Allies. In the previous year a few art works had been
taken from Holland and Belgium, and formal orders were given again and
again by the Directory for stripping the Pope's galleries; but there
is a persistent belief, founded, no doubt, in an inherent probability,
that the whole comprehensive scheme of art spoliation had been
suggested in the first place by Bonaparte, and prearranged between
himself and the executive before his departure. At any rate, he asked
and easily obtained from the government a commission of scholars and
experts to scour the Italian cities; and soon untold treasures of art,
letters, and science began to pour into the galleries, cabinets, and
libraries of Paris. A few brave voices among the artists of the
capital protested against the desecration; the nation at large was
tipsy with delight, and would not listen. Raphael, Leonardo, and
Michelangelo, Correggio, Giorgione, and Paul Veronese, with all the
lesser masters, were stowed in the holds of frigates and despatched by
way of Toulon toward the new Rome; while Monge and Berthollet
ransacked the scientific collections of Milan and Parma for their
rarest specimens. Science, in fact, was to flourish on the banks of
the Seine as never before or elsewhere; and the great investigators of
Italy, forgetful of their native land, were to find a new citizenship
in the world of knowledge at the capital of European liberties. Words
like these, addressed to the astronomer Oriani, indicate that on
Bonaparte's mind had dawned the notion of a universal federated state,
to which national republics would be subordinate.

No scene in the history of warfare was more theatrical than the entry
of the French into Milan. The pageant was arranged on the lines of a
Roman triumph and the distances so calculated that Bonaparte was the
one impressive figure. With his lean face and sharp Greek profile, his
long, lank, unpowdered locks, his simple uniform, and awkward seat in
the saddle, he looked like a new human type, neither angel nor devil
but an inscrutable apparition from another sphere. To officers and men
the voluptuous city extended wide its arms, and the shabby soldiery
were incongruous figures where their entertainers were elegant and
fastidious beyond what the guests had dreamed. With stern impartiality
the liberator repressed all excess in his army, but immediately the
question of contributions, billeting, indemnity, and fiscal
organization was taken up, settled,