the Convention, and submitted to the French people. The separation of the legislature into two bodies, one called the Council of Ancients, the other the Council of Five Hundred, was a measure which appears to have been suggested by the American constitution. The placing the executive authority in the hands of five members, and renewing them at brief intervals, seemed calculated to protect the liberties of the nation against the encroachments of the government. How far the issue corresponded with these expectations, will shortly

appear.

Amidst the multitude of arbitrary and oppressive acts of the Convention, none were more bitterly censured than the edict, that two-thirds of the members comprising the Convention should be re-elected for the new legislature; and if the Department would not re-elect two-thirds, the Convention would become an elective body, and supply the deficiency by its own nomination. The majority of the sections of Paris were distinguished by their active opposition to these laws. Many angry altercations arose between them and the Convention. Expedients were ineffectually tried to compromise the dispute: at length the sword was uplifted by both parties.

On October 5. 1795, a desperate battle was fought between the troops of the contending factions: those of the Convention were nominally commanded by Barras, but really and in effect by Buonaparte, who had the direction of the artillery. The issue was for some time dubious, but was at length decided in favour of the army of the Convention. The insurgents were routed with great slaughter. Nearly 8000 of the Parisians are reported to have fallen in the battle. The Convention dissolved itself October 27th, of the same year.

The sitting of this infernal synod continued thirty-seven months and four days; they signed the death warrant of the successor of an hundred kings; and in one day broke the sceptre, for which an existence of fourteen centuries had procured almost a religious veneration. They converted France into an armed nation, which sent a million and a half of men into the field to repel its enemies; and who defeated the com

bination of all the great powers of the continent, and subdued Holland. This Convention enacted 11,210 laws; and during its continuance, 360 conspiracies, and 140 insurrections were denounced; and 18,613 persons put to death by the guillotine. The civil war at Lyons cost 31,200 men, and that at Marseilles, 729. At Toulon, 14,325 lives were sacrificed; and in the south of France, after the fall of Robespierre, 750 individuals perished. The war in La Vendée caused the destruction of 900,000, and more than 20,000 dwellings; 4790 persons committed suicide, through fear of the dreadful enormities, the massacres, and the legal cruelties that were committed; and 3400 women died of premature deliveries from the same cause; 20,000 human beings died of famine, and 1550 were driven to incurable insanity. In the colonies, 124,000 white men, women and children, and 60,000 people of colour were inhumanly massacred, and two towns, and 3200 habitations burned. The loss of men by the war alone, is estimated at upwards of 800,000; and 123,789 emigrants were for ever excluded from entering France. Such were the events that occurred during the reign of the bloodiest and most execrable assembly of miscreants that ever disgraced the annals of history, from the remotest ages of barbarism to the present time.

The services performed by Buonaparte were too important to be passed over. Accordingly Barras, at this period one of the directors, appointed him general of the army of the interior, a situation of peculiar trust, some emolument, and more influence. In the beginning of the year 1796, Buonaparte received from Barras the hand of his mistress Josephine, the widow of Vicomte Beauharnois, in marriage, with a dowry of 500,000 francs; and from Carnot the command of the army of Italy. Hitherto the war in that country had been considered only as a sort of episode. The French army was stationed in the Genoese territory, on the southern acclivity of the mountains, inferior in number, and still more so in position to the Austrian and Piedmontese troops; who possessed all the passes and heights of the Alps. At the open

ing of the campaign, the French had their right supported by Savona, and their left by Montenotte: an advanced guard was stationed in front of Voltri. On April 9th 1796, General Beaulieu attacked the post of Voltri, and compelled the French to retreat to their last entrenchment at Montenotte. Here his progress was arrested by a redoubt, held by about 1500 men, which he in vain attempted to carry. In the meantime Buonaparte had so disposed his troops as to penetrate upon the flank and rear of the allies; and ultimately compelled them to fly with the loss of 4000 men and several standards. By continued movements Napoleon then placed his army on the northern side of the maritime Alps. Pursuing his advantage, on the 3d April he succeeded in calling off a corps of 1,500 men, commanded by the brave General Provera, who had retired to the summit of a mountain, where, during that day, and part of the 14th, he kept in check the left wing of the French army. Whilst these operations were in progress, a desperate struggle took place between the centre and right wing of the French army and the main body of the allied forces. The French formed in close columns of division, crossed the Barmeda under the enemy's fire, with the water three or four feet in depth, and assailed the right wing and centre of Beaulieu's army, while a column was detached to penetrate into the rear of their line. Success attended all these manœuvres, the allies were worsted with the loss of 10,000 men in killed, wounded, and prisoners. Defeated, but by no means disheartened, the gallant Beaulieu at day-break on the 15th, having collected a force of 7,000 men, the flower of his army, carried by surprize the village of Dego. The occupation of this post, the key of the whole French positions, was desperately contested. The battle lasted, with various success, until the afternoon. Several French generals were killed or dangerously wounded, but the post was finally retaken, with a loss to the allies of nearly 2000 men.

The campaign had only lasted six days, and had already cost the Austrian and Piedmontese 16,000 men, and a chain of positions almost impregnable. Other actions of less im

portance followed; the allies were driven from one position to another; neither river nor redoubt, nor the difficult passes of the mountains, could check the progress of the pursuing army. From the 15th to the 24th, Buonaparte continued to advance in Piedmont, compelling his enemy to retire before him by skilful and combined operations on his wings. During this period Ceva, a strong fortress, was blockaded by the French, and Cherasco, a town containing extensive and most acceptable magazines, captured.

The fruits of these achievements attested their importance. The King of Sardinia implored for peace, which was granted on condition of the surrender of Exilles, Tortona, Coni, Alexandria, and Chateau Dauphin. This treaty was in effect a surrender at discretion.

The conclusion of the armistice with the King of Sardinia, enabled Buonaparte on the 29th April, to pursue his march to the Po. By a variety of military and diplomatic feints, he completely deceived Beaulieu, crossing that river at Placenza instead of at Valenza; thus rendering the entrenchments of the Austrian general on the Tesino, and his redoubt at Pavia perfectly useless. The French army likewise entered Tortona, Ceva, Coni, and Casel, in which places they found abundant supplies of every description. These events happened between the 29th April and 10th May. The passage of the Po alarmed all the minor states of Italy, and Buonaparte concluded an armistice with the Duke of Parma, when that Prince purchased his neutrality by stipulating to furnish great supplies of provisions and transports. This convention is remarkable, chiefly for its being the first instance of that spoliation of the precious monuments of the fine arts, which distinguished all Buonaparte's subsequent negociations in Italy; and occasioned to the degenerate Italians a more lively regret than the loss of an hundred battles. It was a rigorous, unjustifiable, and certainly impolitic step on the part of the conqueror; and had he experienced a reverse of fortune, he would have had sufficient cause to have deplored it. Submission was now, however, the order of the day. The go

vernment of Venice commanded Louis XVIII. to quit its territory. Tuscany sued for favor. Naples negociated for peace. The central sea-ports of Lombardy were closed against the English flag. Buonaparte continued to advance, but in order to reach Milan it was necessary to dislodge Beaulieu, who occupied a strong position on the Adda, which could only be approached by the bridge of Lodi. His whole army ranged in order of battle, and supported by 30 pieces of cannon, defended the passage of the bridge, which was continually swept by showers of grape shot. Buonaparte had here a narrow escape from death. He had been standing by a statue, the head of which was carried off only a few moments after he had quited the pedestal.

The principal part of the French army, formed in close columns, attempted to pass the bridge at the pas de charge; shouting Vive la Republique! They were repulsed with considerable loss. Another effort was made with the like success the slaughter was dreadful. Buonaparte, prodigal beyond any modern commander (excepting only Frederick the Great of Prussia) of the blood of his soldiers, ventured upon a third trial. Generals Berthier, Massena, Lasnes the chief of Brigade, Dupat, the chief of Battalion, Cervoni and Dallemagne, placed themselves at the head of the troops, and passed the bridge. Whilst the attention of Beaulieu was drawn to this memorable spot, his army was suddenly attacked in the rear by a detachment of the French forces which had crossed the Adda below Lodi. Thus placed between two fires, the Austrians were completely defeated, with the loss of twenty pieces of cannon, and between 2 and 3000 men, who were either killed or put hors de combat. This terrible battle, in which the French army suffered most severely, and in which Buonaparte has been accused, with justice, of equal rashness and inhumanity, decided the fate of the Milanese.

The gallant Beaulieu retired with the wreck of his army under the walls of Mantua. Pizzighitone, Cremona, and Pavia, surrendered to the French; and on the 15th May, Buonaparte entered the town of Milan, not only as a con