10] ANNUAL REGISTER, 1800. 



turbance. He seemed to entertain 

 a just regard and reverence fur what 

 he deemed right and just, and con- 

 ducive to the public welfare : though 

 lie seemed also to be of opinion that 

 few, if any, good laws were to be 

 expected from any other head than 

 liis own. Nor, though silent and re- 

 cluse, did he want firmness to avow 

 and defend his own sentiments, in 

 the midst of popular clamour and 

 passion. He stood up for the de- 

 fence of property in opposition to 

 laws in favour of bankruptcy, and 

 for the suppression of tythes. A 

 saying of his was long, and is now 

 remembered to his credit. Speak- 

 ing of his colleagues in the national 

 assembly, he said, " They wish to 

 be free, and they know not what it 

 is to be just." On the whole, the 

 abbe Sieyes was not an amiable, 

 but possessed a very general repu- 

 tation of being both a wise and just 

 man ; and that, if he was not with- 

 out a tincture of vanity and ambi- 

 tion, it was not the common am- 

 bition of power and splendour, but 

 that of gaining over the French 

 nation and the world to his poli- 

 tical doctrines. His ambition, 

 therefore, was of the same nature 

 with that of the heads of religious 

 sectaries. 



Buonaparte, to the advantage of 

 military renown, added that of mo- 

 deration, prudence and a regard 

 not only for civil rights, but also for 

 religion. The sage counsels he gave 

 to the Genoese on leaving them to 

 themselves, the letter which he 

 wrote to the Pope in a tone of re- 

 spect and veneration, the whole of 

 his conduct in Italy, not more intre- 

 pid than temperate and wise, were 

 recollected with applause. There 

 was nothing that the French people 

 was not disposed to expect at the 



hands of the man who had con- 

 quered Italy and Egypt, and made 

 peace with Austria, on terms so 

 advantageous and honourable to the 

 republic, while, at the same time, 

 it was the more likely to be lasting, 

 that it was neither so dishonourable 

 nor disadvantageous to that great 

 power, as it miglit have been, if 

 the pride of victory had not been 

 tempered by political prudence. — 

 The wisdom of the treaty of Camjio 

 Formio was illustrated by the losses, 

 disasters, and sufterings that result- 

 ed from its violation. The nation 

 sighed for peace, and this blessing 

 was not so likely to be procured by 

 any one as by Buonaparte. As the 

 nation confided in Buonaparte, so 

 neither was he diffident in himself; 

 though it wouldbe veiy unjust, and 

 is by no means intended to insi- 

 nuate, that he carried a confidence 

 in his own powers beyond the 

 bounds of a just self-esteem. He 

 had improved an understanding na- 

 turally excellent, by a very close and 

 successful application to literature 

 and the sciences. By the former, 

 his mind was humanized as well as 

 enlarged, and h's ruling passion, the 

 love of glory, confirmed and exalt- 

 ed: from the latter, his understand- 

 ing derived additional vigour, pre- 

 cisi(m and promptitude. He was 

 descended of an ancient family in 

 Corsica, an island protected by its 

 poverty and mountainous aspect 

 from the enervation incident to the 

 champaign and luxuriant regions, 

 lyingip the same degrees of latitude; 

 and by the simple state of manners 

 from that sameness and monotony 

 of genius, which is commonly pro- 

 duced by an imitation of established 

 authoritiesandmodesof thinking, in 

 the more advanced stages of society. 

 He was born, and received his first 



