One of the early memories of the future Duc de Broglie recalled the sight of the "_deputes fructidorises_ travelling in closed carriages, railed up like cages," to the seaport whence they were to sail to the lingering agonies of a tropical prison in French Guiana.
It was a painful spectacle: "the indignation was great, but the consternation was greater still.

Everybody foresaw the renewal of the Reign of Terror and resignedly prepared for it." Such were the feelings, even of those who, like Madame de Stael and her friend Benjamin Constant, had declared before the _coup d'etat_ that it was necessary to the salvation of the Republic.

That accomplished woman was endowed with nearly every attribute of genius except political foresight and self-restraint.

No sooner had the blow been dealt than she fell to deploring its results, which any fourth-rate intelligence might have foreseen.

"Liberty was the only power really conquered"-- such was her later judgment on Fructidor.