

BONAPARTE. NAPOLEON I. 



BONAPARTE. NAPOLEON L 



: 4 



conduct, and especially by hi* journej to Genoa ; he waa 

 aaJMOded from hi* functioiM of commander of the artillery, and 

 ordered to proceed to Peril under an escort to appear before the 

 Committee of Publio Safety. Thi order wa dated Barcelonuette, 

 <th of August, and signed by the three commissioners, and counter- 

 signed by Duniorbton. p-neral-in-chief. Bonaparte remained under 

 Tract for a fortnight. He wrote a pithy remonstrance, which induced 

 the commissioners to make a more precise investigation of the affair, 

 and the reault waa a counter-order from them, dated Nice, 2tah of 

 August, in which they direct him to be " rentored proviionally to 

 liberty, and to remain at bead-quarters until further instructions from 

 the Committee of Public Safety." Bonaparte however seem* to have 

 bad no further annoyance on the subject. 



AfUr the dote of the campaign of 1794, Bonaparte repaired to 

 Marseille, where hit family then was. But we find him early in 

 the following y r * I'arU unsuccessfully soliciting employment 

 He now took lodging* in the Rue du Hail, near the Place dea 

 Victoirea, and led a private life. Bourienne (tatea that he had then 

 aome idea of going into th Turkish sen-ice, and gives a copy of a 

 project which Bonaparte laid before the war-office, showing the advan- 

 tage* that would reault to France by forming a closer connection with 

 the Porte, and sending officers of artillery with a body of gunners to 

 instruct the troops of the Sultan. Uis letters to his brother Joseph 

 show him at this time to hare been suffering greatly from ennui : 

 bat on the 10th of August he writes that he is appointed to succeed 

 Carnot in the actual direction of military proceedings, and all traces 

 of depression disappear at once. Meantime a new crisis arrived in 

 the aflairs of France. The Convention had framed a new constitution, 

 establishing a council of elders, a council of juniors, and an executive 

 directory of five members. This is known by the name of the Con- 

 stitution of the year in., and was in fact the third constitution pro- 

 claimed since the beginning of the revolution. But the Convention, 

 previously to its own dissolution, passed a resolution to the effect, 

 that at least two-thirds of the members of the two legislative councils 

 >h ul<i bo taken from the members of the actual Convention. This 

 resolution was laid before the primary assemblies of the departments, 

 and every kind of influence, legal and illegal, was used to insure iU 

 approbation. The department of Paris however refused, ami the 

 sections or districts of that city being assembled, demanded a strict 

 scrutiny of the returns of the votes of the assemblies of the depart- 

 ments, and protested against the attempt of the Convention to per- 

 petuate its own power. They declared they would no longer obey 

 the orders of that body. It was said that the sections were urged or 

 encouraged in their resistance by the royalists, who hoped to derive 

 benefit from it. But it is also well known that the Convention, many 

 of whose members were implicated in the bloodshed and atrocities of 

 the reign of terror, was odious to the Parisians. On the other side 

 the members of the Convention for tbU very reason were afraid of 

 returning to the rank of private citizens. They determined therefore 

 to risk everything in order to carry their object by force. They had 

 at their disposal about 6000 regular troops in or near Paris, with a 

 coniderable quantity of artillery, and a body of volunteers from the 

 suburbs. The command of these forces was given to Barms, a leading 

 member of the Convention, who bad mainly contributed to the fall of 

 Robespierre. Hams, who box! become acquainted with Bonaparte at 

 the urge of Toulon, proposed to intrust him with the actual direction 

 of the troops for the defence of the Convention. Bonaparte was also 

 known to Carnot and Tallien, and other members of the Convention, 

 as an able artillery officer. The choice being unanimously approved, 

 Buoaparte quickly drew bis line of defence round the Tuiferies where 

 the Convection was sitting, and along the adjoining quay on the 

 north bank of the Seine. He depended mainly upon his cannon 

 loaded with grape-shot, which he had placed at the head of the various 

 avenues through which the national guards, the force of the citizens, 

 mut advance. The national guards bad no cannon. They advanced 

 on the morning of the 18th VenddmUire (4th October 1795), nearly 

 10,000 in number, in several columns, along the quays and the street 

 of 8t Honored As soon as they were within musket-shot, they were 

 ordered to dispcne in the name of the Convention; they answered 

 by discharging their firelocks, and their fire was returned by discharges 

 of grapr-sbot and canister, which did great execution among the thick 

 niastss cooped np in narrow street*. They however returned several 

 time* to the charge, and attempted but in vain to carry the guns ; the 

 fir* of the cannon swept sway the foremost, and threw the rest into 

 disorder. Foiled at all points, after two hours' fighting, the national 

 guards withdrew in the evening to their respective district*, where they 

 made a stand in some churches and other buildings ; but being fol- 

 lowed by the troops of the Convention, their disunited resistance was 

 of no avail ; they wars obliged to surrender, and were disarmed in the 

 night. By the next morning all Paris was subdued. The Convention 

 and its troops did not use their victory with cruelty : except those 

 wiio were killed in the fight, few of the citizens were put to death, 

 and only two of the leaden were publicly executed, others being sen- 

 tenced to transportation. General Berruyer, Verdicr, and others, 

 served with Bonaparte on the occasion, but to Bonaparte chiefly the 

 latit of the victory wa* justly attributed. lie was appointed by a 

 decTT of the Convention second in command of the army of the 

 interior, Bams retaining the nominal chief command himself : and 



soon, after the new constitution coming into operation, Uarras being 

 appointed one of the directors, resigned bis military command, and 

 Bonaparte became general of the interior. 



About this time Bonaparte became acquainted with Josephine Bean- 

 harnois, a native of Martinique, and the widow of the Vicount Alex- 

 andra de Beatiharnois. This lady bad suffered imprisonment, but waa 

 liberated at the fall of Robespierre. The Director Bams, an old 

 acquaintance of her husband, frequented her society, and she was also 

 intimate with Madame Tallien, and other persons of note and influence 

 at that time. She was amiable, elegant, and accomplished. Bona- 

 parte saw her often, and became attached to her. She was several 

 years older than he was. He was now rapidly rising in his fortunes, 

 and his marriage with a lady of rank and fashion (for rank, although 

 nominally proscribed, began again to exercise a sort of influence in 

 society), who was upon terms of intimacy with the political leaden 

 of that period, could not but prove advantazeous to him. Such waa 

 the advice given to him by his friends, and particularly, it is reported, 

 by Talleyrand. Barras, having heard of the projected marriage, 

 approved of it also. Meantime Bonaparte had been applying to i 

 the then minister at war, for active employment. The directors hod 

 at that time turned their attention towards Italy, where the French 

 army, under General Schcrer, was making no great progress. After 

 gaining a victory over the Austrians at Loano, in November 1795, the 

 Kreuch were still cooped up in the western Riviera of Genoa, between 

 the mountains and the sea, without beiug able to penetrate into Pied- 

 mont ; and this was the fourth year of that war carried on at the foot 

 or in the defiles of the Alps and the Liguarian Apennines. Barras and 

 Carnot agreed to give Bonaparte the command of the army of Italy, 

 nii'l the other directors approved of it This appointment was signed 

 the 23rd February 1796; on the 9th of March following he married 

 Josephine, and a few days after parted from his bride to assume the 

 command of the army of Italy. The stories that have been propa- 

 gated about his marriage being made the condition of his appointment, 

 and all the inuendos built upon that assumption, appear to have no 

 foundation. He was appointed to the army of Italy because he was 

 thought capable of succeeding, because he was already acquainted with 

 the ground, perhaps also it was thought that his Italian origin might 

 afford him facilities with the people of that country ; and lastly, 

 because the directors were not sorry to have a general at the head of 

 oue of their armies who wai a man of their own choice, and seemingly 

 dependent upon their favour, one whose growing reputation might 

 serve as a counterpoise to the widely-extended popularity of Moreau, 

 Pichegru, Hoche, aud the other generals of the first years of the 

 Republic. 



The army at Bonaparte's disposal consisted of about .15,000 men, of 

 whom only two-thirds were fit for the field. It was in a wretched 

 state as to clothing, aud ill supplied with provisions ; the pay of the 

 soldiers was in arrears, and the army was almost without horses. The 

 discipline also was very relixc.l. The Piedmontese and Austrian 

 combined army was commanded by Beaulieu, a gallant veteran, |. ,-t 

 seventy yean of age. It was posted along the ridge of the Aprtmiin <, 

 at the foot of which the French were advancing. Bonaparte, in his 

 despatches to the Directory, stated the allied army at 75,000 men, 

 and his own effective troops at 35,000. On the 27th of March he 

 arrived at Nice, and immediately moving his head-quarters to Al 

 pushed his advanced guard as far as Volti-i, near Genoa. Beaulieu, 

 with the Austrians' left, attacked Voltri and drove the French back 

 he at the same time ordered D'Argenteau, who commanded his centre, 

 to descend by Monteuottc upon Savona, and tiius take the French in 

 flank. On this road the French colonel, Rampon, was posted with 

 1500 men on the heights of Montulegino. He was repeatedly attacked 

 on the 10th of April by D'Argenteau, but stood firm, and all the 

 assault* of the Austrians could not dislodge him from the redoubt 

 This gave time to Bonaparte to collect his forces, and to march round 

 in the night by Altare to the rear of D'Argenteau, whom he attacked 

 on every side on the following day, and obliged to make a dwor<b-rly 

 retreat beyond Montenotte, after losing the best part of his division, 

 before Beaulieu on the left, or Colli, who commanded the Piedmonteaa 

 at Cora on the right, could come to hi* support Bonaparte bad now 

 pushed into the valley of the Bormid.1, between the two wings of the 

 allied army. Beaulieu and Colli hastened to repair this disaster, and 

 re-establish their communications by Millrsimo and Dego. On Mm 

 13th of April, Bonaparte sent Augereau to attack Millesimo, which ho 

 carried; but the Austrian general, Provera, with 2000 men, threw 

 himself into the old cattle of Cossaria, on the summit of a hill, where 

 he withstood all the assaults of the French for that day. Two Fi cm-h 

 general officers were killed in leading the attack, and another, Joubvrt, 

 was severely wounded. On the 14th the whole of the two armies wcro 

 engaged. Colli, after an unsuccessful endeavour to relieve I'rovcra, 

 was driven back towards Ceva ; while Massena attacked Beaulieu at 

 Dego, and forced him to retire towards Acqui. Provera, without 

 provisions or water, was obliged to surrender. The Piedinonte-e were 

 now completely separated from the Austrians, which was the great 

 object of Bonaparte's movement*. The French remained for the night 

 at Magliani, near Dego. All at once, early in the morning of the 

 15th, an Austrian division 5000 strong, under General Wukossowich, 

 coming from Voltri by Sassello, and expecting to find their country- 

 men at Dego, were astonished to find the French there, who were 



