BONAPARTE. 



COS 



foreign enemies and establish domestic order, was 

 universal. (See the article Otranto.) Having hastily 

 taken the resolution to return to Europe, he gave up 

 the command to general Kleber, and, promising to 

 revisit Egypt with additional forces, he embarked, 

 with Lannes, Murat, Berthier, Andreossy, Bour- 

 rienne, Gantheaume, Marmont, Lavalette, Berthollet, 

 and Monge, August 23. Escaping the British 

 cruisers, he arrived (September 30) at Ajaccio, where 

 he was detained by unfavourable winds. October 9, 

 he landed at Frejus. He proceeded, in a sort of tri- 

 umph to Paris, which he entered October 14. The 

 Parisians welcomed his appearance with rejoicings. 

 But those who would gladly have kept him at a dis- 

 tance, and feared his presence, assembled in con- 

 sternation. Well might Bonaparte make it a matter 

 of reproach to the directory, that he had left the re- 

 public victorious and powerful, and found it van- 

 quished and feeble. (See France.) 



The demand for a change of government was uni- 

 versal. Barras, it is said, wished to restore the 

 monarchy, and calculated on the assistance of Bona- 

 parte. Sieves, on the contrary, aimed at elevating 

 the republic by means of Bonaparte. But he saw 

 deeper than either of them, and guided the course of 

 the conspiracy according to his own views. The 

 council of the ancients committed to him the com- 

 mand in chief of the troops, with unlimited power to 

 protect the national representation. He swore 

 fidelity to the republic, and, on the 9th November 

 (18th Brumaire), 1799, overthrew the directorial 

 government. On the 10th, the council of the an- 

 cients, and that of the five hundred, met at St Cloud. 

 In the latter, the cry of the republicans, " No dicta- 

 tor ! Down with the dictator !" was raised. On this, 

 Bonaparte entered the hall with several grenadiers. 

 He was seized by the collar ; but no dagger was, as 

 lie pretended, aimed at him.* Bonaparte then with* 

 drew. Lucian immediately resigned the presidency, 

 hastened to the general, and exhorted the troops to 

 disperse the five hundred. The grenadiers entered 

 the hall at the command of Bonaparte, but stopped 

 B moment, while a member of the council (general 

 Jourdan) warned them that they were guilty of a 

 violation of the rights of the representatives of the 

 people. They then advanced with fixed bayonets, 

 and drove the council from the hall, general Leclerc, 

 their commander, crying out, " In the name of gen- 

 eral Bonaparte, the legislative council is dissolved ; 

 grenadiers, forward!" 



Thus ended the constitution of 1 795. On the same 

 day (November 10), Lucian, as president, assembled 

 the few members of the council who were privy to 

 the conspiracy, and decreed the abolition of the direc- 

 tory, and the appointment of three provisional con- 

 suls, (Napoleon Bonaparte, Sieyes, and Roger Ducos), 

 who entered upon office November 17. The fourth 

 new constitution of the republic was hastily com- 

 pleted, and promulgated on the 15th December (22d 

 Frimaire). Bonaparte was appointed first consul for 

 ten years, with powers such as few constitutional 

 kings possess. With him were joined two consuls, 

 with comparatively little power. From this time, 

 Bonaparte's line of policy unfolded itself more dis- 

 tinctly. To establish order, a firm government, and 

 a regular administration of justice, was the chief aim 

 of his domestic, and the humiliation of the enemies 

 of France that of his foreign policy. He selected 

 from those around him the most useful instruments of 

 his plans, and the most distinguished men, such as 

 Talleyrand and Fouche. The list of emigrants was 



The story of the dagger has been explicitly contradicted 

 by Bigonnet and Dupont de 1'Eure, m the chamber of de- 

 puties, June 18, 1819, who were both members of the coun- 

 cil and eye-witnesses of the scene. 



closed, and peace was promised to the people. The 

 first consul declared war, indeed, on the 28th Decem- 

 ber, on all the enemies of the republic ; but, on the 

 following day, he proffered peace to the king of 

 England ; but the proffer, made contrary to the usual 

 forms, was refused. The German empire, Russia, 

 Naples, and the Porte, were still in arms. Under 

 these circumstances. Bonaparte collected an army 

 of reserve, and, April 15, 1800, Moreau, opened the 

 campaign in Germany. 



Before the end of May, Bonaparte had passed the 

 Great St Bernard into Italy, where Massena was 

 retiring before the superior forces of the enemy. 

 June 4, Bonaparte again entered Milan. In a few 

 days, the Cisalpine republic was restored. While 

 Moreau advanced victoriously into Germany, the 

 Austrians, who had taken Genoa on the 4th of June, 

 were surrounded by the French forces. The fate of 

 Italy depended on a single battle. It was fought, 

 June 14, at Marengo (q. v.), in the spacious plain 

 between Alessandria and Tortona. Melas, the Aus- 

 trian general, concluded an armistice in Alessandria, 

 June 16, and evacuated to the French the greater 

 portion of Upper Italy. On the 22d, Bonaparte left 

 the army, having appointed Massena to the command, 

 and, on the 1st of July, entered Paris, where he was 

 received with great demonstrations of joy. To en- 

 able the reader to understand the position of the first 

 consul, and to estimate fairly his administration at 

 this period, it would be necessary to go at length into 

 the then existing state of France, which our limits 

 will not allow. We must, therefore, refer to the 

 various memoirs which have been published relating 

 to it. France was at that time torn by parties, op- 

 pressed by the unprincipled rapacity of some, excited 

 by priests, surrounded by irreconcilable enemies to 

 the new state of things, and impoverished by the 

 long interruption of commerce and industry. The 

 consul found almost all social ties dissolved; the 

 administration corrupt ; religion abolished ; justice 

 insecure ; the laws disregarded ; violence and weak- 

 ness every where coupled together ; factions intrigu- 

 ing against each other ; Jacobins, royalists, constitu- 

 tionalists, adherents to the directory (the directory 

 itself having been divided) opposed to each other ; 

 in one word, a state of anarchy, which disgusted 

 the people at large, and which led to the most 

 daring attempts upon the person of the chief magis- 

 trate. 



Such was the state of France when Bonaparte took 

 the reins into his hand. He directed his attention to 

 every branch of government. The law, the finan- 

 ces,* prisons, education, arts, industry, even the fa- 

 shions of the ladies, which had become highly indeco- 

 rous, every subject of general interest, attracted 

 his attention. Every thing was to be put on a 

 new footing. Thus situated, gifted with such a 

 variety of talents, and surrounded oy foreign enemies, 

 it is not surprising, although it is to be lamented, that 

 he gradually concentred afl the powers of government 

 in himself, so that he became the nucleus of all order 

 and law, whereby the civil organization of the govern- 

 ment was left destitute of that principle of fife and 

 independence which alone can secure its permanence 

 among civilized nations a circumstance which prov- 

 ed fatal towards the latter part of his reign. Soon 

 after the return of Bonaparte to Paris, the conspiracy 

 of the sculptor Ceracchi, the painter Topino-Lebrun, 

 Demerville, and Arena, was discovered. Their plan 

 was to assassinate the consul at the opera, and their 

 object was the restoration of liberty. 



Even in his youth, when lie had the command of the 

 army in Italy, he bad kept a watchful eye over the honesty 

 of the public functionaries. 



4 c ii 2 



