four feet, seven inches, or four feet, eight inches high, humpbacked, of twisted form, bandy-legged, and as red-headed as Judas. He was completely surrounded by prisoners, some of whom walked backwards in his presence, earnestly soliciting a look from him.

We were told a few days later that, when the last list was made up, he and his assistants had experienced a feeling of pity for my young brother whose name was on it, and that they had stricken it out. His lively, frank, and open demeanor, and the habit of seeing him for so long (he was, in spite of his youth, the oldest resident of the prison), had inspired them with a kindly feeling of which they could not divest themselves. To this must be attributed his not having shared the fate of young Mailly, who was sent to the scaffold for the offense they had committed in common, and which consisted in throwing in the face of the keeper of the prison some rotten herrings, telling him ironically that he might feast on them. . . .

We all considered ourselves doomed victims, and did not think that there, remained the slightest chance of salvation, when the morning of the 9th Thermidor dawned. The day passed without the slightest echo of what was happening outside penetrating our prison walls. On the morning of the 10th, a few of us were informed by turnkeys whom we had remunerated for certain personal services, that Robespierre had been brought to the prison during the night, and that those who had him in custody sought to have him incarcerated there, but the jailor refused to receive him. This alone was a sufficient proof that a most important event was taking place, and during the course of the day we succeeded in obtaining newspapers which told us all. . . .

The coup d'état of the “9th Thermidor" (July 27, 1794) led to the overthrow of Robespierre. As a consequence of the reaction in favor of ordinary government, Pasquier regained his liberty and his estates.

When I left St.-Lazare, I found that the march of events had been rapid, and that their trend was more and more pronounced

in favor of order and justice. After having been violently repressed, the more enlightened and the more respectable portion of the population was about to enjoy the right of living openly. How can I describe the joy of the friends and relations come back to life from prisons, or from obscure hidingplaces, who had lost all hope of meeting again, who inquired as to the fate of beloved ones, and about those whom they had lost. Their sweetest consolation was to be able to weep together over those who had fallen under the revolutionary scythe. The first use to which they put their freedom was to make a public display of their grief and of their lamentations. During the Terror, and especially during the last six months of its reign, no one dared to wear mourning for those who had perished on the scaffold. Mingled with so many heart-rending recollections was the joy felt over a deliverance which might more appropriately be styled a resurrection. . . .

None of the terrible laws made during the two past years were abrogated, but this did not trouble people. The greater part of the assassins, both leaders and hirelings, were still in possession of their lives; they mingled unpunished with their victims. Who was there to call them to account for the blood which they had shed? Contempt protected them against hatred, and so, escaping public vengeance, they vanished from sight.

153. The "18th and 19th Brumaire " 1

The last chapter in the history of the French Revolution was written on the "18th and 19th Brumaire" (November 9-10, 1799), when Napoleon overthrew the Directory and ended the existence of the Council of Five Hundred. Only ten and a half years from the summoning of the Estates-General at Versailles, parliamentary government in France fell beneath the sword.

The men most taken into the confidence of Napoleon, and who were best informed as to his plans during the days preceding the 18th Brumaire, were, besides his brother Lucien, Messieurs Roederer, Regnaud de St.-Jean d'Angély, Cambacérès,

1 Pasquier, Mémoires, vol. i, pp. 153-156.

and Talleyrand. In addition to these, some hundred and fifty men at least were initiated into his secrets, to a higher or lesser degree. In spite of this, the Directory was taken unawares. The military guard of the Directory took sides against it, without its president (Gohier) entertaining the least suspicion of this defection. This guard, composed of an infantry regiment which had belonged to the army of Italy, and of a cavalry regiment commanded by the Corsican Sébastiani, formed the nucleus of the military forces Napoleon could dispose of, and insured the success of his enterprise.

General Lefèvre, who was in command of the Paris garrison, went over to him unreservedly. This service was never forgotten, and the recollection of it is to be found during the brilliant period when Napoleon distributed among his adherents so many of the batons of a Marshal of France. Many accessions to fortune, among those which occurred during the Consulate and the Empire, are to be explained in the same fashion, and their foundations rest upon claims to gratitude dating from the same epoch. Whether as First Consul or as Emperor, Napoleon ever showed his gratitude in this respect.

It is unnecessary to dwell to any extent on the scenes of the "18th and 19th Brumaire." They have been so often told, and no one can have forgotten Napoleon's apostrophe, on the 18th, to the partisans of the Directory, as spoken to an emissary of Barras: "What have you done with that land of France which I left to your care in so magnificent a condition? I bequeathed you peace, and on my return I find war. I left you the memory of victories, and now I have come back to face defeats. I left with you the millions I had gathered in Italy, and to-day I see nothing in every direction but laws despoiling the people, coupled with distress. What have you done with the one hundred thousand French citizens, my companions in glory, all of whom I knew? You have sent them to their death. This state of things cannot last, for it would lead us to despotism. We require liberty reposing on the basis of equality."

It is well known that on the 19th, at St.-Cloud, the firmness

of Napoleon, so frequently tested on the battlefield, was for a moment shaken by the vociferous yells with which he was greeted by the Council of Five Hundred, and in the face of which he deemed it prudent to beat a retreat. His brother, Lucien, was the president of this council, and the firmness of the parliamentarian was in this instance more enduring than that of the warrior. Lucien weathered the storm, and prevented the passing of a decree of outlawry. Napoleon soon returned, supported by a military escort commanded by Generals Murat and Leclerc. The soldiers had been electrified by a rumor that the life of Napoleon had been attempted in the chamber of the council. The appearance and the attitude of this faithful armed band quickly cut the Gordian knot. The chamber was soon evacuated, and many of the members of the Council, anxious to take the shortest road, fled by the windows.

So Napoleon remained master of the situation by means of a method bearing some resemblance to that put in use by Cromwell to rid himself of the Long Parliament. Still, the French general preserved a greater respect for appearances than his forerunner, and he took care to shelter himself behind a semblance of legality. . . .

The three provisional consuls were Sieyès and Roger-Ducos of the Directory, and Napoleon. This provisional state of government lasted only six weeks, during which the consuls and the Legislative Commission prepared and drew up a constitution. This was the fourth in ten years. It was promulgated on the 24th of December, 1799, and is known as the Constitution of the Year VIII. Its result was to establish the consular government.

A new era dawned for France with this form of government. The face of things was entirely changed, and everything began to tend to a new goal. The power of the clubs, and of deliberative assemblies, was succeeded by the most absolute authority placed in the hands of one man. Thus, with but slight shades of distinction, will the march of events ever progress henceforth, and one form of excess will ever call forth its very opposite.

CHAPTER XXXII

LETTERS AND PROCLAMATIONS OF NAPOLEON 1

THE most important source for the life of Napoleon is his Correspondence. This was published in 1858-1869 by a commission appointed by Napoleon III, then emperor of the French. There are over twenty thousand letters, dispatches, and proclamations in the collection, which fills thirty-two volumes. The Correspondence covers the period 1793-1815; it is not complete, for some letters have been omitted, and others more or less garbled by the editors. But even in its present form the work affords an idea of the prodigious activity of Napoleon, who in twenty-two years, despite incessant campaigning and the heavy burden of administration, found time to dictate so many documents. As might be expected, these throw light upon almost every aspect of the emperor's career.

154. Napoleon's Early Years 2

While still a child Napoleon determined to be a soldier. His father did not oppose his resolve and sent him in 1779 to the French military school of Brienne, where cadets of noble families received a free education. Napoleon was then ten years of age. He went through the ordinary curriculum with credit and showed proficiency in mathematics. We are told that he devoted much of his spare time to history, especially Plutarch's Parallel Lives and Cæsar's Commentaries. The small Corsican boy, moody, silent, and solitary, made few friends among his schoolmates. In 1781, after two years' residence at Brienne,

1 A Selection from the Letters and Despatches of the First Napoleon, edited by D. A. Bingham. 3 vols. London, 1884. Chapman and Hall.

2 Bingham, Letters and Despatches, vol. i, pp. 5, 27, 58.