Memoirs of Napoleon Bonaparte — Complete
at the coolness with which I instructed Duroc, Bonaparte said to me in a
harsh tone, "Come, I have had enough of this! Leave me." I stepped down
from the ladder on which I had mounted for the purpose of pointing
out to Duroc the places in which the various papers were deposited and
hastily withdrew. I too had quite enough of it!
I remained two more days at the Tuileries until I had suited myself with
lodgings. On Monday I went down into the cabinet of the First Consul to
take my leave of him. We conversed together for a long time, and very
amicably. He told me he was very sorry I was going to leave him, and
that he would do all he could for me. I pointed out several places to
him; at last I mentioned the Tribunate. "That will not do for you," he
said; "the members are a set of babblers and phrasemongers, whom I mean
to get rid of. All the troubles of States proceed from such debatings. I
am tired of them." He continued to talk in a strain which left me in no
doubt as to his uneasiness about the Tribunate, which, in fact, reckoned
among its members many men of great talent and excellent character.
--[In 1802 the First Consul made a reduction of fifty members of the
Tribunate, and subsequently the whole body was suppressed.
--Bourrienne.]--
The following day, Tuesday, the First Consul asked me to breakfast with
him. After breakfast, while he was conversing with some other person,
Madame Bonaparte and Hortense pressed me to make advances towards
obtaining a re-instalment in my office, appealing to me on the score of
the friendship and kindness they had always shown me. They told me that
I had been in the wrong, and that I had forgotten myself. I answered
that I considered the evil beyond remedy; and that, besides, I had
really need of repose. The First Consul then called me to him, and
conversed a considerable time with me, renewing his protestations of
goodwill towards me.
At five o'clock I was going downstairs to quit the Tuileries for good
when I was met by the office messenger, who told me that the First
Consul wished to see me. Duroc; who was in the room leading to the
cabinet, stopped me as I passed, and said, "He wishes you to remain. I
beg of you not to refuse; do me this favour. I have assured him that
I am incapable of filling your office. It does not suit my habits; and
besides, to tell you the truth, the business is too irksome for me."
I proceeded to the cabinet without replying to Duroc. The First Consul
came up to me smiling, and pulling me by the ear, as he did when he was
in the best of humours, said to me, "Are you still in the sulks?" and
leading me to my usual seat he added, "Come, sit down."
Only those who knew Bonaparte can judge of my situation at that moment.
He had at times, and when he chose, a charm in his manners which it was
quite impossible to resist. I could offer no opposition, and I resumed
my usual office and my accustomed labours. Five minutes afterwards it
was announced that dinner was on table. "You will dine with me?" he
said. "I cannot; I am expected at the place where I was going when Duroc
called me back. It is an engagement that I cannot break."--"Well, I have
nothing to say, then. But give me your word that you will be here
at eight o'clock."--"I promise you." Thus I became again the private
secretary of the First Consul, and I believed in the sincerity of our
reconciliation.
CHAPTER XIII.
1802-1803.
The Concordat and the Legion of Honour--The Council of State and the
Tribunate--Discussion on the word 'subjects'--Chenier--Chabot de
l'Allier's proposition to the Tribunate--The marked proof of
national gratitude--Bonaparte's duplicity and self-command--Reply to
the 'Senatus-consulte'--The people consulted--Consular decree--
The most, or the least--M. de Vanblanc's speech--Bonaparte's reply--
The address of the Tribunate--Hopes and predictions thwarted.
It may truly be said that history affords no example of an empire
founded like that of France, created in all its parts under the cloak
of a republic. Without any shock, and in the short space of four years,
there arose above the ruins of the short-lived Republic a Government
more absolute than ever was Louis XIV.'s. This extraordinary change is
to be assigned to many causes; and I had the opportunity of observing
the influence which the determined will of one man exercised over his
fellow-men.
The great object which Bonaparte had at heart was to legitimate his
usurpations by institutions. The Concordat had reconciled him with the
Court of Rome; the numerous erasures from the emigrant list gathered
round him a large body of the old nobility; and the Legion of Honour,
though at first but badly received, soon became a general object of
ambition. Peace, too, had lent her aid in consolidating the First
Consul's power by affording him leisure to engage in measures of
internal prosperity.
The Council of State, of which Bonaparte had made me a member, but which
my other occupations did not allow me to attend, was the soul of the
Consular Government. Bonaparte felt much interest in the discussions
of that body, because it was composed of the most eminent men in the
different branches of administration; and though the majority evinced
a ready compliance with his wishes, yet that disposition was often
far from being unanimous. In the Council of State the projects of the
Government were discussed from the first with freedom and sincerity,
and when once adopted they were transmitted to the Tribunate, and to
the Legislative Body. This latter body might be considered as a supreme
Legislative Tribunal, before which the Tribunes pleaded as the advocates
of the people, and the Councillors of State, whose business it was to
support the law projects, as the advocates of the Government. This will
at once explain the cause of the First Consul's animosity towards the
Tribunate, and will show to what the Constitution was reduced when that
body was dissolved by a sudden and arbitrary decision.
During the Consulate the Council of State was not only a body politic
collectively, but each individual member might be invested with special
power; as, for example, when the First Consul sent Councillors of State
on missions to each of the military divisions where there was a Court of
Appeal, the instructions given them by the First Consul were extensive,
and might be said to be unlimited. They were directed to examine all
the branches of the administration, so that their reports collected
and compared together presented a perfect description of the state of
France. But this measure, though excellent in itself, proved fatal to
the State. The reports never conveyed the truth to the First Consul, or
at least if they did, it was in such a disguised form as to be scarcely
recognisable; for the Councillors well knew that the best way to pay
their court to Bonaparte was not to describe public feeling as it really
was, but as he wished it to be. Thus the reports of the councillors of
State only furnished fresh arguments in favour of his ambition.
I must, however, observe that in the discussions of the Council of State
Bonaparte was not at all averse to the free expression of opinion. He,
indeed, often encouraged it; for although fully resolved to do only
what he pleased, he wished to gain information; indeed, it is scarcely
conceivable how, in the short space of two years, Bonaparte adapted his
mind so completely to civil and legislative affairs. But he could not
endure in the Tribunate the liberty of opinion which he tolerated in the
Council; and for this reason--that the sittings of the Tribunate were
public, while those of the Council of State were secret, and publicity
was what he dreaded above all things. He was very well pleased when he
had to transmit to the Legislative Body or to the Tribunate any proposed
law of trifling importance, and he used then to say that he had thrown
them a bone to gnaw.
Among the subjects submitted to the consideration of the Council and the
Tribunate was one which gave rise to a singular discussion, the ground
of which was a particular word, inserted in the third article of the
treaty of Russia with France. This word seemed to convey a prophetic
allusion to the future condition of the French people, or rather an
anticipated designation of what they afterwards became. The treaty spoke
of "the subjects of the two Governments." This term applied to those who
still considered themselves citizens, and was highly offensive to the
Tribunate. Chenier most loudly remonstrated against the introduction of
this word into the dictionary of the new Government. He said that the
armies of France had shed their blood that the French people might be
citizens and not subjects. Chenier's arguments, however, had no effect
on the decision of the Tribunate, and only served to irritate the First
Consul. The treaty was adopted almost unanimously, there being only
fourteen dissentient voices, and the proportion of black balls in the
Legislative Body was even less.
Though this discussion passed off almost unnoticed, yet it greatly
displeased the First Consul, who expressed his dissatisfaction in the
evening. "What is it," said he, "these babblers want? They wish to be
citizens--why did they not know how to continue so? My government must
treat on an equal footing with Russia. I should appear a mere puppet in
the eyes of foreign Courts were I to yield to the stupid demands of the
Tribunate.. Those fellows tease me so that I have a great mind to end
matters at once with them." I endeavoured to soothe his anger, and
observed, that one precipitate act might injure him. "You are right," he
continued; "but stay a little, they shall lose nothing by waiting."
The Tribunate pleased Bonaparte better in the great question of the
Consulate for life, because he had taken the precaution of removing such
members as were most opposed to the encroachments of his ambition. The
Tribunate resolved that a marked proof of the national gratitude should
be offered to the First Consul, and the resolution was transmitted to
the Senate. Not a single voice was raised against this proposition,
which emanated from Chabot de l'Allier, the President of the Tribunate.
When the First Consul came back to his cabinet after receiving the
deputation of the Tribunate he was very cheerful, and said to me,
"Bourrienne, it is a blank cheque that the Tribunate has just offered
me; I shall know how to fill it up. That is my business."
The Tribunate having adopted the indefinite proposition of offering to
the First Consul a marked proof of the national gratitude, it now only
remained to determine what that proof should be. Bonaparte knew well
what he wanted, but he did not like to name it in any positive way.
Though in his fits of impatience, caused by the lingering proceedings of
the Legislative Body and the indecision of some of its members, he often
talked of mounting on horseback and drawing his sword, yet he so far
controlled himself as to confine violence to his conversations with
his intimate friends. He wished it to be thought that he himself was
yielding to compulsion; that he was far from wishing to usurp permanent
power contrary to the Constitution; and that if he deprived France of
liberty it was all for her good, and out of mere love for her. Such
deep-laid duplicity could never have been conceived and maintained in
any common mind; but Bonaparte's was not a mind of the ordinary cast. It
must have required extraordinary self-command to have restrained so long
as he did that daring spirit which was so natural to him, and which was
rather the result of his temperament than his character. For my part, I
confess that I always admired him more for what he had the fortitude not