Dennis Wheatley - The Sultan's Daughter

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.