appointed to watch over the safety of the legislative body had learned, he said, that dangerous plots were hatching, that conspirators were thronging to Paris, holding secret meetings there, and preparing to attack the freedom of the national representation. Cornet added that the Council of the Ancients had in its hands the means of saving the republic, and that it ought to employ them. These means consisted in transferring the legislative body to St. Cloud, in order to withdraw it from the attempts of the conspirators, in meanwhile placing the public tranquillity under the safeguard of a general capable of ensuring it, and in choosing Bonaparte for that general. Scarcely was the reading of this proposition and of the decree which comprehended it finished, when a certain agitation took place in the Council. Some members opposed it. Cornudet, Lebrun, Fargues, and Regnier, supported it. The name of Bonaparte, on which great stress had been laid, and of whose support they were certain, decided the majority. At eight o'clock the decree was passed. It transferred the councils to St. Cloud, and convoked them for the following day at twelve o'clock. Bonaparte was appointed commander-in-chief of all the troops in the 17th military division, of the guard of the legislative body, of the guard of the Directory, of the national guards of Paris and the environs. Lefebvre, commandant of the 17th division, was placed under his orders. Bonaparte was summoned to the bar to receive the decree, and to take the oath to the president. A messenger of state was directed to carry the decree immediately to the general.

This messenger, who was Cornet the deputy himself, found the Boulevards choked by a numerous cavalry, and the Rue du Mont Blanc and the Rue Chantereine crowded with officers and generals in full uniform. All were hastening to comply with General Bonaparte's invitation. The saloons of the latter were too small to receive such a numerous company; he ordered the doors to be thrown open, stepped out on the balcony, and addressed the officers. He told them that France was in danger, and that he relied upon them to assist him in saving it. Cornet handed to him the decree. He seized it, read it to them, and asked if he could reckon upon their support. All replied, clapping their hands to their swords, that they were ready to second him. He then turned to Lefebvre. The latter, seeing the troops in motion without his orders, had questioned Colonel Sebastiani, who, without replying, had desired him to go to General Bonaparte. Lefebvre entered in an ill-humour. "Well, Lefebvre," said Bonaparte to him, "you, one of the pillars of the republic, will you suffer it to perish in the hands of these lawyers? Join me, and assist me to save it. Stay," added Bonaparte, handing him a sabre, "there is the sabre which I wore at the Pyramids; I give it to you as a token of my esteem and my confidence."-"Yes," replied Lefebvre, with

deep emotion, "let us throw the lawyers into the river." He declared that he would stay with Bonaparte. Joseph had brought Bernadotte; but the latter, perceiving the drift of these movements, withdrew to give intimation of them to the patriots. Fouché was not in the secret; but, apprized by the event, he had ordered the barriers to be closed, and the departure of the couriers and of the public vehicles to be suspended. He then came in all haste to inform Bonaparte of what he had done, and to make protestations of his attachment to him. Bonaparte, who had thus far left him on one side, did not repel him, but told him that his precautions were useless, that neither ought the barriers to be closed nor the ordinary course of things suspended; that he was marching with the nation and relied upon it.* Bonaparte was informed at this moment that Gohier would not come on his invitation. He showed some ill-humour at this, and sent him word that he would ruin himself to no purpose if he was determined to resist. He immediately mounted his horse to proceed to the Tuileries, and to take the oath before the Council of the Ancients. Almost all the generals of the republic were on horseback by his side. Moreau, Macdonald, Berthier, Lannes, Murat, Leclerc, were behind him as his lieutenants. He found at the Tuileries the detachments of the 9th, harangued them, and, having filled them with enthusiasm, entered the palace.

He appeared before the Ancients, accompanied by this magnificent staff. His presence produced a strong sensation, and proved to the Ancients that they had associated themselves with a powerful man, who possessed all the means requisite for giving success to a stroke of policy. He presented himself at the bar. "Citizens representatives," said he, 66 the republic was on the point of perishing. Your decree has saved it. Woe to those who shall attempt to oppose its execution! Aided by all my companions in arms here assembled around me, I shall find means to prevent their efforts. In vain examples are sought in the past to disturb your minds. Nothing in history resembles the eighteenth century, and nothing in this century resembles its close. We will have the republic. We will have it founded on genuine liberty, on the representative system. We will have it, I swear, in my own name and in the name of my companions in arms."-"We all swear it," repeated the generals and the officers who were at the bar. The manner in

"Fouché made great professions of attachment and devotion. He had given directions for closing the barriers, and preventing the departure of couriers and coaches. Why, good God!' said the general to him, wherefore all these precautions? We go with the nation, and by its strength alone. Let no citizen be disturbed, and let the triumph of opinion have nothing in common with the transactions of days in which a factious minority prevailed."-Gourgaud. E.

which Bonaparte took the oath was adroit, inasmuch as he had avoided taking an oath to the constitution. A deputy would have spoken for the purpose of remarking this; but the president refused to hear him, on the ground that the decree of translation interdicted all discussion. The assembly broke up immediately. Bonaparte then went into the garden, mounted his horse, accompanied by all the generals, and reviewed the regiments of the garrison which successively arrived. He addressed the soldiers in a short and energetic speech, telling them that he was going to effect a revolution which would restore to them abundance and glory. Shouts of Bonaparte for ever! rent the air. The weather was superb, the concourse extraordinary. Every thing seemed to second the inevitable attempt that was about to terminate the confusion by absolute power.

At this moment the Five Hundred, apprized of the revolution that was preparing, had proceeded tumultuously to the hall in which they met. No sooner were they assembled, than they received a message from the Ancients, containing the decree of translation. On the reading of it, a multitude of voices were raised at once; but the president, Lucien Bonaparte, enjoined silence by virtue of the constitution, which forbade further deliberation. The Five Hundred broke up immediately; the most ardent of them ran to each other's houses, and held secret conventicles, to express their indignation, and to devise means of resistance. The patriots of the faubourgs were in vehement agitation, and thronged tumultuously around Santerre.

Meanwhile Bonaparte, having finished the review of the troops, had returned to the Tuileries, and gone to the commission of the inspectors of the Ancients. That of the Five Hundred had entirely adhered to the new revolution, and lent itself to all that was going on. It was there that every thing was to be done upon pretext of carrying the translation into execution. Bonaparte sat there permanently. Cambacérès, the minister of justice, had already repaired thither. Fouché came also. Sieyes and Roger Ducos arrived to give their resignations. It was of consequence to obtain another from the Directory, because then the majority would be dissolved; there would exist no executive power, and there would be no need to apprehend a last act of energy on its part. There was no hope that either Gohier or Moulins would give theirs; M. de Talleyrand and Admiral Bruix were, therefore, despatched to Barras to extort his.

Bonaparte then distributed the command of the troops. He directed Murat, with a numerous cavalry and a corps of grenadiers, to occupy St. Cloud. Serrurier was posted at the Pointdu-Jour with a reserve. Lannes was intrusted with the command of the troops which guarded the Tuileries. Bonaparte