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As she turned round, Madame Gohier came face to face with General Moulins. He, for his character was naturally impetuous, seemed furious. "Pardon me, citizeness," he said. Then, rushing into Gohier's study, he cried: "Do you know what has happened, president?" "No, but I have my suspicions."
Madame Bonaparte, who was dining with M. Gohier when that despatch was communicated to him, as president of the Directory, immediately set off to meet her husband, well knowing how important it was that her first interview with him should not be anticipated by his brothers.
I was told that Sieyes had for a moment thought of calling the Duke of Brunswick to the head of the Government; that Barras would not have been very averse to favouring the return of the Bourbons; and that Moulins, Roger Ducos, and Gohier alone believed or affected to believe, in the possibility of preserving the existing form of government.
"If the Directory judges it advisable to issue any orders, it will be to men whom it esteems worthy of its confidence. You may return to those who sent you," he added, turning his back upon the minister. Fouche went, and Gohier immediately rang his bell. An usher entered. "Go to Barras, Sieyes, Ducos, and Moulins, and request them to come to me at once. Ah!
"Oh, ho!" said Gohier, when he saw him. "What has happened now, monsieur le ministre, to give me the pleasure of seeing you so early?" "Don't you know about the decree?" asked Fouche. "What decree?" asked honest Gohier. "The decree of the Council of the Ancients." "When was it issued?" "Last night." "So the Council of the Ancients assembles at night now?" "When matters are urgent, yes."
None the less the Directory was doomed; for the two defenders of the institution had not the necessary quorum for giving effect to their decrees. Moulin thereupon escaped, and Gohier was kept under guard by Moreau's soldiery!
This was not, indeed, the only instance in which M. Collot had cause to complain of Bonaparte, who was never inclined to acknowledge his important services, nor even to render justice to his conduct. On the morning of the 20th Brumaire Bonaparte sent his brother Louis to inform the Director Gohier that he was free.
I believe Josephine communicated directly with the President of the Directory through a friend of Madame Gohier's. Gohier and Moulins, no longer depending on Sieyes and Roger Ducos, waited for their colleague, Barras, in the hall of the Directory, to adopt some measure on the decree for removing the Councils to St. Cloud.
"Then admit them and let them give it," retorted Bonaparte. Moulins and Gohier entered. They were pale but calm. They knew they came to force a struggle, but behind their resistance may have loomed the Sinnamary. The exiles they sent there the 18th of Fructidor pointed the way.
"The inevitable is at hand, Madame Gohier," says Josephine in effect, "and at this very moment Barras is being pressed to resign, and if he disobeys his fate is sealed." Madame Gohier is aghast, stiffens her back, and with as much dignity as her nature will allow, she bows, withdraws, and hastens to the side of her husband, to convey all she has seen and heard.
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