“My resistance was vain; I was compelled to yield to the unanimous voice, while I assured those who urged me to this measure that I left all the responsibility with them. What was the result? It excited clamour and discontent on the part of the public, who turned the whole affair into ridicule, styling it the massacre of the innocents, &c. Subsequently, De Winter, Verhuel, all the great naval commanders of the north, and others, assured me that from eighteen to twenty (the age for the conscription), was early enough to begin to learn the duties of a sailor. The Danes and Swedes employ their soldiers in the navy. With the Russians, the fleet is but a portion of the army; which affords the invaluable advantage of keeping up a standing army, and for a twofold object.
“I had myself,” added he, “planned something of the kind, when I created my marines; but what obstacles had I to encounter; what prejudices had I to subdue; what perseverance was I obliged to exert, before I could succeed in clothing the sailors in uniform, forming them into regiments, and drilling them by military exercise! I was told that I should ruin all. And yet, can there be a greater advantage than for one country to possess both an army and a navy? The men, thus disciplined, were not worse sailors than the rest; while, at the same time, they were the best soldiers. They were, in case of need, prepared to serve as sailors, soldiers, artillerymen, pontooners, &c. If, instead of being thus opposed by obstacles, I had found in the navy a man capable of entering into my views, and promoting my ideas, what importance might we not have obtained! But, during my reign, I never found a naval officer who could depart from the old routine, and strike out a new course. I was much attached to the navy; I admired the courage and patriotism of our seamen; but I never found between them and me an intermediate agent, who could have brought them into operation in the way I wished.”
NAPOLEON’S IMPERIAL SYSTEM.—PREFECTS.—AUDITORS OF THE COUNCIL OF STATE.—THE EMPEROR’S MOTIVES IN GRANTING LUCRATIVE APPOINTMENTS.—HIS FUTURE INTENTIONS.
7th.—Speaking of his imperial system, Napoleon observed that it had been the means of creating the most compact government, establishing the most rapid circulation in all its parts, and calling forth the most nervous efforts that had ever been witnessed. “And nothing short of this,” said he, “would have enabled us to triumph over such numerous difficulties, and to achieve so many wonders. The organization of the Prefectures, their operations, and the results they produced, were admirable. One and the same impulse was simultaneously communicated to more than 40,000,000 of men; and, by the help of those centres of local activity, the movement was not less rapid and energetic at the extremities than in the heart itself.
“Foreigners who visited France, and who were capable of observing and discerning, were filled with astonishment. To this uniformity of action prevailing over an immense extent of territory, must be attributed those prodigious efforts and immense results, which were acknowledged to have been hitherto inconceivable.
“The Prefects, with their local authority and resources, were themselves Emperors on a small scale. As their whole power proceeded from the main spring, of which they were only the communicating channels; as their influence was not personal, but was derived from their temporary functions; as they had no connexion with the district over which their jurisdiction extended; they afforded all the advantages of the great absolute agents of the old system, without any of their disadvantages. It was necessary to create this power,” continued the Emperor, “for the force of circumstances had placed me in the situation of a dictator. It was requisite that all the filaments issuing from me should be in harmony with the first cause, or my system would have failed in its result. The network which I spread over the French territory required a violent tension and prodigious power of elasticity, in order to cause the terrible blows that were constantly levelled at us to rebound to a distance. Thus most of the springs of my machinery were merely institutions connected with dictatorship, and measures for warlike defence. When the moment should have arrived for slackening the reins, all my connecting filaments would have relaxed sympathetically, and we should then have proceeded to our peace establishment and local institutions. If we yet possessed none of these, it was because circumstances did not admit of them. Our immediate fall would have been the infallible consequence, had we been provided with them at the outset. It must not be supposed that the nation was all at once prepared to make a proper use of her liberty. Both with respect to education and character, the bulk of the people were imbued with too many of the prejudices of past times. We were daily improving, but we had yet much to acquire. At the time of the revolutionary explosion, the patriots, generally speaking, were such by nature and by instinct: with them patriotism was an innate sentiment, a passion, a phrensy. Hence the effervescence, the extravagance, the fury, which marked that period. But it is vain to attempt to naturalize and mature the modern system by blows or by leaps. It must be implanted with education, and must take root with reason and conviction; and this will infallibly take place in the course of time, because modern principles are founded on natural truths. But,” added he, “the men of our time were eager for the possession of power, which they exercised with a domineering spirit, to say no worse, while, on the other hand, they were ready to become the slaves of those who were above them!... We have always wavered between these two extremes. In the course of my journeys, I was often obliged to say to the high officers who were about my person:—Pray let the Prefect speak for himself. If I went to some subdivision of a department, I then found it necessary to say to the Prefect:—Let the sub-prefect or the mayor make his reply. So eager were all to eclipse each other, and so little did they perceive the advantage that might arise from direct communication with me! If I sent my great officers or ministers to preside at the electoral colleges, I always advised them not to get nominated as candidates for the Senate, as their seats were secured to them by other means, and I wished that they should resign the honour of the nomination to the principal individuals of the provinces: but they never conformed with my wishes.”
This reminded me of a misunderstanding that once took place, between the Emperor and the Minister Decrès[Decrès], on the subject here alluded to. The Emperor having expressed displeasure at the nomination of the minister:—“Sire,” replied the latter, “your influence is more powerful than your will. I in vain resisted, and assured them that you wished these nominations to be made among themselves. They insisted on shewing deference to your choice, and if you send me back, I shall only be nominated over again.”
“I granted,” said Napoleon, “enormous salaries to Prefects and others; but, with regard to my liberality on this head, it is necessary to distinguish between what was systematic and what was incidental. The latter forced me to grant lucrative appointments; the former would ultimately have enabled me to obtain gratuitous services. At the first outset, when the object was to conciliate individuals, and to re-establish some kind of society and morality, liberal salaries, absolute fortunes, were indispensable; but, the result being obtained, and in the course of time the natural order of things being restored, my intention, on the contrary, would have been to render almost all high public duties gratuitous. I would have discarded those needy individuals who cannot be their own masters, and whose urgent wants engender political immorality. I would have wrought such a change in opinion that public posts should have been sought after for the mere honour of filling them. The functions of magistrate or justice of the peace would have been discharged by men of fortune, who, being guided solely by duty, philanthropy, and honourable ambition, would have afforded the surest pledge of independence. It is this that constitutes the dignity and majesty of a nation, that exalts her character, and establishes public morals. Such a change had become indispensable in France, and the dislike of getting into place might have been considered the forerunner of our return to political morality. I have been informed that the mania of place-hunting has crossed the sea, and that the contagion has been communicated to our neighbours. The English of former days were as much superior to this kind of meanness as the people of the United States now are. The love of place is the greatest check to public morals. A man who solicits a public post feels his independence sold beforehand. In England, the greatest families, the whole peerage, disdain not to hunt after places. Their excuse is that the enormous burdens of taxation deprive them of the means of living without additions to their income. Pitiful pretence! It is because their principles are more decayed than their fortunes. When people of a certain rank stoop to solicit public posts for the sake of emolument, there is an end to all independence and dignity of national character. In France, the shocks and commotions of our Revolution might have afforded an apology for such conduct. All had been unsettled, and all felt the necessity of re-establishing themselves. To promote this object, with the least possible offence to delicacy of feeling, I was induced to attach considerable emolument and high honour to all public posts. But, in the course of time, I intended to work a change by the mere force of opinion. And this was by no means impossible. Every thing must yield to the influence of power, when it is directed to objects truly just, honourable, and great.
“I was preparing a happy reign for my son. For his sake I was rearing in the new school, the numerous class of auditors of the Council of State. Their education being completed, they would, on attaining the proper age, have filled all the public posts in the Empire; thus confirmed in modern principles, and improved by the example of their precursors. They would all have been twelve or fifteen years older than my son, who would by this means have been placed between two generations and all their advantages: maturity, experience and prudence above him; youth, promptitude, and activity below him.”
Here I could not refrain from expressing my astonishment that the Emperor should never have thrown out a hint of the grand and important objects which he had in contemplation. “What would have been the use of promulgating my intentions,” said he; “I should have been styled a quack, accused of insinuation and subtilty, and have fallen into discredit. Situated as I was, deprived of hereditary authority, and of the illusion called legitimacy, I was compelled to avoid entering the lists with my opponents; I was obliged to be bold, imperious, and decisive. You have told me that in your Faubourg they used to say, Why is he not legitimate? If I had been so, I certainly could not have done more than I did; but my conduct might have appeared more amiable.”