Once outside the building, the sight of the massed troops seemed to restore Bonaparte's confidence. Addressing them in ringing tones he cried, 'Soldiers! What have you done with the France which I left so brilliant? I left you peace, I find war. I left you victories, I find defeats. I left you the millions of Italy, I find laws of spoliation and misery.' His oration was met with a tremendous burst of cheering.
But the decrees of the Anciens had to be confirmed by at least three out of the five Directors, and notice of them sent to all. Sieyes and Roger Ducos had already agreed to sign and then resign, and Josephine had invited Gohier to breakfast in the hope that she might persuade him also to do so. But Gohier was suspicious and saw no attraction in a rendezvous so early in the morning, so he sent his wife instead. Josephine put the situation to her; but she could not be persuaded to attempt to bring her husband over into the Bonapartist camp, and as soon as Gohier learned what was afoot he declared his intention of continuing as a Director.
Barras was still unaware that the conspirators intended to turn him out, and Gohier and Moulins, believing him to be with them, assumed that, as the three of them constituted the majority, they could not be deposed; so they took no action. But Talleyrand was taking charge of that end of the affair personally.
Roger had been detailed to act as his assistant, so he had that morning gone direct to his house. Soon afterwards, they were joined by Admiral Bruix, Ouvrard and Roederer. Supervised by Talleyrand, Roederer drew up a document of resignation, full of high-sounding phrases, for Barras to sign. Ouvrard then produced a draft on his bank and, handing it to Talleyrand, said, ' Any objections he may have to resigning should be overridden by this.' Roger, who was standing near, did not see the actual sum for which the draft was made out, but he caught sight of the word 'millions'. Then, to fill in time until they learned what had taken place at the Anciens, the five of them went into the dining room and ate a hearty breakfast.
At eleven o'clock a message arrived from Bonaparte that all had gone according to plan, so Talleyrand, Bruix and Roger set off in a coach for the Luxembourg.
There they were faced with a somewhat delicate situation, as all five of the Directors occupied suites of apartments in the Palace and it was important that neither Gohier nor Moulins should see Talleyrand calling on Barras. Otherwise, they might have guessed what was happening, insisted on joining him and stiffened his resistance. It was to guard against this that Talleyrand had asked that Roger should accompany him.
Leaving the other two down in the hall, Roger went up the marble staircase, made a swift reconnaissance, then enquired of the footman on the door of Barras' suite if his master was alone. Learning that he was, Roger ran back and called to Talleyrand and the Admiral to come up. As soon as they had entered Barras's apartment Roger told the footman that, if anyone enquired for his master, he was to say that he could not receive them because he was in his bath.
When Talleyrand, kindly but firmly, told Barras what was required of him, he was surprised and somewhat hurt that, after all he had done for Bonaparte, his protege should have turned against him; but he offered little resistance. For over five years he had enjoyed almost unlimited power and more wine and beautiful women than most men would be granted in twenty lifetimes. He had acquired an enormous fortune and was tired of wrangling with earnest people and windy gasbags like Sieygs. When he had read the declaration and had seen that it announced his honourable retirement after having rendered great services to his country, he signed it without a murmur.
It was not even necessary to offer him the additional fortune that Talleyrand had brought folded up in his waistcoat pocket. What he said to Ouvrard later about the draft no one will ever know; but there is reason to suppose that the banker never got it back. After all, Talleyrand enjoyed collecting money and none of his friends could complain about the way in which he spent it. Escorted by a hundred dragoons, Barras left Paris that afternoon for one of his estates in the country. Untroubled by wars or any responsibility, he continued to enjoy every luxury during his many years of happy retirement.
The three signatures having been obtained to legalize the decrees of the Anciens, the next step was to persuade Gohier and Moulins to resign. But both flatly refused to do so. At the Luxembourg there was a royal rumpus, which ended in Bonaparte's hand being forced. The only certain way of preventing the two diehard revolutionaries from raising the mob against him was to arrest them, but in this Bonaparte showed admirable statecraft. He entrusted Moreau with the task of surrounding the Luxembourg with troops and confining the two Directors to their apartments, thus causing the popular veteran to commit himself fully to the conspiracy.
Meanwhile, at midday, the Five Hundred had assembled for a normal sitting in the Palais Bourbon. Lucien Bonaparte, as President, read out the decrees of the Anciens: that the two Chambers should remove to St. Cloud and General Bonaparte be given command of all troops in the Paris area. The majority of the members were taken completely by surprise but, before they had a chance to question the measures or make any protest, Lucien abruptly adjourned the session.
Now came the time of danger that Talleyrand had foreseen. The cat was out of the bag. No further legislation could be passed until the Chambers met at St. Cloud at midday the following day. That gave Bonaparte's enemies nearly twenty-four hours in which to concert measures against him.
In the evening, Bonaparte, Sieyes, Talleyrand and their principal supporters met to decide on the course of action to be taken next day. Their object was to abolish the Directory and appoint Provisional Consuls who would recast the Constitution. But what if the Five Hundred refused to pass such a decree? Lucien vouched for his ability to get the measure through, but Talleyrand said he felt certain that a majority would oppose it. He insisted that the only way to make sure of success was to send Real to ask Fouche to have the forty most violent Jacobin members arrested in the course of the night. But Bonaparte would not hear of it. He declared that such methods were those of the tyranny that had brought France to ruin, that he would lead a Government only if given a mandate to do so by the elected representatives of the People, and that such an act would be in flagrant contradiction to his principles—to restore true liberty and toleration. In consequence, the meeting broke up with nothing settled and the morrow left precariously on the knees of the gods.
At the same hour, in another part of Paris, Bernadotte had assembled the leading Jacobins and they were feverishly debating measures to wreck the coup d'etat. As a first step, it was agreed that the Five Hundred should pass a decree making Bernadotte joint Commander with Bonaparte of the Paris garrison. He would then be able to veto any move by Bonaparte to use troops, while the Deputies of the Left concerted plans to bring about his ruin.
Next morning there was a very clear indication that the responsible elements of the population favoured and hoped for the overthrow of the Directory, for the Three Per Cents went up several points. But that gave no practical support to the conspirators, as for the past eight years the moneyed classes had been at the mercy of the demagogues. It was, too, more than offset by the news that Santerre, the veteran leader of the sansculottes, was stirring up the mob in the Faubourg St. Antoine.
As the Palace of St. Cloud was not equipped for a meeting of the Legislature, time had had to be allowed for an army of carpenters to fit up benches in its two largest apartments. It was for this reason that the time for opening the proceedings could not be earlier than noon. But many of the Deputies, anxious to learn the latest rumours, arrived at eight o'clock. By midday, the Chambers were still not ready, so the opening had to be postponed until one o'clock.