessions beyond the sea, which are now in our power, are limited to
+Saint Domingo, Guadeloupe, the Isle of France (Mauritius), the Isle of
+Bourbon, Senegal, and Guiana." After rendering this involuntary homage
+to the prowess of the British navy, Bonaparte proceeded to describe
+the first measures for the organization of these colonies: for not
+until March 25th, 1802, when the definitive treaty of peace was
+signed, could the others be regained by France.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+First in importance came the re-establishment of French authority in
+the large and fertile island of Hayti, or St. Domingo. It needs an
+effort of the imagination for the modern reader to realize the immense
+importance of the West Indian islands at the beginning of the
+century, whose close found them depressed and half bankrupt. At the
+earlier date, when the name Australia was unknown, and the
+half-starved settlement in and around Sydney represented the sole
+wealth of that isle of continent; when the Cape of Good Hope was
+looked on only as a port of call; when the United States numbered less
+than five and a half million souls, and the waters of the Mississippi
+rolled in unsullied majesty past a few petty Spanish stations--the
+plantations of the West Indies seemed the unfailing mine of colonial
+industry and commerce. Under the _ancien régime_, the trade of the
+French portion of San Domingo is reported to have represented more
+than half of her oceanic commerce. But during the Revolution the
+prosperity of that colony reeled under a terrible blow.
+
+The hasty proclamation of equality between whites and blacks by the
+French revolutionists, and the refusal of the planters to recognize
+that decree as binding, led to a terrible servile revolt, which
+desolated the whole of the colony. Those merciless strifes had,
+however, somewhat abated under the organizing power of a man, in whom
+the black race seemed to have vindicated its claims to political
+capacity. Toussaint l'Ouverture had come to the front by sheer
+sagacity and force of character. By a deft mixture of force and
+clemency, he imposed order on the vapouring crowds of negroes: he
+restored the French part of the island to comparative order and
+prosperity; and with an army of 20,000 men he occupied the Spanish
+portion. In this, as in other matters, he appeared to act as the
+mandatory of France; but he looked to the time when France, beset by
+European wars, would tacitly acknowledge his independence. In May,
+1801, he made a constitution for the island, and declared himself
+governor for life, with power to appoint his successor. This mimicry
+of the consular office, and the open vaunt that he was the "Bonaparte
+of the Antilles," incensed Bonaparte; and the haste with which, on
+the day after the Preliminaries of London, he prepared to overthrow
+this contemptible rival, tells its own tale.
+
+Yet Corsican hatred was tempered with Corsican guile. Toussaint had
+requested that the Haytians should be under the protection of their
+former mistress. Protection was the last thing that Bonaparte desired;
+but he deemed it politic to flatter the black chieftain with
+assurances of his personal esteem and gratitude for the "great
+services which you have rendered to the French people. If its flag
+floats over St. Domingo it is due to you and your brave blacks"--a
+reference to Toussaint's successful resistance to English attempts at
+landing. There were, it is true, some points in the new Haytian
+constitution which contravened the sovereign rights of France, but
+these were pardonable in the difficult circumstances which had pressed
+on Toussaint: he was now, however, invited to amend them so as to
+recognize the complete sovereignty of the motherland and the authority
+of General Leclerc, whom Bonaparte sent out as captain-general of the
+island. To this officer, the husband of Pauline Bonaparte, the First
+Consul wrote on the same day that there was reported to be much
+ferment in the island against Toussaint, that the obstacles to be
+overcome would therefore be much less formidable than had been feared,
+provided that activity and firmness were used. In his references to
+the burning topic of slavery, the First Consul showed a similar
+reserve. The French Republic having abolished it, he could not, as
+yet, openly restore an institution flagrantly opposed to the Rights of
+Man. Ostensibly therefore he figured as the champion of emancipation,
+assuring the Haytians in his proclamation of November 8th, 1801, that
+they were all free and all equal in the sight of God and of the
+French Republic: "If you are told, 'These forces are destined to
+snatch your liberty from you,' reply, 'The Republic has given us our
+liberty: it will not allow it to be taken from us.'" Of a similar
+tenor was his public declaration a fortnight later, that at St.
+Domingo and Guadeloupe everybody was free and would remain free. Very
+different were his private instructions. On the last day of October he
+ordered Talleyrand to write to the British Government, asking for
+their help in supplying provisions from Jamaica to this expedition
+destined to "destroy the new Algiers being organized in American
+waters"; and a fortnight later he charged him to state his resolve to
+destroy the government of the blacks at St. Domingo; that if he had to
+postpone the expedition for a year, he would be "obliged to constitute
+the blacks as French"; and that "the liberty of the blacks, if
+recognized by the Government, would always be a support for the
+Republic in the New World." As he was striving to cajole our
+Government into supporting his expedition, it is clear that in the
+last enigmatic phrase he was bidding for that support by the hint of a
+prospective restoration of slavery at St. Domingo. A comparison of his
+public and private statements must have produced a curious effect on
+the British Ministers, and many of the difficulties during the
+negotiations at Amiens doubtless sprang out of their knowledge of his
+double-dealing in the West Indies.
+
+The means at the First Consul's disposal might have been considered
+sufficient to dispense with these paltry devices; for when the
+squadrons of Brest, Lorient, Rochefort, and Toulon had joined their
+forces, they mustered thirty-two ships of the line and thirty-one
+frigates, with more than 20,000 troops on board. So great, indeed, was
+the force as to occasion strong remonstrances from the British
+Government, and a warning that a proportionately strong fleet would be
+sent to watch over the safety of our West Indies.[197] The size of the
+French armada and the warnings which Toussaint received from Europe
+induced that wily dictator to adopt stringent precautionary measures.
+He persuaded the blacks that the French were about to enslave them
+once more, and, raising the spectre of bondage, he quelled sedition,
+ravaged the maritime towns, and awaited the French in the interior, in
+confident expectation that yellow fever would winnow their ranks and
+reduce them to a level with his own strength.
+
+His hopes were ultimately realized, but not until he himself succumbed
+to the hardihood of the French attack. Leclerc's army swept across the
+desolated belt with an ardour that was redoubled by the sight of the
+mangled remains of white people strewn amidst the negro encampments,
+and stormed Toussaint's chief stronghold at Crête-à-Pierrot. The
+dictator and his factious lieutenants thereupon surrendered (May 8th,
+1802), on condition of their official rank being respected--a
+stipulation which both sides must have regarded as unreal and
+impossible. The French then pressed on to secure the subjection of the
+whole island before the advent of the unhealthy season, which
+Toussaint eagerly awaited. It now set in with unusual virulence; and
+in a few days the conquerors found their force reduced to 12,000
+effectives. Suspecting Toussaint's designs, Leclerc seized him. He was
+empowered to do so by Bonaparte's orders of March 16th, 1802:
+
+     "Follow your instructions exactly, and as soon as you have done
+     with Toussaint, Christopher, Dessalines, and the chief brigands,
+     and the masses of the blacks are disarmed, send to the continent
+     all the blacks and the half-castes who have taken part in the civil
+     troubles."
+
+Toussaint was hurried off to France, where he died a year later from
+the hardships to which he was exposed at the fort of Joux among the
+Juras.
+
+Long before the cold of a French winter claimed the life of Toussaint,
+his antagonist fell a victim to the sweltering heats of the tropics.
+On November 2nd, 1802, Leclerc succumbed to the unhealthy climate and
+to his ceaseless anxieties. In the Notes dictated at St. Helena,
+Napoleon submitted Leclerc's memory to some strictures for his
+indiscretion in regard to the proposed restoration of slavery. The
+official letters of that officer expose the injustice of the charge.
+The facts are these. After the seeming submission of St. Domingo, the
+First Consul caused a decree to be secretly passed at Paris (May 20th,
+1802), which prepared to re-establish slavery in the West Indies; but
+Decrès warned Leclerc that it was not for the present to be applied to
+St. Domingo unless it seemed to be opportune. Knowing how fatal any
+such proclamation would be, Leclerc suppressed the decree; but General
+Richepanse, who was now governor of the island of Guadeloupe, not only
+issued the decree, but proceeded to enforce it with rigour. It was
+this which caused the last and most desperate revolts of the blacks,
+fatal alike to French domination and to Leclerc's life. His successor,
+Rochambeau, in spite of strong reinforcements of troops from France
+and a policy of the utmost rigour, succeeded no better. In the island
+of Guadeloupe the rebels openly defied the authority of France; and,
+on the renewal of war between England and France, the remains of the
+expedition were for the most part constrained to surrender to the
+British flag or to the insurgent blacks. The island recovered its
+so-called independence; and the sole result of Napoleon's efforts in
+this sphere was the loss of more than twenty generals and some 30,000
+troops.
+
+The assertion has been repeatedly made that the First Consul told off
+for this service the troops of the Army of the Rhine, with the aim of
+exposing to the risks of tropical life the most republican part of the
+French forces. That these furnished a large part of the expeditionary
+force cannot be denied; but if his design was to rid himself of
+political foes, it is difficult to see why he should not have selected
+Moreau, Masséna, or Augereau, rather than Leclerc. The fact that his
+brother-in-law was accompanied by his wife, Pauline Bonaparte, for
+whom venomous tongues asserted that Napoleon cherished a more than
+brotherly affection, will suffice to refute the slander. Finally, it
+may be remarked that Bonaparte had not hesitated to subject the
+choicest part of his Army of Italy and his own special friends to
+similiar risks in Egypt and Syria. He never hesitated to sacrifice
+thousands of lives when a great object was at stake; and the
+restoration of the French West Indian Colonies might well seem worth
+an army, especially as St. Domingo was not only of immense instrinsic
+value to France in days when beetroot sugar was unknown, but was of
+strategic importance as a base of operations for the vast colonial
+empire which the First Consul proposed to rebuild in the basin of the
+Mississippi.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The history of the French possessions on the North American continent
+could scarcely be recalled by ardent patriots without pangs of
+remorse. The name Louisiana, applied to a vast territory stretching up
+the banks of the Mississippi and the Missouri, recalled the glorious
+days of Louis XIV., when the French flag was borne by stout
+_voyageurs_ up the foaming rivers of Canada and the placid reaches of
+the father of rivers. It had been the ambition of Montcalm to connect
+the French stations on Lake Erie with the forts of Louisiana; but that
+warrior-statesman in the West, as his kindred spirit, Dupleix, in the
+East, had fallen on the evil days of Louis XV., when valour and merit
+in the French colonies were sacrificed to the pleasures and parasites
+of Versailles. The natural result followed. Louisiana was yielded up
+to Spain in 1763, in order to reconcile the Court of Madrid to
+cessions required by that same Peace of Paris. Twenty years later
+Spain recovered from England the provinces of eastern and western
+Florida; and thus, at the dawn of the nineteenth century, the red and
+yellow flag waved over all the lands between California, New Orleans,
+and the southern tip of Florida.[198]
+
+Many efforts were made by France to regain her old Mississippi
+province; and in 1795, at the break up of the First Coalition, the
+victorious Republic pressed Spain to yield up this territory, where
+the settlers were still French at heart. Doubtless the weak King of
+Spain would have yielded; but his chief Minister, Godoy, clung
+tenaciously to Louisiana, and consented to cede only the Spanish part
+of St. Domingo--a diplomatic success which helped to earn him the
+title of the Prince of the Peace. So matters remained until
+Talleyrand, as Foreign Minister, sought to gain Louisiana from Spain
+before it slipped into the horny fists of the Anglo-Saxons.
+
+That there was every prospect of this last event was the conviction
+not only of the politicians at Washington, but also of every
+iron-worker on the Ohio and of every planter on the Tennessee. Those
+young but growing settlements chafed against the restraints imposed by
+Spain on the river trade of the lower Mississippi--the sole means
+available for their exports in times when the Alleghanies were crossed
+by only two tracks worthy the name of roads. In 1795 they gained free
+egress to the Gulf of Mexico and the right of bonding their
+merchandise in a special warehouse at New Orleans. Thereafter the
+United States calmly awaited the time when racial vigour and the
+exigencies of commerce should yield to them the possession of the
+western prairies and the little townships of Arkansas and New Orleans.
+They reckoned without taking count of the eager longing of the French
+for their former colony and the determination of Napoleon to give
+effect to this honourable sentiment.
+
+In July, 1800, when his negotiations with the United
+
+
+
+States were in good train, the First Consul sent to Madrid
+instructions empowering the French Minister there to arrange a treaty
+whereby France should receive Louisiana in return for the cession of
+Tuscany to the heir of the Duke of Parma. This young man had married
+the daughter of Charles IV. of Spain; and, for the aggrandizement of
+his son-in-law, that _roi fainéant_, was ready, nay eager, to bargain
+away a quarter of a continent; and he did so by a secret convention
+signed at St. Ildefonso on October 7th, 1800.
+
+But though Charles rejoiced over this exchange, Godoy, who was gifted
+with some insight into the future, was determined to frustrate it.
+Various events occurred which enabled this wily Minister, first to
+delay, and then almost to prevent, the odious surrender. Chief among
+these was the certainty that the transfer from weak hands to strong
+hands would be passionately resented by the United States; and until
+peace with England was fully assured, and the power of Toussaint
+broken, it would be folly for the First Consul to risk a conflict with
+the United States. That they would fight rather than see the western
+prairies pass into the First Consul's hands was abundantly manifest.
+It is proved by many patriotic pamphlets. The most important of
+these--"An Address to the Government of the United States on the
+Cession of Louisiana to the French," published at Philadelphia in
+1802--quoted largely from a French _brochure_ by a French Councillor
+of State. The French writer had stated that along the Mississippi his
+countrymen would find boundless fertile prairies, and as for the
+opposition of the United States--"a nation of pedlars and
+shopkeepers"--that could be crushed by a French alliance with the
+Indian tribes. The American writer thereupon passionately called on
+his fellow-citizens to prevent this transfer: "France is to be dreaded
+only, or chiefly, on the Mississippi. The Government must take
+Louisiana before it passes into her hands. The iron is now hot:
+command us to rise as one man and strike." These and other like
+protests at last stirred the placid Government at Washington; and it
+bade the American Minister at Paris to make urgent remonstrances, the
+sole effect of which was to draw from Talleyrand the bland assurance
+that the transfer had not been seriously contemplated.[199]
+
+By the month of June, 1802, all circumstances seemed to smile on
+Napoleon's enterprise: England had ratified the Peace of Amiens,
+Toussaint had delivered himself up to Leclerc: France had her troops
+strongly posted in Tuscany and Parma, and could, if necessary,
+forcibly end the remaining scruples felt at Madrid; while the United
+States, with a feeble army and a rotting navy, were controlled by the
+most peaceable and Franco-phil of their presidents, Thomas Jefferson.
+The First Consul accordingly ordered an expedition to be prepared, as
+if for the reinforcement of Leclerc in St. Domingo, though it was
+really destined for New Orleans; and he instructed Talleyrand to
+soothe or coerce the Court of Madrid into the final act of transfer.
+The offer was therefore made by the latter (June 19th) in the name of
+the First Consul that _in no case would Louisiana ever be alienated to
+a Third Power_. When further delays supervened, Bonaparte, true to his
+policy of continually raising his demands, required that Eastern and
+Western Florida should also be ceded to him by Spain, on condition
+that the young King of Etruria (for so Tuscany was now to be styled)
+should regain his father's duchy of Parma.[200]
+
+A word of explanation must here find place as to this singular
+proposal. Parma had long been under French control; and, in March,
+1801, by the secret Treaty of Madrid, the ruler of that duchy, whose
+death seemed imminent, was to resign his claims thereto, provided that
+his son should gain Etruria--as had been already provided for at St.
+Ildefonso and Lunéville. The duke was, however, allowed to keep his
+duchy until his death, which occurred on October 9th, 1802; and it is
+stated by our envoy in Paris to have been hastened by news of that
+odious bargain.[201] His death now furnished Bonaparte with a good
+occasion for seeking to win an immense area in the New World at the
+expense of a small Italian duchy, which his troops could at any time
+easily overrun. This consideration seems to have occurred even to
+Charles IV.; he refused to barter the Floridas against Parma. The
+re-establishment of his son-in-law in his paternal domains was
+doubtless desirable, but not at the cost of so exacting a heriot as
+East and West Florida.
+
+From out this maze of sordid intrigues two or three facts challenge
+our attention. Both Bonaparte and Charles IV. regarded the most
+fertile waste lands then calling for the plough as fairly exchanged
+against half a million of Tuscans; but the former feared the
+resentment of the United States, and sought to postpone a rupture
+until he could coerce them by overwhelming force. It is equally clear
+that, had he succeeded in this enterprise, France might have gained a
+great colonial empire in North America protected from St. Domingo as a
+naval and military base, while that island would have doubly prospered
+from the vast supplies poured down the Mississippi; but this success
+he would have bought at the expense of a _rapprochement_ between the
+United States and their motherland, such as a bitter destiny was to
+postpone to the end of the century.
+
+The prospect of an Anglo-American alliance might well give pause even
+to Napoleon. Nevertheless, he resolved to complete this vast
+enterprise, which, if successful, would have profoundly affected the
+New World and the relative importance of the French and English
+peoples. The Spanish officials at New Orleans, in pursuance of orders
+from Madrid, now closed the lower Mississippi to vessels of the United
+States (October, 1802). At once a furious outcry arose in the States
+against an act which not only violated their treaty rights, but
+foreshadowed the coming grip of the First Consul. For this outburst he
+was prepared: General Victor was at Dunkirk, with five battalions and
+sixteen field-pieces, ready to cross the Atlantic, ostensibly for the
+relief of Leclerc, but really in order to take possession of New
+Orleans.[202] But his plan was foiled by the sure instincts of the
+American people, by the disasters of the St. Domingo expedition, and
+by the restlessness of England under his various provocations.
+Jefferson, despite his predilections for France, was compelled to
+forbid the occupation of Louisiana: he accordingly sent Monroe to
+Paris with instructions to effect a compromise, or even to buy
+outright the French claims on that land. Various circumstances
+favoured this mission. In the first week of the year 1803 Napoleon
+received the news of Leclerc's death and the miserable state of the
+French in St. Domingo; and as the tidings that he now received from
+Egypt, Syria, Corfu, and the East generally, were of the most alluring
+kind, he tacitly abandoned his Mississippi enterprise in favour of the
+oriental schemes which were closer to his heart. In that month of
+January he seems to have turned his gaze from the western hemisphere
+towards Turkey, Egypt, and India. True, he still seemed to be doing
+his utmost for the occupation of Louisiana, but only as a device for
+sustaining the selling price of the western prairies.
+
+When the news of this change of policy reached the ears of Joseph and
+Lucien Bonaparte, it aroused their bitterest opposition. Lucien plumed
+himself on having struck the bargain with Spain which had secured that
+vast province at the expense of an Austrian archduke's crown; and
+Joseph knew only too well that Napoleon was freeing himself in the
+West in order to be free to strike hard in Europe and the East. The
+imminent rupture of the Peace of Amiens touched him keenly: for that
+peace was his proudest achievement. If colonial adventures must be
+sought, let them be sought in the New World, where Spain and the
+United States could offer only a feeble resistance, rather than in
+Europe and Asia, where unending war must be the result of an
+aggressive policy.
+
+At once the brothers sought an interview with Napoleon. He chanced to
+be in his bath, a warm bath perfumed with scents, where he believed
+that tired nature most readily found recovery. He ordered them to be
+admitted, and an interesting family discussion was the result. On his
+mentioning the proposed sale, Lucien at once retorted that the
+Legislature would never consent to this sacrifice. He there touched
+the wrong chord in Napoleon's nature: had he appealed to the memories
+of _le grand monarque_ and of Montcalm, possibly he might have bent
+that iron will; but the mention of the consent of the French deputies
+roused the spleen of the autocrat, who, from amidst the scented water,
+mockingly bade his brother go into mourning for the affair, which he,
+and he alone, intended to carry out. This gibe led Joseph to threaten
+that he would mount the tribune in the Chambers and head the
+opposition to this unpatriotic surrender. Defiance flashed forth once
+more from the bath; and the First Consul finally ended their bitter
+retorts by spasmodically rising as suddenly falling backwards, and
+drenching Joseph to the skin. His peals of scornful laughter, and the
+swooning of the valet, who was not yet fully inured to these family
+scenes, interrupted the argument of the piece; but, when resumed a
+little later, _à sec_, Lucien wound up by declaring that, if he were
+not his brother, he would be his enemy. "My enemy! That is rather
+strong," exclaimed Napoleon. "You my enemy! I would break you, see,
+like this box"--and he dashed his snuff-box on the carpet. It did not
+break: but the portrait of Josephine was detached and broken.
+Whereupon Lucien picked up the pieces and handed them to his brother,
+remarking: "It is a pity: meanwhile, until you can break me, it is
+your wife's portrait that you have broken."[203]
+
+To Talleyrand, Napoleon was equally unbending: summoning him on April
+11th, he said:
+
+     "Irresolution and deliberation are no longer in season. I renounce
+     Louisiana. It is not only New Orleans that I cede: it is the whole
+     colony, without reserve; I know the price of what I abandon. I have
+     proved the importance I attach to this province, since my first
+     diplomatic act with Spain had the object of recovering it. I
+     renounce it with the greatest regret: to attempt obstinately to
+     retain it would be folly. I direct you to negotiate the
+     affair."[204]
+
+After some haggling with Monroe, the price agreed on for this
+territory was 60,000,000 francs, the United States also covenanting to
+satisfy the claims which many of their citizens had on the French
+treasury. For this paltry sum the United States gained a peaceful
+title to the debatable lands west of Lake Erie and to the vast tracts
+west of the Mississippi. The First Consul carried out his threat of
+denying to the deputies of France any voice in this barter. The war
+with England sufficed to distract their attention; and France turned
+sadly away from the western prairies, which her hardy sons had first
+opened up, to fix her gaze, first on the Orient, and thereafter on
+European conquests. No more was heard of Louisiana, and few references
+were permitted to the disasters in St. Domingo; for Napoleon abhorred
+any mention of a _coup manqué_, and strove to banish from the
+imagination of France those dreams of a trans-Atlantic Empire which
+had drawn him, as they were destined sixty years later to draw his
+nephew, to the verge of war with the rising republic of the New World.
+In one respect, the uncle was more fortunate than the nephew. In
+signing the treaty with the United States, the First Consul could
+represent his conduct, not as a dexterous retreat from an impossible
+situation, but as an act of grace to the Americans and a blow to
+England. "This accession of territory," he said, "strengthens for ever
+the power of the United States, and I have just given to England a
+maritime rival that sooner or later will humble her pride."[205]
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+In the East there seemed to be scarcely the same field for expansion
+as in the western hemisphere. Yet, as the Orient had ever fired the
+imagination of Napoleon, he was eager to expand the possessions of
+France in the Indian Ocean. In October, 1801, these amounted to the
+Isle of Bourbon and the Isle of France; for the former French
+possessions in India, namely, Pondicherry, Mahé, Karikal,
+Chandernagore, along with their factories at Yanaon, Surat, and two
+smaller places, had been seized by the British, and were not to be
+given back to France until six months after the definitive treaty of
+peace was signed. From these scanty relics it seemed impossible to
+rear a stable fabric: yet the First Consul grappled with the task.
+After the cessation of hostilities, he ordered Admiral Gantheaume with
+four ships of war to show the French flag in those seas, and to be
+ready in due course to take over the French settlements in India.
+Meanwhile he used his utmost endeavours in the negotiations at Amiens
+to gain an accession of land for Pondicherry, such as would make it a
+possible base for military enterprise. Even before those negotiations
+began he expressed to Lord Cornwallis his desire for such an
+extension; and when the British plenipotentiary urged the cession of
+Tobago to Great Britain, he offered to exchange it for an
+establishment or territory in India.[206] Herein the First Consul
+committed a serious tactical blunder; for his insistence on this topic
+and his avowed desire to negotiate direct with the Nabob undoubtedly
+aroused the suspicions of our Government.
+
+Still greater must have been their concern when they learnt that
+General Decaen was commissioned to receive back the French possessions
+in India; for that general in 1800 had expressed to Bonaparte his
+hatred of the English, and had begged, even if he had to wait ten
+years, that he might be sent where he could fight them, especially in
+India. As was his wont, Bonaparte said little at the time; but after
+testing Decaen's military capacity, he called him to his side at
+midsummer, 1802, and suddenly asked him if he still thought about
+India. On receiving an eager affirmative, he said, "Well, you will
+go." "In what capacity?" "As captain-general: go to the Minister of
+Marine and of the Colonies and ask him to communicate to you the
+documents relating to this expedition." By such means did Bonaparte
+secure devoted servants. It is scarcely needful to add that the choice
+of such a man only three months after the signature of the Treaty of
+Amiens proves that the First Consul only intended to keep that peace
+as long as his forward colonial policy rendered it desirable.[207]
+
+Meanwhile our Governor-General, Marquis Wellesley, was displaying an
+activity which might seem to be dictated by knowledge of Bonaparte's
+designs. There was, indeed, every need of vigour. Nowhere had French
+and British interests been so constantly in collision as in India. In
+1798 France had intrigued with Tippoo Sahib at Seringapatam, and
+arranged a treaty for the purpose of expelling the British nation from
+India. When in 1799 French hopes were dashed by Arthur Wellesley's
+capture of that city and the death of Tippoo, there still remained
+some prospect of overthrowing British supremacy by uniting the
+restless Mahratta rulers of the north and centre, especially Scindiah
+and Holkar, in a powerful confederacy. For some years their armies,
+numbering some 60,000 men, had been drilled and equipped by French
+adventurers, the ablest and most powerful of whom was M. Perron.
+Doubtless it was with the hope of gaining their support that the Czar
+Paul and Bonaparte had in 1800 formed the project of invading India by
+way of Persia. And after the dissipation of that dream, there still
+remained the chance of strengthening the Mahratta princes so as to
+contest British claims with every hope of success. Forewarned by the
+home Government of Bonaparte's eastern designs, our able and ambitious
+Governor-General now prepared to isolate the Mahratta chieftains, to
+cut them off from all contact with France, and, if necessary, to
+shatter Scindiah's army, the only formidable native force drilled by
+European methods.
+
+Such was the position of affairs when General Decaen undertook the
+enterprise of revivifying French influences in India.
+
+The secret instructions which he received from the First Consul, dated
+January 15th, 1803, were the following:
+
+     "To communicate with the peoples or princes who are most impatient
+     under the yoke of the English Company.... To send home a report six
+     months after his arrival in India, concerning all information that
+     he shall have collected, on the strength, the position, and the
+     feeling of the different peoples of India, as well as on the
+     strength and position of the different English establishments; ...
+     his views, and hopes that he might have of finding support, in case
+     of war, so as to be able to maintain himself in the Peninsula....
+     Finally, as one must reason on the hypothesis that we should not be
+     masters of the sea and could hope for slight succour,"
+
+Decaen is to seek among the French possessions or elsewhere a place
+serving as a _point d'appui_, where in the last resort he could
+capitulate and thus gain the means of being transported to France with
+arms and baggage. Of this _point d'appui_ he will
+
+     "strive to take possession after the first months ... whatever be
+     the nation to which it belongs, Portuguese, Dutch, or English....
+     If war should break out between England and France before the 1st
+     of Vendémiaire, Year XIII. (September 22nd, 1804), and the captain
+     general is warned of it before receiving the orders of the
+     Government, he has _carte blanche_ to fall back on the Ile de
+     France and the Cape, or to remain in India.... It is now considered
+     impossible that we should have war with England without dragging in
+     Holland. One of the first cares of the captain-general will be to
+     gain control over the Dutch, Portuguese, and Spanish
+     establishments, and of their resources. The captain-general's
+     mission is at first one of observation, on political and military
+     topics, with the small forces that he takes out, and an occupation
+     of _comptoirs_ for our commerce: but the First Consul, if well
+     informed by him, will perhaps be able some day to put him in a
+     position to acquire that great glory which hands down the memory of
+     men beyond the lapse of centuries."[208]
+
+Had these instructions been known to English statesmen, they would
+certainly have ended the peace which was being thus perfidiously used
+by the First Consul for the destruction of our Indian Empire. But
+though their suspicions were aroused by the departure of Decaen's
+expedition and by the activity of French agents in India, yet the
+truth remained half hidden, until, at a later date, the publication of
+General Decaen's papers shed a flood of light on Napoleon's policy.
+
+Owing to various causes, the expedition did not set sail from Brest
+until the beginning of March, 1803. The date should be noticed. It
+proves that at this time Napoleon judged that a rupture of peace was
+not imminent; and when he saw his miscalculation, he sought to delay
+the war with England as long as possible in order to allow time for
+Decaen's force at least to reach the Cape, then in the hands of the
+Dutch. The French squadron was too weak to risk a fight with an
+English fleet; it comprised only four ships of war, two transports,
+and a few smaller vessels, carrying about 1,800 troops.[209] The ships
+were under the command of Admiral Linois, who was destined to be the
+terror of our merchantmen in eastern seas. Decaen's first halt was at
+the Cape, which had been given back by us to the Dutch East India
+Company on February 21st, 1803. The French general found the Dutch
+officials in their usual state of lethargy: the fortifications had not
+been repaired, and many of the inhabitants, and even of the officials
+themselves, says Decaen, were devoted to the English. After surveying
+the place, doubtless with a view to its occupation as the _point
+d'appui_ hinted at in his instructions, he set sail on the 27th of
+May, and arrived before Pondicherry on the 11th of July.[210]
+
+In the meantime important events had transpired which served to wreck
+not only Decaen's enterprise, but the French influence in India. In
+Europe the flames of war had burst forth, a fact of which both Decaen
+and the British officials were ignorant; but the Governor of Fort St.
+George (Madras), having, before the 15th of June, "received
+intelligence which appeared to indicate the certainty of an early
+renewal of hostilities between His Majesty and France," announced that
+he must postpone the restitution of Pondicherry to the French, until
+he should have the authority of the Governor-General for such
+action.[211]
+
+
+
+The Marquis Wellesley was still less disposed to any such restitution.
+French intervention in the affairs of Switzerland, which will be
+described later on, had so embittered Anglo-French relations that on
+October the 17th, 1802, Lord Hobart, our Minister of War and for the
+Colonies, despatched a "most secret" despatch, stating that recent
+events rendered it necessary to postpone this retrocession. At a later
+period Wellesley received contrary orders, instructing him to restore
+French and Dutch territories; but he judged that step to be
+inopportune considering the gravity of events in the north of India.
+So active was the French propaganda at the Mahratta Courts, and so
+threatening were their armed preparations, that he redoubled his
+efforts for the consolidation of British supremacy. He resolved to
+strike at Scindiah, unless he withdrew his southern army into his own
+territories; and, on receiving an evasive answer from that prince, who
+hoped by temporizing to gain armed succours from France, he launched
+the British forces against him. Now was the opportunity for Arthur
+Wellesley to display his prowess against the finest forces of the
+East; and brilliantly did the young warrior display it. The victories
+of Assaye in September, and of Argaum in November, scattered the
+southern Mahratta force, but only after desperate conflicts that
+suggested how easily a couple of Decaen's battalions might have turned
+the scales of war.
+
+Meanwhile, in the north, General Lake stormed Aligarh, and drove
+Scindiah's troops back to Delhi. Disgusted at the incapacity and
+perfidy that surrounded him, Perron threw up his command; and another
+conflict near Delhi yielded that ancient seat of Empire to our trading
+Company. In three months the results of the toil of Scindiah, the
+restless ambition of Holkar, the training of European officers, and the
+secret intrigues of Napoleon, were all swept to the winds. Wellesley now
+annexed the land around Delhi and Agra, besides certain coast districts
+which cut off the Mahrattas from the sea, also stipulating for the
+complete exclusion of French agents from their States. Perron was
+allowed to return to France; and the brusque reception accorded him from
+Bonaparte may serve to measure the height of the First Consul's hopes,
+the depth of his disappointment, and his resentment against a man who
+was daunted by a single disaster.[212]
+
+Meanwhile it was the lot of Decaen to witness, in inglorious
+inactivity, the overthrow of all his hopes. Indeed, he barely escaped
+the capture which Wellesley designed for his whole force, as soon as
+he should hear of the outbreak of war in Europe; but by secret and
+skilful measures all the French ships, except one transport, escaped
+to their appointed rendezvous, the Ile de France. Enraged by these
+events, Decaen and Linois determined to inflict every possible injury
+on their foes. The latter soon swept from the eastern seas British
+merchantmen valued at a million sterling, while the general ceased not
+to send emissaries into India to encourage the millions of natives to
+shake off the yoke of "a few thousand English."
+
+These officers effected little, and some of them were handed over to
+the English authorities by the now obsequious potentates. Decaen also
+endeavoured to carry out the First Consul's design of occupying
+strategic points in the Indian Ocean. In the autumn of 1803 he sent a
+fine cruiser to the Imaum of Muscat, to induce him to cede a station
+for commercial purposes at that port. But Wellesley, forewarned by our
+agent at Bagdad, had made a firm alliance with the Imaum, who
+accordingly refused the request of the French captain. The incident,
+however, supplies another link in the chain of evidence as to the
+completeness of Napoleon's oriental policy, and yields another proof
+of the vigour of our great proconsul at Calcutta, by whose foresight
+our Indian Empire was preserved and strengthened.[213]
+
+Bonaparte's enterprises were by no means limited to well-known lands.
+The unknown continent of the Southern Seas appealed to his
+imagination, which pictured its solitudes transformed by French energy
+into a second fatherland. Australia, or New Holland, as it was then
+called, had long attracted the notice of French explorers, but the
+English penal settlements at and near Sydney formed the only European
+establishment on the great southern island at the dawn of the
+nineteenth century.
+
+Bonaparte early turned his eyes towards that land. On his voyage to
+Egypt he took with him the volumes in which Captain Cook described his
+famous discoveries; and no sooner was he firmly installed as First
+Consul than he planned with the Institute of France a great French
+expedition to New Holland. The full text of the plan has never been
+published: probably it was suppressed or destroyed; and the sole
+public record relating to it is contained in the official account of
+the expedition published at the French Imperial Press in 1807.[214]
+According to this description, the aim was solely geographical and
+scientific. The First Consul and the Institute of France desired that
+the ships should proceed to Van Diemen's Land, explore its rivers, and
+then complete the survey of the south coast of the continent, so as to
+see whether behind the islands of the Nuyts Archipelago there might be
+a channel connecting with the Gulf of Carpentaria, and so cutting New
+Holland in half. They were then to sail west to "Terre Leeuwin,"
+ascend the Swan River, complete the exploration of Shark's Bay and the
+north-western coasts, and winter in Timor or Amboyne. Finally, they
+were to coast along New Guinea and the Gulf of Carpentaria, and return
+to France in 1803.
+
+In September, 1800, the ships, having on board twenty-three scientific
+men, set sail from Havre under the command of Commodore Baudin. They
+received no molestation from English cruisers, it being a rule of
+honour to give Admiralty permits to all members of genuinely
+scientific and geographical parties. Nevertheless, even on its
+scientific side, this splendidly-equipped expedition produced no
+results comparable with those achieved by Lieutenant Bass or by
+Captain Flinders. The French ships touched at the Ile de France, and
+sailed thence for Van Diemen's Land. After spending a long time in the
+exploration of its coasts and in collecting scientific information,
+they made for Sydney in order to repair their ships and gain relief
+for their many invalids. Thence, after incidents which will be noticed
+presently, they set sail in November, 1802, for Bass Strait and the
+coast beyond. They seem to have overlooked the entrance to Port
+Phillip--a discovery effected by Murray in 1801, but not made public
+till three years later--and failed to notice the outlet of the chief
+Australian river, which is obscured by a shallow lake.
+
+There they were met by Captain Flinders, who, on H.M.S.
+"Investigator," had been exploring the coast between Cape Leeuwin and
+the great gulfs which he named after Lords St. Vincent and Spencer.
+Flinders was returning towards Sydney, when, in the long desolate
+curve of the bay which he named from the incident Encounter Bay, he
+saw the French ships. After brief and guarded intercourse the
+explorers separated, the French proceeding to survey the gulfs whence
+the "Investigator" had just sailed; while Flinders, after a short stay
+at Sydney and the exploration of the northern coast and Torres Strait,
+set out for Europe.[215]
+
+Apart from the compilation of the most accurate map of Australia which
+had then appeared, and the naming of several features on its
+coasts--_e.g._, Capes Berrouilli and Gantheaume, the Bays of Rivoli
+and of Lacépède, and the Freycinet Peninsula, which are still
+retained--the French expedition achieved no geographical results of
+the first importance.
+
+Its political aims now claim attention. A glance at the accompanying
+map will show that, under the guise of being an emissary of
+civilization, Commodore Baudin was prepared to claim half the
+continent for France. Indeed, his final inquiry at Sydney about the
+extent of the British claims on the Pacific coast was so significant
+as to elicit from Governor King the reply that the whole of Van
+Diemen's Land and of the coast from Cape Howe on the south of the
+mainland to Cape York on the north was British territory. King also
+notified the suspicious action of the French Commander to the Home
+Government; and when the French sailed away to explore the coast of
+southern and central Australia he sent a ship to watch their
+proceedings. When, therefore, Commodore Baudin effected a landing on
+King Island, the Union Jack was speedily hoisted and saluted by the
+blue-jackets of the British vessel; for it was rumoured that French
+officers had said that King Island would afford a good station for the
+command of Bass Strait and the seizure of British ships. This was
+probably mere gossip. Baudin in his interviews with Governor King at
+Sydney disclaimed any intention of seizing Van Diemen's Land; but he
+afterwards stated that _he did not know what were the plans of the
+French Government with regard to that island_.[216]
+
+Long before this dark saying could be known at Westminster, the
+suspicions of our Government had been aroused; and, on February 13th,
+1803, Lord Hobart penned a despatch to Governor King bidding him to
+take every precaution against French annexations, and to form
+settlements in Van Diemen's Land and at Port Phillip. The station of
+Risden was accordingly planted on the estuary of the Derwent, a little
+above the present town of Hobart; while on the shores of Port Phillip
+another expedition sent out from the mother country sought, but for
+the present in vain, to find a suitable site. The French cruise
+therefore exerted on the fortunes of the English and French peoples an
+influence such as has frequently accrued from their colonial rivalry:
+it spurred on the island Power to more vigorous efforts than she would
+otherwise have put forth, and led to the discomfiture of her
+continental rival. The plans of Napoleon for the acquisition of Van
+Diemen's Land and the middle of Australia had an effect like that
+which the ambition of Montcalm, Dupleix, Lally, and Perron has exerted
+on the ultimate destiny of many a vast and fertile territory.
+
+
+
+Still, in spite of the destruction of his fleet at Trafalgar, Napoleon
+held to his Australian plans. No fact, perhaps, is more suggestive of
+the dogged tenacity of his will than his order to Péron and Freycinet
+to publish through the Imperial Press at Paris an exhaustive account
+of their Australian voyage, accompanied by maps which claimed half of
+that continent for the tricolour flag. It appeared in 1807, the year
+of Tilsit and of the plans for the partition of Portugal and her
+colonies between France and Spain. The hour seemed at last to have
+struck for the assertion of French supremacy in other continents, now
+that the Franco-Russian alliance had durably consolidated it in
+Europe. And who shall say that, but for the Spanish Rising and the
+genius of Wellington, a vast colonial empire might not have been won
+for France, had Napoleon been free to divert his energies away from
+this "old Europe" of which he professed to be utterly weary?
+
+His whole attitude towards European and colonial politics revealed a
+statesmanlike appreciation of the forces that were to mould the
+fortunes of nations in the nineteenth century. He saw that no
+rearrangement of the European peoples could be permanent. They were
+too stubborn, too solidly nationalized, to bear the yoke of the new
+Charlemagne. "I am come too late," he once exclaimed to Marmont; "men
+are too enlightened, there is nothing great left to be done." These
+words reveal his sense of the artificiality of his European conquests.
+His imperial instincts could find complete satisfaction only among the
+docile fate-ridden peoples of Asia, where he might unite the functions
+of an Alexander and a Mahomet: or, failing that, he would carve out an
+empire from the vast southern lands, organizing them by his unresting
+powers and ruling them as œkist and as despot. This task would possess
+a permanence such as man's conquests over Nature may always enjoy, and
+his triumphs over his fellows seldom or never. The political
+reconstruction of Europe was at best one of an infinite number of such
+changes, always progressing and never completed; while the peopling of
+new lands and the founding of States belonged to that highest plane of
+political achievement wherein schemes of social beneficence and the
+dictates of a boundless ambition could maintain an eager and unending
+rivalry. While a strictly European policy could effect little more
+than a raking over of long-cultivated parterres, the foundation of a
+new colonial empire would be the turning up of the virgin soil of the
+limitless prairie.
+
+If we inquire by the light of history why these grand designs failed,
+the answer must be that they were too vast fitly to consort with an
+ambitious European policy. His ablest adviser noted this fundamental
+defect as rapidly developing after the Peace of Amiens, when "he began
+to sow the seeds of new wars which, after overwhelming Europe and
+France, were to lead him to his ruin." This criticism of Talleyrand on
+a man far greater than himself, but who lacked that saving grace of
+moderation in which the diplomatist excelled, is consonant with all
+the teachings of history. The fortunes of the colonial empires of
+Athens and Carthage in the ancient world, of the Italian maritime
+republics, of Portugal and Spain, and, above all, the failure of the
+projects of Louis XIV. and Louis XV. serve to prove that only as the
+motherland enjoys a sufficiency of peace at home and on her borders
+can she send forth in ceaseless flow those supplies of men and
+treasure which are the very life-blood of a new organism. That
+beneficent stream might have poured into Napoleon's Colonial Empire,
+had not other claims diverted it into the barren channels of European
+warfare. The same result followed as at the time of the Seven Years'
+War, when the double effort to wage great campaigns in Germany and
+across the oceans sapped the strength of France, and the additions won
+by Dupleix and Montcalm fell away from her flaccid frame.
+
+Did Napoleon foresee a similar result? His conduct in regard to
+Louisiana and in reference to Decaen's expedition proves that he did,
+but only when it was too late. As soon as he saw that his policy was
+about to provoke another war with Britain long before he was ready for
+it, he decided to forego his oceanic schemes and to concentrate his
+forces on his European frontiers. The decision was dictated by a true
+sense of imperial strategy. But what shall we say of his sense of
+imperial diplomacy? The foregoing narrative and the events to be
+described in the next chapters prove that his mistake lay in that
+overweening belief in his own powers and in the pliability of his
+enemies which was the cause of his grandest triumphs and of his
+unexampled overthrow.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+NAPOLEON'S INTERVENTIONS
+
+
+War, said St. Augustine, is but the transition from a lower to a
+higher state of peace. The saying is certainly true for those wars
+that are waged in defence of some great principle or righteous cause.
+It may perhaps be applied with justice to the early struggles of the
+French revolutionists to secure their democratic Government against
+the threatened intervention of monarchical States. But the danger of
+vindicating the cause of freedom by armed force has never been more
+glaringly shown than in the struggles of that volcanic age. When
+democracy had gained a sure foothold in the European system, the war
+was still pushed on by the triumphant republicans at the expense of
+neighbouring States, so that, even before the advent of Bonaparte,
+their polity was being strangely warped by the influence of military
+methods of rule. The brilliance of the triumphs won by that young
+warrior speedily became the greatest danger of republican France; and
+as the extraordinary energy developed in her people by recent events
+cast her feeble neighbours to the ground, Europe cowered away before
+the ever-increasing bulk of France. In their struggles after democracy
+the French finally reverted to the military type of Government, which
+accords with many of the cherished instincts of their race: and the
+military-democratic compromise embodied in Napoleon endowed that
+people with the twofold force of national pride and of conscious
+strength springing from their new institutions.
+
+With this was mingled contempt for neighbouring peoples who either
+could not or would not gain a similar independence and prestige.
+Everything helped to feed this self-confidence and contempt for
+others. The venerable fabric of the Holy Roman Empire was rocking to
+and fro amidst the spoliations of its ecclesiastical lands by lay
+princes, in which its former champions, the Houses of Hapsburg and
+Hohenzollern, were the most exacting of the claimants. The Czar, in
+October, 1801, had come to a profitable understanding with France
+concerning these "secularizations." A little later France and Russia
+began to draw together on the Eastern Question in a way threatening to
+Turkey and to British influence in the Levant.[217] In fact, French
+diplomacy used the partition of the German ecclesiastical lands and
+the threatened collapse of the Ottoman power as a potent means of
+busying the Continental States and leaving Great Britain isolated.
+Moreover, the great island State was passing through ministerial and
+financial difficulties which robbed her of all the fruits of her naval
+triumphs and made her diplomacy at Amiens the laughing-stock of the
+world. When monarchical ideas were thus discredited, it was idle to
+expect peace. The struggling upwards towards a higher plane had indeed
+begun; democracy had effected a lodgment in Western Europe; but the
+old order in its bewildered gropings after some sure basis had not yet
+touched bottom on that rock of nationality which was to yield a new
+foundation for monarchy amidst the strifes of the nineteenth century.
+Only when the monarchs received the support of their French-hating
+subjects could an equilibrium of force and of enthusiasms yield the
+long-sought opportunity for a durable peace.[218]
+
+
+
+The negotiations at Amiens had amply shown the great difficulty of the
+readjustment of European affairs. If our Ministers had manifested
+their real feelings about Napoleon's presidency of the Italian
+Republic, war would certainly have broken forth. But, as has been
+seen, they preferred to assume the attitude of the ostrich, the worst
+possible device both for the welfare of Europe and the interests of
+Great Britain; for it convinced Napoleon that he could safely venture
+on other interventions; and this he proceeded to do in the affairs of
+Italy, Holland, and Switzerland.
+
+On September 21st, 1802, appeared a _senatus consultum_ ordering the
+incorporation of Piedmont in France. This important territory,
+lessened by the annexation of its eastern parts to the Italian
+Republic, had for five months been provisionally administered by a
+French general as a military district of France. Its definite
+incorporation in the great Republic now put an end to all hopes of
+restoration of the House of Savoy. For the King of Sardinia, now an
+exile in his island, the British Ministry had made some efforts at
+Amiens; but, as it knew that the Czar and the First Consul had agreed
+on offering him some suitable indemnity, the hope was cherished that
+the new sovereign, Victor Emmanuel I., would be restored to his
+mainland possessions. That hope was now at an end. In vain did Lord
+Whitworth, our ambassador at Paris, seek to help the Russian envoy to
+gain a fit indemnity. Sienna and its lands were named, as if in
+derision; and though George III. and the Czar ceased not to press the
+claims of the House of Savoy, yet no more tempting offer came from
+Paris, except a hint that some part of European Turkey might be found
+for him; and the young ruler nobly refused to barter for the petty
+Siennese, or for some Turkish pachalic, his birthright to the lands
+which, under a happier Victor Emmanuel, were to form the nucleus of a
+United Italy.[219] A month after the absorption of Piedmont came the
+annexation of Parma. The heir to that duchy, who was son-in-law to the
+King of Spain, had been raised to the dignity of King of Etruria; and
+in return for this aggrandizement in Europe, Charles IV. bartered away
+to France the whole of Louisiana. Nevertheless, the First Consul kept
+his troops in Parma, and on the death of the old duke in October,
+1802, Parma and its dependencies were incorporated in the French
+Republic.
+
+The naval supremacy of France in the Mediterranean was also secured by
+the annexation of the Isle of Elba with its excellent harbour of Porto
+Ferrajo. Three deputies from Elba came to Paris to pay their respects
+to their new ruler. The Minister of War was thereupon charged to treat
+them with every courtesy, to entertain them at dinner, to give them
+3,000 francs apiece, and to hint that on their presentation to
+Bonaparte they might make a short speech expressing the pleasure of
+their people at being united with France. By such deft rehearsals did
+this master in the art of scenic displays weld Elba on to France and
+France to himself.
+
+Even more important was Bonaparte's intervention in Switzerland. The
+condition of that land calls for some explanation. For wellnigh three
+centuries the Switzers had been grouped in thirteen cantons, which
+differed widely in character and constitution. The Central or Forest
+Cantons still retained the old Teutonic custom of regulating their
+affairs in their several folk-moots, at which every householder
+appeared fully armed. Elsewhere the confederation had developed less
+admirable customs, and the richer lowlands especially were under the
+hereditary control of rich burgher families. There was no constitution
+binding these States in any effective union. Each of the cantons
+claimed a governmental sovereignty that was scarcely impaired by the
+deliberations of the Federal Diet. Besides these sovereign States were
+others that held an ill-defined position as allies; among these were
+Geneva, Basel, Bienne, Saint Gall, the old imperial city of Mühlhausen
+in Alsace, the three Grisons, the principality of Neufchâtel, and
+Valais on the Upper Rhone. Last came the subject-lands, Aargau,
+Thurgau, Ticino, Vaud, and others, which were governed in various
+degrees of strictness by their cantonal overlords. Such was the old
+Swiss Confederacy: it somewhat resembled that chaotic Macedonian
+league of mountain clans, plain-dwellers, and cities, which was so
+profoundly influenced by the infiltration of Greek ideas and by the
+masterful genius of Philip. Switzerland was likewise to be shaken by a
+new political influence, and thereafter to be controlled by the
+greatest statesman of the age.
+
+On this motley group of cantons and districts the French Revolution
+exerted a powerful influence; and when, in 1798, the people of Vaud
+strove to throw off the yoke of Berne, French troops, on the
+invitation of the insurgents, invaded Switzerland, quelled the brave
+resistance of the central cantons, and ransacked the chief of the
+Swiss treasuries. After the plunderers came the constitution-mongers,
+who forthwith forced on Switzerland democracy of the most French and
+geometrical type: all differences between the sovereign cantons,
+allies, and subject-lands were swept away, and Helvetia was
+constituted as an indivisible republic--except Valais, which was to be
+independent, and Geneva and Mühlhausen, which were absorbed by France.
+The subject districts and non-privileged classes benefited
+considerably by the social reforms introduced under French influence;
+but a constitution recklessly transferred from Paris to Berne could
+only provoke loathing among a people that never before had submitted
+to foreign dictation. Moreover, the new order of things violated the
+most elementary needs of the Swiss, whose racial and religious
+instincts claimed freedom of action for each district or canton.
+
+Of these deep-seated feelings the oligarchs of the plains, no less
+than the democrats of the Forest Cantons, were now the champions;
+while the partisans of the new-fangled democracy were held up to scorn
+as the supporters of a cast-iron centralization. It soon became clear
+that the constitution of 1798 could be perpetuated only by the support
+of the French troops quartered on that unhappy land; for throughout
+the years 1800 and 1801 the political see-saw tilted every few months,
+first in favour of the oligarchic or federal party, then again towards
+their unionist opponents. After the Peace of Lunéville, which
+recognized the right of the Swiss to adopt what form of government
+they thought fit, some of their deputies travelled to Paris with the
+draft of a constitution lately drawn up by the Chamber at Berne, in
+the hope of gaining the assent of the First Consul to its provisions
+and the withdrawal of French troops. They had every reason for hope:
+the party then in power at Berne was that which favoured a centralized
+democracy, and their plenipotentiary in Paris, a thorough republican
+named Stapfer, had been led to hope that Switzerland would now be
+allowed to carve out its own destiny. What, then, was his surprise to
+find the First Consul increasingly enamoured of federalism. The
+letters written by Stapfer to the Swiss Government at this time are
+highly instructive.[220]
+
+On March 10th, 1801, he wrote:
+
+     "What torments us most is the cruel uncertainty as to the real aims
+     of the French Government. Does it want to federalize us in order to
+     weaken us and to rule more surely by our divisions: or does it
+     really desire our independence and welfare, and is its delay only
+     the result of its doubts as to the true wishes of the Helvetic
+     nation?"
+
+Stapfer soon found that the real cause of delay was the non-completion
+of the cession of Valais, which Bonaparte urgently desired for the
+construction of a military road across the Simplon Pass; and as the
+Swiss refused this demand, matters remained at a standstill. "The
+whole of Europe would not make him give up a favourite scheme," wrote
+Stapfer on April 10th; "the possession of Valais is one of the matters
+closest to his heart."
+
+The protracted pressure of a French army of occupation on that already
+impoverished land proved irresistible; and some important
+modifications of the Swiss project of a constitution, on which the
+First Consul insisted, were inserted in the new federal compact of
+May, 1801. Switzerland was now divided into seventeen cantons; and
+despite the wish of the official Swiss envoys for a strongly
+centralized government, Bonaparte gave large powers to the cantonal
+authorities. His motives in this course of action have been variously
+judged. In giving greater freedom of movement to the several cantons,
+he certainly adopted the only statesmanlike course: but his conduct
+during the negotiation, his retention of Valais, and the continued
+occupation of Switzerland by his troops, albeit in reduced numbers,
+caused many doubts as to the sincerity of his desire for a final
+settlement.
+
+The unionist majority at Berne soon proceeded to modify his proposals,
+which they condemned as full of defects and contradictions; while the
+federals strove to keep matters as they were. In the month of October
+their efforts succeeded, thanks to the support of the French
+ambassador and soldiery; they dissolved the Assembly, annulled its
+recent amendments; and their influence procured for Reding, the head
+of the oligarchic party, the office of Landamman, or supreme
+magistrate. So reactionary, however, were their proceedings, that the
+First Consul recalled the French general as a sign of his displeasure
+at his help recently offered to the federals. Their triumph was brief:
+while their chiefs were away at Easter, 1802, the democratic unionists
+effected another _coup d'état_--it was the fourth--and promulgated one
+more constitution. This change seems also to have been brought about
+with the connivance of the French authorities:[221] their refusal to
+listen to Stapfer's claims for a definite settlement, as well as their
+persistent hints that the Swiss could not by themselves arrange their
+own affairs, argued a desire to continue the epoch of quarterly _coups
+d'état_.
+
+The victory of the so-called democrats at Berne now brought the whole
+matter to the touch. They appealed to the people in the first Swiss
+_plébiscite_, the precursor of the famous _referendum_. It could now
+be decided without the interference of French troops; for the First
+Consul had privately declared to the new Landamman, Dolder, that he
+left it to his Government to decide whether the foreign soldiery
+should remain as a support or should evacuate Switzerland.[222] After
+many searchings of heart, the new authorities decided to try their
+fortunes alone--a response which must have been expected at Paris,
+where Stapfer had for months been urging the removal of the French
+forces. For the first time since the year 1798 Switzerland was
+therefore free to declare her will. The result of the _plébiscite_ was
+decisive enough, 72,453 votes being cast in favour of the latest
+constitution, and 92,423 against it. Nothing daunted by this rebuff,
+and, adopting a device which the First Consul had invented for the
+benefit of Dutch liberty, the Bernese leaders declared that the
+167,172 adult voters who had not voted at all must reckon as approving
+the new order of things. The flimsiness of this pretext was soon
+disclosed. The Swiss had had enough of electioneering tricks,
+hole-and-corner revolutions, and paper compacts. They rushed to arms;
+and if ever Carlyle's appeal away from ballot-boxes and parliamentary
+tongue-fencers to the primæval _mights of man_ can be justified, it
+was in the sharp and decisive conflicts of the early autumn of 1802 in
+Switzerland. The troops of the central authorities, marching forth
+from Berne to quell the rising ferment, sustained a repulse at the
+foot of Mont Pilatus, as also before the walls of Zürich; and, the
+revolt of the federals ever gathering force, the Helvetic authorities
+were driven from Berne to Lausanne. There they were planning flight
+across the Lake of Geneva to Savoy, when, on October 15th, the arrival
+of Napoleon's aide-de-camp, General Rapp, with an imperious
+proclamation dismayed the federals and promised to the discomfited
+unionists the mediation of the First Consul for which they had humbly
+pleaded.[223]
+
+Napoleon had apparently viewed the late proceedings in Switzerland
+with mingled feelings of irritation and amused contempt. "Well, there
+you are once more in a Revolution" was his hasty comment to Stapfer at
+a diplomatic reception shortly after Easter; "try and get tired of all
+that." It is difficult, however, to believe that so keen-sighted a
+statesman could look forward to anything but commotions for a land
+that was being saddled with an impracticable constitution, and whence
+the controlling French forces were withdrawn at that very crisis. He
+was certainly prepared for the events of September: many times he had
+quizzingly asked Stapfer how the constitution was faring, and he must
+have received with quiet amusement the solemn reply that there could
+be no doubt as to its brilliant success. When the truth flashed
+on Stapfer he was dumbfoundered, especially as Talleyrand at first
+mockingly repulsed any suggestion of the need of French mediation, and
+went on to assure him that his master had neither counselled nor
+approved the last constitution, the unfitness of which was now shown
+by the widespread insurrection. Two days later, however, Napoleon
+altered his tone and directed Talleyrand vigorously to protest against
+the acts and proclamations of the victorious federals as "the most
+violent outrage to French honour." On the last day of September he
+issued a proclamation to the Swiss declaring that he now revoked his
+decision not to mingle in Swiss politics, and ordered the federal
+authorities and troops to disperse, and the cantons to send deputies
+to Paris for the regulation of their affairs under his mediation.
+Meanwhile he bade the Swiss live once more in hope: their land was on
+the brink of a precipice, but it would soon be saved! Rapp carried
+analogous orders to Lausanne and Berne, while Ney marched in with a
+large force of French troops that had been assembled near the Swiss
+frontiers.
+
+So glaring a violation of Swiss independence and of the guaranteeing
+Treaty of Lunéville aroused indignation throughout Europe. But Austria
+was too alarmed at Prussian aggrandizement in Germany to offer any
+protest; and, indeed, procured some trifling gains by giving France a
+free hand in Switzerland.[224] The Court of Berlin, then content to
+play the jackal to the French lion, revealed to the First Consul the
+appeals for help privately made to Prussia by the Swiss federals:[225]
+the Czar, influenced doubtless by his compact with France concerning
+German affairs, and by the advice of his former tutor, the Swiss
+Laharpe, offered no encouragement; and it was left to Great Britain to
+make the sole effort then attempted for the cause of Swiss
+independence. For some time past the cantons had made appeals to
+the British Government, which now, in response, sent an English agent,
+Moore, to confer with their chiefs, and to advance money and promise
+active support if he judged that a successful resistance could be
+attempted.[226] The British Ministry undoubtedly prepared for an open
+rupture with France on this question. Orders were immediately sent
+from London that no more French or Dutch colonies were to be handed
+back; and, as we have seen, the Cape of Good Hope and the French
+settlements in India were refused to the Dutch and French officers who
+claimed their surrender.
+
+Hostilities, however, were for the present avoided. In face of the
+overwhelming force which Ney had close at hand, the chiefs of the
+central cantons shrank from any active opposition; and Moore, finding
+on his arrival at Constance that they had decided to submit, speedily
+returned to England. Ministers beheld with anger and dismay the
+perpetuation of French supremacy in that land; but they lacked the
+courage openly to oppose the First Consul's action, and gave orders
+that the stipulated cessions of French and Dutch colonies should take
+effect.
+
+The submission of the Swiss and the weakness of all the Powers
+encouraged the First Consul to impose his will on the deputies from
+the cantons, who assembled at Paris at the close of the year 1802. He
+first caused their aims and the capacity of their leaders to be
+sounded in a Franco-Swiss Commission, and thereafter assembled them at
+St. Cloud on Sunday, December 12th. He harangued them at great length,
+hinting very clearly that the Swiss must now take a far lower place in
+the scale of peoples than in the days when France was divided into
+sixty fiefs, and that union with her could alone enable them to play a
+great part in the world's affairs: nevertheless, as they clung to
+independence he would undertake in his quality of mediator to end
+their troubles, and yet leave them free. That they could attain unity
+was a mere dream of their metaphysicians: they must rely on the
+cantonal organization, always provided that the French and Italian
+districts of Vaud and the upper Ticino were not subject to the central
+or German cantons: to prevent such a dishonour he would shed the blood
+of 50,000 Frenchmen: Berne must also open its golden book of the
+privileged families to include four times their number. For the rest,
+the Continental Powers could not help them, and England had "no right
+to meddle in Swiss affairs." The same menace was repeated in more
+strident tones on January 29th:
+
+     "I tell you that I would sacrifice 100,000 men rather than allow
+     England to meddle in your affairs: if the Cabinet of St. James
+     uttered a single word for you, it would be all up with you, I would
+     unite you to France: if that Court made the least insinuation of
+     its fears that I would be your Landamman, I would make myself your
+     Landamman."
+
+There spake forth the inner mind of the man who, whether as child,
+youth, lieutenant, general, Consul, or Emperor, loved to bear down
+opposition.[227]
+
+In those days of superhuman activity, when he was carving out one
+colonial Empire in the New World and preparing to found another in
+India, when he was outwitting the Cardinals, rearranging the map of
+Germany, breathing new life into French commerce and striving to
+shackle that of Britain, he yet found time to utter some of the sagest
+maxims as to the widely different needs of the Swiss cantons. He
+assured the deputies that he spoke as a Corsican and a mountaineer,
+who knew and loved the clan system. His words proved it. With sure
+touch he sketched the characteristics of the French and Swiss people.
+Switzerland needed the local freedom imparted by her cantons: while
+France required unity, Switzerland needed federalism: the French
+rejected this last as damaging their power and glory; but the Swiss
+did not ask for glory; they needed "political tranquillity and
+obscurity": moreover, a simple pastoral people must have extensive
+local rights, which formed their chief distraction from the monotony
+of life: democracy was a necessity for the forest cantons; but let not
+the aristocrats of the towns fear that a wider franchise would end
+their influence, for a people dependent on pastoral pursuits would
+always cling to great families rather than to electoral assemblies:
+let these be elected on a fairly wide basis. Then again, what ready
+wit flashed forth in his retort to a deputy who objected to the
+Bernese Oberland forming part of the Canton of Berne: "Where do you
+take your cattle and your cheese?"--"To Berne."--"Whence do you get
+your grain, cloth, and iron?"--"From Berne."--"Very well: 'To Berne,
+from Berne'--you consequently belong to Berne." The reply is a good
+instance of that canny materialism which he so victoriously opposed to
+feudal chaos and monarchical ineptitude.
+
+Indeed, in matters great as well as small his genius pierced to the
+heart of a problem: he saw that the democratic unionists had failed
+from the rigidity of their centralization, while the federals had
+given offence by insufficiently recognizing the new passion for social
+equality.[228] He now prepared to federalize Switzerland on a
+moderately democratic basis; for a policy of balance, he himself being
+at the middle of the see-saw, was obviously required by good sense as
+well as by self-interest. Witness his words to Roederer on this
+subject:
+
+"While satisfying the generality, I cause the patricians to tremble.
+In giving to these last the appearance of power, I oblige them to take
+refuge at my side in order to find protection. I let the people
+threaten the aristocrats, so that these may have need of me. I will
+give them places and distinctions, but they will hold them from me.
+This system of mine has succeeded in France. See the clergy. Every day
+they will become, in spite of themselves, more devoted to my
+government than they had foreseen."
+
+How simple and yet how subtle is this statecraft; simplicity of aim,
+with subtlety in the choice of means: this is the secret of his
+success.
+
+After much preliminary work done by French commissioners and the Swiss
+deputies in committee, the First Consul summed up the results of their
+labours in the Act of Mediation of February 19th, 1803, which
+constituted the Confederation in nineteen cantons, the formerly
+subject districts now attaining cantonal dignity and privileges. The
+forest cantons kept their ancient folk-moots, while the town cantons
+such as Berne, Zürich, and Basel were suffered to blend their old
+institutions with democratic customs, greatly to the chagrin of the
+unionists, at whose invitation Bonaparte had taken up the work of
+mediation.
+
+The federal compact was also a compromise between the old and the new.
+The nineteen cantons were to enjoy sovereign powers under the shelter
+of the old federal pact. Bonaparte saw that the fussy imposition of
+French governmental forms in 1798 had wrought infinite harm, and he
+now granted to the federal authorities merely the powers necessary for
+self-defence: the federal forces were to consist of 15,200 men--a
+number less than that which by old treaty Switzerland had to furnish
+to France. The central power was vested in a Landamman and other
+officers appointed yearly by one of the six chief cantons taken in
+rotation; and a Federal Diet, consisting of twenty-five deputies--one
+from each of the small cantons, and two from each of the six larger
+cantons--met to discuss matters of general import, but the balance of
+power rested with the cantons: further articles regulated the Helvetic
+debt and declared the independence of Switzerland--as if a land could
+be independent which furnished more troops to the foreigner than it
+was allowed to maintain for its own defence. Furthermore, the Act
+breathed not a word about religious liberty, freedom of the Press, or
+the right of petition: and, viewing it as a whole, the friends of
+freedom had cause to echo the complaint of Stapfer that "the First
+Consul's aim was to annul Switzerland politically, but to assure to
+the Swiss the greatest possible domestic happiness."
+
+I have judged it advisable to give an account of Franco-Swiss
+relations on a scale proportionate to their interest and importance;
+they exhibit, not only the meanness and folly of the French Directory,
+but the genius of the great Corsican in skilfully blending the new and
+the old, and in his rejection of the fussy pedantry of French
+theorists and the worst prejudices of the Swiss oligarchs. Had not his
+sage designs been intertwined with subtle intrigues which assured his
+own unquestioned supremacy in that land, the Act of Mediation might be
+reckoned among the grandest and most beneficent achievements. As it
+is, it must be regarded as a masterpiece of able but selfish
+statecraft, which contrasts unfavourably with the disinterested
+arrangements sanctioned by the allies for Switzerland in 1815.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+THE RENEWAL OF WAR
+
+
+The re-occupation of Switzerland by the French in October, 1802, was
+soon followed by other serious events, which convinced the British
+Ministry that war was hardly to be avoided. Indeed, before the treaty
+was ratified, ominous complaints had begun to pass between Paris and
+London.
+
+Some of these were trivial, others were highly important. Among the
+latter was the question of commercial intercourse. The British
+Ministry had neglected to obtain any written assurance that trade
+relations should be resumed between the two countries; and the First
+Consul, either prompted by the protectionist theories of the Jacobins,
+or because he wished to exert pressure upon England in order to extort
+further concessions, determined to restrict trade with us to the
+smallest possible dimensions. This treatment of England was wholly
+exceptional, for in his treaties concluded with Russia, Portugal, and
+the Porte, Napoleon had procured the insertion of clauses which
+directly fostered French trade with those lands. Remonstrances soon
+came from the British Government that "strict prohibitions were being
+enforced to the admission of British commodities and manufactures into
+France, and very vigorous restrictions were imposed on British vessels
+entering French ports"; but, in spite of all representations, we had
+the mortification of seeing the hardware of Birmingham, and the
+ever-increasing stores of cotton and woollen goods, shut out from
+France and her subject-lands, as well as from the French colonies
+which we had just handed back.
+
+In this policy of commercial prohibition Napoleon was confirmed by our
+refusal to expel the Bourbon princes. He declined to accept our
+explanation that they were not officially recognized, and could not be
+expelled from England without a violation of the rights of
+hospitality; and he bitterly complained of the personal attacks made
+upon him in journals published in London by the French _émigrés_. Of
+these the most acrid, namely, those of Peltier's paper, "L'Ambigu,"
+had already received the reprobation of the British Ministry; but, as
+had been previously explained at Amiens, the Addington Cabinet decided
+that it could not venture to curtail the liberty of the Press, least
+of all at the dictation of the very man who was answering the pop-guns
+of our unofficial journals by double-shotted retorts in the official
+"Moniteur." Of these last His Majesty did not deign to make any
+formal complaint; but he suggested that their insertion in the organ
+of the French Government should have prevented Napoleon from
+preferring the present protests.
+
+This wordy war proceeded with unabated vigour on both sides of the
+Channel, the British journals complaining of the Napoleonic
+dictatorship in Continental affairs, while the "Moniteur" bristled
+with articles whose short, sharp sentences could come only from the
+First Consul. The official Press hitherto had been characterized by
+dull decorum, and great was the surprise of the older Courts when the
+French official journals compared the policy of the Court of St. James
+with the methods of the Barbary rovers and the designs of the Miltonic
+Satan.[229] Nevertheless, our Ministry prosecuted and convicted
+Peltier for libel, an act which, at the time, produced an excellent
+impression at Paris.[230]
+
+
+
+But more serious matters were now at hand. Newspaper articles and
+commercial restrictions were not the cause of war, however much they
+irritated the two peoples.
+
+The general position of Anglo-French affairs in the autumn of 1802 is
+well described in the official instructions given to Lord Whitworth
+when he was about to proceed as ambassador to Paris. For this
+difficult duty he had several good qualifications. During his embassy
+at St. Petersburg he had shown a combination of tact and firmness
+which imposed respect, and doubtless his composure under the violent
+outbreaks of the Czar Paul furnished a recommendation for the equally
+trying post at Paris, which he filled with a _sang froid_ that has
+become historic. Possibly a more genial personality might have
+smoothed over some difficulties at the Tuileries: but the Addington
+Ministry, having tried geniality in the person of Cornwallis,
+naturally selected a man who was remarkable for his powers of quiet
+yet firm resistance.
+
+His first instructions of September 10th, 1802, are such as might be
+drawn up between any two Powers entering on a long term of peace. But
+the series of untoward events noticed above overclouded the political
+horizon; and the change finds significant expression in the secret
+instructions of November 14th. He is now charged to state George
+III.'s determination "never to forego his right of interfering in the
+affairs of the Continent on any occasion in which the interests of his
+own dominions or those of Europe in general may appear to him to
+require it." A French despatch is then quoted, as admitting that, for
+every considerable gain of France on the Continent, Great Britain had
+some claim to compensation: and such a claim, it was hinted, might now
+be proffered after the annexation of Piedmont and Parma. Against the
+continued occupation of Holland by French troops and their invasion of
+Switzerland, Whitworth was to make moderate but firm remonstrances,
+but in such a way as not to commit us finally. He was to employ an
+equal discretion with regard to Malta. As Russia and Prussia had as
+yet declined to guarantee the arrangements for that island's
+independence, it was evident that the British troops could not yet be
+withdrawn.
+
+     "His Majesty would certainly be justified in claiming the
+     possession of Malta, as some counterpoise to the acquisitions of
+     France, since the conclusion of the definitive treaty: but it is
+     not necessary to decide now whether His Majesty will be disposed to
+     avail himself of his pretensions in this respect."
+
+Thus between September 10th and November 14th we passed from a
+distinctly pacific to a bellicose attitude, and all but formed the
+decision to demand Malta as a compensation for the recent
+aggrandizements of France. To have declared war at once on these
+grounds would certainly have been more dignified. But, as our Ministry
+had already given way on many topics, a sudden declaration of war on
+Swiss and Italian affairs would have stultified its complaisant
+conduct on weightier subjects. Moreover, the whole drift of
+eighteenth-century diplomacy, no less than Bonaparte's own admission,
+warranted the hope of securing Malta by way of "compensation." The
+adroit bargainer, who was putting up German Church lands for sale, who
+had gained Louisiana by the Parma-Tuscany exchange, and still
+professed to the Czar his good intentions as to an "indemnity" for the
+King of Sardinia, might well be expected to admit the principle of
+compensation in Anglo-French relations when these were being
+jeopardized by French aggrandizement; and, as will shortly appear, the
+First Consul, while professing to champion international law against
+perfidious Albion, privately admitted her right to compensation, and
+only demurred to its practical application when his oriental designs
+were thereby compromised.
+
+Before Whitworth proceeded to Paris, sharp remonstrances had been
+exchanged between the French and British Governments. To our protests
+against Napoleon's interventions in neighbouring States, he retorted
+by demanding "the whole Treaty of Amiens and nothing but that treaty."
+Whereupon Hawkesbury answered: "The state of the Continent at the
+period of the Treaty of Amiens, and nothing but that state." In reply
+Napoleon sent off a counterblast, alleging that French troops had
+evacuated Taranto, that Switzerland had requested his mediation, that
+German affairs possessed no novelty, and that England, having six
+months previously waived her interest in continental affairs, could
+not resume it at will. The retort, which has called forth the
+admiration of M. Thiers, is more specious than convincing.
+Hawkesbury's appeal was, not to the sword, but to law; not to French
+influence gained by military occupations that contravened the Treaty
+of Lunéville, but to international equity.
+
+Certainly, the Addington Cabinet committed a grievous blunder in not
+inserting in the Treaty of Amiens a clause stipulating the
+independence of the Batavian and Helvetic Republics. Doubtless it
+relied on the Treaty of Lunéville, and on a Franco-Dutch convention of
+August, 1801, which specified that French troops were to remain in the
+Batavian Republic only up to the time of the general peace. But it is
+one thing to rely on international law, and quite another thing, in an
+age of violence and chicanery, to hazard the gravest material
+interests on its observance. Yet this was what the Addington Ministry
+had done: "His Majesty consented to make numerous and most important
+restitutions to the Batavian Government on the consideration of that
+Government being independent and not being subject to any foreign
+control."[231] Truly, the restoration of the Cape of Good Hope and of
+other colonies to the Dutch, solely in reliance on the observance of
+international law by Napoleon and Talleyrand, was, as the event
+proved, an act of singular credulity. But, looking at this matter
+fairly and squarely, it must be allowed that Napoleon's reply evaded
+the essence of the British complaint; it was merely an _argumentum ad
+hominem_; it convicted the Addington Cabinet of weakness and
+improvidence; but in equity it was null and void, and in practical
+politics it betokened war.
+
+As Napoleon refused to withdraw his troops from Holland, and continued
+to dominate that unhappy realm, it was clear that the Cape of Good
+Hope would speedily be closed to our ships--a prospect which immensely
+enhanced the value of the overland route to India, and of those
+portals of the Orient, Malta and Egypt. To the Maltese Question we now
+turn, as also, later on, to the Eastern Question, with which it was
+then closely connected.
+
+Many causes excited the uneasiness of the British Government
+about the fate of Malta. In spite of our effort not to wound the
+susceptibilities of the Czar, who was protector of the Order of St.
+John, that sensitive young ruler had taken umbrage at the article
+relating to that island. He now appeared merely as one of the six
+Powers guaranteeing its independence, not as the sole patron and
+guarantor, and he was piqued at his name appearing after that of the
+Emperor Francis![232] For the present arrangement the First Consul was
+chiefly to blame; but the Czar vented his displeasure on England. On
+April 28th, 1802, our envoy at Paris, Mr. Merry, reported as follows:
+
+     "Either the Russian Government itself, or Count Markoff alone
+     personally, is so completely out of humour with us for not having
+     acted in strict concert with them, or him, or in conformity to
+     their ideas in negotiating the definitive treaty (of Amiens), that
+     I find he takes pains to turn it into ridicule, and particularly to
+     represent the arrangement we have made for Malta as impracticable
+     and consequently as completely null."
+
+The despatches of our ambassador at St. Petersburg, Lord St. Helens,
+and of his successor, Admiral Warren, are of the same tenor. They
+report the Czar's annoyance with England over the Maltese affair, and
+his refusal to listen even to the joint Anglo-French request,
+of November 18th, 1802, for his guarantee of the Amiens
+arrangements.[233] A week later Alexander announced that he would
+guarantee the independence of Malta, provided that the complete
+sovereignty of the Knights of St. John was recognized--that is,
+without any participation of the native Maltese in the affairs of that
+Order--and that the island should be garrisoned by Neapolitan troops,
+paid by France and England, until the Knights should be able to
+maintain their independence. This reopening of the question discussed,
+_ad nauseam_, at Amiens proved that the Maltese Question would long
+continue to perplex the world. The matter was still further
+complicated by the abolition of the Priories, Commanderies, and
+property of the Order of St. John by the French Government in the
+spring of 1802--an example which was imitated by the Court of Madrid
+in the following autumn; and as the property of the Knights in the
+French part of Italy had also lapsed, it was difficult to see how the
+scattered and impoverished Knights could form a stable government,
+especially if the native Maltese were not to be admitted to a share in
+public affairs. This action of France, Spain, and Russia fully
+warranted the British Government in not admitting into the fortress
+the 2,000 Neapolitan troops that arrived in the autumn of 1802. Our
+evacuation of Malta was conditioned by several stipulations, five of
+which had not been fulfilled.[234] But the difficulties arising out of
+the reconstruction of this moribund Order were as nothing when
+compared with those resulting from the reopening of a far vaster and
+more complex question--the "eternal" Eastern Question.
+
+Rarely has the mouldering away of the Turkish Empire gone on so
+rapidly as at the beginning of the nineteenth century. Corruption and
+favouritism paralyzed the Government at Constantinople; masterful
+pachas, aping the tactics of Ali Pacha, the virtual ruler of Albania,
+were beginning to carve out satrapies in Syria, Asia Minor, Wallachia,
+and even in Roumelia itself. Such was the state of Turkey when the
+Sultan and his advisers heard with deep concern, in October, 1801,
+that the only Power on whose friendship they could firmly rely was
+about to relinquish Malta. At once he sent an earnest appeal to George
+III. begging him not to evacuate the island. This despatch is not in
+the archives of our Foreign Office; but the letter written from Malta
+by Lord Elgin, our ambassador at Constantinople, on his return home,
+sufficiently shows that the Sultan was conscious of his own weakness
+and of the schemes of partition which were being concocted at Paris.
+Bonaparte had already begun to sound both Austria and Russia on this
+subject, deftly hinting that the Power which did not early join in the
+enterprise would come poorly off. For the present both the rulers
+rejected his overtures; but he ceased not to hope that the anarchy in
+Turkey, and the jealousy which partition schemes always arouse among
+neighbours, would draw first one and then the other into his
+enterprise.[235]
+
+The young Czar's disposition was at that period restless and unstable,
+free from the passionate caprices of his ill-fated father, and attuned
+by the fond efforts of the Swiss democrat Laharpe, to the loftiest
+aspirations of the France of 1789. Yet the son of Paul I. could hardly
+free himself from the instincts of a line of conquering Czars; his
+frank blue eyes, his graceful yet commanding figure, his high broad
+forehead and close shut mouth gave promise of mental energy; and his
+splendid physique and love of martial display seemed to invite him to
+complete the campaigns of Catherine II. against the Turks, and to wash
+out in the waves of the Danube the remorse which he still felt at his
+unwitting complicity in a parricidal plot. Between his love of liberty
+and of foreign conquest he for the present wavered, with a strange
+constitutional indecision that marred a noble character and that
+yielded him a prey more than once to a masterful will or to seductive
+projects. He is the Janus of Russian history. On the one side he faces
+the enormous problems of social and political reform, and yet he
+steals many a longing glance towards the dome of St. Sofia. This
+instability in his nature has been thus pointedly criticised by his
+friend Prince Czartoryski:[236]
+
+     "Grand ideas of the general good, generous sentiments, and the
+     desire to sacrifice to them a part of the imperial authority, had
+     really occupied the Emperor's mind, but they were rather a young
+     man's fancies than a grown man's decided will. The Emperor liked
+     forms of liberty, as he liked the theatre: it gave him pleasure and
+     flattered his vanity to see the appearances of free government in
+     his Empire: but all he wanted in this respect was forms and
+     appearances: he did not expect them to become realities. He would
+     willingly have agreed that every man should be free, on the
+     condition that he should voluntarily do only what the Emperor
+     wished."
+
+This later judgment of the well-known Polish nationalist is probably
+embittered by the disappointments which he experienced at the Czar's
+hands; but it expresses the feeling of most observers of Alexander's
+early career, and it corresponds with the conclusion arrived at by
+Napoleon's favourite aide-de-camp, Duroc, who went to congratulate the
+young Czar on his accession and to entice him into oriental
+schemes--that there was nothing to hope and nothing to fear from the
+Czar. The _mot_ was deeply true.[237]
+
+
+From these oriental schemes the young Czar was, for the time, drawn
+aside towards the nobler path of social reform. The saving influence
+on this occasion was exerted by his old tutor, Laharpe. The
+ex-Director of Switzerland readily persuaded the Czar that Russia
+sorely needed political and social reform. His influence was
+powerfully aided by a brilliant group of young men, the Vorontzoffs,
+the Strogonoffs, Novossiltzoff, and Czartoryski, whose admiration for
+western ideas and institutions, especially those of Britain, helped to
+impel Alexander on the path of progress. Thus, when Napoleon was
+plying the Czar with notes respecting Turkey, that young ruler was
+commencing to bestow system on his administration, privileges on the
+serfs, and the feeble beginnings of education on the people.
+
+While immersed in these beneficent designs, Alexander heard with deep
+chagrin of the annexation of Piedmont and Parma, and that Napoleon
+refused to the King of Sardinia any larger territory than the
+Siennese. This breach of good faith cut the Czar to the quick. It was
+in vain that Napoleon now sought to lure him into Turkish adventures
+by representing that France should secure the Morea for herself, that
+other parts of European Turkey might be apportioned to Victor Emmanuel
+I. and the French Bourbons. This cold-blooded proposal, that ancient
+dynasties should be thrust from the homes of their birth into alien
+Greek or Moslem lands, wounded the Czar's monarchical sentiments. He
+would none of it; nor did he relish the prospect of seeing the French
+in the Morea, whence they could complete the disorder of Turkey and
+seize on Constantinople. He saw whither Napoleon was leading him. He
+drew back abruptly, and even notified to our ambassador, Admiral
+Warren, that _England had better keep Malta._[238]
+
+
+Alexander also, on January 19th, 1803 (O.S.), charged his ambassador
+at Paris to declare that the existing system of Europe must not be
+further disturbed, that each Government should strive for peace and
+the welfare of its own people; that the frequent references of
+Napoleon to the approaching dissolution of Turkey were ill-received at
+St. Petersburg, where they were considered the chief cause of
+England's anxiety and refusal to disarm. He also suggested that the
+First Consul by some public utterance should dispel the fears of
+England as to a partition of the Ottoman Empire, and thus assure the
+peace of the world.[239]
+
+Before this excellent advice was received, Napoleon astonished the
+world by a daring stroke. On the 30th of January the "Moniteur"
+printed in full the bellicose report of Colonel Sebastiani on his
+mission to Algiers, Egypt, Syria, and the Ionian Isles. As that
+mission was afterwards to be passed off as merely of a commercial
+character, it will be well to quote typical passages from the secret
+instructions which the First Consul gave to his envoy on September
+5th, 1802:
+
+     "He will proceed to Alexandria: he will take note of what is in the
+     harbour, the ships, the forces which the British as well as the
+     Turks have there, the state of the fortifications, the state of the
+     towers, the account of all that has passed since our departure both
+     at Alexandria and in the whole of Egypt: finally, the present state
+     of the Egyptians.... He will proceed to St. Jean d'Acre, will
+     recommend the convent of Nazareth to Djezzar: will inform him that
+     the agent of the [French] Republic is to appear at Acre: will find
+     out about the fortifications he has had made: will walk along them
+     himself, if there be no danger."
+
+Fortifications, troops, ships of war, the feelings of the natives, and
+the protection of the Christians--these subjects were to be
+Sebastiani's sole care. Commerce was not once named. The departure of
+this officer had already alarmed our Government. Mr. Merry, our
+_chargé d'affaires_ in Paris, had warned it as to the real aims in
+view, in the following "secret despatch:
+
+     "PARIS, _September 25th,_ 1802.
+
+      "... I have learnt from good authority that he [Sebastiani] was
+     accompanied by a person of the name of Jaubert (who was General
+     Bonaparte's interpreter and confidential agent with the natives
+     during the time he commanded in Egypt), who has carried with him
+     regular powers and instructions, prepared by M. Talleyrand, to
+     treat with Ibrahim-Bey for the purpose of creating a fresh and
+     successful revolt in Egypt against the power of the Porte, and of
+     placing that country again under the direct or indirect dependence
+     of France, to which end he has been authorized to offer assistance
+     from hence in men and money. The person who has confided to me this
+     information understands that the mission to Ibrahim-Bey is confided
+     solely to M. Jaubert, and that his being sent with Colonel
+     Sebastiani has been in order to conceal the real object of it, and
+     to afford him a safe conveyance to Egypt, as well as for the
+     purpose of assisting the Colonel in his transactions with the
+     Regencies of Algiers, Tunis, and Tripoli."[240]
+
+Merry's information was correct: it tallied with the secret
+instructions given by Napoleon to Sebastiani: and our Government, thus
+forewarned, at once adopted a stiffer tone on all Mediterranean and
+oriental questions. Sebastiani was very coldly received by our officer
+commanding in Egypt, General Stuart, who informed him that no orders
+had as yet come from London for our evacuation of that land.
+Proceeding to Cairo, the commercial emissary proposed to mediate
+between the Turkish Pacha and the rebellious Mamelukes, an offer which
+was firmly declined.[241] In vain did Sebastiani bluster and cajole by
+turns. The Pacha refused to allow him to go on to Assouan, the
+headquarters of the insurgent Bey, and the discomfited envoy made his
+way back to the coast and took ship for Acre. Thence he set sail for
+Corfu, where he assured the people of Napoleon's wish that there
+should be an end to their civil discords. Returning to Genoa, and
+posting with all speed to Paris, he arrived there on January 25th,
+1803. Five days later that gay capital was startled by the report of
+his mission, which was printed in full in the "Moniteur." It described
+the wretched state of the Turks in Egypt--the Pacha of Cairo
+practically powerless, and on bad terms with General Stuart, the
+fortifications everywhere in a ruinous state, the 4,430 British troops
+cantoned in and near Alexandria, the Turkish forces beneath contempt.
+"Six thousand French would at present be enough to conquer Egypt." And
+as to the Ionian islands, "I do not stray from the truth in assuring
+you that these islands will declare themselves French as soon as an
+opportunity shall offer itself."[242]
+
+Such were the chief items of this report. Various motives have been
+assigned for its publication. Some writers have seen in it a crushing
+retort to English newspaper articles. Others there are, as M. Thiers,
+who waver between the opinion that the publication of this report was
+either a "sudden unfortunate incident," or a protest against the
+"latitude" which England allowed herself in the execution of the
+Treaty of Amiens.
+
+
+A consideration of the actual state of affairs at the end of January,
+1803, will perhaps guide us to an explanation which is more consonant
+with the grandeur of Napoleon's designs. At that time he was
+all-powerful in the Old World. As First Consul for Life he was master
+of forty millions of men: he was President of the Italian Republic: to
+the Switzers, as to the Dutch, his word was law. Against the
+infractions of the Treaty of Lunéville, Austria dared make no protest.
+The Czar was occupied with domestic affairs, and his rebuff to
+Napoleon's oriental schemes had not yet reached Paris. As for the
+British Ministry, it was trembling from the attacks of the Grenvilles
+and Windhams on the one side, and from the equally vigorous onslaughts
+of Fox, who, when the Government proposed an addition to the armed
+forces, brought forward the stale platitude that a large standing army
+"was a dangerous instrument of influence in the hands of the Crown."
+When England's greatest orator thus impaired the unity of national
+feeling, and her only statesman, Pitt, remained in studied seclusion,
+the First Consul might well feel assured of the impotence of the
+Island Power, and view the bickering of her politicians with the same
+quiet contempt that Philip felt for the Athens of Demosthenes.
+
+But while his prospects in Europe and the East were roseate, the
+western horizon bulked threateningly with clouds. The news of the
+disasters in St. Domingo reached Paris in the first week of the year
+1803, and shortly afterwards came tidings of the ferment in the United
+States and the determination of their people to resist the acquisition
+of Louisiana by France. If he persevered with this last scheme, he
+would provoke war with that republic and drive it into the arms of
+England. From that blunder his statecraft instinctively saved him, and
+he determined to sell Louisiana to the United States.
+
+So unheroic a retreat from the prairies of the New World must be
+covered by a demonstration towards the banks of the Nile and of the
+Indus. It was ever his plan to cover retreat in one direction by
+brilliant diversions in another: only so could he enthrall the
+imagination of France, and keep his hold on her restless capital. And
+the publication of Sebastiani's report, with its glowing description
+of the fondness cherished for France alike by Moslems, Syrian
+Christians, and the Greeks of Corfu; its declamation against the
+perfidy of General Stuart; and its incitation to the conquest of the
+Levant, furnished him with the motive power for effecting a telling
+transformation scene and banishing all thoughts of losses in the
+West.[243]
+
+The official publication of this report created a sensation even in
+France, and was not the _bagatelle_ which M. Thiers has endeavoured to
+represent it.[244] But far greater was the astonishment at Downing
+Street, not at the facts disclosed by the report--for Merry's note
+had prepared our Ministers for them--but rather at the official avowal
+of hostile designs. At once our Government warned Whitworth that he
+must insist on our retaining Malta. He was also to protest against the
+publication of such a document, and to declare that George III. could
+not "enter into any further discussion relative to Malta until he
+received a satisfactory explanation." Far from offering it, Napoleon
+at once complained of our non-evacuation of Alexandria and Malta.
+
+     "Instead of that garrison [of Alexandria] being a means of
+     protecting Egypt, it was only furnishing him with a pretence
+     for invading it. This he should not do, whatever might be his
+     desire to have it as a colony, because he did not think it worth
+     the risk of a war, in which he might perhaps be considered the
+     aggressor, and by which he should lose more than he could gain,
+     since sooner or later Egypt would belong to France, either by the
+     falling to pieces of the Turkish Empire, or by some arrangement
+     with the Porte.... Finally," he asked, "why should not the mistress
+     of the seas and the mistress of the land come to an arrangement and
+     govern the world?"
+
+A subtler diplomatist than Whitworth would probably have taken the
+hint for a Franco-British partition of the world: but the Englishman,
+unable at that moment to utter a word amidst the torrent of argument
+and invective, used the first opportunity merely to assure Napoleon of
+the alarm caused in England by Sebastiani's utterance concerning
+Egypt. This touched the First Consul at the wrong point, and he
+insisted that on the evacuation of Malta the question of peace or war
+must depend. In vain did the English ambassador refer to the extension
+of French power on the Continent. Napoleon cut him short: "I suppose
+you mean Piedmont and Switzerland: ce sont des----: vous n'avez pas le
+droit d'en parler à cette heure." Seeing that he was losing his
+temper, Lord Whitworth then diverted the conversation.[245]
+
+This long tirade shows clearly what were the aims of the First Consul.
+He desired peace until his eastern plans were fully matured. And what
+ruler would not desire to maintain a peace so fruitful in
+conquests--that perpetuated French influence in Italy, Switzerland,
+and Holland, that enabled France to prepare for the dissolution of the
+Turkish Empire and to intrigue with the Mahrattas? Those were the
+conditions on which England could enjoy peace: she must recognize the
+arbitrament of France in the affairs of all neighbouring States, she
+must make no claim for compensation in the Mediterranean, and she must
+endure to be officially informed that she alone could not maintain a
+struggle against France.[246]
+
+But George III. was not minded to sink to the level of a Charles II.
+Whatever were the failings of our "farmer king," he was keenly alive
+to national honour and interests. These had been deeply wounded, even
+in the United Kingdom itself. Napoleon had been active in sending
+"commercial commissioners" into our land. Many of them were proved to
+be soldiers: and the secret instructions sent by Talleyrand to one of
+them at Dublin, which chanced to fall into the hands of our
+Government, showed that they were charged to make plans of the
+harbours, and of the soundings and moorings.[247]
+
+Then again, the French were almost certainly helping Irish
+conspirators. One of these, Emmett, already suspected of complicity in
+the Despard conspiracy which aimed at the King's life, had, after its
+failure, sought shelter in France. At the close of 1802 he returned to
+his native land and began to store arms in a house near Rathfarnham.
+It is doubtful whether the authorities were aware of his plans, or, as
+is more probable, let the plot come to a head. The outbreak did not
+take place till the following July (after the renewal of war), when
+Emmett and some of his accomplices, along with Russell, who stirred up
+sedition in Ulster, paid for their folly with their lives. They
+disavowed any connection with France, but they must have based their
+hope of success on a promised French invasion of our coasts.[248]
+
+The dealings of the French commercial commissioners and the beginnings
+of the Emmett plot increased the tension caused by Napoleon's
+masterful foreign policy; and the result was seen in the King's
+message to Parliament on March 8th, 1803. In view of the military
+preparations and of the wanton defiance of the First Consul's recent
+message to the Corps Législatif, Ministers asked for the embodiment of
+the militia and the addition of 10,000 seamen to the navy. After
+Napoleon's declaration to our ambassador that France was bringing her
+forces on active service up to 480,000 men, the above-named increase
+of the British forces might well seem a reasonable measure of defence.
+Yet it so aroused the spleen of the First Consul that, at a public
+reception of ambassadors on March 13th, he thus accosted Lord
+Whitworth:
+
+     "'So you are determined to go to war.' 'No, First Consul,' I
+     replied, 'we are too sensible of the advantage of peace.' 'Why,
+     then, these armaments? Against whom these measures of precaution? I
+     have not a single ship of the line in the French ports, but if you
+     wish to arm I will arm also: if you wish to fight, I will fight
+     also. You may perhaps kill France, but will never intimidate her.'
+     'We wish,' said I, 'neither the one nor the other. We wish to live
+     on good terms with her.' 'You must respect treaties then,' replied
+     he; 'woe to those who do not respect treaties. They shall answer
+     for it to all Europe.' He was too agitated to make it advisable to
+     prolong the conversation: I therefore made no answer, and he
+     retired to his apartment, repeating the last phrase."[249]
+
+This curious scene shows Napoleon in one of his weaker petulant moods:
+it left on the embarrassed spectators no impression of outraged
+dignity, but rather of the over-weening self-assertion of an autocrat
+who could push on hostile preparations, and yet flout the ambassador
+of the Power that took reasonable precautions in return. The slight
+offered to our ambassador, though hotly resented in Britain, had no
+direct effect on the negotiations, as the First Consul soon took the
+opportunity of tacitly apologizing for the occurrence; but indirectly
+the matter was infinitely important. By that utterance he nailed his
+colours to the mast with respect to the British evacuation of Malta.
+With his keen insight into the French nature, he knew that "honour" was
+its mainspring, and that his political fortunes rested on the
+satisfaction of that instinct. He could not now draw back without
+affronting the prestige of France and undermining his own position. In
+vain did our Government remind him of his admission that "His Majesty
+should keep a compensation out of his conquests for the important
+acquisitions of territory made by France upon the Continent."[250] That
+promise, although official, was secret. Its violation would, at the
+worst, only offend the officials of Whitehall. Whereas, if he now
+acceded to their demand that Malta should be the compensation, he at
+once committed that worst of all crimes in a French statesman, of
+rendering himself ludicrous. In this respect, then, the scene of March
+13th at the Tuileries was indirectly the cause of the bloodiest war that
+has desolated Europe.
+
+Napoleon now regarded the outbreak of hostilities as probable, if not
+certain. Facts are often more eloquent than diplomatic assurances, and
+such facts are not wanting. On March 6th Decaen's expedition had set
+sail from Brest for the East Indies with no anticipation of immediate
+war. On March 16th a fast brig was sent after him with orders that he
+should return with all speed from Pondicherry to the Mauritius.
+Napoleon's correspondence also shows that, as early as March 11th,
+that is, after hearing of George III.'s message to Parliament, he
+expected the outbreak of hostilities: on that day he ordered the
+formation of flotillas at Dunkirk and Cherbourg, and sent urgent
+messages to the sovereigns of Russia, Prussia, and Spain, inveighing
+against England's perfidy. The envoy despatched to St. Petersburg was
+specially charged to talk to the Czar on philosophic questions, and to
+urge him to free the seas from England's tyranny.
+
+Much as Addington and his colleagues loved peace, they were now
+convinced that it was more hazardous than open war. Malta was the only
+effectual bar to a French seizure of Egypt or an invasion of Turkey from
+the side of Corfu. With Turkey partitioned and Egypt in French hands,
+there would be no security against Napoleon's designs on India. The
+British forces evacuated the Cape of Good Hope on February 21st, 1803;
+they set sail from Alexandria on the 17th of the following month. By the
+former act we yielded up to France the sea route to India--for the Dutch
+at the Cape were but the tools of the First Consul: by the latter we
+left Malta as the sole barrier against a renewed land attack on our
+Eastern possessions. The safety of our East Indian possessions was
+really at stake, and yet Europe was asked to believe that the question
+was whether England would or would not evacuate Malta. This was the
+French statement of the case: it was met by the British plea that
+France, having declared her acceptance of the principle of compensation
+for us, had no cause for objecting to the retention of an island so
+vital to our interests.
+
+Yet, while convinced of the immense importance of Malta, the Addington
+Cabinet did not insist on retaining it, if the French Government would
+"suggest some other _equivalent security_ by which His Majesty's
+object in claiming the permanent possession of Malta may be
+accomplished and the independence of the island secured conformably to
+the spirit of the 10th Article of the Treaty of Amiens."[251] To the
+First Consul was therefore left the initiative in proposing some other
+plan which would safeguard British interests in the Levant; and, with
+this qualifying explanation, the British ambassador was charged to
+present to him the following proposals for a new treaty: Malta to
+remain in British hands, the Knights to be indemnified for any losses
+of property which they may thereby sustain: Holland and Switzerland to
+be evacuated by French troops: the island of Elba to be confirmed to
+France, and the King of Etruria to be acknowledged by Great Britain:
+the Italian and Ligurian Republics also to be acknowledged, if "an
+arrangement is made in Italy for the King of Sardinia, which shall be
+satisfactory to him."
+
+Lord Whitworth judged it better not to present these demands point
+blank, but gradually to reveal their substance. This course, he
+judged, would be less damaging to the friends of peace at the
+Tuileries, and less likely to affront Napoleon. But it was all one and
+the same. The First Consul, in his present state of highly wrought
+tension, practically ignored the suggestion of an _equivalent
+security,_ and declaimed against the perfidy of England for daring to
+infringe the treaty, though he had offered no opposition to the Czar's
+proposals respecting Malta, which weakened the stability of the Order
+and sensibly modified that same treaty.
+
+Talleyrand was more conciliatory; and there is little doubt that, had
+the First Consul allowed his brother Joseph and his Foreign Minister
+wider powers, the crisis might have been peaceably passed. Joseph
+Bonaparte urgently pressed Whitworth to be satisfied with Corfu or
+Crete in place of Malta; but he confessed that the suggestion was
+quite unauthorized, and that the First Consul was so enraged on the
+Maltese Question that he dared not broach it to him.[252] Indeed, all
+through these critical weeks Napoleon's relations to his brothers were
+very strained, they desiring peace in Europe so that Louisiana might
+even now be saved to France, while the First Consul persisted in his
+oriental schemes. He seems now to have concentrated his energies on
+the task of postponing the rupture to a convenient date and of casting
+on his foes the odium of the approaching war. He made no proposal that
+could reassure Britain as to the security of the overland routes; and
+he named no other island which could be considered as an equivalent to
+Malta.
+
+To many persons his position has seemed logically unassailable; but it
+is difficult to see how this view can be held. The Treaty of Amiens
+had twice over been rendered, in a technical sense, null and void by the
+action of Continental Powers. Russia and Prussia had not guaranteed the
+state of things arranged for Malta by that treaty; and the action of
+France and Spain in confiscating the property of the Knights in their
+respective lands had so far sapped the strength of the Order that it
+could never again support the expense of the large garrison which the
+lines around Valetta required.
+
+In a military sense, this was the crux of the problem; for no one
+affected to believe that Malta was rendered secure by the presence at
+Valetta of 2,000 troops of the King of Naples, whose realm could
+within a week be overrun by Murat's division. This obvious difficulty
+led Lord Hawkesbury to urge, in his notes of April 13th and later,
+that British troops should garrison the chief fortifications of
+Valetta and leave the civil power to the Knights: or, if that were
+found objectionable, that we should retain complete possession of the
+island for ten years, provided that we were left free to negotiate
+with the King of Naples for the cession of Lampedusa, an islet to the
+west of Malta. To this last proposal the First Consul offered no
+objection; but he still inflexibly opposed any retention of Malta,
+even for ten years, and sought to make the barren islet of Lampedusa
+appear an equivalent to Malta. This absurd contention had, however,
+been exploded by Talleyrand's indiscreet confession "that the
+re-establishment of the Order of St. John was not so much the point to
+be discussed as that of suffering Great Britain to acquire a
+_possession in the Mediterranean_."[253]
+
+This, indeed, was the pith and marrow of the whole question, whether
+Great Britain was to be excluded from that great sea--save at
+Gibraltar and Lampedusa--looking on idly at its transformation into a
+French lake by the seizure of Corfu, the Morea, Egypt, and Malta
+itself; or whether she should retain some hold on the overland route
+to the East. The difficulty was frankly pointed out by Lord Whitworth;
+it was as frankly admitted by Joseph Bonaparte; it was recognized by
+Talleyrand; and Napoleon's desire for a durable peace must have been
+slight when he refused to admit England's claim effectively to
+safeguard her interests in the Levant, and ever fell back on the
+literal fulfilment of a treaty which had been invalidated by his own
+deliberate actions.
+
+Affairs now rapidly came to a climax. On April 23rd the British
+Government notified its ambassador that, if the present terms were not
+granted within seven days of his receiving them, he was to leave
+Paris. Napoleon was no less angered than surprised by the recent turn
+of events. In place of timid complaisance which he had expected from
+Addington, he was met with open defiance; but he now proposed that the
+Czar should offer his intervention between the disputants. The
+suggestion was infinitely skilful. It flattered the pride of the young
+autocrat and promised to yield gains as substantial as those which
+Russian mediation had a year before procured for France from the
+intimidated Sultan; it would help to check the plans for an
+Anglo-Russian alliance then being mooted at St. Petersburg, and, above
+all, it served to gain time.
+
+All these advantages were to a large extent realized. Though the Czar
+had been the first to suggest our retention of Malta, he now began to
+waver. The clearness and precision of Talleyrand's notes, and the
+telling charge of perfidy against England, made an impression which
+the cumbrous retorts of Lord Hawkesbury and the sailor-like diplomacy
+of Admiral Warren failed to efface.[254] And the Russian Chancellor,
+Vorontzoff, though friendly to England, and desirous of seeing her
+firmly established at Malta, now began to complain of the want of
+clearness in her policy. The Czar emphasized this complaint, and
+suggested that, as Malta could not be the real cause of dispute, the
+British Government should formulate distinctly its grievances and so set
+the matter in train for a settlement. The suggestion was not complied
+with. To draw up a long list of complaints, some drawn from secret
+sources and exposing the First Consul's schemes, would have exasperated
+his already ruffled temper; and the proposal can only be regarded as an
+adroit means of justifying Alexander's sudden change of front.
+
+Meanwhile events had proceeded apace at Paris. On April 26th Joseph
+Bonaparte made a last effort to bend his brother's will, but only
+gained the grudging concession that Napoleon would never consent to
+the British retention of Malta for a longer time than three or four
+years. As this would have enabled him to postpone the rupture long
+enough to mature his oriental plans, it was rejected by Lord
+Whitworth, who insisted on ten years as the minimum. The evident
+determination of the British Government speedily to terminate the
+affair, one way or the other, threw Napoleon into a paroxysm of
+passion; and at the diplomatic reception of May 1st, from which Lord
+Whitworth discreetly absented himself, he vehemently inveighed against
+its conduct. Fretted by the absence of our ambassador, for whom this
+sally had been intended, he returned to St. Cloud, and there dictated
+this curious epistle to Talleyrand:
+
+     "I desire that your conference [with Lord Whitworth] shall not
+     degenerate into a conversation. Show yourself cold, reserved, and
+     even somewhat proud. If the [British] note contains the word
+     _ultimatum_ make him feel that this word implies war; if it does
+     not contain this word, make him insert it, remarking to him that we
+     must know where we are, that we are tired of this state of
+     anxiety.... Soften down a little at the end of the conference, and
+     invite him to return before writing to his Court."
+
+But this careful rehearsal was to avail nothing; our stolid ambassador
+was not to be cajoled, and on May 2nd, that is, seven days after his
+presenting our ultimatum, he sent for his passports. He did not,
+however, set out immediately. Yielding to an urgent request, he
+delayed his departure in order to hear the French reply to the British
+ultimatum.[255] It notified sarcastically that Lampedusa was not in
+the First Consul's power to bestow, that any change with reference to
+Malta must be referred by Great Britain to the Great Powers for their
+concurrence, and that Holland would be evacuated as soon as the terms
+of the Treaty of Amiens were complied with. Another proposal was that
+Malta should be transferred to Russia--the very step which was
+proposed at Amiens and was rejected by the Czar: on that account Lord
+Whitworth now refused it as being merely a device to gain time. The
+sending of his passports having been delayed, he received one more
+despatch from Downing Street, which allowed that our retention of
+Malta for ten years should form a secret article--a device which would
+spare the First Consul's susceptibilities on the point of honour. Even
+so, however, Napoleon refused to consider a longer tenure than two or
+three years. And in this he was undoubtedly encouraged by the recent
+despatch from St. Petersburg, wherein the Czar promised his mediation
+in a sense favourable to France. This unfortunate occurrence completed
+the discomfiture of the peace party at the Consular Court, and in a
+long and heated discussion in a council held at St. Cloud on May 11th
+all but Joseph Bonaparte and Talleyrand voted for the rejection of
+the British demands.
+
+On the next day Lord Whitworth left Paris. During his journey to
+Calais he received one more proposal, that France should hold the
+peninsula of Otranto for ten years if Great Britain retained Malta for
+that period; but if this suggestion was made in good faith, which is
+doubtful, its effect was destroyed by a rambling diatribe which
+Talleyrand, at his master's orders, sent shortly afterwards.[256] In
+any case it was looked upon by our ambassador as a last attempt to gain
+time for the concentration of the French naval forces. He crossed the
+Straits of Dover on May 17th, the day before the British declaration of
+war was issued.
+
+On May 22nd, 1803, appeared at Paris the startling order that, as
+British frigates had captured two French merchantmen on the Breton
+coast, all Englishmen between eighteen and sixty years of age who were
+in France should be detained as prisoners of war. The pretext for this
+unheard-of action, which condemned some 10,000 Britons to prolonged
+detention, was that the two French ships were seized prior to the
+declaration of war. This is false: they were seized on May 18th, that
+is, on the day on which the British Government declared war, three
+days after an embargo had been laid on British vessels in French
+ports, and seven days after the First Consul had directed his envoy at
+Florence to lay an embargo on English ships in the ports of
+Tuscany.[257] It is therefore obvious that Napoleon's barbarous decree
+merely marked his disappointment at the failure of his efforts to gain
+time and to deal the first stroke. How sorely his temper was tried by
+the late events is clear from the recital of the Duchesse d'Abrantès,
+who relates that her husband, when ordered to seize English residents,
+found the First Consul in a fury, his eyes flashing fire; and when
+Junot expressed his reluctance to carry out this decree, Napoleon
+passionately exclaimed: "Do not trust too far to my friendship: as
+soon as I conceive doubt as to yours, mine is gone."
+
+Few persons in England now cherished any doubts as to the First
+Consul's hatred of the nation which stood between him and his oriental
+designs. Ministers alone knew the extent of those plans: but every
+ploughboy could feel the malice of an act which cooped up innocent
+travellers on the flimsiest of pretexts. National ardour, and, alas,
+national hatred were deeply stirred.[258] The Whigs, who had paraded the
+clemency of Napoleon, were at once helpless, and found themselves
+reduced to impotence for wellnigh a generation; and the Tories, who
+seemed the exponents of a national policy, were left in power until the
+stream of democracy, dammed up by war in 1793 and again in 1803,
+asserted its full force in the later movement for reform.
+
+Yet the opinion often expressed by pamphleteers, that the war of 1803
+was undertaken to compel France to abandon her republican principles,
+is devoid of a shred of evidence in its favour. After 1802 there were
+no French republican principles to be combated; they had already been
+jettisoned; and, since Bonaparte had crushed the Jacobins, his
+personal claims were favourably regarded at Whitehall, Addington even
+assuring the French envoy that he would welcome the establishment of
+hereditary succession in the First Consul's family.[259] But while
+Bonaparte's own conduct served to refute the notion that the war of
+1803 was a war of principles, his masterful policy in Europe and the
+Levant convinced every well-informed man that peace was impossible;
+and the rupture was accompanied by acts and insults to the "nation of
+shopkeepers" that could be avenged only by torrents of blood.
+Diatribes against perfidious Albion filled the French Press and
+overflowed into splenetic pamphlets, one of which bade odious England
+tremble under the consciousness of her bad faith and the expectation
+of swift and condign chastisement. Such was the spirit in which these
+nations rushed to arms; and the conflict was scarcely to cease until
+Napoleon was flung out into the solitudes of the southern Atlantic.
+
+The importance of the rupture of the Peace of Amiens will be realized if
+we briefly survey Bonaparte's position after that treaty was signed. He
+had regained for his adopted country a colonial empire and had given
+away not a single French island. France was raised to a position of
+assured strength far preferable to the perilous heights attained later
+on at Tilsit. In Australia there was a prospect that the tricolour would
+wave over areas as great and settlements as prosperous as those of New
+South Wales and the infant town of Sydney. From the Ile de France and
+the Cape of Good Hope as convenient bases of operations, British India
+could easily be assailed; and a Franco-Mahratta alliance promised to
+yield a victory over the troops of the East India Company. In Europe the
+imminent collapse of the Turkish Empire invited a partition, whence
+France might hope to gain Egypt and the Morea. The Ionian Isles were
+ready to accept French annexation; and, if England withdrew her troops
+from Malta, the fate of the weak Order of St. John could scarcely be a
+matter of doubt.
+
+For the fulfilment of these bright hopes one thing alone was needed, a
+policy of peace and naval preparation. As yet Napoleon's navy was
+comparatively weak. In March, 1803, he had only forty-three
+line-of-battle ships, ten of which were on distant stations; but he
+had ordered twenty-three more to be built--ten of them in Holland;
+and, with the harbours of France, Holland, Flanders, and Northern
+Italy at his disposal, he might hope, at the close of 1804, to
+confront the flag of St. George with a superiority of force. That was
+the time which his secret instructions to Decaen marked out for the
+outbreak of the war that would yield to the tricolour a world-wide
+supremacy.
+
+These schemes miscarried owing to the impetuosity of their contriver.
+Hustled out of the arena of European politics, and threatened with
+French supremacy in the other Continents, England forthwith drew the
+sword; and her action, cutting athwart the far-reaching web of the
+Napoleonic intrigues, forced France to forego her oceanic plans, to
+muster her forces on the Straits of Dover, and thereby to yield to the
+English race the supremacy in Louisiana, India, and Australia, leaving
+also the destinies of Egypt to be decided in a later age. Viewed from
+the standpoint of racial expansion, the renewal of war in 1803 is the
+greatest event of the century.
+
+[Since this chapter was printed, articles on the same subject have
+appeared in the "Revue Historique" (March-June, 1901) by M.
+Philippson, which take almost the same view as that here presented. I
+cannot, however, agree with the learned writer that Napoleon wanted
+war. I think he did not, _until his navy was ready_; but it was not in
+him to give way.]
+
+
+     NOTE TO THE FIFTH EDITION
+
+     M. Coquelle, in a work which has been translated into English by
+     Mr. Gordon D. Knox (G. Bell and Sons, Ltd.), has shown clearly that
+     the non-evacuation of Holland by Napoleon's troops and the
+     subjection of that Republic to French influence formed the chief
+     causes of war. I refer my readers to that work for details of the
+     negotiations in their final stages.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+EUROPE AND THE BONAPARTES
+
+
+The disappointment felt by Napoleon at England's interruption of his
+designs may be measured, first by his efforts to postpone the rupture,
+and thereafter by the fierce energy which he threw into the war. As
+has been previously noted, the Czar had responded to the First
+Consul's appeal for mediation in notes which seemed to the British
+Cabinet unjustly favourable to the French case. Napoleon now offered
+to recognize the arbitration of the Czar on the questions in dispute,
+and suggested that meanwhile Malta should be handed over to Russia to
+be held in pledge: he on his part offered to evacuate Hanover,
+Switzerland, and Holland, if the British would suspend hostilities, to
+grant an indemnity to the King of Sardinia, to allow Britain to occupy
+Lampedusa, and fully to assure "the independence of Europe," if France
+retained her present frontiers. But when the Russian envoy, Markoff,
+urged him to crown these proposals by allowing Britain to hold Malta
+for a certain time, thereafter to be agreed upon, he firmly refused to
+do so on his own initiative, for that would soil his honour: but he
+would view with resignation its cession to Britain if that proved to
+be the award of Alexander. Accordingly Markoff wrote to his colleague
+at London, assuring him that the peace of the world was now once again
+assured by the noble action of the First Consul.[260]
+
+Were these proposals prompted by a sincere desire to assure a lasting
+peace, or were they put forward as a device to gain time for the
+completion of the French naval preparations? Evidently they were
+completely distrusted by the British Government, and with some reason.
+They were nearly identical with the terms formulated in the British
+ultimatum, which Napoleon had rejected. Moreover, our Foreign Office
+had by this time come to suspect Alexander. On June 23rd Lord
+Hawkesbury wrote that it might be most damaging to British interests
+to place Malta "at the hazard of the Czar's arbitration"; and he
+informed the Russian ambassador, Count Vorontzoff, that the aim of the
+French had obviously been merely to gain time, that their explanations
+were loose and unsatisfactory, and their demands inadmissible, and
+that Great Britain could not acknowledge the present territories of
+the French Republic as permanent while Malta was placed in
+arbitration. In fact, our Government feared that, when Malta had been
+placed in Alexander's hands, Napoleon would lure him into oriental
+adventures and renew the plans of an advance on India. Their fears
+were well founded.
+
+Napoleon's preoccupation was always for the East: on February 21st,
+1803, he had charged his Minister of Marine to send arms and
+ammunition to the Suliotes and Maniotes then revolting against the
+Sultan; and at midsummer French agents were at Ragusa to prepare for a
+landing at the mouth of the River Cattaro.[261] With Turkey rent by
+revolt, Malta placed as a pledge in Russian keeping, and Alexander
+drawn into the current of Napoleon's designs, what might not be
+accomplished? Evidently the First Consul could expect more from this
+course of events than from barren strifes with Nelson's ships in the
+Straits of Dover. For _us_, such a peace was far more risky than war.
+And yet, if the Czar's offer were too stiffly repelled, public opinion
+would everywhere be alienated, and in that has always lain half the
+strength of England's policy.[262] Ministers therefore declared that,
+while they could not accept Russia's arbitration without appeal, they
+would accede to her mediation if it concerned all the causes of the
+present war. This reasonable proposal was accepted by the Czar, but
+received from Napoleon a firm refusal. He at once wrote to Talleyrand,
+August 23rd, 1803, directing that the Russian proposals should be made
+known to Haugwitz, the Prussian Foreign Minister:
+
+     "Make him see all the absurdity of it: tell him that England will
+     never get from me any other treaty than that of Amiens: that _I
+     will never suffer her to have anything in the Mediterranean_; that
+     I will not treat with her about the Continent; that I am resolved
+     to evacuate Holland and Switzerland; but that I will never
+     stipulate this in an article."
+
+As for Russia, he continued, she talked much about the integrity of
+Turkey, but was violating it by the occupation of the Ionian Isles and
+her constant intrigues in Wallachia. These facts were correct: but the
+manner in which he stated them clearly revealed his annoyance that the
+Czar would not wholly espouse the French cause. Talleyrand's views on
+this question may be seen in his letter to Bonaparte, when he assures
+his chief that he has now reaped from his noble advance to the Russian
+Emperor the sole possible advantage--"that of proving to Europe by a
+grand act of frankness your love of peace and to throw upon England
+the whole blame for the war." It is not often that a diplomatist so
+clearly reveals the secrets of his chief's policy.[263]
+
+The motives of Alexander were less questionable. His chief desire at
+that time was to improve the lot of his people. War would disarrange
+these noble designs: France would inevitably overrun the weaker
+Continental States: England would retaliate by enforcing her severe
+maritime code; and the whole world would be rent in twain by this
+strife of the elements.
+
+
+These gloomy forebodings were soon to be realized. Holland was the
+first to suffer. And yet one effort was made to spare her the horrors
+of war. Filled with commiseration for her past sufferings, the British
+Government at once offered to respect her neutrality, provided that
+the French troops would evacuate her fortresses and exact no succour
+either in ships, men, or money.[264] But such forbearance was scarcely
+to be expected from Napoleon, who not only had a French division in
+that land, supported at its expense, but also relied on its maritime
+resources.[265] The proposal was at once set aside at Paris.
+Napoleon's decision to drag the Batavian Republic into the war arose,
+however, from no spasm of the war fever; it was calmly stated in the
+secret instructions issued to General Decaen in the preceding January.
+"It is now considered impossible that we could have war with England,
+without dragging Holland into it." Holland was accordingly once more
+ground between the upper and the nether millstone, between the Sea
+Power and the Land Power, pouring out for Napoleon its resources in
+men and money, and losing to the masters of the sea its ships, foreign
+commerce, and colonies.
+
+Equally hard was the treatment of Naples. In spite of the Czar's plea
+that its neutrality might be respected, this kingdom was at once
+occupied by St. Cyr with troops that held the chief positions on the
+"heel" of Italy. This infraction of the Treaty of Florence was to be
+justified by a proclamation asserting that, as England had retained
+Malta, the balance of power required that France should hold these
+positions as long as England held Malta.[266] This action punished the
+King and Queen of Naples for their supposed subservience to English
+policy; and, while lightening the burdens of the French exchequer, it
+compelled England to keep a large fleet in the Mediterranean for the
+protection of Egypt, and thereby weakened her defensive powers in the
+Straits of Dover. To distract his foes, and compel them to extend
+their lines, was ever Napoleon's aim both in military and naval
+strategy; and the occupation of Taranto, together with the naval
+activity at Toulon and Genoa, left it doubtful whether the great
+captain determined to strike at London or to resume his eastern
+adventures. His previous moves all seemed to point towards Egypt and
+India; and the Admiralty instructions of May 18th, 1803, to Nelson,
+reveal the expectation of our Government that the real blow would fall
+on the Morea and Egypt. Six weeks later our admiral reported the
+activity of French intrigues in the Morea, which was doubtless
+intended to be their halfway house to Egypt--"when sooner or later,
+farewell India."[267] Proofs of Napoleon's designs on the Morea were
+found by Captain Keats of H.M.S. "Superb" on a French vessel that he
+captured, a French corporal having on him a secret letter from an
+agent at Corfu, dated May 23rd, 1803. It ended thus:
+
+     "I have every reason to believe that we shall soon have a
+     revolution in the Morea, as we desire. I have close relations with
+     Crepacchi, and we are in daily correspondence with all the chiefs
+     of the Morea: we have even provided them with munitions of
+     war."[268]
+
+On the whole, however, it seems probable that Napoleon's chief aim now
+was London and not Egypt; but his demonstrations eastwards were so
+skilfully maintained as to convince both the English Government and
+Nelson that his real aim was Egypt or Malta. For this project the
+French _corps d'armée_ in the "heel" of Italy held a commanding
+position. Ships alone were wanting; and these he sought to compel the
+King of Naples to furnish. As early as April 20th, 1803, our _charge
+d'affaires_ at Naples, Mr. à Court, reported that Napoleon was pressing
+on that Government a French alliance, on the ground that:
+
+     "The interests of the two countries are the same: it is the
+     intention of France to shut every port to the English, from Holland
+     to the Turkish dominions, to prevent the exportation of her
+     merchandise, and to give a mortal blow to her commerce, for there
+     she is most vulnerable. Our joint forces may wrest from her hands
+     the island of Malta. The Sicilian navy may convoy and protect the
+     French troops in the prosecution of such a plan, and the most happy
+     result may be augured to their united exertions."
+
+Possibly the King and his spirited but whimsical consort, Queen
+Charlotte, might have bent before the threats which accompanied this
+alluring offer; but at the head of the Neapolitan administration was
+an Englishman, General Acton, whose talents and force of will
+commanded their respect and confidence. To the threats of the French
+ambassador he answered that France was strong and Naples was weak;
+force might overthrow the dynasty; but nothing would induce it to
+violate its neutrality towards England. So unwonted a defiance aroused
+Napoleon to a characteristic revenge. When his troops were quartered
+on Southern Italy, and were draining the Neapolitan resources, the
+Queen wrote appealing to his clemency on behalf of her much burdened
+people. In reply he assured her of his desire to be agreeable to her:
+but how could he look on Naples as a neutral State, when its chief
+Minister was an Englishman? This was "the real reason that justified
+all the measures taken towards Naples."[269] The brutality and
+falseness of this reply had no other effect than to embitter Queen
+Charlotte's hatred against the arbiter of the world's destinies,
+before whom she and her consort refused to bow, even when, three years
+later, they were forced to seek shelter behind the girdle of the
+inviolate sea.
+
+
+
+Hanover also fell into Napoleon's hands. Mortier with 25,000 French
+troops speedily overran that land and compelled the Duke of Cambridge
+to a capitulation. The occupation of the Electorate not only relieved
+the French exchequer of the support of a considerable corps; it also
+served to hold in check the Prussian Court, always preoccupied about
+Hanover; and it barred the entrance of the Elbe and Weser to British
+ships, an aim long cherished by Napoleon. To this we retorted by
+blockading the mouths of those rivers, an act which must have been
+expected by Napoleon, and which enabled him to declaim against British
+maritime tyranny. In truth, the beginnings of the Continental System
+were now clearly discernible. The shores of the Continent from the
+south of Italy to the mouth of the Elbe were practically closed to
+English ships, while by a decree of July 15th _any vessel whatsoever_
+that had cleared from a British port was to be excluded from all
+harbours of the French Republic. Thus all commercial nations were
+compelled, slowly but inevitably, to side with the master of the land
+or the mistress of the seas.
+
+In vain did the King of Prussia represent to Napoleon that Hanover was
+not British territory, and that the neutrality of Germany was
+infringed and its interests damaged by the French occupation of
+Hanover and Cuxhaven. His protest was met by an offer from Napoleon to
+evacuate Hanover, Taranto and Otranto, only at the time when England
+should "evacuate Malta and the Mediterranean"; and though the special
+Prussian envoy, Lombard, reported to his master that Napoleon was
+"truth, loyalty, and friendship personified," yet he received not a
+word that betokened real regard for the susceptibilities of Frederick
+William III. or the commerce of his people.[270] For the present,
+neither King nor Czar ventured on further remonstrances; but the First
+Consul had sown seeds of discord which were to bear fruit in the Third
+Coalition.
+
+Having quartered 60,000 French troops on Naples and Hanover, Napoleon
+could face with equanimity the costs of the war. Gigantic as they were,
+they could be met from the purchase money of Louisiana, the taxation and
+voluntary gifts of the French dominions, the subsidies of the Italian
+and Ligurian Republics, and a contribution which he now exacted from
+Spain.
+
+Even before the outbreak of hostilities he had significantly reminded
+Charles IV. that the Spanish marine was deteriorating, and her
+arsenals and dockyards were idle: "But England is not asleep; she is
+ever on the watch and will never rest until she has seized on the
+colonies and commerce of the world."[271] For the present, however,
+the loss of Trinidad and the sale of Louisiana rankled too deeply to
+admit of Spain entering into another conflict, whence, as before,
+Napoleon would doubtless gain the glory and leave to her the burden of
+territorial sacrifices. In spite of his shameless relations to the
+Queen of Spain, Godoy, the Spanish Minister, was not devoid of
+patriotism; and he strove to evade the obligations which the treaty of
+1796 imposed on Spain in case of an Anglo-French conflict. He embodied
+the militia of the north of Spain and doubtless would have defied
+Bonaparte's demands, had Russia and Prussia shown any disposition to
+resist French aggressions. But those Powers were as yet wholly devoted
+to private interests; and when Napoleon threatened Charles IV. and
+Godoy with an inroad of 80,000 French troops unless the Spanish
+militia were dissolved and 72,000,000 francs were paid every year into
+the French exchequer, the Court of Madrid speedily gave way. Its
+surrender was further assured by the thinly veiled threat that further
+resistance would lead to the exposure of the _liaison_ between Godoy
+and the Queen. Spain therefore engaged to pay the required sum--more
+than double the amount stipulated in 1796--to further the interests of
+French commerce and to bring pressure to bear on Portugal. At
+the close of the year the Court of Lisbon, yielding to the threats
+of France and Spain, consented to purchase its neutrality by
+the payment of a million francs a month to the master of the
+Continent.[272]
+
+Meanwhile the First Consul was throwing his untiring energies into the
+enterprise of crushing his redoubtable foe. He pushed on the naval
+preparations at all the dockyards of France, Holland, and North Italy;
+the great mole that was to shelter the roadstead at Cherbourg was
+hurried forward, and the coast from the Seine to the Rhine became "a
+coast of iron and bronze"--to use Marmont's picturesque phrase--while
+every harbour swarmed with small craft destined for an invasion.
+Troops were withdrawn from the Rhenish frontiers and encamped along
+the shores of Picardy; others were stationed in reserve at St. Omer,
+Montreuil, Bruges, and Utrecht; while smaller camps were formed at
+Ghent, Compiègne, and St. Malo. The banks of the Elbe, Weser, Scheldt,
+Somme, and Seine--even as far up as Paris itself--rang with the blows
+of shipwrights labouring to strengthen the flotilla of flat-bottomed
+vessels designed for the invasion of England. Troops, to the number of
+50,000 at Boulogne under Soult, 30,000 at Etaples, and as many at
+Bruges, commanded by Ney and Davoust respectively, were organized
+anew, and by constant drill and exposure to the elements formed the
+tough nucleus of the future Grand Army, before which the choicest
+troops of Czar and Kaiser were to be scattered in headlong rout. To
+all these many-sided exertions of organization and drill, of improving
+harbours and coast fortifications, of ship-building, testing,
+embarking, and disembarking, the First Consul now and again applied
+the spur of his personal supervision; for while the warlike enthusiasm
+which he had aroused against perfidious Albion of itself achieved
+wonders, yet work was never so strenuous and exploits so daring as
+under the eyes of the great captain himself. He therefore paid
+frequent visits to the north coast, surveying with critical eyes the
+works at Boulogne, Calais, Dunkirk,
+
+
+Ostend, and Antwerp. The last-named port engaged his special
+attention. Its position at the head of the navigable estuary of the
+Scheldt, exactly opposite the Thames, marked it out as the natural
+rival of London; he now encouraged its commerce and ordered the
+construction of a dockyard fitted to contain twenty-five battleships
+and a proportionate number of frigates and sloops. Antwerp was to
+become the great commercial and naval emporium of the North Sea. The
+time seemed to favour the design; Hamburg and Bremen were blockaded,
+and London for a space was menaced by the growing power of the First
+Consul, who seemed destined to restore to the Flemish port the
+prosperity which the savagery of Alva had swept away with such profit
+to Elizabethan London. But grand as were Napoleon's enterprises at
+Antwerp, they fell far short of his ulterior designs. He told Las
+Cases at St. Helena that the dockyard and magazines were to have been
+protected by a gigantic fortress built on the opposite side of the
+River Scheldt, and that Antwerp was to have been "a loaded pistol held
+at the head of England."
+
+In both lands warlike ardour rose to the highest pitch. French towns
+and Departments freely offered gifts of gunboats and battleships. And
+in England public men vied with one another in their eagerness to
+equip and maintain volunteer regiments. Wordsworth, who had formerly
+sung the praises of the French Revolution, thus voiced the national
+defiance:
+
+  "No parleying now! In Britain is one breath;
+  We all are with you now from shore to shore;
+  Ye men of Kent, 'tis victory or death."
+
+In one respect England enjoyed a notable advantage. Having declared
+war before Napoleon's plans were matured, she held the command of the
+seas, even against the naval resources of France, Holland, and North
+Italy. The first months of the war witnessed the surrender of St.
+Lucia and Tobago to our fleets; and before the close of the year
+Berbice, Demerara, Essequibo, together with < nearly the whole of the
+French St. Domingo force, had capitulated to the Union Jack. Our naval
+supremacy in the Channel now told with full effect. Frigates were ever
+on the watch in the Straits to chase any French vessels that left
+port. But our chief efforts were to blockade the enemy's ships.
+Despite constant ill-health and frequent gales, Nelson clung to
+Toulon. Admiral Cornwallis cruised off Brest with a fleet generally
+exceeding fifteen sail of the line and several smaller vessels: six
+frigates and smaller craft protected the coast of Ireland; six
+line-of-battle ships and twenty-three lesser vessels were kept in the
+Downs under Lord Keith as a central reserve force, to which the news
+of all events transpiring on the enemy's coast was speedily conveyed
+by despatch boats; the newly invented semaphore telegraphs were also
+systematically used between the Isle of Wight and Deal to convey news
+along the coast and to London. Martello towers were erected along the
+coast from Harwich to Pevensey Bay, at the points where a landing was
+easy. Numerous inventors also came forward with plans for destroying
+the French flotilla, but none was found to be serviceable except the
+rockets of Colonel Congreve, which inflicted some damage at Boulogne
+and elsewhere. Such were the dispositions of our chief naval forces:
+they comprised 469 ships of war, and over 700 armed boats, of all
+sizes.[273]
+
+Our regular troops and militia mustered 180,000 strong; while the
+volunteers, including 120,000 men armed with pikes or similar weapons,
+numbered 410,000. Of course little could be hoped from these last in a
+conflict with French veterans; and even the regulars, in the absence
+of any great generals--for Wellesley was then in India--might have
+offered but a poor resistance to Napoleon's military machine.
+Preparations were, however, made for a desperate resistance. Plans
+were quietly framed for the transfer of the Queen and the royal family
+to Worcester, along with the public treasure, which was to be lodged
+in the cathedral; while the artillery and stores from Woolwich arsenal
+were to be conveyed into the Midlands by the Grand Junction
+Canal.[274]
+
+The scheme of coast-defence which General Dundas had drawn up in 1796
+was now again set in action. It included, not only the disposition of
+the armed forces, but plans for the systematic removal of all
+provisions, stores, animals, and fodder from the districts threatened
+by the invader; and it is clear that the country was far better
+prepared than French writers have been willing to admit. Indeed, so
+great was the expense of these defensive preparations that, when
+Nelson's return from the West Indies disconcerted the enemy's plans,
+Fox merged the statesman in the partisan by the curious assertion that
+the invasion scare had been got up by the Pitt Ministry for party
+purposes.[275] Few persons shared that opinion. The nation was
+animated by a patriotism such as had never yet stirred the sluggish
+veins of Georgian England. The Jacobinism, which Dundas in 1796 had
+lamented as paralyzing the nation's energy, had wholly vanished; and
+the fatality which dogged the steps of Napoleon was already
+discernible. The mingled hatred and fear which he inspired outside
+France was beginning to solidify the national resistance: after
+uniting rich and poor, English and Scots in a firm phalanx in the
+United Kingdom, the national principle was in turn to vivify Spain,
+Russia, and Germany, and thus to assure his overthrow.
+
+Reserving for consideration in another chapter the later developments
+of the naval war, it will be convenient now to turn to important
+events in the history of the Bonaparte family.
+
+The loves and intrigues of the Bonapartes have furnished material enough
+to fill several volumes devoted to light gossip, and naturally so. Given
+an ambitious family, styled _parvenus_ by the ungenerous, shooting aloft
+swiftly as the flames of Vesuvius, ardent as its inner fires, and
+stubborn as its hardened lava--given also an imperious brother
+determined to marry his younger brothers and sisters, not as they
+willed, but as he willed--and it is clear that materials are at hand
+sufficient to make the fortunes of a dozen comediettas.
+
+To the marriage of Pauline Bonaparte only the briefest reference need
+here be made. The wild humour of her blood showed itself before her
+first marriage; and after the death of her husband, General Leclerc,
+in San Domingo, she privately espoused Prince Borghese before the
+legal time of mourning had expired, an indiscretion which much annoyed
+Napoleon (August, 1803). Ultimately this brilliant, frivolous creature
+resided in the splendid mansion which now forms the British embassy in
+Paris. The case of Louis Bonaparte was somewhat different. Nurtured as
+he had been in his early years by Napoleon, he had rewarded him by
+contracting a dutiful match with Hortense Beauharnais (January, 1802);
+but that union was to be marred by a grotesquely horrible jealousy
+which the young husband soon conceived for his powerful brother.
+
+For the present, however, the chief trouble was caused by Lucien,
+whose address had saved matters at the few critical minutes of
+Brumaire. Gifted with a strong vein of literary feeling and oratorical
+fire he united in his person the obstinacy of a Bonaparte, the
+headstrong feelings of a poet, and the dogmatism of a Corsican
+republican. His presumptuous conduct had already embroiled him with
+the First Consul, who deprived him of his Ministry and sent him as
+ambassador to Madrid.[276] He further sinned, first by hurrying on
+peace with Portugal--it is said for a handsome present from
+Lisbon--and later by refusing to marry the widow of the King of
+Etruria. In this he persisted, despite the urgent representations of
+Napoleon and Joseph: "You know very well that I am a republican, and
+that a queen is not what suits me, an ugly queen too!"--" What a pity
+your answer was not cut short, it would have been quite Roman," sneered
+Joseph at his younger brother, once the Brutus of the Jacobin clubs. But
+Lucien was proof against all the splendours of the royal match; he was
+madly in love with a Madame Jouberthon, the deserted wife of a Paris
+stockbroker; and in order to checkmate all Napoleon's attempts to force
+on a hated union, he had secretly married the lady of his choice at the
+village of Plessis-Chamant, hard by his country house (October 26th,
+1803).
+
+The letter which divulged the news of this affair reached the First
+Consul at St. Cloud on an interesting occasion.[277] It was during a
+so-called family concert, to which only the choicest spirits had been
+invited, whence also, to Josephine's chagrin, Napoleon had excluded
+Madame Tallien and several other old friends, whose reputation would
+have tainted the air of religion and morality now pervading the
+Consular Court. While this select company was enjoying the strains of
+the chamber music, and Napoleon alone was dozing, Lucien's missive was
+handed in by the faithful if indiscreet Duroc. A change came over the
+scene. At once Napoleon started up, called out "Stop the music: stop,"
+and began with nervous strides and agitated gestures to pace the hall,
+exclaiming "Treason! it is treason!" Round-eyed, open-mouthed
+wonder seized on the disconcerted musicians, the company rose in
+confusion, and Josephine, following her spouse, besought him to say
+what had happened. "What has happened--why--Lucien has married
+his--mistress."[278]
+
+The secret cause for this climax of fashionable comedy is to be sought
+in reasons of state. The establishment of hereditary power was then
+being secretly and anxiously discussed. Napoleon had no heirs: Joseph's
+children were girls: Lucien's first marriage also had naught but female
+issue: the succession must therefore devolve on Lucien's children by a
+second marriage. But a natural son had already been born to him by
+Madame Jouberthon; and his marriage now promised to make this bastard
+the heir to the future French imperial throne. That was the reason why
+Napoleon paced the hall at St. Cloud, "waving his arms like a
+semaphore," and exclaiming "treason!" Failing the birth of sons to the
+two elder brothers, Lucien's marriage seriously endangered the
+foundation of a Napoleonic dynasty; besides, the whole affair would
+yield excellent sport to the royalists of the Boulevard St. Germain, the
+snarling Jacobins of the back streets, and the newspaper writers of
+hated Albion.
+
+In vain were negotiations set on foot to make Lucien divorce his
+wife. The attempt only produced exasperation, Joseph himself finally
+accusing Napoleon of bad faith in the course of this affair. In the
+following springtime Lucien shook off the dust of France from his
+feet, and declared in a last letter to Joseph that he departed, hating
+Napoleon. The moral to this curious story was well pointed by Joseph
+Bonaparte: "Destiny seems to blind us, and intends, by means of our
+own faults, to restore France some day to her former rulers." [279]
+
+At the very time of the scene at St. Cloud, fortune was preparing for
+the First Consul another matrimonial trouble. His youngest brother,
+Jerome, then aged nineteen years, had shown much aptitude for the
+French navy, and was serving on the American station, when a quarrel
+with the admiral sent him flying in disgust to the shore. There, at
+Baltimore, he fell in love with Miss Paterson, the daughter of a
+well-to-do merchant, and sought her hand in marriage. In vain did the
+French consul remind him that, were he five years older, he would
+still need the consent of his mother. The headstrong nature of his
+race brooked no opposition, and he secretly espoused the young lady at
+her father's residence.
+
+
+Napoleon's ire fell like a blasting wind on the young couple; but
+after waiting some time, in hopes that the storm would blow over, they
+ventured to come to Europe. Thereupon Napoleon wrote to Madame Mère in
+these terms:
+
+     "Jerome has arrived at Lisbon with the woman with whom he lives....
+     I have given orders that Miss Paterson is to be sent back to
+     America.... If he shows no inclination to wash away the dishonour
+     with which he has stained my name, by forsaking his country's flag
+     on land and sea for the sake of a wretched woman, I will cast him
+     off for ever."[280]
+
+The sequel will show that Jerome was made of softer stuff than Lucien;
+and, strange to say, his compliance with Napoleon's dynastic designs
+provided that family with the only legitimate male heirs that were
+destined to sustain its wavering hopes to the end of the century.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX
+
+THE ROYALIST PLOT
+
+
+From domestic comedy, France turned rapidly in the early months of
+1804 to a sombre tragedy--the tragedy of the Georges Cadoudal plot and
+the execution of the Duc d'Enghien.
+
+There were varied reasons why the exiled French Bourbons should
+compass the overthrow of Napoleon. Every month that they delayed
+action lessened their chances of success. They had long clung to the
+hope that his Concordat with the Pope and other anti-revolutionary
+measures betokened his intention to recall their dynasty. But in
+February, 1803, the Comte de Provence received overtures which showed
+that Bonaparte had never thought of playing the part of General Monk.
+The exiled prince, then residing at Warsaw, was courteously but most
+firmly urged by the First Consul to renounce both for himself and for
+the other members of his House all claims to the throne of France, in
+return for which he would receive a pension of two million francs a
+year. The notion of sinking to the level of a pensionary of the French
+Republic touched Bourbon pride to the quick and provoked this spirited
+reply:
+
+     "As a descendant of St. Louis, I shall endeavour to imitate his
+     example by respecting myself even in captivity. As successor to
+     Francis I., I shall at least aspire to say with him: 'We have lost
+     everything but our honour."'
+
+To this declaration the Comte d'Artois, his son, the Duc de Berri,
+Louis Philippe of Orleans, his two sons, and the two Condés gave their
+ardent assent; and the same loyal response came from the young Condé,
+the Duc d'Enghien, dated Ettenheim, March 22nd, 1803. Little did men
+think when they read this last defiance to Napoleon that within a year
+its author would be flung into a grave in the moat of the Castle of
+Vincennes.
+
+Scarcely had the echoes of the Bourbon retorts died away than the
+outbreak of war between England and France raised the hopes of the
+French royalist exiles in London; and their nimble fancy pictured the
+French army and nation as ready to fling themselves at the feet of
+Louis XVIII. The future monarch did not share these illusions. In the
+chilly solitudes of Warsaw he discerned matters in their true light,
+and prepared to wait until the vaulting ambition of Napoleon should
+league Europe against him. Indeed, when the plans of the forward wing
+in London were explained to him, with a view of enlisting his support,
+he deftly waved aside the embarrassing overtures by quoting the lines:
+
+                               "Et pour être approuvés
+  De semblables projets veulent être achevés,"
+
+a cautious reply which led his brother, then at Edinburgh, scornfully
+to contemn his _feebleness_ as unworthy of any further confidences.[281]
+In truth, the Comte d'Artois, destined one day to be Charles X. of
+France, was not fashioned by nature for a Fabian policy of delay: not
+even the misfortunes of exile could instill into the watertight
+compartments of his brain the most elementary notions of prudence.
+Daring, however, attracts daring; and this prince had gathered around
+him in our land the most desperate of the French royalists, whose hopes,
+hatreds, schemes, and unending requests for British money may be scanned
+by the curious in some thirty large volumes of letters bequeathed by
+their factotum the Comte de Puisaye, to the British Museum.
+Unfortunately this correspondence throws little light on the details of
+the plot which is fitly called by the name of Georges Cadoudal.
+
+This daring Breton was, in fact, the only man of action on whom the
+Bourbon princes could firmly rely for an enterprise that demanded a
+cool head, cunning in the choice of means, and a remorseless hand.
+Pichegru it is true, lived near London, but saw little of the
+_émigrés_, except the venerable Condé. Dumouriez also was in the great
+city, but his name was too generally scorned in France for his
+treachery in 1793 to warrant his being used. But there were plenty of
+swashbucklers who could prepare the ground in France, or, if fortune
+favoured, might strike the blow themselves; and a small committee of
+French royalists, which had the support of that furious royalist, Mr.
+Windham, M.P., began even before the close of 1802 to discuss plans
+for the "removal" of Bonaparte. Two of their tools, Picot and Le
+Bourgeois by name, plunged blindly into a plot, and were arrested soon
+after they set foot in France. Their boyish credulity seems to have
+suggested to the French authorities the sending of an agent so as to
+entrap not only French _émigrés_, but also English officials and
+Jacobinical generals.
+
+The _agent provocateur_ has at all times been a favourite tool of
+continental Governments: but rarely has a more finished specimen of
+the class been seen than Méhée de la Touche. After plying the trade of
+an assassin in the September massacres of 1792, and of a Jacobin spy
+during the Terror, he had been included by Bonaparte among the Jacobin
+scapegoats who expiated the Chouan outrage of Nivôse. Pining in the
+weariness of exile, he heard from his wife that he might be pardoned
+if he would perform some service for the Consular Government. At once
+he consented, and it was agreed that he should feign royalism, should
+worm himself into the secrets of the _émigrés_ at London, and act as
+intermediary between them and the discontented republicans of Paris.
+
+The man who seems to have planned this scheme was the ex-Minister of
+Police. Fouché had lately been deprived by Bonaparte of the
+inquisitorial powers which he so unscrupulously used. His duties were
+divided between Régnier, the Grand Judge and Minister of Justice, and
+Réal, a Councillor of State, who watched over the internal security of
+France. These men had none of the ability of Fouché, nor did they know
+at the outset what Méhée was doing in London. It may, therefore, be
+assumed that Méhée was one of Fouché's creatures, whom he used to
+discredit his successor, and that Bonaparte welcomed this means of
+quickening the zeal of the official police, while he also wove his
+meshes round plotting _émigrés_, English officials, and French
+generals.[282]
+
+Among these last there was almost chronic discontent, and Bonaparte
+claimed to have found out a plot whereby twelve of them should divide
+France into as many portions, leaving to him only Paris and its
+environs. If so, he never made any use of his discovery. In fact, out
+of this group of malcontents, Moreau, Bernadotte, Augereau, Macdonald,
+and others, he feared only the hostility of the first. The victor of
+Hohenlinden lived in sullen privacy near to Paris, refusing to present
+himself at the Consular Court, and showing his contempt for those who
+donned a courtier's uniform. He openly mocked at the Concordat; and
+when the Legion of Honour was instituted, he bestowed a collar of
+honour upon his dog. So keen was Napoleon's resentment at this
+raillery that he even proposed to send him a challenge to a duel in
+the Bois de Boulogne.[283] The challenge, of course, was not sent; a
+show of reconciliation was assumed between the two warriors; but
+Napoleon retained a covert dislike of the man whose brusque
+republicanism was applauded by a large portion of the army and by the
+_frondeurs_ of Paris.
+
+The ruin of Moreau, and the confusion alike of French royalists and
+of the British Ministry, could now be assured by the encouragement of
+a Jacobin-Royalist conspiracy, in which English officials should be
+implicated. Moreau was notoriously incapable in the sphere of
+political intrigue: the royalist coteries in London presented just the
+material on which the _agent provocateur_ delights to work; and some
+British officials could, doubtless, with equal ease be drawn into the
+toils. Méhée de la Touche has left a highly spiced account of his
+adventures; but it must, of course, be received with distrust.[284]
+
+Proceeding first to Guernsey, he gained the confidence of the
+Governor, General Doyle; and, fortified by recommendations from him,
+he presented himself to the _émigrés_ at London, and had an interview
+with Lord Hawkesbury and the Under-Secretaries of State, Messrs.
+Hammond and Yorke. He found it easy to inflame the imagination of the
+French exiles, who clutched at the proposed union between the
+irreconcilables, the extreme royalists, and the extreme republicans;
+and it was forthwith arranged that Napoleon's power, which rested on
+the support of the peasants, in fact of the body of France, should be
+crushed by an enveloping move of the tips of the wings.
+
+Méhée's narrative contains few details and dates, such as enable one
+to test his assertions. But I have examined the Puisaye Papers,[285]
+and also the Foreign and Home Office archives, and have found proofs
+of the complicity of our Government, which it will be well to present
+here connectedly. Taken singly they are inconclusive, but collectively
+their importance is considerable. In our Foreign Office Records
+(France, No 70) there is a letter, dated London, August 30th, 1803,
+from the Baron de Roll, the factotum of the exiled Bourbons, to Mr.
+Hammond, our Permanent Under-Secretary at the Foreign Office, asking
+him to call on the Comte d'Artois at his residence, No. 46, Baker
+Street. That the deliberations at that house were not wholly peaceful
+appears from a long secret memorandum of October 24th, 1803, in which
+the Comte d'Artois reviews the career of "that _miserable adventurer_"
+(Bonaparte), so as to prove that his present position is precarious
+and tottering. He concludes by naming those who desired his
+overthrow--Moreau, Reynier, Bernadotte, Simon, Masséna, Lannes, and
+Férino: Sieyès, Carnot, Chénier, Fouché, Barras, Tallien, Rewbel,
+Lamarque, and Jean de Bry. Others would not attack him "corps à
+corps," but disliked his supremacy. These two papers prove that our
+Government was aware of the Bourbon plot. Another document, dated
+London, November 18th, 1803, proves its active complicity. It is a
+list of the French royalist officers "who had set out or were ready to
+set out." All were in our pay, two at six shillings, five at four
+shillings, and nine at two shillings a day. It would be indelicate to
+reveal the names, but among them occurs that of Joachim P.J. Cadoudal.
+The list is drawn up and signed by Frieding--a name that was
+frequently used by Pichegru as an _alias_. In his handwriting also is
+a list of "royalist officers for whom I demand a year's pay in
+advance"--five generals, thirteen _chefs de légion_, seventeen _chefs
+de bataillon_, and nineteen captains. The pay claimed amounts to
+£3,110 15_s._[286] That some, at least, of our Admiralty officials
+also aided Cadoudal is proved by a "most secret" letter, dated
+Admiralty Office, July 31st, 1803, from E. N[epean] to Admiral Montagu
+in the Downs, charging him to help the bearer, Captain Wright, in the
+execution of "a very important service," and to provide for him "one
+of the best of the hired cutters or luggers under your orders."
+Another "most secret" Admiralty letter, of January 9th, 1804, orders a
+frigate or large sloop to be got ready to convey secretly "an officer
+of rank and consideration" (probably Pichegru) to the French coast.
+Wright carried over the conspirators in several parties, until chance
+threw him into Napoleon's power and consigned him to an ignominious
+death, probably suicide.
+
+Finally, there is the letter of Mr. Arbuthnot, Parliamentary Secretary
+at the Foreign Office (dated March 12th, 1804), to Sir Arthur Paget,
+in which he refers to the "sad result of all our fine projects for the
+re-establishment of the Bourbons: ... we are, of course, greatly
+apprehensive for poor Moreau's safety."[287]
+
+In face of this damning evidence the ministerial denials of complicity
+must be swept aside.[288] It is possible, however, that the plot was
+connived at, not by the more respectable chiefs, but by young and
+hot-headed officials. Even in the summer of 1803 that Cabinet was
+already tottering under the attacks of the Whigs and the followers of
+Pitt. The blandly respectable Addington and Hawkesbury with his
+"vacant grin"[289] were evidently no match for Napoleon; and
+Arbuthnot himself dubs Addington "a poor wretch universally despised
+and laught at," and pronounces the Cabinet "the most inefficient that
+ever curst a country." I judge, therefore, that our official aid to
+the conspirators was limited to the Under-Secretaries of the Foreign,
+War, and Admiralty Offices. Moreover, the royalist plans, _as revealed
+to our officials_, mainly concerned a rising in Normandy and Brittany.
+Our Government would not have paid the salaries of fifty-four royalist
+officers--many of them of good old French families--if it had been
+only a question of stabbing Napoleon. The lists of those officers were
+drawn up here in November, 1803, that is, three months after Georges
+Cadoudal had set out for Normandy and Paris to collect his
+desperadoes; and it seems most probable that the officers of the
+"royal army" were expected merely to clinch Cadoudal's enterprise by
+rekindling the flame of revolt in the north and west. French agents
+were trying to do the same in Ireland, and a plot for the murder of
+George III. was thought to have been connived at by the French
+authorities. But, when all is said, the British Government must stand
+accused of one of the most heinous of crimes. The whole truth was not
+known at Paris; but it was surmised; and the surmise was sufficient to
+envenom the whole course of the struggle between England and Napoleon.
+
+Having now established the responsibility of British officials in
+this, the most famous plot of the century, we return to describe the
+progress of the conspiracy and the arts employed by Napoleon to defeat
+it. His tool, Méhée de la Touche, after entrapping French royalists
+and some of our own officials in London, proceeded to the Continent in
+order to inveigle some of our envoys. He achieved a brilliant success.
+He called at Munich, in order, as he speciously alleged, to arrange
+with our ambassador there the preparations for the royalist plot. The
+British envoy, who bore the honoured name of Francis Drake, was a
+zealous intriguer closely in touch with the _émigrés_: he was
+completely won over by the arts of Méhée: he gave the spy money,
+supplied him with a code of false names, and even intrusted him with a
+recipe for sympathetic ink. Thus furnished, Méhée proceeded to Paris,
+sent his briber a few harmless bulletins, took his information to the
+police, and, _at Napoleon's dictation_, gave him news that seriously
+misled our Government and Nelson.[290]
+
+
+The same trick was tried on Stuart, our ambassador at Vienna, who had
+a tempting offer from a French agent to furnish news from every French
+despatch to or from Vienna. Stuart had closed with the offer, when
+suddenly the man was seized at the instance of the French ambassador,
+and his papers were searched.[291] In this case there were none that
+compromised Stuart, and his career was not cut short in the
+ignominious manner that befell Drake, over whom there may be inscribed
+as epitaph the warning which Talleyrand gave to young aspirants--"et
+surtout pas trop de zèle."
+
+Thus, while the royalists were conspiring the overthrow of Napoleon,
+he through his agents was countermining their clumsy approach to his
+citadel, and prepared to blow them sky high when their mines were
+crowded for the final rush. The royalist plans matured slowly owing to
+changes which need not be noticed. Georges Cadoudal quitted London,
+and landed at Biville, a smuggler's haunt not far from Dieppe, on
+August 23rd, 1803. Thence he made his way to Paris, and spent some
+months in striving to enlist trusty recruits. It has been stated that
+the plot never aimed at assassination, but at the overpowering of the
+First Consul's escort, and the seizure of his person, during one of
+his journeys. Then he was to be forcibly transferred to the northern
+coast on relays of horses, and hurried over to England.[292] But,
+though the plotters threw the veil of decency over their enterprise by
+calling it kidnapping, they undoubtedly meant murder. Among Drake's
+papers there is a hint that the royalist emissaries were _at first_ to
+speak only of the seizure and deportation of the First Consul.
+
+Whatever may have been their precise aims, they were certainly known
+to Napoleon and his police. On November 1st, 1803, he wrote to
+Régnier:
+
+
+     "You must not be in a hurry about the arrests: when the author
+     [Méhée] has given in all the information, we will draw up a plan
+     with him, and will see what is to be done. I wish him to write to
+     Drake, and, in order to make him trustful, inform him that, before
+     the great blow can be dealt, he believes he [Méhée] can promise to
+     have seized on the table of the First Consul, in his secret room,
+     notes written in his own hand relating to his great expedition,
+     and every other important document."
+
+Napoleon revelled in the details of his plan for hoisting the
+engineers with their own petards.[293] But he knew full well that the
+plot, when fully ripe, would yield far more than the capture of a few
+Chouans. He must wait until Moreau was implicated. The man selected by
+the _émigrés_ to sound Moreau was Pichegru, and this choice was the
+sole instance of common sense displayed by them. It was Pichegru who
+had marked out the future fortune of Moreau in the campaign of 1793,
+and yet he had seemed to be the victim of that general's gross
+ingratitude at Fructidor. Who then so fitted as he to approach the
+victor of Hohenlinden? Through a priest named David and General
+Lajolais, an interview was arranged; and shortly after Pichegru's
+arrival in France, these warriors furtively clasped hands in the
+capital which had so often resounded with their praises (January,
+1804). They met three or four times, and cleared away some of the
+misunderstandings of the past. But he would have nothing to do with
+Georges, and when Pichegru mooted the overthrow of Bonaparte and the
+restoration of the Bourbons, he firmly warned him: "Do with Bonaparte
+what you will, but do not ask me to put a Bourbon in his place."
+
+From this resolve Moreau never receded. But his calculating reserve did
+not save him. Already several suspects had been imprisoned in Normandy.
+At Napoleon's suggestion five of them were condemned to death, in the
+hope of extorting a confession; and the last a man named Querelle,
+gratified his gaolers by revealing (February 14th) not only the lodging
+of Georges in Paris, but the intention of other conspirators, among whom
+was a French prince, to land at Biville. The plot was now coming to a
+head, and so was the counter-plot. On the next day Moreau was arrested
+by order of Napoleon, who feigned the utmost grief and surprise at
+seeing the victor of Hohenlinden mixed up with royalist assassins in the
+pay of England.[294]
+
+Elated by this success, and hoping to catch the Comte d'Artois
+himself, Napoleon forthwith despatched to that cliff one of his most
+crafty and devoted servants, Savary, who commanded the _gendarmerie
+d'élite._ Tricked out in suitable disguises, and informed by a
+smuggler as to the royalist signals, Savary eagerly awaited the royal
+quarry, and when Captain Wright's vessel hove in sight, he used his
+utmost arts to imitate the signals that invited a landing. But the
+crew were not to be lured to shore; and after fruitless endeavours he
+returned to Paris--in time to take part in the murder of the Duc
+d'Enghien.
+
+Meanwhile the police were on the tracks of Pichegru and Georges. On
+the last day of February the general was seized in bed in the house of
+a treacherous friend: but not until the gates of Paris had been
+closed, and domiciliary visits made, was Georges taken, and then only
+after a desperate affray (March 9th). The arrest of the two Polignacs
+and the Marquis de Rivière speedily followed.
+
+Hitherto Napoleon had completely outwitted his foes. He knew well
+enough that he was in no danger.
+
+    "I have run no real risks," he wrote to Melzi, "for the police had
+    its eyes on all these machinations, and I have the consolation of
+    not finding reason to complain of a single man among all those I
+    have placed in this huge administration, Moreau stands alone."
+    [295]
+
+But now, at the moment of victory, when France was swelling with rage
+against royalist assassins, English gold, and Moreau's treachery, the
+First Consul was hurried into an enterprise which gained him an
+imperial crown and flecked the purple with innocent blood.
+
+There was living at Ettenheim, in Baden, not far from the Rhine, a
+young prince of the House of Condé, the Duc d'Enghien. Since the
+disbanding of the corps of Condé he had been tranquilly enjoying the
+society of the Princess Charlotte de Rohan, to whom he had been
+secretly married. Her charms, the attractions of the chase, the
+society of a small circle of French _émigrés_, and an occasional
+secret visit to the theatre at Strassburg, formed the chief diversions
+to an otherwise monotonous life, until he was fired with the hope of a
+speedy declaration of war by Austria and Russia against Napoleon.
+Report accused him of having indiscreetly ventured in disguise far
+into France; but he indignantly denied it. His other letters also
+prove that he was not an accomplice of the Cadoudal-Pichegru
+conspiracy. But Napoleon's spies gave information which seemed to
+implicate him in that enterprise. Chief among them was Méhée, who, at
+the close of February, hovered about Ettenheim and heard that the duke
+was often absent for many days at a time.
+
+Napoleon received this news on March 1st, and ordered the closest
+investigation to be made. One of his spies reported that the young
+duke associated with General Dumouriez. In reality the general was in
+London, and the spy had substituted the name of a harmless old
+gentleman called Thumery. When Napoleon saw the name of Dumouriez with
+that of the young duke his rage knew no bounds. "Am I a dog to be
+beaten to death in the street? Why was I not warned that they were
+assembling at Ettenheim? Are my murderers sacred beings? They attack my
+very person. I'll give them war for war." And he overwhelmed with
+reproaches both Réal and Talleyrand for neglecting to warn him of these
+traitors and assassins clustering on the banks of the Rhine. The seizure
+of Georges Cadoudal and the examination of one of his servants helped to
+confirm Napoleon's surmise that he was the victim of a plot of which the
+duke and Dumouriez were the real contrivers, while Georges was their
+tool. Cadoudal's servant stated that there often came to his master's
+house a mysterious man, at whose entry not only Georges but also the
+Polignacs and Rivière always arose. This convinced Napoleon that the Duc
+d'Enghien was directing the plot, and he determined to have the duke and
+Dumouriez seized. That they were on German soil was naught to him.
+Talleyrand promised that he could soon prevail on the Elector to
+overlook this violation of his territory, and the question was then
+discussed in an informal council. Talleyrand, Réal, and Fouché advised
+the severest measures. Lebrun spoke of the outcry which such a violation
+of neutral territory would arouse, but bent before the determination of
+the First Consul; and the regicide Cambacérès alone offered a firm
+opposition to an outrage which must embroil France with Germany and
+Russia. Despite this protest, Napoleon issued his orders and then
+repaired to the pleasing solitudes of La Malmaison, where he remained in
+almost complete seclusion. The execution of the orders was now left to
+Generals Ordener and Caulaincourt, who arranged the raid into Baden; to
+Murat, who was now Governor of Paris; and to the devoted and
+unquestioning Savary and Réal.
+
+The seizure of the duke was craftily effected. Troops and gendarmes
+were quietly mustered at Strassburg: spies were sent forward to survey
+the ground; and as the dawn of the 15th of March was lighting up the
+eastern sky, thirty Frenchmen encircled Enghien's abode. His hot blood
+prompted him to fight, but on the advice of a friend he quietly
+surrendered, was haled away to Strassburg, and thence to the castle of
+Vincennes on the south-east of Paris. There everything was ready for
+his reception on the evening of March 20th. The pall of secrecy was
+spread over the preparations. The name of Plessis was assigned to the
+victim, and Harel, the governor of the castle, was left ignorant of
+his rank.[296]
+
+Above all, he was to be tried by a court-martial of officers, a form
+of judgment which was summary and without appeal; whereas the ordinary
+courts of justice must be slow and open to the public gaze. It was
+true that the Senate had just suspended trial by jury in the case of
+attempts against the First Consul's life--a device adopted in view of
+the Moreau prosecution. But the certainty of a conviction was not
+enough: Napoleon determined to strike terror into his enemies, such as
+a swift and secret blow always inspires. He had resolved on a trial by
+court-martial when he still believed Enghien to be an accomplice of
+Dumouriez; and when, late on Saturday, March 17th, that mistake was
+explained, his purpose remained unshaken--unshaken too by the high
+mass of Easter Sunday, March 18th, which he heard in state at the
+Chapel of the Tuileries. On the return journey to Malmaison Josephine
+confessed to Madame de Rémusat her fears that Bonaparte's will was
+unalterably fixed: "I have done what I could, but I fear his mind is
+made up." She and Joseph approached him once more in the park while
+Talleyrand was at his side. "I fear that cripple," she said, as they
+came near, and Joseph drew the Minister aside. All was in vain. "Go
+away; you are a child; you don't understand public duties." This was
+Josephine's final repulse.
+
+On March 20th Napoleon drew up the form of questions to be put to the
+prisoner. He now shifted the ground of accusation. Out of eleven
+questions only the last three referred to the duke's connection with
+the Cadoudal plot.[297] For in the meantime he had found in the
+duke's papers proofs of his having offered his services to the
+British Government for the present war,[298] his hopes of
+participation in a future Continental war, but nothing that could
+implicate him in the Cadoudal plot. The papers were certainly
+disappointing; and that is doubtless the reason why, after examining
+them on March 19th, he charged Réal "to take secret cognizance of
+these papers, along with Desmarest. One must prevent any talk on the
+more or less of charges contained in these papers." The same fact
+doubtless led to their abstraction along with the _dossier_ of the
+proceedings of the court-martial.[299]
+
+The task of summoning the officers who were to form the court-martial
+was imposed on Murat. But when this bluff, hearty soldier received
+this order, he exclaimed: "What! are they trying to soil my uniform! I
+will not allow it! Let him appoint them himself if he wants to." But a
+second and more imperious mandate compelled him to perform this
+hateful duty. The seven senior officers of the garrison of Paris now
+summoned were ordered not to separate until judgment was passed.[300]
+At their head was General Hulin, who had shown such daring in the
+assault on the Bastille; and thus one of the early heroes of the
+Revolution had the evening of his days shrouded over with the horrors
+of a midnight murder. Finally, the First Consul charged Savary, who
+had just returned to Paris from Biville, furious at being baulked of
+his prey, to proceed to Vincennes with a band of his gendarmes for the
+carrying out of the sentence.
+
+The seven officers as yet knew nothing of the nature of their mission,
+or of martial law. "We had not," wrote Hulin long afterwards, "the least
+idea about trials; and, worst of all, the reporter and clerk had
+scarcely any more experience."[301] The examination of the prisoner was
+curt in the extreme. He was asked his name, date and place of birth,
+whether he had borne arms against France and was in the pay of England.
+To the last questions he answered decisively in the affirmative, adding
+that he wished to take part in the new war against France.
+
+His replies were the same as he made in his preliminary examination,
+which he closed with the written and urgent request for a personal
+interview with Napoleon. To this request the court proposed to accede;
+but Savary, who had posted himself behind Hulin's chair, at once
+declared this step to be _inopportune_. The judges had only one chance
+of escape from their predicament, namely, to induce the duke to
+invalidate his evidence: this he firmly refused to do, and when Hulin
+warned him of the danger of his position, he replied that he knew it,
+and wished to have an interview with the First Consul.
+
+The court then passed sentence, and, "in accordance with article
+(blank) of the law (blank) to the following effect (blank) condemned
+him to suffer death." Ashamed, as it would seem, of this clumsy
+condemnation, Hulin was writing to Bonaparte to request for the
+condemned man the personal interview which he craved, when Savary took
+the pen from his hands, with the words: "Your work is done: the rest
+is my business."[302] The duke was forthwith led out into the moat of
+the castle, where a few torches shed their light on the final scene of
+this sombre tragedy: he asked for a priest, but this was denied him:
+he then bowed his head in prayer, lifted those noble features towards
+the soldiers, begged them not to miss their aim, and fell, shot
+through the heart. Hard by was a grave, which, in accordance with
+orders received on the previous day, the governor had caused to be
+made ready; into this the body was thrown pell-mell, and the earth
+closed over the remains of the last scion of the warlike House of
+Condé.
+
+Twelve years later loving hands disinterred the bones and placed them
+in the chapel of the castle. But even then the world knew not all the
+enormity of the crime. It was reserved for clumsy apologists like
+Savary to provoke replies and further investigations. The various
+excuses which throw the blame on Talleyrand, and on everyone but the
+chief actor, are sufficiently disposed of by the ex-Emperor's will. In
+that document Napoleon brushed away the excuses which had previously
+been offered to the credulity or malice of his courtiers, and took on
+himself the responsibility for the execution:
+
+     "I caused the Duc d'Enghien to be arrested and judged, because it
+     was necessary for the safety, the interest, and the honour of the
+     French people when the Comte d'Artois, by his own confession, was
+     supporting sixty assassins at Paris. In similar circumstances I
+     would act in the same way again."[303]
+
+
+The execution of the Duc d'Enghien is one of the most important
+incidents of this period, so crowded with momentous events. The
+sensation of horror which it caused can be gauged by the mental agony
+of Madame de Rémusat and of others who had hitherto looked on
+Bonaparte as the hero of the age and the saviour of the country. His
+mother hotly upbraided him, saying it was an atrocious act, the stain
+of which could never be wiped out, and that he had yielded to the
+advice of enemies' eager to tarnish his fame.[304] Napoleon said
+nothing, but shut himself up in his cabinet, revolving these terrible
+words, which doubtless bore fruit in the bitter reproaches later to be
+heaped upon Talleyrand for his share in the tragedy. Many royalists
+who had begun to rally to his side now showed their indignation at the
+deed. Chateaubriand, who was about to proceed as the envoy of France
+to the Republic of Valais, at once offered his resignation and assumed
+an attitude of covert defiance. And that was the conduct of all
+royalists who were not dazzled by the glamour of success or cajoled by
+Napoleon's favours. Many of his friends ventured to show their horror
+of this Corsican vendetta; and a _mot_ which was plausibly, but it
+seems wrongly, attributed to Fouché, well sums up the general opinion
+of that callous society: "It was worse than a crime--it was a
+blunder."
+
+Scarcely had Paris recovered from this sensation when, on April 6th,
+Pichegru was found strangled in prison; and men silently but almost
+unanimously hailed it as the work of Napoleon's Mamelukes. This
+judgment, however natural after the Enghien affair, seems to be
+incorrect. It is true the corpse bore marks which scarcely tallied with
+suicide: but Georges Cadoudal, whose cell was hard by, heard no sound of
+a scuffle; and it is unlikely that so strong a man as Pichegru would
+easily have succumbed to assailants. It is therefore more probable that
+the conqueror of Holland, shattered by his misfortunes and too proud to
+undergo a public trial, cut short a life which already was doomed. Never
+have plotters failed more ignominiously and played more completely into
+the hands of their enemy. A _mot_ of the Boulevards wittily sums up the
+results of their puny efforts: "They came to France to give her a king,
+and they gave her an Emperor."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX
+
+THE DAWN OF THE EMPIRE
+
+
+For some time the question of a Napoleonic dynasty had been freely
+discussed; and the First Consul himself had latterly confessed his
+intentions to Joseph in words that reveal his super-human confidence
+and his caution: "I always intended to end the Revolution by the
+establishment of heredity: but I thought that such a step could not be
+taken before the lapse of five or six years." Events, however, bore
+him along on a favouring tide. Hatred of England, fear of Jacobin
+excesses, indignation at the royalist schemes against his life, and
+finally even the execution of Enghien, helped on the establishment of
+the Empire. Though moderate men of all parties condemned the murder,
+the remnants of the Jacobin party hailed it with joy. Up to this time
+they had a lingering fear that the First Consul was about to play the
+part of Monk. The pomp of the Tuileries and the hated Concordat seemed
+to their crooked minds but the prelude to a recall of the Bourbons,
+whereupon priestcraft, tithes, and feudalism would be the order of the
+day. Now at last the tragedy of Vincennes threw a lurid light into the
+recesses of Napoleon's ambition; and they exclaimed, "He is one of
+us." It must thenceforth be war to the knife between the Bourbons and
+Bonaparte; and his rule would therefore be the best guarantee for the
+perpetual ownership of the lands confiscated during the
+Revolution.[305]
+
+To a materialized society that great event had come to be little more
+than a big land investment syndicate, of which Bonaparte was now to be
+the sole and perpetual director. This is the inner meaning of the
+references to the Social Contract which figure so oddly among the
+petitions for hereditary rule. The Jacobins, except a few conscientious
+stalwarts, were especially alert in the feat of making extremes meet.
+Fouché, who now wriggled back into favour and office, appealed to the
+Senate, only seven days after the execution, to establish hereditary
+power as the only means of ending the plots against Napoleon's life;
+for, as the opportunist Jacobins argued, if the hereditary system were
+adopted, conspiracies to murder would be meaningless, when, even if they
+struck down one man, they must fail to shatter the system that
+guaranteed the Revolution.
+
+The cue having been thus dextrously given, appeals and petitions for
+hereditary rule began to pour in from all parts of France. The grand
+work of the reorganization of France certainly furnished a solid claim
+on the nation's gratitude. The recent promulgation of the Civil Code
+and the revival of material prosperity redounded to Napoleon's glory;
+and with equal truth and wit he could claim the diadem as a fit reward
+_for having revived many interests while none had been displaced._
+Such a remark and such an exploit proclaim the born ruler of men. But
+the Senate overstepped all bounds of decency when it thus addressed
+him: "You are founding a new era: but you ought to make it last for
+ever: splendour is nothing without duration." The Greeks who fawned on
+Persian satraps did not more unman themselves than these pensioned
+sycophants, who had lived through the days of 1789 but knew them not.
+This fulsome adulation would be unworthy of notice did it not convey
+the most signal proof of the danger which republics incur when men
+lose sight of the higher aims of life and wallow among its sordid
+interests.[306]
+
+
+
+After the severe drilling of the last four years, the Chambers voted
+nearly unanimously in favour of a Napoleonic dynasty. The Corps
+Législatif was not in session, and it was not convoked. The Senate,
+after hearing Fouché's unmistakable hints, named a commission of its
+members to report on hereditary rule, and then waited on events. These
+were decided mainly in private meetings of the Council of State, where
+the proposal met with some opposition from Cambacérès, Merlin, and
+Thibaudeau. But of what avail are private remonstrances when in open
+session opponents are dumb and supporters vie in adulation? In the
+Tribunate, on April 23rd, an obscure member named Curée proposed the
+adoption of the hereditary principle. One man alone dared openly to
+combat the proposal, the great Carnot; and the opposition of Curée to
+Carnot might have recalled to the minds of those abject champions of
+popular liberty the verse that glitters amidst the literary rubbish of
+the Roman Empire:
+
+  "Victrix causa deis placuit, sed victa Catoni."
+
+The Tribunate named a commission to report; it was favourable to the
+Bonapartes. The Senate voted in the same sense, three Senators alone,
+among them Grégoire, Bishop of Blois, voting against it. Sieyès and
+Lanjuinais were absent; but the well-salaried lord of the manor of
+Crosne must have read with amused contempt the resolution of this
+body, which he had designed to be the _guardian of the republican
+constitution_:
+
+     "The French have conquered liberty: they wish to preserve their
+     conquest: they wish for repose after victory. They will owe this
+     glorious repose to the hereditary rule of a single man, who, raised
+     above all, is to defend public liberty, maintain equality, and
+     lower his fasces before the sovereignty of the people that
+     proclaims him."
+
+
+In this way did France reduce to practice the dogma of Rousseau with
+regard to the occasional and temporary need of a dictator.[307]
+
+When the commonalty are so obsequious, any title can be taken by the
+one necessary man. Napoleon at first affected to doubt whether the
+title of Stadtholder would not be more seemly than that of Emperor;
+and in one of the many conferences held on this topic, Miot de Melito
+advocated the retention of the term Consul for its grand republican
+simplicity. But it was soon seen that the term Emperor was the only
+one which satisfied Napoleon's ambition and French love of splendour.
+Accordingly a _senatus consultum_ of May 18th, 1804, formally decreed
+to him the title of Emperor of the French. As for his former
+colleagues, Cambacérès and Lebrun, they were stultified with the
+titles of Arch-chancellor and Arch-treasurer of the Empire: his
+brother Joseph received the title of Grand Elector, borrowed from the
+Holy Roman Empire, and oddly applied to an hereditary empire where the
+chief _had_ been appointed: Louis was dubbed Constable: two other
+grand dignities, those of Arch-chancellor of State and High Admiral,
+were not as yet filled, but were reserved for Napoleon's relatives by
+marriage, Eugène Beauharnais and Murat. These six grand dignitaries of
+the new Empire were to be irresponsible and irremovable, and, along
+with the Emperor, they formed the Grand Council of the Empire.
+
+On lesser individuals the rays of the imperial diadem cast a fainter
+glow. Napoleon's uncle, Cardinal Fesch, became Grand Almoner;
+Berthier, Grand Master of the Hounds; Talleyrand, Grand Chamberlain;
+Duroc, Grand Marshal of the Palace; and Caulaincourt, Master of the
+Horse, the acceptance of which title seemed to the world to convict
+him of full complicity in the schemes for the murder of the Duc
+d'Enghien. For the rest, the Emperor's mother was to be styled _Madame
+Mère_; his sisters became Imperial Highnesses, with their several
+establishments of ladies-in-waiting; and Paris fluttered with excitement
+at each successive step upwards of expectant nobles, regicides,
+generals, and stockjobbers towards the central galaxy of the Corsican
+family, which, ten years before, had subsisted on the alms of the
+Republic one and indivisible.
+
+It remained to gain over the army. The means used were profuse, in
+proportion as the task was arduous. The following generals were
+distinguished as Marshals of the Empire (May 19th): Berthier, Murat,
+Masséna, Augereau, Lannes, Jourdan, Ney, Soult, Brune, Davoust,
+Bessières, Moncey, Mortier, and Bernadotte; two marshal's bâtons were
+held in reserve as a reward for future service, and four aged
+generals, Lefebvre, Serrurier, Pérignon, and Kellerman (the hero of
+Valmy), received the title of honorary marshals. In one of his
+conversations with Roederer, the Emperor frankly avowed his reasons
+for showering these honours on his military chiefs; it was in order to
+assure the imperial dignity to himself; for how could they object to
+this, when they themselves received honours so lofty?[308] The
+confession affords a curious instance of Napoleon's unbounded trust
+in the most elementary, not to say the meanest, motives of human
+conduct. Suitable rewards were bestowed on officers of the second
+rank. But it was at once remarked that determined and outspoken
+republicans like Suchet, Gouvion St. Cyr, and Macdonald, whose talents
+and exploits far outstripped those of many of the marshals, were
+excluded from their ranks. St. Cyr was at Taranto, and Macdonald,
+after an enforced diplomatic mission to Copenhagen, was received on
+his recall with much coolness.[309] Other generals who had given
+umbrage at the Tuileries were more effectively broken in by a term of
+diplomatic banishment. Lannes at Lisbon and Brune at Constantinople
+learnt a little diplomacy and some complaisance to the head of the
+State, and were taken back to Napoleon's favour. Bernadotte, though ever
+suspected of Jacobinism and feared for the forceful ambition that sprang
+from the blending of Gascon and Moorish blood in his veins, was now also
+treated with the consideration due to one who had married Joseph
+Bonaparte's sister-in-law: he received at Napoleon's hands the house in
+Paris which had formerly belonged to Moreau: the exile's estate of
+Grosbois, near Paris, went to reward the ever faithful Berthier.
+Augereau, half cured of his Jacobinism by the disfavour of the
+Directory, was now drilling a small French force and Irish volunteers at
+Brest. But the Grand Army, which comprised the pick of the French
+forces, was intrusted to the command of men on whom Napoleon could
+absolutely rely, Davoust, Soult, and Ney; and, in that splendid force,
+hatred of England and pride in Napoleon's prowess now overwhelmed all
+political considerations.
+
+These arrangements attest the marvellous foresight and care which
+Napoleon brought to bear on all affairs: even if the discontented
+generals and troops had protested against the adoption of the Empire
+and the prosecution of Moreau, they must have been easily overpowered.
+In some places, as at Metz, the troops and populace fretted against
+the Empire and its pretentious pomp; but the action of the commanders
+soon restored order. And thus it came to pass that even the soldiery
+that still cherished the Republic raised not a musket while the Empire
+was founded, and Moreau was accused of high treason.
+
+The record of the French revolutionary generals is in the main a
+gloomy one. If in 1795 it had been prophesied that all those generals
+who bore the tricolour to victory would vanish or bow their heads
+before a Corsican, the prophet would speedily have closed his
+croakings for ever. Yet the reality was even worse. Marceau and Hoche
+died in the Rhineland: Kléber and Desaix fell on the same day, by
+assassination and in battle: Richepanse, Leclerc, and many other brave
+officers rotted away in San Domingo: Pichegru died a violent death in
+prison: Carnot was retiring into voluntary exile: Masséna and
+Macdonald were vegetating in inglorious ease: others were fast
+descending to the rank of flunkeys; and Moreau was on his trial for
+high treason.
+
+Even the populace, dazzled with glitter and drunk with sensations,
+suffered some qualms at seeing the victor of Hohenlinden placed in the
+dock; and the grief of the scanty survivors of the Army of the Rhine
+portended trouble if the forms of justice were too much strained.
+Trial by jury had been recently dispensed with in cases that concerned
+the life of Napoleon. Consequently the prisoner, along with Georges
+and his confederates, could be safely arraigned before judges in open
+court; and in that respect the trial contrasted with the midnight
+court-martial of Vincennes. Yet in no State trial have judges been
+subjected to more official pressure for the purpose of assuring a
+conviction.[310] The cross examination of numerous witnesses proved
+that Moreau had persistently refused his help to the plot; and the
+utmost that could be urged against him was that he desired Napoleon's
+overthrow, had three interviews with Pichegru, and did not reveal the
+plot to the authorities. That is to say, he was guilty of passively
+conniving at the success of a plot which a "good citizen" ought to
+have denounced.
+
+For these reasons the judges sentenced him to two years'
+imprisonment. This judgment excessively annoyed Napoleon, who desired
+to use his imperial prerogative of pardon on Moreau's life, not on a
+mere term of imprisonment; and with a show of clemency that veiled a
+hidden irritation, he now released him provided that he retired to the
+United States.[311] To that land of free men the victor of Hohenlinden
+retired with a dignity which almost threw a veil over his past
+incapacity and folly; and, for the present at least, men could say that
+the end of his political career was nobler than Pompey's, while
+Napoleon's conduct towards his rival lacked the clemency which graced
+the triumph of Cæsar.
+
+As for the actual conspirators, twenty of them were sentenced to death
+on June 10th, among them being the elder of the two Polignacs, the
+Marquis de Rivière, and Georges Cadoudal. Urgent efforts were made on
+behalf of the nobles by Josephine and "Madame Mère"; and Napoleon
+grudgingly commuted their sentence to imprisonment. But the plebeian,
+Georges Cadoudal, suffered death for the cause that had enlisted all
+the fierce energies of his youth and manhood. With him perished the
+bravest of Bretons and the last man of action of the royalists.
+Thenceforth Napoleon was not troubled by Bourbon plotters; and
+doubtless the skill with which his agents had nursed this silly plot
+and sought to entangle all waverers did far more than the strokes of
+the guillotine to procure his future immunity. Men trembled before a
+union of immeasurable power with unfathomable craft such as recalled
+the days of the Emperor Tiberius.
+
+Indeed, Napoleon might now almost say that his chief foes were the
+members of his own household. The question of hereditary succession
+had already reawakened and intensified all the fierce passions of the
+Emperor's relatives. Josephine saw in it the fatal eclipse of a
+divorce sweeping towards the dazzling field of her new life, and
+Napoleon is known to have thrice almost decided on this step. She no
+longer had any hopes of bearing a child; and she is reported by the
+compiler of the Fouché "Memoirs" to have clutched at that absurd
+device, a supposititious child, which Fouché had taken care to
+ridicule in advance. Whatever be the truth of this rumour, she
+certainly used all her powers over Napoleon and over her daughter
+Hortense, the spouse of Louis Bonaparte, to have their son
+recognized as first in the line of direct succession. But this
+proposal, which shelved both Joseph and Louis, was not only hotly
+resented by the eldest brother, who claimed to be successor designate,
+it also aroused the flames of jealousy in Louis himself. It was
+notorious that he suspected Napoleon of an incestuous passion for
+Hortense, of which his fondness for the little Charles Napoleon was
+maliciously urged as proof; and the proposal, when made with trembling
+eagerness by Josephine, was hurled back by Louis with brutal violence.
+To the clamour of Louis and Joseph the Emperor and Josephine seemed
+reluctantly to yield.
+
+New arrangements were accordingly proposed. Lucien and Jerome having,
+for the present at least, put themselves out of court by their
+unsatisfactory marriages, Napoleon appeared to accept a reconciliation
+with Joseph and Louis, and to place them in the order of succession,
+as the Senate recommended. But he still reserved the right of adopting
+the son of Louis and of thus favouring his chances of priority.
+Indeed, it must be admitted that the Emperor at this difficult crisis
+showed conjugal tact and affection, for which he has received scant
+justice at the hands of Josephine's champions. "How could I divorce
+this good wife," he said to Roederer, "because I am becoming great?"
+But fate seemed to decree the divorce, which, despite the reasonings
+of his brothers, he resolutely thrust aside; for the little boy on
+whose life the Empress built so many fond hopes was to be cut off by
+an early death in the year 1807.
+
+Then there were frequent disputes between Napoleon and Joseph. Both of
+them had the Corsican's instinct in favour of primogeniture; and
+hitherto Napoleon had in many ways deferred to his elder brother. Now,
+however, he showed clearly that he would brook not the slightest
+interference in affairs of State. And truly, if we except Joseph's
+diplomatic services, he showed no commanding gifts such as could raise
+him aloft along with the bewildering rush of Napoleon's fortunes. The
+one was an irrepressible genius, the other was a man of culture and
+talent, whose chief bent was towards literature, amours, and the art
+of _dolce far niente_, except when his pride was touched: then he was
+capable of bursts of passion which seemed to impose even on his
+masterful second brother. Lucien, Louis, and even the youthful Jerome,
+had the same intractable pride which rose defiant even against
+Napoleon. He was determined that his brothers should now take a
+subordinate rank, while they regarded the dynasty as largely due to
+their exertions at or after Brumaire, and claimed a proportionate
+reward. Napoleon, however, saw that a dynasty could not thus be
+founded. As he frankly said to Roederer, a dynasty could only take
+firm root in France among heirs brought up in a palace: "I have never
+looked on my brothers as the natural heirs to power: I only consider
+them as men fit to ward off the evils of a minority."
+
+Joseph deeply resented this conduct. He was a Prince of the Empire,
+and a Grand Elector; but he speedily found out that this meant nothing
+more than occasionally presiding at the Senate, and accordingly
+indulged in little acts of opposition that enraged the autocrat. In
+his desire to get his brother away from Paris, the Emperor had already
+recommended him to take up the profession of arms; for he could not
+include him in the succession, and place famous marshals under him if
+he knew nothing of an army. Joseph perforce accepted the command of a
+regiment, and at thirty-six years of age began to learn drill near
+Boulogne.[312] This piece of burlesque was one day to prove infinitely
+regrettable. After the disaster of Vittoria, Napoleon doubtless wished
+that Joseph had for ever had free play in the tribune of the Senate
+rather than have dabbled in military affairs. But in the spring and
+summer of 1804 the Emperor noted his every word; so that, when he
+ventured to suggest that Josephine should not be crowned at the coming
+coronation, Napoleon's wrath blazed forth. Why should Joseph speak of
+_his_ rights and _his_ interests? Who had won power? Who deserved to
+enjoy power? Power was his (Napoleon's) mistress, and he dared Joseph
+to touch her. The Senate or Council of State might oppose him for ten
+years, without his becoming a tyrant: "To make me a tyrant one thing
+alone is necessary--a movement of my family."[313]
+
+The family, however, did not move. As happened with all the brothers
+except Lucien, Joseph gave way at the critical moment. After
+threatening at the Council of State to resign his Grand Electorate and
+retire to Germany if his wife were compelled to bear Josephine's train
+at the coronation, he was informed by the Emperor that either he must
+conduct himself dutifully as the first subject of the realm, or retire
+into private life, or oppose--and be crushed. The argument was
+unanswerable, and Joseph yielded. To save his own and his wife's
+feelings, the wording of the official programme was altered: she was
+_to support Josephine's mantle_, not _to bear her train_.
+
+In things great and small Napoleon carried his point. Although
+Roederer pleaded long and earnestly that Joseph and Louis should come
+next to the Emperor in the succession, and inserted a clause in the
+report which he was intrusted to draw up, yet by some skilful artifice
+this clause was withdrawn from the constitutional act on which the
+nation was invited to express its opinion: and France assented to a
+_plébiscite_ for the establishment of the Empire in Napoleon's family,
+which passed over Joseph and Louis, as well as Lucien and Jerome, and
+vested the succession in the natural or adopted son of Napoleon, and
+in the heirs male of Joseph or Louis. Consequently these princes had
+no place in the succession, except by virtue of the _senatus
+consultant_ of May 18th, which gave them a legal right, it is true,
+but without the added sanction of the popular vote. More than three
+and a half million votes were cast for the new arrangement, a number
+which exceeded those given for the Consulate and the Consulate for
+Life. As usual, France accepted accomplished facts.
+
+Matters legal and ceremonial were now approaching completion for the
+coronation. Negotiations had been proceeding between the Tuileries and
+the Vatican, Napoleon begging and indeed requiring the presence of the
+Pope on that occasion. Pius VII. was troubled at the thought of
+crowning the murderer of the Duc d'Enghien; but he was scarcely his
+own master, and the dextrous hints of Napoleon that religion would
+benefit if he were present at Notre Dame seem to have overcome his
+first scruples, besides quickening the hope of recovering the north of
+his States. He was to be disappointed in more ways than one. Religion
+was to benefit only from the enhanced prestige given to her rites in
+the coming ceremony, not in the practical way that the Pope desired.
+And yet it was of the first importance for Napoleon to receive the
+holy oil and the papal blessing, for only so could he hope to wean the
+affections of royalists from their uncrowned and exiled king.
+Doubtless this was one of the chief reasons for the restoration of
+religion by the Concordat, as was shrewdly seen at the time by
+Lafayette, who laughingly exclaimed: "Confess, general, that your
+chief wish is for the little phial."[314] The sally drew from the
+First Consul an obscene disclaimer worthy of a drunken ostler.
+Nevertheless, the little phial was now on its way.
+
+In order to divest the meeting of Pope and Emperor of any awkward
+ceremony, Napoleon arranged that it should take place on the road
+between Fontainebleau and Nemours, as a chance incident in the middle
+of a day's hunting. The benevolent old pontiff was reclining in his
+carriage, weary with the long journey through the cold of an early
+winter, when he was startled to see the retinue of his host. The
+contrast in every way was striking. The figure of the Emperor had now
+attained the fullness which betokens abounding health and strength: his
+face was slightly flushed with the hunt and the consciousness that he
+was master of the situation, and his form on horseback gained a dignity
+from which the shortness of his legs somewhat detracted when on foot. As
+he rode up attired in full hunting costume, he might have seemed the
+embodiment of triumphant strength. The Pope, on the other hand, clad in
+white garments and with white silk shoes, gave an impression of peaceful
+benevolence, had not his intellectual features borne signs of the
+protracted anxieties of his pontificate. The Emperor threw himself from
+his horse and advanced to meet his guest, who on his side alighted,
+rather unwillingly, in the mud to give and receive the embrace of
+welcome. Meanwhile Napoleon's carriage had been driven up: footmen were
+holding open both doors, and an officer of the Court politely handed
+Pius VII. to the left door, while the Emperor, entering by the right,
+took the seat of honour, and thus settled once for all the vexed
+question of social precedence.[315]
+
+During the Pope's sojourn at Fontainebleau, Josephine breathed to him
+her anxiety as to her marriage; it having been only a civil contract,
+she feared its dissolution, and saw in the Pope's intervention a
+chance of a firmer union with her consort. The pontiff comforted her
+and required from Napoleon the due solemnization of his marriage; it
+was therefore secretly performed by Napoleon's uncle, Cardinal Fesch,
+two days before the coronation.[316]
+
+It was not enough, however, that the successor of St. Peter should
+grace the coronation with his presence: the Emperor sought to touch
+the imagination of men by figuring as the successor of Charlemagne. We
+here approach one of the most interesting experiments of the modern
+world, which, if successful, would profoundly have altered the face of
+Europe and the character of its States. Even in its failure it attests
+Napoleon's vivid imagination and boundless mental resources. He
+aspired to be more than Emperor of the French: he wished to make his
+Empire a cosmopolitan realm, whose confines might rival those of the
+Holy Roman Empire of one thousand years before, and embrace scores of
+peoples in a grand, well-ordered European polity.
+
+Already his dominions included a million of Germans in the Rhineland,
+Italians of Piedmont, Genoa, and Nice, besides Savoyards, Genevese,
+and Belgians. How potent would be his influence on the weltering chaos
+of German and Italian States, if these much-divided peoples learnt to
+look on him as the successor to the glories of Charlemagne! And this
+honour he was now to claim. However delusive was the parallel between
+the old semi-tribal polity and modern States where the peoples were
+awakening to a sense of their nationality, Napoleon was now in a
+position to clear the way for his great experiment. He had two charms
+wherewith to work, material prosperity and his gift of touching the
+popular imagination. The former of these was already silently working
+in his favour: the latter was first essayed at the coronation.
+
+Already, after a sojourn at Boulogne, he had visited Aix-la-Chapelle,
+the city where Charlemagne's relics are entombed, and where Victor
+Hugo in some of his sublimest verse has pictured Charles V. kneeling
+in prayer to catch the spirit of the mediæval hero. Thither went
+Napoleon, but in no suppliant mood; for when Josephine was offered the
+arm-bones of the great dead, she also proudly replied that she would
+not deprive the city of that precious relic, especially as she had the
+support of an arm as great as that of Charlemagne.[317] The insignia
+and the sword of that monarch were now brought to Paris, and shed on
+the ceremony of coronation that historic gleam which was needed to
+redeem it from tawdry commonplace.
+
+All that money and art could do to invest the affair with pomp and
+circumstance had already been done. The advice of the new Master of
+the Ceremonies, M. de Ségur, and the hints of the other nobles who had
+rallied to the new Empire, had been carefully collated by the untiring
+brain that now watched over France. The sum of 1,123,000 francs had
+been expended on the coronation robes of Emperor and Empress, and far
+more on crowns and tiaras. The result was seen in costumes of
+matchless splendour; the Emperor wore a French coat of red velvet
+embroidered in gold, a short cloak adorned with bees and the collar of
+the Legion of Honour in diamonds; and at the archbishop's palace he
+assumed the long purple robe of velvet profusely ornamented with
+ermine, while his brow was encircled by a wreath of laurel, meed of
+mighty conquerors. In the pommel of his sword flashed the famous Pitt
+diamond, which, after swelling the family fortune of the British
+statesman, fell to the Regent of France, and now graced the coronation
+of her Dictator. The Empress, radiant with joy at her now indissoluble
+union, bore her splendours with an easy grace that charmed all
+beholders and gave her an almost girlish air. She wore a robe of white
+satin, trimmed with silver and gold and besprinkled with golden bees:
+her waist and shoulders glittered with diamonds, while on her brows
+rested a diadem of the finest diamonds and pearls valued at more than
+a million francs.[318] The curious might remember that for a necklace
+of less than twice that value the fair fame of Marie Antoinette had
+been clouded over and the House of Bourbon shaken to its base.
+
+The stately procession began with an odd incident: Napoleon and
+Josephine, misled apparently by the all-pervading splendour of the new
+state carriage, seated themselves on the wrong side, that is, in the
+seats destined for Joseph and Louis: the mistake was at once made good,
+with some merriment; but the superstitious saw in it an omen of
+evil.[319] And now, amidst much enthusiasm and far greater curiosity,
+the procession wound along through the Rue Nicaise and the Rue St.
+Honoré--streets where Bonaparte had won his spurs on the day of
+Vendémiaire--over the Pont-Neuf, and so to the venerable cathedral,
+where the Pope, chilled by long waiting, was ready to grace the
+ceremony. First he anointed Emperor and Empress with the holy oil; then,
+at the suitable place in the Mass he blessed their crowns, rings, and
+mantles, uttering the traditional prayers for the possession of the
+virtues and powers which each might seem to typify. But when he was
+about to crown the Emperor, he was gently waved aside, and Napoleon with
+his own hands crowned himself. A thrill ran through the august assembly,
+either of pity for the feelings of the aged pontiff or of admiration at
+the "noble and legitimate pride" of the great captain who claimed as
+wholly his own the crown which his own right arm had won. Then the
+_cortège_ slowly returned to the middle of the nave, where a lofty
+throne had been reared.
+
+Another omen now startled those who laid store by trifles. It was
+noticed that the sovereigns in ascending the steps nearly fell
+backwards under the weight of their robes and trains, though in the
+case of Josephine the anxious moment may have been due to the
+carelessness, whether accidental or studied, of her "mantle-bearers."
+But to those who looked beneath the surface of things was not this an
+all-absorbing portent, that all this religious pomp should be removed
+by scarcely eleven years from the time when this same nave echoed to
+the shouts and gleamed with the torches of the worshippers of the
+newly enthroned Goddess of Reason?
+
+Revolutionary feelings were not wholly dead, but they now vented
+themselves merely in gibes. On the night before the coronation the walls
+of Paris were adorned with posters announcing: _The last Representation
+of the French Revolution--for the Benefit of a poor Corsican Family._
+And after the event there were inquiries why the new throne had no
+_glands d'or;_ the answer suggested because it was _sanglant_.[320]
+Beyond these quips and jests the Jacobins and royalists did not go. When
+the phrase _your subjects_ was publicly assigned to the Corps Législatif
+by its courtier-like president, Fontanes, there was a flutter of wrath
+among those who had hoped that the new Empire was to be republican. But
+it quickly passed away; and no Frenchman, except perhaps Carnot, made so
+manly a protest as the man of genius at Vienna, who had composed the
+"Sinfonia Eroïca," and with grand republican simplicity inscribed it,
+"Beethoven à Bonaparte." When the master heard that his former hero had
+taken the imperial crown, he tore off the dedication with a volley of
+curses on the renegade and tyrant; and in later years he dedicated the
+immortal work to the _memory_ of a great man.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI
+
+THE BOULOGNE FLOTILLA
+
+
+The establishment of the Empire, as has been seen, provoked few signs
+of opposition from the French armies, once renowned for their
+Jacobinism; and by one or two instances of well-timed clemency, the
+Emperor gained over even staunch republicans. Notably was this the
+case with a brave and stalwart colonel, who, enraged at the first
+volley of cheers for the Empire, boldly ordered "Silence in the
+ranks." At once Napoleon made him general and appointed him one of his
+aides-de-camp; and this brave officer, Mouton by name, was later to
+gain glory and the title of Comte de Lobau in the Wagram campaign.
+These were the results of a timely act of generosity, such as touches
+the hearts of any soldiery and leads them to shed their blood like
+water. And so when Napoleon, after the coronation, distributed to the
+garrison of Paris their standards, topped now by the imperial eagles,
+the great Champ de Mars was a scene of wild enthusiasm. The thunderous
+shouts that acclaimed the prowess of the new Frankish leader were as
+warlike as those which ever greeted the hoisting of a Carolingian King
+on the shields of his lieges. Distant nations heard the threatening
+din and hastened to muster their forces for the fray.
+
+As yet only England was at war with the Emperor. Against her Napoleon
+now prepared to embattle the might of his vast Empire. The
+preparations on the northern coast were now wellnigh complete, and
+there was only one question to be solved--how to "leap the ditch." It
+seems strange to us now that no attempt was made to utilize the great
+motive force of the nineteenth century--steam power. And the French
+memoir-writers, Marmont, Bourrienne, Pasquier, and Bausset, have
+expressed their surprise that so able a chief as Napoleon should have
+neglected this potent ally.
+
+Their criticisms seem to be prompted by later reflections rather
+than based on an accurate statement of facts. In truth, the
+nineteenth-century Hercules was still in his cradle. Henry Bell had in
+1800 experimented with a steamer on the Clyde; but it aroused the same
+trembling curiosity as Trevithick's first locomotive, or as Fulton's
+first paddle-boat built on the Seine in 1803. In fact, this boat of
+the great American inventor was so weak that, when at anchor, it broke
+in half during a gale, thus ridding itself of the weight of its
+cumbrous engine. With his usual energy, Fulton built a larger and
+stronger craft, which not only carried the machinery, but, in August,
+1803, astonished the members of the French Institute by moving, though
+with much circumspection.
+
+Fulton, however, was disappointed, and if we may judge from the scanty
+records of his life, he never offered this invention to Napoleon.[321]
+He felt the need of better machinery, and as this could only be
+procured in England, he gave the order to a Birmingham firm, which
+engined his first successful boat, the "Clermont," launched on the
+Hudson in 1807. But for the war, perhaps, Fulton would have continued
+to live in Paris and made his third attempt there. He certainly never
+offered his imperfect steamship to the First Consul. Probably the fact
+that his first boat foundered when at anchor in the Seine would have
+procured him a rough reception, if he had offered to equip the whole
+of the Boulogne flotilla with an invention which had sunk its first
+receptacle and propelled the second boat at a snail's pace.
+
+Besides, he had already met with one repulse from Napoleon. He had
+offered, first to the Directory and later to the First Consul, a boat
+which he claimed would "deliver France and the world from British
+oppression."
+
+
+This was a sailing vessel, which could sink under water and then
+discharge under a hostile ship a "carcass" of gunpowder or
+_torpedo_--another invention of his fertile brain. The Directory at
+once repulsed him. Bonaparte instructed Monge, Laplace, and Volney to
+report on this submarine or "plunging" boat, which had a partial
+success. It succeeded in blowing up a small vessel in the harbour at
+Brest in July, 1801; but the Commission seems to have reported
+unfavourably on its utility for offensive purposes. In truth, as
+Fulton had not then applied motive power to this invention, the name
+"plunging boat" conveyed an exaggerated notion of its functions, which
+were more suited to a life of ascetic contemplation than of
+destructive activity.
+
+It appears that the memoir-writers named above have confused the two
+distinct inventions of Fulton just referred to. In the latter half of
+1803 he repaired to England, and later on to the United States, and
+after the year 1803 he seems to have had neither the will nor the
+opportunity to serve Napoleon. In England he offered his torpedo
+patent to the English Admiralty, expressing his hatred of the French
+Emperor as a "wild beast who ought to be hunted down." Little was done
+with the torpedo in England, except to blow up a vessel off Walmer as
+a proof of what it could do. It is curious also that when Bell offered
+his paddle-boat to the Admiralty it was refused, though Nelson is said
+to have spoken in its favour. The official mind is everywhere hostile
+to new inventions; and Marmont suggestively remarks that Bonaparte's
+training as an artillerist, and his experience of the inconvenience
+and expense resulting from the adoption of changes in that arm, had no
+slight influence in setting him against all innovations.
+
+But, to resume our description of the Boulogne flotilla, it may be of
+interest to give some hitherto unpublished details about the
+flat-bottomed boats, and then to pass in brief review Napoleon's plans
+for assuring a temporary command of the Channel.
+
+It is clear that he at first relied almost solely on the flotilla.
+After one of his visits to Boulogne, he wrote on November 23rd, 1803,
+to Admiral Gantheaume that he would soon have on the northern coast
+1,300 flat-bottomed boats able to carry 100,000 men, while the Dutch
+flotilla would transport 60,000. "Do you think it will take us to the
+English coast? Eight hours of darkness which favour us would decide
+the fate of the universe." There is no mention of any convoying fleet:
+the First Consul evidently believed that the flotilla could beat off
+any attack at sea. This letter offers a signal proof of his inability,
+at least at that time, to understand the risks of naval warfare. But
+though his precise and logical mind seems then to have been incapable
+of fully realizing the conditions of war on the fickle, troublous, and
+tide-swept Channel, his admirals urgently warned him against trusting
+to shallow, flat-bottomed boats to beat the enemy out at sea; for
+though these _praams_ in their coasting trips repelled the attacks of
+British cruisers, which dared not come into shallow waters, it did not
+follow that they would have the same success in mid-Channel, far away
+from coast defences and amidst choppy waves that must render the guns
+of keelless boats wellnigh useless.[320]
+
+The present writer, after going through the reports of our admiral
+stationed in the Downs, is convinced that our seamen felt a supreme
+contempt for the flat-bottomed boats when at sea. After the capture of
+one of them, by an English gun-brig, Admiral Montagu reported,
+November 23rd, 1803:
+
+    "It is impossible to suppose for an instant that anything
+    effective can be produced by such miserable tools, equally
+    ill-calculated for the grand essentials in a maritime formation,
+    battle and speed: that floored as this wretched vessel is, she
+    cannot hug the wind, but must drift bodily to leeward, which
+    indeed was the cause of her capture; for, having got a little to
+    leeward of Boulogne Bay, it was impossible to get back and she was
+    necessitated to steer large for Calais. On the score of battle,
+    she has one long 18-pounder, without breeching or tackle,
+    traversing on a slide, which can only be fired stem on. The
+    8-pounder is mounted aft, but is a fixture: so that literally, if
+    one of our small boats was to lay alongside there would be nothing
+    but musketry to resist, and those [_sic_] placed in the hands of
+    poor wretches weakened by the effect of seasickness, exemplified
+    when this gun-boat was captured--the soldiers having retreated to
+    the hold, incapable of any energy or manly exertion.... In short,
+    Sir, these vessels in my mind are completely contemptible and
+    ridiculous, and I therefore conclude that the numbers collected at
+    Boulogne are to keep our attention on the _qui vive_, and to gloss
+    over the real attack meditated from other points."
+
+The vessel which provoked the contempt of our admiral was not one of
+the smallest class: she was 58-1/3 ft. long, 14-1/2 ft. wide, drew 3
+ft. forward and 4 ft. aft: her sides rose 3 ft. above the water, and
+her capacity was 35 tons. The secret intelligence of the Admiralty for
+the years 1804 and 1805 also shows that Dutch sailors were equally
+convinced of the unseaworthiness of these craft: Admiral Verhuell
+plainly told the French Emperor that, however flatterers might try to
+persuade him of the feasibility of the expedition, "nothing but
+disgrace could be expected." The same volume (No. 426) contains a
+report of the capture of two of the larger class of French _chaloupes_
+off Cape La Hogue. Among the prisoners was a young French royalist
+named La Bourdonnais: when forced by the conscription to enter
+Napoleon's service, he chose to serve with the _chaloupes_ "because
+of his conviction that all these flotillas were nothing but bugbears
+and would never attempt the invasion so much talked of and in which so
+few persons really believe." The same was the opinion of the veteran
+General Dumouriez, who, now an exile in England, drew up for our
+Government a long report on the proposed invasion and the means of
+thwarting it. The reports of our spies also prove that all experienced
+seamen on the Continent declared Napoleon's project to be either a
+ruse or a foolhardy venture.
+
+The compiler of the Ney "Memoirs," who was certainly well acquainted
+with the opinions of that Marshal, then commanding the troops at
+Boulogne, also believed that the flotilla was only able to serve as a
+gigantic ferry.[322] The French admirals were still better aware of
+the terrible risks to their crowded craft in a fight out at sea. They
+also pointed out that the difference in the size, draught, and speed
+of the boats must cause the dispersion of the flotilla, when its parts
+might fall a prey to the more seaworthy vessels of the enemy. Indeed,
+the only chance of crossing without much loss seemed to be offered by
+a protracted calm, when the British cruisers would be helpless against
+a combined attack of a cloud of row-boats. The risks would be greater
+during a fog, when the crowd of boats must be liable to collision,
+stranding on shoals, and losing their way. Even the departure of this
+quaint armada presented grave difficulties: it was found that the
+whole force could not clear the harbour in a single tide; and a part
+of the flotilla must therefore remain exposed to the British fire
+before the whole mass could get under way. For all these reasons
+Bruix, the commander of the flotilla, and Decrès, Minister of Marine,
+dissuaded Napoleon from attempting the descent without the support of
+a powerful covering fleet.
+
+Napoleon's correspondence shows that, by the close of the year 1803,
+he had abandoned that first fatuous scheme which gained him from the
+wits of Paris the soubriquet of "Don Quixote de la Manche."[323] On
+the 7th of December he wrote to Gantheaume, maritime prefect at
+Toulon, urging him to press on the completion of his nine ships of the
+line and five frigates, and sketching plans of a naval combination that
+promised to insure the temporary command of the Channel. Of these only
+two need be cited here:
+
+1. "The Toulon squadron will set out on 20th _nivôse_ (January 10th,
+1804), will arrive before Cadiz (or Lisbon), will find there the
+Rochefort squadron, will sail on without making land, between Brest
+and the Sorlingues, will touch at Cape La Hogue, and will pass in
+forty-eight hours before Boulogne: thence it will continue to the
+mouth of the Scheldt (there procuring masts, cordage, and all needful
+things)--or perhaps to Cherbourg.
+
+2. "The Rochefort squadron will set out on 20th _nivôse_, will reach
+Toulon the 20th _pluviôse:_ the united squadrons will set sail in
+_ventôse_, and arrive in _germinal_ before Boulogne--that is rather
+late. In any case the Egyptian Expedition will cover the departure of
+the Toulon squadron: everything will be managed _so that Nelson will
+first sail for Alexandria_."
+
+These schemes reveal the strong and also the weak qualities of
+Napoleon. He perceived the strength of the central position which
+France enjoyed on her four coasts; and he now contrived all his
+dispositions, both naval and political, so as to tempt Nelson away
+eastwards from Toulon during the concentration of the French fleet in
+the Channel; and for this purpose he informed the military officers at
+Toulon that their destination was Taranto and the Morea. It was to
+these points that he wished to decoy Nelson; for this end had he sent
+his troops to Taranto, and kept up French intrigues in Corfu, the
+Morea, and Egypt; it was for this purpose that he charged that wily
+spy Méhée to inform Drake that the Toulon fleet was to take 40,000
+French troops to the Morea, and that the Brest fleet, with 200 highly
+trained Irish officers, was intended solely for Ireland. But, while
+displaying consummate guile, he failed to allow for the uncertainties
+of operations conducted by sea. Ignoring the patent fact that the
+Toulon fleet was blockaded by Nelson, and that of Rochefort by
+Collingwood, he fixed the dates of their departure and junction as
+though he were ordering the movements of a _corps d'armée_ in
+Provence; and this craving for certainty was to mar his naval plans
+and dog his footsteps with the shadow of disaster.[324]
+
+The plan of using the Toulon fleet to cover an invasion of England was
+not entirely new. As far back as the days of De Tourville, a somewhat
+similar plan had been devised: the French Channel and Atlantic fleets
+under that admiral were closely to engage Russell off the Isle of
+Wight, while the Toulon squadron, sailing northwards, was to collect
+the French transports on the coasts of Normandy for the invasion of
+England. Had Napoleon carefully studied French naval history, he would
+have seen that the disaster of La Hogue was largely caused by the
+severe weather which prevented the rendezvous, and brought about a
+hasty and ill-advised alteration in the original scheme. But of all
+subjects on which he spoke as an authority, there was perhaps not one
+that he had so inadequately studied as naval strategy: yet there was
+none wherein the lessons of experience needed so carefully to be laid
+to heart.
+
+Fortune seemed to frown on Napoleon's naval schemes: yet she was
+perhaps not unkind in thwarting them in their first stages. Events
+occurred which early suggested a deviation from the combinations
+noticed above. In the last days of 1803, hearing that the English
+were about to attack Martinique, he at once wrote to Gantheaume,
+urging him to despatch the Toulon squadron under Admiral
+Latouche-Tréville for the rescue of this important island. The
+commander of the troops, Cervoni, was to be told that the expedition
+aimed at the Morea, so that spies might report this news to Nelson,
+and it is clear from our admiral's despatches that the ruse half
+succeeded. Distracted, however, by the thought that the French might,
+after all, aim at Ireland, Nelson clung to the vicinity of Toulon, and
+his untiring zeal kept in harbour the most daring admiral in the French
+navy, who, despite his advanced age, excited an enthusiasm that none
+other could arouse.
+
+To him, in spite of his present ill-fortune, Napoleon intrusted the
+execution of a scheme bearing date July 2nd, 1804. Latouche was
+ordered speedily to put to sea with his ten ships of the line and four
+frigates, to rally a French warship then at Cadiz, release the five
+ships of the line and four frigates blockaded at Rochefort by
+Collingwood, and then sweep the Channel and convoy the flotilla across
+the straits. This has been pronounced by Jurien de la Gravière the
+best of all Napoleon's plans: it exposed ships that had long been in
+harbour only to a short ocean voyage, and it was free from the
+complexity of the later and more grandiose schemes.
+
+But fate interposed and carried off the intrepid commander by that
+worst of all deaths for a brave seaman, death by disease in harbour,
+where he was shut up by his country's foes (August 20th).
+
+Villeneuve was thereupon appointed to succeed him, while Missiessy
+held command at Rochefort. The choice of Villeneuve has always been
+considered strange; and the riddle is not solved by the declaration of
+Napoleon that he considered that Villeneuve at the Nile showed his
+_good fortune_ in escaping with the only French ships which survived
+that disaster. A strange reason this: to appoint an admiral commander
+of an expedition that was to change the face of the world because his
+good fortune consisted in escaping from Nelson![325]
+
+Napoleon now began to widen his plans. According to the scheme of
+September 29th, three expeditions were now to set out; the first was
+to assure the safety of the French West Indies; the second was to
+recover the Dutch colonies in those seas and reinforce the French troops
+still holding out in part of St. Domingo; while the third had as its
+objective West Africa and St. Helena. The Emperor evidently hoped to
+daze us by simultaneous attacks in Africa, America, and also in Asiatic
+waters. After these fleets had set sail in October and November, 1804,
+Ireland was to be attacked by the Brest fleet now commanded by
+Gantheaume. Slipping away from the grip of Cornwallis, he was to pass
+out of sight of land and disembark his troops in Lough Swilly. These
+troops, 18,000 strong, were under that redoubtable fighter, Augereau;
+and had they been landed, the history of the world might have been
+different. Leaving them to revolutionize Ireland, Gantheaume was to make
+for the English Channel, touch at Cherbourg for further orders, and
+proceed to Boulogne to convoy the flotilla across: or, if the weather
+prevented this, as was probable in January, he was to pass on to the
+Texel, rally the seven Dutch battleships and the transports with their
+25,000 troops, beat back down the English Channel and return to Ireland.
+Napoleon counted on the complete success of one or other of Gantheaume's
+moves: "Whether I have 30,000 or 40,000 men in Ireland, or whether I am
+both in England and Ireland, the war is ours."[326]
+
+The objections to the September combination are fairly obvious. It was
+exceedingly improbable that the three fleets could escape at the time
+and in the order which Napoleon desired, or that crews enervated by
+long captivity in port would succeed in difficult operations when
+thrust out into the wintry gales of the Atlantic and the Channel.
+Besides, success could only be won after a serious dispersion of
+French naval resources; and the West Indian expeditions must be
+regarded as prompted quite as much by a colonial policy as by a
+determination to overrun England or Ireland.[327]
+
+
+At any rate, if the Emperor's aim was merely to distract us by widely
+diverging attacks, that could surely have been accomplished without
+sending twenty-six sail of the line into American and African waters,
+and leaving to Gantheaume so disproportionate an amount of work and
+danger. This September combination may therefore be judged distinctly
+inferior to that of July, which, with no scattering of the French
+forces, promised to decoy Nelson away to the Morea and Egypt, while
+the Toulon and Rochefort squadrons proceeded to Boulogne.
+
+The September schemes hopelessly miscarried. Gantheaume did not elude
+Cornwallis, and remained shut up in Brest. Missiessy escaped from
+Rochefort, sailed to the West Indies, where he did some damage and
+then sailed home again. "He had taken a pawn and returned to his own
+square."[328] Villeneuve slipped out from Toulon (January 19th, 1805),
+while Nelson was sheltering from westerly gales under the lee of
+Sardinia; but the storm which promised to renew his reputation for
+good luck speedily revealed the weakness of his ships and crews.
+
+"My fleet looked well at Toulon," he wrote to Decrès, Minister of
+Marine, "but when the storm came on, things changed at once. The
+sailors were not used to storms: they were lost among the mass of
+soldiers: these from sea-sickness lay in heaps about the decks: it was
+impossible to work the ships: hence yard-arms were broken and sails
+were carried away: our losses resulted as much from clumsiness and
+inexperience as from defects in the materials delivered by the
+arsenals."[329]
+
+Inexperience and sea-sickness were factors that found no place in
+Napoleon's calculations; but they compelled Villeneuve to return to
+Toulon to refit; and there Nelson closed on him once more.
+
+Meanwhile events were transpiring which seemed to add to Napoleon's
+naval strength and to the difficulties of his foes. On January 4th,
+1805, he concluded with Spain a treaty which added her naval resources
+to those of France, Holland, and Northern Italy. The causes that led
+to an open rupture between England and Spain were these. Spain had
+been called upon by Napoleon secretly to pay him the stipulated sum of
+72,000,000 francs a year (see p. 437), and she reluctantly consented.
+This was, of course, a covert act of hostility against England; and
+the Spanish Government was warned at the close of 1803 that, if this
+subsidy continued to be paid to France, it would constitute "at any
+future period, when circumstances may render it necessary, a just
+cause of war" between England and Spain. Far from complying with this
+reasonable remonstrance, the Spanish Court yielded to Napoleon's
+imperious order to repair five French warships that had taken refuge
+in Ferrol from our cruisers, and in July, 1804, allowed French seamen
+to travel thither overland to complete the crews of these vessels.
+Thus for some months our warships had to observe Ferrol, as if it were
+a hostile port.
+
+Clearly, this state of things could not continue; and when the
+protests of our ambassador at Madrid were persistently evaded or
+ignored, he was ordered, in the month of September, to leave that
+capital unless he received satisfactory assurances. He did not leave
+until November 10th, and before that time a sinister event had taken
+place. The British Ministry determined that Spanish treasure-ships from
+South America should not be allowed to land at Cadiz the sinews of war
+for France, and sent orders to our squadrons to stop those ships. Four
+frigates were told off for that purpose. On the 5th of October they
+sighted the four rather smaller Spanish frigates that bore the ingots of
+Peru, and summoned them to surrender, thereafter to be held in pledge.
+The Spaniards, nobly resolving to yield only to overwhelming force,
+refused; and in the ensuing fight one of their ships blew up, whereupon
+the others hauled down their flags and were taken to England. Resenting
+this action, Spain declared war on December 12th, 1804.
+
+Stripped of all the rodomontade with which French historians have
+enveloped this incident, the essential facts are as follows. Napoleon
+compelled Spain by the threat of invasion to pay him a large subsidy:
+England declared this payment, and accompanying acts, to be acts of
+war; Spain shuffled uneasily between the two belligerents but
+continued to supply funds to Napoleon and to shelter and repair his
+warships; thereupon England resolved to cut off her American
+subsidies, but sent a force too small to preclude the possibility of a
+sea-fight; the fight took place, with a lamentable result, which
+changed the covert hostility of Spain into active hostility.
+
+Public opinion and popular narratives are, however, fashioned by
+sentiment rather than founded on evidence; accordingly, Britain's
+prestige suffered from this event. The facts, as currently reported,
+seemed to convict her of an act of piracy; and few persons on the
+Continent or among the Whig coteries of Westminster troubled to find
+out whether Spain had not been guilty of acts of hostility and whether
+the French Emperor was not the author of the new war. Undoubtedly it
+was his threatening pressure on Spain that had compelled her to her
+recent action: but that pressure had been for the most part veiled by
+diplomacy, while Britain's retort was patent and notorious.
+Consequently, every version of this incident that was based merely on
+newspaper reports condemned her conduct as brutally piratical; and
+only those who have delved into archives have discovered the real
+facts of the case.[330] Napoleon's letter to the King of Spain quoted
+on p. 437 shows that even before the war he was seeking to drag him
+into hostilities with England, and he continued to exert a remorseless
+pressure on the Court of Madrid; it left two alternatives open to
+England, either to see Napoleon close his grip on Spain and wield her
+naval resources when she was fully prepared for war, or to precipitate
+the rupture. It was the alternative, _mutatis mutandis_, presented to
+George III. and the elder Pitt in 1761, when the King was for delay
+and his Minister was for war at once. That instance had proved the
+father's foresight; and now at the close of 1804 the younger Pitt
+might flatter himself that open war was better than a treacherous
+peace.
+
+In lieu of a subsidy Spain now promised to provide from twenty-five to
+twenty-nine sail of the line, and to have them ready by the close of
+March. On his side, Napoleon agreed to guarantee the integrity of the
+Spanish dominions, and to regain Trinidad for her. The sequel will
+show how his word was kept.
+
+The conclusion of this alliance placed the hostile navies almost on an
+equality, at least on paper. But, as the equipment of the Spanish
+fleet was very slow, Napoleon for the present adhered to his plan of
+September, 1804, with the result already detailed. Not until March
+2nd, 1805, do we find the influence of the Spanish alliance observable
+in his naval schemes. On that date he issued orders to Villeneuve and
+Gantheaume, which assigned to the latter most of the initiative, as also
+the chief command after their assumed junction. Gantheaume, with the
+Brest fleet, after eluding the blockaders, was to proceed first to
+Ferrol, capture the British ships off that port and, reinforced by the
+French and Spanish ships there at anchor, proceed across the Atlantic to
+the appointed rendezvous at Martinique. The Toulon squadron under
+Villeneuve was at the same time to make for Cadiz, and, after collecting
+the Spanish ships, set sail for the West Indies. Then the armada was to
+return with all speed to Boulogne, where Napoleon expected it to arrive
+between June 10th and July 10th.[331]
+
+Diverse judgments have been passed on this, the last and grandest of
+Napoleon's naval combinations. On the one hand, it is urged that, as
+the French fleets had seen no active service, a long voyage was
+necessary to impart experience and efficiency before matters were
+brought to the touch in the Straits of Dover; and as Britain and
+France both regarded their West Indian islands as their most valued
+possessions, a voyage thither would be certain to draw British sails
+in eager pursuit. Finally, those islands dotted over a thousand miles
+of sea presented a labyrinth wherein it would be easy for the French
+to elude Nelson's cruisers.
+
+On the other hand, it may be urged that the success of the plan
+depended on too many _ifs_. Assuming that the Toulon and Brest
+squadrons escaped the blockaders, their subsequent movements would
+most probably be reported by some swift frigate off Gibraltar or
+Ferrol. The chance of our divining the French plans was surely as
+great as that Gantheaume and Villeneuve would unite in the West
+Indies, ravage the British possessions, and return in undiminished
+force. The English fleets, after weary months of blockade, were adepts
+at scouting; their wings covered with ease a vast space, their
+frigates rapidly signalled news to the flagship, and their
+concentration was swift and decisive. Prompt to note every varying
+puff of wind, they bade fair to overhaul their enemies when the chase
+began in earnest, and when once the battle was joined, numbers counted
+for little: the English crews, inured to fights on the ocean, might be
+trusted to overwhelm the foe by their superior experience and
+discipline, hampered as the French now were by the lumbering and
+defective warships of Spain.
+
+Napoleon, indeed, amply discounted the chances of failure of his
+ultimate design, the command of the Channel. The ostensible aims of
+the expedition were colonial. The French fleets were to take on board
+11,908 soldiers, of whom three-fourths were destined for the West
+Indies; and, in case Gantheaume did not join Villeneuve at Martinique,
+the latter was ordered, after waiting forty days, to set sail for the
+Canaries, there to intercept the English convoys bound for Brazil and
+the East Indies.
+
+In the spring and summer of 1805 Napoleon's correspondence supplies
+copious proof of the ideas and plans that passed through his brain.
+After firmly founding the new Empire, he journeyed into Piedmont,
+thence to Milan for his coronation as King of Italy, and finally to
+Genoa. In this absence of three months from Paris (April-July) many
+lengthy letters to Decrès attest the alternations of his hopes and
+fears. He now keeps the possibility of failure always before him: his
+letters no longer breathe the crude confidence of 1803: and while
+facing the chances of failure in the West Indies, his thoughts swing
+back to the Orient:
+
+     "According to all the news that I receive, five or six thousand men
+     in the [East] Indies would ruin the English Company. Supposing that
+     our [West] Indian expedition is not fully successful, and I cannot
+     reach the grand end which will demolish all the rest, I think we
+     must arrange the [East] Indian expedition for September. We have
+     now greater resources for it than some time ago."[332]
+
+How tenacious is his will! He here recurs to the plan laid down before
+Decaen sailed to the East Indies in March, 1803. Even the prospects of
+a continental coalition fail to dispel that gorgeous dream. But amid
+much that is visionary we may discern this element of practicality: in
+case the blow against England misses the mark, Napoleon has provided
+himself with a splendid alternative that will banish all thought of
+failure.
+
+It is needless to recount here the well-known details of Villeneuve's
+voyage and Nelson's pursuit. The Toulon and Cadiz fleets got clear
+away to the West Indies, and after a last glance towards the Orient,
+Nelson set out in pursuit. On the 4th of June the hostile fleets were
+separated by only a hundred miles of sea; and Villeneuve, when off
+Antigua, hearing that Nelson was so close, decided forthwith to return
+to Europe. After disembarking most of his troops and capturing a fleet
+of fourteen British merchantmen, he sailed for Ferrol, in pursuance of
+orders just received from Napoleon, which bade him rally fifteen
+allied ships at that port, and push on to Brest, where he must release
+Gantheaume.
+
+In this gigantic war game, where the Atlantic was the chess-board, and
+the prize a world-empire, the chances were at this time curiously
+even. Fortune had favoured Villeneuve but checked Gantheaume.
+Villeneuve successfully dodged Nelson in the West Indies, but
+ultimately the pursuer divined the enemy's scheme of returning to
+Europe, and sent a swift brig to warn the Admiralty, which was thereby
+informed of the exact position of affairs on July 8th, that is, twelve
+days before Napoleon himself knew of the state of affairs. On July
+20th, the French Emperor heard, _through English newspapers_, that his
+fleet was on its return voyage: and his heart beat high with hope that
+Villeneuve would now gather up his squadrons in the Bay of Biscay and
+appear before Boulogne in overwhelming force; for he argued that, even
+if Villeneuve should keep right away from Brest, and leave blockaders
+and blockaded face to face, he would still be at least sixteen ships
+stronger than any force that could be brought against him.
+
+But Napoleon was now committing the blunder which he so often censured
+in his inferiors. He was "making pictures" to himself, pictures in
+which the gleams of fortune were reserved for the tricolour flag, and
+gloom and disaster shrouded the Union Jack; he conceived that Nelson
+had made for Jamaica, and that the British squadrons were engaged in
+chasing phantom French fleets around Ireland or to the East Indies.
+"We have not to do," he said, "with a far-seeing, but with a very
+proud, Government."
+
+In reality, Nelson was nearing the coast of Portugal, Cornwallis had
+been so speedily reinforced as to marshal twenty-eight ships of the
+line off Brest, while Calder was waiting for Villeneuve off Cape
+Finisterre with a fleet of fifteen battleships. Thus, when Villeneuve
+neared the north-west of Spain, his twenty ships of the line were
+confronted by a force which he could neither overwhelm nor shake off.
+The combat of July 22nd, fought amidst a dense haze, was unfavourable
+to the allies, two Spanish ships of the line striking their colours to
+Calder before the gathering fog and gloom of night separated the
+combatants: on the next two days Villeneuve strove to come to close
+quarters, but Calder sheered off; thereupon the French, unable then to
+make Ferrol, put into Vigo, while Calder, ignorant of their position,
+joined Cornwallis off Brest. This retreat of the British admiral
+subjected him to a court-martial, and consternation reigned in London
+when Villeneuve was known to be on the Spanish coast unguarded; but
+the fear was needless; though the French admiral succeeded in rallying
+the Ferrol squadron, yet, as he was ordered to avoid Ferrol, he put
+into Corunna, and on August 15th he decided to sail for Cadiz.
+
+To realize the immense importance of this decision we must picture to
+ourselves the state of affairs just before this time.
+
+Nelson, delayed by contrary winds and dogged by temporary ill-luck,
+had made for Gibraltar, whence, finding that no French ships had
+passed the straits, he doubled back in hot haste northwards, and there
+is clear proof that his speedy return to the coast of Spain spread
+dismay in official circles at Paris. "This unexpected union of forces
+undoubtedly renders every scheme of invasion impracticable for the
+present," wrote Talleyrand to Napoleon on August 2nd, 1805.[333]
+Missing Villeneuve off Ferrol, Nelson joined Cornwallis off Ushant on
+the very day when the French admiral decided to make for Cadiz.
+Passing on to Portsmouth, the hero now enjoyed a few days of
+well-earned repose, until the nation called on him for his final
+effort.
+
+Meanwhile Napoleon had arrived on August 3rd at Boulogne, where he
+reviewed a line of soldiery nine miles long. The sight might well
+arouse his hopes of assured victory. He had ground for hoping that
+Villeneuve would soon be in the Channel. Not until August 8th did he
+receive news of the fight with Calder, and he took pains to parade it
+as an English defeat. He therefore trusted that, in the spirit of his
+orders to Villeneuve dated July the 26th, that admiral would sail to
+Cadiz, gather up other French and Spanish ships, and return to Ferrol
+and Brest with a mighty force of some sixty sail of the line:
+
+     "I count on your zeal for my service, on your love for the
+     fatherland, on your hatred of this Power which for forty
+     generations has oppressed us, and which a little daring and
+     perseverance on your part will for ever reduce to the rank of the
+     small Powers: 150,000 soldiers ... and the crews complete are
+     embarked on 2,000 craft of the flotilla, which, despite the English
+     cruisers, forms a long line of broadsides from Etaples to Cape
+     Grisnez. Your voyage, and it alone, makes us without any doubt
+     masters of England."
+
+Austria and Russia were already marshalling their forces for the war
+of the Third Coalition. Yet, though menaced by those Powers, to whom
+he had recently offered the most flagrant provocations, this
+astonishing man was intent only on the ruin of England, and secretly
+derided their preparations. "You need not" (so he wrote to Eugène,
+Viceroy of Italy) "contradict the newspaper rumours of war, but make
+fun of them.... Austria's actions are probably the result of
+fear."--Thus, even when the eastern horizon lowered threateningly with
+clouds, he continued to pace the cliffs of Boulogne, or gallop
+restlessly along the strand, straining his gaze westward to catch the
+first glimpse of his armada. That horizon was never to be flecked with
+Villeneuve's sails: they were at this time furled in the harbour of
+Cadiz.
+
+Unmeasured abuse has been showered upon Villeneuve for his retreat to
+that harbour. But it must be remembered that in both of Napoleon's
+last orders to him, those of July 16th and 26th, he was required to
+sail to Cadiz under certain conditions. In the first order prescribing
+alternative ways of gaining the mastery of the Channel, that step was
+recommended solely as a last alternative in case of misfortune: he was
+directed not to enter the long and difficult inlet of Ferrol, but,
+after collecting the squadron there, to cast anchor at Cadiz. In the
+order of July 26th he was charged positively to repair to Cadiz: "My
+intention is that you rally at Cadiz the Spanish ships there,
+disembark your sick, and, without stopping there more than four days
+at most, again set sail, return to Ferrol, etc." Villeneuve seems not
+to have received these last orders, but he alludes to those of July
+16th.[334]
+
+These, then, were probably the last instructions he received from
+Napoleon before setting sail from the roads of Corunna on August 13th.
+The censures passed on his retreat to Cadiz are therefore based on the
+supposition that he received instructions which he did not
+receive.[335] He expressly based his move to Cadiz on Napoleon's
+orders of July 16th. The mishaps which the Emperor then contemplated
+as necessitating such a step had, in Villeneuve's eyes, actually
+happened. The admiral considered the fight of July 22nd _la malheureuse
+affaire;_ his ships were encumbered with sick; they worked badly; on
+August 15th a north-east gale carried away the top-mast of a Spanish
+ship; and having heard from a Danish merchantman the news--false news,
+as it afterwards appeared--that Cornwallis with twenty-five ships was to
+the north, he turned and scudded before the wind. He could not divine
+the disastrous influence of his conduct on the plan of invasion. He did
+not know that his master was even then beginning to hesitate between a
+dash on London or a campaign on the Danube, and that the events of the
+next few days were destined to tilt the fortunes of the world. Doubtless
+he ought to have disregarded the Emperor's words about Cadiz and to have
+struggled on to Brest, as his earlier and wider orders enjoined. But the
+Emperor's instructions pointed to Cadiz as the rendezvous in case of
+misfortune or great difficulty. As a matter of fact, Napoleon on July
+26th ordered the Rochefort squadron to _meet Villeneuve at Cadiz;_ and
+it is clear that by that date Napoleon had decided on that rendezvous,
+apparently because it could be more easily entered and cleared than
+Ferrol, and was safer from attack. But, as it happened, the Rochefort
+squadron had already set sail and failed to sight an enemy or friend for
+several weeks.
+
+Such are the risks of naval warfare, in which even the greatest
+geniuses at times groped but blindly. Nelson was not afraid to confess
+the truth. The French Emperor, however, seems never to have made an
+admission which would mar his claim to strategic infallibility. Even
+now, when the Spanish ships were proved to clog the enterprise, he
+persisted in merely counting numbers, and in asserting that Villeneuve
+might still neutralize the force of Calder and Cornwallis. These hopes
+he cherished up to August 23rd, when, as the next chapter will show,
+he faced right about to confront Austria. His Minister of Marine, who
+had more truly gauged the difficulties of all parts of the naval
+enterprise, continued earnestly to warn him of the terrible risk of
+burdening Villeneuve's ships with the unseaworthy craft of Spain and
+of trusting to this ill-assorted armada to cover the invasion now that
+their foes had divined its secret. The Emperor bitterly upbraided his
+Minister for his timidity, and in the presence of Daru, Intendant
+General of the army, indulged in a dramatic soliloquy against
+Villeneuve for his violation of orders: "What a navy! What an admiral!
+What sacrifices for nothing! My hopes are frustrated--- Daru, sit down
+and write"--whereupon it is said that he traced out the plans of the
+campaign which was to culminate at Ulm and Austerlitz.[336]
+
+The question has often been asked whether Napoleon seriously intended
+the invasion of England. Certainly the experienced seamen of England,
+France, and Holland, with few exceptions, declared that the
+flat-bottomed boats were unseaworthy, and that a frightful disaster
+must ensue if they were met out at sea by our ships. When it is
+further remembered that our coasts were defended by batteries and
+martello towers, that several hundreds of pinnaces and row-boats were
+ready to attack the flotilla before it could attempt the
+disembarkation of horses, artillery, and stores, and that 180,000
+regulars and militia, aided by 400,000 volunteers, were ready to
+defend our land, the difficulties even of capturing London will be
+obvious. And the capture of the capital would not have decided the
+contest. Napoleon seems to have thought it would. In his voyage to St.
+Helena he said: "I put all to the hazard; I entered into no
+calculations as to the manner in which I was to return; I trusted all
+to the impression the occupation of the capital would have
+occasioned."[337]--But, as has been shown above (p. 441), plans had been
+secretly drawn up for the removal of the Court and the national treasure
+to Worcester; the cannon of Woolwich were to be despatched into the
+Midlands by canal; and our military authorities reckoned that the
+systematic removal of provisions and stores from all the districts
+threatened by the enemy would exhaust him long before he overran the
+home counties. Besides, the invasion was planned when Britain's naval
+power had been merely evaded, not conquered. Nelson and Cornwallis and
+Calder would not for ever be chasing phantom fleets; they would
+certainly return, and cut Napoleon from his base, the sea.
+
+Again, if Napoleon was bent solely on the invasion of England, why
+should he in June, 1805, have offered to Russia and Austria so
+gratuitous an affront as the annexation of the Ligurian Republic? He
+must have known that this act would hurry them into war. Thiers
+considers the annexation of Genoa a "grave fault" in the Emperor's
+policy--but many have doubted whether Napoleon did not intend Genoa to
+be the gate leading to a new avenue of glory, now that the success of
+his naval dispositions was doubtful. Marbot gives the general opinion
+of military circles when he says that the Emperor wanted to provoke a
+continental war in order to escape the ridicule which the failure of
+his Boulogne plans would otherwise have aroused. "The new coalition
+came just at the right moment to get him out of an annoying
+situation." The compiler of the Fouché "Memoirs," which, though not
+genuine, may be accepted as generally correct, took the same view. He
+attributes to Napoleon the noteworthy words: "I may fail by sea, but
+not by land; besides, I shall be able to strike the blow before the
+old coalition machines are ready: the kings have neither activity nor
+decision of character: I do not fear old Europe." The Emperor also
+remarked to the Council of State that the expense of all the
+preparations at Boulogne was fully justified by the fact that they
+gave him "fully twenty days' start over all enemies.... A pretext had
+to be found for raising the troops and bringing them together without
+alarming the Continental Powers: and that pretext was afforded me by
+the projected descent upon England."[338]
+
+It is also quite possible that his aim was Ireland as much as England.
+It certainly was in the plan of September, 1804: and doubtless it
+still held a prominent place in his mind, except during the few days
+when he pictured Calder vanquished and Nelson scouring the West
+Indies. Then he doubtless fixed his gaze solely upon London. But there
+is much indirect evidence which points to Ireland as forming at least
+a very important part of his scheme. Both Nelson and Collingwood
+believed him to be aiming at Ireland.[339]
+
+But indeed Napoleon is often unfathomable. Herein lies much of the
+charm of Napoleonic studies. He is at once the Achilles, the Mercury,
+and the Proteus of the modern world. The ease with which his mind
+grasped all problems and suddenly concentrated its force on some new
+plan may well perplex posterity as it dazed his contemporaries. If we
+were dealing with any other man than Napoleon, we might safely say
+that an invasion of England, before the command of the sea had been
+secured, was infinitely less likely than a descent on Ireland. The
+landing of a _corps d'armée_ there would have provoked a revolution;
+and British ascendancy would have vanished in a week. Even had Nelson
+returned and swept the seas, Ireland would have been lost to the
+United Kingdom; and Britain, exhausted also by the expenses which the
+Boulogne preparations had compelled her to make for the defence of
+London, must have succumbed.
+
+If ever Napoleon intended risking all his fortunes on the conquest of
+England, it can be proved that his mind was gradually cleared of
+illusions. He trusted that a popular rising would overthrow the British
+Government: people and rulers showed an accord that had never been known
+since the reign of Queen Anne. He believed, for a short space, that the
+flotilla could fight sea-going ships out at sea: the converse was proved
+up to the hilt. Finally, he trusted that Villeneuve, when burdened with
+Spanish ships, would outwit and outmanoeuvre Nelson!
+
+What then remained after these and many other disappointments? Surely
+that scheme alone was practicable, in which the command of the sea
+formed only an unimportant factor. For the conquest of England it was
+an essential factor. In Ireland alone could Napoleon find the
+conditions on which he counted for success--a discontented populace
+that would throng to the French eagles, and a field of warfare where
+the mere landing of 20,000 veterans would decide the campaign.[340]
+
+And yet it is, on the whole, certain that his expedition for Ireland
+was meant merely to distract and paralyze the defenders of Great
+Britain, while he dealt the chief blow at London. Instinct and
+conviction alike prompted him to make imposing feints that should lead
+his enemy to lay bare his heart, and that heart was our great capital.
+His indomitable will scorned the word _impossible_--"a word found only
+in the dictionary of fools"; he felt England to be the sole barrier to
+his ambitions; and to crush her power he was ready to brave, not only
+her stoutest seamen, but also her guardian angels, the winds and
+storms. Both the man and the occasion were unique in the world's
+history and must not be judged according to tame probabilities. For
+his honour was at stake. He was so deeply pledged to make use of the
+vast preparations at his northern ports that, had all his complex
+dispositions worked smoothly, he would certainly have attempted a dash
+at London; and only after some adequate excuse could he consent to give
+up that adventure.
+
+The excuse was now furnished by Villeneuve's retreat to Cadiz; and
+public opinion, ignorant of Napoleon's latest instructions on that
+subject, and knowing only the salient facts of the case, laid on that
+luckless admiral the whole burden of blame for the failure of the
+scheme of invasion. With front unabashed and a mind presaging certain
+triumphs, Napoleon accordingly wheeled his legions eastward to
+prosecute that alluring alternative, the conquest of England through
+the Continent.
+
+
+
+
+
+APPENDIX
+
+[_The two following State Papers have never before been published_]
+
+
+No. I. is a despatch from Mr. Thornton, our _chargé d'affaires_ at
+Washington, relative to the expected transfer of the vast region of
+Louisiana from Spain to France (see ch. xv. of this vol.).
+
+  [In "F O.," America, No. 35.]
+  "WASHINGTON,
+  "26 _Jany._, 1802.
+
+     "MY LORD,
+
+     "... About four years ago, when the rumour of the transfer of
+     Louisiana to France was first circulated, I put into Mr.
+     Pickering's hands for his perusal a despatch written by Mr. Fauchet
+     about the year 1794, which with many others was intercepted by one
+     of H.M. ships. In that paper the French Minister urged to his
+     Government the absolute necessity of acquiring Louisiana or some
+     territory in the vicinity of the United States in order to obtain a
+     permanent influence in the country, and he alluded to a memorial
+     written some years before by the Count du Moutier to the same
+     effect, when he was employed as His Most Christian Majesty's
+     Minister to the United States. The project seems therefore to have
+     been long in the contemplation of the French Government, and
+     perhaps no period is more favourable than the present for carrying
+     it into execution.
+
+     "When I paid my respects to the Vice-President, Mr. Burr, on his
+     arrival at this place, he, of his own accord, directed conversation
+     to this topic. He owned that he had made some exertion indirectly
+     to discover the truth of the report, and thought he had reason to
+     believe it. He appeared to think that the great armament destined
+     by France to St. Domingo, had this ulterior object in view, and
+     expressed much apprehension that the transfer and colonization of
+     Louisiana were meditated by her with the concurrence or
+     acquiescence of His Maj'^{s} Gov^{t}. It was impossible for me to
+     give any opinion on this part of the measure, which, whatever may
+     be its ultimate tendency, presents at first view nothing but danger
+     to His Maj'^{s} Trans-Atlantic possessions.
+
+     "Regarding alone the aim of France to acquire a preponderating
+     influence in the councils of the United States, it may be very well
+     doubted whether the possession of Louisiana, and the means which
+     she would chose to employ are calculated to secure that end.
+     Experience seems now to have sanctioned the opinion that if the
+     provinces of Canada had been restored to France at the Peace of
+     Paris, and if from that quarter she had been left to press upon the
+     American frontier, to harass the exterior settlements and to mingle
+     in the feuds of the Indian Tribes, the colonies might still have
+     preserved their allegiance to the parent country and have retained
+     their just jealousy of that system of encroachment adopted by
+     France from the beginning of the last century. The present project
+     is but a continuance of the same system; and neither her power nor
+     her present temper leave room for expectation that she will pursue
+     it with less eagerness or greater moderation than before. Whether,
+     therefore, she attempt to restrain the navigation of the
+     Mississippi or limit the freedom of the port of New Orleans;
+     whether she press upon the Western States with any view to
+     conquest, or seduce them by her principles of fraternity (for which
+     indeed they are well prepared) she must infallibly alienate the
+     Atlantic States and force them into a straiter connection with
+     Great Britain.
+
+     "I have scarcely met with a person under whatever party he may rank
+     himself, who does not dread this event, and who would not prefer
+     almost any neighbours to the French: and it seems perfect
+     infatuation in the Administration of this country that they chose
+     the present moment for leaving that frontier almost defenceless by
+     the reduction of its military establishment.
+
+     "I have, etc.,
+
+     "[Signed] EDW'D THORNTON."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+No. II. is a report in "F.O.," France, No. 71, by one of our spies in
+Paris on the doings of the Irish exiles there, especially O'Connor,
+whom Napoleon had appointed General of Division in Marshal Augereau's
+army, then assembling at Brest for the expedition to Ireland. After
+stating O'Connor's appointment, the report continues:
+
+    "About eighty Irishmen were sent to Morlaix to be formed into a
+    company of officers and taught how they were to discipline and
+    instruct their countrymen when they landed in Ireland. McShee,
+    Général de Brigade, commands them. He and Blackwell are, I
+    believe, the only persons among them of any consequence, who have
+    seen actual service. Emmett's brother and McDonald, who were
+    jealous of the attention paid to O'Connor, would not go to
+    Morlaix. They were prevailed on to go to Brest towards the end of
+    May, and there to join General Humbert. Commandant Dalton, a young
+    man of Irish extraction, and lately appointed to a situation in
+    the Army at Boulogne, translated everything between O'Connor and
+    the War Department at Paris. There is no Irish Committee at Paris
+    as is reported. O'Connor and General Hartry, an old Irishman who
+    has been long in the French service, are the only persons applied
+    to by the French Government, O'Connor for the expedition, and
+    Hartry for the Police, etc., of the Irish in France.
+
+    "O'Connor, though he had long tried to have an audience of
+    Bonaparte, never saw him till the 20th of May [1805], when he was
+    presented to him at the levee by Marshal Augereau. The Emperor and
+    the Empress complimented him on his dress and military appearance,
+    and Bonaparte said to him _Venez me voir en particulier demain
+    matin._ O'Connor went and was alone with him near two hours. On
+    that day Bonaparte did not say a word to him respecting his
+    intention on England; all their conversation regarded Ireland.
+    O'Connor was with him again on the Thursday and Friday following.
+    Those three audiences are all that O'Connor ever had in private
+    with Bonaparte.
+
+    "He told me on the Saturday evening that he should go to Court the
+    next morning to take public leave of the Emperor and leave Paris
+    as soon as he had received 10,000 livres which Maret was to give
+    him for his travelling expenses, etc., and which he was to have in
+    a day or two. His horses and all his servants but one had set off
+    for Brest some time before.
+
+    "Bonaparte told O'Connor, when speaking of the prospect of a
+    continental War, 'la Russie peut-être pourroit envoyer cette année
+    100,000 hommes contre la France, mais j'ai pour cela assez de
+    monde à ma disposition: je ferois même marcher, s'il le faut, une
+    armée contre la Russie, et si l'Empereur d'Allemagne refusoit un
+    passage à cette armée dans son pays, je la ferois passer malgré
+    lui.' He afterwards said--'il y a plusieurs moyens de détruire
+    l'Angleterre, mais celui de lui ôter Irlande est bon. Je vous
+    donnerai 25,000 bonnes troupes et s'il en arrive seulement 15,000,
+    ce sera assez. Vous aurez aussi 150,000 fusils pour armer vos
+    compatriotes, et un parc d'artillerie légère, des pièces de 4 et
+    de 6 livres, et toutes les provisions de guerre nécessaires.'
+
+    "O'Connor endeavoured to persuade Bonaparte that the best way to
+    conquer England was first to go to Ireland, and thence to England
+    with 200,000 Irishmen. Bonaparte said he did not think that would
+    do; _d'ailleurs,_ he added, _ce seroit trop long_. They agreed
+    that all the English in Ireland should be exterminated as the
+    whites had been in St. Domingo. Bonaparte assured him that, as
+    soon as he had formed an Irish army, he should be Commander in
+    Chief of the French and Irish forces. Bonaparte directed O'Connor
+    to try to gain over to his interest Laharpe, the Emperor of
+    Russia's tutor. Laharpe had applied for a passport to go to St.
+    Pétersbourg. He says he will do everything in his power to engage
+    the Emperor to go to war with Bonaparte. Laharpe breathes nothing
+    but vengeance against Bonaparte, who, besides other injuries,
+    turned his back on him in public and would not speak to him.
+    Laharpe was warned of O'Connor's intended visit, and went to the
+    country to avoid seeing him: The Senator Garat is to go to Brest
+    with O'Connor to write a constitution for Ireland. O'Connor is
+    getting out of favor with the Irish in France; they begin to
+    suspect his ambitious and selfish views. There was a coolness
+    between Admiral Truguet and him for some time previous to
+    Truguet's return to Brest. Augereau had given a dinner to all the
+    principal officers of his army then at Paris. Truguet invited all
+    of them to dine with him, two or three days after, except
+    O'Connor. O'Connor told me he would never forgive him for it."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 1: From a French work, "Moeurs et Coutumes des Corses"
+(Paris, 1802), I take the following incident. A priest, charged with
+the duty of avenging a relative for some fourteen years, met his enemy
+at the gate of Ajaccio and forthwith shot him, under the eyes of an
+official--who did nothing. A relative of the murdered man, happening
+to be near, shot the priest. Both victims were quickly buried, the
+priest being interred under the altar of the church, "because of his
+sacred character." See too Miot de Melito, "Mémoires," vol. i., ch.
+xiii., as to the utter collapse of the jury system in 1800-1, because
+no Corsican would "deny his party or desert his blood."]
+
+[Footnote 2: As to the tenacity of Corsican devotion, I may cite a
+curious proof from the unpublished portion of the "Memoirs of Sir
+Hudson Lowe." He was colonel in command of the Royal Corsican Rangers,
+enrolled during the British occupation of Corsica, and gained the
+affections of his men during several years of fighting in Egypt and
+elsewhere. When stationed at Capri in 1808 he relied on his Corsican
+levies to defend that island against Murat's attacks; and he did not
+rely in vain. Though confronted by a French Corsican regiment, they
+remained true to their salt, even during a truce, when they could
+recognize their compatriots. The partisan instinct was proof against
+the promises of Murat's envoys and the shouts even of kith and kin.]
+
+[Footnote 3: The facts as to the family of Napoleon's mother are given
+in full detail by M. Masson in his "Napoléon Inconnu," ch. i. They
+correct the statement often made as to her "lowly," "peasant" origin.
+Masson also proves that the house at Ajaccio, which is shown as
+Napoleon's birthplace, is of later construction, though on the same
+site.]
+
+[Footnote 4: See Jacobi, "Hist. de la Corse," vol. ii., ch. viii. The
+whole story is told with prudent brevity by French historians, even by
+Masson and Chuquet. The few words in which Thiers dismisses this
+subject are altogether misleading.]
+
+[Footnote 5: Much has been written to prove that Napoleon was born in
+1768, and was really the eldest surviving son. The reasons, stated
+briefly, are: (1) that the first baptismal name of Joseph Buonaparte
+was merely _Nabulione_ (Italian for _Napoleon_), and that _Joseph_ was
+a later addition to his name on the baptismal register of January 7th,
+1768, at Corte; (2) certain statements that Joseph was born at
+Ajaccio; (3) Napoleon's own statement at his marriage that he was born
+in 1768. To this it maybe replied that: (_a_) other letters and
+statements, still more decisive, prove that Joseph was born at Corte
+in 1768 and Napoleon at Ajaccio in 1769; (_b_) Napoleon's entry in the
+marriage register was obviously designed to lessen the disparity of
+years of his bride, who, on her side, subtracted four years from her
+age. See Chuquet, "La Jeunesse de Napoléon," p. 65.]
+
+[Footnote 6: Nasica, "Mémoires," p. 192.]
+
+[Footnote 7: Both letters are accepted as authentic by Jung,
+"Bonaparte et son Temps," vol. i., pp. 84, 92; but Masson, "Napoléon
+Inconnu," vol. i., p. 55, tracking them to their source, discredits
+them, as also from internal evidence.]
+
+[Footnote 8: Chaptal, "Mes Souvenirs sur Napoléon," p. 177.]
+
+[Footnote 9: Joseph Buonaparte, "Mems.," vol. i., p. 29. So too Miot
+de Melito, "Mems.," vol. i., ch. x.]
+
+[Footnote 10: Chaptal, "Souvenirs sur Napoléon," p. 237. See too
+Masson, "Napoléon Inconnu," vol. i., p. 158, note.]
+
+[Footnote 11: In an after-dinner conversation on January 11th, 1803,
+with Roederer, Buonaparte exalted Voltaire at the expense of Rousseau
+in these significant words: "The more I read Voltaire, the more I like
+him: he is always reasonable, never a charlatan, never a fanatic: he
+is made for mature minds. Up to sixteen years of age I would have
+fought for Rousseau against all the friends of Voltaire. Now it is the
+contrary. _I have been especially disgusted with Rousseau since I
+have seen the East. Savage man is a dog._" ("Oeuvres de Roederer,"
+vol. iii., p. 461.)
+
+In 1804 he even denied his indebtedness to Rousseau. During a family
+discussion, wherein he also belittled Corsica, he called Rousseau "a
+babbler, or, if you prefer it, an eloquent enough _idéalogue_. I never
+liked him, nor indeed well understood him: truly I had not the courage
+to read him all, because I thought him for the most part tedious."
+(Lucien Buonaparte, "Mémoires," vol. ii., ch. xi.)
+
+His later views on Rousseau are strikingly set forth by Stanislas
+Girardin, who, in his "Memoirs," relates that Buonaparte, on his visit
+to the tomb of Rousseau, said: "'It would have been better for the
+repose of France that this man had never been born.' 'Why, First
+Consul?' said I. 'He prepared the French Revolution.' 'I thought it
+was not for you to complain of the Revolution.' 'Well,' he replied,
+'the future will show whether it would not have been better for the
+repose of the world that neither I nor Rousseau had existed.'" Méneval
+confirms this remarkable statement.]
+
+[Footnote 12: Masson, "Napoléon Inconnu," vol. ii., p. 53.]
+
+[Footnote 13: Joseph Buonaparte, "Mémoires," vol. i, p. 44.]
+
+[Footnote 14: M. Chuquet, in his work "La Jeunesse de Napoléon"
+(Paris, 1898), gives a different opinion: but I think this passage
+shows a veiled hostility to Paoli. Probably we may refer to this time
+an incident stated by Napoleon at St. Helena to Lady Malcolm ("Diary,"
+p. 88), namely, that Paoli urged on him the acceptance of a commission
+in the British army: "But I preferred the French, because I spoke the
+language, was of their religion, understood and liked their manners,
+and I thought the Revolution a fine time for an enterprising young
+man. Paoli was angry--we did not speak afterwards." It is hard to
+reconcile all these statements.
+
+Lucien Buonaparte states that his brother seriously thought for a time
+of taking a commission in the forces of the British East India
+Company; but I am assured by our officials that no record of any
+application now exists.]
+
+[Footnote 15: The whole essay is evidently influenced by the works of
+the democrat Raynal, to whom Buonaparte dedicated his "Lettres sur la
+Corse." To the "Discours de Lyons" he prefixed as motto the words
+"Morality will exist when governments are free," which he modelled on
+a similar phrase of Raynal. The following sentences are also
+noteworthy: "Notre organisation animale a des besoins indispensables:
+manger, dormir, engendrer. Une nourriture, une cabane, des vêtements,
+une femme, sont donc une stricte nécessité pour le bonheur. Notre
+organisation intellectuelle a des appétits non moins impérieux et dont
+la satisfaction est beaucoup plus précieuse. C'est dans leur entier
+développement que consiste vraiment le bonheur. Sentir et raisonner,
+voilà proprement le fait de l'homme."]
+
+[Footnote 16: Nasica; Chuquet, p. 248.]
+
+[Footnote 17: His recantation of Jacobinism was so complete that some
+persons have doubted whether he ever sincerely held it. The doubt
+argues a singular _naïveté_ it is laid to rest by Buonaparte's own
+writings, by his eagerness to disown or destroy them, by the testimony
+of everyone who knew his early career, and by his own confession:
+"There have been good Jacobins. At one time every man of spirit was
+bound to be one. I was one myself." (Thibaudeau, "Mémoires sur le
+Consulat," p. 59.)]
+
+[Footnote 18: I use the term _commissioner_ as equivalent to the
+French _représentant en mission,_ whose powers were almost limitless.]
+
+[Footnote 19: See this curious document in Jung, "Bonaparte et son
+Temps," vol. ii., p. 249. Masson ignores it, but admits that the
+Paolists and partisans of France were only seeking to dupe one
+another.]
+
+[Footnote 20: Buonaparte, when First Consul, was dunned for payment by
+the widow of the Avignon bookseller who published the "Souper de
+Beaucaire." He paid her well for having all the remaining copies
+destroyed. Yet Panckoucke in 1818 procured one copy, which preserved
+the memory of Buonaparte's early Jacobinism.]
+
+[Footnote 21: I have chiefly followed the careful account of the siege
+given by Cottin in his "Toulon et les Anglais en 1793" (Paris, 1898).
+
+The following official figures show the weakness of the British army.
+In December, 1792, the parliamentary vote was for 17,344 men as
+"guards and garrisons," besides a few at Gibraltar and Sydney. In
+February, 1793, 9,945 additional men were voted and 100 "independent
+companies": Hanoverians were also embodied. In February, 1794, the
+number of British regulars was raised to 60,244. For the navy the
+figures were: December, 1792, 20,000 sailors and 5,000 marines;
+February, 1793, 20,000 _additional_ seamen; for 1794, 73,000 seamen
+and 12,000 marines. ("Ann. Reg.")]
+
+[Footnote 22: Barras' "Mémoires" are not by any means wholly his. They
+are a compilation by Rousselin de Saint-Albin from the Barras papers.]
+
+[Footnote 23: Jung, "Bonaparte et son Temps," vol. ii.]
+
+[Footnote 24: M.G. Duruy's elaborate plea (Barras, "Mems.,"
+Introduction, pp. 69-79) rests on the supposition that his hero
+arrived at Toulon on September 7th. But M. Chuquet has shown
+("Cosmopolis," January, 1897) that he arrived there not earlier than
+September 16th. So too Cottin, ch, xi.]
+
+[Footnote 25: As the burning of the French ships and stores has been
+said to be solely due to the English, we may note that, _as early as
+October 3rd_, the Spanish Foreign Minister, the Duc d'Alcuida,
+suggested it to our ambassador, Lord St. Helens: "If it becomes
+necessary to abandon the harbour, these vessels shall be sunk or set
+on fire in order that the enemy may not make use of them; for which
+purpose preparations shall be made beforehand."]
+
+[Footnote 26: Thiers, ch. xxx.; Cottin, "L'Angleterre et les
+Princes."]
+
+[Footnote 27: See Lord Grenville's despatch of August 9th, 1793, to
+Lord St. Helens ("F.O. Records, Spain," No. 28), printed by M. Cottin,
+p. 428. He does not print the more important despatch of October 22nd,
+where Grenville asserts that the admission of the French princes would
+tend to invalidate the constitution of 1791, for which the allies were
+working.]
+
+[Footnote 28: A letter of Lord Mulgrave to Mr. Trevor, at Turin ("F.
+O. Records, Sardinia," No. 13), states that he had the greatest
+difficulty in getting on with the French royalists: "You must not send
+us one _émigré_ of any sort--they would be a nuisance: they are all so
+various and so violent, whether for despotism, constitution, or
+republic, that we should be distracted with their quarrels; and they
+are so assuming, forward, dictatorial, and full of complaints, that
+no business could go on with them. Lord Hood is averse to receiving
+any of them."
+
+NOTE TO THE THIRD EDITION.--From the information which Mr. Spenser
+Wilkinson has recently supplied in his article in "The Owens College
+Hist. Essays" (1902), it would seem that Buonaparte's share in
+deciding the fate of Toulon was somewhat larger than has here been
+stated; for though the Commissioners saw the supreme need of attacking
+the fleet, they do not seem, as far as we know, to have perceived that
+the hill behind Fort L'Eguillette was the key of the position.
+Buonaparte's skill and tenacity certainly led to the capture of this
+height.]
+
+[Footnote 29: Jung, "Bonaparte et son Temps," vol. ii., p. 430.]
+
+[Footnote 30: "Mémorial," ch. ii., November, 1815. See also
+Thibaudeau, "Mémoires sur le Consulat," vol. i., p. 59.]
+
+[Footnote 31: Marmont (1774-1852) became sub-lieutenant in 1789,
+served with Buonaparte in Italy, Egypt, etc., received the title Duc
+de Ragusa in 1808, Marshal in 1809; was defeated by Wellington at
+Salamanca in 1812, deserted to the allies in 1814. Junot (1771-1813)
+entered the army in 1791; was famed as a cavalry general in the wars
+1796-1807; conquered Portugal in 1808, and received the title Duc
+d'Abrantès; died mad.]
+
+[Footnote 32: M. Zivy, "Le treize Vendémiaire," pp.60-62, quotes the
+decree assigning the different commands. A MS. written by Buonaparte,
+now in the French War Office Archives, proves also that it was Barras
+who gave the order to fetch the cannon from the Sablons camp.]
+
+[Footnote 33: Buonaparte afterwards asserted that it was he who had
+given the order to fire, and certainly delay was all in favour of his
+opponents.]
+
+[Footnote 34: I caution readers against accepting the statement of
+Carlyle ("French Revolution," vol. iii. _ad fin_.) that "the thing we
+specifically call French Revolution is blown into space by the whiff
+of grapeshot." On the contrary, it was perpetuated, though in a more
+organic and more orderly governmental form.]
+
+[Footnote 35: Chaptal, "Mes Souvenirs sur Napoléon," p. 198.]
+
+[Footntoe 36: Koch, "Mémoires de Masséna," vol. ii., p. 13, credits
+the French with only 37,775 men present with the colours, the
+Austrians with 32,000, and the Sardinians with 20,000. All these
+figures omit the troops in garrison or guarding communications.]
+
+[Footnote 37: Napoleon's "Correspondence," March 28th, 1796.]
+
+[Footnote 38: See my articles on Colonel Graham's despatches from
+Italy in the "Eng. Hist. Review" of January and April, 1899.]
+
+[Footnote 39: Thus Mr. Sargent ("Bonaparte's First Campaign") says
+that Bonaparte was expecting Beaulieu to move on Genoa, and saw herein
+a chance of crushing the Austrian centre. But Bonaparte, in his
+despatch of April 6th to the Directory, referring to the French
+advance towards Genoa, writes: "J'ai été très fâché et extrêmement
+mécontent de ce mouvement sur Gênes, d'autant plus déplacé qu'il a
+obligé cette république à prendre une attitude hostile, et a réveillé
+l'ennemi que j'aurais pris tranquille: ce sont des hommes de plus
+qu'il nous en coûtera." For the question how far Napoleon was indebted
+to Marshal Maillebois' campaign of 1745 for his general design, see
+the brochure of M. Pierron. His indebtedness has been proved by M.
+Bouvier ("Bonaparte en Italie," p. 197) and by Mr. Wilkinson ("Owens
+Coll. Hist. Essays").]
+
+[Footnote 40: Nelson was then endeavouring to cut off the vessels
+conveying stores from Toulon to the French forces. The following
+extracts from his despatches are noteworthy. January 6th, 1796: "If
+the French mean to carry on the war, they must penetrate into Italy.
+Holland and Flanders, with their own country, they have entirely
+stripped: Italy is the gold mine, and if once entered, is without the
+means of resistance." Then on April 28th, after Piedmont was
+overpowered by the French: "We English have to regret that we cannot
+always decide the fate of Empires on the Sea." Again, on May 16th: "I
+very much believe that England, who commenced the war with all Europe
+for her allies, will finish it by having nearly all Europe for her
+enemies."]
+
+[Footnote 41: The picturesque story of the commander (who was not
+Rampon, but Fornésy) summoning the defenders of the central redoubt to
+swear on their colours and on the cannon that they would defend it to
+the death has been endlessly repeated by historians. But the documents
+which furnish the only authentic details show that there was in the
+redoubt no cannon and no flag. Fornésy's words simply were: "C'est
+ici, mes amis, qu'il faut vaincre ou mourir"--surely much grander than
+the histrionic oath. (See "Mémoires de Masséna," Yol. ii.;" Pièces
+Just.," No. 3; also Bouvier, _op. cit._)]
+
+[Footnote 42: Jomini, vol. viii., p. 340; "Pièces Justifs."]
+
+[Footnote 43: "Un Homme d'autrefois," par Costa de Beauregard.]
+
+[Footnote 44: These were General Beaulieu's words to Colonel Graham on
+May 22nd.]
+
+[Footnote 45: Periods of ten days, which, in the revolutionary
+calendar, superseded the week.]
+
+[Footnote 46: I have followed the accounts given by Jomini, vol.
+viii., pp. 120-130; that by Schels in the "Oest. Milit. Zeitschrift"
+for 1825, vol. ii.; also Bouvier "Bonaparte en Italie," ch. xiii.; and
+J.G.'s "Etudes sur la Campagne de 1796-97." Most French accounts,
+being based on Napoleon's "Mémoires," vol. iii., p. 212 _et seq_., are
+a tissue of inaccuracies. Bonaparte affected to believe that at Lodi
+he defeated an army of sixteen thousand men. Thiers states that the
+French cavalry, after fording the river at Montanasso, influenced the
+result: but the official report of May 11th, 1796, expressly states
+that the French horse could not cross the river at that place till the
+fight was over. See too Desvernois, "Mems.," ch, vii.]
+
+[Footnote 47: Bouvier (p. 533) traces this story to Las Cases and
+discredits it.]
+
+[Footnote: 48 Directorial despatch of May 7th, 1796. The date rebuts
+the statement of M. Aulard, in M. Lavisse's recent volume, "La
+Révolution Française," p. 435, that Bonaparte suggested to the
+Directory the pillage of Lombardy.]
+
+[Footnote 49: "Corresp.," June 6th, 1797.]
+
+[Footnote 50: "Corresp.," June 1st, 1796.]
+
+[Footnote 51: Gaffarel, "Bonaparte et les Républiques Italiennes," p.
+22.]
+
+[Footnote 52: "Corresp.," May 17th, 1796.]
+
+[Footnote 53: Virgil, Aeneid, x. 200.]
+
+[Footnote 54: Colonel Graham's despatches.]
+
+[Footnote 55: "Corresp.," June 26th, 1796.]
+
+[Footnote 56: Despatch of Francis to Würmser, July 14th, 1796.]
+
+[Footnote 57: Jomini (vol. viii., p. 305) blames Weyrother, the chief
+of Würmser's staff, for the plan. Jomini gives the precise figures of
+the French on July 25th: Masséna had 15,000 men on the upper Adige;
+Augereau, 5,000 near Legnago; Sauret, 4,000 at Salo; Sérurier, 10,500
+near Mantua; and with others at and near Peschiera the total fighting
+strength was 45,000. So "J.G.," p. 103.]
+
+[Footnote 58: See Thiébault's amusing account ("Memoirs," vol. i., ch.
+xvi.) of Bonaparte's contempt for any officer who could not give him
+definite information, and of the devices by which his orderlies played
+on this foible. See too Bourrienne for Bonaparte's dislike of new
+faces.]
+
+[Footnote 59: Marbot, "Mémoires," ch. xvi. J.G., in his recent work,
+"Etudes sur la Campagne de 1796-97," p. 115, also defends Augereau.]
+
+[Footnote 60: Jomini, vol. viii., p. 321.]
+
+[Footnote 61: "English Hist. Review," January, 1899]
+
+[Footnote 62: Such is the judgment of Clausewitz ("Werke," vol. iv.),
+and it is partly endorsed by J.G. in his "Etudes sur la Campagne de
+1796-97." St. Cyr, in his "Memoirs" on the Rhenish campaigns, also
+blames Bonaparte for not having _earlier_ sent away his siege-train to
+a place of safety. Its loss made the resumed siege of Mantua little
+more than a blockade.]
+
+[Footnote 63: Koch, "Mémoires de Masséna," vol. i., p. 199.]
+
+[Footnote 64: "Corresp.," October 21st, 1796.]
+
+[Footnote 65: "Corresp.," October 24th, 1796. The same policy was
+employed towards Genoa. This republic was to be lulled into security
+until it could easily be overthrown or absorbed.]
+
+[Footnote 66: "Ordre du Jour," November 7th, 1796.]
+
+[Footnote 67: Marmont, "Mémoires," vol. i., p. 237. I have followed
+Marmont's narrative, as that of the chief actor in this strange scene.
+It is less dramatic than the usual account, as found in Thiers, and
+therefore is more probable. The incident illustrates the folly of a
+commander doing the work of a sergeant. Marmont points out that the
+best tactics would have been to send one division to cross the Adige
+at Albaredo, and so take Arcola in the rear. Thiers' criticism, that
+this would have involved too great a diffusion of the French line, is
+refuted by the fact that on the third day a move on that side induced
+the Austrians to evacuate Arcola.]
+
+[Footnote 68: Koch, "Mémoires de Masséna," vol. i., p. 255, in his
+very complete account of the battle, gives the enemy's losses as
+upwards of 2,000 killed or wounded, and 4,000 prisoners with 11
+cannon. Thiers gives 40,000 as Alvintzy's force before the battle--an
+impossible number. See _ante_.]
+
+[Footnote 69: The Austrian official figures for the loss in the three
+days at Arcola give 2,046 killed and wounded, 4,090 prisoners, and 11
+cannon. Napoleon put it down as 13,000 in all! See Schels in "Oest.
+Milit. Zeitschrift" for 1829.]
+
+[Footnote 70: A forecast of the plan realized in 1801-2, whereby
+Bonaparte gained Louisiana for a time.]
+
+[Footnote 71: Estimates of the Austrian force differ widely. Bonaparte
+guessed it at 45,000, which is accepted by Thiers; Alison says 40,000;
+Thiébault opines that it was 75,000; Marmont gives the total as
+26,217. The Austrian official figures are 28,022 _before_ the fighting
+north of Monte Baldo. See my article in the "Eng. Hist. Review" for
+April, 1899. I have largely followed the despatches of Colonel Graham,
+who was present at this battle. As "J.G." points out (_op.cit. _, p.
+237), the French had 1,500 horse and some forty cannon, which gave
+them a great advantage over foes who could make no effective use of
+these arms.]
+
+[Footnote 72: This was doubtless facilitated by the death of the
+Czarina, Catherine II., in November, 1796. She had been on the point
+of entering the Coalition against France. The new Czar Paul was at
+that time for peace. The Austrian Minister Thugut, on hearing of her
+death, exclaimed, "This is the climax of our disasters."]
+
+[Footnote 73: Hüffer, "Oesterreich und Preussen," p. 263.]
+
+[Footnote 74: "Moniteur," 20 Floreal, Year V.; Sciout, "Le
+Directoire," vol. ii., ch. vii.]
+
+[Footnote 75: See Landrieux's letter on the subject in Koch's
+"Mémoires de Masséna," vol. ii.; "Pièces Justif.," _ad fin._; and
+Bonaparte's "Corresp.," letter of March 24th, 1797. The evidence of
+this letter, as also of those of April 9th and 19th, is ignored by
+Thiers, whose account of Venetian affairs is misleading. It is clear
+that Bonaparte contemplated partition long before the revolt of
+Brescia.]
+
+[Footnote 76: Botta, "Storia d'Italia," vol. ii., chs. x., etc.; Daru,
+"Hist. de Venise," vol. v.; Gaffarel, "Bonaparte et les Républiques
+Italiennes," pp. 137-139; and Sciout, "Le Directoire," vol ii., chs.
+v. and vii.]
+
+[Footnote 77: Sorel, "Bonaparte et Hoche en 1797," p. 65.]
+
+[Footnote 78: Letter of April 30th, 1797.]
+
+[Footnote 79: Letter of May 13th, 1797.]
+
+[Footnote 80: It would even seem, from Bonaparte's letter of July
+12th, 1797, that not till then did he deign to send on to Paris the
+terms of the treaty with Venice. He accompanied it with the cynical
+suggestion that they could do what they liked with the treaty, and
+even annul it!]
+
+[Footnote 81: The name _Italian_ was rejected by Bonaparte as too
+aggressively nationalist; but the prefix _Cis_--applied to a State
+which stretched southward to the Rubicon--was a concession to Italian
+nationality. It implied that Florence or Rome was the natural capital
+of the new State.]
+
+[Footnote 82: See Arnault's "Souvenirs d'un sexagénaire" (vol. iii.,
+p. 31) and Levy's "Napoléon intime," p. 131.]
+
+[Footnote 83: For the subjoined version of the accompanying new letter
+of Bonaparte (referred to in my Preface) I am indebted to Mr. H.A.L.
+Fisher, in the "Eng. Hist. Rev.," July, 1900:
+
+     "Milan, 29 Thermidor [l'an IV.]
+
+     "À LA CITOYENNE TALLIEN
+
+     "Je vous dois des remerciements, belle citoyenne, pour le souvenir
+     que vous me conservez et pour les choses aimables contenues dans
+     votre apostille. Je sais bien qu'en vous disant que je regrette les
+     moments heureux que j'ai passé dans votre société je ne vous répète
+     que ce que tout le monde vous dit. Vous connaître c'est ne plus
+     pouvoir vous oublier: être loin de votre aimable personne lorsque
+     l'on a goûté les charmes de votre société c'est désirer vivement de
+     s'en rapprocher; mais l'on dit que vous allez en Espagne. Fi! c'est
+     très vilain à moins que vous ne soyez de retour avant trois mois,
+     enfin que cet hiver nous ayons le bonheur de vous voir à Paris.
+     Allez donc en Espagne visiter la caverne de Gil Blas. Moi je crois
+     aussi visiter toutes les antiquités possibles, enfin que dans le
+     cours de novembre jusqu'à février nous puissions raconter sans
+     cesse. Croyez-moi avec toute la considération, je voulais dire le
+     respect, mais je sais qu'en général les jolies femmes n'aiment pas
+     ce mot-là.
+
+     "BONAPARTE.
+
+     "Mille et mille chose à Tallien."]
+
+[Footnote 84: Lavalette, "Méms.," ch. xiii.; Barras, "Méms.," vol.
+ii., pp. 511-512; and Duchesse d'Abrantès, "Méms.," vol. i., ch.
+xxviii.]
+
+[Footnote 85: Barras, "Méms.," vol. ii., ch, xxxi.; Madame de Staël,
+"Directoire," ch. viii.]
+
+[Footnote 86: "Mémoires de Gohier"; Roederer, "Oeuvres," tome iii., p.
+294.]
+
+[Footnote 87: Brougham, "Sketches of Statesmen"; Ste. Beuve,
+"Talleyrand"; Lady Blennerhasset, "Talleyrand."]
+
+[Footnote 88: Instructions of Talleyrand to the French envoys
+(September 11th); also Ernouf's "Maret, Duc de Bassano," chs. xxvii.
+and xxviii., for the _bona fides_ of Pitt in these negotiations.
+
+It seems strange that Baron du Casse, in his generally fair treatment
+of the English case, in his "Négociations relatives aux Traités de
+Lunéville et d'Amiens," should have prejudiced his readers at the
+outset by referring to a letter which he attributes to Lord
+Malmesbury. It bears no date, no name, and purports to be "Une Lettre
+de Lord Malmesbury, oubliée à Lille." How could the following
+sentences have been penned by Malmesbury, and written to Lord
+Grenville?--"Mais enfin, outre les regrets sincères de Méot et des
+danseuses de l'Opéra, j'eus la consolation de voir en quittant Paris,
+que des Français et une multitude de nouveaux convertis à la religion
+catholique m'accompagnaient de leurs voeux, de leurs prières, et
+presque de leurs larmes.... L'évènement de Fructidor porta la
+désolation dans le coeur de tous les bons ennemis de la France. Pour
+ma part, j'en fut consterné: _je ne l'avais point prévu_." It is
+obviously the clumsy fabrication of a Fructidorian, designed for
+Parisian consumption: it was translated by a Whig pamphleteer under
+the title "The Voice of Truth!"--a fit sample of that partisan
+malevolence which distorted a great part of our political literature
+in that age.]
+
+[Footnote 89: Bonaparte's letters of September 28th and October 7th to
+Talleyrand.]
+
+[Footnote 90: See too Marsh's "Politicks of Great Britain and France,"
+ch. xiii.; "Correspondence of W.A. Miles on the French Revolution,"
+letters of January 7th and January 18th, 1793; also Sybel's "Europe
+during the French Revolution," vol. ii.]
+
+[Footnote 91: Pallain, "Le Ministère de Talleyrand sous le
+Directoire," p. 42.]
+
+[Footnote 92: Bourrienne, "Memoirs," vol. i., ch. xii. See too the
+despatch of Sandoz-Rollin to Berlin of February 28th, 1798, in
+Bailleu's "Preussen und Frankreich," vol. i., No. 150.]
+
+[Footnote 93: The italics are my own. I wish to call attention to the
+statement in view of the much-debated question whether in 1804-5
+Napoleon intended to invade our land, _unless he gained maritime
+supremacy_. See Desbrière's "Projets de Débarquement aux Iles
+Britanniques," vol. i., _ad fin_.]
+
+[Footnote 94: Letter of October 10th, 1797; see too those of August
+16th and September 13th.]
+
+[Footnote 95: The plan of menacing diverse parts of our coasts was kept
+up by Bonaparte as late as April 13th, 1798. In his letter of this
+date he still speaks of the invasion of England and Scotland, and
+promises to return from Egypt in three or four months, so as to
+proceed with the invasion of the United Kingdom. Boulay de la Meurthe,
+in his work, "Le Directoire et l'Expédition d'Egypte," ch. i., seems
+to take this promise seriously. In any case the Directors' hopes for
+the invasion of Ireland were dashed by the premature rising of the
+Irish malcontents in May, 1798. For Poussielgue's mission to Malta,
+see Lavalette's "Mems.," ch. xiv.]
+
+[Footnote 96: Mallet du Pan states that three thousand Vaudois came to
+Berne to join in the national defence: "Les cantons démocratiques sont
+les plus fanatisés contre les Français"--a suggestive remark.]
+
+[Footnote 97: Dändliker, "Geschichte der Schweiz," vol. iii., p. 350
+(edition of 1895); also Lavisse, "La Rév. Franç.," p. 821.]
+
+[Footnote 98: "Correspondance," No. 2676.]
+
+[Footnote 99: "Foreign Office Records," Malta (No. 1). Mr. Williams
+states in his despatch of June 30th, 1798, that Bonaparte knew there
+were four thousand Maltese in his favour, and that most of the French
+knights were publicly known to be so; but he adds: "I do believe the
+Maltees [_sic_] have given the island to the French in order to get
+rid of the knighthood."]
+
+[Footnote 100: I am indebted for this fact to the Librarian of the
+Priory of the Knights of St. John, Clerkenwell.]
+
+[Footnote 101: See, for a curious instance, Chaptal, "Mes Souvenirs,"
+p. 243.]
+
+[Footnote 102: The Arab accounts of these events, drawn up by Nakoula
+and Abdurrahman, are of much interest. They have been well used by M.
+Dufourcq, editor of Desvernois' "Memoirs," for many suggestive
+footnotes.]
+
+[Footnote 103: Desgenettes, "Histoire médicale de l'Armée d'Orient"
+(Paris, 1802); Belliard, "Mémoires," vol. i.]
+
+[Footnote 104: I have followed chiefly the account of Savary, Duc de
+Rovigo, "Mems.," ch. iv. See too Desvernois, "Mems.," ch. iv.]
+
+[Footnote 105: See his orders published in the "Correspondance
+officielle et confid. de Nap. Bonaparte, Egypte," vol. i. (Paris,
+1819, p. 270). They rebut Captain Mahan's statement ("Influence of Sea
+Power upon the Fr. Rev. and Emp.," vol. i., p. 263) as to Brueys'
+"delusion and lethargy" at Aboukir. On the contrary, though enfeebled
+by dysentery and worried by lack of provisions and the insubordination
+of his marines, he certainly did what he could under the
+circumstances. See his letters in the Appendix of Jurien de la
+Graviere, "Guerres Maritimes," vol. i.]
+
+[Footnote 106: Desvernois, "Mems.," ch. v.]
+
+[Footnote 107: _Ib._, ch. vi.]
+
+[Footnote 108: Order of July 27th, 1798.]
+
+[Footnote 109: Ducasse, "Les Rois, Frères de Napoléon," p. 8.]
+
+[Footnote 110: "Mémoires de Napoléon," vol. ii.; Bourrienne, "Mems.,"
+vol. i., ch. xvii.]
+
+[Footnote 111: "Méms. de Berthier."]
+
+[Footnote 112: On November 4th, 1798, the French Government forwarded
+to Bonaparte, in triplicate copies, a despatch which, after setting
+forth the failure of their designs on Ireland, urged him either (1) to
+remain in Egypt, of which they evidently disapproved, or (2) to march
+towards India and co-operate with Tippoo Sahib, or (3) to advance on
+Constantinople in order that France might have a share in the
+partition of Turkey, which was then being discussed between the Courts
+of Petersburg and Vienna. No copy of this despatch seems to have
+reached Bonaparte before he set out for Syria (February 10th). This
+curious and perhaps guileful despatch is given in full by Boulay de la
+Meurthe, "Le Directoire et l'Expédition d'Égypte," Appendix, No. 5.
+
+On the whole, I am compelled to dissent from Captain Mahan ("Influence
+of Sea Power," vol. i., pp. 324-326), and to regard the larger schemes
+of Bonaparte in this Syrian enterprise as visionary.]
+
+[Footnote 113: Berthier, "Mémoires"; Belliard, "Bourrienne et ses
+Erreurs," also corrects Bourrienne. As to the dearth of food, denied
+by Lanfrey, see Captain Krettly, "Souvenirs historiques."]
+
+[Footnote 114: Emouf, "Le General Kléber," p. 201.]
+
+[Footnote 115: "Admiralty Records," Mediterranean, No. 19.]
+
+[Footnote 116: "Corresp.," No. 4124; Lavalette, "Mems.," ch. xxi.]
+
+[Footnote 117: Sidney Smith's "Despatch to Nelson" of May 30th, 1799.]
+
+[Footnote 118: J. Miot's words are: "Mais s'il en faut croire cette
+voix publique, trop souvent organe de la vérité tardive, qu'en vain
+les grands espèrent enchaîner, c'est un fait trop avéré que quelques
+blessés du Mont Carmel et une grande partie des malades à l'hôpital de
+Jaffa ont péri par les médicaments qui leur ont été administrés." Can
+this be called evidence?]
+
+[Footnote 119: Larrey, "Relation historique"; Lavalette, "Mems.," ch.
+xxi.]
+
+[Footnote 120: See Belliard, "Bourrienne et ses Erreurs"; also a
+letter of d'Aure, formerly Intendant General of this army, to the
+"Journal des Débats" of April 16th, 1829, in reply to Bourrienne.]
+
+[Footnote 121: "On disait tout haut qu'il se sauvait lâchement," Merme
+in Guitry's "L'Armée en Égypte." But Bonaparte had prepared for this
+discouragement and worse eventualities by warning Kléber in the letter
+of August 22nd, 1799, that if he lost 1,500 men by the plague he was
+free to treat for the evacuation of Egypt.]
+
+[Footnote 122: Lucien Bonaparte, "Mémoires," vol. ii., ch. xiv.]
+
+[Footnote 123: In our "Admiralty Records" (Mediterranean, No. 21) are
+documents which prove the reality of Russian designs on Corsica.]
+
+[Footnote 124: "Consid. sur la Rév. Française," bk. iii., ch. xiii.
+See too Sciout, "Le Directoire," vol. iv., chs. xiii.-xiv.]
+
+[Footnote 125: La Réveillière-Lépeaux, "Mems.," vol. ii., ch. xliv.;
+Hyde de Neuville, vol. i., chs. vi.-vii.; Lavisse, "Rév. Française,"
+p. 394.]
+
+[Footnote 126: Barras, "Mems.," vol. iv., ch. ii.]
+
+[Footnote 127: "Hist. of the United States" (1801-1813), by H. Adams,
+vol. i., ch. xiv., and Ste. Beuve's "Talleyrand."]
+
+[Footnote 128: Gohier, "Mems.," vol. i.; Lavalette's "Mems.," ch.
+xxii.; Roederer, "OEuvres," vol. iii., p. 301; Madelin's "Fouché," p.
+267.]
+
+[Footnote 129: For the story about Aréna's dagger, raised against
+Bonaparte see Sciout, vol. iv., p. 652. It seems due to Lucien
+Bonaparte. I take the curious details about Bonaparte's sudden pallor
+from Roederer ("Oeuvres," vol. iii., p. 302), who heard it from
+Montrond, Talleyrand's secretary. So Aulard, "Hist, de la Rév. Fr.,"
+p. 699.]
+
+[Footnote 130: Napoleon explained to Metternich in 1812 why he wished
+to silence the _Corps Législatif_; "In France everyone runs after
+applause: they want to be noticed and applauded.... Silence an
+Assembly, which, if it is anything, must be deliberative, and you
+discredit it."--Metternich's "Memoirs," vol. i., p. 151.]
+
+[Footnote 131: This was still further assured by the first elections
+under the new system being postponed till 1801; the functionaries
+chosen by the Consuls were then placed on the lists of notabilities of
+the nation without vote. The constitution was put in force Dec. 25th,
+1799.]
+
+[Footnote 132: Roederer, "Oeuvres," vol. iii., p. 303. He was the
+go-between for Bonaparte and Sieyès.]
+
+[Footnote 133: See the "Souvenirs" of Mathieu Dumas for the skilful
+manner in which Bonaparte gained over the services of this
+constitutional royalist and employed him to raise a body of volunteer
+horse.]
+
+[Footnote 134: "Lettres inédites de Napoléon," February 21st, 1800;
+"Mémoires du Général d'Andigné," ch. xv.; Madelin's "Fouché," p. 306.]
+
+[Footnote 135: "Georges Cadoudal," par son neveu, G. de Cadoudal; Hyde
+de Neuville, vol. i., p. 305.]
+
+[Footnote 136: Talleyrand, "Mems.," vol. i., part ii.; Marmont, bk.
+v.]
+
+[Footnote 137: "F.O.," Austria, No. 58; "Castlereagh's Despatches," v.
+_ad init._ Bowman, in his excellent monograph, "Preliminary Stages of
+the Peace of Amiens" (Toronto, 1899), has not noted this.]
+
+[Footnote 138: "Nap. Correspond.," February 27th 1800; Thugut,
+"Briefe" vol. ii., pp. 444-446; Oncken, "Zeitalter," vol. ii. p. 45.]
+
+[Footnote 139: A Foreign Office despatch, dated Downing Street,
+February 8th, 1800, to Vienna, promised a loan and that 15,000 or
+20,000 British troops should be employed in the Mediterranean to act
+in concert with the Austrians there, and to give "support to the
+royalist insurrections in the southern provinces of France." No
+differences of opinion respecting Piedmont can be held a sufficient
+excuse for the failure of the British Government to fulfil this
+promise--a failure which contributed to the disaster at Marengo.]
+
+[Footnote 140: Thiers attributes this device to Bonaparte; but the
+First Consul's bulletin of May 24th ascribes it to Marmont and
+Gassendi.]
+
+[Footnote 141: Marbot, "Mems.," ch. ix.; Allardyce, "Memoir of Lord
+Keith," ch. xiii.; Thiébault's "Journal of the Blockade of Genoa."]
+
+[Footnote 142: That Melas expected such a march is clear from a letter
+of his of May 23rd, dated from Savillan, to Lord Keith, which I have
+found in the "Brit. Admiralty Records" (Mediterranean, No. 22), where
+he says: "L'ennemi a cerné le fort de Bard et s'est avancé jusque sous
+le château d'Ivrée. Il est clair que son but est de délivrer
+Masséna."]
+
+[Footnote 143: Bonaparte did not leave Milan till June 9th: see
+"Correspondance" and the bulletin of June 10th. Jomini places his
+departure for the 7th, and thereby confuses his description for these
+two days. Thiers dates it on June 8th.]
+
+[Footnote 144: Lord W. Bentinck reported to the Brit. Admiralty
+("Records," Meditn., No. 22), from Alessandria, on June 15th: "I am
+sorry to say that General Elsnitz's corps, which was composed of the
+grenadiers of the finest regiments in the (Austrian) army, arrived
+here in the most deplorable condition. His men had already suffered
+much from want of provisions and other hardships. He was pursued in
+his retreat by Genl. Suchet, who had with him about 7,000 men. There
+was an action at Ponte di Nava, in which the French failed; and it
+will appear scarcely credible, when I tell your Lordship, that the
+Austrians lost in this retreat, from fatigue only, near 5,000 men; and
+I have no doubt that Genl. Suchet will notify this to the world as a
+great victory."]
+
+[Footnote 145: The inaccuracy of Marbot's "Mémoires" is nowhere more
+glaring than in his statement that Marengo must have gone against the
+French if Ott's 25,000 Austrians from Genoa had joined their comrades.
+As a matter of fact, Ott, with 16,000 men, had _already_ fought with
+Lannes at Montebello; and played a great part in the battle of
+Marengo.]
+
+[Footnote 146: "Corresp.," vol. vi., p. 365. Fournier, "Hist. Studien
+und Skizzen," p. 189, argues that the letter was written from Milan,
+and dated from Marengo for effect.]
+
+[Footnote 147: See Czartoryski's "Memoirs," ch. xi., and Driault's "La
+Question d'Orient," ch. iii. The British Foreign Office was informed
+of the plan. In its records (No. 614) is a memoir (pencilled on the
+back January 31st, 1801) from a M. Leclerc to Mr. Flint, referring the
+present proposal back to that offered by M. de St. Génie to Catherine
+II., and proposing that the first French step should be the seizure of
+Socotra and Perim.]
+
+[Footnote 148: Garden, "Traités," vol. vi., ch. xxx.; Captain Mahan's
+"Life of Nelson," vol. ii., ch. xvi.; Thiers, "Consulate," bk. ix. For
+the assassination of the Czar Paul see "Kaiser Paul's Ende," von R.R.
+(Stuttgart, 1897); also Czartoryski's "Memoirs," chs. xiii.-xiv. For
+Bonaparte's offer of a naval truce to us and his overture of December,
+1800, see Bowman, _op. cit_.]
+
+[Footnote 149: Pasquier, " Mems.," vol. i., ch. ii., p. 299. So too
+Mollien, "Mems.": "With an insatiable activity in details, a
+restlessness of mind always eager for new cares, he not only reigned
+and governed, he continued to administer not only as Prime Minister,
+but more minutely than each Minister."]
+
+[Footnote 150: Lack of space prevents any account of French finances
+and the establishment of the Bank of France. But we may note here that
+the collection of the national taxes was now carried out by a
+State-appointed director and his subordinates in every Department--a
+plan which yielded better results than former slipshod methods. The
+_conseil général_ of the Department assessed the direct taxes among
+the smaller areas. "Méms." de Gaudin, Duc de Gaëte.]
+
+[Footnote 151: Edmond Blanc, "Napoléon I; ses Institutions," p. 27.]
+
+[Footnote 152: Theiner, "Hist. des deux Concordats," vol. i., p. 21.]
+
+[Footnote 153: Thibaudeau estimated that of the population of
+35,000,000 the following assortment might be made: Protestants, Jews,
+and Theophilanthropists, 3,000,000; Catholics, 15,000,000, equally
+divided between orthodox and constitutionals; and as many as
+17,000,000 professing no belief whatever.]
+
+[Footnote 154: See Roederer, "Oeuvres," vol. iii., p. 475. On the
+discontent of the officers, see Pasquier's "Mems.," vol. i., ch. vii.;
+also Marmont's "Mems.," bk. vi.]
+
+[Footnote 155: See the drafts in Count Boulay de la Meurthe's
+"Négociation du Concordat," vol. ii., pp. 58 and 268.]
+
+[Footnote 156: Theiner, vol. i., pp. 193 and 196.]
+
+[Footnote 157: Méneval, "Mems.," vol. i., p. 81.]
+
+[Footnote 158: Thiers omits any notice of this strange transaction.
+Lanfrey describes it, but unfortunately relies on the melodramatic
+version given in Consalvi's "Memoirs," which were written many years
+later and are far less trustworthy than the Cardinal's letters written
+at the time. In his careful review of all the documentary evidence,
+Count Boulay de la Meurthe (vol. iii., p. 201, note) concludes that
+the new project of the Concordat (No. VIII.) was drawn up by
+Hauterive, was "submitted immediately to the approbation of the
+First Consul," and thereupon formed the basis of the long and
+heated discussion of July 14th between the Papal and French
+plenipotentiaries. A facsimile of this interesting document, with all
+the erasures, is appended at the end of his volume.]
+
+[Footnote 159: Pasquier, "Mems.," vol. i., ch. vii. Two of the organic
+articles portended the abolition of the revolutionary calendar. The
+first restored the old names of the days of the week; the second
+ordered that Sunday should be the day of rest for all public
+functionaries. The observance of _décadis_ thenceforth ceased; but the
+months of the revolutionary calendar were observed until the close of
+the year 1805. Theophilanthropy was similarly treated: when its
+votaries applied for a building, their request was refused on the
+ground that their cult came within the domain of philosophy, not of
+any actual religion! A small number of priests and of their
+parishioners refused to recognize the Concordat; and even to-day there
+are a few of these _anti-concordataires_.]
+
+[Footnote 160: Chaptal, "Souvenirs," pp. 237-239. Lucien Bonaparte,
+"Mems.," vol. ii., p. 201, quotes his brother Joseph's opinion of the
+Concordat: "Un pas rétrograde et irréfléchi de la nation qui s'y
+soumettait."]
+
+[Footnote 161: Thibaudeau, "Consulat," ch. xxvi.]
+
+[Footnote 162: "Code Napoléon," art. 148.]
+
+[Footnote 163: In other respects also Bonaparte's influence was used
+to depress the legal status of woman, which the men of 1789 had done
+so much to raise. In his curious letter of May 15th, 1807, on the
+Institution at Ecouen, we have his ideas on a sound, useful education
+for girls: "... We must begin with religion in all its severity. Do
+not admit any modification of this. Religion is very important in a
+girls' public school: it is the surest guarantee for mothers and
+husbands. We must train up believers, not reasoners. The weakness of
+women's brains, the unsteadiness of their ideas, their function in the
+social order, their need of constant resignation and of a kind of
+indulgent and easy charity--all can only be attained by religion."
+They were to learn a little geography and history, but no foreign
+language; above all, to do plenty of needlework.]
+
+[Footnote 164: Sagnac, "Législation civile de la Rév. Fr.," p. 293.]
+
+[Footnote 165: Divorce was suppressed in 1816, but was re-established
+in 1884.]
+
+[Footnote 166: Sagnac, _op. cit._, p. 352.]
+
+[Footnote 167: "The Life of Sir S. Romilly," vol. i., p. 408.]
+
+[Footnote 168: Madelin in his "Fouché," ch. xi., shows how Bonaparte's
+private police managed the affair. Harel was afterwards promoted to
+the governorship of the Castle of Vincennes: the four talkers, whom he
+and the police had lured on, were executed after the affair of Nivôse.
+That dextrous literary flatterer, the poet Fontanes, celebrated the
+"discovery" of the Aréna plot by publishing anonymously a pamphlet ("A
+Parallel between Caesar, Cromwell, Monk, and Bonaparte") in which he
+decided that no one but Caesar deserved the honour of a comparison
+with Bonaparte, and that certain destinies were summoning him to a yet
+higher title. The pamphlet appeared under the patronage of Lucien
+Bonaparte, and so annoyed his brother that he soon despatched him on a
+diplomatic mission to Madrid as a punishment for his ill-timed
+suggestions.]
+
+[Footnote 169: Thibaudeau, _op. cit_., vol. ii., p. 55. Miot de
+Melito, ch. xii.]
+
+[Footnote 170: It seems clear, from the evidence so frankly given by
+Cadoudal in his trial in 1804, as well as from his expressions when he
+heard of the affair of Nivôse, that the hero of the Chouans had no
+part in the bomb affair. He had returned to France, had empowered St.
+Réjant to buy arms and horses, "dont je me servirai plus tard"; and it
+seems certain that he intended to form a band of desperate men who
+were to waylay, kidnap, or kill the First Consul in open fight. This
+plan was deferred by the bomb explosion for three years. As soon as he
+heard of this event, he exclaimed: "I'll bet that it was that---- St.
+Réjant. He has upset all my plans." (See "Georges Cadoudal," par G. de
+Cadoudal.)]
+
+[Footnote 171: Roederer, "Oeuvres," vol. iii., p. 352. For these
+negotiations see Bowman's "Preliminary Stages of the Peace of Amiens"
+(Toronto, 1899).]
+
+[Footnote 172: Porter, "Progress of the Nation," ch. xiv.]
+
+[Footnote 173: "New Letters of Napoleon I." See too his letter of June
+17th.]
+
+[Footnote 174: "Cornwallis Correspondence," vol. iii., pp. 380-382.
+Few records exist of the negotiations between Lord Hawkesbury and M.
+Otto at London. I have found none in the Foreign Office archives. The
+general facts are given by Garden, "Traités," vol. vii., ch. xxxi.;
+only a few of the discussions were reduced to writing. This seriously
+prejudiced our interests at Amiens.]
+
+[Footnote 175: Lefebvre, "Cabinets de l'Europe," ch. iv]
+
+[Footnote 176: Chaptal. "Mes Souvenirs," pp. 287, 291, and 359.]
+
+[Footnote 177: See Chapter XIV. of this work.]
+
+[Footnote 178: Thibaudeau, _op. cit_., ch. xxvi.; Lavisse, "Napoléon,"
+ch. i.]
+
+[Footnote 179: "A Diary of St. Helena," by Lady Malcolm, p. 97.]
+
+[Footnote 180: "The Two Duchesses," edited by Vere Foster, p. 172.
+Lord Malmesbury ("Diaries," vol. iv., p. 257) is less favourable:
+"When B. is out of his ceremonious habits, his language is often
+coarse and vulgar."]
+
+[Footnote 181: Jurien de la Graviere, "Guerres Maritimes," vol. ii.,
+chap. vii.]
+
+[Footnote 182: These facts were fully acknowledged later by Otto: see
+his despatch of January 6th, 1802, to Talleyrand, published by Du
+Casse in his "Négociations relatives au Traité d'Amiens," vol. iii.]
+
+[Footnote 183: "F.O.," France, No. 59. The memoir is dated October
+19th, 1801.]
+
+[Footnote 184: "F.O.," France, No. 59.]
+
+[Footnote 185: Castlereagh, "Letters and Despatches," Second Series,
+vol. i., p. 62, and the speeches of Ministers on November 3rd, 1801.]
+
+[Footnote 186: Cornwallis, "Correspondence," vol. iii., despatch of
+December 3rd, 1801. The feelings of the native Maltese were strongly
+for annexation to Britain, and against the return of the Order at all.
+They sent a deputation to London (February, 1802), which was shabbily
+treated by our Government so as to avoid offending Bonaparte. (See
+"Correspondence of W.A. Miles," vol. ii., pp. 323-329, who drew up
+their memorial.)]
+
+[Footnote 187: Cornwallis's despatches of January 10th and 23rd,
+1802.]
+
+[Footnote 188: Project of a treaty forwarded by Cornwallis to London
+on December 27th, 1801, in the Public Record Office, No. 615.]
+
+[Footnote 189: See the "Paget Papers," vol. ii. France gained the
+right of admission to the Black Sea: the despatches of Mr. Merry from
+Paris in May, 1802, show that France and Russia were planning schemes
+of partition of Turkey. ("F.O.," France, No. 62.)]
+
+[Footnote 190: The despatches of March 14th and 22nd, 1802, show how
+strong was the repugnance of our Government to this shabby treatment
+of the Prince of Orange; and it is clear that Cornwallis exceeded his
+instructions in signing peace on those terms. (See Garden, vol. vii.,
+p. 142.) By a secret treaty with Prussia (May, 1802), France procured
+Fulda for the House of Orange.]
+
+[Footnote 191: Pasolini, "Memorie," _ad init_.]
+
+[Footnote 192: "Lettres inédites de Talleyrand à Napoléon" (Paris,
+1889).]
+
+[Footnote 193: Mr. Jackson's despatch of February 17th, 1802, from
+Paris. According to Miot de Melito ("Mems.," ch. xiv.), Bonaparte had
+offered the post of President to his brother Joseph, but fettered it
+by so many restrictions that Joseph declined the honour.]
+
+[Footnote 194: Roederer tells us ("OEuvres," vol. iii., p. 428) that
+he had drawn up two plans of a constitution for the Cisalpine; the one
+very short and leaving much to the President, the other precise and
+detailed. He told Talleyrand to advise Bonaparte to adopt the former
+as it was "_short and_"--he was about to add "_clear_" when the
+diplomatist cut him short with the words, "_Yes: short and obscure!_"]
+
+[Footnote 195: Napoleon's letter of February 2nd, 1802, to Joseph
+Bonaparte; see too Cornwallis's memorandum of February 18th.]
+
+[Footnote 196: It is only fair to Cornwallis to quote the letter,
+marked "Private," which he received from Hawkesbury at the same time
+that he was bidden to stand firm:
+
+"DOWNING STREET, _March 22nd_, 1802.
+
+"I think it right to inform you that I have had a confidential
+communication with Otto, who will use his utmost endeavours to induce
+his Government to agree to the articles respecting the Prince of
+Orange and the prisoners in the shape in which they are now proposed.
+I have very little doubt of his success, and I should hope therefore
+that you will soon be released. I need not remind you of the
+importance of sending your most expeditious messenger the moment our
+fate is determined. The Treasury is almost exhausted, and Mr.
+Addington cannot well make his loan in the present state of
+uncertainty."]
+
+[Footnote 197: See the British notes of November 6th-16th, 1801, in
+the "Cornwallis Correspondence," vol. iii. In his speech in the House
+of Lords, May 13th, 1802, Lord Grenville complained that we had had to
+send to the West Indies in time of peace a fleet double as large as
+that kept there during the late war.]
+
+[Footnote 198: For these and the following negotiations see Lucien
+Bonaparte's "Mémoires," vol. ii., and Garden's "Traités de Paix," vol.
+iii., ch. xxxiv. The Hon. H. Taylor, in "The North American Review" of
+November, 1898, has computed that the New World was thus divided in
+1801:
+
+  Spain             7,028,000 square miles.
+  Great Britain     3,719,000   "      "
+  Portugal          3,209,000   "      "
+  United States       827,000   "      "
+  Russia              577,000   "      "
+  France               29,000   "      "
+
+[Footnote 199: "History of the United States, 1801-1813," by H. Adams,
+vol. i, p. 409.]
+
+[Footnote 200: Napoleon's letter of November 2nd, 1802.]
+
+[Footnote 201: Merry's despatch of October 21st, 1802.]
+
+[Footnote 202: The instructions which he sent to Victor supply an
+interesting commentary on French colonial policy: "The system of this,
+as of all our other colonies, should be to concentrate its commerce in
+the national commerce: it should especially aim at establishing its
+relations with our Antilles, so as to take the place in those colonies
+of the American commerce.... The captain-general should abstain from
+every innovation favourable to strangers, who should be restricted to
+such communications as are absolutely indispensable to the prosperity
+of Louisiana."]
+
+[Footnote 203: Lucien Bonaparte, "Mémoires," vol. ii., ch. ix. He
+describes Josephine's alarm at this ill omen at a time when rumours of
+a divorce were rife.]
+
+[Footnote 204: Harbé-Marbois, "Hist. de Louisiana," quoted by H.
+Adams, _op. cit._, vol. ii., p. 27; Roloff, "Napoleon's Colonial
+Politik."]
+
+[Footnote 205: Garden, "Traités," vol. viii., ch. xxxiv. See too
+Roederer, "Oeuvres," vol. iii., p. 461, for Napoleon's expressions
+after dinner on January 11th, 1803: "Maudit sucre, maudit café,
+maudites colonies."]
+
+[Footnote 206: Cornwallis, "Correspondence," vol. iii., despatch of
+December 3rd, 1801.]
+
+[Footnote 207: See the valuable articles on General Decaen's papers in
+the "Revue historique" of 1879 and of 1881.]
+
+[Footnote 208: Dumas' "Précis des Événements Militaires," vol. xi., p.
+189. The version of these instructions presented by Thiers, book xvi.,
+is utterly misleading.]
+
+[Footnote 209: Lord Whitworth, our ambassador in Paris, stated
+(despatch of March 24th, 1803) that Decaen was to be quietly
+reinforced by troops in French pay sent out by every French, Spanish,
+or Dutch ship going to India, so as to avoid attracting notice.
+("England and Napoleon," edited by Oscar Browning, p. 137.)]
+
+[Footnote 210: See my article, "The French East India Expedition at
+the Cape," and unpublished documents in the "Eng. Hist. Rev." of
+January, 1900. French designs on the Cape strengthened our resolve to
+acquire it, as we prepared to do in the summer of 1805.]
+
+[Footnote 211: Wellesley, "Despatches," vol. iii., Appendix, despatch
+of August 1st, 1803. See too Castlereagh's "Letters and Despatches,"
+Second Series, vol. i., pp. 166-176, for Lord Elgin's papers and
+others, all of 1802, describing the utter weakness of Turkey, the
+probability of Egypt falling to any invader, of Caucasia and Persia
+being menaced by Russia, and the need of occupying Aden as a check to
+any French designs on India from Suez.]
+
+[Footnote 212: Wellesley's despatch of July 13th, 1804: with it he
+inclosed an intercepted despatch, dated Pondicherry, August 6th, 1803,
+a "Mémoire sur l'Importance actuelle de l'Inde et les moyens les plus
+efficaces d'y rétablir la Nation Française dans son ancienne
+splendeur." The writer, Lieutenant Lefebvre, set forth the
+unpopularity of the British in India and the immense wealth which
+France could gain from its conquest.]
+
+[Footnote 213: The report of the Imaum is given in Castlereagh's
+"Letters," Second Series, vol. i., p. 203.]
+
+[Footnote 214: "Voyage de Découverte aux Terres Australes sur les
+Corvettes, le Géographe et le Naturaliste," rédigé par M.F. Péron
+(Paris, 1807-15). From the Atlas the accompanying map has been
+copied.]
+
+[Footnote 215: His later mishaps may here be briefly recounted. Being
+compelled to touch at the Ile de France for repairs to his ship, he
+was there seized and detained as a spy by General Decaen, until the
+chivalrous intercession of the French explorer, Bougainville, finally
+availed to procure his release in the year 1810. The conduct of Decaen
+was the more odious, as the French crews during their stay at Sydney
+in the autumn of 1802, when the news of the Peace of Amiens was as yet
+unknown, had received not only much help in the repair of their ships,
+but most generous personal attentions, officials and private persons
+at Sydney agreeing to put themselves on short rations in that season
+of dearth in order that the explorers might have food. Though this
+fact was brought to Decaen's knowledge by the brother of Commodore
+Baudin, he none the less refused to acknowledge the validity of the
+passport which Flinders, as a geographical explorer, had received from
+the French authorities, but detained him in captivity for seven years.
+For the details see "A Voyage of Discovery to the Australian Isles,"
+by Captain Flinders (London, 1814), vol. ii., chs. vii.-ix. The names
+given by Flinders on the coasts of Western and South Australia have
+been retained owing to the priority of his investigation: but the
+French names have been kept on the coast between the mouth of the
+Murray and Bass Strait for the same reason.]
+
+[Footnote 216: See Baudin's letter to King of December 23rd, 1803, in
+vol. v. (Appendix) of "Historical Records of New South Wales," and the
+other important letters and despatches contained there, as also
+_ibid_., pp. 133 and 376.]
+
+[Footnote 217: Mr. Merry's ciphered despatch from Paris, May 7th,
+1802.]
+
+[Footnote 218: It is impossible to enter into the complicated question
+of the reconstruction of Germany effected in 1802-3. A general
+agreement had been made at Rastadt that, as an indemnity for the
+losses of German States in the conquest of the Rhineland by France,
+they should receive the ecclesiastical lands of the old Empire. The
+Imperial Diet appointed a delegation to consider the whole question;
+but before this body assembled (on August 24th, 1802), a number of
+treaties had been secretly made at Paris, with the approval of Russia,
+which favoured Prussia and depressed Austria. Austria received the
+archbishoprics of Trent and Brixen: while her Archdukes (formerly of
+Tuscany and Modena) were installed in Salzburg and Breisgau. Prussia,
+as the _protégé_ of France, gained Hildesheim, Paderborn, Erfurt, the
+city of Münster, etc. Bavaria received Würzburg, Bamberg, Augsburg,
+Passau, etc. See Garden, "Traités," vol. vii., ch. xxxii.; "Annual
+Register" of 1802, pp. 648-665; Oncken, "Consulat und Kaiserthum,"
+vol. ii.; and Beer's "Zehn Jahre Oesterreichischer Politik."]
+
+[Footnote 219: The British notes of April 28th and May 8th, 1803,
+again demanded a suitable indemnity for the King of Sardinia.]
+
+[Footnote 220: See his letters of January 28th, 1801, February 27th,
+March 10th, March 25th, April 10th, and May 16th, published in a work,
+"Bonaparte, Talleyrand et Stapfer" (Zürich, 1869).]
+
+[Footnote 221: Daendliker, "Geschichte der Schweiz," vol. iii., p.
+418; Muralt's "Reinhard," p. 55; and Stapfer's letter of April 28th:
+"Malgré cette apparente neutralité que le gouvernement français
+déclare vouloir observer pour le moment, différentes circonstances me
+persuadent qu'il a vu avec plaisir passer la direction des affaires
+des mains de la majorité du Sénat [helvétique] dans celles de la
+minorité du Petit Conseil."]
+
+[Footnote 222: Garden, "Traités," vol. viii., p. 10. Mr. Merry, our
+_chargé d'affaires_ at Paris, reported July 21st; "M. Stapfer makes a
+boast of having obtained the First Consul's consent to withdraw the
+French troops entirely from Switzerland. I learn from some
+well-disposed Swiss who are here that such a consent has been given;
+but they consider it only as a measure calculated to increase the
+disturbances in their country and to furnish a pretext for the French
+to enter it again."]
+
+[Footnote 223: Reding, in a pamphlet published shortly after this
+time, gave full particulars of his interviews with Bonaparte at Paris,
+and stated that he had fully approved of his (Reding's) federal plans.
+Neither Bonaparte nor Talleyrand ever denied this.]
+
+[Footnote 224: See "Paget Papers," vol. ii., despatches of October
+29th, 1802, and January 28th, 1803.]
+
+[Footnote 225: Napoleon avowed this in his speech to the Swiss
+deputies at St. Cloud, December 12th, 1802.]
+
+[Footnote 226: Lord Hawkesbury's note of October 10th, 1802, the
+appeal of the Swiss, and the reply of Mr. Moore from Constance, are
+printed in full in the papers presented to Parliament, May 18th, 1803.
+
+The Duke of Orleans wrote from Twickenham a remarkable letter to Pitt,
+dated October 18th, 1802, offering to go as leader to the Swiss in the
+cause of Swiss and of European independence: "I am a natural enemy to
+Bonaparte and to all similar Governments....England and Austria can
+find in me all the advantages of my being a French prince. Dispose of
+me, Sir, and show me the way. I will follow it." See Stanhope's "Life
+of Pitt," vol. iii., ch. xxxiii.]
+
+[Footnote 227: See Roederer, "Œuvres," vol. iii., p. 454, for the
+curious changes which Napoleon prescribed in the published reports of
+these speeches; also Stapfer's despatch of February 3rd, 1803, which
+is more trustworthy than the official version in Napoleon's
+"Correspondance." This, however, contains the menacing sentence: "It
+is recognized by Europe that Italy and Holland, as well as
+Switzerland, are at the disposition of France."]
+
+[Footnote 228: It is only fair to say that they had recognized their
+mistake and had recently promised equality of rights to the formerly
+subject districts and to all classes. See Muralt's "Reinhard," p.
+113.]
+
+[Footnote 229: See, _inter alia_, the "Moniteur" of August 8th,
+October 9th, November 6th, 1802; of January 1st and 9th, February
+19th, 1803.]
+
+[Footnote 230: Lord Whitworth's despatches of February 28th and March
+3rd, 1803, in Browning's "England and Napoleon."]
+
+[Footnote 231: Secret instructions to Lord Whitworth, November 14th,
+1802.]
+
+[Footnote 232: "Foreign Office Records," Russia, No. 50.]
+
+[Footnote 233: In his usually accurate "Manuel historique de Politique
+Etrangère" (vol. ii., p. 238), M. Bourgeois states that in May, 1802,
+Lord St. Helens succeeded in persuading the Czar _not_ to give his
+guarantee to the clause respecting Malta. Every despatch that I have
+read runs exactly counter to this statement: the fact is that the Czar
+took umbrage at the treaty and refused to listen to our repeated
+requests for his guarantee. Thiers rightly states that the British
+Ministry pressed the Czar to give his guarantee, but that France long
+neglected to send her application. Why this neglect if she wished to
+settle matters?]
+
+[Footnote 234: Castlereagh's "Letters and Despatches," Second Series,
+vol. i., pp. 56 and 69; Dumas' "Evénements," ix. 91.]
+
+[Footnote 235: Mémoire of Francis II. to Cobenzl (March 31st, 1801),
+in Beer, "Die Orientalische Politik Oesterreichs," Appendix.]
+
+[Footnote 236: "Memoirs," vol. i., ch. xiii.]
+
+[Footnote 237: Ulmann's "Russisch-Preussische Politik, 1801-1806," pp.
+10-12.]
+
+[Footnote 238: Warren reported (December 10th, 1802) that Vorontzoff
+warned him to be very careful as to the giving up of Malta; and, on
+January 19th, Czartoryski told him that "the Emperor wished the
+English to keep Malta." Bonaparte had put in a claim for the Morea to
+indemnify the Bourbons and the House of Savoy. ("F.O.," Russia, No.
+51.)]
+
+[Footnote 239: Browning's "England and Napoleon," pp. 88-91.]
+
+[Footnote 240: "F.O.," France, No. 72.]
+
+[Footnote 241: We were undertaking that mediation. Lord Elgin's
+despatch from Constantinople, January 15th, 1803, states that he had
+induced the Porte to allow the Mamelukes to hold the province of
+Assouan. (Turkey, No. 38.)]
+
+[Footnote 242: Papers presented to Parliament on May 18th, 1803. I
+pass over the insults to General Stuart, as Sebastiani on February 2nd
+recanted to Lord Whitworth everything he had said, or had been made to
+say, on that topic, and mentioned Stuart "in terms of great esteem."
+According to Méneval ("Mems.," vol i., ch. iii.), Jaubert, who had
+been with Sebastiani, saw a proof of the report, as printed for the
+"Moniteur," and advised the omission of the most irritating passages;
+but Maret dared not take the responsibility for making such omissions.
+Lucien Bonaparte ("Mems.," vol. ii., ch. ix.) has another
+version--less credible, I think--that Napoleon himself dictated the
+final draft of the report to Sebastiani; and when the latter showed
+some hesitation, the First Consul muttered, as the most irritating
+passages were read out: "Parbleu, nous verrons si ceci--si cela--ne
+décidera pas John Bull à guerroyer." Joseph was much distressed about
+it, and exclaimed: "Ah, mon pauvre traité d'Amiens! Il ne tient plus
+qu'à un fil."]
+
+[Footnote 243: So Adams's "Hist, of the U.S.," vol. ii., pp. 12-21.]
+
+[Footnote 244: Miot de Melito, "Mems.," vol. i, ch. xv., quotes the
+words of Joseph Bonaparte to him: "Let him [Napoleon] once more drench
+Europe with blood in a war that he could have avoided, and which, but
+for the outrageous mission on which he sent his Sebastiani, would
+never have occurred."
+
+Talleyrand laboured hard to persuade Lord Whitworth that Sebastiani's
+mission was "solely commercial": Napoleon, in his long conversation
+with our ambassador, "did not affect to attribute it to commercial
+motives only," but represented it as necessitated by our infraction of
+the Treaty of Amiens. This excuse is as insincere as the former. The
+instructions to Sebastiani were drawn up on September 5th, 1802, when
+the British Ministry was about to fulfil the terms of the treaty
+relative to Malta and was vainly pressing Russia and Prussia for the
+guarantee of its independence]
+
+[Footnote 245: Despatch of February 21st.]
+
+[Footnote 246: "View of the State of the Republic," read to the Corps
+Législatif on February 21st, 1803.]
+
+[Footnote 247: Papers presented to Parliament May 18th, 1803. See too
+Pitt's speech, May 23rd, 1803.]
+
+[Footnote 248: See Russell's proclamation of July 22nd to the men of
+Antrim that "he doubted not but the French were then fighting in
+Scotland." ("Ann. Reg.," 1803, p. 246.) This document is ignored by
+Plowden ("Hist. of Ireland, 1801-1810").]
+
+[Footnote249: Despatch of March 14th, 1803. Compare it with the very
+mild version in Napoleon's "Corresp.," No. 6636.]
+
+[Footnote 250: Lord Hawkesbury to General Andreossy, March 10th.]
+
+[Footnote 251: Lord Hawkesbury to Lord Whitworth, April 4th, 1803.]
+
+[Footnote 252: Despatches of April 11th and 18th, 1803.]
+
+[Footnote 253: Whitworth to Hawkesbury, April 23rd.]
+
+[Footnote 254: Czartoryski ("Mems.," vol. i., ch. xiii.) calls him "an
+excellent admiral but an indifferent diplomatist--a perfect
+representative of the nullity and incapacity of the Addington Ministry
+which had appointed him. The English Government was seldom happy in
+its ambassadors." So Earl Minto's "Letters," vol. iii., p. 279.]
+
+[Footnote 255: See Lord Malmesbury's "Diaries" (vol. iv., p. 253) as
+to the bad results of Whitworth's delay.]
+
+[Footnote 256: Note of May 12th, 1803: see "England and Napoleon," p.
+249.]
+
+[Footnote 257: "Corresp.," vol. viii., No. 6743.]
+
+[Footnote 258: See Romilly's letter to Dumont, May 31st, 1803
+("Memoirs," vol. i.).]
+
+[Footnote 259: "Lettres inédites de Talleyrand," November 3rd, 1802.
+In his letter of May 3rd, 1803, to Lord Whitworth, M. Huber reports
+Fouché's outspoken warning in the Senate to Bonaparte: "Vous êtes
+vous-même, ainsi que nous, un résultat de la révolution, et la guerre
+remet tout en problème. On vous flatte en vous faisant compter sur les
+principes révolutionnaires des autres nations: _le résultat de notre
+révolution les a anéantis partout._"]
+
+[Footnote 260: A copy of this letter, with the detailed proposals, is
+in our Foreign Office archives (Russia, No. 52).]
+
+[Footnote 261: Bourgeois, "Manuel de Politique Etrangère," vol. ii.,
+p. 243.]
+
+[Footnote 262: See Castlereagh's "Letters and Despatches," Second
+Series, vol. i., pp. 75-82, as to the need of conciliating public
+opinion, even by accepting Corfu as a set-off for Malta, provided a
+durable peace could thus be secured.]
+
+[Footnote 263: "Lettres inédites de Talleyrand," August 21st, 1803.]
+
+[Footnote 264: Garden, "Traités," vol. viii., p. 191.]
+
+[Footnote 265: Holland was required to furnish 16,000 troops and
+maintain 18,000 French, to provide 10 ships of war and 350 gunboats.]
+
+[Footnote 266: "Corresp.," May 23rd, 1803.]
+
+[Footnote 267: Nelson's letters of July 2nd. See too Mahan's "Life of
+Nelson," vol. ii., pp. 180-188, and Napoleon's letters of November
+24th, 1803, encouraging the Mamelukes to look to France.]
+
+[Footnote 268: "Foreign Office Records," Sicily and Naples, No. 55,
+July 25th.]
+
+[Footnote 269: Letter of July 28th, 1803.]
+
+[Footnote 270: "Nap. Corresp.," August 23rd, 1803, and Oncken, ch. v.]
+
+[Footnote 271: "Corresp.," vol. viii., No. 6627.]
+
+[Footnote 272: Lefebvre, "Cabinets de l'Europe," ch. viii.; "Nap.
+Corresp.," vol. viii., Nos. 6979, 6985, 7007, 7098, 7113.]
+
+[Footnote 273: The French and Dutch ships in commission were: ships of
+the line, 48; frigates, 37; corvettes, 22; gun-brigs, etc., 124;
+flotilla, 2,115. (See "Mems. of the Earl of St. Vincent," vol. ii., p.
+218.)]
+
+[Footnote 274: Pellew's "Life of Lord Sidmouth," vol. ii., p. 239.]
+
+[Footnote 275: Stanhope's "Life of Pitt," vol. iv., p. 213.]
+
+[Footnote 276: Roederer, " OEuvres," vol. iii., p. 348; Méneval, vol.
+i., ch. iv.]
+
+[Footnote 277: Lucien ("Mems.," vol. iii., pp. 315-320) says at
+Malmaison; but Napoleon's "Correspondance" shows that it was at St.
+Cloud. Masson (" Nap. et sa Famille," ch. xii.) throws doubt on the
+story.]
+
+[Footnote 278:_Ibid_., p. 318. The scene was described by Murat: the
+real phrase was _coquine_, but it was softened down by Murat to
+_maîtresse_.]
+
+[Footnote 279: Miot de Melito, "Mems.," vol. 1., ch. xv. Lucien
+settled in the Papal States, where he, the quondam Jacobin and proven
+libertine, later on received from the Pope the title of Prince de
+Canino.]
+
+[Footnote 280: "Lettres inédites de Napoléon," April 22nd, 1805.]
+
+[Footnote 281: Pasquier, "Mems.," vol. i., p. 167, and Boulay de la
+Meurthe, "Les dernières Années du duc d'Enghien," p. 299. An
+intriguing royalist of Neufchâtel, Fauche-Borel, had been to England
+in 1802 to get the help of the Addington Ministry, but failed. See
+Caudrillier's articles in the "Revue Historique," Nov., 1900--March,
+1901.]
+
+[Footnote 282: Madelin's "Fouché," vol. i., p. 368, minimizes Fouché's
+_rôle_ here.]
+
+[Footnote 283: Desmarest, "Témoignages historiques," pp. 78-82.]
+
+[Footnote 284: "Alliance des Jacobins de France avec le Ministère
+Anglais."]
+
+[Footnote 285: Brit. Mus., "Add. MSS.," Nos. 7976 _et seq_.]
+
+[Footnote 286: In our Records (France, No. 71) is a letter of Count
+Descars, dated London, March 25th, 1805, to Lord Mulgrave, Minister
+for War, rendering an account for various sums advanced by our
+Government for the royalist "army."]
+
+[Footnote 287: "Paget Papers," vol. ii., p. 96.]
+
+[Footnote 288: "Parl. Debates," April, 1804 (esp. April 16th). The
+official denial is, of course, accepted by Alison, ch. xxxviii.]
+
+[Footnote 289: The expression is that of George III., who further
+remarked that all the ambassadors despised Hawkesbury. (Rose,
+"Diaries," vol. ii., p. 157.) Windham's letter, dated Beaconsfield,
+August 16th, 1803, in the Puisaye Papers, warned the French _émigrés_
+that they must not count on any aid from Ministers, who had "at all
+times shown such feebleness of spirit, that they can scarcely dare to
+lift their eyes to such aims as you indicate. ("Add. MSS.," No.
+7976.)]
+
+[Footnote 290: See in chapter xxi., p. 488. Our envoy, Spencer Smith,
+at Stuttgart, was also taken in by a French spy, Captain Rosey, whose
+actions were directed by Napoleon. See his letter (No. 7669).]
+
+[Footnote 291: "F.O.," Austria, No. 68 (October 31st, 1803).]
+
+[Footnote 292: Lavalette, "Mems.," ch. xxiii.; "Georges Cadoudal," by
+Georges de Cadoudal (Paris, 1887).]
+
+[Footnote 293: See his letter of January 24th, 1804, to Réal,
+instructing him to tell Méhée what falsehoods are to find a place in
+Méhée's next bulletin to Drake! "Keep on continually with the affair
+of my portfolio."]
+
+[Footnote 294: Miot de Melito, vol. i., ch. xvi.; Pasquier, vol. i.,
+ch. vii. See also Desmarest, "Quinze ans de la haute police": his
+claim that the police previously knew nothing of the plot is refuted
+by Napoleon's letters (e.g., that of November 1st, 1803); as also by
+Guilhermy, "Papiers d'un Emigré," p. 122.]
+
+[Footnote 295: Ségur, "Mems.," ch. x. Bonaparte to Murat and Harel,
+March 20th.]
+
+[Footnote 296: Letter to Réal, "Corresp.," No. 7639.]
+
+[Footnote 297: The original is in "F.O." (Austria, No. 68).]
+
+[Footnote 298: Pasquier, "Mémoires," vol. i., p. 187.]
+
+[Footnote 299: The Comte de Mosbourg's notes in Count Murat's "Murat"
+(Paris, 1897), pp. 437-445, prove that Savary did not draw his
+instructions for the execution of the duke merely from Murat, but from
+Bonaparte himself, who must therefore be held solely responsible for
+the composition and conduct of that court. Masson's attempt ("Nap. et
+sa Famille," ch. xiv.) to inculpate Murat is very weak.]
+
+[Footnote 300: Hulin in "Catastrophe du duc d'Enghien," p. 118.]
+
+[Footnote 301: Dupin in "Catastrophe du duc d'Enghien," pp. 101, 123.]
+
+[Footnote 302: The only excuse which calls for notice here is that
+Napoleon at the last moment, when urged by Joseph to be merciful, gave
+way, and despatched orders late at night to Réal to repair to
+Vincennes. Réal received some order, the exact purport of which is
+unknown: it was late at night and he postponed going till the morrow.
+On his way he met Savary, who came towards Paris bringing the news of
+the duke's execution. Réal's first words, on hearing this unexpected
+news, were: "How is that possible? I had so many questions to put to
+the duke: his examination might disclose so much. Another thing gone
+wrong; the First Consul will be furious." These words were afterwards
+repeated to Pasquier both by Savary and by Real: and, unless Pasquier
+lied, the belated order sent to Réal was not a pardon (and Napoleon on
+his last voyage said to Cockburn it was not), but merely an order to
+extract such information from the duke as would compromise other
+Frenchmen. Besides, if Napoleon had despatched an order for the duke's
+_pardon_, why was not that order produced as a sign of his innocence
+and Réal's blundering? Why did he shut himself up in his private room
+on March 20th, so that even Josephine had difficulty in gaining
+entrance? And if he really desired to pardon the duke, how came it
+that when, at noon of March 21st, Réal explained that he arrived at
+Vincennes too late, the only words that escaped Napoleon's lips were
+"C'est bien"? (See Méneval, vol. i, p. 296.) Why also was his
+countenance the only one that afterwards showed no remorse or grief?
+Caulaincourt, when he heard the results of his raid into Baden,
+fainted with horror, and when brought to by Bonaparte, overwhelmed him
+with reproaches. Why also had the grave been dug beforehand? Why,
+finally, were Savary and Réal not disgraced? No satisfactory answer to
+these questions has ever been given. The "Catastrophe du duc
+d'Enghien" and Count Boulay de la Meurthe's "Les dernières Années du
+duc d'Enghien" and Napoleon's "Correspondance" give all the documents
+needed for forming a judgment on this case. The evidence is examined
+by Mr. Fay in "The American Hist. Rev.," July and Oct., 1898. For the
+rewards to the murderers see Masson, "Nap. et sa Famille," chap.
+xiii.]
+
+[Footnote 303: Ducasse, "Les Rois Frères de Nap.," p. 9.]
+
+[Footnote 304: Miot de Melito; vol. ii., ch. i.; Pasquier, vol. i.,
+ch. ix.]
+
+[Footnote 305: I cannot agree with M. Lanfrey, vol. ii., ch. xi., that
+the Empire was not desired by the nation. It seems to me that this
+writer here attributes to the apathetic masses his own unrivalled
+acuteness of vision and enthusiasm for democracy. Lafayette well sums
+up the situation in the remark that he was more shocked at the
+submission of all than at the usurpation of one man ("Mems.," vol. v.,
+p. 239).]
+
+[Footnote 306: See Aulard, "Rév. Française," p. 772, for the
+opposition.]
+
+[Footnote 307: Roederer, "Œuvres," vol. iii., p. 513.]
+
+[Footnote 308: Macdonald, "Souvenirs," ch. xii.; Ségur, "Mems.," ch.
+vii. When Thiébault congratulated Masséna on his new title, the
+veteran scoffingly replied: "Oh, there are fourteen of us."
+(Thiébault, "Mems.," ch. vii., Eng. edit.) See too Marmont ("Mems.,"
+vol. ii., p. 227) on his own exclusion and the inclusion of
+Bessières.]
+
+[Footnote 309: Chaptal, "Souvenirs," p. 262. For Moreau's popularity
+see Madelin's "Fouché," vol. i., p. 422.]
+
+[Footnote 310: At the next public audience Napoleon upbraided one of
+the judges, Lecourbe, who had maintained that Moreau was innocent, and
+thereafter deprived him of his judgeship. He also disgraced his
+brother, General Lecourbe, and forbade his coming within forty leagues
+of Paris. ("Lettres inédites de Napoléon," August 22nd and 29th,
+1805.)]
+
+[Footnote 311: Miot de Melito, vol ii., ch. i.]
+
+[Footnote 312: Napoleon to Roederer, "Œuvres," vol. iii., p. 514.]
+
+[Footnote 313: Lafayette, "Mems.," vol. v., p. 182.]
+
+[Footnote 314: "Mémoires de Savary, Duc de Rovigo." So Bourrienne, who
+was informed by Rapp, who was present (vol. ii., ch. xxxiii.). The
+"Moniteur" (4th Frimaire, Year XIII.) asserted that the Pope took the
+right-hand seat; but I distrust its version.]
+
+[Footnote 315: Mme. de Rémusat, vol. i., ch. x. As the _curé_ of the
+parish was not present, even as witness, this new contract was held by
+the Bonapartes to lack full validity. It is certain, however, that
+Fesch always maintained that the marriage could only be annulled by an
+act of arbitrary authority. For Napoleon's refusal to receive the
+communion on the morning of the coronation, lest he, being what he
+was, should be guilty of sacrilege and hypocrisy, see Ségur.]
+
+[Footnote 316: Ségur, ch. xi.]
+
+[Footnote 317: F. Masson's "Joséphine, Impératrice et Reine," p. 229.
+For the Pitt diamond, see Yule's pamphlet and Sir M. Grant Duff's
+"Diary," June 30, 1888.]
+
+[Footnote 318: De Bausset, "Court de Napoléon," ch. ii.]
+
+[Footnote 319: "Foreign Office Records," Intelligences, No. 426.]
+
+[Footnote 320: "Life of Fulton," by Colden(1817); also one by Reigart
+(1856).]
+
+[Footnote 321: Jurien de la Gravière, "Guerres Maritimes," vol. ii.,
+p. 75; Chevalier, "Hist. de la Marine Française," p. 105; Capt.
+Desbrière's "Projets de Débarquement aux Iles Britanniques," vol. i.
+The accompanying engraving shows how fantastic were some of the
+earlier French schemes of invasion.]
+
+[Footnote 322: "Mémoires du Maréchal Ney," bk. vii., ch. i.; so too
+Marmont, vol. ii., p. 213; Mahan, "Sea Power," ch. xv.]
+
+[Footnote 323: Roederer, "OEuvres," vol. iii., p. 494.]
+
+[Footnote 324: Colonel Campbell, our Commissioner at Elba, noted in
+his diary (December 5th, 1814): "As I have perceived in many
+conversations, Napoleon has no idea of the difficulties occasioned by
+winds and tides, but judges of changes of position in the case of
+ships as he would with regard to troops on land."]
+
+[Footnote 325: Jurien de la Gravière, vol. ii., p. 88, who says: "His
+mild and melancholy disposition, his sad and modest behaviour, ill
+suited the Emperor's ambitious plans."]
+
+[Footnote 326: "Corresp.," No. 8063. See too No. 7996 for Napoleon's
+plan of carrying a howitzer in the bows of his gun vessels so that his
+projectiles might _burst in the wood_. Already at Boulogne he had
+uttered the prophetic words: "We must have shells that will shiver the
+wooden sides of ships."]
+
+[Footnote 327: James, "Naval History," vol. iii., p. 213, and
+Chevalier, p. 115, imply that Villeneuve's fleet from Toulon, after
+scouring the West Indies, was to rally the Rochefort force and cover
+the Boulogne flotilla: but this finds no place in Napoleon's September
+plan, which required Gantheaume first to land troops in Ireland and
+then convoy the flotilla across if the weather were favourable, or if
+it were stormy to beat down the Channel with the troops from Holland.
+See O'Connor Morris, "Campaigns of Nelson," p. 121.]
+
+[Footnote 328: Colomb, "Naval Warfare," p. 18.]
+
+[Footnote 329: Jurien de la Gravière, vol. ii., p. 100. Nelson was
+aware of the fallacies that crowded Napoleon's brain: "Bonaparte has
+often made his boast that our fleet would be worn out by keeping the
+sea, and that his was kept in order and increasing by staying in port;
+but he now finds, I fancy, if emperors hear truth, that his fleet
+suffers more in a night than ours in one year."--Nelson to
+Collingwood, March 13th, 1805.]
+
+[Footnote 330: Garden, "Traités," vol. viii., pp. 276-290; also Capt.
+Mahan, "Influence of Sea Power, etc.," vol. ii., ch. xv. _ad fin_. He
+quotes the opinion of a Spanish historian, Don José de Couto: "If all
+the circumstances are properly weighed ... we shall see that all the
+charges made against England for the seizure of the frigates may be
+reduced to want of proper foresight in the strength of the force
+detailed to effect it."--In the Admiralty secret letters (1804-16) I
+have found the instructions to Sir J. Orde, with the Swiftsure,
+Polyphemus, Agamemnon, Ruby, Defence, Lively, and two sloops, to seize
+the treasure-ships. No fight seems to have been expected.]
+
+[Footnote 331: "Corresp.," No. 8379; Mahan, _ibid_., vol. ii., p.
+149.]
+
+[Footnote 332: Letter of April 29th, 1805. I cannot agree with Mahan
+(p. 155) that this was intended only to distract us.]
+
+[Footnote 333: "Lettres inédites de Talleyrand," p. 121.]
+
+[Footnote 334: Jurien de la Gravière, vol. ii., p. 367.]
+
+[Footnote 335: Thiers writes, most disingenuously, as though
+Napoleon's letters of August 13th and 22nd could have influenced
+Villeneuve.]
+
+[Footnote 336: Dupin, "Voyages dans la Grande Bretagne" (tome i., p.
+244), who had the facts from Daru. But, as Méneval sensibly says
+("Mems.," vol. i., ch. v.), it was not Napoleon's habit dramatically
+to dictate his plans so far in advance. Certainly, _in military
+matters,_ he always kept his imagination subservient to facts. Not
+until September 22nd, did he make any written official notes on the
+final moves of his chief corps; besides, the Austrians did not cross
+the Inn till September 8th.]
+
+[Footnote 337: Diary of General Bingham, in "Blackwood's Magazine,"
+October, 1896. The accompanying medal, on the reverse of which are the
+words "frappée à Londres, en 1804," affords another proof of his
+intentions.]
+
+[Footnote 338: Marbot, "Mems.," ch. xix; Fouché, "Mems.," part 1; Miot
+de Melito, "Mems.," vol. ii., ch. i.]
+
+[Footnote 339: See Nelson's letters of August 25th, 1803, and May 1st,
+1804; also Collingwood's of July 21st, 1805.]
+
+[Footnote 340: In "F.O.," France, No. 71, is a report of a spy on the
+interview of Napoleon with O'Connor, whom he made General of Division.
+See Appendix, p. 510.]
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Life of Napoleon I (Volume 1 of 2)
+by John Holland Rose
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Life of Napoleon I (Volume 1 of 2)
+
+Author: John Holland Rose
+
+Release Date: December 7, 2004 [EBook #14289]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LIFE OF NAPOLEON I ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Paul Murray, and the PG Online Distributed Proofreading Team.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+  LONDON: G. BELL & SONS, LIMITED,
+  PORTUGAL STREET, KINGSWAY, W.C.
+  CAMBRIDGE: DEIGHTON, BELL & CO.
+  NEW YORK: THE MACMILLAN CO.
+  BOMBAY: A.H. WHEELER & CO
+
+
+
+
+
+  THE LIFE OF NAPOLEON I
+
+  INCLUDING NEW MATERIALS FROM THE BRITISH OFFICIAL RECORDS
+
+
+
+  BY JOHN HOLLAND ROSE, LITT.D.
+  LATE SCHOLAR OF CHRIST'S COLLEGE,
+  CAMBRIDGE
+
+
+
+   "Let my son often read and reflect on history: this is the only
+   true philosophy."--_Napoleon's last Instructions for the King of
+    Rome_.
+
+
+
+  VOL, I
+
+
+
+
+
+  LONDON G. BELL AND SONS, LTD.
+  1910
+
+POST 8VO EDITION, ILLUSTRATED
+First Published, December 1901.
+Second Edition, revised, March 1902.
+Third Edition, revised, January 1903.
+Fourth Edition, revised, September 1907.
+Reprinted, January 1910.
+
+
+CROWN 8VO EDITION
+First Published, September 1904.
+Reprinted, October 1907; July 1910.
+
+
+DEDICATED TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE LORD ACTON,
+K.C.V.O., D.C.L., LL.D. REGIUS PROFESSOR OF MODERN HISTORY IN THE
+UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE, IN ADMIRATION OF HIS PROFOUND HISTORICAL
+LEARNING, AND IN GRATITUDE FOR ADVICE AND HELP GENEROUSLY GIVEN.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE
+
+
+An apology seems to be called for from anyone who gives to the world a
+new Life of Napoleon I. My excuse must be that for many years I have
+sought to revise the traditional story of his career in the light of
+facts gleaned from the British Archives and of the many valuable
+materials that have recently been published by continental historians.
+To explain my manner of dealing with these sources would require an
+elaborate critical Introduction; but, as the limits of my space
+absolutely preclude any such attempt, I can only briefly refer to the
+most important topics.
+
+To deal with the published sources first, I would name as of chief
+importance the works of MM. Aulard, Chuquet, Houssaye, Sorel, and
+Vandal in France; of Herren Beer, Delbrueck, Fournier, Lehmann, Oncken,
+and Wertheimer in Germany and Austria; and of Baron Lumbroso in Italy.
+I have also profited largely by the scholarly monographs or
+collections of documents due to the labours of the "Societe d'Histoire
+Contemporaine," the General Staff of the French Army, of MM. Bouvier,
+Caudrillier, Capitaine "J.G.," Levy, Madelin, Sagnac, Sciout, Zivy,
+and others in France; and of Herren Bailleu, Demelitsch, Hansing,
+Klinkowstrom, Luckwaldt, Ulmann, and others in Germany. Some of the
+recently published French Memoirs dealing with those times are not
+devoid of value, though this class of literature is to be used with
+caution. The new letters of Napoleon published by M. Leon Lecestre and
+M. Leonce de Brotonne have also opened up fresh vistas into the life
+of the great man; and the time seems to have come when we may safely
+revise our judgments on many of its episodes.
+
+But I should not have ventured on this great undertaking, had I not
+been able to contribute something new to Napoleonic literature. During
+a study of this period for an earlier work published in the "Cambridge
+Historical Series," I ascertained the great value of the British
+records for the years 1795-1815. It is surely discreditable to our
+historical research that, apart from the fruitful labours of the Navy
+Records Society, of Messrs. Oscar Browning and Hereford George, and of
+Mr. Bowman of Toronto, scarcely any English work has appeared that is
+based on the official records of this period. Yet they are of great
+interest and value. Our diplomatic agents then had the knack of
+getting at State secrets in most foreign capitals, even when we were
+at war with their Governments; and our War Office and Admiralty
+Records have also yielded me some interesting "finds." M. Levy, in the
+preface to his "Napoleon intime" (1893), has well remarked that "the
+documentary history of the wars of the Empire has not yet been
+written. To write it accurately, it will be more important thoroughly
+to know foreign archives than those of France." Those of Russia,
+Austria, and Prussia have now for the most part been examined; and I
+think that I may claim to have searched all the important parts of our
+Foreign Office Archives for the years in question, as well as for part
+of the St. Helena period. I have striven to embody the results of this
+search in the present volumes as far as was compatible with limits of
+space and with the narrative form at which, in my judgment, history
+ought always to aim.
+
+On the whole, British policy comes out the better the more fully it is
+known. Though often feeble and vacillating, it finally attained to
+firmness and dignity; and Ministers closed the cycle of war with acts
+of magnanimity towards the French people which are studiously ignored
+by those who bid us shed tears over the martyrdom of St. Helena.
+Nevertheless, the splendour of the finale must not blind us to the
+flaccid eccentricities that made British statesmanship the laughing
+stock of Europe in 1801-3, 1806-7, and 1809. Indeed, it is
+questionable whether the renewal of war between England and Napoleon
+in 1803 was due more to his innate forcefulness or to the contempt
+which he felt for the Addington Cabinet. When one also remembers our
+extraordinary blunders in the war of the Third Coalition, it seems a
+miracle that the British Empire survived that life and death struggle
+against a man of superhuman genius who was determined to effect its
+overthrow. I have called special attention to the extent and
+pertinacity of Napoleon's schemes for the foundation of a French
+Colonial Empire in India, Egypt, South Africa, and Australia; and
+there can be no doubt that the events of the years 1803-13 determined,
+not only the destinies of Europe and Napoleon, but the general trend
+of the world's colonization.
+
+As it has been necessary to condense the story of Napoleon's life in
+some parts, I have chosen to treat with special brevity the years
+1809-11, which may be called the _constans aetas_ of his career, in
+order to have more space for the decisive events that followed; but
+even in these less eventful years I have striven to show how his
+Continental System was setting at work mighty economic forces that
+made for his overthrow, so that after the _debacle_ of 1812 it came to
+be a struggle of Napoleon and France _contra mundum_.
+
+While not neglecting the personal details of the great man's life, I
+have dwelt mainly on his public career. Apart from his brilliant
+conversations, his private life has few features of abiding interest,
+perhaps because he early tired of the shallowness of Josephine and the
+Corsican angularity of his brothers and sisters. But the cause also
+lay in his own disposition. He once said to M. Gallois: "Je n'aime pas
+beaucoup les femmes, ni le jeu--enfin rien: _je suis tout a fait un
+etre politique_." In dealing with him as a warrior and statesman, and
+in sparing my readers details as to his bolting his food, sleeping at
+concerts, and indulging in amours where for him there was no glamour
+of romance, I am laying stress on what interested him most--in a word,
+I am taking him at his best.
+
+I could not have accomplished this task, even in the present
+inadequate way, but for the help generously accorded from many
+quarters. My heartfelt thanks are due to Lord Acton, Regius Professor
+of Modern History in the University of Cambridge, for advice of the
+highest importance; to Mr. Hubert Hall of the Public Record Office,
+for guidance in my researches there; to Baron Lumbroso of Rome,
+editor of the "Bibliografia ragionata dell' Epoca Napoleonica," for
+hints on Italian and other affairs; to Dr. Luckwaldt, Privat Docent of
+the University of Bonn, and author of "Oesterreich und die Anfaenge des
+Befreiungs-Krieges," for his very scholarly revision of the chapters
+on German affairs; to Mr. F.H.E. Cunliffe, M.A., Fellow of All Souls'
+College, Oxford, for valuable advice on the campaigns of 1800, 1805,
+and 1806; to Professor Caudrillier of Grenoble, author of "Pichegru,"
+for information respecting the royalist plot; and to Messrs. J.E.
+Morris, M.A., and E.L.S. Horsburgh, B.A., for detailed communications
+concerning Waterloo, The nieces of the late Professor Westwood of
+Oxford most kindly allowed the facsimile of the new Napoleon letter,
+printed opposite p. 156 of vol. i., to be made from the original in
+their possession; and Miss Lowe courteously placed at my disposal the
+papers of her father relating to the years 1813-15, as well as to the
+St. Helena period. I wish here to record my grateful obligations for
+all these friendly courtesies, which have given value to the book,
+besides saving me from many of the pitfalls with which the subject
+abounds. That I have escaped them altogether is not to be imagined;
+but I can honestly say, in the words of the late Bishop of London,
+that "I have tried to write true history."
+
+J.H.R.
+
+[NOTE.--The references to Napoleon's "Correspondence" in the notes are
+to the official French edition, published under the auspices of
+Napoleon III. The "New Letters of Napoleon" are those edited by Leon
+Lecestre, and translated into English by Lady Mary Loyd, except in a
+very few cases where M. Leonce de Brotonne's still more recent edition
+is cited under his name. By "F.O.," France, No.----, and "F.O.,"
+Prussia, No.----, are meant the volumes of _our_ Foreign Office
+despatches relating to France and Prussia. For the sake of brevity I
+have called Napoleon's Marshals and high officials by their names, not
+by their titles: but a list of these is given at the close of vol.
+ii.]
+
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE TO THE THIRD EDITION
+
+
+The demand for this work so far exceeded my expectations that I was
+unable to make any considerable changes in the second edition, issued
+in March, 1902; and circumstances again make it impossible for me to
+give the work that thorough recension which I should desire. I have,
+however, carefully considered the suggestions offered by critics, and
+have adopted them in some cases. Professor Fournier of Vienna has most
+kindly furnished me with details which seem to relegate to the domain
+of legend the famous ice catastrophe at Austerlitz; and I have added a
+note to this effect on p. 50 of vol. ii. On the other hand, I may
+justly claim that the publication of Count Balmain's reports relating
+to St. Helena has served to corroborate, in all important details, my
+account of Napoleon's captivity.
+
+It only remains to add that I much regret the omission of Mr. Oman's
+name from II. 12-13 of page viii of the Preface, an omission rendered
+all the more conspicuous by the appearance of the first volume of his
+"History of the Peninsular War" in the spring of this year.
+
+J.H.R.
+
+_October, 1902._
+
+Notes have been added at the end of ch. v., vol. i.; chs. xxii.,
+xxiii., xxviii., xxix., xxxv., vol. ii.; and an Appendix on the Battle
+of Waterloo has been added on p. 577, vol. ii.
+
+
+
+
+  CONTENTS
+
+
+  CHAPTER
+
+         NOTE ON THE REPUBLICAN CALENDAR
+
+      I. PARENTAGE AND EARLY YEARS
+
+     II. THE FRENCH REVOLUTION AND CORSICA
+
+    III. TOULON
+
+     IV. VENDEMIAIRE
+
+      V. THE ITALIAN CAMPAIGN (1796)
+
+     VI. THE FIGHTS FOR MANTUA
+
+    VII. LEOBEN TO CAMPO FORMIO
+
+   VIII. EGYPT
+
+     IX. SYRIA
+
+      X. BRUMAIRE
+
+     XI. MARENGO: LUNEVILLE
+
+    XII. THE NEW INSTITUTIONS OF FRANCE
+
+   XIII. THE CONSULATE FOR LIFE
+
+    XIV. THE PEACE OF AMIENS
+
+     XV. A FRENCH COLONIAL EMPIRE: ST.
+         DOMINGO--LOUISIANA--INDIA--AUSTRALIA
+
+    XVI. NAPOLEON'S INTERVENTIONS
+
+   XVII. THE RENEWAL OF WAR
+
+  XVIII. EUROPE AND THE BONAPARTES
+
+    XIX. THE ROYALIST PLOT
+
+     XX. THE DAWN OF THE EMPIRE
+
+    XXI. THE BOULOGNE FLOTILLA
+
+    APPENDIX: REPORTS HITHERTO UNPUBLISHED
+     ON
+    (_a_) THE SALE OF LOUISIANA;
+    (_b_) THE IRISH DIVISION IN NAPOLEON'S SERVICE
+
+  ILLUSTRATIONS, MAPS, AND PLANS
+
+  THE SIEGE OF TOULON, 1793
+
+  MAP TO ILLUSTRATE THE CAMPAIGNS IN NORTH ITALY
+
+  PLAN TO ILLUSTRATE THE VICTORY OF ARCOLA
+
+  THE NEIGHBOURHOOD OF RIVOLI
+
+  FACSIMILE OF A LETTER OF NAPOLEON TO "LA CITOYENNE
+  TALLIEN," 1797
+
+  CENTRAL EUROPE, after the Peace of Campo Formio, 1797
+
+  PLAN OF THE SIEGE OF ACRE, from a contemporary sketch
+
+  THE BATTLE OF MARENGO, to illustrate Kellermann's charge
+
+  FRENCH MAP OF THE SOUTH OF AUSTRALIA, 1807
+
+
+
+
+
+
+NOTE ON THE REPUBLICAN CALENDAR
+
+
+The republican calendar consisted of twelve months of thirty days
+each, each month being divided into three "decades" of ten days. Five
+days (in leap years six) were added at the end of the year to bring it
+into coincidence with the solar year.
+
+  An    I began Sept. 22, 1792.
+  "    II  "      "       1793.
+  "   III  "      "       1794.
+  "    IV (leap year)     1795.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+  "  VIII began Sept. 22, 1799.
+  "    IX   "   Sept. 23, 1800.
+  "     X   "      "      1801.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+  "   XIV   "      "      1805.
+
+The new computation, though reckoned from Sept. 22, 1792, was not
+introduced until Nov. 26, 1793 (An II). It ceased after Dec. 31, 1805.
+
+The months are as follows:
+
+    Vendemiaire              Sept. 22 to Oct. 21.
+    Brumaire                 Oct. 22  "  Nov. 20.
+    Frimaire                 Nov. 21  "  Dec. 20.
+    Nivose                   Dec. 21  "  Jan. 19.
+    Pluviose                 Jan. 20  "  Feb. 18.
+    Ventose                  Feb. 19  "  Mar. 20.
+    Germinal                 Mar. 21  "  April 19.
+    Floreal                  April 20 "  May 19.
+    Prairial                 May 20   "  June 18.
+    Messidor                 June 19  "  July 18.
+    Thermidor                July 19  "  Aug. 17.
+    Fructidor                Aug. 18  "  Sept. 16.
+
+Add five (in leap years six) "Sansculottides" or "Jours
+complementaires."
+
+In 1796 (leap year) the numbers in the table of months, so far as
+concerns all dates between Feb. 28 and Sept. 22, will have to be
+_reduced by one_, owing to the intercalation of Feb. 29, which is not
+compensated for until the end of the republican year.
+
+The matter is further complicated by the fact that the republicans
+reckoned An VIII as a leap year, though it is not one in the Gregorian
+Calendar. Hence that year ended on Sept. 22, and An IX and succeeding
+years began on Sept. 23. Consequently in the above table of months the
+numbers of all days from Vendemiaire 1, An IX (Sept. 23, 1800), to
+Nivose 10, An XIV (Dec. 31, 1805), inclusive, will have to be
+_increased by one_, except only in the next leap year between Ventose
+9, An XII, and Vendemiaire 1, An XIII (Feb. 28-Sept, 23, 1804), when
+the two Revolutionary aberrations happen to neutralize each other.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+
+THE LIFE OF NAPOLEON I
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+PARENTAGE AND EARLY YEARS
+
+
+"I was born when my country was perishing. Thirty thousand French
+vomited upon our coasts, drowning the throne of Liberty in waves of
+blood, such was the sight which struck my eyes." This passionate
+utterance, penned by Napoleon Buonaparte at the beginning of the
+French Revolution, describes the state of Corsica in his natal year.
+The words are instinct with the vehemence of the youth and the
+extravagant sentiment of the age: they strike the keynote of his
+career. His life was one of strain and stress from his cradle to his
+grave.
+
+In his temperament as in the circumstances of his time the young
+Buonaparte was destined for an extraordinary career. Into a tottering
+civilization he burst with all the masterful force of an Alaric. But
+he was an Alaric of the south, uniting the untamed strength of his
+island kindred with the mental powers of his Italian ancestry. In his
+personality there is a complex blending of force and grace, of animal
+passion and mental clearness, of northern common sense with the
+promptings of an oriental imagination; and this union in his nature of
+seeming opposites explains many of the mysteries of his life.
+Fortunately for lovers of romance, genius cannot be wholly analyzed,
+even by the most adroit historical philosophizer or the most exacting
+champion of heredity. But in so far as the sources of Napoleon's power
+can be measured, they may be traced to the unexampled needs of mankind
+in the revolutionary epoch and to his own exceptional endowments.
+Evidently, then, the characteristics of his family claim some
+attention from all who would understand the man and the influence
+which he was to wield over modern Europe.
+
+It has been the fortune of his House to be the subject of dispute from
+first to last. Some writers have endeavoured to trace its descent back
+to the Caesars of Rome, others to the Byzantine Emperors; one
+genealogical explorer has tracked the family to Majorca, and, altering
+its name to Bonpart, has discovered its progenitor in the Man of the
+Iron Mask; while the Duchesse d'Abrantes, voyaging eastwards in quest
+of its ancestors, has confidently claimed for the family a Greek
+origin. Painstaking research has dispelled these romancings of
+historical _trouveurs_, and has connected this enigmatic stock with a
+Florentine named "William, who in the year 1261 took the surname of
+_Bonaparte_ or _Buonaparte_. The name seems to have been assumed when,
+amidst the unceasing strifes between Guelfs and Ghibellines that rent
+the civic life of Florence, William's party, the Ghibellines, for a
+brief space gained the ascendancy. But perpetuity was not to be found
+in Florentine politics; and in a short time he was a fugitive at a
+Tuscan village, Sarzana, beyond the reach of the victorious Guelfs.
+Here the family seems to have lived for wellnigh three centuries,
+maintaining its Ghibelline and aristocratic principles with surprising
+tenacity. The age was not remarkable for the virtue of constancy, or
+any other virtue. Politics and private life were alike demoralized by
+unceasing intrigues; and amidst strifes of Pope and Emperor, duchies
+and republics, cities and autocrats, there was formed that type of
+Italian character which is delineated in the pages of Macchiavelli.
+From the depths of debasement of that cynical age the Buonapartes
+were saved by their poverty, and by the isolation of their life at
+Sarzana. Yet the embassies discharged at intervals by the more
+talented members of the family showed that the gifts for intrigue were
+only dormant; and they were certainly transmitted in their intensity
+to the greatest scion of the race.
+
+In the year 1529 Francis Buonaparte, whether pressed by poverty or
+distracted by despair at the misfortunes which then overwhelmed Italy,
+migrated to Corsica. There the family was grafted upon a tougher
+branch of the Italian race. To the vulpine characteristics developed
+under the shadow of the Medici there were now added qualities of a
+more virile stamp. Though dominated in turn by the masters of the
+Mediterranean, by Carthaginians, Romans, Vandals, by the men of Pisa,
+and finally by the Genoese Republic, the islanders retained a striking
+individuality. The rock-bound coast and mountainous interior helped to
+preserve the essential features of primitive life. Foreign Powers
+might affect the towns on the sea-board, but they left the clans of
+the interior comparatively untouched. Their life centred around the
+family. The Government counted for little or nothing; for was it not
+the symbol of the detested foreign rule? Its laws were therefore as
+naught when they conflicted with the unwritten but omnipotent code of
+family honour. A slight inflicted on a neighbour would call forth the
+warning words--"Guard thyself: I am on my guard." Forthwith there
+began a blood feud, a vendetta, which frequently dragged on its dreary
+course through generations of conspiracy and murder, until, the
+principals having vanished, the collateral branches of the families
+were involved. No Corsican was so loathed as the laggard who shrank
+from avenging the family honour, even on a distant relative of the
+first offender. The murder of the Duc d'Enghien by Napoleon in 1804
+sent a thrill of horror through the Continent. To the Corsicans it
+seemed little more than an autocratic version of the _vendetta
+traversale_.[1]
+
+The vendetta was the chief law of Corsican society up to comparatively
+recent times; and its effects are still visible in the life of the
+stern islanders. In his charming romance, "Colomba," M. Prosper
+Merimee has depicted the typical Corsican, even of the towns, as
+preoccupied, gloomy, suspicious, ever on the alert, hovering about his
+dwelling, like a falcon over his nest, seemingly in preparation for
+attack or defence. Laughter, the song, the dance, were rarely heard in
+the streets; for the women, after acting as the drudges of the
+household, were kept jealously at home, while their lords smoked and
+watched. If a game at hazard were ventured upon, it ran its course in
+silence, which not seldom was broken by the shot or the stab--first
+warning that there had been underhand play. The deed always preceded
+the word.
+
+In such a life, where commerce and agriculture were despised, where
+woman was mainly a drudge and man a conspirator, there grew up the
+typical Corsican temperament, moody and exacting, but withal keen,
+brave, and constant, which looked on the world as a fencing-school for
+the glorification of the family and the clan[2]. Of this type Napoleon
+was to be the supreme exemplar; and the fates granted him as an arena
+a chaotic France and a distracted Europe.
+
+Amidst that grim Corsican existence the Buonapartes passed their lives
+during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Occupied as advocates
+and lawyers with such details of the law as were of any practical
+importance, they must have been involved in family feuds and the
+oft-recurring disputes between Corsica and the suzerain Power, Genoa.
+As became dignitaries in the municipality of Ajaccio, several of the
+Buonapartes espoused the Genoese side; and the Genoese Senate in a
+document of the year 1652 styled one of them, Jerome, "Egregius
+Hieronimus di Buonaparte, procurator Nobilium." These distinctions
+they seem to have little coveted. Very few families belonged to the
+Corsican _noblesse_, and their fiefs were unimportant. In Corsica, as
+in the Forest Cantons of Switzerland and the Highlands of Scotland,
+class distinctions were by no means so coveted as in lands that had
+been thoroughly feudalized; and the Buonapartes, content with their
+civic dignities at Ajaccio and the attachment of their partisans on
+their country estates, seem rarely to have used the prefix which
+implied nobility. Their life was not unlike that of many an old
+Scottish laird, who, though possibly _bourgeois_ in origin, yet by
+courtesy ranked as chieftain among his tenants, and was ennobled by
+the parlance of the countryside, perhaps all the more readily because
+he refused to wear the honours that came from over the Border.
+
+But a new influence was now to call forth all the powers of this tough
+stock. In the middle of the eighteenth century we find the head of the
+family, Charles Marie Buonaparte, aglow with the flame of Corsican
+patriotism then being kindled by the noble career of Paoli. This
+gifted patriot, the champion of the islanders, first against the
+Genoese and later against the French, desired to cement by education
+the framework of the Corsican Commonwealth and founded a university.
+It was here that the father of the future French Emperor received a
+training in law, and a mental stimulus which was to lift his family
+above the level of the _caporali_ and attorneys with whom its lot had
+for centuries been cast. His ambition is seen in the endeavour,
+successfully carried out by his uncle, Lucien, Archdeacon of Ajaccio,
+to obtain recognition of kinship with the Buonapartes of Tuscany who
+had been ennobled by the Grand Duke. His patriotism is evinced in his
+ardent support of Paoli, by whose valour and energy the Genoese were
+finally driven from the island. Amidst these patriotic triumphs
+Charles confronted his destiny in the person of Letizia Ramolino, a
+beautiful girl, descended from an honourable Florentine family which
+had for centuries been settled in Corsica. The wedding took place in
+1764, the bridegroom being then eighteen, and the bride fifteen years
+of age. The union, if rashly undertaken in the midst of civil strifes,
+was yet well assorted. Both parties to it were of patrician, if not
+definitely noble descent, and came of families which combined the
+intellectual gifts of Tuscany with the vigour of their later island
+home[3]. From her mother's race, the Pietra Santa family, Letizia
+imbibed the habits of the most backward and savage part of Corsica,
+where vendettas were rife and education was almost unknown. Left in
+ignorance in her early days, she yet was accustomed to hardships, and
+often showed the fertility of resource which such a life always
+develops. Hence, at the time of her marriage, she possessed a firmness
+of will far beyond her years; and her strength and fortitude enabled
+her to survive the terrible adversities of her early days, as also to
+meet with quiet matronly dignity the extraordinary honours showered on
+her as the mother of the French Emperor. She was inured to habits of
+frugality, which reappeared in the personal tastes of her son. In
+fact, she so far retained her old parsimonious habits, even amidst the
+splendours of the French Imperial Court, as to expose herself to the
+charge of avarice. But there is a touching side to all this. She seems
+ever to have felt that after the splendour there would come again the
+old days of adversity, and her instincts were in one sense correct.
+She lived on to the advanced age of eighty-six, and died twenty-one
+years after the break-up of her son's empire--a striking proof of the
+vitality and tenacity of her powers.
+
+A kindly Providence veiled the future from the young couple. Troubles
+fell swiftly upon them both in private and in public life. Their first
+two children died in infancy. The third, Joseph, was born in 1768,
+when the Corsican patriots were making their last successful efforts
+against their new French oppressors: the fourth, the famous Napoleon,
+saw the light on August 15th, 1769, when the liberties of Corsica were
+being finally extinguished. Nine other children were born before the
+outbreak of the French Revolution reawakened civil strifes, amidst
+which the then fatherless family was tossed to and fro and finally
+whirled away to France.
+
+Destiny had already linked the fortunes of the young Napoleon
+Buonaparte with those of France. After the downfall of Genoese rule in
+Corsica, France had taken over, for empty promises, the claims of the
+hard-pressed Italian republic to its troublesome island possession. It
+was a cheap and practical way of restoring, at least in the
+Mediterranean the shattered prestige of the French Bourbons. They had
+previously intervened in Corsican affairs on the side of the Genoese.
+Yet in 1764 Paoli appealed to Louis XV. for protection. It was
+granted, in the form of troops that proceeded quietly to occupy the
+coast towns of the island under cover of friendly assurances. In 1768,
+before the expiration of an informal truce, Marbeuf, the French
+commander, commenced hostilities against the patriots[4]. In vain did
+Rousseau and many other champions of popular liberty protest against
+this bartering away of insular freedom: in vain did Paoli rouse his
+compatriots to another and more unequal struggle, and seek to hold the
+mountainous interior. Poor, badly equipped, rent by family feuds and
+clan schisms, his followers were no match for the French troops; and
+after the utter break-up of his forces Paoli fled to England, taking
+with him three hundred and forty of the most determined patriots. With
+these irreconcilables Charles Buonaparte did not cast in his lot, but
+accepted the pardon offered to those who should recognize the French
+sway. With his wife and their little child Joseph he returned to
+Ajaccio; and there, shortly afterwards, Napoleon was born. As the
+patriotic historian, Jacobi, has finely said, "The Corsican people,
+when exhausted by producing martyrs to the cause of liberty, produced
+Napoleon Buonaparte[5]."
+
+Seeing that Charles Buonaparte had been an ardent adherent of Paoli,
+his sudden change of front has exposed him to keen censure. He
+certainly had not the grit of which heroes are made. His seems to have
+been an ill-balanced nature, soon buoyed up by enthusiasms, and as
+speedily depressed by their evaporation; endowed with enough of
+learning and culture to be a Voltairean and write second-rate
+verses; and with a talent for intrigue which sufficed to embarrass
+his never very affluent fortunes. Napoleon certainly derived no
+world-compelling qualities from his father: for these he was indebted
+to the wilder strain which ran in his mother's blood. The father
+doubtless saw in the French connection a chance of worldly advancement
+and of liberation from pecuniary difficulties; for the new rulers now
+sought to gain over the patrician families of the island. Many of them
+had resented the dictatorship of Paoli; and they now gladly accepted
+the connection with France, which promised to enrich their country and
+to open up a brilliant career in the French army, where commissions
+were limited to the scions of nobility.
+
+Much may be said in excuse of Charles Buonaparte's decision, and no
+one can deny that Corsica has ultimately gained much by her connection
+with France. But his change of front was open to the charge that it
+was prompted by self-interest rather than by philosophic foresight. At
+any rate, his second son throughout his boyhood nursed a deep
+resentment against his father for his desertion of the patriots'
+cause. The youth's sympathies were with the peasants, whose allegiance
+was not to be bought by baubles, whose constancy and bravery long held
+out against the French in a hopeless guerilla warfare. His hot
+Corsican blood boiled at the stories of oppression and insult which he
+heard from his humbler compatriots. When, at eleven years of age, he
+saw in the military college at Brienne the portrait of Choiseul, the
+French Minister who had urged on the conquest of Corsica, his passion
+burst forth in a torrent of imprecations against the traitor; and,
+even after the death of his father in 1785, he exclaimed that he could
+never forgive him for not following Paoli into exile.
+
+What trifles seem, at times, to alter the current of human affairs!
+Had his father acted thus, the young Napoleon would in all probability
+have entered the military or naval service of Great Britain; he might
+have shared Paoli's enthusiasm for the land of his adoption, and have
+followed the Corsican hero in his enterprises against the French
+Revolution, thenceforth figuring in history merely as a greater
+Marlborough, crushing the military efforts of democratic France, and
+luring England into a career of Continental conquest. Monarchy and
+aristocracy would have gone unchallenged, except within the "natural
+limits" of France; and the other nations, never shaken to their
+inmost depths, would have dragged on their old inert fragmentary
+existence.
+
+The decision of Charles Buonaparte altered the destiny of Europe. He
+determined that his eldest boy, Joseph, should enter the Church, and
+that Napoleon should be a soldier. His perception of the characters of
+his boys was correct. An anecdote, for which the elder brother is
+responsible, throws a flood of light on their temperaments. The master
+of their school arranged a mimic combat for his pupils--Romans against
+Carthaginians. Joseph, as the elder was ranged under the banner of
+Rome, while Napoleon was told off among the Carthaginians; but, piqued
+at being chosen for the losing side, the child fretted, begged, and
+stormed until the less bellicose Joseph agreed to change places with
+his exacting junior. The incident is prophetic of much in the later
+history of the family.
+
+Its imperial future was opened up by the deft complaisance now shown
+by Charles Buonaparte. The reward for his speedy submission to France
+was soon forthcoming. The French commander in Corsica used his
+influence to secure the admission of the young Napoleon to the
+military school of Brienne in Champagne; and as the father was able to
+satisfy the authorities not only that he was without fortune, but also
+that his family had been noble for four generations, Napoleon was
+admitted to this school to be educated at the charges of the King of
+France (April, 1779). He was now, at the tender age of nine, a
+stranger in a strange land, among a people whom he detested as the
+oppressors of his countrymen. Worst of all, he had to endure the taunt
+of belonging to a subject race. What a position for a proud and
+exacting child! Little wonder that the official report represented him
+as silent and obstinate; but, strange to say, it added the word
+"imperious." It was a tough character which could defy repression
+amidst such surroundings. As to his studies, little need be said. In
+his French history he read of the glories of the distant past (when
+"Germany was part of the French Empire"), the splendours of the reign
+of Louis XIV., the disasters of France in the Seven Years' War, and
+the "prodigious conquests of the English in India." But his
+imagination was kindled from other sources. Boys of pronounced
+character have always owed far more to their private reading than to
+their set studies; and the young Buonaparte, while grudgingly learning
+Latin and French grammar, was feeding his mind on Plutarch's
+"Lives"--in a French translation. The artful intermingling of the
+actual and the romantic, the historic and the personal, in those vivid
+sketches of ancient worthies and heroes, has endeared them to many
+minds. Rousseau derived unceasing profit from their perusal; and
+Madame Roland found in them "the pasture of great souls." It was so
+with the lonely Corsican youth. Holding aloof from his comrades in
+gloomy isolation, he caught in the exploits of Greeks and Romans a
+distant echo of the tragic romance of his beloved island home. The
+librarian of the school asserted that even then the young soldier had
+modelled his future career on that of the heroes of antiquity; and we
+may well believe that, in reading of the exploits of Leonidas,
+Curtius, and Cincinnatus, he saw the figure of his own antique
+republican hero, Paoli. To fight side by side with Paoli against the
+French was his constant dream. "Paoli will return," he once exclaimed,
+"and as soon as I have strength, I will go to help him: and perhaps
+together we shall be able to shake the odious yoke from off the neck
+of Corsica."
+
+But there was another work which exercised a great influence on his
+young mind--the "Gallic War" of Caesar. To the young Italian the
+conquest of Gaul by a man of his own race must have been a congenial
+topic, and in Caesar himself the future conqueror may dimly have
+recognized a kindred spirit. The masterful energy and all-conquering
+will of the old Roman, his keen insight into the heart of a problem,
+the wide sweep of his mental vision, ranging over the intrigues of the
+Roman Senate, the shifting politics of a score of tribes, and the
+myriad administrative details of a great army and a mighty
+province--these were the qualities that furnished the chief mental
+training to the young cadet. Indeed, the career of Caesar was destined
+to exert a singular fascination over the Napoleonic dynasty, not only
+on its founder, but also on Napoleon III.; and the change in the
+character and career of Napoleon the Great may be registered mentally
+in the effacement of the portraits of Leonidas and Paoli by those of
+Caesar and Alexander. Later on, during his sojourn at Ajaccio in 1790,
+when the first shadows were flitting across his hitherto unclouded
+love for Paoli, we hear that he spent whole nights poring over Caesar's
+history, committing many passages to memory in his passionate
+admiration of those wondrous exploits. Eagerly he took Caesar's side as
+against Pompey, and no less warmly defended him from the charge of
+plotting against the liberties of the commonwealth[6]. It was a
+perilous study for a republican youth in whom the military instincts
+were as ingrained as the genius for rule.
+
+Concerning the young Buonaparte's life at Brienne there exist few
+authentic records and many questionable anecdotes. Of these last, that
+which is the most credible and suggestive relates his proposal to his
+schoolfellows to construct ramparts of snow during the sharp winter of
+1783-4. According to his schoolfellow, Bourrienne, these mimic
+fortifications were planned by Buonaparte, who also directed the
+methods of attack and defence: or, as others say, he reconstructed
+the walls according to the needs of modern war. In either case, the
+incident bespeaks for him great power of organization and control. But
+there were in general few outlets for his originality and vigour. He
+seems to have disliked all his comrades, except Bourrienne, as much as
+they detested him for his moody humours and fierce outbreaks of
+temper. He is even reported to have vowed that he would do as much
+harm as possible to the French people; but the remark smacks of the
+story-book. Equally doubtful are the two letters in which he prays to
+be removed from the indignities to which he was subjected at
+Brienne[7]. In other letters which are undoubtedly genuine, he refers
+to his future career with ardour, and writes not a word as to the
+bullying to which his Corsican zeal subjected him. Particularly
+noteworthy is the letter to his uncle begging him to intervene so as
+to prevent Joseph Buonaparte from taking up a military career. Joseph,
+writes the younger brother, would make a good garrison officer, as he
+was well formed and clever at frivolous compliments--"good therefore
+for society, but for a fight--?"
+
+Napoleon's determination had been noticed by his teachers. They had
+failed to bend his will, at least on important points. In lesser
+details his Italian adroitness seems to have been of service; for the
+officer who inspected the school reported of him: "Constitution,
+health excellent: character submissive, sweet, honest, grateful:
+conduct very regular: has always distinguished himself by his
+application to mathematics: knows history and geography passably: very
+weak in accomplishments. He will be an excellent seaman: is worthy to
+enter the School at Paris." To the military school at Paris he was
+accordingly sent in due course, entering there in October, 1784. The
+change from the semi-monastic life at Brienne to the splendid edifice
+which fronts the Champ de Mars had less effect than might have
+been expected in a youth of fifteen years. Not yet did he become
+French in sympathy. His love of Corsica and hatred of the French
+monarchy steeled him against the luxuries of his new surroundings.
+Perhaps it was an added sting that he was educated at the expense of
+the monarchy which had conquered his kith and kin. He nevertheless
+applied himself with energy to his favourite studies, especially
+mathematics. Defective in languages he still was, and ever remained;
+for his critical acumen in literature ever fastened on the matter
+rather than on style. To the end of his days he could never write
+Italian, much less French, with accuracy; and his tutor at Paris not
+inaptly described his boyish composition as resembling molten granite.
+The same qualities of directness and impetuosity were also fatal to
+his efforts at mastering the movements of the dance. In spite of
+lessons at Paris and private lessons which he afterwards took at
+Valence, he was never a dancer: his bent was obviously for the exact
+sciences rather than the arts, for the geometrical rather than the
+rhythmical: he thought, as he moved, in straight lines, never in
+curves.
+
+The death of his father during the year which the youth spent at Paris
+sharpened his sense of responsibility towards his seven younger
+brothers and sisters. His own poverty must have inspired him with
+disgust at the luxury which he saw around him; but there are good
+reasons for doubting the genuineness of the memorial which he is
+alleged to have sent from Paris to the second master at Brienne on
+this subject. The letters of the scholars at Paris were subject to
+strict surveillance; and, if he had taken the trouble to draw up a
+list of criticisms on his present training, most assuredly it would
+have been destroyed. Undoubtedly, however, he would have sympathized
+with the unknown critic in his complaint of the unsuitableness of
+sumptuous meals to youths who were destined for the hardships of the
+camp. At Brienne he had been dubbed "the Spartan," an instance of that
+almost uncanny faculty of schoolboys to dash off in a nickname the
+salient features of character. The phrase was correct, almost for
+Napoleon's whole life. At any rate, the pomp of Paris served but to
+root his youthful affections more tenaciously in the rocks of Corsica.
+
+In September, 1785, that is, at the age of sixteen, Buonaparte was
+nominated for a commision as junior lieutenant in La Fere regiment of
+artillery quartered at Valence on the Rhone. This was his first close
+contact with real life. The rules of the service required him to
+spend three months of rigorous drill before he was admitted to his
+commission. The work was exacting: the pay was small, viz., 1,120
+francs, or less than L45, a year; but all reports agree as to his keen
+zest for his profession and the recognition of his transcendent
+abilities by his superior officers.[8] There it was that he mastered
+the rudiments of war, for lack of which many generals of noble birth
+have quickly closed in disaster careers that began with promise:
+there, too, he learnt that hardest and best of all lessons, prompt
+obedience. "To learn obeying is the fundamental art of governing,"
+says Carlyle. It was so with Napoleon: at Valence he served his
+apprenticeship in the art of conquering and the art of governing.
+
+This spring-time of his life is of interest and importance in many
+ways: it reveals many amiable qualities, which had hitherto been
+blighted by the real or fancied scorn of the wealthy cadets. At
+Valence, while shrinking from his brother officers, he sought society
+more congenial to his simple tastes and restrained demeanour. In a few
+of the best bourgeois families of Valence he found happiness. There,
+too, blossomed the tenderest, purest idyll of his life. At the country
+house of a cultured lady who had befriended him in his solitude, he
+saw his first love, Caroline de Colombier. It was a passing fancy;
+but to her all the passion of his southern nature welled forth. She
+seems to have returned his love; for in the stormy sunset of his life
+at St. Helena he recalled some delicious walks at dawn when Caroline
+and he had--eaten cherries together. One lingers fondly over these
+scenes of his otherwise stern career, for they reveal his capacity for
+social joys and for deep and tender affection, had his lot been
+otherwise cast. How different might have been his life, had France
+never conquered Corsica, and had the Revolution never burst forth! But
+Corsica was still his dominant passion. When he was called away from
+Valence to repress a riot at Lyons, his feelings, distracted for a
+time by Caroline, swerved back towards his island home; and in
+September, 1786, he had the joy of revisiting the scenes of his
+childhood. Warmly though he greeted his mother, brothers and sisters,
+after an absence of nearly eight years, his chief delight was in the
+rocky shores, the verdant dales and mountain heights of Corsica. The
+odour of the forests, the setting of the sun in the sea "as in the
+bosom of the infinite," the quiet proud independence of the
+mountaineers themselves, all enchanted him. His delight reveals almost
+Wertherian powers of "sensibility." Even the family troubles could not
+damp his ardour. His father had embarked on questionable speculations,
+which now threatened the Buonapartes with bankruptcy, unless the
+French Government proved to be complacent and generous. With the hope
+of pressing one of the family claims on the royal exchequer, the
+second son procured an extension of furlough and sped to Paris. There
+at the close of 1787 he spent several weeks, hopefully endeavouring to
+extract money from the bankrupt Government. It was a season of
+disillusionment in more senses than one; for there he saw for himself
+the seamy side of Parisian life, and drifted for a brief space about
+the giddy vortex of the Palais Royal. What a contrast to the limpid
+life of Corsica was that turbid frothy existence--already swirling
+towards its mighty plunge!
+
+After a furlough of twenty-one months he rejoined his regiment, now at
+Auxonne. There his health suffered considerably, not only from the
+miasma of the marshes of the river Saone, but also from family
+anxieties and arduous literary toils. To these last it is now needful
+to refer. Indeed, the external events of his early life are of value
+only as they reveal the many-sidedness of his nature and the growth of
+his mental powers.
+
+How came he to outgrow the insular patriotism of his early years? The
+foregoing recital of facts must have already suggested one obvious
+explanation. Nature had dowered him so prodigally with diverse gifts,
+mainly of an imperious order, that he could scarcely have limited his
+sphere of action to Corsica. Profoundly as he loved his island, it
+offered no sphere commensurate with his varied powers and masterful
+will. It was no empty vaunt which his father had uttered on his
+deathbed that his Napoleon would one day overthrow the old monarchies
+and conquer Europe.[9] Neither did the great commander himself
+overstate the peculiarity of his temperament, when he confessed that
+his instincts had ever prompted him that his will must prevail, and
+that what pleased him must of necessity belong to him. Most spoilt
+children harbour the same illusion, for a brief space. But all the
+buffetings of fortune failed to drive it from the young Buonaparte;
+and when despair as to his future might have impaired the vigour of
+his domineering instincts, his mind and will acquired a fresh rigidity
+by coming under the spell of that philosophizing doctrinaire,
+Rousseau.
+
+There was every reason why he should early be attracted by this
+fantastic thinker. In that notable work, "Le Contrat Social" (1762),
+Rousseau called attention to the antique energy shown by the Corsicans
+in defence of their liberties, and in a startlingly prophetic phrase
+he exclaimed that the little island would one day astonish Europe. The
+source of this predilection of Rousseau for Corsica is patent. Born
+and reared at Geneva, he felt a Switzer's love for a people which was<
+"neither rich nor poor but self-sufficing "; and in the simple life
+and fierce love of liberty of the hardy islanders he saw traces of
+that social contract which he postulated as the basis of society.
+According to him, the beginnings of all social and political
+institutions are to be found in some agreement or contract between
+men. Thus arise the clan, the tribe, the nation. The nation may
+delegate many of its powers to a ruler; but if he abuse such powers,
+the contract between him and his people is at an end, and they may
+return to the primitive state, which is founded on an agreement of
+equals with equals. Herein lay the attractiveness of Rousseau for all
+who were discontented with their surroundings. He seemed infallibly
+to demonstrate the absurdity of tyranny and the need of returning to
+the primitive bliss of the social contract. It mattered not that the
+said contract was utterly unhistorical and that his argument teemed
+with fallacies. He inspired a whole generation with detestation of the
+present and with longings for the golden age. Poets had sung of it,
+but Rousseau seemed to bring it within the grasp of long-suffering
+mortals.
+
+The first extant manuscript of Napoleon, written at Valence in April,
+1786, shows that he sought in Rousseau's armoury the logical weapons
+for demonstrating the "right" of the Corsicans to rebel against the
+French. The young hero-worshipper begins by noting that it is the
+birthday of Paoli. He plunges into a panegyric on the Corsican
+patriots, when he is arrested by the thought that many censure them
+for rebelling at all. "The divine laws forbid revolt. But what have
+divine laws to do with a purely human affair? Just think of the
+absurdity--divine laws universally forbidding the casting off of a
+usurping yoke! ... As for human laws, there cannot be any after the
+prince violates them." He then postulates two origins for government
+as alone possible. Either the people has established laws and
+submitted itself to the prince, or the prince has established laws. In
+the first case, the prince is engaged by the very nature of his office
+to execute the covenants. In the second case, the laws tend, or do not
+tend, to the welfare of the people, which is the aim of all
+government: if they do not, the contract with the prince dissolves of
+itself, for the people then enters again into its primitive state.
+Having thus proved the sovereignty of the people, Buonaparte uses his
+doctrine to justify Corsican revolt against France, and thus concludes
+his curious medley: "The Corsicans, following all the laws of justice,
+have been able to shake off the yoke of the Genoese, and may do the
+same with that of the French. Amen."
+
+Five days later he again gives the reins to his melancholy. "Always
+alone, though in the midst of men," he faces the thought of suicide.
+With an innate power of summarizing and balancing thoughts and
+sensations, he draws up arguments for and against this act. He is in
+the dawn of his days and in four months' time he will see "la patrie,"
+which he has not seen since childhood. What joy! And yet--how men have
+fallen away from nature: how cringing are his compatriots to their
+conquerors: they are no longer the enemies of tyrants, of luxury, of
+vile courtiers: the French have corrupted their morals, and when "la
+patrie" no longer survives, a good patriot ought to die. Life among
+the French is odious: their modes of life differ from his as much as
+the light of the moon differs from that of the sun.--A strange
+effusion this for a youth of seventeen living amidst the full glories
+of the spring in Dauphine. It was only a few weeks before the ripening
+of cherries. Did that cherry-idyll with Mdlle. de Colombier lure him
+back to life? Or did the hope of striking a blow for Corsica stay his
+suicidal hand? Probably the latter; for we find him shortly afterwards
+tilting against a Protestant minister of Geneva who had ventured to
+criticise one of the dogmas of Rousseau's evangel.
+
+The Genevan philosopher had asserted that Christianity, by enthroning
+in the hearts of Christians the idea of a Kingdom not of this world,
+broke the unity of civil society, because it detached the hearts of
+its converts from the State, as from all earthly things. To this the
+Genevan minister had successfully replied by quoting Christian
+teachings on the subject at issue. But Buonaparte fiercely accuses
+the pastor of neither having understood, nor even read, "Le Contrat
+Social": he hurls at his opponent texts of Scripture which enjoin
+obedience to the laws: he accuses Christianity of rendering men slaves
+to an anti-social tyranny, because its priests set up an authority in
+opposition to civil laws; and as for Protestantism, it propagated
+discords between its followers, and thereby violated civic unity.
+Christianity, he argues, is a foe to civil government, for it aims at
+making men happy in this life by inspiring them with hope of a future
+life; while the aim of civil government is "to lend assistance to the
+feeble against the strong, and by this means to allow everyone to
+enjoy a sweet tranquillity, the road of happiness." He therefore
+concludes that Christianity and civil government are diametrically
+opposed.
+
+In this tirade we see the youth's spirit of revolt flinging him not
+only against French law, but against the religion which sanctions it.
+He sees none of the beauty of the Gospels which Rousseau had
+admitted. His views are more rigid than those of his teacher.
+Scarcely can he conceive of two influences, the spiritual and the
+governmental, working on parallel lines, on different parts of man's
+nature. His conception of human society is that of an indivisible,
+indistinguishable whole, wherein materialism, tinged now and again by
+religious sentiment and personal honour, is the sole noteworthy
+influence. He finds no worth in a religion which seeks to work from
+within to without, which aims at transforming character, and thus
+transforming the world. In its headlong quest of tangible results his
+eager spirit scorns so tardy a method: he will "compel men to be
+happy," and for this result there is but one practicable means, the
+Social Contract, the State. Everything which mars the unity of the
+Social Contract shall be shattered, so that the State may have a clear
+field for the exercise of its beneficent despotism. Such is
+Buonaparte's political and religious creed at the age of seventeen,
+and such it remained (with many reservations suggested by maturer
+thought and self-interest) to the end of his days. It reappears in his
+policy anent the Concordat of 1802, by which religion was reduced to
+the level of handmaid to the State, as also in his frequent assertions
+that he would never have quite the same power as the Czar and the
+Sultan, because he had not undivided sway over the consciences of his
+people.[10] In this boyish essay we may perhaps discern the
+fundamental reason of his later failures. He never completely
+understood religion, or the enthusiasm which it can evoke; neither did
+he ever fully realize the complexity of human nature, the
+many-sidedness of social life, and the limitations that beset the
+action even of the most intelligent law-maker.[11]
+
+His reading of Rousseau having equipped him for the study of human
+society and government, he now, during his first sojourn at Auxonne
+(June, 1788--September, 1789), proceeds to ransack the records of the
+ancient and modern world. Despite ill-health, family troubles, and the
+outbreak of the French Revolution, he grapples with this portentous
+task. The history, geography, religion, and social customs of the
+ancient Persians, Scythians, Thracians, Athenians, Spartans,
+Egyptians, and Carthaginians--all furnished materials for his
+encyclopaedic note-books. Nothing came amiss to his summarizing genius.
+Here it was that he gained that knowledge of the past which was to
+astonish his contemporaries. Side by side with suggestions on
+regimental discipline and improvements in artillery, we find notes on
+the opening episodes of Plato's "Republic," and a systematic summary
+of English history from the earliest times down to the Revolution of
+1688. This last event inspired him with special interest, because the
+Whigs and their philosophic champion, Locke, maintained that James II.
+had violated the original contract between prince and people.
+Everywhere in his notes Napoleon emphasizes the incidents which led to
+conflicts between dynasties or between rival principles. In fact,
+through all these voracious studies there appear signs of his
+determination to write a history of Corsica; and, while inspiriting
+his kinsmen by recalling the glorious past, he sought to weaken the
+French monarchy by inditing a "Dissertation sur l'Autorite Royale."
+His first sketch of this work runs as follows:
+
+     "23 October, 1788. Auxonne.
+
+     "This work will begin with general ideas as to the origin and the
+     enhanced prestige of the name of king. Military rule is favourable
+     to it: this work will afterwards enter into the details of the
+     usurped authority enjoyed by the Kings of the twelve Kingdoms of
+     Europe.
+
+     "There are very few Kings who have not deserved dethronement[12]."
+
+This curt pronouncement is all that remains of the projected work. It
+sufficiently indicates, however, the aim of Napoleon's studies. One
+and all they were designed to equip him for the great task of
+re-awakening the spirit of the Corsicans and of sapping the base of
+the French monarchy.
+
+But these reams of manuscript notes and crude literary efforts have an
+even wider source of interest. They show how narrow was his outlook on
+life. It all turned on the regeneration of Corsica by methods which he
+himself prescribed. We are therefore able to understand why, when his
+own methods of salvation for Corsica were rejected, he tore himself
+away and threw his undivided energies into the Revolution.
+
+Yet the records of his early life show that in his character there was
+a strain of true sentiment and affection. In him Nature carved out a
+character of rock-like firmness, but she adorned it with flowers of
+human sympathy and tendrils of family love. At his first parting from
+his brother Joseph at Autun, when the elder brother was weeping
+passionately, the little Napoleon dropped a tear: but that, said the
+tutor, meant as much as the flood of tears from Joseph. Love of his
+relatives was a potent factor of his policy in later life; and slander
+has never been able wholly to blacken the character of a man who loved
+and honoured his mother, who asserted that her advice had often been
+of the highest service to him, and that her justice and firmness of
+spirit marked her out as a natural ruler of men. But when these
+admissions are freely granted, it still remains true that his
+character was naturally hard; that his sense of personal superiority
+made him, even as a child, exacting and domineering; and the sequel
+was to show that even the strongest passion of his youth, his
+determination to free Corsica from France, could be abjured if
+occasion demanded, all the force of his nature being thenceforth
+concentrated on vaster adventures.
+
+       *      *      *      *      *
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+THE FRENCH REVOLUTION AND CORSICA
+
+
+"They seek to destroy the Revolution by attacking my person: I will
+defend it, for I am the Revolution." Such were the words uttered by
+Buonaparte after the failure of the royalist plot of 1804. They are a
+daring transcript of Louis XIV.'s "L'etat, c'est moi." That was a bold
+claim, even for an age attuned to the whims of autocrats: but this of
+the young Corsican is even more daring, for he thereby equated himself
+with a movement which claimed to be wide as humanity and infinite as
+truth. And yet when he spoke these words, they were not scouted as
+presumptuous folly: to most Frenchmen they seemed sober truth and
+practical good sense. How came it, one asks in wonder, that after the
+short space of fifteen years a world-wide movement depended on a
+single life, that the infinitudes of 1789 lived on only in the form,
+and by the pleasure, of the First Consul? Here surely is a political
+incarnation unparalleled in the whole course of human history. The
+riddle cannot be solved by history alone. It belongs in part to the
+domain of psychology, when that science shall undertake the study, not
+merely of man as a unit, but of the aspirations, moods, and whims of
+communities and nations. Meanwhile it will be our far humbler task to
+strive to point out the relation of Buonaparte to the Revolution, and
+to show how the mighty force of his will dragged it to earth.
+
+The first questions that confront us are obviously these. Were the
+lofty aims and aspirations of the Revolution attainable? And, if so,
+did the men of 1789 follow them by practical methods? To the former of
+these questions the present chapter will, in part at least, serve as
+an answer. On the latter part of the problem the events described in
+later chapters will throw some light: in them we shall see that the
+great popular upheaval let loose mighty forces that bore Buonaparte on
+to fortune.
+
+Here we may notice that the Revolution was not a simple and therefore
+solid movement. It was complex and contained the seeds of discord
+which lurk in many-sided and militant creeds. The theories of its
+intellectual champions were as diverse as the motives which spurred on
+their followers to the attack on the outworn abuses of the age.
+
+Discontent and faith were the ultimate motive powers of the
+Revolution. Faith prepared the Revolution and discontent accomplished
+it. Idealists who, in varied planes of thought, preached the doctrine
+of human perfectibility, succeeded in slowly permeating the dull
+toiling masses of France with hope. Omitting here any notice of
+philosophic speculation as such, we may briefly notice the teachings
+of three writers whose influence on revolutionary politics was to be
+definite and practical. These were Montesquieu, Voltaire, and
+Rousseau. The first was by no means a revolutionist, for he decided in
+favour of a mixed form of government, like that of England, which
+guaranteed the State against the dangers of autocracy, oligarchy, and
+mob-rule. Only by a ricochet did he assail the French monarchy. But he
+re-awakened critical inquiry; and any inquiry was certain to sap the
+base of the _ancien regime_ in France. Montesquieu's teaching inspired
+the group of moderate reformers who in 1789 desired to re-fashion the
+institutions of France on the model of those of England. But popular
+sentiment speedily swept past these Anglophils towards the more
+attractive aims set forth by Voltaire.
+
+This keen thinker subjected the privileged classes, especially the
+titled clergy, to a searching fire of philosophic bombs and barbed
+witticisms. Never was there a more dazzling succession of literary
+triumphs over a tottering system. The satirized classes winced and
+laughed, and the intellect of France was conquered, for the
+Revolution. Thenceforth it was impossible that peasants who were
+nominally free should toil to satisfy the exacting needs of the
+State, and to support the brilliant bevy of nobles who flitted gaily
+round the monarch at Versailles. The young King Louis XVI., it is
+true, carried through several reforms, but he had not enough strength
+of will to abolish the absurd immunities from taxation which freed the
+nobles and titled clergy from the burdens of the State. Thus, down to
+1789, the middle classes and peasants bore nearly all the weight of
+taxation, while the peasants were also encumbered by feudal dues and
+tolls. These were the crying grievances which united in a solid
+phalanx both thinkers and practical men, and thereby gave an immense
+impetus to the levelling doctrines of Rousseau.
+
+Two only of his political teachings concern us here, namely, social
+equality and the unquestioned supremacy of the State; for to these
+dogmas, when they seemed doomed to political bankruptcy, Napoleon
+Buonaparte was to act as residuary legatee. According to Rousseau,
+society and government originated in a social contract, whereby all
+members of the community have equal rights. It matters not that the
+spirit of the contract may have evaporated amidst the miasma of
+luxury. That is a violation of civil society; and members are
+justified in reverting at once to the primitive ideal. If the
+existence of the body politic be endangered, force may be used:
+"Whoever refuses to obey the general will shall be constrained to do
+so by the whole body; which means nothing else than that he shall be
+forced to be free." Equally plausible and dangerous was his teaching
+as to the indivisibility of the general will. Deriving every public
+power from his social contract, he finds it easy to prove that the
+sovereign power, vested in all the citizens, must be incorruptible,
+inalienable, unrepresentable, indivisible, and indestructible.
+Englishmen may now find it difficult to understand the enthusiasm
+called forth by this quintessence of negations; but to Frenchman
+recently escaped from the age of privilege and warring against the
+coalition of kings, the cry of the Republic one and indivisible was a
+trumpet call to death or victory. Any shifts, even that of a
+dictatorship, were to be borne, provided that social equality could be
+saved. As republican Rome had saved her early liberties by intrusting
+unlimited powers to a temporary dictator, so, claimed Rousseau, a
+young commonwealth must by a similar device consult Nature's first law
+of self-preservation. The dictator saves liberty by temporarily
+abrogating it: by momentary gagging of the legislative power he
+renders it truly vocal.
+
+The events of the French Revolution form a tragic commentary on these
+theories. In the first stage of that great movement we see the
+followers of Montesquieu, Voltaire, and Rousseau marching in an
+undivided host against the ramparts of privilege. The walls of the
+Bastille fall down even at the blast of their trumpets. Odious feudal
+privileges disappear in a single sitting of the National Assembly; and
+the _Parlements_, or supreme law courts of the provinces, are swept
+away. The old provinces themselves are abolished, and at the beginning
+of 1790 France gains social and political unity by her new system of
+Departments, which grants full freedom of action in local affairs,
+though in all national concerns it binds France closely to the new
+popular government at Paris. But discords soon begin to divide the
+reformers: hatred of clerical privilege and the desire to fill the
+empty coffers of the State dictate the first acts of spoliation.
+Tithes are abolished: the lands of the Church are confiscated to the
+service of the State; monastic orders are suppressed; and the
+Government undertakes to pay the stipends of bishops and priests.
+Furthermore, their subjection to the State is definitely secured by
+the Civil Constitution of the Clergy (July, 1790) which invalidates
+their allegiance to the Pope. Most of the clergy refuse: these are
+termed non-jurors or orthodox priests, while their more complaisant
+colleagues are known as constitutional priests. Hence arises a serious
+schism in the Church, which distracts the religious life of the land,
+and separates the friends of liberty from the champions of the
+rigorous equality preached by Rousseau.
+
+The new constitution of 1791 was also a source of discord. In its
+jealousy of the royal authority, the National Assembly seized very
+many of the executive functions of government. The results were
+disastrous. Laws remained without force, taxes went uncollected, the
+army was distracted by mutinies, and the monarchy sank slowly into the
+gulf of bankruptcy and anarchy. Thus, in the course of three years,
+the revolutionists goaded the clergy to desperation, they were about
+to overthrow the monarchy, every month was proving their local
+self-government to be unworkable, and they themselves split into
+factions that plunged France into war and drenched her soil by
+organized massacres.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+We know very little about the impression made on the young Buonaparte
+by the first events of the Revolution. His note-book seems even to
+show that he regarded them as an inconvenient interference with his
+plans for Corsica. But gradually the Revolution excites his interest.
+In September, 1789, we find him on furlough in Corsica sharing the
+hopes of the islanders that their representatives in the French
+National Assembly will obtain the boon of independence. He exhorts
+his compatriots to favour the democratic cause, which promises a
+speedy deliverance from official abuses. He urges them to don the new
+tricolour cockade, symbol of Parisian triumph over the old monarchy;
+to form a club; above all, to organize a National Guard. The young
+officer knew that military power was passing from the royal army, now
+honeycombed with discontent, to the National Guard. Here surely was
+Corsica's means of salvation. But the French governor of Corsica
+intervenes. The club is closed, and the National Guard is dispersed.
+Thereupon Buonaparte launches a vigorous protest against the tyranny
+of the governor and appeals to the National Assembly of France for
+some guarantee of civil liberty. His name is at the head of this
+petition, a sufficiently daring step for a junior lieutenant on
+furlough. But his patriotism and audacity carry him still further. He
+journeys to Bastia, the official capital of his island, and is
+concerned in an affray between the populace and the royal troops
+(November 5th, 1789). The French authorities, fortunately for him, are
+nearly powerless: he is merely requested to return to Ajaccio; and
+there he organizes anew the civic force, and sets the dissident
+islanders an example of good discipline by mounting guard outside the
+house of a personal opponent.
+
+Other events now transpired which began to assuage his opposition to
+France. Thanks to the eloquent efforts of Mirabeau, the Corsican
+patriots who had remained in exile since 1768 were allowed to return
+and enjoy the full rights of citizenship. Little could the friends of
+liberty at Paris, or even the statesman himself, have foreseen all the
+consequences of this action: it softened the feelings of many
+Corsicans towards their conquerors; above all, it caused the heart of
+Napoleon Buonaparte for the first time to throb in accord with that of
+the French nation. His feelings towards Paoli also began to cool. The
+conduct of this illustrious exile exposed him to the charge of
+ingratitude towards France. The decree of the French National
+Assembly, which restored him to Corsican citizenship, was graced by
+acts of courtesy such as the generous French nature can so winningly
+dispense. Louis XVI. and the National Assembly warmly greeted him, and
+recognized him as head of the National Guard of the island. Yet,
+amidst all the congratulations, Paoli saw the approach of anarchy, and
+behaved with some reserve. Outwardly, however, concord seemed to be
+assured, when on July 14th, 1790, he landed in Corsica; but the hatred
+long nursed by the mountaineers and fisherfolk against France was not
+to be exorcised by a few demonstrations. In truth, the island was
+deeply agitated. The priests were rousing the people against the newly
+decreed Civil Constitution of the Clergy; and one of these
+disturbances endangered the life of Napoleon himself. He and his
+brother Joseph chanced to pass by when one of the processions of
+priests and devotees was exciting the pity and indignation of the
+townsfolk. The two brothers, who were now well known as partisans of
+the Revolution, were threatened with violence, and were saved only by
+their own firm demeanour and the intervention of peacemakers.
+
+Then again, the concession of local self-government to the island, as
+one of the Departments of France, revealed unexpected difficulties.
+Bastia and Ajaccio struggled hard for the honour of being the official
+capital. Paoli favoured the claims of Bastia, thereby annoying the
+champions of Ajaccio, among whom the Buonapartes were prominent. The
+schism was widened by the dictatorial tone of Paoli, a demeanour which
+ill became the chief of a civic force. In fact, it soon became
+apparent that Corsica was too small a sphere for natures so able and
+masterful as those of Paoli and Napoleon Buonaparte.
+
+The first meeting of these two men must have been a scene of deep
+interest. It was on the fatal field of Ponte Nuovo. Napoleon doubtless
+came there in the spirit of true hero-worship. But hero-worship which
+can stand the strain of actual converse is rare indeed, especially
+when the expectant devotee is endowed with keen insight and habits of
+trenchant expression. One phrase has come down to us as a result of
+the interview; but this phrase contains a volume of meaning. After
+Paoli had explained the disposition of his troops against the French
+at Ponte Nuovo, Buonaparte drily remarked to his brother Joseph, "The
+result of these dispositions was what was inevitable." [13]
+
+For the present, Buonaparte and other Corsican democrats were closely
+concerned with the delinquencies of the Comte de Buttafuoco, the
+deputy for the twelve nobles of the island to the National Assembly of
+France. In a letter written on January 23rd, 1791, Buonaparte
+overwhelms this man with a torrent of invective.--He it was who had
+betrayed his country to France in 1768. Self-interest and that alone
+prompted his action then, and always. French rule was a cloak for his
+design of subjecting Corsica to "the absurd feudal _regime_" of the
+barons. In his selfish royalism he had protested against the new
+French constitution as being unsuited to Corsica, "though it was
+exactly the same as that which brought us so much good and was wrested
+from us only amidst streams of blood."--The letter is remarkable for
+the southern intensity of its passion, and for a certain hardening of
+tone towards Paoli. Buonaparte writes of Paoli as having been ever
+"surrounded by enthusiasts, and as failing to understand in a man any
+other passion than fanaticism for liberty and independence," and as
+duped by Buttafuoco in 1768.[14] The phrase has an obvious reference
+to the Paoli of 1791, surrounded by men who had shared his long exile
+and regarded the English constitution as their model. Buonaparte, on
+the contrary, is the accredited champion of French democracy, his
+furious epistle being printed by the Jacobin Club of Ajaccio.
+
+After firing off this tirade Buonaparte returned to his regiment at
+Auxonne (February, 1791). It was high time; for his furlough, though
+prolonged on the plea of ill-health, had expired in the preceding
+October, and he was therefore liable to six months' imprisonment. But
+the young officer rightly gauged the weakness of the moribund
+monarchy; and the officers of his almost mutinous regiment were glad
+to get him back on any terms. Everywhere in his journey through
+Provence and Dauphine, Buonaparte saw the triumph of revolutionary
+principles. He notes that the peasants are to a man for the
+Revolution; so are the rank and file of the regiment. The officers
+are aristocrats, along with three-fourths of those who belong to "good
+society": so are all the women, for "Liberty is fairer than they, and
+eclipses them." The Revolution was evidently gaining completer hold
+over his mind and was somewhat blurring his insular sentiments, when a
+rebuff from Paoli further weakened his ties to Corsica. Buonaparte had
+dedicated to him his work on Corsica, and had sent him the manuscript
+for his approval. After keeping it an unconscionable time, the old man
+now coldly replied that he did not desire the honour of Buonaparte's
+panegyric, though he thanked him heartily for it; that the
+consciousness of having done his duty sufficed for him in his old age;
+and, for the rest, history should not be written in youth. A further
+request from Joseph Buonaparte for the return of the slighted
+manuscript brought the answer that he, Paoli, had no time to search
+his papers. After this, how could hero-worship subsist?
+
+The four months spent by Buonaparte at Auxonne were, indeed, a time of
+disappointment and hardship. Out of his slender funds he paid for the
+education of his younger brother, Louis, who shared his otherwise
+desolate lodging. A room almost bare but for a curtainless bed, a
+table heaped with books and papers, and two chairs--such were the
+surroundings of the lieutenant in the spring of 1791. He lived on
+bread that he might rear his brother for the army, and that he might
+buy books, overjoyed when his savings mounted to the price of some
+coveted volume.
+
+Perhaps the depressing conditions of his life at Auxonne may account
+for the acrid tone of an essay which he there wrote in competition for
+a prize offered by the Academy of Lyons on the subject--"What truths
+and sentiments ought to be inculcated to men for their happiness." It
+was unsuccessful; and modern readers will agree with the verdict of
+one of the judges that it was incongruous in arrangement and of a bad
+and ragged style. The thoughts are set forth in jerky, vehement
+clauses; and, in place of the _sensibilite_ of some of his earlier
+effusions, we feel here the icy breath of materialism. He regards an
+ideal human society as a geometrical structure based on certain
+well-defined postulates. All men ought to be able to satisfy certain
+elementary needs of their nature; but all that is beyond is
+questionable or harmful. The ideal legislator will curtail wealth so
+as to restore the wealthy to their true nature--and so forth. Of any
+generous outlook on the wider possibilities of human life there is
+scarcely a trace. His essay is the apotheosis of social mediocrity. By
+Procrustean methods he would have forced mankind back to the dull
+levels of Sparta: the opalescent glow of Athenian life was beyond his
+ken. But perhaps the most curious passage is that in which he preaches
+against the sin and folly of ambition. He pictures Ambition as a
+figure with pallid cheeks, wild eyes, hasty step, jerky movements and
+sardonic smile, for whom crimes are a sport, while lies and calumnies
+are merely arguments and figures of speech. Then, in words that recall
+Juvenal's satire on Hannibal's career, he continues: "What is
+Alexander doing when he rushes from Thebes into Persia and thence into
+India? He is ever restless, he loses his wits, he believes himself
+God. What is the end of Cromwell? He governs England. But is he not
+tormented by all the daggers of the furies?"--The words ring false,
+even for this period of Buonaparte's life; and one can readily
+understand his keen wish in later years to burn every copy of these
+youthful essays. But they have nearly all survived; and the diatribe
+against ambition itself supplies the feather wherewith history may
+wing her shaft at the towering flight of the imperial eagle.[15]
+
+At midsummer he is transferred, as first lieutenant, to another
+regiment which happened to be quartered at Valence; but his second
+sojourn there is remarkable only for signs of increasing devotion to
+the revolutionary cause. In the autumn of 1791 he is again in Corsica
+on furlough, and remains there until the month of May following. He
+finds the island rent by strifes which it would be tedious to
+describe. Suffice it to say that the breach between Paoli and the
+Buonapartes gradually widened owing to the dictator's suspicion of all
+who favoured the French Revolution. The young officer certainly did
+nothing to close the breach. Determined to secure his own election as
+lieutenant-colonel in the new Corsican National Guard, he spent much
+time in gaining recruits who would vote for him. He further assured
+his success by having one of the commissioners, who was acting in
+Paoli's interest, carried off from his friends and detained at the
+Buonapartes' house in Ajaccio--his first _coup_[16] Stranger events
+were to follow. At Easter, when the people were excited by the
+persecuting edicts against the clergy and the closing of a monastery,
+there was sharp fighting between the populace and Buonaparte's
+companies of National Guards. Originating in a petty quarrel, which
+was taken up by eager partisans, it embroiled the whole of the town
+and gave the ardent young Jacobin the chance of overthrowing his
+enemies. His plans even extended to the seizure of the citadel, where
+he tried to seduce the French regiment from its duty to officers
+whom he dubbed aristocrats. The attempt was a failure. The whole
+truth can, perhaps, scarcely be discerned amidst the tissue of
+lies which speedily enveloped the affair; but there can be no
+doubt that on the second day of strife Buonaparte's National
+Guards began the fight and subsequently menaced the regular troops in
+the citadel. The conflict was finally stopped by commissioners sent by
+Paoli; and the volunteers were sent away from the town.
+
+Buonaparte's position now seemed desperate. His conduct exposed him to
+the hatred of most of his fellow-citizens and to the rebukes of the
+French War Department. In fact, he had doubly sinned: he had actually
+exceeded his furlough by four months: he was technically guilty, first
+of desertion, and secondly of treason. In ordinary times he would have
+been shot, but the times were extraordinary, and he rightly judged
+that when a Continental war was brewing, the most daring course was
+also the most prudent, namely, to go to Paris. Thither Paoli allowed
+him to proceed, doubtless on the principle of giving the young madcap
+a rope wherewith to hang himself.
+
+On his arrival at Marseilles, he hears that war has been declared by
+France against Austria; for the republican Ministry, which Louis XVI.
+had recently been compelled to accept, believed that war against an
+absolute monarch would intensify revolutionary fervour in France and
+hasten the advent of the Republic. Their surmises were correct.
+Buonaparte, on his arrival at Paris, witnessed the closing scenes of
+the reign of Louis XVI. On June 20th he saw the crowd burst into the
+Tuileries, when for some hours it insulted the king and queen. Warmly
+though he had espoused the principles of the Revolution, his patrician
+blood boiled at the sight of these vulgar outrages, and he exclaimed:
+"Why don't they sweep off four or five hundred of that _canaille_ with
+cannon? The rest would then run away fast enough." The remark is
+significant. If his brain approved the Jacobin creed, his instincts
+were always with monarchy. His career was to reconcile his reason with
+his instincts, and to impose on weary France the curious compromise of
+a revolutionary Imperialism.
+
+On August 10th, from the window of a shop near the Tuileries, he
+looked down on the strange events which dealt the _coup de grace_ to
+the dying monarchy. Again the chieftain within him sided against the
+vulture rabble and with the well-meaning monarch who kept his troops
+to a tame defensive. "If Louis XVI." (so wrote Buonaparte to his
+brother Joseph) "had mounted his horse, the victory would have been
+his--so I judge from the spirit which prevailed in the morning."
+When all was over, when Louis sheathed his sword and went for
+shelter to the National Assembly, when the fierce Marseillais were
+slaughtering the Swiss Guards and bodyguards of the king, Buonaparte
+dashed forward to save one of these unfortunates from a southern
+sabre. "Southern comrade, let us save this poor wretch.--Are you
+of the south?--Yes.--Well, we will save him."
+
+Altogether, what a time of disillusionment this was to the young
+officer. What depths of cruelty and obscenity it revealed in the
+Parisian rabble. What folly to treat them with the Christian
+forbearance shown by Louis XVI. How much more suitable was grapeshot
+than the beatitudes. The lesson was stored up for future use at a
+somewhat similar crisis on this very spot.
+
+During the few days when victorious Paris left Louis with the sham
+title of king, Buonaparte received his captain's commission, which was
+signed for the king by Servan, the War Minister. Thus did the
+revolutionary Government pass over his double breach of military
+discipline at Ajaccio. The revolutionary motto, "La carriere ouverte
+aux talents," was never more conspicuously illustrated than in the
+facile condoning of his offences and in this rapid promotion. It was
+indeed a time fraught with vast possibilities for all republican or
+Jacobinical officers. Their monarchist colleagues were streaming over
+the frontiers to join the Austrian and Prussian invaders. But National
+Guards were enrolling by tens of thousands to drive out the Prussian
+and Austrian invaders; and when Europe looked to see France fall for
+ever, it saw with wonder her strength renewed as by enchantment. Later
+on it learnt that that strength was the strength of Antaeus, of a
+peasantry that stood firmly rooted in their native soil. Organization
+and good leadership alone were needed to transform these ardent masses
+into the most formidable soldiery; and the brilliant military
+prospects now opened up certainly knit Buonaparte's feelings more
+closely with the cause of France. Thus, on September 21st, when the
+new National Assembly, known as the Convention, proclaimed the
+Republic, we may well believe that sincere convictions no less than
+astute calculations moved him to do and dare all things for the sake
+of the new democratic commonwealth.[17]
+
+For the present, however, a family duty urges him to return to
+Corsica. He obtains permission to escort home his sister Elise, and
+for the third time we find him on furlough in Corsica. This laxity of
+military discipline at such a crisis is explicable only on the
+supposition that the revolutionary chiefs knew of his devotion to
+their cause and believed that his influence in the island would render
+his informal services there more valuable than his regimental duties
+in the army then invading Savoy. For the word Republic, which fired
+his imagination, was an offence to Paoli and to most of the
+islanders; and the phrase "Republic one and indivisible," ever on the
+lips of the French, seemed to promise that the island must become a
+petty replica of France--France that was now dominated by the authors
+of the vile September massacres. The French party in the island was
+therefore rapidly declining, and Paoli was preparing to sever the
+union with France. For this he has been bitterly assailed as a
+traitor. But, from Paoli's point of view, the acquisition of the
+island by France was a piece of rank treachery; and his allegiance to
+France was technically at an end when the king was forcibly dethroned
+and the Republic was proclaimed. The use of the appellation "traitor"
+in such a case is merely a piece of childish abuse. It can be
+justified neither by reference to law, equity, nor to the popular
+sentiment of the time. Facts were soon to show that the islanders were
+bitterly opposed to the party then dominant in France. This hostility
+of a clannish, religious, and conservative populace against the
+bloodthirsty and atheistical innovators who then lorded it over France
+was not diminished by the action of some six thousand French
+volunteers, the off-scourings of the southern ports, who were landed
+at Ajaccio for an expedition against Sardinia. In their zeal for
+Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity, these _bonnets rouges_ came to
+blows with the men of Ajaccio, three of whom they hanged. So fierce
+was the resentment caused by this outrage that the plan of a joint
+expedition for the liberation of Sardinia from monarchical tyranny had
+to be modified; and Buonaparte, who was again in command of a
+battalion of Corsican guards, proposed that the islanders alone should
+proceed to attack the Madalena Isles.
+
+These islands, situated between Corsica and Sardinia, have a double
+interest to the historical student. One of them, Caprera, was destined
+to shelter another Italian hero at the close of his career, the noble
+self-denying Garibaldi: the chief island of the group was the
+objective of Buonaparte's first essay in regular warfare. After some
+delays the little force set sail under the command of Cesari-Colonna,
+the nephew of Paoli. According to Buonaparte's own official statement
+at the close of the affair, he had successfully landed his men near
+the town to be assailed, and had thrown the Sardinian defences into
+confusion, when a treacherous order from his chief bade him to cease
+firing and return to the vessels. It has also been stated that this
+retreat was the outcome of a secret understanding between Paoli and
+Cesari-Colonna that the expedition should miscarry. This seems highly
+probable. A mutiny on board the chief ship of the flotilla was
+assigned by Cesari-Colonna as the cause of his order for a retreat;
+but there are mutinies and mutinies, and this one may have been a
+trick of the Paolists for thwarting Buonaparte's plan and leaving him
+a prisoner. In any case, the young officer only saved himself and his
+men by a hasty retreat to the boats, tumbling into the sea a mortar
+and four cannon. Such was the ending to the great captain's first
+military enterprise.
+
+On his return to Ajaccio (March 3rd, 1793), Buonaparte found affairs
+in utter confusion. News had recently arrived of the declaration of
+war by the French Republic against England and Holland. Moreover,
+Napoleon's young brother, Lucien, had secretly denounced Paoli to the
+French authorities at Toulon; and three commissioners were now sent
+from Paris charged with orders to disband the Corsican National
+Guards, and to place the Corsican dictator under the orders of the
+French general commanding the army of Italy.[18]
+
+A game of truly Macchiavellian skill is now played. The French
+commissioners, among whom the Corsican deputy, Salicetti, is by far
+the most able, invite Paoli to repair to Toulon, there to concert
+measures for the defence of Corsica. Paoli, seeing through the ruse
+and discerning a guillotine, pleads that his age makes the journey
+impossible; but with his friends he quietly prepares for resistance
+and holds the citadel of Ajaccio. Meanwhile the commissioners make
+friendly overtures to the old chief; in these Napoleon participates,
+being ignorant of Lucien's action at Toulon. The sincerity of these
+overtures may well be called in question, though Buonaparte still used
+the language of affection to his former idol. However this may be, all
+hope of compromise is dashed by the zealots who are in power at Paris.
+On April 2nd they order the French commissioners to secure Paoli's
+person, by whatever means, and bring him to the French capital. At
+once a cry of indignation goes up from all parts of Corsica; and
+Buonaparte draws up a declaration, vindicating Paoli's conduct and
+begging the French Convention to revoke its decree.[19] Again, one
+cannot but suspect that this declaration was intended mainly, if not
+solely, for local consumption. In any case, it failed to cool the
+resentment of the populace; and the partisans of France soon came to
+blows with the Paolists.
+
+Salicetti and Buonaparte now plan by various artifices to gain the
+citadel of Ajaccio from the Paolists, but guile is three times foiled
+by guile equally astute. Failing here, the young captain seeks to
+communicate with the French commissioners at Bastia. He sets out
+secretly, with a trusty shepherd as companion, to cross the island:
+but at the village of Bocognano he is recognized and imprisoned by the
+partisans of Paoli. Some of the villagers, however, retain their old
+affection to the Buonaparte family, which here has an ancestral
+estate, and secretly set him free. He returns to Ajaccio, only to find
+an order for his arrest issued by the Corsican patriots. This time he
+escapes by timely concealment in the grotto of a friend's garden; and
+from the grounds of another family connection he finally glides away
+in a vessel to a point of safety, whence he reaches Bastia.
+
+Still, though a fugitive, he persists in believing that Ajaccio is
+French at heart, and urges the sending of a liberating force. The
+French commissioners agree, and the expedition sails--only to meet
+with utter failure. Ajaccio, as one man, repels the partisans of
+France; and, a gale of wind springing up, Buonaparte and his men
+regain their boats with the utmost difficulty. At a place hard by, he
+finds his mother, uncle, brothers and sisters. Madame Buonaparte, with
+the extraordinary tenacity of will that characterized her famous son,
+had wished to defend her house at Ajaccio against the hostile
+populace; but, yielding to the urgent warnings of friends, finally
+fled to the nearest place of safety, and left the house to the fury of
+the populace, by whom it was nearly wrecked.
+
+For a brief space Buonaparte clung to the hope of regaining Corsica
+for the Republic, but now only by the aid of French troops. For the
+islanders, stung by the demand of the French Convention that Paoli
+should go to Paris, had rallied to the dictator's side; and the aged
+chief made overtures to England for alliance. The partisans of France,
+now menaced by England's naval power, were in an utterly untenable
+position. Even the steel-like will of Buonaparte was bent. His career
+in Corsica was at an end for the present; and with his kith and kin he
+set sail for France.
+
+The interest of the events above described lies, not in their
+intrinsic importance, but in the signal proof which they afford of
+Buonaparte's wondrous endowments of mind and will. In a losing cause
+and in a petty sphere he displays all the qualities which, when the
+omens were favourable, impelled him to the domination of a Continent.
+He fights every inch of ground tenaciously; at each emergency he
+evinces a truly Italian fertility of resource, gliding round obstacles
+or striving to shatter them by sheer audacity, seeing through men,
+cajoling them by his insinuations or overawing them by his mental
+superiority, ever determined to try the fickle jade Fortune to the
+very utmost, and retreating only before the inevitable. The sole
+weakness discoverable in this nature, otherwise compact of strength,
+is an excess of will-power over all the faculties that make for
+prudence. His vivid imagination only serves to fire him with the full
+assurance that he must prevail over all obstacles.
+
+And yet, if he had now stopped to weigh well the lessons of the past,
+hitherto fertile only in failures and contradictions, he must have
+seen the powerlessness of his own will when in conflict with the
+forces of the age; for he had now severed his connection with the
+Corsican patriots, of whose cause he had only two years before been
+the most passionate champion. It is evident that the schism which
+finally separated Buonaparte and Paoli originated in their divergence
+of views regarding the French Revolution. Paoli accepted revolutionary
+principles only in so far as they promised to base freedom on a due
+balance of class interests. He was a follower of Montesquieu. He
+longed to see in Corsica a constitution similar to that of England or
+to that of 1791 in France. That hope vanished alike for France and
+Corsica after the fall of the monarchy; and towards the Jacobinical
+Republic, which banished orthodox priests and guillotined the amiable
+Louis, Paoli thenceforth felt naught but loathing: "We have been the
+enemies of kings," he said to Joseph Buonaparte; "let us never be
+their executioners." Thenceforth he drifted inevitably into alliance
+with England.
+
+Buonaparte, on the other hand, was a follower of Rousseau, whose ideas
+leaped to power at the downfall of the monarchy. Despite the excesses
+which he ever deplored, this second Revolution appeared to him to be
+the dawn of a new and intelligent age. The clear-cut definitions of
+the new political creed dovetailed in with his own rigid views of
+life. Mankind was to be saved by law, society being levelled down and
+levelled up until the ideals of Lycurgus were attained. Consequently
+he regarded the Republic as a mighty agency for the social
+regeneration not only of France, but of all peoples. His insular
+sentiments were gradually merged in these vaster schemes.
+Self-interest and the differentiating effects of party strifes
+undoubtedly assisted the mental transformation; but it is clear that
+the study of the "Social Contract" was the touchstone of his early
+intellectual growth. He had gone to Rousseau's work to deepen his
+Corsican patriotism: he there imbibed doctrines which drew him
+irresistibly into the vortex of the French Revolution, and of its wars
+of propaganda and conquest.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+TOULON
+
+
+When Buonaparte left Corsica for the coast of Provence, his career had
+been remarkable only for the strange contrast between the brilliance
+of his gifts and the utter failure of all his enterprises. His French
+partisanship had, as it seemed, been the ruin of his own and his
+family's fortunes. At the age of twenty-four he was known only as the
+unlucky leader of forlorn hopes and an outcast from the island around
+which his fondest longings had been entwined. His land-fall on the
+French coast seemed no more promising; for at that time Provence was
+on the verge of revolt against the revolutionary Government. Even
+towns like Marseilles and Toulon, which a year earlier had been noted
+for their republican fervour, were now disgusted with the course of
+events at Paris. In the third climax of revolutionary fury, that of
+June 2nd, 1793, the more enlightened of the two republican factions,
+the Girondins, had been overthrown by their opponents, the men of the
+Mountain, who, aided by the Parisian rabble, seized on power. Most of
+the Departments of France resented this violence and took up arms. But
+the men of the Mountain acted with extraordinary energy: they
+proclaimed the Girondins to be in league with the invaders, and
+blasted their opponents with the charge of conspiring to divide France
+into federal republics. The Committee of Public Safety, now installed
+in power at Paris, decreed a _levee en masse_ of able-bodied patriots
+to defend the sacred soil of the Republic, and the "organizer of
+victory," Carnot, soon drilled into a terrible efficiency the hosts
+that sprang from the soil. On their side the Girondins had no
+organization whatever, and were embarrassed by the adhesion of very
+many royalists. Consequently their wavering groups speedily gave way
+before the impact of the new, solid, central power.
+
+A movement so wanting in definiteness as that of the Girondins was
+destined to slide into absolute opposition to the men of the Mountain:
+it was doomed to become royalist. Certainly it did not command the
+adhesion of Napoleon. His inclinations are seen in his pamphlet, "Le
+Souper de Beaucaire," which he published in August, 1793. He wrote it
+in the intervals of some regimental work which had come to hand: and
+his passage through the little town of Beaucaire seems to have
+suggested the scenic setting of this little dialogue. It purports to
+record a discussion between an officer--Buonaparte himself--two
+merchants of Marseilles, and citizens of Nimes and Montpellier. It
+urges the need of united action under the lead of the Jacobins. The
+officer reminds the Marseillais of the great services which their city
+has rendered to the cause of liberty. Let Marseilles never disgrace
+herself by calling in the Spanish fleet as a protection against
+Frenchmen. Let her remember that this civil strife was part of a fight
+to the death between French patriots and the despots of Europe. That
+was, indeed, the practical point at issue; the stern logic of facts
+ranged on the Jacobin side all clear-sighted men who were determined
+that the Revolution should not be stamped out by the foreign invaders.
+On the ground of mere expediency, men must rally to the cause of the
+Jacobinical Republic. Every crime might be condoned, provided that the
+men now in power at Paris saved the country. Better their tyranny than
+the vengeance of the emigrant _noblesse_. Such was the instinct of
+most Frenchmen, and it saved France.
+
+As an _expose_ of keen policy and all-dominating opportunism, "Le
+Souper de Beaucaire" is admirable. In a national crisis anything that
+saves the State is justifiable--that is its argument. The men of the
+Mountain are abler and stronger than the Girondins: therefore the
+Marseillais are foolish not to bow to the men of the Mountain. The
+author feels no sympathy with the generous young Girondins, who, under
+the inspiration of Madame Roland, sought to establish a republic of
+the virtues even while they converted monarchical Europe by the sword.
+Few men can now peruse with undimmed eyes the tragic story of their
+fall. But the scenes of 1793 had transformed the Corsican youth into a
+dry-eyed opportunist who rejects the Girondins as he would have thrown
+aside a defective tool: nay, he blames them as "guilty of the greatest
+of crimes."[20]
+
+Nevertheless Buonaparte was alive to the miseries of the situation. He
+was weary of civil strifes, in which it seemed that no glory could be
+won. He must hew his way to fortune, if only in order to support his
+family, which was now drifting about from village to village of
+Provence and subsisting on the slender sums doled out by the Republic
+to Corsican exiles.
+
+He therefore applied, though without success, for a regimental
+exchange to the army of the Rhine. But while toiling through his
+administrative drudgery in Provence, his duties brought him near to
+Toulon, where the Republic was face to face with triumphant royalism.
+The hour had struck: the man now appeared.
+
+In July, 1793, Toulon joined other towns of the south in declaring
+against Jacobin tyranny; and the royalists of the town, despairing of
+making headway against the troops of the Convention, admitted English
+and Spanish squadrons to the harbour to hold the town for Louis XVII,
+(August 28th). This event shot an electric thrill through France. It
+was the climax of a long series of disasters. Lyons had hoisted the
+white flag of the Bourbons, and was making a desperate defence against
+the forces of the Convention: the royalist peasants of La Vendee had
+several times scattered the National Guards in utter rout: the
+Spaniards were crossing the Eastern Pyrenees: the Piedmontese were
+before the gates of Grenoble; and in the north and on the Rhine a
+doubtful contest was raging.
+
+Such was the condition of France when Buonaparte drew near to the
+republican forces encamped near Ollioules, to the north-west of
+Toulon. He found them in disorder: their commander, Carteaux, had left
+the easel to learn the art of war, and was ignorant of the range of
+his few cannon; Dommartin, their artillery commander, had been
+disabled by a wound; and the Commissioners of the Convention, who were
+charged to put new vigour into the operations, were at their wits' end
+for lack of men and munitions. One of them was Salicetti, who hailed
+his coming as a godsend, and urged him to take Dommartin's place.
+Thus, on September 16th, the thin, sallow, threadbare figure took
+command of the artillery.
+
+The republicans menaced the town on two sides. Carteaux with some
+8,000 men held the hills between Toulon and Ollioules, while a corps
+3,000 strong, under Lapoype, observed the fortress on the side of La
+Valette. Badly led though they were, they wrested the valley north of
+Mount Faron from the allied outposts, and nearly completed the
+besiegers' lines (September 18th). In fact, the garrison, which
+comprised only 2,000 British troops, 4,000 Spaniards, 1,500 French
+royalists, together with some Neapolitans and Piedmontese, was
+insufficient to defend the many positions around the city on which its
+safety depended. Indeed, General Grey wrote to Pitt that 50,000 men
+were needed to garrison the place; but, as that was double the
+strength of the British regular army then, the English Minister could
+only hold out hopes of the arrival of an Austrian corps and a few
+hundred British.[21]
+
+Before Buonaparte's arrival the Jacobins had no artillery: true, they
+had a few field-pieces, four heavier guns and two mortars, which a
+sergeant helplessly surveyed; but they had no munitions, no tools,
+above all no method and no discipline. Here then was the opportunity
+for which he had been pining. At once he assumes the tone of a master.
+"You mind your business, and let me look after mine," he exclaims to
+officious infantrymen; "it is artillery that takes fortresses:
+infantry gives its help." The drudgery of the last weeks now yields
+fruitful results: his methodical mind, brooding over the chaos before
+him, flashes back to this or that detail in some coast fort or
+magazine: his energy hustles on the leisurely Provencaux, and in a few
+days he has a respectable park of artillery--fourteen cannon, four
+mortars, and the necessary stores. In a brief space the Commissioners
+show their approval of his services by promoting him to the rank of
+_chef de bataillon_.
+
+By this time the tide was beginning to turn in favour of the Republic.
+On October 9th Lyons fell before the Jacobins. The news lends a new
+zest to the Jacobins, whose left wing had (October 1st) been severely
+handled by the allies on Mount Faron. Above all, Buonaparte's
+artillery can be still further strengthened. "I have despatched," he
+wrote to the Minister of War, "an intelligent officer to Lyons,
+Briancon, and Grenoble, to procure what might be useful to us. I have
+requested the Army of Italy to furnish us with the cannon now useless
+for the defence of Antibes and Monaco.... I have established at
+Ollioules an arsenal with 80 workers. I have requisitioned horses from
+Nice right to Valence and Montpellier.... I am having 5,000 gabions
+made every day at Marseilles." But he was more than a mere organizer.
+He was ever with his men, animating them by his own ardour: "I always
+found him at his post," wrote Doppet, who now succeeded Carteaux;
+"when he needed rest he lay on the ground wrapped in his cloak: he
+never left the batteries." There, amidst the autumn rains, he
+contracted the febrile symptoms which for several years deepened the
+pallor of his cheeks and furrowed the rings under his eyes, giving him
+that uncanny, almost spectral, look which struck a chill to all who
+saw him first and knew not the fiery energy that burnt within. There,
+too, his zeal, his unfailing resource, his bulldog bravery, and that
+indefinable quality which separates genius from talent speedily
+conquered the hearts of the French soldiery. One example of this
+magnetic power must here suffice. He had ordered a battery to be made
+so near to Fort Mulgrave that Salicetti described it as within a
+pistol-shot of the English guns. Could it be worked, its effect would
+be decisive. But who could work it? The first day saw all its gunners
+killed or wounded, and even the reckless Jacobins flinched from facing
+the iron hail. "Call it _the battery of the fearless_," ordered the
+young captain. The generous French nature was touched at its tenderest
+point, personal and national honour, and the battery thereafter never
+lacked its full complement of gunners, living and dead.
+
+The position at Fort Mulgrave, or the Little Gibraltar, was, indeed,
+all important; for if the republicans seized that commanding position,
+the allied squadrons could be overpowered, or at least compelled to
+sail away; and with their departure Toulon must fall.
+
+Here we come on to ground that has been fiercely fought over in wordy
+war. Did Bonaparte originate the plan of attack? Or did he throw his
+weight and influence into a scheme that others beside him had
+designed? Or did he merely carry out orders as a subordinate?
+According to the Commissioner Barras, the last was the case. But
+Barras was with the eastern wing of the besiegers, that is, some miles
+away from the side of La Seyne and L'Eguillette, where Buonaparte
+fought. Besides, Barras' "Memoires" are so untruthful where Buonaparte
+is concerned, as to be unworthy of serious attention, at least on
+these points.[22] The historian M. Jung likewise relegates Buonaparte
+to a quite subordinate position.[23] But his narrative omits some of
+the official documents which show that Buonaparte played a very
+important part in the siege. Other writers claim that Buonaparte's
+influence on the whole conduct of operations was paramount and
+decisive. Thus, M. Duruy quotes the letter of the Commissioners to the
+Convention: "We shall take care not to lay siege to Toulon by ordinary
+means, when we have a surer means to reduce it, that is, by burning
+the enemy's fleet.... We are only waiting for the siege-guns before
+taking up a position whence we may reach the ships with red-hot balls;
+and we shall see if we are not masters of Toulon." But this very
+letter disproves the Buonapartist claim. It was written on September
+13th. Thus, _three days before Buonaparte's arrival_, the
+Commissioners had fully decided on attacking the Little Gibraltar; and
+the claim that Buonaparte originated the plan can only be sustained by
+antedating his arrival at Toulon.[24] In fact, every experienced
+officer among besiegers and besieged saw the weak point of the
+defence: early in September Hood and Mulgrave began the fortification
+of the heights behind L'Eguillette. In face of these facts, the
+assertion that Buonaparte was the first to design the movements which
+secured the surrender of Toulon must be relegated to the domain of
+hero-worship. (See note on p. 56.)
+
+[Illustration: THE SIEGE OF TOULON, 1793, from "L'Histoire de France
+depuis la Revolution de 1789," by Emmanuel Toulougeon. Paris, An. XII.
+[1803]. A. Fort Mulgrave. A'. Promontory of L'Eguillette. 1 and 2.
+Batteries. 3. Battery "Hommes sans Peur." The black and shaded
+rectangles are the Republican and Allied positions respectively.]
+
+Carteaux having been superseded by Doppet, more energy was thrown
+into the operations. Yet for him Buonaparte had scarcely more respect.
+On November 15th an affair of outposts near Fort Mulgrave showed his
+weakness. The soldiers on both sides eagerly took up the affray; line
+after line of the French rushed up towards that frowning redoubt:
+O'Hara, the leader of the allied troops, encouraged the British in a
+sortie that drove back the blue-coats; whereupon Buonaparte headed the
+rallying rush to the gorge of the redoubt, when Doppet sounded the
+retreat. Half blinded by rage and by the blood trickling from a slight
+wound in his forehead, the young Corsican rushed back to Doppet and
+abused him in the language of the camp: "Our blow at Toulon has
+missed, because a---- has beaten the retreat." The soldiery applauded
+this revolutionary licence, and bespattered their chief with similar
+terms.
+
+A few days later the tall soldierly Dugommier took the command:
+reinforcements began to pour in, finally raising the strength of the
+besiegers to 37,000 men. Above all, the new commander gave Buonaparte
+_carte blanche_ for the direction of the artillery. New batteries
+accordingly began to ring the Little Gibraltar on the landward side;
+O'Hara, while gallantly heading a sortie, fell into the republicans'
+hands, and the defenders began to lose heart. The worst disappointment
+was the refusal of the Austrian Court to fulfil its promise, solemnly
+given in September, to send 5,000 regular troops for the defence of
+Toulon.
+
+The final conflict took place on the night of December 16-17, when
+torrents of rain, a raging wind, and flashes of lightning added new
+horrors to the strife. Scarcely had the assailants left the sheltering
+walls of La Seyne, than Buonaparte's horse fell under him, shot dead:
+whole companies went astray in the darkness: yet the first column of
+2,000 men led by Victor rush at the palisades of Fort Mulgrave, tear
+them down, and sweep into the redoubt, only to fall in heaps before a
+second line of defence: supported by the second column, they rally,
+only to yield once more before the murderous fire. In despair,
+Dugommier hurries on the column of reserve, with which Buonaparte
+awaits the crisis of the night. Led by the gallant young Muiron, the
+reserve sweeps into the gorge of death; Muiron, Buonaparte, and
+Dugommier hack their way through the same embrasure: their men swarm
+in on the overmatched red-coats and Spaniards, cut them down at their
+guns, and the redoubt is won.
+
+This event was decisive. The Neapolitans, who were charged to hold the
+neighbouring forts, flung themselves into the sea; and the ships
+themselves began to weigh anchor; for Buonaparte's guns soon poured
+their shot on the fleet and into the city itself. But even in that
+desperate strait the allies turned fiercely to bay. On the evening of
+December 17th a young officer, who was destined once more to thwart
+Buonaparte's designs, led a small body of picked men into the dockyard
+to snatch from the rescuing clutch of the Jacobins the French warships
+that could not be carried off. Then was seen a weird sight. The galley
+slaves, now freed from their chains and clustering in angry groups,
+menaced the intruders. Yet the British seamen spread the combustibles
+and let loose the demon of destruction. Forthwith the flames shot up
+the masts, and licked up the stores of hemp, tar, and timber: and the
+explosion of two powder-ships by the Spaniards shook the earth for
+many miles around. Napoleon ever retained a vivid mental picture of
+the scene, which amid the hated calm of St. Helena he thus described:
+"The whirlwind of flames and smoke from the arsenal resembled the
+eruption of a volcano, and the thirteen vessels blazing in the roads
+were like so many displays of fireworks: the masts and forms of the
+vessels were distinctly traced out by the flames, which lasted many
+hours and formed an unparalleled spectacle." [25] The sight struck
+horror to the hearts of the royalists of Toulon, who saw in it the
+signal of desertion by the allies; and through the lurid night crowds
+of panic-stricken wretches thronged the quays crying aloud to be taken
+away from the doomed city. The glare of the flames, the crash of the
+enemy's bombs, the explosion of the two powder-ships, frenzied many a
+soul; and scores of those who could find no place in the boats flung
+themselves into the sea rather than face the pikes and guillotines of
+the Jacobins. Their fears were only too well founded; for a fortnight
+later Freron, the Commissioner of the Convention, boasted that two
+hundred royalists perished daily.
+
+It remains briefly to consider a question of special interest to
+English readers. Did the Pitt Ministry intend to betray the confidence
+of the French royalists and keep Toulon for England? The charge has
+been brought by certain French writers that the British, after
+entering Toulon with promise that they would hold it in pledge for
+Louis XVII., nevertheless lorded it over the other allies and revealed
+their intention of keeping that stronghold. These writers aver that
+Hood, after entering Toulon as an equal with the Spanish admiral,
+Langara, laid claim to entire command of the land forces; that English
+commissioners were sent for the administration of the town; and that
+the English Government refused to allow the coming of the Comte de
+Provence, who, as the elder of the two surviving brothers of Louis
+XVI., was entitled to act on behalf of Louis XVII.[26] The facts in
+the main are correct, but the interpretation put upon them may well be
+questioned. Hood certainly acted with much arrogance towards the
+Spaniards. But when the more courteous O'Hara arrived to take command
+of the British, Neapolitan, and Sardinian troop, the new commander
+agreed to lay aside the question of supreme command. It was not till
+November 30th that the British Government sent off any despatch on the
+question, which meanwhile had been settled at Toulon by the exercise
+of that tact in which Hood seems signally to have been lacking. The
+whole question was personal, not national.
+
+Still less was the conduct of the British Government towards the Comte
+de Provence a proof of its design to keep Toulon. The records of our
+Foreign Office show that, before the occupation of that stronghold for
+Louis XVII., we had declined to acknowledge the claims of his uncle to
+the Regency. He and his brother, the Comte d'Artois, were notoriously
+unpopular in France, except with royalists of the old school; and
+their presence at Toulon would certainly have raised awkward questions
+about the future government. The conduct of Spain had hitherto been
+similar.[27] But after the occupation of Toulon, the Court of Madrid
+judged the presence of the Comte de Provence in that fortress to be
+advisable; whereas the Pitt Ministry adhered to its former belief,
+insisted on the difficulty of conducting the defence if the Prince
+were present as Regent, instructed Mr. Drake, our Minister at Genoa,
+to use every argument to deter him from proceeding to Toulon, and
+privately ordered our officers there, in the last resort, to refuse
+him permission to land. The instructions of October 18th to the royal
+commissioners at Toulon show that George III. and his Ministers
+believed they would be compromising the royalist cause by recognizing
+a regency; and certainly any effort by the allies to prejudice the
+future settlement would at once have shattered any hopes of a general
+rally to the royalist side.[28]
+
+Besides, if England meant to keep Toulon, why did she send only 2,200
+soldiers? Why did she admit, not only 6,900 Spaniards, but also 4,900
+Neapolitans and 1,600 Piedmontese? Why did she accept the armed help
+of 1,600 French royalists? Why did she urgently plead with Austria to
+send 5,000 white-coats from Milan? Why, finally, is there no word in
+the British official despatches as to the eventual keeping of Toulon;
+while there are several references to _indemnities_ which George III.
+would require for the expenses of the war--such as Corsica or some of
+the French West Indies? Those despatches show conclusively that
+England did not wish to keep a fortress that required a permanent
+garrison equal to half of the British army on its peace footing; but
+that she did regard it as a good base of operations for the overthrow
+of the Jacobin rule and the restoration of monarchy; whereupon her
+services must be requited with some suitable indemnity, either one of
+the French West Indies or Corsica. These plans were shattered by
+Buonaparte's skill and the valour of Dugommier's soldiery; but no
+record has yet leaped to light to convict the Pitt Ministry of the
+perfidy which Buonaparte, in common with nearly all Frenchmen, charged
+to their account.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+VENDEMIAIRE
+
+
+The next period of Buonaparte's life presents few features of
+interest. He was called upon to supervise the guns and stores for the
+Army of Italy, and also to inspect the fortifications and artillery of
+the coast. At Marseilles his zeal outstripped his discretion. He
+ordered the reconstruction of the fortress which had been destroyed
+during the Revolution; but when the townsfolk heard the news, they
+protested so vehemently that the work was stopped and an order was
+issued for Buonaparte's arrest. From this difficulty the friendship of
+the younger Robespierre and of Salicetti, the Commissioners of the
+Convention, availed to rescue him; but the incident proves that his
+services at Toulon were not so brilliant as to have raised him above
+the general level of meritorious officers, who were applauded while
+they prospered, but might be sent to the guillotine for any serious
+offence.
+
+In February, 1794, he was appointed at Nice general in command of the
+artillery of the Army of Italy, which drove the Sardinian troops from
+several positions between Ventimiglia and Oneglia. Thence, swinging
+round by passes of the Maritime Alps, they outflanked the positions of
+the Austro-Sardinian forces at the Col di Tenda, which had defied all
+attack in front. Buonaparte's share in this turning operation seems to
+have been restricted to the effective handling of artillery, and the
+chief credit here rested with Massena, who won the first of his
+laurels in the country of his birth. He was of humble parentage;
+yet his erect bearing, proud animated glance, curt penetrating speech,
+and keen repartees, proclaimed a nature at once active and wary, an
+intellect both calculating and confident. Such was the man who was to
+immortalize his name in many a contest, until his glory paled before
+the greater genius of Wellington.
+
+Much of the credit of organizing this previously unsuccessful army
+belongs to the younger Robespierre, who, as Commissioner of the
+Convention, infused his energy into all departments of the service.
+For some months his relations to Buonaparte were those of intimacy;
+but whether they extended to complete sympathy on political matters
+may be doubted. The younger Robespierre held the revolutionary creed
+with sufficient ardour, though one of his letters dated from Oneglia
+suggests that the fame of the Terror was hurtful to the prospects of
+the campaign. It states that the whole of the neighbouring inhabitants
+had fled before the French soldiers, in the belief that they were
+destroyers of religion and eaters of babies: this was inconvenient, as
+it prevented the supply of provisions and the success of forced loans.
+The letter suggests that he was a man of action rather than of ideas,
+and probably it was this practical quality which bound Buonaparte in
+friendship to him. Yet it is difficult to fathom Buonaparte's ideas
+about the revolutionary despotism which was then deluging Paris with
+blood. Outwardly he appeared to sympathize with it. Such at least is
+the testimony of Marie Robespierre, with whom Buonaparte's sisters
+were then intimate. "Buonaparte," she said, "was a republican: I will
+even say that he took the side of the Mountain: at least, that was the
+impression left on my mind by his opinions when I was at Nice.... His
+admiration for my elder brother, his friendship for my younger
+brother, and perhaps also the interest inspired by my misfortunes,
+gained for me, under the Consulate, a pension of 3,600 francs."[29]
+Equally noteworthy is the later declaration of Napoleon that
+Robespierre was the "scapegoat of the Revolution." [30] It appears
+probable, then, that he shared the Jacobinical belief that the Terror
+was a necessary though painful stage in the purification of the body
+politic. His admiration of the rigour of Lycurgus, and his dislike of
+all superfluous luxury, alike favour this supposition; and as he
+always had the courage of his convictions, it is impossible to
+conceive him clinging to the skirts of the terrorists merely from a
+mean hope of prospective favours. That is the alternative explanation
+of his intimacy with young Robespierre. Some of his injudicious
+admirers, in trying to disprove his complicity with the terrorists,
+impale themselves on this horn of the dilemma. In seeking to clear
+him from the charge of Terrorism, they stain him with the charge of
+truckling to the terrorists. They degrade him from the level of St.
+Just to that of Barrere.
+
+A sentence in one of young Robespierre's letters shows that he never
+felt completely sure about the young officer. After enumerating to his
+brother Buonaparte's merits, he adds: "He is a Corsican, and offers
+only the guarantee of a man of that nation who has resisted the
+caresses of Paoli and whose property has been ravaged by that
+traitor." Evidently, then, Robespierre regarded Buonaparte with some
+suspicion as an insular Proteus, lacking those sureties, mental and
+pecuniary, which reduced a man to dog-like fidelity.
+
+Yet, however warily Buonaparte picked his steps along the slopes of
+the revolutionary volcano, he was destined to feel the scorch of the
+central fires. He had recently been intrusted with a mission to the
+Genoese Republic, which was in a most difficult position. It was
+subject to pressure from three sides; from English men-of-war that had
+swooped down on a French frigate, the "Modeste," in Genoese waters;
+and from actual invasion by the French on the west and by the
+Austrians on the north. Despite the great difficulties of his task, the
+young envoy bent the distracted Doge and Senate to his will. He
+might, therefore, have expected gratitude from his adopted country;
+but shortly after he returned to Nice he was placed under arrest, and
+was imprisoned in a fort near Antibes.
+
+The causes of this swift reverse of fortune were curiously complex.
+The Robespierres had in the meantime been guillotined at Paris (July
+28th, or Thermidor 10th); and this "Thermidorian" reaction alone would
+have sufficed to endanger Buonaparte's head. But his position was
+further imperilled by his recent strategic suggestions, which had
+served to reduce to a secondary _role_ the French Army of the Alps.
+The operations of that force had of late been strangely thwarted; and
+its leaders, searching for the paralyzing influence, discovered it in
+the advice of Buonaparte. Their suspicions against him were formulated
+in a secret letter to the Committee of Public Safety, which stated
+that the Army of the Alps had been kept inactive by the intrigues of
+the younger Robespierre and of Ricord. Many a head had fallen for
+reasons less serious than these. But Buonaparte had one infallible
+safeguard: he could not well be spared. After a careful examination of
+his papers, the Commissioners, Salicetti and Albitte, provisionally
+restored him to liberty, but not, for some weeks, to his rank of
+general (August 20th, 1794). The chief reason assigned for his
+liberation was the service which his knowledge and talents might
+render to the Republic, a reference to the knowledge of the Italian
+coast-line which he had gained during the mission to Genoa.
+
+For a space his daring spirit was doomed to chafe in comparative
+inactivity, in supervising the coast artillery. But his faults were
+forgotten in the need which was soon felt for his warlike prowess. An
+expedition was prepared to free Corsica from "the tyranny of the
+English"; and in this Buonaparte sailed, as general commanding the
+artillery. With him were two friends, Junot and Marmont, who had clung
+to him through his recent troubles; the former was to be helped to
+wealth and fame by Buonaparte's friendship, the latter by his own
+brilliant gifts.[31] In this expedition their talent was of no avail.
+The French were worsted in an engagement with the British fleet, and
+fell back in confusion to the coast of France. Once again Buonaparte's
+Corsican enterprises were frustrated by the ubiquitous lords of the
+sea: against them he now stored up a double portion of hate, for in
+the meantime his inspectorship of coast artillery had been given to
+his fellow-countryman, Casabianca.
+
+The fortunes of these Corsican exiles drifted hither and thither in
+many perplexing currents, as Buonaparte was once more to discover. It
+was a prevalent complaint that there were too many of them seeking
+employment in the army of the south; and a note respecting the career
+of the young officer made by General Scherer, who now commanded the
+French Army of Italy, shows that Buonaparte had aroused at least as
+much suspicion as admiration. It runs: "This officer is general of
+artillery, and in this arm has sound knowledge, but has somewhat too
+much ambition and intriguing habits for his advancement." All things
+considered, it was deemed advisable to transfer him to the army which
+was engaged in crushing the Vendean revolt, a service which he loathed
+and was determined, if possible, to evade. Accompanied by his faithful
+friends, Marmont and Junot, as also by his young brother Louis, he set
+out for Paris (May, 1795).
+
+In reality Fortune never favoured him more than when she removed him
+from the coteries of intriguing Corsicans on the coast of Provence and
+brought him to the centre of all influence. An able schemer at Paris
+could decide the fate of parties and governments. At the frontiers men
+could only accept the decrees of the omnipotent capital. Moreover, the
+Revolution, after passing through the molten stage, was now beginning
+to solidify, an important opportunity for the political craftsman. The
+spring of the year 1795 witnessed a strange blending of the new
+fanaticism with the old customs. Society, dammed up for a time by the
+Spartan rigour of Robespierre, was now flowing back into its wonted
+channels. Gay equipages were seen in the streets; theatres, prosperous
+even during the Terror, were now filled to overflowing; gambling,
+whether in money or in stocks and _assignats_, was now permeating all
+grades of society; and men who had grown rich by amassing the
+confiscated State lands now vied with bankers, stock-jobbers, and
+forestallers of grain in vulgar ostentation. As for the poor, they
+were meeting their match in the gilded youth of Paris, who with
+clubbed sticks asserted the right of the rich to be merry. If the
+_sansculottes_ attempted to restore the days of the Terror, the
+National Guards of Paris were ready to sweep them back into the slums.
+Such was their fate on May 20th, shortly after Buonaparte's arrival at
+Paris. Any dreams which he may have harboured of restoring the
+Jacobins to power were dissipated, for Paris now plunged into the
+gaieties of the _ancien regime_. The Terror was remembered only as a
+horrible nightmare, which served to add zest to the pleasures of the
+present. In some circles no one was received who had not lost a
+relative by the guillotine. With a ghastly merriment characteristic of
+the time, "victim balls" were given, to which those alone were
+admitted who could produce the death warrant of some family
+connection: these secured the pleasure of dancing in costumes which
+recalled those of the scaffold, and of beckoning ever and anon to
+their partners with nods that simulated the fall of the severed head.
+It was for this, then, that the amiable Louis, the majestic Marie
+Antoinette, the Minerva-like Madame Roland, the Girondins vowed to the
+utter quest of liberty, the tyrant-quelling Danton, the incorruptible
+Robespierre himself, had felt the fatal axe; in order that the mimicry
+of their death agonies might tickle jaded appetites, and help to weave
+anew the old Circean spells. So it seemed to the few who cared to
+think of the frightful sacrifices of the past, and to measure them
+against the seemingly hopeless degradation of the present.
+
+Some such thoughts seem to have flitted across the mind of Buonaparte
+in those months of forced inactivity. It was a time of disillusionment.
+Rarely do we find thenceforth in his correspondence any gleams of
+faith respecting the higher possibilities of the human race. The
+golden visions of youth now vanish along with the _bonnet rouge_ and
+the jargon of the Terror. His bent had ever been for the material and
+practical: and now that faith in the Jacobinical creed was vanishing,
+it was more than ever desirable to grapple that errant balloon to
+substantial facts. Evidently, the Revolution must now trust to the
+clinging of the peasant proprietors to the recently confiscated lands
+of the Church and of the emigrant nobles. If all else was vain and
+transitory, here surely was a solid basis of material interests to
+which the best part of the manhood of France would tenaciously adhere,
+defying alike the plots of reactionaries and the forces of monarchical
+Europe. Of these interests Buonaparte was to be the determined
+guarantor. Amidst much that was visionary in his later policy he never
+wavered in his championship of the new peasant proprietors. He was
+ever the peasants' General, the peasants' Consul, the peasants'
+Emperor.
+
+The transition of the Revolution to an ordinary form of polity was
+also being furthered by its unparalleled series of military triumphs.
+When Buonaparte's name was as yet unknown, except in Corsica and
+Provence, France practically gained her "natural boundaries," the
+Rhine and the Alps. In the campaigns of 1793-4, the soldiers of
+Pichegru, Kleber, Hoche, and Moreau overran the whole of the Low
+Countries and chased the Germans beyond the Rhine; the Piedmontese
+were thrust behind the Alps; the Spaniards behind the Pyrenees. In
+quick succession State after State sued for peace: Tuscany in
+February, 1795; Prussia in April; Hanover, Westphalia, and Saxony in
+May; Spain and Hesse-Cassel in July; Switzerland and Denmark in
+August.
+
+Such was the state of France when Buonaparte came to seek his
+fortunes in the Sphinx-like capital. His artillery command had been
+commuted to a corresponding rank in the infantry--a step that deeply
+incensed him. He attributed it to malevolent intriguers; but all his
+efforts to obtain redress were in vain. Lacking money and patronage,
+known only as an able officer and facile intriguer of the bankrupt
+Jacobinical party, he might well have despaired. He was now almost
+alone. Marmont had gone off to the Army of the Rhine; but Junot was
+still with him, allured perhaps by Madame Permon's daughter, whom he
+subsequently married. At the house of this amiable hostess, an old
+friend of his family, Buonaparte found occasional relief from the
+gloom of his existence. The future Madame Junot has described him as
+at this time untidy, unkempt, sickly, remarkable for his extreme
+thinness and the almost yellow tint of his visage, which was, however,
+lit up by "two eyes sparkling with keenness and will-power"--evidently
+a Corsican falcon, pining for action, and fretting its soaring spirit
+in that vapid town life. Action Buonaparte might have had, but only of
+a kind that he loathed. He might have commanded the troops destined to
+crush the brave royalist peasants of La Vendee. But, whether from
+scorn of such vulture-work, or from an instinct that a nobler quarry
+might be started at Paris, he refused to proceed to the Army of the
+West, and on the plea of ill-health remained in the capital. There he
+spent his time deeply pondering on politics and strategy. He designed
+a history of the last two years, and drafted a plan of campaign for
+the Army of Italy, which, later on, was to bear him to fortune.
+Probably the geographical insight which it displayed may have led to
+his appointment (August 20th, 1795) to the topographical bureau of the
+Committee of Public Safety. His first thought on hearing of this
+important advancement was that it opened up an opportunity for
+proceeding to Turkey to organize the artillery of the Sultan; and in a
+few days he sent in a formal request to that effect--the first
+tangible proof of that yearning after the Orient which haunted him all
+through life. But, while straining his gaze eastwards, he experienced
+a sharp rebuff. The Committee was on the point of granting his
+request, when an examination of his recent conduct proved him guilty
+of a breach of discipline in not proceeding to his Vendean command. On
+the very day when one department of the Committee empowered him to
+proceed to Constantinople, the Central Committee erased his name from
+the list of general officers (September 15th).
+
+This time the blow seemed fatal. But Fortune appeared to compass his
+falls only in order that he might the more brilliantly tower aloft.
+Within three weeks he was hailed as the saviour of the new republican
+constitution. The cause of this almost magical change in his prospects
+is to be sought in the political unrest of France, to which we must
+now briefly advert.
+
+All through this summer of 1795 there were conflicts between Jacobins
+and royalists. In the south the latter party had signally avenged
+itself for the agonies of the preceding years, and the ardour of the
+French temperament seemed about to drive that hapless people from the
+"Red Terror" to a veritable "White Terror," when two disasters checked
+the course of the reaction. An attempt of a large force of emigrant
+French nobles, backed up by British money and ships, to rouse Brittany
+against the Convention was utterly crushed by the able young Hoche;
+and nearly seven hundred prisoners were afterwards shot down in cold
+blood (July). Shortly before this blow, the little prince styled Louis
+XVII. succumbed to the brutal treatment of his gaolers at the Temple
+in Paris; and the hopes of the royalists now rested on the unpopular
+Comte de Provence. Nevertheless, the political outlook in the summer
+of 1795 was not reassuring to the republicans; and the Commission of
+Eleven, empowered by the Convention to draft new organic laws, drew up
+an instrument of government, which, though republican in form, seemed
+to offer all the stability of the most firmly rooted oligarchy. Some
+such compromise was perhaps necessary; for the Commonwealth was
+confronted by three dangers, anarchy resulting from the pressure of
+the mob, an excessive centralization of power in the hands of two
+committees, and the possibility of a _coup d'etat_ by some pretender
+or adventurer. Indeed, the student of French history cannot fail to
+see that this is the problem which is ever before the people of
+France. It has presented itself in acute though diverse phases in
+1797,1799,1814, 1830, 1848, 1851, and in 1871. Who can say that the
+problem has yet found its complete solution?
+
+In some respects the constitution which the Convention voted in
+August, 1795, was skilfully adapted to meet the needs of the time.
+Though democratic in spirit, it granted a vote only to those citizens
+who had resided for a year in some dwelling and had paid taxes, thus
+excluding the rabble who had proved to be dangerous to any settled
+government. It also checked the hasty legislation which had brought
+ridicule on successive National Assemblies. In order to moderate the
+zeal for the manufacture of decrees, which had often exceeded one
+hundred a month, a second or revising chamber was now to be formed on
+the basis of age; for it had been found that the younger the deputies
+the faster came forth the fluttering flocks of decrees, that often
+came home to roost in the guise of curses. A senatorial guillotine, it
+was now proposed, should thin out the fledglings before they flew
+abroad at all. Of the seven hundred and fifty deputies of France, the
+two hundred and fifty oldest men were to form the Council of Ancients,
+having powers to amend or reject the proposals emanating from the
+Council of Five Hundred. In this Council were the younger deputies,
+and with them rested the sole initiation of laws. Thus the young
+deputies were to make the laws, but the older deputies were to amend
+or reject them; and this nice adjustment of the characteristics of
+youth and age, a due blending of enthusiasm with caution, promised to
+invigorate the body politic and yet guard its vital interests.
+Lastly, in order that the two Councils should continuously represent
+the feelings of France, one third of their members must retire for
+re-election every year, a device which promised to prevent any violent
+change in their composition, such as might occur if, at the end of
+their three years' membership, all were called upon to resign at once.
+
+But the real crux of constitution builders had hitherto been in the
+relations of the Legislature to the Executive. How should the brain of
+the body politic, that is, the Legislature, be connected with the
+hand, that is, the Executive? Obviously, so argued all French
+political thinkers, the two functions were distinct and must be kept
+separate. The results of this theory of the separation of powers were
+clearly traceable in the course of the Revolution. When the hand had
+been left almost powerless, as in 1791-2, owing to democratic jealousy
+of the royal Ministry, the result had been anarchy. The supreme needs
+of the State in the agonies of 1793 had rendered the hand omnipotent:
+the Convention, that is, the brain, was for some time powerless before
+its own instrument, the two secret committees. Experience now showed
+that the brain must exercise a general control over the hand, without
+unduly hampering its actions. Evidently, then, the deputies of France
+must intrust the details of administration to responsible Ministers,
+though some directing agency seemed needed as a spur to energy and a
+check against royalist plots. In brief, the Committee of Public
+Safety, purged of its more dangerous powers, was to furnish the model
+for a new body of five members, termed the Directory. This
+organism, which was to give its name to the whole period 1795-1799,
+was not the Ministry. There was no Ministry as we now use the term.
+There were Ministers who were responsible individually for their
+departments of State: but they never met for deliberation, or
+communicated with the Legislature; they were only heads of
+departments, who were responsible individually to the Directors. These
+five men formed a powerful committee, deliberating in private on the
+whole policy of the State and on all the work of the Ministers. The
+Directory had not, it is true, the right of initiating laws and of
+arbitrary arrest which the two committees had freely exercised during
+the Terror. Its dependence on the Legislature seemed also to be
+guaranteed by the Directors being appointed by the two legislative
+Councils; while one of the five was to vacate his office for
+re-election every year. But in other respects the directorial powers
+were almost as extensive as those wielded by the two secret
+committees, or as those which Bonaparte was to inherit from the
+Directory in 1799. They comprised the general control of policy in
+peace and war, the right to negotiate treaties (subject to
+ratification by the legislative councils), to promulgate laws voted by
+the Councils and watch over their execution, and to appoint or dismiss
+the Ministers of State.
+
+Such was the constitution which was proclaimed on September 22nd,
+1795, or 1st Vendemiaire, Year IV., of the revolutionary calendar. An
+important postscript to the original constitution now excited fierce
+commotions which enabled the young officer to repair his own shattered
+fortunes. The Convention, terrified at the thought of a general
+election, which might send up a malcontent or royalist majority,
+decided to impose itself on France for at least two years longer. With
+an effrontery unparalleled in parliamentary annals, it decreed that
+the law of the new constitution, requiring the re-election of
+one-third of the deputies every year, should now be applied to itself;
+and that the rest of its members should sit in the forthcoming
+Councils. At once a cry of disgust and rage arose from all who were
+weary of the Convention and all its works. "Down with the
+two-thirds!" was the cry that resounded through the streets of Paris.
+The movement was not so much definitely royalist as vaguely
+malcontent. The many were enraged by the existing dearth and by the
+failure of the Revolution to secure even cheap bread. Doubtless the
+royalists strove to drive on the discontent to the desired goal, and
+in many parts they tinged the movement with an unmistakably Bourbon
+tint. But it is fairly certain that in Paris they could not alone have
+fomented a discontent so general as that of Vendemiaire. That they
+would have profited by the defeat of the Convention is, however,
+equally certain. The history of the Revolution proves that those who
+at first merely opposed the excesses of the Jacobins gradually drifted
+over to the royalists. The Convention now found itself attacked in the
+very city which had been the chosen abode of Liberty and Equality.
+Some thirty thousand of the Parisian National Guards were determined
+to give short shrift to this Assembly that clung so indecently to
+life; and as the armies were far away, the Parisian malcontents seemed
+masters of the situation. Without doubt they would have been but for
+their own precipitation and the energy of Buonaparte.
+
+But how came he to receive the military authority which was so
+potently to influence the course of events? We left him in Fructidor
+disgraced: we find him in the middle of Vendemiaire leading part of
+the forces of the Convention. This bewildering change was due to the
+pressing needs of the Republic, to his own signal abilities, and to
+the discerning eye of Barras, whose career claims a brief notice.
+
+Paul Barras came of a Provencal family, and had an adventurous life
+both on land and in maritime expeditions. Gifted with a robust frame,
+consummate self-assurance, and a ready tongue, he was well equipped
+for intrigues, both amorous and political, when the outbreak of the
+Revolution gave his thoughts a more serious turn. Espousing the
+ultra-democratic side, he yet contrived to emerge unscathed from the
+schisms which were fatal to less dextrous trimmers. He was present at
+the siege of Toulon, and has striven in his "Memoires" to disparage
+Buonaparte's services and exalt his own. At the crisis of Thermidor
+the Convention intrusted him with the command of the "army of the
+interior," and the energy which he then displayed gained for him the
+same position in the equally critical days of Vendemiaire. Though he
+subsequently carped at the conduct of Buonaparte, his action proved
+his complete confidence in that young officer's capacity: he at once
+sent for him, and intrusted him with most important duties. Herein
+lies the chief chance of immortality for the name of Barras; not that,
+as a terrorist, he slaughtered royalists at Toulon; not that he was
+the military chief of the Thermidorians, who, from fear of their own
+necks, ended the supremacy of Robespierre; not even that he degraded
+the new _regime_ by a cynical display of all the worst vices of the
+old; but rather because he was now privileged to hold the stirrup for
+the great captain who vaulted lightly into the saddle.
+
+The present crisis certainly called for a man of skill and
+determination. The malcontents had been emboldened by the timorous
+actions of General Menou, who had previously been intrusted with the
+task of suppressing the agitation. Owing to a praiseworthy desire to
+avoid bloodshed, that general wasted time in parleying with the most
+rebellious of the "sections" of Paris. The Convention now appointed
+Barras to the command, while Buonaparte, Brune, Carteaux, Dupont,
+Loison, Vachot, and Vezu were charged to serve under him.[32] Such was
+the decree of the Convention, which therefore refutes Napoleon's later
+claim that he was in command, and that of his admirers that he was
+second in command.
+
+Yet, intrusted from the outset by Barras with important duties, he
+unquestionably became the animating spirit of the defence. "From the
+first," says Thiebault, "his activity was astonishing: he seemed to be
+everywhere at once: he surprised people by his laconic, clear, and
+prompt orders: everybody was struck by the vigour of his arrangements,
+and passed from admiration to confidence, from confidence to
+enthusiasm." Everything now depended on skill and enthusiasm. The
+defenders of the Convention, comprising some four or five thousand
+troops of the line, and between one and two thousand patriots,
+gendarmes, and Invalides, were confronted by nearly thirty thousand
+National Guards. The odds were therefore wellnigh as heavy as those
+which menaced Louis XVI. on the day of his final overthrow. But the
+place of the yielding king was now filled by determined men, who saw
+the needs of the situation. In the earlier scenes of the Revolution,
+Buonaparte had pondered on the efficacy of artillery in
+street-fighting--a fit subject for his geometrical genius. With a few
+cannon, he knew that he could sweep all the approaches to the palace;
+and, on Barras' orders, he despatched a dashing cavalry officer,
+Murat--a name destined to become famous from Madrid to Moscow--to
+bring the artillery from the neighbouring camp of Sablons. Murat
+secured them before the malcontents of Paris could lay hands on them;
+and as the "sections" of Paris had yielded up their own cannon after
+the affrays of May, they now lacked the most potent force in
+street-fighting. Their actions were also paralyzed by divided
+counsels: their commander, an old general named Danican, moved his men
+hesitatingly; he wasted precious minutes in parleying, and thus gave
+time to Barras' small but compact force to fight them in detail.
+Buonaparte had skilfully disposed his cannon to bear on the royalist
+columns that threatened the streets north of the Tuileries. But for
+some time the two parties stood face to face, seeking to cajole or
+intimidate one another. As the autumn afternoon waned, shots were
+fired from some houses near the church of St. Roch, where the
+malcontents had their headquarters.[33] At once the streets became the
+scene of a furious fight; furious but unequal; for Buonaparte's cannon
+tore away the heads of the malcontent columns. In vain did the
+royalists pour in their volleys from behind barricades, or from the
+neighbouring houses: finally they retreated on the barricaded church,
+or fled down the Rue St. Honore. Meanwhile their bands from across the
+river, 5,000 strong, were filing across the bridges, and menaced the
+Tuileries from that side, until here also they melted away before the
+grapeshot and musketry poured into their front and flank. By six
+o'clock the conflict was over. The fight presents few, if any,
+incidents which are authentic. The well-known engraving of Helman,
+which shows Buonaparte directing the storming of the church of St.
+Roch is unfortunately quite incorrect. He was not engaged there, but
+in the streets further east: the church was not stormed: the
+malcontents held it all through the night, and quietly surrendered it
+next morning.
+
+Such was the great day of Vendemiaire. It cost the lives of about two
+hundred on each side; at least, that is the usual estimate, which
+seems somewhat incongruous with the stories of fusillading and
+cannonading at close quarters, until we remember that it is the custom
+of memoir-writers and newspaper editors to trick out the details of a
+fight, and in the case of civil warfare to minimise the bloodshed.
+Certainly the Convention acted with clemency in the hour of victory:
+two only of the rebel leaders were put to death; and it is pleasing to
+remember that when Menou was charged with treachery, Buonaparte used
+his influence to procure his freedom.
+
+Bourrienne states that in his later days the victor deeply regretted
+his action in this day of Vendemiaire. The assertion seems
+incredible. The "whiff of grapeshot" crushed a movement which could
+have led only to present anarchy, and probably would have brought
+France back to royalism of an odious type. It taught a severe lesson
+to a fickle populace which, according to Mme. de Stael, was hungering
+for the spoils of place as much as for any political object. Of all
+the events of his post-Corsican life, Buonaparte need surely never
+have felt compunctions for Vendemiaire.[34]
+
+After four signal reverses in his career, he now enters on a path
+strewn with glories. The first reward for his signal services to the
+Republic was his appointment to be second in command of the army of
+the interior; and when Barras resigned the first command, he took that
+responsible post. But more brilliant honours were soon to follow, the
+first of a social character, the second purely military.
+
+Buonaparte had already appeared timidly and awkwardly at the _salon_
+of the voluptuous Barras, where the fair but frail Madame
+Tallien--Notre Dame de Thermidor she was styled--dazzled Parisian
+society by her classic features and the uncinctured grace of her
+attire. There he reappeared, not in the threadbare uniform that had
+attracted the giggling notice of that giddy throng, but as the lion of
+the society which his talents had saved. His previous attempts to gain
+the hand of a lady had been unsuccessful. He had been refused, first
+by Mlle. Clary, sister of his brother Joseph's wife, and quite
+recently by Madame Permon. Indeed, the scarecrow young officer had not
+been a brilliant match. But now he saw at that _salon_ a charming
+widow, Josephine de Beauharnais, whose husband had perished in the
+Terror. The ardour of his southern temperament, long repressed by his
+privations, speedily rekindles in her presence: his stiff, awkward
+manners thaw under her smiles: his silence vanishes when she praises
+his military gifts: he admires her tact, her sympathy, her beauty: he
+determines to marry her. The lady, on her part, seems to have been
+somewhat terrified by her uncanny wooer: she comments questioningly on
+his "violent tenderness almost amounting to frenzy": she notes
+uneasily his "keen inexplicable gaze which imposes even on our
+Directors": How would this eager nature, this masterful energy,
+consort with her own "Creole nonchalance"? She did well to ask herself
+whether the general's almost volcanic passion would not soon exhaust
+itself, and turn from her own fading charms to those of women who
+were his equals in age. Besides, when she frankly asked her own heart,
+she found that she loved him not: she only admired him. Her chief
+consolation was that if she married him, her friend Barras would help
+to gain for Buonaparte the command of the Army of Italy. The advice of
+Barras undoubtedly helped to still the questioning surmises of
+Josephine; and the wedding was celebrated, as a civil contract, on
+March 9th, 1796. With a pardonable coquetry, the bride entered her age
+on the register as four years less than the thirty-four which had
+passed over her: while her husband, desiring still further to lessen
+the disparity, entered his date of birth as 1768.
+
+A fortnight before the wedding, he had been appointed to command the
+Army of Italy: and after a honeymoon of two days at Paris, he left his
+bride to take up his new military duties. Clearly, then, there was
+some connection between this brilliant fortune and his espousal of
+Josephine. But the assertion that this command was the "dowry" offered
+by Barras to the somewhat reluctant bride is more piquant than
+correct. That the brilliance of Buonaparte's prospects finally
+dissipated her scruples may be frankly admitted. But the appointment
+to a command of a French army did not rest with Barras. He was only
+one of the five Directors who now decided the chief details of
+administration. His colleagues were Letourneur, Rewbell, La
+Reveilliere-Lepeaux, and the great Carnot; and, as a matter of fact,
+it was the last-named who chiefly decided the appointment in question.
+
+He had seen and pondered over the plan of campaign which Buonaparte
+had designed for the Army of Italy; and the vigour of the conception,
+the masterly appreciation of topographical details which it displayed,
+and the trenchant energy of its style had struck conviction to his
+strategic genius. Buonaparte owed his command, not to a backstairs
+intrigue, as was currently believed in the army, but rather to his own
+commanding powers. While serving with the Army of Italy in 1794, he
+had carefully studied the coast-line and the passes leading inland;
+and, according to the well-known savant, Volney, the young officer,
+shortly after his release from imprisonment, sketched out to him and
+to a Commissioner of the Convention the details of the very plan of
+campaign which was to carry him victoriously from the Genoese Riviera
+into the heart of Austria.[35] While describing this masterpiece of
+strategy, says Volney, Buonaparte spoke as if inspired. We can fancy
+the wasted form dilating with a sense of power, the thin sallow cheeks
+aglow with enthusiasm, the hawk-like eyes flashing at the sight of the
+helpless Imperial quarry, as he pointed out on the map of Piedmont and
+Lombardy the features which would favour a dashing invader and carry
+him to the very gates of Vienna. The splendours of the Imperial Court
+at the Tuileries seem tawdry and insipid when compared with the
+intellectual grandeur which lit up that humble lodging at Nice with
+the first rays that heralded the dawn of Italian liberation.
+
+With the fuller knowledge which he had recently acquired, he now in
+January, 1796, elaborated this plan of campaign, so that it at once
+gained Carnot's admiration. The Directors forwarded it to General
+Scherer, who was in command of the Army of Italy, but promptly
+received the "brutal" reply that the man who had drafted the plan
+ought to come and carry it out. Long dissatisfied with Scherer's
+inactivity and constant complaints, the Directory now took him at his
+word, and replaced him by Buonaparte. Such is the truth about
+Buonaparte's appointment to the Army of Italy.
+
+To Nice, then, the young general set out (March 21st) accompanied, or
+speedily followed, by his faithful friends, Marmont and Junot, as well
+as by other officers of whose energy he was assured, Berthier, Murat,
+and Duroc. How much had happened since the early summer of 1795, when
+he had barely the means to pay his way to Paris! A sure instinct had
+drawn him to that hot-bed of intrigues. He had played a desperate
+game, risking his commission in order that he might keep in close
+touch with the central authority. His reward for this almost
+superhuman confidence in his own powers was correspondingly great; and
+now, though he knew nothing of the handling of cavalry and infantry
+save from books, he determined to lead the Army of Italy to a series
+of conquests that would rival those of Caesar. In presence of a will so
+stubborn and genius so fervid, what wonder that a friend prophesied
+that his halting-place would be either the throne or the scaffold?
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+THE ITALIAN CAMPAIGN
+
+(1796)
+
+
+In the personality of Napoleon nothing is more remarkable than the
+combination of gifts which in most natures are mutually exclusive; his
+instincts were both political and military; his survey of a land took
+in not only the geographical environment but also the material welfare
+of the people. Facts, which his foes ignored, offered a firm fulcrum
+for the leverage of his will: and their political edifice or their
+military policy crumbled to ruin under an assault planned with
+consummate skill and pressed home with relentless force.
+
+For the exercise of all these gifts what land was so fitted as the
+mosaic of States which was dignified with the name of Italy?
+
+That land had long been the battle-ground of the Bourbons and the
+Hapsburgs; and their rivalries, aided by civic dissensions, had
+reduced the people that once had given laws to Europe into a condition
+of miserable weakness. Europe was once the battle-field of the Romans:
+Italy was now the battle-field of Europe. The Hapsburgs dominated the
+north, where they held the rich Duchy of Milan, along with the great
+stronghold of Mantua, and some scattered imperial fiefs. A scion of
+the House of Austria reigned at Florence over the prosperous Duchy of
+Tuscany. Modena and Lucca were under the general control of the Court
+of Vienna. The south of the peninsula, along with Sicily, was swayed
+by Ferdinand IV., a descendant of the Spanish Bourbons, who kept his
+people in a condition of mediaeval ignorance and servitude; and this
+dynasty controlled the Duchy of Parma. The Papal States were also sunk
+in the torpor of the Middle Ages; but in the northern districts of
+Bologna and Ferrara, known as the "Legations," the inhabitants still
+remembered the time of their independence, and chafed under the
+irritating restraints of Papal rule. This was seen when the leaven of
+French revolutionary thought began to ferment in Italian towns. Two
+young men of Bologna were so enamoured of the new ideas, as to raise
+an Italian tricolour flag, green, white, and red, and summon their
+fellow-citizens to revolt against the rule of the Pope's legate
+(November, 1794). The revolt was crushed, and the chief offenders were
+hanged; but elsewhere the force of democracy made itself felt,
+especially among the more virile peoples of Northern Italy. Lombardy
+and Piedmont throbbed with suppressed excitement. Even when the King
+of Sardinia, Victor Amadeus III., was waging war against the French
+Republic, the men of Turin were with difficulty kept from revolt; and,
+as we have seen, the Austro-Sardinian alliance was powerless to
+recover Savoy and Nice from the soldiers of liberty or to guard the
+Italian Riviera from invasion.
+
+In fact, Bonaparte--for he henceforth spelt his name thus--detected
+the political weakness of the Hapsburgs' position in Italy. Masters of
+eleven distinct peoples north of the Alps, how could they hope
+permanently to dominate a wholly alien people south of that great
+mountain barrier? The many failures of the old Ghibelline or Imperial
+party in face of any popular impulse which moved the Italian nature to
+its depths revealed the artificiality of their rule. Might not such an
+impulse be imparted by the French Revolution? And would not the hopes
+of national freedom and of emancipation from feudal imposts fire these
+peoples with zeal for the French cause? Evidently there were vast
+possibilities in a democratic propaganda. At the outset Bonaparte's
+racial sympathies were warmly aroused for the liberation of
+Italy; and though his judgment was to be warped by the promptings of
+ambition, he never lost sight of the welfare of the people whence he
+was descended. In his "Memoirs written at St. Helena" he summed up his
+convictions respecting the Peninsula in this statesmanlike utterance:
+"Italy, isolated within its natural limits, separated by the sea and
+by very high mountains from the rest of Europe, seems called to be a
+great and powerful nation.... Unity in manners, language, literature
+ought finally, in a future more or less remote, to unite its
+inhabitants under a single government.... Rome is beyond doubt the
+capital which the Italians will one day choose." A prophetic saying:
+it came from a man who, as conqueror and organizer, awakened that
+people from the torpor of centuries and breathed into it something of
+his own indomitable energy.
+
+And then again, the Austrian possessions south of the Alps were
+difficult to hold for purely military reasons. They were separated
+from Vienna by difficult mountain ranges through which armies
+struggled with difficulty. True, Mantua was a formidable stronghold,
+but no fortress could make the Milanese other than a weak and
+straggling territory, the retention of which by the Court of Vienna
+was a defiance to the gospel of nature of which Rousseau was the
+herald and Bonaparte the militant exponent.
+
+The Austro-Sardinian forces were now occupying the pass which
+separates the Apennines from the Maritime Alps north of the town of
+Savona. They were accordingly near the headwaters of the Bormida and
+the Tanaro, two of the chief affluents of the River Po: and roads
+following those river valleys led, the one north-east, in the
+direction of Milan, the other north-west towards Turin, the Sardinian
+capital. A wedge of mountainous country separated these roads as they
+diverged from the neighbourhood of Montenotte. Here obviously was the
+vulnerable point of the Austro-Sardinian position. Here therefore
+Bonaparte purposed to deliver his first strokes, foreseeing that,
+should he sever the allies, he would have in his favour every
+advantage both political and topographical.
+
+All this was possible to a commander who could overcome the initial
+difficulties. But these difficulties were enormous. The position of
+the French Army of Italy in March, 1796, was precarious. Its
+detachments, echelonned near the coast from Savona to Loano, and
+thence to Nice, or inland to the Col di Tende, comprised in all
+42,000 men, as against the Austro-Sardinian forces amounting to
+52,000 men.[36] Moreover, the allies occupied strong positions on the
+northern slopes of the Maritime Alps and Apennines, and, holding the
+inner and therefore shorter curve, they could by a dextrous
+concentration have pushed their more widely scattered opponents on to
+the shore, where the republicans would have been harassed by the guns
+of the British cruisers. Finally, Bonaparte's troops were badly
+equipped, worse clad, and were not paid at all. On his arrival at Nice
+at the close of March, the young commander had to disband one
+battalion for mutinous conduct.[37] For a brief space it seemed
+doubtful how the army would receive this slim, delicate-looking youth,
+known hitherto only as a skilful artillerist at Toulon and in the
+streets of Paris. But he speedily gained the respect and confidence of
+the rank and file, not only by stern punishment of the mutineers, but
+by raising money from a local banker, so as to make good some of the
+long arrears of pay. Other grievances he rectified by prompt
+reorganization of the commissariat and kindred departments. But, above
+all, by his burning words he thrilled them: "Soldiers, you are half
+starved and half naked. The Government owes you much, but can do
+nothing for you. Your patience and courage are honourable to you, but
+they procure you neither advantage nor glory. I am about to lead you
+into the most fertile valleys of the world: there you will find
+flourishing cities and teeming provinces: there you will reap honour,
+glory, and riches. Soldiers of the Army of Italy, will you lack
+courage?" Two years previously so open a bid for the soldiers'
+allegiance would have conducted any French commander forthwith to the
+guillotine.
+
+[Illustration: MAP TO ILLUSTRATE THE CAMPAIGNS IN NORTH ITALY.]
+
+But much had changed since the days of Robespierre's supremacy;
+Spartan austerity had vanished; and the former insane jealousy of
+individual pre-eminence was now favouring a startling reaction which
+was soon to install the one supremely able man as absolute master of
+France.
+
+Bonaparte's conduct produced a deep impression alike on troops and
+officers. From Massena his energy and his trenchant orders extorted
+admiration: and the tall swaggering Augereau shrank beneath the
+intellectual superiority of his gaze. Moreover, at the beginning of
+April the French received reinforcements which raised their total to
+49,300 men, and gave them a superiority of force; for though the
+allies had 52,000, yet they were so widely scattered as to be inferior
+in any one district. Besides, the Austrian commander, Beaulieu, was
+seventy-one years of age, had only just been sent into Italy, with
+which land he was ill acquainted, and found one-third of his troops
+down with sickness.[38]
+
+Bonaparte now began to concentrate his forces near Savona. Fortune
+favoured him even before the campaign commenced. The snows of winter,
+still lying on the mountains, though thawing on the southern slopes,
+helped to screen his movements from the enemy's outposts; and the
+French vanguard pushed along the coastline even as far as Voltri. This
+movement was designed to coerce the Senate of Genoa into payment of a
+fine for its acquiescence in the seizure of a French vessel by a
+British cruiser within its neutral roadstead; but it served to alarm
+Beaulieu, who, breaking up his cantonments, sent a strong column
+towards that city. At the time this circumstance greatly annoyed
+Bonaparte, who had hoped to catch the Imperialists dozing in their
+winter quarters. Yet it is certain that the hasty move of their left
+flank towards Voltri largely contributed to that brilliant opening of
+Bonaparte's campaign, which his admirers have generally regarded as
+due solely to his genius.[39] For, when Beaulieu had thrust his column
+into the broken coast district between Genoa and Voltri, he severed it
+dangerously far from his centre, which marched up the valley of the
+eastern branch of the Bormida to occupy the passes of the Apennines
+north of Savona. This, again, was by no means in close touch with the
+Sardinian allies encamped further to the west in and beyond Ceva.
+Beaulieu, writing at a later date to Colonel Graham, the English
+_attache_ at his headquarters, ascribed his first disasters to
+Argenteau, his lieutenant at Montenotte, who employed only a third of
+the forces placed under his command. But division of forces was
+characteristic of the Austrians in all their operations, and they now
+gave a fine opportunity to any enterprising opponent who should crush
+their weak and unsupported centre. In obedience to orders from Vienna,
+Beaulieu assumed the offensive; but he brought his chief force to bear
+on the French vanguard at Voltri, which he drove in with some loss.
+While he was occupying Voltri, the boom of cannon echoing across the
+mountains warned his outposts that the real campaign was opening in
+the broken country north of Savona.[40] There the weak Austrian centre
+had occupied a ridge or plateau above the village of Montenotte,
+through which ran the road leading to Alessandria and Milan.
+Argenteau's attack partly succeeded: but the stubborn bravery of a
+French detachment checked it before the redoubt which commanded the
+southern prolongation of the heights named Monte-Legino.[41]
+
+Such was the position of affairs when Bonaparte hurried up. On the
+following day (April 12th), massing the French columns of attack
+under cover of an early morning mist, he moved them to their
+positions, so that the first struggling rays of sunlight revealed to
+the astonished Austrians the presence of an army ready to crush their
+front and turn their flanks. For a time the Imperialists struggled
+bravely against the superior forces in their front; but when Massena
+pressed round their right wing, they gave way and beat a speedy
+retreat to save themselves from entire capture. Bonaparte took no
+active share in the battle: he was, very properly, intent on the wider
+problem of severing the Austrians from their allies, first by the
+turning movement of Massena, and then by pouring other troops into the
+gap thus made. In this he entirely succeeded. The radical defects in
+the Austrian dispositions left them utterly unable to withstand the
+blows which he now showered upon them. The Sardinians were too far
+away on the west to help Argenteau in his hour of need: they were in
+and beyond Ceva, intent on covering the road to Turin: whereas, as
+Napoleon himself subsequently wrote, they should have been near enough
+to their allies to form one powerful army, which, at Dego or
+Montenotte, would have defended both Turin and Milan. "United, the two
+forces would have been superior to the French army: separated, they
+were lost."
+
+The configuration of the ground favoured Bonaparte's plan of driving
+the Imperialists down the valley of the Bormida in a north-easterly
+direction; and the natural desire of a beaten general to fall back
+towards his base of supplies also impelled Beaulieu and Argenteau to
+retire towards Milan. But that would sever their connections with the
+Sardinians, whose base of supplies, Turin, lay in a north-westerly
+direction.
+
+Bonaparte therefore hurled his forces at once against the Austrians
+and a Sardinian contingent at Millesimo, and defeated them, Augereau's
+division cutting off the retreat of twelve hundred of their men under
+Provera. Weakened by this second blow, the allies fell back on the
+intrenched village of Dego. Their position was of a strength
+proportionate to its strategic importance; for its loss would
+completely sever all connection between their two main armies save by
+devious routes many miles in their rear. They therefore clung
+desperately to the six mamelons and redoubts which barred the valley
+and dominated some of the neighbouring heights. Yet such was the
+superiority of the French in numbers that these positions were
+speedily turned by Massena, whom Bonaparte again intrusted with the
+movement on the enemy's flank and rear. A strange event followed. The
+victors, while pillaging the country for the supplies which
+Bonaparte's sharpest orders failed to draw from the magazines and
+stores on the sea-coast, were attacked in the dead of night by five
+Austrian battalions that had been ordered up to support their
+countrymen at Dego. These, after straying among the mountains, found
+themselves among bands of the marauding French, whom they easily
+scattered, seizing Dego itself. Apprised of this mishap, Bonaparte
+hurried up more troops from the rear, and on the 15th recovered the
+prize which had so nearly been snatched from his grasp. Had Beaulieu
+at this time thrown all his forces on the French, he might have
+retrieved his first misfortunes: but foresight and energy were not to
+be found at the Austrian headquarters: the surprise at Dego was the
+work of a colonel; and for many years to come the incompetence of
+their aged commanders was to paralyze the fine fighting qualities of
+the "white-coats." In three conflicts they had been outmanoeuvred and
+outnumbered, and drew in their shattered columns to Acqui.
+
+The French commander now led his columns westward against the
+Sardinians, who had fallen back on their fortified camp at Ceva, in
+the upper valley of the Tanaro. There they beat off one attack of the
+French. A check in front of a strongly intrenched position was
+serious. It might have led to a French disaster, had the Austrians
+been able to bring aid to their allies. Bonaparte even summoned a
+council of war to deliberate on the situation. As a rule, a council of
+war gives timid advice. This one strongly advised a second attack on
+the camp--a striking proof of the ardour which then nerved the
+republican generals. Not yet were they _condottieri_ carving out
+fortunes by their swords: not yet were they the pampered minions of an
+autocrat, intent primarily on guarding the estates which his favour
+had bestowed. Timidity was rather the mark of their opponents. When
+the assault on the intrenchments of Ceva was about to be renewed, the
+Sardinian forces were discerned filing away westwards. Their general
+indulged the fond hope of holding the French at bay at several
+strong natural positions on his march. He was bitterly to rue his
+error. The French divisions of Serurier and Dommartin closed in on
+him, drove him from Mondovi, and away towards Turin.
+
+Bonaparte had now completely succeeded. Using to the full the
+advantage of his central position between the widely scattered
+detachments of his foes, he had struck vigorously at their natural
+point of junction, Montenotte, and by three subsequent successes--for
+the evacuation of Ceva can scarcely be called a French victory--had
+forced them further and further apart until Turin was almost within
+his power.
+
+It now remained to push these military triumphs to their natural
+conclusion, and impose terms of peace on the House of Savoy, which was
+secretly desirous of peace. The Directors had ordered Bonaparte that
+he should seek to detach Sardinia from the Austrian alliance by
+holding out the prospect of a valuable compensation for the loss of
+Savoy and Nice in the fertile Milanese.[42] The prospect of this rich
+prize would, the Directors surmised, dissolve the Austro-Sardinian
+alliance, as soon as the allies had felt the full vigour of the French
+arms. Not that Bonaparte himself was to conduct these negotiations. He
+was to forward to the Directory all offers of submission. Nay, he was
+not empowered to grant on his own responsibility even an armistice. He
+was merely to push the foe hard, and feed his needy soldiers on the
+conquered territory. He was to be solely a general, never a
+negotiator.
+
+The Directors herein showed keen jealousy or striking ignorance of
+military affairs. How could he keep the Austrians quiet while envoys
+passed between Turin and Paris? All the dictates of common sense
+required him to grant an armistice to the Court of Turin before the
+Austrians could recover from their recent disasters. But the King of
+Sardinia drew him from a perplexing situation by instructing Colli to
+make overtures for an armistice as preliminary to a peace. At once the
+French commander replied that such powers belonged to the Directory;
+but as for an armistice, it would only be possible if the Court of
+Turin placed in his hands three fortresses, Coni, Tortona, and
+Alessandria, besides guaranteeing the transit of French armies through
+Piedmont and the passage of the Po at Valenza. Then, with his
+unfailing belief in accomplished facts, Bonaparte pushed on his troops
+to Cherasco.
+
+Near that town he received the Piedmontese envoys; and from the pen of
+one of them we have an account of the general's behaviour in his first
+essay in diplomacy. His demeanour was marked by that grave and frigid
+courtesy which was akin to Piedmontese customs. In reply to the
+suggestions of the envoys that some of the conditions were of little
+value to the French, he answered: "The Republic, in intrusting to me
+the command of an army, has credited me with possessing enough
+discernment to judge of what that army requires, without having
+recourse to the advice of my enemy." Apart, however, from this
+sarcasm, which was uttered in a hard and biting voice, his tone was
+coldly polite. He reserved his home thrust for the close of the
+conference. When it had dragged on till considerably after noon with
+no definite result, he looked at his watch and exclaimed: "Gentlemen,
+I warn you that a general attack is ordered for two o'clock, and that
+if I am not assured that Coni will be put in my hands before
+nightfall, the attack will not be postponed for one moment. It may
+happen to me to lose battles, but no one shall ever see me lose
+minutes either by over-confidence or by sloth." The terms of the
+armistice of Cherasco were forthwith signed (April 28th); they were
+substantially the same as those first offered by the victor. During
+the luncheon which followed, the envoys were still further impressed
+by his imperturbable confidence and trenchant phrases; as when he told
+them that the campaign was the exact counterpart of what he had
+planned in 1794; or described a council of war as a convenient device
+for covering cowardice or irresolution in the commander; or asserted
+that nothing could now stop him before the walls of Mantua.[43]
+
+As a matter of fact, the French army was at that time so disorganized
+by rapine as scarcely to have withstood a combined and vigorous attack
+by Beaulieu and Colli. The republicans, long exposed to hunger and
+privations, were now revelling in the fertile plains of Piedmont.
+Large bands of marauders ranged the neighbouring country, and the
+regiments were often reduced to mere companies. From the grave risks
+of this situation Bonaparte was rescued by the timidity of the Court
+of Turin, which signed the armistice at Cherasco eighteen days after
+the commencement of the campaign. A fortnight later the preliminaries
+of peace were signed between France and the King of Sardinia, by which
+the latter yielded up his provinces of Savoy and Nice, and renounced
+the alliance with Austria. Great indignation was felt in the
+Imperialist camp at this news; and it was freely stated that the
+Piedmontese had let themselves be beaten in order to compass a peace
+that had been tacitly agreed upon in the month of January.[44]
+
+Even before this auspicious event, Bonaparte's despatches to the
+Directors were couched in almost imperious terms, which showed that he
+felt himself the master of the situation. He advised them as to their
+policy towards Sardinia, pointing out that, as Victor Amadeus had
+yielded up three important fortresses, he was practically in the hands
+of the French: "If you do not accept peace with him, if your plan is
+to dethrone him, you must amuse him for a few decades[45] and must
+warn me: I then seize Valenza and march on Turin." In military
+affairs the young general showed that he would brook no interference
+from Paris. He requested the Directory to draft 15,000 men from
+Kellermann's Army of the Alps to reinforce him: "That will give me an
+army of 45,000 men, of which possibly I may send a part to Rome. If
+you continue your confidence and approve these plans, I am sure of
+success: Italy is yours." Somewhat later, the Directors proposed to
+grant the required reinforcements, but stipulated for the retention of
+part of the army in the Milanese _under the command of Kellermann_.
+Thereupon Bonaparte replied (May 14th) that, as the Austrians had been
+reinforced, it was highly impolitic to divide the command. Each
+general had his own way of making war. Kellermann, having more
+experience, would doubtless do it better: but both together would do
+it very badly.
+
+Again the Directors had blundered. In seeking to subject Bonaparte to
+the same rules as had been imposed on all French generals since the
+treason of Dumouriez in 1793, they were doubtless consulting the vital
+interests of the Commonwealth. But, while striving to avert all
+possibilities of Caesarism, they now sinned against that elementary
+principle of strategy which requires unity of design in military
+operations. Bonaparte's retort was unanswerable, and nothing more was
+heard of the luckless proposal.
+
+Meanwhile the peace with the House of Savoy had thrown open the
+Milanese to Bonaparte's attack. Holding three Sardinian fortresses, he
+had an excellent base of operations; for the lands restored to the
+King of Sardinia were to remain subject to requisitions for the French
+army until the general peace. The Austrians, on the other hand, were
+weakened by the hostility of their Italian subjects, and, worst of
+all, they depended ultimately on reinforcements drawn from beyond the
+Alps by way of Mantua. In the rich plains of Lombardy they, however,
+had one advantage which was denied to them among the rocks of the
+Apennines. Their generals could display the tactical skill on which
+they prided themselves, and their splendid cavalry had some chance of
+emulating the former exploits of the Hungarian and Croatian horse.
+They therefore awaited the onset of the French, little dismayed by
+recent disasters, and animated by the belief that their antagonist,
+unversed in regular warfare, would at once lose in the plains the
+bubble reputation gained in ravines. But the country in the second
+part of this campaign was not less favourable to Bonaparte's peculiar
+gifts than that in which he had won his first laurels as commander.
+Amidst the Apennines, where only small bodies of men could be moved, a
+general inexperienced in the handling of cavalry and infantry could
+make his first essays in tactics with fair chances of success. Speed,
+energy, and the prompt seizure of a commanding central position were
+the prime requisites; the handling of vast masses of men was
+impossible. The plains of Lombardy facilitated larger movements; but
+even here the numerous broad swift streams fed by the Alpine snows,
+and the network of irrigating dykes, favoured the designs of a young
+and daring leader who saw how to use natural obstacles so as to baffle
+and ensnare his foes. Bonaparte was now to show that he excelled his
+enemies, not only in quickness of eye and vigour of intellect, but
+also in the minutiae of tactics and in those larger strategic
+conceptions which decide the fate of nations. In the first place,
+having the superiority of force, he was able to attack. This is an
+advantage at all times: for the aggressor can generally mislead his
+adversary by a series of feints until the real blow can be delivered
+with crushing effect. Such has been the aim of all great leaders from
+the time of Epaminondas and Alexander, Hannibal and Caesar, down to the
+age of Luxembourg, Marlborough, and Frederick the Great. Aggressive
+tactics were particularly suited to the French soldiery, always eager,
+active, and intelligent, and now endowed with boundless enthusiasm in
+their cause and in their leader.
+
+Then again he was fully aware of the inherent vice of the Austrian
+situation. It was as if an unwieldy organism stretched a vulnerable
+limb across the huge barrier of the Alps, exposing it to the attack of
+a compacter body. It only remained for Bonaparte to turn against his
+foes the smaller geographical features on which they too implicitly
+relied. Beaulieu had retired beyond the Po and the Ticino, expecting
+that the attack on the Milanese would be delivered across the latter
+stream by the ordinary route, which crossed it at Pavia. Near that
+city the Austrians occupied a strong position with 26,000 men, while
+other detachments patrolled the banks of the Ticino further north, and
+those of the Po towards Valenza, only 5,000 men being sent towards
+Piacenza. Bonaparte, however, was not minded to take the ordinary
+route. He determined to march, not as yet on the north of the River
+Po, where snow-swollen streams coursed down from the Alps, but rather
+on the south side, where the Apennines throw off fewer streams and
+also of smaller volume. From the fortress of Tortona he could make a
+rush at Piacenza, cross the Po there, and thus gain the Milanese
+almost without a blow. To this end he had stipulated in the recent
+terms of peace that he might cross the Po at Valenza; and now, amusing
+his foes by feints on that side, he vigorously pushed his main columns
+along the southern bank of the Po, where they gathered up all the
+available boats. The vanguard, led by the impetuous Lannes, seized the
+ferry at Piacenza, before the Austrian horse appeared, and scattered a
+squadron or two which strove to drive them back into the river (May
+7th).
+
+Time was thus gained for a considerable number of French to cross the
+river in boats or by the ferry. Working under the eye of their leader,
+the French conquered all obstacles: a bridge of boats soon spanned
+the stream, and was defended by a _tete de pont_; and with forces
+about equal in number to Liptay's Austrians, the republicans advanced
+northwards, and, after a tough struggle, dislodged their foes from the
+village of Fombio. This success drove a solid wedge between Liptay and
+his commander-in-chief, who afterwards bitterly blamed him, first for
+retreating, and secondly for not reporting his retreat to
+headquarters.
+
+It would appear, however, that Liptay had only 5,000 men (not the
+8,000 which Napoleon and French historians have credited to him), that
+he was sent by Beaulieu to Piacenza too late to prevent the crossing
+by the French, and that at the close of the fight on the following day
+he was completely cut off from communicating with his superior.
+Beaulieu, with his main force, advanced on Fombio, stumbled on the
+French, where he looked to find Liptay, and after a confused fight
+succeeded in disengaging himself and withdrawing towards Lodi, where
+the high-road leading to Mantua crossed the River Adda. To that stream
+he directed his remaining forces to retire. He thereby left Milan
+uncovered (except for the garrison which held the citadel), and
+abandoned more than the half of Lombardy; but, from the military point
+of view, his retreat to the Adda was thoroughly sound. Yet here again
+a movement strategically correct was marred by tactical blunders. Had
+he concentrated all his forces at the nearest point of the Adda which
+the French could cross, namely Pizzighetone, he would have rendered
+any flank march of theirs to the northward extremely hazardous; but he
+had not yet sufficiently learned from his terrible teacher the need of
+concentration; and, having at least three passages to guard, he kept
+his forces too spread out to oppose a vigorous move against any one of
+them. Indeed, he despaired of holding the line of the Adda, and
+retired eastwards with a great part of his army.
+
+Consequently, when Bonaparte, only three days after the seizure of
+Piacenza, threw his almost undivided force against the town of Lodi,
+his passage was disputed only by the rearguard, whose anxiety to cover
+the retreat of a belated detachment far exceeded their determination
+to defend the bridge over the Adda. This was a narrow structure, some
+eighty fathoms long, standing high above the swift but shallow river.
+Resolutely held by well-massed troops and cannon, it might have cost
+the French a severe struggle: but the Imperialists were badly
+handled: some were posted in and around the town which was between the
+river and the advancing French; and the weak walls of Lodi were soon
+escaladed by the impetuous republicans. The Austrian commander,
+Sebottendorf, now hastily ranged his men along the eastern bank of the
+river, so as to defend the bridge and prevent any passage of the river
+by boats or by a ford above the town. The Imperialists numbered only
+9,627 men; they were discouraged by defeats and by the consciousness
+that no serious stand could be attempted before they reached the
+neighbourhood of Mantua; and their efforts to break down the bridge
+were now frustrated by the French, who, posted behind the walls of
+Lodi on the higher bank of the stream, swept their opponents' position
+with a searching artillery fire. Having shaken the constancy of his
+foes and refreshed his own infantry by a brief rest in Lodi, Bonaparte
+at 6 p.m. secretly formed a column of his choicest troops and hurled
+it against the bridge. A hot fire of grapeshot and musketry tore its
+front, and for a time the column bent before the iron hail. But,
+encouraged by the words of their young leader, generals, corporals,
+and grenadiers pressed home their charge. This time, aided by
+sharp-shooters who waded to islets in the river, the assailants
+cleared the bridge, bayoneted the Austrian cannoneers, attacked the
+first and second lines of supporting foot, and, when reinforced,
+compelled horse and foot to retreat towards Mantua.[46]
+Such was the affair of Lodi (May 10th). A legendary
+glamour hovers around all the details of this conflict and invests it
+with fictitious importance. Beaulieu's main force was far away, and
+there was no hope of entrapping anything more than the rear of his
+army. Moreover, if this were the object, why was not the flank move of
+the French cavalry above Lodi pushed home earlier in the fight? This,
+if supported by infantry, could have outflanked the enemy while the
+perilous rush was made against the bridge; and such a turning movement
+would probably have enveloped the Austrian force while it was being
+shattered in front. That is the view in which the strategist,
+Clausewitz, regards this encounter. Far different was the impression
+which it created among the soldiers and Frenchmen at large. They
+valued a commander more for bravery of the bull-dog type than for any
+powers of reasoning and subtle combination. These, it is true,
+Bonaparte had already shown. He now enchanted the soldiery by dealing
+a straight sharp blow. It had a magical effect on their minds. On the
+evening of that day the French soldiers, with antique republican
+_camaraderie_, saluted their commander as _le petit caporal_ for his
+personal bravery in the fray, and this endearing phrase helped to
+immortalize the affair of the bridge of Lodi.[47] It shot a thrill of
+exultation through France. With pardonable exaggeration, men told how
+he charged at the head of the column, and, with Lannes, was the first
+to reach the opposite side; and later generations have figured him
+charging before his tall grenadiers--a feat that was actually
+performed by Lannes, Berthier, Massena, Cervoni, and Dallemagne. It
+was all one. Bonaparte alone was the hero of the day. He reigned
+supreme in the hearts of the soldiers, and he saw the importance of
+this conquest. At St. Helena he confessed to Montholon that it was the
+victory of Lodi which fanned his ambition into a steady flame.
+
+A desire of stimulating popular enthusiasm throughout Italy impelled
+the young victor to turn away from his real objective, the fortress of
+Mantua, to the political capital of Lombardy. The people of Milan
+hailed their French liberators with enthusiasm: they rained flowers on
+the bronzed soldiers of liberty, and pointed to their tattered
+uniforms and worn-out shoes as proofs of their triumphant energy:
+above all, they gazed with admiration, not unmixed with awe, at the
+thin pale features of the young commander, whose plain attire bespoke
+a Spartan activity, whose ardent gaze and decisive gestures proclaimed
+a born leader of men. Forthwith he arranged for the investment of the
+citadel where eighteen hundred Austrians held out: he then received
+the chief men of the city with easy Italian grace; and in the evening
+he gave a sumptuous ball, at which all the dignity, wealth, and beauty
+of the old Lombard capital shone resplendent. For a brief space all
+went well between the Lombards and their liberators. He received with
+flattering distinction the chief artists and men of letters, and also
+sought to quicken the activity of the University of Pavia. Political
+clubs and newspapers multiplied throughout Lombardy; and actors,
+authors, and editors joined in a paean of courtly or fawning praise, to
+the new Scipio, Caesar, Hannibal, and Jupiter.
+
+There were other reasons why the Lombards should worship the young
+victor. Apart from the admiration which a gifted race ever feels for
+so fascinating a combination of youthful grace with intellectual power
+and martial prowess, they believed that this Italian hero would call
+the people to political activity, perchance even to national
+independence. For this their most ardent spirits had sighed,
+conspired, or fought during the eighty-three years of the Austrian
+occupation. Ever since the troublous times of Dante there had been
+prophetic souls who caught the vision of a new Italy, healed of her
+countless schisms, purified from her social degradations, and uniting
+the prowess of her ancient life with the gentler arts of the present
+for the perfection of her own powers and for the welfare of mankind.
+The gleam of this vision had shone forth even amidst the thunder claps
+of the French Revolution; and now that the storm had burst over the
+plains of Lombardy, ecstatic youths seemed to see the vision embodied
+in the person of Bonaparte himself. At the first news of the success
+at Lodi the national colours were donned as cockades, or waved
+defiance from balconies and steeples to the Austrian garrisons. All
+truly Italian hearts believed that the French victories heralded the
+dawn of political freedom not only for Lombardy, but for the whole
+peninsula.
+
+Bonaparte's first actions increased these hopes. He abolished the
+Austrian machinery of government, excepting the Council of State, and
+approved the formation of provisional municipal councils and of a
+National Guard. At the same time, he wrote guardedly to the Directors
+at Paris, asking whether they proposed to organize Lombardy as a
+republic, as it was much more ripe for this form of government than
+Piedmont. Further than this he could not go; but at a later date he
+did much to redeem his first promises to the people of Northern Italy.
+
+The fair prospect was soon overclouded by the financial measures urged
+on the young commander from Paris, measures which were disastrous to
+the Lombards and degrading to the liberators themselves. The Directors
+had recently bidden him to press hard on the Milanese, and levy large
+contributions in money, provisions, and objects of art, seeing that
+they did not intend to keep this country.[48] Bonaparte accordingly
+issued a proclamation (May 19th), imposing on Lombardy the sum of
+twenty million francs, remarking that it was a very light sum for so
+fertile a country. Only two days before he had in a letter to the
+Directors described it as exhausted by five years of war. As for the
+assertion that the army needed this sum, it may be compared with his
+private notification to the Directory, three days after his
+proclamation, that they might speedily count on six to eight millions
+of the Lombard contribution, as lying ready at their disposal, "it
+being over and above what the army requires." This is the first
+definite suggestion by Bonaparte of that system of bleeding conquered
+lands for the benefit of the French Exchequer, which enabled him
+speedily to gain power over the Directors. Thenceforth they began to
+connive at his diplomatic irregularities, and even to urge on his
+expeditions into wealthy districts, provided that the spoils went to
+Paris; while the conqueror, on his part, was able tacitly to assume
+that tone of authority with which the briber treats the bribed.[49]
+
+The exaction of this large sum, and of various requisites for the
+army, as well as the "extraction" of works of art for the benefit of
+French museums, at once aroused the bitterest feelings. The loss of
+priceless treasures, such as the manuscript of Virgil which had
+belonged to Petrarch, and the masterpieces of Raphael and Leonardo da
+Vinci, might perhaps have been borne: it concerned only the cultured
+few, and their effervescence was soon quelled by patrols of French
+cavalry. Far different was it with the peasants between Milan and
+Pavia. Drained by the white-coats, they now refused to be bled for the
+benefit of the blue-coats of France. They rushed to arms. The city of
+Pavia defied the attack of a French column until cannon battered in
+its gates. Then the republicans rushed in, massacred all the armed men
+for some hours, and glutted their lust and rapacity. By order of
+Bonaparte, the members of the municipal council were condemned to
+execution; but a delay occurred before this ferocious order was
+carried out, and it was subsequently mitigated. Two hundred hostages
+were, however, sent away into France as a guarantee for the good
+behaviour of the unfortunate city: whereupon the chief announced to
+the Directory that this would serve as a useful lesson to the peoples
+of Italy.
+
+In one sense this was correct. It gave the Italians a true insight
+into French methods; and painful emotions thrilled the peoples of the
+peninsula when they realized at what a price their liberation was to
+be effected. Yet it is unfair to lay the chief blame on Bonaparte for
+the pillage of Lombardy. His actions were only a development of
+existing revolutionary customs; but never had these demoralizing
+measures been so thoroughly enforced as in the present system of
+liberation and blackmail. Lombardy was ransacked with an almost Vandal
+rapacity. Bonaparte desired little for himself. His aim ever was power
+rather than wealth. Riches he valued only as a means to political
+supremacy. But he took care to place the Directors and all his
+influential officers deeply in his debt. To the five _soi-disant_
+rulers of France he sent one hundred horses, the finest that could be
+found in Lombardy, to replace "the poor creatures which now draw your
+carriages";[50] to his officers his indulgence was passive, but
+usually effective. Marmont states that Bonaparte once reproached him
+for his scrupulousness in returning the whole of a certain sum which
+he had been commissioned to recover. "At that time," says Marmont, "we
+still retained a flower of delicacy on these subjects." This Alpine
+gentian was soon to fade in the heats of the plains. Some generals
+made large fortunes, eminently so Massena, first in plunder as in the
+fray. And yet the commander, who was so lenient to his generals,
+filled his letters to the Directory with complaints about the cloud of
+French commissioners, dealers, and other civilian harpies who battened
+on the spoil of Lombardy. It seems impossible to avoid the conclusion
+that this indulgence towards the soldiers and severity towards
+civilians was the result of a fixed determination to link indissolubly
+to his fortunes the generals and rank and file. The contrast in his
+behaviour was often startling. Some of the civilians he imprisoned:
+others he desired to shoot; but as the hardiest robbers had generally
+made to themselves friends of the military mammon of unrighteousness,
+they escaped with a fine ridiculously out of proportion to their
+actual gains.[51]
+
+The Dukes of Parma and Modena were also mulcted. The former of these,
+owing to his relationship with the Spanish Bourbons, with whom the
+Directory desired to remain on friendly terms, was subjected to the
+fine of merely two million francs and twenty masterpieces of art,
+these last to be selected by French commissioners from the galleries
+of the duchy; but the Duke of Modena, who had assisted the Austrian
+arms, purchased his pardon by an indemnity of ten million francs, and
+by the cession of twenty pictures, the chief artistic treasures of his
+States.[52] As Bonaparte naively stated to the Directors, the duke had
+no fortresses or guns; consequently these could not be demanded from
+him.
+
+From this degrading work Bonaparte strove to wean his soldiers by
+recalling them to their nobler work of carrying on the enfranchisement
+of Italy. In a proclamation (May 20th) which even now stirs the blood
+like a trumpet call, he bade his soldiers remember that, though much
+had been done, a far greater task yet awaited them. Posterity must not
+reproach them for having found their Capua in Lombardy. Rome was to be
+freed: the Eternal City was to renew her youth and show again the
+virtues of her ancient worthies, Brutus and Scipio. Then France would
+give a glorious peace to Europe; then their fellow-citizens would say
+of each champion of liberty as he returned to his hearth: "He was of
+the Army of Italy." By such stirring words did he entwine with the
+love of liberty that passion for military glory which was destined to
+strangle the Republic.
+
+Meanwhile the Austrians had retired behind the banks of the Mincio and
+the walls of its guardian fortress, Mantua. Their position was one of
+great strength. The river, which carries off the surplus waters of
+Lake Garda, joins the River Po after a course of some thirty miles.
+Along with the tongue-like cavity occupied by its parent lake, the
+river forms the chief inner barrier to all invaders of Italy. From
+the earliest times down to those of the two Napoleons, the banks of
+the Mincio have witnessed many of the contests which have decided the
+fortunes of the peninsula. On its lower course, where the river widens
+out into a semicircular lagoon flanked by marshes and backwaters, is
+the historic town of Mantua. For this position, if we may trust the
+picturesque lines of Mantua's noblest son,[53] the three earliest
+races of Northern Italy had striven; and when the power of imperial
+Rome was waning, the fierce Attila pitched his camp on the banks of
+the Mincio, and there received the pontiff Leo, whose prayers and
+dignity averted the threatening torrent of the Scythian horse.
+
+It was by this stream, famed in war as in song, that the Imperialists
+now halted their shattered forces, awaiting reinforcements from Tyrol.
+These would pass down the valley of the Adige, and in the last part of
+their march would cross the lands of the Venetian Republic. For this
+action there was a long-established right of way, which did not
+involve a breach of the neutrality of Venice. But, as some of the
+Austrian troops had straggled on to the Venetian territory south of
+Brescia, the French commander had no hesitation in openly violating
+Venetian neutrality by the occupation of that town (May 26th).
+Augereau's division was also ordered to push on towards the west shore
+of Lake Garda, and there collect boats as if a crossing were intended.
+Seeing this, the Austrians seized the small Venetian fortress of
+Peschiera, which commands the exit of the Mincio from the lake, and
+Venetian neutrality was thenceforth wholly disregarded.
+
+By adroit moves on the borders of the lake, Bonaparte now sought to
+make Beaulieu nervous about his communications with Tyrol through the
+river valley of the Adige; he completely succeeded: seeking to guard
+the important positions on that river between Rivoli and Roveredo,
+Beaulieu so weakened his forces on the Mincio, that at Borghetto and
+Valeggio he had only two battalions and ten squadrons of horse, or
+about two thousand men. Lannes' grenadiers, therefore, had little
+difficulty in forcing a passage on May 30th, whereupon Beaulieu
+withdrew to the upper Adige, highly satisfied with himself for having
+victualled the fortress of Mantua so that it could withstand a long
+siege. This was, practically, his sole achievement in the campaign.
+Outnumbered, outgeneralled, bankrupt in health as in reputation, he
+soon resigned his command, but not before he had given signs of
+"downright dotage."[54] He had, however, achieved immortality: his
+incapacity threw into brilliant relief the genius of his young
+antagonist, and therefore appreciably affected the fortunes of Italy
+and of Europe.
+
+Bonaparte now despatched Massena's division northwards, to coop up the
+Austrians in the narrow valley of the upper Adige, while other
+regiments began to close in on Mantua. The peculiarities of the ground
+favoured its investment. The semicircular lagoon which guards Mantua
+on the north, and the marshes on the south side, render an assault
+very difficult; but they also limit the range of ground over which
+sorties can be made, thereby lightening the work of the besiegers; and
+during part of the blockade Napoleon left fewer than five thousand men
+for this purpose. It was clear, however, that the reduction of Mantua
+would be a tedious undertaking, such as Bonaparte's daring and
+enterprising genius could ill brook, and that his cherished design of
+marching northwards to effect a junction with Moreau on the Danube was
+impossible. Having only 40,400 men with him at midsummer, he had
+barely enough to hold the line of the Adige, to blockade Mantua, and
+to keep open his communications with France.
+
+At the command of the Directory he turned southward against feebler
+foes. The relations between the Papal States and the French Republic
+had been hostile since the assassination of the French envoy,
+Basseville, at Rome, in the early days of 1793; but the Pope, Pius
+VI., had confined himself to anathemas against the revolutionists and
+prayers for the success of the First Coalition.
+
+This conduct now drew upon him a sharp blow. French troops crossed the
+Po and seized Bologna, whereupon the terrified cardinals signed an
+armistice with the republican commander, agreeing to close all their
+States to the English, and to admit a French garrison to the port of
+Ancona. The Pope also consented to yield up "one hundred pictures,
+busts, vases, or statues, as the French Commissioners shall determine,
+among which shall especially be included the bronze bust of Junius
+Brutus and the marble bust of Marcus Brutus, together with five
+hundred manuscripts." He was also constrained to pay 15,500,000
+francs, besides animals and goods such as the French agents should
+requisition for their army, exclusive of the money and materials drawn
+from the districts of Bologna and Ferrara. The grand total, in money,
+and in kind, raised from the Papal States in this profitable raid, was
+reckoned by Bonaparte himself as 34,700,000 francs,[55] or about;
+L1,400,000--a liberal assessment for the life of a single envoy and
+the _bruta fulmina_ of the Vatican.
+
+Equally lucrative was a dash into Tuscany. As the Grand Duke of this
+fertile land had allowed English cruisers and merchants certain
+privileges at Leghorn, this was taken as a departure from the
+neutrality which he ostensibly maintained since the signature of a
+treaty of peace with France in 1795. A column of the republicans now
+swiftly approached Leghorn and seized much valuable property from
+British merchants. Yet the invaders failed to secure the richest of
+the hoped-for plunder; for about forty English merchantmen sheered off
+from shore as the troops neared the seaport, and an English frigate,
+swooping down, carried off two French vessels almost under the eyes of
+Bonaparte himself. This last outrage gave, it is true, a slight
+excuse for the levying of requisitions in Leghorn and its environs;
+yet, according to the memoir-writer, Miot de Melito, this unprincipled
+action must be attributed not to Bonaparte, but to the urgent needs of
+the French treasury and the personal greed of some of the Directors.
+Possibly also the French commissioners and agents, who levied
+blackmail or selected pictures, may have had some share in the shaping
+of the Directorial policy: at least, it is certain that some of them,
+notably Salicetti, amassed a large fortune from the plunder of
+Leghorn. In order to calm the resentment of the Grand Duke, Bonaparte
+paid a brief visit to Florence. He was received in respectful silence
+as he rode through the streets where his ancestors had schemed for the
+Ghibelline cause. By a deft mingling of courtesy and firmness the new
+conqueror imposed his will on the Government of Florence, and then
+sped northward to press on the siege of Mantua.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+THE FIGHTS FOR MANTUA
+
+
+The circumstances which recalled Bonaparte to the banks of the Mincio
+were indeed serious. The Emperor Francis was determined at all costs
+to retain his hold on Italy by raising the siege of that fortress; and
+unless the French commander could speedily compass its fall, he had
+the prospect of fighting a greatly superior army while his rear was
+threatened by the garrison of Mantua. Austria was making unparalleled
+efforts to drive this presumptuous young general from a land which she
+regarded as her own political preserve. Military historians have
+always been puzzled to account for her persistent efforts in 1796-7 to
+re-conquer Lombardy. But, in truth, the reasons are diplomatic, not
+military, and need not be detailed here. Suffice it to say that,
+though the Hapsburg lands in Swabia were threatened by Moreau's Army
+of the Rhine, Francis determined at all costs to recover his Italian
+possessions.
+
+To this end the Emperor now replaced the luckless Beaulieu by General
+Wuermser, who had gained some reputation in the Rhenish campaigns; and,
+detaching 25,000 men from his northern armies to strengthen his army
+on the Adige, he bade him carry the double-headed eagle of Austria
+victoriously into the plains of Italy. Though too late to relieve the
+citadel of Milan, he was to strain every nerve to relieve Mantua; and,
+since the latest reports represented the French as widely dispersed
+for the plunder of Central Italy, the Emperor indulged the highest
+hopes of Wuermser's success.[56]
+
+Possibly this might have been attained had the Austrian Emperor and
+staff understood the absolute need of concentration in attacking a
+commander who had already demonstrated its supreme importance in
+warfare. Yet the difficulties of marching an army of 47,000 men
+through the narrow defile carved by the Adige through the Tyrolese
+Alps, and the wide extent of the French covering lines, led to the
+adoption of a plan which favoured rapidity at the expense of security.
+Wuermser was to divide his forces for the difficult march southward
+from Tyrol into Italy. In defence of this arrangement much could be
+urged. To have cumbered the two roads, which run on either side of the
+Adige from Trient towards Mantua, with infantry, cavalry, artillery,
+and the countless camp-followers, animals, and wagons that follow an
+army, would have been fatal alike to speed of marching and to success
+in mountain warfare. Even in the campaign of 1866 the greatest
+commander of this generation carried out his maxim, "March in separate
+columns: unite for fighting." But Wuermser and the Aulic Council[57] at
+Vienna neglected to insure that reunion for attack, on which von
+Moltke laid such stress in his Bohemian campaign. The Austrian forces
+in 1796 were divided by obstacles which could not quickly be crossed,
+namely, by Lake Garda and the lofty mountains which tower above the
+valley of the Adige. Assuredly the Imperialists were not nearly strong
+enough to run any risks. The official Austrian returns show that the
+total force assembled in Tyrol for the invasion of Italy amounted to
+46,937 men, not to the 60,000 as pictured by the imagination of Thiers
+and other French historians. As Bonaparte had in Lombardy-Venetia
+fully 45,000 men (including 10,000 now engaged in the siege of
+Mantua), scattered along a front of fifty miles from Milan to Brescia
+and Legnago, the incursion of Wuermser's force, if the French were held
+to their separate positions by diversions against their flanks, must
+have proved decisive. But the fault was committed of so far dividing
+the Austrians that nowhere could they deal a crushing blow.
+Quosdanovich with 17,600 men was to take the western side of Lake
+Garda, seize the French magazines at Brescia, and cut their
+communications with Milan and France: the main body under Wuermser,
+24,300 strong, was meanwhile to march in two columns on either bank of
+the Adige, drive the French from Rivoli and push on towards Mantua:
+and yet a third division, led by Davidovich from the district of
+Friuli on the east, received orders to march on Vicenza and Legnago,
+in order to distract the French from that side, and possibly relieve
+Mantua if the other two onsets failed.
+
+Faulty as these dispositions were, they yet seriously disconcerted
+Bonaparte. He was at Montechiaro, a village situated on the road
+between Brescia and Mantua, when, on July 29th, he heard that the
+white-coats had driven in Massena's vanguard above Rivoli on the
+Adige, were menacing other positions near Verona and Legnago, and were
+advancing on Brescia. As soon as the full extent of the peril was
+manifest, he sent off ten despatches to his generals, ordering a
+concentration of troops--these, of course, fighting so as to delay the
+pursuit--towards the southern end of Lake Garda. This wise step
+probably saved his isolated forces from disaster. It was at that point
+that the Austrians proposed to unite their two chief columns and crush
+the French detachments. But, by drawing in the divisions of Massena
+and Augereau towards the Mincio, Bonaparte speedily assembled a
+formidable array, and held the central position between the eastern
+and western divisions of the Imperialists. He gave up the important
+defensive line of the Adige, it is true; but by promptly rallying on
+the Mincio, he occupied a base that was defended on the north by the
+small fortress of Peschiera and the waters of Lake Garda. Holding the
+bridges over the Mincio, he could strike at his assailants wherever
+they should attack; above all, he still covered the siege of Mantua.
+Such were his dispositions on July 29th and 30th. On the latter day he
+heard of the loss of Brescia, and the consequent cutting of his
+communications with Milan. Thereupon he promptly ordered Serurier, who
+was besieging Mantua, to make a last vigorous effort to take that
+fortress, but also to assure his retreat westwards if fortune failed
+him. Later in the day he ordered him forthwith to send away his
+siege-train, throwing into the lake or burying whatever he could not
+save from the advancing Imperialists.
+
+This apparently desperate step, which seemed to forebode the
+abandonment not only of the siege of Mantua, but of the whole of
+Lombardy, was in reality a masterstroke. Bonaparte had perceived the
+truth, which the campaigns of 1813 and 1870 were abundantly to
+illustrate--that the possession of fortresses, and consequently their
+siege by an invader, is of secondary importance when compared with a
+decisive victory gained in the open. When menaced by superior forces
+advancing towards the south of Lake Garda, he saw that he must
+sacrifice his siege works, even his siege-train, in order to gain for
+a few precious days that superiority in the field which the division
+of the Imperialist columns still left to him.
+
+The dates of these occurrences deserve close scrutiny; for they
+suffice to refute some of the exorbitant claims made at a later time
+by General Augereau, that only his immovable firmness forced Bonaparte
+to fight and to change his dispositions of retreat into an attack
+which re-established everything. This extraordinary assertion,
+published by Augereau after he had deserted Napoleon in 1814, is
+accompanied by a detailed recital of the events of July 30th-August
+5th, in which Bonaparte appears as the dazed and discouraged
+commander, surrounded by pusillanimous generals, and urged on to fight
+solely by the confidence of Augereau. That the forceful energy of this
+general had a great influence in restoring the _morale_ of the French
+army in the confused and desperate movements which followed may freely
+be granted. But his claims to have been the main spring of the French
+movements in those anxious days deserve a brief examination. He
+asserts that Bonaparte, "devoured by anxieties," met him at Roverbella
+late in the evening of July 30th, and spoke of retiring beyond the
+River Po. The official correspondence disproves this assertion.
+Bonaparte had already given orders to Serurier to retire beyond the Po
+with his artillery train; but this was obviously an attempt to save it
+from the advancing Austrians; and the commander had ordered the
+northern part of the French besieging force to join Augereau between
+Roverbella and Goito. Augereau further asserts that, after he had
+roused Bonaparte to the need of a dash to recover Brescia, the
+commander-in-chief remarked to Berthier, "In that case we must raise
+the siege of Mantua," which again he (Augereau) vigorously opposed.
+This second statement is creditable neither to Augereau's accuracy nor
+to his sagacity. The order for the raising of the siege had been
+issued, and it was entirely necessary for the concentration of French
+troops, on which Bonaparte now relied as his only hope against
+superior force. Had Bonaparte listened to Augereau's advice and
+persisted still in besieging Mantua, the scattered French forces must
+have been crushed in detail. Augereau's words are those of a mere
+fighter, not of a strategist; and the timidity which he ungenerously
+attributed to Bonaparte was nothing but the caution which a superior
+intellect saw to be a necessary prelude to a victorious move.
+
+That the fighting honours of the ensuing days rightly belong to
+Augereau may be frankly conceded. With forces augmented by the
+northern part of the besiegers of Mantua, he moved rapidly westwards
+from the Mincio against Brescia, and rescued it from the vanguard of
+Quosdanovich (August 1st). On the previous day other Austrian
+detachments had also, after obstinate conflicts, been worsted near
+Salo and Lonato. Still, the position was one of great perplexity: for
+though Massena's division from the Adige was now beginning to come
+into touch with Bonaparte's chief force, yet the fronts of Wuermser's
+columns were menacing the French from that side, while the troops of
+Quosdanovich, hovering about Lonato and Salo, struggled desperately to
+stretch a guiding hand to their comrades on the Mincio.
+
+Wuermser was now discovering his error. Lured towards Mantua by false
+reports that the French were still covering the siege, he had marched
+due south when he ought to have rushed to the rescue of his
+hard-pressed lieutenant at Brescia. Entering Mantua, he enjoyed a
+brief spell of triumph, and sent to the Emperor Francis the news of
+the capture of 40 French cannon in the trenches, and of 139 more on
+the banks of the Po. But, while he was indulging the fond hope that
+the French were in full retreat from Italy, came the startling news
+that they had checked Quosdanovich at Brescia and Salo. Realizing his
+errors, and determining to retrieve them before all was lost, he at
+once pushed on his vanguard towards Castiglione, and easily gained
+that village and its castle from a French detachment commanded by
+General Valette.
+
+The feeble defence of so important a position threw Bonaparte into one
+of those transports of fury which occasionally dethroned his better
+judgment. Meeting Valette at Montechiaro, he promptly degraded him to
+the ranks, refusing to listen to his plea of having received a written
+order to retire. A report of General Landrieux asserts that the rage
+of the commander-in-chief was so extreme as for the time even to
+impair his determination. The outlook was gloomy. The French seemed
+about to be hemmed in amidst the broken country between Castiglione,
+Brescia, and Salo. A sudden attack on the Austrians was obviously the
+only safe and honourable course. But no one knew precisely their
+numbers or their position. Uncertainty ever preyed on Bonaparte's
+ardent imagination. His was a mind that quailed not before visible
+dangers; but, with all its powers of decisive action, it retained so
+much of Corsican eeriness as to chafe at the unknown,[58] and to lose
+for the moment the faculty of forming a vigorous resolution. Like the
+python, which grips its native rock by the tail in order to gain its
+full constricting power, so Bonaparte ever needed a groundwork of fact
+for the due exercise of his mental force.
+
+One of a group of generals, whom he had assembled about him near
+Montechiaro, proposed that they should ascend the hill which dominated
+the plain. Even from its ridge no Austrians were to be seen. Again the
+commander burst forth with petulant reproaches, and even talked of
+retiring to the Adda. Whereupon, if we may trust the "Memoirs" of
+General Landrieux, Augereau protested against retreat, and promised
+success for a vigorous charge. "I wash my hands of it, and I am going
+away," replied Bonaparte. "And who will command, if you go?" inquired
+Augereau. "You," retorted Bonaparte, as he left the astonished circle.
+
+However this may be, the first attack on Castiglione was certainly
+left to this determined fighter; and the mingling of boldness and
+guile which he showed on the following day regained for the French not
+only the village, but also the castle, perched on a precipitous rock.
+Yet the report of Colonel Graham, who was then at Marshal Wuermser's
+headquarters, somewhat dulls the lustre of Augereau's exploit; for the
+British officer asserts that the Austrian position had been taken up
+quite by haphazard, and that fewer than 15,000 white-coats were
+engaged in this first battle of Castiglione. Furthermore, the
+narratives of this _melee_ written by Augereau himself and by two
+other generals, Landrieux and Verdier, who were disaffected towards
+Bonaparte, must naturally be received with much reserve. The effect of
+Augereau's indomitable energy in restoring confidence to the soldiers
+and victory to the French tricolour was, however, generously admitted
+by the Emperor Napoleon; for, at a later time when complaints were
+being made about Augereau, he generously exclaimed: "Ah, let us not
+forget that he saved us at Castiglione."[59]
+
+While Augereau was recovering this important position, confused
+conflicts were raging a few miles further north at Lonato. Massena at
+first was driven back by the onset of the Imperialists; but while they
+were endeavouring to envelop the French, Bonaparte arrived, and in
+conjunction with Massena pushed on a central attack such as often
+wrested victory from the enemy. The white-coats retired in disorder,
+some towards Gavardo, others towards the lake, hotly followed by the
+French. In the pursuit towards Gavardo, Bonaparte's old friend,
+Junot, distinguished himself by his dashing valour. He wounded a
+colonel, slew six troopers, and, covered with wounds, was finally
+overthrown into a ditch. Such is Bonaparte's own account. It is
+gratifying to know that the wounds neither singly nor collectively
+were dangerous, and did not long repress Junot's activity. A tinge of
+romance seems, indeed, to have gilded many of these narratives; and a
+critical examination of the whole story of Lonato seems to suggest
+doubts whether the victory was as decisive as historians have often
+represented. If the Austrians were "thrown back on Lake Garda and
+Desenzano,"[60] it is difficult to see why the pursuers did not drive
+them into the lake. As a matter of fact, nearly all the beaten troops
+escaped to Gavardo, while others joined their comrades engaged in the
+blockade of Peschiera.
+
+A strange incident serves to illustrate the hazards of war and the
+confusion of this part of the campaign. A detachment of the vanquished
+Austrian forces some 4,000 strong, unable to join their comrades at
+Gavardo or Peschiera, and yet unharmed by the victorious pursuers,
+wandered about on the hills, and on the next day chanced near Lonato
+to come upon a much smaller detachment of French. Though unaware of
+the full extent of their good fortune, the Imperialists boldly sent an
+envoy to summon the French commanding officer to surrender. When the
+bandage was taken from his eyes, he was abashed to find himself in the
+presence of Bonaparte, surrounded by the generals of his staff. The
+young commander's eyes flashed fire at the seeming insult, and in
+tones vibrating with well-simulated passion he threatened the envoy
+with condign punishment for daring to give such a message to the
+commander-in-chief at his headquarters in the midst of his army. Let
+him and his men forthwith lay down their arms. Dazed by the demand,
+and seeing only the victorious chief and not the smallness of his
+detachment, 4,000 Austrians surrendered to 1,200 French, or rather to
+the address and audacity of one master-mind.
+
+Elated by this augury of further victory, the republicans prepared for
+the decisive blow. Wuermser, though checked on August 3rd, had been so
+far reinforced from Mantua as still to indulge hopes of driving the
+French from Castiglione and cutting his way through to rescue
+Quosdanovich. He was, indeed, in honour bound to make the attempt; for
+the engagement had been made, with the usual futility that dogged the
+Austrian councils, to reunite their forces and _fight the French on
+the 7th of August_. These cast-iron plans were now adhered to in spite
+of their dislocation at the hands of Bonaparte and Augereau. Wuermser's
+line stretched from near the village of Medole in a north-easterly
+direction across the high-road between Brescia and Mantua; while his
+right wing was posted in the hilly country around Solferino. In fact,
+his extreme right rested on the tower-crowned heights of Solferino,
+where the forces of Austria two generations later maintained so
+desperate a defence against the onset of Napoleon III. and his
+liberating army.
+
+Owing to the non-arrival of Mezaros' corps marching from Legnago,
+Wuermser mustered scarcely twenty-five thousand men on his long line;
+while the very opportune approach of part of Serurier's division,
+under the lead of Fiorella, from the south, gave the French an
+advantage even in numbers. Moreover, Fiorella's advance on the south
+of Wuermser's weaker flank, that near Medole, threatened to turn it and
+endanger the Austrian communications with Mantua. The Imperialists
+seem to have been unaware of this danger; and their bad scouting here
+as elsewhere was largely responsible for the issue of the day.
+Wuermser's desire to stretch a helping hand to Quosdanovich near Lonato
+and his confidence in the strength of his own right wing betrayed him
+into a fatal imprudence. Sending out feelers after his hard-pressed
+colleague on the north, he dangerously prolonged his line, an error in
+which he was deftly encouraged by Bonaparte, who held back his own
+left wing. Meanwhile the French were rolling in the other extremity of
+the Austrian line. Marmont, dashing forward with the horse artillery,
+took the enemy's left wing in flank and silenced many of their pieces.
+Under cover of this attack, Fiorella's division was able to creep up
+within striking distance; and the French cavalry, swooping round the
+rear of this hard-pressed wing, nearly captured Wuermser and his staff.
+A vigorous counterattack by the Austrian reserves, or an immediate
+wheeling round of the whole line, was needed to repulse this brilliant
+flank attack; but the Austrian reserves had been expended in the north
+of their line; and an attempt to change front, always a difficult
+operation, was crushed by a headlong charge of Massena's and
+Augereau's divisions on their centre. Before these attacks the whole
+Austrian line gave way; and, according to Colonel Graham, nothing but
+this retreat, undertaken "without orders," saved the whole force from
+being cut off. The criticisms of our officer sufficiently reveal the
+cause of the disaster. The softness and incapacity of Wuermser, the
+absence of a responsible second in command, the ignorance of the
+number and positions of the French, the determination to advance
+towards Castiglione and to wait thereabouts for Quosdanovich until a
+battle could be fought with combined forces on the 7th, the taking up
+a position almost by haphazard on the Castiglione-Medole line, and the
+failure to detect Fiorella's approach, present a series of defects and
+blunders which might have given away the victory to a third-rate
+opponent.[61]
+
+The battle was by no means sanguinary: it was a series of manoeuvres
+rather than of prolonged conflicts. Hence its interest to all who by
+preference dwell on the intellectual problems of warfare rather than
+on the details of fighting. Bonaparte had previously shown that he
+could deal blows with telling effect. The ease and grace of his moves
+at the second battle of Castiglione now redeemed the reputation which
+his uncertain behaviour on the four preceding days had somewhat
+compromised.
+
+A complete and authentic account of this week of confused fighting has
+never been written. The archives of Vienna have not as yet yielded up
+all their secrets; and the reputations of so many French officers were
+over-clouded by this prolonged _melee_ as to render even the victors'
+accounts vague and inconsistent. The aim of historians everywhere to
+give a clear and vivid account, and the desire of Napoleonic
+enthusiasts to represent their hero as always thinking clearly and
+acting decisively, have fused trusty ores and worthless slag into an
+alloy which has passed for true metal. But no student of Napoleon's
+"Correspondence," of the "Memoirs" of Marmont, and of the recitals of
+Augereau, Dumas, Landrieux, Verdier, Despinois and others, can hope
+wholly to unravel the complications arising from the almost continuous
+conflicts that extended over a dozen leagues of hilly country. War is
+not always dramatic, however much the readers of campaigns may yearn
+after thrilling narratives. In regard to this third act of the Italian
+campaign, all that can safely be said is that Bonaparte's intuition to
+raise the siege of Mantua, in order that he might defeat in detail the
+relieving armies, bears the imprint of genius: but the execution of
+this difficult movement was unequal, even at times halting; and the
+French army was rescued from its difficulties only by the grand
+fighting qualities of the rank and file, and by the Austrian blunders,
+which outnumbered those of the republican generals.
+
+Neither were the results of the Castiglione cycle of battles quite so
+brilliant as have been represented. Wuermser and Quasdanovich lost in
+all 17,000 men, it is true: but the former had re-garrisoned and
+re-victualled Mantua, besides capturing all the French siege-train.
+Bonaparte's primary aim had been to reduce Mantua, so that he might be
+free to sweep through Tyrol, join hands with Moreau, and overpower the
+white-coats in Bavaria. The aim of the Aulic Council and Wuermser had
+been to relieve Mantua and restore the Hapsburg rule over Lombardy.
+Neither side had succeeded. But the Austrians could at least point to
+some successes; and, above all, Mantua was in a better state of
+defence than when the French first approached its walls: and while
+Mantua was intact, Bonaparte was held to the valley of the Mincio, and
+could not deal those lightning blows on the Inn and the Danube which
+he ever regarded as the climax of the campaign. Viewed on its material
+side, his position was no better than it was before Wuermser's
+incursion into the plains of Venetia.[62]
+
+With true Hapsburg tenacity, Francis determined on further efforts for
+the relief of Mantua. Apart from the promptings of dynastic pride, his
+reasons for thus obstinately struggling against Alpine gorges, Italian
+sentiment, and Bonaparte's genius, are wellnigh inscrutable; and
+military writers have generally condemned this waste of resources on
+the Brenta, which, if hurled against the French on the Rhine, would
+have compelled the withdrawal of Bonaparte from Italy for the defence
+of Lorraine. But the pride of the Emperor Francis brooked no surrender
+of his Italian possessions, and again Wuermser was spurred on from
+Vienna to another invasion of Venetia. It would be tedious to give an
+account of Wuermser's second attempt, which belongs rather to the
+domain of political fatuity than that of military history. Colonel
+Graham states that the Austrian rank and file laughed at their
+generals, and bitterly complained that they were being led to the
+shambles, while the officers almost openly exclaimed: "We must make
+peace, for we don't know how to make war." This was again apparent.
+Bonaparte forestalled their attack. Their divided forces fell an easy
+prey to Massena, who at Bassano cut Wuermser's force to pieces and sent
+the _debris_ flying down the valley of the Brenta. Losing most of
+their artillery, and separated in two chief bands, the Imperialists
+seemed doomed to surrender: but Wuermser, doubling on his pursuers,
+made a dash westwards, finally cutting his way to Mantua. There again
+he vainly endeavoured to make a stand. He was driven from his
+positions in front of St. Georges and La Favorita, and was shut up in
+the town itself. This addition to the numbers of the garrison was no
+increase to its strength; for the fortress, though well provisioned
+for an ordinary garrison, could not support a prolonged blockade, and
+the fevers of the early autumn soon began to decimate troops worn out
+by forced marches and unable to endure the miasma ascending from the
+marshes of the Mincio.
+
+The French also were wearied by their exertions in the fierce heats of
+September. Murmurs were heard in the ranks and at the mess tables that
+Bonaparte's reports of these exploits were tinged by favouritism
+and by undue severity against those whose fortune had been less
+conspicuous than their merits. One of these misunderstandings was of
+some importance. Massena, whose services had been brilliant at Bassano
+but less felicitous since the crossing of the Adige, reproached
+Bonaparte for denying praise to the most deserving and lavishing it on
+men who had come in opportunely to reap the labours of others. His
+written protest, urged with the old republican frankness, only served
+further to cloud over the relations between them, which, since Lonato,
+had not been cordial.[63] Even thus early in his career Bonaparte
+gained the reputation of desiring brilliant and entire success, and of
+visiting with his displeasure men who, from whatever cause, did not
+wrest from Fortune her utmost favours. That was his own mental
+attitude towards the fickle goddess. After entering Milan he cynically
+remarked to Marmont: "Fortune is a woman; and the more she does for
+me, the more I will require of her." Suggestive words, which explain
+at once the splendour of his rise and the rapidity of his fall.
+
+During the few weeks of comparative inaction which ensued, the affairs
+of Italy claimed his attention. The prospect of an Austrian
+re-conquest had caused no less concern to the friends of liberty in
+the peninsula than joy to the reactionary coteries of the old
+sovereigns. At Rome and Naples threats against the French were
+whispered or openly vaunted. The signature of the treaties of peace
+was delayed, and the fulminations of the Vatican were prepared against
+the sacrilegious spoilers. After the Austrian war-cloud had melted
+away, the time had come to punish prophets of evil. The Duke of Modena
+was charged with allowing a convoy to pass from his State to the
+garrison of Mantua, and with neglecting to pay the utterly impossible
+fine to which Bonaparte had condemned him. The men of Reggio and
+Modena were also encouraged to throw off his yoke and to confide in
+the French. Those of Reggio succeeded; but in the city of Modena
+itself the ducal troops repressed the rising. Bonaparte accordingly
+asked the advice of the Directory; but his resolution was already
+formed. Two days after seeking their counsel, he took the decisive
+step of declaring Modena and Reggio to be under the protection of
+France. This act formed an exceedingly important departure in the
+history of France as well as in that of Italy. Hitherto the Directory
+had succeeded in keeping Bonaparte from active intervention in affairs
+of high policy. In particular, it had enjoined on him the greatest
+prudence with regard to the liberated lands of Italy, so as not to
+involve France in prolonged intervention in the peninsula, or commit
+her to a war _a outrance_ with the Hapsburgs; and its warnings were
+now urged with all the greater emphasis because news had recently
+reached Paris of a serious disaster to the French arms in Germany. But
+while the Directors counselled prudence, Bonaparte forced their hand
+by declaring the Duchy of Modena to be under the protection of France;
+and when their discreet missive reached him, he expressed to them his
+regret that it had come too late. By that time (October 24th) he had
+virtually founded a new State, for whose security French honour was
+deeply pledged. This implied the continuance of the French occupation
+of Northern Italy and therefore a prolongation of Bonaparte's command.
+
+It was not the Duchy of Modena alone which felt the invigorating
+influence of democracy and nationality. The Papal cities of Bologna
+and Ferrara had broken away from the Papal sway, and now sent deputies
+to meet the champions of liberty at Modena and found a free
+commonwealth. There amidst great enthusiasm was held the first truly
+representative Italian assembly that had met for many generations; and
+a levy of 2,800 volunteers, styled the Italian legion, was decreed.
+Bonaparte visited these towns, stimulated their energy, and bade the
+turbulent beware of his vengeance, which would be like that of "the
+exterminating angel." In a brief space these districts were formed
+into the Cispadane Republic, destined soon to be merged into a yet
+larger creation. A new life breathed from Modena and Bologna into
+Central Italy. The young republic forthwith abolished all feudal laws,
+decreed civic equality, and ordered the convocation at Bologna of a
+popularly elected Assembly for the Christmas following. These events
+mark the first stage in the beginning of that grand movement, _Il
+Risorgimento,_ which after long delays was finally consummated in
+1870.
+
+This period of Bonaparte's career may well be lingered over by those
+who value his invigorating influence on Italian life more highly than
+his military triumphs. At this epoch he was still the champion of the
+best principles of the Revolution; he had overthrown Austrian
+domination in the peninsula, and had shaken to their base domestic
+tyrannies worse than that of the Hapsburgs. His triumphs were as yet
+untarnished. If we except the plundering of the liberated and
+conquered lands, an act for which the Directory was primarily
+responsible, nothing was at this time lacking to the full orb of his
+glory. An envoy bore him the welcome news that the English, wearied by
+the intractable Corsicans, had evacuated the island of his birth; and
+he forthwith arranged for the return of many of the exiles who had
+been faithful to the French Republic. Among these was Salicetti, who
+now returned for a time to his old insular sphere; while his former
+_protege_ was winning a world-wide fame. Then, turning to the affairs
+of Central Italy, the young commander showed his diplomatic talents to
+be not a whit inferior to his genius for war. One instance of this
+must here suffice. He besought the Pope, who had broken off the
+lingering negotiations with France, not to bring on his people the
+horrors of war.[64] The beauty of this appeal, as also of a somewhat
+earlier appeal to the Emperor Francis at Vienna, is, however,
+considerably marred by other items which now stand revealed in
+Bonaparte's instructive correspondence. After hearing of the French
+defeats in Germany, he knew that the Directors could spare him very
+few of the 25,000 troops whom he demanded as reinforcements.
+
+
+He was also aware that the Pope, incensed at his recent losses in
+money and lands, was seeking to revivify the First Coalition. The
+pacific precepts addressed by the young Corsican to the Papacy must
+therefore be viewed in the light of merely mundane events and of his
+secret advice to the French agent at Rome: "The great thing is to gain
+time.... Finally, the game really is for us to throw the ball from one
+to the other, so as to deceive this old fox."[65]
+
+From these diplomatic amenities the general was forced to turn to the
+hazards of war. Gauging Bonaparte's missive at its true worth, the
+Emperor determined to re-conquer Italy, an enterprise that seemed well
+within his powers. In the month of October victory had crowned the
+efforts of his troops in Germany. At Wuerzburg the Archduke Charles had
+completely beaten Jourdan, and had thrown both his army and that of
+Moreau back on the Rhine. Animated by reviving hopes, the Imperialists
+now assembled some 60,000 strong. Alvintzy, a veteran of sixty years,
+renowned for his bravery, but possessing little strategic ability, was
+in command of some 35,000 men in the district of Friuli, north of
+Trieste, covering that seaport from a threatened French attack. With
+this large force he was to advance due west, towards the River Brenta,
+while Davidovich, marching through Tyrol by the valley of the Adige,
+was to meet him with the remainder near Verona. As Jomini has
+observed, the Austrians gave themselves infinite trouble and
+encountered grave risks in order to compass a junction of forces
+which they might quietly have effected at the outset. Despite all
+Bonaparte's lessons, the Aulic Council still clung to its old plan of
+enveloping the foe and seeking to bewilder them by attacks delivered
+from different sides. Possibly also they were emboldened by the
+comparative smallness of Bonaparte's numbers to repeat this hazardous
+manoeuvre.
+
+The French could muster little more than 40,000 men; and of these at
+least 8,000 were needed opposite Mantua.
+
+At first the Imperialists gained important successes; for though the
+French held their own on the Brenta, yet their forces in the Tyrol
+were driven down the valley of the Adige with losses so considerable
+that Bonaparte was constrained to order a general retreat on Verona.
+He discerned that from this central position he could hold in check
+Alvintzy's troops marching westwards from Vicenza and prevent their
+junction with the Imperialists under Davidovich, who were striving to
+thrust Vaubois' division from the plateau of Rivoli.
+
+But before offering battle to Alvintzy outside Verona, Bonaparte paid
+a flying visit to his men posted on that plateau in order to rebuke
+the wavering and animate the whole body with his own dauntless spirit.
+Forming the troops around him, he addressed two regiments in tones of
+grief and anger. He reproached them for abandoning strong positions in
+a panic, and ordered his chief staff officer to inscribe on their
+colours the ominous words: "They are no longer of the Army of
+Italy."[66] Stung by this reproach, the men begged with sobs that the
+general would test their valour before disgracing them for ever. The
+young commander, who must have counted on such a result to his words,
+when uttered to French soldiers, thereupon promised to listen to their
+appeals; and their bravery in the ensuing fights wiped every stain of
+disgrace from their colours. By such acts as these did he nerve his
+men against superior numbers and adverse fortune.
+
+Their fortitude was to be severely tried at all points. Alvintzy
+occupied a strong position on a line of hills at Caldiero, a few miles
+to the east of Verona. His right wing was protected by the spurs of
+the Tyrolese Alps, while his left was flanked by the marshes which
+stretch between the rivers Alpon and Adige; and he protected his front
+by cannon skilfully ranged along the hills. All the bravery of
+Massena's troops failed to dislodge the right wing of the
+Imperialists. The French centre was torn by the Austrian cannon and
+musketry. A pitiless storm of rain and sleet hindered the advance of
+the French guns and unsteadied the aim of the gunners; and finally
+they withdrew into Verona, leaving behind 2,000 killed and wounded,
+and 750 prisoners (November 12th). This defeat at Caldiero--for it is
+idle to speak of it merely as a check--opened up a gloomy vista of
+disasters for the French; and Bonaparte, though he disguised his fears
+before his staff and the soldiery, forthwith wrote to the Directors
+that the army felt itself abandoned at the further end of Italy, and
+that this fair conquest seemed about to be lost. With his usual device
+of under-rating his own forces and exaggerating those of his foes, he
+stated that the French both at Verona and Rivoli were only 18,000,
+while the grand total of the Imperialists was upwards of 50,000. But
+he must have known that for the present he had to deal with rather
+less than half that number. The greater part of the Tyrolese force
+had not as yet descended the Adige below Roveredo; and allowing for
+detachments and losses, Alvintzy's array at Caldiero barely exceeded
+20,000 effectives.
+
+Bonaparte now determined to hazard one of the most daring turning
+movements which history records. It was necessary at all costs to
+drive Alvintzy from the heights of Caldiero before the Tyrolese
+columns should overpower Vaubois' detachment at Rivoli and debouch in
+the plains west of Verona. But, as Caldiero could not be taken by a
+front attack, it must be turned by a flanking movement. To any other
+general than Bonaparte this would have appeared hopeless; but where
+others saw nothing but difficulties, his eye discerned a means of
+safety. South and south-east of those hills lies a vast depression
+swamped by the flood waters of the Alpon and the Adige. Morasses
+stretch for some miles west of the village of Arcola, through which
+runs a road up the eastern bank of the Alpon, crossing that stream at
+the aforenamed village and leading to the banks of the Adige opposite
+the village of Ronco; another causeway, diverging from the former a
+little to the north of Ronco, leads in a north-westerly direction
+towards Porcil. By advancing from Ronco along these causeways, and by
+seizing Arcola, Bonaparte designed to outflank the Austrians and tempt
+them into an arena where the personal prowess of the French veterans
+would have ample scope, and where numbers would be of secondary
+importance. Only heads of columns could come into direct contact; and
+the formidable Austrian cavalry could not display its usual prowess.
+On these facts Bonaparte counted as a set-off to his slight
+inferiority in numbers.
+
+In the dead of night the divisions of Augereau and Massena retired
+through Verona. Officers and soldiers were alike deeply discouraged by
+this movement, which seemed to presage a retreat towards the Mincio
+and the abandonment of Lombardy. To their surprise, when outside the
+gate they received the order to turn to the left down the western bank
+of the Adige. At Ronco the mystery was solved. A bridge of boats had
+there been thrown across the Adige; and, crossing this without
+opposition, Augereau's troops rapidly advanced along the causeway
+leading to Arcola and menaced the Austrian rear, while Massena's
+column denied north-west, so as directly to threaten his flank at
+Caldiero. The surprise, however, was by no means complete; for
+Alvintzy himself purposed to cross the Adige at Zevio, so as to make a
+dash on Mantua, and in order to protect his flank he had sent a
+detachment of Croats to hold Arcola. These now stoutly disputed
+Augereau's progress, pouring in from the loopholed cottages volleys
+which tore away the front of every column of attack. In vain did
+Augereau, seizing the colours, lead his foremost regiment to the
+bridge of Arcola. Riddled by the musketry, his men fell back in
+disorder. In vain did Bonaparte himself, dismounting from his charger,
+seize a flag, rally these veterans and lead them towards the bridge.
+The Croats, constantly reinforced, poured in so deadly a fire as to
+check the advance: Muiron, Marmont, and a handful of gallant men still
+pressed on, thereby screening the body of their chief; but Muiron fell
+dead, and another officer, seizing Bonaparte, sought to drag him back
+from certain death. The column wavered under the bullets, fell back to
+the further side of the causeway, and in the confusion the commander
+fell into the deep dyke at the side. Agonized at the sight, the French
+rallied, while Marmont and Louis Bonaparte rescued their beloved chief
+from capture or from a miry death, and he retired to Ronco, soon
+followed by the wearied troops.[67]
+
+[Illustration: PLAN TO ILLUSTRATE THE VICTORY OF ARCOLA.]
+
+This memorable first day of fighting at Arcola (November 15th) closed
+on the strange scene of two armies encamped on dykes, exhausted by an
+almost amphibious conflict, like that waged by the Dutch "Beggars" in
+their war of liberation against Spain. Though at Arcola the
+republicans had been severely checked, yet further west Massena had
+held his own; and the French movement as a whole had compelled
+Alvintzy to suspend any advance on Verona or on Mantua, to come down
+from the heights of Caldiero, and to fight on ground where his
+superior numbers were of little avail. This was seen on the second day
+of fighting on the dykes opposite Arcola, which was, on the whole,
+favourable to the smaller veteran force. On the third day Bonaparte
+employed a skilful ruse to add to the discouragement of his foes. He
+posted a small body of horsemen behind a spinney near the Austrian
+flank, with orders to sound their trumpets as if for a great cavalry
+charge. Alarmed by the noise and by the appearance of French troops
+from the side of Legnago and behind Arcola, the demoralized
+white-coats suddenly gave way and retreated for Vicenza.
+
+Victory again declared for the troops who could dare the longest, and
+whose general was never at a loss in face of any definite danger. Both
+armies suffered severely in these desperate conflicts;[68] but, while
+the Austrians felt that the cup of victory had been snatched from
+their very lips, the French soldiery were dazzled by this transcendent
+exploit of their chief. They extolled his bravery, which almost vied
+with the fabulous achievement of Horatius Cocles, and adored the
+genius which saw safety and victory for his discouraged army amidst
+swamps and dykes. Bonaparte himself, with that strange mingling of the
+practical and the superstitious which forms the charm of his
+character, ever afterwards dated the dawn of his fortune in its full
+splendour from those hours of supreme crisis among the morasses of
+Arcola. But we may doubt whether this posing as the favourite of
+fortune was not the result of his profound knowledge of the credulity
+of the vulgar herd, which admires genius and worships bravery, but
+grovels before persistent good luck.
+
+Though it is difficult to exaggerate the skill and bravery of the
+French leader and his troops, the failure of his opponents is
+inexplicable but for the fact that most of their troops were unable to
+manoeuvre steadily in the open, that Alvintzy was inexperienced as a
+commander-in-chief, and was hampered throughout by a bad plan of
+campaign. Meanwhile the other Austrian army, led by Davidovich, had
+driven Vaubois from his position at Rivoli; and had the Imperialist
+generals kept one another informed of their moves, or had Alvintzy,
+disregarding a blare of trumpets and a demonstration on his flank and
+rear, clung to Arcola for two days longer--the French would have been
+nipped between superior forces. But, as it was, the lack of accord in
+the Austrian movements nearly ruined the Tyrolese wing, which pushed
+on triumphantly towards Verona, while Alvintzy was retreating
+eastwards. Warned just in time, Davidovich hastily retreated to
+Roveredo, leaving a whole battalion in the hands of the French. To
+crown this chapter of blunders, Wuermser, whose sortie after Caldiero
+might have been most effective, tardily essayed to break through the
+blockaders, when both his colleagues were in retreat. How different
+were these ill-assorted moves from those of Bonaparte. His maxims
+throughout this campaign, and his whole military career, were: (1)
+divide for foraging, concentrate for fighting; (2) unity of command is
+essential for success; (3) time is everything. This firm grasp of the
+essentials of modern warfare insured his triumph over enemies who
+trusted to obsolete methods for the defence of antiquated
+polities.[69]
+
+The battle of Arcola had an important influence on the fate of Italy
+and Europe. In the peninsula all the elements hostile to the
+republicans were preparing for an explosion in their rear which should
+reaffirm the old saying that Italy was the tomb of the French. Naples
+had signed terms of peace with them, it is true; but the natural
+animosity of the Vatican against its despoilers could easily have
+leagued the south of Italy with the other States that were working
+secretly for their expulsion. While the Austrians were victoriously
+advancing, these aims were almost openly avowed, and at the close of
+the year 1796 Bonaparte moved south to Bologna in order to guide the
+Italian patriots in their deliberations and menace the Pope with an
+invasion of the Roman States. From this the Pontiff was for the
+present saved by new efforts on the part of Austria. But before
+describing the final attempt of the Hapsburgs to wrest Italy from
+their able adversary, it will be well to notice his growing ascendancy
+in diplomatic affairs.
+
+While Bonaparte was struggling in the marshes of Arcola, the Directory
+was on the point of sending to Vienna an envoy, General Clarke, with
+proposals for an armistice preliminary to negotiations for peace with
+Austria. This step was taken, because France was distracted by open
+revolt in the south, by general discontent in the west, and by the
+retreat of her Rhenish armies, now flung back on the soil of the
+Republic by the Austrian Arch-duke Charles. Unable to support large
+forces in the east of France out of its bankrupt exchequer, the
+Directory desired to be informed of the state of feeling at Vienna. It
+therefore sent Clarke with offers, which might enable him to look into
+the political and military situation at the enemy's capital, and see
+whether peace could not be gained at the price of some of Bonaparte's
+conquests. The envoy was an elegant and ambitious young man, descended
+from an Irish family long settled in France, who had recently gained
+Carnot's favour, and now desired to show his diplomatic skill by
+subjecting Bonaparte to the present aims of the Directory.
+
+The Directors' secret instructions reveal the plans which they then
+harboured for the reconstruction of the Continent. Having arranged an
+armistice which should last up to the end of the next spring, Clarke
+was to set forth arrangements which might suit the House of Hapsburg.
+He might discuss the restitution of all their possessions in Italy,
+and the acquisition of the Bishopric of Salzburg and other smaller
+German and Swabian territories: or, if she did not recover the
+Milanese, Austria might gain the northern parts of the Papal States as
+compensation; and the Duke of Tuscany--a Hapsburg--might reign at
+Rome, yielding up his duchy to the Duke of Parma; while, as this last
+potentate was a Spanish Bourbon, France might for her good offices to
+this House gain largely from Spain in America.[70] In these and other
+proposals two methods of bargaining are everywhere prominent. The
+great States are in every case to gain at the expense of their weaker
+neighbours; Austria is to be appeased; and France is to reap enormous
+gains ultimately at the expense of smaller Germanic or Italian States.
+These facts should clearly be noted. Napoleon was afterwards
+deservedly blamed for carrying out these unprincipled methods; but, at
+the worst, he only developed them from those of the Directors, who,
+with the cant of Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity on their lips,
+battened on the plunder of the liberated lands, and cynically proposed
+to share the spoil of weaker States with the potentates against whom
+they publicly declaimed as tyrants.
+
+The chief aim of these negotiations, so Clarke was assured, was to
+convince the Court of Vienna that it would get better terms by
+treating with France directly and alone, rather than by joining in the
+negotiations which had recently been opened at Paris by England. But
+the Viennese Ministers refused to allow Clarke to proceed to their
+capital, and appointed Vicenza as the seat of the deliberations.
+
+They were brief. Through the complex web of civilian intrigue,
+Bonaparte forthwith thrust the mailed hand of the warrior. He had
+little difficulty in proving to Clarke that the situation was
+materially altered by the battle of Arcola. The fall of Mantua was now
+only a matter of weeks. To allow its provisions to be replenished for
+the term of the armistice was an act that no successful general could
+tolerate. For that fortress the whole campaign had been waged, and
+three Austrian armies had been hurled back into Tyrol and Friuli. Was
+it now to be provisioned, in order that the Directory might barter
+away the Cispadane Republic? He speedily convinced Clarke of the
+fatuity of the Directors' proposals. He imbued him with his own
+contempt for an armistice that would rob the victors of their prize;
+and, as the Court of Vienna still indulged hopes of success in Italy,
+Clarke's negotiations at Vicenza came to a speedy conclusion.
+
+In another important matter the Directory also completely failed.
+Nervous as to Bonaparte's ambition, it had secretly ordered Clarke to
+watch his conduct and report privately to Paris. Whether warned by a
+friend at Court, or forearmed by his own sagacity, Bonaparte knew of
+this, and in his intercourse with Clarke deftly let the fact be seen.
+He quickly gauged Clarke's powers, and the aim of his mission. "He is
+a spy," he remarked a little later to Miot, "whom the Directory have
+set upon me: he is a man of no talent--only conceited." The splendour
+of his achievements and the mingled grace and authority of his
+demeanour so imposed on the envoy that he speedily fell under the
+influence of the very man whom he was to watch, and became his
+enthusiastic adherent.
+
+Bonaparte was at Bologna, supervising the affairs of the Cispadane
+Republic, when he heard that the Austrians were making a last effort
+for the relief of Mantua. Another plan had been drawn up by the Aulic
+Council at Vienna. Alvintzy, after recruiting his wearied force at
+Bassano, was quickly to join the Tyrolese column at Roveredo, thereby
+forming an army of 28,000 men wherewith to force the position of
+Rivoli and drive the French in on Mantua: 9,000 Imperialists under
+Provera were also to advance from the Brenta upon Legnago, in order to
+withdraw the attention of the French from the real attempt made by the
+valley of the Adige; while 10,000 others at Bassano and elsewhere were
+to assail the French front at different points and hinder their
+concentration. It will be observed that the errors of July and
+November, 1796, were now yet a third time to be committed: the forces
+destined merely to make diversions were so strengthened as not to be
+merely light bodies distracting the aim of the French, while
+Alvintzy's main force was thereby so weakened as to lack the impact
+necessary for victory.
+
+Nevertheless, the Imperialists at first threw back their foes with
+some losses; and Bonaparte, hurrying northwards to Verona, was for
+some hours in a fever of uncertainty as to the movements and strength
+of the assailants. Late at night on January 13th he knew that
+Provera's advance was little more than a demonstration, and that the
+real blow would fall on the 10,000 men marshalled by Joubert at Monte
+Baldo and Rivoli. Forthwith he rode to the latter place, and changed
+retreat and discouragement into a vigorous offensive by the news that
+13,000 more men were on the march to defend the strong position of
+Rivoli.
+
+The great defensive strength of this plateau had from the first
+attracted his attention. There the Adige in a sharp bend westward
+approaches within six miles of Lake Garda. There, too, the mountains,
+which hem in the gorge of the river on its right bank, bend away
+towards the lake and leave a vast natural amphitheatre, near the
+centre of which rises the irregular plateau that commands the exit
+from Tyrol. Over this plateau towers on the north Monte Baldo, which,
+near the river gorge, sends out southward a sloping ridge, known as
+San Marco, connecting it with the plateau. At the foot of this spur is
+the summit of the road which leads the traveller from Trent to Verona;
+and, as he halts at the top of the zigzag, near the village of Rivoli,
+his eye sweeps over the winding gorge of the river beneath, the
+threatening mass of Monte Baldo on the north, and on the west of the
+village he gazes down on a natural depression which has been sharply
+furrowed by a torrent. The least experienced eye can see that the
+position is one of great strength. It is a veritable parade ground
+among the mountains, almost cut off from them by the ceaseless action
+of water, and destined for the defence of the plains of Italy. A small
+force posted at the head of the winding roadway can hold at bay an
+army toiling up from the valley; but, as at Thermopylae, the position
+is liable to be outflanked by an enterprising foe, who should scale
+the footpath leading over the western offshoots of Monte Baldo, and,
+fording the stream at its foot, should then advance eastwards against
+the village. This, in part, was Alvintzy's plan, and having nearly
+28,000 men,[71] he doubted not that his enveloping tactics must
+capture Joubert's division of 10,000 men. So daunted was even this
+brave general by the superior force of his foes that he had ordered a
+retreat southwards when an aide-de-camp arrived at full gallop and
+ordered him to hold Rivoli at all costs. Bonaparte's arrival at 4 a.m.
+explained the order, and an attack made during the darkness wrested
+from the Austrians the chapel on the San Marco ridge which stands on
+the ridge above the zigzag track. The reflection of the Austrian
+watch-fires in the wintry sky showed him their general position. To an
+unskilled observer the wide sweep of the glare portended ruin for the
+French. To the eye of Bonaparte the sight brought hope. It proved that
+his foes were still bent on their old plan of enveloping him: and from
+information which he treacherously received from Alvintzy's staff he
+must have known that that commander had far fewer than the 45,000 men
+which he ascribed to him in bulletins.
+
+[Illustration: NEIGHBOURHOOD OF RIVOLI.]
+
+Yet the full dawn of that January day saw the Imperialists flushed
+with success, as their six separate columns drove in the French
+outposts and moved towards Rivoli. Of these, one was on the eastern
+side of the Adige and merely cannonaded across the valley: another
+column wound painfully with most of the artillery and cavalry along
+the western bank, making for the village of Incanale and the foot of
+the zigzag leading up to Rivoli: three others denied over Monte Baldo
+by difficult paths impassable to cannon: while the sixth and
+westernmost column, winding along the ridge near Lake Garda, likewise
+lacked the power which field-guns and horsemen would have added to its
+important turning movement. Never have natural obstacles told more
+potently on the fortunes of war than at Rivoli; for on the side where
+the assailants most needed horses and guns they could not be used;
+while on the eastern edge of their broken front their cannon and
+horse, crowded together in the valley of the Adige, had to climb the
+winding road under the plunging fire of the French infantry and
+artillery. Nevertheless, such was the ardour of the Austrian attack,
+that the tide of battle at first set strongly in their favour. Driving
+the French from the San Marco ridge and pressing their centre hard
+between Monte Baldo and Rivoli, they made it possible for their troops
+in the valley to struggle on towards the foot of the zigzag; and on
+the west their distant right wing was already beginning to threaten
+the French rear. Despite the arrival of Massena's troops from Verona
+about 9 a.m., the republicans showed signs of unsteadiness. Joubert on
+the ground above the Adige, Berthier in the centre, and Massena on the
+left, were gradually forced back. An Austrian column, advancing from
+the side of Monte Baldo by the narrow ravine, stole round the flank of
+a French regiment in front of Massena's division, and by a vigorous
+charge sent it flying in a panic which promised to spread to another
+regiment thus uncovered. This was too much for the veteran, already
+dubbed "the spoilt child of victory "; he rushed to its captain,
+bitterly upbraided him and the other officers, and finally showered
+blows on them with the flat of his sword. Then, riding at full speed
+to two tried regiments of his own division, he ordered them to check
+the foe; and these invincible heroes promptly drove back the
+assailants. Even so, however, the valour of the best French regiments
+and the skill of Massena, Berthier, and Joubert barely sufficed to
+hold back the onstreaming tide of white-coats opposite Rivoli.
+
+Yet even at this crisis the commander, confident in his central
+position, and knowing his ability to ward off the encircling swoops of
+the Austrian eagle, maintained that calm demeanour which moved the
+wonder of smaller minds. His confidence in his seasoned troops was not
+misplaced. The Imperialists, overburdened by long marches and faint
+now for lack of food, could not maintain their first advantage. Some
+of their foremost troops, that had won the broken ground in front of
+St. Mark's Chapel, were suddenly charged by French horse; they fled in
+panic, crying out, "French cavalry!" and the space won was speedily
+abandoned to the tricolour. This sudden rebuff was to dash all their
+hopes of victory; for at that crisis of the day the chief Austrian
+column of nearly 8,000 men was struggling up the zigzag ascent leading
+from the valley of the Adige to the plateau, in the fond hope that
+their foes were by this time driven from the summit. Despite the
+terrible fire that tore their flanks, the Imperialists were clutching
+desperately at the plateau, when Bonaparte put forth his full striking
+power. He could now assail the crowded ranks of the doomed column in
+front and on both flanks. A charge of Leclerc's horse and of Joubert's
+infantry crushed its head; volleys of cannon and musketry from the
+plateau tore its sides; an ammunition wagon exploded in its midst; and
+the great constrictor forthwith writhed its bleeding coils back into
+the valley, where it lay crushed and helpless for the rest of the
+fight.
+
+Animated by this lightning stroke of their commander, the French
+turned fiercely towards Monte Baldo and drove back their opponents
+into the depression at its foot. But already at their rear loud shouts
+warned them of a new danger. The western detachment of the
+Imperialists had meanwhile worked round their rear, and, ignorant of
+the fate of their comrades, believed that Bonaparte's army was caught
+in a trap. The eyes of all the French staff officers were now turned
+anxiously on their commander, who quietly remarked, "We have them
+now." He knew, in fact, that other French troops marching up from
+Verona would take these new foes in the rear; and though Junot and his
+horsemen failed to cut their way through so as to expedite their
+approach, yet speedily a French regiment burst through the encircling
+line and joined in the final attack which drove these last assailants
+from the heights south of Rivoli, and later on compelled them to
+surrender.
+
+Thus closed the desperate battle of Rivoli (January 14th). Defects in
+the Austrian position and the opportune arrival of French
+reinforcements served to turn an Austrian success into a complete
+rout. Circumstances which to a civilian may seem singly to be of small
+account sufficed to tilt the trembling scales of warfare, and
+Alvintzy's army now reeled helplessly back into Tyrol with a total
+loss of 15,000 men and of nearly all its artillery and stores. Leaving
+Joubert to pursue it towards Trent, Bonaparte now flew southwards
+towards Mantua, whither Provera had cut his way. Again his untiring
+energy, his insatiable care for all probable contingencies, reaped a
+success which the ignorant may charge to the account of his fortune.
+Strengthening Augereau's division by light troops, he captured the
+whole of Provera's army at La Favorita, near the walls of Mantua
+(January 16th). The natural result of these two dazzling triumphs was
+the fall of the fortress for which the Emperor Francis had risked and
+lost five armies. Wuermser surrendered Mantua on February 2nd with
+18,000 men and immense supplies of arms and stores. The close of this
+wondrous campaign was graced by an act of clemency. Generous terms
+were accorded to the veteran marshal, whose fidelity to blundering
+councillors at Vienna had thrown up in brilliant relief the prudence,
+audacity, and resourcefulness of the young war-god.
+
+It was now time to chastise the Pope for his support of the enemies of
+France. The Papalini proved to be contemptible as soldiers. They fled
+before the republicans, and a military promenade brought the invaders
+to Ancona, and then inland to Tolentino, where Pius VI. sued for
+peace. The resulting treaty signed at that place (February 19th)
+condemned the Holy See to close its ports to the allies, especially to
+the English; to acknowledge the acquisition of Avignon by France, and
+the establishment of the Cispadane Republic at Bologna, Ferrara, and
+the surrounding districts; to pay 30,000,000 francs to the French
+Government; and to surrender 100 works of art to the victorious
+republicans.
+
+It is needless to describe the remaining stages in Bonaparte's
+campaign against Austria. Hitherto he had contended against fairly
+good, though discontented and discouraged troops, badly led, and
+hampered by the mountain barrier which separated them from their real
+base of operations. In the last part of the war he fought against
+troops demoralized by an almost unbroken chain of disasters. The
+Austrians were now led by a brave and intelligent general, the
+Archduke Charles; but he was hampered by rigorous instructions from
+Vienna, by senile and indolent generals, by the indignation or despair
+of the younger officers at the official favouritism which left them in
+obscurity, and by the apathy of soldiers who had lost heart. Neither
+his skill nor the natural strength of their positions in Friuli and
+Carinthia could avail against veterans flushed with victory and
+marshalled with unerring sagacity. The rest of the war only served to
+emphasize the truth of Napoleon's later statement, that the moral
+element constitutes three-fourths of an army's strength. The barriers
+offered by the River Tagliamento and the many commanding heights of
+the Carnic and the Noric Alps were as nothing to the triumphant
+republicans; and from the heights that guard the province of Styria,
+the genius of Napoleon flashed as a terrifying portent to the Court of
+Vienna and the potentates of Central Europe. When the tricolour
+standards were nearing the town of Leoben, the Emperor Francis sent
+envoys to sue for peace;[72] and the preliminaries signed there,
+within one hundred miles of the Austrian capital, closed the campaign
+which a year previously had opened with so little promise for the
+French on the narrow strip of land between the Maritime Alps and the
+petty township of Savona.
+
+These brilliant results were due primarily to the consummate
+leadership of Bonaparte. His geographical instincts discerned the
+means of profiting by natural obstacles and of turning them when they
+seemed to screen his opponents. Prompt to divine their plans, he
+bewildered them by the audacity of his combinations, which overbore
+their columns with superior force at the very time when he seemed
+doomed to succumb. Genius so commanding had not been displayed even by
+Frederick or Marlborough. And yet these brilliant results could not
+have been achieved by an army which rarely exceeded 45,000 men without
+the strenuous bravery and tactical skill of the best generals of
+division, Augereau, Massena, and Joubert, as well as of officers who
+had shown their worth in many a doubtful fight; Lannes, the hero of
+Lodi and Arcola; Marmont, noted for his daring advance of the guns at
+Castiglione; Victor, who justified his name by hard fighting at La
+Favorita; Murat, the _beau sabreur_, and Junot, both dashing cavalry
+generals; and many more whose daring earned them a soldier's death in
+order to gain glory for France and liberty for Italy. Still less ought
+the soldiery to be forgotten; those troops, whose tattered uniforms
+bespoke their ceaseless toils, who grumbled at the frequent lack of
+bread, but, as Massena observed, never _before_ a battle, who even in
+retreat never doubted the genius of their chief, and fiercely rallied
+at the longed-for sign of fighting. The source of this marvellous
+energy is not hard to discover. Their bravery was fed by that
+wellspring of hope which had made of France a nation of free men
+determined to free the millions beyond their frontiers. The French
+columns were "equality on the march"; and the soldiery, animated by
+this grand enthusiasm, found its militant embodiment in the great
+captain who seemed about to liberate Italy and Central Europe.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+LEOBEN TO CAMPO FORMIO
+
+
+In signing the preliminaries of peace at Leoben, which formed in part
+the basis for the Treaty of Campo Formio, Bonaparte appears as a
+diplomatist of the first rank. He had already signed similar articles
+with the Court of Turin and with the Vatican. But such a transaction
+with the Emperor was infinitely more important than with the
+third-rate powers of the peninsula. He now essays his first flight to
+the highest levels of international diplomacy. In truth, his mental
+endowments, like those of many of the greatest generals, were no less
+adapted to success in the council-chamber than on the field of battle;
+for, indeed, the processes of thought and the methods of action are
+not dissimilar in the spheres of diplomacy and war. To evade obstacles
+on which an opponent relies, to multiply them in his path, to bewilder
+him by feints before overwhelming him by a crushing onset, these are
+the arts which yield success either to the negotiator or to the
+commander.
+
+In imposing terms of peace on the Emperor at Leoben (April 18th,
+1797), Bonaparte reduced the Directory, and its envoy, Clarke, who was
+absent in Italy, to a subordinate _role_. As commander-in-chief, he
+had power only to conclude a brief armistice, but now he signed the
+preliminaries of peace. His excuse to the Directory was ingenious.
+While admitting the irregularity of his conduct, he pleaded the
+isolated position of his army, and the absence of Clarke, and that,
+under the circumstances, his act had been merely "a military
+operation." He could also urge that he had in his rear a disaffected
+Venetia, and that he believed the French armies on the Rhine to be
+stationary and unable to cross that river. But the very tardy advent
+of Clarke on the scene strengthens the supposition that Bonaparte was
+at the time by no means loth to figure as the pacifier of the
+Continent. Had he known the whole truth, namely, that the French were
+gaining a battle on the east bank of the Rhine while the terms of
+peace were being signed at Leoben, he would most certainly have broken
+off the negotiations and have dictated harsher terms at the gates of
+Vienna. That was the vision which shone before his eyes three years
+previously, when he sketched to his friends at Nice the plan of
+campaign, beginning at Savona and ending before the Austrian capital;
+and great was his chagrin at hearing the tidings of Moreau's success
+on April 20th. The news reached him on his return from Leoben to
+Italy, when he was detained for a few hours by a sudden flood of the
+River Tagliamento. At once he determined to ride back and make some
+excuse for a rupture with Austria; and only the persistent
+remonstrances of Berthier turned him from this mad resolve, which
+would forthwith have exhibited him to the world as estimating more
+highly the youthful promptings of destiny than the honour of a French
+negotiator.
+
+The terms which he had granted to the Emperor were lenient enough. The
+only definitive gain to France was the acquisition of the Austrian
+Netherlands (Belgium), for which troublesome possession the Emperor
+was to have compensation elsewhere. Nothing absolutely binding was
+said about the left, or west, bank of the Rhine, except that Austria
+recognized the "constitutional limits" of France, but reaffirmed the
+integrity of "The Empire."[73] These were contradictory statements;
+for France had declared the Rhine to be her natural boundary, and the
+old "Empire" included Belgium, Treves, and Luxemburg. But, for the
+interpretation of these vague formularies, the following secret and
+all-important articles were appended. While the Emperor renounced that
+part of his Italian possessions which lay to the west of the Oglio, he
+was to receive all the mainland territories of Venice east of that
+river, including Dalmatia and Istria, Venice was also to cede her
+lands west of the Oglio to the French Government; and in return for
+these sacrifices she was to gain the three legations of Romagna,
+Ferrara, and Bologna--the very lands which Bonaparte had recently
+formed into the Cispadane Republic! For the rest, the Emperor would
+have to recognize the proposed Republic at Milan, as also that already
+existing at Modena, "compensation" being somewhere found for the
+deposed duke.
+
+From the correspondence of Thugut, the Austrian Minister, it appears
+certain that Austria herself had looked forward to the partition of
+the Venetian mainland territories, and this was the scheme which
+Bonaparte _actually proposed to her at Leoben_. Still more
+extraordinary was his proposal to sacrifice, ostensibly to Venice but
+ultimately to Austria, the greater part of the Cispadane Republic. It
+is, indeed, inexplicable, except on the ground that his military
+position at Leoben was more brilliant than secure. His uneasiness
+about this article of the preliminaries is seen in his letter of April
+22nd to the Directors, which explains that the preliminaries need not
+count for much. But most extraordinary of all was his procedure
+concerning the young Lombard Republic. He seems quite calmly to have
+discussed its retrocession to the Austrians, and that, too, after he
+had encouraged the Milanese to found a republic, and had declared that
+every French victory was "a line of the constitutional charter."[74]
+The most reasonable explanation is that Bonaparte over-estimated the
+military strength of Austria, and undervalued the energy of the men of
+Milan, Modena, and Bologna, of whose levies he spoke most
+contemptuously. Certain it is that he desired to disengage himself
+from their affairs so as to be free for the grander visions of
+oriental conquest that now haunted his imagination. Whatever were his
+motives in signing the preliminaries at Leoben, he speedily found
+means for their modification in the ever-enlarging area of negotiable
+lands.
+
+It is now time to return to the affairs of Venice. For seven months
+the towns and villages of that republic had been a prey to pitiless
+warfare and systematic rapacity, a fate which the weak ruling
+oligarchy could neither avert nor avenge. In the western cities,
+Bergamo and Brescia, whose interests and feelings linked them with
+Milan rather than Venice, the populace desired an alliance with the
+nascent republic on the west and a severance from the gloomy
+despotism of the Queen of the Adriatic. Though glorious in her prime,
+she now governed with obscurantist methods inspired by fear of her
+weakness becoming manifest; and Bonaparte, tearing off the mask which
+hitherto had screened her dotage, left her despised by the more
+progressive of her own subjects. Even before he first entered the
+Venetian territory, he set forth to the Directory the facilities for
+plunder and partition which it offered. Referring to its reception of
+the Comte de Provence (the future Louis XVIII.) and the occupation of
+Peschiera by the Austrians, he wrote (June 6th, 1796):
+
+     "If your plan is to extract five or six million francs from Venice,
+     I have expressly prepared for you this sort of rupture with her....
+     If you have intentions more pronounced, I think that you ought to
+     continue this subject of contention, instruct me as to your
+     desires, and wait for the favourable opportunity, which I will
+     seize according to circumstances, for we must not have everybody on
+     our hands at the same time."
+
+The events which now transpired in Venetia gave him excuses for the
+projected partition. The weariness felt by the Brescians and
+Bergamesques for Venetian rule had been artfully played on by the
+Jacobins of Milan and by the French Generals Kilmaine and Landrieux;
+and an effort made by the Venetian officials to repress the growing
+discontent brought about disturbances in which some men of the
+"Lombard legion" were killed. The complicity of the French in the
+revolt is clearly established by the Milanese journals and by the fact
+that Landrieux forthwith accepted the command of the rebels at Bergamo
+and Brescia.[75] But while these cities espoused the Jacobin cause,
+most of the Venetian towns and all the peasantry remained faithful to
+the old Government. It was clear that a conflict must ensue, even if
+Bonaparte and some of his generals had not secretly worked to bring it
+about. That he and they did so work cannot now be disputed. The circle
+of proof is complete. The events at Brescia and Bergamo were part of
+a scheme for precipitating a rupture with Venice; and their success
+was so far assured that Bonaparte at Leoben secretly bargained away
+nearly the whole of the Venetian lands. Furthermore, a fortnight
+before the signing of these preliminaries, he had suborned a vile
+wretch, Salvatori by name, to issue a proclamation purporting to come
+from the Venetian authorities, which urged the people everywhere to
+rise and massacre the French. It was issued on April 5th, though it
+bore the date of March 20th. At once the Doge warned his people that
+it was a base fabrication, But the mischief had been done. On Easter
+Monday (April 17th) a chance affray in Verona let loose the passions
+which had been rising for months past: the populace rose in fury
+against the French detachment quartered on them: and all the soldiers
+who could not find shelter in the citadel, even the sick in the
+hospitals, fell victims to the craving for revenge for the
+humiliations and exactions of the last seven months.[76] Such was
+Easter-tide at Verona--_les Paques veronaises_--an event that recalls
+the Sicilian Vespers of Palermo in its blind southern fury.
+
+The finale somewhat exceeded Bonaparte's expectations, but he must
+have hailed it with a secret satisfaction. It gave him a good excuse
+for wholly extinguishing Venice as an independent power. According to
+the secret articles signed at Leoben, the city of Venice was to have
+retained her independence and gained the Legations. But her contumacy
+could now be chastised by annihilation. Venice could, in fact,
+indemnify the Hapsburgs for the further cessions which France exacted
+from them elsewhere; and in the process Bonaparte would free himself
+from the blame which attached to his hasty signature of the
+preliminaries at Leoben.[77] He was now determined to secure the Rhine
+frontier for France, to gain independence, under French tutelage, not
+only for the Lombard Republic, but also for Modena and the Legations.
+These were his aims during the negotiations to which he gave the full
+force of his intellect during the spring and summer of 1797.
+
+The first thing was to pour French troops into Italy so as to extort
+better terms: the next was to declare war on Venice. For this there
+was now ample justification; for, apart from the massacre at Verona,
+another outrage had been perpetrated. A French corsair, which had
+persisted in anchoring in a forbidden part of the harbour of Venice,
+had been riddled by the batteries and captured. For this act, and for
+the outbreak at Verona, the Doge and Senate offered ample reparation:
+but Bonaparte refused to listen to these envoys, "dripping with French
+blood," and haughtily bade Venice evacuate her mainland
+territories.[78] For various reasons he decided to use guile rather
+than force. He found in Venice a secretary of the French legation,
+Villetard by name, who could be trusted dextrously to undermine the
+crumbling fabric of the oligarchy.[79] This man persuaded the
+terrified populace that nothing would appease the fury of the
+French general but the deposition of the existing oligarchy and the
+formation of a democratic municipality. The people and the patricians
+alike swallowed the bait; and the once haughty Senate tamely
+pronounced its own doom. Disorders naturally occurred on the downfall
+of the ancient oligarchy, especially when the new municipality ordered
+the removal of Venetian men-of-war into the hands of the French and
+the introduction of French troops by help of Venetian vessels. A
+mournful silence oppressed even the democrats when 5,000 French troops
+entered Venice on board the flotilla. The famous State, which for
+centuries had ruled the waters of the Levant, and had held the fierce
+Turks at bay, a people numbering 3,000,000 souls and boasting a
+revenue of 9,000,000 ducats, now struck not one blow against
+conquerors who came in the guise of liberators.
+
+On the same day Bonaparte signed at Milan a treaty of alliance with
+the envoys of the new Venetian Government. His friendship was to be
+dearly bought. In secret articles, which were of more import than the
+vague professions of amity which filled the public document, it was
+stipulated that the French and Venetian Republics should come to an
+understanding as to the _exchange_ of certain territories, that Venice
+should pay a contribution in money and in materials of war, should aid
+the French navy by furnishing three battleships and two frigates, and
+should enrich the museums of her benefactress by 20 paintings and 500
+manuscripts. While he was signing these conditions of peace, the
+Directors were despatching from Paris a declaration of war against
+Venice. Their decision was already obsolete: it was founded on
+Bonaparte's despatch of April 30th; but in the interval their
+proconsul had wholly changed the situation by overthrowing the rule of
+the Doge and Senate, and by setting up a democracy, through which he
+could extract the wealth of that land. The Directors' declaration of
+war was accordingly stopped at Milan, and no more was heard of it.
+They were thus forcibly reminded of the truth of his previous warning
+that things would certainly go wrong unless they consulted him on all
+important details.[80]
+
+This treaty of Milan was the fourth important convention concluded by
+the general, who, at the beginning of the campaign of 1796, had been
+forbidden even to sign an armistice without consulting Salicetti!
+
+It was speedily followed by another, which in many respects redounds
+to the credit of the young conqueror. If his conduct towards Venice
+inspires loathing, his treatment of Genoa must excite surprise and
+admiration. Apart from one very natural outburst of spleen, it shows
+little of that harshness which might have been expected from the man
+who had looked on Genoa as the embodiment of mean despotism. Up to the
+summer of 1796 Bonaparte seems to have retained something of his old
+detestation of that republic; for at midsummer, when he was in the
+full career of his Italian conquests, he wrote to Faypoult, the French
+envoy at Genoa, urging him to keep open certain cases that were in
+dispute, and three weeks later he again wrote that the time for Genoa
+had not yet come. Any definite action against this wealthy city was,
+indeed, most undesirable during the campaign; for the bankers of
+Genoa supplied the French army with the sinews of war by means of
+secret loans, and their merchants were equally complaisant in regard
+to provisions. These services were appreciated by Bonaparte as much as
+they were resented by Nelson; and possibly the succour which Genoese
+money and shipping covertly rendered to the French expeditions for
+the recovery of Corsica may have helped to efface from Bonaparte's
+memory the associations clustering around the once-revered name of
+Paoli. From ill-concealed hostility he drifted into a position of
+tolerance and finally of friendship towards Genoa, provided that she
+became democratic. If her institutions could be assimilated to those
+of France, she might prove a valuable intermediary or ally.
+
+The destruction of the Genoese oligarchy presented no great
+difficulties. Both Venice and Genoa had long outlived their power, and
+the persistent violation of their neutrality had robbed them of that
+last support of the weak, self-respect. The intrigues of Faypoult and
+Salicetti were undermining the influence of the Doge and Senate, when
+the news of the fall of the Venetian oligarchy spurred on the French
+party to action, But the Doge and Senate armed bands of mountaineers
+and fishermen who were hostile to change; and in a long and desperate
+conflict in the narrow streets of Genoa the democrats were completely
+worsted (May 23rd). The victors thereupon ransacked the houses of the
+opposing faction and found lists of names of those who were to have
+been proscribed, besides documents which revealed the complicity of
+the French agents in the rising. Bonaparte was enraged at the folly of
+the Genoese democrats, which deranged his plans. As he wrote to the
+Directory, if they had only remained quiet for a fortnight, the
+oligarchy would have collapsed from sheer weakness. The murder of a
+few Frenchmen and Milanese now gave him an excuse for intervention. He
+sent an aide-de-camp, Lavalette, charged with a vehement diatribe
+against the Doge and Senate, which lost nothing in its recital before
+that august body. At the close a few senators called out, "Let us
+fight": but the spirit of the Dorias flickered away with these
+protests; and the degenerate scions of mighty sires submitted to the
+insults of an aide-de-camp and the dictation of his master.
+
+The fate of this ancient republic was decided by Bonaparte at the
+Castle of Montebello, near Milan, where he had already drawn up her
+future constitution. After brief conferences with the Genoese envoys,
+he signed with them the secret convention which placed their
+republic--soon to be renamed the Ligurian Republic--under the
+protection of France and substituted for the close patrician rule a
+moderate democracy. The fact is significant. His military instincts
+had now weaned him from the stiff Jacobinism of his youth; and, in
+conjunction with Faypoult and the envoys, he arranged that the
+legislative powers should be intrusted to two popularly elected
+chambers of 300 and 150 members, while the executive functions were to
+be discharged by twelve senators, presided over by a Doge; these
+officers were to be appointed by the chambers: for the rest, the
+principles of religious liberty and civic equality were recognized,
+and local self-government was amply provided for. Cynics may, of
+course, object that this excellent constitution was but a means of
+insuring French supremacy and of peacefully installing Bonaparte's
+regiments in a very important city; but the close of his intervention
+may be pronounced as creditable to his judgment as its results were
+salutary to Genoa. He even upbraided the demagogic party of that city
+for shivering in pieces the statue of Andrea Doria and suspending the
+fragments on some of the innumerable trees of liberty recently
+planted.
+
+     "Andrea Doria," he wrote, "was a great sailor and a great
+     statesman. Aristocracy was liberty in his time. The whole of Europe
+     envies your city the honour of having produced that celebrated man.
+     You will, I doubt not, take pains to rear his statue again: I pray
+     you to let me bear a part of the expense which that will entail,
+     which I desire to share with those who are most zealous for the
+     glory and welfare of your country."
+
+In contrasting this wise and dignified conduct with the hatred which
+most Corsicans still cherished against Genoa, Bonaparte's greatness of
+soul becomes apparent and inspires the wish: _Utinam semper sic
+fuisses!_
+
+Few periods of his life have been more crowded with momentous events
+than his sojourn at the Castle of Montebello in May-July, 1797.
+Besides completing the downfall of Venice and reinvigorating the life
+of Genoa, he was deeply concerned with the affairs of the Lombard or
+Cisalpine Republic, with his family concerns, with the consolidation
+of his own power in French politics, and with the Austrian
+negotiations. We will consider these affairs in the order here
+indicated.
+
+The future of Lombardy had long been a matter of concern to Bonaparte.
+He knew that its people were the _fittest_ in all Italy to benefit by
+_constitutional rule_, but it must be dependent on France. He felt
+little confidence in the Lombards if left to themselves, as is seen in
+his conversation with Melzi and Miot de Melito at the Castle of
+Montebello. He was in one of those humours, frequent at this time of
+dawning splendour, when confidence in his own genius betrayed him into
+quite piquant indiscretions. After referring to the Directory, he
+turned abruptly to Melzi, a Lombard nobleman:
+
+     "As for your country, Monsieur de Melzi, it possesses still fewer
+     elements of republicanism than France, and can be managed more
+     easily than any other. You know better than anyone that we shall do
+     what we like with Italy. But the time has not yet come. We must
+     give way to the fever of the moment. We are going to have one or
+     two republics here of our own sort. Monge will arrange that for
+     us."
+
+He had some reason for distrusting the strength of the democrats in
+Italy. At the close of 1796 he had written that there were three
+parties in Lombardy, one which accepted French guidance, another which
+desired liberty even with some impatience, and a third faction,
+friendly to the Austrians: he encouraged the first, checked the
+second, and repressed the last. He now complained that the Cispadanes
+and Cisalpines had behaved very badly in their first elections, which
+had been conducted in his absence; for they had allowed clerical
+influence to override all French predilections. And, a little later,
+he wrote to Talleyrand that the genuine love of liberty was feeble in
+Italy, and that, as soon as French influences were withdrawn, the
+Italian Jacobins would be murdered by the populace. The sequel was to
+justify his misgivings, and therefore to refute the charges of those
+who see in his conduct respecting the Cisalpine Republic nothing but
+calculating egotism. The difficulty of freeing a populace that had
+learnt to hug its chains was so great that the temporary and partial
+success which his new creation achieved may be regarded as a proof of
+his political sagacity.
+
+After long preparations by four committees, which Bonaparte kept at
+Milan closely engaged in the drafting of laws, the constitution of the
+Cisalpine Republic was completed. It was a miniature of that of
+France, and lest there should be any further mistakes in the
+elections, Bonaparte himself appointed, not only the five Directors
+and the Ministers whom they were to control, but even the 180
+legislators, both Ancients and Juniors. In this strange fashion did
+democracy descend on Italy, not mainly as the work of the people, but
+at the behest of a great organizing genius. It is only fair to add
+that he summoned to the work of civic reconstruction many of the best
+intellects of Italy. He appointed a noble, Serbelloni, to be the first
+President of the Cisalpine Republic, and a scion of the august House
+of the Visconti was sent as its ambassador to Paris. Many able men
+that had left Lombardy during the Austrian occupation or the recent
+wars were attracted back by Bonaparte's politic clemency; and the
+festival of July 9th at Milan, which graced the inauguration of the
+new Government, presented a scene of civic joy to which that unhappy
+province had long been a stranger. A vast space was thronged with an
+enormous crowd which took up the words of the civic oath uttered by
+the President. The Archbishop of Milan celebrated Mass and blessed the
+banners of the National Guards; and the day closed with games, dances,
+and invocations to the memory of the Italians who had fought and died
+for their nascent liberties. Amidst all the vivas and the clash of
+bells Bonaparte took care to sound a sterner note. On that very day
+he ordered the suppression of a Milanese club which had indulged in
+Jacobinical extravagances, and he called on the people "to show to the
+world by their wisdom, energy, and by the good organization of their
+army, that modern Italy has not degenerated and is still worthy of
+liberty."
+
+The contagion of Milanese enthusiasm spread rapidly. Some of the
+Venetian towns on the mainland now petitioned for union with the
+Cisalpine Republic; and the deputies of the Cispadane, who were
+present at the festival, urgently begged that their little State might
+enjoy the same privilege. Hitherto Bonaparte had refused these
+requests, lest he should hamper the negotiations with Austria, which
+were still tardily proceeding; but within a month their wish was
+gratified, and the Cispadane State was united to the larger and more
+vigorous republic north of the River Po, along with the important
+districts of Como, Bergamo, Brescia, Crema, and Peschiera.
+Disturbances in the Swiss district of the Valteline soon enabled
+Bonaparte to intervene on behalf of the oppressed peasants, and to
+merge this territory also in the Cisalpine Republic, which
+consequently stretched from the high Alps southward to Rimini, and
+from the Ticino on the west to the Mincio on the east.[81]
+
+Already, during his sojourn at the Castle of Montebello, Bonaparte
+figured as the all-powerful proconsul of the French Republic. Indeed,
+all his surroundings--his retinue of complaisant generals, and the
+numerous envoys and agents who thronged his ante-chambers to beg an
+audience--befitted a Sulla or a Wallenstein, rather than a general of
+the regicide Republic. Three hundred Polish soldiers guarded the
+approaches to the castle; and semi-regal state was also observed in
+its spacious corridors and saloons. There were to be seen Italian
+nobles, literati, and artists, counting it the highest honour to visit
+the liberator of their land; and to them Bonaparte behaved with that
+mixture of affability and inner reserve, of seductive charm
+alternating with incisive cross-examination which proclaimed at once
+the versatility of his gifts, the keenness of his intellect, and his
+determination to gain social, as well as military and political,
+supremacy. And yet the occasional abruptness of his movements, and the
+strident tones of command lurking beneath his silkiest speech, now and
+again reminded beholders that he was of the camp rather than of the
+court. To his generals he was distant; for any fault even his
+favourite officers felt the full force of his anger; and aides-de-camp
+were not often invited to dine at his table. Indeed, he frequently
+dined before his retinue, almost in the custom of the old Kings of
+France.
+
+With him was his mother, also his brothers, Joseph and Louis, whom he
+was rapidly advancing to fortune. There, too, were his sisters; Elise,
+proud and self-contained, who at this period married a noble but
+somewhat boorish Corsican, Bacciocchi; and Pauline, a charming girl of
+sixteen, whose hand the all-powerful brother offered to Marmont, to be
+by him unaccountably refused, owing, it would seem, to a prior
+attachment. This lively and luxurious young creature was not long to
+remain unwedded. The adjutant-general, Leclerc, became her suitor;
+and, despite his obscure birth and meagre talents, speedily gained her
+as his bride. Bonaparte granted her 40,000 francs as her dowry;
+and--significant fact--the nuptials were privately blessed by a priest
+in the chapel of the Palace of Montebello.
+
+There, too, at Montebello was Josephine.
+
+Certainly the Bonapartes were not happy in their loves: the one dark
+side to the young conqueror's life, all through this brilliant
+campaign, was the cruelty of his bride. From her side he had in March,
+1796, torn himself away, distracted between his almost insane love for
+her and his determination to crush the chief enemy of France: to her
+he had written long and tender letters even amidst the superhuman
+activities of his campaign. Ten long despatches a day had not
+prevented him covering as many sheets of paper with protestations of
+devotion to her and with entreaties that she would likewise pour out
+her heart to him. Then came complaints, some tenderly pleading, others
+passionately bitter, of her cruelly rare and meagre replies. The sad
+truth, that Josephine cares much for his fame and little for him
+himself, that she delays coming to Italy, these and other afflicting
+details rend his heart. At last she comes to Milan, after a
+passionate outburst of weeping--at leaving her beloved Paris. In Italy
+she shows herself scarcely more than affectionate to her doting
+spouse. Marlborough's letters to his peevish duchess during the
+Blenheim campaign are not more crowded with maudlin curiosities than
+those of the fierce scourge of the Austrians to his heartless fair. He
+writes to her agonizingly, begging her to be less lovely, less
+gracious, less good--apparently in order that he may love her less
+madly: but she is never to be jealous, and, above all, never to weep:
+for her tears burn his blood: and he concludes by sending millions of
+kisses, and also to her dog! And this mad effusion came from the man
+whom the outside world took to be of steel-like coldness: yet his
+nature had this fevered, passionate side, just as the moon, where she
+faces the outer void, is compact of ice, but turns a front of molten
+granite to her blinding, all-compelling luminary.
+
+Undoubtedly this blazing passion helped to spur on the lover to that
+terrific energy which makes the Italian campaign unique even amidst
+the Napoleonic wars. Beaulieu, Wuermser, and Alvintzy were not rivals
+in war; they were tiresome hindrances to his unsated love. On the eve
+of one of his greatest triumphs he penned to her the following
+rhapsody:
+
+     "I am far from you, I seem to be surrounded by the blackest night:
+     I need the lurid light of the thunder-bolts which we are about to
+     hurl on our enemies to dispel the darkness into which your absence
+     has plunged me. Josephine, you wept when we parted: you wept! At
+     that thought all my being trembles. But be consoled! Wuermser shall
+     pay dearly for the tears which I have seen you shed."
+
+What infatuation! to appease a woman's fancied grief, he will pile
+high the plains of Mincio with corpses, recking not of the thousand
+homes where bitter tears will flow. It is the apotheosis of
+sentimental egotism and social callousness. And yet this brain, with
+its moral vision hopelessly blurred, judged unerringly in its own
+peculiar plane. What power it must have possessed, that, unexhausted
+by the flames of love, it grasped infallibly the myriad problems of
+war, scanning them the more clearly, perchance, in the white heat of
+its own passion.
+
+At last there came the time of fruition at Montebello: of fruition,
+but not of ease or full contentment; for not only did an average of
+eight despatches a day claim several hours, during which he jealously
+guarded his solitude; but Josephine's behaviour served to damp his
+ardour. As, during the time of absence, she had slighted his urgent
+entreaties for a daily letter, so too, during the sojourn at
+Montebello, she revealed the shallowness and frivolity of her being.
+Fetes, balls, and receptions, provided they were enlivened by a light
+crackle of compliments from an admiring circle, pleased her more than
+the devotion of a genius. She had admitted, before marriage, that her
+"Creole _nonchalance_" shrank wearily away from his keen and ardent
+nature; and now, when torn away from the _salons_ of Paris, she seems
+to have taken refuge in entertainments and lap-dogs.[82] Doubtless
+even at this period Josephine evinced something of that warm feeling
+which deepened with ripening years and lit up her later sorrows with a
+mild radiance; but her recent association with Madame Tallien and that
+giddy _cohue_ had accentuated her habits of feline complaisance to all
+and sundry. Her facile fondnesses certainly welled forth far too
+widely to carve out a single channel of love and mingle with the deep
+torrent of Bonaparte's early passion. In time, therefore, his
+affections strayed into many other courses; and it would seen that
+even in the later part of this Italian epoch his conduct was
+irregular. For this Josephine had herself mainly to thank. At last she
+awakened to the real value and greatness of the love which her neglect
+had served to dull and tarnish, but then it was too late for complete
+reunion of souls: the Corsican eagle had by that time soared far
+beyond reach of her highest flutterings.[83]
+
+At Montebello, as also at Passeriano, whither the Austrian
+negotiations were soon transferred, Bonaparte, though strictly
+maintaining the ceremonies of his proconsular court, yet showed the
+warmth of his social instincts. After the receptions of the day and
+the semi-public dinner, he loved to unbend in the evening. Sometimes,
+when Josephine formed a party of ladies for _vingt-et-un_, he would
+withdraw to a corner and indulge in the game of _goose_; and
+bystanders noted with amusement that his love of success led him to
+play tricks and cheat in order not to "fall into the pit." At other
+times, if the conversation languished, he proposed that each person
+should tell a story; and when no Boccaccio-like facility inspired the
+company, he sometimes launched out into one of those eerie and
+thrilling recitals, such as he must often have heard from the
+_improvisatori_ of his native island. Bourrienne states that
+Bonaparte's realism required darkness and daggers for the full display
+of his gifts, and that the climax of his dramatic monologue was not
+seldom enhanced by the screams of the ladies, a consummation which
+gratified rather than perturbed the accomplished actor.
+
+A survey of Bonaparte's multifarious activity in Italy enables the
+reader to realize something of the wonder and awe excited by his
+achievements. Like an Athena he leaped forth from the Revolution,
+fully armed for every kind of contest. His mental superiority
+impressed diplomats as his strategy baffled the Imperialist generals;
+and now he was to give further proofs of his astuteness by
+intervening in the internal affairs of France.
+
+In order to understand Bonaparte's share in the _coup d'etat_ of
+Fructidor, we must briefly review the course of political events at
+Paris. At the time of the installation of the Directory the hope was
+widely cherished that the Revolution was now entirely a thing of the
+past. But the unrest of the time was seen in the renewal of the
+royalist revolts in the west, and in the communistic plot of Babeuf
+for the overthrow of the whole existing system of private property.
+The aims of these desperadoes were revealed by an accomplice; the
+ringleaders were arrested, and after a long trial Babeuf was
+guillotined and his confederates were transported (May, 1797). The
+disclosure of these ultra-revolutionary aims shocked not only the
+bourgeois, but even the peasants who were settled on the confiscated
+lands of the nobles and clergy. The very class which had given to the
+events of 1789 their irresistible momentum was now inclined to rest
+and be thankful; and in this swift revulsion of popular feeling the
+royalists began to gain ground. The elections for the renewal of a
+third part of the Councils resulted in large gains for them, and they
+could therefore somewhat influence the composition of the Directory by
+electing Barthelemy, a constitutional royalist. Still, he could not
+overbear the other four regicide Directors, even though one of these,
+Carnot, also favoured moderate opinions more and more. A crisis
+therefore rapidly developed between the still Jacobinical Directory
+and the two legislative Councils, in each of which the royalists, or
+moderates, had the upper hand. The aim of this majority was to
+strengthen the royalist elements in France by the repeal of many
+revolutionary laws. Their man of action was Pichegru, the conqueror of
+Holland, who, abjuring Jacobinism, now schemed with a club of
+royalists, which met at Clichy, on the outskirts of Paris. That their
+intrigues aimed at the restoration of the Bourbons had recently been
+proved. The French agents in Venice seized the Comte d'Entraigues, the
+confidante of the _soi-disant_ Louis XVIII.; and his papers, when
+opened by Bonaparte, Clarke, and Berthier at Montebello, proved that
+there was a conspiracy in France for the recall of the Bourbons. With
+characteristic skill, Bonaparte held back these papers from the
+Directory until he had mastered the difficulties of the situation. As
+for the count, he released him; and in return for this signal act of
+clemency, then very unusual towards an _emigre_, he soon became the
+object of his misrepresentation and slander.
+
+The political crisis became acute in July, when the majority
+of the Councils sought to force on the Directory Ministers who
+would favour moderate or royalist aims. Three Directors, Barras, La
+Reveilliere-Lepeaux, and Rewbell, refused to listen to these behests,
+and insisted on the appointment of Jacobinical Ministers even in the
+teeth of a majority of the Councils. This defiance of the deputies of
+France was received with execration by most civilians, but with
+jubilant acclaim by the armies; for the soldiery, far removed from the
+partisan strifes of the capital, still retained their strongly
+republican opinions. The news that their conduct towards Venice was
+being sharply criticised by the moderates in Paris aroused their
+strongest feelings, military pride and democratic ardour.
+
+Nevertheless, Bonaparte's conduct was eminently cautious and reserved.
+In the month of May he sent to Paris his most trusted aide-de-camp,
+Lavalette, instructing him to sound all parties, to hold aloof from
+all engagements, and to report to him dispassionately on the state of
+public opinion.[84] Lavalette judged the position of the Directory, or
+rather of the Triumvirate which swayed it, to be so precarious that he
+cautioned his chief against any definite espousal of its cause; and in
+June-July, 1797, Bonaparte almost ceased to correspond with the
+Directors except on Italian affairs, probably because he looked
+forward to their overthrow as an important step towards his own
+supremacy. There was, however, the possibility of a royalist reaction
+sweeping all before it in France and ranging the armies against the
+civil power. He therefore waited and watched, fully aware of the
+enhanced importance which an uncertain situation gives to the outsider
+who refuses to show his hand.
+
+Duller eyes than his had discerned that the constitutional conflict
+between the Directory and the Councils could not be peaceably
+adjusted. The framers of the constitution had designed the slowly
+changing Directory as a check on the Councils, which were renewed to
+the extent of one-third every year; but, while seeking to put a
+regicide drag on the parliamentary coach, they had omitted to provide
+against a complete overturn. The Councils could not legally override
+the Directory; neither could the Directory veto the decrees of the
+Councils, nor, by dissolving them, compel an appeal to the country.
+This defect in the constitution had been clearly pointed out by
+Necker, and it now drew from Barras the lament:
+
+
+
+     "Ah, if the constitution of the Year III., which offers so many
+     sage precautions, had not neglected one of the most important; if
+     it had foreseen that the two great powers of the State, engaged in
+     heated debates, must end with open conflicts, when there is no high
+     court of appeal to arrange them; if it had sufficiently armed the
+     Directory with the right of dissolving the Chamber!"[85]
+
+As it was, the knot had to be severed by the sword: not, as yet, by
+Bonaparte's trenchant blade: he carefully drew back; but where as yet
+he feared to tread, Hoche rushed in. This ardently republican general
+was inspired by a self-denying patriotism, that flinched not before
+odious duties. While Bonaparte was culling laurels in Northern Italy,
+Hoche was undertaking the most necessary task of quelling the Vendean
+risings, and later on braved the fogs and storms of the Atlantic in
+the hope of rousing all Ireland in revolt. His expedition to Bantry
+Bay in December, 1796, having miscarried, he was sent into the
+Rhineland. The conclusion of peace by Bonaparte at Leoben again dashed
+his hopes, and he therefore received with joy the orders of the
+Directory that he should march a large part of his army to Brest for a
+second expedition to Ireland. The Directory, however, intended to use
+those troops nearer home, and appointed him Minister of War (July
+16th). The choice was a good one; Hoche was active, able, and popular
+with the soldiery; but he had not yet reached the thirtieth year of
+his age, the limit required by the constitution. On this technical
+defect the majority of the Councils at once fastened; and their
+complaints were redoubled when a large detachment of his troops came
+within the distance of the capital forbidden to the army. The
+moderates could therefore accuse the triumvirs and Hoche of conspiracy
+against the laws; he speedily resigned the Ministry (July 22nd), and
+withdrew his troops into Champagne, and finally to the Rhineland.
+
+
+Now was the opportunity for Bonaparte to take up the _role_ of
+Cromwell which Hoche had so awkwardly played. And how skilfully the
+conqueror of Italy plays it--through subordinates. He was too well
+versed in statecraft to let his sword flash before the public gaze. By
+this time he had decided to act, and doubtless the fervid Jacobinism
+of the soldiery was the chief cause determining his action. At the
+national celebration on July 14th he allowed it to have free vent, and
+thereupon wrote to the Directory, bitterly reproaching them for their
+weakness in face of the royalist plot: "I see that the Clichy Club
+means to march over my corpse to the destruction of the Republic." He
+ended the diatribe by his usual device, when he desired to remind the
+Government of his necessity to them, of offering his resignation, in
+case they refused to take vigorous measures against the malcontents.
+Yet even now his action was secret and indirect. On July 27th he sent
+to the Directors a brief note stating that Augereau had requested
+leave to go to Paris, "where his affairs call him"; and that he sent
+by this general the originals of the addresses of the army, avowing
+its devotion to the constitution. No one would suspect from this that
+Augereau was in Bonaparte's confidence and came to carry out the
+_coup d'etat_. The secret was well preserved. Lavalette was
+Bonaparte's official representative; and his neutrality was now
+maintained in accordance with a note received from his chief:
+"Augereau is coming to Paris: do not put yourself in his power: he has
+sown disorder in the army: he is a factious man."
+
+But, while Lavalette was left to trim his sails as best he might,
+Augereau was certain to act with energy. Bonaparte knew well that his
+Jacobinical lieutenant, famed as the first swordsman of the day, and
+the leader of the fighting division of the army, would do his work
+thoroughly, always vaunting his own prowess and decrying that of his
+commander. It was so. Augereau rushed to Paris, breathing threats of
+slaughter against the royalists. Checked for a time by the calculating
+_finesse_ of the triumvirs, he prepared to end matters by a single
+blow; and, when the time had come, he occupied the strategic points of
+the capital, drew a cordon of troops round the Tuileries, where the
+Councils sat, invaded the chambers of deputies and consigned to the
+Temple the royalists and moderates there present, with their leader,
+Pichegru. Barthelemy was also seized; but Carnot, warned by a friend,
+fled during the early hours of this eventful day--September 4th (or 18
+Fructidor). The mutilated Councils forthwith annulled the late
+elections in forty-nine Departments, and passed severe laws against
+orthodox priests and the unpardoned _emigres_ who had ventured to
+return to France. The Directory was also intrusted with complete power
+to suppress newspapers, to close political clubs, and to declare any
+commune in a state of siege. Its functions were now wellnigh as
+extensive and absolute as those of the Committee of Public Safety, its
+powers being limited only by the incompetence of the individual
+Directors and by their paralyzing consciousness that they ruled only
+by favour of the army. They had taken the sword to solve a political
+problem: two years later they were to fall by that sword.[86]
+
+Augereau fully expected that he would be one of the two Directors who
+were elected in place of Carnot and Barthelemy; but the Councils had
+no higher opinion of his civic capacity than Bonaparte had formed;
+and, to his great disgust, Merlin of Douai and Francois of Neufchatel
+were chosen. The last scenes of the _coup d'etat_ centred around the
+transportation of the condemned deputies. One of the early memories of
+the future Duc de Broglie recalled the sight of the "_deputes
+fructidorises_ travelling in closed carriages, railed up like cages,"
+to the seaport whence they were to sail to the lingering agonies of a
+tropical prison in French Guiana.
+
+It was a painful spectacle: "the indignation was great, but the
+consternation was greater still. Everybody foresaw the renewal of the
+Reign of Terror and resignedly prepared for it."
+
+Such were the feelings, even of those who, like Madame de Stael and
+her friend Benjamin Constant, had declared before the _coup d'etat_
+that it was necessary to the salvation of the Republic. That
+accomplished woman was endowed with nearly every attribute of genius
+except political foresight and self-restraint. No sooner had the blow
+been dealt than she fell to deploring its results, which any
+fourth-rate intelligence might have foreseen. "Liberty was the only
+power really conquered"--such was her later judgment on Fructidor. Now
+that Liberty fled affrighted, the errant enthusiasms of the gifted
+authoress clung for a brief space to Bonaparte. Her eulogies on his
+exploits, says Lavalette, who listened to her through a dinner in
+Talleyrand's rooms, possessed all the mad disorder and exaggeration of
+inspiration; and, after the repast was over, the votaress refused to
+pass out before an aide-de-camp of Bonaparte! The incident is
+characteristic both of Madame de Stael's moods and of the whims of the
+populace. Amidst the disenchantments of that time, when the pursuit of
+liberty seemed but an idle quest, when royalists were the champions of
+parliamentary rule and republicans relied on military force, all eyes
+turned wearily away from the civic broils at Paris to the visions of
+splendour revealed by the conqueror of Italy. Few persons knew how
+largely their new favourite was responsible for the events of
+Fructidor; all of them had by heart the names of his victories; and
+his popularity flamed to the skies when he recrossed the Alps,
+bringing with him a lucrative peace with Austria.
+
+The negotiations with that Power had dragged on slowly through the
+whole summer and far into the autumn, mainly owing to the hopes of the
+Emperor Francis that the disorder in France would filch from her the
+meed of victory. Doubtless that would have been the case, had not
+Bonaparte, while striking down the royalists at Paris through his
+lieutenant, remained at the head of his victorious legions in Venetia
+ready again to invade Austria, if occasion should arise.
+
+In some respects, the _coup d'etat_ of Fructidor helped on the
+progress of the negotiations. That event postponed, if it did not
+render impossible, the advent of civil war in France; and, like
+Pride's Purge in our civil strifes, it installed in power a Government
+which represented the feelings of the army and of its chief. Moreover,
+it rid him of the presence of Clarke, his former colleague in the
+negotiations, whose relations with Carnot aroused the suspicions of
+Barras and led to his recall. Bonaparte was now the sole
+plenipotentiary of France. The final negotiations with Austria and the
+resulting treaty of Campo Formio may therefore be considered as almost
+entirely his handiwork.
+
+And yet, at this very time, the head of the Foreign Office at Paris
+was a man destined to achieve the greatest diplomatic reputation of
+the age. Charles Maurice de Talleyrand seemed destined for the task of
+uniting the society of the old _regime_ with the France of the
+Revolution. To review his life would be to review the Revolution. With
+a reforming zeal begotten of his own intellectual acuteness and of
+resentment against his family, which had disinherited him for the
+crime of lameness, he had led the first assaults of 1789 against the
+privileges of the nobles and of the clerics among whom his lot had
+perforce been cast. He acted as the head of the new "constitutional"
+clergy, and bestowed his episcopal blessing at the Feast of Pikes in
+1790; but, owing to his moderation, he soon fell into disfavour with
+the extreme men who seized on power. After a sojourn in England and
+the United States, he came back to France, and on the suggestion of
+Madame de Stael was appointed Minister for Foreign Affairs (July,
+1797). To this post he brought the highest gifts: his early clerical
+training gave a keen edge to an intellect naturally subtle and
+penetrating: his intercourse with Mirabeau gave him a grip on the
+essentials of sound policy and diplomacy: his sojourn abroad widened
+his vision, and imbued him with an admiration for English institutions
+and English moderation. Yet he loved France with a deep and fervent
+love. For her he schemed; for her he threw over friends or foes with a
+Macchiavellian facility. Amidst all the glamour of the Napoleonic
+Empire he discerned the dangers that threatened France; and he warned
+his master--as uselessly as he warned reckless nobles, priestly
+bigots, and fanatical Jacobins in the past, or the unteachable zealots
+of the restored monarchy. His life, when viewed, not in regard to its
+many sordid details, but to its chief guiding principle, was one long
+campaign against French _elan_ and partisan obstinacy; and he sealed
+it with the quaint declaration in his will that, on reviewing his
+career, he found he had never abandoned a party before it had
+abandoned itself. Talleyrand was equipped with a diversity of gifts:
+his gaze, intellectual yet composed, blenched not when he uttered a
+scathing criticism or a diplomatic lie: his deep and penetrating voice
+gave force to all his words, and the curl of his lip or the scornful
+lifting of his eyebrows sometimes disconcerted an opponent more than
+his biting sarcasm. In brief, this disinherited noble, this unfrocked
+priest, this disenchanted Liberal, was the complete expression of the
+inimitable society of the old _regime_, when quickened intellectually
+by Voltaire and dulled by the Terror. After doing much to destroy the
+old society, he was now to take a prominent share in its
+reconstruction on a modern basis.[87]
+
+Such was the man who now commenced his chief life-work, the task of
+guiding Napoleon. "The mere name of Bonaparte is an aid which ought to
+smooth away all my difficulties"--these were the obsequious terms in
+which he began his correspondence with the great general. In reality,
+he distrusted him; but whether from diffidence, or from the weakness
+of his own position, which as yet was little more than that of
+the head clerk of his department, he did nothing to assert the
+predominance of civil over military influence in the negotiations now
+proceeding.
+
+Two months before Talleyrand accepted office, Bonaparte had enlarged
+his original demands on Austria, and claimed for France the whole of
+the lands on the left or west bank of the Rhine, and for the Cisalpine
+Republic all the territory up to the River Adige. To these demands the
+Court of Vienna offered a tenacious resistance which greatly irritated
+him. "These people are so slow," he exclaimed, "they think that a
+peace like this ought to be meditated upon for three years first."
+
+Concurrently with the Franco-Austrian negotiations, overtures for a
+peace between France and England were being discussed at Lille. Into
+these it is impossible to enter farther than to notice that in these
+efforts Pitt and the other British Ministers (except Grenville) were
+sincerely desirous of peace, and that negotiations broke down owing to
+the masterful tone adopted by the Directory. It was perhaps
+unfortunate that Lord Malmesbury was selected as the English
+negotiator, for his behaviour in the previous year had been construed
+by the French as dilatory and insincere. But the Directors may on
+better evidence be charged with postponing a settlement until they
+had struck down their foes within France. Bonaparte's letters at this
+time show that he hoped for the conclusion of a peace with England,
+doubtless in order that his own pressure on Austria might be
+redoubled. In this he was to be disappointed. After Fructidor the
+Directory assumed overweening airs. Talleyrand was bidden to enjoin on
+the French plenipotentiaries the adoption of a loftier tone. Maret,
+the French envoy at Lille, whose counsels had ever been on the side of
+moderation, was abruptly replaced by a "Fructidorian"; and a decisive
+refusal was given to the English demand for the retention of Trinidad
+and the Cape, at the expense of Spain and the Batavian Republic
+respectively. Indeed, the Directory intended to press for the cession
+of the Channel Islands to France and of Gibraltar to Spain, and that,
+too, at the end of a maritime war fruitful in victories for the Union
+Jack.[88]
+
+Towards the King of Sardinia the new Directory was equally imperious.
+The throne of Turin was now occupied by Charles Emmanuel IV. He
+succeeded to a troublous heritage. Threatened by democratic republics
+at Milan and Genoa, and still more by the effervescence of his own
+subjects, he strove to gain an offensive and defensive alliance with
+France, as the sole safeguard against revolution. To this end he
+offered 10,000 Piedmontese for service with Bonaparte, and even
+secretly covenanted to cede the island of Sardinia to France. But
+these offers could not divert Barras and his colleagues from their
+revolutionary policy. They spurned the alliance with the House of
+Savoy, and, despite the remonstrances of Bonaparte, they fomented
+civil discords in Piedmont such as endangered his communications with
+France. Indeed, the Directory after Fructidor was deeply imbued with
+fear of their commander in Italy. To increase his difficulties was
+now their paramount desire; and under the pretext of extending liberty
+in Italy, they instructed Talleyrand to insist on the inclusion of
+Venice and Friuli in the Cisalpine Republic. Austria must be content
+with Trieste, Istria, and Dalmatia, must renounce all interest in the
+fate of the Ionian Isles, and find in Germany all compensation for her
+losses in Italy. Such was the ultimatum of the Directory (September
+16th). But a loophole of escape was left to Bonaparte; the conduct of
+these negotiations was confided solely to him, and he had already
+decided their general tenor by giving his provisional assent to the
+acquisition by Austria of the east bank of the Adige and the city of
+Venice. From these terms he was disinclined to diverge. He was weary
+of "this old Europe": his gaze was directed towards Corfu, Malta, and
+Egypt; and when he received the official ultimatum, he saw that the
+Directory desired a renewal of the war under conditions highly
+embarrassing for him. "Yes: I see clearly that they are preparing
+defeats for me," he exclaimed to his aide-de-camp Lavalette. They
+angered him still more when, on the death of Hoche, they intrusted
+their Rhenish forces, numbering 120,000 men, to the command of
+Augereau, and sent to the Army of Italy an officer bearing a manifesto
+written by Augereau concerning Fructidor, which set forth the anxiety
+felt by the Directors concerning Bonaparte's political views. At this
+Bonaparte fired up and again offered his resignation (September 25th):
+
+     "No power on earth shall, after this horrible and most unexpected
+     act of ingratitude by the Government, make me continue to serve it.
+     My health imperiously demands calm and repose.... My recompense is
+     in my conscience and in the opinion of posterity. Believe me, that
+     at any time of danger, I shall be the first to defend the
+     Constitution of the Year III."
+
+The resignation was of course declined, in terms most flattering to
+Bonaparte; and the Directors prepared to ratify the treaty with
+Sardinia.
+
+Indeed, the fit of passion once passed, the determination to dominate
+events again possessed him, and he decided to make peace, despite the
+recent instructions of the Directory that no peace would be honourable
+which sacrificed Venice to Austria. There is reason to believe that he
+now regretted this sacrifice. His passionate outbursts against Venice
+after the _Paques veronaises_, his denunciations of "that fierce and
+bloodstained rule," had now given place to some feelings of pity for
+the people whose ruin he had so artfully compassed; and the social
+intercourse with Venetians which he enjoyed at Passeriano, the castle
+of the Doge Manin, may well have inspired some regard for the proud
+city which he was now about to barter away to Austria. Only so,
+however, could he peacefully terminate the wearisome negotiations with
+the Emperor. The Austrian envoy, Count Cobenzl, struggled hard to gain
+the whole of Venetia, and the Legations, along with the half of
+Lombardy.[89] From these exorbitant demands he was driven by the
+persistent vigour of Bonaparte's assaults. The little Corsican proved
+himself an expert in diplomatic wiles, now enticing the Imperialist on
+to slippery ground, and occasionally shocking him by calculated
+outbursts of indignation or bravado. After many days spent in
+intellectual fencing, the discussions were narrowed down to Mainz,
+Mantua, Venice, and the Ionian Isles. On the fate of these islands a
+stormy discussion arose, Cobenzl stipulating for their complete
+independence, while Bonaparte passionately claimed them for France. In
+one of these sallies his vehement gestures overturned a cabinet with a
+costly vase; but the story that he smashed the vase, as a sign of his
+power to crush the House of Austria, is a later refinement on the
+incident, about which Cobenzl merely reported to Vienna--"He behaved
+like a fool." Probably his dextrous disclosure of the severe terms
+which the Directory ordered him to extort was far more effective than
+this boisterous _gasconnade_. Finally, after threatening an immediate
+attack on the Austrian positions, he succeeded on three of the
+questions above named, but at the sacrifice of Venice to Austria.
+
+The treaty was signed on October 17th at the village of Campo Formio.
+The published articles may be thus summarized: Austria ceded to the
+French Republic her Belgic provinces. Of the once extensive Venetian
+possessions France gained the Ionian Isles, while Austria acquired
+Istria, Dalmatia, the districts at the mouth of the Cattaro, the city
+of Venice, and the mainland of Venetia as far west as Lake Garda, the
+Adige, and the lower part of the River Po. The Hapsburgs recognized
+the independence of the now enlarged Cisalpine Republic. France and
+Austria agreed to frame a treaty of commerce on the basis of "the most
+favoured nation." The Emperor ceded to the dispossessed Duke of Modena
+the territory of Breisgau on the east of the Rhine. A congress was to
+be held at Rastadt, at which the plenipotentiaries of France and of
+the Germanic Empire were to regulate affairs between these two Powers.
+
+Secret articles bound the Emperor to use his influence in the Empire
+to secure for France the left bank of the Rhine; while France was to
+use her good offices to procure for the Emperor the Archbishopric of
+Salzburg and the Bavarian land between that State and the River Inn.
+Other secret articles referred to the indemnities which were to be
+found in Germany for some of the potentates who suffered by the
+changes announced in the public treaty.
+
+The bartering away of Venice awakened profound indignation. After more
+than a thousand years of independence, that city was abandoned to the
+Emperor by the very general who had promised to free Italy. It was in
+vain that Bonaparte strove to soothe the provisional government of
+that city through the influence of a Venetian Jew, who, after his
+conversion, had taken the famous name of Dandolo. Summoning him to
+Passeriano, he explained to him the hard necessity which now dictated
+the transfer of Venice to Austria. France could not now shed any more
+of her best blood for what was, after all, only "a moral cause": the
+Venetians therefore must cultivate resignation for the present and
+hope for the future.
+
+[Illustration: CENTRAL EUROPE AFTER THE PEACE OF CAMPO FORMIO, 1797
+
+The boundaries of the Holy Roman Empire are indicated by thick dots.
+The Austrian Dominions are indicated by vertical lines. The Prussian
+Dominions are indicated by horizontal lines. The Ecclesiastical
+States are indicated by dotted areas.]
+
+The advice was useless. The Venetian democrats determined on a last
+desperate venture. They secretly sent three deputies, among them
+Dandolo, with a large sum of money wherewith to bribe the Directors to
+reject the treaty of Campo Formio. This would have been quite
+practicable, had not their errand become known to Bonaparte. Alarmed
+and enraged at this device, which, if successful, would have consigned
+him to infamy, he sent Duroc in chase; and the envoys, caught before
+they crossed the Maritime Alps, were brought before the general at
+Milan. To his vehement reproaches and threats they opposed a dignified
+silence, until Dandolo, appealing to his generosity, awakened those
+nobler feelings which were never long dormant. Then he quietly
+dismissed them--to witness the downfall of their beloved city.
+
+_Acribus initiis, ut ferme talia, incuriosa fine_; these cynical
+words, with which the historian of the Roman Empire blasted the
+movements of his age, may almost serve as the epitaph to Bonaparte's
+early enthusiasms. Proclaiming at the beginning of his Italian
+campaigns that he came to free Italy, he yet finished his course of
+almost unbroken triumphs by a surrender which his panegyrists have
+scarcely attempted to condone. But the fate of Venice was almost
+forgotten amidst the jubilant acclaim which greeted the conqueror of
+Italy on his arrival at Paris. All France rang with the praises of the
+hero who had spread liberty throughout Northern and Central Italy,
+had enriched the museums of Paris with priceless masterpieces of art,
+whose army had captured 150,000 prisoners, and had triumphed in 18
+pitched battles--for Caldiero was now reckoned as a French
+victory--and 47 smaller engagements. The Directors, shrouding their
+hatred and fear of the masterful proconsul under their Roman togas,
+greeted him with uneasy effusiveness. The climax of the official
+comedy was reached when, at the reception of the conqueror, Barras,
+pointing northwards, exclaimed: "Go there and capture the giant
+corsair that infests the seas: go punish in London outrages that have
+too long been unpunished": whereupon, as if overcome by his emotions,
+he embraced the general. Amidst similar attentions bestowed by the
+other Directors, the curtain falls on the first, or Italian, act of
+the young hero's career, soon to rise on oriental adventures that were
+to recall the exploits of Alexander.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+EGYPT
+
+
+Among the many misconceptions of the French revolutionists none was
+more insidious than the notion that the wealth and power of the
+British people rested on an artificial basis. This mistaken belief in
+England's weakness arose out of the doctrine taught by the
+_Economistes_ or _Physiocrates_ in the latter half of last century,
+that commerce was not of itself productive of wealth, since it only
+promoted the distribution of the products of the earth; but that
+agriculture was the sole source of true wealth and prosperity. They
+therefore exalted agriculture at the expense of commerce and
+manufactures, and the course of the Revolution, which turned largely
+on agrarian questions, tended in the same direction. Robespierre and
+St. Just were never weary of contrasting the virtues of a simple
+pastoral life with the corruptions and weakness engendered by foreign
+commerce; and when, early in 1793, Jacobinical zeal embroiled the
+young Republic with England, the orators of the Convention confidently
+prophesied the downfall of the modern Carthage. Kersaint declared that
+"the credit of England rests upon fictitious wealth: ... bounded in
+territory, the public future of England is found almost wholly in its
+bank, and this edifice is entirely supported by naval commerce. It is
+easy to cripple this commerce, and especially so for a power like
+France, which stands alone on her own riches."[90]
+
+
+
+Commercial interests played a foremost part all through the struggle.
+The official correspondence of Talleyrand in 1797 proves that the
+Directory intended to claim the Channel Islands, the north of
+Newfoundland, and all our conquests in the East Indies made since
+1754, besides the restitution of Gibraltar to Spain.[91] Nor did these
+hopes seem extravagant. The financial crisis in London and the mutiny
+at the Nore seemed to betoken the exhaustion of England, while the
+victories of Bonaparte raised the power of France to heights never
+known before. Before the victory of Duncan over the Dutch at
+Camperdown (October 11th, 1797), Britain seemed to have lost her naval
+supremacy.
+
+The recent admission of State bankruptcy at Paris, when two-thirds of
+the existing liabilities were practically expunged, sharpened the
+desire of the Directory to compass England's ruin, an enterprise which
+might serve to restore French credit and would certainly engage those
+vehement activities of Bonaparte that could otherwise work mischief in
+Paris. On his side he gladly accepted the command of the _Army of
+England_.
+
+     "The people of Paris do not remember anything," he said to
+     Bourrienne. "Were I to remain here long, doing nothing, I should be
+     lost. In this great Babylon everything wears out: my glory has
+     already disappeared. This little Europe does not supply enough of
+     it for me. I must seek it in the East: all great fame comes from
+     that quarter. However, I wish first to make a tour along the
+     [northern] coast to see for myself what may be attempted. If the
+     success of a descent upon England appear doubtful, as I suspect it
+     will, the Army of England shall become the Army of the East, and I
+     go to Egypt."[92]
+
+In February, 1798, he paid a brief visit to Dunkirk and the Flemish
+coast, and concluded that the invasion of England was altogether too
+complicated to be hazarded except as a last desperate venture. In a
+report to the Government (February 23rd) he thus sums up the whole
+situation:
+
+     "Whatever efforts we make, we shall not for some years gain the
+     naval supremacy. To invade England without that supremacy is the
+     most daring and difficult task ever undertaken.... If, having
+     regard to the present organization of our navy, it seems impossible
+     to gain the necessary promptness of execution, then we must really
+     give up the expedition against England, _be satisfied with keeping
+     up the pretence of it_, and concentrate all our attention and
+     resources on the Rhine, in order to try to deprive England of
+     Hanover and Hamburg:[93] ... or else undertake an eastern
+     expedition which would menace her trade with the Indies. And if
+     none of these three operations is practicable, I see nothing else
+     for it but to conclude peace with England."
+
+The greater part of his career serves as a commentary on these
+designs. To one or other of them he was constantly turning as
+alternative schemes for the subjugation of his most redoubtable foe.
+The first plan he now judged to be impracticable; the second, which
+appears later in its fully matured form as his Continental System, was
+not for the present feasible, because France was about to settle
+German affairs at the Congress of Rastadt; to the third he therefore
+turned the whole force of his genius.
+
+The conquest of Egypt and the restoration to France of her supremacy
+in India appealed to both sides of Bonaparte's nature. The vision of
+the tricolour floating above the minarets of Cairo and the palace of
+the Great Mogul at Delhi fascinated a mind in which the mysticism of
+the south was curiously blent with the practicality and passion for
+details that characterize the northern races. To very few men in the
+world's history has it been granted to dream grandiose dreams and all
+but realize them, to use by turns the telescope and the microscope of
+political survey, to plan vast combinations of force, and yet to
+supervise with infinite care the adjustment of every adjunct. Caesar,
+in the old world, was possibly the mental peer of Bonaparte in this
+majestic equipoise of the imaginative and practical qualities; but of
+Caesar we know comparatively little; whereas the complex workings of
+the greatest mind of the modern world stand revealed in that
+storehouse of facts and fancies, the "Correspondance de Napoleon." The
+motives which led to the Eastern Expedition are there unfolded. In the
+letter which he wrote to Talleyrand shortly before the signature of
+the peace of Campo Formio occurs this suggestive passage:
+
+     "The character of our nation is to be far too vivacious amidst
+     prosperity. If we take for the basis of all our operations true
+     policy, which is nothing else than the calculation of combinations
+     and chances, we shall long be _la grande nation_ and the arbiter of
+     Europe. I say more: we hold the balance of Europe: we will make
+     that balance incline as we wish; and, if such is the order of fate,
+     I think it by no means impossible that we may in a few years attain
+     those grand results of which the heated and enthusiastic
+     imagination catches a glimpse, and which the extremely cool,
+     persistent, and calculating man will alone attain."
+
+This letter was written when Bonaparte was bartering away Venice to
+the Emperor in consideration of the acquisition by France of the
+Ionian Isles. Its reference to the vivacity of the French was
+doubtless evoked by the orders which he then received to
+"revolutionize Italy." To do that, while the Directory further
+extorted from England Gibraltar, the Channel Islands, and her eastern
+conquests, was a programme dictated by excessive vivacity. The
+Directory lacked the practical qualities that selected one great
+enterprise at a time and brought to bear on it the needful
+concentration of effort. In brief, he selected the war against
+England's eastern commerce as his next sphere of action; for it
+offered "an arena vaster, more necessary and resplendent" than war
+with Austria; "if we compel the [British] Government to a peace, the
+advantages we shall gain for our commerce in both hemispheres will be
+a great step towards the consolidation of liberty and the public
+welfare."[94]
+
+For this eastern expedition he had already prepared. In May, 1797, he
+had suggested the seizure of Malta from the Knights of St. John; and
+when, on September 27th, the Directory gave its assent, he sent
+thither a French commissioner, Poussielgue, on a "commercial mission,"
+to inspect those ports, and also, doubtless, to undermine the
+discipline of the Knights. Now that the British had retired from
+Corsica, and France disposed of the maritime resources of Northern
+Italy, Spain, and Holland, it seemed quite practicable to close the
+Mediterranean to those "intriguing and enterprising islanders," to
+hold them at bay in their dull northern seas, to exhaust them by
+ruinous preparations against expected descents on their southern
+coasts, on Ireland, and even on Scotland, while Bonaparte's eastern
+conquests dried up the sources of their wealth in the Orient: "Let us
+concentrate all our activity on our navy and destroy England. That
+done, Europe is at our feet."[95]
+
+But he encountered opposition from the Directory. They still clung to
+their plan of revolutionizing Italy; and only by playing on their fear
+of the army could he bring these civilians to assent to the
+expatriation of 35,000 troops and their best generals. On La
+Reveilliere-Lepeaux the young commander worked with a skill that
+veiled the choicest irony. This Director was the high-priest of a
+newly-invented cult, termed _Theo-philanthropie_, into the dull embers
+of which he was still earnestly blowing. To this would-be prophet
+Bonaparte now suggested that the eastern conquests would furnish a
+splendid field for the spread of the new faith; and La Reveilliere was
+forthwith converted from his scheme of revolutionizing Europe to the
+grander sphere of moral proselytism opened out to him in the East by
+the very chief who, on landing in Egypt, forthwith professed the
+Moslem creed.
+
+After gaining the doubtful assent of the Directory, Bonaparte had to
+face urgent financial difficulties. The dearth of money was, however,
+met by two opportune interventions. The first of these was in the
+affairs of Rome. The disorders of the preceding year in that city had
+culminated at Christmas in a riot in which General Duphot had been
+assassinated; this outrage furnished the pretext desired by the
+Directory for revolutionizing Central Italy. Berthier was at once
+ordered to lead French troops against the Eternal City. He entered
+without resistance (February 15th, 1798), declared the civil authority
+of the Pope at an end, and proclaimed the _restoration_ of the Roman
+Republic. The practical side of the liberating policy was soon
+revealed. A second time the treasures of Rome, both artistic and
+financial, were rifled; and, as Lucien Bonaparte caustically remarked
+in his "Memoirs," the chief duty of the newly-appointed consuls and
+quaestors was to superintend the packing up of pictures and statues
+designed for Paris. Berthier not only laid the basis of a large
+private fortune, but showed his sense of the object of the expedition
+by sending large sums for the equipment of the armada at Toulon. "In
+sending me to Rome," wrote Berthier to Bonaparte, "you appoint me
+treasurer to the expedition against England. I will try to fill the
+exchequer."
+
+The intervention of the Directory in the affairs of Switzerland was
+equally lucrative. The inhabitants of the district of Vaud, in their
+struggles against the oppressive rule of the Bernese oligarchy, had
+offered to the French Government the excuse for interference: and a
+force invading that land, overpowered the levies of the central
+cantons.[96] The imposition of a centralized form of government
+modelled on that of France, the wresting of Geneva from this ancient
+confederation, and its incorporation with France, were not the only
+evils suffered by Switzerland. Despite the proclamation of General
+Brune that the French came as friends to the descendants of William
+Tell, and would respect their independence and their property, French
+commissioners proceeded to rifle the treasuries of Berne, Zuerich,
+Solothurn, Fribourg, and Lucerne of sums which amounted in all to
+eight and a half million francs; fifteen millions were extorted in
+forced contributions and plunder, besides 130 cannon and 60,000
+muskets which also became the spoils of the liberators.[97] The
+destination of part of the treasure was already fixed; on April 13th
+Bonaparte wrote an urgent letter to General Lannes, directing him to
+expedite the transit of the booty to Toulon, where three million
+francs were forthwith expended on the completion of the armada.
+
+This letter, and also the testimony of Madame de Stael, Barras,
+Bourrienne, and Mallet du Pan, show that he must have been a party to
+this interference in Swiss affairs, which marks a debasement, not only
+of Bonaparte's character, but of that of the French army and people.
+It drew from Coleridge, who previously had seen in the Revolution the
+dawn of a nobler era, an indignant protest against the prostitution of
+the ideas of 1789:
+
+  "Oh France that mockest Heaven, adulterous, blind,
+  Are these thy boasts, champion of human kind?
+  To mix with Kings in the low lust of sway,
+  Yell in the hunt and join the murderous prey? ...
+  The sensual and the dark rebel in vain
+  Slaves by their own compulsion. In mad game
+  They burst their manacles: but wear the name
+  Of Freedom, graven on a heavier chain."
+
+The occupation by French troops of the great central bastion of the
+European system seemed a challenge, not only to idealists, but to
+German potentates. It nearly precipitated a rupture with Vienna, where
+the French tricolour had recently been torn down by an angry crowd.
+But Bonaparte did his utmost to prevent a renewal of war that would
+blight his eastern prospects; and he succeeded. One last trouble
+remained. At his final visit to the Directory, when crossed about some
+detail, he passionately threw up his command. Thereupon Rewbell, noted
+for his incisive speech, drew up the form of resignation, and
+presenting it to Bonaparte, firmly said, "Sign, citizen general." The
+general did not sign, but retired from the meeting apparently
+crestfallen, but really meditating a _coup d'etat_. This last
+statement rests on the evidence of Mathieu Dumas, who heard it
+through General Desaix, a close friend of Bonaparte; and it is clear
+from the narratives of Bourrienne, Barras, and Madame Junot that,
+during his last days in Paris, the general was moody, preoccupied, and
+fearful of being poisoned.
+
+At last the time of preparation and suspense was at an end. The aims
+of the expedition as officially defined by a secret decree on April
+12th included the capture of Egypt and the exclusion of the English
+from "all their possessions in the East to which the general can
+come"; Bonaparte was also to have the isthmus of Suez cut through; to
+"assure the _free and exclusive_ possession of the Red Sea to the
+French Republic"; to improve the condition of the natives of Egypt,
+and to cultivate good relations with the Grand Signior. Another secret
+decree empowered Bonaparte to seize Malta. To these schemes he added
+another of truly colossal dimensions. After conquering the East, he
+would rouse the Greeks and other Christians of the East, overthrow the
+Turks, seize Constantinople, and "take Europe in the rear."
+
+Generous support was accorded to the _savants_ who were desirous of
+exploring the artistic and literary treasures of Egypt and
+Mesopotamia. It has been affirmed by the biographer of Monge that the
+enthusiasm of this celebrated physicist first awakened Bonaparte's
+desire for the eastern expedition; but this seems to have been
+aroused earlier by Volney, who saw a good deal of Bonaparte in 1791.
+In truth, the desire to wrest the secrets of learning from the
+mysterious East seems always to have spurred on his keenly inquisitive
+nature. During the winter months of 1797-8 he attended the chemical
+lectures of the renowned Berthollet; and it was no perfunctory choice
+which selected him for the place in the famous institute left vacant
+by the exile of Carnot. The manner in which he now signed his orders
+and proclamations--Member of the Institute, General in Chief of the
+Army of the East--showed his determination to banish from the life of
+France that affectation of boorish ignorance by which the Terrorists
+had rendered themselves uniquely odious.
+
+After long delays, caused by contrary winds, the armada set sail from
+Toulon. Along with the convoys from Marseilles, Genoa, and Civita
+Vecchia, it finally reached the grand total of 13 ships of the line, 7
+frigates, several gunboats, and nearly 300 transports of various
+sizes, conveying 35,000 troops. Admiral Brueys was the admiral, but
+acting under Bonaparte. Of the generals whom the commander-in-chief
+took with him, the highest in command were the divisional generals
+Kleber, Desaix, Bon, Menou, Reynier, for the infantry: under them
+served 14 generals, a few of whom, as Marmont, were to achieve a wider
+fame. The cavalry was commanded by the stalwart mulatto, General
+Alexandre Dumas, under whom served Leclerc, the husband of Pauline
+Bonaparte, along with two men destined to world-wide renown, Murat and
+Davoust. The artillery was commanded by Dommartin, the engineers by
+Caffarelli: and the heroic Lannes was quarter-master general.
+
+The armada appeared off Malta without meeting with any incident. This
+island was held by the Knights of St. John, the last of those
+companies of Christian warriors who had once waged war on the infidels
+in Palestine. Their courage had evaporated in luxurious ease, and
+their discipline was a prey to intestine schisms and to the intrigues
+carried on with the French Knights of the Order. A French fleet had
+appeared off Valetta in the month of March in the hope of effecting a
+surprise; but the admiral, Brueys, judging the effort too hazardous,
+sent an awkward explanation, which only served to throw the knights
+into the arms of Russia. One of the chivalrous dreams of the Czar Paul
+was that of spreading his influence in the Mediterranean by a treaty
+with this Order. It gratified his crusading ardour and promised to
+Russia a naval base for the partition of Turkey which was then being
+discussed with Austria: to secure the control of the island, Russia
+was about to expend 400,000 roubles, when Bonaparte anticipated
+Muscovite designs by a prompt seizure.[98] An excuse was easily found
+for a rupture with the Order: some companies of troops were
+disembarked, and hostilities commenced.
+
+Secure within their mighty walls, the knights might have held the
+intruders at bay, had they not been divided by internal disputes: the
+French knights refused to fight against their countrymen; and a revolt
+of the native Maltese, long restless under the yoke of the Order, now
+helped to bring the Grand Master to a surrender. The evidence of the
+English consul, Mr. Williams, seems to show that the discontent of the
+natives was even more potent than the influence of French gold in
+bringing about this result.[99] At any rate, one of the strongest
+places in Europe admitted a French garrison, after so tame a defence
+that General Caffarelli, on viewing the fortifications, remarked to
+Bonaparte: "Upon my word, general, it is lucky there was some one in
+the town to open the gates to us."
+
+During his stay of seven days at Malta, Bonaparte revealed the vigour
+of those organizing powers for which the half of Europe was soon to
+present all too small an arena. He abolished the Order, pensioning off
+those French knights who had been serviceable: he abolished the
+religious houses and confiscated their domains to the service of the
+new government: he established a governmental commission acting under
+a military governor: he continued provisionally the existing taxes,
+and provided for the imposition of customs, excise, and octroi dues:
+he prepared the way for the improvement of the streets, the erection
+of fountains, the reorganization of the hospitals and the post
+office. To the university he gave special attention, rearranging the
+curriculum on the model of the more advanced _ecoles centrales_ of
+France, but inclining the studies severely to the exact sciences and
+the useful arts. On all sides he left the imprint of his practical
+mind, that viewed life as a game at chess, whence bishops and knights
+were carefully banished, and wherein nothing was left but the heavy
+pieces and subservient pawns.
+
+After dragging Malta out of its mediaeval calm and plunging it into
+the full swirl of modern progress, Bonaparte set sail for Egypt. His
+exchequer was the richer by all the gold and silver, whether in
+bullion or in vessels, discoverable in the treasury of Malta or in the
+Church of St. John. Fortunately, the silver gates of this church had
+been coloured over, and thus escaped the fate of the other
+treasures.[100] On the voyage to Alexandria he studied the library of
+books which he had requested Bourrienne to purchase for him. The
+composition of this library is of interest as showing the strong trend
+of his thoughts towards history, though at a later date he was careful
+to limit its study in the university and schools which he founded. He
+had with him 125 volumes of historical works, among which the
+translations of Thucydides, Plutarch, Tacitus, and Livy represented
+the life of the ancient world, while in modern life he concentrated
+his attention chiefly on the manners and institutions of peoples and
+the memoirs of great generals--as Turenne, Conde, Luxembourg, Saxe,
+Marlborough, Eugene, and Charles XII. Of the poets he selected the
+so-called Ossian, Tasso, Ariosto, Homer, Virgil, and the masterpieces
+of the French theatre; but he especially affected the turgid and
+declamatory style of Ossian. In romance, English literature was
+strongly represented by forty volumes of novels, of course in
+translations. Besides a few works on arts and sciences, he also had
+with him twelve volumes of "Barclay's Geography," and three volumes of
+"Cook's Voyages," which show that his thoughts extended to the
+antipodes; and under the heading of Politics he included the Bible,
+the Koran, the Vedas, a Mythology, and Montesquieu's "Esprit des
+Lois"! The composition and classification of this library are equally
+suggestive. Bonaparte carefully searched out the weak places of the
+organism which he was about to attack--in the present campaign, Egypt
+and the British Empire. The climate and natural products, the genius
+of its writers and the spirit of its religion--nothing came amiss to
+his voracious intellect, which assimilated the most diverse materials
+and pressed them all into his service. Greek mythology provided
+allusions for the adornment of his proclamations, the Koran would
+dictate his behaviour towards the Moslems, and the Bible was to be his
+guide-book concerning the Druses and Armenians. All three were
+therefore grouped together under the head of Politics.
+
+
+And this, on the whole, fairly well represents his mental attitude
+towards religion: at least, it was his work-a-day attitude. There were
+moments, it is true, when an overpowering sense of the majesty of the
+universe lifted his whole being far above this petty opportunism: and
+in those moments, which, in regard to the declaration of character,
+may surely be held to counterbalance whole months spent in tactical
+shifts and diplomatic wiles, he was capable of soaring to heights of
+imaginative reverence. Such an episode, lighting up for us the
+recesses of his mind, occurred during his voyage to Egypt. The
+_savants_ on board his ship, "L'Orient," were discussing one of those
+questions which Bonaparte often propounded, in order that, as arbiter
+in this contest of wits, he might gauge their mental powers. Mental
+dexterity, rather than the Socratic pursuit after truth, was the aim
+of their dialectic; but on one occasion, when religion was being
+discussed, Bonaparte sounded a deeper note: looking up into the
+midnight vault of sky, he said to the philosophizing atheists: "Very
+ingenious, sirs, but who made all that?" As a retort to the
+tongue-fencers, what could be better? The appeal away from words to
+the star-studded canopy was irresistible: it affords a signal proof of
+what Carlyle has finely called his "instinct for nature" and his
+"ineradicable feeling for reality." This probably was the true man,
+lying deep under his Moslem shifts and Concordat bargainings.
+
+That there was a tinge of superstition in Bonaparte's nature, such as
+usually appears in gifted scions of a coast-dwelling family, cannot be
+denied;[101] but his usual attitude towards religion was that of the
+political mechanician, not of the devotee, and even while professing
+the forms of fatalistic belief, he really subordinated them to his own
+designs. To this profound calculation of the credulity of mankind we
+may probably refer his allusions to his star. The present writer
+regards it as almost certain that his star was invoked in order to
+dazzle the vulgar herd. Indeed, if we may trust Miot de Melito, the
+First Consul once confessed as much to a circle of friends. "Caesar,"
+he said, "was right to cite his good fortune and to appear to believe
+in it. That is a means of acting on the imagination of others without
+offending anyone's self-love." A strange admission this; what
+boundless self-confidence it implies that he should have admitted the
+trickery. The mere acknowledgment of it is a proof that he felt
+himself so far above the plane of ordinary mortals that, despite the
+disclosure, he himself would continue to be his own star. For the
+rest, is it credible that this analyzing genius could ever have
+seriously adopted the astrologer's creed? Is there anything in his
+early note-books or later correspondence which warrants such a belief?
+Do not all his references to his star occur in proclamations and
+addresses intended for popular consumption?
+
+Certainly Bonaparte's good fortune was conspicuous all through these
+eastern adventures, and never more so than when he escaped the pursuit
+of Nelson. The English admiral had divined his aim. Setting all sail,
+he came almost within sight of the French force near Crete, and he
+reached Alexandria barely two days before his foes hove in sight.
+Finding no hostile force there, he doubled back on his course and
+scoured the seas between Crete, Sicily, and the Morca, until news
+received from a Turkish official again sent him eastwards. On such
+trifles does the fate of empires sometimes depend.
+
+Meanwhile events were crowding thick and fast upon Bonaparte. To free
+himself from the terrible risks which had menaced his force off the
+Egyptian coast, he landed his troops, 35,000 strong, with all possible
+expedition at Marabout near Alexandria, and, directing his columns of
+attack on the walls of that city, captured it by a rush (July 2nd).
+
+For this seizure of neutral territory he offered no excuse other than
+that the Beys, who were the real rulers of Egypt, had favoured English
+commerce and were guilty of some outrages on French merchants. He
+strove, however, to induce the Sultan of Turkey to believe that the
+French invasion of Egypt was a friendly act, as it would overthrow the
+power of the Mamelukes, who had reduced Turkish authority to a mere
+shadow. This was the argument which he addressed to the Turkish
+officials, but it proved to be too subtle even for the oriental mind
+fully to appreciate. Bonaparte's chief concern was to win over the
+subject population, which consisted of diverse races. At the surface
+were the Mamelukes, a powerful military order, possessing a
+magnificent cavalry, governed by two Beys, and scarcely recognizing
+the vague suzerainty claimed by the Porte. The rivalries of the Beys,
+Murad and Ibrahim, produced a fertile crop of discords in this
+governing caste, and their feuds exposed the subject races, both Arabs
+and Copts, to constant forays and exactions. It seemed possible,
+therefore, to arouse them against the dominant caste, provided that
+the Mohammedan scruples of the whole population were carefully
+respected. To this end, the commander cautioned his troops to act
+towards the Moslems as towards "Jews and Italians," and to respect
+their muftis and imams as much as "rabbis and bishops." He also
+proclaimed to the Egyptians his determination, while overthrowing
+Mameluke tyranny, to respect the Moslem faith: "Have we not destroyed
+the Pope, who bade men wage war on Moslems? Have we not destroyed the
+Knights of Malta, because those fools believed it to be God's will to
+war against Moslems?" The French soldiers were vastly amused by the
+humour of these proceedings, and the liberated people fully
+appreciated the menaces with which Bonaparte's proclamation closed,
+backed up as these were by irresistible force.[102]
+
+After arranging affairs at Alexandria, where the gallant Kleber was
+left in command, Bonaparte ordered an advance into the interior.
+Never, perhaps, did he show the value of swift offensive action more
+decisively than in this prompt march on Damanhour across the desert.
+The other route by way of Rosetta would have been easier; but, as it
+was longer, he rejected it, and told off General Menou to capture that
+city and support a flotilla of boats which was to ascend the Nile and
+meet the army on its march to Cairo. On July 4th the first division of
+the main force set forth by night into the desert south of Alexandria.
+All was new and terrible; and, when the rays of the sun smote on their
+weary backs, the murmurings of the troops grew loud. This, then, was
+the land "more fertile than Lombardy," which was the goal of their
+wanderings. "See, there are the six acres of land which you are
+promised," exclaimed a waggish soldier to his comrade as they first
+gazed from ship-board on the desert east of Alexandria; and all the
+sense of discipline failed to keep this and other gibes from the ears
+of staff officers even before they reached that city. Far worse was
+their position now in the shifting sand of the desert, beset by
+hovering Bedouins, stung by scorpions, and afflicted by intolerable
+thirst. The Arabs had filled the scanty wells with stones, and only
+after long toil could the sappers reach the precious fluid beneath.
+Then the troops rushed and fought for the privilege of drinking a few
+drops of muddy liquor. Thus they struggled on, the succeeding
+divisions faring worst of all. Berthier, chief of the staff, relates
+that a glass of water sold for its weight in gold. Even brave officers
+abandoned themselves to transports of rage and despair which left them
+completely prostrate.[103]
+
+But Bonaparte flinched not. His stern composure offered the best
+rebuke to such childish sallies; and when out of a murmuring group
+there came the bold remark, "Well, General, are you going to take us
+to India thus," he abashed the speaker and his comrades by the quick
+retort, "No, I would not undertake that with such soldiers as you."
+French honour, touched to the quick, reasserted itself even above the
+torments of thirst; and the troops themselves, when they tardily
+reached the Nile and slaked their thirst in its waters, recognized the
+pre-eminence of his will and his profound confidence in their
+endurance. French gaiety had not been wholly eclipsed even by the
+miseries of the desert march. To cheer their drooping spirits the
+commander had sent some of the staunchest generals along the line of
+march. Among them was the gifted Caffarelli, who had lost a leg in the
+Rhenish campaign: his reassuring words called forth the inimitable
+retort from the ranks: "Ah! he don't care, not he: he has one leg in
+France." Scarcely less witty was the soldier's description of the
+prowling Bedouins, who cut off stragglers and plunderers, as "The
+mounted highway police."
+
+After brushing aside a charge of 800 Mamelukes at Chebreiss, the army
+made its way up the banks of the Nile to Embabeh, opposite Cairo.
+There the Mamelukes, led by the fighting Bey, Murad, had their
+fortified camp; and there that superb cavalry prepared to overwhelm
+the invaders in a whirlwind rush of horse (July 21st, 1798). The
+occasion and the surroundings were such as to inspire both sides with
+deperate resolution. It was the first fierce shock on land of eastern
+chivalry and western enterprise since the days of St. Louis; and the
+ardour of the republicans was scarcely less than that which had
+kindled the soldiers of the cross. Beside the two armies rolled the
+mysterious Nile; beyond glittered the slender minarets of Cairo; and
+on the south there loomed the massy Pyramids. To the forty centuries
+that had rolled over them, Bonaparte now appealed, in one of those
+imaginative touches which ever brace the French nature to the utmost
+tension of daring and endurance. Thus they advanced in close formation
+towards the intrenched camp of the Mamelukes. The divisions on the
+left at once rushed at its earthworks, silenced its feeble artillery,
+and slaughtered the fellahin inside.
+
+
+But the other divisions, now ranged in squares, while gazing at this
+exploit, were assailed by the Mamelukes. From out the haze of the
+mirage, or from behind the ridges of sand and the scrub of the
+water-melon plants that dotted the plain, some 10,000 of these superb
+horsemen suddenly appeared and rushed at the squares commanded by
+Desaix and Reynier. Their richly caparisoned chargers, their waving
+plumes, their wild battle-cries, and their marvellous skill with
+carbine and sword, lent picturesqueness and terror to the charge.
+Musketry and grapeshot mowed down their front coursers in ghastly
+swathes; but the living mass swept on, wellnigh overwhelming the
+fronts of the squares, and then, swerving aside, poured through the
+deadly funnel between. Decimated here also by the steady fire of the
+French files, and by the discharges of the rear face, they fell away
+exhausted, leaving heaps of dead and dying on the fronts of the
+squares, and in their very midst a score of their choicest cavaliers,
+whose bravery and horsemanship had carried them to certain death
+amidst the bayonets. The French now assumed the offensive, and
+Desaix's division, threatening to cut off the retreat of Murad's
+horsemen, led that wary chief to draw off his shattered squadrons;
+others sought, though with terrible losses, to escape across the Nile
+to Ibrahim's following. That chief had taken no share in the fight,
+and now made off towards Syria. Such was the battle of the Pyramids,
+which gained a colony at the cost of some thirty killed and about ten
+times as many wounded: of the killed about twenty fell victims to the
+cross fire of the two squares.[104]
+
+After halting for a fortnight at Cairo to recruit his weary troops and
+to arrange the affairs of his conquest, Bonaparte marched eastwards in
+pursuit of Ibrahim and drove him into Syria, while Desaix waged an
+arduous but successful campaign against Murad in Upper Egypt. But the
+victors were soon to learn the uselessness of
+merely military triumphs in Egypt. As Bonaparte returned to complete
+the organization of the new colony, he heard that Nelson had destroyed
+his fleet.
+
+On July 3rd, before setting out from Alexandria, the French commander
+gave an order to his admiral, though it must be added that its
+authenticity is doubtful:
+
+     "The admiral will to-morrow acquaint the commander-in-chief by a
+     report whether the squadron can enter the port of Alexandria, or
+     whether, in Aboukir Roads, bringing its broadside to bear, it can
+     defend itself against the enemy's superior force; and in case both
+     these plans should be impracticable, he must sail for Corfu ...
+     leaving the light ships and the flotilla at Alexandria."
+
+Brueys speedily discovered that the first plan was beset by grave
+dangers: the entrance to the harbour of Alexandria, when sounded,
+proved to be most difficult for large ships--such was his judgment and
+that of Villeneuve and Casabianca--and the exit could be blocked by a
+single English battleship. As regards the alternatives of Aboukir or
+Corfu, Brueys went on to state: "My firm desire is to be useful to you
+in every possible way: and, as I have already said, every post will
+suit me well, provided that you placed me there in an active way." By
+this rather ambiguous phrase it would seem that he scouted the
+alternative of Corfu as consigning him to a degrading inactivity;
+while at Aboukir he held that he could be actively useful in
+protecting the rear of the army. In that bay he therefore anchored his
+largest ships, trusting that the dangers of the approach would screen
+him from any sudden attack, but making also special preparations in
+case he should be compelled to fight at anchor.[105] His decision was
+probably less sound than that of Bonaparte, who, while marching to
+Cairo, and again during his sojourn there, ordered him to make for
+Corfu or Toulon; for the general saw clearly that the French fleet,
+riding in safety in those well-protected roadsteads, would really
+dominate the Mediterranean better than in the open expanse of Aboukir.
+But these orders did not reach the admiral before the blow fell; and
+it is, after all, somewhat ungenerous to censure Brueys for his
+decision to remain at Aboukir and risk a fight rather than comply with
+the dictates of a prudent but inglorious strategy.
+
+The British admiral, after sweeping the eastern Mediterranean, at last
+found the French fleet in Aboukir Bay, about ten miles from the
+Rosetta mouth of the Nile. It was anchored under the lee of a shoal
+which would have prevented any ordinary admiral from attacking,
+especially at sundown. But Nelson, knowing that the head ship of the
+French was free to swing at anchor, rightly concluded that there must
+be room for British ships to sail between Brueys' stationary line and
+the shallows. The British captains thrust five ships between the
+French and the shoal, while the others, passing down the enemy's line
+on the seaward side, crushed it in detail; and, after a night of
+carnage, the light of August 2nd dawned on a scene of destruction
+unsurpassed in naval warfare. Two French ships of the line and two
+frigates alone escaped: one, the gigantic "Orient," had blown up with
+the spoils of Malta on board: the rest, eleven in number, were
+captured or burnt.
+
+To Bonaparte this disaster came as a bolt from the blue. Only two days
+before, he had written from Cairo to Brueys that all the conduct of
+the English made him believe them to be inferior in numbers and fully
+satisfied with blockading Malta. Yet, in order to restore the _morale_
+of his army, utterly depressed by this disaster, he affected a
+confidence which he could no longer feel, and said: "Well! here we
+must remain or achieve a grandeur like that of the ancients."[106] He
+had recently assured his intimates that after routing the Beys' forces
+he would return to France and strike a blow direct at England.
+Whatever he may have designed, he was now a prisoner in his conquest.
+His men, even some of his highest officers, as Berthier, Bessieres,
+Lannes, Murat, Dumas, and others, bitterly complained of their
+miserable position. But the commander, whose spirits rose with
+adversity, took effective means for repressing such discontent. To the
+last-named, a powerful mulatto, he exclaimed: "You have held seditious
+parleys: take care that I do not perform my duty: your six feet of
+stature shall not save you from being shot": and he offered passports
+for France to a few of the most discontented and useless officers,
+well knowing that after Nelson's victory they could scarcely be used.
+Others, again, out-Heroding Herod, suggested that the frigates and
+transports at Alexandria should be taken to pieces and conveyed on
+camels' backs to Suez, there to be used for the invasion of
+India.[107]
+
+The versatility of Bonaparte's genius was never more marked than at
+this time of discouragement. While his enemies figured him and his
+exhausted troops as vainly seeking to escape from those arid wastes;
+while Nelson was landing the French prisoners in order to increase his
+embarrassment about food, Bonaparte and his _savants_ were developing
+constructive powers of the highest order, which made the army
+independent of Europe. It was a vast undertaking. Deprived of most of
+their treasure and many of their mechanical appliances by the loss of
+the fleet, the _savants_ and engineers had, as it were, to start from
+the beginning. Some strove to meet the difficulties of food-supply by
+extending the cultivation of corn and rice, or by the construction of
+large ovens and bakeries, or of windmills for grinding corn. Others
+planted vineyards for the future, or sought to appease the ceaseless
+thirst of the soldiery by the manufacture of a kind of native beer.
+Foundries and workshops began, though slowly, to supply tools and
+machines; the earth was rifled of her treasures, natron was wrought,
+saltpetre works were established, and gunpowder was thereby procured
+for the army with an energy which recalled the prodigies of activity
+of 1793.
+
+With his usual ardour in the cause of learning, Bonaparte several
+times a week appeared in the chemical laboratory, or witnessed the
+experiments performed by Berthollet and Monge. Desirous of giving
+cohesion to the efforts of his _savants_, and of honouring not only
+the useful arts but abstruse research, he united these pioneers of
+science in a society termed the Institute of Egypt. On August 23rd,
+1798, it was installed with much ceremony in the palace of one of the
+Beys, Monge being president and Bonaparte vice-president. The general
+also enrolled himself in the mathematical section of the institute.
+Indeed, he sought by all possible means to aid the labours of the
+_savants_, whose dissertations were now heard in the large hall of the
+harem that formerly resounded only to the twanging of lutes, weary
+jests, and idle laughter. The labours of the _savants_ were not
+confined to Cairo and the Delta. As soon as the victories of Desaix
+in Upper Egypt opened the middle reaches of the Nile to peaceful
+research, the treasures of Memphis were revealed to the astonished
+gaze of western learning. Many of the more portable relics were
+transferred to Cairo, and thence to Rosetta or Alexandria, in order to
+grace the museums of Paris. The _savants_ proposed, but sea-power
+disposed, of these treasures. They are now, with few exceptions, in
+the British Museum.
+
+Apart from archaeology, much was done to extend the bounds of learning.
+Astronomy gained much by the observations of General Caffarelli. A
+series of measurements was begun for an exact survey of Egypt: the
+geologists and engineers examined the course of the Nile, recorded the
+progress of alluvial deposits at its mouth or on its banks, and
+therefrom calculated the antiquity of divers parts of the Delta. No
+part of the great conqueror's career so aptly illustrates the truth of
+his noble words to the magistrates of the Ligurian Republic: "The true
+conquests, the only conquests which cost no regrets, are those
+achieved over ignorance."
+
+Such, in brief outline, is the story of the renascence in Egypt. The
+mother-land of science and learning, after a wellnigh barren interval
+of 1,100 years since the Arab conquest, was now developed and
+illumined by the application of the arts with which in the dim past
+she had enriched the life of barbarous Europe. The repayment of this
+incalculable debt was due primarily to the enterprise of Bonaparte. It
+is one of his many titles to fame and to the homage of posterity. How
+poor by the side of this encyclopaedic genius are the gifts even of
+his most brilliant foes! At that same time the Archduke Charles of
+Austria was vegetating in inglorious ease on his estates. As for
+Beaulieu and Wuermser, they had subsided into their native obscurity.
+Nelson, after his recent triumph, persuading himself that "Bonaparte
+had gone to the devil," was bending before the whims of a professional
+beauty and the odious despotism of the worst Court in Europe. While
+the admiral tarnished his fame on the Syren coast of Naples, his great
+opponent bent all the resources of a fertile intellect to retrieve his
+position, and even under the gloom of disaster threw a gleam of light
+into the dark continent. While his adversaries were merely generals or
+admirals, hampered by a stupid education and a narrow nationality,
+Bonaparte had eagerly imbibed the new learning of his age and saw its
+possible influence on the reorganization of society. He is not merely
+a general. Even when he is scattering to the winds the proud chivalry
+of the East, and is prescribing to Brueys his safest course of action,
+he finds time vastly to expand the horizon of human knowledge.
+
+
+Nor did he neglect Egyptian politics. He used a native council for
+consultation and for the promulgation of his own ideas. Immediately
+after his entry into Cairo he appointed nine sheikhs to form a divan,
+or council, consulting daily on public order and the food-supplies of
+the city. He next assembled a general divan for Egypt, and a smaller
+council for each province, and asked their advice concerning the
+administration of justice and the collection of taxes.[108] In its use
+of oriental terminology, this scheme was undeniably clever; but
+neither French, Arabs, nor Turks were deceived as to the real
+government, which resided entirely in Bonaparte; and his skill in
+reapportioning the imposts had some effect on the prosperity of the
+land, enabling it to bear the drain of his constant requisitions. The
+welfare of the new colony was also promoted by the foundation of a
+mint and of an Egyptian Commercial Company.
+
+His inventive genius was by no means exhausted by these varied toils.
+On his journey to Suez he met a camel caravan in the desert, and
+noticing the speed of the animals, he determined to form a camel
+corps; and in the first month of 1799 the experiment was made with
+such success that admission into the ranks of the camelry came to be
+viewed as a favour. Each animal carried two men with their arms and
+baggage: the uniform was sky-blue with a white turban; and the speed
+and precision of their movements enabled them to deal terrible blows,
+even at distant tribes of Bedouins, who bent before a genius that
+could outwit them even in their own deserts.
+
+The pleasures of his officers and men were also met by the opening of
+the Tivoli Gardens; and there, in sight of the Pyramids, the life of
+the Palais Royal took root: the glasses clinked, the dice rattled, and
+heads reeled to the lascivious movements of the eastern dance; and
+Bonaparte himself indulged a passing passion for the wife of one of
+his officers, with an openness that brought on him a rebuke from his
+stepson, Eugene Beauharnais. But already he had been rendered
+desperate by reports of the unfaithfulness of Josephine at Paris; the
+news wrung from him this pathetic letter to his brother Joseph--the
+death-cry of his long drooping idealism:
+
+     "I have much to worry me privately, for the veil is entirely torn
+     aside. You alone remain to me; your affection is very dear to me:
+     nothing more remains to make me a misanthrope than to lose her and
+     see you betray me.... Buy a country seat against my return, either
+     near Paris or in Burgundy. I need solitude and isolation: grandeur
+     wearies me: the fount of feeling is dried up: glory itself is
+     insipid. At twenty-nine years of age I have exhausted everything.
+     It only remains to me to become a thorough egoist."[109]
+
+Many rumours were circulated as to Bonaparte's public appearance in
+oriental costume and his presence at a religious service in a mosque.
+It is even stated by Thiers that at one of the chief festivals he
+repaired to the great mosque, repeated the prayers like a true Moslem,
+crossing his legs and swaying his body to and fro, so that he "edified
+the believers by his orthodox piety." But the whole incident, however
+attractive scenically and in point of humour, seems to be no better
+authenticated than the religious results about which the historian
+cherished so hopeful a belief. The truth seems to be that the general
+went to the celebration of the birth of the Prophet as an interested
+spectator, at the house of the sheik, El Bekri. Some hundred sheikhs
+were there present: they swayed their bodies to and fro while the
+story of Mahomet's life was recited; and Bonaparte afterwards partook
+of an oriental repast. But he never forgot his dignity so far as
+publicly to appear in a turban and loose trousers, which he donned
+only once for the amusement of his staff.[110] That he endeavoured to
+pose as a Moslem is beyond doubt. Witness his endeavour to convince
+the imams at Cairo of his desire to conform to their faith. If we may
+believe that dubious compilation, "A Voice from St. Helena," he bade
+them consult together as to the possibility of admission of men, who
+were not circumcised and did not abstain from wine, into the true
+fold. As to the latter disability, he stated that the French were poor
+cold people, inhabitants of the north, who could not exist without
+wine. For a long time the imams demurred to this plea, which involved
+greater difficulties than the question of circumcision: but after long
+consultations they decided that both objections might be waived in
+consideration of a superabundance of good works. The reply was
+prompted by an irony no less subtle than that which accompanied the
+claim, and neither side was deceived in this contest of wits.
+
+A rude awakening soon came. For some few days there had been rumours
+that the division under Desaix which was fighting the Mamelukes in
+Upper Egypt had been engulfed in those sandy wastes; and this report
+fanned to a flame the latent hostility against the unbelievers. From
+many minarets of Cairo a summons to arms took the place of the
+customary call to prayer: and on October 21st the French garrison was
+so fiercely and suddenly attacked as to leave the issue doubtful.
+Discipline and grapeshot finally prevailed, whereupon a repression of
+oriental ferocity cowed the spirits of the townsfolk and of the
+neighbouring country. Forts were constructed in Cairo and at all the
+strategic points along the lower Nile, and Egypt seemed to be
+conquered.
+
+Feeling sure now of his hold on the populace, Bonaparte, at the close
+of the year, undertook a journey to Suez and the Sinaitic peninsula.
+It offered that combination of utility and romance which ever appealed
+to him. At Suez he sought to revivify commerce by lightening the
+customs' dues, by founding a branch of his Egyptian commercial
+company, and by graciously receiving a deputation of the Arabs of Tor
+who came to sue for his friendship.[111] Then, journeying on, he
+visited the fountains of Moses; but it is not true that (as stated by
+Lanfrey) he proceeded to Mount Sinai and signed his name in the
+register of the monastery side by side with that of Mahomet. On his
+return to the isthmus he is said to have narrowly escaped from the
+rising tide of the Red Sea. If we may credit Savary, who was not of
+the party, its safety was due to the address of the commander, who, as
+darkness fell on the bewildered band, arranged his horsemen in files,
+until the higher causeway of the path was again discovered. North of
+Suez the traces of the canal dug by Sesostris revealed themselves to
+the trained eye of the commander. The observations of his engineers
+confirmed his conjecture, but the vast labour of reconstruction
+forbade any attempt to construct a maritime canal. On his return to
+Cairo he wrote to the Imam of Muscat, assuring him of his friendship
+and begging him to forward to Tippoo Sahib a letter offering alliance
+and deliverance from "the iron yoke of England," and stating that the
+French had arrived on the shores of the Red Sea "with a numerous and
+invincible army." The letter was intercepted by a British cruiser; and
+the alarm caused by these vast designs only served to spur on our
+forces to efforts which cost Tippoo his life and the French most of
+their Indian settlements.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+SYRIA
+
+
+Meanwhile Turkey had declared war on France, and was sending an army
+through Syria for the recovery of Egypt, while another expedition was
+assembling at Rhodes. Like all great captains, Bonaparte was never
+content with the defensive: his convictions and his pugnacious
+instincts alike urged him to give rather than to receive the blow; and
+he argued that he could attack and destroy the Syrian force before the
+cessation of the winter's gales would allow the other Turkish
+expedition to attempt a disembarkation at Aboukir. If he waited in
+Egypt, he might have to meet the two attacks at once, whereas, if he
+struck at Jaffa and Acre, he would rid himself of the chief mass of
+his foes. Besides, as he explained in his letter of February 10th,
+1799, to the Directors, his seizure of those towns would rob the
+English fleet of its base of supplies and thereby cripple its
+activities off the coast of Egypt. So far, his reasons for the Syrian
+campaign are intelligible and sound. But he also gave out that,
+leaving Desaix and his Ethiopian supernumeraries to defend Egypt, he
+himself would accomplish the conquest of Syria and the East: he would
+raise in revolt the Christians of the Lebanon and Armenia, overthrow
+the Turkish power in Asia, and then march either on Constantinople or
+Delhi.
+
+It is difficult to take this quite seriously, considering that he had
+only 12,000 men available for these adventures; and with anyone but
+Bonaparte they might be dismissed as utterly Quixotic. But in his case
+we must seek for some practical purpose; for he never divorced fancy
+from fact, and in his best days imagination was the hand-maid of
+politics and strategy rather than the mistress. Probably these
+gorgeous visions were bodied forth so as to inspirit the soldiery and
+enthrall the imagination of France. He had already proved the immense
+power of imagination over that susceptible people. In one sense, his
+whole expedition was but a picturesque drama; and an imposing climax
+could now be found in the plan of an Eastern Empire, that opened up
+dazzling vistas of glory and veiled his figure in a grandiose mirage,
+beside which the civilian Directors were dwarfed into ridiculous
+puppets.
+
+If these vast schemes are to be taken seriously, another explanation
+of them is possible, namely, that he relied on the example set by
+Alexander the Great, who with a small but highly-trained army had
+shattered the stately dominions of the East. If Bonaparte trusted to
+this precedent, he erred. True, Alexander began his enterprise with a
+comparatively small force: but at least he had a sure base of
+operations, and his army in Thessaly was strong enough to prevent
+Athens from exchanging her sullen but passive hostility for an
+offensive that would endanger his communications by sea. The Athenian
+fleet was therefore never the danger to the Macedonians that Nelson
+and Sir Sidney Smith were to Bonaparte. Since the French armada
+weighed anchor at Toulon, Britain's position had became vastly
+stronger. Nelson was lord of the Mediterranean: the revolt in Ireland
+had completely failed: a coalition against France was being formed;
+and it was therefore certain that the force in Egypt could not be
+materially strengthened. Bonaparte did not as yet know the full extent
+of his country's danger; but the mere fact that he would have to bear
+the pressure of England's naval supremacy along the Syrian coast
+should have dispelled any notion that he could rival the exploits of
+Alexander and become Emperor of the East.[112]
+
+
+From conjectures about motives we turn to facts. Setting forth early
+in February, the French captured most of the Turkish advanced guard at
+the fort of El Arisch, but sent their captives away on condition of
+not bearing arms against France for at least one year. The victors
+then marched on Jaffa, and, in spite of a spirited defence, took it
+by storm (March 7th). Flushed with their triumph over a cruel and
+detested foe, the soldiers were giving up the city to pillage and
+massacre, when two aides-de-camp promised quarter to a large body of
+the defenders, who had sought refuge in a large caravanserai; and
+their lives were grudgingly spared by the victors. Bonaparte
+vehemently reproached his aides-de-camp for their ill-timed clemency.
+What could he now do with these 2,500 or 3,000 prisoners? They could
+not be trusted to serve with the French; besides, the provisions
+scarcely sufficed for Bonaparte's own men, who began to complain
+loudly at sharing any with Turks and Albanians. They could not be sent
+away to Egypt, there to spread discontent: and only 300 Egyptians were
+so sent away.[113] Finally, on the demand of his generals and troops,
+the remaining prisoners were shot down on the seashore. There is,
+however, no warrant for the malicious assertion that Bonaparte readily
+gave the fatal order. On the contrary, he delayed it for three days,
+until the growing difficulties and the loud complaints of his soldiers
+wrung it from him as a last resort.
+
+Moreover, several of the victims had already fought against him at El
+Arisch, and had violated their promise that they would fight no more
+against the French in that campaign. M. Lanfrey's assertion that there
+is no evidence for the identification is untenable, in view of a
+document which I have discovered in the Records of the British
+Admiralty. Inclosed with Sir Sidney Smith's despatches is one from the
+secretary of Gezzar, dated Acre, March 1st, 1799, in which the Pacha
+urgently entreats the British commodore to come to his help, because
+his (Gezzar's) troops had failed to hold El Arisch, and the _same
+troops_ had also abandoned Gaza and were in great dread of the French
+at Jaffa. Considered from the military point of view, the massacre at
+Jaffa is perhaps defensible; and Bonaparte's reluctant assent
+contrasts favourably with the conduct of many commanders in similar
+cases. Perhaps an episode like that at Jaffa is not without its uses
+in opening the eyes of mankind to the ghastly shifts by which military
+glory may have to be won. The alternative to the massacre was the
+detaching of a French battalion to conduct their prisoners to Egypt.
+As that would seriously have weakened the little army, the prisoners
+were shot.
+
+A deadlier foe was now to be faced. Already at El Arisch a few cases
+of the plague had appeared in Kleber's division, which had come from
+Rosetta and Damietta; and the relics of the retreating Mameluke and
+Turkish forces seem also to have bequeathed that disease as a fatal
+legacy to their pursuers. After Jaffa the malady attacked most
+battalions of the army; and it may have quickened Bonaparte's march
+towards Acre. Certain it is that he rejected Kleber's advice to
+advance inland towards Nablus, the ancient Shechem, and from that
+commanding centre to dominate Palestine and defy the power of
+Gezzar.[114]
+
+[Illustration: PLAN OF THE SIEGE OF ACRE FROM A CONTEMPORARY SKETCH]
+
+Always prompt to strike at the heart, the commander-in-chief
+determined to march straight on Acre, where that notorious Turkish
+pacha sat intrenched behind weak walls and the ramparts of terror
+which his calculating ferocity had reared around him. Ever since the
+age of the Crusades that seaport had been the chief place of arms of
+Palestine; but the harbour was now nearly silted up, and even the
+neighbouring roadstead of Hayfa was desolate. The fortress was
+formidable only to orientals. In his work, "Les Ruines," Volney had
+remarked about Acre: "Through all this part of Asia bastions, lines of
+defence, covered ways, ramparts, and in short everything relating to
+modern fortification are utterly unknown; and a single thirty-gun
+frigate would easily bombard and lay in ruins the whole coast." This
+judgment of his former friend undoubtedly lulled Bonaparte into
+illusory confidence, and the rank and file after their success at
+Jaffa expected an easy triumph at Acre.
+
+This would doubtless have happened but for British help. Captain
+Miller, of H.M.S. "Theseus," thus reported on the condition of Acre
+before Sir Sidney Smith's arrival:
+
+     "I found almost every embrasure empty except those towards the sea.
+     Many years' collection of the dirt of the town thrown in such a
+     situation as completely covered the approach to the gate from the
+     only guns that could flank it and from the sea ... none of their
+     batteries have casemates, traverses, or splinter-proofs: they have
+     many guns, but generally small and defective--the carriages in
+     general so." [115]
+
+Captain Miller's energy made good some of these defects; but the place
+was still lamentably weak when, on March 15th, Sir Sidney Smith
+arrived. The English squadron in the east of the Mediterranean had,
+to Nelson's chagrin, been confided to the command of this ardent young
+officer, who now had the good fortune to capture off the promontory of
+Mount Carmel seven French vessels containing Bonaparte's siege-train.
+This event had a decisive influence on the fortunes of the siege and
+of the whole campaign. The French cannon were now hastily mounted on
+the very walls that they had been intended to breach; while the gun
+vessels reinforced the two English frigates, and were ready to pour a
+searching fire on the assailants in their trenches or as they rushed
+against the walls. These had also been hastily strengthened under the
+direction of a French royalist officer named Phelippeaux, an old
+schoolfellow of Bonaparte, and later on a comrade of Sidney Smith,
+alike in his imprisonment and in his escape from the clutches of the
+revolutionists. Sharing the lot of the adventurous young seaman,
+Phelippeaux sailed to the Levant, and now brought to the defence of
+Acre the science of a skilled engineer. Bravely seconded by British
+officers and seamen, he sought to repair the breach effected by the
+French field-pieces, and constructed at the most exposed points inner
+defences, before which the most obstinate efforts of the storming
+parties melted away. Nine times did the assailants advance against the
+breaches with the confidence born of unfailing success and redoubled
+by the gaze of their great commander; but as often were they beaten
+back by the obstinate bravery of the British seamen and Turks.
+
+The monotony was once relieved by a quaint incident. In the course of
+a correspondence with Bonaparte, Sir Sidney Smith is said to have
+shown his annoyance by sending him a challenge to a duel. It met with
+the very proper reply that he would fight, if the English would send
+out _a Marlborough_.
+
+During these desperate conflicts Bonaparte detached a considerable
+number of troops inland to beat off a large Turkish and Mameluke force
+destined for the relief of Acre and the invasion of Egypt. The first
+encounter was near Nazareth, where Junot displayed the dash and
+resource which had brought him fame in Italy; but the decisive battle
+was fought in the Plain of Esdraelon, not far from the base of Mount
+Tabor. There Kleber's division of 2,000 men was for some hours hard
+pressed by a motley array of horse and foot drawn from diverse parts
+of the Sultan's dominions. The heroism of the burly Alsacian and the
+toughness of his men barely kept off the fierce rushes of the Moslem
+horse and foot. At last Bonaparte's cannon were heard. The chief,
+marching swiftly on with his troops drawn up in three squares,
+speedily brushed aside the enveloping clouds of orientals; finally, by
+well-combined efforts the French hurled back the enemy on passes, some
+of which had been seized by the commander's prescience. At the close
+of this memorable day (April 15th) an army of nearly 30,000 men was
+completely routed and dispersed by the valour and skilful dispositions
+of two divisions which together amounted to less than a seventh of
+that number. No battle of modern times more closely resembles the
+exploits of Alexander than this masterly concentration of force; and
+possibly some memory of this may have prompted the words of
+Kleber--"General, how great you are!"--as he met and embraced his
+commander on the field of battle. Bonaparte and his staff spent the
+night at the Convent of Nazareth; and when his officers burst out
+laughing at the story told by the Prior of the breaking of a pillar by
+the angel Gabriel at the time of the Annunciation, their untimely
+levity was promptly checked by the frown of the commander.
+
+The triumph seemed to decide the Christians of the Lebanon to ally
+themselves with Bonaparte, and they secretly covenanted to furnish
+12,000 troops at his cost; but this question ultimately depended on
+the siege of Acre. On rejoining their comrades before Acre, the
+victors found that the siege had made little progress: for a time the
+besiegers relied on mining operations, but with little success; though
+Phelippeaux succumbed to a sunstroke (May 1st), his place was filled
+by Colonel Douglas, who foiled the efforts of the French engineers
+and enabled the place to hold out till the advent of the long-expected
+Turkish succours. On May 7th their sails were visible far out on an
+almost windless sea. At once Bonaparte made desperate efforts to carry
+the "mud-hole" by storm. Led with reckless gallantry by the heroic
+Lannes, his troops gained part of the wall and planted the tricolour
+on the north-east tower; but all further progress was checked by
+English blue-jackets, whom the commodore poured into the town; and the
+Turkish reinforcements, wafted landwards by a favouring breeze, were
+landed in time to wrest the ramparts from the assailants' grip. On the
+following day an assault was again attempted: from the English ships
+Bonaparte could be clearly seen on Richard Coeur de Lion's mound
+urging on the French; but though, under Lannes' leadership, they
+penetrated to the garden of Gezzar's seraglio, they fell in heaps
+under the bullets, pikes, and scimitars of the defenders, and few
+returned alive to the camp. Lannes himself was dangerously wounded,
+and saved only by the devotion of an officer.
+
+Both sides were now worn out by this extraordinary siege. "This town
+is not, nor ever has been, defensible according to the rules of art;
+but according to every other rule it must and shall be defended"--so
+wrote Sir Sidney Smith to Nelson on May 9th. But a fell influence was
+working against the besiegers; as the season advanced, they succumbed
+more and more to the ravages of the plague; and, after failing again
+on May 10th, many of their battalions refused to advance to the breach
+over the putrid remains of their comrades. Finally, Bonaparte, after
+clinging to his enterprise with desperate tenacity, on the night of
+May 20th gave orders to retreat.
+
+This siege of nine weeks' duration had cost him severe losses, among
+them being Generals Caffarelli and Bon: but worst of all was the loss
+of that reputation for invincibility which he had hitherto enjoyed.
+His defeat at Caldiero, near Verona, in 1796 had been officially
+converted into a victory: but Acre could not be termed anything but a
+reverse. In vain did the commander and his staff proclaim that, after
+dispersing the Turks at Mount Tabor, the capture of Acre was
+superfluous; his desperate efforts in the early part of May revealed
+the hollowness of his words. There were, it is true, solid reasons for
+his retreat. He had just heard of the breaking out of the war of the
+Second Coalition against France; and revolts in Egypt also demanded
+his presence.[116] But these last events furnished a damning
+commentary on his whole Syrian enterprise, which had led to a
+dangerous diffusion of the French forces. And for what? For the
+conquest of Constantinople or of India? That dream seems to have
+haunted Bonaparte's brain even down to the close of the siege of Acre.
+During the siege, and later, he was heard to inveigh against "the
+miserable little hole" which had come between him and his destiny--the
+Empire of the East; and it is possible that ideas which he may at
+first have set forth in order to dazzle his comrades came finally to
+master his whole being. Certainly the words just quoted betoken a
+quite abnormal wilfulness as well as a peculiarly subjective notion of
+fatalism. His "destiny" was to be mapped out by his own prescience,
+decided by his own will, gripped by his own powers. Such fatalism had
+nothing in common with the sombre creed of the East: it was merely an
+excess of individualism: it was the matured expression of that feature
+of his character, curiously dominant even in childhood, that _what he
+wanted he must of necessity have_. How strange that this imperious
+obstinacy, this sublimation of western willpower, should not have been
+tamed even by the overmastering might of Nature in the Orient!
+
+As for the Empire of the East, the declared hostility of the tribes
+around Nablus had shown how futile were Bonaparte's efforts to win
+over Moslems: and his earlier Moslem proclamations were skilfully
+distributed by Sir Sidney Smith among the Christians of Syria, and
+served partly to neutralize the efforts which Bonaparte made to win
+them over.[117] Vain indeed was the effort to conciliate the Moslems
+in Egypt, and yet in Syria to arouse the Christians against the
+Commander of the Faithful. Such religious opportunism smacked of the
+Parisian boulevards: it utterly ignored the tenacity of belief of the
+East, where the creed is the very life. The outcome of all that
+_finesse_ was seen in the closing days of the siege and during the
+retreat towards Jaffa, when the tribes of the Lebanon and of the
+Nablus district watched like vultures on the hills and swooped down on
+the retreating columns. The pain of disillusionment, added to his
+sympathy with the sick and wounded, once broke down Bonaparte's
+nerves. Having ordered all horsemen to dismount so that there might be
+sufficient transport for the sick and maimed, the commander was asked
+by an equerry which horse he reserved for his own use. "Did you not
+hear the order," he retorted, striking the man with his whip,
+"everyone on foot." Rarely did this great man mar a noble action by
+harsh treatment: the incident sufficiently reveals the tension of
+feelings, always keen, and now overwrought by physical suffering and
+mental disappointment.
+
+There was indeed much to exasperate him. At Acre he had lost nearly
+5,000 men in killed, wounded, and plague-stricken, though he falsely
+reported to the Directory that his losses during the whole expedition
+did not exceed 1,500 men: and during the terrible retreat to Jaffa he
+was shocked, not only by occasional suicides of soldiers in his
+presence, but by the utter callousness of officers and men to the
+claims of the sick and wounded. It was as a rebuke to this inhumanity
+that he ordered all to march on foot, and his authority seems even to
+have been exerted to prevent some attempts at poisoning the
+plague-stricken. The narrative of J. Miot, commissary of the army,
+shows that these suggestions originated among the soldiery at Acre
+when threatened with the toil of transporting those unfortunates back
+to Egypt; and, as his testimony is generally adverse to Bonaparte, and
+he mentions the same horrible device, when speaking of the hospitals
+at Jaffa, as a camp rumour, it may be regarded as scarcely worthy of
+credence.[118]
+
+
+
+
+Undoubtedly the scenes were heartrending at Jaffa; and it has been
+generally believed that the victims of the plague were then and there
+put out of their miseries by large doses of opium. Certainly the
+hospitals were crowded with wounded and victims of the plague; but
+during the seven days' halt at that town adequate measures were taken
+by the chief medical officers, Desgenettes and Larrey, for their
+transport to Egypt. More than a thousand were sent away on ships,
+seven of which were fortunately present; and 800 were conveyed to
+Egypt in carts or litters across the desert.[119] Another fact
+suffices to refute the slander mentioned above. From the despatch of
+Sir Sidney Smith to Nelson of May 30th, 1799, it appears that, when
+the English commodore touched at Jaffa, he found some of the abandoned
+ones _still alive_: "We have found seven poor fellows in the hospital
+and will take care of them." He also supplied the French ships
+conveying the wounded with water, provisions, and stores, of which
+they were much in need, and allowed them to proceed to their
+destination. It is true that the evidence of Las Cases at St. Helena,
+eagerly cited by Lanfrey, seems to show that some of the worst cases
+in the Jaffa hospitals were got rid of by opium; but the admission by
+Napoleon that the administering of opium was justifiable occurred in
+one of those casuistical discussions which turn, not on facts, but on
+motives. Conclusions drawn from such conversations, sixteen years or
+more after the supposed occurrence, must in any case give ground
+before the evidence of contemporaries, which proves that every care
+was taken of the sick and wounded, that the proposals of poisoning
+first came from the soldiery, that Napoleon both before and after
+Jaffa set the noble example of marching on foot so that there might be
+sufficiency of transport, that nearly all the unfortunates arrived in
+Egypt and in fair condition, and that seven survivors were found alive
+at Jaffa by English officers.[120]
+
+The remaining episodes of the Eastern Expedition may be briefly
+dismissed. After a painful desert march the army returned to Egypt in
+June; and, on July 25th, under the lead of Murat and Lannes, drove
+into the sea a large force of Turks which had effected a landing in
+Aboukir Bay. Bonaparte was now weary of gaining triumphs over foes
+whom he and his soldiers despised. While in this state of mind, he
+received from Sir Sidney Smith a packet of English and German
+newspapers giving news up to June 6th, which brought him quickly to a
+decision. The formation of a powerful coalition, the loss of Italy,
+defeats on the Rhine, and the schisms, disgust, and despair prevalent
+in France--all drew his imagination westwards away from the illusory
+Orient; and he determined to leave his army to the care of Kleber and
+sail to France.
+
+The morality of this step has been keenly discussed. The rank and
+file of the army seem to have regarded it as little less than
+desertion,[121] and the predominance of personal motives in this
+important decision can scarcely be denied. His private aim in
+undertaking the Eastern Expedition, that of dazzling the imagination
+of the French people and of exhibiting the incapacity of the
+Directory, had been abundantly realized. His eastern enterprise had
+now shrunk to practical and prosaic dimensions, namely, the
+consolidation of French power in Egypt. Yet, as will appear in later
+chapters, he did not give up his oriental schemes; though at St.
+Helena he once oddly spoke of the Egyptian expedition as an "exhausted
+enterprise," it is clear that he worked hard to keep his colony. The
+career of Alexander had for him a charm that even the conquests of
+Caesar could not rival; and at the height of his European triumphs, the
+hero of Austerlitz was heard to murmur: "J'ai manque a ma fortune a
+Saint-Jean d'Acre."[122]
+
+In defence of his sudden return it may be urged that he had more than
+once promised the Directory that his stay in Egypt would not exceed
+five months; and there can be no doubt that now, as always, he had an
+alternative plan before him in case of failure or incomplete success
+in the East. To this alternative he now turned with that swiftness and
+fertility of resource which astonished both friends and foes in
+countless battles and at many political crises.
+
+It has been stated by Lanfrey that his appointment of Kleber to
+succeed him was dictated by political and personal hostility; but it
+may more naturally be considered a tribute to his abilities as a
+general and to his influence over the soldiery, which was only second
+to that of Bonaparte and Desaix. He also promised to send him speedy
+succour; and as there seemed to be a probability of France regaining
+her naval supremacy in the Mediterranean by the union of the fleet of
+Bruix with that of Spain, he might well hope to send ample
+reinforcements. He probably did not know the actual facts of the case,
+that in July Bruix tamely followed the Spanish squadron to Cadiz, and
+that the Directory had ordered Bruix to withdraw the French army from
+Egypt. But, arguing from the facts as known to him, Bonaparte might
+well believe that the difficulties of France would be fully met by his
+own return, and that Egypt could be held with ease. The duty of a
+great commander is to be at the post of greatest danger, and that was
+now on the banks of the Rhine or Mincio.
+
+The advent of a south-east wind, a rare event there at that season of
+the year, led him hastily to embark at Alexandria in the night of
+August 22nd-23rd. His two frigates bore with him some of the greatest
+sons of France; his chief of the staff, Berthier, whose ardent love
+for Madame Visconti had been repressed by his reluctant determination
+to share the fortunes of his chief; Lannes and Murat, both recently
+wounded, but covered with glory by their exploits in Syria and at
+Aboukir; his friend Marmont, as well as Duroc, Andreossi, Bessieres,
+Lavalette, Admiral Gantheaume, Monge, and Berthollet, his secretary
+Bourrienne, and the traveller Denon. He also left orders that Desaix,
+who had been in charge of Upper Egypt, should soon return to France,
+so that the rivalry between him and Kleber might not distract French
+councils in Egypt. There seems little ground for the assertion that he
+selected for return his favourites and men likely to be politically
+serviceable to him. If he left behind the ardently republican Kleber,
+he also left his old friend Junot: if he brought back Berthier and
+Marmont, he also ordered the return of the almost Jacobinical Desaix.
+Sir Sidney Smith having gone to Cyprus for repairs, Bonaparte slipped
+out unmolested. By great good fortune his frigates eluded the English
+ships cruising between Malta and Cape Bon, and after a brief stay at
+Ajaccio, he and his comrades landed at Frejus (October 9th). So great
+was the enthusiasm of the people that, despite all the quarantine
+regulations, they escorted the party to shore. "We prefer the plague
+to the Austrians," they exclaimed; and this feeling but feebly
+expressed the emotion of France at the return of the Conqueror of the
+East.
+
+And yet he found no domestic happiness. Josephine's _liaison_ with a
+young officer, M. Charles, had become notorious owing to his prolonged
+visits to her country house, La Malmaison. Alarmed at her husband's
+return, she now hurried to meet him, but missed him on the way; while
+he, finding his home at Paris empty, raged at her infidelity, refused
+to see her on her return, and declared he would divorce her. From this
+he was turned by the prayers of Eugene and Hortense Beauharnais, and
+the tears of Josephine herself. A reconciliation took place; but there
+was no reunion of hearts, and Mme. Reinhard echoed the feeling of
+respectable society when she wrote that he should have divorced her
+outright. Thenceforth he lived for Glory alone.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+BRUMAIRE
+
+
+Rarely has France been in a more distracted state than in the summer
+of 1799. Royalist revolts in the west and south rent the national
+life. The religious schism was unhealed; education was at a
+standstill; commerce had been swept from the seas by the British
+fleets; and trade with Italy and Germany was cut off by the war of
+the Second Coalition.
+
+The formation of this league between Russia, Austria, England, Naples,
+Portugal, and Turkey was in the main the outcome of the alarm and
+indignation aroused by the reckless conduct of the Directory, which
+overthrew the Bourbons at Naples, erected the Parthenopaean Republic,
+and compelled the King of Sardinia to abdicate at Turin and retire to
+his island. Russia and Austria took a leading part in forming the
+Coalition. Great Britain, ever hampered by her inept army
+organization, offered to supply money in place of the troops which she
+could not properly equip.
+
+But under the cloak of legitimacy the monarchical Powers harboured
+their own selfish designs. This Nessus' cloak of the First Coalition
+soon galled the limbs of the allies and rendered them incapable of
+sustained and vigorous action. Yet they gained signal successes over
+the raw conscripts of France. In July, 1799, the Austro-Russian army
+captured Mantua and Alessandria; and in the following month Suvoroff
+gained the decisive victory of Novi and drove the remains of the
+French forces towards Genoa. The next months were far more favourable
+to the tricolour flag, for, owing to Austro-Russian jealousies,
+Massena was able to gain an important victory at Zurich over a Russian
+army. In the north the republicans were also in the end successful.
+Ten days after Bonaparte's arrival at Frejus, they compelled an
+Anglo-Russian force campaigning in Holland to the capitulation of
+Alkmaar, whereby the Duke of York agreed to withdraw all his troops
+from that coast. Disgusted by the conduct of his allies, the Czar Paul
+withdrew his troops from any active share in the operations by land,
+thenceforth concentrating his efforts on the acquisition of Corsica,
+Malta, and posts of vantage in the Adriatic. These designs, which were
+well known to the British Government, served to hamper our naval
+strength in those seas, and to fetter the action of the Austrian arms
+in Northern Italy.[123]
+
+Yet, though the schisms of the allies finally yielded a victory to the
+French in the campaigns of 1799, the position of the Republic was
+precarious. The danger was rather internal than external. It arose
+from embarrassed finances, from the civil war that burst out with new
+violence in the north-west, and, above all, from a sense of the
+supreme difficulty of attaining political stability and of reconciling
+liberty with order. The struggle between the executive and legislative
+powers which had been rudely settled by the _coup d'etat_ of
+Fructidor, had been postponed, not solved. Public opinion was speedily
+ruffled by the Jacobinical violence which ensued. The stifling of
+liberty of the press and the curtailment of the right of public
+meeting served only to instill new energy into the party of resistance
+in the elective Councils, and to undermine a republican government
+that relied on Venetian methods of rule. Reviewing the events of those
+days, Madame de Stael finely remarked that only the free consent of
+the people could breathe life into political institutions; and that
+the monstrous system of guaranteeing freedom by despotic means served
+only to manufacture governments that had to be wound up at intervals
+lest they should stop dead.[124] Such a sarcasm, coming from the
+gifted lady who had aided and abetted the stroke of Fructidor, shows
+how far that event had falsified the hopes of the sincerest friends of
+the Revolution. Events were therefore now favourable to a return from
+the methods of Rousseau to those of Richelieu; and the genius who was
+skilfully to adapt republicanism to autocracy was now at hand. Though
+Bonaparte desired at once to attack the Austrians in Northern Italy,
+yet a sure instinct impelled him to remain at Paris, for, as he said
+to Marmont: "When the house is crumbling, is it the time to busy
+oneself with the garden? A change here is indispensable."
+
+The sudden rise of Bonaparte to supreme power cannot be understood
+without some reference to the state of French politics in the months
+preceding his return to France. The position of parties had been
+strangely complicated by the unpopularity of the Directors. Despite
+their illegal devices, the elections of 1798 and 1799 for the renewal
+of a third part of the legislative Councils had signally strengthened
+the anti-directorial ranks. Among the Opposition were some royalists,
+a large number of constitutionals, whether of the Feuillant or
+Girondin type, and many deputies, who either vaunted the name of
+Jacobins or veiled their advanced opinions under the convenient
+appellation of "patriots." Many of the deputies were young,
+impressionable, and likely to follow any able leader who promised to
+heal the schisms of the country. In fact, the old party lines were
+being effaced. The champions of the constitution of 1795 (Year III.)
+saw no better means of defending it than by violating electoral
+liberties--always in the sacred name of Liberty; and the Directory,
+while professing to hold the balance between the extreme parties,
+repressed them by turns with a vigour which rendered them popular and
+official moderation odious.
+
+
+
+In this general confusion and apathy the dearth of statesmen was
+painfully conspicuous. Only true grandeur of character can defy the
+withering influences of an age of disillusionment; and France had for
+a time to rely upon Sieyes. Perhaps no man has built up a reputation
+for political capacity on performances so slight as the Abbe Sieyes.
+In the States General of 1789 he speedily acquired renown for oracular
+wisdom, owing to the brevity and wit of his remarks in an assembly
+where such virtues were rare. But the course of the Revolution soon
+showed the barrenness of his mind and the timidity of his character.
+He therefore failed to exert any lasting influence upon events. In the
+time of the Terror his insignificance was his refuge. His witty reply
+to an inquiry how he had then fared--"J'ai vecu "--sufficiently
+characterizes the man. In the Directorial period he displayed more
+activity. He was sent as French ambassador to Berlin, and plumed
+himself on having persuaded that Court to a neutrality favourable to
+France. But it is clear that the neutrality of Prussia was the outcome
+of selfish considerations. While Austria tried the hazards of war, her
+northern rival husbanded her resources, strengthened her position as
+the protectress of Northern Germany, and dextrously sought to attract
+the nebula of middle German States into her own sphere of influence.
+From his task of tilting a balance which was already decided, Sieyes
+was recalled to Paris in May, 1799, by the news of his election to the
+place in the Directory vacated by Rewbell. The other Directors had
+striven, but in vain, to prevent his election: they knew well that
+this impracticable theorist would speedily paralyze the Government;
+for, when previously elected Director in 1795, he had refused to
+serve, on the ground that the constitution was thoroughly bad. He now
+declared his hostility to the Directory, and looked around for some
+complaisant military chief who should act as his tool and then be
+cast away. His first choice, Joubert, was killed at the battle of
+Novi. Moreau seems then to have been looked on with favour; he was a
+republican, able in warfare and singularly devoid of skill or ambition
+in political matters. Relying on Moreau, Sieyes continued his
+intrigues, and after some preliminary fencing gained over to his side
+the Director Barras. But if we may believe the assertions of the
+royalist, Hyde de Neuville, Barras was also receiving the advances of
+the royalists with a view to a restoration of Louis XVIII., an event
+which was then quite within the bounds of probability. For the
+present, however, Barras favoured the plans of Sieyes, and helped him
+to get rid of the firmly republican Directors, La Reveilliere-Lepeaux
+and Merlin, who were deposed (30th Prairial).[125]
+
+The new Directors were Gohier, Roger Ducos, and Moulin; the first, an
+elderly respectable advocate; the second, a Girondin by early
+associations, but a trimmer by instinct, and therefore easily gained
+over by Sieyes; while the recommendation of the third, Moulin, seem to
+have been his political nullity and some third-rate military services
+in the Vendean war. Yet the Directory of Prairial was not devoid of a
+spasmodic energy, which served to throw back the invaders of France.
+Bernadotte, the fiery Gascon, remarkable for his ardent gaze, his
+encircling masses of coal-black hair, and the dash of Moorish blood
+which ever aroused Bonaparte's respectful apprehensions, was Minister
+of War, and speedily formed a new army of 100,000 men: Lindet
+undertook to re-establish the finances by means of progressive taxes:
+the Chouan movement in the northern and western departments was
+repressed by a law legalising the seizure of hostages; and there
+seemed some hope that France would roll back the tide of invasion,
+keep her "natural frontiers," and return to normal methods of
+government.
+
+Such was the position of affairs when Bonaparte's arrival inspired
+France with joy and the Directory with ill-concealed dread. As in
+1795, so now in 1799, he appeared at Paris when French political life
+was in a stage of transition. If ever the Napoleonic star shone
+auspiciously, it was in the months when he threaded his path between
+Nelson's cruisers and cut athwart the maze of Sieyes' intrigues. To
+the philosopher's "J'ai vecu" he could oppose the crushing retort
+"J'ai vaincu."
+
+The general, on meeting the thinker at Gohier's house, studiously
+ignored him. In truth, he was at first disposed to oust both Sieyes
+and Barras from the Directory. The latter of these men was odious to
+him for reasons both private and public. In time past he had had good
+reasons for suspecting Josephine's relations with the voluptuous
+Director, and with the men whom she met at his house. During the
+Egyptian campaign his jealousy had been fiercely roused in another
+quarter, and, as we have seen, led to an almost open breach with his
+wife. But against Barras he still harboured strong suspicions; and the
+frequency of his visits to the Director's house after returning from
+Egypt was doubtless due to his desire to sound the depths of his
+private as well as of his public immorality. If we may credit the
+_embarras de mensonges_ which has been dignified by the name of
+Barras' "Memoirs," Josephine once fled to his house and flung herself
+at his knees, begging to be taken away from her husband; but the story
+is exploded by the moral which the relator clumsily tacks on, as to
+the good advice which he gave her.[126] While Bonaparte seems to have
+found no grounds for suspecting Barras on this score, he yet
+discovered his intrigues with various malcontents; and he saw that
+Barras, holding the balance of power in the Directory between the
+opposing pairs of colleagues, was intriguing to get the highest
+possible price for the betrayal of the Directory and of the
+constitution of 1795.
+
+For Sieyes the general felt dislike but respect. He soon saw the
+advantage of an alliance with so learned a thinker, so skilful an
+intriguer, and so weak a man. It was, indeed, necessary; for, after
+making vain overtures to Gohier for the alteration of the law which
+excluded from the Directory men of less than forty years of age,
+the general needed the alliance of Sieyes for the overthrow of the
+constitution. In a short space he gathered around him the malcontents
+whom the frequent crises had deprived of office, Roederer, Admiral
+Bruix, Real, Cambaceres, and, above all, Talleyrand. The last-named;
+already known for his skill in diplomacy, had special reasons for
+favouring the alliance of Bonaparte and Sieyes: he had been dismissed
+from the Foreign Office in the previous month of July because in his
+hands it had proved to be too lucrative to the holder and too
+expensive for France. It was an open secret that, when American
+commissioners arrived in Paris a short time previously, for the
+settlement of various disputes between the two countries, they found
+that the negotiations would not progress until 250,000 dollars had
+changed hands. The result was that hostilities continued, and that
+Talleyrand soon found himself deprived of office, until another turn
+of the revolutionary kaleidoscope should restore him to his coveted
+place.[127] He discerned in the Bonaparte-Sieyes combination the force
+that would give the requisite tilt now that Moreau gave up politics.
+
+The army and most of the generals were also ready for some change,
+only Bernadotte and Jourdan refusing to listen to the new proposals;
+and the former of these came "with sufficiently bad grace" to join
+Bonaparte at the time of action. The police was secured through that
+dextrous trimmer, the regicide Fouche, who now turned against the very
+men who had recently appointed him to office. Feeling sure of the
+soldiery and police, the innovators fixed the 18th of Brumaire as the
+date of their enterprise. There were many conferences at the houses of
+the conspirators; and one of the few vivid touches which relieve the
+dull tones of the Talleyrand "Memoirs" reveals the consciousness of
+these men that they were conspirators. Late on a night in the middle
+of Brumaire, Bonaparte came to Talleyrand's house to arrange details
+of the _coup d'etat,_ when the noise of carriages stopping outside
+caused them to pale with fear that their plans were discovered. At
+once the diplomatist blew out the lights and hurried to the balcony,
+when he found that their fright was due merely to an accident to the
+carriages of the revellers and gamesters returning from the Palais
+Royal, which were guarded by gendarmes. The incident closed with
+laughter and jests; but it illustrates the tension of the nerves of
+the political gamesters, as also the mental weakness of Bonaparte when
+confronted by some unknown danger. It was perhaps the only weak point
+in his intellectual armour; but it was to be found out at certain
+crises of his career.
+
+Meanwhile in the legislative Councils there was a feeling of vague
+disquiet. The Ancients were, on the whole, hostile to the Directory,
+but in the Council of Five Hundred the democratic ardour of the
+younger deputies foreboded a fierce opposition. Yet there also the
+plotters found many adherents, who followed the lead now cautiously
+given by Lucien Bonaparte. This young man, whose impassioned speeches
+had marked him out as an irreproachable patriot, was now President of
+that Council. No event could have been more auspicious for the
+conspirators. With Sieyes, Barras, and Ducos, as traitors in the
+Directory, with the Ancients favourable, and the junior deputies under
+the presidency of Lucien, the plot seemed sure of success.
+
+The first important step was taken by the Council of Ancients, who
+decreed the transference of the sessions of the Councils to St. Cloud.
+The danger of a Jacobin plot was urged as a plea for this motion,
+which was declared carried without the knowledge either of the
+Directory as a whole, or of the Five Hundred, whose opposition would
+have been vehement. The Ancients then appointed Bonaparte to command
+the armed forces in and near Paris. The next step was to insure the
+abdication of Gohier and Moulin. Seeking to entrap Gohier, then the
+President of the Directory, Josephine invited him to breakfast on the
+morning of 18th Brumaire; but Gohier, suspecting a snare, remained at
+his official residence, the Luxemburg Palace. None the less the
+Directory was doomed; for the two defenders of the institution had not
+the necessary quorum for giving effect to their decrees. Moulin
+thereupon escaped, and Gohier was kept under guard--by Moreau's
+soldiery![128]
+
+Meanwhile, accompanied by a brilliant group of generals, Bonaparte
+proceeded to the Tuileries, where the Ancients were sitting; and by
+indulging in a wordy declamation he avoided taking the oath to the
+constitution required of a general on entering upon a new command. In
+the Council of Five Hundred, Lucien Bonaparte stopped the eager
+questions and murmurs, on the pretext that the session was only legal
+at St. Cloud.
+
+There, on the next day (19th Brumaire or 10th November), a far more
+serious blow was to be struck. The overthrow of the Directory was a
+foregone conclusion. But with the Legislature it was far otherwise,
+for its life was still whole and vigorous. Yet, while amputating a
+moribund limb, the plotters did not scruple to paralyze the brain of
+the body politic.
+
+Despite the adhesion of most of the Ancients to his plans, Bonaparte,
+on appearing before them, could only utter a succession of short,
+jerky phrases which smacked of the barracks rather than of the Senate.
+Retiring in some confusion, he regains his presence of mind among the
+soldiers outside, and enters the hall of the Five Hundred, intending
+to intimidate them not only by threats, but by armed force. At the
+sight of the uniforms at the door, the republican enthusiasm of the
+younger deputies catches fire. They fiercely assail him with cries of
+"Down with the tyrant! down with the Dictator! outlaw him!" In vain
+Lucien Bonaparte commands order. Several deputies rush at the general,
+and fiercely shake him by the collar. He turns faint with excitement
+and chagrin; but Lefebvre and a few grenadiers rushing up drag him
+from the hall. He comes forth like a somnambulist (says an onlooker),
+pursued by the terrible cry, "Hors la loi!" Had the cries at once
+taken form in a decree, the history of the world might have been
+different. One of the deputies, General Augereau, fiercely demands
+that the motion of outlawry be put to the vote. Lucien Bonaparte
+refuses, protests, weeps, finally throws off his official robes, and
+is rescued from the enraged deputies by grenadiers whom the
+conspirators send in for this purpose. Meanwhile Bonaparte and his
+friends were hastily deliberating, when one of their number brought
+the news that the deputies had declared the general an outlaw. The
+news chased the blood from his cheek, until Sieyes, whose _sang froid_
+did not desert him in these civilian broils, exclaims, "Since they
+outlaw you, they are outlaws." This revolutionary logic recalls
+Bonaparte to himself. He shouts, "To arms!" Lucien, too, mounting a
+horse, appeals to the soldiers to free the Council from the menaces
+of some deputies armed with daggers, and in the pay of England, who
+are terrorising the majority. The shouts of command, clinched by the
+adroit reference to daggers and English gold, cause the troops to
+waver in their duty; and Lucien, pressing his advantage to the utmost,
+draws a sword, and, holding it towards his brother, exclaims that he
+will stab him if ever he attempts anything against liberty. Murat,
+Leclerc, and other generals enforce this melodramatic appeal by shouts
+for Bonaparte, which the troops excitedly take up. The drums sound for
+an advance, and the troops forthwith enter the hall. In vain the
+deputies raise the shout, "Vive la Republique," and invoke the
+constitution. Appeals to the law are overpowered by the drum and by
+shouts for Bonaparte; and the legislators of France fly pell-mell from
+the hall through doors and windows.[129]
+
+Thus was fulfilled the prophecy which eight years previously Burke had
+made in his immortal work on the French Revolution. That great thinker
+had predicted that French liberty would fall a victim to the first
+great general who drew the eyes of all men upon himself. "The moment
+in which that event shall happen, the person who really commands the
+army is your master, the master of your king, the master of your
+Assembly, the master of your whole republic."
+
+Discussions about the _coup d'etat_ of Brumaire generally confuse the
+issue at stake by ignoring the difference between the overthrow of the
+Directory and that of the Legislature. The collapse of the Directory
+was certain to take place; but few expected that the Legislature of
+France would likewise vanish. For vanish it did: not for nearly half
+a century had France another free and truly democratic representative
+assembly. This result of Brumaire was unexpected by several of the men
+who plotted the overthrow of unpopular Directors, and hoped for the
+nipping of Jacobinical or royalist designs. Indeed, no event in French
+history is more astonishing than the dispersal of the republican
+deputies, most of whom desired a change of _personnel_ but not a
+revolution in methods of government. Until a few days previously the
+Councils had the allegiance of the populace and of the soldiers; the
+troops at St. Cloud were loyal to the constitution, and respected the
+persons of the deputies until they were deluded by Lucien. For a few
+minutes the fate of France trembled in the balance; and the
+conspirators knew it.[130] Bonaparte confessed it by his incoherent
+gaspings; Sieyes had his carriage ready, with six horses, for flight;
+the terrible cry, "Hors la loi!" if raised against Bonaparte in the
+heart of Paris, would certainly have roused the populace to fury in
+the cause of liberty and have swept the conspirators to the
+guillotine. But, as it was, the affair was decided in the solitudes of
+St. Cloud by Lucien and a battalion of soldiers.
+
+Efforts have frequently been made to represent the events of Brumaire
+as inevitable and to dovetail them in with a pretended philosophy of
+history. But it is impossible to study them closely without observing
+how narrow was the margin between the success and failure of the plot,
+and how jagged was the edge of an affair which philosophizers seek to
+fit in with their symmetrical explanations. In truth, no event of
+world-wide importance was ever decided by circumstances so trifling.
+"There is but one step from triumph to a fall. I have seen that in the
+greatest affairs a little thing has always decided important
+events"--so wrote Bonaparte three years before his triumph at St.
+Cloud: he might have written it of that event. It is equally
+questionable whether it can be regarded as saving France from anarchy.
+His admirers, it is true, have striven to depict France as trodden
+down by invaders, dissolved by anarchy, and saved only by the stroke
+of Brumaire. But she was already triumphant: it was quite possible
+that she would peacefully adjust her governmental difficulties: they
+were certainly no greater than they had been in and since the year
+1797: Fouche had closed the club of the Jacobins: the Councils had
+recovered their rightful influence, and, but for the plotters of
+Brumaire, might have effected a return to ordinary government of the
+type of 1795-7. This was the real blow; that the vigorous trunk, the
+Legislature, was struck down along with the withering Directorial
+branch.
+
+The friends of liberty might well be dismayed when they saw how tamely
+France accepted this astounding stroke. Some allowance was naturally
+to be made, at first, for the popular apathy: the Jacobins, already
+discouraged by past repression, were partly dazed by the suddenness of
+the blow, and were also ignorant of the aims of the men who dealt it;
+and while they were waiting to see the import of events, power passed
+rapidly into the hands of Bonaparte and his coadjutors. Such is an
+explanation, in part at least, of the strange docility now shown by a
+populace which still vaunted its loyalty to the democratic republic.
+But there is another explanation, which goes far deeper. The
+revolutionary strifes had wearied the brain of France and had
+predisposed it to accept accomplished facts. Distracted by the talk
+about royalist plots and Jacobin plots, cowering away from the white
+ogre and the red spectre, the more credulous part of the populace was
+fain to take shelter under the cloak of a great soldier, who at least
+promised order. Everything favoured the drill-sergeant theory of
+government. The instincts developed by a thousand years of monarchy
+had not been rooted out in the last decade. They now prompted France
+to rally round her able man; and, abandoning political liberty as a
+hopeless quest, she obeyed the imperious call which promised to
+revivify the order and brilliance of her old existence with the
+throbbing blood of her new life.
+
+The French constitution was now to be reconstructed by a
+self-appointed commission which sat with closed doors. This strange
+ending to all the constitution-building of a decade was due to the
+adroitness of Lucien Bonaparte. At the close of that eventful day, the
+19th of Brumaire, he gathered about him in the deserted hall at St.
+Cloud some score or so of the dispersed deputies known to be
+favourable to his brother, declaimed against the Jacobins, whose
+spectral plot had proved so useful to the real plotters, and proposed
+to this "Rump" of the Council the formation of a commission who should
+report on measures that were deemed necessary for the public safety.
+The measures were found to be the deposition of the Directory, the
+expulsion of sixty-one members from the Councils, the nomination of
+Sieyes, Roger Ducos, and Bonaparte as provisional Consuls and the
+adjournment of the Councils for four months. The Consuls accordingly
+took up their residence in the Luxemburg Palace, just vacated by the
+Directors, and the drafting of a constitution was confided to them and
+to an _interim_ commission of fifty members chosen equally from the
+two Councils.
+
+The illegality of these devices was hidden beneath a cloak of politic
+clemency. To this commission the Consuls, or rather Bonaparte--for
+his will soon dominated that of Sieyes--proposed two most salutary
+changes. He desired to put an end to the seizure of hostages from
+villages suspected of royalism; and also to the exaction of taxes
+levied on a progressive scale, which harassed the wealthy without
+proportionately benefiting the exchequer. These two expedients,
+adopted by the Directory in the summer of 1799, were temporary
+measures adopted to stem the tide of invasion and to crush revolts;
+but they were regarded as signs of a permanently terrorist policy, and
+their removal greatly strengthened the new consular rule. The blunder
+of nearly all the revolutionary governments had been in continuing
+severe laws after the need for them had ceased to be pressing.
+Bonaparte, with infinite tact, discerned this truth, and, as will
+shortly appear, set himself to found his government on the support of
+that vast neutral mass which was neither royalist nor Jacobin, which
+hated the severities of the reds no less than the abuses of the
+_ancien regime_.
+
+While Bonaparte was conciliating the many, Sieyes was striving to body
+forth the constitution which for many years had been nebulously
+floating in his brain. The function of the Socratic [Greek: maieutaes]
+was discharged by Boulay de la Meurthe, who with difficulty reduced
+those ideas to definite shape. The new constitution was based on the
+principle: "Confidence comes from below, power from above." This meant
+that the people, that is, all adult males, were admitted only to the
+preliminary stages of election of deputies, while the final act of
+selection was to be made by higher grades or powers. The "confidence"
+required of the people was to be shown not only towards their
+nominees, but towards those who were charged with the final and most
+important act of selection. The winnowing processes in the election of
+representatives were to be carried out on a decimal system. The adult
+voters meeting in their several districts were to choose one-tenth of
+their number, this tenth being named the Notabilities of the Commune.
+These, some five or six hundred thousand in number, meeting in their
+several Departments, were thereupon to choose one-tenth of their
+number; and the resulting fifty or sixty thousand men, termed
+Notabilities of the Departments, were again to name one-tenth of their
+number, who were styled Notabilities of the Nation. But the most
+important act of selection was still to come--from above. From this
+last-named list the governing powers were to select the members of the
+legislative bodies and the chief officials and servants of the
+Government.
+
+The executive now claims a brief notice. The well-worn theory of the
+distinction of powers, that is, the legislative and executive powers,
+was maintained in Sieyes' plan. At the head of the Government the
+philosopher desired to enthrone an august personage, the Grand
+Elector, who was to be selected by the Senate. This Grand Elector was
+to nominate two Consuls, one for peace, the other for war; they were
+to nominate the Ministers of State, who in their turn selected the
+agents of power from the list of Notabilities of the Nation. The two
+Consuls and their Ministers administered the executive affairs. The
+Senate, sitting in dignified ease, was merely to safeguard the
+constitution, to elect the Grand Elector, and to select the members of
+the _Corps Legislatif_ (proper) and the Tribunate.
+
+Distrust of the former almost superhuman activity in law-making now
+appeared in divisions, checks, and balances quite ingenious in their
+complexity. The Legislature was divided into three councils: the
+_Corps Legislatif_, properly so called, which listened in silence to
+proposals of laws offered by the Council of State and criticised or
+orally approved by the Tribunate.[131] These three bodies were not
+only divided, but were placed in opposition, especially the two
+talking bodies, which resembled plaintiff and defendant pleading
+before a gagged judge. But even so the constitution was not
+sufficiently guarded against Jacobins or royalists. If by any chance a
+dangerous proposal were forced through these mutually distrustful
+bodies, the Senate was charged with the task of vetoing it, and if the
+Grand Elector, or any other high official, strove to gain a perpetual
+dictatorship, the Senate was at once to _absorb_ him into its ranks.
+
+Moreover, lest the voters should send up too large a proportion of
+Jacobins or royalists, the first selection of members of the great
+Councils and the chief functionaries for local affairs was to be made
+by the Consuls, who thus primarily exercised not only the "power from
+above," but also the "confidence" which ought to have come from below.
+Perhaps this device was necessary to set in motion Sieyes' system of
+wheels within wheels; for the Senate, which was to elect the Grand
+Elector, by whom the executive officers were indirectly to be chosen,
+was in part self-sufficient: the Consuls named the first members, who
+then co-opted, that is, chose the new members. Some impulse from
+without was also needed to give the constitution life; and this
+impulse was now to come. Where Sieyes had only contrived wheels,
+checks, regulator, break, and safety-valve, there now rushed in an
+imperious will which not only simplified the parts but supplied an
+irresistible motive power.
+
+The complexity of much of the mechanism, especially that relating to
+popular election and the legislature, entirely suited Bonaparte. But,
+while approving the triple winnowing, to which Sieyes subjected the
+results of manhood suffrage, and the subordination of the legislative
+to the executive authority,[132] the general expressed his entire
+disapproval of the limitations of the Grand Elector's powers. The name
+was anti-republican: let it be changed to First Consul. And whereas
+Sieyes condemned his grand functionary to the repose of a _roi
+faineant_, Bonaparte secured to him practically all the powers
+assigned by Sieyes to the Consuls for Peace and for War. Lastly,
+Bonaparte protested against the right of absorbing him being given to
+the Senate. Here also he was successful; and thus a delicately poised
+bureaucracy was turned into an almost unlimited dictatorship.
+
+This metamorphosis may well excite wonder. But, in truth, Sieyes and
+his colleagues were too weary and sceptical to oppose the one
+"intensely practical man." To Bonaparte's trenchant reasons and
+incisive tones the theorist could only reply by a scornful silence
+broken by a few bitter retorts. To the irresistible power of the
+general he could only oppose the subtlety of a student. And, indeed,
+who can picture Bonaparte, the greatest warrior of the age, delegating
+the control of all warlike operations to a Consul for War while
+Austrian cannon were thundering in the county of Nice and British
+cruisers were insulting the French coasts? It was inevitable that the
+reposeful Grand Elector should be transformed into the omnipotent
+First Consul, and that these powers should be wielded by Bonaparte
+himself.[133]
+
+The extent of the First Consul's powers, as finally settled by the
+joint commission, was as follows. He had the direct and sole
+nomination of the members of the general administration, of those of
+the departmental and municipal councils, and of the administrators,
+afterwards called prefects and sub-prefects. He also appointed all
+military and naval officers, ambassadors and agents sent to foreign
+Powers, and the judges in civil and criminal suits, except the _juges
+de paix_ and, later on, the members of the _Cour de Cassation_. He
+therefore controlled the army, navy, and diplomatic service, as well
+as the general administration. He also signed treaties, though these
+might be discussed, and must be ratified, by the legislative bodies.
+The three Consuls were to reside in the Tuileries palace; but, apart
+from the enjoyment of 150,000 francs a year, and occasional
+consultation by the First Consul, the position of these officials was
+so awkward that Bonaparte frankly remarked to Roederer that it would
+have been better to call them Grand Councillors. They were, in truth,
+supernumeraries added to the chief of the State, as a concession to
+the spirit of equality and as a blind to hide the reality of the new
+despotism. All three were to be chosen for ten years, and were
+re-eligible.
+
+Such is an outline of the constitution of 1799 (Year VIII.). It was
+promulgated on December 15th, 1799, and was offered to the people for
+acceptance, in a proclamation which closed with the words: "Citizens,
+the Revolution is confined to the principles which commenced it. It is
+finished." The news of this last fact decided the enthusiastic
+acceptance of the constitution. In a _plebiscite_, or mass vote of the
+people, held in the early days of 1800, it was accepted by an
+overwhelming majority, viz., by 3,011,007 as against only 1,562
+negatives. No fact so forcibly proves the failure of absolute
+democracy in France; and, whatever may be said of the methods of
+securing this national acclaim, it was, and must ever remain, the
+soundest of Bonaparte's titles to power. To a pedant who once
+inquired about his genealogy he significantly replied: "It dates from
+Brumaire."
+
+Shortly before the _plebiscite_, Sieyes and Ducos resigned their
+temporary commissions as Consuls: they were rewarded with seats in the
+Senate; and Sieyes, in consideration of his constitutional work,
+received the estate of Crosne from the nation.
+
+  "Sieyes a Bonaparte a fait present du trone,
+  Sous un pompeux debris croyant l'ensevelir.
+  Bonaparte a Sieyes a fait present de Crosne
+    Pour le payer et l'avilir."
+
+The sting in the tail of Lebrun's epigram struck home. Sieyes'
+acceptance of Crosne was, in fact, his acceptance of notice to quit
+public affairs, in which he had always moved with philosophic disdain.
+He lived on to the year 1836 in dignified ease, surveying with
+Olympian calm the storms of French and Continental politics.
+
+The two new Consuls were Cambaceres and Lebrun. The former was known
+as a learned jurist and a tactful man. He had voted for the death of
+Louis XVI., but his subsequent action had been that of a moderate, and
+his knowledge of legal affairs was likely to be of the highest service
+to Bonaparte, who intrusted him with a general oversight of
+legislation. His tact was seen in his refusal to take up his abode in
+the Tuileries, lest, as he remarked to Lebrun, he might have to move
+out again soon. The third Consul, Lebrun, was a moderate with leanings
+towards constitutional royalty. He was to prove another useful
+satellite to Bonaparte, who intrusted him with the general oversight
+of finance and regarded him as a connecting link with the moderate
+royalists. The chief secretary to the Consuls was Maret, a trusty
+political agent, who had striven for peace with England both in 1793
+and in 1797.
+
+As for the Ministers, they were now reinforced by Talleyrand, who took
+up that of Foreign Affairs, and by Berthier, who brought his powers of
+hard work to that of War, until he was succeeded for a time by Carnot.
+Lucien Bonaparte, and later Chaptal, became Minister of the Interior,
+Gaudin controlled Finance, Forfait the Navy, and Fouche the Police.
+The Council of State was organized in the following sections; that of
+_War_, which was presided over by General Brune: _Marine_, by Admiral
+Gantheaume: _Finance_, by Defermon: _Legislation_, by Boulay de la
+Meurthe: the _Interior_, by Roederer.
+
+The First Consul soon showed that he intended to adopt a non-partisan
+and thoroughly national policy. That had been, it is true, the aim of
+the Directors in their policy of balance and repression of extreme
+parties on both sides. For the reasons above indicated, they had
+failed: but now a stronger and more tactful grasp was to succeed in a
+feat which naturally became easier every year that removed the
+passions of the revolutionary epoch further into the distance. Men
+cannot for ever perorate, and agitate and plot. A time infallibly
+comes when an able leader can successfully appeal to their saner
+instincts: and that hour had now struck. Bonaparte's appeal was made
+to the many, who cared not for politics, provided that they themselves
+were left in security and comfort: it was urged quietly, persistently,
+and with the reserve power of a mighty prestige and of overwhelming
+military force. Throughout the whole of the Consulate, a policy of
+moderation, which is too often taken for weakness, was strenuously
+carried through by the strongest man and the greatest warrior of the
+age.
+
+The truly national character of his rule was seen in many ways. He
+excluded from high office men who were notorious regicides, excepting
+a few who, like Fouche, were too clever to be dispensed with. The
+constitutionals of 1791 and even declared royalists were welcomed back
+to France, and many of the Fructidorian exiles also returned.[134] The
+list of _emigres_ was closed, so that neither political hatred nor
+private greed could misrepresent a journey as an act of political
+emigration. Equally generous and prudent was the treatment of Roman
+Catholics. Toleration was now extended to orthodox or non-juring
+priests, who were required merely to _promise_ allegiance to the new
+constitution. By this act of timely clemency, orthodox priests were
+allowed to return to France, and they were even suffered to officiate
+in places where no opposition was thereby aroused.
+
+While thus removing one of the chief grievances of the Norman, Breton
+and Vendean peasants, who had risen as much for their religion as for
+their king, he determined to crush their revolts. The north-west, and
+indeed parts of the south of France, were still simmering with
+rebellions and brigandage. In Normandy a daring and able leader named
+Frotte headed a considerable band of malcontents, and still more
+formidable were the Breton "Chouans" that followed the peasant leader
+Georges Cadoudal. This man was a born leader. Though but thirty years
+of age, his fierce courage had long marked him out as the first
+fighter of his race and creed. His features bespoke a bold, hearty
+spirit, and his massive frame defied fatigue and hardship. He
+struggled on; and in the autumn of 1799 fortune seemed about to favour
+the "whites": the revolt was spreading; and had a Bourbon prince
+landed in Brittany before Bonaparte returned from Egypt, the royalists
+might quite possibly have overthrown the Directory. But Bonaparte's
+daring changed the whole aspect of affairs. The news of the stroke of
+Brumaire gave the royalists pause. At first they believed that the
+First Consul would soon call back the king, and Bonaparte skilfully
+favoured this notion: he offered a pacification, of which some of the
+harassed peasants availed themselves. Georges himself for a time
+advised a reconciliation, and a meeting of the royalist leaders voted
+to a man that they desired "to have the king and you" (Bonaparte). One
+of them, Hyde de Neuville, had an interview with the First Consul at
+Paris, and has left on record his surprise at seeing the slight form
+of the man whose name was ringing through France. At the first glance
+he took him for a rather poorly dressed lackey; but when the general
+raised his eyes and searched him through and through with their eager
+fire, the royalist saw his error and fell under the spell of a gaze
+which few could endure unmoved. The interview brought no definite
+result.
+
+Other overtures made by Bonaparte were more effective. True to his
+plan of dividing his enemies, he appealed to the clergy to end the
+civil strife. The appeal struck home to the heart or the ambitions of
+a cleric named Bernier. This man was but a village priest of La
+Vendee: yet his natural abilities gained him an ascendancy in the
+councils of the insurgents, which the First Consul was now
+victoriously to exploit. Whatever may have been Bernier's motives, he
+certainly acted with some duplicity. Without forewarning Cadoudal,
+Bourmont, Frotte, and other royalist leaders, he secretly persuaded
+the less combative leaders to accept the First Consul's terms; and a
+pacification was arranged (January 18th), In vain did Cadoudal rage
+against this treachery: in vain did he strive to break the armistice.
+Frotte in Normandy was the last to capitulate and the first to feel
+Bonaparte's vengeance: on a trumped-up charge of treachery he was
+hurried before a court-martial and shot. An order was sent from Paris
+for his pardon; but a letter which Bonaparte wrote to Brune on the day
+of the execution contains the ominous phrase: _By this time Frotte
+ought to be shot_; and a recently published letter to Hedouville
+expresses the belief that _the punishment of that desperate leader
+will doubtless contribute to the complete pacification of the
+West_.[135]
+
+In the hope of gaining over the Chouans, Bonaparte required their
+chiefs to come to Paris, where they received the greatest
+consideration. In Bernier the priest, Bonaparte discerned diplomatic
+gifts of a high order, which were soon to be tested in a far more
+important negotiation. The nobles, too, received flattering
+attentions which touched their pride and assured their future
+insignificance. Among them was Count Bourmont, the Judas of the
+Waterloo campaign.
+
+In contrast with the priest and the nobles, Georges Cadoudal stood
+firm as a rock. That suave tongue spoke to him of glory, honour, and
+the fatherland: he heeded it not, for he knew it had ordered the death
+of Frotte. There stood these fighters alone, face to face, types of
+the north and south, of past and present, fiercest and toughest of
+living men, their stern wills racked in wrestle for two hours. But
+southern craft was foiled by Breton steadfastness, and Georges went
+his way unshamed. Once outside the palace, his only words to his
+friend, Hyde de Neuville, were: "What a mind I had to strangle him in
+these arms!" Shadowed by Bonaparte's spies, and hearing that he was
+to be arrested, he fled to England; and Normandy and Brittany enjoyed
+the semblance of peace.[136]
+
+Thus ended the civil war which for nearly seven years had rent France
+in twain. Whatever may be said about the details of Bonaparte's
+action, few will deny its beneficent results on French life. Harsh and
+remorseless as Nature herself towards individuals, he certainly, at
+this part of his career, promoted the peace and prosperity of the
+masses. And what more can be said on behalf of a ruler at the end of a
+bloody revolution?
+
+Meanwhile the First Consul had continued to develop Sieyes'
+constitution in the direction of autocracy. The Council of State,
+which was little more than an enlarged Ministry, had been charged with
+the vague and dangerous function of "developing the sense of laws" on
+the demand of the Consuls; and it was soon seen that this Council was
+merely a convenient screen to hide the operations of Bonaparte's will.
+On the other hand, a blow was struck at the Tribunate, the only public
+body which had the right of debate and criticism. It was now proposed
+(January, 1800) that the time allowed for debate should be strictly
+limited. This restriction to the right of free discussion met with
+little opposition. One of the most gifted of the new tribunes,
+Benjamin Constant, the friend of Madame de Stael, eloquently pleaded
+against this policy of distrust which would reduce the Tribunate to a
+silence that would be _heard by Europe_. It was in vain. The rabid
+rhetoric of the past had infected France with a foolish fear of all
+free debate. The Tribunate signed its own death warrant; and the sole
+result of its feeble attempt at opposition was that Madame de Stael's
+_salon_ was forthwith deserted by the Liberals who had there found
+inspiration; while the gifted authoress herself was officially
+requested to retire into the country.
+
+The next act of the central power struck at freedom of the press. As a
+few journals ventured on witticisms at the expense of the new
+Government, the Consuls ordered the suppression of all the political
+journals of Paris except thirteen; and three even of these favoured
+papers were suppressed on April 7th. The reason given for this
+despotic action was the need of guiding public opinion wisely during
+the war, and of preventing any articles "contrary to the respect due
+to the social compact, to the sovereignty of the people, and to the
+glory of the armies." By a finely ironical touch Rousseau's doctrine
+of the popular sovereignty was thus invoked to sanction its violation.
+The incident is characteristic of the whole tendency of events, which
+showed that the dawn of personal rule was at hand. In fact, Bonaparte
+had already taken the bold step of removing to the Tuileries, and that
+too, on the very day when he ordered public mourning for the death of
+Washington (February 7th). No one but the great Corsican would have
+dared to brave the comments which this coincidence provoked. But he
+was necessary to France, and all men knew it. At the first sitting of
+the provisional Consuls, Ducos had said to him: "It is useless to vote
+about the presidence; it belongs to you of right"; and, despite the
+wry face pulled by Sieyes, the general at once took the chair.
+Scarcely less remarkable than the lack of energy in statesmen was the
+confusion of thought in the populace. Mme. Reinhard tells us that
+after the _coup d'etat_ people _believed they had returned to the
+first days of liberty_. What wonder, then, that the one able and
+strong-willed man led the helpless many and re-moulded Sieyes'
+constitution in a fashion that was thus happily parodied:
+
+  "J'ai, pour les fous, d'un Tribunat
+    Conserve la figure;
+  Pour les sots je laisse un Senat,
+    Mais ce n'est qu'en peinture;
+  A ce stupide magistrat
+    Ma volonte preside;
+  Et tout le Conseil d'Etat
+    Dans mon sabre reside."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+MARENGO: LUNEVILLE
+
+
+Reserving for the next chapter a description of the new civil
+institutions of France, it will be convenient now to turn to foreign
+affairs. Having arranged the most urgent of domestic questions, the
+First Consul was ready to encounter the forces of the Second
+Coalition. He had already won golden opinions in France by
+endeavouring peacefully to dissolve it. On the 25th of December, 1799,
+he sent two courteous letters, one to George III., the other to the
+Emperor Francis, proposing an immediate end to the war. The close of
+the letter to George III. has been deservedly admired: "France and
+England by the abuse of their strength may, for the misfortune of all
+nations, be long in exhausting it: but I venture to declare that the
+fate of all civilized nations is concerned in the termination of a war
+which kindles a conflagration over the whole world." This noble
+sentiment touched the imagination of France and of friends of peace
+everywhere.
+
+And yet, if the circumstances of the time be considered, the first
+agreeable impressions aroused by the perusal of this letter must be
+clouded over by doubts. The First Consul had just seized on power by
+illegal and forcible means, and there was as yet little to convince
+foreign States that he would hold it longer than the men whom he had
+displaced. Moreover, France was in a difficult position. Her treasury
+was empty; her army in Italy was being edged into the narrow
+coast-line near Genoa; and her oriental forces were shut up in their
+new conquest. Were not the appeals to Austria and England merely a
+skillful device to gain time? Did his past power in Italy and Egypt
+warrant the belief that he would abandon the peninsula and the new
+colony? Could the man who had bartered away Venetia and seized Malta
+and Egypt be fitly looked upon as the sacred'r peacemaker? In
+diplomacy men's words are interpreted by their past conduct and
+present circumstances, neither of which tended to produce confidence
+in Bonaparte's pacific overtures; and neither Francis nor George III.
+looked on the present attempt as anything but a skilful means of
+weakening the Coalition.
+
+Indeed, that league was, for various reasons, all but dissolved by
+internal dissensions. Austria was resolved to keep all the eastern
+part of Piedmont and the greater part of the Genoese Republic. While
+welcoming the latter half of this demand, George III.'s Ministers
+protested against the absorption of so great a part of Piedmont as an
+act of cruel injustice to the King of Sardinia. Austria was annoyed at
+the British remonstrances and was indignant at the designs of the Czar
+on Corsica. Accordingly no time could have been better chosen by
+Bonaparte for seeking to dissolve the Coalition, as he certainly hoped
+to do by these two letters. Only the staunch support of legitimist
+claims by England then prevented the Coalition from degenerating into
+a scramble for Italian territories.[137] And, if we may trust the
+verdict of contemporaries and his own confession at St. Helena,
+Bonaparte never expected any other result from these letters than an
+increase of his popularity in France. This was enhanced by the British
+reply, which declared that His Majesty could not place his reliance on
+"general professions of pacific dispositions": France had waged
+aggressive war, levied exactions, and overthrown institutions in
+neighbouring States; and the British Government could not as yet
+discern any abandonment of this system: something more was required
+for a durable peace: "The best and most natural pledge of its reality
+and permanence would be the restoration of that line of princes which
+for so many centuries maintained the French nation in prosperity at
+home and in consideration and respect abroad." This answer has been
+sharply criticised, and justly so, if its influence on public opinion
+be alone considered. But a perusal of the British Foreign Office
+Records reveals the reason for the use of these stiffly legitimist
+claims. Legitimacy alone promised to stop the endless shiftings of the
+political kaleidoscope, whether by France, Austria, or Russia. Our
+ambassador at Vienna was requested to inform the Government of Vienna
+of the exact wording of the British reply:
+
+     "As a proof of the zeal and steadiness with which His Majesty
+     adheres to the principles of the Confederacy, and as a testimony of
+     the confidence with which he anticipates a similar answer from His
+     Imperial Majesty, to whom an overture of a similar nature has
+     without doubt been made."
+
+But this correct conduct, while admirably adapted to prop up the
+tottering Coalition, was equally favourable to the consolidation of
+Bonaparte's power. It helped to band together the French people to
+resist the imposition of their exiled royal house by external force.
+Even George III. thought it "much too strong," though he suggested no
+alteration. At once Bonaparte retorted in a masterly note; he
+ironically presumed that His Britannic Majesty admitted the right of
+nations to choose their form of government, since only by that right
+did he wear the British crown; and he invited him not to apply to
+other peoples a principle which would recall the Stuarts to the throne
+of Great Britain.
+
+Bonaparte's diplomatic game was completely won during the debates on
+the King's speech at Westminster at the close of January, 1800. Lord
+Grenville laboriously proved that peace was impossible with a nation
+whose war was against all order, religion, and morality; and he cited
+examples of French lawlessness from Holland and Switzerland to Malta
+and Egypt. Pitt declared that the French Revolution was the severest
+trial which Providence had ever yet inflicted on the nations of the
+earth; and, claiming that there was no security in negotiating with
+France, owing to her instability, he summed up his case in the
+Ciceronian phrase: _Pacem nolo quia infida_. Ministers carried the day
+by 260 votes to 64; but they ranged nearly the whole of France on the
+side of the First Consul. No triumph in the field was worth more to
+him than these Philippics, which seemed to challenge France to build
+up a strong Government in order that the Court of St. James might find
+some firm foundation for future negotiations.
+
+Far more dextrous was the conduct of the Austrian diplomatists.
+Affecting to believe in the sincerity of the First Consul's proposal
+for peace, they so worded their note as to draw from him a reply that
+he was prepared to discuss terms of peace on the basis of the Treaty
+of Campo Formio.[138] As Austria had since then conquered the greater
+part of Italy, Bonaparte's reply immediately revealed his
+determination to reassert French supremacy in Italy and the Rhineland.
+The action of the Courts of Vienna and London was not unlike that of
+the sun and the wind in the proverbial saw. Viennese suavity induced
+Bonaparte to take off his coat and show himself as he really was:
+while the conscientious bluster of Grenville and Pitt made the First
+Consul button up his coat, and pose as the buffeted peacemaker.
+
+The allies had good grounds for confidence. Though Russia had
+withdrawn from the Second Coalition yet the Austrians continued their
+victorious advance in Italy. In April, 1800, they severed the French
+forces near Savona, driving back Suchet's corps towards Nice, while
+the other was gradually hemmed in behind the redoubts of Genoa. There
+the Imperialist advance was stoutly stayed. Massena, ably seconded by
+Oudinot and Soult, who now gained their first laurels as generals,
+maintained a most obstinate resistance, defying alike the assaults of
+the white-coats, the bombs hurled by the English squadron, and the
+deadlier inroads of famine and sickness. The garrison dwindled by
+degrees to less than 10,000 effectives, but they kept double the
+number of Austrians there, while Bonaparte was about to strike a
+terrible blow against their rear and that of Melas further west. It
+was for this that the First Consul urged Massena to hold out at Genoa
+to the last extremity, and nobly was the order obeyed.
+
+Suchet meanwhile defended the line of the River Var against Melas. In
+Germany, Moreau with his larger forces slowly edged back the chief
+Austrian army, that of General Kray, from the defiles of the Black
+Forest, compelling it to fall back on the intrenched camp at Ulm.
+
+On their side, the Austrians strove to compel Massena to a speedy
+surrender, and then with a large force to press on into Nice,
+Provence, and possibly Savoy, surrounding Suchet's force, and rousing
+the French royalists of the south to a general insurrection. They also
+had the promise of the help of a British force, which was to be landed
+at some point on the coast and take Suchet in the flank or rear.[139]
+Such was the plan, daring in outline and promising great things,
+provided that everything went well. If Massena surrendered, if the
+British War Office and Admiralty worked up to time, if the winds were
+favourable, and if the French royalists again ventured on a revolt,
+then France would be crippled, perhaps conquered. As for the French
+occupation of Switzerland and Moreau's advance into Swabia, that was
+not to prevent the prosecution of the original Austrian plan of
+advancing against Provence and wresting Nice and Savoy from the French
+grasp. This scheme has been criticised as if it were based solely on
+military considerations; but it was rather dictated by schemes of
+political aggrandizement. The conquest of Nice and Savoy was necessary
+to complete the ambitious schemes of the Hapsburgs, who sought to gain
+a large part of Piedmont at the expense of the King of Sardinia, and
+after conquering Savoy and Nice, to thrust that unfortunate king to
+the utmost verge of the peninsula, which the prowess of his
+descendants has ultimately united under the Italian tricolour.
+
+The allied plan sinned against one of the elementary rules of
+strategy; it exposed a large force to a blow from the rear, namely,
+from Switzerland. The importance of this immensely strong central
+position early attracted Bonaparte's attention. On the 17th of March
+he called his secretary, Bourrienne (so the latter states), and lay
+down with him on a map of Piedmont: then, placing pins tipped, some
+with red, others with black wax, so as to denote the positions of the
+troops, he asked him to guess where the French would beat their foes:
+
+     "How the devil should I know?" said Bourrienne. "Why, look here,
+     you fool," said the First Consul: "Melas is at Alessandria with his
+     headquarters. There he will remain until Genoa surrenders. He has
+     at Alessandria his magazines, his hospitals, his artillery, his
+     reserves. Crossing the Alps here (at the Great St. Bernard), I
+     shall fall upon Melas, cut off his communications with Austria, and
+     meet him here in the plains of the River Scrivia at San Giuliano."
+
+I quote this passage as showing how readily such stories of ready-made
+plans gain credence, until they come to be tested by Napoleon's
+correspondence. There we find no strategic soothsaying, but only a
+close watching of events as they develop day by day. In March and
+April he kept urging on Moreau the need of an early advance, while he
+considered the advantages offered by the St. Gotthard, Simplon, and
+Great St. Bernard passes for his own army. On April 27th he decided
+against the first (except for a detachment), because Moreau's advance
+was too slow to safeguard his rear on that route. He now preferred the
+Great St. Bernard, but still doubted whether, after crossing, he
+should make for Milan, or strike at Massena's besiegers, in case that
+general should be very hard pressed. Like all great commanders, he
+started with a general plan, but he arranged the details as the
+situation required. In his letter of May 19th, he poured scorn on
+Parisian editors who said he prophesied that in a month he would be at
+Milan. "That is not in my character. Very often I do _not_ say what I
+know: but never do I say what will be."
+
+The better to hide his purpose, he chose as his first base of
+operations the city of Dijon, whence he seemed to threaten either the
+Swabian or the Italian army of his foes. But this was not enough. At
+the old Burgundian capital he assembled his staff and a few regiments
+of conscripts in order to mislead the English and Austrian spies;
+while the fighting battalions were drafted by diverse routes to Geneva
+or Lausanne. So skilful were these preparations that, in the early
+days of May, the greater part of his men and stores were near the lake
+of Geneva, whence they were easily transferred to the upper valley of
+the Rhone. In order that he might have a methodical, hard-working
+coadjutor he sent Berthier from the office of the Ministry of War,
+where he had displayed less ability than Bernadotte, to be
+commander-in-chief of the "army of reserve." In reality Berthier was,
+as before in Italy and Egypt, chief of the staff; but he had the
+titular dignity of commander which the constitution of 1800 forbade
+the First Consul to assume.
+
+On May 6th Bonaparte left Paris for Geneva, where he felt the pulse of
+every movement in both campaigns. At that city, on hearing the report
+of his general of engineers, he decided to take the Great St. Bernard
+route into Italy, as against the Simplon. With redoubled energy, he
+now supervised the thousands of details that were needed to insure
+success: for, while prone to indulging in grandiose schemes, he
+revelled in the work which alone could bring them within his grasp:
+or, as Wellington once remarked, "Nothing was too great or too small
+for his proboscis." The difficulties of sending a large army over the
+Great St. Bernard were indeed immense. That pass was chosen because it
+presented only five leagues of ground impracticable for carriages. But
+those five leagues tested the utmost powers of the army and of its
+chiefs. Marmont, who commanded the artillery, had devised the
+ingenious plan of taking the cannon from their carriages and placing
+them in the hollowed-out trunks of pine, so that the trunnions fitting
+into large notches kept them steady during the ascent over the snow
+and the still more difficult descent.[140] The labour of dragging the
+guns wore out the peasants; then the troops were invited--a hundred at
+a time--to take a turn at the ropes, and were exhilarated by martial
+airs played by the bands, or by bugles and drums sounding the charge
+at the worst places of the ascent.
+
+The track sometimes ran along narrow ledges where a false step meant
+death, or where avalanches were to be feared. The elements, however,
+were propitious, and the losses insignificant. This was due to many
+causes: the ardour of the troops in an enterprise which appealed to
+French imagination and roused all their activities; the friendliness
+of the mountaineers; and the organizing powers of Bonaparte and of his
+staff; all these may be cited as elements of success. They present a
+striking contrast to the march of Hannibal's army over one of the
+western passes of the Alps. His motley host struggled over a long
+stretch of mountains in the short days of October over unknown paths,
+in one part swept away by a fall of the cliff, and ever and anon beset
+by clouds of treacherous Gauls. Seeing that the great Carthaginian's
+difficulties began long before he reached the Alps, that he was
+encumbered by elephants, and that his army was composed of diverse
+races held together only by trust in the prowess of their chief, his
+exploit was far more wonderful than that of Bonaparte, which, indeed,
+more nearly resembles the crossing of the St. Bernard by Francis I. in
+1515. The difference between the conditions of Hannibal's and
+Bonaparte's enterprises may partly be measured by the time which they
+occupied. Whereas Hannibal's march across the Alps lasted fifteen
+days, three of which were spent in the miseries of a forced halt
+amidst the snow, the First Consul's forces took but seven days.
+Whereas the Carthaginian army was weakened by hunger, the French
+carried their full rations of biscuit; and at the head of the pass the
+monks of the Hospice of St. Bernard served out the rations of bread,
+cheese, and wine which the First Consul had forwarded, and which their
+own generosity now doubled. The hospitable fathers themselves served
+at the tables set up in front of the Hospice.
+
+After insuring the regular succession of troops and stores, Bonaparte
+himself began the ascent on May 20th. He wore the gray overcoat which
+had already become famous; and his features were fixed in that
+expression of calm self-possession which he ever maintained in face of
+difficulty. The melodramatic attitudes of horse and rider, which David
+has immortalized in his great painting, are, of course, merely
+symbolical of the genius of militant democracy prancing over natural
+obstacles and wafted onwards and upwards by the breath of victory. The
+living figure was remarkable only for stern self-restraint and
+suppressed excitement; instead of the prancing war-horse limned by
+David, his beast of burden was a mule, led by a peasant; and, in place
+of victory, he had heard that Lannes with the vanguard had found an
+unexpected obstacle to his descent into Italy. The narrow valley of
+the Dora Baltea, by which alone they could advance, was wellnigh
+blocked by the fort of Bard, which was firmly held by a small Austrian
+garrison and defied all the efforts of Lannes and Berthier. This was
+the news that met the First Consul during his ascent, and again at the
+Hospice. After accepting the hospitality of the monks, and spending a
+short time in the library and chapel, he resumed his journey; and on
+the southern slopes he and his staff now and again amused themselves
+by sliding down the tracks which the passage of thousands of men had
+rendered slippery. After halting at Aosta, he proceeded down the
+valley to the fort of Bard.
+
+Meanwhile some of his foot-soldiers had worked their way round this
+obstacle by a goat-track among the hills and had already reached Ivrea
+lower down the valley. Still the fort held out against the cannonade
+of the French. Its commanding position seemed to preclude all hope of
+getting the artillery past it; and without artillery the First Consul
+could not hope for success in the plains of Piedmont. Unable to
+capture the fort, he bethought him of hurrying by night the now
+remounted guns under the cover of the houses of the village. For this
+purpose he caused the main street to be strewn with straw and dung,
+while the wheels of the cannon were covered over so as to make little
+noise. They were then dragged quietly through the village almost
+within pistol shot of the garrison: nevertheless, the defenders took
+alarm, and, firing with musketry and grenades, exploded some
+ammunition wagons and inflicted other losses; yet 40 guns and 100
+wagons were got past the fort.
+
+How this unfailing resource contrasts with the heedless behaviour of
+the enemy! Had they speedily reinforced their detachment at Bard,
+there can be little doubt that Bonaparte's movements could have been
+seriously hampered. But, up to May 21st, Melas was ignorant that his
+distant rear was being assailed, and the 3,000 Austrians who guarded
+the vale of the Dora Baltea were divided, part being at Bard and
+others at Ivrea. The latter place was taken by a rush of Lannes'
+troops on May 22nd, and Bard was blockaded by part of the French
+rearguard.
+
+Bonaparte's army, if the rearguard be included, numbered 41,000 men.
+Meanwhile, farther east, a French force of 15,000 men, drawn partly
+from Moreau's army and led by Moncey, was crossing the St. Gotthard
+pass and began to drive back the Austrian outposts in the upper valley
+of the Ticino; and 5,000 men, marching over the Mont Cenis pass,
+threatened Turin from the west. The First Consul's aim now was to
+unite the two chief forces, seize the enemy's magazines, and compel
+him to a complete surrender. This daring resolve took shape at Aosta
+on the 24th, when he heard that Melas was, on the 19th, still at Nice,
+unconscious of his doom. The chance of ending the war at one blow was
+not to be missed, even if Massena had to shift for himself.
+
+But already Melas' dream of triumph had vanished. On the 21st, hearing
+the astonishing news that a large force had crossed the St. Bernard,
+he left 18,000 men to oppose Suchet on the Var, and hurried back with
+the remainder to Turin. At the Piedmontese capital he heard that he
+had to deal with the First Consul; but not until the last day of May
+did he know that Moncey was forcing the St. Gotthard and threatening
+Milan. Then, realizing the full extent of his danger, he hastily
+called in all the available troops in order to fight his way through
+to Mantua. He even sent an express to the besiegers of Genoa to retire
+on Alessandria; but negotiations had been opened with Massena for the
+surrender of that stronghold, and the opinion of Lord Keith, the
+English admiral, decided the Austrian commander there to press the
+siege to the very end. The city was in the direst straits. Horses,
+dogs, cats, and rats were at last eagerly sought as food: and at
+every sortie crowds of the starving inhabitants followed the French in
+order to cut down grass, nettles, and leaves, which they then boiled
+with salt.[141] A revolt threatened by the wretched townsfolk was
+averted by Massena ordering his troops to fire on every gathering of
+more than four men. At last, on June 4th, with 8,000 half-starved
+soldiers he marched through the Austrian posts with the honours of
+war. The stern warrior would not hear of the word surrender or
+capitulation. He merely stated to the allied commanders that on June
+4th his troops would evacuate Genoa or clear their path by the
+bayonet.
+
+Bonaparte has been reproached for not marching at once to succour
+Massena: the charge of desertion was brought by Massena and Thiebault,
+and has been driven home by Lanfrey with his usual skill. It will,
+however, scarcely bear a close examination. The Austrians, at the
+first trustworthy news of the French inroads into Piedmont and
+Lombardy, were certain to concentrate either at Turin or Alessandria.
+Indeed, Melas was already near Turin, and would have fallen on the
+First Consul's flank had the latter marched due south towards
+Genoa.[142] Such a march, with only 40,000 men, would have been
+perilous: and it could at most only have rescued a now reduced and
+almost famishing garrison. Besides, he very naturally expected the
+besiegers of Genoa to retreat now that their rear was threatened.
+
+Sound policy and a desire to deal a dramatic stroke spurred on the
+First Consul to a more daring and effective plan; to clear Lombardy of
+the Imperialists and seize their stores; then, after uniting with
+Moncey's 15,000 troops, to cut off the retreat of all the Austrian
+forces west of Milan.
+
+On entering Milan he was greeted with wild acclaim by the partisans of
+France (June 2nd); they extolled the energy and foresight that brought
+two armies, as it were down from the clouds, to confound their
+oppressors. Numbers of men connected with the Cisalpine Republic had
+been proscribed, banished, or imprisoned by the Austrians; and their
+friends now hailed him as the restorer of their republic. The First
+Consul spent seven days in selecting the men who were to rebuild the
+Cisalpine State, in beating back the eastern forces of Austria beyond
+the River Adda, and in organizing his troops and those of Moncey for
+the final blow. The military problems, indeed, demanded great care and
+judgment. His position was curiously the reverse of that which he had
+occupied in 1796. Then the French held Tortona, Alessandria, and
+Valenza, and sought to drive back the Austrians to the walls of
+Mantua. Now the Imperialists, holding nearly the same positions, were
+striving to break through the French lines which cut them off from
+that city of refuge; and Bonaparte, having forces slightly inferior to
+his opponents, felt the difficulty of frustrating their escape.
+
+Three routes were open to Melas. The most direct was by way of Tortona
+and Piacenza along the southern bank of the Po, through the difficult
+defile of Stradella: or he might retire towards Genoa, across the
+Apennines, and regain Mantua by a dash across the Modenese: or he
+might cross the Po at Valenza and the Ticino near Pavia. All these
+roads had to be watched by the French as they cautiously drew towards
+their quarry. Bonaparte's first move was to send Murat with a
+considerable body of troops to seize Piacenza and to occupy the defile
+of Stradella. These important posts were wrested from the Austrian
+vanguard; and this success was crowned on June 9th by General Lannes'
+brilliant victory at Montebello over a superior Austrian force
+marching from Genoa towards Piacenza, which he drove back towards
+Alessandria. Smaller bodies of French were meanwhile watching the
+course of the Ticino, and others seized the magazines of the enemy at
+Cremona.
+
+After gaining precious news as to Melas' movements from an intercepted
+despatch, Bonaparte left Milan on June 9th, and proceeded to
+Stradella. There he waited for news of Suchet and Massena from the
+side of Savona and Ceva; for their forces, if united, might
+complete the circle which he was drawing around the Imperialists.[143]
+He hoped that Massena would have joined Suchet near Savona; but owing
+to various circumstances, for which Massena was in no wise to blame,
+their junction was delayed; and Suchet, though pressing on towards
+Acqui, was unable to cut off the Austrian retreat on Genoa. Yet he so
+harassed the corps opposed to him in its retreat from Nice that only
+about 8,000 Austrians joined Melas from that quarter.[144]
+
+Doubtless, Melas' best course would still have been to make a dash for
+Genoa and trust to the English ships. But this plan galled the pride
+of the general, who had culled plenteous laurels in Italy until the
+approach of Bonaparte threatened to snatch the whole chaplet from his
+brow. He and his staff sought to restore their drooping fortunes by a
+bold rush against the ring of foes that were closing around. Never has
+an effort of this kind so nearly succeeded and yet so wholly failed.
+
+The First Consul, believing that the Austrians were bent solely on
+flight, advanced from Stradella, where success would have been
+certain, into the plains of Tortona, whence he could check any move of
+theirs southwards on Genoa. But now the space which he occupied was so
+great as to weaken his line at any one point; while his foes had the
+advantage of the central position.
+
+
+
+
+Bonaparte was also forced to those enveloping tactics which had so
+often proved fatal to the Austrians four years previously; and this
+curious reversal of his usual tactics may account for the anxiety
+which he betrayed as he moved towards Marengo. He had, however,
+recently been encouraged by the arrival of Desaix from Paris after his
+return from Egypt. This dashing officer and noble man inspired him
+with a sincere affection, as was seen by the three hours of eager
+converse which he held with him on his arrival, as also by his words
+to Bourrienne: "He is quite an antique character." Desaix with 5,300
+troops was now despatched on the night of June 13th towards Genoa to
+stop the escape of the Austrians in that direction. This eccentric
+move has been severely criticised: but the facts, as then known by
+Bonaparte, seemed to show that Melas was about to march on Genoa. The
+French vanguard under Gardane had in the afternoon easily driven the
+enemy's front from the village of Marengo; and Gardane had even
+reported that there was no bridge over the River Bormida by which the
+enemy could debouch into the plain of Marengo. Marmont, pushing on
+later in the evening, had discovered that there was at least one
+well-defended bridge; and when early next morning Gardane's error was
+known, the First Consul, with a blaze of passion against the offender,
+sent a courier in hot haste to recall Desaix. Long before he could
+arrive, the battle of Marengo had begun: and for the greater part of
+that eventful day, June the 14th, the French had only 18000 men
+wherewith to oppose the onset of 31,000 Austrians.[145]
+
+As will be seen by the accompanying map, the village of Marengo lies
+in the plain that stretches eastwards from the banks of the River
+Bormida towards the hilly country of Stradella. The village lies on
+the high-road leading eastwards from the fortress of Alessandria, the
+chief stronghold of north-western Italy.
+
+[Illustration: BATTLE OF MARENGO TO ILLUSTRATE KELLERMAN'S CHARGE]
+
+The plain is cut up by numerous obstacles. Through Marengo runs a
+stream called the Fontanone. The deep curves of the Bormida, the steep
+banks of the Fontanone, along with the villages, farmsteads, and
+vineyards scattered over the plain, all helped to render an advance
+exceedingly difficult in face of a determined enemy; and these natural
+features had no small share in deciding the fortunes of the day.
+
+Shortly after dawn Melas began to pour his troops across the Bormida,
+and drove in the French outposts on Marengo: but there they met with a
+tough resistance from the soldiers of Victor's division, while
+Kellermann, the son of the hero of Valmy, performed his first great
+exploit by hurling back some venturesome Austrian horsemen into the
+deep bed of the Fontanone. This gave time to Lannes to bring up his
+division, 5,000 strong, into line between Marengo and Castel Ceriolo.
+But when the full force of the Austrian attack was developed about 10
+a.m., the Imperialists not only gained Marengo, but threw a heavy
+column, led by General Ott, against Lannes, who was constrained to
+retire, contesting every inch of the ground. Thus, when, an hour
+later, Bonaparte rode up from the distant rear, hurrying along his
+Consular Guard, his eye fell upon his battalions overpowered in front
+and outflanked on both wings. At once he launched his Consular Guard,
+1,000 strong, against Ott's triumphant ranks. Drawn up in square near
+Castel Ceriolo, it checked them for a brief space, until, plied by
+cannon and charged by the enemy's horse, these chosen troops also
+began to give ground. But at this crisis Monnier's division of 3,600
+men arrived, threw itself into the fight, held up the flood of
+white-coats around the hamlet of Li Poggi, while Carra St. Cyr
+fastened his grip on Castel Ceriolo. Under cover of this welcome
+screen, Victor and Lannes restored some order to their divisions and
+checked for a time the onsets of the enemy. Slowly but surely,
+however, the impact of the Austrian main column, advancing along the
+highroad, made them draw back on San Giuliano.
+
+By 2 p.m. the battle seemed to be lost for the French; except on the
+north of their line they were in full retreat, and all but five of
+their cannon were silenced. Melas, oppressed by his weight of years,
+by the terrific heat, and by two slight wounds, retired to
+Alessandria, leaving his chief of the staff, Zach, to direct the
+pursuit. But, unfortunately, Melas had sent back 2,200 horsemen to
+watch the district between Alessandria and Acqui, to which latter
+place Suchet's force was advancing. To guard against this remoter
+danger, he weakened his attacking force at the critical time and
+place; and now, when the Austrians approached the hill of San Giuliano
+with bands playing and colours flying, their horse was not strong
+enough to complete the French defeat. Still, such was the strength of
+their onset that all resistance seemed unavailing, until about 5 p.m.
+the approach of Desaix breathed new life and hope into the defence. At
+once he rode up to the First Consul; and if vague rumours may be
+credited, he was met by the eager question: "Well, what do you think
+of it?" To which he replied: "The battle is lost, but there is time to
+gain another." Marmont, who heard the conversation, denies that these
+words were uttered; and they presume a boldness of which even Desaix
+would scarcely have been guilty to his chief. What he unquestionably
+did urge was the immediate use of artillery to check the Austrian
+advance: and Marmont, hastily reinforcing his own five guns with
+thirteen others, took a strong position and riddled the serried ranks
+of the enemy as, swathed in clouds of smoke and dust, they pressed
+blindly forward. The First Consul disposed the troops of Desaix behind
+the village and a neighbouring hill; while at a little distance on the
+French left, Kellermann was ready to charge with his heavy cavalry as
+opportunity offered.
+
+It came quickly. Marmont's guns unsteadied Zach's grenadiers: Desaix's
+men plied them with musketry; and while they were preparing for a last
+effort, Kellermann's heavy cavalry charged full on their flank. Never
+was surprise more complete. The column was cut in twain by this onset;
+and veterans, who but now seemed about to overbear all obstacles, were
+lying mangled by grapeshot, hacked by sabres, flying helplessly amidst
+the vineyards, or surrendering by hundreds. A panic spread to their
+comrades; and they gave way on all sides before the fiercely rallying
+French. The retreat became a rout as the recoiling columns neared the
+bridges of the Bormida: and night closed over a scene of wild
+confusion, as the defeated army, thrust out from the shelter of
+Marengo, flung itself over the river into the stronghold of
+Alessandria.
+
+Such was the victory of Marengo. It was dearly bought; for, apart from
+the heavy losses, amounting on either side to about one-third of the
+number engaged, the victors sustained an irreparable loss in the death
+of Desaix, who fell in the moment when his skill and vigour snatched
+victory from defeat. The victory was immediately due to Kellermann's
+brilliant charge; and there can be no doubt, in spite of Savary's
+statements, that this young officer made the charge on his own
+initiative. Yet his onset could have had little effect, had not Desaix
+shaken the enemy and left him liable to a panic like that which
+brought disaster to the Imperialists at Rivoli. Bonaparte's
+dispositions at the crisis were undoubtedly skilful; but in the first
+part of the fight his conduct was below his reputation. We do not hear
+of him electrifying his disordered troops by any deed comparable with
+that of Caesar, when, shield in hand, he flung himself among the
+legionaries to stem the torrent of the Nervii. At the climax of the
+fight he uttered the words "Soldiers, remember it is my custom to
+bivouac on the field of battle"--tame and egotistical words
+considering the gravity of the crisis.
+
+On the evening of the great day, while paying an exaggerated
+compliment to Bessieres and the cavalry of the Consular Guard, he
+merely remarked to Kellermann: "You made a very good charge"; to which
+that officer is said to have replied: "I am glad you are satisfied,
+general: for it has placed the crown on your head." Such pettiness was
+unworthy of the great captain who could design and carry through the
+memorable campaign of Marengo. If the climax was not worthy of the
+inception, yet the campaign as a whole must be pronounced a
+masterpiece. Since the days of Hannibal no design so daring and
+original had startled the world. A great Austrian army was stopped in
+its victorious career, was compelled to turn on its shattered
+communications, and to fight for its existence some 120 miles to the
+rear of the territory which it seemed to have conquered. In fact, the
+allied victories of the past year were effaced by this march of
+Bonaparte's army, which, in less than a month after the ascent of the
+Alps, regained Nice, Piedmont, and Lombardy, and reduced the
+Imperialists to the direst straits.
+
+Staggered by this terrific blow, Melas and his staff were ready to
+accept any terms that were not deeply humiliating; and Bonaparte on
+his side was not loth to end the campaign in a blaze of glory. He
+consented that the Imperial troops should retire to the east of the
+Mincio, except at Peschiera and Mantua, which they were still to
+occupy. These terms have been variously criticised: Melas has been
+blamed for cowardice in surrendering the many strongholds, including
+Genoa, which his men firmly held. Yet it must be remembered that he
+now had at Alessandria less than 20,000 effectives, and that 30,000
+Austrians in isolated bodies were practically at the mercy of the
+French between Savona and Brescia. One and all they could now retire
+to the Mincio and there resume the defence of the Imperial
+territories. The political designs of the Court of Vienna on Piedmont
+were of course shattered; but it now recovered the army which it had
+heedlessly sacrificed to territorial greed. Bonaparte has also been
+blamed for the lenience of his terms. Severer conditions could
+doubtless have been extorted; but he now merged the soldier in the
+statesman. He desired peace for the sake of France and for his own
+sake. After this brilliant stroke peace would be doubly grateful to a
+people that longed for glory but also yearned to heal the wounds of
+eight years' warfare. His own position as First Consul was as yet
+ill-established; and he desired to be back at Paris so as to curb the
+restive Tribunate, overawe Jacobins and royalists, and rebuild the
+institutions of France.
+
+Impelled by these motives, he penned to the Emperor Francis an
+eloquent appeal for peace, renewing his offer of treating with Austria
+on the basis of the treaty of Campo Formio.[146] But Austria was not
+as yet so far humbled as to accept such terms; and it needed the
+master-stroke of Moreau at the great battle of Hohenlinden (December
+2nd, 1800), and the turning of her fortresses on the Mincio by the
+brilliant passage of the Spluegen in the depths of winter by
+Macdonald--a feat far transcending that of Bonaparte at the St.
+Bernard--to compel her to a peace. A description of these events would
+be beyond the scope of this work; and we now return to consider the
+career of Bonaparte as a statesman.
+
+After a brief stay at Milan and Turin, where he was received as the
+liberator of Italy, the First Consul crossed the Alps by the Mont
+Cenis pass and was received with rapturous acclaim at Lyons and Paris.
+He had been absent from the capital less than two calendar months.
+
+He now sent a letter to the Czar Paul, offering that, if the French
+garrison of Malta were compelled by famine to evacuate that island, he
+would place it in the hands of the Czar, as Grand Master of the
+Knights of St. John. Rarely has a "Greek gift" been more skilfully
+tendered. In the first place, Valetta was so closely blockaded by
+Nelson's cruisers and invested by the native Maltese that its
+surrender might be expected in a few weeks; and the First Consul was
+well aware how anxiously the Czar had been seeking to gain a foothold
+at Malta, whence he could menace Turkey from the south-east. In his
+wish completely to gain over Russia, Bonaparte also sent back,
+well-clad and well-armed, the prisoners taken from the Russian armies
+in 1799, a step which was doubly appreciated at Petersburg because the
+Russian troops which had campaigned with the Duke of York in Holland
+were somewhat shabbily treated by the British Government in the
+Channel Islands, where they took up their winter quarters. Accordingly
+the Czar now sent Kalicheff to Paris, for the formation of a
+Franco-Russian alliance. He was warmly received. Bonaparte promised in
+general terms to restore the King of Sardinia to his former realm and
+the Pope to his States. On his side, the Czar sent the alluring advice
+to Bonaparte to found a dynasty and thereby put an end to the
+revolutionary principles which had armed Europe against France. He
+also offered to recognize the natural frontiers of France, the Rhine
+and the Maritime Alps, and claimed that German affairs should be
+regulated under his own mediation. When both parties were so
+complaisant, a bargain was easily arranged. France and Russia
+accordingly joined hands in order to secure predominance in the
+affairs of Central and Southern Europe, and to counterbalance
+England's supremacy at sea.
+
+For it was not enough to break up the Second Coalition and recover
+Northern Italy. Bonaparte's policy was more than European; it was
+oceanic. England must be beaten on her own element: then and then only
+could the young warrior secure his grasp on Egypt and return to his
+oriental schemes. His correspondence before and after the Marengo
+campaign reveals his eagerness for a peace with Austria and an
+alliance with Russia. His thoughts constantly turn to Egypt. He
+bargains with Britain that his army there may be revictualled, and so
+words his claim that troops can easily be sent also. Lord Grenville
+refuses (September 10th); whereupon Bonaparte throws himself eagerly
+into further plans for the destruction of the islanders. He seeks to
+inflame the Czar's wrath against the English maritime code. His
+success for the time is complete. At the close of 1800 the Russian
+Emperor marshals the Baltic Powers for the overthrow of England's
+navy, and outstrips Bonaparte's wildest hopes by proposing a
+Franco-Russian invasion of India with a view to "dealing his enemy a
+mortal blow." This plan, as drawn up at the close of 1800, arranged
+for the mustering of 35,000 Russians at Astrakan; while as many French
+were to fight their way to the mouth of the Danube, set sail on
+Russian ships for the Sea of Azov, join their allies on the Caspian
+Sea, sail to its southern extremity, and, rousing the Persians and
+Afghans by the hope of plunder, sweep the British from India. The
+scheme received from Bonaparte a courteous perusal; but he subjected
+it to several criticisms, which led to less patient rejoinders from
+the irascible potentate. Nevertheless, Paul began to march his troops
+towards the lower Volga, and several polks of Cossacks had crossed
+that river on the ice, when the news of his assassination cut short
+the scheme.[147]
+
+The grandiose schemes of Paul vanished with their fantastic contriver;
+but the _rapprochement_ of Russia to revolutionary France was
+ultimately to prove an event of far-reaching importance; for the
+eastern power thereby began to exert on the democracy of western
+Europe that subtle, semi-Asiatic influence which has so powerfully
+warped its original character.
+
+The dawn of the nineteenth century witnessed some startling
+rearrangements on the political chess-board.
+
+
+While Bonaparte brought Russia and France to sudden amity, the
+unbending maritime policy of Great Britain leagued the Baltic Powers
+against the mistress of the seas. In the autumn of 1800 the Czar Paul,
+after hearing of our capture of Malta, forthwith revived the Armed
+Neutrality League of 1780 and opposed the forces of Russia, Prussia,
+Sweden, and Denmark to the might of England's navy. But Nelson's
+brilliant success at Copenhagen and the murder of the Czar by a palace
+conspiracy shattered this league only four months after its formation,
+and the new Czar, Alexander, reverted for a time to friendship with
+England.[148] This sudden ending to the first Franco-Russia alliance
+so enraged Bonaparte that he caused a paragraph to be inserted in the
+official "Moniteur," charging the British Government with procuring
+the assassination of Paul, an insinuation that only proclaimed his
+rage at this sudden rebuff to his hitherto successful diplomacy.
+Though foiled for a time, he never lost sight of the hoped-for
+alliance, which, with a deft commixture of force and persuasion, he
+gained seven years later after the crushing blow of Friedland.
+
+Dread of a Franco-Russian alliance undoubtedly helped to compel
+Austria to a peace. Humbled by Moreau at the great battle of
+Hohenlinden, the Emperor Francis opened negotiations at Luneville in
+Lorraine. The subtle obstinacy of Cobenzl there found its match in the
+firm yet suave diplomacy of Joseph Bonaparte, who wearied out Cobenzl
+himself, until the march of Moreau towards Vienna compelled Francis to
+accept the River Adige as his boundary in Italy. The other terms of
+the treaty (February 9th, 1801) were practically the same as those of
+the treaty of Campo Formio, save that the Hapsburg Grand Duke of
+Tuscany was compelled to surrender his State to a son of the Bourbon
+Duke of Parma. He himself was to receive "compensation" in Germany,
+where also the unfortunate Duke of Modena was to find consolation in
+the district of the Breisgau on the Upper Rhine. The helplessness of
+the old Holy Roman Empire was, indeed, glaringly displayed; for
+Francis now admitted the right of the French to interfere in the
+rearrangement of that medley of States. He also recognized the
+Cisalpine, Ligurian, Helvetic, and Batavian Republics, as at present
+constituted; but their independence, and the liberty of their peoples
+to choose what form of government they thought fit, were expressly
+stipulated.
+
+The Court of Naples also made peace with France by the treaty of
+Florence (March, 1801), whereby it withdrew its troops from the States
+of the Church, and closed its ports to British and Turkish ships; it
+also renounced in favour of the French Republic all its claims over a
+maritime district of Tuscany known as the Presidii, the little
+principality of Piombino, and a port in the Isle of Elba. These
+cessions fitted in well with Napoleon's schemes for the proposed
+elevation of the heir of the Duchy of Parma to the rank of King of
+Tuscany or Etruria. The King of Naples also pledged himself to admit
+and support a French corps in his dominions. Soult with 10,000 troops
+thereupon occupied Otranto, Taranto, and Brindisi, in order to hold
+the Neapolitan Government to its engagements, and to facilitate French
+intercourse with Egypt.
+
+In his relations with the New World Bonaparte had also prospered.
+Certain disputes between France and the United States had led to
+hostilities in the year 1798. Negotiations for peace were opened in
+March, 1800, and led to the treaty of Morfontaine, which enabled
+Bonaparte to press on the Court of Madrid the scheme of the
+Parma-Louisiana exchange, that promised him a magnificent empire on
+the banks of the Mississippi.
+
+These and other grandiose designs were confided only to Talleyrand and
+other intimate counsellors. But, even to the mass of mankind, the
+transformation scene ushered in by the nineteenth century was one of
+bewildering brilliance. Italy from the Alps to her heel controlled by
+the French; Austria compelled to forego all her Italian plans;
+Switzerland and Holland dominated by the First Consul's influence;
+Spain following submissively his imperious lead; England, despite all
+her naval triumphs, helpless on land; and France rapidly regaining
+more than all her old prestige and stability under the new
+institutions which form the most enduring tribute to the First
+Consul's glory.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+THE NEW INSTITUTIONS OF FRANCE
+
+
+"We have done with the romance of the Revolution: we must now commence
+its history. We must have eyes only for what is real and practicable
+in the application of principles, and not for the speculative and
+hypothetical." Such were the memorable words of Bonaparte to his
+Council of State at one of its early meetings. They strike the keynote
+of the era of the Consulate. It was a period of intensely practical
+activity that absorbed all the energies of France and caused the
+earlier events of the Revolution to fade away into a seemingly remote
+past. The failures of the civilian rulers and the military triumphs of
+Bonaparte had exerted a curious influence on the French character,
+which was in a mood of expectant receptivity. In 1800 everything was
+in the transitional state that favours the efforts of a master
+builder; and one was now at hand whose constructive ability in civil
+affairs equalled his transcendent genius for war.
+
+I propose here briefly to review the most important works of
+reconstruction which render the Consulate and the early part of the
+Empire for ever famous. So vast and complex were Bonaparte's efforts
+in this field that they will be described, not chronologically, but
+subject by subject. The reader will, however, remember that for the
+most part they went on side by side, even amidst the distractions
+caused by war, diplomacy, colonial enterprises, and the myriad details
+of a vast administration. What here appears as a series of canals was
+in reality a mighty river of enterprise rolling in undivided volume
+and fed by the superhuman vitality of the First Consul. It was his
+inexhaustible curiosity which compelled functionaries to reveal the
+secrets of their office: it was his intelligence that seized on the
+salient points of every problem and saw the solution: it was his
+ardour and mental tenacity which kept his Ministers and committees
+hard at work, and by toil of sometimes twenty hours a day supervised
+the results: it was, in fine, his passion for thoroughness, his
+ambition for France, that nerved every official with something of his
+own contempt of difficulties, until, as one of them said, "the
+gigantic entered into our very habits of thought."[149]
+
+The first question of political reconstruction which urgently claimed
+attention was that of local government. On the very day when it was
+certain that the nation had accepted the new constitution, the First
+Consul presented to the Legislature a draft of a law for regulating
+the affairs of the Departments. It must be admitted that local
+self-government, as instituted by the men of 1789 in their
+Departmental System, had proved a failure. In that time of buoyant
+hope, when every difficulty and abuse seemed about to be charmed away
+by the magic of universal suffrage, local self-government of a most
+advanced type had been intrusted to an inexperienced populace. There
+were elections for the commune or parish, elections for the canton,
+elections for the district, elections for the Department, and
+elections for the National Assembly, until the rustic brain, after
+reeling with excitement, speedily fell back into muddled apathy and
+left affairs generally to the wire-pullers of the nearest Jacobin
+club. A time of great confusion ensued. Law went according to local
+opinion, and the national taxes were often left unpaid. In the Reign
+of Terror this lax system was replaced by the despotism of the secret
+committees, and the way was thus paved for a return to organized
+central control, such as was exercised by the Directory.
+
+The First Consul, as successor to the Directory, therefore found
+matters ready to his hand for a drastic measure of centralization, and
+it is curious to notice that the men of 1789 had unwittingly cleared
+the ground for him. To make way for the "supremacy of the general
+will," they abolished the _Parlements_, which had maintained the old
+laws, customs, and privileges of their several provinces, and had
+frequently interfered in purely political matters. The abolition of
+these and other privileged corporations in 1789 unified France and
+left not a single barrier to withstand either the flood of democracy
+or the backwash of reaction. Everything therefore favoured the action
+of the First Consul in drawing all local powers under his own control.
+France was for the moment weary of elective bodies, that did little
+except waste the nation's taxes; and though there was some opposition
+to the new proposal, it passed on February 16th, 1800 (28 Pluviose,
+an, viii).
+
+It substituted local government by the central power for local
+self-government. The local divisions remained the same, except that
+the "districts," abolished by the Convention, were now reconstituted
+on a somewhat larger scale, and were termed _arrondissements_, while
+the smaller communes, which had been merged in the cantons since 1795,
+were also revived. It is noteworthy that, of all the areas mapped out
+by the Constituent Assembly in 1789-90, only the Department and canton
+have had a continuous existence--a fact which seems to show the peril
+of tampering with well-established boundaries, and of carving out a
+large number of artificial districts, which speedily become the
+_corpus vile_ of other experimenters. Indeed, so little was there of
+effective self-government that France seems to have sighed with relief
+when order was imposed by Bonaparte in the person of a Prefect. This
+important official, a miniature First Consul, was to administer the
+affairs of the Department, while sub-prefects were similarly placed
+over the new _arrondissements_, and mayors over the communes. The
+mayors were appointed by the First Consul in communes of more than
+5,000 souls: by the prefects in the smaller communes: all were alike
+responsible to the central power.
+
+The rebound from the former electoral system, which placed all local
+authority ultimately in the hands of the voters, was emphasized by
+Article 75 of the constitution, which virtually raised officials
+beyond reach of prosecution. It ran thus: "The agents of the
+Government, other than the Ministers, cannot be prosecuted for facts
+relating to their duties except by a decision of the Council of State:
+in that case the prosecution takes place before the ordinary
+tribunals." Now, as this decision rested with a body composed almost
+entirely of the higher officials, it will be seen that the chance of
+a public prosecution of an official became extremely small. France was
+therefore in the first months of 1800 handed over to a hierarchy of
+officials closely bound together by interest and _esprit de corps_;
+and local administration, after ten years of democratic experiments,
+practically reverted to what it had been under the old monarchy. In
+fact, the powers of the Prefects were, on the whole, much greater than
+those of the royal Intendants: for while the latter were hampered by
+the provincial _Parlements_, the nominees of the First Consul had to
+deal with councils that retained scarce the shadow of power. The real
+authority in local matters rested with the Prefects. The old elective
+bodies survived, it is true, but their functions were now mainly
+advisory; and, lest their advice should be too copious, the sessions
+of the first two bodies were limited to a fortnight a year. Except for
+a share in the assessment of taxation, their existence was merely a
+screen to hide the reality of the new central despotism.[150]
+Beneficent it may have been; and the choice of Prefects was certainly
+a proof of Bonaparte's discernment of real merit among men of all
+shades of opinion; but for all that, it was a despotism, and one that
+has inextricably entwined itself with the whole life of France.[151]
+
+It seems strange that this law should not have aroused fierce
+opposition; for it practically gagged democracy in its most
+appropriate and successful sphere of action, local self-government,
+and made popular election a mere shadow, except in the single act of
+the choice of the local _juges de paix_. This was foreseen by the
+Liberals in the Tribunate: but their power was small since the
+regulations passed in January: and though Daunou, as "reporter,"
+sharply criticised this measure, yet he lamely concluded with the
+advice that it would be dangerous to reject it. The Tribunes therefore
+passed the proposal by 71 votes to 25: and the Corps Legislatif by 217
+to 68.
+
+The results of this new local government have often been considered so
+favourable as to prove that the genius of the French people requires
+central control rather than self-government. But it should be noted
+that the conditions of France from 1790 to 1800 were altogether
+hostile to the development of free institutions. The fierce feuds at
+home, the greed and the class jealousies awakened by confiscation, the
+blasts of war and the blight of bankruptcy, would have severely tested
+the firmest of local institutions; they were certain to wither so
+delicate an organism as an absolute democracy, which requires peace,
+prosperity, and infinite patience for its development. Because France
+then came to despair of her local self-government, it did not follow
+that she would fail after Bonaparte's return had restored her prestige
+and prosperity. But the national _elan_ forbade any postponement or
+compromise; and France forthwith accepted the rule of an able official
+hierarchy as a welcome alternative to the haphazard acts of local
+busybodies. By many able men the change has been hailed as a proof of
+Bonaparte's marvellous discernment of the national character, which,
+as they aver, longs for brilliance, order, and strong government,
+rather than for the steep and thorny paths of liberty. Certainly there
+is much in the modern history of France which supports this opinion.
+Yet perhaps these characteristics are due very largely to the master
+craftsman, who fashioned France anew when in a state of receptivity,
+and thus was able to subject democracy to that force which alone has
+been able to tame it--the mighty force of militarism.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The return to a monarchical policy was nowhere more evident than in
+the very important negotiations which regulated the relations of
+Church and State and produced the _Concordat_ or treaty of peace with
+the Roman Catholic Church. But we must first look back at the events
+which had reduced the Roman Catholic Church in France to its pitiable
+condition.
+
+The conduct of the revolutionists towards the Church of France was
+actuated partly by the urgent needs of the national exchequer, partly
+by hatred and fear of so powerful a religious corporation. Idealists
+of the new school of thought, and practical men who dreaded
+bankruptcy, accordingly joined in the assault on its property and
+privileges: its tithes were confiscated, the religious houses and
+their property were likewise absorbed, and its lands were declared to
+be the lands of the nation. A budget of public worship was, it is
+true, designed to support the bishops and priests; but this solemn
+obligation was soon renounced by the fiercer revolutionists. Yet
+robbery was not their worst offence. In July, 1790, they passed a law
+called the Civil Constitution of the Clergy, which aimed at subjecting
+the Church to the State. It compelled bishops and priests to seek
+election by the adult males of their several Departments and parishes,
+and forced them to take a stringent oath of obedience to the new order
+of things. All the bishops but four refused to take an oath which set
+at naught the authority of the Pope: more than 50,000 priests likewise
+refused, and were ejected from their livings: the recusants were
+termed _orthodox_ or _non-juring_ priests, and by the law of August,
+1792, they were exiled from France, while their more pliable or
+time-serving brethren who accepted the new decree were known as
+_constitutionals_. About 12,000 of the constitutionals married, while
+some of them applauded the extreme Jacobinical measures of the Terror.
+One of them shocked the faithful by celebrating the mysteries, having
+a _bonnet rouge_ on his head, holding a pike in his hand, while his
+wife was installed near the altar.[152] Outrages like these were rare:
+but they served to discredit the constitutional Church and to throw up
+in sharper relief the courage with which the orthodox clergy met exile
+and death for conscience' sake. Moreover, the time-serving of the
+constitutionals was to avail them little: during the Terror their
+stipends were unpaid, and the churches were for the most part closed.
+After a partial respite in 1795-6, the _coup d'etat_ of Fructidor
+(1797) again ushered in two years of petty persecutions; but in the
+early summer of 1799 constitutionals were once more allowed to observe
+the Christian Sunday, and at the time of Bonaparte's return from
+Egypt their services were more frequented than those of the
+Theophilanthropists on the _decadis_. It was evident, then, that the
+anti-religious _furor_ had burnt itself out, and that France was
+turning back to her old faith. Indeed, outside Paris and a few other
+large towns, public opinion mocked at the new cults, and in the
+country districts the peasantry clung with deep affection to their old
+orthodox priests, often following them into the forests to receive
+their services and forsaking those of their supplanters.
+
+Such, then, was the religious state of France in 1799: her clergy were
+rent by a formidable schism; the orthodox priests clung where possible
+to their parishioners, or lived in destitution abroad; the
+constitutional priests, though still frowned on by the Directory, were
+gaining ground at the expense of the Theophilanthropists, whose
+expiring efforts excited ridicule. In fine, a nation weary of
+religious experiments and groping about for some firm anchorage in the
+midst of the turbid ebb-tide and its numerous backwaters.[153]
+
+Despite the absence of any deep religious belief, Bonaparte felt the
+need of religion as the bulwark of morality and the cement of society.
+During his youth he had experienced the strength of Romanism in
+Corsica, and during his campaigns in Italy he saw with admiration the
+zeal of the French orthodox priests who had accepted exile and poverty
+for conscience' sake. To these outcasts he extended more protection
+than was deemed compatible with correct republicanism; and he received
+their grateful thanks. After Brumaire he suppressed the oath
+previously exacted from the clergy, and replaced it by a _promise_ of
+fidelity to the constitution. Many reasons have been assigned for this
+conduct, but doubtless his imagination was touched by the sight of the
+majestic hierarchy of Rome, whose spiritual powers still prevailed,
+even amidst the ruin of its temporal authority, and were slowly but
+surely winning back the ground lost in the Revolution. An influence so
+impalpable yet irresistible, that inherited from the Rome of the
+Caesars the gift of organization and the power of maintaining
+discipline, in which the Revolution was so signally lacking, might
+well be the ally of the man who now dominated the Latin peoples. The
+pupil of Caesar could certainly not neglect the aid of the spiritual
+hierarchy, which was all that remained of the old Roman grandeur.
+
+
+
+
+Added to this was his keen instinct for reality, which led him to
+scorn such whipped-up creeds as Robespierre's Supreme Being and that
+amazing hybrid, Theophilanthropy, offspring of the Goddess of Reason
+and La Reveilliere-Lepeaux. Having watched their manufacture, rise and
+fall, he felt the more regard for the faith of his youth, which
+satisfied one of the most imperious needs of his nature, a craving for
+certainty. Witness this crushing retort to M. Mathieu: "What is your
+Theophilanthropy? Oh, don't talk to me of a religion which only takes
+me for this life, without telling me whence I come or whither I go."
+Of course, this does not prove the reality of Napoleon's religion; but
+it shows that he was not devoid of the religious instinct.
+
+The victory of Marengo enabled Bonaparte to proceed with his plans for
+an accommodation with the Vatican; and he informed one of the Lombard
+bishops that he desired to open friendly relations with Pope Pius
+VII., who was then about to make his entry into Rome. There he
+received the protection of the First Consul, and soon recovered his
+sovereignty over his States, excepting the Legations.
+
+The negotiations between Paris and the Vatican were transacted chiefly
+by a very able priest, Bernier by name, who had gained the First
+Consul's confidence during the pacification of Brittany, and now urged
+on the envoys of Rome the need of deferring to all that was reasonable
+in the French demands. The negotiators for the Vatican were Cardinals
+Consalvi and Caprara, and Monseigneur Spina--able ecclesiastics, who
+were fitted to maintain clerical claims with that mixture of
+suppleness and firmness which had so often baffled the force and craft
+of mighty potentates. The first difficulty arose on the question of
+the resignation of bishops of the Gallican Church: Bonaparte demanded
+that, whether orthodox or constitutionals, they must resign their sees
+into the Pope's hands; failing that, they must be deposed by the papal
+authority. Sweeping as this proposal seemed, Bonaparte claimed that
+bishops of both sides must resign, in order that a satisfactory
+selection might be made. Still more imperious was the need that the
+Church should renounce all claim to her confiscated domains. All
+classes of the community, so urged Bonaparte, had made immense
+sacrifices during the Revolution; and now that peasants were settled
+on these once clerical lands, the foundations of society would be
+broken up by any attempt to dispossess them.
+
+To both of these proposals the Court of Rome offered a tenacious
+resistance. The idea of compelling long-persecuted bishops to resign
+their sees was no less distasteful than the latter proposal, which
+involved acquiescence in sacrilegious robbery. At least, pleaded Mgr.
+Spina, let tithes be re-established. To this request the First Consul
+deigned no reply. None, indeed, was possible except a curt refusal.
+Few imposts had been so detested as the tithe; and its reimposition
+would have wounded the peasant class, on which the First Consul based
+his authority. So long as he had their support he could treat with
+disdain the scoffs of the philosophers and even the opposition of his
+officers; but to have wavered on the subject of tithe and of the
+Church lands might have been fatal even to the victor of Marengo.[154]
+
+In fact, the difficulty of effecting any compromise was enormous. In
+seeking to reconcile the France of Rousseau and Robespierre to the
+unchanging policy of the Vatican, the "heir to the Revolution" was
+essaying a harder task than any military enterprise. To slay men has
+ever been easier than to mould their thoughts anew; and Bonaparte was
+now striving not only to remould French thought but also to fashion
+anew the ideas of the Eternal City. He soon perceived that this latter
+enterprise was more difficult than the former. The Pope and his
+councillors rejoiced at the signs of his repentance, but required to
+see the fruits thereof. Instead of first-fruits they received
+unheard-of demands--the surrender of the three Legations of Bologna,
+Ferrara, and Romagna, the renunciation of all tithes and Church lands
+in France, and the acceptance of a compromise with schismatics. What
+wonder that the replies from Rome were couched in the _non possumus_
+terms which form the last refuge of the Vatican. Finding that
+negotiations made no progress, Bonaparte intrusted Berthier and Murat
+to pay a visit to Rome and exercise a discreet but burdensome pressure
+in the form of requisitions for the French troops in the Papal States.
+
+The ratification of peace with Austria gave greater weight to his
+representations at Rome, and he endeavoured to press on the signature
+of the Concordat, so as to startle the world by the simultaneous
+announcement of the pacification of the Continent and of the healing
+of the great religious schism in France. But the clerical machinery
+worked too slowly to admit of this projected _coup de theatre_. In
+Bonaparte's proposals of February 25th, 1801, there were several
+demands already found to be inadmissible at the Vatican;[155] and
+matters came to a deadlock until the Pope invested Spina with larger
+powers for negotiating at Paris. Consalvi also proceeded to Paris,
+where he was received in state with other ambassadors at the
+Tuileries, the sight of a cardinal's robe causing no little sensation.
+The First Consul granted him a long interview, speaking at first
+somewhat seriously, but gradually becoming more affable and gracious.
+Yet as his behaviour softened his demands stiffened; and at the close
+of the audience he pressed Consalvi to sign a somewhat unfavourable
+version of the compact within five days, otherwise the negotiations
+would be at an end and a _national religion would be adopted_--an
+enterprise for which the auguries promised complete success. At a
+later interview he expressed the same resolution in homely phrase:
+when Consalvi pressed him to take a firm stand against the
+"constitutional" intruders, he laughingly remarked that he could do no
+more until he knew how he stood with Rome; for "you know that when
+one cannot arrange matters with God, one comes to terms with the
+devil."[156]
+
+This dalliance with the "constitutionals" might have been more than an
+astute ruse, and Consalvi knew it. In framing a national Church the
+First Consul would have appealed not only to the old Gallican feeling,
+still strong among the clerics and laity, but also to the potent force
+of French nationality. The experiment might have been managed so as to
+offend none but the strictest Catholics, who were less to be feared
+than the free-thinkers. Consalvi was not far wrong when, writing of
+the official world at Paris, he said that only Bonaparte really
+desired a Concordat.
+
+The First Consul's motives in seeking the alliance of Rome have, very
+naturally, been subjected to searching criticism; and in forcing the
+Concordat on France, and also on Rome, he was certainly undertaking
+the most difficult negotiation of his life.[157] But his preference
+for the Roman connection was an act of far-reaching statecraft. He saw
+that a national Church, unrecognized by Rome, was a mere half-way
+house between Romanism and Protestantism; and he disliked the latter
+creed because of its tendency to beget sects and to impair the
+validity of the general will. He still retained enough of Rousseau's
+doctrine to desire that the general will should be uniform, provided
+that it could be controlled by his own will. Such uniformity in the
+sphere of religion was impossible unless he had the support of the
+Papacy. Only by a bargain with Rome could he gain the support of a
+solid ecclesiastical phalanx. Finally, by erecting a French national
+Church, he would not only have perpetuated schism at home, but would
+have disqualified himself for acting the part of Charlemagne over
+central and southern Europe. To re-fashion Europe in a cosmopolitan
+mould he needed a clerical police that was more than merely French. To
+achieve those grander designs the successor of Caesar would need the
+aid of the successor of Peter; and this aid would be granted only to
+the restorer of Roman Catholicism in France, never to the perpetuator
+of schism.
+
+These would seem to be the chief reasons why he braved public opinion
+in Paris and clung to the Roman connection, bringing forward his plan
+of a Gallican Church only as a threatening move against the clerical
+flank. When the Vatican was obdurate he coquetted with the
+"constitutional" bishops, allowing them every facility for free speech
+in a council which they held at Paris at the close of June, 1801. He
+summoned to the Tuileries their president, the famous Gregoire, and
+showed him signal marks of esteem. "Put not your trust in princes"
+must soon have been the thought of Gregoire and his colleagues: for a
+fortnight later Bonaparte carried through his treaty with Rome and
+shelved alike the congress and the church of the "constitutionals."
+
+It would be tedious to detail all the steps in this complex
+negotiation, but the final proceedings call for some notice. When the
+treaty was assuming its final form, Talleyrand, the polite scoffer,
+the bitter foe of all clerical claims, found it desirable to take the
+baths at a distant place, and left the threads of the negotiation in
+the hands of two men who were equally determined to prevent its
+signature, Maret, Secretary of State, and Hauterive, who afterwards
+become the official archivist of France. These men determined to
+submit to Consalvi a draft of the treaty differing widely from that
+which had been agreed upon; and that, too, when the official
+announcement had been made that the treaty was to be signed
+immediately. In the last hours the cardinal found himself confronted
+with unexpected conditions, many of which he had successfully
+repelled. Though staggered by this trickery, which compelled him to
+sign a surrender or to accept an open rupture, Consalvi fought the
+question over again in a conference that lasted twenty-four hours; he
+even appeared at the State dinner given on July 14th by the First
+Consul, who informed him before the other guests that it was a
+question of "my draft of the treaty or none at all." Nothing baffled
+the patience and tenacity of the Cardinal; and finally, by the good
+offices of Joseph Bonaparte, the objectionable demands thrust forward
+at the eleventh hour were removed or altered.
+
+The question has been discussed whether the First Consul was a party
+to this device. Theiner asserts that he knew nothing of it: that it
+was an official intrigue got up at the last moment by the
+anti-clericals so as to precipitate a rupture. In support of this
+view, he cites letters of Maret and Hauterive as inculpating these men
+and tending to free Bonaparte from suspicion of complicity. But the
+letters cannot be said to dissipate all suspicion. The First Consul
+had made this negotiation peculiarly his own: no officials assuredly
+would have dared secretly to foist their own version of an important
+treaty; or, if they did, this act would have been the last of their
+career. But Bonaparte did not disgrace them; on the contrary, he
+continued to honour them with his confidence. Moreover, the First
+Consul flew into a passion with his brother Joseph when he reported
+that Consalvi could not sign the document now offered to him, and tore
+in pieces the articles finally arranged with the Cardinal. On the
+return of his usually calm intelligence, he at last allowed the
+concessions to stand, with the exception of two; but in a scrutiny of
+motives we must assign most importance, not to second and more prudent
+thoughts, but to the first ebullition of feelings, which seem
+unmistakably to prove his knowledge and approval of Hauterive's
+device. We must therefore conclude that he allowed the antagonists of
+the Concordat to make this treacherous onset, with the intention of
+extorting every possible demand from the dazed and bewildered
+Cardinal.[158]
+
+
+
+After further delays the Concordat was ratified at Eastertide, 1802.
+It may be briefly described as follows: The French Government
+recognized that the Catholic apostolic and Roman religion was the
+religion of the great majority of the French people, "especially of
+the Consuls"; but it refused to declare it to be the religion of
+France, as was the case under the _ancien regime_. It was to be freely
+and publicly practised in France, subject to the police regulations
+that the Government judged necessary for the public tranquillity. In
+return for these great advantages, many concessions were expected from
+the Church. The present bishops, both orthodox and constitutional,
+were, at the Pope's invitation, to resign their sees; or, failing
+that, new appointments were to be made, as if the sees were vacant.
+The last proviso was necessary; for of the eighty-one surviving
+bishops affected by this decision as many as thirteen orthodox and two
+"constitutionals" offered persistent but unavailing protests against
+the action of the Pope and First Consul.
+
+A new division of archbishoprics and bishoprics was now made, which
+gave in all sixty sees to France. The First Consul enjoyed the right
+of nomination to them, whereupon the Pope bestowed canonical
+investiture. The archbishops and bishops were all to take an oath of
+fidelity to the constitution. The bishops nominated the lower clerics
+provided that they were acceptable to the Government: all alike bound
+themselves to watch over governmental interests. The stability of
+France was further assured by a clause granting complete and permanent
+security to the holders of the confiscated Church lands--a healing and
+salutary compromise which restored peace to every village and soothed
+the qualms of many a troubled conscience. On its side, the State
+undertook to furnish suitable stipends to the clergy, a promise which
+was fulfilled in a rather niggardly spirit. For the rest, the First
+Consul enjoyed the same consideration as the Kings of France in all
+matters ecclesiastical; and a clause was added, though Bonaparte
+declared it needless, that if any succeeding First Consul were not a
+Roman Catholic, his prerogatives in religious matters should be
+revised by a Convention. A similar Concordat was passed a little later
+for the pacification of the Cisalpine Republic.
+
+The Concordat was bitterly assailed by the Jacobins, especially by the
+military chiefs, and had not the infidel generals been for the most
+part sundered by mutual jealousies they might perhaps have overthrown
+Bonaparte. But their obvious incapacity for civil affairs enabled them
+to venture on nothing more than a few coarse jests and clumsy
+demonstrations. At the Easter celebration at Notre Dame in honour of
+the ratification of the Concordat, one of them, Delmas by name,
+ventured on the only protest barbed with telling satire: "Yes, a fine
+piece of monkery this, indeed. It only lacked the million men who got
+killed to destroy what you are striving to bring back." But to all
+protests Bonaparte opposed a calm behaviour that veiled a rigid
+determination, before which priests and soldiers were alike helpless.
+
+In subsequent articles styled "organic," Bonaparte, without consulting
+the Pope, made several laws that galled the orthodox clergy. Under the
+plea of legislating for the police of public worship, he reaffirmed
+some of the principles which he had been unable to incorporate in the
+Concordat itself. The organic articles asserted the old claims of the
+Gallican Church, which forbade the application of Papal Bulls, or of
+the decrees of "foreign" synods, to France: they further forbade the
+French bishops to assemble in council or synod without the permission
+of the Government; and this was also required for a bishop to leave
+his diocese, even if he were summoned to Rome. Such were the chief of
+the organic articles. Passed under the plea of securing public
+tranquillity, they proved a fruitful source of discord, which during
+the Empire became so acute as to weaken Napoleon's authority. In
+matters religious as well as political, he early revealed his chief
+moral and mental defect, a determination to carry his point by
+whatever means and to require the utmost in every bargain. While
+refusing fully to establish Roman Catholicism as the religion of the
+State, he compelled the Church to surrender its temporalities, to
+accept the regulations of the State, and to protect its interests.
+Truly if, in Chateaubriand's famous phrase, he was the "restorer of
+the altars," he exacted the uttermost farthing for that restoration.
+
+In one matter his clear intelligence stands forth in marked contrast
+to the narrow pedantry of the Roman Cardinals. At a time of
+reconciliation between orthodox and "constitutionals," they required
+from the latter a complete and public retractation of their recent
+errors. At once Bonaparte intervened with telling effect. So condign a
+humiliation, he argued, would altogether mar the harmony newly
+re-established. "The past is past: and the bishops and prefects ought
+to require from the priests only the declaration of adhesion to the
+Concordat, and of obedience to the bishop nominated by the First
+Consul and instituted by the Pope." This enlightened advice, backed up
+by irresistible power, carried the day, and some ten thousand
+constitutional priests were quietly received back into the Roman
+communion, those who had contracted marriages being compelled to put
+away their wives. Bonaparte took a deep interest in the reconstruction
+of dioceses, in the naming of churches, and similar details, doubtless
+with the full consciousness that the revival of the Roman religious
+discipline in France was a more important service than any feat of
+arms.
+
+He was right: in healing a great schism in France he was dealing a
+deadly blow at the revolutionary feeling of which it was a prominent
+manifestation. In the words of one of his Ministers, "The Concordat
+was the most brilliant triumph over the genius of Revolution, and all
+the following successes have without exception resulted from it."[159]
+
+After this testimony it is needless to ask why Bonaparte did not take
+up with Protestantism. At St. Helena, it is true, he asserted that the
+choice of Catholicism or Protestantism was entirely open to him in
+1801, and that the nation would have followed him in either direction:
+but his religious policy, if carefully examined, shows no sign of
+wavering on this subject, though he once or twice made a strategic
+diversion towards Geneva, when Rome showed too firm a front. Is it
+conceivable that a man who, as he informed Joseph, was systematically
+working to found a dynasty, should hesitate in the choice of a
+governmental creed? Is it possible to think of the great champion of
+external control and State discipline as a defender of liberty of
+conscience and the right of private judgment?
+
+The regulation of the Protestant cult in France was a far less arduous
+task. But as Bonaparte's aim was to attach all cults to the State, he
+decided to recognize the two chief Protestant bodies in France,
+Calvinists and Lutherans, allowing them to choose their own pastors
+and to regulate their affairs in consistories. The pastors were to be
+salaried by the State, but in return the Government not only reserved
+its approval of every appointment, but required the Protestant bodies
+to have no relations whatever with any foreign Power or authority. The
+organic articles of 1802, which defined the position of the Protestant
+bodies, form a very important landmark in the history of the followers
+of Luther and Calvin. Persecuted by Louis XIV. and XV., they were
+tolerated by Louis XVI.; they gained complete religious equality
+in 1789, and after a few years of anarchy in matters of faith, they
+found themselves suddenly and stringently bound to the State by the
+organizing genius of Bonaparte.
+
+In the years 1806-1808 the position of the Jews was likewise defined,
+at least for all those who recognized France as their country,
+performed all civic duties, and recognized all the laws of the State.
+In consideration of their paying full taxes and performing military
+service, they received official protection and their rabbis
+governmental support.
+
+Such was Bonaparte's policy on religious subjects. There can be little
+doubt that its motive was, in the main, political. This methodizing
+genius, who looked on the beliefs and passions, the desires and
+ambitions of mankind, as so many forces which were to aid him in his
+ascent, had already satisfied the desires for military glory and
+material prosperity; and in his bargain with Rome he now won the
+support of an organized priesthood, besides that of the smaller
+Protestant and Jewish communions. That he gained also peace and
+quietness for France may be granted, though it was at the expense
+of that mental alertness and independence which had been her chief
+intellectual glory; but none of his intimate acquaintances ever
+doubted that his religion was only a vague sentiment, and his
+attendance at mass merely a compliment to his "sacred
+gendarmerie."[l60]
+
+Having dared and achieved the exploit of organizing religion in a
+half-infidel society, the First Consul was ready to undertake the
+almost equally hazardous task of establishing an order of social
+distinction, and that too in the very land where less than eight years
+previously every title qualified its holder for the guillotine. For
+his new experiment, the Legion of Honour, he could adduce only one
+precedent in the acts of the last twelve years.
+
+
+The whole tendency had been towards levelling all inequalities. In
+1790 all titles of nobility were swept away; and though the Convention
+decreed "arms of honour" to brave soldiers, yet its generosity to the
+deserving proved to be less remarkable than its activity in
+guillotining the unsuccessful. Bonaparte, however, adduced its custom
+of granting occasional modest rewards as a precedent for his own
+design, which was to be far more extended and ambitious.
+
+In May, 1802, he proposed the formation of a Legion of Honour,
+organized in fifteen cohorts, with grand officers, commanders,
+officers, and legionaries. Its affairs were to be regulated by a
+council presided over by Bonaparte himself. Each cohort received
+"national domains" with 200,000 francs annual rental, and these funds
+were disbursed to the members on a scale proportionate to their rank.
+The men who had received "arms of honour" were, _ipso facto_ to be
+legionaries; soldiers "who had rendered considerable services to the
+State in the war of liberty," and civilians "who by their learning,
+talents, and virtues contributed to establish or to defend the
+principles of the Republic," might hope for the honour and reward now
+held out. The idea of rewarding merit in a civilian, as well as among
+the military caste which had hitherto almost entirely absorbed such
+honours, was certainly enlightened; and the names of the famous
+_savants_ Laplace, Monge, Berthollet, Lagrange, Chaptal, and of
+jurists such as Treilhard and Tronchet, imparted lustre to what would
+otherwise have been a very commonplace institution. Bonaparte desired
+to call out all the faculties of the nation; and when Dumas proposed
+that the order should be limited to soldiers, the First Consul
+replied in a brilliant and convincing harangue:
+
+     "To do great things nowadays it is not enough to be a man of five
+     feet ten inches. If strength and bravery made the general, every
+     soldier might claim the command. The general who does great things
+     is he who also possesses civil qualities. The soldier knows no law
+     but force, sees nothing but it, and measures everything by it. The
+     civilian, on the other hand, only looks to the general welfare. The
+     characteristic of the soldier is to wish to do everything
+     despotically: that of the civilian is to submit everything to
+     discussion, truth, and reason. The superiority thus unquestionably
+     belongs to the civilian."
+
+In these noble words we can discern the secret of Bonaparte's
+supremacy both in politics and in warfare. Uniting in his own person
+the ablest qualities of the statesman and the warrior, he naturally
+desired that his new order of merit should quicken the vitality of
+France in every direction, knowing full well that the results would
+speedily be felt in the army itself. When admitted to its ranks, the
+new member swore:
+
+     "To devote himself to the service of the Republic, to the
+     maintenance of the integrity of its territory, the defence of its
+     government, laws, and of the property which they have consecrated;
+     to fight by all methods authorized by justice, reason, and law,
+     against every attempt to re-establish the feudal _regime_ or to
+     reproduce the titles and qualities thereto belonging; and finally
+     to strive to the uttermost to maintain liberty and equality."
+
+It is not surprising that the Tribunate, despite the recent purging of
+its most independent members, judged liberty and equality to be
+endangered by the method of defence now proposed. The members bitterly
+criticised the scheme as a device of the counter-revolution; but, with
+the timid inconsequence which was already sapping their virility, they
+proceeded to pass by fifty-six votes to thirty-eight a measure of
+which they had so accurately gauged the results. The new institution
+was, indeed, admirably suited to consolidate Bonaparte's power.
+Resting on the financial basis of the confiscated lands, it offered
+some guarantee against the restoration of the old monarchy and feudal
+nobility; while, by stimulating that love of distinction and
+brilliance which is inherent in every gifted people, it quietly began
+to graduate society and to group it around the Paladins of a new
+Gaulish chivalry. The people had recently cast off the overlordship of
+the old Frankish nobles, but admiration of merit (the ultimate source
+of all titles of distinction) was only dormant even in the days of
+Robespierre; and its insane repression during the Terror now begat a
+corresponding enthusiasm for all commanding gifts. Of this inevitable
+reaction Bonaparte now made skillful use. When Berlier, one of the
+leading jurists of France, objected to the new order as leading France
+back to aristocracy, and contemptuously said that crosses and ribbons
+were the toys of monarchy, Bonaparte replied:
+
+     "Well: men are led by toys. I would not say that in a rostrum, but
+     in a council of wise men and statesmen one ought to speak one's
+     mind. I don't think that the French love liberty and equality: the
+     French are not at all changed by ten years of revolution: they are
+     what the Gauls were, fierce and fickle. They have one
+     feeling--honour. We must nourish that feeling: they must have
+     distinctions. See how they bow down before the stars of
+     strangers."[161]
+
+After so frank an exposition of motives to his own Council of State,
+little more need be said. We need not credit Bonaparte or the orators
+of the Tribunate with any superhuman sagacity when he and they foresaw
+that such an order would prepare the way for more resplendent titles.
+The Legion of Honour, at least in its highest grades, was the
+chrysalis stage of the Imperial _noblesse_. After all, the new
+Charlemagne might plead that his new creation satisfied an innate
+craving of the race, and that its durability was the best answer to
+hostile critics. Even when, in 1814, his Senators were offering the
+crown of France to the heir of the Bourbons, they expressly stipulated
+that the Legion of Honour should not be abolished: it has survived all
+the shocks of French history, even the vulgarizing associations of
+the Second Empire.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The same quality of almost pyramidal solidity characterizes another
+great enterprise of the Napoleonic period, the codification of French
+law.
+
+The difficulties of this undertaking consisted mainly in the enormous
+mass of decrees emanating from the National Assemblies, relative to
+political, civil, and criminal affairs. Many of those decrees, the
+offspring of a momentary enthusiasm, had found a place in the codes of
+laws which were then compiled; and yet sagacious observers knew that
+several of them warred against the instincts of the Gallic race. This
+conviction was summed up in the trenchant statement of the compilers
+of the new code, in which they appealed from the ideas of Rousseau to
+the customs of the past: "New theories are but the maxims of certain
+individuals: the old maxims represent the sense of centuries." There
+was much force in this dictum. The overthrow of Feudalism and the old
+monarchy had not permanently altered the French nature. They were
+still the same joyous, artistic, clan-loving people whom the Latin
+historians described: and pride in the nation or the family was as
+closely linked with respect for a doughty champion of national and
+family interests as in the days of Caesar. Of this Roman or
+quasi-Gallic reaction Napoleon was to be the regulator; and no sphere
+of his activities bespeaks his unerring political sagacity more than
+his sifting of the old and the new in the great code which was
+afterwards to bear his name.
+
+Old French law had been an inextricable labyrinth of laws and customs,
+mainly Roman and Frankish in origin, hopelessly tangled by feudal
+customs, provincial privileges, ecclesiastical rights, and the later
+undergrowth of royal decrees; and no part of the legislation of the
+revolutionists met with so little resistance as their root and branch
+destruction of this exasperating jungle. Their difficulties only began
+when they endeavoured to apply the principles of the Rights of Man to
+political, civil, and criminal affairs. The chief of these principles
+relating to criminal law were that law can only forbid actions that
+are harmful to society, and must only impose penalties that are
+strictly necessary. To these epoch-making pronouncements the Assembly
+added, in 1790, that crimes should be visited only on the guilty
+individual, not on the family; and that penalties must be proportioned
+to the offences. The last two of these principles had of late been
+flagrantly violated; but the general pacification of France now
+permitted a calm consideration of the whole question of criminal law,
+and of its application to normal conditions.
+
+Civil law was to be greatly influenced by the Rights of Man; but those
+famous declarations were to a large extent contravened in the ensuing
+civil strifes, and their application to real life was rendered
+infinitely more difficult by that predominance of the critical over
+the constructive faculties which marred the efforts of the
+revolutionary Babel-builders. Indeed, such was the ardour of those
+enthusiasts that they could scarcely see any difficulties. Thus, the
+Convention in 1793 allowed its legislative committee just one month
+for the preparation of a code of civil law. At the close of six weeks
+Cambaceres, the reporter of the committee, was actually able to
+announce that it was ready. It was found to be too complex. Another
+commission was ordered to reconstruct it: this time the Convention
+discovered that the revised edition was too concise. Two other drafts
+were drawn up at the orders of the Directory, but neither gave
+satisfaction. And thus it was reserved for the First Consul to achieve
+what the revolutionists had only begun, building on the foundations
+and with the very materials which their ten years' toil had prepared.
+
+He had many other advantages. The Second Consul, Cambaceres, was at
+his side, with stores of legal experience and habits of complaisance
+that were of the highest value. Then, too, the principles of personal
+liberty and social equality were yielding ground before the more
+autocratic maxims of Roman law. The view of life now dominant was that
+of the warrior not of the philosopher. Bonaparte named Tronchet, Bigot
+de Preameneu, and the eloquent and learned Portalis for the redaction
+of the code. By ceaseless toil they completed their first draft in
+four months. Then, after receiving the criticisms of the Court of
+Cassation and the Tribunals of Appeal, it came before the Council of
+State for the decision of its special committee on legislation. There
+it was subjected to the scrutiny of several experts, but, above all,
+to Bonaparte himself. He presided at more than half of the 102
+sittings devoted to this criticism; and sittings of eight or nine
+hours were scarcely long enough to satisfy his eager curiosity, his
+relentless activity, and his determined practicality.
+
+From the notes of Thibaudeau one of the members of this revising
+committee, we catch a glimpse of the part there played by the First
+Consul. We see him listening intently to the discussions of the
+jurists, taking up and sorting the threads of thought when a tangle
+seemed imminent, and presenting the result in some striking pattern.
+We watch his methodizing spirit at work on the cumbrous legal
+phraseology, hammering it out into clear, ductile French. We feel the
+unerring sagacity, which acted as a political and social touchstone,
+testing, approving, or rejecting multifarious details drawn from old
+French law or from the customs of the Revolution; and finally we
+wonder at the architectural skill which worked the 2,281 articles of
+the Code into an almost unassailable pile. To the skill and patience
+of the three chief redactors that result is, of course, very largely
+due: yet, in its mingling of strength, simplicity, and symmetry, we
+may discern the projection of Napoleon's genius over what had hitherto
+been a legal chaos.
+
+Some blocks of the pyramid were almost entirely his own. He widened
+the area of French citizenship; above all, he strengthened the
+structure of the family by enhancing the father's authority. Herein
+his Corsican instincts and the requirements of statecraft led him to
+undo much of the legislation of the revolutionists. Their ideal was
+individual liberty: his aim was to establish public order by
+autocratic methods. They had sought to make of the family a little
+republic, founded on the principles of liberty and equality; but in
+the new code the paternal authority reappeared no less strict, albeit
+less severe in some details than that of the _ancien regime._ The
+family was thenceforth modelled on the idea dominant in the State,
+that authority and responsible action pertained to a single
+individual. The father controlled the conduct of his children: his
+consent was necessary for the marriage of sons up to their
+twenty-fifth year, for that of daughters up to their twenty-first
+year; and other regulations were framed in the same spirit.[162] Thus
+there was rebuilt in France the institution of the family on an almost
+Roman basis; and these customs, contrasting sharply with the domestic
+anarchy of the Anglo-Saxon race, have had a mighty influence in
+fashioning the character of the French, as of the other Latin peoples,
+to a ductility that yields a ready obedience to local officials,
+drill-sergeants, and the central Government.
+
+In other respects Bonaparte's influence on the code was equally
+potent. He raised the age at which marriage could be legally
+contracted to that of eighteen for men, and fifteen for women, and he
+prescribed a formula of obedience to be repeated by the bride to her
+husband; while the latter was bound to protect and support the
+wife.[163]
+
+And yet, on the question of divorce, Bonaparte's action was
+sufficiently ambiguous to reawaken Josephine's fears; and the
+detractors of the great man have some ground for declaring that his
+action herein was dictated by personal considerations. Others again
+may point to the declarations of the French National Assemblies that
+the law regarded marriage merely as a civil contract, and that divorce
+was to be a logical sequel of individual liberty, "which an
+indissoluble tie would annul." It is indisputable that extremely lax
+customs had been the result of the law of 1792, divorce being allowed
+on a mere declaration of incompatibility of temper.[164] Against these
+scandals Bonaparte firmly set his face. But he disagreed with the
+framers of the new Code when they proposed altogether to prohibit
+divorce, though such a proposition might well have seemed consonant
+with his zeal for Roman Catholicism. After long debates it was decided
+to reduce the causes which could render divorce possible from nine to
+four--adultery, cruelty, condemnation to a degrading penalty, and
+mutual consent--provided that this last demand should be persistently
+urged after not less than two years of marriage, and in no case was it
+to be valid after twenty years of marriage.[165]
+
+We may also notice here that Bonaparte sought to surround the act of
+adoption with much solemnity, declaring it to be one of the grandest
+acts imaginable. Yet, lest marriage should thereby be discouraged,
+celibates were expressly debarred from the privileges of adopting
+heirs. The precaution shows how keenly this able ruler peered into
+the future. Doubtless, he surmised that in the future the population
+of France would cease to expand at the normal rate, owing to the
+working of the law compelling the equal division of property among all
+the children of a family. To this law he was certainly opposed.
+Equality in regard to the bequest of property was one of the sacred
+maxims of revolutionary jurists, who had limited the right of free
+disposal by bequest to one-tenth of each estate: nine-tenths being of
+necessity divided equally among the direct heirs. Yet so strong was
+the reaction in favour of the Roman principle of paternal authority,
+that Bonaparte and a majority of the drafters of the new Code scrupled
+not to assail that maxim, and to claim for the father larger
+discretionary powers over the disposal of his property. They demanded
+that the disposable share should vary according to the wealth of the
+testator--a remarkable proposal, which proves him to be anything but
+the unflinching champion of revolutionary legal ideas which popular
+French histories have generally depicted him.
+
+This proposal would have re-established liberty of bequest in its most
+pernicious form, granting almost limitless discretionary power to the
+wealthy, while restricting or denying it to the poor.[166] Fortunately
+for his reputation in France, the suggestion was rejected; and the
+law, as finally adopted, fixed the disposable share as one-half of the
+property, if there was but one heir; one-third, if there were two
+heirs; one-fourth, if there were three; and so on, diminishing as the
+size of the family increased. This sliding scale, varying inversely
+with the size of the family, is open to an obvious objection: it
+granted liberty of bequest only in cases where the family was small,
+but practically lapsed when the family attained to patriarchal
+dimensions. The natural result has been that the birth-rate has
+suffered a serious and prolonged check in France. It seems certain
+that the First Consul foresaw this result. His experience of peasant
+life must have warned him that the law, even as now amended, would
+stunt the population of France and ultimately bring about that [Greek:
+oliganthropia] which saps all great military enterprises. The great
+captain did all in his power to prevent the French settling down in a
+self-contained national life; he strove to stir them up to world-wide
+undertakings, and for the success of his future imperial schemes a
+redundant population was an absolute necessity.
+
+The Civil Code became law in 1804: after undergoing some slight
+modifications and additions, it was, in 1807 renamed the Code
+Napoleon. Its provisions had already, in 1806, been adopted in Italy.
+In 1810 Holland, and the newly-annexed coast-line of the North Sea as
+far as Hamburg, and even Luebeck on the Baltic, received it as the
+basis of their laws, as did the Grand Duchy of Berg in 1811.
+Indirectly it has also exerted an immense influence on the legislation
+of Central and Southern Germany, Prussia, Switzerland, and Spain:
+while many of the Central and South American States have also
+borrowed its salient features.
+
+A Code of Civil Procedure was promulgated in France in 1806, one of
+Commerce in 1807, of "Criminal Instruction" in 1808, and a Penal Code
+in 1810. Except that they were more reactionary in spirit than the
+Civil Code, there is little that calls for notice here, the Penal Code
+especially showing little advance in intelligence or clemency on the
+older laws of France. Even in 1802, officials favoured severity after
+the disorders of the preceding years. When Fox and Romilly paid a
+visit to Talleyrand at Paris, they were informed by his secretary
+that:
+
+     "In his opinion nothing could restore good morals and order in the
+     country but 'la roue et la religion de nos ancetres.' He knew, he
+     said, that the English did not think so, but we knew nothing of the
+     people. Fox was deeply shocked at the idea of restoring the wheel
+     as a punishment in France."[167]
+
+This horrible punishment was not actually restored: but this extract
+from Romilly's diary shows what was the state of feeling in official
+circles at Paris, and how strong was the reaction towards older ideas.
+The reaction was unquestionably emphasized by Bonaparte's influence,
+and it is noteworthy that the Penal and other Codes, passed during the
+Empire, were more reactionary than the laws of the Consulate. Yet,
+even as First Consul, he exerted an influence that began to banish the
+customs and traditions of the Revolution, except in the single sphere
+of material interests; and he satisfied the peasants' love of land and
+money in order that he might the more securely triumph over
+revolutionary ideals and draw France insensibly back to the age of
+Louis XIV.
+
+
+While the legislator must always keep in reserve punishment as the
+_ultima ratio_ for the lawless, he will turn by preference to
+education as a more potent moralizing agency; and certainly education
+urgently needed Bonaparte's attention. The work of carrying into
+practice the grand educational aims of Condorcet and his coadjutors in
+the French Convention was enough to tax the energies of a Hercules.
+Those ardent reformers did little more than clear the ground for
+future action: they abolished the old monastic and clerical training,
+and declared for a generous system of national education in primary,
+secondary, and advanced schools. But amid strifes and bankruptcy their
+aims remained unfulfilled. In 1799 there were only twenty-four
+elementary schools open in Paris, with a total attendance of less than
+1,000 pupils; and in rural districts matters were equally bad. Indeed,
+Lucien Bonaparte asserted that scarcely any education was to be found
+in France. Exaggerated though this statement was, in relation to
+secondary and advanced education, it was proximately true of the
+elementary schools. The revolutionists had merely traced the outlines
+of a scheme: it remained for the First Consul to fill in the details,
+or to leave it blank.
+
+The result can scarcely be cited as a proof of his educational zeal.
+Elementary schools were left to the control and supervision of the
+communes and of the _sous-prefets_, and naturally made little advance
+amidst an apathetic population and under officials who cared not to
+press on an expensive enterprise. The law of April 30th, 1802,
+however, aimed at improving the secondary education, which the
+Convention had attempted to give in its _ecoles centrales_. These were
+now reconstituted either as _ecoles secondaires_ or as _lycees_. The
+former were local or even private institutions intended for the most
+promising pupils of the commune or group of communes; while the
+_lycees_, far fewer in number, were controlled directly by the
+Government. In both of these schools great prominence was given to the
+exact and applied sciences. The aim of the instruction was not to
+awaken thought and develop the faculties, but rather to fashion able
+breadwinners, obedient citizens, and enthusiastic soldiers. The
+training was of an almost military type, the pupils being regularly
+drilled, while the lessons began and ended with the roll of drums. The
+numbers of the _lycees_ and of their pupils rapidly increased; but the
+progress of the secondary and primary schools, which could boast no
+such attractions, was very slow. In 1806 only 25,000 children were
+attending the public primary schools. But two years later elementary
+and advanced instruction received a notable impetus from the
+establishment of the University of France.
+
+There is no institution which better reveals the character of the
+French Emperor, with its singular combination of greatness and
+littleness, of wide-sweeping aims with official pedantry. The
+University, as it existed during the First Empire, offers a striking
+example of that mania for the control of the general will which
+philosophers had so attractively taught and Napoleon so profitably
+practised. It is the first definite outcome of a desire to subject
+education and learning to wholesale regimental methods, and to break
+up the old-world bowers of culture by State-worked steam-ploughs. His
+aims were thus set forth:
+
+     "I want a teaching body, because such a body never dies, but
+     transmits its organization and spirit. I want a body whose teaching
+     is far above the fads of the moment, goes straight on even when the
+     government is asleep, and whose administration and statutes become
+     so national that one can never lightly resolve to meddle with
+     them.... There will never be fixity in politics if there is not a
+     teaching body with fixed principles. As long as people do not from
+     their infancy learn whether they ought to be republicans or
+     monarchists, Catholics or sceptics, the State will never form a
+     nation: it will rest on unsafe and shifting foundations, always
+     exposed to changes and disorders."
+
+Such being Napoleon's designs, the new University of France was
+admirably suited to his purpose. It was not a local university: it was
+the sum total of all the public teaching bodies of the French Empire,
+arranged and drilled in one vast instructional array. Elementary
+schools, secondary schools, _lycees_, as well as the more advanced
+colleges, all were absorbed in and controlled by this great teaching
+corporation, which was to inculcate the precepts of the Catholic
+religion, fidelity to the Emperor and to his Government, as guarantees
+for the welfare of the people and the unity of France. For educational
+purposes, France was now divided into seventeen Academies, which
+formed the local centres of the new institution. Thus, from Paris and
+sixteen provincial Academies, instruction was strictly organized and
+controlled; and within a short time of its institution (March, 1808),
+instruction of all kinds, including that of the elementary schools,
+showed some advance. But to all those who look on the unfolding of the
+mental and moral faculties as the chief aim of true _education_, the
+homely experiments of Pestalozzi offer a far more suggestive and
+important field for observation than the barrack-like methods of the
+French Emperor. The Swiss reformer sought to train the mind to
+observe, reflect, and think; to assist the faculties in attaining
+their fullest and freest expression; and thus to add to the richness
+and variety of human thought. The French imperial system sought to
+prune away all mental independence, and to train the young generation
+in neat and serviceable _espalier_ methods: all aspiring shoots,
+especially in the sphere of moral and political science, were sharply
+cut down. Consequently French thought, which had been the most
+ardently speculative in Europe, speedily became vapid and mechanical.
+
+The same remark is proximately true of the literary life of the First
+Empire. It soon began to feel the rigorous methods of the Emperor.
+Poetry and all other modes of expression of lofty thought and rapt
+feeling require not only a free outlet but natural and unrestrained
+surroundings. The true poet is at home in the forest or on the
+mountain rather than in prim _parterres_. The philosopher sees most
+clearly and reasons most suggestively, when his faculties are not
+cramped by the need of observing political rules and police
+regulations. And the historian, when he is tied down to a mere
+investigation and recital of facts, without reference to their
+meaning, is but a sorry fowl flapping helplessly with unequal wings.
+
+Yet such were the conditions under which the literature of France
+struggled and pined. Her poets, a band sadly thinned already by the
+guillotine, sang in forced and hollow strains until the return of
+royalism begat an imperialist fervour in the soul-stirring lyrics of
+Beranger: her philosophy was dumb; and Napoleonic history limped along
+on official crutches, until Thiers, a generation later, essayed his
+monumental work. In the realm of exact and applied science, as might
+be expected, splendid discoveries adorned the Emperor's reign; but if
+we are to find any vitality in the literature of that period, we must
+go to the ranks, not of the panegyrists, but of the opposition. There,
+in the pages of Madame de Stael and Chateaubriand, we feel the throb
+of life. Genius will out, of its own native force: but it cannot be
+pressed out, even at a Napoleon's bidding. In vain did he endeavour to
+stimulate literature by the reorganization of the Institute, and by
+granting decennial prizes for the chief works and discoveries of the
+decade. While science prospered, literature languished: and one of his
+own remarks, as to the desirability of a public and semi-official
+criticism of some great literary work, seems to suggest a reason for
+this intellectual malaise:
+
+     "The public will take interest in this criticism; perhaps it will
+     even take sides: it matters not, as its attention will be fixed on
+     these interesting debates: it will talk about grammar and poetry:
+     taste will be improved, and our aim will be fulfilled: _out of that
+     will come poets and grammarians_."
+
+And so it came to pass that, while he was rescuing a nation from chaos
+and his eagles winged their flight to Naples, Lisbon, and Moscow, he
+found no original thinker worthily to hymn his praises; and the chief
+literary triumphs of his reign came from Chateaubriand, whom he
+impoverished, and Madame de Stael, whom he drove into exile.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Such are the chief laws and customs which are imperishably associated
+with the name of Napoleon Bonaparte. In some respects they may be
+described as making for progress. Their establishment gave to the
+Revolution that solidity which it had previously lacked. Among so
+"inflammable" a people as the French--the epithet is Ste. Beuve's--it
+was quite possible that some of the chief civil conquests of the last
+decade might have been lost, had not the First Consul, to use his own
+expressive phrase, "thrown in some blocks of granite." We may
+intensify his metaphor and assert that out of the shifting shingle of
+French life he constructed a concrete breakwater, in which his own
+will acted as the binding cement, defying the storms of revolutionary
+or royalist passion which had swept the incoherent atoms to and fro,
+and had carried desolation far inland. Thenceforth France was able to
+work out her future under the shelter of institutions which
+unquestionably possess one supreme merit, that of durability. But
+while the chief civic and material gains of the Revolution were thus
+perpetuated, the very spirit and life of that great movement were
+benumbed by the personality and action of Napoleon. The burning
+enthusiasm for the Rights of Man was quenched, the passion for civic
+equality survived only as the gibbering ghost of what it had been in
+1790, and the consolidation of revolutionary France was effected by a
+process nearly akin to petrifaction.
+
+And yet this time of political and intellectual reaction in France was
+marked by the rise of the greatest of her modern institutions. There
+is the chief paradox of that age. While barren of literary activity
+and of truly civic developments, yet it was unequalled in the growth
+of institutions. This is generally the characteristic of epochs when
+the human faculties, long congealed by untoward restraints, suddenly
+burst their barriers and run riot in a spring-tide of hope. The time
+of disillusionment or despair which usually supervenes may, as a rule,
+be compared with the numbing torpor of winter, necessary doubtless in
+our human economy, but lacking the charm and vitality of the expansive
+phase. Often, indeed, it is disgraced by the characteristics of a
+slavish populace, a mean selfishness, a mad frivolity, and fawning
+adulation on the ruler who dispenses _panem et circenses_. Such has
+been the course of many a political reaction, from the time of
+degenerate Athens and imperial Rome down to the decay of Medicean
+Florence and the orgies of the restored Stuarts.
+
+The fruitfulness of the time of monarchical reaction in France may be
+chiefly attributed to two causes, the one general, the other personal;
+the one connected with the French Revolution, the other with the
+exceptional gifts of Bonaparte. In their efforts to create durable
+institutions the revolutionists had failed: they had attempted too
+much: they had overthrown the old order, had undertaken crusades
+against monarchical Europe, and striven to manufacture constitutions
+and remodel a deeply agitated society. They did scarcely more than
+trace the outlines of the future social structure. The edifice, which
+should have been reared by the Directory, was scarcely advanced at
+all, owing to the singular dullness of the new rulers of France. But
+the genius was at hand. He restored order, he rallied various classes
+to his side, he methodized local government, he restored finance and
+credit, he restored religious peace and yet secured the peasants in
+their tenure of the confiscated lands, he rewarded merit with social
+honours, and finally he solidified his polity by a comprehensive code
+of laws which made him the keystone of the now rounded arch of French
+life.
+
+His methods in this immense work deserve attention: they were very
+different from those of the revolutionary parties after the best days
+of 1789 were past. The followers of Rousseau worked on rigorous _a
+priori_ methods. If institutions and sentiments did not square with
+the principles of their master, they were swept away or were forced
+into conformity with the new evangel. A correct knowledge of the
+"Contrat Social" and keen critical powers were the prime requisites of
+Jacobinical statesmanship. Knowledge of the history of France, the
+faculty of gauging the real strength of popular feelings, tact in
+conciliating important interests, all were alike despised.
+Institutions and class interests were as nothing in comparison with
+that imposing abstraction, the general will. For this alone could
+philosophers legislate and factions conspire.
+
+From these lofty aims and exasperating methods Bonaparte was speedily
+weaned. If victorious analysis led to this; if it could only pull
+down, not reconstruct; if, while legislating for the general will,
+Jacobins harassed one class after another and produced civil war, then
+away with their pedantries in favour of the practical statecraft which
+attempted one task at a time and aimed at winning back in turn the
+alienated classes. Then, and then alone, after civic peace had been
+re-established, would he attempt the reconstruction of the civil order
+in the same tentative manner, taking up only this or that frayed end
+at once, trusting to time, skill, and patience to transform the tangle
+into a symmetrical pattern. And thus, where Feuillants, Girondins, and
+Jacobins had produced chaos, the practical man and his able helpers
+succeeded in weaving ineffaceable outlines. As to the time when the
+change took place in Bonaparte's brain from Jacobinism to aims and
+methods that may be called conservative, we are strangely ignorant.
+But the results of this mental change will stand forth clear and
+solid for many a generation in the customs, laws, and institutions of
+his adopted country. If the Revolution, intellectually considered,
+began and ended with analysis, Napoleon's faculties supplied the
+needed synthesis. Together they made modern France.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+THE CONSULATE FOR LIFE
+
+
+With the view of presenting in clear outlines the chief institutions
+of Napoleonic France, they have been described in the preceding
+chapter, detached from their political setting. We now return to
+consider the events which favoured the consolidation of Bonaparte's
+power.
+
+No politician inured to the tricks of statecraft could more firmly
+have handled public affairs than the man who practically began his
+political apprenticeship at Brumaire. Without apparent effort he rose
+to the height whence the five Directors had so ignominiously fallen;
+and instinctively he chose at once the policy which alone could have
+insured rest for France, that of balancing interests and parties. His
+own political views being as yet unknown, dark with the excessive
+brightness of his encircling glory, he could pose as the conciliator
+of contending factions. The Jacobins were content when they saw the
+regicide Cambaceres become Second Consul; and friends of
+constitutional monarchy remembered that the Third Consul, Lebrun, had
+leanings towards the Feuillants of 1791. Fouche at the inquisitorial
+Ministry of Police, and Merlin, Berlier, Real, and Boulay de la
+Meurthe in the Council of State seemed a barrier to all monarchical
+schemes; and the Jacobins therefore remained quiet, even while
+Catholic worship was again publicly celebrated, while Vendean rebels
+were pardoned, and plotting _emigres_ were entering the public
+service.
+
+Many, indeed, of the prominent terrorists had settled profitably on
+the offices which Bonaparte had multiplied throughout France, and were
+therefore dumb: but some of the less favoured ones, angered by the
+stealthy advance of autocracy, wove a plot for the overthrow of the
+First Consul. Chief among them were a braggart named Demerville, a
+painter, Topino Lebrun, a sculptor, Ceracchi, and Arena, brother of
+the Corsican deputy who had shaken Bonaparte by the collar at the
+crisis of Brumaire. These men hit upon the notion that, with the aid
+of one man of action, they could make away with the new despot. They
+opened their hearts to a penniless officer named Harel, who had been
+dismissed from the army; and he straightway took the news to
+Bonaparte's private secretary, Bourrienne. The First Consul, on
+hearing of the matter, at once charged Bourrienne to supply Harel with
+money to buy firearms, but not to tell the secret to Fouche, of whose
+double dealings with the Jacobins he was already aware. It became
+needful, however, to inform him of the plot, which was now carefully
+nursed by the authorities. The arrests were planned to take place at
+the opera on October 10th. About half an hour after the play had
+begun, Bonaparte bade his secretary go into the lobby to hear the
+news. Bourrienne at once heard the noise caused by a number of
+arrests: he came back, reported the matter to his master, who
+forthwith returned to the Tuileries. The plot was over.[168]
+
+A more serious attempt was to follow. On the 3rd day of Nivose
+(December 24th, 1800), as the First Consul was driving to the opera to
+hear Haydn's oratorio, "The Creation," his carriage was shaken by a
+terrific explosion. A bomb had burst between his carriage and that of
+Josephine, which was following. Neither was injured, though many
+spectators were killed or wounded. "Josephine," he calmly said, as she
+entered the box, "those rascals wanted to blow me up: send for a copy
+of the music." But under this cool demeanour he nursed a determination
+of vengeance against his political foes, the Jacobins. On the next day
+he appeared at a session of the Council of State along with the
+Ministers of Police and of the Interior, Fouche and Chaptal. The Arena
+plot and other recent events seemed to point to wild Jacobins and
+anarchists as the authors of this outrage: but Fouche ventured to
+impute it to the royalists and to England.
+
+     "There are in it," Bonaparte at once remarked, "neither nobles, nor
+     Chouans, nor priests. They are men of September (_Septembriseurs_),
+     wretches stained with blood, ever conspiring in solid phalanx
+     against every successive government. We must find a means of prompt
+     redress."
+
+The Councillors at once adopted this opinion, Roederer hotly declaring
+his open hostility to Fouche for his reputed complicity with the
+terrorists; and, if we may credit the _on dit_ of Pasquier, Talleyrand
+urged the execution of Fouche within twenty-four hours. Bonaparte,
+however, preferred to keep the two cleverest and most questionable
+schemers of the age, so as mutually to check each other's movements. A
+day later, when the Council was about to institute special
+proceedings, Bonaparte again intervened with the remark that the
+action of the tribunal would be too slow, too restricted: a signal
+revenge was needed for so foul a crime, rapid as lightning:
+
+     "Blood must be shed: as many guilty must be shot as the innocent
+     who had perished--some fifteen or twenty--and two hundred banished,
+     so that the Republic might profit by that event to purge itself."
+
+This was the policy now openly followed. In vain did some members of
+the usually obsequious Council object to this summary procedure.
+Roederer, Boulay, even the Second Consul himself, now perceived how
+trifling was their influence when they attempted to modify Bonaparte's
+plans, and two sections of the Council speedily decided that there
+should be a military commission to judge suspects and "deport"
+dangerous persons, and that the Government should announce this to
+the Senate, Corps Legislatif, and Tribunate. Public opinion,
+meanwhile, was carefully trained by the official "Moniteur," which
+described in detail various so-called anarchist attempts; but an
+increasing number in official circles veered round to Fouche's belief
+that the outrage was the work of the royalists abetted by England. The
+First Consul himself, six days after the event, inclined to this
+version. Nevertheless, at a full meeting of the Council of State, on
+the first day of the year 1801, he brought up a list of "130 villains
+who were troubling the public peace," with a view to inflicting
+summary punishment on them. Thibaudeau, Boulay, and Roederer haltingly
+expressed their fears that all the 130 might not be guilty of the
+recent outrage, and that the Council had no powers to decide on the
+proscription of individuals. Bonaparte at once assured them that he
+was not consulting them about the fate of individuals, but merely to
+know whether they thought an exceptional measure necessary. The
+Government had only
+
+     "Strong presumptions, not proofs, that the terrorists were the
+     authors of this attempt. _Chouannerie_ and emigration are surface
+     ills, terrorism is an internal disease. The measure ought to be
+     taken independently of the event. It is only the occasion of it. We
+     banish them (the terrorists) for the massacres of September 2nd,
+     May 31st, the Babeuf plot, and every subsequent attempt."[169]
+
+The Council thereupon unanimously affirmed the need of an exceptional
+measure, and adopted a suggestion of Talleyrand (probably emanating
+from Bonaparte) that the Senate should be invited to declare by a
+special decision, called a _senatus consultum_, whether such an act
+were "preservative of the constitution." This device, which avoided
+the necessity of passing a law through two less subservient bodies,
+the Tribunate and Corps Legislatif, was forthwith approved by the
+guardians of the constitution. It had far-reaching results. The
+complaisant Senate was brought down from its constitutional watchtower
+to become the tool of the Consuls; and an easy way for further
+innovations was thus dextrously opened up through the very portals
+which were designed to bar them out.
+
+The immediate results of the device were startling. By an act of
+January 4th, 1801, as many as 130 prominent Jacobins were "placed
+under special surveillance outside the European territory of the
+Republic"--a specious phrase for denoting a living death amidst the
+wastes of French Guiana or the Seychelles. Some of the threatened
+persons escaped, perhaps owing to the connivance of Fouche; some were
+sent to the Isle of Oleron; but the others were forthwith despatched
+to the miseries of captivity in the tropics. Among these were
+personages so diverse as Rossignol, once the scourge of France with
+his force of Parisian cut-throats, and Destrem, whose crime was his
+vehement upbraiding of Bonaparte at St. Cloud. After this measure had
+taken effect, it was discovered by judicial inquiry that the Jacobins
+had no connection with the outrage, which was the work of royalists
+named Saint-Rejant and Carbon. These were captured, and on January
+31st, 1801, were executed; but their fate had no influence whatever on
+the sentence of the transported Jacobins. Of those who were sent to
+Guiana and the Seychelles, scarce twenty saw France again.[170]
+
+
+
+Bonaparte's conduct with respect to plots deserves close attention.
+Never since the age of the Borgias have conspiracies been so skilfully
+exploited, so cunningly countermined. Moreover, his conduct with
+respect to the Arena and Nivose affairs had a wider significance; for
+he now quietly but firmly exchanged the policy of balancing parties
+for one which crushed the extreme republicans, and enhanced the
+importance of all who were likely to approve or condone the
+establishment of personal rule.
+
+It is now time to consider the effect which Bonaparte's foreign policy
+had on his position in France. Reserving for a later chapter an
+examination of the Treaty of Amiens, we may here notice the close
+connection between Bonaparte's diplomatic successes and the
+perpetuation of his Consulate. All thoughtful students of history must
+have observed the warping influence which war and diplomacy have
+exerted on democratic institutions. The age of Alcibiades, the doom of
+the Roman Republic, and many other examples might be cited to show
+that free institutions can with difficulty survive the strain of a
+vast military organization or the insidious results of an exacting
+diplomacy. But never has the gulf between democracy and personal rule
+been so quickly spanned as by the commanding genius of Bonaparte.
+
+The events which disgusted both England and France with war have been
+described above. Each antagonist had parried the attacks of the other.
+The blow which Bonaparte had aimed at Britain's commerce by his
+eastern expedition had been foiled; and a considerable French force
+was shut up in Egypt. His plan of relieving his starving garrison in
+Malta, by concluding a maritime truce, had been seen through by us;
+and after a blockade of two years, Valetta fell (September, 1800). But
+while Great Britain regained more than all her old power in the
+Mediterranean, she failed to make any impression on the land-power of
+France. The First Consul in the year 1801 compelled Naples and
+Portugal to give up the English alliance and to exclude our vessels
+and goods. In the north the results of the war had been in favour of
+the islanders. The Union Jack again waved triumphant on the Baltic,
+and all attempts of the French to rouse and support an Irish revolt
+had signally failed. Yet the French preparations for an invasion of
+England strained the resources of our exchequer and the patience of
+our people. The weary struggle was evidently about to close in a
+stalemate.
+
+For political and financial reasons the two Powers needed repose.
+Bonaparte's authority was not as yet so firmly founded that he could
+afford to neglect the silent longings of France for peace; his
+institutions had not as yet taken root; and he needed money for public
+works and colonial enterprises. That he looked on peace as far more
+desirable for France than for England at the present time is clear
+from a confidential talk which he had with Roederer at the close of
+1800. This bright thinker, to whom he often unbosomed himself, took
+exception to his remark that England could not wish for peace;
+whereupon the First Consul uttered these memorable words:
+
+     "My dear fellow, England ought not to wish for peace, because we
+     are masters of the world. Spain is ours. We have a foothold in
+     Italy. In Egypt we have the reversion to their tenure. Switzerland,
+     Holland, Belgium--that is a matter irrevocably settled, on which we
+     have declared to Prussia, Russia, and the Emperor that _we alone_,
+     if it were necessary, would make war on all, namely, that there
+     shall be no Stadholder in Holland, and that we will keep Belgium
+     and the left bank of the Rhine. A stadholder in Holland would be as
+     bad as a Bourbon in the St. Antoine suburb."[171]
+
+
+The passage is remarkable, not only for its frank statement of the
+terms on which England and the Continent might have peace, but also
+because it discloses the rank undergrowth of pride and ambition that
+is beginning to overtop his reasoning faculties. Even before he has
+heard the news of Moreau's great victory of Hohenlinden, he equates
+the military strength of France with that of the rest of Europe: nay,
+he claims without a shadow of doubt the mastery of the world: he will
+wage, if necessary, a double war, against England for a colonial
+empire, and against Europe for domination in Holland and the
+Rhineland. It is naught to him that that double effort has exhausted
+France in the reigns of Louis XIV. and Louis XV. Holland, Switzerland,
+Italy, shall be French provinces, Egypt and the Indies shall be her
+satrapies, and _la grande nation_ may then rest on her glories.
+
+Had these aims been known at Westminster, Ministers would have counted
+peace far more harmful than war. But, while ambition reigned at Paris,
+dull common sense dictated the policy of Britain. In truth, our people
+needed rest: we were in the first stages of an industrial revolution:
+our cotton and woollen industries were passing from the cottage to the
+factory; and a large part of our folk were beginning to cluster in
+grimy, ill-organized townships. Population and wealth advanced by
+leaps and bounds; but with them came the nineteenth-century problems
+of widening class distinctions and uncertainty of employment. The
+food-supply was often inadequate, and in 1801 the price of wheat in
+the London market ranged from L6 to L8 the quarter; the quartern loaf
+selling at times for as much as 1s. 10-1/2d.[172]
+
+The state of the sister island was even worse. The discontent of
+Ireland had been crushed by the severe repression which followed the
+rising of 1798; and the bonds connecting the two countries were
+forcibly tightened by the Act of Union of 1800. But rest and reform
+were urgently needed if this political welding was to acquire solid
+strength, and rest and reform were alike denied. The position of the
+Ministry at Westminster was also precarious. The opposition of George
+III. to the proposals for Catholic Emancipation, to which Pitt
+believed himself in honour bound, led to the resignation in February,
+1801, of that able Minister. In the following month Addington, the
+Speaker of the House of Commons, with the complacence born of bland
+obtuseness, undertook to fill his place. At first, the Ministry was
+treated with the tolerance due to the new Premier's urbanity, but it
+gradually faded away into contempt for his pitiful weakness in face of
+the dangers that threatened the realm.
+
+Certain unofficial efforts in the cause of peace had been made during
+the year 1800, by a Frenchman, M. Otto, who had been charged to
+proceed to London to treat with the British Government for the
+exchange of prisoners. For various reasons his tentative proposals as
+to an accommodation between the belligerents had had no issue: but he
+continued to reside in London, and quietly sought to bring about a
+good understanding. The accession of the Addington Ministry favoured
+the opening of negotiations, the new Secretary for Foreign Affairs,
+Lord Hawkesbury, announcing His Majesty's desire for peace. Indeed,
+the one hope of the new Ministry, and of the king who supported it as
+the only alternative to Catholic Emancipation, was bound up with the
+cause of peace. In the next chapter it will appear how disastrous were
+the results of that strange political situation, when a morbidly
+conscientious king clung to the weak Addington, and jeopardised the
+interests of Britain, rather than accept a strong Minister and a
+measure of religious equality.
+
+Napoleon received Hawkesbury's first overtures, those of March 21st,
+1801, with thinly veiled scorn; but the news of Nelson's victory at
+Copenhagen and of the assassination of the Czar Paul, the latter of
+which wrung from him a cry of rage, ended his hopes of crushing us;
+and negotiations were now formally begun. On the 14th of April, Great
+Britain demanded that the French should evacuate Egypt, while she
+herself would give up Minorca, but retain the following conquests:
+Malta, Tobago, Martinique, Trinidad, Essequibo, Demerara, Berbice,
+Ceylon, and (a little later) Curacoa; while, if the Cape of Good Hope
+were restored to the Dutch, it was to be a free port: an indemnity was
+also to be found for the Prince of Orange for the loss of his
+Netherlands. These claims were declared by Bonaparte to be
+inadmissible. He on his side urged the far more impracticable demand
+of the _status quo ante bellum_ in the East and West Indies and in the
+Mediterranean; which would imply the surrender, not only of our many
+naval conquests, but also of our gains in Hindostan at the expense of
+the late Tippoo Sahib's dominions. In the ensuing five months the
+British Government gained some noteworthy successes in diplomacy and
+war. It settled the disputes arising out of the Armed Neutrality
+League; there was every prospect of our troops defeating those of
+France in Egypt; and our navy captured St. Eustace and Saba in the
+West Indies.
+
+As a set-off to our efforts by sea, Bonaparte instigated a war between
+Spain and Portugal, in order that the latter Power might be held as a
+"guarantee for the general peace." Spain, however, merely waged a "war
+of oranges," and came to terms with her neighbour in the Treaty of
+Badajoz, June 6th, 1801, whereby she gained the small frontier
+district of Olivenza. This fell far short of the First Consul's
+intentions. Indeed, such was his annoyance at the conduct of the Court
+of Madrid and the complaisance of his brother Lucien Bonaparte, who
+was ambassador there, that he determined to make Spain bear a heavy
+share of the English demands. On June 22nd, 1801, he wrote to his
+brother at Madrid:
+
+     "I have already caused the English to be informed that I will never
+     depart, as regards Portugal, from the _ultimatum_ addressed to M.
+     d'Araujo, and that the _status quo ante bellum_ for Portugal must
+     amount, for Spain, to the restitution of Trinidad; for France, to
+     the restitution of Martinique and Tobago; and for Batavia [Holland],
+     to that of Curacoa and some other small American isles."[173]
+
+In other words, if Portugal at the close of this whipped-up war
+retained her present possessions, then England must renounce her
+claims to Trinidad, Martinique, Tobago, Curacoa, etc.: and he summed
+up his contention in the statement that "in signing this treaty
+Charles IV. has consented to the loss of Trinidad." Further pressure
+on Portugal compelled her to cede part of Northern Brazil to France
+and to pay her 20,000,000 francs.
+
+A still more striking light is thrown on Bonaparte's diplomatic
+methods by the following question, addressed to Lord Hawkesbury on
+June 15th:
+
+     "If, supposing that the French Government should accede to the
+     arrangements proposed for the East Indies by England, and should
+     adopt the _status quo ante bellum_ for Portugal, the King of
+     England would consent to the re-establishment of the _status quo_
+     in the Mediterranean and in America."
+
+The British Minister in his reply of June 25th explained what the
+phrase _status quo ante bellum_ in regard to the Mediterranean would
+really imply. It would necessitate, not merely the evacuation of Egypt
+by the French, but also that of the Kingdom of Sardinia (including
+Nice), the Duchy of Tuscany, and the independence of the rest of the
+peninsula. He had already offered that we should evacuate Minorca; but
+he now stated that, if France retained her influence over Italy,
+England would claim Malta as a set-off to the vast extension of French
+territorial influence, and in order to protect English commerce in
+those seas: for the rest, the British Government could not regard the
+maintenance of the integrity of Portugal as an equivalent to the
+surrender by Great Britain of her West Indian conquests, especially as
+France had acquired further portions of Saint Domingo. Nevertheless he
+offered to restore Trinidad to Spain, if she would reinstate Portugal
+in the frontier strip of Olivenza; and, on August 5th, he told Otto
+that we would give up Malta if it became independent.
+
+Meanwhile events were, on the whole, favourable to Great Britain. She
+made peace with Russia on favourable terms; and in the Mediterranean,
+despite a first success gained by the French Admiral Linois at
+Algesiras, a second battle brought back victory to the Union Jack. An
+attack made by Nelson on the flotilla at Boulogne was a failure
+(August 15th). But at the close of August the French commander in
+Egypt, General Menou, was constrained to agree to the evacuation of
+Egypt by his troops, which were to be sent back to France on English
+vessels. This event had been expected by Bonaparte, and the secret
+instruction which he forwarded to Otto at London shows the nicety of
+his calculation as to the advantages to be reaped by France owing to
+her receiving the news while it was still unknown in England. He
+ordered Otto to fix October the 2nd for the close of the negotiations:
+
+     "You will understand the importance of this when you reflect that
+     Menou may possibly not be able to hold out in Alexandria beyond the
+     first of Vendemiaire (September 22nd); that, at this season, the
+     winds are fair to come from Egypt, and ships reach Italy and
+     Trieste in very few days. Thus it is necessary to push them [the
+     negotiations] to a conclusion before Vendemiaire 10."
+
+The advantages of an irresponsible autocrat in negotiating with a
+Ministry dependent on Parliament have rarely been more signally shown.
+Anxious to gain popularity, and unable to stem the popular movement
+for peace, Addington and Hawkesbury yielded to this request for a
+fixed limit of time; and the preliminaries of peace were signed at
+London on October 1st, 1801, the very day before the news arrived
+there that one of our demands was rendered useless by the actual
+surrender of the French in Egypt.[174]
+
+
+
+The chief conditions of the preliminaries were as follows: Great
+Britain restored to France, Spain, and the Batavian Republic all their
+possessions and colonies recently conquered by her except Trinidad and
+Ceylon. The Cape of Good Hope was given back to the Dutch, but
+remained open to British and French commerce. Malta was to be restored
+to the Order of St. John, and placed under the guarantee and
+protection of a third Power to be agreed on in the definitive treaty.
+Egypt returned to the control of the Sublime Porte. The existing
+possessions of Portugal (that is, exclusive of Olivenza) were
+preserved intact. The French agreed to loose their hold on the Kingdom
+of Naples and the Roman territory; while the British were also to
+evacuate Porto Ferrajo (Elba) and the other ports and islands which
+they held in the Mediterranean and Adriatic. The young Republic of the
+Seven Islands (Ionian Islands) was recognized by France: and the
+fisheries on the coasts of Newfoundland and the adjacent isles were
+placed on their former footing, subject to "such arrangements as shall
+appear just and reciprocally useful."
+
+It was remarked as significant of the new docility of George III.,
+that the empty title of "King of France," which he and his
+predecessors had affected, was now formally resigned, and the _fleurs
+de lys_ ceased to appear on the royal arms.
+
+Thus, with three exceptions, Great Britain had given way on every
+point of importance since the first declaration of her claims; the
+three exceptions were Trinidad and Ceylon, which she gained from the
+allies of France; and Egypt, the recovery of which from the French was
+already achieved, though it was unknown at London. On every detail but
+these Bonaparte had gained a signal diplomatic success. His skill and
+tenacity bade fair to recover for France, Martinique, Tobago, and
+Santa Lucia, then in British hands, as well as the French stations in
+India. The only British gains, after nine years of warfare, fruitful
+in naval triumphs, but entailing an addition of L290,000,000 to the
+National Debt, were the islands of Trinidad and the Dutch possessions
+in Ceylon. And yet in the six months spent in negotiations the general
+course of events had been favourable to the northern Power. What then
+had been lacking? Certainly not valour to her warriors, nor good
+fortune to her flag; but merely brain power to her rulers. They had
+little of that foresight, skill, and intellectual courage, without
+which even the exploits of a Nelson are of little permanent effect.
+
+Reserving for treatment in the next chapter the questions arising from
+these preliminaries and the resulting Peace of Amiens, we turn now to
+consider their bearing on Bonaparte's position as First Consul. The
+return of peace after an exhausting war is always welcome; yet the
+patriotic Briton who saw the National Debt more than doubled, with no
+adequate gain in land or influence, could not but contrast the
+difference in the fortunes of France. That Power had now gained the
+Rhine boundary; her troops garrisoned the fortresses of Holland and
+Northern Italy; her chief dictated his will to German princelings and
+to the once free Switzers; while the Court of Madrid, nay, the
+Eternal City herself, obeyed his behests. And all this prodigious
+expansion had been accomplished at little apparent cost to France
+herself; for the victors' bill had been very largely met out of the
+resources of the conquered territories. It is true that her nobles and
+clergy had suffered fearful losses in lands and treasure, while her
+trading classes had cruelly felt the headlong fall in value of her
+paper notes: but in a land endowed with a bounteous soil and climate
+such losses are soon repaired, and the signature of the peace with
+England left France comparatively prosperous. In October the First
+Consul also concluded peace with Russia, and came to a friendly
+understanding with the Czar on Italian affairs and the question of
+indemnities for the dispossessed German Princes.[175]
+
+
+Bonaparte now strove to extend the colonies and commerce of France, a
+topic to which we shall return later on, and to develop her internal
+resources. The chief roads were repaired, and ceased to be in the
+miserable condition in which the abolition of the _corvees_ in 1789
+had left them: canals were dug to connect the chief river systems of
+France, or were greatly improved; and Paris soon benefited from the
+construction of the Scheldt and Oise canal, which brought the
+resources of Belgium within easy reach of the centre of France. Ports
+were deepened and extended; and Marseilles entered on golden vistas of
+prosperity soon to be closed by the renewal of war with England.
+Communications with Italy were facilitated by the improvement of the
+road between Marseilles and Genoa, as also of the tracks leading over
+the Simplon, Mont Cenis, and Mont Genevre passes: the roads leading to
+the Rhine and along its left bank also attested the First Consul's
+desire, not only to extend commerce, but to protect his natural
+boundary on the east. The results of this road-making were to be seen
+in the campaign of Ulm, when the French forces marched from Boulogne
+to the Black Forest at an unparalleled speed.
+
+Paris in particular felt his renovating hand. With the abrupt,
+determined tones which he assumed more and more on reaching absolute
+power, he one day said to Chaptal at Malmaison:
+
+     "I intend to make Paris the most beautiful capital of the world: I
+     wish that in ten years it should number two millions of
+     inhabitants." "But," replied his Minister of the Interior, "one
+     cannot improvise population; ... as it is, Paris would scarcely
+     support one million"; and he instanced the want of good drinking
+     water. "What are your plans for giving water to Paris?" Chaptal
+     gave two alternatives--artesian wells or the bringing of water from
+     the River Ourcq to Paris. "I adopt the latter plan: go home and
+     order five hundred men to set to work to-morrow at La Villette to
+     dig the canal."
+
+Such was the inception of a great public work which cost more than
+half a million sterling. The provisioning of Paris also received
+careful attention, a large reserve of wheat being always kept on hand
+for the satisfaction of "a populace which is only dangerous when it is
+hungry." Bonaparte therefore insisted on corn being stored and sold in
+large quantities and at a very low price, even when considerable loss
+was thereby entailed.[176] But besides supplying _panem_ he also
+provided _circenses_ to an extent never known even in the days of
+Louis XV. State aid was largely granted to the chief theatres, where
+Bonaparte himself was a frequent attendant, and a willing captive to
+the charms of the actress Mlle. Georges.
+
+The beautifying of Paris was, however, the chief means employed by
+Bonaparte for weaning its populace from politics; and his efforts to
+this end were soon crowned with complete success. Here again the
+events of the Revolution had left the field clear for vast works of
+reconstruction such as would have been impossible but for the
+abolition of the many monastic institutions of old Paris. On or near
+the sites of the famous Feuillants and Jacobins he now laid down
+splendid thoroughfares; and where the constitutionals or reds a decade
+previously had perorated and fought, the fashionable world of Paris
+now rolled in gilded cabriolets along streets whose names recalled the
+Italian and Egyptian triumphs of the First Consul. Art and culture
+bowed down to the ruler who ordered the renovation of the Louvre,
+which now became the treasure-house of painting and sculpture,
+enriched by masterpieces taken from many an Italian gallery. No
+enterprise has more conspicuously helped to assure the position of
+Paris as the capital of the world's culture than Bonaparte's grouping
+of the nation's art treasures in a central and magnificent building.
+In the first year of his Empire Napoleon gave orders for the
+construction of vast galleries which were to connect the northern
+pavilion of the Tuileries with the Louvre and form a splendid facade
+to the new Rue de Rivoli. Despite the expense, the work was pushed
+on until it was suddenly arrested by the downfall of the Empire,
+and was left to the great man's nephew to complete. Though it is
+possible, as Chaptal avers, that the original design aimed at the
+formation of a central fortress, yet to all lovers of art, above
+all to the hero-worshipping Heine, the new Louvre was a sure pledge
+of Napoleon's immortality.
+
+Other works which combined beauty with utility were the prolongation
+of the quays along the left bank of the Seine, the building of three
+bridges over that river, the improvement of the Jardin des Plantes,
+together with that of other parks and open spaces, and the completion
+of the Conservatoire of Arts and Trades. At a later date, the military
+spirit of the Empire received signal illustration in the erection of
+the Vendome column, the Arc de Triomphe, and the consecration, or
+desecration, of the Madeleine as a temple of glory.
+
+Many of these works were subsequent to the period which we are
+considering; but the enterprises of the Emperor represent the designs
+of the First Consul; and the plans for the improvement of Paris formed
+during the Consulate were sufficient to inspire the Parisians with
+lively gratitude and to turn them from political speculations to
+scenes of splendour and gaiety that recalled the days of Louis XIV. If
+we may believe the testimony of Romilly, who visited Paris in 1802,
+the new policy had even then attained its end.
+
+     "The quiet despotism, which leaves everybody who does not wish to
+     meddle with politics (and few at present have any such wish) in the
+     full and secure enjoyment of their property and of their pleasures,
+     is a sort of paradise, compared with the agitation, the perpetual
+     alarms, the scenes of infamy, of bloodshed, which accompanied the
+     pretended liberties of France."
+
+But while acknowledging the material benefits of Bonaparte's rule, the
+same friend of liberty notes with concern:
+
+     "That he [Bonaparte] meditates the gaining fresh laurels in war can
+     hardly be doubted, if the accounts which one hears of his restless
+     and impatient disposition be true."
+
+However much the populace delighted in this new _regime_, the many
+ardent souls who had dared and achieved so much in the sacred quest of
+liberty could not refrain from protesting against the innovations
+which were restoring personal rule. Though the Press was gagged,
+though as many as thirty-two Departments were subjected to the
+scrutiny of special tribunals, which, under the guise of stamping out
+brigandage, frequently punished opponents of the Government, yet the
+voice of criticism was not wholly silenced. The project of the
+Concordat was sharply opposed in the Tribunate, which also ventured to
+declare that the first sections of the Civil Codes were not
+conformable to the principles of 1789 and to the first draft of a code
+presented to the Convention. The Government thereupon refused to send
+to the Tribunate any important measures, but merely flung them a mass
+of petty details to discuss, as "_bones to gnaw_" until the time for
+the renewal by lot of a fifth of its members should come round. During
+a discussion at the Council of State, the First Consul hinted with
+much frankness at the methods which ought to be adopted to quell the
+factious opposition of the Tribunate:
+
+     "One cannot work with an institution so productive of disorder. The
+     constitution has created a legislative power composed of three
+     bodies. None of these branches has any right to organize itself:
+     that must be done by the law. Therefore we must make a body which
+     shall organize the manner of deliberations of these three branches.
+     The Tribunate ought to be divided into five sections. The
+     discussion of laws will take place secretly in each section: one
+     might even introduce a discussion between these sections and those
+     of the Council of State. Only the reporter will speak publicly.
+     Then things will go on reasonably."
+
+Having delivered this opinion, _ex cathedra_, he departed (January
+7th, 1802) for Lyons, there to be invested with supreme authority in
+the reconstituted Cisalpine, or as it was now termed, Italian
+Republic[177]
+
+
+Returning at the close of the month, radiant with the lustre of this
+new dignity, he was able to bend the Tribunate and the _Corps
+Legislatif_ to his will. The renewal of their membership by one-fifth
+served as the opportunity for subjecting them to the more pliable
+Senate. This august body of highly-paid members holding office for
+life had the right of nominating the new members; but hitherto the
+retiring members had been singled out by lot. Roederer, acting on a
+hint of the time-serving Second Consul, now proposed in the Council
+of State that the retiring members of those Chambers should
+thenceforth be appointed by the Senate, and not by lot; for the
+principle of the lot, he quaintly urged, was hostile to the right of
+election which belonged to the Senate. Against such conscious
+sophistry all the bolts of logic were harmless. The question was left
+undecided, in order that the Senate might forthwith declare in favour
+of its own right to determine every year not only the elections to,
+but the exclusions from, the Tribunate and the _Corps Legislatif_. A
+_senatus consultant_ of March legalized this monstrous innovation,
+which led to the exclusion from the Tribunate of zealous republicans
+like Benjamin Constant, Isnard, Ganilh, Daunou, and Chenier. The
+infusion of the senatorial nominees served to complete the nullity of
+these bodies; and the Tribunate, the lineal descendant of the terrible
+Convention, was gagged and bound within eight years of the stilling of
+Danton's mighty voice.
+
+In days when civic zeal was the strength of the French Republic, the
+mere suggestion of such a violation of liberty would have cost the
+speaker his life. But since the rise of Bonaparte, civic sentiments
+had yielded place to the military spirit and to boundless pride in the
+nation's glory. Whenever republican feelings were outraged, there were
+sufficient distractions to dissipate any of the sombre broodings which
+Bonaparte so heartily disliked; and an event of international
+importance now came to still the voice of political criticism.
+
+The signature of the definitive treaty of peace with Great Britain
+(March 25th, 1802) sufficed to drown the muttered discontent of the
+old republican party under the paeans of a nation's joy. The
+jubilation was natural. While Londoners were grumbling at the
+sacrifices which Addington's timidity had entailed, all France rang
+with praises of the diplomatic skill which could rescue several
+islands from England's grip and yet assure French supremacy on the
+Continent. The event seemed to call for some sign of the nation's
+thankfulness to the restorer of peace and prosperity. The hint having
+been given by the tactful Cambaceres to some of the members of the
+Tribunate, this now docile body expressed a wish that there should be
+a striking token of the national gratitude; and a motion to that
+effect was made by the Senate to the _Corps Legislatif_ and to the
+Government itself.
+
+The form which the national memorial should take was left entirely
+vague. Under ordinary circumstances the outcome would have been a
+column or a statue: to a Napoleon it was monarchy.
+
+The Senate was in much doubt as to the fit course of action. The
+majority desired to extend the Consulate for a second term of ten
+years, and a formal motion to that effect was made on May 7th. It was
+opposed by a few, some of whom demanded the prolongation for life. The
+president, Tronchet, prompted by Fouche and other republicans, held
+that only the question of prolonging the Consulate for another term of
+ten years was before the Senate: and the motion was carried by sixty
+votes against one: the dissentient voice was that of the Girondin
+Lanjuinais. The report of this vote disconcerted the First Consul, but
+he replied with some constraint that as the people had invested him
+with the supreme magistrature, he would not feel assured of its
+confidence unless the present proposal were also sanctioned by its
+vote: "You judge that I owe the people another sacrifice: I will give
+it if the people's voice orders what your vote now authorizes." But
+before the mass vote of the people was taken, an important change had
+been made in the proposal itself. It was well known that Bonaparte was
+dissatisfied with the senatorial offer: and at a special session of
+the Council of State, at which Ministers were present, the Second
+Consul urged that they must now decide how, when, and _on what
+question_ the people were to be consulted. The whole question recently
+settled by the Senate was thus reopened in a way that illustrated the
+advantage of multiplying councils and of keeping them under official
+tutelage. The Ministers present asserted that the people disapproved
+of the limitations of time imposed by the Senate; and after some
+discussion Cambaceres procured the decision that the consultation of
+the people should be on the questions whether the First Consul should
+hold his power for life, and whether he should nominate his successor.
+
+To the latter part of this proposal the First Consul offered a
+well-judged refusal. To consult the people on the restoration of
+monarchy would, as yet, have been as inopportune as it was
+superfluous. After gaining complete power, Bonaparte could be well
+assured as to the establishment of an hereditary claim. The former and
+less offensive part of the proposal was therefore submitted to the
+people; and to it there could be only one issue amidst the prosperity
+brought by the peace, and the surveillance exercised by the prefects
+and the grateful clergy now brought back by the Concordat. The
+Consulate for Life was voted by the enormous majority of more than
+3,500,000 affirmative votes against 8,374 negatives. But among these
+dissentients were many honoured names: among military men Carnot,
+Drouot, Mouton, and Bernard opposed the innovation; and Lafayette made
+the public statement that he could not vote for such a magistracy
+unless political liberty were guaranteed. A _senatus consultum_ of
+August 1st forthwith proclaimed Napoleon Bonaparte Consul for Life and
+ordered the erection of a Statue of Peace, holding in one hand the
+victor's laurel and in the other the senatorial decree.
+
+On the following day Napoleon--for henceforth he generally used his
+Christian name like other monarchs--presented to the Council of State
+a project of an organic law, which virtually amounted to a new
+constitution. The mere fact of its presentation at so early a date
+suffices to prove how completely he had prepared for the recent change
+and how thoroughly assured he was of success. This important measure
+was hurried through the Senate, and, without being submitted to the
+Tribunate or _Corps Legislatif_, still less to the people, for whose
+sanction he had recently affected so much concern--was declared to be
+the fundamental law of the State.
+
+The fifth constitution of revolutionary France may be thus described.
+It began by altering the methods of election. In place of Sieyes'
+lists of notabilities, Bonaparte proposed a simpler plan. The
+adult citizens of each canton were thenceforth to meet, for
+electoral purposes, in primary assemblies, to name two candidates
+for the office of _juge de paix_ (i.e., magistrate) and town
+councillor, and to choose the members of the "electoral colleges"
+for the _arrondissement_ and for the Department. In the latter case
+only the 600 most wealthy men of the Department were eligible. An
+official or aristocratic tinge was to be imparted to these electoral
+colleges by the infusion of members selected by the First Consul from
+the members of the Legion of Honour. Fixity of opinion was also
+assured by members holding office for life; and, as they were elected
+in the midst of the enthusiasm aroused by the Peace of Amiens, they
+were decidedly Bonapartist.
+
+The electoral colleges had the following powers: they nominated two
+candidates for each place vacant in the merely consultative councils
+of their respective areas, and had the equally barren honour of
+presenting two candidates for the Tribunate--the final act of
+_selection_ being decided by the executive, that is, by the First
+Consul. Corresponding privileges were accorded to the electoral
+colleges of the Department, save that these plutocratic bodies had the
+right of presenting candidates for admission to the Senate. The lists
+of candidates for the _Corps_ _Legislatif_ were to be formed by the
+joint action of the electoral colleges, namely, those of the
+Departments and those of the _arrondissements_. But as the resulting
+councils and parliamentary bodies had only the shadow of power, the
+whole apparatus was but an imposing machine for winnowing the air and
+threshing chaff.
+
+The First Consul secured few additional rights or attributes, except
+the exercise of the royal prerogative of granting pardon. But, in
+truth, his own powers were already so large that they were scarcely
+susceptible of extension. The three Consuls held office for life, and
+were _ex officio_ members of the Senate. The second and third Consuls
+were nominated by the Senate on the presentation of the First Consul:
+the Senate might reject two names proposed by him for either office,
+but they must accept his third nominee. The First Consul might deposit
+in the State archives his proposal as to his successor: if the Senate
+rejected this proposal, the second and third Consuls made a
+suggestion; and if it were rejected, one of the two whom they
+thereupon named must be elected by the Senate. The three legislative
+bodies lost practically all their powers, those of the _Corps
+Legislatif_ going to the Senate, those of the Council of State to an
+official Cabal formed out of it; while the Tribunate was forced to
+_debate secretly in five sections_, where, as Bonaparte observed,
+_they might jabber as they liked_.
+
+On the other hand, the attributes of the Senate were signally
+enhanced. It was thenceforth charged, not only with the preservation
+of the republican constitution, but with its interpretation in
+disputed points, and its completion wherever it should be found
+wanting. Furthermore, by means of organic _senatus consulta_ it was
+empowered to make constitutions for the French colonies, or to suspend
+trial by jury for five years in any Department, or even to declare it
+outside the limits of the constitution. It now gained the right of
+being consulted in regard to the ratification of treaties, previously
+enjoyed by the _Corps Legislatif._ Finally, it could dissolve the
+_Corps Legislatif_ and the Tribunate. But this formidable machinery
+was kept under the strict control of the chief engineer: all these
+powers were set in motion on the initiative of the Government; and the
+proposals for its laws, or _senatus consulta,_ were discussed in the
+Cabal of the Council of State named by the First Consul. This
+precaution might have been deemed superfluous by a ruler less careful
+about details than Napoleon; the composition of the Senate was such as
+to assure its pliability; for though it continued to renew its ranks
+by co-optation, yet that privilege was restricted in the following
+way: from the lists of candidates for the Senate sent up by the
+electoral colleges of the Departments, Napoleon selected three for
+each seat vacant; one of those three must be chosen by the Senate.
+Moreover, the First Consul was to be allowed directly to nominate
+forty members in addition to the eighty prescribed by the constitution
+of 1799. Thus, by direct or indirect means, the Senate soon became a
+strict Napoleonic preserve, to which only the most devoted adherents
+could aspire. And yet, such is the vanity of human efforts, it was
+this very body which twelve years later was to vote his
+deposition.[178]
+
+The victory of action over talk, of the executive over the
+legislature, of the one supremely able man over the discordant and
+helpless many, was now complete. The process was startlingly swift;
+yet its chief stages are not difficult to trace. The orators of the
+first two National Assemblies of France, after wrecking the old royal
+authority, were constrained by the pressure of events to intrust the
+supervision of the executive powers to important committees, whose
+functions grew with the intensity of the national danger. Amidst the
+agonies of 1793, when France was menaced by the First Coalition, the
+Committee of Public Safety leaped forth as the ensanguined champion of
+democracy; and, as the crisis, developed in intensity, this terrible
+body and the Committee of General Security virtually governed France.
+
+After the repulse of the invaders and the fall of Robespierre, the
+return to ordinary methods was marked by the institution of the
+Directory, when five men, chosen by the legislature, controlled the
+executive powers and the general policy of the Republic: that
+compromise was forcibly ended by the stroke of Brumaire. Three Consuls
+then seized the reins, and two years later a single charioteer gripped
+the destinies of France. His powers were, in fact, ultimately derived
+from those of the secret committees of the terrorists. But, unlike the
+supremacy of Robespierre, that of Napoleon could not be disputed; for
+the general, while guarding all the material boons which the
+Revolution had conferred, conciliated the interests and classes
+whereon the civilian had so brutally trampled. The new autocracy
+therefore possessed a solid strength which that of the terrorists
+could never possess. Indeed, it was more absolute than the dictatorial
+power that Rousseau had outlined. The philosopher had asserted that,
+while silencing the legislative power, the dictator really made it
+vocal, and that he could do everything but make laws. But Napoleon,
+after 1802, did far more: he suppressed debates and yet drew laws from
+his subservient legislature. Whether, then, we regard its practical
+importance for France and Europe, or limit our view to the mental
+sagacity and indomitable will-power required for its accomplishment,
+the triumph of Napoleon in the three years subsequent to his return
+from Egypt is the most stupendous recorded in the history of civilized
+peoples.
+
+The populace consoled itself for the loss of political liberty by the
+splendour of the fete which heralded the title of First Consul for
+Life, proclaimed on August 15th: that day was also memorable as being
+the First Consul's thirty-third birthday, the festival of the
+Assumption, and the anniversary of the ratification of the Concordat.
+The decorations and fireworks were worthy of so remarkable a
+confluence of solemnities. High on one of the towers of Notre Dame
+glittered an enormous star, and at its centre there shone the sign of
+the Zodiac which had shed its influence over his first hours of life.
+The myriads of spectators who gazed at that natal emblem might well
+have thought that his life's star was now at its zenith. Few could
+have dared to think that it was to mount far higher into unknown
+depths of space, blazing as a baleful portent to kings and peoples;
+still less was there any Cassandra shriek of doom as to its final
+headlong fall into the wastes of ocean. All was joy and jubilation
+over a career that had even now surpassed the records of antique
+heroism, that blended the romance of oriental prowess with the
+beneficent toils of the legislator, and prospered alike in war and
+peace.
+
+And yet black care cast one shadow over that jubilant festival. There
+was a void in the First Consul's life such as saddened but few of the
+millions of peasants who looked up to him as their saviour. His wife
+had borne him no heir: and there seemed no prospect that a child of
+his own would ever succeed to his glorious heritage. Family joys, it
+seemed, were not for him. Suspicions and bickerings were his lot. His
+brothers, in their feverish desire for the establishment of a
+Bonapartist dynasty, ceaselessly urged that he should take means to
+provide himself with a legitimate heir, in the last resort by
+divorcing Josephine. With a consideration for her feelings which does
+him credit, Napoleon refused to countenance such proceedings. Yet it
+is certain that from this time onwards he kept in view the
+desirability, on political grounds, of divorcing her, and made this
+the excuse for indulgence in amours against which Josephine's tears
+and reproaches were all in vain.
+
+The consolidation of personal rule, the institution of the Legion of
+Honour, and the return of very many of the emigrant nobles under the
+terms of the recent amnesty, favoured the growth of luxury in the
+capital and of Court etiquette at the Tuileries and St. Cloud. At
+these palaces the pomp of the _ancien regime_ was laboriously copied.
+General Duroc, stiff republican though he was, received the
+appointment of Governor of the Palace; under him were chamberlains and
+prefects of the palace, who enforced a ceremonial that struggled to be
+monarchical. The gorgeous liveries and sumptuous garments of the reign
+of Louis XV. speedily replaced the military dress which even civilians
+had worn under the warlike Republic. High boots, sabres, and
+regimental headgear gave way to buckled shoes, silk stockings, Court
+rapiers, and light hats, the last generally held under the arm.
+Tricolour cockades were discarded, along with the revolutionary jargon
+which _thou'd_ and _citizen'd_ everyone; and men began to purge their
+speech of some of the obscene terms which had haunted clubs and camps.
+
+It was remarked, however, that the First Consul still clung to the use
+of the term _citizen_, and that amidst the surprising combinations of
+colours that flecked his Court, he generally wore only the uniform of
+a colonel of grenadiers or of the light infantry of the consular
+guard. This conduct resulted partly from his early dislike of luxury,
+but partly, doubtless, from a conviction that republicans will forgive
+much in a man who, like Vespasian, discards the grandeur which his
+prowess has won, and shines by his very plainness. To trifling matters
+such as these Napoleon always attached great importance; for, as he
+said to Admiral Malcolm at St. Helena: "In France trifles are great
+things: reason is nothing."[179] Besides, genius so commanding as his
+little needed the external trappings wherewith ordinary mortals hide
+their nullity. If his attire was simple, it but set off the better the
+play of his mobile features, and the rich, unfailing flow of his
+conversation. Perhaps no clearer and more pleasing account of his
+appearance and his conduct at a reception has ever been given to the
+world than this sketch of the great man in one of his gentler moods by
+John Leslie Foster, who visited Paris shortly after the Peace of
+Amiens:
+
+     "He is about five feet seven inches high, delicately and gracefully
+     made; his hair a dark brown crop, thin and lank; his complexion
+     smooth, pale, and sallow; his eyes gray, but very animated; his
+     eye-brows light brown, thin and projecting. All his features,
+     particularly his mouth and nose, fine, sharp, defined, and
+     expressive beyond description; expressive of what? Not of
+     anything_perce_ as the prints expressed him, still less of anything
+     _mechant_; nor has he anything of that eye whose bend doth awe the
+     world. The true expression of his countenance is a pleasing
+     melancholy, which, whenever he speaks, relaxes into the most
+     agreeable and gracious smile you can conceive. To this you must add
+     the appearance of deep and intense thought, but above all the
+     predominating expression a look of calm and tranquil resolution and
+     intrepidity which nothing human could discompose. His address is
+     the finest I have ever seen, and said by those who have travelled
+     to exceed not only every Prince and Potentate now in being, but
+     even all those whose memory has come down to us. He has more
+     unaffected dignity than I could conceive in man. His address is the
+     gentlest and most prepossessing you can conceive, which is seconded
+     by the greatest fund of levee conversation that I suppose any
+     person ever possessed. He speaks deliberately, but very fluently,
+     with particular emphasis, and in a rather low tone of voice. While
+     he speaks, his features are still more expressive than his
+     words."[180]
+
+In contrast with this intellectual power and becoming simplicity of
+attire, how stupid and tawdry were the bevies of soulless women and
+the dumb groups of half-tamed soldiers! How vapid also the rules of
+etiquette and precedence which starched the men and agitated the minds
+of their consorts! Yet, while soaring above these rules with easy
+grace, the First Consul imposed them rigidly on the crowd of eager
+courtiers. On these burning questions he generally took the advice of
+M. de Remusat, whose tact and acquaintance with Court customs were now
+of much service; while the sprightly wit of his young wife attracted
+Josephine, as it has all readers of her piquant but rather spiteful
+memoirs. In her pages we catch a glimpse of the life of that singular
+Court; the attempts at aping the inimitable manners of the _ancien
+regime_; the pompous nullity of the second and third Consuls; the
+tawdry magnificence of the costumes; the studied avoidance of any word
+that implied even a modicum of learning or a distant acquaintance with
+politics; the nervous preoccupation about Napoleon's moods and whims;
+the graceful manners of Josephine that rarely failed to charm away his
+humours, except when she herself had been outrageously slighted for
+some passing favourite; above all, the leaden dullness of
+conversation, which drew from Chaptal the confession that life there
+was the life of a galley slave. And if we seek for the hidden reason
+why a ruler eminently endowed with mental force and freshness should
+have endured so laboured a masquerade, we find it in his strikingly
+frank confession to Madame de Remusat: _It is fortunate that the
+French are to be ruled through their vanity._ <
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+THE PEACE OF AMIENS
+
+
+The previous chapter dealt in the main with the internal affairs of
+France and the completion of Napoleon's power: it touched on foreign
+affairs only so far as to exhibit the close connection between the
+First Consul's diplomatic victory over England and his triumph over
+the republican constitution in his adopted country. But it is time now
+to review the course of the negotiations which led up to the Treaty of
+Amiens.
+
+In order to realize the advantages which France then had over England,
+it will be well briefly to review the condition of our land at that
+time. Our population was far smaller than that of the French Republic.
+France, with her recent acquisitions in Belgium, the Rhineland, Savoy,
+Nice, and Piedmont, numbered nearly 40,000,000 inhabitants: but the
+census returns of Great Britain for 1801 showed only a total of
+10,942,000 souls, while the numbers for Ireland, arguing from the
+rather untrustworthy return of 1813, may be reckoned at about six and
+a half millions. The prodigious growth of the English-speaking people
+had not as yet fully commenced either in the motherland, the United
+States, or in the small and struggling settlements of Canada and
+Australia. Its future expansion was to be assured by industrial and
+social causes, and by the events considered in this and in subsequent
+chapters. It was a small people that had for several months faced with
+undaunted front the gigantic power of Bonaparte and that of the Armed
+Neutrals.
+
+This population of less than 18,000,000 souls, of which nearly
+one-third openly resented the Act of Union recently imposed on
+Ireland, was burdened by a National Debt which amounted to
+L537,000,000, and entailed a yearly charge of more than L20,000,000
+sterling. In the years of war with revolutionary France the annual
+expenditure had risen from L19,859,000 (for 1792) to the total of
+L61,329,000, which necessitated an income tax of 10 per cent. on all
+incomes of L200 and upwards. Yet, despite party feuds, the nation was
+never stronger, and its fleets had never won more brilliant and solid
+triumphs. The chief naval historian of France admits that we had
+captured no fewer than 50 ships of the line, and had lost to our
+enemies only five, thereby raising the strength of our fighting line
+to 189, while that of France had sunk to 47.[181] The prowess of Sir
+Arthur Wellesley was also beginning to revive in India the ancient
+lustre of the British arms; but the events of 1802-3 were to show that
+our industrial enterprise, and the exploits of our sailors and
+soldiers, were by themselves of little avail when matched in a
+diplomatic contest against the vast resources of France and the
+embodied might of a Napoleon.
+
+Men and institutions were everywhere receiving the imprint of his
+will. France was as wax under his genius. The sovereigns of Spain,
+Italy, and Germany obeyed his _fiat_. Even the stubborn Dutch bent
+before him. On the plea of defeating Orange intrigues, he imposed a
+new constitution on the Batavian Republic whose independence he had
+agreed to respect. Its Directory was now replaced by a Regency which
+relieved the deputies of the people of all responsibility. A
+_plebiscite_ showed 52,000 votes against, and 16,000 for, the new
+_regime_; but, as 350,000 had not voted, their silence was taken for
+consent, and Bonaparte's will became law (September, 1801).
+
+We are now in a position to appreciate the position of France and
+Great Britain. Before the signature of the preliminaries of peace at
+London on October 1st, 1801, our Government had given up its claims to
+the Cape, Malta, Tobago, Martinique, Essequibo, Demerara, Berbice, and
+Curacoa, retaining of its conquests only Trinidad and Ceylon.
+
+A belated attempt had, indeed, been made to retain Tobago. The Premier
+and the Foreign Secretary, Lord Hawkesbury, were led by the French
+political agent in London, M. Otto, to believe that, in the ensuing
+negotiations at Amiens, every facility would be given by the French
+Government towards its retrocession to us, and that this act would be
+regarded as the means of indemnifying Great Britain for the heavy
+expense of supporting many thousands of French and Dutch prisoners.
+The Cabinet, relying on this promise as binding between honourable
+men, thereupon endeavoured to obtain the assent of George III. to the
+preliminaries in their ultimate form, and only the prospect of
+regaining Tobago by this compromise induced the King to give it. When
+it was too late, King and Ministers realized their mistake in relying
+on verbal promises and in failing to procure a written statement.[182]
+
+The abandonment by Ministers of their former claim to Malta is equally
+strange. Nelson, though he held Malta to be useless as a base for the
+British fleet watching Toulon, made the memorable statement: "I
+consider Malta as a most important outwork to India." But a despatch
+from St. Petersburg, stating that the new Czar had concluded a formal
+treaty of alliance with the Order of St. John settled in Russia, may
+have convinced Addington and his colleagues that it would be better to
+forego all claim to Malta in order to cement the newly won friendship
+of Russia. Whatever may have been their motive, British Ministers
+consented to cede the island to the Knights of St. John under the
+protection of some third Power.
+
+The preliminaries of peace were further remarkable for three strange
+omissions. They did not provide for the renewal of previous treaties
+of peace between the late combatants. War is held to break all
+previous treaties; and by failing to require the renewal of the
+treaties of 1713, 1763, and 1783, it was now open to Spain and France
+to cement, albeit in a new form, that Family Compact which it had long
+been the aim of British diplomacy to dissolve: the failure to renew
+those earlier treaties rendered it possible for the Court of Madrid to
+alienate any of its colonies to France, as at that very time was being
+arranged with respect to Louisiana.
+
+The second omission was equally remarkable. No mention was made of any
+renewal of commercial intercourse between England and France.
+Doubtless a complete settlement of this question would have been
+difficult. British merchants would have looked for a renewal of that
+enlightened treaty of commerce of 1786-7, which had aroused the bitter
+opposition of French manufacturers. But the question might have been
+broached at London, and its omission from the preliminaries served as
+a reason for shelving it in the definitive treaty--a piece of folly
+which at once provoked the severest censure from British
+manufacturers, who thereby lost the markets of France, and her subject
+States, Holland, Spain, Switzerland, Genoa, and Etruria.
+
+And, finally, the terms of peace provided no compensation either for
+the French royal House or for the dispossessed House of Orange. Here
+again, it would have been very difficult to find a recompense such as
+the Bourbons could with dignity have accepted; and the suggestion made
+by one of the royalist exiles to Lord Hawkesbury, that Great Britain
+should seize Crete and hand it over to them, will show how desperate
+was their case.[183] Nevertheless, some effort should have been made
+by a Government which had so often proclaimed its championship of the
+legitimist cause. Still more glaring was the omission of any
+stipulation for an indemnity for the House of Orange, now exiled from
+the Batavian Republic. That claim, though urged at the outset, found
+no place in the preliminaries; and the mingled surprise and contempt
+felt in the _salons_ of Paris at the conduct of the British Government
+is shown in a semiofficial report sent thence by one of its secret
+agents:
+
+     "I cannot get it into my head that the British Ministry has acted
+     in good faith in subscribing to preliminaries of peace, which,
+     considering the respective position of the parties, would be
+     harmful to the English people.... People are persuaded in France
+     that the moderation of England is only a snare put in Bonaparte's
+     way, and it is mainly in order to dispel it that our journals have
+     received the order to make much of the advantages which must accrue
+     to England from the conquests retained by her; but the journalists
+     have convinced nobody, and it is said openly that if our European
+     conquests are consolidated by a general peace, France will, within
+     ten years, subjugate all Europe, Great Britain included, despite
+     all her vast dominions in India. Only within the last few days have
+     people here believed in the sincerity of the English preliminaries
+     of peace, and they say everywhere that, after having gloriously
+     sailed past the rocks that Bonaparte's cunning had placed in its
+     track, the British Ministry has completely foundered at the mouth
+     of the harbour. People blame the whole structure of the peace as
+     betraying marks of feebleness in all that concerns the dignity and
+     the interests of the King; ... and we cannot excuse its neglect of
+     the royalists, whose interests are entirely set aside in the
+     preliminaries. Men are especially astonished at England's
+     retrocession of Martinique without a single stipulation for the
+     colonists there, who are at the mercy of a government as rapacious
+     as it is fickle. All the owners of colonial property are very
+     uneasy, and do not hide their annoyance against England on this
+     score."[184]
+
+This interesting report gives a glimpse into the real thought of Paris
+such as is rarely afforded by the tamed or venal Press. As Bonaparte's
+spies enabled him to feel every throb of the French pulse, he must at
+once have seen how great was the prestige which he gained by these
+first diplomatic successes, and how precarious was the foothold of the
+English Ministers on the slippery grade of concession to which they
+had been lured. Addington surely should have remembered that only the
+strong man can with safety recede at the outset, and that an act of
+concession which, coming from a master mind, is interpreted as one of
+noble magnanimity, will be scornfully snatched from a nerveless hand
+as a sign of timorous complaisance. But the public statements and the
+secret avowals of our leaders show that they wished "to try the
+experiment of peace," now that France had returned to ordinary
+political conditions and Jacobinism was curbed by Bonaparte.
+"Perhaps," wrote Castlereagh, "France, satisfied with her recent
+acquisitions, will find her interest in that system of internal
+improvement which is necessarily connected with peace."[185] There is
+no reason for doubting the sincerity of this statement. Our policy was
+distinctly and continuously complaisant: France regained her colonies:
+she was not required to withdraw from Switzerland and Holland. Who
+could expect, from what was then known of Bonaparte's character, that
+a peace so fraught with glory and profit would not satisfy French
+honour and his own ambition?
+
+Peace, then, was an "experiment." The British Government wished to see
+whether France would turn from revolution and war to agriculture and
+commerce, whether her young ruler be satisfied with a position of
+grandeur and solid power such as Louis XIV. had rarely enjoyed. Alas!
+the failure of the experiment was patent to all save the blandest
+optimists long before the Preliminaries of London took form in the
+definitive Treaty of Amiens. Bonaparte's aim now was to keep our
+Government strictly to the provisional terms of peace which it had
+imprudently signed. Even before the negotiations were opened at
+Amiens, he ordered Joseph Bonaparte to listen to no proposal
+concerning the King of Sardinia and the ex-Stadholder of Holland,
+and asserted that the "internal affairs of the Batavian Republic, of
+Germany, of Helvetia, and of the Italian Republics" were "absolutely
+alien to the discussions with England." This implied that England was
+to be shut out from Continental politics, and that France was to
+regulate the affairs of central and southern Europe. This observance
+of the letter was, however, less rigid where French colonial and
+maritime interests were at stake. Dextrous feelers were put forth
+seawards, and it was only when these were repulsed that the French
+negotiators encased themselves in their preliminaries.
+
+The task of reducing those articles to a definitive treaty devolved,
+on the British side, on the Marquis Cornwallis, a gouty, world-weary
+old soldier, chiefly remembered for the surrender which ended the
+American War. Nevertheless, he had everywhere won respect for his
+personal probity in the administration of Indian affairs, and there
+must also have been some convincing qualities in a personality which
+drew from Napoleon at St. Helena the remark: "I do not believe that
+Cornwallis was a man of first-rate abilities: but he had talent, great
+probity, sincerity, and never broke his word.... He was a man of
+honour--a true Englishman."
+
+Against Lord Cornwallis, and his far abler secretary, Mr. Merry, were
+pitted Joseph Bonaparte and his secretaries. The abilities of the
+eldest of the Bonapartes have been much underrated. Though he lacked
+the masterful force and wide powers of his second brother, yet at
+Luneville Joseph proved himself to be an able diplomatist, and later
+on in his tenure of power at Naples and Madrid he displayed no small
+administrative gifts. Moreover, his tact and kindliness kindled in all
+who knew him a warmth of friendship such as Napoleon's sterner
+qualities rarely inspired. The one was loved as a man: for the other,
+even his earlier acquaintances felt admiration and devotion, but
+always mingled with a certain fear of the demi-god that would at times
+blaze forth. This was the dread personality that urged Talleyrand and
+Joseph Bonaparte to their utmost endeavours and steeled them against
+any untoward complaisance at Amiens.
+
+The selection of so honourable a man as Cornwallis afforded no slight
+guarantee for the sincerity of our Government, and its sincerity will
+stand the test of a perusal of its despatches. Having examined all
+those that deal with these negotiations, the present writer can affirm
+that the official instructions were in no respect modified by the
+secret injunctions: these referred merely to such delicate and
+personal topics as the evacuation of Hanover by Prussian troops and
+the indemnities to be sought for the House of Orange and the House of
+Savoy. The circumstances of these two dispossessed dynasties were
+explained so as to show that the former Dutch Stadholder had a very
+strong claim on us, as well as on France and the Batavian Republic;
+while the championship of the House of Savoy by the Czar rendered the
+claims of that ancient family on the intervention of George III. less
+direct and personal than those of the Prince of Orange. Indeed,
+England would have insisted on the insertion of a clause to this
+effect in the preliminaries had not other arrangements been on foot at
+Berlin which promised to yield due compensation to this unfortunate
+prince. Doubtless the motives of the British Ministers were good, but
+their failure to insert such a clause fatally prejudiced their case
+all through the negotiations at Amiens.
+
+The British official declaration respecting Malta was clear and
+practical. The island was to be restored to the Knights of the Order
+of St. John and placed under the protection of a third Power other
+than France and England. But the reconstitution of the Order was no
+less difficult than the choice of a strong and disinterested
+protecting Power. Lord Hawkesbury proposed that Russia be the
+guaranteeing Power. No proposal could have been more reasonable. The
+claims of the Czar to the protectorate of the Order had been so
+recently asserted by a treaty with the knights that no other
+conclusion seemed feasible. And, in order to assuage the grievances of
+the islanders and strengthen the rule of the knights, the British
+Ministry desired that the natives of Malta should gain a foothold in
+the new constitution. The lack of civil and political rights had
+contributed so materially to the overthrow of the Order that no
+reconstruction of that shattered body could be deemed intelligent, or
+even honest, which did not cement its interests with those of the
+native Maltese. The First Consul, however, at once demurred to both
+these proposals. In the course of a long interview with Cornwallis at
+Paris,[186] he adverted to the danger of bringing Russia's maritime
+pressure to bear on Mediterranean questions, especially as her
+sovereigns "had of late shown themselves to be such unsteady
+politicians." This of course referred to the English proclivities of
+Alexander I., and it is clear that Bonaparte's annoyance with
+Alexander was the first unsettling influence which prevented the
+solution of the Maltese question. The First Consul also admitted to
+Cornwallis that the King of Naples, despite his ancient claims of
+suzerainty over Malta, could not be considered a satisfactory
+guarantor, as between two Great Powers; and he then proposed that the
+tangle should be cut by blowing up the fortifications of Valetta.
+
+The mere suggestion of such an act affords eloquent proof of the
+difficulties besetting the whole question. To destroy works of vast
+extent, which were the bulwark of Christendom against the Barbary
+pirates, would practically have involved the handing over of Valetta
+to those pests of the Mediterranean; and from Malta as a new base of
+operations they could have spread devastation along the coasts of
+Sicily and Italy. This was the objection which Cornwallis at once
+offered to an other-wise specious proposal: he had recently received
+papers from Major-General Pigot at Malta, in which the same solution
+of the question was examined in detail. The British officer pointed
+out that the complete dismantling of the fortifications would expose
+the island, and therefore the coasts of Italy, to the rovers; yet he
+suggested a partial demolition, which seems to prove that the British
+officers in command at Malta did not contemplate the retention of the
+island and the infraction of the peace.
+
+Our Government, however, disapproved of the destruction of the
+fortifications of Valetta as wounding the susceptibilities of the
+Czar, and as in no wise rendering impossible the seizure of the island
+and the reconstruction of those works by some future invader. In fact,
+as the British Ministry now aimed above all at maintaining good
+relations with the Czar, Bonaparte's proposal could only be regarded
+as an ingenious device for sundering the Anglo-Russian understanding.
+The French Minister at St. Petersburg was doing his utmost to prevent
+the _rapprochement_ of the Czar to the Court of St James, and was
+striving to revive the moribund league of the Armed Neutrals. That
+last offer had "been rejected in the most peremptory manner and in
+terms almost bordering upon derision." Still there was reason to
+believe that the former Anglo-Russian disputes about Malta might be so
+far renewed as to bring Bonaparte and Alexander to an understanding.
+The sentimental Liberalism of the young Czar predisposed him towards a
+French alliance, and his whole disposition inclined him towards the
+brilliant opportunism of Paris rather than the frigid legitimacy of
+the Court of St. James. The Maltese affair and the possibility of
+reopening the Eastern Question were the two sources of hope to the
+promoters of a Franco-Russian alliance; for both these questions
+appealed to the chivalrous love of adventure and to the calculating
+ambition so curiously blent in Alexander's nature. Such, then, was the
+motive which doubtless prompted Bonaparte's proposal concerning
+Valetta; such also were the reasons which certainly dictated its
+rejection by Great Britain.
+
+In his interview with the First Consul at Paris, and in the subsequent
+negotiations at Amiens with Joseph Bonaparte, the question of Tobago
+and England's money claim for the support of French prisoners was
+found to be no less thorny than that of Malta. The Bonapartes firmly
+rejected the proposal for the retention of Tobago by England in lieu
+of her pecuniary demand. A Government which neglected to procure the
+insertion of its claim to Tobago among the Preliminaries of London
+could certainly not hope to regain that island in exchange for a
+concession to France that was in any degree disputable. But the two
+Bonapartes and Talleyrand now took their stand solely on the
+preliminaries, and politely waved on one side the earlier promises of
+M. Otto as unauthorized and invalid, They also closely scrutinized the
+British claim to an indemnity for the support of French prisoners.
+Though theoretically correct, it was open to an objection, which was
+urged by Bonaparte and Talleyrand with suave yet incisive irony.
+They suggested that the claim must be considered in relation to a
+counter-claim, soon to be sent from Paris, for the maintenance of all
+prisoners taken by the French from the various forces subsidized by
+Great Britain, a charge which "would probably not leave a balance so
+much in favour of His [Britannic] Majesty as His Government may have
+looked forward to." This retort was not so terrible as it appeared;
+for most of the papers necessary for the making up of the French
+counterclaim had been lost or destroyed during the Revolution. Yet the
+threat told with full effect on Cornwallis, who thereafter referred to
+the British claim as a "hopeless debt."[187] The officials of Downing
+Street drew a distinction between prisoners from armies merely
+subsidized by us and those taken from foreign forces actually under
+our control; but it is clear that Cornwallis ceased to press the
+claim. In fact, the British case was mismanaged from beginning to end:
+the accounts for the maintenance of French and Dutch prisoners were,
+in the first instance, wrongly drawn up; and there seems to have been
+little or no notion of the seriousness of the counter-claim, which
+came with all the effect of a volley from a masked battery,
+destructive alike to our diplomatic reputation and to our hope of
+retaining Tobago.
+
+It is impossible to refer here to all the topics discussed at Amiens.
+The determination of the French Government to adopt a forward colonial
+and oceanic policy is clearly seen in its proposals made at the close
+of the year 1801. They were: (1) the abolition of salutes to the
+British flag on the high seas; (2) an _absolute_ ownership of the
+eastern and western coasts of Newfoundland in return for a proposed
+cession of the isles of St. Pierre and Miquelon to us--which would
+have practically ceded to France _in full sovereignty_ all the best
+fishing coasts of that land, with every prospect of settling the
+interior, in exchange for two islets devastated by war and then in
+British hands; (3) the right of the French to a share in the whale
+fishery in those seas; (4) the establishment of a French fishing
+station in the Falkland Isles; and (5) the extension of the French
+districts around the towns of Yanaon and Mahe in India.[188] To all
+these demands Lord Cornwallis opposed an unbending opposition. Weak as
+our policy had been on other affairs, it was firm as a rock on all
+maritime and Indian questions. In fact, the events to be described in
+the next chapter, which led to the consolidation of British power in
+Hindostan, would in all probability never have occurred but for the
+apprehensions excited by these French demands; and our masterful
+proconsul in Bengal, the Marquis Wellesley, could not have pursued his
+daring and expensive schemes of conquest, annexation, and forced
+alliances, had not the schemes of the First Consul played into the
+hands of the soldiers at Calcutta and weakened the protests of the
+dividend-hunters of Leadenhall Street.
+
+The persistence of French demands for an increase of influence in
+Newfoundland and the West and East Indies, the vastness of her
+expedition to Saint Domingo and the thinly-veiled designs of her
+Australian expedition (which we shall notice in the next chapter), all
+served to awaken the suspicions of the British Government. The
+negotiations consequently progressed but slowly. From the outset they
+were clogged by the suspicion of bad faith. Spain and Holland, smarting
+under the conditions of a peace which gave to France all the glory and
+to her allies all the loss, delayed sending their respective envoys to
+the conferences at Amiens, and finally avowed their determination to
+resist the surrender of Trinidad and Ceylon. In fact, pressure had to
+be exerted from Paris and London before they yielded to the inevitable.
+This difficulty was only one of several: there then remained the
+questions whether Portugal and Turkey should be admitted to share in the
+treaty, as England demanded; or whether they should sign a separate
+peace with France. The First Consul strenuously insisted on the
+exclusion of those States, though their interests were vitally affected
+by the present negotiations, He saw that a separate treaty with the
+Sublime Porte would enable him, not only to extract valuable trading
+concessions in the Black Sea trade, but also to cement a good
+understanding with Russia on the Eastern Question, which was now being
+adroitly reopened by French diplomacy. Against the exclusion of Turkey
+from the negotiations at Amiens, Great Britain firmly but vainly
+protested. In fact, Talleyrand had bound the Porte to a separate
+agreement which promised everything for France and nothing for Turkey,
+and seemed to doom the Sublime Porte to certain humiliation and probable
+partition.[189]
+
+Then there were the vexed questions of the indemnities claimed by
+George III. for the Houses of Orange and of Savoy. In his interview
+with Cornwallis, Bonaparte had effusively promised to do his utmost
+for the ex-Stadholder, though he refused to consider the case of the
+King of Sardinia, who, he averred, had offended him by appealing to
+the Czar. The territorial interests of France in Italy doubtless
+offered a more potent argument to the First Consul: after practically
+annexing Piedmont and dominating the peninsula, he could ill brook
+the presence on the mainland of a king whom he had already sacrificed
+to his astute and masterful policy. The case of the Prince of Orange
+was different. He was a victim to the triumph of French and democratic
+influence in the Dutch Netherlands. George III. felt a deep interest
+in this unfortunate prince and made a strong appeal to the better
+instincts of Bonaparte on his behalf. Indeed, it is probable that
+England had acquiesced in the consolidation of French influence at the
+Hague, in the hope that her complaisance would lead the First Consul
+to assure him some position worthy of so ancient a House. But though
+Cornwallis pressed the Batavian Republic on behalf of its exiled
+chief, yet the question was finally adjourned by the XVIIIth clause of
+the definitive Treaty of Amiens; and the scion of that famous House
+had to take his share in the forthcoming scramble for the clerical
+domains of Germany.[190]
+
+For the still more difficult cause of the House of Savoy the British
+Government made honest but unavailing efforts, firmly refusing to
+recognize the newest creations of Bonaparte in Italy, namely, the
+Kingdom of Etruria and the Ligurian Republic, until he indemnified the
+House of Savoy. Our recognition was withheld for the reasons that
+prompt every bargainer to refuse satisfaction to his antagonist until
+an equal concession is accorded. This game was played by both Powers
+at Amiens, and with little other result than mutual exasperation. Yet
+here, too, the balance of gain naturally accrued to Bonaparte; for he
+required the British Ministry to recognize existing facts in Etruria
+and Liguria, while Cornwallis had to champion the cause of exiles and
+of an order that seemed for ever to have vanished. To pit the
+non-existent against the actual was a task far above the powers of
+British statesmanship; yet that was to be its task for the next
+decade, while the forces of the living present were to be wielded by
+its mighty antagonist. Herein lay the secret of British failures and
+of Napoleon's extraordinary triumphs.
+
+Leaving, for a space, the negotiations at Amiens, we turn to consider
+the events which transpired at Lyons in the early weeks of 1802,
+events which influenced not only the future of Italy, but the fortunes
+of Bonaparte.
+
+It will be remembered that, after the French victories of Marengo and
+Hohenlinden, Austria agreed to terms of peace whereby the Cisalpine,
+Ligurian, Helvetic, and Batavian Republics were formally recognized by
+her, though a clause expressly stipulated that they were to be
+independent of France. A vain hope! They continued to be under French
+tutelage, and their strongholds in the possession of French troops.
+
+It now remained to legalize French supremacy in the Cisalpine
+Republic, which comprised the land between the Ticino and the Adige,
+and the Alps and the Rubicon. The new State received a provisional
+form of government after Marengo, a small council being appointed to
+supervise civil affairs at the capital, Milan. With it and with
+Marescalchi, the Cisalpine envoy at Paris, Bonaparte had concerted a
+constitution, or rather he had used these men as a convenient screen
+to hide its purely personal origin. Having, for form's sake, consulted
+the men whom he had himself appointed, he now suggested that the chief
+citizens of that republic should confer with him respecting their new
+institutions. His Minister at Milan thereupon proposed that they
+should cross the Alps for that purpose, assembling, not at Paris,
+where their dependence on the First Consul's will might provoke too
+much comment, but at Lyons. To that city, accordingly, there repaired
+some 450 of the chief men of Northern Italy, who braved the snows of a
+most rigorous December, in the hope of consolidating the liberties of
+their long-distracted country. And thus was seen the strange spectacle
+of the organization of Lombardy, Modena, and the Legations being
+effected in one provincial centre of France, while at another of her
+cities the peace of Europe and the fortunes of two colonial empires
+were likewise at stake. Such a conjunction of events might well
+impress the imagination of men, bending the stubborn will of the
+northern islanders, and moulding the Italian notables to complete
+complaisance. And yet, such power was there in the nascent idea of
+Italian nationality, that Bonaparte's proposals, which, in his
+absence, were skilfully set forth by Talleyrand, met with more than
+one rebuff from the Consulta at Lyons.
+
+Bitterly it opposed the declaration that the Roman Catholic religion
+was the religion of the Cisalpine Republic and must be maintained by a
+State budget. Only the first part of this proposal could be carried:
+so keen was the opposition to the second part that, as a preferable
+plan, property was set apart for the support of the clergy; and
+clerical discipline was subjected to the State, on terms somewhat
+similar to those of the French Concordat.[191]
+
+Secular affairs gave less trouble. The apparent success of the French
+constitution furnished a strong motive for adopting one of a similar
+character for the Italian State; and as the proposed institutions had
+been approved at Milan, their acceptance by a large and miscellaneous
+body was a foregone conclusion. Talleyrand also took the most
+unscrupulous care that the affair of the Presidency should be
+judiciously settled. On December 31st, 1801, he writes to Bonaparte
+from Lyons:
+
+     "The opinion of the Cisalpines seems not at all decided as to the
+     choice to be made: they will gladly receive the man whom you
+     nominate: a President in France and a Vice-President at Milan would
+     suit a large number of them."
+
+Four days later he confidently assures the First Consul:
+
+     "They will do what you want without your needing even to show your
+     desire. What they think you desire will immediately become
+     law."[192]
+
+The ground having been thus thoroughly worked, Bonaparte and
+Josephine, accompanied by a brilliant suite, arrived at Lyons on
+January 11th, and met with an enthusiastic reception. Despite the
+intense cold, followed by a sudden thaw, a brilliant series of fetes,
+parades, and receptions took place; and several battalions of the
+French Army of Egypt, which had recently been conveyed home on English
+ships, now passed in review before their chief. The impressionable
+Italians could not mistake the aim of these demonstrations; and, after
+general matters had been arranged by the notables, the final measures
+were relegated to a committee of thirty. The desirability of this step
+was obvious, for urgent protests had already been raised in the
+Consulta against the appointment of a foreigner as President of the
+new State. When a hubbub arose on this burning topic:
+
+     "Some officers of the regiments in garrison at Lyons appeared in
+     the hall and imposed silence upon all parties. Notwithstanding
+     this, Count Melzi was actually chosen President by the majority of
+     the Committee of Thirty; but he declined the honour, and suggested
+     in significant terms that, to enable him to render any service to
+     the country, the committee had better fix upon General Bonaparte as
+     their Chief Magistrate. This being done, Bonaparte immediately
+     appointed Count Melzi Vice-President."[193]
+
+Bonaparte's determination to fill this important position is clearly
+seen in his correspondence. On the 2nd and 4th of Pluviose (January
+22nd and 24th), he writes from Lyons:
+
+     "All the principal affairs of the Consulta are settled. I count on
+     being back at Paris in the course of the decade."
+
+     "To-morrow I shall review the troops from Egypt. On the 6th [of
+     Pluviose] all the business of the Consulta will be finished, and I
+     shall probably set out on my journey on the 7th."
+
+The next day, 5th Pluviose, sees the accomplishment of his desires:
+
+     "To-day I have reviewed the troops on the Place Bellecour; the sun
+     shone as it does in Floreal. The Consulta has named a committee of
+     thirty individuals, which has reported to it that, considering the
+     domestic and foreign affairs of the Cisalpine, it was indispensable
+     to let me discharge the first magistracy, until circumstances
+     permit and I judge it suitable to appoint a successor."
+
+These extracts prove that the acts of the Consulta could be planned
+beforehand no less precisely than the movements of the soldiery, and
+that even so complex a matter as the voting of a constitution and the
+choice of its chief had to fall in with the arrangements of this
+methodizing genius. Certainly civilization had progressed since the
+weary years when the French people groped through mists and waded in
+blood in order to gain a perfect polity: that precious boon was now
+conferred on a neighbouring people in so sure a way that the plans of
+their benefactor could be infallibly fixed and his return to Paris
+calculated to the hour.
+
+The final address uttered by Bonaparte to the Italian notables is
+remarkable for the short, sharp sentences, which recall the tones of
+the parade ground. Passing recent events in rapid review, he said,
+speaking in his mother tongue:
+
+     "...Every effort had been made to dismember you: the protection of
+     France won the day: you have been recognized at Luneville.
+     One-fifth larger than before, you are now more powerful, more
+     consolidated, and have wider hopes. Composed of six different
+     nations, you will be now united under a constitution the best
+     possible for your social and material condition. ... The selections
+     I have made for your chief offices have been made independently of
+     all idea of party or feeling of locality. As for that of President,
+     I have found no one among you with sufficient claims on public
+     opinion, sufficiently free from local feelings, and who had
+     rendered great enough services to his country, to intrust it to
+     him.... Your people has only local feelings: it must now rise to
+     national feelings."
+
+In accordance with this last grand and prophetic remark, the name
+Italian was substituted for that of Cisalpine: and thus, for the first
+time since the Middle Ages, there reappeared on the map of Europe that
+name, which was to evoke the sneers of diplomatists and the most
+exalted patriotism of the century. If Bonaparte had done naught else,
+he would deserve immortal glory for training the divided peoples of
+the peninsula for a life of united activity.
+
+The new constitution was modelled on that of France; but the pretence
+of a democratic suffrage was abandoned. The right of voting was
+accorded to three classes, the great proprietors, the clerics and
+learned men, and the merchants. These, meeting in their several
+"Electoral Colleges," voted for the members of the legislative bodies;
+a Tribunal was also charged with the maintenance of the constitution.
+By these means Bonaparte endeavoured to fetter the power of the
+reactionaries no less than the anti-clerical fervour of the Italian
+Jacobins. The blending of the new and the old which then began shows
+the hand of the master builder, who neither sweeps away materials
+merely because they are old, nor rejects the strength that comes from
+improved methods of construction: and, however much we may question
+the disinterestedness of his motives in this great enterprise, there
+can be but one opinion as to the skill of the methods and the
+beneficence of the results in Italy.[194]
+
+
+
+The first step in the process of Italian unification had now been
+taken at Lyons. A second soon followed. The affairs of the Ligurian
+Republic were in some confusion; and an address came from Genoa
+begging that their differences might be composed by the First Consul.
+The spontaneity of this offer may well be questioned, seeing that
+Bonaparte found it desirable, in his letter of February 18th, 1802, to
+assure the Ligurian authorities that they need feel no disquietude as
+to the independence of their republic. Bonaparte undertook to alter
+their constitution and nominate their Doge.
+
+That the news of the events at Lyons excited the liveliest indignation
+in London is evident from Hawkesbury's despatch of February 12th,
+1802, to Cornwallis:
+
+     "The proceedings at Lyons have created the greatest alarm in this
+     country, and there are many persons who were pacifically disposed,
+     who since this event are desirous of renewing the war. It is
+     impossible to be surprised at this feeling when we consider the
+     inordinate ambition, the gross breach of faith, and the inclination
+     to insult Europe manifested by the First Consul on this occasion.
+     The Government here are desirous of avoiding to take notice of
+     these proceedings, and are sincerely desirous to conclude the
+     peace, if it can be obtained on terms consistent with our honour."
+
+Why the Government should have lagged behind the far surer instincts
+of English public opinion it is difficult to say. Hawkesbury's
+despatch of four days later supplies an excuse for his contemptible
+device of pretending not to see this glaring violation of the Treaty
+of Luneville. Referring to the events at Lyons, he writes:
+
+     "Extravagant and unjustifiable as they are in themselves, [they]
+     must have led us to believe that the First Consul would have been
+     more anxious than ever to have closed his account with this
+     country."
+
+Doubtless that was the case, but only on condition that England
+remained passive while French domination was extended over all
+neighbouring lands. If our Ministers believed that Bonaparte feared
+the displeasure of Austria, they were completely in error. Thanks to
+the utter weakness of the European system, and the rivalry of Austria
+and Prussia, he was now able to concentrate his ever-increasing power
+and prestige on the negotiations at Amiens, which once more claim our
+attention.
+
+Far from being sated by the prestige gained at Lyons, he seemed to
+grow more exacting with victory. Moreover, he had been cut to the
+quick by some foolish articles of a French _emigre_ named Peltier, in
+a paper published at London: instead of treating them with the
+contempt they deserved, he magnified these ravings of a disappointed
+exile into an event of high policy, and fulminated against the
+Government which allowed them. In vain did Cornwallis object that the
+Addington Cabinet could not venture on the unpopular act of curbing
+freedom of the Press in Great Britain. The First Consul, who had
+experienced no such difficulty in France, persisted now, as a year
+later, in considering every uncomplimentary reference to himself as an
+indirect and semiofficial attack.
+
+To these causes we may attribute the French demands of February 4th:
+contradicting his earlier proposal for a temporary Neapolitan garrison
+of Malta, Bonaparte now absolutely refused either to grant that
+necessary protection to the weak Order of St. John, or to join Great
+Britain in an equal share of the expenses--L20,000 a year--which such
+a garrison would entail. The astonishment and indignation aroused at
+Downing Street nearly led to an immediate rupture of the negotiations;
+and it needed all the patience of Cornwallis and the suavity of Joseph
+Bonaparte to smooth away the asperities caused by Napoleon's direct
+intervention. It needs only a slight acquaintance with the First
+Consul's methods of thought and expression to recognize in the
+Protocol of February 4th the incisive speech of an autocrat confident
+in his newly-consolidated powers and irritated by the gibes of
+Peltier.[195]
+
+The good sense of the two plenipotentiaries at Amiens before long
+effected a reconciliation. Hawkesbury, writing from Downing Street,
+warned Cornwallis that if a rupture were to take place it must not be
+owing to "any impatience on our part": and he, in his turn, affably
+inquired from Joseph Bonaparte whether he had any more practicable
+plan than that of a Neapolitan garrison, which he had himself
+proposed. No plan was forthcoming other than that of a garrison of
+1,000 Swiss mercenaries; and as this was open to grave objections, the
+original proposal was finally restored. On its side, the Court of St.
+James still refused to blow up the fortifications at Valetta; and
+rather than destroy those works, England had already offered that the
+independence of Malta should be guaranteed by the Great Powers--Great
+Britain, France, Austria, Russia, Spain, and Prussia: to this
+arrangement France soon assented. Later on we demanded that the
+Neapolitan garrison should remain in Malta for three years after the
+evacuation of the island by the British troops; whereas France desired
+to limit the period to one year. To this Cornwallis finally assented,
+with the proviso that, "if the Order of St. John shall not have raised
+a sufficient number of men, the Neapolitan troops shall remain until
+they shall be relieved by an adequate force, to be agreed upon by the
+guaranteeing Powers." The question of the garrison having been
+arranged, other details gave less trouble, and the Maltese question
+was settled in the thirteen conditions added to Clause X. of the
+definitive treaty.
+
+Though this complex question was thus adjusted by March 17th, other
+matters delayed a settlement.
+
+
+
+Hawkesbury still demanded a definite indemnity for the Prince of
+Orange, but Cornwallis finally assented to Article XVIII. of the
+treaty, which vaguely promised "an adequate compensation." Cornwallis
+also persuaded his chief to waive his claims for the direct
+participation of Turkey in the treaty. The British demand for an
+indemnity for the expense of supporting French prisoners was to be
+relegated to commissioners--who never met. Indeed, this was the only
+polite way of escaping from the untenable position which our
+Government had heedlessly taken upon this topic.
+
+It is clear from the concluding despatches of Cornwallis that he was
+wheedled by Joseph Bonaparte into conceding more than the British
+Government had empowered him to do; and, though the "secret and most
+confidential" despatch of March 22nd cautioned him against narrowing
+too much the ground of a rupture, if a rupture should still occur, yet
+three days later, and _after the receipt of this despatch_, he signed
+the terms of peace with Joseph Bonaparte, and two days later with the
+other signatory Powers.[196] It may well be doubted whether peace
+would ever have been signed but for the skill of Joseph Bonaparte in
+polite cajolery and the determination of Cornwallis to arrive at an
+understanding. In any case the final act of signature was distinctly
+the act, not of the British Government, but of its plenipotentiary.
+
+
+That fact is confirmed by his admission, on March 28th, that he had
+yielded where he was ordered to remain inflexible. At St. Helena,
+Napoleon also averred that after Cornwallis had definitely pledged
+himself to sign the treaty as it stood on the night of March 24th, he
+received instructions in a contrary sense from Downing Street; that
+nevertheless he held himself bound by his promise and signed the
+treaty on the following day, observing that his Government, if
+dissatisfied, might refuse to ratify it, but that, having pledged his
+word, he felt bound to abide by it. This story seems consonant with
+the whole behaviour of Cornwallis, so creditable to him as a man, so
+damaging to him as a diplomatist. The later events of the negotiation
+aroused much annoyance at Downing Street, and the conduct of
+Cornwallis met with chilling disapproval.
+
+The First Consul, on the other hand, showed his appreciation of his
+brother's skill with unusual warmth; for when they appeared together
+at the opera in Paris, he affectionately thrust his elder brother to
+the front of the State box to receive the plaudits of the audience at
+the advent of a definite peace. That was surely the purest and noblest
+joy which the brothers ever tasted.
+
+With what feelings of pride, not unmixed with awe, must the brothers
+have surveyed their career. Less than nine years had elapsed since
+their family fled from Corsica, and landed on the coast of Provence,
+apparently as bankrupt in their political hopes as in their material
+fortunes. Thrice did the fickle goddess cast Napoleon to the ground in
+the first two years of his new life, only that his wondrous gifts and
+sublime self-confidence might tower aloft the more conspicuously,
+bewildering alike the malcontents of Paris, the generals of the old
+Empire, the peoples of the Levant, and the statesmen of Britain. Of
+all these triumphs assuredly the last was not the least. The Peace of
+Amiens left France the arbitress of Europe, and, by restoring to her
+all her lost colonies, it promised to place her in the van of the
+oceanic and colonizing peoples.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+A FRENCH COLONIAL EMPIRE
+
+ST. DOMINGO--LOUISIANA--INDIA--AUSTRALIA
+
+     "Il n'y a rien dans l'histoire du monde de comparable aux forces
+     navales de l'Angleterre, a l'etendue et a la richesse de son
+     commerce, a la masse de ses dettes, de ses defenses, de ses moyens,
+     et a la fragilite des bases sur lesquelles repose l'edifice immense
+     de sa fortune."--BARON MALOUET, _Considerations historiques sur
+     l'Empire de la Mer_.
+
+
+There are abundant reasons for thinking that Napoleon valued the Peace
+of Amiens as a necessary preliminary to the restoration of the French
+Colonial Empire. A comparison of the dates at which he set on foot his
+oceanic schemes will show that they nearly all had their inception in
+the closing months of 1801 and in the course of the following year.
+The sole important exceptions were the politico-scientific expedition
+to Australia, the ostensible purpose of which insured immunity from
+the attacks of English cruisers even in the year 1800, and the plans
+for securing French supremacy in Egypt, which had been frustrated in
+1801 and were, to all appearance, abandoned by the First Consul
+according to the provisions of the Treaty of Amiens. The question
+whether he really relinquished his designs on Egypt is so intimately
+connected with the rupture of the Peace of Amiens that it will be more
+fitly considered in the following chapter. It may not, however, be out
+of place to offer some proofs as to the value which Bonaparte set on
+the valley of the Nile and the Isthmus of Suez. A letter from a spy at
+Paris, preserved in the archives of our Foreign Office, and dated
+July 10th, 1801, contains the following significant statement with
+reference to Bonaparte: "Egypt, which is considered here as lost to
+France, is the only object which interests his personal ambition and
+excites his revenge." Even at the end of his days, he thought
+longingly of the land of the Pharaohs. In his first interview with the
+governor of St. Helena, the illustrious exile said emphatically:
+"Egypt is the most important country in the world." The words reveal a
+keen perception of all the influences conducive to commercial
+prosperity and imperial greatness. Egypt, in fact, with the Suez
+Canal, which his imagination always pictured as a necessary adjunct,
+was to be the keystone of that arch of empire which was to span the
+oceans and link the prairies of the far west to the teeming plains of
+India and the far Austral Isles.
+
+The motives which impelled Napoleon to the enterprises now to be
+considered were as many-sided as the maritime ventures themselves.
+Ultimately, doubtless, they arose out of a love of vast undertakings
+that ministered at once to an expanding ambition and to that need of
+arduous administrative toils for which his mind ever craved in the
+heyday of its activity. And, while satiating the grinding powers of
+his otherwise morbidly restless spirit, these enterprises also fed and
+soothed those imperious, if unconscious, instincts which prompt every
+able man of inquiring mind to reclaim all possible domains from the
+unknown or the chaotic. As Egypt had, for the present at least, been
+reft from his grasp, he turned naturally to all other lands that could
+be forced to yield their secrets to the inquirer, or their comforts to
+the benefactors of mankind. Only a dull cynicism can deny this motive
+to the man who first unlocked the doors of Egyptian civilization; and
+it would be equally futile to deny to him the same beneficent aims
+with regard to the settlement of the plains of the Mississippi, and
+the coasts of New Holland.
+
+The peculiarities of the condition of France furnished another
+powerful impulse towards colonization. In the last decade her people
+had suffered from an excess of mental activity and nervous excitement.
+From philosophical and political speculation they must be brought back
+to the practical and prosaic; and what influence could be so healthy
+as the turning up of new soil and other processes that satisfy the
+primitive instincts? Some of these, it was true, were being met by the
+increasing peasant proprietary in France herself. But this internal
+development, salutary as it was, could not appease the restless
+spirits of the towns or the ambition of the soldiery. Foreign
+adventures and oceanic commerce alone could satisfy the Parisians and
+open up new careers for the Praetorian chiefs, whom the First Consul
+alone really feared.
+
+Nor were these sentiments felt by him alone. In a paper which
+Talleyrand read to the Institute of France in July, 1797, that
+far-seeing statesman had dwelt upon the pacifying influences exerted
+by foreign commerce and colonial settlements on a too introspective
+nation. His words bear witness to the keenness of his insight into the
+maladies of his own people and the sources of social and political
+strength enjoyed by the United States, where he had recently
+sojourned. Referring to their speedy recovery from the tumults of
+their revolution, he said: "The true Lethe after passing through a
+revolution is to be found in the opening out to men of every avenue of
+hope.--Revolutions leave behind them a general restlessness of mind, a
+need of movement." That need was met in America by man's warfare
+against the forest, the flood, and the prairie. France must therefore
+possess colonies as intellectual and political safety-valves; and in
+his graceful, airy style he touched on the advantages offered by
+Egypt, Louisiana, and West Africa, both for their intrinsic value and
+as opening the door of work and of hope to a brain-sick generation.
+
+Following up this clue, Bonaparte, at a somewhat later date, remarked
+the tendency of the French people, now that the revolutionary strifes
+were past, to settle down contentedly on their own little plots; and
+he emphasized the need of a colonial policy such as would widen the
+national life. The remark has been largely justified by events; and
+doubtless he discerned in the agrarian reforms of the Revolution an
+influence unfavourable to that racial dispersion which, under wise
+guidance, builds up an oceanic empire. The grievances of the _ancien
+regime_ had helped to scatter on the shores of the St. Lawrence the
+seeds of a possible New France. Primogeniture was ever driving from
+England her younger sons to found New Englands and expand the commerce
+of the motherland. Let not France now rest at home, content with her
+perfect laws and with the conquest of her "natural frontiers." Let her
+rather strive to regain the first place in colonial activity which the
+follies of Louis XV. and the secular jealousy of Albion had filched
+from her. In the effort she would extend the bounds of civilization,
+lay the ghost of Jacobinism, satisfy military and naval adventures,
+and unconsciously revert to the ideas and governmental methods of the
+age of _le grand monarque_.
+
+The French possessions beyond the seas had never shrunk to a smaller
+area than in the closing years of the late war with England. The fact
+was confessed by the First Consul in his letter of October 7th, 1801,
+to Decres, the Minister for the Navy and the Colonies: "Our
+possessions beyond the sea, which are now in our power, are limited to
+Saint Domingo, Guadeloupe, the Isle of France (Mauritius), the Isle of
+Bourbon, Senegal, and Guiana." After rendering this involuntary homage
+to the prowess of the British navy, Bonaparte proceeded to describe
+the first measures for the organization of these colonies: for not
+until March 25th, 1802, when the definitive treaty of peace was
+signed, could the others be regained by France.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+First in importance came the re-establishment of French authority in
+the large and fertile island of Hayti, or St. Domingo. It needs an
+effort of the imagination for the modern reader to realize the immense
+importance of the West Indian islands at the beginning of the
+century, whose close found them depressed and half bankrupt. At the
+earlier date, when the name Australia was unknown, and the
+half-starved settlement in and around Sydney represented the sole
+wealth of that isle of continent; when the Cape of Good Hope was
+looked on only as a port of call; when the United States numbered less
+than five and a half million souls, and the waters of the Mississippi
+rolled in unsullied majesty past a few petty Spanish stations--the
+plantations of the West Indies seemed the unfailing mine of colonial
+industry and commerce. Under the _ancien regime_, the trade of the
+French portion of San Domingo is reported to have represented more
+than half of her oceanic commerce. But during the Revolution the
+prosperity of that colony reeled under a terrible blow.
+
+The hasty proclamation of equality between whites and blacks by the
+French revolutionists, and the refusal of the planters to recognize
+that decree as binding, led to a terrible servile revolt, which
+desolated the whole of the colony. Those merciless strifes had,
+however, somewhat abated under the organizing power of a man, in whom
+the black race seemed to have vindicated its claims to political
+capacity. Toussaint l'Ouverture had come to the front by sheer
+sagacity and force of character. By a deft mixture of force and
+clemency, he imposed order on the vapouring crowds of negroes: he
+restored the French part of the island to comparative order and
+prosperity; and with an army of 20,000 men he occupied the Spanish
+portion. In this, as in other matters, he appeared to act as the
+mandatory of France; but he looked to the time when France, beset by
+European wars, would tacitly acknowledge his independence. In May,
+1801, he made a constitution for the island, and declared himself
+governor for life, with power to appoint his successor. This mimicry
+of the consular office, and the open vaunt that he was the "Bonaparte
+of the Antilles," incensed Bonaparte; and the haste with which, on
+the day after the Preliminaries of London, he prepared to overthrow
+this contemptible rival, tells its own tale.
+
+Yet Corsican hatred was tempered with Corsican guile. Toussaint had
+requested that the Haytians should be under the protection of their
+former mistress. Protection was the last thing that Bonaparte desired;
+but he deemed it politic to flatter the black chieftain with
+assurances of his personal esteem and gratitude for the "great
+services which you have rendered to the French people. If its flag
+floats over St. Domingo it is due to you and your brave blacks"--a
+reference to Toussaint's successful resistance to English attempts at
+landing. There were, it is true, some points in the new Haytian
+constitution which contravened the sovereign rights of France, but
+these were pardonable in the difficult circumstances which had pressed
+on Toussaint: he was now, however, invited to amend them so as to
+recognize the complete sovereignty of the motherland and the authority
+of General Leclerc, whom Bonaparte sent out as captain-general of the
+island. To this officer, the husband of Pauline Bonaparte, the First
+Consul wrote on the same day that there was reported to be much
+ferment in the island against Toussaint, that the obstacles to be
+overcome would therefore be much less formidable than had been feared,
+provided that activity and firmness were used. In his references to
+the burning topic of slavery, the First Consul showed a similar
+reserve. The French Republic having abolished it, he could not, as
+yet, openly restore an institution flagrantly opposed to the Rights of
+Man. Ostensibly therefore he figured as the champion of emancipation,
+assuring the Haytians in his proclamation of November 8th, 1801, that
+they were all free and all equal in the sight of God and of the
+French Republic: "If you are told, 'These forces are destined to
+snatch your liberty from you,' reply, 'The Republic has given us our
+liberty: it will not allow it to be taken from us.'" Of a similar
+tenor was his public declaration a fortnight later, that at St.
+Domingo and Guadeloupe everybody was free and would remain free. Very
+different were his private instructions. On the last day of October he
+ordered Talleyrand to write to the British Government, asking for
+their help in supplying provisions from Jamaica to this expedition
+destined to "destroy the new Algiers being organized in American
+waters"; and a fortnight later he charged him to state his resolve to
+destroy the government of the blacks at St. Domingo; that if he had to
+postpone the expedition for a year, he would be "obliged to constitute
+the blacks as French"; and that "the liberty of the blacks, if
+recognized by the Government, would always be a support for the
+Republic in the New World." As he was striving to cajole our
+Government into supporting his expedition, it is clear that in the
+last enigmatic phrase he was bidding for that support by the hint of a
+prospective restoration of slavery at St. Domingo. A comparison of his
+public and private statements must have produced a curious effect on
+the British Ministers, and many of the difficulties during the
+negotiations at Amiens doubtless sprang out of their knowledge of his
+double-dealing in the West Indies.
+
+The means at the First Consul's disposal might have been considered
+sufficient to dispense with these paltry devices; for when the
+squadrons of Brest, Lorient, Rochefort, and Toulon had joined their
+forces, they mustered thirty-two ships of the line and thirty-one
+frigates, with more than 20,000 troops on board. So great, indeed, was
+the force as to occasion strong remonstrances from the British
+Government, and a warning that a proportionately strong fleet would be
+sent to watch over the safety of our West Indies.[197] The size of the
+French armada and the warnings which Toussaint received from Europe
+induced that wily dictator to adopt stringent precautionary measures.
+He persuaded the blacks that the French were about to enslave them
+once more, and, raising the spectre of bondage, he quelled sedition,
+ravaged the maritime towns, and awaited the French in the interior, in
+confident expectation that yellow fever would winnow their ranks and
+reduce them to a level with his own strength.
+
+His hopes were ultimately realized, but not until he himself succumbed
+to the hardihood of the French attack. Leclerc's army swept across the
+desolated belt with an ardour that was redoubled by the sight of the
+mangled remains of white people strewn amidst the negro encampments,
+and stormed Toussaint's chief stronghold at Crete-a-Pierrot. The
+dictator and his factious lieutenants thereupon surrendered (May 8th,
+1802), on condition of their official rank being respected--a
+stipulation which both sides must have regarded as unreal and
+impossible. The French then pressed on to secure the subjection of the
+whole island before the advent of the unhealthy season, which
+Toussaint eagerly awaited. It now set in with unusual virulence; and
+in a few days the conquerors found their force reduced to 12,000
+effectives. Suspecting Toussaint's designs, Leclerc seized him. He was
+empowered to do so by Bonaparte's orders of March 16th, 1802:
+
+     "Follow your instructions exactly, and as soon as you have done
+     with Toussaint, Christopher, Dessalines, and the chief brigands,
+     and the masses of the blacks are disarmed, send to the continent
+     all the blacks and the half-castes who have taken part in the civil
+     troubles."
+
+Toussaint was hurried off to France, where he died a year later from
+the hardships to which he was exposed at the fort of Joux among the
+Juras.
+
+Long before the cold of a French winter claimed the life of Toussaint,
+his antagonist fell a victim to the sweltering heats of the tropics.
+On November 2nd, 1802, Leclerc succumbed to the unhealthy climate and
+to his ceaseless anxieties. In the Notes dictated at St. Helena,
+Napoleon submitted Leclerc's memory to some strictures for his
+indiscretion in regard to the proposed restoration of slavery. The
+official letters of that officer expose the injustice of the charge.
+The facts are these. After the seeming submission of St. Domingo, the
+First Consul caused a decree to be secretly passed at Paris (May 20th,
+1802), which prepared to re-establish slavery in the West Indies; but
+Decres warned Leclerc that it was not for the present to be applied to
+St. Domingo unless it seemed to be opportune. Knowing how fatal any
+such proclamation would be, Leclerc suppressed the decree; but General
+Richepanse, who was now governor of the island of Guadeloupe, not only
+issued the decree, but proceeded to enforce it with rigour. It was
+this which caused the last and most desperate revolts of the blacks,
+fatal alike to French domination and to Leclerc's life. His successor,
+Rochambeau, in spite of strong reinforcements of troops from France
+and a policy of the utmost rigour, succeeded no better. In the island
+of Guadeloupe the rebels openly defied the authority of France; and,
+on the renewal of war between England and France, the remains of the
+expedition were for the most part constrained to surrender to the
+British flag or to the insurgent blacks. The island recovered its
+so-called independence; and the sole result of Napoleon's efforts in
+this sphere was the loss of more than twenty generals and some 30,000
+troops.
+
+The assertion has been repeatedly made that the First Consul told off
+for this service the troops of the Army of the Rhine, with the aim of
+exposing to the risks of tropical life the most republican part of the
+French forces. That these furnished a large part of the expeditionary
+force cannot be denied; but if his design was to rid himself of
+political foes, it is difficult to see why he should not have selected
+Moreau, Massena, or Augereau, rather than Leclerc. The fact that his
+brother-in-law was accompanied by his wife, Pauline Bonaparte, for
+whom venomous tongues asserted that Napoleon cherished a more than
+brotherly affection, will suffice to refute the slander. Finally, it
+may be remarked that Bonaparte had not hesitated to subject the
+choicest part of his Army of Italy and his own special friends to
+similiar risks in Egypt and Syria. He never hesitated to sacrifice
+thousands of lives when a great object was at stake; and the
+restoration of the French West Indian Colonies might well seem worth
+an army, especially as St. Domingo was not only of immense instrinsic
+value to France in days when beetroot sugar was unknown, but was of
+strategic importance as a base of operations for the vast colonial
+empire which the First Consul proposed to rebuild in the basin of the
+Mississippi.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The history of the French possessions on the North American continent
+could scarcely be recalled by ardent patriots without pangs of
+remorse. The name Louisiana, applied to a vast territory stretching up
+the banks of the Mississippi and the Missouri, recalled the glorious
+days of Louis XIV., when the French flag was borne by stout
+_voyageurs_ up the foaming rivers of Canada and the placid reaches of
+the father of rivers. It had been the ambition of Montcalm to connect
+the French stations on Lake Erie with the forts of Louisiana; but that
+warrior-statesman in the West, as his kindred spirit, Dupleix, in the
+East, had fallen on the evil days of Louis XV., when valour and merit
+in the French colonies were sacrificed to the pleasures and parasites
+of Versailles. The natural result followed. Louisiana was yielded up
+to Spain in 1763, in order to reconcile the Court of Madrid to
+cessions required by that same Peace of Paris. Twenty years later
+Spain recovered from England the provinces of eastern and western
+Florida; and thus, at the dawn of the nineteenth century, the red and
+yellow flag waved over all the lands between California, New Orleans,
+and the southern tip of Florida.[198]
+
+Many efforts were made by France to regain her old Mississippi
+province; and in 1795, at the break up of the First Coalition, the
+victorious Republic pressed Spain to yield up this territory, where
+the settlers were still French at heart. Doubtless the weak King of
+Spain would have yielded; but his chief Minister, Godoy, clung
+tenaciously to Louisiana, and consented to cede only the Spanish part
+of St. Domingo--a diplomatic success which helped to earn him the
+title of the Prince of the Peace. So matters remained until
+Talleyrand, as Foreign Minister, sought to gain Louisiana from Spain
+before it slipped into the horny fists of the Anglo-Saxons.
+
+That there was every prospect of this last event was the conviction
+not only of the politicians at Washington, but also of every
+iron-worker on the Ohio and of every planter on the Tennessee. Those
+young but growing settlements chafed against the restraints imposed by
+Spain on the river trade of the lower Mississippi--the sole means
+available for their exports in times when the Alleghanies were crossed
+by only two tracks worthy the name of roads. In 1795 they gained free
+egress to the Gulf of Mexico and the right of bonding their
+merchandise in a special warehouse at New Orleans. Thereafter the
+United States calmly awaited the time when racial vigour and the
+exigencies of commerce should yield to them the possession of the
+western prairies and the little townships of Arkansas and New Orleans.
+They reckoned without taking count of the eager longing of the French
+for their former colony and the determination of Napoleon to give
+effect to this honourable sentiment.
+
+In July, 1800, when his negotiations with the United
+
+
+
+States were in good train, the First Consul sent to Madrid
+instructions empowering the French Minister there to arrange a treaty
+whereby France should receive Louisiana in return for the cession of
+Tuscany to the heir of the Duke of Parma. This young man had married
+the daughter of Charles IV. of Spain; and, for the aggrandizement of
+his son-in-law, that _roi faineant_, was ready, nay eager, to bargain
+away a quarter of a continent; and he did so by a secret convention
+signed at St. Ildefonso on October 7th, 1800.
+
+But though Charles rejoiced over this exchange, Godoy, who was gifted
+with some insight into the future, was determined to frustrate it.
+Various events occurred which enabled this wily Minister, first to
+delay, and then almost to prevent, the odious surrender. Chief among
+these was the certainty that the transfer from weak hands to strong
+hands would be passionately resented by the United States; and until
+peace with England was fully assured, and the power of Toussaint
+broken, it would be folly for the First Consul to risk a conflict with
+the United States. That they would fight rather than see the western
+prairies pass into the First Consul's hands was abundantly manifest.
+It is proved by many patriotic pamphlets. The most important of
+these--"An Address to the Government of the United States on the
+Cession of Louisiana to the French," published at Philadelphia in
+1802--quoted largely from a French _brochure_ by a French Councillor
+of State. The French writer had stated that along the Mississippi his
+countrymen would find boundless fertile prairies, and as for the
+opposition of the United States--"a nation of pedlars and
+shopkeepers"--that could be crushed by a French alliance with the
+Indian tribes. The American writer thereupon passionately called on
+his fellow-citizens to prevent this transfer: "France is to be dreaded
+only, or chiefly, on the Mississippi. The Government must take
+Louisiana before it passes into her hands. The iron is now hot:
+command us to rise as one man and strike." These and other like
+protests at last stirred the placid Government at Washington; and it
+bade the American Minister at Paris to make urgent remonstrances, the
+sole effect of which was to draw from Talleyrand the bland assurance
+that the transfer had not been seriously contemplated.[199]
+
+By the month of June, 1802, all circumstances seemed to smile on
+Napoleon's enterprise: England had ratified the Peace of Amiens,
+Toussaint had delivered himself up to Leclerc: France had her troops
+strongly posted in Tuscany and Parma, and could, if necessary,
+forcibly end the remaining scruples felt at Madrid; while the United
+States, with a feeble army and a rotting navy, were controlled by the
+most peaceable and Franco-phil of their presidents, Thomas Jefferson.
+The First Consul accordingly ordered an expedition to be prepared, as
+if for the reinforcement of Leclerc in St. Domingo, though it was
+really destined for New Orleans; and he instructed Talleyrand to
+soothe or coerce the Court of Madrid into the final act of transfer.
+The offer was therefore made by the latter (June 19th) in the name of
+the First Consul that _in no case would Louisiana ever be alienated to
+a Third Power_. When further delays supervened, Bonaparte, true to his
+policy of continually raising his demands, required that Eastern and
+Western Florida should also be ceded to him by Spain, on condition
+that the young King of Etruria (for so Tuscany was now to be styled)
+should regain his father's duchy of Parma.[200]
+
+A word of explanation must here find place as to this singular
+proposal. Parma had long been under French control; and, in March,
+1801, by the secret Treaty of Madrid, the ruler of that duchy, whose
+death seemed imminent, was to resign his claims thereto, provided that
+his son should gain Etruria--as had been already provided for at St.
+Ildefonso and Luneville. The duke was, however, allowed to keep his
+duchy until his death, which occurred on October 9th, 1802; and it is
+stated by our envoy in Paris to have been hastened by news of that
+odious bargain.[201] His death now furnished Bonaparte with a good
+occasion for seeking to win an immense area in the New World at the
+expense of a small Italian duchy, which his troops could at any time
+easily overrun. This consideration seems to have occurred even to
+Charles IV.; he refused to barter the Floridas against Parma. The
+re-establishment of his son-in-law in his paternal domains was
+doubtless desirable, but not at the cost of so exacting a heriot as
+East and West Florida.
+
+From out this maze of sordid intrigues two or three facts challenge
+our attention. Both Bonaparte and Charles IV. regarded the most
+fertile waste lands then calling for the plough as fairly exchanged
+against half a million of Tuscans; but the former feared the
+resentment of the United States, and sought to postpone a rupture
+until he could coerce them by overwhelming force. It is equally clear
+that, had he succeeded in this enterprise, France might have gained a
+great colonial empire in North America protected from St. Domingo as a
+naval and military base, while that island would have doubly prospered
+from the vast supplies poured down the Mississippi; but this success
+he would have bought at the expense of a _rapprochement_ between the
+United States and their motherland, such as a bitter destiny was to
+postpone to the end of the century.
+
+The prospect of an Anglo-American alliance might well give pause even
+to Napoleon. Nevertheless, he resolved to complete this vast
+enterprise, which, if successful, would have profoundly affected the
+New World and the relative importance of the French and English
+peoples. The Spanish officials at New Orleans, in pursuance of orders
+from Madrid, now closed the lower Mississippi to vessels of the United
+States (October, 1802). At once a furious outcry arose in the States
+against an act which not only violated their treaty rights, but
+foreshadowed the coming grip of the First Consul. For this outburst he
+was prepared: General Victor was at Dunkirk, with five battalions and
+sixteen field-pieces, ready to cross the Atlantic, ostensibly for the
+relief of Leclerc, but really in order to take possession of New
+Orleans.[202] But his plan was foiled by the sure instincts of the
+American people, by the disasters of the St. Domingo expedition, and
+by the restlessness of England under his various provocations.
+Jefferson, despite his predilections for France, was compelled to
+forbid the occupation of Louisiana: he accordingly sent Monroe to
+Paris with instructions to effect a compromise, or even to buy
+outright the French claims on that land. Various circumstances
+favoured this mission. In the first week of the year 1803 Napoleon
+received the news of Leclerc's death and the miserable state of the
+French in St. Domingo; and as the tidings that he now received from
+Egypt, Syria, Corfu, and the East generally, were of the most alluring
+kind, he tacitly abandoned his Mississippi enterprise in favour of the
+oriental schemes which were closer to his heart. In that month of
+January he seems to have turned his gaze from the western hemisphere
+towards Turkey, Egypt, and India. True, he still seemed to be doing
+his utmost for the occupation of Louisiana, but only as a device for
+sustaining the selling price of the western prairies.
+
+When the news of this change of policy reached the ears of Joseph and
+Lucien Bonaparte, it aroused their bitterest opposition. Lucien plumed
+himself on having struck the bargain with Spain which had secured that
+vast province at the expense of an Austrian archduke's crown; and
+Joseph knew only too well that Napoleon was freeing himself in the
+West in order to be free to strike hard in Europe and the East. The
+imminent rupture of the Peace of Amiens touched him keenly: for that
+peace was his proudest achievement. If colonial adventures must be
+sought, let them be sought in the New World, where Spain and the
+United States could offer only a feeble resistance, rather than in
+Europe and Asia, where unending war must be the result of an
+aggressive policy.
+
+At once the brothers sought an interview with Napoleon. He chanced to
+be in his bath, a warm bath perfumed with scents, where he believed
+that tired nature most readily found recovery. He ordered them to be
+admitted, and an interesting family discussion was the result. On his
+mentioning the proposed sale, Lucien at once retorted that the
+Legislature would never consent to this sacrifice. He there touched
+the wrong chord in Napoleon's nature: had he appealed to the memories
+of _le grand monarque_ and of Montcalm, possibly he might have bent
+that iron will; but the mention of the consent of the French deputies
+roused the spleen of the autocrat, who, from amidst the scented water,
+mockingly bade his brother go into mourning for the affair, which he,
+and he alone, intended to carry out. This gibe led Joseph to threaten
+that he would mount the tribune in the Chambers and head the
+opposition to this unpatriotic surrender. Defiance flashed forth once
+more from the bath; and the First Consul finally ended their bitter
+retorts by spasmodically rising as suddenly falling backwards, and
+drenching Joseph to the skin. His peals of scornful laughter, and the
+swooning of the valet, who was not yet fully inured to these family
+scenes, interrupted the argument of the piece; but, when resumed a
+little later, _a sec_, Lucien wound up by declaring that, if he were
+not his brother, he would be his enemy. "My enemy! That is rather
+strong," exclaimed Napoleon. "You my enemy! I would break you, see,
+like this box"--and he dashed his snuff-box on the carpet. It did not
+break: but the portrait of Josephine was detached and broken.
+Whereupon Lucien picked up the pieces and handed them to his brother,
+remarking: "It is a pity: meanwhile, until you can break me, it is
+your wife's portrait that you have broken."[203]
+
+To Talleyrand, Napoleon was equally unbending: summoning him on April
+11th, he said:
+
+     "Irresolution and deliberation are no longer in season. I renounce
+     Louisiana. It is not only New Orleans that I cede: it is the whole
+     colony, without reserve; I know the price of what I abandon. I have
+     proved the importance I attach to this province, since my first
+     diplomatic act with Spain had the object of recovering it. I
+     renounce it with the greatest regret: to attempt obstinately to
+     retain it would be folly. I direct you to negotiate the
+     affair."[204]
+
+After some haggling with Monroe, the price agreed on for this
+territory was 60,000,000 francs, the United States also covenanting to
+satisfy the claims which many of their citizens had on the French
+treasury. For this paltry sum the United States gained a peaceful
+title to the debatable lands west of Lake Erie and to the vast tracts
+west of the Mississippi. The First Consul carried out his threat of
+denying to the deputies of France any voice in this barter. The war
+with England sufficed to distract their attention; and France turned
+sadly away from the western prairies, which her hardy sons had first
+opened up, to fix her gaze, first on the Orient, and thereafter on
+European conquests. No more was heard of Louisiana, and few references
+were permitted to the disasters in St. Domingo; for Napoleon abhorred
+any mention of a _coup manque_, and strove to banish from the
+imagination of France those dreams of a trans-Atlantic Empire which
+had drawn him, as they were destined sixty years later to draw his
+nephew, to the verge of war with the rising republic of the New World.
+In one respect, the uncle was more fortunate than the nephew. In
+signing the treaty with the United States, the First Consul could
+represent his conduct, not as a dexterous retreat from an impossible
+situation, but as an act of grace to the Americans and a blow to
+England. "This accession of territory," he said, "strengthens for ever
+the power of the United States, and I have just given to England a
+maritime rival that sooner or later will humble her pride."[205]
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+In the East there seemed to be scarcely the same field for expansion
+as in the western hemisphere. Yet, as the Orient had ever fired the
+imagination of Napoleon, he was eager to expand the possessions of
+France in the Indian Ocean. In October, 1801, these amounted to the
+Isle of Bourbon and the Isle of France; for the former French
+possessions in India, namely, Pondicherry, Mahe, Karikal,
+Chandernagore, along with their factories at Yanaon, Surat, and two
+smaller places, had been seized by the British, and were not to be
+given back to France until six months after the definitive treaty of
+peace was signed. From these scanty relics it seemed impossible to
+rear a stable fabric: yet the First Consul grappled with the task.
+After the cessation of hostilities, he ordered Admiral Gantheaume with
+four ships of war to show the French flag in those seas, and to be
+ready in due course to take over the French settlements in India.
+Meanwhile he used his utmost endeavours in the negotiations at Amiens
+to gain an accession of land for Pondicherry, such as would make it a
+possible base for military enterprise. Even before those negotiations
+began he expressed to Lord Cornwallis his desire for such an
+extension; and when the British plenipotentiary urged the cession of
+Tobago to Great Britain, he offered to exchange it for an
+establishment or territory in India.[206] Herein the First Consul
+committed a serious tactical blunder; for his insistence on this topic
+and his avowed desire to negotiate direct with the Nabob undoubtedly
+aroused the suspicions of our Government.
+
+Still greater must have been their concern when they learnt that
+General Decaen was commissioned to receive back the French possessions
+in India; for that general in 1800 had expressed to Bonaparte his
+hatred of the English, and had begged, even if he had to wait ten
+years, that he might be sent where he could fight them, especially in
+India. As was his wont, Bonaparte said little at the time; but after
+testing Decaen's military capacity, he called him to his side at
+midsummer, 1802, and suddenly asked him if he still thought about
+India. On receiving an eager affirmative, he said, "Well, you will
+go." "In what capacity?" "As captain-general: go to the Minister of
+Marine and of the Colonies and ask him to communicate to you the
+documents relating to this expedition." By such means did Bonaparte
+secure devoted servants. It is scarcely needful to add that the choice
+of such a man only three months after the signature of the Treaty of
+Amiens proves that the First Consul only intended to keep that peace
+as long as his forward colonial policy rendered it desirable.[207]
+
+Meanwhile our Governor-General, Marquis Wellesley, was displaying an
+activity which might seem to be dictated by knowledge of Bonaparte's
+designs. There was, indeed, every need of vigour. Nowhere had French
+and British interests been so constantly in collision as in India. In
+1798 France had intrigued with Tippoo Sahib at Seringapatam, and
+arranged a treaty for the purpose of expelling the British nation from
+India. When in 1799 French hopes were dashed by Arthur Wellesley's
+capture of that city and the death of Tippoo, there still remained
+some prospect of overthrowing British supremacy by uniting the
+restless Mahratta rulers of the north and centre, especially Scindiah
+and Holkar, in a powerful confederacy. For some years their armies,
+numbering some 60,000 men, had been drilled and equipped by French
+adventurers, the ablest and most powerful of whom was M. Perron.
+Doubtless it was with the hope of gaining their support that the Czar
+Paul and Bonaparte had in 1800 formed the project of invading India by
+way of Persia. And after the dissipation of that dream, there still
+remained the chance of strengthening the Mahratta princes so as to
+contest British claims with every hope of success. Forewarned by the
+home Government of Bonaparte's eastern designs, our able and ambitious
+Governor-General now prepared to isolate the Mahratta chieftains, to
+cut them off from all contact with France, and, if necessary, to
+shatter Scindiah's army, the only formidable native force drilled by
+European methods.
+
+Such was the position of affairs when General Decaen undertook the
+enterprise of revivifying French influences in India.
+
+The secret instructions which he received from the First Consul, dated
+January 15th, 1803, were the following:
+
+     "To communicate with the peoples or princes who are most impatient
+     under the yoke of the English Company.... To send home a report six
+     months after his arrival in India, concerning all information that
+     he shall have collected, on the strength, the position, and the
+     feeling of the different peoples of India, as well as on the
+     strength and position of the different English establishments; ...
+     his views, and hopes that he might have of finding support, in case
+     of war, so as to be able to maintain himself in the Peninsula....
+     Finally, as one must reason on the hypothesis that we should not be
+     masters of the sea and could hope for slight succour,"
+
+Decaen is to seek among the French possessions or elsewhere a place
+serving as a _point d'appui_, where in the last resort he could
+capitulate and thus gain the means of being transported to France with
+arms and baggage. Of this _point d'appui_ he will
+
+     "strive to take possession after the first months ... whatever be
+     the nation to which it belongs, Portuguese, Dutch, or English....
+     If war should break out between England and France before the 1st
+     of Vendemiaire, Year XIII. (September 22nd, 1804), and the captain
+     general is warned of it before receiving the orders of the
+     Government, he has _carte blanche_ to fall back on the Ile de
+     France and the Cape, or to remain in India.... It is now considered
+     impossible that we should have war with England without dragging in
+     Holland. One of the first cares of the captain-general will be to
+     gain control over the Dutch, Portuguese, and Spanish
+     establishments, and of their resources. The captain-general's
+     mission is at first one of observation, on political and military
+     topics, with the small forces that he takes out, and an occupation
+     of _comptoirs_ for our commerce: but the First Consul, if well
+     informed by him, will perhaps be able some day to put him in a
+     position to acquire that great glory which hands down the memory of
+     men beyond the lapse of centuries."[208]
+
+Had these instructions been known to English statesmen, they would
+certainly have ended the peace which was being thus perfidiously used
+by the First Consul for the destruction of our Indian Empire. But
+though their suspicions were aroused by the departure of Decaen's
+expedition and by the activity of French agents in India, yet the
+truth remained half hidden, until, at a later date, the publication of
+General Decaen's papers shed a flood of light on Napoleon's policy.
+
+Owing to various causes, the expedition did not set sail from Brest
+until the beginning of March, 1803. The date should be noticed. It
+proves that at this time Napoleon judged that a rupture of peace was
+not imminent; and when he saw his miscalculation, he sought to delay
+the war with England as long as possible in order to allow time for
+Decaen's force at least to reach the Cape, then in the hands of the
+Dutch. The French squadron was too weak to risk a fight with an
+English fleet; it comprised only four ships of war, two transports,
+and a few smaller vessels, carrying about 1,800 troops.[209] The ships
+were under the command of Admiral Linois, who was destined to be the
+terror of our merchantmen in eastern seas. Decaen's first halt was at
+the Cape, which had been given back by us to the Dutch East India
+Company on February 21st, 1803. The French general found the Dutch
+officials in their usual state of lethargy: the fortifications had not
+been repaired, and many of the inhabitants, and even of the officials
+themselves, says Decaen, were devoted to the English. After surveying
+the place, doubtless with a view to its occupation as the _point
+d'appui_ hinted at in his instructions, he set sail on the 27th of
+May, and arrived before Pondicherry on the 11th of July.[210]
+
+In the meantime important events had transpired which served to wreck
+not only Decaen's enterprise, but the French influence in India. In
+Europe the flames of war had burst forth, a fact of which both Decaen
+and the British officials were ignorant; but the Governor of Fort St.
+George (Madras), having, before the 15th of June, "received
+intelligence which appeared to indicate the certainty of an early
+renewal of hostilities between His Majesty and France," announced that
+he must postpone the restitution of Pondicherry to the French, until
+he should have the authority of the Governor-General for such
+action.[211]
+
+
+
+The Marquis Wellesley was still less disposed to any such restitution.
+French intervention in the affairs of Switzerland, which will be
+described later on, had so embittered Anglo-French relations that on
+October the 17th, 1802, Lord Hobart, our Minister of War and for the
+Colonies, despatched a "most secret" despatch, stating that recent
+events rendered it necessary to postpone this retrocession. At a later
+period Wellesley received contrary orders, instructing him to restore
+French and Dutch territories; but he judged that step to be
+inopportune considering the gravity of events in the north of India.
+So active was the French propaganda at the Mahratta Courts, and so
+threatening were their armed preparations, that he redoubled his
+efforts for the consolidation of British supremacy. He resolved to
+strike at Scindiah, unless he withdrew his southern army into his own
+territories; and, on receiving an evasive answer from that prince, who
+hoped by temporizing to gain armed succours from France, he launched
+the British forces against him. Now was the opportunity for Arthur
+Wellesley to display his prowess against the finest forces of the
+East; and brilliantly did the young warrior display it. The victories
+of Assaye in September, and of Argaum in November, scattered the
+southern Mahratta force, but only after desperate conflicts that
+suggested how easily a couple of Decaen's battalions might have turned
+the scales of war.
+
+Meanwhile, in the north, General Lake stormed Aligarh, and drove
+Scindiah's troops back to Delhi. Disgusted at the incapacity and
+perfidy that surrounded him, Perron threw up his command; and another
+conflict near Delhi yielded that ancient seat of Empire to our trading
+Company. In three months the results of the toil of Scindiah, the
+restless ambition of Holkar, the training of European officers, and the
+secret intrigues of Napoleon, were all swept to the winds. Wellesley now
+annexed the land around Delhi and Agra, besides certain coast districts
+which cut off the Mahrattas from the sea, also stipulating for the
+complete exclusion of French agents from their States. Perron was
+allowed to return to France; and the brusque reception accorded him from
+Bonaparte may serve to measure the height of the First Consul's hopes,
+the depth of his disappointment, and his resentment against a man who
+was daunted by a single disaster.[212]
+
+Meanwhile it was the lot of Decaen to witness, in inglorious
+inactivity, the overthrow of all his hopes. Indeed, he barely escaped
+the capture which Wellesley designed for his whole force, as soon as
+he should hear of the outbreak of war in Europe; but by secret and
+skilful measures all the French ships, except one transport, escaped
+to their appointed rendezvous, the Ile de France. Enraged by these
+events, Decaen and Linois determined to inflict every possible injury
+on their foes. The latter soon swept from the eastern seas British
+merchantmen valued at a million sterling, while the general ceased not
+to send emissaries into India to encourage the millions of natives to
+shake off the yoke of "a few thousand English."
+
+These officers effected little, and some of them were handed over to
+the English authorities by the now obsequious potentates. Decaen also
+endeavoured to carry out the First Consul's design of occupying
+strategic points in the Indian Ocean. In the autumn of 1803 he sent a
+fine cruiser to the Imaum of Muscat, to induce him to cede a station
+for commercial purposes at that port. But Wellesley, forewarned by our
+agent at Bagdad, had made a firm alliance with the Imaum, who
+accordingly refused the request of the French captain. The incident,
+however, supplies another link in the chain of evidence as to the
+completeness of Napoleon's oriental policy, and yields another proof
+of the vigour of our great proconsul at Calcutta, by whose foresight
+our Indian Empire was preserved and strengthened.[213]
+
+Bonaparte's enterprises were by no means limited to well-known lands.
+The unknown continent of the Southern Seas appealed to his
+imagination, which pictured its solitudes transformed by French energy
+into a second fatherland. Australia, or New Holland, as it was then
+called, had long attracted the notice of French explorers, but the
+English penal settlements at and near Sydney formed the only European
+establishment on the great southern island at the dawn of the
+nineteenth century.
+
+Bonaparte early turned his eyes towards that land. On his voyage to
+Egypt he took with him the volumes in which Captain Cook described his
+famous discoveries; and no sooner was he firmly installed as First
+Consul than he planned with the Institute of France a great French
+expedition to New Holland. The full text of the plan has never been
+published: probably it was suppressed or destroyed; and the sole
+public record relating to it is contained in the official account of
+the expedition published at the French Imperial Press in 1807.[214]
+According to this description, the aim was solely geographical and
+scientific. The First Consul and the Institute of France desired that
+the ships should proceed to Van Diemen's Land, explore its rivers, and
+then complete the survey of the south coast of the continent, so as to
+see whether behind the islands of the Nuyts Archipelago there might be
+a channel connecting with the Gulf of Carpentaria, and so cutting New
+Holland in half. They were then to sail west to "Terre Leeuwin,"
+ascend the Swan River, complete the exploration of Shark's Bay and the
+north-western coasts, and winter in Timor or Amboyne. Finally, they
+were to coast along New Guinea and the Gulf of Carpentaria, and return
+to France in 1803.
+
+In September, 1800, the ships, having on board twenty-three scientific
+men, set sail from Havre under the command of Commodore Baudin. They
+received no molestation from English cruisers, it being a rule of
+honour to give Admiralty permits to all members of genuinely
+scientific and geographical parties. Nevertheless, even on its
+scientific side, this splendidly-equipped expedition produced no
+results comparable with those achieved by Lieutenant Bass or by
+Captain Flinders. The French ships touched at the Ile de France, and
+sailed thence for Van Diemen's Land. After spending a long time in the
+exploration of its coasts and in collecting scientific information,
+they made for Sydney in order to repair their ships and gain relief
+for their many invalids. Thence, after incidents which will be noticed
+presently, they set sail in November, 1802, for Bass Strait and the
+coast beyond. They seem to have overlooked the entrance to Port
+Phillip--a discovery effected by Murray in 1801, but not made public
+till three years later--and failed to notice the outlet of the chief
+Australian river, which is obscured by a shallow lake.
+
+There they were met by Captain Flinders, who, on H.M.S.
+"Investigator," had been exploring the coast between Cape Leeuwin and
+the great gulfs which he named after Lords St. Vincent and Spencer.
+Flinders was returning towards Sydney, when, in the long desolate
+curve of the bay which he named from the incident Encounter Bay, he
+saw the French ships. After brief and guarded intercourse the
+explorers separated, the French proceeding to survey the gulfs whence
+the "Investigator" had just sailed; while Flinders, after a short stay
+at Sydney and the exploration of the northern coast and Torres Strait,
+set out for Europe.[215]
+
+Apart from the compilation of the most accurate map of Australia which
+had then appeared, and the naming of several features on its
+coasts--_e.g._, Capes Berrouilli and Gantheaume, the Bays of Rivoli
+and of Lacepede, and the Freycinet Peninsula, which are still
+retained--the French expedition achieved no geographical results of
+the first importance.
+
+Its political aims now claim attention. A glance at the accompanying
+map will show that, under the guise of being an emissary of
+civilization, Commodore Baudin was prepared to claim half the
+continent for France. Indeed, his final inquiry at Sydney about the
+extent of the British claims on the Pacific coast was so significant
+as to elicit from Governor King the reply that the whole of Van
+Diemen's Land and of the coast from Cape Howe on the south of the
+mainland to Cape York on the north was British territory. King also
+notified the suspicious action of the French Commander to the Home
+Government; and when the French sailed away to explore the coast of
+southern and central Australia he sent a ship to watch their
+proceedings. When, therefore, Commodore Baudin effected a landing on
+King Island, the Union Jack was speedily hoisted and saluted by the
+blue-jackets of the British vessel; for it was rumoured that French
+officers had said that King Island would afford a good station for the
+command of Bass Strait and the seizure of British ships. This was
+probably mere gossip. Baudin in his interviews with Governor King at
+Sydney disclaimed any intention of seizing Van Diemen's Land; but he
+afterwards stated that _he did not know what were the plans of the
+French Government with regard to that island_.[216]
+
+Long before this dark saying could be known at Westminster, the
+suspicions of our Government had been aroused; and, on February 13th,
+1803, Lord Hobart penned a despatch to Governor King bidding him to
+take every precaution against French annexations, and to form
+settlements in Van Diemen's Land and at Port Phillip. The station of
+Risden was accordingly planted on the estuary of the Derwent, a little
+above the present town of Hobart; while on the shores of Port Phillip
+another expedition sent out from the mother country sought, but for
+the present in vain, to find a suitable site. The French cruise
+therefore exerted on the fortunes of the English and French peoples an
+influence such as has frequently accrued from their colonial rivalry:
+it spurred on the island Power to more vigorous efforts than she would
+otherwise have put forth, and led to the discomfiture of her
+continental rival. The plans of Napoleon for the acquisition of Van
+Diemen's Land and the middle of Australia had an effect like that
+which the ambition of Montcalm, Dupleix, Lally, and Perron has exerted
+on the ultimate destiny of many a vast and fertile territory.
+
+
+
+Still, in spite of the destruction of his fleet at Trafalgar, Napoleon
+held to his Australian plans. No fact, perhaps, is more suggestive of
+the dogged tenacity of his will than his order to Peron and Freycinet
+to publish through the Imperial Press at Paris an exhaustive account
+of their Australian voyage, accompanied by maps which claimed half of
+that continent for the tricolour flag. It appeared in 1807, the year
+of Tilsit and of the plans for the partition of Portugal and her
+colonies between France and Spain. The hour seemed at last to have
+struck for the assertion of French supremacy in other continents, now
+that the Franco-Russian alliance had durably consolidated it in
+Europe. And who shall say that, but for the Spanish Rising and the
+genius of Wellington, a vast colonial empire might not have been won
+for France, had Napoleon been free to divert his energies away from
+this "old Europe" of which he professed to be utterly weary?
+
+His whole attitude towards European and colonial politics revealed a
+statesmanlike appreciation of the forces that were to mould the
+fortunes of nations in the nineteenth century. He saw that no
+rearrangement of the European peoples could be permanent. They were
+too stubborn, too solidly nationalized, to bear the yoke of the new
+Charlemagne. "I am come too late," he once exclaimed to Marmont; "men
+are too enlightened, there is nothing great left to be done." These
+words reveal his sense of the artificiality of his European conquests.
+His imperial instincts could find complete satisfaction only among the
+docile fate-ridden peoples of Asia, where he might unite the functions
+of an Alexander and a Mahomet: or, failing that, he would carve out an
+empire from the vast southern lands, organizing them by his unresting
+powers and ruling them as oekist and as despot. This task would possess
+a permanence such as man's conquests over Nature may always enjoy, and
+his triumphs over his fellows seldom or never. The political
+reconstruction of Europe was at best one of an infinite number of such
+changes, always progressing and never completed; while the peopling of
+new lands and the founding of States belonged to that highest plane of
+political achievement wherein schemes of social beneficence and the
+dictates of a boundless ambition could maintain an eager and unending
+rivalry. While a strictly European policy could effect little more
+than a raking over of long-cultivated parterres, the foundation of a
+new colonial empire would be the turning up of the virgin soil of the
+limitless prairie.
+
+If we inquire by the light of history why these grand designs failed,
+the answer must be that they were too vast fitly to consort with an
+ambitious European policy. His ablest adviser noted this fundamental
+defect as rapidly developing after the Peace of Amiens, when "he began
+to sow the seeds of new wars which, after overwhelming Europe and
+France, were to lead him to his ruin." This criticism of Talleyrand on
+a man far greater than himself, but who lacked that saving grace of
+moderation in which the diplomatist excelled, is consonant with all
+the teachings of history. The fortunes of the colonial empires of
+Athens and Carthage in the ancient world, of the Italian maritime
+republics, of Portugal and Spain, and, above all, the failure of the
+projects of Louis XIV. and Louis XV. serve to prove that only as the
+motherland enjoys a sufficiency of peace at home and on her borders
+can she send forth in ceaseless flow those supplies of men and
+treasure which are the very life-blood of a new organism. That
+beneficent stream might have poured into Napoleon's Colonial Empire,
+had not other claims diverted it into the barren channels of European
+warfare. The same result followed as at the time of the Seven Years'
+War, when the double effort to wage great campaigns in Germany and
+across the oceans sapped the strength of France, and the additions won
+by Dupleix and Montcalm fell away from her flaccid frame.
+
+Did Napoleon foresee a similar result? His conduct in regard to
+Louisiana and in reference to Decaen's expedition proves that he did,
+but only when it was too late. As soon as he saw that his policy was
+about to provoke another war with Britain long before he was ready for
+it, he decided to forego his oceanic schemes and to concentrate his
+forces on his European frontiers. The decision was dictated by a true
+sense of imperial strategy. But what shall we say of his sense of
+imperial diplomacy? The foregoing narrative and the events to be
+described in the next chapters prove that his mistake lay in that
+overweening belief in his own powers and in the pliability of his
+enemies which was the cause of his grandest triumphs and of his
+unexampled overthrow.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+NAPOLEON'S INTERVENTIONS
+
+
+War, said St. Augustine, is but the transition from a lower to a
+higher state of peace. The saying is certainly true for those wars
+that are waged in defence of some great principle or righteous cause.
+It may perhaps be applied with justice to the early struggles of the
+French revolutionists to secure their democratic Government against
+the threatened intervention of monarchical States. But the danger of
+vindicating the cause of freedom by armed force has never been more
+glaringly shown than in the struggles of that volcanic age. When
+democracy had gained a sure foothold in the European system, the war
+was still pushed on by the triumphant republicans at the expense of
+neighbouring States, so that, even before the advent of Bonaparte,
+their polity was being strangely warped by the influence of military
+methods of rule. The brilliance of the triumphs won by that young
+warrior speedily became the greatest danger of republican France; and
+as the extraordinary energy developed in her people by recent events
+cast her feeble neighbours to the ground, Europe cowered away before
+the ever-increasing bulk of France. In their struggles after democracy
+the French finally reverted to the military type of Government, which
+accords with many of the cherished instincts of their race: and the
+military-democratic compromise embodied in Napoleon endowed that
+people with the twofold force of national pride and of conscious
+strength springing from their new institutions.
+
+With this was mingled contempt for neighbouring peoples who either
+could not or would not gain a similar independence and prestige.
+Everything helped to feed this self-confidence and contempt for
+others. The venerable fabric of the Holy Roman Empire was rocking to
+and fro amidst the spoliations of its ecclesiastical lands by lay
+princes, in which its former champions, the Houses of Hapsburg and
+Hohenzollern, were the most exacting of the claimants. The Czar, in
+October, 1801, had come to a profitable understanding with France
+concerning these "secularizations." A little later France and Russia
+began to draw together on the Eastern Question in a way threatening to
+Turkey and to British influence in the Levant.[217] In fact, French
+diplomacy used the partition of the German ecclesiastical lands and
+the threatened collapse of the Ottoman power as a potent means of
+busying the Continental States and leaving Great Britain isolated.
+Moreover, the great island State was passing through ministerial and
+financial difficulties which robbed her of all the fruits of her naval
+triumphs and made her diplomacy at Amiens the laughing-stock of the
+world. When monarchical ideas were thus discredited, it was idle to
+expect peace. The struggling upwards towards a higher plane had indeed
+begun; democracy had effected a lodgment in Western Europe; but the
+old order in its bewildered gropings after some sure basis had not yet
+touched bottom on that rock of nationality which was to yield a new
+foundation for monarchy amidst the strifes of the nineteenth century.
+Only when the monarchs received the support of their French-hating
+subjects could an equilibrium of force and of enthusiasms yield the
+long-sought opportunity for a durable peace.[218]
+
+
+
+The negotiations at Amiens had amply shown the great difficulty of the
+readjustment of European affairs. If our Ministers had manifested
+their real feelings about Napoleon's presidency of the Italian
+Republic, war would certainly have broken forth. But, as has been
+seen, they preferred to assume the attitude of the ostrich, the worst
+possible device both for the welfare of Europe and the interests of
+Great Britain; for it convinced Napoleon that he could safely venture
+on other interventions; and this he proceeded to do in the affairs of
+Italy, Holland, and Switzerland.
+
+On September 21st, 1802, appeared a _senatus consultum_ ordering the
+incorporation of Piedmont in France. This important territory,
+lessened by the annexation of its eastern parts to the Italian
+Republic, had for five months been provisionally administered by a
+French general as a military district of France. Its definite
+incorporation in the great Republic now put an end to all hopes of
+restoration of the House of Savoy. For the King of Sardinia, now an
+exile in his island, the British Ministry had made some efforts at
+Amiens; but, as it knew that the Czar and the First Consul had agreed
+on offering him some suitable indemnity, the hope was cherished that
+the new sovereign, Victor Emmanuel I., would be restored to his
+mainland possessions. That hope was now at an end. In vain did Lord
+Whitworth, our ambassador at Paris, seek to help the Russian envoy to
+gain a fit indemnity. Sienna and its lands were named, as if in
+derision; and though George III. and the Czar ceased not to press the
+claims of the House of Savoy, yet no more tempting offer came from
+Paris, except a hint that some part of European Turkey might be found
+for him; and the young ruler nobly refused to barter for the petty
+Siennese, or for some Turkish pachalic, his birthright to the lands
+which, under a happier Victor Emmanuel, were to form the nucleus of a
+United Italy.[219] A month after the absorption of Piedmont came the
+annexation of Parma. The heir to that duchy, who was son-in-law to the
+King of Spain, had been raised to the dignity of King of Etruria; and
+in return for this aggrandizement in Europe, Charles IV. bartered away
+to France the whole of Louisiana. Nevertheless, the First Consul kept
+his troops in Parma, and on the death of the old duke in October,
+1802, Parma and its dependencies were incorporated in the French
+Republic.
+
+The naval supremacy of France in the Mediterranean was also secured by
+the annexation of the Isle of Elba with its excellent harbour of Porto
+Ferrajo. Three deputies from Elba came to Paris to pay their respects
+to their new ruler. The Minister of War was thereupon charged to treat
+them with every courtesy, to entertain them at dinner, to give them
+3,000 francs apiece, and to hint that on their presentation to
+Bonaparte they might make a short speech expressing the pleasure of
+their people at being united with France. By such deft rehearsals did
+this master in the art of scenic displays weld Elba on to France and
+France to himself.
+
+Even more important was Bonaparte's intervention in Switzerland. The
+condition of that land calls for some explanation. For wellnigh three
+centuries the Switzers had been grouped in thirteen cantons, which
+differed widely in character and constitution. The Central or Forest
+Cantons still retained the old Teutonic custom of regulating their
+affairs in their several folk-moots, at which every householder
+appeared fully armed. Elsewhere the confederation had developed less
+admirable customs, and the richer lowlands especially were under the
+hereditary control of rich burgher families. There was no constitution
+binding these States in any effective union. Each of the cantons
+claimed a governmental sovereignty that was scarcely impaired by the
+deliberations of the Federal Diet. Besides these sovereign States were
+others that held an ill-defined position as allies; among these were
+Geneva, Basel, Bienne, Saint Gall, the old imperial city of Muehlhausen
+in Alsace, the three Grisons, the principality of Neufchatel, and
+Valais on the Upper Rhone. Last came the subject-lands, Aargau,
+Thurgau, Ticino, Vaud, and others, which were governed in various
+degrees of strictness by their cantonal overlords. Such was the old
+Swiss Confederacy: it somewhat resembled that chaotic Macedonian
+league of mountain clans, plain-dwellers, and cities, which was so
+profoundly influenced by the infiltration of Greek ideas and by the
+masterful genius of Philip. Switzerland was likewise to be shaken by a
+new political influence, and thereafter to be controlled by the
+greatest statesman of the age.
+
+On this motley group of cantons and districts the French Revolution
+exerted a powerful influence; and when, in 1798, the people of Vaud
+strove to throw off the yoke of Berne, French troops, on the
+invitation of the insurgents, invaded Switzerland, quelled the brave
+resistance of the central cantons, and ransacked the chief of the
+Swiss treasuries. After the plunderers came the constitution-mongers,
+who forthwith forced on Switzerland democracy of the most French and
+geometrical type: all differences between the sovereign cantons,
+allies, and subject-lands were swept away, and Helvetia was
+constituted as an indivisible republic--except Valais, which was to be
+independent, and Geneva and Muehlhausen, which were absorbed by France.
+The subject districts and non-privileged classes benefited
+considerably by the social reforms introduced under French influence;
+but a constitution recklessly transferred from Paris to Berne could
+only provoke loathing among a people that never before had submitted
+to foreign dictation. Moreover, the new order of things violated the
+most elementary needs of the Swiss, whose racial and religious
+instincts claimed freedom of action for each district or canton.
+
+Of these deep-seated feelings the oligarchs of the plains, no less
+than the democrats of the Forest Cantons, were now the champions;
+while the partisans of the new-fangled democracy were held up to scorn
+as the supporters of a cast-iron centralization. It soon became clear
+that the constitution of 1798 could be perpetuated only by the support
+of the French troops quartered on that unhappy land; for throughout
+the years 1800 and 1801 the political see-saw tilted every few months,
+first in favour of the oligarchic or federal party, then again towards
+their unionist opponents. After the Peace of Luneville, which
+recognized the right of the Swiss to adopt what form of government
+they thought fit, some of their deputies travelled to Paris with the
+draft of a constitution lately drawn up by the Chamber at Berne, in
+the hope of gaining the assent of the First Consul to its provisions
+and the withdrawal of French troops. They had every reason for hope:
+the party then in power at Berne was that which favoured a centralized
+democracy, and their plenipotentiary in Paris, a thorough republican
+named Stapfer, had been led to hope that Switzerland would now be
+allowed to carve out its own destiny. What, then, was his surprise to
+find the First Consul increasingly enamoured of federalism. The
+letters written by Stapfer to the Swiss Government at this time are
+highly instructive.[220]
+
+On March 10th, 1801, he wrote:
+
+     "What torments us most is the cruel uncertainty as to the real aims
+     of the French Government. Does it want to federalize us in order to
+     weaken us and to rule more surely by our divisions: or does it
+     really desire our independence and welfare, and is its delay only
+     the result of its doubts as to the true wishes of the Helvetic
+     nation?"
+
+Stapfer soon found that the real cause of delay was the non-completion
+of the cession of Valais, which Bonaparte urgently desired for the
+construction of a military road across the Simplon Pass; and as the
+Swiss refused this demand, matters remained at a standstill. "The
+whole of Europe would not make him give up a favourite scheme," wrote
+Stapfer on April 10th; "the possession of Valais is one of the matters
+closest to his heart."
+
+The protracted pressure of a French army of occupation on that already
+impoverished land proved irresistible; and some important
+modifications of the Swiss project of a constitution, on which the
+First Consul insisted, were inserted in the new federal compact of
+May, 1801. Switzerland was now divided into seventeen cantons; and
+despite the wish of the official Swiss envoys for a strongly
+centralized government, Bonaparte gave large powers to the cantonal
+authorities. His motives in this course of action have been variously
+judged. In giving greater freedom of movement to the several cantons,
+he certainly adopted the only statesmanlike course: but his conduct
+during the negotiation, his retention of Valais, and the continued
+occupation of Switzerland by his troops, albeit in reduced numbers,
+caused many doubts as to the sincerity of his desire for a final
+settlement.
+
+The unionist majority at Berne soon proceeded to modify his proposals,
+which they condemned as full of defects and contradictions; while the
+federals strove to keep matters as they were. In the month of October
+their efforts succeeded, thanks to the support of the French
+ambassador and soldiery; they dissolved the Assembly, annulled its
+recent amendments; and their influence procured for Reding, the head
+of the oligarchic party, the office of Landamman, or supreme
+magistrate. So reactionary, however, were their proceedings, that the
+First Consul recalled the French general as a sign of his displeasure
+at his help recently offered to the federals. Their triumph was brief:
+while their chiefs were away at Easter, 1802, the democratic unionists
+effected another _coup d'etat_--it was the fourth--and promulgated one
+more constitution. This change seems also to have been brought about
+with the connivance of the French authorities:[221] their refusal to
+listen to Stapfer's claims for a definite settlement, as well as their
+persistent hints that the Swiss could not by themselves arrange their
+own affairs, argued a desire to continue the epoch of quarterly _coups
+d'etat_.
+
+The victory of the so-called democrats at Berne now brought the whole
+matter to the touch. They appealed to the people in the first Swiss
+_plebiscite_, the precursor of the famous _referendum_. It could now
+be decided without the interference of French troops; for the First
+Consul had privately declared to the new Landamman, Dolder, that he
+left it to his Government to decide whether the foreign soldiery
+should remain as a support or should evacuate Switzerland.[222] After
+many searchings of heart, the new authorities decided to try their
+fortunes alone--a response which must have been expected at Paris,
+where Stapfer had for months been urging the removal of the French
+forces. For the first time since the year 1798 Switzerland was
+therefore free to declare her will. The result of the _plebiscite_ was
+decisive enough, 72,453 votes being cast in favour of the latest
+constitution, and 92,423 against it. Nothing daunted by this rebuff,
+and, adopting a device which the First Consul had invented for the
+benefit of Dutch liberty, the Bernese leaders declared that the
+167,172 adult voters who had not voted at all must reckon as approving
+the new order of things. The flimsiness of this pretext was soon
+disclosed. The Swiss had had enough of electioneering tricks,
+hole-and-corner revolutions, and paper compacts. They rushed to arms;
+and if ever Carlyle's appeal away from ballot-boxes and parliamentary
+tongue-fencers to the primaeval _mights of man_ can be justified, it
+was in the sharp and decisive conflicts of the early autumn of 1802 in
+Switzerland. The troops of the central authorities, marching forth
+from Berne to quell the rising ferment, sustained a repulse at the
+foot of Mont Pilatus, as also before the walls of Zuerich; and, the
+revolt of the federals ever gathering force, the Helvetic authorities
+were driven from Berne to Lausanne. There they were planning flight
+across the Lake of Geneva to Savoy, when, on October 15th, the arrival
+of Napoleon's aide-de-camp, General Rapp, with an imperious
+proclamation dismayed the federals and promised to the discomfited
+unionists the mediation of the First Consul for which they had humbly
+pleaded.[223]
+
+Napoleon had apparently viewed the late proceedings in Switzerland
+with mingled feelings of irritation and amused contempt. "Well, there
+you are once more in a Revolution" was his hasty comment to Stapfer at
+a diplomatic reception shortly after Easter; "try and get tired of all
+that." It is difficult, however, to believe that so keen-sighted a
+statesman could look forward to anything but commotions for a land
+that was being saddled with an impracticable constitution, and whence
+the controlling French forces were withdrawn at that very crisis. He
+was certainly prepared for the events of September: many times he had
+quizzingly asked Stapfer how the constitution was faring, and he must
+have received with quiet amusement the solemn reply that there could
+be no doubt as to its brilliant success. When the truth flashed
+on Stapfer he was dumbfoundered, especially as Talleyrand at first
+mockingly repulsed any suggestion of the need of French mediation, and
+went on to assure him that his master had neither counselled nor
+approved the last constitution, the unfitness of which was now shown
+by the widespread insurrection. Two days later, however, Napoleon
+altered his tone and directed Talleyrand vigorously to protest against
+the acts and proclamations of the victorious federals as "the most
+violent outrage to French honour." On the last day of September he
+issued a proclamation to the Swiss declaring that he now revoked his
+decision not to mingle in Swiss politics, and ordered the federal
+authorities and troops to disperse, and the cantons to send deputies
+to Paris for the regulation of their affairs under his mediation.
+Meanwhile he bade the Swiss live once more in hope: their land was on
+the brink of a precipice, but it would soon be saved! Rapp carried
+analogous orders to Lausanne and Berne, while Ney marched in with a
+large force of French troops that had been assembled near the Swiss
+frontiers.
+
+So glaring a violation of Swiss independence and of the guaranteeing
+Treaty of Luneville aroused indignation throughout Europe. But Austria
+was too alarmed at Prussian aggrandizement in Germany to offer any
+protest; and, indeed, procured some trifling gains by giving France a
+free hand in Switzerland.[224] The Court of Berlin, then content to
+play the jackal to the French lion, revealed to the First Consul the
+appeals for help privately made to Prussia by the Swiss federals:[225]
+the Czar, influenced doubtless by his compact with France concerning
+German affairs, and by the advice of his former tutor, the Swiss
+Laharpe, offered no encouragement; and it was left to Great Britain to
+make the sole effort then attempted for the cause of Swiss
+independence. For some time past the cantons had made appeals to
+the British Government, which now, in response, sent an English agent,
+Moore, to confer with their chiefs, and to advance money and promise
+active support if he judged that a successful resistance could be
+attempted.[226] The British Ministry undoubtedly prepared for an open
+rupture with France on this question. Orders were immediately sent
+from London that no more French or Dutch colonies were to be handed
+back; and, as we have seen, the Cape of Good Hope and the French
+settlements in India were refused to the Dutch and French officers who
+claimed their surrender.
+
+Hostilities, however, were for the present avoided. In face of the
+overwhelming force which Ney had close at hand, the chiefs of the
+central cantons shrank from any active opposition; and Moore, finding
+on his arrival at Constance that they had decided to submit, speedily
+returned to England. Ministers beheld with anger and dismay the
+perpetuation of French supremacy in that land; but they lacked the
+courage openly to oppose the First Consul's action, and gave orders
+that the stipulated cessions of French and Dutch colonies should take
+effect.
+
+The submission of the Swiss and the weakness of all the Powers
+encouraged the First Consul to impose his will on the deputies from
+the cantons, who assembled at Paris at the close of the year 1802. He
+first caused their aims and the capacity of their leaders to be
+sounded in a Franco-Swiss Commission, and thereafter assembled them at
+St. Cloud on Sunday, December 12th. He harangued them at great length,
+hinting very clearly that the Swiss must now take a far lower place in
+the scale of peoples than in the days when France was divided into
+sixty fiefs, and that union with her could alone enable them to play a
+great part in the world's affairs: nevertheless, as they clung to
+independence he would undertake in his quality of mediator to end
+their troubles, and yet leave them free. That they could attain unity
+was a mere dream of their metaphysicians: they must rely on the
+cantonal organization, always provided that the French and Italian
+districts of Vaud and the upper Ticino were not subject to the central
+or German cantons: to prevent such a dishonour he would shed the blood
+of 50,000 Frenchmen: Berne must also open its golden book of the
+privileged families to include four times their number. For the rest,
+the Continental Powers could not help them, and England had "no right
+to meddle in Swiss affairs." The same menace was repeated in more
+strident tones on January 29th:
+
+     "I tell you that I would sacrifice 100,000 men rather than allow
+     England to meddle in your affairs: if the Cabinet of St. James
+     uttered a single word for you, it would be all up with you, I would
+     unite you to France: if that Court made the least insinuation of
+     its fears that I would be your Landamman, I would make myself your
+     Landamman."
+
+There spake forth the inner mind of the man who, whether as child,
+youth, lieutenant, general, Consul, or Emperor, loved to bear down
+opposition.[227]
+
+In those days of superhuman activity, when he was carving out one
+colonial Empire in the New World and preparing to found another in
+India, when he was outwitting the Cardinals, rearranging the map of
+Germany, breathing new life into French commerce and striving to
+shackle that of Britain, he yet found time to utter some of the sagest
+maxims as to the widely different needs of the Swiss cantons. He
+assured the deputies that he spoke as a Corsican and a mountaineer,
+who knew and loved the clan system. His words proved it. With sure
+touch he sketched the characteristics of the French and Swiss people.
+Switzerland needed the local freedom imparted by her cantons: while
+France required unity, Switzerland needed federalism: the French
+rejected this last as damaging their power and glory; but the Swiss
+did not ask for glory; they needed "political tranquillity and
+obscurity": moreover, a simple pastoral people must have extensive
+local rights, which formed their chief distraction from the monotony
+of life: democracy was a necessity for the forest cantons; but let not
+the aristocrats of the towns fear that a wider franchise would end
+their influence, for a people dependent on pastoral pursuits would
+always cling to great families rather than to electoral assemblies:
+let these be elected on a fairly wide basis. Then again, what ready
+wit flashed forth in his retort to a deputy who objected to the
+Bernese Oberland forming part of the Canton of Berne: "Where do you
+take your cattle and your cheese?"--"To Berne."--"Whence do you get
+your grain, cloth, and iron?"--"From Berne."--"Very well: 'To Berne,
+from Berne'--you consequently belong to Berne." The reply is a good
+instance of that canny materialism which he so victoriously opposed to
+feudal chaos and monarchical ineptitude.
+
+Indeed, in matters great as well as small his genius pierced to the
+heart of a problem: he saw that the democratic unionists had failed
+from the rigidity of their centralization, while the federals had
+given offence by insufficiently recognizing the new passion for social
+equality.[228] He now prepared to federalize Switzerland on a
+moderately democratic basis; for a policy of balance, he himself being
+at the middle of the see-saw, was obviously required by good sense as
+well as by self-interest. Witness his words to Roederer on this
+subject:
+
+"While satisfying the generality, I cause the patricians to tremble.
+In giving to these last the appearance of power, I oblige them to take
+refuge at my side in order to find protection. I let the people
+threaten the aristocrats, so that these may have need of me. I will
+give them places and distinctions, but they will hold them from me.
+This system of mine has succeeded in France. See the clergy. Every day
+they will become, in spite of themselves, more devoted to my
+government than they had foreseen."
+
+How simple and yet how subtle is this statecraft; simplicity of aim,
+with subtlety in the choice of means: this is the secret of his
+success.
+
+After much preliminary work done by French commissioners and the Swiss
+deputies in committee, the First Consul summed up the results of their
+labours in the Act of Mediation of February 19th, 1803, which
+constituted the Confederation in nineteen cantons, the formerly
+subject districts now attaining cantonal dignity and privileges. The
+forest cantons kept their ancient folk-moots, while the town cantons
+such as Berne, Zuerich, and Basel were suffered to blend their old
+institutions with democratic customs, greatly to the chagrin of the
+unionists, at whose invitation Bonaparte had taken up the work of
+mediation.
+
+The federal compact was also a compromise between the old and the new.
+The nineteen cantons were to enjoy sovereign powers under the shelter
+of the old federal pact. Bonaparte saw that the fussy imposition of
+French governmental forms in 1798 had wrought infinite harm, and he
+now granted to the federal authorities merely the powers necessary for
+self-defence: the federal forces were to consist of 15,200 men--a
+number less than that which by old treaty Switzerland had to furnish
+to France. The central power was vested in a Landamman and other
+officers appointed yearly by one of the six chief cantons taken in
+rotation; and a Federal Diet, consisting of twenty-five deputies--one
+from each of the small cantons, and two from each of the six larger
+cantons--met to discuss matters of general import, but the balance of
+power rested with the cantons: further articles regulated the Helvetic
+debt and declared the independence of Switzerland--as if a land could
+be independent which furnished more troops to the foreigner than it
+was allowed to maintain for its own defence. Furthermore, the Act
+breathed not a word about religious liberty, freedom of the Press, or
+the right of petition: and, viewing it as a whole, the friends of
+freedom had cause to echo the complaint of Stapfer that "the First
+Consul's aim was to annul Switzerland politically, but to assure to
+the Swiss the greatest possible domestic happiness."
+
+I have judged it advisable to give an account of Franco-Swiss
+relations on a scale proportionate to their interest and importance;
+they exhibit, not only the meanness and folly of the French Directory,
+but the genius of the great Corsican in skilfully blending the new and
+the old, and in his rejection of the fussy pedantry of French
+theorists and the worst prejudices of the Swiss oligarchs. Had not his
+sage designs been intertwined with subtle intrigues which assured his
+own unquestioned supremacy in that land, the Act of Mediation might be
+reckoned among the grandest and most beneficent achievements. As it
+is, it must be regarded as a masterpiece of able but selfish
+statecraft, which contrasts unfavourably with the disinterested
+arrangements sanctioned by the allies for Switzerland in 1815.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+THE RENEWAL OF WAR
+
+
+The re-occupation of Switzerland by the French in October, 1802, was
+soon followed by other serious events, which convinced the British
+Ministry that war was hardly to be avoided. Indeed, before the treaty
+was ratified, ominous complaints had begun to pass between Paris and
+London.
+
+Some of these were trivial, others were highly important. Among the
+latter was the question of commercial intercourse. The British
+Ministry had neglected to obtain any written assurance that trade
+relations should be resumed between the two countries; and the First
+Consul, either prompted by the protectionist theories of the Jacobins,
+or because he wished to exert pressure upon England in order to extort
+further concessions, determined to restrict trade with us to the
+smallest possible dimensions. This treatment of England was wholly
+exceptional, for in his treaties concluded with Russia, Portugal, and
+the Porte, Napoleon had procured the insertion of clauses which
+directly fostered French trade with those lands. Remonstrances soon
+came from the British Government that "strict prohibitions were being
+enforced to the admission of British commodities and manufactures into
+France, and very vigorous restrictions were imposed on British vessels
+entering French ports"; but, in spite of all representations, we had
+the mortification of seeing the hardware of Birmingham, and the
+ever-increasing stores of cotton and woollen goods, shut out from
+France and her subject-lands, as well as from the French colonies
+which we had just handed back.
+
+In this policy of commercial prohibition Napoleon was confirmed by our
+refusal to expel the Bourbon princes. He declined to accept our
+explanation that they were not officially recognized, and could not be
+expelled from England without a violation of the rights of
+hospitality; and he bitterly complained of the personal attacks made
+upon him in journals published in London by the French _emigres_. Of
+these the most acrid, namely, those of Peltier's paper, "L'Ambigu,"
+had already received the reprobation of the British Ministry; but, as
+had been previously explained at Amiens, the Addington Cabinet decided
+that it could not venture to curtail the liberty of the Press, least
+of all at the dictation of the very man who was answering the pop-guns
+of our unofficial journals by double-shotted retorts in the official
+"Moniteur." Of these last His Majesty did not deign to make any
+formal complaint; but he suggested that their insertion in the organ
+of the French Government should have prevented Napoleon from
+preferring the present protests.
+
+This wordy war proceeded with unabated vigour on both sides of the
+Channel, the British journals complaining of the Napoleonic
+dictatorship in Continental affairs, while the "Moniteur" bristled
+with articles whose short, sharp sentences could come only from the
+First Consul. The official Press hitherto had been characterized by
+dull decorum, and great was the surprise of the older Courts when the
+French official journals compared the policy of the Court of St. James
+with the methods of the Barbary rovers and the designs of the Miltonic
+Satan.[229] Nevertheless, our Ministry prosecuted and convicted
+Peltier for libel, an act which, at the time, produced an excellent
+impression at Paris.[230]
+
+
+
+But more serious matters were now at hand. Newspaper articles and
+commercial restrictions were not the cause of war, however much they
+irritated the two peoples.
+
+The general position of Anglo-French affairs in the autumn of 1802 is
+well described in the official instructions given to Lord Whitworth
+when he was about to proceed as ambassador to Paris. For this
+difficult duty he had several good qualifications. During his embassy
+at St. Petersburg he had shown a combination of tact and firmness
+which imposed respect, and doubtless his composure under the violent
+outbreaks of the Czar Paul furnished a recommendation for the equally
+trying post at Paris, which he filled with a _sang froid_ that has
+become historic. Possibly a more genial personality might have
+smoothed over some difficulties at the Tuileries: but the Addington
+Ministry, having tried geniality in the person of Cornwallis,
+naturally selected a man who was remarkable for his powers of quiet
+yet firm resistance.
+
+His first instructions of September 10th, 1802, are such as might be
+drawn up between any two Powers entering on a long term of peace. But
+the series of untoward events noticed above overclouded the political
+horizon; and the change finds significant expression in the secret
+instructions of November 14th. He is now charged to state George
+III.'s determination "never to forego his right of interfering in the
+affairs of the Continent on any occasion in which the interests of his
+own dominions or those of Europe in general may appear to him to
+require it." A French despatch is then quoted, as admitting that, for
+every considerable gain of France on the Continent, Great Britain had
+some claim to compensation: and such a claim, it was hinted, might now
+be proffered after the annexation of Piedmont and Parma. Against the
+continued occupation of Holland by French troops and their invasion of
+Switzerland, Whitworth was to make moderate but firm remonstrances,
+but in such a way as not to commit us finally. He was to employ an
+equal discretion with regard to Malta. As Russia and Prussia had as
+yet declined to guarantee the arrangements for that island's
+independence, it was evident that the British troops could not yet be
+withdrawn.
+
+     "His Majesty would certainly be justified in claiming the
+     possession of Malta, as some counterpoise to the acquisitions of
+     France, since the conclusion of the definitive treaty: but it is
+     not necessary to decide now whether His Majesty will be disposed to
+     avail himself of his pretensions in this respect."
+
+Thus between September 10th and November 14th we passed from a
+distinctly pacific to a bellicose attitude, and all but formed the
+decision to demand Malta as a compensation for the recent
+aggrandizements of France. To have declared war at once on these
+grounds would certainly have been more dignified. But, as our Ministry
+had already given way on many topics, a sudden declaration of war on
+Swiss and Italian affairs would have stultified its complaisant
+conduct on weightier subjects. Moreover, the whole drift of
+eighteenth-century diplomacy, no less than Bonaparte's own admission,
+warranted the hope of securing Malta by way of "compensation." The
+adroit bargainer, who was putting up German Church lands for sale, who
+had gained Louisiana by the Parma-Tuscany exchange, and still
+professed to the Czar his good intentions as to an "indemnity" for the
+King of Sardinia, might well be expected to admit the principle of
+compensation in Anglo-French relations when these were being
+jeopardized by French aggrandizement; and, as will shortly appear, the
+First Consul, while professing to champion international law against
+perfidious Albion, privately admitted her right to compensation, and
+only demurred to its practical application when his oriental designs
+were thereby compromised.
+
+Before Whitworth proceeded to Paris, sharp remonstrances had been
+exchanged between the French and British Governments. To our protests
+against Napoleon's interventions in neighbouring States, he retorted
+by demanding "the whole Treaty of Amiens and nothing but that treaty."
+Whereupon Hawkesbury answered: "The state of the Continent at the
+period of the Treaty of Amiens, and nothing but that state." In reply
+Napoleon sent off a counterblast, alleging that French troops had
+evacuated Taranto, that Switzerland had requested his mediation, that
+German affairs possessed no novelty, and that England, having six
+months previously waived her interest in continental affairs, could
+not resume it at will. The retort, which has called forth the
+admiration of M. Thiers, is more specious than convincing.
+Hawkesbury's appeal was, not to the sword, but to law; not to French
+influence gained by military occupations that contravened the Treaty
+of Luneville, but to international equity.
+
+Certainly, the Addington Cabinet committed a grievous blunder in not
+inserting in the Treaty of Amiens a clause stipulating the
+independence of the Batavian and Helvetic Republics. Doubtless it
+relied on the Treaty of Luneville, and on a Franco-Dutch convention of
+August, 1801, which specified that French troops were to remain in the
+Batavian Republic only up to the time of the general peace. But it is
+one thing to rely on international law, and quite another thing, in an
+age of violence and chicanery, to hazard the gravest material
+interests on its observance. Yet this was what the Addington Ministry
+had done: "His Majesty consented to make numerous and most important
+restitutions to the Batavian Government on the consideration of that
+Government being independent and not being subject to any foreign
+control."[231] Truly, the restoration of the Cape of Good Hope and of
+other colonies to the Dutch, solely in reliance on the observance of
+international law by Napoleon and Talleyrand, was, as the event
+proved, an act of singular credulity. But, looking at this matter
+fairly and squarely, it must be allowed that Napoleon's reply evaded
+the essence of the British complaint; it was merely an _argumentum ad
+hominem_; it convicted the Addington Cabinet of weakness and
+improvidence; but in equity it was null and void, and in practical
+politics it betokened war.
+
+As Napoleon refused to withdraw his troops from Holland, and continued
+to dominate that unhappy realm, it was clear that the Cape of Good
+Hope would speedily be closed to our ships--a prospect which immensely
+enhanced the value of the overland route to India, and of those
+portals of the Orient, Malta and Egypt. To the Maltese Question we now
+turn, as also, later on, to the Eastern Question, with which it was
+then closely connected.
+
+Many causes excited the uneasiness of the British Government
+about the fate of Malta. In spite of our effort not to wound the
+susceptibilities of the Czar, who was protector of the Order of St.
+John, that sensitive young ruler had taken umbrage at the article
+relating to that island. He now appeared merely as one of the six
+Powers guaranteeing its independence, not as the sole patron and
+guarantor, and he was piqued at his name appearing after that of the
+Emperor Francis![232] For the present arrangement the First Consul was
+chiefly to blame; but the Czar vented his displeasure on England. On
+April 28th, 1802, our envoy at Paris, Mr. Merry, reported as follows:
+
+     "Either the Russian Government itself, or Count Markoff alone
+     personally, is so completely out of humour with us for not having
+     acted in strict concert with them, or him, or in conformity to
+     their ideas in negotiating the definitive treaty (of Amiens), that
+     I find he takes pains to turn it into ridicule, and particularly to
+     represent the arrangement we have made for Malta as impracticable
+     and consequently as completely null."
+
+The despatches of our ambassador at St. Petersburg, Lord St. Helens,
+and of his successor, Admiral Warren, are of the same tenor. They
+report the Czar's annoyance with England over the Maltese affair, and
+his refusal to listen even to the joint Anglo-French request,
+of November 18th, 1802, for his guarantee of the Amiens
+arrangements.[233] A week later Alexander announced that he would
+guarantee the independence of Malta, provided that the complete
+sovereignty of the Knights of St. John was recognized--that is,
+without any participation of the native Maltese in the affairs of that
+Order--and that the island should be garrisoned by Neapolitan troops,
+paid by France and England, until the Knights should be able to
+maintain their independence. This reopening of the question discussed,
+_ad nauseam_, at Amiens proved that the Maltese Question would long
+continue to perplex the world. The matter was still further
+complicated by the abolition of the Priories, Commanderies, and
+property of the Order of St. John by the French Government in the
+spring of 1802--an example which was imitated by the Court of Madrid
+in the following autumn; and as the property of the Knights in the
+French part of Italy had also lapsed, it was difficult to see how the
+scattered and impoverished Knights could form a stable government,
+especially if the native Maltese were not to be admitted to a share in
+public affairs. This action of France, Spain, and Russia fully
+warranted the British Government in not admitting into the fortress
+the 2,000 Neapolitan troops that arrived in the autumn of 1802. Our
+evacuation of Malta was conditioned by several stipulations, five of
+which had not been fulfilled.[234] But the difficulties arising out of
+the reconstruction of this moribund Order were as nothing when
+compared with those resulting from the reopening of a far vaster and
+more complex question--the "eternal" Eastern Question.
+
+Rarely has the mouldering away of the Turkish Empire gone on so
+rapidly as at the beginning of the nineteenth century. Corruption and
+favouritism paralyzed the Government at Constantinople; masterful
+pachas, aping the tactics of Ali Pacha, the virtual ruler of Albania,
+were beginning to carve out satrapies in Syria, Asia Minor, Wallachia,
+and even in Roumelia itself. Such was the state of Turkey when the
+Sultan and his advisers heard with deep concern, in October, 1801,
+that the only Power on whose friendship they could firmly rely was
+about to relinquish Malta. At once he sent an earnest appeal to George
+III. begging him not to evacuate the island. This despatch is not in
+the archives of our Foreign Office; but the letter written from Malta
+by Lord Elgin, our ambassador at Constantinople, on his return home,
+sufficiently shows that the Sultan was conscious of his own weakness
+and of the schemes of partition which were being concocted at Paris.
+Bonaparte had already begun to sound both Austria and Russia on this
+subject, deftly hinting that the Power which did not early join in the
+enterprise would come poorly off. For the present both the rulers
+rejected his overtures; but he ceased not to hope that the anarchy in
+Turkey, and the jealousy which partition schemes always arouse among
+neighbours, would draw first one and then the other into his
+enterprise.[235]
+
+The young Czar's disposition was at that period restless and unstable,
+free from the passionate caprices of his ill-fated father, and attuned
+by the fond efforts of the Swiss democrat Laharpe, to the loftiest
+aspirations of the France of 1789. Yet the son of Paul I. could hardly
+free himself from the instincts of a line of conquering Czars; his
+frank blue eyes, his graceful yet commanding figure, his high broad
+forehead and close shut mouth gave promise of mental energy; and his
+splendid physique and love of martial display seemed to invite him to
+complete the campaigns of Catherine II. against the Turks, and to wash
+out in the waves of the Danube the remorse which he still felt at his
+unwitting complicity in a parricidal plot. Between his love of liberty
+and of foreign conquest he for the present wavered, with a strange
+constitutional indecision that marred a noble character and that
+yielded him a prey more than once to a masterful will or to seductive
+projects. He is the Janus of Russian history. On the one side he faces
+the enormous problems of social and political reform, and yet he
+steals many a longing glance towards the dome of St. Sofia. This
+instability in his nature has been thus pointedly criticised by his
+friend Prince Czartoryski:[236]
+
+     "Grand ideas of the general good, generous sentiments, and the
+     desire to sacrifice to them a part of the imperial authority, had
+     really occupied the Emperor's mind, but they were rather a young
+     man's fancies than a grown man's decided will. The Emperor liked
+     forms of liberty, as he liked the theatre: it gave him pleasure and
+     flattered his vanity to see the appearances of free government in
+     his Empire: but all he wanted in this respect was forms and
+     appearances: he did not expect them to become realities. He would
+     willingly have agreed that every man should be free, on the
+     condition that he should voluntarily do only what the Emperor
+     wished."
+
+This later judgment of the well-known Polish nationalist is probably
+embittered by the disappointments which he experienced at the Czar's
+hands; but it expresses the feeling of most observers of Alexander's
+early career, and it corresponds with the conclusion arrived at by
+Napoleon's favourite aide-de-camp, Duroc, who went to congratulate the
+young Czar on his accession and to entice him into oriental
+schemes--that there was nothing to hope and nothing to fear from the
+Czar. The _mot_ was deeply true.[237]
+
+
+From these oriental schemes the young Czar was, for the time, drawn
+aside towards the nobler path of social reform. The saving influence
+on this occasion was exerted by his old tutor, Laharpe. The
+ex-Director of Switzerland readily persuaded the Czar that Russia
+sorely needed political and social reform. His influence was
+powerfully aided by a brilliant group of young men, the Vorontzoffs,
+the Strogonoffs, Novossiltzoff, and Czartoryski, whose admiration for
+western ideas and institutions, especially those of Britain, helped to
+impel Alexander on the path of progress. Thus, when Napoleon was
+plying the Czar with notes respecting Turkey, that young ruler was
+commencing to bestow system on his administration, privileges on the
+serfs, and the feeble beginnings of education on the people.
+
+While immersed in these beneficent designs, Alexander heard with deep
+chagrin of the annexation of Piedmont and Parma, and that Napoleon
+refused to the King of Sardinia any larger territory than the
+Siennese. This breach of good faith cut the Czar to the quick. It was
+in vain that Napoleon now sought to lure him into Turkish adventures
+by representing that France should secure the Morea for herself, that
+other parts of European Turkey might be apportioned to Victor Emmanuel
+I. and the French Bourbons. This cold-blooded proposal, that ancient
+dynasties should be thrust from the homes of their birth into alien
+Greek or Moslem lands, wounded the Czar's monarchical sentiments. He
+would none of it; nor did he relish the prospect of seeing the French
+in the Morea, whence they could complete the disorder of Turkey and
+seize on Constantinople. He saw whither Napoleon was leading him. He
+drew back abruptly, and even notified to our ambassador, Admiral
+Warren, that _England had better keep Malta._[238]
+
+
+Alexander also, on January 19th, 1803 (O.S.), charged his ambassador
+at Paris to declare that the existing system of Europe must not be
+further disturbed, that each Government should strive for peace and
+the welfare of its own people; that the frequent references of
+Napoleon to the approaching dissolution of Turkey were ill-received at
+St. Petersburg, where they were considered the chief cause of
+England's anxiety and refusal to disarm. He also suggested that the
+First Consul by some public utterance should dispel the fears of
+England as to a partition of the Ottoman Empire, and thus assure the
+peace of the world.[239]
+
+Before this excellent advice was received, Napoleon astonished the
+world by a daring stroke. On the 30th of January the "Moniteur"
+printed in full the bellicose report of Colonel Sebastiani on his
+mission to Algiers, Egypt, Syria, and the Ionian Isles. As that
+mission was afterwards to be passed off as merely of a commercial
+character, it will be well to quote typical passages from the secret
+instructions which the First Consul gave to his envoy on September
+5th, 1802:
+
+     "He will proceed to Alexandria: he will take note of what is in the
+     harbour, the ships, the forces which the British as well as the
+     Turks have there, the state of the fortifications, the state of the
+     towers, the account of all that has passed since our departure both
+     at Alexandria and in the whole of Egypt: finally, the present state
+     of the Egyptians.... He will proceed to St. Jean d'Acre, will
+     recommend the convent of Nazareth to Djezzar: will inform him that
+     the agent of the [French] Republic is to appear at Acre: will find
+     out about the fortifications he has had made: will walk along them
+     himself, if there be no danger."
+
+Fortifications, troops, ships of war, the feelings of the natives, and
+the protection of the Christians--these subjects were to be
+Sebastiani's sole care. Commerce was not once named. The departure of
+this officer had already alarmed our Government. Mr. Merry, our
+_charge d'affaires_ in Paris, had warned it as to the real aims in
+view, in the following "secret despatch:
+
+     "PARIS, _September 25th,_ 1802.
+
+      "... I have learnt from good authority that he [Sebastiani] was
+     accompanied by a person of the name of Jaubert (who was General
+     Bonaparte's interpreter and confidential agent with the natives
+     during the time he commanded in Egypt), who has carried with him
+     regular powers and instructions, prepared by M. Talleyrand, to
+     treat with Ibrahim-Bey for the purpose of creating a fresh and
+     successful revolt in Egypt against the power of the Porte, and of
+     placing that country again under the direct or indirect dependence
+     of France, to which end he has been authorized to offer assistance
+     from hence in men and money. The person who has confided to me this
+     information understands that the mission to Ibrahim-Bey is confided
+     solely to M. Jaubert, and that his being sent with Colonel
+     Sebastiani has been in order to conceal the real object of it, and
+     to afford him a safe conveyance to Egypt, as well as for the
+     purpose of assisting the Colonel in his transactions with the
+     Regencies of Algiers, Tunis, and Tripoli."[240]
+
+Merry's information was correct: it tallied with the secret
+instructions given by Napoleon to Sebastiani: and our Government, thus
+forewarned, at once adopted a stiffer tone on all Mediterranean and
+oriental questions. Sebastiani was very coldly received by our officer
+commanding in Egypt, General Stuart, who informed him that no orders
+had as yet come from London for our evacuation of that land.
+Proceeding to Cairo, the commercial emissary proposed to mediate
+between the Turkish Pacha and the rebellious Mamelukes, an offer which
+was firmly declined.[241] In vain did Sebastiani bluster and cajole by
+turns. The Pacha refused to allow him to go on to Assouan, the
+headquarters of the insurgent Bey, and the discomfited envoy made his
+way back to the coast and took ship for Acre. Thence he set sail for
+Corfu, where he assured the people of Napoleon's wish that there
+should be an end to their civil discords. Returning to Genoa, and
+posting with all speed to Paris, he arrived there on January 25th,
+1803. Five days later that gay capital was startled by the report of
+his mission, which was printed in full in the "Moniteur." It described
+the wretched state of the Turks in Egypt--the Pacha of Cairo
+practically powerless, and on bad terms with General Stuart, the
+fortifications everywhere in a ruinous state, the 4,430 British troops
+cantoned in and near Alexandria, the Turkish forces beneath contempt.
+"Six thousand French would at present be enough to conquer Egypt." And
+as to the Ionian islands, "I do not stray from the truth in assuring
+you that these islands will declare themselves French as soon as an
+opportunity shall offer itself."[242]
+
+Such were the chief items of this report. Various motives have been
+assigned for its publication. Some writers have seen in it a crushing
+retort to English newspaper articles. Others there are, as M. Thiers,
+who waver between the opinion that the publication of this report was
+either a "sudden unfortunate incident," or a protest against the
+"latitude" which England allowed herself in the execution of the
+Treaty of Amiens.
+
+
+A consideration of the actual state of affairs at the end of January,
+1803, will perhaps guide us to an explanation which is more consonant
+with the grandeur of Napoleon's designs. At that time he was
+all-powerful in the Old World. As First Consul for Life he was master
+of forty millions of men: he was President of the Italian Republic: to
+the Switzers, as to the Dutch, his word was law. Against the
+infractions of the Treaty of Luneville, Austria dared make no protest.
+The Czar was occupied with domestic affairs, and his rebuff to
+Napoleon's oriental schemes had not yet reached Paris. As for the
+British Ministry, it was trembling from the attacks of the Grenvilles
+and Windhams on the one side, and from the equally vigorous onslaughts
+of Fox, who, when the Government proposed an addition to the armed
+forces, brought forward the stale platitude that a large standing army
+"was a dangerous instrument of influence in the hands of the Crown."
+When England's greatest orator thus impaired the unity of national
+feeling, and her only statesman, Pitt, remained in studied seclusion,
+the First Consul might well feel assured of the impotence of the
+Island Power, and view the bickering of her politicians with the same
+quiet contempt that Philip felt for the Athens of Demosthenes.
+
+But while his prospects in Europe and the East were roseate, the
+western horizon bulked threateningly with clouds. The news of the
+disasters in St. Domingo reached Paris in the first week of the year
+1803, and shortly afterwards came tidings of the ferment in the United
+States and the determination of their people to resist the acquisition
+of Louisiana by France. If he persevered with this last scheme, he
+would provoke war with that republic and drive it into the arms of
+England. From that blunder his statecraft instinctively saved him, and
+he determined to sell Louisiana to the United States.
+
+So unheroic a retreat from the prairies of the New World must be
+covered by a demonstration towards the banks of the Nile and of the
+Indus. It was ever his plan to cover retreat in one direction by
+brilliant diversions in another: only so could he enthrall the
+imagination of France, and keep his hold on her restless capital. And
+the publication of Sebastiani's report, with its glowing description
+of the fondness cherished for France alike by Moslems, Syrian
+Christians, and the Greeks of Corfu; its declamation against the
+perfidy of General Stuart; and its incitation to the conquest of the
+Levant, furnished him with the motive power for effecting a telling
+transformation scene and banishing all thoughts of losses in the
+West.[243]
+
+The official publication of this report created a sensation even in
+France, and was not the _bagatelle_ which M. Thiers has endeavoured to
+represent it.[244] But far greater was the astonishment at Downing
+Street, not at the facts disclosed by the report--for Merry's note
+had prepared our Ministers for them--but rather at the official avowal
+of hostile designs. At once our Government warned Whitworth that he
+must insist on our retaining Malta. He was also to protest against the
+publication of such a document, and to declare that George III. could
+not "enter into any further discussion relative to Malta until he
+received a satisfactory explanation." Far from offering it, Napoleon
+at once complained of our non-evacuation of Alexandria and Malta.
+
+     "Instead of that garrison [of Alexandria] being a means of
+     protecting Egypt, it was only furnishing him with a pretence
+     for invading it. This he should not do, whatever might be his
+     desire to have it as a colony, because he did not think it worth
+     the risk of a war, in which he might perhaps be considered the
+     aggressor, and by which he should lose more than he could gain,
+     since sooner or later Egypt would belong to France, either by the
+     falling to pieces of the Turkish Empire, or by some arrangement
+     with the Porte.... Finally," he asked, "why should not the mistress
+     of the seas and the mistress of the land come to an arrangement and
+     govern the world?"
+
+A subtler diplomatist than Whitworth would probably have taken the
+hint for a Franco-British partition of the world: but the Englishman,
+unable at that moment to utter a word amidst the torrent of argument
+and invective, used the first opportunity merely to assure Napoleon of
+the alarm caused in England by Sebastiani's utterance concerning
+Egypt. This touched the First Consul at the wrong point, and he
+insisted that on the evacuation of Malta the question of peace or war
+must depend. In vain did the English ambassador refer to the extension
+of French power on the Continent. Napoleon cut him short: "I suppose
+you mean Piedmont and Switzerland: ce sont des----: vous n'avez pas le
+droit d'en parler a cette heure." Seeing that he was losing his
+temper, Lord Whitworth then diverted the conversation.[245]
+
+This long tirade shows clearly what were the aims of the First Consul.
+He desired peace until his eastern plans were fully matured. And what
+ruler would not desire to maintain a peace so fruitful in
+conquests--that perpetuated French influence in Italy, Switzerland,
+and Holland, that enabled France to prepare for the dissolution of the
+Turkish Empire and to intrigue with the Mahrattas? Those were the
+conditions on which England could enjoy peace: she must recognize the
+arbitrament of France in the affairs of all neighbouring States, she
+must make no claim for compensation in the Mediterranean, and she must
+endure to be officially informed that she alone could not maintain a
+struggle against France.[246]
+
+But George III. was not minded to sink to the level of a Charles II.
+Whatever were the failings of our "farmer king," he was keenly alive
+to national honour and interests. These had been deeply wounded, even
+in the United Kingdom itself. Napoleon had been active in sending
+"commercial commissioners" into our land. Many of them were proved to
+be soldiers: and the secret instructions sent by Talleyrand to one of
+them at Dublin, which chanced to fall into the hands of our
+Government, showed that they were charged to make plans of the
+harbours, and of the soundings and moorings.[247]
+
+Then again, the French were almost certainly helping Irish
+conspirators. One of these, Emmett, already suspected of complicity in
+the Despard conspiracy which aimed at the King's life, had, after its
+failure, sought shelter in France. At the close of 1802 he returned to
+his native land and began to store arms in a house near Rathfarnham.
+It is doubtful whether the authorities were aware of his plans, or, as
+is more probable, let the plot come to a head. The outbreak did not
+take place till the following July (after the renewal of war), when
+Emmett and some of his accomplices, along with Russell, who stirred up
+sedition in Ulster, paid for their folly with their lives. They
+disavowed any connection with France, but they must have based their
+hope of success on a promised French invasion of our coasts.[248]
+
+The dealings of the French commercial commissioners and the beginnings
+of the Emmett plot increased the tension caused by Napoleon's
+masterful foreign policy; and the result was seen in the King's
+message to Parliament on March 8th, 1803. In view of the military
+preparations and of the wanton defiance of the First Consul's recent
+message to the Corps Legislatif, Ministers asked for the embodiment of
+the militia and the addition of 10,000 seamen to the navy. After
+Napoleon's declaration to our ambassador that France was bringing her
+forces on active service up to 480,000 men, the above-named increase
+of the British forces might well seem a reasonable measure of defence.
+Yet it so aroused the spleen of the First Consul that, at a public
+reception of ambassadors on March 13th, he thus accosted Lord
+Whitworth:
+
+     "'So you are determined to go to war.' 'No, First Consul,' I
+     replied, 'we are too sensible of the advantage of peace.' 'Why,
+     then, these armaments? Against whom these measures of precaution? I
+     have not a single ship of the line in the French ports, but if you
+     wish to arm I will arm also: if you wish to fight, I will fight
+     also. You may perhaps kill France, but will never intimidate her.'
+     'We wish,' said I, 'neither the one nor the other. We wish to live
+     on good terms with her.' 'You must respect treaties then,' replied
+     he; 'woe to those who do not respect treaties. They shall answer
+     for it to all Europe.' He was too agitated to make it advisable to
+     prolong the conversation: I therefore made no answer, and he
+     retired to his apartment, repeating the last phrase."[249]
+
+This curious scene shows Napoleon in one of his weaker petulant moods:
+it left on the embarrassed spectators no impression of outraged
+dignity, but rather of the over-weening self-assertion of an autocrat
+who could push on hostile preparations, and yet flout the ambassador
+of the Power that took reasonable precautions in return. The slight
+offered to our ambassador, though hotly resented in Britain, had no
+direct effect on the negotiations, as the First Consul soon took the
+opportunity of tacitly apologizing for the occurrence; but indirectly
+the matter was infinitely important. By that utterance he nailed his
+colours to the mast with respect to the British evacuation of Malta.
+With his keen insight into the French nature, he knew that "honour" was
+its mainspring, and that his political fortunes rested on the
+satisfaction of that instinct. He could not now draw back without
+affronting the prestige of France and undermining his own position. In
+vain did our Government remind him of his admission that "His Majesty
+should keep a compensation out of his conquests for the important
+acquisitions of territory made by France upon the Continent."[250] That
+promise, although official, was secret. Its violation would, at the
+worst, only offend the officials of Whitehall. Whereas, if he now
+acceded to their demand that Malta should be the compensation, he at
+once committed that worst of all crimes in a French statesman, of
+rendering himself ludicrous. In this respect, then, the scene of March
+13th at the Tuileries was indirectly the cause of the bloodiest war that
+has desolated Europe.
+
+Napoleon now regarded the outbreak of hostilities as probable, if not
+certain. Facts are often more eloquent than diplomatic assurances, and
+such facts are not wanting. On March 6th Decaen's expedition had set
+sail from Brest for the East Indies with no anticipation of immediate
+war. On March 16th a fast brig was sent after him with orders that he
+should return with all speed from Pondicherry to the Mauritius.
+Napoleon's correspondence also shows that, as early as March 11th,
+that is, after hearing of George III.'s message to Parliament, he
+expected the outbreak of hostilities: on that day he ordered the
+formation of flotillas at Dunkirk and Cherbourg, and sent urgent
+messages to the sovereigns of Russia, Prussia, and Spain, inveighing
+against England's perfidy. The envoy despatched to St. Petersburg was
+specially charged to talk to the Czar on philosophic questions, and to
+urge him to free the seas from England's tyranny.
+
+Much as Addington and his colleagues loved peace, they were now
+convinced that it was more hazardous than open war. Malta was the only
+effectual bar to a French seizure of Egypt or an invasion of Turkey from
+the side of Corfu. With Turkey partitioned and Egypt in French hands,
+there would be no security against Napoleon's designs on India. The
+British forces evacuated the Cape of Good Hope on February 21st, 1803;
+they set sail from Alexandria on the 17th of the following month. By the
+former act we yielded up to France the sea route to India--for the Dutch
+at the Cape were but the tools of the First Consul: by the latter we
+left Malta as the sole barrier against a renewed land attack on our
+Eastern possessions. The safety of our East Indian possessions was
+really at stake, and yet Europe was asked to believe that the question
+was whether England would or would not evacuate Malta. This was the
+French statement of the case: it was met by the British plea that
+France, having declared her acceptance of the principle of compensation
+for us, had no cause for objecting to the retention of an island so
+vital to our interests.
+
+Yet, while convinced of the immense importance of Malta, the Addington
+Cabinet did not insist on retaining it, if the French Government would
+"suggest some other _equivalent security_ by which His Majesty's
+object in claiming the permanent possession of Malta may be
+accomplished and the independence of the island secured conformably to
+the spirit of the 10th Article of the Treaty of Amiens."[251] To the
+First Consul was therefore left the initiative in proposing some other
+plan which would safeguard British interests in the Levant; and, with
+this qualifying explanation, the British ambassador was charged to
+present to him the following proposals for a new treaty: Malta to
+remain in British hands, the Knights to be indemnified for any losses
+of property which they may thereby sustain: Holland and Switzerland to
+be evacuated by French troops: the island of Elba to be confirmed to
+France, and the King of Etruria to be acknowledged by Great Britain:
+the Italian and Ligurian Republics also to be acknowledged, if "an
+arrangement is made in Italy for the King of Sardinia, which shall be
+satisfactory to him."
+
+Lord Whitworth judged it better not to present these demands point
+blank, but gradually to reveal their substance. This course, he
+judged, would be less damaging to the friends of peace at the
+Tuileries, and less likely to affront Napoleon. But it was all one and
+the same. The First Consul, in his present state of highly wrought
+tension, practically ignored the suggestion of an _equivalent
+security,_ and declaimed against the perfidy of England for daring to
+infringe the treaty, though he had offered no opposition to the Czar's
+proposals respecting Malta, which weakened the stability of the Order
+and sensibly modified that same treaty.
+
+Talleyrand was more conciliatory; and there is little doubt that, had
+the First Consul allowed his brother Joseph and his Foreign Minister
+wider powers, the crisis might have been peaceably passed. Joseph
+Bonaparte urgently pressed Whitworth to be satisfied with Corfu or
+Crete in place of Malta; but he confessed that the suggestion was
+quite unauthorized, and that the First Consul was so enraged on the
+Maltese Question that he dared not broach it to him.[252] Indeed, all
+through these critical weeks Napoleon's relations to his brothers were
+very strained, they desiring peace in Europe so that Louisiana might
+even now be saved to France, while the First Consul persisted in his
+oriental schemes. He seems now to have concentrated his energies on
+the task of postponing the rupture to a convenient date and of casting
+on his foes the odium of the approaching war. He made no proposal that
+could reassure Britain as to the security of the overland routes; and
+he named no other island which could be considered as an equivalent to
+Malta.
+
+To many persons his position has seemed logically unassailable; but it
+is difficult to see how this view can be held. The Treaty of Amiens
+had twice over been rendered, in a technical sense, null and void by the
+action of Continental Powers. Russia and Prussia had not guaranteed the
+state of things arranged for Malta by that treaty; and the action of
+France and Spain in confiscating the property of the Knights in their
+respective lands had so far sapped the strength of the Order that it
+could never again support the expense of the large garrison which the
+lines around Valetta required.
+
+In a military sense, this was the crux of the problem; for no one
+affected to believe that Malta was rendered secure by the presence at
+Valetta of 2,000 troops of the King of Naples, whose realm could
+within a week be overrun by Murat's division. This obvious difficulty
+led Lord Hawkesbury to urge, in his notes of April 13th and later,
+that British troops should garrison the chief fortifications of
+Valetta and leave the civil power to the Knights: or, if that were
+found objectionable, that we should retain complete possession of the
+island for ten years, provided that we were left free to negotiate
+with the King of Naples for the cession of Lampedusa, an islet to the
+west of Malta. To this last proposal the First Consul offered no
+objection; but he still inflexibly opposed any retention of Malta,
+even for ten years, and sought to make the barren islet of Lampedusa
+appear an equivalent to Malta. This absurd contention had, however,
+been exploded by Talleyrand's indiscreet confession "that the
+re-establishment of the Order of St. John was not so much the point to
+be discussed as that of suffering Great Britain to acquire a
+_possession in the Mediterranean_."[253]
+
+This, indeed, was the pith and marrow of the whole question, whether
+Great Britain was to be excluded from that great sea--save at
+Gibraltar and Lampedusa--looking on idly at its transformation into a
+French lake by the seizure of Corfu, the Morea, Egypt, and Malta
+itself; or whether she should retain some hold on the overland route
+to the East. The difficulty was frankly pointed out by Lord Whitworth;
+it was as frankly admitted by Joseph Bonaparte; it was recognized by
+Talleyrand; and Napoleon's desire for a durable peace must have been
+slight when he refused to admit England's claim effectively to
+safeguard her interests in the Levant, and ever fell back on the
+literal fulfilment of a treaty which had been invalidated by his own
+deliberate actions.
+
+Affairs now rapidly came to a climax. On April 23rd the British
+Government notified its ambassador that, if the present terms were not
+granted within seven days of his receiving them, he was to leave
+Paris. Napoleon was no less angered than surprised by the recent turn
+of events. In place of timid complaisance which he had expected from
+Addington, he was met with open defiance; but he now proposed that the
+Czar should offer his intervention between the disputants. The
+suggestion was infinitely skilful. It flattered the pride of the young
+autocrat and promised to yield gains as substantial as those which
+Russian mediation had a year before procured for France from the
+intimidated Sultan; it would help to check the plans for an
+Anglo-Russian alliance then being mooted at St. Petersburg, and, above
+all, it served to gain time.
+
+All these advantages were to a large extent realized. Though the Czar
+had been the first to suggest our retention of Malta, he now began to
+waver. The clearness and precision of Talleyrand's notes, and the
+telling charge of perfidy against England, made an impression which
+the cumbrous retorts of Lord Hawkesbury and the sailor-like diplomacy
+of Admiral Warren failed to efface.[254] And the Russian Chancellor,
+Vorontzoff, though friendly to England, and desirous of seeing her
+firmly established at Malta, now began to complain of the want of
+clearness in her policy. The Czar emphasized this complaint, and
+suggested that, as Malta could not be the real cause of dispute, the
+British Government should formulate distinctly its grievances and so set
+the matter in train for a settlement. The suggestion was not complied
+with. To draw up a long list of complaints, some drawn from secret
+sources and exposing the First Consul's schemes, would have exasperated
+his already ruffled temper; and the proposal can only be regarded as an
+adroit means of justifying Alexander's sudden change of front.
+
+Meanwhile events had proceeded apace at Paris. On April 26th Joseph
+Bonaparte made a last effort to bend his brother's will, but only
+gained the grudging concession that Napoleon would never consent to
+the British retention of Malta for a longer time than three or four
+years. As this would have enabled him to postpone the rupture long
+enough to mature his oriental plans, it was rejected by Lord
+Whitworth, who insisted on ten years as the minimum. The evident
+determination of the British Government speedily to terminate the
+affair, one way or the other, threw Napoleon into a paroxysm of
+passion; and at the diplomatic reception of May 1st, from which Lord
+Whitworth discreetly absented himself, he vehemently inveighed against
+its conduct. Fretted by the absence of our ambassador, for whom this
+sally had been intended, he returned to St. Cloud, and there dictated
+this curious epistle to Talleyrand:
+
+     "I desire that your conference [with Lord Whitworth] shall not
+     degenerate into a conversation. Show yourself cold, reserved, and
+     even somewhat proud. If the [British] note contains the word
+     _ultimatum_ make him feel that this word implies war; if it does
+     not contain this word, make him insert it, remarking to him that we
+     must know where we are, that we are tired of this state of
+     anxiety.... Soften down a little at the end of the conference, and
+     invite him to return before writing to his Court."
+
+But this careful rehearsal was to avail nothing; our stolid ambassador
+was not to be cajoled, and on May 2nd, that is, seven days after his
+presenting our ultimatum, he sent for his passports. He did not,
+however, set out immediately. Yielding to an urgent request, he
+delayed his departure in order to hear the French reply to the British
+ultimatum.[255] It notified sarcastically that Lampedusa was not in
+the First Consul's power to bestow, that any change with reference to
+Malta must be referred by Great Britain to the Great Powers for their
+concurrence, and that Holland would be evacuated as soon as the terms
+of the Treaty of Amiens were complied with. Another proposal was that
+Malta should be transferred to Russia--the very step which was
+proposed at Amiens and was rejected by the Czar: on that account Lord
+Whitworth now refused it as being merely a device to gain time. The
+sending of his passports having been delayed, he received one more
+despatch from Downing Street, which allowed that our retention of
+Malta for ten years should form a secret article--a device which would
+spare the First Consul's susceptibilities on the point of honour. Even
+so, however, Napoleon refused to consider a longer tenure than two or
+three years. And in this he was undoubtedly encouraged by the recent
+despatch from St. Petersburg, wherein the Czar promised his mediation
+in a sense favourable to France. This unfortunate occurrence completed
+the discomfiture of the peace party at the Consular Court, and in a
+long and heated discussion in a council held at St. Cloud on May 11th
+all but Joseph Bonaparte and Talleyrand voted for the rejection of
+the British demands.
+
+On the next day Lord Whitworth left Paris. During his journey to
+Calais he received one more proposal, that France should hold the
+peninsula of Otranto for ten years if Great Britain retained Malta for
+that period; but if this suggestion was made in good faith, which is
+doubtful, its effect was destroyed by a rambling diatribe which
+Talleyrand, at his master's orders, sent shortly afterwards.[256] In
+any case it was looked upon by our ambassador as a last attempt to gain
+time for the concentration of the French naval forces. He crossed the
+Straits of Dover on May 17th, the day before the British declaration of
+war was issued.
+
+On May 22nd, 1803, appeared at Paris the startling order that, as
+British frigates had captured two French merchantmen on the Breton
+coast, all Englishmen between eighteen and sixty years of age who were
+in France should be detained as prisoners of war. The pretext for this
+unheard-of action, which condemned some 10,000 Britons to prolonged
+detention, was that the two French ships were seized prior to the
+declaration of war. This is false: they were seized on May 18th, that
+is, on the day on which the British Government declared war, three
+days after an embargo had been laid on British vessels in French
+ports, and seven days after the First Consul had directed his envoy at
+Florence to lay an embargo on English ships in the ports of
+Tuscany.[257] It is therefore obvious that Napoleon's barbarous decree
+merely marked his disappointment at the failure of his efforts to gain
+time and to deal the first stroke. How sorely his temper was tried by
+the late events is clear from the recital of the Duchesse d'Abrantes,
+who relates that her husband, when ordered to seize English residents,
+found the First Consul in a fury, his eyes flashing fire; and when
+Junot expressed his reluctance to carry out this decree, Napoleon
+passionately exclaimed: "Do not trust too far to my friendship: as
+soon as I conceive doubt as to yours, mine is gone."
+
+Few persons in England now cherished any doubts as to the First
+Consul's hatred of the nation which stood between him and his oriental
+designs. Ministers alone knew the extent of those plans: but every
+ploughboy could feel the malice of an act which cooped up innocent
+travellers on the flimsiest of pretexts. National ardour, and, alas,
+national hatred were deeply stirred.[258] The Whigs, who had paraded the
+clemency of Napoleon, were at once helpless, and found themselves
+reduced to impotence for wellnigh a generation; and the Tories, who
+seemed the exponents of a national policy, were left in power until the
+stream of democracy, dammed up by war in 1793 and again in 1803,
+asserted its full force in the later movement for reform.
+
+Yet the opinion often expressed by pamphleteers, that the war of 1803
+was undertaken to compel France to abandon her republican principles,
+is devoid of a shred of evidence in its favour. After 1802 there were
+no French republican principles to be combated; they had already been
+jettisoned; and, since Bonaparte had crushed the Jacobins, his
+personal claims were favourably regarded at Whitehall, Addington even
+assuring the French envoy that he would welcome the establishment of
+hereditary succession in the First Consul's family.[259] But while
+Bonaparte's own conduct served to refute the notion that the war of
+1803 was a war of principles, his masterful policy in Europe and the
+Levant convinced every well-informed man that peace was impossible;
+and the rupture was accompanied by acts and insults to the "nation of
+shopkeepers" that could be avenged only by torrents of blood.
+Diatribes against perfidious Albion filled the French Press and
+overflowed into splenetic pamphlets, one of which bade odious England
+tremble under the consciousness of her bad faith and the expectation
+of swift and condign chastisement. Such was the spirit in which these
+nations rushed to arms; and the conflict was scarcely to cease until
+Napoleon was flung out into the solitudes of the southern Atlantic.
+
+The importance of the rupture of the Peace of Amiens will be realized if
+we briefly survey Bonaparte's position after that treaty was signed. He
+had regained for his adopted country a colonial empire and had given
+away not a single French island. France was raised to a position of
+assured strength far preferable to the perilous heights attained later
+on at Tilsit. In Australia there was a prospect that the tricolour would
+wave over areas as great and settlements as prosperous as those of New
+South Wales and the infant town of Sydney. From the Ile de France and
+the Cape of Good Hope as convenient bases of operations, British India
+could easily be assailed; and a Franco-Mahratta alliance promised to
+yield a victory over the troops of the East India Company. In Europe the
+imminent collapse of the Turkish Empire invited a partition, whence
+France might hope to gain Egypt and the Morea. The Ionian Isles were
+ready to accept French annexation; and, if England withdrew her troops
+from Malta, the fate of the weak Order of St. John could scarcely be a
+matter of doubt.
+
+For the fulfilment of these bright hopes one thing alone was needed, a
+policy of peace and naval preparation. As yet Napoleon's navy was
+comparatively weak. In March, 1803, he had only forty-three
+line-of-battle ships, ten of which were on distant stations; but he
+had ordered twenty-three more to be built--ten of them in Holland;
+and, with the harbours of France, Holland, Flanders, and Northern
+Italy at his disposal, he might hope, at the close of 1804, to
+confront the flag of St. George with a superiority of force. That was
+the time which his secret instructions to Decaen marked out for the
+outbreak of the war that would yield to the tricolour a world-wide
+supremacy.
+
+These schemes miscarried owing to the impetuosity of their contriver.
+Hustled out of the arena of European politics, and threatened with
+French supremacy in the other Continents, England forthwith drew the
+sword; and her action, cutting athwart the far-reaching web of the
+Napoleonic intrigues, forced France to forego her oceanic plans, to
+muster her forces on the Straits of Dover, and thereby to yield to the
+English race the supremacy in Louisiana, India, and Australia, leaving
+also the destinies of Egypt to be decided in a later age. Viewed from
+the standpoint of racial expansion, the renewal of war in 1803 is the
+greatest event of the century.
+
+[Since this chapter was printed, articles on the same subject have
+appeared in the "Revue Historique" (March-June, 1901) by M.
+Philippson, which take almost the same view as that here presented. I
+cannot, however, agree with the learned writer that Napoleon wanted
+war. I think he did not, _until his navy was ready_; but it was not in
+him to give way.]
+
+
+     NOTE TO THE FIFTH EDITION
+
+     M. Coquelle, in a work which has been translated into English by
+     Mr. Gordon D. Knox (G. Bell and Sons, Ltd.), has shown clearly that
+     the non-evacuation of Holland by Napoleon's troops and the
+     subjection of that Republic to French influence formed the chief
+     causes of war. I refer my readers to that work for details of the
+     negotiations in their final stages.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+EUROPE AND THE BONAPARTES
+
+
+The disappointment felt by Napoleon at England's interruption of his
+designs may be measured, first by his efforts to postpone the rupture,
+and thereafter by the fierce energy which he threw into the war. As
+has been previously noted, the Czar had responded to the First
+Consul's appeal for mediation in notes which seemed to the British
+Cabinet unjustly favourable to the French case. Napoleon now offered
+to recognize the arbitration of the Czar on the questions in dispute,
+and suggested that meanwhile Malta should be handed over to Russia to
+be held in pledge: he on his part offered to evacuate Hanover,
+Switzerland, and Holland, if the British would suspend hostilities, to
+grant an indemnity to the King of Sardinia, to allow Britain to occupy
+Lampedusa, and fully to assure "the independence of Europe," if France
+retained her present frontiers. But when the Russian envoy, Markoff,
+urged him to crown these proposals by allowing Britain to hold Malta
+for a certain time, thereafter to be agreed upon, he firmly refused to
+do so on his own initiative, for that would soil his honour: but he
+would view with resignation its cession to Britain if that proved to
+be the award of Alexander. Accordingly Markoff wrote to his colleague
+at London, assuring him that the peace of the world was now once again
+assured by the noble action of the First Consul.[260]
+
+Were these proposals prompted by a sincere desire to assure a lasting
+peace, or were they put forward as a device to gain time for the
+completion of the French naval preparations? Evidently they were
+completely distrusted by the British Government, and with some reason.
+They were nearly identical with the terms formulated in the British
+ultimatum, which Napoleon had rejected. Moreover, our Foreign Office
+had by this time come to suspect Alexander. On June 23rd Lord
+Hawkesbury wrote that it might be most damaging to British interests
+to place Malta "at the hazard of the Czar's arbitration"; and he
+informed the Russian ambassador, Count Vorontzoff, that the aim of the
+French had obviously been merely to gain time, that their explanations
+were loose and unsatisfactory, and their demands inadmissible, and
+that Great Britain could not acknowledge the present territories of
+the French Republic as permanent while Malta was placed in
+arbitration. In fact, our Government feared that, when Malta had been
+placed in Alexander's hands, Napoleon would lure him into oriental
+adventures and renew the plans of an advance on India. Their fears
+were well founded.
+
+Napoleon's preoccupation was always for the East: on February 21st,
+1803, he had charged his Minister of Marine to send arms and
+ammunition to the Suliotes and Maniotes then revolting against the
+Sultan; and at midsummer French agents were at Ragusa to prepare for a
+landing at the mouth of the River Cattaro.[261] With Turkey rent by
+revolt, Malta placed as a pledge in Russian keeping, and Alexander
+drawn into the current of Napoleon's designs, what might not be
+accomplished? Evidently the First Consul could expect more from this
+course of events than from barren strifes with Nelson's ships in the
+Straits of Dover. For _us_, such a peace was far more risky than war.
+And yet, if the Czar's offer were too stiffly repelled, public opinion
+would everywhere be alienated, and in that has always lain half the
+strength of England's policy.[262] Ministers therefore declared that,
+while they could not accept Russia's arbitration without appeal, they
+would accede to her mediation if it concerned all the causes of the
+present war. This reasonable proposal was accepted by the Czar, but
+received from Napoleon a firm refusal. He at once wrote to Talleyrand,
+August 23rd, 1803, directing that the Russian proposals should be made
+known to Haugwitz, the Prussian Foreign Minister:
+
+     "Make him see all the absurdity of it: tell him that England will
+     never get from me any other treaty than that of Amiens: that _I
+     will never suffer her to have anything in the Mediterranean_; that
+     I will not treat with her about the Continent; that I am resolved
+     to evacuate Holland and Switzerland; but that I will never
+     stipulate this in an article."
+
+As for Russia, he continued, she talked much about the integrity of
+Turkey, but was violating it by the occupation of the Ionian Isles and
+her constant intrigues in Wallachia. These facts were correct: but the
+manner in which he stated them clearly revealed his annoyance that the
+Czar would not wholly espouse the French cause. Talleyrand's views on
+this question may be seen in his letter to Bonaparte, when he assures
+his chief that he has now reaped from his noble advance to the Russian
+Emperor the sole possible advantage--"that of proving to Europe by a
+grand act of frankness your love of peace and to throw upon England
+the whole blame for the war." It is not often that a diplomatist so
+clearly reveals the secrets of his chief's policy.[263]
+
+The motives of Alexander were less questionable. His chief desire at
+that time was to improve the lot of his people. War would disarrange
+these noble designs: France would inevitably overrun the weaker
+Continental States: England would retaliate by enforcing her severe
+maritime code; and the whole world would be rent in twain by this
+strife of the elements.
+
+
+These gloomy forebodings were soon to be realized. Holland was the
+first to suffer. And yet one effort was made to spare her the horrors
+of war. Filled with commiseration for her past sufferings, the British
+Government at once offered to respect her neutrality, provided that
+the French troops would evacuate her fortresses and exact no succour
+either in ships, men, or money.[264] But such forbearance was scarcely
+to be expected from Napoleon, who not only had a French division in
+that land, supported at its expense, but also relied on its maritime
+resources.[265] The proposal was at once set aside at Paris.
+Napoleon's decision to drag the Batavian Republic into the war arose,
+however, from no spasm of the war fever; it was calmly stated in the
+secret instructions issued to General Decaen in the preceding January.
+"It is now considered impossible that we could have war with England,
+without dragging Holland into it." Holland was accordingly once more
+ground between the upper and the nether millstone, between the Sea
+Power and the Land Power, pouring out for Napoleon its resources in
+men and money, and losing to the masters of the sea its ships, foreign
+commerce, and colonies.
+
+Equally hard was the treatment of Naples. In spite of the Czar's plea
+that its neutrality might be respected, this kingdom was at once
+occupied by St. Cyr with troops that held the chief positions on the
+"heel" of Italy. This infraction of the Treaty of Florence was to be
+justified by a proclamation asserting that, as England had retained
+Malta, the balance of power required that France should hold these
+positions as long as England held Malta.[266] This action punished the
+King and Queen of Naples for their supposed subservience to English
+policy; and, while lightening the burdens of the French exchequer, it
+compelled England to keep a large fleet in the Mediterranean for the
+protection of Egypt, and thereby weakened her defensive powers in the
+Straits of Dover. To distract his foes, and compel them to extend
+their lines, was ever Napoleon's aim both in military and naval
+strategy; and the occupation of Taranto, together with the naval
+activity at Toulon and Genoa, left it doubtful whether the great
+captain determined to strike at London or to resume his eastern
+adventures. His previous moves all seemed to point towards Egypt and
+India; and the Admiralty instructions of May 18th, 1803, to Nelson,
+reveal the expectation of our Government that the real blow would fall
+on the Morea and Egypt. Six weeks later our admiral reported the
+activity of French intrigues in the Morea, which was doubtless
+intended to be their halfway house to Egypt--"when sooner or later,
+farewell India."[267] Proofs of Napoleon's designs on the Morea were
+found by Captain Keats of H.M.S. "Superb" on a French vessel that he
+captured, a French corporal having on him a secret letter from an
+agent at Corfu, dated May 23rd, 1803. It ended thus:
+
+     "I have every reason to believe that we shall soon have a
+     revolution in the Morea, as we desire. I have close relations with
+     Crepacchi, and we are in daily correspondence with all the chiefs
+     of the Morea: we have even provided them with munitions of
+     war."[268]
+
+On the whole, however, it seems probable that Napoleon's chief aim now
+was London and not Egypt; but his demonstrations eastwards were so
+skilfully maintained as to convince both the English Government and
+Nelson that his real aim was Egypt or Malta. For this project the
+French _corps d'armee_ in the "heel" of Italy held a commanding
+position. Ships alone were wanting; and these he sought to compel the
+King of Naples to furnish. As early as April 20th, 1803, our _charge
+d'affaires_ at Naples, Mr. a Court, reported that Napoleon was pressing
+on that Government a French alliance, on the ground that:
+
+     "The interests of the two countries are the same: it is the
+     intention of France to shut every port to the English, from Holland
+     to the Turkish dominions, to prevent the exportation of her
+     merchandise, and to give a mortal blow to her commerce, for there
+     she is most vulnerable. Our joint forces may wrest from her hands
+     the island of Malta. The Sicilian navy may convoy and protect the
+     French troops in the prosecution of such a plan, and the most happy
+     result may be augured to their united exertions."
+
+Possibly the King and his spirited but whimsical consort, Queen
+Charlotte, might have bent before the threats which accompanied this
+alluring offer; but at the head of the Neapolitan administration was
+an Englishman, General Acton, whose talents and force of will
+commanded their respect and confidence. To the threats of the French
+ambassador he answered that France was strong and Naples was weak;
+force might overthrow the dynasty; but nothing would induce it to
+violate its neutrality towards England. So unwonted a defiance aroused
+Napoleon to a characteristic revenge. When his troops were quartered
+on Southern Italy, and were draining the Neapolitan resources, the
+Queen wrote appealing to his clemency on behalf of her much burdened
+people. In reply he assured her of his desire to be agreeable to her:
+but how could he look on Naples as a neutral State, when its chief
+Minister was an Englishman? This was "the real reason that justified
+all the measures taken towards Naples."[269] The brutality and
+falseness of this reply had no other effect than to embitter Queen
+Charlotte's hatred against the arbiter of the world's destinies,
+before whom she and her consort refused to bow, even when, three years
+later, they were forced to seek shelter behind the girdle of the
+inviolate sea.
+
+
+
+Hanover also fell into Napoleon's hands. Mortier with 25,000 French
+troops speedily overran that land and compelled the Duke of Cambridge
+to a capitulation. The occupation of the Electorate not only relieved
+the French exchequer of the support of a considerable corps; it also
+served to hold in check the Prussian Court, always preoccupied about
+Hanover; and it barred the entrance of the Elbe and Weser to British
+ships, an aim long cherished by Napoleon. To this we retorted by
+blockading the mouths of those rivers, an act which must have been
+expected by Napoleon, and which enabled him to declaim against British
+maritime tyranny. In truth, the beginnings of the Continental System
+were now clearly discernible. The shores of the Continent from the
+south of Italy to the mouth of the Elbe were practically closed to
+English ships, while by a decree of July 15th _any vessel whatsoever_
+that had cleared from a British port was to be excluded from all
+harbours of the French Republic. Thus all commercial nations were
+compelled, slowly but inevitably, to side with the master of the land
+or the mistress of the seas.
+
+In vain did the King of Prussia represent to Napoleon that Hanover was
+not British territory, and that the neutrality of Germany was
+infringed and its interests damaged by the French occupation of
+Hanover and Cuxhaven. His protest was met by an offer from Napoleon to
+evacuate Hanover, Taranto and Otranto, only at the time when England
+should "evacuate Malta and the Mediterranean"; and though the special
+Prussian envoy, Lombard, reported to his master that Napoleon was
+"truth, loyalty, and friendship personified," yet he received not a
+word that betokened real regard for the susceptibilities of Frederick
+William III. or the commerce of his people.[270] For the present,
+neither King nor Czar ventured on further remonstrances; but the First
+Consul had sown seeds of discord which were to bear fruit in the Third
+Coalition.
+
+Having quartered 60,000 French troops on Naples and Hanover, Napoleon
+could face with equanimity the costs of the war. Gigantic as they were,
+they could be met from the purchase money of Louisiana, the taxation and
+voluntary gifts of the French dominions, the subsidies of the Italian
+and Ligurian Republics, and a contribution which he now exacted from
+Spain.
+
+Even before the outbreak of hostilities he had significantly reminded
+Charles IV. that the Spanish marine was deteriorating, and her
+arsenals and dockyards were idle: "But England is not asleep; she is
+ever on the watch and will never rest until she has seized on the
+colonies and commerce of the world."[271] For the present, however,
+the loss of Trinidad and the sale of Louisiana rankled too deeply to
+admit of Spain entering into another conflict, whence, as before,
+Napoleon would doubtless gain the glory and leave to her the burden of
+territorial sacrifices. In spite of his shameless relations to the
+Queen of Spain, Godoy, the Spanish Minister, was not devoid of
+patriotism; and he strove to evade the obligations which the treaty of
+1796 imposed on Spain in case of an Anglo-French conflict. He embodied
+the militia of the north of Spain and doubtless would have defied
+Bonaparte's demands, had Russia and Prussia shown any disposition to
+resist French aggressions. But those Powers were as yet wholly devoted
+to private interests; and when Napoleon threatened Charles IV. and
+Godoy with an inroad of 80,000 French troops unless the Spanish
+militia were dissolved and 72,000,000 francs were paid every year into
+the French exchequer, the Court of Madrid speedily gave way. Its
+surrender was further assured by the thinly veiled threat that further
+resistance would lead to the exposure of the _liaison_ between Godoy
+and the Queen. Spain therefore engaged to pay the required sum--more
+than double the amount stipulated in 1796--to further the interests of
+French commerce and to bring pressure to bear on Portugal. At
+the close of the year the Court of Lisbon, yielding to the threats
+of France and Spain, consented to purchase its neutrality by
+the payment of a million francs a month to the master of the
+Continent.[272]
+
+Meanwhile the First Consul was throwing his untiring energies into the
+enterprise of crushing his redoubtable foe. He pushed on the naval
+preparations at all the dockyards of France, Holland, and North Italy;
+the great mole that was to shelter the roadstead at Cherbourg was
+hurried forward, and the coast from the Seine to the Rhine became "a
+coast of iron and bronze"--to use Marmont's picturesque phrase--while
+every harbour swarmed with small craft destined for an invasion.
+Troops were withdrawn from the Rhenish frontiers and encamped along
+the shores of Picardy; others were stationed in reserve at St. Omer,
+Montreuil, Bruges, and Utrecht; while smaller camps were formed at
+Ghent, Compiegne, and St. Malo. The banks of the Elbe, Weser, Scheldt,
+Somme, and Seine--even as far up as Paris itself--rang with the blows
+of shipwrights labouring to strengthen the flotilla of flat-bottomed
+vessels designed for the invasion of England. Troops, to the number of
+50,000 at Boulogne under Soult, 30,000 at Etaples, and as many at
+Bruges, commanded by Ney and Davoust respectively, were organized
+anew, and by constant drill and exposure to the elements formed the
+tough nucleus of the future Grand Army, before which the choicest
+troops of Czar and Kaiser were to be scattered in headlong rout. To
+all these many-sided exertions of organization and drill, of improving
+harbours and coast fortifications, of ship-building, testing,
+embarking, and disembarking, the First Consul now and again applied
+the spur of his personal supervision; for while the warlike enthusiasm
+which he had aroused against perfidious Albion of itself achieved
+wonders, yet work was never so strenuous and exploits so daring as
+under the eyes of the great captain himself. He therefore paid
+frequent visits to the north coast, surveying with critical eyes the
+works at Boulogne, Calais, Dunkirk,
+
+
+Ostend, and Antwerp. The last-named port engaged his special
+attention. Its position at the head of the navigable estuary of the
+Scheldt, exactly opposite the Thames, marked it out as the natural
+rival of London; he now encouraged its commerce and ordered the
+construction of a dockyard fitted to contain twenty-five battleships
+and a proportionate number of frigates and sloops. Antwerp was to
+become the great commercial and naval emporium of the North Sea. The
+time seemed to favour the design; Hamburg and Bremen were blockaded,
+and London for a space was menaced by the growing power of the First
+Consul, who seemed destined to restore to the Flemish port the
+prosperity which the savagery of Alva had swept away with such profit
+to Elizabethan London. But grand as were Napoleon's enterprises at
+Antwerp, they fell far short of his ulterior designs. He told Las
+Cases at St. Helena that the dockyard and magazines were to have been
+protected by a gigantic fortress built on the opposite side of the
+River Scheldt, and that Antwerp was to have been "a loaded pistol held
+at the head of England."
+
+In both lands warlike ardour rose to the highest pitch. French towns
+and Departments freely offered gifts of gunboats and battleships. And
+in England public men vied with one another in their eagerness to
+equip and maintain volunteer regiments. Wordsworth, who had formerly
+sung the praises of the French Revolution, thus voiced the national
+defiance:
+
+  "No parleying now! In Britain is one breath;
+  We all are with you now from shore to shore;
+  Ye men of Kent, 'tis victory or death."
+
+In one respect England enjoyed a notable advantage. Having declared
+war before Napoleon's plans were matured, she held the command of the
+seas, even against the naval resources of France, Holland, and North
+Italy. The first months of the war witnessed the surrender of St.
+Lucia and Tobago to our fleets; and before the close of the year
+Berbice, Demerara, Essequibo, together with < nearly the whole of the
+French St. Domingo force, had capitulated to the Union Jack. Our naval
+supremacy in the Channel now told with full effect. Frigates were ever
+on the watch in the Straits to chase any French vessels that left
+port. But our chief efforts were to blockade the enemy's ships.
+Despite constant ill-health and frequent gales, Nelson clung to
+Toulon. Admiral Cornwallis cruised off Brest with a fleet generally
+exceeding fifteen sail of the line and several smaller vessels: six
+frigates and smaller craft protected the coast of Ireland; six
+line-of-battle ships and twenty-three lesser vessels were kept in the
+Downs under Lord Keith as a central reserve force, to which the news
+of all events transpiring on the enemy's coast was speedily conveyed
+by despatch boats; the newly invented semaphore telegraphs were also
+systematically used between the Isle of Wight and Deal to convey news
+along the coast and to London. Martello towers were erected along the
+coast from Harwich to Pevensey Bay, at the points where a landing was
+easy. Numerous inventors also came forward with plans for destroying
+the French flotilla, but none was found to be serviceable except the
+rockets of Colonel Congreve, which inflicted some damage at Boulogne
+and elsewhere. Such were the dispositions of our chief naval forces:
+they comprised 469 ships of war, and over 700 armed boats, of all
+sizes.[273]
+
+Our regular troops and militia mustered 180,000 strong; while the
+volunteers, including 120,000 men armed with pikes or similar weapons,
+numbered 410,000. Of course little could be hoped from these last in a
+conflict with French veterans; and even the regulars, in the absence
+of any great generals--for Wellesley was then in India--might have
+offered but a poor resistance to Napoleon's military machine.
+Preparations were, however, made for a desperate resistance. Plans
+were quietly framed for the transfer of the Queen and the royal family
+to Worcester, along with the public treasure, which was to be lodged
+in the cathedral; while the artillery and stores from Woolwich arsenal
+were to be conveyed into the Midlands by the Grand Junction
+Canal.[274]
+
+The scheme of coast-defence which General Dundas had drawn up in 1796
+was now again set in action. It included, not only the disposition of
+the armed forces, but plans for the systematic removal of all
+provisions, stores, animals, and fodder from the districts threatened
+by the invader; and it is clear that the country was far better
+prepared than French writers have been willing to admit. Indeed, so
+great was the expense of these defensive preparations that, when
+Nelson's return from the West Indies disconcerted the enemy's plans,
+Fox merged the statesman in the partisan by the curious assertion that
+the invasion scare had been got up by the Pitt Ministry for party
+purposes.[275] Few persons shared that opinion. The nation was
+animated by a patriotism such as had never yet stirred the sluggish
+veins of Georgian England. The Jacobinism, which Dundas in 1796 had
+lamented as paralyzing the nation's energy, had wholly vanished; and
+the fatality which dogged the steps of Napoleon was already
+discernible. The mingled hatred and fear which he inspired outside
+France was beginning to solidify the national resistance: after
+uniting rich and poor, English and Scots in a firm phalanx in the
+United Kingdom, the national principle was in turn to vivify Spain,
+Russia, and Germany, and thus to assure his overthrow.
+
+Reserving for consideration in another chapter the later developments
+of the naval war, it will be convenient now to turn to important
+events in the history of the Bonaparte family.
+
+The loves and intrigues of the Bonapartes have furnished material enough
+to fill several volumes devoted to light gossip, and naturally so. Given
+an ambitious family, styled _parvenus_ by the ungenerous, shooting aloft
+swiftly as the flames of Vesuvius, ardent as its inner fires, and
+stubborn as its hardened lava--given also an imperious brother
+determined to marry his younger brothers and sisters, not as they
+willed, but as he willed--and it is clear that materials are at hand
+sufficient to make the fortunes of a dozen comediettas.
+
+To the marriage of Pauline Bonaparte only the briefest reference need
+here be made. The wild humour of her blood showed itself before her
+first marriage; and after the death of her husband, General Leclerc,
+in San Domingo, she privately espoused Prince Borghese before the
+legal time of mourning had expired, an indiscretion which much annoyed
+Napoleon (August, 1803). Ultimately this brilliant, frivolous creature
+resided in the splendid mansion which now forms the British embassy in
+Paris. The case of Louis Bonaparte was somewhat different. Nurtured as
+he had been in his early years by Napoleon, he had rewarded him by
+contracting a dutiful match with Hortense Beauharnais (January, 1802);
+but that union was to be marred by a grotesquely horrible jealousy
+which the young husband soon conceived for his powerful brother.
+
+For the present, however, the chief trouble was caused by Lucien,
+whose address had saved matters at the few critical minutes of
+Brumaire. Gifted with a strong vein of literary feeling and oratorical
+fire he united in his person the obstinacy of a Bonaparte, the
+headstrong feelings of a poet, and the dogmatism of a Corsican
+republican. His presumptuous conduct had already embroiled him with
+the First Consul, who deprived him of his Ministry and sent him as
+ambassador to Madrid.[276] He further sinned, first by hurrying on
+peace with Portugal--it is said for a handsome present from
+Lisbon--and later by refusing to marry the widow of the King of
+Etruria. In this he persisted, despite the urgent representations of
+Napoleon and Joseph: "You know very well that I am a republican, and
+that a queen is not what suits me, an ugly queen too!"--" What a pity
+your answer was not cut short, it would have been quite Roman," sneered
+Joseph at his younger brother, once the Brutus of the Jacobin clubs. But
+Lucien was proof against all the splendours of the royal match; he was
+madly in love with a Madame Jouberthon, the deserted wife of a Paris
+stockbroker; and in order to checkmate all Napoleon's attempts to force
+on a hated union, he had secretly married the lady of his choice at the
+village of Plessis-Chamant, hard by his country house (October 26th,
+1803).
+
+The letter which divulged the news of this affair reached the First
+Consul at St. Cloud on an interesting occasion.[277] It was during a
+so-called family concert, to which only the choicest spirits had been
+invited, whence also, to Josephine's chagrin, Napoleon had excluded
+Madame Tallien and several other old friends, whose reputation would
+have tainted the air of religion and morality now pervading the
+Consular Court. While this select company was enjoying the strains of
+the chamber music, and Napoleon alone was dozing, Lucien's missive was
+handed in by the faithful if indiscreet Duroc. A change came over the
+scene. At once Napoleon started up, called out "Stop the music: stop,"
+and began with nervous strides and agitated gestures to pace the hall,
+exclaiming "Treason! it is treason!" Round-eyed, open-mouthed
+wonder seized on the disconcerted musicians, the company rose in
+confusion, and Josephine, following her spouse, besought him to say
+what had happened. "What has happened--why--Lucien has married
+his--mistress."[278]
+
+The secret cause for this climax of fashionable comedy is to be sought
+in reasons of state. The establishment of hereditary power was then
+being secretly and anxiously discussed. Napoleon had no heirs: Joseph's
+children were girls: Lucien's first marriage also had naught but female
+issue: the succession must therefore devolve on Lucien's children by a
+second marriage. But a natural son had already been born to him by
+Madame Jouberthon; and his marriage now promised to make this bastard
+the heir to the future French imperial throne. That was the reason why
+Napoleon paced the hall at St. Cloud, "waving his arms like a
+semaphore," and exclaiming "treason!" Failing the birth of sons to the
+two elder brothers, Lucien's marriage seriously endangered the
+foundation of a Napoleonic dynasty; besides, the whole affair would
+yield excellent sport to the royalists of the Boulevard St. Germain, the
+snarling Jacobins of the back streets, and the newspaper writers of
+hated Albion.
+
+In vain were negotiations set on foot to make Lucien divorce his
+wife. The attempt only produced exasperation, Joseph himself finally
+accusing Napoleon of bad faith in the course of this affair. In the
+following springtime Lucien shook off the dust of France from his
+feet, and declared in a last letter to Joseph that he departed, hating
+Napoleon. The moral to this curious story was well pointed by Joseph
+Bonaparte: "Destiny seems to blind us, and intends, by means of our
+own faults, to restore France some day to her former rulers." [279]
+
+At the very time of the scene at St. Cloud, fortune was preparing for
+the First Consul another matrimonial trouble. His youngest brother,
+Jerome, then aged nineteen years, had shown much aptitude for the
+French navy, and was serving on the American station, when a quarrel
+with the admiral sent him flying in disgust to the shore. There, at
+Baltimore, he fell in love with Miss Paterson, the daughter of a
+well-to-do merchant, and sought her hand in marriage. In vain did the
+French consul remind him that, were he five years older, he would
+still need the consent of his mother. The headstrong nature of his
+race brooked no opposition, and he secretly espoused the young lady at
+her father's residence.
+
+
+Napoleon's ire fell like a blasting wind on the young couple; but
+after waiting some time, in hopes that the storm would blow over, they
+ventured to come to Europe. Thereupon Napoleon wrote to Madame Mere in
+these terms:
+
+     "Jerome has arrived at Lisbon with the woman with whom he lives....
+     I have given orders that Miss Paterson is to be sent back to
+     America.... If he shows no inclination to wash away the dishonour
+     with which he has stained my name, by forsaking his country's flag
+     on land and sea for the sake of a wretched woman, I will cast him
+     off for ever."[280]
+
+The sequel will show that Jerome was made of softer stuff than Lucien;
+and, strange to say, his compliance with Napoleon's dynastic designs
+provided that family with the only legitimate male heirs that were
+destined to sustain its wavering hopes to the end of the century.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX
+
+THE ROYALIST PLOT
+
+
+From domestic comedy, France turned rapidly in the early months of
+1804 to a sombre tragedy--the tragedy of the Georges Cadoudal plot and
+the execution of the Duc d'Enghien.
+
+There were varied reasons why the exiled French Bourbons should
+compass the overthrow of Napoleon. Every month that they delayed
+action lessened their chances of success. They had long clung to the
+hope that his Concordat with the Pope and other anti-revolutionary
+measures betokened his intention to recall their dynasty. But in
+February, 1803, the Comte de Provence received overtures which showed
+that Bonaparte had never thought of playing the part of General Monk.
+The exiled prince, then residing at Warsaw, was courteously but most
+firmly urged by the First Consul to renounce both for himself and for
+the other members of his House all claims to the throne of France, in
+return for which he would receive a pension of two million francs a
+year. The notion of sinking to the level of a pensionary of the French
+Republic touched Bourbon pride to the quick and provoked this spirited
+reply:
+
+     "As a descendant of St. Louis, I shall endeavour to imitate his
+     example by respecting myself even in captivity. As successor to
+     Francis I., I shall at least aspire to say with him: 'We have lost
+     everything but our honour."'
+
+To this declaration the Comte d'Artois, his son, the Duc de Berri,
+Louis Philippe of Orleans, his two sons, and the two Condes gave their
+ardent assent; and the same loyal response came from the young Conde,
+the Duc d'Enghien, dated Ettenheim, March 22nd, 1803. Little did men
+think when they read this last defiance to Napoleon that within a year
+its author would be flung into a grave in the moat of the Castle of
+Vincennes.
+
+Scarcely had the echoes of the Bourbon retorts died away than the
+outbreak of war between England and France raised the hopes of the
+French royalist exiles in London; and their nimble fancy pictured the
+French army and nation as ready to fling themselves at the feet of
+Louis XVIII. The future monarch did not share these illusions. In the
+chilly solitudes of Warsaw he discerned matters in their true light,
+and prepared to wait until the vaulting ambition of Napoleon should
+league Europe against him. Indeed, when the plans of the forward wing
+in London were explained to him, with a view of enlisting his support,
+he deftly waved aside the embarrassing overtures by quoting the lines:
+
+                               "Et pour etre approuves
+  De semblables projets veulent etre acheves,"
+
+a cautious reply which led his brother, then at Edinburgh, scornfully
+to contemn his _feebleness_ as unworthy of any further confidences.[281]
+In truth, the Comte d'Artois, destined one day to be Charles X. of
+France, was not fashioned by nature for a Fabian policy of delay: not
+even the misfortunes of exile could instill into the watertight
+compartments of his brain the most elementary notions of prudence.
+Daring, however, attracts daring; and this prince had gathered around
+him in our land the most desperate of the French royalists, whose hopes,
+hatreds, schemes, and unending requests for British money may be scanned
+by the curious in some thirty large volumes of letters bequeathed by
+their factotum the Comte de Puisaye, to the British Museum.
+Unfortunately this correspondence throws little light on the details of
+the plot which is fitly called by the name of Georges Cadoudal.
+
+This daring Breton was, in fact, the only man of action on whom the
+Bourbon princes could firmly rely for an enterprise that demanded a
+cool head, cunning in the choice of means, and a remorseless hand.
+Pichegru it is true, lived near London, but saw little of the
+_emigres_, except the venerable Conde. Dumouriez also was in the great
+city, but his name was too generally scorned in France for his
+treachery in 1793 to warrant his being used. But there were plenty of
+swashbucklers who could prepare the ground in France, or, if fortune
+favoured, might strike the blow themselves; and a small committee of
+French royalists, which had the support of that furious royalist, Mr.
+Windham, M.P., began even before the close of 1802 to discuss plans
+for the "removal" of Bonaparte. Two of their tools, Picot and Le
+Bourgeois by name, plunged blindly into a plot, and were arrested soon
+after they set foot in France. Their boyish credulity seems to have
+suggested to the French authorities the sending of an agent so as to
+entrap not only French _emigres_, but also English officials and
+Jacobinical generals.
+
+The _agent provocateur_ has at all times been a favourite tool of
+continental Governments: but rarely has a more finished specimen of
+the class been seen than Mehee de la Touche. After plying the trade of
+an assassin in the September massacres of 1792, and of a Jacobin spy
+during the Terror, he had been included by Bonaparte among the Jacobin
+scapegoats who expiated the Chouan outrage of Nivose. Pining in the
+weariness of exile, he heard from his wife that he might be pardoned
+if he would perform some service for the Consular Government. At once
+he consented, and it was agreed that he should feign royalism, should
+worm himself into the secrets of the _emigres_ at London, and act as
+intermediary between them and the discontented republicans of Paris.
+
+The man who seems to have planned this scheme was the ex-Minister of
+Police. Fouche had lately been deprived by Bonaparte of the
+inquisitorial powers which he so unscrupulously used. His duties were
+divided between Regnier, the Grand Judge and Minister of Justice, and
+Real, a Councillor of State, who watched over the internal security of
+France. These men had none of the ability of Fouche, nor did they know
+at the outset what Mehee was doing in London. It may, therefore, be
+assumed that Mehee was one of Fouche's creatures, whom he used to
+discredit his successor, and that Bonaparte welcomed this means of
+quickening the zeal of the official police, while he also wove his
+meshes round plotting _emigres_, English officials, and French
+generals.[282]
+
+Among these last there was almost chronic discontent, and Bonaparte
+claimed to have found out a plot whereby twelve of them should divide
+France into as many portions, leaving to him only Paris and its
+environs. If so, he never made any use of his discovery. In fact, out
+of this group of malcontents, Moreau, Bernadotte, Augereau, Macdonald,
+and others, he feared only the hostility of the first. The victor of
+Hohenlinden lived in sullen privacy near to Paris, refusing to present
+himself at the Consular Court, and showing his contempt for those who
+donned a courtier's uniform. He openly mocked at the Concordat; and
+when the Legion of Honour was instituted, he bestowed a collar of
+honour upon his dog. So keen was Napoleon's resentment at this
+raillery that he even proposed to send him a challenge to a duel in
+the Bois de Boulogne.[283] The challenge, of course, was not sent; a
+show of reconciliation was assumed between the two warriors; but
+Napoleon retained a covert dislike of the man whose brusque
+republicanism was applauded by a large portion of the army and by the
+_frondeurs_ of Paris.
+
+The ruin of Moreau, and the confusion alike of French royalists and
+of the British Ministry, could now be assured by the encouragement of
+a Jacobin-Royalist conspiracy, in which English officials should be
+implicated. Moreau was notoriously incapable in the sphere of
+political intrigue: the royalist coteries in London presented just the
+material on which the _agent provocateur_ delights to work; and some
+British officials could, doubtless, with equal ease be drawn into the
+toils. Mehee de la Touche has left a highly spiced account of his
+adventures; but it must, of course, be received with distrust.[284]
+
+Proceeding first to Guernsey, he gained the confidence of the
+Governor, General Doyle; and, fortified by recommendations from him,
+he presented himself to the _emigres_ at London, and had an interview
+with Lord Hawkesbury and the Under-Secretaries of State, Messrs.
+Hammond and Yorke. He found it easy to inflame the imagination of the
+French exiles, who clutched at the proposed union between the
+irreconcilables, the extreme royalists, and the extreme republicans;
+and it was forthwith arranged that Napoleon's power, which rested on
+the support of the peasants, in fact of the body of France, should be
+crushed by an enveloping move of the tips of the wings.
+
+Mehee's narrative contains few details and dates, such as enable one
+to test his assertions. But I have examined the Puisaye Papers,[285]
+and also the Foreign and Home Office archives, and have found proofs
+of the complicity of our Government, which it will be well to present
+here connectedly. Taken singly they are inconclusive, but collectively
+their importance is considerable. In our Foreign Office Records
+(France, No 70) there is a letter, dated London, August 30th, 1803,
+from the Baron de Roll, the factotum of the exiled Bourbons, to Mr.
+Hammond, our Permanent Under-Secretary at the Foreign Office, asking
+him to call on the Comte d'Artois at his residence, No. 46, Baker
+Street. That the deliberations at that house were not wholly peaceful
+appears from a long secret memorandum of October 24th, 1803, in which
+the Comte d'Artois reviews the career of "that _miserable adventurer_"
+(Bonaparte), so as to prove that his present position is precarious
+and tottering. He concludes by naming those who desired his
+overthrow--Moreau, Reynier, Bernadotte, Simon, Massena, Lannes, and
+Ferino: Sieyes, Carnot, Chenier, Fouche, Barras, Tallien, Rewbel,
+Lamarque, and Jean de Bry. Others would not attack him "corps a
+corps," but disliked his supremacy. These two papers prove that our
+Government was aware of the Bourbon plot. Another document, dated
+London, November 18th, 1803, proves its active complicity. It is a
+list of the French royalist officers "who had set out or were ready to
+set out." All were in our pay, two at six shillings, five at four
+shillings, and nine at two shillings a day. It would be indelicate to
+reveal the names, but among them occurs that of Joachim P.J. Cadoudal.
+The list is drawn up and signed by Frieding--a name that was
+frequently used by Pichegru as an _alias_. In his handwriting also is
+a list of "royalist officers for whom I demand a year's pay in
+advance"--five generals, thirteen _chefs de legion_, seventeen _chefs
+de bataillon_, and nineteen captains. The pay claimed amounts to
+L3,110 15_s._[286] That some, at least, of our Admiralty officials
+also aided Cadoudal is proved by a "most secret" letter, dated
+Admiralty Office, July 31st, 1803, from E. N[epean] to Admiral Montagu
+in the Downs, charging him to help the bearer, Captain Wright, in the
+execution of "a very important service," and to provide for him "one
+of the best of the hired cutters or luggers under your orders."
+Another "most secret" Admiralty letter, of January 9th, 1804, orders a
+frigate or large sloop to be got ready to convey secretly "an officer
+of rank and consideration" (probably Pichegru) to the French coast.
+Wright carried over the conspirators in several parties, until chance
+threw him into Napoleon's power and consigned him to an ignominious
+death, probably suicide.
+
+Finally, there is the letter of Mr. Arbuthnot, Parliamentary Secretary
+at the Foreign Office (dated March 12th, 1804), to Sir Arthur Paget,
+in which he refers to the "sad result of all our fine projects for the
+re-establishment of the Bourbons: ... we are, of course, greatly
+apprehensive for poor Moreau's safety."[287]
+
+In face of this damning evidence the ministerial denials of complicity
+must be swept aside.[288] It is possible, however, that the plot was
+connived at, not by the more respectable chiefs, but by young and
+hot-headed officials. Even in the summer of 1803 that Cabinet was
+already tottering under the attacks of the Whigs and the followers of
+Pitt. The blandly respectable Addington and Hawkesbury with his
+"vacant grin"[289] were evidently no match for Napoleon; and
+Arbuthnot himself dubs Addington "a poor wretch universally despised
+and laught at," and pronounces the Cabinet "the most inefficient that
+ever curst a country." I judge, therefore, that our official aid to
+the conspirators was limited to the Under-Secretaries of the Foreign,
+War, and Admiralty Offices. Moreover, the royalist plans, _as revealed
+to our officials_, mainly concerned a rising in Normandy and Brittany.
+Our Government would not have paid the salaries of fifty-four royalist
+officers--many of them of good old French families--if it had been
+only a question of stabbing Napoleon. The lists of those officers were
+drawn up here in November, 1803, that is, three months after Georges
+Cadoudal had set out for Normandy and Paris to collect his
+desperadoes; and it seems most probable that the officers of the
+"royal army" were expected merely to clinch Cadoudal's enterprise by
+rekindling the flame of revolt in the north and west. French agents
+were trying to do the same in Ireland, and a plot for the murder of
+George III. was thought to have been connived at by the French
+authorities. But, when all is said, the British Government must stand
+accused of one of the most heinous of crimes. The whole truth was not
+known at Paris; but it was surmised; and the surmise was sufficient to
+envenom the whole course of the struggle between England and Napoleon.
+
+Having now established the responsibility of British officials in
+this, the most famous plot of the century, we return to describe the
+progress of the conspiracy and the arts employed by Napoleon to defeat
+it. His tool, Mehee de la Touche, after entrapping French royalists
+and some of our own officials in London, proceeded to the Continent in
+order to inveigle some of our envoys. He achieved a brilliant success.
+He called at Munich, in order, as he speciously alleged, to arrange
+with our ambassador there the preparations for the royalist plot. The
+British envoy, who bore the honoured name of Francis Drake, was a
+zealous intriguer closely in touch with the _emigres_: he was
+completely won over by the arts of Mehee: he gave the spy money,
+supplied him with a code of false names, and even intrusted him with a
+recipe for sympathetic ink. Thus furnished, Mehee proceeded to Paris,
+sent his briber a few harmless bulletins, took his information to the
+police, and, _at Napoleon's dictation_, gave him news that seriously
+misled our Government and Nelson.[290]
+
+
+The same trick was tried on Stuart, our ambassador at Vienna, who had
+a tempting offer from a French agent to furnish news from every French
+despatch to or from Vienna. Stuart had closed with the offer, when
+suddenly the man was seized at the instance of the French ambassador,
+and his papers were searched.[291] In this case there were none that
+compromised Stuart, and his career was not cut short in the
+ignominious manner that befell Drake, over whom there may be inscribed
+as epitaph the warning which Talleyrand gave to young aspirants--"et
+surtout pas trop de zele."
+
+Thus, while the royalists were conspiring the overthrow of Napoleon,
+he through his agents was countermining their clumsy approach to his
+citadel, and prepared to blow them sky high when their mines were
+crowded for the final rush. The royalist plans matured slowly owing to
+changes which need not be noticed. Georges Cadoudal quitted London,
+and landed at Biville, a smuggler's haunt not far from Dieppe, on
+August 23rd, 1803. Thence he made his way to Paris, and spent some
+months in striving to enlist trusty recruits. It has been stated that
+the plot never aimed at assassination, but at the overpowering of the
+First Consul's escort, and the seizure of his person, during one of
+his journeys. Then he was to be forcibly transferred to the northern
+coast on relays of horses, and hurried over to England.[292] But,
+though the plotters threw the veil of decency over their enterprise by
+calling it kidnapping, they undoubtedly meant murder. Among Drake's
+papers there is a hint that the royalist emissaries were _at first_ to
+speak only of the seizure and deportation of the First Consul.
+
+Whatever may have been their precise aims, they were certainly known
+to Napoleon and his police. On November 1st, 1803, he wrote to
+Regnier:
+
+
+     "You must not be in a hurry about the arrests: when the author
+     [Mehee] has given in all the information, we will draw up a plan
+     with him, and will see what is to be done. I wish him to write to
+     Drake, and, in order to make him trustful, inform him that, before
+     the great blow can be dealt, he believes he [Mehee] can promise to
+     have seized on the table of the First Consul, in his secret room,
+     notes written in his own hand relating to his great expedition,
+     and every other important document."
+
+Napoleon revelled in the details of his plan for hoisting the
+engineers with their own petards.[293] But he knew full well that the
+plot, when fully ripe, would yield far more than the capture of a few
+Chouans. He must wait until Moreau was implicated. The man selected by
+the _emigres_ to sound Moreau was Pichegru, and this choice was the
+sole instance of common sense displayed by them. It was Pichegru who
+had marked out the future fortune of Moreau in the campaign of 1793,
+and yet he had seemed to be the victim of that general's gross
+ingratitude at Fructidor. Who then so fitted as he to approach the
+victor of Hohenlinden? Through a priest named David and General
+Lajolais, an interview was arranged; and shortly after Pichegru's
+arrival in France, these warriors furtively clasped hands in the
+capital which had so often resounded with their praises (January,
+1804). They met three or four times, and cleared away some of the
+misunderstandings of the past. But he would have nothing to do with
+Georges, and when Pichegru mooted the overthrow of Bonaparte and the
+restoration of the Bourbons, he firmly warned him: "Do with Bonaparte
+what you will, but do not ask me to put a Bourbon in his place."
+
+From this resolve Moreau never receded. But his calculating reserve did
+not save him. Already several suspects had been imprisoned in Normandy.
+At Napoleon's suggestion five of them were condemned to death, in the
+hope of extorting a confession; and the last a man named Querelle,
+gratified his gaolers by revealing (February 14th) not only the lodging
+of Georges in Paris, but the intention of other conspirators, among whom
+was a French prince, to land at Biville. The plot was now coming to a
+head, and so was the counter-plot. On the next day Moreau was arrested
+by order of Napoleon, who feigned the utmost grief and surprise at
+seeing the victor of Hohenlinden mixed up with royalist assassins in the
+pay of England.[294]
+
+Elated by this success, and hoping to catch the Comte d'Artois
+himself, Napoleon forthwith despatched to that cliff one of his most
+crafty and devoted servants, Savary, who commanded the _gendarmerie
+d'elite._ Tricked out in suitable disguises, and informed by a
+smuggler as to the royalist signals, Savary eagerly awaited the royal
+quarry, and when Captain Wright's vessel hove in sight, he used his
+utmost arts to imitate the signals that invited a landing. But the
+crew were not to be lured to shore; and after fruitless endeavours he
+returned to Paris--in time to take part in the murder of the Duc
+d'Enghien.
+
+Meanwhile the police were on the tracks of Pichegru and Georges. On
+the last day of February the general was seized in bed in the house of
+a treacherous friend: but not until the gates of Paris had been
+closed, and domiciliary visits made, was Georges taken, and then only
+after a desperate affray (March 9th). The arrest of the two Polignacs
+and the Marquis de Riviere speedily followed.
+
+Hitherto Napoleon had completely outwitted his foes. He knew well
+enough that he was in no danger.
+
+    "I have run no real risks," he wrote to Melzi, "for the police had
+    its eyes on all these machinations, and I have the consolation of
+    not finding reason to complain of a single man among all those I
+    have placed in this huge administration, Moreau stands alone."
+    [295]
+
+But now, at the moment of victory, when France was swelling with rage
+against royalist assassins, English gold, and Moreau's treachery, the
+First Consul was hurried into an enterprise which gained him an
+imperial crown and flecked the purple with innocent blood.
+
+There was living at Ettenheim, in Baden, not far from the Rhine, a
+young prince of the House of Conde, the Duc d'Enghien. Since the
+disbanding of the corps of Conde he had been tranquilly enjoying the
+society of the Princess Charlotte de Rohan, to whom he had been
+secretly married. Her charms, the attractions of the chase, the
+society of a small circle of French _emigres_, and an occasional
+secret visit to the theatre at Strassburg, formed the chief diversions
+to an otherwise monotonous life, until he was fired with the hope of a
+speedy declaration of war by Austria and Russia against Napoleon.
+Report accused him of having indiscreetly ventured in disguise far
+into France; but he indignantly denied it. His other letters also
+prove that he was not an accomplice of the Cadoudal-Pichegru
+conspiracy. But Napoleon's spies gave information which seemed to
+implicate him in that enterprise. Chief among them was Mehee, who, at
+the close of February, hovered about Ettenheim and heard that the duke
+was often absent for many days at a time.
+
+Napoleon received this news on March 1st, and ordered the closest
+investigation to be made. One of his spies reported that the young
+duke associated with General Dumouriez. In reality the general was in
+London, and the spy had substituted the name of a harmless old
+gentleman called Thumery. When Napoleon saw the name of Dumouriez with
+that of the young duke his rage knew no bounds. "Am I a dog to be
+beaten to death in the street? Why was I not warned that they were
+assembling at Ettenheim? Are my murderers sacred beings? They attack my
+very person. I'll give them war for war." And he overwhelmed with
+reproaches both Real and Talleyrand for neglecting to warn him of these
+traitors and assassins clustering on the banks of the Rhine. The seizure
+of Georges Cadoudal and the examination of one of his servants helped to
+confirm Napoleon's surmise that he was the victim of a plot of which the
+duke and Dumouriez were the real contrivers, while Georges was their
+tool. Cadoudal's servant stated that there often came to his master's
+house a mysterious man, at whose entry not only Georges but also the
+Polignacs and Riviere always arose. This convinced Napoleon that the Duc
+d'Enghien was directing the plot, and he determined to have the duke and
+Dumouriez seized. That they were on German soil was naught to him.
+Talleyrand promised that he could soon prevail on the Elector to
+overlook this violation of his territory, and the question was then
+discussed in an informal council. Talleyrand, Real, and Fouche advised
+the severest measures. Lebrun spoke of the outcry which such a violation
+of neutral territory would arouse, but bent before the determination of
+the First Consul; and the regicide Cambaceres alone offered a firm
+opposition to an outrage which must embroil France with Germany and
+Russia. Despite this protest, Napoleon issued his orders and then
+repaired to the pleasing solitudes of La Malmaison, where he remained in
+almost complete seclusion. The execution of the orders was now left to
+Generals Ordener and Caulaincourt, who arranged the raid into Baden; to
+Murat, who was now Governor of Paris; and to the devoted and
+unquestioning Savary and Real.
+
+The seizure of the duke was craftily effected. Troops and gendarmes
+were quietly mustered at Strassburg: spies were sent forward to survey
+the ground; and as the dawn of the 15th of March was lighting up the
+eastern sky, thirty Frenchmen encircled Enghien's abode. His hot blood
+prompted him to fight, but on the advice of a friend he quietly
+surrendered, was haled away to Strassburg, and thence to the castle of
+Vincennes on the south-east of Paris. There everything was ready for
+his reception on the evening of March 20th. The pall of secrecy was
+spread over the preparations. The name of Plessis was assigned to the
+victim, and Harel, the governor of the castle, was left ignorant of
+his rank.[296]
+
+Above all, he was to be tried by a court-martial of officers, a form
+of judgment which was summary and without appeal; whereas the ordinary
+courts of justice must be slow and open to the public gaze. It was
+true that the Senate had just suspended trial by jury in the case of
+attempts against the First Consul's life--a device adopted in view of
+the Moreau prosecution. But the certainty of a conviction was not
+enough: Napoleon determined to strike terror into his enemies, such as
+a swift and secret blow always inspires. He had resolved on a trial by
+court-martial when he still believed Enghien to be an accomplice of
+Dumouriez; and when, late on Saturday, March 17th, that mistake was
+explained, his purpose remained unshaken--unshaken too by the high
+mass of Easter Sunday, March 18th, which he heard in state at the
+Chapel of the Tuileries. On the return journey to Malmaison Josephine
+confessed to Madame de Remusat her fears that Bonaparte's will was
+unalterably fixed: "I have done what I could, but I fear his mind is
+made up." She and Joseph approached him once more in the park while
+Talleyrand was at his side. "I fear that cripple," she said, as they
+came near, and Joseph drew the Minister aside. All was in vain. "Go
+away; you are a child; you don't understand public duties." This was
+Josephine's final repulse.
+
+On March 20th Napoleon drew up the form of questions to be put to the
+prisoner. He now shifted the ground of accusation. Out of eleven
+questions only the last three referred to the duke's connection with
+the Cadoudal plot.[297] For in the meantime he had found in the
+duke's papers proofs of his having offered his services to the
+British Government for the present war,[298] his hopes of
+participation in a future Continental war, but nothing that could
+implicate him in the Cadoudal plot. The papers were certainly
+disappointing; and that is doubtless the reason why, after examining
+them on March 19th, he charged Real "to take secret cognizance of
+these papers, along with Desmarest. One must prevent any talk on the
+more or less of charges contained in these papers." The same fact
+doubtless led to their abstraction along with the _dossier_ of the
+proceedings of the court-martial.[299]
+
+The task of summoning the officers who were to form the court-martial
+was imposed on Murat. But when this bluff, hearty soldier received
+this order, he exclaimed: "What! are they trying to soil my uniform! I
+will not allow it! Let him appoint them himself if he wants to." But a
+second and more imperious mandate compelled him to perform this
+hateful duty. The seven senior officers of the garrison of Paris now
+summoned were ordered not to separate until judgment was passed.[300]
+At their head was General Hulin, who had shown such daring in the
+assault on the Bastille; and thus one of the early heroes of the
+Revolution had the evening of his days shrouded over with the horrors
+of a midnight murder. Finally, the First Consul charged Savary, who
+had just returned to Paris from Biville, furious at being baulked of
+his prey, to proceed to Vincennes with a band of his gendarmes for the
+carrying out of the sentence.
+
+The seven officers as yet knew nothing of the nature of their mission,
+or of martial law. "We had not," wrote Hulin long afterwards, "the least
+idea about trials; and, worst of all, the reporter and clerk had
+scarcely any more experience."[301] The examination of the prisoner was
+curt in the extreme. He was asked his name, date and place of birth,
+whether he had borne arms against France and was in the pay of England.
+To the last questions he answered decisively in the affirmative, adding
+that he wished to take part in the new war against France.
+
+His replies were the same as he made in his preliminary examination,
+which he closed with the written and urgent request for a personal
+interview with Napoleon. To this request the court proposed to accede;
+but Savary, who had posted himself behind Hulin's chair, at once
+declared this step to be _inopportune_. The judges had only one chance
+of escape from their predicament, namely, to induce the duke to
+invalidate his evidence: this he firmly refused to do, and when Hulin
+warned him of the danger of his position, he replied that he knew it,
+and wished to have an interview with the First Consul.
+
+The court then passed sentence, and, "in accordance with article
+(blank) of the law (blank) to the following effect (blank) condemned
+him to suffer death." Ashamed, as it would seem, of this clumsy
+condemnation, Hulin was writing to Bonaparte to request for the
+condemned man the personal interview which he craved, when Savary took
+the pen from his hands, with the words: "Your work is done: the rest
+is my business."[302] The duke was forthwith led out into the moat of
+the castle, where a few torches shed their light on the final scene of
+this sombre tragedy: he asked for a priest, but this was denied him:
+he then bowed his head in prayer, lifted those noble features towards
+the soldiers, begged them not to miss their aim, and fell, shot
+through the heart. Hard by was a grave, which, in accordance with
+orders received on the previous day, the governor had caused to be
+made ready; into this the body was thrown pell-mell, and the earth
+closed over the remains of the last scion of the warlike House of
+Conde.
+
+Twelve years later loving hands disinterred the bones and placed them
+in the chapel of the castle. But even then the world knew not all the
+enormity of the crime. It was reserved for clumsy apologists like
+Savary to provoke replies and further investigations. The various
+excuses which throw the blame on Talleyrand, and on everyone but the
+chief actor, are sufficiently disposed of by the ex-Emperor's will. In
+that document Napoleon brushed away the excuses which had previously
+been offered to the credulity or malice of his courtiers, and took on
+himself the responsibility for the execution:
+
+     "I caused the Duc d'Enghien to be arrested and judged, because it
+     was necessary for the safety, the interest, and the honour of the
+     French people when the Comte d'Artois, by his own confession, was
+     supporting sixty assassins at Paris. In similar circumstances I
+     would act in the same way again."[303]
+
+
+The execution of the Duc d'Enghien is one of the most important
+incidents of this period, so crowded with momentous events. The
+sensation of horror which it caused can be gauged by the mental agony
+of Madame de Remusat and of others who had hitherto looked on
+Bonaparte as the hero of the age and the saviour of the country. His
+mother hotly upbraided him, saying it was an atrocious act, the stain
+of which could never be wiped out, and that he had yielded to the
+advice of enemies' eager to tarnish his fame.[304] Napoleon said
+nothing, but shut himself up in his cabinet, revolving these terrible
+words, which doubtless bore fruit in the bitter reproaches later to be
+heaped upon Talleyrand for his share in the tragedy. Many royalists
+who had begun to rally to his side now showed their indignation at the
+deed. Chateaubriand, who was about to proceed as the envoy of France
+to the Republic of Valais, at once offered his resignation and assumed
+an attitude of covert defiance. And that was the conduct of all
+royalists who were not dazzled by the glamour of success or cajoled by
+Napoleon's favours. Many of his friends ventured to show their horror
+of this Corsican vendetta; and a _mot_ which was plausibly, but it
+seems wrongly, attributed to Fouche, well sums up the general opinion
+of that callous society: "It was worse than a crime--it was a
+blunder."
+
+Scarcely had Paris recovered from this sensation when, on April 6th,
+Pichegru was found strangled in prison; and men silently but almost
+unanimously hailed it as the work of Napoleon's Mamelukes. This
+judgment, however natural after the Enghien affair, seems to be
+incorrect. It is true the corpse bore marks which scarcely tallied with
+suicide: but Georges Cadoudal, whose cell was hard by, heard no sound of
+a scuffle; and it is unlikely that so strong a man as Pichegru would
+easily have succumbed to assailants. It is therefore more probable that
+the conqueror of Holland, shattered by his misfortunes and too proud to
+undergo a public trial, cut short a life which already was doomed. Never
+have plotters failed more ignominiously and played more completely into
+the hands of their enemy. A _mot_ of the Boulevards wittily sums up the
+results of their puny efforts: "They came to France to give her a king,
+and they gave her an Emperor."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX
+
+THE DAWN OF THE EMPIRE
+
+
+For some time the question of a Napoleonic dynasty had been freely
+discussed; and the First Consul himself had latterly confessed his
+intentions to Joseph in words that reveal his super-human confidence
+and his caution: "I always intended to end the Revolution by the
+establishment of heredity: but I thought that such a step could not be
+taken before the lapse of five or six years." Events, however, bore
+him along on a favouring tide. Hatred of England, fear of Jacobin
+excesses, indignation at the royalist schemes against his life, and
+finally even the execution of Enghien, helped on the establishment of
+the Empire. Though moderate men of all parties condemned the murder,
+the remnants of the Jacobin party hailed it with joy. Up to this time
+they had a lingering fear that the First Consul was about to play the
+part of Monk. The pomp of the Tuileries and the hated Concordat seemed
+to their crooked minds but the prelude to a recall of the Bourbons,
+whereupon priestcraft, tithes, and feudalism would be the order of the
+day. Now at last the tragedy of Vincennes threw a lurid light into the
+recesses of Napoleon's ambition; and they exclaimed, "He is one of
+us." It must thenceforth be war to the knife between the Bourbons and
+Bonaparte; and his rule would therefore be the best guarantee for the
+perpetual ownership of the lands confiscated during the
+Revolution.[305]
+
+To a materialized society that great event had come to be little more
+than a big land investment syndicate, of which Bonaparte was now to be
+the sole and perpetual director. This is the inner meaning of the
+references to the Social Contract which figure so oddly among the
+petitions for hereditary rule. The Jacobins, except a few conscientious
+stalwarts, were especially alert in the feat of making extremes meet.
+Fouche, who now wriggled back into favour and office, appealed to the
+Senate, only seven days after the execution, to establish hereditary
+power as the only means of ending the plots against Napoleon's life;
+for, as the opportunist Jacobins argued, if the hereditary system were
+adopted, conspiracies to murder would be meaningless, when, even if they
+struck down one man, they must fail to shatter the system that
+guaranteed the Revolution.
+
+The cue having been thus dextrously given, appeals and petitions for
+hereditary rule began to pour in from all parts of France. The grand
+work of the reorganization of France certainly furnished a solid claim
+on the nation's gratitude. The recent promulgation of the Civil Code
+and the revival of material prosperity redounded to Napoleon's glory;
+and with equal truth and wit he could claim the diadem as a fit reward
+_for having revived many interests while none had been displaced._
+Such a remark and such an exploit proclaim the born ruler of men. But
+the Senate overstepped all bounds of decency when it thus addressed
+him: "You are founding a new era: but you ought to make it last for
+ever: splendour is nothing without duration." The Greeks who fawned on
+Persian satraps did not more unman themselves than these pensioned
+sycophants, who had lived through the days of 1789 but knew them not.
+This fulsome adulation would be unworthy of notice did it not convey
+the most signal proof of the danger which republics incur when men
+lose sight of the higher aims of life and wallow among its sordid
+interests.[306]
+
+
+
+After the severe drilling of the last four years, the Chambers voted
+nearly unanimously in favour of a Napoleonic dynasty. The Corps
+Legislatif was not in session, and it was not convoked. The Senate,
+after hearing Fouche's unmistakable hints, named a commission of its
+members to report on hereditary rule, and then waited on events. These
+were decided mainly in private meetings of the Council of State, where
+the proposal met with some opposition from Cambaceres, Merlin, and
+Thibaudeau. But of what avail are private remonstrances when in open
+session opponents are dumb and supporters vie in adulation? In the
+Tribunate, on April 23rd, an obscure member named Curee proposed the
+adoption of the hereditary principle. One man alone dared openly to
+combat the proposal, the great Carnot; and the opposition of Curee to
+Carnot might have recalled to the minds of those abject champions of
+popular liberty the verse that glitters amidst the literary rubbish of
+the Roman Empire:
+
+  "Victrix causa deis placuit, sed victa Catoni."
+
+The Tribunate named a commission to report; it was favourable to the
+Bonapartes. The Senate voted in the same sense, three Senators alone,
+among them Gregoire, Bishop of Blois, voting against it. Sieyes and
+Lanjuinais were absent; but the well-salaried lord of the manor of
+Crosne must have read with amused contempt the resolution of this
+body, which he had designed to be the _guardian of the republican
+constitution_:
+
+     "The French have conquered liberty: they wish to preserve their
+     conquest: they wish for repose after victory. They will owe this
+     glorious repose to the hereditary rule of a single man, who, raised
+     above all, is to defend public liberty, maintain equality, and
+     lower his fasces before the sovereignty of the people that
+     proclaims him."
+
+
+In this way did France reduce to practice the dogma of Rousseau with
+regard to the occasional and temporary need of a dictator.[307]
+
+When the commonalty are so obsequious, any title can be taken by the
+one necessary man. Napoleon at first affected to doubt whether the
+title of Stadtholder would not be more seemly than that of Emperor;
+and in one of the many conferences held on this topic, Miot de Melito
+advocated the retention of the term Consul for its grand republican
+simplicity. But it was soon seen that the term Emperor was the only
+one which satisfied Napoleon's ambition and French love of splendour.
+Accordingly a _senatus consultum_ of May 18th, 1804, formally decreed
+to him the title of Emperor of the French. As for his former
+colleagues, Cambaceres and Lebrun, they were stultified with the
+titles of Arch-chancellor and Arch-treasurer of the Empire: his
+brother Joseph received the title of Grand Elector, borrowed from the
+Holy Roman Empire, and oddly applied to an hereditary empire where the
+chief _had_ been appointed: Louis was dubbed Constable: two other
+grand dignities, those of Arch-chancellor of State and High Admiral,
+were not as yet filled, but were reserved for Napoleon's relatives by
+marriage, Eugene Beauharnais and Murat. These six grand dignitaries of
+the new Empire were to be irresponsible and irremovable, and, along
+with the Emperor, they formed the Grand Council of the Empire.
+
+On lesser individuals the rays of the imperial diadem cast a fainter
+glow. Napoleon's uncle, Cardinal Fesch, became Grand Almoner;
+Berthier, Grand Master of the Hounds; Talleyrand, Grand Chamberlain;
+Duroc, Grand Marshal of the Palace; and Caulaincourt, Master of the
+Horse, the acceptance of which title seemed to the world to convict
+him of full complicity in the schemes for the murder of the Duc
+d'Enghien. For the rest, the Emperor's mother was to be styled _Madame
+Mere_; his sisters became Imperial Highnesses, with their several
+establishments of ladies-in-waiting; and Paris fluttered with excitement
+at each successive step upwards of expectant nobles, regicides,
+generals, and stockjobbers towards the central galaxy of the Corsican
+family, which, ten years before, had subsisted on the alms of the
+Republic one and indivisible.
+
+It remained to gain over the army. The means used were profuse, in
+proportion as the task was arduous. The following generals were
+distinguished as Marshals of the Empire (May 19th): Berthier, Murat,
+Massena, Augereau, Lannes, Jourdan, Ney, Soult, Brune, Davoust,
+Bessieres, Moncey, Mortier, and Bernadotte; two marshal's batons were
+held in reserve as a reward for future service, and four aged
+generals, Lefebvre, Serrurier, Perignon, and Kellerman (the hero of
+Valmy), received the title of honorary marshals. In one of his
+conversations with Roederer, the Emperor frankly avowed his reasons
+for showering these honours on his military chiefs; it was in order to
+assure the imperial dignity to himself; for how could they object to
+this, when they themselves received honours so lofty?[308] The
+confession affords a curious instance of Napoleon's unbounded trust
+in the most elementary, not to say the meanest, motives of human
+conduct. Suitable rewards were bestowed on officers of the second
+rank. But it was at once remarked that determined and outspoken
+republicans like Suchet, Gouvion St. Cyr, and Macdonald, whose talents
+and exploits far outstripped those of many of the marshals, were
+excluded from their ranks. St. Cyr was at Taranto, and Macdonald,
+after an enforced diplomatic mission to Copenhagen, was received on
+his recall with much coolness.[309] Other generals who had given
+umbrage at the Tuileries were more effectively broken in by a term of
+diplomatic banishment. Lannes at Lisbon and Brune at Constantinople
+learnt a little diplomacy and some complaisance to the head of the
+State, and were taken back to Napoleon's favour. Bernadotte, though ever
+suspected of Jacobinism and feared for the forceful ambition that sprang
+from the blending of Gascon and Moorish blood in his veins, was now also
+treated with the consideration due to one who had married Joseph
+Bonaparte's sister-in-law: he received at Napoleon's hands the house in
+Paris which had formerly belonged to Moreau: the exile's estate of
+Grosbois, near Paris, went to reward the ever faithful Berthier.
+Augereau, half cured of his Jacobinism by the disfavour of the
+Directory, was now drilling a small French force and Irish volunteers at
+Brest. But the Grand Army, which comprised the pick of the French
+forces, was intrusted to the command of men on whom Napoleon could
+absolutely rely, Davoust, Soult, and Ney; and, in that splendid force,
+hatred of England and pride in Napoleon's prowess now overwhelmed all
+political considerations.
+
+These arrangements attest the marvellous foresight and care which
+Napoleon brought to bear on all affairs: even if the discontented
+generals and troops had protested against the adoption of the Empire
+and the prosecution of Moreau, they must have been easily overpowered.
+In some places, as at Metz, the troops and populace fretted against
+the Empire and its pretentious pomp; but the action of the commanders
+soon restored order. And thus it came to pass that even the soldiery
+that still cherished the Republic raised not a musket while the Empire
+was founded, and Moreau was accused of high treason.
+
+The record of the French revolutionary generals is in the main a
+gloomy one. If in 1795 it had been prophesied that all those generals
+who bore the tricolour to victory would vanish or bow their heads
+before a Corsican, the prophet would speedily have closed his
+croakings for ever. Yet the reality was even worse. Marceau and Hoche
+died in the Rhineland: Kleber and Desaix fell on the same day, by
+assassination and in battle: Richepanse, Leclerc, and many other brave
+officers rotted away in San Domingo: Pichegru died a violent death in
+prison: Carnot was retiring into voluntary exile: Massena and
+Macdonald were vegetating in inglorious ease: others were fast
+descending to the rank of flunkeys; and Moreau was on his trial for
+high treason.
+
+Even the populace, dazzled with glitter and drunk with sensations,
+suffered some qualms at seeing the victor of Hohenlinden placed in the
+dock; and the grief of the scanty survivors of the Army of the Rhine
+portended trouble if the forms of justice were too much strained.
+Trial by jury had been recently dispensed with in cases that concerned
+the life of Napoleon. Consequently the prisoner, along with Georges
+and his confederates, could be safely arraigned before judges in open
+court; and in that respect the trial contrasted with the midnight
+court-martial of Vincennes. Yet in no State trial have judges been
+subjected to more official pressure for the purpose of assuring a
+conviction.[310] The cross examination of numerous witnesses proved
+that Moreau had persistently refused his help to the plot; and the
+utmost that could be urged against him was that he desired Napoleon's
+overthrow, had three interviews with Pichegru, and did not reveal the
+plot to the authorities. That is to say, he was guilty of passively
+conniving at the success of a plot which a "good citizen" ought to
+have denounced.
+
+For these reasons the judges sentenced him to two years'
+imprisonment. This judgment excessively annoyed Napoleon, who desired
+to use his imperial prerogative of pardon on Moreau's life, not on a
+mere term of imprisonment; and with a show of clemency that veiled a
+hidden irritation, he now released him provided that he retired to the
+United States.[311] To that land of free men the victor of Hohenlinden
+retired with a dignity which almost threw a veil over his past
+incapacity and folly; and, for the present at least, men could say that
+the end of his political career was nobler than Pompey's, while
+Napoleon's conduct towards his rival lacked the clemency which graced
+the triumph of Caesar.
+
+As for the actual conspirators, twenty of them were sentenced to death
+on June 10th, among them being the elder of the two Polignacs, the
+Marquis de Riviere, and Georges Cadoudal. Urgent efforts were made on
+behalf of the nobles by Josephine and "Madame Mere"; and Napoleon
+grudgingly commuted their sentence to imprisonment. But the plebeian,
+Georges Cadoudal, suffered death for the cause that had enlisted all
+the fierce energies of his youth and manhood. With him perished the
+bravest of Bretons and the last man of action of the royalists.
+Thenceforth Napoleon was not troubled by Bourbon plotters; and
+doubtless the skill with which his agents had nursed this silly plot
+and sought to entangle all waverers did far more than the strokes of
+the guillotine to procure his future immunity. Men trembled before a
+union of immeasurable power with unfathomable craft such as recalled
+the days of the Emperor Tiberius.
+
+Indeed, Napoleon might now almost say that his chief foes were the
+members of his own household. The question of hereditary succession
+had already reawakened and intensified all the fierce passions of the
+Emperor's relatives. Josephine saw in it the fatal eclipse of a
+divorce sweeping towards the dazzling field of her new life, and
+Napoleon is known to have thrice almost decided on this step. She no
+longer had any hopes of bearing a child; and she is reported by the
+compiler of the Fouche "Memoirs" to have clutched at that absurd
+device, a supposititious child, which Fouche had taken care to
+ridicule in advance. Whatever be the truth of this rumour, she
+certainly used all her powers over Napoleon and over her daughter
+Hortense, the spouse of Louis Bonaparte, to have their son
+recognized as first in the line of direct succession. But this
+proposal, which shelved both Joseph and Louis, was not only hotly
+resented by the eldest brother, who claimed to be successor designate,
+it also aroused the flames of jealousy in Louis himself. It was
+notorious that he suspected Napoleon of an incestuous passion for
+Hortense, of which his fondness for the little Charles Napoleon was
+maliciously urged as proof; and the proposal, when made with trembling
+eagerness by Josephine, was hurled back by Louis with brutal violence.
+To the clamour of Louis and Joseph the Emperor and Josephine seemed
+reluctantly to yield.
+
+New arrangements were accordingly proposed. Lucien and Jerome having,
+for the present at least, put themselves out of court by their
+unsatisfactory marriages, Napoleon appeared to accept a reconciliation
+with Joseph and Louis, and to place them in the order of succession,
+as the Senate recommended. But he still reserved the right of adopting
+the son of Louis and of thus favouring his chances of priority.
+Indeed, it must be admitted that the Emperor at this difficult crisis
+showed conjugal tact and affection, for which he has received scant
+justice at the hands of Josephine's champions. "How could I divorce
+this good wife," he said to Roederer, "because I am becoming great?"
+But fate seemed to decree the divorce, which, despite the reasonings
+of his brothers, he resolutely thrust aside; for the little boy on
+whose life the Empress built so many fond hopes was to be cut off by
+an early death in the year 1807.
+
+Then there were frequent disputes between Napoleon and Joseph. Both of
+them had the Corsican's instinct in favour of primogeniture; and
+hitherto Napoleon had in many ways deferred to his elder brother. Now,
+however, he showed clearly that he would brook not the slightest
+interference in affairs of State. And truly, if we except Joseph's
+diplomatic services, he showed no commanding gifts such as could raise
+him aloft along with the bewildering rush of Napoleon's fortunes. The
+one was an irrepressible genius, the other was a man of culture and
+talent, whose chief bent was towards literature, amours, and the art
+of _dolce far niente_, except when his pride was touched: then he was
+capable of bursts of passion which seemed to impose even on his
+masterful second brother. Lucien, Louis, and even the youthful Jerome,
+had the same intractable pride which rose defiant even against
+Napoleon. He was determined that his brothers should now take a
+subordinate rank, while they regarded the dynasty as largely due to
+their exertions at or after Brumaire, and claimed a proportionate
+reward. Napoleon, however, saw that a dynasty could not thus be
+founded. As he frankly said to Roederer, a dynasty could only take
+firm root in France among heirs brought up in a palace: "I have never
+looked on my brothers as the natural heirs to power: I only consider
+them as men fit to ward off the evils of a minority."
+
+Joseph deeply resented this conduct. He was a Prince of the Empire,
+and a Grand Elector; but he speedily found out that this meant nothing
+more than occasionally presiding at the Senate, and accordingly
+indulged in little acts of opposition that enraged the autocrat. In
+his desire to get his brother away from Paris, the Emperor had already
+recommended him to take up the profession of arms; for he could not
+include him in the succession, and place famous marshals under him if
+he knew nothing of an army. Joseph perforce accepted the command of a
+regiment, and at thirty-six years of age began to learn drill near
+Boulogne.[312] This piece of burlesque was one day to prove infinitely
+regrettable. After the disaster of Vittoria, Napoleon doubtless wished
+that Joseph had for ever had free play in the tribune of the Senate
+rather than have dabbled in military affairs. But in the spring and
+summer of 1804 the Emperor noted his every word; so that, when he
+ventured to suggest that Josephine should not be crowned at the coming
+coronation, Napoleon's wrath blazed forth. Why should Joseph speak of
+_his_ rights and _his_ interests? Who had won power? Who deserved to
+enjoy power? Power was his (Napoleon's) mistress, and he dared Joseph
+to touch her. The Senate or Council of State might oppose him for ten
+years, without his becoming a tyrant: "To make me a tyrant one thing
+alone is necessary--a movement of my family."[313]
+
+The family, however, did not move. As happened with all the brothers
+except Lucien, Joseph gave way at the critical moment. After
+threatening at the Council of State to resign his Grand Electorate and
+retire to Germany if his wife were compelled to bear Josephine's train
+at the coronation, he was informed by the Emperor that either he must
+conduct himself dutifully as the first subject of the realm, or retire
+into private life, or oppose--and be crushed. The argument was
+unanswerable, and Joseph yielded. To save his own and his wife's
+feelings, the wording of the official programme was altered: she was
+_to support Josephine's mantle_, not _to bear her train_.
+
+In things great and small Napoleon carried his point. Although
+Roederer pleaded long and earnestly that Joseph and Louis should come
+next to the Emperor in the succession, and inserted a clause in the
+report which he was intrusted to draw up, yet by some skilful artifice
+this clause was withdrawn from the constitutional act on which the
+nation was invited to express its opinion: and France assented to a
+_plebiscite_ for the establishment of the Empire in Napoleon's family,
+which passed over Joseph and Louis, as well as Lucien and Jerome, and
+vested the succession in the natural or adopted son of Napoleon, and
+in the heirs male of Joseph or Louis. Consequently these princes had
+no place in the succession, except by virtue of the _senatus
+consultant_ of May 18th, which gave them a legal right, it is true,
+but without the added sanction of the popular vote. More than three
+and a half million votes were cast for the new arrangement, a number
+which exceeded those given for the Consulate and the Consulate for
+Life. As usual, France accepted accomplished facts.
+
+Matters legal and ceremonial were now approaching completion for the
+coronation. Negotiations had been proceeding between the Tuileries and
+the Vatican, Napoleon begging and indeed requiring the presence of the
+Pope on that occasion. Pius VII. was troubled at the thought of
+crowning the murderer of the Duc d'Enghien; but he was scarcely his
+own master, and the dextrous hints of Napoleon that religion would
+benefit if he were present at Notre Dame seem to have overcome his
+first scruples, besides quickening the hope of recovering the north of
+his States. He was to be disappointed in more ways than one. Religion
+was to benefit only from the enhanced prestige given to her rites in
+the coming ceremony, not in the practical way that the Pope desired.
+And yet it was of the first importance for Napoleon to receive the
+holy oil and the papal blessing, for only so could he hope to wean the
+affections of royalists from their uncrowned and exiled king.
+Doubtless this was one of the chief reasons for the restoration of
+religion by the Concordat, as was shrewdly seen at the time by
+Lafayette, who laughingly exclaimed: "Confess, general, that your
+chief wish is for the little phial."[314] The sally drew from the
+First Consul an obscene disclaimer worthy of a drunken ostler.
+Nevertheless, the little phial was now on its way.
+
+In order to divest the meeting of Pope and Emperor of any awkward
+ceremony, Napoleon arranged that it should take place on the road
+between Fontainebleau and Nemours, as a chance incident in the middle
+of a day's hunting. The benevolent old pontiff was reclining in his
+carriage, weary with the long journey through the cold of an early
+winter, when he was startled to see the retinue of his host. The
+contrast in every way was striking. The figure of the Emperor had now
+attained the fullness which betokens abounding health and strength: his
+face was slightly flushed with the hunt and the consciousness that he
+was master of the situation, and his form on horseback gained a dignity
+from which the shortness of his legs somewhat detracted when on foot. As
+he rode up attired in full hunting costume, he might have seemed the
+embodiment of triumphant strength. The Pope, on the other hand, clad in
+white garments and with white silk shoes, gave an impression of peaceful
+benevolence, had not his intellectual features borne signs of the
+protracted anxieties of his pontificate. The Emperor threw himself from
+his horse and advanced to meet his guest, who on his side alighted,
+rather unwillingly, in the mud to give and receive the embrace of
+welcome. Meanwhile Napoleon's carriage had been driven up: footmen were
+holding open both doors, and an officer of the Court politely handed
+Pius VII. to the left door, while the Emperor, entering by the right,
+took the seat of honour, and thus settled once for all the vexed
+question of social precedence.[315]
+
+During the Pope's sojourn at Fontainebleau, Josephine breathed to him
+her anxiety as to her marriage; it having been only a civil contract,
+she feared its dissolution, and saw in the Pope's intervention a
+chance of a firmer union with her consort. The pontiff comforted her
+and required from Napoleon the due solemnization of his marriage; it
+was therefore secretly performed by Napoleon's uncle, Cardinal Fesch,
+two days before the coronation.[316]
+
+It was not enough, however, that the successor of St. Peter should
+grace the coronation with his presence: the Emperor sought to touch
+the imagination of men by figuring as the successor of Charlemagne. We
+here approach one of the most interesting experiments of the modern
+world, which, if successful, would profoundly have altered the face of
+Europe and the character of its States. Even in its failure it attests
+Napoleon's vivid imagination and boundless mental resources. He
+aspired to be more than Emperor of the French: he wished to make his
+Empire a cosmopolitan realm, whose confines might rival those of the
+Holy Roman Empire of one thousand years before, and embrace scores of
+peoples in a grand, well-ordered European polity.
+
+Already his dominions included a million of Germans in the Rhineland,
+Italians of Piedmont, Genoa, and Nice, besides Savoyards, Genevese,
+and Belgians. How potent would be his influence on the weltering chaos
+of German and Italian States, if these much-divided peoples learnt to
+look on him as the successor to the glories of Charlemagne! And this
+honour he was now to claim. However delusive was the parallel between
+the old semi-tribal polity and modern States where the peoples were
+awakening to a sense of their nationality, Napoleon was now in a
+position to clear the way for his great experiment. He had two charms
+wherewith to work, material prosperity and his gift of touching the
+popular imagination. The former of these was already silently working
+in his favour: the latter was first essayed at the coronation.
+
+Already, after a sojourn at Boulogne, he had visited Aix-la-Chapelle,
+the city where Charlemagne's relics are entombed, and where Victor
+Hugo in some of his sublimest verse has pictured Charles V. kneeling
+in prayer to catch the spirit of the mediaeval hero. Thither went
+Napoleon, but in no suppliant mood; for when Josephine was offered the
+arm-bones of the great dead, she also proudly replied that she would
+not deprive the city of that precious relic, especially as she had the
+support of an arm as great as that of Charlemagne.[317] The insignia
+and the sword of that monarch were now brought to Paris, and shed on
+the ceremony of coronation that historic gleam which was needed to
+redeem it from tawdry commonplace.
+
+All that money and art could do to invest the affair with pomp and
+circumstance had already been done. The advice of the new Master of
+the Ceremonies, M. de Segur, and the hints of the other nobles who had
+rallied to the new Empire, had been carefully collated by the untiring
+brain that now watched over France. The sum of 1,123,000 francs had
+been expended on the coronation robes of Emperor and Empress, and far
+more on crowns and tiaras. The result was seen in costumes of
+matchless splendour; the Emperor wore a French coat of red velvet
+embroidered in gold, a short cloak adorned with bees and the collar of
+the Legion of Honour in diamonds; and at the archbishop's palace he
+assumed the long purple robe of velvet profusely ornamented with
+ermine, while his brow was encircled by a wreath of laurel, meed of
+mighty conquerors. In the pommel of his sword flashed the famous Pitt
+diamond, which, after swelling the family fortune of the British
+statesman, fell to the Regent of France, and now graced the coronation
+of her Dictator. The Empress, radiant with joy at her now indissoluble
+union, bore her splendours with an easy grace that charmed all
+beholders and gave her an almost girlish air. She wore a robe of white
+satin, trimmed with silver and gold and besprinkled with golden bees:
+her waist and shoulders glittered with diamonds, while on her brows
+rested a diadem of the finest diamonds and pearls valued at more than
+a million francs.[318] The curious might remember that for a necklace
+of less than twice that value the fair fame of Marie Antoinette had
+been clouded over and the House of Bourbon shaken to its base.
+
+The stately procession began with an odd incident: Napoleon and
+Josephine, misled apparently by the all-pervading splendour of the new
+state carriage, seated themselves on the wrong side, that is, in the
+seats destined for Joseph and Louis: the mistake was at once made good,
+with some merriment; but the superstitious saw in it an omen of
+evil.[319] And now, amidst much enthusiasm and far greater curiosity,
+the procession wound along through the Rue Nicaise and the Rue St.
+Honore--streets where Bonaparte had won his spurs on the day of
+Vendemiaire--over the Pont-Neuf, and so to the venerable cathedral,
+where the Pope, chilled by long waiting, was ready to grace the
+ceremony. First he anointed Emperor and Empress with the holy oil; then,
+at the suitable place in the Mass he blessed their crowns, rings, and
+mantles, uttering the traditional prayers for the possession of the
+virtues and powers which each might seem to typify. But when he was
+about to crown the Emperor, he was gently waved aside, and Napoleon with
+his own hands crowned himself. A thrill ran through the august assembly,
+either of pity for the feelings of the aged pontiff or of admiration at
+the "noble and legitimate pride" of the great captain who claimed as
+wholly his own the crown which his own right arm had won. Then the
+_cortege_ slowly returned to the middle of the nave, where a lofty
+throne had been reared.
+
+Another omen now startled those who laid store by trifles. It was
+noticed that the sovereigns in ascending the steps nearly fell
+backwards under the weight of their robes and trains, though in the
+case of Josephine the anxious moment may have been due to the
+carelessness, whether accidental or studied, of her "mantle-bearers."
+But to those who looked beneath the surface of things was not this an
+all-absorbing portent, that all this religious pomp should be removed
+by scarcely eleven years from the time when this same nave echoed to
+the shouts and gleamed with the torches of the worshippers of the
+newly enthroned Goddess of Reason?
+
+Revolutionary feelings were not wholly dead, but they now vented
+themselves merely in gibes. On the night before the coronation the walls
+of Paris were adorned with posters announcing: _The last Representation
+of the French Revolution--for the Benefit of a poor Corsican Family._
+And after the event there were inquiries why the new throne had no
+_glands d'or;_ the answer suggested because it was _sanglant_.[320]
+Beyond these quips and jests the Jacobins and royalists did not go. When
+the phrase _your subjects_ was publicly assigned to the Corps Legislatif
+by its courtier-like president, Fontanes, there was a flutter of wrath
+among those who had hoped that the new Empire was to be republican. But
+it quickly passed away; and no Frenchman, except perhaps Carnot, made so
+manly a protest as the man of genius at Vienna, who had composed the
+"Sinfonia Eroica," and with grand republican simplicity inscribed it,
+"Beethoven a Bonaparte." When the master heard that his former hero had
+taken the imperial crown, he tore off the dedication with a volley of
+curses on the renegade and tyrant; and in later years he dedicated the
+immortal work to the _memory_ of a great man.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI
+
+THE BOULOGNE FLOTILLA
+
+
+The establishment of the Empire, as has been seen, provoked few signs
+of opposition from the French armies, once renowned for their
+Jacobinism; and by one or two instances of well-timed clemency, the
+Emperor gained over even staunch republicans. Notably was this the
+case with a brave and stalwart colonel, who, enraged at the first
+volley of cheers for the Empire, boldly ordered "Silence in the
+ranks." At once Napoleon made him general and appointed him one of his
+aides-de-camp; and this brave officer, Mouton by name, was later to
+gain glory and the title of Comte de Lobau in the Wagram campaign.
+These were the results of a timely act of generosity, such as touches
+the hearts of any soldiery and leads them to shed their blood like
+water. And so when Napoleon, after the coronation, distributed to the
+garrison of Paris their standards, topped now by the imperial eagles,
+the great Champ de Mars was a scene of wild enthusiasm. The thunderous
+shouts that acclaimed the prowess of the new Frankish leader were as
+warlike as those which ever greeted the hoisting of a Carolingian King
+on the shields of his lieges. Distant nations heard the threatening
+din and hastened to muster their forces for the fray.
+
+As yet only England was at war with the Emperor. Against her Napoleon
+now prepared to embattle the might of his vast Empire. The
+preparations on the northern coast were now wellnigh complete, and
+there was only one question to be solved--how to "leap the ditch." It
+seems strange to us now that no attempt was made to utilize the great
+motive force of the nineteenth century--steam power. And the French
+memoir-writers, Marmont, Bourrienne, Pasquier, and Bausset, have
+expressed their surprise that so able a chief as Napoleon should have
+neglected this potent ally.
+
+Their criticisms seem to be prompted by later reflections rather
+than based on an accurate statement of facts. In truth, the
+nineteenth-century Hercules was still in his cradle. Henry Bell had in
+1800 experimented with a steamer on the Clyde; but it aroused the same
+trembling curiosity as Trevithick's first locomotive, or as Fulton's
+first paddle-boat built on the Seine in 1803. In fact, this boat of
+the great American inventor was so weak that, when at anchor, it broke
+in half during a gale, thus ridding itself of the weight of its
+cumbrous engine. With his usual energy, Fulton built a larger and
+stronger craft, which not only carried the machinery, but, in August,
+1803, astonished the members of the French Institute by moving, though
+with much circumspection.
+
+Fulton, however, was disappointed, and if we may judge from the scanty
+records of his life, he never offered this invention to Napoleon.[321]
+He felt the need of better machinery, and as this could only be
+procured in England, he gave the order to a Birmingham firm, which
+engined his first successful boat, the "Clermont," launched on the
+Hudson in 1807. But for the war, perhaps, Fulton would have continued
+to live in Paris and made his third attempt there. He certainly never
+offered his imperfect steamship to the First Consul. Probably the fact
+that his first boat foundered when at anchor in the Seine would have
+procured him a rough reception, if he had offered to equip the whole
+of the Boulogne flotilla with an invention which had sunk its first
+receptacle and propelled the second boat at a snail's pace.
+
+Besides, he had already met with one repulse from Napoleon. He had
+offered, first to the Directory and later to the First Consul, a boat
+which he claimed would "deliver France and the world from British
+oppression."
+
+
+This was a sailing vessel, which could sink under water and then
+discharge under a hostile ship a "carcass" of gunpowder or
+_torpedo_--another invention of his fertile brain. The Directory at
+once repulsed him. Bonaparte instructed Monge, Laplace, and Volney to
+report on this submarine or "plunging" boat, which had a partial
+success. It succeeded in blowing up a small vessel in the harbour at
+Brest in July, 1801; but the Commission seems to have reported
+unfavourably on its utility for offensive purposes. In truth, as
+Fulton had not then applied motive power to this invention, the name
+"plunging boat" conveyed an exaggerated notion of its functions, which
+were more suited to a life of ascetic contemplation than of
+destructive activity.
+
+It appears that the memoir-writers named above have confused the two
+distinct inventions of Fulton just referred to. In the latter half of
+1803 he repaired to England, and later on to the United States, and
+after the year 1803 he seems to have had neither the will nor the
+opportunity to serve Napoleon. In England he offered his torpedo
+patent to the English Admiralty, expressing his hatred of the French
+Emperor as a "wild beast who ought to be hunted down." Little was done
+with the torpedo in England, except to blow up a vessel off Walmer as
+a proof of what it could do. It is curious also that when Bell offered
+his paddle-boat to the Admiralty it was refused, though Nelson is said
+to have spoken in its favour. The official mind is everywhere hostile
+to new inventions; and Marmont suggestively remarks that Bonaparte's
+training as an artillerist, and his experience of the inconvenience
+and expense resulting from the adoption of changes in that arm, had no
+slight influence in setting him against all innovations.
+
+But, to resume our description of the Boulogne flotilla, it may be of
+interest to give some hitherto unpublished details about the
+flat-bottomed boats, and then to pass in brief review Napoleon's plans
+for assuring a temporary command of the Channel.
+
+It is clear that he at first relied almost solely on the flotilla.
+After one of his visits to Boulogne, he wrote on November 23rd, 1803,
+to Admiral Gantheaume that he would soon have on the northern coast
+1,300 flat-bottomed boats able to carry 100,000 men, while the Dutch
+flotilla would transport 60,000. "Do you think it will take us to the
+English coast? Eight hours of darkness which favour us would decide
+the fate of the universe." There is no mention of any convoying fleet:
+the First Consul evidently believed that the flotilla could beat off
+any attack at sea. This letter offers a signal proof of his inability,
+at least at that time, to understand the risks of naval warfare. But
+though his precise and logical mind seems then to have been incapable
+of fully realizing the conditions of war on the fickle, troublous, and
+tide-swept Channel, his admirals urgently warned him against trusting
+to shallow, flat-bottomed boats to beat the enemy out at sea; for
+though these _praams_ in their coasting trips repelled the attacks of
+British cruisers, which dared not come into shallow waters, it did not
+follow that they would have the same success in mid-Channel, far away
+from coast defences and amidst choppy waves that must render the guns
+of keelless boats wellnigh useless.[320]
+
+The present writer, after going through the reports of our admiral
+stationed in the Downs, is convinced that our seamen felt a supreme
+contempt for the flat-bottomed boats when at sea. After the capture of
+one of them, by an English gun-brig, Admiral Montagu reported,
+November 23rd, 1803:
+
+    "It is impossible to suppose for an instant that anything
+    effective can be produced by such miserable tools, equally
+    ill-calculated for the grand essentials in a maritime formation,
+    battle and speed: that floored as this wretched vessel is, she
+    cannot hug the wind, but must drift bodily to leeward, which
+    indeed was the cause of her capture; for, having got a little to
+    leeward of Boulogne Bay, it was impossible to get back and she was
+    necessitated to steer large for Calais. On the score of battle,
+    she has one long 18-pounder, without breeching or tackle,
+    traversing on a slide, which can only be fired stem on. The
+    8-pounder is mounted aft, but is a fixture: so that literally, if
+    one of our small boats was to lay alongside there would be nothing
+    but musketry to resist, and those [_sic_] placed in the hands of
+    poor wretches weakened by the effect of seasickness, exemplified
+    when this gun-boat was captured--the soldiers having retreated to
+    the hold, incapable of any energy or manly exertion.... In short,
+    Sir, these vessels in my mind are completely contemptible and
+    ridiculous, and I therefore conclude that the numbers collected at
+    Boulogne are to keep our attention on the _qui vive_, and to gloss
+    over the real attack meditated from other points."
+
+The vessel which provoked the contempt of our admiral was not one of
+the smallest class: she was 58-1/3 ft. long, 14-1/2 ft. wide, drew 3
+ft. forward and 4 ft. aft: her sides rose 3 ft. above the water, and
+her capacity was 35 tons. The secret intelligence of the Admiralty for
+the years 1804 and 1805 also shows that Dutch sailors were equally
+convinced of the unseaworthiness of these craft: Admiral Verhuell
+plainly told the French Emperor that, however flatterers might try to
+persuade him of the feasibility of the expedition, "nothing but
+disgrace could be expected." The same volume (No. 426) contains a
+report of the capture of two of the larger class of French _chaloupes_
+off Cape La Hogue. Among the prisoners was a young French royalist
+named La Bourdonnais: when forced by the conscription to enter
+Napoleon's service, he chose to serve with the _chaloupes_ "because
+of his conviction that all these flotillas were nothing but bugbears
+and would never attempt the invasion so much talked of and in which so
+few persons really believe." The same was the opinion of the veteran
+General Dumouriez, who, now an exile in England, drew up for our
+Government a long report on the proposed invasion and the means of
+thwarting it. The reports of our spies also prove that all experienced
+seamen on the Continent declared Napoleon's project to be either a
+ruse or a foolhardy venture.
+
+The compiler of the Ney "Memoirs," who was certainly well acquainted
+with the opinions of that Marshal, then commanding the troops at
+Boulogne, also believed that the flotilla was only able to serve as a
+gigantic ferry.[322] The French admirals were still better aware of
+the terrible risks to their crowded craft in a fight out at sea. They
+also pointed out that the difference in the size, draught, and speed
+of the boats must cause the dispersion of the flotilla, when its parts
+might fall a prey to the more seaworthy vessels of the enemy. Indeed,
+the only chance of crossing without much loss seemed to be offered by
+a protracted calm, when the British cruisers would be helpless against
+a combined attack of a cloud of row-boats. The risks would be greater
+during a fog, when the crowd of boats must be liable to collision,
+stranding on shoals, and losing their way. Even the departure of this
+quaint armada presented grave difficulties: it was found that the
+whole force could not clear the harbour in a single tide; and a part
+of the flotilla must therefore remain exposed to the British fire
+before the whole mass could get under way. For all these reasons
+Bruix, the commander of the flotilla, and Decres, Minister of Marine,
+dissuaded Napoleon from attempting the descent without the support of
+a powerful covering fleet.
+
+Napoleon's correspondence shows that, by the close of the year 1803,
+he had abandoned that first fatuous scheme which gained him from the
+wits of Paris the soubriquet of "Don Quixote de la Manche."[323] On
+the 7th of December he wrote to Gantheaume, maritime prefect at
+Toulon, urging him to press on the completion of his nine ships of the
+line and five frigates, and sketching plans of a naval combination that
+promised to insure the temporary command of the Channel. Of these only
+two need be cited here:
+
+1. "The Toulon squadron will set out on 20th _nivose_ (January 10th,
+1804), will arrive before Cadiz (or Lisbon), will find there the
+Rochefort squadron, will sail on without making land, between Brest
+and the Sorlingues, will touch at Cape La Hogue, and will pass in
+forty-eight hours before Boulogne: thence it will continue to the
+mouth of the Scheldt (there procuring masts, cordage, and all needful
+things)--or perhaps to Cherbourg.
+
+2. "The Rochefort squadron will set out on 20th _nivose_, will reach
+Toulon the 20th _pluviose:_ the united squadrons will set sail in
+_ventose_, and arrive in _germinal_ before Boulogne--that is rather
+late. In any case the Egyptian Expedition will cover the departure of
+the Toulon squadron: everything will be managed _so that Nelson will
+first sail for Alexandria_."
+
+These schemes reveal the strong and also the weak qualities of
+Napoleon. He perceived the strength of the central position which
+France enjoyed on her four coasts; and he now contrived all his
+dispositions, both naval and political, so as to tempt Nelson away
+eastwards from Toulon during the concentration of the French fleet in
+the Channel; and for this purpose he informed the military officers at
+Toulon that their destination was Taranto and the Morea. It was to
+these points that he wished to decoy Nelson; for this end had he sent
+his troops to Taranto, and kept up French intrigues in Corfu, the
+Morea, and Egypt; it was for this purpose that he charged that wily
+spy Mehee to inform Drake that the Toulon fleet was to take 40,000
+French troops to the Morea, and that the Brest fleet, with 200 highly
+trained Irish officers, was intended solely for Ireland. But, while
+displaying consummate guile, he failed to allow for the uncertainties
+of operations conducted by sea. Ignoring the patent fact that the
+Toulon fleet was blockaded by Nelson, and that of Rochefort by
+Collingwood, he fixed the dates of their departure and junction as
+though he were ordering the movements of a _corps d'armee_ in
+Provence; and this craving for certainty was to mar his naval plans
+and dog his footsteps with the shadow of disaster.[324]
+
+The plan of using the Toulon fleet to cover an invasion of England was
+not entirely new. As far back as the days of De Tourville, a somewhat
+similar plan had been devised: the French Channel and Atlantic fleets
+under that admiral were closely to engage Russell off the Isle of
+Wight, while the Toulon squadron, sailing northwards, was to collect
+the French transports on the coasts of Normandy for the invasion of
+England. Had Napoleon carefully studied French naval history, he would
+have seen that the disaster of La Hogue was largely caused by the
+severe weather which prevented the rendezvous, and brought about a
+hasty and ill-advised alteration in the original scheme. But of all
+subjects on which he spoke as an authority, there was perhaps not one
+that he had so inadequately studied as naval strategy: yet there was
+none wherein the lessons of experience needed so carefully to be laid
+to heart.
+
+Fortune seemed to frown on Napoleon's naval schemes: yet she was
+perhaps not unkind in thwarting them in their first stages. Events
+occurred which early suggested a deviation from the combinations
+noticed above. In the last days of 1803, hearing that the English
+were about to attack Martinique, he at once wrote to Gantheaume,
+urging him to despatch the Toulon squadron under Admiral
+Latouche-Treville for the rescue of this important island. The
+commander of the troops, Cervoni, was to be told that the expedition
+aimed at the Morea, so that spies might report this news to Nelson,
+and it is clear from our admiral's despatches that the ruse half
+succeeded. Distracted, however, by the thought that the French might,
+after all, aim at Ireland, Nelson clung to the vicinity of Toulon, and
+his untiring zeal kept in harbour the most daring admiral in the French
+navy, who, despite his advanced age, excited an enthusiasm that none
+other could arouse.
+
+To him, in spite of his present ill-fortune, Napoleon intrusted the
+execution of a scheme bearing date July 2nd, 1804. Latouche was
+ordered speedily to put to sea with his ten ships of the line and four
+frigates, to rally a French warship then at Cadiz, release the five
+ships of the line and four frigates blockaded at Rochefort by
+Collingwood, and then sweep the Channel and convoy the flotilla across
+the straits. This has been pronounced by Jurien de la Graviere the
+best of all Napoleon's plans: it exposed ships that had long been in
+harbour only to a short ocean voyage, and it was free from the
+complexity of the later and more grandiose schemes.
+
+But fate interposed and carried off the intrepid commander by that
+worst of all deaths for a brave seaman, death by disease in harbour,
+where he was shut up by his country's foes (August 20th).
+
+Villeneuve was thereupon appointed to succeed him, while Missiessy
+held command at Rochefort. The choice of Villeneuve has always been
+considered strange; and the riddle is not solved by the declaration of
+Napoleon that he considered that Villeneuve at the Nile showed his
+_good fortune_ in escaping with the only French ships which survived
+that disaster. A strange reason this: to appoint an admiral commander
+of an expedition that was to change the face of the world because his
+good fortune consisted in escaping from Nelson![325]
+
+Napoleon now began to widen his plans. According to the scheme of
+September 29th, three expeditions were now to set out; the first was
+to assure the safety of the French West Indies; the second was to
+recover the Dutch colonies in those seas and reinforce the French troops
+still holding out in part of St. Domingo; while the third had as its
+objective West Africa and St. Helena. The Emperor evidently hoped to
+daze us by simultaneous attacks in Africa, America, and also in Asiatic
+waters. After these fleets had set sail in October and November, 1804,
+Ireland was to be attacked by the Brest fleet now commanded by
+Gantheaume. Slipping away from the grip of Cornwallis, he was to pass
+out of sight of land and disembark his troops in Lough Swilly. These
+troops, 18,000 strong, were under that redoubtable fighter, Augereau;
+and had they been landed, the history of the world might have been
+different. Leaving them to revolutionize Ireland, Gantheaume was to make
+for the English Channel, touch at Cherbourg for further orders, and
+proceed to Boulogne to convoy the flotilla across: or, if the weather
+prevented this, as was probable in January, he was to pass on to the
+Texel, rally the seven Dutch battleships and the transports with their
+25,000 troops, beat back down the English Channel and return to Ireland.
+Napoleon counted on the complete success of one or other of Gantheaume's
+moves: "Whether I have 30,000 or 40,000 men in Ireland, or whether I am
+both in England and Ireland, the war is ours."[326]
+
+The objections to the September combination are fairly obvious. It was
+exceedingly improbable that the three fleets could escape at the time
+and in the order which Napoleon desired, or that crews enervated by
+long captivity in port would succeed in difficult operations when
+thrust out into the wintry gales of the Atlantic and the Channel.
+Besides, success could only be won after a serious dispersion of
+French naval resources; and the West Indian expeditions must be
+regarded as prompted quite as much by a colonial policy as by a
+determination to overrun England or Ireland.[327]
+
+
+At any rate, if the Emperor's aim was merely to distract us by widely
+diverging attacks, that could surely have been accomplished without
+sending twenty-six sail of the line into American and African waters,
+and leaving to Gantheaume so disproportionate an amount of work and
+danger. This September combination may therefore be judged distinctly
+inferior to that of July, which, with no scattering of the French
+forces, promised to decoy Nelson away to the Morea and Egypt, while
+the Toulon and Rochefort squadrons proceeded to Boulogne.
+
+The September schemes hopelessly miscarried. Gantheaume did not elude
+Cornwallis, and remained shut up in Brest. Missiessy escaped from
+Rochefort, sailed to the West Indies, where he did some damage and
+then sailed home again. "He had taken a pawn and returned to his own
+square."[328] Villeneuve slipped out from Toulon (January 19th, 1805),
+while Nelson was sheltering from westerly gales under the lee of
+Sardinia; but the storm which promised to renew his reputation for
+good luck speedily revealed the weakness of his ships and crews.
+
+"My fleet looked well at Toulon," he wrote to Decres, Minister of
+Marine, "but when the storm came on, things changed at once. The
+sailors were not used to storms: they were lost among the mass of
+soldiers: these from sea-sickness lay in heaps about the decks: it was
+impossible to work the ships: hence yard-arms were broken and sails
+were carried away: our losses resulted as much from clumsiness and
+inexperience as from defects in the materials delivered by the
+arsenals."[329]
+
+Inexperience and sea-sickness were factors that found no place in
+Napoleon's calculations; but they compelled Villeneuve to return to
+Toulon to refit; and there Nelson closed on him once more.
+
+Meanwhile events were transpiring which seemed to add to Napoleon's
+naval strength and to the difficulties of his foes. On January 4th,
+1805, he concluded with Spain a treaty which added her naval resources
+to those of France, Holland, and Northern Italy. The causes that led
+to an open rupture between England and Spain were these. Spain had
+been called upon by Napoleon secretly to pay him the stipulated sum of
+72,000,000 francs a year (see p. 437), and she reluctantly consented.
+This was, of course, a covert act of hostility against England; and
+the Spanish Government was warned at the close of 1803 that, if this
+subsidy continued to be paid to France, it would constitute "at any
+future period, when circumstances may render it necessary, a just
+cause of war" between England and Spain. Far from complying with this
+reasonable remonstrance, the Spanish Court yielded to Napoleon's
+imperious order to repair five French warships that had taken refuge
+in Ferrol from our cruisers, and in July, 1804, allowed French seamen
+to travel thither overland to complete the crews of these vessels.
+Thus for some months our warships had to observe Ferrol, as if it were
+a hostile port.
+
+Clearly, this state of things could not continue; and when the
+protests of our ambassador at Madrid were persistently evaded or
+ignored, he was ordered, in the month of September, to leave that
+capital unless he received satisfactory assurances. He did not leave
+until November 10th, and before that time a sinister event had taken
+place. The British Ministry determined that Spanish treasure-ships from
+South America should not be allowed to land at Cadiz the sinews of war
+for France, and sent orders to our squadrons to stop those ships. Four
+frigates were told off for that purpose. On the 5th of October they
+sighted the four rather smaller Spanish frigates that bore the ingots of
+Peru, and summoned them to surrender, thereafter to be held in pledge.
+The Spaniards, nobly resolving to yield only to overwhelming force,
+refused; and in the ensuing fight one of their ships blew up, whereupon
+the others hauled down their flags and were taken to England. Resenting
+this action, Spain declared war on December 12th, 1804.
+
+Stripped of all the rodomontade with which French historians have
+enveloped this incident, the essential facts are as follows. Napoleon
+compelled Spain by the threat of invasion to pay him a large subsidy:
+England declared this payment, and accompanying acts, to be acts of
+war; Spain shuffled uneasily between the two belligerents but
+continued to supply funds to Napoleon and to shelter and repair his
+warships; thereupon England resolved to cut off her American
+subsidies, but sent a force too small to preclude the possibility of a
+sea-fight; the fight took place, with a lamentable result, which
+changed the covert hostility of Spain into active hostility.
+
+Public opinion and popular narratives are, however, fashioned by
+sentiment rather than founded on evidence; accordingly, Britain's
+prestige suffered from this event. The facts, as currently reported,
+seemed to convict her of an act of piracy; and few persons on the
+Continent or among the Whig coteries of Westminster troubled to find
+out whether Spain had not been guilty of acts of hostility and whether
+the French Emperor was not the author of the new war. Undoubtedly it
+was his threatening pressure on Spain that had compelled her to her
+recent action: but that pressure had been for the most part veiled by
+diplomacy, while Britain's retort was patent and notorious.
+Consequently, every version of this incident that was based merely on
+newspaper reports condemned her conduct as brutally piratical; and
+only those who have delved into archives have discovered the real
+facts of the case.[330] Napoleon's letter to the King of Spain quoted
+on p. 437 shows that even before the war he was seeking to drag him
+into hostilities with England, and he continued to exert a remorseless
+pressure on the Court of Madrid; it left two alternatives open to
+England, either to see Napoleon close his grip on Spain and wield her
+naval resources when she was fully prepared for war, or to precipitate
+the rupture. It was the alternative, _mutatis mutandis_, presented to
+George III. and the elder Pitt in 1761, when the King was for delay
+and his Minister was for war at once. That instance had proved the
+father's foresight; and now at the close of 1804 the younger Pitt
+might flatter himself that open war was better than a treacherous
+peace.
+
+In lieu of a subsidy Spain now promised to provide from twenty-five to
+twenty-nine sail of the line, and to have them ready by the close of
+March. On his side, Napoleon agreed to guarantee the integrity of the
+Spanish dominions, and to regain Trinidad for her. The sequel will
+show how his word was kept.
+
+The conclusion of this alliance placed the hostile navies almost on an
+equality, at least on paper. But, as the equipment of the Spanish
+fleet was very slow, Napoleon for the present adhered to his plan of
+September, 1804, with the result already detailed. Not until March
+2nd, 1805, do we find the influence of the Spanish alliance observable
+in his naval schemes. On that date he issued orders to Villeneuve and
+Gantheaume, which assigned to the latter most of the initiative, as also
+the chief command after their assumed junction. Gantheaume, with the
+Brest fleet, after eluding the blockaders, was to proceed first to
+Ferrol, capture the British ships off that port and, reinforced by the
+French and Spanish ships there at anchor, proceed across the Atlantic to
+the appointed rendezvous at Martinique. The Toulon squadron under
+Villeneuve was at the same time to make for Cadiz, and, after collecting
+the Spanish ships, set sail for the West Indies. Then the armada was to
+return with all speed to Boulogne, where Napoleon expected it to arrive
+between June 10th and July 10th.[331]
+
+Diverse judgments have been passed on this, the last and grandest of
+Napoleon's naval combinations. On the one hand, it is urged that, as
+the French fleets had seen no active service, a long voyage was
+necessary to impart experience and efficiency before matters were
+brought to the touch in the Straits of Dover; and as Britain and
+France both regarded their West Indian islands as their most valued
+possessions, a voyage thither would be certain to draw British sails
+in eager pursuit. Finally, those islands dotted over a thousand miles
+of sea presented a labyrinth wherein it would be easy for the French
+to elude Nelson's cruisers.
+
+On the other hand, it may be urged that the success of the plan
+depended on too many _ifs_. Assuming that the Toulon and Brest
+squadrons escaped the blockaders, their subsequent movements would
+most probably be reported by some swift frigate off Gibraltar or
+Ferrol. The chance of our divining the French plans was surely as
+great as that Gantheaume and Villeneuve would unite in the West
+Indies, ravage the British possessions, and return in undiminished
+force. The English fleets, after weary months of blockade, were adepts
+at scouting; their wings covered with ease a vast space, their
+frigates rapidly signalled news to the flagship, and their
+concentration was swift and decisive. Prompt to note every varying
+puff of wind, they bade fair to overhaul their enemies when the chase
+began in earnest, and when once the battle was joined, numbers counted
+for little: the English crews, inured to fights on the ocean, might be
+trusted to overwhelm the foe by their superior experience and
+discipline, hampered as the French now were by the lumbering and
+defective warships of Spain.
+
+Napoleon, indeed, amply discounted the chances of failure of his
+ultimate design, the command of the Channel. The ostensible aims of
+the expedition were colonial. The French fleets were to take on board
+11,908 soldiers, of whom three-fourths were destined for the West
+Indies; and, in case Gantheaume did not join Villeneuve at Martinique,
+the latter was ordered, after waiting forty days, to set sail for the
+Canaries, there to intercept the English convoys bound for Brazil and
+the East Indies.
+
+In the spring and summer of 1805 Napoleon's correspondence supplies
+copious proof of the ideas and plans that passed through his brain.
+After firmly founding the new Empire, he journeyed into Piedmont,
+thence to Milan for his coronation as King of Italy, and finally to
+Genoa. In this absence of three months from Paris (April-July) many
+lengthy letters to Decres attest the alternations of his hopes and
+fears. He now keeps the possibility of failure always before him: his
+letters no longer breathe the crude confidence of 1803: and while
+facing the chances of failure in the West Indies, his thoughts swing
+back to the Orient:
+
+     "According to all the news that I receive, five or six thousand men
+     in the [East] Indies would ruin the English Company. Supposing that
+     our [West] Indian expedition is not fully successful, and I cannot
+     reach the grand end which will demolish all the rest, I think we
+     must arrange the [East] Indian expedition for September. We have
+     now greater resources for it than some time ago."[332]
+
+How tenacious is his will! He here recurs to the plan laid down before
+Decaen sailed to the East Indies in March, 1803. Even the prospects of
+a continental coalition fail to dispel that gorgeous dream. But amid
+much that is visionary we may discern this element of practicality: in
+case the blow against England misses the mark, Napoleon has provided
+himself with a splendid alternative that will banish all thought of
+failure.
+
+It is needless to recount here the well-known details of Villeneuve's
+voyage and Nelson's pursuit. The Toulon and Cadiz fleets got clear
+away to the West Indies, and after a last glance towards the Orient,
+Nelson set out in pursuit. On the 4th of June the hostile fleets were
+separated by only a hundred miles of sea; and Villeneuve, when off
+Antigua, hearing that Nelson was so close, decided forthwith to return
+to Europe. After disembarking most of his troops and capturing a fleet
+of fourteen British merchantmen, he sailed for Ferrol, in pursuance of
+orders just received from Napoleon, which bade him rally fifteen
+allied ships at that port, and push on to Brest, where he must release
+Gantheaume.
+
+In this gigantic war game, where the Atlantic was the chess-board, and
+the prize a world-empire, the chances were at this time curiously
+even. Fortune had favoured Villeneuve but checked Gantheaume.
+Villeneuve successfully dodged Nelson in the West Indies, but
+ultimately the pursuer divined the enemy's scheme of returning to
+Europe, and sent a swift brig to warn the Admiralty, which was thereby
+informed of the exact position of affairs on July 8th, that is, twelve
+days before Napoleon himself knew of the state of affairs. On July
+20th, the French Emperor heard, _through English newspapers_, that his
+fleet was on its return voyage: and his heart beat high with hope that
+Villeneuve would now gather up his squadrons in the Bay of Biscay and
+appear before Boulogne in overwhelming force; for he argued that, even
+if Villeneuve should keep right away from Brest, and leave blockaders
+and blockaded face to face, he would still be at least sixteen ships
+stronger than any force that could be brought against him.
+
+But Napoleon was now committing the blunder which he so often censured
+in his inferiors. He was "making pictures" to himself, pictures in
+which the gleams of fortune were reserved for the tricolour flag, and
+gloom and disaster shrouded the Union Jack; he conceived that Nelson
+had made for Jamaica, and that the British squadrons were engaged in
+chasing phantom French fleets around Ireland or to the East Indies.
+"We have not to do," he said, "with a far-seeing, but with a very
+proud, Government."
+
+In reality, Nelson was nearing the coast of Portugal, Cornwallis had
+been so speedily reinforced as to marshal twenty-eight ships of the
+line off Brest, while Calder was waiting for Villeneuve off Cape
+Finisterre with a fleet of fifteen battleships. Thus, when Villeneuve
+neared the north-west of Spain, his twenty ships of the line were
+confronted by a force which he could neither overwhelm nor shake off.
+The combat of July 22nd, fought amidst a dense haze, was unfavourable
+to the allies, two Spanish ships of the line striking their colours to
+Calder before the gathering fog and gloom of night separated the
+combatants: on the next two days Villeneuve strove to come to close
+quarters, but Calder sheered off; thereupon the French, unable then to
+make Ferrol, put into Vigo, while Calder, ignorant of their position,
+joined Cornwallis off Brest. This retreat of the British admiral
+subjected him to a court-martial, and consternation reigned in London
+when Villeneuve was known to be on the Spanish coast unguarded; but
+the fear was needless; though the French admiral succeeded in rallying
+the Ferrol squadron, yet, as he was ordered to avoid Ferrol, he put
+into Corunna, and on August 15th he decided to sail for Cadiz.
+
+To realize the immense importance of this decision we must picture to
+ourselves the state of affairs just before this time.
+
+Nelson, delayed by contrary winds and dogged by temporary ill-luck,
+had made for Gibraltar, whence, finding that no French ships had
+passed the straits, he doubled back in hot haste northwards, and there
+is clear proof that his speedy return to the coast of Spain spread
+dismay in official circles at Paris. "This unexpected union of forces
+undoubtedly renders every scheme of invasion impracticable for the
+present," wrote Talleyrand to Napoleon on August 2nd, 1805.[333]
+Missing Villeneuve off Ferrol, Nelson joined Cornwallis off Ushant on
+the very day when the French admiral decided to make for Cadiz.
+Passing on to Portsmouth, the hero now enjoyed a few days of
+well-earned repose, until the nation called on him for his final
+effort.
+
+Meanwhile Napoleon had arrived on August 3rd at Boulogne, where he
+reviewed a line of soldiery nine miles long. The sight might well
+arouse his hopes of assured victory. He had ground for hoping that
+Villeneuve would soon be in the Channel. Not until August 8th did he
+receive news of the fight with Calder, and he took pains to parade it
+as an English defeat. He therefore trusted that, in the spirit of his
+orders to Villeneuve dated July the 26th, that admiral would sail to
+Cadiz, gather up other French and Spanish ships, and return to Ferrol
+and Brest with a mighty force of some sixty sail of the line:
+
+     "I count on your zeal for my service, on your love for the
+     fatherland, on your hatred of this Power which for forty
+     generations has oppressed us, and which a little daring and
+     perseverance on your part will for ever reduce to the rank of the
+     small Powers: 150,000 soldiers ... and the crews complete are
+     embarked on 2,000 craft of the flotilla, which, despite the English
+     cruisers, forms a long line of broadsides from Etaples to Cape
+     Grisnez. Your voyage, and it alone, makes us without any doubt
+     masters of England."
+
+Austria and Russia were already marshalling their forces for the war
+of the Third Coalition. Yet, though menaced by those Powers, to whom
+he had recently offered the most flagrant provocations, this
+astonishing man was intent only on the ruin of England, and secretly
+derided their preparations. "You need not" (so he wrote to Eugene,
+Viceroy of Italy) "contradict the newspaper rumours of war, but make
+fun of them.... Austria's actions are probably the result of
+fear."--Thus, even when the eastern horizon lowered threateningly with
+clouds, he continued to pace the cliffs of Boulogne, or gallop
+restlessly along the strand, straining his gaze westward to catch the
+first glimpse of his armada. That horizon was never to be flecked with
+Villeneuve's sails: they were at this time furled in the harbour of
+Cadiz.
+
+Unmeasured abuse has been showered upon Villeneuve for his retreat to
+that harbour. But it must be remembered that in both of Napoleon's
+last orders to him, those of July 16th and 26th, he was required to
+sail to Cadiz under certain conditions. In the first order prescribing
+alternative ways of gaining the mastery of the Channel, that step was
+recommended solely as a last alternative in case of misfortune: he was
+directed not to enter the long and difficult inlet of Ferrol, but,
+after collecting the squadron there, to cast anchor at Cadiz. In the
+order of July 26th he was charged positively to repair to Cadiz: "My
+intention is that you rally at Cadiz the Spanish ships there,
+disembark your sick, and, without stopping there more than four days
+at most, again set sail, return to Ferrol, etc." Villeneuve seems not
+to have received these last orders, but he alludes to those of July
+16th.[334]
+
+These, then, were probably the last instructions he received from
+Napoleon before setting sail from the roads of Corunna on August 13th.
+The censures passed on his retreat to Cadiz are therefore based on the
+supposition that he received instructions which he did not
+receive.[335] He expressly based his move to Cadiz on Napoleon's
+orders of July 16th. The mishaps which the Emperor then contemplated
+as necessitating such a step had, in Villeneuve's eyes, actually
+happened. The admiral considered the fight of July 22nd _la malheureuse
+affaire;_ his ships were encumbered with sick; they worked badly; on
+August 15th a north-east gale carried away the top-mast of a Spanish
+ship; and having heard from a Danish merchantman the news--false news,
+as it afterwards appeared--that Cornwallis with twenty-five ships was to
+the north, he turned and scudded before the wind. He could not divine
+the disastrous influence of his conduct on the plan of invasion. He did
+not know that his master was even then beginning to hesitate between a
+dash on London or a campaign on the Danube, and that the events of the
+next few days were destined to tilt the fortunes of the world. Doubtless
+he ought to have disregarded the Emperor's words about Cadiz and to have
+struggled on to Brest, as his earlier and wider orders enjoined. But the
+Emperor's instructions pointed to Cadiz as the rendezvous in case of
+misfortune or great difficulty. As a matter of fact, Napoleon on July
+26th ordered the Rochefort squadron to _meet Villeneuve at Cadiz;_ and
+it is clear that by that date Napoleon had decided on that rendezvous,
+apparently because it could be more easily entered and cleared than
+Ferrol, and was safer from attack. But, as it happened, the Rochefort
+squadron had already set sail and failed to sight an enemy or friend for
+several weeks.
+
+Such are the risks of naval warfare, in which even the greatest
+geniuses at times groped but blindly. Nelson was not afraid to confess
+the truth. The French Emperor, however, seems never to have made an
+admission which would mar his claim to strategic infallibility. Even
+now, when the Spanish ships were proved to clog the enterprise, he
+persisted in merely counting numbers, and in asserting that Villeneuve
+might still neutralize the force of Calder and Cornwallis. These hopes
+he cherished up to August 23rd, when, as the next chapter will show,
+he faced right about to confront Austria. His Minister of Marine, who
+had more truly gauged the difficulties of all parts of the naval
+enterprise, continued earnestly to warn him of the terrible risk of
+burdening Villeneuve's ships with the unseaworthy craft of Spain and
+of trusting to this ill-assorted armada to cover the invasion now that
+their foes had divined its secret. The Emperor bitterly upbraided his
+Minister for his timidity, and in the presence of Daru, Intendant
+General of the army, indulged in a dramatic soliloquy against
+Villeneuve for his violation of orders: "What a navy! What an admiral!
+What sacrifices for nothing! My hopes are frustrated--- Daru, sit down
+and write"--whereupon it is said that he traced out the plans of the
+campaign which was to culminate at Ulm and Austerlitz.[336]
+
+The question has often been asked whether Napoleon seriously intended
+the invasion of England. Certainly the experienced seamen of England,
+France, and Holland, with few exceptions, declared that the
+flat-bottomed boats were unseaworthy, and that a frightful disaster
+must ensue if they were met out at sea by our ships. When it is
+further remembered that our coasts were defended by batteries and
+martello towers, that several hundreds of pinnaces and row-boats were
+ready to attack the flotilla before it could attempt the
+disembarkation of horses, artillery, and stores, and that 180,000
+regulars and militia, aided by 400,000 volunteers, were ready to
+defend our land, the difficulties even of capturing London will be
+obvious. And the capture of the capital would not have decided the
+contest. Napoleon seems to have thought it would. In his voyage to St.
+Helena he said: "I put all to the hazard; I entered into no
+calculations as to the manner in which I was to return; I trusted all
+to the impression the occupation of the capital would have
+occasioned."[337]--But, as has been shown above (p. 441), plans had been
+secretly drawn up for the removal of the Court and the national treasure
+to Worcester; the cannon of Woolwich were to be despatched into the
+Midlands by canal; and our military authorities reckoned that the
+systematic removal of provisions and stores from all the districts
+threatened by the enemy would exhaust him long before he overran the
+home counties. Besides, the invasion was planned when Britain's naval
+power had been merely evaded, not conquered. Nelson and Cornwallis and
+Calder would not for ever be chasing phantom fleets; they would
+certainly return, and cut Napoleon from his base, the sea.
+
+Again, if Napoleon was bent solely on the invasion of England, why
+should he in June, 1805, have offered to Russia and Austria so
+gratuitous an affront as the annexation of the Ligurian Republic? He
+must have known that this act would hurry them into war. Thiers
+considers the annexation of Genoa a "grave fault" in the Emperor's
+policy--but many have doubted whether Napoleon did not intend Genoa to
+be the gate leading to a new avenue of glory, now that the success of
+his naval dispositions was doubtful. Marbot gives the general opinion
+of military circles when he says that the Emperor wanted to provoke a
+continental war in order to escape the ridicule which the failure of
+his Boulogne plans would otherwise have aroused. "The new coalition
+came just at the right moment to get him out of an annoying
+situation." The compiler of the Fouche "Memoirs," which, though not
+genuine, may be accepted as generally correct, took the same view. He
+attributes to Napoleon the noteworthy words: "I may fail by sea, but
+not by land; besides, I shall be able to strike the blow before the
+old coalition machines are ready: the kings have neither activity nor
+decision of character: I do not fear old Europe." The Emperor also
+remarked to the Council of State that the expense of all the
+preparations at Boulogne was fully justified by the fact that they
+gave him "fully twenty days' start over all enemies.... A pretext had
+to be found for raising the troops and bringing them together without
+alarming the Continental Powers: and that pretext was afforded me by
+the projected descent upon England."[338]
+
+It is also quite possible that his aim was Ireland as much as England.
+It certainly was in the plan of September, 1804: and doubtless it
+still held a prominent place in his mind, except during the few days
+when he pictured Calder vanquished and Nelson scouring the West
+Indies. Then he doubtless fixed his gaze solely upon London. But there
+is much indirect evidence which points to Ireland as forming at least
+a very important part of his scheme. Both Nelson and Collingwood
+believed him to be aiming at Ireland.[339]
+
+But indeed Napoleon is often unfathomable. Herein lies much of the
+charm of Napoleonic studies. He is at once the Achilles, the Mercury,
+and the Proteus of the modern world. The ease with which his mind
+grasped all problems and suddenly concentrated its force on some new
+plan may well perplex posterity as it dazed his contemporaries. If we
+were dealing with any other man than Napoleon, we might safely say
+that an invasion of England, before the command of the sea had been
+secured, was infinitely less likely than a descent on Ireland. The
+landing of a _corps d'armee_ there would have provoked a revolution;
+and British ascendancy would have vanished in a week. Even had Nelson
+returned and swept the seas, Ireland would have been lost to the
+United Kingdom; and Britain, exhausted also by the expenses which the
+Boulogne preparations had compelled her to make for the defence of
+London, must have succumbed.
+
+If ever Napoleon intended risking all his fortunes on the conquest of
+England, it can be proved that his mind was gradually cleared of
+illusions. He trusted that a popular rising would overthrow the British
+Government: people and rulers showed an accord that had never been known
+since the reign of Queen Anne. He believed, for a short space, that the
+flotilla could fight sea-going ships out at sea: the converse was proved
+up to the hilt. Finally, he trusted that Villeneuve, when burdened with
+Spanish ships, would outwit and outmanoeuvre Nelson!
+
+What then remained after these and many other disappointments? Surely
+that scheme alone was practicable, in which the command of the sea
+formed only an unimportant factor. For the conquest of England it was
+an essential factor. In Ireland alone could Napoleon find the
+conditions on which he counted for success--a discontented populace
+that would throng to the French eagles, and a field of warfare where
+the mere landing of 20,000 veterans would decide the campaign.[340]
+
+And yet it is, on the whole, certain that his expedition for Ireland
+was meant merely to distract and paralyze the defenders of Great
+Britain, while he dealt the chief blow at London. Instinct and
+conviction alike prompted him to make imposing feints that should lead
+his enemy to lay bare his heart, and that heart was our great capital.
+His indomitable will scorned the word _impossible_--"a word found only
+in the dictionary of fools"; he felt England to be the sole barrier to
+his ambitions; and to crush her power he was ready to brave, not only
+her stoutest seamen, but also her guardian angels, the winds and
+storms. Both the man and the occasion were unique in the world's
+history and must not be judged according to tame probabilities. For
+his honour was at stake. He was so deeply pledged to make use of the
+vast preparations at his northern ports that, had all his complex
+dispositions worked smoothly, he would certainly have attempted a dash
+at London; and only after some adequate excuse could he consent to give
+up that adventure.
+
+The excuse was now furnished by Villeneuve's retreat to Cadiz; and
+public opinion, ignorant of Napoleon's latest instructions on that
+subject, and knowing only the salient facts of the case, laid on that
+luckless admiral the whole burden of blame for the failure of the
+scheme of invasion. With front unabashed and a mind presaging certain
+triumphs, Napoleon accordingly wheeled his legions eastward to
+prosecute that alluring alternative, the conquest of England through
+the Continent.
+
+
+
+
+
+APPENDIX
+
+[_The two following State Papers have never before been published_]
+
+
+No. I. is a despatch from Mr. Thornton, our _charge d'affaires_ at
+Washington, relative to the expected transfer of the vast region of
+Louisiana from Spain to France (see ch. xv. of this vol.).
+
+  [In "F O.," America, No. 35.]
+  "WASHINGTON,
+  "26 _Jany._, 1802.
+
+     "MY LORD,
+
+     "... About four years ago, when the rumour of the transfer of
+     Louisiana to France was first circulated, I put into Mr.
+     Pickering's hands for his perusal a despatch written by Mr. Fauchet
+     about the year 1794, which with many others was intercepted by one
+     of H.M. ships. In that paper the French Minister urged to his
+     Government the absolute necessity of acquiring Louisiana or some
+     territory in the vicinity of the United States in order to obtain a
+     permanent influence in the country, and he alluded to a memorial
+     written some years before by the Count du Moutier to the same
+     effect, when he was employed as His Most Christian Majesty's
+     Minister to the United States. The project seems therefore to have
+     been long in the contemplation of the French Government, and
+     perhaps no period is more favourable than the present for carrying
+     it into execution.
+
+     "When I paid my respects to the Vice-President, Mr. Burr, on his
+     arrival at this place, he, of his own accord, directed conversation
+     to this topic. He owned that he had made some exertion indirectly
+     to discover the truth of the report, and thought he had reason to
+     believe it. He appeared to think that the great armament destined
+     by France to St. Domingo, had this ulterior object in view, and
+     expressed much apprehension that the transfer and colonization of
+     Louisiana were meditated by her with the concurrence or
+     acquiescence of His Maj'^{s} Gov^{t}. It was impossible for me to
+     give any opinion on this part of the measure, which, whatever may
+     be its ultimate tendency, presents at first view nothing but danger
+     to His Maj'^{s} Trans-Atlantic possessions.
+
+     "Regarding alone the aim of France to acquire a preponderating
+     influence in the councils of the United States, it may be very well
+     doubted whether the possession of Louisiana, and the means which
+     she would chose to employ are calculated to secure that end.
+     Experience seems now to have sanctioned the opinion that if the
+     provinces of Canada had been restored to France at the Peace of
+     Paris, and if from that quarter she had been left to press upon the
+     American frontier, to harass the exterior settlements and to mingle
+     in the feuds of the Indian Tribes, the colonies might still have
+     preserved their allegiance to the parent country and have retained
+     their just jealousy of that system of encroachment adopted by
+     France from the beginning of the last century. The present project
+     is but a continuance of the same system; and neither her power nor
+     her present temper leave room for expectation that she will pursue
+     it with less eagerness or greater moderation than before. Whether,
+     therefore, she attempt to restrain the navigation of the
+     Mississippi or limit the freedom of the port of New Orleans;
+     whether she press upon the Western States with any view to
+     conquest, or seduce them by her principles of fraternity (for which
+     indeed they are well prepared) she must infallibly alienate the
+     Atlantic States and force them into a straiter connection with
+     Great Britain.
+
+     "I have scarcely met with a person under whatever party he may rank
+     himself, who does not dread this event, and who would not prefer
+     almost any neighbours to the French: and it seems perfect
+     infatuation in the Administration of this country that they chose
+     the present moment for leaving that frontier almost defenceless by
+     the reduction of its military establishment.
+
+     "I have, etc.,
+
+     "[Signed] EDW'D THORNTON."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+No. II. is a report in "F.O.," France, No. 71, by one of our spies in
+Paris on the doings of the Irish exiles there, especially O'Connor,
+whom Napoleon had appointed General of Division in Marshal Augereau's
+army, then assembling at Brest for the expedition to Ireland. After
+stating O'Connor's appointment, the report continues:
+
+    "About eighty Irishmen were sent to Morlaix to be formed into a
+    company of officers and taught how they were to discipline and
+    instruct their countrymen when they landed in Ireland. McShee,
+    General de Brigade, commands them. He and Blackwell are, I
+    believe, the only persons among them of any consequence, who have
+    seen actual service. Emmett's brother and McDonald, who were
+    jealous of the attention paid to O'Connor, would not go to
+    Morlaix. They were prevailed on to go to Brest towards the end of
+    May, and there to join General Humbert. Commandant Dalton, a young
+    man of Irish extraction, and lately appointed to a situation in
+    the Army at Boulogne, translated everything between O'Connor and
+    the War Department at Paris. There is no Irish Committee at Paris
+    as is reported. O'Connor and General Hartry, an old Irishman who
+    has been long in the French service, are the only persons applied
+    to by the French Government, O'Connor for the expedition, and
+    Hartry for the Police, etc., of the Irish in France.
+
+    "O'Connor, though he had long tried to have an audience of
+    Bonaparte, never saw him till the 20th of May [1805], when he was
+    presented to him at the levee by Marshal Augereau. The Emperor and
+    the Empress complimented him on his dress and military appearance,
+    and Bonaparte said to him _Venez me voir en particulier demain
+    matin._ O'Connor went and was alone with him near two hours. On
+    that day Bonaparte did not say a word to him respecting his
+    intention on England; all their conversation regarded Ireland.
+    O'Connor was with him again on the Thursday and Friday following.
+    Those three audiences are all that O'Connor ever had in private
+    with Bonaparte.
+
+    "He told me on the Saturday evening that he should go to Court the
+    next morning to take public leave of the Emperor and leave Paris
+    as soon as he had received 10,000 livres which Maret was to give
+    him for his travelling expenses, etc., and which he was to have in
+    a day or two. His horses and all his servants but one had set off
+    for Brest some time before.
+
+    "Bonaparte told O'Connor, when speaking of the prospect of a
+    continental War, 'la Russie peut-etre pourroit envoyer cette annee
+    100,000 hommes contre la France, mais j'ai pour cela assez de
+    monde a ma disposition: je ferois meme marcher, s'il le faut, une
+    armee contre la Russie, et si l'Empereur d'Allemagne refusoit un
+    passage a cette armee dans son pays, je la ferois passer malgre
+    lui.' He afterwards said--'il y a plusieurs moyens de detruire
+    l'Angleterre, mais celui de lui oter Irlande est bon. Je vous
+    donnerai 25,000 bonnes troupes et s'il en arrive seulement 15,000,
+    ce sera assez. Vous aurez aussi 150,000 fusils pour armer vos
+    compatriotes, et un parc d'artillerie legere, des pieces de 4 et
+    de 6 livres, et toutes les provisions de guerre necessaires.'
+
+    "O'Connor endeavoured to persuade Bonaparte that the best way to
+    conquer England was first to go to Ireland, and thence to England
+    with 200,000 Irishmen. Bonaparte said he did not think that would
+    do; _d'ailleurs,_ he added, _ce seroit trop long_. They agreed
+    that all the English in Ireland should be exterminated as the
+    whites had been in St. Domingo. Bonaparte assured him that, as
+    soon as he had formed an Irish army, he should be Commander in
+    Chief of the French and Irish forces. Bonaparte directed O'Connor
+    to try to gain over to his interest Laharpe, the Emperor of
+    Russia's tutor. Laharpe had applied for a passport to go to St.
+    Petersbourg. He says he will do everything in his power to engage
+    the Emperor to go to war with Bonaparte. Laharpe breathes nothing
+    but vengeance against Bonaparte, who, besides other injuries,
+    turned his back on him in public and would not speak to him.
+    Laharpe was warned of O'Connor's intended visit, and went to the
+    country to avoid seeing him: The Senator Garat is to go to Brest
+    with O'Connor to write a constitution for Ireland. O'Connor is
+    getting out of favor with the Irish in France; they begin to
+    suspect his ambitious and selfish views. There was a coolness
+    between Admiral Truguet and him for some time previous to
+    Truguet's return to Brest. Augereau had given a dinner to all the
+    principal officers of his army then at Paris. Truguet invited all
+    of them to dine with him, two or three days after, except
+    O'Connor. O'Connor told me he would never forgive him for it."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 1: From a French work, "Moeurs et Coutumes des Corses"
+(Paris, 1802), I take the following incident. A priest, charged with
+the duty of avenging a relative for some fourteen years, met his enemy
+at the gate of Ajaccio and forthwith shot him, under the eyes of an
+official--who did nothing. A relative of the murdered man, happening
+to be near, shot the priest. Both victims were quickly buried, the
+priest being interred under the altar of the church, "because of his
+sacred character." See too Miot de Melito, "Memoires," vol. i., ch.
+xiii., as to the utter collapse of the jury system in 1800-1, because
+no Corsican would "deny his party or desert his blood."]
+
+[Footnote 2: As to the tenacity of Corsican devotion, I may cite a
+curious proof from the unpublished portion of the "Memoirs of Sir
+Hudson Lowe." He was colonel in command of the Royal Corsican Rangers,
+enrolled during the British occupation of Corsica, and gained the
+affections of his men during several years of fighting in Egypt and
+elsewhere. When stationed at Capri in 1808 he relied on his Corsican
+levies to defend that island against Murat's attacks; and he did not
+rely in vain. Though confronted by a French Corsican regiment, they
+remained true to their salt, even during a truce, when they could
+recognize their compatriots. The partisan instinct was proof against
+the promises of Murat's envoys and the shouts even of kith and kin.]
+
+[Footnote 3: The facts as to the family of Napoleon's mother are given
+in full detail by M. Masson in his "Napoleon Inconnu," ch. i. They
+correct the statement often made as to her "lowly," "peasant" origin.
+Masson also proves that the house at Ajaccio, which is shown as
+Napoleon's birthplace, is of later construction, though on the same
+site.]
+
+[Footnote 4: See Jacobi, "Hist. de la Corse," vol. ii., ch. viii. The
+whole story is told with prudent brevity by French historians, even by
+Masson and Chuquet. The few words in which Thiers dismisses this
+subject are altogether misleading.]
+
+[Footnote 5: Much has been written to prove that Napoleon was born in
+1768, and was really the eldest surviving son. The reasons, stated
+briefly, are: (1) that the first baptismal name of Joseph Buonaparte
+was merely _Nabulione_ (Italian for _Napoleon_), and that _Joseph_ was
+a later addition to his name on the baptismal register of January 7th,
+1768, at Corte; (2) certain statements that Joseph was born at
+Ajaccio; (3) Napoleon's own statement at his marriage that he was born
+in 1768. To this it maybe replied that: (_a_) other letters and
+statements, still more decisive, prove that Joseph was born at Corte
+in 1768 and Napoleon at Ajaccio in 1769; (_b_) Napoleon's entry in the
+marriage register was obviously designed to lessen the disparity of
+years of his bride, who, on her side, subtracted four years from her
+age. See Chuquet, "La Jeunesse de Napoleon," p. 65.]
+
+[Footnote 6: Nasica, "Memoires," p. 192.]
+
+[Footnote 7: Both letters are accepted as authentic by Jung,
+"Bonaparte et son Temps," vol. i., pp. 84, 92; but Masson, "Napoleon
+Inconnu," vol. i., p. 55, tracking them to their source, discredits
+them, as also from internal evidence.]
+
+[Footnote 8: Chaptal, "Mes Souvenirs sur Napoleon," p. 177.]
+
+[Footnote 9: Joseph Buonaparte, "Mems.," vol. i., p. 29. So too Miot
+de Melito, "Mems.," vol. i., ch. x.]
+
+[Footnote 10: Chaptal, "Souvenirs sur Napoleon," p. 237. See too
+Masson, "Napoleon Inconnu," vol. i., p. 158, note.]
+
+[Footnote 11: In an after-dinner conversation on January 11th, 1803,
+with Roederer, Buonaparte exalted Voltaire at the expense of Rousseau
+in these significant words: "The more I read Voltaire, the more I like
+him: he is always reasonable, never a charlatan, never a fanatic: he
+is made for mature minds. Up to sixteen years of age I would have
+fought for Rousseau against all the friends of Voltaire. Now it is the
+contrary. _I have been especially disgusted with Rousseau since I
+have seen the East. Savage man is a dog._" ("Oeuvres de Roederer,"
+vol. iii., p. 461.)
+
+In 1804 he even denied his indebtedness to Rousseau. During a family
+discussion, wherein he also belittled Corsica, he called Rousseau "a
+babbler, or, if you prefer it, an eloquent enough _idealogue_. I never
+liked him, nor indeed well understood him: truly I had not the courage
+to read him all, because I thought him for the most part tedious."
+(Lucien Buonaparte, "Memoires," vol. ii., ch. xi.)
+
+His later views on Rousseau are strikingly set forth by Stanislas
+Girardin, who, in his "Memoirs," relates that Buonaparte, on his visit
+to the tomb of Rousseau, said: "'It would have been better for the
+repose of France that this man had never been born.' 'Why, First
+Consul?' said I. 'He prepared the French Revolution.' 'I thought it
+was not for you to complain of the Revolution.' 'Well,' he replied,
+'the future will show whether it would not have been better for the
+repose of the world that neither I nor Rousseau had existed.'" Meneval
+confirms this remarkable statement.]
+
+[Footnote 12: Masson, "Napoleon Inconnu," vol. ii., p. 53.]
+
+[Footnote 13: Joseph Buonaparte, "Memoires," vol. i, p. 44.]
+
+[Footnote 14: M. Chuquet, in his work "La Jeunesse de Napoleon"
+(Paris, 1898), gives a different opinion: but I think this passage
+shows a veiled hostility to Paoli. Probably we may refer to this time
+an incident stated by Napoleon at St. Helena to Lady Malcolm ("Diary,"
+p. 88), namely, that Paoli urged on him the acceptance of a commission
+in the British army: "But I preferred the French, because I spoke the
+language, was of their religion, understood and liked their manners,
+and I thought the Revolution a fine time for an enterprising young
+man. Paoli was angry--we did not speak afterwards." It is hard to
+reconcile all these statements.
+
+Lucien Buonaparte states that his brother seriously thought for a time
+of taking a commission in the forces of the British East India
+Company; but I am assured by our officials that no record of any
+application now exists.]
+
+[Footnote 15: The whole essay is evidently influenced by the works of
+the democrat Raynal, to whom Buonaparte dedicated his "Lettres sur la
+Corse." To the "Discours de Lyons" he prefixed as motto the words
+"Morality will exist when governments are free," which he modelled on
+a similar phrase of Raynal. The following sentences are also
+noteworthy: "Notre organisation animale a des besoins indispensables:
+manger, dormir, engendrer. Une nourriture, une cabane, des vetements,
+une femme, sont donc une stricte necessite pour le bonheur. Notre
+organisation intellectuelle a des appetits non moins imperieux et dont
+la satisfaction est beaucoup plus precieuse. C'est dans leur entier
+developpement que consiste vraiment le bonheur. Sentir et raisonner,
+voila proprement le fait de l'homme."]
+
+[Footnote 16: Nasica; Chuquet, p. 248.]
+
+[Footnote 17: His recantation of Jacobinism was so complete that some
+persons have doubted whether he ever sincerely held it. The doubt
+argues a singular _naivete_ it is laid to rest by Buonaparte's own
+writings, by his eagerness to disown or destroy them, by the testimony
+of everyone who knew his early career, and by his own confession:
+"There have been good Jacobins. At one time every man of spirit was
+bound to be one. I was one myself." (Thibaudeau, "Memoires sur le
+Consulat," p. 59.)]
+
+[Footnote 18: I use the term _commissioner_ as equivalent to the
+French _representant en mission,_ whose powers were almost limitless.]
+
+[Footnote 19: See this curious document in Jung, "Bonaparte et son
+Temps," vol. ii., p. 249. Masson ignores it, but admits that the
+Paolists and partisans of France were only seeking to dupe one
+another.]
+
+[Footnote 20: Buonaparte, when First Consul, was dunned for payment by
+the widow of the Avignon bookseller who published the "Souper de
+Beaucaire." He paid her well for having all the remaining copies
+destroyed. Yet Panckoucke in 1818 procured one copy, which preserved
+the memory of Buonaparte's early Jacobinism.]
+
+[Footnote 21: I have chiefly followed the careful account of the siege
+given by Cottin in his "Toulon et les Anglais en 1793" (Paris, 1898).
+
+The following official figures show the weakness of the British army.
+In December, 1792, the parliamentary vote was for 17,344 men as
+"guards and garrisons," besides a few at Gibraltar and Sydney. In
+February, 1793, 9,945 additional men were voted and 100 "independent
+companies": Hanoverians were also embodied. In February, 1794, the
+number of British regulars was raised to 60,244. For the navy the
+figures were: December, 1792, 20,000 sailors and 5,000 marines;
+February, 1793, 20,000 _additional_ seamen; for 1794, 73,000 seamen
+and 12,000 marines. ("Ann. Reg.")]
+
+[Footnote 22: Barras' "Memoires" are not by any means wholly his. They
+are a compilation by Rousselin de Saint-Albin from the Barras papers.]
+
+[Footnote 23: Jung, "Bonaparte et son Temps," vol. ii.]
+
+[Footnote 24: M.G. Duruy's elaborate plea (Barras, "Mems.,"
+Introduction, pp. 69-79) rests on the supposition that his hero
+arrived at Toulon on September 7th. But M. Chuquet has shown
+("Cosmopolis," January, 1897) that he arrived there not earlier than
+September 16th. So too Cottin, ch, xi.]
+
+[Footnote 25: As the burning of the French ships and stores has been
+said to be solely due to the English, we may note that, _as early as
+October 3rd_, the Spanish Foreign Minister, the Duc d'Alcuida,
+suggested it to our ambassador, Lord St. Helens: "If it becomes
+necessary to abandon the harbour, these vessels shall be sunk or set
+on fire in order that the enemy may not make use of them; for which
+purpose preparations shall be made beforehand."]
+
+[Footnote 26: Thiers, ch. xxx.; Cottin, "L'Angleterre et les
+Princes."]
+
+[Footnote 27: See Lord Grenville's despatch of August 9th, 1793, to
+Lord St. Helens ("F.O. Records, Spain," No. 28), printed by M. Cottin,
+p. 428. He does not print the more important despatch of October 22nd,
+where Grenville asserts that the admission of the French princes would
+tend to invalidate the constitution of 1791, for which the allies were
+working.]
+
+[Footnote 28: A letter of Lord Mulgrave to Mr. Trevor, at Turin ("F.
+O. Records, Sardinia," No. 13), states that he had the greatest
+difficulty in getting on with the French royalists: "You must not send
+us one _emigre_ of any sort--they would be a nuisance: they are all so
+various and so violent, whether for despotism, constitution, or
+republic, that we should be distracted with their quarrels; and they
+are so assuming, forward, dictatorial, and full of complaints, that
+no business could go on with them. Lord Hood is averse to receiving
+any of them."
+
+NOTE TO THE THIRD EDITION.--From the information which Mr. Spenser
+Wilkinson has recently supplied in his article in "The Owens College
+Hist. Essays" (1902), it would seem that Buonaparte's share in
+deciding the fate of Toulon was somewhat larger than has here been
+stated; for though the Commissioners saw the supreme need of attacking
+the fleet, they do not seem, as far as we know, to have perceived that
+the hill behind Fort L'Eguillette was the key of the position.
+Buonaparte's skill and tenacity certainly led to the capture of this
+height.]
+
+[Footnote 29: Jung, "Bonaparte et son Temps," vol. ii., p. 430.]
+
+[Footnote 30: "Memorial," ch. ii., November, 1815. See also
+Thibaudeau, "Memoires sur le Consulat," vol. i., p. 59.]
+
+[Footnote 31: Marmont (1774-1852) became sub-lieutenant in 1789,
+served with Buonaparte in Italy, Egypt, etc., received the title Duc
+de Ragusa in 1808, Marshal in 1809; was defeated by Wellington at
+Salamanca in 1812, deserted to the allies in 1814. Junot (1771-1813)
+entered the army in 1791; was famed as a cavalry general in the wars
+1796-1807; conquered Portugal in 1808, and received the title Duc
+d'Abrantes; died mad.]
+
+[Footnote 32: M. Zivy, "Le treize Vendemiaire," pp.60-62, quotes the
+decree assigning the different commands. A MS. written by Buonaparte,
+now in the French War Office Archives, proves also that it was Barras
+who gave the order to fetch the cannon from the Sablons camp.]
+
+[Footnote 33: Buonaparte afterwards asserted that it was he who had
+given the order to fire, and certainly delay was all in favour of his
+opponents.]
+
+[Footnote 34: I caution readers against accepting the statement of
+Carlyle ("French Revolution," vol. iii. _ad fin_.) that "the thing we
+specifically call French Revolution is blown into space by the whiff
+of grapeshot." On the contrary, it was perpetuated, though in a more
+organic and more orderly governmental form.]
+
+[Footnote 35: Chaptal, "Mes Souvenirs sur Napoleon," p. 198.]
+
+[Footntoe 36: Koch, "Memoires de Massena," vol. ii., p. 13, credits
+the French with only 37,775 men present with the colours, the
+Austrians with 32,000, and the Sardinians with 20,000. All these
+figures omit the troops in garrison or guarding communications.]
+
+[Footnote 37: Napoleon's "Correspondence," March 28th, 1796.]
+
+[Footnote 38: See my articles on Colonel Graham's despatches from
+Italy in the "Eng. Hist. Review" of January and April, 1899.]
+
+[Footnote 39: Thus Mr. Sargent ("Bonaparte's First Campaign") says
+that Bonaparte was expecting Beaulieu to move on Genoa, and saw herein
+a chance of crushing the Austrian centre. But Bonaparte, in his
+despatch of April 6th to the Directory, referring to the French
+advance towards Genoa, writes: "J'ai ete tres fache et extremement
+mecontent de ce mouvement sur Genes, d'autant plus deplace qu'il a
+oblige cette republique a prendre une attitude hostile, et a reveille
+l'ennemi que j'aurais pris tranquille: ce sont des hommes de plus
+qu'il nous en coutera." For the question how far Napoleon was indebted
+to Marshal Maillebois' campaign of 1745 for his general design, see
+the brochure of M. Pierron. His indebtedness has been proved by M.
+Bouvier ("Bonaparte en Italie," p. 197) and by Mr. Wilkinson ("Owens
+Coll. Hist. Essays").]
+
+[Footnote 40: Nelson was then endeavouring to cut off the vessels
+conveying stores from Toulon to the French forces. The following
+extracts from his despatches are noteworthy. January 6th, 1796: "If
+the French mean to carry on the war, they must penetrate into Italy.
+Holland and Flanders, with their own country, they have entirely
+stripped: Italy is the gold mine, and if once entered, is without the
+means of resistance." Then on April 28th, after Piedmont was
+overpowered by the French: "We English have to regret that we cannot
+always decide the fate of Empires on the Sea." Again, on May 16th: "I
+very much believe that England, who commenced the war with all Europe
+for her allies, will finish it by having nearly all Europe for her
+enemies."]
+
+[Footnote 41: The picturesque story of the commander (who was not
+Rampon, but Fornesy) summoning the defenders of the central redoubt to
+swear on their colours and on the cannon that they would defend it to
+the death has been endlessly repeated by historians. But the documents
+which furnish the only authentic details show that there was in the
+redoubt no cannon and no flag. Fornesy's words simply were: "C'est
+ici, mes amis, qu'il faut vaincre ou mourir"--surely much grander than
+the histrionic oath. (See "Memoires de Massena," Yol. ii.;" Pieces
+Just.," No. 3; also Bouvier, _op. cit._)]
+
+[Footnote 42: Jomini, vol. viii., p. 340; "Pieces Justifs."]
+
+[Footnote 43: "Un Homme d'autrefois," par Costa de Beauregard.]
+
+[Footnote 44: These were General Beaulieu's words to Colonel Graham on
+May 22nd.]
+
+[Footnote 45: Periods of ten days, which, in the revolutionary
+calendar, superseded the week.]
+
+[Footnote 46: I have followed the accounts given by Jomini, vol.
+viii., pp. 120-130; that by Schels in the "Oest. Milit. Zeitschrift"
+for 1825, vol. ii.; also Bouvier "Bonaparte en Italie," ch. xiii.; and
+J.G.'s "Etudes sur la Campagne de 1796-97." Most French accounts,
+being based on Napoleon's "Memoires," vol. iii., p. 212 _et seq_., are
+a tissue of inaccuracies. Bonaparte affected to believe that at Lodi
+he defeated an army of sixteen thousand men. Thiers states that the
+French cavalry, after fording the river at Montanasso, influenced the
+result: but the official report of May 11th, 1796, expressly states
+that the French horse could not cross the river at that place till the
+fight was over. See too Desvernois, "Mems.," ch, vii.]
+
+[Footnote 47: Bouvier (p. 533) traces this story to Las Cases and
+discredits it.]
+
+[Footnote: 48 Directorial despatch of May 7th, 1796. The date rebuts
+the statement of M. Aulard, in M. Lavisse's recent volume, "La
+Revolution Francaise," p. 435, that Bonaparte suggested to the
+Directory the pillage of Lombardy.]
+
+[Footnote 49: "Corresp.," June 6th, 1797.]
+
+[Footnote 50: "Corresp.," June 1st, 1796.]
+
+[Footnote 51: Gaffarel, "Bonaparte et les Republiques Italiennes," p.
+22.]
+
+[Footnote 52: "Corresp.," May 17th, 1796.]
+
+[Footnote 53: Virgil, Aeneid, x. 200.]
+
+[Footnote 54: Colonel Graham's despatches.]
+
+[Footnote 55: "Corresp.," June 26th, 1796.]
+
+[Footnote 56: Despatch of Francis to Wuermser, July 14th, 1796.]
+
+[Footnote 57: Jomini (vol. viii., p. 305) blames Weyrother, the chief
+of Wuermser's staff, for the plan. Jomini gives the precise figures of
+the French on July 25th: Massena had 15,000 men on the upper Adige;
+Augereau, 5,000 near Legnago; Sauret, 4,000 at Salo; Serurier, 10,500
+near Mantua; and with others at and near Peschiera the total fighting
+strength was 45,000. So "J.G.," p. 103.]
+
+[Footnote 58: See Thiebault's amusing account ("Memoirs," vol. i., ch.
+xvi.) of Bonaparte's contempt for any officer who could not give him
+definite information, and of the devices by which his orderlies played
+on this foible. See too Bourrienne for Bonaparte's dislike of new
+faces.]
+
+[Footnote 59: Marbot, "Memoires," ch. xvi. J.G., in his recent work,
+"Etudes sur la Campagne de 1796-97," p. 115, also defends Augereau.]
+
+[Footnote 60: Jomini, vol. viii., p. 321.]
+
+[Footnote 61: "English Hist. Review," January, 1899]
+
+[Footnote 62: Such is the judgment of Clausewitz ("Werke," vol. iv.),
+and it is partly endorsed by J.G. in his "Etudes sur la Campagne de
+1796-97." St. Cyr, in his "Memoirs" on the Rhenish campaigns, also
+blames Bonaparte for not having _earlier_ sent away his siege-train to
+a place of safety. Its loss made the resumed siege of Mantua little
+more than a blockade.]
+
+[Footnote 63: Koch, "Memoires de Massena," vol. i., p. 199.]
+
+[Footnote 64: "Corresp.," October 21st, 1796.]
+
+[Footnote 65: "Corresp.," October 24th, 1796. The same policy was
+employed towards Genoa. This republic was to be lulled into security
+until it could easily be overthrown or absorbed.]
+
+[Footnote 66: "Ordre du Jour," November 7th, 1796.]
+
+[Footnote 67: Marmont, "Memoires," vol. i., p. 237. I have followed
+Marmont's narrative, as that of the chief actor in this strange scene.
+It is less dramatic than the usual account, as found in Thiers, and
+therefore is more probable. The incident illustrates the folly of a
+commander doing the work of a sergeant. Marmont points out that the
+best tactics would have been to send one division to cross the Adige
+at Albaredo, and so take Arcola in the rear. Thiers' criticism, that
+this would have involved too great a diffusion of the French line, is
+refuted by the fact that on the third day a move on that side induced
+the Austrians to evacuate Arcola.]
+
+[Footnote 68: Koch, "Memoires de Massena," vol. i., p. 255, in his
+very complete account of the battle, gives the enemy's losses as
+upwards of 2,000 killed or wounded, and 4,000 prisoners with 11
+cannon. Thiers gives 40,000 as Alvintzy's force before the battle--an
+impossible number. See _ante_.]
+
+[Footnote 69: The Austrian official figures for the loss in the three
+days at Arcola give 2,046 killed and wounded, 4,090 prisoners, and 11
+cannon. Napoleon put it down as 13,000 in all! See Schels in "Oest.
+Milit. Zeitschrift" for 1829.]
+
+[Footnote 70: A forecast of the plan realized in 1801-2, whereby
+Bonaparte gained Louisiana for a time.]
+
+[Footnote 71: Estimates of the Austrian force differ widely. Bonaparte
+guessed it at 45,000, which is accepted by Thiers; Alison says 40,000;
+Thiebault opines that it was 75,000; Marmont gives the total as
+26,217. The Austrian official figures are 28,022 _before_ the fighting
+north of Monte Baldo. See my article in the "Eng. Hist. Review" for
+April, 1899. I have largely followed the despatches of Colonel Graham,
+who was present at this battle. As "J.G." points out (_op.cit. _, p.
+237), the French had 1,500 horse and some forty cannon, which gave
+them a great advantage over foes who could make no effective use of
+these arms.]
+
+[Footnote 72: This was doubtless facilitated by the death of the
+Czarina, Catherine II., in November, 1796. She had been on the point
+of entering the Coalition against France. The new Czar Paul was at
+that time for peace. The Austrian Minister Thugut, on hearing of her
+death, exclaimed, "This is the climax of our disasters."]
+
+[Footnote 73: Hueffer, "Oesterreich und Preussen," p. 263.]
+
+[Footnote 74: "Moniteur," 20 Floreal, Year V.; Sciout, "Le
+Directoire," vol. ii., ch. vii.]
+
+[Footnote 75: See Landrieux's letter on the subject in Koch's
+"Memoires de Massena," vol. ii.; "Pieces Justif.," _ad fin._; and
+Bonaparte's "Corresp.," letter of March 24th, 1797. The evidence of
+this letter, as also of those of April 9th and 19th, is ignored by
+Thiers, whose account of Venetian affairs is misleading. It is clear
+that Bonaparte contemplated partition long before the revolt of
+Brescia.]
+
+[Footnote 76: Botta, "Storia d'Italia," vol. ii., chs. x., etc.; Daru,
+"Hist. de Venise," vol. v.; Gaffarel, "Bonaparte et les Republiques
+Italiennes," pp. 137-139; and Sciout, "Le Directoire," vol ii., chs.
+v. and vii.]
+
+[Footnote 77: Sorel, "Bonaparte et Hoche en 1797," p. 65.]
+
+[Footnote 78: Letter of April 30th, 1797.]
+
+[Footnote 79: Letter of May 13th, 1797.]
+
+[Footnote 80: It would even seem, from Bonaparte's letter of July
+12th, 1797, that not till then did he deign to send on to Paris the
+terms of the treaty with Venice. He accompanied it with the cynical
+suggestion that they could do what they liked with the treaty, and
+even annul it!]
+
+[Footnote 81: The name _Italian_ was rejected by Bonaparte as too
+aggressively nationalist; but the prefix _Cis_--applied to a State
+which stretched southward to the Rubicon--was a concession to Italian
+nationality. It implied that Florence or Rome was the natural capital
+of the new State.]
+
+[Footnote 82: See Arnault's "Souvenirs d'un sexagenaire" (vol. iii.,
+p. 31) and Levy's "Napoleon intime," p. 131.]
+
+[Footnote 83: For the subjoined version of the accompanying new letter
+of Bonaparte (referred to in my Preface) I am indebted to Mr. H.A.L.
+Fisher, in the "Eng. Hist. Rev.," July, 1900:
+
+     "Milan, 29 Thermidor [l'an IV.]
+
+     "A LA CITOYENNE TALLIEN
+
+     "Je vous dois des remerciements, belle citoyenne, pour le souvenir
+     que vous me conservez et pour les choses aimables contenues dans
+     votre apostille. Je sais bien qu'en vous disant que je regrette les
+     moments heureux que j'ai passe dans votre societe je ne vous repete
+     que ce que tout le monde vous dit. Vous connaitre c'est ne plus
+     pouvoir vous oublier: etre loin de votre aimable personne lorsque
+     l'on a goute les charmes de votre societe c'est desirer vivement de
+     s'en rapprocher; mais l'on dit que vous allez en Espagne. Fi! c'est
+     tres vilain a moins que vous ne soyez de retour avant trois mois,
+     enfin que cet hiver nous ayons le bonheur de vous voir a Paris.
+     Allez donc en Espagne visiter la caverne de Gil Blas. Moi je crois
+     aussi visiter toutes les antiquites possibles, enfin que dans le
+     cours de novembre jusqu'a fevrier nous puissions raconter sans
+     cesse. Croyez-moi avec toute la consideration, je voulais dire le
+     respect, mais je sais qu'en general les jolies femmes n'aiment pas
+     ce mot-la.
+
+     "BONAPARTE.
+
+     "Mille et mille chose a Tallien."]
+
+[Footnote 84: Lavalette, "Mems.," ch. xiii.; Barras, "Mems.," vol.
+ii., pp. 511-512; and Duchesse d'Abrantes, "Mems.," vol. i., ch.
+xxviii.]
+
+[Footnote 85: Barras, "Mems.," vol. ii., ch, xxxi.; Madame de Stael,
+"Directoire," ch. viii.]
+
+[Footnote 86: "Memoires de Gohier"; Roederer, "Oeuvres," tome iii., p.
+294.]
+
+[Footnote 87: Brougham, "Sketches of Statesmen"; Ste. Beuve,
+"Talleyrand"; Lady Blennerhasset, "Talleyrand."]
+
+[Footnote 88: Instructions of Talleyrand to the French envoys
+(September 11th); also Ernouf's "Maret, Duc de Bassano," chs. xxvii.
+and xxviii., for the _bona fides_ of Pitt in these negotiations.
+
+It seems strange that Baron du Casse, in his generally fair treatment
+of the English case, in his "Negociations relatives aux Traites de
+Luneville et d'Amiens," should have prejudiced his readers at the
+outset by referring to a letter which he attributes to Lord
+Malmesbury. It bears no date, no name, and purports to be "Une Lettre
+de Lord Malmesbury, oubliee a Lille." How could the following
+sentences have been penned by Malmesbury, and written to Lord
+Grenville?--"Mais enfin, outre les regrets sinceres de Meot et des
+danseuses de l'Opera, j'eus la consolation de voir en quittant Paris,
+que des Francais et une multitude de nouveaux convertis a la religion
+catholique m'accompagnaient de leurs voeux, de leurs prieres, et
+presque de leurs larmes.... L'evenement de Fructidor porta la
+desolation dans le coeur de tous les bons ennemis de la France. Pour
+ma part, j'en fut consterne: _je ne l'avais point prevu_." It is
+obviously the clumsy fabrication of a Fructidorian, designed for
+Parisian consumption: it was translated by a Whig pamphleteer under
+the title "The Voice of Truth!"--a fit sample of that partisan
+malevolence which distorted a great part of our political literature
+in that age.]
+
+[Footnote 89: Bonaparte's letters of September 28th and October 7th to
+Talleyrand.]
+
+[Footnote 90: See too Marsh's "Politicks of Great Britain and France,"
+ch. xiii.; "Correspondence of W.A. Miles on the French Revolution,"
+letters of January 7th and January 18th, 1793; also Sybel's "Europe
+during the French Revolution," vol. ii.]
+
+[Footnote 91: Pallain, "Le Ministere de Talleyrand sous le
+Directoire," p. 42.]
+
+[Footnote 92: Bourrienne, "Memoirs," vol. i., ch. xii. See too the
+despatch of Sandoz-Rollin to Berlin of February 28th, 1798, in
+Bailleu's "Preussen und Frankreich," vol. i., No. 150.]
+
+[Footnote 93: The italics are my own. I wish to call attention to the
+statement in view of the much-debated question whether in 1804-5
+Napoleon intended to invade our land, _unless he gained maritime
+supremacy_. See Desbriere's "Projets de Debarquement aux Iles
+Britanniques," vol. i., _ad fin_.]
+
+[Footnote 94: Letter of October 10th, 1797; see too those of August
+16th and September 13th.]
+
+[Footnote 95: The plan of menacing diverse parts of our coasts was kept
+up by Bonaparte as late as April 13th, 1798. In his letter of this
+date he still speaks of the invasion of England and Scotland, and
+promises to return from Egypt in three or four months, so as to
+proceed with the invasion of the United Kingdom. Boulay de la Meurthe,
+in his work, "Le Directoire et l'Expedition d'Egypte," ch. i., seems
+to take this promise seriously. In any case the Directors' hopes for
+the invasion of Ireland were dashed by the premature rising of the
+Irish malcontents in May, 1798. For Poussielgue's mission to Malta,
+see Lavalette's "Mems.," ch. xiv.]
+
+[Footnote 96: Mallet du Pan states that three thousand Vaudois came to
+Berne to join in the national defence: "Les cantons democratiques sont
+les plus fanatises contre les Francais"--a suggestive remark.]
+
+[Footnote 97: Daendliker, "Geschichte der Schweiz," vol. iii., p. 350
+(edition of 1895); also Lavisse, "La Rev. Franc.," p. 821.]
+
+[Footnote 98: "Correspondance," No. 2676.]
+
+[Footnote 99: "Foreign Office Records," Malta (No. 1). Mr. Williams
+states in his despatch of June 30th, 1798, that Bonaparte knew there
+were four thousand Maltese in his favour, and that most of the French
+knights were publicly known to be so; but he adds: "I do believe the
+Maltees [_sic_] have given the island to the French in order to get
+rid of the knighthood."]
+
+[Footnote 100: I am indebted for this fact to the Librarian of the
+Priory of the Knights of St. John, Clerkenwell.]
+
+[Footnote 101: See, for a curious instance, Chaptal, "Mes Souvenirs,"
+p. 243.]
+
+[Footnote 102: The Arab accounts of these events, drawn up by Nakoula
+and Abdurrahman, are of much interest. They have been well used by M.
+Dufourcq, editor of Desvernois' "Memoirs," for many suggestive
+footnotes.]
+
+[Footnote 103: Desgenettes, "Histoire medicale de l'Armee d'Orient"
+(Paris, 1802); Belliard, "Memoires," vol. i.]
+
+[Footnote 104: I have followed chiefly the account of Savary, Duc de
+Rovigo, "Mems.," ch. iv. See too Desvernois, "Mems.," ch. iv.]
+
+[Footnote 105: See his orders published in the "Correspondance
+officielle et confid. de Nap. Bonaparte, Egypte," vol. i. (Paris,
+1819, p. 270). They rebut Captain Mahan's statement ("Influence of Sea
+Power upon the Fr. Rev. and Emp.," vol. i., p. 263) as to Brueys'
+"delusion and lethargy" at Aboukir. On the contrary, though enfeebled
+by dysentery and worried by lack of provisions and the insubordination
+of his marines, he certainly did what he could under the
+circumstances. See his letters in the Appendix of Jurien de la
+Graviere, "Guerres Maritimes," vol. i.]
+
+[Footnote 106: Desvernois, "Mems.," ch. v.]
+
+[Footnote 107: _Ib._, ch. vi.]
+
+[Footnote 108: Order of July 27th, 1798.]
+
+[Footnote 109: Ducasse, "Les Rois, Freres de Napoleon," p. 8.]
+
+[Footnote 110: "Memoires de Napoleon," vol. ii.; Bourrienne, "Mems.,"
+vol. i., ch. xvii.]
+
+[Footnote 111: "Mems. de Berthier."]
+
+[Footnote 112: On November 4th, 1798, the French Government forwarded
+to Bonaparte, in triplicate copies, a despatch which, after setting
+forth the failure of their designs on Ireland, urged him either (1) to
+remain in Egypt, of which they evidently disapproved, or (2) to march
+towards India and co-operate with Tippoo Sahib, or (3) to advance on
+Constantinople in order that France might have a share in the
+partition of Turkey, which was then being discussed between the Courts
+of Petersburg and Vienna. No copy of this despatch seems to have
+reached Bonaparte before he set out for Syria (February 10th). This
+curious and perhaps guileful despatch is given in full by Boulay de la
+Meurthe, "Le Directoire et l'Expedition d'Egypte," Appendix, No. 5.
+
+On the whole, I am compelled to dissent from Captain Mahan ("Influence
+of Sea Power," vol. i., pp. 324-326), and to regard the larger schemes
+of Bonaparte in this Syrian enterprise as visionary.]
+
+[Footnote 113: Berthier, "Memoires"; Belliard, "Bourrienne et ses
+Erreurs," also corrects Bourrienne. As to the dearth of food, denied
+by Lanfrey, see Captain Krettly, "Souvenirs historiques."]
+
+[Footnote 114: Emouf, "Le General Kleber," p. 201.]
+
+[Footnote 115: "Admiralty Records," Mediterranean, No. 19.]
+
+[Footnote 116: "Corresp.," No. 4124; Lavalette, "Mems.," ch. xxi.]
+
+[Footnote 117: Sidney Smith's "Despatch to Nelson" of May 30th, 1799.]
+
+[Footnote 118: J. Miot's words are: "Mais s'il en faut croire cette
+voix publique, trop souvent organe de la verite tardive, qu'en vain
+les grands esperent enchainer, c'est un fait trop avere que quelques
+blesses du Mont Carmel et une grande partie des malades a l'hopital de
+Jaffa ont peri par les medicaments qui leur ont ete administres." Can
+this be called evidence?]
+
+[Footnote 119: Larrey, "Relation historique"; Lavalette, "Mems.," ch.
+xxi.]
+
+[Footnote 120: See Belliard, "Bourrienne et ses Erreurs"; also a
+letter of d'Aure, formerly Intendant General of this army, to the
+"Journal des Debats" of April 16th, 1829, in reply to Bourrienne.]
+
+[Footnote 121: "On disait tout haut qu'il se sauvait lachement," Merme
+in Guitry's "L'Armee en Egypte." But Bonaparte had prepared for this
+discouragement and worse eventualities by warning Kleber in the letter
+of August 22nd, 1799, that if he lost 1,500 men by the plague he was
+free to treat for the evacuation of Egypt.]
+
+[Footnote 122: Lucien Bonaparte, "Memoires," vol. ii., ch. xiv.]
+
+[Footnote 123: In our "Admiralty Records" (Mediterranean, No. 21) are
+documents which prove the reality of Russian designs on Corsica.]
+
+[Footnote 124: "Consid. sur la Rev. Francaise," bk. iii., ch. xiii.
+See too Sciout, "Le Directoire," vol. iv., chs. xiii.-xiv.]
+
+[Footnote 125: La Reveilliere-Lepeaux, "Mems.," vol. ii., ch. xliv.;
+Hyde de Neuville, vol. i., chs. vi.-vii.; Lavisse, "Rev. Francaise,"
+p. 394.]
+
+[Footnote 126: Barras, "Mems.," vol. iv., ch. ii.]
+
+[Footnote 127: "Hist. of the United States" (1801-1813), by H. Adams,
+vol. i., ch. xiv., and Ste. Beuve's "Talleyrand."]
+
+[Footnote 128: Gohier, "Mems.," vol. i.; Lavalette's "Mems.," ch.
+xxii.; Roederer, "OEuvres," vol. iii., p. 301; Madelin's "Fouche," p.
+267.]
+
+[Footnote 129: For the story about Arena's dagger, raised against
+Bonaparte see Sciout, vol. iv., p. 652. It seems due to Lucien
+Bonaparte. I take the curious details about Bonaparte's sudden pallor
+from Roederer ("Oeuvres," vol. iii., p. 302), who heard it from
+Montrond, Talleyrand's secretary. So Aulard, "Hist, de la Rev. Fr.,"
+p. 699.]
+
+[Footnote 130: Napoleon explained to Metternich in 1812 why he wished
+to silence the _Corps Legislatif_; "In France everyone runs after
+applause: they want to be noticed and applauded.... Silence an
+Assembly, which, if it is anything, must be deliberative, and you
+discredit it."--Metternich's "Memoirs," vol. i., p. 151.]
+
+[Footnote 131: This was still further assured by the first elections
+under the new system being postponed till 1801; the functionaries
+chosen by the Consuls were then placed on the lists of notabilities of
+the nation without vote. The constitution was put in force Dec. 25th,
+1799.]
+
+[Footnote 132: Roederer, "Oeuvres," vol. iii., p. 303. He was the
+go-between for Bonaparte and Sieyes.]
+
+[Footnote 133: See the "Souvenirs" of Mathieu Dumas for the skilful
+manner in which Bonaparte gained over the services of this
+constitutional royalist and employed him to raise a body of volunteer
+horse.]
+
+[Footnote 134: "Lettres inedites de Napoleon," February 21st, 1800;
+"Memoires du General d'Andigne," ch. xv.; Madelin's "Fouche," p. 306.]
+
+[Footnote 135: "Georges Cadoudal," par son neveu, G. de Cadoudal; Hyde
+de Neuville, vol. i., p. 305.]
+
+[Footnote 136: Talleyrand, "Mems.," vol. i., part ii.; Marmont, bk.
+v.]
+
+[Footnote 137: "F.O.," Austria, No. 58; "Castlereagh's Despatches," v.
+_ad init._ Bowman, in his excellent monograph, "Preliminary Stages of
+the Peace of Amiens" (Toronto, 1899), has not noted this.]
+
+[Footnote 138: "Nap. Correspond.," February 27th 1800; Thugut,
+"Briefe" vol. ii., pp. 444-446; Oncken, "Zeitalter," vol. ii. p. 45.]
+
+[Footnote 139: A Foreign Office despatch, dated Downing Street,
+February 8th, 1800, to Vienna, promised a loan and that 15,000 or
+20,000 British troops should be employed in the Mediterranean to act
+in concert with the Austrians there, and to give "support to the
+royalist insurrections in the southern provinces of France." No
+differences of opinion respecting Piedmont can be held a sufficient
+excuse for the failure of the British Government to fulfil this
+promise--a failure which contributed to the disaster at Marengo.]
+
+[Footnote 140: Thiers attributes this device to Bonaparte; but the
+First Consul's bulletin of May 24th ascribes it to Marmont and
+Gassendi.]
+
+[Footnote 141: Marbot, "Mems.," ch. ix.; Allardyce, "Memoir of Lord
+Keith," ch. xiii.; Thiebault's "Journal of the Blockade of Genoa."]
+
+[Footnote 142: That Melas expected such a march is clear from a letter
+of his of May 23rd, dated from Savillan, to Lord Keith, which I have
+found in the "Brit. Admiralty Records" (Mediterranean, No. 22), where
+he says: "L'ennemi a cerne le fort de Bard et s'est avance jusque sous
+le chateau d'Ivree. Il est clair que son but est de delivrer
+Massena."]
+
+[Footnote 143: Bonaparte did not leave Milan till June 9th: see
+"Correspondance" and the bulletin of June 10th. Jomini places his
+departure for the 7th, and thereby confuses his description for these
+two days. Thiers dates it on June 8th.]
+
+[Footnote 144: Lord W. Bentinck reported to the Brit. Admiralty
+("Records," Meditn., No. 22), from Alessandria, on June 15th: "I am
+sorry to say that General Elsnitz's corps, which was composed of the
+grenadiers of the finest regiments in the (Austrian) army, arrived
+here in the most deplorable condition. His men had already suffered
+much from want of provisions and other hardships. He was pursued in
+his retreat by Genl. Suchet, who had with him about 7,000 men. There
+was an action at Ponte di Nava, in which the French failed; and it
+will appear scarcely credible, when I tell your Lordship, that the
+Austrians lost in this retreat, from fatigue only, near 5,000 men; and
+I have no doubt that Genl. Suchet will notify this to the world as a
+great victory."]
+
+[Footnote 145: The inaccuracy of Marbot's "Memoires" is nowhere more
+glaring than in his statement that Marengo must have gone against the
+French if Ott's 25,000 Austrians from Genoa had joined their comrades.
+As a matter of fact, Ott, with 16,000 men, had _already_ fought with
+Lannes at Montebello; and played a great part in the battle of
+Marengo.]
+
+[Footnote 146: "Corresp.," vol. vi., p. 365. Fournier, "Hist. Studien
+und Skizzen," p. 189, argues that the letter was written from Milan,
+and dated from Marengo for effect.]
+
+[Footnote 147: See Czartoryski's "Memoirs," ch. xi., and Driault's "La
+Question d'Orient," ch. iii. The British Foreign Office was informed
+of the plan. In its records (No. 614) is a memoir (pencilled on the
+back January 31st, 1801) from a M. Leclerc to Mr. Flint, referring the
+present proposal back to that offered by M. de St. Genie to Catherine
+II., and proposing that the first French step should be the seizure of
+Socotra and Perim.]
+
+[Footnote 148: Garden, "Traites," vol. vi., ch. xxx.; Captain Mahan's
+"Life of Nelson," vol. ii., ch. xvi.; Thiers, "Consulate," bk. ix. For
+the assassination of the Czar Paul see "Kaiser Paul's Ende," von R.R.
+(Stuttgart, 1897); also Czartoryski's "Memoirs," chs. xiii.-xiv. For
+Bonaparte's offer of a naval truce to us and his overture of December,
+1800, see Bowman, _op. cit_.]
+
+[Footnote 149: Pasquier, " Mems.," vol. i., ch. ii., p. 299. So too
+Mollien, "Mems.": "With an insatiable activity in details, a
+restlessness of mind always eager for new cares, he not only reigned
+and governed, he continued to administer not only as Prime Minister,
+but more minutely than each Minister."]
+
+[Footnote 150: Lack of space prevents any account of French finances
+and the establishment of the Bank of France. But we may note here that
+the collection of the national taxes was now carried out by a
+State-appointed director and his subordinates in every Department--a
+plan which yielded better results than former slipshod methods. The
+_conseil general_ of the Department assessed the direct taxes among
+the smaller areas. "Mems." de Gaudin, Duc de Gaete.]
+
+[Footnote 151: Edmond Blanc, "Napoleon I; ses Institutions," p. 27.]
+
+[Footnote 152: Theiner, "Hist. des deux Concordats," vol. i., p. 21.]
+
+[Footnote 153: Thibaudeau estimated that of the population of
+35,000,000 the following assortment might be made: Protestants, Jews,
+and Theophilanthropists, 3,000,000; Catholics, 15,000,000, equally
+divided between orthodox and constitutionals; and as many as
+17,000,000 professing no belief whatever.]
+
+[Footnote 154: See Roederer, "Oeuvres," vol. iii., p. 475. On the
+discontent of the officers, see Pasquier's "Mems.," vol. i., ch. vii.;
+also Marmont's "Mems.," bk. vi.]
+
+[Footnote 155: See the drafts in Count Boulay de la Meurthe's
+"Negociation du Concordat," vol. ii., pp. 58 and 268.]
+
+[Footnote 156: Theiner, vol. i., pp. 193 and 196.]
+
+[Footnote 157: Meneval, "Mems.," vol. i., p. 81.]
+
+[Footnote 158: Thiers omits any notice of this strange transaction.
+Lanfrey describes it, but unfortunately relies on the melodramatic
+version given in Consalvi's "Memoirs," which were written many years
+later and are far less trustworthy than the Cardinal's letters written
+at the time. In his careful review of all the documentary evidence,
+Count Boulay de la Meurthe (vol. iii., p. 201, note) concludes that
+the new project of the Concordat (No. VIII.) was drawn up by
+Hauterive, was "submitted immediately to the approbation of the
+First Consul," and thereupon formed the basis of the long and
+heated discussion of July 14th between the Papal and French
+plenipotentiaries. A facsimile of this interesting document, with all
+the erasures, is appended at the end of his volume.]
+
+[Footnote 159: Pasquier, "Mems.," vol. i., ch. vii. Two of the organic
+articles portended the abolition of the revolutionary calendar. The
+first restored the old names of the days of the week; the second
+ordered that Sunday should be the day of rest for all public
+functionaries. The observance of _decadis_ thenceforth ceased; but the
+months of the revolutionary calendar were observed until the close of
+the year 1805. Theophilanthropy was similarly treated: when its
+votaries applied for a building, their request was refused on the
+ground that their cult came within the domain of philosophy, not of
+any actual religion! A small number of priests and of their
+parishioners refused to recognize the Concordat; and even to-day there
+are a few of these _anti-concordataires_.]
+
+[Footnote 160: Chaptal, "Souvenirs," pp. 237-239. Lucien Bonaparte,
+"Mems.," vol. ii., p. 201, quotes his brother Joseph's opinion of the
+Concordat: "Un pas retrograde et irreflechi de la nation qui s'y
+soumettait."]
+
+[Footnote 161: Thibaudeau, "Consulat," ch. xxvi.]
+
+[Footnote 162: "Code Napoleon," art. 148.]
+
+[Footnote 163: In other respects also Bonaparte's influence was used
+to depress the legal status of woman, which the men of 1789 had done
+so much to raise. In his curious letter of May 15th, 1807, on the
+Institution at Ecouen, we have his ideas on a sound, useful education
+for girls: "... We must begin with religion in all its severity. Do
+not admit any modification of this. Religion is very important in a
+girls' public school: it is the surest guarantee for mothers and
+husbands. We must train up believers, not reasoners. The weakness of
+women's brains, the unsteadiness of their ideas, their function in the
+social order, their need of constant resignation and of a kind of
+indulgent and easy charity--all can only be attained by religion."
+They were to learn a little geography and history, but no foreign
+language; above all, to do plenty of needlework.]
+
+[Footnote 164: Sagnac, "Legislation civile de la Rev. Fr.," p. 293.]
+
+[Footnote 165: Divorce was suppressed in 1816, but was re-established
+in 1884.]
+
+[Footnote 166: Sagnac, _op. cit._, p. 352.]
+
+[Footnote 167: "The Life of Sir S. Romilly," vol. i., p. 408.]
+
+[Footnote 168: Madelin in his "Fouche," ch. xi., shows how Bonaparte's
+private police managed the affair. Harel was afterwards promoted to
+the governorship of the Castle of Vincennes: the four talkers, whom he
+and the police had lured on, were executed after the affair of Nivose.
+That dextrous literary flatterer, the poet Fontanes, celebrated the
+"discovery" of the Arena plot by publishing anonymously a pamphlet ("A
+Parallel between Caesar, Cromwell, Monk, and Bonaparte") in which he
+decided that no one but Caesar deserved the honour of a comparison
+with Bonaparte, and that certain destinies were summoning him to a yet
+higher title. The pamphlet appeared under the patronage of Lucien
+Bonaparte, and so annoyed his brother that he soon despatched him on a
+diplomatic mission to Madrid as a punishment for his ill-timed
+suggestions.]
+
+[Footnote 169: Thibaudeau, _op. cit_., vol. ii., p. 55. Miot de
+Melito, ch. xii.]
+
+[Footnote 170: It seems clear, from the evidence so frankly given by
+Cadoudal in his trial in 1804, as well as from his expressions when he
+heard of the affair of Nivose, that the hero of the Chouans had no
+part in the bomb affair. He had returned to France, had empowered St.
+Rejant to buy arms and horses, "dont je me servirai plus tard"; and it
+seems certain that he intended to form a band of desperate men who
+were to waylay, kidnap, or kill the First Consul in open fight. This
+plan was deferred by the bomb explosion for three years. As soon as he
+heard of this event, he exclaimed: "I'll bet that it was that---- St.
+Rejant. He has upset all my plans." (See "Georges Cadoudal," par G. de
+Cadoudal.)]
+
+[Footnote 171: Roederer, "Oeuvres," vol. iii., p. 352. For these
+negotiations see Bowman's "Preliminary Stages of the Peace of Amiens"
+(Toronto, 1899).]
+
+[Footnote 172: Porter, "Progress of the Nation," ch. xiv.]
+
+[Footnote 173: "New Letters of Napoleon I." See too his letter of June
+17th.]
+
+[Footnote 174: "Cornwallis Correspondence," vol. iii., pp. 380-382.
+Few records exist of the negotiations between Lord Hawkesbury and M.
+Otto at London. I have found none in the Foreign Office archives. The
+general facts are given by Garden, "Traites," vol. vii., ch. xxxi.;
+only a few of the discussions were reduced to writing. This seriously
+prejudiced our interests at Amiens.]
+
+[Footnote 175: Lefebvre, "Cabinets de l'Europe," ch. iv]
+
+[Footnote 176: Chaptal. "Mes Souvenirs," pp. 287, 291, and 359.]
+
+[Footnote 177: See Chapter XIV. of this work.]
+
+[Footnote 178: Thibaudeau, _op. cit_., ch. xxvi.; Lavisse, "Napoleon,"
+ch. i.]
+
+[Footnote 179: "A Diary of St. Helena," by Lady Malcolm, p. 97.]
+
+[Footnote 180: "The Two Duchesses," edited by Vere Foster, p. 172.
+Lord Malmesbury ("Diaries," vol. iv., p. 257) is less favourable:
+"When B. is out of his ceremonious habits, his language is often
+coarse and vulgar."]
+
+[Footnote 181: Jurien de la Graviere, "Guerres Maritimes," vol. ii.,
+chap. vii.]
+
+[Footnote 182: These facts were fully acknowledged later by Otto: see
+his despatch of January 6th, 1802, to Talleyrand, published by Du
+Casse in his "Negociations relatives au Traite d'Amiens," vol. iii.]
+
+[Footnote 183: "F.O.," France, No. 59. The memoir is dated October
+19th, 1801.]
+
+[Footnote 184: "F.O.," France, No. 59.]
+
+[Footnote 185: Castlereagh, "Letters and Despatches," Second Series,
+vol. i., p. 62, and the speeches of Ministers on November 3rd, 1801.]
+
+[Footnote 186: Cornwallis, "Correspondence," vol. iii., despatch of
+December 3rd, 1801. The feelings of the native Maltese were strongly
+for annexation to Britain, and against the return of the Order at all.
+They sent a deputation to London (February, 1802), which was shabbily
+treated by our Government so as to avoid offending Bonaparte. (See
+"Correspondence of W.A. Miles," vol. ii., pp. 323-329, who drew up
+their memorial.)]
+
+[Footnote 187: Cornwallis's despatches of January 10th and 23rd,
+1802.]
+
+[Footnote 188: Project of a treaty forwarded by Cornwallis to London
+on December 27th, 1801, in the Public Record Office, No. 615.]
+
+[Footnote 189: See the "Paget Papers," vol. ii. France gained the
+right of admission to the Black Sea: the despatches of Mr. Merry from
+Paris in May, 1802, show that France and Russia were planning schemes
+of partition of Turkey. ("F.O.," France, No. 62.)]
+
+[Footnote 190: The despatches of March 14th and 22nd, 1802, show how
+strong was the repugnance of our Government to this shabby treatment
+of the Prince of Orange; and it is clear that Cornwallis exceeded his
+instructions in signing peace on those terms. (See Garden, vol. vii.,
+p. 142.) By a secret treaty with Prussia (May, 1802), France procured
+Fulda for the House of Orange.]
+
+[Footnote 191: Pasolini, "Memorie," _ad init_.]
+
+[Footnote 192: "Lettres inedites de Talleyrand a Napoleon" (Paris,
+1889).]
+
+[Footnote 193: Mr. Jackson's despatch of February 17th, 1802, from
+Paris. According to Miot de Melito ("Mems.," ch. xiv.), Bonaparte had
+offered the post of President to his brother Joseph, but fettered it
+by so many restrictions that Joseph declined the honour.]
+
+[Footnote 194: Roederer tells us ("OEuvres," vol. iii., p. 428) that
+he had drawn up two plans of a constitution for the Cisalpine; the one
+very short and leaving much to the President, the other precise and
+detailed. He told Talleyrand to advise Bonaparte to adopt the former
+as it was "_short and_"--he was about to add "_clear_" when the
+diplomatist cut him short with the words, "_Yes: short and obscure!_"]
+
+[Footnote 195: Napoleon's letter of February 2nd, 1802, to Joseph
+Bonaparte; see too Cornwallis's memorandum of February 18th.]
+
+[Footnote 196: It is only fair to Cornwallis to quote the letter,
+marked "Private," which he received from Hawkesbury at the same time
+that he was bidden to stand firm:
+
+"DOWNING STREET, _March 22nd_, 1802.
+
+"I think it right to inform you that I have had a confidential
+communication with Otto, who will use his utmost endeavours to induce
+his Government to agree to the articles respecting the Prince of
+Orange and the prisoners in the shape in which they are now proposed.
+I have very little doubt of his success, and I should hope therefore
+that you will soon be released. I need not remind you of the
+importance of sending your most expeditious messenger the moment our
+fate is determined. The Treasury is almost exhausted, and Mr.
+Addington cannot well make his loan in the present state of
+uncertainty."]
+
+[Footnote 197: See the British notes of November 6th-16th, 1801, in
+the "Cornwallis Correspondence," vol. iii. In his speech in the House
+of Lords, May 13th, 1802, Lord Grenville complained that we had had to
+send to the West Indies in time of peace a fleet double as large as
+that kept there during the late war.]
+
+[Footnote 198: For these and the following negotiations see Lucien
+Bonaparte's "Memoires," vol. ii., and Garden's "Traites de Paix," vol.
+iii., ch. xxxiv. The Hon. H. Taylor, in "The North American Review" of
+November, 1898, has computed that the New World was thus divided in
+1801:
+
+  Spain             7,028,000 square miles.
+  Great Britain     3,719,000   "      "
+  Portugal          3,209,000   "      "
+  United States       827,000   "      "
+  Russia              577,000   "      "
+  France               29,000   "      "
+
+[Footnote 199: "History of the United States, 1801-1813," by H. Adams,
+vol. i, p. 409.]
+
+[Footnote 200: Napoleon's letter of November 2nd, 1802.]
+
+[Footnote 201: Merry's despatch of October 21st, 1802.]
+
+[Footnote 202: The instructions which he sent to Victor supply an
+interesting commentary on French colonial policy: "The system of this,
+as of all our other colonies, should be to concentrate its commerce in
+the national commerce: it should especially aim at establishing its
+relations with our Antilles, so as to take the place in those colonies
+of the American commerce.... The captain-general should abstain from
+every innovation favourable to strangers, who should be restricted to
+such communications as are absolutely indispensable to the prosperity
+of Louisiana."]
+
+[Footnote 203: Lucien Bonaparte, "Memoires," vol. ii., ch. ix. He
+describes Josephine's alarm at this ill omen at a time when rumours of
+a divorce were rife.]
+
+[Footnote 204: Harbe-Marbois, "Hist. de Louisiana," quoted by H.
+Adams, _op. cit._, vol. ii., p. 27; Roloff, "Napoleon's Colonial
+Politik."]
+
+[Footnote 205: Garden, "Traites," vol. viii., ch. xxxiv. See too
+Roederer, "Oeuvres," vol. iii., p. 461, for Napoleon's expressions
+after dinner on January 11th, 1803: "Maudit sucre, maudit cafe,
+maudites colonies."]
+
+[Footnote 206: Cornwallis, "Correspondence," vol. iii., despatch of
+December 3rd, 1801.]
+
+[Footnote 207: See the valuable articles on General Decaen's papers in
+the "Revue historique" of 1879 and of 1881.]
+
+[Footnote 208: Dumas' "Precis des Evenements Militaires," vol. xi., p.
+189. The version of these instructions presented by Thiers, book xvi.,
+is utterly misleading.]
+
+[Footnote 209: Lord Whitworth, our ambassador in Paris, stated
+(despatch of March 24th, 1803) that Decaen was to be quietly
+reinforced by troops in French pay sent out by every French, Spanish,
+or Dutch ship going to India, so as to avoid attracting notice.
+("England and Napoleon," edited by Oscar Browning, p. 137.)]
+
+[Footnote 210: See my article, "The French East India Expedition at
+the Cape," and unpublished documents in the "Eng. Hist. Rev." of
+January, 1900. French designs on the Cape strengthened our resolve to
+acquire it, as we prepared to do in the summer of 1805.]
+
+[Footnote 211: Wellesley, "Despatches," vol. iii., Appendix, despatch
+of August 1st, 1803. See too Castlereagh's "Letters and Despatches,"
+Second Series, vol. i., pp. 166-176, for Lord Elgin's papers and
+others, all of 1802, describing the utter weakness of Turkey, the
+probability of Egypt falling to any invader, of Caucasia and Persia
+being menaced by Russia, and the need of occupying Aden as a check to
+any French designs on India from Suez.]
+
+[Footnote 212: Wellesley's despatch of July 13th, 1804: with it he
+inclosed an intercepted despatch, dated Pondicherry, August 6th, 1803,
+a "Memoire sur l'Importance actuelle de l'Inde et les moyens les plus
+efficaces d'y retablir la Nation Francaise dans son ancienne
+splendeur." The writer, Lieutenant Lefebvre, set forth the
+unpopularity of the British in India and the immense wealth which
+France could gain from its conquest.]
+
+[Footnote 213: The report of the Imaum is given in Castlereagh's
+"Letters," Second Series, vol. i., p. 203.]
+
+[Footnote 214: "Voyage de Decouverte aux Terres Australes sur les
+Corvettes, le Geographe et le Naturaliste," redige par M.F. Peron
+(Paris, 1807-15). From the Atlas the accompanying map has been
+copied.]
+
+[Footnote 215: His later mishaps may here be briefly recounted. Being
+compelled to touch at the Ile de France for repairs to his ship, he
+was there seized and detained as a spy by General Decaen, until the
+chivalrous intercession of the French explorer, Bougainville, finally
+availed to procure his release in the year 1810. The conduct of Decaen
+was the more odious, as the French crews during their stay at Sydney
+in the autumn of 1802, when the news of the Peace of Amiens was as yet
+unknown, had received not only much help in the repair of their ships,
+but most generous personal attentions, officials and private persons
+at Sydney agreeing to put themselves on short rations in that season
+of dearth in order that the explorers might have food. Though this
+fact was brought to Decaen's knowledge by the brother of Commodore
+Baudin, he none the less refused to acknowledge the validity of the
+passport which Flinders, as a geographical explorer, had received from
+the French authorities, but detained him in captivity for seven years.
+For the details see "A Voyage of Discovery to the Australian Isles,"
+by Captain Flinders (London, 1814), vol. ii., chs. vii.-ix. The names
+given by Flinders on the coasts of Western and South Australia have
+been retained owing to the priority of his investigation: but the
+French names have been kept on the coast between the mouth of the
+Murray and Bass Strait for the same reason.]
+
+[Footnote 216: See Baudin's letter to King of December 23rd, 1803, in
+vol. v. (Appendix) of "Historical Records of New South Wales," and the
+other important letters and despatches contained there, as also
+_ibid_., pp. 133 and 376.]
+
+[Footnote 217: Mr. Merry's ciphered despatch from Paris, May 7th,
+1802.]
+
+[Footnote 218: It is impossible to enter into the complicated question
+of the reconstruction of Germany effected in 1802-3. A general
+agreement had been made at Rastadt that, as an indemnity for the
+losses of German States in the conquest of the Rhineland by France,
+they should receive the ecclesiastical lands of the old Empire. The
+Imperial Diet appointed a delegation to consider the whole question;
+but before this body assembled (on August 24th, 1802), a number of
+treaties had been secretly made at Paris, with the approval of Russia,
+which favoured Prussia and depressed Austria. Austria received the
+archbishoprics of Trent and Brixen: while her Archdukes (formerly of
+Tuscany and Modena) were installed in Salzburg and Breisgau. Prussia,
+as the _protege_ of France, gained Hildesheim, Paderborn, Erfurt, the
+city of Muenster, etc. Bavaria received Wuerzburg, Bamberg, Augsburg,
+Passau, etc. See Garden, "Traites," vol. vii., ch. xxxii.; "Annual
+Register" of 1802, pp. 648-665; Oncken, "Consulat und Kaiserthum,"
+vol. ii.; and Beer's "Zehn Jahre Oesterreichischer Politik."]
+
+[Footnote 219: The British notes of April 28th and May 8th, 1803,
+again demanded a suitable indemnity for the King of Sardinia.]
+
+[Footnote 220: See his letters of January 28th, 1801, February 27th,
+March 10th, March 25th, April 10th, and May 16th, published in a work,
+"Bonaparte, Talleyrand et Stapfer" (Zuerich, 1869).]
+
+[Footnote 221: Daendliker, "Geschichte der Schweiz," vol. iii., p.
+418; Muralt's "Reinhard," p. 55; and Stapfer's letter of April 28th:
+"Malgre cette apparente neutralite que le gouvernement francais
+declare vouloir observer pour le moment, differentes circonstances me
+persuadent qu'il a vu avec plaisir passer la direction des affaires
+des mains de la majorite du Senat [helvetique] dans celles de la
+minorite du Petit Conseil."]
+
+[Footnote 222: Garden, "Traites," vol. viii., p. 10. Mr. Merry, our
+_charge d'affaires_ at Paris, reported July 21st; "M. Stapfer makes a
+boast of having obtained the First Consul's consent to withdraw the
+French troops entirely from Switzerland. I learn from some
+well-disposed Swiss who are here that such a consent has been given;
+but they consider it only as a measure calculated to increase the
+disturbances in their country and to furnish a pretext for the French
+to enter it again."]
+
+[Footnote 223: Reding, in a pamphlet published shortly after this
+time, gave full particulars of his interviews with Bonaparte at Paris,
+and stated that he had fully approved of his (Reding's) federal plans.
+Neither Bonaparte nor Talleyrand ever denied this.]
+
+[Footnote 224: See "Paget Papers," vol. ii., despatches of October
+29th, 1802, and January 28th, 1803.]
+
+[Footnote 225: Napoleon avowed this in his speech to the Swiss
+deputies at St. Cloud, December 12th, 1802.]
+
+[Footnote 226: Lord Hawkesbury's note of October 10th, 1802, the
+appeal of the Swiss, and the reply of Mr. Moore from Constance, are
+printed in full in the papers presented to Parliament, May 18th, 1803.
+
+The Duke of Orleans wrote from Twickenham a remarkable letter to Pitt,
+dated October 18th, 1802, offering to go as leader to the Swiss in the
+cause of Swiss and of European independence: "I am a natural enemy to
+Bonaparte and to all similar Governments....England and Austria can
+find in me all the advantages of my being a French prince. Dispose of
+me, Sir, and show me the way. I will follow it." See Stanhope's "Life
+of Pitt," vol. iii., ch. xxxiii.]
+
+[Footnote 227: See Roederer, "OEuvres," vol. iii., p. 454, for the
+curious changes which Napoleon prescribed in the published reports of
+these speeches; also Stapfer's despatch of February 3rd, 1803, which
+is more trustworthy than the official version in Napoleon's
+"Correspondance." This, however, contains the menacing sentence: "It
+is recognized by Europe that Italy and Holland, as well as
+Switzerland, are at the disposition of France."]
+
+[Footnote 228: It is only fair to say that they had recognized their
+mistake and had recently promised equality of rights to the formerly
+subject districts and to all classes. See Muralt's "Reinhard," p.
+113.]
+
+[Footnote 229: See, _inter alia_, the "Moniteur" of August 8th,
+October 9th, November 6th, 1802; of January 1st and 9th, February
+19th, 1803.]
+
+[Footnote 230: Lord Whitworth's despatches of February 28th and March
+3rd, 1803, in Browning's "England and Napoleon."]
+
+[Footnote 231: Secret instructions to Lord Whitworth, November 14th,
+1802.]
+
+[Footnote 232: "Foreign Office Records," Russia, No. 50.]
+
+[Footnote 233: In his usually accurate "Manuel historique de Politique
+Etrangere" (vol. ii., p. 238), M. Bourgeois states that in May, 1802,
+Lord St. Helens succeeded in persuading the Czar _not_ to give his
+guarantee to the clause respecting Malta. Every despatch that I have
+read runs exactly counter to this statement: the fact is that the Czar
+took umbrage at the treaty and refused to listen to our repeated
+requests for his guarantee. Thiers rightly states that the British
+Ministry pressed the Czar to give his guarantee, but that France long
+neglected to send her application. Why this neglect if she wished to
+settle matters?]
+
+[Footnote 234: Castlereagh's "Letters and Despatches," Second Series,
+vol. i., pp. 56 and 69; Dumas' "Evenements," ix. 91.]
+
+[Footnote 235: Memoire of Francis II. to Cobenzl (March 31st, 1801),
+in Beer, "Die Orientalische Politik Oesterreichs," Appendix.]
+
+[Footnote 236: "Memoirs," vol. i., ch. xiii.]
+
+[Footnote 237: Ulmann's "Russisch-Preussische Politik, 1801-1806," pp.
+10-12.]
+
+[Footnote 238: Warren reported (December 10th, 1802) that Vorontzoff
+warned him to be very careful as to the giving up of Malta; and, on
+January 19th, Czartoryski told him that "the Emperor wished the
+English to keep Malta." Bonaparte had put in a claim for the Morea to
+indemnify the Bourbons and the House of Savoy. ("F.O.," Russia, No.
+51.)]
+
+[Footnote 239: Browning's "England and Napoleon," pp. 88-91.]
+
+[Footnote 240: "F.O.," France, No. 72.]
+
+[Footnote 241: We were undertaking that mediation. Lord Elgin's
+despatch from Constantinople, January 15th, 1803, states that he had
+induced the Porte to allow the Mamelukes to hold the province of
+Assouan. (Turkey, No. 38.)]
+
+[Footnote 242: Papers presented to Parliament on May 18th, 1803. I
+pass over the insults to General Stuart, as Sebastiani on February 2nd
+recanted to Lord Whitworth everything he had said, or had been made to
+say, on that topic, and mentioned Stuart "in terms of great esteem."
+According to Meneval ("Mems.," vol i., ch. iii.), Jaubert, who had
+been with Sebastiani, saw a proof of the report, as printed for the
+"Moniteur," and advised the omission of the most irritating passages;
+but Maret dared not take the responsibility for making such omissions.
+Lucien Bonaparte ("Mems.," vol. ii., ch. ix.) has another
+version--less credible, I think--that Napoleon himself dictated the
+final draft of the report to Sebastiani; and when the latter showed
+some hesitation, the First Consul muttered, as the most irritating
+passages were read out: "Parbleu, nous verrons si ceci--si cela--ne
+decidera pas John Bull a guerroyer." Joseph was much distressed about
+it, and exclaimed: "Ah, mon pauvre traite d'Amiens! Il ne tient plus
+qu'a un fil."]
+
+[Footnote 243: So Adams's "Hist, of the U.S.," vol. ii., pp. 12-21.]
+
+[Footnote 244: Miot de Melito, "Mems.," vol. i, ch. xv., quotes the
+words of Joseph Bonaparte to him: "Let him [Napoleon] once more drench
+Europe with blood in a war that he could have avoided, and which, but
+for the outrageous mission on which he sent his Sebastiani, would
+never have occurred."
+
+Talleyrand laboured hard to persuade Lord Whitworth that Sebastiani's
+mission was "solely commercial": Napoleon, in his long conversation
+with our ambassador, "did not affect to attribute it to commercial
+motives only," but represented it as necessitated by our infraction of
+the Treaty of Amiens. This excuse is as insincere as the former. The
+instructions to Sebastiani were drawn up on September 5th, 1802, when
+the British Ministry was about to fulfil the terms of the treaty
+relative to Malta and was vainly pressing Russia and Prussia for the
+guarantee of its independence]
+
+[Footnote 245: Despatch of February 21st.]
+
+[Footnote 246: "View of the State of the Republic," read to the Corps
+Legislatif on February 21st, 1803.]
+
+[Footnote 247: Papers presented to Parliament May 18th, 1803. See too
+Pitt's speech, May 23rd, 1803.]
+
+[Footnote 248: See Russell's proclamation of July 22nd to the men of
+Antrim that "he doubted not but the French were then fighting in
+Scotland." ("Ann. Reg.," 1803, p. 246.) This document is ignored by
+Plowden ("Hist. of Ireland, 1801-1810").]
+
+[Footnote249: Despatch of March 14th, 1803. Compare it with the very
+mild version in Napoleon's "Corresp.," No. 6636.]
+
+[Footnote 250: Lord Hawkesbury to General Andreossy, March 10th.]
+
+[Footnote 251: Lord Hawkesbury to Lord Whitworth, April 4th, 1803.]
+
+[Footnote 252: Despatches of April 11th and 18th, 1803.]
+
+[Footnote 253: Whitworth to Hawkesbury, April 23rd.]
+
+[Footnote 254: Czartoryski ("Mems.," vol. i., ch. xiii.) calls him "an
+excellent admiral but an indifferent diplomatist--a perfect
+representative of the nullity and incapacity of the Addington Ministry
+which had appointed him. The English Government was seldom happy in
+its ambassadors." So Earl Minto's "Letters," vol. iii., p. 279.]
+
+[Footnote 255: See Lord Malmesbury's "Diaries" (vol. iv., p. 253) as
+to the bad results of Whitworth's delay.]
+
+[Footnote 256: Note of May 12th, 1803: see "England and Napoleon," p.
+249.]
+
+[Footnote 257: "Corresp.," vol. viii., No. 6743.]
+
+[Footnote 258: See Romilly's letter to Dumont, May 31st, 1803
+("Memoirs," vol. i.).]
+
+[Footnote 259: "Lettres inedites de Talleyrand," November 3rd, 1802.
+In his letter of May 3rd, 1803, to Lord Whitworth, M. Huber reports
+Fouche's outspoken warning in the Senate to Bonaparte: "Vous etes
+vous-meme, ainsi que nous, un resultat de la revolution, et la guerre
+remet tout en probleme. On vous flatte en vous faisant compter sur les
+principes revolutionnaires des autres nations: _le resultat de notre
+revolution les a aneantis partout._"]
+
+[Footnote 260: A copy of this letter, with the detailed proposals, is
+in our Foreign Office archives (Russia, No. 52).]
+
+[Footnote 261: Bourgeois, "Manuel de Politique Etrangere," vol. ii.,
+p. 243.]
+
+[Footnote 262: See Castlereagh's "Letters and Despatches," Second
+Series, vol. i., pp. 75-82, as to the need of conciliating public
+opinion, even by accepting Corfu as a set-off for Malta, provided a
+durable peace could thus be secured.]
+
+[Footnote 263: "Lettres inedites de Talleyrand," August 21st, 1803.]
+
+[Footnote 264: Garden, "Traites," vol. viii., p. 191.]
+
+[Footnote 265: Holland was required to furnish 16,000 troops and
+maintain 18,000 French, to provide 10 ships of war and 350 gunboats.]
+
+[Footnote 266: "Corresp.," May 23rd, 1803.]
+
+[Footnote 267: Nelson's letters of July 2nd. See too Mahan's "Life of
+Nelson," vol. ii., pp. 180-188, and Napoleon's letters of November
+24th, 1803, encouraging the Mamelukes to look to France.]
+
+[Footnote 268: "Foreign Office Records," Sicily and Naples, No. 55,
+July 25th.]
+
+[Footnote 269: Letter of July 28th, 1803.]
+
+[Footnote 270: "Nap. Corresp.," August 23rd, 1803, and Oncken, ch. v.]
+
+[Footnote 271: "Corresp.," vol. viii., No. 6627.]
+
+[Footnote 272: Lefebvre, "Cabinets de l'Europe," ch. viii.; "Nap.
+Corresp.," vol. viii., Nos. 6979, 6985, 7007, 7098, 7113.]
+
+[Footnote 273: The French and Dutch ships in commission were: ships of
+the line, 48; frigates, 37; corvettes, 22; gun-brigs, etc., 124;
+flotilla, 2,115. (See "Mems. of the Earl of St. Vincent," vol. ii., p.
+218.)]
+
+[Footnote 274: Pellew's "Life of Lord Sidmouth," vol. ii., p. 239.]
+
+[Footnote 275: Stanhope's "Life of Pitt," vol. iv., p. 213.]
+
+[Footnote 276: Roederer, " OEuvres," vol. iii., p. 348; Meneval, vol.
+i., ch. iv.]
+
+[Footnote 277: Lucien ("Mems.," vol. iii., pp. 315-320) says at
+Malmaison; but Napoleon's "Correspondance" shows that it was at St.
+Cloud. Masson (" Nap. et sa Famille," ch. xii.) throws doubt on the
+story.]
+
+[Footnote 278:_Ibid_., p. 318. The scene was described by Murat: the
+real phrase was _coquine_, but it was softened down by Murat to
+_maitresse_.]
+
+[Footnote 279: Miot de Melito, "Mems.," vol. 1., ch. xv. Lucien
+settled in the Papal States, where he, the quondam Jacobin and proven
+libertine, later on received from the Pope the title of Prince de
+Canino.]
+
+[Footnote 280: "Lettres inedites de Napoleon," April 22nd, 1805.]
+
+[Footnote 281: Pasquier, "Mems.," vol. i., p. 167, and Boulay de la
+Meurthe, "Les dernieres Annees du duc d'Enghien," p. 299. An
+intriguing royalist of Neufchatel, Fauche-Borel, had been to England
+in 1802 to get the help of the Addington Ministry, but failed. See
+Caudrillier's articles in the "Revue Historique," Nov., 1900--March,
+1901.]
+
+[Footnote 282: Madelin's "Fouche," vol. i., p. 368, minimizes Fouche's
+_role_ here.]
+
+[Footnote 283: Desmarest, "Temoignages historiques," pp. 78-82.]
+
+[Footnote 284: "Alliance des Jacobins de France avec le Ministere
+Anglais."]
+
+[Footnote 285: Brit. Mus., "Add. MSS.," Nos. 7976 _et seq_.]
+
+[Footnote 286: In our Records (France, No. 71) is a letter of Count
+Descars, dated London, March 25th, 1805, to Lord Mulgrave, Minister
+for War, rendering an account for various sums advanced by our
+Government for the royalist "army."]
+
+[Footnote 287: "Paget Papers," vol. ii., p. 96.]
+
+[Footnote 288: "Parl. Debates," April, 1804 (esp. April 16th). The
+official denial is, of course, accepted by Alison, ch. xxxviii.]
+
+[Footnote 289: The expression is that of George III., who further
+remarked that all the ambassadors despised Hawkesbury. (Rose,
+"Diaries," vol. ii., p. 157.) Windham's letter, dated Beaconsfield,
+August 16th, 1803, in the Puisaye Papers, warned the French _emigres_
+that they must not count on any aid from Ministers, who had "at all
+times shown such feebleness of spirit, that they can scarcely dare to
+lift their eyes to such aims as you indicate. ("Add. MSS.," No.
+7976.)]
+
+[Footnote 290: See in chapter xxi., p. 488. Our envoy, Spencer Smith,
+at Stuttgart, was also taken in by a French spy, Captain Rosey, whose
+actions were directed by Napoleon. See his letter (No. 7669).]
+
+[Footnote 291: "F.O.," Austria, No. 68 (October 31st, 1803).]
+
+[Footnote 292: Lavalette, "Mems.," ch. xxiii.; "Georges Cadoudal," by
+Georges de Cadoudal (Paris, 1887).]
+
+[Footnote 293: See his letter of January 24th, 1804, to Real,
+instructing him to tell Mehee what falsehoods are to find a place in
+Mehee's next bulletin to Drake! "Keep on continually with the affair
+of my portfolio."]
+
+[Footnote 294: Miot de Melito, vol. i., ch. xvi.; Pasquier, vol. i.,
+ch. vii. See also Desmarest, "Quinze ans de la haute police": his
+claim that the police previously knew nothing of the plot is refuted
+by Napoleon's letters (e.g., that of November 1st, 1803); as also by
+Guilhermy, "Papiers d'un Emigre," p. 122.]
+
+[Footnote 295: Segur, "Mems.," ch. x. Bonaparte to Murat and Harel,
+March 20th.]
+
+[Footnote 296: Letter to Real, "Corresp.," No. 7639.]
+
+[Footnote 297: The original is in "F.O." (Austria, No. 68).]
+
+[Footnote 298: Pasquier, "Memoires," vol. i., p. 187.]
+
+[Footnote 299: The Comte de Mosbourg's notes in Count Murat's "Murat"
+(Paris, 1897), pp. 437-445, prove that Savary did not draw his
+instructions for the execution of the duke merely from Murat, but from
+Bonaparte himself, who must therefore be held solely responsible for
+the composition and conduct of that court. Masson's attempt ("Nap. et
+sa Famille," ch. xiv.) to inculpate Murat is very weak.]
+
+[Footnote 300: Hulin in "Catastrophe du duc d'Enghien," p. 118.]
+
+[Footnote 301: Dupin in "Catastrophe du duc d'Enghien," pp. 101, 123.]
+
+[Footnote 302: The only excuse which calls for notice here is that
+Napoleon at the last moment, when urged by Joseph to be merciful, gave
+way, and despatched orders late at night to Real to repair to
+Vincennes. Real received some order, the exact purport of which is
+unknown: it was late at night and he postponed going till the morrow.
+On his way he met Savary, who came towards Paris bringing the news of
+the duke's execution. Real's first words, on hearing this unexpected
+news, were: "How is that possible? I had so many questions to put to
+the duke: his examination might disclose so much. Another thing gone
+wrong; the First Consul will be furious." These words were afterwards
+repeated to Pasquier both by Savary and by Real: and, unless Pasquier
+lied, the belated order sent to Real was not a pardon (and Napoleon on
+his last voyage said to Cockburn it was not), but merely an order to
+extract such information from the duke as would compromise other
+Frenchmen. Besides, if Napoleon had despatched an order for the duke's
+_pardon_, why was not that order produced as a sign of his innocence
+and Real's blundering? Why did he shut himself up in his private room
+on March 20th, so that even Josephine had difficulty in gaining
+entrance? And if he really desired to pardon the duke, how came it
+that when, at noon of March 21st, Real explained that he arrived at
+Vincennes too late, the only words that escaped Napoleon's lips were
+"C'est bien"? (See Meneval, vol. i, p. 296.) Why also was his
+countenance the only one that afterwards showed no remorse or grief?
+Caulaincourt, when he heard the results of his raid into Baden,
+fainted with horror, and when brought to by Bonaparte, overwhelmed him
+with reproaches. Why also had the grave been dug beforehand? Why,
+finally, were Savary and Real not disgraced? No satisfactory answer to
+these questions has ever been given. The "Catastrophe du duc
+d'Enghien" and Count Boulay de la Meurthe's "Les dernieres Annees du
+duc d'Enghien" and Napoleon's "Correspondance" give all the documents
+needed for forming a judgment on this case. The evidence is examined
+by Mr. Fay in "The American Hist. Rev.," July and Oct., 1898. For the
+rewards to the murderers see Masson, "Nap. et sa Famille," chap.
+xiii.]
+
+[Footnote 303: Ducasse, "Les Rois Freres de Nap.," p. 9.]
+
+[Footnote 304: Miot de Melito; vol. ii., ch. i.; Pasquier, vol. i.,
+ch. ix.]
+
+[Footnote 305: I cannot agree with M. Lanfrey, vol. ii., ch. xi., that
+the Empire was not desired by the nation. It seems to me that this
+writer here attributes to the apathetic masses his own unrivalled
+acuteness of vision and enthusiasm for democracy. Lafayette well sums
+up the situation in the remark that he was more shocked at the
+submission of all than at the usurpation of one man ("Mems.," vol. v.,
+p. 239).]
+
+[Footnote 306: See Aulard, "Rev. Francaise," p. 772, for the
+opposition.]
+
+[Footnote 307: Roederer, "OEuvres," vol. iii., p. 513.]
+
+[Footnote 308: Macdonald, "Souvenirs," ch. xii.; Segur, "Mems.," ch.
+vii. When Thiebault congratulated Massena on his new title, the
+veteran scoffingly replied: "Oh, there are fourteen of us."
+(Thiebault, "Mems.," ch. vii., Eng. edit.) See too Marmont ("Mems.,"
+vol. ii., p. 227) on his own exclusion and the inclusion of
+Bessieres.]
+
+[Footnote 309: Chaptal, "Souvenirs," p. 262. For Moreau's popularity
+see Madelin's "Fouche," vol. i., p. 422.]
+
+[Footnote 310: At the next public audience Napoleon upbraided one of
+the judges, Lecourbe, who had maintained that Moreau was innocent, and
+thereafter deprived him of his judgeship. He also disgraced his
+brother, General Lecourbe, and forbade his coming within forty leagues
+of Paris. ("Lettres inedites de Napoleon," August 22nd and 29th,
+1805.)]
+
+[Footnote 311: Miot de Melito, vol ii., ch. i.]
+
+[Footnote 312: Napoleon to Roederer, "OEuvres," vol. iii., p. 514.]
+
+[Footnote 313: Lafayette, "Mems.," vol. v., p. 182.]
+
+[Footnote 314: "Memoires de Savary, Duc de Rovigo." So Bourrienne, who
+was informed by Rapp, who was present (vol. ii., ch. xxxiii.). The
+"Moniteur" (4th Frimaire, Year XIII.) asserted that the Pope took the
+right-hand seat; but I distrust its version.]
+
+[Footnote 315: Mme. de Remusat, vol. i., ch. x. As the _cure_ of the
+parish was not present, even as witness, this new contract was held by
+the Bonapartes to lack full validity. It is certain, however, that
+Fesch always maintained that the marriage could only be annulled by an
+act of arbitrary authority. For Napoleon's refusal to receive the
+communion on the morning of the coronation, lest he, being what he
+was, should be guilty of sacrilege and hypocrisy, see Segur.]
+
+[Footnote 316: Segur, ch. xi.]
+
+[Footnote 317: F. Masson's "Josephine, Imperatrice et Reine," p. 229.
+For the Pitt diamond, see Yule's pamphlet and Sir M. Grant Duff's
+"Diary," June 30, 1888.]
+
+[Footnote 318: De Bausset, "Court de Napoleon," ch. ii.]
+
+[Footnote 319: "Foreign Office Records," Intelligences, No. 426.]
+
+[Footnote 320: "Life of Fulton," by Colden(1817); also one by Reigart
+(1856).]
+
+[Footnote 321: Jurien de la Graviere, "Guerres Maritimes," vol. ii.,
+p. 75; Chevalier, "Hist. de la Marine Francaise," p. 105; Capt.
+Desbriere's "Projets de Debarquement aux Iles Britanniques," vol. i.
+The accompanying engraving shows how fantastic were some of the
+earlier French schemes of invasion.]
+
+[Footnote 322: "Memoires du Marechal Ney," bk. vii., ch. i.; so too
+Marmont, vol. ii., p. 213; Mahan, "Sea Power," ch. xv.]
+
+[Footnote 323: Roederer, "OEuvres," vol. iii., p. 494.]
+
+[Footnote 324: Colonel Campbell, our Commissioner at Elba, noted in
+his diary (December 5th, 1814): "As I have perceived in many
+conversations, Napoleon has no idea of the difficulties occasioned by
+winds and tides, but judges of changes of position in the case of
+ships as he would with regard to troops on land."]
+
+[Footnote 325: Jurien de la Graviere, vol. ii., p. 88, who says: "His
+mild and melancholy disposition, his sad and modest behaviour, ill
+suited the Emperor's ambitious plans."]
+
+[Footnote 326: "Corresp.," No. 8063. See too No. 7996 for Napoleon's
+plan of carrying a howitzer in the bows of his gun vessels so that his
+projectiles might _burst in the wood_. Already at Boulogne he had
+uttered the prophetic words: "We must have shells that will shiver the
+wooden sides of ships."]
+
+[Footnote 327: James, "Naval History," vol. iii., p. 213, and
+Chevalier, p. 115, imply that Villeneuve's fleet from Toulon, after
+scouring the West Indies, was to rally the Rochefort force and cover
+the Boulogne flotilla: but this finds no place in Napoleon's September
+plan, which required Gantheaume first to land troops in Ireland and
+then convoy the flotilla across if the weather were favourable, or if
+it were stormy to beat down the Channel with the troops from Holland.
+See O'Connor Morris, "Campaigns of Nelson," p. 121.]
+
+[Footnote 328: Colomb, "Naval Warfare," p. 18.]
+
+[Footnote 329: Jurien de la Graviere, vol. ii., p. 100. Nelson was
+aware of the fallacies that crowded Napoleon's brain: "Bonaparte has
+often made his boast that our fleet would be worn out by keeping the
+sea, and that his was kept in order and increasing by staying in port;
+but he now finds, I fancy, if emperors hear truth, that his fleet
+suffers more in a night than ours in one year."--Nelson to
+Collingwood, March 13th, 1805.]
+
+[Footnote 330: Garden, "Traites," vol. viii., pp. 276-290; also Capt.
+Mahan, "Influence of Sea Power, etc.," vol. ii., ch. xv. _ad fin_. He
+quotes the opinion of a Spanish historian, Don Jose de Couto: "If all
+the circumstances are properly weighed ... we shall see that all the
+charges made against England for the seizure of the frigates may be
+reduced to want of proper foresight in the strength of the force
+detailed to effect it."--In the Admiralty secret letters (1804-16) I
+have found the instructions to Sir J. Orde, with the Swiftsure,
+Polyphemus, Agamemnon, Ruby, Defence, Lively, and two sloops, to seize
+the treasure-ships. No fight seems to have been expected.]
+
+[Footnote 331: "Corresp.," No. 8379; Mahan, _ibid_., vol. ii., p.
+149.]
+
+[Footnote 332: Letter of April 29th, 1805. I cannot agree with Mahan
+(p. 155) that this was intended only to distract us.]
+
+[Footnote 333: "Lettres inedites de Talleyrand," p. 121.]
+
+[Footnote 334: Jurien de la Graviere, vol. ii., p. 367.]
+
+[Footnote 335: Thiers writes, most disingenuously, as though
+Napoleon's letters of August 13th and 22nd could have influenced
+Villeneuve.]
+
+[Footnote 336: Dupin, "Voyages dans la Grande Bretagne" (tome i., p.
+244), who had the facts from Daru. But, as Meneval sensibly says
+("Mems.," vol. i., ch. v.), it was not Napoleon's habit dramatically
+to dictate his plans so far in advance. Certainly, _in military
+matters,_ he always kept his imagination subservient to facts. Not
+until September 22nd, did he make any written official notes on the
+final moves of his chief corps; besides, the Austrians did not cross
+the Inn till September 8th.]
+
+[Footnote 337: Diary of General Bingham, in "Blackwood's Magazine,"
+October, 1896. The accompanying medal, on the reverse of which are the
+words "frappee a Londres, en 1804," affords another proof of his
+intentions.]
+
+[Footnote 338: Marbot, "Mems.," ch. xix; Fouche, "Mems.," part 1; Miot
+de Melito, "Mems.," vol. ii., ch. i.]
+
+[Footnote 339: See Nelson's letters of August 25th, 1803, and May 1st,
+1804; also Collingwood's of July 21st, 1805.]
+
+[Footnote 340: In "F.O.," France, No. 71, is a report of a spy on the
+interview of Napoleon with O'Connor, whom he made General of Division.
+See Appendix, p. 510.]
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
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