The Life of Napoleon Bonaparte. Vol. 4 (of 4) — John Stuart Mill — John Shaqi
The Life of Napoleon Bonaparte. Vol. 4 (of 4)
John Stuart Mill · en
Under the shadow of this storm-cloud Napoleon regulated his domestic
affairs of state with intrepid calmness. He had no easy task. It was
the revived hatred of the masses for priests and nobles to which he
had appealed on his progress from Grenoble, and, observing the wild
outbursts of the populace at Lyons, he had whispered, "This is
madness." It was with studied deliberation, therefore, that in Paris
he cast himself completely upon the moderate liberals. This alienated
the Jacobin elements throughout the country, and they, in turn,
stirred up the royalists. When it became clear that neither Maria
Louisa nor the King of Rome was to be crowned, and that there was no
help in Austria, even the imperialists displayed a dangerous temper.
Such was the general uneasiness about war that the first measures of
army reorganization were taken almost stealthily. It was easy enough
to establish the skeleton of formation, and not very difficult to find
trustworthy officers, commissioned and non-commissioned; but to summon
recruits was to announce the coming war. Of the three hundred thousand
veterans now returned home, less than one fifth responded to the call
for volunteers; the Emperor had reckoned on four fifths at least. The
National Guard was so surly that many felt it would be bravado for
Napoleon to review them. But he was determined to do so, and on April
sixteenth the hazardous ceremony took place. Until at least half the
companies had been reviewed not a cheer was heard; then there were a
few scattering shouts here and there in the ranks; finally there was
some genuine enthusiasm.