of from three to 6000 crowns a year were called upon for one-third of their income; those who had from six to 10,000, two-thirds; and those of 10,000, the whole. The same dictatorial power was exercised in all the other countries which France had subjugated, under pretence of rendering them independent states. The Cisalpine republic was honored with the peculiar regard of Buonaparte it : was, indeed, the result of his successful enterprises; the formation of it carried him to the summit of his glory. When he bade adieu to the Cisalpines to revisit France, and digest with the directory the plan of his intended Egyptian expedition, he reminded them of their happiness in having recovered their liberty, and admonished them that it was their duty to preserve it.

However desirous those republicans might be to conform to his exhortations, they soon found the difficulty of doing it under the protection of France: they were informed, by experience, that, however dear their rights might be held by their patron, they were not deemed inviolable by the directory. That constitution which Buonaparte had framed, was destined immediately to give place to another, wherein the ascendancy of the French government might be better provided for. The new constitution proposed to the councils by Trouvé, the French ambassador, was vigorously opposed, but without effect. It was carried into execution by that minister, in conjunction with general Brune, who was sent into Italy for that purpose; and was followed by reinforcements of troops to the garrisons in Lombardy, to aid them in their proceedings, should occasion require their assistance.

The Cisalpines, about the same time, were constrained, contrary to their inclinations, to enter into an alliance with. the French republic; by which they were bound to become a party in all the wars in which that state should engage, and to assist it with all its means and resources, when so required. This was accompanied

with a commercial treaty between the two republics.

But they were soon to have fuller and more humiliating conviction of their subserviency to France. When it was seen that these changes occasioned dissatisfaction in the councils, lest the Austrian partisans should gain a majority, a considerable number of the members of those bodies, together with three directors and several of the ministry, were dismissed. These proceedings were protested against by the Cisalpines, as a violation of their independence. On their appealing to the French directory, the general and the ambassador were summoned to Paris, to give an account of the transaction; but no but no redress was given. That they. might completely establish their power in Italy, and provide every possible security against the Austrian partisans, who began boldly to declare that they regretted a change of system which had laid heavier burdens on them, and destroyed their tranquillity without giving them independence; the directory ordered a correspondent change to be made in the Ligurian republic, which had been formed under their direction.

The same tyranny was practised by the French government towards the Swiss, Seventeen towns, and above a hundred villages had been sacked or committed to the flames; and the districts inhabited by those who had dared to disobey their commands, were laid waste. The advocates for more perfect liberty, hoped by these sacrifices to have attained their object. They were, however, destined, like others. who had expected to obtain liberty by the assistance of France, to experience disappointment. Their new constitution was scarcely formed, when the French directory began to interpose in the administration of their government; and they sufficiently evinced how incompatible was the real enjoyment of freedom with their principles, by causing a law to be passed prohibiting citizens from presenting petitions in a corporate capacity. When this was opposed by the people,

as inconsistent with their liberties, three officers waited on the senate and great council, by orders from general Schawenburg and Rapinat, the French commissioner, to inform them, "that the commissioner considered the country as conquered by the arms of France, and himself as entitled to direct all civil, military, and financial operations; therefore, whoever should endeavor to obstruct the measure taken by the French, for the arrangement of affairs in Switzerland would be viewed as an enemy, and as an agent of England."

These measures, though submitted to by the Helvetic government, were so warmly resented by the whole nation, that the directory, apprehensive of the ill-consequences of them, thought it advisable to rescind them; and assured the Helvetic body that they should remain in full possession of their independency. But so evident was it in every transaction, that they were expected to obey the mandates of France, even in their domestic affairs, and especially those of finance, that the advocates of liberty, who were in the French interests, exclaimed against such subservience, as a dereliction of their principles and a violation of that independency and freedom which they had pretended to confer. These persons were confirmed in their opinions and their apprehensions by an edict dictated by the partisans of France, of a most arbitrary and unreasonable nature, enjoining all the Swiss in foreign parts, to repair to their native country within the space of a month, in order to take the civil oath. So inauspicious was this interference of France, in the affairs of the Helvetic republic, deemed to the revival of liberty, that great repugnance was expressed by many to the alliance, offensive and defensive, concluded at this time between the two states; and it was already presaged, that jealousy would soon disunite them.

The transactions of this period in the Dutch provinces, were no less calculated than any of the preceding, to manifest to the world the determination of the French

republie to render every state which had accepted its proffered assistance in newmodelling their governments, subservient to its power. The Dutch nation were divided, with respect to political opinions, into two classes: the partisans of the nobles and other men of great landed property, who, with their estates, received from their ancestors an attachment to that government, under which, with all its imperfections, they had prospered during so many ages; and those of the merchants and other commercial men, who aspired to the importance to which they thought themselves entitled by their wealth, who were desirous of a revolution which should supplant the aristocrats in their power, and of a constitution better adapted to their views. The latter had been the partisans of France in the late revolt in 1786, when the stadtholder was driven from the Hague and deprived of his offices; and they had, from the time of the invasion in 1795, been endeavouring to accomplish the abolition of their antient federal union and distinct provisional constitutions, and to accomplish the formation of a constitution resembling that of France, by which they should be formed into one indivisible state.

The revolutionary partisans having at length overcome their opponents, accomplished their design. Thinking it proper to have the national sanction to a measure of such importance, the majority in the acting legislature, first collected the sig natures of those who approved the funda mental articles of the proposed constitution. The president then convoked an assembly of the legislature, by the authority of which, six commissioners of foreign relations, and twenty-one members of their own body, who had been most active in opposing their measures, were put under an arrest. After these preparatory steps, having constituted themselves the sole governing and legislative power of the Batavian nation, they proceeded to abrogate all provincial governments and jurisdictions; and they

constituted an executive government or directory, consisting of five members, who were to receive their nomination and general instructions from the legislature.

However conducive this measure might have been to the national prosperity, could the provinces have been independent of France, it was expected that the execution of it in so arbitrary a manner, by a party supported by that power, strictly forbade the nation to make remonstrances or present petitions in their corporal capacity, either to the legislature or the directory.

Thus was the Dutch nation told, at the very instant of their pretended regeneration, that they were no longer to enjoy that privilege which has ever been deemed essential to freedom, of making known their sentiments on national affairs, and petitioning for redress of their grievances. The subsequent measures of the government were correspondent with the same spirit of oppression, and pointed out the evil genius which was destined to preside over the councils of the Dutch states. The French partisans, not content with the establishment of a constitution, which, by bringing the national representatives together in one body, might render the state more liable to be influenced by France, prepared to engross every branch of power, by dismissing all who were suspected of disaffection to them from appointments, and replacing them with persons devoted to their interests. Under the specious pretext of attending to the public welfare and tranquillity, they excluded from the primary assemblies as dangerous to the national peace, all who presumed to condemn their measures; and that they might establish their power, when the people had accepted the constitutional act, the sitting assembly passed a decree, declaring itself the legislative assembly of the Batavian republic.

His Sardinian majesty, to avoid a repetition of the evils which he suffered in the late war, had adhered with strictness to the treaty of neutrality with France, concluded in 1796. But his good faith was rewarded by the violation of every just engagement and every honorable

feeling. An insurrection having occurred. at Carosio, a town belonging to Piedmont, but inclosed by the dominions of Genoa, and the directory, having disclosed a disposition to protect the insurgents, a dispute ensued respecting the right of the king of Sardina to march his troops, intended to suppress them through the intermediate territory. Guinguené, the French ambassador at Turin, unreservedly declaring himself their protector, insisted on their being pardoned, and was supported by general Brune. The Ligurian republic gave his majesty to understand that they would espouse the cause of the insurgents. The French minister, openly interposing in their behalf, demanded, in the name of the French directory, an absolute oblivion of the past, on condition of their laying down their arms. The king did not refuse compliance; he only hesitated; and the repugnance with which he complied, was deemed a sufficient apology for requiring the immediate cession of the city of Turin, as a security for the performance of his engagement to pardon the delinquents. Willing to avoid at any expense, however grievous, the renewal of war, the king agreed to the consigument, by admitting French troops into his fortress. He soon had reason to repent of his tameness, and learned, by fatal experience, that a prince ought to hazard existence itself, rather than submit to degradation in the eyes of his people. The encroachments of the French on the territories of this injured prince, accelerated the preparations of the emperor, who drew his forces to the Swiss frontier, apparently with the intention of protecting the Grisons, which the French government were preparing to seize, in order to complete their line of communication with the north of Italy. He at the same time opened negotiations with the court of Naples, and descanted on the necessity of vigorous opposition to a power which threatened destruction to all existing establishments. These sentiments perfectly corresponded with those of his Neapolitan majesty. The alarm which that monarch had conceived from the proceedings of the French in the ecclesiastical state, and in Piedmont, was heightened by the arrogance which he had

repeatedly experienced, the augmentation of their forces at Rome, and the report of an intended enterprise under the command of Buonaparte in the Mediterranean. The necessity of a close alliance with the house of Austria, whose situation was similar to his own, became daily more evident; and arrangements were made with the imperial court, while recourse was had to the most eligible modes of raising the supplies. The French government observing these appearances of an hostile intention, endea

vored to divert Don Ferdinand from his warlike councils, by reminding him of the tenor of the late treaty; and to intimidate him, the French ambassador admonished him of the great number of malcontents in his dominions, who were ready to join the French army in case of an invasion. But these menaces had no longer their desired effect; and Don Ferdinand, as the best preservative of domestic peace, caused the malcontents who had been liberated, to be placed once more in durance.

Co

NONVINCED of the hopelessness of any direct attempt upon England, the French government, at the suggestion of Buonaparte, formed a bold and extensive plan of conquest which would ultimately menace the oriental possessions of Great Britain. The project was to subdue Malta, invade Egypt, and extend their sway to the shores of the Ganges. The pretended invasion of England was apparently prosecuted for a considerable time after the design had been abandoned, that their real purpose might be the more effectually concealed and accomplished. While bodies of troops and stores were drawn towards the coasts of Normandy and Brittany, other forces and supplies were collected at Toulon. This port was the rendezvous of the expedition which sailed under the orders of Buonaparte, on the 20th of May, 1798. It consisted of 13 ships of the line, seven frigates of 40 guns, and several smaller vessels, making together 44 sail. The transports amounted to nearly 200, carrying about 40 000 regular troops, with a proportionable number of horses and artillery, and immense quantities of provisions and military stores. Buonaparte, in all his expeditions and designs, included the advancement of knowledge. His fleet was crowded by artists and men of science; astronomers, mathematicians, chemists, mineralogists, botanists, physicians, and

many other classes of ingenious and learned men: certainly a much more rational assortment of attendants than the buffoons, parasites, and prostitutes, who formed the usual retinue of the former monarchs of France. A variety of conjectures were formed respecting the destination of this formidable armament. Malta and Egypt were generally conjectured, however, as the event confirmed to be its principal objects. The riches of the former were a sufficient temptation to the rapacity of France; the latter appeared to be an acquisition of the highest importance, as presenting the means of access to our possessions in India, and affording the most evident facilities to the interruption of our Indian trade. On the 9th of June, the fleet arrived of Malta. The admiral first solicited permission to water the fleet ; and the grand master, refusing to comply with the request, Buonaparte determined to attack the place. At day-break, on the 11th, a languid fire was maintained: a bark came out from the port, and was conducted to the L'Orient; at eleven, a second, under a flag of truce, conveyed on board the fleet those knights who chose to abandon Malta. It appeared that the garrison was almost totally unprovided with stores and provisions, and at four in the afternoon there were fewer men than guns on the walls of the fort. It