ly, and
prevailed on him to withdraw. "_Let those that love me follow me_" said
he, and was immediately on horseback again. "In truth," says De
Bourienne, "I know not what would have happened, had the President, when
he saw the General retiring, exclaimed, _Grenadiers, let no one go out_:
it is my conviction that, instead of sleeping the day after at the
Luxembourg, he would have ended his career on the _Place de la
Revolution_."

The command entrusted to Napoleon was forthwith announced to the
soldiery; and they received the intelligence with enthusiasm--the mass
of course little comprehending to what, at such a moment, such authority
amounted.

The three Directors, meanwhile, who were not in the secret, and who had
been much amused with seeing their colleague Sieyes set off on horseback
an hour or two earlier from the Luxembourg, had begun to understand
what that timely exhibition of the Abbe's awkward horsemanship
portended. One of them, Moulins, proposed to send a battalion to
surround Buonaparte's house and arrest him. Their own guard laughed at
them. Buonaparte was already in the Tuileries, with many troops around
him; and the Directorial Guard, being summoned by one of his
aides-de-camp, instantly marched thither also, leaving the Luxembourg at
his mercy. Barras sent his secretary to expostulate. Napoleon received
him with haughtiness. "What have you done," cried he, "for that fair
France which I left you so prosperous? For peace I find war; for the
wealth of Italy, taxation and misery. Where are the 100,000 brave French
whom I knew--where are the companions of my glory?--They are dead."
Barras, who well knew that Buonaparte would never forgive him for having
boasted that the conqueror of Italy and Egypt owed everything to his
early favour, and whose infamous personal conduct in the articles of
bribery and exaction made him tremble at the thought of impeachment,
resigned his office: so did his colleagues, Gohier and Moulins. Sieyes
and Ducos had done so already. Bernadotte, indeed, repaired to the
Luxembourg ere Moulins and Gohier had resigned, and offered his sword
and influence, provided they would nominate him to the command of the
forces jointly with Napoleon. They hesitated: his word of honour given
to Buonaparte, that he would do nothing _as a citizen_, rendered it
indispensable that they should take that decisive step; by doing so they
would at least have given the soldiery a fair choice--they
hesitated