presided over the creation of a Cispadane republic, incorporating
Modena, Ferrara, Reggio and Bologna, to be confirmed by an elected
Assembly in December. This became a reality in February 1797 after
final Austrian defeat, the capitulation of the Pope, and his cession of
Bologna, Ferrara and the Romagna in the Treaty of Tolentino on 19
February 1797.
At the end of 1796 Napoleon explained his thinking on the
Transpadane republic to the Directory and again revealed himself a
master of political Machiavellianism. 'The Cispadana republic is divided
into three parties: 1) the friends of their former government, 2) the
partisans of an independent but rather aristocratic constitution, 3) the
partisans of the French constitution and of pure democracy. I repress
the first, I support the second, and moderate the third. I do so because
the second is the party of the rich landowners and priests, who in the
long run will end by winning the support of the mass of the people which
it is essential to rally around the French party.' There is much evidence
that Napoleon trod very carefully in Italy when the Roman Catholic
Church was involved. In answer to the taunts of the anticlericals in
February 1797 for failing to enter Rome and depose the Pope, he
explained that the combination of the thirty-million-franc indemnity and
the loss of Bologna, Ferrara and the Romagna amounted to the euthanasia
of the Papacy. Yet at the very same time he wrote warmly to the Pope in
terms that made it clear he had no such expectation of the imminent
demise of the Vatican as temporal power.
There were even times when he wondered whether he had been too
soft on the Catholic Church, for the elections in the Cispadane republic
showed how strong was the influence of the Church. On 1 May 1797
Napoleon wrote to the Directory about the disappointing results in the
ballot. 'Priests have influenced all the electors. In the villages they dictate
the lists and control all the elections... I shall take steps in harmony
with their customs to enlighten opinion and lessen the influence of the
priests.'
By this time signs of strain were evident between Napoleon and the
Directory over Italian policy. The Directors thought Italy too backward
to republicanize and such a policy likely to antagonize Austria perma
nently. But Napoleon seemed impressed by the Republican spirit and the
commitment to his cause and was contemptuous of Austria. Napoleon
won the struggle and began the move to fuse the Lombardy government
and the Cispadane republic into a greater Cisalpine republic. By July
1797 most of the territory Napoleon had conquered in Italy was united in
the new Cisalpine state, with an elaborate constitution patterned on the
marcin
(Marcin)
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