Understanding Napoleon
“You must not think I will let myself be attacked like Louis XVI. I will not allow it.”
After narrowly escaping a couple of assassination plots against him during his time as First Consul, Napoleon severely cracked upon the suspects, some of whom were Jacobins. But he didn’t just stop there. Deducting that the Jacobins would likely always pose a threat to him due to their radical nature and intolerant attitude, as well as their excellent organizational skills and experience with power, he thought that they were too dangerous to be left alone and went after them. While he did nothing so savage as lining them up and sending them to the guillotine, he did arrest and deport people. When asserted that their links to the plots could not be conclusively proven, Napoleon answered that they were being punished for their conduct during the revolution. It was clear that Napoleon did not intend to suffer the same fate as his Bourbon and Jacobin predecessors, and was willing to use even unjust methods to avert such threats, and keep the government, and by extension the nation, in a state of stability.
Nonetheless, it is ironic that Napoleon, who was himself under arrest for being a Jacobin only a few years before, with a real danger to his life, was now arresting and deporting his fellow Jacobins comrades. It could be argued that he had left his revolutionary past behind and adapted to power, and much like most authority figures had developed an intolerance towards revolutionary and chaotic behavior, but his dislike towards such behavior could be traced long back. Even during the early days of the revolution, Napoleon was highly critical of certain aspects of it, particularly how the king and the queen had been treated by the revolutionaries, and the way in which the royal guard handled the rebellion.
Thus, it is clear that regardless of his ideologies and current loyalties, Napoleon was opposed to chaos and disorder, and only wished for things to be done in an orderly manner. This attitude is also on display during the notorious incident of “The Whiff of Grapeshot”, where as commander of the army of the interior, Napoleon fired lethal canister shots upon a crowd of royalist rebels to quickly disperse them and bring the situation under control in a quick, albeit brutal manner.
Interestingly enough, this love of order extends far beyond dealing with rebels and conspirators. It can also be seen in his methodical battle plans which he prepared with meticulous attention to detail and various variables, as well as in the meetings of the conseil d’etat, where he evaluated and compiled various expert opinions of the members on topics often unfamiliar to him, to form laws in the interest of the nation, something which requires an extraordinarily orderly and clear mind.