XXIV. 1797. Carnot, from this moment, became convinced that CHAP. his ruin had been determined on by his colleagues. Barras and Lariveillere had long borne him a secret grudge, which sprung from his having signed the warrant, during the Reign of Terror, for the arrest of Danton, who was the leader of their party. the Repub pose sends Paris. Barras and Hoche kept up an active correspondence with Napoleon, whose co-operation was of so Measures of much importance to secure the success of their en- He resolves Napoleon. terprise. He was strongly urged by the Directory to support to come to Paris and support the Government; while, licans, and on the other hand, his intimate friends advised him for that purto proceed there, and proclaim himself Dictator, as Lavalette to he afterwards did on his return from Egypt. That he hesitated whether he should not, even at that period, follow the footsteps of Cæsar, is avowed by himself; but he judged, probably wisely, that the period was not yet arrived for putting such a design in execution, and that the miseries of a republic had not yet been sufficiently experienced to ensure the success of an enterprise destined for its overthrow. He was resolved, however, to support the Directory, both because he was aware that the opposite party had determined upon his dismissal, from an apprehension of the dangers which he might occasion to public freedom, and because their principles, being those of moderation and peace, were little likely to favour his ambitious projects. Early, therefore, in spring 1797, March, he sent his aide-de-camp, Lavalette, who afterwards 1797. acquired a painful celebrity in the history of the restoration, to Paris, to observe the motions of the parties, and communicate to him the earliest intelligence; and afterwards despatched Augereau, a general of decided character, and known revolutionary 27th July, principles, to that city to support the Government. 1797. XXIV. 1797. CHAP. He declined coming to the capital himself, being unwilling to sully his hands, and risk his reputation, by a second victory over its inhabitants; but he had made his arrangements so, that, in the event of the Directory being defeated, he should, five days after receiving intelligence of the disaster, make his entry into Lyons at the head of twenty thousand men, and rallying the Republicans every where to his standard, advance to Paris, passing thus, like another Cæsar, the Rubicon at the head of the popular party.' Nap. iv. 226, 227. Bour. i. 228, 232. Las Cas. iv. 157. Lav. i. 272. mation to his soldiers on 14th July. To awaken the republican ardour of his soldiers, Napoleon celebrated the anniversary of the taking of the Bastile on July 14th, by a féle, on which occasion, he addressed the following order of the day to His procla- his troops :-" Soldiers! This is the anniversary of the 14th July. You see before you the names of your companions in arms, who have died on the field of battle for the liberty of their country; they have given you an example; you owe yourselves to your country; you are devoted to the prosperity of thirty millions of Frenchmen, to the glory of that name which has received such additional lustre from your victories. I know that you are profoundly affected at the misfortunes which threaten your country; but it is not in any real danger. The same men who have caused it to triumph over Europe in arms are ready. Mountains separate us from France. You will cross them with the rapidity of the eagle, if it be necessary to maintain the constitution, to defend liberty, to protect the government of the Republicans. Soldiers! the Government watches over the sacred deposit of the laws which it has received. From the instant that the Royalists show themselves, Nap. iv. they have ceased to exist. Have no fears of the result; and swear by the manes of the heroes who have 225. died amongst us in defence of freedom, swear on our standards, eternal war to the enemies of the Republic and of the constitution." CHAP. XXIV. 1797. addresses This proclamation proved extremely serviceable to the Directory. The flame spread from rank to rank; The army strongly addresses, breathing the most vehement republican supports the spirit, were voted by all the regiments and squadrons Directory. of the army, and transmitted to the Directory and the Councils with the signatures attached to them. Many of these productions breathed the whole rancour of the Jacobin spirit. That of the 29th demi-brigade commenced with these words :-“ Of all the animals produced by the caprice of nature, the Extravagant vilest is a king, the most cowardly is a courtier, the from the worst is a priest. If the scoundrels who disturb soldiers. France are not crushed by the forces you possess, call to your aid the 29th demi-brigade, it will soon discomfit all your enemies; Chouans, English, all will take to flight. We will pursue our unworthy citizens even into the chambers of their worthy patron George III., and the Club of Clichy will undergo the fate of that of Reney." Augereau brought with him the address of the soldiers of the Italian army. "Tremble, Royalists!" said they; "from the Adige to the Seine is but a step-tremble! Your iniquities are numbered, and their reward is at the point of our bayonets." "It is with indignation," said the staff of the Italian army, "that we have seen the intrigues of royalty menace the fabric of liberty. We have sworn, by the manes of the heroes who died for their country, an implacable war to royalty and Royalists. These are our sentiments, these are yours; these are those of the country. Let the Royalists show themselves, they have ceased to live." Other addresses, in a similar strain, flowed in from the armies of the XXIV. 1797. CHAP. Rhine and the Moselle; it was soon evident that the people had chosen for themselves their masters, and that under the name of freedom, a military despotism was about to be established. The Directory encouraged and published all these addresses, which produced a powerful impression on the public mind. The Councils loudly exclaimed against these menacing deliberations by armed men; but Government, as their only reply, drew still nearer to Paris the twelve thousand men who had been brought from Hoche's army, and placed them at Versailles, Meudon, and Vincennes.' 1 Mign. ii. 427. Nap. iv. 225, Lac. xiv. 83, 85. The party against whom these formidable prepaStrength of rations were directed was strong in numbers, and party con the opposite powerful in eloquence, but totally destitute of that sisted only, reckless hardihood and fearless vigour, which in civil eloquence. convulsions is usually found to command success. in talent and Troncon-Ducondray, in the Council of the Ancients, drew, in strong and sombre colours, a picture of the consequences which would ensue to the Directory themselves, their friends, and the people of France, from this blind stifling of the public voice by the threats of the armies. In prophetic strains he announced the commencement of a reign of blood, which would be closed by the despotism of the sword. This discourse, pronounced in an intrepid accent, recalled to mind those periods of feudal tyranny, when the victims of oppression appealed from the kings or pontiffs, who were about to stifle their voice, to the justice of God, and summoned their accusers to answer at that dread tribunal for Their defen- their earthly injustice. At the Club of Clichy, Jordan, Vaublanc, and Willot, strongly urged the necessity of adopting decisive measures. They prohostilities. posed to decree the arrest of Barras, Rewbell, and sive mea sures: but decline to commence CHAP. XXIV. 1797. Lariveillere; to summon Carnot and Barthelemy to the legislative body; and if they refused to obey, sound the tocsin, march at the head of the old sectionaries against the Directory, and appoint Pichegru the commander of that legal insurrection. That great general supported this energetic course by his weight and authority; but the majority, overborne, as the friends of order and freedom often are in revolutionary convulsions, by their scruples of conscience, decided against taking the lead in acts of violence, and resolved only to decree the immediate organization of the national guard under the command of Pichegru." Let us leave to the Directory," said they, "all the odium of beginning violence." Sage advice, if they had been combating an enemy capable of being swayed by considerations of justice, but Mig. ii. fatal in presence of enterprising ambition, supported xiv. 85, 86. by the weight of military power. 1 427. Lac. litary force The actual force at the command of the Councils was extremely small. Their body-guard consisted Slender mionly of fifteen hundred grenadiers, who could not be at their comrelied on, as the event soon proved, in a contest with mand. their brethren in arms; the national guard were disbanded, and without a rallying point; the Royalists scattered, and destitute of organization. They had placed the guard under the orders of their own officers; and on the 17th Fructidor, when both 17th FructiCouncils had decreed the organization of the na- Reorganizational guard under Pichegru, this was to have been tion of the followed on the next day, by a decree, directing the Guard deremoval of the troops from the neighbourhood of creed by the Paris. But a sense of their weakness, in such a strife, filled every breast with gloomy presentiments. Lac. xiv. Pichegru alone retained his wonted firmness and 88, 91. serenity of mind.' dor,3d Sept. 2 National Councils. Mig. ii. 427. |