Buonaparte Chief of Battalion at Nice--Fall of Robespierre--He is
superseded--Buonaparte at Paris in 1795--The day of the
Sections--Commands the Army of the Interior--Marries Josephine de
Beauharnois--Appointed to the command of the Army of Italy.
From this time Napoleon advanced by rapid strides to greatness. His
admirable skill was still further displayed in his survey of the
fortifications above mentioned; and having completed this service, he
was appointed to join the army of Italy, then stationed at Nice, with
the rank of Chief of Battalion.
Here his advice suggested a plan by which the Sardinians were driven
from the Col di Tende on the 7th March, 1794; Saorgio, with all its
stores, surrendered; and the French obtained possession of the maritime
Alps, so that the difficulties of advancing into Italy were greatly
diminished. Of these movements, however, his superior officers reaped as
yet the honour. He was even superseded (Aug. 6, 1794) very shortly after
their success. But this, which at the moment seemed a heavy misfortune,
was, in truth, one of the luckiest circumstances that ever befell him.
It is not true that he was put under arrest in consequence of the
downfall of Robespierre; although there is no doubt that he was supposed
to belong to the party which that monster had made the instrument of his
crimes, and known to have lived on terms of friendship with his younger
brother. He incurred the suspicion of Laporte and the other
"Representatives" attached to "the army of Italy," in consequence of a
journey to the Gulf of Genoa, which he performed in obedience to secret
orders from Paris; and, so soon as his absence from headquarters was
thus explained, he regained his freedom. The officer, who came to
release him, was surprised to find him busy in his dungeon over the map
of Lombardy. The "Representatives," however, had certainly taken up a
general prejudice against him; for he did not reassume his functions at
Nice; and seems to have spent some time in obscurity with his own
family, who were then in very distressed circumstances, at Marseilles.
It was here that he fell in love with Mademoiselle Clery, whom, but for
some accident, it appears he would have married. Her sister was shortly
afterwards united to his brother Joseph, and she herself became in the
sequel the wife of Bernadotte, now King of Sweden. It is supposed that
Buonaparte found himself too poor to marry at this time; and
circumstances interfered to prevent any renewal of his proposals.
Before the end of the year he came to Paris to solicit employment; but
at first he met with nothing but repulses. The President of the Military
Committee, Aubry, objected to his youth. "Presence in the field of
battle," said Buonaparte, "might be reckoned in place of years." The
President, who had not seen much actual service, thought he was
insulted, and treated Napoleon very coldly. After a little while,
however, he was asked to go to _La Vendee_, as commandant of a brigade
of infantry. This he declined, alleging, that nothing could reconcile
him to leave the artillery, but really, if we are to follow De
Bourienne, considering the Vendean warfare as unworthy of him. His
refusal was followed by the erasure of his name from the list of general
officers _in employment_; and for a time his fortunes seemed to be in a
desperate condition. He thought of settling in some way in Paris; and
said to Bourienne, that, if he could afford to have a small house in the
street where his school-fellow lived, and to keep a cabriolet, he would
be contented. His elder brother had about this time married Mademoiselle
Clery, whose father, the merchant of Marseilles, gave her a handsome
dowry. "How fortunate," Napoleon would often exclaim, "is that fool
Joseph!"[6]
Talma, the celebrated tragedian, was one of his chief associates at this
time, and even then talked with confidence of the future fortunes of
"little Buonaparte." This player's kindness and Aubry's opposition were
both remembered. The Emperor always patronised Talma; and Aubry died in
exile.
Napoleon, despairing of employment at home, now drew up a memorial to
the government, requesting to be sent with a few other officers of
artillery into Turkey, for the purpose of placing that branch of the
Grand Seignior's service in a condition more suitable to the
circumstances of the times--in which it seemed highly probable that the
Porte might find itself in alliance with France, and assaulted by the
combined armies of Russia and Austria. No answer was returned to this
memorial, over which he dreamt for some weeks in great enthusiasm. "How
strange," he said to his friends, "would it be if a little Corsican
soldier should become King of Jerusalem!" Go where he might, he already
contemplated greatness.
At length Napoleon was nominated to the command of a brigade of
artillery in Holland. The long-deferred appointment was, no doubt, very
welcome; but in the meantime his services were called for on a nearer
and a more important field.
The French nation were now heartily tired of the National Convention: it
had lost most of its distinguished members in the tumults and
persecutions of the times; and above all it had lost respect by
remaining for two years the slave and the tool of the Terrorists. The
downfall of Robespierre, when it did take place, showed how easily the
same blessed deliverance might have been effected long before, had this
body possessed any sense of firmness or of dignity. Even the restoration
of the members banished by the tyrant did not serve to replace the
Convention in the confidence of the public. They themselves saw clearly
that a new remodelling of the government was called for and must be; and
their anxiety was to devise the means of securing for themselves as
large a share as possible of substantial power, under some arrangement
sufficiently novel in appearance to throw dust in the eyes of the
people.
A great part of the nation, there is no doubt, were at this time anxious
to see the royal family restored, and the government settled on the
model of 1791. Among the more respectable citizens of Paris in
particular such feelings were very prevalent. But many causes conspired
to surround the adoption of this measure with difficulties, which none
of the actually influential leaders had the courage, or perhaps the
means, to encounter. The soldiery of the Republican armies had been
accustomed to fight against the exiled princes and nobility, considered
them as the worst enemies of France, and hated them personally. The
estates of the church, the nobles, and the crown, had been divided and
sold; and the purchasers foresaw that, were the monarchy restored at
this period, the resumption of the forfeited property would be pressed
with all the powers of government. And, lastly, the men who had earned
for themselves most distinction and influence in public affairs, had
excellent reasons for believing that the Bourbons and nobility, if
restored, would visit on their own heads the atrocities of the
Revolution, and above all the murder of the King.
The Conventionalists themselves, however, had learned by this time that
neither peace nor security could be expected, unless some form of
government were adopted, in which the legislative and the executive
functions should at least appear to be separated; and they were also at
length inclined to admit the excellence of that part of the British
constitution, which, dividing the legislatorial power between two
assemblies of senators, thus acquires the advantage of a constant
revision of counsels, and regulates the political machine by a system of
mutual checks and balances. They were desirous, therefore, of proposing
some system which might, in a certain degree, satisfy those who had been
endeavouring to bring about the restoration of the monarchy; and the new
constitution of the year _three_ of the Republic (1795) presented the
following features. I. The executive power was to be lodged in Five
Directors, chosen from time to time, who were to have no share in the
legislation. II. There was to be a Council of Five Hundred, answering
generally to our House of Commons: and III. A smaller assembly, called
the Council of Ancients, intended to fulfil in some measure the purposes
of a House of Peers.
The outline of this scheme might perhaps have been approved of; but the
leading members of the Convention, from views personal to themselves,
appended to it certain conditions which excited new disgust. They
decreed, first, that the electoral bodies of France, in choosing
representatives to the two new Councils, must elect at least two-thirds
of the present members of Convention; and, secondly, that if full
two-thirds were not returned, the Convention should have the right to
supply the deficiency out of their own body. It was obvious that this
machinery had no object but the continuance of the present legislators
in power; and the nation, and especially the superior classes in Paris,
were indignant at conduct which they considered as alike selfish and
arbitrary. The royalist party gladly lent themselves to the diffusion of
any discontents; and a formidable opposition to the measures of the
existing government was organised.
The Convention meantime continued their sittings, and exerting all their
skill and influence, procured from many districts of the country reports
accepting of the New Constitution, with all its conditions. The
Parisians, being nearer and sharper observers, and having abundance of
speakers and writers to inform and animate them, assembled in the
several sections of the city, and proclaimed their hostility to the
Convention and its designs. The National Guard, consisting of armed
citizens, almost unanimously sided with the enemies of the Convention;
and it was openly proposed to march to the Tuileries, and compel a
change of measures by force of arms.
The Convention, perceiving their unpopularity and danger, began to look
about them anxiously for the means of defence. There were in and near
Paris 5000 regular troops, on whom they thought they might rely, and who
of course contemned the National Guard as only half-soldiers. They had
besides some hundreds of artillerymen; and they now organized what they
called "the Sacred Band," a body of 1500 ruffians, the most part of them
old and tried instruments of Robespierre. With these means they prepared
to arrange a plan of defence; and it was obvious that they did not want
materials, provided they could find a skilful and determined head.
The Insurgent Sections placed themselves under the command of _Danican_,
an old general of no great skill or reputation. The Convention opposed
to him _Menou_; and he marched at the head of a column into the section
Le Pelletier to disarm the National Guard of that district--one of the
wealthiest of the capital. The National Guard were found drawn up in
readiness to receive him at the end of the Rue Vivienne; and Menou,
becoming alarmed, and hampered by the presence of some of the
"Representatives of the People," entered into a parley, and retired
without having struck a blow.
The Convention judged that Menou was not master of nerves for such a
crisis; and consulted eagerly about a successor to his command. Barras,
one of their number, had happened to be present at Toulon, and to have
appreciated the character of Buonaparte. He had, probably, been applied
to by Napoleon in his recent pursuit of employment. Deliberating with
Tallien and Carnot, his colleagues, he suddenly said, "I have the man
whom you want; it is a little Corsican officer, who will not stand upon
ceremony."
These words decided the fate of Napoleon and of France. Buonaparte had
been in the Odeon Theatre when the affair of Le Pelletier occurred, had
run out, and witnessed the result. He now happened to be in the gallery,
and heard the discussion concerning the conduct of Menou. He was
presently sent for, and asked his opinion as to that officer's retreat.
He explained what had happened, and how the evil might have been
avoided, in a manner which gave satisfaction. He was desired to assume
the command, and arrange his plan of defence as well as the
circumstances might permit; for it was already late at night, and the
decisive assault on the Tuileries was expected to take place next
morning. Buonaparte stated that the failure of the march of Menou had
been chiefly owing to the presence of the "Representatives of the
People," and refused to accept the command unless he received it free
from all such interference. They yielded: Barras was named
Commander-in-Chief; and Buonaparte second, with the virtual control. His
first care was to dispatch Murat, then a major of Chasseurs, to Sablons,
five miles off, where fifty great guns were posted. The Sectionaries
sent a stronger detachment for these cannon immediately afterwards; and
Murat, who passed them in the dark, would have gone in vain had he
received his orders but a few minutes later.
On the 4th of October (called in the revolutionary almanack the 13th
Vendemaire) the affray accordingly occurred. Thirty thousand National
Guards advanced, about two p.m., by different streets, to the siege of
the palace: but its defence was now in far other hands than those of
Louis XVI.
Buonaparte, having planted artillery on all the bridges, had effectually
secured the command of the river, and the safety of the Tuileries on one
side. He had placed cannon also at all the crossings of the streets by
which the National Guard could advance towards the other front; and
having posted his battalions in the garden of the Tuileries and Place du
Carousel, he awaited the attack.
The insurgents had no cannon; and they came along the narrow streets of
Paris in close and heavy columns. When one party reached the church of
St. Roche, in the Rue St. Honore, they found a body of Buonaparte's
troops drawn up there, with two cannons. It is disputed on which side
the firing began; but in an instant the artillery swept the streets and
lanes, scattering grape-shot among the National Guards, and producing
such confusion that they were compelled to give way. The first shot was
a signal for all the batteries which Buonaparte had established; the
quays of the Seine, opposite to the Tuileries, were commanded by his
guns below the Palace and on the bridges. In less than an hour the
action was over. The insurgents fled in all directions, leaving the
streets covered with dead and wounded: the troops of the Convention
marched into the various sections, disarmed the terrified inhabitants,
and before nightfall everything was quiet.
This eminent service secured the triumph of the Conventionalists, who
now, assuming new names, continued in effect to discharge their old
functions. Barras took his place at the head of _the Directory_, having
Sieyes, Carnot, and other less celebrated persons, for his colleagues;
and the First Director took care to reward the hand to which he owed his
elevation. Within five days from _the day of the Sections_ Buonaparte
was named second in command of the army of the interior; and shortly
afterwards, Barras, finding his duties as Director sufficient to occupy
his time, gave up the command-in-chief of the same army to his "little
Corsican officer."
He had no lack of duties to perform in this new character. The National
Guard was to be re-organised; a separate guard for the representative
body to be formed; the ordnance and military stores were all in a
dilapidated condition. The want of bread, too, was continually producing
popular riots, which could rarely be suppressed but by force of arms. On
one of these last occasions, a huge sturdy fishwife exhorted the mob to
keep to their places, when Buonaparte had almost persuaded them to
disperse. "These coxcombs with their epaulettes and gorgets," said she,
"care nothing for us; provided they feed well and fatten, we may
starve." "Good woman," cried the general of the interior, who at this
time was about the leanest of his race, "only look at me,--and decide
yourself which of the two is the fatter." The woman could not help
laughing: the joke pleased the multitude, and harmony was restored.
Buonaparte, holding the chief military command in the capital, and daily
rising in importance from the zeal and firmness of his conduct in this
high post, had now passed into the order of marked and distinguished
men. He continued, nevertheless, to lead in private a quiet and modest
life, studying as hard as ever, and but little seen in the circles of
gaiety. An accident which occurred one morning at his military levee,
gave at once a new turn to his mode of life, and a fresh impetus to the
advance of his fortunes.
A fine boy, of ten or twelve years of age, presented himself; stated to
the general that his name was Eugene Beauharnois, son of Viscount
Beauharnois, who had served as a general officer in the Republican
armies on the Rhine, and been murdered by Robespierre; and said his
errand was to recover the sword of his father. Buonaparte caused the
request to be complied with; and the tears of the boy, as he received
and kissed the relic, excited his interest. He treated Eugene so kindly,
that next day his mother, Josephine de Beauharnois, came to thank him;
and her beauty and singular gracefulness of address made a strong
impression.
This charming lady, the daughter of a planter, by name Tascher de la
Pagerie, was born in the island of Martinico, 24th June, 1763. While yet
an infant, according to a story which she afterwards repeated, a negro
sorceress had prophesied that "she should one day be greater than a
queen, and yet outlive her dignity."[7]
The widow of Beauharnois had been herself imprisoned until the downfall
of Robespierre. In that confinement she had formed a strict friendship
with another lady who was now married to Tallien, one of the most
eminent of the leaders of the Convention. Madame Tallien had introduced
Josephine to her husband's friends; and Barras, the First Director,
having now begun to hold a sort of court at the Luxembourg, these two
beautiful women were the chief ornaments of its society. It was
commonly said--indeed it was universally believed--that Josephine, whose
character was in some respects indifferent, possessed more than
legitimate influence over the First Director. Buonaparte, however,
offered her his hand; she, after some hesitation, accepted it; and the
young general by this marriage (9th March, 1796) cemented his connection
with the society of the Luxembourg, and in particular with Barras and
Tallien, at that moment the most powerful men in France.
Napoleon had a strong tendency to the superstition of fatalism, and he
always believed that his fortunes were bound up in some mysterious
manner with those of this graceful woman. She loved him warmly, and
served him well. Her influence over him was great, and it was always
exerted on the side of humanity. She, and she alone, could overrule, by
gentleness, the excesses of passion to which he was liable; and her
subsequent fate will always form one of the darkest pages in the history
of her lord.
Tranquillity was now restored in Paris; and the Directory had leisure to
turn their attention to the affairs of the army of Italy, which were in
a most confused and unsatisfactory condition. They determined to give it
a new general; and Buonaparte was appointed to the splendid command. It
is acknowledged, in one of Josephine's letters, that the First Director
had promised to procure it for him before their marriage took place.
"Advance this man," said Barras to his colleagues, "or he will advance
himself without you."
Buonaparte quitted his wife ten days after their marriage; paid a short
visit to his mother at Marseilles; and arrived, after a rapid journey,
at the headquarters at Nice. From that moment opened the most brilliant
scene of his existence; yet, during the months of victory and glory that
composed it, his letters, full of love and home-sickness, attest the
reluctance with which he had so soon abandoned his bride.
[Footnote 6: De Bourienne.]
[Footnote 7: According to some, the last clause ran "die in an
hospital," and this was in the sequel interpreted to mean Malmaison--a
palace which (like our own St. James's) had once been an hospital.]