Chapter IV: , VII (67)

"On hearing of the battle of Aboukir [better known as 'the
battle of the Nile'], a solitary sigh escaped from Napoleon.
'To France,' said he, 'the fates have decreed the empire of
the land—to England that of the sea.' He endured this great
calamity with the equanimity of a masculine spirit. He gave
orders that the seamen landed at Alexandria should be formed
into a marine brigade, and thus gained a valuable addition to
his army; and proceeded himself to organise a system of
government, under which the great natural resources of the
country might be turned to the best advantage. … He was
careful to advance no claim to the sovereignty of Egypt, but
asserted, that having rescued it from the Mameluke usurpation,
it remained for him to administer law and justice, until the
time should come for restoring the province to the dominion of
the Grand Seignior. He then established two councils,
consisting of natives, principally of Arab chiefs and Moslem
of the church and the law, by whose advice all measures were,
nominally, to be regulated. They formed of course a very
subservient senate. … The virtuosi and artists in his train,
meanwhile, pursued with indefatigable energy their scientific
researches; they ransacked the monuments of Egypt, and laid
the foundation, at least, of all the wonderful discoveries
which have since been made concerning the knowledge, arts,
polity (and even language), of the ancient nation. Nor were
their objects merely those of curiosity. They, under the
General's direction, examined into the long-smothered traces
of many an ancient device for improving the agriculture of the
country. Canals that had been shut up for centuries were
reopened; the waters of the Nile flowed once more where they
had been guided by the skill of the Pharaohs or the Ptolemies.
Cultivation was extended; property secured; and it cannot be
doubted that the signal improvements since introduced in
Egypt, are attributable mainly to the wise example of the
French administration. … In such labours Napoleon passed the
autumn of 1798. … General Dessaix, meanwhile, had pursued
Mourad Bey into Upper Egypt, where the Mamelukes hardly made a
single stand against him, but contrived by the excellence of
their horses, and their familiarity with the deserts, to avoid
any total disruption of their forces. … The General, during
this interval of repose, received no communication from the
French Government; but rumours now began to reach his quarters
which might well give him new anxieties. The report of another
rupture with Austria gradually met with more credence; and it
was before long placed beyond a doubt, that the Ottoman Porte,
instead of being tempted into any recognition of the French
establishment in Egypt, had declared war against the Republic,
and summoned all the strength of her empire to pour in
overwhelming numbers on the isolated army of Buonaparte. …
The General despatched a trusty messenger into India, inviting
Tippoo Saib to inform him exactly of the condition of the
English army in that region, and signifying that Egypt was
only the first post in a march destined to surpass that of
Alexander! 'He spent whole days,' writes his secretary, 'in
lying flat on the ground stretched upon maps of Asia.' At
length the time for action came. Leaving 15,000 in and about
Cairo, the division of Dessaix in Upper Egypt, and garrisons
in the chief towns,—Buonaparte on the 11th of February 1799
marched for Syria at the head of 10,000 picked men, with the
intention of crushing the Turkish armament in that quarter,
before their chief force (which he now knew was assembling at
Rhodes) should have time to reach Egypt by sea. Traversing the
desert which divides Africa from Asia, he took possession of the
fortress El-Arish (February 15), whose garrison, after a
vigorous assault, capitulated on condition that they should be
permitted to retreat into Syria, pledging their parole not to
serve again during the war. Pursuing his march, he took Gazah
(that ancient city of the Philistines) without opposition; but
at Jaffa (the Joppa of holy writ), the Moslem made a resolute
defence. The walls were carried by storm, 3,000 Turks died
with arms in their hands, and the town was given up during
three hours to the fury of the French soldiery—who never, as
Napoleon confessed, availed themselves of the license of war
more savagely than on this occasion. A party of the
garrison—amounting, according to Buonaparte, to 1,200 men,
but stated by others as nearly 3,000 in number—held out for
some hours longer in the mosques and citadel; but at length,
seeing no chance of rescue, grounded their arms on the 7th of
March. … On the 10th—three days after their surrender—the
prisoners were marched out of Jaffa, in the centre of a
battalion under General Bon. When they had reached the
sand-hills, at some distance from the town, they were divided
into small parties, and shot or bayoneted to a man. They, like
true fatalists, submitted in silence; and their bodies were
gathered together into a pyramid, where, after the lapse of
thirty years, their bones are still visible whitening the
sand. Such was the massacre of Jaffa, which will ever form one
of the darkest stains on the name of Napoleon. He admitted the
fact himself;—and justified it on the double plea, that he
could not afford soldiers to guard so many prisoners, and that
he could not grant them the benefit of their parole, because
they were the very men who had already been set free on such
terms at' El-Arish. …
{1325}
Buonaparte had now ascertained that the Pacha of Syria,
Achmet-Djezzar, was at St. Jean D'Acre (so renowned in the
history of the crusades), and determined to defend that place
to extremity, with the forces which had already been assembled
for the invasion of Egypt. He in vain endeavoured to seduce
this ferocious chief from his allegiance to the Porte, by
holding out the hope of a separate independent government,
under the protection of France. The first of Napoleon's
messengers returned without an answer; the second was put to
death; and the army moved on Acre in all the zeal of revenge,
while the necessary apparatus of a siege was ordered to be
sent round by sea from Alexandria. Sir Sidney Smith was then
cruising in the Levant with two British ships of the line, the
Tigre and the Theseus; and, being informed by the Pacha of the
approaching storm, hastened to support him, in the defence of
Acre. Napoleon's vessels, conveying guns and stores from
Egypt, fell into his hands, and he appeared off the town two
days before the French army came in view of it. He had on
board his ship Colonel Philippeaux, a French royalist of great
talents (formerly Buonaparte's school-fellow at Brienne); and
the Pacha willingly permitted the English commodore and this
skilful ally to regulate for him, as far as was possible, the
plan of his defence. The loss of his own heavy artillery, and
the presence of two English ships, were inauspicious omens;
yet Buonaparte doubted not that the Turkish garrison would
shrink before his onset, and he instantly commenced the siege.
He opened his trenches on the 18th of March. 'On that little
town' said he to one of his generals, as they were standing
together on an eminence, which still bears the name of Richard
Cœur-de-Lion—'on yonder little town depends the fate of the
East. Behold the Key of Constantinople, or of India.' …
Meanwhile a vast Mussulman army had been gathered among the
mountains of Samaria, and was preparing to descend upon Acre,
and attack the besiegers in concert with the garrison of
Djezzar. Junot, with his division, marched to encounter them,
and would have been overwhelmed by their numbers, had not
Napoleon himself followed and rescued him (April 8) at
Nazareth, where the splendid cavalry of the Orientals were, as
usual, unable to resist the solid squares and well-directed
musketry of the French. Kleber with another division, was in
like manner endangered, and in like manner rescued by the
general-in-chief at Mount Tabor (April 15). The Mussulmans
dispersed on all hands; and Napoleon, returning to his siege,
pressed it on with desperate assaults, day after day, in which
his best soldiers were thinned, before the united efforts of
Djezzar's gallantry, and the skill of his allies." On the 21st
of May, when the siege had been prosecuted for more than two
months, Napoleon commanded a final assault. "The plague had
some time before this appeared in the camp; every day the
ranks of his legions were thinned by this pestilence, as well
as by the weapons of the defenders of Acre. The hearts of all
men were quickly sinking. The Turkish fleet was at hand to
reinforce Djezzar; and upon the utter failure of the attack of
the 21st of May, Napoleon yielded to stern necessity, and
began his retreat upon Jaffa. … The name of Jaffa was
already sufficiently stained; but fame speedily represented
Napoleon as having now made it the scene of another atrocity,
not less shocking than that of the massacre of the Turkish
prisoners. The accusation, which for many years made so much
noise throughout Europe, amounts to this: that on the 27th of
May, when it was necessary for Napoleon to pursue his march
from Jaffa for Egypt, a certain number of the plague-patients
in the hospital were found to be in a state that held out no
hope whatever of their recovery; that the general, being
unwilling to leave them to the tender mercies of the Turks,
conceived the notion of administering opium, and so procuring
for them at least a speedy and an easy death; and that a
number of men were accordingly taken off in this method by his
command. … Whether the opium was really administered or
not—that the audacious proposal to that effect was made by
Napoleon, we have his own admission; and every reader must
form his opinion—as to the degree of guilt which attaches to
the fact of having meditated and designed the deed. … The
march onwards was a continued scene of misery; for the wounded
and the sick were many, the heat oppressive, the thirst
intolerable; and the ferocious Djezzar was hard behind, and
the wild Arabs of the desert hovered round them on every side,
so that he who fell behind his company was sure to be slain.
… Having at length accomplished this perilous journey [June
14], Buonaparte repaired to his old head-quarters at Cairo,
and re-entered on his great functions as the establisher of a
new government in the state of Egypt. But he had not long
occupied himself thus, ere new rumours concerning the beys on
the Upper Nile, who seemed to have some strong and urgent
motive for endeavouring to force a passage downwards, began to
be mingled with, and by degrees explained by, tidings daily
repeated of some grand disembarkation of the Ottomans,
designed to have place in the neighbourhood of Alexandria.
Leaving Dessaix, therefore, once more in command at Cairo, he
himself descended the Nile, and travelled with all speed to
Alexandria, where he found his presence most necessary. For,
in effect, the great Turkish fleet had already run into the
bay of Aboukir; and an army of 18,000, having gained the
fortress, were there strengthening themselves, with the view
of awaiting the promised descent and junction of the
Mamelukes, and then, with overwhelming superiority of numbers,
advancing to Alexandria, and completing the ruin of the French
invaders. Buonaparte, reaching Alexandria on the evening of
the 24th of July, found his army already posted in the
neighbourhood of Aboukir, and prepared to anticipate the
attack of the Turks on the morrow. … The Turkish outposts
were assaulted early next morning, and driven in with great
slaughter; but the French, when they advanced, came within the
range of the batteries and also of the shipping that lay close
by the shore, and were checked. Their retreat might have ended
in a route, but for the undisciplined eagerness with which the
Turks engaged in the task of spoiling and maiming those that
fell before them—thus giving to Murat the opportunity of
charging their main body in flank with his cavalry, at the
moment when the French infantry, profiting by their disordered
and scattered condition, and rallying under the eye of
Napoleon, forced a passage to the entrenchments. From that
moment the battle was a massacre. … Six thousand surrendered
at discretion: 12,000 perished on the field or in the sea. …
Napoleon once more returned to Cairo on the 9th of August; but
it was only to make some parting arrangements as to the
administration, civil and military; for, from the moment of
his victory at Aboukir, he had resolved to entrust Egypt to
other hands, and Admiral Gantheaume was already preparing in
secret the means of his removal to France."

_J. G. Lockhart,
Life of Napoleon Buonaparte,
chapter 12._

ALSO IN:
_Duke of Rovigo,
Memoirs,
volume 1, chapters 9-11._

_Memoirs of Napoleon dictated at St. Helena,
volume 2._

_Letters from the army of Bonaparte in Egypt._

_M. de Bourrienne,
Private Memoirs of Napoleon,
volume 1. chapter 15-23._

{1326}

FRANCE: A. D. 1799 (April-September).
Murder of the French envoys at Rastadt.
Disasters in North Italy.
Suwarroff's victories.
Anglo-Russian invasion of Holland and
capture of the Dutch Fleet.

"While the French armies were thus humiliated in the field,
the representatives of the republic at the congress of Rastadt
[where peace negotiations with the states of the empire had
been in progress for months] became the victims of a
sanguinary tragedy. As France had declared war against the
emperor [as sovereign of Austria], and not against the empire,
the congress had not necessarily been broken off; but the
representatives of the German states were withdrawn one after
another, until the successes of the Austrians rendered the
position of the French ministers no longer secure. At length
they received notice, from the nearest Austrian commander, to
depart within twenty-four hours; and the French
ministers—Jean Debry, Bonnier, and Roberjeot—left Rastadt
with their families and attendants late in the evening of the
8th of Floréal (the 28th of April). The night was very dark,
and they appear to have been apprehensive of danger. At a very
short distance from Rastadt they were surrounded by a troop of
Austrian hussars, who stopped the carriages, dragged the three
ministers out, and massacred them in the presence of their
wives and children. The hussars then plundered the carriages,
and took away, especially, all the papers. Fortunately for
Jean Debry, he had been stunned, but not mortally wounded; and
after the murderers were gone the cold air of the night
restored him to life. This crime was supposed to have been
perpetrated at the instigation of the imperial court, for
reasons which have not been very clearly explained; but the
representatives of the German states proclaimed loudly their
indignation. The reverses of the republican arms, and the
tragedy of Rastadt, were eagerly embraced by the opposition in
France as occasions for raising a violent outcry against the
directory. … It was in the midst of this general
unpopularity of the directors that the elections of the year
VII. of the republic took place, and a great majority of the
patriots obtained admission to the councils, and thus
increased the numerical force of the opposition. … The
directory had made great efforts to repair the reverses which
had marked the opening of the campaign. Jourdain had been
deprived of the command of the army of the Danube, which had
been placed, along with that of Switzerland, under the orders
of Masséna. The command of the army of Italy had been
transferred from Scherer to Moreau; and Macdonald had received
orders to withdraw his forces from Naples and the papal
states, in order to unite them with the army in Upper Italy.
The Russians under Suwarrow had now joined the Austrian army
in Italy; and this chief, who was in the height of his
reputation as a military leader, was made commander-in-chief
of the combined Austro-Russian forces, Melas commanding the
Austrians under him. Suwarrow advanced rapidly upon the Adda,
which protected the French lines; and, on the 8th of Floreal
(the 27th of April), forced the passage of that river in two
places, at Brivio and Trezzo, above and below the position
occupied by the division of Serrurier, which formed the French
left, and which was thus cut off from the rest of the army.
Moreau, who took the command of the French forces on the
evening of the same day, made a vain attempt to drive the
enemy back over the Adda at Trezzo, and thus recover his
communication with Serrurier; and that division was
surrounded, and, after a desperate resistance, obliged to lay
down its arms, with the exception of a small number of men who
made their way across the mountains into Piedmont. Victor's
division effected its retreat without much loss, and Moreau
concentrated his forces in the neighbourhood of Milan. This
disastrous engagement, which took place on the 9th of Floreal,
was known as the battle of Cassano. Moreau remained at Milan
two days to give the members of the government of the
Cisalpine republic, and all the Milanese families who were
politically compromised, time to make their escape in his
rear; after which he continued his retreat. … He was allowed
to make this retreat without any serious interruption; for
Suwarrow, instead of pursuing him actively, lost his time at
Milan in celebrating the triumph of the anti-revolutionary
party." Moreau first "established his army in a strong
position at the confluence of the Tanaro and the Po, covered
by both rivers, and commanding all the roads to Genoa; so that
he could there, without great danger, wait the arrival of
Macdonald." But soon, finding his position made critical by a
general insurrection in Piedmont, he retired towards the
mountains of Genoa. "On the 6th of Prairial (the 25th of May),
Macdonald was at Florence; but he lost much time there; and it
was only towards the end of the republican month (the middle
of June), that he at length advanced into the plains of
Piacenza to form his junction with Moreau." On the Trebbia he
encountered Suwarrow's advance, under General Ott, and rashly
attacked it. Having forced back Ott's advanced guard, the
French suddenly found themselves confronted by Suwarrow
himself and the main body of his army. "Macdonald now resolved
to unite all his forces behind the Trebbia, and there risk a
battle; but he was anticipated by Suwarrow, who attacked him
next morning, and, after a very severe and sanguinary
engagement, the French were driven over the Trebbia. The
combat was continued next day, and ended again to the
disadvantage of the French; and their position had become so
critical, that Macdonald found it necessary to retreat upon
the river Nura, and to make his way round the Apennines to
Genoa. The French, closely pursued, experienced considerable
loss in their retreat, until Suwarrow, hearing Moreau's cannon
in his rear, discontinued the pursuit, in order to meet him."
Moreau routed Bellegarde, in Suwarrow's rear, and took 3,000
prisoners; but no further collision of importance occurred
during the next two months of the summer.
{1327}
"Suwarrow had been prevented by the orders of the Aulic
Council from following up with vigour his victory on the
Trebbia, and had been obliged to occupy himself with sieges
which employed with little advantage valuable time. Recruits
were reaching the French armies in Italy, and they were
restored to a state of greater efficiency. It was already the
month of Thermidor (the middle of July), and Moreau saw the
necessity of assuming the offensive and attacking the
Austro-Russians while they were occupied with the sieges; but
he was restrained by the orders of the directory to wait the
arrival of Joubert. The latter, who had just contracted an
advantageous marriage, by which the moderate party had hoped
to attach him to their cause, lost an entire month in the
celebration of his nuptial festivities, and only reached the
army of Italy in the middle of Thermidor (the beginning of
August), where he immediately succeeded Moreau in the command;
but he prevailed upon that able general to remain with him, at
least until after his first battle. The French army had taken
a good position in advance of Novi, and were preparing to act
against the enemy while he was still occupied in the sieges,
when news arrived that Alessandria and Mantua had surrendered,
and that Suwarrow was preparing to unite against them the
whole strength of his forces. Joubert immediately resolved to
fall back upon the Apennines, and there act upon the
defensive; but it was already too late, for Suwarrow had
advanced with such rapidity that he was forced to accept
battle in the position he occupied, which was a very strong
one. The battle began early in the morning of the 28th of
Thermidor (the 15th of August); and very early in the action
Joubert received a mortal wound from a ball which struck him
near the heart. The engagement continued with great fury
during the greater part of the day, but ended in the entire
defeat of the French, who retreated from the field of battle
in great confusion. The French lost about 10,000 men in killed
and wounded, and a great number of prisoners. The news of this
reverse was soon followed by disastrous intelligence from
another quarter. The English had prepared an expedition
against Holland, which was to be assisted by a detachment of
Russian troops. The English forces, under Abercromby, landed
near the mouth of the Helder in North Holland, on the 10th of
Fructidor (the 27th of August), and defeated the French and
Dutch republican army, commanded by Brune, in a decisive
engagement [at the English camp, established on a well-drained
morass, called the Zyp] on the 22nd of Fructidor (the 8th of
September). Brune retreated upon Amsterdam; and the Russian
contingent was thus enabled to effect its junction with the
English without opposition. As one of the first consequences
of this invasion, the English obtained possession of the whole
Dutch fleet, upon the assistance of which the French
government had counted in its designs against England. This
succession of ill news excited the revolutionary party to a
most unusual degree of violence."

_T. Wright,
History of France,
book 6, chapters 22-23 (volume 2)._

ALSO IN:
_H. Spalding,
Suvóroff,
chapters 7-8._

_L. M. P. de Laverne,
Life of Field-Marshal Souvarof,
chapter 6._

_E. Vehse,
Memoirs of the Court of Austria,
chapter 15, section 2 (volume 2)._

_J. Adolphus,
History of England: Reign of George III.,
chapter 108 (volume 7)._

_General Sir H. Bunbury,
Narratives of the Great War with France,
pages 1-58._

FRANCE: A. D. 1799 (August-December).
Campaign in Switzerland.
Battle of Zurich.
Defeat of the Russians.
Suwarroff's retreat across the Alps.
Reverses in Italy, and on the Rhine.
Fall of the Parthenopean and Roman Republics.

Since the retreat of Massena in June, the Archduke Charles had
been watching the French on the Limmat and expecting the
arrival of Russian reinforcements under Korsakoff; "but the
Aulic Council, with unaccountable infatuation, ordered him at
this important juncture to repair with the bulk of his army to
the Rhine, leaving Switzerland to Korsakoff and the Russians.
Before these injudicious orders, however, could be carried
into effect, Massena had boldly assumed the offensive (August
14) by a false attack on Zurich, intended to mask the
operations of his right wing, which meanwhile, under Lecourbe,
was directed against the St. Gothard, in order to cut off the
communication between the allied forces in Switzerland and in
Italy. These attacks proved completely successful, … a
French detachment … seizing the St. Gothard, and
establishing itself at Airolo, on the southern declivity.
Lecourbe's left had meanwhile cleared the banks of the lake of
Zurich of the enemy, who were driven back into Glarus. To
obtain these brilliant successes on the right, Massena had
been obliged to weaken his left wing; and the Archduke, now
reinforced by 20, 000 Russians, attempted to avail himself of
this circumstance to force the passage of the Limmat, below
Zurich (August 16 and 17); but this enterprise, the success of
which might have altered the fate of the war, failed from the
defective construction of the pontoons; and the positive
orders of the Aulic Council forbade his remaining longer in
Switzerland. Accordingly, leaving 25,000 men under Hotze to
support Korsakoff, he marched for the Upper Rhine, where the
French, at his approach, abandoned the siege of Philipsburg,
and retired to Mannheim; but this important post, the defences
of which were imperfectly restored, was carried by a
coup-de-main (September 18), and the French driven with severe
loss over the Rhine. But this success was dearly bought by the
disasters in Switzerland, which followed the Archduke's
departure. It had been arranged that Suwarroff was to move
from Bellinzona (September 21), and after retaking the St.
Gothard combine with Korsakoff in a front attack on Massena,
while Hotze assailed him in flank. But Massena, who was now
the superior in numbers, determined to anticipate the arrival
of Suwarroff by striking a blow, for which the presumptuous
confidence of Korsakoff gave him increased facility. On the
evening of 24th September, the passage of the river was
surprised below Zurich, and the heights of Closter-Fahr
carried by storm; and, in the course of the next day,
Korsakoff, with his main army, was completely hemmed in at
Zurich by the superior generalship of the French commander,
who summoned the Russians to surrender. But the bravery shown
by Korsakoff in these desperate circumstances equalled his
former arrogance: on the 28th the Russian columns, issuing
from the town, forced their way with the courage of despair
through the surrounding masses of French, while a slender
rear-guard defended the ramparts of Zurich till the remainder
had extricated themselves.
{1328}
The town was at length entered, and a frightful carnage ensued
in the streets, in the midst of which the illustrious Lavater
was barbarously shot by a French soldier: while Korsakoff,
after losing 8,000 killed and wounded, 5,000 prisoners, 100
pieces of cannon, and all his ammunition, stores, and military
chest, succeeded in reaching Schaffhausen. The attack of Soult
above the lake (September 25) was equally triumphant. The
gallant Hotze, who commanded in that quarter, was killed in
the first encounter; and the Austrians, giving way in
consternation, were driven over the Thur, and at length over
the Rhine, with the loss of 20 guns and 3,000 prisoners.
Suwarroff in the meantime was gallantly performing his part of
the plan. On the 23d of September, the French posts at Airolo
and St. Gothard were carried, after a desperate resistance, by
the Russian main force, while their flank was turned by
Rosenberg; and Lecourbe, hastily retreating, broke down the
Devil's Bridge to check the advance of the enemy. A scene of
useless butchery followed, the two parties firing on each
other from the opposite brinks of the impassable abyss; but
the flank of the French was at length turned, the bridge
repaired, and the Russians, pressing on in triumph, joined the
Austrian division of Auffenberg, at Wasen, and repulsed the
French beyond Altdorf. But this was the limit of the old
marshal's success. After effecting with severe loss the
passage of the tremendous defiles and ridges of the
Schachenthal, between Altdorf and Mutten, he found that Linken
and Jellachich, who were to have moved from Coire to
co-operate with him, had again retreated on learning the
disaster at Zurich; and Suwarroff found himself in the midst
of the enemy, with Massena on one side and Molitor on the
other. With the utmost difficulty the veteran conqueror was
prevailed upon, for the first time in his life, to order a
retreat; which had become indispensable, and the heads of his
columns were turned towards Glarus and the Grisons. But though
the attack of Massena on their rear in the Muttenthal was
repulsed with the loss of 2,000 men, their onward route was
barred at Naefels by Molitor, who defied all the efforts of
Prince Bagrathion to dislodge him; and in the midst of a heavy
fall of snow, which obliterated the mountain paths, the
Russian army wound its way (October 5) in single file over the
rugged and sterile peaks of the Alps of Glarus. Numbers
perished of cold, or fell over the precipices; but nothing
could overcome the unconquerable spirit of the soldiers:
without fire or stores, and compelled to bivouac on the snow,
they still struggled on through incredible hardships, till the
dreadful march terminated (October 10) at Ilantz. Such was the
famous, passage of the Alps by Suwarroff. Korsakoff in the
meanwhile (October 1-7) had maintained a desperate conflict
near Constance, till the return of the Archduke checked the
efforts of the French; and the Allies, abandoning the St.
Gothard, and all the other posts they still held in
Switzerland, concentrated their forces on the Rhine, which
became the boundary of the two armies. … In Italy, after the
disastrous battle of Novi, the Directory had given the
leadership of the armies, both of Italy and Savoy, to the
gallant Championnet, but he could muster only 54,000 troops
and 6,000 raw conscripts to oppose Melas, who had succeeded
Suwarroff in the command, and who had 68,000, besides his
garrisons and detachments. The proposition of Championnet had
been to fall back, with his army still entire, to the other
side of the Alps: but his orders were positive to attempt the
relief of Coni, then besieged by the Austrians; and after a
desultory warfare for several weeks, he commenced a decisive
movement for that purpose at the end of October, with 35,000
men. But before the different French columns could effect a
junction, they were separately assailed by Melas: the
divisions of Grenier and Victor were overwhelmed at Genola
(November 4), and defeated with the loss of 7,000 men; and
though St. Cyr repulsed the Imperialists (November 10) on the
plateau of Novi, Coni was left to its fate, and surrendered
with all its garrison (December 4). An epidemic disorder broke
out in the French army, to which Championnet himself, and
numerous soldiers, fell victims: the troops giving way to
despair, abandoned their standards by hundreds and returned to
France; and it was with difficulty that the eloquent
exhortations of St. Cyr succeeded in keeping together a
sufficient number to defend the Bochetta pass, in front of
Genoa, the loss of which would have entailed destruction on
the whole army. The discomfited Republicans were driven back
on their own frontiers; and, excepting Genoa, the tricolor
flag was everywhere expelled from Italy. At the same time the
campaign on the Rhine was drawing to a close. The army of
Massena was not strong enough to follow up the brilliant
success at Zurich, and the jealousies of the Austrians and
Russians, who mutually laid on each other the blame of the
late disasters, prevented their acting cordially in concert
against him. Suwarroff at length, in a fit of exasperation,
drew off his troops to winter quarters in Bavaria, and took no
further share in the war; and a fruitless attempt in November
against Philipsburg, by Lecourbe, who had been transferred to
the command on the lower Rhine, closed the operations in that
quarter."

_Epitome of Alison's History of Europe,
sections 245-251
(chapter 28, volume 7 of complete work)._

Meantime, the French had been entirely expelled from southern
Italy. On the withdrawal of Macdonald, with most of his army,
from Naples, "Cardinal Ruffo, a soldier, churchman, and
politician, put himself at the head of a numerous body of
insurgents, and commenced war against such French troops as
had been left in the south and in the middle of Italy. This
movement was actively supported by the British fleet. Lord
Nelson recovered Naples; Rome surrendered to Commodore
Trowbridge. Thus the Parthenopean and Roman republics were
extinguished forever. The royal family returned to Naples, and
that fine city and country were once more a kingdom. Rome, the
capital of the world, was occupied by Neapolitan troops."

_Sir W. Scott,
Life of Napoleon,
chapter 38._

ALSO IN:
_L. M. P. de Laverne,
Life of Souvarof,
chapter 6._

_H. Spalding,
Suvoroff._

_P. Colletta,
History of the Kingdom of Naples,
book 4, chapter 2 and book 5,
chapters 1-2 (volume 1)._

_T. J. Pettigrew,
Memoirs of Lord Nelson,
volume 1, chapters 8-9._

{1329}

FRANCE: A. D. 1799 (September-October).
Disastrous ending of the Anglo-Russian invasion of Holland.
Capitulation of the Duke of York.
Dissolution of the Dutch East India Company.

"It is very obvious that the Duke of York was selected in an
unlucky hour to be the commander-in-chief of this
Anglo-Russian expedition, when we compare the time in which
Abercrombie was alone on the marshy promontory of the Helder
… with the subsequent period. On the 10th of September
Abercrombie successfully repulsed the attack of General Brune,
who had come for the purpose from Haarlem to Alkmar; on the
19th the Duke of York landed, and soon ruined everything. The
first division of the Russians had at length arrived on the
15th, under the command of General Herrmann, for whom it was
originally destined, although unhappily it afterwards came
into the hands of General Korsakoff. The duke therefore
thought he might venture on a general attack on the 19th. In
this attack Herrmann led the right wing, which was formed by
the Russians, and Abercrombie, with whom was the Prince of
Orange, the left, whilst the centre was left to the Duke of
York, the commander-in-chief. This decisive battle was fought
at Bergen, a place situated to the north of Alkmar. The
combined army was victorious on both wings; and Horn, on the
Zuyder Zee, was occupied; the Duke of York, who was only a
general for parades and reviews, merely indulged the centre
with a few manœuvres hither and thither. … The Russians,
therefore, who were left alone in impassible marshes,
traversed by ditches, and unknown to their officers, lost many
men, and were at length surrounded, and even their general
taken prisoner. The duke concerned himself very little about
the Russians, and had long before prudently retired into his
trenches; and, as the Russians were lost, Abercrombie and the
Crown Prince were obliged to relinquish Horn." The incapacity
of the commander-in-chief held the army paralyzed during the
fortnight following, suffering from sickness and want, while
it would still have been practicable to push forward to South
Holland. "A series of bloody engagements took place from the
2nd till the 6th of October, and the object of the attack upon
the whole line of the French and Batavian army would have been
attained had Abercrombie alone commanded. The English and
Russians, who call this the battle of Alkmar, were
indisputably victorious in the engagements of the 2nd and 3rd
of October. They even drove the enemy before them to the
neighbourhood of Haarlem, after having taken possession of
Alkmar; but on the 6th, Brune, who owes his otherwise very
moderate military renown to this engagement alone, having
received a reinforcement of some thousands on the 4th and 5th,
renewed the battle. The fighting on this day took place at
Castricum, on a narrow strip of land between the sea and the
lake of Haarlem, a position favourable to the French. The
French report is, as usual, full of the boasts of a splendid
victory; the English, however, remained in possession of the
field, and did not retire to their trenches behind Alkmar and
to the marshes of Zyp till the 7th. … In not more than eight
days afterwards, the want in the army and the anxiety of its
incapable commander-in-chief became so great, the number of
the sick increased so rapidly, and the fear of the
difficulties of embarkation in winter so grew and spread, that
the duke accepted the most shameful capitulation that had ever
been offered to an English general, except at Saratoga. This
capitulation, concluded on the 19th of October, was only
granted because the English, by destroying the dykes, had it
in their power to ruin the country."

_F. C. Schlosser,
History of the Eighteenth Century,
volume 7, pages 149-151._

"For the failure in accomplishing the great objects of
emancipating Holland and restoring its legitimate ruler; for
the clamorous joy with which her enemies, foreign and
domestic, hailed the event; the government of Great Britain
had many consolations. … The Dutch fleet, which, in the
hands of an enterprising enemy, might have been so injuriously
employed, was a capture of immense importance: if Holland was
ever to become a friend and ally, we had abundant means of
promoting her prosperity and re-establishing her greatness; if
an enemy, her means of injury and hopes of rivalship were
effectually suppressed. Her East-India Company, … long the
rival of our own in power and prosperity, whose dividends in
some years had risen to the amount of 40 per cent., now
finally closed its career, making a paltry final payment in
part of the arrears of dividends for the present and three
preceding years."

_J. Adolphus,
History of England: Reign of George III.,
chapter 109 (volume 7)._

ALSO IN:
_G. R. Gleig,
Life of General Sir R. Abercromby
(Eminent British Military Commanders, volume 3)._

FRANCE: A. D. 1799 (November).
Return of Bonaparte from Egypt.
The first Napoleonic Coup d'État.
Revolution of the 18th Brumaire.
End of the First Republic.
Creation of the Consulate.

"When Bonaparte, by means of the bundle of papers which Sidney
Smith caused to find their way through the French lines,
learned the condition of affairs in Europe, there was but one
course consistent with his character for him to pursue. There
was nothing more to be done in Egypt; there was everything to
be done in France. If he were to lead his army back, even in
case he should, by some miracle, elude the eager eyes of Lord
Nelson, the act would be generally regarded as a confession of
disaster. If he were to remain with the army, he could, at
best, do nothing but pursue a purely defensive policy; and if
the army were to be overwhelmed, it was no part of Napoleonism
to be involved in the disaster. … It would be far shrewder
to throw the responsibility of the future of Egypt on another,
and to transfer himself to the field that was fast ripening
for the coveted harvest. Of course Bonaparte, under such
circumstances, did not hesitate as to which course to pursue.
Robbing the army of such good officers as survived, he left it
in command of the only one who had dared to raise his voice in
opposition to the work of the 18th Fructidor … the heroic
but indignant Kléber. Was there ever a more exquisite revenge?
… On the arrival of Bonaparte in Paris everything seemed
ready to his hand. … The policy which, in the seizure of
Switzerland and the Papal States, he had taken pains to
inaugurate before his departure for Egypt had borne its
natural fruit. As never before in the history of Europe,
England, Holland, Russia, Austria, Naples, and even Turkey had
joined hands in a common cause, and as a natural consequence
the Directory had been defeated at every point. Nor was it
unnatural for the people to attribute all these disasters to
the inefficiency of the government. The Directory had really
fallen into general contempt, and at the new election on the
30th Prairial it had been practically overthrown.
{1330}
Rewbell, who by his influence had stood at the head of
affairs, had been obliged to give way," and Sieyès had been
put in his place. "By the side of this fantastic statesman …
Barras had been retained, probably for no other reason than
that he was sure to be found with the majority, while the
other members, Gohier, Moulins, and Roger-Ducos were men from
whose supposed mediocrity no very decided opposition could be
anticipated. Thus the popular party was not only revenged for
the outrages of Fructidor, but it had also made up the new
Directory of men who seemed likely to be nothing but clay in
the hands of Bonaparte. … The manner in which the General
was received can have left no possible doubt remaining in his
mind as to the strength of his hold on the hearts of the
people. It must have been apparent to all that he needed but
to declare himself, in order to secure a well-nigh unanimous
support and following of the masses. But with the political
leaders the case, for obvious reasons, was far different. …
His popularity was so overwhelming, that in his enmity the
leaders could anticipate nothing but annihilation, in his
friendship nothing but insignificance. … The member of the
government who, at the time, wielded most influence, was
Sieyès, a man to whom personally the General had so
unconquerable an aversion, that Josephine was accustomed to
refer to him as her husband's béte noir. It was evident that
Sieyès was the most formidable obstacle to the General's
advance." As a first movement, Bonaparte endeavored to bring
about the removal of Sieyès from the Directory and his own
election to the place. Failing this, his party attempted the
immediate creation of a dictatorship. When that, too, was
found impracticable, Sieyès was persuaded to a reconciliation
and alliance with the ambitious soldier, and the two, at a
meeting, planned the proceedings "which led to that dark day
in French history known as the 18th Brumaire [November 9,
1799]. It remained only to get absolute control of the
military forces, a task at that time in no way difficult. The
officers who had returned with Bonaparte from Egypt were
impatient to follow wherever their master might lead. Moreau,
who, since the death of Hoche, was regarded as standing next
to Bonaparte in military ability, was not reluctant to cast in
his lot with the others, and Macdonald as well as Serurier
soon followed his example. Bernadotte alone would yield to
neither flattery nor intimidation. … While Bonaparte was
thus marshalling his forces in the Rue de la Victoire, the way
was opening in the Councils. A commission of the Ancients,
made up of the leading conspirators, had worked all night
drawing up the proposed articles, in order that in the morning
the Council might have nothing to do but to vote them. The
meeting was called for seven o'clock, and care was taken not
to notify those members whose opposition there was reason to
fear. … The articles were adopted without discussion. Those
present voted, first, to remove the sessions of the Councils
from Paris to Saint Cloud (a privilege which the constitution
conferred upon the Ancients alone), thus putting them at once
beyond the power of influencing the populace and of standing
in the way of Bonaparte. They then passed a decree giving to
Bonaparte the command of the military forces, at the same time
inviting him to come to the Assembly for the purpose of taking
the oath of allegiance to the Constitution." Bonaparte
appeared, accordingly, before the Council; but instead of
taking an oath of allegiance to the constitution, he made a
speech which he closed by declaring: "We want a Republic
founded on true liberty and national representation. We will
have it, I swear; I swear it in my own name and that of my
companions in arms." "Thus the mockery of the oath-taking in
the Council of Ancients was accomplished. The General had now
a more difficult part to perform in the Council of Five
Hundred. As the meeting of the Assembly was not to occur until
twelve o'clock of the following day, Bonaparte made use of the
intervening time in posting his forces and in disposing of the
Directory. … There was one locality in the city where it was
probable aggressive force would be required. The Luxembourg
was the seat of the Directory, and the Directory must at all
hazards be crushed. … Bonaparte knew well how to turn all
such ignominious service to account. In close imitation of
that policy which had left Kleber in Egypt, he placed the
Luxembourg in charge of the only man in the nation who could
now be regarded as his rival for popular favor. Moreau fell
into the snare, and by so doing lost a popularity which he was
never afterwards able to regain. Having thus placed his
military forces, Bonaparte turned his attention to the
Directors. The resignations of Sieyès and of Roger-Ducos he
already had upon his table. It remained only to procure the
others. Barras, without warning, was confronted by Talleyrand
and Bruix, who asked him without circumlocution to resign his
office," which he did, after slight hesitation. Gohier and
Moulins were addressed by Bonaparte in person, but firmly
resisted his importunities and his threats. They were then
made prisoners by Moreau. "The night of the 18th passed in
comparative tranquillity. The fact that there was no organized
resistance is accounted for by Lanfrey with a single mournful
statement, that 'nothing of the kind could be expected of a
nation that had been decapitated. All the men of rank in
France for the previous ten years, either by character or
genius or virtue, had been mown down, first by the scaffolds
and proscriptions, next by war.'" On the morrow, the 19th of
Brumaire (November 10) the sitting of the two councils began
at two o'clock. In the Council of Five Hundred the partisans
of Bonaparte were less numerous than in that of the Ancients,
and a powerful indignation at the doings of the previous day
began quickly to show itself. In the midst of a warm debate
upon the resignation of Barras, which had just been received,
"the door was opened, and Bonaparte, surrounded by his
grenadiers, entered the hall. A burst of indignation at once
arose. Every member sprang to his feet. 'What is this?' they
cried, 'swords here! armed men! Away! we will have no dictator
here.' Then some of the deputies, bolder than the others,
surrounded Bonaparte and overwhelmed him with invectives. 'You
are violating the sanctity of the laws; what are you doing,
rash man?' exclaimed Bigonnet. 'Is it for this that you have
conquered?' demanded Destrem, advancing towards him. Others
seized him by the collar of his coat, and, shaking him
violently, reproached him with treason. This reception, though
the General had come with the purpose of intimidating the
Assembly, fairly overwhelmed him.
{1331}
Eye-witnesses declare that he turned pale, and fell fainting
into the arms of his soldiers, who drew him out of the hall."
His brother Lucien, who was President of the Council, showed
better nerve. By refusing to put motions that were made to
vote, and finally by resigning his office and quitting the
chair, he threw the Council into confusion. Then, appearing to
the troops outside, who supposed him to be still President of
the Council, he harangued them and summoned them to clear the
chamber. "The grenadiers poured into the hall. A last cry of
'Vive la République' was raised, and a moment later the hall
was empty. Thus the crime of the conspirators was consummated,
and the First French Republic was at an end. After this action
it remained only to put into the hands of Bonaparte the
semblance of regular authority. … A phantom of the Council
of Five Hundred—Cornet, one of them, says 30 members—met in
the evening and voted the measures which had been previously
agreed upon by the conspirators. Bonaparte, Sieyès, and
Roger-Ducos were appointed provisional consuls; 57 members of
the Council who had been most prominent in their opposition
were excluded from their seats; a list of proscriptions was
prepared; two commissioners chosen from the assemblies were
appointed to assist the consuls in their work of organization;
and, finally, … they adjourned the legislative body until
the 20th of February."

_C. K. Adams,
Democracy and Monarchy in France,
chapter 4._

ALSO IN:
_P. Lanfrey,
History of Napoleon I._

_A. Thiers,
History of the French Revolution
(American edition), volume 4, pages 407-430._

_M. de Bourrienne,
Private Memoirs of Napoleon,
volume l, chapter 24-27._

_Count Miot de Melito,
Memoirs,
chapter 9._

FRANCE: A. D. 1799 (November-December).
The constitution of the consulate.
Bonaparte as First Consul.

"During the three months which followed the 18th Brumaire,
approbation and expectation were general. A provisional
government had been appointed, composed of three consuls,
Bonaparte, Siéyes, and Roger-Ducos, with two legislative
commissioners, entrusted to prepare the constitution and a
definitive order of things. The consuls and the two
commissioners were installed on the 21st Brumaire. This
provisional government abolished the law respecting hostages
and compulsory loans; it permitted the return of the priests
proscribed since the 18th Fructidor; it released from prison
and sent out of the republic the emigrants who had been
ship-wrecked on the coast of Calais, and who for four years
were captives in France, and were exposed to the heavy
punishment of the emigrant army. All these measures were very
favourably received. But public opinion revolted at a
proscription put in force against the extreme republicans.
Thirty-six of them were sentenced to transportation to Guiana,
and twenty-one were put under serveillance in the department
of Charante-Inférieure, merely by a decree of the consuls on
the report of Fouché, minister of police. The public viewed
unfavourably all who attacked the government, but at the same
time it exclaimed against an act so arbitrary and unjust. The
consuls, accordingly, recoiled before their own act; they
first commuted transportation into surveillance, and soon
withdrew surveillance itself. It was not long before a rupture
broke out between the authors of the 18th Brumaire. During
their provisional authority it did not create much noise,
because it took place in the legislative commissions. The new
constitution was the cause of it. Siéyes and Bonaparte could
not agree on this subject: the former wished to institute
France, the latter to govern it as a master. … Bonaparte
took part in the deliberations of the constituent committee,
with his instinct of power, he seized upon everything in the
ideas of Siéyes which was calculated to serve his projects,
and caused the rest to be rejected. … On the 24th of
December, 1799 (Nivose, year VIII.), forty-five days after the
18th Brumaire, was published the constitution of the year
VIII.; it was composed of the wrecks of that of Siéyes, now
become a constitution of servitude."

_F. A. Mignet,
History of the French Revolution,
chapter 14._