6 In the early years of the Consulate, many royalists hoped that Bonaparte would fulfill the role played by General Monck in England in 1660, leading the military to restore the monarchy. They were quickly disabused.
The Red and the Black
The prime minister had barely walked out of the room, when Bonaparte's former general closed his eyes. Then he talked about his health, his wounds, looked at his watch, and went away. "I would wager," said the triple-vested man, "that our general is running after the prime minister. He'll be excusing himself for having been found here, and claiming he can pull us this way and that." When the half-asleep servants had finished with the candles: "Let us now consult, gentlemen," said the chairman, "without further attempts at persuading one another. Let us turn to that note which, forty-eight hours from now, will be read by our foreign friends. We've talked about government ministers. We can now say that Monsieur de Nerval has broken with us—and what do ministers matter? We'll do with them as we will." With a delicate smile, the cardinal agreed. "There is nothing easier, it strikes me, than to sum up our position," said the young Bishop of Agde, with the intensely focused, passionate compulsion of the most exalted fanaticism. He had been silent, until now. His eyes, Julien had noted, were at first mild and calm; they had been aflame ever since the discussion's first hour. By this point, his soul was bubbling over like lava at Vesuvius. "From 1806 to 1814, England made only one mistake," he said, "which was not to act directly and personally against Napoleon. Once that man created dukes and high court officers, once he'd reestablished the throne, the mission God had entrusted to him was done. He was good for nothing but the flames. The Holy Scriptures teach us, in many ways, how to do away with tyrants." (Here there were several quotations in Latin.) "Today, gentlemen, it's not a man we need to burn, but Paris. France follows Paris in everything. What good will it do to arm your five hundred men, in every administrative department? That's a risky task, and it will be endless. Why entangle France in a matter which depends entirely on Paris? Paris alone, with its newspapers and its drawing rooms, has created the evil. Let this modern Babylon perish. "Let us be done, at last, with the question of Paris or the Church. This immense destruction would actually serve the worldly interests of the throne. Why did Paris never emit so much as a puff, under Bonaparte? Go ask the artillerymen of Saint-Roch..."7 Only at three in the morning did Julien leave, with Monsieur de La Mole. The marquis was ashamed and weary. For the first time, in speaking to Julien, there was something like entreaty in his voice. He asked that Julien give him his word, never to reveal the excessive zeal—if that was the correct word—which, by chance, he had witnessed. "Only