Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 17.djvu/214

202 NAPOLEON [1799- and statesman was wanting. In Italy conquest had been pushed too far. Half the troops were locked up in for tresses or occupied in suppressing rebellions ; hence Macdonald at the Trebbia and Joubert at Novi were defeated by Suwaroff, Mantua fell, and the work of Bonaparte in Italy was well-nigh undone. Government was shaken by these disasters. A kind of revolution took place in June. Four new members entered the Directory, of whom three Gohier, Roger-Ducos, and General Moulin represented on the whole the revival of the Jacobinism of 1793, while the fourth, Sieyes, the most important politician of this crisis, represented the desire for some new con stitutional experiment. The remedy which first suggested itself was to return to the warlike fury and terrorism of 1793. The Jacobin Club revived and held its sittings in the Salle du Manage. Many leading generals, especially Jourdan and Bernadotte, favoured it. But 1793 was not to be revived. Its passions had gone to sleep, and the memory of it was a nightmare. Nevertheless a sort of Terror began. The hardship of recruitment caused rebel lions, particularly in the west. Chouannerie and Royalism revived, and the odious Law of Hostages was passed to meet them. After seven years of misery France in the autumn of 1799 was perhaps more miserable than ever. If 1793 could not be revived, what alternative 1 Sieyes perceived that what was needed was a supreme general to direct the war. But, though he had ceased to believe in popular institutions, and had become a convert to a new kind of aristocracy, he did not wish his supreme general to control civil affairs. He looked for an officer who should be intelligent without being too ambitious. His choice fell upon Joubert, who was nominated commander of the army of Italy that he might acquire the necessary renown. But Joubert was killed at Novi in August. From this time Sieyes had remained uncertain. Advances were made in vain to Moreau. Who can say what might have happened in a few months ? Some general of abilities not very commanding would have risen to a position in which he would have controlled the fate of France. Perhaps Masse"na, whose reputation at this moment reached its highest point through the victories of Zurich, but who was not made either for an emperor or for a statesman, might have come forward to play the part of Monk. Revolu- Upon this perplexing gloom the reappearance of tion of Bonaparte came like a tropical sunrise, too dazzling for Sieyes himself, who wanted a general, but a general he could control. On October 16 he arrived at his old Parisian house in the Rue de la Victoire, and on the 9th and 10th of November (Brumaire 18, 19) the revolution took place. Bonaparte had some difficulty at first in under standing the position. He found a Jacobin party clamour ing for strong measures and for a vigorous prosecution of the war ; at the head of this party he saw military men, par ticularly Jourdan and Bernadotte. As an old Robespierrist, a Fructidorian, and a soldier, he was at first attracted to this faction. Sieyes, the object of their most bitter attacks, he was at first disposed to regard as his principal enemy. Gradually he came to perceive that this time he was to rise not as a Jacobin but as the soldier of anti- Jacobinism, and that he must place his sword at the service of Sieyes. For his part Sieyes could not but perceive that Bonaparte was not precisely the war minister he sought. But by the efforts of Lucien and Joseph Bona parte, of Roederer, and Talleyrand a coalition was at last effected between them, though Sieyes continued to predict that after the success Bonaparte would throw him off. The movement which now took place was the most respect able, the most hopeful, as for a long time it seemed the most successful, effort that had been made since 1792 to lift France out of the slough. Instead of reviving Bru maire. Jacobinism it was resolved to organize a strong and skilled Government. A grand party of respectability rallied round Sieyes to put down Jacobinism. Ducos among the Direc tors (he had been converted), the majority of the Council of Ancients, Moreau and Macdonald, the generals of purest reputation, Bonaparte and the generals personally attached to him, composed this party. On the other side the Jacobinical party consisted of the Directors Gohier and Moulin, the majority of the Council of Five Hundred, Gene rals Jourdan and Bernadotte. Which party would be fol lowed by the rank and file of the army was an anxious question. It was determined to take advantage of a provision of the constitution which had been originally inserted by the Girondists as a safeguard against aggressions from the municipality of Paris, and to cause the Council of Ancients to decree a meeting of the Councils outside Paris at the palace of St Cloud. At this meeting it was intended to propose a reform of the constitution. The proposal would be supported by a majority in the Council of Ancients, and by many, but probably not a majority, in the Council of Five Hundred. It was foreseen that the Jacobins might give trouble, and might need to be eliminated, as they had themselves eliminated the Girondins. With a view to this, when the decree was passed on November 9th, General Bonaparte, made commander of all the troops in Paris, was entrusted with the execution of it. It is carefully to be observed that he does not, like Cromwell, act of his own free will against the assembly, but is appointed by the assembly to act in its name. No one thought of destroying the republic ; the question was of introducing the famous perfect constitution of Sieyes. Bonaparte appeared, surrounded by the generals of his party, in the Council of Ancients, where he skilfully evaded taking the oath to the constitution. He then reviewed the troops, and it became apparent that he could count on them. From this moment Brumaire may be said to have been decided. The next step was that Sieyes and Ducos resigned their places on the Directory; Barras was in duced to follow their example ; but Gohier and Moulin were firm. Gohier was placed under ward of Moreau at the Luxembourg, while Moulin made his escape. It now only remained to deal with the Council of Five Hundred, the stronghold of Jacobinism. The revolution was consummated on the next day at St Cloud. Bonaparte and Sieyes sat in a private room while the Councils began their deliberations ; but, being informed that it was proposed to renew the oath to the existing constitution, Bonaparte determined to interfere. There seems to have been mismanagement here. Sieyes, not Bonaparte, should have interfered, but probably he was rendered helpless, as often happened to him, by timidity. Bonaparte then entered the Council of Ancients, where he delivered a confused harangue which did him little good, though the assembly was well-disposed to him. His position was a false one, though he urged very justly that the existing constitution had been practically destroyed by the illegalities of Fructidor, Flordal, and Prairial. He then passed to the hostile Council of Five Hundred, where he was received with cries of Hors la loi! A bas le dictateur ! He was seized by the collar and attempts were made to push him out of the hall. He was now almost in despair, and no wonder ! By the backwardness of Sieyes he had been pushed into the part of Cromwell. But Cromwell had soldiers devoted to him, and of theocratic rather than republican ideas ; the soldiers of Bonaparte had only just been put under his command, and they were fanatical republicans. The false step must be retrieved. The soldiers must be persuaded that Bonaparte was no Cromwell, but a staunch republican,