A HISTORY OF MODERN EUROPE : A.D. 1453-1900

CHAPTER LX.

THE WAR OF THE SECOND COALITION

FREDERICK WILLIAM II did not live to hear the Accession of particulars of the Peace of Campo Formio, and the way in which he had been treated by his French allies. He had of long been in a declining state of health, and on November 16th, 1797, he expired at Potsdam, in the fifty-fourth year of his age and twelfth of his reign. He was succeeded by his son, Frederick William III, born August 3rd, 1770. This Prince, endowed with only moderate abilities, was remarkable for his moral and domestic habits. Frederick William II’s favorite general, Bischofswerder, was dismissed into poverty and obscurity, with a pension of 1,200 thalers (£180). Lucchesini avoided the disgrace of a dismissal by retiring before his royal master’s death. But the late King’s principal Ministers, Haugwitz, Lombard, and Lecoq, were retained, and thus no change ensued in the Prussian policy. On the very first day of his reign Frederick William III addressed a letter to the Directors of the French Republic, whom he called “his great and dear friends”, and promised to cultivate the harmony which had hitherto subsisted between the two nations. But it soon became evident that, since the Treaty of Campo Formio, the Cabinet of the Luxembourg had adopted the policy of embroiling Austria and Prussia, by treating the former with great consideration, and manifesting a complete indifference for the latter.

England, after the preliminaries of Leoben, seeing herself deserted by Austria, had also endeavored to arrange a peace with France; and with that view Lord Malmesbury had been dispatched to Lille in June, to confer with the ex-Director Letourneur de la Manche, and two other French plenipotentiaries. But it soon appeared that little hope could be entertained of a favorable issue to the negotiations. Although the English Cabinet offered to restore all the possessions conquered from France, and even those wrested from Holland and Spain, with the exception only of the Cape of Good Hope and the island of Trinidad (conquered from the Spaniards, February 18th, 1797), the French Ministers refused to negotiate unless, as a preliminary, Great Britain consented to relinquish all her conquests whatsoever; thus, at the very outset, as Lord Malmesbury observed, leaving no grounds for treating at all. The negotiations were now purposely protracted by the Directory. The minority of that body, indeed, and the majority of the two Legislative Councils, seem to have been sincerely desirous of peace; but the triumvirs, Rewbel, Barras, and La Réveillère-Lepaux, had resolved on war. Immediately after the revolution of 18th Fructidor, the French plenipotentiaries at Lille were replaced by Treilhard and Bonnier, two members of the late Convention. On September 16th, Treilhard demanded of Lord Malmesbury whether he had powers to restore all their colonies to France and her allies, and received an answer in the negative. Passports were now sent to the English Minister, who was directed to quit France in twenty-four hours. Yet the French plenipotentiaries remained at Lille till October 16th, pretending to expect Lord Malmesbury’s return!

Great Britain was thus left to contend alone with the now colossal power of France. Even Portugal, her ancient ally, had been constrained to abandon her. At the time of the Treaty of Basle, Spain had engaged to use her influence to detach Portugal from the English alliance. When the Court of Madrid declared war against England, the Portuguese Queen, Maria I, was required to make common cause with Spain and France, and threatened with war in case of refusal; and a Spanish army was actually assembled on the frontiers of Portugal. The Court of Lisbon made extraordinary preparations for defence, which were supported by the British Government. Prince John, the Regent, was, however, anxious for a peace with the French Republic; and the Portuguese Minister, Don Antonio Aranjo de Azevedo, taking advantage of the Directory’s want of money for their coup d’état of 18th Fructidor, purchased from them, at the price of six million francs, a tolerably advantageous treaty, August 20th, 1797, which the French Legislature ratified September 12th. In consequence of this transaction, Admiral Jervis, now Lord St. Vincent, entered the Tagus; troops were landed, who occupied Fort St. Julian, commanding the port; and the English Cabinet declared that the ratification of the treaty with France would be regarded as an act of hostility. The Regent, under these circumstances, declined to ratify; the Directory declared the treaty null and void, October 26th, and the Portuguese Minister was ordered to leave Paris. When, however, the Peace of Campo Formio had released the French armies, and the representations of the Spanish Court became still more pressing, the Regent, dreading the dangers to which he was exposed on this side, even more than a rupture with England, reconciled himself with the Directory and ratified the treaty, December 1st.

The French, having effected their purpose of isolating England, resolved to strike a blow at her very heart. They saw that on the ocean, on which alone the war would henceforth be prosecuted, she was able to bid defiance to the combined efforts of Europe. In the course of the year, by Admiral Jervis’s victory over the Spanish fleet off Cape St. Vincent, February 14th, and by that of Admiral Duncan over the Dutch fleet under Winter, at Camperdown, October 11th, she had severely crippled the naval power of those allies of France. An invasion, and, if possible, a conquest of England, seemed the only method of destroying her maritime superiority. A futile attempt was made early in the year to ascend the Avon and burn Bristol, which ended in the capture of all concerned in it. Bonaparte, immediately after the Peace of Campo Formio, formed a plan for invading England on a grand scale, though it may be doubted whether he really intended to execute it. In a letter to the Foreign Minister, Talleyrand, October 18th, he observes: “The Austrians are heavy and avaricious; there is no people less intriguing, or less dangerous for our military affairs. The English, on the contrary, are generous, intriguing, and enterprising. Our Government must destroy the English Monarchy, or must expect itself to be destroyed by the corruption and intrigues of these active islanders. The present moment offers a good opportunity. Let us concentrate all our activity on the navy, and destroy England. That effected, all Europe is at our feet”. The Directory hastened to accept a scheme, which, however ideal, would disembarrass them of a commander whom they suspected. Taking Bonaparte at his word, they named, on the very day that his dispatch was received, Berthier to the command of the army of Italy, ordered several corps to assemble on the coasts of the Channel, and appointed Bonaparte to the command of the “Army of England”, which, till his arrival, was given provisionally to Desaix. Bonaparte, on reviewing the French troops at Milan, November 4th, announced to them this appointment, and told them that they must not lay down their arms till England had been conquered. From the army of Italy 86,000 men were directed towards the ocean. So great was the confidence of the Directory, that they opened a loan which was to be repaid out of the spoils of England. A more tangible security was the seizure and sale of all English goods held by French merchants; an act of injustice towards French subjects intended to injure English commerce, but which fell in reality on that of France. The Directory also declared lawful prize all vessels freighted with English merchandise. Such was the beginning of that war upon English commerce, afterwards carried out on a gigantic scale by Bonaparte by his famous Continental system.

Bonaparte at Rastadt

Before assuming the command of the army of England, Bonaparte was to proceed, as French Plenipotentiary, to Rastadt, where, agreeably to the Treaty of Campo Formio, a congress had assembled to arrange the terms of a peace between the French Republic and the German Empire. Bonaparte’s journey to Rastadt resembled a triumphal march. All the towns through which he passed sent deputations to salute him. At Turin he was received by the King of Sardinia with every mark of distinction; Geneva celebrated his arrival with public fetes and illuminations; Bern prepared to honor him with a banquet, a ball, and other festivities. But the French Revolutionists had long conceived a grudge against Bern, for reasons which will be explained further on; and Bonaparte declined to accept their hospitalities. He entered Rastadt on the evening of November 25th, in a carriage drawn by eight horses and surrounded by a guard of twenty-four hussars. Here he found a dispatch from the Directory inviting him to Paris. The most important matter concluded by Bonaparte daring his short stay at Rastadt was a secret military convention, arranged with Count Cobenzl, and signed December 1st, intended to facilitate the execution of the secret treaty of Campo Formio. The Emperor, in communicating the public articles of that treaty to the German Diet, had invited them to send deputies to Rastadt to treat for a peace “on the basis of the integrity of the Empire”. Yet, by this convention, the Imperial troops were to evacuate the fortresses of Mainz, Ehrenbreitstein, Philippsburg, Konigstein, Mannheim, Ulm, Ingolstadt, and Wurzburg; in short, to retire from the neighborhood of the Rhine behind the Lech and the Inn, in order that the French might take possession of Mainz and the left bank of the Rhine. The Elector of Mainz and the Diet were to be moved to admit the French troops into that city; in case of refusal, the French Republic was to be authorized to effect a forcible entry. The Imperial troops, agreeably to this convention, evacuated Mainz on the night of December 9th, leaving in it only the troops of the Elector. The astonishment and dismay of the Princes of the Empire at being thus betrayed and deserted by their constitutional head may be better conceived than described. The mask had at length fallen, and the double game played by Francis became apparent. As head of the Empire, he had stipulated its integrity in the preliminaries of Leoben. But in the secret articles of the Treaty of Campo Formio, which he concluded only as King of Hungary and Bohemia, that stipulation had been abandoned; nay, he had agreed that if the war should be renewed he would furnish to the Empire only his contingent as Archduke of Austria, and remain neuter with regard to his other dominions. Mainz was now surrounded by the French troops, and, in spite of the remonstrances of the Elector, being threatened with a bombardment, was compelled to capitulate, December 28th, 1797. It was not till this surrender was effected that the Austrians were admitted into Venice.

Meanwhile Bonaparte had returned to Paris; where the Directors, in compliance with the public enthusiasm, but much against their own private inclinations, received him with extraordinary pomp in the Court of the Luxembourg Palace, December 10th. Talleyrand addressed the victor of Italy in a speech more remarkable for bombast and exaggerated adulation than for eloquence, for none had a surer presage of the rising sun than the ex-Bishop of Autun. The address of Bonaparte himself on presenting the Treaty of Campo Formio to the Directors, was conceived in a stilted, sententious style. Barras, in his reply, observed that “Nature had exhausted all her riches to create Bonaparte—Bonaparte has meditated his conquests with the mind of Socrates; he has reconciled mankind with war!”. Bonaparte, seems, however, to have been rather humiliated than gratified by his reception at the Luxembourg; he would, indeed, have been content with a seat in the Directory, in which two were now vacant, but he was put aside on the ground that he had not attained the age required by the constitution.

In prosecution of the scheme for invading England, Bonaparte, accompanied by some general officers, paid a rapid visit, early in February, 1798, to the ports of Etaples, Ambleteuse, Boulogne, Calais, Dunkirk, Furnes, Nieuport, Ostend, and the Isle of Walcheren, for the purpose of forming a judgment as to the feasibility of the enterprise. The result was that he deemed it too hazardous. The conquest of the Turkish province of Egypt, which had long occupied his attention, as well as that of the Directory, was substituted for it.

A brief account of the subversion of the papal government. 1798

We have already mentioned how the Directory, immediately after the fall of Mantua, had pressed Bonaparte to march to Rome and destroy the Papal Government; how that general deemed such a step at all events premature, and preferred to conclude with the Pope the Peace of Tolentino. The Directors, however, continued to cherish a plan which promised, at trifling risk, so rich a harvest of plunder and peculation; nor did Bonaparte entertain the same repugnance for it as previously to the arrangements for a peace with Austria. His elder brother Joseph was sent as ambassador to Rome in September, 1797, for the purpose of troubling the waters and laying the foundations of a quarrel; but as Joseph’s indolent habits seemed to promise but little activity, three young and fiery French generals, Duphot, Arrighi, and Sherlock, were subsequently appointed to assist him. With the same view of seizing Rome the French continued to occupy Ancona, although they had agreed to evacuate it at the general peace, alleging that a maritime war was still continued. Bonaparte instructed his brother, in case Pius should die, to strain every nerve to prevent the election of another Pope, and to effect a revolution in the government. Although the Pope’s authority was menaced by a revolutionary party, he was compelled, by the threats of Bonaparte, to dismiss the Austrian general Provera, whom he had appointed to the command of the Papal troops. Disturbances broke out in several parts of the Pope’s dominions. At Rome the democrats proclaimed a republic, and similar scenes ensued at Corneto, Civita Vecchia, and other places. These insurrections were put down; but they caused Pius such alarm that he was compelled to recognize the Cisalpine Republic, by which they had been fomented. The Pope appealed to the French ambassador to intervene, who pretended to sympathize with his situation; but instead of affording aid he demanded the release of all the imprisoned patriots. Rome at this time swarmed with discontented men, at the head of whom was the Marquis Vivaldi. It was notorious that an insurrection was preparing and that its focus was at the Corsini Palace, the residence of the French Embassy. On December 28th, 1797, it broke out, and Duphot was fired upon and received a mortal wound. Next day Joseph Bonaparte quitted Rome for Florence, and though the Papal Government made the most humble submissions, nothing could induce him to return. Berthier, much against his inclination, was directed to march secretly and with all the expedition possible upon Rome, and there to organize a republic. In vain the Pope implored the aid of Naples, Austria, and Tuscany. Bonaparte averted their interference by pretending that the Directory, after the occupation of Rome, would come to an understanding with those Powers about its fate. If, however, Naples should stir in the matter, he threatened that war would be declared. The Cabinet of Vienna acquiesced so tamely in these proceedings that they did not even present a single note to the Directory in favor of Pius VI.

The French troops entered Rome February 10th, 1798, and were received as friends. The Pope could resort to no other weapons for his protection than prayer and fasting. On February 15th, the anniversary of Pius VI’s elevation, the Papal chair was overthrown, and the Roman Republic proclaimed. The Pope received with dignity and resignation the news of his deposition. A scene of brigandage now ensued, which had been one of the chief objects of these proceedings. Berthier had proclaimed that property would be respected, and Pius had not attempted to remove his effects. Yet his palaces were stripped, their contents catalogued and sold with all the regularity of a broker acting under a writ of execution. The French armies in Italy were constantly followed by a horde of dealers, tracking like vultures the scent of booty. Rome was mulcted in four million francs in specie, two millions in stores and provisions, and three thousand horses; and four Cardinals, three Princes, and other persons were seized as hostages for the payment. The Papal arms were everywhere destroyed, the golden keys suppressed, titles and other distinctions abolished, gold lace, liveries, and ornaments of all kinds prohibited.

The Directory had determined that Pius should leave Rome, and the remainder of his property was now confiscated. His private library, consisting of more than 40,000 volumes, was sold to a Roman bookseller; even the rings were stripped from his fingers. Foremost in these brutalities was the French Commissioner Haller, a Swiss Calvinist. On a stormy night towards the end of February, Pius was conveyed like a prisoner to Siena. When the French took possession of Tuscany, in March, 1799, Pius was carried to Briançon, a fortress in the High Alps surrounded with perpetual snows, a place to which regiments were sometimes sent by way of punishment. This systematic cruelty, towards an invalid old man, whose long reign of more than twenty years is unsullied by a single instance of persecution or injustice, appears to have been chiefly the work of the fanatical La Réveillère-Lepaux, chief of the sect calling themselves theophilanthropistes, or religious philanthropists! When that Director and his colleagues, Treilhard and Merlin, were expelled from the Luxembourg in the following June, the Government caused the Pope to be removed to the milder climate of Valence, in the Department of the Drome, where he died at the age of eighty-two, August 29th, 1799.

A few days after the expulsion of the Pope, four French Commissioners arrived at Rome and established a constitution on the approved model, namely, two chambers and five directors with the title of consuls. The churches as well as the palaces were pillaged. Objects of art were turned into money; sacerdotal robes were submitted to the fire for the sake of the bullion in their embroidery; the shrubs in the gardens were dug up and sold. What could not be sold was wantonly destroyed. The proceeds of this plunder were appropriated by Generals of the Staff and agents of the Directors.

Switzerland was the next victim of Gallic cupidity. An state of attack upon that country had been meditated by the Girondists. Already, during the Italian campaign, Bonaparte seems to have meditated the future subjugation of Switzerland, for the sake of the convenient military roads into South Germany and North Italy which the possession of it would afford. The annexation of the Italian cantons to the Cisalpine Republic formed part of this scheme, to the execution of which all obstacles appeared to be removed by the Peace of Campo Formio. The aid which the well-filled treasury of Bern, and the spoils which might be made in other Swiss towns, would afford towards the expedition against England, afterwards converted into that against Egypt, was not the least among the motives for the attack upon Switzerland.

It is not surprising that the doctrines of the French Revolution should have made some progress among certain portions of the Swiss, who, whatever might be their political liberty, could not boast of equality. Basle and the Pays de Vaud were the cantons in which French principles made most progress. They were fomented in the former by Peter Ochs, Oberzunftmeister, or head of the Corporation of Basle, and in the Pays de Vaud, by Colonel Laharpe, a person of some influence, who had been tutor to the Archduke Alexander of Russia, afterwards Emperor. Laharpe had, on one or two occasions, excited insurrections, which, however, had been put down by the Bernese Government. Circumstances were more favorable to his plans, and those of Ochs, towards the end of 1797. The Directory, soon after their establishment, had cast their eyes on Switzerland; emissaries had been dispatched thither to sow the seeds of dissension; complaints had been raised about the conduct of the Bernese Government; and the dismissal, or rather the voluntary retirement, of the English Minister, Wickham, whom they had accused of abusing his ambassadorial functions by intriguing against France, had been effected. After the conclusion of the peace with Austria, the Directors began more openly to display their hostility. In December they caused their troops to take possession of some territories belonging to the Bishopric of Basle, and on January 28th, 1798, Muhlhausen was united by a formal treaty to France. The peasantry of the canton of Basle, seizing the opportunity to assert their liberties, rose in insurrection and destroyed the châteaux of their bailiffs or governors; but the Council and Burgesses of Basle averted the storm by conceding to the peasantry equal privileges with the citizens. About the same time, Laharpe, having concerted his plans with the Directory, incited his fellow-subjects to rise. Talleyrand, Minister of Foreign Affairs, as a pretext for interference, disinterred some old treaties of the time of Charles IX by which the French Government guaranteed the political rights of the Vaudois. The Directory notified to the Governments of Bern and Freiburg, that the members of them, by virtue of these ancient treaties, would be individually responsible for the persons and property of such inhabitants of the Pays de Vaud as might seek the mediation of the French Republic. At the same time Massena’s division, under the command of Mesnard, was directed to march from Italy to the frontiers of the Pays de Vaud. The revolutionists of that country, thus encouraged, became more daring in their movements, while French emissaries spread themselves through the more aristocratic parts of Switzerland to excite discontent and revolt. The Bernese Government, on their side, invoked the aid of the other cantons; the oath of federation was renewed by all except that of Basle, and the Tagsatzung, or Diet, decreed the levy of a confederate army.

Before this force could assemble, Colonel Weiss was dispatched with fourteen battalions to reduce the insurgent Vaudois, who, on his approach, claimed the assistance of Mesnard. The French general immediately entered the Pays de Vaud. Weiss retired to Yverdun without striking a blow, and Mesnard proclaimed at Lausanne, January 24th, 1798, the independence of the Vaudois. Mesnard dispatched an aide-de-camp with a message to Weiss, requiring the evacuation of the Pays de Vaud, but not having the proper watchword, two of the hussars of the aide-de-camp’s escort were shot by a Bernese outpost stationed a few miles from Yverdun. This event afforded the French general an excellent handle to declaim against a breach of the law of nations, and to threaten the Bernese with hostilities. Weiss, alarmed by his menaces, now evacuated the Pays de Vaud, although he had 20,000 men while the French army numbered only 15,000, the victors of Italy, but in a state of destitution. The Swiss were made to supply their wants. Mesnard, on taking possession of the Pays de Vaud, mulcted his new allies, whom he had come to protect, in 700,000 francs; but they had the satisfaction of proclaiming themselves the Lemanic Republic.

A vigorous blow, rapidly delivered, might still have saved Bern. But the aristocrats of Bern betrayed the same weakness and indecision which had ruined Venice and Genoa. A majority in the Council were for negotiating a peace, as well as awaiting the confederate reinforcements. In the hope of conciliating the French, they began to make some reforms in the Government, which only destroyed its authority and vigour without attaining the proposed end. The same course was adopted by several other cantons. The Bernese Government opened negotiations with the Directory; but Mesnard did not arrest his march, while at the same time Schauenburg was advancing from the north with 17,000 men detached from the army of the Rhine. At this juncture General Brune assumed the command of the French army in Switzerland.

Brune was instructed to play the part of a pacificator, and to amuse the Bernese with negotiations till he should be in a posture to strike a decisive blow. But the demands of the French were so extravagant, that even the peace party in the Bernese Senate was roused from its lethargy, and a peremptory refusal was given. Symptoms of insubordination, however, appeared in his army; and although confederate troops, to the number of 5,000 or 6,000, had arrived, they for the most part kept aloof and formed only a line of reserve. Meanwhile the French advanced from both sides with rapid marches. Scarcely had the armistice which had been agreed upon expired, when Soleure and Freiburg were occupied. The Bernese gained some advantages at Neueneck, between Freiburg and Bern, March 5th, but their defeat, on the same day at Frauenbrunnen, decided the fate of Bern. The reduction of Freiburg, Soleure, and Bern, in the short space of five days, was the prelude to the subjugation of all Switzerland.

The work of conquest ended, that of plunder began. In specie, corn, wine, military stores, contributions, etc., Bern was robbed to the value of forty-two million francs, of which near eleven million consisted of money and bullion in the treasury. Of this sum, three millions in specie were sent direct from Bern to Toulon, by order of Bonaparte, in aid of the expedition to Egypt. Although war had been declared only against Bern, all Switzerland was treated as a conquered country, and large contributions were exacted from Freiburg, Soleure, Zurich, and other places. But the Swiss were to be compensated for their losses by a constitution on the French model. Brune, by order of the Directory, was at first for dividing Switzerland into three republics, to be entitled Rhodania, Helvetia, and Tellguria. But Ochs and Laharpe, who were intriguing at Paris in the interests of their country, were for a Republic, one and indivisible, on the French model; and their views, being supported by Bonaparte and Talleyrand, at last prevailed. Schauenburg, now commander-in-chief of the French army, and the Commissioner Lecarlier, proclaimed the Helvetic Republic at Aarau, April 12th. The general scheme of the new constitution included two Councils and a Directory, and was modelled on that of France. A treaty was concluded with Geneva, and that town and its territory were united to France (April 26th). Schauenburg and Lecarlier behaved in the most tyrannical manner towards the Swiss. Eleven members of the Bernese Government and five patricians of Soleure were carried off as prisoners to the citadel of Strassburg; the churches and monasteries, as well as the public treasuries and arsenals, were everywhere plundered.

The forest cantons of Schwytz, Uri, Zug, Unterwalden, and Glarus, protected by their lakes and mountains, refused at first to be incorporated in the new Republic. A force of about 10,000 men was raised, which, under the conduct of Aloys Reding, fought some battles with the French at Schindelazi, Rothenthurm, and other places, and sometimes gained the advantage; but numerical superiority at length prevailed, and the refractory cantons consented to take the oath to the constitution. The tyranny and robberies of Rapinat, Lecarlier’s successor, drove them in the following July to a desperate revolt; though the canton of Unterwalden was the only one that persisted in it. A small body of these hardy mountaineers fought a desperate battle with the French at Stantz, near the Lake of Lucerne, September 8th, and inflicted a heavy loss upon their invaders. But, being overpowered by numbers, the French wreaked their vengeance by an indiscriminate slaughter, and by burning and plundering throughout the canton.

Thus was all Switzerland finally reduced to subjection, and added to the list of those new republics which followed in the train of France. A treaty of peace and alliance, offensive and defensive, signed at Paris August 19th, 1798, reduced the Helvetic Republic under the vassalage of France. By this treaty were secured two military roads through Switzerland: one along the Rhine and left shore of the Lake of Constance to Southern Germany; the other through the Valais, ultimately communicating with the Cisalpine Republic by the Simplon Pass.

Europe

Europe had remained passive while the French Government, under the shadow of the Peace of Campo Formio, effected the overthrow of the Pope and the destruction of Swiss independence. It remained for France to obtain, under that treaty, the cession of the left bank of the Rhine. Treilhard and Bonnier, the French plenipotentiaries at Rastadt, the same who had negotiated with Lord Malmesbury at Lille, proposed that cession as a sine qua non for the basis of all negotiations, and as an indemnity for the expenses incurred by France through an unjust attach; while the deputation of the Empire resorted to every artifice of delay and evasion. Bonaparte cut the matter short by telling Count Cobenzl, that if the absolute cession of the left bank was not agreed upon by March 20th, the war would recommence by a formidable irruption into Germany. Thugut and the Austrian Cabinet now yielded, and the cession was made by the period named. The principal object of the Congress being thus accomplished, Bonaparte, intent upon the expedition to Egypt, obtained permission to withdraw altogether from Rastadt, leaving there his secretary and some of his household.

The tyranny and rapacity of the French Directory were displayed in other transactions besides the oppression and plunder of Switzerland and Rome. Their conduct towards the king of Sardinia affords another remarkable instance of their bad faith. They had assured Charles Emanuel on his accession that they should never forget what he had done for France when Prince of Piedmont; yet his devotion was rewarded by a continual series of humiliations. The existence of his kingdom between France and the Cisalpine Republic was inconvenient to the Directors, who employed every method to ruin the unfortunate Sovereign by exacting contributions, which his kingdom was not in a condition to furnish, by fomenting insurrection among his subjects, and by setting on the Ligurian and Cisalpine Republics to attack and insult him. The Piedmontese rebels, secretly encouraged by France, and openly assisted by the Ligurians, attacked and defeated the King’s troops under General Colli, at Carrosio, seized Serravalle, and created such consternation, that Charles Emanuel was compelled to seek the aid of France. General Brune, who then commanded the French army in Italy, pretended that he could not accord it, unless he was put in possession of the citadel of Turin, which the Directors had long coveted in order to carry out their designs upon Piedmont. Charles Emanuel was weak enough to grant this demand by a convention signed at Milan, June 28th, 1798. Order was now restored, but the eventual price of it to the King was the loss of his dominions.

America

As the treatment of Sardinia is an instance of the tyranny of the Directory, so their conduct towards the United States of America betrays their avarice and venality. The war declared against English commerce by the French Government caused a rupture between France and the United States of North America. A lucrative trade had grown up between Great Britain and her revolted colonies, and in November, 1794, had been concluded between them a secret treaty of commerce and navigation, which had proved injurious to French trade. This and other causes had produced a serious misunderstanding, and in the autumn of 1797 envoys had been sent from America to Paris to arrange an accommodation. The first demand of the Directory, through Talleyrand, the Foreign Minister, was for a loan of forty-eight million francs; but the envoys were given to understand that this demand might be abandoned in consideration of a douceur of 1,200,000 francs, or about £50,000 sterling, to be divided between Talleyrand and the Director Barras. While the American envoys were still in Paris the Legislative Council passed a law, January 18th, 1798, that the cargo determines whether a vessel be neutral or belligerent; in other words, they proclaimed the abandonment of the principle for which France had previously clamoured, that the flag covers the goods; and, in consequence, every vessel laden wholly or partly with English merchandise was declared lawful prize. Further, they declared that any foreign vessel which had put into an English port, except for unavoidable causes, could not enter a French one. The Americans naturally regarded this law as a declaration of war, but hostilities did not actually ensue. In like manner the Directory had required a loan of twelve millions, and the cession of Cuxhaven from the towns of Hamburg, Lübeck, and Bremen; but France was not yet in a position to enforce these unjust demands. The Directory concluded a compulsory treaty, March 20th, with the Cisalpine Republic, whose “liberty and independence” they recognized and guaranteed. Yet the third article of the treaty, by placing the military force of the new Republic entirely at the disposal of the Directory, virtually subjected it to France. The ratification of the treaty having been rejected at Milan by the Council of Ancients, Berthier was directed to arrest twenty-one members of that Assembly, and the remainder then submitted. We have already seen that Portugal had been compelled to purchase a peace from the Directory, and that the Court of Lisbon had forwarded a tardy ratification of it, December 1st, 1797. But the indicretion of the Portuguese Ambassador, Aranjo, upset all that had been done. The venality of some members of the French Government being notorious, a large amount in diamonds was forwarded to Aranjo, to procure pardon for the delay of the ratification. But he distributed them so imprudently among the retainers of Barras and Talleyrand, that the Directory, in spite of his ambassadorial character, caused him to be arrested and confined in the Temple.

Godoy

The relations between France and Portugal were closely connected with those between France and Spain. The Prince of the Peace showed himself, at this time, the friend and protector of Portugal. He had caused the Spanish troops to be withdrawn from the Portuguese frontier; and in return for this proceeding, as well as in consideration of his marriage with a relative of the Queen of Portugal, the Court of Lisbon conferred upon him the principality of Evora. As these things were, of course, distasteful to the French Directory, who, moreover, were dissatisfied with the lukewarmness exhibited by Spain in prosecuting the war with England, they determined to overthrow Godoy, and to effect a revolution in the Spanish Cabinet. With this view Admiral Truguet was dispatched early in 1798 as ambassador to Madrid. Aware of his mission, the Prince of the Peace affected to act with more vigour. The Spanish fleet was ordered to issue from Cadiz, February 6th, where twenty-four ships of the line were blockaded by only eight English vessels: but the news that Lord St. Vincent, with the remainder of the English fleet, was preparing to sail from the Tagus, induced the Spanish admiral to return. Truguet, finding that he could not stimulate the Spaniards to action, and that they had no serious intention of attacking Portugal, resolved to effect the disgrace of Godoy. Owing to his representations Godoy was removed from his post as private secretary to the Queen, in which he was succeeded by the Minister of Finance, Don Francisco Saavedra. At the same time De Mallo, a young garde-du-corps, appointed majordomo of the palace, replaced Godoy in the more private service of the Queen. The disgrace of Godoy was, however, only momentary; he continued to reside at Aranjuez, and Charles IV retained for him all his former friendship.

Saavedra belonged to the French party in the Spanish counsels. His accession to power was signalized by the dismissal from Spain of all emigrant French Royalists, and the prohibition of English merchandise. The Directory continued to press the armed intervention of Spain, in order to compel Portugal to separate herself from England, and become a member of the French political system. But Godoy, though defeated, was not vanquished, and he managed by his intrigues to procure the recall of Truguet. Godoy seems to have been one of the first men in Europe who discovered that Egypt was the destination of the French armaments. It was through Madrid and Lisbon that the English Cabinet first received positive assurance of that fact. They had continued to think that the vast preparations at Brest, Toulon, Genoa, Civita Vecchia, and Cadiz were directed against Great Britain; and when their true destination was known, it was too late to blockade Toulon.

EGYPT

Leibnitz had suggested the occupation of Egypt by the French in the reign of Louis XIV, but the project of that philosopher was not carried out. The scheme was revived in the eighteenth century. The Turkish Monarchy, it was thought, would fall to pieces under the attacks of Catharine II; and it was urged by Count St. Priest, French Ambassador at Constantinople, that, instead of defending it, France should secure a share of its spoils; but circumstances caused it to be adjourned. It was, however, Magallon, French Consul at Cairo, who suggested to the Directory in 1796, the expedition actually executed. In the following year the subject engaged the attention of Bonaparte, then in Italy. The possession of the Ionian Islands by the conquest of Venice, seemed to facilitate French intervention in the affairs of the Turkish Empire, and the augmentation of French power and commerce in the East; above all, the possession of Egypt would be, it was thought, a sure step towards the ruin of England.

“With the general knowledge of geography now possessed we may well wonder at the wild notion entertained both by Bonaparte and the French authorities that it would be possible, after conquering Egypt, to march an army through Syria, Persia, and the wild countries of the northern borders of India, and to drive the British altogether from that country. The march, even if unopposed, would have been a stupendous one, and the warlike chiefs of Northern India, who, as yet, were not even threatened by a British advance, would have united against an invading army from the north, and would, had it not been of prodigious strength, have annihilated it. The French had enormously exaggerated the power of Tippoo Sahib, with whom they had opened negotiations, and even had their fantastic designs succeeded, it is certain that the Tiger of Mysore would, in a very short time, have felt as deep a hatred for them as he did for the British.

But even had such a march been possible, the extreme danger in which an army landed in Egypt would be placed of being cut off, by the superior strength of the British navy, from all communication with France, should alone have deterred them from so wild a project. The fate of the campaign was indeed decided when the first gun was fired in the Bay of Aboukir, and the destruction of the French fleet sealed the fate of Napoleon’s army. The noble defence of Acre by Sir Sidney Smith was the final blow to Napoleon’s projects, and from that moment it was but a question of time when the French army would be forced to lay down its arms, and be conveyed, in British transports, back to France. The credit of the signal failure of the enterprise must be divided between Nelson, Sir Sidney Smith, and Sir Ralph Abercrombie” (George Alfred Henry).

The scheme in itself suited the genius of Bonaparte. To carry his arms into the ancient country of Egypt, was an exploit calculated to dazzle the imagination of the French, and to increase the prestige of his military glory. The Directory, on their side, hesitated not to embrace a project which would remove for some time their brilliant young general. The capture of Malta seemed to Bonaparte a necessary preliminary. The Knights of Malta were poor and almost defenseless; he had already, with a view to this stroke, confiscated all their possessions in Italy. His armies were composed of men to whom all religions were indifferent. Mahometans, Copts, Arabs, idolaters, all would be treated alike. The Knights of Malta, or St. John of Jerusalem, who were to be thus sacrificed, had done nothing to provoke the hostility of France. They had observed a strict neutrality in the war, though they had opportunities to annoy French commerce, and enrich themselves by privateering. To facilitate the capture of Malta, Poussielgue, Secretary to the Genoese Legation, was despatched thither to form a French party, disseminate Republican opinions, and undermine the Order; while, in the spring, Admiral Brueys touched at the island with his squadron, sounded all the coasts, and sent one of his vessels into the harbour, under pretence of repairs, in order to reconnoitre.

In May, 1798, the expedition was ready to sail from Toulon to invade the dominions of a friendly Power which had not given France the slightest provocation, and for which the Directory, through its ambassador, had solemnly professed, only a few months before, the sincerest friendship. Four thousand transports had been collected to convey an army of near 40,000 men, under convoy of Admiral Brueys’ fleet. To temper the lustre of the French arms with the milder glories of science, literature, and art, a band of 100 savans and artists was to accompany the expedition. But an untoward accident threatened to interrupt it just on the eve of its sailing. Bernadotte had been dispatched as ambassador to Vienna to tranquillize the Imperial Court as to the proceedings of the French Government against Rome and Switzerland. The Directory having found fault with him for not openly displaying in the Austrian capital the national cockade and other emblems of Republicanism, Bernadotte was imprudent enough to fix a three-coloured flag, with the inscription “liberty and equality” over the gateway of his hotel at the very time when the people were celebrating the anniversary of their levy en masse in the preceding year to oppose the advance of Bonaparte. The Viennese, indignant at this insult to their Government, vented their anger by breaking the Ambassador’s windows, and tearing down and destroying the flag. Bernadotte, not having succeeded in extorting from the Imperial Court a disavowal of these proceedings, the punishment of the ringleaders, and the replacing of the obnoxious flag by the hands of an Austrian officer, quitted Vienna with all the members of the Legation, April 15th. This step filled the Directory with dismay. The national honor was at stake; they could not disavow Bernadotte; yet a war with Austria would delay, if not frustrate, the Egyptian expedition, whose departure had been fixed for April 23rd. In this dilemma they entrusted the management of affairs to Bonaparte. He was for maintaining the peace with Austria; to go to war with that Power, he observed, was to play the game of England; and he dispatched a letter to Cobenzl from which it might easily be inferred that a moderate apology would be accepted. But at the same time he countermanded the sailing of the expedition till the affair should be arranged; nay, he even expressed an opinion that, in the unsettled state of Europe, it should be postponed to a more favorable season. These views, and the dictatorial tone assumed by Bonaparte, filled the Directors with alarm. In a stormy interview, May 3rd, the five Directors gave him positive orders to depart immediately. Resorting to a familiar ruse, Bonaparte threatened to resign, when Rewbel coolly handed him a pen, observing : “The Republic no doubt will lose a brave and skillful chief, but she has other children who will not abandon her”. Bonaparte took the pen, but Merlin snatched it from him and put an end to the scene. As the General quitted the Luxembourg he is said to have observed: “Let us go—the pear is not yet ripe—we will return at the proper season”.

History of Malta during the period of the French and British occupations, 1798-1815

Such were the feelings with which Bonaparte sailed for Egypt, May 19th, a glorious foreign conquest his immediate object, in the background visions of domination at home as the result of it. Among the Generals who accompanied him were Berthier, Kléber, Murat, Junot, Desaix, Davoust, Lannes, Menou, and others. The French fleet arrived at Malta, June 9th. Only a feeble defence was made by the Knights, and on the night of the 11th a capitulation was signed. It was the work not of the Grand Master, Baron Hompesch, a German, but of five soi-disant representatives of the Order. Small annuities were granted to the Knights and an apparently liberal compensation to the Grand Master, of the greater part of which, however, he was subsequently defrauded. The treasure of St. John was seized, the plate of the hospital and churches of the Order was converted into ingots; all the ships, guns, and military stores were appropriated by the invaders; all the soldiers and sailors in the island were pressed into the French service. The Knights were ordered to leave Malta in three days, the Russian Minister in three hours. Thus was overthrown this singular Government, which had subsisted without alteration since 1530. It had long ceased to be of any utility. But this affords no justification for the unlawful attack upon the Knights and capture of their island.

Battle of the Pyramids

Bonaparte sailed from Malta June 19th. By taking a circuitous route he escaped the English fleet which was in search of him, and landed safely at Marabou, in Egypt, July 1st.

The Mamelukes, who then ruled in Egypt, were unprepared for defence. Alexandria was immediately taken and occupied, and the march was then resumed for Cairo. Proclamations in Arabic were circulated among the people, purporting that the object of Bonaparte’s expedition was to deliver the Egyptians from the tyranny of their masters; that he respected God, his prophet, and the Koran a great deal more than did the Mamelukes; and he appealed, in proof that he was no Christian, to the overthrow of the Pope and of the Knights of Malta. At Chébreiss the Mamelukes delivered their first attacks, but could make no impression on the French squares. Ascending the Nile to the apex of the Delta, Bonaparte learned that the Mamelukes, under their Beys, with Arabs and fellahs, amounting in all to 30,000 men, were entrenched between Embabeh and Grhizeh in the plain of the Pyramids, opposite Cairo. Bonaparte animating his soldiers before the attack by pointing to the Pyramids, reminded them that forty centuries looked down upon them, and in spite of the desperate valour displayed by the Mamelukes, led by Murad Bey, the French gained a complete victory (July 21st). This battle, called the Battle of the Pyramids, overthrew the government of the Mamelukes and opened Cairo to the French, who entered it on the following day. One of the first acts of Bonaparte on taking possession of Cairo was to invite the Pasha of Egypt to return, assuring him that he should enjoy the consideration due to his rank. He had been forced to accompany the flight of the Mameluke Bey Ibrahim, who commanded a force on the eastern side of the Nile, and who, after the defeat of Murad, retreated to Belbeis. Bonaparte pursued him, and defeated his rear guard at Salahieh, August 17th. The Bey then fled to Syria and Bonaparte returned to Cairo. Murad Bey had fled into Upper Egypt.

Battle of the Nile

It is unnecessary to describe Nelson’s pursuit of the French fleet, the narrow chance by which he missed it, his joy on discovering it moored in the Bay of Aboukir, the glorious and decisive Battle of Aboukir, or the Nile, August 1st and 2nd, and the almost total destruction or capture of Admiral Brueys’ fleet. Few naval engagements have been attended with consequences so important. It destroyed a third part of the naval force of France and a great number of her best sailors, gave Great Britain an irresistible superiority in the Mediterranean, annihilated French commerce in the Levant, dissipated all hope of conquest in Egypt, and reduced the French expedition to that country to a mere military descent, without the hope of reinforcement or retreat, in which the invading army must perish by its own triumphs. Its effects upon the opinions and policy of Europe were still more important and remarkable. Except in France, the news of the battle of the Nile was hailed throughout the Continent with a universal joy. The nations which had been humiliated and oppressed beheld a chance of their deliverance, and hastened to form a new coalition against France, in which the Ottoman Porte, her ancient ally, was to be strangely combined against her with Russia, the natural enemy of the Turks.

While nearly all the Continent cowered under French domination, England alone carried on the war with spirit and perseverance. Hence she became the chief object of the hatred and suspicion of the Directory. All the mischances of France were attributed to English intrigues and machinations, and England was regarded in that country, like Carthage by ancient Rome, as the implacable rival of her power and glory. The Directory, although compelled to abandon the scheme of a descent upon England itself, still entertained the hope of being able to strike a blow at her rival by means of Ireland, now, through the agitation of the United Irishmen, Whiteboys, Defenders, and other revolutionary associations, in a state of open insurrection. Armaments were prepared at Rochefort, Brest, and Dunkirk, which were intended to sail for Ireland in the spring of 1798, but the attempt was deferred till its success was compromised through the putting down of the insurrection, and the capture of some of its principal leaders. General Humbert, with the smallest armament, only sailed from Rochefort, August 2nd. He succeeded in landing about 1,100 men at Killala, and at first met with some success; but at Ballynamuch he was defeated by the Viceroy of Ireland, Lord Cornwallis, in person, and compelled to surrender with his whole force (September 8th). At the news of Humbert’s first successes, a larger squadron, under Admiral Bompart, consisting of the “Hoche”, a line-of-battle ship, and eight frigates, having on board about 3,000 men, commanded by General Hardy, put to sea, September 25th. This division, however, did not even effect a landing. The “Hoche” and three of the frigates were captured by Sir John Borlase Warren, October 11th; three of the remaining frigates, which had got into the Bay of Killala, were subsequently taken, and only two succeeded in escaping to France. Wolf Tone, one of the chiefs of the Irish insurrection, was captured on board the “Hoche”, tried, and condemned to be hanged; but escaped that ignominious fate by committing suicide.

Some attempts of the English on the coasts of France were not more successful than these French expeditions. Havre was bombarded without effect by Sir Richard Strahan, May 24th; while an expedition to Ostend under Sir Home Popham, although it attained its object of destroying the sluices of the Bruges Canal, and thus interrupting the internal navigation between France and Holland, purchased this success by the loss of all the troops engaged in the undertaking. These consisted of about 1,000 men under General Coote, who, being prevented by the heavy surf from re-embarking, were surrounded by superior forces and compelled to surrender. These reverses, however, were far more than compensated by the success of the English fleets in the Mediterranean; where, besides the capture of Gozza, a small island dependent upon Malta, Minorca was taken by Admiral Duckworth and a military force under the Hon. Charles Stuart.

But, as France was unable to cope with her rival at sea, so England was powerless against France on land. Hence her views were constantly turned to the maintenance of a coalition, which she was willing to support with her treasures. After the defection of Prussia she had turned her eyes towards Russia, and the relations with that country had been drawn closer by a treaty of commerce, negotiated by Sir Charles Whitworth in May, 1797. Paul I, as we have seen, had, on his accession countermanded the preparations of his mother, Catharine, for taking an active part against the French. He was nevertheless a determined enemy of the Revolution and of the government of the Directory, and events led him by degrees to become one of their principal opponents. After the defeat of the attempts upon the French frontier, Paul had taken into his pay the Prince of Condé and his army, and had assigned to Louis XVIII a residence at Mitau, in Courland, with a pension of two million roubles. He had displayed his good will to England and his hatred of the Directory by ordering the equipment of twenty-two ships of the line and a great number of galleys, in consequence of a decree of the Directory, January 12th, 1798, prohibiting any vessel laden with English merchandise from being allowed to pass the Sound. The proceedings of the French during that year, and the conduct of their plenipotentiaries at the Congress of Rastadt, led him to take a more active part against them.

Congress of Rastadt

The Congress of Rastadt presents a revolting spectacle of Gallic rapacity and insolence, of German disunion, selfishness, and weakness. The French plenipotentiaries, Treilhard and Bonnier, as if bent on exciting a fresh war, proceeded from one insufferable demand to another, and adopted towards the slow and formal but courteous diplomatists of Germany all the brusquerie and rudeness of sans-culottism. Treilhard having been nominated to a seat in the Directory, was succeeded by Debry; who, when a member of the Convention, had proposed the forming of a legion of regicides. Ultimately, indeed, but not till July, the Directory despatched Roberjot, ex-curé of Macon, a man of enlightened and benevolent character, to temper the violence and heal the dissensions of his colleagues. On the German side jealousy, suspicion, and treachery prevailed, while the French Ministers took care to foment these passions in order to weaken Germany, and render it an easier prey. Of the smaller German Princes many were ready to desert the national cause, and seek, for their own selfish ends, the protection of France.

We have already mentioned that the deputation of the Empire had admitted the cession of the left bank of the Rhine to France as one of the bases of negotiation: on April 2nd they also admitted the principle of secularization as the method of compensating the Princes that were to be dispossessed. It remained to discuss and arrange all the particulars included in these general bases. The French Plenipotentiaries threw off the mask in their note of May 3rd, by demanding, in addition to the left bank of the Rhine, that the navigation of that river should be common to both nations; that the French should have liberty to cross from one towing-path to another; that all the islands of the Rhine, which would constitute a tolerable principality, should be made over to France; that the fortress of Ehrenbreitstein should be demolished, with other extravagant demands of the same kind.

Matters were in this state when Paul I sent Prince Repnin to Berlin, without, however, any formal diplomatic character, to reconcile the Courts of Berlin and Vienna, and to induce them to make common cause against France. Austria had agreed to renounce her pretensions to Bavaria, provided Prussia gave up all claim to compensation in Germany for her possessions on the left bank of the Rhine; and Prince Repnin succeeded in arranging this matter on the basis of mutual renunciation. But his attempts to bring the King of Prussia into a league against France were wholly unsuccessful. The Russian Envoy was here opposed by Sieyès, whom the Directory, dreading a rupture with Austria after the affair of Bernadotte, had dispatched to Berlin to negotiate an alliance with that Court. To keep alive the jealousy between Prussia and Austria, Sieyès communicated to the Cabinet of Berlin the secret articles of the Treaty of Campo Formio, which had long been the object of their curiosity and suspicion. But Frederick William III, guided by the counsels of Haugwitz, declined alike the advances of France and Russia, and resolved on preserving a strict neutrality.

The Austrian Cabinet, on the other hand, determined to accept the support of Russia. Thugut, who had been dismissed from the Ministry as adverse to France, was now recalled, and Cobenzl was despatched to Berlin to support the negotiations of Prince Repnin; after which he was to proceed to St. Petersburg. Prince Repnin arranged at Berlin with Count Cobenzl the preliminaries of an alliance between Russia and Austria; and having proceeded to Vienna, he concluded a formal treaty between the two Courts early in September. This treaty has never been divulged, but the nature of it may be inferred from subsequent events. Before the close of 1798, 60,000 Russian troops under the command of Suvorov were placed at the disposal of Francis II and marched in three columns into the Austrian provinces.

If the Tsar was disposed to take part against the French before the capture of Malta by Bonaparte, the inclination was increased tenfold by that event. Paul I, who was of a romantic temper, had entertained from his boyhood a singular predilection for the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem. He had evinced his affection for the Order by restoring to it the revenues of the Grand Priory of Ostrog, in Volhynia, which had passed under the Russian dominion in 1793; he even augmented those revenues, and founded several new Priories and Commanderies. The Grand Master and Council of Malta, in token of their gratitude, sent Paul the cross which had been worn by the celebrated La Valette, and besought him to accept the title of Protector of the Order. When the news of the surrender of Malta arrived in St. Petersburg, the Knights of the Grand Priory of Russia solemnly deposed Hompesch, the Grand Master, and degraded from their rank and dignity, as unworthy and corrupted members, all the Knights who had accepted that infamous capitulation. On the 27th of October the Russian Knights, as well in their own name as that of those of the other tongues, proclaimed Paul I their Grand Master, a ridiculous farce, for which they had neither right nor authority. The Tsar, however, accepted the dignity, and displayed the interest which he took in the Order by framing new regulations for its discipline and government. He resolved to make it the first military institution in Europe, and a common centre for all the nobility of every nation who were interested in the support of Royalty, and in setting bounds to the flood of Jacobinism and infidelity. At the same time merit and learning were not forgotten. Men of whatever Christian sect, who had distinguished themselves by their courage, their talents, or their learning, though not of noble birth, were declared admissible into the Order, and were to enjoy equal privileges with those of higher rank. From this class were to be selected the tutors of a college, to be founded in the chief residence of the Order. By accepting this Grand Mastership, Paul, the head of the schismatical Greek Church, acknowledged the Roman Pontiff as his superior.

Russo-Turkish Alliance

At the news of the capture of Malta, the Russian fleet at Sebastopol was immediately ordered to prepare to join Nelson; while Bonaparte’s invasion of Egypt gave rise to an alliance between Russia and the Ottoman Porte. Sultan Selim III was naturally exasperated at this unprovoked and treacherous act on the part of the most ancient ally of Turkey. In order to deprecate an anger which he had foreseen, Bonaparte had no sooner taken possession of Alexandria than he instructed the French chargé d’affaires at Constantinople to convince the Porte of the firm resolution of the French to live on friendly terms with it. Bonaparte was at this time in hopes that Talleyrand would have accepted the embassy to the Porte, on whose diplomatic skill he relied to convince the Sultan and his Divan that the French invasion of Egypt was, in reality, a friendly act. But the ex-Bishop of Autun was too sagacious to risk the chance of being shut up in the Seven Towers, and the embassy was conferred on Ruffin. The conquest of Egypt, however, was only part of Bonaparte’s machinations against Turkey. He contemplated nothing less than exciting a revolt in Macedonia, and all the Greek portion of the Turkish Empire; and with that view he had dispatched Lavalette, immediately after the conquest of Malta, to Ali Pasha, of Jannina; but Ali turned a deaf ear to the proposal. Ruffin endeavored to persuade the Porte that Bonaparte’s intention was only to chastise the Mameluke Beys in Egypt; but he was placed in confinement, together with all the members of the Legation. The Grand Vizier and the Mufti, suspected of being the accomplices of the French, were deposed from their high dignities, and the Vizier was banished to the Isle of Scio. An alliance was formed with the Court of St. Petersburg, the Russian fleet was admitted through the Dardanelles, was received with every mark of honor, and visited by the Sultan in person. Outside the Straits it was joined by the Turkish fleet, and for the first, and perhaps the last time, the Russian flag waved in cordial union with the Crescent. On the 20th September the combined fleets sailed for the Archipelago, agreeably to instructions from Nelson, under whose command they were placed. They were destined to reduce the Ionian Islands, while the English took upon themselves the blockade of Malta. Sultan Selim testified his gratitude to Nelson by presenting him with a magnificent pelisse, and a diamond aigrette worth several thousand pounds, taken from his own turban. Paul also made some valuable presents to the English admiral.

The alliance between the Tsar and the Sublime Porte was definitively concluded by the Treaty of Constantinople, December 23rd, 1798. The two Powers were henceforth to have the same friends and the same enemies, and they mutually guaranteed each other’s possessions, including Egypt. Great Britain acceded to this treaty January 5th, 1799. The Porte also declared war against Holland, and on dismissing the Dutch Ambassador from Constantinople, intimated that the good understanding between the Republic and the Sublime Porte should be restored so soon as the former separated itself from France: “a separation”, it added, “which will be conformable to its interests, and which will restore it to its ancient dignity”. The coalition was consolidated by the Treaty of St. Petersburg between Great Britain and Russia, December 29th, 1798. This last alliance was founded on the hope of drawing Prussia into the coalition, and provided in that case for the furnishing of an army of 45,000 men by the Tsar, and the payment of them by Great Britain. Lord Grenville undertook an embassy to Berlin, with the view of persuading Frederick William III to abandon his system of neutrality, but without success. As the Prussian King would not accept the forces offered by the Tsar, it was subsequently agreed between Russia and Great Britain that they should be employed in some other manner.

Naples in 1799 : an account of the Revolution of 1799 and of the rise and fall of the Parthenopean Republic

The second Coalition against France included, at first, Ferdinand IV, King of the Two Sicilies; and it was in the Neapolitan dominions that the Continental war was resumed.

The tyrannical behavior of the Directory and its generals towards the King of Sardinia, the ambition of the new Cisalpine Republic, the ruin which had overtaken the Roman Pontiff and the States of the Church,—all concurred to convince Ferdinand IV, the only Italian Sovereign, except the Grand Duke of Tuscany, whose dominions still remained intact, of the fate which awaited himself. In order to avoid it, he endeavored at once to fortify himself with powerful alliances, and to conciliate, so far as might be possible, the good will of the French Republic. With the latter view he dismissed his Minister Acton, who was regarded by the French as devoted to England, and appointed in his place the Marquis S. Gallo, the negotiator of the Peace of Campo Formio. But, at the same time, he kept up a formidable army on the frontiers of the new Roman Republic, and he occupied the Duchy of Benevento, which, though enclosed in his dominions, had formerly made part of the States of the Church. The new government at Rome, on the other hand, had confiscated Ferdinand’s possessions in that capital, derived from the succession of the Farnese family, and had even played the farce of citing him to do homage for his crown to the Roman people, as successors of the Pope, his former suzerain.

The mission of M. Garat to the Court of Naples, on the part of the French Government, seemed for a time to have removed all difficulties. Ferdinand was put in possession of the Duchy of Benevento and the principality of Ponte Corvo, in consideration of his paying a sum of money and renouncing his possessions at Rome; and on April 17th, 1798, he received the oath of fidelity from his new subjects. But, knowing how little the friendship of France was to be relied on, he sought the support of an Austrian alliance. A treaty was concluded at Vienna, May 19th, 1798, between the Duke of Campochiaro and Baron Thugut, by which, in the prospect of the fresh troubles which threatened Europe, and Italy in particular, it was agreed that the Austrian and Neapolitan Sovereigns should keep, for their mutual defence, a certain number of men on foot, ready to march at the shortest notice. The Emperor, on his side, engaged to keep 60,000 men in Italy and Tyrol, and Ferdinand 30,000 on his frontiers nearest to the Austrian possessions; to be increased on both sides in case of need.

This treaty, which was a secret one, having been betrayed to the Directory, their Minister Garat began, in July, to put forth new pretensions. He demanded the release of all persons imprisoned for political opinions, the assignment of the port of Messina to France, and the exclusion of the English from all the other ports of the Two Sicilies. The last two conditions Ferdinand refused; but he opened the prisons, and inundated Naples with Jacobins, who applied themselves to create fresh troubles. Ferdinand, more convinced than ever of the hostile projects of the Directory, now made the most vigorous preparations for war. All men, from the age of seventeen to forty-five years, were called into active service, and the command-in-chief of the Neapolitan forces was conferred on the Austrian general Mack, the pupil of Lacy and London, who enjoyed at that time the highest reputation for military talent.

Such was the posture of affairs when the news of Nelson’s victory at Aboukir created an indescribable sensation at the Court of Naples. The fascinating Lady Hamilton, the wife of the English Ambassador, made Nelson her hero, and inspired the King and Queen, whose favorite she was, with the same enthusiasm as animated herself. Acton recovered his former influence, and lending his support to the views of the English Cabinet, formed, with the Queen, the project of open war against the French Republic. Alarmed at these symptoms, the French chargé d'affaires demanded that Acton should be expelled the kingdom; that the commandant of Syracuse, who had allowed the English fleet to revictual in that port, should be sent in chains to France; that the King should reduce his troops to 10,000 men; and that he should admit French garrisons into all his ports. But Ferdinand, instead of listening to these complaints, only pushed on more actively his preparations for war. The appearance of Nelson with part of his fleet in the Bay of Naples, September 22nd, increased the confidence of the King and the enthusiasm of the Court and people. At the instance of Sir William Hamilton and Nelson, who represented an immediate declaration of war as the only means of putting an end to the delays and tergiversations of Austria, it was resolved at a Council held October 12th to commence hostilities so soon as the army could be prepared to take the field. The return of Nelson, November 5th, who had left Naples for a while to superintend the blockade at Malta, confirmed Ferdinand in his warlike resolutions. He had now strengthened himself by alliances with Russia and Great Britain. The first of these was definitively concluded by the Treaty of St. Petersburg, November 29th, 1798, by which the Tsar, besides the succour of his fleet united with that of the Porte, promised to furnish nine battalions of infantry, with the necessary artillery, and 200 Cossacks. The treaty with Great Britain, signed at Naples December 1 st,2 renewed a former convention of July 12th, 1793. England was to keep in the Mediterranean, till the peace, a fleet decidedly superior to that of the enemy; to which the Bang of the Two Sicilies was to add, as his contingent, four ships of the line, four frigates, and four smaller vessels, with 3,000 sailors. But Ferdinand had already commenced hostilities before these treaties were signed. He was the more ready to listen to the representations of Nelson and the English Cabinet, as he was assured by many emigrants that the population of the Roman States was disposed to rise against the French. It was also asserted that the Emperor was preparing to invade Lombardy. The French army amounted to only 16,000 men, badly provided, and scattered over a line of near 200 miles. The Neapolitan army of 40,000 men entered the Roman territories November 24th, in three directions. The right wing, commanded by General Micheroux, penetrated through the Abruzzi; Count Roger de Damas, with the left, advanced by way of Terracina; while Mack, with the centre, marched straight upon Rome by Frosinone. Championnet, the French commander, after providing for the defence of the Castle of St. Angelo, and causing the rest of Rome to be evacuated, retreated with the few French and Polish troops he could collect towards the north, and took post at Rieti, Terni, and Civita Castellana. Meanwhile Mack advanced to Rome, followed by King Ferdinand, who entered that capital November 29th, amid the acclamations of the people. A counter-revolution now took place. All the monuments of French domination were destroyed and its partisans rigorously punished. At the same time, by order of Nelson, some English and Portuguese men-of-war, having on board 6,000 Neapolitan troops, proceeded to Leghorn, and were admitted by the officers of the Grand Duke of Tuscany. Their mission was to incite an insurrection in Tuscany, and to intercept the communications of the French army with the North of Italy. These events, and the prospect of a new Coalition, induced the French to expel the King of Sardinia from his dominions. Joubert, under the mask of friendship for the Piedmontese, seized by a stratagem the citadels of Novara and Alessandria, and the post of Arona, marched upon Turin, and compelled Charles Emanuel IV to sign an act of abdication, December 9th, 1798. The unfortunate King retired to Sardinia; and the Directory established a provisional government in Piedmont, which was treated as a French province.

Ferdinand’s rapid success was followed by as sudden a reverse. Mack’s advance had hitherto been skillfully conducted; but be lost several days at Rome, a fault which seems attributable to the King, who wished to enjoy his triumphs. Mack, however, committed several blunders in his further advance, and at Nepi he was defeated with terrible loss by a French corps of only 5,000 men, commanded by Macdonald (December 5th). Other defeats followed, in which large bodies of Neapolitans were captured or dispersed by mere handfuls of French. Meanwhile not a single Austrian soldier had appeared, and on December 11th Mack commenced a retreat. Ferdinand fled to Caserta, and the French again entered Rome, December 15th. They were now in turn to become the invaders. Their columns advanced with rapid march upon Naples, and Ferdinand, his Queen, and all the royal family embarked, with a large sum of money and their most valuable effects, December 24th, on board Nelson’s ship, the “Vanguard”, who conveyed them to Palermo, taking with him what Neapolitan ships were ready for sea, and burning the remainder. The French nowhere experienced resistance from the regular Neapolitan forces except at Capua, where Championnet, with only 8,000 or 9,000 men, had placed himself in a very critical situation. But his good fortune, and the stupidity and cowardice of his opponents, came to his aid; and on January 10th, 1799, that city capitulated. The peasants of the country and the Lazzaroni of Naples were much more troublesome to the French than the regular troops. Enraged at what they considered the treachery of Mack and of Prince Pignatelli, whom Ferdinand at his departure had appointed vicar-general of the kingdom, the Lazzaroni when they heard of the armistice of Capua, rose en masse, seized the castles of Naples, liberated all the prisoners, compelled Mack and Pignatelli to fly for their lives, and pronounced sentence of death against all persons suspected of Jacobinism. During two or three days they maintained against the French a Republic, desperate resistance in the suburbs and town of Naples. But this fickle crowd, gained by the promises and bribes of Championnet, and the veneration which he displayed for their saint Januarius, began to shout as lustily for a Republic as they had before shouted for the King; the castles were delivered up to the French army, and tranquillity was restored. Naples was declared free and independent, and a provisional Republican Government was established. Such was the foundation of the Parthenopean Republic; a euphemism, for the military despotism of the French general.

War preparations

The Neapolitan war was but the prelude to a much more extensive one which involved the greater part of Europe. The overbearing insolence, the insatiable rapacity, of the Directors were insufferable. These men, who pretended to spread liberty abroad, had established the most absolute despotism at home. The elections of May, 1798, having been unfavorable to them—though it was not now the Royalists, but the Republicans who prevailed—they annulled the greater part of the returns by virtue of a power conferred upon them by the Legislative Councils. No liberty of opinion was tolerated. The action of the former revolutionary tribunals was supplied by military commissions. Persons accused or suspected by the Government of political offences, that is, of attempts against their power, were shot in the Champ de Mars or the plain of Grenelle. Barras and Rewbel were predominant at the Luxembourg. Barras, enriched by corruption and the spoils of conquered provinces, led a dissolute life. Rewbel was, perhaps, the boldest and most violent of the Directors, but his views were narrow. La Réveillère-Lepaux was lost in his dreams of theophilanthropy, while Merlin and Treilhard were mere advocates converted into politicians.

Such was the Government which aimed at subjugating Europe under pretence of giving it freedom. It had established, during the sitting of the Congress at Rastadt, in addition to the Cisalpine and Ligurian Republics, those of Rome, Helvetia, and Parthenope; while the Dutch had been compelled to approximate their form of government nearer to that of France, under the title of the “One and Indivisible Batavian Republic” (May 1st, 1798). The French kept continually increasing their pretensions. After the demand for the demolition of Ehrenbreitstein, they advanced fresh ones respecting the Thalweg, or path of navigation along the Rhine; claimed that the Waal should be included and the Isle of Buderich, opposite Wesel, a Prussian possession. But the battle of Aboukir, the absence of Bonaparte, the news of the alliance between Russia and Austria, and the advance of the Russian troops, had inspired the Directory with alarm.

They now began to moderate their pretensions at Rastadt. They made advances to the Emperor, and offered, if he would consent to the retirement of the Russian troops, to withdraw their forces from Switzerland and Rome, to neutralize those States, and, on the conclusion of the peace of the Empire at Rastadt, to place the Papal Legations in the hands of Austria by way of guarantee. They also offered to negotiate with England and the Porte, in order to a general pacification. But at the same time they prepared for war. The Councils had voted a levy of 200,000 men, a grant of 90,000,000 francs for the service of the army and 35,000,000 for the navy. The raising of these men by conscription occasioned a serious insurrection in the Netherlands; for the conquered provinces were also compelled to swell with their contingents the ranks of the French armies.

Austria, however, stimulated by Great Britain and Russia, had resolved up0n war. The British Ministry, despairing of peace with a Government like the French, had used every exertion to form the new Coalition. For the present, however, Austria dissembled, awaiting the arrival of the Russians, who marched but slowly. She wished to avoid entering upon a war before the termination of the winter, as the snows of the Alps would interrupt all communication between her armies in Italy and Germany. Hence she had disapproved of the Neapolitan war as premature, and had given Ferdinand no assistance. The negotiations at Rastadt were continued, though they had become a mere matter of form, while troops were marching in every direction. France also was inclined to wait for the spring before commencing hostilities. She had, however, obtained possession of Ehrenbreitstein, by the capitulation of January 23rd, 1799. At length the Directory demanded a categorical answer from Austria respecting the advance of the Russian troops, and, receiving no reply, they gave the word to their armies to advance (February 20th).

Preparations had been made for a campaign on a grand scale. Jourdan, with 46,000 men, called prematurely the army of the Danube, was to act in Swabia and Bavaria. His rear and left flank were secured by an army of observation on the Rhine, consisting of 48,000 men under Bernadotte. The army of Helvetia, 30,000 men under Massena, acting in conjunction with Jourdan, but subordinately to him, was to penetrate into Tyrol; where a detached corps of the army of Italy, having proceeded through the Engadine, was to form a junction with it. For this purpose, however, it would be necessary for Massena to drive the Austrians from the territory of the Grison League. The French had attempted to possess themselves of that country, after their occupation of Switzerland; but their invasion and pillage of Switzerland, as well as the confiscation of the Valtelline and Chiavenna, had naturally rendered the Orisons averse to any connection with France, and had induced them to seek in preference the aid of the Court of Vienna. By the convention of Coire, October 7th, 1798, the Austrian troops had been admitted, and Hotze, with 24,000 men, protected the Vorarlberg and the Grison territory.

The army of Italy, under Schérer, consisting of 50,000 men, without including Italian contingents, though not subordinate to Jourdan, was to co-operate in the general plan of attack. Scherer was to drive back the Austrians, who had assembled on the Adige, to the Brenta and the Piave; to act by his left upon Trent. A division of the army of Italy was to invade Tuscany, while another, as already mentioned, was to form a junction with the army of Helvetia through the Engadine. The Austrian army destined to oppose Scherer in Italy consisted of 75,000 men. The command of it had been given to Frederick, Prince of Orange; but that young Prince, who had already displayed great military abilities, having died suddenly (January 6th, 1799), General Melas was appointed to succeed him. On the arrival, however, of the Russians in Italy, the command-in-chief was to be assumed by Suvorov. Besides the army on the Adige, between 40,000 and 50,000 men, under Count Bellegarde, occupied South Tyrol and the valley of the Inn. In Germany, the advance of Jourdan was to be opposed by the Archduke Charles, who, agreeably to the convention with France, was posted behind the Lech, in Bavaria, with 54,000 foot and 24,000 horse. The campaign of 1799 was, therefore, to be a sort of repetition of that of 1796—an attack upon Austria through Northern Italy and Southern Germany. But the position of the French was now much more advantageous than in 1796, although their forces were numerically inferior to the Austrians. Instead of having to conquer Northern Italy, that country was now in their power as far as the Adige; Switzerland, instead of being neutral, was occupied by their troops, and seemed to afford them new facilities for assailing their enemy. But the genius of Bonaparte was wanting to make a proper use of these advantages.

We can give only a general idea of the campaign of 1799. The Directory declared war against the Emperor, and, at the same time, against the Grand Duke of Tuscany, March 12th. All that could be alleged against the latter was some preparations for defence. Jourdan, crossing the Rhine at Hüningen and Strassburg, advanced through the Black Forest towards the Danube. At the same time a division of the army of observation, commanded by Ney, seized Mannheim. Massena was the first to commence actual hostilities (March 5th). He defeated the Austrians in the Grison territory, occupied Coire, and penetrated to the frontiers of Tyrol; but Jellalich, at Feldkirch, in the Vorarlberg, resisted all his efforts. The Archduke Charles advanced to meet Jourdan, defeated him at Ostrach, March 21st, and again so decisively at Stockach, on the 25th, as to determine the fortune of the campaign, and compel the French to recross the Rhine. This victory was due to the coolness, sagacity, and personal courage of the Archduke, who charged on foot at the head of his grenadiers. The resistance of Jellalich at Feldkirch prevented Massena from coming to Jourdan’s aid by way of Bregenz and Lindau. Meanwhile, on the other side of the Alps, Lecourbe and Dessolles, advancing by the Engadine, defeated Loudon at Taufers, occupied Martinsbrück and the Münsterthal, thus commanding the valleys of Tyrol. But the retreat of Jourdan rendered these dear-bought successes unavailing; and before the end of March the French were driven back in this quarter by Bellegarde. The occupation of Switzerland proved, under these circumstances, more detrimental to the French than its neutrality would have been, by compelling them to keep troops there which might otherwise have reinforced their beaten armies. The Aulic Council at Vienna did them, however, some service by forbidding the Archduke to pursue his victorious career.

The advance of the Austrians had compromised the safety of the French plenipotentiaries at Rastadt. Count Metternich, the Imperial Minister, had announced his recall April 7th, as well as the resolution of the Emperor to annul all that had been done at Rastadt. The Congress was thus de facto terminated, as the deputation of the Empire could not deliberate in the absence of a representative of the Emperor. Nevertheless, the French Minister remained, and proceeded to treat separately with the sub-delegates of some of the States of the Empire. A guarantee of the neutrality of Rastadt, which the latter endeavored to obtain from the commander of the Austrian advanced posts at Gernsbach, was refused; on the evening of April 28th the town was occupied by a detachment of Szekler hussars, whose colonel having directed the French Ministers to leave it within twenty-four hours, Bonnier, a man of violent temper, persuaded his colleagues to depart at once, though it was already night. Their carriages had scarcely cleared the town when they were surrounded by a party of Szeklers; Bonnier and Roberjot were sabred; Jean Debry, severely wounded and left for dead, contrived to get back to Rastadt. Nothing was taken from the French Ministers but their portfolios. This violation of the law of nations created universal indignation and abhorrence in Europe.

Battle of Magnano

Meanwhile, in Italy, Scherer had detached Gauthier against Tuscany, who overran that country without resistance, entered Florence, March 25th, and permitted the Grand Duke to retire with an escort to Venice. Schérer determined to attack the Austrians on the Adige before Suvorov and the Russians could arrive. Melas being sick, the Austrians were now commanded by Marshal Kray. On March 26th and following days Schérer delivered several attacks against Kray’s centre at Verona; but, though Moreau had succeeded in turning the Austrian right, the French were finally repulsed with great loss, and compelled to fall back on Villa Franca (April 1st). After much manoeuvring, both sides determined on an engagement; and on the 5th of April was fought the battle of Magnano, in which the French, after a hard and dubious struggle, were completely defeated. Scherer retreated by Roverbella over the Mincio, followed by Kray. On the 8th of April the French were attacked in all their posts from Bormio to the Lago di Garda, and compelled to retire to Brescia. It is computed that in less than a fortnight’s hostilities Scherer had lost nearly half his army.

Such was the state of things in Italy when Suvorov arrived at Verona to take command of both the Imperial armies (April 14th). His commission from the Tsar gave him the supreme direction of the Russian forces by sea as well as land. Thus, after the taking of Corfu by Admiral Utschakov, he directed the Russian fleet to attack Ancona. What plan he had formed for the campaign was utterly unknown; in fact, he seems seldom to have had any. The grand secret of his success was the celerity of his movements, and the coolness and sagacity with which he extricated himself from any difficult position into which he might be thrown. Inspiring the Austrians with his own activity, Suvorov advanced from one victory to another. The Oglio is passed; Moreau, by whom Schérer had now been superseded, is defeated at Cassano on the Adda (April 27th); Milan is entered on the 29th, which Moreau evacuates, with the exception of the citadel. General Serrurier, with a division of 8,000 men, surrounded by superior forces at Verderio, had been compelled to lay down his arms. Moreau, entrusted with the difficult task of rescuing a defeated army, pursued by superior forces, cut off from the army of Naples under Macdonald, and in the midst of an insurgent population, displayed the greatest ability. Proceeding to Turin in person, he put that town in a posture of defence, established his communications with Switzerland and France, and on the 7th of May took up his quarters at Alessandria. His only hope was to arrest the advance of the enemy till Macdonald should come up, when the Aulic Council, as it had done in Germany, stepped in to his aid. Suvorov had determined to crush Moreau with his whole force, and then to turn upon Macdonald; but the Aulic Council, intent upon securing the conquests already made, weakened Suvorov by ordering him to lay siege to Mantua, Peschiera, Pizzighettone, and other places, to secure the defiles of the Alps and the Apennines, and, in addition to all this, to attack Moreau. Too weak to accomplish this last order, Suvorov endeavoured to manoeuvre Moreau out of a strong position he had taken near Tortona; but the French General, after delivering some successful attacks, effected his retreat to Coni, or Cuneo (May 19th), obtaining at once a strong position and securing his communications both with Genoa and France.

Meanwhile Macdonald had begun his march from Caserta, May 9th. On the 24th he arrived at Florence, and having united his forces with those of Gauthier, proceeded to put himself in communication with Victor, whom Moreau had despatched to Pontremoli to meet him; and having defeated Klenau’s corps, established his communications with Genoa. Moreau himself entered Genoa June 6th; but Macdonald took a more northerly route towards the main body of the Austro-Russians, and, having defeated Hohenzollern’s corps June 12th, advanced to the Trebbia. Here, after a struggle of three days’ duration, he received from Suvorov in person one of the most disastrous defeats that the French Republican armies had yet experienced (June 19th), and, after a loss of 18,000 men, was compelled to retreat to Firenzuola. Hence, pretending to retire with the remainder of his forces into Tuscany, he gained the Genoese States by a circuitous route.

Moreau, who had beaten Bellegarde at San Giuliano, June 20th, revictualled Tortona, and raised the blockade of Alessandria, was induced, by the news of the battle on the Trebbia, to retire beyond the Bochetta to Novi. The Austro- Russians had taken possession of Turin; Suvorov had caused Pinerolo, Susa, La Brunetta, and the Col d'Assiette to be occupied, and some of his Cossacks had even carried alarm into Dauphine. These manoeuvres were intended to draw Moreau from the Apennines, but the French General was not to be so enticed.

At this juncture Moreau was superseded in the command by Joubert, through intrigues in the Directory. A sort of revolution had taken place in that body in the preceding May. Rewbel having gone out by rotation, Sieyès had occupied his seat, and, in conjunction with Barras, and with the aid of the Councils, had compelled Treilhard, Merlin de Douai, and La Réveillère-Lepaux to resign. Their places were filled by Gohier, Ducos, and General Moulins, men but little known and of no importance. A change was also effected in the Ministry. Bernadotte became Minister of War; Robert Lindet, one of the original Jacobins and long a member of the Committee of Public Safety, was entrusted with the Finances; Reinhardt superseded Talleyrand in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Cambacérès, an ex-Conventional, and formerly member of the Committee of General Welfare, received the portfolio of Justice; Fouché, the Jacobin, notorious by his cruelties at Lyons, was placed at the head of the Police. Joubert, if victorious, was to return and overthrow the Directory, and to place himself at the head of a new Government.

Moreau had been directed to remain inactive till Joubert’s arrival, which, owing to various delays, did not take place till early in August. With rash impetuosity, Joubert gave battle to the Austro-Russians under Suvorov, at Novi, August 15th, with only about half the forces of his opponents, and was killed at the very commencement of the action. Moreau then resumed the command. In this obstinate engagement, which lasted the whole day, the French were totally defeated, with great loss. Tortona surrendered in consequence to the Austro-Russians, August 23rd.

Soon after this battle, Suvorov received orders from his Government to proceed into Switzerland, to act in conjunction with another Russian army which had been dispatched thither under Korsakov. Suvorov had now become disgusted with his Austrian allies, whose slow and pedantic method impeded his own impetuous tactics. He had, too, been disappointed in a scheme to invade France, overturn the Government, and restore the Bourbons. With this view he had pressed the Archduke Charles to drive Massena from Switzerland, and enter Franche-Comté, while he himself would meet him by way of Provence and Dauphiné. But the Austrians were not inclined for any such hazardous undertakings. The Archduke, indeed, had, by orders from his Government, been kept in a state of almost entire inaction during the last two or three months. He had entered Switzerland towards the end of May, and, after several contests with Massena for the possession of Zurich, had compelled the French general to retire to a strong position on the plateau of Mont Albis, extending along the Reuss to the Lake of Zug. Here the two armies remained watching each other, and no hostilities of any moment occurred. Matters were in this state when, about the middle of August, Korsakov, with a Russian army of 40,000 men, entered Switzerland. This was the corps which was to have been placed at the disposal of Prussia, but was now employed as described by virtue of a convention between Great Britain and Russia, June 29th, 1799. On Korsakov’s arrival, the Archduke abandoned to him the command, and leaving an Austrian division of 30,000 men to cooperate with the Russians, marched with the remainder of his forces against the newly-organized French army of the Rhine, which, under the command of General Müller, had occupied Heidelberg and Mannheim. At the Archduke’s approach, the French raised the siege of Philippsburg, the only fortress on the Rhine still held by the Germans. Charles retook Mannheim September 18th; but the events which had occurred in Switzerland prevented him from prosecuting his advantages.

Battle of Zurich, 1799

The ill-feeling which prevailed between the allied armies was manifested by Korsakov’s instructions, who was directed not to attend to any Austrian orders, but to receive only those of Suvorov. Korsakov, who had no experience except on the parade-ground, united with an utter want of military talent the most insufferable arrogance and self-conceit. He treated with contempt the counsels of a commander like the Archduke, who, by three months’ experience, had acquired an accurate knowledge of the ground and of the designs of the enemy. Aware of the approach of Suvorov, Massena resolved to attack Korsakov before he could be reinforced. Passing the Limmat at Dietikon before break of day, September 25th, the French utterly routed and dispersed the Russians, and occupied the road leading from Zurich to Winterthur, in order to cut off their retreat. On the same day another French corps under Soult attacked the Austrian division under Hotze. This general was killed in an ambuscade; Petrasch, who succeeded him in the command, was totally defeated and compelled to retreat by Lichtenstez to St. Gall. On the 26th the French entered Zurich, where a large part of the Russians had taken refuge in a state of helpless disorder. A terrible massacre ensued, which was not confined to the Russians. It was on this occasion that the celebrated physiognomist Lavater was shot in cold blood by a French officer who had a little before enjoyed his hospitality. Korsakov, after losing the greater part of his army and 100 guns, succeeded in passing the Rhine at Schaffhausen with the remainder of his forces.

The approach of Suvorov, by diverting the attention of the French, facilitated the escape of Korsakov. With the remnant of his army, variously estimated at from 13,000 to 24,000 men, Suvorov, advancing by Airolo, succeeded, by prodigious perseverance and valour, in scaling the St. Gothard, then unprovided with any tolerable roads, and in scattering the French columns opposed to his passage. Pursuing his march along the valley of the Reuss, by Altdorf, he crossed the Kinzig Culm into the valley of Muotta, or Mutten, where he found himself almost surrounded by the French. Having learnt Korsakov’s disaster, and being defeated in an attempt to cut his way through Massena’s forces, he determined, for the first time in his life, to retreat. Crossing the Pragel Pass into Glarus, he there gave his troops a few days’ rest, and finally effected his escape into the Grison territory by the Pass of Panix. Hence by way of Feldkirch, with the remnants of the two armies, he directed his homeward march to Russia.

On July 26th Paul I had declared war against Spain, because she refused to renounce her alliance with France. Charles IV, or rather the Prince of the Peace, in a manifesto published at San Ildefonso, September 9th, 1799, characterized the Russian declaration as “incoherent and offensive”, dictated by English influence, and unworthy of an answer. Little could result from a breach between two countries possessing so few points of contact as Russia and Spain. Its most important consequence was a treaty of defensive alliance between Portugal and Russia, signed at St. Petersburg, September 18th, 1799; by which the furnishing of the military and naval forces stipulated might be commuted for a money payment.

While these events were taking place, the Empire renewed the war by a decree of the Diet of Ratisbon, September 16th, to which, however, Prussia, as well as Saxony, Hesse-Cassel, Hanover, and Brunswick, did not adhere.

During these months, too, the combined Ottoman and Russian fleets under Admiral Utschakov, after taking Cerigo, Zante, Cephalonia, Sta. Maura, and, finally, Corfù, March 1st, 1799, appeared in the middle of April before Otranto, captured that town, as well as Brindisi and Bari, and landed forces which reduced all Apulia. Another Russo-Turkish division took Sinigaglia and Fano, and in June laid siege to Ancona. These events, as well as the turn of the campaign in Northern Italy, and the departure of Macdonald and his army, occasioned a Royalist insurrection in the Neapolitan dominions. Cardinal Ruffo, who had accompanied King Ferdinand and his Court to Palermo, having landed with only two other persons at Reggio in Calabria, and having collected a small force of some 200 or 300 men, began his march for Naples, receiving every day fresh accessions which at length swelled his army to between 20,000 and 30,000 men. This force, composed of the half-savage peasants of Calabria, besides brigands and liberated galley-slaves, was dignified with the name of the “Christian Army”. Naples was reached and taken, June 17th; scenes of massacre ensued, to put an end to which Ruffo granted the revolutionists a favourable capitulation. The French garrison in the Castle of St. Elmo surrendered July 5th, and on the 27th King Ferdinand IV re-entered his capital. It is to be regretted that Nelson, who was absent from Naples at the time of the capitulation, and under the influence of Lady Hamilton, should have disavowed it on his return, though signed by one of his own captains; that he should have persuaded King Ferdinand to repudiate it and to condemn to death a great many of the revolutionists, including Prince Moliterno, Marquis Caraccioli, and the Duke of Cassano; nay, that he should have converted the quarter-deck of his own vessel into a place of execution by the hanging of Caraccioli. The throne of Ferdinand IV having been thus reestablished, a motley army, composed of Russians, Turks, and Neapolitans, marched to Rome and entered that city by capitulation, September 30th. The oppressors of the Pope were discomfited by schismatics and infidels, and the capital of the Christian world, that “Red Apple” which their Sultans had so often threatened to destroy, was liberated by the aid of the Osmanlis. The Cisalpine Republic, through the Austro-Russian victories, had also submitted to Francis II.

The Anglo-Russian expedition to Holland was another episode in the great war of 1799. By a convention signed at St. Petersburg, June 22nd, Paul had agreed to assist the English descent with a small fleet and an army of between 17,000 and 18,000 men, in consideration of their expenses being paid. General Sir Ralph Abercrombie, with about 12,000 men, the first division of the British forces, landed in North Holland, August 27th, defeated the Dutch under General Daendels, and occupied the Helder. The English fleet under Admiral Mitchell having entered the Vlie, the crews of the Dutch squadron there hoisted the Orange colours, arrested their officers, and went over to the English. The example was followed by the squadron at Nieuwe Diep. Altogether, twelve ships of war, fully equipped, and thirteen other vessels, fell into the power of the English, and were sent to Yarmouth. Abercrombie, awaiting reinforcements from England and Russia, having taken up a position behind the Zijp, was attacked by the French and Dutch under General Brune; but they were defeated and driven back to Alkmaar (September 10th). A few days after the Duke of York landed with the second English division, and took the command-in-chief. Part of the Russian forces having also arrived, the Duke attacked Brune at Petten, September 19th; but the right wing, composed of Russians, having advanced too far, were repulsed with great loss. Their flight threw the whole army into confusion, and the affair resulted in a drawn battle. The Duke of York defeated Brune at Bergen, October 2nd, but did not follow up his advantage. The allies having been defeated at Kastrikum, October 6th, the Duke of York again retired beyond the Zijp, and entered into negotiations with Brune for the evacuation of Holland. A capitulation was consequently signed at Alkmaar, October 18th, by which it was agreed that the allies should re-embark without molestation before the end of November, on condition of their restoring 8,000 French and Batavian prisoners. The failure of an expedition which had cost so large a sum created great discontent in England; but the nation was in some degree compensated by the possession of the Dutch fleet, and by the capture of Surinam, which colony had surrendered to the British arms, August 20th.

The reverses of his armies in Switzerland and Holland, and the refusal of the Austrians to deliver to him Ancona, led the Emperor Paul I to recall his troops and to withdraw from the Coalition as hastily as he had entered it. Thus France was rescued from the greatest danger that had menaced it since the Prussian invasion of Champagne. The return of Bonaparte from Egypt, and his unexpected landing at Frejus which created a great sensation in France, and, indeed, throughout Europe, was soon to place her affairs in a better position.

CHAPTER LXI.

THE TREATIES OF LUNEVILLE AND AMIENS

THE DIVINE HISTORY OF JESUS CHRIST

READING HALL

THE DOORS OF WISDOM

THE CREATION OF THE UNIVERSE ACCORDING GENESIS

A HISTORY OF MODERN EUROPE : A.D. 1453-1900

CHAPTER LX.

THE WAR OF THE SECOND COALITION

CHAPTER LXI.

THE TREATIES OF LUNEVILLE AND AMIENS