so Madame Gohier, doubly alerted, scribbled her husband a note warning
him on no account to accept the invitation.
Meanwhile the Council of Elders had been meeting since 7 a.m. at the
Tuileries. Sieyes used his majority to panic the Elders into voting a
decree to move their session to the Palace of St-Cloud outside Paris to
avoid becoming victims of a Jacobin plot; constitutionally it was the
Elders who decided where the two-chamber Legislative Body should sit.
A four-article decree transferred the Legislative Body to St-Cloud and
the session was prorogued until noon on I9 Brumaire; all continuation of
the two councils' functions was forbidden until that place and time. In
the final two articles 'General Bonaparte' was charged with the
application of the decree and was formally summoned before the
Ancients to swear an oath of loyalty.
At 8.30 Napoleon mounted his horse and, accompanied by a retinue of
all the military talents (except Bernadotte) rode to the Tuileries. He
strode into the Council of Ancients and solemnly swore to uphold the
Republic he was even then in the process of subverting; the chorus of
echoing cries of 'We swear it' from Berthier, Marmont, Lefebvre and the
others introduced an ominous military dimension that did not go
unnoticed by some deputies. Having received the decree making him
commander-in-chief of all troops in the Paris area, Napoleon straightaway
altered it so as to include the bodyguard of the Directory. Next he
addressed his troops, whipping up their indignation over the real and
alleged way the Directory had betrayed the heroism of the Army. Already
Napoleon was thinking in terms of a genuinely military coup and
anticipating the time he would have to deal with Sieyes.
By I I a.m. the news of the Ancients' decree reached the Council of the
Five Hundred. There were some protests but no real resistance to the
idea of removal to St-Cloud. Meanwhile Gohier and Jean Moulin,
learning that Sieyes and Roger Ducos were no longer in the Luxem
bourg, made their way to the Tuileries. Napoleon informed them that
Sieyes and Ducos had resigned as Directors (which was true), as had
Barras (which was not) and therefore the Directory no longer existed. But
when he asked for their resignations, they refused; Gohier, moreover,
questioned the legality of the Elders' decree giving Napoleon command
of all armed forces in Paris. Si nce the two Directors were still a potential
rallying point for his enemies, Napoleon had them escorted back to the
Luxembourg and placed under house arrest. General Moreau posted
sentries with orders to let no one in or out, and the surveillance was so
effective that Gohier claimed he could not even sleep with his wife that
night.
marcin
(Marcin)
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