Part 7 (2/2)
Barras was terrified He feared to have Napoleon's eagle eye investigate his peculations He resigned Two Directors only noere left, Gohier and Moulins It took a majority of the five to constitute a quorum The tere powerless In despair of successful resistance and fearing vengeance they hastened to the Tuileries to find Napoleon They were introduced to him surrounded by Sieyes, Ducos, and a brilliant staff Napoleon received thelad to see you,” said he ”I doubt not that you will both sign Your patriotism will not allow you to appose a revolution which is both inevitable and necessary” ”I do not yet despair,”
said Gohier, vehe the Republic” ”With ill you save it?” exclaimed Napoleon
”With the Constitution which is cruer came in and infor the Reign of Terror, had obtained a bloody celebrity as leader of the Jacobins, was rousing the s to resistance ”General Moulins,” said Napoleon, firmly, ”you are the friend of Santerre Tell him that at the very first movement he makes, I will cause him to be shot” Moulins, exasperated yet appalled, er,”
said Napoleon We must save it It is ned You are two individuals insulated and powerless I advise you not to resist” They still refused Napoleon had no ti He i, separated the the ih not in Napoleon's confidence, yet anxious to display his ho luminary, called upon Napoleon and informed him that he had closed the barriers, and had thus prevented all ingress or egress ”What means this folly?” said Napoleon ”Let those orders be instantly countermanded Do we not th alone? Let no citizen be interrupted Let every publicity be given to what is done”
”Fouche,” said Napoleon, is a miscreant of all colors, a terrorist, and one who took an active part in many bloody scenes of the Revolution He is a man who can worm all your secrets out of you, with an air of calmness and unconcern He is very rich; but his riches have been badly acquired He never wasto the ground But I never had any esteem for him I employed him merely as an instrureat confusion and bewilderment, assembled at eleven o'clock Lucien i their session to St Cloud This cut off all debate The decree was perfectly legal There could therefore be no legal pretext for opposition Napoleon, the idol of the army, had the whole military power obedient to his nod Therefore resistance of any kind orse than folly The deed was adroitly done At eleven o'clock the day's as accoer a Directory Napoleon was the appointed chief of the troops, and they were filling the streets with enthusiastic shouts of ”Live Napoleon” The Council of Ancients were entirely at his disposal
An a large party in the Council of Five Hundred were also wholly subservient to his will Napoleon, proud, silent, reserved reserved, fully conscious of his own intellectual supreenerals, the statesmen, and the multitude around hirand staircase of the Tuileries as it were his hereditary home Nearly all parties united to sustain his triuuns of Paris joyfully thundered forth the victory of one who seemed the peculiar favorite of the God of war Napoleon was a scholar, stihtiest achieveratefully united to weave a chaplet for the brow of their honored associate and patron Napoleon was, for those days of profligacy and unbridled lust, a rity The proffered bribe of hters of Herodias, with all their blandishments, could not lure him from his life of Herculean toil and frolitters in the cup, never vanquished him At the shrine of no vice was he found a worshi+per
The purest and the best in France, disgusted with that gilded corruption which had converted the palaces of the Bourbons into harear and revolting vice, which had transformed Paris into a house of infamy, enlisted all their sympathies in behalf of the exemplary husband and the incorruptible patriot Napoleon was one of thefriends of law and order France eary of anarchy and was treuillotine were again to be clotted with blood Andupon Napoleon, who appeared to theer sent fro the afternoon and the night his rooed with the enerals, and scholars of Paris, hastening to pledge to him their support Napoleon, perfectly uneave his orders for the ensuing day Lannes was intrusted with a body of troops to guard the Tuileries Murat, who, said Napoleon, ”was superb at Aboukir,” with a nurenadiers was stationed at St Cloud, a thunderbolt in Napoleon's right hand Woe betide the mob into whose ranks that thunderbolt may be hurled Moreau, with five hundred , where the two refractory Directors were held under arrest Serrurier was posted in a co reserve, proence Even a body of troops were sent to accompany Barras to his country seat, ostensibly as an escort of honor, but in reality to guard against any change in that venal and versatile eticpoint for the disaffected
Bills were everywhere posted, exhorting the citizens to be quiet, and assuring the to save the Republic These minute precaution were characteristic of Napoleon
He believed in destiny Yet he left nothing for destiny to accoht to encies
These h Paris was in a delirium of excitement, there were outbreaks of lawless violence
Neither Monarchist, Republican, nor Jacobin knehat Napoleon intended to do All were conscious that he would do so It was known that the Jacobin party in the Council of Five Hundred on the ensuing day, would make a desperate effort at resistance
Sieyes, perfectly acquainted with revolutionary ed Napoleon to arrest some forty of the Jacobins most prominent in the Council This would have secured an easy victory on the , ”I pledgedto protect the national representation I will not this evening violate my oath” Had the asses would have risen, like an inundation, in their behalf, and torrents of blood acious transferrence of theto St Cloud, several miles from Paris, saved those lives The powerful military display, checked any attempt at a march upon St Cloud What could the ies of Napoleon, ready to hurl their solid columns upon them!
The delicacy of attention hich Napoleon treated Josephine, was one of the e that he should have won fro scenes of this day, when no one could tell whether events were guiding hiet his wife, aiting the result, with deep solicitude, in her chamber in the Rue Chanteraine Nearly every hour he dispatched a er to Josephine, with a hastily written line coht he returned to his ho He informed Josephine minutely of the scenes of the day, and then threw himself upon a sofa, for an hour's repose
Early the next al retinue, directing his steps to St Cloud Three halls had been prepared in the palace; one for the Ancients, one for the Five Hundred, and one for Napoleon He thus assumed the position which he knew it to be the al the night the Jacobins had arranged a very formidable resistance Napoleon was considered to be in imminent peril He would be denounced as a traitor Sieyes and Ducos had each a post-chaise and six horses, waiting at the gate of St Cloud, prepared, in case of reverse, to escape for life There were enerals, ready to mount the crest of any refluent wave to sweep Napoleon to destruction Benadotte was the iven to cut down the first person who should atte at the head of this iitation He kneever, perfectly well the capriciousness of the popular voice, and that the multitude in the same hour could cry ”Hosanna!” and ”crucify!” The two Councils met The tumult in the Five Hundred was fearful Cries of ”Doith the dictator!” ”Death to the tyrant!”
”Live the Constitution!” filled the hall, and drowned the voice of deliberation The friends of Napoleon were swept before the flood of passion It was proposed that every member should immediately take anew the oath to support the Constitution No one dared to peril his life by the refusal Even Lucien, the Speaker, was compelled to descend from his chair and take the oath The Ancients, overawed by the unexpected violence of this opposition in the lower and an to be alarressive stand, and proposed a decree of outlawry against Napoleon The friends of Napoleon, re Defeat seemed inevitable
Victory was apparently turned into discoency Napoleon displayed the say, and tact hich so often, on the field of battle, in the most disastrous hour, he had rolled back the tide of defeat in the resplendent waves of victory His own mind was the corps de reserve which he now marched into the conflict to arrest the rout of his friends
Taking with hirenadiers, he advanced to the door of the hall On his way he uillotine, ” said his rival, sternly ”We shall see,” Napoleon coolly replied Leaving the soldiers, with their glittering steel and nodding plumes, at the entrance of the room, he ascended the tribune The hush of perfect silence pervaded the agitated hall ”Gentlemen,” said he, ”you are on a volcano You deeer You called me to your aid I obeyed
And now I am assailed by a thousand calumnies They talk of Caesar, of Cro in antiquity reseer presses Disaster thickens We have no longer a governned The Five Hundred are in a tuitators would gladly bring back the revolutionary tribunals But fear not Aided byfor myself, but to save the Republic And I solemnly swear to protect that liberty and equality , for which we have made such sacrifices”
”And the Constitution !” some one cried out Napoleon had purposely omitted the Constitution in his oath, for he despised it, and was at thatfor its overthrow He paused for a y exclaimed, ”The institution! you have none You violated when the Executive infringed the rights of the Legislature You violated it when the Legislature struck at the independence of the Executive You violated it when, with sacriligious hand, both the Legislature and Executive struck at the sovereignty of the people, by annulling their elections The Constitution! It is a arded by none”
Rallied by the presence of Napoleon, and by these daring words, his friends recovered their courage, and two-thirds of the assembly rose in expression of their confidence and support At this ence arrived that the Five Hundred were co Lucien to put to the vote Napoleon's outlawry Not an instant was to be lost There is a e of that vote would probably have been fatal Life and death were treiven two hundred millions,” said Napoleon, ”to have had Ney byto the Ancients, he exclainers, shall talk of outlawing me, I will appeal for protection toat the door Remember that I march accompanied by the God of fortune and by the God of war”
He immediately left the Ancients, and, attended by his military band, hastened to the Council of Five Hundred On his way heNapoleon lost ”You have got yourself into a pretty fix,” said he, with deep agitation
”Matters orse at Arcola,” Napoleon coolly replied ”Keep quiet
All will be changed in half an hour” Followed by his grenadiers, he immediately entered the Hall of the Five Hundred The soldiers remained near the door Napoleon traversed alone half of the roo could save him but the resources of his own mind Furious shouts rose from all parts of the house ”What one!”
”The winds,” says Napoleon, ”suddenly escaping froive but a faint idea of that tempest” In the midst of the horrible confusion he in vain endeavored to speak The renadiers witnessing the peril of their chief rushed to his rescue A dagger was struck at his bosom A soldier, with his arm, parried the blow With their bayonets they drove back theNapoleon, bore him from the Hall Napoleon had hardly descended the outer steps ere some one informed him that his brother Lucien was surrounded by the infuriated deputies, and that his life was in imminent jeopardy
”Colonel Durenadiers and hasten to my brother's deliverance” The soldiers rushed into the room, drove back the croith violent , ”It is by your brother's commands,” escorted him in safety out of the ball into the court-yard Napoleon, nowin front of his troops” The Council of Five Hundred,” exclaimed Lucien, ”is dissolved It is I that tell you so assassins have taken possession of the hall ofI summon you to march and clear it of them” ”Soldiers!” said Napoleon, ”can I rely upon you!”
”Long live Bonaparte,” was the sirenadiers and marched to the entrance of the hall When Murat headed a column it ell known that there would be no child's play ”Charge bayonets, forward!” he exclaie Steadily the bristling line of steel advanced The terrified representatives leaped over the benches, rushed through the passage ways, and sprang out of the s, throwing upon the floor, in their precipitate flight, gowns, scarfs, and hats In two minutes the hall was cleared
As the Representatives were flying in disarden, on officer proposed that the soldiers should be ordered to fire upon the, ”It is le drop of blood be split”
As Napoleon wished to avail himself as far as possible, of the forislative bodies in the evening
Those only attended ere friendly to his cause Unanimously they decreed that Napoleon had deserved well of his country; they abolished the Directory The executive power they vested in Napoleon, Sieyes, and Ducos, with the title of Consuls Two committees of twenty-five members each, taken from the two Councils, were appointed to co-operate with the Consuls in for the rumor reached Paris that Napoleon had failed in his enterprise The consternation was great Thethe renewal of revolutionary horrors, and worn out with past convulsions, passionately longed for repose Their only hope was in Napoleon At nine o'clock at night intelligence of the change of government was officially announced, by a proclamation which the victor had dictated with the rapidity and the glowing eloquence which characterized all of his ht to asseroups, all over the city The welcoreeted with the liveliest de Napoleon threw hie to return to Paris Bourrienne accoht, that he uttered not one single word during the ride
At four o'clock in the e, at the door of his dwelling in the Rue Chanteraine Josephine, in the greatest anxiety, atching at thefor his approach
Napoleon had not been able to send her one single line during the tur to meet him
Napoleon foundly encircled her in his arms, briefly recapitulated the scenes of the day, and assured her that since he had taken the oath of office, he had not allowed hile individual, for he wished that the beloved voice of his Josephine ratulate him upon his virtual accession to the Empire of France The heart of Josephine could appreciate a delicacy of love so refined and so touching WellofThe dawn of the day to conduct Napoleon to a new scene of Herculean toil in organizing the Republic Throwing himself upon a couch, for a few ht, my Josephine! To-”
Napoleon was then but twenty-nine years of age And yet, under circu reliance upon his ownand adovernment for thirty millions of people Never did he achieve a victory which displayed enius On no occasion of his life did his majestic intellectual power beam forth with es to co this transaction Soainst law and liberty Others consider it a necessary act which put an end to corruption and anarchy That the course which Napoleon pursued was in accordance with the wished of the overwhel majority of the French people on one can doubt It is questionable whether, even now, France is prepared for self-government There can be no question that then the republic had totally failed