to get himself nominated; and at this news a moment of life seemed still perceptible in the public feeling.  It was said that the French constitution deprived of the right of citizenship whoever accepted employment in a foreign country; but was he a Frenchman, who only wanted to make use of the great nation for the oppression of Europe, and vice versa?  Bonaparte juggled the nomination of president out of all these Italians, who only learned a few hours before proceeding to the scrutiny, that they must appoint him.  They were told to join the name of Count Melzi, as vice-president, to that of Bonaparte.  They were assured that they would only be governed by the former, who would always reside among them, and that the latter was merely ambitious of an honorary title.  Bonaparte said to them himself in his usual emphatic manner, “Cisalpines, I shall preserve only the great idea of your interests.”  But the great idea meant the complete power.  The day after this election, they were seriously occupied in making a constitution, as if any one could exist by the side of this iron hand.  The nation was divided into three classes; the possidenti, the dotti, and the commerrianti.  The landholders, to be taxed; the literary men, to be silenced; and the merchants, to have all the ports shut against them.  These sounding words in Italian are even better adapted to the purposes of quackery than the corresponding French.

Bonaparte had changed the name of Cisalpine republic into that of Italian republic, thereby giving Europe an anticipation of his future conquests in the rest of Italy.  Such a step was every thing but pacific, and yet it did not prevent the signature of the treaty of Amiens; so much did Europe, and even England itself, then desire peace!  I was at the English ambassador’s at the moment of his receiving the terms of this treaty.  He read them aloud to the persons who were dining with him, and it is impossible for me to express the astonishment I felt at every article.  England restored all her conquests; she restored Malta, of which it had been said, when it was taken by the French, that if there had been nobody in the fortress, they would never have been able to enter it.  In short, she gave up every thing, and without compensation, to a power which she had constantly beaten at sea.  What an extraordinary effect of the passion for peace!  And yet this man, who had so miraculously obtained such advantages, had not the patience to make use of them for a few years, to put the French navy in a state to meet that of England, Scarcely had the treaty of Amiens been signed, when Napoleon, by a senatus-consultum, annexed Piedmont to France.  During the twelve months the peace lasted, everyday was marked by some new proclamation, provoking to a breach of the treaty.  The motives of this conduct it is easy to penetrate; Bonaparte wished to dazzle the French nation, now by unexpected treaties of peace, at other times by wars which would make him necessary to it.  He