Smith caused to find their way through the French lines,
learned the condition of affairs in Europe, there was but one
course consistent with his character for him to pursue. There
was nothing more to be done in Egypt; there was everything to
be done in France. If he were to lead his army back, even in
case he should, by some miracle, elude the eager eyes of Lord
Nelson, the act would be generally regarded as a confession of
disaster. If he were to remain with the army, he could, at
best, do nothing but pursue a purely defensive policy; and if
the army were to be overwhelmed, it was no part of Napoleonism
to be involved in the disaster. ... It would be far shrewder
to throw the responsibility of the future of Egypt on another,
and to transfer himself to the field that was fast ripening
for the coveted harvest. Of course Bonaparte, under such
circumstances, did not hesitate as to which course to pursue.
Robbing the army of such good officers as survived, he left it
in command of the only one who had dared to raise his voice in
opposition to the work of the 18th Fructidor ... the heroic
but indignant Kléber. Was there ever a more exquisite revenge?
... On the arrival of Bonaparte in Paris everything seemed
ready to his hand. ... The policy which, in the seizure of
Switzerland and the Papal States, he had taken pains to
inaugurate before his departure for Egypt had borne its
natural fruit. As never before in the history of Europe,
England, Holland, Russia, Austria, Naples, and even Turkey had
joined hands in a common cause, and as a natural consequence
the Directory had been defeated at every point. Nor was it
unnatural for the people to attribute all these disasters to
the inefficiency of the government. The Directory had really
fallen into general contempt, and at the new election on the
30th Prairial it had been practically overthrown.
{1330}
Rewbell, who by his influence had stood at the head of
affairs, had been obliged to give way," and Sieyès had been
put in his place. "By the side of this fantastic statesman ...
Barras had been retained, probably for no other reason than
that he was sure to be found with the majority, while the
other members, Gohier, Moulins, and Roger-Ducos were men from
whose supposed mediocrity no very decided opposition could be
anticipated. Thus the popular party was not only revenged for
the outrages of Fructidor, but it had also made up the new
Directory of men who seemed likely to be nothing but clay in
the hands of Bonaparte. ... The manner in which the General
was received can have left no possible doubt remaining in his
mind as to the strength of his hold on the hearts of the
people. It must have been apparent to all that he needed but
to declare himself, in order to secure a well-nigh unanimous
support and following of the masses. But with the political
leaders the case, for obvious reasons, was far different. ...
His popularity was so overwhelming, that in his enmity the
leaders could anticipate nothing but annihilation, in his
friendship nothing but insignificance. ... The member of the
government who, at the time, wielded most influence, was
Sieyès, a man to whom personally the General had so
unconquerable an aversion, that Josephine was accustomed to
refer to him as her husband's béte noir. It was evident that
Sieyès was the most formidable obstacle to the General's
advance." As a first movement, Bonaparte endeavored to bring
about the removal of Sieyès from the Directory and his own
election to the place. Failing this, his party attempted the
immediate creation of a dictatorship. When that, too, was
found impracticable, Sieyès was persuaded to a reconciliation
and alliance with the ambitious soldier, and the two, at a
meeting, planned the proceedings "which led to that dark day
in French history known as the 18th Brumaire [November 9,
1799]. It remained only to get absolute control of the
military forces, a task at that time in no way difficult. The
officers who had returned with Bonaparte from Egypt were
impatient to follow wherever their master might lead. Moreau,
who, since the death of Hoche, was regarded as standing next
to Bonaparte in military ability, was not reluctant to cast in
his lot with the others, and Macdonald as well as Serurier
soon followed his example. Bernadotte alone would yield to
neither flattery nor intimidation. ... While Bonaparte was
thus marshalling his forces in the Rue de la Victoire, the way
was opening in the Councils. A commission of the Ancients,
made up of the leading conspirators, had worked all night
drawing up the proposed articles, in order that in the morning
the Council might have nothing to do but to vote them. The
meeting was called for seven o'clock, and care was taken not
to notify those members whose opposition there was reason to
fear. ... The articles were adopted without discussion. Those
present voted, first, to remove the sessions of the Councils
from Paris to Saint Cloud (a privilege which the constitution
conferred upon the Ancients alone), thus putting them at once
beyond the power of influencing the populace and of standing
in the way of Bonaparte. They then passed a decree giving to
Bonaparte the command of the military forces, at the same time
inviting him to come to the Assembly for the purpose of taking
the oath of allegiance to the Constitution." Bonaparte
appeared, accordingly, before the Council; but instead of
taking an oath of allegiance to the constitution, he made a
speech which he closed by declaring: "We want a Republic
founded on true liberty and national representation. We will
have it, I swear; I swear it in my own name and that of my
companions in arms." "Thus the mockery of the oath-taking in
the Council of Ancients was accomplished. The General had now
a more difficult part to perform in the Council of Five
Hundred. As the meeting of the Assembly was not to occur until
twelve o'clock of the following day, Bonaparte made use of the
intervening time in posting his forces and in disposing of the
Directory. ... There was one locality in the city where it was
probable aggressive force would be required. The Luxembourg
was the seat of the Directory, and the Directory must at all
hazards be crushed. ... Bonaparte knew well how to turn all
such ignominious service to account. In close imitation of
that policy which had left Kleber in Egypt, he placed the
Luxembourg in charge of the only man in the nation who could
now be regarded as his rival for popular favor. Moreau fell
into the snare, and by so doing lost a popularity which he was
never afterwards able to regain. Having thus placed his
military forces, Bonaparte turned his attention to the
Directors. The resignations of Sieyès and of Roger-Ducos he
already had upon his table. It remained only to procure the
others. Barras, without warning, was confronted by Talleyrand
and Bruix, who asked him without circumlocution to resign his
office," which he did, after slight hesitation. Gohier and
Moulins were addressed by Bonaparte in person, but firmly
resisted his importunities and his threats. They were then
made prisoners by Moreau. "The night of the 18th passed in
comparative tranquillity. The fact that there was no organized
resistance is accounted for by Lanfrey with a single mournful
statement, that 'nothing of the kind could be expected of a
nation that had been decapitated. All the men of rank in
France for the previous ten years, either by character or
genius or virtue, had been mown down, first by the scaffolds
and proscriptions, next by war.'" On the morrow, the 19th of
Brumaire (November 10) the sitting of the two councils began
at two o'clock. In the Council of Five Hundred the partisans
of Bonaparte were less numerous than in that of the Ancients,
and a powerful indignation at the doings of the previous day
began quickly to show itself. In the midst of a warm debate
upon the resignation of Barras, which had just been received,
"the door was opened, and Bonaparte, surrounded by his
grenadiers, entered the hall. A burst of indignation at once
arose. Every member sprang to his feet. 'What is this?' they
cried, 'swords here! armed men! Away! we will have no dictator
here.' Then some of the deputies, bolder than the others,
surrounded Bonaparte and overwhelmed him with invectives. 'You
are violating the sanctity of the laws; what are you doing,
rash man?' exclaimed Bigonnet. 'Is it for this that you have
conquered?' demanded Destrem, advancing towards him. Others
seized him by the collar of his coat, and, shaking him
violently, reproached him with treason. This reception, though
the General had come with the purpose of intimidating the
Assembly, fairly overwhelmed him.
{1331}
Eye-witnesses declare that he turned pale, and fell fainting
into the arms of his soldiers, who drew him out of the hall."
His brother Lucien, who was President of the Council, showed
better nerve. By refusing to put motions that were made to
vote, and finally by resigning his office and quitting the
chair, he threw the Council into confusion. Then, appearing to
the troops outside, who supposed him to be still President of
the Council, he harangued them and summoned them to clear the
chamber. "The grenadiers poured into the hall. A last cry of
'Vive la République' was raised, and a moment later the hall
was empty. Thus the crime of the conspirators was consummated,
and the First French Republic was at an end. After this action
it remained only to put into the hands of Bonaparte the
semblance of regular authority. ... A phantom of the Council
of Five Hundred--Cornet, one of them, says 30 members--met in
the evening and voted the measures which had been previously
agreed upon by the conspirators. Bonaparte, Sieyès, and
Roger-Ducos were appointed provisional consuls; 57 members of
the Council who had been most prominent in their opposition
were excluded from their seats; a list of proscriptions was
prepared; two commissioners chosen from the assemblies were
appointed to assist the consuls in their work of organization;
and, finally, ... they adjourned the legislative body until
the 20th of February."
_C. K. Adams,
Democracy and Monarchy in France,
chapter 4._
ALSO IN:
_P. Lanfrey,
History of Napoleon I._
_A. Thiers,
History of the French Revolution
(American edition), volume 4, pages 407-430._
_M. de Bourrienne,
Private Memoirs of Napoleon,
volume l, chapter 24-27._
_Count Miot de Melito,
Memoirs,
chapter 9._
FRANCE: A. D. 1799 (November-December).
The constitution of the consulate.
Bonaparte as First Consul.
"During the three months which followed the 18th Brumaire,
approbation and expectation were general. A provisional
government had been appointed, composed of three consuls,
Bonaparte, Siéyes, and Roger-Ducos, with two legislative
commissioners, entrusted to prepare the constitution and a
definitive order of things. The consuls and the two
commissioners were installed on the 21st Brumaire. This
provisional government abolished the law respecting hostages
and compulsory loans; it permitted the return of the priests
proscribed since the 18th Fructidor; it released from prison
and sent out of the republic the emigrants who had been
ship-wrecked on the coast of Calais, and who for four years
were captives in France, and were exposed to the heavy
punishment of the emigrant army. All these measures were very
favourably received. But public opinion revolted at a
proscription put in force against the extreme republicans.
Thirty-six of them were sentenced to transportation to Guiana,
and twenty-one were put under serveillance in the department
of Charante-Inférieure, merely by a decree of the consuls on
the report of Fouché, minister of police. The public viewed
unfavourably all who attacked the government, but at the same
time it exclaimed against an act so arbitrary and unjust. The
consuls, accordingly, recoiled before their own act; they
first commuted transportation into surveillance, and soon
withdrew surveillance itself. It was not long before a rupture
broke out between the authors of the 18th Brumaire. During
their provisional authority it did not create much noise,
because it took place in the legislative commissions. The new
constitution was the cause of it. Siéyes and Bonaparte could
not agree on this subject: the former wished to institute
France, the latter to govern it as a master. ... Bonaparte
took part in the deliberations of the constituent committee,
with his instinct of power, he seized upon everything in the
ideas of Siéyes which was calculated to serve his projects,
and caused the rest to be rejected. ... On the 24th of
December, 1799 (Nivose, year VIII.), forty-five days after the
18th Brumaire, was published the constitution of the year
VIII.; it was composed of the wrecks of that of Siéyes, now
become a constitution of servitude."
_F. A. Mignet,
History of the French Revolution,
chapter 14._
"The new constitution was still republic in name and
appearance, but monarchical in fact, the latter concealed, by
the government being committed, not to the hand of one
individual, but of three. The three persons so fixed upon were
denominated consuls, and appointed for ten years;--one of
them, however, was really ruler, although he only obtained the
modest name of First Consul. The rights which Bonaparte caused
to be given to himself made all the rest nothing more than
mere deception. The First Consul was to invite the others
merely to consultation on affairs of state, whilst he himself,
either immediately or through the senate, was to appoint to
all places of trust and authority, to decide absolutely upon
questions of peace or war, and to be assisted by a council of
state. ... In order to cover and conceal the power of the
First Consul, especially in reference to the appointment of
persons to offices of trust and authority, a senate was
created, which neither belonged to the people nor to the
government, but immediately from the very beginning was an
assembly of courtiers and placemen, and at a later period
became the mere tool of every kind of despotism, by rendering
it easy to dispense with the legislative body. The senate
consisted of eighty members, a part of whom were to be
immediately nominated from the lists of notability, and the
senate to fill up its own body from persons submitted to them
by the First Consul, the tribunate, and the legislative body.
Each senator was to have a salary of 25,000 f.; their meetings
were not public, and their business very small. From the
national lists the senate was also to select consuls,
legislators, tribunes, and judges of the Court of Cassation.
Large lists were first presented to the communes, on which,
according to Roederer, there stood some 500,000 names, out of
which the communes selected 50,000 for the departmental lists,
from which again 5,000 were to be chosen for the national
list. From these 5,000 names, selected from the departmental
list, or from what was termed the national list, the senate
was afterwards to elect the members of the legislature and the
high officers of government. The legislature was to consist of
two chambers, the tribunate and the legislative body--the
former composed of 100, and the latter of 300 members. The
chambers had no power of taking the initiative, that is, they
were obliged to wait till bills were submitted to them, and
could of themselves originate nothing: they were, however,
permitted to express wishes of all kinds to the government.
Each bill (projet de loi) was introduced into the tribunate by
three members of the council of state, and there defended by
them, because the tribunate alone had the right of discussion,
whilst the mere power of saying Yea or Nay was conferred upon
the members of the legislative body.
{1332}
The tribunate, having accepted the bill, sent three of its
members, accompanied by the members from the council of state,
to defend the measure in the assembly of the legislative body.
Every year one-fifth of the members of the legislative body
was to retire from office, being, however, always re-eligible
as long as their names remained on the national list. The
sittings of the legislative body alone were public, because
they were only permitted to be silent listeners to the
addresses of the tribunes or councillors of state, and to
assent to, or dissent from, the proposed law. Not above 100
persons were, however, allowed to be present as auditors; the
sittings were not allowed to continue longer than four months;
both chambers, however, might be summoned to an extraordinary
sitting. ... When the constitution was ready to be brought
into operation, Sieyes terminated merely as he had begun, and
Bonaparte saw with pleasure that he showed himself both
contemptible and venal. He became a dumb senator, with a
yearly income of 25,000 f.; and obtained 800,000 f. from the
directorial treasury, whilst Roger Ducos was obliged to go
away contented with a douceur of 120,000 f.; and, last of all,
Sieyes condescended to accept from Bonaparte a present of the
national domain of Crosne, which he afterwards exchanged for
another estate. For colleagues in his new dignity Bonaparte
selected very able and skilful men, but wholly destitute of
all nobility of mind, and to whom it never once occurred to
offer him any opposition; these were Cambacérès and Lebrun.
The former, a celebrated lawyer, although formerly a vehement
Jacobin, impatiently waited till Bonaparte brought forth again
all the old plunder; and then, covered with orders, he
strutted up and down the Palais Royal like a peacock, and
exhibited himself as a show. Lebrun, who was afterwards
created a duke, at a later period distinguished himself by
being the first to revive the use of hair powder; in fact, he
was completely a child and partisan of the olden times,
although for a time he had played the part of a Girondist. ...
As early as the 25th and 26th of December the First Consul took
up his abode in the Tuileries. There the name of citizen
altogether disappeared, for the consul's wife caused herself
again to be addressed as Madame. Everything which concerned
the government now began to assume full activity, and the
adjourned legislative councils were summoned for the 1st of
January, in order that they might be dissolved."
_F. C. Schlosser,
History of the Eighteenth Century,
volume 7, pages 189-192._
ALSO IN:
_P. Lanfrey,
History of Napoleon I.,
volume 1, chapters 13-14._
_A. Thiers,
History of the Consulate and Empire,
books 1-2 (volume 1)._
_H. C. Lockwood,
Constitutional History of France,
chapter 2 and appendix 4._
FRANCE: A. D. 1800.
Convention with the United States.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1800.
FRANCE: A. D. 1800 (January-June).
Affairs in Egypt.
The repudiated Treaty of El Arish.
Kléber's victory at Heliopolis.
His assassination.
"Affairs in Egypt had been on the whole unfavourable to the
French, since that army had lost the presence of the
commander-in-chief. Kléber, on whom the command devolved, was
discontented both at the unceremonious and sudden manner in
which the duty had been imposed upon him, and with the
scarcity of means left to support his defence. Perceiving
himself threatened by a large Turkish force, which was
collecting for the purpose of avenging the defeat of the
vizier at Aboukir, he became desirous of giving up a
settlement which he despaired of maintaining. He signed
accordingly a convention with the Turkish plenipotentiaries,
and Sir Sidney Smith on the part of the British [at El Arish,
January 28, 1800], by which it was provided that the French
should evacuate Egypt, and that Kléber and his army should be
transported to France in safety, without being molested by the
British fleet. When the British government received advice of
this convention they refused to ratify it, on the ground that
Sir Sidney Smith had exceeded his powers in entering into it.
The Earl of Elgin having been sent out as plenipotentiary to
the Porte, it was asserted that Sir Sidney's ministerial
powers were superseded by his appointment. ... The truth was
that the arrival of Kléber and his army in the south of
France, at the very moment when the successes of Suwarrow gave
strong hopes of making some impression on her frontier, might
have had a most material effect upon the events of the war.
... The treaty of El Arish was in consequence broken off.
Kléber, disappointed of this mode of extricating himself, had
recourse to arms. The Vizier Jousseff Pacha, having crossed
the Desert and entered Egypt, received a bloody and decisive
defeat from the French general, near the ruins of the ancient
city of Heliopolis, on the 20th of March, 1800 [following
which Kléber crushed with great slaughter a revolt that had
broken out in Cairo]. The measures which Kléber adopted after
this victory were well calculated to maintain the possession
of the country, and reconcile the inhabitants to the French
government. ... While busied in these measures, he was cut
short by the blow of an assassin. A fanatic Turk, called
Soliman Haleby, a native of Aleppo, imagined he was inspired
by Heaven to slay the enemy of the Prophet and the Grand
Seignior. He concealed himself in a cistern, and springing out
on Kléber when there was only one man in company with him,
stabbed him dead [June 14]. ... The Baron Menou, on whom the
command now devolved, was an inferior person to Kléber. ...
Menou altered for the worse several of the regulations of
Kléber, and, carrying into literal execution what Buonaparte
had only written and spoken of, he became an actual
Mahommedan."
_Sir W. Scott,
Life of Napoleon Buonaparte,
chapter 40._
ALSO IN:
_A. Thiers,
History of the Consulate and Empire,
book 5 (volume 1)._
{1333}
FRANCE: A. D. 1800-1801 (May-February).
Bonaparte's second Italian campaign.
The crossing of the Alps.
The Battle of Marengo.
Moreau in Germany.
Hohenlinden.
Austrian siege of Genoa.
"Preparations for the new campaign in spring were completed.
Moreau was made commander-in-chief of the army of the Rhine,
150,000 strong. The plan of the campaign was concerted between
the First Consul and Carnot, who had superseded Berthier as
Minister at War. The operations were conducted with the utmost
secrecy. Napoleon had determined to strike the decisive blow
against Austria in Italy, and to command there in person. By
an article in the Constitution the First Consul was forbidden
to take command of an army. To this interdiction he cheerfully
assented; but he evaded it, as soon as the occasion was ripe,
by giving the nominal command of the army of Italy to
Berthier. He began to collect troops at Dijon, which were, he
publicly announced, intended to advance upon Italy. They
consisted chiefly of conscripts and invalids, with a numerous
staff, and were called 'the army of reserve.' Meantime, while
caricatures of some ancient men with wooden legs and little
boys of twelve years old, entitled 'Bonaparte's Army of
Reserve,' were amusing the Austrian public, the real army of
Italy was formed in the heart of France, and was marching by
various roads towards Switzerland. ... The artillery was sent
piecemeal from different arsenals; the provisions necessary to
an army about to cross barren mountains were forwarded to
Geneva, embarked on the lake, and landed at Villeneuve, near
the entrance to the valley of the Simplon. The situation of
the French army in Italy had become critical. Massena had
thrown himself into Genoa with 12,000 men, and was enduring
all the rigours of a siege, pressed by 30,000 Austrians under
General Ott, seconded by the British fleet. Suchet, with the
remainder of the French army, about 10,000 strong, completely
cut off from communication with Massena, had concentrated his
forces on the Var, was maintaining an unequal contest with
Melas, the Austrian commander-in-chief, and strenuously
defending the French frontier. Napoleon's plan was to
transport his army across the Alps, plant himself in the rear
of the Austrians, intercept their communications, then
manœuvre so as to place his own army and that of Massena on
the Austrian right and left flanks respectively, cut off their
retreat, and finally give them battle at the decisive moment.
While all Europe imagined that the multifarious concerns of
the Government held the First Consul at Paris, he was
travelling at a rapid rate towards Geneva, accompanied only by
his secretary. He left Paris on the 6th of May, at two in the
morning, leaving Cambacérès to preside until his return, and
ordering Fouché to announce that he was about to review the
army at Dijon, and might possibly go as far as Geneva, but
would return in a fortnight. 'Should anything happen,' he
significantly added, 'I shall be back like a thunderbolt.' ...
On the 13th the First Consul reviewed the vanguard of his
army, commanded by General Lannes, at Lausanne. The whole army
consisted of nearly 70,000 men. Two columns, each of about
6,000 men, were put in motion, one under Tureau, the other
under Chabran, to take the routes of Mont Cenis and the Little
St. Bernard. A division consisting of 15,000 men, under
Moncey, detached from the army of the Rhine, was to march by
St. Gothard. Moreau kept the Austrian army of the Rhine, under
General Kray, on the defensive before Ulm [to which he had
forced his way in a series of important engagements, at Engen,
May 2, at Moeskirch, May 4, at Biberach, May 9, and at
Hochstadt, June 19], and held himself in readiness to cover
the operations of the First Consul in Italy. The main body of
the French army, in numbers about 40,000, nominally commanded
by Berthier, but in fact by the First Consul himself, marched
on the 15th from Lausanne to the village of St. Pierre, at the
foot of the Great St. Bernard, at which all trace of a
practicable road entirely ceased. General Marescot, the
engineer who had been sent forward from Geneva to reconnoitre,
reported the paths to be 'barely passable.' 'Set forward
immediately!' wrote Napoleon. Field forges were established at
St. Pierre to dismount the guns, the carriages and wheels were
slung on poles, and the ammunition-boxes carried by mules. A
number of trees were felled, then hollowed out, and the
pieces, being jammed into these rough cases, 100 soldiers were
attached to each and ordered to drag them up the steeps. ...
The whole army effected the passage of the Great St. Bernard
in three days."
_R. H. Horne,
History of Napoleon Bonaparte,
chapter 18._