Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 9.djvu/648

 612 FRANCE [HISTORY. Italy. 1799. The campaign on the upper Rhine showed that the French were not strong enough to defend so long a line ; they were pushed back as far as to Zurich, where Massdna defended himself for two days against the archduke Charles, and though in the end successful, he still found it better to fall back again. The Austrians occupied the chief part of Switzerland, and waited for the Russians to come Cam- up. In Italy Moreau was also overpowered ; his great paign m ability as a captain alone saved his army from terrible disasters after the defeat of Cassano, in which Suwarrof treated him very roughly, driving him back and entering Milan. He took up a good position near Alessandria, and waited for Macdonald, who was coming up from Naples. After a very difficult campaign, in which Moreau showed great vigour and devotion, and Macdonald had done his best, and the French soldiers had displayed all their old bravery, the two armies, after terrible losses, united at Genoa. The Directory dismissed Macdonald, gave Moreau the command of a new force on the Rhine, and sent Joubert to command the army of Italy. In attempting to save Alessandria, he was met by Suwarrof, who defeated him completely (15th August 1799) at Novi, after a very hard- fought battle. This defeat ended the French resistance in Italy ; Naples, Rome, the valley of the Po, were all in the hands of the allies. From all sides news of disaster reached Paris ; the Dutch fleet passed over to the English ; an ex peditionary force reached Ireland, only in time to be taken prisoners ; the English took Minorca and blockaded Malta; the Russians became masters of the Ionian Islands ; Bona parte even, with the army of Egypt, had suffered defeat from Sir Sidney Smith at St Jean d Acre on the Syrian shore, in May, after having taken Gaza and Jaffa. In India the friend of France, Tippoo Sahib, lay dead in the breach of Seringapatam (4th May 1799). No wonder if after this the position of the Directory became very critical. It was loudly declared, in spite of facts, that the Five had inten tionally sacrificed Bonaparte; the public feeling in his favour grew with men s sympathy and indignation. The Government was, with exception of Barras, one of honest mediocrity, a dangerous type in France; Sieyes, who entered the Directory in the year VII. (1799), was regarded as its enemy, and men rallied round him ; Lucien Bona parte, who was one of the Five Hundred, led the opposition, which declared the councils to be in permanent session ; and thus the legislative power once more asserted its authority over the executive (18th June 1799). It was a republi can revival ; the constitution of the year III. seemed to be set aside ; the character of the Directory was changed by new appointments; things fell into confusion. It was clear that a head was wanted. Bona- Tidings of this state of things at last reached Bonaparte, parte s W ] 10 h a( j been completely cut off from France by the disaster of the fleet. Ifc is said that he learnt it from a packet of gazettes forwarded to him by Sir Sidney Smith. Turkish armies had been gathering force against him, and baffled in Syria, he had now to fight for existence in Egypt. The battle of Aboukir (24th July 1799), which destroyed one of their armies, set him free. Not without lies and decep tions he stole away, leaving his army under command of Kleber, whose independent temper troubled him ; for as he had failed to conquer Syria, and to win an Oriental empire, he must now hasten home to push his fortunes in France. About the time that he reached Paris (October 1799) in a kind of triumph, as the hero of the brilliant success of Aboukir, the anxious country also received tidings of the splendid campaign of MassCna in Switzerland, the victory of Zurich (24th September 1799), the quarrels of Russia and Austria, the retreat of Suwarrof into Bavaria, and of the lesser successes with which Bruno defeated the duke of York in Holland, and forced him to sign the capitulation return. of Alkmaar (18th October 1799). France, relieved rather 17 than triumphant, welcomed Bonaparte with enthusiastic transports. No one cared to inquire what he had done with his army ; he was there, and that sufficed ; he was there, and the reign of order was about to begin. To this, then, had the reign of reason, the rights of men, the republican propaganda, fallen ; men yearned only for a strong man, a stable government under which they might have equal peace. And Bonaparte was willing enough to accept the part thus pressed on him ; he called to himself the moderate party, by far the largest in France, and prepared to seize on a dic tatorship. On the 18th and 19th of Brumaire (9th and Th 10th November 1799) Bonaparte, who had allied himself c , with Sieyes, and had round him a powerful group of friends ^ and generals, carried out his plans in spite of the resistance an j of the patriots, the hostility of the Five Hundred, the un- Br certain temper of the troops. It was a moment of immense m: peril for Bonaparte and his brother Lucien, until, in reply to an appeal to the soldiers, in which nothing was spared that could rouse them, the grenadiers rallied to their hero, and ejected the council then sitting at St Cloud. The Direc tory was suppressed, and in their place were three consuls, appointed provisionally. These were Napoleon Bonaparte, Sieyes, and Roger-Ducos. Two commissions were named to revise the constitution. The three consuls took oath to the Republic. Thus the Revolution passed into its last stage. It had T n tried to live with a king, had tried to govern by democratic s ; ^ severities, had also been moderate ; it now became mili-. 1 tary. The despot, who, according to Aristotle, haunts like a dark spectre the steps of democracy, had now, at ten years end, overtaken and destroyed its forerunner. &quot; Eadem magistratuum nomina,&quot; no doubt ; also, as in the case of imperial Rome, a new dynasty founded on the sword. Bonaparte had no sooner secured his revolution than hell set himself with his wonted vigour and sagacity to consoli-ll[ date it. He saw that France was weary at heart of the * * struggles and changes of parties ; he wished to sweep away all remembrance that he too had been, in profession at least, an ardent partisan ; he felt that he, supported by his bayonets, was strong enough to treat faction with contempt. Therefore he said, &quot; Let there be no more Jacobins, nor moderates, nor royalists ; let all be Frenchmen ;&quot; and as he said it, all France recognized that this was the equality they T sought, and hailed him as their master. When the consuls sentenced fifty-nine democrats to exile, the popular feeling showed itself so completely in favour of an amnesty for all that they were compelled to recall the order. Parties were ii now insignificant, because Bonaparte was great. On the 13th of December 1799 the &quot; Constitution of the jj. year VIII.,&quot; chiefly the work of Sieyes, was put forth. ; There were to be three consuls, first, second, and third, ; j 1 not equal as at Rome, named for ten years, and re-eligible. Of these the first consul had in fact all the power ; he alone could promulgate laws, name ministers, ambassadors, and officers generally, while the second and third had only a consultative voice, which could not be of great avail ; their two voices could not out-vote that of their so-called colleague, j i A council of state was to be charged with the drawing of | all laws, its members to be named by the first consul ; laws thus framed should be presented to a tribunate of a hundred members ; this body, after discussion of the project, was to pass it on, in the hands of three orators, who should discuss it against three counsellors of state nominated by the Government, in the presence of the legislative body, whicl finally adopted or rejected the law by a secret ballot without debate. This legislative body was composed of threi hundred members. Lastly, there was to be a senate of eight} life members, who should confirm or annul all acts whicl might be referred to it, on grounds of their constitutiona