transformations came directly in consequence of the brilliant
Napoleonic incursion of 1796. One by one, upon the advance of the
victorious French, were detached the princes who, under English and
Austrian tutelage, had been allied hitherto against France. The king
of Naples sought an armistice; the Pope made peace; at Arcole and
Rivoli the Austrian power was shattered. October 16, 1796, there was
proclaimed, with the approval of the conqueror, a Cispadane Republic,
including Modena, Reggio, Ferrara, and Bologna; and March 27, 1797,
there was promulgated for the new state a constitution which, after
having been adopted by representatives of the four districts, had been
ratified by a vote of the people. This constitution--the first in the
history of modern Italy--was modelled immediately upon the French
instrument of 1795. It provided for a legislative council of sixty
members, with exclusive power to propose measures, another of thirty
members, with power to approve or reject measures, and an executive
directory of three, elected by the legislative bodies.

In Lombardy a similar movement produced similar results. Through the
spring and early summer of 1797 four commissions, constituted by
Napoleon, worked out a constitution which likewise reproduced all of
the essential features of the French model, and, July 9, the
Transpadane Republic was inaugurated, with brilliant ceremony, at
Milan. Provision was made for a directory and for two legislative
councils consisting of one hundred sixty and eighty members
respectively; and the first directors, representatives, and other
officials were named by Napoleon. At the urgent solicitation of the
Cispadanes the two republics were united, July 15, and upon the
combined commonwealth was bestowed the name of the Cisalpine
Republic.[519] During the preceding May the venerable but helpless
Venetian republic had been crushed, and when, in the treaty of Campo
Formio, October 17, 1797, Austria was brought to the point of
recognizing the new Cisalpine state, she was compensated in some
degree by being awarded the larger part of the Venetian territories,
including the city of Venice.[520]

[Footnote 519: The Cisalpine constitution was
amended September 1, 1798, when there was
introduced in the republic the French system of
administrative divisions.]

[Footnote 520: E. Bonnal de Ganges, La chute