[624] "The Concordat was necessary to religion, to the Republic, to government: the temples were shut up, the priests were persecuted. The Concordat rebuilt the altars, put an end to disorders, commanded the faithful to pray for the republic, and dissipated all the scruples of the purchasers of national domains."—Napoleon, Montholon, tom. i., p. 120.
[625] Tronchet was a lawyer of great celebrity, and was one of Louis Sixteenth's counsel. See ante, vol. i., p. [243]. He died in 1806, and was buried in the Pantheon.
[626] Bigot de Préameneu was born in Brittany about the year 1750. In 1808, he succeeded Portalis as minister of public worship, but was removed from office on the restoration of the Bourbons. He died at Paris in 1825.
[627] Jacques de Maleville was born at Domme in 1741. In 1804-5, he published "Analyse raisonnée de la Discussion du Code Civile au Conseil-d'état." He was created a peer by Louis XVIII. in 1814, and died in 1825.
[628] "At one time I intended to form a mass or a syndicate of all the unsold property of the emigrants, and on their return, to distribute it in certain proportions among them. But when I came to grant property to individuals, I soon found that I was creating too many wealthy men, and that they repaid my favours with insolence."—Napoleon, Las Cases, tom. iii., p. 213.
[629] Fouché, tom. i., p. 226; Montgaillard, tom. v., p. 464.
[630] "One of my grand objects was to render education accessible to every one. I caused every institution to be formed upon a plan which offered instruction to the public, either gratis, or at a rate so moderate, as not to be beyond the means of the peasant. The museums were thrown open to the canaille. My canaille would have become the best educated in the world. All my exertions were directed to illuminate the mass of the nation, instead of brutifying them by ignorance and superstition."—Napoleon, O'Meara, vol. ii., p. 385.
[631] "At the time of my downfall, the state prisons contained two hundred and fifty individuals, and I found nine thousand in them, when I became consul."—Napoleon, Las Cases, tom. v., p. 56.
[632] Gourgaud, tom. ii., p. 131.
[633] Las Cases, tom. iii., p. 248; O'Meara, vol. i., p. 381.