TUCKER'S REFLECTIONS ON INVASION. 
to Murat his brother-in-law; and particu- 
darly to the death of general Joubert, a loss 
we do not well know to whom to attribute. 
The following is a short account of the 
events that preceded his usurpation : during 
the invasion of the Russians under the com- 
mand of general Suwarrow, the French army 
was almost annihilated, by the frequent 
defeats it had undergone ;_ the people londly 
complained, and France hourly expected te 
be invaded by the conquering allied powers. 
The directory then adopted the plans of 
Robespierre ; but the artful Sieyes, perceiv- 
ing the deplorable situation of affairs, owing 
to the bad administration of the directory, 
exerted himself to the utmost to overturn 
it ; and proposed to his accomplices to estab- 
lish a more gentle government, that would 
better suit his ambitious views. In order to 
effect this, he held secret exbals with the 
different members of the two councils. Jou- 
bert, being young and enterprizing, was 
selected as a fit commander for the arinies of 
Italy ; and Sieyes, depending on the militar 
talents of his protégé, intended to vk 
frim when he should have defeated the ene- 
my, to destrey the directorial faction ; but 
Joubert falling a sacrifiee, their manceuvres 
were changed. In the mean while, general 
Fregeville, representative of the people, and 
lately | to the daughter of a rich 
broker of Beziers, (to whose charms he was 
indebted for his intimacy with Lucien,) was 
charged by Sieyes to engage the latter to 
second his plans; this he effected, and it 
was determined that Napoleon should be 
privately recalled, being alone capable of ex- 
ecuting these great designs.. From this time 
forward, their secret assemblies were held in 
Madame Fregeville’s bordoir, till the arrival 
of Napoleon, who immed ately seized on the 
Consulate, (by fainting in the arins of his 
@renadiers,) to the great disappointment of 
the conspirators commanded by Sieyes. 
Madame Fregeville received 100,000 crowns, 
under the name of a present, as the price of 
her complaisance. Sieyes and Lucien had 
both aspired te the supreme command, thus 
343 
snatched from them by Bonaparte. Sieyes, 
on the new digestion of the present consti- 
tution, received, as an equivalent, a national 
estate, and Lucien was made minister of the 
interior ; which not being sufficient to satisfy 
his ambition, highly exasperated him: Fre- 
geville also was disgraced; but Bonaparte, 
dreading the anger of his brother, appointed 
him ambassador at the court of Spain, (in- 
tended as an honorable exile for a short 
time.) Napoleon then joined the army of 
Italy, and unjustly ascribed to himself the 
victory of Marengo, that was wig eee by the 
courage and abilities of general Defaix, who 
perished in the action : he made this a pre 
text to get himself named Consul for life, 
(a nomination exacted by force.) This new 
dignity more than ever excited the jealousy 
of his brother Lucien, and of the other ge- 
nerals.” 
The recording of crimes i snot a uses 
ful occupation. It always diminishes 
in the readers of such narratives the 
aversionto vindictive retaliation. Cata- 
logues ot horrid deeds provoke enmity 
indeed against the persons and the sects 
to whom they are ascribed, and bring 
those individuals and their opinions into 
discredit ; but they almost always pro- 
duce analogous crimes in the imputing 
party. Voltaire and the anti-christians 
of France, were continually harping on 
the massacre of Saint Bartholomew, and 
describing minutely its circumstances. 
What was the consequence ? These very 
descriptions served for the model of the 
massacre on the second of September. 
“ We will be even with them,’ this is 
the secret resolution which all such his- 
tories of atrocity excite in the vulgar of 
the opponent faction. * One cannot but 
wish, therefore, that all those-who write 
for the multitude, would be very shy of 
detailing enormities. 
Arr. XLI. invasion! Reflections on the Terrors of it. By the late very Rev. and 
venerable Dr. Tucker, Dean of Gloucester. 12mo. pp. 12. 
WHEN the dean of Gloucester wrote, 
the French territory extended no further 
east than Dunkirk; it now avowed- 
ly includes Flushing, and in fact ex- 
tends toEmden. Sir Sidney Smith has 
‘stated in parliament, that from the an- 
‘cient coast no efficacious invasion was 
practicable ; but that from the modern, 
er Dutch coast, it is practicable. The 
Maritime reasons for non-alarm formerly 
‘do not therefore all apply now. 
The French had, in 1780, many means 
of annoying us, in North America, and 
_#m the Indies ; they were likely to prefer 
that direction of their forces and tregs 
sures which would do most injury. 
They have now but one mode of annoy- 
ing us, invasion. While they could 
choose the cheaper task, they chose it; 
but now they must invade, or do no- 
thing. : 
The French had formerly a mild 
humane prince, unwilling to fing away 
on rash ventures the lives of his people. 
They have now a monarch more covet- 
ous of dominion than of subjects; and 
an army too strong for the permanence 
of ari, tranquillity, if it be assembled 
4 
