THE JACOBIN CHIEFS.--The Reign of Terror was not confined to

Paris. The unexampled atrocities there were repeated in the other

large towns with like circumstances of barbarity. A species of

fanaticism ruled and raged in the land. The mania, if one may so call

it, reached its height in such chiefs of the revolutionary party as

_Marat, Billaud_, and _Robespierre_. In _Marat_

especially, the mastery gained by one idea almost amounted to mental

disorder. He demanded first five hundred heads, then (in Sept., 1793)

forty thousand; then, six weeks later, two hundred and seventy

thousand. It did seem to be a "homicidal mania." _Marat_ was

assassinated by a young maiden, _Charlotte Corday_, who devoted

herself to the task of ridding the world of such a monster.

DEATH OF DANTON.--The Jacobin leaders found their ideal of virtue in

the Spartan spirit. Infatuated by _Rousseau_'s theory of the

omnipotence of the state, in which the individual is merged and lost

under the despotism of the majority, they looked on the massacre of

countless persons, guilty of no crime, as a good deed. At length men

began to grow weary of this frightful tyranny. The leaders became

divided among themselves. _Danton_, though often the advocate of

violent measures, was a statesman, and, to his credit be it said,

halted at a point where the others advanced. He made an objection to

the confounding of the innocent with the guilty. _Hébert_ and the

leaders of the commune, with their atheism, as dangerous political

rivals, were offensive to _Robespierre_, who was a deist. He held

a sort of middle position, had most power with the Jacobins, and was

enabled to crush and destroy his associates. He was a dull man, of a

quiet mien, often seen with a nosegay in his hand, and bloodthirsty

according to a precise theory. His ascendency gave him the power,

after scenes of tempestuous debate, to inflict first on _Hébert_,

on _Clootz_, and his other confederates, and then on

_Danton_ and the Dantonist chiefs, the same death by the

guillotine to which they had doomed so many. _Robespierre_

abolished the worship of Reason, and caused the Convention to pass a

resolution acknowledging the existence of a supreme Being, in whose

honor fêtes were held. Christianity was denounced as a base

superstition.

CRUELTIES IN THE PROVINCES.--When _Robespierre_ was supreme, the

Reign of Terror became still more terrible. In trials, the hearing of

evidence and of argument were dispensed with. The prisons were crowded

with "suspects." Alleged conspiracies in prisons were made a pretext

for wholesale slaughter under the guillotine. Suicide and madness were

of common occurrence. Even before _Robespierre's_ predominance

there had been in the provinces scenes of horror like those which

occurred in the capital. The revolted cities, as _Lyons_ and

_Toulon_, were punished with savage ferocity. At _Lyons_,

men, women, and children in masses were shot down with

artillery. Those who were not killed with the shot were cut in pieces

by the soldiery. At _Nantes_ prisoners were bound together in

pairs, and huddled together in barges, which were scuttled and set

afloat down the Loire. For these atrocities the deputy _Carrier_

was responsible.

FRENCH VICTORIES.--Yet, at this time, the arms of the republic, except

on the sea, where the French fleet was badly beaten by the English,

were mostly successful. The _Duke of York_ was vanquished on the

Belgian frontier, and the defeat of the allies at _Fleurus_ (June

26, 1794) obliged them to evacuate Belgium.

THE BONAPARTES

Charles Bonaparte, _m._ Letitia Ramolino.

|

+--1, Joseph, King of Spain, _d._ 1844.

| |

| | +--Lucien, Cardinal.

| | |

| +--Zénaïde,

| _m._

| +--Charles, _d._ 1857

| |

+--3, Lucien, Prince of Canino, d .1840.

| |

| +--Lucien.

| |

| +--Pierre.

|

+--2, NAPOLEON I, 1804-1814, (deposed, _d._ 1821), _m._

| (1), Maria Louisa, daughter of Emperor Francis II.

| |

| +--Napoleon, Duke of Reichstadt (Napoleon II), _d._ 1832.

|

| (2), Josephine, _m._ General Beauharnais.

| |

| +--Eugene, Duke of Leuchtenberg, _d._ 1824. _m._

| | Augusta, daughter of Maximilian Joseph of Bavaria.

| | |

| | +--Josephine, _m._ Oscar I of Sweden.

| |

| +--Hortense,

| _m._

+--4, Louis, King of Holland, _d._ 1846.

| |

| +--Napoleon Charles, _d._ 1807.

| |

| +--Napoleon Louis, _d._ 1831.

| |

| +--LOUIS NAPOLEON III, 1852-1870, _d._ 1873. _m._

| Eugenie, Countess of Teba

| |

| +--Napoleon, _d._ 1879.

|

+--5, Caroline, _m._ Joachim Murat, King of Naples, shot 1815.

|

+--6, Jerome, King of Westphalia, _d._ 1860, _m._

Catharine of Wurtemberg.

|

+--Napoleon. _m._ Clotilde, d. of Victor Emmanuel II of Italy

|

+--NAPOLEAN VICTOR JEROME FREDERIC.

CHAPTER III. FROM THE FALL OF ROBESPIERRE TO THE EMPIRE OF NAPOLEON

(1794-1804).

FALL OF ROBESPIERRE (9TH THERMIDOR).--A reaction set in against the

cruelties of Jacobinism. Men--even the judges of the murderous

tribunal--grew weary of bloodshed. The authority of _Robespierre_

began to wane, even with his colleagues. The assembly at length turned

against him. On July 27 (the _9th Thermidor_, according to the new

calendar) he was arrested. He was released, but was again seized, and,

with _St. Just, Couthon_, and most of the leaders of the commune,

was guillotined.

Bare statistics, accompanied by no thrilling descriptions, convey a

strong impression of the atrocities of the Reign of Terror. According

to _M. Taine_, "there were guillotined at _Paris_, between

April 16, 1793, and the 9th Thermidor, 2,625 persons. The same process

went forward all over France. In Arras, 299 men and 93 women; in

Orange, 331 persons; in Nantes, 1,971; in Lyons, 1,684 (avowedly, but a

correspondent of Robespierre estimates the total at 6,000); in the

_fusillades_ (deaths by shooting) of _Toulon_, more than

1,000; in the _noyades_ (drownings) of Nantes, nearly 5,000

perished. In the eight departments of the West, it is reckoned that

nearly half a million perished." The deaths from want, under the

Jacobin government, _M. Taine_ thinks, much exceeded a

million. "France was on the brink of a great famine on the Asiatic

scale."

REACTION: CONTROL OF THE MODERATES.--The Reign of Terror was brought to

an end. The moderates controlled the Convention. The prison doors were

opened, and the multitude of suspects were set free. The revolutionary

tribunal was broken down. The commune of Paris was so shaped as to

strip it of its most dangerous powers. The Jacobin and other incendiary

clubs were suppressed. Religion was declared to be free, and the

churches were opened to their congregations. The Girondist deputies who

survived were invited back to their seats in the Convention. The

National Guards were filled up from the middle class,--the

_bourgeoisie_. Little mercy was shown to the Jacobins

anywhere. The reaction was seen in the altered character of society and

of manners. Those who had acquired wealth in the late time by the

changes of property came to the front. The old fondness for dress and

gayety reappeared. Paris was again alive with balls and other festive

entertainments. The salons were crowded with elegant youth of the

higher class (the _jeunesse dorée_). The party of Terror were

cowed; but in consequence of the rise in the cost of provisions, and of

the distress caused by it, and by the sudden abrogation of tyrannical

laws settling the price of food and wages, there were two fierce

outbreakings of the mob of Paris (April 1, May 20, 1795). These were

quelled, and the power of the Jacobins was finally crushed. The

moderates had now to guard against the increasing strength and rising

hopes of the royalists.

CONQUEST OF HOLLAND: PRUSSIA.--The armies of France were everywhere

successful. Through the victories of _Jourdan_ and

_Pichegru_, Holland was conquered, and converted into the

_Batavian Republic_, and Dutch Flanders surrendered to France. The

Low Countries were now a dependency of the French Republic

(1794-1795). _Hoche_, an excellent general, partly by

conciliation, reduced the West--the theater of the La Vendée revolt--to

submission. The English and emigrants landed in _Quiberon_, on the

coast of Brittany, but were defeated. The coalition was broken up,

first by the withdrawal of Prussia, which ceded (April 5, 1795), and,

in a secret article, ceded permanently, its territories on the left

bank of the Rhine to the French, for a compensation to be obtained from

secularized German states,--that is, states in which the old

ecclesiastical rule should be abolished. A few months later (July,

1795), Spain concluded peace, ceding _St. Domingo_ to the

Republic. The soldiers of France were fast becoming trained, and their

confidence rose with their increasing success. This success was due

largely to the weak generalship of the allies. The French were commonly

hard masters in the conquered places. On the other hand, however, they

effected a welcome abolition of old feudal inequalities and abuses.

CONSTITUTION OF 1995.--Meanwhile, there was disaffection, especially in

the cities, with the rule by the Convention. In the cities there was

distress, except in the moneyed class. There was a yearning for a

strong and stable government. The Convention framed and submitted to

the nation a new constitution, the _third_ in the order of

political fabrics of this sort. There were to be seven hundred and

fifty legislators, divided into two bodies,--the Council of Elders, or

the _Ancients_, of two hundred and fifty, and the _Council of

Five Hundred_. The executive power was given to a _Directory_

of five persons. Two-thirds of the councils for the first term were to

be taken from the Convention. The constitution, thus conservative and

anti-Jacobin in its character, was well received. But there was

dissatisfaction in the reactionary parties; and a great insurrection of

the royalist middle class in Paris (Oct. 5, 1795, the _13th

Vendémaire_) was promptly put down by the resolute action of

_Bonaparte_, to whom had been given the command of the troops of

the city. It was the royalist and the anti-republican parties which now

threatened the government. But a new authority, the will of the

_army_, was beginning plainly to disclose itself. The dread of

Jacobinism still existed. What the people more and more craved was

internal tranquillity and order.

BONAPARTE IN ITALY: TO THE PEACE OF CAMPO FORMIO.--The assignats became

worthless. This bankruptcy had one benefit: it relieved the state of

its debt, and brought coin into circulation. A triple attack was

planned by _Carnot_ against Austria. In Germany, _Jourdan_

and _Moreau_ were driven back by the Archduke _Charles_ of

Austria. But a splendid success attended the arms of _Bonaparte_

in the attack on the Austrian power in Italy. He had been lately

married to _Josephine Beauharnais_, the widow of a French general

guillotined in 1794, the only woman to whom he appears ever to have

been warmly attached. There were two children by her former

marriage,--_Eugène_ (1781-1824), and _Hortense_ (1783-1837)

who married _Louis Bonaparte_. Starting from Nice, and following

the coast, Bonaparte defeated the Austrians and Piedmontese separately,

and forced the latter to conclude a distinct peace, which ceded

_Savoy_ and _Nice_ to France. He exemplified in this campaign

the characteristics which in after-years contributed essentially to his

success as a general. He struck the enemy before they could combine

their forces. He did not, after the old method, wait to capture all the

fortresses in his path, but by swift marches made his attacks at

unexpected places and times. He defeated the Austrians after a brief

struggle at the bridge of _Lodi_ on the Adda, captured

_Milan_, overran Lombardy as far as Mantua, and forced the Pope,

and Parma, Modena, and Naples, to purchase peace by giving up their

treasures of art. Thus began the custom of despoiling conquered

capitals, and other subjugated cities, of works of art, which went to

adorn and enrich Paris,--a new custom among civilized Christian

nations. _Wurmser_, the veteran Austrian general, was defeated in

a series of engagements; and, after him, another great Austrian army,

under _Alvinzi_, was vanquished at _Arcola_ (Nov. 14-17,

1796) and at _Rivoli_ (Jan. 14, 1797). _Bonaparte_ now

crossed the Alps to meet the Archduke _Charles_, who had cleared

Germany of its invaders. The French general, although his own situation

was not free from peril, was able to dictate the terms of peace. In the

treaty of _Campo Formio_ (Oct. 17, 1797), Austria ceded the

Belgian provinces to France, recognized the _Cisalpine Republic_

to be established by _Bonaparte_ in North Italy, and secretly

consented to the cession of the German provinces on the left bank of

the Rhine. In return, he gave _Venice_ to Austria, in disregard of

the principles of international law, and perfidiously as regards that

republic, which had made its peace with him, and become a democracy

dependent on France. In this treaty with Austria, there was another

secret stipulation that Prussia should not be indemnified in Germany

for her losses on the west of the Rhine. Thus _Napoleon_ used the

selfishness of the allies to divide them from one another. At

_Tolentino_ in February the Pope had ceded for the _Cispadane

Republic_ the _Romagna_, _Bologna_, and _Ferrara_. A

young man of twenty-seven, Bonaparte had given proof of his astonishing

military genius by a series of victories over large armies and

experienced generals; and he had evinced equally his skill, as well as

his lack of principle, in the field of diplomacy. He had won admiration

from his enemies by his evident freedom from the revolutionary

fanaticism, and his contempt for declamation about "the rights of man."

Returning to _Paris_, he was received with acclamation, but

thought it politic to avoid publicity, and to live quietly in his

modest dwelling.

COUP D'ÉTAT: 18 FRUCTIDOR (Sept. 4, 1797).--During _Bonaparte's_

absence, the royalist and reactionary faction had gained ground in the

governing bodies. _Pichegru_ was plotting on that side. These

schemes had been baffled with the timely assistance of a detachment of

troops sent to _Paris_ by Bonaparte under _Augereau_. On

Sept. 4 (the 18th Fructidor), the palace of the Tuileries, where the

councils met, was surrounded. The reactionary deputies were arrested;

_Pichegru_ and his fellow-conspirators were banished. This _coup

d'état_ sealed the triumph of the republicans, but it was effected

through the army.

THE EGYPTIAN EXPEDITION.--The Directory were conscious of weakness,

and looked with alarm and distrust on the young general, who was fast

becoming the idol of the people, as well as of the army. They wished

him to attempt a descent on England. He preferred, in the room of this

impracticable venture, to conduct an expedition to _Egypt_, with

the design of getting control, if possible, of the Eastern

Mediterranean, and of striking at the possessions of Great Britain in

_India_. To this scheme the Directory, quite willing to have him

at a distance, readily consented. Hiding his plans until all was

ready, he sailed from _Toulon_ (May 19, 1798) with a strong fleet

and army; on his way captured _Malta_ through treachery of the

knights, and landed safely in Egypt. With him were some of the best of

the French generals, and a large company of scientific men. He

defeated the _Mamelukes_ in a great battle fought within sight of

the _Pyramids_. But at _Aboukir_, in the _Battle of the

Nile_, the French fleet was destroyed by the English naval force

under _Nelson_. The French army was thus cut off from the means

of return. Bonaparte invaded _Syria_, but was prevented by the

English fleet from getting a foothold on the coast. He had to raise

the siege of _Acre_, and returned to Egypt, where he vanquished

the Turks at _Aboukir_.

REVERSES OF FRANCE IN ITALY.--Here _Bonaparte_ received

information which determined him to leave the army under the command of

_Kléber_, and himself to return to France. The European powers had

once more taken up arms. Among the causes of the renewal of the war

were the formation by the French of the _Roman Republic_ out of

the dominion of the Pope, the establishment of the _Helvetian

Republic_ in Switzerland, and the change of _Genoa_ by its own

act into the _Ligurian Republic_. Prussia, since 1795, from

selfish motives had cooperated with France, and stood aloof from the

new--the _second_--coalition. _Paul I_., emperor of Russia,

was active against the French Republic, and _Pitt_ was its

indefatigable enemy. The Czar had been made Grand Master of the Knights

of Malta, and made much of this empty dignity. The victory of

_Nelson_ at _Aboukir_ cemented the union of the hostile

powers, with whom the Sultan was now joined. The management of the

French armies by the government at _Paris_ was

unskillful. _Naples_, to be sure, was overcome, and transformed

into the _Parthenopæan Republic_. The king of _Sardinia_ was

driven out of Piedmont. But _Jourdan_ was defeated by the Archduke

_Charles_, and retreated across the Rhine. The Austrians and the

Russian army under _Suvoroff_, a veteran officer, were victorious

south of the Alps (June, 1799); _Moreau_ and _Macdonald_ were

defeated at _Trebbia_. The French were defeated again at

_Novi_ (Aug. 15), and lost almost all Italy. The king of Naples

came back, and thousands of republicans there were cruelly put to

death,--a proscription in which _Nelson_ had a part. It was the

victory of _Masséna_, over the Russians at _Zurich_, that

saved France itself from invasion.

OVERTHROW OF THE DIRECTORY: 18TH BRUMAIRE.--These reverses added to the

unpopularity of the Directory. The discontent of the Jacobins with

their government had given rise to strong measures of repression. On

the other hand, the wealthy class were disgusted at the renewal of the

war. A rising was threatened in _La Vendee_. The feeling was

widely diffused, that there was need of a strong man at the helm to

save the ship of state from another terrible shipwreck. At this

juncture _Napoleon_ appeared in _Paris_, and was greeted with

enthusiasm. _Sieyès_ and one other director, with a majority of

the _Ancients_, agreed to another _coup d'état_ which should

make Bonaparte the first magistrate. The garrison of Paris was ready to

lend its aid. The resistance of the _Council of five Hundred_ at

_St. Cloud_ was baffled by _Lucien Bonaparte_, Napoleon's

brother, their president, and by the use of military force. Thus there

was accomplished the revolution of the _18th Brumaire_ (Nov. 9,

1799).

THE CONSULATE.--In the provisional government set up by the remnant of

the council, _Napoleon_ only gradually assumed the chief rôle. He

was later enabled to take and to hold supreme power, because of the

mutual fear of royalists and republicans, their common dread of

Jacobinism, and a prevailing conviction that safety must be sought in

the sway of an individual, representing neither extreme, and strong

enough to hold all in check. Yet the event evinced the supremacy now

gained by the military power. _Napoleon_ immediately made

excellent financial reforms, and repealed or softened the laws against

the "emigrants" and the priests. By such mild and conservative

measures, the prosperity of France began to be renewed. The

constitution of the year VIII., as planned by _Sieyès_ and

modified by _Bonaparte_, kept up the semblance, without much of

the reality, of democracy. The checks on the power of the First Consul

were more nominal than real. The mass of the people had power only to

vote for lists of citizens, out of whom all the higher officers were to

be selected by successive steps. All legislation was initiated by the

_Council of State_; the _Tribunate_ of a hundred members

could discuss proposals made thus, but could not act; the

_Legislative Chamber_ of three hundred could vote, but not

discuss; and the _Senate_ of eighty was chosen for life, with

little to do. This constitution of 1799, in opposition to the communal

system of 1789 and 1791, established a _centralized_

administration which destroyed local liberty and self-government.

France no longer represented in other countries the cause of

liberty. In this character its armies had been hailed in Italy, where a

yearning for national unity was awakened. Equality, not liberty, was

all that the cause of France now represented.

Napoleon could not have expected that his overtures of peace would be

accepted by Austria. The rough, impolitic response made by England,

helped him by rousing resentment in France.

MARENGO: PEACE OF LUNGVILLE.--If _Sieyès_ and others expected

that _Napoleon_ would merely direct military operations from

_Paris_, they were soon undeceived. _Masséna_ was at the

head of the army in Italy, and found it most difficult to hold

_Genoa_ against the Austrians. _Moreau_ was at the head of

the army in Germany. Apart from other reasons for taking the field in

person, it would not have been safe for the new ruler of France to

allow himself to be eclipsed in military fame by

_Moreau_. _Napoleon_, as usual veiling his purpose,

gradually collected a large army, and between May 16 and 19, 1800, led

his troops, and dragged his cannon, over the _Great St. Bernard

Pass_ into Italy, threw himself in the rear of _Melas_, the

Austrian general, and entered Milan. He appears, however, to have used

less than his usual caution, probably from fear that _Melas_

might escape; so that he was attacked at _Marengo_ (June 14), by

that general, at a moment when the French forces were not sufficiently

concentrated. What threatened to be a disastrous defeat for the

French, however, was turned into a signal victory by the timely

arrival of _Desaix_; and the name of _Marengo_ rang through

Europe. In December, _Moreau_ won the great victory of

_Hohenlinden_ over the Archduke _John_. In February, 1801,

the peace of _Lunéville_ was concluded. France kept its "natural

boundaries," Belgium and the west of the Rhine. The _Italian

republics_, except Rome and Naples, were restored. _Tuscany_

was to be given to a prince of Spain, a country now dependent on

France. The German princes who lost territory were to be indemnified

by "secularizing" German ecclesiastical states, and vied with one

another in imploring favors of the conqueror.

THE NORTHERN ALLIANCE: THE PEACE OF AMIENS.--England now stood alone

against France. Her navies were supreme, and had captured most of the

_Dutch_ as well as _French colonies_. The French army in

_Egypt_ had been driven to capitulate on the condition that it

should be transported in English vessels to France. Russia, Sweden,

and Denmark made (1800) a defensive alliance of armed neutrality on

the sea, to maintain the right of neutrals to trade with belligerents,

and the doctrine that the neutral ship protects its freight (not being

munitions of war) against seizure. England succeeded in ruining this

alliance. _Pitt_ now retired from office. He had accomplished the

legislative union of England and Ireland, by which the separate Irish

Parliament had ceased to exist (1800). But he had encouraged the Irish

Catholics to expect that they would be delivered from the restrictions

which excluded them from the House of Commons and from many other

offices. When the king refused to consent to the fulfillment of these

expectations, _Pitt_ resigned (1801). _Addington_ became

prime minister. England was tired of the war. Peace was concluded at

_Amiens_ (March, 1802). France was to retain all her conquests on

the Continent. England surrendered to France and her allies all

conquests except Trinidad and Ceylon. _Malta_ was to be given

back by England to the Knights of Malta. A third great civil triumph

of Napoleon, added to _Luneville_ and _Amiens_, was the

_Concordat_ with the Pope.

REFORMS OF NAPOLEON.--Napoleon now was free to give his attention to

internal reforms in France. He called into his counsels the ablest men

in all departments of knowledge. In the reconstruction of political

and social order, his own clear perceptions and energy were everywhere

seen. He brought back from the old institutions whatever was good and

valuable which the tempest of revolution had swept away. He reformed

the judicial system. He caused to be framed the famous _Code_

which bears his name, and which still forms the basis of law in

several European countries. He reduced the power of the communes, and

centralized the administration of government by the system of prefects

and sub-prefects. Through the _Concordat_, he renewed the

connection of the Catholic Church of France with Rome, reserving,

however, to the executive the nomination of archbishops and bishops,

whom the government was to support, and guarding, in the spirit of the

Gallican theory, the supremacy of the civil authority. Full toleration

was secured for non-Catholics. _Napoleon_ personally participated

in the religious ceremonies which attended the formal restoration of

the old system of worship where "the Goddess of Reason" had been

enthroned during the Terror. The ultimate effect of the

_Concordat_ was to build up the ultramontane, or papal, theory

and sway within the church of France. Education was organized by the

establishment of the university, the comprehensive name for the entire

educational system of the country. All branches of technical

instruction were carefully fostered. The devotees of science were

encouraged with an enlightened sympathy and liberal aid. A better

organization and discipline were brought into the army.

CHARACTER OF THE CHANGES.--The changes made by _Napoleon_, while

they secured the _equality_ of all Frenchmen before the law, did

nothing to rescue civil _liberty_, such as the republicans had

aimed to secure. They were all in the direction of

monarchy. Distinctions, like the Legion of Honor, were invented; titles

were instituted; a new aristocracy, made up of relics of the old

_noblesse_ and of fresh recruits, was created; _Napoleon_ was

declared to be consul for life, and the mechanism of the government was

converted into a practical dictatorship. Unsparing in his treatment of

Jacobins, he aimed still to moderate the passions of party. His

activity was seen in an excellent system of public works, such as

canals and noble highways, in new towns, and in magnificent buildings

which he erected in Paris. At the same time, he went as far as it was

safe to go in bringing in monarchical manners and luxuries. He himself

adopted a regal way of living. He had no faith in democracy, and spoke

with unaffected scorn of "ideology," or the theoretical statesmanship

which based itself on ideas of "human rights" in the matter of

exercising government. The press was placed under stringent police

regulation. _Napoleon's_ family began to contend, with "Corsican

shamelessness," for high honors. A feud soon came to exist between them

and the _Beauharnais_,--the family of _Josephine_. Was the

principle of heredity to come back?

RENEWED WAR WITH ENGLAND.--In 1803 the war was renewed with

England. That _Napoleon_ was resolved to dictate in European

affairs, as he was practical dictator in the French Republic, was

plain. He controlled the republics dependent on France. He annexed

_Piedmont_. He made the _Spanish Bourbons_ do his bidding. He

intervened in _Germany_; among other things, offending Austria by

enlarging the bounds of Prussia. He exercised over the minor German

states the influence of which Austria had been robbed. He complained of

the strictures of the English press, and of the asylum granted in

England to conspirators against his rule. He was angry that

_Malta_ was not given up, which England refused to do on account

of an aggrandizement of France not consistent with the Peace of

Amiens. There were provocations on both sides, and war was inevitable.

PLAN OF INVADING ENGLAND.--Napoleon seized _Hanover_. He talked of

making a descent on England. He gathered a vast army near

_Boulogne_, and constructed an immense flotilla for the

transportation of it across the Channel. His design was to decoy away

the British fleet, and then to concentrate enough ships of his own in

the Channel to protect the passage of his forces.

CHAPTER IV. FROM THE BEGINNING OF THE EMPIBE TO THE RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN

(1804-1812).

THE EMPIRE (1804).--Various attempts had been made against

_Napoleon's_ life. An "infernal machine" was exploded near his

carriage. On that occasion, only the swift driving of the coachman

saved him from death (1800). There were now royalist plots against his

life, of which _Count d'Artois_ was cognizant. _Pichegru_ was

an accomplice; and _Moreau_, although not favoring the restoration

of the Bourbons, was not entirely innocent. The former died in prison;

_Moreau_ escaped to America. Napoleon, exasperated by these plots,

caused the _Duke d'Enghien_, a young prince of the Condé branch of

the Bourbons, to be seized on German territory,--in Baden,--and dragged

away into France, where, at _Vincennes_, after a hurried military

examination, he was shot, and buried in a grave that had been dug for

him before the sentence was pronounced. Of this act of Napoleon, it was

said by _Fouché_, "It was worse than a crime: it was a blunder."

The young prince was really innocent. He was a victim of the natural,

but violent, wrath of Napoleon, who wanted to strike a blow that his

enemies would feel. The event opened the way for him--as it was perhaps

intended that it should--to the object of his ambition, the imperial

title and throne. He was authorized to adopt a successor. This, the

different parties felt, would make his government stable and secure. He

was proclaimed emperor, the election being ratified by popular

vote. The crown was to be handed down in his family. In imitation of

_Charlemagne_, whom he affected to consider a Frenchman and a

predecessor, he was crowned, with splendid pomp, by Pope _Pius

VII_. (Dec. 2, 1804), in Notre Dame. He took the crown from the

Pope's hands, and placed it on his own head.

THE NEW ROYALTY.--The emperor surrounded himself with the insignia and

ceremonies of royalty. The members of his family became princes and

princesses. A new nobility, with the various ancient titles, was called

into being. He made his generals--eighteen in number, most of whom had

sprung from the ranks--marshals. He first diminished the number of the

_Tribunate_, then (1807) abolished it. The republic of 1789 had

now passed into an absolute military monarchy.

THIRD COALITION AGAINST FRANCE (1805).--_Napoleon_ turned the

Italian Republic into a vassal monarchy, with himself for its ruler

(1805). He incorporated _Genoa_ with France. His step-son,

_Eugène Beauharnais_, he made viceroy of _Italy_. _Pitt_

had come back to office. Events since the death of the _Duke

d'Enghien_ made it possible for him to create the third coalition of

England (in union with Austria, Russia, and Sweden) for restoring the

balance of power in Europe. _Paul I_. of Russia had been won over

from the previous coalition by the adroit efforts of _Napoleon_,

and by the Czar's hostility to England on account of _Malta_

(1800), he being grand master of the knights. His ordinary state of

mind bordered on derangement, so that he was not fit to reign. Refusing

to abdicate, he was assassinated by nobles (1801), and his son

_Alexander I_. (1801-24) succeeded him. Russia was now reconciled

to England, and the Northern Neutrality Convention against her maritime

oppression was dissolved.

POSITION OF PRUSSIA.--The king of Prussia, _Frederick William

III_. (1797-1840), and the ministers whom he trusted, refused to

listen to his spirited queen, _Louisa_, and the more earnest,

patriotic party, by which he was urged to unite with the coalition. He

clung to his policy of neutrality, and was to be bribed by the gift of

_Hanover_. The attitude of Prussia, which had been governed by

selfish considerations, was long the pivot on which the success of

_Napoleon's_ aggressions hung.

FAILURE OF VILLENEUVE.--If Napoleon ever seriously projected an

invasion of England he abandoned the scheme before 1805, although he

retained an army at Boulogne to alarm the English. _Villeneuve_,

whose fleet was to command the Channel, had escaped from _Nelson_

and was on his way back from the West Indies. The admiralty were warned

of his movement by a vessel of light draught which _Nelson_, when

he could not find his foe, dispatched to inform them of the

danger. _Villeneuve_, after an indecisive action against the force

sent to meet him under _Sir Robert Calder_, put first into the

harbor of _Ferrol_, and then repaired to

_Cadiz_. _Nelson_ came back with his fleet to the Channel.

ULM AND TRAFALGAR.--The allies marked out four lines of invasion. The

second and principal advance was to be up the valley of the Danube, and

to be pursued by the Russians and Austrians. _Napoleon_ did not

wait for them to unite. He now made use of the army collected for the

proposed invasion of England. He suddenly broke up his camp at

_Boulogne_, and swiftly led his splendid and thoroughly drilled

army across the Rhine, to the rear of the Austrian forces, of which

_Mack_ was the commander. Other detachments from Hanover and

Holland came down the Main to take part in the movement. The Austrians

were surrounded in _Ulm_, and gave themselves up, thirty thousand

in number, as prisoners of war (Oct. 17, 1805). The strategy was like

that pursued in the campaign of _Marengo_: the result was even

more astonishing. It was not long, however, before news came to him of

a great disaster to the French on the sea. Four days after the

surrender at _Ulm_, _Nelson_ achieved a grand victory off

Cape _Trafalgar_, over the French and Spanish fleets. Before

_Villeneuve_ decided to leave the shelter of _Cadiz_, he had

been obliged to weaken himself by sending away a number of his

ships. The watchword sent from the flag-ship just before the

encounter--"England expects every man to do his duty"--called forth

shouts of enthusiasm from the decks of the British fleet. Two-thirds of

the French ships were captured or ruined. _Nelson_ himself was

struck by a bullet, and died the same night. His private life was not

free from grave faults, but he was the greatest naval hero England has

ever produced.

AUSTERLITZ: CONFEDERATION OF THE RHINE.--On the land, the career of

_Napoleon_ was triumphant. The "Grand Army," with its system of

corps and reserves, marched on _Vienna_, which was occupied on the

13th of November. The Russians were still to be encountered. The army

of _Alexander_ was a very powerful one; but he made, instead of

awaiting, the attack, and, on the 2d of December, was utterly defeated

on the memorable field of _Austerlitz_. The Peace of

_Pressburg_ followed (Dec. 26, 1805). Austria gave up

_Venice_, which was annexed to the new Italian kingdom, of which

Napoleon was the head. The _Tyrol_ went to Bavaria, whose elector

was recognized as a king, as was also the elector of

_Würtemberg_. Soon after, the Bourbons were dethroned at

_Naples_, and Napoleon's brother _Joseph_ took that kingdom.

_Bavaria_, _Baden_, _Würtemberg_, and other smaller

states were united into a _Confederation of the Rhine_ (1806),

with _Napoleon_ for its protector. The Holy Roman Empire from that

time had no longer even the shadow of a reality. _Francis I._ was

simply emperor of Austria, and Austria was greatly reduced in power.

FALL OF PRUSSIA.--Prussia now stood by herself. Out of alarm at the

progress of the French arms, and anger because French troops had been

led across her territory without her consent, she had preferred to join

the coalition. _Austerlitz_ moved her to retrace her steps. She

received _Hanover_ as the price of a renewed alliance. England now

declared war against Prussia. But _Fox_, who was an advocate of

peace, had come into power in England (Jan. 23, 1806); and Prussia

discovered that Napoleon, who was friendly to him, was negotiating for

the surrender of Hanover to that country. This crowning indignity moved

Prussia, at this inopportune moment, to take up arms against

him. Prussia had no ally but Russia. The Prussian army was full of

pride and hope; but its organization and method of warfare were after

the old, traditional fashion which had come down from the days of

_Frederick the Great_, and its commander, the _Duke of

Brunswick_, though brave, was superannuated. In the two battles of

_Jena_ and _Auersfadt_, fought on the same day (Oct. 14,

1806), the Prussian forces were routed, and either captured or

dispersed. A fortnight later (Oct. 27), _Napoleon_ was in

_Berlin_. Fortress after fortress was surrendered, and corps after

corps captured by his troops. The royal family, including the Queen

_Louisa_, were treated personally with harshness and disdain. The

Prussian monarchy, to all appearance, was in ruins. Its museums and

picture-galleries were robbed of their treasures, which went away as

trophies to _Paris_. The Saxon Elector, made a king, joined the

Rhenish Confederacy.

Fox died on Sept. 13, 1806. In 1807 (March 31), the Duke of Portland

became prime minister; the rival and rising statesmen,

_Castlereagh_ and _Canning_, being both in the cabinet.

TO THE PEACE OF TILSIT.--It remained for the conqueror to deal with

_Russia_. He had intended to prosecute a winter campaign in

_Poland_, but the severity of the winter and the lack of supplies

obliged him to fall back from Pultusk to the _Vistula_. The

Russians now took the initiative. A terrible battle at _Eylau_

(Feb. 7 and 8, 1807) was indecisive. _Napoleon_ drew additional

troops from all parts of his empire to supply the losses of the grand

army. _Benningsen_, the Russian general, was incautious, and at

_Friedland_ (June 14) was routed. _Dantzic_ and the still

unconquered provinces of _Prussia_ fell into the hands of the

French. This series of wonderful successes made the revolution in the

art of war, which _Napoleon_ had introduced, obvious to the

dullest eyes. His peculiar method of rapid movement, and subsistence on

the country, and the obstacles to its uniform success, were likewise

evident. The Emperor _Alexander_ and _Napoleon_ met on the

_Niemen_. _Alexander_ was won by _Napoleon's_ gracious

and friendly demeanor. At _Tilsit_, on the North-Prussian

frontier, peace was concluded (July 7 and 9, 1807). Prussia fared the

hardest. She lost half of her territory. She had to close her ports and

lands to British trade, to limit her army to forty-two thousand men,

and to consent to the erection of a _duchy of Warsaw_ out of her

Polish territory. Out of the Elbe provinces, a kingdom of

_Westphalia_ was constructed, of which _Jerome Bonaparte_

received the crown. Russia also recognized _Louis Bonaparte_,

another brother of Napoleon, as king of

_Holland_. _Alexander_ promised to go to war with England in

case England rejected the offer of peace which he was to make as

mediator. _Alexander_ and _Napoleon_ were to be fast friends

and allies. Russia was to expand on the north and east, but not to have

_Constantinople_. Napoleon had no better apology for the

dismemberment of Prussia than a reference to the intemperate manifesto

of the _Duke of Brunswick_ in 1792, on the occasion of the first

invasion of France. His real object was thoroughly to divide and

disable Germany, and to take away the last obstacle to his complete

control within its borders.

POWER OF NAPOLEON.--No ruler since _Charlemagne_ had held such

power as was now wielded by _Napoleon_. "Sovereign of France from

the Scheldt to the Pyrenees, and of Italy from the Alps to the Tiber,"

he had given the throne of _Holland_ to his brother _Louis_,

that of _Naples_ to _Joseph_, and made _Jerome_ king of

_Westphalia_. _Spain_ was content to do his will, and

_Germany_ was under his feet. He was the leader of mighty armies,

with no military rival to endanger his supremacy over them. His

conquests, it was impossible to deny, carried with them the abolition

of numerous time-worn abuses, and the introduction of important

material improvements. France was in many respects prosperous under the

despotism established over it.

ELEMENTS OF WEAKNESS.--But there were certain elements of weakness

which _Napoleon_ did not sufficiently discern. The feeling of

nationality and patriotism in the subject countries was certain to

awake with a strength which he did not at all anticipate. Old Rome had

extinguished this feeling in most of her provinces, but there were

countries whose spirit even Rome could not break. Napoleon undertook a

task to which no man was equal. Meantime, he was exhausting the

military resources of _France_. If its male population continued

to be willing to follow him to the slaughter, where were the men to be

found to fill the places of the multitudes that fell? The time must

come when the hunger of the French for military glory would be sated,

and dazzling victories would cease to hide the fearful cost at which

they were purchased.

THE CONTINENTAL SYSTEM.--The Treaty of _Tilsit_ was followed by

acts on the part of Napoleon which show the presumptuous confidence and

arrogant spirit of domination, which, however natural on the pinnacle

of might to which he had raised himself, proved disastrous, and, in the

end, fatal. One of these acts was the "Continental System," ordained in

the _Berlin_ and _Milan Decrees_.

A Prussian decree (1806), Prussia being then a vassal of

_Napoleon_, undertook to close the ports and rivers of the North

Sea to English shipping. In retaliation, there was issued a British

"Order in Council," declaring the coast from the Elbe to Brest in a

state of blockade; the portion from Ostend to the Seine being declared

to be under a rigorous blockade. This led to the _Berlin Decree_

of _Napoleon_ (Nov. 21, 1806). Then second "Orders in Council"

(Nov. 11, 1807), prohibiting trade with France, her allies and

colonies, as if they were blockaded, called out the _Milan Decree_

of Napoleon (Dec. 17, 1807).

The continental system thus originated undertook to cut off trade

between the entire Continent and England, by ordering all the

merchandise of England and her colonies to be seized and confiscated,

wherever it might be found,--even ships which touched at English

ports. The design was to inflict injury on England. It had this effect,

but it had the same effect on France, and still more in the other

countries which profited by English trade. Wide-spread disaffection at

the attempts to enforce this system was the inevitable

consequence. Moreover, one result of it was to stimulate

_Napoleon_ to further conquests to keep up and to extend his

commercial policy. Another motive was added to his growing and

insatiable ambition for universal dominion.

INVASION OF SPAIN: WAGRAM.--Russia had declared war against Great

Britain, according to the promise of _Alexander_ at

_Tilsit_. The British seized the Danish fleet in the harbor of

_Copenhagen_, to prevent it from falling into the hands of Russia

and France (Sept., 1807). _Napoleon_ made this act a partial

excuse for invading the Spanish peninsula, under the pretense of

guarding the coasts against the English. His army entered

_Lisbon_, and he declared that the house of _Braganza_ had

ceased to reign. His forces advanced into Spain beyond

Madrid. Dissensions between _Charles IV_. and his son

_Ferdinand_ enabled _Napoleon_ to get himself chosen as

arbiter; and having enticed the two contestants to _Bayonne_, he

set them both aside, and gave the crown of Spain to his brother

_Joseph_,--_Murat_, who had married Napoleon's sister

_Caroline_, taking the throne of _Naples_. This high-handed

proceeding roused the Spanish people to revolt. The officers of

_Napoleon_ were several times defeated. A British force under

_Wellington_--then _Sir Arthur Wellesley_--appeared in

_Portugal_ to lend help to the national movement. A French fleet

in _Cadiz_ was destroyed. _Napoleon_ invaded Spain with an

overwhelming force, and established his brother at _Madrid_

(Dec. 2, 1808). But the people still kept up a harassing guerilla

war. From Spain _Napoleon_ was called away by the rising of

_Austria_, which the events in Spain had once more moved to begin

hostilities. Within a month from the beginning of the campaign, he

again entered _Vienna_ as a victor (May 11, 1809). He suffered a

reverse at _Aspern_; but in the desperate battle of _Wagram_,

in which not far from three hundred thousand men took part, he was

triumphant. Austria purchased peace by further cessions of territory,

and by joining the Continental System. The brave _Tyrolese_ kept

up the struggle with an heroic spirit; but at last _Hofer_, their

leader, was captured and shot at _Mantua_ (1810).

PIUS VII.--As _Pius VII_. refused to close his ports against

England, and to ally himself with France, _Napoleon_ proclaimed

(May, 1809) that the Papal States were annexed to his empire. The Pope,

who had steadfastly resisted his attempts at coercion, excommunicated

him. The pontiff was arrested, and conveyed to _Savona_, and

afterwards to _France_.

SWEDEN: BERNADOTTE.--Another ally in upholding the "Continental System"

against England, Napoleon gained in Sweden, where one of his marshals,

_Bernadotte_, had been chosen Crown Prince.

Under _Adolf Frederic_ (1751-1771), a council of nobles usurped

many of the functions of the king. A combined Russian and French party

in Sweden was against him. His son, _Gustavus III_. (1771-1792),

being supported by France, invaded Russian Finland, and, by the help of

the Estates, reduced the power of the nobles, giving, however, to the

Estates in the new constitution, the right to veto a project for

offensive war. He was murdered in 1792. His son _Gustavus IV_.,

who became of age in 1808, was a bitter opponent of _Napoleon_,

whom he considered to be the beast of the Apocalypse

(Rev. xiii. 1). After the Peace of _Tilsit_, he made war on

Russia, and on Denmark, from which he sought to wrest Norway. The

nobles and the army rose against him, and obliged him to abdicate

(1809). His uncle, _Charles XIII_., became king. _Finland_

was surrendered to Russia. The king having no children,

_Bernadotte_ (1764-1844), a French marshal, made by

_Napoleon_ Prince of Pontecorno, but who often showed himself

independent in his relations to him, was elected Crown Prince of Sweden

(1810). Sweden joined the Continental System.

NAPOLEON'S DIVORCE AND MARRIAGE.--_Napoleon_, who was childless,

in the hope of founding a dynasty on a sure basis procured a divorce

from _Josephine_, and married _Maria Louisa_, the daughter

of _Francis I_. of Austria. To the son who was born of this

marriage he gave the sounding title of _King of Rome_, the old

designation of the emperors-elect before their coronation.

TORRES VEDRAS.--The first successful stand against the military

supremacy of Bonaparte was made in _Spain_. _Wellington_

divined the secret of the French victories, and devised the means of

effectual resistance. In _Portugal_, between the _Tagus_ and

the sea he fortified the position called _Torres Vedras_, which

could be defended against superior forces. This he held against all the

efforts of _Masséna_ to conquer and dislodge him. Deprived of the

means of subsistence, the French suffered great losses and privations,

and were obliged to retreat (May, 1811). Their method depended for

success on the attaining of the desired result in a short time by swift

operations.

REACTION AGAINST NAPOLEON.--The campaign of _Wellington_ produced

a strong moral effect in other parts of Europe. While _France_ was

beginning to show signs of weariness with the endless war, and with the

despotic government under which it was kept up, in _Germany_ a new

spirit of patriotism was stirring in the hearts of the people. Under

_Stein_, a great and patriotic minister, the Prussian system of

civil administration was reorganized on a sound basis. The army was

likewise reconstructed on the basis of universal military

service. Serfdom was abolished and the old caste system, with its

restrictions on land-holding, abandoned. A new Germany was slowly

waking to life, and collecting its energies for the combat for

freedom. The "Continental System" caused increasing

irritation. _Louis Bonaparte_ abdicated his throne in

_Holland_, rather than enforce its odious requirements (July,

1810). The quarrel of _Napoleon_ with the Pope, and the

indignities suffered by the pontiff, who lived for three years upon

alms, added to the discontent which the emperor's commercial policy

provoked, even in France.

CHAPTER V. FROM THE RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN (1812) TO THE CONGRESS OF VIENNA

(1814-15).

THE RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN--The circumstances narrated above did not prevent

_Napoleon_ from the fatal mistake of invading _Russia_. The

czar would not enforce the commercial restrictions. _Napoleon_

refused to promise not to restore the kingdom of _Poland_. There

were various other causes of mutual jealousy and

coolness. _Sweden_, under _Bernadotte_, which had been forced

to declare war against _England_ (1810), now joined

_Russia_. _Austria_ and _Prussia_, in their state of

practical vassalage, had to furnish military help to Napoleon. In June,

1812, when he crossed the _Niemen_, he had brought together a

force of five hundred and fifty thousand men. He had reinforcements

from _Poland_, and might have had more had he not, from deference

to Austria and Prussia, refused to restore the Polish kingdom. The

Russians retreated as he advanced. _Barclay_, the Russian general,

declined a battle, and destroyed whatever places could afford an

advantage to the invader. At length, _Kutusoff_ took the command,

and was compelled by the Russian feeling, against his will, to give

battle. At _Borodino_, where there was immense slaughter on both

sides, the Russians retired, but without disorder. When the French

arrived at _Moscow_, they found an empty town, which was set on

fire by accident or by Russians. The Czar refused to treat for

peace. There was no alternative but to retreat (Oct. 19, 1812). The

sufferings of the soldiers from cold and famine were terrible. The

Russians availed themselves of every opportunity to harass the

retreating force. When it reached the ruins of _Smolensk_, only

forty thousand were left of more than a hundred thousand that had left

Moscow. The army continued to dwindle. At _Smorgoni_,

_Napoleon_ left _Murat_ in command, and hastened in disguise

to Paris. The expedition cost the lives of not less than three hundred

thousand men. This gigantic failure was due to the foiling by the

Russians of Napoleon's habitual plan of forcing decisive battles by

movements so rapid that his troops could subsist upon the country which

they overran, and to the unexpected destruction of Moscow.

THE GERMAN WAR OF LIBERATION: LEIPSIC.--In Germany, there now began the

great _War of Liberation_. _York_--the commander of the

Prussian contingent reluctantly furnished to _Napoleon_--went over

to the Russians (Dec. 1812). During the first three months of 1813, all

North Germany rose in arms. Heart-stirring appeals were issued by

_Frederick William III_. to his people. He called for the

formation of volunteer corps, and all young men capable of bearing arms

responded with alacrity to the summons. Russia and Prussia formed a

defensive alliance. Sweden made a treaty with England, and agreed to

assist the allies. Napoleon's wonted success attended him at first in

the encounter with the Russian and Prussian forces. He gained a victory

at _Lützen_ (May 2), and another at _Bautzen_ (May 20,

21). Austria sought to mediate, but Napoleon unwisely preferred

war. Austria now, disregarding the family tie with Napoleon, was drawn

by the current of German patriotism, as well as by self-interest, into

the alliance against him. His imperious and arrogant domination was

felt to be insupportable. But the circumstance that determined the

course of Austria was the victory gained by _Wellington_ at

Vittoria, in Spain, over the French under _Jourdan_ (June 21). The

news of it turned the scale in the Austrian councils. The odds against

Napoleon were now fearful, especially as his own army was largely

composed of recruits who were hardly above the age of boys. He won one

more triumph at _Dresden_ (Aug. 27), but this was his last victory

on German soil. The allies avoided the errors which he had taught them

to avoid, and succeeded in bringing their forces together, and in

compelling Napoleon to fight at _Leipsic_. The allied armies

numbered three hundred thousand, while the French force did not exceed

a hundred and eighty thousand. The "battle of the nations" lasted for

three days (Oct. 16, 18, 19), although the fighting was chiefly on the

first and third. On the last day it continued for nine hours. The Saxon

contingent abandoned the French on the field, and went over to the

allies. The defeat of the French, as night approached, became a

rout. Napoleon, with the remnant of his army, was driven to the

Rhine. The battle of _Leipsic_ was really the decisive contest in

the wars of Europe against Napoleon. From the defeat there, it was

impossible for him to recover.

FALL OF NAPOLEON: ELBA.--The members of the _Confederacy of the

Rhine_ joined the allies. _Holland_ rose in revolt, and drove

out the French officials. Even _France_ was exhausted and full of

discontent. Meantime _Wellington_ defeated _Soult_ in the

Pyrenees, and invaded France from that side. _Napoleon_ was bent

on resistance, and by his superior skill succeeded in ousting the brave

Prussian soldier, but inexpert strategist, Blücher, as well as the

Austrian general _Schwartzenberg_ (Jan. and Feb. 1814). But the

preponderance of numbers on the side of the allies was too great. Their

bold decision to march on Paris secured their triumph. The city

surrendered (March 30). _Napoleon_ had lost his hold on the ruling

bodies. The senate, through the influence of the astute

_Talleyrand_, once his minister, declared that he and his family

had forfeited the throne. At _Fontainebleau_, he signed his

abdication in favor of his son (April 6), but this condition was

rejected. The small island of _Elba_ was given to him by the

allies as a sovereign principality. After a pathetic farewell to his

veteran Guard, he betook himself to his small dominion. _Louis

XVIII_., the brother of _Louis XVI_., was placed on the throne

of France. France, by the _Peace of Paris_ (May 30), was left with

its ancient boundaries as they were before the Revolution slightly

increased.

THE CHARTER.--According to a promise which the king had given, he (June

4, 1814) promulgated a constitutional CHARTER, a name borrowed from the

Middle Ages when charters were granted to vassals. There was to be a

legislature, with a house of peers or lords appointed by the king, and

a chamber of deputies chosen by limited suffrage; the electors to be

owners of property to a certain amount, and to be thirty years old. The

king was to have the initiative in legislation. The Roman Catholic

religion was declared to be the religion of the state, but liberty was

given to dissenters. The right to make peace and war was given to the

king, and also the right to issue ordinances necessary for the

execution of the laws and the safety of the state. This last provision

opened a door for arbitrary government, and paved the way for the

downfall of the dynasty. The points of resemblance in the constitution

to the English system were adapted to provoke a constant contrast with

it, in respect to the degree of liberty actually secured and exercised

by the people. The charter was dated from the nineteenth year of Louis

XVIII., as if there had been no Republic or Empire.

PIUS VII.--Pope _Pius VII_., who, after 1809, was a virtual

prisoner at _Savona_, refused to comply with Napoleon's

demands. He could not be moved to invest the bishops whom the emperor

had appointed. This was a principal point in the dispute. Napoleon

called a national council of French bishops (1811). In 1812 the Pope

was taken to _Fontainebleau_, and treated by him with

harshness. When the pontiff refused to give a full and final sanction

to the proposed agreement, until he should be free to confer with his

cardinals, he was treated with still greater severity. The fall of

Napoleon set him free, and he entered Rome, May 24, 1814.

CONGRESS OF VIENNA.--In September, 1814, the congress of Vienna met to

readjust the map of Europe after the whirlwind of change and

revolution. There were present the emperors of Russia and Austria, the

kings of Prussia, Denmark, Bavaria, and Würtemberg, and a great number

of German princes. _Castlereagh_, and later _Wellington_,

represented England, and _Talleyrand_ was one of the

representatives of France. The conferences were far from being

harmonious. In particular, the claims of Russia upon Poland, and the

claims of Prussia on Germany, threatened another war. While the

debates, alternating with gay festivities, were still proceeding, the

participants were startled by the news of the reappearance of

_Napoleon_ in France.

RETURN OF NAPOLEON FROM ELBA.--The new Bourbon rule was unpopular with

the French. It was felt to be the effect and sign of national

humiliation. The offensive conduct of the returned emigrant nobility,

and measures looking towards a restoration of bygone abuses in

government, fomented the disaffection. _Napoleon_, while

apparently busy in laying out roads and canals, and regulating the

affairs of his little kingdom, which was only sixty miles in

circumference, kept himself well informed as to the state of public

opinion in France. With a few hundred men of the Imperial Guard, he

landed at _Cannes_ (March I, 1815), and was joined by one regiment

after another which were sent out to crush him. _Ney_, one of the

best of his marshals, was carried away by the common feeling, and went

over to the side of his old commander. _Louis XVIII_. fled from

Paris; and, on March 20, _Napoleon_ was again installed in the

Tuileries.

WATERLOO.--Napoleon offered to the country a more liberal constitution,

but the Bourbons were more hated than he was trusted. He professed to

the great powers his desire for peace, but they did not listen to these

assurances. Each agreed to furnish an army of one hundred and eighty

thousand men to serve against him. He put forth prodigious exertions to

gather a force with which to meet the host of his enemies; and although

he could appeal to no warm national feeling, such as had called into

being the armies of the Revolution, he succeeded in bringing together a

force of over one hundred thousand men. He decided not to wait for the

attack, but to assail the two armies of _Blücher_ and

_Wellington_ in Belgium. His plan was to attack them separately.

_Blücher_ so far fell into the trap, that, in his eagerness to

meet the detested foe, he offered battle to Napoleon at _Ligny_

(June 16), and, after a desperate contest, was forced to retire from

the field. On the same day, _Wellington_ so far checked _Ney_

in his attack at _Quatre Bras_, that he could not strike the

Prussians on the flank, as Napoleon had designed. Napoleon thought that

the Prussians would not be able, after their defeat, at once to aid

Wellington. He sent _Grouchy_, however, with thirty-four thousand

men, to observe them and inflict on them a final blow. On the forenoon

of June 18, he himself attacked the British forces at

_Waterloo_. The French got possession of _La Haye Sainte_, a

farmhouse in front of Wellington's center, the scene of a bloody

contest; but all their charges on Wellington's main line were met and

repelled by the immovable squares of the British infantry. In the

afternoon Napoleon's right began to be assailed by the Prussians; and

finding, at seven o'clock, that they were coming in great force, he

ordered a charge of the Imperial Guard on Wellington's forces. After a

fierce struggle, the Guard was compelled to recoil and retire. The

Prussians, piercing the right flank of the French army, turned its

defeat into a rout. _Grouchy_ was at _Wavre_, fighting the

Prussian corps of _Thielmann_, which he seems to have mistaken for

the entire Prussian army.

ABDICATION OF NAPOLEON: ST. HELENA.--On the 22nd of June

_Napoleon_ again abdicated in favor of his son. _Carnot_ was

for a dictatorship. The French Assembly, with _La Fayette_ at its

head, insisted on the abdication. On July 7 _Blücher_ and

_Wellington_ entered Paris. Napoleon fled to _Rochefort_,

and, finding himself unable to escape to America, surrendered to the

British admiral, and was taken on board the war-ship

_Bellerophon_. _Louis XVIII_. was brought back to

Paris. _Napoleon_, by the agreement of the allies, was conveyed to

the island of _St. Helena_, where he remained, a fretful captive,

until his death (May 5, 1821). _Ney_ escaped, but was captured,

condemned, and shot (Dec. 7, 1815). France engaged to pay a war

indemnity of seven hundred million francs. Its boundaries were fixed as

at 1790.

CHARACTER OF NAPOLEON.--Respecting certain traits of Napoleon, there is

no dispute. His military genius all allow, although his daring was

sometimes over-daring; and there are critics who profess to discern,

after the beginning of the Russian campaign, and especially in the last

contest in Belgium, signs of a decline in his almost superhuman

vigilance and energy. Yet all must admit "that transcendent geometrical

faculty," as _Sainte-Beuve_ calls it, "which characterized

Napoleon, and which that powerful genius applied to war with the same

ease and the same aptitude that Monge [a great French mathematician]

applied it to other subjects." No general ever had greater power to

fascinate soldiers, and secure their devotion to him. One reason was,

that he recognized and rewarded merit wherever he saw it. His

intellectual movements were as much swifter than the ordinary as his

marches were more rapid than those to which armies had been

accustomed. For civil organization and administration he had rare

talents, and in many directions enlightened views. Europe owes much to

his innovations in this sphere. He was not incapable of warm personal

attachments; as was manifested, for example, in his grief over

_Duroc_, the favorite general, who fell at _Bautzen_. But an

insatiable appetite for war, and, still more, a conviction, which he

sometimes confessed, that he could retain and fortify his authority

only by dazzling France, and continuing to astonish mankind by

brilliant achievements, drove him forward on a path of aggression and

bloodshed. He had an unpitying nature: he was careless of human

suffering. Early in his career, in Italy, he ordered a needless and

useless attack on the outposts of the enemy, "to treat a lady to a

sight of real war." He did not shrink from ordering two thousand

prisoners at _Jaffa_ to be shot. He shocked all Germany by causing

_Palm_, a bookseller of Nuremberg, to be shot for refusing to tell

the name of the author of a publication offensive to him. He frequently

displayed a petty rancor,--as, for example, in leaving a legacy in his

will to the man who was accused of an attempt to assassinate the

_Duke of Wellington_. His violence of temper, as in the murder of

the _Duke d'Enghien_, hurried him into acts that were not less

impolitic than criminal. His tyrannical will would brook no

contradiction, even in matters o£ trifling importance. He broke away

from engagements when he thought it advantageous to do so. It is not an

injustice to say, that he was habitually untruthful: his bulletins were

disfigured by flagrant falsehoods, as well as gross exaggerations. In a

letter to _Talleyrand_ from Italy (Oct. 17, 1797) he says, "This

is history: what I say in my proclamations and speeches is a romance."

With his wonderful intellectual powers, inexhaustible energy, and

amazing achievements, he never quite loses the characteristic spirit of

an adventurer. He is haunted by a secret consciousness that this

character belongs to him.

The judgment Of an adversary must be taken with allowance; but

_Wellington_ spoke at least without passion when he said,

"Bonaparte's whole life--civil, political, and military--was a

fraud. There was not a transaction, great or small, in which lying

and fraud were not introduced." His "foreign policy was force and

menace, aided by fraud and corruption."--Croker's Correspondence,

etc., vol. ii. p. 86.

THE CONGRESS OF VIENNA.--The Congress of Vienna was dissolved in June,

1815. Its Acts were finally signed by the five great powers,--Austria,

France, Great Britain, Prussia, and Russia,--and by Spain, Portugal,

and Sweden. The Austrian and Prussian monarchies were restored. Austria

received back _Venice_ with _Milan_,--forming the subject

Lombardo-Venetian kingdom,--besides receiving the _Illyrian

provinces_ and the _Tyrol_. The old possessions of Prussia were

restored. She received the _Rhenish provinces_, a part of the

duchy of Warsaw (_Posen_), and a great part of Saxony, besides

other important additions. Holland and Belgium were formed into the one

kingdom of the Netherlands, which had also a part of _Luxemburg_,

and was ruled by the stadt-holder _William I_. The German

Confederacy was instituted, with thirty-nine sovereign states,

including the four free cities,--Austria being the presiding state. The

greater part of the _duchy of Warsaw_ fell to Russia, under the

name of the Kingdom of Poland. Sweden retained _Norway_, which,

however, kept its own free constitution; and Denmark acquired

_Lauenburg_. England had vastly enlarged her colonial

possessions. The present Swiss Confederation, consisting of twenty-two

cantons, was established; three new cantons having been added to the

former nineteen. The old dynasties were restored in Spain, in Tuscany,

Modena, and the Papal States, in Naples, and in Sardinia. To Sardinia,

_Genoa_, against its will, was annexed.

CHRONOLOGICAL STATEMENT.--The _First Coalition_ was formed in

1793, when all Europe, except Sweden, Denmark, Tuscany, Switzerland,

Venice, and Genoa, and Turkey, joined against France. In 1792 France

had been at war with Austria and Prussia. In 1795 the coalition was

broken: Prussia and Spain made peace with France. In 1797 Austria also

concluded peace with France (the Peace of _Campo'Formio_). In 1798

the Second Coalition was formed, in which Turkey was included. Prussia

and Spain were not parties to it. The Peace of Amiens, made with

England (1802), ended the contest following it. The Third Coalition was

formed in 1805, by England, Russia, Austria, and Sweden. Peace was

concluded between Austria and France (Dec. 26, 1805). War followed in

1806-7, between France on one side, and Prussia and Russia on the

other. These allies, with England, made a _Fourth Coalition_. In

1807 France and Russia were allies. The rupture between Austria and

France in 1809 gave rise to what is often called the _Fifth

Coalition_. In 1813 the _Sixth Coalition_, made up, after the

accession of Austria, of all the principal powers, was in arms against

France. On March 25, 1815, after _Napoleon's_ return from Elba,

the powers again declared war against him. As there was a fresh treaty,

this may be called a _Seventh Coalition_.

CHAPTER VI. AMERICAN HISTORY IN THIS PERIOD (1789-1815).

THE TWO PARTIES.--The cabinet of _Washington_ consisted of four

members. The secretary of the treasury was _Alexander Hamilton_ of

New York. The secretary of state was _Thomas Jefferson_ of

Virginia. The seat of government was placed at _Philadelphia_; but

in 1800 it was removed to the _District of Columbia_, which was

ceded for the purpose by Virginia and Maryland. Almost from the

beginning, there were two political parties. The _Federalists_

were made up of those who had been most in favor of the new

Constitution, and desired to build up a strong central

government. Accordingly they advocated a liberal construction of the

Constitution as regards the extent of federal authority. They cherished

the traditional spirit of the English laws and English political

institutions. _Washington_ and _John Adams_ belonged to this

class, and _Hamilton_ was their most active leader. The

_Anti-Federalists_, of whom _Jefferson_ was the chief, were

for a careful guarding of the rights of the States, and a strict

interpretation of the powers allotted to the General Government. They

had more sympathy with the political ideas at that time fast coming

into vogue in France. They had a warm faith in the capacity of the mass

of the people for self-government and for suffrage. They were called

_Republicans_, and were sometimes styled _Democrats_.

HAMILTON'S MEASURES: THE CONFLICT OF PARTIES.--_Hamilton_ proposed

and carried highly important measures for the restoration of public

credit and for the revival of industry and commerce. Under his

leadership, the debts of the old confederacy, and the debts of the

separate States which they had incurred in the common defense, were

assumed. To provide revenue, a protective tariff and a system of

internal taxation were ordained. A national bank was incorporated

(1791), and a mint was established at _Philadelphia_. These

measures had a great effect at home, and made a strong impression

favorable to the new government abroad; but they were opposed by the

_Anti-Federalists_ as an unwarrantable assumption of power by the

General Government. The excise on domestic spirits provoked an

insurrection, called "the Whisky Rebellion," in _Western

Pennsylvania_, which was put down by the militia. As the French

Revolution advanced from step to step, the division of parties in

America became more marked, and their mutual hostility more intense. At

first all were in sympathy with France. _La Fayette_ sent the key

of the fallen Bastille as a gift to _Washington_. But the

Federalists were determined to maintain a strict neutrality in the

conflict between France and England. As the Revolution proceeded, a

strong antipathy was awakened in America to the radical theories, as

well as to the bloody deeds, of its promoters. This was enhanced by the

strenuous efforts of the French Republic, aided by the

Anti-Federalists, to induce the United States to take an active part in

the war, on the side of France. _Genet_, the French minister,

undertook to fit out privateers in _Charleston_. Washington issued

a proclamation of neutrality (1793), which was followed by a Neutrality

Act of Congress (1794). When _Genet_ had the effrontery to appeal

from the President to the people, at the demand of _Washington_ he

was recalled.

JAY'S TREATY.--The contest of parties reached its climax in connection

with Jay's Treaty with Great Britain (1794),--a treaty negotiated by

_John Jay_, chief justice, whom _Washington_ had sent as

envoy to London. There were mutual grounds of complaint between the two

countries. The British had not surrendered the Western military posts,

and were in the habit of "impressing seamen." 'This last practice was

founded on the claim that a British subject can never become the

subject of another country, and that, moreover, his military service

may be always called for by his sovereign. When almost all Europe was

at war, the carrying trade naturally fell, to a large extent, into

American hands; hence, it was alleged, many English sailors deserted to

get employment in American ships. The British claimed and exercised the

right to visit foreign vessels, and to take from their decks the

sailors who were asserted to be British subjects. The English, on their

part, complained that the treaty stipulations as to debts due in

America to British subjects had not been observed. Jay's Treaty

provided for the giving-up of the Western posts, according to the

previous stipulation; but said nothing respecting the right of

impressment, which the British at that time would never have consented

to relinquish. It was alleged, also, that in other features the treaty

favored England unwarrantably, and unfairly in relation to France. It

encountered violent opposition from the Republicans; but it was

approved by _Washington_, and the legislative measures for

carrying it out were passed in the House of Representatives by a

slender majority, obtained through the eloquence of _Fisher Ames_,

a member from Massachusetts.

NEW STATES: INVENTIONS.--According to the census of 1790, there were

somewhat less than four millions of people in the United

States. _Virginia_ was the most populous State; next to Virginia

stood _Pennsylvania_, then _North Carolina_, and, fourth in

order, _Massachusetts_. A little more than one-fifth of the

population were negro slaves. _Vermont_, the territory of which

had been claimed by both New York and New Hampshire, was the first new

State admitted to the Union (1791). A genius for mechanical invention

early manifested itself in the country. _Eli Whitney_ invented the

cotton-gin (1792), for separating the seed from the fiber of the

cotton-plant,--a machine which indirectly lent a powerful impulse to

the production of cotton. In 1788 _John Fitch_ was running a

steamboat on the Delaware River; but the construction of a steamboat

with side-paddles was due to the inventive talent of _Robert

Fulton_ (1807). Emigration from the Atlantic border to the West took

three principal routes,--one from New England and New York, through the

valley of the Mohawk; the second, through the passes of the

Alleghanies; and the third, across the Blue Ridge to the rivers flowing

from the south into the Ohio. In 1792 _Kentucky_, settled mainly

by emigrants over the last-mentioned path, was made a State. The next

State to be admitted was _Tennessee_ (1796). The new settlers

carried into the West the spirit and institutions of the several

communities which they had left. South of the Ohio, negro slavery was

introduced. A treaty with Spain (in 1795) secured the free navigation

of the Mississippi.

WASHINGTON'S RETIREMENT AND DEATH.--_Washington_ himself was not

exempt from bitter partisan attack in public prints. On his retirement

from office, he prepared, with the assistance of _Hamilton_, a

Farewell Address to the people, in which he exhorted them to maintain

the Union as the only safeguard of liberty, and warned them against

"entangling alliances" with European powers. The deep and universal

sorrow which was felt when he died (1799) was a tribute as exalted as

any nation ever paid to a fallen hero and benefactor.

ADAMS: RUPTURE OF THE FEDERAL PARTY.--_John Adams_, a Federalist,

succeeded _Washington_ as president; and _Jefferson_ became

vice-president (1797). The French had seized a large number of American

vessels, on the pretense that they were affording aid to England. In

order, if possible, to prevent war, the President sent out a special

mission to France; but the commissioners--_Pinckney_,

_Gerry_, and _Marshall_--were told by the Directory that they

must pay money as a bribe before they could be received, and were

finally ordered to quit the country (1797). The phrase of

_Pinckney_, "Millions for defense, but not one cent for tribute,"

expressed the universal feeling. The report of the insulted envoys

roused the indignation of the American people, and moved Congress to

prepare for war. _Washington_ was made general of all the forces

to be raised, and he appointed _Hamilton_ to be second in

command. Hostilities had really commenced; the Federalists were eager

for a declaration of war; but President _Adams_, without the

knowledge of his cabinet, suddenly nominated to the senate another

ambassador to France. He had previously become assured that such a

messenger would be well received. _Napoleon_ having come into

power, a treaty was concluded with him (1800). The course of the

President, however, gave mortal offense to the adherents of

_Hamilton_, and fatally divided the Federal party. Hamilton and

his supporters became wholly alienated from _Adams_, so that the

triumph of the Republicans was rendered certain.

"RESOLUTIONS OF '98."--The violence of the attacks upon the

administration, which were made partly by foreign emissaries, had

caused the Federalists (1798) to pass the _alien_ and _sedition

laws_. The first authorized the President to order out of the

country aliens who were conspiring against its peace. Its operation was

limited to two years. The second punished seditious libels upon the

government with fine and imprisonment. These acts provoked a storm of

opposition. Under the auspices of _Jefferson_, and of

_Madison_, who was now one of his supporters, the _Virginia_

and _Kentucky Resolutions_ of 1798-99 were passed by the

Legislatures of those States. These resolves affirmed the right of a

State to judge of the constitutionality and validity of an Act of

Congress. They were interpreted as an assertion of the extreme doctrine

of State rights.

PURCHASE OF LOUISIANA.--In 1800 Jefferson was elected to the

presidency, and _Aaron Burr_, a scheming politician of the

Republican school, was made vice-president.

At that time, and until the amendment of the Constitution (1804), the

electors voted for two persons, without designating either for the

presidency or the vice-presidency. The candidate having the highest

number of votes became president. As Jefferson and Burr had an equal

number, the choice between them for the highest office was made by the

House of Representatives.

The obnoxious laws of the preceding administration disappeared with

it. One of the most important events under _Jefferson's_

administration was the purchase of _Louisiana_ from France, which

had acquired it from Spain. _Napoleon_ knew that he could not keep

it from falling into the hands of England, and readily sold it for

fifteen millions of dollars. Thereby the territory of the United States

was doubled in its extent. The whole region between the Mississippi and

the Rocky Mountains, with New Orleans, was added to the country,

together with whatever claim France had to _West Florida, Texas_,

and the district west of the Rocky Mountains. _Ohio_, composed of

the south-eastern portion of the northwest territory, was admitted to

the Union in 1803.

In the first fifteen years after the government was organized, there

are four things that affected powerfully the character and career of

the United States. The first was the influence of _Washington_ in

inspiring attachment to the Union. The second was the genius of

_Hamilton_ in creating an efficient administration of the new

civil polity. The third was the democratic political tendency fostered

by _Jefferson_. The fourth was the vast expansion of the national

territory by the Louisiana Purchase, insuring the extension of the

_Union_, and preventing the rise of rival political communities in

its neighborhood.

WAR WITH THE ALGERINES.--The pirates of _Algiers, Morocco_, and

the other Barbary States, demanded tribute of American vessels on the

Mediterranean. The first exploits of the navy of the United States were

in combats with these marauders (1801-5). _Decatur_ performed the

exploit of burning in the harbor of _Tripoli_ the American ship

_Philadelphia_, which the Tripolitans had captured

(1804). _Derne_ was captured, and _Tripoli_

bombarded. Finally a treaty put an end to the exaction of tribute

(1805).

An event that deeply moved the whole country was the killing of

_Hamilton_ by _Burr_ in a duel (1804). _Burr_ was

afterwards charged with an intention to form a new government on the

south-western borders of the United States. He was tried for treason

(1807), and not convicted, although many have believed him to be

guilty.

CAUSES OF THE WAR OF 18l2-15.--The great European wars brought the

United States into serious difficulties, principally in regard to

questions relating to commerce. Attempts were made by the European

nations to establish blockades by mere enactment, without actual and

sufficient occupation of the ports which were declared to be

closed. The tendency of the British _Orders in council_, and of

Napoleon's _Berlin_ and _Milan Decrees_ (p. 528), was "to

grind to pieces the few remaining neutral powers." These were in effect

cut off from trade with both Continental and English ports by the

ordinances of one or the other of the two belligerents, the penalty

being the confiscation of the vessels employed in such traffic. Such

were the restrictions upon neutrals, that a great number of American

ships were seized and confiscated by English and French cruisers. In

addition to these grievances, the _Leander_, a British ship,

exercised the pretended right of impressment by firing on an American

trading-sloop (1806); and in like manner another British vessel, the

_Leopard_, fired on the frigate Chesapeake, which was not prepared

for resistance, and took four men from its crew (June 22, 1807). In

retaliation, _Jefferson_ ordered all British ships of war to leave

the coast of the United States. Then followed the _Embargo_,

embracing a succession of enactments of Congress, which forbade

American vessels to leave the harbors of the United States for Europe,

and forbade European vessels to land cargoes in American ports. The

result of this measure was to smite American commerce with an utter

paralysis. The ships rotted at the wharves. The unpopularity of the

Embargo, especially in the Eastern commercial States, was such that in

_Jefferson's_ second term it was repealed. It was followed (1809)

by the _Non-Intercourse Act_, prohibiting commerce with France and

England. The British _Orders in Council_ were then, in a measure,

relaxed, as was the practical enforcement against our vessels of the

_Berlin Decree_. In 1812, the French rescinded their obnoxious

decrees; and the English immediately took the same step, but not soon

enough to prevent a war with the United States.

EVENTS OF THE WAR IN 1812 AND 1813.-_James Madison_, a wise and

moderate statesman of the Republican party, became president in

1809. He was personally averse to engaging in war with Great Britain;

but the exasperation of a large part of the country, and the pressure

of the younger leaders of his party,--_Calhoun, Clay_, and

_Lowndes_,--moved him to a reluctant consent. The war, which was

declared in 1812, was bitterly opposed in the New-England States, where

the strength of the Federalists chiefly lay. By them the real motive of

it was considered to be partiality for France. The treasury was nearly

empty; there were but few ships of war, and only a small land force of

about ten thousand men, made up in part of raw recruits. Before this

time, the North-western Indians, under _Tecumseh_, whom the

British were suspected of inciting to war, had been defeated at

_Tippecanoe_ (1811), by _William Henry Harrison_, governor of

Indiana. The war with England opened inauspiciously with the surrender

of Detroit by Gen. _William Hull_ to Gen. _Brock_ (Aug. 16,

1812), and an unsuccessful attempt to invade Canada at

_Queenstown_. On the sea, however, the Americans had successes

which filled them with pride and exultation. Captain _Isaac Hull_,

of the frigate è_Constitution_, captured the British frigate

_Guerrière_, and brought his prisoners to Boston. _Decatur_,

captain of the _United States_, brought the _Macedonian_ as a

prize into the harbor of New York. The _Constitution_ destroyed

the _Java_; but the _Chesapeake_, whose captain was killed,

surrendered to the _Shannon_. Privateers were fitted out, which

captured several hundreds of British ships and several thousands of

prisoners. In 1813 _Perry_ defeated the English fleet on Lake

Erie. His victory gave the Americans the command of Lake Erie and Lake

Michigan. _Harrison_ defeated the British and Indians,--who had

been driven to abandon Michigan,--near the River _Thames_ in

Canada. Except on the Lakes the navy was successful only in single ship

actions. The Americans had taken possession of _Mobile_, which

they as well as the Spanish claimed; but the _Creek Indians_ were

incited by the Spaniards to engage in hostilities. Forces from

Tennessee, under _Andrew Jackson_, and troops from Georgia and

Mississippi, fought the Creeks with success.

THE WAR IN 1814-15.--In 1814 a third attempt of the Americans under

Gen. _Brown_, to invade Canada, produced no decisive result. There

was hard fighting. The British were routed at _Chippewa_; and they

were repulsed at _Lundy's Lane_, opposite Niagara Falls, by

Lieut. (afterwards General) _Winfield Scott_. _Napoleon_ had

now been defeated; and the English sent twelve thousand troops, who had

served under _Wellington_ in Spain, to Canada, to invade the

United States from the north, while another army was to make an

invasion by way of _New Orleans_. A fleet under Admiral

_Cockburn_ sailed up the Potomac, and burned the Capitol and other

public buildings at _Washington_ (Aug. 24, 1814). An attack was

made on _Baltimore_ by a British fleet, but was bravely

repelled. The defeat of the British fleet near _Plattsburg_, on

_Lake Champlain_, by Commodore _Macdonough_ (Sept. 11, 1814),

resulted in the retreat of the British army, which was besieging that

place, to Canada. New Orleans was defended by General

_Jackson_. The British under _Pakenham_ and _Gibbs_

attacked his works, but were defeated and withdrew (Jan. 8, 1815). The

town was protected from the approach of the English fleet by the

fort. Before the battle, peace had been concluded, but the news had not

reached this country.

THE HARTFORD CONVENTION.--The antagonism to the war in the New England

States found expression in the call of a _convention_ at

_Hartford_, where their delegates met (Dec. 15, 1814). These

States complained, that while their commerce and fisheries were ruined,

there was no protection afforded to their sea-coast. _Stonington_

in Connecticut had been bombarded, and _Castine_ in Maine had been

captured. They denied, also, that the General Government had the power

over the State militia which it claimed. For these and other

grievances, they sought for a remedy "not repugnant to their

obligations as members of the Union." They declared that measures of

the General Government which are palpable violations of the

Constitution are void, and that the States injuriously affected might

severally protect their citizens from the operation of them, by such

means as the several States should judge it wise to adopt; but they

disavowed the right or intent to break up the Union. The effect of the

convention was to bring great popular discredit on the Federalists, and

to seal their doom as a distinct party.

TREATY OF PEACE: ALGIERS.--In the _Treaty of Ghent_ (Dec. 24,

1814), provisions were made for defining boundaries as settled by

previous treaties, and an engagement was made on both sides to suppress

the slave-trade; but no mention was made of maritime rights and the

impressment of seamen. This last practice was, however, discontinued,

although it was never renounced. The war left the disputes that caused

it just where they were. Many then and since have regarded it as really

undertaken by the dominant party in the United States, in order to help

one of the belligerents in the great struggle then going forward

between England and France. Whether this view be just, or not, it is

certain that the war imparted to Americans the consciousness of power

and nationality. The connection between America and Great Britain was

broken off at the Revolution, because, as _Turgot_ once said,

colonies are like fruits which only stay on the tree until they are

ripe. But the conflict was not over at the conclusion of the Peace of

1783. _Bancroft_ has called the war of 1812-15 "the second war of

independence." Nothing lent it this character so much as the naval

victories won by the United States, which gave them a standing among

the nations. In 1815 a squadron under _Decatur_ was sent to

_Algiers_, and the Barbary States were compelled to give up by

treaties all their demands.

CHAPTER VII. LITERATURE, ART, AND SCIENCE (1789-1815).

NEW SPIRIT IN LITERATURE.--In the latter part of the eighteenth and the

early part of the nineteenth centuries, literature broke away from the

artificial rules and the one-sided intellectual tone of the "classical"

school,--that school which had prevailed through the influence of the

French writers of the age of _Louis XIV._ The new era was marked

by more spontaneity, and a return to nature, and by a more free rein

given to imagination and feeling. "Romanticism," a general designation

of the results of this new movement as contrasted with the "classical"

period, sometimes ran out into extravagances of sentiment, and an

exaggerated relish for the mediaeval spirit.

WRITERS IN ITALY AND IN FRANCE.--In Italy, there were few writers of

distinction. _Monti_ (1754-1828) was a poet full of harmony and

elegance, a follower, but with unequal steps, of

_Alfieri_. Another of the same school is the patriotic poet,

_Ugo Foscolo_ (1778-1827), a master of his native tongue. The

poems of _Pindemonte_ (1753-1828) are graceful and

pathetic. _Leopardi_ (1798-1837) mingles sublimity with pathos. Of

the Italian historians of this period, _Botta_ (1766-1837), who

published a history of the American Revolution, and histories of Italy,

is a clear writer, with a talent for vivid description. In France,

_Chateaubriand_ (1768-1848), who figured both in political life

and as a prolific and brilliant author, by his _Genius of

Christianity_ and many other productions gained great

celebrity,--more, however, by charms of style and sentiment, than by

weight of matter. Madame _de Staël_ (1766-1817) was the daughter

of _Necker_. Between her and _Napoleon_ there was a mutual

hostility. She wrote _Corinne, Delphine_,--"in which she idealizes

herself,"--a work on _Germany_, and various other productions. She

was versatile, vigorous in thought, and humane in her temper and

spirit. In philosophy, a believing and spiritual school, in opposition

to materialism, was founded by _Maine de Biran_ (1766-1824),

_Royer-Collard_ (1763-1846), and _Benjamin Constant_. _De

Maistre_ (1754-1821) wrote ably on the side of authority and of the

Catholic Church.

ENGLISH POETRY.--Literature in England, especially in the department of

poetry, casting off the trammels of the classical school, in which

_Dryden_ and _Pope_ were foremost, entered on a new and

splendid era. Whether it dwelt on external nature or human passions and

experiences, it appealed to sensibility. It was no more exclusively, or

in the main, an address to the understanding. _Cowper_ (1731-1800)

set the example of genuine naturalness, and of interest in nature and

in every-day life. _Robert Burns_, a Scottish peasant (1759-1796),

by his wonderful union of tenderness, passion, and humor, with poetic

fancy and simplicity of diction, was more than the poet of a single

nation. _Wordsworth_ (1770-1850) blended in his poems a delight in

rural and mountain scenery, with a deep vein of pensive thought and

sentiment. If he wrote dull pages, even the severest critics allow that

in _The Excursion_ there are most beautiful "oases in the desert;"

while in such poems as the _Ode on the Power of Sound_, the

_Intimations of Immortality from the Recollections of Childhood_,

and _Laodamia_, there are passages not excelled since Milton. A

more sustained fervor of feeling and imagination belonged to

_Byron_ (1788-1824), who, notwithstanding his morbid egotism and

offenses against morality, combined passion with beauty, and was never

dull. _Walter Scott_ (1771-1832) exhibited in his narrative poems

the spirit of the romantic school, with none of its sentimentality or

extravagance. _Coleridge_ (1772-1834), the author of

_Christabel_ and _The Ancient Mariner_, was a highly original

poet, as well as a philosopher. _Southey_ (1774-1843), with less

genius, was a man of letters, prolific both in verse and in

prose. _Shelley_ and _Keats_ had a much higher gift of

imagination. _Campbell, Rogers_, and _Moore_ are names of

distinction, although less illustrious than those of _Wordsworth_

and _Coleridge_, _Scott_ and _Byron_. _Walter Savage

Landor_ (1775-1864), a poet and the author of _Imaginary

Conversations_, and other prose writings, was master of a style of

extraordinary power and purity.

ENGLISH PROSE WRITERS.--In novel-writing, Miss _Austen_, Miss

_Porter_, and Miss _Edgeworth_ preceded _Walter

Scott_. _Waverley_, the first in the series of _Scott's_

novels, appeared anonymously in 1814. In 1802 the _Edinburgh

Review_, the first of the noted critical quarterlies, began its

existence, under the editorship of _Francis Jeffrey_, and numbered

among its writers _Brougham, Sydney Smith_, and _Sir James

Mackintosh_. In 1809 the _Quarterly Review_, the organ of the

Tories as the Edinburgh Review represented the Whigs, began, with

_Gifford_ for its editor. Among the essayists of that time, in a

lighter vein, were _John Wilson_ ("Christopher North"), poet and

critic in one; and the genial humorist, the friend of Wordsworth and

Coleridge, _Charles Lamb_. _John Foster_ (1770-1843) was an

original essayist on grave themes. In philosophy, _Dugald Stewart_

(1753-1828), a clear and fluent expositor, and _Thomas Brown_

(1778-1821), kept up the reputation of the Scottish school founded by

_Reid_. _Burke, Alison_, and _Jeffrey_ wrote on beauty,

and on the taste for the beautiful. _Mackintosh_, a statesman of

liberal opinions, wrote on ethics. _Coleridge_, inspired by the

German thinkers _Kant_ and _Schelling_, through his

philosophical fragments and theological essays did much to create a new

current in English philosophical and religious thought. _Jeremy

Bentham_ (1748-1832) was less eminent as a metaphysician than as a

contributor, through his writings, to legislative reform.

AMERICAN WRITERS.--In America, the political writings of _Adams,

Jefferson, Hamilton, Jay, Madison, Marshall_, and _Ames_, have

a permanent value. Their letters and the letters of _Washington_

are written in clear and manly English. _Lindley Murray_

(1745-1826) published (1795) an _English Grammar_, which

superseded all others. In theology, there were a number of vigorous

thinkers and writers, such as the younger President _Edwards, Samuel

Hopkins, Bellamy, Emmons, J. M. Mason_, and _Dwight_. Dwight's

System of Theology was much read in England and

Scotland. Belles-lettres literature in America was in its

infancy. There was a triad of poets,--_Trumbull_, a humorous

writer (1750-1831), _Joel Barlow_ (1755-1812), and _Dwight_

(1752-1817); all of them survivors of the school of _Pope_. Their

patriotic feeling was their chief merit, but _Barlow_ and

_Dwight_ each wrote one excellent hymn.

GERMAN AUTHORS.--One of the most versatile and stimulating of German

writers was _Herder_ (1744-1803). Full of imagination and spirit,

he made his quickening influence felt as a theologian, critic,

philosopher, and philologist. His name is in some measure eclipsed by

the fame of his two great associates at Weimar, _Goethe_

(1749-1832) and _Schiller_ (1759-1805). By the universality of his

genius, which was equally exalted in the sphere of criticism and of

original production, Goethe is, by common consent, the foremost of

German authors. His dramas, especially _Tasso_, _Egmont_, and

_Faust_, and his pastoral epic, _Hermann and Dorothea_, are

the most celebrated of his poems; but many of his minor pieces are

marked by exquisite harmony and beauty. _Schiller_, with less

repose and a less profound artistic feeling, yet from his humane

impulses and fire of emotion stands closer to the popular

heart. _Körner_ (1791-1813), and _Arndt_ (1769-1860), the

author of the song, "Where is the German's Fatherland," were patriotic

lyrists of high merit. _Uhland_ (1787-1862) is a ballad-writer,

not surpassed in this species of composition by any of his

contemporaries. The "Romantic School," with its predilection for the

Middle Ages, included _Novalis_, _Tieck_, and also the two

brothers _Schlegel_, who were critics rather than poets. One of

the most unique and original of the German writers was _Jean Paul

Richter_ (1763-1825), essentially a philosopher and moralist, yet

with a pervading element of humor and pathos.

GERMAN PHILOSOPHY.--In philosophy, the first name in the order of time

and of merit is that of _Immanuel Kant_ (1724-1804). The

_Critique of Pure Reason_ is the most important of his

productions. He showed, against _Hume_, that the ideas of cause,

substance, self, etc., are not products of imagination, or due to a

mere custom of thought, but are from within, and are _necessary_

and _universal_. In the _Critique of the Practical Reason_ he

found the real basis of faith in God, free-will, and immortality, in

our moral nature. On all the topics which he treated, he was both

earnest and profound. On the basis of a portion of his teaching,

subsequent speculative philosophers reared a system of idealism and

pantheism. Of these, the most celebrated are _Fichte_ (1762-1814),

who held that the world external to the mind has no existence;

_Schelling_ (1775-1854), who taught that nature and mind are at

bottom one and the same substance, in different manifestations; and

_Hegel_ (1770-1831), who resolved all being into a realm of ideas,

a self-existent and self-developing thought-world.

Among the numerous writers in other departments in this period, the

brothers _Alexander von Humboldt_ and _William von Humboldt_

were eminent,--the former in natural science and as an explorer; the

latter in political sciences, criticism and philology.

PAINTING AND SCULPTURE.--In Italy, a great sculptor--the greatest since

_Michael Angelo_--appeared in the person of _Canova_

(1757-1822); who, however, was equaled by an Englishman, _John

Flaxman_ (1755-1826). An eminent follower of _Canova_ was

_Thorwaldsen_ (1770-1844), a Dane. _Dannecker_, a German

sculptor (1758-1844), excelled in portrait statues. Another German

sculptor, the founder of a school, was _Rauch_ (1774-1857), whose

statues are faithful, yet idealized, likenesses. A famous French

painter in this period was _David_, whose pictures, in the classic

style, lack force and warmth. Many of his scholars attained to high

proficiency in the art. _Horace Vernet_ (1789-1863) and _Paul

Delaroche_ (1797-1856) chose their subjects from modern European

history. The modern German school of painting was founded by

_Overbeck, Von Schadow_, and _Cornelius_. The greatest

English painter after _Hogarth_ was _Sir Joshua Reynolds_

(1723-1792), whose portraits have seldom, if ever, been

surpassed. Almost or quite on a level with him was _Gainsborough_

(1727-1788). _Benjamin West_ (1738-1820) was by birth an American,

as was _Copley_, an artist of superior talents

(1739-1815). _Lawrence_ (1769-1830) was a British painter whose

portraits have a high historical value. The greatest of the English

landscape painters was _Turner_ (1775-1851).

_John Trumbull_ (1756-1843), an American, painted spirited

battle-pieces, and miniature portraits of decided artistic

merit. _Washington Allston_ (1779-1843), another American painter,

produced works admired for their warmth of color, and for the refined

feeling expressed in them.

MUSIC.--The great German musicians _Haydn_ and _Mozart_ were

followed by an equal or greater genius in music, _Beethoven_

(1770-1827). At the head of the school of German song-writers is

_Schubert_ (1797-1828). One of the most popular of the German

composers was _Weber_ (1786-1826).

PHYSICAL AND NATURAL SCIENCE.--The most brilliant discoveries in

astronomy were made by the French philosopher _Laplace_, whose

_Mécanique Céleste_ made an epoch in that science. _Dr. Thomas

Young_ (1773-1829) did much to explain the true theory of the tides,

and to confirm the undulatory theory of light. Others eminent in the

progress of optics are _Fresnel_ (1788-1827), _Biot_,

_Arago_,--all French physicists,--and _Sir David

Brewster_. _Lavoisier_ (1743-1794) infused a new spirit into

chemical science. _Priestley_ (1733-1804) discovered oxygen and

other gases. _Dalton_ (1766-1844) is the author of the atomic

theory of the composition of matter. _Sir Humphry Davy_ added to

chemical knowledge, and, simultaneously with _George Stephenson_,

invented the safety-lamp for miners. _Berzelius_ (1779-1848), a

Swedish chemist, and _Gay-Lussac_ (1778-1850), a Frenchman, are

great names in the history of this science. _Galvani_, the

discoverer of animal electricity, and _Volta_, the inventor of the

galvanic pile, stimulated others to fruitful experiments in this branch

of study. _Lamarck_ (1744-1829) was one of the first of the modern

advocates of the origin of species by development. _Cuvier_

(1769-1832), the greatest naturalist of modern times, made most

important observations in comparative anatomy, and "established many of

the positive laws of geology and paleontology." Geology first assumed

the place of a science through the labors of _Werner_ (1750-1817),

a German mineralogist. There were two classes of geologists,--the

_Neptunians_, or _Wernerians_, who ascribed rocks to aqueous

deposition exclusively; and the _Vulcanians_, or

_Huttonists_,--adherents of the view of _Dr. Hutton_

(1726-1797) of Edinburgh,--who attributed many of them to the action of

fire. The _Geological Society_ of _London_ was founded in

1807. Among discoveries of practical utility in science, the discovery

of vaccination for the prevention of small-pox, by _Jenner_

(1749-1823), an English physician, is one of the most remarkable.

LITERATURE: See the lists on pp. 16, 359, 497; also President

A. D. White's list, with critical notes, attached to Morris's _The

French Revolution and First Empire_ (in "Epochs of history"), and

Adams's Manual: the Histories of Alison (Tory), Louis Blanc, Carlyle,

Jomini, Fyffe, Stephens, Mahan, Chuquet. Aulard, Lavisse et Rambaud,

_Histoire Gènèrale_ VIII., IX. Michelet (7 vols.), Mignet,

Morris, Von Sybel (4 vols.), Thiers, Taine, L. Haüsser; Madame de

Rémusat's _Memoirs_; Metternich's _Memoirs_ (5 vols.),

Joyneville, _Life and Times of Alexander I_. (3 vols.); Seeley,

_Life of Stein_; Lowell, _Eve of the French Revolution_; on

Napoleon, Rose, Lanfrey, Sloane.

De Tocqueville's _L'Ancien Règime et la Révolution_; P. Janet's

_Philosophie de la Révolution Française_; Quinet, _La

Rèvolution_; The Essays on the Revolution, by Burke, Mackintosh,

Croker; Macaulay's Essays on Mirabeau and Barère; Lamartine's _The

Girondists_; A. Young's _Travels in France in 1787-88-89_

(London, 1794); Oncken, _Das Zeitalter der Revolution des

Kaiserreiches_ (2 vols.); Sorel, _L'Europe et la Rèvolution

Française_ (5 vols.); Debidour, _Rapports de l'Église et de

l'Etat en France_; Vandal, _Napoléon et Alexandre

1st_. Treitschke _Deutsche Geschichte im neunzehnten

Fahrhundert_ (4 vols.).

Taine, _History of English Literature_; Mrs. Oliphant,

_Literary History of England in the end of the 18th and beginning

of the 19th centuries_; Allibone, _Dictionary of British and

American Authors_; Wendell, _A Literary History of America_.

PERIOD V. FROM THE CONGRESS OF VIENNA (1815) TO THE PRESENT TIME.

INTRODUCTION.

POLITICAL CHANGES IN EUROPE.--The aspiration of the peoples of Europe

after constitutional freedom and national unity, after the yoke of

Napoleon had been thrown off, was for a long season baffled. This was

owing partly to the lassitude natural after the protracted and

exhausting wars, and more to the combination of the principal

sovereigns, instigated by the love of power and the dread of

revolution, for the purpose of preventing the popular yearning from

being gratified. But in 1830--when half of the lifetime of a generation

had passed by--the overthrow of the old Bourbon line of kings in France

was the signal for disturbances and changes elsewhere on the

Continent. In _England_, at about the same time, there began an

era of constitutional and legislative reforms which effected a wider

diffusion of political power. In 1848--after a second interval of about

equal length--another revolutionary crisis occurred. At the same time,

movements in favor of communism and socialism brought in a new

peril. Alarm felt on this account, by the middle class in France, was

one important aid to the third _Napoleon_ in reviving the empire

in _France_. The condition of Europe--in particular, the divided

state of _Germany_--enabled him to maintain a leading influence

for a score of years in European politics. The unification of

_Germany_, which began in the triumph of Prussia over Austria, was

completed in _Napoleon's_ downfall through the

_Franco-German_ war. The unification of _Italy_, to which

_Louis Napoleon_ had contributed by the French alliance with

_Sardinia_ against _Austria_, was consummated under _Victor

Emmanuel_, after his cooperation with _Prussia_ in her great

struggle with _Austria_. Thus _Germany_ and _Italy_

reached the goal to which they had looked with desire and hope at the

close of the Napoleonic wars in 1815.

AMERICA.--On the Western Continent, _Mexico_ and the

South-American dependencies of Spain and Portugal gained their

independence in connection with political revolutions in the European

countries to which they had been attached. The _United States,_ in

the enjoyment of peace, and favored by great material advantages,

advanced with marvelous rapidity in population and in wealth. Discord,

growing out of the existence of negro slavery in the South, brought on

at last the Civil War, which terminated in the conquest of the

_Confederate States_ and their restoration to the Union, in the

freedom of the slaves, and in the prohibition of slavery by

Constitutional amendment.

MILITARY SYSTEM IN EUROPE.--During this period, in Europe there has

been a wide diffusion of popular education. But a serious hinderance in

the way of physical comfort and general improvement in the principal

European states has long existed, in the immense standing armies and

costly military system which their mutual jealousies and apprehensions

have caused them to keep up.

SCIENCE AND INVENTION.--This period outstrips all previous eras as

regards the progress of the natural and physical sciences, and of

invention and discovery in the practical applications of science. An

almost miraculous advance has taken place in the means of travel and of

transmitting thought. There has been an equally marvelous advance in

devising machinery for use in agriculture and manufactures, and in

connection with labor of almost every sort.

PEACE AND PHILANTHROPY.--The vast extension of commerce, with its

interchange of products, and the intercourse which is incidental to it,

has proved favorable to international peace. The better understanding

of economical science, by bringing to view the mischiefs of war and the

bad policy of selfishness, has tended in the same

direction. Philanthropy has manifested itself with new energy and in

new forms of activity. A quickened and more enlightened zeal has been

shown in providing for the infirm and helpless, and for mitigating the

sufferings of the soldier. Missionary undertakings, for the conversion

and civilizing of heathen nations, have been a marked feature of the

age.

SOCIALISM.--The "industrial age" had its own perils to confront. The

progress of manufactures and trade, the accumulation of wealth

unequally distributed, brought forward new questions pertaining to the

rights and reciprocal aggressions of laborer and

capitalist. _Socialism_, with novel and startling doctrines as to

the right of property, and to the proper function of the state,

inaugurated movements of grave concern to the order and well-being of

society.

CHAPTER I. EUROPE, FROM THE CONGRESS OP VIENNA (1815) TO THE FRENCH

REVOLUTION OF 1830.