Revolutionary Europe, 1789-1815

by H. Morse Stephens

In the work of legislation the Council of State was supplemented by the Tribunate and the Legislative Body. All laws prepared by the Council of State were first submitted to the Tribunate, which was composed of one hundred members. The Tribunate could neither reject nor amend a law, but decided whether to support or oppose the project before the Legislative Body. The Legislative Body consisted of three hundred deputies chosen by certain electoral assemblies formed by a complicated scheme out of the taxpayers of the departments. By this scheme, after three series of elections, what was termed a ‘National List’ was drawn up. From this national list the Senate chose the members both of the Legislative Body and the Tribunate. The Legislative Body alone voted the taxes. In legislative matters it played the part of a national jury, listening to the arguments for or against brought forward by the Tribunate on every project prepared by the Council of State, and deciding in every case without discussion. The Legislative Body alone could give a project of the Council of State the character of a law. The Senate was composed of eighty members nominated for life by the Consuls. Its duties were to choose the members of the Tribunate and Legislative Body from the National List, and to decide whether any law or measure of the government was contrary to the Constitution. If it decided that such law or measure was unconstitutional it had the authority to annul it.

Internal Policy of the Consulate.

The Code Napoléon.

The Consulate was composed of Bonaparte as First Consul, with Cambacérès and Le Brun, both famous jurists, as his associates. Their policy was one of general reconciliation. The individuals deported after the revolution of the 18th of Fructidor were allowed to return to France if they had not, like Pichegru, become declared royalists. They were even taken into favour; while Carnot was appointed Minister of War, Portalis and Barbé-Marbois were nominated to the Council of State. The lists of emigration were closed; no longer could persons be declared to have emigrated on mere suspicion, and the First Consul, as an administrative measure, annulled the decrees excluding relations of émigrés and former nobles from filling executive offices. More than 150,000 émigrés were also allowed to return, mostly priests, who were no longer regarded as rebels, and who, whether they had taken the oath to observe the Civil Constitution of the Clergy or not, were allowed to resume their sacred functions on simply promising to obey the new Constitution of the State. The Consulate did even more than this for the cause of religion; many churches which had been appropriated for civil purposes were restored to their original uses. Brigandage was sternly put down, and Bonaparte, at last, pacified La Vendée by negotiating a treaty of amnesty with the remaining Vendéan leaders at Montluçon, on the 17th of January 1800. A special effort was made to put the finances in order, and Gaudin, who held office as Minister of the Finances throughout the Consulate and the Empire, first proved his extraordinary powers. His financial reforms may be roughly summed up by the mention of his two most important measures. The decrees of the Directory in favour of forced loans from the rich, which had been arbitrarily and unfairly carried out, were abrogated and replaced by a general income tax of twenty-five per cent. This established some justice in the collection, which partly compensated for the heaviness of the tax. The second measure was the appointment of receivers-general of taxes in every department. These men had to give heavy security, and were allowed a fair measure of profit in the form of a percentage on what they collected. They were strictly supervised, and the scandalous dilapidations which had signalised the period of the Directory were made impossible for the future. Further, in order to secure the support of the capitalists, the Bank of France was founded under the guarantee of the State. Finally, the First Consul decided to carry into effect the projects of the legal reformers of the Constituent Assembly and the Convention. Their labours had made possible the formation of a uniform code of law for France. Bonaparte appointed a Commission, consisting of Tronchet, Portalis, and Bigot de Préameneu, to examine the labours of their predecessors, and with their help to draw up the admirable civil code, which was afterwards known as the Code Napoléon.

The Ministry.

In no respect was the administrative ability of the Consuls better manifested than in the selection they made of their ministers. It has already been noticed that Gaudin, the greatest financier of France, was appointed Minister of the Finances. Talleyrand and Fouché once more took possession of the portfolios of Foreign Affairs and of Police, which they held for many years. Their first Minister of the Marine, Forfait, did not remain long in office, but his successor, Decrès, held that post from 1801 till 1814. The same may be said with regard to the Ministry of Justice. Abrial, the first occupant of this post, gave way to Regnier in 1802, but he likewise remained in office till 1814. The Ministries of War and of the Interior were more difficult to fill; Carnot soon resented the tone of Bonaparte, and was succeeded by Berthier, afterwards Prince of Neufchâtel, who had been Chief of the Staff to Bonaparte in Italy. La Place, the great astronomer, had been appointed Minister of the Interior by the Provisional Government in November 1799. He did not show himself very efficient, and was succeeded by Lucien Bonaparte, the First Consul’s ablest brother, in the following month. He too failed to carry out the wishes of the Consuls, and was succeeded in 1800 by one of the most distinguished administrators of the period, Chaptal.

The External Policy of the Consulate.

Of foreign affairs Bonaparte, as First Consul, assumed the entire management; in internal matters he laid down the main principles indeed, but he allowed his colleagues some share in the government. He found France once more at war, as she had been before the Treaty of Campo-Formio, with Austria and England. But another redoubtable enemy had been added in Russia. Fortunately for France, for reasons which have already been indicated, the Emperor Paul was profoundly dissatisfied with his allies. From an unreasoning hatred for France, the Russian Emperor had now altered his sentiments to one of profound admiration for the person of the First Consul. Bonaparte was soon notified of this disposition at the Court of St. Petersburg. He sent his most intimate friend, Duroc, on a special mission to Russia, and the idea was already suggested that Russia and France ought to be the arbiters of Europe. He offered to recognise Paul not only as Grand Master of the Knights of Malta, but as the sovereign of that island, and promised in every way to forward Russian interests. In return, Paul, with his usual exaggeration, declared Bonaparte to be his dearest friend, surrounded himself with his portraits, drank publicly to his health, and ordered Louis XVIII. to leave Mittau. The Russian ambassador in Paris, Kolichev, on behalf of his master, proposed that Bonaparte should take the title of King of France, and make the crown hereditary in his family. Next in importance to the commencement of good relations with Russia, was the First Consul’s effort to make the King of Prussia his declared ally. For this purpose he sent Duroc also to Berlin. But Frederick William III. was a different type of monarch from the Emperor Paul; he could not so readily alter his policy. Personally, he too admired the First Consul, and regarded him as the restorer of order and as a monarch in embryo; but, in spite of his admiration, he refused to comply with the wishes of Bonaparte, as he had rejected the propositions of the Directory, and insisted on the maintenance of his consistent attitude of strict neutrality. The last point to be noticed in the foreign policy of Bonaparte was his attitude towards the Pope. He not only allowed the body of Pope Pius VI. to be removed from Valence to be buried at Rome, but he recognised the new Pope, Pius VII., although he had been elected at Venice under Austrian influence: he even offered to restore him to his temporal dominion at Rome, and promised to enter into negotiations with him with regard to the re-establishment of the Catholic Church in France.

The Campaign of Marengo. 1800.

With the two great enemies of France, Austria and England, the First Consul had no desire to treat. Though unable to strike at England, owing to the weakness of the French navy, he could yet attack the Austrians in two quarters. Two powerful armies were prepared, the one the Army of the Danube, which was placed under the command of Moreau, and the other the Army of the Interior, soon to become famous as the Second Army of Italy. Of all the conquests in Italy made by the French in 1796 and 1797, only Genoa remained in their possession. Masséna, fresh from his victories in Switzerland, had taken command of the besieged army. His defence is one of the most famous in history, and does no less honour to the general than his victory at Zurich. Bonaparte desired to relieve Genoa; and he resolved not to advance along the coast, as he had done in 1796, but by crossing the Alps, and descending upon Piedmont, to cut off the Austrian army occupying that province.