democracy though in a bureaucratic form—the first of those changes which paved the way to power for Bonaparte. For the constitution of the year 1795 which inaugurated the period of the Directory (1795–1799) see French Revolution. Here we may notice that the perpetuation of the republic by means of the armed forces tended to exalt the army at the expense of the civil authorities. The repetition of the same tactics by Bonaparte in Fructidor, 1797, served still more decidedly to tilt the balance in favour of the sword, with results which were to be seen at the coup d’état of Brumaire 1799.
The events which helped the disgraced officer of August 1795 to impose his will on France in November 1799 now claim our attention. The services which he rendered to the republic at Vendémiaire brought as their reward the hand of Josephine de Beauharnais. The influence of Barras with this fashionable lady helped on the match. At the outset she felt some repugnance for the thin sallow-faced young officer, and was certainly terrified by his ardour and by the imperious egoism of his nature; but she consented to the union, especially when he received the promise of the command of the French army of Italy. The story that he owed this promotion solely to the influence of Barras and Josephine is, however, an exaggeration. It is now known that the plans of campaign which he had drawn up for that army had enlisted the far more influential support of Carnot on his behalf. In January 1796 he drew up another plan for the conquest of Italy, which gained the assent of the Directory. Vendémiaire and the marriage with Josephine (9th of March 1796) were but stepping-stones to the attainment of the end which he had kept steadily in sight since the spring of the year 1794. For the events of this campaign in Italy see French Revolutionary Wars. The success at the bridge of Lodi (10th of May) seems first to have inspired in the young general dreams of a grander career than that of a successful general of the Revolution; while his narrow escape at the bridge of Arcola in November strengthened his conviction that he was destined for a great future. The means whereby he engaged the energies of the Italians on behalf of the French Republic and yet refrained from persecuting the Roman Catholic Church in the way only too common among revolutionary generals, bespoke political insight of no ordinary kind. From every dispute which he had with the central authorities at Paris he emerged victorious; and he took care to assure his ascendancy by sending presents to the Directors, large sums to the nearly bankrupt treasury and works of art to the museums of Paris. Thus when, after the crowning victory of Rivoli (14th of January 1797), Mantua surrendered and the Austrian rule in Italy for the time collapsed, Bonaparte was virtually the idol of the French nation, the master of the Directory and potentially the protector of the Holy See.
It may be well to point out here the salient features in Bonaparte’s conduct towards the states of northern Italy. While arousing the enthusiasm of their inhabitants on behalf of France, he in private spoke contemptuously of them, mercilessly suppressed all outbreaks caused by the exactions and plundering of his army, and carefully curbed the factions which the new political life soon developed. On his first entry into Milan (15th of May 1796) he received a rapturous welcome as the liberator of Italy from the Austrian yoke; but the instructions of the Directory allowed him at the outset to do little more than effect the organization of consultative committees and national guards in the chief towns of Lombardy. The successful course of the campaign and the large sums which he sent from Italy to the French exchequer served to strengthen his hold over the Directors, and his constructive policy grew more decided. Thus when the men of Reggio and Modena overthrew the rule of their duke, he at once accorded protection to them, as also to the inhabitants of the cities of Bologna and Ferrara when they broke away from papal authority. He even allowed the latter to send delegates to confer with those of the duchy at Modena, with the result that a political union was decreed in a state called the Cispadane Republic (16th of October 1796) This action was due in large measure to the protection of Bonaparte. The men of Lombardy, emboldened by his tacit encouragement, prepared at the close of the year to form a republic, which assumed the name of Transpadane, and thereafter that of Cisalpine. Its constitution was drawn up in the spring of 1797 by committees appointed, and to some extent supervised, by him; and he appointed the first directors, deputies and chief administrators of the new state (July 1797). The union of these republics took place on the 15th of July 1797. The bounds of the thus enlarged Cisalpine Republic were afterwards extended eastwards to the banks of the Adige by the terms of the treaty of Campo Formio; and in November 1797 Bonaparte added the formerly Swiss district of the Valtelline, north-east of Lake Como, to its territory. Much of this work of reorganization was carried on at the castle of Montebello, or Mombello, near Milan, where he lived in almost viceregal pomp (May–July, 1797). Taking advantage of an outbreak at Genoa, he overthrew that ancient oligarchy, replaced it by a form of government modelled on that of France (June 6th); and subsequently it adopted the name of the Ligurian Republic.
Concurrently with these undertakings, he steadily prepared to strengthen his position in the political life of France; and it will be well to notice the steps by which he ensured the defeat of the royalists in France and the propping up of the directorial system in the coup d’état of Fructidor 1797. The unrest in France in the years 1795–1797 resulted mainly from the harshness, incompetence and notorious corruption of the five Directors who, after the 13th of Vendémiaire 1795, practically governed France. All those who wished for peace and orderly government came by degrees to oppose the Directors; and, seeing that the latter clung to Jacobinical catchwords and methods, public opinion tended to become “moderate” or even royalist. This was seen in the elections for one-third of the 750 members composing the two councils of the nation (the Anciens and the Council of Five Hundred); they gave the moderates a majority alike in that of the older deputies and in that of the younger deputies (April 1797), and that majority elected Barthelemy, a well-known moderate, as the fifth member of the Directory. Carnot, the ablest administrator, but not the strongest man, soon joined Barthélemy in opposing their Jacobinical colleagues—Barras, Rewbell and Larevellière-Lépeaux. Time was on the side of the moderates; they succeeded in placing General Pichegru, already known for his tendencies towards constitutional monarchy, in the presidential chair of the Council of Five Hundred; and they proceeded to agitate, chiefly through the medium of a powerful club founded at Clichy, for the repeal of the revolutionary and persecuting laws. The three Jacobinical Directors thereupon intrigued to bring to Paris General Lazarre Hoche and his army destined for the invasion of Ireland for the purpose of coercing their opponents; but these, perceiving the danger, ordered Hoche to Paris, rebuked him for bringing his army nearer to the capital than was allowed by law, and dismissed him in disgrace.
The failure of Hoche led the three Directors to fix their hopes on Bonaparte. The commander of the ever-victorious army of Italy had recently been attacked by one of the moderates in the councils for proposing to hand over Venice to Austria. This cession was based on political motives, which Bonaparte judged to be of overwhelming force; and he now decided to support the Directors and overthrow the moderates. Prefacing his action by a violent tirade against the royalist conspirators of Clichy, he sent to Paris General Augereau, well known for his brusque behaviour and demagogic Jacobinism. This officer rushed to Paris, breathing out threats of slaughter against all royalists, and entered into close relations with Barras. In order to discount the chances of failure, Bonaparte warned the three Directors that Augereau was a turbulent politician, not to be trusted overmuch. Events, indeed, might readily have gone in favour of the moderates had Carnot acted with decision; but he relapsed into strange inactivity, while Barras and his military tool prepared to coerce the majority. Before dawn of September the 4th (18 Fructidor) Augereau with 2000 soldiers marched against the Tuileries, where the councils were sitting, dispersed
