World's Best Histories — Volume 7: France

by François Guizot; Madame de Witt

Q. What are our obligations towards our magistrates?

A. We ought to honor them, respect them, and obey them, because they are the depositaries of our emperor's authority.

The catechism was revised and corrected by a theological commission, by Portalis, by the emperor, and by the cardinal legate himself, in spite of a formal prohibition which he had received from Rome. "It does not belong to the secular power to choose or prescribe to the bishops the catechism which it may prefer," wrote Cardinal Consalvi on the 18th August, 1805. "His Imperial Majesty has surely no intention of arrogating a faculty which God trusts exclusively to the Church and Vicar of Jesus Christ."

Caprara had kept the Secretary of State's despatch sealed, and when at last the text of the catechism appeared, in 1806, it had received his approbation. By an article in the Journal de l'Empire of the 5th May, 1806, the court of Rome learnt that a catechism was soon to be published, uniform and obligatory for all the dioceses of France, with the official approbation of the cardinal legate. A despatch of Cardinal Consalvi, expressing to Caprara the astonishment and displeasure of the sovereign pontiff, remained secret and without effect. The influence of the court of Rome upon their envoy failed before the seductive power, mixed with fear, which Napoleon had exercised upon Cardinal Caprara since his arrival. The French bishops were not less troubled than the Pope. "Has the emperor the right to meddle in those matters?" wrote Aviau, Bishop of Bordeaux, to one of his friends; "who has given him the mission? To him the things of earth, to us the things of heaven. Soon, if we let him, he will lay hands on the censer, and perhaps afterwards wish to ascend the altar."

One modification only was granted, on the demands of the bishops supported by Cardinal Fesch. In contempt of Bossuet and his teaching, the standing doctrine of Catholicism, "Out of the Church there is no safety," had been omitted in the new catechism. That phrase being restored, the catechism, invested with the approbation of the legate, was published in the beginning of August, 1808. Placed in the alternative of contradicting or recalling Caprara, the court of Rome prudently remained silent. Differences of opinion were now accumulating between the Pope and the emperor—between the spiritual authority, which still preserved some pretensions to independence, and the arbitrary will of the conqueror, resolved to govern the world, Rome included. We at last reach the moment when the excess of arrogance was about to provoke the effect of contrary wills. We shall now see the Pope captive, the Spanish people in insurrection, the climate and deserts of Russia leagued together against the tyrannical master of Europe. England had never accepted the yoke; and she had everywhere seconded resistance. For the future, it was not alone by sea, nor by the assistance of subsidies, that she entered the lists; Sir Arthur Wellesley was now in his turn to join in the struggle.

A last act of the absolute will of the Emperor Napoleon signalized that period of the interior government of France which preceded the war in Spain and the campaigns in Germany and Russia. It was the suppression pure and simple, by a "senatus-consulte," of the "Tribunate" formerly instituted with so much pomp, and which had gradually fallen into insignificance, owing to the successive changes it had undergone, and to the secrecy imposed on its deliberations. The absolute power could support neither contradiction nor even the appearance of discussion, however moderate it might be. The lively remembrance, however, of an eloquent and daring opposition was still associated with the name of the Tribunate. Some honored names had survived the great silence. "The abolition of the Tribunate will be less a change than an improvement in our institutions," said M. Boulay de la Meurthe in his report, "because, since the constitution of the empire the Tribunate only appears useless, out of place, not in harmony with the times." The Legislative Body formed a place of refuge to the members of the Tribunate who were in exercise: they took their places as a right among its ranks, where they were no more heard of, annihilated by the servitude that reigned around them. Their admission into the Legislative Body had, however, been graced by an appearance of liberality: the right of discussion was restored to that assembly.

M. de Fontanes took care beforehand to indicate what spirit was to preside at their discussions. "These precincts, which have wondered at their silence, and whose silence is now at an end, will not hear the noisy tempests of popular harangues. May the tribune be without storms, and may the only applause be at the triumphs of reason. Above all, may truth appear there with courage, but with wisdom, and may she shine there with all her light! A great prince must love her brightness. She alone is worthy of him, why should he be afraid of her? The more he is looked at, the more he rises; the more he is judged, the more is he admired." By the mouth of Carrion-Nisas, the Tribunate thanked the emperor for having discharged it from its functions. "We believe," said they, "that we have not so much arrived at the end of our career, as attained the object of all our efforts, and the recompense of our devotion." Being now certain of the docility of the great bodies of State, and no longer uneasy about that of the magistracy, all the obnoxious members having been weeded out by his orders, the Emperor Napoleon could turn his thoughts abroad. The question was how to place King Joseph on the throne of Spain.

CHAPTER XI.

GLORY AND ILLUSIONS. SPAIN AND AUSTRIA.

Napoleon did not keep his promise to the Bourbons of Spain. He had not come to Madrid in order to heal their divisions, and strengthen the tottering power. One after another, he had drawn all the members of the royal family to Bayonne, and there, on French soil, had easily consummated their ruin. It was also on French soil that he made preparations to raise his brother to the throne. King Joseph was late in arriving, entering Bayonne only on the 8th June; and already the imperious will and clever management of the emperor had brought into that town a certain number of great lords, favorable to the new power from interest or fear. Already Joseph was proclaimed King of Spain and the Indies; and scarcely had he had time to put foot to the ground when he was surrounded by Spanish deputations, which had been carefully prepared by Napoleon's orders. The king regretted much having to leave Naples. Without foreseeing the difficulties that awaited him, he loved the gentle, easy life of Italy, and had not yet forgot the annoyance of taking possession, or the obstacles to be met by a new regime. The emperor took care to dazzle him at the outset. The Junta formed at Bayonne prepared a constitution. Napoleon had collected much information as to the lamentable state of the administration in Spain. "These papers are necessary to me for the measures which I have to order," he had written to Murat, who was still in Madrid, ill and sad; "they are also necessary to me to show some day to posterity in what state I have found the Spanish monarchy." Useless precaution of a great mind, who thought to dispose of the future and of the judgment of posterity, as, till then, he had dazzled or overthrown all the witnesses of his marvellous career!