A moment later the bravery of the enemy resulted in their nearly overthrowing the French on a point of pre-eminent importance, but Napoleon himself, galloping to the spot, roused by his voice and action the division of Massena who, having marched all night, had laid down to rest in the extreme of weariness. They started up at the commander's voice and the Austrian column was speedily repulsed.
The French artillery was soon in position, while that of the Austrians, as Napoleon had guessed, had not yet come up, and this circumstance decided the fortune of the day. The batteries of the French made havoc of the broken columns; the cavalry made repeated charges; four out of the five divisions were thus broken and utterly routed. The fifth now made its appearance in the rear of the French. It had been sent round to outflank Napoleon and take higher ground in his rear according to the orders of the Austrian general before the action. When Lusignan's division achieved its destined object it did so,—not to complete the misery of a routed, but to swell the prey of a victorious, enemy. Instead of cutting off the retreat of Joubert, Lusignan found himself insulated from Alvinzi and forced to lay down his arms to Bonaparte. Had this movement been made a little sooner it might have turned the fortune of the day: as it was, the French soldiers only exclaimed: "Here come further supplies to our market!" and very soon the Austrians, exposed to a heavy fire from the artillery, were forced to surrender.
"Here was a good plan," said Napoleon, "but these Austrians are not apt to calculate the value of minutes."
Had Lusignan gained the rear of the French an hour earlier, while the contest was still hot in front of the heights of Rivoli, he might have aided in the complete overthrow of Napoleon instead of being defeated on one of the brightest days in the young commander's career.
In the course of the day Bonaparte had remained in the hottest of the fight, which lasted during twelve hours, and had three horses shot under him, and although much fatigued, hardly waited to see Lusignan surrender ere he set off with reinforcements to the Lower Adige to prevent Wurmser from either housing Provera or joining him in the open field and so effect the escape of his own formidable garrison. The flying troops of Alvinzi were left to the care of Massena, Murat and Joubert.
Marching all day and the next night Napoleon reached the vicinity of Mantua late on the 15th. He found the enemy strongly posted and Serrurier's position highly critical. A regiment of Provera's hussars had but a few hours before established themselves in the suburb of St. George. This Austrian corps had been clothed in white cloaks resembling those of a well-known French regiment of hussars, and advancing towards the gate would certainly have been admitted as friends but for the sagacity of an old sergeant, who could not help fancying that the white cloaks had too much of the gloss of novelty about them to have stood the wear and tear of three Bonapartean campaigns. He instantly closed the barriers and warned a drummer who was near him of the danger. These two gave the alarm and the guns of the blockading force were instantly turned upon their pretended friends who were forced to retire.
Napoleon himself passed the night in walking the outposts, so great was his anxiety. At one of these he found a grenadier sentinel asleep from exhaustion and taking his gun, without waking him, performed a sentinel's duty in his place for about half an hour. When the man, starting from his slumbers, perceived with terror and despair the countenance and occupation of his general, he fell on his knees before him. "My friend," said Napoleon mildly, "here is your musket. You had fought hard and marched long and your exhaustion is excusable; but a moment's inattention might at present ruin the whole army. I happened to be awake and have held your post for you. You will be more careful another time!"
Such acts of magnanimity endeared Napoleon to his soldiers, and, while he rarely relaxed in his military discipline, he early acquired the devotion of his men who told and retold anecdotes of his doings in camp and on the battlefield, and as the stories spread from column to column his followers came to regard him with a veneration that few older commanders have been able to instill in their men. Another anecdote is related of Bonaparte, when upon the point of commencing one of his great battles in Italy. As he was disposing his troops in order of attack, a light dragoon stepping from the ranks, requested of the commander a few minutes private conversation to which Napoleon acquiesced, when the soldier thus addressed him: "General, if you will proceed to adopt such and such measures, the enemy must be defeated."
"Wretched man," exclaimed the commander, "hold your tongue; you will surely not betray my secret" at the same time placing his hand before the mouth of the dragoon.
The soldier in question was possessed of an inherent military capacity and appreciated every arrangement necessary to insure victory. The battle terminating in favor of Napoleon, he issued orders that the poor fellow should be conducted to his presence; but all search for him proved fruitless, he was nowhere to be found: a bullet had no doubt terminated his military career.
The next morning there ensued a hot skirmish, recorded as the battle of St. George. The tumult and slaughter were dreadful and Provera with his whole force were compelled to lay down their arms. Wurmser, who had hazarded a sortie from Mantua to join his countrymen, was glad to make his way back again, and retire within the old walls, in consequence of a desperate assault headed by Napoleon in person, who threw himself between Wurmser and Provera and beat them completely one after the other. Provera now found himself cut off hopelessly from Alvinzi and surrounded by the French; he was disheartened and defeated. He and his five thousand men laid down their arms on the 16th of January, and various bodies of the Austrian force scattered over the country followed their example. This latter engagement was called the battle of La Favorita from the name of a country house near which it was fought. The 75th at this battle refused cartridges: "With such enemies as we have before us," said they, "we must only use the bayonet."
The battles of Rivoli and La Favorita had disabled Alvinzi from continuing the campaign. Thus had the magnificent army of Austria ceased to exist in three days.
Such was the prevailing terror of the enemy at this time that in one instance René, a young officer keeping guard of a position with about one hundred and fifty men, suddenly encountered and took prisoners a small body of Austrians. On advancing to reconnoitre, he found himself in front of a body of eighteen hundred more, whom a turn in the road had concealed from his sight. "Lay down your arms!" said the Austrian commandant. René answered with boldness, "Do you lay down your arms! I have destroyed your advance guard;—ground your arms, or no quarter!" The French soldiers joined in the cry, and the whole body of the astonished Austrians absolutely laid down their arms to a party, which they found to their exasperation when too late, was in numbers one twelfth of their own.
Wurmser was now thoroughly disheartened in not receiving relief, and as his provisions were by this time exhausted, found himself at length in dire straits. Napoleon sent him word of the rout and dispersion of the Austrian army and summoned him to surrender. The old soldier proudly replied that "he had provisions for a year," but a few days later he sent his aide-de-camp, Klenau to the headquarters of Serrurier with an offer of capitulation. General Serrurier, as commander of the blockade, received the bearer of Wurmser's message in which he stated that he was "still in a condition to hold out considerably longer, unless honorable terms were granted."
Napoleon, who had been seated in a corner of his tent wrapped in his cloak, now came forward and addressed himself to the Austrian envoy, who had no suspicion in whose presence he had been speaking, and taking his pen, wrote down marginal answers to the conditions proposed by Wurmser. He granted terms more favorable than might have been exacted in the extremity to which the veteran was reduced. "These," said he, "are the conditions to which your general's bravery entitles him if he opens his gates tomorrow. He may have them to-day; a week, a month hence, he shall have no worse: he may hold out to his last morsel of bread. Meantime tell him that General Bonaparte is about to set out for Rome."
The envoy now recognized Napoleon, and on reading the paper perceived that the proposed terms were more liberal than he had dared to hope for; he then owned that only three days' provisions remained in Mantua.
The capitulation was forthwith signed and on the 2d of February, 1797, Wurmser and his garrison of 13,000 men marched out of Mantua: 7,000 were lying in the hospitals. When the aged chief was by the fortunes of war to surrender his sword, he found only Serrurier ready to receive it. Napoleon was unwilling to be a witness to the humiliation of the distinguished veteran, and had left the place before the surrender, thus sparing the conquered veteran the mortification of giving up his sword to so youthful a commander. This delicate generosity on the part of the French general was never forgotten by Wurmser.
The terms of surrender agreed to by Bonaparte were not readily accepted by the French Directory, who urged him to far different conduct. "I have granted the Austrian," he wrote in reply, "such terms as were, in my judgment, due to a brave and honorable foe, and to the dignity of the French nation." The loss of the Austrians at Mantua amounted altogether to not less than 30,000 men, besides innumerable military stores and upwards of 500 brass cannon.
The conquerer sent Augereau to Paris with the sixty captured standards of Austria, and his arrival at the capital was celebrated as a national festival. Thus it was that Napoleon, with a total force at the utmost, of 65,000 men, conquered, in their own country, and under the eye and succoring hand of their own government, five successive armies, amounting, in all, to upwards of 300,000 well-appointed well-provisioned soldiers, under old and experienced commanders of approved courage. Such was the conquest of Lombardy.
Some time later Wurmser sent Napoleon a letter by special messenger acknowledging the generosity and delicacy of conduct of the French commander at Mantua, and at the same time apprising him by his aide-de-camp of a conspiracy to poison him in the dominions of the pope, with whom he was about to wage war.
A few brief engagements with papal troops followed the capitulation of Wurmser, the pope fearing that the conqueror would enter the "Eternal City;" but Napoleon, by a rapid movement, threw his infantry across the river Senio, where the enemy was encamped, and met with but a brief resistance. Shortly afterwards the pope entered into negotiations with the French commander, and the treaty of Tolentino followed on the 13th of February, 1797, conceding to the French one hundred of the finest works of art, several castles and legations, and about two millions of dollars.
Napoleon was now master of all Northern Italy with the exception of the territories of Venice, which announced that it had no desire but to preserve a perfect neutrality.
More than a month had now elapsed since Alvinzi's defeat at Rivoli; in nine days the war with the pope had reached its close; and, having left some garrisons in the town on the Adige to watch the neutrality of Venice, Napoleon hastened to carry the war into the hereditary dominions of the Austrian Emperor. Twenty thousand fresh troops had joined his victorious standard from France, and at the head of perhaps a larger force than he had ever before mustered, he proceeded towards the Tyrol where, according to his information, the main army of Austria, recruited once more to its original strength, was preparing to open a sixth campaign under the orders,—not of Alvinzi, but of a general young like himself, and hitherto eminently successful, the Archduke Charles, who had defeated the courage and skill of Jourdan and Moreau on the Rhine, and was now to be opposed to Napoleon.
The story of this sixth campaign is but a repetition of the five that preceded it. The archduke, a young prince of high talents, and upon whom the last hopes of the Austrian Empire reposed, compelled by the council of Vienna to execute a plan he had the discrimination to condemn, was destined to lead but a short campaign, although he had the best army Austria could enroll. This army once more proceeded to begin operations on a double basis, and Napoleon permitted him to assume the offensive.
On the 9th of March, 1797, the French commander's headquarters were fixed at Bassano, and he proceeded vigorously on his career of conquest. He issued one of his stirring proclamations, in which he told his soldiers that a grand destiny was still reserved for them, and then advanced to attack the archduke. He found the latter posted upon the plains bordering on the banks of the river Tagliamento in front of the rugged Carinthian mountains which guard the passage in that quarter from Italy to Germany. Detaching Massena with a division of cavalry to effect the passage of the Piave where the Austrian division of Lusignan was posted, Napoleon determined to charge the archduke in front. Massena was successful in driving Lusignan before him as far as Belluno, where he, with a rear guard of 500, surrendered, and thus turned the Austrian flank.
On the 16th of March, the two armies headed by Napoleon, and the Archduke Charles in person, were drawn up on opposite sides of the Tagliamento, face to face. Bonaparte then attempted to effect the passage of the river, but after a formal display of his forces, which was met by similar demonstrations on the Austrian side of the river, he suddenly broke up his line, retreated, and took up his bivouac. The archduke concluded that, as the French had been marching all the night before, their leader wished to defer the battle until another day, and in like manner withdrew to his encampment. About two hours later Napoleon rushed with his whole army, who had merely laid down in ranks, upon the margin of the Tagliamento,—no longer adequately guarded,—and had forded the stream ere the Austrian line of battle could be formed. In the passage of the Tagliamento Napoleon was so nearly drowned, by the submersion of his carriage, that he for some moments gave up all thoughts of being rescued.
This affair was the first in which the division of Bernadotte had borne a part. He arrived upon the borders of the Tagliamento at the very moment of the combat: throwing himself into the river he exclaimed to his followers, "Think that you are the Army of the Rhine, and that the Army of Italy is looking on you!"
In the action which followed the troops of the archduke displayed much gallantry, and charged the French repeatedly with the greatest courage, but every effort to dislodge Napoleon failed; at length retreat was deemed necessary, and eight pieces of cannon and some provisions were left behind, the French following in close pursuit.
Adjutant General Kellerman distinguished himself at the head of the French cavalry and received many wounds in executing the manoeuvres that decided the success of the day; he was subsequently charged with carrying the trophies taken from the enemy to France.
The pursuers stormed Gradisca, where they made 6,000 prisoners; and the archduke continuing his retreat, occupied in the course of a few days Trieste, Fiume and every stronghold in Carinthia. In the course of a campaign of twenty days the Austrians fought Bonaparte ten times; but the overthrow on the Tagliamento was never recovered. Their army was melting away like the snows of the Tyrol.
At last the Austrian leader decided to reach Vienna by forced marches, there to gather round him whatever force the loyalty of his nation could muster, and make a last stand beneath the walls of the capital. The archduke expected to reap great advantage from enticing the French army into the heart of Austria, where, divided by many wide provinces and mighty mountains and rivers from France, and with Italy once more in arms behind them, he hoped to cut off their source of supplies and compel them to retreat from a greatly reinforced imperial army.
From the period of the opening of the campaign the archduke had lost nearly 20,000 men made prisoners, so that the Austrians could make no stand except upon the mountains in the neighborhood of the Capital.
Vienna, however, was terror-stricken on hearing that Napoleon who was only sixty leagues distant, had stormed the passes of the Julian Alps. The imperial family—embracing little Marie Louise, then scarcely six years old, afterwards Napoleon's wife—fled with their crown jewels and treasures into Hungary; the middle classes became clamorous for a termination of the six years' war, and the archduke was ordered to avail himself of the first pretense which circumstances might afford for the opening of a negotiation. Napoleon wrote to the archduke suggesting peace: "While brave soldiers carry on war they wish for peace;" he said, "Has not the war already lasted six years? Have we not killed men enough, and inflicted sufficient sufferings on the human race? Europe has laid down the arms she took up against the French Republic. Your nation alone perseveres; yet blood is to flow more copiously than ever. Whatever be the issue, we shall kill some thousands of men on both sides, and after all we must come to an understanding, since all things have an end, not excepting vindictive passions. * * * For my part, general, if the overture I have the honor to make to you should only save the life of a single man, I should feel more proud of the civic crown, I should think I thereby merited, than of all the melancholy glory that the most distinguished military successes can afford."
The archduke replied within two hours after the receipt of the letter and a series of negotiations followed, which with Napoleon's rapid advance on Vienna, finally brought about the provisional treaty of Leoben, signed April 18, 1797. Napoleon, without waiting for full power from the Directory to complete the treaty, took the responsibility upon himself and signed it on the part of France on the 19th of April. The Austrian plenipotentiaries had set down as a primary concession that "the Emperor acknowledged the French Republic."
"Strike that out!" said Napoleon; "the Republic is like the sun that shines by its own light; none but the blind can fail to see it. We are our own masters and shall establish any government we prefer." "If the French people should one day wish to create a monarchy," he afterwards remarked, "the Emperor might object that he had recognized a Republic."
This treaty was followed by a complete surrender on the part of the Venetian Senate which had violated its pledges of neutrality, and a democratic government was formed, provisionally, on the model of France. Venice consented to surrender to the victor large territories on the mainland of Italy; five ships of war, $600,000 in gold and as much more in naval stores, twenty of her best works of art and 500 ancient manuscripts. Napoleon took possession of the city, and the history of the Venetian Republic was ended. In their last agony the Venetian Senate made a vain attempt to bribe Napoleon with a purse of seven millions of francs for more favorable terms, reminding him of the proverbial ingratitude of all popular governments and of the slight attention which the French Directory had hitherto paid to his personal interests. "That is all true enough," he replied, "but I will not place myself in the power of this duke." To a larger tender on the part of Austria he replied: "If greatness or richness is to be mine, it must come from France."
Among the works of art sent by Napoleon to Paris was the celebrated picture of St. Jerome from the Duke of Parma's gallery. The duke, to save this treasure, offered Napoleon two hundred thousand dollars, which the conqueror refused to take, saying: "The sum which he offers us will soon be spent; but the possession of such a masterpiece at Paris will adorn that capital for ages, and give birth to similar exertions of genius."
The fall of Venice gave Napoleon the means of bringing his treaty with Austria to a more satisfactory conclusion than had been indicated in the preliminaries of Leoben. After settling the affairs of Venice and establishing the new Ligurian Republic he took up his residence at the palace of Montibello, near Milan, with Josephine, whom he had not seen since his departure from France a year before. The final settlement with Austria's commissioners was purposely delayed by that Empire, it being the universal belief that the government of France was approaching a new crisis, and Austria hoped from such an event to derive considerable advantage. Napoleon was becoming weary of the protracted negotiations and threats of the Austrian ambassadors. One day in the latter's chamber, he suddenly changed his demeanor. "You refuse to accept our ultimatum," said he, taking in his hands a beautiful vase of porcelain, which stood on the mantelpiece near him. The Austrian bowed. "It is well," said Napoleon, "the truce is broken, war is declared, but mark me,—within three months I shall shatter Austria as I now shatter this brittle affair!" So saying he dashed the fragile piece furiously to the floor, breaking it into a thousand pieces, and left the room. The ambassador followed him, and finding him preparing to march on Vienna, made submissions which induced him to once more resume negotiations, the result of which was the treaty of Campo-Formio, so called from the humble village at which it was signed on the 17th of October, 1797.
Bourrienne relates that while Napoleon was occupied with the organization of Venice, Genoa and Milan, he used to complain of the want of men. "Good God!" said he, "how rare men are! There are eighteen millions in Italy and I have with difficulty found two real ones,—Dandolo and Lelzi." These two actual "men" were immediately employed in important services, and justified his estimation of them.
It was from the palace of Montibello, five leagues from Milan, that Napoleon wrote to the Directory: "From these different points (the islands of the Mediterranean, which he proposed to seize) we can command that sea, keep an eye on the Ottoman Empire, which is crumbling to pieces, and we can render the supremacy of the ocean almost useless to Great Britain. Let us take possession of Egypt, which lies on the road to India, and there we can found one of the mightiest colonies in the world. It is in Egypt we must make war on England."
To perfect the treaty with Austria Napoleon received orders from the French Directory to appear at a congress at Rastadt, all the German powers being summoned to meet there for that purpose. He took an affecting leave of his soldiers, in which he said in closing: "Soldiers, when you talk of the princes you have conquered, of the nations you have set free, and the battles you have fought in two campaigns, say: 'In the next two we shall do still more.'" He then proceeded by way of Switzerland, carrying with him the unbounded love and devotion of one of the finest armies that the world had ever seen.
A person who saw Napoleon at this time described his impressions of him in the following letter, which appeared in one of the Paris journals in December 1797: "With lively interest and extreme attention, I have observed this extraordinary man, who has performed such great deeds, and about whom there is something which seems to indicate that his career is not yet closed. I found him very like his portraits—little, thin, pale, with an air of fatigue, but not of ill-health, as has been reported of him. He appears to me to listen with more abstraction than interest, and that he was more occupied with what he was thinking of than with what was said to him. There is a great intelligence in his countenance, along with which may be marked an air of habitual meditation which reveals nothing of what is passing within. In that thinking head, in that bold mind, it is impossible not to believe that some daring designs are engendering which will have their influence on the destinies of Europe!"
"My extreme youth when I took command of the Army of Italy," Napoleon remarked afterwards, "made it necessary for me to evince great reserve of manners and the utmost severity of morals. This was indispensable to enable me to sustain authority over men so greatly superior in age and experience. I pursued a line of conduct in the highest degree irreproachable and exemplary. In spotless morality I was a Cato and must have appeared such to all. My supremacy could be retained only by proving myself a better man than any other man in the army. Had I yielded to human weakness I should have lost my power."
At the first interview between Napoleon and the veteran generals whom he was to command, Rampon undertook to give the young commander some advice. Napoleon who was impatient of advice, exclaimed: "Gentlemen, the art of war is in its infancy. The time has passed in which enemies are mutually to appoint the place of combat, advance hat in hand and say: 'Gentlemen will you have the goodness to fire!' We must cut the enemy to pieces, precipitate ourselves like a torrent upon their battalions and grind them to powder. Experienced generals conduct the troops opposed to us. So much the better! Their experience will not avail them against me. Mark my words, they will soon burn their books on tactics and know not what to do."
Arriving at Rastadt Napoleon found that the multiplicity of details to be arranged was likely to require a long stay, and as his personal relations with the Directory were of a doubtful kind, he abandoned the conduct of the diplomatic business to his colleagues and reached Paris after a triumphal march, on the 20th of November, 1797. During his absence he had been the salvation of France, and his arrival created a great sensation in the capital. He was hailed with the most rapturous applause by the people, the streets through which he was expected to pass were thronged, and wherever he was seen the air was filled with shouts of, "Long live the General of the Army of Italy!"
On the 2nd of October, 1797, during Napoleon's absence in Italy, the Directory announced to the French people its intention of carrying the war with England into England itself. The immediate organization of a great invading army was therefore ordered, and "Citizen General Bonaparte," the Conqueror of Italy, was designated to command the forces.
It was some months before this decision was acted upon, however, and in the meantime Napoleon lived quietly in a small, modest house in the Rue Chantereine, which he had occupied before he set out for Italy. Shortly after his return, on going home one evening, he was surprised to find workmen engaged in changing the sign bearing the name of the street to "Rue de la Victoire," in commemoration of his Italian campaign. He seemed to avoid as much as possible at this time the honors of popular distinction and applause that the people heaped upon him. One morning he sent his secretary to a theatre manager to ask him to give that evening two very popular pieces, "if such a thing were possible."
"Nothing is impossible for General Bonaparte," replied the courtly manager; "the Conqueror of Italy has long ago erased that word from the dictionary!"
This flattering answer afforded Napoleon a hearty laugh. He went to the performance and although endeavoring to maintain his usual privacy, was discovered and loudly called upon to come forward. The honor which he esteemed most was his nomination as a member of the Institute. He frequently attended its meetings and was also fond of appearing in the costume worn by the members.
When congratulated by Bourrienne on some noisy demonstration of popular favor, he answered in the words of Cromwell; "Bah! they would crowd as eagerly about me if I were on my way to the scaffold!"
Wherever he went he was still the Bonaparte of Lodi, Arcola and Rivoli.
Meanwhile the government gave him no adequate reward for his important services in Italy. He had not when he returned to France, three hundred thousand francs in his possession, though he had transmitted fifty millions to the State. "I might easily," he said to Las Casas, "have brought back ten or twelve millions; I never made out any accounts, nor was I ever asked for any." On the eve of his departure for Egypt he became possessed of Malmaison and there deposited nearly all his property. He purchased it in the name of his wife, older than himself, and consequently, in case of his surviving her, he must have forfeited all right to the same. The fact, as stated by himself, was, that he never had a taste or desire for the acquirement of riches.
He willingly accepted the new appointment now pressed upon him by the government, who seemed anxious that he should not remain in Paris to take part in the civil business of the State. In this latter direction he had no desire for continued service. In Napoleon's own language, "the pear was not yet ripe," and, like Cæsar, he would have preferred being first in a village to being second in Rome. The first scheme of the French Directory was to make a descent upon England and to place Napoleon at the head of the invading army, but their counsels continually fluctuated between this project and the Egyptian expedition. Napoleon said to Bourrienne on the 29th of January: "Bourrienne, I shall remain here no longer; they (the Directory) do not want me; there is no good to be done; they will not listen to me. I see, if I loiter here, I am done for quickly. Here everything grows flat; my glory is already on the wane. This little Europe of yours cannot supply the demand. We must move to the East. All great reputations come from that quarter. But I will first take a turn round the coast to assure myself what can be done. If the success of a descent upon England appears doubtful, as I fear, the army of England shall become the army of the East, and I am off for Egypt." He at length resolved to bring the question of the invasion to a decision by a personal survey of the coast opposite England. While there he busied himself for a time in suggesting improvements in fortifications and in selecting the best points for embarking an invading force. Many local improvements of great importance, long afterwards effected, were first suggested by him at this period; but the time had not come for invading England.
Napoleon had suggested to Talleyrand, minister of foreign affairs, some months before, the propriety of making an effort against England in another quarter of the globe; i. e., of seizing Malta, proceeding to Egypt, and therein gaining at once a territory capable of supplying to France the loss of her West Indian colonies, and the means of annoying Great Britain in her Indian trade and empire.
The East presented to him a field of conquest and glory, and to this he now again recurred. "Europe is but a mole hill," he said; "All the great glories have come from Asia where there are six hundred millions of men." He soon returned to Paris and made his views known to the Directory, declaring that an invasion of England was a wild chimera. To Bourrienne, his school companion, who asked him concerning his contemplated invasion after he had been on the coast a week he said: "The risk is too great; I sha'n't venture it. I don't want to trifle with the fate of France."
The temptation of the Directory was great, and as it would find employment for Napoleon at a distance from France, the Egyptian expedition was finally determined upon; but kept a great secret.
While the attention of Great Britain was now riveted on the coast, it was on the borders of the Mediterranean that his ships and the troops really destined for action, were assembling. Everyone wished to accompany Napoleon to the East—civilians, scholars, engineers, artists, all wished to make the journey. Napoleon selected and equipped the army, raised money and collected ships. He was employed night and day in the organization of the armament which was to be under his command absolutely.
In April and May 1798 the various squadrons of the French fleet were assembled at Toulon, and everything was soon in readiness. The main body was assembled at Toulon but the embarkment was to take place at Civita Vecchia. When asked if he should remain long in Egypt, Napoleon replied: "A few months, or six years; it all depends upon circumstances."
When all was in readiness Bonaparte called his vast army together and in sight of the ships which were to carry them from the shores of France, said to his followers: "Rome fought Carthage on sea as well as on the land; England is the Carthage of France. I have come to lead you, in the name of the Divinity of Liberty, across mighty seas, and into distant regions, where your valor may achieve such life and glory as will never await you beneath the cold skies of the West. Prepare yourselves, soldiers, to embark under the tri-color for achievements far more glorious than you have won for your country on the blushing plains of Italy."
He agreed to give each soldier seven acres of land, and as his promises had not hitherto been violated, the soldiers heard him with joy, and prepared to obey him with alacrity. They answered his address with loud cheers and cries of, "Long live the Republic!" The English government vigilantly observed the preparations that were going on, and kept a fleet in the Mediterranean under the command of Nelson. It was highly important that the French squadron should sail without delay, in order to avoid the risk of being discovered by the English cruisers, but contrary winds detained it for ten days. This interval was employed by Napoleon in attention to the minutest details connected with the finely appointed force under his command.
On the evening of the 19th of May, 1798, fortune favored him, and the troops were all embarked, while the English fleet, under Nelson, "the Neptune of the Seas," was compelled to go into port to repair ships disabled in a violent gale. The French fleet, which was supplied with water for a month, and with food for two months, carried about 40,000 men of all sorts, and ten thousand sailors. In the army were many veteran soldiers, selected from the Army of Italy and commanded by the first generals of France. Kléber, Desaix, Berthier, Regnier, Murat, Lannes, Andreossi, Junot, Menou, and Belliard all served in this campaign.
Josephine had accompanied her husband to Toulon, and remained with him to the last moment; their farewell was most affecting. As the last of the French troops stepped on board, the sun rose with great brilliancy on the mighty armament—one of those dazzling suns which the soldiers often referred to with delight as "the suns of Napoleon," and sails were immediately set for the East.
On the 8th of June the convoys from Italy joined the squadron out at sea; on the 10th the whole fleet was assembled before Malta. The first object of Napoleon was to take possession of that island. He had already secured a secret party among the knights, and a very slight demonstration of hostilities spread consternation among them and they opened their gates to the French without delay. Nearly all the knights entered the ranks of the French army. As the French troops passed through the almost impregnable fortifications General Caffarelli dryly remarked to Napoleon that it was fortunate there was some one to open the gates for them; had there been no garrison at all, it would have been terrible hard work.
Leaving a sufficient garrison in Malta the French squadron was again under sail on the 16th. While the officers and savants devoted much time to the discussion of military and scientific topics the great object of excitement and solicitude was to elude the English fleet. The French vessels were encumbered with civil and military baggage, provisions, stores, etc., and densely crowded with troops. Napoleon was anxious to avoid such an encounter: "God grant that we may pass the English without meeting them," he remarked to Admiral Brueyes.
Nelson was now in full pursuit. At Naples he heard of their landing at Malta and that their destination was Egypt. He arrived at Malta just after they had left the island and missed overtaking them by an accident. During a hazy night, on which they lay off Candia, the French were alarmed by the report of guns on their starboard, and it afterwards proved that those were signals between the ships of Nelson's fleet, so close were the two hostile squadrons to each other without being aware of it. Napoleon received positive information of this proximity the following morning and ordered Brueyes to steer at once for Cape Aza, about twenty-five leagues distant from Alexandria. This precaution foiled Nelson who crowded sail for Alexandria.
Napoleon finally reached his destination on the first of July undisturbed, the tops of the minarets of Alexandria announcing that his point was gained. As he was reconnoitring the coast at the very moment that danger seemed over a strange sail appeared on the verge of the horizon: "Fortune!" exclaimed he, "I ask but six hours more,—wilt thou refuse them?" The vessel proved not to be English, but French and the disembarkation, near a structure called the tower of Marabout, three leagues to the eastward of Alexandria, immediately took place in spite of a violent gale and a tremendous surf. Egypt was then nominally a province of the Porte, and governed by a Turkish Pasha who was at peace with France.
Bonaparte met with no opposition in landing, and by 3 o'clock in the morning commenced his march upon Alexandria with three divisions of his army. He had little difficulty in entering Alexandria, although he met with resistance and General Kléber, who commanded the attack, was wounded. The French lost about two hundred men.
Bonaparte exacted of his troops, under penalty of death, consideration of all the laws and religion of the country, and to the people of Egypt he addressed a proclamation in which he said: "They will tell you that I come to destroy your religion; believe them not: I come to restore your rights, to punish the usurpers, and I respect, more than the Mamelukes ever did, God, his Prophet and the Koran. * * * Thrice happy they who shall be with us! Woe unto them that take up arms for the Mamelukes!—they shall perish."
The Mamelukes were considered by Napoleon to be, individually, the finest cavalry in the world. They rode the noblest horses of Arabia, and were armed with the best weapons which the world could produce: carbines, pistols, etc., from England, and sabres of the steel of Damascus. Their skill in horsemanship was equal to their fiery valor. With that cavalry and the French infantry, Bonaparte said it would be easy to conquer the world.
Napoleon himself remained some days in Alexandria and left on the 7th of July, leaving Kléber in command, being anxious to force the Mamelukes to an encounter with the least possible delay. General Desaix was sent forward with 4500 men to Beda. The commission of learned men remained at Alexandria, until Napoleon should reach Cairo, with the exception of Monge and Berthollett who accompanied the commander.
The march over the burning sands of the desert brought extreme misery and unheard-of sufferings to the troops; the air was full of pestiferous insects, the glare of the sand weakened the men's eyes, and water was scarce and bad. Even the gallant spirits of Murat and Lannes could not sustain themselves, and they trampled their brilliant cockades in the sand in a fit of rage in the presence of the troops. The common soldiers asked, with sarcastic or angry murmurs, if it was here the general designed to give them their "seven acres of land." "The rogue" said they, "he might, with safety, have promised us as much as we pleased; we should not abuse his good nature." They, however, bore a grudge against Caffarelli, who they thought had advised the expedition, and used to say, as he hobbled past with his wooden leg, "He does not care what happens; he is sure to have one foot at least in France."
Napoleon alone was superior to all these evils. It required, however, more than his example of endurance and the general influence of his firm character to prevent the army from breaking into open mutiny. "Once," said he at St Helena, "I threw myself amidst a group of generals, and, addressing myself to the tallest of their number with vehemence, said, 'You have been talking sedition; take care lest I fulfill my duty; your five feet ten inches would not hinder you from being shot within two hours.'"
On the 10th of July, 1798, the army reached the Nile at Rahmanié: "We no sooner saw the river," says Savary in his memoirs, "than soldiers, officers and all rushed into it; each, regardless whether it was sufficiently shallow to afford security from danger, only sought to quench his burning thirst, and stooped to drink from the stream, the whole army presenting the appearance of a flock of sheep." "We encamped," says Napoleon, "on immense quantities of wheat, but there was neither mill nor oven in the country." The men bruised the grain between stones and baked it in the ashes or parched and boiled it.
The army soon moved on towards Cairo, but the men were unable to leave the ranks for a single instant without certain death from the spears or scimitars of those matchless Mameluke horsemen; and, therefore, although so near the Nile, several fell dead from thirst. But the worriment of their minds was their worst evil. They began to say there was no great city of Cairo; that they believed it would prove only a collection of wretched huts. In this state they came up, on the 13th, with the Mamelukes at Chebreis. They were drawn up in battle array under Mourad Bey, one of their most powerful chiefs, and were a magnificent body of cavalry, glittering with gold and silver and mounted on splendid horses.
The battle commenced without a moment's hesitation on either side. Each Mameluke, feeling in himself the valor of a host, rushed in the singleness of his purpose, as if alone against the opposing mass; and with repeated charges, endeavored, by every means of unbridled fury or consummate skill, to break the solid squares of the French army. They were at length beaten back with the loss of about three hundred.
After the action at Chebreis the French army continued to advance during eight days without opposition of any enemy except the hovering Arabs who lay in wait for every straggler from the main column. The order of march towards Cairo was systematically arranged; each division of the army moved forward in squares six men deep on each side; the artillery was at the angles; and in the centre the ammunition, the baggage, and the small body of cavalry still remaining. Napoleon himself when he rode always made use of a dromedary, though he at first suffered a sensation resembling seasickness from its peculiar motion. "I never passed the desert," said he sometime later, "without experiencing very painful emotions. It was the image of immensity to my thoughts. It showed no limits. It had neither beginning nor end. It was an ocean for the foot of man."
On the 19th of July the soldiers' eyes were gladdened by the sight of the grand pyramids on the horizon. Still advancing towards Cairo, the distant monuments swelling upon the eye at every step, the army reached Embabé on the 21st and found the Mamelukes in battle array to dispute their further progress.
While every eye was fixed on these hoary monuments of the past, Napoleon sighted with his glass a vast army of the Beys spread out before him, the right posted on an intrenched camp by the Nile, its centre and left composed of that brilliant cavalry with which they were by this time acquainted. Napoleon perceived, too, and what had escaped the observation of all his staff, that the 40 pieces of cannon on the intrenched camp of the enemy were without carriages, and consequently could be leveled in but one direction. He instantly decided on his plan of attack by preparing to throw his forces on the left, where the guns could not be available. Mourad Bey, who commanded the Mamelukes, penetrated the French commander's design, and his followers at once advanced gallantly to the encounter.
"Soldiers, you are about to fight the rulers of Egypt," said Napoleon, as he raised his hands high in the air and formed his troops into separate squares to meet the assault; "from the summits of yonder pyramids forty centuries behold you." These imposing and mysterious witnesses were not appealed to in vain, and the great battle began at once at the foot of the ancient and gigantic monuments, the French advancing in five grand squares, Napoleon heading the centre square. In an instant the Mamelukes came charging up with impetuous speed and loud cries. They rushed on the line of bayonets, backed their horses upon them, and at last, maddened by the firmness which they could not shake, dashed their pistols and carbines into the faces of the French troops.
The first manoeuvre of the French army disconcerted the plans of the Mamelukes; still they continued to charge. The places of the dead and dying were instantly supplied by new warriors, who fell in their turn. They daringly penetrated even between the spaces occupied by the squares commanded by Regnier and Desaix, so that the desperate horsemen were exposed to the incessant fire of both faces of the divisions at the distance of fifty paces. Many of the French fell from each other's fire in the resistance to this act of desperation.
Those who had fallen wounded from their seats crawled along the sand and hewed at the legs of their enemies with their scimitars; but nothing could move the intrepid French. Bayonets and the continued roll of musketry by degrees thinned the host around them. When Bonaparte at last advanced with his battalions upon the main body, and divided one part from the other, such was the confusion and terror of the Mamelukes that they abandoned their works and flung themselves by hundreds into the Nile. The carnage was prodigious, thousands were left bleeding on the sands, and multitudes more were drowned. It was the custom of the Mamelukes to carry their treasures with them on their bodies when they went to battle, and every one that fell made a French soldier rich for life, as the bodies of the slain were all rifled. In his report of the engagement, Bonaparte said: "After the great number of battles in which the troops I command have been opposed to superior strength, I cannot but praise their discipline and coolness on this occasion; for this novel species of warfare has made them display a patience contrasting oddly with French impetuosity. If they had given way to their ardor, they would not have gained the victory, which was only to be obtained by great calmness and patience. The cavalry of the Mamelukes evinced great bravery. They defended their fortunes; for there was not one of them upon whom our soldiers did not find three, four or five hundred gold pieces."
Savary, who fought in Desaix's division, which had to stand the first attack of the Mamelukes, has given a striking description of the impression produced by their furious onset. "Although," he says, "the troops that were in Egypt had been long inured to danger, every one present at the battle of the Pyramids must acknowledge, if he be sincere, that the charge of the Mamelukes was most awful, and that there was reason, at one moment, to apprehend their breaking through our formidable squares, rushing upon them, as they did, with a confidence which enforced silence in our ranks, interrupted only by the word of command. It seemed as if we must inevitably be trampled in an instant under the feet of this cavalry of Mamelukes, who were all mounted upon splendid chargers, richly caparisoned with gold and silver trappings, covered with draperies of all colors and waving scarfs, and who were bearing down upon us at full gallop, rending the air with their cries. The whole character of this imposing sight filled the breasts of our soldiers with sensations to which they had hitherto been strangers, and made them vividly attentive to the word of command. The order to fire was executed with a quickness and precision far exceeding what is exhibited in an exercise or upon parade."
More than fifty pieces of cannon and four hundred loaded camels became the spoil of the conquerors.
Mourad and a remnant of 2000 of his Mamelukes retreated on Upper Egypt. These were all that escaped with life out of the matchless body of men who in such superb array had bid scornful defiance to the European invaders only a few hours before. Cairo surrendered; Lower Egypt was entirely conquered. Such were the immediate consequences of the "Battle of the Pyramids."
Many of the promiscuous rabble of infantry reached Cairo in advance of the French and there they spread realistic accounts of the dreadful power of Napoleon and his army.
The name of Bonaparte now spread panic through the East, and the victor was considered invincible. The inhabitants called him "King of Fire," from the deadly effect of the musketry in the engagement at the Pyramids which decided the conquest of the country. By the earliest dawn the victor prepared to take possession of the conquest he had made, but was spared all difficulties by its unconditional surrender. A deputation of the shieks and chief inhabitants waited upon him at his headquarters in the country house of Mourad Bey, to implore his clemency and submit to his power. He received them with the greatest kindness and informed them of his friendly intentions towards them and that his hostility was entirely confined to the Mamelukes.
Cairo and its citadel were immediately occupied by the French troops, and on the 24th of July Napoleon made his public entry into the capital, amidst a great concourse of people.
The savants who accompanied Bonaparte on the expedition lost no time in taking advantage of their opportunities, and at once began to ransack the monuments of antiquity, and founded collections which reflected much honor on their zeal and skill. Napoleon himself, accompanied by many officers of his staff, visited the interior of the Great Pyramid of Cheops, attended by many muftis and imans, and on entering the secret chamber in which, three thousand years before, some Pharaoh had been interred, repeated once more his confession of faith: "There is no God but God, and Mohammed is his Prophet." The learned Orientals who accompanied him responded with sarcastic solemnity: "Thou hast spoken like the most learned of the prophets; but God is merciful."
Ten days after the battle at the pyramids had been fought and won, Nelson, who had scoured the Mediterranean in quest of Napoleon, discovered the French fleet, commanded by Admiral Brueyes, at anchor in the Bay of Aboukir. A terrific engagement ensued, lasting twenty-four hours, including a whole night. A solitary pause occurred at midnight when the French ship Orient, a superb vessel of 120 guns, took fire and blew up in the heart of the conflicting squadrons, with an explosion that for a moment silenced rage in awe. Admiral Brueyes himself perished. The next morning two shattered ships, out of all the French fleet, with difficulty made their escape to the sea. The rest of the magnificent fleet was utterly destroyed or remained in the hands of the English, who have since called the engagement "The Battle of the Nile."
The ships were arranged in a semi-circular compact line of battle, and so close to the shore that Brueyes had supposed it was impossible to get between them and the land; but his daring enemy, who well knew all the surroundings, soon convinced him of his mistake. The van of the English fleet, six in number, successfully rounded the French line, dropping anchor between it and the shore, and opened their fire, while Nelson, with his other ships, ranged along it on the outer side and so placed the French fleet between two tremendous fires. Admiral Brueyes was wounded early in the action, but continued to command with the utmost energy. When he fell mortally wounded he would not suffer himself to be carried below. "A French admiral ought to die on his quarter-deck," he replied to the entreaties of his friend Gantheaume who succeeded him.
It was on his return from Salahié to Cairo, whither Napoleon had pursued the Mameluke chief, Ibrahim-Bey, and defeated him, that he was met by a messenger, with information of the destruction of the French fleet by Nelson in the roads of Aboukir. It was a terrible blow to Napoleon, who was thus shut off from all intercourse with France; his soldiers were thus completely isolated, hundreds of miles from home, and compelled to rely on their own arms and the resources of Egypt. He had been so anxious about the fleet as to write twice to Admiral Brueyes to repeat the order that he should enter the harbor of Alexandria, or sail for Corfu; he had also, previously to leaving Cairo, dispatched Julien, his aide-de-camp, to enforce the order; but this unfortunate officer was surrounded and killed, with his escort, at a village on the Nile, where he had landed to obtain provisions.