The First Consul soon showed that he intended to adopt a non-partisan and thoroughly national policy.  That had been, it is true, the aim of the Directors in their policy of balance and repression of extreme parties on both sides.  For the reasons above indicated, they had failed:  but now a stronger and more tactful grasp was to succeed in a feat which naturally became easier every year that removed the passions of the revolutionary epoch further into the distance.  Men cannot for ever perorate, and agitate and plot.  A time infallibly comes when an able leader can successfully appeal to their saner instincts:  and that hour had now struck.  Bonaparte’s appeal was made to the many, who cared not for politics, provided that they themselves were left in security and comfort:  it was urged quietly, persistently, and with the reserve power of a mighty prestige and of overwhelming military force.  Throughout the whole of the Consulate, a policy of moderation, which is too often taken for weakness, was strenuously carried through by the strongest man and the greatest warrior of the age.

The truly national character of his rule was seen in many ways.  He excluded from high office men who were notorious regicides, excepting a few who, like Fouche, were too clever to be dispensed with.  The constitutionals of 1791 and even declared royalists were welcomed back to France, and many of the Fructidorian exiles also returned.[134] The list of emigres was closed, so that neither political hatred nor private greed could misrepresent a journey as an act of political emigration.  Equally generous and prudent was the treatment of Roman Catholics.  Toleration was now extended to orthodox or non-juring priests, who were required merely to promise allegiance to the new constitution.  By this act of timely clemency, orthodox priests were allowed to return to France, and they were even suffered to officiate in places where no opposition was thereby aroused.

While thus removing one of the chief grievances of the Norman, Breton and Vendean peasants, who had risen as much for their religion as for their king, he determined to crush their revolts.  The north-west, and indeed parts of the south of France, were still simmering with rebellions and brigandage.  In Normandy a daring and able leader named Frotte headed a considerable band of malcontents, and still more formidable were the Breton “Chouans” that followed the peasant leader Georges Cadoudal.  This man was a born leader.  Though but thirty years of age, his fierce courage had long marked him out as the first fighter of his race and creed.  His features bespoke a bold, hearty spirit, and his massive frame defied fatigue and hardship.  He struggled on; and in the autumn of 1799 fortune seemed about to favour the “whites”:  the revolt was spreading; and had a Bourbon prince landed in Brittany before Bonaparte returned from Egypt, the royalists might quite possibly have overthrown the Directory.