Chapter V: The Eighteenth Brumaire

By eight o'clock on the morning of the 18th Brumaire, year VIII (November 9, 1799), the Council of Ancients were assembled in their hall. Several members of the republican minority, which had not been notified of the session, had nevertheless come to the Assembly, warned by public rumor of something unusual in the wind. These latter gathered in a group about the tribunal, engaged in animated conversation.

Lemercier, presiding officer of the Council, sounded his bell; silence fell upon the assembly, and the members took their seats.

"Messieurs, our colleague Cornet, chairman of the Committee of Inspectors, has the floor," he said.

Cornet mounted the tribunal and began: "Representatives of the people:--The confidence you have reposed in your Committee of Inspectors has laid it under the obligation of watching over your individual safety, with which the public safety is so closely bound up. For, when the representatives of a nation are menaced in their persons, so that they do not enjoy in their deliberations the most absolute independence, it is no longer a Republic. Your Committee of Inspectors knows that conspirators are pouring into Paris in swarms; that those who are already here do but await the signal to bare their poniards against the representatives of the nation, against the highest authorities and members of the Republic. In presence of the danger which encompasses you, Representatives of the people, your committee felt it incumbent upon it to call you together in special session to inform you thereon; it felt it to be its duty to spur the deliberations of the Council on in deciding what part it was to play in these circumstances. The Council of Ancients holds in its hands the means of saving the country and liberty; it would be doubting its prudence, it would be doubting its wisdom, to think that it will not grapple the problem with its accustomed courage and energy."

"It is inconceivable that neither I nor several of my colleagues received notice of this convocation of the Assembly. This omission--voluntary or involuntary--must be explained," interposed Montmayon, a member of the minority.

"You have not been given the floor!" yelled President Lemercier. "Your motion is out of order. I give the floor to Monsieur Regnier."

"Representatives of the people," declared the latter when he in turn had climbed up to the tribunal, "where is the man so stupid as still to doubt the dangers which encompass us? The proofs have been only too well multiplied. But this is not the time to unroll their lamentable length. Time presses! The least delay may prove so fatal that it would then no longer lie in your power to deliberate on remedies. God forbid that I should so insult the citizens of Paris as to believe them capable of assaulting the national representation! On the contrary, I doubt not but they would protect it with their own bodies, if need were; but this immense city is nursing within its bosom a horde of brigands, of bold and desperate scoundrels. They only await, with ferocious impatience, our first unguarded moment to strike us, and, consequently, to strike at the heart of the Republic itself."

Great cries of feigned indignation burst from the conspirators. Tumult rose in the hall. Aside to himself Hubert muttered--"Forward, with Fouche's Septembrists!"

"If there exists a conspiracy against the Republic--unmask it!" cried a member of the minority. "Your assertions are without bottom. Let's have the proofs!"

"You have not got the floor!" again declared President Lemercier.

Regnier continued: "I propose, gentlemen, according to the precise terms of the Constitution, the following motion and irrevocable decree; and I propose it to you with all the more confidence that a large number of our colleagues, honored by our confidence, share my views:

"The Council of Ancients, in virtue of Articles 102, 103, and 104
of the Constitution, decrees the following:

"Article 1.--The legislative body is transferred to the Commune of
St. Cloud. The two Councils, the Five Hundred and the Ancients,
shall there sit in the two wings of the palace.

"Article 2.--They shall have moved by to-morrow, the 19th Brumaire,
at noon. All continuation of functions and deliberations elsewhere
before that time is forbidden.

"Article 3.--General Bonaparte is commissioned to execute the
present decree. He will take all measures necessary for the safety
of the national representation. All the troops are placed under
the command of General Bonaparte; he will be called into the
Council to receive the announcement of the present decree and to
take the oath. He shall act in concert with the Committee of
Inspectors of the two Councils.

"Article 5.--The present decree shall at once be transmitted by
messenger to the Council of Five Hundred and to the executive
Directorate."

The reading of the decree, acclaimed though it was by the intriguing majority, elicited the most energetic disapproval from the members present of the republican minority.

Cornudet followed Regnier on the tribunal: "Representatives of the people, I move the adoption of this address to the French:

"Frenchmen--The Council of Ancients uses its right, delegated to it
by Article 102 of the Constitution, to change the seat of the
legislative body.

"The common safety, the common prosperity, are alone the object of
this constitutional measure. They shall be attained.

"And you, inhabitants of Paris, be calm. In a few days the presence
of the legislative body will be restored to you.

"Frenchmen, the results of this day will soon make it evident
whether the legislative body is worthy of establishing your
happiness, and if worthy, whether it can.

"Long live the people, by whom, and of whom, the Republic has its
existence."

The intriguers rose in mass to adopt this address to the French. In vain the minority struggled to make their protests heard. They were drowned out by the clamor raised by the conspirators.

"Ushers, lead General Bonaparte to the bar," ordered President Lemercier.

Bonaparte was introduced by the ushers. He was clad in the severe uniform of the generals of the Republic, a blue coat with large lapels, a scarf tricolored, like the plume in his hat, tight trousers of white cloth, and high yellow boots coming up to the middle of his calf. The sickly and bilious complexion of the Corsican general brought out remarkably the leanness of his countenance, which was furthermore strongly accentuated by its frame of straight black hair. His look was inscrutable; it disclosed at once pride and dissimulation, astuteness and energy. A smile, which varied between insidiousness, mockery and haughtiness, completed his physiognomy. Generals Berthier, Lefebvre, Moreau, Macdonald, Murat, Moncey, Beurnonville, Marmont, and several aides-de-camp, among whom strode Colonel Oliver, escorted Bonaparte. Their air was one of jauntiness and triumph, and the clatter of their trailing sabers and their spurred boots on the flagstones of the hall rang out harshly. Then a profound silence fell upon the Assembly.

"General," quoth President Lemercier, "the Council of Ancients has summoned you to its bar to impart to you its instructions."

In a voice that was clear and shrill, and marked by a curt and haughty accent, General Bonaparte answered: "Representatives of the people, the Republic was perishing. You perceived its plight; your decree has saved it. Unhappy they who would trouble or disturb it! I shall arrest them, with the aid of General Lefebvre, General Berthier, and all my companions in arms. Woe to the seditious!"

Immoderate applause, echoing "Bravos!" on the part of the majority, greeted this speech. Cries of "Long live General Bonaparte!" were heard.

President Lemercier interrupted the tumult. "General," he said, "the Council of Ancients receives your oaths. It entertains no doubt of their sincerity and your zeal to fulfil them. He who never promised the Republic victories in vain can not but execute with devotion his new engagement to serve her in all faith and loyalty."

Followed by his staff, General Bonaparte strode from the hall. The traitor majority rose to its feet with the foresworn cry upon its lips:

"Long live the Republic!"