We formerly presented to our readers a concise statement of the commencement and progress of this extraordinary event (See REVOLUTION, Encyc.). The singularity of its nature, and the important place which it must hereafter occupy in the moral and political history of mankind, require that we should now resume and continue the French detail of its wide-waving career. We left the subject towards the commencement of the year 1795; at the close of that wonderful campaign, during which the armies of the Republic had exerted themselves with such unparalleled success in every direction. On the one side they had crossed the Pyrenees, and shaken the Spanish monarchy to its centre; while on the other they had driven the united forces of Austria, Prussia, and Britain, from the walls of Landrecies across the Rhine, at all points from Haguenau to the sea, and had finally closed their efforts by the conquest of Holland. At that period, though a prolongation of hostilities was threatened, we scarcely expected that Europe was so soon to witness, or we to record, a succession of military enterprises of a still more romantic and extraordinary nature, the scene of which was even to extend into barbarous countries, where the opinions and the quarrels of the European nations had hitherto remained unknown.

The campaign of 1794, however, was not immediately followed by any important military exertions, except that the British troops were recalled home, Prussia had been gradually withdrawing from the coalition, and the veteran Austrian armies remained upon the defensive. Neither was the French government in a situation which could enable it to renew its enterprises with vigour, or to give much trouble to the allies. The Convention still existed; but it was no longer that terrible assembly which, under Robespierre and his associates, had, in the short period of fifteen months, reduced two thirds of France under its dominion, and sent forth armies which the combined strength of the rest of Europe seemed unable to resist. While its authority remained almost concentrated in one man, and while the fear of foreign invasion, and the new born enthusiasm for freedom, induced the people to submit to every measure of government, however oppressive or arbitrary, the power of the Convention, and the number of its armies, were unbounded. The dreadful price, however, which they had paid for liberty, and the facility with which they saw it might be lost, had now diminished the political zeal of all classes of citizens. The removal of the foreign armies had dispelled the dread of invasion, and the death of Robespierre, by diffusing the unity of its efforts, and suffering it to fall into contending factions, had greatly weakened the authority of the Convention, and diminished its efficiency as a government.

The fall of Robespierre had been accomplished by two separate conspiracies. At the head of one of these were Barrere, Billaud Varennes, and Collot d'Herbois, who had been members of the Committee of public safety. The other conspiracy consisted of members of the Convention who did not belong to the committees, and had no immediate share in the administration. Among these, Tallien, Bourdon de l'Oife, and Leconte of Verailles, were conspicuous. After the destruction of their mutual tyrant, a contest for power took place between these parties. The popularity of Robespierre had once been so considerable, and all men had submitted to tamely to his dominion, that both parties accounted it necessary, in their speeches and writings, to justify to the nation the share they had taken in accomplishing his ruin. It was easy to be eloquent upon this subject; but its discussion naturally operated to the discredit of the members of the committee, and of the the more violent Jacobins, who had been the immediate instruments for carrying into effect his singular measures. They nevertheless retained possession, for some time, of considerable portion of power. The current of public opinion, however, ran so strongly against them, and the restoration to their seats in the Convention of the seventy-one imprisoned members of the Girondist party, added so much to the strength of their antagonists, that they gradually lost their influence, and were threatened to be brought to trial for their conduct.

As early as August 1793, Leconte de Vercelles had denounced the members of the old committee of safety; but his accusation at that time produced little effect. Towards the end of that year, however, their approaching fall became evident. On the 26th of December the Convention ordered, on the motion of Clauzel, that the committees should immediately report upon the conduct of the representatives denounced by Leconte and all France. Accordingly, on the following day, Merlin of Douay reported, in the name of the committees, that there was no cause for inquiry into the conduct of Voulain, Amar, and David; but that there was room for examining the conduct of Barrere, Billard Varennes, Collot d'Herbois, and Vadier.

In consequence of this report, a committee of twenty-one members was appointed to make the enquiry. On the 2d of March this year (1795), Saladin presented the report of the commission; in which these four deputies were accused of having participated, as members of the governing committee, in the tyranny and atrocious measures of Robespierre. Their trial commenced before the Convention on the 22d of March; but previous to that period, Vadier had made his escape. The others remained, and rested their defence upon this ground, that although members of the committee of safety, they had no power to resist Robespierre, and that they were not more culpable in having acquiesced in his tyranny than the other members of the Convention, who had all been overpowered for the time by the knowledge that instant destruction awaited every man who should dare to oppose his measures. Except in the case of the cruelties committed by Collot d'Herbois at Lyons, this defence was probably by no means destitute of foundation. It had much weight with the nation at large; in whose eyes it tended, not to exculpate the three persons now accused, but to criminate and degrade the character of the whole Convention.

Carnot, Lindet, Cambon, Duhem, and the other members of what was now called the Jacobin party, defended their leaders with considerable ability, and with much vehemence. Nor was the party less active without doors than within the hall of the Convention. For some time they had drawn their friends to the capital from all quarters of the country; and in the morning fitting of the first of April, they commenced their operations by an open insurrection. An immense multitude having assembled in the suburbs, proceeded to the hall of the Convention. A real or fictitious scarcity existed at the time. Taking advantage of this circumstance, they pretended, they were going to petition for bread; and this pretence drew numbers along with them who had no share in their designs.

Bonfils d'Anglas, a conspicuous member of the moderate party, was addressing the Convention upon the means of removing the present fearosity when the insurgents arrived, drove the centenials from their posts, and suddenly filled the hall. They tumultuously demanded "Bread, and the Constitution." The Jacobin party supported the insurgents; and one of the multitude, in a vehement harangue, exclaimed, "We are men of the 14th of July, of the 10th of August, and of the 31st of May." He demanded, that the Convention should change its late measures, that the people should no longer be the victims of mercantile rapacity, and that the accused patriots should not be sacrificed to the passions of their antagonists. The Convention ordered the rostrum to be rung, and the people of Paris to be called to arms. General Pichegru was in Paris at the time; and, upon the motion of Barras, he was appointed to the command of the military force.

The citizens of Paris, who remembered with horror which is the domination of Robespierre and his adherents, and quelled by now saw themselves menaced with its return, instantly Pichegru called each other to arms, and assembled, by five in the evening, for the protection of the Convention, to the amount of 20,000 men. Till that time the assembly had remained under no small disquietude, surrounded by the insurgents, and listening to the addresses of their orators, and the speeches of the Jacobin minority in their favour. The majority was now refused from this state of constraint; and, on the motion of Dumont, without proceeding farther in the trial, it was decreed that Barrere, Collot d'Herbois, and Billard Varennes, should immediately be transported to Guiana.

During the following day the insurgents were completely subdued; and the majority of the Convention, taking advantage of their victory, decreed the arrest and confinement, in the castle of Ham in Picardy, of several of the most obnoxious of their antagonists. Among these were Leonard Bourbon, Duhem, Chastel, Choudieu, Rampa, Fouchebois, Huguet, Bayle, Levis, Camus, Cambaceres, Mignet, Heitz, Caffo, and Lavalier. By departing from the punishment of death, and adopting that of banishment on this occasion, the Convention expected to diminish the ferocity of the contending factions in the state, by rendering the result of a political defeat less fatal than formerly. The design was good; but in attempting to accomplish it, they established the pernicious precedent of inflicting punishment without a trial, which could scarcely fail to prove highly dangerous, if not ultimately fatal, to all their prospects of a free and just government.

The Convention now followed up its victory with the popular measure of preparing for its own dissolution, by endeavouring to frame a fixed constitution for constituting the Republic. The constitution which had been decreed in 1793, under the auspices of Robespierre, was considered as impracticable, and a committee was appointed to report upon the measures which ought now to be adopted. It consisted of Sieyes, Cambaceres, Merlin of Douay, Thibaudet, Mathieu, Le Sage of Eure and Loire, and Latouche. On the 15th of April, Cambaceres reported, that it was the opinion of this committee that a commission should be appointed to frame an entirely new constitution. The Convention accordingly appointed the following persons to this important office, Le Sage, Louvet, Boilly d'Anglas, Creuze, Latouche, Bertier, Daunou, Baudin, Durand, Mailane, Languinias, La Revellere-Lepaux, and Thibaudet. All other citizens of every description were at the same time invited to communicate projects upon the subject, and the committee was required to order the best conceived of these to be printed.

The Convention farther gratified the feelings of the great majority of the nation, by bringing to trial Fouquier Jenville the president, and fifteen judges and jurors of the late revolutionary tribunal. They were convicted on the 8th of May, and executed on the following day, amidst the execrations of a multitude of spectators.

In the mean time, though defeated on the 18th and 29th of April, the Jacobins by no means considered themselves as subdued. On the contrary, they were preparing a new and more extensive insurrection, which should not, like the former, be confined to the capital. They fixed upon the 26th of May as the day of revolt. Thuriot, and Robespierre's financier Cambon, had found means to escape from the castle of Ham in Picardy, and to come to Paris. They concealed themselves in the suburb St Antoine, and from thence gave counsel to their party, and urged them to action. The scarcity of bread had increased, and advantage was again taken of this circumstance. For some days the walls were covered in various places of Paris with printed accusations against the Convention of withholding bread from the people, and attempts were made to excite the troops in the city to join the disaffected party.

On the evening of the 16th, a paper was openly distributed in the different sections, explaining the object of the approaching insurrection. It declared insurrection to be the most sacred duty of the people, and called upon the citizens of Paris to proceed in a mass to the Convention, to demand from it bread and the establishment of Robespierre's constitution, together with a new election of national representatives.

On the morning of the 26th, the tocsin was rung, and drums beat to arms in the suburb St Antoine, which had always been the quarter of the city in which the Jacobins possessed the greatest strength. Upon this alarm the Convention assembled; but although the intended insurrection was no secret, and though the committee of public and general safety now made a report, in which they confessed their previous knowledge of it, yet it does not appear that any vigorous measures of precaution had been taken; for it was only at the instant when the insurgents were actually approaching, that General Hoche was appointed to command the armed force, and was sent forth to assemble the military and the citizens for the defense of the Convention. In the mean time, the multitude surrounded the hall. They soon overpowered the guards, and burst into the midst of the assembly. In all the turbulent days of the revolution, the women of Paris have never failed to act a conspicuous part. On this occasion they greatly augmented the crowd by their numbers, and the tumult by their cries of "Bread, and the constitution of 1793," which was the rallying exclamation of the party. After some fruitless efforts to restore tranquility, Vernier the president, an old man, resigned the chair to Boissy D'Anglas, who remained in it with much firmness during the day. The whole strength of the insurgents had not arrived at once; for the first party that approached, although they forced their way into the hall, were soon repulsed by the aid of a few soldiers and citizens, who came to the assistance of the Convention. A short interval of tranquility was thus obtained; but the attack was speedily renewed with French double fury by armed men, who subdued all opposition, and entered the hall with cockades, on which was written the inscription, "Bread, and the constitution of 1793." While things were in this state, a citizen of the party of the Convention rashly tore off the hat of one of the insurgents, and was immediately assaulted with swords by the multitude. He fled towards the president's chair, and was killed at the side of it by a common musket-shot. Ferand, one of the members, having at first attempted to rescue him, was also attacked. He escaped into one of the passages, where he was also killed, and his head was brought into the Convention upon a pike. The greater number of the members now gradually departed, and left the hall in possession of the insurgents, who acted with some regularity, and proposed a variety of laws favourable to their party, which were instantly decreed. Duroi, Duquennoy, Bonnette, and Goujon, were the members who stood most openly forward on this occasion, and appeared as chiefs of the insurrection. But their triumph only lasted a few hours. Towards the evening a large body of citizens joined the military, and marched to the aid of the Convention. Having overcome the insurgents, they entered the hall in great force, and restored the powers of the majority. The decrees that had been forced upon them were repealed as speedily as they had been enacted, and the deputies who had proposed or supported them were arrested.

The citizens of Paris, and even the members of the Convention, appear now to have traced their victory complete; for they adopted no adequate measures to prevent a new disturbance. But the Jacobins did not readily give up their own cause. On the following day they once more assembled in the suburbs, and in the afternoon they returned to the attack. They took possession of the Carrousel without opposition, and pointed some pieces of cannon against the hall of the Convention. This assembly was now unprotected, and attempted not to subdue, but to flatter, the insurgents. A deputation of the members was sent forth to negotiate with them, and to carry forth two decrees passed at the instant, which ordained that bread should abound, and that Robespierre's constitution of 1793 should immediately be put in force. The insurgents, in return, sent a deputation to the Convention, to express their satisfaction with the decrees, to demand the release of the imprisoned patriots, and the punishment of those who preferred money to assignats. The Convention pretended to agree to all their demands, and the president was ordered to give to the deputation the fraternal embrace.

The 22nd, which was the third day of the insurrection, appears to have been passed by both parties in a strange degree of inaction. The Convention proceeded in its ordinary business; and the Jacobins, at their headquarters in the suburb St Antoine, were occupied in consultations and preparations for new movements. But on the following day the citizens assembled at their sections, and hastened from thence to the Tuileries to defend the Convention. Considerable bodies of the military were also collected, and the assembly at last resolved to act upon the offensive. A decree was passed, declaring, that if the suburb St Antoine did not instantly surrender its arms and cannon, together with the the murderers of Ferand, it should be considered as in a state of rebellion. The conventional generals were at the same time ordered to reduce it by force. The insurgents now found themselves unequal to the contest, and were compelled to surrender without conditions by the inhabitants of the suburb, who dreaded the destruction of their property by military operations. Several soldiers being found among the prisoners, were put to death; and six members of the Convention were tried and condemned on this occasion by a military commission. Three of these perished by self-slaughter, and three were executed. The majority of the Convention, elated by their victory, ordered back Collet D'Herbois, Billaud Varennes, and Barrere to take their trial; but the two former had faded before the arrival of the courier. Barrere only remained, and he was brought back and imprisoned.

In the mean time, the Jacobins in the south were not less active than their brethren at Paris. On the 26th of May they formed a vigorous insurrection at Toulon. They seized the gates, and mounted them with cannon; they liberated such of their associates as had been imprisoned, and detained the fleet which was about to sail. Having begun their operations in this successful manner, they marched from Toulon towards Marseilles. Their force amounted to three thousand men and twelve pieces of cannon. They were encountered on their way, however, and defeated by Generals Charton and Pactod. Three hundred of them were carried prisoners to Marseille, and Toulon was speedily retaken.

The party of the Montagnais, as it had been called, or of the violent Jacobins, who wished to revive the reign of terror and the measures of Robespierre, was now reduced very low both in the Convention and out of it. Those who adhered to it were even in many places, and more especially in the south, exposed to very violent persecution. Associations were formed, called Companies of Jesus and of the Sun, for the purpose of avenging the crimes committed by them during the period of their power. At Lyons several of them were massacred in prison, and many of them in all places perished by assassination. On considering the merciless character of the government of Robespierre and his associates, and the persecution which was suffered under it, not merely by the nobles and the rich, but by every man who was distinguished by integrity, talents, or literature, it may appear surprising that it should have obtained admiring, or that any number of individuals should have been found willing to hazard their lives to procure its restoration. Accordingly, from the period of the fall of its leader, the party had gradually been forsaken by its adherents; and the more closely its conduct was considered, it lost ground the more rapidly in the estimation of the public. After the unsuccessful insurrections of the 26th of May, it was treated with the utmost contempt, and its unpopularity was extreme. Still, however, a party remained. It was small, indeed, but its members compensated the inferiority of their numbers by superior enterprise and activity. They confined their outrageous republicans, whose heated imaginations beheld royalty and aristocracy in every proposal for sober and regular government. In the conduct of Robespierre, they remembered only the energy of his measures, by which France was enabled to triumph over the combined efforts of the kings of Europe; and overlooked the atrocities by which he had brought disgrace upon their cause, and rendered his party odious to their own countrymen, as well as to the neighbouring nations. Amidst this universal odium, however, the Jacobins did not despair of rising once more into power; and it is not a little singular, that we must date the revival of their strength from the period of the unsuccessful insurrections which we have just recorded, and which seemed to have extinguished their hopes for ever.

The unpopularity under which the Jacobins laboured soon began to affect the Convention itself. The same submission of that body to the government of Robespierre was now remembered. It was recollected, that the majority of its members had been the instruments of his power, and had applauded, or at least acquiesced in, his crimes. As the press was now free, and the reins of government unfetteredly held, their conduct was represented to the public in the most odious colours. A celebrated song, Le Reveil du Peuple, became extremely popular, as the means of marking dislike both to the Convention and to the Jacobins; and their conduct was canvassed with the utmost bitterness in a great variety of publications, but more especially in a journal that at this time attracted much notice, and which was conducted by Freron, who had himself been a Jacobin, but had now abandoned his party.

In this state of things, the majority of the Convention speedily began to repent of their late victory over the Jacobins. In the first effects of their zeal, they had taken measures for the immediate formation and establishment of a settled constitution to supersede their own authority; but they now regretted their rashness, when they perceived, from the temper the nation was in, that the men, the most avowedly hostile to their character and measures, would without doubt be elected as their successors. They, and their friends, had risen to great distinction and wealth under the revolutionary government; and they now began to dread, not only the loss of power, but also a severe investigation of their conduct. These considerations soon produced their natural effects. The decrees for forming, and putting in force the constitution could not decently be recalled; but the majority of the Convention set about devising means for rendering them of little importance, so far as they themselves were concerned.

On the 23rd of June, Boissy D'Anglas presented the report of the committee that had been appointed to prepare the plan of a constitution. It began, like the former constitutions, with a declaration of the rights of man; and in addition to this, consisted of fourteen chapters, upon the following subjects:—The extent of the territorial possessions of the Republics, the political state of citizens, the primary assemblies, the electoral assemblies, the legislature, the executive power, the municipal bodies, the judicial authority, the public force, public instruction, the finances, foreign treaties, the mode of revising the constitution, and, finally, an enactment, that no rank or superiority should exist among citizens, excepting what might arise from the exercise of public functions.

The primary assemblies were to possess the right of electing the members of the electoral assemblies, and also the justices of the peace. The electoral assemblies were to nominate the judges and the legislators of the state. The legislature was divided into two assemblies; the one of which consisted of 250 members, and was called the Council of Ancients, as none but married men and widowers above 30 years of age could be members of it. The other assembly or council consisted of 100 members, and possessed the exclusive privilege of proposing the laws; the Council of Ancients being only entitled to reject or approve, without power to alter the decrees presented to it. To this rule there was one exception, which was afterwards employed as the means of overturning the whole fabric of the constitution; the Council of Ancients might decree the removal of the legislature from its ordinary place of sitting. To this decree the approbation of the Council of Five Hundred was not necessary; and when once enacted, it could not be reconsidered even by the Council of Ancients itself. One third of the members of the two Councils was to be elected annually. A member might be once re-elected, but he could not be elected a third time till an interval of two years had elapsed.

The executive power was intrusted to five persons of forty years of age at least, to be styled the Executive Directory. Its members were elected by the two Councils; the Council of Five Hundred electing ten times the number of candidates that might be necessary to fill up the vacancies, and the Council of Two Hundred and Fifty nominating the directors from this list of candidates. One member of the Directory was to go out annually; so that the whole might be changed every five years. The Executive Directory had no vote in the enactment of laws; but it superintended their execution, regulated the coining of money, and disposed of the armed force. Foreign treaties made by it were not binding till ratified by the legislative body, nor could it make war without the authority of a decree of the two assemblies. The public functionaries were to receive salaries, and to appear dressed in an appropriated habit.

Each article of this constitution was separately discussed; and on the 23rd of August the whole was declared to be complete, and ordained to be transmitted to the primary assemblies for their approbation. Previous to this resolution, however (that is, on the 22nd of the same month), the majority of the Convention had brought forward the grand measure by which they meant to provide for their own safety, and the safety of their friends and adherents, against the change which the public opinion had undergone concerning them. They decreed, that at the approaching general election, the electoral bodies should be bound to choose two-thirds of the new legislature from among the members of the present convention; and they afterwards decreed, that, in default of the election of two-thirds of the Convention, the Convention should fill up the vacancies themselves.

These decrees were transmitted, along with the Constitution, to the primary assemblies, to be accepted or rejected by them. Many of the primary assemblies understood, that they could not accept of the constitution without accepting along with it the law for the re-election of the Assembly. The point had, in all probability, been purposely left under a certain degree of ambiguity; and as the people were now weary of this Convention, they acquiesced in any conditions that gave them the prospect of one day getting quit of it. But French at Paris, and in the neighbouring departments, where Revolution the subject was more accurately investigated, the public disapprobation of the Convention displayed itself with great vehemence.

There was indeed something extremely awkward in the decree about the re-election of two-thirds of the members of the Convention. That body might, if necessary, have continued its own existence for some time longer, or it might have diminished one third of its number by ballot or otherwise, and allowed a new election only to that extent; but a compulsory election was an absurdity so new, and so obvious, that it gave their antagonists every advantage against them. Accordingly, at the meetings of the sections of Paris, the laws for the re-election were rejected with contempt, and their absurdity demonstrated with much acrimony. In consequence of the debates which took place at these meetings, the minds of men were gradually inflamed, and it became obvious that a political convulsion approached. On the one side, the Convention took care to publish daily the approbation of the decrees, along with the constitution, by the majority of the primary assemblies, by most of which the two had been confounded and accepted in the grofs. Its committees also called in the aid of the troops of the line for its protection. On the other hand, the language of the sections became every day more violent. The whole Convention was represented as a band of tyrants and of murderers, the associates of all the cruelty of Robespierre and the Mountain party. It was even proposed to bring to trial every individual member of the assembly before a new revolutionary tribunal, and to punish him according to his demerits.

For some time much anxiety prevailed on both sides. Numerous deputations were repeatedly sent from the sections to the Convention to remonstrate against the obnoxious decrees. But the eagerness with which these remonstrances were made, served only to convince more strongly the members of the Convention of the danger to themselves as individuals which would attend a renunciation of their power, and confirmed the resolution they had taken to retain it. The deputies of the sections having obtained inspection of the records of the convention, assured, that the national majority, if rightly numbered, had rejected the decrees; as every assembly that voted in opposition to them was only numbered as one vote, however numerous its members might be; which enabled the primary assemblies of remote districts to outvote the more populous sections of Paris and other great towns. Whereas it was said, that if the individual voters were counted, it would be found that the decrees were disapproved of by a considerable majority. All this was disregarded by the Convention, and the sections prepared to decide the dispute by arms. The first step taken by them, however, was ill concerted. A motion was propagated, that as soon as the primary assemblies or sections had chosen the electors who were to choose the members of the new legislature, the national sovereignty became vested in these electors, and that they had a right to assume the government in their various districts. Accordingly, about two of the electors of Paris assembled in the hall of the French theatre in the suburbs St. Germain, previous to the day of meeting appointed by the Convention. Having chosen De Nivernois (formerly the Duke de Nivernois) their president, they began their debates. The Convention was alarmed, and instantly sent a body of the military to disperse the meeting as illegal. This was easily accomplished, as the citizens had not been unanimous with regard to it, and no measures were taken for its protection.

Notwithstanding this first advantage on the side of the Convention, the sections regarded its power with contempt, and imagined themselves secure of ultimate success. In every political contest that had hitherto occurred since the commencement of the revolution, the immense population of the capital had given a decisive superiority to the faction whose side it espoused. The citizens also regarded with indifference the armed force with which the Convention had surrounded itself, from a notion, which they fondly entertained, that the military would in no case be brought to act against the people. It would appear that the Convention itself entertained some jealousy upon this head, and did not account itself entirely safe under the protection of the soldiers. On this occasion, therefore, it had recourse to a new ally, and sought the aid of those very Jacobins whom it had almost crushed on the 24th of May. The members of the Convention were odious to the sections of Paris, on account of their participation in the revolutionary crimes and measures of Robespierre; but this very circumstance endeared them to the Jacobins, whose character it was to imagine that they had never enough of war abroad or of revolution at home. It was easy therefore to bring about a reconciliation between the Convention and these men. Several hundreds of them were dismissed from the prisons, where they had been confined since the two last insurrections, and they were now put in requisition to defend the legislative body.

When the sections of Paris beheld the Convention surrounded by those Jacobins who had been the unrelenting agents of the government of Robespierre, and who were now denominated terrorists and men of blood, their ardour for action became unbounded. They assembled in arms at their different sections on the 12th Vendémiaire (October 4th); but they do not seem to have acted with much concert, or upon any well-designed plan of operations. The general design of their leaders was to seize the members of the Convention, and imprison them in the church of the Quatre Nations till they could be brought to trial. As this would occasion a vacancy or interregnum in the government, it was resolved that all affairs should be conducted by committees of the sections, till a new legislature could be elected. General Miranda, a Spaniard, a native of the Caracas in South America, who had served in the republican armies, was to be appointed to the chief command of the armed force after the overthrow of the Convention. This man, in his eagerness for preferment, had alternately courted all parties, and he now seems to have joined the Paritians upon the supposition of their being the strongest. As he entertained some doubts of their success, however, he adopted the crooked and timid policy of avoiding the storm by retiring from the city till the combat should be finished, resolving to return immediately on its conclusion to share the rewards and the triumph of victory.

The Convention, in the mean time, resolved to strike the first blow. For this purpose they sent General Menou to the section of Le Pelletier to disperse the citizens, whose greatest force was assembled there. But this officer, disliking the service which he was employed to perform, instead of proceeding to action, began to negotiate with the leaders of the sections, and spent the evening of this day in fruitless conferences. The sections on their side appointed General Danican, who had distinguished himself in the war against the Royalists in La Vendée to act as their military leader. It would appear, however, that this officer, from the moment that he assumed the command, began to despair of the cause of the sections. He found them totally destitute of cannon, whereas the Convention was surrounded by regular troops and a numerous artillery. This inequality in point of weapons appears to have been considered by him as a sufficient reason for avoiding an engagement. Occupied in visiting and arranging the different posts, he was unacquainted with the disaffection of the conventional generals. He therefore thought he had done much when he had prevented bloodshed for another day, and thus the favourable moment for attack was lost. Whether the sections would have been successful had they been instantly led to battle on this important occasion, cannot now be known. Though the superior officers of the Convention were unfaithful, yet the volunteers and the troops in general might have stood firm, confirmed as they were by the persuasion of their Jacobin auxiliaries. Even in this case, however, the fate of a battle might have at least been doubtful. The battalions of Paris were very numerous, their contempt of danger was great, and their ardour unbounded. The mere profusion of cannon might not in a contest against such men have afforded security to the Convention. But the first moments of popular enthusiasm were suffered to pass away, and that distrust and diffusion, which delay never fails to introduce among great and irregular assemblages of men, soon began to render the conduct of the sections undecided and weak.

The conventional committees, during the night of the 12th Vendémiaire (October 4th), dismissed Generals Menou, Raffet, and some others, from their stations, and gave the command of the troops to Barras. He immediately collected around him a variety of able officers, among whom we find the names of Generals Brune and Bonaparte. With their assistance he began to provide for a most vigorous defence. Troops with cannon were stationed in all the avenues leading to the Tuileries. In case any of these posts should be forced, masked batteries were planted in more retired situations. Nor was this all; measures were taken for conveying the public magazines of provisions and military stores to St Cloud, whether the Convention prepared to retreat if they should suffer a defeat at Paris.

On the 13th Vendémiaire (October 5th) from which the insurrection was afterwards named, both parties remained for many hours upon the defensive. At last, about three o'clock in the afternoon, General Danican made advances to an accommodation by a letter to the committee of public safety; in which he stated, that the only cause on account of which the citizens had taken arms was the dread of a massacre being intended by the armed terrorists who surrounded the Convention, and that if these men were removed, tranquillity would immediately be re-established. A civil message was re- turned; but the Jacobin party in the Convention, being now more confident of victory, and willing to strengthen themselves by the defeat and punishment of their antagonists, it was resolved that the dispute should be decided by arms. It is not correctly known how the contest commenced, but the armed Jacobins are most generally understood to have begun the attack. The citizens on the southern side of the river attempted to reach the Convention by the Quai de Voltaire, but were speedily repulsed by the conventional cannon; but on the northern side of the river, near the Convention, the combat was extremely obstinate. The cannon were repeatedly seized by the citizens, and repeatedly retaken by the troops and the armed Jacobins. It was not till after a contest of four hours that the sections were repulsed and driven to the post of St Roch. This post was also taken after great slaughter, and the sections were driven to their head quarters at the section of Le Pelletier. After a short interval they were pursued thither by the troops of the Convention, who by midnight were masters of the whole city.

This insurrection was ascribed by the victorious party to the exertions of the Royalists. It is no doubt true, that by this time Royalty was become less unpopular even among the rabble of France than the extreme of Republicanism, as it had appeared in the conduct of the Mountain party. It is also probable, that the Royalists mingled in a contest that had the overthrow of the present Convention for its object; but the insurgents in general seem neither to have avowed nor entertained any farther view than the disarming of the Jacobins, and the obtaining an immediate election of new representatives. The failure of the attempt had the effect of placing the Mountain party once more at the head of the state. This party at first thought of adjourning the new constitution, and of renewing all the terrors of the revolutionary government. This project, however, was opposed in the Convention with too much vehemence and ability by Thibaudeau, that it was renounced. Indeed it was become unnecessary to the safety or ascendancy of the men who proposed it, as the decrees for the re-election of two-thirds of the Convention enabled them to retain the full possession of their power. A few members of the moderate party, such as Boissy D'Anglas, Languinias, and Le Sage, were elected by almost every place in France, though they could only fit for one place. Hence the Convention itself had the re-election of nearly two-thirds of its own members; and the Mountain party, which now commanded the majority, was thus enabled to fill the new legislature with its own leaders.

On the 27th of October the Convention terminated its sittings, and was succeeded by the new legislature as appointed by the Constitution. By its last decrees, a general amnesty was granted for all revolutionary crimes and proceedings. From this amnesty, however, were excepted the emigrants, the transported priests, and all persons concerned in the last insurrection; so that in fact it was merely a pardon granted by the Mountain party to its own friends for all the excesses they had committed. The members of the Convention, who had been imprisoned in the castle of Ham since the Jacobin insurrection in May, were now set at liberty. The members of the revolutionary committees, and other agents of Robespierre in Paris and the departments, were all dismissed from their prisons, and advanced to the most important offices under the new government.

As soon as the new legislature had divided itself into two councils, it proceeded to the election of an Executive Directory. Here the genius of the French nation for intrigue instantly displayed itself. The Council of Five Hundred was bound to present to the Council of Two Hundred and Fifty a list of ten times the number of candidates necessary for the office. It fulfilled this duty in the following manner. The majority of the Council of Five Hundred made out a list consisting of fifteen of the five following persons, upon whom they wished the Council of election ultimately to fall: Sieyes, Barras, Rewbell, Ancients, La Revellere Lepaux, and Letourneau de la Manche. To complete the list, they added the names of forty-five obscure persons, country justices, farmers, and even peasants. Thus there was nothing left to the Council of Ancients but the mere form of an election; and from the want of other qualified candidates, they were under the necessity of nominating to the office of directors the five persons at the head of the list presented by the Council of Five Hundred. The crafty Sieyes, however, who had been the adviser of all parties, but the offensive agent of none, did not yet think fit to venture upon the possession of power. He had disapproved of the constitution which was now put in force, and had even framed one of his own in opposition to it, which, however, was rejected by the Convention. The most remarkable circumstance in his plan of government was a national jury, upon which he proposed to confer the power of dismissing from their offices, without a cause being assigned, any of the public functionaries whom they might account dangerous to the state. Sieyes having refused to accept the office of director, Carnot was elected in his stead. But on this occasion the Council of Ancients was treated with a little, and but a little, more decency than formerly; as the name of Cambaceres, a man of considerable eminence, appeared along with that of Carnot in the list of candidates voted by the Council of Five Hundred.

The republican government that was now attempted to be established promised little tranquillity to the government. This great misfortune attended it, that the chief offices in the state were intrusted to men who were disliked by the people. The members of the Executive Directory, with the exception of Reveillere Lepaux, had always belonged to the Mountain or most violent Jacobin party. As they now owed their power to that party, they employed its members in almost every official department. The government was therefore necessarily unpopular. Things might have been gradually altered, indeed, by successive elections, which would in time bring other men into power; but, by the forms of the constitution, the executive power was more permanent than the legislative body, without possessing any influence over it. Hence it was to be feared that a contest for power might speedily occur between a directory nominated by the Jacobin party and the new legislators appointed by the people, in which the Constitution might suffer shipwreck; an event which actually occurred.

While the possession of power continued to fluctuate in the manner we have already stated, between the Moderate and the Jacobin or Mountain parties, the armies of the state were suffered to languish; but upon the credit credit of its former military success, the Republic was treated with respect by some of the neighbouring powers. On the 10th of April, a treaty of peace with Prussia, which had been negotiated by the committees through the medium of Barthélemy the French resident at Baille, was presented to the Convention for ratification. By this treaty, it was stipulated, that the French troops should immediately evacuate the Prussian territory on the right bank of the Rhine, but should retain the territory belonging to that power on the left bank till a general peace. Prisoners of war were to be mutually restored, and the commerce of the two countries was to be placed on its ancient footing. Measures were also to be taken to remove the theatre of war from the north of Germany by treaties between France and those princes for whom the king of Prussia might interpose.

During the same month of April, the French Republic was acknowledged by the king of Sweden; and Baron Stael his ambassador was received at Paris with great solemnity. In the month of May a second treaty with Prussia was concluded. It chiefly regarded the line of neutrality. It is worthy of remark, that these treaties contained secret articles which were to be revealed only to a select committee. By authorising this mode of procedure, the Convention sufficiently demonstrated its resolution, that no form of popular government to be adopted in France should stand in the way of the national aggrandisement. The Swiss cantons now followed the example of Sweden, and acknowledged the French Republic. A treaty of peace with Spain was also concluded at Baille on the 22d of July. France, on this occasion, relinquished all the conquests she had made in the territory of that country, and restored the ancient frontier. She received in return all the Spanish part of the island of St Domingo. The Dutch Republic was included in this treaty; and France agreed to accept of the king of Spain's mediation in favour of Portugal and the Italian princes.

On the 9th of June, the Dauphin, son of the unfortunate Louis XVI., died in the prison of the Temple, where he had been confined, along with his father, since the executions of his father, mother, and aunt. His death, which was probably produced by diseases arising from long confinement, if not by more unjustifiable means, excited in the French nation such a degree of interest in favour of his family, that the Convention found it necessary to liberate his father from imprisonment. The committee of public safety proposed to the Emperor to exchange this princess for the members of the Convention whom Dumourier had delivered up to Austria, along with two ambassadors, Semonville and Maret, who had been seized on their way to Turkey. This proposal was accepted, and the exchange took place at Baille in Switzerland.

On the side of Britain the war maintained its former character. The British retained their superiority by sea, and were unfortunate in their efforts on the continent. On the 14th of March the British fleet in the Mediterranean, under Admiral Hotham, engaged the French fleet, and took two sail of the line, the Ca-Ira and the Censeur; but as the French fleet, four days before the engagement, had captured the Berwick, a British ship of the line, when detached from the fleet, and as the Illustrious, another British ship of the line, was so severely injured in the action that she run ashore and was lost at Avenza, the substantial loss on both sides was nearly equal. On the 23d of June another British fleet under Lord Bridport attacked the French off Port L'Orient, and took three ships of the line, the rest of the fleet escaping into that port.

This evident superiority of the British fleet in every contest, induced the government to take advantage of the command which it had of the sea, to give assistance to the French Royalists in the western departments. These Royalists, hitherto unassisted by foreign powers, had, by repeated defeats, been reduced very low. The Convention had at last offered them a treaty, which was accepted and signed at Nantes on the 3d of March, on the one side by deputies from the Convention, and on the other by Charette, Sapincau, and other chiefs of the insurgents of La Vendée, and by Cormartin, as representing the party called Chouans or Night Owls. Stofflet, another chief, held out for some weeks longer; but at last, on the 26th of April, he too was under the necessity of submitting by treaty to the Republic.

In a short time, however, the hopes of the Royalists were revived by the countenance of the British government, and these treaties were ill observed. In the beginning of June the British expedition was ready to fail for the French coast. The troops to be employed consisted of emigrants in the pay of Great Britain, and many of them had been prisoners of war, who now agreed to join the royal cause. The command during the voyage, and the selection of the place of landing, were intrusted to the Count D'Hervilly. The command on shore was given to Puifaye, who had been employed under the Girondists in the military service of the Republic, but had now become a royalist. The Count de Sombreril was afterwards sent to join them with a small reinforcement.

On the 25th of June the expedition arrived in the Bay of Quiberon, and on the 27th 2500 emigrants made good their landing, after dispersing a small party of republican troops. The emigrant army soon after distributed itself into cantonments along the shore, and gave arms to the inhabitants of the country, who appeared to receive them with joy. It was soon found, however, that the Chouans, though well qualified for a defunctive warfare, could not be of much use to regular troops. They had little subordination. They were easily dispersed, and never fought unless every advantage was on their side. When it was found that their unsteady aid could not be depended on, a resolution was taken to withdraw the emigrant army within the peninsula of Quiberon. The fort of that name was taken on the 3d of July. Its garrison consisted of five or six hundred men, and it was now occupied by the emigrants. A republican army, in the mean time, under General Hoche, advanced, and attacked all the posts that had been left without the peninsula. These were speedily taken. The emigrants and Chouans escaped into the boats of the British fleet, or fled under the cannon of the fort of Quiberon. The republicans then began to construct formidable works on the heights of St Barbe, at the entrance of the peninsula. To prevent their operations, a sally was made from the fort on the 7th of July; but without success. On the 15th, another sally was attempted in greater force. The whole French whole troops in the peninsula amounted to about 12,000, including Chouans. Out of these a detachment of 5000 was sent to attack the heights of St. Barbe. The republicans were entrenched in three camps. The two first of these were easily taken, and the detachment pressed eagerly forward to attack the third. But here a masked battery opened upon them with grape shot. A dreadful carnage ensued; and very few of the detachment could have escaped, had not the fire of the British ships soon compelled the republicans to desist from the pursuit.

It now became obvious that the expedition must ultimately fail. Defection became extremely common among the emigrants. Those men in particular who had been prisoners of war, and received their liberty on condition of joining the expedition, seized every opportunity of going over to their countrymen; and a correspondence seems even to have been established between the republicans and the discontented troops in the fort of Quiberon. On the evening of the 20th of July, the weather was extremely tempestuous, which produced a fatal security in the emigrant army. Suspicious patrols were remarked; but as they repeated the watchword for the night, they were allowed to pass. The republican troops were conducted in silence along an unguarded quarter of the shore, till they were enabled to surprise one of the forts of the garrison, where they found the artillery men fast asleep. Their matches were seized, and the lanthorn intended to give the alarm to the British fleet was extinguished. The fort was speedily in confusion. Some regiments threw away their arms, and went over to the republicans; others even massacred their own officers. A considerable number, however, maintained a violent conflict for some time before they surrendered. Puisaye escaped on board the fleet. The Count de Sombrail was taken; and this accomplished young man was soon after put to death, along with the other emigrant officers and all the Chouans that were found in the fort. The bishop of Dol was also put to death, with his clergy who accompanied him; but many of the private soldiers of the emigrant army made their peace with the republicans, by pretending they had been compelled to engage in the expedition.

The British fleet, with transports and troops, still hovered upon the French coast, and made an unsuccessful attempt upon the island of Noirmontier. In consequence of the season of the year, however, it returned home in December, after evacuating a small island called L'isle Dure, which the troops had for some time occupied.

On the side of Germany the fortress of Luxembourg surrendered on the 7th of June, after having been in a state of blockade since the preceding campaign. The French were now in possession of the whole left bank of the Rhine excepting the city of Metz, which they attacked in vain, because the Austrians could at all times throw succours into it from Fort Caffel on the opposite bank of the river. Finding the capture of Metz impossible in these circumstances, the French resolved to cross the Rhine, to invest the city on all sides. The enterprise, however, was delayed for some time, till the result of the British expedition to Quiberon should appear. In the month of August, General Jourdan forced the passage of the Rhine at Dusseldorf, at the head of what was called the army of the Sambre and Meuse. After driving before him three Austrian divisions upon the Lahn, he crossed the Mein, and completely invested Mentz and Caffel. Pichegru, in the meantime, crossed the river, with the army of the Rhine and Moselle, near Mainzheim, of which city he immediately took possession. But the French generals soon found their forces inadequate to the undertaking in which they were engaged. A considerable detachment of Pichegru's army, after driving the Austrians under General Wurmser from a post of some importance, began to plunder, and went into confusion. The Austrians being informed of this circumstance, returned to the charge, and defeated the French. General Clairfait also, having violated the line of neutrality, came upon the rear of Jourdan's army, and took a considerable part of his artillery. Both the French generals now retreated. Jourdan was rapidly pursued by Clairfait till he returned to Dusseldorf, where he maintained his ground. Pichegru recrossed the Rhine near Mainzheim, leaving a garrison of 8000 men in that city. The Austrians advanced in all directions. Mainz was taken after a vigorous siege. The French were driven from the neighbourhood of Metz. The Palatinate became the theatre of war, and the Austrians seized the country called the Hambach, south of the Rhine as far as Landau and Treves. After various engagements, in which little more ground was lost or won, the two parties entered into an armistice for three months.

On the 28th of August a treaty of peace was concluded between the French Republic and the Landgrave of Hesse Caffel, on condition that he should lend no more troops to Great Britain for the prosecution of the war. It is not a little singular, that peace was concluded with the Elector of Hanover, at this period upon similar terms. The Duke of Wurtemberg, and some other princes of the empire, also began to treat; but the negotiations were broken off in consequence of the reverse of fortune now experienced by the French.

The Directory, however, resolved to continue the war with vigour, and vast preparations for the approaching campaign were made during the winter. The Mountain party being once more possessed of power, its members exerted themselves with their usual energy. Such, however, was the turbulent character of these men, that they could not long submit peaceably to any government, and soon became weary of that Directory whom they themselves had established. They held clubs in all quarters, and were continually disturbing the public tranquillity. For some time the government supported them. The Parliaments, after the 5th October, no longer dared to avow openly their dislike to the Jacobins; but they were understood to express this sentiment by wearing green silk cravats, and by applauding with much vehemence at the public spectacles the air called Le Reveil du Peuple. The Directory now prohibited, by an edict, as tokens of royalism, the wearing of green cravats, or the performing at any of the theatres the air now mentioned, though the sentiments it contained were entirely republican. The Directory also ordered in its stead, that the Marseillais hymn, and other popular songs, should be performed every evening at all the theatres. The Parliaments showed their disapprobation of the Directory by maintaining a profound silence during the performance of these songs. songs, which had never failed till that period to excite bursts of applause. The Directory soon became ashamed of this ridiculous contest, and in a few weeks recalled their edict. Indeed they found it impossible to give countenance for any long period to the restless and innovating spirit of the Jacobins, who continually wished and attempted to return to revolutionary, that is, to violent measures against their antagonists. In the fourth, in particular, the present supremacy of the Jacobins produced very pernicious effects. Fréron, who had deserted them after the death of Robespierre, and became one of their most violent adversaries, thought fit to return to their party before the 5th October, and was sent to Toulon with full powers of administration. Here he dismissed the municipality that had been elected by the people, restored the Jacobin clubs, and proceeded to imprison all suspected persons as in the days of Robespierre. These measures produced a violent reaction on the part of the enemies of the Jacobins. Assassinations became frequent, and many persons began to leave the country. The Directory was alarmed by the many complaints against the Jacobins or terrorists that came from all quarters, and resolved to aim at popularity by deserting a set of men who could not be prevailed upon to act with moderation. Fréron was recalled from Toulon, and more manageable men were sought out to replace the more violent Jacobins, who were in general dismissed from the service of government.

The Directory proceeded farther, and acknowledged, by a public resolution, that its confidence had been abused. The minister of police was ordered to remove from Paris the members of former revolutionary tribunals, and others who now acted as leaders of the Jacobins, or émigrés as they were called. A body of troops, amounting to 10,000 men, called the legion of police, that had acted against the Parisans on the 5th October, and was now devoted to the Jacobins, was ordered by the Directory, with the authority of the legislature, to join the armies on the frontiers. These men refused to obey the order; but they were reduced to submission by some troops that had been brought to the neighbourhood to provide against such an event. The more violent Jacobins were enraged, but not intimidated, by these measures, and began to organize a plot for the overthrow of the Directory and of the majority of the councils, who had now deserted them. They were not prepared for action, however, before the month of May, and by that time their designs were discovered and counteracted. On the 16th of that month the guards were increased, and bodies of cavalry stationed around the Luxembourg and the Tuileries. The Directory at the same time informed the Council of Five Hundred, by a message, that a dreadful conspiracy was prepared to burst forth on the following morning. At the sound of the morning bell, which is every day rung, the conspirators were to proceed in small parties of three or four men to the houses of such persons as they had marked out for destruction. After assassinating those persons, the whole parties were to unite, and to act against the Directory, whose guard they apprehended they could easily overpower. The conspirators had appointed a new Directory and a new legislature, to constitute the most violent of their own party. Among the leaders of this conspiracy, who were now arrested by order of the Directory, was Drouet, French postmaster of Varanee, whom we formerly mentioned as having arrested the unfortunate Louis XVI., when attempting to escape to the frontiers. Along with him were Babeuf, Antoicte, Pelletier, Gaudet, Julien, General Roiglignol, German, D'Arthe, Laigret, and Amar, who had been a member of the committee of general safety along with Robespierre. Vadier and Robert Lindet were also engaged in the conspiracy, but they made their escape. Drouet also escaped by the connivance of the Directory, as was generally understood; but the rest of the conspirators were removed for trial to the high national court at Vendome, where they were condemned. At the period of their removal thither, a new attempt was made by their party for their rescue. About 600 men entered the camp at Grenelle near Paris, and endeavoured to prevail with the soldiers to join them in an insurrection. This attempt was altogether unsuccessful. A few of the insurgents were killed, and the rest fled.

These defeats of the Jacobins, and the discredit under which they were again brought, encouraged the party moderate party in the two legislative councils to attempt to repeal the last decrees of the Convention, which had at once granted them an amnesty, and confirmed all the laws which, by confiscating the property of emigrants, excluded their relations from the succession. The discussion lasted many days; but the result was, that the law with regard to emigrants remained on the former footing; and the only point which the moderate party were yet able to carry was a modification of the decree to this extent, that those terrorists were declared incapable of holding public offices who owed their safety to the amnesty.

The state of the finances now began to occupy the French government in a very serious manner. During the government of Robespierre, while the credit of the finances was preserved by the influence of terror, or by the sale of the church lands, and the property of emigrants, little attention was bestowed upon this subject. When money was wanted, more assignats were fabricated; and as few or no taxes were demanded from the people, no enquiry was made about the public expenditure. But when the boundless extravagance of the agents of government had loaded the circulation with assignats till they became of little or no value, it became a very difficult question how the public service was hereafter to be supported. A new paper currency, called reçript, was first adopted. These were orders on the treasury for cash, payable at certain periods. But their credit soon passed away, as the treasury had no means of fulfilling its engagements. The Directory complained very bitterly, in a message to the Councils, of its distresses, and of the want of funds to carry on the approaching campaign. In consequence of this message, a law was passed, on the 23rd of March, authorizing the sale of the remainder of the national domains for the price that had been fixed upon them at an early period of the revolution, amounting to about twenty-two years purchase. A new paper currency, called mandats, was to be received in payment. But the credit of government was now gone. The mandates instantly lost in all private transactions one-fourth of their value, and they soon fell still lower. This, however, produced a great demand for national property, property, which was thus about to be sold far below its value. To prevent this effect, the legislature broke its engagements, and decreed, that one-fourth of every purchase should be paid, not in mandats, but in cash. This decree put a stop both to the sale of national property and to the circulation of mandats.

Recourse was next had to taxation; but this was attended with much difficulty. By the war, and the violent government of Robespierre, the French commerce had been in a great measure ruined. Industrious men, who possessed any capital, had therefore turned their attention to the cultivation of land. Many circumstances led to this. By the emigration of the nobles, and the confiscation of the church lands, the farmers were left with no landlord but the government; which, being supported by affigants, paid little attention to any other source of revenue. Hence they paid no rent, and speedily rose into opulence. The revolutionary government, which kept the inhabitants of the towns under dreadful bondage, was scarcely felt by the inhabitants of the country, who thus enjoyed the advantage of exciting no suspicion in the rulers, and of paying neither rent nor taxes. The law which declared affigants to be a legal tender of payment, was a great source of profit to the cultivators of the soil. They contrived to sell the produce of their farms only to such as offered them ready specie; while, at the same time, they paid their rents, where the landlord had not emigrated, in affigants, which they obtained at a trifling price. Hence it usually happened, that while the tenant enjoyed affluence, his miserable landlord was reduced to the necessity of selling his moveables to buy a portion of the grain that grew upon his own estate, or was tempted to sell the estate itself, at an undervalue, to obtain the means of emigration. By these and other circumstances, the whole industry of the French nation came to be directed towards agriculture. Their country was accordingly well cultivated; but as the riches of agricultural nations are not easily subjected to taxation, the French Directory now found it impossible to carry on the schemes of ambition and of conquest, which they had already formed, without relying for resources upon the plunder of the neighbouring states, which speedily rendered their armies odious in all those quarters of Europe to which they penetrated.

Amidst their preparations for the approaching campaign, the Directory attempted to increase their own reputation at home, by establishing what is called the National Institute; which is a society of men of letters, under the protection of the government*. Into this body were collected the most celebrated literary characters in the nation that had escaped the fury of the Mountain Party. Among these were La Place, Lalande, Fourcroy, Bertholet, Volney, Dolomieu, and others, well known throughout Europe. The first public meeting of the Institute was held, with great splendour, on the 4th of April, in the hall of the Louvre, called the Hall of Antiques. The ambassadors of Spain, Prussia, Sweden, Denmark, Holland, America, Tuscany, Genoa, and Geneva, were present. The members of the Directory attended in their robes, and their president made a speech of installation, declaring the determination of the executive power to protect and encourage literature and the arts. Dufaix, the president of the Institute, replied, in a speech in which he declared the resolution of the members to labour to give lustre to the republican government by their talents and productions. Fifteen hundred spectators applauded the speeches with enthusiasm, and vainly imagined that all the evils of the revolution were terminated, and that their country was now entering upon a career of unexampled glory and prosperity.

At this period the British government made an approach towards a negociation with France. On the 8th of March Mr Wickham, the minister plenipotentiary to the Swiss Cantons, transmitted to Barthélemy, ambassador from the French Republic to the Helvetic body, a note containing three questions. Whether France would be disposed to send ministers to a congress to negociate peace with his Britannic Majesty and his allies? Whether France would be disposed to communicate the general grounds on which she would be willing to conclude peace, that his Majesty and his allies might consider them in concert? and lastly, Whether France would desire to communicate any other mode of accomplishing a peace? The note concluded with a promise to transmit to the British court whatever answer should be returned; but declared, that Mr Wickham was not authorized to enter into any discussion upon these subjects.

On the 26th of the same month Barthélemy returned an answer in name of the French Directory. This answer began by complaining of insufficiency in the proposal made by the British court, seeing its ambassador was not authorized to negociate, and that a congress was proposed, which must render negociation endless. It proceeded to state the ardent desire of the Directory for peace; but asserted, that it could listen to no proposal for giving up any territory that had been declared by the constitutional act to form a part of the Republic (alluding to the Austrian Netherlands); declaring, however, that other countries occupied by the French armies, and political or commercial interests, might become the subject of negociation. Upon these points the Directory declared its readiness to receive reasonable proposals.

To this answer no reply was sent; but the British court published a note, of which copies were presented to the foreign ministers residing at London; and in it the spirit of the Directors answer was complained of, and also the refusal even to negociate about the retention of foreign territory, under pretence of an internal regulation. It was added, with truth, that while such dispositions were persisted in, nothing was left but to prosecute a war equally just and necessary; but that, when more pacific sentiments should be manifested, his Majesty would be ready to concur with his allies in taking measures for establishing a just, honourable, and permanent peace.

The French Directory had succeeded, during the winter, in reducing the western departments into subjection. The emigrant expedition from England had induced the royalists once more to try the fortune of war; but, after various defeats, their leaders, Charette and Stofflet, were taken, and put to death on the 29th of March, and the insurgents were suppressed in all quarters. The French government being thus left without an enemy at home, was enabled to make great efforts on the frontiers. The military force of the Republic was divided into three armies. On the Lower Rhine, the army of the Sambre and Meuse was chiefly stationed about Duffel. The French army of Italy amounted at this time to 56,000 men. Bonaparte at his arrival found it ill equipped, and the troops mutinous for want of pay and necessaries. He addressed them, however, in the true style of military enterprise, "If we are to be vanquished, we have already too much; and if we conquer, we shall want nothing," and ordered them to prepare for immediate action. His opponents, however, anticipated him in the attack. The Austrians employed in the defence of Italy, under General Beaulieu, are said to have more than equaled the French in numbers. To these were united the King of Sardinia's army, under Count Colli, of 60,000 regular troops, besides the militia of the country, which was now embodied, and a small body of Neapolitan cavalry, amounting to about 2,500 men. General Beaulieu began the campaign, on the 9th of April, by attacking a post called Voirti, which the French possessed, within five leagues of Genoa. They defended themselves till the evening, and then retreated to Savona. Next morning Beaulieu, at the head of 15,000 men, pressing upon the centre of the French army, was completely successful till one o'clock afternoon, when he reached a redoubt at Montenotte, which was the last of their entrenchments. This redoubt contained 1,500 French. Their commander, Rampon, prevailed with them, in a moment of enthusiasm, to swear that they would not surrender; and the consequence was, that they arrested the progress of Beaulieu for the remainder of the day. During the night, Bonaparte stationed his right wing under La Harpe, a Swiss exile, in the rear of the redoubt of Montenotte, which still held out, while he himself, with Massena, Berthier, and Salicetti, advanced by Altara, to take the Austrians on their flank and rear. Beaulieu, in the mean time, had received powerful reinforcements, and on the morning of the 11th renewed the attack on the French under La Harpe; but Massena soon advancing upon the flank of the Austrians and Sardinians, they gave way on all sides. Two of their generals, Roccavina and Argentan, were wounded. They lost 2,500 prisoners, and were pursued beyond Cairo, of which the French took possession on the following day.

On the 13th at day-break, the defiles of Millesimo were forced by the French General Augereau; and, by a sudden movement, General Provera, a knight of the order of Maria Theresa, at the head of 1,500 Austrian grenadiers, was surrounded; a circumstance which proved not a little embarrassing to the French army. For this resolute officer, instead of surrendering, instantly withdrew to a ruined castle on the top of the mountain, and there entrenched himself. Augereau brought up his artillery, and spent many hours in attempting to dislodge him. At last he divided his troops into four columns, and endeavoured to carry Provera's entrenchments by storm. The French lost two generals, Banel and Quenia, and Joubert was wounded in this attempt, which proved unsuccessful. Provera passed the night in the midst of the French army, which had been prevented by his obstinate refusal from coming to battle. On the 14th the hostile armies faced each other, but a division of the French troops was still occupied in blockading General Provera. The Austrians attempted to force the centre of the French, but without success. Massena, in the meantime, turned the left flank of their left wing near the village. village of Dego; while La Harpe, with his division in three close columns, turned the right flank of the same wing. One column kept in awe the centre of the Austrians, a second attacked the flank of their left wing, while the third column gained its rear. Thus was the left wing of the combined army completely surrounded and thrown into confusion. Eight thousand men were, on this occasion, taken prisoners, and General Provera at last also surrendered.

These victories were not gained over a timid or an inactive adversary. On the morning after his fatal defeat at Millesimo, Beaulieu made one of those spirited efforts which often retrieve and alter the fortune of war. At the head of 7000 chosen Austrian troops he attacked, at day-break, the village of Dego, where the French repented in security after their success. He took the village; but the French having rallied under General Massena, spent the greater part of the day in attempting to retake it. They were thrice repulsed, and one of their generals, Caussé, was killed. Towards evening, however, Bonaparte in person having brought up reinforcements, the post was retaken, and the Austrians retired with the loss of 1400 made prisoners.

Bonaparte had now thrown himself between the Austrian and Sardinian armies. By the possession of the strong post of Dego, his right was secured against the efforts of Beaulieu, while he was enabled to act with the mass of his force against the Piedmontese troops. His enterprises in this quarter were facilitated by the exertions of Augereau, who had opened a communication with the valley of the Tanaro, where Serrurier's division was approaching the town of Ceva, near which the Piedmontese had an entrenched camp defended by 8000 men.

On the 16th Augereau attacked the redoubts which covered this camp, and took most of them; which induced the Piedmontese to evacuate it during the night, and on the 17th Ceva was entered by Serrurier. Count Colli now retreated to cover Turin; making choice, however, of the strongest posts, and fighting in them all. He was able, on the 25th, to repulse Serrurier; but on the 26th Bonaparte, still pressing on the Piedmontese general, defeated him near Mondovi, and entered that place. The retreating army next endeavoured to make a stand, with its head quarters at Fossano, and its wings at Comi and Cherasco. On the 25th Massena advanced against Cherasco, which was speedily evacuated. Fossano surrendered to Serrurier, and Alba to Augereau.

Previous to these last movements, however, Count Colli, on the 23rd of April, had written to Bonaparte, requesting an armistice, to allow the King of Sardinia an opportunity of negotiating a peace. The French army was now within 26 miles of Turin; and that prince saw himself suddenly reduced to the necessity of standing a siege in his capital, or of accepting such terms as the conqueror might think fit to impose. Bonaparte granted an armistice, on condition that the three fortresses of Comi, Ceva, and Tortona, should be delivered up to him, with their artillery and magazines, and that he should be allowed to cross the Po at Valentia. The armistice was signed on the 26th, and it was followed by a formal treaty with the French Republic, which was concluded at Paris on the 17th of May. The conditions imposed by this treaty upon the King of Sardinia were humiliating and severe. He gave up to France forever the duchy of Savoy, and the counties of Nice, Jenda, and Bretuel. He gave an annuity to all his subjects that were persecuted for political opinions. He agreed that the French troops should have free access to Italy through his territory; and, in addition to the fortresses surrendered by the armistice, he gave up the Exiles, Sufa, Brunette, Afi- flette, Chateau Dauphin, and Alexandria, to be possessed by the French during the war; and they were authorized to levy military contributions in the territory occupied by them. He agreed to erect no fortresses on the side of France, to demolish the fortresses of Brunette and Sufa, and to disavow his disrespectful conduct towards the last French ambassador.

In the mean time the French army advanced towards the Po. Beaulieu was deceived by the article in the armistice; which stipulated, that the French should be allowed to cross that river at Valentia, and made all his preparations for resistance in that quarter. Bonaparte laboured, by several evolutions, to confirm this error; and while the Austrian general waited for him near Valentia, in various well fortified positions, he advanced hastily into Lombardy, and had proceeded sixty miles down the river to Placentia, where he arrived on the 7th of May, before the direction of his march was discovered. He immediately seized whatever boats or other craft he could find, and effected his passage without difficulty, there being only a small party of Austrian cavalry accidentally on the opposite bank, and they fled at his approach. Beaulieu in the meanwhile had sent, when too late, a body of 6000 infantry and 2000 cavalry, to prevent if possible the French from passing the river; but Bonaparte, now on the same side of the river with themselves, met and defeated them on the 8th at the village of Fombio. Another body of 5000 Imperialists, advancing to the assistance of those at the Fombio, was met at Codogno, and repulsed by General Duke of La Harpe; but this officer was killed on the occasion.

On the 9th Bonaparte granted an armistice to the Duke of Parma, on condition of his paying a contribution of 2,000,000 of French money, and delivering 10,000 quintals of wheat, 5,000 quintals of oats, and 2,000 oxen, for the use of the army. This prince also agreed to deliver up 20 of his best paintings, to be chosen by the French. This last stipulation was no sooner known in France, than many men of letters and artists remonstrated against it as both impolitic and useless. They contended, that it would render the French Republic odious to all Italy, without producing any advantage to compensate this evil, as the progress of the arts could not be promoted by removing their best productions from the scenes in which they originated. But the Directory was too much occupied by views of national aggrandizement to listen to considerations of this kind, and similar stipulations were ordered to be inserted in every future treaty; by which means the most valuable curiosities of Italy were gradually transferred to the French capital.

Beaulieu, now driven from the Po, crossed the Adda at Lodi, Pizzighitone, and Cremona. He left some troops, however, to defend the approaches to Lodi. The advanced guard of the French attacked them on the 10th, and drove them into the town; which was entered in such close pursuit, that the Imperialists, on ha- vying it, had not leisure to break down the bridge over the Adda. At the other end of the bridge the Imperial army was drawn up, and thirty pieces of cannon defended the passage. The French generals, after a consultation, agreed that it could not be forced. But Bonaparte having demanded of his grenadiers if they were willing to make the attempt, they applauded the proposal, and he formed them into a close column. Taking advantage of a cloud of smoke which issued from the hostile artillery, they rushed along the bridge, which was about 100 yards in length, and were at the middle of it before they were discovered. Here a general discharge from the Austrians destroyed 700 men. The French column hesitated, and the carnage became terrible; but Massena, Berthier, Dalmagne, Cervoni, Lannes, Dupat, and other officers, flying to the head of the column, urged on the soldiers, and pressing forward, broke into the ranks of the Imperial army, which immediately gave way, and fled in all directions. This exploit has been much celebrated. The intrepidity of the troops by whom it was accomplished is unquestionable; but how far the leader who urged them to such an enterprise is entitled to approbation may well be doubted. He had passed the Po with scarcely the loss of a man. The Adda is a very inferior stream, which has fords both above and below the town of Lodi. The river was actually crossed at one of these by Angereau with the cavalry, during the attack upon the bridge. With the delay of one day therefore the passage might have been effected without difficulty by the whole army, and there was no adequate motive to justify the lavish expenditure of blood which was here made; for the French army no longer pressed forward in pursuit of Beauhien, but, after the surrender of Pizzighitone and Cremona on the 12th, returned upon Pavia and Milan on its left (a). These places opened their gates without resistance, though the citadel of Milan field out for a short time.

It would seem that, in the original plan of Bonaparte's campaign, the utmost expected from his efforts was to gain such an ascendancy in Italy as might induce the princes and states of that country to desert the coalition against France, which all of them assisted with money and provisions, if not with troops. To accomplish this object, though he sent Massena in pursuit of Beauhien as far as Verona, yet he himself now turned aside into Modena and the territories of the Pope. He took Ferrara, Bologna, and Urbino; and at last granted an armistice to his holiness and the Duke of Modena, on the usual conditions of large contributions of money, paintings, and curiosities. From the Pope he farther exacted the cession of the legations of Bologna and Ferrara, and possession of the citadel of Ancona. His march into the Roman territory so alarmed the Neapolitan cabinet, that it now solicited peace; and Bonaparte granted an armistice, without attempting to add to it the humiliating conditions to which the other Italian states were subjected. From the territories of the Pope, Bonaparte hastily advanced with a body of troops to Leghorn, in the neutral state of Tuscany, under pretence of driving out the English, whose property there he confiscated. By these measures the task assigned to Bonaparte was completed by the time the campaign upon the Rhine was begun. Mantua was still indeed in the hands of the Imperialists, but it was blockaded, and all Italy was now submissive to France. Successes of

To diminish, if possible, the efforts of the French on the side of Italy, the Imperialists thought it necessary to renew the contest in Germany. An intimation was therefore sent to General Jourdan, that the armistice would terminate and hostilities commence on the 31st of May. At this time General Wartenfelschen opposed Jourdan; and the Archduke Charles commanded the army in the Pfundstruck, which covered Mentz and Mainzheim, and was stationed against Moreau on the Upper Rhine. The French began their operations with a very artful stratagem, intended to draw the whole Austrian force to the Lower Rhine, that Moreau might have an opportunity of suddenly penetrating into Swabia, and consequently of carrying the war towards the hereditary territories of Austria. For this purpose Moreau remained quiet, while Jourdan began to act vigorously. On the 31st of May his left wing, under Kleber, issued from the lines of Dusseldorf, on the right bank of the Rhine, and, advancing towards the Sieg, defeated the Imperialists. Thereafter they were driven successively from the strong positions of Ukareth and Altenkirchen, and retreated across the Lahn. Jourdan, in the mean time, having advanced with his centre and right wing, forced the Austrian polls on the Nahe, crossed the Rhine, formed the blockade of the fortresses of Ehrenbreitstein, and hastened forward as if about to form the blockade or siege of Mentz. By these movements the Archduke found himself in the hazardous situation of having Moreau in his front, while Jourdan, with a victorious army, commanded his rear. He therefore hastily crossed the river, leaving the fortresses of Mentz and Mainzheim to keep Moreau in check. Having joined the retreating army, he encountered Jourdan's advanced guard, which he compelled to retire after an obstinate conflict. Jourdan did not hazard a general engagement, but withdrew to his former positions, the Archduke pressing hard upon him, till he raised the blockade of Ehrenbreitstein, and crossed the Rhine in its neighbourhood, till Kleber, on the 20th of June, entered the lines of Dusseldorf, from which he had set out.

These movements were foreseen. For the instant that the Archduke withdrew from the Palatinate to drive Jourdan down the Rhine, Moreau ascended rapidly towards Strausburg; so that these hostile armies seemed to be flying from each other with all possible speed. On the 24th of June, Moreau effected the passage of the river opposite to fort Kehl. This was an enterprise of considerable difficulty; for a sudden swell, by covering a part of the islands with which the river abounds, had prevented the Austrians from being taken by surprise, as was originally intended. The entrenchments on such islands as were occupied by troops were speedily carried by the bayonet, and 2600 French landed on the opposite shore, but without cavalry or artillery. Here they were exposed to the attacks of the

(a) We think this conduct cannot be accounted for, but by the supposition of a very improper correspondence between Bonaparte and the Austrian officers. Austrian horse from the camp of Wilstedt, and to the fire of the cannon of the fort. They maintained their ground, however, and even acted on the offensive, till the boats, which had been sent back, returned with a reinforcement. The whole redoubts and the fort were then instantly taken by storm, or with the assistance of such cannon as had been found in the first redoubts at which the French arrived, and the Imperialists fled towards Offenburg.

The departure of the Archduke to the Lower Rhine in pursuit of Jourdan, and the large detachments which had recently been sent towards Italy to oppose Bonaparte, now enabled Moreau to enter Swabia with a great superiority of force. The strong military positions, however, which the country affords, presented to him considerable difficulties. On the 26th of June he drove the Austrians from their camp of Wilstedt; and on the 27th he advanced with his army, in three columns, against another camp of 15,000 men in front of Offenburg. General Wurmser sent a strong reinforcement from Mainz to the assistance of these troops; but having encountered two of the French columns on its way, the reinforcement was defeated, and the camp at Offenburg was evacuated during the night. The Austrians made an obstinate stand at Renchen near Philippsburg, on the 29th, but were at last compelled to retire with the loss of 1,200 men taken prisoners, and several pieces of cannon. On the 2d of July a division of the French army, under General Laroche, succeeded in seizing the mountain Knubis, which is the highest point of the ridge of mountains called the Black Forest. On the 3d, after an obstinate conflict, the Austrians were driven from the pass of Friedenstadt; in consequence of which they lost all communication with the emigrant troops under the Prince of Condé, and other Imperial troops stationed on the Rhine towards Switzerland. On the 6th, the left wing of the French, under Désaix, encountered the Imperialists at Rattadt, where the Austrians, who had received some reinforcements from the Lower Rhine, made a very determined resistance; but were at last compelled to give way, and to retire to Ettingen.

The Archduke Charles now arrived in person with his army from the Lower Rhine, where he had left Wartenfleben, but with inferior force, to oppose Jourdan. The French, under this general, had instantly resumed the offensive upon the departure of the Archduke. Kleber advanced from the lines of Düsseldorf, as formerly; while the centre and right wing crossed the Rhine near Coblenz. The posts of Ukareuth and Altenkirchen were forced, and on the 9th of July the whole of Jourdan's army crossed the Lahn. On the 10th, Wartenfleben was defeated near this river, after great slaughter on both sides, with the loss of 500 prisoners; and the French on the 12th entered Frankfort. The situation of the hostile armies was now become extremely important. The two Imperial armies were at no great distance from each other, and were placed in the centre between the armies of Moreau and Jourdan. Could the Archduke, who was commander in chief, have resisted one of these armies for a short time, at any strong position, by a detachment of his troops, while he precipitated himself with the mass of his force upon the other, it is probable that any farther invasion of Germany might have been prevented. But the activity of

the French generals, whose progress could nowhere be resisted by partial efforts, prevented the possibility of executing such a plan. He was therefore under the necessity of making his final exertion for the present safety of Germany against Moreau at Ettingen, on the 9th of July, without having formed any junction with Wartenfleben. The battle was most obstinately fought. The French were four times repulsed in their attempts to force the heights of Rollenfels; and it was not till they had experienced a dreadful slaughter that they at last carried the field by the bayonet.

The loss of the battle of Ettingen compelled the two Imperial armies to retire eastward. After placing strong garrisons in Mentz, Mainz, and Philippsburg, the Archduke retreated through Swabia towards Ulm, where his magazines were placed. At every strong position, however, he made an obstinate stand; thus endeavouring to render the progress of the French under Moreau as tardy as possible. Wartenfleben, with the other Imperial army, retired through Franconia, resisting Jourdan in the same manner. Many bloody battles were fought, of which it is here unnecessary to give a minute description. It is sufficient to remark, that the French were long successful in them all. They gradually pressed forward till Moreau's army compelled the Archduke to cross the Neckar, and afterwards the Danube, leaving the whole circle of Swabia in the rear of the French. Wartenfleben was in like manner driven through Aschaffenburg, Wurtzburg, Schweinfurt, and found it necessary to cross the Rednitz, on the 6th of August, at Bamberg, to avoid the prelude of Jourdan's army in his rear. This army continued to advance till its right wing, under Bernadotte, was posted at Neumarkt, with his advanced posts at Teining, while the body of the army had driven Wartenfleben beyond the Nab, and had reached Amberg on the 22d of August.

Excepting a part of the mountains of Tyrol, three French armies, under Jourdan, Moreau, and Bonaparte, now occupied the whole country reaching from the frontiers of Bohemia to the Adriatic Sea. The alarm throughout Germany was extreme. The Duke of Wirtemberg obtained peace from the French on condition of paying 4,000,000 of French money. The circle of Swabia did the same, on engaging to pay 12,000,000 of livres, and to deliver 8,400 horses, 5,000 oxen, 100,000 quintals of wheat, 50,000 quintals of rye, 100,000 sacks of oats, 100,000 pairs of shoes, and a large quantity of hay. The Margrave of Baden obtained peace on similar terms. The elector of Bavaria and the circle of Franconia negotiated, and offered large payments; and even the diet of Ratibon sent a deputation to treat with the French generals for neutrality. The King of Prussia now entered into a new treaty with the French; the conditions of which were concealed, but its nature appeared in the advantage which he took of the progress of their arms to take possession of certain territories in Germany, and particularly of the suburbs of Nuremberg, under pretence of some antiquated title. Spain also entered into a treaty offensive and defensive with France, which was afterwards followed up by a declaration of war against Britain.

The danger of the house of Austria was now very great; and had Bonaparte, instead of being detained in the heart of Italy, by events of which we shall immediately take notice, Both parties suffered great loss, but more especially the French, who retreated during the night. Jourdan now fled by Fulda to Wetzlar. Having crossed the Lahn, where he made some resistance, he defended along the banks of the Rhine; till his army, on the 17th, reached Coblenz and Düsseldorf, from which it had originally departed.

The situation of Moreau's army was now uncommonly dangerous. He maintained his position, however, till the 15th of September; but he was under Moreau's command in his movements, and was obviously at a loss how he ought to proceed. He attempted, without success, to withdraw the Archduke from the pursuit of Jourdan, by detaching a part of his troops towards Nuremberg. Many attacks were made upon him, but all of them without success; and the Imperial generals at last gave way to him wherever he turned. Finding at last that Jourdan's defeat was irretrievable, and that Bonaparte did not arrive from Italy, he resolved to retreat. He had recrossed the Lech, to prepare for this event; but now suddenly passing it again, as if determined to advance farther into Austria, he drove back General La Tour as far as Landshut. Having thus obtained freedom for his future movements, he set out in full retreat, proceeding between the Danube at Ulm and the Lake of Constance. La Tour, however, soon pressed upon his rear. He found the passes of the Black Forest occupied by large bodies of Austrians and armed peasants, while Generals Nauendorf and Petrasch harassed his right flank with 24,000 men. Once more therefore he turned upon La Tour, at Biberach, on the 3rd of October, with great impetuosity, and having defeated him, took no less than 5000 prisoners; whom he was able to carry to France. He now continued his retreat; his right wing, under General Desaix, keeping Nauendorf and Petrasch in check, while the rest of the army cleared the passes in front till he arrived at what is called the Valley of Hell (Val d'Enfer), a narrow defile, running for some leagues between lofty mountains, and in some places only a few fathoms in breadth. The centre of his army, advancing in a mass, forced this passage, while the wings repulsed the Imperial troops under La Tour and Nauendorf. After this desperate effort he reached Fribourg on the 13th of October, and was soon compelled by the Archduke Charles, who had now arrived from the pursuit of Jourdan, to evacuate all his positions on the Swabian side of the Rhine, with the exception of Kehl, and a temporary fortification erected at Huningen, called a bridge-

(a) It would be improper to interrupt our military detail with the following information respecting the morals of Jourdan's army at this time; which, however, it is of importance for our readers to know. We have it from a German Count, who saw with his own eyes a considerable extent of the march and countermarch of the French through Franconia.

Almost every officer in Jourdan's army had a mistress; and such of them as by plunder could support the expense, gave balls, acted plays, and exhibited every species of gaiety when the army was not in actual motion. In all this there was nothing wonderful. The ladies, however, were not unfrequently pregnant; and as nursing would keep them from these assemblies, where their company could not be dispensed with by the soldiers of liberty, they drowned their new-born infants—they drowned them publicly! Our correspondent (the Count) saw two of the little victims, and he heard, from unquestionable authority, of several more. At a place within five miles of Nuremberg, a Prussian parish-minister, who was also a sort of justice, endeavoured to save one innocent, and was thrown into the river and fired at by the French, when his parishioners endeavoured to save him. He had the happiness, however, to save the child, and was allowed to keep it, the mother never enquiring after it! bridge-head (tête de pont), though there was no bridge at that place.

The Imperial troops, in the mean time, had taken advantage of the defences (late of the French frontier to cross the Rhine at Mainz, and to advance in various detachments to Weissenburg, Seltz, Haguenau, and almost to the gates of Strasbourg, levying contributions and taking hostages wherever they came. These detachments being now recalled, the Archduke resolved to terminate the campaign by the capture of Kehl, and of the fortification at Huningen. But this proved no easy task. As the communication with the French side of the river was open at both places, the divisions of Moreau's army did duty at them by turns. A great part of the winter was spent in fruitless attempts, on the part of the Austrians, sometimes to take them by storm, and sometimes to reduce them by the forms of regular siege. Different failures were made by the French, and immense numbers of men were lost on both sides by the sword, and by the severity of the season. It was not till the 10th of January that the French agreed to evacuate Kehl, and the fortification at Huningen was not given up till the succeeding month.

During the invasion of Germany that has been now mentioned, and the reverses that were suffered by the French armies there, Bonaparte still continued to gain victories in Italy. The success and the wonderful fortune of this man, require that we should give some account of the arts by which he was enabled, so unexpectedly, to triumph over the most experienced military commanders of the age in which he lived. In the military art three orders of battle, or forms of drawing up an army, have been chiefly adopted by those nations whose force has principally consisted of foot soldiers. The first form or mode consists of arranging the troops in a deep line; that is, with from 16 to 30 men placed close behind each other. This is the most ancient and the simplest order of battle. It was carried to perfection by the Greeks, under the name of the Phalanx; and, when the soldiers were armed with the long spear, it was extremely formidable. It left little to the skill of the general, except the choice of the ground where he was to fight, and made all to depend upon the readiness of the troops. It was attended with these disadvantages, however, that an army thus drawn up commanded very little territory, and that if its ranks happened to be broken by unequal ground, or an uncommon effort of the enemy at a particular quarter, its parts could not easily be reunited, and it infallibly went into confusion. In modern times, this order of battle cannot be adopted with success on account of the facility with which it is broken by artillery, and the slaughter to which it exposes the troops from every kind of fire arms. The second, or modern order of battle, consists in forming a front of an immense extent, with only two or three men in depth, and usually supporting these by another, and perhaps a third equally slender line, at a considerable distance in the rear. Troops thus drawn up derive the greatest possible benefit from their own fire arms, and suffer the least loss from those of the enemy. They provide for their own subsistence by covering an immense track of country. Their battles are not languid, as they are seldom very closely engaged; and in case of a defeat, little loss is suffered, because they can scatter themselves over a wide space, as the rear protects the advanced body; and as the troops in a long line can seldom all be engaged at once, they are supported by each other in a retreat. This order of battle, however, is easily broken; and the moment the flank of an army is turned, it is under the necessity of retreating, as troops cannot speedily be brought from other quarters to face the enemy there. The last order of battle consists of dividing an army into columns of a narrow front and very great depth, and of stationing the columns at some distance from each other, with a second set of columns opposite to the intervals between the first. This arrangement is superior to the phalanx, in this respect, that it does not expose an army to disorder by inequalities of ground, by the turning of its flank, or even by the defeat of one of its parts. The celebrated Epaminondas won the battles of Leuctra and Mantinea, by forming a part of his troops, on each of these occasions, into a strong column, which, by its great depth, and the mechanical weight of its shock, broke through the Spartan phalanx. The Romans are known to have owed their military successes, in a great measure, to the arrangement of their legion. It was drawn up upon the principle now mentioned; and the columns were only 16 men in depth, it was confessedly superior to the phalanx. In modern times, however, this order of battle is attended with great difficulties. It must reduce an army to embarrassment with regard to provisions from the smallest of territory which is thus occupied, and it exposes the troops in an engagement to dreadful destruction from the powerful missile weapons which are now employed. In every enterprise they must instantly carry their point or be undone, as the fire of a few guns from a single battery or redoubt would exterminate them by thousands. With all its imperfections, however, this last order of battle has at times been employed by enterprising men. It was the favourite arrangement of Gaius Julius Caesar; and his troops were drawn up according to it at the battle of Lutzen, where he himself was killed, while his army was victorious. The celebrated Marquis de Montereau also used it on more than one occasion, and it was now adopted in all important cases by Bonaparte. Frustrating its success, he pushed his columns into the midst of the Austrian army at Millefino, and fairly captured one of its wings. He ventured farther to throw himself into the centre, between the Austrian and Sardinian armies, and to vanquish the one, by acting against it with his whole troops while separated from the other. Being careless about the shedding of blood, he never hesitated to expose his whole army to utter ruin in case of a failure. The success of his battles, by enabling him to lay almost all Italy under contribution, gave him the means of maintaining the most steady and severe discipline over a well paid army. Filled with high notions of military glory, which he is said to have derived from the writings of Plutarch, he laboured to inflame, with the same spirit, the minds of his soldiers by proclamations, expressed in a very different style from the formal and more modest language of modern times. "Soldiers," (said he, when he first entered Lombardy,) "you have rushed like a torrent from the summit of the Apennines, you have driven back and dispersed all who opposed your march. Your fathers, your mothers, your wives, your sisters, your sweethearts, rejoice in your success, and boast with pride of being related to you." But remains there nothing more for you to effect? Shall poverty reproach us, with having found a Capua in Lombardy? But I already see you rushing to arms; an unmanly repole fatigues you, and the days lost to glory are lost to your felicity. But let the people be tranquil; we are the friends of all nations, and more particularly of the descendants of the Brututes, the Scipios, and the illustrious personages whom we have chosen as models. To restore the Capitol, to replace with honour the statues of the heroes who rendered it renowned, and to rouse the Roman people, become torpid by so many ages of slavery, such will be the fruit of your victories; they will form an epoch to posterity, and you will have the immortal glory of renovating the fairest portion of Europe. The French nation, free and respected by all the world, will give to Europe a glorious peace. You will then return to your homes and your fellow-citizens; who, when pointing to you, will say, He was of the army of Italy."

At the commencement of the French invasion of Germany, Marshal Wurmser was sent into Italy to replace Beaulieu, who was removed from his command. On his arrival, he collected the wrecks of the Austrian army, and prepared, till he should receive re-inforcements, to confine the French within as narrow limits as possible, by lines drawn from the lake of Garda to the river Adige. At the end of June, however, these lines were attacked and carried by Massena's division, which induced Wurmser to avoid farther exertion till he should receive an increase of force. In the meantime Bonaparte was not a little disturbed by partial insurrections of the Italians. Soon after his arrival in Lombardy, the inhabitants of Milan and of Pavia had risen in concert against his troops; but they were reduced to submission with little bloodshed. In the beginning of July, farther insurrections broke out in the Romagna. The insurgents established their head quarters at Lugo, and repulsed a party of French cavalry that was sent against them. It was not till Augereau had overcome them, on the 6th, in a battle in which he lost 200 men, that they could be subdued. The slaughter of these unhappy people was very great. Their town was given up to pillage, and all found in arms were destroyed.

The first part of the month of July was spent by Bonaparte in commencing the siege of Mantua in regular form; and towards the close of that month he expected its capture. In this, however, he had ill calculated the immense military efforts which Austria, aided by the money of Britain, was capable of making. Twenty thousand troops had been sent from the Rhine, and other reinforcements were marching towards Italy from all quarters; so that Bonaparte, instead of being able to take Mantua, had speedily to defend himself against the force of a superior army to his own, that approached to raise the siege, and even threatened to drive him out of Italy. Wurmser's army defended from the Tyrol in two divisions. One half of it proceeded along the east side of the lake of Garda, and the other came by the west to cut off the retreat of the French, who were thus encircled by the Austrians. On the 29th of July, at three o'clock in the morning, Massena was driven from the strong post of La Corona, on the east of the lake; while, at the same time, 15,000 Austrians drove the French from Salo, and afterwards took Brescia, with all the magazines and hospitals of Bonaparte's army.

There was a fatal error, however, in the general plan of operations that had been formed by the Imperialists. Their army united was an overmatch for the French; but they had voluntarily divided it into two parts, placing Bonaparte between them. The error was instantly discovered, and taken advantage of by their antagonists. On the night of the 30th, he suddenly raised the siege of Mantua, and leaving a small body of troops to keep in check the Imperialists on that side, he marched rapidly westward, and on the first of August recaptured Brescia, with the magazines and hospitals. Having the mass of his army united, Bonaparte surpassed his antagonists in numbers wherever he encountered them. He prepared to attack the Imperialists on the 3rd at Salo, Lonado, and Caldogno, but was anticipated by them. Having formed a large body of his troops into close columns, the Austrians, who were not yet aware of the nature of his mode of fighting, extended their line to surround them; a movement which enabled the columns to penetrate the Imperial army in all directions, and throw it into complete disorder. The French took 4000 prisoners, and 20 pieces of cannon. The Imperial troops were here so completely defeated, that a considerable division of them having in vain attempted to retreat by Salo, which they found occupied by the French, wandered about in search of a road by which to escape; and having next day come to Lonado, they surrendered it to surrender, upon the supposition that the greater part of the French army had gone eastward to encounter Wurmser. This was actually the case; but it so happened, that Bonaparte was in person at Lonado with only 1200 men. He was sufficiently perplexed by this accident; but having ordered the messenger to be brought into his presence, he threatened to destroy the whole division for having dared to insult the French army, by summoning its commander in chief to surrender. The stratagem was successful. The Imperial officers imagined that the whole army was in the place, and immediately, with their troops, laid down their arms, to the number of 4000 men.

Such is the account of this transaction, which we have from the partial pen of the panegyrist of Bonaparte, who writes the history of his campaigns in Italy; but we believe that the General has himself assigned the true reason of his success on this occasion, and others, where success could not be reasonably expected. In one of his intercepted letters, Bonaparte informs his correspondent, that the Austrian armies in Italy cost him more money than his own; and indeed it is not within the compass of supposition, that a body of veteran soldiers could have been intimidated to lay down their arms by so vain-glorious a threat as this, had not their officers been corrupted by French gold and French principles. The stratagem might have its effect upon the common soldiery, but it could not possibly impose upon their leaders, or upon the messenger who summoned Lonado to surrender.

On the 5th and 6th, Bonaparte attacked Marshal Wurmser, and drove him from Peschiera and the river Mincio. On the 7th, the Austrians were compelled to quit Verona, and to retire once more to the mountains of Tyrol. This contest, which had lasted more than five days, cost the Imperialists more than 20,000 men, upwards of 15,000 of whom were made prisoners. A part of the Emperor's troops had been levied in Galicia, licia, the part of Poland which, in the partition of that country, had been allotted to Austria. These men feigned the moment of defeat to quit a service which they disliked, and to go over to the French; a circumstance which greatly swelled the list of prisoners.

It was now necessary for the French to commence the siege of Mantua anew. The garrison in their absence had destroyed their works, and carried into the place 140 pieces of heavy cannon which they had left behind them, and procured a considerable quantity of provisions. The blockade was renewed; but the French, by the loss of their artillery, were unable to proceed to a regular siege; and by the beginning of the month of September, Marshal Wurmser, having received new reinforcements, was again enabled to attempt the relief of the place. Bonaparte having information of his intended approach, left sufficient troops to keep up the blockade, while he advanced northward with his army; and on the 4th of September drove the Austrians from the passes of St. Marco and the city of Roveredo to the pass of Calliano, where they made their principal stand.

Here a battle ensued, in which the French took no less than 6000 prisoners, and entered Trent as conquerors. Upon suffering this defeat, Marshal Wurmser adopted a measure which cannot be sufficiently approved of. Instead of retiring before the conqueror, who might have driven him to Innsbruck, and arrived at a critical moment at the Danube, where Moreau, after much hesitation, had only commenced his retreat, he suddenly threw himself with his vanquished army into Baffiano, upon the flank and rear of Bonaparte, and then advanced by hasty marches towards Mantua. He attempted to make a stand at Baffiano on the 8th, but was defeated, and 5000 of his men were taken prisoners. He had still a considerable body of troops however. With these he pushed forward; and having fought different scattered divisions of the French at Cerca, Castellano, and Due Calcello, he effected the passage of the Adige at Porto Legnano, entered Mantua with the wreck of his army, amounting to about 4000 infantry and 4500 cavalry. In this enterprise the Imperialists lost altogether 20,000 men; but the effect of it was, that it fixed Bonaparte in Italy, where he was obliged to remain watching and keeping under blockade the numerous garrison of Mantua. He hoped that its numbers would soon reduce it by famine to the necessity of a capitulation; but in this he was deceived, as the flesh of the horses, carried into it by Wurmser, afforded subsistence to the troops during a very long period.

In the mean time, the same which their countryman Bonaparte gained by these victories, produced in the Corsicans a desire to change the British government for that of France. They accordingly displayed so mutinous a spirit, that the British Viceroy thought fit to evacuate the island, which was no longer of any value to his government after all Italy had, in a great measure, submitted to the French. The Imperial subjects in Italy also, along with the inhabitants of Bologna, Ferrara, and Modena, who were completely corrupted by the false philosophy of the age, began now to republicanize themselves under the patronage of the French general. They sent deputies to a convention, levied troops, and abolished all orders of nobility.

The Emperor soon sent into the field a new army to attempt the relief of Mantua. In the beginning of November this army advanced under the command of Field Marshal Alvinzi, who advanced towards Vizenza on the east, seconded by General Davidovich, who defended with another division from Tyrol. Alvinzi had already crossed the Piave, when he was met by the French, and compelled to repulse that river. But Davidovich, in the mean time, after several engagements, effects of having succeeded in driving the French down the Adige towards Verona, Bonaparte was under the necessity of concentrating his forces. He now adopted his usual expedient of keeping one division of the hostile army in check, while he contended with the mass of his forces against the other. He left Vaubois with some troops to detain Davidovich, while he advanced in person against Alvinzi, who was now hastening towards Verona. He was met, on his way, by the Austrians at the village of Arcola. To seize this village, which could not be speedily turned on account of a canal, the French were under the necessity of passing a narrow bridge in the face of the fire of the Austrians. They made the attempt without success. Their officers rushed to the head of the column, and in vain attempted to rally the troops. Generals Verdier, Bon, Verne, and Lannes, were carried off the field. Augereau advanced with a standard to the extremity of the bridge, but nobody followed him. At last Bonaparte, who in the mean time had sent Guicci with 2000 men to turn the village at two miles distance, hastened to the bridge of Arcola. Seizing a standard, he advanced at the head of the grenadiers, crying, "Follow your general." They accordingly followed him to within 30 yards of the bridge, when they were intimidated by the terrible fire of the Austrians, and their leader found it necessary to retire. Attempting to mount his horse to rally the column, left the Austrians should advance to the pursuit, he was thrown into a morass, while still under the fire of the troops in the village; but here he again escaped, as the Austrians did not attempt to follow up their advantage.

The village of Arcola was taken towards the evening by Guicci, and afterwards evacuated by the French. On the following day (the 16th of November) an obstinate conflict ensued in its neighborhood, in which nothing decisive was accomplished. On the 17th they are Austrians, having pressed impetuously forward upon the centre of the French army, were taken by surprise upon their flank by the left wing of the French, which had been stationed for that purpose in ambush. Their left wing, however, maintained its ground till Bonaparte sent round a party of horse with twenty-five trumpeters to their rear, who, by the noise they made, induced the Austrians to believe themselves surrounded, and to fly on all sides in confusion.

Here again appear evidences of treachery among the Austrian officers, though the battle of Arcola was the most severe which the French had yet fought in Italy, and extremely fatal to their officers, as well as to a multitude of their troops. During its continuance, Davidovich had succeeded in defeating Vaubois, who was opposed to him and Rivoli, and the blockade of Mantua was actually uncovered for a time. But Bonaparte now returned, after having driven Alvinzi across the Brenta, and the positions of Rivoli and La Corona were retaken, and Davidovich repulsed into Tyrol. General Wurmser, however, still held out in Mantua during During these military transactions, Great Britain had entered into a negotiation with France. In consequence of passports obtained from the Directory, Lord Malmsbury arrived in Paris, and began the negotiation with De la Croix the minister for foreign affairs. The Directory could not decently refuse to negotiate, yet they were unwilling seriously to conclude a peace with Britain. On the other hand, the British ministry have since declared that, as individuals, they actually disapproved of a peace at this time, but that they thought it necessary both to negotiate, and even to conclude a treaty, if proper terms could be obtained. In judging thus, they were certainly right; for the country at large, not seeing the danger of peace, was very deaf to it, whilst a desperate faction was constantly ascribing the continuance of the war to the criminal obstinacy of the British government. The negotiation which was now set on foot opened the eyes of all but those who wished to sell their country to French regicides. Lord Malmsbury proposed, that the principle of mutual restitution should be agreed upon as the basis of the treaty. After much useless altercation, and many notes had passed upon this subject, and also upon the question, how far Lord Malmsbury could negotiate for the allies of Great Britain, from whom he had received no official powers, the Directory at last agreed to the general principle of mutual restitution, and required that the objects of these should be specified. Accordingly, the British ambassador proposed, in two memorials, that France should relinquish the Austrian Netherlands, and offered to give up the French foreign settlements in return. An offer was also made to restore a great part of the Dutch foreign possessions, on condition that the Stadtholder's ancient authority should be acknowledged in that country. The Directory now required Lord Malmsbury to present the ultimatum of his conditions within twenty-four hours. On his complaining of this demand, he was informed, on the 19th of December, that the Directory would agree to no conditions contrary to the French constitution; and it was added, that his farther residence at Paris was unnecessary!

During this year, Great Britain retained her usual superiority by sea. A British squadron, under Admiral Hope, had taken possession of the Dutch settlement at the Cape of Good Hope, on the 16th of September 1795. This settlement the Dutch wished eagerly to recover; and for this purpose they advanced money to enable the French to fit out a squadron to co-operate with them in an attack upon it. The French government took the money, but the squadron was never equipped. The Dutch themselves this year sent a squadron of seven ships of war, under Admiral Lucas, to attempt to reconquer the Cape; but being no match for the British squadron, and being likewise caught between two fires, without the possibility of escaping, the Dutch fleet, without firing a gun, was delivered up to the British admiral.

Notwithstanding the superiority of Great Britain by sea, the French, towards the close of this year, attempted an invasion of Ireland; but the plan was ill concerted, and, of course, unsuccessful. The whole conduct of it was intrusted to one man, General Hoche, and no second was prepared to occupy his place in case of any accident. The disaffected faction with whom Unsuccessful the French meant to cooperate was not warned of its approach, and the fleet was sent towards a quarter by the of the country where the people were little disposed French or, at least, by no means prepared to receive them. Eighteen ships of the line, thirteen frigates, twelve sloops, and some transports, having 25,000 land forces on board, were employed in this expedition. When about to sail, it was detained for some time by a mutiny which arose in consequence of the enlistment of about 1,200 galley slaves. The fleet sailed on the 10th of December; but a ship of the line was lost in going out of Brest, and some of the rest were damaged. The frigate in which the commander-in-chief had embarked was separated from the fleet in a gale of wind; and the consequence was, that when the greater part of the fleet arrived at Bantry Bay, on the west coast of Ireland, nobody had instructions how to proceed. The troops and their officers wished to land, but the admiral, Bouvet, refused to comply with their request. Having remained several days upon the coast, he sailed for France, and arrived at Brest with a part of the fleet on the 31st of December. General Hoche did not reach Bantry Bay till it was too late, and therefore could not land. The fleet suffered great losses in its return. One ship of the line and two frigates foundered at sea, a frigate was taken by the British, and a ship of the line, after an engagement with two British ships, was run aground to prevent her being captured.

At the commencement of the year 1797, the Archduke Charles was still occupied in the reduction of Kehl, and of the French fortifications opposite to Fluningen. Moreau still commanded the army that opposed the Archduke; but General Hoche, after his return from the expedition to Ireland, was appointed to succeed Jourdan on the Lower Rhine. Bonaparte was still engaged in the blockade of Mantua, while the Austrian government was making vast efforts to recruit the army of Alvini after its defeat at Arcole, and to enable that General to make a last and desperate effort for the relief of Mantua. The young men of Vienna were urged to give their assistance on this important occasion, and 60,000 of them marched into Italy as volunteers. Alvini's army amounted now to nearly 50,000 men; and he commenced his operations on the 8th of January, by skirmishing along the whole of the French line from below Porto Legnago upwards, to La Co, the Aurora near the Lake Garda. He continued for some days to alarm the French at all points, and thus to conceal the plan of his future efforts. On the 16th Bonaparte was still at Bologna, on the other side of Mantua, taking precautions against the escape of Wurmser by that quarter, which, from an intercepted letter, he had learned was in contemplation. Being now informed of the approach of the Austrian army, he hastened to Mantua, and from thence to Verona, which was the centre of the line of his army that opposed Alvini. He arrived at Verona on the morning of the 12th; but as the Austrians continued to make their attacks upon all quarters at once, he was unable to penetrate the design of their leader. At last, on the 13th, the efforts of the Austrians began to assume a more formidable aspect on the lower part of his side near Porto Legnago; but on the evening of the same day he received intelligence, that the upper extremity of his line, where Joubert commanded, had been attacked by such an immense superiority of numbers, that there could be no doubt that the greatest number of the Imperial troops was concentrated there. The post of La Corona had even been forced, and Joubert compelled to withdraw to Rivali, which he also abandoned.

The Austrians still persisted in their unfortunate plan of dividing their army, that they might have two chances of success. Ten thousand chosen troops, among whom were the Vienna volunteers, were destined under General Provera to penetrate to Mantua by Porto Legnago, at the lower extremity of the French line; while Alvinzi in person advanced with the main body of the army against Joubert at its other extremity. On the 13th all went well; Joubert was compelled to retreat; and he was so situated, that the easy capture of his whole division on the following day appeared a very probable event.

Bonaparte, in the mean time, having learned the state of affairs, left Verona in the evening of the 13th, having first ordered the whole centre of his army under Massena to follow him to the neighbourhood of Rivali with all possible speed. Here he spent the night with his officers in arranging the order of battle for next day, and in occupying proper positions. At day-break of the 14th the attack was begun by Joubert's division, to the no small surprise of the Imperialists, who were not aware of the arrival of Bonaparte with reinforcements. The battle, however, was long and obstinate. The superiority of numbers on the side of the Austrians enabled them to defeat all the efforts of the French to turn their divisions. They at last succeeded in driving back upon the centre the two wings of the French army in considerable disorder. Alvinzi now attacked the centre, which scarcely maintained its position; and the Austrian wings advancing on both sides, completely surrounded the French army. The victory seemed already won; and it is said that Alvinzi dispatched a courier to Vienna to announce the approaching capture of Bonaparte and his army. Bonaparte indeed considered his own situation as very alarming; and it is said to have meditated his escape across the Austrian right wing. From the nature of his order of battle, his troops had rather been concentrated than scattered by the repulse they had received, and it was therefore still in his power to make a desperate effort. Having formed three strong columns, he sent them against the Austrian right wing. They succeeded in penetrating it at different points; and it fled in such confusion, that having encountered a party of French that had not arrived in time to join the body of the army, 4000 Austrians laid down their arms in a panic, and surrendered themselves prisoners of war. Night put an end to any farther contest; but Bonaparte considering this quarter of his line as no longer in danger, departed to oppose General Provera, leaving Joubert to prosecute the victory now gained. This service he performed with great success. A detachment under General Murat having marched all the night of the 14th after the battle, seized Montebaldo in the rear of the position at Corona, to which a considerable division of the Austrians had retreated, while Joubert, next morning, attacked them in front. Finding themselves surrounded, they soon fell into confusion. Six thousand men were made prisoners, many were drowned in attempting to cross the Adige, and the remainder fled to Tyrol.

During this fugitive contest on the upper part of the Adige, General Provera had forced his passage across the lower part of that river at Angiara near Porto Legnago, and compelled the French General Guicci to retire to Ronco. Augereau collected all the troops in the neighbourhood, and marched to attack Provera; but as he hastened towards Mantua, Augereau could only come up with his rear; of which, after an engagement, he took 2000 prisoners. On the 15th, however, General Provera arrived in the vicinity of Mantua. The city, which stands in a lake, was blockaded at the two points, by which it has access to the main land called St George and La Favorite. Alvinzi was to have formed his junction with Provera at the post of St George. Receiving no intelligence of him, General Provera summoned the French commander here to surrender; and on his refusal, endeavoured to carry the position by assault. Having failed in this attempt, he turned his attention towards the post of La Favorite, which he attacked on the morning of the 16th; while Wurmser, who had perceived his arrival, advanced with the troops of the garrison against the same point. But by this time Bonaparte had arrived with reinforcements. General Wurmser was repulsed; and Provera being completely surrounded by the French, was under the necessity of surrendering himself with his troops prisoners of war. The result of all these battles at Rivali and Mantua was the capture of 23,000 prisoners and 60 pieces of cannon; and thus four Imperial armies had perished in Italy in the attempt to preserve Mantua. The capture of this city, however, was now inevitable, in consequence of famine. It surrendered by capitulation on the 2d of February. Bonaparte on this occasion endeavoured to acquire the reputation of humanity. To allow the French emigrants in the garrison to escape, he consented to an article in the capitulation that General Wurmser should be allowed to select and carry out of the garrison 700 men, who were not to be examined.

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(1) Marshal Wurmser had before this time begun to suspect that his plans were betrayed to the enemy. When he resolved to make his last folly to cooperate with Alvinzi, he kept his plan to himself, and in the morning of that day on which the army was to march out, he gave to each of the generals commanding the divisions (which we think were seven) his orders in a sealed packet. The troops marched at the hour fixed on, in so many divisions; and they were instantly attacked at all points by the enemy. Upon this, the old General said to a British officer of high rank, who was with him in the fortress, We are betrayed, make your escape by any means that you can. This anecdote was communicated to us through a channel which leaves no doubt of its truth in our own minds; but not being authorised to give the names of our informers, we thought it not right to insert it in the text. Its truth or falsehood may be easily ascertained. In the meanwhile, the Pope, who of all the European princes had the best reason for disliking the French cause, unexpectedly persevered in hostility, in the hope that some one of the Imperial armies might succeed in driving Bonaparte from Italy. Having recovered from the panic which induced him to solicit an armistice when the French first entered Lombardy, he had avoided concluding a treaty of peace, and attempted to enter into a close alliance with the court of Vienna. He procured officers to be sent from thence to take the command of his troops, and flattered himself with the vain hope of being able to make an important diversion in favour of the imperial troops.

As the Emperor and the French were both preparing with all possible speed to renew their bloody contest on the frontiers of Germany, it was of importance to Bonaparte to leave all Italy in peace on his rear. On the 1st of February he sent a division of his troops under General Victor, along with what was called the Lombard Legion, consisting of Italians, to enter the territory of the Pope; and upon the surrender of Mantua Bonaparte followed in person. The troops of his Hohenzollern made feeble resistance. The new raised Lombard legion was made to try its valour against them on the river Serio on the 2d. After storming their entrenchments, it took their cannon and 1000 of themselves prisoners. Urbino, Ancona, and Loreto, succulently fell an easy prey to the French. From the chapel at Loreto the papal General Colli had carried most of the treasure; but the French found gold and silver articles worth 1,000,000 of livres, and the image of the virgin was conveyed as a curiosity to Paris. Bonaparte now proceeded through Macerata to Tolentino. He was here met by a messenger from the Pope with offers of peace, and concluded a treaty with his Holiness on the 19th. By this treaty the conditions of the armistice were confirmed; and in addition to the payments then stipulated, the Pope promised to pay 15,000,000 of livres, and to deliver 800 cavalry horses, with as many draught horses and oxen. He also engaged to pay 300,000 livres to the family of the French envoy Bailleul, who had been murdered at Rome, and to apologize by his minister at Paris for that event.

The French had been so unsuccessful in their late irruption into Germany, through Swabia and Franconia, that they now resolved to make their principal effort from Italy under Bonaparte. For this purpose, the Directory detached great bodies of the veteran troops that had fought under Moreau as secretly as possible through Savoy into Italy. The court of Vienna, however, was aware of the approaching danger, and gave the command on the side of Italy to the Archduke Charles, who of all their military leaders had alone of late been successful against the French. He brought along with him his best troops from the Rhine, and numerous levies were endeavoured to be made in all the hereditary states for his farther support. The war was now about to be carried into new territories, on which the house of Austria had scarcely hitherto beheld a foe. It was necessary that Bonaparte should once more attempt to scale the summit of the Alps. This immense chain of mountains, which takes its rise in the vicinity of Toulon, at first stretches northward under the names of Piedmont and Savoy. It then runs towards the east, forming the countries of Switzerland, Tyrol, Carinthia, and Carniola. The three last of these, passing along the head of the Adriatic, form the frontier in this quarter of the hereditary states of Austria. Between the mountains and the sea lies the level and fertile tract of territory which belonged to Venice. It is crossed by many large streams, which are fed by the melting snows of the Alps, and whose nature is this, that they are greatest in summer, and that their waters diminish during the frosts of winter.

The council of war at Vienna now committed an important error in the plan of defence which it adopted. Instead of making a stand in the defiles of the mountains, the Archduke was sent down into the plain to defend the passes of the rivers. War is essentially an offensive art. Whatever the general purpose of hostility may be, it is always conducted with most success when the detail of its operations is so managed as to assume the form of enterprise and vigorous attack. This arises not from any thing in the nature of the art of war, but from the immutable constitution of the human character. The strength of men who are fixed without motion in a particular spot, is subdued by the depressing passion of fear, and by the despair of accomplishing any important object; whereas, when urged to action and to enterprise, their energy is increased by hope, and by that presumption of their own superiority which all men readily entertain. Hence we have so few instances in history of nations successfully defended by rivers or extensive fortified lines; whereas mountainous countries have usually set bounds to the progress of armies. In such situations, the defending party can always act upon the offensive. He finds his adversaries divided, by their situation, into small parties. He hopes to vanquish them in detail, and he acquires strength and courage from the prospect of success.

While Bonaparte was advancing into the territory of the Pope, the Austrian army was arranging itself along the eastern bank of the Piave. The French were on the opposite bank, and Bonaparte hastened to join them after he had concluded his treaty with the Pope. The beginning of March was spent in preparations; but at last the troops advanced, that the point of resistance might be discovered. Having crossed the Piave on the 12th of March, the Austrians retired, their French marching for some days till they had crossed the Tagliamento, where they made a stand with their whole force. Early on the 17th the French army arrived at Valafone, on the opposite bank; and after some hesitation, resolved to force the passage of the river. To have accomplished this object very speedily would have been difficult; had not a recent frost diminished the stream, by which means the French were enabled to cross it in the face of the enemy in columns at various points. The army of Bonaparte was now in three divisions, Joubert, with the left wing, advanced along the course of the Adige into Tyrol, and was ordered to cross over from thence, and to descend along the valley of the river Drave, which is beyond the highest chain of what the Romans called the Noric Alps. Massena, with the centre, after crossing the Tagliamento, advanced into the defiles of these mountains; while the right division, which was attended by Bonaparte in person, proceeded along the coast of the Adriatic. After forcing the passage of the Tagliamento on the 17th, the French had easily defeated the Austrians on the opposite bank, and compelled them everywhere to retreat. The other rivers were easily passed; and on the 19th, the town of Gradisca, on the river Lisonzo, surrendered to the right wing of the army, and its garrison, amounting to 3000 men, were made prisoners of war. On the 21st Goritz was entered by the same division, who found there the principal Austrian magazines and hospitals. Trieste was entered on the 23rd; and the French sent off in wagons, from the quicksilver mines of Ydria, materials worth 2,000,000 of lives. In the mean time, the Austrians, in their hasty retreat, entangled themselves and their baggage among the mountains. On the 24th, a large body of them was hemmed in between Malcina, who had reached Tarvis, and a part of the French right wing under Guieux. Reinforcements, however, having found means to reach them from the Archduke's head quarters at Clagenfurt, they hazarded an engagement on the following day, but were defeated, with the loss of 5000 taken prisoners, and 400 wagons loaded with baggage.

The French left wing under Jombert, Baraguay D'Hilliers, and Delmas, was equally successful. On the banks of the Lavis, after an obstinate engagement, 4000 Austrians were taken; and thereafter at Claussen they were again defeated, with the loss of 1500 taken prisoners. Having entered Brixen, this division turned eastward, and defended the valley of the Drave towards Clagenfurt, the capital of Carniola, where it was met by General Massena; the Archduke, after a flight contest, having evacuated the place, and advanced farther towards the capital of the empire, which was now seriously menaced, and in which great consternation prevailed. In 15 days Bonaparte had taken 20,000 prisoners, and crossed the Alps; and though the country still presented some difficulties, there was no fortified place capable of resisting his progress towards Vienna. He did not, however, consider his own situation as destitute of hazard, and seized the present moment of unbounded success to make proposals of peace. On the 3rd of March he sent a letter to the Archduke, in which he deprecated the useless prolongation of the war, and intreated him to interpose his good offices to put a stop to its farther ravages. But this prince, who seems to have doubted his own influence at the court of Vienna, returned a cold answer, stating, that it belonged not to him to investigate the principles on which the war was carried on, and that he had no powers to negotiate.

The Austrian chiefs made a last effort, by raising the peasants of the Tyrol in a mass to embarrass the rear of the French. They accordingly gained some successes under General Laudohn, and drove out the French troops that had been left at Botzen and Brixen. The inhabitants of the Venetian states also rose against the troops that remained in their country; and being joined by ten regiments of Slavonians, which had been in the pay of the government of Venice, they put the French to death wherever they were found, without excepting the sick in the hospitals, of whom 500 were massacred at Verona. A party of Imperialists also drove the French garrison out of Trieste, and thus attempted to surround the invading army. Bonaparte, however, knew that the court of Vienna must be at least as much embarrassed as himself. His army amounted to 95,000 men. It had hitherto proved irresistible; and the Austrians knew, that to surround was not to conquer it. He therefore persisted in advancing. On the 26th of April he succeeded in forcing the strong defiles between Preisch and Newmark, after a bloody battle, in which he took 600 prisoners. On the 4th, his advanced guard reached Hunsmark, where the Austrians were again defeated; and his army occupied Kintefeld, Murau, and Judenbourg. These advantages compelled the Austrian cabinet to treat for peace, as there was no longer any point at which the Archduke's army could hope to make a stand till it came to the mountains in the vicinity of Vienna. Measures were taken for removing the public treasure and effects into Hungary, while Generals Bellegerde and Moreveld were sent to request from Bonaparte a suspension of hostilities. On being suffered to take possession of Gratz and Leoben, within little more than 50 miles of Vienna, he consented, on the 7th of April, to an armistice, which was only to endure till the night of the 13th, but was afterwards renewed for a longer period. It was followed on the 19th by a preliminary treaty, signed at Leoben; by which it was agreed that the Austrian Netherlands should belong to France, and that the new republic in Lombardy should continue under the name of the Cisalpine Republic, and should include the Milanese, the duchy of Mantua, and the territories of Modena, Ferrara, and Bologna. There is reason to suspect that something hostile to the independence of Venice was here also stipulated. Bonaparte agreed to withdraw without delay into Italy, on receiving substantial assistance for his army during its march; and it was resolved, that all further disputes should be afterwards settled by a definitive treaty of peace. On his return he accused the Venetian government of connivance at the insurrection which had taken place against the French in his absence; and having seized their city and whole territory, he dissolved that ancient and singular, but now feeble, aristocracy.

While Bonaparte was advancing towards Vienna, the French armies on the Rhine had begun to press upon the Austrians, to prevent farther reinforcements from being sent against him from that quarter. The Austrians offered an armistice; but as the French demanded the fortresses of Ehrenbreitstein as the price of it, both parties prepared for action. The left wing of the army of General Hoche advanced rapidly from Dusseldorf, while the centre and right wing crossed the Rhine near Coblenz. The Austrians under General Werneck retreated to the Lahn, where they waited the arrival of the French. Here a violent contest ensued on the 18th of April, in which 4000 Austrians were taken prisoners. The French took possession of Wetzlar, and drove their antagonists to the gates of Frankfurt. In the mean time, General Moreau, on the Upper Rhine, forced the passage of the river near Strasbourg, and attacked the village of Dierheim, of which he at last retained possession, after having been more than once driven out, and the village nearly destroyed. The following day, however, the Austrians renewed the attack, and forced the French for some time to give way; but powerful reinforcements having crossed the river, The French were at last enabled to renew the battle with such vigour, that they took Fort Kehl, together with 5,000 prisoners. The Imperialists in this quarter were now pushed towards the Danube; when all military operations were suddenly arrested by messengers sent through Germany by the Archduke Charles and Bonaparte, announcing that peace was concluded. These messengers found the army of Hoche violently attacking Frankfort on the Main, which General Wurmser was endeavouring to defend. The news was diffused in an instant through both armies; and the contending troops, throwing aside their weapons, congratulated each other upon the event.

France now held a very elevated rank, and a formidable character among the nations of Europe. Spain, Italy, and Holland, were held in dependence; while her victorious armies had compelled the last continental member of the coalition to accept of peace from an army that approached his capital. Had the Austrian officers been faithful, and the court of Vienna less selfish, subsequent events have indeed shewn that the affairs of the Emperor were not yet desperate, and that Bonaparte was not that invincible hero which his rapid successes gave some reason to suppose him. After the perusal of his letters from Egypt, his victories lose much of their brilliancy; nor does any action, or all the actions of his life, display such military skill, as the retreat of Moreau through Swabia, when pressed on the rear by a victorious army, and surrounded on all hands by an incensed populace. But Bonaparte had been successful; the Archduke knew not whom to trust: there is reason to believe that his plans were continually thwarted by a corrupt council at home; and the court of Vienna was bribed to make a peace. Of all the enemies of the French revolution, Britain alone remained in hostility. From her command of the ocean she was enabled indeed to retain the feeble state of Portugal, attached to her cause; but on land, such was the terrible energy of France, that, with this exception, which seemed only to exist by tolerance, the British trading vessels were excluded, by her influence, from all approach to the continent, from the Elbe to the Adriatic; and the British government was once more induced, in these circumstances, to try the effect of a new negociation. All these external advantages, however, were speedily lost by the French nation; and it seemed the unhappy destiny of this people to be constantly deprived of the fruits of all their sufferings, and their courage, by the turbulence of their domestic factions, and the profligacy and unprincipled conduct of their rulers.

A serious contest between the executive power and the legislature was now approaching. We already remarked, that the Directory was originally selected by those men who had been the associates of Robespierre; and though deserted of late by some of the more violent spirits, who were termed Anarchists, it was still considered as the head of the Mountain party. By the victory obtained over the sections of Paris on the 5th of October, all opposition had been set at defiance for a time; but the nation at large had never been reconciled to these men. The period now arrived when a third of the legislative body was to be changed. On the 19th of May, Letourneau went out of the directory by lot. On the 25th, the new third took their seats in the Councils, a third of their predecessors having evacuated their seats by lot; and on the following day, Barthélemy, the ambassador to Switzerland, was chosen to succeed Letourneau in the Directory. The election of the members of the new third had almost entirely fallen upon men who were understood to be hostile to the Directory. Many Generals out of employment were chosen; such as Pichegru, Jourdan, and Willot, and many representatives of the families of the ancient nobility who had not emigrated (among whom was the prince of Conti) were now elected into the legislature. The moderate or opposition party in the two Councils now possessed a complete majority. Carnot and Barthélemy were understood to be favourable to them in the Directory; the former having made his peace with them, and the latter being established by themselves. The effect of this change in the state of the Councils speedily appeared in their adopting every measure that could embarrass the Directory, or cast odium upon the Mountain party, and alter the state of things which it had established.

On the 14th of June, Gilbert Desmoulin brought forward a report from a committee upon the state of the finances; in which he exhibited and reproached in the strongest terms the prodigality of the Directory, and the profusion and rapacity of its agents. On the 18th the same committee proposed a new plan of finance, the object of which was to deprive the Directory of any share in the administration of the public money. In the mean time, on the 17th of the same month, Camille Jourdan had presented a long report on the subject of religion; in which he endeavoured to demonstrate the impropriety of prohibiting the public display of its ceremonies, and the injustice of the persecution which its ministers had undergone for refusing to take oaths prescribed by the legislature. This report was afterwards, on the 15th of July, followed up in the Council of Five Hundred, by a decree, repealing all the laws against refractory priests, or which assimilated them to emigrants. On the following day, another decree, requiring from them a declaration of fidelity to the constitution, could only be carried by a majority of 210 against 204. A proposal was now brought forward in the Council of Five Hundred by M. de la Maré, a new member, to repeal the laws which confiscated the property of emigrants, and to allow their relations to succeed to them as if they had died at the period of their emigration. Those who had fled into foreign countries from Toulon and other places, during the reign of terror, were also encouraged to return, and allowed to expect that their names would be erased from the list of emigrants. The conduct of the Directory towards foreign powers was attacked on different occasions; and Dumoullard proposed the appointment of a committee to inquire into the external relations of the republic. This was a delicate subject; as it involved the character of the armies and their leaders, and as it might subvert the interests of the Directory with some of their friends of the Mountain party. The Venetian republic, though a neutral state, had been overturned by Bonaparte on account of a popular insurrection, for which the government apologized. Little account had been given of the immense sums of money that had been levied in Italy. The armies in the preceding year had entered Germany in the character of plunders. plunderers; which had disgusted all those in that country who had once been friendly to their cause, and longed for their arrival. The Directory, at the same time, instead of encouraging the progress of revolution, which the Jacobins eagerly desired, had suddenly made peace with the German princes, upon receiving pecuniary contributions, which were left to be exacted according to the ancient laws of the different states (which exempted the nobles and the clergy), and thus fell heaviest upon those very persons who had cherished the new republican principles.

The discussion of these subjects brought the majority of the Directory and of the Councils into a state of complete hostility. Both parties resolved to violate the constitution, under the pretence of preserving it. The one wished to change the Directory before the time prescribed by law, and the other to deprive of their seats a great number of the new legislators elected by the people. Barras was the most obnoxious of the directors; and an attempt was made to deprive him of his office, upon the footing that he was less than 40 years of age. But his colleagues asserted that he was born in the year 1755; and as no proof to the contrary could be brought, this abortive attempt served only still further to irritate the contending parties, and they began to prepare for more effectual measures. Had not force been speedily used on the side of the Directory, the Councils must naturally have prevailed. The majority of the people confided in them. The national purse was in their hands; and they hoped to subdue the Directory, as the constituent assembly had done the king, by avoiding to vote the necessary supplies. They could enact what laws they pleased. They had not indeed the command of the armies; but to remedy their weaknesses in this respect, General Pichegru, on the 26th of July, presented a plan for reorganising the national guard, and placing it more at the disposal of the Councils, by depriving the Directory of the nomination of the officers.

In the mean time the Directory was by no means destitute of adherents. The resolutions of the Councils in favour of the priests, and the relations of emigrants, looked so like a defection of former maxims, that many persons expected an immediate counter-revolution. The royalists gained courage, and a multitude of journals or newspapers, favourable to their cause, began to be published. Emigrants obtained passports, and hastened to Paris in the hope of being struck off the list, upon alleging that they fled to avoid proscription during the power of the Jacobins. The effect of all this was, that the purchasers of national property, and those who had become rich by the revolution, were alarmed. The whole Mountain party, and all those who had been active in opposition to royalty, rallied round the Directory. The armies, whose chiefs found themselves involved in some of the accusations brought against that body, sent addresses, in which they declared their resolution to support its power. The Councils declared these addresses, which the Directory had received from armed bodies, unconstitutional, and procured counter-addresses from different departments. At last the partizans of the two contending powers began to distinguish themselves in Paris by their dress, and everything presaged an approaching appeal to force. On the 20th of July the Councils received intelligence that a division of the army of General Hoche had advanced within a few leagues of Paris; whereas, by the constitution, the Directory incurred the penalty of ten years imprisonment if it authorised troops to approach nearer to the residence of the legislative body than twelve leagues, without its own consent. An explanation of this event was immediately demanded. The Directory denied that they had ordered the march, and ascribed it to a mistake of the officer by whom it was conducted. Their explanation was treated with contempt, and much angry debate took place in the Councils concerning it; the Directory all the while conducting themselves with much firmness and moderation, and even submission. In the meantime their antagonists acted a very undecided part. They long hoped to gain Larevellere Lepaux to their side; in which case they would have had a majority in the Directory. This vain expectation rendered their conduct indecisive. At length the majority of the Directory procured an address of adherence from the suburb St Antoine, which in all the tempestuous days of the revolution had been the rallying point of the Mountain party. Encouraged by this address they proceeded to immediate action. General Augereau had been sent from Italy under pretence of presenting some Austrian standards to the Directory, and he was employed as their tool upon this occasion. They commanded the garrison of Paris, and they had managed to bring over to their party the soldiers composing the guard of the two councils. Before day-break on the morning of the 4th, Augereau surrounded the Thulleries with a division of the troops. The guard of the Councils refused to resist, and their commander, Ramez, was taken prisoner. Having entered the hall, he found Pichegru and other twelve of the chiefs of the opposite party fitting in consultation, and immediately sent them prisoners to the Temple. Some other obnoxious members of the Councils were also put under arrest. The director Carnot had made his escape on the preceding evening, but Barthélemy remained, and was imprisoned.

All this was accomplished without noise, and in an instant. Many members of the Councils, when they came to the hall at the usual hour, were surprised to find that seals were put upon the doors, and that they could not obtain admittance. They were invited, however, to go to the Surgeons Hall and the theatre of the Odeon, where they were told the Directory had appointed the Councils to assemble. At these places, about forty of the Council of Ancients, and double that number of the other Council, assembled about noon, and sent to demand from the Directory an account of the proceedings of the morning. They received an answer, declaring, that what had been done was necessary to the salvation of the Republic, and congratulating the Councils on their escape from the machinations of royalists. Being still at a loss how to act, the Council of Five Hundred appointed a committee of four members (of whom Sieyès was one) to report upon the measures to be adopted. On the following day Boullay de la Meurthe presented a report from this committee, in which he announced, that a vast royalist conspiracy, whose centre was in the bosom of the Councils, had been formed to overturn the constitution, but that it had been baffled by the wisdom and activity of the Directory. The report concluded, by proposing the immediate transportation of the conspirators without a trial. Accordingly, these degraded representative bodies proceeded, after some debate, on hearing the names of the accused persons read over, to vote the transportation to Guiana in South America, of fifty-three of their own members, and twelve other persons, among whom were the directors Carnot and Barthélemy. They annulled the elections in forty-nine departments, repealed the laws lately enacted in favour of the disaffected clergy and the relations of emigrants; and even to far abolished the liberty of the press, so as to put all periodical publications under the inspection of the police for one year. New taxes were voted without hesitation, Francis de Neufchateau and Merlin were elected to fill the vacancies in the Directory, and affairs were encouraged to be conducted in their ordinary train.

All this while the city of Paris remained tranquil. That turbulent capital, which had made so many fan-guineous efforts in favour of what it accounted the cause of freedom, had been so completely subdued since its unfortunate struggle on the 15th of October, that it now permitted the national representation to be violated, and the most obvious rules of practical liberty to be infringed, without an effort in their defence. The Directory, in the mean time, attempted to justify their conduct to the nation at large, by publishing various documents intended to prove the existence of a royalist conspiracy. The most remarkable of these was a paper, said to be written by M. d'Antraigues, and found by Bonaparte at Venice; in which a detail was given of a correspondence between General Pichegru and the Prince of Condé in the year 1795. The correspondence itself was also, at the same time, said to be found by General Moreau among papers taken by him at the late passage of the Rhine. It stated, that Pichegru had offered to the Prince of Condé to cross the Rhine with his army, and having joined the Austrians under General Wurmser, and the emigrants under the Prince of Condé, to return with the united armies and march to Paris, where they were to re-establish royalty. The Prince is said to have refused to accept of the offer, from jealousy of the participation of the Austrians in the honour of the transaction. He therefore insisted that it should be conducted without their aid; but Pichegru thought the attempt too hazardous in this form, and, being soon after removed from his command, the project failed. At the time of its publication, the genuineness of this correspondence, and also of the paper found by Bonaparte, was denied; and nothing has appeared since to induce an unprejudiced man to think otherwise at present. Moreau, who was certainly involved in this conspiracy, if real, has been instructed since that period with the command of the armies of the republic; and though defeated by Marshal Suvarrow, he is far from being now considered as a royalist, that the revolutionary government seems inclined to intrust to his military skill and fidelity its last efforts for the continuance of its existence.

From the violation of the representative government that has been now stated; it became obvious to surrounding nations, that France had passed under the dominion of a small faction at variance with the majority of the people. The Directory was all powerful. Its members, however, seem very soon to have become giddy by the elevated nature of their situation, and to have adopted a notion that there was no project of ambition or rapacity in which they might not venture to engage. During their contest with the Councils, they had protracted the negotiations with Lord Malmsbury at Lille; and had suffered those to relax which had been entered into between Bonaparte and the Imperial ambassadors at Campo Formio near Udine. Great Britain had offered to consent to peace, on condition of being allowed to retain the Dutch settlement of the Cape of Good Hope, and the Spanish island of Trinidad, which had been taken in the month of February this year. The Directory now recalled their former negotiators Letourneau and Marey, and sent two others, Treilhard and Bonnier, in their stead; who immediately demanded whether Lord Malmsbury had full power to restore all the settlements taken from France and her allies during the war? Upon his Lordship's declining to answer such a question, because it implied an enquiry into his instructions, which would preclude all negotiation, he was required to return home to procure more ample powers. The negotiations with the Emperor, however, were now speedily brought to a conclusion. On the 17th of October, a definitive treaty was signed at Campo Formio. By it the Emperor gave up the Treaty of Netherlands to France, the Milanese to the Cisalpine Republic; and his territories in the Briggaw to the Duke of Modena, as an indemnification for the loss of his duchy in Italy. The Emperor also consented that the French should possess the Venetian islands in the Levant of Corfu, Zante, Cephalonia, Santa Maura, Cerigo, and others. On the other hand, the French Republic consented that the Emperor should possess in full sovereignty the city of Venice, and its whole other territory, from the extremity of Dalmatia round the Adriatic as far as the Adige and the lake Garda. The Cisalpine Republic was to possess the remaining territory of Venice in this quarter, along with the city and duchy of Mantua, and the ecclesiastical states of Ferrara and Bologna.

Upon whatever principles the war might have hitherto been conducted, the terms of this treaty sufficiently demonstrated to all Europe, that its former states had no better reason to expect security from the house of Austria than from that of the new republic. This truth would have been still more evident, had the articles of a convention, which was signed by these parties at the same period at Campo Formio, been published to the world. Fearing, however, to alarm too much the Germanic body, these articles were kept secret, and the parties agreed to prevail with the German princes, at a congress to be opened at Ratisbon, to consent, in consequence of an apparently fair negociation, to what France and Austria had determined should take place. By the secret convention or treaty now alluded to, it was stipulated, that the Rhine, including the fortresses of Mentz, should be the boundary of the French Republic; that the princes, whose territories were alienated by this agreement, should be indemnified by the secularization of church lands in Germany; that the Stadtholder of Holland should be indemnified for the loss of his estates in that country, by receiving German territory; that the Emperor should receive the Archbishopric of Salzburg, and the part of the circle of Bavaria situated between that archbishopric, the rivers Inn and Salz, and the Tyrol; that the Imperial troops should immediately withdraw to the confines of the hereditary states beyond... yond Ulm; and if the Germanic body should refuse peace on the above terms, it was stipulated, that the Emperor should supply it no more troops than his contingent as a co-estate amounted to, and that even these should not be employed in any fortified place.

These treaties were immediately begun to be put into execution. The Austrians left the Rhine, which enabled the French to surround the fortresses of Mentz and Ehrenbreitstein. Of the former, they speedily obtained possession; but the latter cost them a very tedious blockade, before the garrison, consisting of troops of the Palatinate, would agree to surrender. The Imperial troops, at the same time, entered Venice; the French having evacuated that city after carrying off or destroying its whole navy. The Cisalpine Republic was established, and Bonaparte left Italy; leaving, however, an army of 25,000 men to garrison Mantua, Brescia, Milan, and other places, and to retain this new republic in dependence upon France. Genoa was, at the same time, brought under a similar dependence by means of popular commotions, instigated by the French, and a revolution in its government which took place at this period. And thus the French Directory, without the excuse of hostility, as in the cases of Holland and Spain, began a system of interference in the affairs of weaker neighbouring states, which was speedily carried to an height that once more alarmed all Europe. These men even attempted, at this time, to compel the states of North America to purchase with money their forbearance from war. This was done through a circuitous channel, and in the form of an intrigue, by private persons, who were instructed to inform the American ministers at Paris, that a large loan on the part of America would be the best means of securing peace; and it was hinted, that it would be rendered more acceptable if accompanied with a private present of Ls. 50,000 sterling to the members of the Directory. This last proposal was indeed denied by the French minister Talleyrand, who had given his countenance to this crooked negociation: but the general impression produced by the transaction could not be removed; and its effect was to injure very deeply the character of the French government in the opinion of those distant nations that were otherwise disposed to regard it in the most favourable light. Nor was its respectability increased by a law which the two Councils, at the desire of the Directory, thought fit to enact, declaring the ships of all neutral states bound for Britain, or returning from thence, liable to capture. This law was not less impolitic than unjust. It placed the whole carrying trade of the western world in the hands of the British, and thus enriched the very people whom it was intended to injure.

For at this period Britain had acquired over the ocean a degree of uncontrolled dominion that was altogether unexampled in former times. During the whole year the French fleet lay blockaded in its own ports, and no enterprise was attempted by sea, excepting in one solitary but singular instance. We have already mentioned that a number of galley slaves were sent as soldiers with Hoche in his attempt upon Ireland. On the failure of that expedition, the Directory were at a loss how to dispose of these men. They could not now with propriety be sent back to punishment; the troops would not serve along with them in the army; and as the new laws of France allow no remission of crimes, they could not receive a pardon, nor was it safe to let loose upon the country 1400 criminals. In this dilemma, the Directory resolved to throw them into England. Accordingly, they were sent in two frigates and some small vessels to the coast of Wales, and there landed with muskets and ammunition, but without artillery. In the evening of the very day on which they landed, the 23rd of February, they surrendered themselves prisoners of war to a party of militia, yeomanry, cavalry, colliers and others, under the command of Lord Cadwod. The Directory boasted that, by this enterprise, they had demonstrated the possibility of landing troops on the British coast in spite of the vigilance of the navy; but this assertion was ill supported by the fate of the two frigates accompanying the expedition; both were captured in attempting to return to Brett.

Though the French navy remained in port, and consequently safe during the rest of the year, their allies, the Spaniards and Dutch, suffered severely. On the 14th of February, a British fleet of 15 sail of the line, under the command of Sir John Jervis, engaged the Spanish fleet, amounting to 27 sail of the line, off Cape St Vincent. In this action, the Spanish force, if it be estimated by the number of men, the number of guns, and the weight of metal, was more than double that of the British; but by the skilful manoeuvres of its heroic commander, the British fleet twice crossed through the line of the Spaniards, and succeeded in cutting off a part of their fleet from the rest. Four ships of the line were taken, and the Spanish admiral's own ship escaped with difficulty. The fleet had been on its way to Brett to join the French fleet there; but in consequence of this action, it returned to Cadiz, where it was blockaded by the British.

For his gallant conduct in this engagement, which, when every circumstance is taken into consideration, is perhaps unparalleled in the annals of naval war, Sir John Jervis was immediately created Earl St Vincent, and received the thanks of both houses of the British Parliament.

The Dutch were still more unfortunate. The Texel, within which their fleet lay, was blockaded during the whole summer by Admiral Duncan. The French intended, by means of the Dutch fleet, to make another attempt upon Ireland. Troops were accordingly embarked, under the command of General Daendels; but a resolution having at last been adopted of hazarding an engagement with the British, the Dutch admiral De Winter, in opposition to his own remonstrances, was ordered to put to sea. The British admiral had by this time left his station near the Texel, and gone to Yarmouth to refit. On receiving intelligence, however, that the Dutch had sailed, he instantly proceeded in quest of them. On the 11th of October the British fleet, amounting to 16 sail of the line, and 3 frigates, came in sight of the Dutch fleet, which in force was nearly equal, within about nine miles of Camperdown in Holland. Admiral Duncan immediately ran his fleet through the Dutch line, and, though on a lee shore, began the engagement between them and their own coast. A most bloody and obstinate conflict ensued, which lasted nearly three hours. By that time, it is said that almost the whole Dutch fleet had struck. The ships could not all be approached and seized, howe- ever, on account of the shallowness of the water upon the coast, to which the fleets were now very near.

Eight ships of the line, with two of 56 guns, and one of 44, were taken, besides a frigate, which was afterwards lost near the British coast, and one of the ships of 56 guns foundered at sea. Admiral de Winter was taken with his ship, and also the Vice-admiral Rentjes.

Similar honours were conferred upon Admiral Duncan as upon Sir John Jervis, and both admirals had each a pension of L.1000 per annum conferred upon him for life, with the full approbation, we may venture to say, of every well affected man in the kingdom.

The internal history of France now ceased to be very interesting. Political freedom could not be said to exist after so many of the representatives chosen by the people had been driven from the legislature, and the departments reduced to the necessity of electing men more acceptable to their present rulers. Public spirit therefore rapidly declined. The high notions of the freedom and felicity it was about to enjoy, which had once been so eagerly cherished by a great part of the nation, now gave way to a growing indifference about political questions, and the future destiny of the republic; for the people at large found themselves little interested in a government which existed independent of their will, which consisted of a narrow circle of persons, and whose conduct was surely not less crooked, intriguing, and unprincipled, than that of the ancient royalty, and its attending court, from which they had escaped; whilst its ferocious cruelty, and total disregard even of the forms of justice, were infinitely greater. But though the Directory was all-powerful, yet its power was limited by the present state of things, which denied it the possession of an abundant revenue. It had not yet been found possible to re-establish a system of productive taxation. The legislative councils, indeed, who now complied with every wish of the Directory, voted abundance of taxes; but these were scantily paid; partly on account of the total loss of the national commerce, and partly because the people were not disposed to make great exertions in this way for the support of government. By the constitution, they still possessed the election of the judges and other magistrates; the country was filled with veteran soldiers, who at different times had returned from the armies after the lapse of the usual period of service. The Directory, kept in awe by these circumstances, turned its attention abroad, and found means to establish an extensive patronage, by dividing among its adherents the plunder of neighbouring states, in whose welfare the people of France were little interested. The Girondist party had formerly proposed to propagate their principles by establishing a number of petty republics in the vicinity of France. The Directory now adopted the same project; that, under the pretence of diffusing liberty, they might obtain new sources of revenue and of power by the dominion which they meant to exercise over these new governments. Holland and the Cisalpine republic were already placed in dependence upon them; and Rome and Switzerland readily afforded them opportunities for extending their plan.

After the treaty with the Emperor had been concluded at Campo Formio, Joseph Bonaparte, brother of the General, had entered Rome as ambassador from the French Republic. The Pope, now deprived of all hope of foreign aid, and accustomed to humiliations, had submitted to every demand made by him for reducing the number of his troops, and setting at liberty persons imprisoned on account of political opinions. But an event soon occurred to afford the Directory a pretext for accomplishing the ruin of this decayed government.

On the 26th of December 1797, three persons had waited upon the French ambassador, and solicited the protection of his government to a revolution which a party at Rome meant to accomplish. He rejected their proposals, and dissuaded them from the attempt; but did not, as was certainly his duty, communicate these proposals to the papal government, to which he was sent on a friendly embassy. On the following day, however, a tumult took place, in which the French cockade was worn by about 100 insurgents. They were speedily dispersed, but two of the Pope's dragoons were killed. The ambassador, who probably knew the disposition of the Directory towards the Pope, seems to have resolved that his own personal conduct should be blameless on the occasion. He therefore went on the 28th of December to the secretary of state, and presented a list of the persons under his protection who were entitled to wear the French cockade, conferring that all others adopting it should be punished. He also agreed to surrender six of the insurgents who had taken refuge in his palace. Towards the evening of this day, however, the popular tumult became more serious, particularly in the courts and neighbourhood of the French minister's palace. The Pope appears to have been personally unacquainted with the state of affairs; but the governor of the city sent parties of cavalry and infantry to disperse the insurgents. About twenty persons, having a Frenchman at their head, had, in the meantime, rushed into the palace, and demanded aid towards accomplishing a revolution. A number of French officers, and others who were with the ambassador, proposed to drive the whole insurgents by force from the jurisdiction of the palace. This was certainly a salutary advice, and such as could not have been rejected by the ambassador, had not his designs been hostile to the established government. Rejected, however, it was; for, pretending to believe that his authority would be sufficient to accomplish the object in a peaceable manner, he went out into the court to address the multitude. He was prevented from doing so by a discharge of musketry from the military, who were firing within the jurisdiction of the palace. He interposed with his friends between the military and the insurgents; and while a part of the French officers in his train drove back the insurgents with their sabres, the ambassador advanced towards the soldiers, and demanded why they presumed to violate his jurisdiction? as if the jurisdiction of a foreign ambassador were a legal asylum for men in open rebellion against the government of the state. It is not, therefore, surprising, that no attention was paid to this arrogant and absurd demand; and the nature of the ground being such, that the troops could fire over his head upon the multitude in the rear, they made a second discharge, which killed several of the insurgents. Upon this the ambassador advanced close upon the soldiers, to prevail with them to depart; but they remained in a menacing attitude, and prepared for another discharge. Eager to prevent this, the French General Duphot, who was with the ambaf- ambassador, and was next day to have married his sister, rushed into the ranks of the military, treasuring them to desist. Here a petty officer of the Pope's troops discharged his musket into the body of Duphot. Upon this, the ambassador and his other friends found it necessary to make their escape through a bye-way into the palace. The Spanish minister hearing of this event, sent to the secretary of state to protest against this violation of the privileges of ambassadors. But the government, equally alarmed and perplexed by the fear of a revolution, and of French vengeance, remained during many hours totally inactive. All this while the palace of the French ambassador remained closely beset by the military, who occupied the whole of its jurisdiction, and all its courts and passages. He at last sent to demand passports, to enable him to leave the territories of the Pope. They were granted; but with many protestations of the innocence of the government, and its regret on account of this unfortunate occurrence.

Joseph Bonaparte retired to Florence, and from thence to Paris. The Pope solicited the protection of the courts of Vienna, Naples, Tuscany, and Spain; but they all stood aloof from his misfortunes; and this government, which had once possessed the most uncontested dominion over the minds of men, now fell without a struggle. General Berthier, at the head of a body of French and Cisalpine troops, encountered no opposition in his march to Rome, where he overturned the government of the Pope, and proclaimed the sovereignty of the Roman people, with circumstances of wanton insult; which convey a striking example of French humanity and French delicacy.

That the head of the church might be made to feel with more poignancy his humiliating situation, the day chosen for planting the tree of liberty on the Capitol was the anniversary of his election to the sovereignty. Whilst he was, according to custom, in the Sistine chapel celebrating his accession to the papal chair, and receiving the congratulations of the cardinals, Citizen Haller, the commissary-general, and Ceroni, who then commanded the French troops within the city, gratified themselves in a peculiar triumph over this unfortunate pontiff. During that ceremony they both entered the chapel, and Haller announced to the sovereign Pontiff on his throne, that his reign was at an end.

The poor old man seemed shocked at the abruptness of this unexpected notice, but soon recovered himself with becoming fortitude; and when General Ceroni, adding ridicule to oppression, presented him the national cockade, he rejected it with a dignity that showed he was still superior to his misfortune. At the same time that his Holiness received this notice of the dissolution of his power, his Swiss guards were dismissed, and republican soldiers put in their place.

He was himself removed to the territory of Tuscany, where he resided in much obscurity, till his enemies, driven from Rome in their turn, thought fit to carry him still farther from his capital, to end his days beyond the Alps.

In the meantime, the Roman states were converted into a republic after the French model; excepting that the ancient appellations of consuls, senators, and tribunes, were adopted, instead of the new names of a Directory and two Councils (p). But this ostentatious grant of freedom was rendered completely illusory, by a condition

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(p) The character of a nation, like that of an individual, will not perhaps admit of a sudden and total change. This remark is exemplified in the French; who, even when they affect to assume the stern manners of Republicans, cannot divest themselves of their frivolous and fantastical turn, and of that fondness for pomp and show by which they were always distinguished. The following account of the re-establishment of the Roman Republic, by an author of respectability, who witnessed the solemn farce, will amply confirm the truth of our assertion.

That the regenerated Roman people might be constitutionally confirmed in their newly-acquired rights, a day was set apart solemnly to renounce their old government, and swear fidelity to the new. For the celebration of this solemnity, which took place on the 29th of March, an altar was erected, in the middle of the piazza of St Peter's, with three statues upon it, representing the French, Cisalpine, and Roman Republics. Behind the altar was a large tent, covered and decorated with silk of the Roman colours, surmounted with a red cap, to receive the deputies from the departments who had been summoned to assist. Before the altar was placed an open orchestra, filled with the same band that had before been employed to celebrate the funeral honours of Duphot. At the foot of the bridge of St Angelo, in the piazza di Ponte, was erected a triumphal arch, upon the general design of that of Constantine, in the Campo Vaccino, on the top of which was also placed three colossal figures, representing the three republics. As a substitute for bas-reliefs, it was painted in compartments in chiaro fiume, representing the most distinguished actions of Bonaparte in Italy. Before this arch was another orchestra.

The ceremony in the piazza began by the marching in of the Roman legion, which was drawn up close to the colonnade, forming a semicircular line; then came French infantry, and then cavalry, one regiment after another alternately, drawn up in separate detachments round the piazza. When all was thus in order, the consuls made their entrance, on foot, from the Vatican palace, where they had robed themselves, preceded by a company of national troops and a band of music; and if the weather had permitted, a procession of citizens, selected and dressed in gala for the occasion, from the age of five years to fifty, were to have walked two and two carrying olive branches; but an excessively heavy rain prevented this part of the ceremony.

Before the high altar, on which were placed the statues, there was another smaller one with fire upon it. Over this fire the consuls, stretching out their hands, swore eternal hatred to monarchies, and fidelity to the republic; and at the conclusion, one of them committed to the flames a scroll of paper he held in his hand, containing a representation of all the insignia of royalty, as a crown, a sceptre, a tiara, &c.; after which the French troops fired a round of musketry; and, at a signal given, the Roman legion raised their hats in the air upon the points of their bayonets, as a demonstration of attachment to the new government; but there was no shouting— tion annexed to it, that for ten years the French General should possess a negative upon all laws and public acts. At first, however, the conquerors took care to place the government in the hands of the most respectable persons in the state favourable to democracy. But these men finding that they were merely to be employed as tools to plunder their fellow-citizens, for the emolument of their northern masters, soon renounced their odious dignities, and were succeeded by men of more compliant characters, and less scrupulous integrity.

The whole public property was seized by the invaders, and contributions were levied without end. The property of the cardinals and others who fled was confiscated, and those members of the sacred college who remained were thrown into prisons, from which they could only escape by purchasing their freedom at a high price.

When this was done, and Generals and Commissaries had glutted themselves with wealth, quarrelled about a just division of the spoil, mutinied, and dispersed, other unpaid, unclothed, unprovisioned armies from the north, with new appointments, succeeded; and when at length, even by these constitutional means, nothing more was to be obtained, and artifice had exhausted every resource, the mask was put under the feet that had been long held in the hand; liberty was declared dangerous to the safety of the republic, the constituted authorities invested capable of managing the affairs of the state, and military law the only rational expedient to supply their place. Thus at once the mockery of consular dignity was put an end to, the senators sent home to take care of their families, and the tribunes to blend with the people whom they before represented. This new and preferable system began its operations with nothing less important for the general welfare, than seizing the whole annual revenue of every estate productive of more than ten thousand crowns; two-thirds of every estate that produced more than five, but less than ten; and one half of every inferior annual income.

Even the degenerated Romans could not have submitted to all this, or at least would not have afflicted in forging their own chains, had not the same means been employed to eradicate from their minds every moral and religious principle, which had been formerly employed for the same purpose in Paris. In order that the spirit of equality might be more extensively diffused, a constitutional democratic club was instituted, and held in the hall of the Duke d'Altemps's palace. Here the new-born sons of freedom harangued each other on the blessings of emancipation; talked loudly and boldly against all constituted authority; and even their own consuls, when hardly invested with their robes, became employed to corrupt the subjects of centurie and abuse. The English were held as particularly odious, and a constant theme of imprecation; and this farce was so ridiculously carried on, that a twopenny subscription was set on foot to reduce what they were pleased to call the proud Carthage of the North.

If this foolish society had had no other object in view than sporting for each other's amusement, bowing to and kissing a bust of Brutus which was placed before the rostrum (a ceremony constantly practised before the evening's debate), it would have been of little consequence to any but the idle, who preferred that mode of spending their time; but it had other objects of a very different tendency, more baneful, and more destructive to the peace and morals of society—that of intoxicating young minds with heterogeneous principles they could not understand, in order to supersede the first laws of nature in all the social duties; for there were not wanting men who knew how to direct the folly and enthusiasm of those who did not know how to direct themselves. Here they were taught, that their duty to the Republic ought ever to be paramount to every other obligation; that the illustrious Brutus, whose bust they had before them, and whose patriotic virtue and justice ought never to be looked light of, furnished them with the strongest and most heroic example of the subordination of the dearest ties of humanity to the public good; and that, however dear parental affection might be, yet, when put in competition with the general welfare of society, there ought not to be a moment's hesitation which was to be preferred.

This sort of reasoning might perhaps have done no harm to the speculative closet metaphysician, who might have had neither father, nor mother, nor brother, nor sister, nor a chance of ever being thrown in the way to reduce his theory to practice; but with a people who knew of no other ties but such as depended on their religion and their natural feelings, without having been previously educated to discriminate, how far their reason might be deluded by sophistry, or upon what causes there ever was a show, in which the people were intended to act so principal a part, where so decided a tacit disapprobation was given as on this occasion.

"After the ceremony was concluded, the French officers, with the consuls and deputies from the departments, dined together in the papal palace on Monte Cavallo, and in the evening gave a magnificent ball to the exnobles and others, their partizans, which was numerously attended, yet with an exception to the houses Borghese, Santa Croce, Altemps, and Cesarini: I believe not one distinguished family was present from desire or inclination; but it was now no longer time to accumulate additional causes for opprobrium; and he who hoped to save a remnant of his property, avoided giving occasion for personal resentment. At night the dome of St Peter's was illuminated, with the same splendour as was customary on the anniversary of St Peter's day. This was the second time of its illumination since the arrival of the French, having been before displayed on the evening of the solemn fête to honour the manes of Duphot, which, though not quite so opportune, was done to gratify the officers that were to leave Rome on the morrow.

"The day after this federation, the French published the Roman constitution in form, which was only a repetition of the one given to the unfortunate Venetians, consisting of 372 articles, and which I think unnecessary to transcribe, as it would only be giving what we have already had from time to time in translations made from their own."—Duppa's Journal of the most remarkable Occurrences that took place in Rome, upon the Subversion of the Ecclesiastical Government in 1798. canoes the permanent good of society depended; it had the most direct tendency to generate the worst passions, and to annihilate the best.

Young men were thus initiated to lose all respect for their parents and relations, and even encouraged to lodge information against them, with the hopeful pro- spect of being considered as deserving well, of what they were pleased to denominate, the republic; and by thus weakening or destroying the bonds of affection, the way was made smooth and easy to the destruction of every thing like what, in a state of civilization, is called char- acter; doubtless, in order to prepare them the better to become the faithful agents of those whom they were thus educated to serve.

The most remarkable curiosities of this celebrated city had already been conveyed to Paris; and as na- tional vanity had now given place to avarice in the minds of the Directory, the remaining monuments of ancient or of modern art, with which Rome abounded, were sold by public auction. Advertisements (x) were sent through Europe, offering passports to the natives of countries at war with France, if they should wish to become purchasers; and thus the wealthier inhabitants of the Roman territory not only saw themselves subject- ed to severe exactions, but they beheld with cruel mor- tification those objects now given up as a prey to vul- gar speculation, and dispersed over the world, which had so long rendered their city the resort of all na- tions.

Such was the progressive conduct of the Great Na- tion towards an injured and oppressed people, whose happiness and dearest interests were its first care, and to whom freedom and liberty had been restored, that they might know how to appreciate the virtue of their benefactors, and the invaluable blessings of indepen- dence.

More languid scenes were, in the meanwhile, tak- ing place in Switzerland. That country had remain- ed neutral during the contest in which France had late- ly been engaged; and had thus protected the weakest portion of her frontier, while the rest of it was assailed by the combined forces of Europe. The merit of this service was now forgotten, and the Directory resolved to render Switzerland one of their tributary states. Ambitious nations have in all ages found it an easy matter to devise apologies for invading the territory of their neighbours. The wealthier branches of the Swiss confederacy were in general governed by hereditary aris- totocracy. Some of the cantons had no government within themselves, but were the subjects of neighbour- ing cantons. In consequence of this circumstance, and of the contending privileges of different orders of men, popular insurrections were more frequent in Switzerland than in any country in Europe, though none was more equitably governed. When an insurrection took place in one canton, its government was frequently under the necessity of soliciting the aid of the government of an adjoining canton, or even of the neighbouring monarchs of France or Sardinia, to enable it to subdue its own rebellious subjects. A dangerous precedent was thus established; and as the French kings had formerly in- terfered in favour of the rulers, the republican Direc- tory now interfered in favour of the subjects. The can- ton of Berne was sovereign of the territory called the Pays de Vaud. In this district dissents had always existed; and an insurrection, under the countenance of the French Directory, broke out towards the end of the year 1797. The government of Berne saw the dan- gerous nature of its own situation; and on the 5th of January issued a proclamation, commanding the inhabi- tants of the Pays de Vaud to assemble in arms, to re- new their oath of allegiance, and to reform every abuse that might appear to exist in their government. A commission was at the same time appointed by the Se- nate or Sovereign Council at Berne to examine all com- plaints, and to redress all grievances. The proceedings of this commission, however, did not keep pace with the popular impatience; and the insurgents began to seize the strong places in their country. The govern- ment of Berne now resolved to reduce them by force, and sent troops against them; but their commander Weiss appears to have acted with much hesitation, if not with treachery. In the mean time, a body of French approached under General Menard. He sent an aide de camp with two hussars, with a message to General Weiss. On the return of the messengers, an accidental affray took place, in which one of the hus- sars was killed. This was magnified into an atrocious breach of the law of nations. The French advanced; and by the end of January obtained possession of the whole Pays de Vaud. Still, however, the government of Berne attempted to preserve peace, while it en- deavoured to prepare for war. The soldiers who had kill- ed the French hussar were delivered up, negotiations were begun, and a truce entered into with General Bruno, who succeeded Menard in the command of the French troops in the Pays de Vaud. As internal com- motions were breaking out in all quarters, an attempt was made to quiet the minds of the people, that they might be induced to unite against the threatened inva- sion. Fifty-two deputies from the different districts were allowed to sit in the Supreme Council of Berne, con- ducted and a similar measure was adopted by the cantons of the Zurich, Lucerne, Fribourg, Soleure, and Schaffhausen, Berne. An army of 25,000 men was at the same time assem- bled, and intrusted to the command of M. d'Erlach, formerly field-marshal in the French service. But dis- affection greatly prevailed in this army, and the people could not be brought to any tolerable degree of union. The French knew all this, and demanded a total change of government. M. d'Erlach, dreading the increasing tendency to defection among his troops, requested leave to dissolve the armistice. It was granted by the govern- ment, and immediately recalled. But the French now refused to negotiate; and on the 24th of March, Gen- eral Schwabenberg, at the head of 13,000 men, entered Soleure.

(x) A copy of an advertisement, issued on this occasion by what was called The Administration of Finances and Contributions of the French Republic in Italy, is to be found in Nicholson's Journal of Philosophy, Chemistry, and the Arts, for May 1798. The advertisement is dated at Rome, 28th Feb. 1798. A copy of it was sent by Hubert, the agent of the French administrators, to Mr Trevor the British minister at Turin, and by him was transmitted to England. The Directory now carried into effect the most fatal of all their projects, that of sending a powerful army to the east to seize upon Egypt, and from thence to attack the empire which Britain has acquired in India.

The treaty with Austria had no sooner been signed at Campo Formio than the Directory excited the expectation of France and of all Europe, by loudly proclaiming their determination to invade Great Britain. They sent troops into their own western departments, called them the Army of England, and appointed Bonaparte their commander-in-chief. This officer, in the mean time, had resided during the winter at Paris. Here he seems to have endeavoured to guard against the jealousy of government, and the envy of individuals, by passing his time in retirement, and assuming the character of a man of letters. He procured himself to be elected a member of the National Institute; but so seldom did he appear abroad, that when he attended some of its public sittings his person was altogether unknown to the spectators. Greedy of renown, but aware that it ultimately depends upon the labours and the approbation of the learned, he never failed, when called into military service, to remind this order of men of his alliance with them, by adding to his name at all proclamations and dispatches the designation of Member of the National Institute.

Whether the expedition to Egypt was now suggested by Bonaparte himself, or whether it was not a farce by which the present rulers of France imposed upon the vanity of an enterprising young man, to enable them to get quit of him and his veteran army, is not known. It is very possible, however, that Bonaparte might neither be the deviser nor the unconscious victim of this plan; but that he might account himself more safe abroad, upon the most hazardous expedition, than exposed at home to the malice of a government that had become jealous of his reputation, and was by no means ferocious in its conduct.

The projected invasion of Egypt was conducted with much secrecy. The world was amused with tales of monstrous rafts to be constructed to convey the army of England over into Britain. To favour the deception, Bonaparte made a journey to the western coast. In the mean time, the fleet was preparing at Toulon, and troops assembling in its neighbourhood. When all was in readiness, Bonaparte embarked with 40,000 of the troops that had fought in Italy. On the 9th of June he arrived at the island of Malta, and contrived to quarrel with the Grandmaster, because he refused to admit so large a fleet all at once into his ports to water. The French General immediately landed his troops in different quarters, and endeavoured to reduce the island. The knights were divided into factions. Many of them, as is now well known, were of the order of Illuminati, and of course prepared to act the part of traitors.

After making a very feeble resistance, the Grandmaster proposed a capitulation; and thus was treacherously surrendered, in a few days, a fortress which, if defended by faithful troops, might have held out for as many weeks against all the forces of the French Republic. Bonaparte, after leaving a garrison of 4000 men in the island, sailed on the 21st of June for Alexandria.

In the mean time, Rear-admiral Nelson, who, in the admiral station of Commodore, had signalized himself in a very high degree under Lord St Vincent, had been dispatched in quest of him from the British fleet, which still blockaded... blockaded Cadiz. Not knowing the object of the French expedition, the British Admiral sailed first to Naples; and having there been informed of the attack upon Malta, he directed his course to that island. By the time he arrived there, however, Bonaparte had departed. Conjecturing now that Alexandria might be the destination of the French troops, he sailed thither; but they had not been seen in that quarter, and he therefore went eagerly in search of them to other parts of the Mediterranean. Bonaparte, in the mean while, instead of steering in a direct line for Alexandria, had proceeded slowly, with his immense train of nearly 400 transports, along the coast of Greece, till he arrived at the eastern extremity of the island of Candia. Here he suddenly turned southward; and in consequence of his circuitous course, did not arrive at the coast of Egypt till Admiral Nelson's fleet had left it. He landed his troops; and on the 5th of July took by storm the city of Alexandria. The inhabitants defended themselves very desperately, but without skill; and for some time a scene of barbarous pillage and massacre ensued. The transports that had conveyed the army were now placed within the inner harbour of Alexandria, and the ships of war under Admiral Bruyes cast anchor in a line close along the shore of what proved to them the fatal Bay of Aboukir. The army proceeded to the Nile, and ascended along the banks of that river, suffering great hardships from the heat of the climate. They were met and encountered by the Mamalukes, or military force that governed Egypt; but these barbarians could not resist the art and order of European war. Cairo was taken on the 23rd of July. On the 25th another battle was fought; and on the 26th the Mamalukes made a last effort in the neighbourhood of the celebrated pyramids for the preservation of their empire. Two thousand of them were killed on this occasion, 400 camels laden with their baggage were taken, along with 50 pieces of cannon.

A provisional government was now established in Egypt. Proclamations were issued in the Arabian tongue, declaring that the French were friendly to the religion of Mahomet, that they acknowledged the authority of the Grand Signior, and had only come to punish the crimes committed by the Mamalukes against their countrymen trading to Egypt. Thus far all had gone well; but on the 1st of August the British fleet appeared at the mouth of the Nile; and the situation of the French fleet having been discovered, Admiral Nelson prepared for an attack. In number of ships the fleets were equal; but in the number of guns and weight of metal the French squadron had the superiority. It was drawn up, too, in a form which suggested to its ill-fated commander the idea of its being invincible; but remaining at anchor, the British Admiral was enabled, by running some of his ships between those of the enemy and the shore, to surround and engage one part of their fleet, while the rest remained unemployed and of no service. In executing this plan of attack, a British ship, the Culloden, ran aground; but this accident only served as a beacon to warn the others of the spot that ought to be avoided. The battle commenced at sunset, and was continued at intervals till daybreak. At last, nine sail of the French line were taken; one ship of the line was burned by her own commander; a frigate was burned in the same manner, to prevent her being taken. The French Admiral's ship L'Orient took fire, and blew up during the action, and only a small number of her crew of 1000 men escaped destruction. Two French ships of the line and two frigates were saved by a timely flight (r).

No naval engagement has in modern times produced such important consequences as this. The unexampled success of his military efforts made by France had gradually dissolved the combination which the princes of Europe formed against her. By the train of victories which Bonaparte had gained, the house of Austria, her most powerful rival, had been humbled and intimidated. The whole continent looked towards the new Republic with consternation; and when the Directory seized upon Rome and Switzerland, none were found hardy enough to interpose in their favour. The current of affairs was now almost instantaneously altered. Europe beheld Bonaparte, with his invincible army, exiled from its shores, and shut up in a barbarous country, from which the triumphant navy of Britain might forever prevent his return. The enemies of France could not beforehand have conceived the possibility of the event which was now realized; and the hope was naturally excited of being able to form a new and more efficient coalition against a government which had so grossly abused the temporary prosperity it had enjoyed. The northern powers began to listen to the proposals made to them by Great Britain for commencing hostilities anew; and the Italian states prepared to make another effort for independence. The court of Naples in particular openly avowed its joy on account of the recent destruction of the French fleet. The king himself put to sea to meet Admiral Nelson on his return from the Nile. Illuminations took place in the capital, and vigorous preparations were made for war. The Grand Signior, who had possessed of late little authority in Egypt, and might perhaps have been induced to relinquish his claims on that province rather than engage his decaying empire in war, now entered into close alliance with Britain, and engaged in hostilities against the French. Tippoo Sultan had stipulated for the aid of a French army against the British in India; but Bonaparte, on taking possession of Suez and the other Egyptian ports on the Red Sea, found no shipping there fit to transport his army to the Indian peninsula. Instead of proceeding therefore upon any splendid scheme of farther conquest, he was compelled to remain in his present situation, and to contend for existence against the whole force of the Ottoman empire.

The French at this time did not venture to send forth any large fleet upon the ocean; but wherever their smaller squadrons appeared, the fortune of Britain overpowered them there no less than it had done in the Mediterranean. They had long promised aid to the disaffected party in Ireland; but weary of fruitless expectation, the Irish had during this summer broken out into rebellion, without waiting the arrival of the troops whom the Directory had engaged to send to their assistance. While the rebellion was at its height, and although the insurgents for some time occupied the sea port of Wexford, the French did not arrive. Afterwards,

(r) The two ships of the line and one of the frigates have been since taken. wards, however, when the rebellion had been totally subdued, they attempted to elude the vigilance of the British fleet, and to land men in small parties. On the 22nd of August, General Humbert came ashore at Killala, at the head of about 1100 men. Even this small party might have been dangerous had it arrived a month earlier; and it actually produced very serious alarm. It consisted of men selected with great care, and capable of enduring much fatigue. They were joined by a few of the most refractory of the discontented Irish in the neighbourhood, and speedily defeated General Lake, who advanced against them with a superior force, taking from him five pieces of cannon. They next marched in different directions, for the purpose of raising the people, and maintained their ground in the country during three weeks. Finding, however, that he was not seconded by additional troops from France, that the rebellion in Ireland had been fully subdued, and that 25,000 men under Lord Cornwallis were closing round him, Humbert dismissed his Irish associates; and four days thereafter, having encountered one of the British columns in his march, he laid down his arms. Now, when it was too late, the Directory was very active in sending troops towards Ireland; but all their efforts were defeated by the superiority of the British navy.

On the 12th of October, Sir John Borlase Warren took La Roche, a ship of 84 guns, and four frigates, attempting to reach Ireland with nearly 3000 men on board. The other ships belonging to the French squadron, which conveyed 5000 men in all, contrived to make their escape by sailing round by the north of the island. On the 20th of the same month another frigate bound for Ireland was taken; and the French finding that the sea was completely occupied by the British fleet, were at last compelled to desist from their enterprise.

Ever since the treaty of Campo Formio had been concluded, a congress of ministers from the French Directory, and from the German princes, had been negotiating at Rastadt a treaty between France and the empire. As these negotiations terminated in nothing, and were tedious and uninteresting during their progress, it is unnecessary to enter into a detail of the steps by which they were conducted. The intended result of them had been previously arranged between the Emperor and the Directory in the secret convention of Campo Formio, which has been already mentioned. That the articles of this convention might be concealed, the French ministers at Rastadt formally brought forward their proposals in succession for the discussion of the German deputies. The French demanded that the Rhine should be the boundary of their Republic. The Germans refused this. References were made to the diet of Ratibone, and long discussions and negotiations took place among the different princes. When it was found that little was to be expected from the protection of Austria, the German deputies at Rastadt were instructed to offer one half of the territory demanded. This offer was refused, and new negotiations took place. The other half was at last yielded up, and a long discussion commenced about the debts due by the ceded territory, which the French refused to pay. The tolls upon the river, and upon the rivers flowing into the Rhine, also gave rise to much altercation. It was even a matter of no small difficulty, after all, to determine the precise boundary of France; whether her territory should extend to the left bank, the right bank, or the thalweg, that is, the middle of the navigable channel of the river. It became also a question how those princes ought to be indemnified who lost their revenues or territories by the new acquisitions of France; and it was at length agreed that they should receive portions of the ecclesiastical estates in Germany.

These difficulties, conducted with endless formality and procrastination, still occupied the congress at Rastadt; but it now became gradually more probable that no treaty would be concluded at that place. Austria began to strengthen her armies in all quarters. Ruffians, who had hitherto avoided any active interference in the war on the Continent, placed a large body of troops in British pay, and sent them towards the German frontiers. The king of Naples avowedly and eagerly prepared for war. This impatient monarch, resolving to attack without delay the French troops who occupied the Roman territory, procured General Mack and other officers from the court of Vienna to assume the command of his army. Without waiting, however, till Austria should commence the attack, he rashly began the war alone and unaided, excepting by the British fleet, and thus drew upon himself the whole force of the French Republic. The Directory did not suspect such imprudent conduct on the part of this prince; and accordingly, when General Mack entered the Roman territory, at the head of 45,000 men, the French troops in that quarter were altogether unequal to the contest. A French ambassador still resided at Naples when this event took place, and war was not declared. When the French General Championnet complained of the attack made upon his posts under these circumstances, he was informed in a letter by General Mack, that the king of Naples had resolved to take possession of the Roman territory, having never acknowledged its existence as a Republic; he therefore required the French quietly to depart into the Cispalpine states; declaring, that any act of hostility on their part, or their entrance into the territory of Tuscany, would be regarded as a declaration of war. Championnet, finding himself unable to resist the force now brought against him, actually evacuated Rome. He then left, however, a garrison in the castle of St. Angelo, and petitioned the Directory to concentrate whatever troops he could take hastily collect in the northern extremity of the Roman state. Towards the end of November, General Mack entered Rome without opposition.

When these events came to be known at Paris, war was immediately declared against the king of Naples, and also against the king of Sardinia. This last prince had made no attack upon France; but he was accused by the Directory, in their message to the Councils, of disaffection to the Republic, and of wishing to join the king of Naples in his hostile efforts. This accusation could not well be false. From the period of Bonaparte's successful irruption into Italy, the king of Sardinia had felt himself placed in the most humiliating circumstances; his most important fortresses were occupied by the French; they levied in his country what contributions they thought fit; and when they recently required him to receive a garrison into his capital, he found himself unable to resist the demand. Even now, when they performed the useless ceremony of declaring war, he could make no effort in his own defence, and of Sardinia. quietly gave them a formal resignation in writing of his whole continental dominions, consenting to retire to the island of Sardinia.

In the mean time, the contest with Naples was soon decided. The French on their retreat were much harassed by the people of the country. The Neapolitan troops regarded them with such animosity, that they scarcely observed the modern rules of war towards the prisoners who fell into their hands. Even their leaders seemed in this respect to have forgotten the practice of nations; for when General Bouchard, by order of General Mack, summoned the castle of St. Angelo to surrender, he declared, that he would consider the prisoners of war and the sick in the hospitals as hostages for the conduct of the garrison; and that for every gun that should be fired from the castle, a man should be put to death. It cannot well be imagined that the Neapolitan officers would have acted in this vehement manner, had they not expected countenance and support from the immediate cooperation of Austrian troops. In their hopes from this quarter, however, they were completely disappointed. Mindful of her recent calamities, and attentive only to her own aggrandisement, Austria seems still to have expected more from negotiation than from war, and the territory of Naples soon fell into the hands of the French. Such indeed was the terror of the French name in Italy, or such was the disaffection or cowardice of the Neapolitan troops themselves, that they were beaten by one-fourth of their number in different engagements, at Termi, Porto Fermo, Civita Castellana, Otricoli, and Calvi.

At the commencement of the contest, a body of Neapolitans, with the assistance of the British fleet, had been landed at Leghorn, for the purpose of taking the French in the rear; but they, disregarding this attempt on the part of such an enemy, pressed on towards Naples. By degrees, General Mack's army being reduced by the result of the battles which it fought, and by defection, to 12,000 men, he found it necessary to advise the king and royal family of Naples to take refuge on board the British fleet. They did so; and arrived at Palermo, in Sicily, on the 27th of December, in the British Admiral Lord Nelson's ship. General Mack, in the mean time, requested an armistice, to afford an opportunity for making peace; but this was refused. Being driven from Capua, which is the last military post of any strength in the Neapolitan territory, and his life being in no small danger from the disaffection of his own troops, he at last found it necessary to seek for safety, by surrendering himself, along with the officers of his staff, to the French General. The governor of Naples, in the mean time, offered to the French a contribution in money, if the commander-in-chief would consent to avoid entering that city. The offer was accepted, and the invading army remained at Capua. General Servier, on the 28th of December, at the head of a column of French troops, expelled the Neapolitans from Leghorn, and took possession of that place. So far as the efforts of regular armies are to be considered, the war might now therefore be regarded as brought to a termination; but the French had speedily a new and unusual enemy to contend against.

From the mildness of the climate, and the fertility of the soil, human life can be sustained in the southern parts of Italy with fewer efforts of industry than in almost any other country in Europe. Hence arises a general propensity to idleness, which is increased by the numerous charitable institutions to which the Roman Catholic religion gives rise. In the city of Naples there had long existed a body of persons under the denomination of Lazzaroni or beggars, amounting to the incredible number of from thirty to forty thousand men, who did nothing, and subsisted merely by charity, or by such shifts as occasionally occurred to them. One of these frequently was the menacing the state with an insurrection, in case their wants were not instantly supplied; which usually drew from a feeble administration very liberal distributions of money and provisions. On the present occasion they demonstrated abundance of loyalty; but the king had thought fit to avoid entrusting his safety to such defenders. During the confusion which followed the flight of the court and the approach of the French army, the Lazzaroni became mutinous. They heard that the French abolished, wherever they came, all those monasteries and other religious establishments which are the great sources of public charity. The Lazzaroni, therefore, conceived the most violent hatred against them, and against all who were suspected of favouring opinions hostile to royal government. In the beginning of January they began to shew symptoms of discontent, and in a few days broke out into open insurrection. The members of the government left by the king, overcome by habitual terror of the Lazzaroni, consulted merely their own personal safety, and made no effort to preserve the public tranquillity. Prince Militoni had gained considerable applause on account of his vigorous defence of Capua against the French. The Lazzaroni therefore elected him their commander in chief; but he attempted in vain to restrain their violence and love of plunder. They declared hostility against the French and all the advisers of the armistice. They broke open the prisons, and put to death all those who were confined on account of political offences against the royal government. They next spread themselves over the city in search of those persons whom they considered as favourable to the invaders, and committed murder and robbery in all quarters, concluding by burning the houses of those accounted disaffected. An attempt was made by a considerable body of the inhabitants, who thought themselves in the greatest danger, to resist their fury, by fortifying the convent of the Celestins, and retiring thither; but the Lazzaroni, after encountering the fire of cannon and of musketry, succeeded in storming the place, and destroyed all who had taken refuge there. Their power and their fury were now equally boundless, and the city became in many quarters a scene of massacre and pillage. Prince Militoni, therefore, went to Capua, and requested Championnet to rescue Naples from utter ruin by occupying it with his army. For this purpose it was arranged, that a column of French troops should secretly advance by a circuitous march, and suddenly enter the city from the opposite quarter. Before this plan could be fully executed, the Lazzaroni had adopted the daring resolution of attacking the French within the fortifications of Capua. Accordingly two-thirds of them marched out upon this enterprise, and spent the 19th and 20th of January in attempting to take Capua by assault. Multitudes of these men here perished by the artillery of the place; for the French... French, to favour the capture of Naples by the party that had been sent eastward for that purpose, avoided making any sally, and remained upon the defensive. The Lazzaroni at Capua, however, having learned on the 21st that a French column had marched to Naples, and approached the gates, suddenly returned to the assistance of their brethren in the capital. They were closely pursued by the French; but they had leisure, nevertheless, to barricade the streets, and to form themselves into parties for the defence of different quarters.

A dreadful and sanguinary contest now ensued, which lasted from the morning of the 22d to the evening of the 23d of January. The Lazzaroni, with some peasants who had joined them, disputed obstinately every spot of ground; and by the energy which they displayed, cast a severe reproach upon the feeble and unhelpful government, which had not been able to direct in a better manner the courage of such men. At length, after having been gradually driven from street to street, the Lazzaroni rallied for the last time at one of the gates of the city, where they were nearly exterminated.

The inhabitants rejoiced on account of their own escape from immediate ruin; and while the French armies found themselves become odious in all the other countries which they had entered, they here found themselves, from the peculiar circumstances of the case, received with unfeigned welcome, in a city which holds the third place in population and splendour among the capitals of Europe.

This may be regarded as the last triumph enjoyed by the Directory. The consequences of their conduct were now gathering fast around them. They were deservedly unpopular at home; not only from the violations they had offered to the constitution of their country, but also from the manner in which they conducted public affairs in detail. They set no bounds to their profusion, or to the exactions with which their agents vexed the conquered countries. Championnet, ashamed of the extortions of which the commissaries of the Directory were guilty, attempted in Italy to restrain them; and the consequence was, that, upon the complaint of the commissary Tappoult, he was deprived of his command, and thrown into prison. Scherer, the minister of war, was appointed his successor. Under him the rapacity of the agents of government, and the embezzlement of the public stores, was carried to its height. The numbers of the armies were suffered to decline, that the Directory, the commissaries, and the generals, might become rich. Thus the state was left totally unprepared against the storm which was now rapidly gathering from abroad. Still, however, France was feared by the neighbouring nations, to whom the present state of her internal affairs was obscurely known. Though an army of 45,000 Russians had advanced to the aid of Austria, yet that Cabinet hesitated to declare war. Prussia was eagerly solicited by Britain to take up arms against France, and large pecuniary aid was offered; but Sieyès, the Directory's ambassador at Berlin, artfully contrived to defeat this negociation, and to counteract the unpopularity of his country in Germany, by publishing the secret convention at Campo Formio, which we have already mentioned. This treaty demonstrated so clearly to the German princes the utter unconcern with which their independence and their interests were regarded by the head of the empire, that no steady co-operation with Austria could henceforth be expected from them. The greater number of them, therefore, resolved to maintain their neutrality under the protection of Prussia.

On the 24th of January, the French ministers at Rastadt presented a note to the congress, in which they intimated, that the entrance of Russian troops into Germany, if not resisted, would be regarded by them as a declaration of war. Some negociation took place in consequence of this note, but no satisfactory answer was returned. On the 26th of that month, the strong forts of Ehrenbreitstein surrendered, after having remained under blockade since the conclusion of the treaty of Campo Formio. By the possession of this place, and of Mentz and Dusseldorf, France was now rendered very formidable on the Rhine. As the fortified places of Switzerland, and all the fortified places of Italy, she was well prepared, not only for defence, but for active operation; for it is now known, that the conferences of Rastadt were purposely protracted, by orders from the Directory, till the French armies should be ready to take the field with advantage against an enemy whose conduct betrayed the most culpable tardiness. At this time Jourdan commanded the Upper Rhine from Mentz to Huningen; MacDonald occupied the Lower Rhine towards the Grisons country; Schérer was commander-in-chief in Italy; Moreau acted as general of a division under him; and Macdonald commanded the troops that occupied the territory of Rome and Naples. But these armies that kept in seclusion, and were now to defend so many countries, scarcely amounted to 170,000 men in all, and were far outnumbered by the armies which Austria alone, without the aid of Russia, could bring into the field. The Directory, however, confiding in the unity of its own plans, in the undivided politics of the court of Vienna, and in the consequent slow movements of the Imperial armies, was eager to renew the war; and the two Councils, on the 13th of March, declared France to be at war with the Emperor of Germany and the Grand Duke of Tuscany. The war, however, had already been begun. On the 11th of March Jourdan crossed the Rhine at Strasbourg, and occupied several strong positions in Swabia. Mannheim was taken, and Philippsburg summoned to surrender by Bernadotte (G), while St Cyr entered Stuttgart. On the 4th of March the Austrians crossed the Lech, under the command of the Archduke Charles, to oppose this army. Mautens advanced into the territory of

(c) This summons was conceived in very extraordinary terms, and cannot be accounted for but upon the supposition that Bernadotte believed the Austrian officers infected with French principles. He calls upon the commander of the fortress to surrender without resistance, and thus violate the trust reposed in him by his sovereign. He tells him, that a discharge of his duty would produce the defection of his officers and men. He warns him of the folly and danger of leading troops to action against their will; and, lastly, he threatens him with vengeance if he should dare to resist! of the Grisons; and surprising a strong body of Austrians, took them all prisoners, together with their General Auffenburgh, and the whole of his staff, after a desperate resistance under the walls of Coire. The reduction of the Grisons was the consequence of this victory.

But in order to complete the plan of the French, which was to effect a junction with their two armies, that of Massena in Switzerland with that of Jourdan in Germany, it was necessary to carry the important post of Feldkirch, which was occupied by the Austrian General Hotze, whose line extended from the frontiers of the Grisons, to the north-east by the Vorarlberg, to the eastern extremity of the Lake Constance. Vigorously repulsed in his first attack, Massena renewed it, five different times, with fresh forces, and increased impetuosity. But all could not avail against the steady bravery of the Austrians, who drove back the assailants with immense slaughter. The French, however, being in possession of the Grisons, the invasion of the Engadine, and the county of Bormio, by a division of the army of Italy cantoned in the Valtesine, under the orders of General Caffabianca, was facilitated. The Austrians, too weak in that quarter to resist them, retreated into the Tyrol, whither they were pursued by the French, who forced some of the defiles by which the entrance of that country was defended, and extended their destructive incursions as far as Glurns and Nauders.

Meanwhile the vanguard of the main army of the Imperialists pushed forward to meet the enemy. On the 26th of March it was attacked by Jourdan, who drove in the outposts; but on the following day that general was himself attacked in the centre of his army, driven from his position, and compelled to retire during the night to Stockach. Both parties now prepared for a decisive engagement. On the 24th, the Archduke encamped before Stockach, with his right wing towards Nellenburg, and his left near Wallenweiss. On the 25th, at daybreak, the French army began the attack. They directed their chief efforts against the right wing of the Austrians commanded by General Meerfeldt. The battle was long and obstinate. From five o'clock in the morning till past one of the afternoon, its termination remained extremely doubtful. The French succeeded in their attempt against General Meerfeldt. His position was forced, and he retreated into a wood between Lipzingen and Stockach. Here he renewed the combat without success. He was gradually driven to the extremity of the wood, though it is a German mile in breadth. The left wing of the Austrians, however, had in the mean time maintained its ground, and reinforcements were sent from it to General Meerfeldt. With the assistance of these he at last succeeded in making a stand, and even obliged the French to retire in their turn. At length, about two o'clock, the French found it necessary to withdraw from this quarter. The battle, however, was continued in different points till night came on. The French remained upon the ground where they had begun the attack, and they even retained 4000 prisoners whom they had taken during the various movements of the day. The result of the battle, upon the whole, however, was fatal to their affairs. Their loss was so great, and the superiority of the Austrians so manifest, that Jourdan dared not to hazard another engagement. On the following day he retired to Weiler near Durlingen; and finding his army altogether unequal to offensive operations, he sent back one part of it to cover Kehl and Straßburg, while he withdrew with the other towards Switzerland. This event compelled Massena, who was pressing upon Tyrol and the Engadine, to return to the defence of Switzerland. He was immediately intrusted with the chief command of the troops in this quarter, in the room of Jourdan, who was removed. The Austrians continued to advance in every direction, and immediately occupied the whole of the right, or German side, of the Rhine, from the lake of Constance to Mentz.

In Italy the success of the Austrians was equally conspicuous, notwithstanding the treachery of the French in attacking them before the expiration of the truce. The attempt of the latter to force the advanced posts of the former, on the 26th of March, at Santa Lucia and Buffalengo, was rendered abortive; and at Legnago, the Austrian general, Kray, obtained a complete victory, and compelled them to seek protection under the walls of Mantua. On the 5th of April, the Austrians again attacked them in their position at Mirimurolo, which lies on the road from Mantua to Peschiera, and compelled them, after an obstinate conflict, once more to retreat. The loss of the French in these different actions was undoubtedly great; but it is probably overrated at 30,000 men killed, wounded, and taken.

The success of the Austrians, however, was not cheaply purchased. Scherer, who commanded the French army, gained over them, at first, some advantages, which, had he known how to improve them, might have given a different turn to the tide of affairs. One division of his army had actually forced the Austrian posts on the 26th of March, and taken 4000 prisoners; but the other division being repulsed, he withdrew his troops from their advanced position, and thus relinquished the advantage which he had gained. Even on the 5th of April, Moreau's division performed prodigies of valour, and took, it has been said, 3000 prisoners; but from the injudicious dispositions which had been made by Scherer, that general was not supported, and the victory of the Austrians was complete. Kray now quickly drove the French from the Mantuan, and compelled them, after having sustained new losses, to relinquish their strong holds on the Mincio and the Adige, and to retreat to the Adda.

On the banks of this river, rendered remarkable for the dear bought victories which Bonaparte had obtained at the bridge of Lodi, the French general Moreau, to whom the Directory had given the chief command of their army, prepared to make a vigorous defence. The military talents of this man had been rendered unquestionable by his celebrated retreat through a hostile country, and before a victorious army ably commanded. On the present occasion he did not belie his former character. Nothing that could give courage or confidence to his troops was neglected. Entrenchments were thrown up wherever the river was considered as passable; and a situation, remarkably strong by Nature, was strengthened by every means which art could supply.

Before this period, a considerable body of Russians had joined the Imperialists; and the chief command of the allied army was now assumed by Field Marshal Suvarow Rimmiki. This celebrated leader, whose cha- racter every democratic labour to misrepresent, had entered into the army at the age of twelve, and risen from the ranks to the station which he now holds, of Generalissimo of the Russian armies. Possessed of strong natural talents, he had likewise the benefit of an excellent education, and is said, by those who are personally known to him, as well as acquainted with the state of literature in Russia, to be one of the best classical scholars of all the natives of that great empire. He had studied, in early life, mathematics and natural philosophy, as branches of science absolutely necessary to the man whose highest ambition is to become a great commander; and his knowledge of the learned, as well as of the fashionable languages, has enabled him to avail himself of all that has been written either by the ancients or the moderns on the art of war. This art has indeed been his chief study from his youth; it has been at once his business and his amusement.

Possessed with his countrymen, in general, of the most undaunted courage, and formed by Nature to endure the greatest fatigue, it is not surprising, that with all these advantages Suwarrow should have long ago acquired the character of one of the ablest generals of his time. It is indeed true, that, till the opening of the campaign of 1799, he had distinguished himself only against the Turks, whom we are too apt to despise, and against the Poles when divided among themselves; but let it be remembered, that the enthusiastic courage of those same Turks had found employment for the talents of some of the ablest generals in Europe, a Laudon and a Cobourg; and that the Polish armies which Suwarrow subdued were united by the strongest of all ties—the knowledge that they must conquer or perish.

All this was so well known to Frederic the Great, that he held the military talents of the Russian hero in the highest esteem; and the attention of all Europe was now turned towards the quarter where those talents were to be exerted in the support of social order, and of every thing which ennobles man. His operations in Italy did not disappoint the highest expectations which had been formed of them. At an age considerably above sixty, he began a campaign not less remarkable for its activity than any which had gone before it since the commencement of the French revolution. We are by no means prepared, however, to do justice to the various military efforts which were now made, or to explain clearly the means employed to insure success. If the work entitled the History of Suwarrow's Campaigns be deserving of credit, the superiority of that commander over his rivals and opponents seems to have at all times consisted principally in the promptitude with which he formed his plans, and the rapidity with which he carried them into execution. It is likewise said to be a maxim of his, always to commence the attack when he sees a battle inevitable, from the persuasion that the ardour of the attacking army more than counterbalances the advantage of ground, if that advantage be not very great. Such was certainly the principle upon which he acted at present.

On the 24th of April the combined army advanced to the Adda; and having driven in Mortau's outposts, Suwarrow resolved, on the 26th, to attack him in his entrenchments. For this purpose, while the show of an attack was maintained along the whole line, a bridge was secretly thrown over among the rocks at the upper part of the river, where the French had thought such an enterprise unlikely or impossible. A party of the combined army was thus enabled, on the following morning, after crossing the river, to turn the French fortifications, and to attack their flank and rear, while the rest of the army forced the passage of the river at different points. The French fought obstinately, but were speedily driven from all their positions, and compelled to retire to Pavia, leaving 6000 men on the field; while upwards of 5000 prisoners, including 4 generals, fell into the hands of the allies, together with 82 pieces of cannon.

The advantage thus obtained over the French, in consequence of the address with which the Adda was crossed, is said to have gained for Suwarrow more estimation from his antagonists than they had originally been disposed to grant to any military officer coming from Russia, and who had never before had personal experience of the mode in which war is conducted in the south of Europe. But this is probably affectation. The French had surely no cause to despise Russian generals, since they could not but know that Laudon was born in Russia, that he had his military education there, and that he had risen to a high rank in the army before he entered into the service of the Empress Queen Maria Theresa. Indeed it is evident, that while their orators were declaiming against Suwarrow and his Russians as merciless barbarians, they were secretly trembling at his prowess and resources, which they could not but remember had more than once saved the armies of the Prince of Cobourg in the Turkish war.

Moreau now established the wreck of the French army, amounting to about 12,000 men, upon the Po, between Alessandria and Valentia. On the 11th of May he compelled a body of Austrians to retire, though they had already passed the river, and took a great number of them prisoners. On the following day, 7000 Russians crossed the Po at Bassignano, and advanced on Pecetto. Moreau immediately fell upon them with his army. They maintained a long and desperate conflict; but being at last thrown into confusion, and refusing to lay down their arms, about 2000 of them were drowned in recrossing the river, and the French, with difficulty, took a small number of them prisoners. But Suwarrow soon advanced, and terminated this active, but petty warfare, which was all that the French could now maintain. Moreau was under the necessity of retiring with his troops to occupy the Bochetta, and other passes which lead to the Genoese territory; and the combined army commenced vigorously, and at once, the siege of all the fortresses in the part of Italy which it now occupied. Pechiera, Mantua, Ferrara, Tortona, Alessandria, and the citadels of Turin and Milan, were all attacked. The French were driven from the Engadine by Bellegarde; Mailletz, closely pressed in Switzerland by the Archduke Charles, was compelled to retreat to the neighbourhood of Zurich, and almost all Piedmont had risen in insurrection against the French; so that in every quarter their affairs seemed desperate. Few or no reinforcements arrived from the interior, and their generals were left to act upon the defensive, and to detain the enemy at a distance from the frontiers of France as long as possible. One effort of offensive war only remained, and, after some delay, it was made with much vigour.

Macdonald Macdonald was still with a considerable French army in the southern parts of Italy, and occupied the territories of Rome and Naples. No attempt was made on the part of the combined powers to cut off his retreat; probably from the conviction that such an enterprise could not be accomplished with success in the mountainous countries of Tuscany and Genoa, through which it would be in his power to pass. Aware of this circumstance, he was in no haste to remove, though the combined army now occupied almost the whole territory between him and France. He gradually concentrated his forces, however, and drew near to the scene of action. His army amounted to 30,000 men; and he was ordered by the Directory to evacuate the new-born republics of Rome and Naples, and to form a junction, if possible, with the army of Moreau. The present situation of the allies, however, tempted Macdonald to hazard an action by himself. Marshal Suwarrow had extended his forces over Lombardy and part of Piedmont, in order to afford protection to the well-disposed inhabitants of these countries; and Macdonald and Moreau had concerted between them a plan for dividing their antagonists, and vanquishing them, as the French generals had often vanquished their enemies in detail. It was only by Macdonald, however, that any important blow could be struck; but it was necessary that Moreau should draw upon himself a great part of the Austro-Russian forces, that the remainder might be more completely exposed to his colleague's attack. For this purpose he had recourse to a stratagem.

Towards the end of April, the French fleet, amounting to 16 ships of the line, had ventured out of Brest harbour. Ireland was supposed to be the place of its destination; and the British fleet was stationed in the situations most likely to prevent its arrival there. The French, however, intending to form a junction with the Spanish fleet, which was still blockaded in the port of Cadiz, sailed southward. When they approached Cadiz, a storm arose, which prevented any attempt on their part to enter the harbour, and any effort on the part of the British admiral, Lord Keith, to bring them to an engagement. On the 4th and 5th of May, therefore, they passed the Strait of Gibraltar, and steered for Toulon. Lord Keith kept his station near Cadiz till the 9th of May, and then entered the Mediterranean in quest of the French fleet. The Spaniards immediately put to sea, and went into the Mediterranean also. The French fleet entered Toulon, and afterwards went out in quest of the Spanish fleet. They failed towards Genoa, and afterwards to Carthagena, where they met their allies. The two fleets being now united once more, passed Gibraltar, and sailed round to Brest, where they arrived in safety, without being overtaken by the British.

Moreau, in the mean time, took advantage of the arrival of the French and Spanish squadrons in the vicinity of Genoa, to spread a report that they had brought him a powerful reinforcement of troops, in the hope of withdrawing from Macdonald the attention of Suwarrow. This last officer was himself at Turin. His advanced troops possessed the passes of Sufa, Pignerol, and the Col d'Affiette; while, at the lower extremity of the vast track of country over which his army was scattered, General Hohenzollern was posted at Modena with a considerable force, and General Ott was at Reggio with 10,000 men. On the 12th of June, Macdonald began his operations. His advanced divisions attacked Hohenzollern at Modena on that day, defeated him, and took 2000 of his men prisoners. The French, at the same time, attacked General Ott; and, after obliging him to retreat, they entered Parma on the 14th of June. On the 17th, General Ott was again attacked, and compelled to retire upon Caillet St Giovanni. But here the progress of Macdonald was arrested.

Suwarrow had been informed of his approach and alarming successes; and with that presence of mind, and that promptitude of energy, which so strongly mark the whole of his conduct, he suddenly left Turin on the 15th of June, at the head of 20,000 men; and having marched seventeen leagues in eight-and-forty hours, came up with Macdonald's army on the banks of the Tidone. The Russian Generals Rosenberg and Foerster commanded the right and the centre; the left wing was commanded by the Austrian General Melas; the Russian General Prince Proceration commanded the advanced guard, and Prince Lichtenstein the reserve. A desperate action now commenced, which, contested with equal obstinacy on both sides, was fought during three successive days. At length victory, still faithful to the standard of Suwarrow, declared for the allies. The French, driven on the 11th day from the Tidone to Suwarrow, the Trebbia, were there ultimately defeated on the 19th, after a carnage on both sides, such as some of the oldest officers in the army declared that they had never before seen. The Russians and French repeatedly turned each other's line, and were mutually repulsed. Suwarrow, who appeared in person wherever the fire was heaviest, and his troops most closely pressed, is said to have had 7 horses killed under him, and to have stript himself to the skin on the 19th, running on foot from rank to rank, to urge the troops forward by his presence and example (ii). With all these exertions of heroism, however, and greater have seldom been made, the issue of the contest continued doubtful, till the gallant Kray, in direct disobedience to the pernicious orders of the Aulic Council at Vienna, arrived at the head of a large detachment from the army besieging Mantua, and, on the 19th, decided the fate of the day.

The French fled during the night; and, on the morning of the 20th, Suwarrow pursued them with his army in two columns. It seldom happens that German troops can overtake the French in a march. The Russians now did so, however; and at Zena the rear guard of the French, being surrounded, laid down their arms.

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(ii) We had this information from an officer of high rank, now residing in Weimar, who was present in the action; and who added, that the Cossacks, as soon as they saw their old commander in his shirt, rushed upon the enemy with an impetuosity which nothing could withstand. The story is by no means incredible; for Suwarrow, who despises costume, is known to have fought repeatedly in his shirt against the Turks; and he would be as hot on the Trebbia as ever he was on the Danube. The rest of the French army found safety in the passes of the Appennines and the Genoese territory, after having lost on this occasion, in killed, wounded, and prisoners, not less than 17,000 men.

Moreau, in the mean time, had attacked the Austrians under General Bellegarde in the vicinity of Alexandria. Though superior to him in numbers, they were completely beaten; but Suarrow having returned with infinite rapidity after his victory over Macdonald, the temporary advantage gained by Moreau became of no importance. Suarrow complained loudly of the conduct of the Allied Council on this occasion; while they, in return, imputed their disaster under Bellegarde to his unskilful distribution of the whole troops, which had exposed an immense army to great danger from the enterprises of a handful of men. It is not our business to decide between them. The instructions of the Council to Kray not to co-operate with the commander-in-chief of the combined army, seem to us in the highest degree absurd, if not treacherous; and we have heard a general officer, whose name, were we at liberty to give it, would do honour to these pages, say, that the distribution of the troops, of which that council complained, was the most matterly thing that has been done during the war. Be this as it may, a distrust and mutual misunderstanding thus commenced, or, at least, made its first open appearance, which gave good reason to suspect that little cordiality of co-operation would long exist between these allies. They continued, however, for some time to enjoy uninterrupted prosperity under the command of Suarrow. The sieges of the different Italian fortresses were very closely pressed. They all surrendered in succession; and the period appeared fast approaching when it would be in the power of the allied armies to enter the ancient territory of France.

If we turn our eyes to a different quarter, we shall find the French as much humbled at this time in Palestine by British valour, as they were in Italy by the united armies of Russia and Austria. The hero of France, the conqueror of Italy, the boasted legislator of Europe, after having defeated the Mamelukes, taken possession of Alexandria and Cairo, and professed himself a Mahometan in Egypt, led an army into Palestine with the avowed purpose, it has been said, to take possession of Jerusalem, and by rebuilding the temple, and restoring the Jews, to give the lie to the prophecies of the Divine founder of the Christian religion. At the head of a chosen band, exceeding 12,000 in number, and possessed of a staff eminent for military skill and experience, he arrived at the small town of Acre, situated on the sea-coast, 28 miles south of Tyre, and 37 north of Jerusalem. To this town, which was wretchedly fortified, and defended only by a small garrison of Mussulmans, he laid siege in form; and the governor would have surrendered unconditionally, had he not been, we say not persuaded, but deceived, by an English naval officer, to make a vigorous resistance. We need not add, that the naval officer was Sir Sidney Smith, or that the besieging general was Bonaparte.

The command of the garrison being entrusted to Sir Sidney Smith, who was not to be bribed by French gold, or corrupted by French philosophy, the hero who, by the aid of these allies, had so quickly routed armies, and conquered states in Italy, was detained before the town of Acre sixty-nine days; though the number of the allies who defended that town exceeded not 2000 men! Foiled in eleven different attempts to carry it by assault, one of which was made during the truce which he himself had solicited to bury the dead, he was ultimately obliged to retreat, leaving eight of his generals, eighty-five of his officers, and one half of his army behind him. The superiority of the British over the Corsican hero was, during this siege, more fully displayed in conduct than even in courage. The true magnanimity evinced by the former; his temperate replies to the audacious calumnies and atrocious falsehoods of his adversary; and the moderation and humanity which characterized his dispatches, and invariably marked his behaviour to those whom the fortune of war subjected to his power—gave additional lustre to the brilliant victory which his valour, his energy, and his perseverance, so essentially contributed to secure.

But while we pay a tribute of justice to the merits of our gallant countryman, we must not omit to notice the high deserts of the brave, the loyal, the virtuous Philippians, his gallant comrade, the partner of his toils, and the partaker of his glory. The skill of this French officer as an engineer was most successfully displayed in the defence of Acre; and, indeed, his exertions on that memorable occasion so far surpassed his strength, that he actually perished through fatigue.

The defeat of Bonaparte at Acre, which effectively stopped his destructive career, will be considered as important indeed, when it is known that his arts of intrigue had so far succeeded as to prevail on the numerous tribe of the Druzes to join his standard with sixty thousand men immediately after the reduction of that town. Had this junction been effected, it was intended to proceed to Constantinople, and, after plundering the city, to lay it in ashes! It is scarcely possible to calculate the dreadful consequences of such an event on the political fate of Europe. If services are to be estimated in proportion to their effects, we know of none, during the present war, fertile as it has been in brilliant achievements, that deserves a higher reward than the defeat of Bonaparte at Acre.

During these reverses abroad, France had begun to suffer much internal agitation, and the Directory found itself in a very difficult situation. The elections, as usual, were unfavourable to them; and amidst the contempt with which they now began to be regarded, it was no longer possible to secure a majority in the Councils, by unconstitutionally annulling the elections of their political opponents. They demanded money, and were answered by reproaches, on account of their profusion, and the rapacity of their agents. The royalists in the South and West began to form insurrections; they were subdued with much difficulty, on account of the absence of the troops. The people had totally lost that enthusiasm which, in the earlier periods of the revolution, induced them to submit to so many evils, and to make the most violent efforts without murmuring. They beheld the renewal of the war with regret, and were unwilling to afflict by their exertions to restore power and splendour to the faction which had trampled upon their freedom.

Amidst all these difficulties, an event occurred which, for a time, gave the Directory the hope of being once more able to rouse the dormant energies of their countrymen. After the defeat of Jourdan, a detachment from the army of the Archduke Charles had occupied Raffadt, where the Congress still sat. On the 28th of April an order was sent by an Imperial officer to the French ministers, requiring them to quit Raffadt in 24 hours. They demanded a passport from Colonel Barbaufy, who had sent the order; but this he could not grant, none having that power but the commander in chief. They declared themselves determined to depart without delay, although the evening approached. They were detained about an hour at the gate of the town, in consequence of general orders which had been received by the military to suffer none to pass. In consequence of an explanation, however, and of the interposition of superior officers, they were allowed to depart. The three ministers, Bonnier, Roberjot, and Jean Debray, were in carriages. The wife of Roberjot, and the wife and daughters of Jean Debray, were along with them; and they were attended by the ministers of the Cisalpine republic. When they had advanced to a very short distance from Raffadt, they were met by about 50 hussars of the regiment of Saeckler, who made the carriages to halt; and advancing to the first of them, containing Jean Debray, demanded his name. He told them his name; and added that he was a French minister returning to France. On receiving this answer, they immediately tore him from his carriage, wounded him in several places with their sabres, and cast him into a ditch, on the supposition that he was killed. They treated in the same manner the two other ambassadors, Bonnier and Roberjot, whom they murdered upon the spot. They offered no personal violence, however, to the rest of the company, who were allowed to return to Raffadt; but they robbed the carriages of whatever effects they contained; and the papers of the ambassadors were conveyed to the Austrian commander. After the departure of the soldiers, and the return of the carriages to Raffadt, Jean Debray wandered about the woods all night, and returned also to Raffadt on the following day. He claimed the papers belonging to the legation from the Austrian commander, but they were refused to be restored.

During the whole of the long period that the Congress had sat, Raffadt and its vicinity had been occupied by French troops, and it was only a few days since the Austrians had obtained possession of it. This event therefore cast, at least, a severe reproach upon the discipline of the Austrian army. It did more; it made every honest man regret, that troops, engaged in the support of a good cause, should think to promote that cause by the murder even of the greatest villains. The Archduke Charles had hitherto disclaimed all knowledge of it in a letter to Maffensa; but the French Directory, regarding it as a fortunate occurrence, from its tendency to rouse the resentment of the nation, addressed to the two Councils, on the 5th of May, a message, in which they ascribed it to a deliberate purpose on the part of the Austrian government to insult France by the assassination of her ambassadors. They thus converted the private act of a few desperate individuals into a measure of public policy; as if the death of those wretched miscreants could have been of consequence to the enemies of the great nation. The unpopularity of the Directory, however, and the obvious imutility of so gross a crime, prevented this accusation from obtaining much credit, or producing great effects upon the people. In a private letter which a friend of ours received at that period from the Continent, he was assured that the murder of the envoys "fait plus de bruit que de sensation," and that the general opinion was, that the Directory itself knew more of the authors of that crime than the Archduke or the Austrian government.

Upon the introduction of the new third of this year division into the Councils, a violent opposition to the Directory in France commenced. Sieyès, who was ambassador at Berlin, and who had enjoyed, during the whole progress of the revolution, a very considerable influence over all the parties that had successively enjoyed the supreme authority, was elected into the Directory. At the first establishment of the constitution he had refused to occupy this station, and it excited much surprise when he readily accepted the office in the present calamitous state of the Republic. His admission into the Directory, however, did not reconcile the public or the two Councils to that body. A violent contest for power between the Moderate and the Jacobin parties seemed to approach; but they soon came to a compromise. Téchard was removed from the Directory, under the pretence that he had held an office in the state within less than a year previous to his nomination. Merlin and Revillère were compelled to resign, to avoid an impeachment with which they were threatened; but Barras still contrived to retain his station. Mouline, Gohier, and Ducos, men little known, and by no means leaders of the contending parties, were appointed Directors. The power was understood to be divided, and that neither party greatly predominated. An attempt was made to revive public spirit, by encouraging anew the institution of clubs, which had been suppressed by the Directory. The violent Jacobins were the first to take advantage of this licence. They resumed their ancient style, their proposals for violent measures, and their practice of denouncing the members and the misdeeds of government. But the Directory becoming alarmed by their intemperance, obtained leave from the Councils to suppress their meetings before they were able to interest the public in their favour.

Considerable efforts were now made by the French Warlike government to recruit their armies; but the deranged state of the finances, which the votes of the Councils could not immediately remedy, prevented the possibility of their gaining a superiority during the present campaign. The difficulty was also increased by the necessity of resisting immense armies in different quarters at the same time, France being attacked at once on the side of Holland, Switzerland, and Italy. Such, however, were the exertions of the Directory, that they seemed not destitute of the hope of being able speedily to assume, on the frontier, a formidable, and even menacing posture. In the beginning of August, their Italian army amounted to 45,000 men. The different bodies of troops of which it consisted had been drawn together, and concentrated nearly in the same positions which Bonaparte had occupied before his battles of Montenotte and Millesimo. The command of the Joubert whole was given to Joubert, a young man, who had always been much distinguished under Bonaparte; and who, commencing in the style of galonade employed by that general, assured his government of victory, declaring, that he and Suarrow should not both survive the first battle. In this boasting declaration he seems to have been in earnest; earnest; for, on taking the command, he prevailed with Moreau to remain in the army as a volunteer till the first battle should be fought. The allies had now taken Turin, Alessandria, Milan, Peschiera, and Ferrara, with a rapidity which would lead one to suppose that some new mode had been invented of materially abridging the duration of sieges. The strong citadel of Turin opened its gates, to the astonishment of Europe, after a bombardment of only three days; the citadel of Alessandria surrendered to the Austrian General Bellegarde, on the 22d of July, after a siege of seven days; and the still more important fortress of Mantua surrendered to the brave General Kray, on the 29th of the same month, after a siege of only fourteen days.

The garrison of Alessandria amounted to 24,000 men; that of Mantua to 13,000. The former were detained prisoners of war, and the latter were allowed to return to France on their parole; a parole which the commanders of the allied armies could not reasonably expect to be kept. This has given rise to a suspicion, that the fortress was voluntarily surrendered to the Austrians, in order that the Directory might recruit its armies with the garrison.

The allies next began to besiege Tortona, and Joubert resolved to attempt its relief. He hoped to accomplish this object, and to gain some advantage over their army, before General Kray could arrive to the assistance of Suarrow with the troops that had been occupied in the siege of Mantua. On the 13th of August, the French drove in the whole of the Austrian posts, and took possession of Novi. Here they encamped on a long and steep, but not high, ridge of hills, with their centre at Novi, their right towards Serravalle, and their left towards Bafaluzzo. On the 14th they remained quiet; and on the 15th they were attacked by Suarrow, whose army was now reinforced by the arrival of General Kray from Mantua. The right wing of the allied army was commanded by Kray, its left by Melas, and its centre was occupied by the Russians, under Prince Pongrazion (Procration) and Suarrow in person. The attack began at 5 o'clock in the morning, and was continued during many hours. Soon after the commencement of the battle, while the French commander in chief, Joubert, was urging his troops forward to a charge with the bayonet, he received a musket-shot in his body, and, falling from his horse, immediately expired. Moreau instantly resumed the command. After an obstinate contest, the allied army gave way, and was compelled to fall back in all quarters. The attack, however, was repeatedly renewed, and much blood was shed. From the obstinate manner in which they fought, the Russians, in particular, suffered very severely. They made three unsuccessful efforts against the centre of the French army, and on each occasion those immediately engaged were rather destroyed than repulsed. The last attack along the whole line was made at three in the afternoon. The French remained unbroken; and the day must have terminated in the defeat of the allies, had not General Melas succeeded in turning the right flank of the French line. Their right wing was thus thrown into confusion. Melas pursued his advantage till he obtained possession of Novi, and the whole French army made a rapid retreat under the direction of Moreau.

According to the accounts given by the Austrians, the French lost in this battle 4000 killed and an equal number taken prisoners. They acknowledged their own loss in killed to be equal to that of the French, but the loss sustained by the Russians was never published. The general result of the battle was the total ruin of the French affairs in this quarter. The allies retained their decided superiority; and there was no enterprise which, on the present theatre of the war, they might not have ventured to undertake. The French renounced all hope of defending Genoa, and prepared to evacuate that city and its territory. The Directory expected an immediate invasion of the south of France, and addressed a proclamation to the people, urging them to act with firmness and energy amidst the calamities with which the country was now menaced.

But these apprehensions were unnecessary. The court of Vienna had other objects in view that were less dangerous to their enemy. They neither invaded Genoa nor France, but quietly proceeded in the siege of Tortona. The vanquished army was surprised to find itself unmolested after such a defeat; and in a few days ventured to send back parties to investigate the movements of the allies. The new commander Championnet, who had succeeded Joubert, found to his no small astonishment that they had rather retreated than advanced; and he immediately occupied the same positions which his army had held before the battle of Novi.

Instead of pursuing the advantages they had gained in Italy, the Aulic council, or council of war at Vienna, now persuaded Suarrow to leave that country with his Russians, and to set out for Switzerland to drive the French from thence. In the early part of the campaign, the Archduke Charles had succeeded, after various attacks, in driving the French from the eastern part of Switzerland beyond Zurich, of which last city he retained possession. The Directory, however, had sent their new levies chiefly towards this quarter; so that in the middle of the month of August Massena's army amounted to 70,000 men. The Archduke was now so far from being able to pursue the advantages he had gained, that of late the French had refused the offensive, and threatened to endanger his position. Their right wing under Lecourbe had even succeeded in taking possession of Mount St Gothard, which is the great pass that leads from the centre and eastern part of Switzerland into Italy. The cabinet of Vienna probably wished to throw the severest duties of the war upon their northern allies. The veteran Suarrow had never, during his long military career, suffered a single defeat. His presumption of success was therefore, and for high; and he perhaps felt himself not a little flattered by the request to undertake an enterprise in which land the Austrians had failed, though led by their most fortunate commander. It is indeed certain that he considered himself as called out of Italy too soon. Though confident of being properly supported, he agreed to proceed with his troops from Piedmont to Switzerland, where another Russian army had lately arrived. Delays, however, were thrown in his way. Tortona did not fall quite so soon as was expected; and when he was ready to march, the Austrian commander in Italy refused to supply him with mules for the transport of his baggage. Unable to reply to the indignant expostulations of the Russian hero, this man descended to a pitiful falsehood, by assuring him that he would find sufficient sufficient number of mules at Bellinzona, where, when he arrived, not one was to be had. He had now no other resource but to dismount the cavalry, and employ their horses to drag along the baggage. Under all these difficulties, he arrived, by forced marches, on the confines of Switzerland, on the day appointed by him and the Archduke; but the Austrian cabinet had, in the mean time, taken a step which made all his exertions useless.

Thinking it degrading to a Prince of the Imperial house, who had so long held the highest military rank, to serve under the Russian General, and not having the confidence to require the most experienced leader in Europe to receive the orders of a man so young as the Archduke, they sent that prince with his army to attack the French, who, in a small body, had entered into Swabia. He began accordingly to draw off his troops in the beginning of September, before Suwarrow was in readiness to leave Italy. The number which he took with him has been differently estimated, the lowest computation stating it at 48,000, and the highest at 60,000. The former is the most probable; since it is well known that 20,000 would have been fully adequate to the purpose for which he marched. The army which he left behind him is more perfectly ascertained; it consisted of 21,000 Russians, 18,900 Austrians, Bavarians, and other auxiliaries, forming a total of 39,900 men.

Upon what principle of military tactics the Aulic council could suppose that a skilful and intrepid commander like Massena, with a force nearly double that of the allies, would remain in a state of inactivity, it is not easy to conceive. He perceived at once the advantage which might be derived from this unaccountable movement of the Archduke. The French troops in Swabia were therefore ordered to advance rapidly, and to threaten the rear of the Archduke's army. As the repulse of these troops, and the invasion of France towards Alsace, formed a part of the Austrian commander's plan of operations, he marched against them with his army. The French made as much resistance as the smallness of their force would permit. The Archduke, however, gradually drove them towards the Rhine. The better to carry out their plan of deception, they made a serious stand in the neighbourhood of Mannheim, and were defeated with the loss of 1800 men. The Austrians entered Mannheim, and seemed ready to cross the Rhine in this quarter.

All this while Switzerland was left completely exposed to the enterprises of Massena. General Hotze, with the Austrians, occupied the right wing of the allied army there. The newly arrived Russian army was stationed in the centre at Zurich, under the command of General Korsakov; and the left, consisting chiefly of Bavarians and other troops of the empire, was commanded by Nauendorf. Massena remained quiet till he learned that the Archduke had entered Mannheim, and that Suwarrow, having taken Tortona, was on his march towards Switzerland by Mount St Gotthard. This last position was defended by Lecourbe; and Massena resolved, in the mean time, to anticipate the arrival of Suwarrow. On the 24th of September, having drawn the attention of the Russians to another quarter by a false attack, he suddenly crossed the Limmat, a river which divided the two armies near the con-

vent of Farr, which is three leagues distant from Zurich. A part of the French troops engaged the Austrians, while the greater part of the army marched against the Russians at Zurich. The Austrian General Hotze was killed in the commencement of the action. General Petrasch, who succeeded him in the command, contrived to avoid a total rout, and retired during the night with the loss of about 4000 men. The contest with the Russians was singularly obstinate. In a mountainous country, to which they were strangers, and contending against the most skilful military leaders that the south of Europe had been able to produce, they laboured under every disadvantage. They could not be put to flight, however; and even when different divisions of them were surrounded, they refused to lay down their arms, and were slaughtered upon the spot. By the retreat of the Austrians on the evening of the 24th, they found themselves on the 26th nearly surrounded in Zurich. They now began to retreat also; and we are only surprised at the ability of the Russian General in effecting his retreat in such good order, and with such little loss; for if the official accounts deserve credit, his loss in killed, wounded, and taken, did not exceed 3000 men. He was obliged, however, to abandon his baggage and cannon to the enemy.

During these operations, Suwarrow was advancing on the side of Italy with an army rated, in some accounts, at 18,000, in others at only 15,000; and forcing the French from their strong positions on Mount St Gotthard, defended, on the very day on which Massena made his general attack, into the valley of Urfein; and driving Lecourbe before him, with considerable slaughter, advanced as far as Altorf. He even penetrated on the next day into the canton of Glaris, and took 1000 of the French prisoners; while the Russian General Rofenberg was equally successful in the canton of Schwitz, where General Auffenberg had effected a junction with him; and General Linken defeated and took another corps of French, consisting of 1300 men.

Massena, however, now turned upon the Field-marshal with the greater part of his army; and, by hemming him in on all sides, expected to have made him, and the Grand Duke Constantine, prisoners. Suwarrow, however, defended himself against every attack with unexampled vigour and address. A single pass among the mountains was all that remained unoccupied by the French. He discovered this circumstance, and escaped, though closely pursued. He lost his cannon, baggage, and provisions, among the dreadful mountains and precipices with which that country abounds. He made his way, however, eastward through the Grisons country, and at length arrived at Coire with about 6000 men in great distress.

Nothing could exceed the indignation of this old warrior when he discovered the manner in which affairs had been conducted, the hazardous fate in which the Russians had been abandoned by the Archduke, and the consequent ruin which they had encountered. He considered himself and his countrymen as treacherously exposed to destruction; he loudly complained of the Commander of the allied forces in Switzerland; publicly taxed the council of Vienna with selfishness and injustice; and refused all farther co-operation with the Austrian army. He sent an account of the whole trans- In the meantime, Great Britain prepared to invade Holland with an army of 40,000 men, consisting of British troops and Russian auxiliaries. The first division, under General Sir Ralph Abercromby, failed in the month of August, under the protection of a fleet commanded by Admiral Lord Duncan. Bad weather prevented a landing from being attempted till the 27th. On the morning of that day the troops landed without opposition upon the shore of Helder Point in north Holland, at the entrance to the Zuider Sea. They had not been expected in this quarter, and the troops in the neighbourhood were consequently few. The British, however, had no sooner begun to move forward, than they were attacked by a considerable body of infantry, cavalry, and artillery, who had been hastily assembled from the nearest towns. The Dutch troops maintained the contest with much obstinacy; but they were gradually fatigued by the fixed opposition they encountered, and retired to the distance of two leagues.

In the night they evacuated the fort of Helder, of which the British took possession on the morning of the 28th. A detachment from the British fleet, commanded by Vice Admiral Mitchell, now entered the Zuider Sea by the strait of the Texel, to attack the Dutch fleet (not under Admiral Story). This last officer, instead of retiring for safety to any of the ports, or to the shallow water with which that sea abounds, surrendered the whole fleet on the 30th of August without firing a gun, under pretence that his seamen were mutinous, and would not fight.

Had the expedition terminated here, it might have been regarded as extremely fortunate; and as establishing the power of the British navy without a rival. But it was resolved to follow up this first success by an effort on land to restore the authority of the Stadtholder, and the ancient government of the United Provinces. Many circumstances were hostile to this enterprise. The whole army had not been sent at once from Britain. As no more than the first division had arrived, the troops could only rely upon the ground they had gained till reinforcements should be sent. The terror arising from the first appearance of an invading army was thus allowed to pass away, the enemies of the present Dutch government were discouraged, and leisure was afforded to adopt effectual measures of defence. The place where the landing was effected was well chosen for an attack upon the Dutch fleet; but for an invasion, with a view to the restoration of the Stadtholder, it was the worst that could have been selected. North Holland, at the extremity of which it was made, is a narrow peninsula, everywhere intersected by canals and ditches, of about 40 miles in length. Here the invaders might be detained, and even successfully resisted, by a force greatly inferior to their own. This also is the quarter of the country the most unfavourable to the cause of the Stadtholder. In Zealand, where his estates are situated, and in Rotterdam, which is full of Scotchmen and of families of Scottish extraction, his friends are numerous and powerful; but in Amsterdam, and in North Holland, which is under its influence, his enemies abound, and the resistance to his power has been very great during every period of the Dutch history. When to all this it is added, that the rainy season was approaching, and that a winter campaign in Holland is almost impossible, it will not appear surprising that this expedition was attended with little ultimate success. It is said that, amidst the pressure of the many difficulties which surrounded them, the French Directory hesitated much about undertaking the defence of Holland; but the place, and the time of landing the invading army, at once brought them to a determination. General Brune was sent thither, with whatever troops could be hastily collected, to support the Dutch General Dendel.

General Abercromby, in the mean time, remained upon the defensive at Schager Brug, waiting for reinforcements. His inactivity encouraged the enemy on the 10th of September to venture an attack upon his position. They advanced in three columns, two of which consisted of Dutch and one of French troops. They were repulsed, however, in all quarters, and retired to Alkmaar. On the 13th the Duke of York arrived with additional troops, and assumed the chief command. The Russian auxiliaries having also arrived, offensive operations were immediately resolved upon. On the 19th the army advanced. General Abercromby commanded the left, which proceeded along the shore of the Zuider Sea against Hoorn. The centre columns were commanded by Generals Dundas and Pultney; and the right wing, consisting of Russians, was commanded by their own General D'Herman. In consequence of some strange misunderstanding, the Russians advanced to the attack soon after three o'clock in the morning, which was some hours previous to the movement of the rest of the army. They were successful in their first efforts, and obtained possession of the village of Bergen; but pressing eagerly forward, and being unsupported by the other columns, they were nearly surrounded. Their commander was taken prisoner; and though the British came in time to protect their retreat, they lost at least 3000 men. This failure on the right obliged the British Commander-in-Chief to recall his troops from the whole advanced positions they had gained, though General Abercromby had actually taken Hoorn with its garrison, and although General Pultney's column had carried by assault the principal position of the Dutch army called Oudt Carpel.

The severity of the weather prevented another attack till the 2d of October, when, after an engagement that lasted from six in the morning till the same hour in the evening, the British army succeeded in driving the united Dutch and French troops from Alkmaar and the villages in its neighbourhood. The contest was chiefly conducted among the sand hills in the vicinity of the ocean; and the battle was maintained with such obstinacy, that the fatigue of the troops, together with the difficult nature of the country, prevented the British from gaining any great advantage in the pursuit. The retreating army immediately occupied a new position between Beverwyck and Wyck-op-Zee. The Duke of York once more attacked them on the 6th; and after an obstinate and bloody engagement, which was maintained till night, he remained in possession of the field of battle. But this was the last success of the invaders. Finding himself unable to make further progress, and the inconvenience of the increasing numbers of the enemy, the impracticable nature of the country, and the badness of the weather, of the weather, which, during the whole of this year, was unusually severe, the Duke of York retired to Schager Brug, and there waited for orders from England to return home. He was, in the mean time, closely pressed by the United Dutch and French forces, so that his embarkation must have been attended with much hazard. He therefore entered into a convention with the French and Dutch generals; by which it was agreed, that they should no farther molest him in his retreat, and that, in return, he should not injure the country by breaking down any of the dykes which protected it against the sea, and that Great Britain should restore to France and Holland 8000 prisoners of war, taken previous to the present campaign.

In consequence of these events, the affairs of France now began to assume a less unfavourable aspect. They were indeed driven to the extremities of Italy, Championnet was defeated in every effort which he there made against the Austrians during the rest of the year, and Ancona, which was the last place of any strength possessed by the French, also surrendered on the 13th of November to General Frolich; but they retained the Genoese territory, and Switzerland and Holland continued under their power. The new coalition against them seemed once more ready to dissolve. From the commencement of the French Revolution, a spirit of selfishness had mingled with all the efforts made by the continental powers of Europe against it, and had rendered them fruitless. To prevent the aggrandisement of Austria, Prussia had early withdrawn, and still stood aloof. Spain and Holland were retained under the influence of France by the efforts of her arms, and by the universal diffusion of her wild principles among the people. Even the British cabinet, which of all the European powers has remained most true to the original purpose of the war, sometimes forgot that object. Thus, when invading Holland, the Dutch were informed, by a proclamation, that their ancient government was to be restored; but no offer was made to restore their distant possessions. Of all the coalesced powers, however, Austria pursued her separate interests with the least disguise. With much facility she relinquished the Netherlands, and suffered the principal bulwarks of Germany, Mentz, and Ehrenbreitstein, to fall into the hands of the French, upon obtaining in exchange the Venetian territories, which Bonaparte had conquered, and thought himself authorized to sell. During the present campaign, the whole conquests made by the united efforts of the Austrian and Russian forces were seized by Austria in her own name, and none of the Princes of Italy obtained leave to resume the government of their own territories. This conduct on the part of the allies gave every advantage to the French. They broke off the negotiations at Lille, under the pretence of defending the Dutch and Spanish settlements which the British government refused to relinquish. They found it easy to alarm the King of Prussia, by displaying the unbounded ambition of the house of Austria; and the Emperor of Russia, having publicly declared to the members of the German empire, that the purpose for which he had taken up arms was not to dismember France, but to restore peace to Europe, became jealous of the Court of Vienna, when he saw it pursue a conduct so very different. This jealousy was increased by the misfortunes of the Russian troops; and all circumstances seemed now to promise that the new coalition would speedily be defeated by its northern auxiliary.

While affairs were in this state, an event occurred which exhibited the French Revolution under a new aspect. When Bonaparte found himself compelled to retreat, baffled and disgraced, from the ruins of Acre, he learned that a Turkish army was ready to invade Egypt by sea. He returned, therefore, with his usual celerity, by way of Suez, across the desert of Arabia Petraea, which divides Syria from that country, and was in the neighbourhood of the Pyramids on the 11th of July, when an army of 18,000 Turks landed from 100 ships at Aboukir. They took this fort by assault, and gave no quarter to the French garrison of 500 men that it contained. On the 15th, Bonaparte began to march down the country against them. On the 27th he came in sight of them, at six o'clock in the morning.

It is not wonderful that those barbarians afforded him an advantage which had so often been prevented by the armies of Austria. They had divided their force into two parts, which were encamped on the opposite sides of a beautiful plain. He had now formed a considerable body of cavalry, by obtaining for his men fleet horses from Arabia. These advanced rapidly into the centre of the Turkish army, and cut off the communication between its different parts. His infantry then attacked the right, which was the weakest division of the Turks. They being speedily panic-struck, attempted to fly to their ships, and every man was drowned in the sea. The left division of the Turks was next attacked. It made a more obstinate resistance, but was soon also put to flight. Some cast themselves into the sea, and perished in attempting to reach the boats of their fleet; the rest took refuge in the fort of Aboukir. The news of this battle reached France towards the end of September, and revived the memory of Bonaparte's victories, contrasted with the reverses which the Republican armies had lately experienced. On the 10th of October a dispatch was received from him by the Directory, and read to the Councils, giving an account of the capture of the fort of Aboukir, with the whole remains of the Turkish army. On the 14th of Arrives the same month a message from the Directory announced his success, to the astonishment of all men, that Bonaparte, along with his principal officers, had just arrived in France, and that they left the army in Egypt in a prosperous state. This last part of the message was soon afterwards proved, by the intercepted letters of Kleber, and the other generals left behind, to be a scandalous falsehood. In one of these letters, Poussielgue says, "Every victory carries off some of our best troops, and their loss cannot be repaired. A defeat would annihilate us all; and however brave the army may be, it cannot long avert that fatal event."

Bonaparte, however, was received at Paris with distinction, though nobody could tell why he had deserted his army and come thither. The parties in the government were equally balanced; and both the Jacobins, and what were called the Moderates, solicited his assistance. The Jacobins still possessed a majority in the Council of Five Hundred; but in the other Council their antagonists were superior. The Director Sieyes was understood to be of the party of the Moderates; and the Jacobins had of late unsuccessfully attempted to remove him from his office, under the pretence that the interval appointed by the constitution had not elapsed between his going out of the Council of Five Hundred and his election to the office of director. Neither party was satisfied with the existing authorities; but none of the usual indications of approaching hostilities appeared. The Jacobins were far from suspecting that Sieyes had a plot ripe for execution, which was to overwhelm them in an instant. They were even in some measure laid asleep by an artful scene of festivity, in which the whole members of the Councils were induced to engage, on the 6th of November, under pretence of doing honour to the arrival of Bonaparte. On the morning of the 9th, one of the committees of the Council of Ancients, called the committee of Inspectors of the Hall, presented a report; in which they asserted, that the country was in danger, and proposed to adjourn the sitting of the legislature to St Cloud, a village about six miles from Paris. We have already mentioned, that the constitution entrusted to the Council of Ancients the power of fixing the residence of the legislative bodies, and that this Council could in no other case assume the initiative, or propose any law; their powers of legislation being otherwise limited to the unconditional approbation or disapprobation of the decrees passed by the Council of Five Hundred. The Council of Ancients now suddenly decreed, that both Councils should meet next day at St Cloud. As the Council of Five Hundred had no constitutional right to dispute the authority of this decree, and as the ruling party in it was completely taken by surprise, its members silently submitted, and both Councils assembled on the 10th of November at the place appointed.

The Council of Five Hundred exhibited a scene of much agitation. They received a letter from Legarde, secretary to the Directory, stating, that four of its members had sent resignations of their offices, and that the fifth (Barres) was in custody by order of General Bonaparte, who had been appointed commander of their guard by the Council of Ancients. While the Council were deliberating, Bonaparte entered the hall, attended by about twenty officers and grenadiers. He advanced towards the chair, where his brother Lucien Bonaparte sat as president. Great confusion ensued; he was called a Cromwell, a Caesar, an usurper. The members began to press upon him, and his countryman Arena attempted to stab him with a dagger. He was rescued by his military escort. Lucien Bonaparte then left the chair, and cast aside the badge of office which he wore as a member of the Council. The confusion did not diminish; but in a short time a party of armed men rushed into the hall, and carried off Lucien Bonaparte. A tumultuous debate now began; in which it was proposed that Bonaparte should be declared an outlaw. The debate was soon terminated, however. The doors of the hall were once more burst open. Military music was heard; and a body of troops proceeding into the hall in full array, the members were compelled to disperse. The Council of Ancients, in the mean time, setting aside the constitution, passed a variety of decrees. They abolished the Directory, and appointed in its stead an Executive Commission; to consist of Bonaparte, Sieyes, and Roger Ducos, under the appellation of Consuls. They adjourned the sittings of the legislative bodies till the 20th of February, and appointed two committees, consisting of twenty-one members, selected from each of the two councils, to act as legislators in the meantime. They also expelled a great number of members from their seats in the councils.

Most of the members of the Council of Five Hundred returned to Paris, after having been driven from their hall by the military; but a part of them remained at St Cloud, and, on the evening of the same day, confirmed all the decrees of the Council of Ancients. The new government entered upon its functions at Paris on the following day. That city remained tranquil, and the public funds even rose upon the occasion. On the 17th of November the consuls decreed the transportation of a great number of the leading Jacobins and zealous republicans to Guiana, and ordered many others to be imprisoned; but these decrees were speedily recalled, and affairs went on as quietly as if nothing unusual had occurred.

While Bonaparte was thus obtaining boundless personal aggrandizement in Europe, the African expedition Tippoo Sultan, in which he had been engaged was utterly unsuccessful in its objects. The circumstances which led to it, so far as concerned foreign nations, now came to light, and were shortly these: Tippoo Sultan, the son and successor of the celebrated Hyder Ally, and sovereign of the Mysore country, which forms a part of the peninsula of India, had been compelled to conclude a treaty of peace in the year 1792 with the British governor general, Lord Cornwallis, under the walls of Seriogapatam his capital. By this treaty he resigned to the invaders a part of his territory, and agreed to pay a large sum of money. He was, moreover, under the humiliating necessity of consenting that two of his sons should be delivered as hostages, to remain with the British till the pecuniary payments could be completed.

A war thus concluded could not become the foundation of much cordial amity between the parties. Tippoo had inherited from his father a deep sentiment of hostility against the growing power of Britain in India. Though he submitted on the occasion now mentioned to the necessity of his circumstances, yet he only waited a more fortunate opportunity to endeavour to recover what he had lost; and even, if possible, to accomplish the favourite object of all his enterprises, the complete expulsion of the British from India. At a former period, almost the whole of the native princes of this vast continent had entered into a combination against the power of Britain; but their designs had been defeated by the talents and exertions of Warren Hastings, Esq. The ascendancy of the British government in this quarter was now so great, that no such combination could again be formed, and Tippoo felt that its power could only be shaken by the aid of an European army. France was the only country from which he could hope to obtain an adequate force. By the events of the revolution, however, and by the preludes of the war at home, the rulers of France had been prevented from attending to distant views and interests. Their settlements in India had been seized by the British, and they had ceased to retain any possessions beyond the Cape of Good Hope, excepting the islands of Mauritius and Bourbon. In the year 1797, Tippoo resolved to endeavour to renew his intercourse with the French by means of these islands, course with One Repaud, who had once been a lieutenant in the French navy, and had resided for some time at Seriogapatam. gapadam, had misled Tippoo into a belief that the French had a great force at the Mauritius, which could immediately be sent to his aid in case of a war. He therefore fitted out a ship, of which he gave the command to Ripaud, and sent two persons in it as his messengers, with powers to negotiate with the French leaders at the Mauritius. But, at the same time, to avoid exciting the suspicions of the British government in his neighbourhood, he directed his messengers to assume the character of merchants, to act in that capacity in public, and to conduct their political negotiations with secrecy. They arrived at the Mauritius towards the close of the year 1797, and opened their proposals to Malartic the governor, for an alliance between Tippoo and the French nation, with the view of obtaining the aid of an European army. They were received with great joy, and vessels were instantly dispatched to France to communicate their proposals to the Directory.

In the mean time, Malartic the governor of the Mauritius, from folly, from treachery, or from a desire to involve Tippoo, at all hazards, in a quarrel with the British, took a step which ultimately was in a great measure the means of defeating the plans, and accomplishing the ruin of that prince. On the 30th of January 1798, he published and distributed a proclamation, in which he recited the whole private proposals of Tippoo, and invited all French citizens to enlist in his service. Copies of this proclamation were speedily conveyed by different vessels, touching at the Mauritius, to the continent of India, to Britain, and to all quarters of the world. Accordingly, as early as the 18th of June 1798, the secret committee of the Court of Directors of the East India Company in London wrote to their governor-general in India, requiring him, in consequence of this proclamation, to watch the conduct of Tippoo, and even to engage in hostilities, if the measure should appear necessary. Before that period, however, the government in India had been alarmed, by the same means, and was making preparations for war. This, however, was no easy matter. It is the nature of European power, in these countries, gradually to decline. The nature of the climate, the view of returning home, and the distance from the seat of government, speedily introduce a relaxation of the efforts and the vigilance by which dominion was originally acquired. The troops require to be continually renewed by levies from the parent country; and if this precaution is neglected for a very short time, or negligently attended to, they become unable to protect the extensive territories such as Britain now possesses in India. When Lord Mornington, the governor-general, enquired into the state of the British army at Madras, and whether he might hazard an offensive war against Tippoo; he was informed, that three, if not six months would be necessary to assemble the scattered divisions of the army, and to prepare them to defend their own territory. It was added, that such was the feeble state of the British forces in that quarter, that it might even be unsafe to excite suspicion in Tippoo by military preparations, as he might, in that case, ruin them by a sudden attack. Lord Mornington, however, resolved to encounter every hazard, and ordered immediate and active preparations in every quarter.

In the meanwhile, Tippoo did not trust for success to the aid of France alone. He endeavoured to bring an attack upon the British and their allies, or subjects, in India, from the north-west, by inviting Zemun Shah to invade the country. This prince is at the head of a formidable kingdom, made up of provinces torn from both Persia and India. It was founded about sixty years ago by Ahmed Khan Abdalla, an Afghan chief, who followed Nadir Shah on his invasion of India in 1749. He himself afterwards invaded India no less than seven times; and, in particular, he overthrew, with dreadful slaughter, the united forces of the Mahraita empire, in the year 1761, on the plains of Paniput. He was succeeded, in 1773, by his son Timur Shah, who died, and was succeeded by his own son, the present prince. The dominions of Zemun Shah extend from the left bank of the river Indus, on the seacoast, as far northward as the latitude of Cashmere; and from east to west they are 650 English miles in length, comprehending the provinces of Cabul, Candahar, Peihera, Ghinri, Gaur, Sigistan, and Koratun. He usually keeps in pay an army of 150,000 horse, besides infantry to garrison his fortresses. In expectation of direct aid from France, by Bonaparte's expedition to Egypt, and of an important diversion to be made by Zemun Shah, Tippoo endeavoured to remain quiet, and to temporise with the British.

Since the first victories of Lawrence and of Clive, the native princes of India have been eager to introduce the European art of war among their subjects. For this purpose they retain European adventurers to command and discipline a part of their troops, and even endeavour to form a guard for their persons of European soldiers. The Nizam, a prince in alliance with the British, though in a great measure under their influence, had long retained around his person a considerable body of French, and of troops under their management. These, under the command of one Perou, now possessed great influence at Hyderabad, the capital of the Nizam. It was of much importance that these should be removed out of the way, to enable the British to obtain the aid of this prince as an ally in the approaching contest with Tippoo. Lord Mornington procured this object to be accomplished with so much success, that, on the 23rd of October 1798, the French corps under Perou was surrounded and disarmed without bloodshed, and a British force was substituted as a guard to the Nizam in his stead. The military preparations being in a considerable state of forwardness, Lord Mornington next warned Tippoo Sultan, in a letter dated the 8th of November 1798, of his having a knowledge of his hostile designs and connection with the French. He also proposed to send an ambassador to treat about the means of restoring a good understanding between the states. Tippoo avoided returning an answer till the 18th of December, and then merely denied the accusation, and refused to receive the ambassador. On the 9th of January 1799, the British governor again urged in writing that the ambassador should be received. No answer was returned for a month; and, in the mean time, an army of 5000 men having arrived from England, orders were issued to General Harris to advance at the head of the Madras army against the kingdom of Mysore. Tippoo now offered to receive the ambassador, providing he came without an attendance; but this concession was not accounted sufficient, and the army advanced. An army from from Bombay was, at the same instant, advancing on the opposite side of his dominions. A part of Tip- poo's forces encountered this army and were defeated; and within a few days thereafter, on the 27th of March, the rest of his army was defeated by General Harris. When an European army in India is tolerably numerous, the detail of its military operations against the natives is by no means interesting; for the inhabitants of these enfeebled and fertile regions can never be made, by any kind or degree of discipline, to possess that moral energy which enables men to encounter danger with coolness and self-command. They can rush on death under the influence of rage or despair, but they cannot meet the hazard of it with calmness and recollection. It is sufficient to remark that, on the 7th of April, General Harris sat down before Serinapatanam. On the 9th, Tippoo sent a letter to this officer, alleging his own adherence to treaties, and enquiring into the cause of the war. He was answered by a reference to Lord Mornington's letters. On the 20th he made another attempt to negotiate, by writing to General Harris, requesting him to nominate commissioners to treat of peace. In answer to this proposal, certain articles were sent to him as the only conditions that would be granted. By these he was required to surrender half his dominions, to pay a large sum of money, to admit resident ambassadors from the British and their allies, to renounce all connection with the French, and to give hostages for the fulfillment of these stipulations.

On the 28th of April Tippoo again wrote to General Harris, requesting leave to treat by ambassadors; but his proposal was refused, upon the footing that he was already in possession of the only terms of peace which would be granted. Could Serinapatanam have held out for little more than a fortnight longer, the invading army must have retreated. The rainy season was about to commence; and, by some strange effect of negligence or treachery, provisions were so deficient in the camp, that it was only by reducing the troops to half allowance that they could be made to last till the 15th of May. On the 30th of April, the besiegers began to batter the walls of Serinapatanam; and a breach being made, the city was taken by assault on the 4th of May. One o'clock afternoon had been chosen for this purpose, as the hottest hour of the day, and consequently the time when it would be least expected. Tippoo was in his palace; but on being informed of the attack, he hastened to the breach, and fell undistinguished in the conflict. His treasures, and the plunder of the city, which was immense, went to enrich the conquering army, after deducting a share for the British government and East India Company. His kingdom immediately submitted. The part of it which formed the ancient kingdom of Mysore, was bestowed upon a descendant of the former race of its kings, whom Hyder Ally had deprived of the sovereignty; the additional territories that had been conquered by Hyder Ally were divided between the British and their allies, the Nizam and the Mahrattas. The family of Tippoo were either taken in the capital, or voluntarily surrendered themselves to the conquerors. They were removed from that part of the country, and allowed a considerable pension.

In the mean time, Zamaun Shah had actually invaded India from the north-west. He advanced to the vicinity of Delhi, spreading terror and desolation wherever he came. Had the French army in Egypt been able to detach a body of 15,000 men to the assistance of Tippoo, while all India was in the state of alarm naturally produced by the approach of this northern invasion, it is extremely probable that the British forces might speedily have found themselves deserted by every ally, and sunk under an unequal contest. But the actual result was very different. Satisfied with the plunder he had obtained, Zamaun Shah soon withdrew; and the French army being detained in Egypt by the war with the Turks, and by the want of vessels at Suez, wherewith to reach India, Tippoo was left to contend, unassisted, against the whole power of Britain, and of its allies in the east. By the conquest and division of his immense territory, the British power was left without a rival in power of that quarter of the world, and raised to such a state of Britain imposing superiority, that if affairs are only preserved in their present situation, by periodical supplies of European troops, no native prince, or even combination of princes, can henceforth bring it into danger. Thus, notwithstanding the vast military efforts made by the people of France during this revolutionary war, yet all foreigners who trusted to their aid were ruined by placing confidence in them. In Italy, Germany, Switzerland, and Holland, the capacity of the commissaries of the French government, soon rendered odious and intolerable the presence of those armies whose arrival had been eagerly desired. In Ireland and in India, the promise and the hope of alliance which they were never able to fulfill, only served to produce premature hostility, and to encroach and establish the power of the British government.

But to return to the domestic history of France, which has now become only an history of the usurpation of Bonaparte.

In the middle of the month of December, the Consuls, with their legislative committees, produced to the public their plan of a new constitution, which they presented to the primary assemblies, and which is said to have been accepted by them without opposition, like all the former constitutions. It is a very singular production, and neither admits of representative government, nor indeed of any other form of political freedom. Eighty men, who elect their own successors, possess, under the appellation of a Conservative Senate, the power of nominating the whole legislators and executive rulers of the state; but cannot themselves hold any office in either of these departments. The sovereignty is concentrated in one man, who, under the title of Chief Consul, holds his power for ten years, and may be re-elected. The whole executive authority is entrusted to him, and he enjoys the exclusive privilege of proposing new laws. He is assisted by two other consuls, who join at his deliberations, but cannot control his will. The legislative power is entrusted to two assemblies: the one, consisting of 100 members, called a Tribunate; and the other, of a Senate, of 300 members. When a law is proposed by the Chief Consul, the Tribunate may debate about it, but have no vote in its enactment. The Senate votes for or against its enactment, but cannot debate about it. Neither the Consuls, nor the members of the legislative bodies, nor of the conservative senate, are responsible for their conduct. The ministers of state, however, who are appointed by the Chief Consul, are responsible for the measures they adopt.

The people in the primary assemblies elect one-tenth of their number as candidates for inferior offices; persons thus chosen, elect one tenth of themselves as candidates for higher offices; and these again elect a tenth of themselves as candidates for all the highest offices of the state. Out of this last tenth the Conservative Senate must nominate the consuls, legislators, and members of their own body. But this last regulation is to have no effect till the ninth year of the republic. In the mean time, the same committees that framed the constitution, appointed also the whole persons who were to exercise the government. Bonaparte was appointed Chief Consul, and Cambaceres and Lebrun second and third Consuls. Sieyes, with his usual caution, avoided taking any active share in the management of public affairs, and was appointed, or appointed himself, a member of his own Conservative Senate; the whole being regarded as produced by him. As a gratuity for his services, the Chief Consul and his legislators presented to him an estate belonging to the nation, called Croise, in the department of Seine and Oise.

Thus, after all their sanguinary struggles for freedom, did the son of a Corsican drive from their stations the representatives of the French nation, and assume quiet possession of the government of that country, with a power more absolute than ever belonged to its ancient monarchs. The established privileges of the clergy, the nobles, and the parliaments, always restrained, in some degree, the despotic of the kings of France; these being now destroyed, the will of Bonaparte could meet with no control. Though an usurper, however, he has not hitherto been a tyrant. He has rather attempted to induce the French nation to acquiesce in his authority, in consequence of the mildness with which it has been exercised, and of the ability and reputation of the men whom he has employed in the public service. He immediately sent proposals for negotiating peace to the different powers at war with France. Great Britain refused to listen to him on account of the probable instability of his government, and Austria appears to have given a similar refusal. It is indeed difficult to believe that he wished his proposals to be accepted. They were not addressed to the belligerent powers in the aggregate, but to each individually, as if his object had been to sow dissension and mistrust between the allies. When he made these proposals, he did not even know whether the people of France would accept of the constitution which he had offered them; and he had taken no measures to procure a repeal of those revolutionary decrees which were the immediate cause of the war with England.

His situation is, in the mean time, attended with great difficulties. The want both of an hereditary title, and of a national representation as the basis of his power, renders his character as an usurper so obvious, that it is only by very cautious measures that his elevation can be maintained. If he is either unsuccessful abroad, or compelled to press the people for money at home, there is little doubt that his fall must follow. Even independent of either of these events, it is a possible case that the violent Jacobins may recover their lost energy, and by force or fraud destroy the man who has baffled all their projects. From the royalists he has less to fear; for the men of ardent spirits and violent passions belonging to that party, from whom alone great efforts can ever be expected, were early tempted to leave the country by the hopes held out to them by the coalesced powers, which, by weakening, has hitherto prevented their party from becoming of much importance in the interior of France.

In the mean time, Bonaparte has been successful in suppressing a new royalist revolt which had arisen in La Vendee, and has made great exertions to begin the campaign with vigour. The low state of the French finances, however, have much encumbered all his efforts towards assembling very numerous armies. The army which he left in Egypt, after concluding a treaty with the Grand Vizier, by the terms of which they were to be landed safe in France, have seen reason to break the truce which had been agreed on. Kleber has attacked and completely defeated the main body of the Turkish army, while a detachment of that army has entered Cairo, and massacred, it is said, every Frenchman found in the city, not sparing the members of the National Institute. The probable consequence of this is, that no part of the army of Egypt will ever return to Europe.

War has been recommenced between the Austrians and France, both in Switzerland and in Swabia, and menaces carried on with great vigour. Massena, after giving complete proofs of consummate skill, and the most undaunted valour, has been for some time blockaded in Genoa; and unless he has been relieved by the vigorous exertions of the Chief Consul, he must before this period (June the 12th) have surrendered to the Austrian General Melas. The affairs of the French in that quarter seem indeed to be desperate; but in Germany they have hitherto been successful. Moreau has displayed his wonted abilities, and the gallant Kray has retreated before him, whether from necessity or to draw him into inextricable difficulties, a very short time will evince.

But here we must interrupt this detail, without the slightest prospect of bringing it to a conclusion during the publication of the present Work. We cannot, however, dismiss the momentous subject without correcting some errors into which we fell in the account of the rise and progress of this revolution which was published in the Encyclopaedia. We do not consider these errors as disgraceful to ourselves; for in the midst of the commotions which have convulsed all Europe, it is hardly possible to arrive at the truth. When time shall have cooled the passions of men, and annihilated the parties which now divide the nation, the calm voice of Truth may be everywhere heard; but when the article referred to was written, the ears of every man was turned with the clamour of faction.

So sensible of this are the editors of the only impartial periodical history which we have, that they venture not to publish their volumes till several years have elapsed from the era of the transactions which these volumes record; whilst their rivals—the panders of faction—seize the earliest opportunities of obtruding their partial statements and false reasonings on the public mind.

It cannot be supposed that one or two men, superintending the publication of a work so extensive, and treating of subjects so various, as ours, have leisure or opportunity to examine with much attention the correspondence of ambassadors, or to explicate truth from the contradictory publications of the day. We are therefore therefore obliged to draw our materials from such works as profuse to give a summary, but impartial, detail of what is acting on the theatre of the world; and by these works we have often been misled. For the first error, however, which we shall notice in our former account of the rise of the revolution, we cannot plead even this excuse. We ought to have known, that the French clergy and French nobility were not exempted from the payment of taxes; and, of course, we ought not to have assigned such exemption as one of the causes of the Revolution. See that article, Encyclop. n°8. and 9.

By a writer, to whose patriotic exertions this country is deeply indebted, it has been proved, with a force of argument which precludes all possibility of reply, that the exemption from taxes so loudly complained of was very trifling, that it was not confined to the nobility and clergy, and that it did not extend over the whole kingdom of France. "The eightieth, which may be considered as an impost merely territorial, was paid alike by the nobility and the tiers-état. A great part of the clergy was indeed exempted; but their contributions, under a different form, constituted an ample equivalent. The duties upon the different articles of consumption were of course paid by all the consumers, except that in the pays d'état, such as Artois and Brittany; the two first orders were exempted from paying the tax upon liquors. But these exemptions cannot be deemed very important, when it is known, that in the province of Artois they did not exceed 800 guineas annually, even including the exemptions enjoyed by the privileged members of the tiers-état." The British officers serving on board ships of war are exempted from the taxes paid by the other members of the state on wine; and we believe no good subject has ever murmured at that exemption. The French nobility were subject to the pole-tax.

Of the taille, the impost from which it has been falsely asserted that the nobility and clergy enjoyed a total exemption, there were two species; the one personal, the other real. In one part of the kingdom, the right of exemption was annexed to the property; in the other, to the quality of the proprietor. In the first case, the privilege was enjoyed by every class of persons, by the tenants as well as the proprietor of a fief; whilst the gentleman, whose estate was held by a different tenure, was obliged to pay the tax. In those provinces where the other custom obtained, the exemption was confined to a certain extent of property, and to that only while it continued in the actual occupation of the privileged person; but as it very seldom happened that the French nobility kept any land in their own hands, and as the tax payable by the farmers was of course deducted from the rent, the taille was, in this case, ultimately paid by the landlord. The same observations apply, with still greater force, to the clergy, who always let their estates."

In a word, it appears from a formal declaration made by M. Necker to the Constituent Assembly, that all the pecuniary exemptions enjoyed by the privileged classes did not exceed L292,000; that the exemptions appertaining to the privileged persons of the tiers-état amounted to one half of that sum; and the droits de contrôle, or duty imposed upon public deeds, and the high capitation tax (proportioned to their rank), paid by the nobility and clergy, made ample amends to the revenue for the partial exemptions which they enjoyed from other taxes. So far indeed were the tiers-état from murmuring at the exemptions of the privileged orders, that, previous to the illumination of the 18th century, they displayed, at every convention of the states-general, the greatest anxiety to maintain the rights of the nobility and clergy; and humbly supplicated their sovereign to suffer no invasion thereof, but to respect their franchises and immunities.*

We must likewise acknowledge, that in n°11. of our article REVOLUTION, we have drawn a very overcharged picture of the miseries and opprobrium of the French peasants under the old government. It is indeed true, that they were obliged to serve in the militia, the blightment of which was conducted in France nearly on the same principles as it is in England. The men were called out by ballot only for a few days in the year during peace, when they received regular pay; but if a militia forms the best constitutional defence of a state, this surely ought not to have been considered as a grievance, especially since married men were exempted from the service. The nobility, too, were exempted from the risk of being drawn, for the best of all reasons—because most of them had commissions in the regulars, and because such as had not were engaged in professions, which rendered it impossible for them to serve in the militia. In France, as elsewhere, the peasants would no doubt be averse from this service, and might look perhaps with an anxious eye to the supposed immunities of their privileged superiors; but if mirth, good humour, and social ease, may be considered as symptoms of felicity and content, these men surely were not miserable; for these symptoms never appeared in any people so strong as among the French peasants. They were indeed liable to be called out by the intendants of the provinces to work a certain number of days every year on the public roads; but to this species of opprobrium, if such it must be called, the Scotch peasants are liable, and were still more so than at present, during that period when our parliamentary orators declare that the inhabitants of Britain enjoyed as much freedom as is consistent with the public tranquillity. It ought to be remembered, too, that Louis XVI., whose highest gratification seems to have consisted in contributing to the ease and welfare of his subjects, thought he saw the necessity of abolishing the custom of the corvée, and had made considerable advances towards the accomplishment of that object some years before the commencement of the revolution.

That the French monarch was despotic; that no man in the kingdom was safe; that nothing was unknown to the jealous inquisition of the police; and that every man was liable, when he least expected it, to be seized by lettres de cachet, and shut up in the gloomy chambers of the Baillié—has long been common language in England, and language which we must confess that we have adopted (REVOLUTION, n°12.) without due limitations. The French government was certainly not so free as that of Britain; but he who understood it better than we do, and whose writings betray no attachment to arbitrary power, expressly distinguishes between it and despotic. "If (says Montesquieu) France has, for two or three centuries past, incessantly augmented her power, such augmentation must not be ascribed to fortune, but to the excellence of her laws." This, surely, is not the language of a man who thought himself governed by an arbitrary tyrant whose caprice is the law; nor will it be said to be the language of one who was either afraid to speak the truth or not master of his subject.

The instructions of all the different orders to their representatives, before the fatal meeting of the States General under the unfortunate Louis, are drawn up in language similar to that of this illustrious magistrate, and furnish a complete proof that they knew themselves to be safe under the government of their monarchs.

"The constitution of the state (say the clergy) results from the fundamental laws, by which the respective rights of the king and of the nation are ascertained, and from which not the smallest deviation can be made. The first of these laws is, that the government of France is purely monarchical. The nation must preserve inviolate the form of its government, which it acknowledges to be a pure monarchy regulated by the laws; and such it will have it to remain."

On the 28th of November 1788, in a general committee of the nobles assembled at Versailles, the Prince of Conti delivered a note to the president, which was sanctioned by the concurrence of most of the other princes of the blood, and was supposed to speak the general sense of the nobility; in which it was insisted, that the prescription of all new systems was necessary to insure the stability of the throne, of the laws, and of orders; and that the constitution, with the ancient forms, should be preserved entire. In their instructions to their representatives, they insist that it shall be expressly and solemnly proclaimed, that the constitution of the French empire is such, that its government is, and must remain, monarchical; that the king, as supreme chief of the French, is only subordinate to the fundamental law of the kingdom, according to which the constitution must be established on the sacred and immutable principles of monarchy, tempered by the laws; and this form of government cannot be replaced by any other constitution.

"Let our deputies (says the third estate), before they attend to any other object, assist in giving to France a truly monarchical constitution, which must invariably fix the rights of the king and of the nation. Let it be declared, that the monarchical is the only form of government admissible in France; and that in the king alone, as chief of the nation, is vested the power of governing according to the laws." Is this the language of men groaning under the iron rod of despotism, or wishing to reduce the power of the crown?

Even after the power of the crown was almost annihilated, and the order of nobility done away, so far were these innovations from being acceptable to the enlightened part of the French nation, that in many departments of the kingdom they excited open insurrections, whilst the members of all the provincial parliaments opposed them with unanswerable arguments furnished by the law. The chamber of vacation of the parliament of Toulouse, in particular, protested against the proceedings of the States General, because the deputies, who were empowered only to put an end to the ruinous state of the finances, could not change the constitution of the state without violating their instructions, and the faith sworn to their constituents.

That lettres de cachet were liable to abuse, and that occasionally they were grossly abused, is certain. The French use of them ought therefore to have been either annulled, or, which would have been infinitely better, subjected to such rules as should prevent all danger from them to the real liberties of the people; for the government would be of no use whatever which should possess no power capable of being abused by despotism. Yet after all the noise that has been made about lettres de cachet, it is but justice to observe, that in the towers of the Bastille, when it was taken by the mob, were found no more than seven prisoners; of whom four were confined for forgery; one was confined at the request of his family on charges of the most serious nature; and two were so deranged that they were sent next day, by those philanthropists who had taken them out of comfortable chambers, to the madhouse! That the chambers of the Bailiff were as comfortable as the chambers of a prison could be, we are assured by M. Bertrand de Molleville, who can be under no inducement to deceive the British public, and whose opportunities of discovering the truth were such as no man will call in question.

In our account of the opening of the States General, we have expressed too much deference to the character of M. Necker. To that man's infatuation, if not treacherous conduct, may, with truth, be attributed all the subsequent miseries of France. It was about the mode of verifying their powers that the three orders of the state first differed; but that mode should have been defined by the ministry in the letters sent to the different bailiwicks for the convening of the states. Even this omission might have been repaired after the arrival of the deputies at Versailles; for none of them should have been admitted into the hall of the states, far less should the king have met them there, till the Council had been satisfied of their being duly elected. Had either of these cautions been observed, the tiers-état never could have got the ascendant over the other two orders, and the business of the nation would have been conducted as formerly in three different chambers. M. Necker's rejection of Mirabeau's advances showed him to be very ill qualified to conduct the helm of affairs at such a crisis; and his absenting himself from the royal session, a measure which he had advised, betrayed the utmost ingratitude to his gracious master.

In our account of the royal session, we were led into a mistake, which calls loudly for correction. The circumstances of that session were very different from what they appeared to us when we wrote no. 24. and 25. of the article REVOLUTION. The royal session was proclaimed in consequence of the violent usurpations of the tiers-état, and the irreconcilable differences which subsisted between that body and the two higher orders; and so far is it from being true that the president and members of the third estate found their hall unexpectedly surrounded by a detachment of guards, that their fittings were only suspended, for the best of all reasons, with those of the other orders. To be convinced of this, we need but to attend to the following proclamation which was made by the heralds, on the 26th of June, between seven and eight o'clock in the morning, in the streets and cross-ways of Versailles:

"June 26th. (By order of the King.) The King having resolved to hold a royal sitting in the States General, on Monday next the 22d of June, the preparations to be made in the three halls used by the affirma- bles of the orders, make it necessary that those assemblies should be suspended until after the said fitting. His Majesty will give notice, by another proclamation, of the hour of his going to the Assembly of the States on Monday."

M. Bailly, the president of the tiers-état, had been made acquainted with the object of this proclamation, by a private letter which was sent to him by the Marquis de Brezé at seven o'clock in the morning; and to which he replied, "that having received no orders from the King, and the assembly having been announced for eight o'clock, he should attend where his duty called him."

He repaired, accompanied by a great number of the members of the tiers-état, to the door of the hall of the States, demanded admission; and on being refused by the officer on guard, according to his orders, with which he acquiesced him, he declared that he protested against such orders, and that he should give a report of them to the Assembly. To do this he had not far to go, as three fourths of the deputies of the tiers-état were already collected round him, or in the avenue leading to the palace. There it was that, surrounded by an immense crowd of people, they declaimed in the most violent manner against this pretended act of despotism. "The National Assembly is to be dissolved (said they), and the country to be plunged into the horrors of a civil war. Want reigns everywhere; every where the people see famine staring them in the face. This we were about to put an end to, by rending the veil which covers the manoeuvres of the monopolists, the engrossers, and the whole tribe of miscreants. The Louis XI. and XII., the Richelieu, the Mazarin, the Briennes, attacked with their despotism only individuals or small bodies; but here it is the whole nation that is made the sport of the whims of a despotic minority. 'Let us meet upon the Place d'Armes (said one of those orators); there we shall recall some of the noblest days of our history, the National Assembly of the field of May.' 'Let us assemble in the gallery of the palace (said another); there we shall present a new fight, by speaking the language of liberty, in that corrupt hall, where a little while since the head of him who should have uttered that sacred word would have been devoted to the executioner.—'No, no (said a third), let us go to Marli, and hold our sitting on the Terrace—let the King hear us; he will come from his palace, and will have nothing more to do than to place himself in the midst of his people to hold the royal fitting.'"

At the conclusion of these declamations, the sole object of which was to alarm and exasperate the people, the Assembly decided upon transferring their fitting to the Tennis court, in the street called Rue du Vieux Versailles. There M. Bailly read the letter which he had received from M. de Brezé, and his answer to it; which he had fearlessly done, when a second letter from M. de Brezé was put into his hands, the contents of which were as follows:

"It was by the King's positive order, Sir, that I did myself the honour of writing to you this morning, to acquaint you that, his Majesty purposing to hold a royal fitting on Monday, and some preparations being requisite in the three halls of the Assemblies of the orders, it was his intention that no person should be admitted into them, and that the fittings should be suspended till after that to be held by his Majesty."

In this there was surely no marked disrespect to the representatives of the people; but such notions were countenanced by M. Necker, who appears indeed, on this occasion, to have been in close compact with the leaders of the mob. The popular violence that was employed to compel the majority of the clergy to join the tiers-état is well known; and we have, in Hennet's Annals of the Revolution, what amounts to evidence almost legal, and quite sufficient to enforce conviction, that Necker directed that violence.

In our account of the commotions which were excited in Paris on the first diffusion of that minister and his banishment from the kingdom, we have been led by our democratic journals to give circulation to a gross calumny published by them against the Prince de Lambesc. (See Revolution, no. 36. and 37.) The truth, which is so much disguised in these two numbers, is as follows:

"A detachment of the Royal Allemand, sent to disperse the mob which was patrolling the streets in procession with the bulls of Necker and the infamous Orleans, received a volley from the French guards as they were passing their quarters on the Chaussee d'Antin, stopped to return it, and continued their march without quickening their pace. There were some soldiers killed and wounded on both sides, but fewer of the regiment of Royal Allemand than on that of the French guards.

"The detachment marched to the Place Louis XV., and there found a body of dragoons who had been dispersing the procession. The two bulls were broken to pieces; and the populace in their fright taking refuge in the garden of the Tuileries, the Prince de Lambesc pursued them thither, at the head of the detachment of Royal Allemand, according to the orders which he received. This small troop coming up to the head of the Pont-tournant (or turning bridge), at the extremity of the garden, found a kind of barricade, hastily formed by chairs heaped upon one another; while they were removing this obstacle, they received a shower of stones, broken chairs, and bottles, from the two terraces, between which the Prince de Lambesc drew up his troops, keeping constantly at their head. Some guns and pistols were discharged at them, which did no hurt; but several of the troopers were much bruised by the things that had been thrown at them, and an officer was severely wounded by a blow.

"The Prince de Lambesc, keeping at six paces from the bridge, opposed only a steady front to the aggressions of the populace. Seeing that this post became untenable, and that it was impossible for him any longer to restrain his troopers from repelling force by force, he gave the order for retreating out of the garden. At the same instant a cry was heard from all sides of turn the bridge, turn the bridge; and some persons, in consequence, ran and began to do it. The Prince de Lambesc, jealously fearing that a most bloody carnage would be the inevitable consequence of it, ordered some pistols to be fired in the air towards the bridge, to awe those who were striving to turn it. As the report of this volley did not deter them, he rode up himself, and with his sabre struck one of those who were working hardest. The man ran off; and the Prince passing the bridge..." with his detachment into the Place Louis XV., drew up near the Statue, and being soon joined by the Swift regiment of Chateauneuf, took his post with this force near the Garde-magasin, where he remained some time, having placed the infantry before him. At ten at night part of the troops were dismissed to their quarters, and the rest sent to Versailles." These facts being all judicially confirmed, prove how much the Prince de Lambesc's conduct was calumniated by those journalists whose detail we rashly adopted.

In our account of the taking of the Bastille, misled by our treacherous guides, the journalists, we have greatly magnified the military skill and prowess of the assailants. That celebrated fortress was defended by a garrison consisting of no more than 144 men, of whom 82 were invalids. It was attacked by 30,000 men and women, armed with muskets and pikes, and furnished with a train of artillery which they had found at the Hotel des Invalides, given up to them by the timidity of the governor. Even this multitude would have been quickly repulsed from the Bastille, if the governor of that state-prison, who had received no orders from the court, had been less reluctant to shed the blood of his rebellious countrymen; for the Parisian mob had then displayed nothing of determined courage. A few discharges of musketry, and one cannon-shot from a single cannon, had thrown them into confusion, and made them flinch behind the walls, when the ill-timed humanity of the governor made him enter into a treaty with the rebels, stipulating only that the garrison should not be massacred. How the stipulation was observed with respect to the governor himself, we have faithfully related; but we were mistaken when we said that the French guards succeeded in procuring the safety of the garrison. The guards, with the utmost difficulty, saved indeed some of them, but most of the invalids remaining in the courts of the castle were put to death in the most merciless manner.

Our account of the murder of M. de Flefelles (n° 40.) appears likewise to be very incorrect. This man was president of the Assembly of Electors at Paris (See Revolution, n° 45.), and had not quitted the Hotel de Ville, where their rebellious meetings were held, during the whole time of these dreadful commotions. He had even signed all their atrocious resolutions, but became suddenly suspected from the consternation which he manifested at the sight of so many horrors, and especially at the cruel and treacherous murder of the governor of the Bastille. The consequence was, that he was treacherously murdered himself by one of the villains composing that assembly in which he presided.

"The electors (says M. Bertrand de Molleville) hoped to extenuate the horror of this assassination, by causing it to be considered as a natural and almost lawful vengeance for a treachery, the proof of which they pretended to have. In fact, they declared, that when M. de Launay, the governor of the Bastille, was arrested, a letter had been found in his pocket from M. de Flefelles, containing this expression: 'I am amusing the Parisians with cockades and promises; hold out till night, and you will receive a reinforcement.' But this supposed letter, which, had it existed, they would not have failed to preserve very carefully, was never seen by any body; and I heard M. Bailly himself say, in a visit he paid me when he left the mayoralty, that he had no knowledge of it, and that it was not in his power to refer to any one who had told him that he had read it."

In our account of the earlier transactions of the Revolution, we omitted to mention a very extraordinary instance of ambition to which the Duke of Orleans was incited by Count Mirabeau, but which that unnatural monarch wanted courage to carry into effect. During the commotions which prevailed in the capital on the dismission of M. Necker from the ministry, Orleans was persuaded by Mirabeau to offer his services as mediator between the king and his rebellious subjects; but to stipulate, at the same time, for his appointment to the high office of lieutenant-general of the kingdom as necessary to give his mediation due weight with the rebels. The real object of the profligate Count, in this dangerous proposal, and which he did not deign even to conceal, was to pave the way for the infamous Duke stepping into the throne of his relation and virtuous sovereign. He even went so far as to compose the speech with which Orleans was to address the king on the occasion; but that coward, when he arrived at the palace, was so embarrassed by the consciousness of his own wicked designs, that instead of asking the office of lieutenant-general, he only requested permission to retire into England!! A request which was instantly granted.

This brought upon him the contempt and indignation of Mirabeau; but still there was a party furious of placing him on the throne. This we think evident from an atrocious fact mentioned in all the journals, and confirmed by M. Bertrand. "When the king, on his first visit to Paris (See n° 44.) had arrived at the Champ Élysées, three or four guns were fired at once. It was never known whence they proceeded; but it is certain that an unfortunate woman in the crowd, who was in the direction of his Majesty's carriage, was shot at the time, and fell dead on the spot." As the King's carriage held at the time exactly four persons, M. Bertrand very naturally concludes that these four shots, fired at once in its direction, had been ordered and paid for; and we are unwilling to believe that at that period of the revolution there was any party disposed to pay for the murder of the sovereign but the Duke of Orleans and his infamous adherents. That he was equal to this wickedness cannot be doubted, when it is known that legal evidence was afterwards produced that he, with some other members of the Assembly, secretly directed the insurrection of the 5th of October, and promoted the outrages of that and the succeeding day by the distribution of money and bread.

We have said (n° 48.), the origin of the report of a train of gunpowder being laid by M. de Memmey, to blow into the air a number of patriots, has never been well explained. It was proved judicially, that at the period when the feast was given by M. Memmey to the inhabitants of Veloul, he was setting vines in a stony soil, where he was often obliged to blow up the greater rocks. Some folderies running through, and ferreting every where in the house and out-houses, unfortunately took a candle to the dark corner where the barrel of gunpowder was lodged, and set it on fire, in trying to see if it contained wine. These facts, reported and attested in a memorial drawn up by M. Courvoisier, completely justified M. de Memmey, that the Assembly In no. 70, we have said that the National Assembly, after its removal from Versailles to Paris, was in tolerable security; but M. Bertrand has proved, by evidence most incontrovertible, that it did not think itself secure; and that if the ministers had been capable of employing events to their own advantage, the powers of that factious body must have been recalled by its own constituents. The horrible outrages committed on the 5th and 6th of October had shocked all France. The wanton confiscation of the property of the church, had demonstrated to every man of sound judgment, that under the new order of things no property could be secure; and by the defection of its more virtuous and moderate members, the Assembly had become a rump assembly. It was therefore much alarmed when the intermediate commission of the States of Cambrai entered, on the 9th of November, into a revolution, in which, considering—“that certain decrees of the National Assembly are paving the way for the ruin of the kingdom, and the annihilation of religion; that if they have been able to place one species of property at the disposal of the nation, men of all kinds of property may expect the same fate; they declare, from this moment, the power of the deputies of Cambrai to the National Assembly to be null and revoked.” Had M. Necker and his colleagues had address to get similar resolutions entered into at the same time by the electors of all the bailiwicks of the kingdom, the Assembly must have been dissolved, and France, even then, might have been saved; but those ministers were themselves nothing more than the humble and docile agents of the Assembly.

There is no part of our former narrative more incorrect, or more likely to mislead the public, than our account of the red-book (no. 75). It is such, however, as was then current, without any addition or aggravation by us. The villains (x) who, in direct contradiction to their own solemn promise, as well as to every principle of honour, made part of that book public, had the impudence to affirm, that, by the suppression of the superfluous pensions registered in it, a saving would be made to the public of near a fifth in the bulk of the expenses of every year. M. Bertrand, taking for granted the accuracy of their statements, for the exaggeration of which, however, he urges arguments more than plausible, proves, if arithmetical calculation affords proof, that by the suppression of such pensions as even they called superfluous, the saving in the bulk of the annual expenses could not possibly have amounted to more than the two hundredth part! It was not therefore without reason that M. Necker, in answer to their publication, said, “I know not whether the books of the finances of any sovereign in Europe can show a similar total.”

Our account of the mutiny of the soldiers at Nancy (no. 83.) is very inaccurate. Far from being excited by the officers, that mutiny was the natural consequence of the absurd decrees of the Assembly; which having declared all men equal, and made it criminal to punish disobedient soldiers in that summary way, without which no armed force can be commanded, had completely disorganized the army, and substituted for martial law patriotic exhortations, legislative decrees, and the novel jurisdiction of municipalities. The soldiers knew their own strength, of which indeed they were continually informed by the friends of the revolution; and while they shook off the authority of their military commanders, they laughed at the impotent decrees of the Assembly. At Nancy they had imprisoned two general officers, and committed other outrages of the most ferocious nature. It was the duty of the Marquis de Bouillé, as governor of the province, to reduce the insurgents by force, if force should be found necessary; but he had accomplished his object without shedding blood, and was congratulating the two liberated generals, and some of the principal inhabitants, upon so happy a termination of the affair, when the populace, and many soldiers who had not followed their colours, fired upon the troops under his command, and killed fifty or sixty men. The troops immediately returned the fire; and a great number of the rebellious mob and mutinous garrison were of course put to the sword. That such able and firm conduct in Bouillé excited indignation among the Jacobins of Paris, is very probable; but even the king himself did not express higher approbation of it than the National Assembly, who were duly sensible that it saved themselves from destruction, which, had he failed in his enterprise, would have been inevitable. Three months afterwards, indeed, when the fabrication of counter-revolutionary plots became part of the daily business of this enlightened Assembly, some censures were thrown by the Jacobins upon the Marquis’s conduct on this occasion; and those censures were loudly applauded.

We have likewise been led, by our fallacious guides, M. de Bouillé, to accuse this gallant officer (no. 91.) of having laid Bouillé open the country to the inroads of foreign armies; and we have given an incorrect account of the king’s flight from Paris. There is no evidence whatever for the truth of the charge against the Marquis de Bouillé, and it is directly contrary to his general character. He was indeed a royalist, and would doubtless have cooperated with the Prince of Condé and the other emigrants in restoring the king to his lawful authority; but he was likewise a Frenchman, and a patriot in the best sense of the word; and he would have died in defense of the rights and independence of his country. He certainly meant to protect the king in his journey from Paris to Montmédy, where it was to terminate; and he had stationed troops of dragoons on the road for that purpose; but the unfortunate Louis had delayed his journey a day longer than was agreed upon; and even when he set out, neglected to send couriers before him to warn the troops of his approach. He thus travelled unprotected; and the consequence was such as we have related. Yet the gallant Bouillé, tho’ this journey was undertaken contrary to his advice, declared himself the author of it; in that letter in which he threatened the Assembly with vengeance of all Europe.

(x) These were the Marquis de Montcalm-Gozon, Baron Felix de Wimpffen, de Menou, Fréteau, L. M. de Lepenoux, the Abbé Expilly, Camus, Goupil de Prefelin, Gautier de Blauzet, Treilhard, Champeaux-Palafue, and Cottin. In n° 90, we have most unaccountably said that the king was permitted to continue his journey to St Cloud. This is directly contrary to truth. The president, after hearing his complaint against those who had prevented it, replied indeed in a speech, containing some expressions of gratitude and affection, mixed with reflections on the refractory priests; but the Assembly determined nothing respecting the propriety of the journey. They did not even suffer a single motion to be made on the subject; and threatened with imprisonment one of the members who proposed to take it into consideration! The king was therefore obliged to abandon this excursion, though it was first undertaken from religious motives; and it was then that he seriously thought of attempting to elude the vigilance of his rebellious guards, and of taking up his residence at Montmedy.

In n° 96, we have published, with doubts indeed of its authenticity, what was called the treaty of Pavia and the convention at Pillnitz. The terms in which we introduced that scandalous fabrication to the notice of our readers, and the principles which we have uniformly avowed through the whole of this voluminous work, furnish, we hope, sufficient evidence that we could have no intention to deceive the public. Truth, however, demands of us to acknowledge, in the most explicit terms, that the pretended treaty of Pavia is not only a forgery, but a bungling forgery, defective in some of the most usual diplomatic forms; and that the conferences at Pillnitz between the Emperor, the King of Prussia, and the Count d'Artois, related to objects very different from a partition of the French territories.

So early as the month of May 1791, a plan had been digested by the Emperor, the King of Prussia, and the King of Spain, with the concurrence of Louis XVI., for liberating that unfortunate monarch from the confinement in which he was kept in his own capital. The means to be employed were a coalition among the principal powers on the continent to lead armies in every quarter to the borders of France. During the alarm which so menacing an appearance could not but excite in that kingdom, a declaration by the house of Bourbon, complaining of the cruel and iniquitous treatment of its head, was to be circulated through France, and to be immediately followed by the manifesto of the combined powers. This, it was presumed, would furnish a sufficient reason, even to the National Assembly, for the king's going to the frontiers, and placing himself at the head of the army; but if it should not, petitions were to be procured from the army and the provinces, requesting his presence, as the only means left of preventing a civil as well as foreign war. Had this measure, which was partly suggested by Mirabeau and partly by Montmorin and Calonne, been readily pursued, there can be little doubt but it would have proved completely successful. It was defeated, however, by the king's ill-concerted attempt to escape to Montmedy, and by a very imprudent and degrading letter which he was afterwards persuaded to send to every foreign power.

At Pillnitz, where the Emperor and the King of Prussia met, on the 25th of August, to settle between themselves some interests too delicate to be adjusted by the usual diplomatic modes, an agreement was entered into by them to support the cause of the French princes, to liberate the king, and to save, if possible, the monarchy. They delivered, accordingly, to the Count d'Artois the following declaration:

"His Majesty the Emperor, and his Majesty the King of Prussia, having heard the desires and the representations of Monsieur and his Royal Highness the Count d'Artois, declare, conjointly, that they consider the situation in which his Majesty the King of France is at present placed, as a matter which concerns the interest of every sovereign of Europe.—They hope that that interest will not fail to be acknowledged by the powers whose alliance is required; and that consequently they will not refuse to employ, in conjunction with their Majesties, the most efficacious means, according to their abilities, to put the King of France in a situation to establish, in perfect liberty, the foundations of a monarchical government, equally agreeable to the rights of sovereigns and the welfare of the French; then, and in that case, their Majesties are determined to act promptly and by mutual consent, with the forces necessary to obtain the end proposed by all of them. In the mean time they will give orders for their troops to be ready for actual service."

"Pillnitz, Augst 27th, 1791."

"Signed by the Emperor and the King of Prussia."

Such was the agreement entered into at Pillnitz, which was so grossly misrepresented by the French Jacobins, and by their zealous partizans in this country. Had not Louis XVI. accepted the constitution firmly and unconditionally, the consequence of this convention might have been the saving of the French monarchy, and the preservation of peace in Europe; but that acceptance, so little looked for by the high contracting powers, completely thwarted their measures for a time; and before their armies were put in motion, the monarchy was overturned, and the monarch a prisoner.

In our account of the origin of the war between Great Britain and France (n° 147, 148.), we have proceeded, by evidence which to ourselves appears irresistible, that the French regicides were the aggressors, and that the British ministry did all that could be done, consistently with the independence of their own country, to maintain the relations of amity between the two nations. That we have interpreted fairly that decree of the Convention by which this kingdom was forced into the war, is rendered incontrovertible by a subsequent decree on the 15th of December, by which their generals were ordered to regulate their conduct in the countries which their armies then occupied, or might afterwards occupy. In the preamble to this decree, they expressly declared, that their principles would not permit them to acknowledge any of the institutions militating against the sovereignty of the people; and the various articles exhibit a complete system of demolition. They insist on the immediate suppression of all existing authorities, the abolition of rank and privilege of every description, and the suppression of all existing imposts. Nay, these friends to freedom even declare, that they will treat as enemies a whole nation (un peuple entier) which shall presume to reject liberty and equality, or enter into a treaty with a prince or privileged caste!

It is worthy of remark, that the very day on which this decree, containing a systematic plan for disorganizing all lawful governments, passed the Assembly, the provi- provisional executive council wrote to their agent, Chauvelin, instructing him to disavow all hostile intentions on the part of France, and to proclaim her detestation of the idea of a war with England! Yet the same provisional council, in their comments on the 11th article of this decree, thus express themselves: "The right of natural defense, the duty of securing the preservation of our liberty, and the success of our arms, the universal interest of restoring to Europe a peace, which she cannot obtain but by the annihilation of the despots and their satellites, everything imposes on us the obligation of exercising all the rigors of war, and the rights of conquest, towards a people so fond of their chains, so obstinately wedded to their degradation, as to refuse to be restored to their rights, and who are the accomplices, not only of their own despotism, but even of all the crowned usurpers, who divide among themselves the dominion of the earth and its inhabitants." That Britain is one of those countries which the assembly thought their armies might afterwards occupy, and that the great majority of Britons were a people towards whom their principles obliged them to exercise all the rigors of war, and the rights of conquest, is evident from the following extract of a letter, written on the 31st of December 1792, by Monge, a member of the council, and minister of the marine to the sea-ports.

"The King and his parliament mean to make war upon us. Will the English republicans suffer it? Already these free men shew their discontent, and the repugnance which they have to bear arms against their brothers the French. Well! we will fly to their succour. We will make a descent on the island; we will lodge there 50,000 caps of liberty; we will plant there the sacred tree; and we will stretch out our arms to our republican brethren. The tyranny of their government will be destroyed."

As these two decrees of November and December 1792 have never been repealed, and as their object is to plainly avowed in the commentaries of the executive council, and in this letter of the minister of marine, they would alone sufficiently authorize us to adopt as our own the following reflections of M. Bertrand de Molleville*. With these, as they give a concise but perspicuous view of the rise and progress of that revolution, or, to speak more correctly, that series of revolutions which has for seven long years oppresed, not France alone, but all Europe, we shall conclude this long article.

"Popular insurrections, and an army (says this able and useful writer), have hitherto been the usual means, or chief instruments, of every revolution; but those insurrections being of the most ignorant and unthinking class of the people, were always fomented by a certain number of factious men, devoted to, and dependent upon, some ambitious chief, daring, brave, of military talents, sole and absolute conductor of every step of the revolt, and master of all the means of the insurrection. In the hands of this chief, the soldiers, or people armed, were but machines, which he set in motion or restrained according to his pleasure, and of which he always made use to put an end to revolutionary disorders and crimes, as soon as the object of the revolution was gained. So Caesar and Cromwell, after they had usurped the supreme power, lost no time in securing it to themselves, by placing it on the basis of a wife and well-

* Introduction to the Annals of the French Revolution.

Bertrand's view of the rise and progress of the revolution.

Suppl. Vol. II. Part II. and very soon after, he was reduced to sneak out of the kingdom, in order to escape the effects of the general contempt and censure which he had brought upon himself.

"General La Fayette, who then commanded the Parisian National Guard, gathered the wrecks of all this popularity, and might have turned them to the greatest advantage, if he had possessed 'that resolute character and heroic judgment' of which Cardinal de Retz speaks, and 'which serves to distinguish what is truly honourable and useful from what is only extraordinary, and what is extraordinary from what is impossible.' With the genius, talents, and ambition of Cromwell, he might have gone as great a length; with a less criminal ambition, he might at least have made himself master of the revolution, and have directed it at his pleasure: in a word, he might have secured the triumph of whatever party he should have declared himself the leader. But as unfit for supporting the character of Monk as that of Cromwell, he soon betrayed the secret of his incapacity to all the world, and was distinguished in the crowd of constitutional ringleaders only by his three-coloured plume, his epaulettes, white horse, and famous saying—'Insurrection is the most sacred of duties when oppression is at its height.'

"The revolution, at the period when the faction that had begun it for the Duke of Orleans became sensible that he was too much a coward to be the leader of it, and when La Fayette discovered his inability to conduct it, was too far advanced to recede or to stop; and it continued its progress, but in a line that no other revolution had taken, viz., without a military chief, without the intervention of the army, and to gain triumphs, not for any ambitious conspirator, but for political and moral innovations of the most dangerous nature; the most suited to mislead the multitude, incapable of comprehending them, and to let loose all the passions. The more violent combined to destroy everything; and their fatal coalition gave birth to Jacobinism, that terrible monster till then unknown, and till now not sufficiently unmasked. This monster took upon itself alone to carry on the revolution; it directed, it executed, all the operations of it, all the explosions, all the outrages: it everywhere appointed the most active leaders, and, as instruments, employed the profligates of every country. Its power far surpassed that which has been attributed to the inquisition, and other fiery tribunals, by those who have spoken of them with the greatest exaggeration. Its centre was at Paris; and its rays, formed by particular clubs in every town, in every little borough, overspread the whole surface of the kingdom. The constant correspondence kept up between these clubs and that of the capital; or, to use their own expression, des Sociétés populaires affiliées avec la Société mère—between the affiliated popular Societies and the parent Society,' was as secret and as speedy as that of free-masons. In a word, the Jacobin clubs had prevailed in causing themselves to be looked up to as the real national representation. Under that pretence, they censured all the authorities in the most imperious manner; and whenever their denunciations, petitions, or addresses, failed to produce an immediate effect, they gained their point by having recourse to insurrection, assassination, and fire. While Jacobinism thus subjected all France to its control, an immense number of emissaries propagated its doctrines among foreign nations, and prepared new conquests for it.

"The National Assembly, the capital, indeed we may say all France, was divided into three very distinct parties. The most considerable in number, but unhappily the weakest through a deficiency of plan and resolution, was the party purely Royal: it was adverse to every kind of Revolution, and was solely desirous of some improvements, with the reform of abuses and pecuniary privileges—the most able, and most intriguing, was the Constitutional party, or that which was desirous of giving France a new monarchical constitution, but modified after the manner of the English, or even the American, by a house of representatives. The third party was the most dangerous of all, by its daring spirit, by its power, and by the number of proficients it daily acquired in all quarters of the kingdom: it comprised the Democrats of every description, from the Jacobin clubs, calling themselves Friends of the Constitution, to the anarchists and robbers.

"The Democratic party, which at first was only auxiliary to the Constitutional one, in the end annihilated it, and became itself subdivided into several other parties, whose fatal struggles produced the subsequent revolutions, and may still produce many more. But in principle, the Constitutionalists and the Democrats formed two distinct, though confederate, factions; both were desirous of a revolution, and employed all the usual means of accomplishing it, except troops, which could be of no use to them, for neither of them had a leader to put at the head of the army. But as it was equally of importance to both that the king should be deprived of the power of making use of it against them, they laboured in concert to disorganise it; and the complete success of that manoeuvre was but too fully proved by the fatal issue of the departure of the royal family for Montmedy. The revolution then took a more daring and rapid stride, which was concluded by the pretended constitution act of 1791. The incoherence of its principles, and the defects of its institutions, present a faithful picture of the diffusion of its authors, and of the opposite interests by which they were swayed. It was, properly speaking, a compact between the faction of the Constitutionalists and that of the Democrats, in which they mutually made concessions and sacrifices.

"It be that as it may, this absurd constitution, the everlasting source of remorse or sorrow to all who bore part in it, might have been got over without a shock, and led back to the old principles of monarchical government, if the Assembly who framed it had not separated before they witnessed the execution of it; if, in imposing on the king the obligation to maintain it, they had not deprived him of the power and the means; and above all, if the certain consequence of the new mode of proceeding at the elections had not been to secure, in the second Assembly, a considerable majority of the Democratic against the Constitutional party.

"The second Assembly was also divided by three factions, the weakest of which was the one that wished to maintain the constitution. The other two were for a new revolution and a republic; but they differed in this, that the former, composed of the Brissotins and Girondists, was for effecting it gradually, by beginning with divesting the king of popularity, and allowing the public public mind time to wean itself from its natural attachment to monarchy; and the latter, which was the least numerous, was eager to have the republic established as soon as possible. These two factions, having the same object in view, though taking different roads, were necessarily auxiliaries to each other; and the pamphlets, excitations to commotion, and revolutionary measures of both, equally tended to overthrow the constitution of 1791.

These different factions, almost entirely composed of advocates, solicitors, apostate priests, doctors, and a few literary men, having no military chief capable of taking the command of the army, dreaded the troops, who had sworn allegiance to the constitution, and obedience to the king, and who moreover might be influenced by their officers, among whom there still remained some royalists. The surest way to get rid of all uneasiness on this subject, was to employ the army in defending the frontiers. For this purpose a foreign war was necessary, to which it was known that the king and his council were equally adverse. No more was wanting to determine the attack which was directed, almost at the same time, against all the ministers, in order to compel them to retire, and to put the king under the necessity of appointing others more disposed to second the views of the parties. Unhappily this attempt was attended with all the success they had promised themselves; and one of the first acts of the new ministry was to declare war against the emperor. At the same time, the emigration that had been provoked, and which was almost everywhere applauded, even by the lowest class of people, robbed France of the flower of the royal party, and left the king, deprived of his best defenders, exposed to the suspicions and insults that sprang from innumerable calumnies, for which the disasters at the beginning of the war furnished but too many opportunities.

In this manner was prepared and accelerated the new revolution, which was accomplished on the 10th of August 1792, by the deposition and imprisonment of the king, and by the most flagrant violation of the constitution of 1791. The latter, however, was not entirely abandoned on that day; for the project of the Girondists, who had laid the plot of that horrible conspiracy, was then only to declare the king's deposition, in order to place the prince royal upon the throne, under the guidance of a regency composed of their own creatures; but they were hurried away much farther than they meant to go, by the violence with which the most furious of the Jacobins, who took the lead in the insurrection, conducted all their enterprises. The prince royal, instead of being crowned, was shut up in the Temple; and if France at that moment was not declared a republic, it was less owing to any remaining respect for the constitution, than to the fear the legislative body was in of raising the army against it, and also the majority of the nation, who would naturally be angry to see a constitution which seemed to be rendered secure and stable by so many oaths, thus precipitately overthrown, without their having been consulted.

It was on these considerations that the opinion was adopted, that a National Convention should be convoked, to determine the fate of royalty. Prompt in seizing all the means that might ensure the success of this second revolution, the Assembly, under pretence of giving every possible latitude to the freedom of elections, decreed, that all its members should be eligible for the National Convention.

From that moment the Girondists daily lost ground, and the most flaming members of the Democratic party, supported by the club of Jacobins, by the new Commune of Paris, and by the Tribunes, made themselves masters of every debate. It was of the utmost importance to them to rule the ensuing elections; and this was secured to them by the horrible conformation which the massacres of the 2d of September struck throughout the kingdom. The terror of being assassinated, or at least cruelly treated, drove from all the Primary Assemblies, not only the royalists and constitutionalists, but moderate men of all parties. Of course, those assemblies became entirely composed of the weakest men and the greatest villains existing in France; and from among the most frantic of them were chosen those members of the Convention who were not taken from the legislative body. Accordingly, this third Assembly, in the first quarter of an hour of their first sitting, were heard shouting their votes for the abolition of royalty, and proclaiming the republic, upon the motion of a member who had formerly been a player.

Such an opening but too plainly showed what was to be expected from that horde of plunderers which composed the majority of the National Convention, and of whom Robespierre, Danton, Marat, and the other ringleaders, formed their party. That of the Brissotins and Girondists still existed, and was the only one really republican. These semi-wretches, glutted with the horrors already committed, seemed desirous of arresting the torrent of them, and laboured to introduce into the Assembly the calm and moderation that were necessary to give the new republic a wise and solid organization. But the superiority of their knowledge, talents, and eloquence, which their opponents could not dispute, had no power over tigers thirsting for blood, who neither attended to nor suffered motions but of the blackest tendency. No doubt they had occasion for the atrocities upon atrocities to prepare the terror-struck revolution, to allow them to commit, in its name, the most execrable of all, the murder of the unfortunate Louis XVI: and that martyrdom was necessary to bring about a third revolution, already brewing in the brain of Robespierre. Fear had greatly contributed to the two former; but this was effected by terror alone, without popular tumults, or the intervention of the armies; which, now drawn by their conquests beyond the frontiers, never heard anything of the revolutions at home, till they were accomplished, and always obeyed the prevailing faction, by whom they were paid.

By the degree of ferocity discovered by the members of the Convention in passing sentence upon the king, and in the debates relative to the constitution of 1793, Robespierre was enabled to mark which of the deputies were likely to second his views, and which of them it was his part to sacrifice.

The people could not but with transport receive a constitution which seemed to realise the chimera of its sovereignty, but which would only have given a kind of construction to anarchy, if the execution of this new code had not been suspended under the pretext, belonging in common to all acts of despotism and tyranny, of the supreme laws of the safety of the state. This supposi- The fourth revolution produces

In this manner ended the third revolution, in which the people, frozen with terror, did not dare to take a part. Instead of an army of soldiers, Robespierre employed an army of executioners and assassins, set up as revolutionary judges; and the guillotine, striking or menacing all heads indiscriminately, made France, from one end to the other, submit to him, by the means of terror or of death. Thus was this nation, formerly so proud, even to idolatry, of its kings, seen to expiate, by rivers of blood, the crime of having suffered his to be slain who was the most virtuous of all their monarchs.

In the rooms of that famous Bastille, whose celebrated capture and demolition had set only seven prisoners at liberty, two of whom had been long in a state of lunacy, the colleges, the seminaries, and all the religious houses of the kingdom, were converted into so many state prisons, into which were incessantly crowded, from time to time, the victims devoted to feed the ever-working guillotines, which were never suffered to stand still for a day, because they were at once the chief resource of supplies for the government, and the instrument of its ferocity. The guillotine coins money for the republic,' was said in the tribune by one of Robespierre's vilest agents. In fact, according to the jurisprudence of the Revolutionary Tribunals, the rich of every class, being declared suspected persons, received sentence of death, for no other reason than that of giving the confiscation of their property a show of judicial form.

Still blood flowed too slowly to satisfy Robespierre; his aim was but partly attained by the procription of the nobles, the priests, and the wealthy. He fancied, not only an aristocracy of talents and knowledge, but of the virtues, none of which would his truly orators and journalists admit, save that horrid patriotism which was estimated according to the enormity of the crimes committed in favour of the revolution. His plan was to reduce the French people to a mere plantation of slaves, too ignorant, too stupid, or too pitiless, to conceive the idea of breaking the chains with which he would have loaded them in the name of liberty; and he might have succeeded in it, had not his ambition, as impatient as it was jealous, too soon unveiled the intention of resorting to the guillotine to strike off the shackles with which an assembly of representatives of the nation fettered, or might fetter, his power. He was about to give this decisive blow, which he had concerted with the Commune of Paris, the Revolutionary Tribunal, the Club of Jacobins, and the principal officers of the National Guard, when the members of the Convention, who were marked out to be the first sacrificed, anticipated him at a moment when he least expected it, by attacking himself in the Assembly, with energy sufficient to rouse all the sections of the capital against him and against the Jacobins. The parties came to blows, and victory remained uncertain for several hours; but at length declared against Robespierre. In the space of a day, that execrable monster was dragged from the highest pitch of power ever attained by any tyrant, to the very scaffold that was still reeking with the blood of his last victims. His principal accomplices in the Committee of Public Safety, in the Commune, in the National Guard, in the Revolutionary Tribunal, and many of his agents in the provinces, met the same fate. The Revolutionary Tribunals were suppressed, and the prisons thrown open to all whom they had cast into them.

This fourth revolution, in which the faction then contended the moderate party overthrew the terroristic and seized the supreme power, was no less complete than those which had preceded it, and produced the constitution of 1795. All France received as a great blessing a constitution that delivered them from the revolutionary government and its internal policy. Besides, it had, in spite of great defects, the merit of coming nearer than the two preceding ones, to the principles of order, of justice, and real liberty; the violation of which had, for five years before, been the source of so many sufferings and so many crimes. The royalists, considering it as a step towards monarchy, were unfortunately so imprudent as to triumph in it; and their joy, as premature as indiscreet, alarmed the Assembly to such a degree, that they passed the famous law, ordaining the Primary Assemblies to return two-thirds of the members of the Convention to the legislative body, which was to succeed that assembly. It was thus that the spirit of the Convention continued, for the first year, to be displayed in the two councils.

In the year following, the bias of the public mind, perhaps too hastily turned towards royalty, showed itself in the elections of the members for the new third, so clearly as to alarm the regicides who composed the Directory, and the Conventionists, who still made a third of the legislative body; nor did they lose a moment in devising means for their defense. That which appeared the surest to them was, to publish notices of plots among the royalists, and annex one or more denunciations, in terms so vague as to leave room for implicating, when necessary, all their adversaries; while by the help of this imposture they procured some secret information, artfully fabricated, and ever easily obtained through threats or rewards by those who have at command the guillotine and the public treasure.

This masked battery was ready to be opened before the members of the new third took their seats. These at first confined themselves to the securing of a constant majority in the two councils in favour of the moderate opinions; but in a little time every sitting was marked by the repeal of some revolutionary law, or by some decree tending to restrain the executive authority within the limits fixed by the constitution.

The Directory, alarmed at the abridgment of their power, and dreading still more serious attacks upon it, came to a resolution of no longer postponing the blow they had been meditating against the legislative assembly; and they accomplished, in the manner related in the fifth revolution, as complete as any of those by which it was preceded. It differed indeed from them essentially in the facility and promptness with which it was effected, although the party which prevailed, that is to say, the majority of the Directory, and the minority of the Legislative Body, had to combat not only against the constitution, but against the opinion, and even against the indignation, of the public. That moral force, on which the majority of the two councils had unluckily placed all their reliance, vanished in an instant before the physical force of a detachment of troops consisting of six or seven hundred men; so true is it, that the power of the public opinion, ridiculously exaggerated in these days, is and can be no more, under a firm and well-ordered government, than a mere fancy. Men accustom themselves too easily to take for public opinion the private opinions made public by certain writers, whose caution or audacity depends always upon the energy or feebleness of the supreme authority. It is the same thing with popular commotions: they are easily excited under a weak government, which does not possess the wisdom to prevent or the spirit to suppress them; but a vigorous, just, and strict government has nothing to fear from them. The Directory, compelled to withdraw the larger body of troops, which they had thought necessary to ensure the revolution they were meditating, discovered, no doubt, great ability in securing the two councils, by appearing to dread them; but it was chiefly to the energy of their measures, and to the concentration and promptness with which they were executed, that they owed their success. Two days before, the legislative body might, without obstruction, have impeached, arrested, and even outlawed, the majority of the Directory, who were execrated by the public under the title of Triumvirate; and, if requisite, they would have been supported by more than 30,000 armed citizens, who, with Pichegru and Villot at their head, would soon have dispersed, and perhaps brought over, the feeble detachments of troops of the line which the Directory had at their command. The legislative body, relying too much upon its popularity, did not sufficiently consider, that the people, whose impetuosity is commonly decisive when allowed to take advantage in attack, are always feeble on the defensive, and totally unable to withstand every assault made previous to an insurrection, for it is always easy to prevent their assembling. It was on this principle that the Directory founded their operations, and the 5th of September too well proves how justly. That day reduced the legislative body, by the most degrading subjugation, to a mere disgusting caricature of national representation; it invested the Directory with the most arbitrary and tyrannic power, and restored the system of Robespierre, under a form less bloody, but not less pernicious; for the Revolutionary Tribunals which that monster had established, were scarcely more expedient than the military ones of the Directory. The power of arbitrary and unlimited transportation is, in time, as destructive as the guillotine, without professing, like that, the advantage of exciting a salutary horror, which, by recovering the people from the state of stupor and apathy, the constant effects of terror, gives them both recollection and force to break their chains. Though, in violating the most essential regulations of the constitution, the Directory obtained a temporary confirmation of their power, their example pointed out to Bonaparte and Sieyes the path which they pursued with infinite address, and in which they accomplished a fifth revolution.

How long the consular government will continue, it is impossible to conjecture; but we may, without presumption, venture to predict, that it cannot be permanent. To the Jacobins and original constitutionalists it must be more obnoxious than the old government; because Bonaparte is more despotic than was Louis XIV; and the royalists, though they may prefer the vigorous and comparatively mild government of one man, whose talents are indispensible, to the ferocious tyranny of the lowest of the rabble, must look with indignation at a foreign adventurer seated on the throne of their ancient monarchy.