[453] Gourgaud, tom. i., p. 65.
[454] "Covers were laid for seven hundred. Napoleon remained at table but a short time: he appeared to be uneasy, and much preoccupied."—Gourgaud, tom. i., p. 63.
[455] "Every one of the ministers wished to give him an entertainment, but he only accepted a dinner from the Minister of Justice (Cambacérès.) He requested that the principal lawyers of the Republic might be there. He was very cheerful at this dinner, conversed at large on the criminal code, to the great astonishment of Tronchet, Treilhard, Merlin, and Target, and expressed his desire to see persons and property placed under the guard of a simple code, suitable to an enlightened age."—Gourgaud, tom. i., p. 64.
[456] Gourgaud, tom. i., p. 67.
[457] Hedouville was born at Laon in 1755. In 1801, Buonaparte appointed him ambassador to Petersburgh. On the restoration of the Bourbons he was made a peer of France, and died in 1825.
[458] "On the 8th Brumaire (30th October,) Napoleon dined with Barras: a conversation took place after dinner. 'The Republic is falling,' said the director; 'things cannot go on; a change must take place, and Hedouville must be named president. As to you, general, you intend to rejoin the army; and, for my part, ill as I am, unpopular, and worn out, I am only fit to return to private life. Napoleon looked steadfastly at him without replying a word. Barras cast down his eyes, and remained silent. Thus the conversation ended."—Gourgaud, tom. i., p. 72; Thiers, tom. x., p. 359.
[459] Thiers, tom. x., p. 363.
[460] "Talleyrand availed himself of all the resources of a supple and insinuating address, in order to conciliate a person whose suffrage it was important to him to secure."—Gourgaud, tom. i., p. 66.—"It was he who disclosed to Buonaparte's views all the weak points of the government, and made him acquainted with the state of parties, and the bearings of each character."—Fouché, tom. i., p. 96.
[461] "Napoleon effected the 18th of Brumaire without admitting Fouché into the secret."—Gourgaud, tom. i., p. 66.—"Buonaparte was too cunning to let me into the secret of his means of execution, and to place himself at the mercy of a single man; but he said enough to me to win my confidence, and to persuade me that the destinies of France were in his hands."—Fouché, tom. i., p. 98.
[462] Gourgaud, tom. i., p. 74.