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CHAPTER XXIV

From the Establishment of the French Directory, to the Peace of Amiens. A GREAT naval victory over the French was achieved by lord Howe on the first of June; and several West India islands were taken from them. The French troops were uniformly successful in Holland; the stadtholder was compelled to seek an asylum in England; and the country, under the new name of the Batavian republic, was incorporated with France. Soon after this, France received a new constitution, which placed the executive power in the hands of five directors, and the legislative in a council of elders, and a council of "five hundred." In 1795 Prussia and Spain made peace with France, which gave the republicans an opportunity of bearing with their whole force on the frontiers of Germany. The royalists in La Vendée again rose, but were speedily reduced. About the same time the Cape of Good Hope and several of the Dutch East India possessions were taken by the English, whilst admirals Bridport, Hotham, and Cornwallis defeated the French fleets.

Once more let us revert to Polish affairs. The late partition of Poland had opened the eyes of Europe to the probable future encroachments of the courts of Vienna, Petersburgh, and Berlin; and the Poles, aware of their impending fate, resolved to oppose the designs of their enemies by a vigorous and unanimous effort. Under the brave Kosciusko they gave battle to the Russians, and maintained a long and sanguinary contest, which ended in their driving the enemy out of Warsaw, with immense slaughter. But the armies of Austria, Russia, and Prussia invaded Poland on every side; and Suwarrof, at the head of 50,000 men, annihilated their army, recaptured Warsaw, which they pillaged, and, sparing neither age nor sex, put to the sword nearly 30,000 individuals. The final partition of the kingdom then took place. The campaign of 1796 opened with great vigor on the part of the allies as well as on that of the French, and numerous severe battles were fought in Germany, the advantage inclining rather to the side of the allies. Moreau, who had pursued his victorious career to the Danube, there received a check, and was forced to retrace his steps to the Rhine; but though often nearly surrounded by the Austrians, he effected one of the most masterly retreats of which we have any record in modern times.