Life of Napoleon Bonaparte. Volume III

Las Cases, tom. iv., p. 105.

314

"Your Emperor," is the usual conclusion, "relies upon the zeal which you will display on this business, in order to prove your devotion to his person, and your attachment to the interests of the throne." Each of the prefects amplifies the circular. The warmest expressions and the strongest colours are employed; no figure of rhetoric is forgotten, and the circular is transmitted to the sub-prefects of the department. The sub-prefects in their turn season it with still stronger language, and the mayors improve upon that of the sub-prefects. – Faber, Notices sur l'Intérieur de la France, p. 13.

315

Faber, Notices, p. 31.

316

"What litigations would thus have been prevented! On the first examination of a cause, a lawyer would have rejected it, had it been at all doubtful. There would have been little fear that a man, living by his labour, would have undertaken to conduct a lawsuit, from mere motives of vanity; and if he had, he would himself have been the only sufferer in case of failure. But my idea was opposed by a multitude of objections, and as I had no time to lose, I postponed the further consideration of the subject. Yet I am still convinced that the scheme might, with certain modifications, have been turned to the best account." – Napoleon, Las Cases, tom. vii., p. 199.

317

The intelligent reader will easily be aware, that we mean not to say that every decision of their predecessors is necessarily binding on the judges of the day. Laws themselves become obsolete, and so do the decisions which have maintained and enforced them. – S.

318

"In the Code Napoleon, and even in the Criminal Code, some good principles remain, derived from the Constituent Assembly; the institution of juries, for instance, the anchor of French hope: but of what value were legal institutions, when extraordinary tribunals, named by the Emperor, special courts, and military commissions, judged all political offences – the very offences on which the unchangeable ægis of the law is most required." – Mad. de Staël, tom. ii., p. 364.

319

"Agriculture was continually improving during the whole course of the Revolution. Foreigners thought it ruined in France. In 1814, however, the English were compelled to admit, that we had little or nothing to learn from them." – Napoleon, Las Cases, tom. iv., p. 280.

320

"Foreign trade, which in its results is infinitely inferior to agriculture, was an object of subordinate importance in my mind. Foreign trade is made for agriculture and home industry, and not the two latter for the former. The interests of these three fundamental cases are diverging, and frequently conflicting. I always promoted them in their natural gradation; but I could not and ought not to have ranked them all on an equality. The difficulties, and even the total stagnation of foreign trade during my reign, arose out of the force of circumstances, and the accidents of the time. One brief interval of peace would immediately have restored it to its natural level." – Napoleon, Las Cases, tom. iv., p. 280.

321

Las Cases, tom. ii., p. 230.

322

Las Cases, tom. ii., p. 256.

323

"The system of commercial licenses was no doubt mischievous. Heaven forbid that I should have laid it down as a principle. It was the invention of the English; with me it was only a momentary resource. Even the continental system, in its extent and rigour, was by me regarded as a measure occasioned by the war and temporary circumstances." – Napoleon, Las Cases, tom. iv., pp. 280, 283.

324

"Industry or manufactures, and internal trade, made immense progress during my reign. The application of chemistry to the manufactures, caused them to advance with giant strides. I gave an impulse, the effects of which extended throughout Europe." – Napoleon, Las Cases, tom. iv., p. 280.

325

Las Cases, tom. iii., p. 297.

326

The watch, half completed, remained in the hands of the artist, and is now the property of the Duke of Wellington. – S.

327

Las Cases, tom. vii., p. 120.

328

We again repeat, that we totally disbelieve the gross infamies imputed to Napoleon within his own family, although sanctioned by the evidence of the Memoirs of Fouché. Neither Buonaparte's propensities nor his faults were those of a voluptuary. – S.

329

"The triumph, and the vanity,
The rapture of the strife —
The earthquake voice of victory,
To thee the breath of life."

    Byron, vol. x., p. 7.

330

By General Jourdan.

331

Montgaillard, tom. v., p. 139. See also Mounteney's Historical Enquiry relative to Napoleon, p. 20.

332

"The Emperor constantly insisted on subjecting the whole nation to the laws of the conscription. 'I am inexorable on the subject of exemption,' said he, one day in the Council of State, 'it would be criminal. How could I acquit my conscience with having exposed the life of one man, for the advantage of another? I do not even think I would exempt my own son.'" – Las Cases, tom. vii., p. 197.

333

Mad. de Staël, tom. ii., p. 351.

334

"This is not correct. Activity of movement and rapidity of attack are as conducive to the well-being of mankind, as they are favourable to victory. Where did Sir Walter Scott learn that the system of forced marches pursued by the Emperor Napoleon was always without magazines? On the contrary, his administrative system was admirable, and his calculations on this head worthy of his plans: without the one, the other could not have succeeded." – Louis Buonaparte, p. 54.

335

Las Cases, tom. iv., p. 163.

336

The marriage took place on the 12th of August, and, a few days after, Jerome was proclaimed king of Westphalia. The constitution of the kingdom was issued on the 15th December, the new monarch's birth-day, who had then completed his twenty-second year; and, on the 21st, Jerome made his public entry into Cassel.

337