NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE.

(From Madame de Stael's "Considerations on the French Revolution.")

of the army of the Rhine to join the army of Italy. There was a sort of contrast between the no

ble poverty of the one, and the irregular riches of the other: they resembled only in bravery. The

republic, those of the Rhine and of Italy, were almost constantly victorious, to the treaty of Campo Formio, which, for a short time suspended the long continental war. The army of the Rhine, of which Moreau was general, had preserved all the republican simplicity; the army of Italy, commanded by general Buonaparté, dazzled by its conquests, but was every day deviating further from the patriotic spirit, which till then had animated the French armies. Personal interest was taking the place of a patriotic spirit, and attachment to one man was prevailing over a devotion to liberty. The generals of the army of Italy, likewise, sought ere long to enrich themselves, thus proportionally diminishing that enthusiasm for austere principles without which a free state cannot exist.

General Bernadotte, of whom I shall have occasion to speak in the sequel, came with a division

Buonaparté, that of the Rhine was the army of the French republic. Yet nothing was so brilliant as the rapid conquest of Italy. Doubtless the desire, which the enlightened Italians have always felt, to unite themselves into one state, and thus to possess so much national strength as to have nothing either to fear or to hope from strangers, contributed much to favour the progress of general Buonaparte. It was with the cry of Italy for ever!' that he passed the bridge of Lodi; and it was to the hope of independence, that he owed his reception among the Italians. But the victories which subjected to France countries beyond her natural limits, far from favouring liberty, exposed it to the danger of military government.

Buonaparte was already much talked of in Paris; the superiority of his capacity in business, joined to the splendor of his talents as a general, gave to his name an importance

had ever acquired from the commencement of the revolution. But although in his proclamations he spoke incessantly of the republic, attentive men perceived that it was in his eyes, a mean, and not an end. It was in this same light that he viewed all things and all men. A rumour prevailed, that he meant to make himself king of Lombardy. One day I met general Augereau, who had just returned from Italy, and who was cited, I believe then with reason, as a zealous republican, I asked him whether it was true that general Buonaparté was thinking of becoming a king. No, assuredly," replied he; "he is a young man of too good principles for that." This singular answer was in exact conformity with the ideas of the moment. The sincere republicans would have regarded it as a degradation for a man, however distinguished he might be, to wish to turn the revolution to his personal advantage. Why had not this sentiment more force and longer duration among Frenchmen!

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Buonaparté was stopped in his march to Rome by signing the peace of Tolentino; and it was then that he obtained the surrender of the superb monuments of the arts which we have long seen collected in the Museum of Paris. The true abode of these master-pieces was, without doubt, Italy, and the imagination regret ted their loss; but of all her illustrious prisoners it was upon these that France justly set the highest value.

General Buonaparté wrote to

the surrender of these monuments one of the conditions of the peace with the pope. I have particularly insisted, said he, on the busts of Junius and Marcus Brutus, which I wish to send to Paris before the rest. Buonaparté, who afterwards removed these busts from the hall of the legislative body, might have spared them the trouble of the journey.

Buonaparté made himself remarkable by his character and capacity as much as by his victories, and the imagination of the French was beginning to attach itself warmly to him. His proclamations to the Cisalpine and Ligurian republics were quoted. In the one this phrase was remarked: You were divided, and bent down by tyranny; you were not in a situation to conquer liberty. In the other, True conquests, the only conquests which cost no regret, are those which we make from ignorance. In his style there reigned a spirit of moderation and dignity, which formed a contrast with the revolutionary bitterness of the civil leaders of France. The warrior then spoke like a magistrate, while magistrates expressed themselves with military violence. Buonaparté in his army had not enforced the laws against emigrants. He was said to be much attached to his wife, whose character was full of gentleness; it was asserted that he was feelingly alive to the beauties of Ossian; people took delight in ascribing to him all the generous qualities which give a pleasing relief to extraordinary talents. Besides, the nation was so weary of op

pressors

It was with this sentiment at least that I saw him for the first time at Paris. I could not find words to reply to him, when he came to me to say, that he had sought my father at Coppet, and that he regretted having passed into Switzerland without seeing him. But when I was a little recovered from the confusion of admiration, a strongly-marked sentiment of fear succeeded. Buonaparté, at that time, had no power; he was even believed to be not a little threatened by the captious suspicions of the Directory; so that the fear which he inspired was caused only by the singular effect of his person upon nearly all who approached him. I had seen men highly worthy of esteem; I had likewise seen monsters of ferocity: there was nothing in the effect which Buonaparté produced on me, that could bring back to my recollection either the one or the other. I soon perceived, in the different opportunities which I had of meeting him during his stay at Paris, that his character could not be defined by the words which we commonly use; he was neither good nor violent, nor gentle, nor cruel, after the manner of individuals of whom we have any knowledge. Such a being had no fellow, and therefore could neither feel nor excite sympathy; he was more or less than man.

His cast of character, his underderstanding, his language, were stamped with the impress of an unknown nature;-an additional advantage, as we have elsewhere observed, for the subjugation of Frenchmen.

Far from recovering my confidence by seeing Buonaparté more frequently, he constantly intimidated me more and more. I had a confused feeling that no emotion of the heart could act upon him. He regards a human being as an action or a thing, not as a fellow creature. He does not hate more than he loves; for him nothing exists but himself: all other creatures are ciphers. The force of his will consists in the impossibility of disturbing the calculations of his egotism; he is an able chess-player, and the human race is the opponent to whom he proposes to give check-mate. His successes depend as much on the qualities in which he is deficient as on the talents which he possesses. Neither pity nor allurement, nor religion, nor attachment to any idea whatsoever, could turn him aside from his principal direction. He is for his self-interest what the just man should be for virtue; if the end were good, his perseverance would be noble.

Every time that I heard him speak, I was struck with his superiority; yet it had no similitude to that of men instructed and cultivated by study or society, such as those of whom France and England can furnish examples. But his discourse indicated a fine perception of circumstances, such as the sportsman has of the game which he pur

sues.