826 FRA 
nate refinance, entered the two villages, when their ca¬ 
valry,completed the victory. Hoche purfued the Auf- 
trians, home to Montabauer and fome to Dierdorf; where, 
having obtained reinforcements, they made a hand, but 
were driven from both. Meanwhile Hoche’s left, con¬ 
fining of twenty-five thoufand men under Championet, 
inarched in two divifions upon Ucherath and Altenkirchen. 
The Aufirian corps warmly disputed the ground, though 
they were compelled to abandon it. Thefe fuccefles, and 
the vaft fuperiority of numbers on the fide of the French, 
rendered it impoffible that Wprneck could any longer 
maintain his pofition in front of the Lahn. 
Moreau, in the mean while, was not lefs fuccefsful, 
though he had more difficulties to encounter. On quit¬ 
ting his cantonments April 19, lie marched towards rhe 
Rhine, and began to force the pafl'age with fifteen thou¬ 
fand men, divided into three columns, under Jordis, 
d’Avouft, and Duhem. They were vigorouflv refilled ; 
but by perfeverance they palfed over all their force, and 
a molt obftinate and bloody battle enfued. Victory was 
for fome time on the tide of tlie Auftrians, till night 
flopped the efFufion of blood; and in that interval the 
French eflablifhed a bridge of boats, brought over artil¬ 
lery, ammunition, and frefit troops, and before morning 
were fufficiemly ftrong to defy their antagonifls. 
The Auftrians having been alfo reinforced to eighteen 
thoufand men, commenced a vigorous attack; but were 
repulfed by the fuperior numbers and enthufiaftic valour 
of the republicans. The French now obtained pofifefiion 
of the can few ay which leads from Kehl to Stolhofifen, and 
overran the plain, where their cavalry completed the de¬ 
feat of the Auftrians, taking four thoufand prifoners, be- 
fides part of their artillery. On the fame day the French, 
without firing a fhor, obtained pofteftion of Kehl, which 
but a few months before had maintained fo noble a de¬ 
fence, and whicli the Auftrians maintained at the expence 
af fo much blood and treafure. The French advanced in 
ail directions, and obtained pofteftion of Stolhoffen, Frey- 
denftadt, Haflech, and Ettenheim, when their progrefs 
was flopped by meftengers fent through Germany by the 
archduke Charles and Bonaparte, announcing that peace 
was concluded. Thefe meftengers found the army of 
Hoche violently attacking Frankfort on the Maine, which 
general Werneck was endeavouring to defend. The news 
was diffnfed in an inftant through both armies; and the 
contending troops, throwing afide their weapons, congra¬ 
tulated each other upon the event. 
France now held a mod elevated rank among the nations 
of Europe. Spain, Italy, and Holland, were held in de¬ 
pendence ; while her victorious armies had compelled the 
laft continental member of the coalition to accept of peace 
from an army that menaced his capital. Of all the adver¬ 
saries of the French revolution, BTitain alone remained in 
hoftility. From her command over the ocean fhe was 
enabled, indeed, to retain the feeble ftate of Portugal at¬ 
tached to hercaufe; but on land, fuch was the uncom¬ 
mon energy of France, that, with this exception, the Bri¬ 
tish trading veffels were to be excluded, by her influence, 
from all approaches to the continent, from the Elbe to 
the Adriatic. 
But in the midft of thefe extraordinary fuccefles abroad, 
the interior of France was little lefs agitated than at the 
jnoft alarming periods of the revolution. The directory 
poflefled neither the confidence nor the refpeCt of tiie 
people ; their councils were divided by feparate views, 
a<nd by mutual diftruft and contempt; while the dread of 
new revolutions, and the immediate terror of military 
force, alone appeared to prevent fome violent explofion. 
The directors, fully fenlibie of the dangers to which 
they were expofed, faw with alarm the approach of the 
period when, by the new conftitution, the people mull 
meet in primary affetnblies to choofe anew a third part of 
the reprelentatives, and when one of the five directors 
fhoukl quit 11 is fituation by lot. 
After ie veral debates on the manner in which lots fhould 
N G E, 
be drawn to create the vacancy in the directory, the bufi- 
nefs was brought to a decision on the 19th of May. Le- 
tourneur was then voted out of the directory. On the 
20th, the new third took their feats in the councils, a 
third of their predecellors having evacuated theirs by lot. 
But the election of the members of the new third had 
aimed entirely fallen upon men who were underftood to 
be hoftile to the directory. Among the new members 
were generals Jourdan and Pichegru ; the latter of whom 
was elected prefident of the five hundred ; and the an¬ 
cients hailed his nomination with expreflions of refp eCt 
for his military talents and virtues. They hadallo chofen 
as prefident, Barbe Marbois. 
The council of five hundred now propofed a lift from 
which to feleCt a new member of the directory ; and Bat^, 
thelemy, ambaflador to the Swifs cantons, was feleCted' 
by the council of ancients by a great majority. The 
people of SwilTerland (hewed their laft tokens of affeCtion 
and refpeCt, by elcorting him with military honours to the 
frontier, where a triumphal arch was erected, inferibed, 
“ To the pacificator of Europe.” On the road he avoided 
the honours prepared for him by the people of France ; 
and having reached Paris in a private manner, was installed, 
received the fraternal embrace from his new colleagues, 
and exprefled, in an animated fpeeeh, his earned wifltes for 
peace; to which Carnot, then prefident of the directory, 
made a fuitable reply. Thefe two members of the direc¬ 
tory were decidedly inclined to peace; the other three 
were for continuing the war. 
The diftraCtion of government was foon at the higheft 
pitch : the new elections, by giving feats to fome men of 
greater abilities than had before been chofen, and of cha¬ 
racters ccmparafirHy unblemifited, afforded foundation 
to a ftrong and popular oppofition, who cenfured pnbiis 
proceedings with a freedom w hich tyranny could ill en¬ 
dure, and a force which made oppreffion writhe in anguifh 
and meditate bloody revenge. The debates which en¬ 
fued in the council of five hundred, afforded confiderable 
information on the meafures and conduct of the directory: 
it was proved that they had obtained the difpofal of nine- 
ty-feven millions, (4,243,750!.) belides at lead twenty 
millions (975,0001.) received in contributions, under pre¬ 
tence that they fhonid thus be enabled to make peace. 
The army of Italy, far from being an incumbrance, had 
fent fupplies to the exchequer; the expence of the army 
of the North was almoft entirely defrayed by the Batavian 
republic ; and thofe of the Sambre and Meufe, and Rhine 
and Mofelie, were chiefly fupported in the conquered 
countries: yet, in the midft of thefe advantageous circum- 
ftances, the ntoft prefling difficulties were experienced, 
and the directory were ever complaining of the diftrefs of 
the treafury. Thefe clamours arofe from an infamous 
peculation in the modes of expenditure, and a thriftlefs 
diftribution of the funds intended for payment. The ar¬ 
my lift was faid to contain fifty thoufand men to be paid, 
clothed, and accoutred, more than had ever been really 
enrolled ; and the military hofpitals charged for patients 
who had never entered their walls, or who had long been 
dead: “and this,” faid Dupont de Nemours, who was 
ftating the faCts, “ is only a corner lifted up of the cur¬ 
tain which conceals thefe enormities.” On the thriftlefs 
expenditure, he obftrved, that while large films were 
ifiued for the opera, the confervatory of mufic, the riding- 
fchool at VerfailLes,,and lavilhed on manufactories of arms 
no longer wanting, and on buildings of mere ornament, 
the directory had lent to the councils an alarming meflage 
on the ftate of the hofpitals, affirming, that cut of three 
hundred and fifty foundlings, three hundred had died for 
want of abfoiute neceflaries. 
Thefe fpirited contefts at length brought the majority 
of the directory and of the councils into a ftate of complete 
hoftility. Both parties refolved to violate the conftitu¬ 
tion under rhe pretence of preferving it. The one wiftied 
to change the directory before the time preferibed by law, 
and the other to deprive of their feats a great number of 
