or comment.  It was not so with the address of the Tribunate.  After the compliments which the occasion demanded, a series of hopes were expressed for the future, which formed a curious contrast with the events which actually ensued.  The Tribunate, said the address, required no guarantee, because Bonaparte’s elevated and generous sentiments would never permit him to depart from those principles which brought about the Revolution and founded the Republic;—­he loved real glory too well ever to stain that which he had acquired by the abuse of power;—­the nation which he was called to govern was free and generous he would respect and consolidate her liberty; he would distinguish his real friends, who spoke truth to him, from flatterers who might seek to deceive him.  In short, Bonaparte would surround himself with the men who, having made the Revolution, were interested in supporting it.

To these and many other fine things the Consul replied, “This testimony of the affection of the Tribunate is gratifying to the Government.  The union of all bodies of the State is a guarantee of the stability and happiness of the nation.  The efforts of the Government will be constantly directed to the interests of the people, from whom all power is derived, and whose welfare all good men have at heart.”

So much for the artifice of governments and the credulity of subjects!  It is certain that, from the moment Bonaparte gained his point in submitting the question of the Consulate for life to the decision of the people, there was no longer a doubt of the result being in his favour.  This was evident, not only on account of the influential means which a government always has at its command, and of which its agents extend the ramifications from the centre to the extremities, but because the proposition was in accordance with the wishes of the majority.  The Republicans were rather shy in avowing principles with which people were now disenchanted;—­the partisans of a monarchy without distinction of family saw their hopes almost realised in the Consulate for life; the recollection of the Bourbons still lived in some hearts faithful to misfortune but the great mass were for the First Consul, and his external acts in the new step he had taken towards the throne had been so cautiously disguised as to induce a belief in his sincerity.  If I and a few others were witness to his accomplished artifice and secret ambition, France beheld only his glory, and gratefully enjoyed the blessings of peace which he had obtained for her.  The suffrages of the people speedily realised the hopes of the First Consul, and thus was founded the consulate for life.

CHAPTER XIV

1802-1803.