CHAPTER XIX.
NAPOLEON TAKES THE LEAD—SIÈYES AND DUCOS ARE DEPOSED—CAMBACÉRÈS AND LEBRUN NAMED SECOND AND THIRD CONSULS—NAPOLEON’S LETTER TO GEORGE THE THIRD—REPLY TO SAME.
Napoleon had now got his foot fairly on the ladder, but it was he alone who was to mount it. At the first meeting of the Consuls, Sièyes asked, ‘Which of us is to preside?’ Ducos had grasped the position, and replied, ‘Do you not see that the General presides?’
There is a caricature by Cawse (November 30, 1799) of ‘Satan’s return from Egypt Earth. Discovered in Council with Belzebub and Belial—a Sketch after Fuseli[53]!!!’ Here Napoleon forms the centre figure, one foot resting on a skull, the other on the Marseillaise hymn and the Council of Five Hundred. Behind him is a glory, with a trinity formed of three daggers—Sièyes, Ducos, and Buonaparte. Devils surround him, and, at his feet, is a howling French mob.
Our hero, now, the people guided,
And a new government provided.
First Consul, modestly he claim’d,
Two others were Sub-Consuls named;
But these were not in Boney’s way,
For the first Consul had full sway.
And now these Consuls took an oath,
For Nap to swear was never loth.
Thus elevated, Josephine
Imagin’d she would be a queen;
But she by Nap was harshly told,
That six and forty was too old;
His mother, who the lady hated,
Advised him to be separated;
By her persuasions, Nap, of course
Began to think of a divorce.
He ponder’d ev’ry afternoon,
And rubbing once his forehead, soon
The lady’s banishment decreed,
Because—their tempers disagreed.
In fact, her faults he recollected,
And her caresses now rejected.
But, as ’twill not improve our morals,
We’ll pass these matrimonial quarrels.
As Nap a love of pow’r betray’d,
He great munificence display’d;
For he rewarded with donations,
His friends, especially relations.
He to his mother acted handsome,
As he bestowed on her a grand sum;
For Joe, and Lucien, he provided,
Who, at this time, in France resided—
How suddenly success awaits men!
Both Joe, and Lucien, he made Statesmen.
It was not probable that Napoleon would rest contented with the provisional position he occupied. A fresh government had to be constituted, of which he must be the head: and so the Constitution of December 13 was manufactured, and afterwards passed into law. Article 23 provided, ‘The sittings of the Senate are not to be public.’ Article 24, ‘The Citizens Sièyes, and Roger Ducos, the Consuls quitting their functions, are appointed members of the Conservative Senate. They shall assemble along with the second and third Consuls nominated by the present Constitution. These four Citizens shall appoint the Majority of the Senate, which shall then complete itself, and proceed to the elections entrusted to it.’
Article 39. ‘The Government is entrusted to three Consuls appointed for ten years, and indefinitely re-eligible. Each of them is to be elected individually with the distinct quality of Chief, Second, or Third Consul. The first time the Third Consul shall only be named for five years. For the present time General Bonaparte is appointed Chief Consul, Citizen Cambaceres, now Minister of Justice, Second Consul, and Citizen Lebrun, Member of the Committee of Antients, Third Consul.’ Article 41. ‘The Chief Consul is to promulgate the laws: he is to name and revoke at pleasure the Members of the Council of State; the Ministers, Ambassadors, and other principal foreign agents, the officers of the army by land and sea, the members of local administration and the Commissioners of the Government at the Tribunals. He is to appoint all Judges, Criminal and Civil, as well as Justices of the Peace, and the Judges of Cassation, without the power of afterwards revoking them.’ Article 43. ‘The salary of the Chief Consul shall be 500,000 francs for the 8th year’ (ending September 22, 1800). ‘The salary of the other two Consuls shall be equal to three-tenths of that of the first.’ So that we see Napoleon fully knew how to take care of himself.