I will not dwell on this expedition, which failed through the watchfulness of the English, the naval victory of Nelson at the Nile, and the defence of Acre by Sir Sidney Smith.  It was the dream of Napoleon at that time to found an empire in the East, of which he would be supreme; but he missed his destiny, and was obliged to return, foiled, baffled, and chagrined, to Paris;—­his first great disappointment.

But he had lost no prestige, since he performed prodigies of valor, and covered up his disasters by lying bulletins.  Here he first appeared as the arch-liar, which he was to the close of his career.  In this expedition he rendered no services to his country or to civilization, except in the employment of scientific men to decipher the history of Egypt,—­which showed that he had an enlightened mind.

During his absence disasters had overtaken France.  Italy was torn from her grasp, her armies had been defeated, and Russia, Austria, and England were leagued for her overthrow.  Insurrection was in the provinces, and dissensions raged in Paris.  The Directory had utterly lost public confidence, and had shown no capacity to govern.  All eyes were turned to the conqueror of Italy, and, as it was supposed, of Egypt also.

A coup d’etat followed.  Napoleon’s soldiers drove the legislative body from the hall, and he assumed the supreme control, under the name of First Consul.  Thus ended the Republic in November, 1799, after a brief existence of seven years.  The usurpation of a soldier began, who trod the constitution and liberty under his iron feet.  He did what Caesar and Cromwell had done, on the plea of revolutionary necessity.  He put back the march of liberty for nearly half-a-century.  His sole excuse was that his undeniable usurpation was ratified by the votes of the French people, intoxicated by his victories, and seeing no way to escape from the perils which surrounded them than under his supreme guidance.  They parted with their liberties for safety.  Had Napoleon been compelled to “wade through slaughter to his throne,”—­as Caesar did, as Augustus did,—­there would have been no excuse for his usurpation, except the plea of Caesar, that liberty was impossible, and the people needed the strong arm of despotism to sustain law and order.  But Napoleon was more adroit; he appealed to the people themselves, recognizing them as the source of power, and they confirmed his usurpation by an overwhelming majority.

Since he was thus the people’s choice, I will not dwell on the usurpation.  He cheated them, however; for he invoked the principles of the Revolution, and they believed him,—­as they afterwards did his nephew.  They wanted a better executive government, and were willing to try him, since he had proved his abilities; but they did not anticipate the utter suppression of constitutional government,—­they still had faith in the principles of their Revolution.  They abhorred absolutism; they abhor it still; to destroy it they had risked their Revolution.  To the principles of the Revolution the great body of French people have been true, when permitted to be, from the time when they hurled Louis XVI. from the throne.  Absolutism with the consent of the French nation has passed away forever, and never can be revived, any more than the oracles of Dodona or the bulls of Mediaeval popes.