gs were carried to such a length that we were
under the necessity of condemning Louis XVI. and resorting to energetic
measures. You know all that passed up to the 18th Brumaire, and after.
We all perceived that a Republic could not exist in France; the question,
therefore, was to ensure the perpetual removal of the Bourbons; and I
behaved the only means for so doing was to transfer the inheritance of
their throne to another family. Some time before the 18th Brumaire I had
a conversation with Sieyes and Barras, in which it was proposed, in case
of the Directory being threatened, to recall the Duke of Orleans; and I
could see very well that Barras favoured that suggestion, although he
alluded to it merely as a report that was circulated about, and
recommended me to pay attention to it. Sieyes said nothing, and I
settled the question by observing, that if any such thing had been
agitated I must have been informed of it through the reports of my
agents. I added, that the restoration of the throne to a collateral
branch of the Bourbons would be an impolitic act, and would but
temporarily change the position of those who had brought about the
Revolution. I rendered an account of this interview with Barras to
General Bonaparte the first time I had an opportunity of conversing with
him after your return from Egypt. I sounded him; and I was perfectly
convinced that in the state of decrepitude into which the Directory had
fallen he was just the man we wanted. I therefore adopted such measures
with the police as tended to promote his elevation to the First
Magistracy. He soon showed himself ungrateful, and instead of giving me
all his confidence he tried to outwit me. He put into the hands of a
number of persons various matters of police which were worse than
useless. Most of their agents, who were my creatures, obeyed my
instructions in their reports; and it often happened that the First
Consul thought he had discovered, through the medium of others,
information that came from me, and of the falsehood of which I easily
convinced him. I confess I was at fault on the 3d Nivoise; but are there
any human means of preventing two men, who have no accomplices, from
bringing a plot to execution? You saw the First Consul on his return
from the opera; you heard all his declamations. I felt assured that the
infernal machine was the work of the Royalists. I told the Emperor this,
and he was, I am sure, convinced of it; but he, nevertheless, pr