The world's leading conquerors

by Wilson Lloyd Bevan

In his economic policy, Napoleon followed the principles of the Bourbon princes; he was a thorough-going disciple of the mercantilist school. It was his purpose to ruin England; hence the severest enactments were promulgated against colonial products and cotton, both prime articles of English trade. Vessels touching English ports were excluded; not only were high duties imposed on coffee, sugar, and cocoa, but cotton fabrics were entirely prohibited. In 1806, when the English government declared all the French ports from Brest to the mouth of the Elbe closed, and subjected neutral vessels to search, Napoleon issued the decree of Berlin by which the British Isles were declared to be blockaded. All commerce with England was prohibited and no ship which touched the English shores was admitted to a French port. Then came from London the so-called Orders in Council by which neutral ships were required to go to London, Malta, and other places subject to England, to have their cargoes examined and to get permits to trade which had to be paid for at high rates. The next stage in this economic war was Napoleon’s decree of Milan, 1807 (December 7), which declared that every ship which had been visited by English officials or had touched at an English port should lose its nationality and be regarded as a lawful prize.

These drastic measures were never rigidly applied, for there grew up a system of exemption by special permits excepting certain articles. Smuggling, practised on a large scale, acted also as an ameliorating factor; indeed, after 1810 colonial products were admitted into France, though at a high rate of duty, but the war against cotton continued. Everywhere it was found, it was seized, and confiscated or burnt. The result of this system for France was worse than for England, for by her mastery of the sea the latter power was able to maintain both her industries and her credit, while France had to pay more for raw products and, the export of her goods being hampered, the price in the home market was artificially lowered. In 1802, foreign commerce reached a sum total of 790,000,000 francs, of which exports accounted for 325,000,000; ten years later the figures were 640,000,000 and 383,000,000, respectively.

In finance the Napoleonic régime showed no disposition to make innovations; only in details was the fiscal system altered. There was no regular budget in the modern sense of the term; the accounts for each year were kept open, and in order to make the yearly balance, the resources of other years were drawn upon. Apart from these financial irregularities, which, in the absence of any real legislative representative system, were not criticised or counted, the administration of the finances of the empire was carefully directed. The officials were required to do their work well; there was no red tape, and full value was received for every franc expended. Napoleon was vigilant in defending the interests of the treasury, and he treated it as his own patrimony.

In no phase do his gifts as a ruler shine more conspicuously than in his refusal to increase the public debt to any considerable extent. At the fall of the Directory there were 46,000,000 francs of Rentes in French government bonds; his government added only 17,000,000 to this amount. He did not trust to credit to carry on his wars, the bankruptcy of the Revolution being too fresh in the minds of French bondholders. We have noticed before how he expected the extraordinary expenses of warfare to be supplied. His forethought in raising contributions, hard as it was for the conquered countries, was a blessing to French investors.

This care for a sound financial position sustained confidence in the Napoleonic régime, even when its master was engaged in the most hazardous military adventures. In the autumn of 1799 government five per cents. were quoted at seven francs. In 1800 the lowest quotation was 17.37, the highest 44. Each year the rise continued until it attained its extreme limit in May, 1808, when it marked 88.15 francs. Then there was a gradual fall. In March, 1814, the quotation was 45 francs, a year later it had risen to 81.65. Napoleon gave as much and as watchful attention to the maintenance of public credit as he did to the details of army administration. At the beginning of the Consulate he proceeded to restore public confidence by abolishing forced loans and by introducing specie payments. His only questionable financial operation was the employment of the money allotted to the sinking fund, to sustain artificially, at critical periods, the price of government securities, in order to deceive public opinion as to the importance of French defeats.

One of the first steps taken by Napoleon on his attainment of the supreme executive power was to make peace with the Church. Under the anti-religious legislation of the Revolution, in which most of the clergy and bishops had been declared outlaws, the social order had added to its other ills religious chaos. After the battle of Marengo in 1800, Napoleon, in an address to the clergy of Milan, laid down the following principles for his church policy: “No society can exist without morality, and there can be no good morality without religion. Religion alone gives the state a firm and stable support. A society without religion is like a vessel without a compass; France, taught by her misfortunes, has finally opened her eyes; she has recognized that the Catholic religion is, as it were, an anchor, that alone can keep her steady, in her time of stress.”

He had no purpose, however, to allow the Church to secure for itself an organization, that might appeal to the people, apart from or contrary to the government. His ideal was an ecclesiastical machine which could be controlled exactly as if it were a government department. Under such assumptions a concordat was arranged with the Papacy, whose power Napoleon respected. He ordered his agent at Rome, who conducted the negotiations, to treat the Pope as if he had 200,000 men. For some time the discussion dragged, because Pius VII refused to accept certain reforms which seemed to threaten the independence of the hierarchy. Finally, the terms were arranged under which the First Consul gained his two chief points: the introduction of an entirely new episcopate with a reduction of dioceses and the recognition of the alienation of church property during the Revolution.

Among the most important features of this instrument was the declaration that the Catholic religion should be freely exercised in France, but that it was to conform itself to such police regulations as the government should judge necessary for public tranquillity. The new bishops were to be presented by the state and instituted by the Pope. Parish priests were to be appointed by the bishops, but the appointment could be vetoed by the state, and the payment of the bishops and priests was undertaken by the government. A number of the former constitutional bishops, who had been in schism with Rome, were appointed in the new hierarchy which now numbered sixty members. The introduction of the clause mentioned above relating to the police powers of the state was used as a ground for a whole series of “organic articles” by which the French Church was bound hand and foot to the Napoleonic system; they were but a revival of the Gallican principles adopted by Louis XIV to help him to become the supreme administrator of the Church in France. Rome naturally protested, for these articles interfered with the autocratic system of the Curia. Acts of the Holy See and decrees of councils were not legalized in France unless they were verified by the government. Bishops could not consult together without a license from the government, or retire from their dioceses temporarily, without a permit. In many other details episcopal jurisdiction and church autonomy were interfered with. But all protests were in vain, and Pius VII conformed reluctantly to the will of the master of Western Europe, hoping that the slow-going diplomacy of his Secretary of State, Consalvi, would secure future concessions.

The first friction between the Emperor and the Pope occurred over the introduction of religious orders. None were authorized except certain orders for women, engaged in charitable or relief work. On December 2, 1804, after much hesitation, the Pope agreed to come to Paris to participate in the imperial coronation. He was treated with respect, but during the ceremony, when he was about to place the crown on Napoleon’s head, the Emperor with a show of displeasure took it out of his hands and crowned himself. On one ground or another Pius was kept in France for several months, as Napoleon was glad to have the head of the Church placed in a subordinate position before the world as a kind of Grand Almoner to the Emperor of the French.

New difficulties arose over the Pope’s refusal to annul the marriage of Jerome Bonaparte with Miss Patterson, an American, who had been married to Napoleon’s youngest brother in Baltimore in 1803 by the Roman Catholic bishop of that city. There were fresh grounds of alienation when, in 1806, Napoleon wrote to the Pope, who wished to be neutral, to close his ports to English vessels and to expel from his court English, Russians, and Swedes. “You are,” he said, “the sovereign of Rome, but I am the Emperor; my enemies should be yours.” As the Pope still proclaimed his neutrality, Napoleon seized the Papal States, and finally occupied Rome in February, 1808. For fourteen months the Pope was kept a virtual prisoner in the Quirinal under a guard of honor; he was not allowed to communicate with the cardinals, twenty-four of whom had been, by Napoleon’s orders, deported. Finally, in May, 1809, a decree was issued by which the States of the Church were annexed to the French Empire. Rome was proclaimed a free imperial city, the Pope being allowed to keep only his palace and his estates with an income of 2,000,000 francs.