Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 9.djvu/649

THE CONSULATE.] FRANCE 613 character. They also were to name the consuls, tribunes, and the legislative body, choosing them from a list of 5000 names, which were to be chosen by 50,000 persons, who themselves should bo elected by 500.000 electors, who in their turn were ta be named by universal suffrage. Sena tors were to bo elected to vacancies by cooptation, from a list of three candidates presented by the legislative body, the tribunate, and the first consul. Bonaparte had modi fied this elaborate structure before it saw the light, by significantly cutting out all the poor guarantees for liberty it contained. As it stood, it was merely the decent robe which shrouded the naked dictatorship of the first consul. The people, by an enthusiastic plebiscite, adopted it almost unanimously. Bonaparte having accepted the post he had arranged for himself, two new men were associated with him ; Cambaceres, a distinguished lawyer, and not a politician, as second consul ; and Lebrun, an elderly man, good at the bureau, the type and representative of French officially, as third consul. The senate was filled with the most distinguished names in France men great in science and arts, as well as in arms or politics ; the legislative body whom they selected, after the decimal system explained above had reduced the candidates to 5000, were certain to bo quiet obsequious people. Finally, lest public opinion should be disturbed in its happy unanimity, the freedom of the press came suddenly to an end ; for the First Consul thought that thirteen journals were enough for France, and these were all duly submissive to the Govern ment. Thus did dictatorial power usurp the place of liberty, and a system began, based on falsehood and illegal force, yet so splendid and so well-suited to the needs of fainting France that she has only in our day at last escaped from the glamour of it, and from the worship of the Napoleonic idea. The First Consul took up his abode, early in 1800, at the Tuil- eries, and at once formed a ministry : his brother Lucien for the home office ; Gaudin for finance ; Berthier for the army: Talleyrand, ex-bishop, for foreign affairs; and Fondle", lord of spies, for police, the last two the only politicians in the company ; they both had abandoned holy orders. Without a portfolio, in close relation with Bonaparte, was Maret, better known by his later title of duke of Bassano, the first founder of the Moiiiteur Universel, a man of upright character and unwearied industry. The spirit of system, visible in the constitution, and in the tastes and character of Bonaparte, was at once indelibly impressed on the adminis tration of the country. All sprang from one centre, the First Consul; a prefect was set over each department, with sub- prefects under him ; it was a more perfect development of the intendant s office under the old regime ; the prefects named the local mayors, and thus the whole machine re ceived all its impulses from headquarters, and formed a per fectly compact and easy-going government. Local law and local finance were also organized in a similar way ; and by a simple edict as to the method of tax -gathering, joined to the new confidence all France felt in her ruler, the crushing difficulty of the deficit was at once got rid of. Peculation became impossible ; taxpayers were equally and fairly charged ; none were allowed to fall into arrears ; and the country, being really rich, speedily rose into prosperity. Salaried officials covered the whole land with a network, each for his daily bread interested in the stability of govern ment. The principle of the new government, in general administration, in finance, in the church, in the law, was that of absolute subservience of all officials to the head ; and the love of France for bureaucracy, which has made her the chosen land of an official hierarchy, made this organi zation the most complete and successful that the world had hitherto ever seen. The disturbances in the west, caused by the monarchists, were put down without difficulty. Bonaparte had promised peace to France ; and he at once wrote a letter to George III., with characteristic indifference 1800-1 to the English constitution, offering to make peace directly Proposals with him. Pitt, as minister, replied by refusing to nego- to George tiate, till France should replace on the throne her ancient m< dynasty. The terms of the refusal offended the French people, and strengthened Bonaparte s position. Eussia made peace ; Prussia stood neutral. Austria and England, with Bavaria, Wiirtemberg, and Mainz, determined to con tinue the contest. The campaigns of 1800 were thus planned by Bonaparte. Cam- Masscna with a weak army was left to defend the Riviera paigns of from Nice to Genoa, and there to employ as much as 1800t possible the Austrians in Italy. The Rhine army, led by Moreau, should threaten Bavaria, after finally grasping the all-important strategic position of the corner of the Black Forest, between Rhine and Danube ; meanwhile Bonaparte himself, quietly and with scrupulous secrecy, collected a third great army for himself, destined for the Po. Massona s army was driven back and suffered considerable reverses ; the Austrians under Melas penetrated across the frontier ; Bonaparte, however, knew that Provence was not the heart of France, and that with Massena holding out at Genoa, no very serious attack could be made in the south. Moreau s army of the Rhine penetrated into Bavaria, drove the Austrians back to Ulm, and prepared to send a part of its right flank across the Alps to join the main central movement of Bonaparte. His army of the centre, collected rapidly at Geneva, made its famous passage of the St Ber nard, while his right went over the Mont Cenis, and the- right flank of Moreau s army, now his left, crossed the St Gotthard. To the amazement of all, the Austrians saw Bonaparte returning to the scene of his old triumphs, and entering Milan in triumph. They hastily drew themselves together; the fall of Genoa, after a splendid defence by Massena, freed a large force. The astounding battle of Marengo (14th June 1800) decided the campaign ; "in it The the Austriana lost all they had gained in eighteen months battle of and by twenty victories." The armistice of Alexandria Maren g- followed at once ; for Marengo had given Bonaparte the command of all the upper valley of the Po, and the Austrians withdrew behind the Mincio. Meanwhile Moreau, with the army of the Rhine, was doing excellent work in Bavaria, and had taken the ascendant all along his line, when tidings of the convention of Alexandria brought his campaign to an end. Peace, however, did not follow ; the English Govern ment eagerly urged the Austrians to hold on, and hostilities began again, late in the year, in the valley of the upper Danube, where Moreau, supported by Ney, won the splendid victory of Hohenlindeu not far from Munich (2d December 1800), and after a series of brilliant combats drove the Austrians back, till Vienna was in terror. Then an armistice was signed at Steyer, by which Austria ceded her strong places in Tyrol and those of Bavaria to the French army. The army of Italy also won great advantages, and compelled Austria to sign an armistice, by which France occupied a number of important points in north Italy. In concert with Pius VII., lately elected pope, Murat menaced the kingdom of Naples, and a third armistice, which closed the Neapoli tan harbours to England, ended the war, The peace of Peace of Luneville was concluded on February 9, 1801, between L . llllu " France and Austria. It was drawn on the basis of the V1 e> treaty of Campo Formio ; France secured the left bank of the Rhine and the Belgian provinces ; the independence of the four republics was recognized ; the pope was replaced in his states ; Tuscany was ceded to France, and became the heart of a new kingdom of Etruria. The king of Naples also made his peace with France, on the terms of his armistice. England alone stood out against the First Consul, who seemed able to impose his will on Europe. It is impossible,