Napoleon nodded his gratitude and then quietly slipped away to his study. He felt guilty. The bomb was meant for him, not Josephine’s daughter, and she would not have been injured if he had not become the First Consul, or if he had not decided to arrange the trip to the Opéra. Reaching his study, he ordered a servant to light the fire, and then he poured himself a drink and sat down to wait for Fouché.
Shortly after midnight, the door to the study clicked open and Napoleon glanced up as the Minister of the Interior entered the room. He nodded towards a chair on the other side of the fire and Fouché sat down.
Napoleon cleared his throat. ‘What was the butcher’s bill?’
‘Over fifty casualties so far, half of them dead.’ Fouché paused a moment before he changed the subject. ‘But you’re alive and unhurt, and that’s the main thing. I’ve primed the newpaper editors with the story I want to run tomorrow. I’ve told them it’s the work of royalist and Jacobin agents.’
Napoleon sniffed faintly. ‘An unlikely combination.’
‘Maybe, but this outrage may provide the excuse we need to crack down on both parties. I’ve given orders to start rounding up all those we suspect of being their ringleaders. Someone will know something about the plot. It’s just a matter of asking the questions in the appropriate manner.’
‘You’re talking about torture.’
‘Torture? Not the word to use, I think.We’ll call it something like coercive interrogation, to help keep the newspapers on our side.We might possibly discover who was behind the plot, but we are sure to uncover a great many pieces of useful information while we are at it.’ His eyes glinted at the prospect, before he assumed a more sombre expression and leaned forward towards the First Consul. ‘I heard the news about your stepdaughter a short while ago. I am told she will recover. That must be a comfort to know.’
‘I don’t want comforting words,’ Napoleon replied quietly. ‘I want you to find the men behind this. I don’t care what it takes. I don’t care how many people get hurt to produce information about the bastards who tried to kill me. Find them, Fouché. Find them and bring them to justice.They will pay for this with their heads.’
The Minister of the Interior’s network of agents and informers scoured the streets, cafés and salons of the capital and within weeks they had uncovered the identities of the two men who had improvised the explosive device. They were quickly arrested and taken before Fouché and his interrogators, who knew every refinement of the art of extracting information. Fouché reported to Napoleon that the men were working for Cadoudal, and had no connection with the Jacobins. Nevertheless, that fact would be suppressed in order to justify the arrest and exile of hundreds of political opponents that had taken place in the weeks immediately after the explosion.The two men had broken down under the relentless pressure of Fouché’s interrogators and had implicated a number of leading royalists in the plot, including many émigrés. Once they had given up all they knew, the men were summarily tried, sentenced to death and shot before dawn in the courtyard of Fouché’s ministry.
It came as no surprise to Napoleon to learn that the attack had been planned in England, and paid for with English gold. His heart hardened towards the most resolute and ruthless enemy of the revolution.That the English government had resorted to such underhand terrorist methods was a clear sign to Napoleon of the lengths they were prepared to go to defeat France.
There was little time to nurse his grievance, however. Once again the Austrians were using delaying tactics at the Lunéville negotiations and, when the peace preliminaries had still not been signed by the end of January, Napoleon sent a curt warning that unless they were signed at once the French armies would resume their march on Vienna. The Austrians hurriedly recanted, agreed to French terms and signed the Treaty of Lunéville early in February. A month later a treaty was signed with the King of Naples which closed the ports of his kingdom to English ships. William Pitt’s coalition had failed and in March he was forced from office. England had at last run out of allies. Napoleon drew cold comfort from the fall of his adversary. France dominated Europe and could afford to wait until the English were humbled enough to beg for peace. Meanwhile, he continued to work every hour that he could to change France for ever, so that there could never be a return to the gross inequalities of the years before the revolution.
Corruption by government officials was exposed and punished. Ministers were constantly called to account for their failures and set new tasks. A system of grain silos was established to safeguard the people against failed harvests, and the newly established Bank of France became the sole source of paper currency, replacing the hated and almost worthless assignats. Mindful of the need to appeal to the patriotic spirit of the people Napoleon made plans for laying down new streets and avenues in the capital - to be named after the recent victories of the army, and the victories yet to come. At the same time, the plans had the additional benefit of creating thoroughfares wide enough to be easily commanded by a handful of cannon in the event of any uprising.
The constant stream of new initiatives that poured from the office of the First Consul steadily eclipsed the role of the other branches of the legislature set up by the new constitution, and while the senate broadly approved of Napoleon’s actions the assembly of tribunes resented his abrogation of power. Napoleon knew that the time would soon come when he would be forced to remould the constitution in his favour. Before then he would need to do everything in his power to win the support of the people. The thing they desired above all was peace, and with that achieved on the continent at least, France began to enjoy the benefits of order and prosperity as spring blossomed across the land.
It was then that the situation began to change.
‘The Tsar assassinated?’ Napoleon rose from his chair. ‘When?’
‘Three weeks ago, at the end of March,’ Talleyrand replied. ‘Tsar Paul was killed by a group of his generals and senior members of his own household. Including his son, Alexander, who is now the new ruler.’
Napoleon gave a wry chuckle. ‘I doubt there has ever been a more dangerous family to be born into.’ His expression became more serious. ‘What do we know of this Alexander? What are his intentions towards us?’
‘Our ambassador says that Alexander is keen to mend relations with England. It’s bad timing. Just when I thought we might make an alliance with Russia.’
Napoleon was silent for a moment as he walked over to his window and stared down into the gardens of the palace. ‘Damn those Russians. They will ruin everything for us one day.’
The news added greatly to his concerns over the report that an English army had landed in Egypt. The last hope of any French intervention in India had been crushed by the Governor General and his brother, a more than capable soldier who had done much to turn the military situation to England’s advantage. Then there was the matter of an uprising in the colony of San Domingo, and Spain was unwilling to return Louisiana to France. As long as the enemy controlled the seas, France would be denied ready access to her colonies.The time had come to cut cards with the devil, Napoleon concluded reluctantly. He turned towards his foreign minister.
‘We must have peace with England, as soon as possible. We need time to settle our overseas affairs. Time to build our navy up to strength.’
‘To what purpose?’ Talleyrand asked quietly.
‘So that when the conflict begins again - which it will - we can clear the Channel of enemy warships and land an army in England.’