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the recall of families exiled for their political opinions. But the members of the revolutionary club now insisted on far greater domestic concessions; and as they were secretly encouraged by Napoleon, they soon rose in arms to enforce their demands. The patrician families, however, were not wanting in courage or ability: by a bold and skilful movement they completely crushed the insurrection, and, but for subsequent foreign interference, would have maintained their government. It was not, however, consistent with the system of Republican ambition to allow a revolutionary party to be subdued in any country which the arms of France could reach. In the contest between the government and the insurgents, some Frenchmen who had taken an active part in the revolt were wounded and taken prisoners with the rest; and Napoleon made this a pretext for throwing the weight of his authority into the democratic scale. It was vain for the government of Genoa to resist the power of France, however arbitrarily and unjustly applied: and the Genoese Senate of necessity submitted to a new Constitution, which placed the government in the hands of the democracy. The people in some sections made a brave resistance to this tyrannical imposition; but this led only to new exactions on the part of the French, and thenceforward Genoa, having lost even the shadow of her independence, became a mere outwork of the French Republic.

Meanwhile, Napoleon, sheathing for a time his victorious sword, estab. lished himself at the château of Montebello, near Milan; a beautiful summer residence, overlooking a great part of the plain of Lombardy. Negotiations for a final peace were there immediately commenced; before the end of May the powers of the plenipotentiaries had been verified, and the work of treaties was in progress. The future Emperor of the West here held his court in more than regal splendor; the ambassadors of the Emperor of Germany, of the Pope, of Genoa, Venice, Naples, Piedmont and the Swiss Republic assembled to examine the claims of the several states which were the subject of discussion; and here weightier matters were to be determined, and dearer interests were at stake, than had ever before been submitted to European diplomacy since the iron crown was placed on the brow of Charlemagne. Already, Napoleon acted the part of a sovereign prince; his power exceeded that of any then living monarch; and he had entered on that dazzling career which ended in the subjugation of the world. The negotiations at Montebello were brought to a conclusion on the 17th of October, and the treaty of Campo Formio was the result. The articles of this treaty did not essentially differ from those agreed on between Napoleon and Austria at Judemberg, save that Mantua and Mayence were ceded to France. The treaty, however, contained some secret articles of importance, the most material of which regarded the cession of Salzburg to Austria, with Inviertil and Wasseburg on the Inn, from Bavaria; the free navigation of the Rhine and the Meuse; the abandonment of Fricktha! by Austria to Switzerland; and the providing of equivalents on the right bank of the Rhine, to the princes dispossessed on the left bank of that river. But it was expressly provided, that "no acquisition should be proposed to the advantage of Prussia."

While the foreign relations of France were thus distinguished by triumph and conquest, her domestic government was in a state of turmoil and distress. National bankruptcy, with its thousand evils, had been publicly declared, and the general distress and ruin that ensued were

beyond estimation. Political events, too, of vast importance were at hand. The election of May, 1797-when by the Constitution one-third of each house was changed-produced an entire alteration in the balance of parties, a decided majority of Royalists having come into power. The multitude, ever ready to follow the victorious party, ranged themselves on the Royalist side, and a hundred newspapers thundered forth their declarations in the same cause. Pichegru was appointed president of the Council of Five hundred, and Barbe Marbois, also a Royalist, president of the Council of Ancients. Almost all the ministers were changed; and the Directory was openly divided into two parties, the majority consisting of Rewbell, Barras and Lareveillere; the minority, of Barthelemy and Carnot. The chief strength of the Royalist party, out of the Assembly, lay in the Club of Clichy; that of the Jacobins, in the Club of Salm; and the opposite factions soon grew so exasperated, that they mutually aimed at supplanting each other by means of a revolution.

Before long, the legislative acts of the Councils, and the declarations of the Royalists in the tribune, in the Club of Clichy and in the public journals, awakened great anxiety among the Jacobins; and the majority of the Directors became alarmed for their own official existence, as it was evident that the Councils would totally ruin the Republican party. It had already been ascertained that one hundred and ninety of the deputies were engaged to restore the exiled family, while the Directory could count on the support of only one hundred and thirty; and the Ancients had resolved, by a large majority, to transfer the seat of the legislature to Rouen, on account of its proximity to the western provinces, where Royalist principles had always been decidedly maintained. In short, the Directory were aware that, for regicides, the transition was easy from the Luxembourg to the scaffold.

In this extremity, Barras, Rewbell and Lareveillere resolved on decisive measures. They knew that they could count on the support of the army, and therefore drew toward Paris a number of regiments, twelve thousand strong. They next changed the ministry, appointing François de Neufchateau to the department of the Interior; Hoche, to that of War; Larouche, to that of the Police; and Talleyrand, to that of Foreign Af fairs. The sagacity of this last politician led him to incline, in all the changes of the Revolution, to what was about to prove the victorious side; and his accepting office under the Directory at this crisis was strongly symptomatic of the chances that were accumulated in their favor. Napoleon, too, resolved to support the Directory, and sent his aid-de-camp, Lavalette, to Paris, to observe the motions of the parties and communicate to him the earliest intelligence; and he afterward dispatched Augereau to assist the Directory in their arrangements with the army. He declined going himself to the capital, until circumstances might render his presence there indispensable.

The party against which these formidable preparations were directed was strong in numbers and powerful in eloquence, but destitute of the reckless hardihood and vigor which in civil convulsions usually command success. The military force immediately under their command was small, consisting of only fifteen hundred grenadiers of questionable loyalty: and in debating on the course proper to be pursued in the emergency, the majority of the Royalists were restrained by scruples of conscience-as the friends of freedom and good order often are in a revolutionary crisis --from taking the lead in acts of violence.

The Directory, however, entertained no such scruples. They appointed Augereau to the command of their troops, ordered them into Paris, and on the 3rd of September, at midnight, the inhabitants observed twelve thousand armed men defiling over the bridges, with forty pieces of cannon, and gradually occupying all the avenues to the Tuileries. Not a sound was heard but the measured tramp of the men, and the rolling of the artillery wheels, until the movement was completed; when a signal gun was discharged that startled every one who heard it. The soldiers speedily surrounded the Hall of the Councils, where Augereau arrested Pichegru, Willot, and twelve other leaders of the assemblies, and conducted them to the Temple. By six o'clock in the morning, all was concluded. Several hundreds of the most powerful Royalists were in prison, the streets were filled with troops, and military despotism was established.

It may be presumed, that power thus obtained was not delicately used. Pichegru, and some fifty other members of the Councils, were condemned to transportation; all the acts passed by the Royalist majority were annulled, and the liberty of the press was destroyed. The Directory carried on the government thereafter by military power alone; three men took upon themselves to govern France on their own account, without either the sanction of law or the concourse of legal assemblies.

CHAPTER XIII.

EXPEDITION TO EGYPT.

On the conclusion of the peace of Campo Formio, Napoleon returned to Paris, where he was received with enthusiastic admiration by all classes of the inhabitants. He lived, however, in the most retired manner, seldom appeared in public, wore the costume of the Institute, and avoided society excepting that of scientific men. But this manner of life was pursued only with a view to political effect.

After a time, he grew restless under inaction; and the Directory became alarmed at his popularity, indulging a well-grounded fear, that in these days of changes and revolutions, he might successfully contend with them for the possession of the government. Napoleon, therefore, soon resolved upon some new military exploit, and the Directory, anxious to be relieved from his presence, eagerly forwarded his views. A descent upon England was the first project, and it was the one most acceptable to the Directors; but Napoleon, after a careful examination, decided against that, and resolved on an expedition to Egypt. The Directors, whose anxiety to employ him abroad overpowered every other consid eration, reluctantly consented, and preparations to an extent commensurate with the undertaking, were immediately set on foot. In the mean time, however, to anticipate the movements of the British navy, and prevent any interruption from that quarter in the Mediterranean, the descent upon England was made the ostensible object of the armament, and the public journals were filled with speculations on the results of the anticipated conquest.

'The British government, aware of the great preparations which were making over all France, yet doubtful where the blow was really to fall, made every arrangement which prudence could suggest to avert the impending danger. The principal efforts of the Admiralty were directed to strengthen the fleet off Brest, and the coast of Spain, whence the threatened invasion might be expected to issue; at the same time, Nelson was sent into the Mediterranean with thirteen sail of the line and one ship of fifty guns.

Napoleon arrived at Toulon on the 9th of May, and took command of the army. The fleet consisted of thirteen ships of the line, two of sixtyfour guns, fourteen frigates, seventy-two brigs and cutters, and four hundred transports: it bore thirty-six thousand soldiers of all arms, and ten thousand sailors. On the 19th of May, the fleet set sail. It proceeded first to Genoa, and thence to Ajaccio and Civita Castellana; and, having effected a junction with the squadrons in those harbors, bore away for Malta, where it arrived on the 10th of June. Before Napoleon left France, a secret arrangement had been made with the grand-master and principal officers of Malta for its surrender to the French, and they now took quiet possession of this immense fortress and its unrivalled harbor. Napoleon immediately put its batteries in condition, left a sufficient garrison to defend the place, and on the 19th of June sailed for Egypt.

On the 20th of June, Nelson arrived at Naples; he hastened thence to Messina, but learning that the French fleet had reached Málta and taken possession of it, he directed his course toward Alexandria, where he arrived on the 29th: but finding no enemy, he set sail for the north, imagining that the expedition of Napoleon was bound for the Dardanelles. It is a singular fact, that on the night of the 29th of June, the French and English fleet crossed each other's track without either party's being aware of it.

The French fleet came in sight of the Egyptian shore on the 1st of July, and on the 2nd the troops were landed and marched to Alexandria, which place they carried by assault, after a brief resistance of the Turkish garrison. On the 6th of July, Napoleon set out for Cairo with thirty thousand men, part of whom were put on board a flotilla of boats, and the remainder proceeded by land across the Desert. After a march of five days, in which the men suffered immensely from heat and thirst, the land force formed a junction with the flotilla, and they proceeded in company up the Nile. On the 13th, the army reached Chebreiss, where they were attacked by Mourad Bey with a detachment of Mamelukes and native infantry. The Egyptians were quickly defeated with a loss of six hundred men, and retired in disorder toward Cairo. On the 21st of July, the French army came in sight of that place, and of the Pyramids on the opposite bank of the Nile. Here, Mourad Bey was intrenched, with his entire force of twelve thousand infantry and six thousand Mamelukes.

As

Napoleon advanced in five divisions formed in hollow squares, with the artillery at the angles, and the officers and baggage in the centre. they approached his position, Mourad sallied forth at the head of his fiery Mamelukes-who, considered as individual horsemen, were the finest cavalry in the world-and bore down upon the French squares. Their charge was terrific, but the Republican infantry stood firm, presenting a wall of bayonets on every side which the horses could not penetrate; and

while the Mamelukes wheeled around and among the squares, in the vain endeavor to find or force an opening, the inner ranks of the French musketeers kept up a sustained fire at point-blank range, which mowed down their assailants by hundreds. This murderous contest was continued until nearly one half of the Mamelukes were destroyed, when they retreated to their intrenchments. Napoleon pressed forward in pursuit, drove both cavalry and infantry toward the Nile, and so totally dispersed the whole force, that not more than two thousand five hundred made their escape into Upper Egypt. This action decided the fate of Egypt; the whole country submitted at once to the French arms, and Napoleon established himself at Cairo.

Meanwhile, Nelson, having learned the real destination of the French fleet, returned to the Nile on the 1st of August, where he found the enemy's squadron drawn up in order of battle in the Bay of Aboukir. The French ships were at anchor close in-shore, and formed in a curve, with the concave side of the line toward the sea. As soon as Nelson had accurately examined the position of the enemy, he ordered one half of his fleet to penetrate on the inner side of the French line and come to anchor, while the other half anchored along the outer side, and thus doubled on the enemy's ships. The British fleet commenced this movement at three o'clock in the afternoon, and as they came up in succession, were received with a steady fire from the French broadsides. Five seventy-fours soon passed between the French line and the shore, engaging nine of their antagonists, while six others took post on the opposite side of the same ships. Another British vessel, the Leander, was interposed across the French line, where she prevented the remainder of the enemy's ships from assisting their comrades, and with her broadsides raked right and left those between which she was placed.

It now grew dark, but both fleets were illuminated by the incessant discharge of more than two thousand pieces of cannon, and the volumes of flame and smoke that rolled over the bay, gave it the appearance of a terrific volcano. Victory soon declared for the British. Before nine o'clock, three ships of the line had struck, two were dismasted, and the Orient, of one hundred and twenty guns, was discovered to be on fire: the light of this burning vessel, soon rendered every ship in both fleets distinctly visible, and, by showing the shattered condition of the Frenchmen, redoubled the ardor of the British seamen. At ten o'clock, the Orient blew up with a tremendous explosion, and for a few minutes, as by common consent, the firing on both sides ceased: but it was soon renewed, and continued until after midnight. At daybreak, the magnitude of the victory was discovered. The Orient had disappeared, the frigate La Serieuse was sunk, and the whole French line, excepting the Guillaume Tell and the Genereux, had struck their colors: these ships, having been but slightly engaged, cut their cables, stood out to sea, and escaped.

Honors and rewards were heaped by a grateful nation on the heroes of the Nile. Nelson was created a Baron, with a pension of two thousand pounds sterling to himself and his two immediate successors; the Grand Signior, the Emperor of Russia, the King of Sardinia, the King of Naples, and the East India Company made him magnificent presents, and his name was for ever embalmed in the recollection of his countrymen. When Mr. Pitt was reproached for not conferring a higher dignity on

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