windows into the Orangerie gardens. Next day hundreds of red togas
were found caught up in the branches of trees or strewn on the ground.
It was now s.oo p.m., dusk was descending, and a thick bank of fog
swirled around the palace. Demonstrating admirable presence of mind for
the second time that day, Lucien had a quorum of stragglers from the
Five Hundred rounded up - some from local wineshops, others still
cowering in the bushes. At 2 a.m. that morning fifty deputies from the
lower chamber, together with the remaining Elders, formally wound up
the Directory and swore an oath of loyalty to a triumvirate of provisional
consuls: Napoleon, Sieyes and Ducos. The Legislature was adjourned
and two commissions were charged with drawing up a new constitution
within six weeks. At I I p.m. Napoleon issued a proclamation putting his
own slant on the events of the day and emphasizing the alleged
assassination attempt by English agents.
Why did Napoleon succeed in the coup of r8 Brumaire? In the first place
he was an immensely skilful politician, able to play off one rival against
another, aware that the best way of telling a lie is to tell the truth but not
the whole truth. He had learned from his bitter early experiences in
Corsica that the way to emerge from the ruck was to appear to be above
party considerations, to be be holden to no faction, to be au-dessus de Ia
melee, and to appear to assume power reluctantly. He understood the
importance of propaganda, image and myth-making in a way none of his
rivals did. He had not won at Fleurus, Geisberg or Zurich and yet he was
more popular than Jourdan, Hoche, Massena or Moreau. This was
because he had known how to convert the Italian campaign into the stuff
of heroic and epic legend and to present the Egyptian adventure -
actually a military failure - as a dazzling triumph.
Most of all, he was lucky. Disregarding the bad omen on 30 October,
when he was thrown from his horse and concussed while out riding, he
believed in his star and was confirmed in his belief. In the dangerous
context of a coup, self-confidence is half the battle. Objectively, he
appeared at just the right moment, when the French people had had
enough of the Revolution and wanted peace and retrenchment. The
Jacobin experiment of decentralizing on a democratic basis seemed
merely to have weakened France against the threat from abroad. All the
other would-be putschists - Lafayette, Dumouriez, Pichegru - had
appeared too soon and were too compromised by party political
allegiances. Above all, Napoleon made his bid at the precise moment the
all-important bourgeoisie was willing to contemplate one-man rule. He
had shown himself willing to deal harshly with the urban proletariat and