Chapter I: Front Matter

LIFE OF NAPOLEON

POCKET EDITION

VOL. II.

LIFE OF

NAPOLEON BONAPARTE

BY SIR WALTER SCOTT, BART.

VOL. 2.

EDINBURGH; A. & C. BLACK.

1876

CONTENTS.

PAGE
CHAP. I.--Corsica--Family of Buonaparte--Napoleon born 15th
August, 1769--His early Habits--Sent to the Royal Military School
at Brienne--His great Progress in Mathematical Science--Deficiency
in Classical Literature--Anecdotes--Removed to the General School
of Paris--When in his Seventeenth Year, appointed Second
Lieutenant of Artillery--His early Politics--Promoted to a
Captaincy--Pascal Paoli--Napoleon sides with the French Government
against Paoli--And is Banished from Corsica--Visits Marseilles,
and Publishes the Souper de Beaucaire, 1

CHAP. II.--Siege of Toulon--Recapitulation--Buonaparte appointed
to the Command of the Artillery at Toulon--Finds every thing in
Disorder--His Plan for obtaining the Surrender of the Place
Adopted--Anecdotes during the Siege--Allied Troops resolve to
evacuate Toulon--Dreadful Particulars of the Evacuation--England
Censured on this occasion--Lord Lynedoch--Fame of Buonaparte
increases, and he is appointed Chief of Battalion in the Army of
Italy--Joins Headquarters at Nice--On the Fall of Robespierre,
Buonaparte superseded in Command--Arrives in Paris in May, 1795,
to solicit Employment--He is unsuccessful--Retrospect of the
Proceedings of the National Assembly--Difficulties in forming a
New Constitution--Appointment of the Directory--Of the Two
Councils of Elders and of Five Hundred--Nation at Large, and Paris
in Particular, Disgusted with their Pretensions--Paris assembles
in Sections--General Danican appointed their
Commander-in-Chief--Menou appointed by the Directory to Disarm the
National Guards--But Suspended for Incapacity--Buonaparte
appointed in his Room--The Day of the Sections--Conflict betwixt
the Troops of the Convention under Buonaparte, and those of the
Sections of Paris under Danican--The latter Defeated with much
Slaughter--Buonaparte appointed Second in Command of the Army of
the Interior--Then General-in-Chief--Marries Madame
Beauharnais--Her Character--Buonaparte immediately afterwards
joins the Army of Italy, 14

CHAP. III.--The Alps--Feelings and Views of Buonaparte on being
appointed to the Command of the Army of Italy--General Account of
his new Principles of Warfare--Mountainous Countries peculiarly
favourable to them--Retrospect of Military Proceedings since
October, 1795--Hostility of the French Government to the
Pope--Massacre of the French Envoy, Basseville, at Rome--Austrian
Army under Beaulieu--Napoleon's Plan for entering Italy--Battle of
Montenotte, and Buonaparte's first Victory--Again defeats the
Austrians at Millesimo--and again under Colli--Takes possession of
Cherasco--King of Sardinia requests an Armistice, which leads to a
Peace, concluded on very severe Terms--Close of the Piedmontese
Campaign--Napoleon's Character at this period, 43

CHAP. IV.--Farther Progress of the French Army under
Buonaparte--He crosses the Po, at Placenza, on 7th May--Battle of
Lodi takes place on the 10th, in which the French are
victorious--Remarks on Napoleon's Tactics in this celebrated
Action--French take possession of Cremona and Pizzighitone--Milan
deserted by the Archduke Ferdinand and his Duchess--Buonaparte
enters Milan on the 15th May--General situation of the Italian
States at this period--Napoleon inflicts fines upon the Neutral
and unoffending States of Parma and Modena, and extorts the
surrender of some of their finest Pictures--Remarks upon this
novel Procedure, 59

CHAP. V.--Directory proposes to divide the Army of Italy betwixt
Buonaparte and Kellermann--Buonaparte resigns, and the Directory
give up the point--Insurrection against the French at
Pavia--Crushed--and the Leaders shot--Also at the Imperial Fiefs,
and Lugo, quelled and punished in the same
way--Reflections--Austrians defeated at Borghetto, and Retreat
behind the Adige--Buonaparte narrowly escapes being made Prisoner
at Valeggio--Mantua blockaded--Verona occupied by the French--King
of Naples secedes from Austria--Armistice purchased by the
Pope--The Neutrality of Tuscany violated, and Leghorn occupied by
the French troops--Views of Buonaparte respecting the
Revolutionizing of Italy--He temporizes--Conduct of the Austrian
Government at this Crisis--Beaulieu displaced, and succeeded by
Wurmser--Buonaparte sits down before Mantua, 79

CHAP. VI.--Campaign on the Rhine--General Plan--Wartensleben and
the Archduke Charles retire before Jourdan and Moreau--The
Archduke forms a Junction with Wartensleben, and defeats Jourdan,
who retires--Moreau, also, makes his celebrated Retreat through
the Black Forest--Buonaparte raises the Siege of Mantua, and
defeats the Austrians at Salo and Lonato--Misbehaviour of the
French General Valette, at Castiglione--Lonato taken, with the
French Artillery, on 3d August--Retaken by Massena and
Augereau--Singular escape of Buonaparte from being captured at
Lonato--Wurmser defeated between Lonato and Castiglione, and
retreats on Trent and Roveredo--Buonaparte resumes his position
before Mantua--Effects of the French Victories on the different
Italian States--Inflexibility of Austria--Wurmser
recruited--Battle of Roveredo--French victorious, and Massena
occupies Trent--Buonaparte defeats Wurmser at Primolano--and at
Bassano, 8th September--Wurmser flies to Vicenza--Battle of
Saint-George--Wurmser finally shut up within the walls of Mantua, 95

CHAP. VII.--Corsica reunited with France--Critical situation of
Buonaparte in Italy at this period--The Austrian General Alvinzi
placed at the head of a new Army--Various Contests, attended with
no decisive result--Want of Concert among the Austrian
Generals--French Army begin to murmur--First Battle of
Arcola--Napoleon in Personal danger--No decisive result--Second
Battle of Arcola--The French victorious--Fresh want of Concert
among the Austrian Generals--General Views of Military and
Political Affairs, after the conclusion of the fourth Italian
Campaign--Austria commences a fifth Campaign--but has not profited
by Experience--Battle of Rivoli, and Victory of the
French--Further successful at La Favorita--French regain their
lost ground in Italy--Surrender of Mantua--Instances of Napoleon's
Generosity, 111

CHAP. VIII.--Situation and Views of Buonaparte at this period--His
politic Conduct towards the Italians--Popularity--Severe terms of
Peace proposed to the Pope--Rejected--Napoleon differs from the
Directory, and Negotiations are renewed--but again Rejected--The
Pope raises his Army to 40,000 men--Napoleon Invades the Papal
Territories--The Papal Troops defeated near Imola--and at
Ancona--which is captured--Loretto taken--Clemency of Buonaparte
to the French recusant Clergy--Peace of Tolentino--Napoleon's
Letter to the Pope--San Marino--View of the situation of the
different Italian States--Rome--Naples--Tuscany--Venice, 130

CHAP. IX.--Archduke Charles--Compared with Napoleon--Fettered by
the Aulic Council--Napoleon, by a stratagem, passes the
Tagliamento, and compels the Archduke to retreat--Gradisca carried
by storm--Chusa-Veneta taken--Trieste and Fiume occupied--Venice
breaks the Neutrality--Terrified on learning that an Armistice had
taken place betwixt France and Austria--The Archduke retreats by
hasty marches on Vienna--The Government irresolute--and the Treaty
of Leoben signed--Venice makes humiliating submissions--Napoleon's
Speech to her Envoys--He declares War against Venice, and evades
obeying the orders of the Directory to spare it--The Great
Council, on 31st May, concede every thing to Buonaparte--Terms
granted, 147

CHAP. X.--Napoleon's Amatory Correspondence with Josephine--His
Court at Montebello--Negotiations and Pleasure mingled
there--Genoa--Revolutionary spirit of the Genoese--They rise in
insurrection, but are quelled by the Government, and the French
plundered and imprisoned--Buonaparte interferes, and appoints the
outlines of a new Government--Sardinia--Naples--The Cispadane,
Transpadane, and Emilian Republics, united under the name of the
Cisalpine Republic--The Valteline--The Grisons--The Valteline
united to Lombardy--Great improvement of Italy, and the Italian
Character, from these changes--Difficulties in the way of
Pacification betwixt France and Austria--The Directory and
Napoleon take Different Views--Treaty of Campo Formio--Buonaparte
takes leave of the Army of Italy, to act as French Plenipotentiary
at Rastadt, 166

CHAP. XI.--Retrospect--The Directory--They become
unpopular--Causes of their unpopularity--Also at enmity among
themselves--State of Public feeling in France--In point of
numbers, favourable to the Bourbons--but the Army and Monied
Interest against them--Pichegru, head of the Royalists, appointed
President of the Council of Five Hundred--Barbé Marbois, another
Royalist, President of the Council of Ancients--Directory throw
themselves upon the succour of Hoche and Buonaparte--Buonaparte's
personal Politics discussed--Pichegru's Correspondence with the
Bourbons--known to Buonaparte--He despatches Augereau to
Paris--Directory arrest their principal Opponents in the Councils
on the 18th Fructidor, and Banish them to Guiana--Narrow and
Impolitic Conduct of the Directory to Buonaparte--Projected
Invasion of England, 178

CHAP. XII.--View of the respective Situations of Great Britain and
France, at the Period of Napoleon's return from
Italy--Negotiations at Lisle--broken off--Army of England decreed,
and Buonaparte named to the Command--He takes up his Residence in
Paris--Public Honours--The real Views of the Directory discovered
to be the expedition to Egypt--Armies of Italy and the Rhine,
compared and contrasted--Napoleon's Objects and Motives in heading
the Egyptian Expedition--Those of the Directory regarding it--Its
actual Impolicy--Curious Statement by Miot--The Armament sails
from Toulon, on 19th May, 1798--Napoleon arrives before Malta on
10th June--Proceeds on his course, and, escaping the British
Squadron, lands at Alexandria on the 1st July--Description of the
various Classes who inhabit Egypt:--1. The Fellahs and
Bedouins--2. The Cophts--3. The Mamelukes--Napoleon issues a
Proclamation against the Mamelukes--Marches against them on the
7th July--Discontent of the French Troops--Battle of the Pyramids
on 21st of July--Cairo surrenders, 192

CHAP. XIII.--French Fleet--Conflicting Statements of Buonaparte
and Admiral Gantheaume--BATTLE OF ABOUKIR on 1st August 1798--The
French Admiral, Brueyes, killed, and his Ship, L'Orient, blown
up--The Victory complete--Effects of this disaster--Means by which
Napoleon proposed to establish himself in Egypt--His
Administration, in many respects, praiseworthy--in others, his
Conduct absurd--He aspires to be regarded an Envoy of the
Deity--His endeavours to propitiate the Porte--The Fort of El
Arish falls into his hands--Massacre of Jaffa--Admitted by
Buonaparte himself--His Arguments in its defence--Replies to
them--General Conclusions--Plague in the French Army--Napoleon's
Humanity and Courage upon this occasion--Proceeds against Acre to
attack Djezzar Pacha--Sir Sidney Smith--His Character--Captures a
French Convoy, and throws himself into Acre--French arrive before
Acre on 17th March, 1799, and effect a breach on the 28th, but are
driven back--Assaulted by an Army of Moslems assembled without the
Walls of Acre, whom they defeat and disperse--Personal
Misunderstanding and Hostility between Napoleon and Sir Sidney
Smith--Explained--Buonaparte is finally compelled to raise the
Siege, 216

CHAP. XIV.--Discussion concerning the alleged Poisoning of the
Sick in the Hospitals at Jaffa--Napoleon acquitted of the
charge--French Army re-enter Cairo on the 14th June--Retrospect of
what had taken place in Upper and Lower Egypt during Napoleon's
Absence--Incursion of Murad Bey--18,000 Turks occupy
Aboukir--Attacked and defeated--This Victory terminates Napoleon's
career in Egypt--Admiral Gantheaume receives Orders to make ready
for Sea--On the 22d August, Napoleon embarks for France--Arrives
in Ajaccio on the 30th September--and lands at Frejus on the 9th
October, 236

CHAP. XV.--Retrospect of Public Events since the Departure of
Napoleon for Egypt--Invasion and Conquest of Switzerland--Seizure
of Turin--Expulsion of the Pope--The Neapolitans declare War
against France--The French enter Naples--Disgraceful Avarice
exhibited by the Directory--Particularly in their Negotiations
with the United States of America--Russia comes forward in the
general Cause--Her Strength and Resources--Reverses of the French
in Italy, and on the Rhine--Insurrections in Belgium and Holland
against the French--Anglo-Russian Expedition sent to Holland--The
Chouans again in the Field--Great and Universal Unpopularity of
the Directory--State of Parties in France--Law of Hostages--Abbé
Siêyes becomes one of the Directory--His Character and
Genius--Description of the Constitution proposed by him for the
Year Three--Ducos, Gohier, and Moulins, also introduced into the
Directory--Family of Napoleon strive to keep him in the
Recollection of the People--Favourable Change in the French
Affairs--Holland evacuated by the Anglo-Russian Army--Korsakow
defeated by Massena--and Suwarrow retreats before Lecourbe, 246

CHAP. XVI.--General rejoicing on the return of
Buonaparte--Advances made to him on all sides--Napoleon Coalesces
with Siêyes--Revolution of the 18th Brumaire (Nov. 9)--Clashing
Views of the Councils of Ancients, and the Five Hundred--Barras
and his Colleagues resign--Proceedings of the Councils on the
18th--and 19th--Sittings removed from Paris to St.
Cloud--Commotion in the Council of Five Hundred--Napoleon menaced
and assaulted, and finally extricated by his Grenadiers--Lucien
Buonaparte, the President, retires from the Hall--Declares the
Council dissolved--Provisional Consular Government of Buonaparte,
Siêyes, and Ducos, 260

CHAP. XVII.--Clemency of the New Consulate--Beneficial change in
the Finances--Law of Hostages repealed--Religious liberty
allowed--Improvements in the War Department--Pacification of La
Vendée--Ascendancy of Napoleon--Disappointment of
Siêyes--Committee formed to consider Siêyes' Plan of a
Constitution--Rejected as to essentials--A new one adopted,
monarchical in every thing but form--Siêyes retires from Public
life--General View of the new Government--Despotic Power of the
First Consul, 276

CHAP. XVIII.--Proceedings of Buonaparte in order to consolidate
his power--His great Success--Causes that led to it--Cambacérès
and Le Brun chosen Second and Third Consuls--Talleyrand appointed
Minister for Foreign Affairs, and Fouché Minister of Police--Their
Characters--Other Ministers nominated--Various Changes made in
order to mark the Commencement of a new Era--Napoleon addresses a
Letter personally to the King of England--Answered by Lord
Grenville--Negotiation for peace that followed, speedily broken
off--Campaigns in Italy and on the Rhine--Successes of
Moreau--Censured by Napoleon for over-caution--The Charge
considered--The Chief Consul resolves to bring back, in Person,
Victory to the French Standards in Italy--His Measures for that
purpose, 292

CHAP. XIX.--The Chief Consul leaves Paris on 6th May, 1800--Has an
Interview with Necker at Geneva on 8th--Arrives at Lausanne on the
13th--Various Corps put in motion to cross the Alps--Napoleon, at
the head of the Main Army, marches on the 15th, and ascends Mont
St. Bernard--On the 16th, the Vanguard takes possession of
Aosta--Fortress and Town of Bard threaten to baffle the whole
plan--The Town is captured--and Napoleon contrives to send his
Artillery through it, under the fire of the Fort, his Infantry and
Cavalry passing over the Albaredo--Lannes carries
Ivrea--Recapitulation--Operations of the Austrian General
Melas--At the commencement of the Campaign, Melas advances towards
Genoa--Actions betwixt him and Massena--In March, Lord Keith
blockades Genoa--Melas compelled to retreat--Enters Nice--Recalled
from thence by the news of Napoleon's having crossed Mont St.
Bernard--Genoa surrenders--Buonaparte enters Milan--Battle of
Montebello--The Chief Consul is joined by Desaix--Battle of
Marengo on the 14th--Death of Desaix--Capitulation on the 15th, by
which Genoa, &c., are yielded--Napoleon returns to Paris on the 2d
July, 305

CHAP. XX.--Napoleon offers, and the Austrian Envoy accepts, a new
Treaty--The Emperor refuses it, unless England is
included--Negotiations with England--fail--Renewal of the
War--Armistice--Resumption of Hostilities--Battle of
Hohenlinden--Other Battles--The Austrians agree to a separate
Peace--Treaty of Luneville--Convention between France and the
United States--The Queen of Naples repairs to Petersburgh--Paul
receives her with cordiality, and applies in her behalf to
Buonaparte--His Envoy received at Paris with the utmost
distinction, and the Royal Family of Naples saved for the
present--Rome restored to the authority of the Pope--Napoleon
demands of the King of Spain to declare War against
Portugal--Olivenza and Almeida taken--Malta, after a Blockade of
Two Years, obliged to submit to the English, 324

CHAP. XXI.--Internal Government of France--General Attachment to
the Chief Consul--Plot to remove him by
Assassination--Defeated--Vain hopes of the Royalists, that
Napoleon would restore the Bourbons--Infernal Machine--It
fails--Suspicion first falls on the Republicans--The actual
Conspirators executed--Use made by Buonaparte of the Conspiracy to
consolidate Despotism--System of Police--Fouché--His Skill,
Influence, and Power--Apprehension entertained by the Chief Consul
of the effects of Literature--Persecution of Madame de Staël--The
Concordat--Plan for a general System of Jurisprudence--Amnesty
granted to the Emigrants--Plans of Public Education--Hopes of a
General Peace, 337

CHAP. XXII.--Return to the external Relations of France--Her
universal Ascendancy--Napoleon's advances to the Emperor
Paul--Plan of destroying the British Power in India--Right of
Search at Sea--Death of Paul--Its effects on Buonaparte--Affairs
of Egypt--Assassination of Kleber--Menou appointed to succeed
him--British Army lands in Egypt--Battle and Victory of
Alexandria--Death of Sir Ralph Abercromby--General Hutchinson
succeeds him--The French General Belliard capitulates--as does
Menou--War in Egypt brought to a victorious Conclusion, 356

CHAP. XXIII.--Preparations for the Invasion of Britain--Nelson put
in command of the Sea--Attack of the Boulogne Flotilla--Pitt
leaves the Ministry--succeeded by Mr. Addington--Negotiations for
Peace--Just punishment of England, in regard to the conquered
Settlements of the enemy--Forced to restore them all, save Ceylon
and Trinidad--Malta is placed under the guarantee of a Neutral
Power--Preliminaries of Peace signed--Joy of the English Populace,
and doubts of the better classes--Treaty of Amiens signed--The
ambitious projects of Napoleon, nevertheless, proceed without
interruption--Extension of his power in Italy--He is appointed
Consul for life, with the power of naming his Successor--His
Situation at this period, 364

CHAP. XXIV.--Different Views entertained by the English Ministers
and the Chief Consul of the effects of the Treaty of
Amiens--Napoleon, misled by the Shouts of a London Mob,
misunderstands the Feelings of the People of Great Britain--His
continued encroachments on the Independence of Europe--His conduct
to Switzerland--Interferes in their Politics, and sets himself up,
uninvited, as Mediator in their concerns--Ney enters Switzerland
at the head of 40,000 men--The patriot, Reding, disbands his
Forces, and is imprisoned--Switzerland is compelled to furnish
France with a Subsidiary Army of 16,000 Troops--The Chief Consul
adopts the title of Grand Mediator of the Helvetic Republic, 372

APPENDIX--

No. I.--Buonaparte's Letter to General Paoli, 381

No. II.--Letter of Napoleon Buonaparte to M. Matteo Buttafuoco,
Deputy from Corsica to the National Assembly, 382

No. III.--The Supper of Beaucaire, 388

No. IV.--Letters of Napoleon to Josephine, 392

No. V.--Descent of the French in South Wales, under General Tate, 396

No. VI.--Buonaparte's Camp-Library, 397

No. VII.--Buonaparte, Member of the National Institute,
Commander-in-Chief, to the People of Egypt, 398

No. VIII.--Historical Notes on the Eighteenth Brumaire, 399