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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/3775.txt b/3775.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..7039f70 --- /dev/null +++ b/3775.txt @@ -0,0 +1,5310 @@ +The Project Gutenberg Etext of Napoleon Bonaparte +by John S. C. Abbott + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world, be sure to check +the laws for your country before redistributing these files!!! + +Please take a look at the important information in this header. +We encourage you to keep this file on your own disk, keeping an +electronic path open for the next readers. + +Please do not remove this. + +This should be the first thing seen when anyone opens the book. +Do not change or edit it without written permission. 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The hostile fleets of England swept the channel, utterly +annihilating the commerce of the Republic, landing regiments +of armed emigrants upon her coast, furnishing money and munitions +of war to rouse the partisans of the Bourbons to civil conflict, +and throwing balls and shells into every unprotected town. On the +northern frontier, Marshal Kray, came thundering down, through the +black Forest, to the banks of the Rhine, with a mighty host of +150,000 men, like locust legions, to pour into all the northern +provinces of France. Artillery of the heaviest calibre and a +magnificent array of cavalry accompanied this apparently invincible +army. In Italy, Melas, another Austrian marshal, with 140,000 men, +aided by the whole force of the British navy, was rushing upon the +eastern and southern borders of the Republic. The French troops, +disheartened by defeat, had fled before their foes over the Alps, +or were eating their horses and their boots in the cities where +they were besieged. From almost every promontory on the coast of +the Republic, washed by the Channel, or the Mediterranean, the eye +could discern English frigates, black and threatening, holding all +France in a state of blockade. + +One always finds a certain pleasure in doing that which he can do +well. Napoleon was fully conscious of his military genius. He had, +in behalf of bleeding humanity, implored peace in vain. He now, +with alacrity and with joy, roused himself to inflict blows that +should be felt upon his multitudinous enemies. With such tremendous +energy did he do this, that he received from his antagonists the +most complimentary sobriquet of the one hundred thousand men . +Wherever Napoleon made his appearance in the field, his presence +alone was considered equivalent to that force. + +The following proclamation rang like a trumpet charge over the +hills and valleys of France. "Frenchmen! You have been anxious for +peace. Your government has desired it with still greater ardor. +Its first efforts, its most constant wishes, have been for its +attainment. The English ministry has exposed the secret of its +iniquitous policy. It wishes to dismember France, to destroy its +commerce, and either to erase it from the map of Europe, or to +degrade it to a secondary power. England is willing to embroil all +the nations of the Continent in hostility with each other, that she +may enrich herself with their spoils, and gain possession of the +trade of the world. For the attainment of this object she scatters +her gold, becomes prodigal of her promises, and multiplies her +intrigues." + +At this call all the martial spirit of France rushed to arms. +Napoleon, supremely devoted to the welfare of the State, seemed to +forget even his own glory in the intensity of his desire to make +France victorious over her foes. With the most magnanimous superiority +to all feelings of jealousy, he raised an army of 150,000 men, +the very elite of the troops of France, the veterans of a hundred +battles, and placed them in the hands of Moreau, the only man in +France who could be called his rival. Napoleon also presented to +Moreau the plan of a campaign in accordance with his own energy, +boldness, and genius. Its accomplishment would have added surpassing +brilliance to the reputation of Moreau. But the cautious general +was afraid to adopt it, and presented another, perhaps as safe, but +one which would produce no dazzling impression upon the imaginations +of men. "Your plan," said one, a friend of Moreau, to the First +Consul, "is grander, more decisive, even more sure. But it is not +adapted to the slow and cautious genius of the man who is to execute +it. You have your method of making war, which is superior to all +others. Moreau has his own, inferior certainly, but still excellent. +Leave him to himself. If you impose your ideas upon him, you will +wound his self-love, and disconcert him." + +Napoleon, profoundly versed in the knowledge of the human heart, +promptly replied. "You are right, Moreau is not capable of grasping +the plan which I have conceived. Let him follow his own course. The +plan which he does not understand and dare not execute, I myself +will carry out, on another part of the theatre of war. What he fears +to attempt on the Rhine, I will accomplish on the Alps. The day may +come when he will regret the glory which he yields to me." These +were proud and prophetic words. Moreau, was moderately victorious +upon the Rhine, driving back the invaders. The sun of Napoleon soon +rose, over the field of Marengo, in a blaze of effulgence, which +paled Moreau's twinkling star into utter obscurity. But we know +not where, upon the page of history, to find an act of more lofty +generosity than this surrender of the noblest army of the Republic +to one, who considered himself, and who was deemed by others, +a rival--and thus to throw open to him the theatre of war where +apparently the richest laurels were to be won. And he know where +to look for a deed more proudly expressive of self-confidence. +"I will give Moreau," said he by this act, "one hundred and fifty +thousand of the most brave and disciplined soldiers of France, the +victors of a hundred battles. I myself will take sixty thousand +men, new recruits and the fragments of regiments which remain, and +with them I will march to encounter an equally powerful enemy on +a more difficult field of warfare." + +Marshal Melas had spread his vast host of one hundred and forty +thousand Austrians through all the strongholds of Italy, and was +pressing, with tremendous energy and self-confidence upon the frontiers +of France. Napoleon, instead of marching with his inexperienced +troops, two-thirds of whom had never seen a shot fired in earnest, +to meet the heads of the triumphant columns of Melas, resolved +to climb the rugged and apparently inaccessible fastnesses of the +Alps, and, descending from the clouds over path-less precipices, +to fall with the sweep of the avalanche, upon their rear. It was +necessary to assemble this army at some favorable point;--to gather +in vast magazines its munitions of war. It was necessary that +this should be done in secret, lest the Austrians, climbing to the +summits of the Alps, and defending the gorges through which the +troops of Napoleon would be compelled to wind their difficult and +tortuous way, might render the passage utterly impossible. English +and Austrian spies were prompt to communicate to the hostile powers +every movement of the First Consul. Napoleon fixed upon Dijon and +its vicinity as the rendezvous of his troops. He, however, adroitly +and completely deceived his foes by ostentatiously announcing the +very plan he intended to carry into operation. + +Of course, the allies thought that this was a foolish attempt +to draw their attention from the real point of attack. The more +they ridiculed the imaginary army at Dijon, the more loudly did +Napoleon reiterate his commands for battalions and magazines to be +collected there. The spies who visited Dijon, reported that but a +few regiments were assembled in that place, and that the announcement +was clearly a very weak pretense to deceive. The print shops of +London and Vienna were filled with caricatures of the army of the +First Consul of Dijon. The English especially made themselves very +merry with Napolcon's grand army to scale the Alps. It was believed +that the energies the Republic were utterly exhausted in raising the +force which was given to Moreau. One of the caricatures represented +the army as consisting of a boy, dressed in his father's clothes, +shouldering a musket, which he could with difficulty lift, and +eating a piece of gingerbread, and an old man with one arm and a +wooden leg. The artillery consisted of a rusty blunderbuss. This +derision was just what Napoleon desired. Though dwelling in the +shadow of that mysterious melancholy, which ever enveloped his +spirit, he must have enjoyed in the deep recesses of his soul, the +majestic movements of his plans. + +On the eastern frontiers of France there surge up, from luxuriant +meadows and vine-clad fields and hill sides, the majestic ranges of +the Alps, piercing the clouds and soaring with glittering pinnacles, +into the region of perpetual ice and snow. Vast spurs of the mountains +extend on each side, opening gloomy gorges and frightful detiles, +through which foaming torrents rush impetuously, walled in by +almost precipitous cliffs, whose summits, crowned with melancholy +firs, are inaccessible to the foot of man. The principal pass over +this enormous ridge was that of the Great St. Bernard. The traveler, +accompanied by a guide, and mounted on a mule, slowly and painfully +ascended a steep and rugged path, now crossing a narrow bridge, +spanning a fathomless abyss, again creeping along the edge of a +precipice, where the eagle soared and screamed over the fir tops +in the abyss below, and where a perpendicular wall rose to giddy +heights in the clouds above. The path at times was so narrow, +that it seemed that the mountain goat could with difficulty find a +foothold for its slender hoof. A false step, or a slip upon the icy +rocks would precipitate the traveler, a mangled corpse, a thousand +feet upon the fragments of granite in the gulf beneath. As higher +and higher he climbed these wild and rugged and cloud-enveloped +paths, borne by the unerring instinct of the faithful mule, his +steps were often arrested by the roar of the avalanche and he gazed +appalled upon its resistless rush, as rocks, and trees, and earth, +and snow, and ice, swept by him with awful and resistless desolation, +far down into the dimly discerned torrents which rushed beneath +his feet. At God's bidding the avalanche fell. No precaution could +save the traveler who was in its path. He was instantly borne to +destruction, and buried where no voice but the archangel's trump +could ever reach his ear. Terrific storms of wind and snow often +swept through those bleak altitudes, blinding and smothering the +traveler. Hundreds of bodies, like pillars of ice, embalmed in +snow, are now sepulchred in those drifts, there to sleep till the +fires of the last conflagration shall have consumed their winding +sheet. Having toiled two days through such scenes of desolation +and peril, the adventurous traveler stands upon the summit of the +pass, eight thousand feet above the level of the sea, two thousand +feet higher than the crest of Mount Washington, our own mountain +monarch. This summit, over which the path winds, consists of a +small level plain, surrounded by mountains of snow of still higher +elevation. + +The scene here presented is inexpressibly gloomy and appailing. +Nature in these wild regions assumes her most severe and sombre +aspect. As one emerges from the precipitous and craggy ascent, +upon this Valley of Desolation, as it is emphatically called, the +Convent of St. Bernard presents itself to the view. This cheerless +abode, the highest spot of inhabited ground in Europe, has been +tenanted, for more than a thousand years, by a succession of joyless +and self-denying monks, who, in that frigid retreat of granite and +ice, endeavor to serve their Maker, by rescuing bewildered travelers +from the destruction with which they are ever threatened to be +overwhelmed by the storms, which battle against them. In the middle +of this ice-bound valley, lies a lake, clear, dark, and cold, whose +depths, even in mid-summer, reflect the eternal glaciers which soar +sublimely around. The descent to the plains of Italy is even more +precipitous and dangerous than the ascent from the green pastures +of France. No vegetation adorns these dismal and storm-swept cliffs +of granite and of ice. Even the pinion of the eagle fails in its +rarified air, and the chamois ventures not to climb its steep and +slippery crags. No human beings are ever to be seen on these bleak +summits, except the few shivering travelers, who tarry for an hour +to receive the hospitality of the convent, and the hooded monks, +wrapped in thick and coarse garments, which their staves and their +dogs, groping through the storms of sleet and snow. Even the wood +which burns with frugal faintness on the hearths, is borne, in +painful burdens, up the mountain sides, upon the shoulders of the +monks. + +Such was the barrier which Napoleon intended to surmount, that +he might fall upon the rear of the Austrians, who were battering +down the walls of Genoa, where Massena was besieged, and who were +thundering, flushed with victory, at the very gates of Nice. Over +this wild mountain pass, where the mule could with difficulty +tread, and where no wheel had ever rolled, or by any possibility +could roll, Napoleon contemplated transporting an army of sixty +thousand men, with ponderous artillery and tons of cannon balls, +and baggage, and all the bulky munitions of war. England and Austria +laughed the idea to scorn. The achievement of such an enterprise +was apparently impossible. Napoleon, however was as skillful in +the arrangement of the minutest details, as in the conception of +the grandest combinations. Though he resolved to take the mass of +his army, forty thousand strong, across the pass of the Great St. +Bernard, yet to distract the attention of the Austrians, he arranged +also to send small divisions across the passes of Saint Gothard, +Little St. Bernard, and Mount Cenis. He would thus accumulate +suddenly, and to the utter amazement of the enemy, a body of sixty-five +thousand men upon the plain of Italy. This force, descending, like +an apparition from the clouds, in the rear of the Austrian army, +headed by Napoleon, and cutting off all communication with Austria, +might indeed strike a panic into the hearts of the assailants of +France. + +The troops were collected in various places in the vicinity +of Dijon, ready at a moment's warning to assemble at the point of +rendezvous, and with a rush to enter the defile. Immense magazines +of wheat, biscuit, and oats had been noiselessly collected in +different places. Large sums of specie had been forwarded, to hire +the services of every peasant, with his mule, who inhabited the +valleys among the mountains. Mechanic shops, as by magic, suddenly +rose along the path, well supplied with skillful artisans, to repair +all damages, to dismount the artillery, to divide the gun-carriages +and the baggage-wagons into fragments, that they might be transported, +on the backs of men and mules, over the steep and rugged way. For +the ammunition a vast number of small boxes were prepared, which +could easily be packed upon the mules. A second company of mechanics, +with camp forges, had been provided to cross the mountain with the +first division, and rear their shops upon the plain on the other +side, to mend the broken harness, to reconstruct the carriages, +and remount the pieces. On each side of the mountain a hospital +was established and supplied with every comfort for the sick and +the wounded. The foresight of Napoleon extended even to sending, +at the very last moment, to the convent upon the summit, an immense +quantity of bread, cheese, and wine. Each soldier, to his surprise, +was to find, as he arrived at the summit, exhausted with Herculean +toil, a generous slice of bread and cheese with a refreshing cup +of wine, presented to him by the monks. All these minute details +Napoleon arranged, while at the same time he was doing the work +of a dozen energetic men, in reorganizing the whole structure of +society in France. If toil pays for greatness, Napoleon purchased +the renown which he attained. And yet his body and his mind were +so constituted that this sleepless activity was to him a pleasure. + +The appointed hour at last arrived. On the 7th of May, 1800, +Napoleon entered his carriage at the Tuileries, saying, "Good-by, +my dear Josephine! I must go to Italy. I shall not forget you, and +I will not be absent long." At a word, the whole majestic array +was in motion. Like a meteor he swept over France. He arrived at +the foot of the mountains. The troops and all the paraphernalia of +war were on the spot at the designated hour. Napoleon immediately +appointed a very careful inspection. Every foot soldier and every +horseman passed before his scrutinizing eye. If a shoe was ragged, +or a jacket torn, or a musket injured, the defect was immediately +repaired. His glowing words inspired the troops with the ardor +which was burning in his own bosom. The genius of the First Consul +was infused into the mighty host. Each man exerted himself to the +utmost. The eye of their chief was every where, and his cheering +voice roused the army to almost super-human exertions. Two skillful +engineers had been sent to explore the path, and to do what could +be done in the removal of obstructions. They returned with an +appalling recitasl of the apparently insurmountable difficulties +of the way. "Is it possible ," inquired Napoleon, "to cross the +pass?" "Perhaps," was the hesitating reply, "it is within the limits +of possibility ." "Forward, then," was the energetic response. +Each man was required to carry, besides his arms, food for several +days and a large quantity of cartridges. As the sinuosities of +the precipitous path could only be trod in single file, the heavy +wheels were taken from the carriages, and each, slung upon a pole, +was borne by two men. The task for the foot soldiers was far less +than for the horsemen. The latter clambered up on foot, dragging +their horses after them. The descent was very dangerous. The +dragoon, in the steep and narrow path, was compelled to walk before +his horse. At the least stumble he was exposed to being plunged +headlong into the abysses yawning before him. In this way many +horses and several riders perished. To transport the heavy cannon +and howitzers pine logs were split in the centre, the parts hollowed +out, and the guns sunks into grooves. A long string of mules, in +single file, were attached to the ponderous machines of war, to +drag them up the slippery ascent. The mules soon began to fail, and +then the men, with hearty good-will, brought their own shoulders into +the harness--a hundred men to a single gun. Napoleon offered the +peasants two hundred dollars for the transporation of a twelve-pounder +over the pass. The love of gain was not strong enough to lure them +to such tremendous exertions. But Napoleon's fascination over the +hearts of his soldiers was a more powerful impulse. With shouts +of encouragement they toiled at the cables, successive bands of +a hundred men relieving each other every half hour. High on those +craggy steeps, gleaming through the midst, the glittering bands of +armed men, like phantoms appeared. The eagle wheeled and screamed +beneath their feet. The mountain goat, affrighted by the unwonted +spectacle, bounded away, and paused in bold relief upon the cliff +to gaze upon the martial array which so suddenly had peopled the +solitude. + +When they approached any spot of very especial difficulty the trumpets +sounded the charge, which re-echoed, with sublime reverberations, +from pinnacle to pinnacle of rock and ice. Animated by these bugle +notes the soldiers strained every nerve as if rushing upon the +foe. Napoleon offered to these bands the same reward which he had +promised to the peasants. But to a man, they refused the gold. +They had imbibed the spirit of their chief, his enthusiasm, and +his proud superiority to all mercenary motives. "We are not toiling +for money," said they, "but for your approval, and to share your +glory." + +Napoleon with his wonderful tact had introduced a slight change +into the artillery service, which was productive of immense moral +results. The gun carriages had heretofore been driven by mere +wagoners, who, being considered not as soldiers, but as servants, +and sharing not in the glory of victory, were uninfluenced by any +sentiment of honor. At the first approach of danger, they were +ready to cut their traces and gallop from the field, leaving their +cannon in the hands of the enemy. Napoleon said, "The cannoneer +who brings his piece into action, performs as valuable a service as +the cannoneer who works it. He runs the same danger, and requires +the same moral stimulus, which is the sense of honor." He therefore +converted the artillery drivers into soldiers, and clothed them in +the uniform of their respective regiments. They constituted twelve +thousand horsemen who were animated with as much pride in carrying +their pieces into action, and in bringing them off with rapidity and +safety, as the gunners felt in loading, directing, and discharging +them. It was now the great glory of these men to take care of their +guns. They loved, tenderly, the merciless monsters. They lavished +caresses and terms of endearment upon the glittering, polished, +death-dealing brass. The heart of man is a strange enigma. Even +when most degraded it needs something to love. These blood-stained +soldiers, brutalized by vice, amidst all the honors of battle, +lovingly fondled the murderous machines of war, responding to the +appeal "call me pet names, dearest." The unrelenting gun was the +stern cannoneer's lady love. He kissed it with unwashed, mustached +lip. In rude and rough devotion he was ready to die rather than +abandon the only object of his idolatrous homage. Consistently he +baptized the life-devouring monster with blood. Affectionately he +named it Mary, Emma, Lizzie. In crossing he Alps, dark night came +on as some cannoneers were floundering through drifts of snow, +toiling at their gun. They would not leave the gun alone in the +cold storm to seek for themselves a dry bivouac; but, like brothers +guarding a sister, they threw themselves, for the night, upon the +bleak and frozen snow, by its side. It was the genius of Napoleon +which thus penetrated these mysterious depths of the human soul, +and called to his aid those mighty energies. "It is nothing but +imagination," said one once to Napoleon. "Nothing but imagination!" +he rejoined. "Imagination rules the world." + +When they arrived at the summit each soldier found, to his surprise +and joy, the abundant comforts which Napoleon's kind care had +provided. One would have anticipated there a scene of terrible +confusion. To feed an army of forty thousand hungry men is not a +light undertaking. Yet every thing was so carefully arranged, and +the influence of Napoleon so boundless, that not a soldier left +the ranks. Each man received his slice of bread and cheese, and +quaffed his cup of wine, and passed on. It was a point of honor +for no one to stop. Whatever obstructions were in the way were to +be at all hazards surmounted, that the long file, extending nearly +twenty miles, might not be thrown into confusion. The descent was +more perilous than the ascent. But fortune seemed to smile. The +sky was clear, the weather delightful, and in four days the whole +army was reassembled on the plains of Italy. + +Napoleon had sent Bertlier forward to receive the division, and to +superintend all necessary repairs, while he himself remained to +press forward the mighty host. He was the last man to cross the +mountains. Seated upon a mule, with a young peasant for his guide, +slowly and thoughtfully he ascended those silent solitudes. He was +dressed in the gray great coat which he always wore. Art pictured +him bounding up the cliff, proudly mounted on a prancing charger. +But truth presents him in an attitude more simple and more sublime. Even +the young peasant who acted as his guide was entirely unconscious +of the distinguished rank of the plain traveler whose steps he +was conducting. Much of the way Napoleon was silent, abstracted in +thoughts. And yet he found time for human sympathy. He drew from +his young and artless guide the secrets of his heart. The young +peasant was sincere and virtuous. He loved a fair maid among the +mountains. She loved him. It was his heart's great desire to have +her for his own. He was poor and had neither house nor land to +support a family. Napoleon struggling with all his energies against +combined England and Austria, and with all the cares of an army, +on the march to meet one hundred and twenty thousand foes, crowding +his mind, with pensive sympathy won the confidence of his companion +and elicited this artless recital of love and desire. As Napoleon +dismissed his guide, with an ample reward, he drew from his pocket +a pencil and upon a loose piece of paper wrote a few lines, which he +requested the young man to give, on his return, to the Administrator +of the Army, upon the other side. When the guide returned, and presented +the note, he found, to his unbounded surprise and delight, that he +had conducted Napoleon over the mountains; and that Napoleon had +given him a field and a house. He was thus enabled to be married, +and to realize all the dreams of his modest ambition. Generous +impulses must have been instinctive in a heart, which in an hour +so fraught with mighty events, could turn from the toils of empire +and of war, to find refreshment in sympathizing with a peasant's +love. This young man but recently died, having passed his quiet +life in the enjoyment of the field and the cottage which had been +given him by the ruler of the world. + +The army now pressed forward, with great alacrity, along the banks +of the Aosta. They were threading a beautiful valley, rich in verdure +and blooming beneath the sun of early spring. Cottages, vineyards, +and orchards, in full bloom, embellished their path, while upon +each side of them rose, in majestic swell, the fir-clad sides of the +mountains. The Austrians pressing against the frontiers of France, +had no conception of the storm which had so suddenly gathered, +and which was, with resistless sweep, approaching their rear. The +French soldiers, elated with the Herculean achievement they had +accomplished, and full of confidence in their leader, pressed gayly +on. But the valley before them began to grow more and more narrow. +The mountains, on either side, rose more precipitous and craggy. +The Aosta, crowded into a narrow channel, rushed foaming over the +rocks, leaving barely room for a road along the side of the mountain. +Suddenly the march of the whole army was arrested by a fort, built +upon an inaccessible rock, which rose pyramidally from the bed of +the stream. Bristling cannon, skillfully arranged on well-constructed +bastions, swept the pass, and rendered further advance apparently +impossible. Rapidly the tidings of this unexpected obstruction +spread from the van to the rear. Napoleon immediately hastened +to the front ranks. Climbing the mountain opposite the fort, by a +goat path, he threw himself down upon the ground, when a few bushes +concealed his person from the shot of the enemy, and with his +telescope long and carefully examined the fort and the surrounding +crags. He perceived one elevated spot, far above the fort, where a +cannon might by possibility be drawn. From that position its shot +could be plunged upon the unprotected bastions below. Upon the +face of the opposite cliff, far beyond the reach of cannon-balls, +he discerned a narrow shelf in the rock by which he thought it +possible that a man could pass. The march was immediately commenced, +in single file, along this giddy ridge. .......... And even the +horses, insured to the terrors of the Great St. Bernard, were led +by their riders upon the narrow path, which a horse's hoof had never +trod before, and probably will never tread again. The Austrians, +in the fort, had the mortification of seeing thirty-five thousand +soldiers, with numerous horses, defile along this airy line, as +if adhering to the side of the rock. But neither bullet nor ball +could harm them. + +Napoleon ascended this mountain ridge, and upon its summit, quite +exhausted with days and nights of sleeplessness and toil, laid +himself down, in the shadow of the rock, and fell asleep. The long +line filed carefully and silently by, each soldier hushing his +comrade, that the repose of their beloved chieftain might not be +disturbed. It was an interesting spectacle, to witness the tender +affection, beaming from the countenances of these bronzed and war-worn +veterans, as every foot trod softly, and each eye, in passing, was +riveted upon the slender form, and upon the pale and wasted cheek +of the sleeping Napoleon. + +The artillery could by no possibility be thus transported; and an +army without artillery is a soldier without weapons. The Austrian +commander wrote to Melas, that he had seen an army of thirty-five +thousand men and four thousand horse creeping by the fort, along +the face of Mount Albaredo. He assured the commander-in-chief, +however, that not one single piece of artillery had passed or could +pass beneath the guns of his fortress. When he was writing this +letter, already had one half of the cannon and ammunition of the army +been conveyed by the fort, and were safely and rapidly proceeding +on their way down the valley. In the darkness of the night trusty +men, with great caution and silence, strewed hay and straw upon the +road. The wheels of the lumbering carriages were carefully bound +with cloths and wisps of straw, and, with axles well oiled, were +drawn by the hands of these picked men, beneath the very walls of +the fortress, and within half pistol-shot of its guns. In two nights +the artillery and the baggage-trains were thus passed along, and +in a few days the fort itself was compelled to surrender. + +Melas, the Austrian commander, now awoke in consternation to a sense +of his peril. Napoleon--the dreaded Napoleon--had, as by a miracle, +crossed the Alps. He had cut off all his supplies, and was shutting +the Austrians up from any possibility of retreat. Bewildered by the +magnitude of his peril, he no longer thought of forcing his march +upon Paris. The invasion of France was abandoned. His whole energies +were directed to opening for himself a passage back to Austria. +The most cruel perplexities agitated him. From the very pinnacle +of victory, he was in danger of descending to the deepest abyss of +defeat. It was also with Napoleon an hour of intense solicitude. He +had but sixty thousand men, two-thirds of whom were new soldiers, +who had never seen a shot fired in earnest, with whom he was +to arrest the march of a desperate army of one hundred and twenty +thousand veterans, abundantly provided with all the most efficient +machinery of war. There were many paths by which Melas might escape, +at leagues' distance from each other. It was necessary for Napoleon +to divide his little band that he might guard them all. He was +liable at any moment to have a division of his army attacked by +an overwhelming force, and cut to pieces before it could receive +any reinforcements. He ate not, he slept not, he rested not. Day +and night, and night and day, he was on horseback, pale, pensive, +apparently in feeble health, and interesting every beholder with +his grave and melancholy beauty. His scouts were out in every +direction. He studied all the possible movements and combinations +of his foes. Rapidly he overran Lombardy, and entered Milan in +triumph. Melas anxiously concentrated his forces, to break through +the net with which he was entangled. He did every thing in his +power to deceive Napoleon, by various feints, that the point of his +contemplated attack might not be known. Napoleon, in the following +clarion tones, appealed to the enthusiasm of his troops: + +"Soldiers! when we began our march, one department of France was +in the hands of the enemy. Consternation pervaded the south of the +Republic. You advanced. Already the French territory is delivered. +Joy and hope in our country have succeeded to consternation and +fear. The enemy, terror-struck, seeks only to regain his frontiers. +You have taken his hospitals, his magazines, his reserve parks. +The first act of the campaign is finished. Millions of men address +you in strains of praise. But shall we allow our audacious enemies +to violate with impunity the territory of the Republic? Will +you permit the army to escape which has carried terror into your +families? You will not. March, then, to meet him. Tear from his +brows the laurels he has won. Teach the world that a malediction +attends those who violate the territory of the Great People. The +result of our efforts will be unclouded glory, and a durable peace!" + +The very day Napoleon left Paris, Desaix arrived in France from +Egypt. Frank, sincere, upright, and punctiliously honorable, he was +one of the few whom Napoleon truly loved. Desaix regarded Napoleon +as infinitely his superior, and looked up to him with a species +of adoration; he loved him with a fervor of feeling which amounted +almost to a passion. Napoleon, touched, by the affection of a heart +so noble, requited it with the most confiding friendship. Desaix, +upon his arrival in Paris, found letters for him there from the +First Consul. As he read the confidential lines, he was struck with +the melancholy air with which they were pervaded. "Alas!" said he, +"Napoleon has gained every thing, and yet he is unhappy. I must +hasten to meet him." Without delay he crossed the Alps, and arrived +at the head-quarters of Napoleon but a few days before the battle +of Marengo. They passed the whole night together, talking over the +events of Egypt and the prospects of France. Napoleon felt greatly +strengthened by the arrival of his noble friend, and immediately +assigned to him the command of a division of the army. "Desaix," +said he, "is my sheet anchor." + +"You have had a long interview with Desaix," said Bourrienne to +Napoleon the next morning. "Yes!" he replied; "but I had my reasons. +As soon as I return to Paris I shall make him Minister of War. He +shall always be my lieutenant. I would make him a prince if I could. +He is of the heroic mould of antiquity!" + +Napoleon was fully aware that a decisive battle would soon take +place. Melas was rapidly, from all points, concentrating his army. +The following laconic and characteristic order was issued by the +First Consul to Lannes and Murat: "Gather your forces at the river +Stradella. On the 8th or 9th at the latest, you will have on your +hands fifteen or eighteen thousand Austrians. Meet them, and cut +them to pieces. It will be so many enemies less upon our hands on +the day of the decisive battle we are to expect with the entire army +of Melas." The prediction was true. An Austrian force advanced, +eighteen thousand strong. Lannes met them upon the field of +Montebello. They were strongly posted, with batteries ranged upon +the hill sides, which swept the whole plain. It was of the utmost +moment that this body should be prevented from combining with the +other vast forces of the Austrians. Lannes had but eight thousand +men. Could he sustain the unequal conflict for a few hours, Victor, +who was some miles in the rear, could come up with a reserve +of four thousand men. The French soldiers, fully conscious of the +odds against which they were to contend, and of the carnage into +the midst of which they were plunging, with shouts of enthusiasm +rushed upon their foes. Instantaneously a storm of grape-shot from +all the batteries swept through his ranks. Said Lannes, " I could +hear the bones crash in my division, like glass in a hail-storm +." For nine long hours, from eleven in the morning till eight at +night, the horrid carnage continued. Again and again the mangled, +bleeding, wasted columns were rallied to the charge. At last, when +three thousand Frenchmen were strewn dead upon the ground, the +Austrians broke and fled, leaving also three thousand mutilated +corpses and six thousand prisoners behind them. Napoleon, hastening +to the aid of his lieutenant, arrived upon the field just in time +to see the battle won. He rode up to Lannes. The intrepid soldier +stood in the midst of mounds of the dead--his sword dripping with +blood in his exhausted hand--his face blackened with powder and +smoke--and his uniform soiled and tattered by the long and terrific +strife. Napoleon silently, but proudly smiled upon the heroic +general, and forgot not his reward. From this battle Lannes received +the title of Duke of Montebello, a title by which his family is +distinguished to the present day. + +This was the opening of the campaign. It inspired the French with +enthusiasm. It nerved the Austrians to despair. Melas now determined +to make a desperate effort to break through the toils. Napoleon, +with intense solicitude, was watching every movement of his foe, +knowing not upon what point the onset would fall. Before day-break +in the morning of the 14th of June, Melas, having accumulated forty +thousand men, including seven thousand cavalry and two hundred pieces +of cannon, made an impetuous assault upon the French, but twenty +thousand in number drawn up upon the plain of Marengo. Desaix, +with a reserve of six thousand men, was at such a distance, nearly +thirty miles from Marengo, that he could not possibly be recalled +before the close of the day. The danger was frightful that the +French would be entirely cut to pieces, before any succor could +arrive. But the quick ear of Desaix caught the sound of the heavy +cannonade as it came booming over the plain, like distant thunder. +He sprung from his couch and listened. The heavy and uninterrupted +roar, proclaimed a pitched battle, and he was alarmed for his +beloved chief. Immediately he roused his troops, and they started +upon the rush to succor their comrades. Napoleon dispatched courier +after courier to hurry the division along, while his troops stood +firm through terrific hours, as their ranks were plowed by the +murderous discharges of their foes. At last the destruction was too +awful for mortal men to endure. Many divisions of the army broke +and fled, crying " All is lost--save himself who can ." A scene of +frightful disorder ensued. The whole plain was covered with fugitive, +swept like an inundation before the multitudinous Austrians. +Napoleon still held a few squares together, who slowly and sullenly +retreated, while two hundred pieces of artillery, closely pressing +them, poured incessant death into their ranks. Every foot of ground +was left encumbered with the dead. It was now three o'clock in +the afternoon. Melas, exhausted with toil, and assured that he had +gained a complete victory, left Gen. Zach to finish the work. He +retired to his head quarters, and immediately dispatched couriers +all over Europe to announce the great victory of Marengo. Said an +Austrian veteran, who had before encountered Napoleon at Arcola +and Rivoli, "Melas is too sanguine. Depend upon it our day's work +is not yet done. Napoleon will yet be upon us with his reserve." + +Just then the anxious eye of the First Consulespied the solid columns +of Desaix entering the plain. Desaix, plunging his spurs into his +horse, outstripped all the rest, and galloped into the presence of +Napoleon. As he cast a glance over the wild confusion and devastation +of the field, the exclaimed hurriedly, "I see that the battle +is lost. I suppose I can do no more for you than to secure your +retreat." "By no means," Napoleon replied with apparently as much +composure as if he had been sitting by his own fireside, "the battle, +I trust, is gained. Charge with your column. The disordered troops +will rally in your rear." Like a rock, Desaix, with his solid +phalanx of ten thousand men, met the on-rolling billow of Austrian +victory. At the same time Napoleon dispatched an order to Kellerman, +with his cavalry, to charge the triumphant column of the Austrians +in flank. It was the work of a moment, and the whole aspect of the +field was changed. Napoleon rode along the lines of those on the +retreat, exclaiming, "My friends, we have retreated far enough. +It is now our turn to advance. Recollect that I am in the habit +of sleeping on the field of battle." The fugitives, reanimated by +the arrival of the reserve, immediately rallied in their rear. The +double charge in front and flank was instantly made. The Austrians +were checked and staggered. A perfect tornado of bullets from Desaix's +division swept their ranks. They poured an answering volley into +the bosoms of the French. A bullet pierced the breast of Desaix, +and he fell and almost immediately expired. His last words were, +"Tell the First Consul that my only regret in dying is, to have +perished before having done enough to live in the recollection of +posterity." The soldiers, who devotedly loved him, saw his fall, +and rushed more madly on to avenge his death. The swollen tide of +uproar, confusion, and dismay now turned, and rolled in surging +billows in the opposite direction. Hardly one moment elapsed before +the Austrians, flushed with victory, found themselves overwhelmed +by defeat. In the midst of this terrific scene, an aid rode up to +Napoleon and said, "Desaix is dead." But a moment before they were +conversing side by side. Napoleon pressed his forehead convulsively +with his hand, and exclaimed, mournfully, "Why is it not permitted +me to weep! Victory at such a price is dear." + +The French now made the welkin ring with shouts of victory. +Indescribable dismay filled the Austrian ranks as wildly they +rushed before their unrelenting pursuers. Their rout was utter and +hopeless. When the sun went down over this field of blood, after +twelve hours of the most frightful carnage, a scene was presented +horrid enough to appall the heart of a demon. More than twenty thousand +human bodies were strewn upon the ground, the dying and the dead, +weltering in gore, and in every conceivable form of disfiguration. +Horses, with limbs torn their bodies, were struggling in convulsive +agonies. Fragments of guns and swords, and of military wagons +of every kind were strewed around in wild ruin. Frequent piercing +cries, which agony extorted from the lacerated victims of war, +rose above the general moanings of anguish, which, like wailings +of the storm, fell heavily upon the ear. The shades of night were +now descending upon this awful scene of misery. The multitude of +the wounded was so great, that notwithstanding the utmost exertions +of the surgeons, hour after hour of the long night lingered away, +while thousands of the wounded and the dying bit the dust in their +agony. + +If war has its chivalry and its pageantry, it has also revolting +hideousness and demoniac woe. The young, the noble, the sanguine +were writhing there in agony. Bullets respect not beauty. They tear +out the eye, and shatter the jaw, and rend the cheek, and transform +the human face divine into an aspect upon which one can not gaze +but with horror. From the field of Marengo many a young man returned +to his home so multilated as no longer to be recognized by friends, +and passed a weary life in repulsive deformity. Mercy abandons the +arena of battle. The frantic war-horse with iron hoof tramples upon +the mangled face, the throbbing and inflamed wounds the splintered +bones, and heeds not the shriek of torture. Crushed into the bloody +mire by the ponderous wheels of heavy artillery, the victim of +barbaric war thinks of mother, and father, and sister, and home, +and shrieks, and moans, and dies; his body is stripped by the +vagabonds who follow the camp; his naked mangled corpse is covered +with a few shovels-full of earth, and left as food for vultures and +for dogs and he is forgotten forever--and it is called glory . He +who loves war, for the sake of its excitements, its pageantry, and +its fancied glory, is the most eminent of all the dupes of folly +and of sin. He who loathes war, with inexpressible loathing, who +will do everything in his power to avert the dire and horrible +calamity, but who will, nevertheless, in the last extremity, with +a determined spirit, encounter all its perils, from love of country +and of home, who is willing to sacrifice himself and all that is +dear to him in life, to promote the well being of his fellow-man, +will ever receive the homage of the world, and we also fully believe +that he will receive the approval of God. Washington abhorred war +in all its forms, yet he braved all its perils. + +For the carnage of the field of Marengo, Napoleon can not be held +responsible. Upon England and Austria must rest all the guilt of +that awful tragedy. Napoleon had done every thing he could do to +stop the effusion of blood. He had sacrificed the instincts of pride, +in pleading with a haughty foe for peace. His plea was unavailing. +Three hundred thousand men were marching upon France to force upon +her a detested King. It was not the duty of France to submit to +such dictation. Drawing the sword in self-defense, Napoleon fought +and conquered. "Te Deum Laudamus." + +It is not possible but that Napoleon must have been elated by so +resplendent a victory. He knew that Marengo would be classed as the +most brilliant of his achievements. The blow had fallen with such +terrible severity that the haughty allies were thoroughly humbled. +Melas was now at his mercy. Napoleon could dictate peace upon his +own terms. Yet he rode over the field of his victory with a saddened +spirit, and gazed mournfully upon the ruin and the wretchedness +around him. As he was slowly and thoughtfully passing along, through +the heaps of the dead with which the ground was encumbered, he met +a number of carts, heavily laden with the wounded, torn by balls, +and bullets, and fragments of shells, into most hideous spectacles +of deformity. As the heavy wheels lumbered over the rough ground, +grating the splintered bones, and bruising and opening afresh +the inflamed wounds, shrieks of torture were extorted from the +victims. Napoleon stopped his horse and uncovered his head, as the +melancholy procession of misfortune and woe passed along. Turning +to a companion, he said, "We can not but regret not being wounded +like these unhappy men, that we might share their sufferings." +A more touching expression of sympathy never has been recorded. +He who says that this was hypocrisy is a stranger to the generous +impulses of a noble heart. This instinctive outburst of emotion +never could have been instigated by policy. + +Napoleon had fearlessly exposed himself to every peril during this +conflict. His clothes were repeatedly pierced by bullets. Balls +struck between the legs of his horse, covering him with earth. A +cannon-ball took away a piece of the boot from his left leg and a +portion of the skin, leaving a scar which was never obliterated. + +Before Napoleon Marched for Italy, he had made every effort in his +power for the attainment of peace. Now, with magnanimity above all +praise, without waiting for the first advance from his conquered +foes, he wrote again imploring peace. Upon the field of Marengo, +having scattered all his enemies like chaff before him, with the +smoke of the conflict still darkening the air, and the groans of +the dying swelling upon his ears, laying aside all the formalities +of state, with heartfelt feeling and earnestness he wrote to the +Emperor of Austria. This extraordinary epistle was thus commenced: + +"Sire! It is on the field of battle, amid the sufferings of a +multitude of wounded, and surrounded by fifteen thousand corpses, +that I beseech your majesty to listen to the voice of humanity, +and not to suffer two brave nations to cut each others' throats +for interests not their own. It is my part to press this upon your +majesty, being upon the very theatre of war. Your majesty's heart +can not feel it so keenly as does mine." + +The letter was long and most eloquent. "For what are you fighting?" +said Napoleon. "For religion? Then make war on the Russians and the +English who are the enemies of your faith. Do you wish to guard +against revolutionary principles? It is this very war which has +extended them over half the Continent, by extending the conquests +of France. The continuance of the war can not fail to diffuse them +still further. Is it for the balance of Europe? The English threaten +that balance far more than does France, for they have become the +masters and the tyrants of commerce, and are beyond the reach of +resistance. Is it to secure the interests of the house of Austria! +Let us then execute the treaty of Campo Formio, which secures to +your majesty large indemnities in compensation for the provinces +lost in the Netherlands, and secures them to you where you most +wish to obtain them, that is, in Italy. Your majesty may send +negotiators whither you will, and we will add to the treaty of +Campo Formio stipulations calculated to assure you of the continued +existence of the secondary states, of all which the French Republic +is accused of having shaken. Upon these conditions pace is made, +if you will. Let us make the armistice general for all the armies, +and enter into negotiations instantly." + +A courier was immediately dispatched to Vienna, to convey this letter +to the Emperor. In the evening, Bourrienne hastened to congratulate +Napoleon upon his extraordinary victory. "What a glorious +day!" said Bourrienne. "Yes!" replied Napoleon, mournfully; "very +glorious--could I this evening but have embraced Desaix upon the +field of battle." + +On the same day, and at nearly the same hour in which the fatal +bullet pierced the breast of Desaix, an assassin in Egypt plunged +a dagger into the bosom of Kleber. The spirits of these illustrious +men, these blood-stained warriors, thus unexpectedly met in the +spirit-land. There they wander now. How impenetrable the vail which +shuts their destiny from our view. The soul longs for clearer vision +of that far-distant world, people by the innumerable host of the +mighty dead. There Napoleon now dwells. Does he retain his intellectual +supremacy? Do his generals gather around him with love and homage! +Has his pensive spirit sunk down into gloom and despair, or has +it soared into cloudless regions of purity and peace! The mystery +of death' Death alone can solve it. Christianity, with its lofty +revealings, sheds but dim twilight upon the world off departed +spirits. At St. Helena Napoleon said, "Of all the general I ever had +under my command Desaix and Kleber possessed the greatest talent. +In particular Desaix, as Kleber loved glory only as the means of +acquiring wealth and pleasure. Desaix loved glory for itself, and +despised every other consideration. To him riches and pleasure were +of no value, nor did he ever give them a moment's thought. He was +a little black-looking man, about an inch shorter than myself, +always badly dressed, sometimes even ragged, and despising alike +comfort and convenience. Enveloped in a cloak, Desaix would throw +himself under a gun and sleep as contentedly as if reposing in a +palace. Luxury had for him no charms. Frank and honest in all his +proceedings, he was denominated by the Arabs Sultan the Just. Nature +intended him to figure as a consummate general. Kleber and Desaix +were irreparable losses to France." + +It is impossible to describe the dismay, which pervaded the camp +of the Austrians after this terrible defeat. They were entirely +cut from all retreat, and were at the mercy of Napoleon. A council +of war was held by the Austrian officers during the night, and it +was unanimously resolved that capitulation was unavoidable. Early +the next morning a flag of truce was sent to the head-quarters of +Napoleon. The Austrians offered to abandon Italy, if the generosity +of the victor would grant them the boon of not being made prisoners +of war. Napoleon met the envoy with great courtesy, and, according +to his custom, stated promptly and irrevocably the conditions +upon which he was willing to treat. The terms were generous. "The +Austrian armies," said he, "may unmolested return to their homes; +but all of Italy must be abandoned." Melas, who was eighty years +of age, hoped to modify the terms, and again sent the negotiator +to suggest some alterations. "Monsieur!" said Napoleon, "my +conditions are irrevocable. I did not begin to make war yesterday. +Your position is as perfectly comprehended by me as by yourselves. +You are encumbered with dead, sick, and wounded, destitute of +provisions, deprived of the elite of your army, surrounded on every +side, I might exact every thing. But I respect the white hairs of +your general, and the valor of your soldiers. I ask nothing but what +is rigorously justified by the present position of affairs. Take +what steps you may, you will have no other terms." The conditions +were immediately signed, and a suspension of arms was agreed upon, +until an answer could be received from Vienna. + +Napoleon left Paris for this campaign on the 7th of May. The battle +of Marengo was fought on the 14th of June. Thus in five weeks +Napoleon has scaled the barrier of the Alps: with sixty thousand +soldiers, most of them undisciplined recruits, he had utterly +discomfited an army of one hundred and twenty thousand men, and +regained the whole of Italy. The bosom of every Frenchman throbbed +with gratitude and pride. One wild shout of enthusiasm ascended +from united France. Napoleon had laid the foundation of his throne +deep in the heart of the French nation, and there that foundation +still remains unshaken. + +Napoleon now entered Milan in triumph. He remained there ten days, +busy apparently every hour, by day and by night, in re-organizing the +political condition of Italy. The serious and religious tendencies +of his mind are developed by the following note, which four days +after the battle of Marengo, he wrote to the Consuls in Paris: +"To-day, whatever our atheists may say to it, I go in great state +to the To Deum which is to be chanted in the Cathedral of Milan. * +* The Te Deum , is an anthem of praise, sung in churches on occasion +of thanksgiving. It is so called from the first words "Te Deum +laudamus," Thee God we praise + +An unworthy spirit of detraction has vainly sought to wrest from +Napoleon the honor of this victory, and to attribute it all to the +flank charge made by Kellerman. Such attempts deserve no detail +reply. Napoleon had secretly and suddenly called into being an army, +and by its apparently miraculous creation had astounded Europe. He +had effectually deceived the vigilance of his enemies, so as to +leave them entirely in the dark respecting his point of attack. +He had conveyed that army with all its stores, over the pathless +crags of the Great St. Bernard. Like an avalanche he had descended +from the mountains upon the plains of startled Italy. He had +surrounded the Austrian hosts, though they were doubled his numbers, +with a net through which they could not break. In a decisive +battle he had scattered their ranks before him, like chaff by the +whirlwind. He was nobly seconded by those generals whom his genius +had chosen and created. It is indeed true, that without his generals +and his soldiers he could not have gained the victory. Massena +contributed to the result by his matchless defense of Genoa; Moreau, +by holding in abeyance the army of the Rhine; Lannes, by his iron +firmness on the plain of Montebello; Desaix, by the promptness +with which he rushed to the rescue, as soon as his car caught the +far-off thunders of the cannon of Marengo; and Kellerman, by his +admirable flank charge of cavalry. But it was the genius of Napoleon +which planned the mighty combination, which roused and directed +the enthusiasm of the generals, which inspired the soldiers with +fearlessness and nerved them for the strife, and which, through +these efficient agencies, secured the astounding results. + +Napoleon established his triumphant army, now increased to eighty +thousand men, in the rich valley of the Po. He assigned to the +heroic Massena the command of this triumphant host, and ordering +all the forts and citadels which blocked the approaches from France +to be blown up, set out, on the 24th of June, for his return to +Paris. In re-crossing the Alps, by the pass of Mt. Cenis, he met +the carriage of Madame Kellerman, who was going to Italy to join +her husband. Napoleon ordered his carriage to be stopped, and +alighting, greeted the lady with great courtesy, and congratulated +her upon the gallant conduct of her husband at Marengo. As he was +riding along one day, Bourrienne spoke of the world-wide renown +which the First Consul had attained. + +"Yes," Napoleon thoughtfully replied. "A few more events like this +campaign, and my name may perhaps go down to posterity." + +"I think," Bourrienne rejoined, "that you have already done enough +to secure a long and lasting fame." + +"Done enough!" Napoleon replied. "You are very good! It is true +that in less than two years I have conquered Cairo, Paris, Milan. +But were I to die to-morrow, half a page of general history would +be all that would be devoted to my exploits." + +Napoleon's return to Paris, through the provinces of France, was +a scene of constant triumph. The joy of the people amounted almost +to frenzy. Bonfires, illuminations, the pealing of bells, and the +thunders of artillery accompanied him all the way. Long lines of +young maidens, selected for their grace and beauty, formed avenues +of loveliness and smiles through which he was to pass, and carpeted +his path with flowers. He arrived in Paris at midnight the 2d of +July, having been absent but eight weeks. + +The enthusiasm of the Parisians was unbounded and inexhaustible. +Day after day, and night after night, the festivities continued. +The Palace of the Tuileries was ever thronged with a crowd, eager +to catch a glimpse of the preserver of France. All the public bodies +waited upon him with congratulations. Bells rung, cannon thundered, +bonfires and illuminations blazed, rockets and fire-works, +in meteoric splendor filled the air, bands of music poured forth +their exuberant strains, and united Paris, thronging the garden of +the Tuileries and flooding back into the Elysian Fields, rent the +heavens with deafening shouts of exultation. As Napoleon stood at +the window of his palace, witnessing this spectacle of a nation's +gratitude, he said, "The sound of these acclamations is as sweet +to me, as the voice of Josephine. How happy I am to be beloved by +such a people." Preparations were immediately made for a brilliant +and imposing solemnity in commemoration of the victory. "Let +no triumphal arch be raised to me," said Napoleon. "I wish for no +triumphal arch but the public satisfaction." + +It is not strange that enthusiasm and gratitude should have glowed +in the ardent bosoms of the French. In four months Napoleon had +raised France from an abyss of ruin to the highest pinnacle of +prosperity and renown. For anarchy he had substituted law, for bankruptcy +a well-replenished treasury, for ignominious defeat resplendent +victory, for universal discontent as universal satisfaction. The +invaders were driven from France, the hostile alliance broken, and +the blessings of peace were now promised to the war-harassed nation. + +During this campaign there was presented a very interesting +illustration of Napoleon's wonderful power of anticipating the +progress of coming events. Bourrienne, one day, just before the +commencement of the campaign, entered the cabinet at the Tuileries, +and found an immense map of Italy, unrolled upon the carpet, and +Napoleon stretched upon it. With pins, whose heads were tipped with +red and black sealing-wax, to represent the French and Austrian +forces, Napoleon was studying all the possible combinations and +evolutions of the two hostile armies. Bourrienne, in silence, but +with deep interest, watched the progress of this pin campaign. +Napoleon, having arranged the pins with red heads, where he intended +to conduct the French troops, and with the black pins designating +the point which he supposed the Austrians would occupy, looked up +to his secretary, and said: + +"Do you think that I shall beat Melas?" + +"Why, how can I tell!" Bourrienne answered. + +"Why, you simpleton," said Napoleon, playfully; "just look here. +Melas is at Alexandria, where he has his head-quarters. He will remain +there until Genoa surrenders. He has in Alexandria his magazines, +his hospitals, his artillery, his reserves. Passing the Alps here," +sticking a pin into the Great St. Bernard, "I fall upon Melas in +his rear; I cut off his communications with Austria. I meet him +here in the valley of the Bormida." So saying, he stuck a red pin +into the plain of Marengo. + +Bourrienne regarded this maneuvering of pins as mere pastime. His +countenance expressed his perfect incredulity. Napoleon, perceiving +this, addressed to him some of his usual apostrophes, in which he +was accustomed playfully to indulge in moments of relaxation, such +as, You ninny, You goose; and rolled up the map. Ten weeks passed +away, and Bourrienne found himself upon the banks of the Bormida, +writing, at Napoleon's dictation, an account of the battle of +Marengo. Astonished to find Napoleon's anticipations thus minutely +fulfilled, he frankly avowed his admiration of the military +sagacity thus displayed. Napoleon himself smiled at the justice of +his foresight. + +Two days before the news of the battle of Marengo arrived in Vienna, +England effected a new treaty with Austria, for the more vigorous +prosecution of the war. By this convention it was provided that +England should loan Austria ten millions of dollars, to bear no +interest during the continuance of the conflict. And the Austrian +cabinet bound itself not to make peace with France, without +the consent of the Court of St. James. The Emperor of Austria was +now sadly embarrassed. His sense of honor would not allow him to +violate his pledge to the King of England, and to make peace. On +the other hand, he trembled at the thought of seeing the armies +of the invincible Napoleon again marching upon his capital. He, +therefore, resolved to temporize, and, in order to gain time, sent +an embassador to Paris. The plenipotentiary presented to Napoleon +a letter, in which the Emperor stated, "You will give credit to +every thing which Count Julien shall say on my part. I will ratify +whatever he shall do." Napoleon, prompt in action, and uniformed +of the new treaty between Ferdinand and George III., immediately +caused the preliminaries of peace to be drawn up, which were signed +by the French and Austrian ministers. The cabinet in Vienna, angry +with their embassador for not protracting the discussion, refused +to ratify the treaty, recalled Count Julien, sent him into exile, +informed the First Consul of the treat which bound Austria not to +make peace without the concurrence of Great Britain, assured France +of the readiness of the English Cabinet to enter into negotiations, +and urged the immediate opening of a Congress at Luneville, to +which plenipotentiaries should be sent from each of the three great +contending powers. Napoleon was highly indignant in view of this +duplicity and perfidy. Yet, controlling his anger, he consented to +treat with England, and with that view proposed a naval armistice +, with the mistress of the seas. To this proposition England +peremptorily refused to accede, as it would enable France to throw +supplies into Egypt and Malta, which island England was besieging. +The naval armistice would have been undeniably for the interests +of France. But the continental armistice was as undeniably adverse +to her interests, enabling Austria to recover from her defeats, and +to strengthen her armies. Napoleon, fully convinced that England, +in he[r inaccessible position, did not wish for peace, and that her +only object, in endeavoring to obtain admittance to the Congress, +was that she might throw obstacles in the way of reconciliation +with Austria, offered to renounce all armistice with England, and +to treat with her separately. This England also refused. + +It was now September. Two months had passed in these vexations and +sterile negotiations. Napoleon had taken every step in his power to +secure peace. He sincerely desired it. He had already won all the +laurels he could wish to win on the field of battle. The reconstruction +of society in France, and the consolidation of his power, demanded +all his energies. The consolidation of his power! That was just what +the government of England dreaded. The consolidation of democratic +power in France was dangerous to king and to noble. William Pits, +the soul of the aristocratic government of England, determined still +to prosecute the war. France could not harm England. But England, +with her invincible fleet, could sweep the commerce of France from +the seas. Fox and his coadjutors with great eloquence and energy +opposed the war. Their efforts were, however, unavailing. The +people of England, notwithstanding all the efforts of the government +to defame the character of the First Consul, still cherished the +conviction that, after all, Napoleon was their friend. Napoleon, +in subsequent years, while reviewing these scenes of his early +conflicts, with characteristic eloquence and magnanimity, gave +utterance to the following sentiments which, it is as certain as +destiny, that the verdict of the world will yet confirm. + +"Pitt was the master of European policy. He held in his hands the +moral fate of nations. But he made an ill use of his power. He +kindled the fire of discord throughout the universe; and his name, +like that of Erostratus, will be inscribed in history, amidst +flames, lamentations, and tears. Twenty-five years of universal +conflagration; the numerous coalitions that added fuel to the +flame; the revolution and devastation of Europe; the bloodshed of +nations; the frightful debt of England, by which all these horrors +were maintained; the pestilential system of loans, by which the +people of Europe are oppressed; the general discontent that now +prevails--all must be attributed to Pitt. Posterity will brand him +as a scourge. The man so lauded in his own time, will hereafter be +regarded as the genius of evil. Not that I consider him to have +been willfully atrocious, or doubt his having entertained the +conviction that he was acting right. But St. Bartholomew had also +its conscientious advocates. The Pope and cardinals celebrated it +by a Te Deum ; and we have no reason to doubt their having done +so in perfect sincerity. Such is the weakness of human reason and +judgment! But that for which posterity will, above all, execrate +the memory of Pitt, is the hateful school, which he has left behind +him; its insolent Machiavelism, its profound immorality, its cold +egotism, and its utter disregard of justice and human happiness. +Whether it be the effect of admiration and gratitude, or the result +of mere instinct and sympathy, Pitt is, and will continue to be, +the idol of the European aristocracy. There was, indeed, a touch of +the Sylla in his character. His system has kept the popular cause +in check, and brought about the triumph of the patricians. As for +Fox, one must not look for his model among the ancients. He is +himself a model, and his principles will sooner or later rule the +world. The death of Fox was one of the fatalities of my career. Had +his life been prolonged, affairs would taken a totally different +turn. The cause of the people would have triumphed, and we should +have established a new order of things in Europe." + +Austria really desired peace. The march of Napoleon's armies upon +Vienna was an evil more to be dreaded than even the consolidation +of Napoleon's power in France. But Austria was, by loans and +treaties, so entangled with England, that she could make not peace +without the consent of the Court of St. James. Napoleon found that +he was but triffled with. Interminable difficulties were thrown +in the way of negotiation. Austria was taking advantage of the +cessation of hostilities, merely to recruit her defeated armies, +that, soon as the approaching winter had passed away, she might +fall, with renovated energies, upon France. The month of November +had now arrived, and the mountains, whitened with snow, were swept +by the bleak winds of winter. The period of the armistice had expired. +Austria applied for its prolongation. Napoleon was no longer thus +to be duped. He consented, however, to a continued suspension +of hostilities, on condition that the treaty of peace were signed +within forty-eight hours. Austria, believing that no sane man +would march an army into Germany in the dead of winter, and that +she should have abundant time to prepare for a spring campaign, +refused. The armies of France were immediately on the move. The +Emperor of Austria had improved every moment of this transient +interval of peace, in recruiting his forces. In person he had visited +the army to inspire his troops with enthusiasm. The command of the +imperial forces was intrusted to his second brother, the Archduke +John. Napoleon moved with his accustomed vigor. The political +necessities of Paris and of France rendered it impossible for him +to leave the metropolis. He ordered one powerful army, under General +Brune, to attack the Austrians in Italy, on the banks of Mincio, +and to press firmly toward Vienna. In the performance of this +operation, General Macdonald, in the dead of winter, effected his +heroic passage over the Alps by the pass of the Splugen. Victory +followed their standards. + +Moreau, with his magnificent army, commenced a winter campaign on +the Rhine. Between the rivers Iser and Inn there is an enormous +forest, many leagues in extent, of sombre firs and pines. It is +a dreary and almost uninhabited wilderness, of wild ravines, and +tangled under-brush. Two great roads have been cut through the +forest, and sundry woodmen's paths penetrate it at different points. +In the centre there is a little hamlet, of a few miserable huts, +called Hohenlinden. In this forest, on the night of the 3d of +December, 1800, Moreau, with sixty thousand men, encountered the +Archduke John with seventy thousand Austrian troops. The clocks +upon the towers of Munich had but just tolled the hour of midnight +when both armies were in motion, each hoping to surprise the +other. A dismal wintry storm was howling over the tree tops, and +the smothering snow, falling rapidly, obliterated all traces of a +path, and rendered it almost impossible to drag through the drifts +the ponderous artillery. Both parties, in the dark and tempestuous +night, became entangled in the forest, and the heads of their +columns in various places met. An awful scene of confusion, conflict, +and carnage then ensued. Imagination can not compass the terrible +sublimity of that spectacle. The dark midnight, the howlings of +the wintry storm, the driving sheets of snow, the incessant roar +of artillery and of musketry from one hundred and thirty thousand +combatants, the lightning flashes of the guns, the crash of the +falling trees as the heavy cannon-balls swept through the forest, +the floundering of innumerable horsemen bewildered in the pathless +snow, the shout of onset, the shriek of death, and the burst +of martial music from a thousand bands--all combined to present a +scene of horror and of demoniac energy, which probably even this +lost world never presented before. The darkness of the black forest +was so intense, and the snow fell in flakes so thick and fast and +blinding, that the combatants could with difficulty see each other. +They often judged of the foe only by his position, and fired at +the flashes gleaming through the gloom. At times, hostile divisions +became intermingled in inextricable confusion, and hand to hand, +bayonet crossing bayonet, and sword clashing against sword, they +fought with the ferocity of demons; for though the officers of an +army may be influenced by the most elevated sentiments of dignity +and of honor, the mass of the common soldiers have ever been the +most miserable, worthless, and degraded of mankind. As the advancing +and retreating host wavered to and fro, the wounded, by thousands, +were left on hill-sides and in dark ravines, with the drifting +snow, crimsoned with blood, their only blanket; there in solitude +and agony to moan and freeze and die. What death-scenes the eye of +God must have witnessed that night, in the solitudes of that dark, +tempest-tossed, and blood-stained forest! At last the morning dawned +through the unbroken clouds, and the battle raged with renovated +fury. Nearly twenty thousand mutilated bodies of the dead and +wounded were left upon the field, with gory locks frozen to their +icy pillows, and covered with mounds of snow. At last the French were +victorious at every point. The Austrians, having lost twenty-five +thousand men in killed, wounded, and prisoners, one hundred pieces +of artillery, and an immense number of wagons, fled in dismay. +This terrific conflict has been immortalized by the noble epic of +Campbell, which is now familiar wherever the English language is +known. + +"On Linden, when the sun was low, All bloodless lay the untrodden +snow, And dark as winter was the flow Or Iser, rolling rapidly. +"But Linden saw another sight, When the drums beat at dead of night, +Commanding fires of death to light The darkness of her scenery." +&c. + +The retreating Austrians rushed down the valley of the Danube. Moreau +followed thundering at their heels, plunging balls and shells into +their retreating ranks. The victorious French were within thirty +miles of Vienna, and the capital was in a state of indescribable +dismay. The Emperor again sent imploring an armistice. The +application was promptly acceded to, for Napoleon was contending +only for peace. Yet with unexempled magnanimity, notwithstanding +these astonishing victories, Napoleon made no essential alterations +in his terms. Austria was at his feet. His conquering armies were +almost in sight of the steeples of Vienna. There was no power which +the Emperor could present to obstruct their resistless march. He +might have exacted any terms of humiliation. But still he adhered +to the first terms which he had proposed. Moreau was urged by some +of his officers to press on to Vienna. "We had better halt," he +replied, "and be content with peace. It is for that alone that we +are fighting." The Emperor of Austria was thus compelled to treat +without the concurrence of England. The insurmountable obstacle in +the way of peace was thus removed. At Luneville, Joseph Bonaparte +appeared as the embassador of Napoleon, and Count Cobentzel as +the plenipotentiary of Austria. The terms of the treaty were soon +settled, and France was again at peace with all the world, England +alone excepted. By this treaty the Rhine was acknowledged as the +boundary of France. The Adige limited the possessions of Austria +in Italy; and Napoleon made it an essential article that every +Italian imprisoned in the dungeons of Austria for political offences, +should immediately be liberated. There was to be no interference +by either with the new republics which had sprung up in Italy. They +were to be permitted to choose whatever form of government they +preferred. In reference to this treaty, Sir Walter Scott makes the +candid admission that "the treaty of Luneville was not much more +advantageous to France than that of Campo Formio. The moderation +of the First Consul indicated at once his desire for peace upon the +Continent, and considerable respect for the bravery and strength of +Austria." And Alison, in cautious but significant phrase, remarks, +"These conditions did not differ materially from those offered by +Napoleon before the renewal of the war; a remarkable circumstance +, when it is remembered how vast and addition the victories of Marengo, +Hohenlinden, and the Mincio, had since made to the preponderance +of the French armies." + +It was, indeed, "a remarkable circumstance," that Napoleon should +have manifested such unparalleled moderation, under circumstances +of such aggravated indignity. In Napoleon's first Italian campaign +he was contending solely for peace. At last he attained it, in the +treaty of Campo Formio, on terms equally honorable to Austria and +to France. On his return from Egypt, he found the armies of Austria, +three hundred thousand strong, in alliance with England, invading +the territories of the Republic. He implored peace, in the name +of bleeding humanity, upon the fair basis of the treaty of Campo +Formio. His foes regarded his supplication as the imploring cry +of weakness, and treated it with scorn. With new vigor they poured +their tempests of balls and shells upon France. Napoleon sealed the +Alps, and dispersed his foes at Marengo, like autumn leaves before +the Alps, and dispersed his foes at Marengo, like autumn leaves +before the gale. Amid the smoke and the blood and the groans of +the field of his victory, he again wrote imploring peace; and he +wrote in terms dictated by the honest and gushing sympathies of a +humane man, and not in the cold and stately forms of the diplomatist. +Crushed as his foes were, he rose not in his demands, but nobly +said, "I am still willing to make peace upon the fair basis of +the treaty of Campo Formio." His treacherous foes, to gain time to +recruit their armies, that they might fall upon him with renovated +vigor, agreed to an armistice. They then threw all possible +embarrassments in the way of negotiation, and prolonged the armistice +till the winds of winter were sweeping fiercely over the snow-covered +hills of Austria. They thought that it was then too late for +Napoleon to make any movements until spring, and that they had a +long winter before them, in which to prepare for another campaign. +They refused peace. Through storms and freezing gales and drifting +snows the armies of Napoleon marched painfully to Hohenlinden. The +hosts of Austria were again routed, and were swept away, as the +drifted snow flies before the gale. Ten thousand Frenchmen lie cold +in death, the terrible price of the victory. The Emperor of Austria, +in his palaces, heard the thunderings of Napoleon's approaching +artillery. He implored peace. "It is all that I desire," said Napoleon; +"I am not fighting for ambition or for conquest. I am still ready +to make peace upon the fair basis of the treaty of Campo Formio." + +While all the Continent was now at peace with France, England alone, +with indomitable resolution, continued the war, without allies, +and without any apparent or avowed object. France, comparatively +powerless upon the seas, could strike no blows which would be felt +by the distant islanders. "On every point," says Sir Walter Scott, +"the English squadrons annihilated the commerce of France, crippled +her revenues, and blockaded her forts." The treaty of Luneville was +signed the 9th of February, 1801. Napoleon lamenting, the continued +hostility of England, in announcing this peace to the people of +France, remarked, "Why is not this treaty the treaty of a general +peace? This was the wish of France. This has been the constant object +of the efforts of her government. But its desires are fruitless. All +Europe knows that the British minister has endeavored to frustrate +the negotiations at Luneville. In vain was it declared to him +that France was ready to enter into a separate negotiation. This +declaration only produced a refusal under the pretext that England +could not abandon her ally. Since then, when that ally consented to +treat without England, that government sought other means to delay +a peace so necessary to the world. It raises pretensions contrary +to the dignity and rights of all nations. The whole commerce of +Asia, and of immense colonies, does not satisfy its ambition. All +the seas must submit to the exclusive sovereignty of England." +As William Pitt received the tidings of this discomfiture of his +allies, in despairing despondency, he exclaimed, "Fold up the map +of Europe. In need not again be opened for twenty years." + +While these great affairs were in progress, Napoleon, in Paris, was +consecrating his energies with almost miraculous power, in developing +all the resources of the majestic empire under his control. He +possessed the power of abstraction to a degree which has probably +never been equaled. He could concentrate all his attention for +any length of time upon one subject, and then, laying that aside +entirely, without expending any energies in unavailing anxiety, +could turn to another, with all the freshness and the vigor of an +unpreoccupied mind. Incessant mental labor was the luxury of his +life. "Occupation," said he, "is my element. I am born and made for +it. I have found the limits beyond which I could not use my legs. +I have seen the extent to which I could use my eyes. But I have +never known any bounds to my capacity for application." + +The universality of Napoleon's genius was now most conspicuous. The +revenues of the nation were replenished, and all the taxes arranged +to the satisfaction of the people. The Bank of France was reorganized, +and new energy infused into its operations. Several millions of +dollars were expended in constructing and perfecting five magnificent +roads radiating from Paris to the frontiers of the empire. Robbers, +the vagabonds of disbanded armies, infested the roads, rendering +traveling dangerous in the extreme. "Be patient," said Napoleon. +"Give me a month or two. I must first conquer peace abroad. I will +then do speedy and complete justice upon these highwaymen." A very +important canal, connecting Belgium with France, had been commenced +some years before. The engineers could not agree respecting the +best direction of the cutting through the highlands which separated +the valley of the Oise from that of the Somme. He visited the spot +in person: decided the question promptly, and decided it wisely, +and the canal was pressed to its completion. He immediately caused +three new bridges to be thrown across the Seine at Paris. He +commenced the magnificent road of the Simplon, crossing the rugged +Alps with a broad and smooth highway, which for ages will remain a +durable monument of the genius and energy of Napoleon. In gratitude for +the favors he had received from the monks of the Great St. Bernard, +he founded two similar establishments for the aid of travelers, +one on Mount Cenis, the other on the Simplon, and both auxiliary +to the convent on the Great St. Bernard. Concurrently with these +majestic undertakings, he commenced the compilation of the civil +code of France. The ablest lawyers of Europe were summoned to this +enterprise, and the whole work was discussed section by section +in the Council of State, over which Napoleon presided. The lawyers +were amazed to find that the First Consul was as perfectly familiar +with all the details of legal and political science, as he was with +military strategy. + +Bourrienne mentions, that one day, a letter was received from an +emigrant, General Durosel, who had taken refuge in the island of +Jersey. The following is an extract from the letter: + +"You can not have forgotten, general, that when your late father +was obliged to take your brothers from the college of Autun, he was +unprovided with money, and asked of me one hundred and twenty-five +dollars, which I lent him with pleasure. After his return, he had +not an opportunity of paying me, and when I left Ajaccio, your +mother offered to dispose of some plate, in order to pay the debt. +To this I objected, and told her that I would wait until she could +pay me at her convenience. Previous to the Revolution, I believe +that it was not in her power to fulfill her wish of discharging the +debt. I am sorry to be obliged to trouble you about such a trifle. +But such is my unfortunate situation, that even this trifle is of +some importance to me. At the age of eighty-six, general, after +having served my country for sixty years, I am compelled to take +refuge here, and to subsist on a scanty allowance, granted by the +English government to French emigrants. I say emigrants , for I am +obliged to be one against my will." + +Upon hearing this letter read, Napoleon immediately and warmly +said, "Bourrienne, this is sacred. Do not lose a moment. Send the +old man ten times the sum. Write to General Durosel, that he shall +immediately be erased from the list of emigrants. What mischief +those brigands of the Convention have done. I can never repair it +all." Napoleon uttered these words with a degree of emotion which +he had rarely before evinced. In the evening he inquired, with much +interest of Bourrienne, if he had executed his orders. + +Many attempts were made at this time to assassinate the First Consul. +Though France, with the most unparalleled unanimity surrounded him +with admiration, gratitude, and homage, there were violent men in +the two extremes of society, among the Jacobins and the inexorable +Royalists, who regarded him as in their way. Napoleon's escape from +the explosion of the infernal machine, got up by the Royalists, +was almost miraculous. + +On the evening of the 24th of December, Napoleon was going to the +Opera, to hear Haydn's Oratorio of the Creation, which was to be +performed for the first time. Intensely occupied by business, he was +reluctant to go; but to gratify Josephine, yielded to her urgent +request. It was necessary for his carriage to pass through a narrow +street. A cart, apparently by accident overturned, obstructed the +passage. A barrel suspended beneath the cart, contained as deadly +a machine as could be constructed with gun-powder and all the +missiles of death. The coachman succeeded in forcing his way by +the cart. He had barely passed when an explosion took place, which +was all over Paris, and which seemed to shake the city to its +foundations. Eight persons were instantly killed, and more than sixty +were wounded, of whom about twenty subsequently died. The houses +for a long distance, on each side of the street, were fearfully +shattered, and many of them were nearly blown to pieces. The +carriage rocked as upon the billows of the sea, and the windows +were shattered to fragments. Napoleon had been in too many scenes +of terror to be alarmed by any noise or destruction which gunpowder +could produce. "Ha!" said he, with perfect composure; "we are blown +up." One of his companions in the carriage, greatly terrified, +thrust his head through the demolished window, and called loudly +to the driver to stop. "No, no!" said Napoleon; "drive on." When +the First Consul entered the Opera House, he appeared perfectly +calm and unmoved. The greatest consternation, however, prevailed +in all parts of the house, for the explosion had been heard, and +the most fearful apprehensions were felt for the safety of the +idolized Napoleon. As soon as he appeared, thunders of applause, +which shook the very walls of the theatre, gave affecting testimony +of the attachment of the people to his person. In a few moments, +Josephine, who had come in her private carriage, entered the box. +Napoleon turned to her with perfect tranquillity, and said, "The +rascals tried to blow me up. Where is the book of the Oratorio?" + +Napoleon soon left the Opera and returned to the Tuileries. He +found a vast crowd assembled there, attracted by affection for his +person, and anxiety for his safety. The atrocity of this attempt +excited universal horror, and only increased the already almost +boundless popularity of the First Consul. Deputations and addresses +were immediately poured in upon him from Paris and from all the +departments of France, congratulating him upon his escape. It was +at first thought that this conspiracy was the work of the Jacobins. +There were in Paris more than a hundred of the leaders of the +execrable party, who had obtained a sanguinary notoriety during +the reign of terror. They were active members of a Jacolin Club, +a violent and vulgar gathering continually plotting the overthrow +of the government, and the assassination of the First Consul. They +were thoroughly detested by the people, and the community was glad +to avail itself of any plausible pretext for banishing them from +France. Without sufficient evidence that they were actually guilty +of this particular outrage, in the strong excitement and indignation +of the moment a decree was passed by the legislative bodies, sending +one hundred and sixty of these bloodstained culprits into exile. +The wish was earnestly expressed that Napoleon would promptly punish +them by his own dictatorial power. Napoleon had, in fact, acquired +such unbounded popularity, and the nation was so thoroughly impressed +with a sense of his justice, and his wisdom, the whatever he said +was done. He, however, insisted that the business should be conducted +by the constituted tribunals and under the regular forms of law. +"The responsibility of this measure," said Napoleon, "must rest +with the legislative body. The consuls are irresponsible. But +the ministers are not. Any one of them who should sign an arbitrary +decree, might hereafter be called to account. Not a single +individual must be compromised. The consuls themselves know not +what may happen. As for me, while I live, I am not afraid that any +one will be killed, and then I can not answer for the safety of my +two colleagues. It would be your turn to govern," said, he, smiling, +and turning to Cambaceres;" and you are not as yet very firm in +the stirrups . It will be better to have a law for the present, as +well as for the future." It was finally, after much deliberation, +decided that the Council of State should draw up a declaration of +the reasons, for the act. The First Consul was to sign the decree, +and the Senate was to declare whether it was or was not constitutional. +Thus cautiously Napoleon proceed under circumstances so exciting. +The law, however, was unjust and tyrannical. Guilty as these men +were of other crimes, by which they had forfeited all sympathy, +it subsequently appeared that they were not guilty of this crime. +Napoleon was evidently embraced by this uncertainty of their guilty, +and was not willing that they should be denounced as contrivers +of the infernal machine. "We believe ," said he, "that they are +guilty. But we do not know it. They must be transported for the +crimes which they have committed, the massacres and the conspiracies +already proved against them." The decree was passed. But Napoleon, +strong in popularity, became so convinced of the powerlessness and +insignificance of these Jacobins, that the decree was never enforced +against them. They remained in France. But they were conscious that +the eye of the police was upon them. "It is not my own person," said +Napoleon, "that I seek to avenge. My fortune which has preserved +me so often on the field of battle, will continue to preserve me. +I think not of myself. I think of social order which it is my mission +to re-establish, and of the national honor, which it is my duty +to purge from an abominable stain." To the innumerable addresses +of congratulation and attachment which this occurrence elicited +Napoleon replied. "I have been touched by the proofs of affection +which the people of Paris have shown me on this occasion. I deserve +them. For the only aim of my thoughts, and of my actions, is to +augment the prosperity and the glory of France. While those banditti +confined themselves to direct attacks upon me, I could leave to +the laws the task of punishing them. But since they have endangered +the population of the capital by a crime, unexampled in history, +the punishment must be equally speedy and terrible." + +It was soon proved, much to the surprise of Napoleon, that the +atrocious act was perpetrated by the partisans of the Bourbons. +Many of the most prominent of the Loyalists were implicated in this +horrible conspiracy. Napoleon felt that he deserved their gratitude. +He had interposed to save them from the fury of the Jacobins. +Against the remonstrances of his friends, he had passed a decree +which restored one hundred and fifty thousand of these wandering +emigrants to France. He had done every thing in his power to enable +them to regain their confiscated estates. He had been in all respects +their friend and benefactor, and he would not believe, until the +proof was indisputable, that they could thus requite him. The wily +Fouche, however, dragged the whole matter into light. The prominent +conspirators were arrested and shot. The following letter, written +on this occasion by Josephine, to the Minister of Police, strikingly +illustrates the benevolence of her heart, and exhibits in a very +honorable light the character of Napoleon. + +"While I yet tremble at the frightful event which has just occurred, +I am distressed through fear of the punishment to be inflicted on +the guilty, who belong, it is said, to families with whom I once +lived in habits of intercourse. I shall be solicited by mothers, +sisters, and disconsolate wives, and my heart will be broken through +my inability to obtain all the mercy for which I would plead. I know +that the elemency of the First who belong, it is said, to families +with whom I once lived in habits of intercourse. I shall be +solicited by mothers,sisters, and disconsolate wives, and my heart +will be broken through my inability to obtain all the mercy for +which I would plead. I know that the elemency of the First Consul +is great--his attachment to me extreme. The chief of the government +has not been alone exposed; and it is that which will render him +severe, inflexible. I conjure you, therefore, to do all in your +power to prevent inquiries being pushed too far. Do not detect all +those persons who have been accomplices in this odious transaction. +Let not France, so long overwhelmed in consternation, by public +executions, groan anew, beneath such inflictions. When the ringleaders +of this nefarious attempt shall have been secured, let severity +give place to pity for inferior agents, seduced, as they may have +been by dangerous falsehoods or exaggerated opinions. As a woman, +a wife, and a mother, I must feel the heartrendings of those will +apply to me. Act, citizen minister, in such a way that the number +of these may be lessened." + +It seems almost miraculous that Napoleon should have escaped the +innumerable conspiracies which at this time were formed against +him. The partisans of the Bourbons though that if Napoleon could be +removed, the Bourbons might regain their throne. It was his resistless +genius alone, which enabled France to triumph over combined Europe. +His death would leave France without a leader. The armies of the +allies could then, with bloody strides, march to Paris, and place +the hated Bourbons on the throne. France knew this, and adored its +preserver. Monarchical Europe knew this, and hence all the engergies +of its combined kings were centred upon Napoleon. More than thirty +of these consipracies were detected by the police. London was +the hot-house where they were engendered. Air-guns were aimed to +Napoleon. Assassins dogged him with their poniards. A bomb-shell was +invented, weighing about fifteen pounds, which was to be thrown in +at his carriage-window, and which exploding by its own concussion, +would hurl death on every side. The conspirators were perfectly +reckless of the lives of others, if they could only destroy the life +of Napoleon. The agents of the infernal-machine had the barbarity +to get a young girl fifteen years of age to hold the horse who +drew the machine. This was to disarm suspicion. The poor child was +blown into such fragments, that no part of her body. excepting the +feet, could afterwards be found. At last Napoleon became aroused, +and declared that he would "teach those Bourbons that he was not +a man to be shot at like a dog." + +One day at St. Helena, as he was putting on his flannel waistcoat, +he observed Las Casas looking at him very steadfastly. + +"Well! what is your Excellency thinking of?" said Napoleon, with +a smile. + +"Sire," Las Casas replied, "in a pamphlet which I lately read, I +found it stated that your majesty was shielded by a coat-of-mail, +for the security of your person. I was thinking that I could bear +positive evidence that at St. Helena at least, all precautions for +personal safety have been laid aside." + +"This," said Napoleon, "is one of the thousand absurdities which +have just mentioned is the more ridiculous, since every individual +about me well knows how careless I am with regard to self-preservation. +Accustomed from the age of eighteen to be exposed to the connon-ball, +and knowing the inutility of precautions, I abandoned myself to +my fate. When I came to the head of affairs, I might still have +fancied myself surrounded by the dangers of the field of battle; +and I might have regarded the conspiracies which were formed against +me as so many bomb-shells. But I followed my old course. I trusted +to my lucky star, and left all precautions to the police. I was +perhaps the only sovereign in Europe who dispensed with a body-guard. +Every one could freely approach me, without having, as it were, to +pass through military barracks. Maria Lousia was much astonished +to see me so poorly guarded, and she often remarked that her father +was surrounded by bayonets. For my part, I had no better defense +at the Tuileries than I have here. I do not even know where to +find my sword," said he, looking around the room; "do you see it? +I have, to be sure, incurred great dangers. Upward of thirty plots +were found against me. These have been proved by authentic testimony, +without mentioning many which never came to light. Some sovereigns +invent conspiracies against themselves; for my part, I made it a +rule carefully to conceal them whenever I could. The crisis most +serious to me was during the interval from the battle of Marengo, to +the attempt of George Cadoudal and the affair of the Duke D'Enghien" + +Napoleon now, with his accustomed vigor, took hold of the robbers an +and made short work with them. The insurgent armies of La Vendee, +numbering more than one hundred thousand men, and filled with +adventurers and desperadoes of every kind, were disbanded when their +chiefs yielded homage to Napoleon. Many of these men, accustomed to +banditti warfare, took to the highways. The roads were so infested +by them, that travailing became exceedingly perilous, and it was +necessary that every stage-coach which left Paris should be accompanied +by a guard of armed soldiers. To remedy a state of society thus +convulsed to its very centre, special tribunals were organized, +consisting of eight judges. They were to take cognizance of all such +crimes as conspiracies, robberies, and acts of violence of any kind. +The armed bands of Napoleon swept over France like a whirlwind. +The robbers were seized, tried, and shot without delay. Order was +at once restored. The people thought not of the dangerous power +they were placing in the hands of the First Consul. They asked only +for a commander, who was able and willing to quell the tumult of +the times. Such a commander they found in Napoleon. They were more +than willing to confer upon him all the power he could desire. "You +know what is best for us;"" said the people of Napoleon. "Direct +us what to do, and we will do it." It was thus that absolute power +came voluntarily into his hands. Under the circumstances it was +so natural that it can excite no suspicion. He was called First +Consul. But he already swayed a scepter more mighty than that of the +Caesars. But sixteen months had now elapsed since Napoleon landed +at Frejus. In that time he had attained the throne of France. He had +caused order and prosperity to emerge from the chaos of revolution. By +his magnanimity he had disarmed Russia, by his armies had humbled +Austria, and had compelled continental Europe to accept an honorable +peace. He merited the gratitude of his countrymen, and he received +it in overflowing measure. Through all these incidents, so eventful +and so full of difficulty, it is not easy to point to a single act +of Napoleon, which indicates a malicious or an ungenerous spirit. + +"I fear nothing," said Napoleon at St. Helena, "for my renown. +Posterity will do me justice. It will compare the good which I +have done with faults which I have committed. If I had succeeded +I should have died with the reputation of being the greatest man +who ever existed. From being nothing I became, by my own exertions, +the most powerful monarch of the universe, without committing +any crime. My ambition was great, but it rested on the opinion of +the masses. I have always thought that sovereignty resides in the +people. The empire, as I had organized it, was but a great republic. +Called to the throne by the voice of the people, my maxim has always +been a career open to talent without distinction of birth . It is +for this system of equality that the European oligarchy detests +me. And yet in England talent and great services raise a man to +the highest rank. England should have understood me." + +The French Revolution," said Napoleon, "was a general movement of +the mass of the nation against the privileged classes. The nobles +were exempt from the burdens of the state, and yet exclusively +occupied all the posts of honor and emolument. The revolution +destroyed these exclusive privileges, and established equality of +rights. All the avenues of wealth and greatness were equally open +to every citizen, according to his talents. The French nation +established the imperial throne, and placed me upon it. The throne +of France was granted before to Hugh Capet, by a few bishops and +nobles. The imperial throne was given to me, by the desire of the +people." + +Joseph Bonaparte was of very essential service to Napoleon in the +diplomatic intercourse of the times. Lucien also was employed in +various ways, and the whole family were taken under the protection +of the First Consul. At St. Helena Napoleon uttered the following +graphic and truthful eulogium upon his brothers and sisters: "What +family, in similar circumstances, would have acted better? Every +one is not qualified to be a statesman. That requires a combination +of powers which does not often fall to the lot of any one. In this +respect all my brothers were singularly situated; they possessed +at once too much and too little talent. They felt themselves too +strong to resign themselves. blindly to a guiding counselor, and +yet too weak to be left entirely to themselves. But take them all +in all I have certainly good reason to be proud of my family. Joseph +would have been an honor to society in any country, and Lucien +would have been an honor to any assembly; Jerome, as he advanced +in life, would have developed every qualification requisite +in a sovereign. Louis would have been distinguished in any rank +or condition of life. My sister Eliza was endowed with masculine +powers of mind; she must have proved herself a philosopher in her +adverse fortune. Caroline possessed great talents and capacity. +Pauline, perhaps the most beautiful woman of her age, has been and +will continue to the end of her life, the most amiable creature in +the world. As to my mother, she deserves all kinds of veneration. +How seldom is so numerous a family entitled to so much praise. Add +to this, that, setting aside the jarring of political opinions, we +sincerely loved each other. For my part, I never ceased to cherish +fraternal affection for them all. And I am convinced that in their +hearts they felt the same sentiments toward me, and that in case +of need, they would have given me every proof of it." + +The proud old nobility, whom Napoleon had restored to France, +and upon many of whom he had conferred their confiscated estates, +manifested no gratitude toward their benefactor. They were sighting +for the re-enthronement of the Bourbons, and for the return of the +good old times, when all the offices of emolument and honor were +reserved for them and for their children, and the people were +but their hewers of wood and drawers of water. In the morning, as +beggars, they would crowd the audience-chamber of the First Consul +with their petitions. In the evening they disdained to honor his +levees with their presence. They spoke contemptuously of Josephine, +of her kindness and her desire to conciliate all parties. They +condemned every thing that Napoleon did. He, however, paid no heed +to their murmurings. He would not condescend even to punish them +by neglect. In that most lofty pride which induced him to say that, +in his administration he wished to imitate the elemency of God , he +endeavored to consult for the interests of all, both the evil and +the unthankful. His fame was to consist, not in revenging himself +upon his enemies, but in aggrandizing France. + +At this time Napoleon's establishment at the Tuileries rather resembled +that of a very rich gentleman, than the court of a monarch. Junot, +one of his aids, was married to Mademoiselle Permon, the young +lady whose name will be remembered in connection with the anecdote +of "Puss in Boots." Her mother was one of the most haughty of the +ancient nobility, who affected to look upon Napoleon with contempt +as not of royal blood. The evening after her marriage Madame Junot +was to be presented to Josephine. After the Opera she drove to the +Tuileries. It was near eleven o'clock. As Josephine had appointed +the hour, she was expected. Eugene, hearing the wheels of the carriage, +descended to the court-yard, presented his arm to Madame Junot, +and they entered the large saloon together. It was a magnificent +apartment, magnificently furnished. Two chandeliers, surrounded +with gauze to soften the glare, shed a subdued and grateful light +over the room. Josephine was seated before a tapestry-frame working +upon embroidery. Near her sat Hortense, sylph-like in figure, +and surpassingly gentle and graceful in her manners. Napoleon was +standing near Josephine, with his hands clasped behind him, engaged +in conversation with his wife and her lovely daughter. Upon the +entrance of Madame Junot Josephine immediately arose, took her +two hands, and, affectionately kissing her, said, "I have too long +been Junot's friend, not to entertain the same sentiments for his +wife; particularly for the one he has chosen." + +"Oh, Josephine!" said Napoleon, "that is running on very fast. +How do you know that this little pickle is worth loving. Well, +Mademoiselle Loulou (you see that I do not forget the names of my +old friends), have you not a word for me!" Saying this, he gently +took her hand and drew her toward him. + +The young bride was much embarrassed, and yet she struggled to +retain her pride of birth. "General!" she replied, smiling, "it is +not for me to speak first." + +"Very well parried," said Napoleon, playfully, "the mother's spirit! +And how is Madame Permon?" + +"Very ill, general! For two years her health has caused us great +uneasiness." + +"Indeed," said Napoleon," so bad as that? I am sorry to hear it; +very sorry. Make my regards to her. It is a wrong head, a proud +spirit, but she has a generous heart and a noble soul. I hope that we +shall often see you, Madame Junot. My intention is to draw around +me a numerous family, consisting of my generals and their young +wives. They will be of my wife and of Hortense, as their husbands +are my friends. But you must not expect to meet here your acquaintances +of the ancient nobility. I do not like them. They are my enemies, +and prove it by defaming." + +This was but the morning twilight of that imperial splendor which +afterward dazzled the most powerful potentates of Europe. Hortense, +who subsequently became the wife of Louis Bonaparte, and the mother +of Louis Napoleon, who, at the moment of this present writing, is +at the head of the government of France, was then seventeen years +of age. "She was," Madame Junot, "fresh as a rose. Though her fair +complexion was not relieved by much color, she had enough to produce +that freshness and bloom which was her chief beauty. A profusion of +light hair played in silken locks around her soft and penetrating +blue eyes. The delicate roundness of her figure, slender as +a palm-tree, was set off by the elegant carriage of her head. But +that which formed the chief attraction of Hortense was the grace +and suavity of her manners, which united the Creole nonchalance +with the vivacity of France. She was gay, gentle, and amiable. She +had wit, which, without the smallest ill-temper, had just malice +enough to be amusing. A polished and well-conducted education had +improved her natural talents. She drew excellently, sang harmoniously, +and performed admirably in comedy. In 1800, she was a charming young +girl. She afterward became one of the most amiable princesses in +Europe. I have seen many, both in their own courts and in Paris, +but I have never known one who had any pretensions to equal talents. +She was beloved by every one. Her brother loved her tenderly. The +First Consul looked upon her as his child." + +Napoleon has been accused of an improper affection for Hortense. The +world has been filled with the slander. Says Bourrienne, "Napoleon +never cherished for her any feeling but a real paternal tenderness. +He loved her after his marriage with her mother, as he would have +loved his own child. At least for three years I was a witness +to all their most private actions, and I declare I never saw any +thing that could furnish the least ground for suspicion, nor the +slightest trace of a culpable intimacy. This calumny must be classed +among those which malice delights to take in the character of men +who become celebrated, calumnies which are adopted lightly and without +reflection. Napoleon is no more. Let his memory be accompanied only +by that, be it good or bad, which really took place. Let not this +reproach be made a charge against him by the impartial historian. +I must say, in conclusion, on this delicate subject, that his +principles were rigid in an extreme degree, and that any fault of +the nature charged, neither entered his mind, nor was in accordance +with his morals or his taste." + +At St. Helena Napoleon was one day looking over a book containing +an account of his amours. He smiled as he glanced his eye over the +pages, saying, "I do not even know the names of most of the females +who are mentioned here. This is all very foolish. Every body knows +that had no time for such dissipation." + +One beautiful evening, in the year 1815, the parish priest of San +Pietro, a village a few miles distant from Sevilla, returned much +fatigued to his little cottage, where he found his aged housekeeper, +the Senora Margarita, watching for him. Notwithstanding that one is +well accustomed to the sight of poverty in Spain, it was impossible +to help being struck by the utter of destitution which appeared +in the house of the good priest; the more so, as every imaginable +contrivance had been restored to, to hide the nakedness of the +walls, and the shabbiness of the furniture. Margarita had prepared +for her master's super a rather small dish of olla-podriga , which +consisted, to say the truth, of the remains of the dinner, seasoned +and disguised with great skill, and with the addition of some sauce, +and a name . As she placed the savory dish upon the table, the +priest said: "We should thank God for this good supper, Margarita: +this olla-podriga makes one's mouth water. My friend, you ought +to be grateful for finding so good a supper at the house of your +host!" At the word host, Margarita raised her eyes, and saw a +stranger, who had followed her mater. Her countenance changed, and +she looked annoyed. .......... She glanced indignantly first at +the unknown, and then at the priest, who, looking down, said in a +low voice, and with the timidity of a child: "What is enough for +two, is always enough for three; and surely you would not wish that +I should allow a Christian to die of hunger? He has not tasted food +for two days." + +"A Christian! He is more like a brigand!" and Margarita let the +room, murmuring loudly enough to be heard. + +Meanwhile, the unwelcome guest had remained standing at the door. +He was a man of great height, half-dressed in rags and covered +with mud; while his black hair, piercing eyes, and carbine, gave +him an appearance which, though hardly prepossessing, was certainly +interesting. "Must I go?" said he. + +The priest replied with an emphatic gesture: "Those whom I bring +under my roof are never driven forth, and are never unwelcome. Put +down your carbine. Let us say grace, and go to table." + +"I never leave my carbine, for, as the Castilian proverb says, "Two +friends are one.' My carbine is my best friend; and I always keep +it beside me. Although you allow me to come into your house, and +do not oblige me to leave until I wish to do so, there are others +who would think nothing of hauling me out, and perhaps, with me +feet foremost. Come--to your good health, mine host, and let us to +supper." + +The priest possessed an extremely good appetite, but the voracity +of the stranger soon obliged him to give up, for not contented with +eating, or rather devouring, nearly the whole of the olla-podriga, +the guest finished a large loaf of bread, without leaving a crumb. +While he ate, he kept continually looking round with an expression +of inquietude: he started at the slightest sound; and once, when +a violent gust of wind made the door bang, he sprang to his feet, +and seized his carbine, with an air which showed that, if necessary, +he would sell his life dearly. Discovering the cause of the alarm, +he reseated himself at table, and finished his repast. + +"Now," said he, "I have one thing more to ask. I have been wounded, +and for eight days my wound has not been dressed. Give me a few +old rags, and you shall be no longer burdened with my presence." + +"I am in no haste for you to go," replied the priest, whose quest, +notwithstanding his constant watchfulness, had conversed very +entertainingly. "I know something of surgery, and will dress your +wound." + +So saying, he took from a cupboard a case containing every thing +necessary, and proceeded to do as he had said. The stranger had +bled profusely, a ball having passed through his thigh; and to have +traveled in this condition, and while suffering, too, from want of +food, showed a strength, which seemed hardly human. + +"You can not possibly continue your journey to-day," said the +host. "You must pass the night here. A little rest will get up your +strength, diminish the inflammation of your wound, and--" + +"I must go to--day, and immediately," interrupted the stranger. +"There are some who wait for me," he added with a sigh--"and there +are some, too,who follow me." And the momentary look of softness +passed from his features between the clauses of the sentence, and +gave place to an expression almost of ferocity. "Now, is it finished? +That is well. See, I can walk as firmly as though I had never been +wounded. Give me some bread: pay yourself for your hospitality with +this piece of gold, and adieu." + +The priest put back the gold with displeasure. "I am not an innkeeper, +said he; "and I do not sell my hospitality." + +"As you will, but pardon me; and now farewell, my kind host." + +So saying he took the bread, which Margarita, at her master's command, +very unwillingly gave him, and soon his tall figure disappeared +among the thick foliage of a wood which surrounded the house, or +rather the cabin. An hour had scarcely passed, when musket-shots +were heard close by, and the unknown reappeared, deadly pale, and +bleeding from a deep wound near the heart. + +"Take these," said he, giving pieces of gold to his late host; +"they are for my children--near the stream--in the valley." + +[missing pages] + +deadly agency, which it had power to exert. Even the roadway leading +up and down the mountain is not always safe, it would seem, from +these dangerous intruders. It is rocky and solitary, and is bordered +every where with gloomy ravines and chasms, all filled with dense and +entangled thickets, in which, and in the cavernous rocks of which +the strata of the mountain are composed, wild beast and noxious +animals of every kind find a secure retreat. The monks relate that +not many years ago a servant of the convent, who had been sent +down the mountain to Haifa, to accompany a traveler, was attacked +and seized by a panther on his return. The panther, however, instead +of putting his victim immediately to death, began to play with him +as a cat plays with a mouse which she has succeeded in making her +prey-holding him gently with her claws, for a time, and then, after +drawing back a little, darting upon him again, as if to repeat and +renew the pleasure of capturing such a prize. This was continued so +long, that the cries of the terrified captive brought to the spot +some persons that chanced to be near, when the panther was terrified +in her turn, and fled into the forests; and then the man was rescued +from his horrible situation unharmed. + +For these and similar reasons, travelers who ascend to the convent +of Mt. Carmel, enjoy but little liberty there, but most confine +their explorations in most cases to the buildings of the monks, +and to some of the nearest caves of the ancient recluses. Still +the spot is rendered so attractive by the salubrity of the air, +the intrinsic beauty of the situation, the magnificence of the +prospect, and the kind and attentive demeanor of the monks, that +some visitors have recommended it as a place of permanent resort +for those who leave their homes in the West in pursuit of health, +or in search of retirement and repose. The rule that requires those +who have been guests of the convent more than two weeks to give +place to others more recently arrived, proves in facto be no serious +difficulty. Some kind of an arrangement can in such cases always, +be made, though it is seldom that any occasion arises that requires +it. The quarters, too, though plain and simple are comfortable and +neat, and although the visitor is somewhat restricted, from causes +that have already been named, in respect to explorations of the +mountain itself, there are many excursions that can be made in the +country below, of a very attractive character. He can visit Haifa, +he can ride or walk along the beach to Acre; he can go to Nazareth, +or journey down the coast, passing round the western declivity of +the mountain. In these and similar rambles he will find scenes of +continual novelty to attract him, and be surrounded every where +with the forms and usages of Oriental life. + +The traveler who comes to Mt. Carmel by the way .......... of Nazareth +and the plain of Esdraelon, in going away from it generally passes +round the western declivity of the mountain, and thence proceeds +to the south, by the way of the sea. On reaching the foot of +the descent, where the mountain mule-path comes out into the main +road, as shown upon the map near the commencement of this article, +he turns shorts to the left, and goes on round the base of the +promontory, with the lofty declivities of the mountain on one hand, +and a mass of dense forests on the other, lying between the road +and the shore. As he passes on, the road, picturesque and romantic +from the beginning becomes gradually wild, solitary, and desolate. +It leads him sometimes through tangled thickets, sometimes under +shelving rocks, and sometimes it brings him out unexpectedly to +the shore of the sea, where he sees the surf rolling in upon the +beach at his feet, and far over the water the setting sun going +down to his rest beneath the western horizon. At length the twilight +gradually disappears, and as the shades of the evening come on, +lights glimmer in the solitary villages that he passes on his way; +but there is no welcome for him in their beaming. At length when +he deems it time to bring his day's journey to an end, he pitches +his tent by the wayside in some unfrequented spot, and before he +retires to rest for the night, comes out to take one more view of +the dark and sombre mountain which he is about to leave forever. He +stands at the door of his tent, and gazes at it long and earnestly, +before he bids it farewell, equally impressed with the sublime +magnificence of its situation and form, and with the solemn grandeur +of its history. + +France was now at peace with all the world. It was universally +admitted that Napoleon was the great pacificator. He was the idol +of France. The masses of the people in Europe, every where regarded +him as their advocate and friend, the enemy of aristocratic usurpation, +and the great champion of equality. The people of France no longer +demanded liberty . Weary years of woe had taught them gladly +to relinquish the boon. They only desired a ruler who would take +care of them, govern them, protect them from the power of allied +despotism, and give them equal rights. Though Napoleon had now but +the title of First Consul, and France was nominally a republic, +he was in reality the most powerful monarch in Europe. His throne +was established in the hearts of nearly forty millions of people. +His word was law. + +It will be remembered that Josephine contemplated the extraordinary +grandeur to which her husband had attained, with intense solicitude. +She saw that more that than ordinary regal power had passed into +his hands, and she was not a stranger to the intense desire which +animated his heart to have an heir to whom to transmit his name and +his glory. She knew that many were intimating to him that an heir +was essential to the repose of France. She was fully informed that +divorce had been urged upon him as one of the stern necessities of +state. One day, when Napoleon was busy in his cabinet, Josephine +entered softly, by a side door, and seating herself affectionately +upon his knee, and passing her hand gently through his hair, said +to him, with a burst of tenderness, "I entreat you, my friend, do +not make yourself king. It is Lucien who urges you to it. Do not +listen to him." Napoleon smiled upon her kindly, and said, "Why, +my poor Josephine, you are mad. You must not listen to these fables +which the old dowagers, tell you. But you interrupt me now; I am +very busy; leave me alone." + +It is recorded that Lucien ventured to suggest to Josephine that +a law higher than the law of ordinary morality required that she +must become a mother, even were it necessary, for the attainment +of that end, that she should violate her nuptial vows. Brutalizing +and vulgar infidelity had obliterated in France, nearly all the +sacredness of domestic ties. Josephine, instinctively virtuous, +and revering the religion of her childhood, which her husband had +reinstated, bursting into tears, indignantly exclaimed, "This is +dreadful. Wretched should I be were any one to suppose me capable +of listening, without horror, to your infamous proposal. Your +ideas are poisonous; your language horrible." "Well, then, madame," +responded Lucien, "all that I can say is, that from my heart I pity +you." + +Josephine was at times almost delirious in apprehension of the +awful calamity which threatened her. She knew the intensity of her +husband's love. She also knew the boundlessness of his ambition. +She could not be blind to the apparent importance, as a matter of +state policy that Napoleon should possess an heir. She also was +fully aware that throughout France marriage had long been regarded +but as a partnership of convenience, to be formed and sundered +almost at pleasure. "Marriage," said Madame de Stael, has become +but the sacrament of adultery." The nation, under the influence of +these views, would condemn her for selfishly refusing assent to an +arrangement apparently essential to the repose of France and of +Europe Never was a woman placed in a situation of more terrible +trial. Never was an ambitious man exposed to a more fiery temptation. +Laying aside the authority of Christianity, and contemplating the +subject in the light of mere expediency, it seemed a plain duty +for Napoleon and Josephine to separate. But gloriously does it +illustrate the immutable truth of God's word, that even in such an +exigence as this, the path which the Bible pointed out was the only +path of safety and of peace. "In separating myself from Josephine," +said Napoleon afterward, "and in marrying Maria Louisa, I placed +my foot upon an abyss which was covered with flowers." + +Josephine's daughter, Hortense, beautiful, brilliant, and amiable, +then but eighteen years of age, was strongly attached to Duroc, one +of Napoleon's aids, a very fashionable and handsome man. Josephine, +however, had conceived the idea of marrying Hortense to Louis Bonaparte, +Napoleon's younger brother. She said, one day, to Bourrienne, "My +two brothers-in-law are my determined enemies. You see all their +intrigues. You know how much uneasiness they have caused me. This +projected marriage with Duroc, leaves me without any support. Duroc, +independent of Bonaparte's friendship, is nothing. He has neither +fortune, rank, nor even reputation. He can afford me no protection +against the enmity of the brothers. I must have some more certain +reliance for the future. My husband loves Louis very much. If I +can succeed in uniting my daughter to him, he will prove a strong +counterpoise to the calumnies and persecutions of my brothers-in-law." +These remarks were reported to Napoleon. He replied, "Josephine +labors in vain. Duroc and Hortense love each other, and they shall +be married. I am attached to Duroc. He is well born. I have given +Caroline to Murat, and Pauline to Le Clerc. I can as well give +Hortense to Duroc. He is brave. He is as good as the others. He is +general of division. Besides, I have other views for Louis." + +In the palace the heart may throb with the same joys and griefs +as in the cottage. In anticipation of the projected marriage Duroc +was sent on a special mission to compliment the Emperor Alexander +on his accession to the throne. Duroc wrote often to Hortense while +absent. When the private secretary whispered in her ears, in the +midst of the brilliant throng of the Tuileries, "I have a letter," +she would immediately retire to her apartment. Upon her return +her friends could see that her eyes were moistened with the tears +of affection and joy. Josephine cherished the hope that could she +succeed in uniting Hortense with Louis Bonaparte, should Hortense +give birth to a son, Napoleon would regard him as his heir. The +child would bear the name of Bonaparte; the blood of the Bonapartes +would circulate in his veins; and he would be the offspring +of Hortense, whom Napoleon regarded as his own daughter, and whom +he loved with the strongest parental affection. Thus the terrible +divorce might be averted. Urged by motives so powerful, Josephine +left no means untried to accomplish her purpose. + +Louis Bonaparte was a studious, pensive, imaginative man, of great +moral worth, though possessing but little force of character. He +had been bitterly disappointed in his affections, and was weary +of the world. When but nineteen years of age he had formed a very +strong attachment for a young lady whom he had met in Paris. She +was the daughter of an emigrant noble, and his whole being because +absorbed in the passion of love. Napoleon, then in the midst of +those victories which paved his way to the throne of France, was +apprehensive that the alliance of his brother with one of the old +royalist families, might endanger his own ambitious projects. He +therefore sent him away on a military commission, and secured, by +his powerful instrumentality, the marriage of the young lady to +another person. The disappointment preyed deeply upon the heart +of the sensitive young man. All ambition died within him. He loved +solitude, and studiously avoided the cares and pomp of state. +Napoleon, not having been aware of the extreme strength of his +brother's attachment, when he saw the wound which he had inflicted +upon him, endeavored to make all the amends in his power. Hortense +was beautiful, full of grace and vivacity. At last Napoleon fell in +with the views of Josephine, and resolved, having united the two, +to recompense his brother, as far as possible, by lavishing great +favors upon them. + +It was long before Louis would listen to the proposition of his +marriage with Hortense. His affections still clung to the lost +object of his idolatry, and he could not, without pain, think of +union with another. Indeed a more uncongenial alliance could hardly +have been imagined. In no one thing were their tastes similar. +But who could resist the combined tact of Josephine and power of +Napoleon. All obstacles were swept away, and the maiden, loving +the hilarity of life, and its gayest scenes of festivity and +splendor, was reluctantly led to the silent, pensive scholar, who +as reluctantly received her as his bride. Hortense had become in +some degree reconciled to the match, as her powerful father promised +to place them in high positions of wealth and rank. Louis resigned +himself to his lot, feeling the earth had no further joy in store +for him. A magnificent fete was given in honor of this marriage, +at which all the splendors of the ancient royalty were revived. +Louis Napoleon Bonaparte, who, as President of the French Republic, +succeeded Louis Philippe, the King of the French, was the only +child of this marriage who survived his parents. + +Napoleon had organized in the heart of Italy a republic containing +about five millions of inhabitants. This republic could by no +means maintain itself against the monarchies of Europe, unaided by +France. Napoleon, surrounded by hostile kings, deemed it essential +to the safety of France, to secure in Italy a nation of congenial +sympathies and interests, with whom he could form the alliance of +cordial friendship. The Italians, all inexperienced in self-government, +regarding Napoleon as their benefactor and their sole supporter, +looked to him for a constitution. Three of the most influential +men of the Cisalpine Republic, were sent as delegates to Paris, +to consult with the First Consul upon the organization of their +government. Under the direction of Napoleon a constitution was +drafted, which, considering the character of the Italian people, +and the hostile monarchicals influences which surrounded them, was +most highly liberal. A President was Vice-President were to be +chosen for ten years. There was to be a Senate of eight members +and a House of Representatives of seventy-five members. There were +all to be selected from a body composed of 300 landed proprietors, +200 of the clergy and prominent literary men. Thus all the important +interests of the state were represented. + +In Italy, as in all the other countries of Europe at that time, there +were three prominent parties. The Loyalists sought the restoration +of monarchy and the exclusive privileges of kings and nobles. The +Moderate Republicans wished to establish a firm government, which +would enforce order and confer upon all equal rights. The Jacobins +wished to break down all distinctions, divide property, and to +govern by the blind energies of the mob. Italy had long been held +in subjection by the spiritual terrors of the priests and by the +bayonets of the Austrians. Ages of bondage had enervated the people +and there were no Italian statesmen capable of taking the helm of +government in such a turbulent sea of troubles. Napoleon resolved +to have himself proposed as President, and then reserving to +himself the supreme direction, to delegate the details of affairs +to distinguished Italians, until they should, in some degree, be +trained to duties so new to them. Says Theirs. "This plan was not, +on his part, the inspiration of ambition, but rather of great good +sense. His views on this occasion were unquestionably both pure and +exalted." But nothing can more strikingly show the almost miraculous +energies of Napoleon's mind, and his perfect self-reliance, than +the readiness with which, in addition to the cares of the Empire of +France, he assumed the responsibility of organizing and developing +another nation of five millions of inhabitants. This was in 1802. +Napoleon was then but thirty-three years of age. + +To have surrendered those Italians, who had rallied around the +armies of France in their hour of need, again to Austrian domination, +would have been an act of treachery. To have abandoned them, in their +inexperience, to the Jacobin mob on the one hand, and to royalist +intrigues on the other, would have insured the ruin of the Republic. +But by leaving the details of government to be administered by +Italians, and at the same time sustaining the constitution by his +own powerful hand, there was a probability that the republic might +attain prosperity and independence. As the press of business rendered +it extremely difficult for Napoleon to leave France, a plan was +formed for a vast congress of the Italians, to be assembled in Lyons, +about half way between Paris and Milan, for the imposing adoption +of the republican constitution. Four hundred and fifty-two deputies +were elected to cross the frozen Alps, in the month of December. +The extraodinary watchfulness and foresight of the First Consul, +had prepared every comfort for them on the way. In Lyons sumptuous +preparations were made for their entertainment. Magnificent halls +were decorated in the highest style of earthly splendor for the +solemnities of the occasion. The army of Egypt, which had recently +landed, bronzed by an African sun was gorgeously attired to add +to the magnificence of the spectacle. The Lyonese youth, exultant +with pride, were formed into an imposing body of cavalry. On the +11th of January, 1802, Napoleon, accompanied by Josephine, arrived in +Lyons. The whole population of the adjoining country had assembled +along the road, anxiously watching for his passage. At night immense +fires illumined his path, blazing upon every hill side and in every +valley. One continuous shout of "Live Bonaparte," rolled along with +the carriage from Paris to Lyons. It was late in the evening when +Napoleon arrived in Lyons. The brilliant city flamed with the +splendor of noon-day. The carriage of the First Consul passed under +a triumphal arch, surmounted by a sleeping lion, the emblem of +France, and Napoleon took up his residence in the Hotel deVille, +which, in most princely sumptuousness had been decorated for +his reception. The Italians adored Napoleon. They felt personally +ennobled by his renown, for they considered him their countryman. +The Italian language was his native tongue, and he spoke it with +the most perfect fluency and elegance. The moment that the name of +Napoleon was suggested to the deputies as President of the Republic, +it was received with shouts of enthusiastic acclamation. A deputation +was immediately send to the First Consul to express the unanimous +and cordial wish of the convention that he would accept the office. +While these things were transpiring, Napoleon, ever intensely +occupied, was inspecting his veteran soldiers of Italy and of Egypt, +in a public review. The elements seemed to conspire to invest the +occasion with splendor. The day was cloudless, the sun brilliant, +the sky serene, the air invigorating. All the inhabitants of Lyons +and the populace of the adjacent country thronged the streets. No +pen can describe the transports with which the hero was received, +as he rode along the lines of these veterans, whom he had so often +led to victory. The soldiers shouted in a frenzy of enthusiasm. Old +men, and young men, and boys caught the shout and it reverberated +along the streets in one continuous roar. Matrons and maidens, waving +banners and handkerchiefs, wept in excess of emotion. Bouquets of +flowers were showered from the windows, to carpet his path, and +every conceivable demonstration was made of the most enthusiastic +love. Napoleon himself was deeply moved by the scene. Some of the +old grenadiers, whom he recognized, he called out of the ranks, +kindly talked with them, inquiring respecting their wounds and their +wants. He addressed several of the officers, whom he had seen in +many encounters, shook hands with them, and a delirium of excitement +pervaded all minds Upon his return to the Hotel deVille, he met +the deputation of the convention. They presented him the address, +urging upon him the acceptance of the Presidency of the Cisalpine +Republic. Napoleon received the address, intimated his acceptance, +and promised, on the following day, to meet the convention. + +The next morning dawned brightly upon the city. A large church, +embellished with richest drapery, was prepared for the solemnities +of the occasion. Napoleon entered the church, took his seat upon an +elevated platform, surrounded by his family, the French ministers, +and a large number of distinguished generals and statesmen. He +addressed the assembly in the Italian language, with as much ease +of manner, elegance of expression, and fluency of utterance as if +his whole life had been devoted to the cultivation of the powers +of oratory. He announced his acceptance of the dignity with which +they would invest him and uttered his views respecting the measures +which he adopted to secure the prosperity of the Italian Republic +, as the new state was henceforth to be called. Repeated bursts of +applause interrupted his address, and at its close one continuous +shout of acclamation testified the assent and the delight of +the assembled multitude. Napoleon remained at Lyons twenty days, +occupied, apparently every moment, with the vast affairs which +then engrossed his attention. And yet he found time to write +daily to Paris, urging forward the majestic enterprises of the new +government in France. The following brief extracts from this free +and confidential correspondence, afford an interesting glimpse of +the motives which actuated Napoleon at this time, and of the great +objects of his ambition. + +"I am proceeding slowly in my operations. I pass the whole of my +mornings in giving audience to the deputations of the neighboring +departments. The improvement in the happiness of France is obvious. +During the past two years the population of Lyons has increased +more than 20,000 souls. All the manufacturers tell me that their +works are in a state of high activity. All minds seem to be full +of energy, not that energy which overturns empires, but that which +re-establishes them, and conducts them to prosperity and riches." + +"I beg of you particularly to see that the unruly members, whom +we have in the constituted authorities, are every one of them +removed. The wish of the nation is, that the government shall not +be obstructed in its endeavors to act for the public good, and +that the head of Medusa shall no longer show itself, either in +our tribunes or in our assemblies. The conduct of Sieyes, on this +occasion, completely proves that having contributed to the destruction +of all the constitutions since '91, he wishes now to try his hand +against the present. He ought to burn a wax candle to Our Lady, for +having got out of the scrape so fortunately and in so unexpected +a manner. But the older I grow, the more I perceive that each man +must fulfill his destiny. I recommend you to ascertain whether the +provisions for St. Domingo have actually been sent off. I take it +for granted that you have taken proper measures for demolishing +the Chatelet. If the Minister of Marine should stand in need of the +frigates of the King of Naples, he may make use of them. General +Jourdan gives me a satisfactory account of the state of Piedmont." + +"I wish that citizen Royer be sent to the 16th military division, +to examine into the accounts of the paymaster. I also wish some +individual, like citizen Royer, to perform the same duty for the +13th and 14th divisions. It is complained that the receivers keep +the money as long as they can, and that the paymasters postpone +payment as long as possible. The paymasters and the receivers are +the greatest nuisance in the state." + +"Yesterday I visited several factories. I was pleased with the +industry and the severe economy which pervaded these establishments. +Should the wintry weather continue severe, I do not think that the +$25,000 a month, which the Minister of the Interior grants for the +purposes of charity, will be sufficient. It will be necessary to +add five thousand dollars for the distribution of wood, and also +to light fires in the churches and other large buildings to give +warmth to a great number of people." + +Napoleon arrived in Paris on the 31st of January. In the mean time, +there had been a new election of members of the Tribunate and of +the Legislative body. All those who had manifested any opposition +to the measures of Napoleon, in the re-establishment of Christianity, +and in the adoption of the new civil code, were left out, and their +places supplied by those who approved of the measures of the First +Consul. Napoleon could now act unembarrassed. In every quarter +there was submission. All the officers of the state, immediately +upon his return, sought an audience, and in that pomp of language +which his majestic deeds and character inspired, presented to him +their congratulations. He was already a sovereign, in possession +of regal power, such as no other monarch in Europe enjoyed. Upon +one object all the energies of his mighty mind were concentrated. +France was his estate, his diadem, his all. The glory of France +was his glory, the happiness of France his happiness, the riches of +France his wealth. Never did a father with more untiring self-denial +and toil labor for his family, than did Napoleon through days of +Herculean exertion and nights of sleeplessness devote every energy +of body and soul to the greatness of France. He loved not ease, he +loved not personal indulgence, he loved not sensual gratification. +The elevation of France to prosperity, wealth, and power, was +a limitless ambition. The almost supernatural success which had +thus far attended his exertions, did but magnify his desires and +stimulate his hopes. He had no wish to elevate France upon the ruins +of other nations. But he wished to make France the pattern of all +excellence, the illustrious leader at the head of all nations, +guiding them to intelligence, to opulence, and to happiness. Such, +at this time, was the towering ambition of Napoleon, the most noble +and comprehensive which was ever embraced by the conception of man. +Of course, such ambition was not consistent with the equality of +other nations for he determined that France should be the first. But +he manifested no disposition to destroy the prosperity of others; +he only wished to give such an impulse to humanity in France, by +the culture of mind, by purity of morals, by domestic industry, by +foreign commerce, by great national works, as to place France in +the advance upon the race course of greatness. In this race France +had but one antagonist--England. France had nearly forty millions +of inhabitants. The island of Great Britain contained but about +fifteen millions. But England, with her colonies, girdled the globe, +and, with her fleets, commanded all seas. "France," said Napoleon, +"must also have her colonies and her fleets." "If we permit that," +the statesman of England rejoined, "we may become a secondary +power, and may thus be at the mercy of France." It was undeniably +so. Shall history be blind to such fatality as this? Is man, in the +hour of triumphant ambition, so moderate, that we can be willing +that he should attain power which places us at his mercy? England +was omnipotent upon the seas. She became arrogant, and abused that +power, and made herself offensive to all nations. Napoleon developed +no special meekness of character to indicate that he would be, in +the pride of strength which no nation could resist, more moderate +and conciliating. Candor can not censure England for being unwilling to +yield her high position to surrender her supremacy on the seas--to +become a secondary power--to allow France to become her master. And +who can censure France for seeking the establishment of colonies, +the extension of commerce, friendly alliance with other nations, +and the creation of fleets to protect her from aggression upon +the ocean, as well as upon the land? Napoleon himself, with that +wonderful magnanimity which ever characterized him, though at +times exasperated by the hostility which he now encountered yet +often spoke in terms of respect of the influences which animated +his foes. It is to be regretted that his antagonists so seldom +reciprocated this magnanimity. There was here, most certainly, a +right and a wrong. But it is not easy for man accurately to adjust +the balance. God alone can award the issue. The mind is saddened as +it wanders amid the labyrinths of conscientiousness and of passion, +of pure motives and impure ambition. This is, indeed, a fallen +world. The drama of nations is a tragedy. Melancholy is the lot of +man. + +England daily witnessed, with increasing alarm, the rapid and +enormous strides which France was making. The energy of the First +Consul seemed superhuman. His acts indicated the most profound +sagacity, the most far-reaching foresight. To-day the news reaches +London that Napoleon has been elected President of the Italian +Republic. Thus in an hour five millions of people are added to +his empire! To-morrow it is announced that he is establishing a +colony at Elba, that a vast expedition is sailing for St. Domingo, +to re-organize the colony there. England is bewildered. Again it +is proclaimed that Napoleon has purchased Louisiana of Spain, and +is preparing to fill the fertile valley of the Mississippi with +colonists. In the mean time, all France is in a state of activity. +Factories, roads, bridges, canals, fortifications are every where +springing into existence. The sound of the ship hammer reverberates +in all the harbors of France, and every month witnesses the increase +of the French fleet. The mass of the English people contemplate +with admiration this development of energy. The statesmen of England +contemplate it with dread. + +For some months, Napoleon, in the midst of all his other cares, had +been maturing a vast system of public instruction for the youth of +France. He drew up, with his own hand, the plan for their schools, +and proposed the course of study. It is a little singular that, +with his strong scientific predilections, he should have assigned +the first rank to classical studies. Perhaps this is to be accounted +for from his profound admiration of the heroes of antiquity. His +own mind was most thoroughly stored with all the treasures of Greek +and Roman story. All these schools were formed upon a military +model, for situated as France was, in the midst of monarchies, at +heart hostile, he deemed it necessary that the nation should be +universally trained to bear arms. Religious instruction was to be +communicated in all these schools by chaplains, military instruction +by old officers who had left the army, and classical and scientific +instruction by the most learned men Europe could furnish. The First +Consul also devoted special attention to female schools. "France +needs nothing so much to promote her regeneration," said he, "as +good mothers." To attract the youth of France to these schools, +one millions of dollars was appropriated for over six thousand +gratuitous exhibitions for the pupils. Ten schools of law were +established, nine schools of medicine, and an institution for the +mechanical arts, called the "School of Bridges and Roads," the +first model of those schools of art which continue in France until +the present day, and which are deemed invaluable. There were no +exclusive privileges in these institutions. A system of perfect +equality pervaded them. The pupils of all classes were placed upon +a level, with an unobstructed arena before them. "This is only +a commencement," said Napoleon, "by-and-by we shall do more and +better." + +Another project which Napoleon now introduced was vehemently +opposed--the establishment of the Legion of Honor. One of the leading +principles of the revolution was the entire overthrow of all titles +of distinction. Every man, high or low, was to be addressed simply +as Citizen . Napoleon wished to introduce a system of rewards which +should stimulate to heroic deeds, and which should ennoble those +who had deserved well of humanity. Innumerable foreigners of +distinction had thronged France since the peace. He had observed +with what eagerness the populace had followed these foreigners, +gazing with delight upon their gay decorations The court-yard of +the Tuileries was ever crowded when these illustrious strangers +arrived and departed. Napoleon, in his council, where he was always +eloquent and powerful, thus urged his views: + +"Look at these vanities, which genius pretends so much to disdain. +The populace is not of that opinion. It loves these many-colored +ribbons, as it loves religious pomp. The democrat philosopher calls +it vanity. Vanity let it be. But that vanity is a weakness common +to the whole human race, and great virtues may be made to spring +from it. With these so much despised baubles heroes are made. There +must be worship for the religious sentiment. There must be visible +distinctions for the noble sentiment of glory. Nations should not +strive to be singular any more than individuals. The affectation +of acting differently from the rest of the world, is an affectation +which is reproved by all persons of sense and modesty. Ribbons are +in use in all countries. Let them be in use in France. It will be +one more friendly relation established with Europe. Our neighbors +give them only to the man of noble birth. I will give them to the +man of merit--to the one who shall have served best in the army or +in the state, or who shall have produced the finest works." + +It was objected that the institution of the Legion of Honor was +a return to the aristocracy which the revolution had abolished. +"What is there aristocratic," Napoleon exclaimed, "in a distinction +purely personal, and merely for life, bestowed on the man who has +displayed merit, whether evil or military--bestowed on him alone, +bestowed for his life only, and not passing to his children. Such +a distinction is the reverse of aristocratic. It is the essence of +aristocracy that its titles are transmitted from the man who has +earned them, to the son who possesses no merit. The ancient regime, +so battered by the ram revolution, is more entire than is believed. +All the emigrants hold each other by the hand. The Vendeeans are +secretly enrolled. The priests, at heart, are not very friendly +to us. With the words 'legitimate king,' thousands might be roused +to arms. It is needful that the men who have taken part in the +revolution should have a bond of union, and cease to depend on the +first accident which might strike one single head. For ten years we +have only been making ruins. We must now found an edifice. Depend +upon it, the struggle is not over with Europe. Be assured that +struggle will begin again" + +It was then urged by some, that the Legion of Honor should be +confined entirely to military merit. "By no means," said Napoleon, +"Rewards are not to be conferred upon soldiers alone. All sorts of +merit are brothers. The courage of the President of the Convention, +resisting the populace, should compared with the courage of Kleber, +mounting to the assault of Acre. It is right that civil virtues +should have their reward, as well as military virtues. Those who +oppose this course, reason like barbarians. It is the religion +of brute force they commend to us. Intelligence has its rights +before those of force. Force, without intelligence, is nothing. In +barbarous ages, the man of stoutest sinews was the chieftain. Now +the general is the most intelligent of the brave. At Cairo, the +Egyptians could not comprehend how it was that Kleber, with his +majestic form, was not commander-in-chief. When Mourad Bey had +carefully observed our tactics, he could comprehend how it was that +I, and no other, ought to be the general of an army so conducted. +You reason like the Egyptians, when you attempt to confine rewards +to military valor. The soldiers reason better than you. Go to their +bivouacs; listen to them. Do you imagine that it is the tallest +of their officers, and the most imposing by his stature, for whom +they feel the highest regard! Do you imagine even that the bravest +stands first in their esteem. No doubt they would despise the man +whose courage they suspected; but they rank above the merely brave +man him who they consider the most intelligent. As for myself, do +you suppose that it is solely because I am reputed a great general +that I rule France! No! It is because the qualities of a statesman +and a magistrate are attributed to me. France will never tolerate +the government of the sword. Those who think so are strangely +mistaken. It would require an abject servitude of fifty years +before that could be the case. France is too noble, too intelligent +a country to submit to material power. Let us honor intelligence, +virtue, the civil qualities; in short let us bestow upon them, in +all profession, the like reward." + +The true spirit of republicanism is certainly equality of rights, not +of attainments and honors; the abolition of hereditary distinctions +and privileges, not of those which are founded upon merit. The +badge of the Legion of Honor was to be conferred upon all who, by +genius, self-denial, and toil, had won renown. The prizes were open +to the humblest peasant in the land. Still the popular hostility +to any institution which bore a resemblance to the aristocracy of +the ancient nobility was so strong, that though a majority voted +in favor of the measure, there was a strong opposition. Napoleon +was surprised. He said to Bourrienne: "You are right. Prejudices +are still against me. I ought to have waited. There was no occasion +for haste in bringing it forward. But the thing is done; and you +will soon find that the taste for these distinctions is not yet +gone by. It is a taste which belongs to the nature of man. You will +see that extraordinary results will arise from it." + +The order was consist of six thousand members. It was constituted +in four ranks: grand officers, commanders, officers, and private +legionaries. The badge was simply a red ribbon, in the button-hole. +To the first rank, there was allotted an annual salary of $1000; +to the second $400; to the third, $200; to the fourth, $50. The +private soldier, the retired scholar, and the skillful artist were +thus decorated with the same badge of distinction which figured upon +the breast of generals, nobles and monarchs. That this institution +was peculiarly adapted to the state of France, is evident from +the fact, that it has survived all the revolutions of subsequent +years. "Though of such recent origin," says Theirs, "it is already +consecrated as if it had passed through centuries; to such a degree +has it become the recompense of heroism, of knowledge, of merit of +every kind--so much have its honors been coveted by the grandees +and the princes of Europe the most proud of their origin." + +The popularity of Napoleon was now unbounded. A very general and +earnest disposition was expressed to confer upon the First Consul +a magnificent testimonial of the national gratitude--a testimonial +worthy of the illustrious man who was to receive it, and of the +powerful nation by which it was to be bestowed. The President of +the Tribunal thus addressed that body: "Among all nations public +honors have been decreed to men who, by splendid actions, have +honored their country, and saved it from great dangers. What man +ever had stronger claims to the national gratitude than General +Bonaparte? His valor and genius have saved the French people from +the excesses of anarchy, and from the miseries of war; and France +is too great, too magnanimous to leave such benefits without reward." + +A deputation was immediately chosen to confer with Napoleon upon the +subject of the tribute of gratitude and affection which he should +receive. Surrounded by his colleagues and the principal officers +of the state, he received them the next day in the Tuileries. With +seriousness and modesty he listened to the high eulogium upon his +achievements which was pronounced, and then replaced. "I receive +with sincere gratitude the wish to expressed by the Tribunate. +I desire no other glory than having completely performed the task +impose upon me. I aspire to no other reward than the affection of +my fellow-citizens. I shall be happy if they are thoroughly convinced, +that the evils which they may experience, will always be to me the +severest of misfortunes; that life is dear to me solely for the +services which I am to render to my country; that death itself will +have no bitterness for me, if my last looks can see the happiness +of the republic as firmly secured as is its glory." .......... + +But how was Napoleon to be rewarded! That was the great difficult +question. Was wealth to be conferred upon him! For wealth he cared +nothing Millions had been at his disposal, and he had emptied them +all into the treasury of France. Ease, luxury, self-indulgence had +no charms for him. Were monuments to be reared to his honor, titles +to be lavished upon his name? Napoleon regarded these but means +for the accomplishment of ends. In themselves they were nothing. +The one only thing which he desired was power , power to work out +vast results for others, and thus to secure for himself renown, +which should be pure and imperishable. But how could the power of +Napoleon be increased! He was already almost absolute. Whatever he +willed, he accomplished. Senators, legislators, and tribunes all +co-operated in giving energy to his plans. It will be remembered, +that Napoleon was elected First Consul for a period of ten years. +It seemed that there was absolutely nothing which could be done, +gratifying to the First Consul, but to prolong the term of his +Consulship, by either adding to it another period of ten years, +or by continuing it during his life. "What does he wish?" was the +universal inquiry. Every possible means were tried, but in vain, +to obtain a single word from his lips, significant of his desires. +One of the senators went to Cambaceres, and said, "What would be +gratifying to General Bonaparte? Does he wish to be king? Only let +him say so, and we are all ready to vote for the re-establishment +of royalty. Most willingly will we do it for him, for he is worthy +of that station." But the First Consul shut himself up in impenetrable +reserve. Even his most intimate friends could catch no glimpse of +his secret wishes. At last the question was plainly and earnestly +put to him. With great apparent humility, he replied: "I have not +fixed my mind upon any thing. Any testimony of the public confidence +will be sufficient for me, and will fill me with satisfaction." +The question was then discussed whether to add ten years to his +Consulship, or to make him First Consul for life. Cambaceres knew +well the boundless ambition of Napoleon, and was fully conscious, +that any limited period of power would not be in accordance with +his plans. He ventured to say to him "You are wrong not to explain +yourself. Your enemies, for notwithstanding your services, you have +some left even in the Senate, will abuse your reserve." Napoleon +calmly replied: "Let them alone. The majority of the Senate is +always ready to do more than it is asked. They will go further than +you imagine." + +On the evening of the 8th of May, 1802, the resolution was adopted, +of prolonging the powers of the First Consul for ten years . Napoleon +was probably surprised and disappointed. He however, decided to +return a grateful answer, and to say that from the Senate, but from +the suffrages of the people alone could he accept a prolongation +of that power to which their voices had elevated him. The following +answer was transmitted to the Senate, the next morning: + +"The honorable proof of your esteem, given in your deliberation +of the 8th, will remain forever engraven on my heart. In the three +years which have just elapsed fortune has smiled upon the republic. +But fortune is fickle. How many men whom she has loaded with favors, +have lived a few years too long. The interest of my glory and that +of my happiness, would seem to have marked the term of my public +life, at the moment when the peace of the world is proclaimed. But +the glory and the happiness of the citizen ought to be silent, when +the interest of the state, and the public partiality, call him. You +judge that I owe a new sacrifice to the people. I will make it, if +the wishes of the people command what your suffrage authorizes." + +Napoleon immediately left Paris for his country-seat at Malmaison. +This beautiful chateau was about ten miles from the metropolis. +Josephine had purchased the peaceful, rural retreat at Napoleon's +request during his first Italian campaign. Subsequently, large +sums had been expended in enlarging and improving the grounds; and +it was ever the favorite the grounds; and it was ever the favorite +residence of both Josephine and Napoleon. Cambacres called an extraordinary +meeting of the Council of State. After much deliberation, it was +resolved, by an immense majority, that the following preposition +should be submitted to the people: "Shall Napoleon Bonaparte be +the First Consul for life? It was then resolved to submit a second +question: " Shall the First Consul have the power of appointing +his successor? This was indeed re-establishing monarchy, under a +republican name. + +Cambaceres immediately repaired to Malmaison, to submit these +resolutions to Napoleon. To the amazement of all, he immediately +and firmly rejected the second question. Energetically, he said +"Whom would you have me appoint my successor? on brothers? But +will France which has consented to be governed by Joseph or Lucien? +Shall I nominate you consul, Cambceres? You? Dare you undertake +such a task? And then the will of Louis XIV was not respected; it +is likely that mine would be? A dead man, let him be who he will, +is nobody." In opposition to all urgency, he ordered the second +question to be erased, and the first only to be submitted to the +people. It is impossible to divine the motive which influenced +Napoleon in the most unexpected decision. Some have supposed that +even then he had in view the Empire and the hereditary monarchy, +and that he wished to leave a chasm in the organization of the +government, as a reason for future change. Others have supposed +that he dreaded the rivalries which would arise among his brothers +and his nephews, from his having his disposal so resplendent a gift +as the Empire of France. But the historian treads upon dangerous +ground, when he begins to judge of motives. That which Napoleon +actually did was moderate and noble in the highest degree. He +declined the power of appointing his successor, and submitted his +election to the suffrages of the people. A majority of 3,568,885 +voted for the Consulate for life, and only eight thousands and +a few hundreds, against it. Never before, or since, was an early +government established by such unamitity. Never had a monarch a +more indisputable title to his throne. Upon this occasion Lafayette +added to his vote these or qualifying words: "I can not vote for +such a magistracy, until public freed sufficiently guarantied. When +that is done, I give my voice to Napoleon Bonaparte." In a private +conversation with the First Consul, he added: "A free government, +and you at its head-that comprehends all my desires." Napoleon +remarked: In theory Lafayette is perhaps right. But what is theory? +A mere dream, when applied to the masses of mankind. He think he +is still in the United States--as if the French were Americans. He +has no conception of what is required for this country." + +A day was fixed for a grand diplomatic festival, when Napoleon +should receive the congratulations of the constituted authorities, +and of the foreign embassadors. The soldiers, in brilliant uniform, +formed a double line, from the Tuileries to the Luxembourg. The First +Consul was seated in a magnificent chariot, drawn by eight horses. +A cortege of gorgeous splendor accompanied him. All Paris thronged +the streets through which he passed, and the most enthusiastic +applause rent the heavens. To the congratulatory address of the Senate, +Napoleon replied: "The life of a citizen belongs to his country. +The French nation wishes that mine should be wholly consecrated to +France. I obey its will. Through my efforts, by your assistance, +citizen-senators, by the aid of the authorities, and by the confidence +and support of this mighty people, the liberty, equality and +prosperity of France will be rendered secure against the caprices of +fate, and the uncertainty of futurity. The most virtuous of nations +will be the most happy, as it deserves to be; and its felicity will +contribute to the general happiness of all Europe. Proud then of +being thus called, by the command of that Power from which every +thing emanates, to bring back order, justice, and equality to the +earth, when my last hour approaches, I shall yield myself up with +resignation, and, without any solicitude respecting the opinions +of future generations." + +On the following day the new articles, modifying the constitution +in accordance with the change in the consulship, were submitted +to the Council of State. The First Consul presided, and with his +accustomed vigor and perspicuity, explained the reasons of each +article, as he recounted them one by one. The articles contained +the provision that Napoleon should nominate his successor to the +Senate. To this, after a slight resistance, he yielded, The most +profound satisfaction now pervaded France. Even Josephine began +to be tranquil and happy She imagined that all thoughts of royalty +and of hereditary succession had now passed away. She contemplated +with no uneasiness the power which Napoleon sympathized cordially +with her in her high gratification that Hortense was soon to become +a mother. This child was already, in their hearts, the selected heir +to the power of Napoleon. On the 15th of August, Paris magnificiently +celebrated the anniversary of the birth-day of the First Consul. +This was another introduction of monarchical usages. All the high +authorities of the Church and the State, and the foreign diplomatic +bodies, called upon him with congratulations. At noon, in all +the churches of the metropolis, a Te Deun was sung, in gratitude +to God for the gift of Napoleon. At night the city blazed with +illuminations. The splendors and the etiquette of royalty were now +rapidly introduced; and the same fickle populace who had so recently +trampled princes and thrones into blood and ruin, were now captivated +with re-introduction of these discarded splendors. Napoleon soon +established himself in the beautiful chateau of St. Cloud, which he +has caused to be repaired with great magnificence. On the Sabbath the +First Consul, with Josephine, invariably attended divine service. +Their example was soon followed by most of the members of the +court, and the nation as a body returned to Christianity, which, +even in its most corrupt form, saves humanity from those abysses +of degradation into which infidelity plunges it. Immediately after +divine service he conversed in the gallery of the chateau with +the visitors who were then waiting for him. The brilliance of +his intellect, and his high renown, caused him to be approached +with emotions of awe. His words were listened to with intensest +eagerness. He was the exclusive object of observation and attention. +No earthly potentate had ever attained such a degree of homage, +pure and sincere, as now circled around the First Consul. + +Napoleon was very desirous of having his court a model of decorum +and of morals. Lucien owned a beautiful rural mansion near +Neuilly. Upon one occasion he invited Napoleon, and all the inmates +of Malmaison, to attend some private theatricals at his dwelling. +Lucien and Eliza were the performers in a piece called Alzire. The +ardor of their declamation, the freedom of their gestures, and above +all the indelicacy of the costume which they assumed, displeased +Napoleon exceedingly. As soon as the play was over he exclaimed, +"It is a scandal. I ought not to suffer such indecencies. I will +give Lucien to understand that I will have no more of it." As +soon as Lucien entered the saloon, having resumed his usual dress, +Napoleon addressed him before the whole company, and requested him +in future to desist from all such representations. "What!" said +he, "when I am endeavoring to restore purity of manners, my brother +and sister must needs exhibit themselves upon a platform, almost +in a state of nudity! It is an insult!" + +One day at this time Bourrienne, going from Malmaison to Ruel, lost +a beautiful watch. He proclaimed his loss by means of the bellman +at Ruel. An hour after, as he was sitting down to dinner, a peasant +boy brought him the watch, which he had found on the road. Napoleon +heard of the occurrence. Immediately he instituted inquiries +respecting the young man and the family. Hearing a good report of +them, he gave the three brothers employment, and amply rewarded +the honest lad. "Kindness," says Bourrienne, "was a very prominent +trait in the character of Napoleon." + +If we now take a brief review of what Napoleon had accomplished +since his return from Egypt, it must be admitted that the records +of the world are to be searched in vain for a similar recital. No +mortal man before ever accomplished so much, or accomplished it so +well, in so short a time. + +Let us for a moment return to his landing at Frejus on the 8th of +October, 1799, until he was chosen First Consul for life, in August, +1802, a period of not quite three years. Proceeding to Paris, almost +alone, he overthrew the Directory, and seized the supreme power; +restored order into the administration of government, established +a new and very efficient system for the collection of taxes, raised +public credit, and supplied the wants of the suffering army. By +great energy and humanity he immediately terminated the horrors of +that unnatural war which had for years, been desolating La Vendee. +Condescending to the attitude of suppliant, he implored of Europe +peace. Europe chose war. By a majestic conception of military +combinations, he sent Moreau with a vast army to the Rhime; stimulated +Massena to the most desperate strife at Genoa, and then, creating +as by magic, an army, from materials which excited but the ridicule +of his foes, he climbed, with artillery and horse, and all the +munitions of war, the icy pinnacles of the Alps, and fell like an +avalanche upon his foes upon the plain of Marengo. With far inferior +numbers, he snatched the victory from the victors; and in the +exultant hour of the most signal conquest, wrote again from the +field of blood imploring peace. His foes, humbled, and at his mercy, +gladly availed themselves of his clemency, and promised to treat. +Perfidiously, they only sought time to regain their strength. He +then sent Moreau to Hohenlinden, and beneath the walls of Vienna +extorted peace with continental Europe. England still prosecuted +the war. The first Consul, by his genius, won the heart of Paul +of Russia, secured the affection of Prussia, Denmark, and Sweden, +and formed a league of all Europe against the Mistress of the Seas. +While engaged in this work, he paid the creditors of the State, +established the Bank of France, overwhelmed the highway robbers +with utter destruction, and restored security in all the provinces; +cut magnificent communications over the Alps, founded hospitals +on their summits, surrounded exposed cities with fortifications, +opened canals, constructed bridges, created magnificent roads, and +commenced the compiliation of that civil code which will remain an +ever-during monument of his labors and his genius. In opposition +to the remonstrances of his best friends, he re-established +Christianity, and with it proclaimed perfect liberty of conscience. +Public works were every where established, to encourage industry. +Schools and colleges were founded Merit of every kind was stimulated +by abundant rewards. Vast improvements were made in Paris, and the +streets cleaned and irrigated. In the midst of all these cares, +he was defending France against the assaults of the most powerful +nation on the globe; and he was preparing, as his last resort, a vast +army, to carry the war into the heart of England. Notwithstanding +the most atrocious libels with which England was filled against him, +his fame shone resplendent through them all, and he was popular +with the English people. Many of the most illustrious of the English +statesmen advocated his cause. His gigantic adversary, William Pitt. +vanquished by the genius of Napoleon, was compelled to retire from +the ministry--and the world was at peace. + +The difficulties, perplexities, embarrassments which were encountered +in those enterprises, were infinite. Says Napoleon, with that +magnanimity which history should recognize and applaud, "We are +told that all the First Consul has to look to, was to do justice. +But to whom was he to do justice? To the proprietors whom the +revolution had violently despoiled of their properties, for this +only, that they had been faithful to their legitimate sovereign to +the principle of honor which they had inherited from their ancestors; +or to those new proprietors, who had purchased these domains, +adventuring their money on the faith of laws flowing from +an illegitimate authority? Was he to do justice to those royalist +soldiers, mutilated in the fields of Germany, La Vendee, and +Quiberon, arrayed under the white standard of the Bourbons, in the +firm belief that they were serving the cause of their king against +a usurping tyranny; or to the million of citizens, who, forming +around the frontiers a wall of brass, had so often saved their +country from the inveterate hostility of its enemies, and had borne +to so transcendent a height the glory of the French eagle? Was he +to do justice to that clergy, the model and the example of every +Christian virtue, stripped of its birthright, the reward of fifteen +hundred years of benevolence; or to the recent acquires, who had +converted the convents into workshops, the churches into warehouses, +and had turned to profane uses all that had been deemed most holy +for ages?" + +"At this period," says Theirs, "Napoleon appeared so moderate, +after having been so victorious, he showed himself so profound a +legislator, after having proved himself so great a commander, he +evinced so much love for the arts of peace, after having excelled +in the arts of war, that well might he excite illusions in France +and in the world. Only some few among the parsonages who were +admitted to his councils, who were capable of judging futurity by +the present, were filled with as much anxiety as admiration, on +witnessing the indefatigable activity of his mind and body, and +the energy of his will, and the impetuosity of his desires. They +trembled even at seeing him do good, in the way he did--so impatient +was he to accomplish it quickly, and upon an immense scale. The +wise and sagacious Tronchet, who both admired and loved him, and +looked upon him as the savior of France, said, nevertheless, one +day in a tone of deep feeling to Cambracers, 'This young man begins +like Caesar: I fear that he will end like him.`" + +The elevation of Napoleon to the supreme power for life was regarded +by most of the states of continental Europe with satisfaction, as +tending to diminish the dreaded influences of republicanism, and to +assimilate France with the surrounding monarchies. Even in England, +the prime Minister, Mr. Addington, assured the French embassador +of the cordial approbation of the British government of an event, +destined to consolidate order and power in France. The King of Prussia, +the Emperor Alexander, and the Archduke Charles of Austria, sent +him their friendly congratulations. Even Catharine, the haughty +Queen of Naples, mother of the Empress of Austria, being then at +Vienna, in ardent expression of her gratification to the French +embassador said, "General Bonaparte is a great man. He has done me +much injury, but that shall not prevent me from acknowledging his +genius. By checking disorder in France, he has rendered a service +to all of Europe. He has attained the government of his country +because he is most worthy of it. I hold him out every day as a +pattern to the young princes of the imperial family. I exhort them +to study that extraordinary personage, to learn from him how to +direct nations, how to make the yoke of authority endurable, by +means of genius and glory." + +But difficulties were rapidly rising between England and France. +The English were much disappointed in not finding that sale of +their manufactures which they had anticipated. The cotton and iron +manufactures were the richest branches of industry in England. +Napoleon, supremely devoted to the development of the manufacturing +resources of France, encouraged those manufactures by the almost +absolute prohibition of the rival articles. William Pitt and his +partisans, still retaining immense influence, regarded with extreme +jealousy the rapid strides which Napoleon was making to power, and +incessantly declaimed, in the journals, against the ambition of +France. Most of the royalist emigrants, who had refused to acknowledge +the new government, and were still devoted to the cause of the +Bourbons, had taken refuge in London. They had been the allies +with England in the long war against France. The English government +could not refrain from sympathizing with them in their sufferings. +It would have been ungenerous not to have done so. The emigrants +were many of them supported by pensions paid them by England. At +the same time they were constantly plotting conspiracies against +the life of Napoleon, and sending assassins to shoot him. "I will +yet teach those Bourbons," that I am not a man to be shot at like +a dog." Napoleon complained bitterly that his enemies, then attempting +his assassination, were in the pay of the British government. +Almost daily the plots of these emigrants were brought to light by +the vigilance of the French police. + +A Bourbon pamphleteer, named Peltier, circulated widely through +England the most atrocious libels against the First Consul, his +wife, her children, his brothers and sisters. They were charged +with the most low, degrading, and revolting vices. These accusations +were circulated widely through England and America. They produced +a profound impression. They were believed. Many were interested in +the circulation of these reports, wishing to destroy the popularity of +Napoleon, and to prepare the populace of England for the renewal of +the war. Napoleon remonstrated against such infamous representations +of his character being allowed in England. But he was informed +that the British press was free; that there was no resource but +to prosecute for libel in the British courts; and that it was the +part of true greatness to treat such slanders with contempt. But +Napoleon felt that such false charges were exasperating nations, +were paving the way to deluge Europe again in war, and that causes +tending to such woes were too potent to be despised. + +The Algerines were now sweeping with their paretic crafts +the Mediterranean, exacting tribute from all Christian powers. A +French ship had been wrecked upon the coast, and the crew were made +prisoners. Two French vessels and a Neapolitan ship had also been +captured and taken to Algiers. The indignation of Napoleon was +aroused. He sent an officer to the Dey with a letter, informing him +that if the prisoners were not released and the captured vessels +instantly restored, and promise given to respect in future the +flags of France and Italy, he would send a fleet and an army and +overwhelm him with ruin. The Dey had heard of Napoleon's career +in Egypt. He was thoroughly frightened, restored the ships and the +prisoners, implored clemency, and with barbarian injustice doomed +to death those who had captured the ships in obedience to his +commands. Their lives were saved only through the intercession of +the French minister Napoleon then performed one of the most gracious +acts of courtesy toward the Pope. The feeble monarch had no means +of protecting his coasts from the pirates who still swarmed in +those seas. Napoleon selected two fine brigs in the naval arsenal +at Toulon, equipped them with great elegance, armed them most +effectively, filled them with naval stores, and conferring upon +them the apostolical names of St. Peter and St. Paul, sent them as +a present to the Pontiff. With characteristic grandeur of action, +he carried his attentions so far as to send a cutter to bring back +the crews, that the papal treasury might be exposed to no expense. +The venerable Pope, in the exuberance of his gratitude, insisted +upon, taking the French seamen to Rome. He treated them with every +attention in his power; exhibited to them St. Peter's, and dazzled +them with the pomp and splendor of cathedral worship. They returned +to France loaded with humble presents, and exceedingly gratified +with the kindness with which they had been received. + +It was stipulated in the treaty of Amiens, that both England and +France should evacuate Egypt, and that England should surrender Malta +to its ancient rulers. Malta, impregnable in its fortifications, +commanded the Mediterranean, and was the key of Egypt. Napoleon +had therefore, while he professed a willingness to relinquish all +claim to the island himself, insisted upon it, as an essential +point, that England should do the same. The question upon which +the treaty hinged, was the surrender of Malta to a neutral power. +The treaty was signed. Napoleon promptly and scrupulously fulfilled +his agreements. Several embarrassments, for which England was not +responsible, delayed for a few months the evacuation of Malta. But +now nearly a year had passed since the signing of the treaty. All +obstacles were removed from the way of its entire fulfillment, and +yet the troops of England remained both in Egypt and in Malta. The +question was seriously discussed in Parliament and in the English +journals, whether England were bound to fulfill her engagements, +since France was growing so alarmingly powerful. Generously and +eloquently Fox exclaimed, "I am astonished at all I hear, particularly +when I consider who they are that speak such words. Indeed I am +more grieved than any of the honorable friends and colleagues of Mr. +Pitt, at the growing greatness of France, which is daily extending +her power in Europe and in America. That France, now accused of +interfering with the concerns of others, we invaded, for the purpose +of forcing upon her a government to which she would not submit, +and of obliging her to accept the family of the Bourbons, whose +yoke she spurned. By one of those sublime movements, which history +should recommend to imitation, and preserve in eternal memorial, +she repelled her invaders. Though warmly attached to the cause +of England, we have felt an involuntary movement of sympathy with +that generous outburst of liberty, and we have no desire to conceal +it. No doubt France is great, much greater than a good Englishman +ought to wish, but that ought not to be a motive for violating solemn +treaties. But because France now appears too great to us--greater +than we thought her at first--to break a solemn engagement, to +retain Malta, for instance, would be an unworthy breach of faith, +which would compromise the honor of Britain. I am sure that if +there were in Paris an assembly similar to that which is debating +here, the British navy and its dominion over the seas would he +talked of, in the same terms as we talk in this house of the French +armies, and their dominion over the land." + +Napoleon sincerely wished for peace. He was constructing vast works +to embellish and improve the empire. Thousands of workmen were +employed in cutting magnificent roads across the Alps. He was +watching with intensest interest the growth of fortifications and +the excavation of canals. He was in the possession of absolute power, +was surrounded by universal admiration, and, in the enjoyment of +profound peace, was congratulating himself upon being the pacificator +of Europe. He had disbanded his armies, and was consecrating all +the resources of the nation to the stimulation of industry. He +therefore left no means of forbearance and conciliation untried to +avert the calamities of war. He received Lord Whitworth, the English +embassador in Paris, with great distinction. The most delicate +attentions were paid to this lady, the Duchess of Dorset. Splendid +entertainments were given at the Tuileries and at St. Cloud in +their honor. Talleyrand consecrated to them all the resources of his +courtly and elegant manners. The two Associate Consuls, Cambaceres +and Lebrum, were also unwearied in attentions. Still all these efforts +on the part of Napoleon to secure friendly relations with England +were unavailing. The British government still, in open violation +of the treaty, retained Malta. The honor of France was at stake +in enforcing the sacredness of treaties Malta was too important a +post to be left in the hands of England. Napoleon at last resolved +to have a personal interview himself with Lord Whitworth, and +explain to him, with all frankness, his sentiments and his resolves. + +It was on the evening of the 18th of February, 1803, that Napoleon +received Lord Whitworth in his cabinet in the Tuileries. A large +writing-table occupied the middle of the room. Napoleon invited +the embassador to take a seat at one end of the table, and seated +himself at the other. "I have wished," said he, "to converse with +you in person, that I may fully convince you of my real opinions and +intentions." Then with that force of language and that perspicuity +which no man ever excelled, he recapitulated his transactions with +England from the beginning; that he had offered peace immediately +upon the accession to the consulship; that peace had been refused; +that eagerly he had renewed negotiations as soon as he could with +any propriety do so: and that he had made great concessions to +secure the peace of Amiens. "But my efforts," said he, "to live on +good terms with England, have met with no friendly response. The +English newspapers breathe but animosity against me. The journals +of the emigrants are allowed a license of abuse which is not justified +by the British constitution. Pensions are granted to Georges and +his accomplices, who are plotting my assassination. The emigrants, +protected in England, are continually making excursions to France +to stir up civil war. The Bourbon princes are received with the +insignia of the ancient royalty. Agents are sent to Switzerland +and Italy to raise up difficulties against France. Every wind +which blows from England brings me but hatred and insult. Now we +have come to a situation from which we must relieve ourselves. Will +you or will you not execute the treaty of Amiens? I have executed +it on my part with scrupulous fidelity. That treaty obliged me to +evacuate Naples, Tarento, and the Roman States, within three months. +In less than two months, all the French troops were out of those +countries. Ten months have elapsed since the exchange of the +ratifications, and the English troops are still in Malta, and at +Alexandria. It is useless to try to deceive us on this point. Will +you have peace, or will you have war? If you are for war, only say +so; we will wage it unrelentingly. If you wish for peace, you must +evacuate Alexandria and Malta. The rock of Malta, on which so many +fortifications have been erected, is, in a maritime point of view, +an object of great importance infinitely greater, inasmuch as it +implicates the honor of France. What would the world say, if we +were to allow a solemn treaty, signed with us, to be violated! It +would doubt our energy. For my part, my resolution is fixed. I had +rather see you in possession of the Heights of Montmartre, than in +possession of Malta." + +"If you doubt my desire to preserve peace, listen, and judge how +far I am sincere. Though yet very young, I have attained a power, +a renown to which it would be difficult to add. Do you imagine that +I am solicitous to risk this power, this renown, in a desperate +struggle? If I have a war with Austria. I shall contrive to find +the way to Vienna. If I have a war with you, I will take from you +every ally upon the Continent. You will blockade us; but I will +blockade you in my turn. You will make the Continent a prison for +us; but I will make the seas a prison for you. However, to conclude the +war, there must be more direct efficiency. There must be assembled +150,000 men, and an immense flotilla. We must try to cross the +Strait, and perhaps I shall bury in the depths of the sea my fortune, +my glory, my life. It is an awful temerity, my lord, the invasion +of England." Here, to the amazement of Lord Whitworth, Napoleon +enumerated frankly and powerfully all the perils of the enterprise: +the enormous preparations it would be necessary to make of ships, +men, and munitions of war-the difficulty of eluding the English +fleet. "The chance that we shall perish," said he, "is vastly +greater than the chance that we shall succeed . Yet this temerity, +my lord, awful as it is, I am determined to hazard, if you force +me to it. I will risk my army and my life. With me that great +enterprise will have chances which it can not have with any other. +See now if I ought, prosperous, powerful, and peaceful as I now am, +to risk power, prosperity, and peace in such an enterprise. Judge, +if when I say I am desirous of peace, if I am not sincere. It is +better for you; it is better for me to keep within the limits of +treaties. You must evacuate Malta. You must not harbor my assassins +in England. Let me be abused, if you please, by the English journals, +but not by those miserable emigrants, who dishonor the protection +you grant them, and whom the Alien Act permits you to expel from +the country. Act cordially with me, and I promise you, on my part, +an entire cordiality. See what power we should exercise over the +world, if we could bring our two nations together. You have a navy, +which, with the incessant efforts of ten years, in the employment +of all resources, I should not be able to equal. But I have 500,000 +men ready to march, under my command, whithersoever I choose to +lead them. If you are masters of the seas, I am master of the land. +Let us then think of uniting, rather than of going to war, and we +shall rule at pleasure the destinies of the world France and England +united, can do every thing for the interests of humanity." + +England, however, still refused, upon one pretense and another, to +yield Malta; and both parties were growing more and more exasperated, +and were gradually preparing for the renewal of hostilities. +Napoleon, at times, gave very free utterance to his indignation. +"Malta," said he, "gives the dominion of the Mediterranean. Nobody +will believe that I consent to surrender the Mediterranean to the +English, unless I fear their power. I thus loose the most important +sea in the world, and the respect of Europe. I will fight to the +last, for the possession of the Mediterranean; and if I once get +to Dover, it is all over with those tyrants of the seas. Besides, +as we must fight, sooner or later, with a people to whom the greatness +of France is intolerable, the sooner the better. I am young. The +English are in the wrong; more so than they will ever be again. I +had rather settle the matter at once. They shall not have Malta." + +Still Napoleon assented to the proposal for negotiating with the +English for the cession of some other island in the Mediterranean. +"Let them obtain a port to put into," said he. "To that I have no +objection. But I am determined that they shall not have two Gibraltars +in that sea, one at the entrance, and one in the middle." To this +proposition, however, England refused assent. + +Napoleon then proposed that the Island of Malta should be placed in +the hands of the Emperor of Russia; leaving it with him in trust, +till the discussions between France and England were decided. It +had so happened that the emperor had just offered his mediation, +if that could be available, to prevent a war. This the English +government also declined, upon the plea that it did not think that +Russia would be willing to accept the office thus imposed upon her. +The English embassador now received instructions to demand that +France should cede to England, Malta for ten years; and that England, +by way of compensation, would recognize the Italian republic. The +embassador was ordered to apply for his passports, if these conditions +were not accepted within seven days. To this proposition France +would not accede. The English minister demanded his passports, and +left France. Immediately the English fleet commenced its attack +upon French merchant-ships, wherever they could be found. And the +world was again deluged in war. + +France has recorded her past history and her present condition, in +the regal palaces she has reared. Upon these monumental walls are +inscribed, in letters more legible than the hieroglyphics of Egypt, +and as ineffaceable, the long and dreary story of kingly vice, +voluptuousness and pride, and of popular servility and oppression. +The unthinking tourist saunters through these magnificent saloons, +upon which have been lavished the wealth of princes and the toil +of ages, and admires their gorgeous grandeur. In marbled floors +and gilded ceilings and damask tapestry, and all the appliances of +boundless luxury and opulence, he sees but the triumphs of art, and +bewildered by the dazzling spectacle, forgets the burning outrage +upon human rights which it proclaims. Half-entranced, he wanders +through uncounted acres of groves and lawns, and parterres of +flowers, embellished with lakes, fountains, cascades, and the most +voluptuous statuary, where kings and queens have reveled, and he +reflects not upon the millions who have toiled, from dewy morn till +the shades of night, through long and joyless years, eating black +bread, clothed in coarse raiment--the man, the woman, the ox, +companions in toil, companions in thought--to minister to this +indulgence. But the palaces of France proclaim, in trumpet tones, +the shame of France. They say to her kings. Behold the undeniable +monuments of your pride, your insatiate extortion, your measureless +extravagance and luxury. They say to the people, Behold the proofs +of the outrages which your fathers, for countless ages, have endured. +They lived in mud hovels that their licentious kings might riot +haughtily in the apartments, canopied with gold, of Versailles, the +Tuileries, and St. Cloud--the Palaces of France. The mind of the +political economist lingers painfully upon them. They are gorgeous +as specimens of art. They are sacred as memorials of the past. +Vandalism alone would raze them to their foundations. Still, the +judgment says, It would be better for the political regeneration +of France, if, like the Bastile, their very foundations were plowed +up, and sown with salt. For they are a perpetual provocative to +every thinking man. They excite unceasingly democratic rage against +aristocratic arrogance. Thousands of noble women, as they traverse +those gorgeous halls, feel those fires of indignation glowing in +their souls, which glowed in the bosom of Madame Roland. Thousands +of young men, with compressed lip and moistened eye, lean against +those marble pillars, lost in thought, and almost excuse even the +demoniac and blood-thirsty mercilessness of Danton, Marat, and +Robespierre. These palaces are a perpetual stimulus and provocative +to governmental aggression. There they stand, in all their +gorgeousness, empty, swept, and garnished. They are resplendently +beautiful. They are supplied with every convenience, every luxury. +King and Emperor dwelt there. Why should not the President ? Hence +the palace becomes the home of the Republican President. The expenses +of the palace, the retinue of the palace, the court etiquette of +the palace become the requisitions of good taste. In America, the +head of the government, in his convenient and appropriate mansion, +receives a salary of twenty-five thousand dollars a year. In +France, the President of the Republic receives four hundred thousand +dollars a year, and yet, even with that vast sum, can not keep up +an establishment at all in accordance with the dwellings of grandeur +which invite his occupancy, and which unceasingly and irresistibly +stimulate to regal pomp and to regal extravagance. The palaces of +France have a vast influence upon the present politics of France. +There is an unceasing conflict between those marble walls of +monarchical splendor, and the principles of republican simplicity. +This contest will not soon terminate, and its result no one can +foresee. Never have I felt my indignation more thoroughly aroused +than when wandering hour after hour through the voluptuous sumptuousness +of Versailles. The triumphs of taste and art are admirable, beyond +the power of the pen to describe. But the moral of exeerable +oppression is deeply inscribed upon all. In a brief description of +the Palaces of France. I shall present them in the order in which +I chanced to visit them. + +1. Palais des Thermes .--In long-gone centuries, which have faded +away into oblivion, a wandering tribe of barbarians alighted from +their canoes, upon a small island in the Seine, and there reared +their huts. They were called the Parisii. The slow lapse of +centuries rolled over them, and there were wars and woes, bridals +and burials, and still they increased in numbers and in strength, +and fortified their little isle against the invasions of their +enemies; for man, whether civilized or savage, has ever been the +most ferocious wild beast man has had to encounter. But soon the +tramp of the Roman legions was heard upon the banks of the Seine, +and all Gaul with its sixty tribes, came under the power of +the Caesars. Extensive marshes and gloomy forests surrounded the +barbarian village; but, gradually, Roman laws and institutions were +introduced; and Roman energy changed the aspect of the country. +Immediately the proud conquerors commenced rearing a palace for +the provincial governor. The Palace of Warm Baths rose, with its +massive walls and in imposing grandeur. Roman spears drove the people +to the work; and Roman ingenuity knew well how to extort from the +populace the revenue which was required. Large remains of that palace +continue to the present day. It is the most interesting memorial +of the past which can now be found in France. The magnificence of +its proportions still strike the beholder with awe. "Behold," says +a writer, who trod its marble floors nearly a thousand years ago: +"Behold the Palace of the Kings, whose turrets pierce the skies, +and whose foundations penetrate even to the empire of the dead." +Julius Caesar gazed proudly upon those turrets; and here the shouts +of Roman legions, fifteen hundred years ago proclaimed Julian emperor; +and Roman maidens, with throbbing hearts, trod these floors in the +mazy dance. No one can enter the grand hall of the haths, without +being deeply impressed with the majestic aspect of the edifice, and +with the grandeur of its gigantic proportions. The decay of nearly +two thousand years has left its venerable impress upon those walls. +Here Roman generals proudly strode, encased in brass and steel, +and the clatter of their arms resounded through these arches. In +these mouldering, crumbling tubs of stone, they laved their sinewy +limbs. But where are those fierce warriors now? In what employments +have their turbulent spirits been engaged, while generation after +generation has passed on earth, in the enactment of the comedies +and the tragedies of life? Did their rough tutelage in the camp, +and their proud hearing in the court, prepare them for the love, +the kindness, the gentleness, the devotion of Heaven? In fields of +outrage, clamor, and blood, madly rushing to the assault, shouting +in frenzy, dealing, with iron hand, every where around, destruction +and death, did they acquire a taste for the "green pastures and +the still waters?" Alas! for the mystery of our being! They are +gone, and gone forever! Their name has perished--their language is +forgotten. + + +"The storm which wrecks the wintry sky. No more disturbs their +deep repose, Than summer evening's gentlest sign, Which shuts +the rose." + +Upon a part of the rums of this old palace of Caesars, there has +been reared by more modern ancients , still another palace, where +mirth and revelry have resounded, where pride has elevated her +haughty head, and vanity displayed her costly robes--but over all +those scenes of splendor, death has rolled its oblivious waves. About +four hundred years ago, upon a portion of the crumbling walls of +this old Roman mansion, the Palace of Cluny was reared. For three +centuries, this palace was one of the abodes of the kings of France. +The tide of regal life ebbed and flowed through those saloons, and +along those corridors. There is the chamber where Mary of England, +sister of Henry VIII., and widow of Louis XII., passed the weary +years of her widowhood. It is still called the chamber of the +"white queen," from the custom of the queens of France to wear +white mourning. Three hundred years ago, these Gothic turrets, and +gorgeously ornamented lucarne windows, gleamed with illuminations, +as the young King of Scotland, James V., led Madeleine, the blooming +daughter of Francis I., to the bridal altar. Here the haughty family +of the Guises ostentatiously displayed their regal retinue--vying +with the Kings of France in splendor, and outvying them in power. +These two palaces, now blended by the nuptails of decay into one, +are converted into a museum of antiquities--silent despositories +of memorials of the dead. Sadly one loiters through their deserted +halls. They present one of the most interesting sights of Paris. +In the reflective mind they awaken emotions which the pen can not +describe. + +2. The Lourre .--When Paris consisted only of the little island in +the Seine, and kings and feudal lords, with wine and wassail were +reveling in the saloons of China, a hunting-seat was reared in the +the dense forest which spread itself along the banks of the river. +As the city extended, and the forest disappeared, the hunting-seat +was enlarged, strengthened, and became a fortress and a state-prison +Thus it continued for three hundred years. In its gloomy dungeons +prisoners of state, and the victims of crime, groaned and died; +and countless tragedies of despotic power there transpired, which +the Day of Judgment alone can reveal. Three hundred years ago, +Francis I, tore down the dilapidated walls of this old castle, and +commerces the magnificent Palace of the Louver upon their foundations. +But its construction has required candle, while Gilpin, who was +taller and stronger than either of the other boys, bored the hole +in the door, in the place which Rodolphus indicated. When the hole +was bored, the boys inserted an iron rod into it. and running this +rod under the hasp, they pried the hasp up and unfastened the door. +They opened the door, and then, to their great joy, found themselves +all safe in the office. + +They put the dark lantern down upon the table, and covered it with +its screen, and then listened, perfectly whist, a minute or two, +to be sure that nobody was coming. + +"You go and watch at the shed-door," said Gilpin to Rodolphus, +"while we open the desk." + +So Rodolphus went to the shed-door. He peeped out, and looked up +and down the village-street, but all was still. + +Presently he heard a sort of splitting sound within the office, +which he knew was made by the forcing open of the lid of the desk. +Very soon afterward the boys came out, in a hurried manner--Griff +had the lantern and Gilpin the box. + +"Have you got it!" said Rodolphus. + +"Yes," said Griff. + +"Let's see," said Rodolphus. + +Griff held out the box to Rodolphus. It was very heavy and they +could hear the sound of the money within. All three of the boys +seemed almost wild with trepidation and excitement. Griff however +immediately began to hurry them away, pulling the box from them +and saying, "Come, come, boys, we must not stay fooling here." + +"Wait a minute till I hide the tools again!" said Rodolphus, "and +then we'll run." + +Rodolphus hid the tools behind the wood-pile, in the shed, where +they had been before, and then the boys sallied forth into the +street. They crept along stealthily in the shadows of the houses +and the most dark and obscure places, until they came to the tavern, +where they were to turn down the lane to the corn-barn. As soon as +they got safely to this lane, they felt relieved, and they walked +on in a more unconcerned manner; and when at length they got fairly +in under the corn-barn they felt perfectly secure. + +"There," said Griff, "was not that well done!" + +"Yes," said Rodolphus, "and now all that we have got to do is to +get the box open." + +"We can break it open with stones," said Griff. + +"No," said Gilpin, "that will make too much noise. We will bury +it under this straw for a few days, and open it somehow or other +by-and-by, when they have given up looking for the box. You can +get the real key of it for us, Rodolphus, can't you!" + +"How can I get it?" asked Rodolphus. + +"Oh, you can contrive some way to get it from old Kerber, I've no +doubt. At any rate the best thing is to bury it now.' + +To this plan the boys all agreed. They pulled away the straw, +which was spread under the corn-barn, and dug a hole in the ground +beneath, working partly with sticks and partly with their fingers. +When they had got the hole deep enough, they put the box in and +covered it up. Then they covered it up. Then they spread the straw +over the place as before. + +During all this time the lantern had been standing upon a box pretty +near by, having been put there by the boys, in order that the light +might shine down upon the place where they had been digging. As +soon as their work was done, the boys went softly outside to see +if the way was clear for them to go home, leaving the lantern on +the box; and while they were standing at the corner of the barn +outside, looking up the lane, and whispering together, they saw +suddenly a light beginning to gleam up from within. They ran in +and found that the lantern had fallen down, and that the straw was +all in a blaze. They immediately began to tread upon the fire and +try to put it out, but the instant that they did so they were all +thunderstruck by the appearance of a fourth person, who came rushing +in among them from the outside. They all screamed out with terror +and ran. Rodolphus separated from the rest and crouched down a +moment behind the stone wall, but immediately afterward, feeling +that there would be no safety for him here, he set off again and +ran across some back fields and gardens, in the direction toward +Mr. Kerber's. He looked back occasionally and found that the light +was rapidly increasing. Presently he began to hear cries of fire. +He ran on till he reached the house; he scrambled over the fences +into the back yard, climbed up upon a shed, crept along under the +chimneys to the window of his room, got in as fast as he could, +undressed himself and went to bed, and had just drawn the clothes +up over him, when he heard a loud knocking at the door, and Mrs. +Kerber's voice outside, calling out to him, that there was a cry +of fire in the village, and that he must get up quick as possible +and help put it out. + +The Expedition to Egypt was one of the most magnificent enterprises +which human ambition ever conceived. The Return to France combines +still more, if possible, of the elements of the moral sublime. +But for the disastrous destruction of the French fleet the plans +of Napoleon, in reference to the East, would probably have been +triumphantly successful. At least it can not be doubted that a +vast change would have been effected throughout the Eastern world. +Those plans were now hopeless. The army was isolated, and cut off +from all reinforcements and all supplies. the best thing which +Napoleon could do for his troops in Egypt was to return to France, +and exert his personal influence in sending them succor. His return +involved the continuance of the most honorable devotion to those +soldiers whom he necessarily left behind him. The secrecy of his +departure was essential to its success. Had the bold attempt been +suspected, it would certainly have been frustrated by the increased +vigilance of the English cruisers. The intrepidity of the enterprise +must elicit universal admiration. + +Contemplate, for a moment, the moral aspects of this undertaking. +A nation of thirty millions of people, had been for ten years +agitated by the most terrible convulsions. There is no atrocity, +which the tongue can name, which had not desolated the doomed land. +Every passion which can degrade the heart of fallen man, had swept +with simoom blast over the cities and the villages of France. +Conflagrations had laid the palaces of the wealthy in ruins, and the +green lawns where their children had played, had been crimsoned with +the blood of fathers and sons, mothers and daughters. A gigantic +system of robbery had seized upon houses and lands and every +species of property and had turned thousands of the opulent out +into destitution, beggary, and death. Pollution had been legalized +by the voice of God-defying lust, and France, la belle France +, had been converted into a disgusting warehouse of infamy. Law, +with suicidal hand, had destroyed itself, and the decisions of +the legislature swayed to and fro, in accordance with the hideous +clamors of the mob. The guillotine, with gutters ever clotted +with human gore, was the only argument which anarchy condescended +to use. Effectually it silenced every remonstrating tongue. +Constitution after constitution had risen, like mushrooms, in +a night, and like mushrooms had perished in a day. Civil war was +raging with bloodhound fury in France, Monarchists and Jacobins +grappling each other infuriate with despair. The allied kings of +Europe, who by their alliance had fanned these flames of rage and +ruin, were gazing with terror upon the portentous prodigy, and were +surrounding France with their navies and their armies. + +The people had been enslaved for centuries by the king and the nobles. +Their oppression had been execrable, and it had become absolutely +unendurable. "We, the millions," they exclaimed in their rage, "will +no longer minister to your voluptuousness, and pride, and lust." +"You shall, you insolent dogs," exclaimed king and nobles, "we +heed not your barking." "You shall," reiterated the Pope, in the +portentous thunderings of the Vatican. "You shall," came echoed back +from the palaces of Vienna, from the dome of the Kremlin, from the +seraglio of the Turk, and, in tones deeper, stronger, more resolute, +from constitutional, liberty-loving, happy England. Then was France +a volcano, and its lava-streams deluged Europe. The people were +desperate. In the blind fury of their frenzied self-defense they +lost all consideration. The castles of the nobles were but the +monuments of past taxation and servitude. With yells of hatred +the infuriated populace razed them to the ground. The palaces of +the kings, where, for uncounted centuries, dissolute monarchs had +reveled in enervating and heaven-forbidden pleasures, were but +national badges of the bondage of the people. The indignant throng +swept through them, like a Mississippi inundation, leaving upon +marble floors, and cartooned walls and ceilings, the impress of +their rage. At one bound France had passed from despotism to anarchy. +The kingly tyrant, with golden crown and iron sceptre, surrounded +by wealthy nobles and dissolute beauties, had disappeared, and +a many-headed monster, rapacious and blood-thirsty, vulgar and +revolting, had emerged from mines and workshops and the cellars of +vice and penury, like one of the spectres of fairy tales to fill his +place. France had passed from Monarchy, not to healthy Republicanism, +but to Jacobinism, to the reign of the mob. Napoleon utterly abhorred +the tyranny of the king. He also utterly abhorred the despotism of +vulgar, violent, sanguinary Jacobin misrule. The latter he regarded +with even far deeper repugnance than the former. "I frankly +confess," said Napoleon, again and again, "that if I must choose +between Bourbon oppression, and mob violence, I infinitely prefer +the former. + +Such had been the state of France, essentially, for nearly ten +years. The great mass of the people were exhausted with suffering, +and longed for repose. The land was filled with plots and counterplots. +But there was no one man of sufficient prominence to carry with +him the nation. The government was despised and disregarded. France +was in a state of chaotic ruin. Many voices here and there, began +to inquire "Where is Bonaparte, the conqueror of Italy, the conqueror +of Egypt? He alone can save us." His world-wide renown turned the +eyes of the nation to him as their only hope. + +Under these circumstances Napoleon, then a young man but twenty-nine +years of age, and who, but three years before, had been unknown +to fame or to fortune, resolved to return to France, to overthrow +the miserable government, by which the country was disgraced, to +subdue anarchy at home and aggression from abroad, and to rescue +thirty millions of people from ruin. The enterprise was undeniably +magnificent in its grandeur and noble in its object. He had two +foes to encounter, each formidable, the royalists of combined Europe +and the mob of Paris. The quiet and undoubting self-confidence with +which he entered upon this enterprise, is one of the most remarkable +events in the whole of his extraordinay career. He took with him +no armies to hew down opposition. He engaged in no deep-laid and +wide-spread conspiracy. Relying upon the energies of his own mind, +and upon the sympathies of the great mass of the people, he went +alone, with but one or two companions, to whom he revealed not his +thoughts, to gather into his hands the scattered reins of power. +Never did he encounter more fearful peril. The cruisers of England, +Russia, Turkey, of allied Europe in arms against France, thronged +the Mediterranean. How could he hope to escape them? The guillotine +was red with blood. Every one who had dared to oppose the mob had +perished upon it. How could Napoleon venture, single-handed, to +beard this terrible lion in his den? + +It was ten o'clock at night, the 22d of August, 1799, when Napoleon +ascended the sides of the frigate Muiron, to France. A few of his +faithful Guards, and eight companions, either officers in the army +or members of the scientific corps, accompanied him. There were +five hundred soldiers on board the ships. The stars shone brightly +in the Syrian sky, and under their soft light the blue waves of +the Mediterranean lay spread out most peacefully before them. The +frigates unfurled their sails. Napoleon, silent and lost in thought, +for a long time walked the quarter deck of the ship, gazing upon +the low outline of Egypt as, in the dim starlight, it faded away. +His companions were intoxicated with delight, in view of again +returning to France. Napoleon was neither elated nor depressed. +Serene and silent he communed with himself, and whenever we can +catch a glimpse of those secret communings we find them always +bearing the impress of grandeur. Though Napoleon was in the habit +of visiting the soldiers at their camp fires, of sitting down and +conversing with them with the greatest freedom and familiarity, +the majesty of his character overawed his officers, and adoration +and reserve blended with their love. Though there was no haughtiness +in his demeanor, he habitually dwelt in a region of elevation +above them all. Their talk was of cards, of wine, of pretty women. +Napoleon's thoughts were of empire, of renown, of moulding the +destinies of nations. They regarded him not as a companion, but +as a master, whose wishes they loved to anticipate; for he would +surely guide them to wealth, and fame, and fortune. He contemplated +them, not as equals and confiding friends, but as efficient and +valuable instruments for the accomplishment of his purposes. Murat +was to Napoleon a body of ten thousand horsemen, ever ready for a +resistless charge. Lannes was a phalanx of infantry, bristling with +bayonets, which neither artillery nor cavalry could batter down or +break. Augereau was an armed column of invincible troops, black, +dense, massy, impetuous, resistless, moving with gigantic tread +wherever the finger of the conqueror pointed. These were but the +members of Napoleon's body, the limbs obedient to the mighty soul +which swayed them. They were not the companions of his thoughts, +they were only the servants of his will. The number to be found +with whom the soul of Napoleon could dwell in sympathetic friendship +was few--very few. + +Napoleon had formed a very low estimate of human nature, and +consequently made great allowance for the infirmities incident +to humanity. Bourrienne reports him as saying, "Friendship is but +a name. I love no one; no, not even my brothers. Joseph perhaps a +little. And if I do love him, it is from habit, and because he is +my elder. Duroc! Ah, yes! I love him too. But why? His character +please me. He is cold, reserved, and resolute, and I really believe +that he never shed a tear. As to myself, I know well that I have +not one true friend. As long as I continue what I am, I may have +as many pretended friends as I please. We must leave sensibility +to the women. It is their business. Men should have nothing to do +with war or government. I am not amiable. No; I am not amiable. I +never have been. But I am just." + +In another mood of mind, more tender, more subdued, he remarked, +at St. Helena, in reply to Las Casas, who with great severity was +condemning those who abandoned Napoleon in his hour of adversity: +"You are not acquainted with men. They are difficult to comprehend +if one wishes to be strictly just. Can they understand or explain +even their own characters? Almost all those who abandoned me would had +I continued to be prosperous, never perhaps have dreamed of their +own defection. There are vices and virtues which depend upon +circumstances. Our last trials were beyond all human strength! Besides +I was forsaken rather than betrayed; there was more weakness than +of perfidy around me. It was the denial of St. Peter . Tears and +penitence are probably at hand. And where will you find in the +page of history any one possessing a greater number of friends +and partisans? Who was ever more popular and more beloved? Who was +ever more ardently and deeply regretted? Here from this very rock +on viewing the present disorders in France who would not be tempted +to say that I still reign there? No; human nature might have appeared +in a more odious light." + +Las Casas, who shared with Napoleon his weary years of imprisonment +at St. Helena says of him: "He views the complicated circumstances +of his from so high a point that individuals escape his notice. He +never evinces the least symptom of virulence toward those of whom +it might be supposed he has the greatest reason to complain. His +strongest mark of reprobation, and I have had frequent occasions +to notice it, is to preserve silence with respect to them whenever +they are mentioned in his presence. But how often has he been heard +to restrain the violent and less reserved expressions of those +about him?" + +"And here I must observe," say Las Casas, "that since I have become +acquainted with the Emperor's character, I have never known him to +evince, for a single moment, the least feeling of anger or animosity +against those who had most deeply injured him. He speaks of them +coolly and without resentment, attributing their conduct in some +measure to the place, and throwing the rest to the account of human +weakness." + +Marmont, who surrendered Paris to the allies was severely condemned +by Las Casas. Napoleon replied: "Vanity was his ruin. Posterity +will justly cast a shade upon his character, yet his heart will be +more valued than the memory of his career." "Your attachment for +Berthier," said Las Casas, "surprised us. He was full of pretensions +and pride." "Berthier was not with out talent." Napoleon replied, +"and I am far from wishing to disavow his merit, or my partiality; +but he was so undecided!" He was very harsh and overbearing." Las +Casas rejoined. "And what, my dear Las Casas," Napoleon replied, +"is more overbearing than weakness which feels itself protected +by strength! Look at women for example." This Berthier had with +the utmost meanness, abandoned his benefactor, and took his place +in front of the carriage of Louis XVIII. as he rode triumphantly +into Paris. "The only revenge I wish on this poor Berthier," said +Napoleon at the time, "would be to see him in his costume of captain +of the body-guard of Louis." + +Says Bourrienne, Napoleon's rejected secretary, "The character +of Napoleon was not a cruel one. He was neither rancorous nor +vindictive. None but those who are blinded by fury, could have +given him the name of Nero or Caligula. I think that I have stated +his real fault with sufficient sincerity to be believed upon my +word. I can assert that Bonaparte, apart from politics, was feeling +kind, and accessible to pity. He was very fond of children, and a +bad man has seldom that disposition. In the habits of private life +he had and the expression is not too strong, much benevolence and +great indulgence for human weakness. A contrary opinion is too +firmly fixed in some minds for me to hope to remove it. I shall, +I fear, have opposers; but I address myself to those who are in +search of truth. I lived in the most unreserved confidence with +Napoleon until the age of thirty-four years, and I advance nothing +lightly." This is the admission of one who had been ejected from +office by Napoleon, and who become a courtier of the reinstated +Bourbons. It is a candid admission of an enemy. + +The ships weighed anchor in the darkness of the night, hoping +before the day should dawn to escape the English cruisers which +were hovering about Alexandria. Unfortunately, at midnight, the wind +died away, and it became almost perfectly calm. Fearful of being +captured, some were anxious to seek again the shore. "Be quiet," +said Napoleon, "we shall pass in safety." + +Admiral Gantheaume wished to take the shortest route to France. +Napoleon, however, directed the admiral to sail along as near as +possible the coast of Africa, and to continue that unfrequented +route, till the ships should pass the Island of Sardinia. "In the +mean while," said he, "should an English fleet present itself, +we will run ashore upon the sands, and march, with the handful of +brave men and the few pieces of artillery we have with us, to Oran +or Tunis, and there find means to re-embark." Thus Napoleon, is +this hazardous enterprise braved every peril. The most imminent and +the most to be dreaded of all was captivity in an English prison. +For twenty days the wind was so invariable adverse, that the ships +did not advance three hundred miles. Many were so discouraged and +so apprehensive of capture that it was even proposed to return to +Alexandria. Napoleon was much in the habit of peaceful submission +to that which he could not remedy. During all these trying weeks +he appeared perfectly serene and contented. To the murmuring of +his companions he replied, "We shall arrive in France in safety. I +am determined to proceed at all hazards. Fortune will not abandon +us." "People frequently speak," says Bourrienne, who accompanied +Napoleon upon this voyage, "of the good fortune which attaches to +an individual, and even attends him this sort of predestination, +yet, when I call to mind the numerous dangers which Bonaparte +escaped in so many enterprises, the hazards he encountered, the +chances he ran, I can conceive that others may have this faith. +But having for a length of time studied the 'man of destiny', +I have remarked that what was called his fortune was, in reality, +his genius; that his success was the consequence of his admirable +foresight--of his calculations, rapid as lightning, and of the +conviction that boldness is often the truest wisdom. If, for example, +during our voyage from Egypt to France, he had not imperiously +insisted upon pursuing a course different from that usually taken, +and which usual course was recommended by the admiral, would he +have escaped the perils which beset his path! Probably not. And +was all this the effect of chance. .......... Certainly not." + +During these days of suspense Napoleon, apparently as serene in +spirit as the calm which often silvered the unrippled surface of the +sea held all the energies of his mind in perfect control. A choice +library he invariably took with him wherever he went. He devoted +the hours to writing study, finding recreation in solving the most +difficult problems in geometry, and in investigating chemistry and +other scientific subjects of practical utility. He devoted much +time to conversation with the distinguished scholars whom he had +selected to accompany him. His whole soul seemed engrossed in the +pursuit of literary and scientific attainments. He also carefully, +and with most intense interest, studied the Bible and Koran, +scrutinizing, with the eye of a philosopher, the antagonistic +system of the Christian and the Moslem. The limity of the Scriptures +charmed him. He read again and again, with deep admiration, +Christ's sermon upon the mount and called his companions form their +card-tables, to read it to them, that they might also appreciate its +moral beauty and its eloquence. "You will ere long, become devout +yourself," said one of his infidel companions. "I wish I might +become so," Napoleon replied. "What a solace Christianity must be +to one who has an undoubting conviction of its truth." But practical +Christianity he had only seen in the mummeries of the papal church. +Remembering the fasts, the vigils, the penances, the cloisters, +the scourgings of a corrupt Christianity, and contrasting them with +the voluptuous paradise and the sensual houries which inflamed the +eager vision of the Moslem, he once exclaimed in phrase characteristic +of his genius, "The religion of Jesus is a threat, that of Mohammed." +The religion of Jesus is not a threat. Though the wrath of God +shall fall upon the children of disobedience, our Saviour invites +us, in gentle accents, to the green pastures and the still waters +of the Heavenly Canaan; to cities resplendent with pearls and +gold; to mansions of which God is the architect; to the songs of +seraphim, and the flight of cherubim, exploring on tireless pinion +the wonders of infinity; to peace of conscience and rapture dwelling +in pure heart and to blest companionship loving and beloved; to +majesty of person and loftiness of intellect; to appear as children +and as nobles in the audience-chamber of God; to an immorality of +bliss. No! the religion of Jesus is not a threat, though it has too +often been thus represented by its mistaken or designing advocates. + +One evening a group of officers were conversing together, upon the +quarter deck, respecting the existence of God. Many of them believed +not in his being. It was a calm, cloudless, brilliant night. The +heavens, the work of God's fingers, canopied them gloriously. The +moon and the stars, which God had ordained beamed down upon them +with serene lustre. As they were flippantly giving utterance to +the arguments of atheism. Napoleon paced to and fro upon the deck, +taking no part in the conversation, and apparently absorbed in his +own thoughts. Suddenly he stopped before them and said, in those +tones of dignity which ever overawed, "Gentlemen, your arguments +are very fine. But who made all those worlds, beaming so gloriously +above us? Can you tell me that?" No one answered. Napoleon resumed his +silent walk, and the officers selected another topic for conversation. + +In these intense studies Napoleon first began to appreciate the +beauty and the sublimity of Christianity. Previously to this, his +own strong sense had taught him the principles of a noble toleration; +and Jew, Christian, and Moslem stood equally regarded before him. +Now he began to apprehend the surpassing excellence of Christianity. +And though the cares of the busiest life through which a mortal +has ever passed soon engrossed his energies, this appreciation and +admiration of the gospel of Christ, visibly increased with each +succeeding year. He unflinchingly braved the scoffs of infidel Europe, +in re-establishing the Christian religion in paganized France. He +periled his popularity with the army, and disregarded the opposition +of his most influential friends, from his deep conviction of +the importance of religion to the welfare of the state. With the +inimitable force of his own glowing eloquence, he said to Montholon, +at St. Helena, "I know men, and I tell you that Jesus Christ is +not a man! The religion of Christ is a mystery, which subsists by +its own force, and proceeds from a mind which is not a human mind. +We find in it a marked individuality which originated a train of +words and maxims unknown before. Jesus borrowed nothing from our +knowledge. He exhibited himself the perfect example of his precepts. +Jesus is not a philosopher: for his proofs are his miracles, and +from the first his disciples adored him. In fact, learning and +philosophy are of no use for salvation; and Jesus came into the +world to reveal the mysteries of heaven and the laws of the spirit. +Alexander, Caesar, Charlemagne, and myself have founded empires. +But upon what did we rest the creations of our genius? upon force +. Jesus Christ alone founded his empire upon love. And at this +moment millions of men would die for him. I die before my time, +and my body will be given back to earth, to become food for worms. +Such is the fate of him who has been called the great Napoleon. +What an abyss between my deep misery and the eternal kingdom of +Christ, which is proclaimed, loved, and adored, and which is extending +over the whole earth! Call you this dying? Is it not living rather? +The death of Christ is the death of a God!" + +At the time of the invasion of Egypt, Napoleon regarded all forms +of religion with equal respect. And though he considered Christianity +superior, in intellectuality and refinement, to all other modes +of worship, he did not consider any religion as of divine origin. +At one time, speaking of the course which he pursued in Egypt, he +said, "Such was the disposition of the army, that in order to induce +them to listen to the bare mention of religion, I was obliged to +speak very lightly on the subject; to place Jews beside Christians, +and rabbis beside bishops. But after all it would not have been so +very extraordinary had circumstances induced me to embrace Islamism. +But I must have had good reasons for my conversion. I must have +been secure of advancing at least as far as the Euphrates. Change +of religion for private interest is inexcusable. But it may be +pardoned in consideration of immense political results. Henry IV. +said, Paris is well worth a mass . Will it then be said that the +dominion of the East, and perhaps the subjugation of all Asia, +were not worth a turban and a pair of trousers ? And in truth the +whole matter was reduced to this. The sheiks had studied how to +render it easy to us. They had smoothed down the great obstacles, +allowed us the use of wine, and dispensed with all corporeal +formalities. We should have lost only our small-clothes and hats." + +Of the infidel Rousseau, Napoleon ever spoke in terms of severe +reprobation. "He was a bad man, a very bad man," said he, "he +caused the revolution." "I was not aware," another replied, "that +you considered the French Revolution such an unmixed evil." "Ah," +Napoleon rejoined, "you wish to say that without the revolution you +would not have had me. Nevertheless, without the revolution France +would have been more happy." When invited to visit the hermitage +of Rousseau, to see his cap, table, great chair, &c., he exclaimed, +"Bah! I have no taste for such fooleries. Show them to my brother +Louis. He is worthy of them." + +Probably the following remarks of Napoleon, made at St. Helena, +will give a very correct idea of his prevailing feeling upon the +subject of religion. "The sentiment of religion is so consolatory, +that it must be considered a gift from Heaven. What a resource +would it not be for us here, to possess it. What rewards have I +not a right to expect, who have run a career so extraordinary, so +tempestuous, as mine has been, without committing a single crime. +And yet how many might I not have been guilty of? I can appear +before the tribunal of God, I can await his judgment, without fear. +He will not find my conscience stained with the thoughts of murder +and poisonings; with the infliction of violent and premeditated +deaths, events so common in the history of those whose lives resemble +mine. I have wished only for the power, the greatness, the glory of +France. All my faculties, all my efforts, all my movements, were +directed to the attainment of that object. These can not be crimes. +To me they appeared acts of virtue. What then would be my happiness, +if the bright prospect of futurity presented itself to crown the +last moments of my existence." + +After a moment's pause, in which he seemed lost in thought, he +resumed: "But, how is it possible that conviction can find its way +to our hearts, when we hear the absurd language, and witness the +iniquitous conduct of the greater part of those whose business it +is to preach to us. I am surrounded by priests, who repeat incessantly +that their reign is not of this world; and yet they lay their hands +upon every thing which they can get. The Pope is the head of that +religion which is from Heaven. What did the present chief pontiff, +who is undoubtedly a good and a holy man, not offer, to be allowed +to return to Rome. The surrender of the government of the church, +of the institution of bishops was not too much for him to give, to +become once more a secular prince. + +"Nevertheless," he continued, after another thoughtful pause, "it +can not be doubted that, as emperor, the species of incredulity +which I felt was beneficial to the nations I had to govern. How could +I have favored equally sects so opposed to one another, if I had +joined any one of them? How could I have preserved the independence +of my thoughts and of my actions under the control of a confessor, +who would have governed me under the dread of hell!" Napoleon closed +this conversation, by ordering the New Testament to be brought. +Commencing at the beginning, he read aloud as far as the conclusion +of our Savior's address to his disciples upon the mountain. He +expressed himself struck with the highest admiration, in contemplating +its purity, its sublimity, and the beautiful perfection of its +moral code. + +For forty days the ships were driven about by contrary winds, and +on the 1st of October they made the island of Corsica, and took +refuge in the harbor of Ajaccio. The tidings that Napoleon had +landed in his native town swept over the island like a gale, and +the whole population crowded to the port to catch a sight of their +illustrious countryman. "It seemed," said Napoleon, "that half of +the inhabitants had discovered traces of kindred." But a few years +had elapsed since the dwelling of Madame Letitia was pillaged by the +mob, and the whole Bonaparte family, in penury and friendlessness, +were hunted from their home, effecting their escape in an open +boat by night. Now, the name of Bonaparte filled the island with +acclamations. But Napoleon was alike indifferent to such unjust +censure, and to such unthinking applause. As the curse did not +depress, neither did the hosanna elate. + +After the delay of a few days in obtaining supplies, the ships +again weighed anchor, on the 7th of October, and continued their +perilous voyage. The evening of the next day, as the sun was going +down in unusual splendor, there appeared in the west, painted in +strong relief against his golden rays, an English squadron. The +admiral, who saw from the enemy's signals that he was observed, +urged an immediate return to Corsica. Napoleon, convinced that +capture would be the result of such a manoeuvre, exclaimed, "To do +so would be to take the road to England. + +I am seeking that to France. Spread all sail. Let every one be at +his post. Steer to the northwest. Onward." The night was dark, the +wind fair. Rapidly the ships were approaching the coast of France, +through the midst of the hostile squadron, and exposed to the most +imminent danger of capture. Escape seemed impossible. It was a +night of fearful apprehension and terror to all on board, excepting +Napoleon. He determined, in case of extremity, to throw himself +into a boat, and trust for safety to darkness and the oars. With the +most perfect self-possession and composure of spirits, he ordered +the long-boat to be prepared, selected those whom he desired to +accompany him, and carefully collected such papers as he was anxious +to preserve. Not an eye was closed during the night. It was indeed +a fearful question to be decided. Are these weary wanderers, in a +few hours, to be in the embrace of their wives and their children, +or will the next moment show them the black hull of an English +man-of war, emerging from the gloom, to consign them to lingering +years of captivity in an English prison? In this terrible hour +no one could perceive that the composure of Napoleon was in the +slightest degree ruffled. The first drawn of the morning revealed +to their straining vision the hills of France stretching along +but a few leagues before them, and far away, in the northeast, the +hostile squadron, disappearing beneath the horizon of the sea. The +French had escaped. The wildest bursts of joy rose from the ships. +But Napoleon gazed calmly upon his beloved France, with pale cheek +and marble brow, too proud to manifest emotion. At eight o'clock +in the morning the four vessels dropped anchor in the little harbor +of Frejus. It was the morning of the 8th of October. Thus for fifty +days Napoleon had been tossed upon the waves of the Mediterranean, +surrounded by the hostile flects of England, Russia, and Turkey, +and yet had eluded their vigilance. + +This wonderful passage of Napoleon, gave rise to many caricatures, +both in England and France. One of these caricatures, which was +conspicuous in the London shop windows, possessed so much point and +historic truth, that Napoleon is said to have laughed most heartily +on seeing it. Lord Nelson, as is well known, with all his heroism, +was not exempt from the frailties of humanity. The British admiral +was represented as guarding Napoleon. Lady Hamilton makes her +appearance, and his lordship becomes so engrossed in caressing the +fair enchantress, that Napoleon escapes between his legs. This was +hardly a caricature. It was almost historic verity. While Napoleon +was struggling against adverse storms off the coast of Africa, +Lord Nelson, adorned with the laurels of his magnificent victory, +in fond dalliance with his frail Delilah, was basking in the courts +of voluptuous and profligate kings. "No one," said Napoleon, "can +surrender himself to the dominion of love, without the forfeiture +of some palms of glory." + +When the four vessels entered the harbor of Frejus, a signal at +the mast-head of the Muiron informed the authorities on shore that +Napoleon was on board. The whole town was instantly in commotion. +Before the anchors were dropped the harbor was filled with boats, +and the ships were surrounded with an enthusiastic multitude, +climbing their sides, thronging their decks, and rending the air +with their acclamations. All the laws of quarantine were disregarded. +The people, weary of anarchy, and trembling in view of the approaching +Austrian invasion, were almost delirious with delight in receiving +thus as it were from the clouds, a deliverer, in whose potency they +could implicitly trust. When warned that the ships had recently +sailed from Alexandria, and that there was imminent danger that the +plague, might be communicated, they replied, "We had rather have +the plague than the Austrians," Breaking over all the municipal +regulations of health, the people took Napoleon, almost by violence, +hurried him over the side of the ship to the boats, and conveyed +him in triumph to the shore. The tidings had spread from farm-house +to farm-house with almost electric speed, and the whole country +population, men, women, and children, were crowding down to the +shore. Even the wounded soldiers in the hospital, left their cots +and crawled to the beach, to get a sight of the hero. The throng +became so great that it was with difficulty that Napoleon could +land. The gathering multitude, however, opened to the right and the +left, and Napoleon passed through them, greeted with the enthusiastic +cries of "Long live the conqueror of Italy, the conqueror of Egypt, +the liberator of France." The peaceful little harbor of Frejus was +suddenly thrown into a state of the most unheard of excitement. +The bells rang their merriest peels. The guns in the forts rolled +forth their heaviest thunders over the hills and over the waves; +and the enthusiastic shouts of the ever increasing multitudes, +thronging Napoleon, filled the air. The ships brought the first +tidings, of the wonderful victories of Mount Tabor and of Aboukir. +The French, humiliated by defeat, were exceedingly elated by this +restoration of the national honor. The intelligence of Napoleon's +arrival was immediately communicated, by telegraph, to Paris, which +was six hundred miles from Frejus. + +When the tidings of Napoleon's landing of Frejus, arrived in Paris, +on the evening of the 9th of October, Josephine was at a large party +at the house of M. Gohier, President of the Directory. All the most +distinguished men of the metropolis were there. The intelligence +produced the most profound sensation. Some, rioting in the spoils +of office, turned pale with apprehension; knowing well the genius +of Napoleon, and his boundless popularity, they feared another +revolution, which should eject them from their seats of power. +Others were elated with hope; they felt that Providence had sent to +France a deliverer, at the very moment when a deliverer was needed. +One of the deputies, who had been deeply grieved at the disasters +which were overwhelming the Republic, actually died of joy, when +he heard of Napoleon's return. Josephine, intensely excited by the +sudden and totally unexpected announcement, immediately withdrew, +hastened home, and at midnight, without allowing an hour for repose, +she entered her carriage, with Louis Bonaparte and Hortense, who +subsequently became the bride of Louis, and set out to meet her +husband. Napoleon almost at the same hour, with his suite, left +Frejus. During every stop of his progress he was greeted with the +most extraordinary demonstrations of enthusiasm and affection. +Bonfires blazed from the hills, triumphed arches, hastily of maidens +spread a carpet of flowers for his chariot wheels, and greeted +him with smiles and choruses of welcome. He carried at Lyons in +the evening. The whole city was brilliant with illuminations. An +immense concourse surrounded him with almost delirious shouts of +joy. The constituted authorities received him as he descended from +his carriage. The major had prepared a long and eulogistic harangue +for the occasion. Napoleon had no time to listen to it. With a +motion of his hand, imposing silence, he said said, "Gentlemen, I +learned that France was in peril, I therefore did not hesitate to +leave my army in Egypt, that I might come to he rescue. I now go +hence. In a few days, if you think fit to wait upon me, I shall be +at leisure to hear you." Fresh horses were by this time attached to +the carriages, and the cavalcade, which like a meteor had burst upon +them, like a meteor disappeared. From Lyons, for some unexplained +reason, Napoleon turned from the regular route to Paris and took +a less frequented road. When Josephine arrived at Lyons, to her +utter consternation she found that Napoleon had left the city, +several hours before her arrival, and that they had passed each +other by different roads. Her anguish was inexpressible. For many +months she had not received a line from her idolized husband, all +communication having been intercepted by the English cruisers. She +knew that many, jealous her power, had disseminated, far and wide, +false reports respecting her conduct. She knew that these, her +enemies, would surround Napoleon immediately upon his arrival, +and take advantage of her absence to inflame his mind against her. +Lyons is 245 miles from Paris. Josephine had passed over those +weary leagues of hill and dale, pressing on without intermission, by +day and by night, alighting not for refreshment of repose. Faint, +exhausted, and her heart sinking within her with fearful apprehensions +of the hopeless alienation of her husband, she received the dreadful +tidings that she had missed him. There was no resource left her but +to retrace the steps with the utmost possible celerity. Napoleon +would, however, have been one or two days in Paris before Josephine +could, by any possibility, re-enter the city. Probably in all France, +there was not, at that time, a more unhappy woman than Josephine. + +Secret wretchedness was also gnawing at the heart of Napoleon. +Who has yet fathomed the mystery of human love! Intensest love and +intensest hate can, at the same moment, intertwine their fibres +in inextricable blending. In nothing is the will so impotent as +in guiding or checking the impulses of this omnipotent passion. +Napoleon loved Josephine with that almost superhuman energy which +characterized all the movements of his impetuous spirit. The stream +did not fret and ripple over a shallow bed, but it was serene +in its unfathomable depths. The world contained but two objects +for Napoleon, glory and Josephine; glory first, and then, closely +following the more substantial idol. + +Many of the Parisian ladies, proud of a more exalted lineage than +Josephine could boast, were exceedingly envious of the supremacy +she had attained in consequence of the renown of her husband. Her +influence over Napoleon was well known. Philosophers, statesmen, +ambitious generals, all crowded her saloons, paying her homage. A +favorable word from Josephine they knew would pave the way for them +to fame and fortune. Thus Josephine, from the saloons of Paris, +with milder radiance, reflected back the splendor of her husband. +She solicitous of securing as many friends as possible, to aid +him in future emergencies, was as diligent in "winning hearts" at +home, as Napoleon was in conquering provinces abroad. The gracefulness +of Josephine, her consummate delicacy of moral appreciation, her +exalted intellectual gifts, the melodious tones of her winning +voice, charmed courtiers, philosophers, and statesmen alike. Her +saloons were ever crowded. Her entertainments were ever embellished +by the presence of all who were illustrious in rank and power in +the metropolis. And in whatever circles she appeared the eyes of +the gentlemen first sought for her. Two resistless attractions drew +them. She was peculiarly fascinating in person and in character, +and, through her renowned husband, she could dispense the most +precious gifts. It is not difficult to imagine the envy which must +thus have been excited. Many a haughty duchess was provoked, almost +beyond endurance, that Josephine, the untitled daughter of a West +Indian planter, should thus engross the homage of Paris, while she, +with her proud rank, her wit, and her beauty, was comparatively +a cipher. Moreau's wife, in particular resented the supremacy of +Josephine as a personal affront. She thought General Moreau entitled +to as much consideration as General Bonaparte. By the jealousy, +rankling in her own bosom, she finally succeeded in rousing her +husband to conspire against Napoleon, and thus the hero of Hohenlinden +was ruined. Some of the brothers and sisters of Napoleon were also +jealous of the paramount influence of Josephine, and would gladly +wrest a portion of it from her hands. Under these circumstances, +in various ways, slander had been warily insinuated into the ears +of Napoleon, respecting the conduct of his wife. Conspiring enemies +became more and more bold. Josephine was represented as having +forgotten her husband, as reveling exultant with female vanity, in +general flirtation; and, finally, as guilty of gross infidelity. +Nearly all the letters written by Napoleon and Josephine to each +other, were intercepted by the English cruisers. Though Napoleon +did not credit these charges in full, he cherished not a little of +the pride, which led the Roman monarch to exclaim, "Caesar's wife +must not be suspected." + +Napoleon was in the troubled state of mind during the latter +months of his residence in Egypt. One day he was sitting alone in +his tent, which was pitched in the great Arabian desert. Several +months had passed since he had heard a word from Josephine. Years +might elapse ere they would meet again. Junot entered, having +just received, through some channel of jealousy and malignity, +communications from Paris. Cautiously, but fully, he unfolded the +whole budget of Parisian gossip. Josephine had found, as he represented, +in the love of others an ample recompense for the absence of her +husband. She was surrounded by admirers with whom she was engaged +in an incessant round of intrigues and flirtations. Regardless +of honor she had surrendered herself to the dominion of passion. +Napoleon was for a few moments in a state of terrible agitation. With +hasty strides, like a chafed lion, he paced his tent, exclaiming, +"Why do I love that woman so? Why can I not tear her image from my +heart? I will do so. I will have an immediate and open divorce-open +and public divorce." He immediately wrote to Josephine, in terms +of the utmost severity accusing her of playing the coquette with +half the world." The letter escaped the British cruisers and she +received it. It almost broke her faithful heart. Such were the +circumstances under which Napoleon and Josephine were to meet after +an absence of eighteen months. Josephine was exceedingly anxious to +see Napoleon before he should have an interview with her enemies. +Hence the depth of anguish with which she heard her husband had +passes her. Two or three days must have elapse ere she could possibly +retraced the weary miles over which she had already traveled. + +In the mean time the carriage of Napoleon was rapidly approaching +the metropolis. By night his path was brilliant with bonfires and +illuminations. The ringing of bells, the thunders of artillery, +and the acclamations of the multitude, accompanied him every step +of his way. But no smile of triumph played upon his pale and pensive +cheeks. He felt that he was returning to a desolated home. Gloom +reigned in his heart. He entered Paris, and drove rapidly to his +own dwelling. Behold, Josephine was not there. Conscious guilt, he +thought, had made her afraid to meet him. It is in vain to attempt +to penetrate the hidden anguish of Napoleon's soul. That his proud +spirit must have suffered intensity of woe no one can doubt. The +bitter enemies of Josephine immediately surrounded him, eagerly +taking advantage of her absence, to inflame, to a still higher +degree, by adroit insinuations, his jealousy and anger. Eugene +had accompanied him in his return from Egypt, and his affectionate +heart ever glowed with love and admiration for his mother. With +anxiety, amounting to anguish, he watched at the window for her +arrival. Said one to Napoleon, maliciously endeavoring to prevent +the possibility of reconciliation, "Josephine will appear before +you, with all her fascinations. She will explain matters. You will +forgive all, and tranquillity will be restored." "Never!" exclaimed +Napoleon, with pallid cheek and trembling lip, striding nervously +too and fro, through the room, "never! I forgive! ever!" Then +stopping suddenly, and gazing the interlocutor wildly in the face, +he exclaimed, with passionate gesticulation, "You know me. Were I +not sure of my resolution, I would tear out this heart, and cast +it into the fire." + +How strange is the life of the heart of man. From this interview, +Napoleon, two hours after his arrival in Paris with his whole soul +agitated by the tumult of domestic woe, went to the palace of the +Luxembourg, to visit the Directory, to form his plans for overthrow +the government of France. Pale, pensive, joyless, his inflexible +purposes of ambition wavered not--his iron energies yielded not. +Josephine was an idol. He execrated her and he adored her. He loved +her most passionately. He hated her most virulently. He could clasp +her one moment to his bosom with burning kisses; the next moment +he would spurn her from him with as the most loathsome wretch. But +glory was a still more cherished idol, at whose shrine he bowed with +unwavering adoration. He strove to forget his domestic wretchedness +by prosecuting, with new vigor, his schemes of grandeur. As he +ascended the stairs of the Luxembourg, some of the guard, who had +been with him in Italy, recognized his person, and he was instantly +greeted, with enthusiastic shouts. "Long live Bonaparte." The clamor +rolled like a voice of thunder through the spacious halls of the +palace, and fell, like a death knell, upon the ears of the Directors. +The populace upon the pavement, caught the sound and reechoed it +from street to street. The plays at the theatres, and the songs +at the Opera, were stopped, that it might be announced, from the +stage, that Bonaparte had arrived in Paris. Men, women, and children +simultaneously rose to their feet, and a wild burst of enthusiastic +joy swelled upon the night air. All Paris was in commotion. The +name of Bonaparte was upon every lip. The enthusiasm was contagious. +Illuminations began to blaze, here and there, without concert, from +the universal rejoicing, till the whole city was resplendent with +light. One bell rang forth its merry peal of greeting, and then +another, and another till every steeple was vocal with its clamorous +welcome. One gun was heard, rolling its heavy thunders over the +city. It was the signal for an instantaneous, tumultuous roar, from +artillery and musketry, from all the battalions in the metropolis. +The tidings of the great victories of Aboukir and Mount Tabor, +reached Paris with Napoleon. Those Oriental names were shouted +through the streets, and blazed upon the eyes of the delighted +people in letters of light. Thus in an hour the whole of Paris was +thrown into a delirium of joy, was displayed the most triumphant +and gorgeous festival. + +The government of France was at the time organized somewhat upon +the model of that the United States. Instead of one President, +they have five, called Directors. Their Senate was called The House +of Ancients; their House of Representatives, The Council of Five +Hundred. The five Directors, as might have been expected, were +ever quarreling among themselves, each wishing for the lion's share +of power. The Monarchist, the Jacobin, and the moderate Republican +could not harmoniously co-operate in the government They only circumvented +each other, while the administration sank into disgrace and ruin. +The Abbe'Sieyes was decidedly the most able man of the Executive. +He was a proud patrician, and his character may be estimated from +the following anecdote, which Napoleon has related respecting him: + +"The abbe, before the revolution, was chaplain to one of the +princesses. One day, when he was performing mass before herself, +her attendants, and a large congregation, something occurred which +rendered it necessary for the princess to leave the room. The +ladies in waiting and the nobility, who attended church more out +of complaisance to her than from any sense of religion followed +her example. Sieyes was very busy reading his prayers, and, for a +few moments, he did not perceive their departure. At last, raising +his eyes from his book, behold the princess, the nobles, and all +the ton had disappeared. With an air of displeasure and contempt +he shut the book, and descended from the pulpit, exclaiming, 'I do +not read prayers for the rabble.' He immediately went out of the +chapel, leaving the service half-finished." + +Napoleon arrived in Paris on the evening of the 17th of October, +1799. Two days and two nights elapse ere Josephine was able to +retrace the weary leagues over which she had passed. It was the +hour of midnight on the 19th when the rattle of her carriage wheels +was heard entering the court-yard of their dwelling in the Rue +Chanteraine. Eugene, anxiously awaiting her arrival, was instantly +at his mother's side, folding her in his embrace. Napoleon also +heard the arrival, but he remained sternly in his chamber. He had +ever been accustomed to greet Josephine at the door of her carriage, +even when she returned from an ordinary morning ride. No matter what +employments engrossed his mind, no matter what guest were present, +he would immediately leave every thing, and hasten to the door to +assist Josephine to alight and to accompany her into the house. But +now, after an absence of eighteen months, the faithful Josephine, +half-dead with exhaustion, was at the door, and Napoleon, with +pallid check and compressed lip, and jealousy rankling in his bosom, +remained sternly in his room, preparing to overwhelm her with his +indignation. + +Josephine was in a state of terrible agitation. Her limbs tottered +and her heart throbbed most violently. Assisted by Eugene, and +accompanied by Hortense, she tremblingly ascended the stairs to the +little parlor where she had so often received the caresses of her +most affectionate spouse. She opened the door. There stood Napoleon, +as immovable as a statue, leaning against the mantle, with his arms +folded across his breast. Sternly and silently, he cast a withering +look upon Josephine, and then exclaimed in tones, which, like +a dagger pierced her heart "Madame! It is my wish that you retire +immediately to Malmaison." + +Josephine staggered and would have fallen, as if struck by a mortal +blow, had she not been caught in the arms of her son. Sobbing bitterly +with anguish, she was conveyed by Eugene to her own apartment. +Napoleon also was dreadfully agitated. The sight of Josephine had +revived all his passionate love. But he fully believed that Josephine +had unpardonably trifled with his affections, that she had courted +the admiration of a multitude of flatterers, and that she had degraded +herself and her husband by playing the coquette. The proud spirit +of Napoleon could not brook such a requital for his fervid love. +With hasty strides he traversed the room, striving to nourish his +indignation. The sobs of Josephine had deeply moved him. He yearned +to fold her again in fond love to his heart. But he proudly resolved +that he would not relent. Josephine, with that prompt obedience +which ever characterized her, prepared immediately to comply with his +orders. It was midnight. For a week she had lived in her carriage +almost without food or sleep. Malmaison was thirty miles from +Paris. Napoleon did not suppose that she would leave the house until +morning. Much to his surprise, in a few moments he heard Josephine, +Eugene, and Hortense descending the stairs to take the carriage. +Napoleon, even in his anger, could not be thus inhuman. "My heart," +he said, "was never formed to witness tears without emotion." He +immediately descended to the court-yard, though his pride would +not yet allow him to speak to Josephine. He, however, addressing +Eugene, urged the party to return and obtain refreshment and repose. +Josephine, all submission, unhesitatingly yielded to his wishes, +and re-ascending the stairs, in the extremity of exhaustion and +grief, threw herself upon a couch, in her apartment. Napoleon, +equally wretched, returned to his cabinet. Two days of utter misery +passed away, during which no intercourse took place between the +estranged parties, each of whom loved the other with almost superhuman +intensity. + +Love in the heart will finally triumph over all obstructions. The +struggle was long, but gradually pride and passion yielded, and +love regained the ascendency. Napoleon so far surrendered on the +third day, as to enter the apartment of Josephine. She was seated at +a toilet-table, her face buried in her hands, and absorbed in the +profoundest woe. The letters, which she had received from Napoleon, +and which she had evidently been reading, were spread upon the +table. Hortense the picture of grief and despair, was standing in +the alcove of a window. Napoleon had opened the door softly, and +his entrance had not been heard. With an irresolute step he advanced +toward his wife, and then said, kindly and sadly, "Josephine!" +She started at the sound of that well-known voice, and raising her +swollen eyes, swimming in tears, mournfully exclaimed, "Monami" +--my friend . This was the term of endearment with which she had +invariably addressed her husband. It recalled a thousand delightful +reminiscences. Napoleon was vanquished. He extended his hand. +Josephine threw herself into his arms, pillowed her aching head +upon his bosom, and in the intensity of blended joy and anguish, +wept convulsively. A long explanation ensued. Napoleon became +satisfied that Josephine had been deeply wronged. The reconciliation +was cordial and entire, and was never again interrupted. + +Napoleon now, with a stronger heart, turned to the accomplishment of +his designs to rescue France from anarchy. He was fully conscious +of his own ability to govern the nation. He knew that it was +the almost unanimous wish of the people that he should grasp the +reins of power. He was confident of their cordial co-operation in +any plans he might adopt. Still it was an enterprise of no small +difficulty to thrust the five Directors from their thrones, and to +get the control of the Council of Ancients and of The Five Hundred. +Never was a difficult achievement more adroitly and proudly +accomplished. + +For many days Napoleon almost entirely secluded himself from +observation, affecting a studious avoidance of the public gaze. He +laid aside his military dress and assumed the peaceful costume of +the National Institute. Occasionally he wore a beautiful Turkish +sabre, suspended by a silk ribbon. This simple dress transported +the imagination of the beholder to Aboukir, Mount Tabor, and the +Pyramids. He studiously sought the society of literary men, and +devoted to them his attention. He invited distinguished men of +the Institute to dine with him, and avoiding political discussion, +conversed only upon literary and scientific subjects. + +Moreau and Bernadotte were the two rival generals from whom Napoleon +had the most to fear. Two days after his arrival in Paris Napoleon +said to Bourrienne, "I believe that I shall have Bernadotte and Moreau +against me. But I do not fear Moreau. He is devoid of energy. He +prefers military to political power. We shall gain him by the promise +of a command. But Bernadotte has Moorish blood in his veins. He is +bold and enterprising. He does not like me, and I am certain that +he will oppose me. If he should become ambitious he will venture +anything. Besides, this fellow is not to be seduced. He is disinterested +and clever. But, after all, we have just arrived. We shall see." + +Napoleon formed no conspiracy. He confided to no one his designs. +And yet, in his own solitary mind, relying entirely upon his own +capacious resources, he studied the state of affairs and he matured +his plans. Sieyes was the only one whose talents and influence +Napoleon feared. The abbe also looked with apprehension upon his +formidable rival. They stood aloof and eyed each other. Meeting +at a dinner party, each was too proud to make advances. Yet each +thought only of the other. Mutually exasperated, they separated +without having spoken. "Did you see that insolent little fellow?" +said Sieyes, "he would not even condescend to notice a member of +the government, who, if they had done right, would have caused him +to be shot." "What on earth," said Napoleon, "could have induced +them to put that priest in the Directory. He is sold to Prussia. +Unless you take care, he will deliver you up to that power." Napoleon +dined with Moreau, who afterward in hostility to Napoleon pointed +the guns of Russia against the columns of his countrymen. The +dinner party was at (Gohier's, one of the Directors. The following +interesting conversation took place between the rival generals. +When first introduced, they looked at each other a moment without +speaking, Napoleon, conscious of his own superiority, and solicitous +to gain the powerful co-operation of Moreau, made the first advances, +and, with great courtesy, expressed the earnest desire he felt to +make his acquaintance. "You have returned victorious from Egypt." +replied Moreau, "and I from Italy after a great defeat. It was the +month which General Joubert passed in Pairs after his marriage, +which caused our disasters. This gave the allies time to reduce +Mantua, and to bring up the force which besieged it to take a part +in the action. It is always the greater number which defeats the +less." "True," replied Napoleon, "it is always, the greater number +which beats the less" "And yet," said Gohier, "with small armies +you have frequently defeated large ones." "Even then," rejoined +Napoleon, "it was always the inferior force which was defeated by +the superior. When with a small body of men I was in the presence +of a large one, collecting my little band, I fell like lightning on +one of the wings of the hostile army, and defeated it. Profiting by +the disorder which such an event never failed to occasion in their +whole line, I repeated the attack, with similar success, in another +quarter, still with my whole force. I thus beat it in detail. The +general victory which was the result, was still an example of the +truth of the principle that the greater force defeats the lesser." +Napoleon, by those fascinations of mind and manner, which enabled +him to win to him whom he would, soon gained an ascendency over +Moreau. And when, two days after, in token of his regard, he sent +him a beautiful poniard set with diamonds, worth two thousand +dollars: the work was accomplished, and Moreau was ready to do his +bidding. Napoleon gave a small and very select dinner party. Gohier +was invited. The conversation turned on the turquoise used by the +Orientals to clasp their turbans. Napoleon, rising from the table +took from a private drawer, two very beautiful brooches, richly set +with those jewels. One he gave to Gohier, the other to his tried +friend Desaix. "It is a little toy," said he, "which we republicans +may give and receive without impropriety." The Director, flattered +by the delicacy of the compliment, and yet not repelled by any thing +assuming the grossness of a bribe, yielded his heart's homage to +Napoleon. + +Republican France was surrounded by monarchies in arms against +her. Their hostility was so inveterate, and, from the very nature +of the case, so inevitable, that Napoleon thought that France should +ever be prepared for an attack, and that the military spirit should +be carefully fostered. Republican America, most happily, has no foe +to fear, and all her energies may be devoted to filling the land +with peace and plenty, But a republic in monarchical Europe must +sleep by the side of its guns. "Do you, really," said Napoleon, +to Gohier, in this interview, "advocate a general peace! You are +wrong. The Republic should never make but partial accommodations. +It should always contrive to have some war on hand to keep alive +the military spirit." We can, perhaps, find a little extenuation +for this remark, in its apparent necessity, and in the influences +of the martial ardor in which Napoleon from his very infancy had +been enveloped. Even now, it is to be feared that the time is far +distant ere the nations of the earth can learn war no more. + +Lefebvre was commandant of the guard of the two legislative bodies. +His co-operation was important. Napoleon sent a special invitation +for an interview. "Lefebvre," said he, "will you, one of the pillars +of the Republic, suffer it to perish in the hands of these lawyers +? Join me and assist to save it." Taking from his own side the +beautiful Turkish scimitar which he wore, he passed the ribbon +over Lefebvre's neck, saying, "accept this sword, which I wore at +the battle of the Pyramids. I give it to you as a token of my esteem +and confidence." "Yes," replied Lefebvre, most highly gratified at +this signal mark of confidence and generosity, "let us throw the +lawyers into the river." + +Napoleon soon had an interview with Bernadotte. "He confessed," said +Napoleon to Bourrienne, "that he thought us all lost. He spoke of +external enemies, of internal enemies, and, at that word he looked +steadily in my face. I also gave him a glance. But patience; the +pear will soon be ripe." + +In this interview Napoleon inveighed against the violence and +lawlessness of the Jacobin club. "Your own brothers," Bernadotte +replied, "were the founders of that club. And yet you reproach me +with favoring its principles. It is to the instructions of some +one, I know not who , that we are to ascribe the agitation which +now prevails." "True, general," Napoleon replied, most vehemently, +"and I would rather live in the woods, than in a society which +presents no security against violence." This conversation only +strengthened the alienation already existing between them. + +Bernadotte, though a brave and efficient officer, was a jealous +braggadocio. At the first interview between these two distinguished +men, when Napoleon was in command of the army of Italy, they +contemplated each other with mutual dislike. "I have seen a man," +said Bernadotte, "of twenty-six or seven years of age, who assumes +the air of one of fifty; and he presages any thing but good to the +Republic." Napoleon summarily dismissed Bernadotte by saying, "he +has a French head and a Roman heart." + +There were three political parties now dividing France, the old +royalist party, in favor of the restoration of the Bourbons; the +radical democrats, or Jacobins, with Barras at its head, supported +by the mob of Paris; and the moderate republicans led by Sieyes. +All these parties struggling together, and fearing each other, in +the midst of the general anarchy which prevailed, immediately paid +court to Napoleon, hoping to secure the support of his all-powerful +arm. Napoleon determined to co-operate with the moderate republicans. +The restoration of the Bourbons was not only out of the question, +but Napoleon had no more power to secure that result, than had +Washington to bring the United States into peaceful submission to +George III. "Had I joined the Jacobins," said Napoleon, "I should +have risked nothing. But after conquering with them, it would have +been necessary almost immediately, to conquer against them. A club +can not endure a permanent chief. It wants one for every successive +passion. Now to make use of a party one day, in order to attack +it the next, under whatever pretext it is done, is still an act of +treachery. It was inconsistent with my principles." + +Sieyes, the head of the moderate republicans, and Napoleon soon +understood each other, and each admitted the necessity of co-operation. +The government was in a state of chaos. "Our salvation now demands," +said the wily diplomatist, "both a head and a sword." Napoleon had +both. In one fortnight from the time when he landed at Frejus, "the +pear was ripe." The plan was all matured for the great conflict. +Napoleon, in solitary grandeur, kept his own counsel. He had +secured the cordial co-operation, the unquestioning obedience of +all his subordinates. Like the general upon the field of battle, he +was simply to give his orders, and columns marched, and squadrons +charged, and generals swept the field in unquestioning obedience. +Though he had determined to ride over and to destroy the existing +government, he wished to avail himself, so far as possible, of the +mysterious power of law, as a conqueror turns a captured battery +upon the foe from whom it had been wrested. Such a plot, so simple, +yet so bold and efficient, was never formed before. And no one, +but another Napoleon, will be able to execute another such again. +All Paris was in a state of intense excitement. Something great was +to be done. Napoleon was to do it. But nobody knew when, or what, +or how. All impatiently awaited orders. The majority of the Senate, +or Council of Ancients, conservative in its tendencies, and having +once seen, during the reign of terror, the horrors of Jacobin +domination, were ready, most obsequiously, to rally beneath the +banner of so resolute a leader as Napoleon. They were prepared, +without question, to pass any vote which he should propose. The House +of Representatives or Council of Five Hundred, more democratic in +its constitution, contained a large number of vulgar, ignorant, +and passionate demagogues, struggling to grasp the reins of power. +Carnot, whose co-operation Napoleon had entirely secured, was +President of the Senate. Lucien Bonaparte, the brother of Napoleon, +was Speaker of the House. The two bodies met in the palace of the +Tuileries. The constitution conferred upon the Council of Ancients, +the right to decide upon the place of meeting for both legislative +assemblies. + +All the officers of the garrison in Paris, and all the distinguished +military men in the metropolis, had solicited the honor of +a presentation to Napoleon. Without any public announcement, each +one was privately informed that Napoleon would see him on the +morning of the 9th of November. All the regiments in the city had +also solicited the honor of a review by the distinguished conqueror. +They were also informed that Napoleon would review them early on +the morning of the 9th of November. The Council of Ancients was +called to convene at six o'clock on the morning of the same day. +The Council of Five Hundred were also to convene at 11 o'clock of +the same morning. This, the famous 18th of Brumaire, was the destined +day for the commencement of the great struggle. These appointments +were given in such a way as to attract no public attention. The +general-in-chief was thus silently arranging his forces for the +important conflict. To none did he reveal those combinations, by +which he anticipated a bloodless victory. + +The morning of the 9th of November arrived. The sun rose with unwonted +splendor over the domes of the thronged city. A more brilliant day +never dawned. Through all the streets of the mammoth metropolis +there was heard, in the earliest twilight of the day, the music of +martial bands, the tramp of battalions, the clatter of iron hoofs, +and the rumbling of heavy artillery wheels over the pavements, +as regiments of infantry, artillery, and cavlary, in the proudest +array, marched to the Boulevards to receive the honor of a review +from the conqueror of Italy and of Egypt. The whole city was +in commotion, guided by the unseen energies of Napoleon in the +retirement of his closet. At eight o'clock Napoleon's house, in +the Rue Chanteraine, was so thronged with illustrious military men, +in most brilliant uniform, that every room was filled and even the +street was crowded with the resplendent guests. At that moment the +Council of Ancients passed the decree, which Napoleon had prepared, +that the two legislative bodies should transfer their meeting to St. +Cloud, a few miles from Paris; and that Napoleon Bonaparte should +be put in command of all the military forces in the city, to secure +the public peace. The removal to St. Cloud was a merciful precaution +against bloodshed. It secured the legislatures from the ferocious +interference of a Parisian mob. The President of the Council was +himself commissioned to bear the decree to Napoleon. He elbowed +his way through the brilliant throng, crowding the door and the +apartment of Napoleon's dwelling, and presented to him the ordinance. +Napoleon was ready to receive it. He stepped upon the balcony, +gathered his vast retinue of powerful guests before him, and in +a loud and firm voice, read to them the decree. "Gentlemen," said +he, "will you help me save the Republic?" One simultaneous burst +of enthusiasm rose from every lip, as drawing their swords from +their scabbards they waved them in the air and shouted, "We swear +it, we swear it." The victory was virtually won. Napoleon was now +at the head of the French nation. Nothing remained but to finish +his conquest. There was no retreat left open for his foes. There +was hardly the possibility of a rally. And now Napoleon summoned +all his energies to make his triumph most illustrious. Messengers +were immediately sent to read the decree to the troops already +assembled, in the utmost display of martial pomp, to greet the idol +of the army, and who were in a state of mind to welcome him most +exultingly as their chief. A burst of enthusiastic acclamation +ascended from their ranks which almost rent the skies. Napoleon +immediately mounted his horse, and, surrounded by the most magnificent +staff, whom he had thus ingeniously assembled at his house, and, +accompanied by a body of fifteen hundred cavalry, whom he had taken +the precaution to rendezvous near his dwelling proceeded to the +palace of the Tuileries. The gorgeous spectacle burst like a vision +upon astonished Paris. It was Napoleon's first public appearance. +Dressed in the utmost simplicity of a civilian's costume, he rode +upon his magnificent charger, the centre of all eyes. The gleaming +banners, waving in the breeze, and the gorgeous trappings of +silver and gold, with which his retinue was embellished, set off +in stronger relief the majestic simplicity of his own appearance. +With the pump and the authority of an enthroned king, Napoleon +entered the Council of the Ancients. The Ancients themselves were +dazzled by his sudden apparition in such imposing and unexpected +splendor and power. Ascending the bar, attended by an imposing +escort, he addressed the assembly and took his oath of office. +"You," said Napoleon, "are the wisdom of the nation. To you it +belongs to concert measures for the salvation of the Republic. I +come, surrounded by our generals, to offer you support. Faithfully +will I fulfill the task you have intrusted to me. Let us not look +into the pass for precedents. nothing in history resembles the +eighteenth century. Nothing in the eighteenth century resembles +the present moment." + +An aid was immediately sent to the palace of the Luxembourg, to +inform the five Directors, there in session, of the decree. Two +of the Directors, Sieyes and Ducos, were pledged to Napoleon, and +immediately resigned their offices, and hastened to the Tuileries. +Barras, bewildered and indignant, sent his secretary with a +remonstrance. Napoleon, already assuming the authority of an emperor, +and speaking as if France were his patrimony, came down upon him +with a torrent of invective. "Where." he indignantly exclaimed, +"is that beautiful France which I left you so brilliant! I left +you peace. I find war. I left you victories. I find but defeats. +I left you millions of Italy. I find taxation and beggary. Where +are the hundred thousand men, my companions in glory! They are dead. +This state of things can not continue. It will lead to despotism." +Barras was terrified. He feared to have Napoleon's eagle eye +investigate his peculations. He resigned. Two Directors only now +were left, Gohier and Moulins. It took a majority of the five to +constitute a quorum. The two were powerless. In despair of successful +resistance and fearing vengeance they hastened to the Tuileries to +find Napoleon. They were introduced to him surrounded by Sieyes, +Ducos, and a brilliant staff. Napoleon received them cordially. +"I am glad to see you," said he. "I doubt not that you will both +sign. Your patriotism will not allow you to appose a revolution +which is both inevitable and necessary." "I do not yet despair," +said Gohier, vehemently, "aided by my colleage, Moulins, of saving +the Republic." "With what will you save it?" exclaimed Napoleon. +"With the Constitution which is crumbling to pieces?" Just at that +moment a messenger came in and informed the Directors that Santeree, +the brewer, who, during the Reign of Terror, had obtained a bloody +celebrity as leader of the Jacobins, was rousing the mob in the +faubourgs to resistance. "General Moulins," said Napoleon, firmly, +"you are the friend of Santerre. Tell him that at the very first +movement he makes, I will cause him to be shot." Moulins, exasperated +yet appalled, made an apologetic reply. "The Republic is in danger," +said Napoleon. We must save it. It is my will . Sieyes, Ducos, +and Barras have resigned. You are two individuals insulated and +powerless. I advise you not to resist." They still refused. Napoleon +had no time to spend in parleying. He immediately sent them both +back into the Luxembourg, separated them and placed them under +arrest. Fouche, * occupying the important post of Minister of +Police, though not in Napoleon's confidence, yet anxious to display +his homage to the rising luminary, called upon Napoleon and informed +him that he had closed the barriers, and had thus prevented all +ingress or egress. "What means this folly?" said Napoleon. "Let +those orders be instantly countermanded. Do we not march with the +opinion of the nation, and by its strength alone? Let no citizen +be interrupted. Let every publicity be given to what is done." + +"Fouche," said Napoleon, is a miscreant of all colors, a terrorist, +and one who took an active part in many bloody scenes of the +Revolution. He is a man who can worm all your secrets out of you, +with an air of calmness and unconcern. He is very rich; but his +riches have been badly acquired. He never was my confidant. Never +did he approach me without bending to the ground. But I never had +any esteem for him. I employed him merely as an instrument." + +The Council of Five Hundred, in great confusion and bewilderment, +assembled at eleven o'clock. Lucien immediately communicated the +degree transferring their session to St. Cloud. This cut off all +debate. The decree was perfectly legal. There could therefore be no +legal pretext for opposition. Napoleon, the idol of the army, had +the whole military power obedient to his nod. Therefore resistance +of any kind was worse than folly. The deed was adroitly done. At +eleven o'clock the day's work was accomplished. There was no longer +a Directory. Napoleon was the appointed chief of the troops, and +they were filling the streets with enthusiastic shouts of "Live +Napoleon." The Council of Ancients were entirely at his disposal. +An a large party in the Council of Five Hundred were also wholly +subservient to his will. Napoleon, proud, silent, reserved reserved, +fully conscious of his own intellectual supremacy, and regarding +the generals, the statesmen, and the multitude around him, as +a man contemplates children, ascended the grand staircase of the +Tuileries as it were his hereditary home. Nearly all parties united +to sustain his triumph. Napoleon was a solider. The guns of Paris +joyfully thundered forth the victory of one who seemed the peculiar +favorite of the God of war. Napoleon was a scholar, stimulating +intellect to its mightiest achievements. The scholars of Paris, +gratefully united to weave a chaplet for the brow of their honored +associate and patron. Napoleon was, for those days of profligacy and +unbridled lust, a model of purity of morals, and of irreproachable +integrity. The proffered bribe of millions could not tempt him. +The dancing daughters of Herodias, with all their blandishments, +could not lure him from his life of Herculean toil and from his +majestic patriotism. The wine which glitters in the cup, never +vanquished him. At the shrine of no vice was he found a worshiper. +The purest and the best in France, disgusted with that gilded +corruption which had converted the palaces of the Bourbons into +harems of voluptuous sin, and still more deeply loathing that vulgar +and revolting vice, which had transformed Paris into a house of +infamy, enlisted all their sympathies in behalf of the exemplary +husband and the incorruptible patriot. Napoleon was one of the most +firm and unflinching friends of law and order. France was weary of +anarchy and was trembling under the apprehension that the gutters +of the guillotine were again to be clotted with blood. And mothers +and maidens prayed for God's blessing upon Napoleon, who appeared +to them as a messenger sent from Heaven for their protection. + +During the afternoon and the night his room at the Tuileries was +thronged with the most illustrious statesmen, generals, and scholars +of Paris, hastening to pledge to him their support. Napoleon, +perfectly unembarrassed and never at a loss in any emergency, +gave his orders for the ensuing day. Lannes was intrusted with a +body of troops to guard the Tuileries. Murat, who, said Napoleon, +"was superb at Aboukir," with a numerous cavalry and a crops of +grenadiers was stationed at St. Cloud, a thunderbolt in Napoleon's +right hand. Woe betide the mob into whose ranks that thunderbolt +may be hurled. Moreau, with five hundred men, was stationed to +guard the Luxembourg, where the two refractory Directors were held +under arrest. Serrurier was posted in a commanding position with a +strong reserve, prompt for any unexpected exigence. Even a body of +troops were sent to accompany Barras to his country seat, ostensibly +as an escort of honor, but in reality to guard against any change +in that venal and versatile mind. The most energetic measures were +immediately adopted to prevent any rallying point for the disaffected. +Bills were everywhere posted, exhorting the citizens to be quiet, +and assuring them that powerful efforts were making to save the +Republic. These minute precaution were characteristic of Napoleon. +He believed in destiny. Yet he left nothing for destiny to accomplish. +He ever sought to make provision for all conceivable contingencies. +These measures were completely successful. Though Paris was in a +delirium of excitement, there were outbreaks of lawless violence. +Neither Monarchist, Republican, nor Jacobin knew what Napoleon +intended to do. All were conscious that he would do something. It +was known that the Jacobin party in the Council of Five Hundred +on the ensuing day, would make a desperate effort at resistance. +Sieyes, perfectly acquainted with revolutionary movements, urged +Napoleon to arrest some forty of the Jacobins most prominent in +the Council. This would have secured an easy victory on the morrow. +Napoleon, however, rejected the advice, saying, "I pledged my word +this morning to protect the national representation. I will not this +evening violate my oath." Had the Assembly been convened in Paris, +all the mob of the faubourgs would have risen, like an inundation, +in their behalf, and torrents of blood must have been shed. The +sagacious transferrence of the meeting to St. Cloud, several miles +from Paris, saved those lives. The powerful military display, +checked any attempt at a march upon St. Cloud. What could the mob +do, with Murat, Lannes, and Serrurier, guided by the energies of +Napoleon, ready to hurl their solid columns upon them! + +The delicacy of attention with which Napoleon treated Josephine, +was one of the most remarkable traits in his character. It is not +strange that he should have won from her a love almost more than +human. During the exciting scenes of this day, when no one could +tell whether events were guiding him to a crown or to the guillotine, +Napoleon did not forget his wife, who was awaiting the result, +with deep solicitude, in her chamber in the Rue Chanteraine. Nearly +every hour he dispatched a messenger to Josephine, with a hastily +written line communicating to her the progress of events. Late at +night he returned to his home, apparently has fresh and unexhausted +as in the morning. He informed Josephine minutely of the scenes of +the day, and then threw himself upon a sofa, for an hour's repose. +Early the next morning he was on horseback, accompanied by a regal +retinue, directing his steps to St. Cloud. Three halls had been +prepared in the palace; one for the Ancients, one for the Five +Hundred, and one for Napoleon. He thus assumed the position which +he knew it to be the almost unanimous will of the nation that +he should fill. During the night the Jacobins had arranged a very +formidable resistance. Napoleon was considered to be in imminent +peril. He would be denounced as a traitor. Sieyes and Ducos had +each a post-chaise and six horses, waiting at the gate of St. Cloud, +prepared, in case of reverse, to escape for life. There were many +ambitious generals, ready to mount the crest of any refluent wave +to sweep Napoleon to destruction. Benadotte was the most to be +feared. Orders were given to cut down the first person who should +attempt to harangue the troops. Napoleon, riding at the head of +this imposing military display, manifested no agitation. He knew, +however, perfectly well the capriciousness of the popular voice, +and that the multitude in the same hour could cry "Hosanna!" and +"crucify!" The two Councils met. The tumult in the Five Hundred was +fearful. Cries of "Down with the dictator!" "Death to the tyrant!" +"Live the Constitution!" filled the hall, and drowned the voice of +deliberation. The friends of Napoleon were swept before the flood +of passion. It was proposed that every member should immediately +take anew the oath to support the Constitution. No one dared to peril +his life by the refusal. Even Lucien, the Speaker, was compelled +to descend from his chair and take the oath. The Ancients, overawed +by the unexpected violence of this opposition in the lower and more +popular house, began to be alarmed and to recede. The opposition +took a bold and aggressive stand, and proposed a decree of outlawry +against Napoleon. The friends of Napoleon, remembering past scenes +of earnage, were timid and yielding. Defeat seemed inevitable. +Victory was apparently turned into discomfiture and death. In this +emergency Napoleon displayed the same coolness, energy, and tact +with which so often, on the field of battle, in the most disastrous +hour, he had rolled back the tide of defeat in the resplendent +waves of victory. His own mind was the corps de reserve which he +now marched into the conflict to arrest the rout of his friends. +Taking with him a few aids and a band of grenadiers, he advanced +to the door of the hall. On his way he met Bernadotte. "You are +marching to the guillotine, " said his rival, sternly. "We shall +see," Napoleon coolly replied. Leaving the soldiers, with their +glittering steel and nodding plumes, at the entrance of the room, +he ascended the tribune. The hush of perfect silence pervaded the +agitated hall. "Gentlemen," said he, "you are on a volcano. You +deemed the Republic in danger. You called me to your aid. I obeyed. +And now I am assailed by a thousand calumnies. They talk of Caesar, +of Cromwell, of military despotism, as if any thing in antiquity +resembled the present moment. + +Danger presses. Disaster thickens. We have no longer a government. +The Directors have resigned. The Five Hundred are in a tumult. +Emissaries are instigating Paris to revolt. Agitators would gladly +bring back the revolutionary tribunals. But fear not. Aided by my +companions in arms I will protect you. I desire nothing for myself, +but to save the Republic. And I solemnly swear to protect that +liberty and equality , for which we have made such sacrifices." +"And the Constitution !" some one cried out. Napoleon had purposely +omitted the Constitution in his oath, for he despised it, and was +at that moment laboring for its overthrow. He paused for a moment, +and then, with increasing energy exclaimed, "The institution! you +have none. You violated when the Executive infringed the rights +of the Legislature. You violated it when the Legislature struck +at the independence of the Executive. You violated it when, with +sacriligious hand, both the Legislature and Executive struck at +the sovereignty of the people, by annulling their elections. The +Constitution! It is a mockery; invoked by all, regarded by none." + +Rallied by the presence of Napoleon, and by these daring words, +his friends recovered their courage, and two-thirds of the Assembly +rose in expression of their confidence and support. At this moment +intelligence arrived that the Five Hundred were compelling Lucien +to put to the vote Napoleon's outlawry. Not an instant was to be +lost. There is a mysterious power in law. The passage of that vote +would probably have been fatal. Life and death were trembling in +the balance. "I would then have given two hundred millions," said +Napoleon, "to have had Ney by my side." Turning to the Ancients, +he exclaimed, "if any orator, paid by foreigners, shall talk of +outlawing me, I will appeal for protection to my brave companions +in arms, whose plumes are nodding at the door. Remember that I +march accompanied by the God of fortune and by the God of war." + +He immediately left the Ancients, and, attended by his military +band, hastened to the Council of Five Hundred. On his way he met +Augereau, who was pale and trembling, deeming Napoleon lost. "You +have got yourself into a pretty fix," said he, with deep agitation. +"Matters were worse at Arcola," Napoleon coolly replied. "Keep quiet. +All will be changed in half an hour." Followed by his grenadiers, +he immediately entered the Hall of the Five Hundred. The soldiers +remained near the door. Napoleon traversed alone half of the room +to reach the bar. It was an hour in which nothing could save him +but the resources of his own mind. Furious shouts rose from all +parts of the house. "What means this! down with the tyrant! begone!" +"The winds," says Napoleon, "suddenly escaping from the caverns of +Aeolus can give but a faint idea of that tempest." In the midst of +the horrible confusion he in vain endeavored to speak. The members, +in the wildest fray, crowded around him. The grenadiers witnessing +the peril of their chief rushed to his rescue. A dagger was struck +at his bosom. A soldier, with his arm, parried the blow. With their +bayonets they drove back the members, and encircling Napoleon, bore +him from the Hall. Napoleon had hardly descended the outer steps +ere some one informed him that his brother Lucien was surrounded by +the infuriated deputies, and that his life was in imminent jeopardy. +"Colonel Dumoulin," said he, "take a battalion of grenadiers and +hasten to my brother's deliverance." The soldiers rushed into the +room, drove back the crowd who, with violent menaces, were surrounding +Lucien, and saying, "It is by your brother's commands," escorted +him in safety out of the ball into the court-yard. Napoleon, now +mounting his horse, with Lucien by his side, rode along in front +of his troops." The Council of Five Hundred," exclaimed Lucien, +"is dissolved. It is I that tell you so. Assassins have taken +possession of the hall of meeting. I summon you to march and clear +it of them." "Soldiers!" said Napoleon, "can I rely upon you!" +.......... "Long live Bonaparte," was the simultaneous response +Murat took a battalion of grenadiers and marched to the entrance of +the hall. When Murat headed a column it was well known that there +would be no child's play. "Charge bayonets, forward!" he exclaimed, +with imperturbable coolness. The drums beat the charge. Steadily +the bristling line of steel advanced. The terrified representatives +leaped over the benches, rushed through the passage ways, and sprang +out of the windows, throwing upon the floor, in their precipitate +flight, gowns, scarfs, and hats. In two minutes the hall was cleared. +As the Representatives were flying in dismay across the garden, on +officer proposed that the soldiers should be ordered to fire upon +them. Napoleon decisively refused, saying, "It is my wish that not +a single drop of blood be split." + +As Napoleon wished to avail himself as far as possible, of the forms +of law, he assembled the two legislative bodies in the evening. +Those only attended who were friendly to his cause. Unanimously +they decreed that Napoleon had deserved well of his country; they +abolished the Directory. The executive power they vested in Napoleon, +Sieyes, and Ducos, with the title of Consuls. Two committees of +twenty-five members each, taken from the two Councils, were appointed +to co-operate with the Consuls in forming a new Constitution. During +the evening the rumor reached Paris that Napoleon had failed in his +enterprise. The consternation was great. The mass of the people, +of all ranks, dreading the renewal of revolutionary horrors, and +worn out with past convulsions, passionately longed for repose Their +only hope was in Napoleon. At nine o'clock at night intelligence of +the change of government was officially announced, by a proclamation +which the victor had dictated with the rapidity and the glowing +eloquence which characterized all of his mental acts. It was read +by torchlight to assembled and deeply agitated groups, all over +the city. The welcome tidings were greeted with the liveliest +demonstrations of applause. At three o'clock in the morning Napoleon +threw himself into his carriage to return to Paris. Bourrienne +accompanied him. Napoleon appeared so absorbed in thought, that he +uttered not one single word during the ride. + +At four o'clock in the morning he alighted from his carriage, +at the door of his dwelling in the Rue Chanteraine. Josephine, in +the greatest anxiety, was watching at the window for his approach. +Napoleon had not been able to send her one single line during the +turmoil and the peril of that eventful day. She sprang to meet him. +Napoleon foundly encircled her in his arms, briefly recapitulated +the scenes of the day, and assured her that since he had taken the +oath of office, he had not allowed himself to speak to a single +individual, for he wished that the beloved voice of his Josephine +might be the first to congratulate him upon his virtual accession +to the Empire of France. The heart of Josephine could appreciate +a delicacy of love so refined and so touching. Well might she say, +"Napoleon is the most fascinating of men." It was then after four +o'clock in the morning. The dawn of the day to conduct Napoleon to +a new scene of Herculean toil in organizing the Republic Throwing +himself upon a couch, for a few moments of repose, he exclaimed, +gayly, "good-night, my Josephine! To-morrow, we sleep in the palace +of the Luxembourg." + +Napoleon was then but twenty-nine years of age. And yet, under +circumstances of inconceivable difficulty, with unhesitating reliance +upon his own mental resources, he assumed the enormous care of +creating and administering a Lew government for thirty millions +of people. Never did he achieve a victory which displayed more +consummate genius. On no occasion of his life did his majestic +intellectual power beam forth with more brilliance. It is not to +be expected that, for ages to come, the world will be united in +opinion respecting this transaction. Some represent it as an outrage +against law and liberty. Others consider it a necessary act which +put an end to corruption and anarchy. That the course which Napoleon +pursued was in accordance with the wished of the overwhelming +majority of the French people on one can doubt. It is questionable +whether, even now, France is prepared for self-government. There +can be no question that then the republic had totally failed. +Said Napoleon, in reference to this revolution, "For my part, all +my share of the plot, was confined to assembling the crowd of my +visitors at the same hour in the morning, and marching at their +head to seize upon power. It was from the threshold of my door, and +without my friends having any previous knowledge of my intentions, +that I led them to this conquest. p It was amidst the brilliant +escort which they formed, their lively joy and unanimous ardor, +that I presented myself a the bar of the Ancients to thank them for +the dictatorship with which they invested me. Metaphysicians have +disputed and will long dispute, whether we did not violate the laws, +and whether we were not criminal. But these are mere abstractions +which should disappear before imperious necessity. One might as well +blame a sailor for waste and destruction, when he cuts away a mast +to save his ship. the fact is, had it not been for us the country +must have been lost. We saved it. The authors of that memorable +state transaction ought to answer their accusers proudly, like the +Roman, 'We protest that we have saved our country. Come with us +and render thanks to the Gods.'" + +With the exception of the Jacobins all parties were strongly +in favor of this revolution. For ten years the people had been so +accustomed to the violation of the laws, that they had ceased to +condemn such acts, and judged of them only by their consequences. +All over France the feeling was nearly universal in favor of the +new government. Says Alison, who surely will not be accused of +regarding Napoleon with a partial eye, "Napoleon rivaled Caesar in +the elemency with which he used his victory. No proscriptions or +massacres, few arrests or imprisonments followed the triumph of +order over revolution. On the contrary, numerous acts of merey, as +wise as they were magnanimous, illustrated the rise of the consular +throne. The elevation of Napoleon was not only unstained by blood, +but not even a single captive long lamented the car of the victor. +A signal triumph of the principles of humility over those of cruelty, +glorious alike to the actors and the age in which it occurred: and +a memorable proof how much more durable are the victories obtained +by moderation and wisdom, than those achieved by violence +and stained by blood." ˜ + + +End of The Project Gutenberg Etext of Napoleon Bonaparte +by John S. C. 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