Chapter IV: , VII (65)

"The events of the 12th of Germinal decided nothing. The
faubourgs had been repulsed, but not conquered. ... After so
many questions decided against the democratists, there still
remained one of the utmost importance--the constitution. On
this depended the ascendancy of the multitude or of the
bourgeoisie. The supporters of the revolutionary government
then fell back on the democratic constitution of '93, which
presented to them the means of resuming the authority they had
lost. Their opponents, on the other hand, endeavoured to
replace it by a constitution which would secure all the
advantage to them, by concentrating the government a little
more, and giving it to the middle class. For a month, both
parties were preparing for this last contest. The constitution
of 1793, having been sanctioned by the people, enjoyed a great
prestige. It was accordingly attacked with infinite
precaution. At first its assailants engaged to carry it into
execution without restriction; next they appointed a
commission of eleven members to prepare the 'lois organiques'
which were to render it practicable; by and by, they ventured
to suggest objections to it on the ground that it distributed
power too loosely, and only recognised one assembly dependent
on the people, even in its measures of legislation. At last, a
sectionary deputation went so far as to term the constitution
of '93 a decemviral constitution, dictated by terror. All its
partisans, at once indignant and filled with fears, organized
an insurrection to maintain it. ... The conspirators, warned
by the failure of the risings of the 1st and 12th Germinal,
omitted nothing to make up for their want of direct object and
of organization. On the 1st Prairial (20th of May) in the name
of the people, insurgent for the purpose of obtaining bread
and their rights, they decreed the abolition of the
revolutionary government, the establishment of the democratic
constitution of '93, the dismissal and arrest of the members
of the existing government, the liberation of the patriots,
the convocation of the primary assemblies on the 25th
Prairial, the convocation of the legislative assembly,
destined to replace the convention, on the 25th Messidor, and
the suspension of all authority not emanating from the people.
They determined on forming a new municipality, to serve as a
common centre; to seize on the barriers, telegraph, cannon,
tocsins, drums, and not to rest till they had secured repose,
happiness, liberty, and means of subsistence for all the
French nation. They invited the artillery, gendarmes, horse
and foot soldiers, to join the banners of the people, and
marched on the convention. Meantime, the latter was
deliberating on the means of preventing the insurrection. ...
{1311}
The committees came in all haste to apprise it of its danger;
it immediately declared its sitting permanent, voted Paris
responsible for the safety of the representatives of the
republic, closed its doors, outlawed all the leaders of the
mob, summoned the citizens of the sections to arms, and
appointed as their leaders eight commissioners, among whom
were Legendre, Henri la Riviere, Kervelegan, &c. These
deputies had scarcely gone, when a loud noise was heard
without. An outer door had been forced, and numbers of women
rushed into the galleries, crying 'Bread and the constitution
of '93!' ... The galleries were ... cleared; but the
insurgents of the faubourgs soon reached the inner doors, and,
finding them closed, forced them with hatchets and hammers,
and then rushed in amidst the convention. The Hall now became
a field of battle. The veterans and gendarmes, to whom the
guard of the assembly was confided, cried 'To arms!' The
deputy Auguis, sword in hand, headed them, and succeeded in
repelling the assailants, and even made a few of them
prisoners. But the insurgents, more numerous, returned to the
charge, and again rushed into the house. The deputy Feraud
entered precipitately, pursued by the insurgents, who fired
some shots in the house. They took aim at Boissy d'Anglas, who
was occupying the president's chair. ... Feraud ran to the
tribune, to shield him with his body; he was struck at with
pikes and sabres, and fell dangerously wounded. The insurgents
dragged him into the lobby, and, mistaking him for Freron, cut
off his head and placed it on a pike. After this skirmish they
became masters of the Hall. Most of the deputies had taken
flight. There only remained the members of the Crête [the
'Crest'--a name now given to the remnant of the party of 'The
Mountain'] and Boissy d'Anglas, who, calm, his hat on,
heedless of threat and insult, protested in the name of the
convention against this popular violence. They held out to him
the bleeding head of Feraud; he bowed respectfully before it.
They tried to force him, by placing pikes at his breast, to
put the propositions of the insurgents to the vote; he
steadily and courageously refused. But the Crêtois, who
approved of the insurrection, took possession of the bureaux
and of the tribune, and decreed, amidst the applause of the
multitude, all the articles contained in the manifesto of the
insurrection." Meantime "the commissioners despatched to the
sections had quickly gathered them together. ... The aspect of
affairs then underwent a change; Legendre, Kervelagan, and
Auguis besieged the insurgents, in their turn, at the head of
the sectionaries," and drove them at last from the hall of the
convention. "The assembly again became complete; the sections
received a vote of thanks, and the deliberations were resumed.
All the measures adopted in the interim were annulled, and
fourteen representatives, to whom were afterwards joined
fourteen others, were arrested, for organizing the
insurrection or approving it in their speeches. It was then
midnight; at five in the morning the prisoners were already
six leagues from Paris. Despite this defeat, the Faubourgs did
not consider themselves beaten; and the next day they advanced
en masse with their cannon against the convention. The
sections, on their side, marched for its defence." But a
collision was averted by negotiations, and the insurgents
withdrew, "after having received an assurance that the
Convention would assiduously attend to the question of
provisions, and would soon publish the organic laws of the
constitution of '93. ... Six democratic Mountaineers, Goujon,
Bourbotte, Romme, Duroy, Duquesnoy, and Soubrany were brought
before a military commission ... and ... condemned to death.
They all stabbed themselves with the same knife, which was
transferred from one to the other, exclaiming, 'Vive la
République!' Romme, Goujon, and Duquesnoy were fortunate
enough to wound themselves fatally; the other three were
conducted to the scaffold in a dying state, but faced death
with serene countenances. Meantime, the Faubourgs, though
repelled on the 1st, and diverted from their object on the 2nd
of Prairial, still had the means of rising," and the
convention ordered them to be disarmed. "They were encompassed
by all the interior sections. After attempting to resist, they
yielded, giving up some of their leaders, their arms, and
artillery. ... The inferior class was entirely excluded from
the government of the state; the revolutionary committees
which formed its assemblies were destroyed; the cannoneers
forming its armed force were disarmed; the constitution of
'93, which was its code, was abolished; and here the rule of
the multitude terminated. ... From that period, the middle
class resumed the management of the revolution without, and
the assembly was as united under the Girondists as it had
been, after the 2nd of June, under the Mountaineers."

_F. A. Mignet,
History of the French Revolution,
chapter 10._

ALSO IN:
_Duchesse d'Abrantes,
Memoirs,
chapters 12-14 (volume l)._

_T. Carlyle,
The French Revolution,
volume 3, book 7, chapters 4-6._

_G. Long,
France and its Revolutions,
chapter 53._

FRANCE: A. D. 1795 (June-September).
Framing and adoption of the Constitution of the Year III.
Self-renewing decrees of the Convention.
Hostility in Paris to them.
Intrigues of the Royalists.

"The royalist party, beaten on the frontiers, and deserted by
the court of Spain, on which it placed most reliance, was now
obliged to confine itself to intrigues in the interior; and it
must be confessed that, at this moment, Paris offered a wide
field for such intrigues. The work of the constitution was
advancing; the time when the Convention was to resign its
powers, when France should meet to elect fresh
representatives, when a new Assembly should succeed that which
had so long reigned, was more favourable than any other for
counter-revolutionary manœuvres. The most vehement passions
were in agitation in the sections of Paris. The members of
them were not royalists, but they served the cause of royalty
without being aware of it. They had made a point of opposing
the Terrorists; they had animated themselves by the conflict;
they wished to persecute also; and they were exasperated
against the Convention, which would not permit this
persecution to be carried too far. They were always ready to
remember that Terror had sprung from its bosom; they demanded
of it a constitution and laws, and the end of the long
dictatorship which it had exercised. ... Behind this mass the
royalists concealed themselves. ... The constitution had been
presented by the commission of eleven. It was discussed during
the three months of Messidor, Thermidor, and Fructidor
[June-August], and was successively decreed with very little
alteration."
{1312}
The principal features of the constitution so framed, known as
the Constitution of the Year III., were the following: "A
Council, called 'The Council of the Five Hundred,' composed of
500 members, of, at least, thirty years of age, having
exclusively the right of proposing laws, one-third to be
renewed every year. A Council called 'The Council of the
Ancients,' composed of 250 members, of, at least, forty years
of age, all either widowers or married, having the sanction of
the laws, to be renewed also by one-third. An executive
Directory, composed of five members, deciding by a majority,
to be renewed annually by one-fifth, having responsible
ministers. ... The mode of nominating these powers was the
following: All the citizens of the age of twenty-one met of
right in primary assembly on every first day of the month of
Prairial, and nominated electoral assemblies. These electoral
assemblies met every 20th of Prairial, and nominated the two
Councils; and the two Councils nominated the Directory. ...
The judicial authority was committed to elective judges. ...
There were to be no communal assemblies, but municipal and
departmental administrations, composed of three, five, or more
members, according to the population: they were to be formed
by way of election. ... The press was entirely free. The
emigrants were banished for ever from the territory of the
republic; the national domains were irrevocably secured to the
purchasers; all religions were declared free, but were neither
acknowledged nor paid by the state. ... One important question
was started. The Constituent Assembly, from a parade of
disinterestedness, had excluded itself from the new
legislative body [the Legislative Assembly of 1791]; would the
Convention do the same?" The members of the Convention decided
this question in the negative, and "decreed, on the 5th of
Fructidor (August 22d), that the new legislative body should
be composed of two-thirds of the Convention, and that one new
third only should be elected. The question to be decided was,
whether the Convention should itself designate the two-thirds
to be retained, or whether it should leave that duty to the
electoral assemblies. After a tremendous dispute, it was
agreed on the 13th of Fructidor (August 30), that this choice
should be left to the electoral assemblies. It was decided
that the primary assemblies should meet on the 20th of
Fructidor (September 6th), to accept the constitution and the
two decrees of the 5th and the 13th of Fructidor. It was
likewise decided that, after giving their votes upon the
constitution and the decrees, the primary assemblies should
again meet and proceed forthwith, that is to say, in the year
III. (1795), to the elections for the 1st of Prairial in the
following year." The right of voting upon the constitution was
extended, by another decree, to the armies in the field. "No
sooner were these resolutions adopted, than the enemies of the
Convention, so numerous and so diverse, were deeply mortified
by them. ... The Convention, they said, was determined to
cling to power; ... it wished to retain by force a majority
composed of men who had covered France with scaffolds. ... All
the sections of Paris, excepting that of the Quinze-Vingts,
accepted the Constitution and rejected the decrees. The result
was not the same in the rest of France. ... On the 1st of
Vendémiaire, year IV. (September 23, 1795), the general result
of the votes was proclaimed. The constitution was accepted
almost unanimously, and the decrees by an immense majority of
the voters." The Convention now decreed that the new
legislative body should be elected in October and meet
November 6.

_A. Thiers,
History of the French Revolution
(American edition), volume 3, pages 305-315._

ALSO IN:
_H. Von Sybel,
History of the French Revolution,
book 12, chapter 4 (volume 4)._

_H. C. Lockwood,
Constitutional History of France,
chapter 1, and appendix 3._

_J. Mallet du Pan,
Memoirs and Correspondence,
volume 2, chapter 8._

FRANCE: A. D. 1795 (June-December).
Death of the late King's son (Louis XVII.)
Treaty of Basle with Spain.
Acquisition of Spanish San Domingo.
Ineffectual campaign on the Rhine.
Victory at Loano.

"The Committees had formed great plans for the campaign of
1795; meaning to invade the territories of the allies, take
Mayence, and enter Southern Germany, go down into Italy, and
reach the very heart of Spain. But Carnot, Lindet, and Prieur
were no longer on the Committee, and their successors were not
their equals; army discipline was relaxed; a vulgar
reactionist had replaced Carnot in the war department and was
working ruin. ... The attack in Spain was to begin with the
Lower Pyrenees, by the capture of Pampeluna and a march upon
Castile, but famine and fever decimated the army of the
Western Pyrenees, and General Moncey was forced to postpone
all serious action till the summer. At the other end of the
Pyrenees, the French and Spaniards were fighting aimlessly at
the entry to Catalonia. The war was at a standstill; but the
negotiations went on between the two countries. The king of
Spain, as in honor bound, made the liberation of his young
kinsman, the son of Louis XVI., a condition of peace. This the
Republic would not grant, but the prisoner's death (June 8,
1795) removed the obstacle. The counter-revolutionists accused
the Committees of poisoning the child styled by the royalist
party Louis XVII. This charge was false; the poor little
prisoner died of scrofula, developed by inaction, ennui, and
the sufferings of a pitiless imprisonment, increased by the
cruel treatment of his jailers, a cobbler named Simon and his
wife. A rumor was also spread that the child was not dead, but
had been taken away and an impostor substituted, who had died.
Only one of the royal family now remained in the Temple, Louis
XVI.'s daughter, afterwards the Duchesse d'Angoulême. Spain
interceded for her, and she was exchanged. ... Peace with
Spain was also hastened by French successes beyond the
Pyrenees; General Marceau, being reinforced, took Vittoria and
Bilboa, and pushed on to the Ebro. On the 22d of July,
Barthelémi, the able French diplomatist, signed a treaty of
peace with Spain at Basle, restoring her Biscayan and
Catalonian provinces, and accepting Spanish mediation in favor
of the king of Naples, Duke of Parma, king of Portugal, and
'the other Italian powers,' including, though not mentioning,
the Pope; and Spain yielded her share of San Domingo, which
put a brighter face on French affairs in America. ...
Guadeloupe, Santa Lucia, and St. Eustache were restored to the
French. ... Spain soon made overtures for an alliance with
France, wishing to put down the English desire to rule the
seas; and, before the new treaty was signed, the army of the
Eastern Pyrenees was sent to reinforce the armies of the Alps
and Italy, who had only held their positions in the Apennines
and on the Ligurian coast against the Austrians and
Piedmontese by sheer force of will; but in the autumn of 1795
the face of affairs was changed.
{1313}
Now that Prussia had left the coalition, war on the Rhine went
on between France and Austria, sustained by the South German
States; France had to complete her mastery of the left bank by
taking Mayence and Luxembourg; and Austria's aim was to
dispute them with her. The French government charged Marceau
to besiege Mayence during the winter of 1794-95, but did not
furnish him the necessary resources, and, France not holding
the right bank, Kléber could only partially invest the town,
and both his soldiers and those blockading Luxembourg suffered
greatly from cold and privation. Early in March, 1795,
Pichegru was put in command of the armies of the Rhine and
Moselle, and Jourdan was ordered to support him on the left
(the Lower Rhine) with the army of Sambre-et-Meuse. Austria
took no advantage of the feeble state of the French troops,
and Luxembourg, one of the strongest posts in Europe,
receiving no help, surrendered (June 24) with 800 cannon and
huge store of provisions. The French now had the upper hand,
Pichegru and Jourdan commanding 160,000 men on the Rhine. One
of these men was upright and brave, but the other had treason
in his soul; though everybody admired Pichegru, 'the conqueror
of Holland.' ... In August, 1795, an agent of the Prince of
Condé, who was then at Brisgau, in the Black Forest, with his
corps of emigrants, offered Pichegru, who was in Alsace, the
title of Marshal of France and Governor of Alsace, the royal
castle of Chambord, a million down, an annuity of 200,000
livres, and a house in Paris, in the 'king's' name, thus
flattering at once his vanity and his greed. ... He was
checked by no scruples; utterly devoid of moral sense, he
hoped to gain his army by money and wine, and had no
discussion with the Prince of Condé save as to the manner of
his treason." In the end, Pichegru was not able to make his
treason as effective as he had bargained to do; but he
succeeded in spoiling the campaign of 1795 on the Rhine.
Jourdan crossed the river and took Dusseldorf, with 168
cannon, on the 6th of September, expecting a simultaneous
movement on the part of Pichegru, to occupy the enemy in the
latter's front. But Pichegru, though he took Mannheim, on the
18th of September, threw a corps of 10,000 men into the hands
of the Austrians, by placing it where it could be easily
overwhelmed, and permitted his opponent, Wurmser, to send
reinforcements to Clairfait, who forced Jourdan, in October,
to retreat across the Rhine. "Pichegru's perfidy had thwarted
a campaign which must have been decisive, and Jourdan's
retreat was followed by the enemy's offensive return to the
left bank [retaking Mannheim and raising the siege of
Mayence], and by reverses which would have been fatal had they
coincided with the outburst of royalist and reactionary plots
and insurrections in the West, and in Paris itself; but they
had luckily been stifled some time since, and as the
Convention concluded its career, the direction of the war
returned to the hands which guided it so well in 1793 and
1794."

_H. Martin,
Popular History of France from the First Revolution,
chapter 24 (volume 1)._

"The peace with Spain ... enabled the government to detach the
whole Pyrenean army to the support of General Scherer, who had
succeeded Kellermann in the command of the army of Italy. On
the 23d of November, the French attacked the Austrians in
their position at Loano, and, after a conflict of two days,
the enemy's centre was forced by Massena and Augereau, and the
Imperialists fled with the loss of 7,000 men, 80 guns, and all
their stores. But the season was too far advanced to prosecute
this success, and the victors took up winter quarters on the
ground they had occupied. ... The capture of the Cape of Good
Hope (September 16) by the British under Sir James Craig, was
the only other important event of this year."

_Epitome of Alison's History of Europe,
sections 154 and 157
(chapter 18 of the complete work)._

ALSO IN:
_A. Griffiths,
French Revolutionary Generals,
chapter 13._

_E. Baines,
History of the Wars of the French Revolution,
book. 1, chapters 19-20 (volume l)._

_A. de Beauchesne,
Louis XVII.: His Life, his Sufferings, his Death._

FRANCE: A. D. 1795 (October-December).
The Insurrection of the 13th Vendemiare, put down by
Napoleon Bonaparte.
Dissolution of the National Convention.
Organization of the government of the Directory.
Licentiousness of the time.

"The Parisians ... proclaimed their hostility to the
Convention and its designs. The National Guard, consisting of
armed citizens, almost unanimously sided with the enemies of
the Convention; and it was openly proposed to march to the
Tuilleries, and compel a change of measures by force of arms.
The Convention perceiving their unpopularity and danger, began
to look about them anxiously for the means of defence. There
were in and near Paris 5,000 regular troops, on whom they
thought they might rely, and who of course contemned the
National Guard as only half soldiers. They had besides some
hundreds of artillery men; and they now organised what they
called 'the Sacred Band,' a body of 1,500 ruffians, the most
part of them old and tried instruments of Robespierre. With
these means they prepared to arrange a plan of defence; and it
was obvious that they did not want materials, provided they
could find a skilful and determined head. The insurgent
sections placed themselves under the command of Danican, an
old general of no great skill or reputation. The Convention
opposed to him Menou; and he marched at the head of a column
into the section Le Pelletier to disarm the National Guard of
that district--one of the wealthiest of the capital. The
National Guard were found drawn up in readiness to receive him
at the end of the Rue Vivienne; and Menou, becoming alarmed,
and hampered by the presence of some of the' Representatives
of the People,' entered into a parley, and retired without
having struck a blow. The Convention judged that Menou was not
master of nerves for such a crisis; and consulted eagerly
about a successor to his command. Barras, one of their number,
had happened to be present at Toulon and to have appreciated
the character of Buonaparte. He had, probably, been applied to
by Napoleon in his recent pursuit of employment. Deliberating
with Tallien and Carnot, his colleagues, he suddenly said, 'I
have the man whom you want; it is a little Corsican officer,
who will not stand upon ceremony.' These words decided the
fate of Napoleon and of France. Buonaparte had been in the
Odeon Theatre when the affair of Le Pelletier occurred, had
run out, and witnessed the result. He now happened to be in
the gallery, and heard the discussion concerning the conduct
of Menou.
{1314}
He was presently sent for, and asked his opinion as to that
officer's retreat. He explained what had happened, and how the
evil might have been avoided, in a manner which gave
satisfaction. He was desired to assume the command, and
arranged his plan of defence as well as the circumstances
might permit; for it was already late at night, and the
decisive assault on the Tuilleries was expected to take place
next morning. Buonaparte stated that the failure of the march
of Menou had been chiefly owing to the presence of the
'Representatives of the People,' and refused to accept the
command unless he received it free from all such interference.
They yielded: Barras was named commander-in-chief; and
Buonaparte second, with the virtual control. His first care
was to despatch Murat, then a major of chasseurs, to Sablons,
five miles off, where fifty great guns were posted. The
Sectionaries sent a stronger detachment for these cannon
immediately afterwards; and Murat, who passed them in the
dark, would have gone in vain had he received his orders but a
few minutes later. On the 4th of October (called in the
revolutionary almanac the 13th Vendemiaire) the affray
accordingly occurred. Thirty thousand National Guards advanced
about two P. M., by different streets, to the siege of the
palace: but its defence was now in far other hands than those
of Louis XVI. Buonaparte, having planted artillery on all the
bridges, had effectually secured the command of the river, and
the safety of the Tuilleries on one side. He had placed cannon
also at all the crossings of the streets by which the National
Guard could advance towards the other front; and having posted
his battalions in the garden of the Tuilleries and Place du
Carousel, he awaited the attack. The insurgents had no cannon;
and they came along the narrow streets of Paris in close and
heavy columns. When one party reached the church of St. Roche,
in the Rue St. Honoré, they found a body of Buonaparte's
troops drawn up there, with two cannons. It is disputed on
which side the firing began; but in an instant the artillery
swept the streets and lanes, scattering grape-shot among the
National Guards, and producing such confusion that they were
compelled to give way. The first shot was a signal for all the
batteries which Buonaparte had established; the quays of the
Seine, opposite to the Tuilleries, were commanded by his guns
below the palace and on the bridges. In less than an hour the
action was over. The insurgents fled in all directions,
leaving the streets covered with dead and wounded; the troops
of the Convention marched into the various sections, disarmed
the terrified inhabitants, and before nightfall everything was
quiet. This eminent service secured the triumph of the
Conventionalists. ... Within five days from the Day of the
Sections Buonaparte was named second in command of the army of
the interior; and shortly afterwards, Barras finding his
duties as Director sufficient to occupy his time, gave up the
command-in-chief of the same army to his 'little Corsican
officer.'"

_J. G. Lockhart,
Life of Napoleon Buonaparte,
chapter 3._

The victory of the 13th Vendemiaire "enabled the Convention
immediately to devote its attention to the formation of the
Councils proposed by it, two-thirds of which were to consist
of its own members. The first third, which was freely elected,
had already been nominated by the Reactionary party. The
members of the Directory were chosen, and the deputies of the
Convention, believing that for their own interests the
regicides should be at the head of the Government, nominated
La Réveillère-Lepeaux, Sièyes, Rewbel, Le Tourneur, and
Barras. Sièyes refused to act, and Carnot was elected in his
place. Immediately after this, the Convention declared its
session at an end, after it had had three years of existence,
from the 21st September, 1792, to the 28th October, 1795 (4th
Brumaire, Year IV.). ... The Directors were all, with the
exception of Carnot, of moderate capacity, and concurred in
rendering their own position the more difficult. At this
period there was no element of order or good government in the
Republic; anarchy and uneasiness everywhere prevailed, famine
had become chronic, the troops were without clothes,
provisions or horses; the Convention had spent an immense
capital represented by assignats, and had sold almost half of
the Republican territory, belonging to the proscribed classes
...; the excessive degree of discredit to which paper money
had fallen, after the issue of thirty-eight thousand millions,
had destroyed all confidence and all legitimate commerce. ...
Such was the general poverty, that when the Directors entered
the palace which had been assigned to them as a dwelling, they
found no furniture there, and were compelled to borrow of the
porter a few straw chairs and a wooden table, on the latter of
which they drew up the decree by which they were appointed to
office. Their first care was to establish their power, and
they succeeded in doing this by frankly following at first the
rules laid down by the Constitution. In a short time industry
and commerce began to raise their heads, the supply of
provisions became tolerably abundant, and the clubs were
abandoned for the workshops and the fields. The Directory
exerted itself to revive agriculture, industry, and the arts,
re-established the public exhibitions, and founded primary,
central, and normal schools. ... This period was distinguished
by a great licentiousness in manners. The wealthy classes, who
had been so long forced into retirement by the Reign of
Terror, now gave themselves up to the pursuit of pleasure
without stint, and indulged in a course of unbridled luxury,
which was outwardly displayed in balls, festivities, rich
costumes and sumptuous equipages. Barras, who was a man of
pleasure, favoured this dangerous sign of the reaction, and
his palace soon became the rendezvous of the most frivolous
and corrupt society. In spite of this, however, the wealthy
classes were still the victims, under the government of the
Directory, of violent and spoliative measures."

_E. de Bonnechose,
History of France,
volume 2. pages 270-273._

{1315}

FRANCE: A. D. 1796 (April-October).
Triple attack on Austria.
Bonaparte's first campaign in Italy.
Submission of Sardinia.
Armistice with Naples and the Pope.
Pillage of art treasures.
Hostile designs upon Venice.
Expulsion of the Austrians from Lombardy.
Failure of the campaign beyond the Rhine.

"With the opening of the year 1796 the leading interest of
European history passes to a new scene. ... The Directory was
now able ... to throw its whole force into the struggle with
Austria. By the advice of Bonaparte a threefold movement was
undertaken against Vienna, by way of Lombardy, by the valley
of the Danube, and by the valley of the Main. General Jourdan,
in command of the army that had conquered the Netherlands, was
ordered to enter Germany by Frankfort; Moreau, a Breton
law-student in 1792, now one of the most skilful soldiers in
Europe, crossed the Rhine at Strasburg; Bonaparte himself,
drawing his scanty supplies along the coast-road from Nice,
faced the allied forces of Austria and Sardinia upon the
slopes of the Maritime Apennines, forty miles to the west of
Genoa. ... Bonaparte entered Italy proclaiming himself the
restorer of Italian freedom, but with the deliberate purpose
of using Italy as a means of recruiting the exhausted treasury
of France. His correspondence with the Directory exposes with
brazen frankness this well·considered system of plunder and
deceit, in which the general and the Government were cordially
at one. ... The campaign of 1796 commenced in April, in the
mountains above the coast-road connecting Nice and Genoa. ...
Bonaparte ... for four days ... reiterated his attacks at
Montenotte and at Millesimo, until he had forced his own army
into a position in the centre of the Allies [Austrians and
Piedmontese]; then, leaving a small force to watch the
Austrians, he threw the mass of his troops upon the
Piedmontese, and drove them back to within thirty miles of
Turin. The terror-stricken Government, anticipating an
outbreak in the capital itself, accepted an armistice from
Bonaparte at Cherasco (April 28). ... The armistice, which was
soon followed by a treaty of peace between France and
Sardinia, ceding Savoy to the Republic, left him free to
follow the Austrians, untroubled by the existence of some of
the strongest fortresses of Europe behind him. In the
negotiations with Sardinia, Bonaparte demanded the surrender
of the town of Valenza, as necessary to secure his passage
over the river Po. Having thus artfully led the Austrian
Beaulieu to concentrate his forces at this point, he suddenly
moved eastward along the southern bank of the river, and
crossed at Piacenza, 50 miles below the spot where Beaulieu
was awaiting him. ... The Austrian general, taken in the rear,
had no alternative but to abandon Milan and all the country
west of it, and to fall back upon the line of the Adda.
Bonaparte followed, and on the 10th of May attacked the
Austrians at Lodi. He himself stormed the bridge of Lodi at
the head of his Grenadiers. The battle was so disastrous to
the Austrians that they could risk no second engagement, and
retired upon Mantua and the line of the Mincio. Bonaparte now
made his triumphal entry into Milan (May 15). ... In return
for the gift of liberty, the Milanese were invited to offer to
their deliverers 20,000,000 francs, and a selection from the
paintings in their churches and galleries. The Dukes of Parma
and Modena, in return for an armistice, were required to hand
over forty of their best pictures, and a sum of money
proportioned to their revenues. The Dukes and the townspeople
paid their contributions with a good grace: the peasantry of
Lombardy, whose cattle were seized in order to supply an army
that marched without any stores of its own, rose in arms, and
threw themselves into Pavia, after killing all the French
soldiers who fell in their way. The revolt was instantly
suppressed, and the town of Pavia given up to pillage. ...
Instead of crossing the Apennines, Bonaparte advanced against
the Austrian positions upon the Mincio. ... A battle was
fought and lost by the Austrians at Borghetto. ... Beaulieu's
strength was exhausted; he could meet the enemy no more in the
field, and led his army out of Italy into the Tyrol, leaving
Mantua to be invested by the French. The first care of the
conqueror was to make Venice pay for the crime of possessing
territory intervening between the eastern and western extremes
of the Austrian district. Bonaparte affected to believe that
the Venetians had permitted Beaulieu to occupy Peschiera
before he seized upon Brescia himself. ... 'I have purposely
devised this rupture,' he wrote to the Directory (June 7th),
'in case you should wish to obtain five or six millions of
francs from Venice. If you have more decided intentions, I
think it would be well to keep up the quarrel.' The intention
referred to was the disgraceful project of sacrificing Venice
to Austria in return for the cession of the Netherlands. ...
The Austrians were fairly driven out of Lombardy, and
Bonaparte was now free to deal with Southern Italy. He
advanced into the States of the Church, and expelled the Papal
Legate from Bologna. Ferdinand of Naples ... asked for a
suspension of hostilities against his own kingdom ... and
Bonaparte granted the king an armistice on easy terms. The
Pope, in order to gain a few months' truce, had to permit the
occupation of Ferrara, Ravenna, and Ancona, and to recognise
the necessities, the learning, the taste, and the virtue of
his conquerors by a gift of 20,000,000 francs, 500
manuscripts, 100 pictures, and the busts of Marcus and Lucius
Brutus. ... Tuscany had indeed made peace with the French
Republic a year before, but ... while Bonaparte paid a
respectful visit to the Grand Duke at Florence, Murat
descended upon Leghorn, and seized upon everything that was
not removed before his approach. Once established in Leghorn,
the French declined to quit it. Mantua was meanwhile invested,
and thither Bonaparte returned. Towards the end of July an
Austrian relieving army, nearly double the strength of
Bonaparte's, descended from the Tyrol. It was divided into
three corps: one, under Quasdanovich, advanced by the road on
the west of Lake Garda; the others, under Wurmser, the
commander-in-chief, by the roads between the lake and the
river Adige. ... Bonaparte ... instantly broke up the siege of
Mantua, and withdrew from every position east of the river. On
the 30th July, Quasdanovich was attacked and checked at
Lonato. ... Wurmser, unaware of his colleague's repulse,
entered Mantua in triumph, and then set out, expecting to
envelop Bonaparte between two fires. But the French were ready
for his approach. Wurmser was stopped and defeated at
Castiglione (Aug. 3), while the western Austrian divisions
were still held in check at Lonato. ... In five days the skill
of Bonaparte and the unsparing exertions of his soldiery had
more than retrieved all that appeared to have been lost. The
Austrians retired into the Tyrol, leaving 15,000 prisoners in
the hands of the enemy. Bonaparte now prepared to force his
way into Germany by the Adige, in fulfilment of the original
plan of the campaign. In the first days of September he again
routed the Austrians, and gained possession of Roveredo and
Trent.
{1316}
Wurmser hereupon attempted to shut the French up in the
mountains by a movement southwards; but, while he operated
with insufficient forces between the Brenta and the Adige,
with a view of cutting Bonaparte off from Italy, he was
himself [defeated at Bassano, September 8, and] cut off from
Germany, and only escaped capture by throwing himself into
Mantua with the shattered remnant of his army. The road into
Germany through the Tyrol now lay open; but in the midst of
his victories Bonaparte learnt that the northern armies of
Moreau and Jourdan, with which he had intended to co-operate
in an attack upon Vienna, were in full retreat. Moreau's
advance into the valley of the Danube had, during the months
of July and August, been attended with unbroken military and
political success. The Archduke Charles, who was entrusted
with the defence of the Empire," fell back before Moreau, in
order to unite his forces with those of Wartensleben, who
commanded an army which confronted Jourdan. "The design of the
Archduke succeeded in the end, but it opened Germany to the
French for six weeks, and revealed how worthless was the
military constitution of the Empire, and how little the
Germans had to expect from one another. ... At length the
retreating movement of the Austrians stopped [and the Archduke
fought an indecisive battle with Moreau at Neresheim, August
11]. Leaving 30,000 men on the Lech to disguise his motions
from Moreau, Charles turned suddenly northwards from Neuberg
on the 17th August, met Wartensleben at Amberg, and attacked
Jourdan ... with greatly superior numbers. Jourdan was
defeated [September 3, at Würtzburg] and driven back in
confusion towards the Rhine. The issue of the campaign was
decided before Moreau heard of his colleague's danger. It only
remained for him to save his own army by a skilful retreat,"
in the course of which he defeated the Austrian general Latour
at Biberach, October 2, and fought two indecisive battles with
the Archduke, at Emmendingen, October 19, and at Huningen on
the 24th.

_C. A. Fyffe,
History of Modern Europe,
volume 1, chapter 3._

ALSO IN:
_A. Griffiths,
French Revolutionary Generals,
chapters 14-15._

_General Jomini,
Life of Napoleon,
volume 1, chapter 2._

_E. Baines,
History of the Wars of the French Revolution,
book 1, chapter 22 (volume 1)._

_C. Adams,
Great Campaigns, 1796-1870,
chapter 1._

FRANCE: A. D. 1796 (September).
Evacuation of Corsica by the English.
Its reoccupation by the French.

"Corsica, which had been delivered to the English by Paoli,
and occupied by them as a fourth kingdom annexed to the crown
of the King of Great Britain, had just been evacuated by its
new masters. They had never succeeded in subduing the interior
of the island, frequent insurrections had kept them in
continual alarm, and free communication between the various
towns could only be effected by sea. The victories of the
French army in Italy, under the command of one of their
countrymen, had redoubled this internal ferment in Corsica,
and the English had decided on entirely abandoning their
conquest. In September 1796 they withdrew their troops, and
also removed from Corsica their chief partisans, such as
General Paoli, Pozzo di Borgo, Beraldi and others, who sought
an asylum in England. On the first intelligence of the English
preparations for evacuating the island, Buonaparte despatched
General Gentili thither at the head of two or three hundred
banished Corsicans, and with this little band Gentili took
possession of the principal strongholds. ... On the 5th
Frimaire, year V. (November 25, 1796), I received a decree of
the Executive Directory ... appointing me
Commissioner-Extraordinary of the Government in Corsica, and
ordering me to proceed thither at once."

_Count Miot de Melito,
Memoirs,
chapter 4._

FRANCE: A. D. 1796 (October).
Failure of peace negotiations with England.
Treaties with Naples and Genoa.

"It was France itself, more even than Italy, which was
succumbing under the victories in Italy, and was falling
rapidly under the military despotism of Bonaparte; while what
had begun as a mere war of defence was already becoming a war
of aggression against everybody. ... The more patriotic
members of the legislative bodies were opposed to what they
considered only a war of personal ambitions, and were desirous
of peace, and a considerable peace party was forming
throughout the country. The opportunity was taken by the
English government for making proposals for peace, and a
pass-port was obtained from the directory for lord Malmesbury,
who was sent to Paris as the English plenipotentiary. Lord
Malmesbury arrived in Paris on the 2nd of Brumaire (the 23rd
of October, 1796), and next day had his first interview with
the French minister Delacroix, who was chosen by the directory
to act as their representative. There was from the first an
evident want of cordiality and sincerity on the part of the
French government in this negotiation; and the demands they
made, and the political views entertained by them, were so
unreasonable, that, after it had dragged on slowly for about a
month, it ended without a result. The directory were secretly
making great preparations for the invasion of Ireland, and
they had hopes of making a separate and very advantageous
peace with Austria. Bonaparte had, during this time, become
uneasy on account of his position in Italy," and "urged the
directory to enter into negotiations with the different
Italian states in his rear, such as Naples, Rome, and Genoa,
and to form an offensive and defensive alliance with the king
of Sardinia, so that he might be able to raise reinforcements
in Italy. For this purpose he asked for authority to proclaim
the independence of Lombardy and of the states of Modena; so
that, by forming both into republics, he might create a
powerful French party, through which he might obtain both men
and provisions. The directory was not unwilling to second the
wishes of Bonaparte, and on the 19th of Vendemiaire (the 10th
of October) a peace was signed with Naples, which was followed
by a treaty with Genoa. This latter state paid two millions of
francs as an indemnity for the acts of hostility formerly
committed against France, and added two millions more as a
loan." The negotiation for an offensive alliance with Sardinia
failed, because the king demanded Lombardy.

_T. Wright,
History of France,
volume 2, page 758._

ALSO IN:
_W. E. H. Lecky,
History of England in the 18th Century,
chapter 27 (volume 7)._

_E. Burke,
Letters on a Regicide Peace._

{1317}

FRANCE: A. D. 1796-1797 (October-April).
Bonaparte's continued victories in Italy.
His advance into Carinthia and the Tyrol.
Peace preliminaries of Leoben.

"The failure of the French invasion of Germany ... enabled the
Austrians to make a fresh effort for the relief of [Würmser]
in Mantua. 40,000 men under Alvinzi and 18,000 under
Davidowich entered Italy from the Tyrol and marched by
different routes towards Verona. Bonaparte had employed the
recent interlude in consolidating French influence in Italy.
Against the wishes of the Directors he dethroned the duke of
Modena, and formed his territories into the Cispadane
Republic. Then he tried to induce Piedmont and Venice to join
France, but both states preferred to retain their neutral
position. This was another of the charges which the general
was preparing against Venice. On the news of the Austrian
advance, Bonaparte marched against Alvinzi, and checked him at
Carmignano (6 November). But meanwhile Davidowich had taken
Trent and was approaching Rivoli. Bonaparte, in danger of
being surrounded, was compelled to give way, and retreated to
Verona, while Alvinzi followed him. Never was the French
position more critical, and nothing but a very bold move could
save them. With reckless courage Bonaparte attacked Alvinzi at
Arcola, and after three days' hard fighting [November 15-17,
on the dykes and causeways of a marshy region] won a complete
victory. He then forced Davidowich to retreat to the Tyrol.
The danger was averted, and the blockade of Mantua was
continued. But Austria, as if its resources were
inexhaustible, determined on a fourth effort in January, 1797.
Alvinzi was again entrusted with the command, while another
detachment under Provera advanced from Friuli. Bonaparte
collected all his forces, marched against Alvinzi, and crushed
him at Rivoli (15 January). But meanwhile Provera had reached
Mantua, where Bonaparte, by a forced march, overtook him, and
won another complete victory in the battle of La Favorita. The
fate of Mantua was at last decided, and the city surrendered
on the 2nd of February. With a generosity worthy of the glory
which he had obtained, Bonaparte allowed Würmser and the
garrison to march out with the honours of war. He now turned
to Romagna, occupied Bologna and terrified the Pope into
signing the treaty of Tolentino. The temporal power was
allowed to exist, but within very curtailed limits. Not only
Avignon, but the whole of Romagna, with Ancona, was
surrendered to France. Even these terms, harsh as they were,
were not so severe as the Directors had wished. But Bonaparte
was beginning to play his own game; he saw that Catholicism
was regaining ground in France, and he wished to make friends
on what might prove after all the winning side. Affairs in
Italy were now fairly settled: two republics, the Cisalpine in
Lombardy, and the Cispadane, which included Modena, Ferrara,
and Bologna, had been created to secure French influence in
Italy. ... The French had occupied the Venetian territory from
Bergamo to Verona, and had established close relations with
those classes who were dissatisfied with their exclusion from
political power. When the republic armed against the danger of
a revolt, Bonaparte treated it as another ground for that
quarrel which he artfully fomented for his own purposes. But
at present he had other objects more immediately pressing than
the oppression of Venice. Jourdan's army on the Rhine had been
entrusted to Hoche, whose ambition had long chafed at the want
of an opportunity, and who was burning to acquire glory by
retrieving the disasters of the last campaign. Bonaparte, on
the other hand, was eager to anticipate a possible rival, and
determined to hurry on his own invasion of Austria, in order
to keep the war and the negotiations in his own hands. The
task of meeting him was entrusted to the archduke Charles, who
had won such a brilliant reputation in 1796, but who was
placed at a great disadvantage to his opponent by having to
obey instructions from Vienna. The French carried all before
them, Joubert occupied Tyrol, Masséna forced the route to
Carinthia, and Bonaparte himself, after defeating the archduke
on the Tagliamento, occupied Trieste and Carniola. The French
now marched over the Alps, driving the Austrians before them.
At Leoben, which they reached on 7th April, they were less
than eighty miles from Vienna. Here Austrian envoys arrived to
open negotiations. They consented to surrender Belgium,
Lombardy, and the Rhine frontier, but they demanded
compensation in Bavaria. This demand Bonaparte refused, but
offered to compensate Austria at the expense of a neutral
state, Venice. The preliminaries of Leoben, signed on the 18th
April, gave to Austria, Istria, Dalmatia, and the Venetian
provinces between the Oglio, the Po, and the Adriatic. At this
moment, Hoche and Moreau, after overcoming the obstacles
interposed by a sluggish government, were crossing the Rhine
to bring their armies to bear against Austria. They had
already gained several successes when the unwelcome news
reached them from Leoben, and they had to retreat. Bonaparte
may have failed to extort the most extreme terms from Austria,
but he had at any rate kept both power and fame to himself."

_R. Lodge,
English of Modern Europe,
chapter 23._

ALSO IN:
_F. Lanfrey,
History of Napoleon I.,
volume 1, chapters 5-7._

_Memoirs of Napoleon dictated at St. Helena,
volume 4, chapters 1-4._

FRANCE: A. D. 1796-1797 (December-January):
Hoche's expedition to Ireland.

See IRELAND: A. D. 1791-1798.

FRANCE: A. D. 1797 (February-October).
British naval victories of Cape St. Vincent and Camperdown.

See ENGLAND: A. D. 1797.

FRANCE: A. D. 1797 (April-May).
The overthrow of Venice by Bonaparte.