an historic past broken, and the armies of an indignant Europe pressing
in upon every side? Could they ever wipe out the stain which had made
them odious in the sight of Christendom? Would they ever be forgiven
for disgracing the name of Liberty?

It was the power and genius of a single man which was going to make the
world forget her disgrace, and cover France with a mantle more glorious
than she had ever worn.

CHAPTER XVI.

The Revolution over, France, sitting among the wreckage of the past,
found herself disgraced, discredited, and at war with all of Europe.
Austria, naturally the leader in an effort to stop the atrocities which
threatened a daughter of her own royal house, had been joined finally
by England, Holland, Spain, and even Portugal and Tuscany, these all
being impelled, not by the personal feeling which actuated Austria, but
by alarm for their own safety. This revolutionary movement was a moral
and political plague spot which must be stamped out, or there would be
anarchy in every kingdom in Europe.

It was the difficulty in recruiting troops to fight this coalition
which had embarrassed and finally broken the power of the revolutionary
government. If the states of Europe had really acted in concert, the
life of the new republic would have been brief. But Austria was
jealous of Prussia, and Prussia afraid of the friendship which was
forming between Austria and England, and Catharine, the empress of
Russia, keeping all uncertain about her designs upon Poland--with the
result that the war upon France was conducted in a desultory and
ineffectual manner.

In the organization of the new French republic, the executive power was
vested in a Directory, composed of five members, chosen by two houses
of legislature.

A disagreement over some details of the new constitution led to a
heated quarrel, and this to an insurrection in Paris, October 5, 1795,
which Napoleon Bonaparte, a young officer who had acquired distinction
at Toulon, was summoned to quell. The vigor and the success with which
the young leader used his cannon in the streets of Paris struck
precisely the right note at the right moment. Law and order were
established. A delighted Directory yielded at once to the suggestion
of a campaign against Austria which should be conducted in Italy, in
combination with an advance upon Vienna from the Rhine.

With the instinct of genius, Napoleon Bonaparte saw the path to power.
The air was