But the Directorate was as much opposed to the Moderates as to
the Royalists.'
{1320}
It pretended to regard these two parties as one, and falsely
represented them as conspiring in common for the overthrow of
the Republic and the re-establishment of monarchy. ... If
there were few Royalists in the two Councils, there were also
few men determined to provoke on the part of the Directors a
recourse to violence against their colleagues. But as a great
number of their members had sat in the Convention, they
naturally feared a too complete reaction, and, affecting a
great zeal for the Constitution, they founded at the Hotel
Salm, under the name of the Constitutional Club, an
association which was widely opposed in its spirit and
tendency to that of the Hotel Clichy, in which were assembled
the most ardent members of the reactionary party [and hence
called Clichyans]. ... The Council of Five Hundred, on the
motion of a member of the Clichy Club, energetically demanded
that the Legislative power should have a share in determining
questions of peace or war. No general had exercised, in this
respect, a more arbitrary power than had Bonaparte, who had
negotiated of his own mere authority several treaties, and the
preliminaries of the peace of Campo Formio. He was offended at
these pretensions on the part of the Council of Five Hundred,
and entreated the Government to look to the army for support
against the Councils and the reactionary press. He even sent
to Paris, as a support to the policy of the Directors, General
Augereau, one of the bravest men of his army, but by no means
scrupulous as to the employment of violent means, and disposed
to regard the sword as the supreme argument in politics,
whether at home or abroad. The Directory gave him the command
of the military division of Paris. ... Henceforth a coup
d'état appeared inevitable. The Directors now marched some
regiments upon the capital, in defiance of a clause of the
Constitution which prohibited the presence of troops within a
distance of twelve leagues of Paris, unless in accordance with
a special law passed in or near Paris itself. The Councils
burst forth into reproaches and threats against the Directors,
to which the latter replied by fiery addresses to the armies,
and to the Councils themselves. It was in vain that the
Directors Carnot and Barthélemy endeavoured to quell the
rising storm; their three colleagues refused to listen to
them, and fixed the 18th Fructidor [September 4] for the
execution of their criminal projects. During the night
preceding that day, Augereau marched 12,000 men into Paris,
and in the morning these troops, under his own command,
supported by 40 pieces of cannon, surrounded the Tuileries, in
which the Councils held their sittings. The grenadiers of the
Councils' guard joined Augereau, who arrested with his own
hand the brave Ramel, who commanded that guard, and General
Pichegru, the President of the Council of Five Hundred. ...
The Directors ... published a letter written by Moreau, which
revealed Pichegru's treason; and at the same time nominated a
Committee for the purpose of watching over the public safety.
... Forty-two members of the Council of Five Hundred, eleven
members of that of the Ancients, and two of the Directors,
Carnot [who escaped, however, into Switzerland] and
Barthélemy, were condemned to be transported to the fatal
district of Sinnamari. ... The Directors also made the editors
of 35 journals the victims of their resentment. They had the
laws passed in favour of the priests and emigrants reversed,
and annulled the elections of 48 departments. Merlin de Douai
and François de Neufchâteau were chosen as successors to
Carnot and Barthélemy, who had been banished and proscribed by
their colleagues. That which took place on the 18th Fructidor
ruined the Constitutional and Moderate party, whilst it
resuscitated that of the Revolution."
E. de Bonnechose,
History of France, 4th period,
book 2, chapter 4 (volume 2).
"During these two days, Paris continued perfectly quiet. The
patriots of the fauxbourgs deemed the punishment of
transportation too mild. ... These groups, however, which were
far from numerous, disturbed not in the least the peace of
Paris. The sectionaries of Vendemiaire ... had no longer
sufficient energy to take up arms spontaneously. They suffered
the stroke of policy to be carried into effect without
opposition. For the rest, public opinion continued uncertain.
The sincere republicans clearly perceived that the royalist
faction had rendered an energetic measure inevitable, but they
deplored the violation of the laws and the intervention of the
military power. They almost doubted the culpability of the
conspirators on seeing such a man as Carnot mingled in their
ranks. They apprehended that hatred had too strongly
influenced the determinations of the Directory. Lastly, even,
though considering its determinations as necessary, they were
sad, and not without reason: for it became evident that that
constitution, on which they had placed all their hope, was not
the termination of our troubles and our discord. The mass of
the population submitted and detached itself much on that day
from political events. ... From that day, political zeal began
to cool. Such were the consequences of the stroke of policy
accomplished on the 18th of Fructidor. It has been asserted
that it had become useless at the moment when it was executed;
that the Directory, in frightening the royalist faction, had
already succeeded in overawing it; that, by persisting in this
stretch of power, it paved the way to military usurpation. ...
But ... the royalist faction ... on the junction of the new
third ... would infallibly have overturned everything, and
mastered the Directory. Civil war would then have ensued
between it and the armies. The Directory, in foreseeing this
movement and timely repressing it, prevented a civil war; and,
if it placed itself under the protection of the military, it
submitted to a melancholy but inevitable necessity."
A. Thiers,
History of the French Revolution
(American edition), volume 4, pages 205-206.
FRANCE: A. D. 1797-1798 (December-May).
Revolutionary intrigues in Rome.
French troops in possession of the city.
Formation of the Roman Republic.
Removal of the Pope.
"At Rome a permanent conspiracy was established at the French
Embassy, where Joseph Bonaparte, as the ambassador of the
Republic, was the centre of a knot of conspirators. On the
28th of December, 1797, came the first open attempt at
insurrection. General Duphot, a hot-headed young man, one of
the military attaches of the French Embassy, put himself at
the head of a handful of the disaffected, and led them to the
attack of one of the posts of the pontifical troops. In the
ensuing skirmish a chance shot struck down the French general,
and the rabble which followed him dispersed in all directions.
It was just the opportunity for which the Directory had been
waiting in order to break the treaty of Tolentino and seize
upon Rome.
{1321}
Joseph Bonaparte left the city the morning after the émeute,
and a column of troops was immediately detached from his
brother's army in the north of Italy and ordered to march on
Rome. It consisted of General Berthier's division and 6,000
Poles under Dombrowski, and it received the ominous title of
l'armée vengeresse--the avenging army. As they advanced
through the Papal territory they met with no sympathy, no
assistance, from the inhabitants, who looked upon them as
invaders rather than deliverers. 'The army,' Berthier wrote to
Bonaparte, 'has met with nothing but the most profound
consternation in this country, without seeing one glimpse of
the spirit of independence; only one single patriot came to
me, and offered to set at liberty 2,000 convicts.' This
liberal offer of a re-inforcement of 2,000 scoundrels the
French general thought it better to decline. ... At length, on
the 10th of February, Berthier appeared before Rome. ...
Wishing to avoid a useless effusion of blood, Pius VI. ordered
the gates to be thrown open, contenting himself with
addressing, through the commandant of St. Angelo, a protest to
the French general, in which he declared that he yielded only
to overwhelming force. A few days after, a self-elected
deputation of Romans waited upon Berthier, to request him to
proclaim Rome a republic, under the protection of France. As
Berthier had been one of the most active agents in getting up
this deputation, he, of course, immediately yielded to their
request. The French general then demanded of the Pope that he
should formally resign his temporal power, and accept the new
order of things. His reply was the same as that of every Pope
of whom such a demand has been made: 'We cannot--we will not!'
In the midst of a violent thunder-storm he was torn from his
palace, forced into a carriage, and carried away to Viterbo,
and thence to Siena, where he was kept a prisoner for three
months. Rome was ruled by the iron hand of a military
governor. ... Meanwhile, alarmed at the rising in Italy, the
Directory were conveying the Pope to a French prison. ...
After a short stay at Grenoble he was transferred to the
fortress of Valence, where, broken down by the fatigues of his
journey, he died on August 19th, 1799, praying for his enemies
with his last breath."
Chevalier O'Clery.
History of the Italian Revolution,
chapter 2, section 1.
ALSO IN:
C. A. Fyffe,
History of Modern Europe,
volume 1, chapter 4.
J. Miley,
History of the Papal States,
book 8, chapter 3 (volume 3).
J. E. Darras,
History of the Catholic Church, 8th period,
chapter 6 (volume 4).
T. Roscoe,
Memoirs of Scipio de Ricci.
volume 2, chapter 4.
FRANCE: A. D. 1797-1798 (December-September).
Invasion and subjugation of Switzerland.
Creation of the Helvetic Republic.
See SWITZERLAND: A. D. 1792-1798.
FRANCE: A. D. 1797-1799.
Hostile attitude toward the United States.
The X, Y, Z correspondence.
Nearness of war.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1797-1799.
FRANCE: A. D. 1798 (May-August).
Bonaparte's expedition to Egypt.
His seizure of Malta.
Pursuit by the English fleet under Nelson.
The Battle of the Nile.
"The treaty of Campo Formio, by which Austria obtained terms
highly advantageous to her interests, dissolved the offensive
and defensive alliance of the continental powers, and left
England alone in arms. The humiliation of this country was to
be the last and the greatest achievement of French ambition.
... During the autumn and winter of this year [1797-8],
preparations for a great armament were proceeding at Toulon,
and other harbours in possession of the French. The army of
Italy, clamorous for a promised donation of 1,000,000,000
francs, which the Directory were unable to pay, had been
flattered by the title of the army of England, and appeased by
the prospect of the plunder of this country. But whatever
might be the view of the Directory, or the expectation of the
army, Bonaparte had no intention of undertaking an enterprise
so rash as a descent upon the coast of England, while the
fleets of England kept possession of the seas. There was
another quarter from which the British Empire might be menaced
with a better chance of success. India could never be secure
while Egypt and the great eastern port of the Mediterranean
were in the possession of one of the great maritime powers.
Egypt had been an object of French ambition since the time of
Louis XIV. ... It was for Egypt, therefore, that the great
armament of Toulon was destined. The project was not indeed
considered a very hopeful one at Paris; but such was the dread
and hatred of the ruling faction for the great military genius
which had sprung out of the anarchy of France, and of the
30,000 creditors whom they were unable to satisfy, that the
issue of the expedition which they most desired was, that it
might never return from the banks of the Nile. ... The fleet,
consisting of thirteen ships of the line, with several
frigates, smaller vessels, and transports conveying 28,000
picked troops, with the full equipment for every kind of
military service, set sail on the 14th of May. Attached to
this singular expedition, destined for the invasion of a
friendly country, and the destruction of an unoffending
people, was a staff of professors, furnished with books, maps,
and philosophical instruments for prosecuting scientific
researches in a land which, to a Christian and a philosopher,
was the most interesting portion of the globe. The great
armament commenced its career of rapine by seizing on the
important island of Malta. Under the shallow pretence of
taking in water for a squadron which had left its anchorage
only two days, a portion of the troops were landed, and, after
a show of resistance, the degenerate knights, who had already
been corrupted, surrendered Malta, Gozo, and Cumino, to the
French Republic. A great amount of treasure and of munitions
of war, besides the possession of the strongest place in the
Mediterranean, were thus acquired without loss or delay. A
conquest of such importance would have amply repaid and
justified the expedition, if no ulterior object had been
pursued. But Bonaparte suffered himself to be detained no more
than twenty-four hours by this achievement; and having left a
garrison of 4,000 men in the island, and established a form of
civil government, after the French pattern, he shaped his
course direct for Alexandria. On the 1st of July, the first
division of the French troops were landed at Marabou, a few
miles from the city. Aboukir and Rosetta, which commanded the
mouths of the Nile, were occupied without difficulty.
Alexandria itself was incapable of any effectual defence, and,
after a few skirmishes with the handful of Janissaries which
constituted the garrison, the French entered the place; and
for several hours the inhabitants were given up to an
indiscriminate massacre.
{1322}
Bonaparte pushed forward with his usual rapidity, undeterred
by the horrors of the sandy desert, and the sufferings of his
troops. After two victories over the Mamelukes, one of which
was obtained within sight of the Pyramids [and called the
Battle of the Pyramids], the French advanced to Cairo; and
such was the terror which they had inspired, that the capital
of Egypt was surrendered without a blow. Thus in three weeks
the country had been overrun. The invaders had nothing to fear
from the hostility of the people; a rich and fertile country,
the frontier of Asia, was in their possession; but, in order
to hold the possession secure, it was necessary to retain the
command of the sea. The English Government, on their side,
considered the capture of the Toulon armament an object of
paramount importance; and Earl St. Vincent, who was still
blockading the Spanish ports, was ordered to leave Cadiz, if
necessary, with his whole fleet, in search of the French; but
at all events, to detach a squadron, under Sir Horatio Nelson,
on that service. ... Nelson left Gibraltar on the 8th of May,
with three ships of the line, four frigates, and a sloop. ...
He was reinforced, on the 5th of June, with ten sail of the
line. His frigates had parted company with him on the 20th of
May, and never returned." Suspecting that Egypt was
Bonaparte's destination, he made sail for Alexandria, but
passed the French expedition, at night, on the way, arrived in
advance of it, and, thinking his surmise mistaken, steered
away for the Morea and thence to Naples. It was not until the
1st of August that he reached the Egyptian coast a second
time, and found the French fleet, of sixteen sail, "at anchor
in line of battle, in the Bay of Aboukir. Nelson, having
determined to fight whenever he came up with the enemy,
whether by day or by night, immediately made the signal for
action. Although the French fleet lay in an open roadstead,
they had taken up a position so strong as to justify their
belief that they could not be successfully attacked by a force
less than double their own. They lay close in shore, with a
large shoal in their rear; in the advance of their line was an
island, on which a formidable battery had been erected; and
their flanks were covered by numerous gun-boats. ... The
general action commenced at sunset, and continued throughout
the night until six o'clock the following morning, a period of
nearly twelve hours. But in less than two hours, five of the
enemy's ships had struck; and, soon after nine o'clock, the
sea and shore, for miles around, were illuminated by a fire
which burst from the decks of the 'Orient,' the French
flag-ship, of 120 guns. In about half an hour she blew up,
with an explosion so appalling that for some minutes the
action was suspended, as if by tacit consent. At this time the
French Admiral Brueys was dead, ... killed by a chain-shot
before the ship took fire. Nelson also had been carried below,
with a wound which was, at first, supposed to be mortal. He
had been struck in the head with a fragment of langridge shot,
which tore away a part of the scalp. ... At three o'clock in
the morning four more of the French ships were destroyed or
taken. There was then an interval of two hours, during which
hardly a shot was fired on either side. At ten minutes to
seven another ship of the line, after a feeble attempt at
resistance, hauled down her colours. The action was now over.
Of the thirteen French ships of the line, nine had been taken,
and two had been burnt." Two ships of the line and two
frigates escaped. "The British killed and wounded were 895.
The loss of the French, including prisoners, was 5,225. Such
was the great battle of the Nile."
W. Massey,
History of England during the Reign of George III.,
chapter 39 (volume 4).
ALSO IN:
E. J. De La Gravière,
Sketches of the Last Naval War,
volume 1, part 3.
R. Southey,
Life of Nelson,
chapter 5.
Despatches and Letters of Lord Nelson,
volume 3.
Bonaparte,
Memoirs Dictated at St. Helena,
volume 2.
A. T. Mahan,
Influence of Sea Power upon the French Revolution and
Empire,
chapter 9 (volume 1).
FRANCE: A. D. 1798-1799 (August-April).
Arming against the Second European Coalition.
The conscription.
Overthrow of the Neapolitan kingdom.
Seizure of Piedmont.
Campaigns in Switzerland, Italy, and on the upper Danube.
Early successes and final reverses.
"The Porte declared war against the French, and, entered into
an alliance with Russia and England (12th August). A Russian
fleet sailed from Sebastopol, and blockaded the Ionian
Islands; the English vessels found every Turkish port open to
them, and gained possession of the Levant trade, to the
detriment of France. Thus the failure of the Egyptian
expedition delivered the Ottoman Empire into the hands of two
Powers, the one intent upon its dismemberment, the other eager
to make itself master of its commerce; it gave England the
supremacy in the Mediterranean; it inaugurated the appearance
of Russia in southern Europe; it was the signal for a second
coalition." Russia, "under Catherine, had but taken a nominal
part in the first coalition, being too much occupied with the
annihilation of Poland. ... But now Catherine was dead, Paul
I., her son and successor, took the émigrés in his pay,
offered the Pretender an asylum at Mittau, promised his
protection to the Congress at Rastadt, and fitted out 100,000
troops. Naples had been in a great ferment since the creation
of the Roman Republic. The nobles and middle classes, imbued
with French ideas, detested a Court sold to the English, and
presided over by the imbecile Ferdinand, who left the cares of
his government to his dissolute Queen. She hated the French,
and now solicited Tuscany and Piedmont to unite with her to
deliver Italy from the sway of these Republicans. The Austrian
Court, of which Bonaparte had been the conscious or
unconscious dupe, instead of disarming after the Treaty of
Campo-Formio, continued its armaments with redoubled vigour,
and now demanded indemnities, on the pretext that it had
suffered from the Republican system which the French
introduced into Switzerland and Italy. The Directory very
naturally refused to accede to this; and thereupon Austria
prepared for war, and endeavoured to drag Prussia and the
German Empire into it. ... But Frederick William's successor
and the princess of the empire declined to recommence
hostilities with France, of which they had reason to fear the
enmity, though at present she was scarcely able to resist a
second coalition. The French nation, in fact, was sincerely
eager for peace. ...
{1323}
Nevertheless, and though there was little unity amongst them,
the Councils and the Directory prepared their measures of
defence; they increased the revenue, by creating a tax on
doors and windows; they authorised the sale of national
property to the amount of 125,000,000 francs; and finally, on
the report of Jourdan, they passed the famous law of
conscription (5th September), which compelled every Frenchman
to serve in the army from the age of 20 to that of 25, the
first immediate levy to consist of 200,000 troops. When the
victory of the Nile became known at Naples the court was a
prey to frenzied excitement. Taxes had already been doubled, a
fifth of the population called to arms, the nobles and middle
classes were tortured into submission. And when the report
spread that the Russians were marching through Poland, it was
resolved to commence hostilities by attacking the Roman
Republic, and to rouse Piedmont and Tuscany to rebellion.
Forty thousand Neapolitans, scarcely provided with arms,
headed by the Austrian general Mack, made their way into the
Roman states, guarded only by 18,000 French troops, dispersed
between the two seas (12th November). Championnet, their
commander, abandoned Rome, took up a position on the Tiber,
near Civita-Castellana, and concentrated all his forces on
that point. The King of Naples entered Rome, while Mack went
to encounter Championnet. The latter beat him, routed or
captured the best of his troops, and compelled him to retire
in disorder to the Neapolitan territory. Championnet, now at
the head of 25,000 men, returned to Rome, previous to marching
on Naples, where the greatest disorder prevailed. At the news
of his approach the Court armed the lazzaroni, and fled with
its treasures to the English fleet, abandoning the town to
pillage and anarchy (20th December, 1798). Mack, seeing his
army deserting him, and his officers making common cause with
the Republicans, concluded an armistice with Championnet, but
his soldiers revolted and compelled him to seek safety in the
French camp. On Championnet's appearance before Naples, which
the lazzaroni defended with fury, a violent battle ensued,
lasting for three days; however, some of the citizens
delivered the fort of St. Elmo to the French, and then the mob
laid down its arms (23rd January, 1799). The Parthenopeian
Republic [so called from one of the ancient names of the city
of Naples] was immediately proclaimed, a provisional
government organised, the citizens formed themselves into a
National Guard, and the kingdom accepted the Revolution. The
demand of Championnet for a war contribution of 27,000,000
francs roused the Calabrians to revolt; anarchy prevailed
everywhere; commissioners were sent by the Directory to
re-establish order. The French general had them arrested, but
he was deposed and succeeded by Macdonald. In commencing its
aggression the court of Naples had counted on the aid of the
King of Sardinia and the Grand Duke of Tuscany. But Piedmont,
placed between three republics, was herself sharing the
Revolutionary ferment; the King, who had concluded an alliance
with Austria, proscribed the democrats, who, in their turn,
declared war against him by means of the Ligurian Republic,
whither they had fled. When Championnet was compelled to
evacuate Rome, the Directory, afraid that Sardinia would
harass the French rear, had ordered Joubert, commanding the
army of Italy, to occupy Piedmont. The Piedmontese troops
opened every place to the French, entered into their ranks,
and the King [December 8, 1798] was forced to give up all
claims to Piedmont, and to take refuge in Sardinia ...
[retaining the latter, but abdicating the sovereignty of
Piedmont]. Tuscany being also occupied by the Republican
troops, the moment war was declared against Austria, Italy was
virtually under French dominion. These events but increased
the enmity of the Coalition, which hurried its preparations,
while the Directory, cheered by its successes, resolved to
take the offensive on all points. ... In the present struggle,
however, the conditions of warfare were changed. The lines of
invasion were no longer, as formerly, short and isolated, but
stretched from the Zuyder Zee to the Gulf of Tarentum, open to
be attacked in Holland from the rear, and at Naples by the
English fleet. ... Seventy thousand troops, under the Archduke
Charles, occupied Bavaria; General Hotze occupied the
Vorarlberg with 25,000 men; Bellegarde was with 45,000 in the
Tyrol; and 70,000 guarded the line of the Adige, headed by
Marshal Kray. Eighty thousand Russians, in two equal
divisions, were on their way to join the Austrians. The
division under Suwarroff was to operate with Kray, that one
under Korsakoff with the Archduke. Finally, 40,000 English and
Russians were to land in Holland, and 20,000 English and
Sicilians in Naples. The Directory, instead of concentrating
its forces on the Adige and near the sources of the Danube,
divided them. Fifteen thousand troops were posted in Holland,
under Brune; 8,000 at Mayence, under Bernadotte; 40,000 from
Strasburg to Bâle, under Jourdan; 30,000 in Switzerland, under
Masséna; 50,000 on the Adige, under Schérer; 30,000 at Naples,
under Macdonald. These various divisions were in reality meant
to form but one army, of which Massena was the centre, Jourdan
and Schérer the wings, Brune and Macdonald the extremities. To
Massena was confided the principal operation, namely, to
possess himself of the central Alps, in order to isolate the
two imperial armies of the Adige and Danube and to neutralise
their efforts. The Coalition having hit upon the same plan as
the Directory, ordered the Austrians under Bellegarde to
invade the Grisons, while on the other side a division was to
descend into the Valteline." Masséna's right wing, under
Lecourbe, defeated Bellegarde, crossed the upper Rhine and
made its way to the Inn. Schérer also advanced by the
Valteline to the upper Adige and joined operations with
Lecourbe. "While these two generals were spreading terror in
the Tyrol, Masséna made himself master of the Rhine from its
sources to the lake of Constance, receiving but one check in
the fruitless siege of Feldkirch, a position he coveted in
order to be able to support with his right wing the army of
the Danube, or with his left that of Italy. This check
compelled Lecourbe and Dessoles to slacken their progress, and
the various events on the Danube and the Po necessitated their
recall in a short time. Jourdan had crossed the Rhine at Kehl,
Bâle, and Schaffhausen (1st March), penetrated into the defile
of the upper Danube, and reached the village of Ostrach, where
he was confronted by the Archduke Charles, who had passed the
Iller, and who, after a sanguinary battle [March 21],
compelled him to retreat upon Tutlingen. The tidings of
Masséna's success having reached Jourdan, he wished to support
it by marching to Stockach, the key to the roads of
Switzerland and Germany; but he was once more defeated (25th
March), and retreated, not into Switzerland, whence he could
have joined Masséna, but to the Rhine, which he imagined to be
threatened. ...
{1324}
In Italy the Directory had given orders to Schérer to force
the Adige, and to drive the Austrians over the Piave and the
Brenta." He attacked and carried the Austrian camp of
Pastrengo, near Rivoli, on the 25th of March, 1799, inflicting
a loss of 8,000 on the enemy; but on the 5th of April, when
moving to force the lower Adige, he was defeated by Kray at
Magnano. "Schérer lost his head, fled precipitately, and did
not stop until he had put a safe distance between himself and
the enemy. ... The army of Switzerland, under Masséna,
dispersed in the mountains, with both its flanks threatened,
had no other means of salvation than to fall back behind the
Rhine."
H. Van Laun,
The French Revolutionary Epoch,
book 3, chapter 1, section 2 (volume 1).
ALSO IN:
R Southey,
Life of Nelson,
chapter 6 (volume 2).
A. Griffiths,
French Revolutionary Generals,
chapter 18.
A. Gallenga,
History of Piedmont,
volume 3, chapter 5.
P. Colletta,
History of the Kingdom of Naples,
book 3, chapter 2; book 4, chapter 1 (volume 1).
FRANCE: A. D. 1798-1799 (August-August).
Bonaparte's organization of government in Egypt.
His advance into Syria and repulse at Acre.
His victory at Aboukir and return to France.
"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).
Gen. 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