CHA P. VII. Commencement of the Year 1802.- Opposite Opinions on the General State of Affairs at that Period.-Tardiness of the Negotiation at Amiens — accounted for.-Projects of Bonaparté-sets off for Lyons to meet the Cisalpine Deputies-conferences with them in private.--The Consulta publicly submit the new Constitution of the Cisalpine Republic to him, and solicit him to accept the Presidency.-Constitution of the Italian Republic. Bonaparté returns to Paris.-Additional Acquisitions of France in the Month of January-Louisiana-Parma, &c.-Elba. T was the opinion of a vast burden, which the bulk of the na of nation, had impatiently was now to be withdrawn; that the substituted taxes were to be such as would press solely on the opulent part of the community; and that vast reductions were to take place in our military and marine establishments. that the year 1802 commenced under circumstances highly auspicious. The termination of our arduous struggle for every thing dear to Britons, with an enemy, the torrents of whose success we alone could stem, and from which we had retreated, as far as our own In another point of view our immediate interests were affected, situation was not less flattering: with honour; unimpaired resources ; the atrocities of the French revolu additional territory; the character tionary government, and the desof our army and navy at the high- potism which succeeded them, and est point of reputation; our mari- to which they inevitably tended, time regulations and laws, contend- thoroughly satisfied the English ed for with the Northern Powers, mind upon the subject of democracy. gloriously established; a confidence And there was scarcely to be found in the pacific tone and temper of the at the close of the war an individual first consul of France; a belief that who would not have borne the the spirit of rebellion and disaffection pressures he had undergone, mulin Ireland was completely allayed, tiplied tenfold, rather than subject shone forth in the dazzling assur- our happy and tried constitution ances of the minister and those to the horrors attendant on innovawho acted with them: and these tion and revolution. The opening assurances were of too flattering a of the distilleries was a convincing nature not to meet with implicit and gratifying proof that plenty credit. Nor did it contribute in a had once more established herself trifling degree to the general satis- in her favoured seat; and the faction, that it was universally un- ceasing of the provision contracts, derstood that the income tax, a and the quantity of foreign grain in our ports, in addition to the produce of the two successive plentiful harvests it had pleased Providence to send us, put an end to all apprehension of scarcity, and the markets once more were become reasonable and abundant. Yet were there not wanting some, and those too eminent for political sagacity, who saw this brilliant picture in a very different light with them, the peace was ill-timed, and ill-framed. While they acknowledged the abundance of our resources, and the high reputation of our fleets and armies, they contended that the advantages of the former, and the victories achieved by the latter, were thrown away in negotiation. If we had acquired territory, it was at the expense of our old allies, whom by now stripping of a portion of their dominions, we threw more completely within the power, or rather tyranny of France, who, on the contrary, by this treaty maintained her high tone of unity and indivisibility; who, far from parting with any thing she possessed by right of conquest at the time of the signing the preliminaries, was then, and since engaged in adding territory and empire to her already overgrown dominion. Of the tone and temper of the first consul, they were not equally sanguine with those, who saw in them the spirit of moderation and peace; on the contrary, they augured ill of both, from the activity which he manifested in seizing the first moments of this truce to send a vast armament to St. Domingo; his journey to the South, to establish himself in the sovereignty of Italy; the annexation, by private treaty, concluded with Spain on the 21st of March 1801, and which now became public, of Louisiana, and Parma with all its dependencies, and of the island of Elba, so long and so nobly defended by British valour*; his treaty with the Porte, inimical in the extreme to the interests of England in the Levant, and concluded surreptitiously with that power, as the price of the evacuation of Egypt by the French troops, at the moment when, he knew, they were to a man prisoners to the British force; in fine, they were of opinion, that on the part of Bonaparté the peace was deceitful and hollow, and would last just long enough to witness the surrender of our conquests in all parts of the world, to our unrelenting enemy, and to enable him again to It is much to be regretted that the particulars of the gallant and glorious defence of this spot, by a handful of troops, under the command of leut. col. Airey, of the 8th regiment of infantry, against an infinitely superior French force, has never yet come in a satisfactory form before the public. That island, of the utmost importance as a military station, had by the bravery and great exertions of its small garrison, composed of Tuscans, Swiss, Corsicans, British marines and scamen, together with a few English merchants who had been obliged to quit Leghorn, been just rendered tenable, when a suspension of arms took place, in consequence of the preliminary treaty of peace. The military operations in the isle of Elba were the last act of hostility between Great Britain and France; in point of real merit they have certainly not been surpassed by any event of the war, although their brilliancy has been in a considerable degree eclipsed, and prevented from exciting that interest to which they were justly entitled, from having occurred at a period, when the public attention was almost exclusively occupied with the more agreeable intelligence of the signature of preliminary articles of peace, and with the more important event of the surrender of the entire French army in Egypt to his majesty's forces. 3 commence to commence war with incalculable, perhaps irresistible advantages. In the reduction of our fleets and armies, a weak and miserable economy was alone visible, which would not only, in a moment of future contest, lay us at the mercy of an enemy, whose vast projects and activity admitted of no such measure; but would, in such a case, induce a tenfold expense to replace them on a war establishment. To the Northern Powers we had conceded, under the name of convention, at a moment when we might have commanded and obtained concession. Nor did they consider the repeal of the income tax as a measure consistent with sound policy or judgment. It was, they maintained, a recurrence the already overstrained funding system, to the unwise and burdensome mode of borrowing with deferred interest, which had been abandoned by the late minister as dangerous, if not ruinous in its consequences; whereas, by a manly perseverance in the tax, the public income would be, not only commensurate with the expenditure of each year, but the vast debt incurred by the nation would begin immediately to decrease, and at no distant period should we find our selves renovated in credit and in resources. And whilst they participated in the joy and thankfulness attendant on restored abundance, and the other prosperous statements, they insisted they were additional and powerful motives for a continuance of the war, rather than that we should have submitted to make a peace, like the present, so little to the honour of Great Britain, who surrendered by it her national character, her good faith to her allies, and her future security. Such was the opinion of the few contrasted with that of the many; yet all began towards the middle of January to express surprise, mingled with impatience, at the delay of the signature of the definitive treaty. More than three months had elapsed since the signing of the preliminaries, and still was the nation left in anxiety and suspense as to its conclusion. The situation of lord Cornwallis at Amiens was awkward in the extreme, and suspicions began to be entertained that he was, as well as the country he represented, egregiously trifled with. It was also doubted, whether the permitting a vast armament to sail from the ports of France, pending the negotiation, was consistent with established usage or sound policy; and many were of opinion, that the being obliged to dispatch a fleet to the West Indies of men of war, in order to watch the motions of the French squadron, at a vast expense and inconvenience, was a bad foretaste of the blessings of peace. In the mean time Bonaparté, who appeared to consider the congress at Amiens, or the definitive treaty, as objects merely of secondary importance, prepared to set out for Lyons, for the ostensible purpose of conferring with a considerable number of the Cisalpine deputies, but rather, as it appeared in the event, for the object, of infinitely more importance to him, of being invested with the sovereignty of that country, under the title of president. Mr. Talleyrand, the minister of state for foreign affairs, preceded him, and arrived at Lyons on the 4th of January. He em ployed The first consul employed his time, for the ensuing fortnight, in publicly visiting the different ma ployed his time, in the interval, between his arrival and that of the first consul, in conciliating and giving several magnificent and sump-nufactories and establishments of tuous entertainments to the Cisalpine deputies. Bonaparté left Paris on the 9th, at one o'clock in the morning, and reached Lyons on the night of the 11th. He was accompanied on his journey by madame Bonaparté, Chaptal, the minister of the interior, and many other personages of the first distinction in France. At his approach to Lyons, he was met and escorted by a brilliant troop of 150 volunteers, all natives of that town, young men of fortune, and fine appearance. Thus accompanied, he entered the city about ten o'clock in the evening, amidst the loudest acclamations and the most rapturous expressions of universal joy. pa On the grand staircase of the 11th January, an. 10, Vanquisher and pacificator, Arrived in this city and lodged in this palace; 500 Cisalpine deputies attended him, To fix, under his auspices, The laws and destinies of their country. At his view The arts awoke in this city, Commerce resumes its ancient splendour, And the grateful Lyonese, forming for him The same wish that their ancestors did for Antonine, Have said, Lyons, and in privately conferring was At the hall, where the consulta met, a splendid chair was prepared for Bonaparté, adorned with military trophies; the room was decorated with various ornaments emblematic of his victories, and inscribed with mottoes applicable to him and bis fortunes. The meetings of the consulta were private, and they at length appointed a committee of thirty to prepare a report of the actual state of the Cisalpine nation, and the means necessary for its future prosperity and happiness. This committee accordingly presented a report, such as might have been expected, declaring it absolutely necessary that Bonaparté himself should undertake the sole and exclusive management of their affairs. This report was very long, and concluded in the following manner: "The history of the past revolutions of the Cisalpine republic has not been able to assist the researches of your committee. In fact, the men May his happiness be equal to his who have traversed those revolu glory." tions, have either themselves not filled public situations, and consequently cannot be presumed to be sufficiently versed in the always difficult art of governing the public weal; or even, allowing that they have applied themselves since the last æra, and held the reins of a government, agitated as ours has been by conflicting passions and prejudices, and impelled by foreign influence, they have not had the opportunity of acquiring that high reputation, which, in times like the present, is necessary to recommend men to public confidence., "But if, in spite of those numerous obstacles, a man could be found among us capable of sustaining so great a burden, many other and greater difficulties present themselves, which would not allow us to rely on such a choice. "The Cisalpine republic cannot yet be entirely evacuated by French troops. Many political reasons and our own interest, destitute as we are yet of national troops, do not permit it at this moment. "Besides, the Cisalpine republic, although its existence has been secured by the treaties of Tolentine and Luneville, cannot hope by itself, and from its own first steps, to obtain that degree of consideration which is necessary to its consolidation within and without. It has need of a support to cause it to be acknowledged by those powers with whom they have at present no communication. It has therefore need of a man who, by the ascendency of his name and his power, may place it in that rank which becomes its graudeur. That man, however, we should in vain stek for amongst ourselves. "To secure the dignity of the government against the approach of foreign troops, to spread a brilliancy and grandeur over the cradle of the Cisalpine republic, the conmittee is agreed, that it would be essential to the happiness of the nation, that it should be sustained in its first moments by a superior power which possesses more strength and dignity than any other. "In conformity with those sentiments, the committee have therefore agreed, that if, on the one side, the extraordinary consulta should form a wish that the constitution should be immediately proclaimed, and that the colleges, legislators, and other authorities, should be chosen from among the men, who have appeared to be the most worthy of their esteem; on the other side, it must ardently wish that general Bonaparté should please to honour the republic, by continuing to govern it, and by associating with the direction of the affairs in France the care of conducting our government; of reducing the different parts of our territory to a uniformity of principle, and of causing the Cisalpine republic to be acknowledged by all the powers in Europe*. "(Signed) Stregelli, Sec." Such were the arguments used to prevail upon the willing mind of Bonaparte, to take upon himself the care and burden of governing this Cisalpine nation, which by the treaty of Luneville was declared independent. The consulta, however, were of opinion that the only method to secure its independence, was to submit itself to the government of a man who, by the ascen * Extract from the proces verbal of the consulta. dency |