34] 
ror of Buonaparte’s arma, tremend- 
-ous as he was, that moved the em- 
peror to sue for peace; but a terror 
of another kind, on the one hand, 
and an allurement held out, on the 
other by the French commander, 
in the, preliminaries for peace. The 
greater portion by far of his Im- 
perial majesty’s subjects, even a 
great many officers in his. armies, 
were averse to a war with France. 
The conduct. of Buonaparte had 
not, on the whole, been such as to 
discredit his professions of a respect 
for private property, public credit, 
and the rights of men, as well as 
nations) The shew he had made 
of generosity and justice, in some 
instances, veiled, ina great measure, 
from the public eye, those contri- 
butions which he levied in others. 
No general, no politician of the 
present day, appears to be more 
profoundly skilled than that leader 
in the management of the two great 
springs that move the whole ma- 
chinery of public affairs, the passions 
and finance. His conquests took 
property and cultivation, and the 
free exercise of religion under their 
protection; and in directing the 
new governments to be responsible 
for the debts of the old, he touched 
ona deep system of policy and revo- 
lution. The governments that had 
fallen before him. seemed to have 
fallen of themselves, and without 
conyulsion. Had the coalition, on 
entering France, issued a proclama- 
tion in favour of the-government de 
facto, the road to Paris would have 
been found more practicable. The 
effects of Buonaparte’s proclama- 
tion in Stiria, onthe inhabitants of 
Vienna, and other cities, were dread- 
ed, it was believed, in the Imperial 
palace. 
In order to accelerate the nego- 
ANNUAL - REGISTER, 1797. 
ciation, Buonaparte had previously 
taken care that the conditions of the 
armistice should be entirely to the 
advantage of the French. The 
posts occupied by them, in the 
provinces of Carniola, Carinthia, 
Stiria, and the Tyrol, were to re- 
main in their possession till a paci= 
fication had taken place. To these 
posts others were added of great 
consequence: one of them was 
Gratz, the capital of Stiria, a city 
of the first importance in the em 
peror’s dominions, and where a nu- 
merous gartison was placed by 
Buonaparte. 
While this fortunate commander * 
was obtaining so many triumphs for 
France, the directory was unre- 
mittingly attentive in bestowing 
those praises upon him and his ge- 
nerals, which they were conscious 
would prove peculiarly satisfactory 
to the patriotic disposition, and * 
warmth for the glory of their couns 
try, that had so remarkably ‘charac 
terised the French officers, since the 
commencement of this wa. 
In order to convince them how 
circumstantially they attended tothe 
gallant actions they performed, jthe 
directory wrote, in its official ca- 
pacity, letters of thanks to every 
officer deserving of such a mark of 
distinction. Herein they carefully 
specified the particular instances of 
his valour and conduct that had in- 
duced them to reward hismerit with | 
so honourable a notice. ‘The pub- 
licity of the encomiums bestowed 
upon them excited, in a wonderful 
manner, the emulation of the French 
military. To obtain a remuneration 
of this kind was held the highest 
degree of honour and credit to 
which the profession could attain,as 
it seldom failed to be accompanied, 
at the same time, by Has tipigds 
an 
