The Life of Napoleon Bonaparte. Vol. 2 (of 4)

The Life of Napoleon Bonaparte. Vol. 2 (of 4)

Deadlock between the French Executive and the Chambers Bonaparte's Attitude The Celebration of July Fourteenth at Milan Plot of the French Royalists Attitude of Moreau and Hoche Bonaparte to the Rescue The Eighteenth of Fructidor Effects in Paris Bonaparte a European Personage His Statesmanship in Italy The Ligurian Republic Sardinia, Switzerland, and Great Britain Readiness of Italy for War Strength of Bonaparte's Armies. The fine charter with which France had presumably closed the revolutionary epoch, in order to live for the first time under a constitutional government, (p. 002) was about to display its fatal weakness in the production of a deadlock. This possibility had been clearly foreseen by acute observers, since there was no provision for the control of one arm of the government by the other, and in any working system supreme control must reside somewhere. For fear of usurpation, anarchy, and tyranny the constitution of the Directorate divided the powers so completely that they could not work at all. The spring elections of 1797 were the first held under this new constitution without any restrictions, and the Jacobin majority in the legislature disappeared. Barthlemy, the new director chosen to replace Letourneur, was a moderate democrat with royalistic leanings, who, like his predecessor, joined his fortunes with those of Carnot. The Five Hundred, therefore, as well as the Ancients, now represented the great majority of the French people, who hated Jacobinism, who were opposed to any republican propaganda in foreign countries, and who, more than anything else, wanted peace, in order to restore their fortunes and to secure leisure for their amusements. An attack on the executive policy which had been dictated by the three radical members of the Directory, sometimes designated the triumvirate, at once began. Nothing escaped: assaults were made on their attitude toward the emigrants and the clergy, on their loss of the colonies, on their financial failures, and, above all, on their conduct of foreign affairs, which appeared to have as its aim the continuance of the war, and the overthrow of monarchy throughout Europe. The leaders of the majority in the two councils frequented (p. 003) a club in the Clichy quarter of Paris, which was the center of royalist intrigue. Though no match in ability for their opponents, these men were quite clever enough to taunt the directors with their impotence to stop royalist agitations. Internal affairs were desperate. Suicides from starvation were sadly frequent among the officers of the navy, while their colleagues in the Army of Italy were not only growing rich on plunder, but defiant as well. The French commander in Italy had first made peace on his own terms, and had then declared war without consulting the chambers, thus not only annihilating friendly commonwealths, but evincing a contempt for the constitution, for the duly elected representatives of the people, and for the popular demand that there should be, not a particular, but a general pacification. On June twenty-third, 1797, in a memorable interpellation of the government by Dumorlard, all these matters were thoroughly ventilated in the Five Hundred. Even Pontcoulant, Bonaparte's former protector, joined in the demand for an explanation. Paris and the country in general were left in a ferment. ......Buy Now (To Read More)

Product details

Ebook Number: 31026
Author: Sloane, William Milligan
Release Date: Dec 1, 2010
Format: eBook
Language: English