'I wrote to him yesterday and took a gamble on saying that " our friend was eager to meet him ", etc., then asked on what days next week he would be free to take breakfast in some place where the meeting was unlikely to be observed and reported.'
' Good! Good! Somehow we will get Bonaparte there, even if we have to drag him by the coat-tails.'
* Ah, but where? I can think of only one suitable place, if it is available. Have you still your little house out at Passy? '
Talleyrand smiled, ' Why, yes. The Velots still look after it for me and occasionally I use it as a rendezvous to ascertain the colour of some pretty creature's garters. It is an admirable choice. You have only to let me know the day and I will arrange matters. Within recent months, Fouche and I have become upon quite tolerable terms and he will be more inclined to come in with us when he realizes that I am giving Bonaparte my support. As host, I can serve as the oil between the wheels; but, later, you and I must leave them alone together.'
' So be it then. I only pray that our little man will not bring about his own ruin by too lengthy a hesitation. Fouche feared that, if he failed to act promptly, he might be denounced in the Assembly as a conspirator, and that would prove the end of him.'
' That is my own fear, but I have taken a precaution against it. Today, unless matters go very wrong, as an honour to the General his brother Lucien is to be elected President for the month of the Five Hundred. He is a most revolting young firebrand, but he has a good head on his shoulders and is devoted to his brother. For his term as President we can count on him to quash any measure likely to thwart the ambitions of our formidable nursling.'
When they had finished breakfast, Talleyrand gave Roger a lift to his tailor's then drove on to Bonaparte's. After trying on his new uniforms, Roger followed him there. By then Talleyrand had left, but there were half a dozen officers in the drawing room, gathered round the General, among them Admiral Bruix who, since Breuy's death, had been the senior Commander in the French Navy. Having talked for a while with some of those present, Roger slipped away to the little cabinet where, as he expected, he found Bourrienne at work.
He confided to his old friend the situation regarding Fouche and asked his help, but the Chef de Cabinet shook his head. '1 do not feel that it is for me to attempt to influence our master in these matters. Talleyrand has been at him this morning urging him to call on Sieyes, and he has made a half-promise to do so; but I doubt if any good will come of it. The temperaments of the two men are so utterly at variance. If he does ally himself with one of the Directors it is much more likely to be his old patron, Barras. Although he despises him they have much more in common.'
' Including Josephine,' remarked Roger with a smile.
Bourrienne gave him a reproving look. 'Mon vieux, you should not say such things. What is past is past.'
' But is it? Rumour says that, before our return, she was from time to time still being kind to him for old acquaintance's sake; although Gohier appears to have been her latest interest.'
' You would be more correct in saying that Gohier is in love with her and that, by encouraging him without going too far, she is preventing him from joining her husband's enemies.'
' Bless you, Bourrienne, for a dear, kindly fellow,' Roger laughed. ' All I pray is that she will be discreet. Our little man is in no mood to stand for further infidelities, and she is so good-hearted a creature it would be a tragedy if some scheming harridan were put in her place.'
The next morning Roger witnessed a fine flare-up in the Bona-partes' drawing room. The General had been prevailed upon by Talleyrand and had sent an aide-de-camp to Sieyes to say that he proposed to call on him the following morning. Evidently the inordinately vain Sieyes considered himself insulted because Bonaparte had already been a week in Paris without troubling to present himself officially to him as one of the heads of the Government; so he had sent back a message saying that the hour proposed would be inconvenient.
Thereupon, Bonaparte flew into one of his passions. He declared that the aide-de-camp had acted without orders and had not been sent by him. Then he raved to those around him that he paid calls on nobody. He was the glory of the nation and if people wished to see him they must call on him.
Much perturbed, Roger slipped away, signalled a coach and drove hell-for-leather to the Rue Taitbout. On hearing Roger's news, Talleyrand was equally furious but controlled his temper better. Roger had retained the coach and they drove back to the Rue de la Victoire together. By then, Bonaparte had calmed down a little and let Talleyrand lead him out into the small garden. They remained there, wrangling heatedly, for half an hour. Later, when Talleyrand left the house, Roger accompanied him. When they were out in the street, the statesman exclaimed:
1 God preserve me from such conceited fools. The two of them have come within an ace of wrecking all my labours to give France a stable Government and peace. But I stood no nonsense. I told him that he was behaving like a petulant schoolboy and understood no more about politics than a kitchenmaid. Apparently, he has been toying with the idea of allying himself with Barras. To do so would be suicidal. Barras is now a washed-out rag and hated by one and all for his corruption and incompetence; whereas Siey£s is the new broom at the Directory and people expect great things of him. In the end, I got my way. He has given me his firm promise to call on Sieyes tomorrow. At the same time, I took the opportunity to force his hand about Fouche.'
'You did! Thank God for that. I have been on tenterhooks lest he should refuse a meeting.'
' You need worry no more. It was Sieyes who got Fouche made Minister of Police; so I pointed out to our man that the two run in double harness and to become on terms with one but not the other would be invidious. I pray you now, lose no time in fixing a day for them to breakfast with us out at Passy.'
Roger went straight to the Ministry of Police, saw Fouche, told him that Bonaparte was now eager to meet him, and provisionally arranged for the meeting to be on the 25th. That afternoon he again saw Bonaparte who agreed to the date.
Next day, the 23rd, Bonaparte paid his call on Sieyes, but the meeting was far from a success. The ex-Abb^ was frightened by the General's forthright manner and obvious determination, in the event of a successful coup, to have a big say in the Government. The General scarcely veiled his contempt for the ex-Abba's timidity and Utopian ideas. Nevertheless the ice had been broken and, on the 2'th, Sieyes accompanied by Roger Ducos, returned Bonaparte's call.
On the morning of the 25th, Talleyrand and Roger drove out to the former's charming little house in the garden suburb of Passy. Old Antoine Velot and his wife Marie, who for many years had lived there as butler and cook, were overjoyed to see Roger again. He had supported them all through Talleyrand's exile and they had looked after him while he had lived in hiding there during some of the darkest weeks of the Terror. The house brought back to him many memories of those desperate days, but also fond ones of his dead wife, Amanda, who had lived there with him for a while, and of the shock he had received on going out there unexpectedly one night to find his beautiful mistress, Athenai's de Rochambeau, occupying his wife's bed.
Bonaparte and Fouche arrived within a few minutes of one another and, to Talleyrand's great relief, got on well together. In spite of the frank manner of the one and the shiftiness of the other, they were both practical men who knew what they wanted and their ideas of what should be done had much in common. By the time they were halfway through breakfast both had stated their views with a degree of frankness that made it unnecessary for Talleyrand and Roger to leave them alone together afterwards; so Roger heard the whole of their conversation.
Fouch6 agreed with Talleyrand that the revolution must be brought about from within, so with apparent legality. It was, therefore, essential that Sieyes should be entirely won over. Fouche then promised to work on Sieyes with the object of making the latter's relations with Bonaparte more cordial, while Bonaparte agreed at all events to pretend to accept Sieyes's proposals for a new Constitution
and to flatter his vanity at their future meetings.
Before they parted, the Minister of Police displayed his usual caution. Snuffling, he said it would be ill-advised for him to give anyone, apart from Sieyes, the impression that he thought highly of Bonaparte in any other way than as a soldier; so it would be wise for them not to meet, except by chance and socially and, since Roger was one of the General's aides-de-camp, it might arouse unwelcome comment if he were to act frequently as a go-between. Therefore for that purpose he proposed to employ, alternately with Roger, Commissioner Real, the Chief-of-Police of the Paris District, for whose trustworthiness he could vouch. He would also give Real a special assignment to have the Jacobin members of the Five Hundred kept under observation, with the object of obtaining advance information of any plot against Bonaparte in which they might engage.
When Bonaparte and Fouche had left in their respective coaches, Talleyrand and Roger settled down to enjoy another glass of Grande Echezaux. The statesman savoured a mouthful of the fine wine, then smiled across the table and said:
* My dear friend, we may congratulate ourselves. At last something definite has been achieved. Bonaparte has promised to butter up that idiotically vain creature, Sieyes. Fouche foresees security for himself in a triumph for Bonaparte so, although unheard and unseen, will prove our most powerful ally. At last these diverse elements are about to coalesce for a single purpose. This morning, the Corsican has committed himself. The Jacobins are powerful and ruthless. They will do their utmost to destroy him and, if the ex-sans-culottes in the garrison of Paris side with them, it may prove the end of people like us. But the battle is now joined. There can be no turning back.'
25
The Fateful Days of Brumaire
During the few days that followed this highly satisfactory meeting there were endless comings and goings. Only a handful of people were let into the secret that Bonaparte was now committed to play the principal role in a coup d'etat, but everyone knew that an upheaval was imminent, and the little house in the Rue de la Victoire was crowded from morning to night with officers who wanted to express their loyalty to him, and others who went there hoping to find out which way the wind was blowing. Those who were in the plot—Berthier, Bruix and Murat among the senior officers then in Paris, and Talleyrand, Roederer and the Minister of Justice Cambaceres among the politicians— worked desperately hard to win him the support, 'should he be called uponof doubtful elements.
In this respect Josephine also performed prodigies. In spite of the fact that, after her release from prison at the ending of the Terror, she had become little better than a highly paid demi-mondaine, she had attained a high place in the new Society. Undoubtedly the fact that she was an aristocrat by birth and the widow of a Vicomte had been part of her attraction for Bonaparte, and he felt that by marrying her he had improved his social status. Since then she had enjoyed the added lustre of his name and, for the past three years, had been hailed everywhere as ' Our Lady of Victories Moreover she was an excellent hostess, possessed great tact and charm and had the ability to make people feel that she wanted to talk only to them. In consequence, her influence over both men and women, although not obvious like that of Madame de StaePs, was considerable, and she proved
'35
invaluable in placating people whom her husband's abrupt manner offended.
In her drawing room and the salons of Madame de Stael and Madame Recamier, which Roger again frequented, the talk was largely of the war and, from various conversations, he learned the reason that lay behind the marked improvement that had taken place in the past six weeks in the situation of the French Armies.
After the Austro-Russian victory at Novi in August the two Emperors had quarrelled. Francis of Austria had maintained that, although Suvoroff commanded a Russian Army, he came under the Austrian High Command. This had given umbrage to Paul of Russia, and fuel had been added to the fire by the Allies' capture of Turin. King Charles Emmanuel, having been driven from his capital in December, '98, had taken refuge in his island of Sardinia. Paul instructed Suvoroff to invite him to return, and Britain fully supported Paul's action, but Francis refused to permit it. He maintained that Charles Emmanuel, who had earlier signed a treaty with the French, had thereby become an enemy; although the fact of the matter was that Francis wanted most of northern Italy for Austria and meant to claim Piedmont as part of his indemnity.
It was this legitimate claim by the House of Savoy to the Piedmontese territories that was later to bedevil the relations of all Europe. The immediate upshot of the quarrel had been the withdrawal of Suvoroff's Army from Austrian control and an order from Paul that it should march through the Alps to Switzerland, there to join that of Korsakoff.
This could have proved an excellent move for the Coalition, because the two Russian Armies, together with that of the Archduke Charles, could, by sheer weight of numbers, have overwhelmed Massena and invaded France. But, with short-sighted selfishness, Francis had withdrawn the Austrian Army from Switzerland and ordered the Archduke to lay siege with it to cities on the Rhine occupied by the French.
His reason for doing so was a jealous fear of Prussia. By sending an Anglo-Russian expeditionary force to Holland, the Allies had hoped to draw Prussia into the Coalition against France, the natural enemy of all Monarchies. But, with cynical disregard for the great stakes at issue, Prussia had held aloof, preferring to keep her forces intact for possible operations on the
Rhine which would attract into her orbit many of the petty German Princes at the expense of Austria, and thus lead to her becoming a Power of the first rank.
The result had been that the withdrawal of the Archduke from Switzerland had cancelled out the arrival of the Russians, Massena, faced with no greater numbers than before, had been able to achieve his great victory over the latter. Meanwhile in Holland, two days, after Bonaparte's arrival in Paris, the Anglo-Russian force, incompetently led by the Duke of York and unsupported by the Prussians, had been compelled to sign a capitulation at Alkmar on terms that compelled its return home with its tail between its legs.
At last, on October 29th, Bonaparte, by unstinted flattery of Sieyes, gained his goodwill and entered into a firm partnership with him. Their plan was that they should get rid of Barras, Gohier and Moulins, launch the ex-Abbe's famous Constitution which, on the Roman model, would have Consuls for its senior officials, and nominate a President.
But, at times of crisis, Barras had so often suddenly re-emerged from his life of debauchery as the strong man that Sieyes was frightened of him; so the wily Talleyrand suggested that Barras be made privy to the plot and led to believe that he would retain his position more or less unchanged. This was agreed and Sieyes succeeded in winning Barras over to their plans.
However, other considerations continued to cause the launching of the coup to hang fire. All the conspirators were aware that any tampering with the principles of the Revolution, as laid down in the existing Constitution, would arouse the fiercest opposition of the Jacobins, and among them were four senior Generals: Lefebvre who commanded the Paris garrison, the veterans Moreau and Jourdan and the fiery Bernadotte. Should any of these call on the troops to defend the 'liberties won in the Revolution', the conspirators might find themselves under arrest before they had time to rally their forces.
It was thought that Lefebvre might be won over at the last minute. Moreau, so brave in battle but so hesitant in politics, was unlikely to take the lead against Bonaparte. But Jourdan well might, and the worst danger of all was Bernadotte. He had been replaced in the previous month as Minister of War by Dubois-Grance, a sound Republican but a Moderate, who had played a leading part in bringing about Robespierre's fall. As he was an anti-Jacobin it was thought that he would at least remain neutral. But Bernadotte was still a danger with whom to be reckoned.
He had a strain of Moorish blood, which accounted for his dark complexion, crop of coal-black curls and hot-blooded temper. He was firmly Republican in principles and he and Bonapart
e disliked one another intensely; so there were very good reasons to fear that he might attempt to wreck the coup. Twice, during these anxious days of late October and early November, he put in an appearance at the Rue de la Victoire. Twice he and Bonaparte would probably have come to blows had not Josephine poured oil on the troubled waters; but there seemed little chance of winning him over.
Early in November Talleyrand began to prepare propaganda to be issued to the public once the coup was under way. In this Roederer, one of the elder statesmen of the Revolution, proved invaluable, as he was a most skilful and lucid writer. Together, in the Rue Taitbout, they prepared posters and leaflets which Roederer's son, by joining a firm of printers as an apprentice managed to get printed at night. The banker Collot put up two million francs for expenses and Ouvrard, the richest financier in Paris, promised to buy Barras's resignation, should he refuse it when confronted with the demand that he should go.
Meanwhile, Bonaparte shunned publicity as far as possible. When he did go out he always wore civilian clothes, and pretended that now he no longer had an active Command his only interest was in the scientific debates at the Institute. But by this time so many people were involved that it was impossible to keep secret any longer the fact that a conspiracy was afoot.
Fouche then employed a clever stratagem to quieten the Directors at whom the coup was aimed. He gave a party to which he invited both the leading conspirators and those who were expected to oppose the coup. On entering the room Gohier innocently fell into the trap by asking jovially, ' Well, my friend, what is the latest news? '
Blinking his fish-like eyes, then looking away, Fouch6 replied, ' There is none, except about the conspiracy.'
Bonaparte and his friends were electrified, fearing that Fouche had had the house surrounded by his police and was about to betray and arrest them. But Gohier only laughed and said, "Splendid, we Directors may sleep easy in our beds as long as we have you as Minister of Police.'
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