the man of the future
the 26th of october, at half-past two in the afternoon, the president of the convention pronounced these words: "the national convention declares that its mission is fulfilled, and that its sessions are at end." these words were followed by cries of "long live the republic!"
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to-day, after the lapse of seventy-two years, and three generations, the man who writes these lines cannot forbear to bow his head in the presence of that memorable date.
the long and stormy career of the convention ended with an act of clemency. it decreed that the death penalty should be abolished throughout the territory of the french republic. it changed the name of the place de la révolution to the place de la concorde. and finally it pronounced an amnesty upon all the deeds relating to the revolution.
it did not leave a single prisoner in the prisons who had not had a trial, nor one confined for political offences. it was very strong, very sure of itself, this assembly that was resigning its power.
o terrible convention! stern embalmer, who didst lay the eighteenth century in its blood-stained winding-sheet, thou didst find at thy birth, on the 21st of september, 1792, europe in arms against france, a dethroned king, a constitution annulled, an administration overthrown, a discredited paper currency, and skeletons of regiments without soldiers!
thou didst pause a moment, and perceive that, unlike the two assemblies that had preceded thee, it was not for thee to proclaim liberty before a worn-out monarchy, but to defend liberty against all the thrones of europe!
on the day of thy birth thou didst proclaim the republic in the face of two opposing armies, one of which was but one hundred and fifty, and the other not more than two hundred miles from paris. then, in order to burn thy bridges, thou didst bring to conclusion the king's trial!
when voices rising from thine own bosom cried out, "humanity!" thou didst reply, "energy!"
thou didst make thyself absolute. from the alps to the coast of brittany, from the ocean to the mediterranean, thou didst lay hold of everything and say, "i will answer for everything!"
like the minister of louis xii., for whom there were neither friends nor family, but only enemies of france, and[pg 378] who struck down with the same hand a chalais and a marillac, a montmorency and a saint-preuil, thou didst not spare thine own members. and finally, after three years of such convulsions as people had never before experienced, after days which have come down to posterity as the 21st of january, the 31st of october, the 5th of april, the 9th and 13th thermidor, and the 13th vendémiaire, bleeding and mutilated, thou didst lay down thy functions, handing over to the directory safe and flourishing that france which thou didst receive from the constituent assembly torn asunder and compromised!
let those who accuse thee, dare to say what would have happened if thou hadst not followed thy course, if condé had entered paris, if louis xviii. had ascended the throne, if, instead of the twenty years of directory, the consulate, and the empire, there had been twenty years of restoration, twenty years of spain instead of france, twenty years of shame instead of twenty years of glory!
now, was the directory worthy of the legacy bequeathed to it by its dying mother? that is the question.
the directory must answer to posterity for its deeds even as the convention has answered for its own.
the directory was appointed. the five members were barras, rewbell, la reveillière-lepaux, letourneur and carnot. it was decided that they should take up their official residence at the luxembourg. they did not know what was the condition of the luxembourg. they went there to begin their sittings. they found not a single article of furniture.
"the concierge," wrote m. thiers, "lent them a shaky table, a sheet of letter paper, and a writing-desk, with which to write their first message announcing to the two councils that the directory was established."
they sent to the treasury. there was not a penny there.
barras was their chief; carnot directed the movements of the armies; rewbell had charge of the foreign affairs; letourneur and la reveillière-lepaux of the interior ad[pg 379]ministration. buonaparte had command of the army of paris. a fortnight later he signed his name bonaparte.
on the 9th of the following march, about eleven o'clock in the morning, two carriages stopped before the door of the mayoralty of the second district of paris.
a young man about twenty-six, wearing the uniform of a general officer, descended from the first. he was followed by two witnesses.
a young woman about twenty-eight or thirty descended from the other. she was followed by her two witnesses.
the six presented themselves before citizen charles-théodore fran?ois, civil magistrate of the second district, who asked them the questions usually propounded to matrimonial aspirants, to which they made the customary replies. then he ordered the following document read to them, which they afterward signed:
"the 19th vent?se, in the year iv. of the republic."
"contract of marriage between napolione bonaparte, general-in-chief of the army of the interior, aged twenty-eight years, born at ajaccio, in the department of corsica, residing in paris, rue d'antin, son of charles bonaparte, gentleman, and l?titia ramolini:
"and marie-rose-josephine tascher, aged twenty-eight years, born in the island of martinique, in the windward islands, residing in paris, rue chantereine, daughter of gaspard-joseph de tascher, captain of dragoons, and his wife rose-claire desvergers de sanois.
"i, charles-théodore fran?ois, civil magistrate of the second district of the canton of paris, after having in the presence of these parties and their witnesses, read;
"1st. the certificate of birth of napolione bonaparte, which states that he was born on the 5th of february, 1768, of the lawful marriage of charles bonaparte and l?titia ramolini;
"2d. the certificate of birth of marie-rose-josephine tascher, which states that she was born on the 23d of june, of the lawful marriage of joseph-gaspard de tascher and of rose-claire desvergers de sanois;
"the certificate of death of alexandre-fran?ois-marie[pg 380] de beauharnais, being taken into consideration, which states that he died on the 7th thermidor, in the year ii., married to marie-rose-josephine de tascher;
"also that the certificate of publication of said marriage was duly posted without opposition during the time prescribed by law;
"and also that napolione bonaparte and marie-rose-josephine tascher had declared aloud that they took each other for husband and wife—i did pronounce napolione bonaparte and marie-rose-josephine tascher to be husband and wife.
"and this in the presence of the adult witnesses hereafter named, to wit: paul barras, member of the executive directory, living at the luxembourg; captain jean lemarrois, aide-de-camp, living in the rue des capucines; jean-lambert tallien, member of the corps-legislatif, living at chaillot, and etienne-jacques-jer?me calmelets, lawyer, living in the rue de la place vend?me, no. 207, all of whom have signed with the principals, as i have done, after this reading."
indeed, one may see the six signatures of m.-r.-j. tascher, of napolione bonaparte, of tallien, of barras, of j. lemarrois, jr., of e. calmelets, and of c.-t. fran?ois, at the foot of the certificate we have just quoted.
the remarkable thing about this certificate, however, is that it contains two false statements. bonaparte was there alleged to be two and a half years older than he really was, and josephine two years younger than she was. she was born on the 23d of june, 1763, and bonaparte on the 15th of august, 1769.
on the day after their marriage bonaparte was appointed commander-in-chief of the army of italy. this was barras's wedding gift.
on the 26th of march, bonaparte arrived at nice with two thousand louis in the box of his carriage, and a million in drafts.
jourdan and moreau had been given a magnificent army of seventy thousand men. but the directory only dared trust bonaparte with thirty thousand men, who were fam[pg 381]ished, in want of everything, reduced to the last extremity, without clothes, shoes or pay, and most of the time without provisions, but who nevertheless bore all their privations, even hunger, with admirable fortitude.
his officers were masséna, a young ni?ard, headstrong and obstinate, but full of happy inspirations; augereau, whom we have already met at strasbourg, where we saw him handle the foil against eugene, and the musket against the austrians; la harpe, a banished swiss; serrurier, a soldier of the old school, painstaking and brave; and finally berthier, the chief of his staff, whose good qualities he had already divined—qualities which improved every day.
with his thirty thousand soldiers he had to fight sixty thousand, twenty thousand piedmontese under general collé, and forty thousand austrians under general beaulieu. these generals looked with disdain at the young general, their junior in years, who it was said owed his position to barras's patronage—small, thin and proud, with an arab complexion, piercing eyes and roman features.
as for the soldiers, they responded to the first words that he spoke to them; it was the kind of talk they needed. he said:
"soldiers, you are poorly fed, and almost naked; the government owes you much, but it can do nothing for you now. your courage and patience are worthy of all honor; but if you remain here they will procure neither profit nor glory. i am about to lead you to the most fertile plains in the world. you will find great cities and beautiful provinces there; you will find riches, honor, and glory. follow me!"
that same day he distributed four gold louis to the generals, who had not seen gold for years, and removed his headquarters to albenga. he was eager to reach voltri, which was the place that josephine had marked with her foot the first time that she had called upon him.
he reached arenza the 11th of april.
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would he meet the enemy? would he obtain this pledge of his future fortune?
as he ascended the slope of arenza, at the head of the division la harpe, which formed the advance guard, he uttered a cry of joy; he had just seen a column leaving voltri. it was beaulieu and the austrians.
they fought for five days, at the end of which time bonaparte was master of the valley of the bormida. the austrians, defeated at montenotte and dego, retreated toward acqui, and the piedmontese, after losing the passes of millesiome, fell back upon ceva and mondovi.
master of all the roads, with nine thousand prisoners in his train, who were to be sent to france to herald his first victory, from the heights of monte remonto he pointed out to his soldiers the beautiful plains of italy, which he had promised them. he showed them all the rivers which empty into the adriatic and the mediterranean, and pointing to a gigantic mountain covered with snow, he exclaimed: "hannibal crossed the alps; we have turned them."
thus we see that hannibal naturally presented himself to his mind as a medium of comparison. later it was c?sar. later still it was charlemagne.
we have witnessed the birth of his fortune. let us leave the conqueror at the first station in his journey across the world. he is fairly started on the road to milan, cairo, vienna, berlin, madrid, and, alas! to moscow.
