Various minor arrangements remained to be considered; and a congress of all the German powers being summoned to meet for that purpose at Rastadt, Napoleon received the orders of the Directory to appear there, and perfect his work in the character of ambassador of France.  He took an affecting leave of his soldiery, published a temperate and manly address to the Cisalpine Republic, and proceeded, by way of Switzerland, (where, in spite of the affair of the Valteline, he was received with enthusiasm,) to the execution of his duty.  He carried with him the unbounded love and devotion of one of the finest armies that ever the world had seen; and the attachment, hardly less energetic, of all those classes of society throughout Italy, who flattered themselves with the hope that the Cisalpine Republic, the creature of his hands, would in time prepare the way for, and ultimately merge in a republican constitution common to the whole Italian people.  With what hopes or fears as to his future fortunes he abandoned the scene and the companions of his glory, the reader must form his own opinion.

[Footnote 18:  Moreau knew it some months sooner, and said so after Napoleon had communicated it to the Directory.  This is a suspicious circumstance when considered along with the sequel of Moreau’s history.]

[Footnote 19:  Mantua, as will appear hereafter, was saved to France under Napoleon’s final treaty with Austria; but the events which rendered this possible were as yet unknown and unexpected.]

[Footnote 20:  It would be painful to show, as might easily be done, from this correspondence, the original want of delicacy in Napoleon’s mind.  Many of his letters are such as no English gentleman would address to a mistress.  In others, the language is worthy of a hero’s passion.  “Wurmser,” says he, “shall pay dearly for the tears he causes you to shed.”]

CHAPTER X

     Napoleon at Rastadt—­He arrives in Paris—­His reception by the
     Directory—­His Conduct and Manners—­He is appointed to command the
     Army for the Invasion of England—­He recommends an Expedition to
     Egypt—­Reaches Toulon—­Embarks.

Napoleon was received by the ministers assembled at Rastadt with the respect due to the extraordinary talents which he had already displayed in negotiation as well as in war.  But he stayed among them only two or three days, for he perceived that the multiplicity of minor arrangements to be discussed and settled, must, if he seriously entered upon them, involve the necessity of a long-protracted residence at Rastadt; and he had many reasons for desiring to be quickly in Paris.  His personal relations with the Directory were of a very doubtful kind, and he earnestly wished to study with his own eyes the position in which the government stood towards the various orders of society in the all-influential capital.  He abandoned