FRANCE. (HISTORY.) 



255 



save the country. The revolutionary tribunal wap 

 erected, and the terrorists, Danton, Robespierre and 

 Marat (see these articles,) ruled the nation with the 

 guillotine. Marie Antoinette, the queen of France, 

 met the fate of her husband (October 16, 1793) ; the 

 duke of Orleans (Philippe Egalite'), and the pious 

 Elizabeth, the magnanimous sister of Louis XVI., 

 soon followed her ; all the churches of Paris were 

 shut ; the church plate was declared the property of 

 the nation. November 10, the festival of Reason 

 was celebrated in the ancient cathedral of Notre 

 Dame, instead of divine service. The democratic 

 constitution of France was given to the colonies, and 

 freedom was granted to the negroes, the signal for 

 the massacre of the whites ! (See Hayti.) The ex- 

 nobles were persecuted with the greatest fury ; the 

 oppressions of centuries were revenged with a savage 

 ferocity. The reign of terror continued nine months, 

 during which Robespierre celebrated the festivals of 

 Mankind, of the Supreme Being, of Stoicism, of the 

 French people, &c., while the blood flowed in torrents 

 from the guillotine, and under the mitrailles of Collot 

 d'Herbois and others (particularly at Lyons, Bour- 

 deaux, Nantes, Toulon, &c.) The reign of terror 

 was finished with the fall of Robespierre, 9th Ther- 

 midor (July 27), 1794. The hall of the Jacobins 

 was closed, and the revolutionary tribunal received a 

 new organization. The convention no longer allowed 

 the affiliation of popular societies ; and the free exer- 

 cise of religion was established (February 21, 1795). 

 Still, however, it cost many struggles with the Jaco- 

 bins and the terrorists, who opposed the spirit of 

 moderation ; as, for instance, on the IstPrairial (May 

 20), 1795. A new (the third) constitution was 

 adopted. The sections of Paris endeavoured in vain 

 to restore royalty ; they were dispersed by Barras 

 and Bonaparte (see these articles), in the service of 

 the convention, on the bloody 13th Vendemiaire 

 (Oct. 5), 1795. On the 26th of October, the con- 

 vention finished its session, and the directory com- 

 menced. (See A. C. Thibeaudeau's Mem. sur la 

 Convention et le Directoire, Paris, 1824, 2 vols.) 

 The legislature now consisted of the council of 

 ancients (250 members), and the council of the five 

 hundred. The executive directory (Barras, Rewbel, 

 Carnot, Lareveiliere-Lepeaux, and Letourneur) re- 

 stored order in La Vendee, but substituted mandats for 

 assignats (March 11, 1796) without success. This mea- 

 sure only increased the embarrassment of the finances, 

 arising from the double bankruptcy of the republic. 

 The national institute of science held its first session 

 Oct. 6, 1796, and a national consistory, sworn to 

 conform to the ordinances of the council of Trent, was 

 established. The revolution of the 18th Fructidor 

 (Sept. 4), 1797, confirmed the power of the directory. 

 During these numerous internal revolutions, the 

 French arms had conquered Savoy and Nice, Bel- 

 gium twice, Germany to the Rhine, and the Nether- 

 lands. Able generals, at the head of inexperienced 

 troops, were rendered victorious by the strategy of 

 Carnot. The old European tactics could not resist 

 the new military system. The nation rose en masse, 

 and thirteen armies of the republic were victorious 

 over the Hanoverians, the British, Dutch, Austrians, 

 and Prussians. Tuscany concluded a peace with 

 the French republic, February 9, 1795. The fortune 

 of the French arms in the Netherlands, and other 

 causes, induced Prussia to conclude a separate peace 

 at Basle (April 5, 1795). Spain followed the 22d 

 July, and Hesse-Cassel the 28th August, the same 

 year. A line of demarcation assured the neutrality 

 of Northern Germany, under the protection of Prus- 

 sia. The United Provinces (May 16) entered into 

 an offensive and defensive alliance with the republic 

 against Britain, Austria, Britain, ana Russia, 



however, formed a closer alliance (Sept. 28, 1795), 

 to arrest, if possible, the increasing predominance of 

 France. While the French were thus victorious by 

 land, they suffered much by sea. Britain put forth 

 her whole strength to extend her supremacy on the 

 sea and in both the Indies. Pitt's impracticable sys- 

 tem of starvation was not less injurious to other states 

 than to France. The attempts made by the British 

 to support the royalists by landing in France, did 

 not answer the expectation. But most of the 

 French colonies fell into the hands of the British, 

 and their attacks on the fleets of Toulon and Brest 

 inflicted an incurable wound on the marine of the 

 republic. Austria, Prussia, and Sardinia carried on 

 war principally by means of British subsidies. On 

 the other hand, the directory maintained its armies 

 of conscripts by requisitions of munitions and by 

 paper money. The enemy's country furnished, also, 

 the richest resources, particularly Holland, Germany, 

 and Italy. The arms of general Bonaparte finally 

 effected a peace. The victories of Montenotte, Mil- 

 lesimo, Lodi, Arcole, Rivoli, and the Tagliamento, 

 in Italy (April 11, 1796, to March 16, 1797), not- 

 withstanding the successes of the archduke Charles, 

 in Germany, and the retreat of Moreau, led to the 

 preliminaries of Leoben (April 18, 1797), which 

 were followed by the peace of Campo-Formio (q. v.), 

 Oct. 17, with Austria, and the congress of Rastadt, 

 for the negotiation of a peace with the German em- 

 pire. Meanwhile an alliance, offensive and defen- 

 sive, had been concluded between France and Spain 

 (Aug. 18, 1796), and Britain had declared war 

 against Spain. Venice was converted into a demo- 

 cracy, Genoa into the Ligurian republic, and a peace 

 was concluded between France and Sardinia. Hol- 

 land was stripped of many of her colonies by Bri- 

 tain, who monopolized commerce. Misunderstand 

 ings, also, arose between the French and North 

 American republics, and new occasions of war soon 

 sprang up on the European continent. Rome was 

 transformed into a republic (Feb. 10, 1798), Switzer- 

 land conquered, and the execution of the project of 

 attacking Great Britain in her most vital point, the 

 Indies, was attempted, by Bonaparte's expedition 

 into Egypt. But the French fleet was annihilated, at 

 Aboukir, by Nelson ; general Bonaparte was unsuc- 

 cessful in Syria ; and the second coalition was formed, 

 at the instigation and by the subsidies of Britain. 

 The Porte declared war against France ; the congress 

 at Rastadt was dissolved after the assassination of 

 two French ambassadors ; Austria and Russia united 

 themselves with the Porte, and Naples undertook to 

 avenge the pope. The republic crushed its ally, the 

 king of Sardinia (December, 1798), to secure Upper 

 Italy, and the republican army entered Naples, in 

 triumph, and founded the Parthenopean republic. 

 Tuscany was likewise occupied. But the fortune of 

 arms was soon changed. The Austrians and Rus- 

 sians gained several battles, and conquered Italy 

 (1799). But Holland and Switzerland were success- 

 fully defended ; the former by Brune, the latter by 

 Massena. It was then that general Bonaparte, 

 recalled from Egypt (q. v.) by his brother Joseph, 

 who informed him of the state of things in Europe, 

 placed himself at the head of the republic. The 

 weak directory was abolished, and the 18th Brumaire 

 (Nov. 9, 1799) gave France a consular government 

 and her fourth constitution. This was, again, an 

 approach to monarchy. Three consuls, chosen for 

 ten years, and capable of being re-elected, were 

 placed at the head of the government ; but the first 

 consul (Napoleon Bonaparte) alone had the power 

 of appointing and dismissing the counsellors, mini- 

 sters, ambassadors, and all military and naval offi- 

 cers; he also decided finally in (ill other affairs of 



