18 Brumaire Year VIII

Today the powerful Napoleon has taken over our government and I believe that we can all finally rest easy.  He is one of us and wants to make changes to the government that finally give us more of a say and with his military prowess, he is perfect for the defense of our borders and the expansion of our beautiful France.  I have new hope that the revolution has finally become successful in its desired gains, though I regret the people that had to die to reach this point in time.  I have had a feeling since Napoleon stepped into the light and proved his military talent that he was going to go far and I am honestly not surprised that he would be at the head of this coup that has gotten rid of the Directory.  It couldn’t have come at a better time either, with the Directory having some issues with spaces open for new members and a hesitation with Jacobins as well as the Council of Five Hundred’s resistance and unwillingness to work with the members of the Directory.  Two parts of our government have been constantly at odds and now it seems as though we may finally get the chance to have an actual government that isn’t at odds with itself, failing to get things done for its people.  Apparently the two Councils are not concerned with the coup happing among the five members of the Directory, orchestrated by Napoleon and two of his allies, and they are continuing their meetings today.  I doubt that they will last much longer and I hope that their dismemberment takes affect quickly and without violence so that we can have a real ruler leading our government that will be able to make the changes that need to be made in order to France to retain its glory.  I know that the monarchy in England is laughing at us right now and I would honestly rather them sit in fear of us, but before we make advances outside of our country, we must first work to fix our economic problems; especially in terms of the Church that has been robbed by the State and with the lack of food in the countryside.  This revolution was started for equality and the only equality that has so far been reached is that the guillotine did not care the social standing of the head which it was swiftly removing from a body.

30 Prairial Year VII

And yet again our government isn’t happy with some of the people at the head, I’m starting to notice a trend and my prayers are that this trend does not continue into the next phase; the rolling of heads.  But, to bring you up to the current times, as I know I have a little more insight into our government than many and I have the ability to know of new events as they happen; today Director Jean-Baptiste Treilhard was removed from his position in the Directory.  I guess the Council of Five Hundred wasn’t happy that a former Jacobin was in such a high position in our newest form of government and so declared that his election was illegal and he was replaced this morning with Louis Gohier.  But, it sounds as though they were not happy with just this one removal and wanted to remove two others, which was not formally done, but both men did officially just resign.  I’m assuming because of fear and that is what worries me.  It seems as though we keep repeating the same circle of events over and over again in these last few years.  We are constantly unhappy with our government and it seems as though what little headway we make just ends up going wrong and someone comes up who changes things again and introduces new reforms that then make the people angry and we have a vicious cycle of heads rolling and people being thrown into jail, most of whom are innocent of any crime other than existing or having a certain job or opinion.  We wanted to recreate our government so that we could have more say and be able to make reforms that would help the majority of us that are starving and dying in the streets.  I am lucky to have been born into my status of wealth, even though it has threatened my life in recent years, and I know that most of my fellow Frenchmen are not as lucky as I am.  That is why we wanted change, so that we could be more equal and be proud to be French.  But we are failing at making lasting change in our everyday world, it feels as though the wrong people are in power of our government, they can’t make up their own minds about what should be done and the changes that we wanted aren’t taking effect at all it seems.  The economy is still plummeting and people are still starving.  And where in the world is our freedom?  

22 Floréal Year VI

I don’t know how to feel about the events today, other than that it feels as though a much needed purge has taken place in the French government, if you are not yet aware, which I forget that many of you most likely are not because the number of people with wealth and brothers involved in politics is probably very small; today a law was passed that removed 106 left-wing deputies from the Council of Five Hundred.  I personally think that this is a good thing, we are growing and expanding as a nation and we need the room to be able to make changes to our government without conflicting policies.  I have been told that the great leader George Washington has been warning his people against the creation of different political groups and I completely agree.  How can our government get anything done if we are always at odds with each other?  I say we like I am involved in this even though I don’t have any sort of involvement with our government, other than letters with my brother, but it is an extension of us and our wants and needs as a people.  The events of today may not be looked at as essential, or even looked back on at all, in the future, but they are just as important.  Today changes were made to our government that were small, but I believe will have a bigger impact than anticipated.  There is now the hope that our government will be more unified and work as a whole instead of separate, distinct parts.  That was the true problem with the monarchy, there was no working with the other parts of the government, the king wasn’t the only person making laws, but he ignored this and ignored the other governmental officials that should have been able to have a say.  Maybe if King Louis had been more focused on unifying his government instead of keeping all of the power and glory to himself he would be sitting on his throne with his wife and children by his side, still ruling the strong country that is France.  Today we take another step in moving towards the unification of the government and a much needed balance that will keep us strong.

27 Vendémiaire Year VI

Today is yet another beautiful day for France and it is all thanks to the wonderful Napoleon.  I was finally able to meet him the other day and I have to say that I was astounded, he carries himself with such poise and you can see the power radiating from him, I am surprised that he does not already run France.  I know that we are supposed to be democratic and free now, but if there was ever someone who was meant to lead I would say that Napoleon is that person.  He has done so much for France, but today he did even more.  Today is the day that a treaty has been signed between Austrian’s monarchy and France, signed for France by Napoleon and Count Philipp von Cobenzl.  I don’t know much about the Count, other than that he is a family friend of my brother’s wife’s family, but I still salute him all the same.  Thanks to the treaty that was signed today, France has finally seen an expansion of its borders.  This bodes so well for us, we can hopefully now spread the idea of freedom and natural rights to more people.  I know that the way has been hard and there are still moments when I fear for my life and the lives of my brother and his family, but I do not think we were wrong as a people for overthrowing our King.  He did not respect us or care about our well being and I know this is an opinion that I am not supposed to have as my entire social status was ripped away the moment that he was removed from the throne and ultimately lost his head, but I do feel that it was good in the long run.  Without him we wouldn’t know what freedom was or why we wanted it and I think that message should be given the chance to spread to other nations, to England and Spain and all others that still have their monarchies.  But, for today our win as France is gaining land from Austria and reaching a moment of peace between us, Austria, and the Roman Empire that is still just barely holding on.  I am glad to say that I am a Frenchman in this time and I can’t wait to see what it is that Napoleon does next for France.  I hope we go further and don’t look back, we are France and we should be able to show others that we are not to be toyed with.  Napoleon is the first good thing to happen to us since our King lost his head.

18 Fructidor Year V

Today marks the beginning of a new government for us Frenchmen and I’m interested to see how it turns out.  A part of me is honestly glad, both because this could be my brother’s chance to finally get a position in the government and because change is sometimes good and our government wasn’t really working out.  There was still too much focus on violence and it seemed most of the time like too many people were trying to overthrow it, which made me fear a potential second revolution.  I’m lucky, as a man with my status, that I’ve lived this far, especially with my brother working so hard to insert himself into government. There have been times in the last few years where I’ve jumped whenever there was a knock at the door, fearing that it was someone who had come to take me away to an unjust trial where I am accused of being a traitor, solely because my little brother has passion for government and is always spending his time with interesting people that may or may not end up getting on the wrong side of the nation and losing their heads.  But, I digress; today our government will begin to change and most of it is thanks to Napoleon, the young general who I’ve mentioned in the past and feel as though he will do great things for our nation, for our France.  Today he aided the members of our new government, called the Directory, in their coup of the government and arrest of the dreaded Royalists.  I don’t like to present my political views as much with this writing hobby of mine, though I don’t do much else as my money has given me a good padding and opportunity to do little in life that is geared towards work.  My brother is the ambitious one who wants nothing more than to actually make a mark on history, though I’m honestly not sure that he will.  Tangent aside, I don’t present my political views for fear of another period of terror and heads rolling through the streets of Paris, but I do not side with the Royalists.  They are too conservative, I fear that they will want to bring back the monarchy and that will not end well.  I am glad that on this day I was alive to see a new government instituted in France and I can’t wait to see what this Napoleon will do.  I do hope to be able to meet him someday soon.