FRANCE. 385 



tlielemi, were in their interests. Barras, however, and his party, 

 supported by the armies, resolved on a'prompt and violent measure } 

 which effectually decided the conquest. 



On the morning of the 4th of September, at the early hour of 

 three o'clock, Barras, and the two directors who acted with him, or- 

 dered the alarm-guns to be fired, and the halls of the councils to be 

 surrounded with a military force. General Augereau, who was 

 charged with the execution of these orders, repaired to the barracks, 

 and addressed the guard of the legislative body, assuring thern that 

 he came only to preserve the republic from the conspiracy of royal- 

 ists. The soldiers declared, with shouts of approbation, that he had 

 only to command, and they were ready to obey. Thus reinforced by 

 the very men to whom alone the councils could look for defence, Au- 

 gereau entered the hall of the five hundred, and seized Pichegru, the 

 president, with his own hands, and ordered about eighteen others of 

 the most conspicuous characters to be arrested and committed to the 

 temple. The halls were shut up, and the members of both councils 

 appointed to meet in other places which were pointed out to them. 

 Carnot and Barthelemi were implicated in the fate of their friends in 

 the councils. The former took advantage of the tumult, and fled; 

 the latter calmly awaited the storm, and was put under arrest. Bar- 

 thelemi, Pichegru, and a number of the deputies who were seized 

 by Augereau, were transported to Cayenne, whence the two former, 

 and some others, afterwards found means to return to Europe. 



The power of the directory, or rather of the party of Barras, being 

 now rendered complete by this decisive victory over the councils, 

 they projected new schemes of ambition and conquest, in order to 

 give employment to the armies, and afford them an opportunity of 

 enriching themselves by plunder. A tumult having taken place at 

 Rome, in which a French general was killed, they subverted the go- 

 vernment of that city, deposed the pope, and erected a new republic, 

 which they called the Roman republic. They likewise found a pre- 

 text to invade and levy heavy contributions on Switzerland, which 

 they endeavoured to transform into a new republic, under the title of 

 the Helvetic republic ; the government of which would, in conse- 

 quence, be delivered into the hands of their own officers and parti- 

 sans. Of these invasions the reader will find a further account un- 

 der the heads of Italy and Switzerland. 



In the beginning of the year 1798, a congress of deputies from 

 the states of the German empire met at Rastadt, to negociate a 

 peace between France and the empire, on the basis of the treaty of 

 CampoFormio: Bonaparte repaired thither, met the assembled ple- 

 nipotentiaries, and exchanged with count Meerfeldt the ratification 

 of the treaty of peace with the court of Vienna; after which he re- 

 turned to Paris, leaving the commissioners, Trielhard and Bonnier, 

 to conduct the negociations, which were protracted to a great length. 



After the conclusion of peace with the emperor, the army became 

 a burthen which it was found difficult to support; and though a part 

 of it had been employed in the plundering of Rome, and the oppres- 

 sion of Switzerland, there still remained a large body of troops in a 

 state of inactivity that might ultimately prove dangerous to the govern- 

 ment. An immediate invasion of England was therefore announced 

 to be resolved on, and an army collected along the coast of France 

 opposite to Great Britain, to which was given the pompous title of 

 ■he Army of England. Convinced, however, of the impracticability 



Vol. I. 3 D 



