356

THE INVASION OF EGYPT.

Ch. 28 Formio exhibited both the strength and the perfidy of BonaA. D. parte, especially in reference to Venice, which was disgrace1798. fully despoiled to pay the expenses of the Italian wars

of Cam

Among other things, the splendid bronze horses, which for Treaty six hundred years had stocd over the portico of the church of po For St. Mark, to commemorate the capture of Constantinople by the Venetian crusaders, and which had originally been brought from Corinth to Rome by ancient conquerors, were removed to Paris to decorate the Tuileries.

mio.

Invasion of Egypt.

Bonaparte's journey from Italy to Paris, after Venice, with its beautiful provinces, had been surrendered to Austria, was a triumphal procession. The enthusiasm of the Parisians was boundless; the public curiosity to see him indescribable. Yet he lived in a quiet manner, simply assuming the dress of the Institute, of which body he had been lately elected a member. Great fetes were, however, given in his honor, and his victories were magnified.

But he was not content either with repose or adulation His ambitious soul panted for new conquests; and having conceived the scheme of an Egyptian invasion, he veiled it from the eyes of the world by a pretended attack on England herself. It is not probable that Bonaparte at this time ever seriously contemplated the conquest of England, knowing well the difficulty of supporting and recruiting his army, even if he succeeded in landing his forces. He probably only designed to divert the attention of the English from his projected enterprise.

On the 9th of May, 1798, all being ready, he embarked at Toulon in a fleet of thirteen ships of the line, fourteen frigates, seventy-two brigs, and four hundred transports, containing thirty-six thousand soldiers and ten thousand sailors. He was joined by reinforcements at Genoa, Ajaccio, and Civita Castellana; and on the 10th of June he arrived at Malta, Battle which capitulated without firing a shot. Proceeding on his voyage, he succeeded in escaping the squadron of Nelson, Byamids. and on the 1st of July reached Alexandria. He was vigorously

the

opposed by the Mamelukes, but advanced in spite of them to

BATTLE OF THE NILE.

857

Cairo, marching along the banks of the Nile. Near the Ch. 28 Pyramids, a great battle took place; the Mamelukes were A. D. signally defeated, and the fate of Egypt was sealed.

1798.

of the

The battle of the Nile quickly succeeded, and the victory ct Nelson -one of the most brilliant but bloody actions in Battle the history of naval warfare-gave a mortal stroke to the Nile. French army, and made the conquest of Egypt useless. Bonaparte, finding his army exiled, and himself destined to hopeless struggles with Oriental power, now made gigantic efforts, in order to secure the means of support, to prosecute scientific researches, and to complete the conquest of the country. He crossed the desert, which separates Africa from Asia, and early in 1799, with an army not exceeding sixteen thousand men, invaded Syria, stormed Jaffa, massacred its garrison, and then advanced to Acre. Its memorable siege Siege of in the time of the Crusades should have deterred Bonaparte from trying to subdue it with his little army in the midst of a hostile population. But he made the attempt. The fortress, succoured by Sir Sydney Smith, successfully resisted, and he was compelled to retire with the loss of three thousand men.

Acre.

His discomfited army now retreated to Egypt, and there suffered all the accumulated miseries which fatigue, heat, thirst, plague, and famine could inflict. Amidst all these calamities, however, added to discontent among the troops, he won the great battle of Aboukir. Immediately after this he left the army under the command of Kleber, returned to Alexandria, and secretly set sail, accompanied Napo by Berthier, Lannes, Murat, Marmont, and other generals. turns to He succeeded in escaping the English cruisers, and on the France. 8th of October, 1799, landed in France.

During the absence of Bonaparte in Egypt, the French Directory had become unpopular, and the national finances more embarrassed than ever. But the war was continued with unabated energy. Switzerland was invaded and conquered; an outrage which showed the ambitious designs of the Government more than any previous attack which it had

leon re

358

A. D.

REVERSES OF THE FRENCH.

Ch. 28 made on the liberties of Europe. The Papal States were next seized, the venerable Pontiff being subjected to cruel 1799. indignities, and the treasures and monuments of Rome again despoiled. "The Vatican was stripped to its naked walls, Italy and the immortal frescoes of Raphael and Michael Angelo despoilalone remained in solitary beauty amidst the general desolation." The King of Sardinia was driven from his dominions, and Naples yielded to the tricolored flag. Immense military contributions were levied in all these unfortunate States, and all that was beautiful in art was transported to Paris.

ed.

Re

verses

In the mean time, the spirits of the English were revived of the by the victories of Nelson, and greater preparations than ever French. were made to resist the General, who now plainly aimed at the

Honors

decreed to Na

conquest of Europe. England, Austria, and Russia combined against France, and her armies met with reverses in Italy and on the Rhine. Suwarrow, with a large army of Russians and Austrians, gained considerable success, and General Moreau was obliged to retreat before him. Serrurier surrendered with seven thousand men, and Suwarrow entered Milan in triumph, with sixty thousand. Turin shared the fate of Milan, and Piedmont and Lombardy were overrun by the allies. The republicans were expelled from Naples. Mantua fell, and Suwarrow marched with his conquering legions into Switzerland.

These disasters happened while Bonaparte was in Egypt; his return to France was, therefore, hailed with universal joy. polecz. His victories had prepared the way for a most enthusiastic reception, and favored his assumption of the sovereign power. All the generals then in Paris paid their court to him; and his saloon, in his humble dwelling in the Rue Chantereine, resembled the levée of a monarch. Lannes, Murat, Berthier, Jourdan, Augereau, Macdonald, Bournonville, Leclerc, Lefebvre, and Marmont, afterwards so illustrious as the marshals of the Empire, offered him the military dictatorship, while Sièyes, Talleyrand, and Régnier, the great civil leaders, concurred to place him at the head of affairs.

NAPOLEON BECOMES FIRST CONSUL.

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359

He himself withdrew from the gaze of the people, affected Ch. 28 great simplicity, and associated chiefly with men distinguished A. D. for literary and scientific attainments. But he secretly in- 1799 trigued with Sièyes and with his generals. Three of the Directory sent in their resignations, and Napoleon assumed Napothe reins of government, under the title of First Consul, First having for his associates Sièyes and Roger Ducos. The Consul legislative branches of the Government resisted, but the Council of Five Hundred was powerless before the bayonets of the military. A new revolution was now effected, and despotic power placed in the hands of a military chieftain. Talleyrand was made minister of foreign affairs. Fouché retained his portfolio of police, and the celebrated La Place was made minister of the interior. On the 24th of December, 1799, the new constitution was proclaimed; and shortly after, Sièyes and Roger Ducos withdrew from the Consulate, and gave place to Cambacères and Lebrun, who were in the interests of Napoleon.

peace to

The first step of the Consul was to offer peace to Great Offers Britain. This was done in a letter to the King, in which Engpeace was declared to be the first necessity and truest glory of land. nations! Lord Grenville, minister of foreign affairs, replied in a long letter, in which he laid upon France the blame of the war, tracing it to her revolutionary principles and aggressive spirit, and refusing to make peace while the causes of difficulty remained. The Commons supported the Government by a large majority, and all parties prepared for a still more desperate conflict. Mr. Pitt was probably right in his opinion that no peace could be lasting with a revolutionary power, and that every successive concession would only pave the way for fresh demands. Bonaparte, on the other hand, could only fulfil what he called his destiny, by continual agitation; and this was well understood both by himself and his enemies. The contest had become one of life and death; and both parties resolved that no peace should be made until one or the other was effectually conquered.

The land forces of Great Britain, at the commencement of

360

IMMENSE MILITARY PREPARATIONS.

A. D.

Ch. 28 the year 1800, amounted to one hundred and sixty-eight thousand men, exclusive of eighty thousand militia, and one 1800. hundred and twenty thousand seamen and marines. The vessels in commission were no less than five hundred, including Forces one hundred and twenty-four ships of the line. The various of Eng- German States, assisted by large subsidies from Great Britain, made unusual exertions, and agreed to raise a contingent force of three hundred thousand men. Austria, alone, had in the field at this time a force of two hundred thousand men, half of whom belonged to the army of Italy under Melas.

land.

Difficulties of

Napoleon.

Renewed bostilities.

To make head against these united forces with a defeated army, an exhausted treasury, and a disunited people, was the difficult task of Bonaparte. His first object was to improve the finances; his second, to tranquillize La Vendée; his third, to detach Russia from the allies; and his fourth, to raise armies equal to the crisis. All these measures he rapidly accomplished. One hundred and twenty thousand men were raised by conscription, without any exemption from either rank or fortune, and two hundred and fifty thousand men were soon ready to commence hostilities. The First Consul then suppressed the liberty of the press, fixed his residence in the Tuileries, and established the usages and ceremonial of a Court. He revoked the sentence of banishment on illustrious individuals, established a secret police, and constructed the gallery of the Louvre.

Hostilities commenced in Germany, where Moreau defeated General Kray at the battles of Engen, Moeskirch, and Biberach. Massena fought with great courage in the Maritime Alps, but was obliged to retreat before superior forces, and shut himself up in Genoa, which endured a dreadful siege, but was finally compelled to surrender. The victor, Melas, then set out to meet Bonaparte himself, who had just effected his celebrated passage over the Alps by the Great St. Bernard, one of the most wonderful feats in the annals of war; for his artillery and baggage had to be transported over some of the highest and most difficult passes of that mountainous range.