NAPOLEON TAKES THE LEAD--SIÈYES AND DUCOS ARE DEPOSED--CAMBACÉRÈS
AND LEBRUN NAMED SECOND AND THIRD CONSULS--NAPOLEON’S LETTER TO
GEORGE THE THIRD--REPLY TO SAME.
Napoleon had now got his foot fairly on the ladder, but it was he
alone who was to mount it. At the first meeting of the Consuls, Sièyes
asked, ‘Which of us is to preside?’ Ducos had grasped the position, and
replied, ‘Do you not see that the General presides?’
There is a caricature by Cawse (November 30, 1799) of ‘Satan’s
return from Egypt/Earth. Discovered in Council with
Belzebub and Belial--a Sketch after Fuseli[53]!!!’ Here Napoleon
forms the centre figure, one foot resting on a skull, the other on
the Marseillaise hymn and the Council of Five Hundred. Behind him is
a glory, with a trinity formed of three daggers--Sièyes, Ducos, and
Buonaparte. Devils surround him, and, at his feet, is a howling French
mob.
Our hero, now, the people guided,
And a new government provided.
First Consul, _modestly_ he claim’d,
Two others were Sub-Consuls named;
But these were not in Boney’s way,
For the first Consul had full sway.
And now these Consuls took an oath,
For Nap to swear was never loth.
Thus elevated, Josephine
Imagin’d she would be a queen;
But she by Nap was harshly told,
That six and forty was too old;
His mother, who the lady hated,
Advised him to be separated;
By her persuasions, Nap, of course
Began to think of a divorce.
He ponder’d ev’ry afternoon,
And rubbing once his forehead, soon
The lady’s banishment decreed,
Because--their tempers disagreed.
In fact, her faults he recollected,
And her caresses now rejected.
But, as ’twill not improve our morals,
We’ll pass these matrimonial quarrels.
As Nap a love of pow’r betray’d,
He great munificence display’d;
For he rewarded with donations,
His friends, especially relations.
He to his mother acted handsome,
As he bestowed on her a grand sum;
For Joe, and Lucien, he provided,
Who, at this time, in France resided--
How suddenly success awaits men!
Both Joe, and Lucien, he made Statesmen.
It was not probable that Napoleon would rest contented with the
provisional position he occupied. A fresh government had to be
constituted, of which he must be the head: and so the Constitution of
December 13 was manufactured, and afterwards passed into law. Article
23 provided, ‘The sittings of the Senate are not to be public.’ Article
24, ‘The Citizens Sièyes, and Roger Ducos, the Consuls quitting their
functions, are appointed members of the Conservative Senate. They shall
assemble along with the second and third Consuls nominated by the
present Constitution. These four Citizens shall appoint the Majority
of the Senate, which shall then complete itself, and proceed to the
elections entrusted to it.’
Article 39. ‘The Government is entrusted to three Consuls appointed
for ten years, and indefinitely re-eligible. Each of them is to be
elected individually with the distinct quality of Chief, Second, or
Third Consul. The first time the Third Consul shall only be named
for five years. For the present time General Bonaparte is appointed
Chief Consul, Citizen Cambaceres, now Minister of Justice, Second
Consul, and Citizen Lebrun, Member of the Committee of Antients,
Third Consul.’ Article 41. ‘The Chief Consul is to promulgate the
laws: he is to name and revoke at pleasure the Members of the Council
of State; the Ministers, Ambassadors, and other principal foreign
agents, the officers of the army by land and sea, the members of
local administration and the Commissioners of the Government at the
Tribunals. He is to appoint all Judges, Criminal and Civil, as well as
Justices of the Peace, and the Judges of Cassation, without the power
of afterwards revoking them.’ Article 43. ‘The salary of the Chief
Consul shall be 500,000 francs for the 8th year’ (ending September
22, 1800). ‘The salary of the other two Consuls shall be equal to
three-tenths of that of the first.’ So that we see Napoleon fully knew
how to take care of himself.
On January 1, 1800, Gillray published ‘The French Triumvirate settling
the New Constitution’--and mighty wise they look. (See next page.)
In the year 1799, Consols ranged from 55 in January to 62¼, the closing
price in December. Bread, however, was dear, the average of the
quartern loaf being 13_d._
It was in the latter part of this year that Napoleon notified to
George the Third his elevation to the dignity of First Consul, and
appropriately chose Christmas Day on which to date his letter, which
breathed (sincerely or not) ‘Peace on earth, goodwill towards men.’
[Illustration:
CAMBACERES. LE-BRUN. BUONAPARTE.
]
Bonaparte, First Consul of the Republic, to His Majesty the King of
Great Britain and Ireland.
Paris 5 Nivôse year VIII. of the Republic.
Called by the wishes of the French Nation to occupy the first
magistracy of the French Republic, I deem it desirable, in
entering on its functions, to make a direct communication to
your Majesty.
Must The War, which for four years, has ravaged every part
of the world, be eternal? Are there no means of coming to an
understanding?
How can the two most enlightened nations of Europe, more
powerful and stronger than is necessary for their safety and
independence, sacrifice to the idea of a vain grandeur, the
benefits of commerce, of internal prosperity, and domestic
happiness? How is it they do not feel that peace is as glorious
as necessary?
These sentiments cannot be strangers to the heart of your
Majesty, who rules over a free nation, with no other view than
to render them happy.
Your Majesty will only see in this overture my sincere desire
to effectually contribute to a general pacification, by a
prompt step, free and untrammeled by those forms, which,
necessary, perhaps, to disguise the apprehensions of feeble
states, only prove in the case of strong ones, the mutual
desire to deceive.
France and England, by abusing their strength, may for a long
time yet, to the misery of all other nations, defer the moment
of their absolute exhaustion; but I will venture to say that
the fate of all civilised nations, depends on the end of a war
which envelopes the whole world.
signed BONAPARTE.
The British Government did not quite see it, but considered that the
claws of the French eagle required yet more cutting. They had been
partially operated on at the Nile, and at Acre. Italy was no longer
under French rule. Suwarrow’s victories had severely crippled the
French, who were, besides, very weak financially. Add to this, that
there were 140,000 Austrians gathering along the Rhine. But still it
was judged they were yet too sharp for the peace of Europe.
The answer from the English Court,
Vex’d Nap, according to report:
’Twas to the Minister address’d,
It being candidly confess’d
That there appear’d not the least cause
To break through ceremonial laws;
In this his Majesty agreed,
Peace was desirable indeed,
If that his Majesty were able
T’ obtain one permanent and stable;
But that at present there was poor hope
For England, and indeed for Europe,
Till France her lawful princes own’d
The Bourbons--whom she had dethron’d.
This, really, was the tenor of Lord Grenville’s reply, dated January 4,
1800, which is far too long, and uninteresting, to reproduce.
Gillray caricatured this letter of Napoleon’s (February 24, 1800)
in ‘_The Apples and the Horse dung, or Buonaparte among the Golden
Pippins_; from an old Fable. Explanation.--Some horse dung being
washed by the current from a neighbouring dunghill, espied a number
of fair apples swimming up the stream, when, wishing to be thought
of consequence, the horse dung would every moment be bawling out,
“Lack-a-day, how we apples swim!” _See_ Buonaparte’s “Letter to his
Majesty,” and Mr. Whitbread’s “Remarks upon the Correspondence between
Crowned Heads.”’ Although Gillray did not choose a very savoury subject
to illustrate his caricature, yet there is much humour in it.