L. 1807. Dix Ann. d'Exil, 37, CHAP. mankind, which is ever brought so prominently forward during the convulsions of a revolution, Napoleon was careful to prepare the way for this great change by every possible 1 De Staël, appliance to the interests of the members of the tribunate. They were all nominated to lucrative situations under vi. 277, 278, government, as prefects, public prosecutors, or presidents; and such as could not be provided for in this way, were promoted to situations in the newly created audit-chamber. The event showed that he had not miscalculated the temper and dispositions of the popular leaders.1 38. Montg. Bign. v. 398. Pelet, 150, 153. Thiers, viii. 76, 77. 37. mission with change was France. What effect did this important change, which annihiSlavish sub- lated all the objects for which the Revolution had been which this commenced, and restored government to a despotic form, received in more strict and powerful than that of the old monarchy, produce in France? Did it convulse that enthusiastic empire to its centre, and revive again the terrible democratic fervour of 1789? Did clubs reappear, and popular ambition arise from its ashes, and the stern virtue of the old patriots obliterate the more modern illusions of military glory? It did none of these things. It was hardly noticed amidst the blaze of the Emperor's triumphs; it did not excite a murmur, or awaken an expression of discontent from Calais to the Pyrenees. Numbers of pamphlets appeared on the subject, but they were all in warm and earnest commendation of the change. One would have supposed that two centuries, instead of eighteen years, had rolled over the head of the nation; that the days of Mirabeau and Danton were already forgotten ; assembly. The senate, too feebly constituted in the outset, will require some strengthening. The other legislative bodies have no consistency; none of them could secure the nation from becoming the prey of a colonel of hussars who may have four thousand men at his disposal. The only institutions which offer any security to the public safety are the senate and electoral colleges." "The legislative body," said he, on 29th March 1806, "should be composed of individuals who, after the termination of their public services, have some private fortune to fall back upon, without the necessity of giving them a pension for their subsistence. Nevertheless, there are every year sixty legislators discharged from the legislative body, whom you know not what to make of those who are not in office carry back nothing but ill-humour to the departments. I would wish to see there proprietors of a certain age, married, attached by the L. 1807. that the transports of Gracchus had melted away into CHAP. the servility of Constantinople. The very body which was to be annihilated was the first to lick the hand which was destroying it; if liberty arose in amidst the tears of suffering and by the light of gration, it expired amidst eunuch servility and adulation.1 France 1 Montg. vi. confla- 276, 277. Eastern 397. Bign. v. 38. lation with change was nate. When the fatal decree was read in the hall of the tribunate, thunders of applause shook the walls, and Servile aduCarrion Nisas, a member of that body and cousin of which the Cambacérès, exclaimed, "This communication has been received in accompanied with so many expressions of esteem and the tribuaffection, on the part of our sovereign, for his faithful subjects in the tribunate; these assurances are of such inestimable importance, they have been brought forward with so much lustre, that I am sure, gentlemen, I am the organ of your sentiments when I propose that we should lay at the foot of the throne, as the last act of our honourable existence, an address which may impress the people with the idea that we have received the act of the senate without regret at the termination of our political existence, without disquietude for the destinies of our country, and that the sentiments of love and devotion to the monarch which animated our body, will live for ever in the breast of all its members." The address was voted by acclamation, and these sentiments found a responsive echo in the legislative assembly. Its president, Fontanes, said, in the name of the whole body, "The bond either of children or of some fortune to the public welfare. These men would come annually to Paris, would speak to the Emperor, and live in his circle, and return to their departments illuminated with the slender share of his lustre which had fallen on their heads. The public functionaries should also be members of the legislative body: you cannot render the legislature too manageable: if it becomes so strong as to be seized with the desire of ruling, it would destroy the executive, or be destroyed by it."-See PELET, 148, 152-an able and authentic brief record of the discussions in the council of state, at which the Emperor presided, and embodying his opinions on the most important subjects of government: of which an accurate and valuable translation has just been published by Mr Cadell at Edinburgh, executed by the author's valued friend, Captain Basil Hall. L. 1807. CHAP. majesty of the national assembly is about to revive under the auspices of a great man; these walls, which once resounded with so much clamour, were astonished at their silence, and that silence is about to terminate. Popular tempests shall no longer roll there they will be succeeded by wise and temperate discussions. He who has enchained the demon of faction, no longer desires that voices respectful but free should be banished from these walls. Let us show ourselves worthy of such a gift: let the tribune reappear without its storms; let truth shine there in its native lustre, mingled with the radiance of wisdom. A great prince must love its eclat: it alone can fitly illuminate his path. What has he to fear from it? The more he is regarded, the more majestic he appears; the more he is scrutinised, the more objects of admiration are discovered." These extravagant sallies excited no general burst of indignation; they were silently read in the Moniteur; and the tribunate, the last relic of freedom, sank unheeded into the grave.* "When the citizens," says Rousseau, "fallen into servitude, enjoy neither liberty nor the power of choice, terror and selfishness convert their suffrages into acclamations-deliberation is at an end; every one adores in public, and execrates in private. Such was the manner in which the 1 Moniteur, senate was regarded under the Roman emperors." How little did the eloquent apostle of freedom anticipate another confirmation of the same remark, from the very people whom his fervent declamations had roused to such unanimous enthusiasm in the cause of liberty!1 Aug. 17, 1807. Montg. vi. 277, 280. Bign. vi. 397, 399. The complete success of this great infringement on the only remaining popular part of the constitution, encouraged Napoleon to undertake still more decisive measures "The change," says Bignon, "in the age of eligibility to the legislative body, and even the suppression of the tribunate, now so important in our eyes, were hardly thought of in 1807; and so little was public opinion regarded, that the former change was introduced by the sole authority of the Emperor, without the concurrence of any of the legislative bodies.”—BIGNON, 398, 399. L. 1807. 39. ment of a of the press. against the liberties of the people. Six weeks after, an CHAP. imperial decree, professing to establish the freedom of the press, in reality annihilated it, by enacting that no bookseller was to publish any work without its having pre- Establishviously received the sanction of the censors of the press. censorship The same restriction had previously been imposed on Sept. 27. journals and periodical publications; so that, from this time forward, down to the fall of Napoleon, no thought could be published to the world without having first been approved by the imperial authorities. Under the active administration and vigilant police of the empire, these powers were so constantly and rigorously exercised, that not only was the whole information on political subjects or public affairs, which was permitted to reach the people, strained through the imperial filters, but all passages were expunged from every work which had a tendency, however remote, to nourish independent sentiments, or foster a feeling of discontent towards the existing government. So far was this carried, that when the Allies entered France in 1814, they found a large proportion of the inhabitants ignorant of the battle of Trafalgar. The years of the empire are an absolute blank in French literary annals in all matters relating to government, political thought, or moral sentiment. The journals were filled with nothing but the exploits of the Emperor, the treatises by which he deigned to enlighten the minds of, his subjects on the affairs of state, or the adulatory Sept. 27, addresses presented to him from all parts of his dominions. Montg. vi. The pamphlets and periodicals of the metropolis breathed Staël, Rev. only the incense of refined flattery, or the vanity of 381. Eastern adulation.1 281. De Franc. ii. 40. stration of Talent in literature took no other direction but that pointed out by the imperial authorities; genius sought to Entire prodistinguish itself only by new and more extravagant literature kinds of homage. The press, so far from being the safe-and the guard of the people against these evils, became their greatest promoter by exerting all its powers on the side press. L. 1807. CHAP. of despotism. Whoever attentively considers the situation of France, the most enlightened monarchy of Europe, and so recently teeming with democratic fervour, during the ten years of the imperial government, will at once perceive the groundless nature of the common doctrine, that the press is, under all circumstances, the bulwark of liberty, and that despotism is impossible where it exists. They will rather concur in the opinion of Madame de Staël, that the effect which this mighty instrument produces is entirely dependent on the power which gains possession of its resources; that it is only in a peculiar state of the public mind, and when a certain balance exists between political parties, that it is exerted beneficially on the side of freedom, and that at other periods, 1 Montg. vi. or under the influence of more corrupted feelings, it may Staël, Rev. become the instrument of the most immovable popular or 381, 382. imperial despotism which ever was riveted upon mankind.1* 282. De Fran. ii. mocratic tyranny of America. Observe the picture of the identity of the effects of the press under the Identity of imperial despotism of Napoleon, and the democratic tyranny of the majority the Imperial in the American Union, as delineated by two master hands, Madame de Staël despotism of Napoleon, and M. de Tocqueville.—“ This police, for which we cannot find terms adeand the de- quately contemptuous, was the instrument which Buonaparte made use of to direct public opinion in France; and in truth, when there is no such thing as the freedom of the press, and the censors of the press, not confining themselves to erasing, dictate to writers of every description the opinions they are to advance on every subject of politics, religion, manners, books, and individual character, it may be conceived into what state a nation must fall which has no other nutriment for its thoughts but such as a despotic authority permits. It is not surprising, therefore, that French literature and criticism descended to the lowest point during the empire. The restrictions on the press were far less severe under Louis XIV. than under Napoleon. The profound saying, 'Paper will receive anything,' never received a more appalling illustration. The journals were filled only with addresses to the Emperor, with his journeys, those of the princes and princesses of his family, the etiquettes and presentations at court. They discovered the art of being tame and lifeless at the epoch of the world's overturn; and, but for the official bulletins which from time to time let us know that half the world was conquered, one might have believed that the age was one only of roses and flowers, and sought in vain for words except those which the ruling powers let fall on their prostrate subjects. A few courageous individuals published books without the censorship of the press, and what was the consequence? They were prosecuted, the impression seized, the authors banished, or shot like unhappy Pam. These terrible examples spread such a general terror, that submission became universal. Of all the grievances which the slavery of the press pro |