1800.
Bonaparte's laws--Suppression of the festival of the 21st of
January--Officials visits--The Temple--Louis XVI. and Sir Sidney
Smith--Peculation during the Directory--Loan raised--Modest budget
--The Consul and the Member of the Institute--The figure of the
Republic--Duroc's missions--The King of Prussia--The Emperor
Alexander--General Latour-Foissac--Arbitrary decree--Company of
players for Egypt--Singular ideas respecting literary property--
The preparatory Consulate--The journals--Sabres and muskets of
honour--The First Consul and his Comrade--The bust of Brutus--
Statues in the gallery of the Tuileries--Sections of the Council
of State--Costumes of public functionaries--Masquerades--The
opera-balls--Recall of the exiles.
It is not my purpose to say much about the laws, decrees, and
'Senatus-Consultes', which the First Consul either passed, or caused to
be passed, after his accession to power, what were they all, with the
exception of the Civil Code? The legislative reveries of the different
men who have from time to time ruled France form an immense labyrinth,
in which chicanery bewilders reason and common sense; and they would
long since have been buried in oblivion had they not occasionally served
to authorise injustice. I cannot, however, pass over unnoticed the happy
effect produced in Paris, and throughout the whole of France, by some of
the first decisions of the Consuls. Perhaps none but those who witnessed
the state of society during the reign of Terror can fully appreciate
the satisfaction which the first steps towards the restoration of social
order produced in the breasts of all honest men. The Directory, more
base and not less perverse than the Convention, had retained the
horrible 21st of January among the festivals of the Republic. One of
Bonaparte's first ideas on attaining the possession of power was to
abolish this; but such was the ascendency of the abettors of the fearful
event that he could not venture on a straightforward course. He and
his two colleagues, who were Sieyès and Roger Ducos, signed, on the 5th
Nivôse, a decree, setting forth that in future the only festivals to
be celebrated by the Republic were the 1st Vendemiaire and the 14th
of July, intending by this means to consecrate provisionally the
recollection of the foundation of the Republic and of liberty.
All was calculation with Bonaparte. To produce effect was his highest
gratification. Thus he let slip no opportunity of saying or doing things
which were calculated to dazzle the multitude. While at the Luxembourg,
he went sometimes accompanied by his 'aides de camp' and sometimes by
a Minister, to pay certain official visits. I did not accompany him on
these occasions; but almost always either on his return, after dinner,
or in the evening, he related to me what he had done and said. He
congratulated himself on having paid a visit to Daubenton, at the Jardin
des Plantes, and talked with great self-complacency of the distinguished
way in which he had treated the contemporary of Buffon.
On the 24th Brumaire he visited the prisons. He liked to make these
visits unexpectedly, and to take the governors of the different public
establishments by surprise; so that, having no time to make their
preparations, he might see things as they really were. I was in his
cabinet when he returned, for I had a great deal of business to go
through in his absence. As he entered he exclaimed, "What brutes
these Directors are! To what a state they have brought our public
establishments! But, stay a little! I will put all in order. The prisons
are in a shockingly unwholesome state, and the prisoners miserably fed.
I questioned them, and I questioned the jailers, for nothing is to be
learned from the superiors. They, of course, always speak well of their
own work! When I was in the Temple I could not help thinking of the
unfortunate Louis XVI. He was an excellent man, but too amiable, too
gentle for the times. He knew not how to deal with mankind! And Sir
Sidney Smith! I made them show me his apartment. If the fools had not
let him escape I should have taken St. Jean d'Acre! There are too many
painful recollections connected with that prison! I will certainly have
it pulled down some day or other! What do you think I did at the Temple?
I ordered the jailers' books to be brought to me, and finding that some
hostages were still in confinement I liberated them. 'An unjust law,'
said I, 'has deprived you of liberty; my first duty is to restore it
to you.' 'Was not this well done, Bourrienne?' As I was, no less than
Bonaparte himself, an enemy to the revolutionary laws, I congratulated
him sincerely; and he was very sensible to my approbation, for I was not
accustomed to greet him with 'Good; very good,' on all occasions. It is
true, knowing his character as I did, I avoided saying anything that was
calculated to offend him; but when I said nothing, he knew very well
how to construe my silence. Had I flattered him I should have continued
longer in favour."
Bonaparte always spoke angrily of the Directors he had turned off.
Their incapacity disgusted and astonished him. "What simpletons! what
a government!" he would frequently exclaim when he looked into the
measures of the Directory. "Bourrienne," said he, "can you imagine
anything more pitiable than their system of finance? Can it for a moment
be doubted that the principal agents of authority daily committed
the most fraudulent peculations? What venality! what disorder! what
wastefulness! everything put up for sale: places, provisions, clothing,
and military, all were disposed of. Have they not actually consumed
75,000,000 in advance? And then, think of all the scandalous fortunes
accumulated, all the malversations! But are there no means of making
them refund? We shall see."
In these first moments of poverty it was found necessary to raise a
loan, for the funds of M. Collot did not last long, and 12,000,000 were
advanced by the different bankers of Paris, who, I believe, were paid by
bills of the receivers-general, the discount of which then amounted
to about 33 per cent. The salaries of the first offices were not
very considerable, and did not amount to anything like the exorbitant
stipends of the Empire.
Bonaparte's salary was fixed at 500,000 francs. What a contrast to the
300,000,000 in gold which were reported to have been concealed in 1811
in the cellars of the Tuileries!
In mentioning Bonaparte's nomination to the Institute, and his
affectation in putting at the head of his proclamation his title of
member of that learned body before that of General-in-Chief, I omitted
to state what value he really attached to that title. The truth is that,
when young and ambitious, he was pleased with the proffered title,
which he thought would raise him in public estimation. How often have
we laughed together when he weighed the value of his scientific titles!
Bonaparte, to be sure, knew something of mathematics, a good deal of
history, and, I need not add, possessed extraordinary military talent;
but he was nevertheless a useless member of the Institute.
On his return from Egypt he began to grow weary of a title which gave
him so many colleagues. "Do you not think," said he one day to me, "that
there is something mean and humiliating in the words, 'I have the honour
to be, my dear Colleague'! I am tired of it!" Generally speaking, all
phrases which indicated equality displeased him. It will be recollected
how gratified he was that I did not address him in the second person
singular on our meeting at Leoben, and also what befell M. de Cominges
at Bâle because he did not observe the same precaution.
The figure of the Republic seated and holding a spear in her hand, which
at the commencement of the Consulate was stamped on official letters,
was speedily abolished. Happy would it have been if Liberty herself had
not suffered the same treatment as her emblem! The title of First
Consul made him despise that of Member of the Institute. He no
longer entertained the least predilection for that learned body, and
subsequently he regarded it with much suspicion. It was a body, an
authorised assembly; these were reasons sufficient for him to take
umbrage at it, and he never concealed his dislike of all bodies
possessing the privilege of meeting and deliberating.
While we were at the Luxembourg Bonaparte despatched Duroc on a special
mission to the King of Prussia. This happened, I think, at the very
beginning of the year 1800. He selected Duroc because he was a man of
good education and agreeable manners, and one who could express himself
with elegance and reserve, qualities not often met with at that period.
Duroc had been with us in Italy, in Egypt, and on board the 'Muiron',
and the Consul easily guessed that the King of Prussia would be
delighted to hear from an eye-witness the events of Bonaparte's
campaigns, especially the siege of St. Jean d'Acre, and the scenes which
took place during the months of March and May at Jaffa. Besides, the
First Consul considered it indispensable that such circumstantial
details should be given in a way to leave no doubt of their correctness.
His intentions were fully realised; for Duroc told me, on his return,
that nearly the whole of the conversation he had with the King turned
upon St. Jean d'Acre and Jaffa. He stayed nearly two whole hours with
his Majesty, who, the day after, gave him an invitation to dinner. When
this intelligence arrived at the Luxembourg I could perceive that the
Chief of the Republic was flattered that one of his aides de camp should
have sat at table with a King, who some years after was doomed to wait
for him in his antechamber at Tilsit.
Duroc never spoke on politics to the King of Prussia, which was very
fortunate, for, considering his age and the exclusively military life
he had led, he could scarcely have been expected to avoid blunders.
Some time later, after the death of Paul I., he was sent to congratulate
Alexander on his accession to the throne. Bonaparte's design in thus
making choice of Duroc was to introduce to the Courts of Europe, by
confidential missions, a young man to whom he was much attached, and
also to bring him forward in France. Duroc went on his third mission to
Berlin after the war broke out with Austria. He often wrote to me, and
his letters convinced me how much he had improved himself within a short
time.
Another circumstance which happened at the commencement of the Consulate
affords an example of Bonaparte's inflexibility when he had once formed
a determination. In the spring of 1799, when we were in Egypt, the
Directory gave to General Latour-Foissac, a highly distinguished
officer, the command of Mantua, the taking of which had so powerfully
contributed to the glory of the conqueror of Italy. Shortly after
Latour's appointment to this important post the Austrians besieged
Mantua. It was well known that the garrison was supplied with provisions
and ammunition for a long resistance; yet, in the month of July it
surrendered to the Austrians. The act of capitulation contained a
curious article, viz. "General Latour-Foissac and his staff shall be
conducted as prisoners to Austria; the garrison shall be allowed to
return to France." This distinction between the general and the troops
entrusted to his command, and at the same time the prompt surrender of
Mantua, were circumstances which, it must be confessed, were calculated
to excite suspicions of Latour-Foissac. The consequence was, when
Bernadotte was made War Minister he ordered an inquiry into the
general's conduct by a court-martial. Latour-Foissac had no sooner
returned to France than he published a justificatory memorial, in which
he showed the impossibility of his having made a longer defence when he
was in want of many objects of the first necessity.
Such was the state of the affair on Bonaparte's elevation to the
Consular power. The loss of Mantua, the possession of which had cost
him so many sacrifices, roused his indignation to so high a pitch that
whenever the subject was mentioned he could find no words to express his
rage. He stopped the investigation of the court-martial, and issued a
violent decree against Latour-Foissac even before his culpability had
been proved. This proceeding occasioned much discussion, and was
very dissatisfactory to many general officers, who, by this arbitrary
decision, found themselves in danger of forfeiting the privilege of
being tried by their natural judges whenever they happened to displease
the First Consul. For my own part, I must say that this decree against
Latour-Foissac was one which I saw issued with considerable regret.
I was alarmed for the consequences. After the lapse of a few days I
ventured to point out to him the undue severity of the step he had
taken; I reminded him of all that had been said in Latour-Foissac's
favour, and tried to convince him how much more just it would be to
allow the trial to come to a conclusion. "In a country," said I, "like
France, where the point of honour stands above every thing, it is
impossible Foissac can escape condemnation if he be culpable."--"Perhaps
you are right, Bourrienne," rejoined he; "but the blow is struck; the
decree is issued. I have given the same explanation to every one; but
I cannot so suddenly retrace my steps. To retro-grade is to be lost. I
cannot acknowledge myself in the wrong. By and by we shall see what
can be done. Time will bring lenity and pardon. At present it would be
premature." Such, word for word, was Bonaparte's reply. If with this be
compared what he said on the subject at St. Helena it will be found
that his ideas continued nearly unchanged; the only difference is
that, instead of the impetuosity of 1800, he expressed himself with the
calmness which time and adversity naturally produce.
--["It was," says the 'Memorial of St. Helena', "an illegal and
tyrannical act, but still it was a necessary evil. It was the fault
of the law. He was a hundred, nay, a thousand fold guilty, and yet
it was doubtful whether he would be condemned. We therefore
assailed him with the shafts of honour and public opinion. Yet I
repeat it was a tyrannical act, and one of those violent measures
which are at times necessary in great nations and in extraordinary
circumstances."]--
Bonaparte, as I have before observed, loved contrasts; and I remember
at the very time he was acting so violently against Latour-Foissac he
condescended to busy himself about a company of players which he wished
to send to Egypt, or rather that he pretended to wish to send there,
because the announcement of such a project conveyed an impression of
the prosperous condition of our Oriental colony. The Consuls gravely
appointed the Minister of the Interior to execute this business, and
the Minister in his turn delegated his powers to Florence, the actor. In
their instructions to the Minister the Consuls observed that it would
be advisable to include some female dancers in the company; a suggestion
which corresponds with Bonaparte's note, in which were specified all
that he considered necessary for the Egyptian expedition.
The First Consul entertained singular notions respecting literary
property. On his hearing that a piece, entitled 'Misanthropie
et Repentir', had been brought out at the Odeon, he said to me,
"Bourrienne, you have been robbed."--"I, General? how?"--"You have been
robbed, I tell you, and they are now acting your piece." I have already
mentioned that during my stay at Warsaw I amused myself with translating
a celebrated play of Kotzebue. While we were in Italy I lent Bonaparte
my translation to read, and he expressed himself much pleased with it.
He greatly admired the piece, and often went to see it acted at the
Odeon. On his return he invariably gave me fresh reasons for my claiming
what he was pleased to call my property. I represented to him that the
translation of a foreign work belonged to any one who chose to execute
it. He would not, however, give up his point, and I was obliged to
assure him that my occupations in his service left me no time to engage
in a literary lawsuit. He then exacted a promise from me to
translate Goethe's 'Werther'. I told him it was already done, though
indifferently, and that I could not possibly devote to the subject the
time it merited. I read over to him one of the letters I had translated
into French, and which he seemed to approve.
That interval of the Consular Government during which Bonaparte remained
at the Luxembourg may be called the preparatory Consulate. Then were
sown the seeds of the great events which he meditated, and of those
institutions with which he wished to mark his possession of power.
He was then, if I may use the expression, two individuals in one: the
Republican general, who was obliged to appear the advocate of liberty
and the principles of the Revolution; and the votary of ambition,
secretly plotting the downfall of that liberty and those principles.
I often wondered at the consummate address with which he contrived
to deceive those who were likely to see through his designs. This
hypocrisy, which some, perhaps, may call profound policy, was
indispensable to the accomplishment of his projects; and sometimes, as
if to keep himself in practice, he would do it in matters of secondary
importance. For example, his opinion of the insatiable avarice of Sieyès
is well known; yet when he proposed, in his message to the Council of
Ancients, to give his colleague, under the title of national recompense,
the price of his obedient secession, it was, in the words of the
message, a recompense worthily bestowed on his disinterested virtues.
While at the Luxembourg Bonaparte showed, by a Consular act, his hatred
of the liberty of the press above all liberties, for he loved none. On
the 27th Nivôse the Consuls, or rather the First Consul, published a
decree, the real object of which was evidently contrary to its implied
object.
This decree stated that:
The Consuls of the Republic, considering that some of the journals
printed at Paris are instruments in the hands of the enemies of the
Republic, over the safety of which the Government is specially entrusted
by the people of France to watch, decree--
That the Minister of Police shall, during the continuation of the war,
allow only the following journals to be printed and published, viz.
(list of 20 publications)
.....and those papers which are exclusively devoted to science, art,
literature, commerce, and advertisements.
Surely this decree may well be considered as preparatory; and the
fragment I have quoted may serve as a standard for measuring the
greater part of those acts by which Bonaparte sought to gain, for the
consolidation of his power, what he seemed to be seeking solely for the
interest of the friends of the Republic. The limitation to the period
of the continuance of the war had also a certain provisional air which
afforded hope for the future. But everything provisional is, in
its nature, very elastic; and Bonaparte knew how to draw it out ad
infinitum. The decree, moreover, enacted that if any of the uncondemned
journals should insert articles against the sovereignty of the people
they would be immediately suppressed. In truth, great indulgence was
shown on this point, even after the Emperor's coronation.
The presentation of swords and muskets of honour also originated at the
Luxembourg; and this practice was, without doubt, a preparatory step to
the foundation of the Legion of Honour.
--["Armes d'honneur," decreed 25th December 1799. Muskets for
infantry, carbines for cavalry, grenades for artillery, swords for
the officers. Gouvion St. Cyr received the first sword (Thiers,
tome i. p. 126).]--
A grenadier sergeant, named Léon Aune, who had been included in the
first distribution, easily obtained permission to write to the First
Consul to thank him. Bonaparte, wishing to answer him in his own name,
dictated to me the following letter for Aune:--
I have received your letter, my brave comrade. You needed not to
have told me of your exploits, for you are the bravest grenadier in
the whole army since the death of Benezete. You received one of the
hundred sabres I distributed to the army, and all agreed you most
deserved it.
I wish very much again to see you. The War Minister sends you an
order to come to Paris.
This wheedling wonderfully favoured Bonaparte's designs. His letter to
Aune could not fail to be circulated through the army. A sergeant called
my brave comrade by the First Consul--the First General of France! Who
but a thorough Republican, the stanch friend of equality, would have
done this? This was enough to wind up the enthusiasm of the army. At
the same time it must be confessed that Bonaparte began to find the
Luxembourg too little for him, and preparations were set on foot at the
Tuileries.
Still this great step towards the re-establishment of the monarchy was
to be cautiously prepared. It was important to do away with the idea
that none but a king could occupy the palace of our ancient kings. What
was to be done? A very fine bust of Brutus had been brought from Italy.
Brutus was the destroyer of tyrants! This was the very thing; and David
was commissioned to place it in a gallery of the Tuileries. Could there
be a greater proof of the Consul's horror of tyranny?
To sleep at the Tuileries, in the bedchamber of the kings of France, was
all that Bonaparte wanted; the rest would follow in due course. He was
willing to be satisfied with establishing a principle the consequences
of which were to be afterwards deduced. Hence the affectation of never
inserting in official acts the name of the Tuileries, but designating
that place as the Palace of the Government. The first preparations were
modest, for it did not become a good Republican to be fond of pomp.
Accordingly Lecomte, who was at that time architect of the Tuileries,
merely received orders to clean the Palace, an expression which might
bear more than one meaning, after the meetings which had been there. For
this purpose the sum of 500,000 francs was sufficient. Bonaparte's drift
was to conceal, as far as possible, the importance he attached to the
change of his Consular domicile. But little expense was requisite for
fitting up apartments for the First Consul. Simple ornaments, such as
marbles and statues, were to decorate the Palace of the Government.
Nothing escaped Bonaparte's consideration. Thus it was not merely at
hazard that he selected the statues of great men to adorn the gallery
of the Tuileries. Among the Greeks he made choice of Demosthenes and
Alexander, thus rendering homage at once to the genius of eloquence and
the genius of victory. The statue of Hannibal was intended to recall the
memory of Rome's most formidable enemy; and Rome herself was represented
in the Consular Palace by the statues of Scipio, Cicero, Cato, Brutus
and Caesar--the victor and the immolator being placed side by side.
Among the great men of modern times he gave the first place to Gustavus
Adolphus, and the next to Turenne and the great Condé, to Turenne in
honour of his military talent, and to Condé to prove that there was
nothing fearful in the recollection of a Bourbon. The remembrance of
the glorious days of the French navy was revived by the statue of Duguai
Trouin. Marlborough and Prince Eugène had also their places in the
gallery, as if to attest the disasters which marked the close of the
great reign; and Marshal Sage, to show that Louis XV.'s reign was
not without its glory. The statues of Frederick and Washington were
emblematic of false philosophy on a throne and true wisdom founding a
free state. Finally, the names of Dugommier, Dampierre, and Joubert were
intended to bear evidence of the high esteem which Bonaparte cherished
for his old comrades,--those illustrious victims to a cause which had
now ceased to be his.
The reader has already been informed of the attempts made by Bonaparte
to induce England and Austria to negotiate with the Consular Government,
which the King of Prussia was the first of the sovereigns of Europe to
recognise. These attempts having proved unavailing, it became necessary
to carry on the war with renewed vigour, and also to explain why the
peace, which had been promised at the beginning of the Consulate,
was still nothing but a promise. In fulfilment of these two objects
Bonaparte addressed an energetic proclamation to the armies, which was
remarkable for not being followed by the usual sacred words, "Vive la
République!"
At the same time Bonaparte completed the formation of the Council
of State, and divided it into five sections:--(1) The Interior; (2)
Finance; (3) Marine; (4) The War Department; (5) Legislation. He fixed
the salaries of the Councillors of the State at 25,000 francs, and that
of the Precedents of Sections at 30,000. He settled the costume of the
Consuls, the Ministers, and the different bodies of the State. This led
to the re-introduction of velvet, which had been banished with the
old regime, and the encouragement of the manufactures of Lyons was the
reason alleged for employing this un-republican article in the different
dresses, such as those of the Consuls and Ministers. It was Bonaparte's
constant aim to efface the Republic, even in the utmost trifles, and to
prepare matters so well that the customs and habits of monarchy being
restored, there should only then remain a word to be changed.
I never remember to have seen Bonaparte in the Consular dress, which he
detested, and which he wore only because duty required him to do so at
public ceremonies. The only dress he was fond of, and in which he felt
at ease, was that in which he subjugated the ancient Eridanus and the
Nile, namely, the uniform of the Guides, to which corps Bonaparte was
always sincerely attached.
The masquerade of official dresses was not the only one which Bonaparte
summoned to the aid of his policy. At that period of the year VIII.
which corresponded with the carnival of 1800, masques began to be
resumed at Paris. Disguises were all the fashion, and Bonaparte favoured
the revival of old amusements; first, because they were old, and next,
because they were the means of diverting the attention of the people:
for, as he had established the principle that on the field of battle it
is necessary to divide the enemy in order to beat him, he conceived
it no less advisable to divert the people in order to enslave them.
Bonaparte did not say 'panem et circenses', for I believe his knowledge
of Latin did not extend even to that well-known phrase of Juvenal, but
he put the maxim in practice. He accordingly authorised the revival
of balls at the opera, which they who lived during that period of the
Consulate know was an important event in Paris. Some gladly viewed it as
a little conquest in favour of the old regime; and others, who for that
very reason disapproved it, were too shallow to understand the influence
of little over great things. The women and the young men did not bestow
a thought on the subject, but yielded willingly to the attractions of
pleasure. Bonaparte, who was delighted at having provided a diversion
for the gossiping of the Parisian salons, said to me one day, "While
they are chatting about all this, they do not babble upon politics, and
that is what I want. Let them dance and amuse themselves as long as they
do not thrust their noses into the Councils of the Government; besides,
Bourrienne," added he, "I have other reasons for encouraging this, I see
other advantages in it. Trade is languishing; Fouché tells me that
there are great complaints. This will set a little money in circulation;
besides, I am on my guard about the Jacobins. Everything is not bad,
because it is not new. I prefer the opera-balls to the saturnalia of the
Goddess of Reason. I was never so enthusiastically applauded as at the
last parade."
A Consular decision of a different and more important nature had,
shortly before, namely, at the commencement of Nivôse, brought happiness
to many families. Bonaparte, as every one knows, had prepared the events
of the 18th Fructidor that he might have some plausible reasons for
overthrowing the Directors. The Directory being overthrown, he was
now anxious, at least in part, to undo what he had done on the 18th
Fructidor. He therefore ordered a report on the persons exiled to be
presented to him by the Minister of Police. In consequence of this
report he authorised forty of them to return to France, placing them
under the observation of the Police Minister, and assigning them their
place of residence. However, they did not long remain under these
restrictions, and many of them were soon called to fill high places in
the Government. It was indeed natural that Bonaparte, still wishing,
at least in appearance, to found his government on those principles of
moderate republicanism which had caused their exile, should invite them
to second his views.
Barrère wrote a justificatory letter to the First Consul, who, however,
took no notice of it, for he could not get so far as to favour Barrère.
Thus did Bonaparte receive into the Councils of the Consulate the men
who had been exiled by the Directory, just as he afterwards appointed
the emigrants and those exiles of the Revolution to high offices under
the Empire. The time and the men alone differed; the intention in both
cases was the same.