therto remained in some measure tranquil spectators, waiting the event, judging from the violence of the others, who did not cease crying, 'Out of the law and being totally ignorant of what was passing without, concluded that Bonaparte had really been put out of the law, or had been murdered, and that the soldiers had come to arrest the president, in order to do similar execution.

The president found in the court of the palace the general, who had harangued the soldiers, and informed them of his reception, and the attempt which had been made to assassinate him. He added that more than thirty of their factious members had raised their poignards against him, and had threatened to put him out of the law,-him whom the combined kings of Europe had been unable to reach with their armies. The soldiers heard him with interest and attention, all seemed disposed to serve him, but none moved forward to offer themselves as his avengers, nor was it certain that they would have marched against the legislative body, even had the general given the positive orders. But the presence of the president, Lucien Bonaparte, who had now mounted on horseback, and

'Bonaparte's inattention to the form of his thoughts,' says Faber, in his work on the internal state of France, had nearly changed the fortune of this day. Being in the court of the building in which the legislators were assembled, Bonaparte would harangue the soldiers, to secure them for himself. Soldiers, (he said), you will not abandon your general who has so often led you to victory? You will not lend your arirs to the factious who are tearing the republic? You will not uphold those who have occasioned the country to lose the fruit of so inany triumphs?' To these apostrophies, and several others, all expressed negatively, the soldiers near him answered by No! No! No!' which filled the air. These Nos, repeated by a thousand mouths, spread farther among the ranks; and the distant bodies, supposing that their comrades were expelling by their Nos, propositions against their honour and their liberty, echoed alike their Nos with a tone of disapprobation and refusal. For some moments an hesitation throughout the ranks was becoming a strong opposition, and Bonaparte was near losing the fruit of that day. It was then that his brother Lucien, by his presence of mind, corrected the fault which had been committed

addressed them, increased and legalized in some measure their dispositions in favour of the general. In an animated tone he informed them, that the immense majority of the council was, at the moment he was speaking, under terror from a < few representatives armed with poignards, who were besieging the tribune, and threatening their colleagues with death; that these desperate ruffians had put themselves in rebellion against the council of elders, and had dared to menace with outlawry the general who was charged with the execution of their decree. He declared at the same time, that it was those furious men who had virtually put themselves out of the law by their attempts against the liberty of the council; that he confided to the warriors, to whom he spoke, the care of delivering the majority of their representatives from the oppression they were under, in order that they might deliberate peaceably on the destiny of the republic. General, and you soldiers, added the president, elevating his voice, you will acknowledge as legislators of France none but such as shall rally around me; as for those who remain in the Orangery, let force expel them; these ruffians are no longer representatives of the people, but representatives of the poignard. He terminated his harangue with crying, Long live the republic!' which was repeated by the soldiers and all the by-standers.

The speech of the president of the council had created stronger emotions and furnished more determined motives to the soldiers than that of the general. In the first case they had some doubts whether they might not have become themselves accomplices in a rebellion; they now found, or seemed to find, from the harangue of the president, that they were called on to suppress a rebellion. The general finding this

by a want of attention to the form of expressing himself. Lucien mounted his horse, passed among the ranks, and addressed to the soldiers the question his brother had asked; but in such a manner as to obtain an unanimous Yes. This Yes decided that day, and the future, greatness of Bonaparte.'

yourselves, citizen representatives; I have just spoke openly to you truths which no one has ventured to whisper. The means of saving the country are in your hands. If you hesitate to make use of them, if liberty perish, you will be accountable for its destruction towards the world, towards posterity, towards your own families, and towards France.'

Having finished his speech, Bonaparte withdrew, leaving the council to deliberate on what had been said, and who began a debate, since the question was now brought fully forward, respecting the merit and demerit of the constitution. The Council of Five Hundred having finished taking the oath, were discussing with great warmth on the mode of electing a successor to Barras, when Bonaparte presented himself at the door of the assembly, accompanied by a few officers, and soldiers without arms. He advances a few paces into the room, as if wishing to address the council, when he was assailed in an instant, by cries from different parts of the chamber of 'Down with the tyrant! Out of the law! Down with the dictator! Kill him; kill him!-The vehemence of the members who uttered these invectives was not confined to words. Several started from their seats, and rushed towards the door, imprecating vengeance, and making use of menacing gesticulations. Bonaparte stood speechless, but the officers and grenadiers who were behind him, imagining him to be in danger, gathered round him, and drew him out of the room, pale and trembling with suffocated passion, into the vestibule. Arena, a Corsican, struck at him with a dagger, and would probably have finished him, had not a grenadier named Thome received the stroke on his arm. By another blow the general was slightly wounded on the cheek. Bonaparte for a moment was lost, and it is said he had fainted when General Lefebvre, with the grenadiers, flow to his defence, surrounded him, and carried him out.

The presence of Bonaparte in the Council of Five Hundred had blown up into a flame the rage which had hitherto been only smothered, nor did his absence tend to allay it. As soon

as he was gone, the president, who was Lucien his brother, was apostrophised in nearly the same language as had been used towards the general. He left the chair, and descending to the tribune, as soon as he could make his voice heard, observed, that, after the services rendered by his brother to the republic, it was abominable to suppose that he had any views hostile to liberty. He urged, that no Frenchman had given greater pledges of his attachment to the republic. He added, that the general came, no doubt, to give some important information relative to the present circumstances, and demanded that he should be called to the bar to give an account of his motives. The tumult drowned his voice; the assembly seemed a chaos; numberless motions succeeded each other; some for breaking the decree of the elders, which named Bonaparte general; others for leaving St. Cloud, and repairing to Paris; others for naming another general to take the command of all the troops, who should be named the Guard of the Councils: some apostrophised the soldiers who remained at the door, others continued their invectives against the president, who, seeing the tumult increase, rather than abate, after attempting in vain to speak, imploring the assembly to hear him, his tears rolling down his cheeks, threw off his robe and put it on the table, declaring that he divested himself of his presidency.

This act served only to raise the Jacobin party to a higher pitch of exasperation; several members of this party had now gathered around him, and some among them presented pistols, as if to force him to resume his robe. It was amidst this last act of disorder, that some grenadiers sent by Bonaparte, who had been informed of the situation of the President, presented themselves at the tribune, and placing him between them, conducted him in safety to the court of the palace. The confusion in the council redoubled at this new incident. The Jacobin party became still more infuriated; motions and speeches the most incongruous succeeded each other with the volubility of lightening. The moderate party, which had hi

therto remained in some measure tranquil spectators, waiting the event, judging from the violence of the others, who did not cease crying, 'Out of the law!' and being totally ignorant of what was passing without, concluded that Bonaparte had really been put out of the law, or had been murdered, and that the soldiers had come to arrest the president, in order to do similar execution.

The president found in the court of the palace the general, who had harangued the soldiers, and informed them of his reception, and the attempt which had been made to assassinate him. He added that more than thirty of their factious members had raised their poignards against him, and had threatened to put him out of the law,-him whom the combined kings of Europe had been unable to reach with their armies. The soldiers heard him with interest and attention, all seemed disposed to serve him, but none moved forward to offer themselves as his avengers, nor was it certain that they would have marched against the legislative body, even had the general given the positive orders. But the presence of the president, Lucien Bonaparte, who had now mounted on horseback, and

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Bonaparte's inattention to the form of his thoughts,' says Faber, in his work on the internal state of France, had nearly changed the fortune of this day. Being in the court of the building in which the legislators were assembled, Bonaparte would harangue the soldiers, to secure them for himself. Soldiers, (he said), you will not abandon your general who has so often led you to victory? You will not lend your arrs to the factious who are tearing the republic? You will not uphold those who have occasioned the country to lose the fruit of so many triumphs?' To these apostrophies, and several others, all expressed negatively, the soldiers near him answered by No! No! No!' which filled the air. These Nos, repeated by a thousand mouths, spread farther among the ranks; and the distant bodies, supposing that their comrades were expelling by their Nos, propositions against their honour and their liberty, echoed alike their Nos with a tone of disapprobation and refusal. For some moments an hesitation throughout the ranks was becoming a strong opposition, and Bonaparte was near losing the fruit of that day. It was then that his brother Lucien, by his presence of inind, corrected the fault which had been committed