The Life of Napoleon Bonaparte. Vol. 2 (of 4)

John Stuart Mill · en
A few wise men understood how the nation had been fettered, and one of
them proposed in a pamphlet that Bonaparte should be made king if only
he would restore constitutional government. It was easy to dismiss
with scornful disdain a proposition so subversive of "liberty." The
nation was content. The Revolution had at last culminated through the
fulfilment of its ideals in the person of a warrior strong to realize
them at home and defend them abroad. The boundaries of France were
enlarged, order prevailed within her borders, peace had been made with
honor, the "empire" of liberal ideas was established in the "empire"
of France, a favorite phrase of the Convention; and in it the
existence of beneficent institutions permeated by a liberal spirit was
guaranteed by the assured control of one who could turn experiments
into national habits.

Behind the Consul for life stood a now purged and unified army,
recruited by a system which insured its perpetuity and efficiency. The
child of the Revolution, the army, was a national institution; but the
influence of Bonaparte, combined with the conscription laws of the
Directory and the Consulate, had gradually and completely changed its
character and its spirit. Fathers no longer gave their sons for a
principle; families no longer saw conscripts march forth with the
sense that they were making a sacrifice to patriotism. Long
experience had made this a matter of course; young men went out to
fight for glory and, alas! too often for booty. Since the first
Italian campaign under him who was now chief magistrate for life, the
latter motive was always present and often avowed. The leader who
could be relied on to gratify the French passion for distinction, and
at the same time put money in the purse of his soldiers, might be
confident of their devotion.




CHAPTER XXIII

THE THRESHOLD OF MONARCHY[24]

         [Footnote 24: Personal details are abundant in Antommarchi,
         Montholon, Las Cases and Gourgaud; likewise in the memoirs of
         the brothers Joseph and Lucien, of the ladies Junot, de
         Rémusat, de Genlis, and Avrillon, of Barante, Barras,
         Bourrienne, Chaptal, Chateaubriand, Constant, de Gerardin,
         Mallet du Pan, Méneval, Thiébault, and Rapp; in Lord
         Holland's recollections and in the following books: Aubenas:
         Vie de Josephine; Ducrest: Mémoires sur Josephine; Bouilly:
         Mes récapitulations; Lamartine: Histoire de la Restauration;
         Lacretelle: Histoire du Consulat; Bégin: Histoire de
         Napoléon, and Stenger: La Société Française pendant le
         Consulat.]

     Bonaparte at Maturity -- Ability and Opportunity -- Personal
     Appearance -- Mind and Manners -- Personal Habits -- The Man of
     France -- The Consular Court -- The First Consul's Cynicism --
     The Feud between Bonapartes and Beauharnais -- Disuse of the
     Republican Calendar -- The "Genius of Christianity."