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Page 29
If any doubts could exist respecting the complaisant part which Curee
acted on this occasion one circumstance would suffice to remove them;
that is, that ten days before the development of his proposition
Bonaparte had caused the question of founding the Empire and establishing
hereditary succession in his family to be secretly discussed in the
Council of State. I learned from one of the Councillors of State all
that passed on that occasion, and I may remark that Cambaceres showed
himself particularly eager in the Council of State, as well as afterwards
in the Senate, to become the exalted subject of him who had been his
first colleague in the Consulate.
About the middle of April, the Council of State being assembled as for an
ordinary sitting, the First Consul, who was frequently present at the
sittings, did not appear. Cambaceres arrived and took the Presidency in
his quality of Second Consul, and it was remarked that his air was more
solemn than usual, though he at all times affected gravity.
The partisans of hereditary succession were the majority, and resolved to
present an address to the First Consul. Those of the Councillors who
opposed this determined on their part to send a counter-address; and to
avoid this clashing of opinions Bonaparte signified his wish that each
member of the Council should send him his opinion individually, with his
signature affixed. By a singular accident it happened to be Berlier's
task to present to the First Consul the separate opinions of the Council.
Out of the twenty-seven Councillors present only seven opposed the
question. Bonaparte received them all most graciously, and told them,
among other things, that be wished for hereditary power only for the
benefit of France; that the citizens would never be his subjects, and
that the French people would never be his people. Such were the
preliminaries to the official proposition of Curee to the Tribunate, and
upon reflection it was decided that, as all opposition would be useless
and perhaps dangerous to the opposing party, the minority should join the
majority. This was accordingly done.
The Tribunate having adopted the proposition of Curee, there was no
longer any motive for concealing the overtures of the Senate. Its
address to the First Consul was therefore published forty days after its
date: the pear was then ripe. This period is so important that I must
not omit putting together the most remarkable facts which either came
within my own observation, or which I have learned since respecting the
foundation of the Empire.
Bonaparte had a long time before spoken to me of the title of Emperor as
being the most appropriate for the new sovereignty which he wished to
found in France. This, he observed, was not restoring the old system
entirely, and he dwelt much on its being the title which Caesar had
borne. He often said, "One may be the Emperor of a republic, but not the
King of a republic, those two terms are incongruous."
In its first address the Senate had taken as a test the documents it had
received from the Government in relation to the intrigues of Drake, who
had been sent from England to Munich. That text afforded the opportunity
for a vague expression of what the Senate termed the necessities of
France. To give greater solemnity to the affair the Senate proceeded in
a body to the Tuileries, and one thing which gave a peculiar character to
the preconcerted advances of the Senate was that Cambaceres, the Second
Consul, fulfilled his functions of President on this occasion, and
delivered the address to the First Consul.
However, the First Consul thought the address of the Senate, which, I
have been informed, was drawn up by Francois de Neufchateau, was not
expressed with sufficient clearness; he therefore, after suffering a
little interval to elapse, sent a message to the Senate signed by
himself, in which he said, "Your address has been the object of my
earnest consideration." And though the address contained no mention of
hereditary succession, he added, "You consider the hereditary succession
of the supreme magistracy necessary to defend the French people against
the plots of our enemies and the agitation arising from rival ambition.
At the same time several of our institutions appear to you to require
improvement so as to ensure the triumph of equality and public liberty,
and to offer to the nation and the Government the double guarantee they
require." From the subsequent passages of the message it will be
sufficient to extract the following: "We have been constantly guided by
this great truth: that the sovereignty dwells with the French people, and
that it is for their interest, happiness, and glory that the Supreme
Magistracy, the Senate, the Council of State, the Legislative Body, the
Electoral Colleges, and the different branches of the Government, are and
must be instituted." The omission of the Tribunate in this enumeration
is somewhat remarkable. It announced a promise which was speedily
realised.
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