The true northerner., 1896-04-08

industries of France nourished like n new
spring spreading over May, and the funds
of the Republic suddenly rose n hundred
per cent?
The ambitions OF any other than Bona
parte might here have made pause. The
lust for more might here have been ap-
peasad. He was really at the summit OF
human uscfulness-and therefore at the
summit OF greatness. His birthday In the
coming August would bring him to the
end of his thirty third year. He was
young and handsome In person. He was
warmed with enthusiasm. The bravest
men and the most beautiful women were
gathered around him-the one to flatter,
and the other to adore. If the Jacobin
was still fluid i'm his blood, 1t no longer
expressed itself in democratic mutterings
and proclamations. The long black hair
of the whilom revolutionist was closely
cropped. The haggard Italian face of the
pauper student had given place TO rosy
cheek and smiling lip. Except in the in
congruous black cravat of the otherwise
well-dressed First Consul, the sansculotte
was no longer discoverable at his evening
receptions
But the project was already on for an
extension and augmentation of power.
mountain devil was busy in the breast
of Bonaparte. In the alluring summer of
1902 the dream had already possessed him
of life tenure of the Consulate. The
victorious general and popular chief execu.
tive would be consul al finem. The Sen
ate concurred in the proposal; and n con-
sGltum was prepared. There was dispute
whether it should be for ten years or for
lifo and in this form the question was to
be submitted to the people A plebiscite
was sent forth, and the French nation was
asked TO pass judgment on its favorite.
Napoleon, scra-t-il Consul Vie?" Such
was the inscription prepared and put up
over all the voting places in France. ma
poleon, shall he be Consul for Life?"
An extraordinary spectacle was wit
messed On the 4th of August 1902, the
election was held The voters in France
numbered 3, 577, 259; and of these 3, 1858, S5
voted in the affirmative, leaving only 209,-
074 in the ncgativel 1t was perhaps the
most overwhelming popular decree ever
registered by "a people. True, the soldiers
voted-votcd for their idol True, the
clientele Of the Consulate voted--voted for
the master. True, the Revolution voted
voted for its offspring. True, the New
Order voted--voted for its hope But never
theleSs, the people voted--voted for their
Man Napoleon might well mutter, Whose
are the votes opposed to me? Those of ide-
ologists .Jacobins and peculators under the
Directory" What he said was truel
But not all, in the meantime, had been
well with the Republic-and with him.
Fortune in some things had gone against
the French The coveted occupation of
Egypt had tottered and fallen. General
Menou, who succeeded TO the command of
the army in that country after the assas-
sinatiOn of Kleber, had behaved with sim
guiar fatuity. Failing to perceive that &C.
centricity is not genius, he had turned
Mohammedan. and taken the name of
Abdallah Bey. He sank into inaction at
Alexandria; and when, in March of 1901
Admiral Keith and Sir Ralph Abercromby
landed at Aboukir and came against him.
he was defeated in battle and the prospects
of the French in Egypt were ruined.
Napoleon heard of the Egyptian disaster
with anger and modification. His chagrin
was little relieved by the death of Aber-
cromby, who was fatally wounded in the
battle of Alexandria, or by the foolish as
surances of Menou that all was going we'll
1t became necessary for the French colony
TO evacuate Egypt, and this was done on
the Both of August, 1901. The First Con-
sui made no strenuous effort to retain his
conquest in Africa; for the preliminaries
of peace with England were now about to
be signed; the dream of French supremacy
in the land of the Pharaohs was forever
dissipated
The year 1902 has been cited as the most
glorious in French history. 1t was certain
ly the most fertile in promise Why should
not the treaty of Amicns become the happy
date of a new era for mankind? France
was regenerated. England had gold and
maritime glory. Italy had emancipation.
Germany had experience-if nothing bet
ter. Russia had her pacific Alexander l.,
her Suwaroff, and her new provinces of
Georgia. America had a democrat for
President, and a possible louisiana But
all this was as hollow as an echo of the
nightwind. Strange that the vast volume
of historical forces should be turned in
this direction and in that by the interposi-
ton of straws and pebbles!
The fatal thing in the treaty of Amiens
was that it prOmiSed-promised, and did
not perform. There were things to be
done; and these were not done. Preternat-
ural suspicion seized on the cabinets of
all Europe. Note the circumstances: Eng
llnu In tne preceding war nau emanclpateu
the negroes of Hayti. Toussaint POuver-
ture, leader of the natives, had been made
commander-in-chief by the French, in
1897. Independence was reached under
the patronage of France; but when Bona
parte became First Consul, an act was
passed in the French Council for the res
toration of slavery in the island and an
army under General Leclerc, brother in
law of Bonaparte was sent TO SANTANA to
enforce the decree. Toussaint was put
down, treacherously seized and taken to
France, where he presently died in prison.
The civil conflict continued in Hayti; the
yellow fever broke out, and an English
fleet appeared off the coast. Notwithstand-
ing the peace of Amiens, here was aCdr.
In the meantime, Sebastian, Napoleon's
agent in the East, came back to Paris, and
published in The Moniteur report in
which there was hint of the purpose of
France TO reoccupy Egypt! Moreover, the
First Consul proceeded to divide Pied
mont into Departments, after the French
manner-as though the country were alto
gether French. To the complaints of Lord
Whitworth, the English ambassador, he
simply answered, "These things are only
bagatelles. " England hereupon-thet treaty