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 THE 
 
 HISTORY 
 
 NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE. 
 
 WITH 
 
 ENGRAVINGS ON STEEL AND WOOD. 
 
 TWO VOLUMES, 
 VOL. I. 
 
 LONDON : 
 JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET. 
 
 MDCCCXXX. 
 
 /S3o
 
 " TJie greatest, nor the worst of men, 
 
 Whose spirit antitheticaUy mixed 
 
 One moment of the mightiest, and again 
 
 On little objects ivith like firmness fixed. 
 
 Extreme in all things ! 
 
 An empire thou couldst crush, command, rebuild, 
 But govern not thy pettiest passion, 'nor, 
 Hoivever deeply in men's spirits skilled. 
 Look thro' fhine otvti, nor curb the lust of ivar. 
 Nor learn that tempted fate tvill leave the loftiest star." 
 
 Byron. 
 
 LONDON : 
 rniNiEU nv c. Kowomir, Brr.i. vaud, 
 
 TEMPLE BAR.
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 BiHxu and Parentage of Napoleon Buonaparte — His Educa- 
 tion at Brienne and at Paris — His character at this period 
 — His political predilections — He enters the Army as Se- 
 cond Lieutenant of Artillery — His first Military Service in 
 Corsica in 1793 , page 1 
 
 CHAPTER n. 
 
 Buonaparte commands the Artillery at Toulon — Fall of Tou- 
 lon—The Representatives of the People — Junot ,.. . 13 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Buonaparte Chief of Battalion at Nice — Fall of Robespierre 
 — He is superseded — Buonaparte at Paris in 1795 — The 
 day of the Sections — Commands the Army of the Interior 
 — Marries Josephine de Beauharnois — Appointed to the 
 
 command of the Army of Italy 22 
 
 a2 
 
 '-^SOlSiiO 
 
 K^i
 
 IV CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 The Army of Italy — Tactics of Buonaparte— Battle of ]Monte 
 Notte — Battle of MiJlesimo — Battle of Mondovi— Armis- 
 tice of Cherasco— Close of the Campaign of Piedmont — 
 Peace granted to Sardinia 35 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 The French cross the Po at Placenza— The Battle of Fombio 
 — The Bridge of Lodi— Napoleon occupies Milan — re- 
 signs, and resumes his command — Insurrection of Pavia — 
 Military Executions — The French pass the Mincio at 
 Borghetto— Beaulieu retreats behind the Adige — Mantua 
 besieged — Peace with the King of the Two Sicilies — The 
 Pope buys a Respite 44 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Wurmser supersedes Beaulieu — Jourdan and Moreau march 
 into Germany, and are forced to retreat again— The Aus- 
 trians advance from the Tyrol — Battle of Lonato — Escape 
 of Napoleon— Battle near Castiglione— Wurmser retreats 
 on Trent, and is recruited — Battle of Uoveredo — Battle of 
 Primolano — Battle of Bassano — Battle of St. George — 
 Wurmser shut up in Mantua 62
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Affairs of Corsica — Alvinzi assumes the Command of the 
 Austrians on the Italian frontier — The three Battles of 
 Areola — Retreat of Alvinzi — Battle of Rivoli — Battle of 
 La Favorita — Surrender of Mantua — Victor marches on 
 Ancona — Despair of the Pope — Treaty of ToUentino . . 74 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Neutrality of Venice — The Archduke Charles — Battle of 
 Tagliaraento — Retreat of the Archduke — Treaty of Leoben 
 — War with Venice — Venice conquered 94 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Pichegru — The Directory appeal to Buonaparte — The 18th 
 Fructidor — The Court of Montebello — Josephine — The 
 Treaty of Campo Formio — Buonaparte leaves Italy . 102 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 Napoleon at Rastadt — He arrives in Paris — His Reception 
 by the Directory — His Conduct and Manners — He is ap- 
 pointed to command the Army for the Invasion of England 
 — He recommends an Expedition to Egypt — Reaches 
 Toulon — Embarks 113
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 The Voyage to Egypt — Malta surrendered — The French 
 escape Nelson, and take Alexandria — The IVIarch up the 
 Nile — The Battle of the Pyramids — Cairo surrenders — 
 The Battle of Aboukir 127 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 Buonaparte's Administration in Egypt — Armaments of the 
 Porte — Buonaparte at Suez — At El-Arish — Gaza — Jaffa, 
 Acre — Retreat to Egypt— Defeat of the Turks at Aboukir 
 — Napoleon embarks for France 139 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 Retrospect — Buonaparte arrives in France — The Revolution 
 of the 18th Brumaire — The Provisional Consulate . . 161 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 The Provisional Consulate — Reforms in France — Pacitication 
 of the Chouans— Constitution of the Year VIII. — Buona- 
 parte Chief Consul 181 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 The Chief Consul writes to the King of England — Lord 
 Grenville's Answer — Napoleon passes the Great St, Ber-
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 nard — The taking of St. Bard— The Siege of Genoa— The 
 Battle of Montebello— The Battle of IMarengo — Napoleon 
 returns to Paris — The Infernal Machine — The Battle of 
 Hohenlinden — The Treaty of Luneville 196 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 Affairs of Naples and of the Pope — The Emperor Paul of 
 Russia — Northern confederacy against England — Battle of 
 Copenhagen— Nelson's Victory — Death of Paul —Expe- 
 dition to Eeypt under Sir Ralph Abercrombie — Battle of 
 Alexandria — Conquest of Egypt — The Flotilla of Boulogne 
 — Neofotiatlons with Enoland — Peace of Amiens .... 235 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 Peace of Amiens — The Concordat — The Legion of Honour 
 — Buonaparte President of the Cisalpine Republic — First 
 Consul for Life — Grand Mediator of the Helvetic Confe- 
 deracy — St. Domingo — Touissant L'Ouverture — Dissatis- 
 faction of England— Trial of Peltier — Lord Whltworth — 
 Rupture of the Peace of Amiens — Detention of English 
 Travellers in France • • 244 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 Recommencement of the Vv^ar — French seize Hanove: and 
 Naples — The English seize various French Colonies —
 
 Vlll CONTENTS. 
 
 Scheme of invading England resumed — Moreau — Piche- 
 gru — Georges Cadoudal — Captain Wright — Murder of the 
 Duke D'Enghien — Napoleon Emperor of France — King 
 of Italy — Genoa united to the Empire 274 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 New Coalition against France — Sweden — Russia — Austria 
 joins the Alliance — Napoleon heads the Army in Germany 
 — Ulm surrendered by Mack — Vienna taken — Naval Ope- 
 rations — Battle of Trafalgar — Battle of Austerlitz — Treaty 
 of Presburg — Joseph Buonaparte King of Naples — Louis 
 Buonaparte King of Holland — Confederation of the Rhine 
 — New Nobility in France 304 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 Discontent of Prussia — Death of Pitt — Negotiation of Lords 
 Yarmouth and Lauderdale — broken off — Murder of Palm, 
 the Bookseller — Prussia declares War — Buonaparte heads 
 the Army — Naumburg taken — Battle of Jena — Napoleon 
 enters Berlin — Fall of Magdeburg, &c. — Humiliation of 
 Prussia — Buonaparte's cruelty to the Duke of Brunswick 
 — His rapacity and oppression in Prussia 330 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 The Decrees of Berlin — Napoleon renews the Campaign — 
 W arsaw taken — Enthusiasm of the Poles — Retreat of the
 
 CONTENTS. IX 
 
 Russians— Battle of Pultusk — The French go into Winter 
 Quarters — Battle of Preuss-Eylau — Taking of Dantzick — 
 Battle of Friedland — Armistice — Expeditions of the Eng- 
 lish to Calabria, Constantinople, Egypt, and Buenos Ayres 
 — Peace of Tilsit 347
 
 DIRECTIONS TO THE BINDER. 
 
 ENGRAVINGS IN VOL. I. 
 
 No, I. — Buonaparte Crossing tlie Alps to face Title page 
 
 II. — The Bridge of Areola . . page 77 
 
 III.— Josephine 108 
 
 IV.— Battle of the Pyramids 135 
 
 v.— Death of D'Enghicn 288 
 
 VI.— The Coronation 302 
 
 VII. — Charge of Cossacks 358
 
 LIFE 
 
 NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Birth and Parentage of Napoleon Buonaparte — His Edu- 
 cation at Brienne and at Paris — His Character at this 
 Period — His Political Predilections — He enters the 
 Army as Second Lieutenant of Artillery — His First 
 Military Service in Corsica in 1793. 
 
 Napoleon Buonaparte was born at Ajaccio on 
 the 15th of August, 1769. The family had been of 
 some distinction, during the middle ages, in Italy ; 
 whence his branch of it removed to Corsica, in the 
 troubled times of the Guelphs and Gibellines. 
 They were always considered as belonging to the 
 gentry of the island. Charles, the father of Napo- 
 leon, an advocate of considerable reputation, mar- 
 ried his mother, Letitia Ramolini, a young woman 
 eminent for beauty and for strength of mind, during 
 the civil war — when the Corsicans, under Paoli, 
 were struggling to avoid the domination of the 
 French. The advocate had espoused the popular 
 side in that contest, and his lovely and high-spirited 
 VOL. I, p
 
 2 NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE. [1769. 
 
 wife used to attend him through the toils and dan- 
 gers of his mountain campaigns. Upon tlie termi- 
 nation of the war, he would have exiled himself 
 along with Paoli ; but his relations dissuaded him 
 from this step, and he was afterwards reconciled 
 to the conquering party, and protected and patron- 
 ized by the French governor of Corsica, the Count 
 de MarboeufF. 
 
 It is said that Letitia had attended mass on the 
 morning of the 15th of August ; and, being seized 
 suddenly on her return, gave birth to the future 
 hero of his age, on a temporary couch covered 
 with tapestry, representing the heroes of tlie Iliad. 
 He was her second child. Joseph, afterwards King 
 of Spain, was older than he : he had three younger 
 brothers, Lucien, Louis, and Jerome ; and three 
 sisters, Eliza, Caroline, and Pauline. These grew 
 up. Five others must have died in infnncy ; for 
 we are told that Letitia had given birtli to thirteen 
 children, when at the age of thirty she became a 
 widow. 
 
 In after-days, when Napoleon had climbed to 
 sovereign power, many flatterers were willing to 
 give him a lofty pedigree. To the Emperor of 
 Austria, who would fain have traced his unwel- 
 come son-in-law to some petty princes of Treviso, 
 be replied, "I am the Rodolpli of my race,"* and 
 silenced, on a similar occasion, a professional ge- 
 nealogist, with, " Friend, my patent dates from 
 Monte Notte."f 
 
 Charles Buonaparte, by the French governor's 
 
 * Uotlolpli of Hapsljurjj was the founder of the Austrian 
 family. 
 
 t His first battle.
 
 1776.] AJACCio. 3 
 
 kindness, received a legal appointment in Corsica 
 — that of Procureur du Roi (answering nearly to 
 Attorney-General) ; and scandal has often said 
 that MarboeufF was his wife's lover. The story 
 received no credence in Ajaccio. 
 
 Concerning the infancy of Napoleon we know- 
 nothing, except that he ever acknowledged with 
 the warmest gratitude the obligations laid on him 
 at the threshold of life by the sagacity and wis- 
 dom of Letitia. He always avowed his belief that 
 he owed his subsequent elevation principally to her 
 early lessons ; and indeed laid it down as a maxim 
 that " the future good or bad conduct of a child 
 depends entirely on the mother." Even of his 
 boyish days few anecdotes have been preserved in 
 Corsica. His chosen plaything, they say, was a 
 small brass cannon ; and, when at home in the 
 school-vacations, his favourite retreat was a soli- 
 tary summer-house among the rocks on the sea 
 shore, about a mile from Ajaccio, where his mo- 
 ther's brother (afterwards Cardinal Fesch) had a 
 villa. The place is now in ruins, and overgrown 
 with bushes, and the people call it " Napoleon's 
 Grotto." He has himself said that he was remark- 
 able only for obstinacy and curiosity : others add, 
 that he was high-spirited, quarrelsome, imperious ; 
 fond of solitude ; slovenly in his dress. Being 
 detected stealing figs in an orchard, the proprietor 
 threatened to tell his mother, and the boy pleaded 
 for himself with so much eloquence, that the man 
 suffered him to escape. His careless attire, and 
 his partiality for a pretty little girl in the neigh- 
 bourhood, were ridiculed together in a sono; which
 
 4 NArOLEON BUONAPARTE. [1776. 
 
 his playmates used to shout after him in the 
 streets of Ajaccio : 
 
 " Napoleone di mezza calzetta 
 Fa I'amore a Giacominetta." * 
 
 His superiority of character was early felt. An 
 aged relation, Lucien Buonaparte, Archdeacon of 
 Ajaccio, called the young people about his death- 
 bed to take farewell and bless them : " You, 
 Joseph," said the expiring man, " are the eldest ; 
 but Napoleon is the head of his family. Take care 
 to remember my words." Napoleon took excel- 
 lent care that they should not be forgotten. He 
 began with beating his elder brother into subjec- 
 tion. 
 
 From his earliest youth he chose arms for his 
 profession. When he was about seven years old 
 (1776) his father was, through Marbocuff's patron- 
 age, sent to France as one of a deputation from 
 the Corsican noblesse to King Louis XVI. ; and 
 Napoleon, for whom the count had also procured 
 admission into the military school of Brienne, ac- 
 companied him. After seeing part of Italy, and 
 crossing France, they reached Paris ; and the boy 
 was soon established in his school, where at first 
 every thing delighted him, though, forty years 
 afterwards, he said he should never forget the bit- 
 ter parting with his mother ere he set out on his 
 travels. He spoke only Italian when he reached 
 Brienne ; but soon mastered French. His pro- 
 gress in Latin, and in literature generally, attracted 
 no great praise ; but in every study likely to be of 
 service to the future soldier, he distinguished him- 
 
 * Napoleon, with his stockings about his heels, makes love 
 to Giacominetta.
 
 1776.] ERTENNir. O 
 
 self above his contemporaries. Of the mathema- 
 tical tutors accordingly he was a great favourite. 
 One of the other teachers having condemned liim 
 for some offence or neglect to wear a coarse woollen 
 dress on a particular clay, and dine on his knees at 
 the door of the refectory, the boy's haughty spirit 
 swelling under this dishonour, brought on a sud- 
 den vomiting, and a strong fit of hysterics. The 
 mathematical master passing by, said they did not 
 understand what they were dealing with, and re- 
 leased him. He cared little for common pastimes ; 
 but his love for such as mimicked war was ex- 
 treme ; and the skill of his fortifications, reared of 
 turf, or of snow, according to the season, and the 
 address and pertinacity with which he conducted 
 their defence, attracted the admiration of all ob- 
 servers. Napoleon was poor and all but a fo- 
 reigner* among the French youth, and underwent 
 many mortifications from both causes. His tem- 
 per was reserved and proud ; he had few friends 
 — no bosom-companion ; he lived by himself, and 
 among his books and maps. M. Bourienne, whose 
 friendship for him commenced thus early, says — 
 " Buonaparte was noticeable at Brienne for his 
 Italian complexion, the keenness of his look, and 
 the tone of his conversation both with masters and 
 comrades. There was almost always a dash of 
 bitterness in what he said. He had very little of 
 the disposition that leads to attachments ; which 
 I can only attribute to the misfortunes of his fa- 
 mily ever since his birth, and the impression which 
 the conquest of his country had made on his early 
 
 * Corsica became by law a French department only two 
 months before Napoleon was born.
 
 6 NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE. [1783. 
 
 years." One day, at dinner, the principal of the 
 school happened to say something slightingly of 
 Paoli. ." He was a great man," cried young 
 Buonaparte, " he loved his country ; and I shall 
 never forgive my father, who had been his adju- 
 tant, for consenting to the union of Corsica with 
 France. He ought to have followed the fortunes 
 of Paoli." 
 
 There is reason to believe that the levity and 
 haughtiness with which some of the yoimg French 
 gentlemen at this seminary conducted themselves 
 towards this poor, solitary alien, had a strong 
 effect on the first political feelings of the future 
 Emperor of France. He particularly resented 
 their jokes about his foreign name Napoleon. 
 Bourienne says he often told him — " hereafter I 
 wi-11 do the French what harm I can ; as for you, 
 you never make me your jest — you love me." 
 
 From the beginning of the revolutionary strug- 
 gle, boy and youth, he espoused and kept by the 
 side of those who desired the total change of go- 
 vernment. It is a strange enough fact, that Pi- 
 chegru, afterwards so eminent and ultimately so 
 unfortmiate, was for some time his monitor in the 
 school of Brienne. Being consulted many years 
 later as to the chance of enlisting Buonaparte in 
 the cause of the exiled Bourbons, this man is 
 known to have answered : " It will be lost time to 
 attempt that — I knew him in his youth — he has 
 taken liis side, and he will not change it." 
 
 In 178.'3 Buona])artc was, on the recommenda- 
 tion of his masters, sent from Brienne to tlic Hoyal 
 Mihtary Scliool at Paris ; this being an extraor- 
 dinary compliment to the genius and proficiency
 
 1784.] MILITARY SCHOOL AT PARIS. 7 
 
 of a boy of fifteen.* Here he spent nearly two 
 years, devoted to his studies. That he laboured 
 hard, both at Brienne and at Paris, we may judge ; 
 for his after-life left scanty room for book-work, 
 and of the vast quantity of information which his 
 strong memory ever placed at his disposal, the far 
 greater proportion must have been accumulated 
 now. He made himself a first-rate mathematician ; 
 he devoured history — his chosen authors being 
 Plutarch and Tacitus ; the former the most simple 
 painter that antiquity has left us of heroic charac- 
 ters — the latter the profoundest master of political 
 wisdom. The poems of Ossian were then new to 
 Europe, and generally received as authentic re- 
 mains of another age and style of heroism. The 
 dark and lofty genius which they display, their 
 indistinct but solemn pictures of heroic passions, 
 love, battle, victory, and death, were appropriate 
 food for Napoleon's young imagination ; and, his 
 taste being little scrupulous as to minor particu- 
 lars, Ossian continued to be through life his fa- 
 vourite poet. While at Paris, he attracted much 
 notice among those who had access to compare him 
 with his fellows ; his acquirements, among other 
 advantages, introduced him to the familiar society 
 
 * The report, in consequence of which Buonaparte received 
 this distinction, is in these words : " M. de Buonaparte (Na- 
 poleon), born the 15th August, 1769, height four feet ten 
 inches ten lines ; good constitution ; health excellent ; cha- 
 racter docile, upright, grateful ; conduct very regular : has 
 always distinguished himself by his application to the mathe- 
 matics. He is passably acquainted with history and geogra- 
 phy : is weak enough as to his Latin diction and other elegant 
 accomplishments: would make an excellent sea-officer: de- 
 serves to be transferred to the Military School at Paris."
 
 8 NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE. [1785. 
 
 of the celebrated Abbe Raynal. Napoleon, shortly 
 after entering the school at Paris, drew up a me- 
 morial, which he in person presented to the super- 
 intendents of the establishment. He complained 
 that the mode of life was too expensive and delicate 
 for " poor gentlemen," and could not prepare them 
 either for returning to their "modest homes," or 
 for the hardships of the camp. He proposed that, 
 instead of a regular dinner of two courses daily, 
 the students should have anmiunition bread, and 
 soldiers' rations, and that they should be compelled 
 to mend and clean their own stockings and shoes. 
 This memorial is said to have done him no service 
 at the military school. 
 
 He had just completed his sixteenth year when, 
 (in August, 178.5,) after being examined by the 
 great Laplace, he obtained his first commission as 
 second lieutenant in the artillery regiment La Fere. 
 His corps was at Valance when he joined it ; and 
 he mingled, more largely than might have been 
 expected from his previous habits, in the cultivated 
 society of the place. His personal advantages 
 were considerable ; the outline of the countenance 
 classically beautiful ; the eye deep-set and daz- 
 zlingly brilliant ; the figure short, but slim, active, 
 and perfectly knit. Courtly grace and refinement 
 of manners lie never attained, nor perhaps coveted ; 
 but he early learned the art, not difficult prol)ably 
 to any person possessed of sucli genius and such 
 accomplishments, of rendering himself eminently 
 agreeable wherever it suited his purpose or in- 
 clination to be so. 
 
 On the 27th February in this year his father died 
 of a cancer in the stomach, aged forty-five ; the
 
 1792.] VALANCE PARIS. 9 
 
 same disease which was destined, at a somewhat 
 later period of Kfe, to prove fatal to himself. 
 
 While at Valance Buonaparte competed anony- 
 mously for a prize offered by the Academy of 
 Lyons for the best answer to Raynal's Question : 
 " What are the principles and institutions by the 
 application of which mankind can be raised to the 
 highest happiness ?" He gained the prize : what 
 were the contents of his Essay we know not. Tal- 
 leyrand, long afterwards, obtained the manuscript, 
 and, thinking to please his sovereign, brought it 
 to him. He threw his eye over two or three pages, 
 and tossed it into the fire. The treatise of the 
 Lieutenant probably abounded in opinions which 
 the Emperor had found it convenient to forget. 
 
 Even at Brienne his political feelings had been 
 determined. At Valance he found the officers of 
 his regiment divided, as all the world then was, 
 into two parties ; the lovers of the French Mo- 
 narchy, and those who desired its overthrov/. He 
 sided openly with the latter. " Had I been a ge- 
 neral," said Napoleon in the evening of his life, 
 " I might have 'adhered to the king: being a sub- 
 altern, I joined the patriots." 
 
 In the beginning of 1792 he became captain of 
 artillery (unattached;) and, happening to be in 
 Paris, witnessed the lamentable scenes of the 20th 
 of June, when the revolutionary mob stormed the 
 Tuilleries, and the king and his family, after un- 
 dergoing innumerable insults and degradations, 
 with the utmost difficulty preserved their lives. 
 He followed the crowd into the garden before the 
 palace ; and when Louis XVL appeared on a bal- 
 cony with the red cap on his head, could no longer
 
 10 NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE. [1792. 
 
 suppress his contempt and indignation. " Poor 
 driveller ! " said Napoleon, loud enough to be 
 heard by those near him, " How could he suffer 
 this rabble to enter ? If he had swept away five 
 or six hundred with his cannon, the rest would be 
 running yet." He was also a witness of the still 
 more terrible 10th of August, when, the palace 
 being once more invested, the National Guard as- 
 signed for its defence took part with the assailants ; 
 the royal family were obliged to take refuge in the 
 National Assembly, and the brave Swiss Guards 
 were massacred almost to a man in the courts of 
 the Tuilleries. Buonaparte was a firm friend to 
 the Assembly, to the charge of a party of which, 
 at least, these excesses must be laid ; but the spec- 
 tacle disgusted him. The yells, screams, and 
 pikes with bloody heads upon them, formed a scene 
 which he afterwards described as " hideous and 
 revolting." At this time Napoleon was without 
 employment and very poor ; and De Bourienne 
 describes him as wandering idly about Paris, living, 
 chiefly at his (M. de B.'s) expense, at restaurateurs' 
 shops, and, among other wild-enough schemes, 
 proposing that he and his schoolfellow should take 
 some houses on lease, and endeavour to get a little 
 money by sub-letting them in apartments. Such 
 were the views and occupations of Buonaparte — 
 at the moment when the national tragedy was 
 darkening to its catastrophe. As yet he had been 
 but a spectator of the Revolution, destined to pave 
 his own path to sovereign power ; it was not long 
 before circumstances called on him to play a part. 
 General Paoli, who had lived in England ever 
 since the termination of that civil war in which
 
 1793.] PAOLI GOVERNOR OF CORSICA. 11 
 
 Charles Buonaparte served under his banner, was 
 cheered, when the great French Revolution first 
 broke out, with the hope tliat liberty was about to 
 be restored to Corsica. He came to Paris, was 
 received with applause as a tried friend of freedom, 
 and appointed governor of his native island, which 
 for some time he ruled wisely and happily. But 
 as the revolution advanced, Paoli, like most other 
 wise men, became satisfied that license was more 
 likely to be established by its leaders, than law 
 and rational liberty ; and avowing his aversion to 
 the growing principles of Jacobinism, and the 
 scenes of tumult and bloodshed to which they gave 
 rise, he was denounced in the National Assembly 
 as the enemy of France. An expedition was sent 
 to deprive him of his government, under the com- 
 mand of La Combe, Michel, and Salicetti, one of 
 the Corsican deputies to the Convention ; and 
 Paoli called on his countrymen to take arms in his 
 and their own defence. 
 
 Buonaparte happened at that time (1793) to have 
 leave of absence from his regiment, and to be in 
 Corsica on a visit to his mother. He had fitted 
 up a little reading-room at the top of the house as 
 the quietest part of it, and was spending his morn- 
 ings in study, and his evenings among his family 
 and old acquaintance, when the arrival of the ex- 
 pedition threw the island into convulsion. Paoli, 
 who knew him well, did all he could to enlist him 
 in his cause ; he used, among other flatteries, to 
 clap him on the back, and tell him he was " one 
 of Plutarch's men." But Napoleon had satisfied 
 himself that Corsica was too small a country to 
 maintain independence, — that she must fall under
 
 12 NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE. [1793. 
 
 the rule either of France or England ; and that her 
 interests would be best served by adhering to the 
 former. He therefore resisted all Paoli's offers, 
 and tendered his sword to the service of Salicetti. 
 He was appointed provisionally to the command 
 of a battalion of national guards ; and the first 
 military service on which he was employed was 
 the reduction of a small fortress, called the Torre 
 di Capitello, near Ajaccio. He took it, but was 
 soon besieged in it, and he and his garrison, after 
 a gallant defence, and living for some time on 
 horseflesh, were glad to evacuate the tower, and 
 escape to the sea. The English government now 
 began to reinforce Paoli, and the cause of the 
 French party seemed for the moment to be despe- 
 rate. The Buonapartes were banished from Cor- 
 sica, and their mother and sisters took refuge first 
 at Nice, and afterwards at Marseilles, where for 
 some time they suffered all the inconveniences of 
 exile and poverty. Napoleon rejoined his regi- 
 ment. He had chosen France for his country ; and 
 seems, in truth, to have preserved little or no af- 
 fection for his native soil. 
 
 After arriving at supreme power, he bestowed 
 one small fountain on Ajaccio ; and succeeded, by 
 the death of a relation, to a petty olive garden near 
 that town. In the sequel of his history the name 
 of Corsica will scarcely recur.
 
 1793.] ( 13 ) 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Buonaparte commands the Artillery at Toulon — Fall of 
 Toulon — The Representatives of the People — Junot. 
 
 Buonaparte's first military service occurred, as 
 we have seen, in the summer of 1793. The king 
 of France had been put to death on the 21st of 
 January in that year ; and in less than a month 
 afterwards the convention had declared war against 
 England. The murder of the king, alike impru- 
 dent as atrocious, had in fact united the princes 
 of Europe against the revolutionary cause ; and 
 within France itself a strong reaction took place. 
 The people of Toulon, the great port and arsenal 
 of France on the Mediterranean, partook these 
 sentiments, and invited the English and Spanish 
 fleets off their coast to come to their assistance, 
 and garrison their city. The allied admirals took 
 possession accordingly of Toulon, and a motley 
 force of English, Spaniards, and Neapolitans, pre- 
 pared to defend the place. In the harbour and 
 roads there were about twenty-five ships of the 
 line, and the city contained immense naval and 
 military stores of every description, so that the 
 defection of Toulon was regarded as a calamity of 
 the first order by the revolutionary government. 
 
 This event occurred in the midst of that period 
 which has received the name of the reign of terror. 
 The streets of Paris were streaming with innocent
 
 14 NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE. [1793. 
 
 blood ; Robespierre was glutting himself with 
 murder ; fear and rage were the passions that 
 divided mankind, and their struggles produced on 
 either side the likeness of some epidemic phrenzy. 
 Whatever else the government wanted, vigour to 
 repel aggressions from without was displayed in 
 abundance. Two armies immediately marched 
 upon Toulon ; and after a series of actions, in 
 which the passes in the hills behind the town were 
 forced, the place was at last invested, and a me- 
 morable siege commenced. 
 
 It was conducted with little skill, first by Car- 
 taux, a vain coxcomb who had been a painter, and 
 then by Doppet, an ex-physician, and a coward. 
 To watch and report on the proceedings of these 
 chiefs, there were present in the camp several Re- 
 presentatives of the People, as they were called — 
 persons holding no military character or rank, but 
 acting as honourable spies for the government at 
 Paris. The interference of these personages on 
 this, as on many other occasions, was productive 
 of delays, blunders, and misfortunes ; but the 
 terror which tlieir ready access to the despotic 
 government inspired was often, on the other hand, 
 useful in stinudating the exertions of the military. 
 Tlie younger Ro})espierre was one of the deputies 
 at Toulon, aiul liis name was enough to make his 
 presence formidable. 
 
 Cartaux liad not yet been superseded, when 
 Napoleon 15uonaparte made liis appearance at head- 
 quarters, with a commission to assume tlie com- 
 mand of the artillery. It has been said that he 
 owed liis ap])ointnK'nt to tlie ])rivate regard of 
 Salicetti : but the high testimonials he had re-
 
 1793.] SIEGE OF TOULON. 15 
 
 ceived from the Military Academy were more 
 likely to have served him ; nor is it possible to 
 suppose that he had been so long in the regiment 
 of La Fere without being appreciated by some of 
 his superiors. He had, besides, shortly before 
 this time, excited attention by a pamphlet, called 
 the Supper of Beaucaire, in which the politics of 
 the Jacobin party were spiritedly supported ; and 
 of which he was afterwards so ashamed, that he 
 took great pains to suppress it. However this 
 may have been, he was received almost with inso- 
 lence by Cartaux, who, strutting about in an uni- 
 form covered with gold lace, told him his assist- 
 ance was not wanted, but he was welcome to 
 partake in his glory. 
 
 The commandant of the artillery, on examining 
 the state of affairs, found much to complain of. 
 They were still disputing which extremity of the 
 town should be the chief object of attack ; though 
 at the one there were two strong and regular forti- 
 fications, and at the other only a small and imper- 
 fect fort called Malbosquet. On inspecting their 
 batteries, he found that the guns were placed about 
 two gunshots from the walls ; and that it was the 
 custom to heat the shot at a distance from the 
 place where they were to be discharged ; in other 
 words, to heat them to no purpose. Choosing 
 officers of his own acquaintance to act under him, 
 and exertincr himself to collect suns from all 
 quarters, Buonaparte soon remedied these dis- 
 orders, and found himself master of an efficient 
 train of 200 pieces ; and he then urged the general 
 to adopt a wholly new plan of operations in the 
 future conduct of the siege.
 
 16 NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE. [1793. 
 
 The plan of Buonaparte appears now the sim- 
 plest and most obvious that could have been sug- 
 gested ; yet it was not without great difficulty that 
 he could obtain the approbation of the doctor, 
 who had by this time superseded the painter. 
 " Your object," said he, " is to make the English 
 evacuate Toulon. Instead of attacking them in 
 the town, which must involve a long series of 
 operations, endeavour to establish batteries so as 
 to sweep the harbour and roadstead. If you can 
 do this — the English ships must take their depar- 
 ture, and the English troops will certainly not 
 remain behind them." He pointed out a promon- 
 tory nearly opposite the town, by getting the com- 
 mand of which he was sure the desired effect must 
 be accomplished. " Gain La Grasse" said he, 
 " and in two days Toulon falls." His reasoning 
 at length forced conviction, and he was permitted 
 to follow his own plan. 
 
 A month before nothing could have been more 
 easy ; but within that time the enemy had per- 
 ceived the importance of the promontory, which 
 commands the narrow passage between tlic port 
 and the Mediterranean, and fortijfied it so strongly, 
 that it passed by the name of the Little Gibraltar. 
 It was necessary, therefore, to form extensive bat- 
 teries in the rear of La Grasse, before there could 
 be a prospect of seizing it. Buonaparte laboured 
 hard all day, and slept every night in his cloak by 
 the gims, until his works a})proached perfection. 
 He also formed a large battery behind Malbosquet ; 
 but this he carefully concealed from the enemy. 
 It was covered by a plantation of olives, and he 
 designed to distract their attention by opening its
 
 1793.] SIEGE OF TOULON. 17 
 
 fire for the first time when he should be about to 
 make his great effort against Little Gibraltar. But 
 the Representatives of the People had nearly 
 spoiled every thing. These gentlemen, walking 
 their rounds, discovered the battery behind the 
 olives, and inquiring how long it had been ready, 
 were told for eight days. Not guessing with what 
 view so many guns had been kept so long idle, 
 they ordered an immediate cannonade. The Eng- 
 lish made a vigorous sally, and spiked the guns 
 before Buonaparte could reach the spot. On his 
 arrival at the eminence behind, he perceived a 
 long deep ditch, fringed with brambles and wil- 
 lows, which he thought might be turned to advan- 
 tage. He ordered a regiment of foot to creep 
 along the ditch, which they did without being dis- 
 covered until they were close upon the enemy. 
 General O'Hara, the English commander, mistook 
 them for some of his own allies, and, rushing out 
 to give them some directions, was wounded and 
 made prisoner. The English were dispirited when 
 they lost their general ; they retreated ; and the 
 French were at liberty to set about the repair of 
 their battery. In this affair much blood was shed. 
 Napoleon himself received a bayonet-thrust in his 
 thigh, and fell into the arms of Muiron, who carried 
 him off* the field. Such was the commencement of 
 their brotherly friendship. His wound, however, 
 did not prevent him from continuing his labours 
 behind Little Gibraltar. 
 
 That fort had very nearly been seized, by a sort 
 of accident, some time before his preparations 
 were completed ; a casual insult excited a sudden 
 quarrel between the men in Buonaparte's trenches, 
 
 VOL. I. - c ■
 
 18 NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE. [Dec. 1793. 
 
 and the Spaniards in Little Gibraltar. The French 
 soldiers, without waiting for orders, seized their 
 arms, and rushed to the assault with fury. Napo- 
 leon coming up, perceived that the moment was 
 favourable, and persuaded Doppet to support the 
 troops with more regiments ; but the doctor, 
 marching at the head of his column, was seized 
 with a panic, on seeing a man killed by his side, 
 and ordered a retreat, before anything could be 
 effected. 
 
 A few days after, this poltroon was in his turn 
 superseded by a brave veteran. General Dugom- 
 mier, and Napoleon could at last count on having 
 his efforts backed. But, for the second time, the 
 Representatives did their best to ruin his under- 
 taking. The siege had now lasted four months, 
 provisions were scarce in the camp, and these 
 civilians, never being able to comprehend what 
 was meant by bestowing all this care on a place so 
 far below the city as Little Gibraltar, wrote to 
 Paris that they saw no chance of success, and 
 hoped the government would agree with them 
 that the siege ought to be abandoned. Two days 
 before this letter reached Paris, Toulon had fallen, 
 and the representatives gave out that the despatch 
 was a forgery. 
 
 The moment had at last come when Buonaparte 
 judged it right to make his grand attempt. During 
 the night of the 17th of December he threw 8000 
 bombs and shells into Little Gibraltar, and the 
 works being thus shattered, at daybreak Dugom- 
 mier commanded tlie assault. The French, headed 
 by the brave Muiron, rushed with impetuous valour 
 through tlie embrazures, and put the whole garri-
 
 Dec. 18, 1793.] fall of toulon. 19 
 
 son to the sword. The day was spent in arranging 
 the batteries, so as to command the shipping ; and 
 next morning — so true had been Buonaparte's pro- 
 phecy — when the French stood to their posts, the 
 EngHsh fleet was discovered to be already under 
 weigh. 
 
 Then followed a fearful scene. The English 
 would not quit Toulon without destroying the 
 French ships and arsenals that had fallen into 
 their possession ; nor could they refuse to carry 
 with them the Antijacobin inhabitants, who knew 
 that their lives would be instantly sacrificed if they 
 should fall into the hands of the victorious Repub- 
 licans, and who now flocked to the beach to the 
 number of 14,000, praying for the means of escape. 
 The burning of ships, the explosion of magazines, 
 the roar of artillery, and the cries of these fugitives, 
 filled up many hours. At last the men-of-war were 
 followed by a flotilla bearing those miserable exiles ; 
 the walls were abandoned ; and Dugommier took 
 possession of the place. 
 
 The Republicans fomid that all persons of con- 
 dition, who had taken part against them, had 
 escaped ; and their rage was to be contented with 
 meaner victims. A day or two having been suf- 
 fered to pass in quiet, a proclamation, apparently 
 friendly, exhorted the workmen, who had been 
 employed on the batteries of the besieged town, to 
 muster at head-quarters. One hundred and fifty 
 poor men, who expected to be employed again in 
 repairing the same fortifications, obeyed this sum- 
 mons — were instantly marched into a field — and 
 shot in cold blood ; not less than a thousand per- 
 
 c 2
 
 20 NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE. [Dec. 18, 
 
 sons were massacred under circumstances equally 
 atrocious. Buonaparte himself repelled with in- 
 dignation the charge of having had a hand in this 
 butchery. Even if he had, he was not the chief in 
 command, and durst not have disobeyed orders 
 but at the sacrifice of his own life. It is on all 
 sides admitted that a family of royalists, being 
 shipwrecked on the coast near Toulon a few days 
 after, were rescued from the hands of the ferocious 
 Republicans, solely by his interference and address. 
 Putting himself at the head of some of his gunners, 
 he obtained possession of the unhappy prisoners ; 
 quieted the mob by assuring them that they should 
 all be publicly executed the next morning ; and 
 meanwhile sent them off during the night in artil- 
 lery waggons supposed to be conveying stores. 
 
 The recovery of Toulon was a service of the 
 first importance to the government. It suppressed 
 all insurrectionary spirit in the south of France ; 
 and placed a whole army at their disposal else- 
 where. But he, to whose genius the success was 
 due, did not at first obtain the credit of his im- 
 portant achievement at Paris. The Representatives 
 of the people never made their appearance on the 
 eventful morning at Little Gibraltar, until three 
 hours after the troops were in possession of the 
 best part of the fortifications. Then, indeed, they 
 were seen sword in hand in the trenches, blustering 
 and swaggering in safety. Yet these men did not 
 blush to represent themselves as having headed the 
 assault, while, in their account of the conflict, even 
 the name of Buona])arte did not find a place. The 
 truth could not, however, be concealed effectually ;
 
 1793.] FALL OF TOULON JUNOT. 21 
 
 and he was appointed to survey and arrange the 
 whole line of fortifications on the Mediterranean 
 coast of France. 
 
 It was during the siege of Toulon that Napoleon, 
 while constructing a battery under the enemy's 
 fire, had occasion to prepare a despatch, and called 
 out for some one who could use a pen. A young 
 Serjeant, named Junot, leapt out, and, leaning on 
 the breastwork, wrote as he dictated. As he 
 finished, a shot struck the ground by his side, 
 scattering dust in abundance over him and every 
 thing near him. " Good," said the soldier, laugh- 
 ing, " this time we shall spare our sand." The 
 cool gaiety of this pleased Buonaparte ; he kept 
 his eye on the man ; and Junot came in the sequel 
 to be Marshal of France and Duke of Abrantes.
 
 NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE. [1794. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Buonapaite Chief of Battalion at Nice — Fall of Robe- 
 spierre — He is superseded — Buonaparte at Paris in 
 1795 — The day of the Sections — Commands the Army 
 of the Interior — Marries Josephine de Beauharnois — 
 Appointed to the command of the Army of Italy. 
 
 From this time Napoleon advanced by rapid strides 
 to greatness. His admirable skill was still further 
 displayed in his survey of the fortifications above 
 mentioned ; and having completed this service, he 
 was appointed to join the army of Italy, then sta- 
 tioned at Nice, with the rank of Chief of Battalion. 
 
 Here his advice suggested a plan by which the 
 Sardinians were driven from the Col di Tende on 
 the 7th March, 1794; Saorgio, with all its stores, 
 surrendered ; and the French obtained possession 
 of the maritime Alps, so that the difficulties of 
 advancing into Italy were greatly diminished. Of 
 these movements, however, his superior officers 
 reaped as yet the honour. He was even super- 
 seded (Aug. G, 1794) very shortly after their suc- 
 cess. But this, which at the moment seemed a 
 heavy misfortune, was, in truth, one of the luckiest 
 circumstances that ever befel him. 
 
 It is not true that he was put under arrest in 
 consequence of the downfall of Robespierre ; 
 although there is no doubt that he was supposed 
 to belong to the party which that monster liad 
 made the instrument of his crimes, and known to
 
 1794.] NICE PARIS. 25 
 
 have lived on terms of friendship with his younger 
 brother. He incurred the suspicion of Laporte, 
 and the other " Representatives" attached to " the 
 army of Italy," in consequence of a journey to the 
 Gulf of Genoa, which he performed in obedience 
 to secret orders from Paris ; and, so soon as his 
 absence from head-quarters was thus explained, he 
 regained his freedom. The officer, who came to 
 release him, was surprised to find him busy in his 
 dungeon over the map of Lombardy. The " Re- 
 presentatives," however, had certainly taken up a 
 general prejudice against him ; for he did not re- 
 assume his functions at Nice ; and seems to have 
 spent some time in obscurity with his own family, 
 who were then in very distressed circumstances, 
 at Marseilles. It was here that he fell in love with 
 Mademoiselle Clery, whom, but for some accident, 
 it appears he w^ould have married. Her sister 
 was shortly afterwards united to his brother Joseph, 
 and she herself became in the sequel the wife of 
 Bernadotte, now King of Sweden. It is supposed 
 that Buonaparte found himself too poor to marry 
 at this time ; and circumstances interfered to pre- 
 vent any renewal of his proposals. 
 
 Before the end of the year he came to Paris to 
 solicit employment ; but at first he met with 
 nothing but repulses. The President of the Mili- 
 tary Committee, Aubry, objected to his youth. 
 *' Presence in the field of battle," said Buonaparte, 
 " might be reckoned in place of years." The Pre- 
 sident, who had not seen much actual service, 
 thought he was insulted, and treated Napoleon 
 very coldly. After a little while, however, he was 
 asked to go to La Vendee^ as commandant of a bri-
 
 24 NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE. [1795. 
 
 gade of infantry. This he dedined, alleging, that 
 nothing could reconcile him to leave the artillery, 
 but really, if we are to follow De Bourienne, con- 
 sidering the Vendean warfare as unworthy of him. 
 His refusal was followed by the erasure of his 
 name from the list of general officers in employ- 
 ment ; and for a time his fortunes seemed to be in 
 a desperate condition. He thought of settling in 
 some way in Paris ; and said to Bourienne, that, 
 if he could afford to have a small house in the 
 street where his school-fellow lived, and to keep a 
 cabriolet, he would be contented. His elder bro- 
 ther had about this time married Mademoiselle 
 Clery, whose father, the merchant of Marseilles, 
 gave her a handsome dowry. " How fortunate," 
 Napoleon would often exclaim, " is that fool Jo- 
 seph !"* 
 
 Talma, the celebrated tragedian, was one of his 
 chief associates at this time, and even then talked 
 with confidence of the future fortunes of " little 
 Buonaparte." This player's kindness and Aubry's 
 opposition were both remembered. The Emperor 
 always j)atronized Talma ; and Aubry died in exile. 
 
 Napoleon, despairing of employment at home, 
 now drew up a memorial to the government, re- 
 (j nesting to be sent with a few other officers of 
 artillery into Turkey, for the purpose of placing 
 that })ranch of the Grand Seignior's service in a 
 condition more suitable to the circumstances of 
 the times — in wliich it seemed highly probable that 
 the Porte might find itself in alliance with France, 
 and assaulted by the combined armies of Russia 
 and Austria. No answer was returned to this me- 
 * De Bourienne.
 
 1795.] NATIONAL CONVENTION. 25 
 
 morial, over which he dreamt for some weeks in 
 great enthusiasm. " How strange," he said to his 
 friends, " would it be if a Httle Corsican soldier 
 should become King of Jerusalem ! *' Go where 
 he might, he already contemplated greatness. 
 
 At length Napoleon was nominated to the com- 
 mand of a brigade of artillery in Holland. The 
 long-deferred appointment was, no doubt, very 
 welcome ; but in the mean time his services were 
 called for on a nearer and a more important field. 
 
 The French nation were now heartily tired of 
 the National Convention : it had lost most of its 
 distinguished members in the tumults and perse- 
 cutions of the times ; and above all it had lost 
 respect by remaining for two years the slave and 
 the tool of the Terrorists. The downfall of Robes- 
 pierre, when it did take place, showed how easily 
 the same blessed deliverance might have been ef- 
 fected long before, had this body possessed any 
 sense of firmness or of dignity. Even the restora- 
 tion of the members banished by the tyrant did 
 not serve to replace the Convention in the con- 
 fidence of the public. They themselves saw clearly 
 that a new remodelling of the government was 
 called for and must be ; and their anxiety was to 
 devise the means of securing for themselves as 
 large a share as possible of substantial power, 
 under some arrangement sufficiently novel in ap- 
 pearance to throw dust in the eyes of the people. 
 
 A great part of the nation, there is no doubt, 
 were at this time anxious to see the royal family 
 restored, and the government settled on the model 
 of 1791. Among the more respectable citizens of 
 Paris in particular such feelings were very pre-
 
 26 NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE. [1795. 
 
 valent. But many causes conspired to surround 
 the adoj^tion of this measure with difficulties, which 
 none of the actually influential leaders had the 
 courage, or perhaps the means, to encounter. The 
 soldiery of the Republican armies had been accus- 
 tomed to fight against the exiled princes and no- 
 bility, considered them as the worst enemies of 
 France, and hated them personally. The estates 
 of the church, the nobles, and the crown, had been 
 divided and sold ; and the purchasers foresaw that, 
 were the monarchy restored at this period, the re- 
 sumption of the forfeited property would be pressed 
 with all the powers of government. And, lastly, 
 the men who had earned for themselves most dis- 
 tinction and influence in public affairs, had excel- 
 lent reasons for believing that the Bourbons and 
 nobility, if restored, woidd visit on their own heads 
 the atrocities of the Revolution, and above all the 
 murder of the King. 
 
 The Conventionalists themselves, however, had 
 learned by this time that neither peace nor security 
 could be expected, unless some form of govern- 
 ment were adopted, in which the legislative and 
 the executive functions should at least appear to 
 be separated ; and they were also at lengtli in- 
 clined to admit the excellence of that part of the 
 Britisli constitution, wliich, dividing the legislato- 
 rial power between two assem])lies of senators, 
 thus acquires tlie advantage of a constant revision 
 of counsels, and regulates the political machine by 
 a system of mutual checks and balances. They 
 were desirous, therefore, of proposing some system 
 which might, in a certain degree, satisfy those who 
 had been endeavouring to bring about the restora-
 
 1795.J CONSTITUTION OF THE YEAR THREE. 27 
 
 tion of the monarchy ; and the new constitution of 
 the year three of the Repubhc (1795) presented 
 the following features. I. The executive power 
 was to be lodged in Five Directors, chosen from 
 time to time, who were to have no share in the 
 legislation. II. There was to be a Council of 
 Five Hundred, answering generally to our House 
 of Commons : and III. A smaller assembly, called 
 the Council of Ancients, intended to fulfil in some 
 measure the purposes of a House of Peers. 
 
 The outline of this scheme might perhaps have 
 been approved of ; but the leading members of the 
 Convention, from views personal to themselves, 
 appended to it certain conditions which excited new 
 disgust. They decreed, first, that the electoral 
 bodies of France, in choosing representatives to the 
 two new Councils, must elect at least two-thirds of 
 the present members of Convention ; and, secondly, 
 that if full two-thirds were not returned, the Con- 
 vention should have the right to supply the de- 
 ficiency out of their own body. It was obvious 
 that this machinery had no object but the con- 
 tinuance of the present legislators in power ; and 
 the nation, and especially the superior classes in 
 Paris, were indignant at conduct which they con- 
 sidered as alike selfish and arbitrary. The royalist 
 party gladly lent themselves to the diffusion of any 
 discontents ; and a formidable opposition to the 
 measures of the existing government was orga- 
 nized. 
 
 The Convention meantime continued their sit- 
 tings, and exerting all their skill and influence, 
 procured from many districts of the country re- 
 ports accepting of the New Constitution, with all
 
 28 NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE. [October, 
 
 its conditions. The Parisians, being nearer and 
 sharper observers, and having abundance of speak- 
 ers and writers to inform and animate them, as- 
 sembled in the several sections of the city, and 
 proclaimed their hostility to the Convention and 
 its designs. The National Guard, consisting of 
 armed citizens, almost mianimously sided with the 
 enemies of the Convention ; and it was openly 
 proposed to march to the Tuilleries, and compel a 
 change of measures by force of arms. 
 
 The Convention, perceiving their unpopularity 
 and danger, began to look about them anxiously 
 for the means of defence. There were in and near 
 Paris 5000 regular troops, on whom they thought 
 they might rely, and who of course contemned the 
 National Guard as only half-soldiers. They had 
 besides some hundreds of artillerymen ; and they 
 now organized what they called " the Sacred Band," 
 a body of 1500 ruffians, the most part of them old 
 and tried instruments of Robespierre. With these 
 means they prepared to arrange a plan of defence ; 
 and it was o])vious that they did not want mate- 
 rials, provided they could find a skilful and de- 
 termined head. 
 
 The Insurgent Sections placed themselves under 
 the command of Dmiican, an old general of no 
 great skill or reputation. The Convention op- 
 posed to him Menou ; and he marched at the head 
 of a column into the section Le Pelletier to disarm 
 the National Guard of that district — one of the 
 wealthiest of the capital. Tlie National Guard 
 were found drawn up in readiness to receive him 
 at the end of the Rue Vivienne ; and Menou, be- 
 coming alarmed, and hampered by the presence of
 
 1795.] THE DAY OF THE SECTIONS. 29 
 
 some of the " Representatives of the people," en- 
 tered into a parley, and retired without having 
 struck a blow. 
 
 The Convention judged that Menou was not 
 master of nerves for such a crisis ; and consulted 
 eagerly about a successor to his command. Barras, 
 one of their number, had happened to be present 
 at Toulon, and to have appreciated the character 
 of Buonaparte. He had, probably, been applied 
 to by Napoleon in his recent pursuit of employ- 
 ment. Deliberating with Tallien and Carnot, his 
 colleagues, he suddenly said, " I have the man 
 whom you want ; it is a little Corsican officer, who 
 will not stand upon ceremony." 
 
 These words decided the fate of Napoleon and 
 of France. Buonaparte had been in the Odeon 
 Theatre when the affair of Le Pelletier occurred, 
 had run out, and witnessed the result. He now 
 happened to be in the gallery, and heard the dis- 
 cussion concerning the conduct of Menou. He 
 was presently sent for, and asked his opinion as 
 to that officer's retreat. He explained what had 
 happened, and how the evil might have been 
 avoided, in a manner which gave satisfaction. He 
 was desired to assume the command, and arrange 
 his plan of defence as well as the circumstances 
 might permit ; for it was already late at night, 
 and the decisive assault on the Tuilleries was ex- 
 pected to take place next morning. Buonaparte 
 •stated that the failure of the march of ]\Ienou 
 had been chiefly owing to the presence of the 
 " Representatives of the people," and refused to 
 accept the command unless he received it free 
 from all such interference. They yielded : Barras
 
 30 NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE. [October, 
 
 was named Commander-in-chief ; and Buonaparte 
 second, with the virtual controul. His first care 
 was to dispatch Murat, then a major of Chasseurs, 
 to Sablons, five miles off, where fifty great guns 
 were posted. The Sectionaries sent a stronger 
 detachment for these cannon immediately after- 
 wards ; and Murat, who passed them in the dark, 
 would have gone in vain had he received his orders 
 but a few minutes later. 
 
 On the 4th of October (called in the revolution- 
 ary almanack the 1 3th Vendemaire) the affray ac- 
 cordingly occurred. Thirty thousand National 
 Guards advanced, about two, P. M., by different 
 streets, to the siege of the palace : but its defence 
 was now in far other hands than those of Louis 
 XVI. 
 
 Buonaparte, having planted artillery on all the 
 bridges, had effectually secured the command of 
 the river, and the safety of the Tuilleries on one 
 side. He had placed cannon also at all the cross- 
 ings of the streets by which the National Guard 
 could advance towards the other front ; and having 
 posted his battalions in the garden of the Tuille- 
 ries and Place du Carousel, he awaited the attack. 
 
 The insurgents had no cannon ; and they came 
 along the narrow streets of Paris in close and heavy 
 columns. When one party reached the church of 
 St. Roche, in the Rue St. Honore, they found a 
 body of Buonaparte's troops drawn up there, with 
 two cannons. It is disputed on which side the 
 firing began ; but in an instant the artillery swept 
 the streets and lanes, scattering grape-shot among 
 the National Guards, and producing such confusion 
 that they were compelled to give way. The first
 
 1795.] COMMANDS THE ARMY OF THE INTERIOR. 31 
 
 shot was a signal for all the batteries which Buo- 
 naparte had established ; the quays of the Seine, 
 opposite to the Tuilleries, were commanded by his 
 guns below the Palace and on the bridges. In 
 less than an hour the action was over. The in- 
 surgents fled in all directions, leaving the streets 
 covered with dead and wounded : the troops of 
 the Convention marched into the various sections, 
 disarmed the terrified inhabitants, and before night- 
 fall everything was quiet. 
 
 This eminent service secured the triumph of the 
 Conventionalists, who now, assuming new names, 
 continued in effect to discharge their old functions. 
 Barras took his place at the head of the Directory^ 
 having Sieyes, Carnot, and other less celebrated 
 persons, for his colleagues ; and the First Director 
 took care to reward the hand to which he owed 
 his elevation. Within five days from the day of the 
 Sections Buonaparte was named second in com- 
 mand of the army of the interior ; and shortly 
 afterwards, Barras, finding his duties as Director 
 sufficient to occupy his time, gave up the com- 
 mand-in-chief of the same army to his " little 
 Corsican officer." 
 
 He had no lack of duties to perform in this 
 new character. The National Guard was to be 
 re-organized ; a separate guard for the represen- 
 tative body to be formed ; the ordnance and mili- 
 tary stores were all in a dilapidated condition. 
 The want of bread, too, was continually producing 
 popular riots, which could rarely be suppressed 
 but by force of arms. On one of these last occa- 
 sions, a huge sturdy fishwife exhorted the mob 
 to keep to their places, when Buonaparte had
 
 32 NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE. [1796. 
 
 almost persuaded them to disperse. " These cox- 
 combs with their epaulettes and gorgets," said she, 
 " care nothing for us ; provided they feed well and 
 fatten, we may starve." " Good woman," cried 
 the general of the interior, who at this time was 
 about the leanest of his race, " only look at me, — 
 and decide yourself which of the two is the fatter." 
 The woman could not help laughing : the joke 
 pleased the multitude, and harmony was restored. 
 
 Buonaparte, holding the chief military command 
 in the capital, and daily rising in importance from 
 the zeal and firmness of his conduct in this high 
 post, had now passed into the order of marked 
 and distinguished men. He continued, neverthe- 
 less, to lead in private a quiet and modest life, 
 studying as hard as ever, and but little seen in the 
 circles of gaiety. An accident wliich occurred one 
 morning at his military levee, gave at once a new 
 turn to his mode of life, and a fresh impetus to 
 the advance of his fortunes. 
 
 A fine boy, of ten or twelve years of age, pre- 
 sented himself; stated to the general that his name 
 was Eugene Beauharnois, son of Viscount Beau- 
 harnois, who had served as a general officer in the 
 Republican armies on the Rhine, and been mur- 
 dered by Robespierre ; and said his errand was 
 to recover the sword of his father. Buonaparte 
 caused the request to be complied with ; and the 
 tears of the boy, as he received and kissed the 
 rehc, excited liis interest. He treated Eugene so 
 kindly, tliat next day his mother, Josephine de 
 -Beauharnois, came to thank him; and her beauty 
 and singuhir gracefuhiess of address made a strong 
 impression. 
 
 I
 
 1796.] JOSEPHINE. 33 
 
 This charming lady, the daughter of a planter, 
 by name Tascher de la Pagerie, was born in the 
 island of Martinico, June 24th, 1763. While yet 
 an infant, according to a story which she after^ 
 wards repeated, a negro sorceress had prophesied 
 that " she should one day be greater than a queen, 
 and yet outlive her dignity."* 
 
 The widow of Beauharnois had been herself 
 imprisoned until the downfall of Robespierre. In 
 that confinement she had formed a strict friend- 
 ship with another lady who was now married to 
 Tallien, one of the most eminent of the leaders 
 of the Convention. Madame Tallien had intro- 
 duced Josephine to her husband's friends ; and 
 Barras, the First Director, having now besfun to 
 hold a sort of court at the Luxembourg, these two 
 beautiful women were the chief ornaments of its 
 society. It was commonly said — indeed it was 
 universally believed — that Josephine, whose cha- 
 racter was in some respects indifferent, possessed 
 more than legitimate influence over the First Di- 
 rector. Buonaparte, however, offered her his 
 hand ; she, after some hesitation, accepted it ; and 
 the young general by this marriage (9th March, 
 1796) cemented his connection with the society of 
 the Luxembourg, and in particular with Barras 
 and Tallien, at that moment the most powerful 
 men in France. 
 
 Napoleon had a strong tendency to the super- 
 stition of fatalism, and he always believed that his 
 
 * According to some, the last clause ran " die in an hos- 
 pital," and this was in the sequel interpreted to mean Mal- 
 maison — a palace which (like our own St. James's) had once 
 been an hospital. 
 
 VOL. I. D
 
 34 NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE. [1796. 
 
 fortunes were bound up in some mysterious man- 
 ner with those of this graceful woman. She loved 
 him warmly, and served him well. Her influence 
 over him was great, and it was always exerted on 
 the side of humanity. She, and she alone, could 
 overrule, by gentleness, the excesses of passion to 
 which he was liable ; and her subsequent fate will 
 always form one of the darkest pages in the his- 
 tory of her lord. 
 
 Tranquillity was now restored in Paris ; and the 
 Directory had leisure to turn their attention to the 
 affairs of the army of Italy, which were in a most 
 confused and unsatisfactory condition. They de- 
 termined to give it a new general ; and Buona- 
 parte was appointed to the splendid command. It 
 is acknowledged, in one of Josephine's letters, that 
 the First Director had promised to procure it for 
 him before their marriage took place. " Advance 
 this man," said Barras to his colleagues, " or he 
 will advance himself without you." 
 
 Buonaparte quitted his wife ten days after their 
 marriage ; paid a short visit to his mother at Mar- 
 seilles ; and arrived, after a rapid journey, at the 
 head-quarters at Nice. From that moment opened 
 the most brilliant scene of his existence ; yet, 
 during the months of victory and glory that com- 
 posed it, his letters, full of love and home-sick- 
 ness, attest the reluctance with which he had so 
 soon abandoned his bride.
 
 1796.] ( So ) 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 The Aryny of Italy — Tactics of Buonapar^te — Battle of 
 Monte Notte — Battle of Millesimo— Battle of Mon- 
 davi — Armistice of Cherasco — Close of the Campaign 
 of Piedmont — Peace granted to Sardinia. 
 
 Buonaparte at the age of twenty-six assumed the 
 command of the army of Italy ; exulting in the 
 knowledge that, if he should conquer, the honour 
 would be all his own. He had worked for others 
 at Toulon, at the Col di Tende, at Saorgio : even 
 in the affair of the Sections the first command had 
 been nominally in the hands of Barras. Hence- 
 forth he was to have no rivals within the camp. 
 *' In three months," said he, " I shall be either at 
 Milan or at Paris." He had already expressed 
 the same feeling in a still nobler form. " You are 
 too young," said one of the Directors, hesitating 
 about his appointment as general. " In a year," 
 answered Napoleon, " I shall be either old or 
 dead." 
 
 He found the army in numbers about 50,000 ; 
 but wretchedly deficient in cavalry, in stores of 
 every kind,* in clothing, and even in food ; and 
 watched by an enemy greatly more numerous. It 
 
 * Berthier used to keep, as a curiosity, a general order, by 
 which three louis-d'or were granted as a great supply to each 
 general of division, dated on the very day of the victory at 
 Albegna. 
 
 d2
 
 36 NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE. [April, 
 
 was under such circumstances that he at once 
 avowed the daring scheme of forcing a passage to 
 Italy, and converting the richest territory of the 
 enemy himself into the theatre of the war. " Sol- 
 diers," said he, " you are hungry and naked ; the 
 Republic owes you much, but she has not the 
 means to pay her debts. I am come to lead you 
 into the most fertile plains that the sun beholds. 
 Rich provinces, opulent towns, all shall be at your 
 disposal. Soldiers ! with such a prospect before 
 you, can you fail in courage and constancy?" This 
 was his first address to his army. The sinking 
 hearts of the men beat high with hope and con- 
 fidence when they heard the voice of the young 
 and fearless leader ; and Augereau, Massena, Ser- 
 rurier, Joubert, Lannes — distinguished officers 
 who might themselves have aspired to the chief 
 command — felt, from the moment they l)egan to 
 understaiul his character and system, that the true 
 road to glory would be to follow the star of Na- 
 poleon. 
 
 He perceived that the time was come for turn- 
 ing a new leaf in the history of war. With such 
 numbers of troops as the infant Republic could 
 afirbrd him, he saw that no considerable advantages 
 could be obtained against the vast and highly-dis- 
 ciplined armies of Austria and her allies, unless 
 the established rules and etiquettes of strategy were 
 abandoned. It was only by such rapidity of 
 motion as should utterly transcend the suspicion 
 of his advers;iri('s, that he could hope to concen- 
 trate the whole ])ith and energy of a small force 
 upon some one ])oint of a mucli greater force op- 
 posed to it, and thus rob them (according to his
 
 1796.] NEW TACTICS. 37 
 
 own favourite phrase) of the victory. To effect such 
 rapid marches, it was necessary that the soldiery 
 shoukl make up their minds to consider tents and 
 baggage as idle luxuries ; and that, instead of a 
 long and complicated chain of reserves and stores, 
 they should dare to rely wholly for the means of 
 subsistence on the resources of the countries into 
 which their leader might conduct them. They 
 must be contented to conquer at whatever hazard ; 
 to consider no sacrifices or hardships as worthy of 
 a thought. The risk of destroying the character 
 and discipline of the men. by accustoming them to 
 pillage, was obvious. Buonaparte trusted to vic- 
 tory, the high natural spirit of the nation, and the 
 influence of his own genius, for the means of 
 avoiding this danger ; and many years, it must be 
 admitted, elapsed, before he found much reason 
 personally to repent of the system which he 
 adopted. Against the enemies of the Republic 
 its success was splendid, even beyond his hopes. 
 
 The objects of the approaching expedition were 
 three : first, to compel the king of Sardinia, who 
 had already lost Savoy and Nice, but still main- 
 tained a powerful army on the frontiers of Pied- 
 mont, to abandon the alliance of Austria : secondly, 
 to compel the Emperor, by a bold invasion of 
 Lombardy, to make such exertions in that quarter 
 as might weaken those armies which had so long 
 hovered on the Rhine ; and, if possible, to stir 
 up the Italian subjects of that crown to adopt the 
 revolutionary system and emancipate themselves 
 for ever from its yoke. The third object, though 
 more distant, was not less important. The in- 
 fluence of the Romish Church was considered by
 
 38 NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE. [April 12th, 
 
 the Directory as the chief, though secret, support 
 of the cause of royahsm within their own ter- 
 ritory ; and to reduce the Vatican into insignifi- 
 cance, or at least force it to submission and 
 quiescence, appeared indispensable to the internal 
 tranquillity of France. The Revolutionary Go- 
 vernment, besides this general cause of hatred 
 and suspicion, had a distinct injury to avenge. 
 Their agent, Basseville, had three years before 
 been assassinated in a popular tumult at Rome : 
 the Papal troops had not interfered to protect 
 him, nor the Pope to punish his murderers ; and 
 the haughty Republic considered this as an insult 
 which could only be washed out with a sea of 
 blood. 
 
 Napoleon's plan for gaining access to the fair 
 regions of Italy differed from that of all former 
 conquerors : they had uniformly penetrated the 
 Alps at some point or other of that mighty 
 range of mountains : he judged that the same end 
 might be accomplished more easily by advancing 
 along the narrow stripe of comparatively level 
 country which intervenes between those enormous 
 barriers and the Mediterranean sea, and forcing a 
 passage at the point where the last of the Alps 
 melt, as it were, into the first and lowest of the 
 Appenine range. No sooner did he begin to con- 
 centrate his troops towards this region, than the 
 Austrian general, Beaulieu, took measures for pro- 
 tecting Genoa, and the entrance of Italy. He 
 liimself took post with one column of his army at 
 Voltri, a town within ten miles of Genoa : he 
 placed D'Argenteau with another Austrian column 
 at Monte Notte, a strong height further to the
 
 1796.] BATTLE OF MONTE NOTTE. 39 
 
 westward ; and the Sardinians, under Colli, occu- 
 pied Ceva — which thus formed the extreme right 
 of the whole line of the allied army. The French 
 could not advance towards Genoa but by con- 
 fronting some one of the three armies thus strongly 
 posted, and sufficiently, as Beaulieu supposed, in 
 communication with each other. 
 
 It was now that Buonaparte made his first effort 
 to baffle the science of those who fancied there 
 was nothing new to be done in warfare. On the 
 10th of April, D'Argenteau came down upon 
 Monte Notte, and attacked some French redoubts, 
 in front of that mountain and the villages which 
 bear its name, at Montelegino. At the same time 
 General Cervoni and the French van were attacked 
 by Beaulieu near Voltri, and compelled to retreat. 
 The determined valour of Colonel Rampon, who 
 commanded at Montelegino, held D'Argenteau at 
 bay during the 10th and 11th: and Buonaparte, 
 contenting himself with watching Beaulieu, deter- 
 mined to strike his effectual blow at the centre of 
 the enemy's line. During the night of the 11th 
 various columns were marched upon Montelegino, 
 that of Cervoni and that of Laharpe from the van 
 of the French line, those of Augereau and Mas- 
 sena from its rear. On the morning of the 12th, 
 D'Argenteau, preparing to renew his attack on the 
 redoubts of Montelegino, found he had no longer 
 Rampon only and his brave band to deal with ; 
 that French columns were in his rear, on his flank, 
 and drawn up also behind the works at Montele- 
 gino ; in a word, that he was surrounded. He 
 was compelled to retreat among the mountains : 
 he left his colours and cannon behind him, 1000
 
 40 NAPOLEON BUONArARTE. [April, 
 
 killed, and 2000 prisoners. The centre of the 
 allied army had been utterly routed, before either 
 the Commander-in-chief at the left, or General 
 Colli at the right of the line, had any notion that 
 a battle was going on. 
 
 Such was the battle of Monte Notte, the first of 
 Napoleon's fields. Beaulieu, in order that he 
 might re-establish his commvmication with Colli, 
 (much endangered by the defeat of D'Argenteau,) 
 was obliged to retreat upon Dego ; the Sardinian, 
 with the same purpose in view, fell back also, and 
 took post at Millesimo ; while D'Argenteau was 
 striving to re-organize his dispirited troops in the 
 difficult country between. It was their object to 
 keep fast in these positions until succours could 
 come up from Lombardy ; but Napoleon had no 
 mind to give them such respite. 
 
 The very next day after this victory he com- 
 manded a general assault on the Austrian line. 
 Augereau, with a fresh division, marched at the 
 left upon Millesimo ; Massena led the centre 
 towards Dego ; and Laharpe, with the French 
 right wing, manoeuvred to turn the left flank of 
 Beaulieu. 
 
 Augereau rushed upon the outposts of Mil- 
 lesimo, seized and retained the gorge which de- 
 fends that place, and cut off' Provera with two 
 thousand Austrians, who occupied an eminence 
 called Cossaria, from the main body of Colli's 
 army. Next morning Buonaparte himself arrived 
 at that scene of the o])erations. He forced Colli 
 to accept battle, utterly l)rokc and scattered him, 
 and Provera, thus abandoned, was obliged to yield 
 at discretion.
 
 1796.] DEGO— MILLESIMO—MONDOVI— CHERASCO. 41 
 
 Meanwhile Massena on the same day had as- 
 saulted the heights of Biastro, and carrying them 
 at the point of the bayonet, cut off Beaulieu's 
 communication with Colli ; then Laharpe came in 
 front and in flank also upon the village of Dego, 
 and after a most desperate conflict, drove the 
 Austrian Commander-in-chief from his post. From 
 this moment Colli and Beaulieu were entirely se- 
 parated. After the affairs of Dego and ]Millesimo, 
 the former retreated in disorder upon Ceva ; the 
 latter, hotly pursued, upon Aqui ; Colli, of course, 
 being eager to cover Turin, while the x\ustrian 
 had his anxious thoughts already upon Milan. 
 Colli was again defeated at Mondovi in his dis- 
 astrous retreat ; he there lost his cannon, his 
 baggage, and the best part of his troops. The 
 Sardinian army might be said to be annihilated. 
 The conqueror took possession of Cherasco, within 
 ten miles of Turin, and there dictated the terms 
 on which the King of Sardinia was to be per- 
 mitted to retain any shadow of sovereign power. 
 
 Thus, in less than a month, did Napoleon lay 
 the gates of Italy open before him. He had de- 
 feated in three battles forces much superior to his 
 own ; inflicted on them, in killed, wounded and 
 prisoners, a loss of 25,000 men ; taken eighty 
 guns and twenty-one standards ; reduced the 
 Austrians to inaction ; utterly destroyed the Sar- 
 dinian king's army ; and lastly, wrested from his 
 hands Coni and Tortona, the two great fortresses 
 called " the keys of the Alps," — and indeed, ex- 
 cept Turin itself, every place of any consequence 
 in his dominions. This unfortunate prince did not
 
 42 NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE. [April, 
 
 long survive such humiliation. He was father-in- 
 law to both of the brothers of Louis XVI., and, 
 considering their cause and his own dignity as 
 equally at an end, died of a broken heart, within 
 a few days after he had signed the treaty of 
 Cherasco. 
 
 Buonaparte meanwhile had paused for a moment 
 to consolidate his columns on the heights, from 
 which the vast plain of Lombardy, rich and culti- 
 vated like a garden, and watered with innumerable 
 fertilizing streams, lay at length within the full 
 view of his victorious soldiery. " Hanibal forced 
 the Alps," said he gaily, as he now looked back 
 on those stupendous barriers, " and we have turned 
 them." 
 
 " Hitherto" (he thus addressed his troops) " you 
 have been fighting for barren rocks, memorable 
 for your valour, but useless to your country ; but 
 now your exploits equal those of the armies of 
 Holland and the Rhine. You were utterly desti- 
 tute, and you have supplied all your wants. You 
 have gained battles without cannon, passed rivers 
 without bridges, performed forced marches with- 
 out shoes, bivouacked without strong liquors, and 
 often without bread. None but republican pha- 
 lanxes, soldiers of liberty, could have endured such 
 things. Tlianks for your perseverance ! But, 
 soldiers, you have done nothing — for there remains 
 mucli to do. Milan is not yet ours. The ashes 
 of the concpierors of Tarquin are still trampled by 
 the assassins of Basseville." 
 
 I'he consummate genius of this brief campaign 
 could not be disputed ; and the modest language
 
 1796.] PIEDMONT CONQUERED. 43 
 
 of the young General's despatches to the Direc- 
 tory, lent additional grace to his fame. At this 
 time the name of Buonaparte was spotless ; and 
 the eyes of all Europe were fixed in admiration on 
 his career.
 
 44 NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE. [May 7th, 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 The French cross the Po at Placenza — IVie Battle of 
 Fombio — The Bindge of Lodi — Napoleon occupies 
 Milan — resigns, and resumes his command — Insurrec- 
 tion of Pavia — Military Executions — The French pass 
 the Mincio at Borghetto — Bcuulieu retreats behind the 
 Adige — Mantua besieged — Peace with the King of the 
 Two Sicilies — The Pope buys a Respite. 
 
 Piedmont being now in the hands of Buonaparte, 
 the Austrian general concentrated his army behind 
 the Po, with the purpose of preventing the invader 
 from passing that great river, and making his way 
 to the capital of Lombardy. 
 
 Napoleon employed every device to make Beau- 
 lieu believe that lie designed to attempt the pas- 
 sage of the Po at Valenza ; and the Austrian, a 
 man of routine, who had himself crossed the river 
 at that point, was easily persuaded that these de- 
 monstrations were sincere. Meanwhile his crafty 
 antagonist executed a march of incredible celerity 
 upon Placenza, fifty miles lower down the river ; 
 and appeared there on the 7th of May, to the 
 utter consternation of a couple of Austrian squad- 
 rons, who liaj)pcned to be reconnoitring in that 
 quarter. He had to convey his men across that 
 great stream in the conunon ferry boats, and could 
 never have succeeded had there been anything like 
 an army to oppose him. Andreossi (afterwards
 
 1796.] PASSAGE OF THE PO. 45 
 
 SO celebrated) was commander of the advanced 
 guard : Lannes (who became in the sequel Mar- 
 shal Duke of Montebello) was the first to throw 
 himself ashore at the head of some grenadiers. 
 The German hussars were driven rapidly from 
 their position. Buonaparte himself has said that 
 no operation in war is more critical than the pas- 
 sage of a great river ; on this occasion the skill of 
 his arrangements enabled him to pass one of the 
 greatest in the world without the loss of a single 
 man. 
 
 Beaulieu, as soon as he ascertained how he had 
 been outwitted, advanced upon Placenza, in the 
 hope of making the invader accept battle with the 
 Po in his rear, and therefore under circumstances 
 which must render any check in the highest degree 
 disastrous. Buonaparte, in the meantime, had no 
 intention to await the Austrian on ground so dan- 
 gerous, and was marching rapidly towards Fombio, 
 where he knew he should have room to manceuvre. 
 The advanced divisions of the hostile armies met 
 at that village on the 8th of May. The Imperialists 
 occupied the steeples and houses, and hoped to 
 hold out until Beaulieu could bring up his main 
 body. But the French charged so impetuously 
 with the bayonet, that the Austrian, after seeing 
 one-third of his men fall, was obliged to retreat, 
 in great confusion, leaving all his cannon behind 
 him, across the Adda ; a large river whicli, de- 
 scending from the Tyrolese mountains, joins the 
 Po at Pizzighitone — and thus forms the immediate 
 defence of the better part of the Milanese against 
 any enemy advancing from Piedmont. Behind this 
 river Beaulieu now concentrated his armv, esta-
 
 46 NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE. [10th May, 
 
 blishing strong guards at every ford and bridge, 
 and especially at Lodi, where as he guessed (for 
 once rightly) the French general designed to force 
 his passage. 
 
 The wooden bridge of Lodi formed the scene of 
 one of the most celebrated actions of the war ; and 
 will ever be peculiarly mixed up with the name of 
 Buonaparte himself. It was a great neglect in 
 Beaulieu to leave it standing when he removed his 
 head-quarters to the east bank of the Adda : his 
 outposts were driven rapidly through the old 
 straggling town of Lodi on the 10th ; and the 
 French, sheltering themselves behind the walls and 
 houses, lay ready to attempt the passage of the 
 bridge. Beaulieu had placed a battery of thirty 
 cannon so as to sweep it completely ; and the en- 
 terprise of storming it i-n the face of this artillery, 
 and the whole army drawn up behind, is one of 
 the most daring on record. 
 
 Buonaparte's first care was to place as many 
 guns as he could get in order in direct opposition to 
 this Austrian battery. A furious cannonade on his 
 side of the river also now commenced. The Gene- 
 ral himself appeared in the midst of the fire, point- 
 ing with his own hand two guns in such a manner 
 as to cut off the Austrians from the only path by 
 which they could have advanced to undermine the 
 bridge ; and it was on this occasion that the sol- 
 diery, delighted with his dauntless exposure of his 
 person, conferred on him his honorary nickname of 
 The Little Corporal. In the meantime he had sent 
 General Beaumont and the cavalry to attempt the 
 passage of the river by a distant ford (which they 
 had much difficulty in effecting), and awaited with
 
 1796.] THE BRIDGE OF LODI. 47 
 
 anxiety the moment when they should appear on 
 the enemy's flank. When that took place, Beau- 
 lieu's line, of course, showed some confusion, and 
 Napoleon instantly gave the word. A column of 
 grenadiers, whom he had kept ready drawn up 
 close to the bridge, but under shelter of the 
 houses, were in a moment wheeled to the left, and 
 their leading files placed upon the bridge. They 
 rushed on, shouting Five la Repuhlique ! but the 
 storm of grape-shot for a moment checked them. 
 Buonaparte, Lannes, Berthier, and Lallemagne, 
 hurried to the front, and rallied and cheered the 
 men. The column dashed across the bridge in 
 despite of the tempest of fire that thinned them. 
 The brave Lannes was the first who reached the 
 other side. Napoleon himself the second. The 
 Austrian artillerymen were bayoneted at their 
 guns, before the other troops, whom Beaulieu had 
 removed too far back, in his anxiety to avoid the 
 French battery, could come to their assistance. 
 Beaumont pressing gallantly with his horse upon 
 the flank, and Napoleon's infantry forming rapidly 
 as they passed the bridge, and charging on the 
 instant, the Austrian line became involved in 
 inextricable confusion, broke up, and fled. The 
 slaughter on their side was great ; on the French, 
 there fell only 200 men. With such rapidity, and 
 consequently with so little loss, did Buonaparte 
 execute this dazzling adventure — " the terrible 
 passage," as he himself called it, " of the bridge 
 ofLodi." 
 
 It was, indeed, terrible to the enemy. It de- 
 prived them of another excellent line of defence, 
 and blew up the enthusiasm of the French soldiery
 
 48 NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE. [May, 
 
 to a pitch of irresistible daring. Beaulieu, never- 
 theless, contrived to withdraw his troops in much 
 better style than Buonaparte had anticipated. He 
 gathered the scattered fragments of his force toge- 
 ther, and soon threw the line of the Mincio, ano- 
 ther tributary of the Po, between himself and his 
 enemy. The great object, however, had been 
 attained : the Austrian general escaped, and might 
 yet defend Mantua, but no obstacle remained 
 between the victorious invader and the rich and 
 noble capital of Lombardy. The garrison of Piz- 
 zighitone, seeing themselves effectually cut off 
 from the Austrian army, capitulated. The French 
 cavalry pursued Beaulieu as far as Cremona, which 
 town they seized ; and Napoleon himself prepared 
 to march at once upon Milan. 
 
 It was after one of these affiiirs that an old 
 Hungarian officer was brought prisoner to Buona- 
 parte, who entered into conversation with him, 
 and among other matters questioned him " what 
 he thought of the state of the war?" " Nothing," 
 replied the old gentleman, who did not know he 
 was addressing the general-in-chief, — " nothing 
 can be worse. Here is a young man who knows 
 absolutely nothing of the rules of war ; to-day he 
 is in our rear, to-morrow on our flank, next day 
 again in our front. Such violations of the prin- 
 ciples of the art of war are intolera})le !" 
 
 The Archduke, who governed in Lombardy for 
 the Em])eror, had made many a long prayer and 
 procession ; but the saints a})peared to take no 
 compassion on him, and he now withdrew from the 
 capital. A revolutionary party had always existed 
 there, as indeed in every part of the Austrian do-
 
 1796.] MILAN. 49 
 
 minions beyond the Alps ; and the tricolor cockade, 
 the emblem of France, was now mounted by mul- 
 titudes of the inhabitants. The municipality has- 
 tened to invite the conqueror to appear among 
 them as their friend and protector ; and on the 
 14th of May, four days after Lodi, Napoleon ac- 
 cordingly entered, in all the splendour of a military 
 triumph, the venerable and opulent city of the old 
 Lombard kings. 
 
 He was not, however, to be flattered into the 
 conduct, as to serious matters, of a friendly gene- 
 ral. He levied immediately a heavy contribution 
 (eight hundred thousand pounds sterling) at Milan, 
 — taking possession, besides, of twenty of the 
 finest pictures in the Ambrosian gallery. 
 
 The conqueror now paused to look about and 
 behind him ; and proceeded still farther to re- 
 plenish his chest by exactions, for which no justi- 
 fication can be adduced from the ordinary rules of 
 international law. With Sardinia he had already 
 reckoned ; of the Austrian capital in Italy he had 
 possession ; there was only one more of the Italian 
 governments (Naples) with which the French Re- 
 public was actually at war ; although, indeed, he 
 had never concealed his intention of revenging the 
 fate of Basseville on the court of Rome. The 
 other powers of Italy were, at worst, neutrals ; 
 with Tuscany and Venice, France had friendly 
 relations. But Napoleon knew, or believed, that 
 all the Italian governments, without exception, 
 considered the French invasion of Italy as a com- 
 mon calamity ; the personal wishes of most of the 
 minor princes, (nearly connected as these were, 
 by blood or alliance, with the imperial house of 
 
 VOL. I. E
 
 50 NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE. [May, 
 
 Austria,) he, not unreasonably, concluded were 
 strongly against his own success in this great en- 
 terprize. Such were his pretences — more or less 
 feasible ; the temptation was, in fact, great ; and 
 he resolved to consider and treat whatever had 
 not been with him as if it had been against him. 
 The weak but wealthy princes of Parma and Mo- 
 dena, and others of the same order, were forth- 
 with compelled to purchase his clemency not less 
 dearly than if they had been in arms. Besides 
 money, of which he made them disburse large 
 sums, he demanded from each a tribute of pictures 
 and statues, to be selected at the discretion of 
 Citizen Monge and other French connoisseurs, 
 who now attended his march for such purposes. 
 
 In modern warfare the works of art had hitherto 
 been considered as a species of property entitled 
 in all cases to be held sacred ; and Buonaparte's 
 violent and rapacious infraction of this rule now 
 excited a mighty clamour throughout Europe. 
 Whether the new system originated with himself, 
 or in the commands of the directory, is doubtful. 
 But from this time the formation of a great na- 
 tional gallery of pictures and statues at Paris was 
 considered as an object of the first importance ; 
 and every victorious general was expected to bring 
 trophies of this kind in his train. Whether the 
 fine arts themselves are likely to be improved in 
 conse({uence of the accumulation in any one. place 
 of sucli vast treasures as the Louvre ere long ex- 
 hibited., there has been, and will no doubt con- 
 tinue to be, much controversy. It is certain that 
 the arts of France derived no solid advantage from 
 Napoleon's museum. The collection was a mighty
 
 1796.] MILAN PICTURES AND STATUES. 51 
 
 heap of incense for the benefit of the national 
 vanity ; and the hand which brought it together 
 was preparing the means of inflicting on that 
 vanity one of the most intolerable of wounds, in 
 its ultimate dispersion. 
 
 The Duke of Modena would fain have redeemed 
 the famous St. Jerome, of Correggio, at the price 
 of 80,000/. ; and Buonaparte's lieutenants urged 
 him to accept the money. " No," said he, " the 
 duke's two millions of francs would soon be spent ; 
 but his Correggio will remain for ages to adorn 
 Paris, and inspire the arts of France." The pro- 
 phecy was not inspired. Of one thing there can 
 be no doubt ; namely, that the abstraction of these 
 precious monuments of art from the Italian col- 
 lections was deeply and permanently resented by 
 the Italian people. This sacrilege, as those en- 
 thusiastic and intelligent lovers of all the elegant 
 arts considered it, turned back many a half-made 
 convert from the principles of the French Revo- 
 lution. 
 
 Buonaparte remained but five days in Milan ; 
 the citadel of that place still held out against him ; 
 but he left a detachment to blockade it, and pro- 
 ceeded himself in pursuit of Beaulieu. The Aus- 
 trian had now planted the remains of his army 
 behind the Mincio, having his left on the great 
 and strong city of Mantua, which has been termed 
 " the citadel of Italy," and his right at Peschiera, 
 a Venetian fortress, of which he took possession 
 in spite of the remonstrances of the Doge. Pes- 
 chiera stands where the Mincio flows out of " its 
 parent lake," the Lago di Guarda. That great 
 body of waters, stretching many miles backwards 
 
 E 2
 
 02 NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE. [May, 
 
 towards the Tyrolese Alps, at once extended the 
 line of defence, and kept the communication open 
 with Vienna. The Austrian veteran occupied one 
 of the strongest positions that it is possible to 
 imagine. The invader hastened once more to 
 dislodge him. 
 
 The French directory, meanwhile, had begun to 
 entertain certain not unnatural suspicions as to 
 the ultimate designs of their young general, whose 
 success and fame had already reached so astonish- 
 ing a height. They determined to check, if they 
 could, the career of an ambition which they ap- 
 prehended might outgrow their control. Buona- 
 parte was ordered to take half his army, and lead 
 it against the Pope and the King of Naples, and 
 leave the other half to terminate the contest with 
 Beaulieu, under the orders of Kellermann. But 
 he acted on this occasion with the decision which 
 these directors in vain desired to emulate. He 
 answered by resigning his command. " One half 
 of the army of Italy," said he, " cannot suffice to 
 finish the matter with the Austrian. It is only by 
 keeping my force entire that I have been able to 
 gain so many battles and to be now in Milan, 
 You had better have one bad general than two 
 good ones." The directory durst not persist in 
 displacing the chief whose name was considered as 
 the pledge of victory. Napoleon resumed the un- 
 divided command, to whicli now, for the last time, 
 his right liad l)ecn questioned. 
 
 Anotlier unlooked-for occurrence delayed, for 
 a few days longer, the march upon Mantua. The 
 heavy exactions of the French, and even more 
 perhaps the wanton contempt with which they 
 
 r
 
 1796.] rOPULAR INSURRECTIONS. 5S 
 
 treated the churches and the clergy, had produced 
 or fostered the indignation of a large part of the 
 population throughout Lombardy. Reports of 
 new Austrian levies being poured down the passes 
 of the Tyrol were spread and believed. Popular 
 insurrections against the conqueror took place in 
 various districts : at least 30,000 were in arms. 
 At Pavia the insurgents were entirely triumphant ; 
 they had seized the town, and compelled the French 
 garrison to surrender. 
 
 Tliis flame, had it been suffered to spread, 
 threatened immeasurable evil to the French cause. 
 Lannes instantly marched to Benasco, stormed the 
 place, plundered and burnt it, and put the inhabit- 
 ants to the sword without mercy. The general in 
 person appeared before Pavia ; blew the gates 
 open ; easily scattered the townspeople ; and 
 caused the leaders to be executed, as if they had 
 committed a crime in endeavouring to rescue their 
 country from the arm of a foreign invader. Every- 
 where the same ferocious system was acted on. 
 The insurgent commanders were tried by courts- 
 martial, and shot without ceremony. At Lugo, 
 where a French squadron of horse had been gal- 
 lantly and disastrously defeated, the whole of the 
 male inhabitants were massacred. These bloody 
 examples quelled the insurrections ; but they fixed 
 the first dark and indelible stain on the name of 
 Napoleon Buonaparte. 
 
 The spirit of the Austrian and Catholic parties 
 in Lombardy thus crushed, the French advanced 
 on the Mincio. The general made such disposi- 
 tion of his troops, that Beaulieu doubted not he 
 meant to pass that river, if he could, at Peschiera.
 
 54 NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE. [May, 
 
 Meantime he had been preparing to repeat the 
 scene of Placenza ; — and actually, on the 30th of 
 May, forced the passage of the Mincio, not at 
 Peschiera, but further down at Borghetto. The 
 Austrian garrison at Borghetto in vain destroyed 
 one arch of the bridge. Buonaparte supplied the 
 breach with planks ; and his men, flushed with so 
 many victories, charged with a fury not to be 
 resisted. Beaulieu was obliged to abandon the 
 Mincio," as he had before the Adda and the Po, 
 and to take up the new line of the Adige. 
 
 Meantime an occurrence, which may be called 
 accidental, had nearly done more than repay the 
 Austrians for all their reverses. The left of their 
 line, stationed still further down the Mincio, — at 
 Puzzuolo, no sooner learned from the cannonade 
 that the French were at Borghetto, than they has- 
 tened to ascend the stream, with the view of assist- 
 ing the defence of their friends. They came too 
 late for this ; the commander at Borghetto had re- 
 treated before they arrived. They, however, came 
 imexpectedly ; and, such was the chance, reached 
 Valleggio after the French army had pursued the 
 Austrians through it and onwards — and, at the 
 moment when Buonaparte and a few friends, con- 
 sidering tlie work of the day to be over, and this 
 village as altogether in the rear of both armies, 
 were about to sit down to dinner in security. Se- 
 betendorff, who commanded the Puzzuolo division, 
 came rapidly, httle guessing what a prize was near 
 him, into the village. The French general's at- 
 tendants had barely time to shut tlie gates of the 
 inn, and alarm their chief by the cry " 'J'o arms." 
 Buonaparte threw himself on horseback, and gal-
 
 1796.] VALLEGGIO MANTUA. 55 
 
 loping out by a back-passage, effected the nar- 
 rowest of escapes from the most urgent of dangers. 
 Sebetendorff was soon assaulted by a French co- 
 lumn, and retreated, after Beaulieu's example, on 
 the line of the Adige. Buonaparte, profiting by 
 the perilous adventure of Valleggio, instituted a 
 small corps of picked men, called Guides, to watch 
 continually over his personal safety. Such was 
 the germ from which sprung the famous imperial 
 guard of Napoleon. 
 
 The Austrian had, in effect, abandoned for the 
 time the open country of Italy. He now lay on 
 the frontier, between the vast tract of rich pro- 
 vinces which Napoleon had conquered, and the 
 Tyrol. The citadel of Milan, indeed, still held 
 out ; but the force there was not great, and, cooped 
 up on every side, could not be expected to resist 
 much longer. Mantua, which possessed prodigious 
 natural advantages, and into which the retreating 
 general had flung a garrison of full 15,000 men, 
 was, in truth, the last and only Italian possession of 
 the imperial crown, which, as it seemed, there might 
 still be a possibility of saving. Beaulieu anxiously 
 waited the approach of new troops from Germany, 
 to attempt the relief of this great city ; and his 
 antagonist, eager to anticipate the efforts of the 
 imperial government, sat down immediately be- 
 fore it. 
 
 Mantua lies on an island, being cut off on all 
 sides from the main land by the branches of the 
 Mincio, and approachable only by five narrow 
 causeways, of which three were defended by strong 
 and regular fortresses or intrenched camps, the 
 other two by gates, drawbridges, and batteries,
 
 56 NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE. [June, 
 
 Situated amidst stagnant waters and morasses, its 
 air is pestilential, especially to strangers. The 
 garrison were prepared to maintain the position 
 with their usual bravery ; and it remained to be 
 seen whether the French general possessed any 
 new system of attack, capable of abridging the 
 usual operations of the siege, as effectually as he 
 had already done by those of the march and the 
 battle. His commencement was alarming : of the 
 five causeways, by sudden and overwhelming as- 
 saults, he obtained four ; and the garrison were 
 cut off from the main land, except only at the fifth 
 causeway, the strongest of them all, named, from 
 a palace near it. La Favorita. It seemed necessary, 
 however, in order that this blockade might be 
 complete, that the Venetian territory, lying imme- 
 diately beyond Mantua, should be occupied by the 
 French. The power of this ancient government 
 was no longer such as to inspire much respect, and 
 Buonaparte resolved that the claim of neutrality 
 should form no obstacle to his measures. The 
 French directory had already most ungenerously 
 trampled on the dignity of Venice, by demanding 
 that she should no longer afford a retreat to the 
 illustrious exile, the Count of Provence, eldest 
 surviving brother of Louis XVI.* That unfortu- 
 nate prince had, accordingly, though most reluc- 
 tantly, been desired to quit the Venetian states, 
 and liad already passed to tlie Rhine, where his 
 gallant cousin, the Prince of Condc, had long been 
 at the head of a small and devoted army composed 
 of the expatriated gentry of France. Buonaparte, 
 
 * The same who became afterwards Louis XV^III. of France.
 
 1796.] VENICE INSULTED. 57 
 
 however, chose to treat the rehictance witli which 
 Venice had been driven to this violation of her 
 hospitahty, as a new injury to his government : he 
 argued that a power who had harboured in friend- 
 ship, and unwilHngly expelled, the Pretender to the 
 French monarchy, had lost all title to forbearance 
 on the part of the Revolutionary forces. This 
 was a gross and ungenerous insult, and it was a 
 gratuitous one ; for he had a far better argument 
 behind. The imperial general had, as we have 
 seen, neglected the reclamations of the Doge, when 
 it suited his purpose to occupy Peschiera. " You 
 are too weak," said Buonaparte, when the Venetian 
 envoy reached his head-quarters, " to enforce neu- 
 trality on hostile nations such as France and Austria. 
 Beaulieu did not respect your territory when his 
 interest bade him violate it ; nor shall I hesitate to 
 occupy whatever falls within the line of the Adige." 
 In effect, garrisons were placed forthwith in Verona, 
 and all the strong places of that domain. The tri- 
 color flag now waved at the mouth of the Tyrolese 
 passes ; and Napoleon, leaving Serrurier to blockade 
 Mantua, returned to Milan, where he had important 
 business to arrange. 
 
 The King of Naples, utterly confounded by the 
 successes of the French, was now anxious to pro- 
 cure peace, almost on whatever terms, with the 
 apparently irresistible Republic. Nor did it, for 
 the moment, suit Buonaparte's views to contemn 
 his advances. A peace with this prince would 
 withdraw some valuable divisions from the army 
 of Beaulieu ; and the distance of the Neapolitan 
 territory was such, that the French had no means 
 of carrying the war thither with advantage, so long
 
 58 NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE. [1796. 
 
 as Austria retained the power of sending new forces 
 into Italy by the way of the Tyrol. He concluded 
 an armistice accordingly, which was soon followed 
 by a formal peace, with the King of the Two Sici- 
 lies ; and the Neapolitan troops, who had recently 
 behaved with eminent gallantry, abandoning the 
 Austrian general, began their march to the south 
 of Italy. 
 
 This transaction placed another of Napoleon's 
 destined victims entirely within his grasp. With 
 no friend behind him, the Pope saw himself at the 
 mercy of the invader ; and in terror prepared to 
 submit. Buonaparte occupied immediately his le- 
 gations of Bologna and Ferrara, making prisoners 
 in the latter of these towns four hundred of the 
 papal troops, and a cardinal, under whose orders 
 they were. The churchman militant was dismissed 
 on parole ; but, being recalled to head-(piarters, 
 answered that his master, the Pope, had given him 
 a dispensation to break his promise. This exercise 
 of the old dispensing power excited the merriment 
 of the conquerors. The Vatican, meanwhile, per- 
 ceived that no time was to be lost. The Spanish 
 resident at the Roman court was despatched to 
 Milan ; and the terms on which the holy father was 
 to obtain a brief respite were at length arranged. 
 Buonaparte demanded and obtained a million ster- 
 ling, a hundred of the finest pictures and statues in 
 the papal gallery, a large sup])Iy of military stores, 
 and the cession of Ancona, Ferrara, and I3ologna, 
 with their respective domains. 
 
 He next turned his attention to the grand duke 
 of Tuscany, — ;i prince wlio liad not only not taken 
 any part in the war against the Republic, but had 
 
 t
 
 1796.] MILAN LEGHORN FLORENCE. 59 
 
 been the very first of the European rulers to recog- 
 nise its estabhshment, and had kept on terms of 
 friendship with all its successive authorities. Buo- 
 naparte, however, in pursuance of his system, re- 
 solved that the brother of the emperor should pay 
 for his presumed inclinations. For the present, 
 the Florentine museum and the grand duke's trea- 
 sury were spared ; but Leghorn, the seaport of 
 Tuscany and great feeder of its wealth, was seized 
 w^ithout ceremony ; the English goods in that town 
 were confiscated to the ruin of the merchants ; and 
 a great number of English vessels in the harbour 
 made a narrow escape. The grand duke, in place 
 of resenting these injuries, was obliged to receive 
 Buonaparte with all the appearances of cordiality 
 at Florence ; and the spoiler repaid his courtesy 
 by telling him, rubbing his hands with glee, during 
 the princely entertainment provided for him, " I 
 have just received letters from Milan ; the citadel 
 has fallen ; — your brother has no longer a foot of 
 land in Lombardy." " It is a sad case," said Na- 
 poleon himself long afterwards, — speaking of these 
 scenes of exaction and insolence, — " it is a sad 
 case when the dwarf comes into the embrace of 
 the giant ; — he is like enough to be suffocated — 
 but 'tis the giant's nature to squeeze hard." 
 
 In the meantime the general did not neglect the 
 great and darling plan of the French government, 
 of thoroughly revolutionizing the North of Italy, 
 and establishing there a group of Republics mo- 
 delled after their own likeness, and prepared to act 
 as subservient allies in their mighty contest with 
 the European monarchies. The peculiar circum- 
 stances of Northern Italy, as a land of ancient fame
 
 60 NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE. [1796, 
 
 and high spirit, long spht into fragments, and ruled, 
 for the most part, by governors of German origin, 
 presented many facilities for the realization of this 
 design ; and Buonaparte was urged constantly by 
 his government at Paris, and by a powerful party 
 in Lombardy, to hasten its execution. He, how- 
 ever, had by this time learned to think of many 
 idols of the directory with about as little reverence 
 as they bestowed on the shrines of Catholicism ; in 
 his opinion more was to be gained by temporizing 
 with both the governments and the people of Italy, 
 than by any hasty measures of the kind recom- 
 mended. He saw well the deep disgust which his 
 exactions had excited. " You cannot," said he, 
 " at one and the same moment rob people, and 
 persuade them you are their friends." He fancied, 
 moreover, that the Pope and other nerveless rulers 
 of the land might be converted into at least as con- 
 venient ministers of French exaction, as any new 
 establishments he could raise in their room. Fi- 
 nally he perceived that whenever the directory were 
 to arrange seriously the terms of a settlement with 
 the great monarchy of Austria, their best method 
 would be to restore Lombardy, and thereby pur- 
 chase the continued possession of the more conve- 
 niently situated territories of Belgium and the 
 Luxembourgh. The general, therefore, tempo- 
 rized ; content, in the meantime, with draining the 
 exchequers of the governments, and cajoling from 
 day to day the population. Tlie directory were 
 witli difficulty persuaded to let him foHow his own 
 course ; but he now despised their remonstrances, 
 and tliey liad been taught effectually to dread his 
 Ktrenifth.
 
 1796.] EXACTIONS IN ITALY. 61 
 
 Napoleon, it is clear enough, had no intention to 
 grant these Italian governments anything but a re- 
 spite ; nor is it to be doubted that their disposition 
 to take part with Austria remained as it had been 
 before they entered into these treaties witli France. 
 That the purpose of deceit was mutual, affords, 
 however, no plea of justification — least of all to the 
 stronger party. " It will be well," says Sir Walter 
 Scott, " with the world, when falsehood and finesse 
 are as thoroughly exploded in international com- 
 munication, as they are among individuals in all 
 civilized countries."
 
 62 NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE. [1796. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Wuj'mscr supersedes Beaulieu — Jourdan and Moreuu 
 march into Germany^ and are forced to retreat again — 
 The Austrians advance from the Tyrol — Battle of Lo- 
 nato — Escape of Napoleon — Battle near Castiglione — 
 Wunnser retreats on Trent, and is recruited — Battle 
 of Roveredo — Battle of Primolano — Battle of Bassano 
 — Battle of St. Geo7'ge — Wurmser shut up in Mantua. 
 
 The general was now recalled to the war. The 
 cabinet of Vienna, apt to be slow, but sure to be 
 persevering, had at last resolved upon sending 
 efficient aid to the Italian frontier. Beaulieu had 
 been too often unfortunate to be trusted longer : 
 Wurmser, who enjoyed a reputation of the highest 
 class, was sent to replace him : 30,000 men were 
 drafted from the armies on the Rhine to accom- 
 pany the new general ; and he carried orders to 
 strengthen himself further, on his march, by what- 
 ever recruits he could raise among the warlike and 
 loyal population of tlie Tyrol. 
 
 The consequences of thus weakening the Aus- 
 trian force on the Rhine were, for the moment, 
 on that scene of the contest, inauspicious. The 
 French, in two separate bodies, forced tlie passage 
 of the Rhine — under Jourdan and Moreau ; l)efore 
 whom tlie imperial generals, Wartensleben and 
 the Archduke Charles, were compelled to retire. 
 
 I
 
 1796.] MOREAU'S RETREAT. G3 
 
 But the skill of the Archduke ere long enabled 
 him to effect a junction with the columns of War- 
 tensleben ; and thus to fall upon Jourdan with a 
 great superiority of numbers, and give him a signal 
 defeat. The loss of the French in the field was 
 great, and the bitter hostility of the German pea- 
 santry made their retreat a bloody one. Moreau, 
 on the other hand, learning how Jourdan was dis- 
 comfited, found himself compelled to give up the 
 plan of pursuing his march further into Germany, 
 and executed that famous retreat through the Black 
 Forest which has made his name as splendid as 
 any victory in the field could have done. But this 
 reverse, however alleviated by the honours of Mo- 
 reau's achievement, was attended with appearances 
 of the most perilous kind. The genius of Carnot 
 had devised a great scheme of operations, of which 
 one half was thus at once cut short. He had meant 
 Moreau and Jourdan, coalescing beyond the Rhine, 
 to march upon the Tyrol ; while Buonaparte shoidd 
 advance from the scene of his Italian conquests, 
 join his brother generals on that frontier, and then 
 march in union with them to dictate a peace before 
 the gates of Vienna. All hope of this junction of 
 forces was now at an end for this campaign. The 
 French saw themselves compelled to resume the 
 defensive on the western frontier of Germany ; and 
 the army of Italy had to await the overwhelming 
 war which seemed ready to pour down upon Lom- 
 bardy from the passes of the Tyrol. 
 
 Wurmser, when he fixed his head-quarters at 
 Trent, mustered in all 80,000 ; while Buonaparte 
 had but 30,000, to hold a wide country, in which 
 abhorrence of the French cause was now preva-
 
 64 NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE. [A.UgUSt, 
 
 lent, to keep up the blockade of Mantua, and to 
 oppose this fearful odds of numbers in the field. 
 He was now, moreover, to act on the defensive, 
 while his adversary assumed the more inspiriting 
 character of invader. He awaited the result with 
 calmness. 
 
 Wurmser might have learned from the successes 
 of Buonaparte the advantages of compact move- 
 ment ; yet he was unwise enough to divide his 
 great force into three separate columns, and to 
 place one of these upon a line of march which en- 
 tirely separated it from the support of the others. 
 He himself, with his centre, came down on the left 
 bank of the Lago di Guarda, with Mantua before 
 him as his mark : his left wing, under Melas, was 
 to descend the Adige, and drive the French from 
 Verona ; while the right wing, luider Quasdonowich, 
 were ordered to keep down the valley of the Chiese, 
 in the direction of Brescia, and so to cut off the 
 retreat of Buonaparte upon the Milanese ; — in 
 other words, to interpose the waters of the Lago 
 di Guarda between themselves and the march of 
 their friends — ^a blunder not likely to escape the 
 eagle eye of Napoleon. 
 
 He immediately determined to march against 
 Quasdonowicli, and fight him where he could not 
 be supported by the otlier two columns. This 
 coukl not be done witliout abandoning for the time 
 the blockade of Mantua; but it was not for Buo- 
 naparte to hesitate about purcliasing a great ulti- 
 mate advantage, by a present sacrifice, however 
 disagreeal)le. 'J'he guns were buried in the trenches 
 during the night of the .'31st July, and the French 
 quitted the place with a precipitation which the
 
 1796.] JB^ATTLE OF LONATO. 65 
 
 advancing Austrians considered as the result of 
 terror. 
 
 Nc.poleon meanwhile rushed against Quasdono- 
 vvich, who had already come near the bottom of the 
 Lake of Guarda. At Salo, close by the lake, and, 
 further from it, at Lonato, two divisions of the 
 Austrian column were attacked and overwhelmed. 
 Augereau and Massena, leaving merely rear-guards 
 at Borghetto and Peschiera, now marched also 
 upon Brescia. The whole force of Quasdonowich 
 must inevitably have been ruined by these combi- 
 nations, had he stood his ground ; but by this time 
 the celerity of Napoleon had overawed him, and 
 he was already in full retreat upon his old quarters 
 in the Tyrol. Augereau and Massena, therefore, 
 countermarched their columns, and returned to- 
 wards the Mincio. They found that Wurmser had 
 forced their rear-guards from their posts : that of 
 Massena, under Pigeon, had retired in good order 
 to Lonato ; that of Augereau, under Vallette, had 
 retreated in confusion, abandoning Castiglione to 
 the Austrians. 
 
 Flushed with these successes, old Wurmser now 
 resolved to throw his whole force upon the French, 
 and resume at the point of the bayonet his com- 
 munication wath the scattered column of Quasdono- 
 wich. He was so fortunate as to defeat the gallant 
 Pigeon at Lonato, and to occupy that town. But 
 this new success was fatal to him. Li the exulta- 
 tion of victory he extended his line too much to- 
 wards the right ; and this over-anxiety to open the 
 communication with Quasdonowich had the effect 
 of so w^eakening his centre, that Massena, boldly 
 and skilfully seizing the opportunity, poured two
 
 66 NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE. [August, 
 
 Strong columns on Lonato, and regained the po- 
 sition ; whereon the Austrian, perceiving that his 
 army was cut in two, was thrown into utter confu- 
 sion. Some of his troops, marching to the right, 
 were met by those of the French, who had ah'eady 
 defeated Quasdonowich in that quarter, and obhged 
 to surrender : the most retreated in great disorder. 
 At Castighone alone a brave stand was made. 
 But Augereau, burning to wipe out the disgrace of 
 Vallette,* forced the position, though at a severe 
 loss. Such was the battle of Lonato. Thenceforth 
 nothing could surpass the discomfiture and disarray 
 of the Austrians. They fled in all directions upon 
 the Mincio, where Wurmser himself, meanwhile, 
 had been employed in revictualling Mantua. 
 
 A mere accident had once more almost saved the 
 Imperialist. One of the many defeated divisions 
 of the army, wandering about in anxiety to find 
 some means of reaching the Mincio, came suddenly 
 on Lonato, the scene of the late battle, at a moment 
 when Napoleon was there with only his staff and 
 guards about him. He knew not that any con- 
 siderable body of the enemy remained together in 
 the neighbourhood ; and, but for his presence of 
 mind, must have been their prisoner. The Austrian 
 had not the skill to profit by what fortune threw in 
 his way ; the other was able to turn even a blun- 
 der into an advantage. The officer sent to demand 
 the surrender of the town was brought blindfolded, 
 as is the custom, to his head-quarters ; Buonaparte, 
 by a secret sign, caused his whole staflt' to draw up 
 
 * Vallette was cashiered. Augereau was afterwards created 
 Duke of Castiglione, in memory of this exploit.
 
 1796.] MANTUA RE-INVESTED. 67 
 
 around him, and when the bandage was removed 
 from the messenger's eyes, saluted him thus : 
 " What means this insolence ? Do you beard the 
 French general in the middle of his army ?" The 
 German recognized the person of Napoleon, and 
 retreated stammering and blushing. He assured 
 his commander that Lonato was occupied by the 
 French in numbers that made resistance impossi- 
 ble. Four thousand men laid down their arms ; 
 and then discovered that, if they had used them, 
 nothing could have prevented Napoleon from being 
 their prize. 
 
 Wurmser collected together the whole of his re- 
 maining force, and advanced to meet the conqueror. 
 He, meanwhile, had himself determined on the as- 
 sault, and was hastening to the encounter. They 
 met between Lonato and Castiglione. Wurmser 
 was totally defeated, and narrowly escaped being 
 a prisoner ; nor did he without great difficulty re- 
 gain Trent and Roveredo, those frontier positions 
 from whicli his noble army had so recently de- 
 scended with all the confidence of conquerors. In 
 this disastrous campaign the Austrians lost 40,000 : 
 Buonaparte probably understated his own loss at 
 7000. During the seven days which the campaign 
 occupied he never took off his boots, nor slept 
 except by starts. The exertions which so rapidly 
 achieved this signal triumph were such as to de- 
 mand some repose ; yet Napoleon did not pause 
 until he saw Mantua once more completely in- 
 vested. The reinforcement and revictualling of 
 that garrison were all that Wurmser could show, 
 in requital of his lost artillery, stores, and 40,000 
 men. 
 
 F 2
 
 68 NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE. [Aug.— Sept. 
 
 During this brief campaign the aversion with 
 which the ecclesiastics of Italy regarded the French 
 manifested itself in various quarters. At Pavia, 
 Ferrara, and elsewhere, insurrections had broken 
 out, and the spirit was spreading rapidly at the mo- 
 ment when the report of Napoleon's new victory 
 came to re-awaken terror and paralyse revolt. 
 The conqueror judged it best to accept for the 
 present the re-submission, however forced, of a 
 party too powerful to be put down by examples. 
 The Cardinal Mattei, Archbishop of Ferrara, being 
 brought into his presence, uttered the single word 
 peccavi : the victor was contented with ordering 
 him a penance of seven days fasting and prayer in 
 a monastery : bvit he had no intention to forget 
 these occurrences whenever another day of reckon- 
 ing with the Pope should come. 
 
 While he was occupied with restoring quiet in 
 the country, Austria, ever constant in adversity, 
 hastened to place 20,000 fresh troops under the 
 orders of Wurmser ; and the brave veteran, whose 
 heart nothing could chill, prepared himself to make 
 one effort more to relieve Mantua, and drive the 
 French out of Lombardy. His army was now, as 
 before, greatly the superior in numbers ; and 
 though the bearing of his troops was more modest, 
 their gallantry remained unimpaired. Once more 
 the old general divided his army ; and once more 
 he was destined to see it shattered in detail. 
 
 He marched from Trent towards Mantua, through 
 the defiles of the IJrenta, at the head of .'30,000 ; 
 leaving 20,000 under Davidowich at Koveredo, to 
 cover the Tyrol. IJuonaparte instaimy detected 
 the error of his opponent. He suffered him to
 
 1796.] BATTLE OF ROVEREDO. 69 
 
 advance unmolested as far as Bassano, and the 
 moment he was there, and consequently completely 
 separated from Davidowich and his rear, drew to- 
 gether a strong force, and darted on Roveredo, 
 by marches such as seemed credible only after 
 they had been accomplished. 
 
 The battle of Roveredo (Sept. 4) is one of Na- 
 poleon's most illustrious days. The enemy had a 
 strongly entrenched camp in front of the town ; and 
 behind it, in case of misfortune, Galliano, with its 
 castle seated on a precipice over the Adige, where 
 that river flows between enormous rocks and moun- 
 tains, appeared to offer an impregnable retreat. 
 Nothing could withstand the ardour of the French. 
 The Austrians, though they defended the in- 
 trenched camp with their usual obstinacy, were 
 forced to give way by the impetuosity of Dubois 
 and his hussars. Dubois fell, mortally wounded, 
 in the moment of his glory : he waved his sabre, 
 cheering his men onwards with his last breath. 
 " I die," said he, " for the Republic ; — only let me 
 hear, ere life leaves me, that the victory is ours." 
 The French horse, thus animated, pursued the 
 Germans, who were driven, unable to rally, through 
 and beyond the town. Even the gigantic defences 
 of Galliano proved of no avail. Height after height 
 was carried at the point of the bayonet ; 7000 pri- 
 soners and fifteen cannon remained with the con- 
 querors. The Austrians fled to Levisa, which 
 guards one of the chief defiles of the Tyrolese Alps, 
 and were there beaten again. Vaubois occupied 
 this important position with the gallant division 
 who had forced it. Massena fixed himself in 
 Wurmser's late head-quarters at Trent ; and Na-
 
 70 NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE. [September, 
 
 poleon, having thus totally cut off the field-mar- 
 shal's communication with Germany, proceeded to 
 issue proclamations calling on the inhabitants of 
 the Tyrol to receive the French as friends, and 
 seize the opportunity of freeing themselves for 
 ever from the dominion of Austria. He put forth 
 an edict declaring that the sovereignty of the 
 district was henceforth in the French Republic, 
 and inviting the people themselves to arrange, 
 according to their pleasure, its interior govern- 
 ment. 
 
 The French general made a grievous mistake 
 when he supposed that the Tyrolese were divided 
 in their attachment to the Imperial government, 
 because he had found the Italian subjects of that 
 crown to be so. The Tyrol, one of the most 
 ancient of the Austrian possessions, had also been 
 one of the best governed ; the people enjoyed all 
 the liberty they wished under a paternal adminis- 
 tration. They received with scornful coldness the 
 flattering exhortations of one in whom they saw 
 only a cunning and rapacious enemy ; and Buona- 
 parte was soon satisfied that it would cost more 
 time than was then at his disposal to republicanize 
 those gallant mountaineers. They, in truth, began 
 to arm themselves, and waited but the signal to 
 rise everywhere upon the invaders. 
 
 Wurmser heard with dismay the utter ruin of 
 Davidowich ; and doubted not that Napoleon would 
 now marcli onwards into Germany, and joining 
 Jomdan and Moreau, whose advance he liad heard 
 of, and misguesscd to have been successful, endea- 
 vour to realize tlie great scheme of Carnot — that 
 of attacking Vienna itself. The old general saw
 
 1796.] BATTLE OF BASSANO. 71 
 
 no chance of converting what remained to him of 
 his army to good purpose, but by abiding in Lom- 
 bardy, where he thought he might easily excite 
 the people in his emperor's favour, overwhelm the 
 slender garrisons left by Buonaparte, and so cut 
 off, at all events, the French retreat through Italy, 
 in case they should meet with any disaster in the 
 Tyrol or in Germany. Napoleon had intelligence 
 which Wurmser wanted. Wurmser himself was 
 his mark ; and he returned from Trent to Primolano 
 where the Imperialist's vanguard lay, by a forced 
 march of not less than sixty miles performed in two 
 days. The surprize with which this descent was 
 received may be imagined. The Austrian van was 
 destroyed in a twinkling. The French, pushing 
 everything before them, halted that night at Cis- 
 mone — where Napoleon was glad to have half a 
 private soldier's ration of bread for his supper. 
 Next day he reached Bassano where the aged 
 Marshal once more expected the fatal rencounter. 
 The battle of Bassano (Sept. 8) was a fatal re- 
 petition of those that had gone before it. Six 
 thousand men laid down their arms. Quasdono- 
 wich, with one division of 4000, escaped to Friuli ; 
 while Wurmser himself, retreating to Vicenza, 
 there collected with difficulty a remnant of 16,000 
 beaten and discomfited soldiers. His situation 
 was most unhappy ; his communication with Aus- 
 tria wholly cut off — his artillery and baggage all 
 lost — the flower of his army no more. Nothing 
 seemed to remain but to throw himself into Mantua, 
 and there hold out to the last extremity, in the 
 hope, however remote, of some succours from Vi-
 
 72 NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE. [Sept.— Oct. 
 
 enna ; and such was the resolution of this often 
 outvvitted but never dispirited veteran. 
 
 In order to execute his purpose, it was necessary 
 to force a passage somewhere on the Adige ; and 
 the Austrian, especially as he had lost all his pon- 
 toons, would have had great difficulty in doing so, 
 but for a mistake on the part of the French com- 
 mander at Legnago, who, conceiving the attempt 
 was to be made at Verona, marched to reinforce 
 the corps stationed there, and thus left his proper 
 position unguarded. Wurmser, taking advantage 
 of this, passed with his army at Legnago, and after 
 a series of bloody skirmishes, in which fortune di- 
 vided her favours pretty equally, was at length 
 enabled to throw himself into Mantua. Napoleon 
 made another narrow escape, in one of these skir- 
 mishes, at Areola. He was surrounded for a 
 moment, and had just galloped off, when Wurm- 
 ser coming up and learning that the prize was so 
 near, gave particular directions to bring him in 
 alive ! 
 
 Buonaparte, after making himself master of some 
 scattered corps which had not been successful in 
 keeping up with Wurmser, re-appeared once more 
 before Mantua. The battle of St. George — so 
 called from one of the suburbs of the city — was 
 fought on the 13th of September, and after pro- 
 digious slaugliter, the French remained in posses- 
 sion of all the causeways ; so that the blockade of 
 the city and fortress was thenceforth complete. 
 The garrison, when Wurmser shut himself up, 
 amounted to 26,000. Before October was far ad- 
 vanced the pestilential air of the place, and the
 
 1796.] WURMSER IN MANTUA. 73 
 
 scarcity and badness of provisions, had filled his 
 hospitals, and left him hardly half the number in 
 fighting condition. The misery of the besieged 
 town was extreme ; and if Austria meant to rescue 
 Wurmser, there was no time to be lost.
 
 74 NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE. [October, 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Affairs of Corsica — Alvinzi assumes the Command of the 
 Austrians on the Italian frontier — The three Battles 
 of Areola — Retreat of Alvinzi — Battle of Rivoli — 
 Battle of La Favorita — Surrender of Mantua — Victor 
 marches on Ancona — Despair of the Pope — Treaty of 
 ToUentino. 
 
 The French party in Corsica had not contemplated 
 without pride and exultation the triumphs of their 
 countryman. His seizure of Leghorn, by cutting 
 off the supplies from England, greatly distressed 
 the opposite party in the island, and an expedition 
 of Corsican exiles, which he now despatched from 
 Tuscany, was successful in finally reconquering the 
 country. To Napoleon this acquisition was due ; 
 nor were the directory insensible to its value. He, 
 meanwhile, had heavier business on his hands. 
 
 The Austrian council well knew that Mantua 
 was in excellent keeping ; and being now relieved 
 on the Rhenish frontier, by the failure of Jourdan 
 and Moreau's attempts, were able to form once more 
 a powerful armament on that of Italy. The su- 
 preme command was given to Marshal Alvinzi, a 
 veteran of high reputation. He, having made ex- 
 tensive levies in Illyria, appeared at Friuli ; while 
 Davidowich, with the remnant of Quasdonowich's 
 army, amply recruited among the bold peasantry
 
 1796.] CAMPAIGN OF ALVINZI. 75 
 
 of the Tyrol, and with fresh drafts from the Rhine, 
 took ground above Trent. The marshal had in all 
 60,000 men under his orders. Buonaparte had 
 received only twelve new battalions, to replace all 
 the losses of those terrible campaigns, in which 
 three imperial armies had already been annihilated. 
 The enemy's superiority of numbers was once 
 more such, that nothing, but the most masterly 
 combinations on the part of the French general, 
 could have prevented them from sweeping every- 
 thing before them in the plains of Lombardy. 
 
 Buonaparte heard in the beginning of October 
 that Alvinzi's columns were in motion : he had 
 placed Vaubois to guard Trent, and Massena at 
 Bassano to check the march of the field-marshal : 
 but neither of these generals was able to hold his 
 ground. The troops of Vaubois were driven from 
 that position of Galliano, the strength of which has 
 been already mentioned, under circumstances which 
 Napoleon considered disgraceful to the character 
 of the French soldiery. Massena avoided battle ; 
 but such was the overwhelming superiority of 
 Alvinzi, that he was forced to abandon the position 
 of Bassano. Napoleon himself hurried forward to 
 sustain Massena ; and a severe rencontre, in which 
 either side claimed the victory, took place at Vi- 
 cenza. The French, however, retreated, and 
 Buonaparte fixed his head-quarters at Verona. 
 The whole country between the Brenta and the 
 Adige was in the enemy's hands ; while the still 
 strong and determined garrison of Mantua in Na- 
 poleon's rear, rendering it indispensable for him to 
 divide his forces, made his position eminently cri- 
 tical.
 
 76 NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE. [Oct.— Nov. 
 
 His first care was to visit the discomfited troops 
 of Vaubois. " You have displeased me," said he, 
 " you have suffered yourselves to be driven from 
 positions where a handful of determined men might 
 have bid an army defiance. You are no longer 
 French soldiers ! You belong not to the army of 
 Italy." At these words, tears streamed down the 
 rugged cheeks of the grenadiers. " Place us but 
 once more in the van," cried they, " and you shall 
 judge whether we do not belong to the army of 
 Italy." The general dropped his angry tone ; and 
 in the rest of the campaign no troops more distin- 
 guished themselves than these. 
 
 Having thus revived the ardour of his soldiery, 
 Buonaparte concentrated his columns on the right 
 of the Adige, while xVlvinzi took up a very strong 
 position on the heights of Caldiero, on the left 
 bank, nearly opposite to Verona. In pursuance 
 of the same system which had already so often 
 proved fatal to his opponents, it was the object of 
 Buonaparte to assault Alvinzi, and scatter his 
 forces, ere they could be joined by Davidowich. 
 He lost no time, therefore, in attacking the heights 
 of Caldiero ; but in spite of all that Massena, who 
 headed the charge, could do, the Austrians, strong 
 in numbers and in position, repelled the assailants 
 with great carnage. A terrible tempest prevailed 
 during the action, and Napoleon, in his despatches, 
 endeavoured to sliift the blame to the elements. 
 
 Tlie coimtry ])ehind Caldiero lying open to Da- 
 vidowich, it became necessary to resort to other 
 means of assault, or })ermit the dreaded junction 
 to occur. I'he genius of Buonaparte suggested to 
 him on this occasion a movement altogether unex- 
 
 I
 
 15 Nov. 1796.] BRIDGE OF ARCOLA. 77 
 
 pected. During the night, leaving 1,500 men under 
 Kilmaine to guard Verona, he marched for some 
 space rearwards, as if he had meant to retreat on 
 Mantua, which the failure of his recent assault 
 rendered not unlikely. But his columns were ere 
 long wheeled again towards the Adige : and finding 
 a bridge ready prepared, were at once placed on 
 the same side of the river with the enemy, — but in 
 the rear altogether of his position, amidst those 
 wide-spreading morasses which cover the country 
 about Areola. This daring movement was devised 
 to place Napoleon between Alvinzi and Davido- 
 wich ; but the unsafe nature of the ground, and 
 the narrowness of the dykes, by which alone he 
 could advance on Areola, rendered victory difficult, 
 and reverse most hazardous. He divided his men 
 into three columns, and charged at daybreak 
 (Nov. 15) by the three dykes which conduct to 
 Areola. The Austrian, not suspecting that the 
 main body of the French had evacuated Verona, 
 treated this at first as an affair of light troops ; but 
 as day advanced the truth became apparent, and 
 these narrow passages were defended with the most 
 determined gallantry. Augereau headed the first 
 column that reached the bridge of Areola, and was 
 there, after a desperate effort, driven back with 
 great loss. Buonaparte, perceiving the necessity 
 of carrying the point ere Alvinzi could arrive, now 
 threw himself on the bridge, and seizing a standard, 
 urged his grenadiers once more to the charge. 
 
 The fire was tremendous : once more the French 
 gave way. Napoleon himself, lost in the tumult, 
 was borne backwards, forced over the dyke, and 
 had nearly been smothered in the morass, while
 
 78 NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE. [Nov. 15, 
 
 some of the advancing Austrians were already 
 between him and his baffled cokmin. His immi- 
 nent danger was observed : the soldiers caught the 
 alarm, and rushing forwards, with the cry, " Save 
 the general," overthrew the Germans with irre- 
 sistible violence, plucked Napoleon from the bog, 
 and carried the bridge. This was the first battle 
 of Areola. 
 
 This movement revived in the Austrian lines 
 their terror for the name of Buonaparte ; and 
 Alvinzi saw that no time was to be lost if he meant 
 to preserve his communication with Davidowich. 
 He abandoned Caldiero, and gaining the open 
 country behind Areola, robbed his enemy for the 
 moment of the advantage which his skill had gained. 
 Napoleon, perceiving that Areola was no longer in 
 the rear of his enemy but in his front, and fearful 
 lest Vaubois might be overwhelmed by Davido- 
 wich, while Alvinzi remained thus between him 
 and the Brenta, evacuated Areola, and retreated 
 to Ronco. 
 
 Next morning, having ascertained that Davido- 
 wich had not been engaged with Vaubois, Napoleon 
 once more advanced upon Areola. The place 
 was once more defended bravely, and once more 
 it was carried. But this second battle of Areola 
 proved no more decisive than the first ; for Alvinzi 
 still contrived to maintain his main force unbroken 
 in the difficult coimtry behind ; and Buonaparte 
 again retreated to Ronco. 
 
 The third day was decisive. On this occasion 
 also he carried Areola ; and, by two stratagems, 
 was enabled to make his victory cfJectual. An 
 ambuscade, planted among some willow b, sud- 
 
 I
 
 1796.] ARCOLA. 79 
 
 denly opened fire on a column of Croats, threw 
 them into confusion, and, rushing from the con- 
 cealment, crushed them down into the opposite bog, 
 where most of them died. Napoleon was anxious 
 to follow up this success by charging the Aus- 
 trian main body on the firm ground behind the 
 marshes. But it was no easy matter to reach them 
 there. He had, in various quarters, portable bridges 
 ready for crossing the ditclies and canals ; but the 
 enemy stood in good order, and three days' hard 
 fighting had nearly exhausted his own men. In 
 one of his conversations at St. Helena, he thus 
 told the sequel. " At Areola I gained the battle 
 with twenty-five horsemen. I perceived the criti- 
 cal moment of lassitude in either army — when the 
 oldest and bravest would have been glad to be in 
 their tents. x\ll my men had been engaged. Three 
 times I had been obliged to re-establish the battle. 
 There remained to me but some twenty-five guides. 
 I sent them round on the flank of the enemy with 
 three trumpets, bidding them blow loud and charge 
 furiously. Here is the French cavalry, was the 
 cry ; and they took to flight." .... The Austrians 
 doubted not that Murat and all the horse had forced 
 a w ay through the bogs ; and at that moment 
 Buonaparte commanding a general assault in front, 
 the confusion became hopeless. Alvinzi retreated 
 finally, though in decent order, upon Montebello. 
 
 It was at Areola that Muiron, who ever since 
 the storming of Little Gibraltar had lived on terms 
 of brother-like intimacy with Napoleon, seeing a 
 bomb about to explode, threw himself between it 
 and his general, and thus saved his life at the cost
 
 80 NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE. [Jan. 
 
 of his own. Napoleon, to the end of his life, 
 remembered and regretted this heroic friend. 
 
 In these three days Buonaparte lost 8000 men : 
 the slaughter among his opponents must have been 
 terrible. Davidowich, in never coming up to join 
 Alvinzi after his success over Vaubois, and Wurmser, 
 in remaining quiet at Mantua, when by advancing 
 with his garrison he might have incommoded the 
 French rear, were guilty of grievous misjudgmerit 
 or indecision. Once more the rapid combinations 
 of Napoleon had rendered all the efforts of the 
 Austrian cabinet abortive. For two months after 
 the last day of Areola, he remained the undisturbed 
 master of Lombardy. All that his enemy could 
 show, in set-oft' for the slaughter and discomfiture 
 of Alvinzi's campaign, was that they retained pos- 
 session of Bassano and Trent, thus interrupting 
 Buonaparte's access to the Tyrol and Germany. 
 This advantage was not trivial ; but it had been 
 dearly bought. 
 
 A fourth army had been baffled ; but the resolu- 
 tion of the Imperial Court was indomitable, and new 
 levies were diligently forwarded to reinforce Alvinzi. 
 Once more (January 7, 1797) the Marshal found 
 himself at the head of 60,000 : once more his supe- 
 riority over Napoleon's muster-roll was enormous ; 
 and once more he descended from the mountains 
 with the hope of relieving Wurmser and recon- 
 quering Lombardy. The fifth act of the tragedy 
 was yet to be performed. 
 
 We may here pause to notice some civil events 
 of importance which occurred ere Alvinzi made his 
 final descent. The success of the French naturally
 
 1797.] NEW REPUBLICS IN ITALY. 81 
 
 gave new vigour to the Italian party, who, chiefly 
 in the large towns, were liostile to Austria, and 
 desirous to settle their own government on the 
 republican model. Napoleon had by this time 
 come to be anything but a Jacobin in his political 
 sentiments : his habits of command ; his experience 
 of the narrow and ignorant management of the di- 
 rectory ; his personal intercourse with the ministers 
 of sovereign powers ; his sense, daily strengthened 
 by events, that whatever good was done in Italy 
 proceeded from his own skill and the devotion of his 
 army, — all these circumstances conspired to make 
 him respect himself and contemn the government, 
 almost in despite of which he had conquered king- 
 doms for France. He therefore regarded now 
 with little sympathy the aspirations after republican 
 organization, which he had himself originally sti- 
 mulated among the northern Italians. He knew, 
 however, that the directory had, by absurd and 
 extravagant demands, provoked the Pope to break 
 off the treaty of Bologna, and to raise his army to 
 the number of 40,000, — that Naples had every dis- 
 position to back his Holiness with 30,000 soldiers, 
 provided any reverse should befall the French in 
 Lombardy, — and, finally, that Alvinzi was rapidly 
 preparing for another march, with numbers in- 
 finitely superior to what he could himself extort 
 from the government of Paris ; * and considering 
 these circumstances, he felt himself compelled to 
 s.eek strength by gratifying his Italian friends. 
 Two Republics accordingly were organized ; the 
 Cispadane and the Transpadane — handmaids ra- 
 
 * Buonaparte, to replace all his losses in the two last cam- 
 paigns, had received only 7000 recruits. 
 
 VOL. I. Q
 
 82 NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE. [Jan. 
 
 ther than sisters of the great French democracy. 
 These events took place during the period of mih- 
 tary inaction which followed the victories of Areola, 
 The new Republics hastened to repay Napoleon's 
 favour by raising troops, and placed at his disposal 
 a force which he considered as sufficient to keep 
 the Papal army in check during the expected re- 
 newal of Alvinzi's efforts. 
 
 Buonaparte at this period practised every art to 
 make himself popular with the Italians ; nor was 
 it of little moment that they in fact regarded him 
 more as their own countryman tlian a Frenchman ; 
 that their beautiful language was his mother tongue ; 
 that he knew their manners and their literature, 
 and even in his conquering rapacity displayed his 
 esteem for their arts. He was wise enough too, 
 on farther familiarity with the state of the country, 
 to drop that tone of hostility which he had at first 
 adopted towards the priesthood ; and to cultivate 
 the most influential members of that powerful order 
 by attentions which the directory heard of with 
 wonder, and would have lieard of, liad he been 
 any other than Napoleon, with scorn and con- 
 tempt.* Wherever lie could liave personal inter- 
 course with the priesthood, he seems to have con- 
 siderably softened their s})leen. Meanwhile the 
 
 * He found among them a wealthy old canon of his own 
 name, who was proud to hail the Coisican as a true descendant 
 of the Tuscan iiuonapartes ; who entertained him and his 
 whole staff with much splendour ; amused the general with his 
 anxiety that some interest should he applied to the Pope, in 
 order to procure the canonization of a certain long defunct 
 worthy of the common lineage, hy name liuonventara Buona- 
 parte ; and dying shortly afterwards, bequeathed his whole 
 fortune to his new-found kinsman.
 
 1797.] THIRD ADVANCE OF THE IMPERIALISTS. 83 
 
 clergy beyond the Appenines, and the nobility of 
 Romagna, were combining all their efforts to rouse 
 the population against him ; and the Pope, pushed, 
 as we have seen, to despair by the French directory, 
 had no reason to complain that his secular vassals 
 heard such appeals with indifference. 
 
 Alvinzi's preparations were in the meantime ra- 
 pidly advancing. The enthusiasm of the Austrian 
 gentry was effectually stirred by the apprehension 
 of seeing the conqueror of Italy under the walls of 
 Vienna, and volunteer corps were formed every- 
 where and marched upon the frontier. The gal- 
 lant peasantry of the Tyrol had already displayed 
 their zeal ; nor did the previous reverses of Alvinzi 
 prevent them from once more crowding to his 
 standard. Napoleon proclaimed that every Ty- 
 rolese caught in arms should be shot as a brigand. 
 Alvinzi replied, that for every murdered peasant 
 he vrould hang a French prisoner of war : Buona- 
 parte rejoined, that the first execution of this threat 
 would be instantly followed by the gibbeting of 
 Alvinzi's own nephew, who was in his hands. 
 These ferocious threats were laid aside, when time 
 had been given for reflection ; and either general 
 prepared to carry on the war according to the old 
 rules, which are at least sufficiently severe. 
 
 Alvinzi sent a peasant across the country to find 
 his way if possible into the beleaguered city of 
 Mantua, and give Wurmser notice that he was 
 once more ready to attempt his relief. The veteran 
 was commanded to make what diversion he could 
 in favour of the approaching army ; and if things 
 came to the worst, to fight his way out of Mantua, 
 retire on Romagna, and put himself at the head of 
 
 G 2
 
 84 NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE. [Jan. 14, 
 
 the Papal forces. The spy who carried these 
 tidings was intercepted, and dragged into the pre- 
 sence of Napoleon. The terrified man confessed 
 that he had swallowed the ball of wax in which the 
 despatch was wrapped. His stomach was com- 
 pelled to surrender its contents ; and Buonaparte 
 prepared to meet his enemy. Leaving Serrurier 
 to keep up the blockade of Mantua, he hastened 
 to resume his central position at Verona, from 
 which he could, according to circumstances, march 
 with convenience on whatever line the Austrian 
 main body might choose for their advance. 
 
 The Imperialists, as if determined to profit by 
 no lesson, once more descended from the Tyrol 
 upon two different lines of march ; Alvinzi himself 
 choosing that of the Upper Adige ; while Provera 
 headed a second army, with orders to follow the 
 Brcnta, and then, striking across to the Lower 
 Adige, join the marshal before the walls of Mantua. 
 Could they have combined their forces there, and 
 delivered Wurmser, there was hardly a doubt that 
 the French must retreat before so vast an army 
 as would then have faced them. But Napoleon 
 was destined once more to dissipate all these vic- 
 torious dreams. He had posted Joubert at Rivoli, 
 to dispute that important position, should the cam- 
 paign open with an attempt to force it by Alvinzi ; 
 while Augcreau's division was to watch the march 
 of Provera. He remained himself at Verona until 
 he could learn with certainty by which of these 
 generals the first grand assault was to be made. 
 On the evening of tlie 1 .'Jtli of January, tidings 
 were brought him that Joubert had all that day 
 been maintaining his ground with difficulty ; and
 
 1797.J BATTLE OF RIVOLI. 85 
 
 he instantly hastened to what now appeared to be 
 the proper scene of action for himself. 
 
 Arriving about two in the morning, (by another 
 of his almost incredible forced marches,) on the 
 heights of Rivoli, he, the moonlight being clear, 
 could distinguish five separate encampments, with 
 innumerable watch-fires, in the valley below. His 
 lieutenant, confounded by the display of this gigan- 
 tic force, was in the very act of abandoning the 
 position. Napoleon instantly checked this move- 
 ment ; and bringing up more battalions, forced the 
 Croats from an eminence which they had already 
 seized on the first symptoms of the French retreat. 
 Napoleon's keen eye, surveying the position of the 
 five encampments below, penetrated the secret of 
 Alvinzi ; namely, that his artillery had not yet 
 arrived, otherwise he wovdd not have occupied 
 ground so distant from the object of attack. He 
 concluded that the Austrian did not mean to 
 make his grand assault very early in the morning, 
 and resolved to force him to anticipate that move- 
 ment. For this purpose, he took all possible pains 
 to conceal his own arrival ; and prolonged, by a 
 series of petty manoeuvres, the enemy's belief that 
 he had to do with a mere outpost of the French. 
 Alvinzi swallowed the deceit ; and, instead of ad- 
 vancing on some great and well-arranged system, 
 suffered his several columns to endeavour to force 
 the heights by insulated movements, which the real 
 strength of Napoleon easily enabled him to baffle. 
 It is true that at one moment the bravery of the 
 Germans had nearly overthrown the French on a 
 point of pre-eminent importance ; but Napoleon 
 himself galloping to the spot, roused by his voice
 
 86 NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE. [Jan. 
 
 and action the division of Massena, who, having 
 marched all night, had lain down to rest in the 
 extreme of weariness, and seconded by them and 
 their gallant general,* swept everything before him. 
 The French artillery was in position : the Austrian 
 (according to Napoleon's shrewd guess) had not 
 yet come up, and this circumstance decided the 
 fortune of the day. The cannonade from the 
 heights, backed by successive charges of horse and 
 foot, rendered every attempt to storm the simnmit 
 abortive ; and the main body of the Imperialists was 
 already in confusion, and, indeed, in flight, before 
 one of their divisions, which had been sent round 
 to outflank Buonaparte, and take higher ground in 
 his rear, was able to execute its errand. When, 
 accordingly, this division (that of Lusignan) at 
 length achieved its destined object — it did so, not 
 to complete the misery of a routed, but to swell 
 the prey of a victorious enemy. Instead of cut- 
 ting off the retreat of Joubert, Lusignan found 
 himself insulated from Alvinzi, and forced to lay 
 down his arms to Buonaparte. " Here was a good 
 plan," said Napoleon, " but these Austrians are not 
 apt to calculate the value of minutes." Had Lu- 
 signan gained the rear of the French an hour 
 earlier, wliile the contest was still hot in front of 
 the heiglits of Rivoli, he miglit liavc made the 14th 
 of January one of the darkest, instead of one of 
 the })riglitest days, in the military chronicles of 
 Napoleon. 
 
 He, wlio in tlie course of this trying day had 
 had tlnee horses shot under him, hardly waited to 
 
 * Hence, in the sequel, Massena's title, " Duke of Rivoli,"
 
 1797.] MANTUA. 87 
 
 see Lusignan surrender, and to entrust his friends, 
 Massena, Murat, and Joubert, with the task of 
 pursuing the flying cohmms Df Alvinzi. He had 
 heard during the battle, that Provera had forced 
 his way to the Lago di Guarda, and was already, 
 by means of boats, in communication with Mantua. 
 The force of Augereau having proved insufficient 
 to oppose the march of the Imperialists' second 
 column, it was high time that Napoleon himself 
 should hurry with reinforcements to the Lower 
 Adige, and prevent Wurmser from either housing 
 Provera, or joining him in the open field, and so 
 effecting the escape of his own still formidable 
 garrison, whether to the Tyrol or the Romagna. 
 
 Having marched all night and all next day. Na- 
 poleon reached the vicinity of Mantua late on the 
 loth. He found the enemy strongly posted, and 
 Serrurier's situation highly critical. A regiment of 
 Provera's hussars had but a few hours before 
 nearly established themselves in the suburb of St. 
 George. This Austrian corps had been clothed in 
 white cloaks, resembling those of a well-known 
 French regiment ; and advancing towards the 
 gate, would certainly have been admitted as friends 
 — ^but for the sagacity of one serjeant, who could 
 not help fancying that the white cloaks had too 
 much of the gloss of novelty about them, to have 
 stood the tear and wear of three Buonapartean 
 campaigns. This danger had been avoided, but 
 the utmost vigilance was necessary. The French 
 general himself passed the night in walking about 
 the outposts, so great was his anxiety. 
 
 At one of these he found a grenadier asleep by 
 the root of a tree ; and taking his gun, without
 
 88 NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE. [Jan. Feb. 
 
 wakening him, performed a sentinel's duty in his 
 place for about half an hour ; when the man, start- 
 ing from his slumbers, perceived with terror and 
 despair the countenance and occupation of his 
 general. He fell on his knees before him. " My 
 friend," said Napoleon, " here is your musket. 
 You had fought hard, and marched long, and your 
 sleep is excusable : but a moment's inattention 
 might at present ruin the army. I happened to be 
 awake, and have held your post for you. You will 
 be more careful another time." 
 
 It is needless to say how the devotion of his 
 men was nourished by such anecdotes as these fly- 
 ing ever and anon from column to column. Next 
 morning there ensued a hot skirmish, recorded as 
 the battle of St. George. Provera was compelled 
 to retreat, and Wurmser, who had sallied out and 
 seized the causeway and citadel of La Favorita, 
 was fain to retreat within its old walls, in conse- 
 (juence of a desperate assault headed by Napoleon 
 in person. 
 
 Provera now found himself entirely cut off from 
 Alvinzi, and surrounded with the French. He and 
 5000 men laid down their arms on the IGtli of Jan- 
 uary. Various bodies of the Austrian force, scat- 
 tered over the country between the Adige and the 
 Brenta, followed the example ; * and the brave 
 Wurmser, whose ])rovisions were by this time ex- 
 hausted, found himself at length under the neces- 
 sity of sending an offer of capitulation. 
 
 General Serrurier, as commander of the blockade, 
 
 * Such was the prevailing terror, tliat one body of 6000 
 under Ken6 surrendered to a Frencli oflicer who had hardly 
 500 men with him.
 
 1797.] BATTLE OF ST. GEORGE FALL OF MANTUA. 89 
 
 received Klenau, the bearer of Wurmser's message, 
 and heard him state, with the pardonable artifice 
 usual on such occasions, that his master was still in 
 a condition to hold out considerably longer, unless 
 honourable terms were granted. Napoleon had 
 hitherto been seated in a corner of the tent wrapped 
 in his cloak ; he now advanced to the Austrian, 
 who had no suspicion in whose presence he had 
 been speaking, and taking his pen, wrote down the 
 conditions which he was willin<>: to grant. " These," 
 said he, " are the terms to which your general's 
 bravery entitles him. He may have them to-day ; 
 a week, a month hence, he shall have no worse. 
 Meantime, tell him that General Buonaparte is 
 about to set out for Rome." The envoy now re- 
 cognised Napoleon ; and on reading the paper 
 perceived that the proposed terms were more libe- 
 ral than he had dared to hope for. The capitula- 
 tion was forthwith signed. 
 
 On the 2d of February, Wurmser and his gar- 
 rison marched out of Mantua ; but when the aged 
 chief was to surrender his sword, he found only 
 Serrurier ready to receive it. Napoleon's genero- 
 sity, in avoiding being present personally to witness 
 the humiliation of this distinguished veteran, forms 
 one of the most pleasing traits in his story. The 
 directory had urged him to far different conduct. 
 He treated their suggestions with scorn : " I have 
 granted the Austrian," he wrote to them, " such 
 terms as were, in my judgment, due to a brave and 
 honourable enemy, and to the dignity of the French 
 Republic." 
 
 The loss of the Austrians at Mantua amounted,
 
 90 NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE. [Feb. 
 
 first and last, to not less than 27,000 men. Be- 
 sides innumerable military stores, upwards of 500 
 brass cannon fell into the hands of the conqueror ; 
 and Augereau was sent to Paris, to present the 
 directory with sixty stand of colours. He was re- 
 ceived with tumults of exultation, such as might 
 have been expected, on an occasion so glorious, 
 from a people less vivacious than the French. 
 
 The surrender of Provera and Wurmser, follow- 
 ing the total rout of Alvinzi, placed Lombardy 
 wholly in the hands of Napoleon ; and he now found 
 leisure to avenge himself on the Pope for those 
 hostile demonstrations which, as yet, he had been 
 contented to hold in check. The terror with which 
 the priestly court of the Vatican received the 
 tidings of the utter destruction of the Austrian 
 army, and of the irresistible conqueror's march 
 southwards, did not prevent the Papal troops from 
 making some efforts to defend the territories of the 
 Holy See. General Victor, with 4000 French and 
 as many Lombards, advanced upon the route of 
 Imola. A Papal force, in numbers about equal, 
 lay encamped on the river Senio in front of that 
 town, ^^onks with crucifixes in their hands, ran 
 through the lines, exciting them to fight bravely 
 for their country and their Faith. The French 
 general, by a rapid movement, threw his horse 
 across the stream a league or two higher up, and 
 then charged with his infantry through the Senio 
 in their front. The resistance was brief. The 
 Pope's army, composed mostly of new recruits, 
 retreated in confusion. Fnenza was carried by the 
 bayonet. Colli and 3000 more laid down their
 
 1797.] WAR AGAINST THE POPE. 91 
 
 arms ; and the strong town of Ancona was occu- 
 pied.* On the 10th of February the French 
 entered Loretto, and rifled that celebrated seat of 
 superstition of whatever treasures it still retained ; 
 the most vakiable articles had already been packed 
 up and sent to Rome for safety.'!" — Victor then 
 turned westwards from Ancona, with the design to 
 unite with another French colimin which had ad- 
 vanced into the papal dominion by Perugia. 
 
 The panic which the French advance had by 
 this time spread was such, that the Pope had no 
 hope but in submission. The peasants lately trans- 
 formed into soldiers abandoned everywhere their 
 arms, and fled in straggling groups to their native 
 villages. The alarm in Rome itself recalled the 
 days of Alaric. 
 
 The conduct of Buonaparte at this critical mo- 
 ment was worthy of that good sense which formed 
 the original foundation of his successes, and of 
 
 * The priests had an image of the Virgin Mary at this place, 
 which they exhibited to the people in the act of shedding tears, 
 the more to stimulate them against the impious Republicans. 
 On entering the place, the French were amused with discover- 
 ing the machinery by which this trick had been performed : the 
 Madonna's tears were a string of glass beads, flowing by clock- 
 work within a shrine which the worshippers were too respect- 
 ful to approach very nearly. Little or-molu fountains, which 
 stream on the same principle, are now common ornaments for 
 the chimney-piece in Paris. 
 
 t The Santa Casa, or holy house of Loretto, is a little brick 
 building, round which a magnificent church has been reared, 
 and which the Romish calendar states to have been the original 
 dwelling-house of the Virgin Mary in Nazareth, transported 
 through the air to Italy by miracle. This was for ages the 
 chief resort of Romish pilgrims, and the riches of the place 
 were once enormous.
 
 92 NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE. [Feb. 12, 
 
 which the madness of pampered ambition coidd 
 alone deprive him afterwards. He well knew that, 
 of all the inhabitants of the Roman territories, the 
 class who contemplated his approach with the 
 deepest terror were the unfortunate French priests, 
 whom the Revolution had made exiles from their 
 native soil. One of these unhappy gentlemen came 
 forth in his despair, and surrendering himself at 
 the French head-quarters, said he knew his fate 
 was sealed, and that they might as well lead him 
 at once to the gallows. Buonaparte dismissed this 
 person with courtesy, and issued a proclamation 
 that none of the class should be molested ; on the 
 contrary, allotting to each of them the means of 
 existence in monasteries, wherever his arms were 
 or should be predominant. 
 
 This conduct, taken together with other circum- 
 stances of recent occurrence, was well calculated to 
 nourish in the breast of the Pope, the hope that 
 the victorious general of France had, by this time, 
 discarded the ferocious hostility of the revolu- 
 tionary government against the church of which he 
 was head. He hastened, however, to open a ne- 
 gotiation, and Napoleon received his envoy not 
 merely with civility, but with professions of the 
 profoimdest personal reverence for the holy father. 
 The Treaty of Tollentino (12 Feb. 1797) followed. 
 By this the Pope conceded formally (for the first 
 time) his ancient territory of Avignon ; he resigned 
 the legations of Ferrara, Bologna, and Romagna, 
 and the port of Ancona; agreed to pay about a 
 million and a half sterling, and to execute to the 
 utmost the provisions of Bologna with respect to 
 works of art. On these terms Pius was to remain
 
 1797.] TREATY OF TOLLENTINO. 93 
 
 nominal master of some shreds of the patrimony of 
 St. Peter. 
 
 The French directory heard with indignation 
 that any semblance of sovereignty was still left to 
 an enemy whose weakness had been made so mani- 
 fest. But Buonaparte had now learnt to act for 
 himself. He knew that any formal dethronement 
 of the Pope would invest his cause with tenfold 
 strength wherever the Romish religion prevailed ; 
 that a new spirit of aversion would arise against 
 France ; and that Naples would inftillibly profit by 
 the first disturbances in the north of Italy, to de- 
 clare war, and march her large army from the 
 south. He believed also — and he ere long knew — 
 that even yet Austria would make other efforts to 
 recover Lombardy ; and was satisfied, on the whole, 
 that he should best secure his ultimate purposes 
 by suffering the Vatican to prolong, for some time 
 further, the shadow of that sovereignty which had 
 in former ages trampled on kings and emperors.
 
 94 NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE. [Feb. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Neutrality of Venice — The Archduke Charles — Battle of 
 Tagliamento — Retreat of the Archduke — Treaty of 
 Leohen — War with Venice — Venice conquered. 
 
 Napoleon was now master of all northern Italy, 
 with the exception of the territories of Venice, 
 which antique government, though no longer qua- 
 lified to keep equal rank with the first princes of 
 Europe, was still proud and haughty, and not 
 likely to omit any favourable opportunity of aiding 
 Austria in the great and common object of ridding 
 Italy of tlie French. Buonaparte heard without 
 surprise that the Doge had been raising new levies, 
 and that the senate could command an army of 
 50,000, composed chiefly of fierce and semi-bar- 
 barous Sclavonian mercenaries. He demanded 
 what these demonstrations meant, and was answered 
 that Venice had no desire but to maintain a perfect 
 neutrality. Meantime there was not wanting a 
 strong party, thron.ghout the Venetian territories 
 of the mainhnid, who were anxious to emulate the 
 revolutionary movements of the great cities of 
 Lombardy, and to emancipate tliemselves from the 
 yoke of the Venetian oligarchy, as their neighbours 
 had done by that of the x\ustrian crown. Insur- 
 rections occurred at Bergamo, Brescia, and else- 
 where ; and Buonaparte, tliough little dis})Osed to 
 give tlie inliabitants of these phices tlie boon they 
 were in quest of, saw and profited by tlie oppor- 
 tunity of dividing, by their means, the resources,
 
 1797.] VENICE. 95 
 
 and shaking the confidence, of the senate. After 
 some negotiation, he told the Venetian envoy, that 
 he granted the prayer of his masters. " Be 
 neuter," said he, " but see that your neutraHty be 
 indeed sincere and perfect. If any insurrection 
 occur in my rear, to cut off m.y communications in 
 the event of my marching on Germany — if any 
 movement whatever betray the disposition of your 
 senate to aid the enemies of France, be sure that 
 vengeance will follow — from that hour the inde- 
 pendence of Venice has ceased to be." 
 
 More than a month had now elapsed since Al- 
 vinzi's defeat at Rivoli ; in nine days the war with 
 the Pope had reached its close ; and, having left 
 some garrisons in the towns on the Adige, to watch 
 the neutrality of Venice, Napoleon hastened to 
 carry the war into the hereditary dominions of the 
 Emperor. Twenty thousand fresh troops had re- 
 cently joined his victorious standard from France ; 
 and, at the head of perhaps a larger force than he 
 had ever before mustered, he proceeded to the 
 frontier of the Frioul, where, according to his in- 
 formation, the main army of Austria, recruited once 
 more to its original strength, was preparing to open 
 a sixth campaign — under the orders, not of Al- 
 vinzi, but of a general young like himself, and 
 hitherto eminently successful — the same who had 
 already by his combinations baffled two such mas- 
 ters in the art of war as Jourdan and Moreau — the 
 Archduke Charles ; a prince on whose high talents 
 the last hopes of the empire seemed to repose. 
 
 To give the details of the sixth campaign, which 
 now commenced, would be to repeat the story which 
 has been already five times told. The Archduke,
 
 96 NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE. [Feb.— Maich, 
 
 fettered by the Aulic Council of Vienna, saw him- 
 self compelled to execute a plan which he had dis- 
 crimination enough to condemn. The Austrian 
 army once more commenced operations on a double 
 basis — one great division on the Tyrolese frontier, 
 and a greater under the Archduke himself on the 
 Friulese ; and Napoleon — who had, even when 
 acting on the defensive, been able, by the vivacity 
 of his movements, to assume the superiority on 
 whatever point he chose to select — was not likely 
 to strike his blows with less skill and vigour, now 
 that his numbers, and the acquiescence of Italy 
 behind him, permitted him to assume the offensive. 
 Buonaparte found the Archduke posted behind 
 the river Tagliamento, in front of the rugged Ca- 
 rinthian mountains, which guard the passage in that 
 quarter from Italy to Germany. Detaching Mas- 
 sena to the Piave, where the Austrian division of 
 Lusignan were in observation, he himself deter- 
 mined to charge the Archduke in front. Massena 
 was successful in driving Lusignan before him as 
 as far as Belluno, (where a rear guard of 500 surren- 
 dered,) and thus turned the Austrian flank. Buo- 
 naparte then attempted and effected the passage of 
 tlie Tagliamento. After a great and formal dis- 
 play of his forces, which was met by similar de- 
 monstrations on the Austrian side of the river, 
 lie suddenly broke up his line and retreated. The 
 Archduke, knowing that the French had been 
 marching all the night before, concluded that the 
 general wished to defer the battle till another 
 day ; and in like manner withdrew to his camp. 
 About two hours after Napoleon rushed with his 
 whole army, who had merely lain down in ranks,
 
 1797.] ARCHDUKE CHARLES TAGLIAMENTO. 97 
 
 upon the margin of the Tagliamento, no longer 
 adequately guarded — and had forded the stream 
 ere the Austrian line of battle could be formed. 
 In the action which followed (March 12) the troops 
 of the Archduke displayed much gallantry, but 
 every effort to dislodge Napoleon failed ; at length 
 retreat was judged necessary. The French fol- 
 lowed hard behind. They stormed Gradisca, where 
 they made .5000 prisoners ; and — the Archduke 
 pursuing his retreat — occupied in the course of a 
 few days Trieste, Fiume, and every strong hold in 
 Carinthia. In the course of a campaign of twenty 
 days, the Austrians fought Buonaparte ten times, 
 but the overthrow on the Tagliamento was never 
 recovered ; and the Archduke, after defending Sty- 
 ria inch by inch as he had Carinthia, at length 
 adopted the resolution of reaching Vienna by forced 
 marches, there to gather round him whatever force 
 the loyalty of his nation could muster, and make a 
 last stand beneath the walls of the capital. 
 
 This plan, at first sight the mere dictate of des- 
 pair, was in truth that of a wise and prudent ge- 
 neral. The Archduke had received intelligence 
 from two quarters of events highly unfavourable 
 to the French. General Laudon, the Austrian 
 commander on the Tyrol frontier, had descended 
 thence with forces sufficient to overwhelm Buona- 
 parte's lieutenants on the upper Adige, and was 
 already in possession of the whole Tyrol, and of 
 several of the Lombard towns. Meanwhile the 
 Venetian Senate, on hearing of these Austrian suc- 
 cesses, had plucked up courage to throw aside their 
 flimsy neutrality, and not only declared war against 
 France, but encouraged their partizans in Verona 
 
 VOL. I. H
 
 98 NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE. [April, 
 
 to open the contest vvitli an inhuman massacre of 
 the French wounded in the hospitals of that city. 
 The vindictive Italians, wherever the French party 
 was inferior in numbers, resorted to similar atroci- 
 ties. The few troops left in Lombardy by Napo- 
 leon were obliged to shut themselves up in garri- 
 sons, which the insurgent inhabitants of the neigh- 
 bouring districts invested. The Venetian army 
 passed the frontier ; and, in effect, Buonaparte's 
 means of deriving supplies of any kind from his 
 rear were for the time wholly cut off". It was not 
 wonderful that the Archduke should, under such 
 circumstances, anticipate great advantage from en- 
 ticing the French army into the heart of Austria ; 
 where, divided by many wide provinces and mighty 
 mountains and rivers from France, and with Italy 
 once more in arms behind them, they should have 
 to abide the encounter of an imperial army, ani- 
 mated by all the best motives that can lend vigour 
 to the arm of man ; fighting for their own hearths 
 under the eyes of their own sovereign ; seconded 
 everywhere ])y tlie loyalty of the peasants ; and 
 well convinced that, if they could compel their 
 enemy to a retreat, his total ruin must be the con- 
 sequence. 
 
 The terror of the Aulic Council stept in to pre- 
 vent tlie Archduke from reaping either the credit 
 or the disgrace of this movement. Vienna was 
 panic-struck on hearing that Buonaparte had 
 stormed tlie passes of tlie Julian Alj)s ; the imperial 
 lamily sent tlieir treasure into Hungary ; the middle 
 ranks, wliose interest is always peace, became cla- 
 morous for some termination to a war, which during 
 six years h;id been so unfortunate ; and the Arch-
 
 1797.] LEOBEN. 99 
 
 duke was ordered to avail himself of the first pre- 
 tence which circumstances might afford for the 
 opening of a negotiation. 
 
 That prince had already, acting on his own 
 judgment and feelings, dismissed such an occasion 
 with civility and with coldness. Napoleon had 
 addressed a letter to his Imperial Highness from 
 Clagenfurt, in which he called on him, as a brother- 
 soldier, to consider the certain miseries and the 
 doubtful successes of war, and put an end to the 
 campaign by a fair and equitable treaty. The 
 Archduke replied, that he regarded with the highest 
 esteem the personal character of his correspondent, 
 but that the Austrian government had committed 
 to his trust the guidance of a particular army, not 
 the diplomatic business of the empire. The prince, 
 on receiving these new instructions from Vienna, 
 perceived, however reluctantly, that the line of his 
 duty was altered ; and the result was a series of 
 negotiations — which ended in the provisional treaty 
 of Leoben, signed April 18, 1797. 
 
 It was here, at Leoben, that Buonaparte's school- 
 fellow, De Bourienne, who had been summoned 
 to act as secretary to the general, reached head- 
 quarters. He found his old comrade (whom he 
 had not met with since the days of his envyino- 
 small houses and cabriolets in Paris) in the midst 
 of a splendid staff. " So thou art come at last," 
 cried Napoleon, in the ancient tone of familiaritv ; 
 but De Bourienne knew the world, and greeted the 
 general of the army of Italy with profound and 
 distant respect. When the company were gone, 
 Buonaparte signified that he understood and ap- 
 proved this change of demeanour. 
 
 H 2
 
 100 NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE. [May, 
 
 But to resume — no sooner was the negotiation 
 in a fair train, than Napoleon, abandoning for the 
 moment the details of its management to inferior 
 diplomatists, hastened to retrace his steps, and 
 pour the full storm of his wrath on the Venetians. 
 The Doge and the Senate, whose only hopes had 
 rested on the successes of Austria on the Adige, 
 heard with utter despair that the Archduke had 
 shared the fate of Beaulieu, of Wurmser, and of 
 Alvinzi, and that the preliminaries of peace were 
 actually signed. The rapidity of Buonaparte's 
 return gave them no breathing-time. They has- 
 tened to send offers of submission, and their mes- 
 sengers were received with anger and contempt. 
 " French blood has been treacherously shed," said 
 Napoleon ; " if you could offer me the treasures of 
 Peru, if you could cover your whole dominion with 
 gold — the atonement would be insufficient — the lion 
 of St. Mark* must lick the dust." These tidings 
 came like a sentence of death upon the devoted 
 Senate. Their deliberations were unceasing ; their 
 schemes innumerable ; their hearts divided and un- 
 nerved. Those secret chambers, from which that 
 haughty oligarchy had for so many ages excluded 
 every eye and every voice but their own, were in- 
 vaded witli impunity by strange-faced men, who 
 boklly criticised their measures, and heapt new 
 terrors on tlieir lieads, by announcing that the mass 
 of the pco})le liad ceased to consider the endurance 
 of their sway as synonymous with tlie prosperity of 
 Venice. Popular tumults filled the streets and 
 canals ; universal confusion prevailed. "Jlie com- 
 
 * The armorial bearing of Venice.
 
 1797.] FALL OF VENICE. 101 
 
 manders of their troops and fleets received con- 
 tradictory orders, and the city which 
 
 " had held the gorgeous East in fee," 
 
 seemed ready to yield everything to a ruthless and 
 implacable enemy, without even striking a blow in 
 defence. 
 
 Buonaparte appeared, while the confusion was 
 at its height, on the opposite coast of the Lagoon. 
 Some of his troops were already in the heart of 
 the city, when (31st May) a hasty message reached 
 him, announcing that the Senate submitted wholly. 
 He exacted severe revenge. The leaders who had 
 aided the Lombard insurgents were delivered to 
 him. The oligarchy ceased to rule, and a demo- 
 cratical government was formed, provisionally, on 
 the model of France. Venice consented to sur- 
 render to the victor large territories on the main- 
 land of Italy ; five ships of war ; 3,000,000 francs 
 in gold, and as many more in naval stores ; twenty 
 of the best pictures, and 500 manuscripts. Lastly, 
 the troops of the conqueror were to occupy the 
 capital until tranquillity was established. It will 
 be seen in what that tranquillity was destined to 
 consist. 
 
 Such was the humiliation of this once proud and 
 energetic, but now worn-out and enfeebled, olig- 
 archy : so incapable was that hoary polity of con- 
 tending with the youthful vigour of Napoleon.
 
 102 NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE. [May, 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Pichegru — The Director j/ appeal to Buonaparte — The 
 18th Fructidor — The Court of Montehello — Josephine 
 — The Treaty of Campo Formio — Buonaparte leaves 
 Italy. 
 
 In their last agony the Venetian Senate made a vain 
 effort to secure the personal protection of the ge- 
 neral, by offering him a purse of seven millions of 
 francs. He rejected this with scorn. He had 
 already treated in the same style a bribe of four 
 millions, tendered on the part of the Duke of Mo- 
 dena. The friend employed to conduct the busi- 
 ness reminded him of the proverbial ingratitude of 
 all popular governments, and of the little attention 
 which the Directory had hithei-to paid to his per- 
 sonal interests. " That is all true enough," said 
 Napoleon, " but for four millions I will not place 
 myself in the power of this duke." Austria herself, 
 it is said, did not hesitate to tamper in the same 
 manner, thougli far more magnificently, as became 
 her resources, with liis republican virtue. He was 
 offered, if the story be true, an independent Ger- 
 man principality for himself and his heirs. *' I thank 
 the emperor," he answered, " but if greatness is to 
 be mine, it shall come from France." 
 
 The Venetian Senate were guilty, in their mortal 
 struggle, of anotlicr and a more inexcusable piece 
 of meanness. I'liey seized the person of Count 
 D'Entraigues, a French emigrant, who had been
 
 1797.] FALL OF VENICE PICHEGRU. 103 
 
 living in their city as agent for the exiled house 
 of Bourbon ; and surrendered him and all his 
 papers to the victorious general. Buonaparte dis- 
 covered among these documents ample evidence 
 that Pichegru, the French general on the Rhine, 
 and universally honoured as the conqueror of Hol- 
 land, had some time before this hearkened to the 
 proposals of the Bourbon princes, and, among other 
 efforts in favour of the royal cause, not hesitated 
 even to misconduct his military movements with a 
 view to the downfal of the government which had 
 entrusted him with his command. 
 
 This was a secret, the importance of which Na- 
 poleon could well appreciate ;* and he forthwith 
 communicated it to the Directory at Paris. 
 
 The events of the last twelve months in France 
 had made Pichegru a person of still higher impor- 
 tance than when he commenced his intrigues with 
 the Bourbons as general on the Rhine. Some ob- 
 scure doubts of his fidelity, or the usual policy of 
 the Directory, which rendered them averse (where- 
 ever they could help it) to continue any one general 
 very long at the head of one army, had induced 
 them to displace Pichegru, and appoint Hoche, a 
 tried republican, in his room. Pichegru, on re- 
 turning to France, became a member of the Coun- 
 cil of Five Hundred, and (the royalist party having 
 at this season recovered all but a preponderance) 
 was, on the meeting of the chambers, called to the 
 chair of that in which he had his place. 
 
 * Moreau knew it some months sooner, and said so after 
 Napoleon had communicated it to the Directory. This is a 
 suspicious circumstance when considered along with the sequel 
 of Moreau's history.
 
 104 NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE. [1797. 
 
 The Five Directors had in truth done everything 
 to undermine their own authority. They were 
 known to be divided in opinion among themselves ; 
 three only of their number adhered heartily to the 
 existing constitution : one was a royalist : another 
 was a democrat of the Robespierre school. One of 
 these new and uncourtly men excited laughter by 
 affecting a princely state and splendour of demean- 
 our and equipage. Another disgusted one set of 
 minds, and annoyed all the rest, by procuring a law 
 for the observation of the tenth day as the day of 
 repose, and declaring it a crime to shut up shops 
 on the Sabbath. A ridiculous ritual of an avowedly 
 heathen worship followed, and was received with 
 partial horror, universal contempt. A tyrannical 
 law about the equalization of weights and measures 
 spread confusion through all mercantile transac- 
 tions, and was especially unpopular in the provinces. 
 A contemptible riot, set on foot by one who called 
 himself Gracchus Barboeuf, for the purpose of 
 bringing back the reign of terrorism, was indeed 
 suppressed ; but the mere occurrence of such an 
 attempt recalled too vividly the days of Robe- 
 spierre, and by so doing tended to strengthen the 
 cause of the royalists in public o])inion. The trutli 
 is, that a vast number of the emigrants had found 
 their way back ngain to Paris after the downfal of 
 Robespierre, and that tlie old sway of elegant man- 
 ners and enliglitened saloons was once more re-es- 
 tablishing itself where it liad so long ))een supreme. 
 The royalist club of Clichy corres})onded with the 
 exiled ])rinces, and with the imperial government, 
 and was gaining sucli influence as to (ill Buonaparte 
 himself with alarm. Everything indicated that the
 
 1797.] PICHEGRU THE DIRECTORY. 10.5 
 
 Directory (the Jive majesties of the Luxembourg, as 
 they were called in derision) held their thrones by 
 a very uncertain tenure ; and those gentlemen, no- 
 thing being left them but a choice among evils, 
 were fain to throw themselves on the protection of 
 the armies which they dreaded, and of Hoche and 
 Buonaparte — which last name in particular had long 
 tilled them with jealousy proportioned to its splen- 
 dour and popularity. 
 
 Napoleon's recent conduct, in more important 
 points than one, had excited powerfully the resent- 
 ment of the directory, which now appealed to him 
 for aid. He had taken upon himself the whole 
 responsibility of the preliminary treaty of Leoben, 
 although the French government had sent General 
 Clarke into Italy for the express purpose of con- 
 trolling him, and acting as his equal at least in the 
 negotiation. A clause in that treaty, by which 
 Mantua, the strongest fortress in Italy, was to be 
 surrendered back to Austria, had been judged 
 necessary at the time by the general, in order to 
 obtain from the emperor the boundary of the Rhine 
 and the cession of Belgium. But the Directory 
 thought the conqueror underrated the advantages 
 of his own position and theirs in consenting to it, 
 and but for Carnot would never have ratified it.* 
 At the other side of the Italian Peninsula, again, 
 the victorious general, immediately after the fall of 
 Venice, had to superintend the revolution of Ge- 
 noa ; in which great city also the democratic party 
 
 * Mantua, as will appear hereafter, was saved to France 
 under Napoleon's final treaty with Austria ; but the events 
 which rendered this possible were as yet unknown and un- 
 expected.
 
 106 NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE. [Sept. 4th, 
 
 availed themselves of the temper and events of the 
 time, to emancipate themselves from their heredi- 
 tary ohgarchy. They would fain have excluded 
 the nobihty from all share in the remodelled go- 
 vernment ; and Napoleon rebuked and discounte- 
 nanced this attempt in terms little likely to be 
 heard with approbation by the " Sires of the Lux- 
 embourg." He told the Genoese, that to exclude 
 the nobles was in itself as unjust as unwise, and 
 that they ought to be grateful for the means of 
 re-organizing their constitution, without passing 
 like France through the terrible ordeal of a revolu- 
 tion. The rulers of France might be excused for 
 asking at this moment — Does the lecturer of the 
 Ligurian Repubhc mean to be our Washington 
 our Monk, or our Cromwell ? 
 
 He, however, received with alacrity the call of 
 the trembling directory. He harangued his sol- 
 diery, and made himself secure of their readiness 
 to act as he might choose for them. He not only 
 offered large pecuniary supplies, and sent his 
 lieutenant Augereau to Paris to command the na- 
 tional guard for the government, should they find 
 it necessary to appeal immediately to force, but 
 announced that he was himself prepared to "pass 
 the Ivubicon," (an ominous phrase) and march to 
 their assistance, witli l.'5,()()0 of his best troops. 
 
 The directory, meanwhile, had in their extremity 
 ventured to disregard the law against drawing re- 
 gular troops within a certain distance of the capital, 
 and sunnnoned Hoche to l)ring a corps of his Ilhe- 
 nish army for their instant protection. 
 
 It was by this means that the new revolution, as 
 it may be called, of the 1 8th Fructidor was efiected.
 
 1797.] REVOLUTION OF 18th fructidor. 107 
 
 On that day, (Sept. 4, 1797,) the majority of the 
 directory, marching their army into Paris, de- 
 throned their two opposition colleagues. Pichegru 
 and the other royalists of note in the assemblies, 
 to the number of more than 1.50, were arrested and 
 sent into exile. The government, for the moment, 
 recovered the semblance of security ; and Buona- 
 parte heard, with little satisfaction, that they had 
 been able to accomplish their immediate object 
 without the intervention of his personal appearance 
 on the scene. He remonstrated, moreover, against 
 the manner in which they had followed up their 
 success. According to him, they ought to have 
 executed Pichegru and a few ringleaders, and set 
 an example of moderation, by sparing all those 
 whose royalism admitted of any doubt, or, if it was 
 manifest, was of secondary importance. It would 
 have been hard for the directory at this time to 
 have pleased Buonaparte, or for Buonaparte to 
 have entirely satisfied them ; but neither party made 
 the effort. 
 
 The fall of Venice, however, gave Napoleon the 
 means, which he was not disposed to neglect, of 
 bringing his treaty v.ith Austria to a more satisfac- 
 tory conclusion than had been indicated in the pre- 
 liminaries of Leoben. 
 
 After settling the affairs of Venice, and esta- 
 blishing the new Ligurian Republic, the general 
 took up his residence at the noble castle of ^lonte- 
 bello, near Milan. Here his wife, who, though they 
 had been married in March, 1796, was still a bride, 
 and with whom, during the interveningr eventful 
 months, he had kept up a correspondence full of the
 
 108 NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE. [Sept.— Oct. 
 
 fervour, if not of the delicacy of love,* had at 
 length rejoined him. Josephine's manners were 
 worthy, by universal admission, of the highest rank ; 
 and the elegance with which she did the honours 
 of the castle, filled the ministers and princes, who 
 were continually to be seen in its precincts, with 
 admiration. While Napoleon conducted his nego- 
 tiations with as much firmness and decision as had 
 marked him in the field, it was her care that natm*e 
 and art should lend all their graces to what the 
 Italians soon learnt to call the Court of Montebello. 
 Whatever talent Milan contained, was pressed into 
 her service. Music and dance, and festival upon 
 festival, seemed to occupy every hour. The beau- 
 tiful lakes of Lombardy were covered with gay 
 flotillas ; and the voluptuous retreats around their 
 shores received in succession new life and splendour 
 from the presence of Napoleon, Josephine, and the 
 brilliant circle amidst whom they were rehearsing 
 the imj)erial parts that destiny had in reserve for 
 them. Montebello was the centre from which Buo- 
 naparte, during the greater part of this autumn, 
 negotiated with the emperor, controlled all Italy, 
 and overawed the Luxembourg. 
 
 The final settlement with the emperor's commis- 
 sioners would have taken place shortly after the 
 fall of Venice, but for the successful intrigues of 
 the Royalist Clichyens, the universal belief that the 
 
 * It would be painful to show, as might easily be done, from 
 this correspondence, the original want of delicacy in Napoleon's 
 mind. iMany of his letters are such as no English gentleman 
 would address to a mutress. In others, the language is worthy 
 of a hero's passion. " Wurmser," says he, " shall pay dearly 
 for the tears he causes you to shed."
 
 L-R^baiilt del* 
 
 Z.Sci-hT?ii frtUi; 
 
 k'^niPiHnrKia. 
 
 J'uhU.!h..1 Fch'JSi;\ hi, .T,>hn Miui-ati. l.^mh-t
 
 1797.] MONTEBELLO CAMPO-FORMIO. 109 
 
 government of France approached some new crisis, 
 and the Aiistrians' hope that from such an event 
 their negotiation might derive considerable advan- 
 tages. Buonaparte well knew the secret motive 
 which induced Cobentzel, the emperor's chief en- 
 voy, to protract and multiply discussions of which 
 he by this time was weary. One day, in this 
 ambassador's own chamber, Napoleon suddenly 
 changed his demeanour ; " you refuse to accept 
 our ultimatum," said he, taking in his hands a 
 beautiful vase of porcelain, which stood on the 
 mantelpiece near him. The Austrian bowed. " It 
 is well," said Napoleon, " but mark me — within 
 two months I will shatter Austria like this pot- 
 sherd." So saying, he dashed the vase on the 
 ground in a thousand pieces, and moved towards 
 the door. Cobentzel followed him, and made sub- 
 missions which induced him once more to resume 
 his negotiations. 
 
 The result was the treaty of Campo-Formio, so 
 called from the village at which it was signed, on 
 the 3d of October, 1797. By this act the emperor 
 yielded to France, Flanders and the boundary of 
 the Rhine, including the great fortress of Mentz. 
 The various new republics of Lombardy were 
 united and recognised under the general name of 
 the Cisalpine Republic. To indemnify iVustria for 
 the loss of those territories, the fall of Venice af- 
 forded new means — of which Napoleon did not 
 hesitate to propose, nor Austria to accept the use. 
 The French general had indeed conquered Venice, 
 but he had entered into a treaty subsequently, and 
 recognised a wholly new government in place of the 
 oligarchy. The emperor, on the other hand, well
 
 110 NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE. [Oct. 3, 
 
 knew that the Doge and Senate had incurred ruin 
 by rising to his own aid. Such considerations 
 weighed little on either side. France and Austria 
 agreed to effect a division of the whole territories 
 of the ancient republic. Venice herself, and her 
 Italian provinces, were handed over to the emperor 
 in lieu of his lost Lombardy ; and the French as- 
 sumed the sovereignty of the Ionian islands and 
 Dalmatia. This unprincipled proceeding excited 
 universal disgust throughout Europe. It showed 
 the sincerity of Buonaparte's love for the cause of 
 freedom ; and it satisfied all the world of the ex- 
 cellent title of the imperial court to complain of the 
 selfishness and rapacity of the French democracy. 
 The emperor set his seal at Campo-Formio to 
 another of Buonaparte's acts of dictatorship, which, 
 though in one point of view even more unjustifi- 
 able than this, was not regarded by the world with 
 feelings of the same order. The Italian territory 
 of the Valteline had for ages been subject to the 
 Grison League. The inhabitants, roused by the 
 prevailing spirit all around them, demanded Napo- 
 leon's intercession with their Swiss masters, to 
 procure their admission to all the political privileges 
 of the otlier cantons. They refused; and Napoleon, 
 in tlie ])lenitude of his authority, immediately sup- 
 ported the Valteline in tlu'owing off the Grison 
 yoke, and asserting its utter independence. This 
 territory was now annexed to the Cisalpine Re- 
 ])ul)lic. A government, witli which France was on 
 terms of aUiiince and amity, was thus robbed of 
 its ricliest possession ; but the Valteline belonged 
 by natural position, religion, and language, to Italy, 
 and its annexation to the new Italian republic was
 
 1797.] TREATY OF CAMPO-FORMIO. Ill 
 
 regarded as in itself just and proper, however 
 questionable Buonaparte's title to effect that event. 
 He himself said at the time, " It is contrary to the 
 rights of man that any one people should be subject 
 to another ;" a canon on which his after history 
 formed a lucid commentary. 
 
 In concluding, and in celebrating the conckision 
 of his treaty. Napoleon's proud and fiery tempera- 
 ment twice shone out. Cobentzel had set down as 
 the first article, " The Emperor recognises the 
 French Republic." " Efface that," said Napoleon, 
 sternly, " it is as clear as that the sun is in heaven. 
 Woe to them that cannot distinguish the light of 
 either!" At the Te Deum after the proclamation 
 of the peace, the imperial envoy would have taken 
 tlie place prepared for Buonaparte, which was the 
 most eminent in the church. The haughty soldier 
 seized his arm and drew him back. " Had your 
 master himself been here," said he, " I should not 
 have forgotten that in my person the dignity of 
 France is represented." 
 
 Various minor arrangements remained to be 
 considered; and a congress of all the German 
 powers being summoned to meet for that purpose 
 at Rastadt, Napoleon received the orders of the 
 Directory to appear there, and perfect his work in 
 the character of ambassador of France. He took 
 an affecting leave of his soldiery, published a 
 temperate and manly address to the Cisalpine Re- 
 public, and proceeded, by way of Switzerland, 
 (where, in spite of the affair of the Valteline, he 
 was received with enthusiasm,) to the execution of 
 his duty. He carried with him the unbounded 
 love and devotion of one of the finest armies that
 
 112 NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE. [Dec. 1797. 
 
 ever the world had seen ; and the attachment, 
 hardly less energetic, of all those classes of society 
 throughout Italy, who flattered themselves with the 
 hope that the Cisalpine Republic, the creature of 
 his hands, would in time prepare the way for, and 
 ultimately merge in a republican constitution com- 
 mon to the whole Italian people. With what hopes 
 or fears as to his future fortunes, he abandoned 
 the scene and the companions of his glory, the 
 reader must form his own opinion.
 
 ( 113 ) 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 Napoleon at Rnstadt — He arrives in Paris — His Becep- 
 tion hy the Directory — His Conduct and Manners — 
 He is appointed to command the Army for the Invasion 
 of Enghmd — He recommends an Expedition to Egypt 
 — Reaches Toulon — Embarks. 
 
 Napoleon was received by the ministers assembled 
 at Rastadt, with the respect due to the extraordi- 
 nary talents which he had already displayed in ne- 
 gotiation as well as in war. But he stayed among 
 them only two or three days, for he perceived that 
 the multiplicity of minor arrangements to be dis- 
 cussed and settled, must, if he seriously entered 
 upon them, involve the necessity of a long-pro- 
 tracted residence at Rastadt ; and he had many 
 reasons for desiring to be quickly in Paris. His 
 personal relations with the directory were of a very 
 doubtful kind, and he earnestly wished to study 
 with his own eyes the position in which the govern- 
 ment stood towards the various orders of society 
 in the all-influential capital. He abandoned the 
 conduct of the diplomatic business to his colleagues, 
 and reached Paris at the beginning of December. 
 Nor was he without a feasible pretext for this ra- 
 pidity. On the 2d of October, the directory had 
 announced to the French people their purpose to 
 carry the war with the English into England itself; 
 
 VOL. I. I
 
 114 NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE. [Jan. 1798. 
 
 the immediate organization of a great invading 
 army ; and their design to place it under the com- 
 mand of" Citizen General Buonaparte." 
 
 During his brief stay at Rastadt the dictator of 
 Campo-Formio once more broke out. The Swe- 
 dish envoy was Count Fersen, the same nobleman 
 who had distinguished himself in Paris, during the 
 early period of the Revolution, by his devotion 
 to King Louis and Marie-Antoinette. Buonaparte 
 refused peremptorily to enter into any negotiation 
 in which a man, so well known for his hostility to 
 the cause of the Republic, should have any part : 
 and Fersen instantly withdrew. 
 
 On quitting this congress Napoleon was careful 
 to resume, in every particular, the appearance of 
 a private citizen. Reaching Paris, he took up his 
 residence in the same small modest house that he 
 had occupied before he set out for Italy, in the Rue 
 Chantereme, which, about this time, in compliment 
 to its illustrious inhabitant, received from the 
 municipahty the new name of Rue de la Victoire. 
 Here he resumed with his plain clotlies his favourite 
 studies and pursuits, and, apparently contented 
 with the society of his private friends, seemed to 
 avoid, as carefully as others in his situation might 
 have courted, the honours of popuhir distinction 
 and appkuisc. It was not immediately known that 
 he was in Paris, and when lie walked the streets 
 his person was rarely recognised by the multitude. 
 His mode of life was necessarily somewhat different 
 from what it had been when he was both poor and 
 obscure ; his society was courted in the highest 
 circles, and he from time to time appeared in 
 them, and received company at home with the
 
 1798.] PARIS. llo 
 
 elegance of liospitality over which Josephine was 
 so well qualified to preside. But policy as well as 
 pride moved him to shun notoriety. Before he 
 could act again, he had much to observe ; and he 
 knew himself too well to be flattered by the stare 
 either of mobs or of saloons. " They have memo- 
 ries for nothing here " — he said at this time to his 
 secretary — " if I remain long without doing any 
 thing, I am done. Fame chases fame in this great 
 Babylon. If they had seen me three times at the 
 spectacle, they would no longer look at me." An- 
 other day Bourienne could not help congratulating 
 him on some noisy demonstration of popular favour. 
 " Bah !" he answered, " they would rush as eagerly 
 about me if I were on my way to the scaffold." 
 
 In his intercourse with society at this period, he 
 was, for the most part, remarkable for the cold 
 reserve of his manners. He had the appearance 
 of one too much occupied with serious designs, to 
 be able to relax at will into the easy play of ordi- 
 nary conversation. If his eye was on every man, 
 he well knew that every man's eye was upon him ; 
 nor, perhaps, could he have chosen a better method 
 (had that been his sole object) for prolonging and 
 strengthening the impression his greatness was cal- 
 culated to create, than this very exhibition of indif- 
 ference. He did not suffer his person to be fami- 
 liarized out of reverence. When he did appear, it 
 was not the ball or hon mot of the evening before, 
 that he recalled: — he was still, wherever he went, 
 the Buonaparte of Lodi, and Areola, and Rivoli. 
 His military bluntness disdained to disguise itself 
 amidst those circles where a meaner parvenu would 
 have been most ambitious to shine. The celebrated 
 
 i2
 
 116 NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE. [Jan. 
 
 daughter of Necker made many efforts to catch his 
 fancy and enlist him among the votaries of her wit, 
 which then gave law in Paris. " Whom," said 
 she, half wearied with his chilhiess, '' do you con- 
 sider as the greatest of women V " Her, madam," 
 he answered, " who has borne the greatest number 
 of children." From this hour he had Madame de 
 Stael for his enemy ; and yet, such are the incon- 
 sistencies of human nature, no man was more sen- 
 sitive than he to the assaults of a species of enemy 
 whom he thus scorned to conciliate. Throughout 
 his Italian campaigns — as consul — as emperor — and 
 down to the last hour of the exile which terminated 
 his life — Buonaparte suffered himself to be an- 
 noyed by sarcasms and pamphlets as keenly and 
 constantly as if he had been a poetaster. 
 
 The haughtiness, for such it was considered, of 
 his behaviour in the society of the capital, was of 
 a piece with what he had already manifested in 
 the camp. In the course of his first campaigns, 
 his officers, even of the highest rank, became sen- 
 sible, by degrees, to a total change of demeanour. 
 An old acquaintance of the Toulon period, joining 
 the army, was about to throw himself into the 
 general's arms with the warmth of the former fa- 
 miliarity. Napoleon's cold eye checked him ; and 
 he perceived in a moment how he had altered with 
 his elevation. lie had always, on the other hand, 
 affected nuich familiarity with the common sol- 
 diery. He disdained not on occasion to share the 
 ration or to taste the flask of a sentinel ; and the 
 French private, often as intelligent as those whom 
 fortune has ])laced above him, used to address 
 the great general with even more frankness than
 
 1798.] PARIS. 117 
 
 his own captain. Napoleon, in one of his Italian 
 despatches, mentions to the directory the pleasure 
 which he often derived from the conversation of 
 the men : " But yesterday," says he, " a common 
 trooper addressed me as I v.-as riding, and told me 
 he thought he could suggest the movement which 
 ought to be adopted. I Hstened to him, and heard 
 him detail some operations on which I had actually 
 resolved but a little before." It has been noticed 
 (perhaps by over-nice speculators) as a part of the 
 same system, that Napoleon, on his return to Paris, 
 continued to employ the same tradespeople, how- 
 ever inferior in their several crafts, v.-ho had served 
 him in the days of his obscurity.* 
 
 If we may follow M. de Bourienne, Napoleon at 
 this time laboured under intense anxiety of mind. 
 Conscious of the daring heights to which he had 
 ere now accustomed his ambitious imagination, he 
 was fearful that others had divined his secret, and 
 was haunted with the perpetual dread tliat some 
 accident might unite Royalists and Republicans in 
 the work of his personal ruin. 
 
 * A silversmith, who had given him credit when he set out 
 to Italy for a dressing-case worth 50/., was rewarded with all 
 the business which tire recommendation of his now illustrious 
 debtor could bring to him ; and, being clever in his trade, 
 became ultimately, under the patronage of the imperial house- 
 hold, one of the wealthiest citizens of Paris. A little hatter, 
 and a cobbler, who had served Buonaparte when a subaltern, 
 might have risen in the same manner, had their skill equalled 
 the silversmith's. Not even Napoleon's example could per- 
 suade the Parisians to wear ill-shaped hats and clumsy boots ; 
 but he, in his own person, adhered, to the last, to his original 
 connection with these poor artisans.
 
 118 NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE. [Jan. 
 
 The first public appearance of Buonaparte oc- 
 curred (January 2, 1 798) when the treaty of Campo- 
 Formio was to be formally presented to the direc- 
 tory. The great court of the Luxembourg was 
 roofed over with flags ; an immense concourse, in- 
 cluding all the members of the government and of 
 the two legislative bodies, expected the victorious 
 negotiator ; and when he appeared, followed by his 
 staff, and surrounded on all hands with the trophies 
 of his glorious campaigns, the enthusiasm of the 
 mighty multitude, to the far greater part of which 
 his person was, up to the moment, entirely unknown, 
 outleaped all bounds, and filled the already jealous 
 hearts of the directors with dark presentiments. 
 They well knew that the soldiery, returning from 
 Italy, had sung and said through every village that 
 it was high time to get rid of the lawyers, and make 
 the " little corporal" king. With uneasy hearts 
 did they hear what seemed too like an echo of this 
 cry, from the assembled leaders of opinion in Paris 
 and in France. Anxious curiosity and mutual dis- 
 trust, were written in every face. The voice of 
 Napoleon was for the first time heard in an energetic 
 speech, ascribing all the glories that had been 
 achieved to the zeal of the French soldiery — for 
 " the glorious constitution of tlie year three" — 
 the same glorious constitution which, in the year 
 e'tght, was to receive the coup de grace from his 
 own hand : and Barras, as presiding director, an- 
 swering, that " Nature had exhausted all her 
 powers in the creation of a Buonaparte," awoke a 
 new thunder of unwelcome a])])lausi's. 
 
 Carnot had been exiled after tlie 18th Fructidor, 
 and was at this time actually believed to be dead.
 
 1798] PARIS. 119 
 
 The institute nominated Buonaparte to fill his place ; 
 and he was received by this learned body with en- 
 thusiasm not inferior to that of the Luxembourg. 
 He thenceforth adopted, on all public occasions,, 
 the costume of this academy ; and, laying aside as 
 far as was possible the insignia of his military 
 rank, seemed to desire only the distinction of being 
 classed with those whose scientific attainments had 
 done honour to their country. In all this he acted 
 on 'calculation. " I well knew," said he ^t St. 
 Helena, " that there was not a drummer in the 
 army, but would respect me the more for believing 
 me to be not a mere soldier." 
 
 Some time before he left Italy, a motion had been 
 made in one of the chambers for rewarding him with 
 a grant of the estate of Chambord, and lost owing 
 solely to the jealousy of the directory. This oppo- 
 sition was on their part unjust and unwise, and 
 extremely unpopular also ; for it was known to all 
 men that the general might easily have enriched 
 himself during his wonderful campaigns, and it was 
 almost as generally believed that he had brought 
 with him to the Rue de la Victoire only 100,000 
 crowns, saved from the fair allowances of his 
 rank. No one who considers the long series of 
 intrigues which had passed between Buonaparte 
 and the party that triumphed in Fructidor, can 
 doubt how he regarded this part of their conduct. 
 Every day confirmed them in their jealousy ; nor 
 did he take much pains on the other hand to con- 
 ceal his feelings towards them. On many occasions 
 they were willing to make use of him, although 
 they dreaded in so doing to furnish him with new 
 proofs of the vast superiority which he had reached
 
 120 NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE. [Jan. 
 
 in public opinion above themselves ; and he was, 
 on his part, chary of acceding to any of their pro- 
 posals. 
 
 On the 21st of January, the anniversary of the 
 death of Louis XVI. was to be celebrated, accord- 
 ing to custom, as a great festival of the Republican 
 calendar ; and, conscious how distasteful the ob- 
 servance had by this time become to all persons 
 capable of reflection, the government would fain 
 have diverted attention from themselves, by assign- 
 ing a prominent part in the ceremonial to him, on 
 whom, as they knew, all eyes were sure to be fixed 
 whenever he made his appearance. Napoleon pene- 
 trated their motives. He remonstrated against the 
 ceremony altogether, as perpetuating the memory 
 of a deed, perhaps imavoidable, but not the less to 
 be regretted. He told them that it was unworthy 
 of a great Republic to triumph, year after year, in 
 the shedding of an individual enemy's blood. They 
 answered by remiiuling him that the Athenians and 
 Romans of old recorded, in similar festivals, the 
 downfal of the Pisistratidae and the exile of the 
 Tarquins. He might have replied, that it is easier 
 for a nation to renounce Christianity in name, than 
 to obliterate altogether the traces of its humanizing 
 influence. But this view did not as yet occur to 
 Napoleon — or if it had, could not have been pro- 
 mulgated to their conviction. He stood on. the 
 impolicy of the barbarous ceremony ; and was at 
 length, with difficulty, persuaded to appear in it as 
 a private member of the institute, along with the 
 rest of that association. His refusal to be there as 
 the great general of the R('pu])lic annoyed the timid 
 directory ; and yet, on his being recognised in his
 
 1798.] PARIS. 121 
 
 civic dress, and pointed out to new myriads of 
 observers, the effect which the government had 
 desired to produce was brought about in spite of 
 all Buonaparte's reluctance. The purpose of the 
 assemblage was almost forgotten : the clamours of 
 the people converted it into another fete for Napo- 
 leon. 
 
 It has already been said that as early as October, 
 1797, the directory announced their intention of 
 committing an army, destined for the invasion of 
 England, to the conqueror of Italy. He wholly 
 disapproved of their rashness in breaking off the 
 negotiations of the preceding summer with the 
 English envoy. Lord Malmesbury, and, above all, 
 of the insolent abruptness of that procedure.* 
 But the die was cast ; and he willingly accepted 
 the appointment now^ pressed upon him by the 
 government, who, in truth, w^ere anxious about 
 nothing so much as to occupy his mind with the 
 matters of his profession, and so prevent him from 
 taking a prominent part in the civil business of the 
 state. Solely owung to his celebrity two of his 
 brothers were already distinguished members of 
 the legislative bodies ; and there could be no doubt 
 that the gates of either would fly open for his ow^n 
 admission, if he chose it, on the next election. 
 
 Whatever views of ulterior ambition might have 
 opened themselves to Napoleon at this period, he 
 well knew that the hour was not yet come, in which 
 he could serve his purpose better than by the 
 
 * The directory broke off the negotiation in a most insolent 
 manner, by ordering Lord 3Ialmesbury to quit France within 
 twentj'-four hours : this they did in their exultation after the 
 18th Fructidor,
 
 122 NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE. [Feb. 
 
 pursuit of his military career. According to De 
 Bourienne, he had for some time flattered himself 
 that the law, which prevented a person so young 
 as he from being a Director, might be waved in 
 his favour ; not doubting, we may conclude, that 
 such colleagues as Barras and Rewbell would soon 
 sink into the mere ministers of his will : but the 
 opposition to this scheme was so determined that 
 it was never permitted to be proposed openly. 
 The directory were popular with no party ; but 
 there were many parties ; and, numerically, pro- 
 bably the Royalists were the strongest. The pure 
 republicans were still powerful : the army of Italy 
 was distant and scattered ; that of the Rhine, far 
 more numerous, and equally well disciplined, had 
 its own generals — men not yet in reputation im- 
 measurably inferior to himself; and, having been 
 less fortunate tlian their bretliren in Italy, and 
 consequently acquired less wealth, it was no won- 
 der that the soldiery of the Rhine regarded the 
 others, if not their leader, with some little jealousy. 
 In Napoleon's own language, " the pear was not 
 yet ripe," 
 
 He proceeded, therefore, to make a regular 
 survey of the French coast opposite to England, 
 witli the view of improving its fortifications, and 
 (ostensibly at least,) of selecting the best points 
 for embarking an invading force. For this ser- 
 vice he was eminently (pialified ; and many local 
 im{)rovcmcnts of great importance, long after- 
 wards effected, were first suggested by him at 
 this j)criod. But, if he h.'id really thought other- 
 wise beforehand, (which M. de Bourienne denies,) 
 the result of his examination was a perfect con-
 
 1798.] ARMY OF ENGLAND. 123 
 
 viction that the time was not yet come for inva- 
 ding England. He perceived that extensive and 
 tedious preparations were indispensable ere the 
 French shipping on that coast could be put into a 
 condition for such an attempt ; and the burst of 
 loyalty w^hich the threat of invasion called forth in 
 every part of Britain — the devotion with which all 
 classes of the people answered the appeal of the 
 government — the immense extent to which the 
 regular and volunteer forces were increased every- 
 where — these circumstances produced a strong im- 
 pression on his not less calculating than enter- 
 prizing mind. He had himself, in the course of 
 the preceding autumn, suggested to the minister 
 for foreign affairs, the celebrated Talleyrand, the 
 propriety of making an effort against England in 
 another quarter of the world : — of seizing Malta, 
 proceeding to occupy Egypt, and therein gaining 
 at once a territory capable of supplying to France 
 the loss of her West Indian colonies, and the means 
 of annoying Great Britain in her Indian trade and 
 empire. To this scheme he now recurred : the 
 East presented a field of conquest and glory on 
 which his imagination delighted to brood : " Eu- 
 rope," said he, " is but a molehill, all the great 
 glories have come from Asia." The injustice of 
 attacking the dominions of the Grand Seignior, an 
 old ally of France, formed but a trivial obstacle in 
 the eyes of the directory : the professional opinion 
 of Buonaparte that the invasion of England, if 
 attempted then, must fail, could not but carry its 
 due weight : the temptation of plundering Egypt 
 and India was great ; and great, perhaps above all 
 the rest, was the temptation of finding employment
 
 IS^ NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE. [Apr.— May, 
 
 for Napoleon at a distance from France. The 
 Egyptian expedition was determined on : but kept 
 strictly secret. The attention of England was still 
 riveted on the coasts of Normandy and Picardy, 
 between which and Paris Buonaparte studiously 
 divided his presence — while it was on the borders 
 of the Mediterranean that the ships and the troops 
 really destined for action were assembling. 
 
 Buonaparte, having rifled to such purpose the 
 cabinets and galleries of the Italian princes, was 
 resolved not to lose the opportunity of appropri- 
 ating some of the rich antiquarian treasures of 
 Egypt ; nor was it likely that he should undervalue 
 the opportunities which his expedition might afford, 
 of extending the boundaries of science, by careful 
 observation of natural phenomena. He drew to- 
 gether therefore a body of eminent artists and con- 
 noisseurs, vmder tlie direction of Monge, who had 
 managed his Italian collections : it was perhaps 
 the first time that a troop of Savans (there were 
 100 of them) formed part of the staff of an invading 
 army.* 
 
 The various squadrons of the French fleet were 
 now assembled at Toulon ; and everything seemed 
 to be in readiness. Yet some time elapsed before 
 Napoleon joined the armament : and it is said by 
 Miot that lie did all he could to defer joining it as 
 long as j)ossible, in consequence of certain obscure 
 
 * Before leaving Paris, Buonaparte ordered his Secretary to 
 prepare a camp library, of small volumes, arranged under the 
 different heads of Science, Geography and Travels, History, 
 Poetry, Romance, Politics. The "works on Politics" are six 
 in number: viz. l\JonteH(|uieu's Spirit of Laws, a compendium 
 of Mythology, the Vedam, the Koran, and the old and new 
 Testaments — all in French.
 
 1798.] EGYPTIAN EXPEDITION. 125 
 
 hopes which he had entertained of striking a blow 
 at the existing government, and remodelling it, to 
 his own advantage, with the assent, if not assistance, 
 of Austria. This author adds that Barras, having 
 intercepted a letter of Buonaparte to Cobentzel, 
 went to him late one evening, and commanded him 
 to join the fleet instantly, on pain of being de- 
 nounced as the enemy of the government ; that 
 the general ordered his horses the same hour, and 
 was on his way to Toulon ere midnight. These 
 circumstances may or may not be truly given. It 
 is not doubtful that the command of the Egyptian 
 expedition was ultimately regarded, both by Napo- 
 leon and the directory, as a species of honourable 
 banishment. On reaching Toulon, Buonaparte 
 called his army together, and harangued them. 
 " Rome," he said, " combated Carthage by sea as 
 well as land ; and England was the Carthage of 
 France. — He was come to lead them, in the name 
 of the Goddess of Liberty, across mighty seas, 
 and into remote regions, where their valour might 
 achieve such glory and such wealth as could never 
 be looked for beneath the cold heavens of the west. 
 The meanest of his soldiers should receive seven 
 acres of land ; " — ivJiere he mentioned not. His 
 promises had not hitherto been vain. The sol- 
 diery heard him with joy, and prepared to obey 
 with alacrity. 
 
 The English government, meanwhile, although 
 they had no suspicion of the real destination of the 
 armament, had not failed to observe what was 
 passing in Toulon. They probably believed that 
 the ships there assembled were meant to take part 
 in the great scheme of the invasion of England.
 
 126 NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE. [May, 
 
 However this might have been, they had sent a 
 considerable reinforcement to Nelson, who then 
 commanded on the Mediterranean station ; and he, 
 at the moment when Buonaparte reached Toulon, 
 was cruising within sight of the port. Napoleon 
 well knew that to embark in the presence of Nelson 
 would be to rush into the jaws of ruin; and waited 
 until some accident should relieve him from this 
 terrible watcher. On the evening of the 19th of 
 May fortune favoured him. A violent gale drove 
 the English off the coast, and disabled some ships 
 so much that Nelson was obliged to go into the 
 harbours of Sardina to have them repaired. The 
 French general instantly commanded the embarka- 
 tion of all his troops ; and as the last of them got 
 on board, the sun rose on the mighty armament : 
 it was one of those dazzling suns which the sol- 
 diery delighted afterwards to call " the suns of 
 Napoleon." 
 
 Seldom have the shores of the Mediterranean 
 witnessed a nobler spectacle. That unclouded sun 
 rose on a semicircle of vessels, extending in all to 
 not less than six leagues : thirteen ships of the line 
 and fourteen frigates (under the command of Ad- 
 miral Brueyes) ; and 400 transports. They carried 
 40,000 ])icked soldiers, and officers whose names 
 were only inferior to that of the general-in-chief ; 
 — of the men, as well as of tlieir leaders, the far 
 greater part already accustomed to follow Napo- 
 leon, and to consider his presence as the pledge 
 of victory.
 
 1798.] ( 127 ) 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 The Voyage to Egi/pt — Malta surrendered — The French 
 escape Xelsoji, and take Alexandria — The March up 
 the Nile — The Battle of the Pyramids — Cairo sur- 
 renders — The Battle of Ahoiikir. 
 
 The French fleet was reinforced, ere it had pro- 
 ceeded far on its way, by General Dessaix, and 
 his division from Italy ; and, having prosperous 
 winds, appeared on the 10th of June off Malta. 
 The Knights of St. John were no longer those 
 hardy and devout soldiers of the cross, who for 
 ages inspired terror among the ^Mussulmans, and 
 were considered as the heroic outguards of Chris- 
 tendom. Sunk in indolence and pleasure, these 
 inheritors of a glorious name hardly attempted for 
 a moment to defend their all but impregnable island, 
 against the fleet which covered the seas around 
 them. The Parisian authorities had tampered 
 successfully beforehand with some of the French 
 knights. Division of counsels prevailed : and in 
 confusion and panic the gates were thrown open. 
 As Napoleon was entering between the huge rocky 
 barriers of La Valette, Caffarelli said to him : 
 " It is well there was some one within to open the 
 door for us ; had there been no garrison at all, the 
 business might have been less easy." 
 
 From Malta — where he left a detachment of
 
 128 NAPOLEOX BUONAPARTE. [July 1> 
 
 troops to guard an acquisition which he expected 
 to find eminently useful in his future communica- 
 tions with France — Buonaparte steered eastwards ; 
 but, after some days, ran upon the coast of Candia 
 to take in water and fresh provisions, and, by thus 
 casually diverging from his course, escaped immi- 
 nent danger. For Nelson, soon returning to Tou- 
 lon, missed the shipping which had so lately crowded 
 the harbour, and ascertaining that they had not 
 sailed towards the Atlantic, divined on the instant 
 that their mark must be Egypt. His fleet was 
 inferior in numbers, but he pursued without hesi- 
 tation ; and taking the straight line, arrived off the 
 Nile before any of the French ships had appeared 
 there. Buonaparte, on hearing off Candia that 
 the English fleet was already in the Levant, directed 
 Admiral Brucyes to steer not for Alexandria, but 
 for a more northerly point of the coast of Africa. 
 Nelson, on the other hand, not finding the enemy 
 where he had expected, turned back and traversed 
 the sea in quest of him, to Rhodes — and thence to 
 Syracuse. It is supposed that on the 20th of June 
 the fleets almost touched each other ; but that the 
 thickness of the haze, and Nelson's want of frigates, 
 prevented an encounter. Napoleon, reconnoitring 
 the coast, ascertained that there was no longer 
 any fleet off Alexandria, and in efl'ect reached 
 his destination undisturbed on the 1st of Jujy. At 
 that moment a strange sail appeared on the verge 
 of tlu' horizon. " Fortune," exclaimed he, '* I ask 
 but six hours more — wilt thou refuse them ?" The 
 vessel proved not to l)e iMiglish ; and the disem- 
 barkation inunediately took place, in -spite of a 
 violent gale and a tremendous surf. The Admiral
 
 1798.] EGYPT. 129 
 
 Brueyes in vain endeavoured to persuade Buona- 
 parte to remain on board until the weather should 
 be more calm. He sternly refused, and landed 
 at Marabout, three leagues to the eastward of 
 Alexandria, about one in the morning of the 2d 
 July — having lost many by drowning. 
 
 Egypt, a province of the Ottoman empire, then 
 at peace with France, was of course wholly unpre- 
 pared for this invasion. The Turks, however, 
 mustered what force they could, and, shutting the 
 gates of the city, held out — until a division, headed 
 by Napoleon in person, forced their way, at three 
 in the morning, through the old crumbling walls, 
 and it was no longer possible to resist at once 
 superior numbers and European discipline. Two 
 hundred French died in the assault ; the Turkish 
 loss was much greater : and, if we are to believe 
 almost all who have written concerning this part 
 of his history, Buonaparte, after taking possession, 
 abandoned the place for three hours to the unbri- 
 dled license of military execution and rapine — an 
 atrocity for which, if it really occurred, there could 
 have been only one pretext ; namely, the urgent 
 necessity of striking awe and terror into the hearts 
 of the population, and so preventing them from 
 obeying the call of their military chieftains, to take 
 arms in defence of the soil. De Bourienne and 
 Berthier, however, wholly deny this story. 
 
 If Napoleon's conduct on this occasion was as 
 it has been commonly represented, it was strangely 
 contrasted with the tenor of his General Order to 
 the army, issued immediately before their disem- 
 barkation. " The people," he then said, " with 
 whom we are about to live, are Mahometans ; the 
 
 VOL. I. K
 
 130 NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE. [July. 
 
 first article of their faith is, There is no God but 
 God, and Mahomet is his Prophet. Do not contra- 
 dict them: deal with them as you have done with 
 the Jews and the Italians. Respect their muphtis 
 and imans, as you have done by the rabbis and the 
 bishops elsewhere. . . . The Roman legions pro- 
 tected all religions. You will find here usages 
 different from those of Europe : you must accus- 
 tom yom'selves to them. These people treat their 
 women differently from us ; but in all countries he 
 who violates is a monster', pillage enriches only a 
 few; it dishonours us, destroys our resources, and 
 makes those enemies whom it is our interest to hare 
 for friends.'^ 
 
 To the people of Egypt, meanwhile, Napoleon 
 addressed a proclamation in these words: — " They 
 will tell you that I come to destroy your reli- 
 gion; believe them not: answer that I come to 
 restore your rights, to punish the usurpers, and 
 that I respect, more than the Mamelukes ever did, 
 God, his Prophet, and the Koran. Sheiks and 
 Imans, assure the people that we also are true Mus- 
 sulmans. Is it not we that have ruined the Pope 
 and the Knights of Malta? Thrice happy they who 
 shall be with us! Woe to them that take up arms 
 for the Mamelukes! they shall perish!"* 
 
 * At this period Egypt, though nominally governed by a 
 pacha appointed by the (jiand Seignior, was in reality in the 
 hands of the Mamelukes ; a singular body of men, who paid 
 but little respect to any authority but that of their own chiefs. 
 Of these chiefs or beys there were twenty-four; each one of 
 whom ruled over a separate district; who often warred with each 
 other; and were as often in rebellion against their nominal 
 sovereign. According to the institutions of the Mamelukes,
 
 1798.] EGYPT. 131 
 
 Buonaparte was a fatalist — so that one main 
 article of the Mussulman creed pleased him well. 
 He admired Mahomet as one of those rare beings, 
 who, by individual genius and daring, have pro- 
 duced mighty and permanent alterations in the 
 world. Tlie General's assertion of his own belief 
 in the inspiration of the Arab imposter, was often 
 repeated in the sequel; and will ever be appre- 
 ciated, as it was at the time by his own soldiery — 
 whom indeed he had addressed but the day before 
 in language sufficiently expressive of his real sen- 
 timents as to all forms of religion. Rabbi, muphti, 
 and bishop, the Talmud, the Koran, and the Bible, 
 were much on a level in his estimation. Fie was 
 willing to make use of them all as it might serve 
 
 their body was recruited solely by boys, chiefly of European 
 birth, taken captive, and brought up from their earliest days in 
 all military exercises. These were promoted according to their 
 merits ; it being the custom that when a bey died, the bravest 
 of his band succeeded him. The Mamelukes thus formed a 
 separate caste ; and they oppressed most cruelly the population 
 of the country which had fallen into their keeping. The fel- 
 lahs, or poor Arabs, who cultivate the soil, being compelled to 
 pay exorbitantly for permission to do so, suffered the extreme of 
 misery in the midst of great natural wealth. The Cophts, sup- 
 posed to be descended from the ancient Egyptian nation, dis- 
 charged most civil functions under the Mamelukes, and had 
 the trades and professions in their hands, but they also were 
 oppressed intolerably by those haughty and ferocious soldiers. 
 The Mamelukes were considered by Napoleon to be, indivi- 
 dually, the finest cavalry in the world. They rode the noblest 
 horses of Arabia, and were armed with the best weapons which 
 the world could produce; carbines, pistols, tkc. from England, 
 and sabres of the steel of Damascus. Their skill in horseman- 
 ship was equal to their fiery valour. With that cavalry and 
 the French infantry, Buonaparte said, it would be easy to con- 
 quer the world. 
 
 k2
 
 132 NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE. [July, 
 
 his purpose ; and, though not by nature cruel, he 
 did not hesitate, when his interest seemed to de- 
 mand it, to invest his name with every circumstance 
 of terror, that could result from the most merci- 
 less violation of those laws of humanity which even 
 his Koran enforces, and which his own address to 
 his army had so recently inculcated. 
 
 Napoleon left Alexandria on the 7th July, being 
 anxious to force the Mamelukes to an encounter 
 with the least possible delay. He had a small 
 flotilla on the Nile, which served to guard his right 
 flank : the infantry marched over burning sand at 
 some distance from the river. The miseries of this 
 progress were extreme. The air is crowded with 
 pestiferous insects , the glare of the sand weakens 
 most men's eyes, and blinds many; water is scarce 
 and bad: and the country had been swept clear of 
 man, beast, and vegetable. Under this torture 
 even the gallant spirits of such men as Murat and 
 Lannes could not sustain themselves: — they trod 
 their cockades in the sand. The common soldiers 
 asked, with angry murmurs, if it was here the 
 General designed to give them their seven acres? 
 He alone was superior to all these evils. Such 
 was the happy temperament of his frame, that — 
 while others, after having rid them of their usual 
 dress, were still suffiised in perpetual floods of 
 perspiration, and the hardiest found it necessary to 
 give two or three hours in the middle of the day 
 to sleep — Napoleon altered nothing; wore his uni- 
 form buttoned up as at Paris ; never showed one 
 bead of sweat on his brow ; nor thought of repose 
 except to lie down in his cloak the last at night, 
 and start up the first in the morning. It required,
 
 1798.] EGYPT. 133 
 
 however, more than all this example of endurance, 
 and the general influence of Napoleon's character 
 could do, to prevent the army from breaking into 
 open mutiny. " Once," said he at St. Helena, " I 
 threw myself suddenly amidst a group of generals, 
 and, addressing myself to the tallest of their num- 
 ber with vehemence, said, You have been talking 
 sedition: take care lest I fulfil mij duty : your five 
 feet ten inches would not hinder you from being shot 
 within two hours." 
 
 For some days no enemy appeared ; but at 
 length scattered groups of horsemen began to 
 hover on their flanks ; and the soldier, who quitted 
 the line but for a moment, was surrounded and put 
 to death ere his comrades could rescue him. The 
 rapidity with which the Mamelukes rode, and their 
 skill as marksmen were seconded by the character 
 of the soil and the atmosphere ; the least motion 
 or breath of wind being sufficient to raise a cloud 
 of sand, through which nothing could be discerned 
 accurately, while the constant glare of the sun 
 dazzled almost to blindness. It was at Chebreis 
 that the Mamelukes first attacked in a considerable 
 body; and at the same moment the French flotilla 
 was assaulted. In either case the superiority of 
 European discipline was made manifest ; but in 
 either case also the assailants were able to retreat 
 without much loss. Meantime the hardships of 
 the march continued ; the irregular attacks of the 
 enemy were becoming more and more numerous ; 
 so that the troops, continually halting and forming 
 into squares to receive the charge of the cavalry 
 by day, and forced to keep up great watches at 
 night, experienced the extremes of fatigue as well
 
 134 NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE. [July 21st, 
 
 as of privation. In the midst of this misery the 
 common men beheld with no friendly eyes the 
 troop of savans mounted on asses, (the common 
 conveyance of the country,) with all their instru- 
 ments, books and baggage. They began to sus- 
 pect that the expedition had been undertaken for 
 some merely scientific purposes ; and when, on any 
 alarm, they were ordered to open the square and 
 give the learned party safe footing within, they 
 used to receive them with military jeerings ; " room 
 for the asses: — stand back, here come the savans 
 and the demi-savans.'" 
 
 On the 21st of July the army came within sight 
 of the Pyramids, which, but for the regularity of 
 the outline, might have been taken for a distant 
 ridge of rocky mountains. While every eye was 
 fixed on these hoary monuments of the past, they 
 gained the brow of a gentle eminence, and saw at 
 length spread out before them the vast army of 
 the beys, its right posted on an intrenched camp 
 by the Nile, its centre and left composed of that 
 brilliant cavalry with which they were by this time 
 acquainted. Napoleon, riding forwards to recon- 
 noitre, perceived (what escaped the observation of 
 all his staff) that the guns on the intrenched camp 
 were not provided with carriages ; and instantly 
 decided on his plan of attack. He prepared to 
 throw his force on tlie left, where the guns could 
 not be available. Mourad Bey, who commanded 
 in chief, speedily penetrated his design ; and the 
 Mamelukes advanced gallantly to the encounter. 
 " SoldierSj" said Najjolcon, " from the summit of 
 yonder pyramids forty ages behold you ;" and the 
 battle began.
 
 1798.] BATTLE OF THE PYRAMIDS. 135 
 
 The French formed into separate squares, and 
 awaited the assault of the Mamelukes. These 
 came on with impetuous speed and wild cries, and 
 practised every means to force their passage into 
 the serried ranks of their new opponents. They 
 rushed on the line of bayonets, backed their horses 
 upon them, and at last, maddened by the firmness 
 which they could not shake, dashed their pistols 
 and carbines into the faces of the men. They who 
 had fallen wounded from their seats, would crawl 
 along the sand, and hew at the legs of their ene- 
 mies with their scymitars. Nothing could move 
 the French : the bayonet and the continued roll of 
 musketry by degrees thinned the host around 
 them ; and Buonaparte at last advanced. Such 
 were the confusion and terror of the enemy when 
 he came near the camp, that they abandoned their 
 works, and flung themselves by hundreds into the 
 Nile. The carnage was prodigious. Multitudes 
 more were drowned. Mourad and a remnant of his 
 Mamelukes retreated on Upper Egypt. Cairo sur- 
 rendered : Lower Egypt was entirely conquered. 
 
 Such were the immediate consequences of the 
 Battle of the Pyramids. The name of Buonaparte 
 now spread panic through the East ; and the 
 " Sultan Kebir" (or King of Fire — as he was 
 called from the deadly effects of the musketry in 
 this engagement) was considered as the destined 
 scourge of God, whom it was hopeless to resist. 
 
 The French now had recompense for the toils 
 they had undergone. The bodies of the slain and 
 drowned Mamelukes were rifled, and, it being the 
 custom for those warriors to carry their wealth 
 about them,' a single corpse often made a soldier's
 
 136 NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE. [July, Aug. 
 
 fortune. In the deserted harems of the chiefs at 
 Cairo, and in the neighbouring villages, men at 
 length found proofs that " eastern luxury" is no 
 empty name. The Savans ransacked the monu- 
 ments of antiquity, and formed collections which 
 will ever reflect honour on their zeal and skill. 
 Napoleon himself visited the interior of the Great 
 Pyramid, and on entering the secret chamber, in 
 which, 3000 years before, some Pharaoh had been 
 inurned, repeated once more his confession of 
 faith — " There is no God but God, and Mahomet 
 is his prophet." The bearded orientals who ac- 
 companied him, concealed their doubts of his 
 orthodoxy, and responded very solemnly, " God 
 is merciful. Thou hast spoken like the most 
 learned of the prophets." 
 
 While Napoleon was thus pursuing his career of 
 victory in the interior, Nelson, having scoured the 
 Mediterranean in quest of him, once more returned 
 to the coast of Egypt. He arrived within sight of 
 the towers of Alexandria on the 1st of August — 
 ten days after the battle of the Pyramids had been 
 fought and won — and found Brueyes still at his 
 moorings in the bay of Aboukir. Nothing seems 
 to be more clear than that the French admiral 
 ought to have made the best of his way to France, 
 or at least to Malta, the moment the army had 
 taken possession of Alexandria. Napoleon con- 
 stantly asserted that he had urged Brueyes to do 
 so. Brueyes himself lived not to give his testi- 
 mony ; but Gantheaume, the vice-admiral, always 
 persisted in stating, in direct contradiction to Buo- 
 naparte, that the fleet remained by the General's 
 express desire. The testimonies being thus ba-
 
 1798.] NELSON — BATTLE OF ABOUKIR. 137 
 
 lanced, it is necessary to consult other materials of 
 judgment ; and it appears extremely difficult to 
 doubt that the French admiral, — who, it is ac- 
 knowledged on all hands, dreaded the encounter 
 of Nelson, — remained off Alexandria for the sole 
 purpose of aiding the motions of the army, and in 
 consequence of what he at least conceived to be 
 the wish of its general. However this might have 
 been, the results of his delay were terrible. 
 
 The French fleet were moored in a semicircle in 
 the bay of Aboukir, so near the shore, that, as 
 their admiral believed, it was impossible for the 
 enemy to come betw^een him and the land. He 
 expected, therefore, to be attacked on one side 
 only, and thought himself sure that the English 
 could not renew' their favourite manoeuvre of 
 breaking the line,* and so at once dividing the op- 
 posed fleet, and placing the ships individually be- 
 tween two fires. But Nelson daringly judged that 
 his ships might force a passage between the French 
 and the land, and succeeding in this attempt, in- 
 stantly brought on the conflict, in the same dreaded 
 form which Brueyes had believed impossible. The 
 details of this great seafight belong to the history 
 of the English hero.f The battle was obstinate — 
 it lasted more than twenty hours, including the 
 whole night. A solitary pause occurred at mid- 
 night, when the French admiral's ship, L'Orient, a 
 
 * This manoeuvre was first practised on the 12th of Au- 
 gust, 1782, by Lord Rodney's fleet; and, as appears to be 
 now settled, at the suggestion of that admiral's captain of the 
 fleet, the late Sir Charles Douglas, Barl. 
 
 t See the admirable Life of Nelson, by Southey ; which 
 now forms one of the numbers of the Family Library.
 
 138 NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE. [August, 
 
 superb vessel of 120 guns, took fire, and blew up 
 in the heart of the conflicting squadrons, with an 
 explosion that for a moment silenced rage in awe. 
 The admiral himself perished. Next morning two 
 shattered ships, out of all the French fleet, with 
 difficulty made their escape to the open sea. The 
 rest of all that magnificent array had been utterly 
 destroyed, or remained in the hands of the English. 
 Such was the battle of Aboukir, in which Nelson 
 achieved, with a force much inferior to the French, 
 what he himself called, " not a victory, but a con- 
 quest." Three thousand French seamen reached 
 the shore : a greater number died. Had the Eng- 
 lish admiral possessed frigates, he must have forced 
 his way into the harbour of Alexandria, and seized 
 the whole stores and transports of the army. As 
 things were, the best fleet of the Republic had 
 ceased to be ; the blockade of the coast was esta- 
 blished : and the invader, completely isolated from 
 France, must be content to rely on his own arms 
 and the resources of Egypt.
 
 1798.] ( 139 ) 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 Buonapcu'ie's Administration in Egi/pt — Armcnnents of 
 the Porte — Buonaparte at Suez — At El-Arish — Gaza, 
 Jaffa, Acre — Retreat to Egypt — Defeat of the Turks 
 at Aboukir — Napoleon embarks for France. 
 
 Before Nelson's arrival, Buonaparte is said to 
 have meditated returning to France, for the pur- 
 pose of extorting from the government those sup- 
 plies of various kinds which, on actual examination, 
 he had perceived to be indispensable to the per- 
 manent occupation of Egypt, and which he w'ell 
 knew the Directors would refuse to any voice but 
 his own. He intended, it is also said, to urge on 
 the Directory the propriety of resuming the pro- 
 ject of a descent on England itself, at the moment 
 when the mind of that government might be sup- 
 posed to be engrossed with the news of his dazzling 
 successes in Egypt. All these proud visions died 
 with Brueyes. On hearing of the battle of Abou- 
 kir a solitary sigh escaped from Napoleon. " To 
 France," said he, " the fates have decreed the 
 empire of the land — to England that of the sea." 
 
 He endured this great calamity with the equa- 
 nimity of a masculine spirit. He gave orders that 
 the seamen landed at Alexandria should be formed 
 into a marine brigade, and thus gained a valuable 
 addition to his army; and proceeded himself to
 
 140 NArOLEON BUONAPARTE. [Aug.— Dec. 
 
 organize a system of government, under which the 
 great natural resources of the country might be 
 turned to the best advantage. We need not dwell 
 on that vain repetition of his faith in Mahomet, to 
 which he would not and could not give effect by 
 openly adopting the rules and ceremonies of the 
 Koran; which accordingly but amused his own fol- 
 lowers; and which deceived none of the Mussulman 
 people. This was the trick of an audacious infidel, 
 who wanted wholly that enthusiasm without which 
 no religious impostor can hope to partake the suc- 
 cesses of the Prophet of Mecca. Passing over this 
 worthless preliminary, the arrangements of the new 
 administration reflect honour on the consummate 
 understanding, the clear skill, and the unwearied 
 industry of this extraordinary man. 
 
 He was careful to advance no claim to the sove- 
 reignty of Egypt, but asserted, that having rescued 
 it from the Mameluke usurpation, it remained for 
 him to administer law and justice, until the time 
 should come for restoring the province to the do- 
 minion of the Grand Seignior. He then established 
 two councils, consisting of natives, principally of 
 Arab chiefs and Moslem of the church and the law, 
 by whose advice all measures were, nominally, to 
 be regulated. They formed of course a very sub- 
 servient senate. He had no occasion to demand 
 more from the people than they liad l)een used to 
 pay to the beys ; and he lightened the impost by 
 introducing as far as he could the fairness and ex- 
 actness of a civilized ])ower in the method of levy- 
 ing it. He laboured to make the laws respected, 
 and this so earnestly and rigidly, that no small 
 wonder was excited among all classes of a popula-
 
 1798.] ADMINISTRATION OF EGYPT. Ml 
 
 tion so long accustomed to the license of a barbarian 
 horde of spoilers. On one occasion one of the 
 Ulemahs could not help smiling at the zeal which 
 he manifested for tracing home the murder of an 
 obscure peasant to the perpetrator. The Mussul- 
 man asked if the dead man were anywise related to 
 the blood of the Sultan Kebir ? " No," answ'ered 
 Napoleon, sternly — " but he was more than that — 
 he was one of a people whose government it has 
 pleased Providence to place in my hands." The 
 measures which he took for the protection of tra- 
 vellers to Mecca were especially acceptable to the 
 heads of the Moslem establishment, and produced 
 from them a proclamation, (in direct contradiction 
 to the Koran,) signifying that it was right and law- 
 ful to pay tribute to the French. The virtuosi and 
 artists in his train, meanwhile, pursued with inde- 
 fatigable energy their scientific researches; they 
 ransacked the monuments of Egypt, and laid the 
 foundation, at least, of all the wonderful discoveries, 
 which have since been made concerning the know- 
 ledge, arts, polity, (and even language,) of the an- 
 cient nation. Nor were their objects merely those 
 of curiosity. They, under the General's direction, 
 examined into the long-smothered traces of many 
 an ancient device for improving the agriculture of 
 the country. Canals that had been shut up for 
 centuries were re-opened: the waters of the Nile 
 flowed once more where they had been guided by 
 the skill of the Pharoahs or the Ptolemies. Cul- 
 tivation was extended : property secured ; and it 
 cannot be doubted that the signal improvements 
 since introduced in Egypt, are attributable mainly 
 to the wise example of the French administration.
 
 142 NArOLEON BUONAPARTE. [Sept. 1798. 
 
 At Cairo itself there occurred one stormy insur- 
 rection, provoked, as may be supposed, by some 
 wantonness on the part of the garrison ; but, after 
 this was quelled by the same merciless vigour 
 which Napoleon had displayed on similar occa- 
 sions in Italy, the country appears to have re- 
 mained in more quiet, and probably enjoyed, in 
 spite of the presence of an invading army, more 
 prosperity, than it had ever done during any period 
 of the same length, since the Saracen government 
 was overthrown by the Ottomans. 
 
 In such labours Napoleon passed the autumn of 
 1798. "At this period," writes his secretary, " it 
 was his custom to retire early to bed, and it was 
 my business to read to him as long as he remained 
 awake. If I read poetry, he soon fell asleep, but 
 if, as sometimes happened, he called for The Life 
 of Cromwell, I made up my mind to want repose 
 for that night." 
 
 General Dessaix, meanwhile, had pursued Mou- 
 rad Bey into Upper Egypt, where the Mamelukes 
 hardly made a single stand against him, but con- 
 trived, by the excellence of their horses, and their 
 familiarity with the deserts, to avoid any total dis- 
 ruption of their forces. INIourad returned to the 
 neighbourhood of Cairo on hearing of the insurrec- 
 tion already mentioned; but departed when he 
 learned its suppression. Those gallant horsemen 
 were gradually losing numbers in their constant 
 desert marches — they were losing heart rapidly: 
 and everything seemed to promise, that the Upper 
 Egypt, like the Lower, would soon settle into a 
 peaceful province of the new French colony. 
 The General, during this interval of repose, re-
 
 Jan. 1799.] EGYPT. 143 
 
 ceived no communication from the French govern- 
 ment ; but rumours now began to reach his quarters 
 which might well give him new anxieties. The 
 report of another rupture with Austria gradually 
 met with more credence ; and it was before long 
 placed beyond a doubt, that the Ottoman Porte, 
 instead of being tempted into any recognition of 
 the French establishment in Egypt, had declared 
 war against the Republic, and summoned all the 
 strength of her empire to pour in overwhelming 
 numbers on the isolated army of Buonaparte. 
 
 As yet, however, there was no appearance of an 
 enemy; and Napoleon seized the opportunity to 
 explore the Isthmus of Suez, where a narrow neck 
 of land divides the Red Sea from the ]Mediterra- 
 nean, partly with the view of restoring the commu- 
 nication which in remote times existed between 
 them, and partly of providing for the defence of 
 Egypt, should the Ottomans attempt their invasion 
 by the way of Syria. 
 
 He visited the Maronite monks of Mount Sinai, 
 and, as Mahomet had done before him, affixed his 
 name to their charter of privileges; he examined 
 also the fountain of Moses : and nearly lost his life 
 in exploring, during low water, the sands of the 
 Red Sea, where Pharaoh is supposed to have 
 perished in the pursuit of the Hebrews. " The 
 night overtook us," says Savary in his Memoirs, 
 " the waters began to rise around us, the guard in 
 advance exclaimed that their horses were swim- 
 ming. Buonaparte saved us all by one of those 
 simple expedients which occur to an imperturbable 
 mind. Placing himself in the centre, he bade all 
 the rest form a circle round him, and then ride out
 
 144 NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE. [Feb. Mar. 
 
 each man in a separate direction, and each to halt 
 as soon as he found his horse swimming. The 
 man whose horse continued to march the last, was 
 sure, he said, to be in the right direction ; him 
 accordingly we all followed, and reached Suez at 
 two in the morning in safety, though so rapidly 
 had the tide advanced, that the water was at the 
 poitrels of our horses ere we made the land." 
 
 On his return to Cairo, the General despatched 
 a trusty messenger into India, inviting Tippoo Sa'ib 
 to inform him exactly of the condition of the Eng- 
 lish army in that region, and signifying that Egypt 
 was only the first post in a march destined to sur- 
 pass that of Alexander! " He spent whole days," 
 writes his secretary, " in lying flat on the ground 
 stretched upon maps of Asia." 
 
 At length the time for action came. Leaving 
 15,000 in and about Cairo, the division of Dessaix 
 in Upper Egypt, and garrisons in the chief towns, — 
 Buonaparte on the 1 1th of February 1799 marched 
 for Syria at the head of 10,000 picked men, with 
 the intention of crushing the Turkish armament in 
 that quarter, before their chief force (which he now 
 knew was assembling at Rhodes) should have time 
 to reach Egypt by sea. Traversing the desert 
 which divides Africa from Asia, he took possession 
 of the fortress El-Arish,(15 Feb.) whose garrison, 
 after a vigorous assault, capitulated on condition 
 that they should be permitted to retreat into Syria, 
 pledging their parole not to serve again during the 
 war. Pursuing his march, he took Gazah (that 
 ancient city of the Philistines) without opposition; 
 but at Jafi'a, (the Joppa of holy writ,) the Moslem 
 made a resolute defence. The walls were carried
 
 1799.] JAFFA. 145 
 
 by storm, 3000 Turks died with arms in their 
 hands, and the town was given up during three 
 hours to the fury of the French soldiery — who 
 never, as Napoleon confessed, availed themselves 
 of the license of war more savagely than on this 
 occasion. 
 
 A part of the garrison — amounting, according to 
 Buonaparte, to 1200 men, but stated by others as 
 nearly 3000 in number — held out for some hours 
 longer in the mosques and citadel ; but at length, 
 seeing no chance of rescue, grounded their arms 
 on the 7th of March. Eugene Beauharnois, who in 
 person accepted their submission, was violently re- 
 buked by Napoleon for having done so : the soldiery 
 murmured, asking how these barbarians were to be 
 fed, when they themselves were already suffering 
 severe privations. The General summoned his 
 chief officers to council, and, after long discussion, 
 it was resolved that, in this case, necessity left no 
 room for mercy. On the 10th — three days after 
 their surrender — the prisoners were marched out 
 of Jaffa, in the centre of a battalion under General 
 Bon. When they had reached the sand-hills, at 
 some distance from the town, they were divided 
 into small parties, and shot or bayoneted to a man. 
 They, like true fatalists, submitted in silence ; and 
 their bodies were gathered together into a pyramid, 
 where, after the lapse of thirty years, their bones 
 are still visible whitening the sand. 
 
 Such was the massacre of Jaffa, which will ever 
 form one of the darkest stains on the name of Napo- 
 leon. He admitted the fact himself; — and justified 
 it on the double plea, that he could not afford sol- 
 
 VOL. I. L
 
 146 NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE. [March 18, 
 
 diers to guard so many prisoners, and that he could 
 not grant them the benefit of their parole, because 
 they were the very men who had already been set 
 free on such terms at El-Arish. To this last 
 defence the answer is, unfortunately for him, very 
 obvious. He could not possibly have recognised 
 in every one of these victims, an individual who 
 had already given and broken his parole. If he 
 did — still that would not avail him : — the men 
 surrendered with arms in their hands. No general 
 has a right to see men abandon the means of de- 
 fence, and then — after the lapse of three days too ! 
 — inflict on them the worst fate that could have 
 befallen them had they held out. The only remain- 
 ing plea is that of expediency ; and it is one upon 
 which many a retail as well as wholesale-murderer 
 might justify his crime. 
 
 Buonaparte had now ascertained that the Pacha of 
 Syria, Achmet-Djezzar,* was at St. Jean D'Acre, 
 (so renowned in the liistory of the crusades,) and 
 determined to defend that place to extremity, with 
 the forces which had already been assembled for 
 the invasion of Egypt. He in vain endeavoured to 
 seduce this ferocious chief from his allegiance to 
 the Porte, by holding out the hope of a separate 
 independent government, under the protection of 
 France. The first of Napoleon's messengers re- 
 turned without an answer; the second was put to 
 death ; and the army moved on Acre in all the zeal 
 of revenge, while the necessary apparatus of a 
 siege was ordered to be sent round by sea from 
 Alexandria. 
 
 * Djezzar means butcher: he had well earned this title by 
 the mercilessness of iiis administration.
 
 1799.] SIEGE OF ACRE. 14?7 
 
 Sir Sydney Smith was then cruising in the Levant 
 with two British ships of the Hne, the Tigre and 
 the Theseus ; and, being informed hy the pacha 
 of the approaching storm, hastened to support him 
 in the defence of Acre. Napoleon's vessels, con- 
 veying guns and stores from Egypt, fell into his 
 hands, and he appeared off the town two days 
 before the French army came in view of it. He had 
 on board his ship Colonel Philippeaux, a French 
 royalist of great talents (formerly Buonaparte's 
 school-fellow at Brienne) ;* and the Pacha willingly 
 permitted the English commodore and this skilful 
 ally, to regulate for him, as far as was possible, 
 the plan of his defence. 
 
 The loss of his own heavy artillery, and the 
 presence of two English ships, were inauspicious 
 omens ; yet Buonaparte doubted not that the Turk- 
 ish garrison would shrink before his onset, and he 
 instantly commenced the siege. He opened his 
 trenches on the 18th of March. " On that little 
 town," said he to one of his generals, as they were 
 standing together on an eminence, which still bears 
 the name of Richard Coeur-de-lion — " on yonder 
 little town depends the fate of the East. Behold 
 the key of Constantinople, or of India." — " The 
 moment Acre falls," said he about the same time 
 to De Bourienne, " all the Druses will join me ; the 
 Syrians, weary of Djezzar's oppressions, will crowd 
 to my standard. I shall march upon Constantinople 
 with an army to which the Turk can offer no 
 
 * Sir Sydney Smith, having been taken pnsoner and most 
 unjustifiably confined by the French government in the dungeons 
 of the Temple, had made his escape through the zeal of certain 
 of the royalist party, and chiefly of Philippeaux.
 
 148 NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE. [Maich, 
 
 effectual resistance — and it seems not unlikely that 
 I may return to France by the route of Adrianople 
 and Vienna — destroying the house of Austria on 
 my way!" 
 
 From the 18th to the 28th of March, the French 
 laboured hard in their trenches, being exposed to 
 the fire of extensive batteries, arranged by Philip- 
 peaux so as to command their approach, and 
 formed chiefly of Buonaparte's own artillery, cap- 
 tured on the voyage from Alexandria. The Turks 
 also were constantly sallying out, and their Pacha 
 personally set the example of the most heroic re- 
 solution. Nevertheless, on the 28th, a breach 
 was at last effected, and the French mounted with 
 such fiery zeal that the garrison gave way, until 
 Djezzar appeared on the battlements, and flinging 
 his own pistols at the heads of the flying men, 
 urged and compelled them to renew the defence. 
 In the end the French retreated with great loss, 
 and — the Turks, headed by the English seamen, 
 pursuing them to their lines — a great mine, de- 
 signed to blow up the chief tower of Acre, was 
 explored, and means taken for countermining it. 
 
 Meanwhile a vast Mussulman army had been 
 gathered among the mountains of Samaria, and 
 was preparing to descend upon Acre, and attack 
 the besiegers in concert with the garrison of Djez- 
 zar. Junot, with his division, marched to en- 
 counter them, and would have been overwhelmed 
 by their numbers, liad not Napoleon himself fol- 
 lowed and rescued him ( Aj)ril 8) at Nazareth, where 
 the s])lendid cnvalry of the orientals were, as usual, 
 unable to resist the solid squares and well-directed 
 musketry of the French. Kleber, with another
 
 April, 1799.] NAZARETH — TABOR. 149 
 
 division, was in like manner endangered, and in 
 like manner rescued by the general-in-cliief at 
 Mount Tabor (x\pril 15). The Mussulmans dis- 
 persed on all hands ; and Napoleon, returning to 
 his siege, pressed it on with desperate assaults, day 
 after day, in which his best soldiers were thinned, 
 before the united efforts of Djezzar's gallantry, 
 and the skill of his allies. At length, however, 
 a party of French succeeded in forcing their way 
 into the great tower, and in establishing them- 
 selves in one part of it, in despite of all the re- 
 solution that could be opposed to them. At the 
 same critical moment, there appeared in the offing 
 a Turkish fleet, which was known to carry great 
 reinforcements for the Pacha. Everything con- 
 spired to prompt Napoleon to finish his enterprise 
 at whatever cost, and he was bravely seconded. 
 
 Sir Sydney Smith, however, was as resolute to 
 hold out until the fleet should arrive, as Napoleon 
 was eager to anticipate its coming. The English 
 commander repaired with his handful of seamen to 
 the tower, and after a furious assault dislodged the 
 occupants. Buonaparte did not renew the attack 
 in that quarter, but succeeded in breaking the wall 
 in another part of the town ; and the heroic Lannes 
 headed a French party who actually entered Acre 
 at that opening. But Djezzar was willing they 
 should enter. He suffered them to come in unmo- 
 lested ; and then, before they could form, threw 
 such a crowd of Turks upon them, that discipline 
 was of no avail : it was a mere multitude of duels, 
 and the brave orientals with their scimitars and 
 pistols, overpowered their enemies, and put them
 
 150 NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE. [May, 
 
 to death — almost to a man. Lannes himself was 
 with difficulty carried back desperately wounded. 
 
 The rage of Buonaparte at these repeated dis- 
 comfitures may be imagined. The whole evil was 
 ascribed, and justly, to the presence of Sir Sydney 
 Smith ; and he spoke of that chivalrous person 
 ever after with the venom of a personal hatred. 
 Sir Sydney, in requital of Buonaparte's proclama- 
 tion — inviting (as was his usual fashion) the sub- 
 jects of the Pacha to avoid his yoke, and ally them- 
 selves with the invaders — put forth a counter 
 address to the Druses and other Christian inhabi- 
 tants of Syria, invoking tlieir assistance in the 
 name of their religion, against the blasphemous 
 general of a nation which had renounced Chris- 
 tianity. Napoleon upon this said that Sir Sydney 
 was a madman ; and if his story be true. Sir Syd- 
 ney challenged him to single combat ; to which he 
 made answer, that he would not come forth to a 
 duel unless the English could fetch Marlborough 
 from his grave, but that, in the mean time, any one 
 of his grenadiers would willingly give the challenger 
 such satisfaction as he was entitled to demand. 
 Whatever inaccuracy there may be in some of these 
 circumstances, there is no doubt of tlie fact that 
 Buonaparte and the brave commodore strove to- 
 gether at Acre, under the highest influence of 
 personal resentment, as well as martial skill and 
 determination. 
 
 2\st May J] Tlie siege had now lasted sixty 
 days. Once more Na])oleon connnanded an as- 
 sault, and his officers and soldiery once more 
 obeyed him with devoted and fruitless gallantry.
 
 1799.] ST. JEAN d'aCRE — JAFFA. 151 
 
 The loss his army had by this time undergone was 
 very great. Caffarelli, and many other officers of 
 the highest importance, were no more. The plague 
 had some time before this appeared in the camp ; 
 every day the ranks of his legions were thinned by 
 this pestilence, as well as by the weapons of the 
 defenders of Acre. The hearts of all men were 
 quickly sinking. The Turkish fleet was at hand 
 to reinforce Djezzar ; and upon the utter failure of 
 the attack of the 21st of May, Napoleon yielded to 
 stern necessity, and began his retreat upon Jaffa. 
 
 The plague now raged in the army. The very 
 name of this horrible scourge shook the nerves of 
 the Europeans ; its symptoms filled them with in- 
 describable horror. The sick despaired utterly; 
 the healthy trembled to minister to them in their 
 misery. Napoleon went through the hospitals, 
 and at once breathed hope into the sufferers, and 
 rebuked the cowardice of their attendants, by 
 squeezing and relieving with his own hand the foul 
 ulcers which no one had dared to touch. Pity 
 that this act of true heroism must ever be recorded 
 on the same page that tells the story of the Sand- 
 hills ! 
 
 The name of Jaffa was already sufficiently stained ; 
 but fame speedily represented Napoleon as having 
 now made it the scene of another atrocity, not less 
 shocking than that of the massacre of the Turkish 
 prisoners. 
 
 The accusation, which for many years made so 
 much noise throughout Europe, amounts to this : 
 that on the 27th of May, when it was necessary 
 for Napoleon to pursue his march from Jaffa for 
 Egypt, a certain number of the plague-patients in
 
 152 NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE. [27th May, 
 
 the hospital were found to be in a state that held 
 out no hope whatever of their recovery ; that the 
 general, being unwilling to leave them to the tender 
 mercies of the Turks, conceived the notion of ad- 
 ministering opium, and so procuring for them at 
 least a speedy and an easy death ; and that a num- 
 ber of men were accordingly taken off in this 
 method by his command. The story, the circum- 
 stances of which were much varied in different 
 accounts, especially as regards the numbers of the 
 poisoned (raised sometimes as high as 500), was 
 first disseminated by Sir Robert Wilson, and was 
 in substance generally believed in England. In 
 each and all of its parts, on the contrary, it was 
 wholly denied by the admirers of Buonaparte, who 
 treated it as one of the many gross jPalsehoods, 
 which certainly were circulated toucliing the per- 
 sonal character and conduct of their idol, during 
 the continuance of his power. 
 
 Buonaparte himself, while at St. Helena, referred 
 to the story frequently ; and never hesitated to ad- 
 mit that it originated in the following occurrence. 
 He sent, he said, the night before the march was 
 to commence, for Desgenettes, the chief of the 
 medical staff, and proposed to him, under such cir- 
 cumstances as have been described, the propriety 
 of giving opium, in mortal doses, to seven men, 
 adding tliat, had his son been in tlieir situation, he 
 would have thought it his duty, as a father, to treat 
 him in the same method ; and that, most certainly, 
 had he himself been in that situation, and capable 
 of understanding it, he would have considered the 
 deadly cup as the best boon that friendshi]) could 
 offer him. M. Desgenettes, however, (said the
 
 1799.] JAFFA. 153 
 
 Ex-Emperor) did not consider himself as entitled 
 to interfere in any such method with the lives of 
 his fellow men : the patients were abandoned ; and, 
 at least, one of the number fell alive into the hands 
 of Sir Sydney Smith, and recovered. 
 
 Such is Napoleon's narrative ; and it is confirmed 
 in all particulars of importance, save two^ by De 
 Bourienne. That writer states distinctly that he 
 was present when Napoleon, Berthier, and the 
 usual suite, examined the hospital — heard the dis- 
 cussion which followed, and the order given for 
 administering mortal potions to the hopeless pa- 
 tients — in number sixty. He does not assert that 
 he saw the poison administered, but says he has no 
 doubt the order was executed ; and concludes with 
 defending the measure by arguments similar to 
 those already quoted from the lips of his master. 
 
 Whether the opium was really administered or 
 not — that the audacious proposal to that effect was 
 made by Napoleon, we have his own admission ; 
 and every reader must form his opinion — as to the 
 degree of guilt which attaches to the fact of having 
 meditated and designed the deed in question, under 
 the circumstances above detailed. That Buona- 
 parte, accustomed to witness slaughter in every 
 form, was in general but a callous calculator when 
 the loss of human life was to be considered, no one 
 can doubt. That his motives, on this occasion, 
 were cruel, no human being, who considers either 
 the temper or the situation of the man, will ever 
 believe. He, doubtless, designed, by shortening 
 those men's lives, to do them the best service in 
 his power. The presumption of thus daring to 
 sport with the laws of God and man, when expe-
 
 lo4 NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE. [June, July, 
 
 dience seemed to recommend such interference, 
 was quite in the character of the young General : 
 cruehy was not ; least of all, cruelty to his own 
 soldiery — the very beings on whose affection all 
 his greatness depended. 
 
 The march onwards was a continued scene of 
 misery ; for the wounded and the sick were many, 
 the heat oppressive, tlie thirst intolerable ; and the 
 ferocious Djezzar was hard behind, and the wild 
 Arabs of the desert hovered round them on every 
 side, so that he who fell behind his company was 
 sure to be slain. How hard and callous the hearts 
 of brave men can become when every thought is 
 occupied with self, the story of that march presents 
 a fearful picture. When a comrade, after quitting 
 his ranks, being stimulated by the despair of falling 
 into the hands of the Turks or Arabs, yet once 
 again reared himself from the burning sand, and 
 made a last attempt to stagger after the column, 
 his painful and ineffectual efforts furnished matter 
 for military merriment. " He is drunk," said one ; 
 " his march will not be a long one," answered ano- 
 ther ; and wlien he once more sank helpless and 
 hopeless, a third remarked, " our friend has at 
 length taken up his quarters." It is not to be 
 omitted, that Napoleon did, on this occasion, all 
 tliat became his situation. He issued an order that 
 every liorse should be given up to the service of 
 the sick. A moment afterwards one of his attend- 
 ants came to ask which horse the General wished 
 to reserve for himself : " Scoundrel ! " cried he, 
 " do you not know the order ? Let every one 
 march on foot — I the first. — Begone." He accord- 
 ingly, during the rest of the march, walked by the
 
 1799.] CAIRO ABOUKIR. 155 
 
 side of the sick, cheering them by his eye and his 
 voice, and exhibiting to all the soldiery the exam- 
 ple at once of endurance and of compassion. 
 
 June 14.] Having at length accomplished this 
 perilous journey, Buonaparte repaired to his old 
 head-quarters at Cairo, and re-entered on his great 
 functions as the establisher of a new government 
 in the state of Egypt. But he had not long occu- 
 pied himself thus, ere new rumours concerning the 
 beys on the Upper Nile, who seemed to have some 
 strong and urgent motive for endeavouring to force 
 a passage downwards, began to be mingled with, 
 and by degrees explained by, tidings daily repeated 
 of some grand disembarkation of the Ottomans, 
 designed to have place in the neighbourhood of 
 Alexandria. Leaving Dessaix, therefore, once 
 more in command at Cairo, he himself descended 
 the Nile, and travelled with all speed to Alexan- 
 dria, where he found his presence most necessary. 
 For, in effect, the great Turkish fleet had already 
 run into the bay of Aboukir ; and an army of 
 18,000, having gained the fortress, were there 
 strengthening themselves, with the view of await- 
 ing the promised descent and junction of the 
 Mamelukes, and then, with overwhelming supe- 
 riority of numbers, advancing to Alexandria, and 
 completing the ruin of the French invaders. 
 
 Buonaparte, reaching Alexandria on the evening 
 of the 24th of July, found his army already posted 
 in the neighbourhood of Aboukir, and prepared to 
 anticipate the attack of the Turks on the morrow. 
 Surveying their entrenched camp from the heights 
 above with Murat, he said, " Go how it may, the 
 battle of to-morrow will decide the fate of the
 
 156 NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE. [July, 
 
 world :" "Of this army at least," answered Murat ; 
 " but the Turks have no cavalry, and, if ever in- 
 fantry were charged to the teeth by horse, they 
 shall be so by mine." Murat did not penetrate 
 the hidden meaning of Napoleon's words, but he 
 made good his own. 
 
 The Turkish outposts were assaulted early next 
 morning, and driven in with great slaughter ; but 
 the French, when they advanced, came within tlie 
 range of the batteries and also of the sliipping that 
 lay close by the shore, and were checked. Their 
 retreat might have ended in a route, but for the 
 undisciplined eagerness with which the Turks en- 
 gaged in the task of spoiling and maiming those 
 that fell before them — thus giving to Murat the 
 opportunity of charging their main body in flank 
 with his cavalry, at the moment when the French 
 infantry, profiting by their disordered and scattered 
 condition, and rallying under the eye of Napoleon, 
 forced a passage to the entrenchments. From 
 that moment the battle was a massacre. The 
 Turks, attacked on all sides, were panic-struck ; 
 and the sea was covered with the turbans of men 
 who flung themselves headlong into the waves, 
 rather than await the fury of Le Beau Sabreur,* or 
 the steady rolling fire of the Sultan Kebir. Six 
 thousand surrendered at discretion : twelve thou- 
 sand perislied on the field or in the sea. Mustapha 
 Pacha, the general, being brouglit into the presence 
 of his victor, was saluted with these words : — " It 
 has been your fate to lose tliis day ; but I will take 
 care to inform the sultan of tlie cournge with which 
 you have contested it." " Spare thyself that trou- 
 
 ♦ The handsome swordsman — i. e. Murat.
 
 Aug. 1799.] ABOUKIR — CAIRO. 157 
 
 ble," answered the proud pacha, " my master knows 
 me better than thou." 
 
 Napoleon once more returned to Cairo on the 
 9th of August ; but it was only to make some 
 parting arrangements as to the administration, civil 
 and military ; for, from the moment of his victory 
 at Aboukir, he had resolved to entrust Egypt to 
 other hands, and Admiral Gantheaume was already 
 preparing in secret the means of his removal to 
 France. 
 
 Buonaparte always asserted, and the Buonapartist 
 writers of his history still maintain, that this reso- 
 lution was adopted in consequence of a mere acci- 
 dent ;* namely, that Sir Sydney Smith, in the course 
 of some negotiations about prisoners which followed 
 after the battle of Aboukir, sent a file of English 
 newspapers for the amusement of the General. 
 Some say the English Commodore did so out of 
 mere civility : others, that he designed to distract 
 the movements of Napoleon, by showing him the 
 dangerous condition to which, during his absence, 
 the affairs of France, both at home and abroad, 
 had been reduced. It seems, however, to be gene- 
 rally believed, (as without doubt it is the more 
 probable case,) that Buonaparte had long ere now 
 received intelligence of the great events in which 
 he was so deeply concerned. He had, assuredly, 
 many friends in Paris, who were watching keenly 
 over his interests, and who must have been singu- 
 
 * De Bourienne, whose curious work has appeared since the 
 first edition of this narrative was published, confirms this state- 
 ment of Kapoleon : but Napoleon, it is obvious, might have 
 received letters which he did not choose to communicate to his 
 secretary.
 
 158 NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE [23d Aug. 
 
 larly ill served — if they never were able to com- 
 municate with him during so many months. 
 
 However this might have been, the General suc- 
 ceeded in preventing any suspicion of his projected 
 evasion from arising among the soldiery ; and when 
 he finally turned his back on Cairo, it was univer- 
 sally believed that it was but to make a tour in the 
 Delta. 
 
 Napoleon reached the coast on the 22d August, 
 and was there met by Berthier, Andreossy, Murat, 
 Lannes, Marmont, and the savans Monge and Ber- 
 thollet ; none of whom had suspected for what pur- 
 pose they were summoned. Admiral Gantheaume 
 had by this time two frigates and two smaller ves- 
 sels (which had been saved in the harbour of Alex- 
 andria) ready for sea ; and on the morning of the 
 23d, the wind having fortunately driven the English 
 squadron of blockade off the coast, Buonaparte and 
 his followers embarked at Rosetta. 
 
 The same day the event was announced to the 
 army by a proclamation which the General left be- 
 hind him, naming Kleber as his successor in the 
 command. The indignation of the soldiery, who 
 thought themselves deserted by their chief, was for 
 a time violent ; but, by degrees, the great qualities 
 displayed by Kleber softened this feeling, and 
 Buonaparte had left agents well qualified to ex- 
 plain what had happened, in the manner most 
 favourable for himself. 
 
 Kleber received at the s;une time a parting letter 
 of instructions — one of the most singular pieces 
 that ever proceeded from Napoleon's pen. " I send 
 you," said he, " English gazettes to the 10th of 
 June. You will there see that we have lost Italy ;
 
 1799. J LEAVES EGYPT. 159 
 
 iivsLt Mantua, Turin, and Tortona are blockaded. 
 I hope, if fortune smiles on me, to reach Europe 
 before the beginning of October. ... It is the in- 
 tention of government that General Dessaix should 
 follow me, unless great events interpose themselves, 
 in the course of November. . . . There is no doubt 
 that, on the arrival of our squadron at Toulon, 
 means will be found of sending you the recruits 
 and munitions necessary for the army of Egypt. 
 The government will then correspond with you 
 directly ; while I, both in my public and in my 
 private capacity, will take measures to secure for 
 you frequent intelligence." 
 
 Buonaparte proceeds, after thus boldly assuming 
 to himself the right of speaking for the government 
 — and in terms, it will be observed, calculated to 
 leave no doubt that his own departure was the re- 
 sult of orders from Paris — to impress upon Kleber 
 the necessity of always considering the possession 
 of Egypt as a point of the highest importance to 
 France ; and, nevertheless, of negotiating, as long 
 as possible, with the Porte, on the basis that the 
 French Republic neither had now, nor ever had 
 had, the smallest wish to be permanently mistress 
 of that country. He finally authorized Kleber, if 
 not released or recruited by May following, to make 
 a peace with the Porte, even if the first of its con- 
 ditions should be the total evacuation of Egypt. 
 
 Then follow directions for the internal adminis- 
 tration of Egypt, in which, among other sufficiently 
 characteristic hints, Kleber is desired to cultivate 
 the good will of tfie Christians, but, nevertheless, 
 to avoid carefully giving the Mussulmans any rea- 
 son to confound the Christians with the French.
 
 160 NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE. [Aug. 
 
 "Above all," says Napoleon, "gain the Sheiks, 
 who are timid, who cannot fight, and who, like all 
 priests, inspire fanaticism without being fanatics." 
 
 The conclusion is in these words. " The army 
 which I confide to you is composed of my children ; 
 in all times, even in the midst of the greatest suf- 
 ferings, I have received the marks of their attach- 
 ment : keep alive in them these sentiments. You 
 owe this to the particular esteem and true attach- 
 ment which I bear towards yourself."
 
 1799.] ( 161 ) 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 Retrospect — Buonaparte arrives in France — The Revvlu- 
 tion of the 13th Brumaire — The Provisional Consulate. 
 
 We must now pause for a moment to indicate, how- 
 ever briefly and imperfectly, the course of events 
 which had determined Napoleon to abandon the 
 army of Egypt. 
 
 While the negotiations at Rastadt were still in 
 progress, the Directory, on the most flimsy of pre- 
 tences, marched an army into Switzerland ; and, 
 by vast superiority of numbers, overwhelmed the 
 defence of the unprepared mountaineers. The 
 conquered cantons were formed into another re- 
 public of the new kind — to wit, " the Helvetian :" 
 nominally a sister and ally, but really a slave of 
 the French. Another force, acting under orders 
 equally unjustifiable, seized Turin, and dethroned 
 the King of Sardinia. Lastly, the Pope, in spite 
 of all his humiliating concessions at Tollentino, 
 saw a republican insurrection, roused by French 
 instigation, within his capital. Tumults and blood- 
 shed ensued ; and Joseph Buonaparte, the French 
 ambassador narrowly escaped with his life. A 
 French army forthwith advanced on Rome; the 
 Pope's functions as a temporal prince were ter- 
 minated ; he retired to the exile of Siena ; and 
 another of tliose feeble phantoms, which the Di- 
 rectory delighted to invest with glorious names, 
 appeared under the title of " the Roman Republic." 
 
 VOL. I. M
 
 162 NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE. [Aug. 
 
 These outrages roused anew the indignation, the 
 first, of all true lovers of freedom, the second, of 
 the monarchs whose representatives were assembled 
 at Rastadt, and the third, of the catholic population 
 throughout Europe. England was not slow to take 
 advantage of the unprincipled rashness of the Di- 
 rectory, and of the sentiments which it was fitted 
 to inspire ; and the result was a new coalition 
 against France, in which the great power of Russia 
 now, for the first time, took a part. The French 
 plenipotentiaries were suddenly ordered to quit 
 Rastadt ; and, within a few hours afterwards, they 
 were murdered on their journey by banditti clad 
 in the Austrian uniform, most assuredly not acting 
 under orders from the Austrian government — and 
 now commonly believed to have been set on by 
 certain angry intriguers of the Luxembourg. 
 
 The king of Naples had, unfortunately for him- 
 self, a greater taste for arms than the nation he 
 governed ; and, justly concluding that the con- 
 querors of Rome would make himself their next 
 object, he rashly proclaimed war, ere the general 
 measures of the coalition were arranged. The 
 arrival of Nelson in his harbour, bringing the 
 news of the destruction of the French fleet at 
 Aboukir, and the consequent isolation of Napoleon, 
 gave him courage to strike a blow which the offi- 
 cers of his army were little likely to second. The 
 result of his liasty advance to the northwards was 
 not a battle, ])ut a fliglit : and tliough the Lazzaroni 
 of Naples, rising in fury, held tlie ca])ital for some 
 days against the Frendi, their defences were at 
 length overcome ; the king passed over to his Sici- 
 lian dominions ; and another tributary of France
 
 1799.] RETROSPECT. 163 
 
 was announced by the name of the Partlienopcan 
 Republic. 
 
 Far different success attended the better-consi- 
 dered movements by which the great powers of 
 the new coaHtion re-opened the war. The details 
 of those bloody campaigns by which Holland and 
 Belgium were for a moment rescued from the 
 grasp of the Republic; Jourdan beaten beyond 
 the Rhine by the Archduke Charles ; and the north 
 of Italy, the whole of Buonaparte's mighty con- 
 quests, recovered by the Austro-Russians under 
 Suwarrow ; as also of the vdtimate reverses of the 
 allies in the direction of Holland, — of the concen- 
 tration of their forces in two great armies, one on 
 the frontier of Switzerland, and another lower down 
 on the Rhine, for the purpose of carrying the war 
 by two inlets into the heart of France — and, finally, 
 of the masterly retreat of Macdonald, by which 
 he succeeded in leading the army which had oc- 
 cupied Naples quite through Italy into Provence ; 
 — all these details belong, rather to the general 
 history of the period, than to the biography of Buo- 
 naparte. Neither is it possible that we should here 
 enter upon any minute account of the internal affairs 
 of France during the period of his Egyptian and 
 Syrian campaigns. It must suffice to say that the 
 generally unfortunate course of the war had been 
 accompanied by the growth of popular discontent at 
 home ; that the tottering Directory for a moment ga- 
 thered strength to themselves by associating Sieyes 
 to their number ; that the mean and selfish conduct 
 of the rulers soon nullified the results of that par- 
 tial change ; that the Directory at length found it 
 
 M 2
 
 164 NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE. [Sept.— Oct. 
 
 impossible to maintain the favourite system of ba- 
 lancing faction against faction, and so neutralizing 
 tlieir efforts ; in a word, that the moderates (under 
 which name the royalists are included) had ob- 
 tained a decided command in the Council of An- 
 cients, and the republicans, or democratical party, 
 an equally overpowering majority in the Assembly 
 of the Five Hundred ; while the Directors, as a 
 body, had no longer the slightest power to controul 
 either. Finally, the Chouans (as the royalists of 
 Bretagne were called) had been stimulated by the 
 disordered appearance of things at home and 
 abroad, and 40,000 insurgents appeared in arms, 
 withstanding, with varied success, the troops of 
 the Republic, and threatening, by their example, 
 to rekindle a general civil war in France. Such 
 was, or had recently been, the state of affairs when 
 Buonaparte landed at Frejus, and sent before him 
 to Paris, to the inexpressible delight of a nation of 
 late accustomed to hear of nothing but military 
 disasters, the intelligence of that splendid victory 
 which had just destroyed the great Turkish arma- 
 ment at Aboukir. He arrived at a moment when 
 all men, of all parties, were satisfied that a new 
 revolution was at hand ; and when the leaders of 
 all tlie contending factions were equally desirous of 
 invoking arms to their support in the inevitable 
 struggle. 
 
 Nnpoleon's voyage had been one of constant 
 peril ; for the Mediterranean was traversed in all 
 directions by English ships of war, in whose pre- 
 sence resistance would have been hopeless. He 
 occupied his time, during this period of general
 
 1799.] VOYAGE TO FRANCE. 165 
 
 anxiety, in very peaceful studies : he read the Bible, 
 the Koran, Horner ; conversed with his savans on 
 the old times and manners of the East ; and solved 
 problems in geometry. He also spent many hour^ 
 in playing at the game of v'mt-un ; and M. de Bou- 
 rienne says, that he never hesitated to play un- 
 fairly when it suited his purpose, though he always 
 returned whatever he had gained on rising from the 
 table. On the 30th of September they reached 
 Ajaccio, and he was received with enthusiasm at 
 the place of his birth. But, according to his own 
 phrase, " it rained cousins :" he was wearied 
 with solicitations, and as soon as the vvind proved 
 favourable, on the 7th of October, the voyage 
 was resumed. Gantheaume, descrying an Eng- 
 lish squadron off the French coast, would have 
 persuaded him to take to the long-boat ; but he 
 refused, saying, " that experiment may be re- 
 served for the last extremity." His confidence in 
 fortune was not belied. They passed at midnight, 
 unseen, through the English ships, and on the 
 morning of the 9th were moored in safety in the 
 bay of Frejus ; and no sooner was it known that 
 Buonaparte was at hand, than, in spite of all the 
 laws of quarantine, persons of every description, 
 including the chief functionaries, both civil and 
 military, repaired on board to welcome him. He 
 had looked forward with the utmost disgust to a 
 long quarantine : this dread was dissipated in a 
 moment ; the deck was crowded with persons 
 crying aloud, " we prefer the plague to the Aus- 
 trians ! " His presence alone was considered as 
 the pledge of victory. The story of Aboukir gave 
 new fuel to the flame of universal enthusiasm ; and
 
 166 NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE. [Oct. 
 
 he landed, not so much hke a general who had 
 quitted his post without orders, as a victorious 
 prince, who had returned to restore the lost hearts 
 and fortunes of a people that confided only in him. 
 His progress towards the capital, wherever his 
 person was recognized, bore all the appearance of 
 a triumphal procession. He reached his own 
 house, in the Rue de la Vicioire, on the 16th Oc- 
 tober. 
 
 The trembling Directory received him, when he 
 presented himself at the Luxembourg, with every 
 demonstration of joy and respect. Not a question 
 was asked as to his abandonment of his army ; for 
 all dreaded the answer which they had the best 
 reason for anticipating. He was invited to accept 
 of a public dinner, and agreed to do so. The 
 assemblage was magnificent, and his reception 
 enthusiastic ; but his demeanour was cold and 
 reserved. After proposing as a toast, " the union 
 of all parties" — ominous words from those lips — 
 he withdrew at an early hour of the evening. 
 
 He continued for some little time to avoid pub- 
 lic notice, resuming apparently the same studious 
 and sequestered life which he had led when last in 
 Paris. It was, however, remarked that, when re- 
 cognised by the ])()pulace, he received their saluta- 
 tions with uncommon affability ; and that if he 
 met any old soldier of the army of Italy, he rarely 
 failed to recollect the man, and take him by the 
 liand. 
 
 Buonaparte liad l)een tornuMited when in Egypt 
 l)y certain rumours concerning the conduct of 
 Josephine in his nbsence from Paris. She had 
 quitted the capital witli the purpose of meeting
 
 1799.] - PARIS. 167 
 
 him on his journey thither, the moment his arrival 
 at Frejiis was known ; but taking the road of 
 Burgundy, while he was travelling by that of 
 Lyons, missed him. When she at length joined 
 him in Paris, he received her with marked cold- 
 ness ; but, after a few days, the intercessions and 
 explanations of friends restored harmony between 
 them. He felt acutely, says De Bourienne, the 
 ill effects which a domestic fracas must produce at 
 the moment when all France was expecting him to 
 take the chief part in some great political revo- 
 lution. 
 
 The universal enthusiasm which waited on his 
 person at this crisis appears to have at length 
 given definite shape to his ambition. All parties 
 equally seemed to be weary of the Directory, and 
 to demand the decisive interference of the unrivalled 
 soldier. The members of tlie tottering govern- 
 ment were divided bitterly among themselves ; and 
 the moderates, with the director Sieyes at their 
 head, on the one side, the democrats, under the 
 director Barras, on the other, were equally disposed 
 to invoke his assistance. He received the pro- 
 posals of both parties ; and at length decided on 
 closing with those of the former, as consisting of a 
 class of men less likely than the others to inter- 
 fere with his measures — when the new government, 
 which he had determined should be his, had been 
 arranged. His brother Lucien, recently elected 
 President of the Council of Five Hundred — the 
 acute and spirited Abbe Sieyes, for whom, as " a 
 man of systems," Buonaparte had formerly mani- 
 fested great repugnance, but who was now recom- 
 mended effectually by his supposed want of high
 
 168 NAPOLEON BUOXArARTE. [Nov. 9, 
 
 ambition — and Fouclie, minister of police — these 
 were his chief confidents ; nor could any age or 
 country have furnished instruments more admirably 
 qualified for his purpose. Josephine, too, exerted 
 indefatigably in his cause all the arts of address, 
 and contrived to neutralize by flattery many whom 
 promises had failed to gain. Meanwhile his house 
 was frequented by the principal officers who had 
 accompanied him from Egypt, and by others who 
 had served in his Italian campaigns ; and though 
 no one pretended to say what was about to hap- 
 pen, the impression became universal throughout 
 Paris that some great and decisive event was at 
 hand, and that it was to be brought about by 
 means of Buonaparte. 
 
 His friends at first busied themselves with 
 schemes for making him one of the directorial 
 body ; but tlie law, requiring that every candidate 
 for that office should be forty years of age, still 
 subsisted ; and this presented an obstacle which 
 Napoleon chose rather to avoid than to overcome. 
 The conspirators in his confidence were from day 
 to day more numerous, and, before he had been 
 three weeks in Paris, audacity readied its height. 
 " During tliis crisis" (writes Bourienne) " there 
 occurred notliing a whit more elevated, more grand, 
 more nol)le, than had been observed in our pre- 
 ceding revohitionary commotions. In these poli- 
 tical intrigues, all is so despicable — so made up of 
 trickery, lying, s])ying, treachery, and im})udence — 
 that for the honour of human nature the details 
 ought to be buried under an eternal veil." 
 
 Sieyes governed absolutely one of his colleagues 
 in the Directory, Ducos ; and the party of which
 
 1799.] 17tii of brumaire. 169 
 
 lie was the chief predominated strongly, as has 
 been mentioned, in the Council of Ancients. It 
 was through the instrumentality of that council, 
 accordingly, that the conspirators resolved to strike 
 their first blow. And how well their measures had 
 been preconcerted, will sufficiently appear from the 
 most naked statement of the events of the 18th 
 and 19th Brumaire (Nov. 10th and 11th, 1799), in 
 the order of their occurrence. 
 
 As soon as Buonaparte's arrival was known, 
 three regiments of dragoons, forming part of the 
 garrison of Paris, petitioned for the honour of 
 being reviewed by him. He had promised to do 
 this, but delayed naming the day. In like manner 
 the forty adjutants of the National Guard of Paris " 
 (which, as we have seen, was remodelled by him- 
 self while General of the Interior) had requested 
 leave to wait upon him, and congratulate him on 
 his arrival : these also had been told that he would 
 soon appoint the time for receiving them. Lastly, 
 the officers of the garrison, and many besides, had 
 sent to beg admittance to Napoleon's presence, 
 that they might tender him the expression of their 
 admiration and attachment ; and to them also an 
 answer of the same kind had been given. 
 
 On the evening of the 17th Brumaire all the 
 officers abovementioned received, separately, the 
 General's invitation to come to his house in the 
 Rue de la Victoire, at six o'clock the next morn- 
 ing ; and the three regiments of dragoons were 
 desired to be mounted for their review^ at the 
 same early hour, in the Champs Elysees. How 
 many of these persons knew the real purpose of 
 the assemblage it is impossible to tell ; but Mo-
 
 170 NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE. [Nov. 10, 
 
 reau, Macdonakl, and other generals of the first 
 reputation, avowedly attached to the moderes, were 
 in the number of those who attended, — having, it 
 is not to be doubted, received sufficient intimation 
 that the crisis was at hand, though not of the man- 
 ner in wliich Buonaparte designed it to terminate. 
 However, at the appointed hour, the dragoons 
 were at their post in the Champs Elysees ; and 
 the concourse of officers at Napoleon's residence 
 was so great that, the house being small, he re- 
 ceived them in the court yard before it, which they 
 entirely filled. 
 
 Among those who came thither was Bernadotte ; 
 but he certainly came without any precise notion 
 of the purposes of his friend Joseph Buonaparte, 
 who invited him. He was next to Napoleon, the 
 general who possessed the greatest influence at 
 the period in Paris ; in flict, the fate of the go- 
 vernment depended on whether the one party in 
 the Directory should be the first to summon him 
 to interfere, or the others to throw themselves on 
 Buonaparte. He came ; but, unlike the rest, he 
 came not in uniform, nor on horseback. Being 
 introduced into Napoleon's private chamber, he 
 was informed, with little preface, that a change 
 in the government was necessary, and about to 
 be effected that very day. Bernadotte had al- 
 ready been tampered witli by Sieyes and Ducos, 
 and lie rejected Napoleon's flatteries as he had 
 their's. It was well known to Buonaparte, that, 
 liad this great officer's advice been taken, he 
 would, immediately on his arrival from Egypt, 
 have been arrested as a deserter of his post : 
 he in vain endeavoured now to procure his co-
 
 1799.] 18th of brumaire. 171 
 
 operation ; and at last suffered him to depart, 
 having with difficulty extorted a promise, that 
 he would not, at least, do anything against him 
 as a citizen. It will soon be seen that he could 
 have little reason to apprehend Bernadotte's in- 
 terference in his military capacity. 
 
 In effect the Council of the Ancients assembled 
 the same morning, in the Tuilleries, at the early 
 hour of seven ; one of the conspirators forthwith 
 declared that the salvation of the state demanded 
 vigorous measures, and proposed two decrees for 
 their acceptance ; one by which the meetings of the 
 legislative bodies should be instantly transferred to 
 the Chateau of St. Cloud, some miles from Paris : 
 and another investing Napoleon with the supreme 
 command of all the troops in and about the capi- 
 tal, including the National Guard. These motions 
 were instantly carried ; and, in the course of a few 
 minutes, Buonaparte received, in the midst of his 
 martial company, the announcement of his new 
 authority. He instantly mounted and rode to the 
 Tuilleries, w^here, being introduced into the coun- 
 cil, together wdth all his staff, he pronounced those 
 memorable words — " You are the wisdom of the 
 nation : I come, surrounded by the generals of the 
 Republic, to promise you their support. Let us 
 not lose time in looking for precedents. Nothing 
 in history resembled the close of the eighteenth 
 century — nothing in the eighteenth century resem- 
 bled this moment. Your wisdom has devised the 
 necessary measure ; our arms shall put it in exe- 
 cution." Care had been taken to send no sum- 
 mons to the members of the council whom the 
 conspirators considered as decidedly hostile to
 
 172 NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE. [Nov. 10, 
 
 their schemes ; yet several began to murmur 
 loudly at this tone. " I come," resvuned Napo- 
 leon sternly, " I come accompanied by the God of 
 War and the God of Fortune." His friends were 
 alarmed lest this violence should produce some 
 violent re-action in the assembly, and prevailed 
 on him to withdraw. " Let those that love me follow 
 wze," said he, and was immediately on horseback 
 again. " In truth," says De Bourienne, " I know 
 not what would have happened, had the President, 
 when he saw the General retiring, exclaimed. 
 Grenadiers, let no one go out : it is my conviction 
 that, instead of sleeping the day after at the Lux- 
 embourg, he would have ended his career on the 
 Place de la Revolution.'''' 
 
 The command entrusted to Napoleon was forth- 
 with announced to the soldiery ; and they received 
 the intelligence with enthusiasm — the mass of 
 course little comprehending to what, at such a 
 moment, such authority amounted. 
 
 The three directors, meanwhile, who were not 
 in the secret, and who had been much amused 
 with seeing their colleague Sieyes set off on horse- 
 back an hour or two earlier from the Luxembourg, 
 had begun to understand what that timely exhibi- 
 tion of the Abbe's awkward horsemanship por- 
 tended. One of them, Moulins, proposed to send 
 a l)attalion to surround Buonaparte's house and 
 arrest him. Their own guard laughed at them. 
 Buonaj)arte was already in the Tuilleries, with 
 many troops around him ; and the Directorial 
 Guard, being summoned by one of his aides-de- 
 cani]), instantly marched thither also, leaving the 
 Luxembourg at his mercy. Barras sent his secre-
 
 1799.] 18th of brUxMaire. 173 
 
 tary to expostulate. Napoleon received him with 
 haughtiness. " What have you done," cried he, 
 " for that fair France which I left you so prosper- 
 ous ? For peace I find war ; for the wealth of 
 Italy, taxation and misery. Where are the 100,000 
 brave French whom I knew — where are the com- 
 panions of my glory? — They are dead." Barras, 
 who well knew that Buonaparte would never for- 
 give him for having boasted that the conqueror 
 of Italy and Egypt owed everything to his early 
 favour, and whose infamous personal conduct in 
 the articles of bribery and exaction made him 
 tremble at the thought of impeachment, resigned 
 his office : so did his colleagues, Gohier and Mou- 
 lins. Sieyes and Ducos had done so already. 
 Bernadotte, indeed, repaired to the Luxembourg 
 ere Moulins and Gohier had resigned, and offered 
 his sword and influence, provided they would no- 
 minate him to the command of the forces jointly 
 with Napoleon. They hesitated : his word of 
 honour given to Buonaparte, that he would do 
 nothing as a citizen, rendered it indispensable that 
 they should take that decisive step ; by doing so 
 they would at least have given the soldiery a fair 
 choice — they hesitated — and their power was 
 at an end. The Luxembourg was immediately 
 guarded by troops in whom Napoleon could place 
 implicit confidence. The Directory was no more. 
 Barras, in his letter, said that " he had un- 
 dertaken his office solely for the purpose of serv- 
 ing the cause of liberty, and that now, seeing 
 the destinies of the Republic in the hands of her 
 young and invincible general, he gladly resigned 
 it." By this courtly acquiescence he purchased
 
 174 NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE. [Nov. 10, 
 
 indemnity for the past, and the liberty of retiring 
 to his country-seat, there to enjoy the vast fortune 
 he had so scandalously accumulated. The other 
 two remained for the present under surveillance. 
 
 At ten o'clock on the same morning, the ad- 
 verse Council of Five Hundred assembled also, 
 and heard, with astonishment and indignation, of 
 the decree by which their sittings were transferred 
 from Paris (the scene of their popular influence) to 
 St. Cloud. They had, however, no means of dis- 
 puting that point : they parted with cries of " Vive 
 la Republique ! Vive la Constitution !"" and incited 
 the mob, their allies, to muster next morning on 
 the new scene of action — where, it was evident, this 
 military revolution must either be turned back, or 
 pushed to consummation. During the rest of the 
 day Napoleon remained at the Tuilleries : the 
 troops were in arms ; the population expected 
 with breathless anxiety the coming of the decisive 
 day. A strong body of soldiery marched to St. 
 Cloud under the orders of Murat. 
 
 The members of both assemblies repaired thi- 
 ther early in the morning of the 19th ; and those 
 of the opposite party beheld with dismay the mili- 
 tary investment of the Chateau. Scattered in 
 groups about the courts and gardens, surrounded 
 with the mob from the city, and watched by Murat 
 and his stern veterans, they awaited with impa- 
 tience the opening of the doors ; which, in conse- 
 (juence of some necessary preparations, did not 
 occur \mtil two o'clock in the afternoon. 
 
 The Council of vVncients were ushered into the 
 Gallery of Mars, and, the minority having by this 
 time recovered from their surprise, a stormy de-
 
 Nov. 11, 1799.] 19th of brumaire. 175 
 
 bate forthwith commenced touching the events 
 of the preceding day. Buonaparte entered the 
 room, and, by permission of the subservient pre- 
 sident, addressed the assembly. " Citizens," said 
 he, " you stand over a volcano. Let a soldier 
 tell the truth frankly. I was quiet in my home 
 when this council summoned me to action. I 
 obeyed : I collected my brave comrades, and 
 placed the arms of my country at the service of 
 you who are its head. We are repaid with calum- 
 nies — they talk of Cromwell — of Caesar. Had I 
 aspired at power the opportunity was mine ere 
 now. I swear that France holds no more devoted 
 patriot. Dangers surround us. Let us not ha- 
 zard the advantages for which we have paid so 
 dearly— Liberty and Equality ! " — 
 — A democratic member, Linglet, added aloud — 
 " and the Constitution"' — 
 
 — " The Constitution ! " continued Napoleon — " it 
 has been thrice violated already — all parties have 
 invoked it — each in turn has trampled on it : since 
 that can be preserved no longer, let us, at least, 
 save its foundations — Liberty and Equality. It is 
 on you only that I rely. The Council of Five 
 Hundred would restore the Convention, the popu- 
 lar tumults, the scaffolds, the reign of terror. I 
 will save you from such horrors — I and my brave 
 comrades, whose swords and caps I see at the 
 door of this hall ; and if any hireling prater talks 
 of outlawry, to those swords shall I appeal." The 
 great majority were with him, and he left them 
 amidst loud cries of " Vive Buonaparte f' 
 
 A far different scene was passing in the hostile 
 assembly of the Five Hundred. When its mem-
 
 176 NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE. [Nov. 11, 
 
 bers at lengtli found their way into the Orangery, 
 the apartment allotted for them, a tumultuous 
 clamour arose on every side. Live the Constitu- 
 tioii ! The Constitution or death ! Down with the 
 Dictator ! — such were the ominous cries. Lucien 
 Buonaparte, the president, in vain attempted to 
 restore order : the rnoderate orators of the council, 
 with equal ill success, endeavoured to gain a hear- 
 ing. A democrat member at length obtained a 
 moment's silence, and proposed that the council 
 should renew, man by man, the oath of fidelity to 
 the Constitution of the year three. This was 
 assented to, and a vain ceremony, for it was no 
 more, occupied time which might have been turned 
 to far different account. Overpowered, however, 
 by the clamour, the best friends of Napoleon, even 
 his brother Lucien, took the oath. The resigna- 
 tory letter of Barras was then handed in, and re- 
 ceived with a shout of scorn. The moment was 
 come ; Napoleon himself, accompanied by four 
 grenadiers, walked into the chamber— the doors 
 remained open, and plumes and swords were visi- 
 ble in dense array behind him. His grenadiers 
 halted near the door, and he advanced alone 
 towards the centre of the gallery. Then arose a 
 fierce outcry — Drawn swords in the sanctuary of 
 the laws ! Outlawry ! Outlawry ! Let him be pro- 
 claimcd a traitor ! IVas it for this you gained so 
 many victories? Many members rushed upon the 
 intruder, and, if we may ])lace confidence in his 
 own tale, a Corsican de})uty, by name Arena, 
 aimed a dagger at liis throat. At all events there 
 was such an aj)pearance of personal danger as 
 fired the grenadiers behind him. They rushed 
 
 I
 
 1799.] 19th of brumaire. 177 
 
 forwards, and extricated him almost breathless ; 
 and one of their number (Thome) was at least 
 rewarded on the score of his having received a 
 wound meant for the General. 
 
 It seems to be admitted that at this moment the 
 iron nerves of Buonaparte were, for once, shaken. 
 With the dangers of the fiekl he was familiar — in 
 order to depict the perfect coolness of his de- 
 meanour during the greater part of this very day, 
 his secretary says — " he was as calm as at the 
 opening of a great battle;'' but he had not been 
 prepared for the manifestations of this civil rage. 
 He came out, staggering and stammering, among 
 the soldiery, and said, " I offered them victory 
 and fame, and they have answered me with dag- 
 gers." 
 
 Sieyes, an experienced observer of such scenes, 
 was still on horseback in the court, and quickly 
 re-assured him. General Augereau came up but a 
 moment afterwards, and said " You have brought 
 yourself into a pretty situation." " Augereau," 
 answered Napoleon, (once more himself again,) 
 " things were worse at Areola. Be quiet : all this 
 will soon right itself." He then harangued the 
 soldiery. " I have led you to victory, to fame, to 
 glory. Can I count upon you ? " " Yes, yes, we 
 swear it," (was the answer that burst from every 
 line,) " Vive Buonaparte /" 
 
 In the council, meantime, the commotion had 
 increased on the retreat of Napoleon. A general 
 cry arose for a sentence of outlawry against him ; 
 and Lucien, the President, in vain appealed to the 
 feelings of nature, demanding that, instead of being 
 obliged to put that question to the vote, he might 
 
 VOL. I. N
 
 178 NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE. [Nov. 11, 
 
 be heard as the advocate of his brother. He was 
 clamorously refused, and in indignation flung off 
 the insignia of his office. Some grenadiers once 
 more entered, and carried him also out of the place. 
 
 Lucien found the soldiery without in a high 
 state of excitement. He immediately got upon 
 horseback, that he might be seen and heard the 
 better, and exclaimed : " General Buonaparte, 
 and you, soldiers of France, the President of the 
 Council of Five Hundred announces to you that 
 factious men with daggers interrupt the delibera- 
 tions of the senate. He authorizes you to employ 
 force. The Assembly of Five Hundred is dis- 
 solved." 
 
 Napoleon desired Le Clerc to execute the orders 
 of the President, and he, with a detachment of 
 grenadiers, forthwith marched into the hall. Amidst 
 the reiterated screams of " Vive la Republique^' 
 which saluted their entrance, an aide-de-camp 
 mounted the tribune, and bade the assembly dis- 
 perse. " Such," said he, " are the orders of the 
 General." Some obeyed ; others renewed their 
 shouting. The drums drowned their voices. 
 " Forward, grenadiers," said Le Clerc ; and the 
 men, levelHng their pieces as if for the charge, 
 advanced. When the bristling line of bayonets at 
 length drew near, the deputies lost heart, and the 
 greater part of them, tearing off their scarfs, made 
 their escape, with very undignified rapidity, by 
 way of the windows. The apartment was cleared. 
 It was thus that Buonaparte, like Cromwell before 
 him, 
 
 ** Turn'd out the members, and made fast the door."* 
 * Crabbe.
 
 .1799.] 19th OF BRUMAIRE. 179 
 
 Some of his military associates proposed to him, 
 that the unfriendly legislators should be shot, man 
 by man, as they retreated through the gardens ; 
 but to this he would not for a moment listen. 
 
 Lucien Buonaparte now collected the vioderate 
 members of the Council of Five Hundred ; and 
 that small minority, assuming the character of the 
 assembly, communicated with the Ancients on 
 such terms of mutual understanding, that there 
 was no longer any difficulty about giving the de- 
 sired colouring to the events of the day. It was 
 announced by proclamation, that a scene of vio- 
 lence and uproar, and the daggers and pistols of 
 a band of conspirators, in the Council of Five 
 Hundred, had suggested the measures ultimately 
 resorted to. These were — the adjournment of the 
 two councils until the middle of February next 
 ensuing ; and the deposition, meantime, of the 
 whole authority of the state in a provisional con- 
 sulate — the consuls being Napoleon Buonaparte, 
 Sieyes, and Ducos. 
 
 Thus terminated the 19th of Brumaire. One of 
 the greatest revolutions on record in the history of 
 the world was accomplished, by means of swords 
 and bayonets unquestionably, but still without any 
 effusion of blood. From that hour the fate of 
 France was determined. The Abbe Sieyes, Tal- 
 leyrand, and other eminent civilians, who had a 
 hand in this great day's proceedings, had never 
 doubted that, under the new state of things to 
 which it should lead, they were to have the chief 
 management of the civil concerns of France. The 
 ambition of Buonaparte, they questioned not, 
 would be satified with the controul of the armies 
 
 N 2
 
 180 NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE. [Nov. 
 
 and military establishments of the Republic. But 
 they reckoned without their host. Next day the 
 three consuls met in Paris ; and a lengthened dis- 
 cussion arose touching the internal condition and 
 foreign relations of France, and the measures not 
 only of war, but of finance and diplomacy, to be 
 resorted to. To the astonishment of Sieyes, Na- 
 poleon entered readily and largely upon such 
 topics, showed perfect familiarity with them in 
 their minutest details, and suggested resolutions 
 which it was impossible not to approve. " Gen- 
 tlemen," said the Abbe, on reaching his own 
 house, where Talleyrand and the others expected 
 him — and it is easy to imagine the sensations with 
 which Sieyes spoke the words, and Talleyrand 
 heard them — " Gentlemen, I perceive that you have 
 got a master. Buonaparte can do, and will do, 
 everything himself. But (he added, after a pause) 
 it is better to submit than to protract dissension 
 for ever." 
 
 Buonaparte sent word next morning to Gohier 
 and Moulins that they were at liberty. These 
 ex-directors were in haste to seclude themselves 
 from public view ; and the new ruler took pos- 
 session the same evening of the palace of the 
 Luxembourg.
 
 1799.] ( 181 ) 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 The Provisional Consulate — Reforms in-France — Pacifi- 
 cation of the Chouans — Constitution of the year VIII- 
 — Buonaparte Chief Consul. 
 
 The upper population of Paris had watched the 
 stormy days of the 18th and 19th Brumaire with 
 the most anxious fears, lest the end should be 
 anarchy and the re-estabHshment of the reign of 
 terror. Such, in all likelihood, must have been 
 the result, had Buonaparte failed, after once at- 
 tempting to strike his blow. His success held 
 out the prospect of victory abroad, and of a firm 
 and stable government at home, under which life 
 and property might exist in safety ; and wearied 
 utterly with so many revolutions and constitutions, 
 each in turn pretending everything, and ending in 
 nothing but confusion, the immense majority of 
 the nation were well prepared to consider any go- 
 vernment as a blessing, which seemed to rest on a 
 solid basis, and to bid fair for endurance. The 
 revolutionary fever had in most bosoms spent its 
 strength ere now ; and Buonaparte found hence- 
 forth little opposition to any of his measures, un- 
 less in cases where the substantial personal com- 
 forts of men, — not abstract theories or dogmas, — 
 nor even political rights of unquestionable value 
 and importance, — were invaded by his administra- 
 tion. 
 
 The two chambers, on breaking up, appointed
 
 182 NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE. [Nov.— DeC. 
 
 small committees to take counsel during the re- 
 cess with the new heads of the executive ; and, in 
 concert with these, Buonaparte and Sieyes entered 
 vigorously on the great task of restoring confi- 
 dence and peace at home. The confusion of the 
 finances was the most pressing of many intolerable 
 evils ; and the first day was devoted to them. In 
 lieu of forced loans, by which the directory had 
 systematically scourged the people, all the regular 
 taxes were at once raised 25 per cent. ; and the 
 receipt and expenditure of the revenue arranged 
 on a business-like footing. The repeal of the 
 " Law of Hostages" — a tyrannical act, by which 
 the relations of emigrants were made responsible 
 for the behaviour of their exiled kinsmen, — fol- 
 lowed immediately, and was received with uni- 
 versal approbation. A third and a bolder measure 
 was the discarding of the heathen ritual, and re- 
 opening of the churches for Christian worship ; 
 and of this the credit was wholly Napoleon's, who 
 had to oppose the philosophic TpYL^-\nd\ces ofahnost 
 all his colleagues. He, in his conversations with 
 them, made no attempt to represent himself as a 
 believer in Christianity ; but stood on the neces- 
 sity of providing the people with the regular means 
 of worship, wherever it is meant to have a state of 
 tranquillity. The priests who chose to take the 
 oath of fidelity to government were re-admitted 
 to their functions ; and this wise measure was fol- 
 lowed by the adherence of not less than 20,000 
 of these ministers of religion, who had hitherto 
 languished in the prisons of France. Cambaceres, 
 an excellent lawyer and judge, was of great service 
 to Napoleon in these salutary reforms.
 
 1799.] REFORMS THE CHOUANS SUBMIT. 183 
 
 Many other judicious measures might be men- 
 tioned in this place. Some emigrants, cast on the 
 shores by shipwreck, had been imprisoned and 
 destined for trial by the directory. They were at 
 once set free : and, in like manner, La Fayette 
 and other distinguished revolutionists, who had 
 been exiled for not adhering to all the wild notions 
 of the preceding administrations, were at once re- 
 called. Carnot was one of these : Buonaparte 
 forthwith placed him at the head of the war de- 
 partment ; and the reform of the army was pro- 
 secuted with the vigour which might have been 
 expected from the joint skill and talent of the pro- 
 visional head of the government and this practised 
 minister. The confusion which had of late pre- 
 vailed in that department was extreme. The go- 
 vernment did not even know the existence of regi- 
 ments raised in the provinces : arms, clothing, 
 discipline in every article, had been neglected. 
 The organization of the army was very speedily 
 mended. 
 
 The insurgent Chouans next claimed attention : 
 and here the personal character of Napoleon gave 
 him advantages of the first importance. The 
 leaders of those brave bands were disposed to con- 
 sider such a soldier as a very different sort of 
 ruler from the Pentarchy of the Luxembourg ; 
 and their admiration for his person prepared them 
 to listen to his terms. The first measures of the 
 new government were obviously calculated to 
 soothe their prejudices, and the general display of 
 vigour in every branch of the administration to 
 overawe them. Chatillon, D'Antichamp, Suzan- 
 net, and other royalist chiefs, submitted in form.
 
 184 NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE. [DcC. 
 
 Bernier, a leading clergyman in La Vendee, fol- 
 lowed the same course, and was an acquisition of 
 even more value. Others held out ; but were 
 soon routed in detail, tried and executed. The 
 appearances of returning tranquillity were general 
 and most welcome. 
 
 Some of the party vanquished on the 1 8th Bru- 
 maire, however, still lingered in Paris, and were 
 busy in plotting new convulsions. It was there- 
 fore the advice of all the ministers to condemn them 
 to exile ; and lists of proscription were drawn up 
 and published. But Buonaparte only meant to 
 overawe these persons : no one was apprehended : 
 they kept quiet for a season ; and the edict of exile 
 sunk by degrees into oblivion. 
 
 Meanwhile it was necessary that the govern- 
 ment itself should assume some permanent form, 
 ere the time arrived for the re-assembly of the 
 legislative bodies. Their two committees met in 
 one chamber with the consuls, and the outline of 
 a new constitution was laid before them by Sieyes ; 
 who enjoyed the reputation of being the greatest 
 of scientific politicians. The Abbe, however, had 
 soon perceived that Napoleon was to be the real 
 creator of whatever should be adopted ; and, in 
 the progress of the ensuing consultations, sub- 
 mitted, step by step, to the laconic dictator, who 
 accepted or discarded propositions, exactly as they 
 happened to coincide, or be at variance with, his 
 own notions of his own personal interest. He 
 cared little in what manner the structure of the 
 future re])resentative assemblies might be ar- 
 ranged ; but there must be no weakening of the 
 executive power, which he was determined to vest
 
 1799.] CONSTITUTION OF THE YEAR VIII. 1 8.'5 
 
 virtually in himself alone, and by means of which, 
 he doubted not, it would be easy to neutralize all 
 other influences. 
 
 The metaphysical Abbe proposed a scheme by 
 far too delicately complicated for the tear and wear 
 of human business and human passions. The ab- 
 surdity, even of the parts which Napoleon con- 
 sented to adopt, became apparent to all when the 
 machine was set in motion. The two most pro- 
 minent and peculiar devices — namely, that of 
 placing at the head of the state a sort of mock 
 sovereign, destitute of any effective power, and 
 capable at any time of being degraded by the vote 
 of a single legislative body, under the title of 
 Grand Elector ; and, 2dly, that of committing 
 the real executive power to two separate Consuls, 
 one for war and one for peace, nominally the infe- 
 riors of the Elector, but in influence necessarily 
 quite above him, and almost as necessarily the 
 rivals and enemies of each other ; these ingenious 
 twins were strangled in the birth by Napoleon's 
 shrewd practical sense. " Who," said he, " would 
 accept an office, the only duties of which were to 
 fatten like a pig, on so many millions a-year ? 
 i\nd your two consuls — the one surrounded with 
 churchmen, lawyers, and civilians — the other with 
 soldiers and diplomatists — on what footing would 
 be their intercourse ? the one demanding money 
 and recruits, the other refusing the supplies ? A 
 government, made up of such heterogeneous and 
 discordant materials, would be the shadow of a 
 state." He added two words, which at once de- 
 cided the main question ; " I, for one, would never 
 be your Grand Elector."
 
 186 NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE. [Dec, 14, 
 
 The constitution actually announced by procla- 
 mation on the 14th of December, 1799, presents 
 the following principal features. I. The male 
 citizens who are of age, and who pay taxes, in 
 every commune, shall choose a tenth of their num- 
 ber to be the notables of the commune ; and out 
 of these notables the officers of the commune shall 
 be appointed. II. The notables of the communes 
 constituting a department, shall choose, in like 
 manner, the tenth of their number to be the nota- 
 bles of the department ; and out of these the offi- 
 cers of the department shall be appointed. III. 
 The notables of all the departments shall, in the 
 same way, choose the tenth of their number to be 
 notables of France ; and out of these the public 
 functionaries of The State shall be chosen. IV. 
 Three assemblies shall be composed of persons 
 chosen from the notables of France, viz. — 1. The 
 Conservative Senate, consisting (at first) of twenty- 
 four men, of forty years of age, to hold their places 
 for life, and to receive, each, a salary equal to 
 l-20th of that of the chief consul: 2. The Tri- 
 bu7iate, to be composed of 1 00 men, of twenty-five 
 years of age and upwards, of whom l-5th go out 
 every year, but re-eligible indefinitely ; the salary 
 of each 15,000 francs (625/.); and, 3dly, The 
 Legislative Senate, composed of 300 members, of 
 thirty years of age, renewable by fifths every year, 
 and liaving sahn-ies of 10,000 francs (416/.). V. 
 The executive j)ower sliall be vested in three con- 
 suls, chosen individually, as chief consul, second, 
 and third ; the two former for ten years, the last 
 for five. VI. In order that the administration of 
 affairs may have time to settle itself, the tribunate
 
 1799.] CONSTITUTION OF THE YEAR VIII. 187 
 
 and legislative senate shall remain as first con- 
 stituted for ten years, without any re-elections. 
 VII. With the same view, of avoiding discussions 
 during the unsettled state of opinion, a majority 
 of the members of the conservative senate are for 
 the present appointed by the consuls, Sieyes and 
 Ducos, going out of office, and the consuls, Cam- 
 baceres and Lebrun, about to come into office ; 
 they shall be held to be duly elected, if the public 
 acquiesce ; and proceed to fill up their own num- 
 ber, and to nominate the members of the tribunate 
 and legislative senate. VIII. The acts of legis- 
 lation shall be proposed by the consuls : the tri- 
 bunate shall discuss and propound them to the 
 legislative senate, but not vote : the legislative 
 senate shall hear the tribunate, and vote, but not 
 debate themselves ; and the act thus discussed and 
 voted, shall become law on being promulgated by 
 the chief consul. IX. Buonaparte is nominated 
 chief consul, Cambaceres (minister of justice) 
 second, and Lebrun third consul. 
 
 It would be rash to say that this could never 
 have turned out in practice a free constitution. 
 Circumstances might have modified its arrange- 
 ments, and given the spirit of freedom to institu- 
 tions not ex-fac'ie favourable to it. But for the 
 present it was universally admitted that, under 
 these new forms, the power of the state must be 
 virtually lodged in Buonaparte. He, in fact, 
 named himself chief consul. His creatures chose 
 the conservative senate, and the conservative senate 
 were to choose the members of the other two 
 assemblies. The machinery, thus set in motion, 
 could hardly fail to remain under his controul ;
 
 188 NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE. [Dec. 1799. 
 
 and, looking at things more largely, the con- 
 trivances of making the electoral bodies in the de- 
 partments choose, not their actual representatives, 
 but only the persons from among whom these were 
 to be chosen by the conservative senate, and of 
 preventing the legislative senate from debating for 
 themselves on the measures destined to pass into 
 law, appear to have been devised for the purpose 
 of reducing to a mere nullity the forms of a repre- 
 sentative government.* However, the consuls an- 
 nounced their manufacture to the people in these 
 terms : — " Citizens, the Constitution is grounded 
 on the true principles of a representative govern- 
 ment, on the sacred rights of property, of equality, 
 and of liberty. The powers which it institutes 
 will be vigorous and permanent ; such they shovdd 
 be to secure the rights of the citizens and the in- 
 terests of the state. Citizens ! the Revolution is 
 fixed on the principles from which it originated : 
 IT IS ENDED." And in effect, books being opened 
 
 * The morning after the constitution was announced, the 
 streets of Paris were placarded with the following pasquil : — 
 
 POLITICAL SUBTRACTION. 
 
 From 5 Directors 
 
 Take 2 
 
 There remain 3 Consuls 
 
 From ihem take 2 
 
 And there remains 1 liuoxAPAnTF.. 
 
 This sufficiently expresses what was considered to be the 
 essence of tiie new constitution.
 
 Feb. 1800.] FIRST consul of France. 189 
 
 throughout France, the names of the citizens who 
 inscribed their acceptance of this new constitution 
 amounted to four milhons, while but a few votes 
 to the contrary were registered — an irrefragable 
 proof that the national mind was disposed to think 
 no sacrifice too dear, so tranquillity could be ob- 
 tained. 
 
 The circumstance, perhaps, which occasioned 
 most surprise on the promulgation of the new con- 
 stitution, was the non-appearance of the name of 
 Sieyes in the list of permanent consuls. It is pro- 
 bable that the Abbe made up his mind to retire, 
 so soon as he found that Buonaparte was capable 
 not only of mutilating his ideal republican scheme, 
 but of fulfilling in his own person, all the functions 
 of a civil ruler of France. Howbeit the ingenious 
 metaphysician did not disdain to accept of a large 
 estate (part of the royal domain of Versailles !) and 
 a large pension besides, by way of " public recom- 
 pense " — when he withdrew to a situation of com- 
 parative obscurity, as President of the Conservative 
 Senate. 
 
 One of Buonaparte's first acts was to remove the 
 seat of government from the Luxembourg to the 
 old Palace of the Tuilleries, " which," he signifi- 
 cantly said to his colleagues, " is a good military 
 position." It was on the 19th of February, 1800, 
 that the Chief Consul took possession of the usual 
 residence of the French kings. Those splendid 
 halls were re-opened with much ceremony, and 
 immediately afterwards Napoleon held a great 
 review in the Place du Carousel. This was the 
 first public act of the Chief Consul. Shortly after, 
 he appeared in his new official costume, a dress
 
 190 NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE. [Jan. Feb. 
 
 of red silk and a black stock. Some one observed 
 to him that this last article was out of keeping 
 with the rest : " No matter," answered he, smiling, 
 " a small remnant of the military character will do 
 us no harm." It was about the same time that 
 Buonaparte heard of the death of Washington. 
 He forthwith issued a general order, commanding 
 the French army to wrap their banners in crape 
 during ten days in honour of " a great man who 
 fought against tyranny and consolidated the liber- 
 ties of his country." 
 
 Talleyrand, appointed minister of foreign affairs 
 by Buonaparte, was now the chief partner of his 
 counsels. The Second Consul, Cambaceres, soon 
 learned to confine himself to the department of 
 justice, and Lebrun to that of finance. The effective 
 branches of government were, almost from the first, 
 engrossed by Napoleon. Yet, while with equal 
 audacity and craft he was rapidly consolidating the 
 elements of a new monarchy in his own person — 
 the Bourbonists, at home and abroad, had still 
 nourished tlie hope that his ultimate purpose was 
 the restoration of the rightful king of France. 
 Very shortly after the 18th Brumaire, one of the 
 foreign ambassadors resident at Paris had even 
 succeeded in obtaining a private audience for 
 Messieurs Hyde de Neuville and Dandigne, two 
 agents of tlie exiled princes. Buonaparte received 
 them at night in a small closet of the Tuilleries, 
 and requested them to speak with frankness. " You, 
 sir," they said, " have now in your hands the 
 power of re-estabhshing tlie tlirone, and restoring 
 to it its legitimate master. Tell us what are your 
 intentions ; and, if they accord with ours, we, and 
 
 J
 
 1800.] FIRST CONSUL. 191 
 
 all the Vendeans, are ready to take your com- 
 mands." He replied, that the return of the Bour- 
 bons could not be accomplished without enormous 
 slaughter ; that his wish was to forget the past, 
 and to accept the services of all who were willing 
 henceforth to follow the general will of the nation ; 
 but that he would treat with none who were not 
 disposed to renounce all correspondence with the 
 Bourbons and the foreign enemies of the country. 
 The conference lasted half an hour ; and the agents 
 withdrew with a fixed sense that Buonaparte would 
 never come over to their side. Nevertheless, as 
 it will appear hereafter, the Bourbons themselves 
 did not as yet altogether despair ; and it must be 
 admitted, that various measures of the provisional 
 government were not unlikely to keep up their 
 delusive hopes. We may notice in particular a 
 change in the national oath of allegiance, by which 
 one most important clause was entirely erased : 
 namely, that expressive of hatred to royalty : and 
 an edict, by which the celebration of the day on 
 which Louis XVI. died, was formally abolished. 
 Sieyes, in opposing this last measure, happened to 
 speak of Louis as " the tyrant :" — " Nay, nay," 
 said Napoleon, " he was no tyrant : had he been 
 one, I should this day have been a captain of en- 
 gineers — and you saying mass." The Bourbons 
 were very right in considering these as monarchical 
 symptoms ; but shrewd observers perceived clearly 
 in whose favour such changes were designed to 
 operate. It appears that some of Napoleon's 
 colleagues made a last effort to circumscribe his 
 power, by urging on him the necessity of his im- 
 mediately placing himself at the head of the armies
 
 192 NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE. [Feb. 
 
 in the field ; expecting, no doubt, great advantages, 
 could they remove him from the seat of govern- 
 ment, at the time when the new machinery was 
 getting into a regular course of motion. He sternly 
 resisted all such suggestions. " I am Chief Con- 
 sul," said he, biting his nails to the quick, " I 
 will remain in Paris." 
 
 And it was, indeed, most necessary for his suc- 
 cess, that he should remain there at this critical 
 epoch ; for, in the arrangement of every branch 
 of the new government, he had systematically 
 sought for his own security in balancing against 
 each other the lovers of opposite sets of principles 
 — men, who, by cordially coalescing together, 
 might still have undone him ; or by carrying their 
 animosities to extremity, overturned the wliole 
 fabric of his manufacture. It w^as thus that he had 
 chosen one consul from tlie Republican party, and 
 another from tlie Royalist ; either of whom might, 
 in his absence, have been tempted to undermine 
 his sway ; whereas both Cambaceres and Lebrun, 
 overawed by his presence, proved eminently ser- 
 viceable in drawing over to the interests of the 
 Chief Consul innumerable persons, of their own 
 ways of thinking originally, but no longer such 
 zealous theorists as to resist the arguments of self- 
 interest — those strong springs of hope and fear, 
 of both of which, Napoleon, while at the Tuilleries, 
 held the master-key. It was thus, also, that, in 
 forming his ministry, he grouped together men, 
 each of whom detested or despised the others; but 
 each unquestionably fitted, in the highest degree, 
 for the particular office assigned to him ; and each, 
 therefore, likely to labour in his own department,
 
 1800.] FIRST CONSUL. 193 
 
 communicating little with his colleagues, and look- 
 ing continually to the one hand that had invested 
 him with his share of power. It was in vain that 
 one party objected to the weathercock politics of 
 Talleyrand. " Be it so," answered the Chief Con- 
 sul : " but he is the ablest minister for foreign 
 affairs in our choice, and it shall be my care that 
 he exerts his abilities." Carnot, in like manner, 
 was objected to as a firm Republican. " Republican 
 or not," answered Napoleon, " he is one of the last 
 Frenchmen that would wish to see France dis- 
 membered. Let us avail ourselves of his un- 
 rivalled talents in the war department, while he is 
 willing to place them at our command." All par- 
 ties equally cried out against the falsehood, dupli- 
 city, and, in fact, avowed profligacy of Fouche. 
 " Fouche," said Buonaparte, " and Fouche alone, 
 is able to conduct the ministry of the police : he 
 alone has a perfect knowledge of all the factions 
 and intrigues which have been spreading misery 
 through France. We cannot create men : we must 
 take such as we find ; and it is easier to modify by 
 circumstances the feelings and conduct of an able 
 servant, than to supply his place." Thus did he 
 systematically make use of whatever was willing 
 to be useful — counting on the ambition of one man, 
 the integrity of a second, and the avarice of a third, 
 with equal confidence ; and justified, for the pre- 
 sent time, (which was all he was anxious about), 
 by the results of each of the experiments in ques- 
 tion. 
 
 It is impossible to refuse the praise of consum- 
 mate prudence and skill to these, and indeed, to 
 all the arrangements of Buonaparte, at this great 
 
 VOL. I. o
 
 194 NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE. [Feb. 
 
 crisis of his history. The secret of his whole 
 scheme is unfolded in his own memorable words to 
 Sieyes : " We are creating a new era — of the past 
 we must forget the bad, and remember only the 
 good." From the day when the consular govern- 
 ment was formed, a new epoch was to date. Sub- 
 mit to that government, and no man need fear that 
 his former acts, far less opinions, should prove any 
 obstacle to his security — nay, to his advancement. 
 Henceforth the regicide might dismiss all dread of 
 Bourbon revenge ; the purchaser of forfeited pro- 
 perty of being sacrificed to the returning nobles ; 
 provided only they chose to sink their theories and 
 submit. To the royalist, on the other hand, Buo- 
 naparte held out the prospect, not indeed of Bourbon 
 restoration, but of the re-establishment of a mo- 
 narchical form of government, and all the concomi- 
 tants of a court ; for the churchman the temples 
 were at once opened ; and the rebuilding of the 
 liierarchical fabric, in all its wealth, splendour, and 
 power, was offered in perspective. Meanwhile, 
 the great and crying evil, from which the revolu- 
 tion had really sprung, was for ever abolished. 
 The odious distinction of castes was at an end. 
 Political liberty existed, perhaps, no longer ; but 
 civil liberty — the equality of all Frenchmen in the 
 eye of tlie law — was, or seemed to be, established. 
 All men henceforth must contribute to the state in 
 the proportion of their means : all men appeal to 
 the same tribunals ; and no man, however meanly 
 born, had it to sjiy, that there was one j)ost of power 
 or dignity in Frjince to which talent and Inbour 
 never could elevate him. 
 
 Shortly after Napoleon took possession of the
 
 1800.] FIRST CONSUL. 195 
 
 Tuilleries, Murat, who had long been the lover of 
 his sister Caroline, demanded her hand in mar- 
 riage. The gallantry and military talents of this 
 handsome officer had already raised him to a dis- 
 tinguished rank in the army, and Josephine warmly 
 espoused his interests : but Buonaparte was with 
 difficulty persuaded to give his consent to the 
 match. " Murat is the son of an innkeeper," said 
 he, — " in the station to which events have elevated 
 me, I must not mix my blood with his.'" These 
 objections, however, were overcome by the ad- 
 dress of Josephine, who considered Napoleon's 
 own brothers as her enemies, and was anxious, 
 not without reason, to have some additional sup- 
 port in the family. Her influence, from this time, 
 appears to have remained unshaken ; though her 
 extravagance and incurable habit of contracting 
 debts gave rise to many unpleasing scenes between 
 her and the most metho<:lical of mankind. 
 
 o2
 
 196 NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE. [1800. 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 The Chief Consul writes to the King of England — hord 
 Grenvdle's Answer — Napoleon passes the Great St. 
 Bernard — The taking of St. Bard — The Siegt of Genoa 
 — The Battle of Montehello—The Battle of Marengo 
 — Napoleon returns to Paris — The Infernal Machine — 
 The Battle of llohenlinden — The Treaty of Luncville. 
 
 Much had been already done towards the internal 
 tranqnilHzation of France : but it was obvious that 
 the result could not be perfect until the war, wliich 
 had so long raged on two frontiers of the country, 
 should have found a termination. Tlie fortune of 
 the last two years had been far different from that 
 of the glorious campaigns which ended in the 
 treaty — or armistice, as it might more truly be 
 named — of Campo-Formio. The Austrians had 
 recovered the north of Italy, and already menaced 
 the Savoy frontier, designing to march into Pro- 
 vence, and there support a new insurrection of 
 the royalists. The force opposed to them in that 
 quarter was much inferior in numbers, and xi-om- 
 posed of tlie relics of armies l)eaten over and over 
 again l)y Suwarrow. 'I'lie Austrians and French 
 were more nearly balanced on the Rhine frontier ; 
 but even there, there was ample room for anxiety. 
 On the whole, the grand jittitude in which Buona- 
 parte had left the lU'])ublic, when he embarked 
 for Egypt, was exchanged for one of a far hum-
 
 1800.] FIRST CONSUL. 197 
 
 bier description ; and, in fact, as has been inti- 
 mated, the general disheartening of the nation, by 
 reason of those reverses, had been of signal ser- 
 vice to Napoleon's ambition. If a strong hand 
 was wanted at home, the necessity of having a 
 general who could bring back victory to the tri- 
 color banners in the field had been not less deeply 
 felt. And hence the decisive revolution of Bru- 
 maire. 
 
 Of the allies of Austria, meanwhile, one had 
 virtually abandoned her. The emperor Paul, of 
 Russia, resenting the style in which his army 
 under Suwarrow had been supported, withdrew 
 it altogether from the field of its victories ; and 
 that hair-brained autocrat, happening to take up 
 an enthusiastic personal admiration for Buona- 
 parte, was not likely for the present to be brought 
 back into the Antigallican league, England ap- 
 peared stedfast to the cause ; but it remained to be 
 proved whether the failure of her expedition to 
 Holland under the Duke of York, or the signal 
 success of her naval arms in the Mediterranean 
 under Lord Nelson, had had the greater influence 
 on the feelings of the government of St. James's. 
 In the former case Napoleon might expect to find 
 his advances towards a negotiation, in his new- 
 character of Chief Consul, received with better 
 disposition than his predecessors of the Directory 
 had extended to tlie last overtures of the English 
 cabinet tendered by Lord Malmesbury. He re- 
 solved to have the credit of making the experiment 
 at least, ere the campaign with the Austrians should 
 open ; and, discarding, as he had on a former oc-
 
 198 NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE. [DeC. 1799. 
 
 casion,* the usual etiquettes of diplomatic inter- 
 course, addressed a letter to King George III., in 
 person, almost immediately after the new consulate 
 was established in the Tuilleries, in these terms : 
 
 (Dec. 25, 1799.) 
 
 " French Republic — Sovereignty/ of the People — 
 Liberty and Equality. 
 
 "■' Bonaparte, First Consul of the Republic, to 
 his Majesty the King of Great Britain and 
 Ireland. 
 
 " Called by the wishes of the French nation to 
 occupy the first magistracy of the Republic, I 
 have thought proper, in commencing the discharge 
 of its duties, to communicate the event directly to 
 your Majesty. 
 
 " Must the war, which for eight years has ra- 
 vaged the four quarters of the world, be eternal ? 
 Is there no room for accommodation ? How can 
 the two most enlightened nations of Europe, 
 stronger and more powerful than is necessary for 
 their safety and independence, sacrifice commercial 
 advantages, internal prosperity, and domestic hap- 
 piness, to vain ideas of grandeur ? Whence comes 
 it that they do not feel peace to be the first of 
 wants as well as of glories ? These sentiments 
 cannot be new to the heart of your Majesty, who 
 rule over a free nation with no other view than to 
 render it happy. Your Majesty will see in this 
 overture only my sincere desire to contribute 
 effectually, for the second time, to a general paci- 
 
 * When he wrote from Clagcnfurt to the Archduke Charles.
 
 Jan. 1800,] correspondence with george hi. 199 
 
 fication — by a prompt step taken in confidence, 
 and freed from those forms, which, however neces- 
 sary to disguise the apprehensions of feeble states, 
 only serve to discover in the powerful a mutual 
 wish to deceive. 
 
 " France and England, abusing their strength, 
 may long defer the period of its utter exhaustion ; 
 but I will venture to say, that the fate of all civilized 
 nations is concerned in the termination of a war, 
 the flames of which are raging throughout the 
 whole world. I have the honour to be, &:c. Sec. 
 
 " Bonaparte." 
 
 It is manifest that the Chief Consul was won- 
 derfully ignorant of the English constitution, if he 
 really believed that the King (whose public acts 
 must all be done by the hands of responsible mi- 
 nisters) could answer his letter personally. The 
 reply was an official note from Lord Grenville, 
 then secretary of state for the department of fo- 
 reign affairs, to Talleyrand. It stated " that the 
 King of England had no object in the war but the 
 security of his own dominions, his allies, and 
 Europe in general : he would seize the first fa- 
 vourable opportunity to make peace — at present 
 he could see none. The same general assertions 
 of pacific intentions had proceeded, successively, 
 from all the revolutionary governments of France ; 
 and they had all persisted in conduct directly and 
 notoriously the opposite of their language. Swit- 
 zerland, Italy, Holland, Germany, Egypt, — what 
 country had been safe from French aggression ? 
 The war must continue until the causes which 
 gave it birth ceased to exist. The restoration of
 
 200 NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE. [Jan. 7, 
 
 the exiled royal family would be the easiest means 
 of giving confidence to the other powers of Europe. 
 The King of England by no means pretended to 
 dictate anything as to the internal polity of France ; 
 but he was compelled to say, that he saw nothing 
 in the circumstances under which the new govern- 
 ment had been set up, or the principles it professed 
 to act upon, which could tend to make foreign 
 powers regard it as either more stable or more 
 trustworthy than the transitory forms it had svip- 
 planted." 
 
 Such was the tenour of Lord Grenville's famous 
 note. It gave rise to an animated discussion in 
 both Houses immediately on the meeting of the 
 British Parliament ; and, in both, the conduct of 
 the ministry was approved by very great majori- 
 ties. When, however, the financial preparations 
 were brought forward, and it turned out that 
 Russia was no longer to be subsidized — or, in 
 other words, had abandoned the league against 
 France — the prospects of the war were generally 
 considered as much less favourable than they had 
 been during this discussion. In the meantime the 
 French government put forth, by way of commen- 
 tary on Lord Grenville's state paper, a pretended 
 letter from the unfortunate heir of the House of 
 Stuart to George III. demanding from him the 
 throne of England, which, now that the principle 
 of legitimacy seemed to be recognised at St. 
 James's, there could (said the pasquinade) be no 
 fair pretext for refusing. Some other trifles of 
 the same character might be noticed ; but the true 
 answer to Mr. Pitt was tlie campaign of Marengo. 
 
 Buonaparte rejoiced cordially in the result of
 
 1800.] WARLIKE PREPARATIONS. 201 
 
 his informal negotiation. It was his pohcy, even 
 more clearly than it had been that of his prede- 
 cessors, to buy security at home by battle and vic- 
 tory abroad. The national pride had been deeply 
 wounded during his absence ; and something must 
 be done in Europe, worthy of the days of Lodi, 
 and Rivoli, and Tagliamento, ere he could hope to 
 be seated firmly on his throne. On receiving the 
 answer of the British minister, he said to Talley- 
 rand, (rubbing his hands, as was his custom when 
 much pleased,) "it could not have been more fa- 
 vourable." On the same day, the 7th of January, 
 (just three days after the date of Lord Grenville's 
 note,) the First Consul issued his edict for the 
 formation of an army of reserve, consisting of all 
 the veterans who had ever served, and a new levy 
 of 30,000 conscripts. 
 
 At this time France had four armies on her 
 frontiers : that of the North, under Brune, watched 
 the partisans of the House of Orange in Holland, 
 and guarded those coasts against any new invasion 
 from England ; the defeat of the Duke of York 
 had enabled the government to reduce its strength 
 considerably. The second was the army of the 
 Danube, under Jourdan, which, after the defeat at 
 Stockach, had been obliged to repass the Rhine : 
 The third, under Massena, styled the army of 
 Helvetia, had been compelled in the preceding 
 campaign to evacuate great part of Switzerland ; 
 but, gaining the battle of Zurich against the Rus- 
 sians, now re-occupied the whole of that republic : 
 The fourth was that broken remnant which still 
 called itself the " army of Italy." After the disas- 
 trous conflict of Genola it had rallied in disorder
 
 202 NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE. [1800. 
 
 on the Appenine and the heights of Genoa, where 
 the spirit of the troops was already so much in- 
 jured, that whole battalions deserted en masse, and 
 retired behind the Var. Their distress, in truth, 
 was extreme ; for they had lost all means of com- 
 munication with the valley of the Po, and the 
 English fleet effectually blockaded the whole coasts 
 both of Provence and Liguria ; so that, pent up 
 among barren rocks, they suffered the hardships 
 and privations of a beleaguered garrison. 
 
 The Chief Consul sent Massena to assume the 
 command of the "army of Italy;" and issued, on 
 that occasion, a general order, which had a magical 
 effect on the minds of the soldiery. Massena was 
 highly esteemed among them ; and, after his ar- 
 rival at Genoa, the deserters flocked back rapidly 
 to their standards. At the same time Buonaparte 
 ordered Moreau to assume the command of the 
 two corps of the Danube and Helvetia, and con- 
 solidate them into one great " army of the Rhine." 
 Lastly, the rendezvous of the " army of reserve" 
 was appointed for Dijon : a central position from 
 which either Massena or Moreau might, as circum- 
 stances demanded, be supported and reinforced ; 
 but which Napoleon really designed to serve for 
 a cloak to his main purpose. For he had already, 
 in concert with Carnot, sketched the plan of that 
 which is generally considered as at once the most 
 daring and the most masterly of all the campaigns 
 of the war ; and whicli, in so far as the execution 
 depended on himself, turned out also the most 
 dazzlingly successful. 
 
 In ])lacing Moreau at the hend of the army of 
 the Rhine, full 150,000 strong, and out of all com-
 
 1800.] CAMPAIGN OF MARENGO. 203 
 
 parison the best disciplined as well as largest force 
 of the Republic, Buonaparte exhibited a noble su- 
 periority to all feelings of personal jealousy. That 
 general's reputation approached the most nearly 
 to his own ; but his talents justified this reputa- 
 tion, and the Chief Consul thought of nothing but 
 the best means of accomplishing the purposes of 
 the joint campaign. Moreau, in the sequel, was 
 severely censured by his master for the manner in 
 which he executed the charge entrusted to him. 
 His orders were to march at once upon Ulm, at 
 the risk of placing the great Austrian army under 
 Kray between him and France ; but he was also 
 commanded to detach 15,000 of his troops for the 
 separate service of passing into Italy by the de- 
 files of St. Gothard ; and given to understand that 
 it must be his business to prevent Kray, at all ha- 
 zards, from opening a communication with Italy 
 by way of the Tyrol. Under such circumstances, 
 it is not wonderful that a general, who had a mas- 
 ter, should have proceeded more cautiously than 
 suited the gigantic aspirations of the unfettered 
 Napoleon. Moreau, however, it must be admitted, 
 had always the reputation of a prudent, rather than 
 a daring, commander. The details of his campaign 
 against Kray must be sought elsewhere. A variety 
 of engagements took place, with a variety of fortvme. 
 Moreau, his enemies allow, commenced his opera- 
 tions by crossing the Rhine in the end of April ; 
 and, on the 15th of July, had his head-quarters at 
 Augsburgh, and was in condition either to rein- 
 force the French in Italy, or to march into the 
 heart of the Austrian states, when the success of
 
 204 NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE. [May, 
 
 Buonaparte's own expedition rendered either move- 
 ment unnecessary. 
 
 The Chief Consul had resolved upon conducting, 
 in person, one of the most adventurous enterprises 
 recorded in the history of war. The formation of 
 the army of reserve at Dijon was a mere deceit. 
 A numerous staff, indeed, assembled in that town ; 
 and the preparation of the munitions of war pro- 
 ceeded there as elsewhere with the utmost energy : 
 but the troops collected at Dijon were few ; and, 
 — it being universally circulated and believed, that 
 they were the force meant to re-establish the once 
 glorious army of Italy, by marching to the head- 
 quarters of Massena at Genoa, — the Austrians re- 
 ceived the accounts of their numbers and appear- 
 ance, not only with indifference but with derision. 
 Buonaparte, meanwhile, had spent three months in 
 recruiting his armies throughout the interior of 
 France ; and the troops, by means of which it was 
 his purpose to change the face of affairs beyond 
 the Alps, were already marching by different routes, 
 each detachment in total ignorance of the other's 
 destination, upon the territory of Switzerland. To 
 that quarter Buonaparte had already sent for- 
 ward Berthier, the most confidential of liis military 
 friends, and other officers of the highest skill, with 
 orders to reconnoitre the various passes in the 
 great Alpine cliain, and make every otlier prepara- 
 tion for the movement, of whicli tliey alone were, 
 as yet, in tlie secret. 
 
 The statesmen who ventured, even after Bru- 
 maire, to oppose the investiture of Buona])arte with 
 the whole power of the state, liad, at first, (as we 
 have seen,) attempted to confine him to the military
 
 1800.J GENOA NICE. 205 
 
 department ; or so arrange it that his orders, as 
 to civil affairs, should, at least, not be absolute. 
 Failing in this, they then proposed that the Chief 
 Consul should be incapable of heading an army in 
 the field, without abdicating previously his magis- 
 tracy ; and to their surprise, Napoleon at once ac- 
 ceded to a proposition which, it had been expected, 
 would rouse his indignation. It now turned out 
 how much tlie saving clause in question was worth. 
 The Chief Consul could not, indeed, be general- 
 in-chief of an army ; but he could appoint whom 
 he pleased to that post ; and there was no law 
 against his being present, in his own person, as a 
 spectator of the campaign. It signified little that 
 a Berthier should write himself commander, when 
 a Napoleon was known to be in the camp. 
 
 It was now time that the great project should 
 be realized. The situation of the " army of Italy" 
 was become most critical. After a variety of petty 
 engagements, its general saw his left wing (under 
 Suchet) wholly cut off from his main body ; and, 
 while Suchet was forced to retire behind the Var, 
 where his troops had the utmost difficulty in pre- 
 senting any serious opposition to the Austrians, 
 Massena had been compelled to throw himself with 
 the remainder into Genoa. In that city he was 
 speedily blockaded by the Austrian general Ott ; 
 while the imperial commander-in-chief, Melas, ad- 
 vanced, with 30,000, upon Nice — of which place 
 he took possession on the 11th of May. The 
 Austrians, having shut up Massena, and well 
 knowing the feebleness of Suchet's division, were 
 in a delirium of joy. The gates of France ap- 
 peared, at length, to be open before them ; and it
 
 206 NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE. [May, 
 
 was not such an army of reserve as had excited 
 the merriment of their spies at Dijon that coiikl 
 hope to withstand them in their long-meditated 
 march on Provence — where Pichegru, as they sup- 
 posed, was prepared to assume the command of a 
 numerous body of Royahst insurgents, as soon as 
 he shoukl receive intelhgence of their entrance 
 into France. But they were soon to hear news of 
 another complexion from whence they least ex- 
 pected it — from behind them. 
 
 The Chief Consul remained in Paris until he re- 
 ceived Berthier's decisive despatch from Geneva — 
 it was in these words ; "I wish to see you here. 
 There are orders to be given by which three armies 
 may act in concert, and you alone can give them 
 in the lines. Measures decided on in Paris are 
 too late." He instantly quitted the capital ; and, 
 on the 7th of May, appeared at Dijon, where he 
 reviewed, in great form, some 7 or 8000 raw and 
 half-clad troops, and committed them to the care 
 of Brune. The spies of Austria reaped new satis- 
 faction from tliis consular review : meanwhile Na- 
 poleon liad halted but two hours at Dijon ; and, 
 travelling all night, arrived, the next day, at Ge- 
 neva. Here he was met by Marescot, who had 
 been emph)yed in exploring tlie wild passes of 
 the Great St. Bernard, and received from him an 
 app.'dling j)icture of tlie dilHcuUies of marching an 
 army by that route into Itnly. " Is it possible to 
 pass?" said Napoleon, cutting the engineer's nar- 
 rative short. " The thing is barely possible," 
 answered Marescot. " Very well," said the Chief 
 Consid, " en avant — let us proceed." 
 
 While the Austrians were thinking only of tlie 
 
 J
 
 1800.] THE LITTLE ST. BERNARD. 207 
 
 frontier where Suchet commanded an enfeebled 
 and dispirited division, — destined, as they doubted 
 not, to be reinforced by the army, such as it was, 
 of Dijon, — the Chief Consul had resolved to pene- 
 trate into Italy, as Hannibal had done of old, 
 through all the dangers and difficulties of the great 
 Alps themselves. The march on the Var and 
 Genoa might have been executed with comparative 
 ease, and might, in all likelihood, have led to 
 victory ; but mere victory would not suffice. It 
 was urgently necessary that the name of Buonaparte 
 should be surrounded with some blaze of almost 
 supernatural renown ; and his plan for purchasing 
 this splendour was to rush down from the Alps, 
 at whatever hazard, upon the rear of Melas, cut 
 off all his communications with Austria, and then 
 force him to a conflict, in which, Massena and 
 Suchet being on the other side of him, reverse 
 must needs be ruin. 
 
 For the treble purpose of more easily collecting 
 a sufficient stock of provisions for the march, of 
 making its accomplishment more rapid, and of per- 
 plexing the enemy on its termination. Napoleon 
 determined that his army should pass in four divi- 
 sions, by as many separate routes. The left wing, 
 under Moncey, consisting of 15,000 detached from 
 the army of Moreau, was ordered to debouche by 
 the way of St. Gothard. The corps of Thureaii. 
 5000 strong, took the direction of Mount Cenis : 
 that of Chabran, of similar strength, moved by the 
 Little St. Bernard. Of the main bod}', consisting 
 of 35,000, the Chief Consul himself took care ; 
 and he reserved for them the gisantic task of sur- 
 mounting, with the artillery, the huge barriers of
 
 208 NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE. [May, 
 
 the Great St. Bernard. Thus along the Alpine 
 Chain — from the sources of the Rhine and the 
 Rhone to Isere and Durance — about 60,000 men, 
 in all, lay prepared for the adventure. It must be 
 added, if we would form a fair conception of the 
 enterprise, that Napoleon well knew not one-third 
 of these men had ever seen a shot fired in earnest. 
 The difficulties encountered by Moncey, Thu- 
 reau, and Chabran, will be sufficiently understood 
 from the narrative of Buonaparte's own march. 
 From the 1.5th to the 18th of May all his columns 
 were put in motion ; Lannes, with the advanced 
 guard, clearing the way before them ; the general, 
 Berthier, and the Chief Consid himself superin- 
 tendinof the rear guard, which, as having; with it 
 the artillery, was the object of highest importance. 
 At St. Pierre all semblance of a road disappeared. 
 Thenceforth an army, horse and foot, laden witli 
 all the munitions of a campaign, a park of forty 
 field-pieces included, were to be urged up and 
 along airy ridges of rock and eternal snow, where 
 the goatherd, the hunter of the chamoise, and the 
 outlaw-smuggler are alone accustomed to venture ; 
 amidst precipices where to slip a foot is death ; 
 beneath glaciers from wliich tlie percussion of a 
 musket-shot is often sufficient to hurl an avalanche ; 
 across })()ttomless cliasms caked over with frost or 
 snow-drift ; and })reatliing 
 
 " The (lifKcult air of the iced luountain top, 
 Wliere the l)irds dare not l)uild, nor insect's wing 
 FHt o'er tlie lierbless granite."* 
 
 'I'lie transport of the artillery and anuuunition was 
 * Byron's Manfred.
 
 1800.] PASSAGE OF THE GREAT ST. BERNARD. 209 
 
 the most difficult point ; and to this, accordingly, 
 the Chief Consul gave his personal superintendence. 
 The guns were dismounted, grooved into the trunks 
 of trees hollowed out so as to suit each calibre, 
 and then dragged on by sheer strength of muscle — 
 not less than an hundred soldiers being sometimes 
 harnessed to a single cannon. The carriages and 
 wheels, being taken to pieces, were slung on poles, 
 and borne on men's shoulders. The powder and 
 shot, packed into boxes of fir-wood, formed the 
 lading of all the mules that could be collected over 
 a wide range of the Alpine country. These prepa- 
 rations had been made during the week that 
 elapsed between Buonaparte's arrival at Geneva 
 and the commencement of Lannes's march. He 
 himself travelled sometimes on a mule, but mostly 
 on foot, cheering on the soldiers who had the 
 burden of the great guns. The fatigue undergone 
 is not to be described. The men in front durst 
 not halt to breathe, because the least stoppage 
 there might have thrown the column behind into 
 confusion, on the brink of deadly precipices ; and 
 those in the rear had to flounder knee deep, 
 through snow and ice trampled into sludge by the 
 feet and hoofs of the preceding divisions. Happilj^ 
 the march of Napoleon was not harassed, like that 
 of Hannibal, by the assaults of living enemies. 
 The mountaineers, on the contrary, flocked in to 
 reap the liberal rewards which he oftered to all 
 who were willing to lighten the drudgerv of his 
 troops. 
 
 On the 16th of May Napoleon slept at the con- 
 vent of St. Maurice ; and, in the course of the four 
 following days, the whole army passed the Great 
 
 VOL. I. p
 
 .'^lO NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE. [May, 
 
 St. Bernard. It was on the 20th that Buonaparte 
 himself halted an hour at the convent of the Hos- 
 pitallers, which stands on the summit of this mighty 
 mountain. The good fathers of the monastery had 
 been warned beforehand of the march, and they had 
 furnished every soldier as he passed with a luncheon 
 of bread and cheese and a glass of wine ; for which 
 seasonable kindness, they now received the warm 
 acknowledgements of the chief.* It was here that 
 he took his leave of a peasant youth, who had 
 walked by him, as his guide, all the way from the 
 convent of St. Maurice. Napoleon conversed freely 
 with the young man, and was much interested with 
 his simplicity. At parting, he asked the guide 
 some particulars about his personal situation ; and, 
 having heard his reply, gave him money and a 
 billet to the head of the monastery of St. INIaurice. 
 The peasant delivered it accordingly, and was sur- 
 prised to find that, in consequence of a scrap of 
 writing which he could not read, his worldly com- 
 forts were to be permanently increased. The ob- 
 ject of this generosity remembered, nevertheless, 
 but little of his conversation with the Consul. He 
 described Napoleon as being " a very dark man ;" 
 (this was the effect of the Syrian sun,) and having 
 an eye that, notwitlistanding his affability, he could 
 not encounter without a sense of fear. The only 
 
 * The worthy Hospitallers of St. Ikrnard have stationed 
 themselves on that wild eminence, for the purpose of alleviating 
 the misery of travellers lost or bewildered amidst the neigh- 
 bouring defiles. They entertain a pack of dogs, of extra- 
 ordinary sagacity, who roam over the hills night and day, and 
 frecjuently drag to light and safety pilgrims who have been 
 buried in the snow.
 
 1800.] PASSAGE OF THE GREAT ST. BERNARD. 211 
 
 saying of the hero which he treasured in his me- 
 mory was, " I have spoiled a hat among your 
 mountains : well, I shall find a new one on the 
 other side." — Thus spoke Napoleon, wringing the 
 rain from his covering as he approached the hos- 
 pice of St. Bernard. — The guide described, how- 
 ever, very strikingly, the effects of Buonaparte's 
 appearance and voice, when any obstacle checked 
 the advance of his soldiery along that fearful wil- 
 derness which is called emphatically, " The Valley 
 of Desolation." A single look or word was com- 
 monly sufficient to set all in motion again. But if 
 the way presented some new and apparently insu- 
 perable difficulty, the Consul bade the drums beat 
 and the trumpets sound, as if for the charge ; and 
 this never failed. Of such gallant temper were the 
 spirits which Napoleon had at command, and with 
 such admirable skill did he wield them ! 
 
 On the 16th the vanguard, under Lannes, reached 
 the beautiful vale of Aosta, and the other divisions 
 descended rapidly on their footsteps. This part 
 of the progress was not less difficult than the as- 
 cent before. The horses, mules, and guns, were 
 to be led down one slippery steep after another — 
 and we may judge with what anxious care, since 
 Napoleon himself was once contented to slide nearly 
 a hundred yards together, seated. 
 
 On the 17th Lannes arrived at Chatillon, where 
 he attacked and defeated a corps of 5000 Austrians 
 — who received the onset of a French division in 
 that quarter, with about as much surprise as if an 
 enemy had dropt on them from the clouds. Every 
 difficulty now seemed to be surmounted, and corps 
 after corps came down into the plentiful and ver- 
 
 p 2
 
 212 NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE. [May, 
 
 dant valley, full of joy. But suddenly the march 
 of the vanguard was arrested by an obstacle un- 
 foreseen, or, at least, grievously under-estmiated. 
 Midway between Aosta and Ivrea the Dora flows 
 through a defile, not more than fifty yards in 
 width : the heights on either hand rise precipitous ; 
 and in the midst an abrupt conical rock, crowned 
 with the fortress of St. Bard, entirely commands 
 the river, and a small walled town, through the 
 heart of which lies the only passage. Lannes 
 having vainly attempted to force the place by a 
 coup cle main., a panic arose, and, this spreading to 
 the rear, orders were given for stopping the descent 
 of the artillery. The Consul had come as far as 
 the town of Aosta when this intelligence reached 
 him. He immediately hastened to St. Bard, where 
 he found the troops in much confusion. 
 
 On occasions like this Napoleon rarely failed 
 to vindicate the prestige of his reputation. After 
 hastily surveying the localities, he climbed the 
 height of the Albaredo, which rises on the one 
 side above the fort, and satisfied himself that, 
 though the path had hitherto been trodden only 
 by solitary huntsmen, the army who had crossed 
 the St. Bernard might, by similar efforts, find or 
 make their way here also. A single cannon being, 
 with the last difficulty, hoisted to tlie summit^ he 
 planted it so as to ])lay full on the chief })astion of 
 St. Bard. The moment this was arranged the 
 troops })egan tlieir j)ainlid march ; and they ac- 
 comphshed it without considera])le loss ; for the 
 Consul's gun was so excellently ])laced that the 
 main ])attery of the subjacent castle was, ere long, 
 silenced. The men crept along the brow of the
 
 1800.] FORT ST. BARD. 213 
 
 Albaredo in single file, eacli pausing (says an eye- 
 witness,) to gaze for a moment on Napoleon, who, 
 overcome with his exertions, had lain down and 
 fallen fast asleep upon the summit of the rock. 
 Thus passed the main body, slowly, but surely. 
 Meantime Colonel Dufour had been ordered to 
 scale the wall of the town at nightfall ; and his 
 regiment (the 58th) performed this service so im- 
 petuously, that the Austrian troops took refuge in 
 the castle, and the French made good their lodg- 
 ment in the houses below. For some hours the 
 garrison povu'ed down grape-shot at half-musket 
 distance upon the French, but at last, out of com- 
 passion for the inhabitants, the fire slackened ; and 
 ere day broke Buonaparte had effected his main 
 purpose. The streets of the town having been 
 strewn with litter to deafen sound, the guns, co- 
 vered with straw and branches of trees, were 
 dragged through it under the very guns of St. 
 Bard, and without exciting the least suspicion in 
 its garrison. Next morning the Austrian com- 
 mandant sent on a messenger to Melas, with tidings 
 that a large division of the French had indeed 
 passed by the goat-tracks of Albaredo, but that 
 most certainly not one great gun was with them. 
 Buonaparte, meantime, was hurrying forwards with 
 horse, foot, and artillery too, upon Ivrea. 
 
 The march of the Consul received no new check 
 until he reached the town of Ivrea, where, after 
 two days' hard fighting, Lannes at length forced 
 an entrance, and the garrison, with severe loss, 
 withdrew. Buonaparte then took the road to 
 Turin, and the vanguard had another severe piece
 
 214 NAroLEOX BUOXAPARTE. [April — June, 
 
 of service at the bridge of Chiusilla, where 10,000 
 Austrians had been very strongly posted. Lannes 
 broke them, and pursuing as far as Orca, cut them 
 off from their magazines at Chevagno, and seized 
 a vast quantity of stores which had been embarked 
 on the Po. The advance was now within one 
 march of Turin, while Murat occupied Vercelli, 
 and the other divisions (those of Moncey, Chabran, 
 and Thureau), having accompHshed their several 
 Alpine journeys, were pouring down upon the low 
 country, and gradually converging towards the 
 appointed rendezvous on the Ticino. Buonaparte 
 had thus overcome the great difficulties of his pre- 
 paration, and was ready with his whole army to 
 open the campaign in good earnest against Melas. 
 The blockade of Genoa had been kept up all 
 this time ; while Suchet resolutely maintained the 
 last line of defence on the old frontier of France. 
 On the 22d of May Melas made a desperate effort 
 to force the passage of the Var, but failed ; and 
 immediately afterwards received his first intelli- 
 gence of the movements of Buonaparte, and the 
 defeat of his own detachment at the bridge of 
 Chiusilla. He perceived that it was high time to 
 leave Suchet to inferior hands, and set off to op- 
 pose in person " tlie army of reserve." Suchet, 
 on his part, was not slow to profit by the depar- 
 ture of the Austrian commander-in-chief: he, be- 
 ing informed of Buonaparte's descent, forthwith 
 resumed the offensive, re-crossed the Var, and 
 carried Vintimiglia at the point of the bayonet. 
 Pursuing his advantage, Suchet obtained the mas- 
 tery, first of the defile of Braus, and then of that of 
 
 I
 
 1800.J SIEGE OF GENOA. 215 
 
 Tende, and at length re-occupied his old position 
 at Melagno, whence his advanced guard pushed 
 on as far as Savona. 
 
 The garrison of Genoa, meantime, had been 
 holding out gallantly. Massena for some time kept 
 possession of the semicircular chain of heights on 
 the land side, and was thus enabled to obtain pro- 
 visions, despite the 40,000 Austrians under Gene- 
 ral Ott who lay watching him, and the English 
 fleet under Lord Keith which completely block- 
 aded the shore. A great effort made to dislodge 
 him from the heights on the 3d of April had failed. 
 But, by degrees, the superiority of numbers proved 
 too much for him, and being shut at last within 
 the walls, — where, to increase all his difficulties, 
 a great part of the population was violently hostile 
 to the French cause, — his sufferings from want of 
 provisions, and the necessity of constant watchful- 
 ness and daily skirmishes, began to be severe. 
 In his sorties, Massena had for the most part the 
 advantage ; and never in the whole war was the 
 heroism of the French soldiery more brilliantly 
 displayed than during this siege.* The news of 
 
 * The following anecdote is given by Dumas: — " On one 
 of these occasions, when a desperate attack was led on by 
 Soult, there occurred a circumstance as honourable as it was 
 characteristic of the spirit which animated the French. The 
 soldiers of two regiments, or demi-brigades, of the army of 
 Italy, namely, the 25th Light, and the 24th of the Line, had 
 sworn eternal enmity against one another, because that, pre- 
 vious to the opening of the campaign, when desertion, and all 
 the evils of insubordination prevailedin that army, disorganized 
 by suflering, the former, in which discipline had been main- 
 tained, was employed to disarm the latter. The utmost care 
 had been taken to keep them separate ; but it so happened, that
 
 216 NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE. [June, 
 
 tlie expedition of Napoleon at length penetrated 
 to the beleaguered garrison, and the expectation of 
 relief gave them from day to day new courage to 
 hold out. But day passed after day without any 
 deliverer making his appearance, and the scarcity 
 of food rendered it almost impossible to keep the 
 inhabitants from rising en masse to throw open the 
 gates. The English, meanwhile, anchored closer 
 to the city, and, having cut out the vessels which 
 guarded the entrance of the harbour, were bom- 
 barding the French quarters at their pleasure. 
 Everything eatable, not excepting the shoes and 
 knapsacks of the soldiers, had been devoured, ere 
 Massena at length listened to the proposal of a 
 conference with General Ott and Lord Keith. If 
 the French general's necessities were urgent, the 
 English admiral's desire to get possession of Genoa, 
 ere Buonaparte could make further progress, was 
 not less vehement. Lord Keith frankly told Mas- 
 sena, that his gallantry had been such that no 
 terms could be too good for him. The word 
 capitulation was omitted: the French marched out 
 of the town with arms and baggage, and were 
 allowed to proceed to Suchet's head-quarters ; and, 
 on the .5tli of June, Ott occupied Genoa. 
 
 General Ott, notwithstanding this success, had 
 
 these two corps found themselves one day made rivals as it 
 were in valour, the one before the eyes of the other. The same 
 dangers, the same thirst of glory, the same eagerness to main- 
 tain themselves, at once renewed in all hearts generous senti- 
 ments ; the soldiers became instantly intermingled ; they em- 
 braced in the midst of the fire, and one half of the one corps 
 passing into the ranks of the other, they renewed the combat, 
 after the exchange, with double ardor."
 
 1800.] GENOA MONTEBELLO. 217 
 
 been very ill-employed in lingering before Genoa 
 while Napoleon was so rapidly advancing ; and 
 Melas, utterly perplexed between Sucliet on the 
 one side and the Consul on the other, had in fact 
 lain still, and done nothing. Buonaparte, between 
 the 1st and 4th of June, crossed the Ticino with 
 his whole army. Murat carried Turbigo on the 
 5th, the very day that Genoa fell ; and on the 2d, 
 the Chief Consul himself once more entered Milan, 
 where he was received with enthusiasm. Lannes, 
 after various conflicts, occupied Pavia. Chapon 
 and Thureau threatened Turin by two different 
 routes ; and Melas, at last roused to a sense of 
 his imminent danger, abandoned the open country 
 of Piedmont, took up his head-quarters at Ales- 
 sandria, and began to draw together his widely 
 separated columns, and concentrate them for the 
 inevitable battle which must decide the fate of 
 Italy. 
 
 Buonaparte, meanwhile, was ignorant of the fall 
 of Genoa. He supposed, therefore, that the army 
 of Ott was still at a wide distance from that of the 
 Austrian commander-in-chief, and meditated to 
 pass th€ Po suddenly, and either attack Ott and 
 relieve Genoa, ere Melas knew that he was in that 
 neighbourhood, or, if he should find this more 
 practicable, force Melas himself to accept battle 
 unsupported by Ott. Lannes and the van, ac- 
 cordingly, pushed on as far as Montebello, where, 
 to their surprise, they found the Austrians in 
 strength. Early in the morning of the 9th of 
 June, Lannes was attacked by a force which he 
 had much difficulty in resisting. The Austrians 
 were greatly superior in cavalry, and the ground
 
 218 NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE. [June, 
 
 was favourable for that arm. But at length Vic- 
 tor's division came up, and, after a severe struggle, 
 turned the tide. The battle was a most obstinate 
 one. The fields being covered with very tall crops 
 of rye, the hostile battalions were often almost 
 within bayonet's length ere they were aware of 
 each other's presence ; and the same circumstances 
 prevented the generals, on either side, from dis- 
 playing much science in their manoeuvres. It 
 was a conflict of man against man, and determined 
 at a dear cost of blood. The field was strewn witli 
 dead, and the retiring Austrians left 5000 pri- 
 soners in the hands of Lannes — who, in memory 
 of this day of slaughter, was created afterwards 
 Duke of Montebello. It was from the prisoners 
 taken here that the Consul learned the fate of 
 Genoa. He immediately concluded that Melas 
 had concentrated his army ; and, having sent mes- 
 sengers to Suchet, urging him to cross the moun- 
 tains by the Col di Cadibona, and march on the 
 Scrivia, (which would place him in the rear of the 
 enemy,) halted his whole line upon the strong 
 position of Stradella. 
 
 It was on the evening after Montebello, that 
 General Dessaix, whom Napoleon considered as 
 second only to himself in mihtary genius, arrived 
 at head-(juartcrs. Buonaparte liad, as we liave 
 seen, on leaving Egypt, ordered Kleber to send 
 Dessaix to France in the course of November. 
 He had accordingly landed at Frejus shortly after 
 the establishment of the new government, where 
 he found letters from the Chief Consul, urging him 
 to join him without delay. In these letters there 
 were some melancholy phrases, and Dessaix, who 
 
 J
 
 1800.] STRADELLA DESSAIX. 219 
 
 really loved Napoleon, was heard to say, " He has 
 gained all, and yet he is not satisfied." A hundred 
 obstacles rose up to keep Dessaix from joining his 
 friend so speedily as both wished. He was yet in 
 France when the news of St. Bernard came thither, 
 and exclaimino-, " He will leave us nothino; to do," 
 travelled night and day until he was able to throw 
 himself into his arms. Napoleon immediately gave 
 him the command of a division ; and they spent 
 the night together in conversing about the affairs 
 of Egypt. 
 
 The First Consul was anxious to tempt Melas 
 to attack him at Stradella, where the ground was 
 unfavourable to cavalry movements; but, after 
 lying there unmolested for three days, he began 
 to fear that the Austrian had resolved, either on 
 moving to the left flank, crossing the Ticino, oc- 
 cupying ^lilan, and so re-opening his communica- 
 tions with Vienna ; — or, on falling back to Genoa, 
 overwhelming Suchet, and taking up a position 
 where the British fleet could supply him with pro- 
 visions — or even, in case of necessity, embark his 
 army, carry it round to the other side of Italy, and 
 by that means place him once more between his 
 enemy and the German states. Buonaparte, being 
 perplexed with these apprehensions, at last de- 
 scended into the great plain of Marengo, on which 
 he had, not without reason, feared to abide the 
 onset of Melas and the x\ustrian horse. He was 
 at Volghera on the 11th, and the next day at St. 
 Juliano, in the very centre of the plain ; but still 
 no enemy appeared. On the 13th, he advanced 
 to the village of Marengo itself, and finding no- 
 thing even there but a scanty out-post, which re-
 
 220 NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE. [June 14, 
 
 treated before him, concluded certainly that Melas 
 had given him the sHp, and marched either to the 
 left on the Ticino, or to the right on Genoa. In 
 great anxiety he detached one division under 
 Dessaix to watch the road to Genoa, and another 
 under Murat towards the Scrivia. Dessaix was 
 already half-a-day's journey from head-quarters, 
 when Napoleon received intelligence which made 
 him hastily recall all his detachments. The Aus- 
 trian general, after a long hesitation, had at length 
 resolved to let a fair field decide once more the 
 fate of Italy. On the evening of the 13th, his 
 whole army mvistered in front of Alessandria, hav- 
 ing only the river Bormida between them and the 
 plain of Marengo ; and early in the following 
 morning, they passed the stream at three several 
 points, and advanced towards the French position 
 in as many columns. 
 
 The Austrians were full 1-0,000 strong ; while, 
 in the absence of Dessaix and the reserve, Napo- 
 leon could, at most, oppose to them 20,000, of 
 whom only 2500 were cavalry. He had, how- 
 ever, no hesitation about accepting the battle. 
 His advance, under Gardanne, occupied the small 
 hamlet of Padre Bona, a little in front of Marengo. 
 At that village, which overlooks a narrow ravine, 
 the channel of a rivulet, Na])oleon stationed Victor 
 with the main body of his iirst line — the extreme 
 right of it resting on Castel Ceriolo, another hamlet 
 almost parallel with Marengo ; Kellerman, with a 
 brigade of cavalry, was posted immediately behind 
 Victor for the protection of his flanks. A thou- 
 sand yards in the rear of Victor was the second 
 line, under Lannes, protected in like fashion by
 
 1800.] BATTLE OF MAREXGO. 221 
 
 the cavalry of Champeaux. At about an equal 
 distance, again, behind Lannes, was the third line, 
 consisting of the division of St. Cyr, and the con- 
 sular guard, under Napoleon in person. The 
 Austrian heavy infantry, on reaching the open 
 field, formed into two Hues, the first, under Gene- 
 ral Haddick, considerably in advance before the 
 other, which Melas himself commanded, with Ge- 
 neral Zach for his second. These moved steadily 
 towards Marengo; while the light infantry and 
 cavalry, imder General Elsnitz, made a detour 
 round Castel Ceriolo with the purpose of outflank- 
 ing the French right. 
 
 Such was the posture of the two armies when 
 this great battle began. Gardanne was unable to 
 withstand the shock, and abandoning Padre Bona, 
 fell back to strengthen Victor. A furious cannon- 
 ade along the whole front of that position ensued ; 
 the tirailleurs of either army posted themselves 
 alonoj the maro-ins of the ravine, and fired inces- 
 santly at each other, their pieces almost touching. 
 Cannon and musketry spread devastation every- 
 where — for the armies were but a few toises apart. 
 For more than two hours Victor withstood singly 
 the vigorous assaults of a far superior force ; Ma- 
 rengo liad been taken and retaken several times, 
 ere Lannes received orders to reinforce him. The 
 second line at length advanced, but they found the 
 first in retreat, and the two corps took up a second 
 line of defence considerably to the rear of Marengo. 
 Here they were, again, charged furiously — and 
 again, after obstinate resistance, gave way. Ge- 
 neral Elsnitz, meantime, having effected his pur- 
 pose, and fairly marched round Castel Ceriolo,
 
 222 NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE. [June 14, 
 
 appeared on the right flank with his splendid 
 cavah'y, and began to pour his squadrons upon 
 the retreating cohnnns of Lannes. That galhuit 
 chief formed his troops en echelon, and retired in 
 admirable order — but the retreat was now general ; 
 and, had Melas pursued the advantage witli all his 
 reserve, the battle was won. But that aged ge- 
 neral (he was eighty-four years old) doubted not 
 that he had won it already; and at this critical 
 moment, being quite worn out with fatigue, with- 
 drew to the rear, leaving Zach to continue what 
 he considered as now a mere pursuit. 
 
 At the moment when the Austrian horse were 
 about to rush on Lannes' retreating corps, the re- 
 serve under Dessaix appeared on the outskirts of 
 the field. Dessaix himself, riding up to the First 
 Consul, said, " I think this is a battle lost." " I 
 think it is a battle won," answered Napoleon. 
 " Do you push on, and I will speedily rally the 
 line behind you." — And in effect the timely arrival 
 of this reserve turned the fortune of the day. 
 
 Napoleon in person drew up the whole of his 
 army on a third line of battle, and rode along the 
 front, saying, " Soldiers, we have retired far 
 enough. Let us now advance. You know it is 
 my custom to sleep on the field of battle." The 
 enthusiasm of the troops appeared to be revived, 
 and Dessaix prepared to act on the offensive ; he 
 led a fresh column of .j 000 grenadiers to meet and 
 check the advance of Zach. The brave Dessaix 
 fell dead at tlie first fire, sliot through the head. 
 " Alas ! it is not permitted to me to weep," said 
 Napoleon ; and the fall of tliat beloved chief re- 
 doubled tlie fury of liis followers. The first line
 
 1800.] MARENGO, 223 
 
 of the Austrian infantry charged, however, with 
 equal resohition. At tliat moment Kellerman's 
 horse came on them in flank ; and being, by that . 
 unexpected assault, broken, they were, after a vain 
 struggle, compelled to surrender : — General Zach 
 himself was here made prisoner. The Austrian 
 columns behind, being flushed with victory, were 
 advancing too carelessly, and proved unable to 
 resist the general assault of the whole French line, 
 which now pressed onwards under the immediate 
 command of Napoleon. Post after post was car- 
 ried. The noble cavalry of Elsnitz, perceiving 
 the infantry broken and retiring, lost heart ; and, 
 instead of forming to protect their retreat, turned 
 their horses' heads and galloped over the plain, 
 trampling down every thing in their way. When 
 the routed army reached at length the Bormida, 
 the confusion was indescribable. Hundreds were 
 drowned — the river rolled red amidst the corpses 
 of horse and men. Whole corps, being unable to 
 effect the passage, surrendered : and at ten at 
 night the Austrian commander with difficulty 
 rallied the remnant of that magnificent array on 
 the very ground which they had left the same 
 morning in all the confidence of victory. 
 
 It is not to be denied tliat Napoleon was saved 
 on this occasion by the arrival of the reserve under 
 Dessaix, and the timely charge of Kellerman. On 
 the other hand it is impossible not to condemn the 
 rashness with which the Austrian generals ad- 
 vanced after their first successes. 
 
 The discomfiture of the imperialists was so 
 great, that rather than stand the consequences of 
 another battle, while Suchet was coming on their
 
 524 NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE. [July, 
 
 rear, they next day entered into a negotiation. 
 Melas offered to abandon Genoa and all the strong 
 places in Piedmont, Lombardy, and the Legations 
 — provided Buonaparte woidd allow him to march 
 the remains of his army unmolested to the rear of 
 Mantua. Napoleon accepted this offer. By one 
 battle he had regained nearly all that the French 
 had lost in the unhappy Italian campaign of 1799 : 
 at all events he had done enough to crown his own 
 name with unrivalled splendour, and to show that 
 the French troops were once more what they had 
 used to be — when he was in the field to command 
 them. He had another motive for closing with 
 the propositions of General Melas. It was of 
 urgent importance to regain Genoa, ere an Eng- 
 lish army, which he knew was on its voyage to 
 that port, could reach its destination. 
 
 On the 17th of June Napoleon returned in tri- 
 umph to Milan, where he formally re-established 
 the Cisalpine Republic, and was present at a fes- 
 tival of high state and magnificence. He then 
 gave the command of the army of Italy to Mas- 
 sena ; and appointed Jourdan French minister in 
 Piedmont — in other words, governor of that do- 
 minion ; and set out on his journey to Paris. He 
 halted at Lyons to lay the first stone of tlie new 
 Place de Bellcconr, erected on tlie ruins of a great 
 square destroyed by the Jacobins during the re- 
 volutionary madness ; and readied the Tuilleries 
 on the 2d of July. He had set out for Switzerland 
 on the Gth of May. Two months hnd not elapsed, 
 and in that brief space wh;it woiulers had been 
 accomplislu'd ! The enthusiasm of the Parisians 
 exceeded all that has been recorded of any trium-
 
 1800.] ARRIVAL IN PARIS. 225 
 
 phal entry. Night after night every house was 
 illuminated ; and day following day the people 
 stood in crowds around the palace, contented if 
 they could but catch one glimpse of the preserver 
 of France. 
 
 The effusion of joy was the greater — because 
 the tale of victory came on a people prepared for 
 other tidings. About noontide on the 14th of 
 June, when the French had been driven out of 
 Marengo, and were apparently in full and disas- 
 trous retreat, a commercial traveller left the field, 
 and arriving, after a rapid journey, in Paris, an- 
 nounced that Buonaparte had been utterly de- 
 feated by Melas. It is said that the ill-wishers 
 of the First Consul immediately set on foot an 
 intrigue for removing him from the government, 
 and investing Carnot with the chief authority. It 
 is not doubtful that many schemes of hostility had 
 been agitated during Napoleon's absence ; or that, 
 amidst all the clamour and splendour of his tri- 
 umphant reception in Paris, he wore a gloomy 
 brow; nor has any one disputed that, from this 
 time, he regarded the person of Carnot with jea- 
 lousy and aversion. 
 
 The tidings of the great battle, meanwhile, kin- 
 dled the emulation of the Rhenish army ; and they 
 burned with the earnest desire to do something 
 worthy of being recorded in the same page with 
 Marengo. But the Chief Consul, when he granted 
 the armistice to INIelas, had extended it to the 
 armies on the German frontier likewise ; and Mo- 
 reau, consequently, could not at once avail himself 
 of the eagerness of his troops. The negotiations 
 which ensued, however, were unsuccessful. The 
 
 VOL. I. Q
 
 226 NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE. [1800. 
 
 Emperor, subsidized as he had been, must have 
 found it very difficult to resist the remonstrances 
 of England against the ratification of any peace in 
 which she should not be included ; and it is natural 
 to suppose, that the proud spirit of the Austrian 
 cabinet revolted from setting the seal to an act of 
 humiliation, not yet, as the English government 
 insisted, absolutely necessary. News, meantime, 
 were received, of the surrender of Malta to an 
 English expedition under Lord Keith and Sir 
 Ralph Abercrombie ;* and this timely piece of 
 good fortune breathed fresh spirit into the Anti- 
 gallican league. In fine, insincerity and suspicion 
 protracted, from day to day, a negotiation not 
 destined to be concluded vmtil more blood had 
 been shed. 
 
 During this armistice, which lasted from the 
 15th of June to the 10th of November, the exiled 
 princes of the House of Bourbon made some more 
 ineffectual endeavours to induce the Chief Consul 
 to be the Monk of France. The Abbe de Montes- 
 quiou, secret agent for the Count de Lille, (after- 
 wards Louis XVIIL) prevailed on the third consul, 
 Le Brun, to lay before Buonaparte a letter ad- 
 dressed to him by that prince — in these terms ; 
 " You are very tardy about restoring my throne to 
 me : it is to be feared that you may let the favour- 
 able moment slip. You cannot establish the hap- 
 piness of France without me ; and I, on the other 
 hand, can do nothing for France without you. 
 Make liaste, then, and point out, yourself, the 
 posts and dignities which will satisfy you and your 
 
 * Sept. 5, 18C0.
 
 1800.] NEGOTIATIONS. 227 
 
 friends." The First Consul answered thus : " I 
 have received your Royal Highness's letter. I 
 have always taken a lively interest in your misfor- 
 tunes and those of your family. You must not 
 think of appearing in France — you could not do 
 so without marching over five hundred thousand 
 corpses. For the rest, I shall always be zealous 
 to do whatever lies within my power towards 
 softening your Royal Highness's destinies, and 
 making you forget, if possible, your misfortunes." 
 The Comte D'Artois (now Charles X. of France) 
 took a more delicate method of negotiating. He 
 sent a very beautiful and charming lady, the Du- 
 chesse de Guiche, to Paris ; she without difficulty 
 gained access to Josephine, and shone, for a time, 
 the most brilliant ornament of the consular court. 
 But the moment Napoleon discovered the fair lady's 
 errand, she was ordered to quit the capital within 
 a few hours. These intrigues, however, could not 
 fail to transpire ; and there is no doubt that, at 
 this epoch, the hopes of the royalists were in a 
 high state of excitement. 
 
 Meantime, among the meaner orders of both the 
 great parties, who regarded with aversion the so- 
 vereign authority of the Chief Consul, there wanted 
 not hearts wicked enough, nor hands sufficiently 
 desperate, for attempts far different from these. 
 The lawfulness, nay, the merit and the glory of 
 tyrannicide, were ideas familiar to the Jacobins of 
 every degree ; and, during the years of miserable 
 convulsion which followed the imprisonment and 
 murder of Louis XVI., the royalist bands had 
 oftened been joined, and sometimes guided, by per- 
 sons in whom a naturally fanatical spirit, goaded
 
 228 NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE. [Aug.— Oct. 10. 
 
 by the sense of intolerable wrongs, dared to think 
 of revenge — no matter how accomplished — as the 
 last and noblest of duties : nor is it wonderful that, 
 amidst a long protracted civil war, when scenes of 
 battle and slaughter were relieved only by the 
 hardships of skulking in woods and the fears of 
 famine, the character of others, originally both 
 pure and gentle, had come to be degraded into 
 a callous indifference or dark sullenness of temper, 
 fit preparatives for deeds, the thought of which, in 
 earlier and better days, would have been horror 
 and loathing. 
 
 It was among the Jacobins, who had formerly 
 worshipped Buonaparte as the " child and cham- 
 pion" of tlieir creed, that the first schemes of 
 assassination were agitated. An Italian sculptor, 
 by name Ceracchi, who had modelled the bust of 
 Napoleon while he held his court at Montebello, 
 arrived in Paris, and, under pretence of retouching 
 his work, solicited admission to the presence of the 
 new Caesar, whose Brutus he had resolved to be. 
 The occupations of the Consul did not permit of 
 this, and the Italian, having opened his purpose to 
 Topincau, Lebrun, a painter, the adjutant-general 
 Arena, Damerville, and others of kindred senti- 
 ments, arranged a plan by which Buonaparte was 
 to have been surrounded and stabbed in the lobby 
 of the opera-liouse. But one of the accomplices 
 betrayed the cons])iracy ; and Ceracchi and his 
 associates were arrested in the theatre, at the mo- 
 ment when tliey were ex])ecting tlieir victim. 
 
 This occurred towards the middle of August; 
 and it has been said that the Jacobin conspirators, 
 being thrown into the same prison with some des-
 
 1800.] CERACCIII THE INFERNAL MACHINE. 229 
 
 peradoes of the Chouan faction, gave to these last 
 the outhne of another scheme of assassination, 
 which had more nearly proved successful. This 
 was the plot of the infernal machine. A cart was 
 prepared to contain a barrel of gunpowder, strongly 
 fastened in the midst of a quantity of grape-shot, 
 which, being set on fire by a slow match, was to 
 explode at the moment when Buonaparte was pass- 
 ing through some narrow street, and scatter de- 
 struction in every direction around it. The night 
 selected was that of the 10th of October, when the 
 Chief Consul was expected to visit the opera, and 
 the machine was planted in the Rue St. Nicaise, 
 through which he must pass in his way thither 
 from the Tuilleries. Napoleon told his friends at 
 St. Helena, that having laboured hard all day, he 
 felt himself overpowered with sleep after dinner, 
 and that Josephine, who was anxious to be at the 
 opera, had much difficulty in at last rousing and 
 persuading him to go. " I fell fast asleep again," 
 (he said,) " after I was in my carriage ; and at the 
 moment when the explosion took place, I w^as 
 dreaming of the danger I had undergone some 
 years before in crossing the Tagliamento at mid- 
 night, by the light of torches, during a flood." He 
 awoke, and exclaimed to Lanr.es and Bessieres, 
 who were with him in the coach, " We are blown 
 up." The attendants would have stopped the car- 
 riage, but, with great presence of mind, he bade 
 them drive as fast as they could to the theatre, 
 which he alone of all the party entered with an 
 unruffled countenance. He had escaped most nar- 
 rowly. The coachman, happening to be intoxi-
 
 2S0 NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE. [Nov. Dec. 
 
 cated, drove more rapidly than was his custom.* 
 The engine exploded half a minute after the car- 
 riage had passed it — killing twenty persons, wound- 
 ing fifty-three, (among whom was St. Regent, the 
 assassin who fired the train,) and shattering the 
 windows of several houses on both sides of the 
 street. 
 
 The audience in the opera-house, when the 
 news was divulged, testified their feelings with 
 enthusiam. The atrocity of the conspiracy roused 
 universal horror and indignation, and invested the 
 person of the Chief Consul with a new species of 
 interest. The assassins were tried fairly, and exe- 
 cuted, glorying in their crime : and, in the momen- 
 tary exaltation of all men's minds, an edict of the 
 senate, condemning to perpetual exile 130 of the 
 most notorious leaders of the Terrorists, was re- 
 ceived with applause. But Napoleon himself des- 
 pised utterly the relics of that odious party ; and 
 the arbitrary decree in question was never put into 
 execution. 
 
 The Chief Consul, nevertheless, was not slow to 
 avail himself of the state of the public mind, in a 
 manner more consistent with his prudence and far- 
 sightedness. It was at this moment that the erec- 
 tion of a new tribunal, called the Special Commis^ 
 sion, consisting of eight judges, without jury, and 
 without revision or appeal, was proposed to the 
 legislative ])odies. To their honour the proposal 
 was carried by very narrow majorities ; for after 
 that judicature was estabhslied, the Chief Consul 
 had, in effect, the means of disposing of all who 
 
 * The man took the noise for tliat of a salute.
 
 1800.] THE SPECIAL COMMISSION. 231 
 
 were suspected of political offences, according to 
 his own pleasure. Another law which soon suc- 
 ceeded, and whicli authorized the chief magistrate 
 to ])anish disaffected persons, as " enemies of the 
 state," from Paris or from France, whenever such 
 steps should seem proper, without the intervention 
 of any tribunal whatever, completed (if it was yet 
 incomplete) the despotic range of his power : and 
 the police, managed as that fearful engine was by 
 Fouche, presented him with the most perfect means 
 of carrying his purposes into execution. 
 
 A singular anecdote belongs to this time — (De- 
 cember, 1800.) During the effervesence of public 
 opinion consequent on the affair of the infernal 
 machine, there appeared a pamphlet, entitled, " Pa- 
 rallel between Caesar, Cromwell, Monk, and Bona- 
 parte"* — a production evidently designed to favour 
 the assumption of regal dignity by the Consul. 
 Appearing at such a moment, it could not fail to 
 excite a vivid sensation ; the confidential friends 
 of Napoleon assured him, in one voice, that the 
 publication was likely to injure him. He sent for 
 Fouche, and reproached him violently for suffering 
 such a pamphlet to appear. The minister of police 
 heard him with perfect coolness, and replied that 
 he had not chosen to interfere, because he had 
 traced the manuscript to the hotel of his brother 
 Lucien. " And why not denounce Lucien ?" cried 
 Napoleon ; "he ought to have been arrested in- 
 stantly, and confined in the Temple." The Con- 
 sul having spoken thus, quitted the apartment, 
 
 * " Napoleon dropped the w in his surname after his first 
 campaign in Italy." — Bourienne.
 
 232 NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE. [Dec. 
 
 shutting the door with violence. Fouche smiled, 
 and whispered to De Boiirienne — " Confine the 
 author in the Temple ! Lucien showed me the 
 manuscript : I found it full of corrections in the 
 handwriting of — the First Consul !" Lucien, in- 
 formed of his brother's wrath, came forthwith to 
 the Tuilleries, and complained that " he had been 
 made a puppet and abandoned." " The fault is 
 your own," answered Napoleon ; "it was your 
 business not to be detected. Fouche has shown 
 himself more dexterous — so much the worse for 
 you." Lucien resigned forthwith the office which 
 he held in the ministry, and proceeded as ambas- 
 sador to Spain. 
 
 How far these disturbances in the French capita! 
 might have contributed to the indecision of the 
 Austrian cabinet during this autumn, we know not. 
 Five months had now elapsed since the armistice 
 after Marengo ; and the First Consul, utterly dis- 
 gusted with the delay, determined to resume arms, 
 and to be first in the field. Between the 17th and 
 the 27th of November his generals received orders 
 to set all their troops once more in motion. Every- 
 where the French arms had splendid success. Brune 
 defeated the Austrians on the Mincio, and advanced 
 within a few miles of Venice. Macdonald occu- 
 pied the mountains of the Tyrol, and was prepared 
 to reinforce either the army of Italy or that of the 
 Rhine, as might be desired. Moreau, finally, ad- 
 vanced into the lieart of Germany, and was met by 
 the Archduke Jolni of Austria, who obtained con- 
 siderable advantages in an affair at Haag. The 
 Archduke, elated by this success, determined on a 
 general engagement, and appeared in front of the
 
 1800.] BATTLE OF HOHENLINDEN. 233 
 
 French on the evening of the 2d December, at 
 Hohenlinden, between the Inn and the Iser.* At 
 seven, on the morning; of the 3d, the conflict began. 
 The deep snow had obHterated the tracks of roads ; 
 several Austrian columns were bewildered ; and 
 either came not at all into their positions, or came 
 too late. Yet the battle was obstinate and severe : 
 10,000 Imperialists were left dead on the field: 
 and Moreau, improving his success, marched on 
 immediately, and occupied Salzburg. 
 
 The Austrian capital now lay exposed to the 
 march of three victorious armies ; and the Emperor 
 was at last compelled to release himself from his 
 English obligations, and negotiate in sincerity for a 
 separate peace. Mr. Pitt himself considered the 
 prosecution of the continental war as for the time 
 hopeless. On reading the bulletin of Marengo, he 
 said, " Fold up that map" (the map of Europe) ; 
 " it will not be wanted for these twenty years." 
 
 A definitive treaty was signed at Luneville on 
 the 9th February, 1801 ; by which the Emperor, 
 not only as the head of the Austrian monarchy, 
 but also in his quality of Chief of the German 
 
 * The poet Campbell has vividly painted the opening of the 
 great battle which followed. 
 
 " On Linden, when the sun was low, 
 All bloodless lay the untrodden snow. 
 And dark as winter was the flow 
 Of 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.
 
 234 NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE. [1801. 
 
 empire, guaranteed to France the boundary of the 
 Rhine ; thereby sacrificing certain possessions of 
 Prussia and other subordinate princes of the em- 
 pire, as well as his own. Another article, extremely 
 distasteful to Austria, yielded Tuscany ; which 
 Napoleon resolved to transfer to a prince of the 
 House of Parma, in requital of the good offices of 
 Spain during the war. The Emperor recognised 
 the union of the Batavian Republic with the 
 French ; — and acknowledged the Cisalpine and 
 Ligurian Commonwealths ; both virtually provinces 
 of the great empire, over which the authority of 
 the First Consul seemed now to be permanently 
 established.
 
 1801.] ( 235 ) 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 Affairs of Naples and of the Pope — The Emperor Paul 
 of Russia — Northern confederacy against England — 
 Battle of Copenhagen — Nelson's Victory — Death of 
 Paul — Expedition to Egypt under Sir Ralph Aber- 
 cromhie — Battle of Alexandria — Conquest of Egypt — 
 The Flotilla of Boulogne — Negotiations with England 
 — Peace of Amiens. 
 
 England alone remained stedfast in her hostility ; 
 and, as we shall presently see, the Chief Consul 
 was even able to secure for himself the alliance 
 against her of some of the principal powers in 
 Europe ; but before we proceed to the eventful 
 year of 1801, there are some incidents of a minor 
 order which must be briefly mentioned. 
 
 It has been already said that the half-crazy 
 Emperor of Russia had taken up a violent personal 
 admiration for Buonaparte, and, under the influence 
 of that feeling, virtually abandoned Austria before 
 the campaign of Marengo. Napoleon took every 
 means to flatter the Autocrat and secure him in 
 his interests. Paul had been pleased to appoint 
 himself Grand Master of the ruined Order of the 
 Knights of St. John. It was his not idle ambition 
 to obtain, in this character, possession of the Island 
 of Malta ; and Buonaparte represented the refusal 
 of the English government to give up that strong-
 
 236 NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE. [1801. 
 
 hold as a personal insult to Paul. Some 10,000 
 Russian prisoners of war were not only sent back 
 in safety, but new clothed and equipped at the 
 expense of France ; and the Autocrat was led to 
 contrast this favourably with some alleged neglect 
 of these troops on the part of Austria, when 
 arranging the treaty of Luneville. Lastly, the 
 Queen of Naples, sister to the German Emperor, 
 being satisfied that, after the battle of Marengo, 
 nothing could save her husband's Italian dominions 
 from falling back into the hands of France (out of 
 which they had been rescued, during Napoleon's 
 Egyptian campaign, by the English, under Lord 
 Nelson), took up the resolution of travelling in 
 person to St. Petersburg in the heart of the win- 
 ter, and soliciting the intercession of Paul. Tlie 
 Czar, egregiously flattered with being invoked in 
 this fashion, did not hesitate to apply in the 
 Queen's behalf to Buonaparte ; and the Chief Con- 
 sul, well calculating the gain and the loss, con- 
 sented to spare Naples for the present, thereby 
 completing the blind attachment of that weak- 
 minded despot. 
 
 At the same time when Nelson delivered Naples 
 from the French, a party of English seamen, under 
 Commodore Trowl)ridge, had landed at the mouth 
 of the Tiber, marched to Home, and restored the 
 Pope. The Frencli army, after the great victory 
 which gave them back Lom))ardy and Piedmont, 
 dou])ted not that the re-establislmient of " the 
 Roman Republic" would ))e one of its next conse- 
 quences. But Buona])arte, wlio had in the interim 
 re-opened tlie cIhu-cIks of France, was now dis- 
 posed to consider the affairs of the Pope with very
 
 1801.] RETROSPECT. 237 
 
 different eyes. In a word, he had akeady resolved 
 to make use of the Holy Father in the consolida- 
 tion of his own power as a monarch ; and, as the 
 first step to this object, the government of the Pope 
 was now suffered to continue — not a little to the 
 astonishment of the French soldiery, and to the 
 confusion, it may be added, and regret, of various 
 powers of Europe. 
 
 The First Consul, meanwhile, proceeded to turn 
 the friendship of the Russian Emperor to solid ac- 
 count. It has never, in truth, been difficult to 
 excite angry and jealous feelings, among the minor 
 maritime powers, with regard to the naval sove- 
 reignty of England. The claim of the right of 
 searching neutral ships, and her doctrine on the 
 subject of blockades, had indeed been recognised in 
 many treaties by Russia, and by every maritime 
 government in Europe. Nevertheless, the old 
 grudge remained ; and Buonaparte now artfully 
 employed every engine of diplomacy to awaken a 
 spirit of hostility against England, first, in the well- 
 prepared mind of the Czar, and then in the cabinets 
 of Prussia, Denmark, and Sweden. The result 
 was, in efiect, a coalition of these powers against 
 the mistress of the seas ; and, at the opening of the 
 nineteenth century, England had to contemplate 
 the necessity of encountering single-handed the co- 
 lossal military force of France, and the combined 
 fleets of Europe. To deepen the shadows of her 
 prospects at that great crisis of her history, the 
 people suffered severely under a scarcity of food, 
 in consequence of bad harvests ; and the efforts 
 which England made, under such an accumulation
 
 238 NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE. [April 2, 
 
 of adverse circumstances, must ever be treasured 
 among the proudest of her national recollections. 
 
 In January, 1801, the first imperial parliament of 
 Great Britain and Ireland assembled ; and, shortly 
 afterwards, in consequence of a difference of opi- 
 nion, touching the Roman Catholic Question, be- 
 tween George III. and Mr. Pitt, that great minister 
 resigned his office, and a new cabinet was formed, 
 with Mr. Addington (afterwards Viscount Sid- 
 mouth) at its head. These changes were a new 
 source of embarrassment ; yet the prosecution of 
 the war was virged with undiminished vigour. 
 
 Early in March, Admiral Sir Hyde Parker and 
 Vice- Admiral Lord Nelson conducted a fleet into 
 the Baltic, with the view of attacking the northern 
 powers in their own harbours, ere they could effect 
 their meditated junction with the fleets of France 
 and Holland. The English passed the Sound on 
 the 13th of March, and reconnoitred the road of 
 Copenhagen, where the Crown-Prince, Regent of 
 Denmark, had made formidable preparations to re- 
 ceive them. It was on the 2d of April that Nelson, 
 who had volunteered to lead the assault, having at 
 length obtained a favourable wind, advanced with 
 twelve ships of the line, besides frigates and fire- 
 ships, upon the Danish armament, which consisted 
 of six sail of the line, eleven floating batteries, and 
 an enormous array of small craft, all chained to 
 each other and to the gromid, and protected by the 
 Crown-batteries, mounting eighty-eight guns, and 
 the fortifications oi'tlie isle of Amack, The battle 
 lasted for four hours, and ended in a signal victory. 
 Some few schooners and bomb-vessels fled early,
 
 1801.] BATTLE OF COPENHAGEN. 239 
 
 and escaped : the whole Danish fleet besides were 
 sunk, burnt, or taken. The Prince Regent, to save 
 the capital from destruction, was compelled to enter 
 into a negotiation, which ended in the abandonment 
 of the French alliance by Denmark. Lord Nelson 
 then reconnoitred Stockholm ; but, being unwilling 
 to inflict unnecessary suffering, did not injure the 
 city, on discovering that the Swedish fleet had 
 already put to sea. Meantime, news arrived that 
 Paul had been assassinated in his palace at St. 
 Petersburg ; and that the policy which he had 
 adopted, to the displeasure of the Russian nobility, 
 was likely to find no favour with his successor. 
 The moving spirit of the northern confederacy was, 
 in effect, no more, and a brief negotiation ended in 
 its total disrupture.* 
 
 In the same month of March the British arms 
 were crowned with a more pleasing triumph in a 
 more distant region. From the time when Buona- 
 parte landed in Egypt, the occupation of that 
 country by a French army, and its possible conse- 
 quences to our empire in the East, had formed a 
 subject of anxious solicitude in the cabinet of St. 
 James's ; and the means for attacking the army 
 which Napoleon had entrusted to Kleber, had, at 
 length, been combined and set in motion, in oppo- 
 sition to the sentiments both of the King and Mr. 
 
 * For the details of the battle of Copenhagen see Southey's 
 Life of Nelson. (No. XII. of the Family Libraiy.) That 
 conflict has been celebrated, in a noble lyric, by Campbell — 
 
 " Of Nelson and the North 
 
 Sing the glorious day's renown, 
 When to the battle fierce came forth 
 All the might of Denmark's crown," kc.
 
 240 NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE. [March— 
 
 Pitt, by the bold spirit of Lord Melville, then at 
 the head of the Indian Board of Control. The fleet 
 of Lord Keith, carrying Sir Ralph Abercrombie 
 and his army, were already in possession of Malta ; 
 another army of 7000, composed partly of English 
 troops and partly of seapoys, had been despatched 
 from India, and approached Egypt by the way of 
 the Red Sea ; and, lastly, the Ottoman Porte was 
 prepared to co-operate with General Abercrombie, 
 whenever he should effect a landing in the neigh- 
 bourhood of Alexandria. That event occurred on 
 the 13th of March, the British troops disembarking 
 in the face of the French, who were very strongly 
 posted, and, at length, driving them from the shore. 
 On the 21st a general engagement took place in 
 front of Alexandria ; and Sir Ralph Abercrombie 
 fell, mortally wounded, in the moment of victory. 
 General Hutchinson, (afterwards Earl of Donough- 
 more,) on whom the command devolved, pursued 
 the advantage. Kleber, who by his excellent admi- 
 nistration had earned the title of the Just Sultan, 
 had been assassinated by an obscure fanatic on the 
 same day when Dessaix died gloriously at Ma- 
 rengo ; and Menou, who succeeded to the command 
 of the French army in Egypt, was found wholly in- 
 capable of conducting either the civil or the mili- 
 tary business of the colony to advantage. He shut 
 himself up in Alexandria witli the relics of the 
 army defeated on the 21st. The English, forth- 
 with, let the sea into the lake Martotis : the ca})ital 
 was thus made an island, and all connnunication 
 with the country cut off. Hutchinson was now 
 joined by tlie 'I'urkish Ca))itan-])aclia and 0000 
 men; and intelHgence reached him that the Indian
 
 June, 1801.] British expedition to egypt. 241 
 
 reinforcement, under General Baird, had landed at 
 Cossire. Rosetta was soon captured; and, after 
 various skirmishes, Cairo was invested. On the 
 28th of June General Belliard and a garrison of 
 13,000 surrendered, on condition that they should 
 be transported in safety to France: and Menou, 
 perceiving that defence was hopeless and famine at 
 hand, followed, ere long, the same example. Thus, 
 in one brief campaign, was Egypt entirely rescued 
 from the arms of France. But even that great ad- 
 vantage was a trifle, when compared with the sti- 
 mulus afforded to national confidence at home, by 
 this timely re-assertion of the character of the 
 English army. At sea we had never feared an 
 enemy ; but the victories of Abercombie destroyed 
 a fatal prejudice which had, of recent days, gained 
 ground, — that the military of Great Britain were 
 unfit to cope with those of revolutionary France. 
 Nor should it be forgotten, that if Abercombie 
 had the glory of first leading English soldiers to 
 victory over the self-styled Invincibles of Buona- 
 parte, he owed the means of his success to the 
 admirable exertions of the Duke of York, in re- 
 forming the discipline of the service as commander- 
 in-chief. 
 
 On learning the fate of Egypt, Buonaparte ex- 
 claimed, " Well, there remains only the descent on 
 Britain;" and, in the course of a few weeks, not 
 less than 100,000 troops were assembled on the 
 coasts of France. An immense flotilla of flat- 
 bottomed boats was prepared to carry them across 
 the Channel, whenever, by any favourable accident, 
 it should be clear of the English fleets ; and both 
 the soldiery and the seamen of the invading arma- 
 
 VOL. I, R
 
 242 NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE. [1801. 
 
 ment were trained and practised incessantly, in 
 every exercise and manoeuvre likely to be of avail 
 when that long-looked-for day should arrive. These 
 preparations were met, as might have been expected, 
 on the part of the English government and nation. 
 Nelson was placed in command of the Channel fleet ; 
 and the regular army was reinforced on shore by 
 a multitude of new and enthusiastic volunteers ; 
 men of all parties and ranks joining heart and hand 
 in the great and sacred cause. Lord Nelson, more 
 than once, reconnoitered the flotilla assembled at 
 Boulogne, and, at length, attempted the daring- 
 movement of cutting out the vessels, in the teeth 
 of all the batteries. The boats being chained to 
 the shore, crowded with soldiery, and placed im- 
 mediately under the fortifications, the attempt was 
 unsuccessful ; but the gallantry with whicli it was 
 conducted struck new terror into the hearts of the 
 French marine, and, Nelson continuing to watch 
 the Channel with unsleeping vigilance, the hopes 
 of tlie First Consul, ere long, sunk. 
 
 The successes of the English in the Baltic and in 
 Egypt were well calculated to dispose Napoleon for 
 negotiation : and the retirement of Mr. Pitt, who 
 was considered throughout Europe as the author 
 and very soul of the anti-revolutionary war, was 
 not without its influence. On the other hand, 
 Napoleon's mighty successes against the German 
 emperor had been followcnl up this same year by 
 the march of a French and S])anisli army into Por- 
 tugal, in consecjuence of whicli tliat last ally of Eng- 
 land liad Ix'cn compelled to submit to the general 
 fate of the continent. On both sides there existed 
 the strongest motives for accommodation ; and, in
 
 March 25, 1802.] peace of amiens. 243 
 
 effect, after a tedious negotiation, the preliminaries 
 of peace were signed, on the 10th of October, at 
 Amiens. By this treaty England surrendered all 
 the conquests which she had made during the war, 
 except Ceylon and Trinidad. France, on the other 
 hand, restored what she had taken from Portugal, 
 and guaranteed the independence of the Ionian Is- 
 lands. Malta was to be restored to the Knights of 
 St. John, and declared a free port : neither England 
 nor France was to have any representatives in the 
 order ; and the garrison was to consist of the troops 
 of a neutral power. This article was that which 
 cost the greatest difficulty — and Malta was destined 
 to form the pretext, at least, for the re-opening of 
 the war at no distant date. 
 
 Meantime, except by a small party, who thought 
 that England should never make peace unless the 
 Bourbon family were restored to the throne of 
 France, this news was received with universal satis- 
 faction throughout Great Britain. " It was," as 
 Mr. Sheridan summed up the matter, " a peace 
 which all men were glad of, and of which no man 
 could be proud." The definitive treaty was signed 
 on the 25th of March, 1802: and nothing could 
 surpass the demonstrations of joy on this occasion, 
 both in London and in Paris — or the enthusiastic 
 display of good- will with which the populace of 
 either capital welcomed the plenipotentiaries.
 
 ( 2U ) [1802. 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 Peace of Amiens — The Concordat — The Legion of Honour 
 — Buo7iaparte President of the Cisalpine Republic — 
 First Consul for Life — Grand Mediator of the Hel- 
 vetic Confederacy — St. Domingo — Toussaint L'Ouver- 
 ture — Dissatisfaction of England — Trial of Peltier — 
 Lord Whitworth — Pupture of the Peace of Amiens — 
 Detention of English Travellers in France. 
 
 The peace of Amiens, like that of Campo-Formio, 
 turned out a mere armistice. It was signed in the 
 midst of mutual suspicion ; and the audacious am- 
 bition of the French government, from the very day 
 of its ratification, accumulated the elements of an 
 inevitable rupture. The continent, however, had 
 been virtually shut against the English for ten years ; 
 and now, in the first eagerness of curiosity, travel- 
 lers of all ranks, ages, and sexes poured across the 
 Channel, to contemplate, with their own eyes, the 
 scenes and effects of the many wonderful deeds and 
 changes wliicli had been wrought since the outbreak- 
 ing of the French Revolution. The chief object of 
 curiosity was Napoleon himself; and English states- 
 men, of tlie highest class, were among those who 
 now thronged tlie levees of the Tuilleries. Mr. 
 Fox, in particular, seems to have been courted and 
 caressed by the Cliief Consul ; and these two great 
 men parted with feehngs of mutual admiration. 
 Our countrymen, in general, were received in Paris 
 
 i
 
 1802.] COURT OF THE CONSUL. 245 
 
 with extraordinary attentions and civilities ; and for 
 a brief space, the estabhshment of friendly feelings 
 between the two nations was confidently expected. 
 The English were agreeably disappointed with 
 the condition of Paris. To their great surprise they 
 found the consular court already arranged, in many 
 particulars, upon the old model of the monarchy, 
 and daily approximating to that example, step by 
 step. Josephine had restored, titles alone excepted, 
 the old language of polite intercourse : Citoyenne had 
 been replaced by Madame ; and Citoyen was prepar- 
 ing to make way for Monsieur. The emigrant no- 
 bility had flocked back in great numbers ; and Buo- 
 naparte, dispensing with the aukward services of 
 his aides-de-camp in the interior of the palace, was 
 now attended by chamberlains and other officers of 
 state — chosen for the most part, from the highest 
 families of the monarchy; and who studiously con- 
 ducted themselves towards the Chief Consul exactly 
 as if the crown of Louis XVI. had descended to 
 him by the ordinary laws of inheritance. Napoleon 
 himself, if we may believe Madame de Stael, had 
 the weakness to affect, in many trivial matters, a 
 close imitation of what his new attendants reported 
 to have been the personal demeanour of the Bour- 
 bon princes. His behaviour as the holder of a 
 court, was never graceful. He could not, or would 
 not, controul the natural vehemence of his temper, 
 and ever and anon confounded the old race of cour- 
 tiers, by ebullitions which were better suited to the 
 camp than the saloons of the Tuilleries. But when- 
 ever he thought fit to converse with a man capable 
 of understanding him, the Consul failed not to create 
 a very lively feeling in his own favour ; and mean-
 
 246 NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE. [1802. 
 
 time, Josephine was admirably adapted to supply 
 his deficiencies in the management of circles and 
 festivals. 
 
 The labour which Napoleon underwent at this 
 period, when he was consolidating the administra- 
 tion throughout France, (in every department of 
 which intolerable confusion had arisen during the 
 wars and tumults of the preceding years,) excited 
 the astonishment of all who had access to his pri- 
 vacy. He exhausted theenergiesof secretary after 
 secretary ; seemed hardly to feel the want of sleep ; 
 and yet sustained the unparalleled fatigue without 
 having recourse to any stimulus stronger than le- 
 monade. Of the many great measures adopted and 
 perfected during this short-lived peace we may no- 
 tice in particular the following: — 
 
 A decree of the senate, dated 26th April, 1802, 
 allowed all emigrants to return to France, provided 
 they chose to do so within a certain space of time, 
 and to pledge allegiance to the consular govern- 
 ment ; and offered to restore to such persons what- 
 ever property of theirs, having been confiscated 
 during the Revolution, still remained at the disposal 
 of the state. From this amnesty about 500 persons, 
 however, were excepted ; these were arranged under 
 five heads, viz.: tliose who liad headed bodies of 
 royalist insurgents ; wlio had served in the armies 
 of the alhes; who had ])elonged to tlie household 
 of the Bourl)ons during tlicir exile ; who had been 
 agents in stirring uj) foreign or domestic war ; and 
 lastly, generals, admirals, representntives of the peo- 
 ple, who had been banished for treason to the Re- 
 public ; together with bishops who were o])stinate 
 in refusing to accept of the conditions on which the
 
 1802.] THE EMIGRANTS. 247 
 
 exercise of ecclesiastical functions had been sanc- 
 tioned by the consuls. The event, in a great mea- 
 sure, justified the prudence of this merciful edict. 
 The far greater part of the emigrants returned, and 
 became peaceful subjects of Napoleon — even al- 
 though the restoration of forfeited property never 
 took place to anything like the promised extent. 
 He, having yielded back a few princely estates to 
 their rightful lords, was, it is said, made aware, 
 by sufficiently significant behaviour on their parts, 
 that they had now obtained all they wished, and 
 would not in future trouble themselves to merit his 
 favour. Some instances of haughty ingratitude 
 may, very probably, have occurred ; but the Con- 
 sul, in breaking his word with the despoiled emi- 
 grants as a body, was preparing for himself dangers 
 greater than those he removed by permitting their 
 return to France. 
 
 A still more important measure was that by which 
 the Romish religion was finally re-established as 
 the national faith. The sparing of the Papal do- 
 minion after Marengo, and the re-opening of the 
 churches in France, were the preliminaries of the 
 peace, which was, at length, signed on the 18th of 
 September, 1802, between the Pope and the revo- 
 lutionary government. This famous concordat was 
 the work of Napoleon himself, who seems to have 
 met with more opposition, whenever he touched the 
 matter of religion, than the men of the Revolution, 
 with whom he consulted, thought fit to exhibit on 
 any other occasions whatever. The question was 
 argued one evening, at great length, on the terrace 
 of the garden at Buonaparte's favourite villa of Mal- 
 maison. The Chief Consul avowed himself to be
 
 248 NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE. [1802. 
 
 no believer in Christianity; "But religion," said 
 he, "is a principle which cannot be eradicated from 
 the heart of man." " Who made all that?" he 
 continued, looking up to the heaven, which was 
 clear and starry. *' But last Sunday evening I 
 was walking here alone when the church bells of 
 the village of Ruel rung at sunset. I was strongly 
 moved, so vividly did the image of early days 
 come back with that sound. If it be thus with 
 me, what must it be with others ? — In re-establish- 
 ing the church, I consult the wishes of the great 
 majority of my people." 
 
 Volney, the celebrated traveller, was present : — 
 " You speak of the majority of the people," said he : 
 " if that is to be the rule, recall the Bourbons to- 
 morrow." Napoleon never conversed with this bold 
 infidel afterwards. 
 
 The concordat gave no satisfaction to the high 
 Catholic party, who considered it as comprehending 
 arrangements wholly unworthy of tlie dignity of 
 the Pope, and destructive of the authority of the 
 church. The great majority of the nation, however, 
 were wise enough to be contented with conditions 
 which the Vatican had found it necessary to admit. 
 The chief articles were these : I. The Roman Ca- 
 tholic religion is recognised as the national faith. 
 II. The Pope, in concert with the French govern- 
 ment, shall make a new division of dioceses, re- 
 quiring, if necessary, the resignation of any existing 
 prelate. III. Vacant sees now and henceforth 
 sliall be filled by tlie P()j)c on nominations by the 
 government. IV. No l)ishops shall hold their sees 
 unless tlicy swear allegiance to the government, 
 and adopt a ritual in which prayers are offered up
 
 1802.] THE CONCORDAT. 249 
 
 for the Consuls. V. The church hvings shall be, 
 like the dioceses, re-arranged; and the cures be 
 appointed by the bishop, but not without the ap- 
 probation of the government. VI. The French 
 government shall make provision for the prelates 
 and clergy, and the Pope renounces for ever all 
 right to challenge the distribution of church pro- 
 perty consequent on the events of the revolu- 
 tionary period. 
 
 The Pope, in acceding to these terms, submitted 
 to " the exigence of the time — which," said his Holi- 
 ness in the deed itself, " lays its violence even upon 
 us." The most bitter point of execution was that 
 which regarded the bishops — the great majority of 
 whom were yet in exile. These prelates were sum- 
 moned to send in, each separately, and within fifteen 
 days, his acceptance of the terms of the concordat, 
 or his resignation of his see. Thus taken by sur- 
 prise, having no means of consultation, and consi- 
 dering the concordat as fotal to the rights of the 
 church, and the Pope's assent as extorted by mere 
 necessity, almost all of them, to their honour be it 
 said, declined complying with either of these de- 
 mands. That these bishops should prefer poverty 
 and exile to submission, was not likely to increase 
 the popularity of the concordat with the more de- 
 vout part of the nation. Meantime, the self-called 
 philosophers looked on with scorn ; and the Repub- 
 licans, of every sect, regarded with anger and indig- 
 nation a course of policy which, as they justly ap- 
 prehended, provided for the re-establishment of the 
 church, solely because that was considered as the 
 likeliest means of re-establishing the monarchy — in
 
 250 NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE. [1802. 
 
 a new dynasty indeed, but witli all, or more than all, 
 the old powers. 
 
 In moments of spleen Napoleon is known to have 
 sometimes expressed his regret that he should 
 ever have had recourse to this concordat : but at 
 St. Helena, when looking back calmly, he said that 
 it was so needful a measure that had there been no 
 Pope, one ought to have been created for the occa- 
 sion. 
 
 The name of the First Consul was now introduced 
 into the church service at least as often as that of 
 the king had used to be. The cathedral of Notre 
 Dame was prepared for the solemn reception of the 
 concordat. Napoleon appeared there with the state 
 and retinue of a monarch ; and in every part of the 
 ceremonial the ancient rides were studiously at- 
 tended to. The prelate who presided was the same 
 Archbishop of Aix who had preached the corona- 
 tion sermon of Louis XVI. 
 
 It was not easy, however, to procure the attend- 
 ance of some of the revolutionary generals of the 
 true republican race. Berthier had invited a large 
 party of them long beforehand to breakfast : he 
 carried them from thence to the levee of the Chief 
 Consid, and they found it impossible not to join in 
 the procession. Buonaparte asked one of these per- 
 sons, after the ceremony was over, what he thought 
 of it? " It was a true Capucinade,'' was the answer. 
 To another of these, whom he thought less sincere, 
 he said witli a smile, " things, you see, are return- 
 ing to tlie old order :" " Yes," the veteran replied, 
 " all returns — all ])ut the two millions of French- 
 men who have died for the sake of destroying the
 
 1802.] CONSULAR ADMINISTRATIOX. 251 
 
 very system which you are now rebuilding." These 
 officers are said to have paid dearly for their un- 
 courtly language. Moreau was not to be tampered 
 with l3y Berthier. The Chief Consul personally 
 invited him to be present at the Te Deum in Notre 
 Dame, to attend afterwards at the consecration ot 
 some colours, and, lastly, to dine at the Tuilleries. 
 Moreau answered, " I accept the last part of your 
 invitation." 
 
 A third great measure, adopted about the same 
 period, was received with unqualified applause. 
 This was the establishment of a national system of 
 education, the necessity of which had been much 
 felt, since the old universities and schools under 
 the management of the clergy had been broken up 
 amidst the first violence of the Revolution. The 
 Polytechnic School, established under the direction 
 of Monge, dates from this epoch ; and furnished 
 France, in the sequel, with a long train of eminent 
 men for every department of the public service. 
 
 It was now also that the Chief Consul commenced 
 the great task of providing France with an uniform 
 code of laws. He himself took constantly an earnest 
 share in the deliberations of the jurists, who were 
 employed in this gigantic undertaking ; and asto- 
 nished them by the admirable observations which 
 his native sagacity suggested, in relation to matters 
 commonly considered as wholly out of the reach of 
 unprofessional persons. But of the new code we 
 shall have occasion to speak hereafter. 
 
 Buonaparte at this period devised, and began to 
 put into execution, innumerable public works, of 
 the highest utility. The inland navigation of Lan- 
 guedoc was to be made complete : a great canal
 
 252 NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE. [1802. 
 
 between the Yonne and the Saonne was begun, for 
 the purpose of creating a perfect water communi- 
 cation quite across the repubhcan dominion — from 
 Marseilles to Amsterdam. Numberless bridges, 
 roads, museums, were planned ; and the vain were 
 flattered with rising monuments of magnificence, 
 while the wise recognised in every such display the 
 depth and forecast of a genius made for empire. 
 
 Thus far the measures of the Consulate may be 
 said to have carried with them the approbation of 
 all but a few individuals. They were accompanied 
 or followed by proceedings, some of which roused, 
 or strengthened and confirmed, sentiments of a 
 very different description among various important 
 classes of the French community ; while others were 
 well calculated to revive the suspicion of all the 
 neighbouring nations. 
 
 It is said that the first idea of the Legion of 
 Honour arose in the breast of Napoleon on wit- 
 nessing one day, from a window at the Tuilleries, 
 the admiration with which the crowd before the 
 palace regarded the stars and crosses worn by the 
 Marquis Lucchesini, ambassador of Prussia, as he 
 descended from his carriage. The republican mem- 
 bers of the senate could not be persuaded that the 
 institution of an order, with insignia, was anything 
 but the first step to the creation of a new body of 
 nobility ; and they resisted the proposed measure 
 with considerable pertinacity. On this head, as 
 on that of the concordat with the Pope, the Con- 
 sul condescended to enter })ersonally into discus- 
 sion witli the chief persons who diftercd from his 
 opinion, or suspected his intentions : and if any, 
 who heard his language on this occasion, doubted
 
 1802.] LEGION OF HONOUR. 253 
 
 that both nobihty and monarchy were designed to 
 follow hard behind the Legion of Honour, they 
 must have been singularly slow of understanding. 
 Berthier had called ribbons and crosses " the play- 
 things of monarchy," and cited the Romans of old 
 as " having no system of honorary rewards. " 
 " They are always talking to us of the Romans," 
 said Buonaparte. " The Romans had patricians, 
 knights, citizens, and slaves : — for each class dif- 
 ferent dresses and different manners — honorary 
 recompenses for every species of merit — mural 
 crowns — civic crowns — ovations — triumphs — titles. 
 When the noble band of patricians lost its influence, 
 Rome fell to pieces — the people were vile rabble. 
 It was then that you saw the fury of Marius, the 
 proscriptions of Sylla, and afterwards of the empe- 
 rors. In like manner Brutus is talked of as the 
 enemy of tyrants : he was an aristocrat, who stabbed 
 Caesar, because Caesar wished to lower the autho- 
 rity of the noble senate. You talk of child's rattles 
 — be it so : it is with such rattles that men are led. 
 I would not say that to the multitude ; but in a 
 council of statesmen one may speak the truth. I 
 do not believe that the French people love liberty 
 and equality. Their character has not been changed 
 in ten years : they are still what their ancestors, 
 the Gauls, were — vain and light. They are sus- 
 ceptible but of one sentiment — honour. It is right 
 to afford nourishment to this sentiment : and to 
 allow of distinctions. Observe how the people 
 bow before the decorations of foreigners. Voltaire 
 calls the common soldiers Alexanders at jive soils a 
 day. He was right : it is just so. Do you ima- 
 gine that you can make men fight by reasoning ? 
 Never. You must bribe them with glory, distinc-.
 
 254 NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE [1802. 
 
 tions, rewards. To come to the point : during ten 
 years there has been a talk of institutions. Where 
 are they? All has been overturned: our business 
 is to build up. There is a government with cer- 
 tain powers : as to all the rest of the nation what 
 is it but grains of sand? Before the Republic can 
 be definitely established, we must, as a foundation, 
 cast some blocks of granite on the soil of France. 
 In fine, it is agreed that we have need of some kind 
 of institutions. If this Legion of Honour is not 
 approved, let some other be suggested. I do not 
 pretend that it alone will save the state ; but it will 
 do its part." Such were the words of Napoleon 
 when the scheme was in preparation. Many years 
 afterwards, in his exile at St. Helena, he thus 
 spoke of his Order. " It was the reversion of 
 every one who was an honour to his country, stood 
 at the head of his profession, and contributed to 
 the national prosperity and glory. Some were dis- 
 satisfied because the decoration was alike for offi- 
 cers and soldiers ; others because it was given to 
 civil and military merit indiscriminately. But if 
 ever it cease to be the recompense of the brave 
 private, or be confined to soldiers alone, it will 
 cease to be the Legion of Honour." 
 
 On the 15th of May, 1802, the Legion of Honour 
 was formally instituted; large national domains 
 were set apart for its maintenance ; and crosses 
 (each of which entitled the bearer to certain pre- 
 cedence and a pension) widely distributed among 
 the soldiery, and among citizens of almost all pro- 
 fessions. 
 
 The person.'il authority of the future emperor, 
 meantime, was daily widening and strengtliening. 
 After the C'onsulate was established in France,
 
 1802.] CONSUL FOR LIFE. 255 
 
 some corresponding change in the government of 
 the Cisalpine Repubhc was judged necessary, and 
 Napoleon took care that it should be so conducted 
 as to give himself not only permanent, but wholly 
 independent, power beyond the Alps. A conven- 
 tion of 450 Italian deputies was summoned to meet 
 at Lyons ; and there Talleyrand was ready to dic- 
 tate the terms of a new constitution, by which the 
 executive functions were to be lodged in a presi- 
 dent and vice-president, the legislative in a council 
 chosen from three electoral colleges. It was next 
 proposed that Buonaparte should be invited to take 
 on him the office of president — Buonaparte, it was 
 studiously explained, not as Chief Consul of France, 
 but in his own individual capacity. He repaired 
 to Lyons in person, and having harangued the con- 
 vention in the Italian tongue, assumed the dignity 
 thus conferred on him on the 2d of January, 1802. 
 The next step was to prolong the period of his 
 French Consulate. Chabot de L'Allier, his crea- 
 ture, moved in the Tribunate that the Conservative 
 Senate should be requested to mark the national 
 feelings of gratitude by conferring some new ho- 
 nour on Napoleon. The Senate proposed accord- 
 ingly that he should be declared Consul for a 
 second period of ten years, to commence on the 
 expiration of his present magistracy. He thanked 
 them ; but said he could not accept of any such 
 prolongation of his power except from the suffrages 
 of the people. To the people the matter was to 
 be referred ; but the Second and Third Consuls, in 
 preparing the edict of the Senate for public in- 
 spection and ratification, were instructed by their 
 master-colleague to introduce an important change 
 in its terms. The question which they sent down
 
 256 NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE. [1802. 
 
 was, "Shall Buonaparte be Chief Consul for life?" 
 No mention was made of teii years. Books were 
 opened as on a former occasion : the officers of 
 government in the departments well knew in what 
 method to conduct the business, and the voice of 
 the nation was declared to be in favour of the 
 decree. Some few hundreds of sturdy republicans 
 alone recorded their opposition ; and Carnot, who 
 headed them, said he well knew he was signing 
 his own sentence of exile. But Napoleon was 
 strong enough to dispense with any such severities ; 
 Carnot remained in safety, but out of office, until, 
 many years afterwards, his services w^ere tendered 
 and accepted on the entrance of foreign invaders 
 into France. Buonaparte was proclaimed Consul 
 for life on the 2d of August. 
 
 Shortly afterwards, in the committee occupied 
 with the Code, Napoleon entered upon a long dis- 
 quisition in favour of the Roman law of adoption ; 
 urging with intrepid logic, that an heir so chosen 
 might to be even dearer than a son. The object 
 of this harangue was not difficult of detection. 
 Napoleon had no longer any hope of having chil- 
 dren by Josephine ; and meditated the adoption of 
 one of his brotliers' sons as his heir. In the course 
 of the autumn a simple edict of the Conservative 
 Senate authorized him to appoint his successor in 
 tlie consulate by a testamentary deed. By this 
 act (Aug. 4th, 1 802) a new dynasty was called to 
 tlie throne of France. The farce of opening 
 books in the departments was dispensed with. 
 Henceforth tlie words " Liberty^ Equality, Sove- 
 rc'\srnty of the Pcop/c,'' disnp])eared from the state 
 papers and ollicial documents of the government-^
 
 1802.] SWITZERLAND. 257 
 
 nor did the change attract much notice. The 
 nation had a master, and sate by, indifferent spec- 
 tators ; while he, under whose sway hfe and pro- 
 perty were considered safe, disposed of pohtical 
 rights and privileges according to his pleasure.* 
 
 This year was distinguished by events of another 
 order, and not likely to be contemplated with in- 
 difference by the powers of Europe. After the 
 peace of Amiens was ratified, certain treaties which 
 the Chief Consul had concluded with Turkey, 
 Spain, and Portugal, and hitherto kept profoundly 
 secret, were made known. The Porte, it now ap- 
 peared, had yielded to France all the privileges of 
 commerce which that government had ever con- 
 ceded to the most favoured nations. Spain had 
 agreed that Parma, after the death of the reigning 
 prince, should be added to the dominions of France : 
 and Portugal had actually ceded her province in 
 Guyana. In every quarter of the world the grasp- 
 
 * See AVordsworth's verses, " written at Calais the 15th 
 Aug. 1802," in which the indifference of the people is con- 
 trasted with their enthusiasm in the early days of the Revolu- 
 tion. 
 
 " Festivals have I seen that were not names : — 
 This is young Buonaparte's natal day ; 
 And his is henceforth an established sway, 
 Consul for life. With worship France proclaims 
 Her approbation, and with pomps and games. 
 Heaven grant that other cities may be gay ! 
 Calais is not ; and I have bent my way 
 To the sea coast, noting that each man frames 
 His business as he likes. Another time 
 That was, when I was here long years ago. 
 The senselessness of joy was then sublime ! " &c. 
 VOL. I. s
 
 258 NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE. [1802. 
 
 ing ambition of Buonaparte seemed to have found 
 some prey. 
 
 Nearer him, in the meantime, he had been pre- 
 paring to strike a blow at the independence of 
 Switzerland, and virtually unite that country also 
 to his empire. The contracting parties in the 
 treaty of Luneville had guaranteed the independ- 
 ence of the Helvetic Republic, and the unquestion- 
 able right of the Swiss to settle their government 
 in what form they pleased. There were two par- 
 ties there as elsewhere — one who desired the full 
 re-establishment of the old federative constitu- 
 tion — another who preferred the model of the 
 French Republic " one and indivisible." To the 
 former party the small mountain cantons adhered — 
 the wealthier and aristocratic cantons to the latter. 
 Their disputes at last swelled into civil war — and 
 the party who preferred the old constitution, being 
 headed by the gallant Aloys Reding, were generally 
 successful. Napoleon, who had fomented their 
 quarrel, now, unasked and unexpected, assumed to 
 himself the character of arbiter between the con- 
 tending parties. He addressed a letter to the 
 eighteen cantons, in which these words occur : — 
 " Your history sliows that your intestine wars 
 cannot be terminated, except through the inter- 
 vention of France. I had, it is true, resolved not 
 to intermeddle in your affairs — but I cannot remain 
 insensible to the distress of which I see you the 
 prey : — I recall my resolution of neutrality — I con- 
 sent to be the mediator in your differences." Rapp, 
 adjutant-general, was the bearer of this insolent 
 manifesto. To cut short all discussion, Ney en-
 
 1802.] ST. DOMINGO. 2,59 
 
 tered Switzerland at the head of 40,000 troops. 
 Resistance was hopeless. Aloys Reding dismissed 
 his brave followers, was arrested, and imprisoned 
 in the castle of Aarbm-g. The government was 
 arranged according to the good pleasure of Napo- 
 leon, who henceforth added to his other titles that 
 of " Grand Mediator of the Helvetic Republic." 
 Switzerland was, in eftect, degraded into a province 
 of France ; and became bound to maintain an army 
 of 1G,000 men, who were to be at the disposal, 
 whenever it should please him to require their aid, 
 of the Grand Mediator. England sent an envoy 
 to remonstrate against this signal and unprovoked 
 rapacity : but the other powers suffered it to pass 
 without any formal opposition. The sufferings, 
 however, of Aloys Reding and his brave asso- 
 ciates, and this audacious crushing-down of the 
 old spirit of Swiss freedom and independence, 
 were heard of throughout all Europe with deep 
 indignation. 
 
 Feelings of the same kind were nourished every- 
 where by the results of an expedition which Buo- 
 naparte sent, before the close of 1801, to St. Do- 
 mingo, for the purpose of reconquering that island 
 to France. The black and coloured population 
 had risen, at the revolutionary period, upon their 
 white masters, and, after scenes of terrible slaughter 
 and devastation, emancipated themselves. The 
 chief authority was, by degrees, vested in Tous- 
 saint L'Ouverture, a negro, who, during the war, 
 displayed the ferocity of a barbarian, but after its 
 conclusion, won the applause and admiration of all 
 men by the wisdom and humanity of his adminis- 
 
 s 2
 
 260 NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE. [1802. 
 
 tration. Conscious that, whenever peace should be 
 restored in Europe, France would make efforts to 
 recover her richest colony, Toussaint adopted 
 measures likely to conciliate the exiled planters 
 and the government of the mother country. A 
 constitution on the consular model was established, 
 Toussaint being its Buonaparte : the supremacy of 
 France was to be acknowledged to a certain extent ; 
 and the white proprietors were to receive half the 
 produce of the lands of which the insurgents had 
 taken possession. But Napoleon heard of all these 
 arrangements with displeasure and contempt. He 
 fitted out a numerous fleet, carrying an army full 
 20,000 strong, under the orders of General Leclerc, 
 the husband of his own favourite sister Pauline. 
 It has often been said, and without contradiction, 
 that the soldiers sent on this errand were chiefly 
 from the army of the Rhine, whose good-will to 
 the Consul was to be doubted. Leclerc summoned 
 Toussaint (Jan. 2, 1802,) to surrender, in a letter 
 which conveyed expressions of much personal re- 
 spect from Buonaparte. The negro cliief, justly 
 apprehending insincerity, stood out and defended 
 himself gallantly for a brief space ; but stronghold 
 after stronghold yielded to numbers and discipline ; 
 and at length he too submitted, on condition tliat 
 he should be permitted to retire in safety to his 
 plantation. Some obscure rumours of insurrection 
 were soon made the pretext for arresting him ; and 
 he, being put on-board-ship, and sent to France, 
 was slmt up in a dungeon, where either the mid- 
 night cord or dagger, or the wasting influence of 
 confinement and hopeless misery, ere long put an
 
 1802.] TOUSSAiNT l'ouverture. 261 
 
 end to his life. His mysterious fate, both before 
 and after its consummation, excited great interest.* 
 The atrocious cruelty of the French soldiery, in 
 tlieir subjugation of St. Domingo, equalled (it 
 could not have surpassed) that of the barbarous 
 negroes whom they opposed ; but was heard of 
 w'ith disgust and horror, such as no excesses of 
 itiere savages could have excited. As if Heaven 
 had been moved by these bloody deeds of ven- 
 geance, disease broke out in the camp ; thousands, 
 and among them Leclerc himself, died. For the 
 time, however, the French armament triumphed — 
 and, in the exultation of victory, the government 
 at home had the extreme and seemingly purpose- 
 less ungenerosity, to publish an edict banishing all 
 of the negro race from their European dominions.'}' 
 
 * Witness, among other evidences, the noble sonnet of 
 Wordsworth — 
 
 " ToussAiNT, the most unhappy Man of Men ! 
 Whether the all-cheering sun be free to shed 
 His beams around thee, or thou rest thy head 
 Pillowed in some dark dungeon's noisome den — 
 O, miserable chieftain ! where and when 
 Wilt thou find patience ? — Yet die not ; do thou 
 Wear rather in thy bonds a cheerful brow : 
 Though fallen Thyself, never to rise again, 
 Live and take comfort. Thou hast left behind 
 Powers that will work for thee — Air, Earth, and Skies ; 
 There's not a breathing of the common Wind 
 That will forget thee ; thou hast great Allies ; 
 Thy friends are Exultations, Agonies, 
 And Love, and Man's unconquerable Mind." 
 
 t See Wordsworth's sonnet, •'22d Sept. 1802," 
 " We had a fellow-passenger who came 
 From Calais with us, gaudy in array, — 
 A Negro Woman like a Lady gay,
 
 262 NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE. [1802. 
 
 But the yellow fever was already rapidly con- 
 suming the French army in St. Domingo ; and its 
 feeble remnant, under Rochambeau, having been 
 at length expelled, in November, 1803, the inde- 
 pendence of Hayti was formally proclaimed on the 
 1st of January, 1S04. 
 
 The course of Napoleon's conduct, in and out 
 of Europe, was calculated to fill all independent 
 neighbours with new or aggravated suspicion ; and 
 in England, where public opinion possesses the 
 largest means of making itself heard, and conse- 
 quently the greatest power, the prevalence of such 
 feelings became, from day to day, more marked. 
 The British envoy's reclamation against the oppres- 
 sion of Switzerland, was but one of many drops, 
 which were soon to cause the cup of bitterness to 
 overflow. As in most quarrels, there was some- 
 thing both of right and of wrong on either side. 
 When the English government remonstrated against 
 any of those daring invasions of the rights of in- 
 dependent nations, or crafty, enlargements, through 
 diplomatic means, of the power of France, by which 
 this period of peace was distinguished, the Chief 
 Consul could always reply that the cabinet of St. 
 
 Yet silent as a woman fearing blame j 
 
 Dejected, meek, yet pitiably tame. 
 
 She sate, from notice turning not away, 
 
 But on our proffered kindness still did lay 
 
 A weight of languid speech, or at the same 
 
 Was silent, motioidess in eyes and f\ice. 
 
 She was a Negro Woman, driven fronj France — 
 
 Rejected, like all others of that race, 
 
 Not one of whom may now find footing there; 
 
 Thus the poor outcast did to us declare, 
 
 Nor murmured at the unfeeling Ordinance."
 
 1802.] TRIAL OF PELTIER. 263 
 
 James's, on their part, had not yet fulfilled one 
 article of the treaty of iVmiens, by placing Malta 
 in the keeping of some power which had been 
 neutral in the preceding war. The rejoinder was 
 obvious : to wit, that Napoleon was every day 
 taking measures wholly inconsistent with that 
 balance of power which the treaty of Amiens con- 
 templated. It is not to be denied that he, in his 
 audaciously ambitious movements, had contrived 
 to keep within the strict terms of the treaty : and it 
 can as little be disputed that the English cabinet had 
 equitij with them, although they violated the letter 
 of the law, in their retention of the inheritance of 
 the worthless and self-betrayed Knights of St. John. 
 The feelings of the rival nations, however, were 
 soon kindled into rage : and, on either side of the 
 Channel, the language of the public prints assumed 
 a complexion of even more bitter violence than 
 had been observable during the war. The English 
 journalists resorted to foul, and often false and 
 even absurd, personal criminations of the Chief 
 Consul : and the Parisian newspapers replied in 
 language equally indefensible on the score of truth 
 and decency, but with this most essential difference, 
 that, whereas the press of England was free, that 
 of France, being entirely under the control of 
 Fouche and the police, could not, as all men knew, 
 put forth any such calumnies otherwise than with 
 the consent of the consular government. When 
 Napoleon complained to the English ministers their 
 answer was obvious : "Our courts of law are open 
 — we are ourselves accustomed to be abused as 
 you are, and in them we, like you, have our only 
 resourse." The paragraphs in the Moniteur, on
 
 264 NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE. [1802. 
 
 the Other hand, were, it was impossible to deny, 
 virtually so many manifestos of the Tuilleries. 
 
 Of all the popular engines which moved the 
 spleen of Napoleon, the most offensive was a news- 
 paper (" L'Ambigu") published in the French lan- 
 guage, in London, by one Peltier, a royalist emi- 
 grant ; and, in spite of all the advice which could 
 be offered, he at length condescended to prosecute 
 the author in the English courts of law. M. Peltier 
 had the good fortune to retain, as his counsel, Mr. 
 Mackintosh,* an advocate of most brilliant talents, 
 and, moreover, especially distinguished for his sup- 
 port of the original principles of the French Revo- 
 lution. On the trial which ensued, tliis orator, in 
 defence of his client, delivered a phihppic against 
 the personal character and ambitious measures of 
 Napoleon, immeasurably more calculated to injure 
 the Chief Consul in public opinion throughout 
 Europe, than all the efforts of a thousand news- 
 papers ; and, though the jury found Peltier guilty 
 of libel, the result was, on the whole, a signal tri- 
 umph to the party of whom he had been the organ. 
 
 This was a most imprudent, as well as undig- 
 nified proceeding ; ])ut ere the defendant, Peltier, 
 could be called up for judgment, the doubtful re- 
 lations of the Chief Consul and the cabinet of . St. 
 James's were to assume a different appearance. 
 The truce of St. Amiens already approached its 
 close. Buonaparte had, perliaps, some right to 
 complain of the unbridled abuse of the British 
 press ; but the l^ritish government had a far more 
 serious cause of reclamation against him. Under 
 ])retence of establishing French consuls for the pro- 
 
 * Now Sir James,
 
 1802.] NEGOTIATIONS WITH LOUIS XVIII. 26.5 
 
 tection of commerce, Ke sent persons, chiefly of 
 the military profession, who carried orders to make 
 exact plans of all the harbours and coasts of the 
 United Kingdom. These gentlemen endeavoured 
 to execute their commission with all possible pri- 
 vacy; but the discovery of their occupation was 
 soon made ; they were sent back to France with- 
 out ceremony ; and this treacherous measure of 
 their government was openly denounced as a vio- 
 lation of every rule of international law, and a plain 
 symptom of warlike preparation. 
 
 Ere hostilities were renewed, Buonaparte em- 
 ployed M. Meyer, president of the regency of 
 Warsaw, to open a negotiation with the head of 
 the House of Bourbon, then resident in Poland. 
 He proposed that Louis should execute a formal 
 deed resigning for himself and his family all pre- 
 tensions to the throne of France, and offered in 
 return to put the Bourbon princes in possession of 
 independent dominions in Italy. The heir of the 
 French kings answered in language worthy of his 
 birth, " I do not confound Monsieur Buonaparte," 
 said he, " with those who have preceded him. I 
 esteem his bravery and military genius, and I owe 
 him good- will for many of the acts of his govern- 
 ment — for benefits done to my people I will always 
 consider as done to me. But he is mistaken if he 
 supposes that my rights can ever be made the sub- 
 ject of bargain and compromise. Could they have 
 been called in question, this very application would 
 have established them. What the designs of God 
 may be for me and my house I know not ; but of 
 the duties imposed on me by the rank in which it 
 was His pleasure I should be born, I am not wholly
 
 266 NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE. [1802. 
 
 ignorant. As a Christian, I will perform those 
 duties while life remains. As a descendant of St. 
 Louis, I will know how to respect myself, were 1 
 in fetters. As the successor of Francis the First, 
 I will, at least, say with him — ' all is lost except 
 honour.' " 
 
 Such is the account of the Bourbon princes. 
 Buonaparte utterly denied having given any au- 
 thority for such a negotiation ; and added, that in 
 doing so he should have played the part of a mad- 
 man, since any application to Louis must have been 
 an admission that his own authority in France was 
 imperfect in title. It is obvious that the Consul 
 would have acted most imprudently in avowing 
 such an attempt — after it had proved unsuccessful ; 
 but the veracity of the exiled king lies under no 
 suspicion ; nor is it easy to believe that Meyer 
 would have dared to open such a negotiation with- 
 out sufficient authority from Napoleon. Hitherto 
 he had betrayed no symptom of personal male- 
 volence towards the House of Bourbon — but hence- 
 forth the autocrat, insulted as he thought in the 
 style of '* Monsieur Buonaparte," appears to have 
 meditated some signal act of revenge. 
 
 He resented the refusal of Louis the more be- 
 cause he doubted not that that prince well under- 
 stood how little the great powers of I'lurope were 
 dis})oscd to regnrd, with favourable eyes, the esta- 
 blislmnent of tlie Buonapartes as a new dynasty in 
 France. He suspected, in a word, that his recent 
 disputes with the cabinet of St. James's, had in- 
 spired new hopes into the breasts of the exiled 
 family. 
 
 It was at this period that Napoleon published,
 
 1802. J SEBASTIANl's REPORT. 267 
 
 in the Moniteur, a long memorial, drawn up by 
 General Sebastiani, who had just returned from a 
 mission to the Levant, abounding in statements, 
 and clothed in language, such as could have had no 
 other object but to inflame the government of Eng- 
 land to extremity. Sebastiani detailed the incidents 
 of his journey at great length, representing himself 
 as having been everywhere received with honour, 
 and even with enthusiasm, as the envoy of Napo- 
 leon. Such, he said, were the dispositions of the 
 Mussulmans, that 6000 French would now suffice 
 to restore Egypt to the republic ; and it was in 
 vain that General Stuart, who represented the Eng- 
 lish king in that country, had endeavoured to excite 
 the Turkish government to assassinate him, Sebas- 
 tiani. Lastly, the report asserted, that the Ionian 
 Islands would, on the first favourable occasion, de- 
 clare themselves French. 
 
 The English government reclaimed against this 
 
 O O _ c5 
 
 publication, as at once a confession of the dangerous 
 ambition of Buonaparte, and a studied insult to 
 them, whose representative's character and honour 
 one of its chief statements must have been de- 
 signed to destroy, at a wilful sacrifice of truth. 
 The French minister replied, that the Chief Consul 
 had as much right to complain of the recent publi- 
 cation of Sir Robert Wilson's Narrative of the 
 English Expedition to Egypt, which contained 
 statements in the highest degree injurious to his 
 character and honour ;* and had, nevertheless, 
 
 * It was by this book that the two dark stories of Jaffa were 
 first promulgated through Europe : and it is proper to add, that 
 Sir R. Wilson publicly presented a copy to George III. at his 
 levee.
 
 268 NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE. [1803. 
 
 been dedicated by permission to the Duke of York. 
 The obvious answer, namely, that Sir Robert Wil-^ 
 son's book was the work of a private individual, 
 and published solely on his own responsibility, 
 whereas Sebastiani's was a public document set 
 forth by an official organ, was treated as a wanton 
 and insolent evasion. Meanwhile the language of 
 the press on either side became from day to day 
 more virulently offensive ; and various members of 
 the British Parliament, of opposite parties, and of 
 the highest eminence, did not hesitate to rival the 
 newspapers in their broad denunciations of the rest- 
 less and insatiable ambition of the Chief Consul. 
 — " Buonaparte," said Mr. Wyndham, " is the 
 Hannibal who has sworn to devote his life to the 
 destruction of England. War can not be far off, 
 and I believe it would be much safer to anticipate 
 the blow than to expect it. I would advise minis- 
 ters to appeal to the high-minded and proud of heart 
 — whether they succeed or not, we shall not then 
 go down like the Augustuli.'''' " The destruction 
 of this country," said Mr. Sheridan, " is the first 
 vision that breaks on the French Consul through 
 the gleam of the morning : this is his last prayer 
 at night, to whatever deity he may address it, whe- 
 ther to Jupiter or to Mahomet, to the Goddess of 
 Battles or the Goddess of Reason. Look at the 
 map of r>urope, from wliich France was said to be 
 expunged, and now see nothing but France. If the 
 am])ition of Buonaparte be immeasurable, there are 
 abundant reasons why it should be progressive." 
 
 Stung to tlie (juick })y these continual invectives, 
 Napoleon so far descended from his dignity as to 
 make them the subject of personal complaint and
 
 Feb. 1803.] LORD WHiTWORTii. 269 
 
 reproach to the Enghsh Ambassador. He ob- 
 truded himself on the department of Talleyrand, 
 and attempted to shake the resolution of the am- 
 bassador, Lord Whitworth, by a display of rude 
 violence, such as had, indeed, succeeded with the 
 Austrian envoy at Campo-Formio, but which pro- 
 duced no effect whatever in the case of this calm 
 and high-spirited nobleman. The first of their 
 conferences took place in February, when the 
 Consul harangued Lord Whitworth for nearly two 
 hours, hardly permitting him to interpose a word 
 on the other side of the question. " Every gale 
 that blows from England is burdened with enmity," 
 said he ; " your government countenances Georges, 
 Pichegru, and other infamous men, who have sworn 
 to assassinate me. Your journals slander me, and 
 the redress I am offered is but adding mockery to 
 insult. I could make myself master of Egypt to- 
 morrow, if I pleased. Egypt, indeed, must, sootier 
 or later, belong to France ; but I have no wish to 
 go to war for such a trivial object. What could I 
 gain by war ? Invasion would be my only means 
 of annoying you ; and invasion you shall have, if 
 war be forced on me — but I confess the chances 
 would be an hvmdred to one against me in such an 
 attempt. Li ten years I could not hope to have a 
 fleet able to dispute the seas with you : but, on the 
 other hand, the army of France could be recruited 
 in a few weeks to 480,000 men. United, we might 
 govern the world ; — Why can we not understand 
 each other ?" Lord Whitworth could not but ob- 
 serve the meaning of these hints, and answered, as 
 became him, that the King of England had no wish
 
 270 NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE. [Mar. 13, 
 
 but to preserve his own rights, and scorned the 
 thought of becoming a partner with France in a 
 general scheme of spohation and oppression. They 
 parted with cold civility, and negotiations were re- 
 sumed in the usual manner ; but England stood 
 firm in the refusal to give up Malta — at least for 
 ten years to come. The aggressions of Napoleon 
 had wholly changed the arrangement of territory 
 and power contemplated when the treaty of Amiens 
 was drawn up ; what security could there be for 
 the retention of Malta by Naples, or any such 
 minor power, if Buonaparte wished to have it? 
 To surrender it would in fact be to yield an im- 
 pregnable harbour and citadel in the heart of the 
 Levant, to ^^a government which had gone on 
 trampling down the independence of state after 
 state in the west. IMeantime the English govern- 
 ment openly announced, in Parliament, that the 
 position of affairs seemed to be full of alarm — that 
 the French were manning fleets and recruiting their 
 armies, and that it was necessary to have recourse 
 to similar measures ; and, accordingly, a consi- 
 derable addition to the military establishment was 
 agreed to. 
 
 Thus stood matters on the 1.3th of March, when 
 Lord Whitworth made his appearance at the levee 
 of the Chief Consul, in company with all the rest 
 of the diplomatic })ody. Napoleon no sooner en- 
 tered, than, fixing his eye on the English Ambas- 
 sador, he exclaimed aloud and fiercely, in presence 
 of the circle, " You are then determined on war!" 
 Lord Wliitwortli denied tlie charge, but the Consul 
 drowned his voice, and pursued thus : — *' We have
 
 1803.] LORD WHITWORTH. 271 
 
 been at war for fifteen years — you are resolved to 
 have fifteen years more of it — you force me to it." 
 He then turned to the other ministers, and said, in 
 the same violent tone, " the English wish for war ; 
 but if they draw the sword first, I will be the last 
 to sheath it again. They do not respect treaties — 
 henceforth we must cover them with black crape." 
 Then, turning again to Whitworth, " to what pur- 
 pose," he cried, " are these armaments ? If you 
 arm, I will arm too ; if you fight, I can fight also. 
 You may destroy France, but you cannot intimidate 
 her." " We desire neither to injure nor to alarm 
 her, but to live on terms of good intelligence," said 
 Lord Whitworth. " Respect treaties, then," said 
 Napoleon ; " woe to those by whom they are not 
 respected! — they shall be responsible to Europe for 
 the result." He repeated these last words sternly, 
 and immediately quitted the apartment, leaving the 
 assembled ministers utterly confounded by this in- 
 decent display of violence. 
 
 Some persons, who knew Buonaparte well, have 
 always asserted that this undignified scene was got 
 up with calm premeditation, and that the ferocity 
 of passion on the occasion was a mere piece of 
 acting. Lord Whitworth, however, was an excel- 
 lent judge of men and manners, and he never 
 doubted that the havighty soldier yielded to the 
 uncontrollable vehemence of wrath. The cautious 
 Talleyrand made various efforts to explain away 
 the intemperate words of his master ; but they, and 
 the tone in which they had been uttered, went far 
 to increase the jealousy and animosity of the Eng- 
 lish government and nation, and to revive or confirm
 
 272 NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE. [1803. 
 
 the suspicion with which the other powers of Europe 
 had had but too much reason to regard the career 
 of revolutionary France. 
 
 On the 18th of May Great Britain declared war. 
 Orders had previously been given for seizing French 
 shipping wherever it could be found, and it is said 
 that 200 vessels, containing property to the amount 
 of three millions sterling, had been laid hold of ac- 
 cordingly, ere the proclamation of hostilities reached 
 Paris. Whether the practice of thus unceremoniously 
 seizing private property, under such circumstances, 
 be right on abstract principle, or wrong, there can 
 be no doubt that the custom had been long esta- 
 blished, acted upon by England on all similar occa- 
 sions, and of course considered, after the lapse of 
 ages, and the acquiescence of innumerable treaties, 
 as part and parcel of the European system of war- 
 fare. This was not denied by Napoleon ; but he 
 saw the opportunity, and determined to profit by it, 
 of exciting the jealousy of other governments, by 
 reclaiming against the exercise, on the part of Eng- 
 land, of a species of assault which England, from her 
 maritime predominance, has more temptations and 
 better means to adopt than any other power. He 
 resolved, therefore, to retaliate by a wholly unpre- 
 cedented outrage. The very night that the resolu- 
 tion of the cabinet of St. James's reached Paris, 
 orders were given for arresting the persons of all 
 English subjects residing or travelling witliin the 
 dominion of France. 
 
 Not less tlian 10,000 persons, chiefly of course of 
 the higher classes of society, thus found themselves 
 condemned to captivity in a hostile land. Had Na-
 
 1803.] WAR PROCLAIMED. 273 
 
 poleon adopted less violent measures, his reclama- 
 tions against the English government might have 
 been favom-ably attended to throughout Europe. 
 But this despotic and unparalleled infliction of exile 
 and misery on a host of innocent private indivi- 
 duals, was productive of far different effects. It 
 moved universal sympathy, indignation, and dis- 
 
 VOL. I.
 
 ( 274 ) 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 Recommencement of the War — French seize Hanover and 
 Naples — the English seize various French colonies 
 — Scheme of invading England resumed — Moreau — 
 Pichegru — Georges Cadoudal — Captain Wright — 
 Murder of the Duke D'Enghien — Napoleon Einperor 
 of France — King of Italy — Genoa united to the Em- 
 pire. 
 
 The war was re-opened vigorously on both sides. 
 The Enghsh fleets rapidly reconquered various co- 
 lonies surrendered back to France by the treaty of 
 Amiens, and assisted in compelling the dwindled 
 army which Leclerc had commanded to evacuate 
 St. Domingo. Buonaparte, on the other hand, de- 
 spised utterly the distinction between the British 
 Empire and Hanover — a possession indeed of the 
 same prince, but totally unconnected witli the Eng- 
 lish Constitution, and, as belonging to tlie Germanic 
 Empire, entitled, if it chose, to remain neutral — 
 and having first marched an army into Holland, 
 ordered Mortier, its chief, to advance without cere- 
 mony and seize the Electorate. At the same time, 
 and with the same pretext, French troops poured 
 into the South of Italy, and occupied Naples. 
 General Mortier's appearance on the Hanoverian
 
 1803.] MORTIER SEIZES HANOVER. 275 
 
 frontier was such as to satisfy the Duke of Cam- 
 bridge, governor for the Elector, that resistance 
 was hopeless. He entered into a negotiation (May, 
 1803), by which the territory was to be surren- 
 dered, provided his army were permitted to retire 
 unbroken behind the Elbe, pledging themselves not 
 to take the field again against France during this 
 war. But the ministers of George III. advised him 
 not to ratify this treaty. Mortier demanded of 
 General Walmsloden, commander-in-chief of the 
 Hanoverian army, to surrender his arms — or abide 
 the consequences of being attacked beyond the 
 Elbe — and that fine body of men was accordingly 
 disarmed and disbanded. The cavalry, being or- 
 dered to dismount and yield their horses to the 
 French, there ensued a scene which moved the 
 sympathy of the invading soldiery themselves. The 
 strong attachment between the German dragoon and 
 his horse is well known ; and this parting was more 
 like that of dear kindred than of man and beast. 
 
 The Emperor, whose duty it was, as head of the 
 German body, to reclaim against this invasion of 
 its territory, was obliged to put up with the Consul's 
 explanation, viz. that he had no wish to make the 
 conquest of Hanover, but merely to hold it until 
 England should see the necessity of fulfilling the 
 Maltese article in the treaty of Amiens. Prussia, 
 alarmed by the near neighbourhood of Mortier, 
 hardly dared to remonstrate. Denmark alone 
 showed any symptom of active resentment. She 
 marched 30,000 men into her German provinces ; 
 but finding that Austria and Prussia were resolved 
 to be quiescent, was fain to offer explanations, and 
 recall her troops. The French General, meantime, 
 
 T 2
 
 276 NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE. [1803. 
 
 scourged Hanover by liis exactions, and even, with- 
 out the shadow of a pretext, levied heavy contribu- 
 tions in Bremen, Hamburg, and the other Hanse- 
 towns in the vicinity of the Electorate. 
 
 These successes enabled Napoleon to feed great 
 bodies of his army at the expense of others, and to 
 cripple the commerce of England, by shutting up 
 her communication with many of the best markets 
 on the continent. But he now recurred to his fa- 
 vourite scheme, that of invading the island itself, 
 and so striking the fatal blow at the heart of his 
 last and greatest enemy. Troops to the amount of 
 1 60,000, were mustered in camps along the French 
 and Dutch coasts, and vast flotillas, meant to con- 
 vey them across the Channel, were formed, and 
 constantly manoeuvred in various ports, that of 
 Boulogne being the chief station. 
 
 The spirit of England, on the other hand, was 
 eftectually stirred. Her fleets, to the amount of 
 not less than 500 ships of war, traversed the seas 
 in all directions, blockaded the harbours of the 
 countries in which the power of the Consul was 
 predominant, and from time to time made inroads 
 into the French ports, cutting out and destroying 
 the shipping, and crippling the flotillas. At home 
 the army, both regular and irregular, was recruited 
 and strengthened to an unexampled extent. Camps 
 were formed along tlie English coasts opposite to 
 France, and the King in person was continually to 
 be seen in the midcUe of them. By night beacons 
 blazed on every hill-top tluoiighout the island ; and 
 the high resolution of the citizen-soldiery was at- 
 tested, on numberless occasions of false alarm, 
 by the alacrity with which they marched on the
 
 1803.] INVASION OF ENGLAND. 277 
 
 points of supposed danger.* There never was a 
 I time in which the national enthusiasm was more 
 ' ardent and concentrated ; and the return of Pitt to 
 the prime-ministry (March, 1804) was considered 
 as the last and best pledge that the councils of the 
 sovereio;n were to exhibit vigour commensurate 
 with the nature of the crisis. The regular army in 
 Britain amounted, ere long, to 100,000 ; the militia 
 to 80,000; and of volunteer troops there were not 
 kss than 350,000 in arms. 
 
 Soult, Ney, Davoust, and Victor were in com- 
 mand of the army designed to invade England, and 
 the Chief Consul personally repaired to Boulogne, 
 and inspected both the troops and the flotilla. He 
 constantly gave out that it was his fixed purpose to 
 make his attempt by means of the flotilla alone ; 
 but while he thus endeavoured to inspire his enemy 
 
 * To this period belong SirW. Scott's song to the Edinburgh 
 Volunteers : — 
 
 " If ever breath of British gale 
 
 Shall fan the tricolor, 
 Or footstep of invader rude, 
 With rapine foul and red with blood. 
 
 Pollute our happy shore — 
 Then farewell home ! and farewell friends ! 
 Adieu each tender tie ! 
 / Resolved, we mingle in the tide 
 I "Where charging squadrons furious ride, 
 * To conquer or to die." &c. 
 
 And various sonnets of Mr. Wordsworth ; such as — 
 " It is not to be thought of that the flood 
 
 Of British freedom," &c. 
 " Vanguard of liberty! ye men of Kent, 
 Ye children of a soil that doth advance 
 Its haughty brow against the coast of France, 
 Now is the lime to prove your hardiment !" 6c c.
 
 278 NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE. [1803. 
 
 with false security (for Nelson had declared this 
 scheme of a boat invasion to be mad, and staked 
 his whole reputation on its miserable and imme- 
 diate failure, if attempted), the Consul was in fact 
 providing indefatigably a fleet of men of war, de- 
 signed to protect and cover the voyage. These 
 ships were preparing in different ports of France 
 and Spain, to the number of fifty ; Buonaparte in- 
 tended them to steal out to sea individually or in 
 small squadrons, rendezvous at Martinico, and, re- 
 turning thence in a body, sweep the Channel free 
 of the English for such a space of time at least as 
 might suffice for the execution of his great pur- 
 pose. These designs, however, were from day to 
 day thwarted by the watchful zeal of Nelson and 
 the other English admirals ; who observed Brest, 
 Toulon, Genoa, and the harbours of Spain so 
 closely, that no squadron, nor hardly a single 
 vessel, could force a passage to the Atlantic. 
 
 Napoleon persisted to the end of his life in as- 
 serting his belief that the invasion of England was 
 prevented merely by a few unforeseen accidents, 
 and that, had his generals passed the sea, they must 
 have been successful. The accidents to which he 
 attributed so much influence, were, it is to be sup- 
 posed, the presence and zeal of Nelson, Pellew, 
 Cornwallis, and their respective fleets of observa- 
 tion. As for the results of the expedition, if the 
 Channel liad once been crossed — Na])oleon never 
 seemed to doul)t that a single great battle would 
 have sufficed to place London in liis hands. Once 
 arrived in tlie capital, lie would, he said, have sum- 
 moned a convention, restored the mass of the 
 English people to their proper share of political
 
 1803.] INVASION OF ENGLAND. 279 
 
 power, — in a word, banished the King, and revo- 
 lutionized England on the model of France : the 
 meaning of all which is — reduced this island to be 
 a province of the French empire, and yet bestowed 
 upon its people all those rights and liberties of 
 which he had already removed the last shadow, 
 wherever his own power was established on the 
 continent. 
 
 There can be little doubt that Napoleon egregi- 
 ously under-rated the resistance which would have 
 been opposed to his army, had it effected the voy- 
 age in safety, by the spirit of the British people, 
 and the great natural difficulties of the country 
 through which the invaders must have marched. 
 Nevertheless, it is not to be denied that, had the 
 attempt been made instantly on the rupture of the 
 peace, the chances of success might have been con- 
 siderable — of success, temporary and short-lived 
 indeed, but still sufficient to inflict a terrible injury 
 upon this country — to bathe her soil in blood — to 
 give her capital to the flames — and not impossibly 
 to shake some of her institutions. The enemy 
 himself was, in all likelihood, unprepared to make 
 the attempt, until England had had time to make 
 adequate preparation for its encounter. It was 
 otherwise ordered of God's providence, than that 
 the last bulwark of liberty should have to sustain 
 the shock of battle at its own gates. 
 
 The invasion of England was the great object of 
 attention throughout Europe during the autumn 
 and winter of 1803. Early in the succeeding year 
 Paris itself became the theatre of a series of trans- 
 actions which for a time engrossed the public mind. 
 Even before Buonaparte proclaimed himself
 
 280 NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE. [1804. 
 
 Consul for life, it appears that, throughout a con- 
 siderable part of the French army, strong symp- 
 toms of jealousy had been excited by the rapidity 
 of his advance to sovereign power. After the 
 monarchy of France was in effect re-established 
 in him and his dynasty, by the decrees of the 2d 
 and 4th of August, 1802, this spirit of dissatis- 
 faction showed itself much more openly ; and ere 
 long it was generally believed that the republican 
 party in the army looked up to Moreau as their 
 head, and awaited only some favourable opportu- 
 nity for rising in arms against Napoleon's tyranny. 
 Moreau was known to have treated both the Con- 
 cordat and the Legion of Honour with undisguised 
 contempt ; and Buonaparte's strictures on his con- 
 duct of the campaign of 1801 w^ere not likely to 
 have nourished feelings of personal good-will in 
 the bosoin of him whom all considered as second 
 only to the Chief Consul himself in mihtary genius. 
 It has already been intimated that the army of the 
 Rliine had been all along suspected of regarding 
 Napoleon with little favour. He had never been 
 their general ; neither they nor their chiefs had 
 partaken in the plunder of Italy, or in the glory of 
 tlie battles by which it was won. It was from their 
 ranks that the unhappy expedition under Leclerc 
 had been chiefly furnished, and they considered 
 their employment in that unwholesome climate as 
 dictated, more })y tlie Consul's doubts of their fide- 
 lity to himself, tlian his high aj)i)reciation of their 
 discipline and gallnntry. I low far Pichegru, while 
 corres])onding with the Bourlxms as head of the 
 army of the Rhine, liad intrigued among his own 
 soldiery, no evidence has as yet appeared. But
 
 1804.] CONSPIRACIES OF PICHEGRU & GEORGES. 281 
 
 after Pichegru's banishment, Moreau possessed the 
 chief sway over the minds of one great division of 
 the armed force of the RepubHc. 
 
 Carnot, meantime, and other genuine repubhcans 
 in the legislative bodies, had been occupied with 
 the endeavour, since they could not prevent Napo- 
 leon from sitting on the throne of France, to organize 
 at least something like a constitutional opposition 
 (such as exists in the Parliament of England,) 
 whereby the measures of his government might 
 be, to a certain extent, controlled and modified. 
 The creation of the Legion of Honour, the decree 
 enabling Buonaparte to appoint his successor, and 
 other leading measures, had accordingly been car- 
 ried through far less triumphantly than could be 
 agreeable to the self-love of the autocrat. 
 
 On the other hand, the return of so many emi- 
 grants — (a great part of whom, not receiving back 
 the property promised to them, were disappointed 
 and aggrieved anew) — could not fail to strengthen 
 the influence of the royalists in the private society 
 of Paris ; and by degrees, as has often happened 
 in the history of parties, the leaders of the repub- 
 licans and those of the Bourbonists came together, 
 sinking for the time the peculiar principles of either 
 side, in the common feeling of hatred to Napoleon. 
 
 Pichegru returned from his exile at Cayenne, 
 and after spending some time in England, where 
 he, no doubt, communicated with the Bourbon 
 princes, and with some members of Mr. Adding- 
 ton's government, passed over secretly into France. 
 Georges Cadoudal and other Chouan chiefs were 
 busy in stirring up their old adherents, and com- 
 municated with Pichesru on his arrival in Paris.
 
 282 NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE. [Feb. 
 
 Suddenly, on the 12th of February, Paris was 
 surprised with the announcement, that a new con- 
 spiracy against the Kfe of the Chief Consul had 
 been discovered by the confession of an accom- 
 plice ; that 150 men had meant to assemble at Mal- 
 maison in the uniform of the consular guard, and 
 seize Buonaparte while hunting ; that Georges, the 
 Chouan, had escaped by a quarter of an hour — but 
 that Mairn, La Jollais, and other leaders of the 
 conspiracy had been taken ; finally, that Moreau 
 had held various conferences with Georges, La 
 Jollais and Pichegru, and that he also was under 
 arrest. 
 
 It is said that Georges Cadoudal had once actu- 
 ally penetrated into the chamber of Napoleon at 
 the Tuilleries, and been prevented by the merest 
 accident from assassinating him : others of the con- 
 spirators had approached his person very nearly 
 on pretext of presenting petitions. Buonaparte 
 attributed his escape chiefly to the irregular mode 
 of living which his multifarious occupations in- 
 volved: he seldom dined two days following at 
 the same hour, hardly ever stirred out of the palace 
 except with his attendants about him for some re- 
 view or public ceremony, and perhaps never ap- 
 peared unguarded except where his appearance 
 must have been totally unexpected. The officer 
 who betrayed Cadoudal and his associates, was, it 
 seems, a violent republican, and as such desired 
 the downfall of the Consul ; but he had also served 
 under Napoleon, and learning at a late liour that 
 the life of liis old leader was to be sacrificed, re- 
 monstrated vehemently, and rather than be acces- 
 sary to such extremities, gave the necessary in-
 
 1804.] PICIIEGRU CADOUDAL, &C. 283 
 
 formation at the Tuilleries. Moreau was forth- 
 with arrested ; but Pichegru lurked undiscovered 
 in the heart of Paris until the 28th : six gens 
 d'armes then came upon his privacy so abruptly 
 that he could not use either his dagger or pistols, 
 though both were on his table. He wrestled for 
 a moment, and then attempted to move compas- 
 sion — but was immediately fettered. Shortly after 
 Cadoudal himself, who had for days traversed 
 Paris in cabriolets, not knowing where to lay his 
 head, was detected while attempting to pass one of 
 the barriers. Captain Wright, an English naval 
 officer, who had distinguished himself under Sir 
 Sydney Smith at Acre, and from whose vessel 
 Pichegru was known to have disembarked on the 
 coast of France, happened about the same time to 
 encounter a French ship of much superior strength, 
 and become a prisoner of war. On pretext that 
 this gentleman had acted as an accomplice in a 
 scheme of assassination, he also was immediately 
 placed in solitary confinement in a dungeon of the 
 Temple. 
 
 It was now openly circulated that England and 
 the exiled Bourbons had been detected in a base 
 plot for murdering the Chief Consul; that the 
 proof of their guilt was in the hands of the govern- 
 ment, and would soon be made public. The Duke 
 de Berri himself, it was added, had been prepared 
 to land on the west coast of France, whenever 
 Pichegru or Cadoudal should inform him that the 
 time was come ; while another of the royal exiles 
 lay watching the event, and in readiness to profit 
 by it, on the other side, immediately behind the 
 Rhine.
 
 -84 NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE. [Maich 
 
 The name of this last prince, the heir of Conde, 
 well known for the brilliant gallantry of his con- 
 duct while commanding the van of his grandfather's 
 little army of exiles, and beloved for many traits 
 of amiable and generous character, had hardly 
 been mentioned in connection with these rumours, 
 ere the inhabitants of Paris heard, in one breath, 
 with surprise and horror, that the Duke d'Enghien 
 liad been arrested at Ettenheim, and tried and 
 executed within sight of their own houses at Vin- 
 cennes. This story will ever form the darkest 
 chapter in the history of Napoleon. 
 
 The duke had his residence at a castle in the 
 Duchy of Baden, where, attended by a few noble 
 friends, the partakers of his exile, he was chiefly 
 occupied with the diversions of the chase. On the 
 evening of the 11 th of March, a troop of French 
 soldiers and gens d'armes, under Colonel Ordonner, 
 (who derived his orders from Caulaincourt,) sud- 
 denly passed the frontier into the independent terri- 
 tory of Baden, surrounded the Castle of Ettenheim, 
 rushed into the apartment of the prince, and seized 
 him and all his company. He would have used 
 his arms, but his attendants, representing the over- 
 powering number of the assailants, persuaded him 
 to yield without resistance. He was forthwith 
 conveyed to the citadel of Strasburg, and separated 
 from all his friends excej)t one aide-de-camp, the 
 Baron de St. .laques, and allowed no communica- 
 tion with any one else. After being here confined 
 three days, he was called up at midnight on the 
 18th, and informed that he must prepare for a 
 journey. He desired to have the assistance of his 
 valct-de-chambre, and was refused : they permitted
 
 1804.] THE DUKE d'enghiex. 285 
 
 him to pack up two shirts, and the journey imme- 
 diately begun. 
 
 The duke reached Paris early on the 20th ; and, 
 after lying a few hours in the Temple, was removed 
 to the neighbouring castle of Vincennes, used for 
 ages as a state prison. Being much fatigued he 
 fell asleep, but was presently roused, and his exa- 
 mination forthwith commenced. Weary and wholly 
 unprepared as he must have been, the unfortunate 
 prince conducted himself throughout in such a 
 manner as to command the respect of his inquisi- 
 tors. He at once avowed his name and his ser- 
 vices in the army of Conde, but utterly denied all 
 knowledge of Pichegru and his designs. To this 
 the whole of his evidence (and there was no evi- 
 dence but his own) amounted ; and having given 
 it, he earnestly demanded an audience of the Con- 
 sul. " My name," said he, " my rank, my senti- 
 ments, and the peculiar distress of my situation, 
 lead me to hope that this request will not be re- 
 fused." 
 
 At midnight the duke was again called from his 
 bed, to attend the court which had been consti- 
 tuted for his trial. It consisted of eight military 
 officers, appointed by Murat, Napoleon's brother- 
 in-law, then governor of Paris. General Hullin, 
 president of the military commission, commanded 
 him to listen to the charges on which he was to be 
 tried ; of having fought against France ; of being 
 in the pay of England ; and of plotting with Eng- 
 land against the internal and external safety of the 
 Republic. The duke w^as again examined, and the 
 second interrogatory was a mere repetition of the 
 first, with this addition, that the prisoner avowed
 
 286 NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE. [March 20, 
 
 his readiness to take part again in the hostiUties 
 against France, if the opportunity should present 
 itself. No other evidence whatever was adduced, 
 except the written report of a spy of the police, 
 who testified that the duke received many emi- 
 grants at his table at Ettenheim, and occasionally 
 left the castle for several days together, without 
 the spy's being able to trace where he was: a cir- 
 cumstance sufficiently explained by the duke's cus- 
 tom of hunting in the Black Forest. 
 
 General Hullin, in his account of the proceed- 
 ings,* says, " He uniformly maintained that ' he 
 had only sustained the rights of his family, and 
 that a Condc could never enter France but with 
 arms in his hands. My birth,' said he, ' and my 
 opinions must ever render me inflexible on this 
 point.' " — " The firmness of his answers," continues 
 Hullin, " reduced the judges to despair. Ten times 
 we gave him an opening to retract his declarations, 
 but he persisted in them immoveably. ' I see,' he 
 said, ' the honourable intentions of the commis- 
 sioners, but I cannot resort to the means of safety 
 which they indicate.' Being informed that the mi- 
 litary commission judged without appeal, ' I know 
 it,' answered he, ' nor do I disguise to myself the 
 danger which I incur. My only desire is to have 
 an interview with the First Consul.' " 
 
 The irregularities of all this procedure were 
 monstrous. In the first place, the duke owed no 
 allegiance to tlie existing government of France. 
 2dly. The seizure of his person was wholly illegal ; 
 
 * This account was published more than twenty years after 
 nards, in consequence of a pamphlet by Savary (Duke of 
 Rovigo). 
 
 J
 
 1804.] THE DUKE d'enghien. 287 
 
 it took place by means of a violation of an inde- 
 pendent territory : an outrage for which it is im- 
 possible to offer the smallest excuse. 3dly. Had 
 the arrest been ever so regular, the trial of a pri- 
 soner accused of a political conspiracy was totally 
 beyond the jurisdiction of a court-martial. 4thly, 
 It was against the laws of France to hold any trial 
 at midnight. 5thly. The interrogatory was not 
 read over to the prisoner, which the law impera- 
 tively demanded ; and, 6thly. No defender was 
 assigned to him — an indulgence which the French 
 code refuses not to the meanest or most atrocious 
 criminal, by what tribunal soever he may be tried. 
 
 But to proceed — The judges were moved by the 
 conduct of the prisoner, and inclined to listen to 
 his request of an audience of the Chief Consul. 
 But Savary, then minister of police, had by this 
 time introduced himself into the chamber, and 
 watched the course of procedure from behind the 
 chair of the president. He now leaned forward, and 
 whispered into Hullin's ear, " this would be inop- 
 portune." — These significant words were obeyed. 
 The court pronounced the duke guilty of the ca- 
 pital crimes of having fought against the Republic ; 
 of having intrigued with England ; of having main- 
 tained intelligence with Strasburg, with the view of 
 seizing that place ; and of having conspired against 
 the life of the Chief Consul. The prisoner, being 
 remanded to his confinement, the report was in- 
 stantly forwarded to Buonaparte, with a request 
 that his further pleasure might be made known. 
 
 The court remained sitting until their messenger 
 returned : he brought back their own letter with 
 these words inscribed on it, " condemned to death."
 
 288 NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE. [March21, 
 
 The prisoner being called in again, heard his sen- 
 tence with perfect composure. He requested the 
 attendance of a confessor, and was answered, — 
 " would you die like a monk ?" Without noticing 
 this brutality he knelt for a moment, as in prayer, 
 and rising, said, " Let us go." 
 
 He was immediately led down a wdnding stair 
 by torchlight ; and, conceiving that he was de- 
 scending into some subterraneous dungeon, said to 
 one of the soldiers of the escort, " Am I to be im- 
 mured in an oubliette ?'' " Monseigneur," the man 
 replied, sobbing, " be tranquil on that point." 
 They emerged from a postern into the ditch of the 
 castle, where a party of gens d'armes d'elite were 
 drawn up, Savary, their master, standing on the 
 parapet over them. It was now six o'clock in the 
 morning, and the gray light of the dawn was 
 mingled with the gleam of torches. The prince 
 refused to have his eyes bandaged — the word was 
 given, and he fell. The body, dressed as it was, 
 -was immediately thrown into a grave — which had 
 been prepared before-hand ; at least, so say all 
 the witnesses, except M. Savary. 
 
 To resume our notice of the mere informalities 
 of the procedure : — 1 . The sentence was altogether 
 unsupported by the evidence, except as to the mere 
 fact of D'Enghien's having borne arms against 
 France ; but this could be no crime in him : he 
 owed no allegiance to the French government; on 
 the contrary, he and all his family had been ex- 
 pressly excepted from every act of amnesty to 
 emigrants, and thereby constituted aliens. 2. The 
 execution took place immediately after the sentence 
 was pronounced ; this is contrary to the laws of 
 
 I
 
 :mi!I!i:k»' '»m»i«
 
 1804.] MURDER OF THE DUKE d'eXGHIEN. 289 
 
 all civilized nations, and in direct contradiction to 
 an article in the French code then in force, which 
 gave twenty-four hours to every prisoner convicted 
 by a court-martial, that he might, if he chose, ap- 
 peal from their sentence. But, 3dly, the publica- 
 tions (long afterwards extorted) of Savary and 
 Hullin, prove that the court, perplexed with the 
 difficulty of making their sentence appear to have 
 any conformity with the charge and the evidence, 
 drew up, in fact, two different sentences: one be- 
 fore the duke was executed, which bore the article, 
 " immediate execution;" the other a more careful 
 document, intended alone to meet the public eye, 
 in which not a word about immediate execution 
 occurs. The duke was not executed, therefore, at 
 six in the morning of the 21st of March, upon that 
 sentence which was made public at the time, as the 
 authority for his death. 
 
 Every circumstance in the dismal tale, from the 
 quantity of linen packed up at Strasburg, to the 
 preparation of the grave in the ditch of Vincennes, 
 attests the fact that the fate of the unfortunate 
 young man (for he was but 32 years old when he 
 fell) had been determined on, to the minutest par- 
 ticular, long before he was summoned to a mock 
 trial, before an incompetent tribunal. If ever man 
 was murdered, it was the Duke d'Enghien. 
 
 Such was the fate of the gallant and generous 
 youth, who, by his fiery courage, won the battle 
 of Bertsheim; and who, when his followers, to 
 whom the republicans had so often refused quarter, 
 seemed disposed to retaliate in the hour of victory, 
 threw himself between them and their discomfited 
 countrymen, exclaiming, " They are French — they 
 
 VOL. I. u
 
 290 NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE. [March 21, 
 
 are unfortunate ; I place them under the guardian- 
 ship of your honour." 
 
 The horror with which this remorseless tragedy 
 was heard of in Paris, soon spread throughout all 
 Europe ; and from that day the name of Buona- 
 parte was irremediably associated with the ideas 
 of svdlen revenge and tyrannic cruelty. The mas- 
 sacre of Jaffa had been perpetrated in a remote 
 land, and many listened with incredulity to a tale 
 told by the avowed enemies of the homicide. But 
 this bloody deed was done at home, and almost in 
 the sight of all Paris. Of the fact there could be 
 no doubt; and of the pretexts set forth by the 
 organs of the French government, there were few 
 men of any party who affected not to perceive the 
 futility. Hitherto Napoleon had been the fortu- 
 nate heir of a revolution, in whose civil excesses 
 he had scarcely participated — henceforth he was 
 the legitimate representative and symbol of all its 
 atrocities. 
 
 In so far as Buonaparte had the power to sup- 
 press all mention of this catastrophe, it was, at the 
 time, suppressed. But in after-days, at St. Helena, 
 when dictating the apology of his life to the com- 
 panions of his exile, he not only spoke openly of 
 the deatli of the Duke d'Enghien, but ap})ears to 
 linve dwelt upon it often and long. Well aware 
 tliat tliis was generally regarded as the darkest 
 trait in his history, he dis])layed a feverish anxiety 
 to explain it away. But the sultan Akber wore a 
 signet, inscribed, " I never knew any one that lost 
 his way in a straiglit road;" and lie that is con- 
 scious of innocence can have no temptation to mul- 
 tiply the lines of his defence. Buonaparte, accord 
 
 J
 
 1804.] MURDER OF THE DUKE d'eNGHIEN. 291 
 
 ing to the mood of the moment, or the companion 
 whom he addressed, adopted different methods of 
 vindicating himself. They were inconsistent as 
 well as diverse ; and even Las Cases seems to have 
 blushed for his hero when he recorded them. 
 
 At one time Napoleon represents himself as hav- 
 ing been taken by surprise : — his ministers come on 
 him when he is alone, at midnight, and inform him 
 that the Bourbons have conspired to assassinate 
 him — that the proofs are in their hands — that the 
 Duke d'Enghien has already been more than once 
 in Paris, and is lying close to the frontier, expect- 
 ing the signal to return and head the conspirators 
 in person. — In the first flush of indignation he gives 
 the order for arresting the duke — every artifice is 
 adopted to prevent him from interfering afterwards 
 — everything is arranged by Talleyrand — the duke 
 addresses a letter to him from Strasburg — that 
 letter Talleyrand suppresses until the tragedy is 
 over — had it been delivered in time, the life of the 
 unhappy prince had been saved. 
 
 Unfortunately for Buonaparte, eight days elapsed 
 between the order for the arrest and the order for 
 the execution, a much longer period than was ever 
 necessary for restoring the composure of his strong 
 understanding. Further, the Duke d'Enghien kept 
 a diary during his imprisonment, in which the mi- 
 nutest incidents are carefully recorded; it contains 
 no hint of the letter to Napoleon ; and the Baron 
 de St. Jaques, who never quitted his master's 
 chamber while he remained at Strasburg, bears 
 distinct testimony that no such letter was written 
 there. Moreover, neither Talleyrand, nor any 
 other individual in the world, except Buonaparte, 
 
 u 2
 
 292 NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE. [1804. 
 
 could have had the shghtest motive for desiring 
 the death of D'Enghien. On the contrary, every 
 motive that has weight with mankind in general, 
 must have swayed the other way with Talleyrand ; 
 a member of one of the noblest families in France ; 
 a man unstained by participation in any of the 
 butcheries of the revolution ; and, above all, a man 
 whose consummate skill has through life steadily 
 pursued one object, namely, his own personal in- 
 terest, and who must have been mad to perpetrate 
 a gratuitous murder. And, lastly, Talleyrand was 
 minister for foreign affairs. A letter written at 
 Strasburg could by no accident have been forwarded 
 through his department in the government ; and, 
 in fact, there is perfect proof that the whole busi- 
 ness was done by the police, whose chief, Savary, 
 communicated directly with the Chief Consul, and 
 the military, who acted under the orders either of 
 Buonaparte's aide-de-camp, Caulaincourt, (after- 
 wards Duke of Vicenza,) or of his brother-in-law, 
 Murat, the governor of Paris. It is needless to 
 observe, that Napoleon's accusation of Talleyrand 
 dates after tliat politician had exerted all his talents 
 and influence in the work of procuring liis own 
 downfall, and tlie restoration of the liouse of Bour- 
 bon. But in trutli whether Talleyrand, or Savary, 
 or Cauhiincourt, liad the chief liand in tlie deatli of 
 the Duke d'Engliien, is a controversy about whicli 
 posterity will feel little interest. It is obvious to 
 all men, that not one of them durst have stirred 
 a finger to l)ring ;il)out a catastrophe of such fearful 
 importance, without the express orders of Napo- 
 leon. 
 
 At other times the exile of St. Helena told a
 
 1804.] DEATH OF PICHEGRU. 293 
 
 shorter and a plainer tale. " I was assailed," said 
 he, " on all hands by the enemies whom the Bour- 
 bons had raised up against me : threatened with 
 air-guns, infernal machines, and stratagems of every 
 kind. There was no tribunal to which I could 
 appeal for protection ; therefore I had a right to 
 protect myself. By putting to death one of those 
 whose followers threatened my life, I was entitled 
 to strike a salutary terror into all the rest." 
 
 The princes of the House of Bourbon, so far 
 from stimulating assassins to take off the usurper 
 of their throne, never failed, when such schemes 
 were suggested, to denoimce them as atrocities 
 hateful in the sight of God and man. As to this 
 part of their conduct, the proofs are abundant, 
 clear, and irrefragable. But it is very possible that 
 Buonaparte entertained the foul suspicion on which 
 he justifies his violence. iVnd indeed it is only 
 by supposing him to have sincerely believed that 
 the Bourbons were plotting against his life, that 
 we can at all account for the shedding of D'Eng- 
 hien's blood. — Unless Josephine spake untruly, or 
 her conversation has been wilfully misrepresented, 
 she strenuously exerted her influence to procure 
 mercy for the royal victim ; and so, unquestion- 
 ably, did his venerable mother. But it demanded 
 neither affection for Napoleon's person, nor regard 
 for his interest, nor compassion for the youth and 
 innocence of the Duke d'Enghien, to perceive the 
 imprudence, as well as wickedness, of the proceed- 
 ing. The remark of the callous Fouche has passed 
 into a proverb, " It was worse than a crime — it 
 was a blunder." 
 
 A few days after the execution of the Duke 
 d'Enghien, (on the morning of the 7th of April,)
 
 294 NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE. [April, 
 
 General Picliegru was found dead in prison : a 
 black handkerchief was tied round his neck, and 
 tightened by the twisting of a short stick, like a 
 tourniquet. It could not appear probable that he 
 should have terminated his own life by such means ; 
 and, accordingly, the rumour spread that he had 
 been taken off in the night by some of the satellites 
 of Savary ; or, according to others, by some Mame- 
 lukes whom Napoleon had brought with him from 
 the East, and now retained near his person, as an 
 interior body-guard of the palace. This is a mys- 
 tery which has never been penetrated. The recent 
 fate of D'Enghien had prepared men to receive any 
 story of this dark nature ; and it was argued that 
 Buonaparte had feared to bring Pichegru, a bold 
 and dauntless man, into an open court, where he 
 might have said many things well calculated to 
 injure the Consul in public opinion.* 
 
 The other prisoners were now brought to trial. 
 There was not a shadow of evidence against Gene- 
 ral Moreau, except the fact, admitted by himself, 
 that he had been twice in company with Pichegru 
 since his return to Paris. He in vain protested 
 that he had rejected the proposals of Pichegru, to 
 take part in a royalist insurrection ; and, as for the 
 murderous designs of Georges Cadoudal, that he 
 had never even heard of them. He was sentenced 
 to two years confinement ; but, on the intercession 
 
 * vVbout a year afterwards Captain Wriglit was found dead 
 in his dungeon in the Temple, with his throat cut from ear to 
 ear. This mystery has hitherto remained in equal darkness ; 
 but Jiuonaparte was far from J'aris at the period of Wright's 
 death, and, under all the circumstances of the case, there 
 seems to be no reason for supposing that he could have had 
 any concern in that tragedy.
 
 1804.] MOREAU CADOUDAL. 295 
 
 of his wife with Josephine, or rather on finding 
 that a great part of the soldiery considered so emi- 
 nent a commander as hardly used, the Chief Consul, 
 ere long, commuted this punishment for two years 
 of exile. 
 
 Moreau was innocent ; by his side, on the day 
 of trial, appeared men who would have scorned to 
 be so. Georges Cadoudal appeared in court with 
 the miniature of Louis XVI. suspended round his 
 neck, and gloried in the avowal of his resolution to 
 make war personally on the usurper of the throne. 
 The presiding judge, Thuriot, had been one of 
 those who condemned the king to death. Georges 
 punned on his name, and addressed him as " Mon- 
 sieur Tue-Roi."* Vvlien called up for sentence, the 
 judge missed the miniature, and asked him what 
 he had done with it ? " And you," answered the 
 prisoner, " what have you done with the original ?" 
 — a retort which nothing could prevent the audience 
 from applauding. Georges and eighteen more were 
 condemned to death ; and he, and eleven besides, 
 suffered the penalty with heroic firmness. Of the 
 rest, among whom were two sons of the noble 
 house of Polignac, some were permitted to escape 
 on condition of perpetual banishment : others had 
 their punishment commuted to imprisonment. 
 
 With what indignation the death of the Duke 
 d'Enghien had been heard of throughout Europe, 
 now began to appear. The Emperor of Russia 
 and the Kings of Sweden and Denmark put their 
 courts into mourning, and made severe remon- 
 strances through their diplomatic agents ; and the 
 correspondence which ensued laid the train for 
 another general burst of war. Austria was hum- 
 * i. e. Kill-king.
 
 296 NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE. [1804. 
 
 bled for the time, and durst not speak out: 
 Prussia could hardly be expected to break her long 
 neutrality on such an occasion : but wherever the 
 story went, it prepared the minds of princes as of 
 subjects, to take advantage of the first favourable 
 opportunity for rising against the tyranny of France. 
 
 A conspiracy suppressed never fails to strengthen 
 the power it was meant to destroy : and Buonaparte, 
 after the tragedies of D'Enghien and Pichegru, 
 beheld the French royalists reduced everywhere 
 to the silence and the inaction of terror. Well 
 understanding the national temper, he gave orders 
 that henceforth the name of the exiled family 
 should be as much as possible kept out of view ; 
 and accordingly after this time it was hardly ever 
 alluded to in the productions of the enslaved press 
 of Paris. The adherents of the Bourbons were 
 compelled to content themselves with muttering 
 their resentment in private saloons, where, how- 
 ever, the Chief Consul commonly had spies — who 
 reported to him, or to his Savarys and Fouches, 
 the jests and the caricatures in which the depressed 
 and hopeless party endeavoured to find s6me con- 
 solation. 
 
 In order to check the liostile feeling excited 
 among the sovereigns of the continent by the mur- 
 der of the Bourbon Prince, the French government 
 were now indefatigable in their efforts to connect 
 the cons])iracy of Georges Cadoudal with the ca- 
 l)inet of England. 'J'hc agents of the })olice trans- 
 formed themselves into numl)erless disguises, with 
 the view of drawing tlie Britisli ministers resident 
 at various courts of Germany into some correspon- 
 dence capable of being misrepresented, so as to
 
 1804.] LORD ELGIN. 297 
 
 suit the purpose of their master. Mr. Drake, 
 envoy at Munich, and Mr. Spencer Smith, at 
 Stuttgard, were deceived in this fashion ; and some 
 letters of theirs, egregiously misinterpreted, fur- 
 nished Buonaparte with a pretext for complaining, 
 to the sovereigns to whom they were accredited, 
 that they had stained the honour of the diplomatic 
 body by leaguing themselves with the schemes of 
 the Chouan conspirators. The subservient princes 
 were forced to dismiss these gentlemen from their 
 residences ; but the English ministry made such 
 explanations in open Parliament as effectually vin- 
 dicated the name of their country. Lord Elgin, 
 British ambassador at Constantinople, had been 
 one of those travellers detained at the out-breaking 
 of the war, and was now resident on his parole in 
 the south of France. He was, on some frivolous 
 pretext, confined in a solitary castle among the 
 Pyrenees ; and there every device was practised, 
 to induce him to, at least, receive letters calculated, 
 if discovered in his possession, to compromise him. 
 But this nobleman, sagaciously penetrating the de- 
 sign, baffled it by his reserve. Being liberated 
 from confinement shortly after, he communicated 
 what had happened to a friend, a member of the 
 French Senate, who traced the matter home to 
 some of Fouche's creatures, and congratulated 
 Lord Elgin on having avoided very narrowly the 
 fate of Pichegru. 
 
 Sir George Rumbold, the British minister at 
 Hamburg, escaped that consummation still more 
 narrowly. During the night of the 23d October a 
 party of French soldiers passed the Elbe, as Or-
 
 298 NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE. [1804. 
 
 donner and his gang had crossed the Rhine on the 
 14th of March, and boldly seized Rumbold within 
 the territory of an independent and friendly state. 
 He was hurried to Paris, and confined in the fated 
 dungeons of the Temple : but none of his papers 
 afforded any plausible pretext for resisting the 
 powerful remonstrance which the King of Prussia 
 thought fit to make against an outrage perpetrated 
 almost within sight of his dominions ; and, after a 
 few days, Sir George was set at liberty. 
 
 Meantime, while all the princes of Europe re- 
 garded with indignation (though few of them, in- 
 deed, dared to express the feeling openly,) the 
 cruel tragedies which had been acted in France, 
 the death of Pichegru had suppressed effectually 
 the hopes of the royalists in that country, and the 
 exile of Moreau deprived the republicans of the 
 only leader under whom there was any likelihood 
 of their taking arms against the Chief Consul. 
 He resolved to profit by the favourable moment 
 for completing a purpose which he had long medi- 
 tated ; and, on the 30th of April, little more than 
 a month after the Duke d'Enghien died, one Curee 
 was employed to move, in the Tribunate, " that it 
 was time to bid adieu to political illusions — that 
 victory had brouglit back tranquillity — the finances 
 of the country had l)een restored, and the laws 
 renovated — and tliat it was a matter of duty to 
 secure those ])lessings to the nation in future, by 
 rendering the supreme power hereditary in the 
 person and family of Napoleon." — " Such," he 
 said, " was tlie universal desire of the army and 
 of the people. 'I'lie title of Emperor, in his opi-
 
 1804.] EMPEROR OF THE FRENCH. 299 
 
 nion. was that by which Napoleon should be 
 hailed, as best corresponding to the dignity of the 
 nation." 
 
 This motion was carried in the Tribunate, with 
 one dissenting voice, that of Carnot ; who, in a 
 speech of great eloquence, resisted the principle of 
 hereditary monarchy altogether. He admitted the 
 merits in war and in policy of the Chief Consul — 
 he was at present the Dictator of the Republic, 
 and, as such, had saved it. — " Fabius, Camillus, 
 Cincinnatus were dictators also. Why should not 
 Buonaparte, like them, lay down despotic power, 
 after the holding of it had ceased to be necessary 
 to the general good? Let the services of a citizen 
 be what they might, was there to be no limit to the 
 gratitude of the nation ? But at all events, even 
 granting that Buonaparte himself could not be too 
 highly rewarded, or too largely trusted, why com- 
 mit the fortunes of posterity to chance ? Why 
 forget that Vespasian was the father of Domitian, 
 Germanicus of Caligula, Marcus Aurelius of Com- 
 modus ?" In effect Carnot, colleague as he had 
 been of Robespierre, and stained as he was with 
 the blood of Louis XVL, was a sincere republican ; 
 and, after his own fashion, a sincere patriot. He 
 was alone in the Tribunate — the rest of whose 
 members prolonged, during three whole days, a 
 series of fulsome harangues, every one of which 
 terminated in the same implicit agreement to the 
 proposal of Curee. 
 
 The legislative body, without hesitation, adopted 
 it ; and a senatus-consultum forthwith appeared, 
 by which Napoleon Buonaparte was declared Em- 
 peror of the French : the empire to descend in the
 
 300 NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE. [1804. 
 
 male line of his body : in case of having no son, 
 Napoleon might adopt any son or grandson of his 
 brothers as his heir : in default of such adoption, 
 Joseph and Louis Buonaparte were named as the 
 next heirs of the crown, (Lucien and Jerome being 
 passed over, as they had both given offence to 
 Napoleon by their marriages.) The members of 
 Napoleon's family were declared princes of the 
 blood of France. 
 
 This decree was sent down to the departments : 
 and the people received it with indifference. The 
 Prefects reported, on the 1st of December, that 
 between three and four millions of citizens had 
 subscribed their assent to the proposed measure, 
 while not many more than three thousand voted in 
 opposition to it. This result indicated, as these 
 functionaries chose to say, the unanimous appro- 
 bation of the French people. That nation, how- 
 ever, consisted at the time of more than thirty 
 millions ! 
 
 But Napoleon did not wait for this authority, 
 such as it proved to be. On the 18th of May 
 (more than six months ere the report reached him) 
 he openly assumed the imperial title and dignity. 
 On tlie same day he nominated his late colleagues 
 in the Consulate, Cam])aceres and Le Brun, the 
 former to be Arch-Cliancellor, tlie latter Arch- 
 Treasurer of tlie Empire. The offices of High- 
 Constable, (Jrand Admiral, tvc. were revived and 
 bestowed on his brothers, and others of his im- 
 mediate connections. Seventeen generals, (viz. 
 Berthier, Murat, Moncey, .lourdan, Massena, Au- 
 gereau, Bernadotte, Soult, Brune, Lanncs, Mortier, 
 Ney, Davoust, Bessieres, Kellerman, Lefebre,
 
 1804.] THE CORONATION. 301 
 
 PerignoR, Serrurier) were named Marshals of the 
 Empire ; Duroc, Grand Marshal of the Palace ; 
 Caulaincourt, Master of the Horse ; Berthier, 
 Grand Huntsman ; and Count Segur, a nobleman 
 of the ancient regime, Master of the Ceremonies. 
 It was in vain attempted to excite popular enthu- 
 siasm. " It appeared," says an eye-witness, " as 
 if the shades of D'Enghien and Pichegru had 
 hovered over the scene, and spread coldness on all 
 that was meant for the manifestation of joy." 
 
 It was not so with the soldiery. Napoleon, 
 with his empress, visited the camps at Boulogne, 
 and was received with the excess of military ap- 
 plause and devotion. He made a progress to 
 Aix-la-Chapelle, and along the Rhenish frontier, 
 flattered and extolled at every station. Except 
 Russia, Sweden, and England, every crown in 
 Europe sent to congratulate him on his enrolment 
 in the body of hereditary monarchs. Nay, not a 
 few of the smaller German potentates came in per- 
 son, to swell, on this great occasion, the state and 
 magnificence of the new imperial court. 
 
 In assuming the title of Emperor, not of King, 
 it escaped not observation, that Napoleon's object 
 was to carry back the minds of the French to a 
 period antecedent to the rule of the recently de- 
 throned dynasty — to the days of Charlemagne, 
 who, with the monarchy of France, combined both 
 a wider dominion and a loftier style. As that 
 great conqueror had caused himself to be crowned 
 by Pope Leo, so Napoleon now determined that 
 his own inauguration should take place under the 
 auspices of Pius VII. ; nay, that the more to illus- 
 trate his power, the head of the Catholic church
 
 302 NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE. [1804. 
 
 should repair to Paris for this purpose. It may 
 be doubted whether, in this measure, he regarded 
 more the mere gratification of his pride, or the 
 chance of conferring a character of greater solem- 
 nity on the installation of the new dynasty, in the 
 eyes of the Catholic population of France. On 
 the 5th of November, however, the unresisting 
 Pope left Rome, and, having been received through- 
 out his progress with every mark of respect and 
 veneration, arrived in Paris to bear his part in 
 the great pageant. On the 2d of December Buo- 
 naparte and Josephine appeared, amidst all that 
 was splendid and illustrious in their capital, and 
 were crowned in Notre-Dame. The Pope blessed 
 them and consecrated the diadems ; but these were 
 not placed on their heads by his hand. That 
 office, in either case, Napoleon himself performed. 
 Throughout the ceremonial his aspect was tliought- 
 ful ; it was on a stern and gloomy brow that he 
 with his own hands planted the symbol of suc- 
 cessful ambition and uneasy power, and tlie shouts 
 of the deputies present, carefully selected for the 
 purpose, sounded faint and hollow amidst the 
 silence of the people. 
 
 As a necessary secpiel to these proceedings in 
 Paris, tlie senators of the Italian re})ub]ic now sent 
 in their ]uuii})le petition, that tlieir president might 
 be ])lease(l to do tliem also the favour to be crowned 
 as tlieir king at Milan. Tlie Emperor ])r()ceeded 
 to tliat city accordingly, and, in like fashion, on 
 the 2(jth of May, 1805, placed on his own head 
 the old iron crown of tlie Lombard kings, uttering 
 the words which, according to tradition, they were 
 accustomed to use on such occasions, " God hath
 
 1804-5.] THE CORONATION. 303 
 
 given it me. Beware who touches it." — Napoleon 
 henceforth styled himself Emperor of the French 
 and King of Italy, but announced that the two 
 crowns should not be held by the same person 
 after his death. 
 
 It was not however, for mere purposes of cere- 
 monial that he had once more passed the Alps. 
 The Ligurian republic sent the Doge to Milan to 
 congratulate the King of Italy, and also to offer 
 their territories for the formation of another de- 
 partment of the French empire. But this was a 
 step of his ambition which led to serious results. 
 
 Meantime Eugene Beauharnois, son to Jose- 
 phine, was left Viceroy at Milan, and the imperial 
 pair returned to Paris.
 
 ( 304 ) [1805. 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 New Coalilion against France — Sweden — Bussia — Aus- 
 tria joins the Alliance — Napoleon heads the Army in 
 Germany — Ulm swTcndered by Mack — Vienna taken 
 — Naval Operations — Battle of Trafalgar — Battle of 
 Austerlitz — Treaty of Preslmrg — Joseph Buonaparte 
 King of Naples — Louis Buonaparte King of Holland 
 — Confederation of the Rhine — New Nobility in 
 France. 
 
 On the 27tli. of January, 1805, Napoleon, in his 
 new character of Emperor, addressed a letter (as 
 he had done l)efore at the commencement of his 
 Consulate) to King George III. in person ; and 
 was answered, as before, by the British Secretary 
 of State for Foreign Affairs. The new Emperor's 
 letter contained many well-turned sentences about 
 the blessings of peace, but no distinct proposition 
 of any kind — least of all any hint that 'tte was 
 willing to concede Malta. The English minister, 
 however, answered simply, that in the present state 
 of relations between tlie cabinet of St. James's and 
 that of St. Petersburg, it was impossible for the 
 former to open any negotiation without the con- 
 sent of the latter. 
 
 'i'his sufHcicutly indicated a fact of which Na- 
 poleon had just siisj)ici()n some time before. The 
 murder of the Duke (ri'ingliien had ])een regarded 
 with horror l)y the young Emperor of Russia ; he
 
 1805.] NEW COALITION AGAINST FRANCE. 305 
 
 liad remonstrated vigorously, and his reclamations 
 liad been treated with indifference. The King of 
 Sweden, immediately after he heard of the catas- 
 trophe of Vicennes, had made known his senti- 
 ments to the Czar : a strict alliance had been 
 signed between those two courts about a fortnight 
 before Napoleon wrote to the King of England ; 
 and it was obvious that the northern powers had 
 resolved to take part with Great Britain in her 
 strugorle against France. The Consul now made the 
 Moniteur the vehicle of continual abuse against 
 the sovereigns of Russia and Sweden ; and the 
 latter caused a note to be handed to the French 
 minister at Stockholm, complaining of the " inde- 
 cent and ridiculous insolence which Monsieur Buo- 
 naparte had permitted to be inserted" in that offi- 
 cial journal. 
 
 The cabinets of London, Petersburg, and Stock- 
 holm were parties in a league which had avow- 
 edly the following objects : to restore the inde- 
 pendence of Holland and Switzerland : to free the 
 north ^of Germany from the presence of French 
 troops : to procure the restoration of Piedmont to 
 the Kljig of Sardinia ; and, finally, the evacuation 
 of Italy by Napoleon. Until, by the attainment 
 of these objects, the sway of France should be 
 reduced to limits compatible with the indepen- 
 dence of the other European states, no peace was 
 to be signed by any of the contracting powers ; 
 and, during several months, every means was 
 adopted to procure the association of Austria and 
 Prussia. But the latter of these sovereigns had 
 the misfortune at this time to have a strong French 
 
 VOL. I. X
 
 306 NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE. [1805. 
 
 party in liis council, and, though personally hos- 
 tile to Napoleon, could not as yet count on being 
 supported in a war against him by the hearty 
 goodwill of an undivided people. Austria, on the 
 other hand, had been grievously weakened by 
 the campaign of Marengo, and hesitated, on pru- 
 dential grovmds, to commit herself once more to 
 the hazard of arms. 
 
 Alexander repaired in person to Berlin, for the 
 purpose of stimulating the King of Prussia. The 
 two sovereigns met in the vault where the great 
 Frederick lies buried, and swore solemnly, over 
 his remains, to effect the liberation of Germany. 
 But though thus pledged to the Czar, the King of 
 Prussia did not hastily rush into hostilities. He 
 did not even follow the example of the Austrian, 
 whose forbearance was at length wholly exhausted 
 by the news of the coronation at Milan, and the 
 annexation of Genoa to the empire of France. 
 
 The government of Vienna no sooner heard of 
 this new aggrandizement, than it commenced war- 
 like preparations, rashly and precipitately, without 
 making sure of the co-operation of Berlin, or 
 even waiting until the troops of Russia could per- 
 form the march into Germany. But this great fault 
 was not the greatest. The Emperor hauglitily de- 
 manded that the Elector of Bavaria shoidd take the 
 field also ; nay, that he should suffer his army to 
 be entirely incorporated with the Austrian, and 
 commanded by its chiefs. The Elector, who had 
 a son travelling in France, resisted anxiously and 
 strenuously. " On my knees," he wrote to the 
 Emperor, " I beg of you that I may be permitted
 
 1805.] GENERAL MACK. 307 
 
 to remain neutral." This appeal was disregarded. 
 The Austrian troops advanced into Bavaria, where 
 they appear to have conducted themselves as in 
 an enemy's country ; and the indignant Elector 
 withdrew his army into Franconia, where he ex- 
 pected the advance of the French as liberators. 
 
 This unjustifiable behaviour was destined to be 
 severely punished. No sooner did Napoleon un- 
 derstand that war was inevitable, than he broke 
 up his great army on the coast opposite to England, 
 and directed its march upon the German frontier ; 
 while Massena received orders to assume, also, the 
 offensive in Italy, and force his way, if possible, into 
 the hereditary states of Austria. The favourite 
 scheme of Carnot was thus revived, and two French 
 armies, one crossing the Rhine, and the other 
 pushing through the Tyrolese, looked forward to a 
 junction before the walls of Vienna. 
 
 The rashness which had characterised the con- 
 duct of the Cabinet of Vienna, was fatally followed 
 out in^that of its general. Mack : instead of occu- 
 pying the line of the river Inn, which, extending 
 from the Tyrol to the Danube at Passau, affords 
 a strong defence to the Austrian territory, and on 
 which he might have expected, in comparative 
 safety, the arrival of the Russians — this unworthy 
 favourite of the Emperor left the Inn behind him, 
 and established his head-quarters on the western 
 frontier of Bavaria, at Ulm. 
 
 Napoleon hastened to profit by this unpardon- 
 able error. Bernadotte advanced from Hanover, 
 with the troops which had occupied that electorate, 
 towards Wurtzburg, where the Bavarian army lay 
 ready to join its strength to his ; five divisions of 
 
 X 2
 
 308 NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE. [1805. 
 
 the great force lately assembled on the coasts of 
 Normandy, mider the orders of Davoiist, Ney, 
 Soult, ManTiont, and Vandamme, crossed the 
 Rhine at different points, all to the northward of 
 Mack's position ; while a sixth, under Miirat, 
 passing at Kehl, manoeuvred in such a manner as 
 to withdraw the Austrian's attention from these 
 movements, and to strengthen him in his belief 
 that Napoleon and all his army were coming against 
 him through the Black Forest in his front. 
 
 The consequence of Buonaparte's combinations 
 was, that while Mack lay expecting to be assaulted 
 in front of Ulm, the great body of the French 
 army advanced into the heart of Germany, by the 
 left side of the Danube, and then, throwing them- 
 selves across that river, took ground in his rear, 
 interrupting his communication with Vienna, and 
 isolating him. In order that Bernadotte and the 
 Bavarians might have a part in this great ma- 
 noeuvre, it was necessary that they should disre- 
 gard the neutrality of the Prussian territories of 
 Anspach and Bareuth ; and Napoleon, well aware 
 of the real sentiments of the court of Berlin, did 
 not hesitate to adopt this course. Prussia remon- 
 strated indignantly, but still held back from pro- 
 claiming war ; and Napoleon cared little for such 
 impediments as mere diplomacy could throw in 
 the way of his campaign. He did not, however, 
 effect his purpose of taking up a position in the 
 rear of Mack without resistance. On the contrary, 
 at various ])laces, at Wertenghen, Guntzburg, Me- 
 mingen, and Elcliingcn, severe skirmishes occurred 
 with different divisions of the Austrian army, in all 
 of which the French had the advantage. General
 
 1805.] GENERAL MACK. 309 
 
 Spangenburg and 5000 men laid down their arms 
 at Memingen ; and, in all, not less than 20,000 
 prisoners fell into the hands of the French between 
 the 2Gth of September, when they crossed the 
 Rhine, and the 13th of October, when they were 
 in full possession of Bavaria and Swabia, holding 
 Mack cooped up behind them in Ulm — as Wurm- 
 ser had been in Mantua, during the campaign of 
 Alvinzi. 
 
 But Mack was no Wurmser. Napoleon's recent 
 movements had perplexed utterly the counsels of 
 the Austrians, whose generals, adopting different 
 views of the state of the campaign, no longer acted 
 in unison. Schwartzenberg, and the Archduke 
 Ferdinand, considering further resistance in Ba- 
 varia as hopeless, cut their way, at the head of 
 large bodies of cavalry, into Bohemia, and began 
 to rouse the inhabitants of that kingdom to a levy 
 en masse. The French Emperor, perceiving that 
 they had for the present escaped him, drew back 
 upon Ulm, invested that town on every side, and 
 summoned Mack to surrender. 
 
 The garrison consisted of full 20,000 good 
 troops ; the place was amply victualled and stored ; 
 the advance of the great Russian army could not 
 be distant ; the declaration of war against Napo- 
 leon by Berlin was hourly to be expected : and the 
 armies of Austria, though scattered for the present, 
 would be sure to rally and make every effort for 
 the relief of Ulm. Under circumstances compara- 
 tively hopeless the brave Wurmser held Mantua 
 to extremity. But in spite of example or argument, 
 in terror or in treachery, General Mack capitulated 
 without hazardino; a blow.
 
 310 NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE. [1805. 
 
 On the 16th he published a proclamation, urging 
 his troops to prepare for the utmost pertinacity of 
 defence, and forbidding, on pain of death, the very 
 word surrender to be breathed within the walls of 
 Ulm. On the 17th he signed articles by which 
 hostilities were immediately to cease, and he and 
 all his men to surrender themselves prisoners of 
 war within ten days, unless some Austrian or 
 Russian force should appear in the interval, and 
 attempt to raise the blockade. After signing this 
 document. Mack visited, in person, the head-quar- 
 ters of Napoleon ; and, whatever the nature of 
 their conversation may have been, the result was, 
 a revision of the treaty on the 19th, and the formal 
 evacuation of Ulm on tlie 20th. Twenty thousand 
 soldiers filed off, and laid down their arms before 
 Napoleon and his staff. — Eighteen generals were 
 dismissed on parole ; an immense quantity of am- 
 munition of all sorts fell into the hands of the 
 victor; and a waggon filled with Austrian stan- 
 dards was sent to gratify the vanity of the Pa- 
 risians. 
 
 The catastrophe of Ulm, striking new terror into 
 the Prussian counsels, prevented the violation of 
 the territory of Anspach from being immediately 
 followed by the declaration of war, for which 
 Buonaparte must have made up his mind when he 
 hazarded that measure. Meantime success had 
 attended Massena in his advance from Lombardy 
 towards the Venetian states, where the Archduke 
 Charles commanded an army of 60,000 men for 
 Austria. The Archduke, after sustaining various 
 reverses, was forced to abandon Italy; and re- 
 treated, though slowly and leisurely, before Mas-
 
 1805.] VIENNA TAKEN. 311 
 
 sena, through the strong passes of the Carinthian 
 mountains. 
 
 Nor had Marshal Ney, whom Napoleon had 
 detached from his own main army with orders to 
 advance in the Tyrol, been less successful than 
 Massena. The Archduke John, who commanded 
 in that province, was beaten like his brother ; and 
 the outposts of the army of Massena from Italy, 
 and that of Ney from the Upper Rhine, at length 
 met and saluted in triumph at Clagenfurt. The 
 Archduke Charles, understanding how Ney was 
 prospering in the Tyrol, had given up the design 
 of retreating by that way into Germany, and pro- 
 ceeded through the Carinthian Mountains towards 
 Hungary. Prince John now followed his brother's 
 example ; and, the remains of those two armies 
 thus coalescing in a distant region, the divisions of 
 Ney and Massena came to be at the immediate 
 disposal of Napoleon, who was now concentrating 
 his force for the purpose of attacking Vienna. 
 
 Whije the victorious corps of Ney thus secured 
 his right — Murat, on his left, watched the Aus- 
 trians who had made their way into Bohemia ; and 
 Augereau, who had now advanced at the head of 
 a large reserve from France, remained behind him 
 in Swabia, to guard the passes from the Voralberg, 
 in case of any hostile movement from that moun- 
 tainous province, and, at the same time, to be 
 ready for action against the Prussians, should that 
 army at length receive orders to take part in the 
 war, and cross the Danube. Thus guarded, as he 
 judged, against any chance of having his commu- 
 nications intercepted in the rear or flanks, Napo- 
 leon himself, with the main body, now moved on
 
 312 NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE. [1805. 
 
 the capital of the German Emperor. Austrian 
 and Russian troops, to the number of 45,000, had 
 been thrown together with the view of relieving 
 U]m, and advanced considerably for that purpose 
 ere they heard of the treacherous capitulation of 
 Mack. They now retired again before the move- 
 ment of Napoleon, halting, indeed, occasionally, 
 and assuming the aspect of determination ; but, 
 whenever the outposts met, losing heart, and con- 
 tinuing their progress towards Moravia : — for there, 
 at length, the Czar, with his principal army, had 
 made his appearance ; and there, around tliat stan- 
 dard, every disposable force was now to be rallied. 
 The Emperor Francis himself, perceiving that 
 Vienna was incapable of defence, quitted his capi- 
 tal on the 7th of November, and proceeded to 
 Brunn, in Moravia, the head-quarters of Alex- 
 ander. 
 
 On the same evening Count Giulay reached 
 Napoleon's head-quarters at Lintz, with proposals 
 for an immediate armistice and negotiation. Buo- 
 naparte refused to pause unless the Tyrol and 
 Venice were instantly ceded to him. These were 
 terms to wliich the Austrian envoy had no autho- 
 rity to sul)mit. On tlie 13th of November, ac- 
 cordingly, the French entered Vienna, and Napo- 
 leon took u]) his residence in the Castle of Schoen- 
 brun, the ])r()ud palace of the Austrian Caesars. 
 General Clarke was a])pointed governor of the 
 city; and the Elect(n- of Bavaria was gratified 
 with a large share of the military stores and equip- 
 ments found in its arsenals. 
 
 But the intoxication of this success was to be 
 sobered by a cup of bitterness — and from a hand
 
 1805.J NA^\\L CAMPAIGN. 313 
 
 which had ah-eady dashed more than one of Na- 
 poleon's f)roudest triumphs. 
 
 When Buonaparte took up arms again, and de- 
 voted every energy of his mind to the descent 
 upon England, Spain, the next maritime power 
 after France, professed, indeed, neutrality, — but 
 by some of her proceedings raised the suspicion 
 that her fleet was really destined to act along with 
 that of the invader. The English government 
 resolved to bring this matter to the test : and a 
 squadron of four ships demanded a similar force 
 of the Spaniards to yield themselves into their 
 keeping as a pledge of neutrality. The British 
 squadron sent on such an errand ought, on every 
 principle of policy and humanity, to have been 
 much stronger than that which Commodore Moore 
 commanded on this occasion. The Castilian pride 
 took fire at the idea of striking to an equal foe ; 
 and, unhappily, an action took place, in which 
 three of the Spanish ships were captured, and one 
 blown up. This catastrophe determined, as might 
 have been expected, the wavering counsels of 
 Madrid. Spain declared war 'against England, 
 and placed her fleets at the command of the French 
 Emperor. 
 
 Two of his own squadrons, meantime, had, in 
 pursuance of the great scheme traced for the ruin of 
 England, escaped early in this year out of Roche- 
 fort and Toulon. The former, passing into the 
 West Indies, effected some trivial services, and re- 
 turned in safety to their original port. The latter, 
 under Villeneuve, had like fortune ; and, venturing 
 on a second sortie, joined the great Spanish fleet 
 under Gravina at Cadiz. The combined fleets
 
 314 NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE. [1805. 
 
 then crossed the Atlantic, where they captured an 
 insignificant island, and once more returned to- 
 wards Europe. Nelson had spent the summer in 
 chasing these squadrons across the seas — and on 
 this occasion they once more eluded his grasp : but 
 on approaching Cape Finisterre, (22d July,) another 
 English squadron of fifteen sail of the line and 
 two frigates, under Sir Robert Calder, came in 
 view : and the allied admirals, having twenty sail 
 of the line, three fifty gun ships, and four frigates, 
 did not avoid the encounter. They were worsted, 
 notwithstanding their superiority of strength, and 
 Calder captured two of their best ships. But tliat 
 they escaped from an English fleet, howsoever in- 
 ferior in numbers, without sustaining severer loss 
 than this, was considered as a disgrace by the 
 British public. — Calder, being tried by a court- 
 martial, was actually censured for not having im- 
 proved his success more signally ; a striking ex- 
 ample of the height to which confidence in the 
 naval superiority of the English had been raised, 
 at the very time when no arm appeared capable 
 of thwarting the career of French victory by land. 
 
 Villeneuve and Gravina now made their way to 
 Vigo, and thence finally to Cadiz : while Nelson, 
 having at length received accurate intelligence of 
 their motions, took the command in the Mediterra- 
 nean, and lay watching for the moment in which 
 they should be tempted to hazard another egress. 
 The coasts of Spain being strictly blockaded, some 
 difficulty began to be felt about providing neces- 
 saries for the numerous crews of the allied fleets ; 
 but the circumstance which had most influence in 
 leading them to quit, once more, their place of
 
 1805.] TRAFALGAR. 315 
 
 safety, was, according to general admission, the 
 impatience of Villeneuve under some unmerited 
 reproaches with which Napoleon visited the results 
 of the battle off Cape Finisterre. Villeneuve, a 
 man of dauntless gallantry and the highest spirit, 
 smarting under this injury, was anxious to take 
 the noble revenge of victory. And, in truth, had 
 numbers been to decide the adventure, he ran 
 little risk : for Nelson commanded only twenty- 
 seven sail of the line, and three frigates, manned 
 in the ordinary manner ; whereas the fleet in Cadiz 
 mustered thirty-three ships of the line and seven 
 frigates ; and, besides the usual crews, carried 
 4,000 troops, chiefly riflemen. The result was 
 the most glorious day in the proud annals of the 
 English Marine. The combined fleets sailed from 
 Cadiz on the 19th of October, and on the morning 
 of the 21st — the very day after Mack surrendered 
 at Ulm— they came in sight of the English Ad- 
 miral, oflP Cape Trafalgar. 
 
 The reader is referred to the historian of Lord 
 Nelson for the particulars of this great action. 
 The French and Spaniards awaited the attack in 
 a double line. Nelson hoisted the famous signal 
 " England expects every man to do his duty ; " 
 charged in two columns, and broke their array at 
 the first onset. The battle, nevertheless, was 
 sternly contested. In the end nineteen ships of 
 the line were taken ; and of those Spanish vessels 
 which escaped into Cadiz, seven had been rendered 
 wholly unserviceable. Four French ships of the 
 line, under Commodore Dumanoir, made way for 
 the Straits, and were captured a few days after 
 by Sir Richard Strachan, commander of the Eng-
 
 316 NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE. [1805. 
 
 lisli squadron off Rochefort. The fleets of France 
 and Spain were annihilated : yet, great as was the 
 triumph, glorious and unrivalled, it was dearly 
 purchased — for Nelson fell, mortally wounded, 
 early in the action. The hero lived just long 
 enough to hear the cheer of consummated victory ; 
 and then breathed out his noble spirit, in words 
 worthy of his life, " Thank God ! I have done my 
 duty."* 
 
 The French and Spaniards had fought together 
 against Nelson ; but not in the same spirit. The 
 former were determined and malignant enemies ; 
 
 * " Lamented hero! when to Britain's shore 
 Exulting Fame those awful tidings bore, 
 Joy's bursting shout in whelming grief was drowned 
 And Victory's self unwilling audience found; 
 On every brow the cloud of sadness hung ; 
 The sounds of triumph died on every tongue. 
 Yet not the vows thy weeping country pays ; 
 Not that high meed, thy mourning sovereign's praise, 
 Not that the great, the beauteous, and the brave 
 Bend in mute reverence o'er thy closing grave ; 
 That with such grief as bathes a kindred bier 
 Collective nations mourn a death so dear ; 
 Not these alone shall soothe thy sainted shade, 
 And consecrate the spot where thou art laid — 
 Not these alone! — but bursting thro' the gloom, 
 With radiant glory from thy tro])hied tomb, 
 The sacred s])lend()ur of tliy deathless name 
 Sliall grace and guard thy country's martial fame; 
 Far seen sliall bla/e the imextinguished ray, 
 A mighty beacon lighting glory's way — 
 With living lustre tliis ])r()ud land adorn, 
 And shine, and save, thro' ages yet unborn. "f 
 
 t rini and Trafalgar, a poem, by the Rt. Honoinablc George Cannini^.
 
 1805.] TRAFALGAR. 317 
 
 the latter generous friends, hurried, by the excite- 
 ment of temporary and pardonable passion, into 
 hostilities against the only power which could af- 
 ford their country any chance of avoiding that 
 political slavery, under which it was now the settled 
 purpose of Napoleon's ambition to crush every 
 nation of Europe. But the unprincij^led conduct 
 of Dumanoir, who escaped from Nelson to be cap- 
 tured shortly after, as has been mentioned, by 
 Strachan, at once brought out the different feel- 
 ings under which the two allied fleets had been 
 acting. This French officer, retreating with his 
 four ships, which had had no part in the battle, 
 discharged his broadsides, as he passed, into Eng- 
 lish vessels no longer capable of pursuit, — con- 
 duct which, as the victory was complete, could 
 have no object but that of carnage. Nay, such 
 was the ruffian nature of this man's soul, he fired 
 into the Spanish ships which had yielded to the 
 English, thus, for the sake of trivially injuring his 
 enemy, sacrificing without scruple the blood of his 
 own unfoi-tunate friends. The Spanish prisoners, 
 in their indignation at this brutality, asked their 
 English captors to permit them to man their guns 
 against the retreating French ; and such was the 
 earnestness of their entreaty, and the confidence 
 of Englishmen in the honour of Spaniards, that 
 these men actually were permitted to do as they 
 had requested. A mutual interchange of good 
 offices ensued. In the evening after the battle a 
 gale sprung up, and some of the captured vessels 
 drifting on shore, a number of British seamen fell 
 into the hands of the garrison of Cadiz. They 
 were received as friends : for the accommodation of
 
 318 NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE. [1805. 
 
 their wounded the Spanish soldiers gave up their 
 own beds. Collingwood, who succeeded to Nelson's 
 command, sent all the wounded Spaniards on shore 
 to be cured in their own country, merely taking 
 their parole that they would not serve again during 
 the war : and the governor of Cadiz, with still more 
 romantic generosity, offered his hospitals for the 
 use of Collingwood's wounded seamen, pledging 
 the honour of the Spanish name that they should 
 be cared for like his own men, and sent back to 
 their admiral whenever they had recovered. It 
 will appear, hereafter, what illustrious conse- 
 quences the kindly feelings thus manifested were 
 destined to produce. 
 
 Buonaparte, when he heard of this mighty dis- 
 comfiture, which for ever put an end to all his 
 visions of invading England, is said to have lost 
 that possession of himself, which he certainly 
 maintained when the catastrophe of Aboukir was 
 announced to him at Cairo. Yet arrogance min- 
 gled strangely in his expressions of sorrow. — " I 
 cannot be everywhere," said he to the messenger 
 of the evil tidings — as if Napoleon could have 
 had any more chance of producing victory by his 
 presence at Trafalgar, than Nelson would have 
 dreamed of having by appearing on horseback at 
 Marengo. In his newspapers, and even in his 
 formal messages to the senate at Paris, Buonaparte 
 always ])ersisted in denying that there had been a 
 great defeat at Trafalgar, or even a great battle. 
 But how well he appreciated the facts of the case 
 was well known to the unfortunate Admiral Ville- 
 neuve. That brave officer, after spending a short 
 time in England, was permitted to return to France
 
 1305.] AUSTERHTZ. 319 
 
 on his parole. He died almost immediately after- 
 wards at Rennes : whether by his own hand, in the 
 agony of despair, as the French Gazette asserted, 
 or assassinated, as was commonly believed at the 
 time, by some of the blood-hardened minions of 
 Foiiche's police, is a mystery not yet cleared up ; 
 and, perhaps, never destined to be so until the day 
 comes in which nothing shall be hid. 
 
 The tidings of Trafalgar, after the first moment, 
 served but as a new stimulus to the fire of Napo- 
 leon's energy. He quitted Vienna, and put him- 
 self at the head of his columns, which, passing 
 the Danube into Moravia, soon found themselves 
 within reach of the forces of Russia and Austria, 
 at length combined, and prepared for action, under 
 the eyes of their respective emperors. These 
 princes, on the approach of the French, drew 
 back as far as Olmutz, in order that a reserve of 
 Russians, under Bexhowden, might join them be- 
 fore the decisive struggle took place. Napoleon 
 fixed his head-quarters at Brunn, and, riding over 
 the plain *between Brunn and Austerlitz, (a village 
 about two miles from tliat town,) said to his ge- 
 nerals, " study this field — we shall, ere long, have 
 to contest it." 
 
 Buonaparte has been much criticised by stra- 
 tegists for the rashness of thus passing the Danube 
 into Moravia, while the Archduke Ferdinand was 
 organizing the Bohemians on his left, the Arch- 
 dukes Charles and John in Hungary, with still 
 formidable and daily increasing forces on his 
 right, the population of Vienna and the surround- 
 ing territories ready to rise, in case of any disaster, 
 in his rear ; and Prussia as decidedly hostile in
 
 320 NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE. [Dec. 
 
 heart as she was wavering in policy. The French 
 leader did not disguise from himself the risk of his 
 adventure ; but he considered it better to run all 
 that risk, than to linger in Vienna until the armies 
 in Hungary and Bohemia should have had time to 
 reinforce the two emperors. 
 
 Napoleon's preparations were as follows ; — his 
 left, under Lannes, lay at Santon, a strongly forti- 
 fied position : Soult commanded the right wing : 
 the centre, under Bernadotte, had with them Murat 
 and all the cavalry. Behind the line lay the re- 
 serve, consisting of 20,000, 10,000 of whom were 
 of the Imperial guard, under Oudenot: and here 
 Napoleon himself took his station. But besides 
 these open demonstrations, Davoust, with a divi- 
 sion of liorse and another of foot, lay behind the 
 convent of Raygern, considerably in the rear of 
 the French right — being there placed by the Em- 
 peror, in consequence of a false movement, into 
 which he, with a seer-like sagacity, foresaw the 
 enemy might, in all likeliliood, be tempted ; and 
 to which he lured them on accordingly by every 
 engine of his craft. 
 
 Buonaparte, on learning that the Emperor Alex- 
 ander was personally in the hostile camp, sent 
 Savary to present liis com])liments to that sove- 
 reign ; but really, as we may suppose, to observe 
 as mucli as he could of the numbers and condition 
 of the trooj)s. Savary, on Ins retiu*n, informed his 
 master tliat tlie Russian ])rince was surrounded by 
 a set of young coxcombs, whose every look and 
 gesture expressed overweening confidence in them- 
 selves and contempt for tlieir opponents. All the 
 reverses of the previous campaign were, as they
 
 1805.] AUSTERLITZ. 321 
 
 took care to signify, the result of unpardonable 
 cowardice among the Austrians, whose spirit had 
 been quite broken by the wars in Italy : but they 
 were the countrymen of the same Suwarrow who 
 had beaten the French out of all Buonaparte's 
 Lombard conquests, and the first general battle 
 would show what sort of enemies the Russians 
 were. How much of this statement is true we 
 know not : it was openly made at the time in one 
 of Buonaparte's bulletins — and, what is of more 
 moment, he appears to have acted on the belief 
 that Savary told the truth. Having, ere he re- 
 ceived it, advanced several leagues beyond the 
 chosen field of battle, near Austerlitz, he forth- 
 with retreated on that position, with a studied 
 semblance of confusion. The Czar sent a young 
 aide-de-camp to return the compliment carried by 
 Savary; and this messenger jfound the French 
 soldiery actively engaged in fortifying their posi- 
 tion — the very position which their Emperor had 
 all along d.etermined to occupy. The account of 
 what the young Russian saw in the French lines 
 gave, as Napoleon wished, a new stimulus to the 
 presumption of his enemy ; and, having made the 
 preparations above described, he calmly expected 
 the consequences of their rashness and inexpe- 
 rience. 
 
 On the 1st of December he beheld the com- 
 mencement of those false movements which he 
 had desired and anticipated. On seeing the 
 Russians begin to descend from the heights, on 
 w^hich they might have lain in safety until the 
 Archdukes could come to swell their array with 
 the forces in Bohemia and Hungary, Napoleon 
 
 VOL. I. y
 
 322 NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE. [Dec. 2, 
 
 did not repress his rapturous joy : "In twenty- 
 four hours," said he, " that army is mine." 
 
 Shortly afterwards there arrived Count Haug- 
 witz, an envoy from the King of Prussia, who 
 heing introduced into the Emperor's presence, 
 signified that he was the bearer of an important 
 communication. " Count," said Napoleon, " you 
 may see that the outposts of the armies are almost 
 meeting — there will be a battle to-morrow — return 
 to Vienna, and deliver your message when it is 
 over." The envoy did not require two biddings. 
 Napoleon had all this year been protracting the 
 indecision of the Prussian counsels by holding 
 out the delusive hope, that, were Austria eftectu- 
 ally humbled, the imperial crown of Germany 
 might be transferred to the house of Branden- 
 burg. The old jealousies, thus artfully awakened, 
 had been sufficient to prevent a declaration of war 
 from immediately following on the violation of the 
 territory of Anspach and Bareuth. The interven- 
 tion of the Czar had, it is not to be doubted, at 
 length determined the Court of Berlin to close 
 their unworthy neutrality : — but Haugwitz had no 
 Prussian army in his train ; and, seeing what was 
 before him, he certainly did prudently to defer that 
 which had been so unwisely as well as ungenerously 
 ])ut off from month to month, for one day more. 
 
 At one o'clock in the morning of the 2d of De- 
 cember, Napoleon, having slept for an hour by a 
 watch-fire, got on horseback, and proceeded to 
 reconnoitre the front of his position. He wished 
 to do so without being recognised, but the soldiery 
 penetrated the secret, and, lighting great fires of 
 straw all along the line, received him from post to 
 
 I
 
 1805.] AUSTERLITZ. 323 
 
 post with shouts of enthusiasm. Tliey reminded 
 liim that this was the anniversary of his corona- 
 tion, and assured him they would celebrate the 
 day in a manner worthy of its glory. " Only pro- 
 mise us," cried an old grenadier, " that you will 
 keep yourself out of the fire." " I will do so," 
 answered Napoleon, " I shall be with the reserve 
 zintil you need us.''' This pledge, which so com- 
 pletely ascertains the mutual confidence of the 
 leader and his soldiers, he repeated in a procla- 
 mation issued at daybreak. The sun rose with 
 uncommon brilliancy: on many an after-day the 
 French soldiery hailed a similar dawn with ex- 
 ultation as the sure omen of victory, and " the 
 Sun of Austerlitz" has passed into a proverb. 
 
 The Russian General-in-Chief, KutusoflP, fell 
 into the snare laid for him, and sent a large di- 
 vision of his army to turn the right of the French. 
 The troops detached for this purpose met with 
 unexpected resistance from Davoust, and were 
 held in check at Raygern. Napoleon immedi- 
 ately seized the opportunity. They had left a 
 deep gap in the line, and upon that space Soult 
 forthwith poured a force, which entirely des- 
 troyed the communication between the Russian 
 centre and left. The Czar perceived the fatal 
 consequences of this movement, and his guards 
 rushed to beat back Soult. It was on an emi- 
 nence, called the hill of Pratzen, that the encounter 
 took place. The Russians drove the French in- 
 fantry before them : Napoleon ordered Bessieres 
 to hurry with the imperial guard to their rescue. 
 The Russians were in some disorder from the im- 
 patience of victory. They resisted sternly, but 
 
 Y 2
 
 324 NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE. [Dec. 15, 
 
 were finally broken, and fled. The Grand Duke 
 Constantine, who had led them gallantly, escaped 
 by the fleetness of his horse. 
 
 The French centre now advanced, and the 
 charges of its cavalry under Murat were decisive. 
 The Emperors of Russia and Germany beheld 
 from the heights of Austerlitz the total ruin of 
 their centre, as they had already of their left. 
 Their right wing had hitherto contested well 
 against all the impetuosity of Lannes : but Napo- 
 leon could now gather round them on all sides, 
 and, his artillery plunging incessant fire on them 
 from the heights, they at length found it impossi- 
 ble to hold their ground. They were forced down 
 into a hollow, where some small frozen lakes 
 offered the only means of escape from the closing 
 cannonade. The French broke the ice about them 
 by a storm of shot, and nearly 20,000 men died 
 on the spot, some swept away by the artillery, the 
 greater part drowned. Buonaparte, in his bulletin, 
 compares the horrid spectacle of this ruin to the 
 catastrophe of the Turks at Aboukir, when " the 
 sea was covered with turbans." It was with great 
 difficulty that the two emperors rallied some frag- 
 ments of tlieir armies around them, and effected 
 their retreat. Twenty thousand prisoners, forty 
 pieces of artillery, and all the standards of the 
 imperial guard of Russia, remained with the con- 
 queror. Such was the battle of Austerlitz; — or, 
 as the French soldiery delighted to call it, " the 
 battle of the emperors." 
 
 I'he Prussian envoy now returned, and pre- 
 sented to Napoleon his master's congratulations 
 on the victory thus achieved. The Emperor
 
 1805.] TREATY OF PRESBURG. 325 
 
 whispered to Haugwitz, " Here is a message, of 
 which circumstances have altered the address." 
 Frederick-WiUiam, however, had 150,000 men 
 under arms, and it by no means suited Napoleon's 
 views to provoke him to extremities at this mo- 
 ment. He entered into a treaty with Haugwitz ; 
 and Prussia was bribed to remain quiescent, by a 
 temptation which she wanted virtue to resist. The 
 French Emperor offered her Hanover, provided she 
 would oppose no obstacle to any other arrange- 
 ments which he might find it necessary to form : 
 and the house of Brandenburg did not blush to 
 accept at his hands the paternal inheritance of the 
 royal family of England. 
 
 The Austrian, understanding how Prussia was 
 disposed of, perceived too clearly that further re- 
 sistance was hopeless ; and negotiations immedi- 
 ately begun. 
 
 The haughty Emperor of Germany repaired to 
 the French head-quarters. He was received at 
 the door of a miserable hut. " Such," said Buo- 
 naparte, " are the palaces you have compelled me 
 to occupy for these two months." " You have 
 made such use of them," answered Francis, " that 
 you ought not to complain of their accommoda- 
 tion." 
 
 The humiliated sovereign, having ere this ob- 
 tained an armistice for himself, demanded of Na- 
 poleon that the Czar might be permitted to with- 
 draw in safety to his own states. To this the con- 
 queror assented : and on the 6th of December the 
 Russians commenced their retreat. 
 
 The definitive treaty with Francis was signed at 
 Presburs on the 15th of December, another with
 
 S26 NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE. [1805. 
 
 Prussia on the 26th, at Vienna : — and the terms of 
 both, arranged, on Napoleon's side, by Talleyrand, 
 corresponded with the signal and decisive events of 
 the campaign. 
 
 Austria yielded the Venetian territories to the 
 kingdom of Italy : her ancient possessions of the 
 Tyrol and Voralberg were transferred to Bavaria, 
 to remunerate that elector for the part he had taken 
 in the war; Wirtemberg, having also adopted the 
 French side, received recompense of the same kind 
 at the expense of the same power ; and both of 
 these electors w^ere advanced to the dignity of kings. 
 Bavaria received Anspach and Bareuth from Prus- 
 sia, and, in return, ceded Berg, which was erected 
 into a grand duchy, and conferred, in sovereignty, 
 on Napoleon's brother-in-law% Murat. Finally, 
 Prussia added Hanover to her dominions, in return 
 for the cession of Anspach and Bareuth, and ac- 
 quiescence in the other arrangements above-men- 
 tioned. 
 
 Eugene Beauharnois, son of Josephine, and Vice- 
 roy of Italy, received in marriage the eldest daughter 
 of the new king of Bavaria : this being the first 
 occasion on which Napoleon manifested openly his 
 desire to connect his family with the old sovereign 
 houses of Europe. It was announced at the same 
 time, that in case the Emperor should die without 
 male issue, tlic crown of Italy would descend to 
 Eugene. 
 
 Other events of the same character now crowded 
 on the scene. Tlie king, or rather the queen of 
 Naples, had not failed, during tlie recent campaign, 
 to manifest the old aversion to the French cause. 
 St. Cyr's army, which on the first rupture of the
 
 1805.] JOSEPH BUONAPARTE KING OF NAPLES. 327 
 
 peace of Amiens had occupied the seaports of that 
 kingdom, being called into the north of Italy to 
 reinforce Massena against the Archduke Charles, 
 an Anglo-Russian expedition soon landed in Na- 
 ples, and were welcomed cordially by the court. 
 Napoleon, immediately after the battle of Auster- 
 litz, issued a proclamation, declaring that " the 
 royal house of Naples had ceased to reign for 
 ever." On hearing of the decisive battle, and the 
 retreat of the Czar, the English and Russians eva- 
 cuated the Neapolitan territories on the mainland 
 of Italy. Joseph Buonaparte conducted a French 
 army towards the frontier ; the court passed over 
 into Sicily ; and Joseph was proclaimed King of 
 Naples. 
 
 The King of Sweden, rushing as hastily and in- 
 considerately as he of Naples into the war of 1805, 
 landed with a small army in Germany, and besieged 
 Hamelen, a fortress of Hanover, where Bernadotte 
 had left a strong garrison. This movement, had 
 Prussia broken her neutrality, might have been of 
 high importance to the general cause ; as events 
 turned out, it was fruitless. The Swedes raised 
 their siege in confusion, on receiving the news of 
 Austerlitz; and Napoleon from that hour medi- 
 tated the dethronement of the dynasty of Gustavus 
 — but this object was not yet within reach. 
 
 The Principalities of Lucca, Massa-Carrara, and 
 Garfagnana, were now conferred on Napoleon's 
 sister, Eliza (Madame Bacciochi) : on Pauline, the 
 younger sister, who, after the death of General Le- 
 clerc, had married the Prince Borghese, the sove- 
 reignty of Guastalla was in like manner bestowed. 
 
 The Batavian republic had for years been in
 
 328 NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE. [1805. 
 
 effect enslaved by France. On pretence that her 
 leading men, however, still yearned after the al- 
 liance of England, and thwarted him in his designs 
 on the commerce of that great enemy, Napoleon 
 now resolved to take away even the shadow of 
 Dutch independence. The Batavian Senate were 
 commanded to ask Louis Buonaparte for their 
 king ; and these republicans submitted with the 
 better grace, because the personal character of 
 Louis was amiable, and since Holland must be an 
 appendage to France, it seemed probable that the 
 connection might be rendered the less galling in 
 many circumstances, were a prince of Napoleon's 
 own blood constituted her natural guardian. Louis 
 liad married the beautiful Hortense-Fanny deBeau- 
 harnois, daughter of Josephine — so, that, by this 
 act, two members of the imperial house were at 
 once elevated to royalty. — They began their reign 
 at the Hague in May, 1806. 
 
 Another great consequence of Austerlitz remains 
 to be mentioned. The Kings of Wirtemberg and 
 Bavaria, the Grand Duke of Berg, and other sove- 
 reigns of the West of Germany, were now asso- 
 ciated together in a close alliance under the style 
 of the Confederation of the Rhine : Napoleon added 
 to his other titles that of Protector of this confede- 
 racy ; and the princes of the league were bound 
 to place GO, 000 soldiers at his command. 
 
 Finally, it was on his return from the triumph of 
 Austerlitz, that Napoleon trampled down the last 
 traces of the revolutionary organization in France, 
 by creating a new order of nobility. Talleyrand 
 became Prince of Benevento, Bernadotte, of Ponte 
 Corvo, Berthier, of Neufchatel; the most distin-
 
 1806.] NEW NOBILITY. 329 
 
 guished of the Marshals received the title of Duke, 
 and a long array of Counts of the Empire filled the 
 lower steps of the throne. 
 
 These princedoms and dukedoms were accompa- 
 nied with grants of extensive estates in the countries 
 which the French arms had conquered; and the 
 great feudatories of the new empire accordingly 
 bore titles not domestic, but foreign. In every- 
 thing it was the plan of Napoleon to sink the me- 
 mory of the Bourbon Monarchy, and revive the 
 image of Charlemagne, Emperor of the West.
 
 ( 330 ) [1806. 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 Dkcontent of Prussia — Death of Pitt — Negotiation of 
 Lords Yarmouth and Lauderdale — broken off- — Murder 
 of Pabn,thebookseller — Prussia declares War — Buona- 
 parte heads the Army — Naumburg taken — Battle of 
 Jena — Napoleon enters Berlin — Fall of Magdeburg, 
 Sfc. — Humiliation of Prussia — Buonaparte's cruelty to 
 the Duke of Brunswick — his rapacity and oppression in 
 Prussia. 
 
 The establishment of tlie Confederation of the 
 Rhine rendered Napoleon, in effect, sovereign of 
 a large part of Germany ; and seemed to have so 
 totally revolutionized Central Europe, that Francis 
 of Austria declared the Imperial Constitution at an 
 end. He retained the title of Emperor as sove- 
 reign of his own hereditary dominions ; but " The 
 Holy Roman Empire," having lasted full one thou- 
 sand years, was declared to be no more ; and of 
 its ancient influence the representative was to be 
 sought for not at Vienna, l)ut at Paris. 
 
 The vacillating coiut of Berlin heard with much 
 apprehension of the formation of tlie Rhenish con- 
 federacy ;* and with deep resentment of its imme- 
 
 ♦ Published 27th July, 1806.
 
 1806.] DISCONTENT OF PRUSSIA. 331 
 
 diate consequence, the dissolution of the Germanic 
 Empire. The house of Brandenburg had con- 
 sented to the humihation of Francis in the hope of 
 succeeding, at the next election, to the imperial 
 crown so long worn by the princes of Austria : and 
 now, not only was that long-cherished hope for ever 
 dispelled, but it appeared that Napoleon had laid 
 the foundation of a new system, under which the in- 
 fluence of the house of Brandenburg must, in all 
 probability, be overruled far more effectually than 
 it ever had been, of recent times, by the imperial 
 prerogative of Austria. 
 
 The only method of counteracting the consolida- 
 tion of French power all over Germany, seemed 
 to be that of creating another confederacy in the 
 northern circles, capable of balancing the league 
 of the Rhine. The elector of Saxony, however, 
 perceived that Napoleon was not likely to acquiesce 
 in the realization of this scheme ; and his Minis- 
 ter at Berlin continued to decline acceding to the 
 Northern alliance. The Prince of Hesse Cassel 
 took a similar view of the case ; but acted with a 
 degree of vacillation worthy of the late conduct of 
 Prussia herself, refusing on the one hand to em- 
 brace the confederation proposed by the cabinet 
 of Berlin, and yet declining, on the other, to form 
 part of the Rhenish league, to which effect Buo- 
 naparte had frequently and urgently invited this 
 elector. In the reluctance, however, of these 
 princes, Prussia saw nothing but the determination 
 of Napoleon to suppress, in the beginning, any 
 such confederation of the Northern German States 
 as had been contemplated ; and irritation and jea- 
 lousy from day to day increased.
 
 332 NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE. [1806. 
 
 The relations of France and Prussia continued 
 in this dubious state, until the Cabinet of Berlin 
 learned some particulars of a negotiation between 
 Napoleon and the English Government, which 
 took place in the summer of 1806. 
 
 Mr. Pitt, who despaired of opposing Buona- 
 parte on the continent after Marengo, did not 
 long survive the disastrous intelligence of Aus- 
 terlitz. Worn out and broken by the endless 
 anxieties of his situation, not even the glorious 
 tidings of Trafalgar could revive the sinking spirit 
 of this great minister. He died on the 23d of 
 January, 1806, and was succeeded in the govern- 
 ment by Mr. Fox, the same statesman who had, 
 throughovit every variety of fortune, arraigned his 
 conduct of the war as imbecile and absurd, and 
 who all along professed his belief that in the 
 original quarrel between Great Britain and revo- 
 lutionized France, the blame lay with his own 
 country, and above all with Mr. Pitt. 
 
 The personal intercourse which took place be- 
 tween Fox and Napoleon, during the peace of 
 Amiens, has already been alluded to. It was 
 calculated to make all men regard the chances of 
 a solid peace between France and England as in- 
 creased by the event wliich transferred the reins 
 of government, in the latter country, into the 
 hands of tlie illustrious opponent of Mr. Pitt. 
 But the peculiar feelings of Enghsli politicians 
 have seldom been understood by foreigners — never 
 more widely misunderstood than by Buonaparte. 
 When Fox visited him, as First Consul, at the 
 Tuilleries, he complained that the English Go- 
 vernment countenanced the assassins who were
 
 1806.] DEATH OF MR. PITT. 333 
 
 plotting against his life. Mr. Fox, forgetting all 
 his party prejudice when the honour of his country 
 was assailed, answered in terms such as Napoleon's 
 own military bluntness could not have surpassed — 
 " Clear your head of that nonsense." And now, 
 in like manner, Mr. Fox, once placed in the re- 
 sponsible management of his country's interests, 
 was found, not a little to the surprise and disap- 
 pointment of Napoleon, about as close and watch- 
 ful a negotiator as he could have had to deal with 
 in Pitt himself. The English minister employed 
 on this occasion, first, Lord Yarmouth,* one of 
 the detenus of 1803, and afterwards Lord Lau- 
 derdale. For some time strong hopes of a satis- 
 factory conclusion were entertained; but, in the 
 end, the negotiation broke up, on the absolute 
 refusal of Napoleon to concede Malta to England, 
 unless England would permit him to conquer Si- 
 cily from the unfortunate Sovereign whose Italian 
 kingdom had already been transferred to his bro- 
 ther Joseph. Mr. Fox was lost to his country in 
 September, 1806; and Napoleon ever afterwards 
 maintained that, had that great statesman lived, 
 the negotiation would have been resumed, and 
 pushed to a successful close. Meantime, however, 
 the diplomatic intercourse of the Tuilleries and St. 
 James's was at an end, and the course which the 
 negotiation had taken transpired necessarily in 
 Parliament. 
 
 It then came out that the article of Hanover had 
 not formed one of the chief difficulties ; — in a word. 
 Napoleon had signified that, although the Elector- 
 ate had been ceded by him to Prussia under the 
 treaty of Vienna, at the close of 1805, Prussia 
 * Now Marquis of Hertford.
 
 334 NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE. [1806. 
 
 yielding to him in return the principalities of An- 
 spach, Bareuth and Neufchatel, still, if the English 
 Government would agree to abandon Sicily, he, on 
 his part, would offer no opposition to the resump- 
 tion of Hanover by its rightful sovereign, George 
 III. This contemptuous treachery being ascer- 
 tained at Berlin, the ill-smothered rage of the 
 court and nation at length burst into a flame. 
 The beautiful Queen of Prussia, and Prince Louis, 
 brother to the king, two characters whose high 
 and romantic qualities rendered them the de- 
 light and pride of the nation, were foremost to 
 nourish and kindle the popular indignation. The 
 young nobility and gentry rose in tumult, broke 
 the windows of the ministers who were supposed 
 to lean to the French interest, and openly whetted 
 their sabres on the threshold-stone of Napoleon's 
 ambassador. The lovely Queen appeared in the 
 imiform of the regiment which bore her name, and 
 rode at its head. The enthusiasm of the people 
 thus roused might be directed, but could hardly 
 be repressed. 
 
 Nor was it in Prussia alone that such sentiments 
 prevailed. Split as Germany has for ages been 
 into many independent states, there has always, 
 nevertheless, been felt, and acknowledged, a cer- 
 tain national unity of heart as well as head among 
 all tliat speak the German language : the dissolu- 
 tion of the empire was felt all over the land as a 
 common wrong and injury : Napoleon's insulting 
 treatment of Prussia was resented as indicative of 
 his resolution to reduce that power also (the only 
 German power now capable of opposing any resist- 
 ance to French aggression) to a pitch of humiliation
 
 1806.] MURDER OF PALM. 335 
 
 as low as tliat in which Austria was ah-eady sunk ; 
 and, lastly, another atrocious deed of the French 
 Emperor — a deed as darkly unpardonable as the 
 murder of D'Enghien — was perpetrated at this 
 very crisis, and arrayed against him, throughout 
 all Germany, every feeling, moral and political, 
 which could be touched either by the crimes or 
 the contumelies of a foreign tyrant. 
 
 Palm, a bookseller of the free city of Naum- 
 burg, having published a pamphlet in which the 
 ambition of Napoleon was arraigned, a party of 
 French gensd'armes passed the frontier, and seized 
 the unsuspecting citizen, exactly as the Duke 
 D'Enghien had been arrested at Ettingen, and Sir 
 George Rumbold at Hamburg, the year before. 
 The bookseller was tried for a libel against Napo- 
 leon, at Braunau, before a French Court Martial ; 
 found guilty, condemned to death, and shot imme- 
 diately, in pursuance of his sentence. It is need- 
 less to dwell upon this outrage : the death of 
 D' Enghien has found advocates or palliators — this 
 mean murder of a humble tradesman, who neither 
 was nor ever had been a subject either of France 
 or Buonaparte, has been less fortunate. 
 
 The Emperor of Russia once more visited Ber- 
 lin, when the feelings of Prussia, and indeed of 
 all the neighbouring states, were in this fever of 
 excitement. He again urged Frederick-William 
 to take up arms in the common cause, and offered 
 to back him with all the forces of his own great 
 empire. The English Government, taking advan- 
 tage of the same crisis, sent Lord Morpeth* to 
 Berlin, with offers of pecuniary supplies — about 
 * Now Earl of Carlisle.
 
 336 NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE. [1806. 
 
 the acceptance of which, however the anxiety of 
 Prussia on the subject of Hanover created some 
 difficulty. Lastly, Buonaparte, well informed of 
 what was passing in Berlin, and desirous, since 
 war must be, to hurry Frederick into the field ere 
 the armies of the Czar could be joined with his, 
 now poured out in the Moniteur such abuse on the 
 persons and characters of the Queen, Prince Louis, 
 and every illustrious patriot throughout Prussia, 
 that the general wrath could no longer be held in 
 check. Warlike preparations of every kind filled 
 the kingdom during August and September. On 
 the first of October the Prussian Minister at Paris 
 presented a note to Talleyrand, demanding, among 
 other things, that the formation of a Confederacy 
 in the North of Germany should no longer be 
 thwarted by French interference, and that the 
 French troops within the territories of the Rhenish 
 League should recross the Rhine into France, by 
 the 8th of the same month of October. 
 
 But Napoleon was already in person on the Ger- 
 man side of the Rhine ; and his answer to the Prus- 
 sian note was a general order to his own troops, in 
 which he called on them to observe in what manner 
 a German sovereign still dared to insult the soldiers 
 of Austerlitz. 
 
 1'he conduct of Prussia, in thus rushing into 
 hostilities, without waiting for the advance of the 
 Russians, was as rash as her liolding back from 
 Austria, during tlie campaign of Austerlitz, had 
 been cowardly. As if determined to profit by no 
 lesson, the Prussian council also directed their 
 army to advance towards the French, instead of 
 lying on their own frontier — a repetition of the
 
 1806.] PRUSSIA DECLARES WAR. 337 
 
 great leading blunder of the Austrians in the pre- 
 ceding year. The Prussian army accordingly in- 
 vaded the Saxon provinces, and the Elector, see- 
 ing his country treated as rudely as that of Bavaria 
 had been on a similar occasion by the Austrians, 
 and wanting the means to withdraw his own troops 
 as the Bavarian had succeeded in doing under like 
 provocation, was compelled to accept the alliance 
 which the Cabinet of Berlin urged on him, and to 
 join his troops with those of the power by which 
 he had been thus insulted and wronged. 
 
 No sooner did Napoleon know that the Prus- 
 sians had advanced into the heart of Saxony, than 
 he formed the plan of his campaign : and they, per- 
 sisting in their advance, and taking up their posi- 
 tion finally on the Saale, afforded him, as if stu- 
 diously, the means of repeating, at their expense, 
 the very manoeuvres which had ruined the Aus- 
 trians in the preceding campaign. In a word, lie 
 perceived that the Prussian army was extended 
 upon too wide a line, and the consequent possibi- 
 lity of destroying it in detail. He further dis- 
 covered that the enemy had all his principal stores 
 and magazines at Naumburg, to the rearward, not 
 of his centre, but of his extreme right ; and re- 
 solved to commence operations by an attempt to 
 turn the flank, and seize those magazines, ere the 
 main body of the Prussians, lying at Weimar, could 
 be aware of his movement. The French came for- 
 wards in three great divisions ; the corps of Soult 
 and Ney, in the direction of Hof ; Murat, Berna- 
 dotte and Davoust, towards Saalburg and Schleitz ; 
 and Lannes and Augereau upon Coburg and Saal- 
 VOL. I. z
 
 338 NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE. [Oct. 14, 
 
 field. These last generals were opposed sternly, 
 at Saalfield, by the corps of Prince Louis of Prus- 
 sia. This brave young officer imprudently aban- 
 doned the bridge over the Saale, which he might 
 have defended with success, and came out into the 
 open plain, where his troops were overpowered 
 by the French impetuosity. He himself, fighting 
 hand to hand with a subaltern, was desired to sur- 
 render, and replying by a sabre cut, was immedi- 
 ately struck down with a mortal thrust. The 
 Prussians fled ; the bridge, which ought to have 
 defended, gave the French access to the country 
 behind the Saale. The flank of the Prussian posi- 
 tion was turned : the French army passed entirely 
 round them ; Napoleon seized Naumburg, and blew 
 up the magazines there, — announcing, for the first 
 time, by this explosion, to the King of Prussia 
 and his Generalissimo, the Duke of Brunswick, 
 that he was in their rear. 
 
 From this moment the Prussians were isolated, 
 and cut off from all their resources, as completely 
 as the army of Mack was at Ulm, when the French 
 had passed the Danube and overrun Suabia. The 
 Duke of Brunswick hastily endeavoured to concen- 
 trate his forces for the purpose of cutting his 'way 
 back again to the frontier which he had so rashly 
 abandoned. Napoleon, meantime, had posted his 
 divisions so as to watch the chief passages of the 
 Saale, and expected, in confidence, the assault of his 
 outwitted opponent. It was now that he found lei- 
 sure to answer tlie manifesto of Frederick William, 
 which had reached Paris a day or two after he him- 
 self quitted that capital for the camp. His letter^
 
 1806.] BATTLE OF JENA. 339 
 
 dated at Gera, is written in the most elaborate style 
 of insult. The King of Prussia (said he,) had sent 
 him a silly pamphlet of twenty pages, in very bad 
 French — such a pamphlet as the English ministry 
 were in the habit of commanding their hirelinor 
 scribblers to put forth — but he acquitted the King 
 of having read this performance. He was ex- 
 tremely anxious to live on the most friendly terms 
 watli his " good brother," and begged him, as the 
 first token of equal good will, to dismiss the coun- 
 sellors who had hurried him into the present unjust 
 and unequal war. Such was the language of this 
 famous note. Napoleon, now sure of his prey, 
 desired his own generals to observe how accurately 
 he had already complied with one of the requests 
 of the Prussian Manifesto — " The French army," 
 said he, " has done as it was bidden. This is the 
 8th of October, and we have evacuated the terri- 
 tories of the Confederation of the Rhine." 
 
 The Prussian King understood well, on learning 
 the fall of Naumburg, the imminent danger of his 
 position ; and his army was forthwith set in motion, 
 in two great masses ; the former, where he was in 
 person present, advancing towards Naumburg ; the 
 latter attempting, in like manner, to force their 
 passage through the French line in the neighbour- 
 hood of Jena. The King's march was arrested at 
 Auerstadt by Davoust, who, after a severely con- 
 tested action, at length repelled the assailant. Na- 
 poleon himself, meanwhile, was engaged with the 
 other great body of the Prussians. Arriving on 
 the evening of the 13th October at Jena, he per- 
 ceived that the enemy were ready to attempt the 
 
 z 2
 
 340 NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE. [Oct. 14, 
 
 advance next morning, while his own heavy train 
 were still six-and-thirty hours' march in his rear. 
 Not discouraged with this adverse circumstance, 
 the Emperor laboured all night in directing and 
 encouraging his soldiery to cut a road through 
 the rocks, and draw up by that means such light 
 guns as he had at command to a position, on a 
 lofty plateau in front of Jena, where no man 
 could have expected beforehand that any artillery 
 whatever should be planted, and where, accord- 
 ingly, the effect even of a small park proved more 
 decisive than that of a much larger one might have 
 been under other circumstances. Buonaparte spent 
 all the night among the men, offering large sums 
 of gold for every piece that should be dragged to 
 the position, and continually reminding his followers 
 that the Prussians were about to fight not for ho- 
 nour, but for safety, — that they were already iso- 
 lated as completely as Mack's army had been at 
 Ulm, and on stern resistance must needs submit to 
 the fate of the Austrians. Lannes commanded the 
 centre ; Augereau the right ; Soult the left ; and 
 Murat the reserve and cavalry. 
 
 Soult had to sustain the first assault of the Prus- 
 sians, which was violent — and sudden; for the mist 
 lay so thick on the field that the armies were within 
 half gunshot of each other ere the sun and wind 
 rose and discovered them ; and on that instant 
 MoUendorf charged. 'J'he battle was contested 
 well for some time on this point; but at length 
 Ney appeared in the rear of the Em})eror with a 
 fresh division ; and then the French centre ad- 
 vanced to a general charge, before which the Prus- 
 sians were forced to retire. They moved for some
 
 1806.] BATTLE OF JENA. 341 
 
 space in good order ; but Murat now poured his 
 masses of cavalry on them, storm after storm, with 
 such rapidity and vehemence that their route be- 
 came inevitable. It ended in the complete breaking 
 up of the army — liorse and foot all flying together, 
 in the confusion of panic, upon the road to Weimar. 
 At that point the fugitives met and mingled with 
 their brethren flying, as confusedly as themselves, 
 from Auerstadt. In the course of this disastrous 
 day 20,000 Prussians were killed or taken; 300 
 guns, twenty generals, and sixty standards. The 
 Commander-in-Chief, the Duke of Brunswick, 
 being wounded in the face with a grape-shot, was 
 carried early off' the field, never to recover. The 
 loss of superior officers on the Prussian side was 
 so great, that of an army which, on the evening 
 of the 13th of October, mustered not less than 
 150,000, but a few regiments were ever able to act 
 in concert for some time after the 14th. The 
 various routed divisions roamed about the country, 
 seeking separately the means of escape : they were 
 in consequence destined to fall an easy prey. Mol- 
 lendorf and the Prince of Orange-Fulda laid down 
 their arms at Erfurt. General Kalkreuth's corps 
 was overtaken and surrounded among the Hartz 
 Mountains: Prince Eugene of Wirtemburg, and 
 16,000 men, surrendered to Bernadotte at Halle. 
 The Prince of Hohenlohe at length drew together 
 not less than 50,000 of these wandering soldiers, 
 and threw himself, at their head, into Magdeburg. 
 But it turned out that that great fortress had been 
 stripped of all its stores for the service of the 
 Duke of Brunswick's army before Jena. Hohen- 
 lohe, therefore, was compelled to retreat towards
 
 342 NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE. [Nov. 
 
 the Oder. He was defeated in a variety of skir- 
 mishes ; and at length, finding himself devoid of 
 ammunition or provisions, laid down his arms at 
 Prenzlow; 20,000 surrendered with the Prince. 
 His rear, consisting of about 10,000, under the com- 
 mand of the celebrated General Blucher, were so far 
 behind as to render it possible for them to attempt 
 escape. Their heroic leader traversed the country 
 with them for some time unbroken, and sustained 
 a variety of assaults, from far superior numbers, 
 with the most obstinate resolution. By degrees, 
 however, the French, under Soult, hemmed him in 
 on one side, Murat on the other, and Bernadotte 
 appeared close behind him. He was thvis forced 
 to throw himself into Lubeck, where a severe ac- 
 tion was fought in the streets of the town, on the 
 6th of November. The Prussian, in this battle, 
 lost 4000 prisoners, besides the slain and wounded : 
 he retreated to Schwerta, and there, it being im- 
 possible for him to go farther without violating the 
 neutrality of Denmark, on the morning of the 7th, 
 Blucher at length laid down his arms — having ex- 
 hibited a specimen of conduct and valour such as 
 certainly had not been displayed by any of his su- 
 periors in the campaign. 
 
 The strong fortresses of the Prussian monarchy 
 made as ineffectual resistance as the armies in the 
 field. In how far the charge of actual treacliery, 
 brought then, and still continued, against the com- 
 manders of those places, be just, we know not: but 
 tlie fact is certain that the Governors of Spandau, 
 Stettin, Custrin, Hamelen, and Magdeburg itself, 
 yielded successively to the French Generals, under 
 circumstances which roused the indignant suspicion
 
 1806.] PRUSSIA CONQUERED. 343 
 
 of the Prussian people, as well as the soldiery and 
 their unfortunate King. Buonaparte, in person, en- 
 tered Berlin on the 25th of October: and before 
 the end of November, except Konigsberg — where 
 the King himself had found refuge, and gathered 
 round him a few thousand troops, the sad relics of 
 an army which had been considered as not unable 
 to withstand the whole power of France, — and a 
 few less important fortresses, the whole of the 
 German possessions of the house of Brandenburg 
 were in the hands of the conqueror. Louis Buo- 
 naparte, King of Holland, meanwhile, had advanced 
 into Westphalia, and occupied that territory also, 
 with great part of Hanover, East Friesland, Emb- 
 den, and the dominions of Hesse-Cassel. 
 
 Thus in the course of a few short weeks, was 
 the proud fabric of the Prussian monarchy levelled 
 with the ground. The government being of a 
 strictly military character, when the army, the 
 pride and strength of the nation, disappeared, 
 every bond of union among the various provinces 
 of the crown seemed to be at once dissolved. 
 To account for the unexampled rapidity of such a 
 downfall, it must be remembered, first, that the 
 Prussian states, many of them the fruits of recent 
 military conquest, were held together by little but 
 the name of the great Frederick, and the terror 
 of the highly disciplined force which he had be- 
 queathed to his successors ; that, in a word, they 
 had not yet had time to be blended and melted 
 thoroughly into a national whole : secondly, that 
 Prussia had rushed into this war not only with im- 
 prudent rashness, but with the stain of dishonour 
 on her hands. The acceptance of Hanover, as a
 
 344 NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE [1806. 
 
 bribe, from the French despot, and the hard and 
 brazen reluctance to part with that ill-gotten spoil, 
 even when the preservation of peace with France 
 seemed liopeless — these circumstances, together 
 with the mean desertion of Austria during the pre- 
 ceding campaign of Austerlitz — had, in effect, in- 
 jured the government deeply and degradingly in 
 the opinion of its own subjects, as well as of other 
 nations : but, thirdly, the imbecile conduct of the 
 chief Prussian officers, in the campaign of Jena, 
 was as little likely to have been foreseen or ex- 
 pected, as the pusillanimous, if not treaclierous, 
 baseness of those who, after the army was defeated, 
 abandoned so easily a chain of the best fortresses 
 in Europe. 
 
 The personal character of King Frederick Wil- 
 liam was never calumniated, even when the mea- 
 sures of his government were most generally and 
 most justly exposed to suspicion and scorn. On 
 the contrary, the misfortunes of this virtuous sove- 
 reign and his family were heard of with unmixed 
 regret and compassion. 
 
 I'hese sentiments, and all sentiments likely in 
 their consequences to be injurious to the cause of 
 Napoleon, the conduct of the Conqueror in Prussia, 
 at this time of national humiliation and sorrow, was 
 well calculated to strengthen and confirm. The 
 Duke of IJrunswick, retiring wounded from Jena 
 to the capital of his own hereditary principality, 
 addressed a letter from thence to Napoleon, re- 
 questing that the territory of Brunswick might not 
 be confounded with that of Prussia, although he, 
 as an individual, had ap})eared in Prussian uniform 
 against him. Buonaparte answered with insolence
 
 1806.] IN BERLIN. 345 
 
 as well as harshness. He styled the Duke " Ge- 
 neral Brunswick," and said he was determined to 
 destroy his city, and displace his family for ever. 
 The brave, though unfortunate Duke, retired on 
 this to Altona, a Danish town, from which he meant 
 to embark for England ; but his wound being in- 
 flamed by these untimely movements, he died ere 
 a vessel could be prepared for him. His son, con- 
 sidering him as murdered, vowed eternal revenge 
 — and how he kept his vow, we shall see hereafter. 
 The Prussian nobihty and gentry were treated on 
 almost every occasion with like brutality. The 
 great Conqueror did not hesitate to come down 
 from his dignity for the petty pleasure of personally 
 insulting gentlemen, who had done him no injury 
 except that of being loyal to their own prince. 
 The exactions of the victorious military were be- 
 yond all former example of license ; and studied 
 contempt was everywhere mingled with their rapa- 
 city. It was now that the French laid the founda- 
 tion of that universal hatred with which the Prus- 
 sian nation, in the sequel, regarded them, and which 
 assumed everywhere the virulence of a private and 
 personal passion. 
 
 In justice to Buonaparte, a solitary instance of 
 generous conduct, which occurred ere he had been 
 long in Berlin, must be noticed. The Prince of 
 Hatzsfeld, continuing to reside in Berlin under his 
 protection, corresponded, nevertheless, with Ho- 
 henlohe, then in the field, and sent information of 
 the state and movements of the French army. One 
 of his letters fell into the hands of the French — the 
 Prince was arrested — his wife gained access to the 
 Emperor, and, ignorant of her husband's conduct,
 
 346 NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE. [1806. 
 
 spoke with the boldness of innocence in his favour. 
 He handed to her the Prince's letter ; and, con- 
 founded with the clearness of that evidence, she 
 fell on her knees in silence. " Put the paper in 
 the fire, madam," said Napoleon, " and there will 
 then be no proof." 
 
 Perhaps no part of Buonaparte's conduct at this 
 time gave more general disgust than his meanness 
 in robbing the funeral monument of Frederick the 
 Great, of his sword and orders. These unworthy 
 trophies he transmitted to Paris, along with the 
 best statues and pictures of the galleries of Berlin 
 and Potsdam, thus dealt with according to the ex- 
 ample of Lombardy and Venice.
 
 1806.] ( 347 ) 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 The Decrees of Berlin — Napoleon reneivs the campaign — 
 Warsaw taken — Enthusiasm of the Poles — Retreat of 
 the Russians — Battle of Pultusk — The French go into 
 winter quarters — Battle of Preuss Eylau — Taking of 
 Dantzick — Battle of Friedland — Armistice — Expedi- 
 tions of the English to Calabria, Constantinople , Egypt, 
 and Buenos Ayres — Peace of Tilsit. 
 
 NAroLEON had achieved the total humiliation of 
 the Prussian monarchy in a campaign of a week's 
 duration : yet severe as the exertions of his army 
 had been, and splendid his success, and late as the 
 season was now advanced, there ensued no pause 
 of inaction : the Emperor himself remained but a 
 few days in Berlin. 
 
 This brief residence, however, was distinguished 
 by the issue of the famous decrees of Berlin ; those 
 extraordinary edicts by which Buonaparte hoped 
 to sap the foundations of the power of England — 
 the one power which he had no means of assailing 
 by his apparently irresistible arms. 
 
 Napoleon declared the British Islands to be in a 
 state of blockade : any intercourse with that coun- 
 try was henceforth to be a crime ; all her citizens 
 found in any country in alliance with France to be 
 prisoners ; every article of English produce or ma- 
 nufacture, wherever discovered, to be confiscated.
 
 348 NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE. [1806. 
 
 In a word, wherever France had power, the shght- 
 est communication with England was henceforth to 
 be treason against the majesty of Napoleon ; and 
 every coast of Europe was to be lined with new 
 armies of douaniers and gens-d'armes, for the pur- 
 pose of carrying into effect what he called " the 
 continental system." 
 
 He had long meditated the organization of this 
 system, and embraced, as a favourable opportunity 
 for its promulgation, the moment which saw him 
 at length predominant in the North of Germany, 
 and thus, in effect, master of the whole coasts of 
 Europe from the mouth of the Oder round to the 
 Adriatic Gulf. The system, however, could not 
 be carried into effect, because from long habit the 
 manufactured goods and colonial produce of Britain 
 had come to be necessaries of life among every 
 civilized people of tlie world; and consequently 
 every private citizen found his own domestic com- 
 forts invaded by the decree, which avowedly aimed 
 only at the revenues of the English crown. Every 
 man, therefore, was under continual temptation, 
 each in his own sphere and method, to violate the 
 decrees of Berlin. The custom-house officers \yere 
 exposed to bribes which their virtue could not re- 
 sist. Even the most attached of Napoleon's own 
 functionaries connived at the universal spirit of 
 evasion — liis l)rotliers themselves, in their respec- 
 tive dominions, could not help sympathizing with 
 their sul)jects, and winking at the metliods of relief 
 to which they were led l)y necessity, the mother of 
 invention. The severe police, however, which was 
 formed everywhere as a necessary part of the ma- 
 chinery for carrying these edicts into execution —
 
 1806.] DECREES OF BERLIN. 349 
 
 the insolence of the innumerable spies and informers 
 whom they set in motion — and the actual depriva- 
 tion of usual comforts, in so far as it existed — all 
 these circumstances conspired to render the name 
 of the Berlin decrees odious throughout Europe 
 and in France itself. It may be added that the 
 original conception of Napoleon was grounded on 
 a mistaken opinion, to which, however, he always 
 clung — namely, that England derives all her 
 strength from her foreign commerce. Great as 
 that commerce was, and great as, in spite of him, 
 it continued to be, it never was anything but a 
 trifle when compared with the internal traffic and 
 resources of Great Britain — a country not less dis- 
 tinguished above other nations for its agricultural 
 industry, than for its commercial. 
 
 Napoleon received at Berlin a deputation of his 
 Senate, sent from Paris to congratulate him on 
 tlie successes of his campaign. To them he an- 
 nounced these celebrated decrees : he made them 
 the bearers of the trophies of his recent victories, 
 and, moreover, of a demand for the immediate 
 levying of 80,000 men, being the first conscription 
 for the year 1808 — that for the year 1807 having 
 l^een already anticipated. The subservient Senate 
 recorded and granted whatever their master pleased 
 to dictate ; but the cost of human life which Na- 
 poleon's ambition demanded had begun, ere this 
 time, to be seriously thought of in France. He, 
 meanwhile, prepared, without further delay, to 
 extinguish the feeble spark of resistance which 
 still lingered in a few garrisons of the Prussian 
 Monarchy, beyond the Oder ; and to meet, before 
 they could reach the soil of Germany, those Rus^
 
 350 NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE. [1806. 
 
 sian legions which were now advancing, too late, 
 to the assistance of Frederick William. That 
 unfortunate Prince sent Lucchesini to Berlin, to 
 open, if possible, a negotiation with the victorious 
 occupant of his capital and palace ; but Buonaparte 
 demanded Dantzick, and two other fortified towns, 
 as the price of even the briefest armistice ; and the 
 Italian envoy returned to inform the King, that no 
 hope remained for him except in the arrival of the 
 Russians. 
 
 Napoleon held in his hands the means of opening 
 his campaign with those allies of Prussia, under 
 circumstances involving his enemy in a new, and 
 probably endless train of difficulties. The Par- 
 tition of Poland — that great political crime, for 
 whicli every power that had a part in it has since 
 been severely, though none of them adequately 
 punished — had left the population of what had 
 once been a great and powerful kingdom, in a 
 state of discontent and irritation, of which, had 
 Napoleon been willing to make full use of it, the 
 fruits might have been more dangerous for the 
 Czar than any campaign against any foreign ene- 
 my. The French Emperor had but to announce 
 distinctly that his purpose was the restoration of 
 Poland as an independent state, and the whole 
 mass, of an eminently gallant and warlike popula- 
 tion, would have risen instantly at his call. But 
 Buonaparte was witliheld from resorting to this 
 effectual means of annoyance by various consider- 
 ations ; of wliich tlie cliief were these: first, he 
 could not emancipate Poland without depriving 
 Austria of a rich and important province, and con- 
 sequently provoking her once more into the field :
 
 1806.] THE POLES. 351 
 
 and secondly, he foresaw that the Russian Em- 
 peror, if threatened with the destruction of his 
 Pohsh territory and authority, would urge the war 
 in a very different manner from that which he was 
 likely to adopt while acting only as the ally of 
 Prussia. In a word, Napoleon was well aware of 
 the extent of the Czar's resources, and had no 
 wish at this time to give a character of irreme- 
 diable bitterness to their quarrel. 
 
 Though, however, he for these and other reasons 
 refrained from openly appealing in his own person 
 to the Poles as a nation, Buonaparte had no scru- 
 ple about permitting others to tamper, in his be- 
 half, with the justly indignant feelings of the 
 people. Some of the heroic leaders of the Poles, 
 in die struggles for their expiring independence, 
 had long been exiles in France — not a few of them 
 had taken service in her armies. These men were 
 allowed, and encouraged, to address themselves to 
 the body of their countrymen, in language which 
 could hardly fail to draw eager and enthusiastic 
 recruits to the French standard, and increase 
 mightily the perplexities of the Russian counsels. 
 Nor did Napoleon scruple to authorize the circu- 
 lation of an appeal of like tendency, bearing 
 falsely'^ the venerated signature of Kosciusko. 
 " Dear countrymen and friends," said the forgery, 
 " arise! the Great Nation is before you — Napo- 
 leon expects, and Kosciusko calls on you. We 
 are under the ^gis of the Monarch who van- 
 quishes difficulties as if by miracles, and the re- 
 
 * Kosciusko himself subsequently disavowed any knowledge 
 of the production.
 
 352 NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE. [Nov. 
 
 animation of Poland is too glorious an achievement 
 not to have been reserved for him by the Eternal." 
 Dombrouski and Wibichi, two Polish officers in 
 Buonaparte's own army, sent forward from Berlin, 
 on the 8th of the same month, a proclamation, 
 which commenced in these words: — " Poles! Na- 
 poleon, the Great, the Invincible, enters Poland 
 with an army of 300,000 men. Without wishing 
 to fathom the mystery of his views, let us strive 
 to merit his magnanimity. / ivill see (he has said 
 to us) whether you deserve to he a nation. Poles ! 
 it depends then on yourselves to exert a national 
 spirit, and possess a country. Your avenger, your 
 restorer is here. Crowd from all quarters to his 
 presence, as children in tears hasten to behold a 
 succouring fatlier. Present to him your hearts, 
 your arms. Rise to a man, and prove that you do 
 not grudge your blood to your country!" Lastly, 
 in one of Napoleon's own bulletins, the following 
 ominous sentences were permitted to appear : — 
 " Shall the Polish throne be re-established, and 
 shall the Great Nation secure for it respect and 
 independence ? Shall slie recal it to life from the 
 grave ? God only, who directs all human affairs, 
 can resolve this great mystery !" Thes'e appeals 
 produced various eager addresses from Poland — 
 and ]5uonaparte prepared to visit that country, 
 thougli not as lier lil)erator. 
 
 Before re-opening the great campaign, Buona- 
 j>arte received tlie su))missi()n and ex})huiation of 
 the Elector of Saxony, wlio truly stated that 
 Prussia liad forced liim to take part in the war. 
 The apology was accepted, and from this time the 
 Elector adhered to tlie League of the Rhine, and 
 
 I
 
 1806.] WARSAW TAKEN. 353 
 
 was a faithful ally of Napoleon. The Landgrave 
 of Hesse-Cassel had worse fortune. The answer 
 to all his applications was, that he had ceased to 
 reign. What use the Conqueror designed to make 
 of the territories thus confiscated, we shall pre- 
 sently see. The Saxon army, and that of Hesse- 
 Cassel, were both, however, at his disposal, and 
 they both accordingly were marched forwards, and 
 blended with the forces occupying Prussia. 
 
 The French, having invested Glogau, Breslau, 
 and Graudentz, and left detachments to urge these 
 sieges, moved towards the Polish frontier. Ge- 
 neral Bennigsen, with a considerable Russian 
 army, had advanced to overawe the dissatisfied 
 population, and was now at Warsaw. But the 
 march of the French van, under Murat, soon 
 alarmed him in these quarters. After some skir- 
 mishes of little moment the Russians retired be- 
 hind the Vistula, and Murat took possession of 
 the Polish metropolis on the 28 th of November. 
 On the 25th Napoleon himself had reached Posen, 
 and found himself surrounded by a population in 
 a high state of excitement and enthusiasm. The 
 ancient national dress reappeared : hope and ex- 
 ultation beamed in every countenance ; the old 
 nobles, quitting the solitary castles in which they 
 had been lamenting over the downfall of Poland, 
 crowded the levees of the Victor, and addressed 
 him in language which recalled the half-oriental 
 character and manners of their nation. " We 
 adore you," said the Palatine of Gnesna, " and 
 with confidence repose in you all our hopes, as 
 upon him who raises empires and destroys them, 
 and humbles the proud— the regenerator of our 
 
 VOL. I. A A
 
 354 NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE. [DeC. 26, 
 
 country, the legislator of the universe." " Al- 
 ready," said the President of the Council of Jus- 
 tice, " already our country is saved, for we adore 
 in your person the most just and the most pro- 
 found Solon. We commit our fate into your 
 hands, and implore the protection of the most 
 august Caesar." 
 
 Having largely recruited his armies with brave 
 Poles, who fancied him both a Solon and Caesar, 
 Napoleon now moved forwards. General Bennig- 
 sen found himself under the necessity of abandon- 
 ing first the line of the Vistula, and then that of 
 the Bug, and, the French still advancing in num- 
 bers not to be resisted by his division, at length 
 threw himself behind the river Wkra, where Ka- 
 minskoy, the Russian commander-in-chief, and 
 three other divisions of the army, had by this time 
 taken their ground. On the 23d of December 
 Napoleon reached and crossed the Wkra, and Ka- 
 minskoy ordered his whole army to fall back upon 
 the line of the Niemen. Bennigsen accordingly 
 retired towards Pultusk, Galitzin upon Golymin, 
 both followed by great bodies of the French, and 
 botli sustaining with imperturbable patience and 
 gallantry the severity of a march through pro- 
 bably the very worst roads in Europe, and of fre- 
 quent skirmishes with their pursuers. But the 
 minor divisions of D'Anrcp and Bexhouden re- 
 treated without keeping up the requisite commu- 
 nications with either Bennigsen or Galitzin, and 
 consequently suffered considerably, tliougli the 
 matter was grossly exaggerated in the French bul- 
 letins. 
 
 Bennigsen, in spite of Kaminskoy's orders to
 
 1806.] BATTLE OF PULTUSK. 355 
 
 retreat at all hazards, made a stand, and a most 
 gallant one at Pultusk. Having his left in that 
 town, and his right on a wood, the general con- 
 ceived his position to be too favourable for speedy 
 abandonment, and on the 2Gth of December ex- 
 pected the onset of Lannes, Davoust, and the im- 
 perial guard of France. They charged with their 
 usual impetuosity, and drove the Russian right 
 wing, under General Barclay de Tolly, out of the 
 wood ; but Bennigsen skilfully availed himself of 
 this occurrence ; by his orders Barclay de Tolly 
 retired much further than was necessary for his 
 own safety, and the French, advancing unguard- 
 edly, found themselves confronted on very unfa- 
 vourable ground with the Russian main body, 
 which had now been arranged on a new line of 
 battle, and of a battery of 120 guns, placed so as 
 to command their march with terrible efficacy. 
 The result was that the Russians lost 5000 in 
 killed and wounded, the French 8000 — one of their 
 wounded being Marshal Lannes himself; and the 
 French drew back from the hardly contested field 
 with such haste, that all next day the advancing 
 Cossacks sought in vain for their rear-guard. On 
 the same day, and with nearly as much success, 
 Prince Galitzin halted also, and awaited and re- 
 pelled his pursuers at Golymin ; and had either 
 Bennigsen or Galitzin been supported by the other 
 divisions which were doing nothing within a few 
 miles of their respective marches, these events 
 might have been improved so as to involve the 
 French army in great and immediate perplexity. 
 But in truth, the total want of plan and combina- 
 tion on the part of Kaminskoy was by this time 
 
 A a2
 
 356 NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE. [Jan. 1807. 
 
 apparent to the veriest tyro in his camp. Symp- 
 toms of actual insanity appeared shortly after- 
 wards, and the chief command was transferred, 
 with universal approbation, to Bennigsen. 
 
 The affairs of Pultusk and Golymin, however, 
 were productive of excellent eftects. They raised 
 to a high pitch the spirits of the Russian soldiery ; 
 and they afforded Napoleon such a specimen of 
 the character of his new enemy, that instead of 
 pursuing the campaign, as he had announced in 
 his bulletins, he thought fit to retire, and place 
 his troops in winter quarters. He himself took 
 up his residence at Warsaw, and the army occu- 
 pied cantonments in various towns to the eastward. 
 
 But General Bennigsen, having proved at Pul- 
 tusk what Russian troops could do when under a 
 determined commander, no sooner found himself 
 at the head of an army of nearly 100,000 men, 
 than he resolved to disturb the French in theii^ 
 quarters, and at all events give them such occupa- 
 tion as might enable the King of Prussia to re- 
 victual Konigsberg, where the few troops, gathered 
 round that unfortunate sovereign, were already 
 beginning to suffer many privations. With this 
 view Bennigsen advanced as far as Mohrungen, 
 where tlie Frencli sustained considerable darhage 
 in a skirniisli, and from whence his Cossacks spread 
 themselves abroad over the country — creating such 
 confusion, that the leaguer of Konigsberg being 
 for tlie moment rehixed, tlie Prussian garrison re- 
 ceived welcome supplies of all kinds, and Napo- 
 leon himself perceived the necessity of breaking 
 up his cantonments, and once more concentrating 
 the army for active war.
 
 Feb. 1807.] preuss-eylau. 357 
 
 His design was to occupy Willensberg, to the 
 rear of the great Russian camp at Mohrungen ; 
 thus cutting off the new enemy's communications 
 with his own means of resource, in the same man- 
 ner which had proved so fatal to the Austrians at 
 Uhn, and the Prussians at Jena. But Bennigsen, 
 having learnt the plan from an intercepted de- 
 spatch, immediately countermarched his army with 
 masterly skill, and thus involved Napoleon in a 
 long series of manoeuvres, not to be executed in 
 such a country at that dismal season without the 
 extremity of hardship. The Russians themselves, 
 inured as they were to northern climates, and in- 
 capable of even dreaming that a soldier could seek 
 safety in flight, were reduced to the border of 
 phrenzy by the privations of these long marches. 
 Their commissariat was wretched : the soldiers 
 had often no food, except such frozen roots as 
 they could dig out of the ground ; and, tortured 
 with toil and famine, they at length demanded 
 battle so vehemently, that, against his own judg- 
 ment. General Bennigsen consented to grant the 
 prayer. He selected the town of Preuss-Eylau, 
 and a strong position behind it, as his field of 
 battle ; and — after two skirmishes, one at Lands- 
 berg, the other nearer the chosen ground, in the 
 former of which the French, in the latter the Rus- 
 sians, had the advantage, — the whole army reached 
 Preuss-Eylau on the 7th of February. 
 
 In the confusion of so great a movement, a divi- 
 sion designed by Bennigsen to occupy the town 
 itself, misunderstood the order, and evacuated it 
 at the approach of the enemy's van. The French 
 took possession of the place accordingly, and —
 
 358 NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE. [Feb. 8, 
 
 General Bennigsen commanding it to be regained, 
 as soon as he learned the mistake that had oc- 
 curred — the whole day was spent in severe fight- 
 ing within the town, which was taken and retaken 
 several times, and at the fall of night remained in 
 the hands of the French. On either side the loss 
 had been very great, and Napoleon coming up in 
 person, perceived that the contest must needs be 
 renewed at day-break. The night was clear, and 
 he could trace the enemy's line darkening the 
 whole of an admirably selected position, between 
 which and the dearly contested town, a level space 
 covered with snow, and two or three small frozen 
 lakes, glittered in the mingled light of an unclouded 
 moon and innumerable watch-fires. 
 
 The great battle of Preuss-Eylau was fought 
 on the 8th of February. At dawn of day the 
 French charged at two different points in strong 
 columns, and were unable to shake the iron steadi- 
 ness of the infantry, while the Russian liorse, and 
 especially the Cossacks under their gallant Het- 
 man Platoff, made fearful execution on each divi- 
 sion, as successively they drew back from their 
 vain attempt. A fierce storm arose at mid-day : 
 the snow drifted right in the eyes of the Russians ; 
 the village of Serpallen, on their left, caught fire, 
 and the smoke also rolled dense upon them. Da- 
 voust skilfully availed himself of the opportunity, 
 and turned their Hank so rapidly, that Serpallen 
 was lost, and the left wing compelled to wheel 
 backwards so as to form almost at right angles 
 with the rest of the line. The Prussian corps of 
 L'Estocq, a small but determined fragment of the 
 campaign of Jena, appeared at this critical moment
 
 ««.jr
 
 1807.] BATTLE OF PREUSS-EYLAU. 359 
 
 in the rear of the Russian left ; and, charging with 
 such gallantry as had in former times been ex- 
 pected from the soldiery of the Great Frederick, 
 drove back Davoust and restored the Russian 
 line. The action continued for many hours along 
 the whole line — the French attacked boldly, the 
 Russians driving them back with unfailing resolu- 
 tion. Ney, and a fresh division, at length came 
 up, and succeeded in occupying the village of 
 Schloditten, on the road to Konigsberg. To re- 
 gain this, and thereby recover the means of com- 
 municating with the King of Prussia, was deemed 
 necessary ; and it was carried accordingly at the 
 point of the bayonet. This was at ten o'clock at 
 night. So ended the longest and by far the severest 
 battle in which Buonaparte had as yet been en- 
 gaged. The French are supposed to have had 
 90,000 men under arms at its commencement ; the 
 Russians not more than 60,000. After fourteen 
 hours of fighting, either army occupied the same 
 position as in the morning. Twelve of Napoleon's 
 eagles were in the hands of Bennigsen, and the 
 field between was covered with 50,000 corpses, of 
 whom at least half were French. 
 
 Either leader claimed the victory ; Bennigsen 
 exhibiting as proof of his success the twelve eagles 
 which his army, admitted to be inferior in num- 
 bers, bore off the field : Buonaparte, that he kept 
 possession of the field, while the enemy retired, 
 the very night after the battle, from Eylau towards 
 Konigsberg. It was, in truth, a drawn battle ; 
 and to have found an equal was sufficient bitter- 
 ness to Napoleon. The Russian general-in-chief 
 had retreated, in opposition to the opinion of most 
 of his council, out of anxiety for the personal
 
 360 NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE. [May 7, 
 
 safety of the King of Prussia at Konigsberg, and 
 desire to recruit his army ere another great action 
 should be hazarded. The French, triumphant as 
 was the lancruage of their bulletins, made no effort 
 to pursue. Bemiigsen conducted his army in per- 
 fect order to Konigsberg, and the Cossacks issuing 
 from that city continued for more than a week to 
 waste the country according to their pleasure, 
 without any show of opposition from the French. 
 But the best proof how severely Napoleon had felt 
 the struggle of Preuss-Eylau, is to be found in a 
 communication which he made to Frederick Wil- 
 liam, on the 13th of February, five days after the 
 battle, offering him, in effect, the complete, or 
 nearly complete restoration of his dominions, pro- 
 vided he would accept of a separate peace : with 
 the king's answer ; namely, that it was impossible 
 for him to enter on any treaty unless the Czar 
 were a party init. Finally, on the 19th of Febru- 
 ary, Napoleon left Eylau, and retreated with his 
 whole army on the Vistula ; — satisfied that it would 
 be fatal rashness to engage in another campaign in 
 Poland, while several fortified towns, and, above 
 all, Dantzick held out in his rear ; and determined 
 to have possession of these places, and to summon 
 new forces from France, ere he should again meet 
 in the field such an enemy as the Russian had 
 proved to be. 
 
 Dantzick was defended with the more desperate 
 resolution, because it was expected that, as soon 
 as the season permitted, an English fleet and army 
 would certainly be sent to its relief. But the be- 
 siegers having a prodigious superiority of numbers, 
 and conducting the siege with every advantage 
 of skill, the place was at length compelled to sur- 
 
 I
 
 1807.J FALL OF DANTZICK. 361 
 
 render, on the 7th of May; after which event, 
 Napoleon's extraordinary exertions in hurrying 
 supplies from France, Switzerland, and the Rhine 
 country, and the addition of the division of 25,000, 
 which had captured Dantzick, enabled him to take 
 the field again at the head of not less than 280,000 
 men. The Russian general also had done what 
 was in his power to recruit his army during this 
 interval ; but his utmost zeal could eifect no more 
 than bringing his muster up again to its original 
 point — 90,000 ; the chief blame lying, as it was 
 alleged, with the coldness of the English cabinet, 
 who, instead of lavishing gold on the Emperor of 
 Russia, as had been done in other similar cases, 
 were with difficulty persuaded to grant him at this 
 critical time, so small a supply as £80,000. Rus- 
 sia has men to any amount at her command ; but 
 the poverty of the national purse renders it at all 
 times very difficult for her to maintain a large 
 army in a distant contest. 
 
 Bennigsen, nevertheless, was the first to re- 
 appear in the field. In the beginning of June he 
 attacked Ney's division stationed at Gustadt, and 
 pursued them to Deppen, where, on the 8th, a 
 smart action took place, and Napoleon arrived in 
 person to support his troops. The Russians were 
 then forced to retire towards Heilsberg, where 
 they halted, and maintained their position, during 
 a whole day, in the face of an enemy prodigiously 
 superior in numbers. The carnage on both sides 
 was fearful ; and Bennigsen, continuing his re- 
 treat, placed the river Aller between him and 
 Napoleon. 
 
 The French Emperor now exerted all his art to
 
 S62 NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE. [June 14, 
 
 draw the Russian into a general action : the resist- 
 ance he had met with liad surprized and enraged 
 him, and he was eager to overpower and extin- 
 guish Bennigsen before further suppUes of these 
 hardy Muscovites should come up to swell his 
 ranks. The Russian general was on the eastern 
 bank of the Aller, opposite to the town of Fried- 
 land, when Buonaparte once more came up with 
 him on the 13th of June. There was a long and 
 narrow wooden bridge over the river, close by, 
 which might have been destroyed if not defended ; 
 and Napoleon's object was to induce Bennigsen, 
 instead of abiding by his position, to abandon 
 its advantages, pass over to the western bank, 
 and accept battle with the town and river in his 
 rear. His crafty management outwitted the Rus- 
 sian, who, being persuaded that the troops which 
 appeared in front of him were only a small division 
 of the French army, was tempted to send some 
 regiments over the river for the purpose of chas- 
 tising them. The French, sometimes retreating, 
 and then again returning to the combat, the Rus- 
 sians were by degrees induced to cross in greater 
 numbers ; until at length Bennigsen found himself 
 and his whole army on the western bank, with tlie 
 town and bridge in their rear — thus completely 
 entrapped in the snare laid for him by his enemy. 
 On the 11 til of June, under circumstances thus 
 disadvantageous, the Russian general was com- 
 pelled to accept l)attle. Ills army occupied open 
 ground ; the intricate and narrow streets of the 
 town of Friedland, and tlie })ridge beliind it, ap- 
 peared to be liis only means of retreat in case of 
 misadventure ; and in front, and on either flank,
 
 1807.] BATTLE OF FRIEDLAND. 363 
 
 extended those woods which had covered Buona- 
 parte's stratagems of the preceding day, and which 
 now afforded complete shelter to the Imperial 
 army — the means of attacking from whatever point 
 they might select — and of retiring witli safety as 
 often as it migiit be found adviseable. 
 
 The battle commenced at ten in the morning, 
 and the Russians stood their ground with unbroken 
 resolution until between four and five in the even- 
 ing ; sustaining numberless charges of foot and 
 horse, and exposed all the while to a murderous 
 cannonade. At length Napoleon put himself at 
 the head of the French line, and comm.anded a 
 general assault of all arms, which was executed 
 with overpowering effect. Having lost full 12,000 
 men, General Bennigsen was at last compelled to 
 attempt a retreat ; the French poured after him 
 into the town : the first Russian division which 
 forced the passage of the river destroyed the 
 bridge behind them in their terror ; and the rest 
 of the army escaped by means of deep and dan- 
 gerous fords, which, desperate as the resource they 
 afforded was, had been discovered only in the 
 moment of necessity. Nevertheless, such were 
 the coolness and determination of the Russians, 
 that they saved all their baggage, and lost only 
 seventeen cannon ; and such was the impression 
 which their obstinate valour left on the enemy, 
 that their retreat towards the Niemen was per- 
 formed without any show of molestation. 
 
 The results of the battle of Friedland were, 
 however, as great as could have been expected 
 from any victory. On the retreat of Bennigsen 
 towards the Niemen, the unfortunate King of
 
 364 NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE. [1806. 
 
 Prussia, evacuating Konigsberg, where he now 
 perceived it must be impossible to maintain him- 
 self, sought a last and precarious shelter in the 
 seaport of Memel ; and the Emperor Alexander, 
 overawed by the genius of Napoleon, which had 
 triumphed over troops more resolute than had 
 ever before opposed him, and alarmed for the con- 
 sequence of some decisive measure towards the 
 re-organization of the Poles as a nation, began to 
 think seriously of peace. Buonaparte, on his part 
 also, had many reasons for being anxious to bring 
 hostilities to a close. The Swedish king was in 
 Pomerania, besieging Stralsund, and hourly ex- 
 pecting reinforcements from England, which might 
 have ended in a formidable diversion in the rear of 
 the French army. Schill, an able partizan, was in 
 arms in Prussia, where the general discontent was 
 such, that nothing but opportunity seemed want- 
 ing for a national insurrection against the con- 
 querors. The further advance of the French 
 towards the north could hardly have failed to 
 afford such an opportunity. Neither could this be 
 executed, to all appearance, without involving the 
 necessity of proclaiming the independence of Po- 
 land ; thereby giving a character of mortal ran- 
 cour to the war with Russia, and in all likelihood, 
 calling Austria once more into the field. Under 
 such circumstances the minds of Napoleon and 
 Alexander were ef|ually disposed towards negotia- 
 tion : General Bennigsen sent, on the 21st of June, 
 to demand an armistice ; and to this proposal the 
 victor of Friedland yielded immediate assent. 
 
 In truth, over and above the parsimony of the 
 court of St. James in regard to subsidies, the re-
 
 1807.] BRITISH EXPEDITIONS. 365 
 
 cent conduct of the war on the part of England 
 had been so ill-judged, and on the whole so unfor- 
 tunate, that the Czar might be excused for desiring 
 to escape from that alliance. Almost the only oc- 
 casion on which the character of the British arms 
 had been gloriously maintained, was the battle of 
 Maida, in Calabria, fought July the 4th, 180G — 
 when Sir John Stuart and 7000 English soldiers 
 encountered a superior French force under Gene- 
 ral Regnier, and drove them from the field with 
 great loss. This was one of those rare occasions 
 on which French and English troops have actually 
 crossed bayonets — the steadiness of the latter in- 
 spired the former with panic, and they fled in con- 
 fusion. But this occurrence, except for its moral 
 influence on the English soldiery, was of small 
 importance. General Stuart had been sent to sup- 
 port the Calabrian peasantry in an insurrection 
 against Joseph Buonaparte ; the insurgents were 
 on the whole unable to stand their ground against 
 the regular army of the intrusive king ; and the 
 English, soon after their fruitless victory, altoge- 
 ther withdrew. The British had, indeed, taken 
 possession of Curasao, and of the Cape of Good 
 Hope (this last an acquisition of the highest mo- 
 ment to the Indian empire) ; but on the whole the 
 ill success of our measures had been answerable to 
 the narrow and shallow system of policy in which 
 they originated — the system of frittering away 
 blood and gold upon detached objects, instead of 
 rallying the whole resources of the empire around 
 some one great leader for some one great purpose. 
 The British expeditions of this period to the 
 Turkish dominions and to Spanish America were
 
 366 NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE. [June 25, 
 
 especially distinguished for narrowness of design, 
 imbecility of execution, and consequent misadven- 
 ture. 
 
 On the assumption of the Imperial dignity by 
 Napoleon, the Ottoman Porte, dazzled by the ap- 
 parently irresistible splendour of his fate, sent an 
 embassy to congratulate him ; and in effect the 
 ancient alliance between France and Turkey was 
 re-established. Napoleon consequently had little 
 difficulty in procuring from Constantinople a decla- 
 ration of war against Russia, the great hereditary 
 enemy of the Turk, at the time when he was about 
 to encounter the armies of the Czar in Poland. 
 The Dardanelles were shut against Russian ves- 
 sels ; and the English government, considering this 
 as sufficient evidence that the Grand Seignior was 
 attaching himself to the Antibritannic Confederacy, 
 despatched a squadron of ships under Admiral 
 Duckworth, in February, 1807, with orders to force 
 the passage of the Dardanelles, present themselves 
 before Constantinople, and demand from the Porte 
 the custody j^^o tempore of all her ships of war. 
 The Turks negotiated for a week upon this pro- 
 posal, but in the meantime increased and manned 
 their fortifications, vmder the direction of French 
 engineers, with such skill, tliat the English admiral 
 began to ])e seriously alarmed for his own safety ; 
 and at length, on the 1st of March, effected his 
 retreat through the Straits witli considerable loss — 
 this disgrace being the only result of his expedition. 
 On the 20th of the same month (of March, 1807) 
 another English expedition under General Eraser, 
 having sailed from Sicily to Egypt, took possession 
 of Alexandria. But every subsequent step they
 
 1807.] THE RAFT OF TILSIT. 367 
 
 took proved unfortunate : after severe loss the 
 English were compelled to enter into a convention 
 with the Turks, and wholly evacuate Egypt on the 
 20th of September. 
 
 In January, 1807, an English expedition landed 
 near Montevideo, and carried that city by assault. 
 Sir Home Popham, the admiral, was recalled, and 
 tried by a court-martial, on the ground that he had 
 undertaken this warfare without due authority ; but 
 he escaped with a reprimand, and new reinforce- 
 ments were sent out, first under General Crawford, 
 and secondly under General Whitelocke. The last-»- 
 named officer invested Buenos Ayres, and com- 
 manded a general assault of that town on the 5th 
 of July ; on which occasion, notwithstanding the 
 excellent behaviour of the soldiery, he was repulsed 
 with a loss of 2000 killed, wounded, and prisoners ; 
 and reduced to such extremity, that he was soon 
 afterwards glad to enter into a convention, and 
 wholly withdraw the armament. The timid and 
 incompetent Whitelocke was tried and cashiered. 
 Some of these disasters were unknown at the time 
 when Bennigsen demanded an armistice ; but the 
 general ill success of the British expeditions was 
 notorious, and produced without doubt a very se- 
 rious impression on the mind of Alexander. 
 
 The armistice was ratified on the 23d of Jwine, 
 and on the 2oth the Emperors of France and Russia 
 met personally, each accompanied by a few at- 
 tendants, on a raft moored on the river Niemen, 
 near the town of Tilsit. The sovereigns embraced 
 each other, and retiring under a canopy had a long 
 conversation, to which no one was a witness. At
 
 368 NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE. [July 7th, 
 
 its termination the appearances of mutual good 
 will and confidence were marked : immediately 
 afterwards the town of Tilsit was neutralised, and 
 the two Emperors established their courts there, 
 and lived together, in the midst of the lately hostile 
 armies, more like old friends who had met on a 
 party of pleasure, than enemies and rivals at- 
 tempting by diplomatic means the arrangement of 
 differences which had for years been deluging 
 Europe with blood. Whatever flatteries could be 
 suggested by the consummate genius and mature 
 experience of Napoleon, were lavished, and pro- 
 duced their natural effects, on the mind of a young 
 autocrat, of great ambition, and as great vanity. 
 The intercourse of the Emperors assumed by de- 
 grees the appearance of a brotherlike intimacy. 
 They spent their mornings in reviewing each others 
 troops, or in unattended rides; their evenings 
 seemed to be devoted to the pleasures of the table, 
 the spectacle, music, dancing and gallantry. Mean- 
 time the terms of a future alliance were in effect 
 discussed, and settled much more rapidly than could 
 have been expected from any of the usual apparatus 
 of diplomatic negotiation. 
 
 The unfortunate King of Prussia was invited to 
 appear at Tilsit; but, complying witli this invita- 
 tion, was admitted to no share of tlie intimacy of 
 Napoleon. 'I'lie conqueror studiously, and on every 
 occasion, marked tlie difference between his senti- 
 ments respecting tliis prince and the young and 
 powerful sovereign, for whose sake alone any 
 shadow of royalty was to be conceded to the fallen 
 liouse of Brandenburg. 'I'he beautiful and fasci-
 
 1807.] TREATY OF TILSIT. 369 
 
 nating queen also arrived at Tilsit ; but she was 
 treated even more coldly and harshly than her 
 hus)3and. Involuntary tears rushed from her eyes 
 as she submitted to the contemptuous civilities of 
 Napoleon. His behaviour to this admirable person 
 rekindled with new fervour the wrath and hatred 
 of every Prussian bosom ; and her death, following 
 soon afterwards, and universally attributed to the 
 cruel laceration which all her feelings as a woman 
 and a queen had undergone, was treasured as a last 
 injuiy, demanding, at whatever hazard, a terrible 
 expiation. 
 
 The Treaty of Tilsit, to which, as the document 
 itself bore testimony, the King of Prussia was ad- 
 mitted as a party solely by reason of Napoleon's 
 " esteem for the Emperor of Russia," was ratified 
 on the 7th July. Napoleon restored, by this act, 
 to Frederick William, Ancient Prussia, and the 
 French conquests in Upper Saxony — the King 
 agreeing to adopt " the continental system," in 
 other words, to be henceforth the vassal of the 
 conqueror. The Polish provinces of Prussia were 
 erected into a separate principality, styled " the 
 Grand Duchy of Warsaw," and bestowed on the 
 Elector of Saxony ; with the exception, however, 
 of some territories assigned to Russia, and of 
 Dantzick, which was declared a free city, to be 
 garrisoned by French troops until the ratification 
 of a maritime peace. The Prussian dominions in 
 Lower Saxony and on the Rhine, with Hanover, 
 Hesse-Cassel, and various other small states, formed 
 a new kingdom of Westphalia, of which Jerome 
 Buonaparte, Napoleon's youngest brother, was re- 
 
 VOL. I. B B
 
 370 NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE. [1807. 
 
 cognised as King ; Jerome having at length made 
 his peace with his brother by repudiating liis wife, 
 an American Lidy of the name of Patterson, and 
 consenting to a new alhance, more consonant with 
 the views of the Emperor, with a daughter of the 
 King of Wirtemberg. The Elector of Saxony was 
 recognised as another King of Napoleon's creation ; 
 Joseph Buonaparte as King of Naples ; and Louis, 
 of Holland. Finally, Russia accepted the media- 
 tion of France for a peace with Turkey, and France 
 that of Russia for a peace with England. 
 
 Such were the public articles of the peace of 
 Tilsit ; but it contained secret articles besides ; 
 and of these the English government were, ere 
 long, fortunate enough to ascertain the import. 
 
 The British cabinet had undergone a complete 
 change in March, 1807 — the management of affairs 
 passing from the friends and heirs of Mr. Fox into 
 the hands of Mr. Perceval and other statesmen of 
 the school of Pitt. The unhappy conduct of the 
 war had rendered the preceding government emi- 
 nently unpopular ; and the measures of the new 
 one assumed from the beginning a character of 
 greater energy. But the orders which had been 
 given must be fulfilled ; and the councils of .1 806 
 bequeathed a fatal legacy in the disastrous expedi- 
 tions of 1807. Lord Granville Leveson Gower* 
 (the minister at St. Petersburg) was ere this time 
 prepared to offer to the Czar sucli subsidies as he 
 had in vain expected when preparing for the cam- 
 paign of Poland ; but it was too late to retrieve the 
 error of tlie preceding cal)inet ; and the English 
 * Now \'iscount Gianville. 
 
 I
 
 1807.] PEACE OF TILSIT. 371 
 
 ambassador, being unable to break off the negotia- 
 tions at Tilsit, was compelled to bestow all his 
 efforts on penetrating the secrets of the compact 
 wherein they ended. 
 
 The result of his exertions was the complete as- 
 surance of the government of St. James's, that the 
 Emperor of Russia had adopted the alliance of Na- 
 poleon to an extent far beyond what appeared on 
 the face of the treaty of the 7th July ; that he had 
 agreed not only to lay English commerce, in case 
 his mediation for a peace should fail, under the 
 same ban with that of the decrees of Berlin, but to 
 place himself at the head of a general confederation 
 of the Northern Maritime Powers against the naval 
 supremacy of England — in other words, resign his 
 own fleets, with those of Denmark, to the service 
 of Napoleon. In requital of this obligation the 
 French Emperor unquestionably agreed to permit 
 the Czar to conquer Finland from Sweden- — thereby 
 adding immeasurably to the security of St. Peters- 
 burg. On the other hand it is almost as impos- 
 sible to doubt that Alexander pledged himself not 
 to interfere with those ambitious designs as to the 
 Spanish Peninsula, which Napoleon was ere long 
 to develope, and which were destined ultimately to 
 work his ruin. 
 
 In a word, there seems to be little doubt that 
 Napoleon broached at Tilsit the dazzling scheme 
 of dividing the European world virtually between 
 the two great monarchs of France and Russia : and 
 that the Czar, provided he were willing to look on, 
 while his Imperial brother of the West subjected 
 Spain, Portugal and England to his yoke, was in- 
 
 B B 3
 
 3(2 NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE. [1807. 
 
 diiced to count on equal forbearance, whatever 
 schemes he might venture on for his own aggran- 
 dizement, at the expense of the smaller states of 
 the North of Europe, and, above all, of the Otto- 
 man Porte. 
 
 END OF VOL. I. 
 
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