Council of Five Hundred

• 1. Introduction

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  Boissy d'Anglas called the Council of Five Hundred "the imagination of the Republic" when he helped frame the constitution that created it in 1795. The council opened on the 31st of October that year. On the 9th of November 1799, it was abolished by force. In four years, the assembly had survived royalist attacks, fraudulent elections, and internal purges. It did not survive the autumn of 1799. The question of how it came to that end runs through elections, exiles, and the ambitions of one military family.

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• 2. Built on Restrictions

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  The Constitution of Year III was put to a referendum on the 24th of September 1795, and the council it created was governed by strict eligibility rules. Elections for the first deputies ran from the 12th to the 21st of October 1795, just days before the assembly opened. Every deputy had to be at least thirty years old, meet residency requirements, and pay taxes.

  Only citizens whose property generated income equal to 150 days of work could cast a ballot. To shield legislators from street pressure, particularly from the Parisian sans-culottes, the constitution allowed the council to meet behind closed doors. A third of its members would be replaced each year. Beyond legislating, the council proposed a slate of candidates from which the Council of Ancients selected five Directors; those five jointly held executive power.

  The Council of Five Hundred wore its own official uniform: robes, a cape, and a hat. The Council of Ancients and the Directors each maintained their own distinct dress as well. The council had been open barely a year and a half when the elections of April 1797 would put its stability to a violent test.

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• 3. The Royalist Crisis

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  The elections of April 1797 were disrupted by irregularities and suffered from very low turnout. The outcome was a strong showing for royalist tendencies inside the council. Some of the new deputies formed the Club de Clichy. The council's new president was Jean-Charles Pichegru, who was widely believed to favor a monarchist restoration.

  Napoleon Bonaparte provided the Directors with evidence of Pichegru's activities. The Directors then accused the entire council of plotting against the Revolution and moved swiftly against it. Elections were annulled and royalists arrested in what became known as the Coup of 18 Fructidor. General Lazare Hoche, commanding the Army of Sambre-et-Meuse, arrived in the capital with his troops. Napoleon sent a further force under Pierre Augereau.

  Fifty-three deputies were exiled to Cayenne in French Guiana. Since death from tropical disease was considered probable, this punishment acquired a name: the dry guillotine. Forty-two opposition newspapers were shut down. The chambers were purged and portions of the election results were voided. The elections of 1798 would make the pattern plain.

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• 4. Manipulation and Brumaire

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  April 1798 brought a heavily manipulated round of elections. On the 8th of May, the council passed a law preventing 106 recently elected deputies from taking their seats. All had been elected on left-wing platforms. In 48 departments, the election results were annulled outright.

  On the 18th of June 1799, the Council of Five Hundred and the Council of Ancients together forced three Directors from office. Merlin de Douai, La Révellière-Lépeaux, and Treilhard were removed; all had been seen as hostile to Jacobin interests. This episode was called the Coup of 30 Prairial VII. Only months later, Napoleon's own brother would hold the council's highest office.

  In October 1799, Napoleon's brother Lucien Bonaparte was appointed President of the Council of Five Hundred. Weeks later, in the coup of 18 Brumaire, Napoleon led grenadiers who drove the deputies from their chambers. He was installed as First Consul. With the council went the Council of Ancients and the Directory, all abolished together. Lucien's brief presidency was the last the assembly would ever hold.

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