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1808.

CHAP. large sums, drawn from the industry and resources of L. their inhabitants, annually brought to the great central mart of Paris to be expended. The increase of opulence to the imperial capital was thus indeed most sensible; and in a similar proportion did the imperial government, the author of so many benefits to its citizens, become popular and respected; but the effects of this perpetual abstraction of wealth from other countries to the metropolis of the great nation, were to the last degree vexatious to their inhabitants, and proved one considerable cause of the deep-felt and far-spread hatred which ultimately occasioned its fall. In this respect Napoleon not only evinced none of his wonted sagacity,

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-HARD. X. 488-500; Pièces Just.; and THIERS, Consulat et l'Empire, viii. 139, 140.

CHAP.

L.

1807.

but acted in direct opposition to what common sense dictated as the fitting course for a monarch of a great and varied empire. How different was the policy of the Romans, who not only left at the disposal of the municipalities in their extensive dominions the greater proportion of their local revenues, but annually remitted large sums from the imperial treasury for the construction of edifices of utility or embellishment in all their principal cities; so that the sway of the Emperors was felt chiefly in the increasing opulence and splendour of their provin- 488, 490. cial capitals!1

1 Hard. x.

53.

fusion of

the ancient

noblesse,

poleon pur

It was another part of Napoleon's system, which he laboured assiduously to promote, to effect an amalgama- System of tion, or fusion as he called it, of the ancient with the modern noblesse, with the design that, burying in oblivion and modern former discord, they should cordially unite in resisting which Naany further changes, and supporting the imperial throne, sued. With this view he not only opened his antechambers to the old nobility, who rushed in crowds to occupy them; but promoted to the utmost of his power the distribution of the ancient families through the innumerable offices of his dominions, and did all that he could, by the offer of splendid establishments, to overcome the repugnance of the high noblesse to matrimonial alliances with the soldiers of fortune who had risen from the ranks to greatness under the banners of the empire. In one respect, this system succeeded even beyond his expectation. Fondly attached, notwithstanding all their reverses, to feudal ideas, clinging still, notwithstanding a total change of manners, to antiquated customs, the old nobility found themselves suddenly elevated to an extraordinary and unhoped-for degree of importance in the court of the new Emperor; and, by the grace of their manners, the brilliancy of their conversation, and their perfect Las Cas. ii. familiarity with the formalities and etiquette of the De Stael, ancient régime, soon acquired a marked superiority in that field over the soldiers or civilians of humble birth

VOL. VIII.

M

2 Pelet, 107.

288, 289.

Rév. Franc.

ii. 333.

CHAP. whom the changes of the Revolution had elevated to

L.

1807.

54.

with which

bles entered

into these

views.

greatness.

By a singular, but not unnatural feeling also, they Readiness were destitute of the scruples at accepting offices in the the old no- household which persons of less illustrious descent might have felt. A Montmorency would willingly become maid of honour to the Empress, or even descend to lace her shoe, which a lady of plebeian birth might have deemed a degradation. It is for the same reasons, that persons of good family are in general so much more courteous in The their manners to their inferiors than parvenus. distinction of their birth supersedes the necessity of its perpetual and vexatious assertion. Thus the court was soon filled with the descendants of the old noblesse; and, widely as the Emperor opened his doors for their reception, amply as he multiplied the chamberlains, equerries, lords in waiting, ladies of the bedchamber, squires, pages of the antechambers, and other functionaries of the palace, he found it impossible to keep pace with the crowds of titled applicants who incessantly besieged its gates for admission. The new nobility soon conceived a violent jealousy at these intruders who had supplanted them in the court circles, and openly testified their animosity even in presence of the Emperor himself. The system of fusion met with very little success with the ladies of the rival classes of nobility; but the substantial advantages of great fortune and dignified station reconciled the plebeian duchesses to the superior favour shown to their 1 Pelet, 107, patrician rivals; while the brilliant uniforms, high stations, Cas. ii. 288, and military lustre of the young generals, induced not Stael, Rev. a few of the daughters of the oldest families in France to 333, 335. ally their fortunes to the sons of those upon whom their 287; ii. 324. parents would have deemed it a degradation to have bestowed a look.1*

108. Las

289. De

Franc. ii.

D'Abr. ix.

* The reasons assigned by Napoleon in the council of state for the employment of the ancient in preference to the modern noblesse, were as follows:"It is among the old families that you can alone find still some remains of great fortune; by that means they exercise a great influence on government.

L.

1807.

55.

content of

at the insti

titles of

Notwithstanding all his efforts, however, it was impos- CHAP. sible for Napoleon to conceal from the clear-sighted republicans of France, that the restoration of hereditary titles of honour was an entire departure, in the most vital point, Great disfrom all the principles of the Revolution. In fact, the the French only surprising thing is, that he himself did not perceive republicans how completely its ultimate effect was subversive of all tution of the passions which had agitated France in 1789, and honour. during the whole fervour of its subsequent changes. It was in vain to say that titles of honour were now restored as a personal, not a hereditary distinction; that the career of merit, both in the civil and military department, was open to all; and that every peasant's son might indulge the hope, by bravery in the field, of fighting his way from the humble rank of a grenadier to a marshal's baton and dukedom; or, by skill and address in diplomacy, of advancing from the counter of a tradesman to the dignity of ambassador and prince of the empire. During the reign of Napoleon, indeed, and under the pressure of those national difficulties which rendered it indispensable to look for talent in every grade, even the lowest in the state, there might be some foundation for this observation; and doubtless the aspiring temper of the tiers-état could not but feel gratified at beholding the number of their own, or an inferior rank, who now as warriors or statesmen occupied the highest stations in 1 Bign, vii. the empire.1 So powerful was this feeling, and so strong 114. Thiers, the jealousy still felt of the old noblesse, that the tiers- 144. état and peasants in France generally and cordially sup

How could you compose a court with the men of the Revolution? You find in their ranks only honourable functionaries without fortune, or opulent contractors without character a court of salaried officials would be at once onerous to the state and without dignity in the eyes of the people. If the old fortunes are divided by distributions on death, they are restored by successions: the new fortunes have nothing to look to in that way; on the contrary, they are surrounded by needy relatives. Government can now no longer enrich as formerly its servants by the domains of the crown or confiscations: it ought, therefore, as much as possible, to take advantage of fortunes already made, and employ them in its service."-PELET, Conseil d'Etat de Napoléon 107, 108.

viii. 142,

1807.

CHAP. ported the institution of the new noblesse, from the hope L. that they themselves or their sons might obtain a place in it, and thus be placed on a level with the haughty noblesse, whose family lustre they admired, while they hated themselves.

56.

it by the republican

party.

But, to those who carried their views beyond the reign Objections of the Emperor or the existing generation, and looked felt against to the present institutions as a guarantee for republican equality in future times, these considerations afforded little matter for consolation. They could not disguise from themselves that the new imperial dignities, though the reward of merit to the present holders, would become the birthright of descent to the next generation; they could not hope that the same stirring and anxious events would always continue, which at present rendered it necessary for government to throw themselves for support on the middle classes of the people; and they anticipated with dismay the time when, during the pacific periods of subsequent reigns, the imperial nobility would come to monopolise the influence, offices, and power of the state, as completely as ever had been the case by their feudal predecessors in the days of Francis I. or Louis XIV. What was the origin of all nobility but personal merit? Every family, how great soever in its subsequent stages, had some obscure citizen for its original founder; the first king had been a fortunate soldier. If an aristocracy existed at all obstructing the rise of inferior citizens, and monopolising for a privileged class the influence and riches of the state, it would be no consolation to the friends of equality to assert that it took its origin from the revolutionary, not the feudal wars, and that its paladins were to be found, not in the Round Table of Charlemagne, but among the marshals of Napoleon.

In truth, the Emperor was too far-sighted not to feel the justice of these observations; and although in his addresses to the people he was cautious to hold out the new nobility as the reward of merit only, yet he secretly

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