or of the French; and this was soon followed by a decisive
and brilliant victory at Marengo, (June 14,) one of the most
obstinately contested during the war, and which was attended with
greater results than perhaps any battle that had yet occurred in
modern warfare. Moreau also gained a great victory over the Austrians
at Hohenlinden, and Macdonald performed great exploits amid the
mountains of the Italian Tyrol. The treaty of Luneville, (February 9,
1801,) in consequence of the victorious career of Bonaparte, ceded to
France the possession of Belgium, and the whole left bank of the
Rhine. Lombardy was erected into an independent state, Venice was
restored to Austria, and the independence of the Batavian, Helvetic,
Cisalpine, and Ligurian republics was guaranteed. This peace excited
unbounded joy at Paris, and was the first considerable pause in the
continental strife.

[Sidenote: The Reforms of Napoleon.]

Napoleon returned to his capital to reconstruct society, which was
entirely disorganized. It was his object to restore the institutions
of religion, law, commerce, and education. He did not attempt to give
constitutional freedom. This was impracticable; but he did desire to
bring order out of confusion. One night, going to the theatre, he
narrowly escaped death by the explosion of an "infernal machine." He
attributed the design of assassination to the Jacobins, and forthwith
transported one hundred and thirty of them, more as a statesman than
as a judge. He was determined to break up that obnoxious party, and
the design against his life furnished the pretence. Shortly after, he
instituted the Legion of Honor, an order of merit which was designed
to restore gradually the gradation in the ranks of society. He was
violently opposed, but he carried his measures through the Council of
State; and this institution, which at length numbered two thousand
persons, civil and military, became both popular and useful. He then
restored the external institution of religion, and ten archbishops and
fifty bishops administered the affairs of the Gallican Church. The
restoration of the Sunday, with its customary observances, was hailed
by the peasantry with undisguised delight, and was a pleasing sight to
the nations of Europe. He then contemplated the complete restoration
of all the unalienated national property to the original proprietors,
but was forced to abandon the design. A general amnesty, was also
proclaimed to emigrants, by