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 NAPOLEONIC IDEAS. 
 
 DES 
 
 IDEES KAPOLEONIENNES, 
 
 LE PRINCE 
 
 BRUSSELS: 
 1839. 
 
 TRANSLATED BY 
 
 JAMBS A. DORR 
 
 NEW YORK: 
 D. APPLETON & COMPANY, 
 
 346 & 348 BROADWAY. 
 1859.
 
 EHTEBED, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1859, 
 BY JAMES A. DOEE, 
 
 In the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the Southern District of 
 New York.
 
 TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE. 
 
 WHATEVER tends to throw light upon the character 
 and policy of that remarkable man, who now, Emperor 
 of the French, wields the power and influence of 
 France, and holds in his firm hand the trembling 
 balance of peace and war, is matter of public im- 
 portance. Not only have the learned, whether states- 
 men, historians, philosophers, or philanthropists, mo- 
 tives of: reasonable curiosity, to learn all that can be 
 learnt concerning the individual, who is playing, and 
 apparently is destined to play, the leading part in the 
 great world -drama now enacting; but every one 
 holding property, or engaged in commercial, in- 
 dustrial, or financial enterprises, whether merchant, 
 manufacturer, contractor, or banker ; every one using 
 or giving credit ; in fine, every man of business, who 
 has any thing to gain by peace, and every capital- 
 ist, who has any thing to lose by war, has a personal 
 interest to know all that he can know, concerning 
 the springs of action which move and guide the mind 
 and will of the sovereign, who, at the head of the cen- 
 tral nation of the civilized world, curbs or spurs the 
 military enthusiasm of six hundred thousand armed 
 men, backed by a population of thirty-six millions
 
 4 TBANSLATOE'S PEEFACE. 
 
 of a warlike race, fond of glory, the professed 
 champions of an advanced civilisation. 
 
 I have thought, therefore, that, in translating into 
 English this work, which, first published in 1839, may 
 be regarded as presenting the policy and the prom- 
 ises of Prince Louis Napoleon, the present Emperor, 
 then thirty-one years of age, and an exile, I should 
 render a service not only to literature, but to practi- 
 cal intelligence, by enabling those who do not 1-ead, 
 or may not possess, or have access to, the original, to 
 form some opinion as to the probable course of polit- 
 ical events, so far as they may depend upon the will 
 and action of Napoleon III. He writes no more 
 books ; he is aware of the force and virtue of speech 
 and of silence ; he keeps his own counsels, and, in the 
 words of Solomon, we may say of him, " the heart of 
 " the king is inscrutable." But what he has written, 
 he has written. Those who read what he has written, 
 will, in drawing conclusions as to the action of the 
 Emperor from the words of the exile, each according 
 to his own judgment, make allowances for the changes 
 which time, marriage, paternity, success, and perhaps 
 a better and more practical knowledge of the affairs, 
 duties, responsibilities, limits, and dangers of govern- 
 ment may have wrought in the mind and heart of 
 the author. It is not improbable, that these " Napo- 
 " leonic Ideas" give to the world the most authentic 
 indications of the present and settled purposes and 
 policy of the leader of the French ; and that they are 
 overtures and true 
 
 " prologues to the swelling act 
 " Of the imperial theme." 
 
 Are we authorized to infer from the ratification 
 of his assumption of imperial power by the all
 
 TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE. 5 
 
 but unanimous suffrages of the French people, that 
 they, in sanctioning the restoration of the Napoleonic 
 dynasty, have readopted also the Napoleonic regime 1 
 If it be so, we have in this book a programme of 
 the active policy and living aspirations of France. 
 
 In making the foregoing remarks, I do not by any 
 means wish it to be understood, that I consider the 
 interest which attaches itself to the original work 
 limited to transient circumstances, and to the present 
 moment. On the contrary, many of the ideas are 
 valuable in themselves and suggestive of others : they 
 form, in my opinion, an important contribution to the 
 science and art of politics, and to philosophy. The 
 book might very properly have been entitled a philo- 
 sophical analysis of the Consulate and the Empire. 
 
 Americans should, I think, more than others, desire 
 to understand the foundation of that theory, which, 
 planned and put in operation by Napoleon L, and now 
 continued by Napoleon III., hopes and promises to 
 reconcile in France personal and political liberty, and 
 equality before the law, with an hereditary throne. 
 We have thought that an elective Chief Magistracy 
 affords the surest guaranty of liberty and equality 
 to a people of our race, situated in our circumstances ; 
 but we are interested to study and to understand the 
 modifications which these leading political principles 
 or objects of the age undergo, in adapting themselves 
 to the peculiar circumstances of various races, and in 
 combining themselves with forms of social organisa- 
 tion and of government different from those which 
 seem to suit us, though they may not be suitable to 
 nations of different blood, and in a different state of 
 preparation. The same sun rises and sheds the
 
 6 TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE. 
 
 same light upon the whole earth ; but it discloses to 
 our view a great variety of scenery ; in one place, 
 the beautiful and level fields of fertility and content- 
 ment, which may represent a Eepublic in another, 
 the magnificent inequalities of a mountainous region, 
 which may represent an Empire. 
 
 ITiere are many points of resemblance between 
 the political movements of France and of America, 
 during the past seventy or eighty years. Both are 
 apparently working out, each independently, a solu- 
 tion of the great problems of the times. In France, 
 the social revolution has assumed the phase which may 
 be called the Napoleonic policy ; here, it has taken the 
 form which we call the American system. As many 
 of the questions presented in both cases are similar 
 or analogous, it is probable that in studying the French 
 methods we shall learn many things useful and appli- 
 cable to ourselves. If Napoleon had been born here, 
 he probably would have sincerely adopted the Amer- 
 ican system. 
 
 It is proper here to call to mind that Napoleon IIL, 
 in becoming Emperor of the French, has not forfeited 
 his title to be considered a citizen of the republic of 
 letters, a state which allows and knows no distinc- 
 tion of political rank. It may be that, aware as he 
 is of the mutability of fortune, he attaches more pros- 
 pective importance to his reputation as an author, than 
 to his success as a sovereign : nor would such a pref- 
 erence be without reason. David was a great king, 
 the founder of a dynasty ; but his chief title to fame, 
 apart from all questions of inspiration, rests upon 
 his poetical works. His wiser son was a greater 
 prince, who consolidated and firmly established the
 
 TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE. V 
 
 royal power which he inherited ; but his book of prov- 
 erbs is the surest and the still living proof of his tra- 
 ditional wisdom. Is it necessary for me to cite Caesar 
 and his Commentaries ? or to allude to one who seem- 
 ed to prefer the Academic uniform to the Imperial 
 robes? Public opinion is the master of kings ; and 
 the pen which forms and guides public opinion is, there- 
 fore, more powerful than the royal sword, as it is 
 more glorious than the jewelled sceptre. 
 
 The publication of this work will introduce to the 
 people of the United States a citizen of the republic 
 of letters ; as such let him be judged, without fear and 
 without favor, according to his merits. 
 
 For obvious reasons, in translating this work, fidel- 
 ity to the original has been an especial duty : it has 
 therefore been the principal aim. The original metal 
 has been recoined, not transmuted; it retains, I 
 trust, the genuine ring. 
 
 JAMES A. DORK. 
 
 Nw TOBK, April, 1859.
 
 NAPOLEONIC IDEAS.
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 IF the destiny which my birth presaged 
 had not been changed by events, I, a nephew 
 of the Emperor, should have been one of the 
 defenders of his throne, and a propagator of 
 his ideas ; I should have enjoyed the glory 
 of being a pillar of his edifice, or of dying in 
 one of the squares of his guard, while fighting 
 for France. The Emperor is no more ! but his 
 spirit still lives. Prevented from defending his 
 shielding power with arms, I can at least at- 
 tempt to defend his memory with the pen. To 
 enlighten public opinion by searching out the 
 thought, which presided over his high concep- 
 tions, to recall to mind his vast plans, is a task 
 which yet smiles upon my heart, and consoles 
 my exile ! Fear of offending contrary opinions 
 will not restrain me : ideas which are under the
 
 12 PREFACE. 
 
 segis of the greatest genius of modern times may 
 be avowed without reserve ; nor do they need 
 to adapt themselves to the varying caprices of 
 the political atmosphere. Enemy of all abso- 
 lute theories, and of all moral dependence, I 
 have no engagement with any party, any sect, 
 or any government. My voice is free, as my 
 thought ; and I love freedom ! 
 
 CARLTON TERRACE, July, 1839.
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER' I. 
 GOVERNMENTS IN GENERAL, 15 
 
 General movement of progress. Forms of government. 
 Their mission. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 GENERAL IDEAS, . 22 
 
 Mission of the Emperor. Liberty will follow the same path as 
 religion. Re-establishment of the monarchy and of the Catho- 
 lic religion. How Napoleon should be judged. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 QUESTION OF THE INTERIOR, 84 
 
 General tendency. Principles of fusion, equality, order, and 
 justice. Administrative Organisation. Judiciary order. 
 Finances. Charitable institutions, communes, agriculture, 
 manufactures, commerce. The Army. Political Organisa- 
 tion. Fundamental principles. Accusations of despotism. 
 Military government. Answers to these accusations.
 
 14 CONTESTS. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE FOREIGN QUESTION, 113 
 
 Napoleonic foreign policy. The different projects of the Em- 
 peror. Benefits conferred npon nations. Italy, Switzerland, 
 Germany, Westphalia, Poland. His views concerning Spain. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 AIM OF THE EMPEROR, 136 
 
 European association. Liberty in France. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 CAUSE OF THE FALL OP THE EMPEROR, ? ' , 14*7 
 
 CHAPTER Vn. 
 CONCLUSION, . ' 160
 
 CHAPTEE I. 
 
 CONCERNING GOVERNMENTS IN GENERAL. 
 
 General movement of progress. Forma of government. Their 
 mission. 
 
 ALL the revolutions which have agitated the 
 world, all the efforts of great men, warriors, or 
 legislators, are they destined to result in nothing ? 
 Do we move constantly in a closed circle, in which 
 light succeeds ignorance, and barbarism civilisa- 
 tion ? Far from us be so sad a thought ; the sa- 
 cred fire which animates us ought to lead to a 
 result worthy of the divine power which inspires 
 us. The improvement of society marches onward, 
 in spite of obstacles, without intermission ; it knows 
 no limits but those of the earth. 
 
 " The human race," says Pascal, " is a man who 
 never dies, and always advances towards perfection." 
 Sublime image of profound truth! The human
 
 16 NAPOLEONIC IDEAS. 
 
 race never dies; but it is subject to all the mala- 
 dies to which man is subject; and although it al- 
 ways advances towards perfection, it is not exempt 
 from human passions, that dangerous but indispen- 
 sable arsenal, which furnishes the means of our ele- 
 vation or of our ruin. 
 
 This comparison involves the principles upon 
 which the life of nations is founded ; that life which 
 has two natures and two instincts; one divine, 
 which tends towards perfection, the other mortal, 
 which tends towards corruption. 
 
 Society then enfolds two contrary elements : on 
 the one hand, immortality and progress ; on the 
 other, disease and dissolution. 
 
 All generations, as they succeed one another, 
 participate in the same elements. 
 
 All nations have something in common the 
 instinctive desire and need of improvement. Each 
 nation has something peculiar the special disease 
 which paralyzes its efforts. 
 
 Governments have been established to aid so- 
 ciety to overcome the obstacles which impede its 
 march. Their forms have been varied according 
 to the maladies they have been called to cure, ac- 
 cording to the epoch, and according to the charac- 
 ter of the people they have presided over. Their 
 task never has been and never will be easy, be- 
 cause the two contrary elements, of which our ex-
 
 GOVERNMENTS IN GENERAL. 17 
 
 istence and the nature of society is composed, 
 demand the employment of different means. In 
 view of our divine essence, we need, for our prog- 
 ress, only liberty and work; in view of our mor-- 
 tal nature, we need for our direction a guide and 
 a support. 
 
 A government is not, then, as a distinguished 
 economist has said, a necessary ulcer ; it is rather 
 the beneficent motive power of all social organiza- , 
 tion. 
 
 When the panorama of history is unrolled be- 
 fore our eyes, we find there always these two great 
 phenomena. Upon the one side a constant system 
 which obeys a regular progression, which advances 
 and never retreats: this is progress. Upon the 
 other side, we see nothing but flexibility and 
 mutation: these belong to the forms of govern- 
 ment. 
 
 Progress never- disappears, but it is often dis- 
 placed ; it goes from the government to the gov- 
 erned. The tendency of revolutions is, always, to 
 restore progress to the governors. When progress 
 is at the head of society, it marches boldly and 
 swiftly, for it guides ; when progress is confined 
 to the governed, it marches slowly, for it must 
 fight its way. In the first case, the people, having 
 faith, allow themselves to be governed; in the 
 second case, on the contrary, the people wish to 
 do every thing themselves.
 
 18 NAPOLEONIC IDEAS. 
 
 Ever since the world has existed, there has 
 been progress. To be assured of this, it is only 
 necessary to measure the road of civilisation ; the 
 track is marked by the great men who are as mile- 
 stones, each a degree higher and nearer the end 
 than the preceding ; and we go from Alexander to 
 Caesar, from Csesar to Constantine, from Constan- 
 tine to Charlemagne, from Charlemagne to Na- 
 poleon. 
 
 Forms of government, on the contrary, do not 
 follow constant laws. Republics are as old as the 
 world ; the elective system and the hereditary 
 system have for ages disputed the possession of 
 power, and power has rested by turns in the 
 hands of those who had on their side science 
 or intelligence, right or strength. Governments 
 are not therefore based upon invariable forms: 
 there is no more a governmental formula for 
 the happiness of nations, than there is a uni- 
 versal panacea for the cure of all diseases. *' Eve- 
 " ry question of political forms," says Carrel, " has 
 " its data in the state of society, not elsewhere." 
 These words involve a great truth. In politics, 
 the good is only relative, never absolute. 
 
 Admitting the ideas which precede, it is impos- 
 sible to attach high importance to the learned dis- 
 tinctions which writers have made between the 
 government of one and the government of many, 
 between democratic governments and aristocratic
 
 GOVERNMENTS IN GENERAL. 19 
 
 governments. 1 All have been good, for they have 
 existed and continued in existence; and for any 
 given people, any form has been the best which 
 has continued the longest time. But, a priori, the 
 best government is that which fulfils well its mis- 
 sion that is to say, that which is modelled upon the 
 wants of the epoch, and which in forming itself 
 upon, and adapting itself to, the present state of , 
 society, employs the necessary means to open a 
 smooth and easy road for advancing civilisation. 
 
 I say it with regret, I see at the present day j 
 only two governments which fulfil well their provi- 1 
 dential mission; these are the two Colossuses, which ' 
 exist, one at the extremity of the new, the other at 
 the extremity of the old world. 2 Whilst our old 
 
 1 Far be from me the idea of entering into a discussion 
 upon the comparative merits of monarchies and republics ; I 
 leave to the philosophers and the metaphysicians the solution 
 of a problem which, treated a priori, I consider insoluble. I 
 see in monarchy neither the principle of divine right, nor all 
 the faults and defects which some pretend to see. I see in' 
 the hereditary system only a guaranty of the integrity of a 
 country. In order to appreciate this opinion, it is sufficient to 
 recollect, that the two monarchies of France and of Germany 
 were born at the same time, at the partition of the empire of 
 Charlemagne. The crown became wholly elective in Germany 
 it remained hereditary in France. Eight hundred years after 
 the partition, Germany was divided into about twelve hundred 
 States her nationality had disappeared ; while in France the 
 hereditary principle has destroyed all the petty sovereigns, and 
 formed a great and compact nation. 
 
 * I do not mean to say by this that all the other govern- 
 ments of Europe are bad ; I wish to say only, that in the pres-
 
 20 NAPOLEONIC IDEAS. 
 
 European centre resembles a volcano, which con- 
 sumes itself, in its crater, the two nations of the 
 East and the West march without hesitation on 
 the road of improvement ; one of them through the 
 will of one man, the other through liberty. 
 
 Providence has committed to the United States 
 of America the charge of peopling and of subduing 
 to civilisation all that immense territory which 
 extends from the Atlantic to the Pacific ocean, 
 and from the North pole to the equator. Their 
 government, which is a simple administration 
 has had, up to the present time, but to put in 
 practice the old adage, " Laissez faire, laissez pas- 
 " ser," in order to favor that irresistible instinct, 
 which urges the population of the United States 
 towards the West. 
 
 In Russin, to an imperial dynasty is due ah 1 the 
 progress which, during a century and a half, has 
 withdrawn this vast empire from barbarism. The 
 imperial power must contend against all the old 
 prejudices of our ancient Europe; it must central- 
 ize, as much as possible, in the hands of a single 
 man, all the forces of the State, in order to de- 
 stroy the abuses which tend to perpetuate them- 
 selves under the protection of communal and 
 feudal franchises. The East can receive only from 
 him the ameliorations which it expects and awaits. 
 
 ent day no other government is on a level with its great 
 mission.
 
 GOYEBNMENTS E* GENEEAX. 21 
 
 But France ! France of Henry IV., of Louis! 
 XIV., of Carnot, of Napoleon always the.fountain 
 of progress for Western Europe possessing the 
 two elements of empfre, the genius of the peaceful 
 arts, and the genius of war ; has France no longer 
 a mission to fulfil ? Will she exhaust her resources 
 and her energies in never-ending internal and sui- 
 cidal contests ? No ! such cannot be the destiny 
 of France ! Soon will arrive the day when, in 
 order to reign over her, it will be understood that 
 her part is, to cast into the scales of all treaties 
 her sword of Brennus on the side of civilisation !
 
 CHAPTEE II. 
 
 GENEKAL IDEAS. 
 
 Mission of the Emperor. Liberty will follow the same path as religion. 
 Be-establishment of the monarchy and of the Catholic religion. 
 How Napoleon should be judged. 
 
 WHEN ideas which have governed the world 
 dimng long periods lose, in consequence of the 
 necessary transformation of society, their force and 
 their empire, new ideas, destined to replace those 
 which preceded, arise. Although they bear with- 
 in themselves a re-organizing germ, they proceed 
 nevertheless by means of disorganization. But, so 
 great is the presumption of new-born ideas, and so 
 agreeable to our ephemeral existence is the idea 
 of duration, that, as they pluck the stones from the 
 old edifice and build upon the fallen mass anew, 
 they proclaim the ruins to be a new and inde- 
 structible foundation; until successive falls, and 
 successive burials of that which preceded, teach 
 them that they have torn down and not built up 
 that their work requires more solid materials, in
 
 GENERAL IDEAS. 23 
 
 order to be safe from the crash of the crumbling 
 past. 
 
 It is thus that the ideas of 1789 (ideas which, 
 after having overturned Europe, will end by se- 
 curing its repose) appeared, already in 1791, to 
 have destroyed the old, and to have created the 
 new, order of things. But the birth of liberty is 
 slow and painful, and the work of ages cannot bq 
 destroyed without tremendous shocks ! 1793 fol- 
 lowed hard upon 1791 ; and the world witnessed 
 ruin after ruin, transformation after transformation, 
 until at length Napoleon appeared, cleared up the 
 chaos of nothingness and of glory, separated truths 
 from passions, the elements of success from tho 
 seeds of death, and reduced to synthesis, all those 
 great principles, which, contending together un- 
 ceasingly, compromised the cause in which all were 
 interested. 
 
 Napoleon, arriving upon the stage of the world, 
 saw that he was to play the part of being the tes- 
 tamentary executor of the revolution. The de- 
 structive conflagration of contending parties was 
 extinct, and when the revolution, dying, but not 
 vanquished, bequeathed to Napoleon the duty of 
 accomplishing her last wishes, she said to him: 
 " Secure upon solid foundations the principal re- 
 " suits of my efforts ; reunite the French, now di- 
 "vided; repulse feudal Europe, now in league 
 " against me ; heal my wounds; spread light among
 
 24 NAPOLEOOTC IDEAS. 
 
 " the nations ; complete broadly what I have com- 
 " menced deeply ; be for Europe what I have been 
 " for France ; and even though you may be called 
 " upon to water the tree of civilisation with your 
 " blood, to see your plans misunderstood and re- 
 jected, and those who are dear to you condemned 
 " to wander in exile over the earth never aban- 
 " don the sacred cause of v France, but make it tri- 
 "umph by all the means which genius invents, 
 " and humanity approves." 
 
 This great mission Napoleon accomplished to 
 the very end. The task was difficult. It was 
 necessary to found upon new principles a society 
 still boiling with hatred and rancor, and to make 
 use, for consolidation, of the same instruments 
 which, until then, had only served to demolish. 
 
 The common lot of every new risen truth is 
 to alarm rather than persuade, to wound rather 
 than convince. This is because it projects itself 
 with greater force, as it has been longer restrained ; 
 because, having obstacles to overcome, it must 
 contend and overthrow, until, understood and 
 adopted by the general mass, it becomes the basis 
 of a new social order. 
 
 Liberty and the Christian religion will follow 
 the same path. Christianity, armed with death 
 against the old Roman form of society, excited for 
 a long time the fear and the hatred of nations ; 
 then, in virtue of martyrdoms and persecution, the
 
 GENERAL IDEAS. 25 
 
 religion of Christ penetrated into the depths of 
 minds and of consciences ; soon she had at her 
 control armies and kings ; Constantino and Charle- 
 magne conducted her in triumph through Europe. 
 Then religion laid aside her weapons of war, unveil- 
 ed to all eyes her principles of order and peace, and 
 became the organizing element of society, and the 
 support of power. Thus will it be with liberty : 
 already has she passed through some of the same 
 phases. In 1793, she affrighted peoples as well as 
 sovereigns ; then, having assumed more gentle 
 forms, she insinuated herself everywhere, following 
 our battalions. In 1815, all parties adopted her 
 colors, and supporting themselves upon her moral 
 force, covered themselves with her flag. The 
 adoption was not sincere, and liberty was obliged 
 to resume her weapons of war. Fears were re- 
 newed with the contest. Let us hope that they 
 will soon cease, and that liberty will again put on * 
 her festal robes, never to quit them more. 
 
 The Emperor Napoleon has contributed more 
 than any other "person to hasten the reign of 
 liberty, by preserving the moral influence of the 
 revolution, and diminishing the fears which it in- 
 spired. 1 Without the Consulate find the Empire, 
 
 J It was the fear which the French revolution roused in 
 the minds of sovereigns, that arrested the reforms and the 
 progress which had been commenced before 1789, by Joseph 
 II. in Austria, and by Leopold in Italy. 
 2
 
 26 NAPOLEOinC IDEAS. 
 
 the revolution would have been merely a great 
 drama, leaving grand recollections, but few practi- 
 cal results. The revolution would have been 
 drowned in the counter-revolution ; but- the con- 
 trary took place, because Napoleon planted deep 
 in France, and introduced everywhere in Europe, 
 the principal benefits resulting from the grand 
 crisis of 1789, and because, to use his language, " he 
 " purified the revolution, seated firmly kings, and 
 " ennobled the people." He purified the revolution, 
 by separating the truths, which it caused to tri- 
 umph, from the passions, which, in their delirium, 
 had obscured them ; he seated firmly kings, by 
 rendering royal power respectable and honora- 
 ble ; he ennobled the people, by giving them a 
 consciousness of their strength, and those institu- 
 itions which elevate man in his own respect. The 
 Emperor should be regarded as the Messiah of 
 new ideas ; for, in moments which immediately fol- 
 low a social dissolution, the essential thing is, not 
 to put into application principles in all the subtilty 
 of their theory, but to seize the regenerating 
 spirit, to identify one's self with the sentiments of 
 the people, and guide them boldly towards the end 
 which they desire to reach. To be capable of ac- 
 complishing such a task, it is necessary -that " your 
 '''fibre should respond to that of the people," l that 
 you feel as the people feel, and that your interests 
 
 1 Words of the Emperor.
 
 GENERAL IDEAS. 27 
 
 be so intermingled, that you must conquer or fall 
 together ! 
 
 -It was this union of sentiment, of instinct, and 
 of will, which created the power of the Emperor. 
 It is a grave error to think that a great man is 
 omnipotent, and that he derives his powers only 
 from himself. To know how to divine, to use 
 wisely, and to guide, these are the first qualities 
 of a superior genius. " I have taken care," said 
 Napoleon, " not to fall into the error of the men 
 " of modern systems, to imagine that I represent 
 " of myself, and through my own thoughts, the 
 " wisdom of nations. The skill of the workman 
 " consists in knowing how to avail himself of the 
 " materials which he has at hand." 
 
 One of the first necessities of a government is 
 to understand well the state of the country which 
 it rules, and to know where exist the elements of 
 strength upon which it can rely. The ancient mon- 
 archy had for supports the nobility and the clergy, 
 because at that time the two principal elements of 
 strength resided in those two classes, which repre- 
 sented landed wealth and moral influence. The 
 Revolution had destroyed all that feudal edifice ; 
 it had displaced interests, created new sources of 
 power and wealth, and given birth to new ideas. 
 
 To attempt to restore the ancient regime, to 
 rely upon forces which no longer had roots, would 
 have been folly. The Emperor, while re-estab-
 
 28 NAPOLEONIC IDEAS. 
 
 lishmg ancient forms in founding his authority, re- 
 lied only upon the young and vigorous sap of new 
 interests. He re-established the clergy, but with- 
 out making them a means of government. So also 
 the transition from the republic to a monarchy, 
 and the re-establishment of public worship, instead 
 of awakening fears, reassured men's minds ; for, 
 far from crossing any interest, these acts satisfied 
 political and moral wants, and responded to the 
 wishes of the majority. Indeed, if these transfor- 
 mations had not corresponded with the sentiments 
 and ideas of the majority, Napoleon would not 
 have made them ; for he appreciated correctly, 
 and he desired to augment, not to weaken, his 
 moral power. Thus, never before were so great 
 changes accomplished with so little effort. Napo- 
 leon had but to say, " Let the churches be open- 
 " ed," and the faithful rushed to fill them. He 
 asked the nation, " Do you wish the governing 
 "power to be hereditary?" and the nation an- 
 swered affirmatively by four millions of votes. 1 
 
 1 Some persons wish to raise doubts concerning the legiti- 
 mate character of such an election. But they attack thus all 
 the constitutions of the republic ; for those constitutions even 
 did not obtain so complete a sanction. 
 
 The Constitution of 1791 was not submitted to the accept- 
 ance of the people. 
 
 Voters. Accepting. Kfifusing. 
 
 Constitution of 1793, 1,801,018 11,600 
 
 " " year 8, 1,057,390 49,977 
 
 " " " 8, Consulate, 8,012,569 3,011,007 1,562 
 
 Consulate for life, 8,577,259 8,568,888 8,874 
 
 HureditaryEmpire, 1804, 8,524,254 8,521,675 2.579
 
 GENERAL IDEAS. 29 
 
 It is difficult to disengage ourselves entirely from 
 the past ; generations, like individuals, are con- 
 trolled by their antecedents. Our sentiments are 
 for the most part only traditions. Slave of the 
 recollections of his infancy, man obeys all his life, 
 without suspecting it, the impressions which he re- 
 ceived in his early days, and the trials and influ- 
 ences to which he was then subjected. The life of 
 a people is subject to the same general laws. A sin- 
 gle day cannot change a republic of 500 years into 
 an hereditary monarchy, or convert a monarchy of 
 1,400 years into an elective repiiblic. 
 
 Consider Rome : during 500 years her repub- 
 lican forms existed, and they placed her at the 
 head of the world. During 500 years the elective 
 system produced great men, and the dignity of 
 consul, o senator, of tribune, was far above that of 
 the thrones of kings, whom the Romans knew only 
 by seeing them chained to the triumphal cars of 
 their conquerors. And, although Rome could no 
 longer maintain those institutions which had en- 
 dured for ages, and which had created her gran- 
 deur and her power, she preserved nevertheless, 
 for 600 years more, under the emperors, the vener- 
 ated forms of the republic. So the French repub- 
 lic, which succeeded a monarchy of 1,400 years, 
 under which France had become great and glori- 
 ous, in virtue of the sole principle of monarchical 
 centralisation, in spite of the faults and errors of
 
 30 NAPOLEONIC IDEAS. 
 
 her kings ; so the French republic not only soon re- 
 clothed itself with the ancient forms, but from its 
 very origin it preserved the distinctive character 
 of the monarchy, by proclaiming and strengthening 
 by every means that centralisation of power which 
 had been the vital element of French nationality. 
 
 Let us add to these considerations, that Napo- 
 leon and Cajsar, who found themselves in analogous 
 circumstances, had to act with the same motives 
 in opposite ways. Both of them wished to recon- 
 struct with ancient forms upon new principles. 1 It 
 belonged to Cffisar, therefore, to preserve republi- 
 can forms ; to Napoleon to re-establish the forms 
 of monarchy. 
 
 At the commencement of the nineteenth cen- 
 tury great unanimity was felt in favor of render- 
 ing the power of the Emperor hereditary^ whether 
 because of the traditional force of ancient institu- 
 tions, or of the prestige which surrounds man 
 invested with authority, or of the "desire for an 
 
 1 The emperor, in his Precis des Guerrcs de C6sar, has 
 clearly proved, that Caesar never desired never could desire 
 to make himself king. " Cajsar, Conqueror," said Napoleon, 
 "never governed but as consul, dictator, or tribune; he con- 
 " firmed, then, rather than discredited, the ancient forms of 
 "the republic. Augustus, even, a long time after, and when 
 " whole generations of republicans had been swept away by 
 " proscriptions and the war of the triumvirs, never entertained 
 "the idea of erecting a throne. It would have been on the 
 " part of Caesar a strange policy to replace the curule chair of 
 " the conquerors of the world by the decajed throne, which 
 " even the vanquished despised."
 
 GENERAL IDEAS. 31 
 
 order of things which should give greater guaran- 
 ties of stability. But the difficulty of establishing 
 the republican form might perhaps be explained 
 by another consideration. France, since 1789, had 
 been democratic ; but it is difficult to conceive, in a 
 great European state, the existence of a republic 
 without an aristocracy. 1 
 
 There are in every country two sorts of in- 
 terests, very distinct and often opposed to each 
 other, general interests and particular interests, 
 or, hi other words, permanent interests and tran- 
 sient interests. The first do not change with suc- 
 ceeding generations; their spirit transmits itself 
 from age* to age by tradition rather than by calcu- 
 lation. These interests can be represented only by 
 an aristocracy, or, in the absence thereof, by an 
 hereditary family. The particular and transient 
 interests, on the contrary, change continually ac- 
 cording to circumstances, and can be well un- 
 derstood only by representatives of the people, 
 who, being renewed continually, present a faithful 
 expression of the wants and the wishes of the 
 masses. Now, France having no longer an aris- 
 tocracy, and being no longer able to maintain an 
 
 1 1 find in the History of the Revolution, by M. Thiers, an 
 analogous idea. " Upon better reflection, it would be seen that 
 " an aristocratic element is more particularly suitable to repub- 
 " lies." It may be added that an aristocracy does not need a 
 chief, whilst it is the nature of a democracy to personify itself 
 in one man.
 
 32 NAPOLEONIC IDEAS. 
 
 aristocracy, that is to say, a privileged body, 
 whose influence is great only because its authority 
 is consecrated by time, the republic would have 
 been destitute of this conservative power, which, 
 though often oppressive, yet, a faithful guardian of 
 general and permanent interests, built up, during a 
 series of centuries at Rome, Venice, and London, 
 the greatness of their respective nations by simple 
 perseverance in a national system. 
 
 To supply this want of stability and national 
 perseverance, which is the great defect of demo- 
 cratic republics, it was necessary to clteate an 
 hereditary family, which should be the conservator 
 of the general interests, and whose power should 
 be founded upon the democratic spirit of the 
 nation. 
 
 But, let opinions differ as they may concerning 
 the value of these considerations ; let Xapoleon be 
 I censured for having surmounted his republican 
 I laurels with a crown; let the French people be 
 blamed for having desired and sanctioned this 
 change every thing is susceptible of contro- 
 versy there is one point, upon which all who 
 recognize in the Emperor a great man must agree, 
 and that is even if he erred his intentions should 
 always have been up to the level of his faculties 
 and his capacity. It is the height of inconsistency 
 to ascribe to a great genius all the weaknesses of 
 mediocrity. There are, however vulgar minds,
 
 GENERAL IDEAS. 33 
 
 which, jealous of the superiority of merit, seem to 
 revenge- themselves by ascribing to it their paltry 
 passions. Thus, instead of comprehending that a 
 great man can be guided only by great concep- 
 tions, and by reasons of State of the highest and 
 farthest reach, they say : " Napoleon made him- 
 " self Emperor, because he was ambitious ; he sur- 
 " rounded himself with the illustrious names of the 
 " ancient regime, to gratify his vanity ; he poured 
 " out the treasures and the purest blood of France, 
 " to aggrandize his power and place his brothers 
 " upon thrones ; and he married an arch-duchess of 
 " Austria, in order to have a real princess in his 
 " bed." " Have I then reigned over pigmies in in- 
 " telligence, who have so little understood me ?" 
 said Napoleon, at St. Helena, in a moment of 
 chagrin. Let his spirit be consoled ! The masses 
 have for a long time done him justice : every day 
 that passes, as it discovers a misery which he 
 cured, an evil which he extirpated, throws light 
 upon, and explains his noble plans. And his great 
 ideas, which, as the present darkens, shine all the 
 brighter, stand as luminous beacons, promising and 
 making visible, through and beyond the clouds and 
 tempests, a future of safety ! 
 
 I
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 QUESTION OF THE INTEKIOK. 
 
 General tendency. Principles of fusion, equality, order, and justice. 
 Administrative Organisation. Judiciary order. Finances. Chari- 
 table institutions, communes, agriculture, manufactures, commerce. 
 The Army. Political Organization. Fundamental principles. 
 I Accusations of despotism. Military government. Answers to these 
 accusations. 
 
 THE different governments which held power 
 successively from 1789 to 1800, obtained, in spite 
 of their excesses, great results. The independence 
 of France had been maintained ; the feudal system 
 had been broken up, and salutary principles had 
 been widely spread. Nevertheless, nothing was as 
 yet solidly established ; too many" hostile elements 
 stood face to face. 
 
 At the epoch when Napoleon arrived at power, 
 the true genius of legislation consisted in judging 
 by a coup cfrceil of the relations which existed be- 
 tween the past and the present, between the pres- 
 ent and the future.
 
 QUESTION OP THE ESTEBIOB. 35 
 
 It was necessary to solve and answer the fol- 
 lowing questions : 
 
 What ideas have passed away never to return ? 
 
 What ideas must ultimately triumph ? 
 
 Finally, what ideas are susceptible of immediate 
 application, and will hasten the reign of those which 
 are destined to prevail ? 
 
 The Emperor made by a rapid glance this dis- 
 tinction, and though he distinctly foresaw the pos- 
 sibilities of the future, he confined his action to the 
 realisation of present possibilities. 
 
 The great difficulty in revolutions is to avoid 
 confusion in popular ideas. The duty of every 
 government is to oppose false ideas, and to guide 
 true ideas by placing itself boldly at their head ; 
 for if, instead of guiding, a government allows it- 
 self to be led, it hastens to destruction, and com- 
 promises society, instead of protecting it. 
 
 The Emperor acquired so easily his immense 
 ascendency, because he was the representative of 
 the true ideas of his age. As to harmful ideas, he 
 never attacked them in front, but always in flank, 
 parleying and negotiating with them, and finally 
 reducing them to submission by a moral influence ; 
 for he knew that violence is unavailing and worth- 
 less against ideas. 
 
 Having always an object in view, he employ- 
 ed, according to circumstances, the most prompt 
 means to attain it.
 
 36 NAPOLEONIC IDEAS. 
 
 "What was his ultimate object ? . . . Liberty. 
 
 Yes, liberty ! and the more one studies the his- 
 tory of Napoleon, the more will he be convinced 
 of this truth. For liberty is like a river ; in order 
 that it may bring abundance and not devastation, 
 it is necessary to prepare for it a broad and deep 
 channel. If, in its regular .and majestic course, it 
 remains within its natural limits, the regions which 
 it traverses bless its passage ; but, if it comes like 
 an overflowing torrent, it is regarded as the most 
 terrible of calamities ; it awakens every form of 
 distrust, and then one sees men in their prejudice 
 reject liberty because she may destroy, as if one 
 should banish fire because it may burn, or water 
 because it may inundate. 
 
 But, is it said liberty was not secured by the 
 imperial laws ? The name of liberty was not, it is 
 true, placed at the head of every law, or placarded 
 at every public square ; but every law of the Em- 
 pire prepared for its peaceful and certain reign. 
 
 When, in a country, there exist parties ex- 
 asperated against each other, and violent mutual 
 hatreds, it is necessary that these parties disap- 
 pear, and these hatreds be pacified, before liberty 
 is possible. 
 
 When, in a country become thoroughly demo- 
 cratic like France, the principle of equality is not 
 generally applied, it must be introduced into all 
 the laws, before liberty is possible.
 
 QUESTION OF THE INTERIOR. 37 
 
 When there is neither public spirit, nor re- 
 ligion, nor political faith, it is necessary to create 
 at least one of these elements, before liberty is 
 possible. 
 
 When the ancient manners and customs have 
 been destroyed by a social revolution, it is neces- 
 sary to create new manners and customs in har- 
 mony with the new principles, before liberty is 
 possible. 
 
 When, in a nation, there is no longer an aris- 
 tocracy, and nothing remains organized but the 
 army, it is necessary to reconstruct a civil order, 
 based upon a precise and regular organisation, be- 
 fore liberty is possible. 
 
 Finally, when a country is at war with its 
 neighbors, arid it contains in its bosom paitisans 
 of its enemies, it is necessary to conquer those ene- 
 mies, and convert them into sure allies, before 
 liberty is possible. 
 
 We must pity those who wish to reap before 
 having ploughed the field, or sown the seed, or 
 given to the plant the necessary time to germi- 
 nate, to blossom, and to ripen its fruit. It is a 
 fatal error to imagine that a declaration of princi- 
 ples is sufficient to constitute a new order of 
 things. 
 
 After a revolution, the essential thing is not to 
 make a constitution, but to adopt a system, which, 
 based upon popular principles, possesses all the
 
 88 NAPOLEONIC IDEAS. 
 
 force necessary to found and establish, and which, 
 while surmounting the difficulties of the moment, 
 possesses in itself the flexibility which enables it to 
 adapt itself to circumstances. Besides, after a con- 
 flict, can a constitution guaranty itself against re- 
 actionary passions ? how dangerous is it to attempt 
 to convert transitory necessities into general and 
 1 permanent principles I 1 ' "A Constitution," Napo- 
 1 Icon has said, " is the work of tune ; one cannot 
 1 " provide in it too broad a power of amendment." 
 "We proceed to recapitulate, under the preced- 
 ing points of view, the actions of the Emperor. 
 To judge is to compare. We will compare then 
 his reign with the immediate epoch which preceded, 
 and with the epoch which followed. We will 
 judge his plans by what he did when victorious 
 by what he has left in spite of his defeat. 
 
 When Napoleon returned from Egypt, all 
 
 J A thousand examples could be cited to support this idea. 
 We will confine ourselves to recalling to mind, that in 1792, 
 in order to prevent the government from re-establishing the 
 unequal distribution of estates among children, the power of 
 disposing of property by will had been substantially taken 
 away. Napoleon reformed this reactionary law. Under the 
 Restoration the Swiss troops were detested they received 
 more pay than French troops. After the revolution of 1830, 
 it was not considered sufficient to send them away, but au 
 article was introduced into the Charter forbidding government 
 to employ any foreign troops. One year later came the mis- 
 fortunes of Poland ; 6,000 Poles took refuge in France ; it was 
 desired to enlist them in regiments, but the reactionary article 
 of the Charter prohibited it !
 
 QUESTION OF THE INTERIOR. 39 
 
 France received him with transport, and regarded 
 him as the savior of the Revolution, then about to 
 expire. France, fatigued by so many successive 
 efforts, agitated by so many different parties, had 
 gone to sleep amidst the thunder of her victories, 
 and seemed about to lose all the fruit of that which 
 she had acquired. The government was without 
 moral force, without principle, without virtue. Fur- 
 nishers and contractors were at the head of society, 
 and held the highest rank hi the midst of corrup- 
 tion. Generals of the army, such as Championnet 
 at Naples, and Brune hi Lombardy, 1 feeling that 
 they were the strongest, began to refuse obedience 
 to the government, and imprisoned its representa- 
 tives. Credit was annihilated, the treasury was 
 empty, public stock had fallen to eleven per cen- 
 tum, waste was rife in the administration, the most 
 odious brigandage infested France, and the prov- 
 inces of the west were in a constant state of insur- 
 rection. Finally, the ancient regime approached 
 again with alarming speed; for the axe of the 
 lictor no longer protected the cap of liberty. 
 
 Everybody talked of liberty and equality ; but 1 
 each party wished them only for itself. "We want J 
 equality, said some ; but we do not wish to grant 
 the rights of citizenship to the relatives of nobles 
 and of emigrants ; we propose to leave a hundred 
 
 1 Thiers, History of the Revolution.
 
 40 NAPOLEONIC IDEAS. 
 
 and forty-five thousand Frenchmen in exile. 1 We 
 want equality, said others ; but we do not wish to 
 give offices to conventionalists. Finally, we want 
 liberty ; but we are for maintaining the law which 
 condemns to death those whose writings tend to 
 recall the ancient regime ; we are for maintaining 
 the law of hostages, which destroys the security of 
 two hundred thousand families ; s we are for main- 
 taining the impediments which nullify the liberty 
 of worship, etc., etc. 
 
 Such contradictions between professed princi- 
 ples and their practical application tended to in- 
 troduce confusion into ideas and into things. It 
 must have been so, so long as there was not a na- 
 tional power, which, by its stability and its con- 
 scious strength, was exempt from passion, and able 
 to give protection to all parties, without losing 
 any thing of its popular character. 
 
 Men have, in ah 1 times, had the same passions. 
 The causes which produce great changes are dif- 
 ferent, but the effects are often the same. It is 
 almost always seen that in times of trouble the 
 'oppressed cry out for liberty for themselves, and 
 having obtained it, that they refuse to grant it to 
 those who were their oppressors. There existed 
 hi England, in the seventeenth century, a religious 
 
 1 This is the number settled by the report of the minister 
 of police, year 8. 
 
 2 Bignon, vol. i. p. 11.
 
 QUESTION OF THE INTEEIOK. 41 
 
 and republican sect, which, being persecuted by 
 the intolerance of the clergy and the government, 
 resolved to quit the country of their ancestors, 
 and go beyond the seas to an uninhabited world, 
 there to enjoy that sweet and holy liberty which 
 the old world refused to grant. Victims of intol- 
 erance, and conscious of the ills which it inflicts, 
 certainly these independent men will, in the new 
 country which they go to found, be more just than 
 their oppressors ! But, inconsistency of the hu- 
 man haart ! the very first law passed by the Puri- 
 tans founding a new society in the State of Massa- 
 chusetts, was one declaring the penalty of death 
 to those who should dissent from their religious 
 doctrines ! 
 
 We must admire the Napoleonic spirit, which 
 was never either exclusive or intolerant. The 
 emperor, superior to the petty passions of parties, 
 and generous as the people whom he was called to 
 rule, professed always this maxim, that in politics 
 evils should be remedied, not revenged. 
 
 The abuse of the royal power, and the tyranny 
 of the nobility, had caused that tremendous re- 
 action which is called the Revolution of 1789. 
 This brought on other reactions of a contrary and 
 most calamitous nature. With the accession of 
 Napoleon, ah 1 the reactionary passions ceased. 
 Strong in the sympathy of the people, he pro- 
 ceeded rapidly to the abolition of ah 1 unjust laws ;
 
 42 NAPOLEONIC IDEAS. 
 
 he cicatrized all wounds, recompensed all merit, 
 adopted every glory, and brought all Frenchmen 
 to concur in one sole object, the prosperity of 
 France. 
 
 Scarcely was the First Consul invested with 
 power, before he revoked the laws which excluded 
 the relatives of emigrants and of former nobles 
 from the exercise of political rights and of the 
 functions of public offices. The law of forced 
 loans was recalled and replaced by an extraordi- 
 nary levy additional to the regular taxes. Napo- 
 leon put an end to the requisitions " en nature," 
 and established the law of hostages. He recalled 
 the writers condemned to deportation by the law 
 of the 19th Fructidor, year 5, such as Carnot, 
 Portalis, Simeon. He allowed the conventional- 
 ists Barrere and Yadier to return. He opened the 
 doors of France to more than one hundred thou- 
 sand emigrants, among whom were the members 
 of the constituent assembly. He caused to be 
 restored to their public offices certain convention- 
 alists, whom it had been desired to exclude. He 
 pacified la Vendee. He organized the administra- 
 tion of the municipalities in the cities of Lyons, 
 Marseilles, and Bordeaux. He expressed himself 
 to the Council of State on one occasion, in these 
 words : " To rule by means of a party is to put 
 " one's self sooner or later in dependence upon it. 
 " I shall not fall into that snare ; I am national. I
 
 QUESTION OF THE ISTTEBIOB. 43 
 
 " make use of all who have the capacity and the will 
 "to march with me. This is the reason why I 
 " have composed my Council of State of constitu- 
 "ents who were called moderate, or feuillants, 
 " such as Defermon, Roederer, Regnier, and Reg- 
 "nault; of royalists, such as Devaines and Du- 
 " fresnes ; finally, of Jacobins, such as Brune, R6al, 
 " and Berlier. I love honest men of all parties." 
 Prompt to recompense recent services, as well as 
 to illustrate all great souvenirs, Napoleon placed 
 in the Hotel des Invalides, by the side of the stat- 
 ues of Hoche, Joubert, Marceau, Dugommier, 
 and Dampierre, the statue of Conde, the ashes of 
 Turenne, and the heart of Vauban. He revived 
 at Orleans the memory of Jeanne d'Arc, at Beau- 
 vais that of Jeanne Hachette. In 1800 he made 
 the restoration of a great citizen, Lafayette, an in- 
 dispensable condition of a treaty. Later, he took 
 as aides-de-camp, officers (Drouot, Lobau, Ber- 
 nard) who had been opposed to the consulate for 
 life ; and he treated with the same benevolence 
 senators who had voted against the establishment 
 of the empire. Always faithful to the principles 
 of conciliation, the Emperor, in the course of his 
 reign, granted a pension to the sister of Robes- 
 pierre, as he did to the mother of the Duke of 
 Orleans. 1 He consoled and assisted in her misfor- 
 
 1 The Emperor granted to the mother of the present king, 
 Louis Philippe, a pension of 400,000 francs, and one of 200,000 
 francs to the Duchess of Bourbon.
 
 44 ' NAPOLEONIC IDEAS. 
 
 tunes the widoAv of Bailly, President of the Consti- 
 tuent Assembly, and supported in her old age the 
 last descendant of Duguesclin. 
 
 To reunite all the national forces against the 
 enemy, to reorganize the country upon principles 
 of equality, order, and justice, this was the task 
 of Napoleon. He found under his hand many ele- 
 ments full of antipathy, and, according to his own 
 expression, instead of extirpating them, he united 
 them by amalgamation. 
 
 Divisions existed not only in political parties, 
 but also in other bodies of the nation. The clergy 
 was divided between the old and the new bishops, 
 the high and the low church, priests sworn par- 
 tisans of the revolution, and refractory priests. 
 These last were the favorite children of the Pope. 
 Profiting by the influence which the protection of 
 the head of the religion gave them, they perverted 
 minds through writings printed abroad, which 
 they scattered over the country. The Emperor, 
 by his concordat, removed the leader of this mis- 
 guided flock, and brought back the clergy to ideas 
 of concord and submission. 1 The republic of let- 
 
 1 By article 3 of the Concordat, the Pope undertook to 
 procure the renunciation of the emigrant bishops, whose let- 
 ters mandatory and pastoral continued to sow trouble in their 
 ancient dioceses. Article 13 sanctioned the alienation of eccle- 
 siastical property, and declared the title of possession valid in 
 the hands of purchasers.
 
 QUESTION OF THE INTERIOR. 45 
 
 ters was divided between the Institute and the old 
 Academy. He merged the members of the Acad- 
 emy in the Institute, and the savants lived in 
 peace, uniting their intelligence to illuminate the 
 nation, and hasten the progress of science. There 
 existed ancient names, to some of which were an- 
 nexed souvenirs of glory ; and titles, whose influ- 
 ence was not entirely extinct. Napoleon recon- 
 ciled ancient and new France, by mingling with 
 the inherited titles new titles acquired by merito- 
 rious services. The Jews formed a nation within 
 the nation ; some of their dogmas were contrary 
 to the French civil laws. The Emperor caused to 
 be convoked the grand Sanhedrim, which, in con- 
 cert with the imperial commissioners, reformed 
 those political regulations of the law of Moses, 
 which were susceptible of modification; and the 
 Jews became citizens. The barriers which sepa- 
 rated them from the rest of the nation gradually 
 disappeared. 
 
 Especially let us not overlook the fact that all 
 which Napoleon undertook and accomplished, in 
 order to effect a general fusion, was done without 
 renouncing the principles of the Revolution. He 
 recalled the emigrants without touching the prin- 
 ciple of the irrevocability of the sale of the na- 
 tional property. He re-established the Catholic 
 religion at the same time that he proclaimed lib- 
 erty of conscience, and gave equal pecuniary as-
 
 46 NAPOLEONIC IDEAS. 
 
 sistance to the ministers of every form of worship. 
 He caused himself to be consecrated by the sov- 
 ereign Pontiff, without subscribing to any of the 
 concessions trenching upon the liberties of the 
 Gallican church which the Pope demanded. He 
 espoused the daughter of the Emperor of Austria, 
 without surrendering any of the rights of France 
 to the conquests which she had made. He re- 
 established titles of nobility, but without annexing 
 to them privileges or prerogatives. These titles 
 were open to all classes, all services, and all pro- 
 fessions. Under the Empire all idea of caste was 
 destroyed ; no one pretended to boast of his parch- 
 ments. It was asked what one had done, not what 
 was his birth. 
 
 The first quality of a people that aspires to a 
 i free government is respect for the law. Now a 
 law possesses no force, except in the interest which 
 each citizen has to respect or to break it. In or- 
 der to ingraft in the people respect for the law, it 
 was necessary that the law should be executed for 
 the common good, and that it. should consecrate 
 the principle of equality in all its extent ; it was 
 necessary to revive the prestige of authority, and 
 to plant deep in the manners and customs the prin- 
 ciples of the revolution ; for manners and cus- 
 toms are the sanctuary of institutions. At the 
 birth of a new society, the legislator makes the 
 manners and customs, or corrects them, while at
 
 QUESTION OF THE INTERIOR. 47 
 
 a later period the manners and customs make the 
 laws, or preserve them from age to age. When 
 institutions are in harmony, not only with the 
 interests, but still more with the sympathies and 
 the habits of a people, then is formed that public 
 and national spirit which forms the strength of a 
 country, because it serves as a bulwark against 
 every encroachment of power, and every attack of 
 parties. " There is in every nation," says Montes- 
 quieu, " a general public spirit upon which power 
 " itself is founded ; when it shocks that public 
 " spirit, the shock is communicated to itself, and it 
 " necessarily comes to a stand-still." 
 
 This public spirit, so difficult to create after a 
 revolution, was formed, under the Empire, by the 
 establishment of those codes of law which settled 
 the rights of every one, through the severe mo- 
 rality introduced into the administration, through 
 the promptitude with which authority repressed 
 all injustice finally, through the zeal which the 
 Emperor constantly exhibited to satisfy the ma- 
 terial and the moral wants of the nation. His 
 government did not commit the fault common to 
 so many others, of separating the interests of the 
 soul from those of the body, casting the former 
 into the regions of chimera, and admitting the 
 latter only into the domain of reality. Napoleon, 
 on the contrary, in giving an impulse to all^ the 
 elevated passions, and showing that merit and
 
 48 NAPOLEONIC IDEAS. 
 
 virtue lead to riches and honors, proved to the 
 world that the noble sentiments of the human 
 heart are but the flag of the material interests of 
 man weh 1 understood, precisely as the Christian 
 morality is sublime because, even as a civil law, it 
 is the safest guide we can follow, and the best 
 counsellor of our private interests. 
 
 But it was not sufficient, in order to recon- 
 struct the nation, that the Emperor should repair 
 the evils caused by the injustice of former govern- 
 ments, or that he should derive support from all 
 classes without distinction ; it was also necessary 
 that he should organize France. 
 
 A system of government embraces an adminis- 
 trative organisation and a political organisation. 
 In a democratic state, such as France was, the ad- 
 ministrative organisation was the most important ; 
 for it governed, to a certain degree, the political 
 organisation. In an aristocratic country, political 
 action being in the hands of a whole class, the 
 holders of power reign rather by personal than by 
 administrative influence ; the governmental force 
 is distributed among ah 1 the patrician families. 1 
 But in a government of which the foundation is 
 
 1 England furnishes an example in support of this opinion. 
 The lord-lieutenants of the counties have not half the power 
 of the prefects of France, but they have twice their moral in- 
 fluence. Their influence is derived from their position in so- 
 ciety ,not from their office ; it is the lord who governs, much 
 more than the lieutenant of government.
 
 QUESTION OF THE INTERIOR. 49 
 
 democratic, the chief alone possesses governmental 
 power : as the moral force is derived solely from 
 him, so every thing returns to him, whether love or 
 hatred. In such an order of society, centralisation 
 should be stronger than in any other ; for the 
 agents of authority have only that prestige which 
 authority lends them, and in order that they may 
 preserve this prestige, it is necessary that they 
 should have considerable power without ceasing 
 to be absolutely dependent upon the chief, so that 
 they may be subjected to the most vigilant sur- 
 veillance. 
 
 ADMINISTRATIVE ORGANISATION. 
 
 The administrative organisation of the Empire, 
 like the greater part of the institutions of that 
 epoch, had an immediate object to fulfil, and a 
 distant end to attain. Centralisation afforded the 
 only means of constituting France so as to estab- 
 lish a stable regime, and form a compact unity 
 capable of resisting Europe, and of supporting, at 
 a later moment, liberty. . The excess of centralisa- 
 tion, under the Empire, ought not to be considered 
 as a definitive and settled system, but rather as a 
 means of arriving at a settled system. In all the 
 institutions of the Empire this is the predominant 
 idea and the general tendency, which it is especially 
 necessary to investigate and understand. 
 
 A good administration is composed of a regular
 
 50 NAPOLEONIC IDEAS. 
 
 system of taxes, of a prompt and impartial mode 
 of collecting them ; of a system of finances which 
 assures public credit ; of an honorable magistracy 
 which will cause the laws to be respected ; finally, 
 of a system of administrative machinery which 
 will cause the life to circulate from the centre to 
 the extremities, and from the extremities to the 
 centre. But that which especially distinguishes a 
 good administration, is, that it calls forth ah 1 kinds 
 of merit, and all rare faculties to illuminate its 
 career and put in operation all improvements 
 that it represses with vigor all abuses that it me- 
 liorates the lot of the poorer classes that it rouses 
 to activity all branches of industry that it holds a 
 just balance between rich and poor, between those 
 who labor and those who employ, between the 
 agents of power and those who are controlled by 
 them. 
 
 The Convention had divided France into de- 
 partments. The Emperor facilitated the exercise 
 of power by the creation of the offices of prefect, 
 sub-prefect, mayor, and adjoint. France was fur- 
 ther divided into 398 communal arrondissements. 
 Each department had a general council and a 
 council of the prefecture ; the first presided over 
 the distribution of public burdens, and watched 
 the special agent of power ; the second decided 
 upon claims of individuals against the adminis- 
 tration.
 
 QUESTION OF THE LVTEEIOE. 51 
 
 The Emperor rejoiced at Saint Helena in the 
 recollection of having instituted the offices of a 
 minister of the treasury, and a minister secretary 
 of state. The minister of the treasury concen- 
 trated all the resources and controlled all the ex- 
 penditures of the Empire. The secretary of state 
 issued all acts of government ; he was the minis- 
 ter of the ministers, imparting life to all interme- 
 diate actions, the grand notary of the Empire, 
 signing and legalizing all documents. 
 
 The Emperor introduced order and economy 
 into all branches of the public service, as well as 
 into the administration of all the institutions of 
 charity. He re-established the general direction 
 of the forests, of the registry, and of the custom- 
 houses, which had before been superintended by 
 collective administrations. The administration of 
 the forests was rendered more economical and 
 more simple ; that of the registry was rendered 
 less onerous, by a better distribution of the 
 taxes. 
 
 As to the military administration, we see in 
 the Memorial de Sainte Helene that Napoleon 
 found it too extended. " They had centralized at 
 " Paris," said he, " the direction of the markets, 
 " of the furnishing materials, of the making up, 
 " and subdivided the correspondence of the ministry 
 " among as many persons as there were regiments. 
 " But, on the contrary, the correspondences should
 
 52 NAPOLEONIC IDEAS. 
 
 "have been centralized and the resources sub- 
 divided by transporting them into the several 
 " localities." 
 
 The judiciary ordei*, under the Directory, was 
 composed of 417 correctional or criminal tribunals, 
 and of 1,798 civil tribunals. In 1800, a tribunal of 
 first instance was established in each communal 
 arrondissement ; and it had also cognizance of mat- 
 ters of correctional police, an arrangement which 
 very much facilitated the administration of justice 
 among the citizens. Above these tribunals of first 
 instance, were constituted 29 courts of appeal. 
 Each department had a criminal tribunal. The 
 court of cassation sat at Paris. In 1810 the 
 courts of appeal and the criminal courts were 
 united, and received the title of imperial courts. 
 They had cognizance both of civil and of criminal 
 matters. The courts of criminal justice were 
 abolished. The courts of assizes and the special 
 courts were branches of the imperial courts. The 
 union of these two kinds of justice had two ad- 
 vantages ; first, to give a guaranty of justice to 
 the accused in subjecting him to a less rigorous 
 jurisdiction, one which was not exclusively con- 
 fined to the discovery of crimes, in the matters 
 which were brought before it ; second, the civil 
 magistracy being generally respected, and the 
 criminal magistracy being, from the very nature 
 of its functions, unpopular, the fusion of these two
 
 QUESTION OF THE INTEKIOB. 53 
 
 judiciary bodies resulted in causing the criminal 
 magistracy to participate in the public respect 
 which surrounded, the civil magistracy. 
 
 As a proof of the excellence of the judiciary 
 institutions of the Empire, it is well to remark 
 that crimes constantly diminished in number, and 
 that the number of prisoners of state, which was 
 9,000 on the 18th Brumaire, was reduced to 150 
 in 1814. 
 
 The finances of a great state, ought, according 
 to the Emperor, to provide the means of meeting 
 the exigencies of extraordinary circumstances, and 
 even of the vicissitudes of the most obstinate wars, 
 without recourse to the imposition of new taxes, 
 the settlement of which is always difficult. His 
 system consisted in having a large number of 
 taxes which pressed lightly upon the people in 
 ordinary times, and of which the percentage was 
 raised or lowered according to public need, by 
 means of additional centimes. 
 
 It is well known to how many abuses the col- 
 lection of taxes was subjected before the 18th 
 Brumaire, and the treasury possessed at that epoch 
 only 150,000 francs. The dividends and pensions 
 of the State were paid only in paper, which was 
 at a considerable discount. Payments into the 
 treasury were made hi more than forty different 
 kinds of things. It was impossible to make np a 
 budget.
 
 54 NAPOLEONIC IDEAS. 
 
 At the commencement of the Consulate, Pitt, 
 our terrible adversary, thought he saw in the defi- 
 ciency of money and of credit the near ruin of 
 France. He did not know all the resources within 
 the reach of a skilful and strong government. One 
 year sufficed Napoleon, after the 18th Brumaire, 
 to regulate the collection of contributions ; so that, 
 while abolishing all violent processes, he met the 
 expenditures, diminished the taxes, restored a me- 
 tallic currency, and held three hundred millions of 
 francs in securities. 
 
 " Finances founded upon a good system of ag- 
 " riculture never fail ; " these were the words of 
 the First Consul. 1 Facts have proved that he was 
 right. 
 
 By the order and regularity which he intro- 
 duced into the administration and into the budgets, 
 he revived credit. He favored the creation of the 
 bank of France ; but while he rendered it inde- 
 pendent of the government, he reserved over it a 
 power of control. He required, not that it should 
 lend him money, but that it should afford facilities 
 for realizing economically the revenues of the State, 
 at convenient times and places. He showed con- 
 stantly a disposition to come to its assistance in 
 moments of difficulty. u Notwithstanding the bad 
 " spirit and the distrust with which certain gov- 
 "ernors of the bank are animated," said he in 
 1 Letter of Napoleon to the King of England.
 
 QUESTION OF THE INTEKIOB. 55 
 
 1805, " I will, if necessary, stop, the pay of my sol- 
 " diers to sustain the bank." It was his intention 
 to establish branches of this institution in all the 
 great cities of France. 
 
 He created the office of minister of the treas- 
 ury independent of the minister of finances. He 
 did not wish an alliance between the bank and the 
 treasury, because he thought that a simple move- 
 ment of funds might disclose a secret of State. 
 One of the most important innovations which were 
 introduced into the treasury, was the keeping of 
 accounts by double entry. 
 
 France ought to rejoice that the system of 
 borrowing, which at this time weighs so heavily 
 upon England, was not put in practice under the 
 Empire. Napoleon had settled upon different 
 principles, in limiting by a special law the sum 
 total of the public debt to eighty million francs 
 of annual dividends. 
 
 Among the meliorations which ought to be 
 credited to the Empire is the law which required 
 receivers-general, notaries, and stock-brokers to 
 give bonds. For a new government it was essen- 
 tial that the price of public stocks should be main- 
 tained in a progressive state of improvement ; and 
 the natural consequence of this necessity was a 
 right of police and surveillance over those who, 
 speculating only upon the rise and fall of public 
 stocks, might have an interest to cause them to
 
 56 NAPOLEONIC IDEAS. 
 
 fall. The enlightened investigations of the Em- 
 peror advanced so far as to cause the tariff of an- 
 nuities to be rectified, because not in accordance 
 with the calculation of probabilities. 
 
 He established the sinking-fund, and expressed 
 himself thus on that occasion : " It is said that a 
 " sinking-fund should be only a machine for bor- 
 " rowing ; that may be true ; but the time has not 
 "come for France to found her finances upon 
 " loans." He created a " caisse de service," which 
 was charged with the principal duty of effecting 
 with rapidity the local application of the receipts 
 to the expenditures in the departments. He 
 opened accounts current with the receivers-gen- 
 eral. 
 
 It was his intention to create " caisses d'activi- 
 tbj* the increasing amounts of funds belonging to 
 which would have been consecrated to works of 
 public improvement. There would have been a 
 "caisse cPactivite" of the Empire for national 
 works, a " caisse " of the departments for local 
 works, and a " caisse " of the communes for mu- 
 nicipal works. 
 
 In 1 806, tolls and road taxes were abolished ; 
 and a law authorized the levying of a tax upon the 
 entry of goods, in ah 1 cities in which the civil hos- 
 pitals had not sufficient revenues. 
 
 The Council of Liquidation, instituted in 1802, 
 ceased its labors the 30th of June, 1810. It had
 
 QUESTION OF THE INTERIOR. 57 
 
 liquidated all the debts of the State ; that long- 
 continuing open wound of the Revolution, as M. 
 Thibaudeau expressed it, was at length closed. 
 
 The Emperor estimated that France needed a 
 budget of 300,000,000 francs for a state of war, 
 and of 600,000,000 francs for a state of peace. 
 The budget, under the Empire, never exceeded 
 the above-mentioned figures, except after the re- 
 verse of Moscow ; even then, in spite of war, it 
 was 400,000,000 francs less than that with which 
 twenty-four years of profound peace have bur- 
 dened France. The Emperor did not expend for 
 his own uses half his civil list ; he employed the 
 exce'ss in forming a reserve fund, or in executing 
 public works, or in assisting manufactures. In 
 1814, all his reserves were consecrated to carry on 
 the national war. 
 
 A good system of settling accounts is the indis- 
 pensable complement of a good system of finances. 
 The constitution of the year 8 had preserved a com- 
 mission of control to sit in judgment upon ac- 
 counts ; it was not equal to the immense work 
 accumulated upon it. From 1792 to 1807, of 
 11,477 accounts, the commission had passed upon 
 only 8,793. The Emperor, anxious to regulate 
 every thing, established the court of accounts, which 
 brought up the arrears of this important branch of 
 the public service. 
 
 The Emperor has been reproached with having, 
 3*
 
 58 NAPOLEONIC IDEAS. 
 
 in adjusting the taxes, too much favored landed 
 property. It was his opinion that, during times 
 of peace, it was best to husband the resources of 
 direct imposts, because these alone in time of war 
 support all the burden; and that it was best to 
 take advantage of the activity which peace imparts 
 to consumption to levy upon it indirect contribu- 
 tions which it cannot furnish in times of war. 
 Besides, there may have been a political object in 
 this temporary preference ; for it should be noticed 
 that the political changes which had taken place 
 since 1789 had created about ten millions of 
 landed proprietors ; and that these proprietors, all 
 whose interests were attached to the revolution, 
 formed a class which the government had particu- 
 lar reasons for sustaining, because that body of 
 new holders of land was called upon to form a 
 public spirit. The Emperor said one day in the 
 council of state : " The system of imposed taxes is 
 " bad ; under it there is neither property nor civil 
 "liberty; for civil liberty depends upon the se- 
 " curity of property. It does not exist in a coun- 
 " try where the vote of the tax-payer may every 
 "year be changed. One who has 3,000 francs 
 " rent does not know how much will be left the 
 " next year for his subsistence. The imposed tax 
 " may absorb his whole income. We see men, for 
 " a miserable interest of fifty or a hundred francs, 
 " make solemn pleas before grave tribunals, and a
 
 QUESTION OF THE INTEBIOB. 59 
 
 u simple clerk can, by a single stroke of his pen, 
 " overburden you by several thousand francs ! In 
 *' such a state of things property does not exist. 
 " When I buy a piece of land, I do not know 
 *' what I am purchasing. In Lombardy, in Pied- 
 "rnont, they have a land tax assessment book. 
 " Every one knows beforehand what he must pay. 
 " The book is unalterable ; changes are made in it 
 " only in extraordinary cases, and alter a formal 
 "judgment. If the levy is increased, every one 
 " bears his share according to the book, and he 
 " can make his calculations in his office. One 
 " knows what he has ; and he has a property. 
 "Why is there not public spirit in France? be- 
 " cause a proprietor is obliged to court the favor 
 " of the administration. If he stands ill with it, 
 " he is ruined. Judgments upon reclamations are 
 " arbitrary ; for this reason in no other country 
 " are people so servilely attached to government 
 " as in France, because property is dependent 
 " upon its favor. In Lombardy, on the contrary, 
 " a proprietor lives upon his land, without troub- 
 "ling himself as to who governs. Nothing has 
 " ever been done in France for property. He 
 " who will introduce a good law concerning assess- 
 " ments (cadastre) will deserve a statue." In 
 1810 the assessment register (cadastre) was put in 
 operation in 3,200 communes ; about 600,000 pro-
 
 60 NAPOLEONIC IDEAS. 
 
 prietors in these communes enjoyed the advantage 
 of proportional equality. 
 
 Property in mines had never been regulated 
 except imperfectly. In 1810 it was regulated by 
 laws, and the Emperor created a body of engineers 
 of mines. 
 
 The amelioration of the condition of the poorer 
 classes was one of the first preoccupations of the 
 Emperor. In a letter to the Minister of the Inte- 
 rior of the 2d November, 1807, he said that he 
 would consider the doing away with mendicity a 
 great glory. He established depots of mendicity ; 
 forty-two existed already in 1809. In order to 
 find the most effectual means of relieving the 
 misery of the people, he solicited the advice of all 
 writers upon the Subject. He founded the mater- 
 nal institution, which was to have a council of ad- 
 ministration in every great city of the Empire. 
 The institution of the Sisters of Charity was re- 
 established with all its ancient advantages, and 
 without the abuses which had perverted its orig- 
 inal intention. Six houses destined to receive the 
 orphans of members of the Legion of Honor, to 
 the number of 600, were established in 1810. The 
 Hotel des Invalides received in 1803 a new organ- 
 isation, and several branches were established at 
 different points. Napoleon created asylums in the 
 country for the veterans, where each person who 
 was admitted received a rural tenement, a piece
 
 QUESTION OF THE INTERIOR. 61 
 
 of land producing a net income equal to the 
 amount of his retiring pension. 
 
 In 1807, the property which a decree of the 
 Convention had alienated from the hospitals was 
 restored to them. 
 
 Convicts of the criminal tribunals, and of the cor- 
 rectional police, had been promiscuously mingled 
 in the prisons with the suspected and the accused. 
 The government adopted the system of central 
 prisons, exclusively for those who had been con- 
 demned to imprisonment for a year or longer. 
 
 The Emperor desired that public worship should 
 be gratuitous, and adapted to the people ; that a 
 decent burial should be granted to the poor with- 
 out charge. " No one has a right," said he, " to 
 " lay a tax upon the dead : the poor should not be 
 " deprived because they are poor, of that which 
 " consoles them in their poverty." He ordered 
 that the churches should be opened gratuitously 
 to the public ; and that if a church was hung with 
 black for the funeral services of a rich man, it should 
 not be unhung until after pei'forming the services 
 for the poor. It was his intention to reduce the 
 price of places in the pit of the Theatre Fran?ais 
 on Sunday, in order that the poorer classes might 
 enjoy the masterpieces of our literature. In the 
 address which he delivered, in 1807, to the legis- 
 lative body he said that in every part of his Em- 
 pire, even in the smallest village, the comfort of
 
 62 NAPOLEONIC IDEAS. 
 
 the citizens and the value of land would be soon 
 increased in consequence of the general system of 
 amelioration which he had planned. 
 
 War prevented the complete realisation of so 
 comprehensive a scheme, and arrested the execu- 
 tion of a great number of other philanthropic 
 ameliorations. Among them we cite the desire to 
 put a stop to the inconveniences existing at the 
 house of detention of the prefecture of police in 
 Paris, where honest men were obliged to pass 
 the night in company with thieves and worse 
 criminals. 
 
 Communes. The administration of France was 
 organizing its machinery. It was necessary, as 
 has been before said, to centralize every thing, in 
 order to ameliorate, vivify, and establish, with the 
 intention to distribute later at the circumference its 
 due proportion of power, which the centre had 
 temporarily absorbed. 
 
 The Emperor was alive to the importance of a 
 good communal administration, and said that care 
 must be taken not to destroy the municipal spirit. 
 He often took the side of the mayors against the 
 prefects, and desired that they should be present 
 at the inauguration of the mayors. It was his 
 opinion that the taxes levied upon the entrance of 
 goods into cities or towns, should be administered 
 by the mayors for the benefit of the communes,
 
 QUESTION OF THE INTERIOB. 63 
 
 and that the prefects should confine themselves to 
 simple superintendence. 
 
 To encourage, in the rural communes, exchanges 
 and settlements, calculated to do away with the 
 evils of excessive partition, and of the tying up of 
 titles to land, the government exempted from pay- 
 ing the fees of registry, the first commune whose 
 inhabitants should accomplish what was desired by 
 a general mutual agreement. 
 
 The communal spirit is essentially conservative ; 
 all that it acquires, whether it be an abuse or an 
 advantage, it holds with equal tenacity. In order 
 to regenerate the communes, it was necessary to 
 deprive them of a part of their rights, until their 
 training should be completed ; then, only, would 
 have been granted to them a greater independ- 
 ence, without danger to the general welfare. The 
 prosperity of the communes was the object of the 
 most anxious solicitude of the Emperor. 
 
 " To work," said he, " for the prosperity of 
 " 36,000 communes, is to work for the prosperity 
 " of 30,000,000 of population, by simplifying the 
 " question, and by diminishing the difficulty per- 
 "taining to great numbers, whose difference is in- 
 " dicated by the proportion between 36,000 and 30,- 
 " 000,000." With this view the Emperor divided 
 the communes into three classes : communes which 
 were in debt ; communes whose accounts were 
 square ; and communes having disposable resources.
 
 64 NAPOLEONIC IDEAS. 
 
 By certain ways and means, which he explained to 
 the minister of the interior, five years would have 
 sufficed to clear away the indebted communes ; there 
 would then have remained only the two classes, viz. : 
 those whose accounts were square, and those having 
 disposable resources ; and at the end of ten years 
 every commune in France would have been in 
 possession of disposable resources. 
 
 " The alienation of the property of the corn- 
 " munes, considered in reference to the progress 
 " of agriculture," said the Emperor, " is the most 
 " important question of political economy which 
 " can be agitated." The discussion of it was cut 
 short by the imperious necessities of war. In 1813, 
 the lands, houses, and factories, belonging to the 
 communes were ^old ; they retained the woods, 
 pastures, turf-fields, and other property, which the 
 inhabitants enjoyed in common, or from which they 
 derived no revenue, as well as the buildings ap- 
 propriated to the public service, and the places 
 which contributed to the public health or pleasure. 
 The property which was to be sold was conveyed 
 to the sinking fund. The communes received, in 
 five per cent, stock, an income equal to the net rev- 
 enue derived from the property conveyed. 
 
 It is very clearly seen, from what precedes, 
 that the intentions of the Emperor were all di- 
 rected towards the amelioration of the material 
 well-being of the country. It is also seen that
 
 QUESTION OF THE ESTTEK1OK. 65 
 
 when the disasters of war compelled him to have 
 recourse to expedients, the resources which he 
 knew how to develop were not destructive of the 
 interests of the country, and that they were dif- 
 ferent from the means employed by other govern- 
 ments in similar circumstances. He did not resort 
 either to paper-money, or to forced loans, or to 
 excessive borrowing, or to the depreciation of the 
 value of coin, as was done even by Frederic the 
 Great. 
 
 The Emperor had made precise discriminations 
 among the resources of a State. " Once," said he, 
 " only one kind of property was recognized, prop- 
 " erty in land ; then came another kind, that of 
 " industry, which is now engaged in a contest with 
 " the first ; it is the great contest of the field 
 " against the counting-room, of the battlements 
 " against fhe trades ; then came a third kind, de- 
 " rived from the enormous taxes levied upon the 
 " people, and which, distributed by the neutral 
 " and impartial hands of government, affords pro- 
 " tection against the monopoly of the others, serves 
 " as their medium of communication, and prevents 
 " their proceeding to acts of violence." He made 
 the following classification : 
 
 Agriculture ; the foundation' of the Empire. 
 
 Manufactures ; representing the comfort, the 
 happiness of the population. 
 
 Foreign commerce ; representing superabun-
 
 66 NAPOLEONIC IDEAS. 
 
 dance, and the good employment of Agriculture 
 and Manufactures. 
 
 Foreign commerce, very much inferior to the 
 two other branches in its results, -was for this 
 reason constantly subordinated to them in the 
 mind of Napoleon. " Foreign commerce is made 
 " for the two other branches they are not made 
 " for it. The interests of these three essential 
 "bases are divergent, often opposite. I have 
 " always treated them with reference to their 
 " natural rank." 
 
 Agriculture did not cease at any time to make 
 great advances under the Empire. " Agriculture, 
 " like all other arts," said Napoleon, " perfects it- 
 " self by means of comparison and example." He 
 directed the prefects to make known to him the 
 agricultural proprietors who distinguished them- 
 selves, whether by a better understood or more 
 rational culture, or by a more careful training of 
 farm animals and improvement of breeds. In such 
 departments as were behindhand in the arts of 
 cultivation, the good proprietors were induced to 
 send their children to study and learn the methods 
 employed in the departments where agriculture 
 was in a flourishing state. Praise and distinction 
 were awarded to those who excelled. 
 
 The rural code, projected in 1802, was sub- 
 mitted in 1808 to commissions of consultation, 
 formed in each branch of the court of appeal, and
 
 QUESTION OP THE I3TTERIOB. 67 
 
 composed of the most distinguished judges, ad- 
 ministrators, and agriculturists. This code could 
 not be completed under the Empire. 
 
 In 1807 the government created, in the vete- 
 rinary school of Alfort, a professorship of rural 
 economy. 
 
 Manufactures were not only encouraged, under 
 the Empire, but it may be said that they were, in 
 a certain sense, created. They attained in a short 
 time a high degree of prosperity. 
 
 The Emperor, in saying that manufactures 
 represented a new kind of property, expressed in 
 a single word its importance and its nature. The 
 spirit of property is, of itself, encroaching and ex- 
 clusive. Property in land had had its vassals and 
 its serfs. The revolution enfranchised the land ; 
 but the new property that of manufactures 
 growing daily, tended to pass through the same 
 phases as the first, and to have, like the first, its 
 vassals and its serfs. 
 
 Napoleon foresaw this tendency, which is in- 
 herent in every system which advances by con- 
 quest : and while he protected the masters of in- 
 dustrial establishments, he did not forget the rights 
 of the workmen. He established in Lyons, and 
 later in other manufacturing cities, a council of 
 discreet men (prud'hommes)^ veritable judges of 
 the peace in industrial matters, whose duty it 
 was to settle the differences which might arise
 
 68 NAPOLEONIC IDEAS. 
 
 between employers and employed. Regulations 
 were published concerning the police of factories, 
 trade-marks, disputants, and the respective duties 
 of workmen and manufacturers. Chambers of con- 
 sultation concerning manufactures, factories, arts, 
 and crafts were instituted. There was inaugu- 
 rated at the ministry of the interior a council- 
 general of factories and manufactures. The Em- 
 peror asvsisted often, by means of his civil list, 
 branches of manufacture which, for want of a 
 market, were in danger of stopping work. It was 
 his intention to aid industry by the establishment 
 of a special fund for that purpose. He wrote, 
 after the battle of Eylau, to the minister of the in- 
 terior : " My object is not to prevent this or that 
 " merchant from failing ; the resources of the State 
 " would not suffice for that ; but to prevent a 
 " branch of manufacture from perishing. My ob- 
 "ject is to supply the place of sales by a temporary 
 " loan. I wish, to found a stable and permanent 
 " establishment, to endow it with a capital of forty 
 " or fifty millions, so that, in times of cessation of 
 " demand, and stagnation, the position of the man- 
 " ufacturer shall be less severe." 
 
 The Emperor raised up manufacturing indus- 
 try, by causing the sciences to co-operate in its 
 improvement. " If I had had sufficient time," said 
 he, " soon there would have been no crafts in 
 " France. The arts would have taken their place."
 
 QUESTION OF THE INTERIOR. 69 
 
 Indeed, under his reign, chemistry and mechanics 
 were applied to the improvement of all branches 
 of industry. Besides, how many new machines 
 were created, and useful inventions made, during 
 the imperial regime. 
 
 If the spirit of association did not make greater 
 progress in France, it was not for want of encour- 
 agement on the part of the chief of the State ; for 
 in the midst of the preoccupations of war, he or- 
 dered the minister of the interior to endeavor to 
 sell to companies the canals which were finished, 
 and enjoined upon him in 1807 to cause the iron 
 bridge of Jena to be constructed, as the Pont des 
 Ails had been, by a company. 
 
 The Emperor always opposed the re-establish- 
 ment of wardenships and guilds. He founded 
 schools of arts and crafts at Chalons. High prizes 
 were offered for the encouragement of ah 1 inven- 
 tions. The sum of a million francs was promised 
 to the inventor of the best machine for spinning 
 flax ; a first prize of 40,000 francs and a second of 
 20,000, to the inventor of the best machinery for 
 picking, carding, combing, and spinning wool. 
 
 He created the cotton manufacture in France, 
 including yarns, cloths, and prints. Before the 
 Empire the art of spinning cotton was not known in 
 France ; . and cotton cloths were imported from 
 abroad. Cotton was cultivated advantageously in 
 the South of France, in Corsica, and in Italy : the
 
 70 NAPOLEONIC IDEAS. 
 
 crop was estimated in 1810 at 100,000 kilogrammes. 
 Merino sheep were distributed throughout tfye Em- 
 pire. He gave directions to search for granite, 
 and to this we are indebted for the quarries which 
 are now worked. 1 European products took the 
 place of foreign products ; pastel was substituted 
 for indigo ; beet-root for the sugar-cane ; garance 
 for cochineal ; artificial soda for foreign soda ; and 
 now all these products are sources of wealth to 
 France. The manufacture of beet-root sugar amounts 
 to 50,000,000 kilogrammes a year. 
 
 Foreign commerce beyond the seas could not, 
 on account of war, be much extended. But the 
 commerce of the interior received a great develop- 
 ment; for it may be said that at that time the 
 commerce of the interior embraced the commerce 
 of the European continent, from Hamburg to 
 Rome. 
 
 A council-general of commerce, as of industry, 
 was installed under the minister of the interior. 
 
 In all his treaties, the Emperor endeavored to 
 favor French commerce. In 1808, he opened the 
 markets of Spain to the national products, by sup- 
 pressing the prohibition of the silks of Lyons, 
 Tours, and Turin. He secured a market in like 
 manner for the cloths of Carcassonne, the linens of 
 Bretagne, and French ironware. He desired that 
 commerce should establish at St. Petersburg!! 
 1 Bignon.
 
 QUESTION OF THE INTERIOR. 71 
 
 French houses, which should receive French mer- 
 chandise, and introduce into France the merchan- 
 dise of Russia. And to this time, thanks to a 
 treaty made by the Emperor with Russia, France 
 obtains from that country her timber for the build- 
 ing of ships. 
 
 The commercial code was completed and adopt- 
 ed in 1807. 
 
 The public works, which the Emperor caused 
 to be executed upon so great a scale, were not 
 only one of the principal causes of the internal 
 prosperity of the country, but they contributed 
 much towards social progress. In fact, these 
 works, while multiplying the means of communi- 
 cation, produced three great advantages : First, 
 they employed all the idle, and thus assisted the 
 poorer classes. Second, they favored and encour- 
 aged agriculture, manufactures, and commerce ; 
 the creation of new roads and canals, increasing 
 the value of lands, and facilitating the transporta- 
 tion and sale of products. Third, they destroyed 
 the spirit of locality, and removed barriers, such 
 as those which separate not only the different prov- 
 inces of a State, but different nations, by rendering 
 easier all the connections and relations of men, and 
 drawing closer the bonds which ought to unite 
 them. The system of Napoleon consisted in exe- 
 cuting by the State a great number of works, and 
 after finishing them, in selling them and applying
 
 72 NAPOLEONIC IDEAS. 
 
 the proceeds to other works. It is important to 
 notice that, in spite of war, the Emperor found the 
 means of expending in twelve years, 1,005,000,000 
 francs in public works. And the man who had so 
 great treasures at his disposition, who distributed 
 700,000,000 francs in endowments, never possessed 
 any private property ! 
 
 Public instruction ought, under an enlightened 
 regime like that of the Empire, to participate in 
 the impulse given by the chief of the State to all 
 branches of the administration. " Only those," 
 said the Emperor, " who seek to deceive the peo- 
 " pie, and rule for their own advantage, wish to 
 " keep them in ignorance ; for the more enlight- 
 " ened the people is, the greater will be the num- 
 " ber of those convinced of the necessity of hav- 
 " ing and of supporting laws, and the more settled, 
 " prosperous, and happy will society be ; and if a 
 " time shall ever arrive when intelligence will be 
 " injurious to the masses, it will only be when the 
 " government, in hostility to the interests of the 
 " people, shall crowd it into a forced position, or 
 " reduce the lowest class to starvation ; for then 
 " the multitude will use its greater intelligence 
 " either to defend itself or to commit crimes." 
 
 The National Convention had already done a 
 great deal towards overthrowing the Gothic edifice 
 of instruction. But in times of trouble, it is diffi- 
 cult to found ; and the projected establishments of
 
 QUESTION OF THE INTEEIOE. 73 
 
 instruction remained incomplete and unfinished. 
 There were primary schools only in the cities ; the 
 central schools were vacant. In 1802, Napoleon 
 divided the institutions of instruction into three 
 classes : first, the municipal or primary schools, of 
 which there were to be 23,000 ; second, the sec- 
 ondary schools or communal colleges ; third, the 
 lyceums and special schools, maintained at the ex- 
 pense of the public treasury. The Institute was 
 at the head. The greatest activity was imparted 
 to the creation of the schools. The cities and the 
 departments disputed for them with .emulation, 
 and offered to bear the expenses of them. 
 
 There were established at first forty-five lyce- 
 ums ; there was to have been one at least for each 
 arrondissement of every tribunal of appeals. Three 
 commissions of savants went through the country, 
 to provide the lyceums with all the materials of 
 instruction. There were 6,400 pupils pensioners 
 of the State. 
 
 The government caused to be written works 
 concerning instruction, in mathematics, by La 
 Race, Monge, and Lacroix ; in natural history, by 
 Dum6nil ; in mineralogy, by Brongniart ; in chem- 
 istry, by Adet ; in astronomy, by Biot ; in phys- 
 ics, by Haxiy. 
 
 The title of French Prytaneum, under which, 
 until then, several colleges had been comprised, 
 was given in 1803 exclusively to the College of
 
 74 NAPOLEONIC IDEAS. 
 
 Saint-Cyr, a school, free of charge, reserved for 
 the children of officers who had died on the field 
 of battle. The pupils of this school, after having 
 undergone examination, passed to the special 
 school of Fontainebleau, which was also created 
 at that epoch. 
 
 There were established a special naval school, 
 and ship-schools at Toulon and Brest. 
 
 Two practical schools of mines were founded : 
 one at Geislautern, in the department of the Saar ; 
 the other at Pesey, in the department of Mont- 
 Blanc. 
 
 In 1806, the Emperor felt the necessity of reg- 
 ulating instruction by a general system. It has 
 been charged against this system that it shackled 
 liberty ; but, as has been before said, the tune for 
 liberty had not come. When a government finds 
 itself at the head of a nation which has just thrown 
 off all ideas derived from the past, it is its duty not 
 only to guide the present generation, but to bring 
 up the rising generation in the principles which 
 caused the revolution to triumph. " There can 
 " be no stable political state," said the Emperor, 
 " if there be not a corps of instruction with set- 
 " tied principles. The creation of such a body 
 " will, on the contrary, fortify civil order." 
 
 The system of education, provided with suit- 
 able restrictions, was a great and beautiful monu- 
 ment in harmony with the plan of the imperial
 
 QUESTION OF THE LNTERIOK. 75 
 
 organisation, which addressed itself to all capaci- 
 ties, opening the way, tracing the lines with preci- 
 sion, and removing all obstacles. To all of you 
 who desire to devote yourselves to the art of in- 
 struction, as to the art of medicine, or to the science 
 of jurisprudence, the career is open : provided 
 only that society have the proper guaranties that 
 you are capable of teaching morality and not vice ; 
 that you know how to distinguish between health- 
 ful plants and poisonous juices ; and that, pupils 
 of the laws, you have studied their spirit, and 
 know how to defend them ! 
 
 The first regulations adopted by Napoleon had 
 caused great progress to be made in public in- 
 struction. Numerous schools had been established, 
 but they were isolated and independent of each 
 other. The career of teachers and professors was 
 not assured; they were subjected to no general reg- 
 ulation. The Emperor conceived the plan of con- 
 necting by intimate relations ah 1 these establish- 
 ments ; by uniting in one body all the professors, 
 and raising the consideration and importance of 
 their occupation to a level with the most honor- 
 able employments. 
 
 Public instruction, in the whole Empire, was 
 intrusted exclusively to the university. The uni- 
 versity was composed of as many academies as 
 there were courts of appeal. The schools belong- 
 ing to an academy were placed in the following
 
 76 NAPOLEONIC IDEAS. 
 
 order: 1st, the faculties of the high sciences, and 
 for the conferring of degrees ; 2d, the lyceums ; 
 3d, the colleges and secondary communal schools ; 
 4th, institutions, schools kept by private teachers ; 
 5th, boarding-schools belonging to private teach- 
 ers, and devoted to studies less advanced than 
 those pursued at the institutions ; 6th, the little or 
 primary schools. The little seminaries were under 
 the superintendence of the university. 
 
 There were five orders of faculties ; those of 
 theology, law, medicine, mathematical sciences, 
 and physical sciences. There was a faculty of 
 theology for every metropolitan church, besides 
 one at Strasbourg, and one at Geneva for the re- 
 formed religion. The schools of law formed twelve 
 faculties ; the schools of medicine five. A faculty 
 of sciences and a faculty of letters were established 
 near each lyceum, the chef-lieu of an academy. 
 
 In each faculty the degrees were those of 
 bachelor, licenciate, and doctor ; they were con- 
 ferred after examinations. 
 
 The administrative hierarchy of instruction com- 
 prised nineteen degrees. No one could be called 
 to a place without having passed through the in- 
 ferior places, and having obtained in the different 
 faculties a rank corresponding to the nature and 
 importance of the functions. The functionaries 
 were divided into titularies, officers of the univer- 
 sity, and officers of the academies ; they were sub-
 
 QUESTION OF THE INTERIOB. 77 
 
 jected to strict discipline. After thirty years' 
 uninterrupted service, they could be declared 
 emeriti, and receive a retiring pension. 
 
 The university was presided over and governed 
 by the grand master, appointed by the Emperor, 
 and removable at his will. 
 
 The council of the university was composed of 
 thirty members. At the chef-lieu of each academy 
 there was an academic council of ten members. 
 
 There were inspector-generals of the university 
 whose duty it was to visit establishments of in- 
 struction at the order of the grand master. 
 
 There was to be established near each acad- 
 emy, and in the colleges and lyceums, one or more 
 schools, for the purpose of forming good masters 
 for the primary schools. 
 
 The university was to strive, without cessation, 
 to perfect instruction in all its branches, to en- 
 courage the composition of classical works, and 
 especially to take care that instruction in the sci- 
 ences should be always up to the level of all ac- 
 quired knowledge, and that the spirit of system 
 should never arrest progress. 
 
 The lyceums, of which the number was brought 
 up, in 1811, to one hundred, were to be the nurs- 
 eries of professors, rectors, and masters. The Em- 
 peror desired to present to them great motives to 
 emulation, in order that the young men who might 
 devote themselves to instruction should have be-
 
 78 NAPOLEONIC IDEAS. 
 
 fore them a perspective of promotion from one 
 grade to another, up even to the chief places of 
 the State. There were in each lyceum twenty 
 pupils maintained at the expense of government ; 
 eighty received assistance to the extent of one- 
 half, and fifty to the extent of three-quarters 
 of their expenses, so that the poor endowed with 
 talent might have a means of making themselves 
 known. 
 
 In the impulse which he imparted to instruc- 
 tion, Napoleon replaced the study of the dead 
 languages, which until then had been almost ex- 
 clusively taught, by the study of the most useful 
 physical and mathematical sciences, and in the 
 same spirit he opposed the desire to give medi- 
 cine pre-eminence over surgery. 
 
 The Polytechnic school, the foundation of which 
 is to be credited to the Directory, received a great 
 development, and furnished distinguished officers 
 to the army, and savants in all branches of practi- 
 cal science. 
 
 The Normal school, planned under the Con- 
 vention, received its beneficial settlement and estab- 
 lishment under the Empire. 
 
 Napoleon created, under the title of imperial 
 houses, two establishments ; one for the education 
 of daughters of members of the Legion of Honor, 
 the other for the education of orphans. In the 
 first, the pupils received a brilliant education ; in
 
 QUESTION OF THE INTEKIOB. 79 
 
 the second, they were taught all the employments 
 of women suited to enable them to gain their own 
 subsistence. 
 
 Provision was made for children whose educa- 
 tion was confided to public charity. They consisted 
 of three classes ; foundlings, children who had been 
 deserted by their parents, and poor orphans. An 
 asylum in each arrondissement received them. 
 
 A school of anatomical preparations was estab- 
 lished at Rouen. The school of arts and trades 
 founded in 1803 at Compiegne, and afterwards 
 transfered to CMlons upon the Marne, was intend- 
 ed to distribute throughout the country the bene- 
 fits of an industrial education. In 1806, a second 
 was created at Beaupreau, and a third in the ab- 
 bey of Saint Maximilian, near Treves. 
 
 The French school of fine arts, at Rome, was 
 restored to activity and transferred to the Villa 
 Medici. Fifteen pupils were sent and maintained 
 there. 
 
 The Emperor did not confine himself to creat- 
 ing schools, he also encouraged all kinds of merit 
 by prizes and recompenses, for which, with a view 
 to excite emulation, all the savants of Europe were 
 invited to compete. A prize of 60,000 francs was 
 ofiered to the one who should make an important 
 advance in galvanism, and another an annual medal 
 of the value of 3,000 francs for the best new ex- 
 periments which, in the judgment of the Institute,
 
 80 NAPOLEONIC IDEAS. 
 
 should be made in the same branch. In 1808, the 
 celebrated English chemist, Davy, gamed the an- 
 nual prize. 
 
 The decennial prizes which were then founded, 
 were to encourage all sciences and all arts. There 
 were nine of 10,000 francs each, and thirteen of 
 5,000 francs. 
 
 Among the numerous encouragements granted 
 to the sciences, should be mentioned the prize of 
 12,000 francs promised to the author of the best 
 treatise upon the disease called the croup. 
 
 The Emperor consecrated the right of property 
 to the heirs of authors dying and leaving posthu. 
 mous works. 
 
 He conceived the idea of establishing a sort 
 of literary university, composed of about thirty 
 professorships, so connected that they should form 
 a complete system adapted to facilitate liter- 
 ary, geographical, historical, and political re- 
 searches ; where, for instance, any one who de- 
 sired to study an epoch, could obtain information 
 as to the works he ought to read, the memoirs 
 and chronicles he ought to refer to ; where any 
 one intending to travel could obtain necessary in- 
 formation concerning his journey. 
 
 "The only reasonable encouragement for liter- 
 "ature," said the Emperor, "is membership in 
 " the Institute ; this gives to poets character and 
 " consideration in the State." He desired that a
 
 QUESTION OF THE INTERIOR. 81 
 
 second class of the Institute should form a sort of 
 literary tribunal, charged with the duty of giving 
 analytical (raisonnee) and impartial criticisms of 
 works of a certain degree of merit which should 
 appear. 
 
 He spared nothing to honor the memory of 
 deceased savants. At Osterode, all covered with 
 the dust of battle, he gave directions to place the 
 statue of D'Alembert in the hall of session of the 
 Institute. He caused monuments to be erected to 
 Voltaire and to Rousseau. 
 
 The busts of Tronchet and of Portalis, com- 
 pilers of the first plan of the Code Napoleon, 
 were placed in the hall of the Council of State. 
 
 At Cambray a monument was erected over the 
 ashes of Fenelon. 
 
 In spite of wars the imperial government neg- 
 lected nothing that could advance the sciences. 
 Thus in 1806, among other things, he ordered 
 the publication, at his expense, of the history of 
 the travels and discoveries made from 1800 to 
 1804, by Peron, Lesueur, and Captain Baudin. 
 
 Biot and Arago were sent to Spain, to con- 
 tinue the measurement of the meridian arc as far 
 as the Balearic Islands. 
 
 The National Institute was required to make 
 up a general resume and picture of the progress 
 of science, letters, and arts, from the year 1789; 
 
 it was to be presented to the government by 
 4*
 
 82 NAPOLEONIC IDEAS. 
 
 a deputation, every five years. This body was 
 also expected to state its views concerning dis- 
 coveries, the application of which it might 
 deem useful to the public service ; concerning 
 the assistance and encouragement of which the 
 sciences, arts, and letters stood in need ; and con- 
 cerning improvements in the methods employed in 
 the different branches of public instruction. 
 
 Thus it is seen that the Emperor gave to in- 
 struction the same impulse which he gave to in- 
 dustry, and, as Thibaudeau has said, it was the 
 pupils of the lyceums, who, after the fall of the 
 Empire, continued in art, science, and letters, the 
 glory of France. 
 
 Of the army. It would be beyond our subject 
 to investigate all the improvements which were 
 introduced into the organisation of the army, and 
 to recount its illustrious deeds. The whole world 
 knows the exploits of those heroic soldiers, who, 
 from Arcole to Waterloo, seconded the gigantic 
 enterprises of Napoleon, and died for him with 
 happiness, because they knew that they died for 
 France. Besides, it would take too long to re- 
 capitulate all that the army did for the Emperor, 
 and all that he did for the army. Let us examine 
 solely, in a social point of view, the military" or- 
 ganisation. 
 
 The conscription, which, unhappily, in conse- 
 quence of the continuance of war, was such a
 
 QUESTION OF THE INTERIOR. 83 
 
 burden to France, was one of the greatest insti- 
 tutions of the age. Not only did it consecrate the 
 pi-inciple of equality, but, as has been said by Gen- 
 eral Foy, " it was calculated to be the palladium of 
 " our independence, because, placing the nation in 
 " the army, and the army in the nation, it furnished 
 " inexhaustible resources for defence." The prin- 
 ciple which presided over the formation of the law 
 concerning conscription was to have received 
 greater developments ; and it may be said, that 
 the ideas of the Emperor have been put in opera- 
 tion by other governments, among them by Prus- 
 sia. It was not sufficient that the army was re- 
 cruited from the whole nation ; it was also neces- 
 sary that the whole nation should, in case of 
 disaster, form a reserve to the army. The Em- 
 peror said : " Never does a nation which repels an 
 " invasion want men ; but, often, soldiers." The 
 military system of Prussia offers immense advan- 
 tages ; it removes the barriers which separate the 
 citizen and the soldier ; it gives the same motive, 
 and the same object to all men under arms the 
 defence of the soil of the country ; it furnishes the 
 means of maintaining a great military force, with 
 the least possible expense ; it enables a whole popu- 
 lation to resist invasion with success. The army, 
 in Prussia, is a great school, in which all the youth 
 instruct themselves in the art of arms ; the land- 
 wehr, which is divided into three bans, is the re-
 
 84 NAPOLEONIC IDEAS. 
 
 serve of the army. In the military organisation, 
 there are then several classifications, but all are 
 derived from the same source, all look towards the 
 same end. There is emulation, not rivalry, among 
 the organized corps. 
 
 It is well known that the national guard, which 
 had fallen into disuse in the last years of the Re- 
 public, was re-established by Napoleon in 1806. 
 In 1812 it was divided into three bans, composed: 
 the first, of men of 20 to 26 years (of the six last 
 years of service of the conscription), who had not 
 before been enlisted ; the second, of all the able- 
 bodied men of 26 to 40 years ; the third, or arriere 
 ban, of men from 40 to 60 years of age. It is evi- 
 dent that this system was completely similar to 
 that which is now in vigor in Prussia. " At the 
 "restoration of peace," said the Emperor, "I 
 " should have brought all the sovereigns to main- 
 " tain only their guard ; I should have proceeded 
 " to organise the national guard in such a manner 
 " as that each citizen would know his post in time 
 " of need : then," added he, " would have been 
 " seen a nation well cemented, able to resist both 
 " time and men." 
 
 POLITICAL ORGANISATION. 
 
 We have passed rapidly in review the adminis- 
 trative organisation of the Empire, and called at- 
 tention to the principal material benefits of that
 
 QUESTION OF THE INTEKIOB. 85 
 
 epoch. Let us now cast a rapid glance over its 
 political organisation. 
 
 In the first place, let me be permitted to say 
 that I consider the tendency which exists in France, 
 to desire always to copy and adopt the institutions 
 of foreign countries, to be a misfortune. Under 
 the Republic, people were Roman ; then the Eng- 
 lish constitution appeared to be thought the master- 
 piece of civilisation ; the titles of " noble peer " 
 and " honorable member " seemed more liberal 
 than those of tribune and senator ; as if in France, 
 that country of honor, to be " honorable " was a 
 title and not a quality. Finally arose the Ameri- 
 can school. Shall we never be ourselves ? Eng- 
 land, it is true, has offered us for a long tune a 
 splendid spectacle of parliamentary liberty. But 
 what is the chief element of the English constitu- 
 tion ? What is the foundation of the edifice ? 
 The aristocracy. Suppress the aristocracy, and in 
 England there would be no political organisation ; 
 "the same as in Rome," said Napoleon, "if re- 
 " ligion had been taken away, nothing would have 
 " remained." 
 
 In the United States of America, we see also 
 great things ; but what single point of comparison 
 is there between that country and France ? The 
 United States have not yet become a social world, 
 for the organisation of such a world presupposes 
 stability and order; stability, attachment to the
 
 86 NAPOLEONIC IDEAS. 
 
 soil, to landed property conditions impossible to 
 fulfil so long as the commercial spirit, and the dis- 
 proportion between the number of the inhabitants 
 and the extent of territory shall cause land to be con- 
 sidered as merchandise. Man has not yet taken root 
 in America ; he is not incorporated with the land ; 
 his interests are personal, not territorial. 1 In Ameri- 
 ca, commerce stands in the first rank ; then come 
 manufactiires ; and, last, agriculture. It is the 
 European order reversed. (See page 65.) 
 
 France, in many points of view, is at the head 
 of civilisation; and yet it seems to be doubted 
 whether she may give herself laws which are 
 uniquely French that is to say, laws adapted to 
 her own wants, modelled upon her own nature, 
 and in harmony with her political position! Let 
 us adopt from foreign countries such improve- 
 ments as long experience has consecrated ; but let 
 us preserve in our laws French forms, French in- 
 stinct, and French spirit. "Politics," says a 
 writer, M. Dannou, "is the application of his- 
 " tory to the ethics of society." The same may be 
 said as to constitutions: it is necessary that the 
 compact which unites the different members of a 
 social organisation, should derive its form from 
 the experience of the past, from the present state 
 of the society, and from its prospective spirit. 
 A constitution should be framed specially for the 
 1 See, upon this subject, De Tocqueville.
 
 QUESTION OF THE INTERIOR. 87 
 
 nation to which it is to be adapted. It should be 
 like a garment which, if well made, will fit but one 
 man. 
 
 In a political point of view, the Emperor could 
 organize France only provisionally ; but all his in- 
 stitutions contained a germ of improvement which 
 at the restoration of peace he would have de- 
 veloped. 
 
 To begin, let us establish one truth, name-\ 
 ly, that when the French people proclaimed Na- \ 
 poleon Emperor, France was so fatigued by dis- ' 
 orders and continual changes, that all concurred 
 to invest the chief of the state with the most ab- 
 solute power. The Emperor had no need to covet \ 
 it ; it was thrust upon him. By as much as public 
 opinion had formerly demanded the diminution of 
 executive power, because it was deemed hostile, 
 by so much did opinion exert itself to augment it, 
 when it was satisfied that the executive power was 
 tutelary and remedial. It depended only on Napo- 
 leon to have neither a legislative body nor a senate, 
 so weary were men of those eternal discussions, kept 
 up, as he expressed it, by a mob of men who dis- 
 puted with acrimony about the tint, before having 
 secured the triumph of the color. 
 
 The Emperor Napoleon did not commit the 
 fault of many statesmen that of desiring to sub- 
 ject the nation to an abstract theory, which be- 
 comes, in such case, for a country a bed of Pro-
 
 88 NAPOLEONIC IDEAS. 
 
 crustes ; he studied, on the contrary, with care, the 
 character of the French people, their wants, and their 
 present condition ; and upon the data acquired he 
 organized a system, which he could continue to 
 modify according to circumstances. " Where 
 " should I have been," said he, " face to face with 
 " all Europe with a government built of ruins, the 
 " foundations of which were not yet firmly seated, 
 "and those forms to be continually combined 
 "with new circumstances depending even upon 
 " variations of foreign politics, if I had subjected 
 "these combinations to absolute methods which 
 "admit of no modifications, and which are efficient 
 " only because they are immutable ? " 
 
 The predominant idea, which presided over all 
 the internal establishments of the Emperor, was 
 the desire to found civil order. 1 France was sur- 
 rounded by powerful neighbors. Since Henry IV., 
 she had been the object of the jealousy of Europe. 
 She required a large permanent army to maintain 
 her independence. That army was organized ; it 
 had its colonels, its generals, its marshals ; but the 
 rest of the nation was not organized ; and by the side 
 
 1 " I wish to organize in France civil order. Up to the 
 " present time there have been in the world only two powers, 
 " the military and the ecclesiastical. The barbarians, who in- 
 " vaded the Roman Empire, could not found a solid establish- 
 " ment, because they were destitute both of a body of priests 
 " and of a civil order." "Words of the Emperor before the 
 Council of State.
 
 QUESTION OF THE IOTEKIOB. 89 
 
 of this military hierarchy, by the side of these 
 dignities to which glory lent so much lustre, it was 
 necessary that there should be civil dignities of 
 equal weight and influence ; otherwise the govern- 
 ment would be always in danger of falling into the 
 hands of a fortunate soldier. The United States 
 offer us a striking example of the inconveniences, 
 which attend the weakness of a civil authority. 
 Although, in that country, there are none of the 
 fermentations of discord, which for a long tune 
 yet will trouble Europe, the central power, being 
 weak, is alarmed at every independent organisa- 
 tion ; for every independent organisation threatens 
 it. It is not military power alone which is feared ; 
 but money power the bank : hence a division of 
 parties. The president of the bank might have 
 more power than the President of the country ; for 
 a much stronger reason, a successful general would 
 soon eclipse the civil power. In the Italian repub- 
 lics, as in England, the aristocracy constituted the 
 organized civil order ; but France having, happily, 
 no longer any privileged bodies, it was by means 
 of a democratic hierarchy, which should not of- 
 fend the principle of equality, that the same ad- 
 vantages were to be secured. 
 
 Let us examine in this point of view the consti- 
 tutions of the Empire. 
 
 The principles upon which the imperial laws 
 were settled were :
 
 90 NAPOLEONIC IDEAS. 
 
 Civil equality, in harmony with the democratic 
 principle. 
 
 A hierarchy, in harmony with the principles of 
 order and stability. 
 
 Napoleon was the supreme chief of the state, 
 the elect of the people, the representative of the 
 nation. In his public acts, it was the Emperor's 
 pride to acknowledge that he owed every thing to 
 the French people. When at the foot of the Pyre- 
 nees, surrounded by kings, and the object of their 
 homage, he disposed of thrones and empires, he 
 claimed with energy the title of first representative 
 of the people, a title which seemed about to be 
 given exclusively to members of the legislative 
 body. 1 
 
 The imperial power alone was hereditary. No 
 other office in France was hereditary ; ah 1 other 
 offices were open to election or merit. 
 
 There were two chambers ; the senate and the 
 legislative body: 
 
 The senate, of which the name is more popular 
 than that of the chamber of peers, was composed 
 of members nominated by the electoral colleges ; 
 one-third of them only subject to appointment by 
 the Emperor. It was presided over by one of the 
 members, Delected by the chief of the state ; it 
 watched over the Constitution, it was the protec- 
 
 1 See the note published by order of the Emperor in the 
 Moniteur of December 19, 1808.
 
 QUESTION OF THE INTERIOR. 91 
 
 tor of individual liberty and of the liberty of the 
 press. 1 The senate being, next to the sovereign, 
 the first power of the state, the Emperor sought 
 to give it the greatest weight and importance cir- 
 cumstances would allow ; for, when the influence 
 which organized bodies exert does not follow the 
 order of their political hierarchy, it is conclusive 
 evidence that the Constitution is not in harmony 
 with public opinion ; it is hi such case a machine 
 in which the wheels do not work weU together. 
 
 Therefore, to give influence to the senate, the 
 idea of the Emperor was not to make of it simply 
 a tribunal, or an asylum for all the ministers whom 
 public opinion had condemned ; but, on the con- 
 trary, to compose it of all the high excellences, 
 and to make it the guardian and protector of all 
 the liberties of the nation.* 
 
 1 M. Bignon, in his History of the Empire, expresses him- 
 self as follows : " The system established was not bad in itself, 
 " nor were the liberties of the nation left entirely without 
 " guaranties. If these guaranties are illusory, if the senato- 
 " rial commissions upon individual liberty and the liberty of 
 " the press are to become inefficient and inactive, it is because 
 " France is going through an order of events in which ques- 
 " tions of domestic interest and private right will inevitably 
 " be subordinate to the necessities of the executive, and to the 
 " power of action upon foreign countries." 
 
 2 It was the opinion of the Emperor that an hereditary 
 chamber could not be established in France, and that it would 
 have no influence. He remarked in 1815, to Benjamin Con- 
 stant, who was one of the most ardent partisans of the Eng-
 
 92 NAPOLEONIC IDEAS. 
 
 To render the senators independent, and to 
 attach them to the soil of the provinces, there were 
 established in each arrondissement of the court of 
 appeals a senatorial estate returning to the incum- 
 bent senator 20,000 to 25,000 francs income for 
 life. 
 
 The members of the legislative body were nom- 
 inated by the electoral colleges of the departments, 
 and were paid during the sessions. 
 
 It is important to call to mind here the mode 
 of election introduced by Napoleon. In the Con- 
 stitution of the year 8, Sieyes had invented a sys- 
 tem of representation by Notables, which deprived 
 
 lish Constitution: "Your Chamber of Peers would be, in a 
 " short time, only a camp or an ante-chamber." 
 
 The President of the senate convoked the senate at the 
 order of the Emperor ; at the request of the senatorial com- 
 missions upon individual liberty and the liberty of the press ; 
 or of a senator for the purpose of objecting to a decree of the 
 legislative body ; or of an officer of the senate, concerning in- 
 ternal affairs of the body. 
 
 Each of the senatorial commissions was composed of seven 
 members. Every person arrested and not brought to trial 
 within ten days of the time of arrest could apply to this com- 
 mission. 
 
 A high imperial court was established to take cognizance 
 of crimes against the internal safety of the state, of misde- 
 meanors, and abuses of office committed by ministers and 
 councillors of state, and of abuses of power committed by the 
 imperial agents, civil and military, etc. 
 
 The seat of the high court was in the senate ; the arch- 
 chancellor of the Empire presided over it ; the forms of pro- 
 cedure were protective; the debates and judgments were open 
 to the public.
 
 QUESTION OF THE INTEEIOK. 93 
 
 the people of all participation in the elections. Al- 
 though Sieyes, a former member of the Constituent 
 Assembly, of the Convention, and of the Directory, 
 was a friend of liberty, he found himself compelled 
 to do this, by circumstances, and hi order to preserve 
 the Republic; for, before the 18th Fructidor, the 
 elections returned royalists to* the legislative body ; 
 the 18th Fructidor drove them out. Then came 
 the turn of the Jacobins ; the 28th Floreal elimi- 
 nated them; but in the following elections they 
 appeared to maintain themselves, and took meas- 
 ures to dismiss their rivals. There was nothing 
 permanent ; it was, each year, as Thibaudeau him- 
 self says, the triumph of a party. 
 
 But the firm and national march of the Con- 
 sulate had already created a strong and compact 
 France ; and the vessel of state was in less danger 
 of being wrecked upon one of the two rocks which 
 were always to be feared terror and the ancien 
 regime. 
 
 Napoleon, created Consul for life, suppressed 
 the lists of Notabilities of Sieyes, and established 
 district assemblies, composed of all the citizens 
 residing in the district. These assemblies chose 
 the members of the electoral colleges of the arron- 
 dissements and of the departments. Those who 
 paid the largest amount of taxes imposed in the 
 department were eligible to the electoral colleges ; 
 but there could be added to the colleges of the ar-
 
 94 NAPOLEONIC IDEAS. 
 
 rondissements ten members, and to the colleges 
 of the departments, twenty members not proprie- 
 tors, selected from among the members of the 
 Legion of Honor, or from among those who had 
 distinguished themselves by services. The col- 
 leges nominated two candidates for vacant places 
 in the legislative body ; the college of the depart- 
 ment alone nominated candidates for the places of 
 senators ; one of the two candidates must be taken 
 from elsewhere than the college making the nomi- 
 nation. 
 
 Examining the spirit which dictated these 
 laws, framed at an epoch when the people were 
 emerging from violent discussions, when war was 
 always threatening, and when the most sincere 
 friend of liberty saw the necessity of limiting the 
 rights of election, it is impossible not to recognize 
 that it was the intention of the Emperor to re-es- 
 tablish the elective system upon the broadest basis, 
 and the following words of the orator of govern- 
 ment at that time, confirm this opinion : " The 
 " electoral colleges bind the high authorities and 
 " the people reciprocally to each other ; they are 
 "intermediate bodies between power and the 
 " people ; they imply a classification of citizens, an 
 " organisation of the nation. In that classification 
 " it was necessary to combine the contrary inter- 
 " ests of capitalists and proletaires, because prop- 
 " erty is the fundamental basis of all political asso-
 
 QUESTION OF THE INTEKIOB. 95 
 
 "elation. It was necessary also to introduce 
 "non-proprietors, in order to keep open a career 
 " to talent and to genius." 
 
 The Council of State was one of the most im- 
 portant wheels of the machinery of the Empire. 
 Composed of the most distinguished men, it formed 
 the privy council of the sovereign. Its members, 
 free from all constraint, not intent upon producing 
 an effect, and stimulated by the presence of the 
 sovereign, wrought out the laws without any other 
 preoccupation than the interests of France. The 
 orators of the Council of State were required to 
 present for the acceptance of the chambers the 
 laws which it had prepared. 
 
 The Emperor created auditors of the Council 
 of State ; their number was carried up to three 
 hundred and fifty; they were divided into three 
 classes, and attached to all branches of administra- 
 tion. The Council of State formed thus a nursery 
 of instructed and enlightened men, capable of car- 
 rying on advantageously the administration of the 
 country. Familiar with all great political ques- 
 tions, they received from the government impor- 
 tant missions. 
 
 This institution supplied a great want; for, 
 when a country has schools of jurisprudence, of 
 medicine, of war, of theology, etc., is it not con- 
 trary to reason that it should not have one for the 
 art of governing, which is the most difficult of all
 
 96 NAPOLEONIC IDEAS. 
 
 arts, for it embraces all the sciences, exact, poli- 
 tical, and moral ? l 
 
 " I prepared for my son," said the Emperor at 
 Saint Helena, " a most advantageous position. I 
 " educated for him a new school, the numerous 
 " class of auditors of the Council of State. Their 
 " education finished, and having come of age, they 
 " would, some day, have filled all the important 
 " posts of the Empire ; strong in our principles, 
 " and in the examples of our predecessors, they 
 "would have been, all of them, from twelve to 
 " fifteen years older than my son ; which would 
 "have placed him precisely between two gener- 
 " ations most advantageously maturity, experi- 
 " ence, and wisdom above, youth and activity be 
 " low." 
 
 The council of disputed claims was instituted as 
 a special tribunal, to sit in trial upon cases concern- 
 ing public functionaries, and to decide appeals from 
 the councils of the prefectures, upon cases relating 
 
 1 In default of an efficient tribune, which the constitutional 
 government would have given to France, never had a sover- 
 eign so enlightened a council, or one in which all questions 
 concerning administrative and civil order were discussed with 
 more freedom and independence. In the absence of that trib- 
 une which would have expressed public opinion, never did a 
 sovereign better divine the true state of opinion, never did 
 any other analyze better its character or know better how to 
 profit often by its correctness, sometimes also by its errors. 
 (Thibaudeau.)
 
 QUESTION OF THE INTEKIOE. 97 
 
 to the furnishing of subsistence, to certain viola- 
 tions of the laws of the state, etc. 
 
 The desire of the Emperor to raise to high con- 
 sideration the political bodies, is manifested by the 
 creation of the dignity of grand elector; by the 
 honors with which he surrounded the president of 
 the legislative body ; * by the detailed exposes of 
 the state of the Empire which he caused to be laid 
 before the legislative body; by the importance 
 which he imparted to the opening of the sessions. 
 Regarding himself as the first representative of the 
 nation, he considered himself bound to give an ac- 
 count of his acts before the constituted bodies. 
 Hence the opening of the session of the legislative 
 body was never, under his reign, a vain ceremony ; 
 he did not come to seat himself upon a throne, 
 with all the externals of a royalty of the sixteenth 
 century, in order to repeat stupidly the words of 
 his ministers, but, standing before the legislative 
 body, he communicated frankly his ideas. It was 
 not weakness concealing itself under the guise of 
 power ; it was power of its own accord rendering 
 homage to the constituted bodies of the state. 
 
 Instead of influencing the elections, Napoleon 
 often recommended to those around him not to 
 offer themselves as candidates for the senate ; he 
 told them that they could arrive at that dignity by 
 
 1 The president of the legislative body had a guard of 
 honor. 
 
 5
 
 98 NAPOLEONIC IDEAS. 
 
 another road that it was necessary to leave to the 
 notables of the provinces the satisfaction of choosing 
 for themselves. 
 
 The principles which guided the Emperor in 
 the choice of public functionaries were much more 
 reasonable than those in use at the present day. 
 When he named the chief of an administration, he 
 did not consult the political shade of color of the 
 man, but his capacity as a functionary. Thus, in- 
 stead of inquiring into the political antecedents of 
 his ministers, he only required of them the special 
 knowledge needed. Chaptal, a celebrated chemist, 
 was charged with the duty of opening new paths 
 for manufacturing industry ; the learned Denon 
 was appointed director of the museum of arts ; 
 Mollien, minister of the treasury. If the finances 
 of the Empire were so prosperous, it was in a great 
 measure owing to the fact that Gaudin, Duke of 
 Gae'ta, entered the ministry of finances under the 
 Consulate, and continued in the office until 1814. 
 
 In order that the road might be open for all 
 improvements, the court of cassation was charged 
 with the duty of doing for the laws what the Insti- 
 tute did for the sciences. The court was required 
 to present every year a compte rendu of the im- 
 provements of which the different branches of 
 legislation were susceptible, and make known the 
 faults and defects which experience had demon- 
 strated.
 
 QUESTION OF THE INTERIOR. 99 
 
 One should also observe that, in the institutions 
 of the Empire, there was a continual movement, 
 acting from the circumference towards the centre, 
 and from the centre reacting towards the circum- 
 ference, like the circulation of the blood which, in 
 the human body, flows towards the heart, and from 
 the heart reflows towards the extremities. On the 
 one hand, the people participate by election in all 
 political offices; on the other hand, the bodies 
 politic are presided over by men appointed by the 
 central power. The great dignitaries of the Em- 
 pire presided over the electoral colleges of the 
 largest cities ; the other great civil officers, or the 
 members of the Legion of Honor, presided over the 
 other colleges. 1 
 
 The Councillors of State, on extraordinary ser- 
 vice, were sent into the departments to watch over 
 the administration. They transmitted the plans 
 of the government, and received the complaints 
 and the expressions of the wishes of the people. 
 The senators who enjoyed the revenues of sena- 
 torial estates were required to reside three months 
 every year in their arrondissements, in order to 
 take to them the opinion of the centre, and bring 
 back to Paris the opinion of the arrondissement. 
 
 The creation of the Legion of Honor, which 
 
 1 Each electoral college terminated its session by voting 
 an address to the Emperor, which was presented to him by a 
 deputation.
 
 ^ 
 
 100 NAPOLEONIC IDEAS. 
 
 divided the French territory into sixteen arron- 
 dissements, with the designation of chef-lieu, was, 
 according to the expression of the reporter of the 
 law, a political institution which placed in society 
 intermediaries through whom the acts of the 
 executive could be delivered to public opinion 
 with fidelity and benignity, and through whom 
 also public opinion could react upon the executive. 
 
 The great benefits which were experienced 
 from the introduction of the Code Napoleon are 
 well known ; it had put many branches of legisla- 
 tion in harmony with the principles of the Revolu- 
 tion, and had much diminished litigation by bring- 
 ing a multitude of cases within the comprehension 
 of every one. But this code did not respond fully 
 to the wishes of the Emperor: he projected a 
 universal or complete code, so that there might be 
 no other laws than those inscribed in this code, 
 and that all which was not comprised therein might 
 be pronounced, once for all, null and void : " for," 
 added he, " in virtue of some old edicts of Chilpe- 
 " ric or Pharamond, dug up for the occasion, no 
 " one can say that he is safe from being duly and 
 "legally hanged." 
 
 To sum up the imperial system, it may be said, 
 that its basis is democratic, since all the powers are 
 derived from the people ; whilst the organisation 
 is hierarchical, since it provides different grades in 
 order to stimulate all capacities.
 
 QUESTION OF THE INTEBIOB. 101 
 
 , Competition is opened to 40,000,000 of souls ; 
 merit alone distinguishes them ; different degrees 
 of the social scale reward them. 
 
 Thus, politically, we have assemblies of the can- 
 ton, electoral colleges, the legislative body, the 
 council of state, the senate, the great dignitaries. 
 
 For the army ; every citizen is a soldier, every 
 soldier may become officer, colonel, general, or 
 marshal. 
 
 For the Legion of Honor ; all classes of merit 
 have the same right all services whether civil, 
 military, industrial, ecclesiastical, or scientific ; and 
 all may obtain the grades of legionary, officer, com- 
 mandant, grand officer, or grand eagle. 
 
 Public instruction has its primary schools, its 
 secondary schools, its lyceums, and the Institute 
 as the head of the edifice. 
 
 Justice has its tribunals of first instance, its im- 
 perial courts, and the court of cassation. 
 
 Finally, the administration of government has 
 its mayors, adjoint-mayors, sub-prefects, prefects, 
 ministers, and councillors of state. 
 
 Napoleon was then a centre around which all 
 the national forces grouped themselves. He had 
 divided France for purposes of administration into 
 communal arrondissements and prefectures ; politi- 
 cally into electoral colleges and senatorial estates ; 
 defensively, into military divisions ; judicially, into 
 districts of the imperial court ; religiously, into
 
 \ 
 
 102 NAPOLEONIC IDEAS. 
 
 (bishoprics ; philosophically, into lyceum districts ; 
 and morally, into arrondissements of the Legion of 
 Honor. 
 
 T.he body politic, like the corps of instruction, 
 and like the administrative body, had its feet in 
 the communes, and its head in the senate. 
 
 The government of the Emperor was then, to 
 use a comparison, a colossal pyramid with a broad 
 foundation and an elevated apex. 
 
 If one, after having surveyed the period from 
 1800 to 1814, turns his eyes to the present epoch, 
 he will see that the greater part of the institutions 
 founded by the Emperor still exist, and that they 
 by their sole virtue have maintained the adminis- 
 tration. Although deprived of innate moving 
 power, France obeys, now for 24 years, the im- 
 pulse which Napoleon gave her. But one must not 
 judge of the Empire by the false imitations which 
 we have seen ; people have copied things, as if they 
 had never understood the spirit which presided at 
 their creation. We are indebted to two causes for 
 all the prodigies which, in spite of wars, we have 
 seen produced under the Empire ; one of them 
 the genius of the man, the other the system 
 which he established. Under the Empire all the 
 intelligence, and all the capacity of France were call- 
 ed upon to co-operate with one single aim, in pro- 
 moting the prosperity of the country. Since that 
 time all the leading minds have been occupied only
 
 QUESTION OF THE rSTEETOE. 103 
 
 in contending among themselves, and in discussing 
 which road to follow, instead of making advances. 
 Political discipline has been broken up, and instead 
 of marching towards one object in close column, each 
 one has suddenly adopted a line of march of his own, 
 and separated himself from the body of the army. 
 It has been said that the Emperor was a despot. 
 It is true that his power was equal to the work of 
 creation before him, and in proportion with the 
 confidence of the people. "Under Napoleon," 
 said General Foy, who certainly cannot be accused 
 of partiality, " neither the vexations of subaltern 
 " pretension, nor the intolerance of castes, nor the 
 "insufferable domination of parties was known. 
 " The law was strong, often rigid, but it was equal 
 " for all." Napoleon was a despot, it is said ; yet 
 he never dismissed apy one from public office, with- 
 out an inquiry, and report of facts, and rarely ever 
 without hearing the accused functionary: never 
 when the questions involved were civil or adminis- 
 trative. Napoleon never took action upon ques- 
 tions of policy without a previous discussion. 1 
 Never before did a sovereign take counsel so fully 
 and carefully as the Emperor, for he sought only 
 one thing the truth. Could he have been a sys- 
 tematic despot, who, by his codes and his organi- 
 sation tended always to replace the arbitrary by 
 law? We see him in 1810 prevent the appropria- 
 1 Bignon, voL v. p. 168. 
 
 \
 
 I 
 
 104 NAPOLEONIC IDEAS. 
 
 tion of private property to public uses without pre- 
 vious hearing and judgment; 1 and establish the 
 council of disputed claims, in order to regulate the 
 exercise of that portion of arbitrary power which 
 was absolutely necessary for the administration of 
 the state. " I desire that the state shall be gov- 
 " erned bylaw, and that whatever must necessarily 
 " be done without law shall be legalized by the in- 
 " tervention of a constituted body." 
 
 We see him also, in 1810, show his discontent 
 that a law concerning the press had not been pre- 
 pared, 2 and, what is particularly worthy of notice, 
 he repeated often these memorable words : " I do 
 " not wish that this power should descend to my 
 " successors, because they might abuse it." 
 
 When one reads history, he is astonished at the 
 severity of the judgments pronounced by French- 
 
 1 "I wish the fact of public utility to be verified by a 
 1 senatus conaultum, a law or a decree deliberated upon in the 
 ' Council of State ; and then the disputes or claims which arise 
 ' settled by the tribunals. I declare that I cannot reconcile 
 'myself to seeing the arbitrary insinuate itself everywhere, and 
 ' so great a state administered and governed, without oppor- 
 ' tunity of complaint." Words of the Emperor before the 
 
 Council of State. 
 
 2 " The press, which it is pretended is free, is really in a 
 " state of absolute slavery ; the police allows works to be pub- 
 " lished or suppressed arbitrarily, and the minister of police does 
 " not exercise his own judgment ; he is obliged to refer his 
 " decisions to his own bureaux. Nothing can be more irreg- 
 " ular, more arbitrary, than this regime." Words of the Em- 
 peror before the Council of State.
 
 QUESTION OF THE INTEEIOB. 105 
 
 men upon their own government, and their indul- 
 gence towards foreign governments. Here is, for 
 example, the judgment which Carrel rendered upon 
 the administration of Cromwell ; and certainly the 
 English Protector ranks far below the French 
 hero : " It was fortunate for England that such a 
 " man (Cromwell) took upon himself the responsi- 
 " bility of performing unavoidable acts of violence, 
 " because order hi the place of anarchy was to 
 " come from usurpation, and order was necessary. 
 "Everywhere, and in all times, necessities have 
 " dictated the agreements or compacts called prin- 
 " ciples, and principles are always silent in the 
 " presence of necessities. There was necessity for 
 " security, for repose, for a grandeur which should 
 " impose upon the foreign enemies of the Revolu- 
 " tion, and overshadow commercial interests hos- 
 " tile to the interests of England. There was ne- 
 " cessity for an administration which comprehend- 
 " ed all parties and committed itself to none ; which 
 " thoroughly understood all the ideas of the epoch, 
 " without making exclusive profession of any of 
 " them ; which made use of the army without fol- 
 " lowing its lead. Cromwell was right against the 
 " royalists, because they were enemies of the coun- 
 " try ; against the Presbyterians, because they were 
 " intolerant, and did not understand the revolu- 
 " tion ; against the levellers, because they demand- 
 5*
 
 106 NAPOLEONIC IDEAS. 
 
 " ed the impossible ; finally, against the fanatical 
 " republicans, because they did not comprehend 
 " public opinion." 1 
 
 Are not these words a faithful explanation of 
 the reign of the Emperor? Nevertheless, one 
 hears some French voices prefer unjust accusations, 
 repeating, for example, that the government of 
 Napoleon was the government of the sword ! If 
 that opinion could have become general, there 
 would have been occasion to exclaim, with Mon- 
 tesquieu : " Woe to the reputation of the prince 
 " who is oppressed by a party which becomes dom- 
 " inant, or who has endeavored to destroy a preju- 
 " dice which survives him ! " 
 
 Never, in fact, was the internal administration 
 of power less military in its character than that of 
 the Emperor. In all his acts we recognize the 
 tendency to give civil order pre-eminence over 
 military order. Under the imperial regime, no 
 post of civil administration was held by military 
 men. He who created civil dignities to balance 
 the dignities of the army ; who, by the institution 
 of the Legion of Honor, wished to reward in the 
 same manner the services of the citizen and those 
 of the soldier ; who, from the instant of his ac- 
 cession to power, occupied himself with the lot of 
 
 1 History of the Counter-Revolution in England, Introduc- 
 tion, page 60.
 
 QUESTION OP THE INTERIOB. 107 
 
 the civil employes of government ; l who gave al- 
 ways precedence to civil officers ;. who, in the inte- 
 rior, and even in conquered countries, sent as en- 
 voys councillors of state clothed with an adminis- 
 trative authority superior to that of the generals, 
 such is the man whom party spirit has wished to 
 represent as the partisan of a military regime !" 
 
 It has been made a subject of complaint that 
 the uniform of military discipline was introduced 
 
 1 When Napoleon arrived at power, the military pensions 
 were already regulated by law ; but there was no legal pro- 
 vision for granting civil pensions. As there was no provision 
 for the retirement of the functionaries, they abused their 
 places. The Directory, not being empowered to grant pen- 
 sions, granted an interest in public transactions, an immoral 
 state of things. ThibaudeAu, vol. iii. p. 179. 
 
 8 M. Thibaudeau, in his History of the Consulate, reporting 
 what the Emperor said to the Council of State, namely, that 
 no man was more a civilian than himself, adds : " If the milita- 
 " ry were invested with importance and consideration, their 
 " authority was rigorously confined to their natural sphere ; its 
 " slightest encroachments were immediately rigidly repressed. 
 " The First Consul supported the courts and the prefects 
 " against the generals. Citizens were subjected only to civil 
 " authority ; to say the contrary, is to contradict evidence." 
 Vol. ii. p. 213. 
 
 A general, loaded with testimonials of the favor of the 
 sovereign, had no power to arrest an obscure criminal. In 
 the conflicts, sufficiently numerous, between the military and 
 the civil authority, the decision was almost always hi favor of 
 the latter. Ibid. vol. i. p. 82. 
 
 In 1806, Junot, governor of Paris, was accused of breaking 
 the game-law. He set at defiance the authority of the courts. 
 He was obliged to settle the matter to avoid an execution, 
 Ibid. vol. v. p. 318.
 
 108 NAPOLEONIC IDEAS. 
 
 into the lyceums. But is it wrong to diffuse in the 
 nation a military spirit that spirit which awakens 
 the most noble passions, honor, disinterestedness, 
 patriotism, and which creates habits of order, reg- 
 ularity, and submission to authority? The mili- 
 tary spirit is dangerous only when it is the exclu- 
 sive property of a caste. 1 
 
 As to the military uniform, the Emperor 
 caused it to be adopted in the lyceums, and the 
 special schools, with a view to equality. One day 
 when he visited the prytanee of Saint Cyr, his feel- 
 ings were shocked at the difference which existed 
 in the clothes of the pupils ; some wearing a 
 fashionable costume, while others were ragged. 
 The emperor declared Jhat he would have no dis- 
 tinction of dress among the pupils ; that equality 
 
 1 With the exception of the manual exercise of arms, and 
 the exercise of platoon-manoeuvring, in which regard was had 
 to the strength of the pupils, there was in their studies, their 
 repasts, their recreations, only the difference of the substitu- 
 tion of the drum for the bell. Choosing between these two 
 instruments, we give the preference to the drum. The bell 
 suggests ideas of humility and abnegation ; the drum, ideas of 
 glory and honor. Under the regime of the bell pupils were 
 flogged ; corporal punishments were forbidden under that of 
 the drum. The members of the lyceums observed a discipline 
 and had a careful dress and a masculine attitude which the 
 pupils of the greater part of the colleges never had. They 
 were imbued, it is said, with a taste for arms : but were not 
 all the youth of the country subject to the law of conscrip- 
 tion ? Thibaudeau.
 
 QUESTION OF THE lOTEBIOK. 109 
 
 ought to be the first element of education ; and he 
 caused to be given to all the same uniform. 
 
 Finally, it was a strange sort of military gov- 
 ernment, one in which the tranquillity of a vast em- 
 pire was maintained without a soldier, while the 
 Emperor and the army were eight hundred leagues 
 from the capital ! 1 And, further, the imperial 
 eagles, which so many laurels had illustrated, were 4 
 never defiled by French blood shed by French 
 soldiers. Few governments can say as much 'of 
 their flag ! 
 
 The praise of the Emperor is in his deeds. It 
 is sufficient to turn over the pages of the Moniteur. 
 His glory is like the sun : he is blind who does not 
 see it. Obscure detractors cannot countervail open 
 acts ; a few drops of ink cannot alter the color of 
 the sea. Nevertheless, as there are vulgar minda 
 which cannot comprehend that which is great, and 
 as in epochs of transition party spirit disfigures 
 great historical features, it may not be amiss to 
 remind the masses, who feel such admiration for 
 
 1 No troops were necessary even in the countries which 
 had been annexed. Piedmont, Tuscany, Genoa, had not fifteen 
 hundred soldiers present. When the Emperor was at Vienna 
 there were only twelve hundred men in the garrison of Paris. 
 The Emperor drove in the midst of the crowd which covered 
 the place of the Carrousel ; and in the park of St. Cloud in an 
 open carriage with four horses, at a walk, with the Empress 
 and a siugle page, in the midst of 150,000 spectators who sur- 
 rounded his carriage. Persons now living saw him. Thibau- 
 deau, vol. 8, p. 176.
 
 110 NAPOLEONIC IDEAS. 
 
 the Emperor, that their veneration is not based 
 upon" the deceitful show of a vain glory, but upon 
 the just appreciation of actions, which had for their 
 object the happiness of humanity. 
 -*** And if, in the celestial region where his great 
 soul now reposes in peace, Napoleon could still be 
 troubled by the agitations and the opinions which 
 are in conflict here below, might not liis indig- 
 nant shade thus answer his accusers ? " All that I 
 " have done for the prosperity of France, I have 
 "had to accomplish in the intervals of battles. 
 "But you, who accuse me, what have you done 
 " during twenty-four years of profound peace?" 
 
 Have you reconciled discords, and united the 
 parties around the altar of the country? Have 
 you distributed among the different powers of the 
 state the moral weight which the law concedes, 
 and which is a pledge of stability ? 
 
 Have you given to your chamber of peers the 
 democratic organisation of my Senate ? 
 
 Have you preserved to the Council of State its 
 salutary influence and beneficent functions ? 
 
 Have you preserved in the Legion of Honor 
 the purity and prestige of its first organisation ? 
 
 Have you given to your electoral system the 
 democratic foundation of my cantonal assemblies ? 
 
 Have you facilitated the access of all to the 
 representative chamber, by assuring compensation 
 to its members ?
 
 QUESTION OF THE INTEKIOB. Ill 
 
 Have you rewarded all merits, repressed cor- 
 ruption, and introduced into the administration 
 that severe and pure morality which renders 
 authority worthy of respect ? 
 
 Have you caused the influence of power to be 
 exerted for the improvement of manners? In- 
 stead of diminishing, have not crimes increased in 
 frequency ? 
 
 Have you secured property, by completing the 
 operation of the book of assessments ? 
 
 Have you caused a thousand new industries to 
 spring from the soil ? 
 
 Have you, during a long peace, finished half 
 the works that I commenced during severe wars ? 
 
 Have you opened new markets for commerce ? 
 
 Have you improved the condition of the poorer 
 classes ? 
 
 Have you employed all the revennes of France 
 with a single view to her prosperity ? 
 
 Have you re-established the law of divorce, 
 which protected the morality of families ? 
 
 Have you organized the national guard in such 
 a manner that it will be an impregnable barrier 
 against invasion ? 
 
 Have you confined the clergy to its religious 
 functions, far removed from political power ? 
 
 Have you preserved to the army that respect 
 and popularity which it had so justly acquired ?
 
 112 NAPOLEONIC IDEAS. 
 
 Have you not endeavored to degrade the noble 
 mission of the soldier ? 
 
 Have you granted to our living relics of Wa- 
 terloo the morsel of bread which belonged to them 
 as the price of the blood which they poured out 
 for France ? 
 
 The tri-color flag, and the name of French- 
 man, have they preserved that prestige and influ- 
 ence which caused them to be respected through- 
 out the world ? 
 
 Have you secured to France allies upon whom 
 she can count in time of danger ? 
 
 Have you diminished the burdens of the peo- 
 pie ? Your taxes of peace, are they not higher 
 than my taxes of war ? 
 
 Finally, have you not weakened that adminis- 
 trative centralisation, which I established, in order 
 to organize the interior, and resist the foreign ene- 
 mies of France ? 
 
 Xo ; you have preserved of my reign only that 
 which was intended to be temporary and transient ; 
 and you have rejected all the advantages which 
 palliated defects ! 
 
 The benefits of peace you have not obtained ; 
 and all the inconveniences of war you have suf- 
 fered, and still suffer, without its great compensa- 
 tions, honor and the glory of the country !
 
 CHAPTEE IV. 
 
 I 
 
 THE FOREIGN QUESTION. 
 
 Napoleonic foreign policy. The different projects of the Emperor. 
 Benefits conferred npon nations. Italy, Switzerland, Germany, 
 Westphalia, Poland. His views concerning Spain. 
 
 THERE are three ways of regarding the rela 
 tions of France with foreign governments. They 
 may be reduced to the three following systems : 
 
 There is a blind and passionate policy, which 
 would throw down the glove to Europe, and de- 
 throne all the kings. 
 
 There is another policy precisely opposite, 
 which consists in maintaining peace, and purchas- 
 ing the friendship of sovereigns, at the expense of 
 the honor and of the interests of the country. 
 
 Finally, there is a third policy, which frankly I 
 offers the alliance of France to all governments I 
 which are willing to co-operate with her in com- / 
 mon interests. 
 
 Pursuing the first, there can be neither peace 
 nor truce ; pursuing the second, there is no war,
 
 114 NAPOLEONIC IDEAS. 
 
 but also no independence ; pursuing the third, 
 there is no dishonorable peace, and no universal 
 war. 
 
 The third system is the Napoleonic foreign 
 policy ; it is that which the Emperor put in prac- 
 tice during the whole of his career. If Napoleon 
 fell notwithstanding, he fell in virtue of causes 
 which we shall explain by and by ; but that which 
 is certain is that without this policy he never could 
 have successfully repelled the attacks of Europe. 
 "Rome," says Montesquieu, "became great, be- 
 " cause her wars with other nations were succes- 
 " sive ; each nation, by an inconceivable good for- 
 " tune attacking her, only after another had been 
 " vanquished." 
 
 That which chance and fortune did for the ag- 
 grandisement of Rome, Napoleon procured for 
 France by his policy. 
 
 From 1796, when, with 30,000 men he made 
 the conquest of Italy, he was not only a great gen- 
 eral, but a profound political statesman. The 
 Directory, in its ignorance, sent to General Bona- 
 parte an order to dethrone the King of Sardinia, 
 and to march upon Rome, leaving 80,000 Austri- 
 ans, who issued from the Tyrol, in his rear. Na- 
 poleon disregarded instructions so ill-advised. He 
 formed an alliance, offensive and defensive, with 
 Piedmont, made a treaty with the Pope, and beat 
 the Austrians. The fruit of this policy and con-
 
 THE FOREIGN QUESTION. 115 
 
 duct was the peace of Campo-Formio. Finally, 
 after a few years, Napoleon, who shortly before 
 was chief of a state which was at war with all 
 Europe, united under the tri-colored flag, to march 
 upon Moscow, Prussians, Hanoverians, Dutch, 
 Saxons, Westphalians, Poles, Austrians, Wirtem- 
 burgers, Bavarians, Swiss, Lombards, Tuscans, 
 Neapolitans, and others. 
 
 By this combination of all these nations, united 
 under his orders, one may form a judgment con- 
 cerning the skill of the policy of the Emperor. If 
 he did not succeed at Moscow, it was not because 
 his combinations were ' ill concerted ; it was be- 
 cause fate and the elements conspired against him. 
 The risks, in so great an enterprise, are in propor- 
 tion to the results expected. 
 
 After Napoleon arrived at power, it was evi- 
 dently necessary that he should have a general 
 object in view, but his views were constantly modi- 
 fied, extended, or contracted, according to the 
 march of events. " I was not guilty of the folly," 
 said he, " of desiring to bend events to suit my 
 " system ; but, on the contrary, I bent my system 
 " so as to adapt it to events." 
 
 To secure the independence of France, to es- 
 tablish a solid European peace, such was the ob- 
 ject he had in view, and which he was so near 
 attaining, in spite of the complications of events, 
 and the unceasing conflict of opposite interests.
 
 116 NAPOLEONIC IDEAS. 
 
 The more the secrets of diplomacy shall be re- 
 vealed, the more will the world be convinced of 
 this truth, that Napoleon was led step by step 
 through the force of events and things to that 
 gigantic power which was created by war, and by 
 war destroyed. He was not the aggressor ; on 
 the contrary, he was constantly obliged to repel 
 the coalitions of Europe. If sometimes he ap- 
 peared to get the start of his enemies, it was be- 
 cause the guaranty of success in war consists in 
 taking the initiative. " And besides," as Mignet 
 has said, " the true author of a war is not he who 
 " declares it, but he who renders it necessary." 
 
 Let us pass in rapid review the great drama 
 which commenced at Arcole and ended at Water- 
 loo, and we shall see that Napoleon appears as one 
 of those extraordinary beings whom Providence 
 creates to be the majestic instrument of His im- 
 penetrable designs, and whose mission is so clearly 
 defined in advance, that an irresistible power seems 
 to compel them to fulfil it. 
 
 After having made the conquest of Italy, and 
 carried the torch of civilisation to the foot of the 
 Pyramids the place which was its cradle he re- 
 turned to Europe, and by the battle of Marengo 
 obtained peace, of which France stood in great 
 need. But this peace was of too short duration ; 
 England wished war. It seems as though the two 
 most civilized nations were employed by Provi-
 
 THE FOREIGN QUESTION". 117 
 
 dence to enlighten the world, one in exciting na- 
 tions against France, the other in conquering in 
 order to regenerate them. At one moment the two 
 giants stood face to face ; there was but a narrow 
 strait between them, They appeared about to 
 struggle for the mastery, body to body ; but such 
 was not the decree of fate. The genius of civilisa- 
 tion of the age was destined to march towards the 
 East. People of Illyria and of Carinthia, of the 
 Danube and of the Spree, of the Elbe and of the 
 Vistula, you saw her and followed her laws ; vic- 
 torious, she received your worship ; you then hated 
 her, but, after her disappearance, only to regret and 
 bless her ! 
 
 Every coalition which was formed increased the 
 preponderance of France, for the God of battles 
 was with us ; and the power of Napoleon grew in 
 proportion with the hatred of his enemies. Our 
 allies derived advantage from our conquests. In 
 1805, France had for allies Prussia, the little states 
 of Germany, Italy, and Spain. The victories of 
 Ulm and Austerlitz gave Hanover to Prussia, 
 Venice to Italy, the Tyrol to Bavaria. Prussia 
 detached herself from the French alliance, and 
 Napoleon was compelled to subdue her at Jena. 1 
 
 1 It will be asked one day why Napoleon, in the six last 
 years of his reign, showed himself without pity for Prussia ; it 
 vas because Prussia was the power which injured him most by 
 compelling him to contend with and destroy her ; her, whom
 
 118 NAPOLE01STC IDEAS. 
 
 The creation of the kingdom of Westphalia was a 
 consequence of the dismemberment of Prussia, and 
 of the victories of Eylau and Friedland. A glimpse 
 of a future of peace was caught at Tilsit. The two 
 most powerful monarchs of the world, representing 
 80,000,000 of men, and the civilisation of the East 
 and the West, met upon a river which separated 
 interests of the greatest magnitude. The interview 
 between Alexander and Napoleon upon the Nie- 
 men, was, then, for Europe, like the union of the 
 two voltaic poles, which, from the difference of 
 their nature, produce, when they meet, the electric 
 light. How was it possible not to believe in a bril- 
 liant future of prosperity, when these two great 
 monarchs agreed upon assuring the repose of the 
 world ? Napoleon, in 1808, found himself at Er- 
 furth, in the midst of a congress of kings, who had 
 been conquered or convinced ; but England was 
 'neither conquered nor convinced ; her fleets hov- 
 ered upon every shore, and her gold weighed 
 heavy in the scales of treaties. 1809 saw a new 
 coalition ; it was dissolved at Eckmuhl and Wag- 
 ram. The French eagle soared over Bremen, Lu- 
 beck, and Hamburg. Bavaria obtained the prov- 
 ince of Salzbourg. Illyria became a portion of 
 the great empire. 
 
 he desired to enlarge, fortify and aggrandize, in order to se- 
 cure by her co-operation the immobility of Russia and Austria, 
 to give to the continental system an uncontested development, 
 and thus force England to make and keep peace. Bignon.
 
 THE FOREIGN QUESTION. 119 
 
 The views of Napoleon were extended as the 
 field of his exploits was enlarged ; events put him 
 in a position, which enabled him to contemplate 
 the regeneration of Europe. The great difficulty 
 for Napoleon was, not to conquer, but to dispose 
 of his conquests. As sovereign of France he was 
 bound to make use of them in a French interest ; 
 as a great man, in a European interest. That is 
 to say, it was necessary that his conquests should 
 satisfy the temporary interests of war, at the same 
 time that they should furnish the means of establish- 
 ing a system of general peace. The provinces which 
 he incorporated with France were only so many 
 media of exchange, so many counters, 1 which he 
 held in reserve until a definitive settlement of 
 peace. But inasmuch as such incorporations gave 
 rise to suspicions of a desire to establish a univer- 
 sal monarchy, he founded kingdoms, which had an 
 appearance of independence, and elevated his 
 brothers to thrones, in order that they might form 
 in the different countries the pillars of a new edi- 
 fice, and unite the appearance of permanency with 
 the substantial power of change. They alone, 
 although kings, would be subject to his will, 
 and would decide according to the decrees of his 
 
 1 " Illyria was but an advanced sentinel at the gates of 
 " Vienna ; I will, by-and-by, restore it for Gallicia." Words 
 of Napoleon. He said to a deputation from Berlin in 1807 : 
 " I have not desired war ; I am satisfied with the boundary of 
 "the Rhine."
 
 120 NAPOLEONIC IDEAS. 
 
 policy, to quit their thrones and become again 
 French princes ; they united the apparent inde- 
 pendence of royalty with a real dependence of 
 family. Thus the Emperor was seen to change, 
 according to circumstances, the governments of 
 Holland, of Naples, of Lombardy, of Spain, and of 
 the grand-duchy of Berg. 
 
 It was a fatality for Napoleon, to be obliged to 
 create so many new kingdoms : they therefore are in 
 error, who have said that he ought, in view of his 
 own interests, to have dethroned the sovereigns 
 of Prussia and of Austria, when he occupied their 
 capitals. The Emperor by so doing would only 
 have increased his embarrassments and the num- 
 ber of his enemies, for those sovereigns were be- 
 loved by their subjects and, besides, whom could 
 he put in their places? Men beyond the Rhine 
 do not like governments imposed by us, any better 
 than we like those which enemies impose upon us. 
 Remember that in 1808 Napoleon thought it ne- 
 cessary to change the dynasty of a great nation. 
 That dynasty had so degenerated, that it approved 
 of its own removal. The country, whose lot she 
 placed in the hands of the Emperor, was that for 
 the regeneration of which French influence was 
 the most necessary; nevertheless, all Spain rose 
 to reclaim the monarch whom a foreign power 
 had taken away. 
 
 The Emperor conciliated, then, as far as was
 
 THE FOREIGN QUESTION. 121 
 
 possible, temporary interests, and transient exi- 
 gencies with his great object, a resettlement of 
 Europe upon the basis of the interests of all. But 
 fate seemed always to force him into new wars ; and, 
 as if it was not enough that he had liberated from 
 the trammels of past ages Italy, Switzerland, and 
 Germany, it was necessary that he should conduct 
 his armies under the burning sky of Andalusia, 
 and through the snows of Russia, and that his 
 legions, like those of Ca?sar, should even in dying 
 leave as traces of their passage the germs of a new 
 civilisation. In 1812, the contest became more 
 terrible. In order that general peace might be 
 established and consolidated, it was necessary that 
 England in the west, and Russia in the east, should 
 be persuaded by reason, or subdued by victory. 
 The great designs of the Emperor were about to 
 be accomplished ; the West of Europe marched 
 upon Moscow. But alas! a winter changed all! 
 Napoleonic Europe could no longer exist. From 
 the grandeur of the failure, form an idea of the 
 gigantic result of success! It was no longer a 
 question of combining and founding ; it was neces- 
 sary for the Emperor to defend and protect France 
 and her allies. The field of battle was transferred 
 from the banks of the B6r6sina to the foot of 
 Montmartre. Peace ! peace ! cried the cowards, 
 who until then had been silent. But the soul of 
 the Emperor was inaccessible to pusillanimous 
 6
 
 122 NAPOLEONIC IDEAS. 
 
 counsels. Although his body bled in every part, 
 Death, he exclaims, rather than a shameful peace! 
 death, rather than be Emperor of a France smaller 
 than I received ! 
 
 The lightning flashed once more! but soon 
 came "Waterloo! Here every French voice is 
 choked, and finds no longer any thing but tears ; 
 tears for the vanquished, and tears for the victors, 
 who will sooner or later regret the overthrow of 
 the only man who could mediate between two 
 hostile ages ! 
 
 All our wars were attributable to England. She 
 never would listen to any propositions of peace. 
 Did she believe that the Emperor desired her ruin ? 
 He never entertained such a thought. He did but 
 make reprisals. The Emperor esteemed the Eng- 
 lish people, and to secure peace would have made 
 every sacrifice except such as would compromise 
 his honor. In 1800, the first Consul wrote to the 
 King of England : " Shall the war, which for eight 
 " years has ravaged the four quarters of the earth, 
 " be eternal ? Is there no way of coming to an 
 "understanding? How can the two most en- 
 " lightened nations of Europe, each more power- 
 " ful than is necessary for its safety and independ- 
 " ence, sacrifice to ideas of vain-glory, the welfare 
 " of commerce, internal prosperity, and the happi- 
 " ness of families ? How is it, that they do not
 
 THE FOREIGN QUESTION. 123 
 
 " feel that peace is the first of necessities, as it is 
 " the first of glories ? " 
 
 In 1805, the Emperor addressed to the same 
 sovereign the following words: "The world is 
 " large enough for two nations to live in, and rea- 
 " son is abundantly able to find the ways of con- 
 " ciliating every thing, if only there is on both 
 " sides the will. Peace is the wish of my heart, 
 " but war has never been contrary to my glory. 
 "I conjure your Majesty not to deny himself the 
 " happiness of voluntarily granting peace." 
 
 In 1808, Napoleon united with Alexander to 
 bring over the British Cabinet to ideas of con- 
 ciliation. 
 
 Finally, in 1812, when the Emperor was at the 
 apogee of his power, he made again the same 
 propositions to England. He always sued for 
 peace after a victory, never after a defeat. " A 
 " nation," said he, " can replace men more easily 
 " than honor." 
 
 It would be too sad an idea to think that war 
 had been kept up only through the revengeful 
 passions, or the interests of parties. If an obsti- 
 nate contest continued for so long a time, it was 
 doubtless because the two nations understood each 
 other too little, and each government erred as to 
 the real condition of its neighbor. England saw, 
 perhaps, in Napoleon only a despot, who oppresses 
 his country, and exhausts all her resources to
 
 124 NAPOLEONIC IDEAS. 
 
 gratify his warlike ambition ; she could not recog- 
 nize that the Emperor was the elect of the people, 
 of whom he represented all the interests, material 
 and moral, for which France had contended since 
 1789. It may also be held that the French gov- 
 ernment, confounding the enlightened aristocracy 
 of England with the feudal aristocracy which 
 weighed upon France before the Revolution, 
 thought that it was dealing with an oppressive 
 government. But the English aristocracy is like 
 the Briareus of fable. It has a hold upon the people 
 by a hundred thousand roots. It obtained from 
 them as many sacrifices as Napoleon obtained 
 efforts from the French nation. And it is worthy 
 of notice in the contest between these two coun- 
 tries, that the rivalry of England placed Napoleon at 
 one time in a position to realize against that power 
 a European project, similar to that which Henry 
 IV. would have put in execution against Spain, if 
 the steel of a base assassin had not deprived France 
 and Europe of that great monarch. 
 
 We shall return, in another chapter, to a con- 
 sideration of the morality of the end which the 
 Emperor designed to attain. Let us examine now 
 the principal improvements which he introduced 
 into foreign countries. Very differently from other 
 governments, which have always treated the prov- 
 inces they have acquired like conquered countries, 
 the Emperor caused all the nations of which he
 
 THE FOREIGN QUESTION. 125 
 
 was master to participate in the benefits of an 
 enlightened administration; and the countries 
 which he incorporated with France, enjoyed from 
 that instant the same prerogatives as the mother 
 country. When he gave crowns, he imposed 
 always two conditions upon the king whom he ap- 
 pointed ; the inviolability of the constitution, and 
 the guaranty of the public debt. 
 
 In Italy, he formed a great kingdom, which 
 had its separate administration and its Italian 
 army. All the administrative and judicial offices 
 were filled by natives. The troops were no longer 
 composed of mercenaries and the dregs of the 
 population. Every man was called upon to defend 
 his country : the army became citizen. The sover- 
 eign could no longer dip, according to his caprice, 
 into the public treasury; he had his civil list. 
 Feudalism, tithes, mortmains, and monastic orders 
 were destroyed; a constitutional statute estab- 
 lished three colleges: 1st, proprietors; 2d, those 
 engaged in commerce; 3d, the learned. There 
 were added to the first two colleges which re- 
 quired for admissibility the qualification of the 
 payment of a certain amount of imposts, a third 
 college, free from that requisition, composed, 
 under the name of College of Savants, of two hun- 
 dred citizens chosen from among the most celebrated 
 men of all branches of science, or of the liberal or 
 mechanic arts, or from among those who had most
 
 126 NAPOLEONIC IDEAS. 
 
 distinguished themselves whether by their doctrines 
 in ecclesiastical matters, or by their acquisitions in 
 legislation, morals, politics, or administration. 
 
 The citizens were organized into a national 
 guard. The country, divided into departments, 
 and administered by prefectures and sub-prefec- 
 tures, lost that provincial spirit which is the 
 death of nationality. New laws concerning prop- 
 erty and mortgages simplified administration and 
 enriched the country. Agriculture, the sciences, 
 and the arts, were encouraged. The French Code 
 was introduced, and publicity of proceedings in 
 criminal matters was declared. Houses of industry 
 were erected in several cities to put an end to 
 mendicity. Convents' were converted into hos- 
 pitals, justices of the peace were appointed, and 
 the decimal system of money, weights, and meas- 
 ures was established. Public instruction was reg- 
 ulated by a law which divides it, economically, 
 into three degrees national, departmental, and 
 communal; and scientifically likewise into three 
 degrees transcendental, intermediate, and ele- 
 mentary. Above all stood the National Institute. 
 The Italian concordat protected the temporal 
 power from encroachments of the ecclesiastical 
 power. The various bonds of the people of Italy 
 were drawn closer by more easy means of com- 
 munication. The Alps were levelled, and the 
 Apennines, cut by new routes, united Piedmont
 
 THE FOREIGN QUESTION. 127 
 
 to the Mediterranean. Italian glory awoke, and 
 for the first time since Caesar, Italian legions were 
 seen to tread as conquerors the soil of Spain. The 
 name of Italy, so beautiful, dead for so many ages, 
 was restored to provinces which, until then, had 
 been severed. That name implies in itself a future 
 of independence. 1 
 
 Napoleon put an end to those little republics, 
 which, as Montesquieu has said, owed their exist- 
 ence only to the perpetuity of their abuses. From 
 the Alps to Otranto there were but three great di- 
 visions : the kingdom of Italy, the kingdom of 
 Naples, and the French provinces. Napoleon had 
 united to the French empire Piedmont, as well as 
 Rome and Florence, for the purpose of habituating 
 their people to a government which makes the in- 
 habitants citizens and soldiers. The wars at an 
 end, he would have restored them to the mother 
 country ; and these provinces, invigorated by his 
 authority, would have passed by an easy transition 
 from French dominion to an Italian government ; 
 while, if this organisation had been more hasty, the 
 people, not having been prepared by French ac- 
 tion for a common nationality, would doubtless 
 
 1 In receiving the Italian deputation which brought him the 
 crown of Italy, Napoleon replied in public to M. Melzi : " I have 
 "always intended to create the Italian nation free and inde' 
 " pendent. I accept the crown, and will keep it but only so 
 " long as my interests render it necessary." See Botta, book 
 22, p. 6.
 
 128 NAPOLEONIC IDEAS. 
 
 have regretted their ancient political individu- 
 ality. 
 
 Switzerland, given up to civil war, to the ter- 
 rors of anarchy, and at the same time to the en- 
 croachments of the aristocracy, was all at once 
 pacified by the mediation of Napoleon. He called 
 before him the representatives of Helvetia, opposed 
 the opinion of those who desired liberty for certain 
 cantons only, and dependence for the rest ; and 
 having fully discussed the interests of each, he 
 made them adopt a constitution which, while it 
 consecrated the principles of liberty and justice, 
 preserved of the preceding regime all which was 
 not incompatible with those principles. The chief 
 articles of the act of mediation were : 1st, Equal- 
 ity of rights among the nineteen cantons ; 2d, The 
 voluntary surrender of privileges on the part of 
 patrician families; 3d, A federal organisation, in 
 virtue of which each canton was organized accord- 
 ing to its language, its religion, its customs, its in- 
 terests, and its opinions. Accordingly Switzerland, 
 which is indebted to the act of mediation for 
 twelve years of quiet and prosperity, has always 
 preserved its gratitude to the mediator. 
 
 Southern Germany, liberated from the yoke of 
 the Germanic empire, beheld civilisation advancing 
 under the auspices of the Code Napoleon, and in- 
 stead of being cut up into two hundred and eighty- 
 four states, she saw their number reduced to thirty-
 
 THE FOREIGN QUESTION. 129 
 
 one by the establishment of the Confederation of 
 the Rhine. 1 
 
 1 Seigniories and sovereignties of ancient Germany having 
 a voice in the Diet, and rights of legislation and jurisdiction 
 in their territories : 
 
 Electors, ..... 9 
 Lay Princes, .... 61 
 
 Ecclesiastical Princes, . . .83 
 
 Abbots and Abbeys with seigneurial rights, 41 
 Counts and Seigniors of the Empire, 
 
 In Wetteravia, . . .16 
 
 In Swabia, ... 28 
 
 In Franconia, . . .17 
 
 In Westphalia, . . 33 
 
 Sovereigns, 233 
 Republics, 61 
 
 Total, 284 States. 
 
 The decree of Ratisbonne (1803), the first act of the Ger- 
 manic empire, drawn up under the influence of Napoleon, 
 reduced these States to the number of 147 : 
 
 Electors, . . . . .10 
 
 Seigniors having a voice in the Diet, . 131 
 Free Cities, .... 6 
 
 ~147 
 
 By the Confederation of the Rhine, Napoleon mediatized 
 all these princes ; there remained only 31 States : 
 Kings, . . . . .4 
 
 Elector Arch-chancellor, . . 1 
 
 Grand Dukes, .... 3 
 
 Landgrave, . . . . 1 
 
 Princes, . . . . .11 
 
 Dukes, ..... 16 
 
 Count, ..... 1 
 
 Total, 31 States. 
 6*
 
 130 NAPOLEONIC IDEAS. 
 
 Westphalia, another germ of regeneration, seated 
 upon the Elbe, composed of provinces which suffered 
 all the abuses of feudalism, received institutions 
 which consecrated the equality of all citizens before 
 the law, and suppressed every industrial privilege 
 and every kind of serfdom. The introduction of 
 the civil code, and the publicity of trials by jury in 
 criminal matters, were ameliorations for which the 
 French regime must be credited. The fiefs were 
 declared free properties, providing, however, for 
 reversion to the crown in case of default of heirs. 
 Prospective arrangements were made to prevent 
 the suits which might arise in consequence of the 
 abolition of serfdom. The purchase of rents and 
 of feudal reservations was regulated by a law. 
 All religions enjoyed equal liberty; the Jewish 
 worship had its consistory. 
 
 In Bavaria, the King Maximilian granted in 
 1808 a constitution which secured the liberties of 
 the people, and destroyed feudal privileges. 
 
 In the grand-duchies of Baden and of Berg, as 
 in the lands of Erfurth, Fulde, Hanau and Bay- 
 reuth, the influence of the Emperor caused to be 
 abolished, in 1808, serfdom, the cultivators' tax, 
 and the fees derived therefrom to the profit of 
 the seigniors. The serfs and cultivators obtained 
 complete civil rights, and the right of holding 
 property. 
 
 Liberty of conscience did not exist in Saxony :
 
 THE FOREIGN QUESTION. 131 
 
 the Emperor caused it to be declared in the con- 
 stitution of that country in 1806. 
 
 Poland, that sister of France always so devoted, 
 so magnanimous, may hope for a resurrection not 
 long to be delayed, for the Emperor erected the 
 duchy of Warsaw as a nucleus for a complete 
 nationality. The constitution of this new duchy 
 abolished slavery, consecrated the principle of 
 equality of rights, and placed under the safeguard 
 of the tribunals the social state of all persons. It 
 introduced the French civil code. The King of 
 Saxony was elected as sovereign of Warsaw, be- 
 cause he was a descendant of princes who had 
 reigned over Poland. He had near him, in his 
 character of grand-duke of Warsaw, a council of 
 state, composed of the most distinguished Poles. 
 A constitutional statute was decreed, which as- 
 sured the privileges and liberties of the people. 
 The general diet was composed of two chambers, 
 that of the senate and that of the nuncios. The 
 diet voted the taxes and discussed the laws. 
 Finally, as has been said by M. Bignon, in a work 
 of which the patriotism rivals the talent, a tribune 
 was erected at Warsaw in the midst of the silent 
 atmospheres of neighboring governments. 
 
 Although the Emperor had it in his power to 
 dispose arbitrarily of the destiny of so many 
 nations, he allowed them always to co-operate in 
 framing the laws which he gave them. His con-
 
 132 NAPOLEONIC IDEAS. 
 
 duct was the same in regard to all the countries, 
 the old governments of which he changed. In 
 1 800, he invited the deputies of northern Italy to 
 come to Lyons, and discussed with them the con- 
 stitution which should govern them. 1 
 
 In 1805, another extraordinary council was 
 called together at Paris to constitute the king- 
 dom of Italy. In Holland, the legislative body 
 of the country was charged with the duty of fram- 
 ing the constitution. For Switzerland, the act of 
 mediation was in like manner the work of the 
 deputies of the cantons assembled at Paris. 
 
 The system of the Emperor, which consisted in 
 calling near him the most distinguished persons of 
 a country, in order to work out its regeneration, 
 having procured so happy results for Switzerland 
 and Italy, Napoleon resolved, in 1808, to apply it 
 to Spain, which, more than any other nation, 
 needed a political reorganisation. 
 
 The Emperor did not go to Bayonne with the 
 intention of dethroning the kings of Spain ; but 
 when he saw Charles IV. and Ferdinand at his 
 feet, and could judge for himself of their complete 
 incapacity, he pitied the lot of a great people, and, 
 
 1 This extraordinary council comprised all the notabilities 
 of the republic, the clergy, the magistracy, the administra- 
 tions of the departments and of the principal cities, the cham- 
 bers of commerce, the academies and the universities, the 
 national guards, and the troops of the line. All classes and 
 all professions sent their representatives.
 
 THE FOREIGN QUESTION. 133 
 
 as he said himself, he seized by the forelock the 
 opportunity which fortune presented him of recon- 
 stituting Spain, and of uniting her intimately with 
 his system. He assembled at Bayonne an extra- 
 ordinary- national junta, composed of deputies 
 elected by all the provinces. A plan of constitu- 
 tion was opened to the free discussion of the junta ; 
 this plan provided for a senate, a council of state, 
 the cortes or assemblies of the nation divided into 
 three bans; he adopted the judicial system of 
 France ; equality in payment of imposts, and in 
 admission to public employments, was guarantied ; 
 entails were diminished ; liberty of the press was 
 authorized, to take effect two years after the adop- 
 tion of the constitution; finally, that charter se- 
 cured all the rights which the Spanish people de- 
 sired, and put an end to all the old abuses, such as 
 the inquisition, feudal privileges, etc. 1 In commu- 
 nicating to the people of the peninsula his inten- 
 tions, the Emperor addressed them in these beau- 
 tiful words : " Spaniards ! after long agony your 
 " nation is on the verge of dissolution. I have wit- 
 
 1 Upon arriving at Madrid, the Emperor abolished the in- 
 quisition. He reduced the convents, at the same time pro- 
 viding an honorable subsistence for the monks, and increasing 
 the salaries of the country curates. He suppressed the feudal 
 rights and personal services. He transferred the custom-houses 
 to the frontiers. Finally, the alienation by gift of certain civil 
 and ecclesiastical impositions was revoked, and all seigneurial 
 jurisdiction was abolished. Bignon, vol. viii. p. 54.
 
 134 NAPOLEONIC IDEAS. 
 
 " nessed your sufferings, and bring you a remedy. I 
 " do not wish to reign over your land, but I desire to 
 " acquire an eternal right to the love and gratitude 
 " of your posterity. Your monarchy is decrepit ; 
 " I will renew its youth. I will improve your in- 
 " stitutions, and, if you will second me, enable 
 " you to enjoy the benefits of a reform without 
 " violence, disorder, or convulsion. Spaniards ! I 
 " have convoked a general assembly of delegates 
 " from the provinces and the cities. I desire to 
 " assure myself, personally, of your wants and your 
 " wishes ; I will then place your glorious crown 
 " upon the head of another self, promising you a 
 " constitution which reconciles the gentle and salu- 
 " tary authority of the sovereign with the liberty 
 " and privileges of the people ; for I desire that 
 " your latest children shall preserve my memory, 
 " and say, He was the regenerator of our country." 
 
 But no nation was less prepared than Spain to 
 undergo a social revolution. She was deaf to this 
 noble language, and rejected the only hand which 
 could save her. At the present time she ought to 
 feel regrets all the more bitter, since the terrible 
 prediction of the Emperor at Saint Helena is being 
 accomplished : "I would have spared them," said 
 he, " the dreadful tyranny which tramples them 
 " under foot, and the fearful agitations which await 
 " them ! " 
 
 If war is the scourge of humanity, this scourge
 
 THE FOREIGN QUESTION. 135 
 
 loses a great part of its unhappy influence when the / 
 force of arms is called to found, not to destroy. 
 The wars of the Empire have been like the over- 
 flow of the Nile : when the waters of the river 
 cover the fields of Egypt, one would imagine that 
 the country was laid waste ; but hardly have the 
 waters retired, before they are followed by fertility 
 and abundance!
 
 CHAPTEK V. 
 
 AIM OF THE EMPEROB. 
 
 European association. Liberty in Fr&nee. 
 
 the fortune of arms had rendered Napo- 
 leon master of the greater part of the continent, 
 he desired to use his conquests for the establish- 
 ment of a European confederation. 1 
 ^ Prompt to apprehend the tendency of civilisa- 
 tion, the Emperor hastened its march by executing, 
 without delay, that which otherwise had been en- 
 folded in the distant decrees of Providence. His 
 genius foresaw that the rivalry which separates 
 
 1 He caused the supplementary act to be preceded by the 
 following remarkable words : " I intended," said he, in speak- 
 ing of the past, " to organize a great federative European sys- 
 ' tern, which I had conceived as conformable to the spirit of 
 ' the age, and favorable to the progress of civilisation. In 
 1 order to be able to complete it, and give it all the breadth 
 ' and stability of which it was susceptible, I adjourned the es- 
 ' tablishment of several internal institutions more especially 
 ' designed to protect the liberty of citizens."
 
 ATM OF THE EMPEEOE. 137 
 
 the different nations of Europe, would disappear 
 before a general interest well understood. 
 
 The more the world improves itself, the more 
 are the barriers which separate men lowered, and 
 the greater is the number of countries which re- 
 ciprocal interests tend to unite. 
 
 In the infancy of society, the state of nature 
 existed between man and man ; then a common 
 interest united a small number of individuals who 
 surrendered some of their natural rights in order 
 that society might guaranty to them complete 
 enjoyment of the rest. Then was formed the 
 tribe, an association of men among whom the 
 state of nature disappeared, and law took the place 
 of the right of the strongest. The greater the 
 progress of civilisation, on a correspondingly more 
 extensive Scale was this transformation effected. 
 Men fought at first from gate to gate, from hill to 
 hill ; then the spirit of conquest and the spirit of 
 defence gave rise to cities, provinces, states ; and 
 a common danger having united a large number of 
 these territorial fractions, nations were formed. 
 Then the national interests having embraced all the 
 local and provincial interests, wars were carried on 
 only between people and people ; and each people, 
 in its turn, made a triumphal march over the terri- 
 tory of its neighbor, when it was led by a great 
 man, and attended by a great principle. The com- 
 mune, the city, and the province, have thus, one
 
 138 NAPOLEONIC IDEAS. 
 
 after the other, enlarged their social sphere, and 
 extended the limits of the circle, outside of which 
 the state of nature exists. This transformation 
 stopped at the frontier of each country ; and it is 
 still force, not right, which decides the lot of na- 
 tions. 
 
 To replace among the nations of Europe the 
 state of nature by the social state, such was the 
 idea of the Emperor ; all his political combinations 
 tended to this great end ; but it was necessary, in 
 order to reach it, to bring England and Russia to 
 a frank concurrence in his views. 
 
 " Every war in Europe," said Napoleon, " is a 
 " civil war. The Holy Alliance is an idea stolen 
 " from me." That is to say, a holy alliance of the 
 nations through their kings, and not of the kings 
 against the nations. In this consists the immeas- 
 urable difference between his idea, and the man- 
 ner in which it was realized. Napoleon had dis- 
 placed the sovereigns for the temporary interests 
 of the nations ; in 1816, the nations were dis- 
 placed for the particular interests of the sover- 
 eigns. The statesmen of that epoch, consulting 
 only hatreds and passions, founded European equi- 
 librium upon the rivalry of the great powers, in- 
 stead of settling it upon general mutual inter- 
 ests. So their system has crumbled to ruins in all 
 its parts. 
 
 The policy of the Emperor, on the contrary,
 
 s 
 
 AIM OF THE EMPEEOK. 139 
 
 J 
 
 consisted in founding a solid European association, 
 by causing his system to rest upon complete na- 
 tionalities, and upon general interests fairly satis- 
 fied. If fortune had not deserted him, he would 
 have held in his hands all the means necessary for 
 the new constitution of Europe : he had kept in 
 reserve whole countries, of which he could dispose 
 in order to attain his end. Dutch, Romans, Pied- 
 montese, inhabitants of Bremen and of Hamburg, 
 all of you who have been astonished to find your- 
 selves Frenchmen, you will return to the atmos- 
 phere of nationality which suits your antecedents 
 and your position; and France, in surrendering 
 the rights which victory gave her over you, still 
 acts for her own proper interests ; for her interests 
 can never be separated from those of civilized na- 
 tions. In order to cement the European associa- 
 tion, the Emperor, to use his own words, would 
 have caused to be adopted a European code, and a 
 European court of cassation, to correct all errors, as 
 the Court of Cassation in France corrects the errors 
 of French tribunals. He would have founded a 
 European Institute to animate, direct, and unite 
 all the learned associations of Europe. 1 Uniform- 
 ity of coins and money, weights and measures, and 
 uniformity in legislation, would have been secured 
 by his powerful intervention. 
 
 1 The Emperor had already commenced this branch "of Eu- 
 ropean association for the sciences, by offering European prizes
 
 NAPOLEONIC IDEAS. 
 
 Thus would have been accomplished the last 
 grand transformation for our continent ; and as com- 
 munal interests had risen superior to individual in- 
 terests, and then interests of cities to communal 
 interests, and interests of provinces to interests of 
 cities, and finally, national interests to interests of 
 provinces ; so, on precisely the same principle, Eu- 
 ropean interests would have ruled over national 
 interests and humanity would have been satisfied; 
 for Providence could not have intended that one 
 nation should be happy only at the expense of 
 others, that there should be in Europe only victors 
 and vanquished, and not the reconciled and harmo- 
 nious members of one great family. 
 
 Napoleonic Europe once founded, the Emperor 
 would have proceeded hi France to the establish- 
 ment of his institutions of peace. He would have 
 consolidated liberty ; he had only to let loose the 
 cords of the net-work he had prepared. 
 
 The government of Napoleon, better than any 
 
 for new discoveries or inventions. Notwithstanding the exist- 
 ence of war, Davy, of London, and Hermann, of Berlin, won 
 prizes offered by the Institute. 
 
 In the same idea of European confraternity, the Emperor 
 caused to be declared by a senatus-consultum, of the 21st 
 February, 1808, that those who had rendered or should render 
 important services to the state, or who should introduce 
 inventions, or useful industries, or should form great estab- 
 lishments, might after one year of residence be admitted to 
 enjoy the rights of French citizenship, which rights should be 
 conferred upon them by a decree.
 
 AIM OF THE E3IPEBOE. 141 
 
 other, could have sustained liberty, for the simple 
 reason that liberty would have strengthened his 
 throne, though it overthrows such thrones as have 
 not a solid foundation. 
 
 Liberty would have fortified his power, be- 
 cause Napoleon had established in France all that 
 ought to precede liberty ; l because his power re- 
 posed upon the whole mass of the nation ; because 
 his interests were the same as those of the people ; 
 because, finally, the most perfect confidence reigned 
 between the ruler and the governed. 
 
 In fact, without identical interests, without ab- 
 solute confidence, no authority is possible; how- 
 ever well a government may act, or intend to act, 
 it is doomed to perish if evil intents are attributed 
 to all its acts. " One of the indispensable qualities 
 " of a government," says M. Thiers," " is to have 
 " that good reputation which defends it from in- 
 justice. When it has lost that, and every thing 
 " even the wrongs of others and of fortune 
 " is imputed as a crime, there remains no longer 
 " the faculty of governing, and this lack of author- 
 " ity should condemn it to retire." 
 
 In England, in 1687, the want of confidence of 
 the people towards the sovereign led to fatal con- 
 sequences. The king, James II., published, of his 
 own authority, a declaration of liberty of con- 
 
 1 See the commencement of the third chapter, page 34. 
 4 History of the Revolution.
 
 142 NAPOLEONIC IDEAS. 
 
 science for all his subjects; but the nation dis- 
 trusted the intention of the sovereign, and think- 
 ing that he desired by the declaration to favor 
 the triumph of Catholicism felt indignant at an act 
 which it suspected of duplicity, although the prin- 
 ciple involved was just and generous. 
 
 To the Emperor Napoleon, on the contrary, 
 possessing the confidence of the people, ah 1 was 
 easy. He had at the beginning surmounted the 
 greatest difficulty and laid the principal founda- 
 tions of a solid establishment, by reconciling 
 among themselves all the members of the French 
 family. All agreed as to the fundamental basis 
 of the constitution. The interests of the majority 
 were mingled to such a degree with those of his 
 dynasty, that in 1811, on the very spot where, a 
 few years before, implacable hatred to royalty had 
 been sworn, all Paris and all France were seen to 
 salute with their acclamations the birth of a child, 
 because that child appeared to be a pledge of the 
 duration and stability of the imperial government. 
 
 Beloved especially by the people, could Napo- 
 leon fear to grant political rights to all the citi- 
 zens? After being chosen consul for life, he re- 
 established the principle of the right of elec- 
 tion, and used these significant words : " For the 
 " sake of the stability of the government, it is ne- 
 " cessary that the people should have a share in 
 " the elections ! " Thus already in 1803, Napoleon
 
 AIM OP THE EMPEKOB. 143 
 
 foresaw that liberty would fortify his power. His 
 wannest partisans being among the people, the 
 more he lowered the electoral qualification, the 
 better chances had his natural friends of arriving 
 at the legislative assembly ; the more power he 
 gave to the masses, the more he strengthened his 
 own. 
 
 Nor would liberty of discussion in the Cham- 
 bers have endangered the imperial government; 
 for, all being agreed upon the fundamental ques- 
 tions, an opposition would only have had the effect 
 of giving birth to a noble emulation, and instead 
 of expending its energies in attempting the over- 
 throw of government, it would have confined its 
 efforts to endeavoring to improve it. 
 
 Finally, the liberty of the press would have 
 served only to exhibit in better light the grandeur 
 of the plans of Napoleon, to proclaim the benefits 
 attending his reign. As General, Consul, Em- 
 peror, having done every thing for the people, 
 would he have feared being reproached with mak- 
 ing conquests which had resulted in the prosperity 
 and glory of France, and in the peace of the 
 world ? Would he have feared that a more bril- 
 liant glory would have been contrasted with his 
 own? No, a government glorious with laurels 
 both civil and military, could not have feared the 
 light ! The more moral power an authority has, 
 the less necessity does it feel to employ material
 
 144 NAPOLEONIC IDEAS. 
 
 force ; and the more power public opinion confers 
 upon it, the better able it is to dispense with 
 using it. 
 
 Let us repeat, then: identity of interests of 
 the sovereign and of the people, is the essential 
 foundation of a dynasty. A government is firm- 
 ly and immovably seated when it can say to 
 itself: That which will be for the advantage of 
 the greatest number, that which will secure the 
 liberty of the citizen and the prosperity of the 
 country, will constitute the force of my authority, 
 and will consolidate my power. But when a gov- 
 ernment finds partisans only in a single class, when 
 liberty furnishes arms only to its enemies, how can 
 one hope that it will enlarge the system of elec- 
 tion, that it will favor liberty? Can a govern- 
 ment be expected to commit suicide ? 
 
 Thus, under Napoleon, a normal state was 
 arrived at without shocks and without troubles, 
 a state in which liberty would have been the sup- 
 port of power, the guaranty of public welfare, in- 
 stead of being a weapon of war, and a torch of dis- 
 cord. 
 
 It is with an impression similar to that which 
 follows an intoxicated dream, that one dwells upon 
 the picture of happiness and stability that Europe 
 would have presented, if the comprehensive plans 
 of the Emperor had been realized. Each country, 
 limited by its natural boundaries, united to its
 
 ATM OP THE EMPEROR. 145 
 
 neighbors by relations of interest and friendship, 
 would have enjoyed the benefits of independence, 
 of peace, and of liberty ; and sovereigns, free from 
 fear and suspicion, would have applied themselves 
 to improving the condition of their people, and to 
 introducing among them all the advantages of 
 civilisation ! 
 
 Instead of that, what have we now in Europe ? 
 Every one, when he goes to sleep at night, fears 
 the awakening of the morning ; for the germs of 
 evil are distributed everywhere, and every honest 
 soul dreads even blessings, because of the sacrifices 
 which must be made to obtain them ! 
 
 Friends of liberty, who have rejoiced at the 
 downfall of Napoleon, your error has been fatal ! 
 How many tedious years must pass, how many 
 struggles and sacrifices must be gone through and 
 suffered, before you will arrive again at the point 
 to which Napoleon had advanced you ! 
 
 And you, statesmen of the Congress of Vienna, 
 who have been masters of the world, while stand- 
 ing upon the ruins of the Empire you might have 
 played a splendid part, but you did not compre- 
 hend it ! You have aroused the people in the 
 name of liberty, and even of license, against Napo- 
 leon ; you have put him under the ban of Europe 
 as a despot and a tyrant ; you claim to have de 
 livered the nations and assured their repose. They 
 for a moment have believed you ; but nothing solid 
 7
 
 146 NAPOLEONIC IDEAS. 
 
 and permanent can be built upon falsehood and 
 error. Napoleon had closed the gulf of revolu- 
 tions ; you, overthrowing him, have reopened it. 
 Take care that the gulf does not swallow you up !
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 CAUSE OF THE FALL OF THE EMPEROE. 
 
 WE have exhibited in the preceding chapters 
 all the chances of duration which the imperial cre- 
 ations possessed. But, will it be said the edifice 
 of the interior, which you deemed so solid and firm, 
 has been overturned ? that foreign policy which 
 you consider so profound has proved the cause of 
 his ruin ? 
 
 We reply : The edifice of the interior was 
 solid and firm; for the shock which overturned 
 it did not come from the interior : as for the sys- 
 tem conceived by the Emperor, it was not defini- 
 tively established, and it would have been neces- 
 sary to put it into operation in order to demonstrate 
 its strength. 
 
 The Emperor fell, because he completed his 
 work too hastily because, events pressing too rap- 
 idly, he conquered too promptly. Anticipating, 
 by his genius, both time and men, when fortunate, 
 he was regarded as a god ; when unfortunate,
 
 148 NAPOLEONIC IDEAS. 
 
 nothing was perceived but his rashness. Borne 
 along by the current of victory, his rapid course 
 could not be followed by the philosophers, who, 
 restricting their ideas to the narrow circle of the 
 domestic hearth, on account of a gleam of liberty, 
 aided in quenching the very fire of civilisation. 
 
 At the same time foreign nations, impatient 
 of the temporary evils of war, forgot the benefits 
 which Napoleon brought them, and on account of 
 a transient ill, rejected a whole future of independ- 
 ence. It was not within the power of even the 
 greatest genius of modern times, in so few years 
 to destroy in foreign countries all prejudices and 
 convince all consciences. 
 
 France had become too great, in consequence 
 of the Revolution, not to awaken rivalries and 
 hatreds ; in order to appease them, it would have 
 been necessary to descend in the scale from the 
 time of the commencement of the Empire. But 
 these very rivalries caused Napoleon to mount to 
 the climax of. his power ; when afterwards he was 
 obliged to descend, he could not stop in his down- 
 ward course. 
 
 Time not having cemented his alliances, or ef- 
 faced the memory of too recent enmities, his allies, 
 upon the first check, turned against him. De- 
 ceived in his expectations, the Emperor refused to 
 accept propositions which he did not think sincere ; 
 the enemy, on their side, seeing Napoleon always
 
 PALL OF THE EMPEROR. 149 
 
 more haughty after a defeat, thought that he never 
 would consent to a definitive peace. 
 
 Napoleon's plans were constantly enlarged in 
 proportion with the elements which he had at his 
 disposition, and he fell because he desired to ac- 
 complish in ten years a work which would have 
 required several generations: 
 
 Not then in consequence of impotence did the 
 Emperor succumb, but hi consequence of exhaus- 
 tion. And in spite of his terrible reverses and in- 
 numerable calamities, the French people always 
 supported him by their suffrages, sustained him by 
 their efforts, and encouraged him by their attach- 
 ment. 
 
 It is a consolation to those who feel the blood 
 of great man flowing through their veins, to think 
 of the regrets which accompanied his removal. It 
 is a great and proud thought that it required all 
 the efforts of allied Europe to tear Napoleon from 
 France, which he had rendered so glorious. It 
 was not the French people, in their wrath, who 
 overturned his throne ; it required twice twelve 
 hundred thousand foreign swords to break his 
 imperial sceptre ! 
 
 Full of beauty and honor are the obsequies of 
 the sovereign, whom a nation in tears, and glory 
 clothed in mourning, accompany to his last resting- 
 place !
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 CONCLUSION. 
 
 THE period of the Empire was a war of life and 
 death, waged by England against France. Eng- 
 land triumphed ; but, thanks to the creative ge- 
 nius of Napoleon, France, although vanquished, has 
 lost, substantially, less than England. The finances 
 of France are still the most prosperous in Europe ; 
 England bends under the weight of debt. The 
 impulse given to industry and to commerce has 
 not been stopped in spite of our reverses ; and at 
 this time the European continent supplies itself 
 with the greater part of the products Avhich Eng- 
 land formerly supplied. 
 
 Now, we ask, who are the greatest statesmen, 
 those who have ruled over countries which have 
 gained, in spite of defeat, or those who have 
 governed countries which have lost, in spite of 
 victory ? 
 
 The period of the Empire was a war of life and 
 death against the old European system. The old
 
 CONCLUSION. 151 
 
 system has triumphed ; but in spite of the fall of 
 Napoleon, the Napoleonic Ideas have germinated 
 everywhere. The victors have even adopted the 
 ideas of the vanquished, and the people consume 
 themselves in efforts to rebuild what Napoleon 
 had established among them. 
 
 In France the realisation of the ideas of the 
 Emperor, under other names or other forms, is 
 demanded without cessation. If a great measure 
 or a great work is put in execution, it is generally 
 a project of Napoleon, which is proceeded with or 
 tinished. Every act^ of power, every proposition 
 of the Chambers, places itself under the aegis of 
 Napoleon, in order to secure popularity ; and upon 
 a word fallen from his lips, a whole system is 
 built. 
 
 Italy and Poland have endeavored to recover 
 the national organisation which Napoleon had given 
 them. 
 
 Spain sheds profusely the blood of her children, 
 
 in order to re-establish the institutions which the 
 
 
 
 consultum of Bayonne, in 1808, guarantied. The 
 troubles which agitate her are but the reaction 
 which spontaneously arises against resistance to 
 the ideas of the Emperor. 
 
 At London, also, a reaction has taken place, 
 and the major-general of the French army at 
 "Waterloo has been feted by the English people 
 like a conqueror.
 
 152 NAPOLEONIC IDEAS. 
 
 Belgium, in 1830, manifested distinctly her 
 desire to become again what she was under the 
 Empire. 
 
 Several countries of Germany ask urgently for 
 the laws which Napoleon gave them. 
 
 The Swiss cantons unanimously prefer the act 
 of mediation of 1803 to the compact which unites 
 them. 
 
 Finally, we have seen even in a democratic 
 republic (Berne), those districts which formerly 
 belonged to France, demand in 1838, from the 
 government of Berne, the imperial laws, of which 
 their incorporation with that republic had deprived 
 them since 1815. 
 
 Let us then ask again, who are the greatest 
 statesmen, those who found a system which crum- 
 bles in spite of their all-sufficient power, or those 
 who found a system which survives their defeat, 
 and rises from its ruins ? 
 
 The Napoleonic Ideas have then the character 
 of ideas which control the movemenj of society, 
 since they advance by their own force, although 
 deprived of their author ; like a body which, 
 launched into space, arrives by its own momentum 
 and weight at the end designed. 
 
 There is no longer any necessity to reconstruct 
 the system of the Emperor ; it will reconstruct it- 
 self. Sovereigns and nations will concur in re-
 
 CONCLUSION. 153 
 
 establishing it ; because each one will see in it a 
 guaranty of order, of peace, and of prosperity. 
 
 Besides, where can we find, at this day, the ex- 
 traordinary man who can command the attention 
 of the world by the respect due to the superiority 
 of his conceptions and ideas ? 
 
 The genius of our epoch has need only of simple 
 reason. Thirty years ago it was necessary to fore- 
 see and prepare ; now it is a question only of cor- 
 rect appreciation, and of careful collection and ar- 
 rangement. 
 
 " In contemporary, as in historical facts," Na- 
 poleon has said, " lessons may be found, but rarely 
 "models." It is impossible to copy that which 
 has been done, because imitations do not always 
 produce resemblances. 
 
 In fact, to copy in the details, instead of copy- 
 ing in the spirit, a past government, would be to 
 act like a general, who, finding himself upon the 
 same field of battle where Napoleon or Frederic 
 had conquered, should undertake to secure victory 
 by repeating the same manoeuvres. 
 
 In reading the history of nations, as the history 
 of battles, it is necessary to draw general princi- 
 ples, without confining one's self to follow servilely, 
 step by step, vestiges which are imprinted, not 
 upon sand, but upon a more elevated ground the 
 interests of humanity. 
 
 In conclusion, let us repeat it, the Napoleonic -"'2**
 
 154 NAPOLEONIC IDEAS. 
 
 Idea is not one of war, but a social, industrial, com- 
 mercial idea, and one which concerns all mankind. 
 If to some it appears always surrounded by the 
 thunder of combats, that is because it was in 
 fact for too long a time veiled by the smoke of 
 cannon and the dust of battles. But now the 
 clouds are dispersed, and we can see, beyond the 
 glory of arms, a civil glory greater and more en- 
 duririg. 
 
 May the shade of the Emperor repose, then, in 
 peace! His memory grows greater every day. 
 Every surge that breaks upon the rock of Saint 
 Helena, responding to a whisper of Europe, brings 
 a homage to his memory, a regret to his ashes, 
 and the echo of Longwood repeats over his tomb : 
 
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