home of the German Prince Frederick III of Salm-Kyrburg who had been
guillotined during the Terror), was dedicated to opposing the royalist Club
de Clichy, to furthering the republican cause and supporting the
government of the Directory. The elections of 20 May 1797 had returned a
counter-revolutionary majority and the Directory, racked by economic and
foreign-policy difficulties, looked distinctly shaky. Things appeared rather
less than promising for Constant himself at Luzarches where, after a long
investigation, his election to the chairmanship of the municipal
administration was declared null and void because at the time of his
election he had not been resident at Hérivaux a full year.^59
On 8 June 1797 Albertine de Staël was born. A well-known passage in the Mémoires
of Barras, a left-wing member of the Directory, says that her looks, hair and everything
about Albertine suggested she was Constant’s daughter.^60 With Madame de Staël it
would be difficult to say any such thing with certainty, of course, but Constant always
felt a strong attachment to Albertine, and she may have been one of the reasons why
Constant was reluctant to leave Germaine in the later stormy stages of their liaison.
Another happy moment for Constant and Madame de Staël was to see their friend
Charles-Maurice de Talleyrand (1754–1838) appointed Minister for Foreign Affairs on
16 July 1797, but it was to be mingled with disappointment: despite a strong letter of
recommendation from Talleyrand to General Bonaparte in Italy, Constant was not made
Secretary of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, and the press took pleasure in reporting his
discomfiture.^61 However this was soon overshadowed by the prospect of civil war in
France during August, and on the night of the 3–4 September 1797 the three left-wing
members of the Directory—J.-F.Rewbell, L.-M.La Revellière-Lépeaux and Paul
Barras—set up a committee which claimed they had uncovered a royalist conspiracy.
Constant and Madame de Staël were with their friend Paul Barras (1755–1829) the
evening before the bloodless coup d’état of 18 Fructidor (4 September 1797), according
to the Souvenirs historiques et parlementaires of the Comte de Pontécoulant:^62 they must
have been embarrassed by his subsequent actions. General Augereau had been sent from
Italy by Bonaparte and his troops now occupied Paris; the Law of 19 Fructidor cancelled
the unwelcome election results of the previous May which had returned right-wing
deputies; priests and politicians were deported to Cayenne; and Barras was left with the
reins of power, unchallengeable.
Constant’s reaction is inclined to leave an unpleasant taste in the mouth, a little like
Cicero’s defence of the murder without trial of the Catiline conspirators. The former Club
de Salm had now been renamed the Cercle constitutionnel, and in a speech he made to it
on 16 September 1797 Constant hailed the coup d’état as a triumph for the Republic,
while at the same time expressing regret at the means used to eliminate the Republic’s
enemies—deportation to Cayenne, which was known as ‘the dry guillotine’ because it
was tantamount to a death sentence.^63 It is not easy to resist the feeling that Constant was
behaving opportunistically, currying favour with an administration in the hope of
eventually gaining political office.^64 His defence against such a charge—as on later
occasions—would undoubtedly have been that the right course lay in defending the gains
of the Revolution, in strengthening the Republic which enshrined them, in holding firmly
Germaine de stael 165