mments which this coincidence provoked. But he
was necessary to France, and all men knew it. At the first sitting of
the provisional Consuls, Ducos had said to him: "It is useless to vote
about the presidence; it belongs to you of right"; and, despite the
wry face pulled by Sieyes, the general at once took the chair.
Scarcely less remarkable than the lack of energy in statesmen was the
confusion of thought in the populace. Mme. Reinhard tells us that
after the _coup d'etat_ people _believed they had returned to the
first days of liberty_. What wonder, then, that the one able and
strong-willed man led the helpless many and re-moulded Sieyes'
constitution in a fashion that was thus happily parodied:

"J'ai, pour les fous, d'un Tribunat
Conserve la figure;
Pour les sots je laisse un Senat,
Mais ce n'est qu'en peinture;
A ce stupide magistrat
Ma volonte preside;
Et tout le Conseil d'Etat
Dans mon sabre reside."

* * * * *

CHAPTER XI

MARENGO: LUNEVILLE

Reserving for the next chapter a description of the new civil
institutions of France, it will be convenient now to turn to foreign
affairs. Having arranged the most urgent of domestic questions, the
First Consul was ready to encounter the forces of the Second
Coalition. He had already won golden opinions in France by
endeavouring peacefully to dissolve it. On the 25th of December, 1799,
he sent two courteous letters, one to George III., the other to the
Emperor Francis, proposing an immediate end to the war. The close of
the letter to George III. has been deservedly admired: "France and
England by the abuse of their strength may, for the misfortune of all
nations, be long in exhausting it: but I venture to declare that the
fate of all civilized nations is concerned in the termination of a war
which kindles a conflagration over the whole world." This noble
sentiment touched the imagination of France and of friends of peace
everywhere.

And yet, if the circumstances of the time be considered, the first
agreeable impressions aroused by the perusal of this letter must be
clouded over by doubts. The First Consul had just seized on power by
illegal and forcible means, and there was as yet little to convince
foreign States that he would hold it longer than the men whom he had
displaced. Moreover, France was in a difficult position. Her treasury
was empty; her army in Italy was being edged into the narrow
c