English Caricature and Satire on Napoleon I. Volume 1 (of 2)Ashton, John
History
English Caricature and Satire on Napoleon I. Volume 1 (of 2)
Ashton, John
Napoleon I, Emperor of the French, 1769-1821 -- Caricatures and cartoons
Gillray, of course (November 21, 1799), touched on it, but not very
effectively, his picture ‘Exit Libertè a la Francais!--or--Buonaparte
closing the Farce of Égalité, at Saint Cloud, near Paris, November 10,
1799,’ being the weakest caricature of any on this subject. Napoleon is
directing his troops, who are charging the Council with fixed bayonets.
The Council met again at night, but simply to do as they were bid.
Thorne, the grenadier with the torn coat, was decreed to have deserved
well of his country, as were also Napoleon, Lefebvre, Murat, Berthier,
and many others. Sixty-one members of the Council were expelled, and
Article two of the Resolution, passed that night, says,--
‘The Legislative Body creates provisionally an Executive Consular
Committee, composed of Citizens Syeyes and Roger Ducos, Ex-Directors,
and Buonaparte, General. They shall bear the name of Consuls of the
French Republic.’
CHAPTER XIX.
NAPOLEON TAKES THE LEAD--SIÈYES AND DUCOS ARE DEPOSED--CAMBACÉRÈS
AND LEBRUN NAMED SECOND AND THIRD CONSULS--NAPOLEON’S LETTER TO
GEORGE THE THIRD--REPLY TO SAME.
Napoleon had now got his foot fairly on the ladder, but it was he
alone who was to mount it. At the first meeting of the Consuls, Sièyes
asked, ‘Which of us is to preside?’ Ducos had grasped the position, and
replied, ‘Do you not see that the General presides?’
There is a caricature by Cawse (November 30, 1799) of ‘Satan’s
return from Egypt/Earth. Discovered in Council with
Belzebub and Belial--a Sketch after Fuseli[53]!!!’ Here Napoleon
forms the centre figure, one foot resting on a skull, the other on
the Marseillaise hymn and the Council of Five Hundred. Behind him is
a glory, with a trinity formed of three daggers--Sièyes, Ducos, and
Buonaparte. Devils surround him, and, at his feet, is a howling French
mob.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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