Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 14.djvu/279

* NAPOLEON I. 237 NAPOLEON I. stitutcil the Genoese dominions into tlip Ligiirian Republic ; lie sent Augerean as his secret agent to conduct the military operations of the coup d'etat of the IStli Fructidor (see Fre.nch Kevo- i.lTlo.N' ) ; he lived and acted like a monarch in Xorthern Ital_v; and finally, disregarding the ex- j)ress orders of the Directors, he negotiated with Austria the Treaty of Campo Formio (October 17, 1797). Austria gave up her former Belgian jiossessions and Lombardy, ami received most of the territories of the extinguished Kepublic of Venice. Bonaparte now returned to France, but the Directors were afrai<I of him and sought to rid themselves of liim by dispatching him on some out-of-the-way or hazardous enterjjrise. It was evident to him that a direct attack upon France's one remaining foe, England, could not succeed, and he suggested instead the campaign in Egj'pt. The Oriental dream was always before his eyes, and tliroughout life influenced his policy. He saw in India the source of England's power, and he ilitcrmined to attack India. He negotiated with I ipu Sultan, a determined foe of the English, and, Sea, he proposed to conquer Eg^'pt as a stepping- stone to India. An expedition was fitted out with the utmost secrecy at Toulon, and on May I!1. 1708, he set sail with a large fleet carrying
 * is the easiest route to India was by the Ked
 * ."i.000 men. He stopped on the way to capture

Malta. On Jul.v 1st he landed in Egypt and HI cupied Alexandria on the next day. Advancing into the desert, he encountered and defeated the i:iinous JIameluke cavahy in tlic battle of the Pyramids on .July 21st, and three days later entered Cairo. Desaix was detached to conquer Upper Egypt, and Bonaparte devoted himself to consolidate his conquests. On August lst-2d, however, Nelson destroyed his fleet in Abukir Bay, and Turkey declared war and planned to recover Eg^-pt. Taking the offensive at the be- ginning of 1799, Bonaparte invaded Syria, cap- tured Jaffa, and laid siege to Acre. Junot fought an engagement with the Turks near Nazareth, and Kleber found himself attacked by thirty thousand of them at tlie foot of Mount Tabor on April loth, but was rescued by the opportune arrival of Bonaparte. Returning to Acre, Bona- parte found that he was unable to take the place liy storm, and having lost five thousand men in fighting or from the plague, he ordered a retreat. Arriving in Eg^pt, he met another Turkish force, which had landed near Alexandria, and defeated it on .July 2.5th. News from France told of the infidelity of .Josephine, and of the evil plight of France under the decadent Direc- tory, which was being attacked by the newly formed Second Coalition of the Powers of Europe against France. On the night of August 22d-2.3d, leaving Kleber in command, Bonaparte escaped from Alexandria, and evading the English ships, landed at Frejus on October 9. 1799. On reaching Paris he speedily took council with the members of his family and after a scene with .Josephine forgave her. thovigh he did not forget her olVensc. Councils with Talleyrand, Sieyfs, and other important men of afl'airs fol- lowed, but most of all with his brother Luoien, who was now president of the Coimcil of Five Hundred. Plans were speedily devised, and on November 9. 1799. the famous coup d'ftat of the ISth Brumaire took (ilace. The Directory was overthrown, the Council of Five Hundred dis- persed, and a provisional government composed of Bonaparte and two of the late Directors, Sieyfes and Roger Ducos, installed. SieyCs(q.v.) expected to be the managing head of the new combination, but at the first meeting found that Bonaparte had everything in his own hands. In a few weeks the Provisional (Jovernment drew up and promulgated the Constitution of the Year 'III., which, in spite of its elaborate provisions for the Legis- lature and the other parts of the Government, really intrusted all power to Bonaparte, who became First Consul (December 24, 1799). Haing arranged the more important de- tails of the administration and restore<l internal peace by the pacification of the VendOe, lie turned his attention to the military situa- tion. The victory of JIassOna at Zurich on Sep- tember 2.5-2G, 1799, had freed France from the danger of invasion by the Second Coalition, but Italy and Southern Germany were once more in the hands of the Austrians, and MassOna with a French army was shut up in Genoa. Bonaparte suddenly and with the utmost secrecy gatliered a new army for the invasion of Italy. Instead of taking the expected course of advancing along the Riviera as in 1796 and raising the siege of Genoa, he took his army, who.se existence was un- known to the Austrians, across the Great Saint Bernard i*ass and occupied Mil.an on June 2, 1800. The surprised Austrian General Melas endeavored to gather his forces and siive himself. A detachment under Lannes defeated an Austrian detachment at Montebello on .June 9th, but on the 14th Bonaparte found himself forced to face the main Austrian army of 31.000 men at Marengo with only 18,000. and with difiieulty saved himself from complete defeat. The opportune arrival of Desaix after the battle was really over led to a renewal of tlie fight, to the astonishment of the Austrians, who were driven from the field. The campaign of ilarengo was a masterpiece, but the honors of the victory itself belong to Desaix, who bought it with his life, and to Lannes, Bessi^res, and the younger Keller- niann. Melas evacuated all of Italy west of Man- tua, but Au.stria was not ready to make peace un- til she had been defeated by Moreau at Hohenlin- den (q.v. ) on December 3d, and Macdonald had crossed the Spliigen and threatened Vienna. Ne- gotiations were then opened between Cobenzl and Joseph Bonaparte, and on February 9. 1801, the Treaty of Liineville was signed. England was now the only remaining foe of I'^ranee. England forced the French to evacuate Egypt and cap- tured Malta; while Bonaparte forced Naples and Portugal to abandon the English alliance. The faint-hearted Addington Ministry in England signed preliminaries of peace with France on October 1, 1801, and on March 27, 1802. Corn- wallis and Joseph Bonaparte signed the Treaty of Amiens, which gave France complete peace for the first time in ten years. The diplomatic genius of Bonaparte shines brightly in these treaties, which enabled him to make real gains for France such as all the wars of Louis XIV. had failed to obtain. He carefully hid many things in these treaties for future use, which enabled him to appear as the pacificator and re- organizer not only of France, but of Europe, and as the founder of a great colonial empire. Seeds for future war were as carefully sown, which were to bring forth fruit at the appropriate sea- son.