Memoirs of Napoleon Bonaparte — Complete
The installation of the new legislative body and the Tribunate was
fixed for the 1st of January 1800.--Bourrienne. Lanfrey (tome i.
p. 329) sees this Constitution foreshadowed in that proposed by
Napoleon in 1797 for the Cisalpine Republic.]--
As Bonaparte had not time to make himself acquainted with the persons
by whom he was about to be surrounded, he requested from the most
distinguished men of the period, well acquainted with France and the
Revolution, notes respecting the individuals worthy and capable of
entering the Senate, the Tribunate, and the Council of State. From the
manner in which all these notes were drawn up it was evident that the
writers of them studied to make their recommendation correspond with
what they conceived to be Bonaparte's views, and that they imagined
he participated in the opinions which were at that time popular.
Accordingly they stated, as grounds for preferring particular
candidates, their patriotism, their republicanism, and their having had
seats in preceding assemblies.
Of all qualities, that which most influenced the choice of the First
Consul was inflexible integrity; and it is but just to say that in this
particular he was rarely deceived. He sought earnestly for talent; and
although he did not like the men of the Revolution, he was convinced
that he could not do without them. He had conceived an extreme aversion
for mediocrity, and generally rejected a man of that character when
recommended to him; but if he had known such a man long, he yielded to
the influence of habit, dreading nothing so much as change, or, as he
was accustomed to say himself, new faces.
--[Napoleon loved only men with strong passions and great weakness;
he judged the most opposite qualities in men by these defects
(Metternich, tome iii. p.589)]--
Bonaparte then proceeded to organise a complaisant Senate, a mute
legislative body, and a Tribunate which was to have the semblance of
being independent, by the aid of some fine speeches and high-sounding
phrases. He easily appointed the Senators, but it was different with
the Tribunate. He hesitated long before he fixed upon the candidates
for that body, which inspired him with an anticipatory fear. However, on
arriving at power he dared not oppose himself to the exigencies of the
moment, and he consented for a time to delude the ambitious dupes who
kept up a buzz of fine sentiments of liberty around him. He saw that
circumstances were not yet favourable for refusing a share in the
Constitution to this third portion of power, destined apparently to
advocate the interests of the people before the legislative body. But
in yielding to necessity, the mere idea of the Tribunate filled him with
the utmost uneasiness; and, in a word, Bonaparte could not endure the
public discussions on his projects.
--[The Tribunate under this Constitution of the year VIII. was the
only body allowed to debate in public on proposed laws, the
legislative body simply hearing in silence the orators sent by the
Council of State and by the Tribunals to state reasons for or
against propositions, and then voting in silence. Its orators were
constantly giving umbrage to Napoleon. It was at first purified,
early in 1802, by the Senate naming the members to go out in
rotation then reduced to from 100 to 50 members later in 1802, and
suppressed in 1807; its disappearance being regarded by Napoleon as
his last break with the Revolution.]--
Bonaparte composed the first Consular Ministry as follows: Berthier was
Minister of War; Gaudin, formerly employed in the administration of
the Post Office, was appointed Minister of Finance; Cambacérès remained
Minister of Justice; Forfait was Minister of Marine; La Place of the
Interior; Fouché of Police; and Reinhard of Foreign Affairs.
Reinhard and La Place were soon replaced, the former by the able M.
Talleyrand, the latter by Lucien Bonaparte.
--[When I quitted the service of the First Consul Talleyrand was
still at the head of the Foreign Department. I have frequently been
present at this great statesman's conferences with Napoleon, and I
can declare that I never saw him flatter his dreams of ambition;
but, on the contrary, he always endeavoured to make him sensible of
his true interests.--Bourrienne.]--
It may be said that Lucien merely passed through the Ministry on his
way to a lucrative embassy in Spain. As to La Place, Bonaparte always
entertained a high opinion of his talents. His appointment to the
Ministry of the Interior was a compliment paid to science; but it was
not long before the First Consul repented of his choice. La Place,
so happily calculated for science, displayed the most inconceivable
mediocrity in administration. He was incompetent to the most trifling
matters; as if his mind, formed to embrace the system of the world, and
to interpret the laws of Newton and Kepler, could not descend to the
level of subjects of detail, or apply itself to the duties of the
department with which he was entrusted for a short, but yet, with regard
to him, too long a time.
On the 26th Brumaire (17th November 1799) the Consuls issued a decree,
in which they stated that, conformably with Article III. of the law
of the 19th of the same month, which especially charged them with the
reestablishment of public tranquillity, they decreed that thirty-eight
individuals, who were named, should quit the continental territory of
the Republic, and for that purpose should proceed to Rochefort, to
be afterwards conducted to, and detained in, the department of French
Guiana. They likewise decreed that twenty-three other individuals, who
were named, should proceed to the commune of Rochelle, in the department
of the lower Charente, in order to be afterwards filed and detained in
such part of that department as should be pointed out by the Minister
of General Police. I was fortunate enough to keep my friend M. Moreau de
Worms, deputy from the Youne, out of the fiat of exiles. This produced
a mischievous effect. It bore a character of wanton severity quite
inconsistent with the assurances of mildness and moderation given at
St. Cloud on the 19th Brumaire. Cambacérès afterwards made a report,
in which he represented that it was unnecessary for the maintenance of
tranquillity to subject the proscribed to banishment, considering it
sufficient to place them under the supervision of the superior police.
Upon receiving the report the Consuls issued a decree, in which they
directed all the individuals included in the proscription to retire
respectively into the different communes which should be fixed upon by
the Minister of Justice, and to remain there until further orders.
At the period of the issuing of these decrees Sieyès was still one of
the Consuls, conjointly with Bonaparte and Roger Ducos; and although
Bonaparte had, from the first moment, possessed the whole power of the
government, a sort of apparent equality was, nevertheless, observed
amongst them. It was not until the 25th of December that Bonaparte
assumed the title of First Consul, Cambacérès and Lebrun being then
joined in the office with him. He had fixed his eyes on them previously
to the 18th Brumaire, and he had no cause to reproach them with giving
him much embarrassment in his rapid progress towards the imperial
throne.
I have stated that I was so fortunate as to rescue M. Moreau de
Worms from the list of proscription. Some days after Sieyès entered
Bonaparte's cabinet and said to him, "Well, this M. Moreau de Worms,
whom M. Bourrienne induced you to save from banishment, is acting very
finely! I told you how it would be! I have received from Sens, his
native place, a letter which informs me that Moreau is in that town,
where he has assembled the people in the market-place, and indulged in
the most violent declamations against the 18th Brumaire,"--"Can you
rely upon your agent" asked Bonaparte.--"Perfectly. I can answer for the
truth of his communication." Bonaparte showed me the bulletin of Sieyès'
agent, and reproached me bitterly. "What would you say, General," I
observed, "if I should present this same M. Moreau de Worms, who
is declaiming at Sens against the 18th Brumaire, to you within an
hour?"--"I defy you to do it."--"I have made myself responsible for him,
and I know what I am about. He is violent in his politics; but he is a
man of honour, incapable of failing in his word."--"Well, we shall see.
Go and find him." I was very sure of doing what I had promised, for
within an hour before I had seen M. Moreau de Worms. He had been
concealed since the 19th Brumaire, and had not quitted Paris. Nothing
was easier than to find him, and in three-quarters of an hour he was at
the Luxembourg. I presented him to Bonaparte, who conversed with him
a long time concerning the 18th Brumaire. When M. Moreau departed
Bonaparte said to me, "You are right. That fool Sieyès is as inventive
as a Cassandra. This proves that one should not be too ready to believe
the reports of the wretches whom we are obliged to employ in the
police." Afterwards he added, "Bourrienne, Moreau is a nice fellow: I am
satisfied with him; I will do something for him." It was not long before
M. Moreau experienced the effect of the Consul's good opinion. Some days
after, whilst framing the council of prizes, he, at my mere suggestion,
appointed M. Moreau one of the members, with a salary of 10,000 francs.
On what extraordinary circumstances the fortunes of men frequently
depend! As to Sieyès, in the intercourse, not very frequent certainly,
which I had with him, he appeared to be far beneath the reputation which
he then enjoyed.'
--[M. de Talleyrand, who is so capable of estimating men, and whose
admirable sayings well deserve to occupy a place in history, had
long entertained a similar opinion of Sieyès. One day, when he was
conversing with the Second Consul concerning Sieyès, Cambacérès said
to him. "Sieyès, however, is a very profound man."--"Profound?"
said Talleyrand. "Yes, he is, a cavity, a perfect cavity, as you
would say."--Bourrienne.]--
He reposed a blind confidence in a multitude of agents, whom he sent
into all parts of France. When it happened, on other occasions, that
I proved to him, by evidence as sufficient as that in the case of M.
Moreau, the falseness of the reports he had received, he replied, with a
confidence truly ridiculous, "I can rely on my men." Sieyès had written
in his countenance, "Give me money!" I recollect that I one day alluded
to this expression in the anxious face of Sieyès to the First Consul.
"You are right," observed he to me, smiling; "when money is in question,
Sieyès is quite a matter-of-fact man. He sends his ideology to the
right about and thus becomes easily manageable. He readily abandons
his constitutional dreams for a good round sum, and that is very
convenient."
--[Everybody knows, in fact, that Sieyès refused to resign his
consular dignities unless he received in exchange a beautiful farm
situated in the park of Versailles, and worth about 15,000 livres a
year. The good abbé consoled himself for no longer forming a third
of the republican sovereignty by making himself at home in the
ancient domain of the kings of France.--Bourrienne.]--
Bonaparte occupied, at the Little Luxembourg, the apartments on
the ground floor which lie to the right on entering from the Rue de
Vaugirard. His cabinet was close to a private staircase, which conducted
me to the first floor, where Josephine dwelt. My apartment was above.
After breakfast, which was served at ten o'clock, Bonaparte would
converse for a few moments with his usual guests, that is to say, his
'aides de camp', the persons he invited, and myself, who never left him.