The

to vote, fifty-two thousand two hundred and nineteen rejected it. fact that a great majority of the whole declined to vote at all, was assumed to be favorable to the change, and the new government was therefore solemnly proclaimed. The conduct of the Dutch on this occasion, affords a striking proof of the impossibility of eradicating, by external violence, the institutions which have grown with the growth and strengthened with the strength of a free people. In vain did the armies of France subdue them, and force upon them democratic forms of government with the loud applause of the indigent rabble in power. The great mass of the inhabitants and nearly all the proprietors withdrew from public situations, and took no share in the changes imposed on their country. In the seclusion of private life, they retained the habits, the affections and the religious observances of their forefathers; and their children were nurtured in these patriotic feelings, untainted by the revolutionary passions which agitated the surrounding states.

This was followed by a similar revolution in the Cis-Alpine Republic, and a change of its name to the Italian Republic; after which, Piedmont was formally annexed to France. These acquisitions, formidable in themselves, became doubly so by the means which Napoleon adopted to render them permanent conquests. He employed a corps of engineers and an immense number of workmen to construct the celebrated roads over Mont Cenis, Mont Genevre and the Simplon; and the Alps soon ceased to present any obstacle to an invading army. The government of Switzerland, too, again underwent a radical change, and a Constitution more conformable to Napoleon's modified views of republicanism was forced on the inhabitants of that devoted country.

While the continent of Europe was agitated by these events, England enjoyed the blessings and the tranquillity of peace. During the brief interval of national repose that was vouchsafed to her, the opening of the European ports brought into her harbors an unlimited commerce, and rendered her seaports the emporium of the civilized world. Her exports and imports rapidly increased; the cessation of the income-tax conferred comparative affluence on the middling classes; agriculture, sustained by continued high prices, shared in the general prosperity; the sinking fund, relieved in some degree from the counteracting influence of annual loans, attracted universal attention; while the revenue, under the influence of so many favorable circumstances, steadily augmented, and the national exigencies were easily provided for, without any addition to the burdens of the people. So wide-spread was the enthusiasm, occasioned by this bright gleam of prosperity, even sagacious, practical men, were carried away by the delusion; and the only apprehension expressed by the moneyed classes was, that the sinking fund would extinguish the national debt too rapidly, and capital, left without the means of secure investment, would be exposed to the risk and uncertainty of foreign adventure.

But these flattering prospects were of short duration. Independent of the increasing jealousy with which the British government beheld the continental encroachments of Napoleon, and which rapidly communicated itself to all classes of the English people, several causes of irritation grew up between the rival governments, which first weakened, and finally destroyed, the good understanding between them.

The first of these subjects of irritation, was the asperity with which the government and acts of the First Consul were canvassed in the English

F

newspapers. To Napoleon, who was accustomed only to the voice of adulation, and read nothing in the enslaved journals of his own country but graceful flattery, these diatribes were in the highest degree painful; and not the less so, because the charges they contained in regard to his ambitious policy and foreign aggressions, were too true to be refuted. He, therefore, caused his minister at London to remonstrate against these attacks, and concluded by formally soliciting, "First, that the English government should prohibit the unbecoming and seditious publications with which the newspapers in England are filled; secondly, that the individuals specified in the annexed list, be sent out of Jersey; thirdly, that Georges and his adherents be transported to Canada; fourthly, that it be recommended to the princes of the House of Bourbon, resident in Great Britain, to repair to Warsaw; and, fifthly, that such emigrants as still think proper to wear the orders and decorations of the ancient government of France, be required to quit the territories of the British Empire."

The English government replied to this extraordinary requisition in dignified, but courteous language, referring in detail to each specification, and concluding thus: "His majesty is sincerely disposed to adopt every measure for the preservation of peace, which is consistent with the honor and independence of the country, and the security of its laws and Constitution. But the French government must have formed a most erroneous judgment of the disposition of the British nation, and the character of its government, if they have been taught to expect that any representation of a foreign power, will ever induce them to consent to a violation of those rights on which the liberties of the people of this country are founded."

No further diplomatic correspondence took place on this subject; but the war of the journals continued with redoubled vehemence, and several replies of a hostile character appeared in the Moniteur, bearing evident marks of Napoleon's composition. The French incessantly urged the execution of "the treaty of Amiens, the whole treaty of Amiens, and nothing but the treaty of Amiens:" they loudly complained that the British government had not evacuated Alexandria, Malta, and the Cape of Good Hope, as stipulated in that instrument; and declared that the French people would ever remain in the attitude of Minerva, with a helmet on her head, and a spear in her hand. The English replied, that the strides made by France over Continental Europe since the general pacification, and her menacing conduct toward the British possessions, were inconsistent with any intention of preserving peace, and rendered it indispensable that the securities held by them for their own independence, should not be relinquished. This recriminating warfare was continued with equal zeal on both sides of the Channel; loud and fierce defiances were exchanged, and it soon became manifest, not less from the temper of the people than the relations of their governments, that the contest must be decided by the sword.

This view of the case was farther confirmed by an extraordinary scene between Napoleon and Lord Whitworth, the English ambassador at Paris, on the 21st of February, 1803; in which Napoleon, with great vehemence, insisted on the evacuation of Egypt and Malta, complained of the abuse of the English newspapers, and threatened to renew hostilities immediately, unless his grounds of complaint were removed.

The British government, plainly foreseeing the result, resolved to

anticipate it, and made speedy preparations for an outbreak. Parlia ment sustained the measures of the ministry by a unanimous vote; the militia was called out; ten thousand additional men were ordered for the navy; Lord Nelson was put in command of the Mediterranean fleet; Sir Sidney Smith received orders to put to sea with a squadron of observation; and England resumed her arms with a degree of enthusiasm exceeding that with which she had laid them aside.

These movements led to a second and still more violent ebullition on the part of the First Consul. In a public court at the Tuileries, held a few days after, he addressed Lord Whitworth in the following terms: "So, you are determined to go to war! We have already fought for fifteen years; I suppose you wish to fight for fifteen years more. The English wish for war; but if they are the first to draw the sword, I will be the last to return it to the scabbard. They have no respect for treaties. Henceforth, treaties must be shrouded in black crape. Wherefore these armaments? Against whom are these measures of precaution? I have not a single ship of the line in the harbors of France: but if you arın, I shall arm also. If you insist on fighting, I, too, shall fight. You may destroy France, but you can never intimidate her. If you would live on terms of good understanding with us, you must respect treaties. Wo to those who violate them! they must answer for the consequences to all Europe." This violent harangue, rendered still more emphatic by the impassioned gestures with which it was accompanied, induced the English ambassador to suppose that the First Consul would so far forget his dignity as to strike him; and he was deliberating with himself as to what he would do, in the event of such an insult's being offered to the nation he represented, when Napoleon retired, and delivered the assembled and astonished ambassadors of Europe from the pain they experi enced at witnessing so remarkable a scene.

The British government contented itself with replying to these intemperate sallies on the part of the First Consul, by recapitulating the mutual obligations of the treaty, and avowing a readiness to execute every article to the letter, the moment they were satisfied of similar intentions on the part of France. The negotiations were protracted for two months longer; but, on the 12th of May, Lord Whitworth, finding all hope of arrangement at an end, demanded and received his passports: on the 16th, letters of marque were issued by the British government; and the war recommenced with increased animosity.

The declaration of war was followed by an act on the part of the First Consul, as unnecessary as it was barbarous; and which contributed more, perhaps, than any other circumstance, to produce that strong feeling of personal hatred toward Napoleon which pervaded all classes of the English people during the remainder of the contest. Two French vessels had been captured, under the English letters of marque, in the Bay of Audierne; and the First Consul made this a pretext for ordering the arrest of all the British subjects, then travelling in France, between the ages of eighteen and sixty years. Under this savage decree, more than ten thousand innocent persons, who had repaired to France in pursuit of business, science or amusement, were at once thrown into prison; whence great numbers of them were not liberated until the invasion of the allies, in 1814. This severity was the more unpardonable, as the minister of Foreign Affairs had, a few days before, given the English

residents at Paris assurances, that they should be permitted to leave the kingdom without molestation; and many had, in consequence, declined to avail themselves of the means of escape when they were in their power.

CHAPTER XXI.

FRANCE, FROM THE PEACE OF AMIENS TO NAPOLEON'S ASSUMPTION OF THE

IMPERIAL CROWN.

BEFORE proceeding to the history of the war, thus unhappily renewed, it is necessary to take a retrospective view of the internal affairs of France.

When Napoleon seized the reins of power in that country, he found the institutions of civilization, and the bonds of society, dissolved to an extent of which the history of the world affords no previous example. Not only had the throne been overturned, the nobles exiled, the landed estates confiscated, and the aristocracy destroyed; but the institutions of religion, law, commerce and education, were totally annihilated. Even the establishments of charity had shared in the general wreck; the monastery no longer dispensed its munificence to the poor, and the doors of the hospitals were closed against the indigent sick and wounded. To restore that which the insanity of preceding years had overthrown, was the task that awaited the First Consul, and the success of his efforts is a far prouder monument to his memory than all the victories he achieved. He began at the outset, cautiously but firmly, to coerce the democratic spirit of the people, and to reconstruct those classes and distinctions in society, which he well knew were the indispensable bulwarks of a throne. Those who reproach Napoleon for establishing a despotic government, would do well to show how he could have formed a counterpoise to democratic ambition, or a check on regal oppression, out of the representatives of a community whence the superior classes of society had been violently torn: how the turbulent passions of a republican populace could have been moulded into habitual subjection to a legislature, distinguished in no manner from themselves; and to a body of titled senators destitute of wealth, consideration and hereditary rank: how a constitutional throne could have existed without any support from the altar, or any foundation in the religious feelings of its subjects: and how a proud and victorious army could have been taught that respect for the majesty of the Law, which is the invaluable growth of centuries of order, but which the successive overthrow of so many previous governments in France had effectually destroyed. After its patricians had been cut off by the civil wars of Sylla and Marius, Rome necessarily sunk under the despotic rule of the emperors. When Constantine founded a second Rome on the shores of the Bosphorus, he saw that it was too late to restore the balanced Constitution of the ancient Republic. On Napoleon's accession to the consular throne, he found the vacancies in the French aristocracy still greater; and the only remaining means of righting the scale, was to cast into it the weight of the sword.

One of Napoleon's first measures, was a decree against the Jacobins, toward whom he entertained an inextinguishable hatred. The pretext for this proceeding was furnished by an unsuccessful attempt against his life, by means of what was called "the infernal machine." He was going in his carriage from the Tuileries to the opera, and in passing through the Rue St. Nicaise, the coachman found that narrow street nearly obstructed by an overturned chariot; the man, however, had the address to make his way through, and drive on without stopping. He had hardly passed, when a terrible explosion took place in the rear, which broke the windows of the Consul's carriage, struck down the last man of the guard, killed eight persons and wounded twenty-eight, besides doing great injury to forty-six adjoining houses. Napoleon proceeded to the opera, where he was received with indescribable enthusiasm; and on his return to the Tuileries, a crowd of public functionaries from every part of Paris waited on him, to offer their congratulations. He interrupted them by saying, that the plot was the work of his worst enemies, the Jacobins; and, in a vehement harangue, he demanded the immediate infliction of an exemplary punishment on the leaders of that party. Truguet had the courage to suggest, that there were other guilty persons in France besides the Jacobins; and that, as in this particular instance there was yet no proof against any one, it would be well to stay such summary proceedings. Napoleon, however, was not so to be thwarted: he insisted on the justness of his suspicions; and although, while the discussion was in progress, he received certain information, through Fouché, that the real perpetrators of the crime were some Royalists of the Chouan bands, he forced the Senate to pass a decree of immediate transportation, without a form of trial, against no less than one hundred and thirty Jacobins, among whom were many of those implicated in the worst excesses of the Reign of Terror. Within a month from this time, Saint Regent and Carbon, who were actually concerned in the conspiracy, were brought to trial, condemned and executed.

In order to restore gradually the succession of ranks in society, Napoleon soon resolved to create an order of nobility, under the title of the Legion of Honor; and a motion for its establishment was brought before the Council of State in May, 1801. It met, both there and elsewhere, an unexpected degree of opposition, from its evident tendency to counteract the levelling principles of the Revolution; and Napoleon's utmost influence could obtain for it but a feeble majority in the several houses of the national legislature. It was, nevertheless, carried into execution, with all those details of pomp and ceremony that are so powerful with the multitude. The inauguration of the dignitaries of the order took place, with great magnificence, in the church of the Hôtel des Invalides; and the decorations soon began to be eagerly coveted by a people, whose passion for individual distinction had been a secret cause of the Revolution itself. The event proved that Napoleon had rightly appreciated the true character of the people. The leading object in the Revolution was the extinction of castes, not of ranks; equality of rights, and not of classes; the abolition of hereditary, not personal distinction. But an institution which conferred lustre on individuals, and not on families, and led to no hereditary privileges, was found in practice to be so far from running counter to the popular feeling, that it precisely coincided with it. Accordingly, the Legion of Honor, which gradually extended so as to