“Voltaire committed a fundamental error in attributing to intrigue that which was solely the result of opinion. Those who have wrought great changes in the world never succeeded by gaining over chiefs, but always by exciting the multitude. The first is the resource of intrigue, and produces only secondary results: the second is the resort of genius, and transforms the face of the universe!”
The Emperor, adverting to the truth of history, expressed his disbelief of all that was attributed to Mahomet. “He must doubtless have been like all chiefs of sects,” said he. “The Koran, having been written thirty years after his death, may have recorded many falsehoods. The Empire of the Prophet, his doctrine and his mission, being established and fulfilled, people might and must have spoken accordingly. Still it remains to be explained how the mighty event which we are certain did take place, namely, the conquest of the world, could have been effected in the short space of fifty or sixty years. By whom was it brought about? By the hordes of the desert, who, as we are informed, were few in number, ignorant, unwarlike, undisciplined, and destitute of system. And yet they opposed the civilized world, abounding in resources. Fanaticism could not have accomplished this miracle, for fanaticism must have had time to establish her dominion, and the career of Mahomet lasted only thirteen years.”—The Emperor conceived that, independently of the fortuitous events by which prodigies are sometimes brought about, there must have been in this case some hidden circumstance which has not reached our knowledge. He was of opinion, that Europe had doubtless sunk beneath the results of some primary cause, of which we are ignorant;—that the different races of people, who suddenly issued from the deserts, had perhaps been engaged in long civil wars, in which men of heroic character and great talent might have risen up, and irresistible impulses have been created.
In all that relates to oriental affairs, Napoleon departed materially from the common opinions which are derived from the books usually regarded as authorities. He said that on this subject he entertained ideas peculiar to himself, though perhaps they were not very well defined; and that his expedition to Egypt had brought about this result in his mind.
“But to return to Voltaire,” said he, “it is astonishing how ill his dramas are adapted for reading.—When criticism and good taste are not cheated by pomp of diction and scenic illusion, he immediately loses a thousand per cent. It will scarcely be believed,” continued he, “that, at the time of the Revolution, Voltaire had superseded Corneille and Racine. The beauties of these two great dramatists lay dormant, until the First Consul again brought them into notice.”
The Emperor spoke truly. It is very certain that when he brought us back to civilization, he at the same time restored us to good taste. He revived our national dramatic and lyric master-pieces—even those which had been proscribed for political reasons. Thus Richard Cœur-de-Lion was again brought upon the stage, though a tender interest had as it were consecrated it to the Bourbons.
“Poor Gretry,” said the Emperor, “had long urged me to permit the performance of the opera. It was rather a dangerous experiment, and a violent uproar was predicted. The representation however went off without any unpleasant circumstances, and I ordered it to be repeated for a week or a fortnight in succession, until the public were completely tired of it. The charm being broken, Richard continued to be played like any ordinary piece, until the time when the Bourbons in their turn prohibited it, because it excited an interest in my favour.”
This strange vicissitude has, it is said, since been renewed with regard to the drama of Prince Edward the Pretender. The Emperor prohibited the piece on account of the Bourbons, and the Bourbons have recently proscribed it on account of the Emperor.
MY VISIT TO PLANTATION HOUSE.—SIR HUDSON LOWE’S INSINUATIONS.—HIS FIRST ILL-NATURED TRICK.—NAPOLEON’S PROCLAMATIONS.—HIS POLICY IN EGYPT.—HIS CONFESSION OF AN ILLEGAL ACT.
26th.—I went to pay my first visit to Plantation-House. I thought Lady Lowe a pretty and amiable woman, though there was something of the actress about her. Sir Hudson Lowe married a short time before his departure from Europe, for the express purpose, it is said, of having his wife to assist him in doing the honours of the colony. I understand that this lady was the widow of an officer of the regiment which Sir Hudson Lowe formerly commanded, and the sister of a colonel killed at Waterloo.
The Governor showed me the most marked politeness and attention. He remarked that we were old acquaintances, though I was not aware of the fact. He said he had been much gratified by the perusal of M. Lesage’s Atlas, though he had never dreamed that he should one day be introduced to the author. He had first seen the work in Sicily, where he got it smuggled from Naples; and he was inexhaustible in his praises of it. He had frequently read the account of the battle of Jena, with General Blucher, at the head-quarters where he was English commissioner, during the campaign of 1814. He said that he had always admired the liberal expressions and the spirit of moderation and impartiality which were observed towards England; but that at the period when he first examined the work, he had been forcibly struck by some equivocal passages which seemed to breathe hostility to, or censure of, him who then governed us. He added that he had accounted for these passages at the time, by my character and doctrines as an emigrant; but that now he thought it a singular contradiction, to find me here in the suite of that person.