Such is an outline of the constitution of 1799 (Year VIII.).  It was promulgated on December 15th, 1799, and was offered to the people for acceptance, in a proclamation which closed with the words:  “Citizens, the Revolution is confined to the principles which commenced it.  It is finished.”  The news of this last fact decided the enthusiastic acceptance of the constitution.  In a plebiscite, or mass vote of the people, held in the early days of 1800, it was accepted by an overwhelming majority, viz., by 3,011,007 as against only 1,562 negatives.  No fact so forcibly proves the failure of absolute democracy in France; and, whatever may be said of the methods of securing this national acclaim, it was, and must ever remain, the soundest of Bonaparte’s titles to power.  To a pedant who once inquired about his genealogy he significantly replied:  “It dates from Brumaire.”

Shortly before the plebiscite, Sieyes and Ducos resigned their temporary commissions as Consuls:  they were rewarded with seats in the Senate; and Sieyes, in consideration of his constitutional work, received the estate of Crosne from the nation.

  “Sieyes a Bonaparte a fait present du trone,
  Sous un pompeux debris croyant l’ensevelir. 
  Bonaparte a Sieyes a fait present de Crosne
    Pour le payer et l’avilir.”

The sting in the tail of Lebrun’s epigram struck home.  Sieyes’ acceptance of Crosne was, in fact, his acceptance of notice to quit public affairs, in which he had always moved with philosophic disdain.  He lived on to the year 1836 in dignified ease, surveying with Olympian calm the storms of French and Continental politics.

The two new Consuls were Cambaceres and Lebrun.  The former was known as a learned jurist and a tactful man.  He had voted for the death of Louis XVI., but his subsequent action had been that of a moderate, and his knowledge of legal affairs was likely to be of the highest service to Bonaparte, who intrusted him with a general oversight of legislation.  His tact was seen in his refusal to take up his abode in the Tuileries, lest, as he remarked to Lebrun, he might have to move out again soon.  The third Consul, Lebrun, was a moderate with leanings towards constitutional royalty.  He was to prove another useful satellite to Bonaparte, who intrusted him with the general oversight of finance and regarded him as a connecting link with the moderate royalists.  The chief secretary to the Consuls was Maret, a trusty political agent, who had striven for peace with England both in 1793 and in 1797.

As for the Ministers, they were now reinforced by Talleyrand, who took up that of Foreign Affairs, and by Berthier, who brought his powers of hard work to that of War, until he was succeeded for a time by Carnot.  Lucien Bonaparte, and later Chaptal, became Minister of the Interior, Gaudin controlled Finance, Forfait the Navy, and Fouche the Police.  The Council of State was organized in the following sections; that of War, which was presided over by General Brune:  Marine, by Admiral Gantheaume:  Finance, by Defermon:  Legislation, by Boulay de la Meurthe:  the Interior, by Roederer.