Napoleon - Napoleon in council

Napoleon in council

This brief extract from a book written by John S.C. Abbott is particularly illustrative of the amazing pace and scope of Napoleon's governance. The sheer magnitude of his intellec­tual labor encompassing so many subjects through the vast cor­respondence he left behind him is confounding. Such energy of the mind is a phenomenon as rare as it is nearly frightening.

The amount of intellectual labor which Napoleon performed seems actually superhuman. No other man has ever ap­proached him in this respect. His correspondence, preserved in the archives of Paris, would amount to many hundred volumes. His genius illumines every subject upon which he treats. The whole expanse of human knowledge seemed familiar to him. He treats of war, government, legislation, education, finance, po­litical economy, theology, philosophy, engineering — upon every subject which can interest the human mind, and he is alike great in all. Notwithstanding the constant and terrible wars through which his banded foes compelled him to struggle, and all the cares of an empire, which at times seemed to embrace the whole of Europe, during the twenty years of his reign he wrote or dictated more than the united works of Lope da Vega, Voltaire, and Sir Walter Scott, three of the most voluminous writers of Spain, France, and

"Fontainebleau, Nov. 14, 1807. Monsieur Cretet, Minister of the Interior,—You have received the Imperial decree by which I have authorized [a loan of] 1,600,000 dollars to the city of Paris. I suppose that you are employed in taking measures which may bring these works to a speedy conclusion, and may augment the revenues of the city. In these works there are some which will not be very productive, but are merely for ornament. There are others, such as galleries over the markets, the slaughter-houses, etc., which will be very productive. But to make them so will re­quire activity. The shops, for which I have granted you funds, are not yet commenced. I suppose you have taken up the funds des­tined for the fountains, and that you have employed them provi­sionally for the machine at Marly. Carry on the whole with spirit. This system of advancing money to the city of Paris, to augment its branches of revenue, is also intended to contribute to its em­bellishment. My intention is to extend it to other departments.

"I have many canals to make; that from Dijon to Paris; that from the Rhine to the Saone; and that from the Rhine to the Scheldt. These three canals can be carried on as vigorously as could be wished. My intention is, independently of the funds which are granted from the revenues of the state, to seek extraor­dinary funds for the three canals. For this purpose I should like to sell the canals of St. Quentin, the produce of which might be employed to expedite the works of the canal of Burgundy. In fact, I would sell even the canal of Languedoc, and apply the proceeds to the construction of the canal from the Rhine to the Saone. I suppose that the canal of St. Quentin might be sold for 1,600,000 dollars; that of Loing for as much; and the canal of Languedoc

"You understand what I wish. My intention is to go beyond your report. Perhaps it will lead to opening a fund for public works, into which the proceeds of the navigation of the canals would be immediately thrown. We might thus grant to this the proceeds of the sale of the three canals, and of others besides, if there are any which can be sold. With this institution, we should change the face of the country.

"I have made the glory of my reign to consist in changing the surface of the territory of my Empire. The execution of these great works is as necessary to the interest of my people as to my own satisfaction. I attach equal importance and great glory to the sup­pression of mendicity. Funds are not wanting. But it seems to me that the work proceeds slowly, and meantime, years are passing away. We must not pass through this world without leaving traces which may commend our memory to posterity.

"I am going to be absent for a month. Be ready on the 15th December, to answer all these questions, which you will have ex­amined in detail, that I may be able, by a general decree, to put the finishing blow to mendicity. You must find, before the 15th December, in the reserved funds, and the funds of the communes, the necessary means for the support of sixty or one hundred houses for the extirpation of beggary. The places where they shall he erected must be designated, and the regulations completed. Do not ask me for three or four months to obtain further instruc­tions. You have young auditors, intelligent prefects, skillful en­gineers. Bring all into action, and do not sleep in the ordinary la­bors of the bureau. It is necessary, likewise, that, at the same time, all that relates to the administration of the public works, should be completed; so that, at the commencement of the fine season,

" You must also prepare for me all that is necessary respecting the measures to be taken for obtaining, from the draining of the marshes of Cotentin and Rochefort, money for supporting the fund for public works, and for finishing the drainings, or pre­paring others.

"The winter evenings are long; fill your portfolios, that we may be able, during the evenings of these three months, to discuss the means for attaining great results." Napoleon

At a meeting of the Privy Council Napoleon appeared much incensed against one of his generals. He attacked him with great severity asserting that his principles and opinions tended to the entire subversion of the state. A member of the Council, who was a particular friend of the absent general, undertook his defense, stating that he lived quietly on his estate, without obtruding his opinions upon others, and that consequently they were produc­tive of no ill effects. The Emperor vehemently commenced a reply, when suddenly he stopped short, and turning to the defender of the absent said, "But he is your friend, sir. You do right to defend him. I had forgotten it. Let us speak of something else."

M. Daru was at one time Secretary of State. He was distin­guished for his indefatigable application to business. Napoleon said of him that "he labored like an ox, while he displayed the courage of a lion." On one occasion only were his energies ever known to fail. The Emperor called him at midnight to write from his dictation. M. Daru was so completely overcome by fatigue, that he could scarcely hold his pen. At last nature triumphed, and he fell asleep over his paper. After enjoying a sound nap, he awoke, and to his amazement perceived the Emperor, by his side, quietly engaged in writing. He saw, by the shortness of the candles, that he had slept for some time. As he sat for a moment overwhelmed with confusion, his eyes met those of the Emperor.

"Well, sir;" said Napoleon with rather an ironical smile, "you see that I have been doing your work, since you would not do

"I pass a pleasant evening, Sire!" exclaimed M. Daru, "I have been for several nights closely engaged in work, without any sleep. Of this your Majesty now sees the consequence. I am exceedingly sorry for it."

"Why did you not inform me of this?" said Napoleon, "I do not wish to kill you. Go to bed. Good-night M. Daru." [...]

Napoleon introduced this year into the financial department, the most rigid system of accounts by double entry. The decree requiring this is in force to the present day. It has rendered the French system of accounts the most sure, the most accurate, and the most clear of any in Europe.

In one of the meetings of the Council, Napoleon proposed that long galleries, or rather streets, covered with glass, for pedestrians only, should be constructed, to shelter buyers and sellers from the vicissitudes of the weather. This was the origin of those bril­liant Passages, where every visitor to Paris loiters away so many pleasant hours. Forty slaughter houses had deformed Paris, filling the air with pestilent odors and paining the eye with the revolting necessities of the shambles. At the suggestion of Napoleon they were all removed. Four large and peculiarly appropriate houses were constructed for these purposes outside of the city, and near the four principal entrances to the metropolis.

The generals and the soldiers who had endured such wasting fatigue, and who had achieved such Herculean enterprises for France, were most magnificently rewarded. Besides their regular pay, nearly four millions of dollars were expended in gifts, as an expression of gratitude. A handsome annuity was settled upon every wounded soldier. Napoleon seemed never weary in lav­ishing favors upon those, who, in fields of blood, had defended and established the independence of France.

He was magnificent in his provision for others. He was simple, frugal, economical in the highest degree, in everything which re­lated to himself. With an eagle eye he guarded against the slightest misapplication of the public funds.

The nation insisted that the civic code, which had become the crowning glory of France, should be called the Code Napoleon.

"Assuredly," says Thiers, "if ever title was merited, it was this. For that code was as much the work of Napoleon as were the victories of Austerlitz and of Jena. He had soldiers who lent him their arms. He had lawyers who lent him their knowledge. But to the force of his will, to the soundness of his judgment, was owing the completion of that great work."

It will remain, through all time, a memorial which never can be sullied, of Napoleon's genius and philanthropy. The Emperor wrote to all the princes under his influence urging them to intro­duce into their respective states this code of justice and of civil equality. It was thus established in large portions of Europe, con­veying, wherever it went, perfect equality of rights, and putting an end to feudal tyranny.

In his intense desire to promote the grandeur of France, Napoleon appreciated, perhaps more highly than any other sov­ereign, the glory of intellectual achievements. Science, literature, arts, he encouraged in every possible way. He was the first general the world has ever known, who united with his army, a literary and scientific corps to extend the bounds of human knowledge. Under his fostering care Lagrange gave a new power to abstract calculation. Laplace, striding beyond the limits attained by Galileo, Kepler, and Newton, rendered his name as immortal as those celestial bodies whose movements he had calculated with such sublime precision. Cuvier exploring the mausoleums of past creations, revealed the wondrous history of our planet, when "the earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face

The world is destined to be as much astonished by the writ­ings of Napoleon as it has been by his deeds. Neither Bourbon nor Orleanist has been willing to do justice to his fame. His let­ters, his proclamations, his bulletins, his instructions to his min­isters, glow with the noblest eloquence of genius. They will soon be given to the world. And they will disperse much of that mist of calumny and detraction which have so long sullied his renown. No one can peruse the papers of this extraordinary man without admiring the majesty of his all comprehensive mind. The clear­ness, the precision, the fervor, the imperious demonstration, and the noble simplicity which are impressed upon all of his utter­ances, give him a place in the foremost ranks of science, of litera­ture, and of eloquence.

"Singular destiny," exclaims Thiers, after perusing volumes of manuscripts from his pen, "of that prodigious man, to be the greatest writer of his time, while he was its greatest captain, its greatest legislator, its greatest administrator." [...]

The power of Napoleon was absolute. Circumstances, which he could not control, rendered it necessary that it should he so. It was essential that he should he invested with dictatorial authority to repel the foes handed against the independence of France. Every intelligent man in France recognized this necessity. That Napoleon devoted this absolute power to the glory of France, and not to his own selfish indulgence, no one can deny. He says, with his accustomed glow of eloquence:

"I had established a government the most compact, carrying on its operations with the utmost rapidity, and capable of the most nervous efforts. And, truly, nothing less was required to triumph over the immense difficulties with which we were surrounded, and to produce the marvels which we accomplished. The organization of the prefectures, their action and results, were alike admirable. The same impulse was given at the same instant to more than forty millions of men. By the aid of these centres of local activity the movement was as rapid at all the extremities as at the heart of the Empire. Strangers who visited us were astonished at this system.

The efficiency of this government no one can question. That France was driven to its adoption by the incessant attacks of its foes cannot be denied. That this alone enabled Napoleon for twenty years to triumph over the combined despots of Europe, in arms against him, is equally beyond a doubt. France in her peril surren­dered herself to a dictator in whom she reposed confidence, and invested him with absolute power. Nobly did Napoleon requite the trust. He concentrated every energy of his body and every thought of his soul to the promotion of the welfare of France. Wherever he erred, it was in the path of a lofty and a generous ambition.

His power was as absolute as that of Alexander. But the Czar was the monarch of the nobles; Napoleon the chosen sovereign of the people. The centralization of power was, however, ap­palling. The Emperor selected the members of the Council of State, the Senate, and the Legislative Bodies. He appointed all the officers in the army and the navy. The whole police of France, all the magistrates, the judges of all the courts; all persons connected with the customs, the revenue and the excise; all the ministers of religion, the teachers in schools, academies and universities, the postmasters, and all persons concerned in the administration of roads, bridges, public buildings, canals, fortresses etc., were either directly or indirectly subject to the appointment of the Emperor.

"After all, let them abridge, suppress, and mutilate as much as they please, they will find it very difficult to throw me entirely into the shade. The historian of France cannot pass over the Empire. If he has any honesty he will not fail to render me my share of justice. His task will be easy. The facts speak of themselves. They shine like the sun.

"I closed the gulf of anarchy and cleared the chaos. I purified the Revolution, dignified nations, and established kings. I excited every kind of emulation, rewarded every kind of merit, and ex­tended the limits of glory. This is at least something. And on what point can I be assailed on which an historian could not defend me? Can it be for my intentions? But even here I can find absolu­tion. Can it be for my despotism? It may be demonstrated that the dictatorship was absolutely necessary Will it be said that I re­strained liberty? It can be proved that licentiousness, anarchy, and the greatest irregularities, still haunted the threshold of freedom. Shall I be accused of having been too fond of war? It can be shown that I always received the first attack. Will it be said that I aimed at universal monarchy? It can be proved that this was merely the result of fortuitous circumstances, and that our enemies led me step by step to this determination. Lastly shall I be blamed for my ambition? This passion I must doubtless be allowed to possess, and that in no small degree. But at the same time my ambition was of the highest and noblest kind that perhaps ever existed — that of establishing and consecrating the empire of reason, and the full exercise and complete enjoyment of all the human faculties. And here the historian will probably feel compelled to regret, that such ambition should not have been fulfilled and gratified. This is my whole history in a few words." [...]

The 15th of August 1807, Napoleon was thirty-eight years of age. A brilliant party was assembled at the Tuileries. It was an evening of surpassing loveliness. All Paris, intoxicated with en-

On the ensuing day Napoleon, accompanied by his marshals, and followed by an immense concourse of people, met the Council of State, the Senate and the Legislative Body. He thus addressed them:

"Gentlemen! Since your last session, new wars, new triumphs, new treaties of peace have changed the political state of Europe. All nations rejoice with one accord, to see the influence which England exercised over the Continent destroyed forever. In all that I have done, I have had in view solely the prosperity of my people, more dear in my eyes than my own glory. I am desirous for maritime peace. No resentment shall be allowed to interfere with this desire. But whatever be the issue which the decrees of Providence have allotted to the maritime war, my people shall find me ever the same, and I shall ever find my people worthy of me. Your conduct, when your Emperor was more than fifteen hundred miles away, has heightened my esteem. The proofs of attachment which you have given me, have excited my warmest emotions.

"I have contemplated various plans for simplifying and im-

This speech was heard with deep emotion and applauded with transport. After Napoleon had retired, the President of the Legislative Body gave utterance to the almost unanimous senti­ment of France, in the following words:

"The picture set before our eyes seems to present the image of one of those pacific kings, exclusively engaged, in the internal administration of his dominion. And yet all these useful labors, all these wise projects, were ordered and conceived amid the din of arms on the furthest confines of conquered Prussia, and on the frontiers of threatened Russia. If it be true that, at the distance of five hundred leagues from the capital, amid the cares and the fatigues of war, a hero prepared so many benefits, how is he about to increase them by returning among us! The public welfare will wholly engage him, and his glory will be the more touching for it.

"He displaces, he contracts, he extends, the boundaries of empires. All are borne away by his ascendency. Well! This man, covered with so much glory, promises us still greater. Peaceable and disarmed, he will prove that this invincible force, which, as it runs, overturns thrones and empires, is beneath that truly royal wisdom, which preserves states by peace, which enriches them by agriculture and industry, adorns them with master-pieces of art, and founds them everlastingly on the two-fold support of mo­rality and the laws." [...]

Napoleon, accompanied by generals and doctors, visits the great military hospital "Les Invalides" in Paris

At St Helena he said:

"It was the subject of my perpetual dreams, to render Paris the real capital of Europe. I sometimes wished it, for instance, to become a city with a population of two, three, or four millions, in a word, something fabulous, colossal, unexampled until our days, and with public establishments suitable to its population.

"Had Heaven but granted me twenty years, and a little more leisure, ancient Paris would have been sought for in vain. Not a trace of it would have been left. I should have changed the face of France. Archimedes promised everything, provided he was supplied with a resting place for his lever. I should have done as much, wherever I could have found a point of support for my energy, my perseverance, and my budgets. A world might be cre­ated with budgets. I should have displayed the difference between a Constitutional Emperor, and a King of France. The kings of France have never possessed any administrative or municipal in­stitution. They have merely shown themselves great lords, who ruined their men of business.

"I have often set myself against the feasts which the city of Paris wished to give me. They consisted of dinners, balls, artificial fire-works, at an expense of two or three hundred thousand dol­lars, the preparations for which obstructed the public for several days, and which afterward cost as much to take away as they had cost in their construction. I proved that with these idle expenses, they might have erected lasting and magnificent monuments.

"One must have gone through as much as I have, in order to be acquainted with all the difficulties of doing good. If the business related to chimneys, partitions, and furniture for some individuals in the imperial palaces, the work was quick and effectual. But if it were necessary to lengthen the garden of the Tuileries, to render some quarters wholesome, to clean some sewers, and to accomplish a task beneficial to the public, in which some particular person had no direct interest, I found it requisite to exert all the energy of my character, to write six, ten letters a day, and to get into a downright passion. It was in this way that I paid out as much as six millions of dollars in sewers, for which nobody was ever to thank me. I pulled down a property of six millions in houses in front of the Tuileries, for the purpose of forming the Carousel, and throwing open the Louvre. What I did is immense. What I had resolved to do, and what I projected, were still much more so."

Some may suppose that the above account of Napoleon's ad­ministrative labors, is the glowing eulogy of a friend. Read then the testimony of an English historian. Every page of Lockhart's Life of Napoleon, bears the impress of his hostility to the mighty Emperor against whom England waged such unrelenting war­fare. And yet Lockhart is constrained to witness to the following facts:

Such was Napoleon, as delineated by the pen of his enemies...

Taken from The History of Napoleon Bonaparte by John S C Abbott,
Harper and Brothers, Publishers, New York 1874,
Volume II, pp. 579-98