[Footnote 13: The newspapers of the period. Napoleon's
Correspondence and Commentaries. Aulard: Le lendemain du 18
Brumaire and Registre de deliberations du Consulat
provisoire. The memoirs of Lafayette, Marmont, Gaudin, Hyde
de Neuville, Tercier, and Pasquier. Montier: Robert Lindet.
The letters of Charles de Constant and of Mme. Reinhard. The
works of Roederer. Albert: Napoleon et les theatres
populaires. Lecomte: Napoleon et l'empire racontes par le
theatre. Schmidt: Tableaux de la Revolution. Mallet du Pan:
La Revolution vue de l'etranger. Sloane: The French
Revolution and Religious Reform, in which volume of the
author will be found references to many of the original
sources for our information concerning the restoration of the
Roman Catholic Church in France.]
BONAPARTE THE FIRST CONSUL
Bonaparte's Position -- The Absence of Enthusiasm -- The
Provisional Consulate -- Measures of Security -- The New
Constitution -- An Autocratic Executive -- The Plebiscite --
Bonaparte the First Consul -- New Officials -- Efforts to Appease
the Church -- The Feeling in France -- Confidence Restored --
Financial Stability.
When Bonaparte returned to Paris on the evening of the eighteenth of
Brumaire he was the arbiter of French destiny; for the great powers of
government, both executive and legislative, were in the hands of
himself and his creatures. To the multitude it was not, perhaps, much
of a feat to disperse by force a legislature which rested on force,
and by means of the army to turn the tables on the very Jacobins who
had themselves been ever ready to appeal to the army. Moreover, in
their minds another constitution more or less was of small importance:
the next one would doubtless be only a rearrangement of the old
devices. The Revolution was in the hands of its friends, and the
world must go its way. Talleyrand and the royalists understood that
the day's work had turned the oligarchy of the Directory into a
powerful monarchy of some kind: a temporary one, they hoped, which
would enable them eventually to bring back the Bourbons.
But Napoleon Bonaparte was, as ever, wise in his generation, and, as
he understood himself, knew that though both these notions were
illusory, he must proceed cautiously. As a gambler he had staked
everything, and had won: he meant to pocket the stakes. But yet how
narrowly had he won! The shouts of "traitor" and "outlaw" were still
in his ears; no doubt the terrible alternative to his perilous escape
was in his mind. Though determined to go on, he was nevertheless
sobered. There was temporary exultation in the army and the people. He
knew that among the latter it would soon die out, as it did. Already
it was rumored that although Mme. Bonaparte had been in pecuniary
straits, her husband had thirty millions on deposit in various banks.
This was certainly untrue, because the general had recourse to the
brokers of Paris for the funds needed to reward his abettors. The
merciless extortion of the lenders engendered in him a bitterness
against their class which he entertained to the latest day of his
life. It was estimated that the day had cost him one and a half
millions; every man under his command had received a new uniform,
twelve francs in cash, and a drink of spirits; the rest was spent in
rewarding his generals and political supporters. The constitutional
and moderate republicans felt that their cause and the fate of the
nation were in the balance. The royalists were the only faction which
would have been glad to see Bonaparte usurp the power at once. He and
his friends understood that a nation still infatuated with the
Revolution in theory must be led by a parade of constitutional
measures.
The mutilated chambers began work on the very night of their
reassembling at St. Cloud. Lucien harangued them on the familiar theme
of Roman liberties, recalling the commonwealth in which the consular
fasces had been the symbol of freedom. The country would approve and
its enemies would be disarmed if these insignia should again be
displayed. Boulay de la Meurthe presented the temporary plan: a
provisional consulate composed of Bonaparte, Sieyes, and Roger-Ducos;
the adjournment of the legislature until February twentieth, 1800; the
appointment of two committees of twenty-five, one from each council,
to aid the consuls in the proposed renovation; the proscription of
fifty-seven delegates who had made themselves obnoxious. To preserve
the appearance of legality and historic continuity, the committee from
the Five Hundred was to propose, that of the Ancients to adopt; the
new constitution must uphold the one and indivisible republic, respect
popular sovereignty, and secure representative government with the
division of powers, while property, liberty, and equality must be
guaranteed beyond a peradventure. After a formal declaration that the
Directory had ceased to exist, each of these measures was duly adopted
by both houses in turn, and the consuls were sworn in, promising
unswerving fidelity to popular sovereignty, to the French republic one
and indivisible, to liberty and equality, and to representative
government. With a resolution that Bonaparte had that day deserved
well of his country, the chambers adjourned at an early hour in the
morning. When the sun rose over Paris and France, the land had found
its despot; to all appearances he was to be a beneficent despot. The
consuls met that very day in the Luxembourg palace: the general's
name came first in alphabetical order, and on the suggestion of
Roger-Ducos he took the presidency and the executive for the
twenty-four hours, the others to follow in turn. Their first work was
the construction of a provisional ministry: three of the old members
were without discussion retained: Cambaceres for justice, Bourdon for
the navy, and Reinhard for foreign affairs. Dubois-Crance was replaced
by Berthier for war, Robert Lindet by Gaudin for finance, Quinette by
Laplace for the interior. There was much debate concerning Fouche as
minister of police, but on Bonaparte's urgent representations he was
reappointed. It was rumored that the Jacobins intended to rally at
Toulouse, and Lannes was ordered to take command in that city at once.
To the public a simple and safe announcement was issued, promising
better days for the republic.
The men and measures worked well. A treasury absolutely depleted was
slowly replenished by the practice of simple honesty; a disintegrated
military force was cautiously reassembled and brought into order, but
the garrison of Paris was not enlarged above nine thousand men, and
there was no show of force. The Bonaparte family moved into the
Luxembourg, but its head appeared always in civilian garb. He was much
abroad, visiting and conversing with men of science, letters, and
finance. Thoroughly restored in balance of mind, he did and said kind
things, joking about the scenes of St. Cloud, and explaining away the
unhappy words he had uttered. His sayings were repeated far and near,
and within a few days there were throngs of influential visitors in
his parlors. It may well be believed that shrewd observers noted his
appearance and manners, his hollow cheeks, pale face, stern brow; his
insatiate, all-embracing curiosity, keen questionings, and tactful
rejoinders, the irresistible magnetism of his vigor, his mind, and
his youth. The family connections were not in evidence; Lucien
especially was kept in the background. There were no oracular
statements, no boastful professions, yet every one felt profoundly
that the consuls were a force, an active force, saying little, toiling
to exhaustion, and that results of importance would emerge in due
time. Indeed the ameliorations of administration were in evidence from
the very first.
The industry of Sieyes and Bonaparte was indeed unexampled. There was
friction, but one was indispensable to the other; they must work
together, and the supple Talleyrand was then to keep the peace.
Sieyes's "perfect" constitution propounded a singularly cumbersome
plan of government, but it contained much that was Bonaparte's own,
and therefore suited to Bonaparte's purposes. It was accordingly taken
as a starting-point. In the end, the document actually adopted and
promulgated proved to be outwardly similar but inwardly antipodal to
that of Sieyes. While skilfully blinding all classes to its
possibilities as an instrument for controlling the nation by a central
power, its provisions were perfectly adapted to conciliate every
faction except that of the Jacobins, who were by flight or conversion
to all intents annihilated. Sixty-two members of the Five Hundred were
deposed. The rest, as a reward for their late complacency, were
invited in the name of the public welfare to accept office as foreign
ministers, or diplomatic agents, and, in some cases, as government
representatives in the provinces; their position as delegates was not
to be jeopardized by acceptance. The purpose of this was to remove the
majority of the old republican politicians from Paris, under the guise
of compensating them for past service. Sieyes's great fundamental
notion was to secure the form of popular representation without its
substance,--"confidence coming from below," as he expressed it, "power
coming from above." In order to secure this he had devised a plan
nearly identical with that laid down to Talleyrand by Bonaparte three
years before. It was adopted for the new constitution. Every one of
the five million citizens of France was to have a vote. From among
them one in every ten was to be chosen by universal suffrage to be a
candidate for local office; this formed the "communal list." These
"notables of the communes" were then to choose one in ten of their
number as a "notable of the department," a candidate for departmental
office, thus constituting the "departmental list"; and these, in turn,
one in every ten of their number as "notables of France," candidates
for the national legislature and the higher offices of state, thus
forming the "national list." From among these last the administration
and the senate, by the exercise of the appointing power, were to
select the great officers of state. This was Bonaparte's popular
representation, "without eyes, ears, or power."
The legislative was also to be silent and powerless. It was divided
into council, tribunate, legislature, and senate. The first, chosen at
will by the executive, had the initiative; in the second three
speakers might discuss the measures proposed, but no vote could be
taken; in the third there was no discussion, but the members voted;
the fourth was also mute, but it had the veto power. All except the
senate were to sit with closed doors, and publicity was to be
controlled by the administration. Sieyes had a plan whereby a chief
magistrate, to be called the "great elector," should be chosen by the
senators, since they also chose the representatives of the people from
the elected candidates. This titled personage was to appoint all civil
and military functionaries, together with two consuls to overlook the
administration. Bonaparte contemptuously wondered how any man "of some
talent and a little honor would consent to play the part of a hog to
be fatted on so and so many millions." He called on Daunou for
suggestions, but that ardent republican desired both a strong
executive and a strong direct expression of the popular will. The new
autocrat felt that the latter must be avoided at any cost, and
proposed, through one of his creatures, an executive of three consuls,
of whom the first should serve for ten years and be the head of the
state. His should be the right to execute the laws, and his alone the
appointing power. Since he was to nominate the members of the council
of state, he should also have the power to initiate legislation. In
case of need he might act by administrative process; that is, he might
legalize any regulation whatsoever as an administrative necessity. He
might rule by decree. This centralizing engine of despotism was made
complete by a system of prefects modeled on that of the royal
intendants, and intended to be the copestone of the structure. It was
adopted, and still prevails in republican France. In every
administrative division of town or country the local councils, under
stringent regulations as to the scope of their deliberations and
decisions, were intrusted to the charge of a prefect. This petty
dictator was the sworn servant of the central power, appointed or
removed by it at pleasure. Through these men the hand of the First
Consul was on every hamlet, village, town, and city. In fact, even the
mayors of the great towns were his appointees.
[Illustration: Napoleon Exposition, 1895
NAPOLEON WORKING BY THE GLIMMER OF THE LAMP
From sketch by Ingres, belonging to M. Germain Bapst.]
This monstrous but marvelous charter, though nominally prepared by
them, was offered for discussion neither to the two committees nor to
the councils themselves. During the weeks spent in its elaboration,
the nation was skilfully prepared for its reception. In the capital a
proscription list drawn up by the wily Fouche, as police minister, was
by a studied inadvertence put into reporters' hands. It contained a
jumble of names, gentle and simple, criminal and innocent, friend and
foe, and was absurd on its face. No one would assume the
responsibility, though it was said to have emanated from the police
prematurely and irregularly. The consuls, especially Bonaparte,
displayed a most engaging activity in erasing one name after another,
until nothing of importance remained. By the ordinary course of
criminal procedure a few notorious characters were removed from the
scene; the persons of importance who were menaced made grateful
submission and joined the ranks of the trusty, notably Jourdan. As
news came in from the departments it became clear that Jacobinism was
everywhere discomfited and could be neglected. The scanty garrisons
and the administrative functionaries were all with the new government,
the people of the cities and towns were enthusiastic. The horrors and
terrors of the passing regime had moderated for the time the frenzies
of the royalist party. Indeed, moderation became the watchword.
France, in the parlance of the hour, was to drink the waters of Lethe.
The example was given in Paris and twenty-four choice men were sent
one into each of the military departments to exhibit and emphasize the
fact, to study and mold public opinion. They were mostly men of the
older regime, who had heartily accepted the consular idea. They worked
faithfully and successfully. None knew as yet the provisions of the
new constitution, though all approved its provisions, whatever they
were, because they must be better than those of the old. On December
fifteenth, 1799, six weeks after the completion of the document, it
was presented directly to the nation at large, under the proposal
of a national or popular decree--a plebiscite. Those then living were
amazed at the general apathy, only about three million votes having
been cast. To us it appears as if the whole people were in a plague of
Egyptian darkness. As each voter could but adhere to or dissent from
the proposition for the adoption of the constitution as offered, the
result was an overwhelming approval, the negative votes being only one
thousand five hundred and sixty-seven in number.
On December twenty-second, before the result of the plebiscite was
known, the new charter was put in operation. It is difficult to
determine exactly the composition of the assembly which met at the
Luxembourg palace to determine who should be the permanent consuls.
According to an anecdote of the time, Sieyes opened its proceedings by
explaining the dangers of a military despotism should the First Consul
be a soldier. Bonaparte impressively whispered to his supporters that
they should scatter themselves throughout the room, and that when they
saw him take Sieyes's hand they should shout, "Bravo--Bonaparte!"
Then, stepping forward at the close of Sieyes's address, he assumed an
air of generous friendliness, and said, "Let us have no difference of
opinion, my friend; for my part, I vote for the Abbe Sieyes. For whom
do you vote?" Taken all aback, Sieyes murmured, "I vote for General
Bonaparte." Instantly the latter put out his hand, and the speaker
grasped it. "Bravo--Bonaparte!" rang from all sides, and Sieyes's
supporters joined in the shout. Thus, apparently by general consent,
the shrewd intriguer, as the story runs, was acclaimed First Consul.
At all events, Bonaparte took the office to himself without a question
on the part of the public. His two colleagues were to be chosen by the
constitutional committee. They named Daunou as one, but Bonaparte
threw the ballots into the fire. Sieyes obligingly presented two other
names,--"the right men," as he assured the committee,--Cambaceres and
Lebrun. The former was an eminent jurist, the latter the ablest
financier of his time. Both were appointed, and both rendered
excellent service to the Consulate. Sieyes had already been made
"keeper" of the Directory's secret funds,--six hundred thousand
francs,--which he called "une poire pour la soif." Soon afterward he
accepted from the First Consul the great estate of Crosne, and was
then relegated to obscurity as chief of the senate. The other great
officials were all appointed in much the same way. "The pike is eating
the two other fish," said Mme. Permon to the First Consul's mother
soon after.
The safeguard of so-called popular adhesion having been secured, the
next step was to adopt and execute a comprehensive policy of
conciliation. The royalist emigrants were encouraged to return,
provided they would accept the new power and lend it the grace of
their presence and manners. Amnesty was likewise proclaimed for the
victims of Fructidor. Gaudin, who had been an experienced financier
under the Bourbons, and had shown his mettle as provisional minister,
was put permanently in charge of the treasury. The moderate and able
Cambaceres became minister of justice, and Forfait undertook the navy.
Carnot, whose castigation of the Directory in his widely read defense
had done so much to undermine their prestige and hasten their fall,
was recalled and made minister of war. Talleyrand was forgiven for his
base desertion on the eve of the Egyptian expedition. As will be
recalled, it had been arranged that as the fleet left Toulon for
Alexandria he was to start for Constantinople in order to hoodwink
the Sultan and prevent the very resistance which afterward proved so
disastrous. But at the last moment he refused. In consequence of his
scandalous attempt to extort a bribe from the American envoys he was
forced to resign his office soon afterward, and he then sought
retirement to await results. There never was greed more dishonest than
his, a life more licentious, nor a deceit more subtle; but at the same
time he was the most adroit diplomat of an age devoted to diplomacy as
a political power, and more familiar with the intrigues of courts and
the aspirations of European dynasties than were any of his
contemporaries, unless possibly Metternich, who did not become
prominent until later. He was therefore indispensable, and was
reappointed minister of foreign affairs. The great Laplace had been
provisionally appointed minister of the interior; but so marked was
his unfitness for the post that he soon was transferred to the senate
and made way for Lucien Bonaparte.
But all this was little compared with the contemplated reconciliation
with the Church for which the way was now carefully prepared. Pius VI
had died a prisoner on French soil, and had been buried without honor.
Befitting memorial ceremonies having been performed, the priesthood
were released from the ban which the Jacobins had laid upon them. No
oath in support of the new charter was required from the many priests
who could not accept the civil constitution of the clergy, enacted in
1790; they could minister to their adherents without fear of
persecution; they at once returned from exile or emerged from their
hiding-places in large numbers. In the role of philosopher the First
Consul professed to see the necessity of the Church as the main prop
of a strong social organism and good government. As a far-seeing
schemer he clearly felt that military power was a stanch support, but
that in the end a firm moral foundation would likewise be needed in
the hearts of hundreds of thousands in Europe, who would bless the man
that should restore to them the institution which was the visible sign
of their hopes for eternity. This desirable affection and approbation
Bonaparte meant from the outset to secure. Had the scoffer, the
worshiper of science, the would-be Mohammedan prophet, himself
experienced a change of heart? Perhaps. Responsibility often breaks
down indifference.
This policy of tolerance was well understood to be an interim measure,
to be succeeded by a permanent settlement satisfactory to all the
faithful. Furthermore, the ban having been removed from the exiled
royalists as well, a number of emigrants had likewise returned: these
and their clergy soon conceived the idea that Bonaparte was preparing
a restoration of the monarchy, and would consider propositions for
reestablishing the close alliance of church and state, the identity
almost, which had been the one outstanding feature of French
absolutism. For this reason the insurrectionary West made overtures to
the First Consul, and emissaries were passed through the lines,
admitted to an audience, and permitted to state their case. Bonaparte
gave heed and attention. Andigne proved exacting and impossible, Hyde
was smooth and uncertain; it was only later that in Bernier, a simple
village priest, he found a man to his liking, shrewd and scheming, but
reasonable and efficient. He soon became an important agent in
resolving the knotty problem of restoring the West to French
nationality. Hitherto the rebels of lower Normandy and Brittany had
followed either the resident nobility, of whom Andigne and Frotte were
types, or peasant reactionaries like Georges Cadoudal, bold,
desperate, irreconcilable men who demanded either war or their king.
Bonaparte determined to ignore alike the high and the low, the
desperate men with everything to gain and little to lose; he therefore
appealed to the middle sort of gentle and simple through the
intermediation of Hedouville for the government and Bernier for the
people. The latter, accompanied by Count Bourmont, finally came to
Paris, and both were won, Bourmont to the undoing of Napoleon, as it
turned out. A method of pacification was arranged and soon put into
successful operation, largely through the superlative adroitness of
Bernier. Frotte was captured and executed, Cadoudal fled to England.
The royalist agitation of the West was ended for a time: the efforts
of the party in Provence, though carefully studied and widely exerted,
proved ineffectual, and the internal reforms of administration were
there, as throughout all France, efficiently put in operation. The
policy of tolerance and moderation won over thousands upon thousands,
and reduced the sullen minority to inactivity.
The upheaval of Brumaire is unique in French history. When
consummated, there appeared among the people no remnant of fear or
distrust. The radical side of the Revolution had ceased to exist. Its
ideals of civil liberty were embodied in Bonaparte, the national
spirit was invigorated, and hopes ran high. Such was the testimony of
all the most disinterested observers. Brinkmann, a Swede of great
ability, wrote on November eighteenth that no legitimate monarch had
ever found on his accession a people more submissive than Bonaparte
had found. "It is literally true," runs his letter: "France will
perform the impossible to help him. Excepting the despicable horde of
anarchists, the people are so weary, so disgusted with revolutionary
horrors and follies, that they are sure any change will be for the
better. Every class in society makes fun of the heroism of the
demagogues, and from all sides comes a call for their expulsion rather
than for the realization of their ideal visions. Even the royalists of
every shade are honestly devoted to Bonaparte; for they attribute to
him the intention of gradually restoring the old order. The
indifferent are attached to him as being the man best fitted to give
peace to France; and enlightened republicans, though trembling for
their institutions, prefer to see a single man of talent, rather than
a club of intriguers, seize and hold the public power."
None of Bonaparte's measures was more masterly than the financial
policy whereby he won the devotion of the capitalists. If the country
had been exhausted by the old regime, what had the recklessness of the
Jacobins done for it? Bankruptcy, disorder, and utter distrust--chaos,
in short--held sway in all departments of finance. The new order
restored public confidence to such an extent that the revival of
credit seemed miraculous. After the events of Brumaire the five per
cents., which had fallen to one and a half per cent. of their par
value, immediately rose to twelve per cent.; and on the final,
satisfactory fulfilment of what the day appeared to foreshadow, they
advanced to seventeen. The disgraceful laws for enforcing compulsory
loans which had been passed under the Directory disappeared, with
their companion the Hostage Law. Instantaneously order was brought
into the system of direct taxation, and regularity into the collection
of the taxes. The mysterious anti-Jacobin measures, promulgated as a
warning, and then modified so as to paralyze and drive away the
worthless spendthrifts of the Directory, while sobering and retaining
for public use the able and sensible men like Jourdan, worked as a
charm; they were a notification that the irregularities of all
visionaries whatsoever were ended, and that waste of capacity as well
as of money was to be succeeded by wholesome economy. For measures of
temporary relief the new constitution permanently substituted a
financial system of far-sighted regulations which completely revived
general confidence, and with it the public credit, thereby restoring
the producing capacity of the country. The Bank of France, organized
in January, 1800, fixed a norm for the rates of discount, gave a sound
currency to the country, and was the visible sign of a new era.