Memoirs of Napoleon Bonaparte — Complete
attempted my life.... There are neither nobles, priests, nor Chouans
in this affair!... I know what I am about, and they need not think to
impose on me. These are the Septembrizers who have been in open revolt
and conspiracy, and arrayed against every succeeding Government. It
is scarce three months since my life was attempted by Uracchi, Arena;
Topino-Lebrun, and Demerville. They all belong to one gang! The
cutthroats of September, the assassins of Versailles, the brigands of
the 81st of May, the conspirators of Prairial are the authors of all
the crimes committed against established Governments! If they cannot be
checked they must be crashed! France must be purged of these ruffians!"
It is impossible to form any idea of the bitterness with which
Bonaparte, pronounced these words. In vain did some of the Councillors
of State, and Fouché in particular, endeavour to point out to him that
there was no evidence against any one, and that before he pronounced
people to be guilty it would be right to ascertain the fact. Bonaparte
repeated with increased violence what he had before said of the
Jacobins; thus adding; not without some ground of suspicion, one crime
more to, the long catalogue for which they had already to answer.
Fouché had many enemies, and I was not, therefore, surprised to find
some of the Ministers endeavouring to take advantage of the difference
between his opinion and that of the First Consul; and it must be owned
that the utter ignorance of the police respecting this event was a
circumstance not very favourable to Fouché. He, however, was like the
reed in the fable--he bent with the wind, but was soon erect again. The
most skilful actor could scarcely imitate the inflexible calmness he
maintained during Bonaparte's paroxysm of rage, and the patience with
which he allowed himself to be accused.
Fouché, when afterwards conversing with me, gave me clearly to
understand that he did not think the Jacobins guilty. I mentioned this
to the First Consul, but nothing could make him retract his opinion.
"Fouché," said he, "has good reason for his silence. He is serving his
own party. It is very natural that he should seek to screen a set of men
who are polluted with blood and crimes! He was one of their leaders. Do
not I know what he did at Lyons and the Loire? That explains Fouché's
conduct now!"
This is the exact truth; and now let me contradict one of the thousand
fictions about this event. It has been said and printed that "the
dignitaries and the Ministers were assembled at the Tuileries. 'Well,'
said the First Consul, advancing angrily towards Fouché, 'will you still
say that this is the Royalist party?' Fouché, better informed than was
believed, answered coolly, 'Yes, certainly, I shall say so; and, what
is more, I shall prove it.' This speech caused general astonishment,
but was afterwards fully borne out." This is pure invention. The First
Consul only said to Fouché; "I do not trust to your police; I guard
myself, and I watch till two in the morning." This however, was very
rarely the case.
On the day after the explosion of the infernal machine a considerable
concourse assembled at the Tuileries. There was absolutely a torrent of
congratulations. The prefect of the Seine convoked the twelve mayors of
Paris and came at their head to wait on the First Consul. In his reply
to their address Bonaparte said, "As long as this gang of assassins
confined their attacks to me personally I left the law to take its
course; but since, by an unparalleled crime, they have endangered the
lives of a portion of the population of Paris, their punishment must
be as prompt as exemplary. A hundred of these wretches who have libeled
liberty by perpetrating crimes in her name must be effectually prevented
from renewing their atrocities." He then conversed with the Ministers,
the Councillors of State, etc., on the event of the preceding day; and
as all knew the First Consul's opinion of the authors of the crime each
was eager to confirm it. The Council was several times assembled when
the Senate was consulted, and the adroit Fouché, whose conscience
yielded to the delicacy of his situation, addressed to the First Consul
a report worthy of a Mazarin. At the same time the journals were filled
with recollections of the Revolution, raked up for the purpose of
connecting with past crimes the individuals on whom it was now wished
to cast odium. It was decreed that a hundred persons should be banished;
and the senate established its character for complaisance by passing a
'Senatus-consulte' conformable to the wishes of the First Consul.
A list was drawn up of the persons styled Jacobins, who were condemned
to transportation. I was fortunate enough to obtain the erasure of the
names of several whose opinions had perhaps been violent, but whose
education and private character presented claims to recommendation. Some
of my readers may probably recollect them without my naming them, and
I shall only mention M. Tissot, for the purpose of recording, not the
service I rendered him, but an instance of grateful acknowledgment.
When in 1815 Napoleon was on the point of entering Paris M. Tissot came
to the prefecture of police, where I then was, and offered me his
house as a safe asylum; assuring me I should there run no risk of being
discovered. Though I did not accept the offer yet I gladly seize on this
opportunity of making it known. It is gratifying to find that difference
of political opinion does not always exclude sentiments of generosity
and honour! I shall never forget the way in which the author of the
essays on Virgil uttered the words 'Domus mea'.
But to return to the fatal list. Even while I write this I shudder
to think of the way in which men utterly innocent were accused of a
revolting crime without even the shadow of a proof. The name of an
individual, his opinions, perhaps only assumed, were sufficient grounds
for his banishment. A decree of the Consuls, dated 4th of January 1801,
confirmed by a 'Senates-consulte' on the next day, banished from the
territory of the Republic, and placed under special inspectors, 130
individuals, nine of whom were merely designated in the report as
Septembrizers.
The exiles, who in the reports and in the public acts were so unjustly
accused of being the authors of the infernal machine, were received at
Nantes, with so much indignation that the military were compelled to
interfere to save them from being massacred.
In the discussions which preceded the decree of the Consuls few persons
had the courage to express a doubt respecting the guilt of the accused.
Truguet was the first to mount the breach. He observed that without
denying the Government the extraordinary means for getting rid of its
enemies he could not but acknowledge that the emigrants threatened the
purchasers of national domains, that the public mind was corrupted by
pamphlets, and that--Here the First Consul, interrupting him, exclaimed,
"To what pamphlets do you allude?"--"To pamphlets which are publicly
circulated."--"Name them!"--"You know them as well as I do."
--[The Parallel between Caesar, Cromwell, and Bonaparte, of which I
shall speak a little farther on, is here alluded to.--Bourrienne.]--
After a long and angry ebullition the First Consul abruptly dismissed
the Council. He observed that he would not be duped; that the villains
were known; that they were Septembrizers, the hatchers of every
mischief. He had said at a sitting three days before, "If proof should
fail, we must take advantage of the public excitement. The event is to
me merely the opportunity. They shall be banished for the 2d September,
for the 31st May, for Baboeuf's conspiracy--or anything else."
On leaving one of the sittings of the Council, at which the question
of a special tribunal had been discussed, he told me that he had been
a little ruffled; that he had said a violent blow must be struck; that
blood must be spilt; and that as many of the guilty should be shot as
there had been victims of the explosion (from fifteen to twenty); that
200 should be banished, and the Republic purged of these scoundrels.
The arbitrariness and illegality of the proceeding were so evident that
the 'Senatus-consulte' contained no mention of the transactions of the
3d Nivôse, which was very remarkable. It was, however, declared that
the measure of the previous day had been adopted with a view to the
preservation of the Constitution. This was promising.
The First Consul manifested the most violent hatred of the Jacobins; for
this he could not have been blamed if under the title of Jacobins he had
not comprised every devoted advocate of public liberty. Their opposition
annoyed him and he could never pardon them for having presumed to
condemn his tyrannical acts, and to resist the destruction of the
freedom which he had himself sworn to defend, but which he was
incessantly labouring to overturn. These were the true motives of his
conduct; and, conscious of his own faults, he regarded with dislike
those who saw and disapproved of them. For this reason he was more
afraid of those whom he called Jacobins than of the Royalists.
I am here recording the faults of Bonaparte, but I excuse him; situated
as he was, any other person would have acted in the same way. Truth now
reached him with difficulty, and when it was not agreeable he had
no disposition to hear it. He was surrounded by flatterers; and, the
greater number of those who approached him, far from telling him what
they really thought; only repeated what he had himself been thinking.
Hence he admired the wisdom of his Counsellors. Thus Fouché, to maintain
himself in favour, was obliged to deliver up to his master 130
names chosen from among his own most intimate friends as objects of
proscription.
Meanwhile Fouché, still believing that he was not deceived as to the
real authors of the attempt of the 3d Nivôse, set in motion with his
usual dexterity all the springs of the police. His efforts, however,
were for sometime unsuccessful; but at length on Saturday, the 31st
January 1801, about two hours after our arrival at Malmaison, Fouché
presented himself and produced authentic proofs of the accuracy of his
conjectures. There was no longer any doubt on the subject; and Bonaparte
saw clearly that the attempt of the 3d Nivôse was the result of a plot
hatched by the partisans of royalty. But as the act of proscription
against those who were jumbled together under the title of the Jacobins
had been executed, it was not to be revoked.
Thus the consequence of the 3d Nivôse was that both the innocent and
guilty were punished; with this difference, however, that the guilty at
least had the benefit of a trial.
When the Jacobins, as they were called, were accused with such
precipitation, Fouché had no positive proofs of their innocence; and
therefore their illegal condemnation ought not to be attributed to him.
Sufficient odium is attached to his memory without his being charged
with a crime he never committed. Still, I must say that had he boldly
opposed the opinion of Bonaparte in the first burst of his fury he might
have averted the blow. Every time he came to the Tuileries, even before
he had acquired any traces of the truth, Fouché always declared to me
his conviction of the innocence of the persons first accused. But he was
afraid to make the same observation to Bonaparte. I often mentioned to
him the opinion of the Minister of Police; but as proof was wanting he
replied to me with a triumphant air, "Bah! bah! This is always the way
with Fouché. Besides, it is of little consequence. At any rate we shall
get rid of them. Should the guilty be discovered among the Royalists
they also shall be punished."
The real criminals being at length discovered through the researches of