Napoleon BonaparteAbbott, John S. C. (John Stevens Cabot)
History
Napoleon Bonaparte
Abbott, John S. C. (John Stevens Cabot)
Emperors -- France -- Biography; Napoleon I, Emperor of the French, 1769-1821
Napoleon arrived in Paris on the 31st of January. In the mean time,
there had been a new election of members of the Tribunate and of
the Legislative body. All those who had manifested any opposition
to the measures of Napoleon, in the re-establishment of Christianity,
and in the adoption of the new civil code, were left out, and their
places supplied by those who approved of the measures of the First
Consul. Napoleon could now act unembarrassed. In every quarter
there was submission. All the officers of the state, immediately
upon his return, sought an audience, and in that pomp of language
which his majestic deeds and character inspired, presented to him
their congratulations. He was already a sovereign, in possession
of regal power, such as no other monarch in Europe enjoyed. Upon
one object all the energies of his mighty mind were concentrated.
France was his estate, his diadem, his all. The glory of France
was his glory, the happiness of France his happiness, the riches of
France his wealth. Never did a father with more untiring self-denial
and toil labor for his family, than did Napoleon through days of
Herculean exertion and nights of sleeplessness devote every energy
of body and soul to the greatness of France. He loved not ease, he
loved not personal indulgence, he loved not sensual gratification.
The elevation of France to prosperity, wealth, and power, was
a limitless ambition. The almost supernatural success which had
thus far attended his exertions, did but magnify his desires and
stimulate his hopes. He had no wish to elevate France upon the ruins
of other nations. But he wished to make France the pattern of all
excellence, the illustrious leader at the head of all nations,
guiding them to intelligence, to opulence, and to happiness. Such,
at this time, was the towering ambition of Napoleon, the most noble
and comprehensive which was ever embraced by the conception of man.
Of course, such ambition was not consistent with the equality of
other nations for he determined that France should be the first. But
he manifested no disposition to destroy the prosperity of others;
he only wished to give such an impulse to humanity in France, by
the culture of mind, by purity of morals, by domestic industry, by
foreign commerce, by great national works, as to place France in
the advance upon the race course of greatness. In this race France
had but one antagonist--England. France had nearly forty millions
of inhabitants. The island of Great Britain contained but about
fifteen millions. But England, with her colonies, girdled the globe,
and, with her fleets, commanded all seas. "France," said Napoleon,
"must also have her colonies and her fleets." "If we permit that,"
the statesman of England rejoined, "we may become a secondary
power, and may thus be at the mercy of France." It was undeniably
so. Shall history be blind to such fatality as this? Is man, in the
hour of triumphant ambition, so moderate, that we can be willing
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