the chamber where the Five Hundred were engaged in impassioned
debate. The conspirators were in a clear minority here, and awkward
questions had already been asked about the legality of Barras's
resignation. Napoleon's appearance created a sensation. Once again he
was present illegally, in full uniform and troops could be seen through
the open door. A red mist of rage seemed to descend on the deputies.
They began climbing over benches, overturning chairs, desperate to lay
hands on the trio. The immediate cries of 'Get out!', 'Kill, kill' were
finally replaced by the ominous call for Bonaparte's outlawry: 'Hors Ia
/oil' Deputies laid hands on the grenadiers and began beating them up;
Napoleon himself was seized and shaken like a rat.
Murat and Lefebvre and a body of troops rushed in to the rescue.
Walking backwards, with great difficulty they extricated a dazed and
bleeding General Bonaparte from the chamber. The cry continued: 'Hors
Ia /oil' There is controversy about the blood on Napoleon's face. Some
say he was wont to scratch at facial pimples when under stress and it was
this that had drawn blood. Whatever the case, when he dazedly joined
Sieyes and the ringleaders, he made the most of it and claimed he had
narrowly escaped assassination. Sieyes, who knew the deputies were
unarmed, was sceptical.
Matters had now reached a crisis. There was no longer any possibility
of a purely parliamentary coup. Force was required, and the question was
whether the Guardsmen, who guarded the Chateau and officially owed
their loyalty to the Assembly, would heed the calls for outlawry. It was
Lucien Bonaparte who cut the Gordian knot. Laying down his seals of
office as President of the Five Hundred, he rushed outside, jumped on to
a horse and exhorted the Guard to do its duty. Inside the Orangerie were
knifemen, assassins in the pay of England, who had just tried to
assassinate General Bonaparte. He urged the guardsmen to go in and
flush out the traitors.
There was a moment of hesitation. Some deputies were still hanging
out of the window and calling for Bonaparte's outlawry. Then the drum
beat the advance. All afternoon the Guardsmen had been considering
their position. The deciding factor had been their conviction that if they
did not obey Napoleon and his allies, he would unleash on them Murat's
irate troopers slavering outside the Chateau and they would thus suffer
the same fate as the unfortunate Swiss Guardsmen in the Tuileries on ro
August 1792. The guard commander ordered the deputies out of the
chamber on the double. When they refused, he told his men to clear them
out, lock, stock and barrel. The Guardsmen swarmed forward. Seeing
that this was no drill, the panic-stricken deputies scrambled out of the
marcin
(Marcin)
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