Tribunate and Corps Legislatif, was forthwith approved by the
guardians of the constitution. It had far-reaching results. The
complaisant Senate was brought down from its constitutional watchtower
to become the tool of the Consuls; and an easy way for further
innovations was thus dextrously opened up through the very portals
which were designed to bar them out.

The immediate results of the device were startling. By an act of
January 4th, 1801, as many as 130 prominent Jacobins were "placed
under special surveillance outside the European territory of the
Republic"--a specious phrase for denoting a living death amidst the
wastes of French Guiana or the Seychelles. Some of the threatened
persons escaped, perhaps owing to the connivance of Fouche; some were
sent to the Isle of Oleron; but the others were forthwith despatched
to the miseries of captivity in the tropics. Among these were
personages so diverse as Rossignol, once the scourge of France with
his force of Parisian cut-throats, and Destrem, whose crime was his
vehement upbraiding of Bonaparte at St. Cloud. After this measure had
taken effect, it was discovered by judicial inquiry that the Jacobins
had no connection with the outrage, which was the work of royalists
named Saint-Rejant and Carbon. These were captured, and on January
31st, 1801, were executed; but their fate had no influence whatever on
the sentence of the transported Jacobins. Of those who were sent to
Guiana and the Seychelles, scarce twenty saw France again.[170]

Bonaparte's conduct with respect to plots deserves close attention.
Never since the age of the Borgias have conspiracies been so skilfully
exploited, so cunningly countermined. Moreover, his conduct with
respect to the Arena and Nivose affairs had a wider significance; for
he now quietly but firmly exchanged the policy of balancing parties
for one which crushed the extreme republicans, and enhanced the
importance of all who were likely to approve or condone the
establishment of personal rule.

It is now time to consider the effect which Bonaparte's foreign policy
had on his position in France. Reserving for a later chapter an
examination of the Treaty of Amiens, we may here notice the close
connection between Bonaparte's diplomatic successes and the
perpetuation of his Consulate. All thoughtful students of history must
have observed the warping influence which war and diplomacy have
exerted on democratic institutions. The age of A