Dennis Wheatley - The wanton princess

'Knowing how ill he takes any thwarting of his plans I think that in normal circumstances you might well fear to lose your epaulettes. But you are notoriously lucky, and your luck is certainly in that it should be today you must face him. The result of the plebiscite has at last come to hand. The voting was three million, eleven thousand and seven in favour of adopting the Constitution and only one thousand, five hundred and twenty six against.'

Roger looked up quickly, 'What staggering figures. No man can ever have had a more overwhelming testimony to the nation's confidence in him.'

'Yes, it is a veritable triumph; the more so as, against my advice, no attempt was made to rig the polls. Naturally, he is overjoyed; so I do not think you will suffer even a temporary eclipse from the radiance of our new Soleil.'

'You comfort me greatly. I had feared at least a period of some months before he would again wish to see me about him. And your comparison of him with the sun is apt. He has already brought light and cheerfulness into the streets of Paris. It has become a different city since I left it.'

That is no wonder; for he keeps us as busy as a whole hive of bees, working up to sixteen hours a day and every day issuing a dozen or more new ordinances. Moreover he loves his work, even singing at it in that awful voice of his. Nothing escapes him and he has a finger in every pie. One moment he is arranging for the formation of a National Bank of France to support trade; at another striking the anniver­sary of the death of Louis XVI and other holidays from the list of public festivals, so that more work will get done, the next planning a vast system of free education for all. Did you know that last year there were no more than twenty four Elementary Schools in Paris and they could take only one thousand pupils? There is no limit to the schemes that jostle one another in his fertile brain.'

'I can well believe you. But, well informed though he is on many subjects, I would have thought that he knew little about such matters as finance and education.'

While pouring Roger and himself another glass of wine, Talleyrand replied. 'That is so; but he is an amazingly quick learner. He attends nearly every meeting of the Council of State, listens avidly to everyone there whose experience of a subject entitles him to express an opinion, and only after­wards takes a decision. Neither is he too proud to accept advice from his Ministers. In that Fouche and I are specially favoured: for he decided that, unlike the others, who are required to carry their problems to all three Consuls, Police matters and Foreign Affairs should be discussed by us with him alone. Each time I see him he welcomes me warmly, and he has given m; the opportunity to coach him for many hours on international relationships.'

'Then your position with him must be an exceptionally strong one.' Roger smiled, 'and I congratulate you on it.'

'Thanks, my dear fellow. It is certainly most satisfactory. Of course, his impetuous nature gets the better of him at times. But I have a remedy for that. My congenital idleness is known to you, and on occasion I make use of it. When he orders me to take some measure on which I think his judg­ment to be at fault I leave the matter unattended for a few days. By the time I broach it again he has almost always realized that to pursue it would be folly, and he saves his face by telling me to hold it over. Then no more is said of it.'

Roger laughed, 'I count him fortunate, Monsieur le Ministre, to have you in his service. With your guidance he should do great things for France.'

Talleyrand shrugged, 'If he lasts a year he will go far.'

'Surely you cannot doubt his lasting that long?' Roger said, much surprised. 'This overwhelming vote of confidence from the French people shows them to have taken him to their hearts.'

'The memory of the public is extraordinarily short. They will lionize a man one month and his opponent the next. In any case, should they still be loyal to him, their feelings will be of no account, because real power is never vested in the masses. Bonaparte has many enemies, and they may combine to pull him down.'

'I can well believe that several of his fellow Generals are mightily jealous of him.'

'That is so: Moreau. Bernadotte and Massena particularly. But that is not his greatest danger. It lies in the fact that he has secretly abandoned the principles of the Revolution, yet at the same time is averse to a restoration of the Monarchy. Both factions will in due course seek to destroy him: the one because the Jacobins will find out that he has nothing but detestation and contempt for their doctrine of equality, the other because they will wish to replace him by a coup d'etat with some other prominent man more likely to invite Louis XVIII to ascend the throne.'

'He is, then, walking a tightrope.'

'Exactly. And with commendable skill. He displayed it in his selection of his two fellow Consuls. Cambaceres was a member of the Convention which sent Louis XVI to the guillotine, Lebrun, on the other hand, played no part in the

Terror and is believed to be, in secret, a Royalist. Again, observe his choice of his two most prominent Ministers. It was reported to me that he remarked to his brother Joseph "What revolutionary would not have confidence in an order of things where Fouche is a Minister? And what gentleman would not expect to find existence possible under a former Bishop such as Talleyrand?"

'Since he has made such a promising start, more's the pity that the war should continue, at least with England, and so divert his attention from the reforms he is undertaking.'

'With Austria too. Owing, no doubt, to the recent successes of his armies in Italy, the Emperor Francis has refused our offer to treat on the basis reached at Campo Formio. But matters might be worse. That timid, spineless creature, young Frederick William of Prussia, is more than ever enamoured of neutrality, so will continue to sit upon the fence; and the Czar Paul has recently withdrawn from the Coalition. It is our good fortune that he became disgruntled by the Emperor's treatment of the Army sent under Suvarov to aid the Austrians in Italy, and still more so at the mishandling by that stupid Duke of York of the Russian expeditionary force sent last autumn to Holland, which led to the surrender of the Allied forces there. We are now intent on wooing the Czar, and should we succeed in winning him over to us we'll cook the Austrian goose between two fires.’

'Is Moreau still commanding on the Rhine?'

'Yes. As a soldier he is rated second only to our little man; and since he must be regarded as a potential enemy it was a wise move to confirm him in his command. As long as he remains out of Paris 'tis unlikely that he will be persuaded to enter into any intrigue against the new Government. Massena, too, might have proved a danger. Only four months ago, just before Bonaparte's return from Egypt, he had been acclaimed a national hero owing to his great victory in Switzerland which saved France from invasion by the Russians. But at present he has more than enough to keep him busy defending the Ligurian Republic'

'From what I heard in London I gathered that things are going far from well with our army in Italy.'

Talleyrand nodded, 'That is so. Massena is several times outnumbered by the Austrians, so is hard-pressed to hold his own. 'Tis my opinion that, should Bonaparte decide to take the held in person again, it is to Massena's assistance that he will march in the Spring. But for the moment my instinct tells me that he is rather pleased than otherwise that his brother General should be taking some hard knocks.'

After wiping his lips with a lace-edged napkin, Talleyrand went on:

'And now, cher ami, you must excuse me. I'd willingly sit here gossiping with you all morning but, alas, to keep my position I must at times do a little work, and numerous people wait to sec me. No doubt we'll meet again at the Tuileries this evening.'