The History of Napoleon BuonaparteLockhart, J. G. (John Gibson)
History
The History of Napoleon Buonaparte
Lockhart, J. G. (John Gibson)
France -- Kings and rulers -- Biography; Napoleon I, Emperor of the French, 1769-1821
Then follow directions for the internal administration of Egypt, in
which, among other sufficiently characteristic hints, Kleber is desired
to cultivate the good will of _the Christians_, but, nevertheless, to
avoid carefully giving the Mussulmans any reason to confound _the
Christians_ with _the French_. "Above all," says Napoleon, "gain the
Sheiks, who are timid, who cannot fight, and who, like all priests,
inspire fanaticism without being fanatics."
The conclusion is in these words. "The army which I confide to you is
composed of my children; in all times, even in the midst of the greatest
sufferings, I have received the marks of their attachment: keep alive in
them these sentiments. You owe this to the particular esteem and true
attachment which I bear towards yourself."
[Footnote 27: Djezzar means _butcher_: he had well earned this title by
the mercilessness of his administration.]
[Footnote 28: Sir Sydney Smith, having been taken prisoner and most
unjustifiably confined by the French government in the dungeons of the
Temple, had made his escape through the zeal of certain of the royalist
party, and chiefly of Philippeaux.]
[Footnote 29: The handsome swordsman--_i.e._ Murat.]
[Footnote 30: De Bourienne, whose curious work has appeared since the
first edition of this narrative was published, confirms this statement
of Napoleon: but Napoleon, it is obvious, _might_ have received letters
which he did not choose to communicate to his secretary.]
CHAPTER XIII
Retrospect--Buonaparte arrives in France--The Revolution of the
18th Brumaire--The Provisional Consulate.
We must now pause for a moment to indicate, however briefly and
imperfectly, the course of events which had determined Napoleon to
abandon the army of Egypt.
While the negotiations at Rastadt were still in progress, the Directory,
on the most flimsy of pretences, marched an army into Switzerland; and,
by vast superiority of numbers, overwhelmed the defence of the
unprepared mountaineers. The conquered cantons were formed into another
republic of the new kind--to wit, "the Helvetian:" nominally a sister
and ally, but really a slave of the French. Another force, acting under
orders equally unjustifiable, seized Turin, and dethroned the King of
Sardinia. Lastly, the Pope, in spite of all his humiliating concessions
at Tollentino, saw a republican insurrection, roused by French
instigation, within his capital. Tumults and bloodshed ensued; and
Joseph Buonaparte, the French ambassador, narrowly escaped with his
life. A French army forthwith advanced on Rome; the Pope's functions as
a temporal prince were terminated; he retired to the exile of Siena; and
another of those feeble phantoms, which the Directory delighted to
invest with glorious names, appeared under the title of "the Roman
Republic."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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