The Directors now pushed the measures of government with Revolutionary energy. The British government, finding themselves deprived of every ally, sent Lord Malmesbury to Paris to negotiate for peace. The British ministry were willing to give up the colonies which they had wrested from France, but would not give up the colonies they had wrested from the allies of France, Spain and Holland. It is difficult to see how the Directory, with any sense of honor whatever, could, under such circumstances, have abandoned its allies. Upon this point there was a rupture, and war with England continued to rage.[472]
On the 28th of October the treaty of Campo Formio was signed, which secured peace with the Emperor of Germany. The Directors had sent to Napoleon an ultimatum which would have prevented the possibility of peace. Napoleon boldly rejected their demands, and made peace on his own terms. The nation hailed the peace with such joy, and Napoleon was now so boundlessly popular, that the Directors did not dare to refuse their ratification. Napoleon was now prepared to return to France. He had established the Cisalpine Republic, and compelled its recognition by the only powers which could endanger its existence. Before leaving Italy he thus addressed this state in the infancy of its freedom:
"You are the first people in history who have become free without factions, without revolutions, without convulsions. We have given you freedom; take care to preserve it. To be worthy of your destiny, make only discreet and moderate laws; cause them to be executed with energy; favor the diffusion of knowledge, and respect religion. Compose your army, not of disreputable men, but of citizens imbued with the principles of the Republic and closely linked to its prosperity. You have, in general, need to impress yourselves with the feeling of your strength, and with the dignity which befits the freeman. Divided, and bowed down for ages by tyranny, you would not, unaided, have conquered your liberty. In a few years, if left to yourselves, no power on earth will be strong enough to wrest it from you. Till then France will protect you against the attacks of your neighbors; its political system will be united with yours."[473]
The blessings of the Italians were showered upon Napoleon as he departed. As he entered France he was every where greeted with love, admiration, and enthusiasm. His progress through the departments was a triumphal march. In Paris he was received with salvos of artillery, ringing of bells, illuminations, and the huzzas of the multitude. In the laconic address of Napoleon to the authorities of government in their grand reception, he uttered sentiments in perfect accordance with his whole precedent and subsequent career.
"The French people," said he, "in order to be free had kings to combat. To obtain a Constitution founded on reason it had the prejudices of eighteen centuries to overcome. The Constitution of the year III. and you have triumphed over all obstacles. Religion, feudality, royalty, have successively, for twenty centuries past, governed Europe. But from the peace which you have just concluded dates the era of representative governments. You have succeeded in organizing the great nation whose vast territory is circumscribed only because Nature herself has fixed its limits. You have done more. The two finest countries in Europe, formerly so renowned for the arts, the sciences, and the great men whose cradle they were, see with the greatest hopes genius and freedom issuing from the tomb of their ancestors. These are two pedestals on which destiny is about to place two powerful nations. I have the honor to deliver to you the treaty signed at Campo Formio, and ratified by his majesty the emperor. Peace secures the liberty, the prosperity, and the glory of the Republic. When the happiness of the French people shall be seated on better organic laws, all Europe will become free."
Napoleon, having returned to Paris, sought seclusion, laid aside his military dress, and devoted himself with great assiduity to studies of natural and political science. He was chosen a member of the Institute, and took his seat between the distinguished philosophers Lagrange and Laplace. He wrote the following note in acceptance of his election:
"The suffrage of the distinguished men who compose the Institute honors me. I feel sensibly that before I can become their equal I must long be their pupil. The only true conquests, those which awaken no regret, are those we obtain over ignorance. The most honorable, as the most useful pursuit of nations, is that which contributes to the extension of the human intellect. The real greatness of the French Republic ought henceforth to consist in not permitting the existence of one new idea which has not been added to the national stock."
When subsequently speaking of this period of his life he remarked, "Mankind are, in the end, always governed by superiority of intellectual qualities, and none are more sensible of this than the military profession. When, on my return to Paris from Italy, I assumed the dress of the Institute and associated with men of science, I knew what I was doing. I was sure of not being misunderstood by the lowest drummer of the army."
He was frequently consulted by the Directory on important questions. He had no confidence in the government of the Directory, and only lent it his support so far as to prevent the restoration of royalty. The Directory wished him to take command of a new army, to try to conquer, on the shores of England, a peace with that government which now alone continued the war. With that object in view he visited the coast and carefully scrutinized the resources at command for the invasion of England. He, however, pronounced the project too hazardous, and convinced the Directory that the only vulnerable point which England presented was in India. In accordance with this suggestion a secret expedition was fitted out to invade India by the way of Egypt.
On the 19th of May, 1798, the Egyptian expedition sailed from Toulon. To settle innumerable minor affairs in reference to the Germanic States, a Congress of Embassadors, from Austria, France, and Germany had now for some months been in session at Rastadt. The British government in the mean time vigorously commenced endeavors to ally the monarchies of Europe in a new war against France. It appealed to the fears of all the sovereigns by showing them that the toleration of any republican institutions in Europe endangered all their thrones.