during his own Reign. | 
general, ofhers by patriotic enthusiasm 
io offer him their support, 
. Napoleon nosy sent an aide-de-camp 
to the guards, of the Directory, for the 
purpose. of communicating the decree 
to them, and enjoining them to receive 
no order but from him. The guard 
sounded,to horse;. the conimanding 
officer, consulted. his soldiers, they an- 
swered by shouts of joy. At this very 
moment,an order from the Directory, 
contrary) to that of Napoleon, arrived ; 
but thesoldiers, obeying only Napoleon’s 
commands, marched to join him. Sieyes 
and Roger Ducos had been ever since 
the morning at the Tuileries. It is said 
that Barras, on seeing Sieyes mount bis 
horse, ridiculed the awkwardness of 
the uvpractised equestrian: he little 
suspected where they were going. Be- 
ing shortly after apprised of the decree, 
he joined Gohicr and Moulins: they 
then: learnt that the troops followed 
Wapoleon ; they saw that even their own 
guard forsook them. Upon that Moulins 
went, to the Tuileries, and gave in his 
resignation, as Sieyes and Roger Ducos 
had already dene, Routot, the secretary 
of Barras; went to Napoleon, who 
warmly, expressed his indignation at the 
peculations which had rained the Re- 
public, and insisted that Darras should 
resign. Talleyrand hastened to the 
Director, and related this. Barras re- 
moved to Gros-Bois, accompanied by a 
guard of bbonoar of dragoons. From 
that moment the Directory was dis- 
solved,.and; Napoleon alone was_ in- 
vested with the executive power of the 
Republic. = 
In the mean while the Council of Five 
Hundred had met, under the presidency 
of Lucien. The constitution was ex- 
plicit; the decree of the Council of 
Ancients was consistent with its  pri- 
vilege: there was no ground for objec- 
tion. The members of the council, in 
passing through the streets of Paris, 
and throngh the Tuileries, had learnt 
the occurrences which were taking 
place, and witnessed the enthusiasm of 
the public. They were astonished and 
confounded at the ferment around them, 
They submitted to necessity, and ad- 
journed. their sitting to the next day, 
the 19th, at Saint Cloud. 
Bernadotte had married the sister-in- 
Jaw of Joseph Bonaparte. He had been 
two months in the war department of 
the administration, and was afterwards 
removed by Sieyes: all he did in office 
was wrong. He was onc of the most 
furious members of the Socidié du 
615 
Manége. His political opinions were 
then very violent, and were censared by 
all respectable people. Joseph ‘had 
taken him in the morning to Napoleon’s 
house, but, when he saw what was go- 
ing forward, he stole away, and went 
to inform his friends of the Manége 
of the state of affairs. Jourdan and 
Augereau came to Napoleon at the 
Tuileries, while the troops were passing 
in review: he recommended them not 
to return to Saint Cloud to the sitting 
of the next day, but to remain quiet, 
and not to obliterate the memory of the 
services they had rendered the country $ 
for that no effort could extinguish the 
flame which bad been kindled. Augereau 
assured him of his devotion, and of his 
desire to march under his command. 
He even added, “What! general, de 
you not still rely wpon your little 
Augereau ?” 
Cambacérés, minister of | justice; 
Fouché, minister of police; and all the 
other ministers, went to the Tuileries, 
and acknowledged the new authority. 
Youché made great professions of at- 
tachment and devotion: being indirect 
opposition to Sieyes, he had not been 
admitted into the secret of the day. 
He had given dircctions'for closing the 
barriers, and preventing the departure 
of couriers and coaches. “ Why, good 
God!” said the general to him, “ where- 
fore all these precautions? We go with 
the nation, and by its strength alone 
let no citizea be disturbed, and let the 
triumph of opinion have nothing m com- 
mon with the transactions of days in 
which a factious minority prevailed.” | 
The members of the majority of the 
Five Hundred, of the minority of the 
Ancients, and the leaders of the Manége, 
spent the whole night in factious con- 
sultations. 
At seven o'clock in the evening, 
Napoleon held a council at the Tuileries. 
Sieyes proposed that the forty principal 
leaders of the opposite parties should 
be arrested. The recommendation was 
a wise one; but Napoleon believed he 
was too sirong to need any such pre- 
caution. “I swore in the morning,” 
said he, “to protect the national repre- 
sentation; 1 will not this evening vio- 
late my oath: I fear no such weak 
enemies.” Every body agreed in opi- 
nion with Sieyes, but nothing could 
overcome this delicacy on the part of 
Napoleon. It will soon appear that he 
was in the wrong. 
It was at this meeting that the esta- 
blishment of three provisional consuls 
Was 
