We have seen that at the end of the Directory the anarchy and disorganisation were such that every one was desperately calling for the man of energy capable of re-establishing order.As early as 1795 a number of deputies had thought for a moment of re-establishing royalty.Louis XVIII., having been tactless enough to declare that he would restore the ancien regime in its entirety, return all property to its original owners, and punish the men of the Revolution, was immediately thrown over.
The senseless expedition of Quiberon finally alienated the supporters of the future sovereign.The royalists gave a proof during the whole of the Revolution of an incapacity and a narrowness of mind which justified most of the measures taken against them.
The monarchy being impossible, it was necessary to find a general.Only one existed whose name carried weight--Bonaparte.
The campaign in Italy had just made him famous.Having crossed the Alps, he had marched from victory to victory, penetrated to Milan and Venice, and everywhere obtained important war contributions.He then made towards Vienna, and was only twenty-five leagues from its gates when the Emperor of Austria decided to sue for peace.
But great as was his renown, the young general did not consider it sufficient.To increase it he persuaded the Directory that the power of England could be shaken by an invasion of Egypt, and in May, 1798, he embarked at Toulon.
This need of increasing his prestige arose from a very sound psychological conception which he clearly expounded at St.
Helena:--
``The most influential and enlightened generals had long been pressing the general of Italy to take steps to place himself at the head of the Republic.He refused; he was not yet strong enough to walk quite alone.He had ideas upon the art of governing and upon what was necessary to a great nation which were so different from those of the men of the Revolution and the assemblies that, not being able to act alone, he feared to compromise his character.He determined to set out for Egypt, but resolved to reappear if circumstances should arise to render his presence useful or necessary.''
Bonaparte did not stay long in Egypt.Recalled by his friends, he landed at Frejus, and the announcement of his return provoked universal enthusiasm.There were illuminations everywhere.
France collaborated in advance in the coup d'etat prepared by two Directors and the principal ministers.The plot was organised in three weeks.Its execution on the 18th of Brumaire was accomplished with the greatest ease.
All parties experienced the greatest delight at being rid of the sinister gangs who had so long oppressed and exploited the country.The French were doubtless about to enter upon a despotic system of government, but it could not be so intolerable as that which had been endured for so many years.
The history of the coup d'etat of Brumaire justifies all that we have already said of the impossibility of forming exact judgments of events which apparently are fully understood and attested by no matter how many witnesses.
We know what ideas people had thirty years ago concerning the coup of Brumaire.It was regarded as a crime committed by the ambition of a man who was supported by his army.As a matter of fact the army played no part whatever in the affair.The little body of men who expelled the few recalcitrant deputies were not soldiers even, but the gendarmes of the Assembly itself.The true author of the coup d'etat was the Government itself, with the complicity of all France.
4.Causes of the Duration of the Revolution.
If we limit the Revolution to the time necessary for the conquest of its fundamental principles--equality before the law, free access to public functions, popular sovereignty, control of expenditures, &c.--we may say that it lasted only a few months.
