Startling Changes In The Political Complexion Of France Had Occurred
During The Absence Of The Expedition.
Citizen Bonaparte, who in May 1800
had concurred in the representations of the Institute that discovery in
southern regions
Would redound to the glory of the nation, had since
given rein to the conception that the glory of France meant, properly
interpreted, his own.* (* It was so from the beginning of his career as
Consul, according to M. Paul Brosses' interpretation of his character.
"Il est deja et sera de plus en plus convaincu que travailler a sa
grandeur, c'est travailler a la grandeur du pays." Consulat et Empire,
1907 page 27.) He meant to found a dynasty, and woe to those whom he
regarded as standing in his way. One of the first pieces of news that
those who landed from Le Geographe at Lorient on the 25th March would
hear, was that just four days before, the Duc d'Enghien, son of the Duc
de Bourbon, had been shot after an official examination so formal as to
be no better than a mockery, for his grave had actually been dug before
the inquiry commenced. When Peron and his companions reached Paris, they
would hear and read of debates among the representatives of the Republic,
mostly favourable to the establishment of a new hereditary Imperial
dignity; and they would be in good time to take an interest in the
plebiscite which, by a majority of nearly fourteen hundred to one,
approved the new constitution and enacted that "Napoleon Bonaparte, now
First Consul of the Republic, is Emperor of the French." They were, in
short, back soon enough to witness the process - it may well have
suggested to the naturalist a comparison with phenomena very familiar to
him - by which the Consular-chrysalis Bonaparte became the Emperor-moth
Napoleon.
It was, of course, a very busy year for those responsible to their
illustrious master for the administration of departments. With a great
naval war on hand, with plots frequently being formed or feared, with the
wheels and levers of diplomacy to watch and manipulate, with immense
changes in the machinery of Government going forward, and with the
obligation of satisfying the exacting demands of a chief who was often in
a rage, and always tremendously energetic, the ministers of France were
not likely to have much enthusiasm to spare for maps and charts, large
collections of dead birds, insects, beasts, fishes, butterflies, and
plants, specimens of rocks and quantities of shells.
It is likely enough that absorption in more insistent affairs rather than
a hostile feeling explains the reluctance of the French Government to
authorise the publication of an official history of the voyage when such
a project was first submitted. Freycinet and his colleagues learnt "with
astonishment" that the authorities were unfavourable. "It was," he wrote,
"as if the miseries that we had endured, and to which a great number of
our companions had fallen victims, could be regarded as forming a
legitimate ground of reproach against us." It is more reasonable to
suppose that pressure of other business prevented Napoleon's ministers
from devoting much consideration to the subject. Men who have endured
hazards and hardships, and who return home after a long absence expecting
to be welcomed with acclaim, are disposed to feel snubbed and sore when
they find people not inclined to pay much attention to them. Remembering
the banquets and the plaudits that marked the despatch of the expedition,
those of its members who expected a demonstration may well have been
chilled by the small amount of notice they received. But the public as
well as the official mood was conceivably due rather to intense
concentration upon national affairs, during a period of amazing
transition, than to the prejudice which Freycinet's ruffled pride
suggested. "It would be difficult to explain," he wrote, "how, during the
voyage, there could have been formed concerning the expedition an opinion
so unfavourable, that even before our return the decision was arrived at
not to give any publicity to our works. The reception that we met with on
arriving in France showed the effects of such an unjust and painful
prejudice."* (* Preface to the 1824 edition of the Voyage de
Decouvertes.)
When Le Naturaliste arrived at Havre in the previous year, the Moniteur*
(* 14th Messidor, Revolutionary Year 10. (July 3, 1803).) gave an account
of the very large collection of specimens that she brought, and spoke
cordially of the work; and in the following month* (* 27th Thermidor,
Revolutionary Year 11. (August 15).) Napoleon's organ published a long
sketch of the course of the voyage up to the King Island stage, from
particulars contained in despatches and supplied by Hamelin. The earlier
arrival of Le Naturaliste had the effect, also, of taking the edge off
public interest. This may be counted as one of the causes of the rather
frigid reception accorded to Le Geographe.
The only fact that lends any colour to Freycinet's supposition of
prejudice, is that the Moniteur article of 27th Thermidor suggested a
certain unsatisfactoriness about the charts sent home by Baudin. His
communications clearly led the Government to believe that he had made
important discoveries on the south coast of Australia, but unfortunately
the rough drawings accompanying his descriptions did not enable official
experts to form an accurate opinion. He mentioned the two large gulfs,
but furnished no chart of them.* (* "Cette decouverte [i.e. of the gulfs]
du Capitaine Baudin est tres interessante en ce qu'elle completera la
reconnaissance de la cote sud de la Nouvelle Hollande qui est due
entierement a la France. On ne peut pas encore juger du degre
d'exactitude avec laquelle elle a ete faite, parce que le citoyen Baudin
n'a envoye qu'une partie de la carte qu'il en a dressee, et que cette
carte meme n'est qu'une premiere esquisse. Il y a jointe une carte qui
marque seulement sa route, avec les sondes le long de toute cette cote,
et il promet d'envoyer l'autre partie de la cote par la premiere occasion
qu'il trouvera." Moniteur, 27th Thermidor, Revolutionary Year 11.) The
reason for that was, of course, that at the time when Le Naturaliste left
for France Baudin had not penetrated the gulfs, and could have had no
representation of them to submit.
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