History of the French Revolution from 1789 to 1814 | Page 7

defeated.
CHAPTER XIII
FROM THE 18TH FRUCTIDOR, IN THE YEAR V. (4TH OF SEPTEMBER, 1797), TO THE 18TH BRUMAIRE, IN THE YEAR VIII. (9TH OF NOVEMBER, 1799)
By the 18th Fructidor the directory returns, with slight mitigation, to the revolutionary government--General peace, except with England--Return of Bonaparte to Paris--Expedition into Egypt--Democratic elections for the year VI.--The directory annuls them on the 22nd Floréal--Second coalition; Russia, Austria, and England attack the republic through Italy, Switzerland, and Holland; general defeats--Democratic elections for the year VII.; on the 30th Prairial the councils get the upper hand, and disorganize the old directory--Two parties in the new directory, and in the councils: the moderate republican party under Sieyès, Roger-Ducos, and the ancients; the extreme republican party under Moulins, Golier, the Five Hundred, and the Society of the Manège--Various projects--Victories of Masséna, in Switzerland; of Brune, in Holland--Bonaparte returns from Egypt; comes to an understanding with Sieyès and his party--The 18th and 19th Brumaire--End of the directorial system.
THE CONSULATE
CHAPTER XIV
FROM THE 18TH BRUMAIRE (9TH OF NOVEMBER, 1799) TO THE 2ND OF DECEMBER, 1804
Hopes entertained by the various parties, after the 18th Brumaire-- Provisional government--Constitution of Sieyès; distorted into the consular constitution of the year VIII.--Formation of the government; pacific designs of Bonaparte--Campaign of Italy; victory of Marengo-- General peace: on the continent, by the treaty of Lunéville with England; by the treaty of Amiens--Fusion of parties; internal prosperity of France --Ambitious system of the First Consul; re-establishes the clergy in the state, by the Concordat of 1802; he creates a military order of knighthood, by means of the Legion of Honour; he completes this order of things by the consulate for life--Resumption of hostilities with England-- Conspiracy of Georges and Pichegru--The war and royalist attempts form a pretext for the erection of the empire--Napoleon Bonaparte appointed hereditary emperor; is crowned by the pope on the 2nd of December, 1804, in the church of Notre Dame--Successive abandonment of the revolution-- Progress of absolute power during the four years of the consulate.
THE EMPIRE
CHAPTER XV
FROM THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE EMPIRE, 1804-1814
Character of the empire--Change of the republics created by the directory into kingdoms--Third coalition; capture of Vienna; victories of Ulm and Austerlitz; peace of Pressburg; erection of the two kingdoms of Bavaria and Wurtemberg against Austria--Confederation of the Rhine--Joseph Napoleon appointed king of Naples; Louis Napoleon, king of Holland--Fourth coalition; battle of Jena; capture of Berlin; victories of Eylau and Friedland; peace of Tilsit; the Prussian monarchy is reduced by one half; the kingdoms of Saxony and Westphalia are instituted against it; that of Westphalia given to Jerome Napoleon--The grand empire rises with its secondary kingdoms, its confederation of the Rhine, its Swiss mediation, its great fiefs; it is modelled on that of Charlemagne--Blockade of the continent--Napoleon employs the cessation of commerce to reduce England, as he had employed arms to subdue the continent--Invasion of Spain and Portugal; Joseph Napoleon appointed to the throne of Spain; Murat replaces him on the throne of Naples--New order of events: national insurrection of the peninsula; religious contest with the pope--Commercial opposition of Holland--Fifth coalition--Victory of Wagram; peace of Vienna; marriage of Napoleon with the archduchess Marie Louise--Failure of the attempt at resistance; the pope is dethroned; Holland is again united to the empire, and the war in Spain prosecuted with vigour--Russia renounces the continental system; campaign of 1812; capture of Moscow; disastrous retreat--Reaction against the power of Napoleon; campaign of 1813; general defection--Coalition of all Europe; exhaustion of France; marvellous campaign of 1814--The allied powers at Paris; abdication at Fontainbleau; character of Napoleon; his part in the French revolution--Conclusion.

INTRODUCTION
I am about to take a rapid review of the history of the French revolution, which began the era of new societies in Europe, as the English revolution had begun the era of new governments. This revolution not only modified the political power, but it entirely changed the internal existence of the nation. The forms of the society of the middle ages still remained. The land was divided into hostile provinces, the population into rival classes. The nobility had lost all their powers, but still retained all their distinctions: the people had no rights, royalty no limits; France was in an utter confusion of arbitrary administration, of class legislation and special privileges to special bodies. For these abuses the revolution substituted a system more conformable with justice, and better suited to our times. It substituted law in the place of arbitrary will, equality in that of privilege; delivered men from the distinctions of classes, the land from the barriers of provinces, trade from the shackles of corporations and fellowships, agriculture from feudal subjection and the oppression of tithes, property from the impediment of entails, and brought everything to the condition of one state, one system of law, one people.
In order to effect such mighty reformation as this,