CH. V.] INTRIGUES OF THE FRENCH IN SWITZERLAND. 157 Aristocrats, and now hoped to satisfy his long-cherished vengeance. He gained over Servan to his plans, by giving information of a stand of 20,000 muskets in the arsenal of Geneva; and Cambon, by a reference to the three million francs in the Genevese treasury; he likewise took upon himself to find some pretext of international law to justify the meditated attack. Intrigues of a similar kind were extended into Switzerland. The French Ambassador Barthelemy, a skilful man who pursued his ends with noiseless caution, gained over a considerable number of adherents, especially among the younger men in Berne and Zürich, and carried on a correspondence in all the Cantons. His overtures met with a favourable reception in all the towns from the mercantile classes, who in the course of trade had come into possession of many French assignats, and were afraid of losing by them in the event of a victory of the Allies. The Government of Berne was the only one which had any clear insight into the future, and saw that they had only to choose between the suppression of the French, and the outbreak of a Helvetian, Revolution. They would therefore have preferred to join the German side with all their forces, but were restrained by the smaller Cantons, who wished for peace at any price. It was upon this state of affairs that the French Government of August the 10th founded their hopes of success in the South of Europe. Montesquiou was forthwith to begin the invasion of Savoy, and march thence, without a moment's delay, upon Geneva, and thus threaten Italy and Switzerland at once. General Anselme, under his orders, was then to occupy the province of Nice, and Admiral Truguet to reconnoitre the coast for a favourable point of attack. The sending off of 10 battalions to Luckner, however, caused an unexpected delay. Montesquiou had to report that the raising of recruits went on but slowly. "I have not caught 1 Bouillé, Mémoires. Mallet du Pan. sight of a man," he said; "the citizens are too much engaged in public assemblies, and meetings of electors." Other disturbances of a still more serious kind arose from the intrigues of the Prince of Hesse, who wished for the chief command himself, and therefore accused Montesquiou in Paris of being a royalist and an aristocrat. This was going on in the last days of August, and Servan gave Montesquiou to understand that public opinion, which had now become an incalculable power, was turning strongly against him. On the 29th the Council of Ministers decreed the removal of the General, and Servan ordered him for the present to suspend all further action. Immediately afterwards the Minister received a despatch from Montesquiou of September the 4th, in which he said that he could no longer restrain the martial ardour of his troops, but could guarantee complete success in Savoy, and therefore earnestly begged permission to begin his march. Hereupon the Ministry withdrew their former decree; but the interruption had been made and Montesquiou needed an additional fortnight before he could open the campaign. He was however in high spirits, and sent word to Clavière, on the 11th, that all would go well, and that by the 1st of October he would appear before the gates of Geneva. Clavière immediately wrote to Flournoy that the liberation of that city from the tyranny of the Aristocrats was resolved on, and that nothing but immediate surrender could save it. His object in doing so was to induce Geneva to solicit aid from Berne, which would afford an opportunity for intriguing on an extended scale. The whole scheme would have been attended with uninterrupted success, if Montesquiou had still acted in full concert with the others. But the Prince of Hesse continued to attack him with redoubled bitterness; and went at last so far as to publish accusations against him in a widely circulated Girondist journal. When sharply called to account for this proceeding by Servan, the Prince replied: "I am not such a fool as to bring forward charges unsupported by CH. V.] OCCUPATION OF SAVOY BV THE FRENCH. 159 proofs; I abide by my declaration that Montesquiou is a traitor; if you take offence at my plain language, you are not worthy of your office; do me justice or I shall make an appeal at the bar of the Convention." This was written on the 22nd; on the 23rd, Danton declared in the Convention that Montesquiou must not remain at the head of the Army. But for once the soldier got the start of the demagogue. During the night of the 21st, Montesquiou occupied the pass of San Parelliano on the Isere with 19,000 men; the Piedmontese, who were 15,000 strong, made no attempt at resistance, but withdrew in two columns to Montmelian and Annecy. They were in fact quite unprepared and irresolute, notwithstanding the many months which the French had spent in getting ready for the field. Their King, it is true, had long inclined to the Coalition, but Austria had met his overtures with the inveterate suspicion with which she had always regarded Piedmont. In the summer he received from Vienna the curt declaration, that it was a matter of absolute indifference to the Powers whether he took part in the invasion of France or not.1 It was with difficulty that he at last obtained a promise, that in case the French assumed the offensive he should receive the aid of 8,000 Austrians from Milan. As, however, he was to maintain and pay them, he had neglected from parsimony to send for them, and therefore found himself defenceless at the decisive moment. On the 25th the French were at Chambery; whereupon the Sardinians evacuated the whole province, with the exception of the Tarantaise. During the same time General Anselme took possession of Nice with 10,000 men, without a blow being struck. The inhabitants, whom Montesquiou had called on "to desert their tyrants and enjoy the blessings of peace in their cottages," responded to the summons with friendly readiness; every thing seemed to be going on well. A detachment was already on its way to Carouge in the im 1 Reports of Van Haeften, Dutch Ambassador at the Court of Vienna. mediate neighbourhood of Geneva, in order, according to Montesquiou, to inspire fear into the aristocrats, and to make a diversion in favour of the democratic party. Geneva, thus directly threatened, hesitated no longer to apply for aid to the confederate state of Berne. Steiger, the Landamman, immediately sent off 1,600 men, and ordered that a corps of observation of 9,000 men should be drawn together in the canton of Vaud-a force quite sufficient for the present security of Geneva. In the face of these brilliant successes, of course, the ridiculous charges of treason against Montesquiou could not be maintained, and on the 8th of October the decree of dismissal was for the second time withdrawn. But his late experiences had a very cooling effect on the General himself. He was not by nature a bad man, only weak and vain. Party spirit and the thirst for fame had carried him away for a time, but he now returned to the paths of simple duty. The claim of modern despotism, that the obedience of the soldier should be limited by the precepts neither of religion nor morality, had not, at the period of which we speak, become a maxim of State policy; and least of all in the French army, which had so lately heard from its existing rulers the praise of the unconditional duty of insurrection. Montesquiou was resolved to omit nothing which could further the real military interests of France, but not to demean himself to any robbery à la Clavière. In the exercise of his command, therefore, he soon came into conflict with his Government at almost every point. The proceedings of Anselme at Nice were highly agreeable to the taste of Danton and Cambon. In his opinion the catholic peasants, were not at all au niveau de la revolution, and consequently undeserving of its benefits. He had entered the country as a friend and liberator, but he took possession of it in the name of France, appointed new magistrates, and devastated the land by his exactions in a worse manner than could have been done by a bloody CH. V.] MONTESQUIOU'S MODERATION. 161 war. He then, in the same way as Montesquiou had done at Geneva, marched upon the equally neutral and still richer city of Genoa, and with peremptory threats demanded a loan of 31 million francs. Montesquiou was enraged at this, partly from his sense of justice, partly from policy; but when, under the influence of these feelings, he made communications to the new Minister at war, Pache, the latter immediately made Anselme independent of his command, and associated with him three like-minded Conventional Commissioners for the management of civil affairs. The exactions were made as heretofore; while, on the other hand, essential military measures, such as the taking of the important pass of Saorgio, were neglected. All the more strictly did Montesquiou, at least in form, adhere in Savoy to the original programme. The royal officials were removed, but the inhabitants were called on to choose their successors. Meanwhile numerous envoys of the Government, and of the Jacobins, arrived from Paris, who instituted affiliated clubs, and immediately mooted the question whether Savoy would not prefer to join the great French family, rather than continue in its own narrow independence. In some districts a feeling in favour of such a union was manifested, but in Paris the clear-headed Servan was opposed to it.2 Bancal, too, warned the Convention against a policy of conquest which would involve France in endless broils; and Louvet urged that at any rate the Savoyards should be allowed to exercise a real and undisturbed choice. To which Danton3 replied, that if a nation was silly enough to adhere to a bad constitution, France ought not to yield to its wishes; that moreover the Convention ought to constitute itself as a grand committee of rebellion against all Kings, and appoint a smaller committee to take into consideration the means of bringing about a universal 1 Servan's own words. 3 Sept. 28th. 2 Despatch to Montesquiou, Sept. 29. |