to the banners of the French from those of the foreign enemy, the western country became every day more menacing to the government. The insurgents had been forced to evacuate Mans on the appearance of the republican troops, after having pillaged it and taken hos tages; but the insurrection now raged on all sides, and Nantes, the capital of the department of the Lower Loire, and Port-Brieux, the capital of the department of the northern coasts, were for a while in their possession: from this lat ter place they did not retreat till they had emptied the public coffers, and also carried off the principal inhabitants as hostages. The insurrection had gained also on the left of the Loite, the seat of the former Vendée. A regular chain had taken place from the western coasts, almost to the walls of Paris. The insurgents parodied the acts of the departmental administrations ; stuck up proclamations; printed and sent orders to forbid

the payment of taxes; made out lists of conscription; and assumed the title of the Royal and Catholic Army, proposing to take possession of the kingdom in the name of Louis XVIII. This royal and catholic army, which covered so immense a space, was organised into five grand divisions. The former province of Normandy, up to Paris, was under the orders of Frotté: Châtillon commanded Upper Brittany and the Lower Anjou, Touraine, and the countries adjacent: Georges, all Lower Brittany, and chiefly the Morbihan. Georges was the only one of the generals in chief who was roturier; but he had much influence and considerable force: D'Autichamp had a still larger range; his com mand extended over the whole of the countries on the south of the Loire, where the insurrection had first taken its rise, and where its seed remained yet plentifully

Sown.

CHAP.

whatever other effect it might have on the general principles of the revolution, was intended to hasten its conclusion by crushing all opposition to the progress of government, and uniting, as far as was possible, the various contending parties.

The constitution, by which the republic was regulated, might, perhaps, have contained all the means, of government, had it been administered by wise and virtuous men, or defended by a free and enlightened people. Those who framed it had but ill calculated on the wisdom of the one, or the knowledge and inflexibility of the other. Even with a more virtuous and enlightened nation, it is probable that, under the circumstances, in which France was placed, some aberrations from the constitution might have taken place; but, with such governors as were chosen to direct it, its ruin was almost inevitable. Men of very different principles had made this observation in the outset,; but no one had declared his opinion more openly on this subject than Sieyes, whose project of a constitutional jury, proposed at the time when the constitution was under discussion, had been thrown by as a thing useless and cumbersome, and fitted rather to retard than aid the progress of the political machine. Sieyes did not, however, wait long to be avenged for this neglect. A jacobin conspiracy produced the law of the 22d Floreal, which, contrary to the constitution, excluded members of the jacobin party from the legislature; a royalist conspiracy introduced the 18th Fructidor, in which Sieyes, a revolutionist of no light quality, took a great lead, and aided more than was even at that time thought convenient in pro

moting that directorial dictatorship, which, for nearly two years, weighed so heavy on France. The events of the 30th Praireal, in which he had so considerable a share, tended only to strengthen him in his idea; and the opposition made to all his measures by the jacobin party, both in the councils and without, as also by his colleagues, decided him to attempt his own counter-project of saving the coun try.

The person on whom he fixed his view, as best fitted to carry his plan into execution, was general Joubert; but this part of the project failed. It appears that Joubert was not so fully impressed with the necessity of the change as Sieyes, and preferred the being chief of an army destined to relieve Italy, to becoming, as he perhaps imagined, the instrument of political intrigue. The increase of the evil only serv ed to augment Sieyes' desire to find the remedy; and this evil had nearly approached its height when Bonaparte arrived in France. It is true, that at the time of his arrival the jacobin party had been overthrown, and victories had been gained by the armies; but the continuance of either conquest was far from being assured-the jacobins might rally again, and the progress of the royalists in the West formed something of a counterbalance to the splendid victories which had disencumbered the frontiers.

Nothing, therefore, could be more opportune for the carrying Sieyes' project into execution than the presence of Bonaparte, and, perhaps, no union of talents was ever better fitted to project a revolutionary plan and carry it into execution. After mature deliberation and discussion, in which the

soldier

*

soldier conducted himself as wily as the priest, the project, or so much as was necessary at that time to be discovered, was entrusted to twenty members of both councils, who assembled at the house of Lemercier, the president of the council of elders, in the morning of the 16th Brumaire (November 7th), the day after that in which a fête had been given to Bonaparte and Moreau by the two councils, in the church of St. Sulpice, now impiously called the Temple of Victory. In the conference at Lemercier's, the project of translating the councils and directory to St. Cloud was decreed; and it was agreed that this measure should be proposed by the commission of inspectors to the council of elders.After taking an oath of secresy, the twenty separated to instruct each one such of his friends on whom he could rely, and prepare them for this new crisis. Meanwhile the proper officers were charged to form the plans of jacobin conspiracy, ready, if wanted for the occasion, since the charge of conspiracy on the party to be overthrown is always an object of the first importance, whether true or false, in making a revolution. It was therefore settled by the members of the commission of inspectors, that, as the jacobin conspiracies were ripe, and on the point of breaking out and overthrowing the government, there was no time to be lost. The pretext was idle enough; but, as the plan was decided on, further delay in any case was dangerous. The day following the first meeting, letters of conVocation were addressed to the

members of the council of elders, save such as were known for exaggerated and jacobinical princi ples, and at eight the next morning (18th Brumaire) the members who had been convoked assembled at their usual place of sitting: the majority, ignorant of the cause of this unusual convocation, were informed, by those in the secret, of the vast conspiracy that was, forming, and advised them to the adoption of whatever measures should be proposed, to which, as the purpose was to shake off entirely the demagogical yoke, they were equally well in clined, and took the conspiracy op trust.

As soon as the assembly was formed, Cornet, one of the inspectors, ascended the tribune, made a representation of the dangers which threatened the country, and concluded on the necessity of taking speedy and effective measures for its deliverance. He was followed. by Regnier, whose speech struck still greater terror into the minds of the uninitiated; from the still livelier pietures which he drew of the audacious ruffians, and determined: conspirators, vomited out amongst them from every part of the globe, that execrable foreign faction, the cause of all their misfortunes. When this salutary horror was raised to its greatest height, he declared to them the remedy which had been prepared; which was the transporting the legislative body to a commune near Paris. where they might deliberate in security on the nieasures. necessary for extricating the country at that alarming crisis; assuring them also that Bonaparte was ready to execute whatever decree he should

ba

be charged with. The translation of the council of elders to any other commune, on their simple vote, was an article of the constitution; and it is remarkable, that it was the only article furnished by Sieyes, who was a member of the commission for forming it. Regnier, therefore, moved that the council should be transferred to St. Cloud: the discussion of other motions, proposed by members of the council, was over-ruled, and the motion was carried by a great majority. It was further moved and carried, that this translation should take place on the following day; that Bonaparte should be charged with the execution, and take the necessary measares for the surety of the national representation; that he should be called into the council to take the requisite oaths, and that a message containing the resolution of the council should be sent to the directory, and to the council of five hundred.

As it was expedient to enter also into some explanation with the people, with respect to this extraordinary measure, an address was proposed, in which, after the night of such translation had been stated, the motive alleged was the enchaining of the different factions, and the obtaining a speedy peace both without and within, both of which were objects sufficiently interesting to the people of Paris to induce them to keep quiet and peaceable, as they were enjoined, and who, moreover, had enthusiastic confidence in the person to whom the execution of the law was entrusted.

Bonaparte obeyed the summons, and appeared at the bar of the council, where he accepted the charge; and, observing in his speech, that as nothing in history

resembled the end of the 18th century, so nothing at the end of the 18th century resembled that moment, swore fidelity to the republic founded on true liberty, on civil liberty, and on the national representation. When this first part of the project was executed, the assem bly broke up. The message being read at the council of five hundred, the deputies who were not in the secret, or who favoured the jacobin party, were struck with astonishment, but made no observations; the remainder of the assembly rested in hope and confidence; the law which had been passed at the elders was read, and the council adjourned, some among them crying Vive la Republique! and others, who had vague suspicions of what was intended, extended their views further, and cried Vive la Constitu tion!

The walls of Paris were immediately covered with proclamations, which, as the event had been foreseen, were previously written and printed. In the first, Bonaparte informed the national guard of the measures taken by the council of the elders; in the second, he instructed the soldiers in the command which had been conferred on him, inviting them to second him with their accustomed energy, firmness, and courage, promising them that liberty, victory, and peace, should raise again the republic to the rank which it held in Europe, and which ignorance and treason had almost brought to destruction. His address to the officers of the national sedentary guard was still more emphatical: to them he declared that a new order of things was about to take place, that the council of elders was going to save the republic, and that whoever should oppose it should perish by the bayonet of the soldier. The

moment