comrades, or of my particular friends, who begged of me something to eat or drink: all that I could do was to fetch them some water! In truth, forgetting my own wants and those of my horse, I staid more than two hours, running backwards and forwards, performing, by turns, the part of a surgeon and an hospital attendant.

Prisoners were brought in from every part, which increased the number of the famished; in short this was a day that appeared of an insupportable length to all of us."

This was one of the most rapid and astonishing campaigns the world has ever witnessed. Buonaparte arrived at St. Bernard on the 15th of May, and from thence to the 15th of June, the day the great and decisive battle of Marengo was fought, a period of precisely one month, the power of Austria in Italy was destroyed; her immense armies annihilated or dispersed and Italy re-conquered. The entire loss of the Imperialists during this short campaign, in killed, wounded and prisoners, including 1500 sick found in the hospitals, was not less than

SIXTY THOUSAND MEN.

In consequence of a loss which seemed in the circumstances altogether irreparable, Melas resolved to save the remains of his army, by entering on the 15th of June 1800, into a convention, or rather capitulation, by which he agreed, on receiving permission to retire behind Mantua, to yield up Genoa, and all the fortified places which the Austrians possessed in Piedmont, Lombardy and the Legations. Buonaparte the more readily granted these terms, that an English army was in the fact of arriving on the coast. His wisdom taught him not to drive a powerful enemy to despair, and to be satisfied with the glory of having regained, in the affairs of Montebello and of Marengo, almost all the loss sustained by the French in the disastrous campaign of 1799. Enough had been done to show, that, as the fortunes of France appeared to wane and dwindle after Buonaparte's departure, so they revived with even more than their original brilliancy, as soon as this Child of Destiny had returned to preside over them. An armistice was also agreed upon, which it was supposed might afford time for the conclusion of a victorious peace with Austria; and Buonaparte extended this truce to the armies on the Rhine, as well as those in Italy.

Two days having been spent in the arrangements which the convention with Melas rendered necessary, Buonaparte, on the 17th June, returned to Milan, where he again renewed 'he republican constitution, which had been his original gift

to the Cisalpine State. He executed several other acts of authority. Though displeased with Massena for the surrender of Genoa, he did not the less constitute him commanderin-chief in Italy; and though doubtful of the attachment of Jourdan, who on the 18th Brumaire, seemed ready to espouse the Republican interests, he did not on that account hesitate to name him Minister of the French Republic in Piedmont, which, was equivalent to giving him the administration of that province. These conciliatory steps had the effect of making men of the most opposite parties see their own interests in supporting the government of the First Consul.

It

The presence of Napoleon was now eagerly desired at Paris. He set out from Milan on the 24th of June, and in his passage through Lyons, paused to lay the foundation-stone for rebuilding the Place Bellecour; a splendid square, which had been destroyed by the frantic vengeance of the Jacobins when Lyons was retaken by them from the insurgent party of Girondists and Royalists. Finally, the First Consul returned to Paris upon the 2d July. He had left it on the 6th of May; yet in the space of not quite two months, how many hopes had he realized! All that the most sanguine partizans had ventured to anticipate of his success had been exceeded. seemed that his mere presence in Italy was of itself sufficient at once to obliterate the misfortunes of a disastrous campaign, and restore the fruits of his own brilliant victories, which had been lost during his absence. It appeared as if he was the sun of France-when he was hid from her, all was gloom— when he appeared, light and serenity were restored. All the inhabitants leaving their occupations, thronged to the Tuilleries to obtain a glimpse of the wonderful man, who appeared with the laurel of victory in one hand, and the olive of peace in the other. Shouts of welcome and congratulation resounded from the gardens, the courts and the quays, by which the palace is surrounded; high and low illuminated their houses; and there were few Frenchmen, perhaps, that were not for the moment partakers of the general joy.

In one year the wonderful genius of Buonaparte had retrieved the affairs of France and restored the glory of the French arms in all quarters; reconquered Italy, and finally obtained peace with all the enemies of the Republic, except Great Britain, who remained alone in the dreadful struggle.

CHAP. IX.

Plot to assassinate Napoleon at the Opera House. Another attempt on his life, by means of the Infernal Machine. External Relations of France. Preparations for invading England. Affairs of Egypt resumed. Kleber assassinated. British army lands in Egypt. Defeats of the French. Treaty of Peace concluded between Great Britain and France.

THE events subsequent to the revolution of the 18th Bru maire, seemed to work a miraculous change on the French nation. The superior talents of Buonaparte, with the policy exercised by Talleyrand and Fouche, and the other statesmen of ability whom he had called into administration, and who desired at all events to put an end to further revolutionary movements-but, above all, the victory of Marengo, had at once created and attached to the person of the Chief Consul an immense party, which might be said to comprehend all those, who, being neither decided Royalists nor determined Republicans, were indifferent about the form of the government, so they found ease and protection while living under it.

But, on the other hand, the heads of the two factions continued to exist; and as the power of the First Consul became at once more absolute and more consolidated, it grew doubly hateful and formidable to them. His political existence was a total obstruction to the system of both parties, and yet one which it was impossible to remove. There was no national council left, in which the authority of Buonaparte could be disputed, or his measures impeached. The strength of his military power bid defiance alike to popular commotions, if the Democrats had yet possessed the means of exerting them, and to the scattered bands of the Royalist insurgents.

It is no wonder, therefore, that some obscure Jacobins should have early nourished the purpose of assassinating Buonaparte, as the enemy of his country's freedom, and the destroyer of her liberties; but it is singular, that most of the conspirators against his person were Italians. Arena, brother of the deputy who was said to have aimed a dagger at Buonaparte in the Council of Five Hundred, was at the head of the conspiracy. He was a Corsican. With him, Ceraschi and Diana, two Italian refugees; a painter, called Topino Lebrun; and two or three enthusiasts, formed a plot for the pur

pose of assassinating the Chief Consul at the Opera-house Their intention was detected by the police; Ceraschi and Diana were arrested behind the scenes, armed, it was said, and prepared for the attempt, and Buonaparte was congratulated by most of the constituted authorities upon having escaped a great danger.

Buonaparte remarked with military indifference, that he had been in no real danger. "The contemptible wretches" he said, "had no power to commit the crime they meditated. Besides the assistance of the whole audience, I had with me a piquet of my brave guard, from whom the wretches could not have borne a look." It is remarkable that neither were the circumstances of the plot made public, nor the conspirators punished, till the more memorable attempt on Buonaparte's life by the Royalists.

A horrible invention, first hatched, it is said, by the Jacobins, was adopted by certain Royalists of a low description, of whom the leaders were named Carbon and St. Regent. It was a machine consisting of a barrel of gunpowder, placed on a cart to which it was strongly secured, and charged with grape-shot so disposed around the barrel, as to be dispersed in every direction by the explosion. The fire was to be communicated by a slow match. It was the purpose of the conspirators, undeterred by the indiscriminate slaughter which such a discharge must occasion, to place the machine in the street through which the First Consul was to go to the Opera, having contrived that it should explode exactly as his carriage should pass the spot; and, strange to say, this stratagem, which seemed as uncertain as it was atrocious, was within an hair's breadth of success.

On the evening of the 10th of October 1800, Buonaparte has informed us, that though he himself felt a strong desire to remain at home, his wife and one or two intimate friends insisted that he should go to the Opera. He was slumbering under a canopy when they awaked him. One brought his hat, another his sword. He was in a manner forced into his carriage, where he again slumbered, and was dreaming of the danger which he had escaped in an attempt to pass the river Tagliamento some years before. On a sudden he awoke amidst thunder and flame.

The cart bearing the engine, which was placed in the street St. Nicaise, intercepted the progress of Buonaparte's coach which passed it with some difficulty. St. Regent had fired he match at the appointed instant; but the coachman, who

chanced to be somewhat intoxicated, driving unusually fast, the carriage had passed the machine two seconds before the explosion took place; and that almost imperceptible fraction. of time was enough to save the life which was aimed at.The explosion was terrible. Two or three houses were greatly damaged, twenty persons killed, and about fifty-three wounded; among the latter was the incendiary St. Regent. The report was heard several leagues from Paris. Buonaparte instantly exclaimed to Lasnes and Bessieres, who were in the carriage, "We are blown up!" The attendants would have stopped the coach, but with more presence of mind he commanded them to drive on, and arrived in safety at the Opera; his coachman during the whole time never discovering what had happened, but conceiving the Consul had received a salute of artillery.

A public officer, escaped from such a peril, became an object of yet deeper interest than formerly to the citizens in general; and the reception of Buonaparte at the Opera, and elsewhere, was more enthusiastic than ever. Relief was distributed amongst the wounded, and the relatives of the slain; and every one, shocked with the wild atrocity of such a reckless plot, became, while they execrated the perpetrators, attached in proportion to the object of their cruelty.

The conspirators were proceeded against with severity.Chevalier and Veycer, Jacobins, said to have constructed the original model of the infernal machine, were tried before a military commission, condemned to be shot, and suffered death accordingly.

Arena, Ceraschi, Le Brun and Demerville, were tried before the ordinary court of criminal judicature, and condemned by the voice of a jury; although there was little evidence against them, save that of their accomplice Harel, by whom they had been betrayed. They were also executed.

At a later period, Carbon and St. Regent, Royalists, the agents in the actual attempt of the 10th of October, were also tried, condemned and put to death. Some persons tried for the same offence were acquitted; and justice seems to have been distributed with an impartiality unusual in France since the Revolution.

The peace of Luneville, had assumed the appearance of universal ascendency, so much had the current of human affairs been altered by the talents and fortunes of one man. Not only was France in secure possession, by the treaty of Luneville, of territories extending to the banks of the Rhine,