144 INVASION OF EGYPT. AND HINDOSTAN COMPARED.

slave the inhabitants, and the conquering a barbarous nation where they are already slaves. Egypt, the parent; and long the seat of civilization, the sciences and arts, was then under a foreign dominion, and in the most degraded and barbarous condition. The conquest of the country by the French could not have made the condition of the inhabitants worse, but it might have exterminated them.

From these considerations, the invasion and conquest of Egypt by the French, was a much less outrage upon the rights of humanity, than the invasion and conquest of Hindostan, by the British. The latter nation were independent, if not free, and compared with the other, in a civilized, prosperous and happy condition. As to the means made use of, for the conquest of the two countries, there is little difference. If there are no single instances in which the British have been guilty of as great outrages and enormities against the unoffending nations of India, as the French were against those in Egypt; yet the aggregate, or sum total of injustice, cruelty and outrage, will greatly preponderate in the British scale. Yet it is this nation whose conquests extend to every part of the globe, and which has stained the shores of every continent, and almost every island in the known world, with the blood of its innocent inhabitants, that has complained most of the conquests of the French, and of their injustice and cruelties.

CHAPTER VIII.

Bonaparte's journey from Fregus to Paris.... The joy with which he is received....His popular manners.... Various incidents of his past life illustrative of his character....His presentation to the Directory after his return from Italy....His speech....He is chosen a member of the Institute....His installation....He lives in retirement at Paris....Political revolution....Bonaparte appointed to command the military force....He enters the Council of Five Hundred.....His perilous situation.....The Chamber dispersed by the soldiers....Bonaparte chosen Consul....New Constitution adopted....Attention to etiquette.... Citizen Seiyes....His retirement, and events of his public life.

BONAPARTE set out, almost immediately from Frejus, where he landed, for Paris. During his journey, he was every where received with the strongest demonstrations of joy; the people surrounding, saluted him with the cry of peace! peace! an evidence how much the nation sighed for the greatest of all blessings, and that they looked to him as the only man capable of healing the wounds of their country, at which its life's blood so freely flowed. He reached the capital on the 16th of October; with the rapidity of lightning, the news spread over the city; all hastened to behold the hero whom they had once honoured as the conqueror of Italy, and whom they now saluted as the "conqueror of Egypt;" the most rapturous joy was manifested, and each seemed desirous of out doing the rest in welcoming home the hero of the nation, and in testifying his joy on the occasion. He arrived at a great crisis; when the flames of insurrection had been lighted up in the southern and eastern departments of France, and the torches of discord in the capital; when from the imbecility of the government and the violence of the factions, the most alarming disorders every where prevailed; and at the very time that general Jourdan in the council of Five Hundred had proposed a decree, " declaring the country in danger." The afflicted and critical condition of the

146 BONAPARTE'S APPEARANCE AND MANNERS.

nation undoubtedly, contributed to the transports of joy manifested by the people at the return of Bonaparte, as in the agitation and alarm which prevailed, it was natural from his unexpected appearance, and the eclat ettached to his name, for the people to regard him, as having returned for their deliverance. When the confidence in the government was in a great measure destroyed, and faction reigned in the capital, and insurrection in the departments, not knowing to what quarter to look for succor or security, all eyes were fixed upon the man who had done so much to extend the glory of his country; who in all his wars had nẹver been defeated, and who had once "conquered a peace" with all their enemies on the continent.

Bonaparte did not fail to promote these feelings in the people; he assumed an affability in his manners that he did not possess before he left France; he conversed freely with the people, and shook by the hand several soldiers, who had belonged to the "army of Italy." A tropical sun and the sands of Egypt, had bronzed his complexion; his hair was cut short and without powder; he was not in uniform, but had on a grey riding coat with a silk scarf over his shoulders, suspending a Turkish sabre: his whole appearance novel and striking, suggested the idea of greater manliness and energy, than his physiognomy had formerly disclosed. On entering the city, amidst the acclamations of the populace, he passed along the courts and streets leading to the Luxembourg, and immediately had a private audience with the directory.

Having conducted our hero back to Paris, before following him farther in his career of great achievements, we will notice some incidents and anecdotes, which, in narrating the great events of his life that follow in such rapid succession, we have been obliged to pass over.

During the discussion that took place at Leoben, relative to the preliminaries of peace, from his restiveness of temper and "off hand" mode of doing bu

Anecdote DURING THE DISCUSSION AT LOBEN. 147

siness, Bonaparte became impatient and greatly chagrined at the phlegm of the Germans, and the tedious formal and perplexing manner in which the negociations were conducted. When he perceived that the first article of the preliminaries that had been drawn up, contained a formal recognition of the French republic, he could no longer suppress his indignation at the stupidity of the imperial negociators, but observed with great warmth, "The French republic is like the sun in the firmament, and blind are they who do not acknowledge its splendour." This occasioned the article to be immediately expunged. Being irritated with his colleagues, thinking that they had not manifested a proper solicitude for the honour of the Republic, or paid sufficient attention to his propositions, he took up a china jar that stood near him, and dashing it on the ground exclaimed, "since you provoke me, thus will I reduce you to powder." The marquis de Gallo conducted himself with the greatest address, moderation and prudence, from a constant apprehension that the petulance of Bonaparte's temper would put an end to the negociations. One day after a long debate, Bonaparte said with great indignation, "Well then I will carry my answer to Vienna."

It has been related as an instance of his liberality, that during the negociation the Emperor had sent three of the principal nobility of his court, as hostages, and having been invited to dine with Bonaparte, at the close of the entertainment they were agreeably surprised at receiving the following address from the general: "Gentlemen, you are free-Go, tell your master that if his imperial word requires a pledge, you cannot serve as such; and if it requires none, you ought not."

After the conquest of Venice, Bonaparte sent a small fleet with some troops commanded by general Gentili, to take possession of the Greek isles which belonged to that republic. The following extract from his dispatch to the Directory, giving an account of his

148

INCIDENTS AND ANECDOTES.

expedition, contains some curious particulars, and shews the pride he felt, in conquering in the name of the "great nation," and in assuming the character of the apostle of liberty, and the emancipater of the states and islands, where, in the glorious days of Greece and Rome, liberty and the arts once flourished.

"The 10th Messidor, our troops landed, and were received on shore by an immense crowd of people, who testified their joy by shouts of enthusiasm, such as never fails to animate those who recover their liberty. At the head of the people was their papa, or first minister of religion, a well-informed man, and seemingly very old; he came up to general Gentili, and addressed him in these words- Frenchmen, you will find in this island a people extremely ignorant of those arts and sciences which illustrate other nations; but despise them not on that account, they may one day become again what they were before. Learn, in reading this book, to respect them. The general opened the book, with great curiosity, which the papa had presented to him, and was not a little surprised to see that it was the Odyssey of Homer.-The islands of Zante, Cephalonia, and St. Maure, have expressed the same ardent wishes for liberty, and hope that, under the protection of the great nation, they will recover their long-lost arts, sciences, and commerce."

The following anecdote has been related of Bonaparte as an evidence of his vindictive disposition; but its authenticity is more than doubtful. When at Milan madame Bonaparte invited the celebrated singer Marchesi, who resided there to dine, expecting that be would entertain the company that might be present, with his musical powers, but being a great aristocrat, the singer refused the invitation of the lady of the renowned general; it was repeated and refused again. Bonaparte had recourse to authority, and commanded him to attend; but the commands of the general were no more attended to, than the invitations of his lady. The consequence was that the musical aristocrat, was