nd all her Italian possessions were
grouped together into a Cisalpine republic! Another Helvetic republic
was set up in Switzerland, and still another republic created in
Holland under a French protectorate.

In other words, this man had accomplished in Italy precisely what he
was going to accomplish later in Germany. He had broken down the
lingering traces of mediaevalism, and prepared the soil for a new order
of things.

The peace of Campo Formio was the most glorious ever made for France.
The river Rhine was at last recognized as her frontier, thus placing
Belgium within the lines of the republic. Napoleon had captured not
alone Italy, but France herself? What might she not accomplish with
such a leader? The delighted Directory discussed the invasion of
England. Napoleon, knowing this would be premature, dramatically
conceived the idea of crippling England by threatening her Asiatic
possessions, and led an army into Egypt (1798). Although Nelson
destroyed his fleet, he still maintained the arrogance of a conqueror.

No king, no military leader, had brought as much glory to France. Du
Guesclin, Turenne, Conde, all were eclipsed. And so were Marlborough
and Prince Eugene. What would not France do at the bidding of this
magician, who by a single sweep of his wand had raised her from the
dust of humiliation and made her the leading power on the Continent!

The young officer, now so distinguished, had married in the early part
of his career the widow of M. de Beauharnais, one of the victims of the
Reign of Terror. During his absence in Egypt, the Directorate, and the
Legislature, and the people had all become embroiled in dissensions.
Things were falling again into chaos, with no hand to hold them
together. Discontent was rife, and men were asking why the one man,
the little dark man who knew how to do and to compel things, and to
maintain discipline, why he was sent to the Nile and the Pyramids!

Josephine, from Paris, kept Napoleon informed of these conditions. So,
leaving his army in charge of Kleber, he unexpectedly returned. He
knew what he was going to do; and he also knew he could depend upon the
army to sustain him. By political moves as adroit and unexpected as
his tactics on the field, the Directorate was swept out of existence,
and Napoleon was first consul of France.

It was a long step backward. The pendulum was returning once more
toward a strong executive, and to centralization. From