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Page 52
The day had been passed in destroying a Government; it was necessary to
devote the night to framing a new one. Talleyrand, Raederer, and Sieyes
were at St. Cloud. The Council of the Ancients assembled, and Lucien set
himself about finding some members of the Five Hundred on whom he could
reckon. He succeeded in getting together only thirty; who, with their
President, represented the numerous assembly of which they formed part.
This ghost of representation was essential, for Bonaparte,
notwithstanding his violation of all law on the preceding day, wished to
make it appear that he was acting legally. The Council of the Ancients
had, however, already decided that a provisional executive commission
should be appointed, composed of three members, and was about to name the
members of the commission--a measure which should have originated with
the Five Hundred--when Lucien came to acquaint Bonaparte that his chamber
'introuvable' was assembled.
This chamber, which called itself the Council of the Five Hundred, though
that Council was now nothing but a Council of Thirty, hastily passed a
decree, the first article of which was as follows:
The Directory exists no longer; and the individuals hereafter named
are no longer members of the national representation, on account of
the excesses and illegal acts which they have constantly committed,
and more particularly the greatest part of them, in the sitting of
this morning.
Then follow the names of sixty-one members expelled.
By other articles of the same decree the Council instituted a provisional
commission, similar to that which the Ancients had proposed to appoint,
resolved that the said commission should consist of three members, who
should assume the title of Consuls; and nominated as Consuls Sieyes,
Roger Ducos, and Bonaparte. The other provisions of the nocturnal decree
of St. Cloud had for their object merely the carrying into effect those
already described. This nocturnal sitting was very calm, and indeed it
would have been strange had it been otherwise, for no opposition could be
feared from the members of the Five Hundred, who were prepared to concur
with Lucien. All knew beforehand what they would have to do. Everything
was concluded by three o'clock in the morning; and the palace of St.
Cloud, which had been so agitated since the previous evening, resumed in
the morning its wonted stillness, and presented the appearance of a vast
solitude.
All the hurrying about, the brief notes which I had to write to many
friends, and the conversations in which I was compelled to take part,
prevented me from dining before one o'clock in the morning. It was not
till then that Bonaparte, having gone to take the oath as Consul before
the Five Hundred, afforded me an opportunity of taking some refreshment
with Admires Bruix and some other officers.
At three o'clock in the morning I accompanied Bonaparte, in his carriage
to Paris. He was extremely fatigued after so many trials and fatigues.
A new future was opened before him. He was completely absorbed in
thought, and did not utter a single word during the journey. But when he
arrived at his house in the Rue de la Victoire, he had no sooner entered
his chamber and wished good morning to Josephine, who was in bed, and in
a state of the greatest anxiety on account of his absence, than he said
before her, "Bourrienne, I said many ridiculous things?"--"Not so very
bad, General"--"I like better to speak to soldiers than to lawyers.
Those fellows disconcerted me. I have not been used to public
assemblies; but that will come in time."
We then began, all three, to converse. Madame Bonaparte became calm, and
Bonaparte resumed his wonted confidence. The events of the day naturally
formed the subject of our conversation. Josephine, who was much attached
to the Gohier family, mentioned the name of that Director in a tone of
kindness. "What would you have, my dear?" said Bonaparte to her. "It
is not my fault. He is a respectable man, but a simpleton. He does not
understand me!--I ought, perhaps, to have him transported. He wrote
against me to the Council of the Ancients; but I have his letter, and
they know nothing about it. Poor man! he expected me to dinner
yesterday. And this man thinks himself a statesman!--Speak no more of
him."
During our discourse the name of Bernadotte was also mentioned. "Have
you seen him, Bourrienne?" said Bonaparte to me.--"No, General"--
"Neither have I. I have not heard him spoken of. Would you imagine it?
I had intelligence to-day of many intrigues in which he is concerned.
Would you believe it? he wished nothing less than to be appointed my
colleague in authority. He talked of mounting his horse and marching
with the troops that might be placed under his command. He wished, he
said, to maintain the Constitution: nay, more; I am assured that he had
the audacity to add that, if it were necessary to outlaw me, the
Government might come to him and he would find soldiers capable of
carrying the decree into execution."--"All this, General, should give you
an idea how inflexible his principles are."--"Yes, I am well aware of it;
there is something in that: he is honest. But for his obstinacy, my
brothers would have brought him over. They are related to him. His
wife, who is Joseph's sister-in-law, has ascendency over him. As for me,
have I not, I ask you, made sufficient advances to him? You have
witnessed them. Moreau, who has a higher military reputation than he,
came over to me at once. However, I repent of having cajoled Bernadotte.
I am thinking of separating him from all his coteries without any one
being able to find fault with the proceeding. I cannot revenge myself in
any other manner. Joseph likes him. I should have everybody against me.
These family considerations are follies! Goodnight, Bourrienne.--By the
way, we will sleep in the Luxembourg to-morrow."
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