The French general had stripped Austria of all her Italian possessions

except Mantua, and the tri-color was waving from the Tyrol to the

Mediterranean. Napoleon was now, in effect, master of Italy. Future

success seemed to him to be assured, although the French Directory was

with difficulty persuaded to let him follow the course he had adopted

for himself.

The cabinet of Vienna at last resolved upon sending stronger

reinforcements to the Italian frontier, and Bonaparte was now recalled

from Milan to the seat of war to defend himself against them. What the

Austrian court now feared was that Napoleon, who had already annihilated

her Italian army, and had wrested from her the Italian domains, would

soon march into the heart of her Empire and dictate a peace under the

walls of her capital. All Italy was now subdued or in alliance with the

French Republic except Mantua.

Beaulieu, who had been so thoroughly routed by Napoleon, was to be no

longer trusted. Finding himself incompetent to withstand a general

"whose mistress was glory and whose companion was Plutarch" while

traversing the Tyrol with the wrecks of his army, forwarded a letter to

Vienna which fully displayed the irritated feelings of the veteran

commander at this time. He said: "I hereby make known to you that I have

only 20,000 men remaining, while the enemy's forces exceed 60,000. I

further apprise you, that it is my intention to retreat to-morrow,--the

next day--the day following--nay, every day,--even to Siberia, should

they pursue me so far. My age accords me liberty to be thus explicit.

Hasten to ratify peace, be the conditions what they may!" Wurmser, whose

reputation was of the best, and who was older than Beaulieu but not less

obstinate, was sent to replace him, and 30,000 men were drafted from the

armies on the Rhine charged with restoring the fortunes of Austria

beyond the Alps. Wurmser's orders, too, were to strengthen himself, on

his march, by whatever recruits he could raise among the warlike and

loyal population of the Tyrol.

When he fixed his headquarters at Trent, Wurmser mustered in all 80,000

men, while Napoleon had but 30,000--not 60,000 as Beaulieu had

stated--to hold a wide country in which abhorrence of the French cause

was now prevalent, to keep the blockade of Mantua, and to oppose this

fearful odds of numbers in the field. The French commander was now,

moreover, to act on the defensive, while his adversary assumed the more

inspiriting character of the invader.

Wurmser was unwise enough to divide his magnificent army into three

separate columns, which, united, Napoleon never could have met; but each

of which was soon successively broken and captured. Melas with the left

wing was to march down the Adige and expel the French from Verona;

Quasdonowich with the right wing followed the valley of the Chiese

towards Brescia, to cut off Napoleon's retreat on Milan; Wurmser himself

led the centre down the left shore of Lake Guarda towards the besieged

castle of Mantua.

The eye of Napoleon, who had hitherto been watching with the intensity

of an eagle's gaze all the movements of his antagonist, now saw the

division of Quasdonowich separated from the centre and left wing, and he

flew to the encounter, although he was obliged to draw off his army from

the siege of Mantua, something which very few generals would have done.

On the night of July 31st, he buried his cannon in the trenches and

intentionally marked his retreat with every sign of precipitation and

alarm. Before morning the whole French army had disappeared from Mantua

and by a forced march regained possession of Brescia. Napoleon was

hurrying forward to attack the right wing of the Austrian army before it

could effect a junction with the central body of Wurmser.

A courier could hardly have borne to Quasdonowich the news of his

raising the siege of Mantua before Napoleon had attacked and overwhelmed

him, and he was glad to save his shattered forces by falling back on the

Tyrol.

This ill-omened beginning aroused the ire, and quickened the evolutions

of Wurmser, and falling on the rear-guard of Massena under Pigeon, and

Augereau under Vallette, the one abandoned Castiglione and the other

retired on Lonato. These inconsiderable Austrian successes were obtained

by good generalship, and Wurmser now attempted to open a communication

with his defeated lieutenant. His columns were weakened by extending the

line, and Massena at once hurled two strong columns on Lonato, retaking

it, and throwing the Austrian forces into utter confusion.

The battle of Lonato occurred on the 3d of August (1796). At daybreak

the whole of the French army was in motion, Augereau moving with the

right wing towards Castiglione. General Pigeon, who commanded the French

advance guard, was taken prisoner with three pieces of cannon; when, at

the moment the Austrians were extending their line, Napoleon sent

forward in close columns the 18th and 32d demi-brigades, which being

supported by a strong reserve, broke the enemy's line of battle. The

artillery and prisoners made under General Pigeon, were thus retaken,

and the French entered Lonato.

At Castiglione a firm stand was again taken by the fleeing Austrians,

but Augereau forced the position against a defense double in numbers and

for which he was afterward created Duke of Castiglione in memory of his

exploit.

On that day the Austrians lost twenty pieces of cannon, from three to

four thousand men killed and wounded, and four thousand prisoners,

among whom were three generals. Before this engagement Napoleon suddenly

found himself placed between two armies each of which was more numerous

than his own. In this situation of affairs, no one of his generals

entertained the least hope; but what was the astonishment of the

soldiers, when they first assembled in presence of their chief, to

observe no alteration in his countenance. "Fear nothing," said the

commander to them, "show that you remain unchanged; preserve your valor,

your just pride, and the remembrance of your triumphs; in three days we

shall retake all that we have lost. Rely on me! You know whether or not

I am in the habit of keeping my word."

[Illustration: From a Drawing by F. Grenier

BONAPARTE AND THE SLEEPING SENTINEL]

In this memorable battle Napoleon raised himself to an equality with the

greatest generals. Although the position in which he was placed was

critical to an eminent degree, he contrived to turn all the success

gained by Wurmser to the advantage of the French army, and that by the

mere strength of his genius alone. Junot distinguished himself by

extraordinary efforts of courage in these actions. He was thus mentioned

in the dispatch sent by Napoleon to the Directory after the victory: "I

ordered my aide-de-camp, General-of-Brigade Junot, to put himself at the

head of my company of Guides to pursue the enemy and overtake him by

great speed at Dezenzano. He encountered Colonel Bender with a party of

his regiment of hussars, whom he charged; but Junot, not wishing to

waste his time by charging the rear, made a detour on the right, took

the regiment in front,--wounded the colonel whom he attempted to take

prisoner when he was himself surrounded,--and after having killed six of

the enemy with his own hand, was cut down and thrown into a ditch."

The Austrians, still able to collect 25,000 men and a numerous cavalry,

now fled again in all directions upon the Mincio where Wurmser himself,

meanwhile, had been employed in revictualling Mantua. When Wurmser

reached this point he was utterly astounded to find the trenches

abandoned and no enemy to oppose. One of the defeated Austrian divisions

wandering about without method in anxiety to find their commander or any

part of his army that was still in the field, came suddenly on Lonato,

the scene of the recent battle, and at a moment when Napoleon was there

with only his staff and Guard about him. He was not aware that any

considerable body of the enemy remained in the neighborhood, and but for

his great presence of mind must have been taken prisoner. As it was, he

turned his critical position into an advantage. The officer who had been

sent to demand the surrender of the town was brought blindfolded,

according to custom on such occasions, to his headquarters. Bonaparte,

by a secret sign, caused his whole staff to draw up around him, and when

the bandage was removed from the messenger's eyes, exclaimed to him:

"What means this insolence? Do you beard the French general in the very

centre of his army? Go and tell your general that I give him eight

minutes to lay down his arms; he is in the midst of the French army, and

if a single gun is fired, I will cause every man to be shot." The

officer, appalled at discovering in whose presence he stood, returned to

his comrades with Napoleon's message.

The general of the enemy's column now made his appearance, stating his

willingness to surrender and capitulate. "No" replied Bonaparte with

energy, "you are all prisoners of war." Seeing the Austrian officers

consulting together Napoleon instantly gave orders that the artillery

should advance and commence the attack. On observing this the general of

the enemy's forces exclaimed, "We all surrender at discretion!" The

shortness of time allowed prevented the truth from being discovered, and

they gave in to a force about one-fourth of their own. They believed

that Lonato was occupied by the French in numbers that made resistance

impossible. When the four thousand men had laid down their arms they

discovered that if they had used them nothing could have prevented

Napoleon from being taken as their prize!

Wurmser, whose fine army was thus being destroyed in detail, now

collected together the whole of his remaining force, and advanced to

meet the Conqueror. He had determined on an assault and was hastening to

the encounter. They met between Lonato and Castiglione, and Wurmser was

totally defeated, besides narrowly escaping being himself taken a

prisoner. He was pursued into Trent and Roveredo, the positions from

which he had so lately issued confident of victory. In this disastrous

campaign he had now lost forty thousand soldiers--half his army--and all

his artillery and stores, while Bonaparte placed his own loss at seven

thousand. The French soldiers have called this succession of victories

"the campaign of five days." The rapid marches and incessant fighting

had exhausted the troops, and they now absolutely required rest.

During the exciting days while the campaign with Wurmser lasted,

Napoleon never took off his clothes, nor did he take the time to sleep

except at brief intervals of less than an hour. His exertions, which

were followed by such signal triumphs, were such as to demand some

repose, yet he did not pause until he saw Mantua once more completely

invested. The reinforcement and revictualling of the garrison were all

that Wurmser could show in requital of his lost artillery, stores and

forty thousand men.

While Napoleon was giving some respite to his wearied army and rendering

the subjugation of Italy complete, Austria was hurrying a new army to

the relief of its aged but not disheartened marshal. The reinforcements

of twenty thousand fresh troops at last arrived, and Wurmser was again

in the field with fifty thousand men--an army vastly larger than

Napoleon's. But once more he divided his forces and again each division

was to be cut to pieces. He marched thirty thousand men to the relief of

Mantua, and left Davidowich at Roveredo with twenty thousand men to

protect the passes of the Tyrol. The two Austrian divisions were now

separated and their fate was sealed.

On September 4, by the most rapid marches Europe had ever seen,

Napoleon, having penetrated the designs of the Austrian general, reached

Roveredo where Davidowich was intrenched in a strong position before the

city, covered by the guns of the Calliano castle overhanging the town.

The camp was yielded on the same day before the terrific charge of

General Dubois and his hussars. The latter, though mortally wounded,

cheered his men on with his dying words, and as he fell pressing the

hand of the general-in-chief, said: "Let me hear the shout of victory

for the Republic before I die." These words fired his troops with deep

ardor, and they drove the Austrians through the town and carried the

frowning heights of the castle at the point of the bayonet, as they had

carried the batteries of Lodi. The French pursued the fleeing Austrians

throughout the night and Wurmser was cut off from the Tyrol.

Scarcely had the Austrian commander recovered from his surprise at

hearing of the overthrow of his lieutenant at Roveredo before Napoleon,

by a march of sixty miles in two days, descended in front of his

vanguard at Primolano and cut it to pieces, taking four thousand

prisoners. The same night Napoleon's army advanced on Bassano where on

Sept. 8 Wurmser made his last stand with the main body of his army.

While Augereau penetrated the town on his left, Massena entered it on

his right, seizing the cannon that defended the bridge on the Bretna and

overthrowing the old grenadiers who attempted to cover the retreat of

their general. Five thousand prisoners, five standards, thirty-five

pieces of cannon with their caissons fell into the hands of the French,

and Wurmser himself narrowly escaped being taken. Lannes seized one of

the standards with his own hands; and, in consequence, Bonaparte

demanded for him the rank of general of brigade. "He was," he said, "the

first who put the enemy to rout at Dego, who passed the Po at Plaisance,

the Adda at Lodi, and the first to enter Bassano."

The number of the dead near the latter place was considerable. Curious

to ascertain the loss of the enemy, Bonaparte in the evening rode over

the field with his staff, when his notice was attracted by the howlings

of a dog that seemed to increase as they approached the spot whence the

yells proceeded. "Amidst the deep silence of a beautiful moon-light

night," said Napoleon some years later, "a dog, leaping suddenly from

beneath the clothes of his dead master, rushed upon us, and then

immediately returned to his hiding-place, howling piteously. He

alternately licked his master's hand, and ran toward us, as if at once

soliciting aid and seeking revenge. Whether, owing to my own particular

turn of mind at the moment, the time, the place, or the action itself, I

know not, but, certainly, no incident, on any field of battle, ever

produced so deep an impression on me. I involuntarily stopped to

contemplate the scene. This man, thought I, has friends in the camp, or

in his company, and here he lies forsaken by all except his dog. What a

lesson Nature presents here, through the medium of an animal. What a

strange being is man! And how mysterious are his impressions! I had,

without emotion, ordered battles which were to decide the fate of the

army; I beheld, with tearless eyes, the execution of those operations by

which numbers of my countrymen were sacrificed; and here my feelings

were roused by the howlings of a dog! Certainly, at that moment, I

should have been easily moved by a suppliant enemy. I could very well

imagine Achilles surrendering up the body of Hector at the sight of

Priam's tears."

In these terrible marches Napoleon endured the same privations as his

men;--baggage and staff appointments were unable to keep up with such

rapid movements. He shared his bread with one of his privates who lived

to remind him of this night when the Republican general had become the

Emperor of France. It was during Napoleon's progress through Belgium in

1804, while reviewing a division of the army that he was visited in one

of the towns by a soldier of the fourth regiment of infantry who

stepped forward and thus addressed him: "General, in the year Five of

the French Revolution, being in the valley of Bassano, I shared with you

my ration of bread when you were very hungry. You cannot have forgotten

the circumstance. I request, in return, that you provide bread for my

father who is worn with age and infirmity. I have received five wounds

in the service and was made corporal and sergeant on the field of

battle. I hope to be made a lieutenant on the first vacancy." Napoleon

recollected the soldier and immediately acknowledged the reasonableness

of both his demands, which were speedily complied with.

After the most heroic resistance Wurmser again fled. Six thousand

Austrians laid down their arms, and the commander with his fleeing

forces took refuge about the middle of September in Mantua, whither they

were pursued by Napoleon's cavalry.

Wurmser was now strictly blockaded within the citadel of Mantua with

sixteen thousand men. These, with ten thousand dispersed in the Tyrol,

were all that remained of his army of 60,000 men with which he was to

reconquer Italy. He had also lost seventy-five pieces of cannon, thirty

generals and twenty-two stands of colors. Marmont, one of Napoleon's

aids-de-camp, was sent with these latter trophies to the Directory at

Paris. Perceiving that Wurmser now intended to avoid a general action

Napoleon returned to Milan, leaving General Kilmaine to conduct the

blockade.

While at Milan, Napoleon had just mounted his horse one morning, when a

dragoon, bearing important dispatches, presented himself.

The commander gave a verbal answer, and ordered the courier to take it

back with all speed.

"I have no horse," the man answered; "I rode mine so hard that it fell

dead at your palace gates."

Napoleon alighted. "Take mine," he said.

The man hesitated.

"You think him too magnificently caparisoned and too fine an animal;"

said Napoleon. "Nothing is too good for a French soldier!"

Again a call was made on Vienna to send a new army and a greater general

to restore the Hapsburg dominion in Italy. In reply another powerful

armament was dispatched to the Italian frontier and this, the fourth

campaign against Napoleon, was intrusted to the supreme command of

Alvinzi, an officer of high reputation.

Field-Marshal Alvinzi was placed at the head of an army of forty-five

thousand men to which he joined eighteen thousand under Davidowich in

the Tyrol. His object was to raise the blockade of Mantua, release

Wurmser and, with a force which would by the accession of the garrison

of the latter amount to an army of eighty thousand men with which to

oppose only thirty thousand. With these he expected to reconquer

Lombardy.

Three large armies, advancing with similar prospects, had already been

destroyed by Napoleon; a fourth now prepared to pour down upon him,

under still more terrible circumstances. The battle of St. George and

the strict blockade of Wurmser in Mantua took place in the middle of

September. Alvinzi's army commenced its march in the beginning of

October.

Napoleon instantly ordered Vaubois and Massena to advance to the attack

of Davidowich, whose forces were collected in the Tyrol, before he

could form a junction with Alvinzi. Both failed. Vaubois, after two

days' fighting was conquered; lost Trent and Calliano, and was forced to

retreat. Massena in consequence had to effect a retreat without

attempting an engagement, and Alvinzi approaching fast gained possession

of all the country between the Brenta and the Adige and the command of

the Tyrol. The two Austrian generals might now have effected a junction,

but they neglected their opportunity. Napoleon hastened to Verona,

Alvinzi having taken the same route.

It seemed likely that Austria, in this new campaign, was destined to

recover her immense losses. Napoleon was now contending against an enemy

vastly superior in numbers and most completely appointed. But twelve

battalions had been sent to him from France to recruit his exhausted

regiments, and nothing but the employment of the highest military skill

could now save him from destruction.

"The army" said he, in writing to the Directory, "so inferior in

numbers, has been more weakened by the late engagements, while the

promised reinforcements have not arrived. The heroes of Millessimo,

Lodi, Castiglione, and Bassano, are dead or in the hospitals. Joubert,

Lanusse, Victor, Lannes, Charlot, Murat, Dupuis, Rampon, Menard,

Chabrand, and Pigeon are wounded; we are abandoned at the extremity of

Italy. Had I received the 103d, three thousand five hundred strong, I

would have answered for everything. Whereas, in a few days, 40,000 men,

perhaps, will not be sufficient to enable us to make head against the

enemy."

His men too, were becoming dispirited at the failure of the government

to send reinforcements, and no longer fought with their accustomed vigor

and enthusiasm. The retreating forces came before him with dejected

looks. But the genius of Napoleon was not yet exhausted; with him

discouragement was not despair. He ordered Vaubois' division--which had

abandoned Calliano--drawn up on the plain of Rivoli, and thus addressed

them: "Soldiers, I am not satisfied with you: you have shown neither

bravery, discipline, nor perseverance. No position could rally you: you

abandoned yourselves to a panic terror; you suffered yourselves to be

driven from situations where a handful of brave men might have stopped

an army. Soldiers of the 29th and 85th, you are not French soldiers.

Quartermaster-general, let it be inscribed on their colors: 'They no

longer belong to the Army of Italy!'"

The effect of these words was electric. The veteran grenadiers who had

braved the terrific charges at Lodi sobbed like children and broke their

ranks to cluster round their commander to plead for one more trial.

Several of the veteran grenadiers, who had deserved and obtained badges

of distinction, called out from the ranks: "General! we have been

misrepresented; place us in the van of the army and you shall then judge

whether we do not belong to the Army of Italy."

They were at last forgiven by their indignant commander, and when they

were again arrayed against the enemy they quickly redeemed their lost

reputation and gained new laurels. But a spirit of discontent pervaded

the French army. "We cannot work miracles," said the soldiers. "We

destroyed Beaulieu's great army, and then came Wurmser with a greater.

We conquered and broke him to pieces, and then came Alvinzi more

powerful than ever. When we have conquered him Austria will pour down on

us a hundred thousand fresh soldiers and we shall leave our bones in

Italy."

Although much dispirited, Napoleon was by no means disposed to abandon

his campaign; to his soldiers he said by way of encouragement: "We have

but one more effort to make and Italy is ours. The enemy is no doubt

superior to us in numbers, but not in valor. When he is beaten Mantua

must fall, and we shall be masters of all; our labors will be at an end,

for not only Italy but a general peace is in Mantua. You talk of

returning to the Alps, but you are no longer capable of doing so. From

the dry and frozen bivouacs of those sterile rocks you could very well

conquer the delicious plains of Lombardy; but from the smiling flowery

bivouacs of Italy you cannot return to Alpine snows. Only beat Alvinzi

and I will answer for your future welfare."

Ere long the French forces were once more ready for battle. Alvinzi had

occupied the heights of Caldiero and by the middle of November

threatened Verona. Massena attacked the heights but found them

impregnable. The French were repulsed with considerable loss. Napoleon

found it necessary to attempt taking the heights by other means in order

to prevent the junction of Davidowich and Alvinzi. Pretending,

therefore, to retreat on Mantua after his discomfiture, he returned in

the night and placed himself in the rear of Alvinzi's army. When his

columns advanced on Arcola the enemy thought at first it was only a

skirmish and that the main army of the French was in Verona. The

position of Arcola rendered any attack upon it so extremely hazardous

that scarcely anyone would have conceived the idea of making the

attempt. The village is surrounded by marshes intersected by small

streams, by ditches and by three causeways or bridges, across which

alone the marshes are passable. Arcola and the bridge leading to it were

defended by two battalions of Alvinzi's army, and two pieces of cannon

which commanded the bridge. The other two causeways were unprotected.

Napoleon ordered a division to charge the bridge of Arcola at daybreak.

The attempt seemed even to the intrepid Augereau to be courting death,

but he was a true soldier and obeyed orders.

On November 15 a column advanced on each of the three causeways.

Augereau's division occupied the bridge of Arcola which was swept by the

enemy's cannon and assailed in flank by their battalions. Even the

chosen grenadiers, led by Augereau with a standard in his hand, faltered

and fell back under the destructive fire, fleeing over the corpses of

nearly half their comrades. It was a most critical situation, and one in

which a false step or the loss of a few moments meant ruin. Napoleon,

who knew that the moment was decisive, dashed at the head of the column,

snatched a standard, and hurrying onwards planted the colors with his

own hands on the bridge amidst a hail of balls from the enemy's

artillery and musketry. As he did so he cried out: "Soldiers! are you no

longer the brave warriors of Lodi? Follow your general!"

His soldiers rallied and rushed with him till they grappled with the

Austrian division, but the sudden arrival of a fresh column of the enemy

made it an impossibility to maintain their ground. The French fell

back, and Napoleon, being in the very midst of the fight, was himself

seized by his faithful grenadiers who bore him away in their arms

through smoke, the dead and dying, as they were driven backwards inch by

inch with dreadful carnage. Mounting a horse the commander once more

prepared to make a charge at the head of his heroic troops, when his

steed became unmanageable and plunged headlong throwing its rider into a

morass up to his waist.

The Austrians were now between Napoleon and his baffled column. As the

smoke rolled away the army at once perceived the critical position of

their general. During this crisis Lannes pressed forward through the

marsh and reached his commander as also did the gallant Muiron, the

friend and aide-de-camp of Napoleon. Almost at the same moment a shot

was fired at Napoleon. It was received by Muiron, who had interposed

himself, and he died covering Napoleon's body with his own. But still

the person of the commander remained in the utmost peril.

The grenadiers now formed in an instant, and with the cry, "Forward,

soldiers, to save your general!" threw themselves upon the enemy,

rescued their "Little Corporal" from his critical position and overthrew

the Austrian columns that defended the bridge. Napoleon was quickly at

their head again, rallied the column, struck terror through the ranks of

the enemy, and Arcola was soon taken. Two other engagements followed at

this point, in each of which the French were victorious, Massena

pursuing the enemy until darkness compelled him to desist. The Austrians

lost twelve thousand men killed, six thousand prisoners, eighteen pieces

of cannon and four stands of colors. The loss of the French was less

considerable in numbers than in the importance of the prominent

individuals who fell during those three days, when the generals acted as

soldiers, continually fighting at the heads of their columns. The great

art of Napoleon, on that occasion, he having but 13,000 to oppose 40,000

men, was to maintain the combat in the midst of a morass where the enemy

could not deploy. Upon such a field of battle, only the heads of the

columns could engage; whereas, on a plain, the French army would in all

probability have been surrounded.

Napoleon said at St. Helena that he considered himself in the greatest

danger at Arcola.

When too late Davidowich made an advance upon Verona, but retreated

quickly on hearing of Alvinzi's defeat at Arcola. Wurmser, too, made a

desperate sally and was repulsed. He still held out, however. The horses

of the garrison had long since been killed and salted for use; the men

were reduced to half rations, and their numbers were being rapidly

reduced by disease.

This fourth attempt of Austria to conquer Napoleon ended, therefore, as

did the previous ones, in failure. It was one of the most memorable

campaigns in history, in the course of which all the resources of

skilled warriors were exhibited, not in a contest of a few hours but a

succession of memorable battles. As yet, however, the young commander

was but a temporary victor; the weakness of the Army of Italy did not

permit him to draw all the advantages he had promised himself from

Arcola. Alvinzi was now thoroughly beaten, his losses were very great,

and like his predecessors he sent to Vienna for reinforcements to

continue his contest against Bonaparte, who had repaired to Verona which

he fixed upon as the central point of operations.

Once more the Austrian general's preparations were completed for a fresh

campaign, and on January 7, 1797, at the head of sixty thousand

soldiers, consisting of volunteers from the best families in Vienna and

battalions from the Army of the Rhine, Croats, Hungarians, Tyroleans,

etc., Alvinzi descended from the northern barriers of Italy to release

the brave Wurmser from his prison at Mantua, and again attempt to

"overwhelm the French invaders." A messenger dispatched to Wurmser from

the imperial court was captured by the French, and dispatches concealed

in wax balls recovered. From these Napoleon learned the present designs,

signed by the emperor's own hand, of the Austrian government:--Alvinzi

was once more placed at the head of sixty thousand men, and was again to

march into Lombardy and to raise the siege of Mantua: Wurmser was

directed to hold out to the last extremity: If the army of Alvinzi could

be reunited with the garrison, the destruction of the French seemed

undoubted; if not, and if, in the course of hostilities, he found it

best to abandon Mantua, he was directed to cut his way into Romagna and

to take command of the papal troops, the pope having broken the treaty

of Bologna, and raised an army of seven thousand men to act in concert

with Wurmser, when he should be released from Mantua.

Again the Austrian army,--the fifth--was divided, one column under

Alvinzi for the line of the Adige; the other for the Bretna under

General Provera, who was to join the marshal under the walls of Mantua.

When Napoleon learned this at his headquarters at Verona he posted

Joubert at Rivoli to dispute Alvinzi's passage, and Augereau to watch

the movements of Provera, knowing that within a few hours he could

concentrate his own forces on either column.

At sunset on the 13th of January Joubert's messenger brought the news

that he had met Alvinzi and with difficulty held him in check through

the day. Napoleon examined with the utmost attention the maps and

descriptions of the places, the reports of the generals, and those of

his spies and light troops and passed a part of the night in a state of

uncertainty and indecision. At length on receiving fresh reports he

exclaimed: "It is clear--it is clear: to Rivoli!" and, quickly giving

his orders to his aides assigning the troops to their different routes,

he left a garrison at Verona and with General Massena and all the

disposable troops he repaired to General Joubert. By one of his

lightning marches he reached the heights of Rivoli two hours after

midnight. Below in the valley five separate encampments of the Austrian

army were visible in the moonlight. Napoleon quickly decided to force

Alvinzi to battle before he was ready. Joubert, confounded by the

display of Alvinzi's gigantic force was in the very act of abandoning

his position when the French commander checked his movement, and,

bringing up more battalions, forced the enemy from a position they had

seized on the first symptoms of the French retreat.

From the eminence on which he stood Napoleon's keen eye soon penetrated

the secret of Alvinzi's weakness,--that his artillery had not yet

arrived. To force him to accept battle, Napoleon took every possible

means to conceal his own arrival and prolonged, by a series of petty

manoeuvres, the enemy's belief that they had to do with a mere outpost

of the French. Alvinzi was fully deceived, and instead of advancing on

some great and well-arranged system, suffered his several columns to

endeavor to force the heights by insulated movements which the real

strength of Napoleon easily enabled him to baffle. Two field-pieces had

been abandoned by their drivers and which were seized by the enemy, when

an officer whose name is not recorded, advancing, cried out:

"Fourteenth, will you let them take your artillery?" Berthier, who had

purposely suffered the enemy to approach, then opened a terrible fire,

which leveled men and horses round the guns, and upon which the

Austrians immediately fell back.

[Illustration: From a Drawing by F. Grenier

BONAPARTE AT THE BATTLE OF ST. GEORGE]

A moment later the bravery of the enemy resulted in their nearly

overthrowing the French on a point of pre-eminent importance, but

Napoleon himself, galloping to the spot, roused by his voice and action

the division of Massena who, having marched all night, had laid down to

rest in the extreme of weariness. They started up at the commander's

voice and the Austrian column was speedily repulsed.

The French artillery was soon in position, while that of the Austrians,

as Napoleon had guessed, had not yet come up, and this circumstance

decided the fortune of the day. The batteries of the French made havoc

of the broken columns; the cavalry made repeated charges; four out of

the five divisions were thus broken and utterly routed. The fifth now

made its appearance in the rear of the French. It had been sent round to

outflank Napoleon and take higher ground in his rear according to the

orders of the Austrian general before the action. When Lusignan's

division 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 cutting off the retreat of Joubert, Lusignan found himself

insulated from Alvinzi and forced to lay down his arms to Bonaparte.

Had this movement been made a little sooner it might have turned the

fortune of the day: as it was, the French soldiers only exclaimed: "Here

come further supplies to our market!" and very soon the Austrians,

exposed to a heavy fire from the artillery, were forced to surrender.

"Here was a good plan," said Napoleon, "but these Austrians are not apt

to calculate the value of minutes."

Had Lusignan gained the rear of the French an hour earlier, while the

contest was still hot in front of the heights of Rivoli, he might have

aided in the complete overthrow of Napoleon instead of being defeated on

one of the brightest days in the young commander's career.

In the course of the day Bonaparte had remained in the hottest of the

fight, which lasted during twelve hours, and had three horses shot under

him, and although much fatigued, hardly waited to see Lusignan surrender

ere he set off with reinforcements to the Lower Adige to prevent Wurmser

from either housing Provera or joining him in the open field and so

effect the escape of his own formidable garrison. The flying troops of

Alvinzi were left to the care of Massena, Murat and Joubert.

Marching all day and the next night Napoleon reached the vicinity of

Mantua late on the 15th. He found the enemy strongly posted and

Serrurier's position highly critical. A regiment of Provera's hussars

had but a few hours before 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 of hussars, and advancing towards

the gate would certainly have been admitted as friends but for the

sagacity of an old sergeant, who could not help fancying that the white

cloaks had too much of the gloss of novelty about them to have stood the

wear and tear of three Bonapartean campaigns. He instantly closed the

barriers and warned a drummer who was near him of the danger. These two

gave the alarm and the guns of the blockading force were instantly

turned upon their pretended friends who were forced to retire.

Napoleon himself passed the night in walking the outposts, so great was

his anxiety. At one of these he found a grenadier sentinel asleep from

exhaustion and taking his gun, without waking him, performed a

sentinel's duty in his place for about half an hour. When the man,

starting 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 mildly, "here is your musket. You had

fought hard and marched long and your exhaustion is excusable; but a

moment's inattention might at present ruin the whole army. I happened to

be awake and have held your post for you. You will be more careful

another time!"

Such acts of magnanimity endeared Napoleon to his soldiers, and, while

he rarely relaxed in his military discipline, he early acquired the

devotion of his men who told and retold anecdotes of his doings in camp

and on the battlefield, and as the stories spread from column to column

his followers came to regard him with a veneration that few older

commanders have been able to instill in their men. Another anecdote is

related of Bonaparte, when upon the point of commencing one of his great

battles in Italy. As he was disposing his troops in order of attack, a

light dragoon stepping from the ranks, requested of the commander a few

minutes private conversation to which Napoleon acquiesced, when the

soldier thus addressed him: "General, if you will proceed to adopt such

and such measures, the enemy must be defeated."

"Wretched man," exclaimed the commander, "hold your tongue; you will

surely not betray my secret" at the same time placing his hand before

the mouth of the dragoon.

The soldier in question was possessed of an inherent military capacity

and appreciated every arrangement necessary to insure victory. The

battle terminating in favor of Napoleon, he issued orders that the poor

fellow should be conducted to his presence; but all search for him

proved fruitless, he was nowhere to be found: a bullet had no doubt

terminated his military career.

The next morning there ensued a hot skirmish, recorded as the battle of

St. George. The tumult and slaughter were dreadful and Provera with his

whole force were compelled to lay down their arms. Wurmser, who had

hazarded a sortie from Mantua to join his countrymen, was glad to make

his way back again, and retire within the old walls, in consequence of a

desperate assault headed by Napoleon in person, who threw himself

between Wurmser and Provera and beat them completely one after the

other. Provera now found himself cut off hopelessly from Alvinzi and

surrounded by the French; he was disheartened and defeated. He and his

five thousand men laid down their arms on the 16th of January, and

various bodies of the Austrian force scattered over the country followed

their example. This latter engagement was called the battle of La

Favorita from the name of a country house near which it was fought. The

75th at this battle refused cartridges: "With such enemies as we have

before us," said they, "we must only use the bayonet."

The battles of Rivoli and La Favorita had disabled Alvinzi from

continuing the campaign. Thus had the magnificent army of Austria ceased

to exist in three days.

Such was the prevailing terror of the enemy at this time that in one

instance René, a young officer keeping guard of a position with about

one hundred and fifty men, suddenly encountered and took prisoners a

small body of Austrians. On advancing to reconnoitre, he found himself

in front of a body of eighteen hundred more, whom a turn in the road had

concealed from his sight. "Lay down your arms!" said the Austrian

commandant. René answered with boldness, "Do you lay down your arms! I

have destroyed your advance guard;--ground your arms, or no quarter!"

The French soldiers joined in the cry, and the whole body of the

astonished Austrians absolutely laid down their arms to a party, which

they found to their exasperation when too late, was in numbers one

twelfth of their own.

Wurmser was now thoroughly disheartened in not receiving relief, and as

his provisions were by this time exhausted, found himself at length in

dire straits. Napoleon sent him word of the rout and dispersion of the

Austrian army and summoned him to surrender. The old soldier proudly

replied that "he had provisions for a year," but a few days later he

sent his aide-de-camp, Klenau to the headquarters of Serrurier with an

offer of capitulation. General Serrurier, as commander of the blockade,

received the bearer of Wurmser's message in which he stated that he was

"still in a condition to hold out considerably longer, unless honorable

terms were granted."

Napoleon, who had been seated in a corner of his tent wrapped in his

cloak, now came forward and addressed himself to the Austrian envoy, who

had no suspicion in whose presence he had been speaking, and taking his

pen, wrote down marginal answers to the conditions proposed by Wurmser.

He granted terms more favorable than might have been exacted in the

extremity to which the veteran was reduced. "These," said he, "are the

conditions to which your general's bravery entitles him if he opens his

gates tomorrow. He may have them to-day; a week, a month hence, he shall

have no worse: he may hold out to his last morsel of bread. Meantime

tell him that General Bonaparte is about to set out for Rome."

The envoy now recognized Napoleon, and on reading the paper perceived

that the proposed terms were more liberal than he had dared to hope for;

he then owned that only three days' provisions remained in Mantua.

The capitulation was forthwith signed and on the 2d of February, 1797,

Wurmser and his garrison of 13,000 men marched out of Mantua: 7,000 were

lying in the hospitals. When the aged chief was by the fortunes of war

to surrender his sword, he found only Serrurier ready to receive it.

Napoleon was unwilling to be a witness to the humiliation of the

distinguished veteran, and had left the place before the surrender, thus

sparing the conquered veteran the mortification of giving up his sword

to so youthful a commander. This delicate generosity on the part of the

French general was never forgotten by Wurmser.

The terms of surrender agreed to by Bonaparte were not readily accepted

by the French Directory, who urged him to far different conduct. "I have

granted the Austrian," he wrote in reply, "such terms as were, in my

judgment, due to a brave and honorable foe, and to the dignity of the

French nation." The loss of the Austrians at Mantua amounted altogether

to not less than 30,000 men, besides innumerable military stores and

upwards of 500 brass cannon.

The conquerer sent Augereau to Paris with the sixty captured standards

of Austria, and his arrival at the capital was celebrated as a national

festival. Thus it was that Napoleon, with a total force at the utmost,

of 65,000 men, conquered, in their own country, and under the

eye and succoring hand of their own government, five successive

armies, amounting, in all, to _upwards of 300,000 well-appointed

well-provisioned soldiers_, under old and experienced commanders of

approved courage. Such was the conquest of Lombardy.

Some time later Wurmser sent Napoleon a letter by special messenger

acknowledging the generosity and delicacy of conduct of the French

commander at Mantua, and at the same time apprising him by his

aide-de-camp of a conspiracy to poison him in the dominions of the pope,

with whom he was about to wage war.

A few brief engagements with papal troops followed the capitulation of

Wurmser, the pope fearing that the conqueror would enter the "Eternal

City;" but Napoleon, by a rapid movement, threw his infantry across the

river Senio, where the enemy was encamped, and met with but a brief

resistance. Shortly afterwards the pope entered into negotiations with

the French commander, and the treaty of Tolentino followed on the 13th

of February, 1797, conceding to the French one hundred of the finest

works of art, several castles and legations, and about two millions of

dollars.

Napoleon was now master of all Northern Italy with the exception of the

territories of Venice, which announced that it had no desire but to

preserve a perfect neutrality.

More than a month had now elapsed since Alvinzi's defeat at Rivoli; in

nine days the war with the pope had reached its close; and, having left

some garrisons in the town on the Adige to watch the neutrality of

Venice, Napoleon hastened to carry the war into the hereditary dominions

of the Austrian Emperor. Twenty thousand fresh troops had joined his

victorious standard from France, and at the head of perhaps a larger

force than he had ever before mustered, he proceeded towards the Tyrol

where, according to his information, the main army of Austria, recruited

once more to its original strength, was preparing to open a sixth

campaign under the orders,--not of Alvinzi, but of a general young like

himself, and hitherto eminently successful, the Archduke Charles, who

had defeated the courage and skill of Jourdan and Moreau on the Rhine,

and was now to be opposed to Napoleon.

The story of this sixth campaign is but a repetition of the five that

preceded it. The archduke, a young prince of high talents, and upon whom

the last hopes of the Austrian Empire reposed, compelled by the council

of Vienna to execute a plan he had the discrimination to condemn, was

destined to lead but a short campaign, although he had the best army

Austria could enroll. This army once more proceeded to begin operations

on a double basis, and Napoleon permitted him to assume the offensive.

On the 9th of March, 1797, the French commander's headquarters were

fixed at Bassano, and he proceeded vigorously on his career of conquest.

He issued one of his stirring proclamations, in which he told his

soldiers that a grand destiny was still reserved for them, and then

advanced to attack the archduke. He found the latter posted upon the

plains bordering on the banks of the river Tagliamento in front of the

rugged Carinthian mountains which guard the passage in that quarter from

Italy to Germany. Detaching Massena with a division of cavalry to effect

the passage of the Piave where the Austrian division of Lusignan was

posted, Napoleon determined to charge the archduke in front. Massena was

successful in driving Lusignan before him as far as Belluno, where he,

with a rear guard of 500, surrendered, and thus turned the Austrian

flank.

On the 16th of March, the two armies headed by Napoleon, and the

Archduke Charles in person, were drawn up on opposite sides of the

Tagliamento, face to face. Bonaparte then attempted to effect the

passage of the river, but after a formal display of his forces, which

was met by similar demonstrations on the Austrian side of the river, he

suddenly broke up his line, retreated, and took up his bivouac. The

archduke concluded that, as the French had been marching all the night

before, their leader wished to defer the battle until another day, and

in like manner withdrew to his encampment. About two hours later

Napoleon rushed with his whole army, who had merely laid down in ranks,

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 passage of the Tagliamento Napoleon was so nearly drowned, by

the submersion of his carriage, that he for some moments gave up all

thoughts of being rescued.

This affair was the first in which the division of Bernadotte had borne

a part. He arrived upon the borders of the Tagliamento at the very

moment of the combat: throwing himself into the river he exclaimed to

his followers, "Think that you are the Army of the Rhine, and that the

Army of Italy is looking on you!"

In the action which followed the troops of the archduke displayed much

gallantry, and charged the French repeatedly with the greatest courage,

but every effort to dislodge Napoleon failed; at length retreat was

deemed necessary, and eight pieces of cannon and some provisions were

left behind, the French following in close pursuit.

Adjutant General Kellerman distinguished himself at the head of the

French cavalry and received many wounds in executing the manoeuvres that

decided the success of the day; he was subsequently charged with

carrying the trophies taken from the enemy to France.

The pursuers stormed Gradisca, where they made 6,000 prisoners; and the

archduke continuing his retreat, occupied in the course of a few days

Trieste, Fiume and every stronghold in Carinthia. In the course of a

campaign of twenty days the Austrians fought Bonaparte ten times; but

the overthrow on the Tagliamento was never recovered. Their army was

melting away like the snows of the Tyrol.

At last the Austrian leader decided to reach 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. The

archduke expected to reap great advantage from enticing 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, he hoped to cut off their source of supplies and

compel them to retreat from a greatly reinforced imperial army.

From the period of the opening of the campaign the archduke had lost

nearly 20,000 men made prisoners, so that the Austrians could make no

stand except upon the mountains in the neighborhood of the Capital.

Vienna, however, was terror-stricken on hearing that Napoleon who was

only sixty leagues distant, had stormed the passes of the Julian Alps.

The imperial family--embracing little Marie Louise, then scarcely six

years old, afterwards Napoleon's wife--fled with their crown jewels and

treasures into Hungary; the middle classes became clamorous for a

termination of the six years' war, and the archduke was ordered to avail

himself of the first pretense which circumstances might afford for the

opening of a negotiation. Napoleon wrote to the archduke suggesting

peace: "While brave soldiers carry on war they wish for peace;" he said,

"Has not the war already lasted six years? Have we not killed men

enough, and inflicted sufficient sufferings on the human race? Europe

has laid down the arms she took up against the French Republic. Your

nation alone perseveres; yet blood is to flow more copiously than ever.

Whatever be the issue, we shall kill some thousands of men on both

sides, and after all we must come to an understanding, since all things

have an end, not excepting vindictive passions. * * * For my part,

general, if the overture I have the honor to make to you should only

save the life of a single man, I should feel more proud of the civic

crown, I should think I thereby merited, than of all the melancholy

glory that the most distinguished military successes can afford."

The archduke replied within two hours after the receipt of the letter

and a series of negotiations followed, which with Napoleon's rapid

advance on Vienna, finally brought about the provisional treaty of

Leoben, signed April 18, 1797. Napoleon, without waiting for full power

from the Directory to complete the treaty, took the responsibility upon

himself and signed it on the part of France on the 19th of April. The

Austrian plenipotentiaries had set down as a primary concession that

"the Emperor acknowledged the French Republic."

"Strike that out!" said Napoleon; "the Republic is like the sun that

shines by its own light; none but the blind can fail to see it. We are

our own masters and shall establish any government we prefer." "If the

French people should one day wish to create a monarchy," he afterwards

remarked, "the Emperor might object that he had recognized a Republic."

This treaty was followed by a complete surrender on the part of the

Venetian Senate which had violated its pledges of neutrality, and a

democratic government was formed, provisionally, on the model of France.

Venice consented to surrender to the victor large territories on the

mainland of Italy; five ships of war, $600,000 in gold and as much more

in naval stores, twenty of her best works of art and 500 ancient

manuscripts. Napoleon took possession of the city, and the history of

the Venetian Republic was ended. In their last agony the Venetian

Senate made a vain attempt to bribe Napoleon with a purse of seven

millions of francs for more favorable terms, reminding him of the

proverbial ingratitude of all popular governments and of the slight

attention which the French Directory had hitherto paid to his personal

interests. "That is all true enough," he replied, "but I will not place

myself in the power of this duke." To a larger tender on the part of

Austria he replied: "If greatness or richness is to be mine, it must

come from France."

Among the works of art sent by Napoleon to Paris was the celebrated

picture of St. Jerome from the Duke of Parma's gallery. The duke, to

save this treasure, offered Napoleon two hundred thousand dollars, which

the conqueror refused to take, saying: "The sum which he offers us will

soon be spent; but the possession of such a masterpiece at Paris will

adorn that capital for ages, and give birth to similar exertions of

genius."

The fall of Venice gave Napoleon the means of bringing his treaty with

Austria to a more satisfactory conclusion than had been indicated in the

preliminaries of Leoben. After settling the affairs of Venice and

establishing the new Ligurian Republic he took up his residence at the

palace of Montibello, near Milan, with Josephine, whom he had not seen

since his departure from France a year before. The final settlement with

Austria's commissioners was purposely delayed by that Empire, it being

the universal belief that the government of France was approaching a new

crisis, and Austria hoped from such an event to derive considerable

advantage. Napoleon was becoming weary of the protracted negotiations

and threats of the Austrian ambassadors. One day in the latter's

chamber, he suddenly changed his demeanor. "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, "the truce is broken, war is declared, but mark

me,--within three months I shall shatter Austria as I now shatter this

brittle affair!" So saying he dashed the fragile piece furiously to the

floor, breaking it into a thousand pieces, and left the room. The

ambassador followed him, and finding him preparing to march on Vienna,

made submissions which induced him to once more resume negotiations, the

result of which was the treaty of Campo-Formio, so called from the

humble village at which it was signed on the 17th of October, 1797.

Bourrienne relates that while Napoleon was occupied with the

organization of Venice, Genoa and Milan, he used to complain of the

want of _men_. "Good God!" said he, "how rare _men_ are! There are

eighteen millions in Italy and I have with difficulty found two real

ones,--Dandolo and Lelzi." These two actual "men" were immediately

employed in important services, and justified his estimation of them.

It was from the palace of Montibello, five leagues from Milan, that

Napoleon wrote to the Directory: "From these different points (the

islands of the Mediterranean, which he proposed to seize) we can command

that sea, keep an eye on the Ottoman Empire, which is crumbling to

pieces, and we can render the supremacy of the ocean almost useless to

Great Britain. _Let us take possession of Egypt_, which lies on the road

to India, and there we can found one of the mightiest colonies in the

world. It is in Egypt we must make war on England."

To perfect the treaty with Austria Napoleon received orders from the

French Directory to appear at a congress at Rastadt, all the German

powers being summoned to meet there for that purpose. He took an

affecting leave of his soldiers, in which he said in closing: "Soldiers,

when you talk of the princes you have conquered, of the nations you have

set free, and the battles you have fought in two campaigns, say: 'In the

next two we shall do still more.'" He then proceeded by way of

Switzerland, carrying with him the unbounded love and devotion of one of

the finest armies that the world had ever seen.

A person who saw Napoleon at this time described his impressions of him

in the following letter, which appeared in one of the Paris journals in

December 1797: "With lively interest and extreme attention, I have

observed this extraordinary man, who has performed such great deeds, and

about whom there is something which seems to indicate that his career is

not yet closed. I found him very like his portraits--little, thin, pale,

with an air of fatigue, but not of ill-health, as has been reported of

him. He appears to me to listen with more abstraction than interest, and

that he was more occupied with what he was thinking of than with what

was said to him. There is a great intelligence in his countenance, along

with which may be marked an air of habitual meditation which reveals

nothing of what is passing within. In that thinking head, in that bold

mind, it is impossible not to believe that some daring designs are

engendering _which will have their influence on the destinies of

Europe_!"

"My extreme youth when I took command of the Army of Italy," Napoleon

remarked afterwards, "made it necessary for me to evince great reserve

of manners and the utmost severity of morals. This was indispensable to

enable me to sustain authority over men so greatly superior in age and

experience. I pursued a line of conduct in the highest degree

irreproachable and exemplary. In spotless morality I was a Cato and must

have appeared such to all. My supremacy could be retained only by

proving myself a better man than any other man in the army. Had I

yielded to human weakness I should have lost my power."

At the first interview between Napoleon and the veteran generals whom he

was to command, Rampon undertook to give the young commander some

advice. Napoleon who was impatient of advice, exclaimed: "Gentlemen, the

art of war is in its infancy. The time has passed in which enemies are

mutually to appoint the place of combat, advance hat in hand and say:

'_Gentlemen will you have the goodness to fire_!' We must cut the enemy

to pieces, precipitate ourselves like a torrent upon their battalions

and grind them to powder. Experienced generals conduct the troops

opposed to us. So much the better! Their experience will not avail them

against me. Mark my words, they will soon burn their books on tactics

and know not what to do."

Arriving at Rastadt Napoleon found that the multiplicity of details to

be arranged was likely to require a long stay, and as his personal

relations with the Directory were of a doubtful kind, he abandoned the

conduct of the diplomatic business to his colleagues and reached Paris

after a triumphal march, on the 20th of November, 1797. During his

absence he had been the salvation of France, and his arrival created a

great sensation in the capital. He was hailed with the most rapturous

applause by the people, the streets through which he was expected to

pass were thronged, and wherever he was seen the air was filled with

shouts of, "Long live the General of the Army of Italy!"

[Illustration: From a Drawing by Ch. Chasselat

BONAPARTE AT THE SIEGE OF MANTUA]

III

EXPEDITION TO EGYPT

On the 2nd of October, 1797, during Napoleon's absence in Italy, the

Directory announced to the French people its intention of carrying the

war with England into England itself. The immediate organization of a

great invading army was therefore ordered, and "Citizen General

Bonaparte," the Conqueror of Italy, was designated to command the

forces.

It was some months before this decision was acted upon, however, and in

the meantime Napoleon lived quietly in a small, modest house in the Rue

Chantereine, which he had occupied before he set out for Italy. Shortly

after his return, on going home one evening, he was surprised to find

workmen engaged in changing the sign bearing the name of the street to

"Rue de la Victoire," in commemoration of his Italian campaign. He

seemed to avoid as much as possible at this time the honors of popular

distinction and applause that the people heaped upon him. One morning he

sent his secretary to a theatre manager to ask him to give that evening

two very popular pieces, "if such a thing were possible."

"Nothing is impossible for General Bonaparte," replied the courtly

manager; "the Conqueror of Italy has long ago erased that word from the

dictionary!"

This flattering answer afforded Napoleon a hearty laugh. He went to the

performance and although endeavoring to maintain his usual privacy, was

discovered and loudly called upon to come forward. The honor which he

esteemed most was his nomination as a member of the Institute. He

frequently attended its meetings and was also fond of appearing in the

costume worn by the members.

When congratulated by Bourrienne on some noisy demonstration of popular

favor, he answered in the words of Cromwell; "Bah! they would crowd as

eagerly about me if I were on my way to the scaffold!"

Wherever he went he was still the Bonaparte of Lodi, Arcola and Rivoli.

Meanwhile the government gave him no adequate reward for his important

services in Italy. He had not when he returned to France, three hundred

thousand francs in his possession, though he had transmitted fifty

millions to the State. "I might easily," he said to Las Casas, "have

brought back ten or twelve millions; I never made out any accounts, nor

was I ever asked for any." On the eve of his departure for Egypt he

became possessed of Malmaison and there deposited nearly all his

property. He purchased it in the name of his wife, older than himself,

and consequently, in case of his surviving her, he must have forfeited

all right to the same. The fact, as stated by himself, was, that he

never had a taste or desire for the acquirement of riches.

He willingly accepted the new appointment now pressed upon him by the

government, who seemed anxious that he should not remain in Paris to

take part in the civil business of the State. In this latter direction

he had no desire for continued service. In Napoleon's own language, "the

pear was not yet ripe," and, like Cæsar, he would have preferred being

first in a village to being second in Rome. The first scheme of the

French Directory was to make a descent upon England and to place

Napoleon at the head of the invading army, but their counsels

continually fluctuated between this project and the Egyptian expedition.

Napoleon said to Bourrienne on the 29th of January: "Bourrienne, I shall

remain here no longer; they (the Directory) do not want me; there is no

good to be done; they will not listen to me. I see, if I loiter here, I

am done for quickly. Here everything grows flat; my glory is already on

the wane. This little Europe of yours cannot supply the demand. We must

move to the East. All great reputations come from that quarter. But I

will first take a turn round the coast to assure myself what can be

done. If the success of a descent upon England appears doubtful, as I

fear, the army of England shall become the army of the East, and I am

off for Egypt." He at length resolved to bring the question of the

invasion to a decision by a personal survey of the coast opposite

England. While there he busied himself for a time in suggesting

improvements in fortifications and in selecting the best points for

embarking an invading force. Many local improvements of great

importance, long afterwards effected, were first suggested by him at

this period; but the time had not come for invading England.

Napoleon had suggested to Talleyrand, minister of foreign affairs, some

months before, the propriety of making an effort against England in

another quarter of the globe; i. e., of seizing Malta, proceeding to

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.

The East presented to him a field of conquest and glory, and to this he

now again recurred. "Europe is but a mole hill," he said; "All the great

glories have come from Asia where there are six hundred millions of

men." He soon returned to Paris and made his views known to the

Directory, declaring that an invasion of England was a wild chimera. To

Bourrienne, his school companion, who asked him concerning his

contemplated invasion after he had been on the coast a week he said:

"The risk is too great; I sha'n't venture it. I don't want to trifle

with the fate of France."

The temptation of the Directory was great, and as it would find

employment for Napoleon at a distance from France, the Egyptian

expedition was finally determined upon; but kept a great secret.

While the attention of Great Britain was now riveted on the coast, it

was on the borders of the Mediterranean that his ships and the troops

really destined for action, were assembling. Everyone wished to

accompany Napoleon to the East--civilians, scholars, engineers, artists,

all wished to make the journey. Napoleon selected and equipped the army,

raised money and collected ships. He was employed night and day in the

organization of the armament which was to be under his command

absolutely.

In April and May 1798 the various squadrons of the French fleet were

assembled at Toulon, and everything was soon in readiness. The main body

was assembled at Toulon but the embarkment was to take place at Civita

Vecchia. When asked if he should remain long in Egypt, Napoleon replied:

"A few months, or six years; it all depends upon circumstances."

When all was in readiness Bonaparte called his vast army together and in

sight of the ships which were to carry them from the shores of France,

said to his followers: "Rome fought Carthage on sea as well as on the

land; England is the Carthage of France. I have come to lead you, in the

name of the Divinity of Liberty, across mighty seas, and into distant

regions, where your valor may achieve such life and glory as will never

await you beneath the cold skies of the West. Prepare yourselves,

soldiers, to embark under the tri-color for achievements far more

glorious than you have won for your country on the blushing plains of

Italy."

He agreed to give each soldier seven acres of land, and as his promises

had not hitherto been violated, the soldiers heard him with joy, and

prepared to obey him with alacrity. They answered his address with loud

cheers and cries of, "Long live the Republic!" The English government

vigilantly observed the preparations that were going on, and kept a

fleet in the Mediterranean under the command of Nelson. It was highly

important that the French squadron should sail without delay, in order

to avoid the risk of being discovered by the English cruisers, but

contrary winds detained it for ten days. This interval was employed by

Napoleon in attention to the minutest details connected with the finely

appointed force under his command.

On the evening of the 19th of May, 1798, fortune favored him, and the

troops were all embarked, while the English fleet, under Nelson, "the

Neptune of the Seas," was compelled to go into port to repair ships

disabled in a violent gale. The French fleet, which was supplied with

water for a month, and with food for two months, carried about 40,000

men of all sorts, and ten thousand sailors. In the army were many

veteran soldiers, selected from the Army of Italy and commanded by the

first generals of France. Kléber, Desaix, Berthier, Regnier, Murat,

Lannes, Andreossi, Junot, Menou, and Belliard all served in this

campaign.

Josephine had accompanied her husband to Toulon, and remained with him

to the last moment; their farewell was most affecting. As the last of

the French troops stepped on board, the sun rose with great brilliancy

on the mighty armament--one of those dazzling suns which the soldiers

often referred to with delight as "the suns of Napoleon," and sails were

immediately set for the East.

On the 8th of June the convoys from Italy joined the squadron out at

sea; on the 10th the whole fleet was assembled before Malta. The first

object of Napoleon was to take possession of that island. He had

already secured a secret party among the knights, and a very slight

demonstration of hostilities spread consternation among them and they

opened their gates to the French without delay. Nearly all the knights

entered the ranks of the French army. As the French troops passed

through the almost impregnable fortifications General Caffarelli dryly

remarked to Napoleon that it was fortunate there was some one to open

the gates for them; had there been no garrison at all, it would have

been terrible hard work.

Leaving a sufficient garrison in Malta the French squadron was again

under sail on the 16th. While the officers and savants devoted much time

to the discussion of military and scientific topics the great object of

excitement and solicitude was to elude the English fleet. The French

vessels were encumbered with civil and military baggage, provisions,

stores, etc., and densely crowded with troops. Napoleon was anxious to

avoid such an encounter: "God grant that we may pass the English

without meeting them," he remarked to Admiral Brueyes.

Nelson was now in full pursuit. At Naples he heard of their landing at

Malta and that their destination was Egypt. He arrived at Malta just

after they had left the island and missed overtaking them by an

accident. During a hazy night, on which they lay off Candia, the French

were alarmed by the report of guns on their starboard, and it afterwards

proved that those were signals between the ships of Nelson's fleet, so

close were the two hostile squadrons to each other without being aware

of it. Napoleon received positive information of this proximity the

following morning and ordered Brueyes to steer at once for Cape Aza,

about twenty-five leagues distant from Alexandria. This precaution

foiled Nelson who crowded sail for Alexandria.

Napoleon finally reached his destination on the first of July

undisturbed, the tops of the minarets of Alexandria announcing that his

point was gained. As he was reconnoitring the coast at the very moment

that danger seemed over a strange sail appeared on the verge of the

horizon: "Fortune!" exclaimed he, "I ask but six hours more,--wilt thou

refuse them?" The vessel proved not to be English, but French and the

disembarkation, near a structure called the tower of Marabout, three

leagues to the eastward of Alexandria, immediately took place in spite

of a violent gale and a tremendous surf. Egypt was then nominally a

province of the Porte, and governed by a Turkish Pasha who was at peace

with France.

Bonaparte met with no opposition in landing, and by 3 o'clock in the

morning commenced his march upon Alexandria with three divisions of his

army. He had little difficulty in entering Alexandria, although he met

with resistance and General Kléber, who commanded the attack, was

wounded. The French lost about two hundred men.

Bonaparte exacted of his troops, under penalty of death, consideration

of all the laws and religion of the country, and to the people of Egypt

he addressed a proclamation in which he said: "They will tell you that I

come to destroy your religion; believe them not: I come to restore your

rights, to punish the usurpers, and I respect, more than the Mamelukes

ever did, God, his Prophet and the Koran. * * * Thrice happy they

who shall be with us! Woe unto them that take up arms for the

Mamelukes!--they shall perish."

The Mamelukes were considered by Napoleon to be, individually, 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, etc., from England, and sabres of the steel of

Damascus. Their skill in horsemanship was equal to their fiery valor.

With that cavalry and the French infantry, Bonaparte said it would be

easy to conquer the world.

Napoleon himself remained some days in Alexandria and left on the 7th of

July, leaving Kléber in command, being anxious to force the Mamelukes to

an encounter with the least possible delay. General Desaix was sent

forward with 4500 men to Beda. The commission of learned men remained at

Alexandria, until Napoleon should reach Cairo, with the exception of

Monge and Berthollett who accompanied the commander.

The march over the burning sands of the desert brought extreme misery

and unheard-of sufferings to the troops; the air was full of pestiferous

insects, the glare of the sand weakened the men's eyes, and water was

scarce and bad. Even the gallant spirits of Murat and Lannes could not

sustain themselves, and they trampled their brilliant cockades in the

sand in a fit of rage in the presence of the troops. The common soldiers

asked, with sarcastic or angry murmurs, if it was here the general

designed to give them their "seven acres of land." "The rogue" said

they, "he might, with safety, have promised us as much as we pleased; we

should not abuse his good nature." They, however, bore a grudge against

Caffarelli, who they thought had advised the expedition, and used to

say, as he hobbled past with his wooden leg, "He does not care what

happens; he is sure to have one foot at least in France."

Napoleon alone was superior to all these evils. It required, however,

more than his example of endurance and the general influence of his firm

character to prevent the army from breaking into open mutiny. "Once,"

said he at St Helena, "I threw myself amidst a group of generals, and,

addressing myself to the tallest of their number with vehemence, said,

'You have been talking sedition; take care lest I fulfill my duty; your

five feet ten inches would not hinder you from being shot within two

hours.'"

On the 10th of July, 1798, the army reached the Nile at Rahmanié: "We no

sooner saw the river," says Savary in his memoirs, "than soldiers,

officers and all rushed into it; each, regardless whether it was

sufficiently shallow to afford security from danger, only sought to

quench his burning thirst, and stooped to drink from the stream, the

whole army presenting the appearance of a flock of sheep." "We

encamped," says Napoleon, "on immense quantities of wheat, but there

was neither mill nor oven in the country." The men bruised the grain

between stones and baked it in the ashes or parched and boiled it.

The army soon moved on towards Cairo, but the men were unable to leave

the ranks for a single instant without certain death from the spears or

scimitars of those matchless Mameluke horsemen; and, therefore, although

so near the Nile, several fell dead from thirst. But the worriment of

their minds was their worst evil. They began to say there was no great

city of Cairo; that they believed it would prove only a collection of

wretched huts. In this state they came up, on the 13th, with the

Mamelukes at Chebreis. They were drawn up in battle array under Mourad

Bey, one of their most powerful chiefs, and were a magnificent body of

cavalry, glittering with gold and silver and mounted on splendid horses.

The battle commenced without a moment's hesitation on either side. Each

Mameluke, feeling in himself the valor of a host, rushed in the

singleness of his purpose, as if alone against the opposing mass; and

with repeated charges, endeavored, by every means of unbridled fury or

consummate skill, to break the solid squares of the French army. They

were at length beaten back with the loss of about three hundred.

After the action at Chebreis the French army continued to advance during

eight days without opposition of any enemy except the hovering Arabs who

lay in wait for every straggler from the main column. The order of march

towards Cairo was systematically arranged; each division of the army

moved forward in squares six men deep on each side; the artillery was at

the angles; and in the centre the ammunition, the baggage, and the

small body of cavalry still remaining. Napoleon himself when he rode

always made use of a dromedary, though he at first suffered a sensation

resembling seasickness from its peculiar motion. "I never passed the

desert," said he sometime later, "without experiencing very painful

emotions. It was the image of immensity to my thoughts. It showed no

limits. It had neither beginning nor end. It was an ocean for the foot

of man."

On the 19th of July the soldiers' eyes were gladdened by the sight of

the grand pyramids on the horizon. Still advancing towards Cairo, the

distant monuments swelling upon the eye at every step, the army reached

Embabé on the 21st and found the Mamelukes in battle array to dispute

their further progress.

While every eye was fixed on these hoary monuments of the past, Napoleon

sighted with his glass a vast army of the Beys spread out before him,

the 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 perceived, too, and what had escaped the

observation of all his staff, that the 40 pieces of cannon on the

intrenched camp of the enemy were without carriages, and consequently

could be leveled in but one direction. He instantly decided on his plan

of attack by preparing to throw his forces on the left, where the guns

could not be available. Mourad Bey, who commanded the Mamelukes,

penetrated the French commander's design, and his followers at once

advanced gallantly to the encounter.

"Soldiers, you are about to fight the rulers of Egypt," said Napoleon,

as he raised his hands high in the air and formed his troops into

separate squares to meet the assault; "from the summits of yonder

pyramids forty centuries behold you." These imposing and mysterious

witnesses were not appealed to in vain, and the great battle began at

once at the foot of the ancient and gigantic monuments, the French

advancing in five grand squares, Napoleon heading the centre square. In

an instant the Mamelukes came charging up with impetuous speed and loud

cries. 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 French troops.

The first manoeuvre of the French army disconcerted the plans of the

Mamelukes; still they continued to charge. The places of the dead and

dying were instantly supplied by new warriors, who fell in their turn.

They daringly penetrated even between the spaces occupied by the squares

commanded by Regnier and Desaix, so that the desperate horsemen were

exposed to the incessant fire of both faces of the divisions at the

distance of fifty paces. Many of the French fell from each other's fire

in the resistance to this act of desperation.

Those who had fallen wounded from their seats crawled along the sand and

hewed at the legs of their enemies with their scimitars; but nothing

could move the intrepid French. Bayonets and the continued roll of

musketry by degrees thinned the host around them. When Bonaparte at last

advanced with his battalions upon the main body, and divided one part

from the other, such was the confusion and terror of the Mamelukes that

they abandoned their works and flung themselves by hundreds into the

Nile. The carnage was prodigious, thousands were left bleeding on the

sands, and multitudes more were drowned. It was the custom of the

Mamelukes to carry their treasures with them on their bodies when they

went to battle, and every one that fell made a French soldier rich for

life, as the bodies of the slain were all rifled. In his report of the

engagement, Bonaparte said: "After the great number of battles in which

the troops I command have been opposed to superior strength, I cannot

but praise their discipline and coolness on this occasion; for this

novel species of warfare has made them display a patience contrasting

oddly with French impetuosity. If they had given way to their ardor,

they would not have gained the victory, which was only to be obtained by

great calmness and patience. The cavalry of the Mamelukes evinced great

bravery. They defended their fortunes; for there was not one of them

upon whom our soldiers did not find three, four or five hundred gold

pieces."

Savary, who fought in Desaix's division, which had to stand the first

attack of the Mamelukes, has given a striking description of the

impression produced by their furious onset. "Although," he says, "the

troops that were in Egypt had been long inured to danger, every one

present at the battle of the Pyramids must acknowledge, if he be

sincere, that the charge of the Mamelukes was most awful, and that there

was reason, at one moment, to apprehend their breaking through our

formidable squares, rushing upon them, as they did, with a confidence

which enforced silence in our ranks, interrupted only by the word of

command. It seemed as if we must inevitably be trampled in an instant

under the feet of this cavalry of Mamelukes, who were all mounted upon

splendid chargers, richly caparisoned with gold and silver trappings,

covered with draperies of all colors and waving scarfs, and who were

bearing down upon us at full gallop, rending the air with their cries.

The whole character of this imposing sight filled the breasts of our

soldiers with sensations to which they had hitherto been strangers, and

made them vividly attentive to the word of command. The order to fire

was executed with a quickness and precision far exceeding what is

exhibited in an exercise or upon parade."

More than fifty pieces of cannon and four hundred loaded camels became

the spoil of the conquerors.

Mourad and a remnant of 2000 of his Mamelukes retreated on Upper Egypt.

These were all that escaped with life out of the matchless body of men

who in such superb array had bid scornful defiance to the European

invaders only a few hours before. Cairo surrendered; Lower Egypt was

entirely conquered. Such were the immediate consequences of the "Battle

of the Pyramids."

Many of the promiscuous rabble of infantry reached Cairo in advance of

the French and there they spread realistic accounts of the dreadful

power of Napoleon and his army.

The name of Bonaparte now spread panic through the East, and the victor

was considered invincible. The inhabitants called him "King of Fire,"

from the deadly effect of the musketry in the engagement at the Pyramids

which decided the conquest of the country. By the earliest dawn the

victor prepared to take possession of the conquest he had made, but was

spared all difficulties by its unconditional surrender. A deputation of

the shieks and chief inhabitants waited upon him at his headquarters in

the country house of Mourad Bey, to implore his clemency and submit to

his power. He received them with the greatest kindness and informed

them of his friendly intentions towards them and that his hostility was

entirely confined to the Mamelukes.

Cairo and its citadel were immediately occupied by the French troops,

and on the 24th of July Napoleon made his public entry into the capital,

amidst a great concourse of people.

The savants who accompanied Bonaparte on the expedition lost no time in

taking advantage of their opportunities, and at once began to ransack

the monuments of antiquity, and founded collections which reflected much

honor on their zeal and skill. Napoleon himself, accompanied by many

officers of his staff, visited the interior of the Great Pyramid of

Cheops, attended by many muftis and imans, and on entering the secret

chamber in which, three thousand years before, some Pharaoh had been

interred, repeated once more his confession of faith: "There is no God

but God, and Mohammed is his Prophet." The learned Orientals who

accompanied him responded with sarcastic solemnity: "Thou hast spoken

like the most learned of the prophets; but God is merciful."

Ten days after the battle at the pyramids had been fought and won,

Nelson, who had scoured the Mediterranean in quest of Napoleon,

discovered the French fleet, commanded by Admiral Brueyes, at anchor in

the Bay of Aboukir. A terrific engagement ensued, lasting twenty-four

hours, including a whole night. A solitary pause occurred at midnight

when the French ship _Orient_, a 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. Admiral Brueyes himself

perished. The next morning two shattered ships, out of all the French

fleet, with difficulty made their escape to the sea. The rest of the

magnificent fleet was utterly destroyed or remained in the hands of the

English, who have since called the engagement "The Battle of the Nile."

The ships were arranged in a semi-circular compact line of battle, and

so close to the shore that Brueyes had supposed it was impossible to get

between them and the land; but his daring enemy, who well knew all the

surroundings, soon convinced him of his mistake. The van of the English

fleet, six in number, successfully rounded the French line, dropping

anchor between it and the shore, and opened their fire, while Nelson,

with his other ships, ranged along it on the outer side and so placed

the French fleet between two tremendous fires. Admiral Brueyes was

wounded early in the action, but continued to command with the utmost

energy. When he fell mortally wounded he would not suffer himself to be

carried below. "A French admiral ought to die on his quarter-deck," he

replied to the entreaties of his friend Gantheaume who succeeded him.

It was on his return from Salahié to Cairo, whither Napoleon had pursued

the Mameluke chief, Ibrahim-Bey, and defeated him, that he was met by a

messenger, with information of the destruction of the French fleet by

Nelson in the roads of Aboukir. It was a terrible blow to Napoleon, who

was thus shut off from all intercourse with France; his soldiers were

thus completely isolated, hundreds of miles from home, and compelled to

rely on their own arms and the resources of Egypt. He had been so

anxious about the fleet as to write twice to Admiral Brueyes to repeat

the order that he should enter the harbor of Alexandria, or sail for

Corfu; he had also, previously to leaving Cairo, dispatched Julien, his

aide-de-camp, to enforce the order; but this unfortunate officer was

surrounded and killed, with his escort, at a village on the Nile, where

he had landed to obtain provisions.

[Illustration: From an Engraving by Gustave Levy

BONAPARTE AS GENERAL-IN-CHIEF OF THE ARMY OF ITALY]

A solitary sigh escaped Napoleon when he heard the news. "To the army of

France," said he, "the fates have decreed the empire of the land--to

England the sovereignty of the seas." Some years later, on learning of

the results of the terrible naval battle at Trafalgar, in which Nelson

was again victorious, but which cost him his life, Napoleon repeated

this remark, adding, "Well, I cannot be everywhere." The seamen who had

landed at Alexandria were now formed into a marine brigade, and made a

valuable addition to the army. Very soon afterwards the Porte declared

war against France.

Public improvements of various kinds were now begun at Cairo and

Alexandria under Bonaparte's direction, and many continue to this day.

In all quarters the highest discipline was preserved; and Napoleon

exerted all the energy of his nature to increase the resources which

remained to him, and to preserve and organize Egypt as a French

province. "At each step of his advance," says Savary, "General Bonaparte

quickly foresaw everything that was to be done to render available the

resources of the most fertile country in the world and give them a

suitable application." So quickly had his mind recovered its tone that,

on the 21st of August (only a week after he had learned of the

destruction of his fleet at Aboukir), he founded an Institute at Cairo

exactly on the model of that learned society in France. Monge was

president; Napoleon himself, vice-president.

At Cairo a terrible insurrection occurred on the 21st of October, but it

was soon put down by the French troops, after a bitter struggle in which

many soldiers lost their lives. Napoleon was in the thickest of the

conflict on horseback in the centre of thirty Guides and soon restored

confidence among his soldiers. Tranquility was restored in three days,

after which many of the leaders were put to death. The others were

pardoned.

Napoleon now proceeded to explore the Isthmus of Suez, where a narrow

neck of land divides the Red Sea from the Mediterranean. He visited the

Maronite Monks of Mount Sinai, and, as Mohammed had done before him,

affixed his name to their charter of privileges; he examined, also, the

Fountains of Moses, and on the 28th of December, 1798, nearly lost his

life in exploring, during low water, the sands of the Red Sea, where

Pharaoh is supposed to have perished while in pursuit of the Hebrews.

"The night overtook us," says Savary, "the waters began to rise around

us; the Guard in advance exclaimed that their horses were swimming.

Bonaparte 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 circle around him, and then ride out, 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; then 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 breastplate of our horses ere we made the

land." In referring to this narrow escape from sharing the fate of

Pharaoh, Napoleon remarked to Las Casas: "This would have furnished all

the preachers in Christendom with a splendid text against me."

On his return to Cairo Bonaparte dispatched a trusty messenger into

India, inviting Tippoo Saib to inform him of the condition of the

English army in that section, and declaring that Egypt was only the

first port in a march destined to surpass that of Alexander. According

to his secretary, "he spent whole days in lying flat on the ground

stretched on maps of Asia."

After having passed the balance of the year at Cairo the commander

declared the time for action had now arrived. Leaving 15,000 men in and

about Cairo, the division of Desaix in Upper Egypt, and garrisons in the

chief towns, Bonaparte, on the 11th of February, 1799, marched for Syria

at the head of 10,000 picked men, with the intention of crushing the

Turkish armaments in that quarter before their chief force, which he

learned was assembling at Rhodes, should have time to reach Egypt by

sea.

The hostility of the Porte, which would of course be encouraged and

assisted by England, implied impending danger on two points,--the

approach of a Turkish army via Syria and the landing of another on the

coast of the Mediterranean, under the protection of British ships. The

necessity of forestalling their designs by an expedition to Syria was

therefore apparent. In January, 1799, two Turkish armies were assembled;

one at Rhodes; the other in Syria. The former was intended to make a

descent upon the coast of Egypt at Aboukir, the latter had already

pushed forward its advance guard to El-Arisch, a fort within the

Egyptian territory, had established large magazines at Gaza and landed

at Jaffa a train of artillery of forty guns.

Traversing the desert, seventy-five leagues across, which divides Egypt

from Syria, with about twelve thousand men, one regiment being mounted

on dromedaries, Napoleon took possession of the fortress El-Arisch on

February 17th, after a vigorous assault. The march was made rapidly and

in good order. Having resolved upon an immediate expedition into Syria,

he did not wait to be attacked on both sides at the same time; but,

according to his usual custom, determined to push forward and encounter

one division of his enemies at a time. He addressed two letters to the

Pasha of Syria, surnamed Djezzar or "the Butcher," from his horrible

cruelties, offering him friendship and alliance, but the pasha observed

a contemptuous silence as to the first communication, and replied to the

second in his favorite fashion--seized the messenger and cut off his

head. There was, consequently, nothing to be done with Djezzar but to

fight him with such generals as Kléber, Bessieres, Caffarelli, Murat,

Lannes, Junot and Berthier.

Pursuing his march, Napoleon took Gaza, the ancient city of the

Philistines, without serious opposition, although three or four thousand

of Djezzar's horse were drawn up to oppose them. At Jaffa, the Joppa of

Holy Writ, the Moslems made a resolute defense, on March 6th, but at

length the walls were carried by storm. Three thousand Turks died with

arms in their hands in defense of the city, and the town was given up

for three hours to pillage more savage than Napoleon had ever before

permitted. This was followed by a massacre of hundreds of the barbarians

who were marched out of Jaffa some distance from the town, in the centre

of a battalion under General Bon, divided into small parties and shot or

bayoneted to a man. Like true fatalists they submitted in silence, and

their bodies were gathered into a pyramid where for half a century their

bones were still visible in the whitening sand.

Napoleon, while admitting that the act was one of the darkest stains on

his name that he had to acknowledge, still justified himself on the

double plea that he could not afford soldiers to guard so many

prisoners--estimated variously from 1200 to 3,000--and that he could not

grant them the benefit of parole because they were the very men who had

already been set free by him on such terms at El-Arisch after they had

given their word not to serve against him for a year. "Now," said

Napoleon at St. Helena, "if I had spared them again and sent them away

on their parole, they would directly have gone to St. Jean d'Acre, where

they would have played me over again the same trick that they had done

at Jaffa. In justice to the lives of my soldiers, since every general

ought to consider himself as their father, and them as his children, I

could not allow this. To leave as a guard a portion of my army, already

small and reduced in number, in consequence of the breach of faith of

those wretches, was impossible. I therefore * * * ordered that the

prisoners should be singled out and shot. * * * I would do the same

thing to-morrow and so would any general commanding an army under such

circumstances."

Napoleon now ascertained that the Pasha of Syria was at St. Jean d'Acre,

so renowned in the history of the Crusades, and determined to defend

that place to extremity with the force which had already been assembled

for the invasion of Egypt. Sir Sidney Smith, with two ships of war, was

cruising before the port and the garrison was assisted by European

science.

The French army moved on Acre, eager for revenge, while the necessary

apparatus of a siege was ordered to be sent round by sea from

Alexandria. Sir Sidney Smith was informed by Djezzar, of the approaching

storm, and hastened to support him in the defense of Acre. Napoleon's

vessels, conveying 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 was permitted to regulate the plan of defense, turning Napoleon's

own cannon against him from the walls.

Napoleon commenced the siege on the 18th of March and opened his

trenches immediately on his arrival. "On that little town," he said to

one of his generals, as they were standing together on an eminence, "On

yonder little town depends the fate of the East: behold the key of

Constantinople or of India." "The moment Acre falls," he said about the

same time to Bourrienne, "all the Druses of Mount Lebanon 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 Turks can

offer no effectual resistance, and it is not unlikely that I may return

to France by the route of Adrianople and Vienna, destroying the house of

Austria on my way."

For ten days the French labored hard in their trenches, being exposed to

the fire of extensive batteries, formed chiefly of Bonaparte's own

artillery. On March 28th, however, a breach was at last effected and the

French mounted with such fiery zeal that the garrison gave way. Shortly

afterwards Djezzar himself appeared on the battlements, and flinging his

pistols at the head of his flying men, urged and compelled them to renew

the defense, which they finally did, causing the French to retreat with

great loss.

In the meantime Junot, having marched with his division to encounter a

large Mussulman army that had been gathered among the mountains of

Samaria, and was preparing to descend upon Acre, Napoleon was compelled

to follow him to Nazareth, where he was rescued on April 8th. Here, as

usual, the splendid cavalry of the Orientals were unable to resist the

solid squares and well-directed musketry of the French. General

Kléber, with another division, was in like manner rescued by the

general-in-chief at Mount Thabor on April 15th, after the former had

fought against fearful odds from six in the morning till one in the

afternoon.

Napoleon now returned to the siege of Acre with all possible dispatch,

pressed it on with desperate assaults day after day, losing many of his

best soldiers. Accustomed to the easy victories which he had obtained on

every encounter with the Turkish forces in Syria, he was not prepared to

expect the determined resistance by which his progress was now arrested.

Acre is surrounded by a wall flanked with towers, and was further

defended by a broad and deep ditch with strong works. At one time the

French succeeded in forcing their way into the great tower and in

establishing themselves in one part of it for a time despite all

opposition; but they were finally dislodged; each advantage ended with

itself and no progress was made towards subduing the place. At another

time a break was made in the walls in a distant part of the town, and a

French party entered Acre at the opening. Djezzar then threw such a

crowd of Turks upon them that all discipline was lost and nearly every

French soldier met death. The brave Lannes, who headed the party, was

with difficulty rescued after being desperately wounded.

During this siege Napoleon sent an officer with an order to the most

exposed position; he was killed. He sent another, who was also killed;

and so with a third. The order was imperative and Bonaparte had but two

aides with him, Eugene Beauharnais and Lavalette. He signaled to the

latter to come forward, and said to him in a low voice, so that Eugene

could not hear: "Take this order, Lavalette, I don't want to send this

boy and have him killed so young; his mother (Josephine) has intrusted

him to me. You know what life is. Go!" The aide returned in safety.

On another occasion during the siege a piece of shell struck Eugene on

the head: he fell, and lay for a long time under the ruins of a wall

which the shell had knocked down. Bonaparte thought he was killed, and

uttered a cry of grief. The youth was only wounded, however, and at the

end of nineteen days asked leave to return to his post, in order to take

part in the other assaults, which failed like the first, in spite of

Bonaparte's obstinacy. "This wretched hole," said he, "has cost me a

good deal of time and a great many men, but things have gone too far; I

must try one last assault."

An instance of the enthusiastic attachment which Napoleon was capable of

inspiring occurred during this memorable siege. One day, when the

commander was in the trenches, a shell thrown by Sir Sidney Smith, fell

at his feet. Two grenadiers immediately rushed towards him,--placed him

between them, and raised their arms above his head so as to completely

cover every part of his body. The shell burst without injuring one of

the group, although they were covered with sand. Both these grenadiers

were made officers immediately; one of them, subsequently, was the

General Dumesnil, so much talked of 1814, for his resolute defense of

Vincennes against the Russians. He had lost a leg in the campaign of

Moscow; and to the summons to surrender he replied, "Give me back my leg

and I will give up the fortress!" The fate of his heroic companion is

not recorded.

The siege had now continued for sixty days. Napoleon once more commanded

an assault on the 8th of May, and his officers and soldiers obeyed him

with devoted but fruitless gallantry. "That Sidney Smith," he said

later, "made me miss my fortune." The loss his army had by this time

undergone was very great, and the hearts of all the men were quickly

sinking.

Among the officers and men who fell on this memorable 8th of May was

Croisier, the aide-de-camp, who had incurred the commander's displeasure

at Jaffa. Napoleon had once before been violently irritated against him

for some seeming neglect at Cairo, and the word "coward" had escaped

him. The feelings of Croisier, then deeply affected had become

insupportable since the event at Jaffa, and he sought death at every

opportunity. On this day Napoleon observed the tall figure of his

unfortunate aide-de-camp mounted on a battery, exposed to the thickest

of the enemy's fire, and called loudly and imperatively, "Croisier, come

down! you have no business there." Croisier neither replied nor moved;

the next instant he received his death wound.

A Turkish fleet had now arrived to reinforce Djezzar, and upon the utter

failure of the attack of the 21st of May, the eleventh different attempt

to carry the place by assault, Napoleon yielded to stern necessity,

raised the siege, and began his retreat upon Jaffa. On leaving this

latter place some six days after, a number of plague patients in the

hospitals were found to be in a state that held out no hope of their

recovery, and the commander, unwilling to leave them to the cruel

practices of the Turks, suggested that opium be administered by one of

the medical staff as a speedy death.

The various accounts of this incident in no way agree in detail.

Bonaparte denied at St. Helena that the opium was given, but said that

the patients, seven in number were abandoned. He declared also, that if

his own son had been among the number he would have advised that it be

done rather than to leave them to suffer the tortures of the Turks. Sir

Sidney Smith found seven alive in the hospitals when he came up. A rear

guard had been left to protect them and they probably galloped off

before the English entered the place. Bourrienne, who acted as secretary

to Napoleon at this time, gives a different account, while others assert

that 500 men were thus disposed of. The real facts will probably never

be known although both Hazlitt and Sir Walter Scott acquit Napoleon of

all blame after a careful investigation of all the facts. That

Bonaparte's motives were good his enemies generally admit, as he seems

to have designed, by shortening these men's lives, to do them the best

service in his power.

The retreating march was a continued scene of misery; the wounded and

sick were many, the heat oppressive, and the burdens almost intolerable.

Dejected by the sight of so much suffering Napoleon issued an order that

every horse, mule and camel should be given up to the sick, wounded and

infected. Shortly afterwards one of his attendants came to ask which

horse he wished to reserve for himself. "Scoundrel!" the commander

cried, "do you not know the order? Let every one march on foot--I the

first! Begone!" He accordingly, during the rest of the march, walked by

the side of the sick, cheering them to hope for recovery, and exhibiting

to all the soldiery the example at once of endurance and compassion. As

he had done in Italy, Napoleon always shared the privations and fatigue

of the army and their extremities were sometimes so great that the

troops were compelled to contend with each other for the smallest

comforts. Upon one occasion in the desert, the soldiers would scarcely

allow their general to dip his hands in a muddy pool of water; and when

passing the ruins of Pelusium, almost suffocated by heat, a soldier

yielded him the ruins of an ancient doorway beneath which he contrived

to shade his head for a few minutes and which Napoleon observed, "was no

trifling favor."

On the march between Cesarea and Jaffa, Napoleon very narrowly escaped

death. Many of the men had by this time regained their horses, owing to

the continual death of the wretched objects who had been mounted upon

them. The commander was so exhausted that he had fallen asleep on his

horse. A little before daybreak, a native, concealed among the bushes

close to the roadside, took aim at his head, and fired. The ball missed:

the man was pursued, caught and ordered to be instantly shot. Four

Guides drew their triggers, but all their carbines hung fire, owing to

the extreme humidity of the night. The Syrian leaped into the sea, which

was close to the road; swam to a ledge of rocks, which he mounted and

there stood, undaunted and untouched by the shots of the whole troop,

who fired at him as they pleased. Napoleon left Bourrienne behind to

wait for Kléber, who formed the rear guard and to order him "not to

forget the Naplousian." It is not certain that he was shot at last.

On his return to Cairo on the 14th of June, 1799, after a march of

twenty-five days, Napoleon once more re-established himself in his

former headquarters; but he had not long occupied himself with the

establishment of a new government for Egypt which was then in a state of

perfect tranquility, when word came to him of a probable uprising at

Alexandria. The commander therefore decided to go there at once. He

arrived on the 24th of July and found his army posted in the

neighborhood of Aboukir, prepared to anticipate an attack of the Turks

which had appeared off Aboukir under the protection of two British ships

commanded by Sir Sidney Smith, on the morrow. Surveying their intrenched

camp from the heights above, the commander said to Murat; "Go how it

may, the battle of tomorrow will decide the fate of the world." "Of this

army at least," answered Murat; "but the Turks have no cavalry, and if

ever infantry were charged to the teeth by horse, they shall be so by

mine," a promise which the brave cavalry leader made good.

Next morning the Turkish outposts were attacked and the enemy driven in

with great slaughter. The retreat might have ended in a rout but for the

eagerness of the enemy who engaged in the task of spoiling and maiming

those who fell before them. This gave to Murat the opportunity of

charging the main body,--which had been drawn up in battle array on the

field,--in flank with his cavalry. From that moment the engagement was

no longer a battle but a massacre. The French infantry, under the

rallying eye of Napoleon, forced a passage to the intrenchments, and

attacking the Turks on all sides, caused them to throw themselves

headlong into the waves, rather than await the fury of the French

cavalry and the steady fire of the artillery. The sea at first appeared

literally covered with turbans. It was only when weary with slaughter

that quarter was given to about 6,000 men--the rest of the Turkish army,

consisting of 18,000 having perished on the field or in the sea. Six

thousand were taken prisoners.

The defeat of the Turks at Aboukir filled the French soldiers at Cairo

with extreme rapture; Murat was promoted to the rank of a general of

division and Napoleon ordered his name and that of Roize and the numbers

of the regiments of cavalry present at the battle, engraved upon pieces

of brass cannon. Mustapha Pasha, the commanding general of the Turks, on

being brought into the presence of his victor, was saluted with these

words: "It has been your fate to lose this day; but I will take care to

inform the sultan of the courage with which you have contested it."

"Spare thyself that trouble," answered the proud pasha, "my master knows

me better than thou." On the evening after the battle, General Kléber

embraced Bonaparte and said to him, "General, you are as great as the

world!" "It is not written on high that I am to perish by the hands of

the Arabs," replied Napoleon.

This splendid and most decisive victory at Aboukir concluded Bonaparte's

career in the East. It was imperiously necessary, ere he could have

ventured to quit the command of the army, that he should have to his

credit some such glory after the retreat from Syria. It preserved his

credit with the public and enabled him to state that he left Egypt for

the time in absolute security. After the engagement Napoleon sent a flag

of truce to Sir Sidney Smith, and an interchange of civilities commenced

between the English and the French. This circumstance, trifling in

itself, led to important consequences. Among other things, a copy of a

French journal, dated the 10th of June 1799 was sent ashore by Sir

Sidney Smith. No news from France had reached Egypt for ten months.

Napoleon seized the paper with eagerness and its contents verified his

worst fears; he had said some time before while at Acre that he feared

France was in trouble. As he opened the paper he exclaimed: "My God! My

presentiment is realized; the imbeciles have lost Italy! All the fruits

of our victories are gone! I must leave Egypt." He then spent the whole

night in his tent reading a file of the English newspapers which had

been furnished him. From these he learned of Suwarrow's victories over

the French in Italy and of the disastrous internal state of France. In

the morning Admiral Gantheaume received hasty orders to prepare the two

frigates _Muiron_ and _Carrére_ and two corvetts, for sea, with the

utmost secrecy and dispatch, furnishing them with two months provisions

for five hundred men.

Napoleon returned to Cairo on the 9th of August, but it was only to make

some parting arrangements as to the administration of affairs there, for

he had resolved to intrust Egypt to other hands, and at once set out for

France. He reached Alexandria once more, and was there met by those whom

he had decided should make the return voyage with him. He selected

Berthier, Lannes, Murat, Marmont and Andréossy with five hundred picked

men to accompany him: these with Monge and Denon proceeded to depart

from Alexandria without delay. On the 18th a courier from Gantheaume

brought information that Sir Sidney Smith had left the coast to take

water at Cyprus. This was the signal for Napoleon's instant departure.

On the morning of August 23d, 1799, Bonaparte and his chosen followers

embarked at Rosetta on two frigates and two smaller vessels, which had

been saved in the harbor of Alexandria. A lack of water, and an accident

to one of the English ships had compelled the enemy to raise the

blockade and so favored his departure. In writing to the Divan and

announcing his departure he said: "Remind the Musselmen frequently of my

love for them. Acquaint them that I have two great means to conduct

men--persuasion and force; with the one I gain friends, and with the

other I destroy my enemies."

General Kléber was now placed in command of the Army of Egypt by

Napoleon who informed his successor of the reasons of his departure for

France, and his intention of sending recruits and munitions at the

earliest possible moment. He said to Kléber, "The army which I confide

to you is composed of my children; in all times, even in the midst of

the greatest sufferings I have received the mark of their attachment;

keep alive in them these sentiments. You owe this to the particular

esteem and true attachment which I bear myself towards you."

The French frigates had hardly passed from sight of land when they were

reconnoitred by an English corvette, a circumstance which seemed of evil

augury. Bonaparte assured his companions by his usual allusions to his

own "destiny" which he declared would protect him on sea as well as

land. "We will arrive safe," said he, "fortune will never abandon

us--we will arrive safe despite the enemy."

Napoleon left no responsibility upon the admiral to whom the various

manoeuvres have been ascribed: "As if," says Bourrienne, "any one could

command when Bonaparte was present!"

By express directions of Napoleon, the squadron, instead of taking the

ordinary course, kept close to the African coast, in the direction of

the southern point of Sardinia; his intention being to take a northerly

course along the northern coast of that island. He had irrevocably

determined, that should the English fleet appear, he would run ashore;

make his way, with the little army under his command, to Orin, Tunis, or

some other port; and thence find another opportunity of getting to

France.

The entire voyage was one of constant peril, for the Mediterranean was

traversed in all directions by English ships of war. For twenty-one

days, adverse winds, blowing from west or northwest, continually drove

the squadron on the Syrian coast, or back towards Alexandria. It was

once proposed that they should again put into that port, but Napoleon

would not hear of it, declaring that he would brave any danger. On the

30th of September he reached Ajaccio, and was received with enthusiasm

at the place of his birth; but according to his own phrase, "it rained

cousins" and he was wearied with solicitations. "What will become of

me," he said, "if the English, who are cruising hereabouts, should learn

that I have landed in Corsica? I shall be forced to stay here. That I

could never endure. I have a torrent of relations pouring upon me." "His

brilliant reputation," says Bourrienne, "had prodigiously augmented his

family connections, and from the great number of his pretended

god-children it might have been thought that he had held one-fourth of

the children of Ajaccio at the baptismal font." It was during his stay

in Corsica that Napoleon first heard of the loss of the battle of Novi

by the French army and of the death of Joubert. "But for that confounded

quarantine" he exclaimed, "I would hasten ashore, and place myself at

the head of the Army of Italy. All is not over; and I am sure that there

is not a general who would refuse me the command. The news of the

victory gained by me, would reach Paris as soon as the battle of

Aboukir; that, indeed, would be excellent!"

On the 7th of October the voyage was at last resumed, the winds being

again favorable, and on the morning of the 9th, after a narrow escape

from the English, he moored in safety in the bay of Fréjus.

The story he brought of the victory of Aboukir, gave new fuel to the

flame of universal enthusiasm, and Napoleon's return to Paris bore all

the appearance of a triumphal procession. The shouts of welcome with

which he was hailed were echoed by the whole population of France. He

returned from Egypt as a "conqueror," although almost alone; yet

Providence designed in this apparently deserted condition that he should

be the instrument of more astonishing changes than the greatest efforts

of the greatest conquerors had ever before been able to effect upon the

civilized world. Napoleon was regarded as the champion of liberty, as

well as the successful military leader; and none of his actions, or

expressed opinions had as yet contradicted such an estimation of his

principles.