BOOK IV. were not in the field, were employed on useful purposes. He purchased horses and camels for CHAP. II. the cavalry and artillery; he established flying bridges over the Nile, and settled communications between the different stations of the troops.

1800.

The French general continued actively employed in doing every thing for the comfort and protection of the army; he laid plans for works to be raised at Cairo, to keep the inhabitants in check, and command the avenues to the city; and he stopped many peculations on the soldiery, whose situation he improved considerably.

The friendship of a formidable enemy was at this period conciliated by General Kleber, who entered into a treaty with Mourad Bey, and ceded to him the provinces of Girge and Assuan, on the express condition that he should hold them of the French Republic, and pay the same yearly subsidy that was formerly received by the Ottoman Porte.

The Turkish fleet appeared off Alexandria in May. Kleber, not knowing whether troops were on-board, marched with a body of troops from Cairo, and at Rhamanieh was informed that the capoutan pacha wanted merely if possible to open a negociation; he prohibited the landing of any Turkish agent, and returned to Cairo, leaving a flying camp to march to any part of the coast, or towards Syria.

The battle of Heliopolis was not followed by any steps against the Turks, still in power on the side of the desert, which, it seems, was owing to General Menou, who might have been the cause of the commander-in-chief's not proceeding to more active hostilities. This general, for six months, had orders to repair to Cairo for several purposes, but though by his answers he was always ready to depart, and was most anxious to meet the enemy, he remained at Rosetta.

When General Menou arrived at Cairo he objected to the command of that place; Upper Egypt, where he wished to travel, was offered to him, but this he likewise objected to; at length Kleber said to him in a letter, that having offered him the most desirable commands, he had only to add that of commander-in-chief. Menou chose Upper Egypt, but still remained at Cairo. At this time various reports injurious to Kleber, and meant to deprive him of the confidence of the army, were circulated through Cairo.

When General Kleber was leaving Cairo for Rhamanieh, he wrote to General Regnier to take the command of Cairo, and watch Upper Egypt while he was on the coast. The express lost his way, and Regnier did not reach Cairo till Kleber had gone. Menou asked for the command of Cairo, which Kleber gave him, and advised him to consult with General Regnier, if

there was any movement on the side of Syria. When Regnier arrived at Cairo, he gave Menou every information he possibly could.

General Kleber, on his return, shewed Regnier a note he had ordered to be written in answer to a letter from Mr. Morier, secretary to Lord Elgin, sent from Jaffa; he conversed with Regnier relative to his plan of proceeding with the Turks; and told him that he purposed to decline all intercourse with the Turkish and English commander-in-chief, while he endeavoured to open a correspondence with Constantinople; by this means he hoped to be able to prevail on the Turks to consent to a neutrality till a general peace.

General Kleber having reviewed the Greek legion, came to Cairo to look over some repairs doing to his house; he was walking with his architect on the terrace in his garden, June 14, when he was several times stabbed by a poniard. The assassin followed Kleber from Ghazah, and having got into the house with the workmen, seized the moment when Kleber was deeply engaged in conversation. When the news got wind, the generals assembled at the house of General Damas, where the body was carried. The assassin was arrested and examined. The sheiks and agas of the city were also sent for in order to prove if this act of violence had a more extensive plan. A discussion then arose between Generals Menou and Regnier relative to a successor to Kleber. The former maintained that he was unqualified for the command; that he was less known by the troops than General Regnier, and added, that he had already refused the commander-in-chief on other occasions; he declared on his word of honor that he would sooner resign as a general officer than accept the command, and if it were imposed on him, he would order General Regnier to assume it.

General Regnier observed, that the law ordered the oldest general officer to take the command till the pleasure of government was known;

that in the mean time he could issue his orders as commandant of Cairo; as Menou came to no resolution, he took him aside and told him that the business should be postponed to a time of less difficulty. Menou, however, insisted he could not take the command; that he was unknown to the troops, who were, perhaps not in his favor from his change to the mussulman religion. "Change of religion," Regnier observed, "was no obstacle; it would make his authority, more easy to the people of the country, and they would assist him with their best advice; at all events he ought to take the lead at present as commandant of Cairo."

The next day General Menou took the title of

commander-in-chief ad interim, and General Regnier was appointed president of the commission to try the assassin.

After Kleber's interment, and the execution of the assassin, who was condemned to be impaled alive, and his body to be devoured by the birds of prey, General Menou assumed the title of commander-in-chief: the army saw him succeed their former general with great reluctance; in several corps murmurs were heard, but the generals appeased them, hoping that Menou's knowledge of business would cause him to direct the civil powers well, and that in actual service he would consult their military experience.

The French government had accounts of the renewal of bostilities in July, and this revived the hope of their being able to keep Egypt, as a Turkish army could not expect to recover it. The arrival of the news of Kleber's death was as mysterious as the general's assassination; it was announced in the Paris gazettes by two letters said to have been received over land from Constantinople; of the authors of, or the motives which led to, the murder of the French commander, no satisfactory account was ever obaccount_was tained. General Menou accused the Turks of the guilt of it, and alleged that the assassin was a fanatic, dispatched from Ghazah by the aga of the janisaries for the wicked purpose.

Menou addressed a letter to Sir Sidney Smith, dated at Cairo, acknowledging the letter he wrote from on-board the Tigre; and telling him, that as an execrable murder deprived the French army of their leader, he had undertaken to command them; that the Turks, unable to conquer the French at El-Arisch, used daggers, which cowards alone make use of; that a janisary sent from Ghazah committed this horrid act; the murder should be made known to all nations, who were equally interested in avenging it; that he, like Sir Sidney, detested the horrors of war, and wished to see an end to its misery; but he would act in no wise contrary to the honor of the French republic and her armies; that 150 Englishmen were prisoners of war at Cairo; that as they had been taken on the coast and without arms, he was certain the consuls would have approved his conduct had he sent them back; but the Turks detained Citizen Baudet, Adjutant of General Kleber; though he went on a parley, and even among barbarians his person should have been held sacred. He said, he had been obliged against his will to use reprisals against the English, but they should be released the moment Citizen Baudet reached Damietta,

1800.

and should be there exchanged for Mustapha BOOK IV. Pacha and other Turkish commissaries; his honor was concerned in settling this business, and CHAP. II. it regarded 150 of his countrymen; he stated that he hoped to see the war which had so long disturbed the peace of the whole world end with enthusiastic joy; the French and English nations should esteem and not destroy each other, and if they treat, it must be on conditions honorable to both.

Sir Sidney Smith, in his answer, expressed the most heartfelt sorrow for the tragical fate of General Kleber; he immediately communicated the news to the grand vizier and the Ottoman ministers, and nothing less than his details could make them credit the information; Sir Sidney added, that the grand vizier formally declared he had not the slightest intimation of those guilty of the assassination, and he expressed himself satisfied with the veracity of the declaration. He also observed, that when the capoutan pacha, who was then off Alexandria, joined the squadron, the exchange of the aid-de-camp Baudet might be carried into effect, but he could not see why he made the release of 150 English, shipwrecked at Cape Brulos, depend on what related to himself and the Porte only; he expected from his good faith and justice that Captain Bural, his officer and crew, would be allowed to return; he expressed his confidence in the good faith of General Menou, that he was equally averse with him to the war, and wished it was over, but tha he in the mean time would prosecute hostilities as he has hitherto done, and strive to make himself worthy the esteem of his brave troops. As General Kleber, he said, in the late preliminaries agreed to, did not give him to understand the treaty should be ratified by the consuls; it appeared now like a refusal to evacuate Egypt and the grand vizier required an answer on that head; the evacuation of Egypt being an object of so much interest to the cause of humanity, the mode of doing it was still open; if he refused they should exert all their means to compel them to accept conditions not perhaps so favorable as those already agreed on. As the admiral, under whose orders he acted, was at a great distance, he was authorized to agree to such arrangements as circumstances might require, and though he could not offer any new proposition, he would receive all that might be made; and he would adhere to the instructions of his court, which he knew dealt on the principle of equity and good faith.

WE have, in the first chapter of this book, mentioned that Abbé Sieyes was, on the establishment of the consular government, rewarded with a pension. This act of "national gratitude," as it was termed, was generally understood to be a contrivance of Bonaparte's for lowering, and indeed for humbling Sieyes in the eyes of the French nation. The legislative bodies were instructed, not only to make an offer to him, but to pass a law for compelling the abbé to accept the estate of Crosne, in the department of the Seine and Oise.

Crosne is about four leagues from Paris, in a charming valley near Villeneuve St. George. Part of it joined the seat of the ex-director Barras. On another side it is bounded by the forest of Semart, famous for being the residence of hermits, and a hunting place of the former sovereigns of France. It fell to the nation by the failure of Serilly, the treasurer of war, who owed much money to the nation. Sieyes signified his acceptance of this estate by the following letter to the legislative bodies :

"CITIZEN REPRESENTATIVES,-The minister of justice has just transmitted to me the law, decreeing to me a national reward.

"Permit me to express, how deeply I am penetrated with gratitude to you for so honorable a mark of your esteem.

(Health and respect.)

"SIEYES."

Sieyes was born at Frejus, where Bonaparte landed when he returned from Egypt. He took orders, became a cure, was made a vicar-general, and then a canon; he afterwards rose to the chancellorship of the church of Chartres, and was invested with the employment of counsellor commissary in Paris. This was never given but to the superior clergy of France. He possessed much knowledge in the belles-lettres; his favorite studies, however, were politics, metaphysics, and economics. He spent most of his time in Paris, and associated with d'Alembert, Diderot, Condorcet, and the other iterati. It is probable that Sieyes might not have risen from obscurity if the revolution had not made him display his talents. He sent out the publication entitled, "What is the Tiers Etât?" This work was the most fashionable book in Paris.

When numbers of troops were drawn about the capital, the deputies in the popular interest had reason to be fearful for their safety. Sieyes stated to the assembly, that no troops should be nearer than ten leagues to where the states-general were sitting, and proposed an address to the king, to order the troops to withdraw from Versailles. On the king's being attacked in his palace by the mob, a secret committee, consisting of the Duke of Orleans, Mirabeau, La Clos, and the Abbé Sieyes, was formed in a village near Paris. They meant to place the Duke of Orleans so that he must have the command of the populace, and possess a decisive weight in the national assembly; Sieyes was then a zealous royalist.

He was author of the "Declaration of the Rights of Man," decreed by the national assembly. When the convention voted the punishment of Louis, a number of members waited till they heard his opinion. It was understood that opinion would decide the fate of the king. Sieyes at length mounted the tribune-an awful silence prevailed-be interrupted it with " Je suis pour la mort!" (I am for death!) and instantly withdrew. He then lived quite concealed from the public eye, till the death of the execrable Ro bespierre, when leaving his retreat he published "Memoirs of his own Life." From that time he began his brilliant career, and he was fixed upon to regulate the external affairs of the republic. He suggested the idea of making separate treaties with the coalesced powers, in order to create disagreements that might hurt the royal confederacy. His plans for enlarging the republic were unfolded in 1795; he advised the keeping of the Austrian Netherlands, and went to the Hague to conclude the treaty with Holland. So highly were his services held, that he was elected one of the five members of the executive directory, which, however, he declined. He was afterwards appointed a member of the national institute.

In 1797 he narrowly escaped assassination from a pistol, by the Abbé Poulle, and was so abused by lampoons that he was compelled to leave Paris; but, on his return, he became one of the most active of the legislature. He was appointed ambassador to Berlin, where he served the repub lic by preserving the friendship of the King of Prussia, which continued firm during an arduous contest. He was paid much attention while he

was there, and on the king's birth-day went to court, but was late: the chamberlain being consequently perplexed where to place him without disturbing the other ambassadors-" No matter," said he, “the first place will be that occupied by the ambassador of the French_republic," and cheerfully took the first vacancy that offered. On his return to France the king attended him to the frontiers, and gave him his portrait richly ornamented with diamonds. On his arrival from Prussia he was elected a director, and found little difficulty in effecting the revolution with Bonaparte; his influence was great, and this he used to accomplish his designs without any suspicion of his being inimical to the constitution which he was determined to destroy. Several of the new governments were ascribed to Sieyes; and he did much towards the consular one. The great Edmund Burke said, that Sieyes had constitutions ready suited to every time and fancy, and that no fancier of constitutions need go unsatisfied. He opened his mind to Bonaparte too far to retreat, and accepted the estate of Crosne because he could make no better terms with him. He was afterwards chosen president of the conservative senate, and at last became a simple

senator.

The ex-director, Roger Ducos, whose only merit was said to be, that he prevented the other two from jostling one another, was rewarded with a similar gift. This man was almost unknown till he was appointed director. He was chosen president of one of the councils.

The residence of the first consul (Bonaparte) was in the palace of the Thuilleries, the same suite of apartments that had been occupied by the unfortunate king and queen of France.

Cambaceres was the only one of the three consuls who voted on the trial of the king. His opinion was, that the king should not be executed, unless the republic was invaded by a foreign enemy. He had more suavity of manners than vigor of intellect, and like other lawyers, had been an organ to all parties.

Le Brun, the third consul, was a man of talents, and one of the members of the committee of ancients. He was secretary to the Chancellor Maupeon, the most arbitrary of the ministers of Louis XV. He was an avowed loyalist, and had the name of a poet.

The French, in general, were pleased with the change that had taken place in the constitution; for having been long ill-governed, they trusted, by this alteration, that the national affairs would be conducted with greater vigor and ability. The public funds kept rising, and tranquillity prevailed in Paris. The fortunate usurper was determined to avail himself of the new enthusiasm in his favor; that enthusiasm of which every one knows the French nation is so highly

susceptible; and, by displaying an anxiety to BOOK IV. relieve the wants of the people, he every day became more popular.

But tranquillity was far from being universal; the western departments still manifested a spirit of disaffection. of disaffection. At the close of the year 1799, the force of the royalists, or Chouans, in Britanuy aud Normandy, amounted to 60,000. They threatened the town of Quimper, of which they were at one period in possession. Several garrisons were disposed by government on the coasts of Flanders and Picardy for obstructing their progress. The army of loyalists in Normandy, under the command of Louis de Frotté, was considerable. A part of this army, called the division of Evreux, at Pacy, near Evreux, stopped the dispatches for government from Brest, and Mr. Ingaut, of St. Maure, a chevalier of St. Louis, and commandaut of the division at Evreux, had published a proclamation in the name of Louis XVIII., inviting the loyal French to rally around the standards of their defenders, against the new usurper of the monarchy, adding these remarkable words:

"Whether these ambitious men assume the title of directors or of consuls, or substitute, in the room of the old institutions, a new code, be assured that you will have only one tyrant instead of another. Remember our oath, never to sheath our swords till we have destroyed the enemies of our august sovereign."

The other chiefs of the loyalists of Normandy and Britanny published similar proclamations. By letters from the department of La Manche, (the channel,) it appeared, that a body of loyalists, who had been defeated at La Foxe, where they had lost 2000 men, had rallied in the forest of St. Lever, and that General Count de Buais, with his division, had not quitted the cantons which border on the Orne and the Maus; and, on the Ville and Villaine, Fronca, with his division, had overrun all Britanny, and seemed to direct their march to Avranches, in the neighbourhood of which place were spread detachments of one, two, and three hundred men, who levied contributions, arms, and provisions. It was believed, that the Russian troops, who had come to pass the winter in the isles of Jersey and Guernsey, were destined to favor the movements of the loyalists, and even to join them.

Bonaparte, and all the members of the new government, expressed a desire of peace, not only with the royalist armies in France, but even a great number of the emigrants. The Duke of Liancourt (whose name had been struck off from the list of emigrants) was appointed superintendant of the police; and the minister of police

wrote letters to the commissioners of the armies of the north, censuring the harsh and inhuman behaviour of the men who had conducted from Calais to Ham the unfortunate emigrants who

(HAP. ill.

1799.

CHAP. III.

1799.

BOOK IV. had been driven aground on the coast of France, the Dukes of Choiseul, Vibraye, and Montmorency, and twenty-seven others. This spirit of moderation on the part of the first consul did not yet rest on sure foundations; his authority, newly established by revolutionists, was not sufficient for the exercise of that lenity which it was his interest to display; still less had he the power of restoring to the emigrants their possessions. Unhappily, a great number of these, as well as of priests, fondly trusting in the first appearance of moderation, returned, but were repelled from France.

An armistice was agreed upon between General Houdeville, who had before assisted in the pacification of La Vendée, and the Counts de Chatillon, Fourmont, and d'Autichamp, the principal leaders of the insurgents in the western departments. Houdeville addressed the loyalists from head-quarters at Angers, in a proclamation as follows:

"FRENCHMEN,-The happy change which has taken place in the government, will bring to our nation peace, internal and external. The legislative committees and the consuls of the republic do not belong to any faction. Their object is the happiness and glory of the French nation. They have the firmest confidence in the victories of our armies, and every heart partakes with them in this confidence. There is already a suspension of arms in some of the western departments, and orders have been given for carrying it into execution. It is not to be doubted but the chiefs of insurgents, and the inhabitants of districts, occupied by the republican armies, will submit themselves, without delay, to the laws of the republic. A solid peace in the interior is to be established only by the united efforts of all good citizens, to conciliate and gain mutual affection. All who shall contribute their endeavours to this end, will deserve well of humanity and of their country."

The conditions of the armistice, in substance, were, that all hostilities of every kind and degree should entirely cease; that all prisoners and hostages on both sides should be set free, but each party to be at liberty still to receive deserters; the number of republican troops in the western departments not to be augmented; correspondence among the republicans to be carried on either by resolutions transmitted from one body to another, or by means of very small detachments; correspondence among the disaffected to be protected by the republicans; requisitions to be made by the republicans for the maintenance of the troops only hostilities not to be renewed on either side without eight days previous notice; and no proclamation on either side to be published during the suspension of arms.

:

As these conditions were not adhered to by

either party, orders were transmitted to General Houdeville to employ the troops in such a manner that there should not be left alone one rebellious leader. Houdeville undertook the task, and had not a doubt, as he informed the French government, of accomplishing it. It had been reported at Paris, that the English had landed on the coast of Britanny in immense force. Houdeville, in his letter to the minister at war, said that all such reports were either entirely false or greatly exaggerated. He added, "That nothing could be more desirable than a descent by the English, as in that case the war might be finished at once; for the great difficulty was to find them."

A great number of conscripts, who had hid themselves in the woods between Chateaurenald and Tours, in order to evade the republican armies, joined the loyalists, who extended themselves from this quarter into the departments of Loire and Chair and those of the Indre and Loire, at the same time a battalion of conscripts at Chalons refused to obey the orders of the minister of war.

At this critical juncture the language held out by Bonaparte in the disaffected departments was

this.

"An impious war threatens a second time to inflame the departments of the west. It becomes the duty of the first magistrates of the republic to arrest its progress, and extinguish it in its birth. But they are loth to employ force until they have exhausted the means of persuasion and justice. The artificers of these troubles are the senseless partisans of two men who have no honor, and who neither derive their rank from their virtues, nor their misfortunes from their achievements. They are farther traitors, sold to the English, or robbers who foment civil discord only as the means of sheltering them from the punishment due to their crimes.- With such men it is not the duty of government to keep any measures, or to make any declaration of its principles. It is to citizens dear to their country, who are seduced by their arts; it is to these citizens that the light of the truth is due.

66

Unjust laws have been promulgated and executed; arbitrary acts have alarmed the security of the citizens, and the liberty of conscience. Every where random inscriptions on the list of emigrants have struck citizens, who had never quitted their country or even their homes. In a word, the great principles of social order have been violated.

"It is in order to remedy these acts of injustice, and these errors, that a government, founded on the sacred basis of liberty, equality, and a system of representation, has been proclaimed to, and recognized by, the nation. The constant inclination, as well as the interest and the glory of the first magistrates, which the nation has given to