at Malmaison. Napoleon spent most of his time in his office at the
Luxembourg, manoeuvring to get rid of Sieyes and Ducos, who had been
named as provisional consuls alongside him. He was, however, happy to
reward his friends, and the new appointments after Brumaire had a
strong Napoleonist tinge. Fouche was confirmed as Minister of Police,
Talleyrand was entrusted with Foreign Affairs, while Cambaceres
received the Justice portfolio. Berthier was made Minister of War,
Lefebvre Lieutenant-General and Murat was given command of the
consular guard. The army commands too were all Bonapartist appoint
ments: Massena as commander of the Army of Italy, Moreau as supremo
of the Army of the Rhine and MacDonald in charge of the Army of
Reserve.
For the next five weeks a constitutional commission met in the
Luxembourg. Sieyes had the reputation of being the great expert on
constitutions but he believed in government by assemblies, which did not
suit Bonaparte's purposes. At first Napoleon listened gloomily to the
legalistic wranglings, cutting the arm of his chair to pieces with a pen
knife as he listened, in a characteristic gesture of stress. Tensions rose
when Napoleon objected to Sieyes's proposed Constitution. On r
December there was a particularly stormy meeting, in a private three
man session chaired by Talleyrand. Exasperatedly Sieyes said to
Napoleon: 'Do you want to be King, then?' Sieyes left the meeting in a
black mood and Napoleon, equally irritated, told Roederer that he could
get a new Constitution ratified in a week if only Sieyes would retire to the
country. Next day he got his wish. In the presence of Talleyrand,
Roederer and Boulay there was a calm, polite discussion between
Napoleon and Sieyes, which Roederer described as being like an academic
symposium on political science. At the end of the meeting Sieyes
tendered his resignation as provisional consul.
Sieyes then tried to get Napoleon to show his hand by proposing that
he be given the position of 'Grand Elector'. Napoleon turned this down
and made sure his propaganda machine got the people of Paris to know of
his 'magnanimity'. Confident that he had the people behind him, he
commenced a war of attrition against Sieyes. In eleven successive evening
meetings with the constitutional commissioners at the Luxembourg
palace he wore down the opposition of Sieyes and his faction, prolonging
meetings deep into the night and seeking to destroy his enemies through
sheer physical exhaustion. In this contest the thirty-year-old Napoleon
held all the cards: he had physical magnetism and presence, he could
concentrate on detail for hours on end without tiring, and he impressed
everyone with his pithy commonsense and exceptional intelligence.
marcin
(Marcin)
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