Memoirs of Napoleon, vol 6 | Page 7

was only in embryo,
flattering counsels poured in from all quarters, and tended to encourage
the First Consul in his design of grasping at absolute power.
Liberty rejected an unlimited power, and set bounds to the means he
wished and had to employ in order to gratify his excessive love of war
and conquest. "The present state of things, this Consulate of ten years,"
said he to me, does not satisfy me; "I consider it calculated to excite
unceasing troubles." On the 7th of July 1801, he observed, "The
question whether France will be a Republic is still doubtful: it will be
decided in five or six years." It was clear that he thought this too long a
term. Whether he regarded France as his property, or considered
himself as the people's delegate and the defender of their rights, I am
convinced the First Consul wished the welfare of France; but then that
welfare was in his mind inseparable from absolute power. It was with
pain I saw him following this course. The friends of liberty, those who
sincerely wished to maintain a Government constitutionally free,
allowed themselves to be prevailed upon to consent to an extension of
ten years of power beyond the ten years originally granted by the

constitution. They made this sacrifice to glory and to that power which
was its consequence; and they were far from thinking they were lending
their support to shameless intrigues. They were firm, but for the
moment only, and the nomination for life was rejected by the Senate,
who voted only ten years more power to Bonaparte, who saw the vision
of his ambition again adjourned.
The First Consul dissembled his displeasure with that profound art
which, when he could not do otherwise, he exercised to an extreme
degree. To a message of the Senate on the subject of that nomination he
returned a calm but evasive and equivocating answer, in which,
nourishing his favourite hope of obtaining more from the people than
from the Senate, he declared with hypocritical humility, "That he would
submit to this new sacrifice if the wish of the people demanded what
the Senate authorised." Such was the homage he paid to the sovereignty
of the people, which was soon to be trampled under his feet!
An extraordinary convocation of the Council of State took place on
Monday, the 10th of May. A communication was made to them, not
merely of the Senate's consultation, but also of the First Consul's adroit
and insidious reply. The Council regarded the first merely as a
notification, and proceeded to consider on what question the people
should be consulted. Not satisfied with granting to the First Consul ten
years of prerogative, the Council thought it best to strike the iron while
it was hot, and not to stop short in the middle of so pleasing a work. In
fine, they decided that the following question should be put to the
people: "Shall the First Consul be appointed for life, and shall he have
the power of nominating his successor?" The reports of the police had
besides much influence on the result of this discussion, for they one
and all declared that the whole of Paris demanded a Consul for life,
with the right of naming a successor. The decisions on these two
questions were carried as it were by storm. The appointment for life
passed unanimously, and the right of naming the successor by a
majority. The First Consul, however, formally declared that he
condemned this second measure, which had not originated with himself.
On receiving the decision of the Council of State the First Consul, to
mask his plan for attaining absolute power, thought it advisable to

appear to reject a part of what was offered him. He therefore cancelled
that clause which proposed to give him the power of appointing a
successor, and which had been carried by a small majority.

CHAPTER X.
1802.
General Bernadotte pacifies La vendee and suppresses a mutiny at
Tours--Bonaparte's injustice towards him--A premeditated scene--
Advice given to Bernadotte, and Bonaparte disappointed--The First
Consul's residence at St. Cloud--His rehearsals for the Empire-- His
contempt of mankind--Mr. Fox and Bonaparte--Information of plans of
assassination--A military dinner given by Bonaparte--Moreau not of the
party--Effect of the 'Senates-consultes' on the Consulate for
life--Journey to Plombieres--Previous scene between Lucien and
Josephine--Theatrical representations at Neuilly and Malmaison-- Loss
of a watch, and honesty rewarded--Canova at St. Cloud-- Bonaparte's
reluctance to stand for a model.
Having arrived at nearly the middle of the career which I have
undertaken to trace, before I advance farther I must go back for a few
moments, as I have already frequently done, in order to introduce some
circumstances which escaped my recollection, or which I purposely
reserved, that I might place them amongst facts