The Sultan's Daughter rb-7

by Dennis Wheatley

  On November 6th, the two Chambers gave a banquet in honour of Bonaparte and Moreau. It was held in the Church of St Sulpice and a great crowd assembled outside to see the notables arrive. When Bonaparte's coach drew up they shouted 'Peace! Peace! Give us Peace! as the people now always did whenever he appeared. But he was in a surly mood and would not even wave his hand to them.

  The banquet was anything but a success. Bonaparte had brought his own food and wine from fear of being poisoned. The Republican Jourdan failed to appear, and throughout the meal there was general constraint and embarrassment. Barras, who was seated next to Bonaparte, said that what France needed was a President and suggested a General Hedouville for the post, no doubt because Hedouville was a nonentity who could have been easily manipulated. Bonaparte replied only with a stony stare and Barras fell into an uneasy silence. When Bonaparte's health was drunk he replied in only a few words and drank to the ' Union of all Frenchmen'. Then, pleading fatigue, he quickly slipped away.

  Next morning twenty of the chief conspirators met at the house of Lemercier, the President of the Anciens, and discussed the measures to be taken. It was decided that, in order to prevent either the mob or the Jacobin Generals from interfering with the proceedings, a State of Emergency should be declared, which would enable the place of assembly of both Chambers to be transferred to St. Cloud, and that Bonaparte should be given command of the Paris garrison for their protection.

  That evening Fouche sent an urgent message by Real that the coup must be delayed no longer or it would be nipped in the bud.

  On the 8th, the final arrangements were made. Roger went to see Talleyrand and found him none too happy about their prospects. That genius, who had brought the affair to its present point with such labour and skill, told him:

  ' Coups d'etat should be unexpected and swift. This one can be neither. Half Paris now knows what we would be at, and is boiling up to defeat us. If we could be finished by tomorrow night, all might be well; but we cannot. It requires a day to move the Legislature out of Paris, so the blow cannot be struck until the day after tomorrow. In twenty-four hours anything can happen. The delay may prove our ruin. All we can do now is hope for the best.'

  The morning of the 9th—18th Brumaire by the Revolutionary Calendar—dawned bright and mild. At 7 a.m., the Anciens met at the Tuileries. Their President announced that the Republic was in danger from a conspiracy hatched by the Jacobins, and proposed that the two Chambers should transfer to St. Cloud to avoid intimidation by the mob. Notice of this early session had been purposely withheld from sixty doubtful members, so it was voted unanimously that the next meetings of the Two Chambers should be held in the Palace of St. Cloud the following day at noon. A decree was then passed that Bonaparte should assume command of ali the troops in the Paris area for the purpose of protecting the Legislature in the continuance of its functions. Bonaparte was then sent for.

  At a very early hour that morning, he had summoned all the senior officers in Paris to the Rue de la Victoire. Soon after dawn it was packed with excited warriors. Among the first to arrive was Lefebvre. Shaking the Commander of the garrison by the hand, Bonaparte cried, ' Here is the sword I carried at the battle of the Pyramids. I give it you as a mark of my esteem and confidence.* By that shrewd gesture, his old comrade-inarms was immediately won over.

  Berthier, Lannes, Murat, Macdonald, Bessieres, Marmont and Moreau all came trooping in, to offer their services. Jourdan, almost alone, ignored the summons and Bernadotte appeared but remained recalcitrant. He was brought by Brother Joseph, came in civilian clothes and still stubbornly refused to have any part in the business.

  By the time Bonaparte received the summons from the Anciens, he was able to go to them accompanied by scores of the ablest soldiers he had led to victory. In the garden of the Tuileries hundreds of troops were drawn up. Impassively, they watched his arrival. At the bar of the Assembly, he seemed temporarily to have lost his nerve and, on being charged with its protection, made a short, rambling speech about the sacred principles of the Revolution. The Deputy Garat rose to point out that, on his appointment, he had not sworn fidelity to the Constitution; but the President promptly declared all further proceedings out of order.

  Once outside the building, the sight of the massed troops seemed to restore Bonaparte's confidence. Addressing them in ringing tones he cried, 'Soldiers! What have you done with the France which I left so brilliant? I left you peace, I find war. I left you victories, I find defeats. I left you the millions of Italy, I find laws of spoliation and misery.' His oration was met with a tremendous burst of cheering.

  But the decrees of the Anciens had to be confirmed by at least three out of the five Directors, and notice of them sent to all. Sieyes and Roger Ducos had already agreed to sign and then resign, and Josephine had invited Gohier to breakfast in the hope that she might persuade him also to do so. But Gohier was suspicious and saw no attraction in a rendezvous so early in the morning, so he sent his wife instead. Josephine put the situation to her; but she could not be persuaded to attempt to bring her husband over into the Bonapartist camp, and as soon as Gohier learned what was afoot he declared his intention of continuing as a Director.

  Barras was still unaware that the conspirators intended to turn him out, and Gohier and Moulins, believing him to be with them, assumed that, as the three of them constituted the majority, they could not be deposed; so they took no action. But Talleyrand was taking charge of that end of the affair personally.

  Roger had been detailed to act as his assistant, so he had that morning gone direct to his house. Soon afterwards, they were joined by Admiral Bruix, Ouvrard and Roederer. Supervised by Talleyrand, Roederer drew up a document of resignation, full of high-sounding phrases, for Barras to sign. Ouvrard then produced a draft on his bank and, handing it to Talleyrand, said, ' Any objections he may have to resigning should be overridden by this.' Roger, who was standing near, did not see the actual sum for which the draft was made out, but he caught sight of the word 'millions'. Then, to fill in time until they learned what had taken place at the Anciens, the five of them went into the dining room and ate a hearty breakfast.

  At eleven o'clock a message arrived from Bonaparte that all had gone according to plan, so Talleyrand, Bruix and Roger set off in a coach for the Luxembourg.

  There they were faced with a somewhat delicate situation, as all five of the Directors occupied suites of apartments in the Palace and it was important that neither Gohier nor Moulins should see Talleyrand calling on Barras. Otherwise, they might have guessed what was happening, insisted on joining him and stiffened his resistance. It was to guard against this that Talleyrand had asked that Roger should accompany him.

  Leaving the other two down in the hall, Roger went up the marble staircase, made a swift reconnaissance, then enquired of the footman on the door of Barras' suite if his master was alone. Learning that he was, Roger ran back and called to Talleyrand and the Admiral to come up. As soon as they had entered Barras's apartment Roger told the footman that, if anyone enquired for his master, he was to say that he could not receive them because he was in his bath.

  When Talleyrand, kindly but firmly, told Barras what was required of him, he was surprised and somewhat hurt that, after all he had done for Bonaparte, his protege should have turned against him; but he offered little resistance. For over five years he had enjoyed almost unlimited power and more wine and beautiful women than most men would be granted in twenty lifetimes. He had acquired an enormous fortune and was tired of wrangling with earnest people and windy gasbags like Sieygs. When he had read the declaration and had seen that it announced his honourable retirement after having rendered great services to his country, he signed it without a murmur.

  It was not even necessary to offer him the additional fortune that Talleyrand had brought folded up in his waistcoat pocket. What he said to Ouvrard later about the draft no one will ever know; but there is reason to suppose that the banker never got it back. After all, Talleyrand e
njoyed collecting money and none of his friends could complain about the way in which he spent it. Escorted by a hundred dragoons, Barras left Paris that afternoon for one of his estates in the country. Untroubled by wars or any responsibility, he continued to enjoy every luxury during his many years of happy retirement.

  The three signatures having been obtained to legalize the decrees of the Anciens, the next step was to persuade Gohier and Moulins to resign. But both flatly refused to do so. At the Luxembourg there was a royal rumpus, which ended in Bonaparte's hand being forced. The only certain way of preventing the two diehard revolutionaries from raising the mob against him was to arrest them, but in this Bonaparte showed admirable statecraft. He entrusted Moreau with the task of surrounding the Luxembourg with troops and confining the two Directors to their apartments, thus causing the popular veteran to commit himself fully to the conspiracy.

  Meanwhile, at midday, the Five Hundred had assembled for a normal sitting in the Palais Bourbon. Lucien Bonaparte, as President, read out the decrees of the Anciens: that the two Chambers should remove to St. Cloud and General Bonaparte be given command of all troops in the Paris area. The majority of the members were taken completely by surprise but, before they had a chance to question the measures or make any protest, Lucien abruptly adjourned the session.

  Now came the time of danger that Talleyrand had foreseen. The cat was out of the bag. No further legislation could be passed until the Chambers met at St. Cloud at midday the following day. That gave Bonaparte's enemies nearly twenty-four hours in which to concert measures against him.

  In the evening, Bonaparte, Sieyes, Talleyrand and their principal supporters met to decide on the course of action to be taken next day. Their object was to abolish the Directory and appoint Provisional Consuls who would recast the Constitution. But what if the Five Hundred refused to pass such a decree? Lucien vouched for his ability to get the measure through, but Talleyrand said he felt certain that a majority would oppose it. He insisted that the only way to make sure of success was to send Real to ask Fouche to have the forty most violent Jacobin members arrested in the course of the night. But Bonaparte would not hear of it. He declared that such methods were those of the tyranny that had brought France to ruin, that he would lead a Government only if given a mandate to do so by the elected representatives of the People, and that such an act would be in flagrant contradiction to his principles—to restore true liberty and toleration. In consequence, the meeting broke up with nothing settled and the morrow left precariously on the knees of the gods.

  At the same hour, in another part of Paris, Bernadotte had assembled the leading Jacobins and they were feverishly debating measures to wreck the coup d'etat. As a first step, it was agreed that the Five Hundred should pass a decree making Bernadotte joint Commander with Bonaparte of the Paris garrison. He would then be able to veto any move by Bonaparte to use troops, while the Deputies of the Left concerted plans to bring about his ruin.

  Next morning there was a very clear indication that the responsible elements of the population favoured and hoped for the overthrow of the Directory, for the Three Per Cents went up several points. But that gave no practical support to the conspirators, as for the past eight years the moneyed classes had been at the mercy of the demagogues. It was, too, more than offset by the news that Santerre, the veteran leader of the sansculottes, was stirring up the mob in the Faubourg St. Antoine.

  As the Palace of St. Cloud was not equipped for a meeting of the Legislature, time had had to be allowed for an army of carpenters to fit up benches in its two largest apartments. It was for this reason that the time for opening the proceedings could not be earlier than noon. But many of the Deputies, anxious to learn the latest rumours, arrived at eight o'clock. By midday, the Chambers were still not ready, so the opening had to be postponed until one o'clock.

  That gave five hours for the Deputies to form groups outside and discuss the situation. Excitedly they said to one another, 'What is this plot that has been used as a pretext to get us out of Paris? ' ' Why were the " patriot" members of the Anciens not summoned to its meeting yesterday?' 'What are all these hundreds of troops doing bivouacked in the park? It can only be to coerce us. Bonaparte is a traitor. He intends to betray the Revolution and make himself Dictator.'

  As time went on tempers rose, indignation increased and many of even the Moderate Deputies declared their determination to resist any attempt to alter the Constitution. At last, at one o'clock, when the Orangerie was ready to receive the Five Hundred, the Deputies streamed into it, angry, intense and, almost to a man, hostile to Bonaparte.

  The clamour was such that Lucien had difficulty in getting a hearing. He called on Gaudin, one of the conspirators, who proposed that a Committee be formed to report on the state of the Republic and that the assembly should adjourn until the report was presented. The proposal was aimed at getting rid of the Five Hundred while giving the Anciens time to retrieve the situation. But it did not work. The Deputies saw through it and shouted it down with cries of execration. 'The Constitution or death! ' they yelled. 'No Dictatorship! Bayonets do not frighten us! We are free men! Down with the Dictators! '

  When the pandemonium had died down, Grandmaison proposed that the members should individually renew their oath to the Constitution. The whole Assembly rose to its feet, shouting ' Vive la Republic!' The motion was carried by acclamation and the next two and a half hours were passed going through this, in the circumstances, futile ceremony.

  The Anciens had met in the Gallery of Apollo and things were not going well there either. The Deputies who had deliberately been kept away from the previous day's sitting were indignantly demanding an explanation and, when they asked for particulars of the Jacobin plot, no one could give them any. The five Directors had been sent a formal notification of the session. At half past three the news was received that three of them had resigned and the other two were under arrest. The Deputies who were not in the plot then took alarm, and it looked as though the Anciens, too, would turn against Bonaparte.

  With Sieyes, Ducos and others of his co-conspirators, Bonaparte was in a room on the first floor of the Palace. Every few minutes news was brought to them of what was going on in the two Chambers. Roger was not among the aides-de-camp who kept them informed. He had been allotted the task of acting as liaison with Talleyrand, and neither Talleyrand nor Fouche was in the Palace.

  The wily Minister of Police had preferred to remain in Paris so that, if things went wrong, he could disclaim any connection with the conspirators; but, even so, he rendered them a valuable service. At midday he ordered the gates of Paris to be closed, thus preventing any mobs marching out of the city to support the Jacobin Deputies at St. Cloud.

  Talleyrand, the arch-conspirator, was also much averse to taking an active part in coups d'etat. He preferred on such days to stay at home; but the preceding day he had felt that unless he used his persuasive powers personally Barras might have refused to resign and, as the conference that night had left matters in such an uncertain state, he had decided that he dare not remain more than a few minutes' distance from Bonaparte during the all-important sessions at St. Cloud in case the General made a mess of things. He had, therefore, hired a small house near the Palace and had driven out to it that morning accompanied by Roederer, de Montrond and Roger. As the hours passed they became more and more anxious.

  So, too, did Bonaparte. Soon after three o'clock Jourdan arrived on the scene and, far worse, he brought with him that terrible, swashbuckling revolutionary, General Augereau. Rumours then came in that the Five Hundred had sent representatives back to Paris to raise the mobs and sieze the city. On hearing this Bonaparte decided to make a personal bid for the support of the Anciens.

  Accompanied by Berthier and Bourrienne he entered the Chamber of Apollo and asked permission to address the Assembly. It was granted but, when he started to speak, it was obvious to everyone that he had lost his nerve.

  This was the second important occasion in h
is career when he had done so. The first had been in Italy, before the battle of Castiglione. On the previous day the castle and village had been in the hands of the French. After only a weak defence, General Valette had allowed the Austrians to push him out of them. As the castle dominated the situation and Bonaparte's Army was already partially surrounded he had been absolutely furious and, on the spot, reduced Valette to the ranks. But that did not improve the situation.

  At a morning Council of War Augereau and the other Generals urged that the only possible course was to retake the castle by assault and cut their way out. Bonaparte, faced with this unexpected hitch in his carefully laid plans, temporarily lost his resolution. Fearful of having his unbroken chain of victories brought to an end by a shattering defeat, he refused to give any orders at all. Exclaiming 'I wash my hands of it! I am going away! ', to the utter amazement of the others he walked out of the tent. Augereau had shouted after him, 'Who, then, is to take command? ' ' You,' Bonaparte shouted back. Augereau had then led his Division in a furious charge up the hill and driven the Austrians out of the castle. Only after it had been taken did Bonaparte actively resume his Command. It was on account of this that, later in his career, whenever anyone complained to him of Augereau's outrageous behaviour, he always excused him by saying, 'Ah, but remember what he did for us at Castiglione.'

  Now, again, Bonaparte went all to pieces. He spoke hesitantly, in confused, broken sentences, muttering vaguely that he did not intend to play the part of a Cromwell; that the Jacobins had made a plot; that the Constitution had often been violated before. Horrified at the lack of firmness he was suddenly displaying, when he stammered to a stop not knowing what to say next, Berthier and Bourrienne took him by the arms and hurried him out of the Chamber.

  Whitefaced, de Montrond came hurrying over to Talleyrand to tell him what had happened. Clearly disaster was imminent. Talleyrand turned to Roger.