The election which took place in June of the year 1798 brought an
entirely new set of men into the assembly. The voters, tiring of
experiments which invariably seemed to end in disaster and a parade of
Daendels at the head of a number of conspiring gentlemen, elected a
number of men of whom little could be said but that they were "sound"
and not given over to the dreaming of impracticable visions. They could
be trusted to run the government in a peaceful way, they would
undoubtedly try to reëstablish credit, and they would give the average
citizen a chance to pursue his daily vocation without being bothered
with eternal elections.
In the two chambers which convened on the 31st of July of the same year
the moderates, who had left the first assembly in disgust, were
represented by a large majority. A well-known gentleman of very moderate
views was elected to the chair and everybody set to work. First of all,
the assembly had to consider what ought to be done with the members of
the old assemblies who as prisoners of state were running up an enormous
bill for board and lodging in the comfortable house in the woods. The
French directors in Paris dropped the hint that it might be well to let
bygones be bygones and release the prisoners. The doors of the prison
were accordingly opened, the prisoners made their little bow, and left
the stage. A good deal of their work liveth after them. We thank them
for their kind services, but the play will be continued by more
experienced actors.
When this difficulty had thus been settled in a very simple way the
assembly was called upon to appoint five new directors. Here was a
difficult problem. The old, experienced politicians sulked on their
Sabine farms. And, terrible confession to make, the younger politicians
had not yet reached the two-score years which was demanded by the
constitution of those who aspired to serve their country as its highest
executives. Finally, however, five very worthy gentlemen were elected.
None of them has left a reputation as either very good or very bad.
Under the circumstances that was exactly what the country most needed.
The new assembly and the new directors went most conscientiously about
their duties. They promptly suppressed all attempts at reaction within
the chambers and without. They kept the discussions on the narrow path
between Orangeism, federalism, anarchy, and aristocracy, and for the
next three years they made an honest attempt to promote the new order of
things to the best of their patient ability and with scrupulous
obedience to the provisions of the constitution. According to the law,
one of the five directors had to resign each year. These changes
occurred without any undue excitement. The sort of men that came to take
the vacant places were of the same stamp as their predecessors. As
assistant secretaries of some department of public business or as judges
of a provincial court they would have been without a rival; but they
hardly came up to the qualities of mind and character required of men
able to save the poor republic from that perdition toward which the gods
were so evidently guiding her.