NAPOLEON I 



4064 



NAPOLEON I 



opportunity to get his disturbing personality 

 out of Kra:. *ed- Napoleott'i 



power with the army was now mormons, the 

 devotion of his men amounting almost to wor- 

 ship. To rid the country of him and at the 

 same time to strike a blow at England, the 

 thru ni' d. he was dis- 



at first he met witli 



NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 



his usual brilliant success. The destruction of 

 the French fleet by Lord Nelson, at the battle 

 of the Nile, in 1798, however, turned the tide 

 ate, and after meeting with varying for- 

 \apoleon, prompted by news of the in- 

 fidelity of Josephine and the intrigues of the 

 Directory, handed over the command to Kleber 

 and returned to Paris. By a bold stroke he 

 abolished the power of the people who sought 

 to crush him. The Directory ceased to exist ; 

 a new constitution was drawn up, with Napo- 

 leon as First Consul. The Corsican "corporal" 

 was ruler of France. 



It was in 1803, while First Consul, that Na- 

 poleon entered into the negotiations with the 

 United States which culminated in the Louisi- 

 ana purchase. Being in imperative need of 

 money to carry on his wars and deciding that 

 the dream of a western empire for France must 

 be abandoned, the First Consul sold to the 



United States a vast territory covering nearly 

 a million square miles, land which is now di- 

 vided into eighteen Stafo 



Successful Against All of Western Europe. 

 Although his government was marked by sa- 

 gacity and vigor. Napoleon's mind dwelt con- 

 tinually on war and conquest, and it was almost 

 impossible for him to settle down to the arts 

 of peaceful government. His dreams of an 

 eastern empire had been shattered. India, 

 which he had hoped to subdue after Egypt, 

 was beyond his reach. Austria still occupied 

 Northern Italy. A blow, quick and decisive, 

 must be struck. War was his element, and on 

 his armies depended his popularity and his 

 power. In 1800 he conducted his famous march 

 across the Alps, by the Great Saint Bernard 

 Pass, into Italy. At Marengo the Austrian 

 army was confronted, and Napoleon would 

 have been annihilated but for the timely ar- 

 rival of Desaix and Kellerman with reen- 

 forcements, which changed a rout into a victory. 

 Austria was again defeated at Hohenlinden on 

 December 2, 1800, and terms of peace were 

 arranged and signed by Joseph Bonaparte at 

 Luneville in February, 1801. 



England was then France's only remaining 

 active enemy. France was compelled to evacu- 

 ate Egypt; Malta was retaken by the English. 

 The Treaty of Amiens, signed by Cornwallis 

 for England and by Joseph Bonaparte, on 

 March 27, 1802, gave France the first real peace 

 for ten years. Spain, Naples, Bavaria, Portu- 

 gal, Russia, Turkey and, finally, England, had 

 all been forced into treaties directed by the 

 sallow, undersized Corsican. In all these 

 treaties were buried the seeds *of future wars, 

 carefully sown by the master mind of Napo- 

 leon, seeds that were shortly to grow like 

 dragon's teeth into armies beneath whose tread 

 Europe must again tremble. 



Becomes Emperor. Not satisfied with the ap- 

 pointment of Consul for life, which had been 

 conferred on him by an unanimous vote of the 

 people, Napoleon began to dispense with any 

 governmental form and power except that 

 vested in himself, and, being offered the title 

 of Emperor by the Senate, he was crowned as 

 Emperor Napoleon I on December 2, 1804, in 

 the presence of Pope Pius VII. It is said that 

 being impatient, he snatched the crown from 

 the Pope's hand and, placing it on his own head, 

 ordered the Pope to proceed quickly with the 

 ceremony. 



While Napoleon's life is best known for its 

 military side, yet he ruled the internal affairs 



