and a series of intrigues began, under the management of Collot d'Herbois and Tallien, which ended in the overthrow of the tyrant. His end was hideous, and ought, perhaps, to be described at length.

This miscreant, who had caused the very kennels to flow with blood, was denounced in a meeting of the convention; and with six of his associates, namely, Dumas, Henriot, Le Bas, Couthon, St. Just, and the younger Robespierre, was committed to prison. He had, however, a party among the rabble of Paris, who, with Payan, the mayor, at their head, effected his rescue, and placed him, with his companions, in the Hôtel de Ville, which they undertook to defend to the last extremity. But those who had voted for his arrest, felt that everything was at stake with them. They collected fifteen hundred men; brought artillery to bear upon the building, and so intimidated the mob, that one by one they shrank from the combat. Then it was that the group of Terrorists within, to which Payan, the mayor, had joined himself, began to act like scorpions, round which a circle of fire had been drawn. Mutual and ferocious upbraidings took place among them. "Wretch! were these the means you promised to furnish," said Payan to Henriot, whom he found intoxicated, and incapable either of resolution or exertion, and lifting him, as he spoke, he threw him from the window. Henriot survived the fall only to drag himself into a drain, whence he was soon afterwards removed, and carried to execution. The younger Robespierre leaped from the window, but though shockingly bruised, he did not escape the guillotine. Le Bas despatched himself with a pistol. St. Just, after imploring his comrades to kill him, attempted his own life with an irresolute hand, and failed. Couthon lay beneath the table brandishing a knife, with which he repeatedly wounded his own breast, yet had not courage enough to push home; while Robespierre,

having misdirected his aim, shattered his own jaw with a pistol-ball. In this hideous plight were these ruffians carried before the convention, now triumphant, by whom, without any regard to the forms of justice, of which the spirit had long been forgotten, they were ordered to immediate execution.

The fall of Robespierre placed in conspicuous stations men, who, if they did not surpass their predecessors in public virtue, had at least more of public wisdom. They began seriously to consider how the troubles of France might be composed, and something like a settled government erected out of the elements that were around them. Their plans resulted in the establishment of two legislative councils, one of elders, as it was called, which should consist of married men, upwards of fifty years of age; the other of five hundred young men between the ages of twenty-five and forty. Meanwhile they determined to commit the executive to a directory of five; but weary as the French people were of the system of terror under which they had so long lived, this project for its removal was not adopted without a struggle. Mobs were excited in all the departments of the city, which, without very well knowing what it was that they desired, threatened the members of the convention with death. It was now that Napoleon Buonaparte, who, since the siege of Toulon, had been comparatively little noticed, found an opportunity to establish a reputation for courage and talent, such as never afterwards failed him. He had returned dissatisfied from Italy, after serving as a chief of battalion, had been refused further employment by the war-minister, and was an idler in the streets, when the failure of general Menou to disarm a body of insurgent national guards, opened a way to his ambition, of which he gladly availed himself. Barras, the successor of Menou, had witnessed Buonaparte's skill and bravery before

the lines of Toulon. He immediately recommended the little Corsican officer as a fit person to restore peace to the capital, and Buonaparte, confident in the extent of his own resources, undertook the charge. The Parisians were mowed down with discharges of grape, and the convention triumphed. But the services of the future emperor were not limited to this any more than his rewards were confined to a vote of thanks from the convention. He was nominated, through Barras's influence, commander-in-chief of the army in Italy; where we shall find him by and by achieving successes hitherto unequalled in the annals of modern warfare.

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CHAPTER VI.

AFFAIRS OF THE COALITION. -WAR IN FLANDERS. BUONAPARTE'S SUCCESSES IN ITALY.- BAD SPIRIT IN ENGLAND.-MUTINY OF THE FLEET.-IRISH REBELLION. -FRENCH EXPEDITION TO EGYPT.- BATTLE OF THE NILE.-RENEWED COALITION.-BUONAPARTE RETURNS FROM EGYPT.-EXPEDITION TO THE HELDER.-BUONAPARTE FIRST CONSUL. EUCCESSES IN ITALY. PEACE OF AMIENS.

I RETURN now to the affairs of the coalition, which presented, all this while, an appearance by no means satisfactory. The campaign of 1793 ended as has been described; that of 1794 proved a great deal more fertile in disasters, when the duke of York, unable to resist the multitudes whom the enemy brought against him, was driven from one position to another, and compelled to take ground under cover of the rivers in Holland. It is true that, by sea, the British arms were successful. Besides the loss which the enemy had sustained by the destruction of the arsenal at Toulon, they suffered severely in a naval action on the memorable 1st of June; when the Brest fleet of twenty sail engaged lord Howe, and were defeated. But important as that victory was, it did not suffice to compensate the allies for the derangement of plans anxiously laid, and the overthrow of hopes fondly nourished. On the frontiers of Germany, the combined Austrian and Prussian forces were worsted in many encounters, and driven from many important places. So completely, indeed, were their spirits broken, that the duke of Brunswick resigned his command; and the king of Prussia, instigated in part by an unworthy jealousy of the emperor, began to meditate a withdrawal from the coalition. In Flanders, too, all went wrong. It was to no purpose that

the duke of York gained the brilliant victory of Valenciennes, or the Austrians, under Kaunitz, repulsed the French near Mons, and compelled them to repass the Sambre. Instead of being discouraged by such defeats, the republicans seemed to acquire new resolution; while their numbers, fed by the enthusiasm of the moment, swelled from day to day, till they became altogether irresistible. Onwards the tide poured. From Tournay to Oudenarde, and from Oudenarde to Antwerp, his royal highness was forced to fall back, fighting at every step; while Charleroi, Ypres, Brussels, Ghent, the whole, indeed, of the Belgic towns, opened their gates to the conqueror. Nor was it found practicable to maintain, after the frost set in, even Holland, into which the allies betook themselves. Crossing the rivers and canals on the ice, Pichegru drove in the British posts, and broke the allied line in many parts, so that there remained to them only one chance of safety, namely, in retreat. Seldom has a military operation been productive of greater hardships to those engaged, or afforded scope for the display of more heroic endurance under suffering. Repeatedly engaged with their pursuers, and always with success, the British troops continued their march, amidst the rigours of a winter unusually severe, and through a population everywhere hostile. Their loss was necessarily severe ; nevertheless, they reached Osnaburg, a neutral principality, with spirits and order unbroken; and having reposed themselves there a few weeks, re-embarked early in the spring of 1795, and returned to England.

From this time forth, the superiority of the French arms on the continent became daily more and more decided. Prussia, after accepting a subsidy of four millions and a half, shamelessly seceded from the coalition. Spain and Hesse Cassel followed her example; while the Low Countries, including Holland, from which the prince of Orange had withdrawn,