THE MEMOIRS OF THIBAUDEAU.*

THIS is the first English translation of a book little known, as a whole, in England, though the author's works have been

of necessity among the chief authorities consulted by writers on the Convention, the Directory, and the Consulate. The present book, Ifemoires sur le Consulat, 1799 d 1804; Par un ancien Conseiller d'Stat, was first published in Paris in 1827; and has never been reproduced, except in a contemporary German translation. The same may be said of Memoires sur la Convention et le Direetaire, published in Paris in 1824. This first book appeared with the author's name, but, as Dr. Fortescue says, " gave great offence to the French Ministry " ; the consequence of which was that Thibaudeau banished himself as far as possible from his second book. In it he appears as "N.," or as the " Councillor of State" on the title- page. It is good news that Dr. Fortescue is Preparing a translation of the earlier Memoirs, in souse ways perhaps the more interesting, the original editions of both being difficult to obtain.

Thibaudeau was a regicide. The clever Poitevin lawyer was elected to the National Convention in 1792, and was one of those who voted for the death of Louis XVI., not because be was convinced of the justice of such a judgment—for, as Dr. Fortescue says, there was not . enough evidence against the King " to hang a dog "—but because be and others- Cambaceres, among them—were in " deadly terror," and saw

no other way of "saving their own necks." It should never be forgotten that a few courageous men could have saved the King's life, for he was condemned by a very small majority. Dr. Fortescue, in the brilliant introduction which is not the

least interesting part of this volume, expresses a strong view on this subject :—

" The condemnation of the King was due, in my opinion, to one cause only, the Decree ordering the 'Appel nominal,' which required each member in turn to mount the Tribune and there publicly declare his opinion and give his vote. Had the voting been by ballot, I do not for a moment believe that even a doubtful majority of five could have been found to vote for his death."

The Mountain was in a minority, but it ruled by terror,— " terror of desperate colleagues ; terror of the mobs outside and inside the Convention ; terror evoked by the memory of the' recent massacres by the Jacobin Club; by the wild commune of Paris." And Thibaudeau was far from being the only decent and reasonable man thus induced, against his own right judgment, to take part in what he himself called " the most tragic event of the Revolution."

He afterwards found courage to risk his life by refusing to join the Jacobin Club, and kept cautiously in the backgrOund till after the death of Robespierre. He then came forward again in the Convention, but played no very prominent part

under the Directory. In 1800 he became a member of the Legislative Committee in the Council of State, and during the few following years was on the intimate terms with Napoleon of which we have the result in his Memoires sur is Consulat. In these" Memoirs, excellently translated by' Mr. Fortescue, Thibaudeau reports his many conversations with Napoleon on the laws and Constitution of that renewed France which was, after all, the First Consul's chief title to honour. And certainly no one can read these Memoirs without great

admiration. They represent " Bonaparte at -his best," and show that extraordinary genius on the wise, just, practical,

and truly patriotic side, which afterwards disappeared so entirely and fatally. Dr. Fortescue's explanation of the First Consul's marvellous success is so clear and convincing that we cannot resist quoting it :—

" If the question were asked, Why the ReVolution failed to establish itself as a democratic republic ? I think that most students of its history would reply that its failure was mainly due

• Bonaparte and the Consulate. By A. C. Tbibaudeau. Translated and Edited by G. B. Forteseue, LL.D. With 12 Illustrations. London: Methuen and Co. [10s. rid. net.] •

to the incurable fanaticism and folly with which the Revolu- tionists persisted in eliminating from their ranks, and persecuting to death or exile, not individuals only, but entire classes of .their fellow-countrymen The method of the Revolutionists, from first to last, was to fix upon one class after another; to deprive each in turn of its privileges, rights, and property ; to revile and degrade it until it necessarily represented a foe to the Revolution itself, and then, whether the persecuted class rose against its persecutors or not, declare it to be a public enemy and proceed to exterminate it. Thus almost every class of the community was successively attacked,—the Royal Family ; the Ministries (not the individual Ministers, but one Ministry after another) ; the Noblesse ; the Corps of military and naval officers ; the Clergy ; the Parlements ; the Farmers General, and .all the financial agents of the old regime ; the ex-members of the Con- stituent Assembly ; all those Sections of Paris which had signed petitions in favour of the Constitution of 1791; the corporations and guilds; the tradesmen who supplied Paris with food; and lastly, under the Law of the Suspects, all who had not taken an active part in the Revolution, and all who could not obtain c"rtificates of civism. Bonaparte's method was the exact reverse of all this. Against individuals he could be harsh enough, but he absolutely repudiated the idea that an entire class could be irreconcilable to the Republic; he would not even consent to divide France into classes. He dealt as far as it was possible with the individual; Priest, Noble, Terrorist, or Regicide, the only question Bonaparte asked was : is he loyal to France and to my Government? To this, more than to any other single cause, I attribute that marvellous regeneration of France, moral, intel- lectual, commercial, and social, which marked the four golden years of the Consulate."

Thus Bonaparte,•with faults and even crimes, was the natural leader of those who wished both to save the Republic and to make a second Reign of Terror impossible. All this is plainly to be seen in the Memoirs of Thibaudeau.

He was not the man to welcome an Emperor, or to bd blinded by militarism ; but personal friendship kept bins loyal to Napoleon, who got rid of his political opposition—he voted against the Concordat and several other favourite schemes—by appointing him Prefect of the Bouches-du-. Rhone. He was exiled after the Restoration, and always refused to follow the example of other regicides by applying for a pardon. He returned to France in 1830, and accepted a pension from Louis Philippe; the Monarchy of July apparently satisfied his ideas of Constitutional government. As a very old man, his political principles seem to have become less uncompromising, for be was one of Napoleon M.'s first Senators. It is curious to note, too, that he died a Grand Officer of the Legion of Honour, the creation of which Order he bad originally opposed.

Although, of course, not the hero of Mgmoires sur is Consulat, in which be takes an almost anonymous part, Thibaudeau is quite interesting enough in himself to make us look forward to his more personal and more exciting adventures under the shadow of the Revolution.