the months when he threaded his path between
Nelson's cruisers and cut athwart the maze of Sieyes' intrigues. To
the philosopher's "J'ai vecu" he could oppose the crushing retort
"J'ai vaincu."

The general, on meeting the thinker at Gohier's house, studiously
ignored him. In truth, he was at first disposed to oust both Sieyes
and Barras from the Directory. The latter of these men was odious to
him for reasons both private and public. In time past he had had good
reasons for suspecting Josephine's relations with the voluptuous
Director, and with the men whom she met at his house. During the
Egyptian campaign his jealousy had been fiercely roused in another
quarter, and, as we have seen, led to an almost open breach with his
wife. But against Barras he still harboured strong suspicions; and the
frequency of his visits to the Director's house after returning from
Egypt was doubtless due to his desire to sound the depths of his
private as well as of his public immorality. If we may credit the
_embarras de mensonges_ which has been dignified by the name of
Barras' "Memoirs," Josephine once fled to his house and flung herself
at his knees, begging to be taken away from her husband; but the story
is exploded by the moral which the relator clumsily tacks on, as to
the good advice which he gave her.[126] While Bonaparte seems to have
found no grounds for suspecting Barras on this score, he yet
discovered his intrigues with various malcontents; and he saw that
Barras, holding the balance of power in the Directory between the
opposing pairs of colleagues, was intriguing to get the highest
possible price for the betrayal of the Directory and of the
constitution of 1795.

For Sieyes the general felt dislike but respect. He soon saw the
advantage of an alliance with so learned a thinker, so skilful an
intriguer, and so weak a man. It was, indeed, necessary; for, after
making vain overtures to Gohier for the alteration of the law which
excluded from the Directory men of less than forty years of age,
the general needed the alliance of Sieyes for the overthrow of the
constitution. In a short space he gathered around him the malcontents
whom the frequent crises had deprived of office, Roederer, Admiral
Bruix, Real, Cambaceres, and, above all, Talleyrand. The last-named;
already known for his skill in diplomacy, had special reasons for
favouring the alliance of Bonaparte and Sieyes: he had been dismissed
from the Foreign Office in th