had now to rid himself of and of those republicans who had no desire to hand over the republic to one man, particularly of and , his military rivals. The victory of Marengo (14 June 1800) momentarily in the balance, but secured by and , offered a further opportunity to his ambition by increasing his popularity. The royalist plot of the Rue Saint-Nicaise on 24 December 1800 allowed him to make a clean sweep of the democratic republicans, who despite their innocence were deported to French Guiana. He annulled the Assemblies and made the Senate omnipotent in constitutional matters.