The Act of Mediation was the Swiss constitution of February the 19th 1803, which Bonaparte substituted for that of the Helvetic republic, which lasted to the end of 1813. In it, the name 'Switzerland' was first officially used as the name of the Swiss confederation. Research Act of Mediation
Brumaire was the second month in the calendar adopted by the first French Republic. It began on the 23rd of October and ended on the 21st of November. The 18th Brumaire of the year VIII of the French Revolution (November the 9th, 1799) witnessed the overthrow of the Directory by Bonaparte. The next day he dispersed at the point of the bayonet the Council of Five Hundred, and was elected consul. Research Brumaire
The Ignorantines were a religious congregation of the Roman Catholic Church devoted to the gratuitous education of children. The movement was founded about 1683 by the Abbe de La Salle. The statutes of the order, approved by Benedict XIII. in 1725, imposed on its members vows of chastity, poverty, and obedience. In 1789 the order counted 1000 members, and possessed 121 houses. They were forced to quit France, but were recalled by Bonaparte in 1806. They were later to be met with in various countries. In France the law of 1882 banished them from the public schools. Research Ignorantines
Napoleon Bonaparte as First Consul conceived the idea of forming a great French colonial empire in the Mississippi Valley, to balance the influence of the Anglo-Saxon race in America. To this end he acquired Louisiana from Spain by the treaty of San Ildefonso. San Domingo (the island of Hispaniola) was to be his military base, and its reconquest was to be a first step. However, the blacks of San Domingo revolted, took over the island and abolished slavery. His failure in attempts to recover the island, coming at the same time with the opportunity of renewing war with England, caused him, instantly abandoning the whole scheme, to sell Louisiana to the United States. Research San Domingo Revolt
The Treaty of Morfortaine is a name sometimes given to the convention negotiated on September the 30th, 1800, between the United States and the French Republic, which had then recently come under the rule of the first consul, Bonaparte. It was negotiated by Ellsworth, Murray and Davie for the United States, and Joseph Bonaparte for France. It provided for the restoration of captured ships and property, and more liberal rules respecting neutrals, but postponed the French spoliation claims. Research Treat of Morfontaine
Alexander Berthier was a prince of Neufchatel and Wagram, marshal and vice-constable of France. He was born in 1753. A son of a distinguished officer, while yet young he served in America with Lafayette, and after some years' service in France he joined the army of Italy in 1795 as general of division and chief of the general staff, receiving in 1798 the chief command. In this capacity he entered Rome, abducted Pius VI, abolished the papal government, and established a consular one.
He followed Bonaparte to Egypt as chief of the general staff; was appointed by him minister of war after the 18th Brumaire; accompanied him to Italy in 1800, and again in 1805, to be present at his coronation; and was appointed chief of the general staff of the grand army in Germany. In all Napoleon's expeditions he was one of his closest companions, on several occasions rendering valuable services, as at Wagram in 1809, when he gained the title of Prince of Wagram. After Napoleon's abdication he was taken into the favour and confidence of Louis XVIII, and on Napoleon's return the difficulty of his position unhinged his mind, and he put an end to his life by throwing himself from a window. Research Alexander Berthier
Antoine Francis de Fourcroy was a French chemist. He was born in 1755 and died in 1809. Having adopted the profession of medicine he applied himself closely to the sciences connected with it, and especially to chemistry. In 1784 he was made professor of chemistry at the Jardin du Roi; and the next year he was chosen a member of the Academy of Sciences. At this period he became associated with Lavoisier, Guyton-Morveau, and Berthollet in researches which led to vast improvements and discoveries in chemistry. When the French Revolution took place he was chosen a deputy from Paris to the national convention, but did not take his seat in that assembly until after the fall of Robespierre. In September, 1794, he became a member of the committee of public safety. In December, 1799, Bonaparte gave him a place in the council of state, in the section of the interior, in which place he drew up a plan for a system of public instruction, which, with some alteration, was adopted. Research Antoine de Fourcroy
Antonio Canova was an Italian sculptor. He was born in 1757 at Possagno, in Venetian territory and died in 1822. He was first an apprentice to a statuary in Bassano, from whom he went to the Academy of Venice, where he had a brilliant career. In 1779 he was sent by the senate of Venice to Rome with a salary of 300 ducats, and there produced his Theseus and the Slain Minotaur. In 1783 Antonio Canova undertook the execution of the tomb of Pope Clement XIV in the Church of the Apostles, a work in the Bernini manner, and inferior to his second public monument the tomb of Pope Clement XIII (1792) in St Peter's.
From 1783 his fame rapidly increased. He established a school for the benefit of young Venetians, and amongst other works produced his group of Venus and Adonis, the Psyche and Butterfly, a Repentant Magdalene, the well-known Hebe, the colossalHerculeshurling Lichas into the Sea, the Pugilists, and the group of Cupid and Psyche. In 1796 and 1797 Antonio Canova finished the model of the celebrated tomb of the Archduchess Christina of Austria, and in 1797 made the colossal model of a statue of the King of Naples executed in marble in 1803. He afterwards executed in Rome his Perseus with the Head of Medusa, which, when the BelvidereApollo was carried to France, was thought not unworthy of its place and pedestal.
In 1802 he was invited by Bonaparte to Paris to make the model of his colossal statue. Among the later works of the artist are a colossalGeorge Washington, the tombs of the Cardinal of York and of Pius VII; a Venus Rising from the Bath; the colossal group of Theseus Killing the Minotaur; the tomb of Alfieri; the Graces Rising from the Bath; a Dancing Girl; a colossalHector; a Paris, etc. After the second fall of Napoleon, in 1815, Antonio Canova was commissioned by the pope to demand the restoration of the works of art carried from Rome. He went from Paris to London, and returned to Rome in 1816, where he was made Marquis of Ischia, with a pension of 3000 scudi. Research Antonio Canova
Bonaparte was the French form which the great Napoleon was the first to give to the original Italian name Buona-parte, borne by his family in Corsica. As early as the 12th and 13th centuries there were families of this name in Northern Italy, members of which reached some distinction as governors of cities (podesta), envoys, etc. But the connection between the Corsican Bonapartes and these Italian families is not clearly established, though probably the former descended from a Genoese branch of the family, which transplanted itself about the beginning of the 16th century to Corsica, an island then under the jurisdiction of Genoa. From that time the Buona-partes ranked as a distinguished patrician family of Ajaccio.
About the middle of the 18th century there remained three male representatives of this family at Ajaccio, viz. the archdeacon Luciano Bonaparte, his brother Napoleon, and the nephew of both, Carlo, the father of the Emperor Napoleon I. Carlo or Charles Buonaparte, born in 1746, studied law at Pisa University, and on his return to Corsica married Letizia Ramolino. He fought under Paoli for the independence of Corsica, but when further resistance was useless he went over to the side of the French, and was included by Louis XV amongst the 400 Corsican families who were to have rights in France as noble. In 1777 he went to Paris, where he resided for several years, procuring a free admission for his second son Napoleon to the military school of Brienne. He died in 1785 at Montpellier. By his marriage with Letizia Ramolino he left eight children: Giuseppe, or Joseph, king of Spain; Napoleon I, emperor of the French; Lucien, prince of Canino; Maria Anna, afterwards called Elise, princess of Lucca and Piombino, and wife of Prince Bacciocchi, Luigi, or Louis, king of Holland; Garlotta, afterwards named Marie Pauline, princess Borghese, Annunciata, afterwards called Caroline, wife of Murat king of Naples; and Girolamo, or Jerome, king of Westphalia. Research Bonaparte
Count Claude Louis Bethollet was a French chemist. He was born in 1748 and died in 1822. He studied medicine; became connected with Lavoisier and was admitted in 1780 a member of the Academy of Sciences at Paris. In 1794 he became professor in the normal school there. He followed Bonaparte to Egypt, and returned with him in 1799. Notwithstanding the various honours conferred on him by Napoleon he voted in 1814 for his dethronement, and was made a peer by Louis XVIII. His chief chemical discoveries were connected with the analysis of ammonia, the use of chlorine in bleaching, the artificial production of nitre, etc. His most important works were his Essai de Statique Chimique (1803), and the Methode de Nomenclature Ohimique (1787). Research Claude Berthollet
The Probert Encyclopaedia was designed, edited and programed by
Matt and Leela Probert
Abbreviations
Research Act of Mediation
