1797–1799
Elections of 1797 in France—Policy of the Clichians—Struggle
between the Directors and the Clichians—Negotiations for
Peace between England and the Directory—Changes in the
French Ministry—Revolution of 18th Fructidor—Bonaparte
in Italy—Occupation of Venice—The Ligurian and Cisalpine
Republics formed—Annexation of the Ionian Islands by
France—Treaty of Campo-Formio—Capture of Mayence—The
Batavian Republic—Battle of Camperdown—Bonaparte’s
Expedition to the East—Capture of Malta—Conquest
of Egypt—Battle of the Nile—Internal Policy of the
Directory after 18th Fructidor—Foreign Policy—Attitude
of England, Prussia, Austria, and Russia—The Helvetian
Republic—Italian Affairs—The Roman and Parthenopean Republics
formed—Occupation of Piedmont and Tuscany by France—The
Law of Conscription—Outbreak of War between Austria and
France—Murder of the French Plenipotentiaries at Rastadt—The
Campaign of 1799—In Italy—Battles of Cassano, the Trebbia
and Novi—Italy lost to France—In Switzerland—Battle
of Zurich—In Holland—Battles of Bergen—Results of the
Campaign of 1799—Policy and Character of the Emperor Paul
of Russia—Bonaparte’s Campaign of 1799 in Syria—Siege of
Acre—Battle of Mount Tabor—Struggle between the Directors and
the Legislature in France—Revolution of 22d Prairial—Changes
in the Directory and Ministry—Bonaparte’s return to
France—Revolution of 18th Brumaire—End of the Government of
the Directory in France.
[Sidenote: The Elections of 1797 in France.]
In the month of May 1797 a new Director and a new third of the
Legislature were, in accordance with the Constitution of the Year
III., elected in France. These elections were entirely favourable to
the Clichian party. This party, which had gradually grown up since
the dissolution of the Convention, and took its name from the Club de
Clichy, was led by men of very considerable ability. The sentiment
which united them was a loathing of the memory of the Reign of Terror
and a desire to expel from power those who had taken part in it.
This sentiment was very general in France, and the new legislators
returned to the Council of Ancients and the Council of Five Hundred
were, with but few exceptions, men who had not sat in the Convention.
Many of them were former members of the Constituent and Legislative
Assemblies, and had a considerable knowledge of parliamentary tactics.
Foremost among this group was Barbé-Marbois, who had, under the Bourbon
monarchy, been intendant of San Domingo, but the deputy belonging to it
who attracted most attention was General Pichegru. The first success
of the Clichian party was won in the election of the new Director.
The retiring Director on whom the lot had fallen was Letourneur, and
to fill his place was chosen Barthélemy, a former marquis, and the
diplomatist who had negotiated the Treaties of Basle. This election was
very significant. It seemed to presage a consistent peace policy. It
afforded a guarantee that the proscription of the nobles of the _ancien
régime_ was to be ended.
[Sidenote: Policy of the Clichians.]
In foreign policy it was indeed the aim of the Clichians to bring about
a universal peace. Their home policy was neither so definite nor so
logical. In their hatred of the Terrorists there can be no doubt that
the wiser heads among the Clichians desired a return to a monarchical
government. Pichegru and the more self-seeking among them thought that
they could obtain money and power by a new revolution. Never were
the prospects of a counter-revolution more promising. The Clichians,
recognising the impossibility of restoring the Bourbon Monarchy in its
former authority, were in favour of a constitutional, limited monarchy
after the English pattern. But Louis XVIII., and the Comte d’Artois,
buoyed up by the hopes of the _émigrés_ refused to make the slightest
concession; they would not acknowledge the Constitution of 1791; they
would not even promise to consent to the slightest limitation of
the old monarchical power. Under these circumstances the Clichians
had to look for a king elsewhere. A few, among whom may possibly be
counted Pichegru, were ready to accept Louis XVIII. on his own terms.
A larger party were in favour of the Duke of Orleans, son of Philippe
Égalité, and, in the future, King of the French as Louis Philippe.
Others favoured the accession of a Prussian prince, and negotiations
were opened at Berlin to see whether Prince Francis, the nephew of
Frederick William II., would accept the throne. With such divisions of
opinion, there was no doubt that the internal policy of the Clichians,
even though backed by large subsidies from England, which passed to
them through Switzerland, was certain to bring about no result. Nor
was their peace policy more likely to succeed. The wars of the French
Republic had organised a body of valiant and experienced soldiers
whose trade was war, and to whom the idea of peace was repugnant.
Both Bonaparte and Hoche, the two greatest generals of the Directory,
naturally looked with suspicion and dislike upon the policy of the
Clichians.
[Sidenote: Struggle between the Directory and the Clichians.]
[Sidenote: Negotiations for Peace between England and the Directory.]
It need hardly be said that the attitude of the Clichians was one of
open hostility to the four original Directors. Their one adherent
in the Directory, Barthélemy, proved to be a very weak support, and
his brother Directors soon saw that it was unnecessary to trouble
themselves about him. The four remaining original Directors were
united in their dislike of the new theories, and also as regicides
had reason to fear their success. A severe struggle was therefore
imminent between the majority of the Legislature and of the Executive.
A crisis had arisen which tested the political theories which had found
their expression in the Constitution of the Year III. The Legislature
endeavoured to encroach upon the authority of the Directory; the
Directors refused to yield one jot of their power. The first active
measure of hostility in the Councils was an attack upon the Foreign
Minister, Charles Delacroix. Pitt had decided to make a second attempt
to bring about peace between England and France, though without much
expectation of its success, and a conference was opened at Lille
on the 4th July 1797, at which Lord Malmesbury was present as the
English plenipotentiary. He presented, on behalf of England, almost
the same demands as had been rejected in the previous December, and
the negotiations were speedily broken off. Using this as a pretext,
the hostile majority in the Council of Ancients and Council of Five
Hundred accused the Directors of not sincerely wishing for peace,
and threw the chief blame for the rupture of the conference on their
minister, Delacroix. The Directory yielded. Charles Delacroix was
sent as ambassador to Holland, and was succeeded as Foreign Minister
by Talleyrand. This skilful and subtle diplomatist saw that the
rivalry between the two powers in the State must lead to an open
rupture. He sided strongly with the Directors; he communicated with
Hoche and Bonaparte, and there can be little doubt that he was one of
the principal, if not the principal, author of the _coup- ’état_ or
revolution which followed. The dismissal of Delacroix was perhaps the
most important episode; but the other ministers were likewise violently
attacked by the Councils, and in addition to the Foreign Office every
department of State, except the ministries of Finance and Justice,
changed hands in July 1797. François de Neufchâteau became Minister
of the Interior, General Schérer Minister for War, Pleville de Peley
Minister of the Marine, and Lenoir-Laroche, who was succeeded in a few
days by Sotin de la Coindière, Minister of Police.
[Sidenote: The Revolution of 18th Fructidor. (4th September 1797.)]
The revolution of the 18th Fructidor was one which created but little
interest among the people of France. It was the result of an intrinsic
weakness in the Constitution, not of a popular movement. Two co-equal
powers can never exist in the government of a State: when a collision
takes place one must be overthrown. In their measures for overthrowing
or muzzling the leaders of the opposition in the Legislature, the four
senior Directors could not agree. Carnot, the greatest of them all,
disliked any interference with the Constitution, and looked upon
the employment of force as likely to lead to great disasters. The
other original Directors, Barras, Reubell, and Revellière-Lépeaux,
were, however, perfectly agreed. They were determined to use the
regular troops that formed the garrison of Paris; Hoche, from Holland,
sent them a sum of money; and Bonaparte instructed one of his best
generals, Augereau, to act according to their orders. Accordingly, on
the morning of the 18th Fructidor (4th September 1797) fifty-five of
the leaders of the Clichian party in the Legislature, including both
Barbé-Marbois and Pichegru, were arrested, and were at once deported,
with the ex-minister of Police, Cochon de Lapparent, and several other
individuals, without trial, to Cayenne and Sinnamari. The same harsh
measures were not taken with regard to the two dissentient Directors,
Carnot and Barthélemy, who were given every facility for escaping from
France. This revolution was carried out without the shedding of a
single drop of blood, and the success of the Directors was acquiesced
in by the people of France.
Merlin of Douai, the great jurist and statesman, and François de
Neufchâteau, a dramatist and former member of the Legislative
Assembly, were elected as the new Directors in the place of Carnot and
Barthélemy, and were succeeded in the ministries of Justice and the
Interior by Lambrechts and Letourneur.
[Sidenote: Bonaparte in Italy.]
[Sidenote: Occupation of Venice.]
[Sidenote: The Ligurian Republic.]
[Sidenote: The Cisalpine Republic.]
After the conclusion of the Preliminaries of Leoben Bonaparte returned
to Italy and established himself at Montebello, near Milan. He was
appointed plenipotentiary of the French Republic to conclude a final
treaty with Austria, but the negotiations lasted for many months.
During this time the young general was chiefly engaged in settling
Italy. He first made a terrible example of the city of Verona, where
the people had risen in revolt during his campaign in the Tyrol, and
had murdered the wounded French soldiers left in their city. He next
occupied Venice, and exacted from it a heavy contribution in money.
Having thus established his power throughout northern Italy, Bonaparte
began to set up new governments. On the 15th of June 1797 be insisted
on the dissolution of the ancient government of Genoa, and formed
that city and the surrounding districts into a new Ligurian Republic.
Piedmont, by the terms of the Treaty of Cherasco, was left to the King
of Sardinia, but Bonaparte at once formed Lombardy, Modena, Reggio,
Bologna, Ferrara, the Romagna, Brescia, and Mantua into one State,
which he named the Cisalpine Republic. The Constitution of this new
Republic, which was modelled on the Constitution of the Year III., was
promulgated on the 9th of July 1797. In these measures Bonaparte had
carefully avoided any annexations by France. It was otherwise with
regard to the Ionian Islands, which were ceded to the French Republic
by Venice. Corfu was occupied on the 28th of June 1797, and Bonaparte
believed that by this cession the French fleet in the Mediterranean
would be able to close the Adriatic Sea.
[Sidenote: Treaty of Campo-Formio. 17th October 1797.]
[Sidenote: Capture of Mayence. 29th December 1797.]
During the months in which Italy was being thus reconstructed, the
Austrian plenipotentiary, Cobenzl, was skilfully delaying the signature
of a definitive treaty between France and Austria. In truth, the
Austrians, like the English, Thugut, like Pitt, hoped that the Clichian
party would win the day. The successful _coup d’état_ of 18th of
Fructidor destroyed his hopes, and on 17th of October 1797 the Treaty
of Campo-Formio was signed. The bases laid down by the Preliminaries of
Leoben were generally followed. The frontier of the Rhine for France
was solemnly recognised. The new arrangements in Italy were also agreed
to, and to Austria was ceded Venice and all the territories of Venice
in Istria and Dalmatia and up to the Adige, in compensation for the
loss of the Milanese. The Emperor also engaged to use his influence
at the Congress of Rastadt to secure peace between France and the
Holy Roman Empire. The Treaty of Campo-Formio really struck a more
severe blow at the Empire than at the House of Austria. The cession
of the Rhine frontier to France implied the loss to the Empire of the
electorates of Trèves, Mayence, and the Palatinate, while it only
deprived Austria of her mutinous and rebellious subjects in Belgium.
A secret clause was also added to the Treaty, by which the French
Republic promised to guarantee the whole of Bavaria to the House of
Austria, in return for the immediate evacuation of all the fortresses
which the Austrians occupied upon the Rhine. Immediately upon receiving
the news of the Treaty of Campo-Formio the Directory equipped a special
army under the command of General Hatry for the capture of Mayence,
the only place on the left bank of the Rhine not in the possession of
France. Deprived of the assistance of Austria, the troops of the Empire
and of the Elector of Mayence could make but little resistance, and on
29th of December 1797 Mayence was once more surrendered to the French
Republic.
[Sidenote: Holland. The Batavian Republic.]
[Sidenote: Battle of Camperdown. 11th October 1797.]
The Batavian Republic, which had been established in 1795 in Holland,
was also considerably affected by the revolution of 18th Fructidor.
The Dutch Legislature had been influenced by every current of feeling
in France, and during the predominance of the Clichians had made no
real effort to support their French allies. After the conclusion of
the Convention of Leoben, and the consequent cessation of hostilities
in Germany, the Directory despatched Hoche to Holland. He there busied
himself with another effort for his favourite scheme for the invasion
of England. For this purpose he relied upon the powerful Dutch fleet,
which was being blockaded by an English squadron under Admiral Duncan
in the Texel. During the mutiny at the Nore in the summer of 1797
the position of the blockading English fleet had been very critical,
and on one occasion it is stated that two English ships were left to
watch fifteen Dutch. Directly after the revolution of Fructidor, the
Directors, who did not feel certain of the support of Moreau, removed
Hoche from Holland and placed him in command of the united Armies
of the Rhine-and-Moselle and the Sambre-and-Meuse under the title of
the Army of Germany. Hardly had he taken up his command when the most
distinguished rival of Bonaparte died on the 18th of September 1797.
Though deprived of the active superintendence of Hoche, the government
of the Batavian Republic, under the influence of the vigorous war
policy of the new Directory, ordered the Dutch fleet to leave the
Texel. It was met at sea by Admiral Duncan off the dunes or downs
of Kampe (Camperdown), and entirely defeated after the most hotly
contested naval battle of the war. The naval policy of the Directory
had thus resulted in the destruction of the Spanish fleet in the battle
of Cape St. Vincent and of the Dutch fleet in the battle of Camperdown.
[Sidenote: Bonaparte in Paris.]
On the 5th of December 1797 General Bonaparte arrived in Paris. The
death of Hoche had left him without a rival, and the revolution of the
18th of Fructidor had been so entirely the result of the assistance
of the army that its greatest general was practically the master of
the political situation. The Directors received him with transports
of enthusiasm and gave him a public reception, but, nevertheless,
they were overawed by the extent of his reputation and afraid that he
might attempt to take an active part in politics. He was appointed to
the command of the Army of the Interior, which was intended for the
invasion of England. Bonaparte, like Hoche, sincerely wished that such
an invasion should be effected, but he understood the extraordinary
difficulty inherent in any attempt to transport an army across the
Channel in the presence of a powerful fleet. He therefore advised the
Directory that it would be wiser not to attack England directly, but to
make an effort to overthrow her power in Asia. It seemed to him more
practicable to invade India than to invade England. His imagination
was stirred by the conception of an expedition to the East, and the
Directory was only too glad to remove from France for a time its most
able and ambitious general.
[Sidenote: Expedition to Egypt. 1798.]
[Sidenote: Battle of the Nile. 1st August.]
On the 9th of May 1798 Bonaparte left Toulon at the head of a picked
force of his veterans of Italy, and accompanied not only by his
favourite generals, but also by some of the leading savants and men
of letters of France. On the 9th of June the fleet reached Malta, and
on the 12th the Knights of St. John of the Hospital, who had held
the island ever since the Middle Ages, surrendered it to the French
general. Leaving a garrison in Malta, Bonaparte then proceeded to
Egypt. He disembarked in front of Alexandria on the 1st of July, and
upon the 4th he occupied that city. He then advanced on Cairo, and
on the 21st of July he defeated the Mamelukes at the Battle of the
Pyramids, and on the 24th he occupied Cairo. The English fleet in the
Mediterranean, under the command of Nelson, had been intended to stop
the expedition to Egypt, but it had been misdirected, and was unable
to prevent the disembarkation of the French forces. On the 1st of
August, however, Nelson appeared before Alexandria, and in the battle
of Aboukir Bay, generally known as the Battle of the Nile, he destroyed
the French fleet. This victory entirely cut off Bonaparte and his army
from France. The English held the Mediterranean, and for many months
prevented the despatch of either news or reinforcements. In November
they strengthened their position in the great south European sea by the
occupation of Minorca by an army under the Hon. Sir Charles Stuart, and
in 1800 the French garrison in Malta surrendered to General Pigot and
Captain Sir Alexander Ball.
[Sidenote: Internal Policy of the Directory.]
Before Bonaparte left Paris the time had come round for the election
of a new Director. The lot fell upon François de Neufchâteau to
retire, and his place was filled by Treilhard, a former member of the
Constituent Assembly and of the Convention. Treilhard had been himself
one of the leading Thermidorians, and since the close of the Convention
he had been employed first as Minister in Holland and then as one of
the French plenipotentiaries at the Congress of Rastadt. There is
little doubt that Sieyès might have entered the Directory had he so
wished, but he preferred to act in a different capacity. François
de Neufchâteau at once returned to his former office of Minister of
the Interior, and the only other alteration in the ministry was the
appointment of Admiral Bruix to be Minister of Marine. The Directory,
inspired by its victory on the 18th of Fructidor, did not hesitate to
infringe the terms of the Constitution of the Year III. The Royalists
or Clichians had not dared to appear at the elections to the Councils
in 1798, and the democrats had been able to elect whom they wished. But
the Directors did not intend to be subject to the democrats any more
than to the Clichians, and without the slightest show of legality they
quashed many of the elections to the Councils and gave the vacant seats
to their own nominees. This disregard of the law was also shown in
other branches of the internal policy of the Directory. The Directors,
in spite of the Constitution, interfered with the finances, and, by
the advice of Ramel, followed Cambon’s example of declaring a partial
bankruptcy. This, however, had but little effect in France, for, owing
to the depreciation in the value of the government paper money, very
little interest was expected by the creditors of the State. In purely
internal administration the weariness of the French people of political
disturbances enabled the agents of the Directory to maintain the public
peace without difficulty. The lack of capital in the country was
compensated by the fact that the government was the only great employer
of labour, and the spoils of the conquered countries enabled it to
pay the workmen sufficiently. It seems surprising that this bankrupt
government should have been acknowledged without opposition throughout
France, but the cause is to be found in the universal attention paid to
the course of foreign affairs.
[Sidenote: The Foreign Policy of the Directory.]
The Peace of Campo-Formio had, as has been shown, left France face to
face with England, and it was to strike a blow at the power of England
that Bonaparte proceeded to Egypt. For the same reason the Directory
carried out the favourite scheme of Hoche, and despatched a force
to Ireland under General Humbert in August 1798, which was forced to
surrender to Lord Cornwallis in September. But though the powers of the
Continent had been compelled to acknowledge the military superiority of
France, they were only seeking a loophole by which to enter once more
upon a general war. The departure of Bonaparte seemed to offer them a
good opportunity, and pretexts were not wanting for the formation of
a new coalition against France. The English ministry understood this
attitude of the Continental powers, and their emissaries were busy
in all the Courts of Europe. The Directors knew of these efforts of
Pitt and did their best to counteract them. The keynote of the French
policy was, as it had always been, to make an ally of Prussia. For
this purpose Sieyès, who, though not in office, was probably the most
influential man in France, obtained his nomination to a special embassy
to Berlin. He hoped by mixed measures of conciliation and of menace to
induce Frederick William III. of Prussia, who had succeeded his father
in November 1797, to enter into an offensive and defensive alliance.
But that monarch, in spite of the weakness of his personal character,
had absolutely determined to maintain his father’s policy of strict
neutrality, and neither the arguments of Sieyès nor those of Mr. Thomas
Grenville, the brother of the English Foreign Minister, could induce
him to swerve from it in either direction. The efforts of England
were crowned with more success at Vienna and St. Petersburg. The
Emperor Francis, and still more the Austrian people, were profoundly
disgusted by the triumphs of the French, and flattered themselves
that their defeats had been due to the genius of Bonaparte more than
to the valour of the French soldiers. On the conclusion of the Treaty
of Campo-Formio, Bonaparte had, without consulting the Directory,
nominated General Bernadotte to be the French Ambassador at Vienna.
The Austrian people took this appointment as an insult; Bernadotte,
though well received by the Emperor and his ministers, soon found
that he was most unpopular in Vienna, and on the 13th of April 1798
the Viennese mob collected in front of the French Embassy, insulted
the ambassador, and tore down the insignia of the French Republic. In
spite of this insult the Directors did not at once declare war against
Austria, but it afforded a pretext for dwelling on the inborn hatred
of the Austrians for the French in their proclamations to the French
people. Since such was the disposition of the Austrian people, it need
hardly be said that the English envoy was heartily welcomed at Vienna.
At St. Petersburg the application of Pitt for armed help was favourably
received. The Emperor Paul, though already showing signs of the brutal
insanity which was to lead to his assassination, still preserved the
prestige of being the heir of the great Catherine. His ministers were
those of Catherine; his policy was based on hers. But whereas Catherine
had steadfastly refused to go to war with France, Paul showed a decided
inclination, which was fostered by his generals, to see whether the
Russian army would not be more successful than the Prussian or the
Austrian against the seemingly invincible French republicans.
[Sidenote: The Helvetian Republic. April 1798.]
The French Directory, though recognising that it might have soon to
contend again with the power of Austria, and for the first time with
that of Russia, nevertheless roused without any reason fresh enemies
upon the French frontiers. Its greatest mistake at this period was its
interference with the affairs of Switzerland. For this interference
there was no real cause, but the Directors could not resist the
temptation of inflicting their special form of republic upon the Swiss.
The organisation of most of the cantons of Switzerland was essentially
feudal and oligarchical. The government of each canton and of each
city was in the hands of a very few families, and the people were in
much the same condition politically, socially, and economically as
the people of France before the Revolution. The Swiss peasants had
caught the contagion of revolution from France, and in the beginning
of 1798 the people of the Pays de Vaud rose in insurrection against
the authority of the Canton of Berne. This rising was followed by
popular tumults in other cantons, and the peasants everywhere destroyed
the signs of the feudal system and declared themselves in favour
of ‘Liberty—Equality—Fraternity.’ The popular leaders appealed to
France for help, and a powerful army under the command of General
Brune invaded Switzerland. The militia of the cantons was speedily
routed; Brune occupied Berne and sent the national treasury to
Paris, and a freely-elected Constituent Assembly was summoned. This
assembly proclaimed an Helvetian Republic, one and indivisible, with
a Directory, two Councils, and Ministers, in imitation of the French,
the Cisalpine, and the Batavian Republics, to take the place of the old
Swiss federal constitution. Great reforms were speedily accomplished;
on the 8th of May 1798 internal customs-houses were abolished, and on
the 13th of May torture was forbidden in judicial processes; on the
3d of August marriages between persons of different religions were
declared legal; and eventually all feudal rights were suppressed.
Great as were these reforms, they were not entirely acceptable to the
Swiss people. The mountaineers of Uri, Schweitz and Unterwalden, the
descendants of the founders of the ancient Swiss liberties, objected
to be freed under the influence of French bayonets, and the cry of
national patriotism soon raised an army against the French liberators
of the peasants. The French troops had to remain perpetually under
arms, and the Helvetian Republic, in spite of the popular freedom which
it secured, was hated even by the peasants whom it had relieved. The
hatred for the French name was increased by the arbitrary conduct,
and it was asserted by the corrupt behaviour, of Rapinat, the French
commissioner, who was a near relative of Reubell, the Director. The
intervention of the Directory had, therefore, in Switzerland, roused
a people in arms, even though it had been dictated by the best of
motives.
[Sidenote: Italian affairs.]
[Sidenote: The Roman Republic. February 1798.]
[Sidenote: The Parthenopean Republic. January 1799.]
When Bonaparte left Italy he had been succeeded in the command of the
French troops which occupied the frontiers of the Cisalpine Republic
by General Berthier. This general, desirous of emulating the successes
of Bonaparte, took the opportunity of the murder of the French
ambassador at Rome, General Duphot, to occupy the Eternal City. The
Pope, Pius VI., fled from Rome to the Carthusian monastery at Pisa,
and the Roman people declared themselves to be once more the Roman
Republic. Consuls and Tribunes, as in ancient days, were elected;
the Directory, full of classical recollections, recognised the Roman
Republic with transports of enthusiasm; and General Berthier took the
opportunity to send large sums of money to Paris. The King of Naples,
or to speak more accurately, the King of the Two Sicilies, regarded
the new republic with anything but favour. Encouraged by English and
Austrian envoys, and still more by the news of Nelson’s victory at
the Battle of the Nile, he determined to attack Rome. He placed one
of the most distinguished of the Austrian generals, Mack, at the head
of his army, and, without declaring war, occupied Rome on the 29th of
November 1798. The French troops for the moment had to retire. But
Championnet, who had succeeded Berthier, quickly concentrated his army,
and on the 15th of December he reoccupied Rome in force. Championnet
then took the offensive; he invaded the Neapolitan territory, and he
quickly conquered all Ferdinand’s dominions in Italy. The King fled
to Sicily, and in January 1799 the Parthenopean Republic was solemnly
installed at Naples. The two remaining independent states of Italy
were also occupied by the French armies. The one of these, Piedmont,
was conquered without any declaration of war or any pretext by General
Joubert in November 1798, and King Charles Emmanuel IV. fled to
Sardinia. The other, Tuscany, in spite of the desire of the Grand Duke
to remain at peace with France, was the next victim, and on the 25th of
March 1799 the French troops occupied Florence.
[Sidenote: The Law of Conscription. 5th Sept. 1798.]
The occupation of the whole of Italy and of Switzerland did not
increase the military strength of France; on the contrary, the
proceedings of the Directory only aroused the most profound disgust
and fear in Austria, Russia, and England. The Directors felt that a
far more terrible war than they had yet been engaged in was about to
break forth, and it may be assumed that, on the eve of hostilities,
they even regretted the absence of Bonaparte. Enormous numbers of
soldiers would be necessary in a new war. Trained and experienced
officers and non-commissioned officers existed, but the difficulty was
how to fill the ranks. It was no longer possible to have recourse to
the measures of the Convention, to the _levée en masse_, and to the
appeal for volunteers with the cry that the country was in danger. The
Republic had now become a military power, and the question was how
to recruit its armies, not how to rouse the whole population. On the
19th of Fructidor, Year VI. (5th September 1798), the Councils of the
Ancients and of Five Hundred, on the application of the Directory,
passed the first Law of Conscription. By this law all Frenchmen between
the ages of twenty and twenty-five with certain exceptions were
declared to be subject to military service. They were divided into five
classes, and one or more classes could be called out by the executive
authority after receiving the consent of the Legislature. This law is
the starting-point of the military levies which formed the army of
Napoleon, and the principle of conscription was thus laid down many
months before Bonaparte became First Consul.
[Sidenote: The Outbreak of War. 1799.]
[Sidenote: Battles of Stockach and Magnano. 25th March and 5th April.]
Mention has been made of the riot at Vienna which caused the departure
of the French ambassador, Bernadotte. He was not replaced by the
Directory, and long negotiations took place on the subject of the
compensation due to the Republic for this insult. But neither party
was in earnest. Both the French Directory and the Emperor Francis were
preparing for the contest. The first overt act of war took place at
the commencement of 1799, when the Austrian troops, under the command
of the Archduke Charles, occupied the passes of the Grisons, and it
was in this quarter that before war was actually declared the first
engagements were fought. In Italy General Schérer was attacked at
Verona by the Austrian General Kray, and in Germany General Jourdan
fell back into the Black Forest. In both of these quarters many
skirmishes took place, and eventually on the 25th of March 1799 the
Archduke Charles defeated Jourdan in a pitched battle at Stockach. A
few days later, on the 5th of April, Schérer was defeated at Magnano.
Meanwhile the Congress of Rastadt was still sitting, and Austria was
nominally at peace with France. The conclusion of a treaty between
France and the Empire, which was the subject of the deliberations
at Rastadt, was necessarily a difficult matter to negotiate, for it
involved nothing less than the entire reconstitution of the Holy
Roman Empire, a reconstitution which could only be carried out by
the secularisation of the bishoprics. Eventually, in the month of
April 1799, after the engagements of Stockach and Magnano, the French
plenipotentiaries at Rastadt understood that it was hopeless to expect
to conclude a treaty with the Empire. They therefore asked for their
passports to France. These passports were refused. As they left Rastadt
the French plenipotentiaries were attacked by some Austrian hussars;
two of them, Roberjot and Bonnier-d’Alco, were killed, and the other,
Jean Debry, left for dead. This odious violation of international law
and the rights of ambassadors took the place of a formal declaration
of war, and roused not only the Directory but the French people to the
most strenuous exertions. Meanwhile the Emperor Paul of Russia declared
war against France, and ordered three armies to be despatched to the
scenes of action.
[Sidenote: The Campaign in Italy. 1799.]
[Sidenote: Battle of the Trebbia. 17th-19th June.]
The campaign of 1799 was fought out in three localities, in all of
which the Russians played a most prominent part. In Italy a Russian
army, under the command of one of the most famous generals in Europe,
Suvórov, reinforced the Austrians after the battle of Magnano.
Suvórov forced the passage of the Adda at Cassano on the 27th of
April, and rapidly drove Moreau, who had succeeded Schérer in command,
across northern Italy. On the 28th of April Suvórov entered Milan,
and the Cisalpine Republic at once expired. On the 27th of May he
entered Turin, and after leaving besieging armies before Mantua and
Alessandria, shut up the remnants of Moreau’s army in Genoa. But the
army of Moreau was not the only French army in the Italian Peninsula.
Several powerful divisions, under the name of the Army of Naples, were
concentrated in Rome and Naples to support the newly-formed Roman and
Parthenopean Republics. Macdonald, who had succeeded Championnet in the
command of this army, rapidly concentrated and threatened to take the
Austro-Russian army in flank. Suvórov withdrew from Turin and turned
to his left to meet his new assailant. On the banks of the Trebbia a
three days’ battle was fought from the 17th to the 19th of June. The
issue of the battle itself was doubtful, but Macdonald, finding himself
unsupported by Moreau from Genoa, was obliged to retreat into Tuscany.
Fearing to be cut off, he then forced his way along the difficult
passage between the mountains and the sea, and joined Moreau, after
collecting every French soldier from the garrisons in the south of
Italy. The retreat of the French was followed by an outburst against
the Italian republicans.
[Sidenote: Death of Pope Pius VI. 29th Aug. 1799.]
[Sidenote: Battle of Novi. 15th August.]
The Parthenopean Republic was at once overthrown, and King Ferdinand
of the Two Sicilies wreaked cruel vengeance on his subjects. Pope Pius
VI. had been removed from his retreat near Florence to Valence, and the
French Directors had some idea of keeping him prisoner as a hostage in
the same way as Napoleon afterwards imprisoned his successor. But the
old Pope could not bear the sufferings of his imprisonment, and died
at Valence on the 29th of August 1799. Rome, deprived of the presence
of the Pope and the Cardinals, fell under the dominion of the Roman
nobles, who followed the example of the King of the Two Sicilies in
persecuting the republicans. Meanwhile the French Directory appointed
General Joubert, who was believed to be the best of the former
subordinates of Bonaparte, to take command at Genoa of the relics of
the armies of Moreau and Macdonald. With these soldiers he burst out
of Genoa to raise the siege of Alessandria, but on the 15th of August
he was utterly defeated by Suvórov at Novi in a great battle, in which
Joubert himself was killed. In spite of these defeats the Directory
refused to believe that Italy was lost. A new army was formed, and
placed under the command of Championnet, who, however, was defeated at
Genola on the 4th of November by the Austrians, under Melas, and driven
back into France.
[Sidenote: The Campaign in Switzerland. 1799.]
[Sidenote: Battle of Zurich. 26th Sept.]
While Suvórov was conquering Italy and destroying the recollection
of the victories of Bonaparte in that country, Masséna, who was in
command of the French army in Switzerland, was engaged in a most
difficult task. The Archduke Charles, who also had under his command a
Russian army under Korsakov, forced his way slowly into Switzerland,
driving the French before him, and in August 1799 left Korsakov in
command at Zurich. The Archduke was then ordered to take the bulk of
his army to the Rhine in order to invade France. Korsakov, abandoned
to his own resources, showed himself far inferior in military ability
to Suvórov. Masséna, with singular boldness, refused to remain on the
defensive, and on the 26th of September drove the Russians out of
Zurich. His victory was won just in time, for Suvórov, after defeating
Joubert at Novi, had determined, in spite of the terrible weather,
to cross the Alps. It was on the 24th of September, two days before
Masséna’s victory at Zurich, that the main Russian army arrived at the
summit of the St. Gothard Pass. General Lecourbe, one of the finest
mountain generals of his day, occupied the St. Gothard, and with a few
battalions kept the whole Russian army at bay. Suvórov nevertheless
persevered and hoped to turn Masséna’s flank. But it was several weeks
before he could reach the village of Altdorf. Being unable to find
boats to cross the lake, he had now to retreat, and when he reached
the Grisons his army was practically destroyed by starvation and the
stress of the weather. Masséna, thus relieved of his most formidable
enemies, took possession of Constance, and by threatening the flank of
the Archduke Charles forced the main Austrian army to fall back to the
Danube.
[Sidenote: The Campaign in Holland. 1799.]
[Sidenote: Battles of Bergen.]
The third campaign of 1799 was fought in Holland. In this quarter it
had been arranged that the English and Russians were to act in concert.
On the 27th of August the English fleet had successfully reached the
Dutch coast, and had captured the relics of the Dutch fleet, defeated
at Camperdown, in the Texel. After this operation an English army,
under the Duke of York, and a Russian army, under General Hermann,
disembarked at the Helder. General Brune was hurriedly despatched to
take command of the few French troops in Holland, and co-operated
with the army of the Batavian Republic under General Janssens. The
campaign consisted of a succession of fierce but indecisive battles
in the neighbourhood of Bergen. The English and Russians did not act
harmoniously together; the country was unsuited for field operations;
and supplies were not adequately provided. As a result of the
operations, though he had not been really defeated, the Duke of York
signed the Convention of Alkmaar on the 18th October, by which he
agreed to surrender all prisoners on being allowed to evacuate Holland.
[Sidenote: Results of the Campaigns.]
The results of the campaigns of 1799 were decidedly favourable to
France. Though Italy was lost, and more than one French army had been
defeated, the victories of Masséna and of Brune more than compensated
for these disasters. Not only had France not been invaded, but she had
been able to retain her position in Switzerland and in Holland, and
to hold the whole of the right bank of the Rhine. England, in spite
of the Convention of Alkmaar, could point to the victory of the Nile
and the capture of the Dutch fleet in the Texel as real successes,
and Pitt and Grenville did not despair of ultimate victory. The King
of Prussia, who, when the affairs of France seemed to be desperate,
had begun to assume an attitude of opposition, and demanded the
evacuation of the Prussian provinces on the Rhine, speedily repented
of his indiscretion, and made excuses for his behaviour. The Austrian
ministers evinced no desire to continue the war; they resented the
high-handed conduct of Suvórov, and showed themselves more afraid of
their powerful ally, Russia, than of their declared enemy, France. They
implored the English government to bring about the withdrawal of the
Russian troops, and the Emperor Paul was only too glad to comply. The
retreat of the Russians left Italy practically in the hands of Austria.
The Grand Duke Ferdinand of Tuscany was restored to his dominions, but
the King of Sardinia was not recalled, and Piedmont remained in the
occupation of the Austrian troops. Genoa alone was held by a French
garrison, which was closely besieged by the Austrians on the land side,
and blockaded by the English Mediterranean fleet. It was under the
influence of Austria and under the protection of Austrian troops that
the Conclave met at Venice in November 1799 to elect a new Pope.
[Sidenote: Russia.]
The significant feature of the campaigns of 1799 was the intervention
of Russia. Mention has been made of the abandonment of the policy of
the great Catherine by her successor. This change in the attitude
of Russia was due mainly to the influence of England, but partly
to the encouragement given by the French Directory to the Poles.
The restoration of Poland to its place among the nations had long
been a favourite idea among French republicans. Kosciuszko had been
enthusiastically welcomed at Paris, and the first of the Polish legions
which were to do good service under Napoleon was raised by Dombrowski
in 1797. The Emperor Paul had met this attitude by welcoming the
pretender Louis XVIII. to Russia, where he lent him the palace of
Mittau and gave him a considerable pension. He also took into Russian
pay the armed corps of _émigrés_ under the command of the Prince de
Condé. But fear of French assistance to Poland would not alone have
induced the Emperor Paul to declare war. He was particularly offended
by the French occupation of the Ionian Islands and of Malta. By the
Treaty of Campo-Formio the Ionian Islands had been ceded to France, and
the Russians regarded this cession as an indication that the Directory
was going to interfere actively in the affairs of the East. The bad
impression created by the occupation of the Ionian Islands had been
increased by the conquest of Malta and the expedition to Egypt. Though
Russia quite intended to destroy the power of Turkey, she had no idea
of allowing any western nation to share the spoils. It was for this
reason that the Emperor Paul accepted the title of Grand Master of the
Knights of St. John, which the expelled Knights of Malta offered to
him, and that he occupied the Ionian Islands with a Russian force in
1798. The foreign policy of the Emperor was so far popular in Russia in
that it maintained the sole right of Russia to interfere in the East,
but it was unpopular in that it seemed by the despatch of the armies
under Suvórov and Korsakov to bolster up the power of Austria. Suvórov
and his officers returned to Russia with a feeling of respect for their
enemies, but with a feeling of intense disgust at the behaviour of
their allies. Suvórov, indeed, went so far as to accuse the Austrians
of playing the part of traitors, and the anger of Paul was raised to
its height by the capture of Ancona, which was delivered by a secret
compact to the Austrian general in spite of the assistance of Russian
troops. He was equally angry with England on account of the failure of
the expedition to Holland. Every thing at the close of 1799 conduced
to make the Emperor Paul seek for a pretext to make peace, if not an
actual alliance, with the French Republic.
[Sidenote: Campaign in Syria. 1799.]
While these important campaigns were being fought out in Europe,
Bonaparte had not been idle in the East. The Battle of the Pyramids
had made him master of Egypt, and though cut off by the English fleet
from communication with France, he remained master of the country.
His internal administration made him excessively popular among the
Egyptians. He removed the Turks and Mamelukes from office, and called
on the Egyptians to govern themselves. But the Turks did not intend
to lose Egypt without striking another blow, and a powerful army was
sent for its reconquest. Bonaparte determined to meet this army half
way, and in February 1799 he advanced into Syria. He speedily reduced
Palestine and took Jaffa, and then laid siege to the strong fortress of
Acre. Assisted by the English sailors of Sir Sidney Smith, the garrison
of Acre made a gallant defence. The Turkish army advancing to its
relief was defeated by Bonaparte at Mount Tabor on the 16th of April.
In spite of his victory, he had, nevertheless, to abandon the siege
of Acre, and on the 20th of May he commenced his retreat to Egypt. He
there found the position to be extremely critical. The Mamelukes had
reorganised their army and reoccupied Cairo, and a Turkish army had
been disembarked by the English fleet at Aboukir. Meanwhile Desaix,
whom he had left in command in Egypt, had gone up the Nile for the
conquest of the interior. Bonaparte soon re-established his power; he
defeated the Mamelukes at Cairo, and drove the Turkish army into the
sea. At this juncture he heard the news of the events of the campaigns
in Europe, and, what affected him more, of the course of politics at
Paris. He determined, therefore, to return to France, and leaving
Kléber in command in Egypt, he set sail with a few personal friends.
The ship on which he embarked escaped the English cruisers, and he
landed at Fréjus on the 9th of October 1799 after a perilous voyage of
forty-seven days.
[Sidenote: Quarrel between the Councils and the Directory.]
The varying issues of the campaigns of 1799 had profoundly affected
the situation of the Directors, and the disasters in Italy had turned
the hopes both of the army and of the French people towards Bonaparte.
At the annual change in the composition of the Directory and the
Councils which took place in 1799 a considerable alteration had been
made. The new third of the Councils consisted almost entirely of men
who, without being either Jacobins or Clichians, longed to see the
establishment of a strong government in order to secure peace. The
Directory, which had seemed so strong after the revolution of the
18th of Fructidor, had been considerably weakened by the behaviour
of the Directors themselves. The election of none but civilians to
the highest offices in the State was disliked by the army, and the
characters of the Directors themselves had suffered. Reubell was the
Director designed by lot to retire in May 1799; he was perhaps the
ablest and most experienced of them all, but had been discredited by
the bad conduct of his relative, Rapinat, in Switzerland. Sieyès was
elected to succeed Reubell. This choice, and the acceptance of Sieyès,
testified to a new condition of affairs. The former abbé might have
been a Director on at least two former occasions, in 1795 and 1798, and
his acceptance at this juncture was very significant. He had failed
in his embassy to Berlin to induce the new King of Prussia to become
the active ally of France, and had been convinced by his diplomatic
experiences that the government of France must become frankly
military, since the monarchical powers of Europe would not accept the
possibility of a peaceable French Republic. From an internal point of
view the acceptance of Sieyès indicated an increase of power for the
Legislature, of which he was the idol.
[Sidenote: Coup d’état of 30th Prairial (18th June 1799).]
The election of Sieyès was followed by a bloodless revolution. He
maintained that the failure of the Constitution of the Year III. was
due to the usurpation of the functions of the Legislature by the
Directory, and, therefore, when the Councils declared Treilhard and
Merlin of Douai to have been illegally chosen Directors, and called
for the resignation of Revellière-Lépeaux, they found a powerful ally
in Sieyès. The attacked Directors yielded without a struggle, and on
30th Prairial, Year VII. (18th June 1799), they were replaced by three
personal friends of Sieyès, Gohier, Roger Ducos, and General Moulin.
Barras was thus the only member left of the original Directory. The
Councils, not satisfied with this victory, began to usurp the executive
functions of the Directory, and a general change of ministry took
place. The new ministers were Reinhard, Robert Lindet, Cambacérès,
Quinette, Bernadotte, replaced on 14th September by Dubois-Crancé,
Fouché, and Bourdon de Vatry, who succeeded Talleyrand and his
colleagues as Ministers of Foreign Affairs, the Finances, Justice,
the Interior, War, Police, and the Marine respectively. It is worthy
of note that four of the new ministers were formerly leading members
of the Convention. But the administration of the Councils was not
more effective than that of the Directory, and the news of the
disembarkation of Bonaparte at Fréjus was received with a feeling of
general satisfaction throughout France.
[Sidenote: Revolution of 18th Brumaire. (9th November 1799.)]
Bonaparte reached Paris on the 16th of October, and his assistance was
sought by men of all parties. He allied himself with none, but there
can be little doubt that he took the advice mainly of Talleyrand,
Fouché, and Sieyès. Nevertheless he did not repulse the leaders of
the Councils, and to show their attachment for him the Council of
Five Hundred, on the 22d of October 1799, elected his brother Lucien
Bonaparte to be their president, and the whole Legislature gave him
a grand banquet on 6th November. The first stage of the revolution
of Brumaire was a decree by which the Council of Ancients, or rather
certain of its members, who had been initiated into the project of
a _coup d’état_, taking advantage of a clause in the Constitution
applicable to circumstances of popular agitation, resolved in the
early morning of the 18th Brumaire, Year VIII. (9th November 1799),
that the two Councils should leave Paris and meet at Saint-Cloud; and
the execution of this decree was intrusted to General Bonaparte. In
the palace of Saint-Cloud it was easy to surround the legislators by a
body of troops faithful to Bonaparte, since the command of the troops
in Paris was in the hands of one of his friends, General Lefebvre, who
was discontented at not having been elected a Director instead of
Moulin. Sieyès and Roger Ducos, who were in the plot, at once declared
their resignations; Barras was induced to acquiesce; and the other two
Directors were guarded as prisoners in the palace of the Luxembourg
by General Moreau. On the following morning, the 19th of Brumaire,
Bonaparte entered the Councils, escorted by soldiers; the Ancients
listened to him quietly; but the Five Hundred were in a tumult; a
proposal was made to declare the general and his supporters _hors la
loi_ or outlaws; and after a stormy scene the deputies were driven from
the hall by the grenadiers. In the evening a few deputies, who were in
the secret of the general’s plans, met and decreed the suppression of
the Directory and the creation of a provisional government, consisting
of three Consuls. The three men chosen for this office were Bonaparte,
Sieyès, and Roger Ducos. Commissions were appointed to revise the
Constitution and to draw up with the Consuls new fundamental laws for
the Republic. By this revolution Bonaparte practically became ruler of
France, for Sieyès had no influence with the army, and Roger Ducos no
influence with anybody. It was a military revolution like that of the
18th Fructidor; it was a bloodless revolution like that of the 18th
Fructidor; but it differed in that, instead of establishing the power
of five men, it established the power of one. And that one man was the
idol of the army, and generally acknowledged to be the greatest general
of France. The preponderance of Bonaparte was quickly recognised by
his colleagues. ‘Who shall preside?’ said Sieyès at the first meeting
of the provisional Consuls on 20th Brumaire. ‘Do you not see that the
general is in the chair?’ replied Roger Ducos. And Sieyès, who was
the chief epigram maker as well as the constitution-monger of the
Revolution, is said to have summed up the situation with the remark to
his friends on the same evening: ‘Messieurs, nous avons un maître; il
sait tout, il peut tout, il veut tout.’