filed public situations, and consequently cannot be presumed to be iciently versed in the always diffeat art of governing the public well; or even, allowing that they have applied themselves since the last æra, and held the reins of 2 government, agitated as ours has been by conflicting passions and prejudices, and impelled by foreign influence, they have not had the opportunity of acquiring that high reputation, which, in times like the present, is necessary to recommend men to public confidence.

"But if, in spite of those numerous obstacles, a man could be found among us capable of sustaining so great a burden, many other and greater difficulties present themselves, which would not allow us to rely on such a choice.

The Cisalpine republic cannot yet be entirely evacuated by French troops. Many political reasons and our own interest, destitute as we are yet of national troops, do not permit it at this moment.

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Besides, the Cisalpine republic, although its existence has been secured by the treaties of Tolentine and Luneville, cannot hope by itself, and from its own first steps, to obtain that degree of con sideration which is necessary to its consolidation within and without. It has need of a support to cause it to be acknowledged by those powers with whom they have at present no communication. It has therefore need of a man who, by the ascendency of his name and his power, may place it in that rank which becomes its grandeur. That man, however, we should in vain eek for amongst ourselves.

"To secure the dignity of the government against the approach of foreign troops, to spread a brilliancy and grandeur over the cradle of the Cisalpine republic, the committee is agreed, that it would be essential to the happiness of the nation, that it should be sustained in its first moments by a superior power which possesses more strength and dignity than any other.

"In conformity with those sentiments, the committee have therefore agreed, that if, on the one side, the extraordinary consulta should form a wish that the constitution should be immediately proclaimed, and that the colleges, legislators, and other authorities, should be chosen from among the men, who have appeared to be the most worthy of their esteem; on the other side, it must ardently wish that general Bonaparté should please to honour the republic, by continuing to govern it, and by associating with the direction of the affairs in France the care of conducting our government; of reducing the different parts of our territory to a uniformity of principle, and of causing the Cisalpine republic to be acknowledged by all the powers in Europe*.

"(Signed) Stregelli, Sec." Such were the arguments used to prevail upon the willing mind of Bonaparté, to take upon himself the care and burden of governing this Cisalpine nation, which by the treaty of Luneville was declared independent. The consulta, however, were of opinion that the only method to secure its independence, was to submit itself to the government of a man who, by the ascen

dency

dency of his name and his power, could place it in that rank which became its grandeur; to look for a support from a nation, strong enough to preserve the dignity of its government from the approach of foreign troops, and strong enough to change its government or its frontier at pleasure.

The report of the committee was entered in the proces verbal of the consulta, and unanimously agreed to by the Cisalpine deputies. A special committee was appointed to wait on Bonaparté with the report, which invited him, not in his capacity of first consul of France, but personally as general Bonaparté, to accept the government of a country as populous, fertile, and rich in resources, as any of the states of the second rank in Europe.

The Cisalpine deputies, it must be supposed, found no great difficulty in persuading Bonaparté to accept that, which was the undisguised object of his ambition, and the now avowed motive of his journey to Lyons. He, upon this occasion, did not dissemble; no mincing modesty or affected delicacy caused the slightest appearance of hesitation on the subject.

Although the affairs of Europe were quite unsettled, the congress of Amiens not yet opened, and the question of the German indemnities likely to produce the most serious misunderstandings, yet he boldly ventured to take upon himself the government of a country that Europe expected would have been left to itself, and certainly not have been added formally to the already enormous bulk of Bonaparte's western empire.

Ôn the 26th of Jan. the first consul, accompanied by the minister for

foreign affairs, and the minister of the interior, four counsellors of state, twenty prefects of departments, and a vast train of general officers, took his seat at the Cisalpine consulta, and pronounced in his native language, Italian, a speech to the following effect:

"That the Cisalpine republic, acknowledged since the treaty of Campo Formio, has already experienced many vicissitudes.

"The first efforts made to constitute it have badly succeeded.

"Invaded since by hostile armies, its existence seemed no longer probable, when the French people, a second time drove, by force of arms, your enemies from your territories. Since that time every means has been tried to divide you. The protection of France has prevailed, you have been recognized at Luneville.

"Increased one fifth, you exist more powerful, more consolidated, and with better hopes!!

"Composed of six different nations, you are now going to be united under a constitution more adapted to your manners and your circumstances.

"I have assembled you around me at Lyons, as being the principal inhabitants of the Cisalpine. You have given me the necessary information for fulfilling the august task which my duty imposed upon me, as the first magistrate of the French people, and as the man who has most contributed to your creation.

"The choices which I have made to fill the first magisterial offices in your country are completely independent of all idea of party, of all spirit of locality.

"As to that of president, I have

Dot found any body among you, who would have sufficient claim to the public opinion, who would be sufficiently independent of the spirit of locality, and who in fine had rendered great services enough to his country to entrust it to him.

"The proces verbal which you have caused to be transmitted to me by your committee of thirty, in which are analyzed, with equal precision and truth, the internal and external circumstances of your country, have made a lively impression upon me. I adhere to your wish. I shall still preserve, as long as circumstances may require it, the great care of your

affairs.

"Amid the continual cases which the post I occupy require, every thing which may relate to you and consolidate your existence and your prosperity, shall not be foreign from the dearest affections of ny heart.

"You have had as yet only particular laws; in future you must have general laws.

"Your people have only local habits; they must assume national habits.

Finally, you have no army; the powers who might become your enemies have strong armies: but you have that which can produce them, a numerous population, fertile countries, and the example, which has been given in all the essential circumstances by the first nation in Europe."

This mandatory oration of the first consul, interrupted at the end of each sentence by loud applause, was followed by the reading of the constitution. At the moment it was about to be read, the general inclination of the assembly exVOL. XLIV.

pressed a wish to change the name of the Cisalpine for that of the Italian republic. The first consul appeared to yield to the general desire.

The constitution was then read, which consisted of 128 articles, and was reduced under fifteen tities.

By the first, the Roman catholic religion is declared to be the religion of the state,

The government of the country is vested in a president, appointed for ten years; or, in his absence, the vice-president, the consulta of state, and a legislative council. A legislative body of seventy-five members are to discuss and decide respecting those laws which the legislative council shall propose.

The members of the legislative body, as well as of the consulta of state, and of the tribunals of revision and cassation, are to be chosen by three electoral colleges constituted for that purpose.

The first college is of POSSIDENTI, or landed proprietors. This college is to consist of 300 members, having a qualification of 6000

livres a year.

The second college is of dotti, or of the learned. It consists of 200 individuals selected from those who are most distinguished in science, or in the liberal and mechanical arts.

The third college is di commercanti, or the tradesmen; is to consist of 200, selected from the most skilful merchants and manufacturers.

The scat of the legislation was permanently established at Milan.

These are the only distinguishing features of the constitution of the Italian republic worth recording,

After

After the reading of the constitution, the names of the members of the colleges, and of the government, were read over.

The members of the government were as follow:

Bonaparté, president. Melzi, vice-president. Guicciardi, sec. of state. Spanocchi, grand judge. The first consul then invited the vice-president to place himself by his side; he took him by the hand and embraced him. The assembly appeared grateful for this spontaneous mark of affection. Citizen Prina then said, "If the hand that has created and defended us will guide us, no obstacle can stop us, and our confidence will be equal to that admiration with which the hero to whom we owe our happiness inspires us."

The first consul then broke up the sitting and retired to his palace amid the loudest acclamations.

The object of the visit to Lyons being thus attained, the first consul returned to Paris, where he arrived on the 30th. Azarra, the Spanish minister, had arrived at Amiens on the 29th.

This important transaction at Lyons having terminated so completely to the satisfaction of the French government, it should seem that it had now some time to spare for attending to the points to be discussed at Amiens.

Another circumstance transpired in the course of the month of January, which developed most alarmingly the extent of Gallic ambition, and which altered most materially the basis on which the preliminary articles of peace were signed. A treaty was officially published, which had been concluded in March 1801, at Madrid, by which Spain ceded

Louisiana to France, and by the arrangements of which treaty, the dutchy of Parma, and the island of Elba, were also to belong to that nation, at the decease of the reigning duke of Parma, an event confidently looked for at no long interval.

These enormous accessions of power which France had made in the very commencement of peace, together with the unexpected delays which took place at the congress of Amiens, and which were entirely imputed to the French government, caused the greatest uneasiness throughout the British empire, and excited the most universal indignation. In Germany, the affairs of the indemnities to the different princes for their losses went on but slowly. Austria (whose compensations for her vast losses were not to be at all proportionate either to them, or to those of the powers who were the friends of France,) was confessedly careless and dilatory in its proceedings. The French government, then occupied with the consulta at Lyons, and the definitive treaty with England, seemed content, for a short time, to leave the German empire to itself, and not to interfere in the internal regulation of its affairs. After the acquisition of Lombardy, the court of the Thuilleries had no object so interesting before it as the congress at Amiens, and the consequences which it calculated must result from the restoration of the peace.

In the mean time, the month of January 1802 had seen added to the French empire, either immediately or in reversion, the countries of Lombardy, Louisiana, Farma, and the island of Elba.

CHAP.

THE

HE course which the affairs of the Cisalpine had taken, and the great increase which the empire of Bonaparté had received by the accession of such a territry, not only altered most materally the relative situation of France, from the time of signing the preliminaries, but directly operated upon the very foundation of one of the most important articles of that arrangement.

The possession of the island of Malta had appeared to both the contracting parties as an object of the first-rate importance. The agreement between England and France was, that it should be neutral, and its neutrality was to be secured by every precaution that it was possible to take.

All the great powers of Europe were invited to the guarantee of this neutrality, and it was also settled that the internal organizato of the island for its own defence should be such as to secure

it as much as possible from falling into the hands of either of the rival powers.

It was upon this principle, that although the island was to be restored to the order of St. John of Jerusalem, yet it was stipulated that there should be neither an English nor a French langue subsisting at Malta. The langues of those nations were to be suppressed, and in their place a Maltese langue was to be created, whose knights were to be chosen from the principal inhabitants and merchants of the island. Neither French troops nor British were to be admitted in the garrisons of the different forts; but as the period fixed for its evacuation was short, and it was not likely that a Maltese army could be so speedily formed as should be powerful enough to secure, in every event, the neutrality of the island, it was agreed that it should be garrisoned by Neapolitan troops, until, in the judgment of the gua rantying powers, it should have a

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force