decree, that the troops now, in this commune, form a part of your guard; and that a meffage be lent to the council of elders, inviting them to make a decree for fending back the councils to Paris." This motion was fupported by a very general acclamation. Crochon having, with much difficulty obtained a hearing, "declared himself against fo precipitate a measure as that just propofed. The decree of the elders, appointing Buonaparte to the command of the troops, he maintained, was not an unconflitutional act; as it decreed the tranflation of the councils, it was necellary to appoint a general for carrying their decree info execution." The motion for a meffage, of the above purport to the elders, was agreed to, and, after a very warm debate, the question for declaring the troops at St. Cloud a part of the legislative guard was going to be put, when" Lucian Buonaparte demanded, that, before taking fuch a measure, they fhould call the general.” A number of members cried out, “We do not fent into the hall, by the general, for the refcue of his brother. The foldiers furrounding him, conducted him fafely out of the hall, and placed him in the midst of their own ranks, in the court of the palace. General Buonaparte, on his return from the council of five hundred, had harangued the foldiers, informing them of the danger he had efcaped, and that he, whom the combined kings of Europe had not been able to reach with their armies, was at this moment threatened with outlawry, by factious affallins. The foldiers liftened to him with attention, and manifefted a dif pofition to fland by him, and ferve him. This difpofition was fortified, and, in fome meafure legalized, by the prefence of the prefident, who, mounted on horieback, rede from one regiment to another, fpeaking to them in favour of his brother.. He told them, in a very animated manner, and tone of voice, that a great majority of the council, at the moment he was fpeaking, was under terror, from a handful of members armed with poniards, who were befieging the tribune, and threatening their colleagues with death: that thefe ruffians had put themfelves in a state of rebellion against the council of elders, and had dared to threaten the general, who was ordered to carry their decree, for tranflating the councils to St. Cloud, into execution. But, it was those furious men themfelves, he obferved, who had, in fact, put themfelves out of the law by their at tempts against the liberty of the council. He confided, to the warriors whom he addreffed, the deliverance of the majority of their reprefentatives from the oppreffion they were under, in order that they might deliberate peaceably on the deftiny of the republic." General, and you foldiers," faid he, raifing his voice," you will not acknowledge, as legiflators of France, any others than fuch as fhall rally around me; as for those who remain in the Orangery, let force expel them. Thofe ruffians are no longer the reprefentatives of the people, but the reprefentatives of the poniard." He concluded his harangue with the popular cry of vive la republique, which was reechoed by the foldiers and all the fpectators. The general, animated by this alacrity, excited by the fanction of the prefident, ordered a corps of grenadiers to march forward, and he was inftantly obeyed. At the found of the drums beating the pas de-charge, the fpectators rushed out by the doors and windows. The deputies rofe up, crying, fome of them, vive la republique! others, vive la confitution! The foldiers entered the hall, with fixed bayonets as ordered, and halted. A chief of bri gade of cavalry faid aloud, "Citizens, reprefentatives, there is no longer any fafety in this place; invite you to withdraw." This invitation was anfwered by a general cry of vive la republique ! On which the officer who commanded the grenadiers, mounting the tribune, exclaimed, " Reprefentatives withdraw: it is the orders of the general." Still the deputies kept their feats: the tumult waxed greater and greater, and fome of the members began to addrefs the foldiers: when another officer called out, "Grenadiers, forward." The drums beat to the charge, and the grenadiers advanced from the door to the middle of the hall, which was now cleared, amidst the noife of drums. The deputies, as they went out,. cried, vive la republique! The greater part of them returned immediately to Paris: others remained to obferve the movements of the troops in the court of the caftle, and to fee the upfhot of this day's proceedings, at St. Cloud. • An attack with fixed bayonets, and without firing. CHAP. CHAP. III. Effects of what passed in the Council of Five Hundred on the Deliberations and Meajures of the Council of Elders.-Meeting of the moderate Party in the late Council of Five Hundred.-Speech of Lucian Buonaparte on the critical State of the Nation.-A Committee of Five appointed to report on the Meafures proper to be adopted in the prefent Crifis.-The Council addreffed by the Chairman of the Committee, by Boulay de la Meurthe, and again by Lucian Buonaparte.-The Council adjourned, and the Seffion terminated.Reflections. T has already been mentioned that adjournment from five to nine o'clock in the evening, had refolved itfelf into a committee of the whole houfe. Their deliberations on the prefent juncture of affairs, were interrupted by the beating of drums, and fhouts from the court of the palace, and at the fame time by the arrival of deputies from the Orangery, announcing the outrage committed on the national reprefentation, and the diffolution of the council of five hundred, by military force. The prefident of the council, Le Mercier, faid, that affaffins, armed with poniards, were not worthy of the name of reprefentatives. Another of the deputies began to reply, but the council determined to hear none but those of their own body. The ftruggle between Buonaparte and the council of five hundred being terminated in the manner we have feen, a commiffion of five elders brought forward their report of the meafures Proper to be adopted in the prefent moment. It ftated, that the counelders of the nation, and, from what had juft paffed, the whole of the national reprefentation; that it was their duty, fince it was in their power, to provide means for the fafety of the country, and for liberty; that the executive power exifted no longer, fince military power was nothing more than the organ of the executive power, effentially civil. In confideration of thefe, and this farther circumftance, that four members of the directory had given in their demiffion, and that the other was under an arrest, the five elders propofed, that an executive provifionary commiffion, compofed of three members, fhould be appointed; that the legislative body fhould be adjourned to the twenty-firft of December; that an intermediary commiffion, for preferving the rights of the national reprefentation, fhould be formed, which fhould have the power of convoking the legislative body fooner, if it thought proper; and that the affem bly bly fhould be adjourned till nine in the evening, as above ftated, when the prefent measures fhould be taken into confideration.-Thefe propofitions, after fome little debate, were agreed to; and being adopted, by whatever could be collected, on the fpot, of the council of five hundred, kind of rump parliament formed the bafis of a provifional arrangement, to take place of the legiflature and government now diffolved, until a new conflitution fhould be eftablished. Though the council of elders declared themfelves to be the whole of the national reprefentation, and competent of themselves to take measures fuitable to the occafion, they judged it proper to fanction their proceedings, as much as poffible, by every appearance of legal for mality. For this purpofe, it was concerted with their friends in the other council, that as many of the council of five hundred as had remained at St. Cloud, who were all of them of the moderate party, should assemble together in the evening, and refume their deliberations. Thefe members accordingly returned to the Orangery between the hours of fix and feven, the time appointed by the elders, and the council was opened under the prefidency of Lucian Buonaparte. A deputy of the name of Barringer opened the council, with a review of the events of the day, and after bestowing the highest praife' on the conduct of the troops, the prudence of the officers, and the wifdom of the general, moved, that "the commander-in-chief, Buonaparte, the generals Lefebre, Berthier, Murat, Serrurier, Leclerc, Bournonville, Money, St. Remi, Andréoffi, Solignac, admiral Bruix, Louis Buonaparte, chief of a fquadron, Eugene Beauharnois, aid-decamp, with other officers mentioned by name, the foldiers of the guard, the foldiers of the line, the grenadiers, who, with their bodies, had formed a fhield for Buonaparte, had deferved well of their country, by faving a majority of the legislative body and the republic, attacked by a minority, confifting of aflaffins." This motion was agreed to, and a correfpondent refolution was paffed unanimoufly. After this, a plan, or project, as it was called, for an intermediary government, was prefented by Chazal, and was fubmitted to the confideration of a fpecial commiffion of five members, who were to make a report during the fitting. While this report was in a ftate of preparation, Lucian Buonaparte, defcending from the prefident's chair to the tribune, addref fed the council as follows:-" Reprefentatives of the people, the republic il governed, distracted in every refpect, weakened by the deftruction of its finances, is falling on all fides; without confidence or refources, without flrength or union in the government; incertitude and inteftine war every where reviving no affurance to foreign powers, and, befides, no hopes of peace. "The hearts of all good citizens feel the evil; every one wishes for the remedy. The wildom of the council of elders is awakened; but their attention still fixed on the late attempts of an execrable faction, they have transferred the fittings of the legislative body out of Paris. The long parliament of England, under the reign of Oliver Cromwell, was fo called, after it was purged by colonel Pride. "It is we who ought to begin the work, we who ought to propofe remedies againft that general diffolution which threatens us. The people and the army regards us. Shall we fear to heal the wound? Shall we, by a degree of base cowardice, change the public fpirit into indignation? "Dragged onward by the torrent of opinion, a few members of the directory have laid down their authority, others have imitated them, perfuaded that the caufe of all our misfortunes is in the bad organization of the politic fyftem. There is no longer an executive directory; experience, like reafon, proves that the prefent organization of the conftitution is as vicious as its bafis is, auguft. This incoherent organization renders political convulfions neceffary every year, and it is only to prevent the repetition of political convulfions that the people form conftitutions. T "The whole national fentiment attributes all the misfortunes of the country to our vices. Placed in our prefent pofition, protected from factions, we have no excufe if we do not act right; if we forget that the fafety of the people is the fupreme law; if we do not render a prompt fupport to the edifice which is crumbling to duft, we fhall deferve the juft execration of the present and all futures ages. "There are conftitutional principles existing; but there no longer exifts a conftitutional organization, for that which did exift was daily violated by parties. But the beft informed and most impatient people, on earth, are not to be impofed upon. Do you think they are not fenfible that this organization is no affarance for their rights, fo long promifed, and of which fo many hands have obliterated its scarce finifhed pages; and that it is only an offenfive or defenfive weapon in the hands of the factions, who by turns prevail? If it is true, that none of our rights are guaranteed by it, ought we to delay modifying it? If we do delay, fhall we not have reafon to expect that the promoters of the dangers of the country will revive their attempts the firft opportunity that offers "Such is the question which I addrefs to each of my colleagues. Let us meditate and determine upon the principles of that liberty, which actuates our fouls as to the fituation of the country. This ancient palace of kings, where we are now fitting, on this folemn night, attefts that power is nothing, and that glory is every thing. If we are now unworthy to be reckoned the first nation on earth; if from pufillanimous confiderations we do not alter the fituation in which we are placed; if we deceive our hopes, we fall from this day lofe our glory, and we cannot long preferve our power; when the meafure of the evil is completed, and the indignation of the people reaches us. "I have flattered myfelf, reprefentatives of the people, that I might hold this language. On your de liberations depend the public property and peace. You ought to forget all factious connections, and to think only of the happiness of the French nation, with which you are entrusted. I read in your profound meditations, the ideas I have juft uttered. I demand that there be appointed a special committee of nine members, charged to lay be fore you its opinion as to your pre fent |