He Became Napoleon’S Genius Son [EN]: Chapter 45

(44) The Committee of Public Safety is the Supreme Authority in France

The more numbers, the more the source of power, and the fewer, the more it indicates the core of power.

782 members of the National Convention, 361 who approved the King’s execution, 120 members of the Committee of General Security.

But still, it’s too many.

To guide France, lead Paris, and encourage the Revolutionary Army to repel foreign enemies, it must be done by a small number of special individuals.

12 people.

The core of the French power elite, leading the National Convention: The Committee of Public Safety.

Danton believes that position is rightfully his.

Since the beginning of the revolution, hasn’t Danton himself been the one leading the changes of the era?

Therefore, it is only natural for a prominent financier to come to Danton with a request.

“Ah, please take care of it, Deputy,” the man pleaded. “You know, Pondicherry [a French colony in India] has fallen to the British.”

At 63 years old, an age when death was not unusual in this era, Guillaume de Sabatier, the owner of Maison Sabatier, the oldest bank in the South, was begging Danton, who was only 34.

He was also currently the largest shareholder of the French East India Company.

The French East India Company was in crisis because France’s largest port in India, Pondicherry, had been occupied by the British Empire.

The French East India trade, which had been precarious since the Seven Years’ War [a global conflict from 1756 to 1763], had suffered a fatal blow.

Danton, acting haughtily, retorted to Sabatier.

“So, is there anyone who doesn’t know that the East India Company is in trouble? Well, the revolutionary government doesn’t have the resources to send a navy to India, Chairman Guillaume Sabatier.”

“I’m not asking for the navy to be sent. I’m just asking that the government not force bankruptcy. The East India trade still has plenty of potential!”

“I have ears. I heard it from Goulade. You still have hundreds of ships, and there are ports remaining on our side. But…”

Jacques Alexandre de Goulade, a director of the East India Company and a major shipowner with huge ships, had even sent a 400-ton ship as support during the American Revolutionary War.

However, with the New World trade not going smoothly, Goulade was also experiencing difficulties.

With the East India Company also taking a hit in this situation, they were on the verge of bankruptcy.

Danton shook his head with a strange smile.

“Don’t you know that the East India Company is a product of the old royal family? You’re forgetting the most important thing, Sabatier.”

Originally, it was Louis XIV who authorized the establishment of the East India Company.

However, the East India Company also boasted France’s largest capital and profits.

Therefore, the revolutionary government had never really liked the East India Company, which symbolized the power of the old royal family.

But with Pondicherry being occupied, the East India Company had fallen into a liquidity crisis.

It was the perfect opportunity to force bankruptcy.

However, the powerful Danton did not give an outright refusal, because something was coming soon.

The skillful banker, Sabatier, who had been subtly watching, slipped out an envelope.

“If you just prevent the bankruptcy, we will proceed generously.”

“What is this?”

“It’s a gold certificate issued by Mallet Bank. You know? Guillaume Mallet, the grandson of the famous Isaac, is still leading it well.”

Mallet Bank was a traditional bank with nearly 100 years of history.

Of course, its size could not be compared to the Dutch Hope Bank or the British Barings Bank.

However, the credit it had built since 1704 and the assets accumulated over 100 years were large enough.

Danton slipped the certificate, which could be exchanged for 300,000 livres [French currency] of dazzling gold, into his pocket.

At the same time, Danton’s hand quickly picked up a pen on the desk next to him.

“It’s a good bank. But I’m a bit busy. Contact this person.”

“Who is it?”

“Fabre d’Églantine. He’s a talented writer who used to be my secretary. Ah, now he’s a deputy.”

Sabatier, who received the memo, made a strange face and nodded.

“A writer? Hmm, I understand.”

The East India Company was a huge corporation.

Even in the time of revolution, it was hard for a banker to accept that a deputy who was a writer would determine its fate.

However, the man in front of him was a powerful figure who would decide the fate of the East India Company, which once had annual sales of 26 million livres.

Watching Sabatier disappear obediently, Danton waved his hand.

“Be careful going. Give my regards to Goulade and Delesserre.”

Both were current directors of the East India Company.

In the days of the old royal family, Danton, who was just a lawyer, would not have even been able to talk to such prominent figures.

But now, Danton’s pen could determine their lives.

Just as he was smiling contentedly, someone suddenly spoke to Danton from behind.

“Who was that?”

“You startled me. Make some noise, Saint-Just.”

“From what I see, they seem to be bankers. If you associate with such people, you will get into big trouble later, Committee Member Danton.”

Saint-Just, one of the 12 members of the Committee of Public Safety and Robespierre’s right-hand man.

Danton glanced at Saint-Just, a rising star of the Mountain faction [a radical political group during the French Revolution] who was doing well, and grinned.

“Take care of yourself. You know Hébert has been criticizing you a lot lately? Don’t you regret being close to that guy now?”

Then, Saint-Just smacked his lips and bowed his head.

“I am reflecting, Committee Member.”

Hébert was one of the radical Jacobins [a revolutionary political movement].

In fact, Danton, Saint-Just, and even Robespierre were all radicals.

However, as seen in the trial of Queen Marie, Hébert was too hasty, radical, and ambitious.

He often tried to kill his political enemies with literal ‘terrorism’.

Even Saint-Just, known as the Angel of the Guillotine, shook his head.

Danton patted Saint-Just on the shoulder and laughed heartily.

“Yes. You are still young. You will learn a lot in the future. Soon, the time will come for you to lead this country.”

Very carefully, but with shining eyes, Saint-Just nodded.

“I will keep that in mind, Committee Member.”

Danton smiled and entered the building.

This place was once used as a billiard room for nobles.

A luxurious mansion next to the old royal palace, the Tuileries Palace.

Fleur Mansion.

A meeting was held there where only 12 selected members of the National Convention, out of 782, could gather.

Danton waved his hand at the nine deputies who were already inside and shouted.

“Hey, comrades! Another energetic morning! Let’s send courage, more courage, to the front lines!”

This was the place where the Committee of Public Safety, the supreme power in France, was held.

***

Of course, the most important issue that the supreme power must deal with during wartime is war.

“The general mobilization is proceeding smoothly. We have currently succeeded in mobilizing 640,000 people to the front lines. If all goes according to plan, we will be able to increase that to 1.5 million by the middle of next year,” Deputy Lazare Carnot, who was in charge of the National Defense Committee of the Committee of Public Safety, said with a report in his hand.

Danton was presiding over the meeting because Chairman Robespierre had not yet arrived due to other business.

Danton’s gaze swept across the meeting room.

The stuttering Desmoulins, the gourmet Cambacérès, and the wheelchair-bound Couthon.

All prominent deputies who had weathered the turbulent four years since 1789.

Saint-Just and Auguste Robespierre were also not ordinary.

Even Carnot, who was speaking like a bureaucrat right now, was a great man.

He turned the French army, which had only about 100,000 soldiers, into a large army of 600,000 in just half a year.

All were reliable, 까다롭고 [difficult/picky], and troublesome colleagues and competitors.

But the most 까다로운 [difficult/picky] person in this place was different: the skinny man scratching his skin, Marat.

Danton glanced at Marat and applauded Carnot.

“Wow, 1.5 million! What a dreamlike number. You are really great, Lazare Carnot!”

“There’s nothing great about it. They are all new recruits. The enemy is made up of experienced mercenaries, and we are made up of soldiers who don’t know any tactics.”

“Ahem! Well, we have no choice since the enemies are attacking from all sides, right?”

Carnot simply suggested a solution.

“We must introduce the [division system] that we introduced in Toulon and Vendée to the Rhine as well. Also, the commander of the division needs to be appointed as a major general.”

In modern history, the ‘division’ organization seems natural.

But in fact, the [division], a unit of ten thousand soldiers created by combining three regiments or two brigades, was born in this era.

After the Great Revolution, France entered into a state of war with countries on all sides.

It was good to hastily issue a large-scale conscription order to fight the war, but these were just new recruits.

It was difficult to fight against the skilled elite soldiers of the Austrian or Prussian armies.

So, the ‘division system’ was introduced to solve this problem.

It is mobile, yet large enough not to be easily shaken, and can concentrate its forces in case of emergency.

If you combine artillery and cavalry, it will become the [corps] that Napoleon created in later history.

Anyway, it is still the time when the division system is just being introduced.

Danton, a non-expert, just nodded.

“Well, that’s good. Wouldn’t it be okay to let Deputy Carnot do as he pleases? Everyone?”

“That’s right. He’s been doing well so far.”

“I agree. Deputy Carnot is an expert in military matters!”

Just as Cambacérès and Couthon were agreeing, Carnot held up another report.

“It’s not over yet. There is currently a shortage of guns and gunpowder to supply to each unit. Specifically, there is a shortage of copper, saltpeter, and leather. First of all, to get copper, we need to confiscate all the bells in each church. We are currently improving the technology for the leather problem.”

“Hmm, I see. What about saltpeter? The one that used to come from India has been cut off, right?”

“I heard that Pondicherry has been occupied. So, we have to rely on the saltpeter produced in our country.”

Pondicherry is a problem again.

It is an era when black powder is the main force on the battlefield.

The key ingredient, saltpeter, must be mined from the ground or made through a rather difficult process.

India had soil that could acquire large amounts of saltpeter, but currently, it is the British who control India.

Even Pondicherry, which was like the last stronghold, has been taken away.

Deputy Carnot said with a serious face.

“The amount of gunpowder our army needs in a year is at least 36,000 tons.”

Danton and other deputies, who are non-experts, naturally do not know how much that is.

They just think that it must be a lot when calculated in the new unit system, kilograms.

Seeing the deputies staring blankly, Carnot shook his head.

“The annual production of saltpeter is only 1,200 tons, and the annual production of gunpowder is 4,900 tons.”

“The gunpowder will run out soon.”

“Currently, Deputy Frère, my fellow deputy, has been working hard, and 5,000 workers are producing 600 muskets a day. But it’s all useless without gunpowder.”

Of course, ‘technical expert deputy’ Carnot also brought a solution to solve this problem.

“To solve this problem, we must mobilize all the chemists.”

“We must mobilize them. Berthollet, Monge, Chaptal. I will send all those friends to the Grenelle gunpowder factory.”

“No, we need one more person.”

These are all people who remained as chemists who illuminated France in later history.

However, Carnot looked at Danton and the other deputies and mentioned a completely unexpected name.

“Lavoisier.”

A chemist recorded in history for the law of conservation of mass.

Also, a sympathizer of the revolution who was also a member of the National Assembly in the early days of the revolution.

But now, Lavoisier has been stripped of all positions and is under surveillance.

Why?

Because he was a tax collector for the royal family, which citizens extremely hate.

It was a problem that he was notorious for collecting taxes harshly.

Suddenly, Marat, who had been silently scratching his skin, opened his mouth.

“That person is difficult.”

“Deputy Marat, chemical research is not just about filling the number of scholars. We need an excellent research leader. Besides, Lavoisier was the chief of gunpowder before the revolution.”

“You should know that if it’s not possible, it’s not possible. That person is under surveillance!”

Carnot gritted his teeth and bowed his head.

Carnot is an outstanding talent, enough to create a large army, establish national defense measures, and prepare solutions to operate an army of 600,000.

But power is a different matter.

Danton smacked his lips as he watched the scene and turned his head.

“Let’s move on to the next agenda. Deputy Desmoulins?”

Desmoulins hesitated and brought up his situation, the war situation report.

“O-Only Toulon is stable right now. The Rhine, the Alps, and the Pyrenees are all in battle. Besides…”

“What else? Shortage of troops?”

“No. There are rumors that each country is forming an alliance right now.”

Desmoulins swallowed his dry saliva and said.

“It is an anti-French alliance aimed at our French revolutionary government.”

Just as Danton’s eyes widened, the door opened.

-Bang!

All the deputies shut their mouths.

Robespierre, the chairman of this Committee of Public Safety, with a pale face, slumped into his seat and looked at Desmoulins with tired eyes.

When Desmoulins swallowed his dry saliva, Robespierre asked coldly.

“Which countries are participating?”

“T-That’s Austria, Prussia, Spain, Naples, Portugal, the Papal States, and the Netherlands.”

“Even the Netherlands! It’s absurd. Aren’t they also a republic anyway!”

When the shocked Danton intervened, Desmoulins sighed and added.

“And England.”

Everyone listened to Desmoulins’ report with heavy faces.

Of course, they were practically in a state of war with England until now.

However, formally declaring war, and that too as the leader of an alliance of eight Western European countries, is a different weight.

Suddenly, Robespierre nodded.

“The final battle is inevitable. We must hurry to rebuild the navy. But before that, we must deal with other agendas. Everyone.”

Danton, Carnot, and all the other deputies blinked their eyes.

Come to think of it, why was Robespierre late for today’s meeting?

He is almost a cleanliness freak, so he usually keeps time like a knife.

Suddenly, Robespierre took out a report.

“You know Marc Antoine Jullien, right? That friend sent me a report from Vendée [a region in Western France] in my own handwriting.”

With a very tired face, Robespierre threw out a terrifying story.

“It is a report that a mass genocide is taking place.”

At that moment, Danton realized anew that this terrible news is also a duty that the powerful must endure.

Not just sweet bribes, surveillance of dangerous people, and governance for the country, but also the share that the Committee of Public Safety, the supreme power in France, must bear.