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 38 NAPOLEON BONAPARTE pected by the moderate party of too strong a sympathy with that leader, and, in spite of his disclaimers, was temporarily put under arrest. He wrote a sharp remonstrance against this proceeding, and was released by the committee of public safety, after a detention of about a fortnight. At the close of the campaign of that year he went to Paris again to solicit some new employment, but, in spite of his abilities, he did not procure it instantly. His letters to his brother Joseph, written during this time, have the tone and manner of those of a mere adventurer, somewhat depressed by ennui, and waiting impatiently upon fortune, though ready for any good luck that may turn up. " Life," he remarks, " is a flimsy dream, soon to be over," as if he was yet unsuspicious of what a disturbed and restless dream his was destined to be. He lodged in the rue du Mail, near the place de la Victoire, often complained of his poverty and suggested schemes for raising money, and at one time thought of offering his services to the sultan of Turkey. But the con- stitution of the year III. organizing the direc- torial government having in the mean time been adopted (1795), and the Thermidoreans of the convention which adopted it having passed two decrees declaring that the two new councils created by the constitution should in the first instance be constituted of two thirds of the present and one third of new members, and ordering the electoral bodies to nominate the third that were to be returned, a new germ of civil war was planted. The sections or primary assemblies of Paris resisted this dictatorial at- tempt of the convention to perpetuate its own power, and the convention prepared to put down the sections. The convention held at its disposal some 5,000 regular troops, besides a large number of cannon, under the general con- trol of Barras, one of its members. Menou was at first chosen to lead these troops against the people, but, through indecision or want of en- ergy, failed in his movements. Barras, who had known Napoleon at Toulon, then said to the committee of the convention that the young Corsican, who was already employed by them in some slight military occupation, was the very person to take command. They accordingly gave it to him, and he, will- ing to fight for the people or against them, as best served his own designs or necessi- ties, made his arrangements for the disper- sion of the populace. On the morning of the 13th Vendemiaire (Oct. 5, 1795), the na- tional guards, as the defenders of the sections were called, advanced, to the number of 30,- 000 men, along the quays of the Seine, the rue St. Honor6, and other approaches to the Tuile- ries. Everywhere as they advanced, however, they encountered a most formidable resistance. Napoleon, though he had but one night to make his arrangements, left no point undefend- ed, while he established bodies of troops in the best positions, and to a fire of musketry returned a murderous discharge of cannon. In less than an hour of actual fighting he se- cured the victory to the convention, and, Bar- ras resigning, he became the conimander-in- chief of the army of the interior. One of the letters addressed to Joseph by Napoleon during intervals of his idleness said, jokingly, "If I stay here it is possible I may be fool enough to marry," and fortune had already pre- pared his bride for him. Moving in the society of Ban-as, Tallien, Carnot, and their families, was a young widow named Josephine Beauhar- nais, a native of Martinique, and possessed of rare beauty and accomplishments. Bonaparte paid his addresses to her, and was soon an ac- cepted lover. On Feb. 23, 1796, he was ap- pointed, at the instance of Carnot, to the com- mand of the army of Italy, which for three or four years had been carrying on an indeci- sive war against the Sardinians and Austrians, amid the defiles of the Alps and the Ligurian Apennines. His marriage took place the next month, March 9, and in less than a week after- ward he departed to assume command. His army consisted of about 35,000 men, and was in a miserable state of destitution as to clothing and provisions, and considerably relaxed in dis- cipline. The allied army opposed to him con- tained some 60,000 men, conducted by Beau- lieu, an experienced and courageous general, and manoeuvred according to the most skilful strategies of the time. But, in spite of the superiority of numbers and experience, Napo- leon brought to the campaign several incontes- table advantages: 1, the enthusiasm and alac- rity of a young mind given for the first time a separate and independent field of glory, and determined on conquest or ruin ; 2, an unri- valled power of combination, joined to a celer- ity of movement that seemed almost miracu- lous ; and lastly, the free use of such a stimu- lant to the hopes of impatient and desperate troops, half famished amid the barren Alpine rocks, as the promise of an unrestrained enjoy- ment of "the rich provinces and opulent towns " of Italy. Against France, at that time, a formidable coalition, consisting of England, Austria, Bavaria, Piedmont, Naples, and sev- eral minor states both of Germany and Italy, was arrayed; but Austria was the principal of the league, and the possession of Italy the key to the situation. Napoleon perceived this, and at once proceeded to make himself master of Italy. On April 12 he gained a victory at Monte Notte; on the 14th, that of Millesimo; on the 15th, that of Dego; on the 21st, that of Mondovi ; by which series of successes the king of Sardinia was compelled to sue for peace. Turning his attention next to upper Italy, he advanced upon Lodi, where he forced the pas- sage of the Adda, May 10, in a brilliant battle which put Lombardy in his power. On May 15 he entered Milan, where heavy contribu- tions were levied upon the state, and the prin- cipal works of art seized and sent to Paris. Naples, Modena, and Parma hastened to con- clude a peace, and the pope was forced to sign an