FROM THE 18TH FRUCTIDOR, IN THE YEAR V. (4TH OF SEPTEMBER, 1797), TO THE
18TH BRUMAIRE, IN THE YEAR VIII. (9TH OF NOVEMBER, 1799)
The chief result of the 18th Fructidor was a return, with slight
mitigation, to the revolutionary government. The two ancient privileged
classes were again excluded from society; the dissentient priests were
again banished. The Chouans, and former fugitives, who occupied the field
of battle in the departments, abandoned it to the old republicans: those
who had formed part of the military household of the Bourbons, the
superior officers of the crown, the members of the parliaments, commanders
of the order of the Holy Ghost and Saint Louis, the knights of Malta, all
those who had protested against the abolition of nobility, and who had
preserved its titles, were to quit the territory of the republic. The ci-
devant nobles, or those ennobled, could only enjoy the rights of citizens,
after a term of seven years, and after having gone through a sort of
apprenticeship as Frenchmen. This party, by desiring sway, restored the
dictatorship.
At this period the directory attained its maximum of power; for some time
it had no enemies in arms. Delivered from all internal opposition, it
imposed the continental peace on Austria by the treaty of Campo-Formio,
and on the empire by the congress of Rastadt. The treaty of Campo-Formio
was more advantageous to the cabinet of Vienna than the preliminaries of
Leoben. Its Belgian and Lombard states were paid for by a part of the
Venetian states. This old republic was divided; France retained the Ionian
Isles, and gave the city of Venice and the provinces of Istria and
Dalmatia to Austria. In this the directory committed a great fault, and
was guilty of an attempt against liberty. In the fanaticism of a system,
we may desire to set a country free, but we should never give it away. By
arbitrarily distributing the territory of a small state, the directory set
the bad example of this traffic in nations since but too much followed.
Besides, Austrian dominion would, sooner or later, extend in Italy,
through this imprudent cession of Venice.
The coalition of 1792 and 1793 was dissolved; England was the only
remaining belligerent power. The cabinet of London was not at all disposed
to cede to France, which it had attacked in the hope of weakening it,
Belgium, Luxembourg, the left bank of the Rhine, Porentruy, Nice, Savoy,
the protectorate of Genoa, Milan, and Holland. But finding it necessary to
appease the English opposition, and reorganize its means of attack, it
made propositions of peace; it sent Lord Malmesbury as plenipotentiary,
first to Paris, then to Lille. But the offers of Pitt not being sincere,
the directory did not allow itself to be deceived by his diplomatic
stratagems. The negotiations were twice broken off, and war continued
between the two powers. While England negotiated at Lille, she was
preparing at Saint Petersburg the triple alliance, or second coalition.
The directory, on its side, without finances, without any party in the
interior, having no support but the army, and no eminence save that
derived from the continuation of its victories, was not in a condition to
consent to a general peace. It had increased the public discontent by the
establishment of certain taxes and the reduction of the debt to a
consolidated third, payable in specie only, which had ruined the
fundholders. It became necessary to maintain itself by war. The immense
body of soldiers could not be disbanded without danger. Besides, being
deprived of its power, and being placed at the mercy of Europe, the
directory had attempted a thing never done without creating a shock,
except in times of great tranquillity, of great ease, abundance, and
employment. The directory was driven by its position to the invasion of
Switzerland and the expedition into Egypt.
Bonaparte had then returned to Paris. The conqueror of Italy and the
pacificator of the continent, was received with enthusiasm, constrained on
the part of the directory, but deeply felt by the people. Honours were
accorded him, never yet obtained by any general of the republic. A
patriotic altar was prepared in the Luxembourg, and he passed under an
arch of standards won in Italy, on his way to the triumphal ceremony in
his honour. He was harangued by Barras, president of the directory, who,
after congratulating him on his victories, invited him "to crown so noble
a life by a conquest which the great country owed to its insulted
dignity." This was the conquest of England. Everything seemed in
preparation for a descent, while the invasion of Egypt was really the
enterprise in view.
Such an expedition suited both Bonaparte and the directory. The
independent conduct of that general in Italy, his ambition, which, from
time to time, burst through his studied simplicity, rendered his presence
dangerous. He, on his side, feared, by his inactivity, to compromise the
already high opinion entertained of his talents: for men always require
from those whom they make great, more than they are able to perform. Thus,
while the directory saw in the expedition to Egypt the means of keeping a
formidable general at a distance, and a prospect of attacking the English
by India, Bonaparte saw in it a gigantic conception, an employment suited
to his taste, and a new means of astonishing mankind. He sailed from
Toulon on the 30th Floréal, in the year VI. (19th May, 1798), with a fleet
of four hundred sail, and a portion of the army of Italy; he steered for
Malta; of which he made himself master, and from thence to Egypt.
The directory, who violated the neutrality of the Ottoman Porte in order
to attack the English, had already violated that of Switzerland, in order
to expel the emigrants from its territory. French opinions had already
penetrated into Geneva and the Pays de Vaud; but the policy of the Swiss
confederation was counter-revolutionary, from the influence of the
aristocracy of Berne. They had driven from the cantons all the Swiss who
had shown themselves partisans of the French republic. Berne was the
headquarters of the emigrants, and it was there that all the plots against
the revolution were formed. The directory complained, but did not receive
satisfaction. The Vaudois, placed by old treaties under the protection of
France, invoked her help against the tyranny of Berne. This appeal of the
Vaudois, its own grievances, its desire to extend the directorial
republican system to Switzerland, much more than the temptation of seizing
the little amount of treasure in Berne, a reproach brought against it by
some, determined the directory. Some conferences took place, which led to
no result, and war began. The Swiss defended themselves with much courage
and obstinacy, and hoped to resuscitate the times of their ancestors, but
they succumbed. Geneva was united to France, and Switzerland exchanged its
ancient constitution for that of the year III. From that time two parties
existed in the confederation, one of which was for France and the
revolution, the other for the counter-revolution and Austria. Switzerland
ceased to be a common barrier, and became the high road of Europe.
This revolution had been followed by that of Rome. General Duphot was
killed at Rome in a riot; and in punishment of this assassination, which
the pontifical government had not interfered to prevent, Rome was changed
into a republic. All this combined to complete the system of the
directory, and make it preponderant in Europe; it was now at the head of
the Helvetian, Batavian, Ligurian, Cisalpine, and Roman republics, all
constructed on the same model. But while the directory extended its
influence abroad, it was again menaced by internal parties.
The elections of Floréal in the year VI. (May, 1798) were by no means
favourable to the directory; the returns were quite at variance with those
of the year V. Since the 18th Fructidor, the withdrawal of the counter-
revolutionists had restored all the influence of the exclusive republican
party, which had reestablished the clubs under the name of _Constitutional
Circles_. This party dominated in the electoral assemblies, which, most
unusually, had to nominate four hundred and thirty-seven deputies: two
hundred and ninety-eight for the council of five hundred; a hundred and
thirty-nine for that of the ancients. When the elections drew near, the
directory exclaimed loudly against the _anarchists_. But its proclamations
having been unable to prevent democratic returns, it decided upon
annulling them in virtue of a law, by which the councils, after the 18th
Fructidor, had granted it the _power of judging_ the operations of the
electoral assemblies. It invited the legislative body, by a message, to
appoint a commission of five members for that purpose. On the 22nd
Floréal, the elections were for the most part annulled. At this period the
directorial party struck a blow at the extreme republicans, as nine months
before it had aimed at the royalists.
The directory wished to maintain the political balance, which had been the
characteristic of its first two years; but its position was much changed.
Since its last coup-d'état, it could no longer be an impartial government,
because it was no longer a constitutional government. With these
pretensions of isolation, it dissatisfied every one. Yet it lived on in
this way till the elections of the year VII. It displayed much activity,
but an activity of a narrow and shuffling nature. Merlin de Douai and
Treilhard, who had replaced Carnot and Barthélemy, were two political
lawyers. Rewbell had in the highest degree the courage, without having the
enlarged views of a statesman. Laréveillère was too much occupied with the
sect of the Theophilanthropists for a government leader. As to Barras, he
continued his dissipated life and his directorial regency; his palace was
the rendezvous of gamesters, women of gallantry, and stock-jobbers of
every kind. The administration of the directors betrayed their character,
but more especially their position; to the embarrassments of which was
added war with all Europe.
While the republican plenipotentiaries were yet negotiating for peace with
the empire at Rastadt, the second coalition began the campaign. The treaty
of Campo-Formio had only been for Austria a suspension of arms. England
had no difficulty in gaining her to a new coalition; with the exception of
Spain and Prussia, most of the European powers formed part of it. The
subsidies of the British cabinet, and the attraction of the West, decided
Russia; the Porte and the states of Barbary acceded to it, because of the
invasion of Egypt; the empire, in order to recover the left bank of the
Rhine, and the petty princes of Italy, that they might destroy the new
republics. At Rastadt they were discussing the treaty relative to the
empire, the concession of the left bank of the Rhine, the navigation of
that river, and the demolition of some fortresses on the right bank, when
the Russians entered Germany, and the Austrian army began to move. The
French plenipotentiaries, taken by surprise, received orders to leave in
four and twenty hours; they obeyed immediately, and set out, after having
obtained safe conduct from the generals of the enemy. At a short distance
from Rastadt they were stopped by some Austrian hussars, who, having
satisfied themselves as to their names and titles, assassinated them:
Bonnier and Roberjot were killed, Jean de Bry was left for dead. This
unheard-of violation of the right of nations, this premeditated
assassination of three men invested with a sacred character, excited
general horror. The legislative body declared war, and declared it with
indignation against the governments on whom the guilt of this enormity
fell.
Hostilities had already commenced in Italy and on the Rhine. The
directory, apprised of the march of the Russian troops, and suspecting the
intentions of Austria, caused the councils to pass a law for recruiting.
The military conscription placed two hundred thousand young men at the
disposal of the republic. This law, which was attended with incalculable
consequences, was the result of a more regular order of things. Levies _en
masse_ had been the revolutionary service of the country; the conscription
became the legal service.
The most impatient of the powers, those which formed the advanced guard of
the coalition, had already commenced the attack. The king of Naples had
advanced on Rome, and the king of Sardinia had raised troops and
threatened the Ligurian republic. As they had not sufficient power to
sustain the shock of the French armies, they were easily conquered and
dispossessed. General Championnet entered Naples after a sanguinary
victory. The lazaroni defended the interior of the town for three days;
but they yielded, and the Parthenopian republic was proclaimed. General
Joubert occupied Turin; and the whole of Italy was in the hands of the
French, when the new campaign began.
The coalition was superior to the republic in effective force and in
preparations. It attacked it by the three great openings of Italy,
Switzerland, and Holland. A strong Austrian army debouched in the duchy of
Mantua; it defeated Scherer twice on the Adige, and was soon joined by the
whimsical and hitherto victorious Suvorov. Moreau replaced Scherer, and,
like him, was beaten; he retreated towards Genoa, in order to keep the
barrier of the Apennines and to join the army of Naples, commanded by
Macdonald, which was overpowered at the Trebia. The Austro-Russians then
directed their chief forces upon Switzerland. A few Russian corps joined
the archduke Charles, who had defeated Jourdan on the Upper Rhine, and was
preparing to pass over the Helvetian barrier. At the same time the duke of
York disembarked in Holland with forty thousand Anglo-Russians. The small
republics which protected France were invaded, and a few more victories
would have enabled the confederates to penetrate even to the scene of the
revolution.
In the midst of these military disasters and the discontent of parties,
the elections of Floréal in the year VII. (May, 1799) took place; they
were republican, like those of the preceding year. The directory was no
longer strong enough to contend with public misfortunes and the rancour of
parties. The retirement of Rewbell, who was replaced by Sieyès, caused it
to lose the only man able to face the storm, and brought into its bosom
the most avowed antagonist of this compromised and worn-out government.
The moderate party and the extreme republicans united in demanding from
the directory an account of the internal and external situation of the
republic. The councils sat permanently. Barras abandoned his colleagues.
The fury of the councils was directed solely against Treilhard, Merlin,
and La Réveillère, the last supports of the old directory. They deposed
Treilhard, because an interval of a year had not elapsed between his
legislative and his directorial functions, as the constitution required.
The ex-minister of justice, Gohier, was immediately chosen to replace him.
The orators of the councils then warmly attacked Merlin and La Réveillère,
whom they could not dismiss from the directory. The threatened directors
sent a justificatory message to the councils, and proposed peace. On the
30th Prairial, the republican Bertrand (du Calvados) ascended the tribune,
and after examining the offers of the directors, exclaimed: "You have
proposed union; and I propose that you reflect if you yourselves can still
preserve your functions. If you love the republic you will not hesitate to
decide. You are incapable of doing good; you will never have the
confidence of your colleagues, that of the people, or that of the
representatives, without which you cannot cause the laws to be executed. I
know that, thanks to the constitution, there already exists in the
directory a majority which enjoys the confidence of the people, and that
of the national representation. Why do you hesitate to introduce unanimity
of desires and principles between the two first authorities of the
republic? You have not even the confidence of those vile flatterers, who
have dug your political tomb. Finish your career by an act of devotion,
which good republican hearts will be able to appreciate."
Merlin and La Réveillère, deprived of the support of the government by the
retirement of Rewbell, the dismissal of Treilhard, and the desertion of
Barras, urged by the councils and by patriotic motives, yielded to
circumstances, and resigned the directorial authority. This victory,
gained by the republican and moderate parties combined, turned to the
profit of both. The former introduced general Moulins into the directory;
the latter, Roger Ducos. The 30th Prairial (18th June), which witnessed
the breaking up of the old government of the year III., was an act of
reprisal on the part of the councils against the directory for the 18th
Fructidor and the 22nd Floréal. At this period the two great powers of the
state had each in turn violated the constitution: the directory by
decimating the legislature; the legislature by expelling the directory.
This form of government, which every party complained of, could not have a
protracted existence.
Sieyès, after the success of the 30th Prairial, laboured to destroy what
yet remained of the government of the year III., in order to establish the
legal system on another plan. He was whimsical and systematic; but he had
the faculty of judging surely of situations. He re-entered upon the scene
of the revolution of a singular epoch, with the intention of strengthening
it by a definitive constitution. After having co-operated in the principal
changes of 1789, by his motion of the 17 of June, which transformed the
states-general into a national assembly, and by his plan of internal
organization, which substituted departments for provinces, he had remained
passive and silent during the subsequent interval. He waited till the
period of public defence should again give place to institutions.
Appointed, under the directory, to the embassy at Berlin, the neutrality
of Prussia was attributed to his efforts. On his return, he accepted the
office of director, hitherto refused by him, because Rewbell was leaving
the government, and he thought that parties were sufficiently weary to
undertake a definitive pacification, and the establishment of liberty.
With this object, he placed his reliance on Roger-Ducos in the directory,
on the council of ancients in the legislature, and without, on the mass of
moderate men and the middle-class, who, after desiring laws, merely as a
novelty, now desired repose as a novelty. This party sought for a strong
and secure government, which should have no past, no enmities, and which
thenceforward might satisfy all opinions and interests. As all that had
been dene, from the 14th of July till the 9th Thermidor, by the people, in
connexion with a part of the government, had been done since the 13th
Vendémiaire by the soldiers, Sieyès was in want of a general. He cast his
eyes upon Joubert, who was put at the head of the army of Italy, in order
that he might gain by his victories, and by the deliverance of Italy, a
great political importance.
The constitution of the year III. was, however, still supported by the two
directors, Gohier and Moulins, the council of five hundred, and without,
by the party of the _Manège_. The decided republicans had formed a club
that held its sittings in that hall where had sat the first of our
assemblies. The new club, formed from the remains of that of Salm, before
the 18th Fructidor; of that of the Panthéon, at the beginning of the
directory; and of the old society of the Jacobins, enthusiastically
professed republican principles, but not the democratic opinions of the
inferior class. Each of these parties also had a share in the ministry
which had been renewed at the same time as the directory. Cambacérès had
the department of justice; Quinette, the home department; Reinhard, who
had been temporarily placed in office during the ministerial interregnum
of Talleyrand, was minister of foreign affairs; Robert Lindet was minister
of finance, Bourdon (of Vatry) of the navy, Bernadotte of war,
Bourguignon, soon afterwards replaced by Fouché (of Nantes), of police.
This time Barras remained neutral between the two divisions of the
legislature, of the directory and of the ministry. Seeing that matters
were coming to a more considerable change than that of the 30th Prairial,
he, an ex-noble, thought that the decline of the republic would lead to
the restoration of the Bourbons, and he treated with the Pretender Louis
XVIII. It seems that, in negotiating the restoration of the monarchy by
his agent, David Monnier, he was not forgetful of himself. Barras espoused
nothing from conviction, and always sided with the party which had the
greatest chance of victory. A democratic member of the Mountain on the
31st of May; a reactionary member of the Mountain on the 9th Thermidor; a
revolutionary director against the royalists on the 18th Fructidor;
extreme republican director against his old colleagues on the 30th
Prairial; he now became a royalist director against the government of the
year III.
The faction disconcerted by the 18th Fructidor and the peace of the
Continent, had also gained courage. The military successes of the new
coalition, the law of compulsory loans and that of hostages, which had
compelled every emigrant family to give guarantees to government, had made
the royalists of the south and west again take up arms. They reappeared in
bands, which daily became more formidable, and revived the petty but
disastrous warfare of the Chouans. They awaited the arrival of the
Russians, and looked forward to the speedy restoration of the monarchy.
This was a moment of fresh competition with every party. Each aspired to
the inheritance of the dying constitution, as they had done at the close
of the convention. In France, people are warned by a kind of political
odour that a government is dying, and all parties rush to be in at the
death.
Fortunately for the republic, the war changed its aspect on the two
principal frontiers of the Upper and Lower Rhine. The allies, after having
acquired Italy, wished to enter France by Switzerland and Holland; but
generals Masséna and Brune arrested their hitherto victorious progress.
Masséna advanced against Korsakov and Suvorov. During twelve days of great
combinations and consecutive victories, hastening in turns from Constance
to Zurich, he repelled the efforts of the Russians, forced them to
retreat, and disorganized the coalition. Brune also defeated the duke of
York in Holland, obliged him to re-embark, and to renounce his attempted
invasion. The army of Italy alone had been less fortunate. It had lost its
general, Joubert, killed at the battle of Novi, while leading a charge on
the Austro-Russians. But this frontier, which was at a distance from the
centre of action, despite the defeat of Novi, was not crossed, and
Championnet ably defended it. It was soon to be repassed by the republican
troops, who, after each resumption of arms, having been for a moment
beaten, soon regained their superiority and recommenced their victories.
Europe, by giving additional exercise to the military power, by its
repeated attacks, rendered it each time more triumphant.
But at home nothing was changed. Divisions, discontent, and anxiety were
the same as before. The struggle between the moderate republicans and the
extreme republicans had become more determined. Sieyès pursued his
projects against the latter. In the Champ-de-Mars, on the 10th of August,
he assailed the Jacobins. Lucien Bonaparte, who had much influence in the
council of five hundred, from his character, his talents, and the military
importance of the conqueror of Italy and of Egypt, drew in that assembly a
fearful picture of the reign of terror, and said that France was
threatened with its return. About the same time, Sieyès caused Bernadotte
to be dismissed, and Fouché, in concert with him, closed the meetings of
the Manège. The multitude, to whom it is only necessary to present the
phantom of the past to inspire it with fear, sided with the moderate
party, dreading the return of the reign of terror; and the extreme
republicans failed in their endeavour to declare _la patrie en danger_, as
they had done at the close of the legislative assembly. But Sieyès, after
having lost Joubert, sought for a general who could enter into his
designs, and who would protect the republic, without becoming its
oppressor. Hoche had been dead more than a year. Moreau had given rise to
suspicion by his equivocal conduct to the directory before the 18th
Fructidor, and by the sudden denunciation of his old friend Pichegru,
whose treason he had kept secret for a whole year; Masséna was not a
political general; Bernadotte and Jourdan were devoted to the party of the
Manège; Sieyès was compelled to postpone his scheme for want of a suitable
agent.
Bonaparte had learned in the east, from his brother Lucien and a few other
friends, the state of affairs in France, and the decline of the
directorial government. His expedition had been brilliant, but without
results. After having defeated the Mamelukes, and ruined their power in
Upper and Lower Egypt, he had advanced into Syria; but the failure of the
siege of Acre had compelled him to return to his first conquest. There,
after defeating an Ottoman army on the coast of Aboukir, so fatal to the
French fleet the preceding year, he decided on leaving that land of exile
and fame, in order to turn the new crisis in France to his own elevation.
He left general Kléber to command the army of the east, and crossed the
Mediterranean, then covered with English ships, in a frigate. He
disembarked at Fréjus, on the 7th Vendémiaire, year VIII. (9th October,
1799), nineteen days after the battle of Berghen, gained by Brune over the
Anglo-Russians under the duke of York, and fourteen days after that of
Zurich, gained by Masséna over the Austro-Russians under Korsakov and
Suvorov. He traversed France, from the shore of the Mediterranean to
Paris, in triumph. His expedition, almost fabulous, had struck the public
mind with surprise, and had still more increased the great renown he had
acquired by the conquest of Italy. These two enterprises had raised him
above all the other generals of the republic. The distance of the theatre
upon which he had fought enabled him to begin his career of independence
and authority. A victorious general, an acknowledged and obeyed
negotiator, a creator of republics, he had treated all interests with
skill, all creeds with moderation. Preparing afar off his ambitious
destiny, he had not made himself subservient to any system, and had
managed all parties so as to work his elevation with their assent. He had
entertained this idea of usurpation since his victories in Italy. On the
18th Fructidor, had the directory been conquered by the councils, he
purposed marching against the latter with his army and seizing the
protectorate of the republic. After the 18th Fructidor; finding the
directory too powerful, and the inactivity of the continent too dangerous
for him, he accepted the expedition to Egypt, that he might not fall, and
might not be forgotten. At the news of the disorganization of the
directory, on the 30th Prairial, he repaired with haste to the scene of
events.
His arrival excited the enthusiasm of the moderate masses of the nation.
He received general congratulations, and every party contended for his
favour. Generals, directors, deputies, and even the republicans of the
Manège, waited on and tried to sound him. Fêtes and banquets were given in
his honour. His manners were grave, simple, cool, and observing; he had
already a tone of condescending familiarity and involuntary habits of
command. Notwithstanding his want of earnestness and openness, he had an
air of self-possession, and it was easy to read in him an after-thought of
conspiracy. Without uttering his design, he allowed it to be guessed;
because a thing must always be expected in order to be accomplished. He
could not seek supporters in the republicans of the Manège, as they
neither wished for a coup-d'état nor for a dictator; and Sieyès feared
that he was too ambitious to fall in with his constitutional views. Hence
Sieyès hesitated to open his mind to Bonaparte, but, urged by their mutual
friends, they at length met and concerted together. On the 15th Brumaire,
they determined on their plan of attack on the constitution of the year
III, Sieyès undertook to prepare the councils by the _commissions of
inspectors,_ who placed unlimited confidence in him. Bonaparte was to gain
the generals and the different corps of troops stationed in Paris, who
displayed much enthusiasm for him and much attachment to his person. They
agreed to convoke an extraordinary meeting of the moderate members of the
councils, to describe the public danger to the Ancients, and by urging the
ascendancy of Jacobinism to demand the removal of the legislative body to
Saint-Cloud, and the appointment of general Bonaparte to the command of
the armed force, as the only man able to save the country; and then, by
means of the new military power, to obtain the dismissal of the directory,
and the temporary dissolution of the legislative body. The enterprise was
fixed for the morning of the 18th Brumaire (9th November).
During these three days, the secret was faithfully kept, Barras, Moulins,
and Gohier, who formed the majority of the directory, of which Gohier was
then president, might have frustrated the coup-d'état of the conspirators
by forestalling them, as on the 18th Fructidor. But they gave them credit
for hopes only, and not for any decided projects. On the morning of the
18th, the members of the ancients were convoked in an unusual way by the
_inspectors;_ they repaired to the Tuileries, and the debate was opened
about seven in the morning under the presidentship of Lemercier. Cornudet,
Lebrun, and Fargues, the three most influential conspirators in the
council, drew a most alarming picture of the state of public affairs;
protesting that the Jacobins were flocking in crowds to Paris from all the
departments; that they wished to re-establish the revolutionary
government, and that a reign of terror would once more desolate the
republic, if the council had not the courage and wisdom to prevent its
return. Another conspirator, Régnier de la Meurthe, required of the
ancients already moved, that in virtue of the right conferred on them by
the constitution, they should transfer the legislative body to Saint
Cloud, and depute Bonaparte, nominated by them to the command of the 17th
military division, to superintend the removal. Whether all the members of
the council were accomplices of this manoeuvre, or whether they were
terrified by so hasty convocation, and by speeches so alarming, they
instantly granted what the conspirators required.
Bonaparte awaited with impatience the result of this deliberation, at his
house in the Rue Chantereine; he was surrounded by generals, by Lefèvre,
the commander of the guard of the directory, and by three regiments of
cavalry which he was about to review. The decree of the council of
ancients was passed about eight, and brought to him at half-past eight by
a state messenger. He received the congratulations of all around him; the
officers drew their swords as a sign of fidelity. He put himself at their
head, and they marched to the Tuileries; he appeared at the bar of the
ancients, took the oath of fidelity, and appointed as his lieutenant,
Lefèvre, chief of the directorial guard.
This was, however, only a beginning of success. Bonaparte was at the head
of the armed force; but the executive power of the directory and the
legislative power of the councils still existed. In the struggle which
would infallibly ensue, it was not certain that the great and hitherto
victorious force of the revolution would not triumph. Sieyès and Roger
Ducos went from the Luxembourg to the legislative and military camp of the
Tuileries, and gave in their resignation. Barras, Moulins, and Gohier,
apprised on their side, but a little too late, of what was going on,
wished to employ their power and make themselves sure of their guard; but
the latter, having received from Bonaparte information of the decree of
the ancients, refused to obey them. Barras, discouraged, sent in his
resignation, and departed for his estate of Gros-Bois. The directory was,
in fact, dissolved; and there was one antagonist less in the struggle. The
five hundred and Bonaparte alone remained opposed.
The decree of the council of ancients and the proclamations of Bonaparte
were placarded on the walls of Paris. The agitation which accompanies
extraordinary events prevailed in that great city. The republicans, and
not without reason, felt serious alarm for the fate of liberty. But when
they showed alarm respecting the intentions of Bonaparte, in whom they
beheld a Caesar, or a Cromwell, they were answered in the general's own
words: "_Bad parts, worn out parts, unworthy a man of sense, even if they
were not so of a good man. It would be sacrilege to attack representative
government in this age of intelligence and freedom. He would be but a fool
who, with lightness of heart, could wish to cause the loss of the stakes
of the republic against royalty after having supported them with some
glory and peril_." Yet the importance he gave himself in his proclamations
was ominous. He reproached the directory with the situation of France in a
most extraordinary way. "What have you done," said he, "with that France
which I left so flourishing in your hands? I left you peace, I find you at
war; I left you victories, I find nothing but reverses; I left you the
millions of Italy, I find nothing but plundering laws and misery. What
have you done with the hundred thousand Frenchmen whom I knew, my
companions in glory? They are dead! This state of things cannot last; in
less than three years it would lead us to despotism." This was the first
time for ten years that a man had ventured to refer everything to himself;
and to demand an account of the republic, as of his own property. It is a
painful surprise to see a new comer of the revolution introduce himself
thus into the inheritance, so laboriously acquired, of an entire people.
On the 19th Brumaire the members of the councils repaired to Saint Cloud;
Sieyès and Roger Ducos accompanied Bonaparte to this new field of battle;
they went thither with the intention of supporting the designs of the
conspirators; Sieyès, who understood the tactics of revolution, wished to
make sure of events by provisionally arresting the leaders, and only
admitting the moderate party into the councils; but Bonaparte refused to
accede to this. He was no party man; having hitherto acted and conquered
with regiments only, he thought he could direct legislative councils like
an army, by the word of command. The gallery of Mars had been prepared for
the ancients, the Orangery for the five hundred. A considerable armed
force surrounded the seat of the legislature, as the multitude, on the 2nd
of June, had surrounded the convention. The republicans, assembled in
groups in the grounds, waited the opening of the sittings; they were
agitated with a generous indignation against the military brutalism that
threatened them, and communicated to each other their projects of
resistance. The young general, followed by a few grenadiers, passed
through the courts and apartments, and prematurely yielding to his
character, he said, like the twentieth king of a dynasty: "_I will have no
more factions: there must be an end to this; I absolutely will not have
any more of it_," About two o'clock in the afternoon, the councils
assembled in their respective halls, to the sound of instruments which
played the _Marseillaise_.
As soon as the business of the sitting commenced, Emile Gaudin, one of the
conspirators, ascended the tribune of the five hundred. He proposed a vote
of thanks to the council of ancients for the measures it had taken, and to
request it to expound the means of saving the republic. This motion was
the signal for a violent tumult; cries arose against Gaudin from every
part of the hall. The republican deputies surrounded the tribune and the
bureau, at which Lucien Bonaparte presided. The conspirators Cabanis,
Boulay (de la Meurthe), Chazal, Gaudin, etc., turned pale on their seats.
After a long scene of agitation, during which no one could obtain a
hearing, calm was restored for a few moments, and Delbred proposed that
the oath made to the constitution of the year III. should be renewed. As
no one opposed this motion, which at such a juncture was of vital
importance, the oath was taken with an enthusiasm and unanimity which was
dangerous to the conspiracy.
Bonaparte, learning what had passed in the five hundred, and in the
greatest danger of desertion and defeat, presented himself at the council
of ancients. All would have been lost for him, had the latter, in favour
of the conspiracy, been carried away by the enthusiasm of the younger
council. "Representatives of the people," said he, "you are in no ordinary
situation; you stand on a volcano. Yesterday, when you summoned me to
inform me of the decree for your removal, and charged me with its
execution, I was tranquil. I immediately assembled my comrades; we flew to
your aid! Well, now I am overwhelmed with calumnies! They talk of Caesar,
Cromwell, and military government! Had I wished to oppress the liberty of
my country, I should not have attended to the orders which you gave me; I
should not have had any occasion to receive this authority from your
hands. Representatives of the people! I swear to you that the country has
not a more zealous defender than I am; but its safety rests with you
alone! There is no longer a government; four of the directors have given
in their resignation; the fifth (Moulins) has been placed under
surveillance for his own security; the council of five hundred is divided;
nothing is left but the council of ancients. Let it adopt measures; let it
but speak; I am ready to execute. Let us save liberty! let us save
equality!" Linglet, a republican, then arose and said: "General, we
applaud what you say: swear with us to obey the constitution of the year
III., which alone can maintain the republic." All would have been lost for
him had this motion met with the same reception which it had found in the
five hundred. It surprised the council, and for a moment Bonaparte was
disconcerted. But he soon resumed: "The constitution of the year III. has
ceased to exist; you violated it on the 18th Fructidor; you violated it on
the 22nd Floréal; you violated it on the 30th Prairial. The constitution
is invoked by all factions, and violated by all; it cannot be a means of
safety for us, because it no longer obtains respect from any one; the
constitution being violated, we must have another compact, new
guarantees." The council applauded these reproaches of Bonaparte, and rose
in sign of approbation.
Bonaparte, deceived by his easy success with the ancients, imagined that
his presence alone would suffice to appease the stormy council of the five
hundred. He hastened thither at the head of a few grenadiers, whom he left
at the door, but within the hall, and he advanced alone, hat in hand. At
the sight of the bayonets, the assembly arose with a sudden movement. The
legislators, conceiving his entrance to be a signal for military violence,
uttered all at once the cry of "Outlaw him! Down with the dictator!"
Several members rushed to meet him, and the republican, Bigonet, seizing
him by the arm, exclaimed, "Rash man! what are you doing? Retire; you are
violating the sanctuary of the laws." Bonaparte, pale and agitated,
receded, and was carried off by the grenadiers who had escorted him there.
His disappearance did not put a stop to the agitation of the council. All
the members spoke at once, all proposed measures of public safety and
defence. Lucien Bonaparte was the object of general reproach; he attempted
to justify his brother, but with timidity. After a long struggle, he
succeeded in reaching the tribune, and urged the assembly to judge his
brother with less severity. He protested that he had no design against
their liberty; and recalled his services. But several voices immediately
exclaimed: "He has lost all their merit; down with the dictator! down with
the tyrants!" The tumult now became more violent than ever; and all
demanded the outlawry of general Bonaparte. "What," said Lucien, "do you
wish me to pronounce the outlawry of my brother?" "Yes! yes! outlawry! it
is the reward of tyrants!" In the midst of the confusion, a motion was
made and put to the vote that the council should sit permanently; that it
should instantly repair to its palace at Paris; that the troops assembled
at Saint Cloud should form a part of the guard of the legislative body;
that the command of them should be given to general Bernadotte. Lucien,
astounded by these propositions, and by the outlawry, which he thought had
been adopted with the rest, left the president's chair, and ascending the
tribune, said, in the greatest agitation: "Since I cannot be heard in this
assembly, I put off the symbols of the popular magistracy with a deep
sense of insulted dignity." And he took off his cap, robe, and scarf.
Bonaparte, meantime, on leaving the council of the five hundred, had found
some difficulty in regaining his composure. Unaccustomed to scenes of
popular tumult, he had been greatly agitated. His officers came around
him; and Sieyès, having more revolutionary experience, besought him not to
lose time, and to employ force. General Lefèvre immediately gave an order
for carrying off Lucien from the council. A detachment entered the hall,
advanced to the chair which Lucien now occupied again, placed him in their
ranks, and returned with him to the troops. As soon as Lucien came out, he
mounted a horse by his brother's side, and although divested of his legal
character, harangued the troops as president. In concert with Bonaparte,
he invented the story, so often repeated since, that poignards had been
drawn on the general in the council of five hundred, and exclaimed:
"Citizen soldiers, the president of the council of five hundred declares
to you that the large majority of that council is at this moment kept in
fear by the daggers of a few representatives, who surround the tribune,
threaten their colleagues with death, and occasion the most terrible
deliberations. General, and you, soldiers and citizens, you will only
recognise as legislators of France those who follow me. As for those who
remain in the Orangery, let force expel them. Those brigands are no longer
representatives of the people, but representatives of the poignard." After
this violent appeal, addressed to the troops by a conspirator president,
who, as usual, calumniated those he wished to proscribe, Bonaparte spoke:
"Soldiers," said he, "I have led you to victory; may I rely on you?"--
"Yes! yes! Vive le Général!"--"Soldiers, there were reasons for expecting
that the council of five hundred would save the country; on the contrary,
it is given up to intestine quarrels; agitators seek to excite it against
me. Soldiers, may I rely on you?" "Yes! yes! Vive Bonaparte." "Well,
then, I will bring them to their senses!" And he instantly gave orders to
the officers surrounding him to clear the hall of the five hundred.
The council, after Lucien's departure, had been a prey to great anxiety
and indecision. A few members proposed that they should leave the place in
a body, and go to Paris to seek protection amidst the people. Others
wished the national representatives not to forsake their post, but to
brave the outrages of force. In the meantime, a troop of grenadiers
entered the hall by degrees, and the officer in command informed the
council that they should disperse. The deputy Prudhon reminded the officer
and his soldiers of the respect due to the representatives of the people;
general Jourdan also represented to them the enormity of such a measure.
For a moment the troops hesitated; but a reinforcement now arrived in
close column. General Leclerc exclaimed: "In the name of general
Bonaparte, the legislative body is dissolved; let all good citizens
retire. Grenadiers, forward!" Cries of indignation arose from every side;
but these were drowned by the drums. The grenadiers advanced slowly across
the whole width of the Orangery, and presenting bayonets. In this way they
drove the legislators before them, who continued shouting, "Vive la
république!" as they left the place. At half-past five, on the 19th
Brumaire of the year VIII. (10th November, 1799) there was no longer a
representation.
Thus this violation of the law, this coup-d'état against liberty was
accomplished. Force began to sway. The 18th of Brumaire was the 31st of
May of the army against the representation, except that it was not
directed against a party, but against the popular power. But it is just to
distinguish the 18th Brumaire from its consequences. It might then be
supposed that the army was only an auxiliary of the revolution as it had
been on the 13th Vendémiaire and the 18th Fructidor, and that this
indispensable change would not turn to the advantage of a man--a single
man, who would soon change France into a regiment, and cause nothing to be
heard of in a world hitherto agitated by so great a moral commotion, save
the tread of his army, and the voice of his will.
THE CONSULATE