Then turning towards Regnault de St.-Jean-d'Angely, he reproached him with his weak defence of a law on the preceding day. "You admitted," said he, that this law was imperfect. That

is an admission you must never make. You invoked the union of powers, you preached the doctrine of reconciliation and of good-will. Miserable means! especially in circumstances so trivial. An orator is always beaten, when he thinks himself obliged to have recourse to such feeble expedients as these."

"Moreover," he continued, "the disposition of the Tribunate, and of the Legislative Body, is evident. 'These are bodies who, being uncertain of what they really are, act according to the natural tendency of governing bodies, to assert their importance and make people talk of them. They are the great nobles, the blue-ribbon-wearers of the Revolution of 1793; they cannot forgive a state of things which has taken from them that power, and those honours which they are always regretting. Public opinion must pronounce between them and us. If it ever decides for them, we could do nothing, and must renounce our rule. But if this same public recognises that the Government is also the representative of the people, if it sees that the struggle now commencing is the result only of wounded vanity, or of ill-effaced regrets and recollections, then it is they who will cease to be anything.

"From all this," continued the First Consul, "it follows that our line must be to make as few laws as possible, and to do without all that are not indispensable. For in the present state of feeling I see nothing that can reasonably be proposed with a certainty of success. We must confine ourselves to the law on the Budget, and be silent respecting all the rest. Some day perhaps, the people, who are represented by us as well as by the Legislative Body and the Tribunate, will perceive that it is impossible to rule a State when this diversity exists between the principal governing bodies, and especially when the two authorities that vote the laws insist that none but perfect and irreproachable laws shall be presented to them; which is a vain dream, quite impossible to realise."

Two days after this sitting, at the conclusion of an audience given to the Ambassadors,* he detained the Members of the Council of State, and returning to the same subject, expressed similar ideas. He made the additional remark that the Tribunate lost much of the advantage conferred on it by the Constitution by regarding itself as instituted merely to oppose the Government, and not to advise with it; thus posing as the natural enemy of the Government, instead of an integral part of it, and, as it were, its

* For some time past these audiences had been given with great ceremony; the Senate and the State Council being present at them.

mouthpiece, for the tribune is the principal and easiest mode of addressing the public, and leading public opinion in the desired direction for the preservation of the existing order of things. "It is impossible," continued he," that there should be any likeness between the present order, and that which existed under the Constituent Assembly. The new power that was then arising had to struggle with a power that was crumbling, and which marked regretfully its own daily diminution. To-day, on the contrary, it is a dethroned power, and one without strength of its own, that would attempt to act against a vigorous power able to dispense with its help. We have sufficient laws to govern the Republic for a long time yet, without having recourse to the Legislative Body, and we can do without it until the time when it will have been sifted by the renewals which the Senate has to make in it occasionally, dating from the present year. What will be the consequence, moreover, of the inaction in which we shall leave it? For another year, it will be said that the Government intends to abolish the Tribunate, an intention which it has not, and cannot have. But although such rumours may bring discredit on that Body and deprive it of some consideration, which is not desirable, it is better to run the risk of this than to have to fight the English, the Austrians, the Russians, the Legislature, and the Tribunate at the same time. These are too many enemies for the Government, and it must endeavour to lessen their number."

He spoke next of the excitement that had been caused by a recent occurrence. The Constitutional Bishop of Morbihan had been murdered by fanatics between Quimper and Morlaix, in the month of Brumaire, and this murder furnished a text for declamation and invective against the restored émigrés, the clergy, and consequently against the Government, which had encouraged the return of the first and the pretensions of the second. A motion was already prepared by the Tribunate, which was to be read by Boujoux, one of its members, containing a hostile criticism of the Government, and openly blaming its action and its policy. This motion was to have been made some days before, on the 9th Frimaire, and the fear of being premature and imprudent had been the sole cause of the delay in reading it.

After informing us of these particulars, the First Consul continued: "They want me, in order to avenge the assassination of a priest, to proscribe a whole class of society, to commence a course of severe and revolutionary measures. I will not do so; I only wish for law, which ought to be sufficient for the repression and punishment of every crime. My own life was attempted, but it never occurred to me, nor was I asked, to proscribe all the Jacobins among whom the crime had been plotted. I left its

punishment to the ordinary tribunals; and I shall do the same with the assassins of Andrein, with this difference, that they shall be prosecuted with much greater severity than those who attacked myself." I shall bring these quotations to a close here, although at that time I took note of many other things. I have said enough to explain the principles on which the First Consul acted in the management of public affairs. If we examine them closely, we must give him credit for great skill in the art of dealing with men, and profound sagacity in the conduct of public business. We also see that he professed maxims of Government which might be adopted with advantage by princes at the head of empires, and some of which, those for instance relating to the murder of Andrein, are excellent. It would have been well had he never deviated from his own maxims.

CHAPTER XII.

Moreau gains a victory at Hohenlinden over the Austrians-Celebration of that victory in Paris-The Author prepares for his journey to Corsica, but his departure is deferred in consequence of the attempt of the 3d Nivôse-Details of that event-Its immediate result-Wrath of the First Consul with the Terrorists—Extra-legal measures proposed against that faction, by means of unconstitutional powers conferred on the Senate-Extraordinary sitting of the Council of State-Reports by the Police-Debate, and decrees of the Consuls now converted into a Senatus-Consultum-The Police prove that the authors of the attempt of the 3d Nivôse belong to the Royalist party, and arrest the real criminals-Successful issue of the peace negotiations at Lunéville-The Author sets out on his journey, having received his instructions from the First Consul-Disorganized state of the south of France-Admiral Ganteaume and his squadron-The Author leaves Toulon in the warsloop Hirondelle and lands at Calvi,

WHILE the Government was endeavouring to parry the blows aimed at it by the Tribunate, and to prepare for the coming struggle, Victory, still faithful to French arms, was about to dispel some of the difficulties with which its course was beset. Hostilities had begun; the army of Germany had just opened the winter campaign, and on the 11th Frimaire (September 2) Moreau gained a victory, as brilliant as it was complete, over the Austrians at Hohenlinden in Bavaria. Thus the same spot which had witnessed the signing of the prorogation of the armistice at the close of year VIII. now gave its name to a memorable battle, which had most important results.

Notwithstanding the rivalry between the two great Generals, which was increased by this victory, the First Consul lavished unstinted praise on Moreau. He sent him, in the name of the Government, a pair of splendid pistols set with diamonds; salvos of artillery in Paris and the fortified towns, especially Calais, announced to England the triumph of our arms; messages were sent with great solemnity to the Legislative Body and to the Trib unate. Our hopes of peace revived, the Legislative authorities appeared less adverse to it, and the general aspect of things was more favourable. During this peaceful interval the First Consul, reverting to his plan of sending me to Corsica, commanded me to present to the Legislative Body, the law which suspended the

authority of the constitutional government in that island. Some difficulties were raised in the Tribunate, but these were readily disposed of, and the law adopted on the 23d Frimaire (December 14) by a majority of two hundred and sixty against three. I then read to the Council of State the report of the proposed decree, which was to define the extraordinary powers that I was to exercise in virtue of that law. It was adopted, with a few unimportant modifications, and I prepared to start. My departure was, however, delayed by a very serious event.

On the 3d Nivôse (December 24) Haydn's Oratorio, "The Creation," was given at the Opera, and attracted a large audience. The First Consul went to the Opera House at about half-past eight. His carriage followed that of Madame Bonaparte, and was attended by his ordinary guard. At the turn into the Rue SaintNicaise, the explosion of a barrel of gunpowder was heard, the windows of the neighbouring houses were smashed, some walls came toppling down, and several of the passers-by were killed or severely injured.

Such was the story told me by Talleyrand and Regnault, whom I met in the lobby of the Opera House. Other details, more or less exaggerated, were added. It was, however, asserted from the very first that this explosion was not the result of accident, but the execution of a plot against the life of the First Consul. The barrel contained, besides a large quantity of compressed gunpowder, balls and bits of iron of all kinds, and was placed on a cart which barred the way of Bonaparte's carriage. It had been fired by a train of powder. A miscalculation of the time only prevented this infernal machine from accomplishing its purpose; the First Consul had already passed by when the explosion took place. Bonaparte remained perfectly cool. On reaching the Opera he advanced to the front of his box, and, as the great danger he had incurred was as yet unknown to the audience, his presence excited only the usual amount of attention. But when the news spread, it caused the greatest sensation. All the disasters which might possibly ensue on the inopportune death of the First Consul were pictured to men's minds, and it may safely be said that never before was his life so precious, and never had he inspired so much interest. The Opera ended quietly, and many persons left the house in ignorance of the attempt on Bonaparte's life.

The following morning I went to the Tuileries, where I found, as I had expected, a great number of persons. The First Consul seemed to be convinced that the plot was the work of revolutionaries, and that this party had chosen for its instruments the assassins of September 1792, who were living at liberty in Paris, and even found safety in the protection of the police. It was in vain