CHAPTER XXIV.

1799.

Cambacérès and Lebrun--Gohier deceived--My nocturnal visit to Barras

--The command of the army given to Bonaparte--The morning of the

18th Brumaire--Meeting of the generals at Bonaparte's house--

Bernadotte's firmness--Josephine's interest, for Madame Gohier--

Disappointment of the Directors--Review in the gardens of the

Tuileries--Bonaparte's harangue--Proclamation of the Ancients--

Moreau, jailer of the Luxembourg--My conversation with La Vallette--

Bonaparte at St. Cloud.

The parts of the great drama which was shortly to be enacted were well

distributed. During the three days preceding the 18th Brumaire every one

was at his post. Lucien, with equal activity and intelligence, forwarded

the conspiracy in the two Councils; Sieyès had the management of the

Directory; Réal,

--[Pierre Francois Réal (1757-1834); public accuser before the

revolutionary criminal tribunal; became, under Napoleon, Conseiller

d'Etat and Comte, and was charged with the affairs of the "haute

police."]--

under the instructions of Fouché,

--[Joseph Fouché (1754-1820); Conventionalist; member of extreme

Jacobin party; Minister of Police under the Directory, August 1799;

retained by Napoleon in that Ministry till 1802, and again from 1804

to 1810; became Duc d'Otrante in 1809; disgraced in 1810, and sent in

1813 as governor of the Illyrian Provinces; Minister of Police

during the 'Cent Jours'; President of the Provisional Government,

1815; and for a short time Minister of Police under second

restoration.]--

negotiated with the departments, and dexterously managed, without

compromising Fouché, to ruin those from whom that Minister had received

his power. There was no time to lose; and Fouché said to me on the 14th

Brumaire, "Tell your General to be speedy; if he delays, he is lost."

On the 17th, Regnault de St. Jean d'Angély told Bonaparte that the

overtures made to Cambacérès and Lebrun had not been received in a very

decided way. "I will have no tergiversation," replied Bonaparte with

warmth. "Let them not flatter themselves that I stand in need of them.

They must decide to-day; to-morrow will be too late. I feel myself

strong enough now to stand alone."

Cambacérès

--[Cambacérès (J. J. Régis de) (1763-1824) Conventionalist; Minister

of Justice under Directory, 1799; second Consul, 25th December 1799;

Arch-Chancellor of the Empire, 1804; Duc de Parma, 1806; Minister of

Justice during the 'Cent Jours': took great part in all the legal

and administrative projects of the Consulate and Empire.]--

and Lebrun

--[Charles Francois Lebrun (1757-1824). Deputy to the National

Assembly, and member of the Council of the Five Hundred; Third

Consul, 25th December 1799; Arch-Treasurer of the Empire, 1804; Duc

de Plaisance, 1806; Governor-General of Holland, 1806; Lieutenant-

Governor of Holland, 1810 to 1813; chiefly engaged in financial

measures]--

were almost utter strangers to the intrigues which preceded the 18th

Brumaire. Bonaparte had cast his eyes on the Minister of Justice to be

one of his colleagues when he should be at liberty to name them, because

his previous conduct had pledged him as a partisan of the Revolution. To

him Bonaparte added Lebrun, to counterbalance the first choice. Lebrun

was distinguished for honourable conduct and moderate principles. By

selecting these two men Bonaparte hoped to please every one; besides,

neither of them were able to contend against his fixed determination and

ambitious views.

What petty intrigues marked the 17th Brumaire! On that day I dined with

Bonaparte; and after dinner he said, "I have promised to dine to-morrow

with Gohier; but, as you may readily suppose, I do not intend going.

However, I am very sorry for his obstinacy. By way of restoring his

confidence Josephine is going to invite him to breakfast with us

to-morrow. It will be impossible for him to suspect anything. I saw

Barras this morning, and left him much disturbed. He asked me to

return and visit him to-night. I promised to do so, but I shall not go.

To-morrow all will be over. There is but little time; he expects me at

eleven o'clock to-night. You shall therefore take my carriage, go

there, send in my name, and then enter yourself. Tell him that a severe

headache confines me to my bed, but that I will be with him without

fail tomorrow. Bid him not be alarmed, for all will soon be right again.

Elude his questions as much as possible; do not stay long, and come to

me on your return."

At precisely eleven o'clock I reached the residence of Barras, in

General Bonaparte's carriage. Solitude and silence prevailed in all

the apartments through which I passed to Barras' cabinet. Bonaparte was

announced, and when Barras saw me enter instead of him, he manifested

the greatest astonishment and appeared much cast down. It was easy

to perceive that he looked on himself as a lost man. I executed my

commission, and stayed only a short time. I rose to take my leave, and

he said, while showing me out, "I see that Bonaparte is deceiving me: he

will not come again. He has settled everything; yet to me he owes all."

I repeated that he would certainly come tomorrow, but he shook his head

in a way which plainly denoted that he did not believe me. When I gave

Bonaparte an account of my visit he appeared much pleased. He told me

that Joseph was going to call that evening on Bernadotte, and to ask him

to come tomorrow. I replied that, from all I knew, he would be of no use

to him. "I believe so too," said he; "but he can no longer injure me,

and that is enough. Well, good-night; be here at seven in the morning."

It was then one o'clock.

I was with him a little before seven o'clock on the morning of the

18th Brumaire, and on my arrival I found a great number of generals and

officers assembled. I entered Bonaparte's chamber, and found him already

up--a thing rather unusual with him. At this moment he was as calm as

on the approach of a battle. In a few moments Joseph and Bernadotte

arrived. Joseph had not found him at home on the preceding evening, and

had called for him that morning. I was surprised to see Bernadotte

in plain clothes, and I stepped up to him and said in a low voice,

"General, every one here, except you and I, is in uniform."--"Why should

I be in uniform?" said he. As he uttered these words Bonaparte, struck

with the same surprise as myself, stopped short while speaking to

several persons around him, and turning quickly towards Bernadotte said,

"How is this? you are not in uniform!"--"I never am on a morning when

I am not on duty," replied Bernadotte.--"You will be on duty

presently."--"I have not heard a word of it: I should have received my

orders sooner."

Bonaparte then led Bernadotte into an adjoining room. Their conversation

was not long, for there was no time to spare.

On the other hand, by the influence of the principal conspirators the

removal of the legislative body to St. Cloud was determined on the

morning of the 18th Brumaire, and the command of the army was given to

Bonaparte.

All this time Barras was no doubt waiting for Bonaparte, and Madame

Bonaparte was expecting Gohier to breakfast. At Bonaparte's were

assembled all the generals who were devoted to him. I never saw so

great a number before in the Rue de la Victoire. They were all, except

Bernadotte, in full uniform; and there were, besides, half a dozen

persons there initiated in the secrets of the day. The little hotel of

the conqueror of Italy was much too small for such an assemblage,

and several persons were standing in the court-yard. Bonaparte was

acquainted with the decree of the Council of the Ancients, and only

waited for its being brought to him before he should mount his horse.

That decree was adopted in the Council of the Ancients by what may be

called a false majority, for the members of the Council were summoned at

different hours, and it was so contrived that sixty or eighty of them,

whom Lucien and his friends had not been able to gain over, should not

receive their notices in time.

As soon as the message from the Council of the Ancients arrived

Bonaparte requested all the officers at his house to follow him. At that

announcement a few who were in ignorance of what was going on did not

follow--at least I saw two groups separately leave the hotel. Bernadotte

said to me, "I shall stay with you." I perceived there was a good deal

of suspicion in his manner. Bonaparte, before going down the stairs

which led from the small round dining-room into the courtyard, returned

quickly to bid Bernadotte follow him. He would not, and Bonaparte then

said to me, while hurrying off, "Gohier is not come--so much the worse

for him," and leaped on his horse. Scarcely was he off when Bernadotte

left me. Josephine and I being now left alone, she acquainted me with

her anxiety. I assured her that everything had been so well prepared

that success was certain. She felt much interest about Gohier on

account of her friendship for his wife. She asked me whether I was well

acquainted with Gohier. "You know, Madame," replied I, "that we have

been only twenty days in Paris, and that during that time I have only

gone out to sleep in the Rue Martel. I have seen M. Gohier several

times, when he came to visit the General, and have talked to him about

the situation of our affairs in Switzerland, Holland, France, and other

political matters, but I never exchanged a word with him as to what is

now going on. This is the whole extent of my acquaintance with him."

"I am sorry for it," resumed Josephine, "because I should have asked

you to write to him, and beg him to make no stir, but imitate Sieyès

and Roger, who will voluntarily retire, and not to join Barras, who is

probably at this very moment forced to do so. Bonaparte has told me that

if Gohier voluntarily resigns, he will do everything for him." I believe

Josephine communicated directly with the President of the Directory

through a friend of Madame Gohier's.

Gohier and Moulins, no longer depending on Sieyès and Roger Ducos,

waited for their colleague, Barras, in the hall of the Directory, to

adopt some measure on the decree for removing the Councils to St. Cloud.

But they were disappointed; for Barras, whose eyes had been opened by my

visit on the preceding night, did not join them. He had been invisible

to his colleagues from the moment that Bruix and M. de Talleyrand had

informed him of the reality of what he already suspected, and insisted

on his retirement.

On the 18th Brumaire a great number of military, amounting to about

10,000 men, were assembled in the gardens of the Tuileries, and were

reviewed by Bonaparte, accompanied by Generals Beurnonville, Moreau,

and Macdonald. Bonaparte read to them the decree just issued by the

commission of inspectors of the Council of the Ancients, by which the

legislative body was removed to St. Cloud; and by which he himself

was entrusted with the execution of that decree, and appointed to the

command of all the military force in Paris, and afterwards delivered an

address to the troops.

Whilst Bonaparte was haranguing the soldiers, the Council of the

Ancients published an address to the French people, in which it was

declared that the seat of the legislative body was changed, in order

to put down the factions, whose object was to control the national

representation.

While all this was passing abroad I was at the General's house in the

Rue de la Victoire; which I never left during the whole day. Madame

Bonaparte and I were not without anxiety in Bonaparte's absence. I

learned from Josephine that Joseph's wife had received a visit from

Adjutant-General Rapatel, who had been sent by Bonaparte and Moreau to

bring her husband to the Tuileries. Joseph was from home at the time,

and so the message was useless. This circumstance, however, awakened

hopes which we had scarcely dared to entertain. Moreau was then in

accordance with Bonaparte, for Rapatel was sent in the name of both

Generals. This alliance, so long despaired of, appeared to augur

favourably. It was one of Bonaparte's happy strokes. Moreau, who was a

slave to military discipline, regarded his successful rival only as a

chief nominated by the Council of the Ancients. He received his orders

and obeyed them. Bonaparte appointed him commander of the guard of the

Luxembourg, where the Directors were under confinement. He accepted the

command, and no circumstance could have contributed more effectually

to the accomplishment of Bonaparte's views and to the triumph of his

ambition.

At length Bonaparte, whom we had impatiently expected, returned. Almost

everything had gone well with him, for he had had only to do with

soldiers. In the evening he said to me, "I am sure that the committee of

inspectors of the hall are at this very moment engaged in settling what

is to be done at St. Cloud to-morrow. It is better to let them decide

the matter, for by that means their vanity is flattered. I will obey

orders which I have myself concerted." What Bonaparte was speaking of

had been arranged nearly two or three days previously. The committee of

inspectors was under the influence of the principal conspirators.

In the evening of this anxious day, which was destined to be succeeded

by a stormy morrow, Bonaparte, pleased with having gained over Moreau,

spoke to me of Bernadotte's visit in the morning.--"I saw," said he,

"that you were as much astonished as I at Bernadotte's behaviour. A

general out of uniform! He might as well have come in slippers. Do you

know what passed when I took him aside? I told him all; I thought

that the best way. I assured him that his Directory was hated, and his

Constitution worn out; that it was necessary to turn them all off, and

give another impulse to the government. 'Go and put on your uniform said

I: I cannot wait for you long. You will find me at the Tuileries, with

the rest of our comrades. Do not depend on Moreau, Beurnonville, or the

generals of your party. When you know them better you will find that

they promise much but perform little. Do not trust them.' Bernadotte

then said that he would not take part in what he called a rebellion. A

rebellion! Bourrienne, only think of that! A set of imbeciles, who from

morning to night do nothing but debate in their kennels! But all was in

vain. I could not move Bernadotte. He is a bar of iron. I asked him to

give me his word that he would do nothing against me; what do you think

was his answer?"--"Something unpleasant, no doubt."--"Unpleasant! that

is too mild a word. He said, 'I will remain quiet as a citizen; but if

the Directory order me to act, I will march against all disturbers.' But

I can laugh at all that now. My measures are taken, and he will have

no command. However, I set him at ease as to what would take place.

I flattered him with a picture of private life, the pleasures of the

country, and the charms of Malmaison; and I left him with his head full

of pastoral dreams. In a word, I am very well satisfied with my day's

work. Good-night, Bourrienne; we shall see what will turn up to-morrow."

On the 19th I went to St. Cloud with my friend La Vallette. As we passed

the Place Louis XV., now Louis XVI., he asked me what Napoleon was

doing, and what my opinion was as to the coming events? Without entering

into any detail I replied, "My friend, either we shall sleep tomorrow at

the Luxembourg, or there will be an end of us." Who could tell which of

the two things would happen! Success legalised a bold enterprise, which

the slightest accident might have changed into a crime.

The sitting of the Ancients, under the presidency of Lemercier,

commenced at one o'clock. A warm discussion took place upon the

situation of affairs, the resignation of the members of the Directory,

and the immediate election of others. Great heat and agitation prevailed

during the debate. Intelligence was every minute carried to Bonaparte

of what was going forward, and he determined to enter the hall and take