Nevertheless, they were only the more impatient to be released from
the responsibility that weighed upon them; and they were in every way
desirous of knowing what measures the new government was likely to
take. When it was known to these soldiers that General Bonaparte was
appointed First Consul of the Republic their joy was great; they saw,
for the first time, one of their own profession called to the
management of the nation. France, which had made an idol of this young
hero, quivered with hope. The vigor and energy of the nation revived.
Paris, weary of its long gloom, gave itself up to fetes and pleasures
of which it had been so long deprived. The first acts of the Consulate
did not diminish any hopes, and Liberty felt no alarm. The First
Consul issued a proclamation to the inhabitants of the West. The
eloquent allocutions addressed to the masses which Bonaparte had, as
it were, invented, produced effects in those days of patriotism and
miracle that were absolutely startling. His voice echoed through the
world like the voice of a prophet, for none of his proclamations had,
as yet, been belied by defeat.
INHABITANTS:
An impious war again inflames the West.
The makers of these troubles are traitors sold to the English, or
brigands who seek in civil war opportunity and license for
misdeeds.
To such men the government owes no forbearance, nor any
declaration of its principles.
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