not, would be satisfied with the control of the armies and military
establishments of the Republic. But they reckoned without their host.
Next day the three consuls met in Paris; and a lengthened discussion
arose touching the internal condition and foreign relations of France,
and the measures not only of war, but of finance and diplomacy, to be
resorted to. To the astonishment of Sieyes, Napoleon entered readily and
largely upon such topics, showed perfect familiarity with them in their
minutest details, and suggested resolutions which it was impossible not
to approve. "Gentlemen," said the Abbe, on reaching his own house, where
Talleyrand and the others expected him--and it is easy so imagine the
sensations with which Sieyes spoke the words, and Talleyrand heard
them--"Gentlemen, I perceive that you have got a master. Buonaparte can
do, and will do, everything himself. But" (he added, after a pause) "it
is better to submit than to protract dissension for ever."

Buonaparte sent word next morning to _Gohier_ and _Moulins_ that they
were at liberty. These ex-Directors were in haste to seclude themselves
from public view; and the new ruler took possession the same evening of
the Palace of the Luxembourg.

[Footnote 31: Crabbe.]

CHAPTER XIV

The Provisional Consulate--Reforms in France--Pacification of the
Chouans--Constitution of the year VIII.--Buonaparte Chief Consul.

The upper population of Paris had watched the stormy days of the 18th
and 19th Brumaire with the most anxious fears, lest the end should be
anarchy and the re-establishment of the reign of terror. Such, in all
likelihood, must have been the result, had Buonaparte failed, after once
attempting to strike his blow. His success held out the prospect of
victory abroad, and of a firm and stable government at home, under which
life and property might exist in safety; and wearied utterly with so
many revolutions and constitutions, each in turn pretending everything,
and ending in nothing but confusion, the immense majority of the nation
were well prepared to consider any government as a blessing which seemed
to rest on a solid basis, and to bid fair for endurance. The
revolutionary fever had in most bosoms spent its strength ere now; and
Buonaparte found henceforth little opposition to any of his measures,
unless in cases where the substantial personal comforts of men--not
abstract theories or dogmas--nor even political rights of unquesti