of the National Guard, he was conpletely victorious. This quelled the disturbance; Paris became quiet and submissive, and Bonaparte, for services so important, was made general of the interior, being second in command, and soon after, the first.

It was about this period, that a handsome and interesting boy, twelve or thirteen years old, came to his house one day, saying that his father, named Beauharnais, had been a general under the republic, but that he was now dead, and he wished that his sword might be given up to him. Bonaparte was touched by this request of the boy, and ordered it to be granted. When the youth took the sword, he kissed the blade and shed tears. The general was greatly interested in this youth, whose name was Eugene, and who afterwards became a celebrated soldier.

In a short time, Madame Beauharnais called to thank Napoleon for granting her son's request, and as the latter was greatly captivated by her winning manners and agreeable person, he cultivated the acquaintance, and soon offered himself to the widow in marriage. She went with him one day to consult her friend, M. Raguideau, about it. While she was holding the interview with M. Raguideau, in an inner room, Napoleon waited in an adjoining one. The door was ajar, and he could hear the adviser attempt to dissuade Madame Beauharnais from "marrying a man who had nothing but his cloak and his sword." Soon after Napoleon had been crowned as emperor, he sent for M. Raguideau, and said, " Well, what think you now of 'marrying one who has nothing but his

cloak and his sword?':
"" This was the first intimation
that Raguideau had of his having been overheard.

one.

Madame Beauharnais married Napoleon, notwith standing the cautious advice of her friend, on the 9th March, 1796. He was then twenty-six years old, and she several years older. Three days after this, he set out to take command of the army of Italy, to which he had been appointed. He was now for the first time at the head of an army, having never been engaged in a general action, and having never seen His design was to drive out the Austrians, who held Venice subject to their dominion, and exercised a commanding sway throughout the several states of Italy. He met the combined forces of Piedmont and Austria, at the foot of the Apennines; he had 35,000 troops, and the enemy 95,000. A series of brilliant actions followed, in which the wonderful military genius which marked Napoleon, began to be displayed. In a few months two armies that opposed him were defeated; the king of Sardinia made peace with the Directory, and the Austrian army retired beyond Italy into the Tyrol. This was the result of the first Italian campaign of 1796.

The Austrians now made a great effort, and sent a fine army of 50,000 men into the field, under the famous general Wurmser. He was met by Napoleon on the borders of Lombardy, and in six weeks, by a succession of the most extraordinary military movements on the part of the French, the latter had nearly annihilated the German forces. In the autumn of the same year, a new general and a new army came from Austria, and after several bloody and obsti

nate battles, they were beaten, and Bonaparte was master of the north of Italy.

The war, however, was not yet ended. Army after army continued to pour in from Austria, and, co-operating with the troops of the Pope, the most desperate struggle ensued. It was not till after the sixth campaign, that, the Austrians being driven out of Italy, and Napoleon, having crossed the mountains, was within eight days' march of Vienna, that peace was agreed upon between the two countries. This took place at Leoben, April 18th, 1797; and Napoleon thus became the arbiter of Italy.

Bonaparte now enjoyed an interval of repose, which he passed with his wife at Montebello. This palace is situated a few miles from Milan, on a gently sloping hill, commanding an extensive prospect of the fertile plains of Lombardy. The ladies of the highest rank, as well as those celebrated for beauty and accomplishments, were daily paying their homage to Josephine, who received them with as much ease and grace, as if she had been born for exercising the courtesies which devolved upon the wife of so distinguished a person as Napoleon had now become.

Negotiations proceeded amid gaiety and pleasure. The ambassadors of Austria, and of other states of Germany, and of the various Italian states, the throng of generals, the bustle of important business, mingled with festive entertainments, balls, hunting parties, gave the scene the of a splendid court. It was appearance such in point of importance. Many states awaited with anxiety the result of the deliberations; destined to hear from the voice of Napoleon the terms on which

their national existence was to be prolonged or
terminated.

Napoleon had now all that the world considers essential to happiness. He was welcomed on every side as the "Deliverer of Italy." Honor and power were his beyond that of kings. He was in the flower of his youth. Yet he himself in after years would frequently say, that the happiest period of his life was, when, as a young officer of artillery, without money and without family influence, he wandered about Paris, to find a cheap place to dine.

The negotiations were at length brought to a close, and peace was finally settled by the treaty of Campo Formio, October 17, 1797. A large part of Italy was formed into a new state, called the Cisalpine Republic. Venice was given up to the emperor of Austria, and soon after Genoa was formed into the Ligurian republic.

Bonaparte had now finished, for the present, his career in Italy. He took a most affecting leave of his soldiers, the companions of his earliest success, who witnessed his departure with sorrow. His own position was a perilous one. He returned to France in a situation which admitted no middle place. He must rise yet higher, or sink forever.

In all these important transactions in Italy, Bonaparte acted as if he were uncontrolled by any authority at home; often indeed he openly disobeyed the instructions of the Directory, for which he had little respect, calling them a collection of lawyers and rhetoricians. However, he ostensibly sided with them against their enemies at home, and took the precaution to obtain their sanction to his proceedings. In

01