BUONAPARTE.

It is not be expected in a publication of this kind, that we can enter at large into the history of this extraordinary man; we shall therefore content ourselves with giving a brief memoir of a personage, whose talents, exploits, and atrocities, have been the astonishment of the present age, and whose actions will be no less regarded by posterity with wonder and admira

tion.

Napoleon Buonaparte, who, from a station in life comparatively obscure, has raised himself to the sovereignty of the empire of France, was a native of Corsica. When very young he was sent to Paris, where he received his education at the Ecole Militaire. During his studies he was particularized for singularity of deportment, for great application, and uncommon powers of mind. At the age of seventeen he obtained a commission as lieutenant of artillery; but on the breaking out of the revolution in France, he enlisted himself under its banners, and abandoned the cause of the ill-fated sovereign by whom he had been fostered and protected.

The revolutionary fanaticism of Buonaparte being noticed by the leaders of the republican party, he was promoted to the rank of captain, and employed in different expeditions. In 1793, Toulon being in the possession of the English, he was appointed to the command of a brigade by the director Barras; and the courage and ability he displayed during the siege

and recapture of the city, confirmed the opinion which had been formed of his military genius. In 1795, having succeeded in repelling the insurgent Parisian sections, and subjugated the people with inordinate cruelty,-through the influence of his protector, Barras, he was made second in command in the army of the interior, and in a short time afterwards commander in chief over the same army. In the winter of the same year he married the widow of Alexander Beauharnois, who brought him, it is said, as a portion, the command over the army in Italy, then opposed to the forces of Austria and Piedmont, which laid the foundation of his future glory.

The advantage he obtained over the allied armies during the campaigns of 1796 and 1797, established his reputation as a warrior and a commander; and from that period until the peace of Campo Formio, Buonaparte marched from success to success, from victory to victory, in which he was not a little aided by the want of vigour in the Austrian councils, and the incapacity of their generals in the field.

On the cessation of hostilities between France and Austria Buonaparte returned to France, from whence he was soon after sent to Egypt, at the head of a formidable armament. The object of this expedition was the conquest of the country, and the consequent hope of destroying the power of Great Britain in India. On the 19th of May, 1798, the fleet sailed from Toulon, and on the first of July, Buonaparte, with all his forces, appeared before Alexandria, which surrendered after a short resistance. His impious proclamations, upon taking possession of the city, are well known. Grand Cairo soon after followed, and

town after town submitted to the French arms. On the 18th of February, 1797, Buonaparte left Cairo for El Arish, and proceeded to the attack of Jaffa, which was taken by assault. He then marched against St. Jean d'Acre, where the fame of Buonaparte became eclipsed by the chivalrous bravery and prevailing genius of Sir Sidney Smyth. The relation of this memorable siege demands too great a length to find a place here. Suffice it to say, that numerous acts of temerity, despair, treachery, and cruelty, exhibited by Buonaparte and his officers, were encountered and defeated by the intrepidity of the Dgezzar Pacha, and the heroism and generosity of the British commander. Foiled in this attack, the military exploits of Buonaparte in Egypt may be said to have terminated, for he soon after formed the resolution of quitting the country. Leaving the army under the command of Kleber, and repairing on ship-board, with accustomed good fortune he was landed near Frejus, in Provence

Notwithstanding this disgraceful proceeding, a prospect of the most brilliant description opened to his view. Upon his return to France, he found the torch of civil war was again lighted in many departments. The people hailed his arrival in Paris as a great national deliverance. A change in the form of government soon after followed; and having united all the authorities, both civil and military, in his own person, Buonaparte became chief consul of the republic of France.

His first act, upon his elevation to his new dignity, was to secure his power by professing a desire for peace. With this view he wrote letters to the Emperors of Germany and Russia, and to the King of England;

which, as deserting the regular forms of diplomatic proceeding, totally failed of their object. War was now carried on by the powers at enmity with France with redoubled vigour; and Buonaparte resolved to effect that in the field which he could not accomplish in the cabinet. He immediately put himself at the head of his troops, and crossing the Alps with unexampled celerity, proceeded to the attack of the Austrians on the plains of Marengo, over whom he obtained a decisive victory, and compelled Melas, the Austrian general, to sign a dishonourable armistice, which was succeeded by a peace. It is, however, to be reflected upon with peculiar pride, that during his most signal success, Great Britain maintained the sovereignty of the ocean; and the victor of the Nile, gathering new laurels before Copenhagen, again blighted the hopes of Buonaparte, and dissolved in one day a confederacy which French emissaries had been months in preparing and concluding. Conscious at length of our naval superority, and apprized of the surrender of Alexandria to Lord Hutchinson, the French Ruler was induced to turn his thoughts to peace, the preliminaries of which were signed on the first of October, 1801.

This peace (which was never effected in the spirit of amity) was of short duration. In the year 1803, war was recommenced against France by England and Austria, in which Russia soon after took a part. But the renewal of hostilities, while it added to the aggrandizement of the French nation, tended to confirm Buonaparte (whom we are now to consider as emperor of the kingdom) in his dynasty, and to open a new field to his ambition. The successes which ensued on

the part of France, and the consequent discomfiture of the allies, are too strongly impressed upon the recollection of our readers to require detail. The battle of Austerlitz, fought December, 1804, destroyed the Austrian and Russian confederacy. In 1806 Prussia took the field against France. The battle of Jena, fought likewise by Buonaparte in person, in October of the same year, concluded the campaign, and overturned in its results the Prussian monarchy. A victory equally important was obtained over the Russians in Friedland, in June, 1807; and another of still greater magnitude gained over the Austrians at Wagram, in July, 1809: both of which were followed up by a peace, so much to the disadvantage of the vanquished party, that the continent, in a manner, was placed at the feet of the conqueror.

In the midst of these brilliant exploits, Buonaparte experienced infinite mortification at the maritime greatness of England, augmented by the memorable victory off Trafalgar, and (from circumstances upon which it is unnecessary to dwell) much serious opposition in a quarter the most hopeless and unexpected. The Spanish nation, the ancient and faithful colleague of France, insulted and betrayed, and arouzed to a sense of its danger by his tyrannical conduct towards the conquered countries, formed the glorious resolution, in May, 1808, of resisting the collossal power of Buonaparte, and of maintaining its rights and independence. This determination, truly worthy of a brave people, was no sooner communicated to the English cabinet, than it met with the most enthusiastic support. Great Britain, as a pledge of its sincerity, entered at once into a treaty, offensive and defensive, with the