Constitution of the Directory.--Distracted State of Public Affairs.--New Expedition to La Vendée.--Death of the Dauphin.--Release of the Princess. --Pacification of La Vendée.--Riots in London.--Execution of Charette. --Napoleon takes command of the Army of Italy.--Thefirst Proclamation. --Triumphs in Italy.--Letter of General Hoche.--Peace with Spain. --Establishment of the Cispadane Republic.--Negotiations with England. --Contemplated Invasion of Ireland.--Memorials of Wolfe Tone.--Deplorable State of Public Affairs.--Description of Napoleon.--Composition of the Directory 411 CHAPTER XL. THE OVERTHROW OF THE DIRECTORY AND THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE CONSULATE. Proclamation of Napoleon.--March into Austria.--Letter to the Archduke Charles.--Preliminaries of Peace.--Union of Parties against the Directory.--Triumph of the Directory.--Agency of Napoleon.--Severe Measures of the Directory.--Indignation of Napoleon.--Dictatorship of the Directory.--Dismay of the Royalists.--Treaty of Campo Formio. --Napoleon's Address to the Cispadane Republic.--Remarks of Napoleon. --Plan for the Invasion of India.--Expedition to Egypt.--New Coalition. --Rastadt 421 THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. CHAPTER I. ORIGIN OF THE FRENCH MONARCHY. Extent of France.--Character of its early Inhabitants.--Conquest of Gaul.--Barbarian Invasion.--The Franks.--Pharamond.--Clovis.--Introduction of Christianity.--Clotilda.--Merovingian Dynasty.--Fields of March.--Anecdote of Clovis.--The Parisii.--Strife with the Nobles.--Moorish Invasion.--Charles Martel.--Pepin.--Fields of May.--Charlemagne.--His Policy.--Feudal System.--The Church.--Rolls.--Louis V.--Hugh Capet.--Parliament established by Philip the Fair. Could one have occupied some stand-point in the clouds fifty years before the birth of our Savior, and have looked down upon that portion of ancient Gaul which has since been called France, he would have seen an immense undulating plain about six hundred and fifty miles square, bounded on the north by the Rhine, on the east by the craggy cliffs of the Alps, on the south by the almost impassable barriers of the Pyrenees, and on the west by the ocean. This beautiful realm, most admirably adapted in its physical features, its climate, and its soil to be inhabited by man, was then mostly covered with forest. Vast rivers, with their innumerable branches flowing in every direction, beautified the landscape and rendered the soil exuberantly fertile. About twenty millions of people, divided into more than a hundred independent tribes, inhabited this fair land. Life was with them all a scene of constant battle. They ever lived with weapons of war in their hands, seeking to encroach upon the rights of others or to repel those who were crowding upon them.