NAPOLEON I. 



391 



in detail as many of Melas' troops as he could 

 encounter. But this would not have been a suffi- 

 ciently brilliant triumph, as the bulk of the Austrian 

 army might have escaped ; and trusting in his star 

 lie resolved to stake the existence of his army on 

 a gambler's cast. Leaving Massena to be starved 

 out, he moved t<> the left on Milan, and occupied 

 tlie whole line of the Ticino and Po as far as 

 Piacenza, so as to cut off entirely the retreat of the 

 Austrians. He then crossed the Po and concen- 

 trated as many troops as he could spare at Stradella. 

 The strategy was brilliant, but the risk run exces- 

 sive. His army was necessarily scattered, while 

 Melas had had time to concentrate, and he was 

 besides ignorant of the Austrian position. He 

 sent Desaix with a column to seek information, 

 and moved himself on Alessandria, where he found 

 Melas. Next day, the 14th June, Melas marched 

 out to attack the French on the plains of Marengo, 

 and despite all Napoleon's efforts had actually 

 defeated them, when fortunately Desaix returned, 

 and his advance, together with a cavalry charge by 

 Kellcrmann, changed defeat into victory. Melas, 

 losing his head, signed a convention next day giving 

 up almost all North Italy, though Marmont says that 

 it he had fought another battle he must have won 

 it. Napoleon returned to Paris with the glories of 

 this astonishing campaign ; but peace did not follow 

 till Moreau, when his liberty of action was restored 

 to him. had won the battle of Hohenlinden on 3d 

 Decemlier 1800. Then followed the treaty of 

 Luneville with Germany in February 1801, the 

 concordat with Rome in July 1801, and the treaty 

 of Amiens with England in March 1802, so that 

 Na|>oleon was able to figure as the restorer of peace 

 to the world. He then devoted himself to the 

 reconstruction of the civil institutions of France, 

 employing in this great work the beet talent that 

 he could find, and impressing on their labour* the 

 stamp of his own genius. The institutions then 

 created, which still remain for the most part, were 

 the restored church, the judicial system, the codes, 

 the system of local government, the university, the 

 Bank of France, and the Legion of Honour. 



France at this period, sick of the failure of repub- 

 lican government, was gradually veering towards 

 monarchy, and Napoleon knew how to take advan- 

 tage of events to strengthen his position, and in 

 due time establish his own dynasty. The plot 

 of Nivose (24th December 1800), when his life was 

 threatened by a bomb, gave him a pretext for 

 arresting ami transporting 130 members of the 

 Jacobin party, with which he had long since 

 broken ; and after the conclusion of the peace 

 of Amiens a great step was taken when, as a 

 mark of public gratitude for the pacification of 

 the world, he was elected First Consul for life. 

 But though he desired the credit of making 

 peace, so as to enable him to establish his authority 

 over France, when that end was secured he became 

 again eager for war, with a view to further exten- 

 sion of his power. He also desired to humble 

 England, a desire that led to the rupture of the 

 peace of Amiens in 1803. The immediate causes 

 of this rupture were his aggressions in Holland, in 

 the Cisalpine Republic, in Genoa, and Piedmont, 

 and his monstrous demand that England should sup- 

 press every print that dared to criticise his actions, 

 and drive all French refugees from her shores. 

 Having thus forced England to resume hostilities, 

 he made vast preparations for her invasion, at the 

 same time taking the first step towards establish- 

 ing liis asrendaney in Germany by seizing Han- 

 over. The assumption of the crown soon followed, 

 Napoleon preparing the way with consummate 

 cunning. He rid himself of Moreau, his most 

 dangerous rival, by accusing him of conspiring 

 with the royalists, into whom he then struck terror 



by the execution of the Dvic d'Enghien. He thus 

 succeeded in inspiring even republicans with the 

 conviction that the best way of preventing the 

 inauguration of a new reign of terror was by con- 

 firming his position. He chose the title of emperor 

 as least obnoxious to the republican feeling of the 

 army, and the change was made by a decree of the 

 senate of the 18th May 1804. 



Preparations for the invasion of England had 

 been steadily proceeding, but Napoleon's aggressive 

 demeanour after becoming emperor alarmed the 

 European cabinets, so that Pitt was able to revive 

 the coalition, and in 1805 Napoleon found himself 

 at war with Russia and Austria, as well as with 

 England. Forced by England's naval supremacy 

 to abandon the notion of invasion, he suddenly 

 changed front in August 1805, and led his armies 

 through Hanover and the smaller German states, 

 disregarding the neutrality even of Prussia herself, 

 and reached the Danube in rear of the Austrian 

 army under Mack, which was at I" 1m. The 

 surprise was complete ; Mack surrendered on the 

 19th October, and Napoleon then marched on 

 Vienna, which he entered on the 13th November. 

 But his position was critical. The Archduke 

 Charles was approaching from Hungary, a Russian 

 army was entering Moravia, and Prussia, incensed 

 at the violation of her territory, joined the 

 coalition. A short delay would have surrounded 

 Napoleon with his enemies, but the Czar was 

 impatient, and the Russian army, with a small 

 contingent of Austrians, encountered Napoleon at 

 Austerlitz, December 2, 1805, and was signally 

 defeated. This caused the break-up of the coalition ; 

 the Holy Roman Empire came to an end, the Con- 

 federation of the Rhine was formed under French 

 protection, and the Napoleonic empire was firmly 

 established. Napoleon then entered into negoti- 

 ations for peace with Russia and England, en- 

 deavouring^ to conciliate those powers at the 

 expense of Prussia. The negotiations failed, but 

 Prussia was mortally offended, and mobilised her 

 armv in August 1806, alnnit which time Russia 

 finally rejected the treaty with France. Napoleon 

 acted with his usual promptitude, and advanced 

 against Prussia l>efore she could get help either 

 from England or Russia. Although the rank 

 and file of the Prussian armies was good, their 

 generals were antiquated, and Napoleon crushed 

 them at Jena and Aucrstadt on the 14th October, 

 and entered Berlin on the 27th. He had then 

 to carry on a stubbornly-contested campaign with 

 Russia. An indecisive battle at Eylau was followed 

 by a hardly-earned French victory at Friedland, 

 14th June 1807, and the peace of Tilsit ensued, 

 by which Prussia lost half her territory, and had 

 to submit to various humiliating conditions, while 

 Russia escaped easily, and indeed got a share of 

 the spoils. 



Napoleon was now at the zenith of his power ; he 

 was the arbiter of Europe and the paramount head 

 of a confederation of princes, among whom the mem- 

 bers of his own family occupied several thrones. To 

 reward his partisans he at this time created a new 

 noblesse, and lavished upon them the public money. 

 Full of inveterate hostility to England, Napoleon 

 endeavoured to cripple her by the so-called Contin- 

 ental System ( q. v. ), by which all the states under his 

 influence engaged to close their ports to English 

 ships, and lie also tried to combine all the European 

 navies against her ; but England, perceiving his aim, 

 took the initiative and herself seized the Danish fleet. 

 The emperor also turned his eyes to the Penin- 

 sula, where the dissolute conduct of the Queen of 

 Spain and the intrigues of 'the Prince of the Peace' 

 (see ALCUDIA) gave him an opportunity. He sent 

 an army under Juiiot to Portugal, and ancjther to 

 Spain, which, under Marat, took Madrid. Napoleon 



