THE EIGHTEENTH OF BRUMAIRE.*

Arrival of Napoleon in France-Sensation produced by that event-Napoleon at Paris-The Directors Roger Ducos, Moulins, Gohier, Sieyes-Conduct of Napoleon-Roederer, Lucien and Joseph, Talleyrand, Fouché, RealState of the different parties-They all make proposals to Napoleon-Barras-Napoleon coalesces with SieyesState of feeling among the troops in the capital-Measures arranged for the eighteenth of Brumaire-Proceedings of that day-Decree of the Council of the Ancients, which transfers the seat of the Legislative Body to Saint-Cloud -Speech of Napoleon to the Council of the AncientsTumultuous sitting at Saint-Cloud-Adjournment of the Councils for three months.

WHEN lamentable weakness and endless versatility are manifested in the councils of a government; when an administration, yielding, by turns, to the influence of every opposing party, and going on from day to day without any fixed plan or determined system,

* November 9, 1799.

The engraving of the maps and plates illustrative of the Campaigns of Italy has prevented us from following a chronological order in the publication of these Memoirs.

has shewn its utter insufficiency; and when the most moderate citizens in the state are obliged to confess that it is destitute of a government; when rulers, insignificant at home, have shamefully brought on their country the contempt of foreigners-the greatest of injuries in the eyes of a proud people; vague apprehensions spread throughout society: agitated by the instinct of self-preservation, it looks into its own resources, and seeks for some one able to save it from destruction.

A populous nation must always possess this tutelary genius in its own bosom, though he may sometimes be tardy in appearing. It is not indeed sufficient for him to exist, he must be known to others, and he must be conscious of his own powers. Until then all endeavours are vain, all schemes ineffectual. The inertness of the multitude is the protection of the nominal government, and in spite of its inexperience and weakness, the efforts of its enemies cannot prevail against it. But let this deliverer, so impatiently expected, suddenly give a proof of his existence, and the nation instinctively acknowledges and calls on him; all obstacles vanish at his approach, and a great people thronging round his steps, seems exultingly to proclaim "This is the man."

Such was the state of the public mind in

France in the year 1799, when, on the 9th of October, (16th of Vendemiaire, year VIII.), the frigates La Muiron and La Carrére, and the zebecks La Revanche and La Fortune, cast anchor, at the break of day, in the gulf of Frejus.

No sooner were the French frigates recognised, than it was conjectured they came from Egypt. The people ran in crowds to the shore, eager for news from the army. It was soon understood that Napoleon was on board; and such was the enthusiasm among the people, that even the wounded soldiers got out of the hospitals, in spite of the guards, and went to the shore. The spectators wept with joy. In a moment the sea was covered with boats. The officers belonging to the fortifications and the customs, the crews of the ships that were anchored in the road, in short, every body thronged about the frigates. General Pereymont, who commanded on the coast, was the first to go on board. Thus they were enabled to enter, without waiting for the officers of quarantine; for the communication with the shore had been general.

Italy had just been lost; war was about to be recommenced on the Var, and Frejus dreaded an invasion as soon as hostilities should begin. The necessity of having a leader at the head of

This

affairs was too imperious; every one was too much agitated by the sudden appearance of Napoleon at this juncture, for ordinary considerations to have any weight. The officers of quarantine declared that there was no occasion for subjecting these vessels to it, and grounded their report on the circumstance that communication had taken place at Ajaccio. argument, however, far from being tenable, only went to prove that Corsica itself ought to have been put under quarantine. The administration at Marseilles made this observation a fortnight afterwards, and with reason. It is true, that during the fifty days which had elapsed from the vessels leaving Egypt, there had been no sickness on board any of them, and indeed the plague had ceased three months before their departure. At six o'clock that evening, Napoleon, accompanied by Berthier, set off in a coach for Paris.

The fatigue of the passage, and the effect of the transition from a dry climate to a moist one, determined Napoleon to stop six hours at Aix. The inhabitants of the city, and of the neighbouring villages, came in crowds to testify their happiness at seeing him again. The joy was universal. Those who lived too far from the road to present themselves there

in time, rang the bells, and hoisted flags upon the steeples, which at night blazed with illuminations.

It was not like the return of a citizen to his country, or a general at the head of a victorious army, but like the triumph of a sovereign restored to his people. The enthusiasm of Avignon, Montelimart, Valence, and Vienne, was only surpassed by the rapture of Lyons. That city, in which Napoleon rested for twelve hours, was in an universal delirium. The Lyonnese had at all times shewn great attachment to Napoleon, either from the natural generosity of character by which they are distinguishedor because, considering their city as the capital of the south, they felt peculiarly interested in all that concerned the security of the frontiers on the Italian side- or that the population of Lyons; being composed chiefly of natives of Burgundy and Dauphiny, shared the sentiments most prevalent in these provinces. Their minds were, moreover, still in a state of exultation at that time, from the accounts which had been spread eight days before of the battle of Aboukir, and of the brilliant success of the French arms in Egypt, which formed such a striking contrast to the defeat of their armies in Germany and Italy. We are numerous, we