"(105,0007.) in provisions, powder, and other "military stores, for the French army-And to "deliver up 20 paintings, taken from his gallery "or his dominions, to be selected by persons "nominated by the French for that purpose."

But besides these contributions exacted upon Buonaparte's first successes in Italy, similar demands were afterwards made; whence it is observed by the author of the History of the Campaign of the year 1796, that Buonaparte despoiled Italy of its most precious effects, drawing from it more than 100,000,000 of livres (4,200,000 7.) by contributions. The particulars given are as follows: Lombardy was obliged to contribute 25,000,000 of livres; Mantua, 800,000; the Imperial Fiefs, 200,000; the Duchy of Modena, 10,000,000; Massa and Carrara, 600,000; Parma and Placentia, 20,000,000; the Pope, 36,000,000; Bologna and Ferrara, 3,700,000; Leghorn, as the depot of English magazines, 8,000,000. "And," it is further observed, that "if we add to these contribu"tions, the seizure of all the money which was "found in the public coffers, 51 chests of silver

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plate taken at Milan, Lodi, and Bologna; if "we add the immense value of the requisitions "in kind made by the French, the pillage, the extortions, and the robberies, committed by "the French army, we may have an idea of the

"fate of Italy; and of the sentiments which its "inhabitants must feel for their conquerors.

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Buonaparte had no hesitation to say, in the proclamation which he made to his soldiers "in entering into Carinthia, that all the ex

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penses of the army of Italy during eleven "months had been paid by the conquered "countries, and that he had besides sent "30,000,000 of livres (1,250,0001.) into France." The system of the army's thus supporting itself by plunder, and rendering itself independent of any assistance from the French republic, was so completely acted upon, that it is said to have excited the apprehensions of the friends of liberty in France; accordingly "one of the principal French journalists expressed his apprehensions at the critical "situation in which the republic was placed, by generals providing for their armies with "the spoils of conquered countries, when the "necessities of the state prevented them from

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receiving supplies from home; and he cited "the examples of Sylla, Marius, and Cæsar, "who conquered the liberties of their country,

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by dispersing among their armies the treasures

they had amassed*, or by scattering among

Van Ess's Life of Buonaparte, Vol. II. p. 91,

them, as Buonaparte now did, the prey, and spoil, and riches.

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But the French were not satisfied with seizing the gold, the silver, oxen, horses, provisions, and military stores of all sorts; and with making such extensive requisitions of these articles, that at the end of the campaign they had "completely ruined the fruitful and not long before flourishing country of Lombardy;" but they made it also a primary object to possess themselves of all the most valuable specimens of the arts, including it as one article in their treaties with the Pope, and also with the Dukes of Parma and Modena (as already mentioned), that a certain number of their most valuable paintings should be delivered up to the commissaries of the French Republic. Several artists were therefore sent from Paris, who chose, in the towns of Bologna, Ferrara, Modena, Urbino, Milan, Pavia, Parma, and Placentia, all the most precious monuments of the arts which were to be found, and sent them to Paris.

It has been observed, "that the spoliation of "the repositories of art, which was now an"nexed to the conditions of treaties with the "Italian Princes, proved one of the most vex"atious as well as mortifying circumstances of "the French invasion. The monuments of

σε painting and of statuary, which adorned their

palaces, cities, and churches, were viewed by "the natives with a mixture of delight and "veneration. They entertained a species of "affection for them; and, in the presence of "some of them, they placed not a little confi"dence. They had become a kind of tutelary "deities and household gods. The Italians

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were sensible of emotions not altogether dis"similar to those of the Israelite Micah, into "whose house armed men from Dan entered, "and took away the graven image, and the "ephod, and the seraphim, and the molten

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image*. In one respect, the oppressions of "the French in Italy were greater than those of "the northern hordes under Attila and Odoafor these chiefs did not trouble the Romans with demands of pictures, statues, and sculptures. To deprive the poor Italians of objects so long endeared to them, by habit "and possession, seemed an act of tyranny "exercised upon the vanquished in the wan"tonness of power. Those objects had been

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respected by all parties, in the vicissitude of "those events that had so frequently subjected "the places that contained them to different The French were the first who had

"masters.

*“Ye have taken away the Gods which I inade, and what "have I more?"-Judges xviii. 24.

"conceived the idea of seizing them as matter "of mere property. Herein they were accused "of consulting their vanity rather than their "taste for the fine arts. The Romans, in their

triumphant periods, had plundered the Greeks "of all the master-pieces they could find in "their country. This appeared to the French

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a precedent fit for their imitation, and a sanc"tion for robbing the Italians of what they "esteemed the most valuable part of their pro

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perty, and the most honourable proof they "still retained of their former superiority in "those departments of genius. The conduct "of the French, in tearing the monuments of

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antiquity and art from Italy, and carrying "them to Paris, was universally condemned "and execrated by all civilized nations*." "Thus did the French plunder Italy, as the "Romans had formerly plundered Greece +." Thus did Buonaparte do that which his fathers had not done, nor his fathers' fathers; the writers who have described these events being obliged to refer as far back as to the ancient Romans for a similar example.

And he shall forecast his devices against the strong holds, even for a time. After the retreat of the Austrians into the Tyrol, "whilst Buo

* See Dodsley's Annual Register for the year 1796, p. 96. See History of the Campaign of 1796, p. 254,