Revolutionary Europe, 1789-1815

by H. Morse Stephens

The Cisalpine Republic.

After the conclusion of the Preliminaries of Leoben Bonaparte returned to Italy and established himself at Montebello, near Milan. He was appointed plenipotentiary of the French Republic to conclude a final treaty with Austria, but the negotiations lasted for many months. During this time the young general was chiefly engaged in settling Italy. He first made a terrible example of the city of Verona, where the people had risen in revolt during his campaign in the Tyrol, and had murdered the wounded French soldiers left in their city. He next occupied Venice, and exacted from it a heavy contribution in money. Having thus established his power throughout northern Italy, Bonaparte began to set up new governments. On the 15th of June 1797 be insisted on the dissolution of the ancient government of Genoa, and formed that city and the surrounding districts into a new Ligurian Republic. Piedmont, by the terms of the Treaty of Cherasco, was left to the King of Sardinia, but Bonaparte at once formed Lombardy, Modena, Reggio, Bologna, Ferrara, the Romagna, Brescia, and Mantua into one State, which he named the Cisalpine Republic. The Constitution of this new Republic, which was modelled on the Constitution of the Year III., was promulgated on the 9th of July 1797. In these measures Bonaparte had carefully avoided any annexations by France. It was otherwise with regard to the Ionian Islands, which were ceded to the French Republic by Venice. Corfu was occupied on the 28th of June 1797, and Bonaparte believed that by this cession the French fleet in the Mediterranean would be able to close the Adriatic Sea.

Treaty of Campo-Formio. 17th October 1797.

Capture of Mayence. 29th December 1797.

During the months in which Italy was being thus reconstructed, the Austrian plenipotentiary, Cobenzl, was skilfully delaying the signature of a definitive treaty between France and Austria. In truth, the Austrians, like the English, Thugut, like Pitt, hoped that the Clichian party would win the day. The successful coup d’état of 18th of Fructidor destroyed his hopes, and on 17th of October 1797 the Treaty of Campo-Formio was signed. The bases laid down by the Preliminaries of Leoben were generally followed. The frontier of the Rhine for France was solemnly recognised. The new arrangements in Italy were also agreed to, and to Austria was ceded Venice and all the territories of Venice in Istria and Dalmatia and up to the Adige, in compensation for the loss of the Milanese. The Emperor also engaged to use his influence at the Congress of Rastadt to secure peace between France and the Holy Roman Empire. The Treaty of Campo-Formio really struck a more severe blow at the Empire than at the House of Austria. The cession of the Rhine frontier to France implied the loss to the Empire of the electorates of Trèves, Mayence, and the Palatinate, while it only deprived Austria of her mutinous and rebellious subjects in Belgium. A secret clause was also added to the Treaty, by which the French Republic promised to guarantee the whole of Bavaria to the House of Austria, in return for the immediate evacuation of all the fortresses which the Austrians occupied upon the Rhine. Immediately upon receiving the news of the Treaty of Campo-Formio the Directory equipped a special army under the command of General Hatry for the capture of Mayence, the only place on the left bank of the Rhine not in the possession of France. Deprived of the assistance of Austria, the troops of the Empire and of the Elector of Mayence could make but little resistance, and on 29th of December 1797 Mayence was once more surrendered to the French Republic.

Holland. The Batavian Republic.

Battle of Camperdown. 11th October 1797.

The Batavian Republic, which had been established in 1795 in Holland, was also considerably affected by the revolution of 18th Fructidor. The Dutch Legislature had been influenced by every current of feeling in France, and during the predominance of the Clichians had made no real effort to support their French allies. After the conclusion of the Convention of Leoben, and the consequent cessation of hostilities in Germany, the Directory despatched Hoche to Holland. He there busied himself with another effort for his favourite scheme for the invasion of England. For this purpose he relied upon the powerful Dutch fleet, which was being blockaded by an English squadron under Admiral Duncan in the Texel. During the mutiny at the Nore in the summer of 1797 the position of the blockading English fleet had been very critical, and on one occasion it is stated that two English ships were left to watch fifteen Dutch. Directly after the revolution of Fructidor, the Directors, who did not feel certain of the support of Moreau, removed Hoche from Holland and placed him in command of the united Armies of the Rhine-and-Moselle and the Sambre-and-Meuse under the title of the Army of Germany. Hardly had he taken up his command when the most distinguished rival of Bonaparte died on the 18th of September 1797. Though deprived of the active superintendence of Hoche, the government of the Batavian Republic, under the influence of the vigorous war policy of the new Directory, ordered the Dutch fleet to leave the Texel. It was met at sea by Admiral Duncan off the dunes or downs of Kampe (Camperdown), and entirely defeated after the most hotly contested naval battle of the war. The naval policy of the Directory had thus resulted in the destruction of the Spanish fleet in the battle of Cape St. Vincent and of the Dutch fleet in the battle of Camperdown.

Bonaparte in Paris.

On the 5th of December 1797 General Bonaparte arrived in Paris. The death of Hoche had left him without a rival, and the revolution of the 18th of Fructidor had been so entirely the result of the assistance of the army that its greatest general was practically the master of the political situation. The Directors received him with transports of enthusiasm and gave him a public reception, but, nevertheless, they were overawed by the extent of his reputation and afraid that he might attempt to take an active part in politics. He was appointed to the command of the Army of the Interior, which was intended for the invasion of England. Bonaparte, like Hoche, sincerely wished that such an invasion should be effected, but he understood the extraordinary difficulty inherent in any attempt to transport an army across the Channel in the presence of a powerful fleet. He therefore advised the Directory that it would be wiser not to attack England directly, but to make an effort to overthrow her power in Asia. It seemed to him more practicable to invade India than to invade England. His imagination was stirred by the conception of an expedition to the East, and the Directory was only too glad to remove from France for a time its most able and ambitious general.