CHAPTER VI THE YEAR 1800. THE year 1800 saw Bonaparte master of the destinies of France. The Directory had disappeared. The sensual Barras, who had contributed to his rise, had signed his resignation on the condition of being allowed to keep possession of his ill-gotten gains. Sieyes, the most avaricious of abbés and lawgivers, allowed himself to be bribed. When the Directory was overthrown, it had 600,000 francs in its coffers. Sieyes was presented with 350,000 and the property of Crone. "Sieyes à Bonaparte avait promis un trône, wrote the poet Lebrun. France, at the commencement of 1800, was at war with England, Austria, Russia, the Porte, and America. British fleets blockaded the French and Spanish ports, intercepting all communication with Malta and Egypt. The Turks and the English were preparing to attack Kléber. Kray commanded an Austrian army in Germany, and Melas had over 100,000 men under his orders in Italy. The army of the Rhine, under Moreau, was composed of 110,000 men; but in Italy, Massena had but an BONAPARTE'S SINCERITY DOUBTED. 285 army 25,000 strong, and consequently Melas had little difficulty in forcing that brilliant General to seek refuge in Genoa. There was a third French army being secretly formed at Dijon. In addition to suspecting the sincerity of Bonaparte when holding out an olive branch, the English Government had other motives for rejecting the overtures made at this moment by the First Consul. Pitt doubted the stability of the new Government in France; he considered a Royalist restoration imminent, and he was intent on capturing the French expeditionary force in Egypt, and on forcing Malta to capitulate. Austria, too, was unwilling to negotiate on the basis of the treaty of Campo Formio, and to renounce the territories she had reconquered during the absence of Bonaparte. Under the impulsion of Bonaparte an immense change was operated in every branch of the administration. Prefects and sub-prefects were established in all the departments, and supreme authority was thus vested in the central government. By a mixture of force, cunning, and cruelty, the Vendean insurrection was suppressed. Several of the Chouan leaders laid down their arms and accepted the new order of affairs, and the Abbé Bernier, who had been a Royalist firebrand, preaching insurrection, subsided into Bishop of Orleans, and joined the "sacred gendarmery" of the First Consul. When tranquillity had been restored at home, Bonaparte set out to take the command of his troops in the field. The Czar, irritated against England and Austria, and seized with a sudden admiration for Bonaparte, had withdrawn from the coalition, and joined the maritime confederation destined to resist English tyranny on the ocean. On the 6th May Bonaparte left Paris, and placed himself at the head of the Army of Reserve. Moreau had commenced operations on the 25th April, and in a fortnight had five times defeated Melas, and had driven him back upon Ulm, with the loss of 30,000 men. Another effort, and he would have reached Vienna. This was not what the First Consul intended. Before Bonaparte left Paris, orders signed by the three consuls were despatched to Moreau, directing him to detach 25,000 men, who were to join the Army of Reserve, and to confine his operations to the right bank of the Danube. These orders were handed to him by Carnot in person. Moreau, who might at once have forced Austria to sue for peace, obeyed. Bonaparte reserved for himself the honour of striking the blow which was to decide the campaign. On the 18th he crossed the Alps. He might have saved Massena by marching to the relief of Genoa. He might have beaten the various corps of Melas in detail, and have reached the beleaguered city in a week, but he had a more theatrical operation in view, and Genoa and its starving garrison were sacrificed. Bonaparte marched on Milan, and he had hardly entered that city when he learned that Massena had been obliged to capitulate. The battle of Marengo was lost by the Austrians on the 11th June. In the midst of the fight Melas, worn out with fatigue, and sure of success, retired to Alexandria, and despatched couriers in all directions announcing the defeat of the French; but a surprise similar to that which for a moment shook the iron nerves of Frederick the Great at Kunersdorf, awaited Melas. On the 12th August, 1759, Frederick sent four successive couriers to Berlin"Russians beaten; rejoice with me!" and then a fifth courier, to have the archives sent to Potsdam. At Marengo a cavalry charge changed the fate of the day, after Melas thought he had obtained a victory. An armistice followed, in virtue of which the Austrians evacuated the whole of north Italy, but still occupied Tuscany and Ancona. Preliminaries of peace were signed, and Bonaparte returned to Paris. On the 14th July, Kléber, after having won the battle of Heliopolis, was assassinated. On the 26th September peace was signed between France and America. In November, hostilities with Austria were THE BATTLE OF HOHENLINDEN. 287 recommenced, and on the 2nd December Moreau won the battle of Hohenlinden. On the 24th of the same month an attempt was made to blow up the First Consul. We have seen how strained were the relations between the Directory and Bonaparte prior to the 18th Fructidor, when Angereau accomplished the coup d'état against the Royalists. In spite of all his professions of Republicanism and devotion to the Constitution of the Year III. the sincerity of the young General was sorely suspected, and not without cause. As soon as he became First Consul he amnestied all the persons proscribed on account of that affair, with the exception of Aubry, and he recalled Carnot and made him War Minister. On the 4th January, 1800, Bonaparte wrote to. Admiral Bruix, who had received the command of a squadron destined to succour the army of Egypt. In this letter the French Admiral was instructed to try and capture Sydney Smith and his ships, for St. Jean d'Acre was a sore subject. La Vendée was giving great trouble, and on the 5th January Bonaparte wrote to General Hédouville, Commander-in-chief of the army of England, that he was sending him reinforcements to the extent of 17,400 men. La Vendée being sincerely Catholic, the General was to placard everywhere, and to publish in the journals an account of the funeral honours rendered to Pius VI. "You are invested, my dear General," continued this letter, "with full power; act as freely as if you were in the middle of Germany. Let minor interests and personal considerations disappear in presence of the necessity of suppressing the rebellion, and of causing the government to be respected. "It is useless to have courts martial. The consuls opine that the generals should have all rebels taken in arms summarily executed. . . . No matter what accusations are brought against you the Government will support you; but your military actions will be examined by a man who is accustomed to severe and energetic measures. The First Consul thinks that in order to give a salutary lesson it will be well to burn down two or three large parishes. Experience has taught him that this is the most humane way of proceeding. Weakness is inhumanity," &c. Bonaparte had freely practised this system in Italy and Egypt, but experience should have taught him that the "infernal columns" of Thurreau had done less to appease La Vendée than the milder measures adopted by Hoche. On the 13th January, 1800, Bonaparte wrote four letters to Talleyrand-the first to the effect that he had ordered the reduction of the French army in Batavia by 18,000 men, but that the pay, clothing, and rations of this force were still to be made good by the Dutch Republic. The sum of a million francs was to be paid at once to the French War Minister. The Dutch were to be told that although these 18,000 men had been withdrawn from their territory, they were really employed for Batavia on the Rhine! In the second letter Talleyrand was asked to state what amount of money it would be possible to obtain from Holland in exchange for Flushing, and whether the French Government could draw on Holland for 40,000,000 francs. In the third letter Talleyrand was told that it was most essential to procure 4,000,000 francs, which Bonaparte thought might be obtained from Hamburg. "The senate of that town," added Bonaparte, "thinks there is an agreement between us and Prussia to violate its independence. Make the most of this, and say that no matter how coveteous Prussia may be, and no matter what her offers, a reconciliation with the French Government is quite possible. Six, or even four, millions, would help us to win a campaign." In the fourth letter Talleyrand was called upon to furnish information with regard to negotiations with Portugal, and to state the pecuniary aid which might be derived from that country. Bonaparte thought it would be possible to |